#hope ur having an awesome day anon!!
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Does the watermelon gum that Tomura chews are a specific brand or do he have a favorite brand of gum? Im itâs pretty sudden I thought of it while chewing some strawberry gum
HAHAHA omg itâs so funny u ask because yes, it is, kind of! the gum i had in mind while writing was hubby bubbaâs strawberry watermelon gum, which was my fave when i was a lil kid hehe c: it's super thick and it looses its flavour within five minutes of being in your mouth so all i could imagine was tomura popping piece after piece (the very moment they lose their flavour) and ending up with a massive wad in his mouth, welding to his molars and coated in his spit and slurring his words hehe
all of this is to say, technically tomuraâs gum is inspired by this gum c:
#so yeah!#i totally thought it was only watermelon even as a kid#only just now when i searched it up to find a picture for u did i discover it was STRAWBERRY watermelon hahaha#iâm craving this gum now LMAO#hope ur having an awesome day anon!!#enjoy ur weekend n stay hydrated ofc!#flawless universe#inky.bb#clari gets mail
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Joshua supremacy đđđ Iâm so soft for him. Just let me be his little princess. He can make all the rules idc
omg heâs so gorgeous and like the thing about himâat least in my opinion/my own personal interpretationâis that while he is genuinely so sweet (almost sickly so at times!) and so kindhearted and so so tender, he is also so used to being served and so used to being the Boss, the undyingâs precious phoenix prince, the king of everything, and it comes out in these tiny little wisps and hints in certain interactions; a vaguely bratty comment, a gentle yet vehement assertion, a soft chuckle beneath a gloved handâŠâŠ..
all of this is to say, i think heâd fucking love to have a partner who lives to serve him and be his precious lil doll (to the point where he may even feel guilty about how much he loves it, because he knows it isnât necessarily right, but he just canât help but feel this way about you <3). he wouldnât push it on you, and he wouldnât hold you back from doing things you wanted to, either, if he deems them good or beneficial for youâheâd definitely encourage you to do things if they were things you wanted to do/made you happyâbut oh, to have a baby whoâs syrupy sweet and devotedly doting and hangs on his every word; to have a precious lil princess who gazes up at him as if heâs painted the entire night sky by hand, speckled the stars across the atmosphere and carved out the moon himself; to have a soft sweetheart who clings to him in every way possible, hands curled around his fingers or wrists or biceps when he takes you for a walk in the gardens or when you sit down for a meal (always beside him, never across from him, protocol be damned), who snuggles in his lap or straddles his thighs and nuzzles their sugar-sweet lips against his neck or collarbone or jaw, who obediently never leaves his side unless it is absolutely necessary <33333 that sounds like a perfect dream, a paradise, to him <3
#iâm in love iâm in LOVEEEEEE#iâm writing a small piece of prose for him right now thatâs mostly angsty but does focus on his bratty bossy tendencies hehehehehehe#i am also writing something i promised myself i wouldnât write for this blog HAHAHA and in Clari Tradition i kind of want it to be the very#first piece i post but itâs also getting quite long so weâll have to see#anyway i blame jote for like;;;;; half of this behaviour#joshua could murder an entire village in cold blood just because âhe felt like itâ and girlie would be like âexcellent job your graceâ#pls gtfo outta here~#this post is me beginning my yandere joshua campaign HAHAHAHA#hope ur having an awesome day anon!! <3#stay safe n drink water okay!!!#inky.bb#inky.joshua#clari gets mail#shOULD I PUT THIS IN THE TAGS???????#maybe :o#joshua rosfield x reader#omg (^q^)
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sending you the best vibes too because heck yeah! I get to have the coolest big brother ever!! :D -tails kin
I GOT UR BACK BRO JHEDBJGDBKUGDKUV
#reblog#your so sweet whaaashbhdbkb#fav#sonic#COLLECTING ANONS LIKE POKEMON CARDS#Everyone look at this precious anon <3#hope ur having an awesome day dude!
