#but i did see a suggestion that satan/someone else broke it specifically which is fucking hilarious to me

[obeyme-kaidii-writes]

Beginnings (1/9)

Mammon x ace gn!MC x ace!Leviathan

Words - 12,000ish (total)

Content warnings - angst, some internalized acephobia, insecurity, polyamory, asexual relationship, lots of cuddles and fluff and comfort

NOTE - Mammon and MC have a 100% consensual sexual relationship. No details beyond that are given.

Prompt/inspiration - a new take on my existing headcanons and previous stories

Summary - One day you suggest a polyamorous relationship with Levi to Mammon, and he loses his cool. Will Mammon be able to make things right? And will Levi ever get a chance to tell you how he feels?

[ AO3 | Part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 ]

You and Mammon were practically inseparable.

From your first day in the Devildom it seemed, the two of you were always together. Of course, those first few weeks weren’t exactly while you were on the best of terms with each other. But soon your choice to spend time together came from a genuine interest in one another. And after awhile, you both had even fallen in love.

You just fit so well together. You shared a similar sense of humor, you enjoyed the same sorts of movies, you both even had a mutual love of spicy food. Physically, you felt the two of you were quite compatible as well. You loved how good he was at taking care of you, and nothing made him happier than having you shower him in affection and praise. And sure, his sex drive was definitely higher than yours, but you both were figuring things out and making it work.

Mammon wasn’t the only brother you were getting close to, however. While you enjoyed cooking with Beel and swapping book recommendations with Satan, your time with Levi in particular was special to you. He always had a way of helping you relax, and his desire to stay in the comfort of his room gave you an excellent place to unwind and decompress. Despite the fact he could barely contain himself when speaking about one of his special interests, he typically kept to himself when immersed in whatever activity had caught his attention in that moment, which made him excellent company when you needed peace and quiet.

For the longest time, you thought friendship was all you wanted from Leviathan. And Levi made it pretty clear on numerous occasions that he considered you his best friend and nothing more. Well, at least that’s what he said. In the past few weeks you had caught him staring at you more than once in a way that was reminiscent of the love struck look Mammon often got when he didn’t think you were looking either.

You had heard from Asmodeus pretty early on in your stay that monogamy wasn’t the usual practice for demons. He had made sure you were well acquainted with certain aspects of demon relationships, partly to gauge your interest, and partly to stop you from inadvertently making a move on a random demon at RAD. You and Mammon had never talked specifically about the idea of an open or polyamorous relationship, and you got the dinstinct impression that he would have trouble sharing, but the more you thought about Levi, the more you wanted to see if you could make it work with both of them.

One evening after dinner, you were relaxing in Mammon’s room, doing nothing in particular. He was reading some magazine about Devildom fashions (and where to buy them), and you were reclined with your head in his lap as you scrolled through Devilgram.

“Got somethin’ you wanna say?” Mammon finally asked with a light blush on his cheeks. Apparently you had been staring at him for the past few minutes and it was making him a bit self conscious.

“Wha? Oh, sorry,” you replied, giving him a soft smile before you nuzzled against his leg. You looked up at him again, only to find that he was now attempting to hide his face behind the pages of his magazine, hoping you wouldn’t catch sight of the smile that was tugging at his lips.

“Hey, Mammon. Can I ask you something?”

“Yeah sure,” he was glad to have something to talk about that he could distract himself with.

“What do you think of polyamory?” you asked, raising one of your hands to comb through what you could reach of his hair. You just loved how soft it was, and it had quickly become a habit whenever you two were talking that you would run your fingers through it as you were doing now.

“Eh? I dunno. Why?” Mammon sat his magazine down to give you his full attention. This was definitely an odd conversation topic, if there ever was one. He thought maybe Satan had given you some weird book recently, because it never would have occurred to him what you were about to ask.

“Well...I was wondering if you’d be open to trying something like that…?”

“Pfft, like you’d need anyone else with the Great Mammon to keep ya company!” he teased with a cocky grin. It was simple - there was no reason for you to be close to anyone else like that, because he was so good at making you happy...right?

“Oh,” you tried to shrug it off and turn your attention back to your DDD. This wasn’t how you had hoped this conversation would go, though you weren’t sure exactly how you had hoped it would go either.

But Mammon noticed the look on your face, and a small seed of doubt had started to take root in his heart. Just a tiny twinge of pain. The thought of you being any less than satisfied with him was one he spent a considerable amount of effort avoiding, but now it was creeping up on him.

“Why? Didya have someone in mind?”

He had only meant it as a joke, really. He wasn’t expecting you to answer. Or rather, he was hoping you wouldn’t. And when you didn’t respond immediately the sinking feeling in his gut only grew.