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Talking about 0909 as a person with DID is frustrating, bc people are SO WEIRD about 0909 and I hate it and I see so many horrible incorrect opinions about systems from non systems and it just makes my blood boil bc GOD
Considering the fact haruka is implied to be a month off of 18 (i do believe he lies about his age and is older, but this isnt that conversation) the fact 0103 is shunned honestly feels more like another way to baby haruka bc "the acoustic smol boi" cant date or do anything intelligent despite the fact he is quite literally low needs autistic when you look even at the autism spectrum for more than a second
Today in a disc server I was in there was jokes about how the fandom is a bunch of illiterate teens that vote everyone guilty, unfortunately I have to agree with those members because they werent off the bat đ
-awesome 0103 anon :D
Aaah it makes me so mad when singlets try to talk about Mikoto being good system representation or not let alone spreading misinfo about 0909 and in-sys relationships (the "selfcest" people WHEN I CATCH YOU-)
To clarify i am suspecting to be a system but since I don't have & can't have a solid confirmation I just refrain from commenting abt Kayanosys & systems generally like how difficult is it to listen to actual systems??? speaking of that, since I adore 0909 & Mikoto himself a lot, please feel free 2 correct me if there's anything I say about them that is wrong!
AND THANK YOUUUU, EXACTLY, Haruka has been stated time and time again to only struggle with communication and that's probably a mix of the autism and the effects of his awful neglect & isolation. Even then, he learns quickly when given a chance to!!
and I hate when people use the "he's age regressed" thing about Haruka being unable to date too, because that isn't even how age regression works....
Something that hurts my heart is how a project like milgram that makes you ponder about really important stuff, that had so much potential to make people think and reflect on themselves & their environments became just a playground for chronically online SJW 14yos (glaring at the awfully painfully huge intersection between pjsktwt and milgramtwt)
#people when the âbabieâ character in the project about morally gray characters isnt actually so babie#i hope ur having a good day awesome 0103 anon you are so so based#also omg ur one of the haru is older believers??? tell me about it sometime#cause i believe he is 17 :D#should i maintag uhhh#ask tag
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awww (this is the i wanna be friends anon) im sorry if i made you feel pressured or sad or anything, that wasnt my intention đđ sending hugs to you đ«” (with consent) đ«đ«đ« u đ«” just seem so cool and your art is really cool too and youre also v pretty just like your art đ«”đ«”đ«”
hey no dont worry about it!!! it didnt, it was actually really sweet of u to want to be friends đ„čđ i just dunno how to do that sorry if i came across as uncomfortable, that wasnt my intention :( and OMG I AM SENDING MORE HUGS BACK 2 U!!! đ«đ«đ«
also thank you so so much for your kindness omg⊠youâre very sweet this made me really happy :âD đ
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LOOKING at your post about gods!swagdoons and their religions becoming intervowen omg thats such a cool concept!! do you have any more thoughts on made up mythology by chance pointrightpointleft
omg....i do!
gonna focus on their cults for a second but id think they'd meet up because of trading and whatnot ^_^ since yk. swagdoons and business partners and whatnot but id imagine their cults would have a lot of things about economics (red's moreso, ash's would just use money as a status symbol/sign of power)! so uh. insert coin tossing and riches rituals here. and also insert ash's cult using money as a sign of loyalty here bc its like, giving up your ego to someone. yeag .
but yeah! some misc things is that i think their cults would be Well Known but they have funky variations depending on which region you go to >_< sorta like how there's Flavors of swagdoons depending on which series you base them off of! also they'd have the craziest and sickest parties i just Know it . dionysian parties type beat fr!