You looked up at Mammon and could see the strain in his smile. He was trying hard to look unaffected, but it was obvious to you that he wasn’t too keen on this idea. So you sat up, tucking one leg under yourself as you turned to face him on the sofa. You were having second thoughts now about bringing this up, but you knew that if you tried to back out of the conversation now, Mammon would surely only get more anxious and panicked.

“Well, I was thinking about Levi…” you answered, cautiously, carefully studying Mammon’s face as you tried to gauge his reaction. You knew he never would have entertained the idea if you had said Lucifer, but a small part of you hoped since he and Levi were pretty close, he’d be more receptive to the possibilities.

You would, of course, be wrong.

In fact, you saw the exact moment Mammon’s heart broke and his emotions shifted from insecurity, to hurt, to anger. You went to open your mouth, to try to explain, but he did not give you the opportunity.

“Him? Why wouldya wanna go out with that weeb?” he asked, his voice dripping with disdain.

“Hey! If you don’t like the idea just say so! You don’t have to attack Levi!” you stared at Mammon, shocked at his reaction. Hurt and tears wouldn’t have surprised you, but this anger was something else and you weren’t sure where it was coming from.

“Oh so ya gonna defend him?”

“Of course I’m going to defend him. He’s my best friend,” you snapped back, your eyes narrowing.

“And what am I then? Huh?”

“Mammon, that’s…”

“What, ya got one Avatar so you thought it would be easy to snag another? Who ya gonna go after next? Lucifer?!”

SLAP

“Don’t. You. Fucking. Dare.” by now, angry tears had started to gather in your eyes, and you could feel your hands shaking, your palm still stinging from the contact, “If you don’t like the idea, fine. But don’t you dare belittle my feelings for you or your brother.”

You glared at Mammon for another moment before swiftly pushing yourself off the sofa and heading towards his door. When your hand touched the door knob you paused, giving Mammon an opportunity to take back what he said, but all that was to be heard was a deafening silence.

Without another word, you left, slamming the door behind you.

——————

In the days that followed, you made a point to avoid both Mammon and Levi. Even though Levi wasn’t at fault, you knew spending time with him right now would only muddy the waters further, and that was the last thing you needed. So, if you saw one of them coming, you were quick to adjust your course and head the opposite direction.

And you knew avoiding them both wasn’t exactly the mature thing to do. But you didn’t know what else to do either.

Was this it? Were you just supposed to break up with Mammon?

The memory of what he had said to you still made your heart ache whenever you thought of it, even if you knew he had been speaking from a place of hurt. You wanted to believe he didn’t really see you that way; that he knew how much you loved him, even if he didn’t know anything else, because you didn’t think you’d be able to stay with someone who thought so little of you.

So what was the alternative? Trying to talk to him again?

The thought was enough to make you laugh. You were certain that would go over like a lead balloon. It’s not like anything would have changed since the last time you had spoken to him. You still felt how you felt, and he was opposed. Which would have been fine had he been respectful about rejecting the idea. But he hadn’t, and instead lashed out at you in his typical tsundere fashion, just dialed up to 10.

You let out a sigh as you flopped on your bed, finally back in the safety of your room after an exhausting day at RAD.

Just what were you going to do?

[haileyyanneupton]

❄ small - one chicago au ❄

Hailey Upton and Adam Ruzek have been friends for as long as they can remember. When Hailey changes schools to be with Adam in her junior year, she’s introduced to a new group of people who feel strangely like home.

pairings: jay halstead x hailey upton adam ruzek x kim burgess kevin atwater x vanessa rojas kelly severide x stella kidd

warnings (chapter specific): swearing

masterlist | series masterlist

❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄

❄ four ❄

A little over a week had passed since Jay and Hailey had gone out for coffee and pancakes to work on their assignment, and each of them had decided that they would keep their poems a secret from each other until they had to present it to the class. Secretly, it was because Hailey hadn’t actually started the poem and had nothing to show him — meanwhile, Jay had already worked through at least half. It wasn’t a bad thing; she just hadn’t been able to find the right way to get it down on paper yet. Her plan was to keep collecting as much as she could about her literature partner; the group milkshake date seeming like a relatively good way to do so.

“Yo Upton, Rojas! Are you two coming, or are you just going to keep dragging your feet like slow pokes?” Stella called out to the two as they trailed a few steps behind her and Kim.

“We’re coming, we’re coming,” Vanessa rolled her eyes as she tutted. “Calm your farm, Kidd.”