#swagdoons#anyways more rambles in the tags#i also associate red with revival/time loops and ash with war/general death so uhhhh#(has not played h.ades) thats like 2 of the guys in there right#(t.hanzag or something idk all of my knowledge from that game is via osmosis)#anwyays yeah god of rebirth and god of death is sooooo. very themcore i think i think they'd have Some of their myths based on that concept#anyways i also think that reds cult would eat a lot of stuff like honey and milk#specifically something like byzantine honey fritters#which reminds me i wanna make them so bad but :sadge:#maybe one day ill make them and have a biblically accurate taste review of it#also uhhhhh this isnt even all of my thoughts i have More made up symbolism when it comes to them and fallen angels that's like#Different than this god concept#as well as another old god!red concept that's a Lot more canon-compliant LOL#feel free to ask btw i loveeeee asks where i can ramble they're awesome#anyways omg ty for ur ask anon! ^_^ hope u enjoyed! <3#into the pantheon#mailbox.core
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Please listen, listen listen... Alhaitham putting his noise-cancelling headphones on a reader that feels overwhelmed and overstimulated in a crowdy noisy place, holding her hand, and shushing her
oh my goshhhhh anon please this is actually the cutest thing iâve ever heard!!!!!! especially since those headphones are very clearly important to him and he wonât just share them with anyoneâyouâve got to be someone genuinely remarkable to achieve that; someone he sincerely cares about (i headcanon him to have ocd-like tendencies when it comes to his stuff; like heâs very particular about these types of things and who is allowed to touch them, when and why etc)âso that fact alone adds another layer of sweet sentimentality to the action <3 but oh my GOSH i am gushing waaaah just the thought makes me feel so warm and comforted and calm đ„șđ„șđ„ș
#he would care about his baby so so so much#like vigilant care but not suffocating care#he knows the moment something is wrong or off#which is new and interesting for him since he isnât always the most perceptive when it comes to reading other humans#ugh i am so in love with himmmmmm <33333#thank u for this anon đ„ș#i wish i could write a fluffy lil piece about it but alas i have so many haitham fics on the go rn that i cannot add another to my plate#waaaaah >.<#i just want him to take care of me and baby me and push me to do things because he knows iâm capable etc etc etc#i hope ur having an awesome day anon bb!!!#keep safe and drink water!!#inky.bb#inky.alhaitham#clari gets mail
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trojan war tumblr simulator
đ is-the-sea-wine-dark-today
YOU BET IT IS
#the wine dark sea!!!!!!!!!!!! #wine dark sea #wine dark sea posting
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âđ» ajax2electricboogaloo follow
why is achilles the only demigod who's Like That? like he's my boy but u don't see memnon or aeneas or sarpedon acting like him on the reg. why is he so maladjusted? like specifically? I saw his mother once and was so terrified by the sight of a goddess I flung myself to the ground and hid my face in the dirt til she left but I still don't think that accounts for it idk
đïž nobody1020
it's blonde man syndrome hope this helps
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âïž sonoftydeus
opening my askbox so that we can discuss strategies on taking troy!
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anonymous asked: we should all go home :)
âïž sonoftydeus answered:
FUCK OFF AGAMEMNON I WANT REAL SUGGESTIONS
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nobody1020 asked: do u like..... horses
âïž sonoftydeus answered:
odysseus do I even wanna know where this is going
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â isthetrojanwaroveryet?
year 9, day 234: still no....
#all our admins keep DYING
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âŒïž trojan-confessions follow
I think my wife might be sending me anon hate :/ keep getting asks like 'hope u die on the battlefield tomorrow silly slag' and 'menelaus should have curbstomped you' and in her big tapestry of warriors she made me look stupid
đŽ horsetaminghector follow
lmaooo is this paris??
đź cryinglikecassandra follow
kinda think helen should send MORE anon hate idk
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â myrmidons-confessions
I was the one who wrote the achilles/agamemnon 100k slowburn enemies to lovers rpf and put it on the group chat but now patroclus is calling me 'agachilles boy' and laughing about it and asking if I can proofread his mock bardic epic where all his dogs are heroes and killing people, so I fear I've made a mistake. I also can't look achilles in the eye anymore... but honestly I've never seen proof he can read so I might be safe
â myrmidons-confessions
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đ kingofmycenae
đđ» ajaxthegreat
achilles is DEAD and ur posting CRAB RAVE?????
đïž nobody1020
I think that's why he's posting it ngl
300 notes
đč deiphobus42069
imagine being the achaeans and your best warrior gets killed by PARIS, after everyone else had awesome deaths at the hands of sarpedon or hector or memnon... like that's literally so embarassing I just know achilles is fucking fuming down in hades rn. I bet the achaeans are gonna put around that paris was guided by apollo, or that paris happened to hit his only weak spot..... anything 2 try and make it less cringe.... lol lol we're popping the biggest bottles tonight. hope helen's there
đ leopardskiniscool
???????????????
#I mean. yeah. but also. #deiphobus wtf I thought we were chill
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#hope everyone can be normal about the outcome!!! :)
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đ§đ» randotrojansoldier-deactivated-8578543
so excited to go back onto the field of battle tomorrow! sure hope I don't encounter any of the big-name heroes
đŁïž homer follow
I hope you don't too! I'm sure you'll do great!
đ antilochussss
not the direct address????
âđ» ajax2electricboogaloo
direct address got him :(
3000 notes
đđ» trojanguardtales follow
fuck my job so much I hope that this wooden horse tribute to the gods turns out to have some guys inside or something just so I can DO something rather than standing here like a twat with my spear
đđ» trojanguardtales follow
by ares this can't be happening
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âïž sonoftydeus reblogged menelauskingofsparta
do NOT order achilles from shein!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#oh yeah #I was stuck with temu achilles in the trojan horse for six hours #and by hour two agamemnon had suggested killing and eating him #and odysseus was threatening to 'send him to meet his father' #and it's not even like there's any kleos in killing priam!!! #anti neoptolemus #neoptolemus defenders dni #vent tags
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#taking a break from my actual academic essay about the iliad to make this terrible terrible post#I don't think there's any proof everyone hated neoptolemus. BUT.#but if I'd been at troy for 10 years and achilles' fuckass teenage son pulled up with the bloodlust of an xl bully I'd have been. displeased#iliad#the iliad#trojan war#achilles#ajax#odysseus#homer#epic cycle#unreality#tumblr simulator#greek mythology#my post
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*dramatically kicks open door*
OW SH-*bleep* HOW DO PEOPLE DO THAT IN MOVIES GO-*bleep*
*a few agonizing minutes later*
Hello.
*grabs table and chair*
Hi.
*forces you to sit*
Did you eat today????
*imagine an eyebrow raise*
If you haven't...
what the *bleep* are you waiting for????
also why the *bleep* can i not curse?
*bleep. bleeeeeeeeep. bleep. bleep. bleep. bleeeep.*
(thats the sounds of cursing btw)
[REDACTED] *bleep bleeeeep* [REDACTED] the *bleep* piece of junk isn't *bleeeeeep* working, what the *bleep*
*the sounds of machines and thumping*
Okay. Did you drink water? If you haven't please do.
[REDACTED] i think i fixed it.
fu*BLEEEP*
Drink water, eat food and take care of yourself!
you are an amazing human being and your life is as important as any other life on this go*bleeeeeeeeeeep* planet, and we care about you <3
okay thats it because this machine is being a *bleep bleep bleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep*
LMAO I HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT DAY AND I HOPE THIS MADE YOU A BIT MORE HAPPIER
HELP ..PWLASE?@,1 THIS IS SO SILLY AND SWEET SHUT UP RN... Anon Whoever u are thank u for reminding me i haven't eaten yet. BRUNCH TIME..!! I will think of u while i eat𫶠I hope ur also eating.. Be sure to think of me. /silly
#đ§Ÿnia.answers#<3 anon#i hope u have a super duper awesome beautiful day friend đ«#hope U remember I care about U and so do many other people. Holds ur hand and skips through a meadow and spins in circles gleefully!!
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I think I visit your blog an unhealthy number of times bc it's just my go-to for some good old fashioned hurt/comfort and it's just. You are such an incredible writer đâ€ïž!! could I request a batfam fic where the reader undergoes a depressive (or numb) episode/the vibe that comes with a character just falling down wordlessly on the couch and the other character saying "bad day?" and the character nodding and giving them a blanket // if this is too specific absolutely no worries, either :D! any and all characters are alright, thank you so much!! please take your time with the requests and I hope you have an awesome rest of ur day :]!!
Aww anon! Thatâs so cute! I hope you enjoy and I hope youâre doing okay! :)
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WHUMPTOBER DAY TWENTY :Prompt: necrosis/wound cleaning.
Warnings: numbness and a depressive episode described.