Hailey only chuckled as the Stella and Vanessa both fought for the passenger seat of Kim’s car, Hailey not minding the back as she climbed in and waited for someone to accompany her. Eventually it ended up being Stella who called heads on a coin that came up tails, leaving her to take the seat beside the blonde.

The girls had all gone in Kim’s car while the guys went in Adam’s, all driving to the same place not too far from their school. It was a Wednesday afternoon and the upperclassmen had been given the afternoon off, allowing the group to finally go out as Adam had suggested a few weeks previously. Hailey’s mouth was already watering at the prospect of a banana milkshake — it was the only banana flavoured thing in the entire world that she liked. She had been buzzing with happiness all day as she awaited twelve o’clock to come; the second it did, she had almost launched herself out of her seat in pre-calculus.

The drive to the milkshake parlour was short, but nonetheless fun. With Fifth Harmony blaring from the radio (courtesy of Kim), the words to Dope were being shouted by all four girls as they pulled up in the parking lot, finding a space right beside Adam’s car as they all jumped out and raced inside where the boys had saved them all a table.

"Look what the cat dragged in," Kelly teased, earning a roll of the eyes from both Stella and Vanessa. "Took you all long enough. Did the car break down or something?"

"We were enjoying our drive here and listening to music, thank you very much."

"And?"

"And. . . we got stuck behind a railway crossing."

"Knew it," Kelly smirked, a mischievous look in his eye as the girls all headed to the counter to place their orders.

As Kim and Stella debated which flavour they would get, Hailey couldn’t help but notice the way that Vanessa was awkwardly hanging back in an empty space smack bang between the front counter and the table that the boys were sitting at. Everybody else seemed blind to it — but Hailey was perceptive. She could see the way that Vanessa studied her feet as if they were the most interesting things in the world, the way she tried to retreat without anybody noticing. Although Hailey didn’t know why, she wasn’t about to let it go unaddressed.

“Hey.” Hailey’s voice was only loud enough for Vanessa to hear as to took a step towards her. “You not getting a milkshake, V?”

Vanessa frowned ever so slightly, her eyes sad despite the fact that she tried not to let it show. “Nah. I — uh — I don’t really feel like one.”

Hailey knew that wasn’t the reason. There was something else. As she thought back over the day briefly to try and work out what could have upset her friend, it suddenly hit Hailey with as much force as a freight train. She felt almost dumb for not realising it sooner, her heart aching for Vanessa as she glanced back over at the girl.

“You can’t —“

Vanessa silenced the girl with a small nod — one that begged her not to go on about the matter. Vanessa couldn’t afford it.

Before Hailey’s brothers had moved out and gotten jobs, her family had been in a similar situation. Obviously it wasn’t the same — Hailey had never been bounced around foster homes — but regardless, the Upton’s were living paycheck to paycheck. Hand me down clothes were all Hailey knew, whether it be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shirt from her brother or a Spiderman hoodie from Adam, she was always dressed up in somebody else’s leftovers. She didn’t mind too much about that part, but she could remember the first time that she went to school without lunch. She remembered the first time, the second time, even the third time — after that, it all just blurred together. It all just became the usual for Hailey who at the time, was still in third grade in elementary school. As she grew older, things got even just the slightest bit easier — Adam’s parents would always put an extra sandwich in their son’s lunchbox for Hailey, or they’d send both children with a ten dollar bill to pay for a hot lunch if they wanted. When her brother Nate moved out — he had always been there for his youngest and only sister — things changed for the better, financially. He was making good money as a mechanic. He could afford to pay for Hailey’s tuition at a fancy private school, he could send a hundred dollars or so to Anne to cover the groceries; he even started sending Hailey money so that she could buy herself what she could afford to be a teenager. Was it a lot? No. But did it make the difference? Absolutely.

Glancing down at her wallet, Hailey spied the two twenty dollar bills she had shoved in there that morning before leaving for school, the green paper sitting untouched until she took one into her hand, closing her fingers around it so that nobody else could see it. In one swift movement, her hand dropped down to her side and her fingers became interlaced with Vanessa’s as she sneakily and subtly transferred the money from her hand to the brunette’s, leaving the girl with wide eyes as she snapped her head around to face Hailey.

“I-I. . . You didn’t have to —“

“I know I didn’t have to, but I wanted to.”

The small smile on Vanessa’s face dropped for a second as she looked Hailey dead in the eye. “I’m not a charity case you know. I just. . .”

Her voice trailed off as Hailey squeezed her friends hand lightly.

“I know that, V. I know. And I’m not treating you like one. I’m lucky enough to have people look out for me and lighten the load when I need it — you deserve that too.”