Word count: 1k
MASTERLIST †WHUMPTOBER 2024
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You had fallen into that pattern again. That dreadful, hateful pattern. It comes and goes in waves; Numbness followed by dark sadness that weighed heavily in the middle of your chest. Suffocating.Â
You couldnât help it. You never could. The feeling would just wash over you all of a sudden. Hit you like a ton of bricks. And usually you felt like there was nothing you could do about it except let it play out its course. So, you spent much of your time alone. It didnât help much. Being alone made you feel worse in many ways. You yearned for normality; Dickâs laughter and Damianâs small unamused grunts as he pretended to be interested in what was going on. You would have given anything to not feel this way again. But right now it was all too much. Even just moving felt like too much of an effort. So you remained numb up in your room, staring blankly at the ceiling.Â
You were sure you had traced the patterns in the ceiling at least a hundred times in the last day or so. It was that or overthinking. You couldnât stop the influx of thoughts. They would come all at once all angry and disappointed. And you would ponder on them for far too long before they vanished just as quickly as they arrived, leaving you once again alone.
Your family had noticed your withdrawal. They had seen you in this state before and it broke their hearts to see you in it again, but they werenât sure what to do. The Waynes arenât exactly known for their emotional intelligence. They thought the next best thing to do was to give you some space, but to extend a hand if you asked for it. You never asked for it. You didnât know how. And you didnât want to be a burden to the rest of your family. So you remained silent.
One night, you had decided to venture out of your room. It was a quiet evening. Late autumn so the sun was already beginning to set despite the early hours of the afternoon. It had taken you a long while to decide that you wanted to move, but nevertheless you stood and moved towards your favourite spot; a place that you often found solace in. The armchair was large and plush and positioned by the window so that it caught the last slivers of golden light as they streamed through the window. You curled up on the plush leather, watching the trees shed their leaves and the sky turn a deep blue. It was a few hours later, when the stars had appeared in the sky, when the door cracked open. The figure was silent, save for their bare feet padding against the wooden flooring.Â
It was Jason who approached. He had a blanket slung over his shoulder and two steaming mugs of hot cocoa in his hands. He paused, studding you for a moment as you stared numbly out the window. He had seen you here before. It brought him a sense of deja vu that heâd rather not feel again. Taking a step forward, he let out a gentle sigh.Â
âHey kiddoâŠ.â he started. You glanced up at him. Jason smiled sadly. It was a start. âBrought you your favourite. Thought you might be thirsty.â
He extended a mug towards you. It was topped with cream and marshmallows which were slightly melted. It was just how you liked it. Goddamnit. You took the mug from him and took a sip. The sweet liquid melted on your tongue.Â
âThank youâŠâ You said quietly before the two of you fell into silence. Jason watched you as you went back to staring out of the window, trying to gather the words to say. It was clear that he was worried; they all were. He just didnât know how to make you feel better. If he could even make you feel better at all. He hated seeing you like this; so lost in the darkness of your own mind. He hated it not only because you were hurting, but also because he knew that feeling all too well. He knew how much it hurt. How difficult it was to feel anything but numb and self hatred.Â
âBad week again?â he asked gently.
You just nodded. Jason always seemed to understand without pressing you.Â
âHereâŠâ he handed you the blanket, draping it over your shoulders.You hugged it tight around you, immediately overcome with the sense of familiar comfort.Â
Jason didnât say much more after that and you even less. But he took a seat on the armchair across from you before curling up with his book. It was a simple but effective gesture to show that he was there for you without overwhelming you. You glanced at him, taking a sip of your drink. And for the first time in what felt like forever you began to feel again.