“But I’m not going to be able to pay you back Hailey — you know that right? I don’t have a job and I can’t —“

“Vanessa, that’s not what this is. I don’t want you to pay me back. I just know what it’s like to feel like you’re missing out because of something so shallow as money, and now that I’m in a position where I can make your day a little better, I’d like to do so. God knows you’ve done plenty for me since I showed up.”

“I gave you an apple slice, dude!”

“It’s more than that,” Hailey chuckled lightly, her lips curling upwards as she saw Vanessa stare down at the twenty dollar bill with sparkling eyes. “Besides — you do not want to miss out on one of these milkshakes. They’re literally to die for. I would run through the fiery pits of hell, being tortured by satan himself to get one of these milkshakes.”

Vanessa shot the girl a lopsided smirk. “I dunno, Hails — walking up to the counter sounds like a lot less effort.”

Hailey only rolled her eyes with a grin as Kim and Stella finally stepped away, allowing the two other girls to order their drinks before returning back to the table where they would be bought out to them. Hailey took her usual seat between Vanessa and Jay (even when they weren’t in the art room, apparently their seating arrangement still stayed the same). As their milkshakes began coming out, Jay smirked in Hailey’s direction as she took her first sip of the banana flavoured beverage.

“What?” Hailey quizzed, arching a brow as she crossed her arms across her chest expectantly. “There a problem?”

“No. Just . . . observing.”

“You’re observing my milkshake drinking habits?”

“I’m observing your reaction to ordering the most basic drink on the menu.”

Hailey scoffed, openly laughing in the boy’s face as she turned to face him. “That’s rich coming from you, Halstead. You’re about as basic as they come.”

Jay only chuckled with a shake of his head as Kelly cleared his throat dramatically, calling for the attention to be bought upon him. Stella groaned from his left, her forehead resting against the table. Hailey let a small smile of amusement cross her lips; Stella wasn’t normally one to be embarrassed by Kelly’s antics. In fact, normally she joined in — but today, it was different.

“I have an announcement,” Kelly proclaimed, tapping the end of his fingernail upon his milkshake — Hailey thought he looked like a dork, but she also knew he gave absolutely no fucks. “You all must listen very, very closely!”

“Alright, alright, man. We’re listening. Out with it already!”

Kelly shot a lighthearted glare over at Adam who wore a grin in response.

“After much deliberation, there has been a mutual confession between the wonderful, amazing, beautiful, talented, badass —“ Kelly paused for a second to dodge Stella’s fist which was heading straight towards his groin. “— incredibly intimidating Stella Kidd and I. We — uh — we’re. . . “

“What this dumbass is trying to say is that we’re together.” Stella interrupted Kelly as she lifted her head up from the table ever so slightly, her chin resting upon her hands as everybody else broke out into a grin. “I told him we should tell you guys today, but I didn’t expect for him to make it into some kind of theatrical fucking performance.”

“You should have known better then that, Stell. It’s Kelly we’re talking about. King of Dramatics.”

“Yeah, I’m realising that now.”

Hailey was happy for the new couple, but she wasn’t as invested as she could see everybody else was. Apparently, Stella and Kelly had been making heart eyes at each other since freshman year, the rest of the group waiting for one of them to make a move on the other. Hailey knew there was something between them but figured that they were probably just close like she and Adam were — she couldn’t even begin to count how many times people had assumed that she and the boy she had grown up with were dating. Nonetheless, it became evident that Kelly and Stella were much more comfortable with their secret coming out; their hands fell into each other’s as they laughed alongside one another.

Sitting and watching, observing if you will, something suddenly became very apparent to the girl. It was one of those things that once she saw it, she couldn’t un-see it — the sight bought a small, fond smile to her lips as she stayed silent, simply watching. Well, she was — until Jay interrupted her thoughts.

“What are you staring at?” Jay asked, a small smirk on his face as Hailey leaned back slightly so that she could speak only just loud enough for the boy to hear.

“Do you see what I see?”

“Uhhh . . . ” Jay furrowed his brows slightly as Hailey let out a chuckle, shaking her head.

Without realising it, Hailey inched her way closer to Jay as she pressed her back against the cushioned booth they were in, her shoulder brushing against Jay’s as she grew even quieter. The freckled boy hadn’t seemed to notice either, despite the fact that they were practically sitting on top of each other at that point.

“Look at them all,” Hailey couldn’t help but let out a small snort as one hand rested against her thigh, the other holding her banana milkshake close to her chest. “I don’t know how I didn’t see it earlier.”

“I still have no clue what we’re talking about here, Hailey. Give me something to go off of.”