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<- DAY NINETEEN⧠DAY TWENTY ONE->
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TAGS:
@hearts4robs @kingshitonly @alicedawitchbish @hell-o-kittys @azure-drag0ness @harleycao @thewhispersofthewaves @batfamsstuff @xxrougefangxx @rosecentury @noisymutantherelol @killxz @rhiodes @inlovewhithafairytale @that-wannabe-vangoghgurl @canthavetoomuchchaos
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#whumptober 2024#whumptober24#whumptober2024#whumptober#whumptober 24#no.20#emotional whump#healing wounds#batfam x reader#depression#jason todd x reader#batfamily x reader#jason todd#whump#angst#enemies to friends#dc#numbness#emotional hurt
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our secret moments - lhs (m)
"our secret moments in a crowded room / they got no idea about me and you // all of this silence and patience / pining and anticipation / my hands are shaking from holding back from you" - dress by taylor swift
series masterlist - part one - part two - part three
100 kisses masterlist - prompts 4 (breaking the kiss, your lover instantly pressing their lips back to yours), 26 (âi was supposed to take a shower, alone, but go ahead jump right inâ) & 19 (âif weâre caught kissing weâre most likely dead but letâs risk itâ)
pairing. best friendâs brother!heeseung x fem!reader synopsis. After avoiding Heeseung for a week, Chaeyeong makes you talk things out with him. In the weeks that follow, the two of you sneak around at night, sharing secret kisses in the backseat of his car and getting to know each other on a deeper level. If you make sure to be careful, there's no reason it should go wrong, right? genre. secret relationship au, fluff, smut (mdni!!), hint of angst at the end word count. 24.2k đ a/n. after a thousand years she's finally out!! i'm really sorry for making you guys wait but i was struggling with writing motivation and as you can see she's a bajillion words long so it took me forever to finish it. at least my amazing beta reader bestie in charge @zreamy edited it in like twelve seconds which was super awesome of her oh also shout out to the anon who recommended dress by tswift for this part ur very smart!! ok will stop talking now hope u guys like it and as always pls lmk what u think!!
Heeseung is confused.
Heâs always proudly considered himself someone who easily understands other people, who isnât rattled by sudden shifts in moods and who can adjust to different situations and attitudes. Heâs observant and likes trying to figure out what the people around him are thinking or feeling, going over all the possibilities and finding the right way to fix a situation. In that aspect, heâscompletely unlike his sister Seeun, who, always straightforward, prefers asking directly.Â
But Heeseung doesnât see the fun in that.
His ability to understand others so well also allows the people around him to rely on him whenever they have concerns or troubles - they trust him to listen intently and provide solutions as best as he can. Even though he has few friends, he knows them inside out, and heâll always choose that over having tons of friends he doesnât really know.
This is where the confusing part starts for him. He likes to think of you as a friend - not a close friend like Sunghoon or Jay, but still a friend. You greet each other and even sometimes talk when you run into each other at school or at his place; you take the bus home together every once in a while; you remember each otherâs birthdays; you even spent a few hours making a puzzle together once. Surely, thatâs what friends do, Heeseung thinks. But to his great despair, understanding other people means he also understands himself well, and he canât fool himself for that long.
He knows a friend wouldnât make him feel the way you do. He canât even blame it on your being a girl, because Chaeyoung, whom he basically sees just as often as you, or any of the girls in his classes that he sees on a daily basis, donât make his palms sweat and his heart race like you do.
Admittedly, the truth would be closer to âmy little sisterâs best friend who I get even more nervous and awkward than usual around and gives me butterflies every time she so much as looks at me and is awfully pretty and smart and funny, which doesnât help any of this.âÂ
But âfriendâ is easier.Â
So he sticks to it and forces himself to look you in the eye when you talk and to start conversations with you, like he does with all his other friends, hoping that someday, he will finally feel normal around you.Â
Sadly, that day doesnât seem to come, and before he knows it, fall arrives and heâs whisked away to college. Thatâs where he meets Jake.
Jake was Heeseungâs roommate whom he had been terrified of as soon as he laid eyes on him, for Jake seemed to be the complete opposite of Heeseung and the exact type of guy he had hated in high school. The loud type, who sat at the back of the room and paid no attention to the teacher because he was too busy annoying girls or making fart noises with his armpit. The type who made fun of Heeseungâs glasses.
Heeseung was terrified of Jake for about five minutes (and with reason - the first thing Jake had said to him was âCool glasses, broâ) until they started talking and he realized that he was doing the same major as him, shared a lot of his interests both academic and hobby-wise, and was basically just as much of a nerd as him; he simply hid it much better. Not that Heeseung wanted to hide it or even understood why he should.
One of Jakeâs freshman-year goals was to get into a fraternity. But not just any - he had his eyes set on Sigma Sigma Pi because his brother was an alumnus and he had told Jake - in those exact words - that college life wasnât worth living if you werenât part of a fraternity. This meant that presence at the first party of the semester was mandatory. Heeseung had shivered at the word âpartyâ, but Jake was so resolute that he decided to support his friend and come along, letting himself be convinced that even he might find some fun in it.
Three pints of cheap beer and five shots of tequila later, he concluded that maybe frat parties werenât so bad after all. As soon as theyâd seen him, a group of upperclassmen had taken his crooked glasses and lanky limbs as signs of social awkwardness and decided to help him loosen up by bringing him directly to the kitchen where all the good stuff was. Jake hadnât expected that Heeseung would be the one to catch their eye, but he wasnât going to complain about getting to party with the frat bros on his first night of college.
Heeseung, whose lips had never touched so much as a drop of alcohol, was wasted barely two hours into the party. Jake fared slightly better, but only because he knew better than to accept every drink that came his way. To this day, Heeseung finds himself unable to remember anything that happened after eleven p.m. that night, so imagine his surprise the next morning when he woke up half-naked in a strangerâs bed.Â
Heeseung, who had practically never had a female friend, let alone a girlfriend. Heeseung, who had never even been close to getting his first kiss, and whose dick only knew his right hand. Heeseung, who had had a singular crush his whole life, and had never been able to do anything about it. So imagine his surprise when said stranger turned out to be a girl - and a pretty one, at that - who was smiling down at him as he blinked his eyes open and asking him if he slept well.
She was sitting on the edge of her bed, close to Heeseungâs chest, which he rapidly covered with a blanket as soon as he realized it was bare. He was sleepy and confused, but more than that, he was hungover - his head was throbbing, his mouth was dry, and he felt like he might be sick any second. Obviously, Heeseung had never had a hangover before, nor had he ever woken up in a girlâs bed with no idea of how he got there, and the two new unexpected experiences made him unable to think or speak. He was just really confused. And really sleepy.
The girl slightly furrowed her eyebrows but laughed, seemingly amused by Heeseungâs behavior. âAre you okay?â
âI- um, yeah, Iâm fine, but I, umâŠâ
Heeseung winced at his own awkwardness, but he had no idea how to behave in such a situation. He also wasnât sure how to tell this girl that he had no idea who she was or what he was doing with her.
She gave him a weird look but continued laughing. âAre you sure youâre okay? Youâre acting weird.â
This only confused Heeseung further, because he always acted like this. He looked away from her questioning eyes and found an interesting spot on the blanket for his eyes to focus on. âWhat, um, what happened last night? I think I had too much to drinkâŠâ he said, voice getting quieter the more he spoke.
This girl was apparently having a lot of fun, because his words only made her laugh more. âYou can say that again. You were out.â Heeseungâs head whipped at that and his expression was so alarmed that she instantly tried to reassure him. âDonât worry, you didnât do anything too embarrassing.âÂ
He still didnât say anything and looked terrified out of his mind. âDo you not remember?â she asked, and he shook his head. âAnything?â He shook his head again.
She sighed. âDo you know my name?âÂ
Heeseung looked down again, and she could feel his guilt in the third head-shake.
âGuess you really did drink a lot. Iâm Yunjin,â she said, extending a hand out for him to shake.
He cleared his throat and took the girlâs hand. âH-Heeseung.â
Yunjin tilted her head at Heeseung as if trying to figure him out. âYou know, you were really different last night. A completely different person.â
No matter how mortifying the thought of behaving inappropriately was to Heeseung, he preferred knowing what he did to staying in the dark. âWhat was I like?â he asked, sounding almost scared.
Yunjin took a second to think. âYou were just really⊠confident,â she said, and Heeseung looked at her in total disbelief. âYou talked to everyone, danced like crazy, flirted with meâŠâ She paused for a second, then looked at Heeseung with a teasing smile. âYouâre a really good kisser, you know.â
Heeseungâs eyes widened so much they couldâve popped out of their sockets. âMe?!â he exclaimed as if heâd just heard the most ridiculous thing ever. Yunjin just laughed and nodded.