“Right, right,” Hailey grinned up at Jay sheepishly. “So there’s Kelly and there’s Stella. Totally head over heels for each other, yeah?”

Jay nodded soundlessly, a puzzled expression still plastered upon his features.

“Then there’s Vanessa and Kevin. Now I don’t think they realise it just yet, but they’re totally going to be a thing.”

The boy’s eyes widened in realisation. “Holy shit.”

“Wait, just — just wait . . . ” Hailey held up a finger. “Now — look at Adam and Kim.”

If it were at all possible, Jay’s eyes grew even more as he too became fixated on the scene in front of them, the evidence now slapping him in the face. His mouth hung open wide as the corners of his lips turned upwards into a smile.

“I smell a bet coming on.”

Hailey grinned widely once again, a mischievous look on her face as her and Jay’s eyes locked. “You’re on, Halstead.”

“Twenty bucks says Burgess and Ruzek will get together by the end of the year.”

“Please,” Hailey scoffed lightly, folding her arms over one another before taking a sip of her milkshake. “Thirty says they’ll be together by the end of the month.”

“Ah, so you’re a risktaker.” Jay’s trademark smirk met Hailey’s gaze. “I’ll make sure to make a note of that for my poem.”

“Not a risktaker, per say — I just know Adam is an impatient, idiotic dumbass who can’t help himself.”

The mention of Adam’s name caused the boy in question to snap his head over to the blonde, a scowl etched into his features as he shot a playful glare over at the girl, Hailey not backing down from her words even the slightest bit. Before she knew it, everybody was back to their own conversations with people jumping in and out where they wanted to, leaving Hailey to do what she did best — observe. It wasn’t like there was something she was looking for or trying to understand; Hailey had just always been the kind of person who would sit and listen rather than interject herself into the conversation. She found that she learned a lot more that way — people would often tell you their darkest secrets if you let them do the talking.

She would never admit it, but somehow, her eyes kept finding their way to Jay as if his face was a magnet and they were calling her. She studied every part of him closely, taking note of how the corners of his eyes creased when he laughed, counting the freckles that looked as though they had been methodically scattered across his skin in the most perfect way.  Hailey noticed his little quirks and even jotted a few of them down in the notes app of her phone, like how he tilted his head slightly when he didn’t understand something or was asking a question or the way he would run his tongue his bottom lip when he was thinking of something. Every little thing that made him unique soon compiled into an extensive list that Hailey had saved to her notes, ready to use when she eventually found the right way to complete her own literature assignment.

It wasn’t long before everybody packed back into the two cars, this time the order being switched up and mixed around. Hailey had gone in Adam’s car, because, well — duh — meanwhile, Vanessa switched places with Kelly and Kevin who lived closer to Kim and Stella anyway. While Jay and Adam talked each other’s ears off, Hailey was sat in the back seat with Vanessa who looked absolutely wrecked from their day.

“You look exhausted, you poor thing,” Hailey smiled halfheartedly over at the girl.

“Yeah, I am.” Vanessa yawned tiredly. “I was up half the night studying for that precalc test we have.”

“You’re like, the smartest one in the entire class, dude,” Hailey said, looking at her friend with an incredulous look. “You don’t even need to study!"

“Still doesn’t hurt to make sure I know what I need to know. And to make sure I know that I know what I know so that I can make sure you know what I know.”

“I think I just had an aneurysm trying to understand that.”

Vanessa grinned. “You’re welcome.”

The two girls shared a laugh as Vanessa leaned her up against the headrest behind her. Turning to Hailey slowly, the girl wore a small and gratuitous smile as her hand fell into the blonde haired girl’s hand, earning back her attention with the small yet simple gesture. Vanessa was a very physical person — she loved hugs, she loved holding hands with her friends to show them her love and appreciation — Hailey, however new to the group she was, was no exception.

“Hailey. . . I hope you know how much what you did today meant to me.” Vanessa began, her accent coating her words as her eyes fell to her lap. “I got moved to another foster home on Monday and. . . I know it sounds stupid, but asking for money before the first cheque from the state comes in is a big no no if I want to stay somewhere for longer than half a week."

Vanessa’s voice was low and quiet, only loud enough for the blonde sitting beside her to hear as Hailey’s heart squeezed tightly. She hadn’t missed the giant smile on Vanessa’s face as she was handed her Oreo milkshake, or the way her her mood had completely brightened in giddy, goofy happiness as she bounced around and made fun of Kevin. Hailey, despite her tough exterior, would secretly do anything to make the people she cared about smile. Absolutely anything. Without ever second guessing herself.

“I didn’t want you to be left out.” Hailey’s response was at a matching volume. “Feeling like the outsider all of the time. . . It’s not fun. I get that. That’s why I’m so endlessly grateful to have made such good friends here.”

“You? The outsider? That’s hard to imagine.”

“Three words, V. Three words.”

“Hm?”

“Private girls school.”

“. . . Yeah, say no more."

Everything that Hailey had said was the truth. She knew what it was like to be the outsider, she knew what it was like to feel like the ground beneath you was always shaking and about to give out on you no matter what you did. No amount of duct tape would hold it together, and given the fact that Vanessa had just had to uproot her life — again — Hailey could sympathise with what she was going through despite the fact that she would thankfully never understand it fully.

Hailey sighed lightly as she gave Vanessa’s hand a small squeeze. “I wish you could live with me.”

“Can I?”

Though Vanessa was clearly joking, as seen by the smile playing at her lips and her humorous tone, Hailey really did wish she could bring Vanessa to live with her — perhaps just not at her house. With her father. And her mother, who was always excusing the former’s behaviour. Always.

“I’m not sure you’d like it very much at my house.” The blue eyed girl let out an exhale as she spoke. “There’s a reason I spend so much time at Adam’s house.”

“I get it.” Vanessa’s eyes held sympathy towards Hailey. “But hey. . . we’ve got each other, right? We’ve got these two doofuses in the front seat, we’ve got Stella and Kim and Kelly and Kev. And one day we can all run away together and forge a home in the woods using our very minimal survival skills that would definitely not suffice to stop us getting eaten by a bear or something.”

At the sound of Vanessa addressing him and Jay, Adam turned around from the driver’s seat as he pulled up at a stoplight before directing his words to the girls in the back seat.

“Hey! I was a Cub Scout when I was younger, you know! ” He said, his chest puffing out ever so slightly in pride. "We’d be just fine in the woods."

“Adam, shut the hell up,” Hailey laughed as she looked at him incredulously, rolling her eyes at the boy. “You did Cub Scouts for two months and then you quit when you couldn’t get a single badge because they required you actually putting work into them. All you wanted to do was sit there with a juice box and a cookie.”

“Says the one who got kicked out of Girl Scouts for threatening to set a girl’s hair on fire!”

“She deserved it.”

“She was traumatised!”

“Good. I don’t like her. She tried to steal my backpack."

“It was ten years ago, Hailey.”

“It was my favourite backpack!"

❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄

aaaaaa! I apologise if this isn’t great I really struggled trying to write this one I don’t even know why 😂

thank you so much to @ruzek-halstead for proofreading! after writing this for so long I definitely lost the ability to do so, so marcia — you’re a literal lifesaver 🥰

tag list: @ruzek-halstead @lissethsrojas @sammywiths @butterflies44 @upsteadheart @shawnscheeks @puckluck28 @karihighman @thetwit @azu1ang3188 @juu-series @justanotheronechicagofan @stinaax @stayupton @fullwattpadmusictree @anna-justice

ps: if anybody ever wants to be added to the tag list, just let me know! it’s so easily done!

[teacoffeeandwhatnot]

The Gay Agenda - Chapter 4

Severely late but its finally here - Chapter 4! - This weeks menu: Luwoo

Please keep in mind, sentences written in Italic is what is being said by the panel, or people in the studio. Normal text is what is happening otherwise.

As always, also available on my Ao3!

(if you want me to tag you every time i update, please dont hesitate to message me and I’ll add it in the next chapter)

Jungwoo tried really hard not to laugh at the open mouthed, shocked expressions on his friend’s faces. This was even more amusing than he had anticipated it to be.

“Wait, what?” Jaehyun broke the silence.

“You heard me.”

“Ok, but like….I’m so confused?” Johnny finally spoke up.

“What’s there not to get? I signed up for a game show.”

“Yes, see, that’s the part I get. What I don’t get is why you signed up for a game show where you have to”, Johnny lowered his voice, leaned in and whispered, “seduce someone!”

“Again, what’s there not to get? It’s pretty straightforward.”

“Straightforward? Ok, one: literally nothing straight about this. Two: why the fuck would you sign up for something like this? You’re like…the epitome of pure.”

Jungwoo actually snorted out loud at this.

“Pure? Seriously, sometimes its like you people aren’t even my friends. That’s just some weird picture of me that you’ve all convinced yourself of. I’m nothing like what you think of me. Like, for example, how many people have I slept with in the last month?”

Johnny gawked at him. “You slept with people lately? How? When? Is this a trick question? Is it no-one? Please say its no-one.”

Jungwoo scoffed. “I slept with 5 people, hyung, because, as opposed to all your introverted asses, I go partying and turns out, when you leave the house, you meet people. Confusing concept, I know.”

He pointedly ignored the offended looks on his friend’s faces. “You all seem to think I’m this innocent being, just because I’m ‘soft’ and have manners.”

“Wait, did you sign up for this just to prove a point? Because you really don’t have to do that, we believe you, you don’t have to go to such an extreme.”

“Oh my fucking God.” Jungwoo sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers. “I am not doing this just to prove a point. Believe it or not, I actually want to do this, so please stop trying to change my mind, because it won’t work.”

He received skeptical looks from his friends, and was about to leave, slightly annoyed.

Before he could though, Taeyong patted his arm reassuringly and said, “Ok, we believe you. If you really want to do this, then we’ll support you!”

Jungwoo sighed a breath of relief. He was glad that they finally understood

“I really fucking hope you use protection though. Be a hoe but be a smart hoe.”

Actually, never mind, he would sell them to Satan for one corn chip. And he didn’t even like corn chips.

Although he wasn’t exactly nervous, he was still glad to see a familiar face in Jaemin, a junior from his university, whom he knew because Jaemin was part of the dance crew that performed at the winter talent show last Christmas. They weren’t exactly friends or on talking terms, but it still helped.

He decided that he wouldn’t ‘work’ in a shop, not wanting to be tied down, and instead decided to just pose as a regular shopper. He figured he could cover more ground this way, and, if in worst case scenario, he tried flirting with someone and it went horribly wrong, he could easily make a break for it. He also didn’t have to answer to anyone which was refreshing, and not something he dealt with well anyways.

Now, Jungwoo wasn’t vain, but he also wasn’t blind. He knew that he looked good, and fully intended on exploiting that. He made sure his recently dyed orange hair was at maximum floofiness that would make anyone itch to run their fingers through it, put on an over-sized shirt and sweater that gave him the ultimate soft sweater paw look, and balanced that out with some tight white ripped jeans.

To begin with, he just walked around aimlessly, looking into stores that interested him, lowkey forgetting he was there for a specific reason. He caught himself though, and realized he need a game plan. he decided that he would visit every store, floor-wise and see if he could find anyone that interested him. Of course, he had to seem inconspicuous and couldn’t just walk out of a store if there wasn’t anyone good there, so it took quite some time.

He had made it halfway through the second floor, when he came across a sports shop. He went in, with mildly more interest than the shops before, and realized that he actually needed new shin guards for practice since his were on their way to destruction.

He walked straight to the soccer section, not even bothering to look around for anyone in the store, not thinking that there would be anyone anyways. He was on his tiptoes, trying to reach the shelf with the shin guards in his size that were just out of reach, when he heard someone clear their throat behind him.

Startled, he spun around. He came face to face with a brick wall in form of a toned chest and marveled at it for a second before snapping his eyes up to look the person in the face.

“Hi, can I help you in any way?”

Holy shit. For a second, it was like Jungwoo’s brain had a small system failure. In front of him was literally the epitome of everything he dreamed about at night. This dude was slightly taller than him, had the most handsome face that Jungwoo had ever seen in his entire life, fluffy light brown combed back hair, and had a beaming smile on his face. Fuck, he was cute.

He scrambled for something to say, something that would keep this dude talking to him, preferably forever.

“Uh, yeah, hi…. I actually need help… yeah. So I don’t really do sports, and I can’t decide what would be a good one for me to start with, since I want to get healthier so yeah….. any suggestions?”

….what was he thinking? He internally cursed himself for coming up with literally the worst lie ever, especially considering he was at university on a soccer scholarship. But now he was stuck with this stupid lie, and God help him, he was going to stick to it.

To his confusion, the guy in front of him let out a laugh almost like a scoff, like he was making fun of Jungwoo. He tilted his head to the side, and the guy wiped the smirk off his face and turned serious.

“Ok, Sir, well what options have you considered?”

“Uh, I don’t really know, since I don’t really know how any sport works, so I don’t know what I will enjoy, I guess.” God, he was just making this worse and worse.

Again, the shop clerk gave him a strangely knowing look, but Jungwoo held fast in his lie, hoping the more confident he was in it, the more believable it would be.

“Um, ok well, you’re kinda tall so maybe basketball?”

“Is that the one that’s basically the extreme version of ‘don’t let the balloon touch the floor’ with a net in the middle?” he hated himself for even asking it, he’d been on the volleyball team in high school.

It made the employee laugh though, which was a win in his book.

“No, you’re thinking of volleyball, which, come to think of it, you might be good at it.” Quieter, under his breath, he added, “you have the figure for it.” What was that supposed to mean?

The cute clerk proceeded to give him a basic run down of how basketball worked. Jungwoo tried not to wince and correct him, when he explain the rebound slightly wrong, which would totally out him and definitely weird out the employee, like he had come to the store just to test their knowledge or something.

“As much as I like playing with balls, maybe something else?”

Back in the studio, Heechul spat out his drink and Key nearly died as his snort turned into him coughing so hard his eyes started watering. Jin whooped and cheered for the pun and the flirting while Namjoon looked upon him with the weirdest mix of regretting all his life choices and loving adoration.

The store clerk looked slightly taken aback and was clearly looking for something to say when:

“Lucas! Can you please ring this lady up for a second, my hands are kinda full,” The other employee yelled from the back, his hands loaded with shoe boxes.

‘Lucas’ quickly excused himself with a small “I’ll be right back”. Jungwoo let out a long sigh. What the fuck was he doing? He seriously considered just running out of the store and never coming back for a second, which he would’ve definitely already done, if Lucas wasn’t so fucking hot. Even his name was cute. Jungwoo hated his life sometimes.

At least Lucas having to leave for a second gave Jungwoo the opportunity for a little breather and the time to come up with something, so he wouldn’t have to scramble for something to say and make it up on the spot. The more he thought about it though, the more ridiculous this whole thing became in his mind.

He was wracking his brain so hard, he hadn’t even noticed that Lucas had returned.

“So, I was thinking, what about soccer?” Jungwoo startled when he heard Lucas talk really close to his ear.

He spun around and saw that Lucas was once again sporting his shit eating grin.

Jungwoo was at a loss of words. It would be really hard to ask any stupid questions about football, something his entire life basically revolved around at this point.

“I…um….I… Ok, you know what, this is getting stupid,” Jungwoo mumbled under his breath. He inhaled loudly before turning to look Lucas in the eye.

“I have to come clean, I’ve just been playing dumb this whole time to try and flirt with you, but that obviously didn’t work and I look like an absolute idiot, so would it be possible that we could just start over and pretend this whole mess didn’t happen?” He put on his best smile to try and convince Lucas that he wasn’t a moron.

To his utter dismay, Lucas looked like he was trying really hard to hold in his laughter before giving up and bursting out in loud giggles. Jungwoo pouted. Like sure, he looked like an idiot, but being straight up laughed at still hurt. Lucas finally seemed to calm down, straightening up from where he had put his hands on his knees when laughing too hard.

“Oh my God, Jungwoo, I was wondering when you would stop with the shtick.”

He froze. Lucas had just called him by his name.

“Wait, how the fuck do you know my name?? I never told you!”

“I go to the same uni as you, dumbass. I’ve been to one of your games, you know, the ones where you’re the main fucking player?”

Jungwoo wanted to die. This has got the be the most humiliated he had ever felt in his entire life. There was no doubt he was beet red. He couldn’t look Lucas in the eye and hid his face in his hands.

“Oh my fucking God. Oh my God. This is the worst. I’m going to die. That’s it, I’m going home and never leaving my room again. I’m going to become a hermit. Maybe adopt 2 or 3 cats. Wait no, I’m allergic. Maybe a hamster.” He mumbled to himself.

He was about to turn to leave, when he felt someone pry his hands away from his face. He kept his eyes shut, not wanting to face Lucas, who was probably going to look at him like he was the biggest idiot, and honestly? He was not ready for that.

“Jungwoo,” Lucas called quietly. Jungwoo didn’t move, keeping his head bowed and his eyes tightly shut.

“Jungwoo, look at me.” Lucas let go of one of his hands and tilted Jungwoo’s chin up. He reluctantly opened his eyes, but still refused to look in Lucas’ general direction.

“Oh, come on, look at me. Please?” Jungwoo couldn’t resist the cute tone and the puppy eyes he could feel Lucas sending his way.

The smile Lucas had on his face when Jungwoo finally turned to him was enough to make his insides feel gooey.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to embarrass you. I was actually quite enjoying it, I didn’t think you’d keep going for so long,” Lucas said with an amused tone.

Jungwoo didn’t say anything, but could feel his cheeks heating up again, which meant that Lucas could probably feel it too, since the hand on his chin had moved to cup his cheek.

“My break starts in 5 minutes, how about I treat you to a cold drink? You look like you need it.”

He agreed and proceeded to wait on a bench in front of the store while Lucas quickly let his co-worker know and clock out.

Although this definitely wasn’t the smoothest thing he had ever done, and he would definitely not be able to ever live this down, the smile on Lucas’ face when he walked towards Jungwoo and the hand he extended towards him to hold, made it all worth it.

Pt. 3