âBut right now, youâre like a beaten puppy or something. You act like Iâm gonna punch you any second,â she joked, finally getting a chuckle out of Heeseung.Â
They talked for some more, and he relaxed enough to ask more questions. But maybe he shouldnât have had, because his embarrassment reached its peak when Yunjin told him that she had taken him upstairs the previous night, not realizing how drunk he was because of how drunk she was, but that they hadnât done anything more than kissing. He asked whether heâd fallen asleep as soon as his body hit the bed, so Yunjin, reluctantly, had to inform him that he âcouldnât get it upâ - her words. That was why heâd woken up in just his underwear.Â
Luckily for him, their conversation was cut short when the rightful owner of the room kicked them out. He scrambled to put his clothes back on, and he and Yunjin ran into Jake in the hallway just as they exited the room.
âHeeseung! My man!â Jake exclaimed, circling his friendâs shoulders with his arm and ruffling his hair. The three of them decided to go get breakfast together in an attempt to fight off their hangovers, and a beautiful friendship ensued. Jake and Yunjin quickly figured out how fun it is to tease Heeseung for his awkwardness and nerd tendencies, but they were also really good friends.Â
It didnât take long for them to find out about his long-standing crush on his sisterâs best friend, and they immediately made it their mission to help Heeseung channel his alter ego so that he could finally make his move on you. He was reluctant at first, but after some time, he found that it was fun to party on the weekends, flirt shamelessly with strangers (and yes, sometimes make out with them) and hit the gym with Jake rather than stay holed up in his room and just study or game. They convinced him to get a haircut and some nicer clothes, and they even went to get their ears pierced together on a night when the alcohol made them feel like it was the greatest idea ever.
Of course, Jake and Heeseung were accepted in Sigma Sigma Pi, and Yunjin in the twin sorority. Heeseung developed this sort of odd reputation of being a player and a huge flirt but never actually taking a girl back to his room. Not to say no one tried - many girls heard about him and thought they would be the one to bag this boy that only seemed to get more handsome at every party, but no matter what they did or said, they were no match for you.Â
Even though he hadnât seen you in months, you were still on his mind all the time. To say he missed you would be an understatement, and it was a weird feeling, considering you were barely friends. But he missed taking the bus with you and hearing you laugh, even if it was at him, even when you were teasing him. He missed getting a glimpse of you in the hallways or seeing your shoes at the entrance of his house when he came home from school. He daydreamed about those hours you had spent together working on a puzzle together more often than heâd like to admit.
He didnât like the idea that some girls might think he was leading them on, but once he knew his flirting actually worked on people, he couldnât wait to see you again and try his new tricks on you. He tried not to self-doubt too much, but he was scared that you wouldnât like it - he wanted to get a positive reaction out of you, not make you want to run the other way.
So when he finally came home for the summer and started working his charm on you, he was immensely relieved to see you get shy and flustered around him. He finally understood why youâd always teased him - there was nothing like knowing your heart had skipped a beat because of him, much like his had because of you thousands of times before.
Itâs hard to always keep his cool around you, however, and he also finds himself getting nervous once in a while. But the hope that you might like him back keeps him going, so he takes every opportunity he can to talk to you and, while heâs at it, call you pretty or smile at you (a smile heâs practiced many times in the mirror for maximum effectiveness). To his immense joy, it works every time - so when the party rolls around, he knows he has to make an actual move. It also helps that heâs invited his number one wingman to stay with him for a couple weeks, so that his confidence never wavers.
He thinks heâs hit the jackpot when the bottle lands on you and on him right afterwards. He thinks heâs reached heaven when he finally feels your lips on his, when he finally gets to have you close and touch your hair and hold your waist and have your hands on him. The seven minutes pass by in a flash, and heaven is ripped away from him by his own best friend when the closet doors open - but the worst part happens during the days that follow. Those are hell.
You do the one thing that he had hoped you wouldnât - you run away from him. In one week, you donât even say ten words to him, just greet him quickly and proceed to escape as far as you can. He notices the change in your behavior right away - how could he not? And so a thousand possibilities run through his mind, ranging from âthe kiss was awful, and she hates my guts, and she never wants to see my face ever againâ to âsheâs just scared about the repercussions this could have if Seeun finds out.â None of his friends can calm him down or get him to think straight.
This whole ordeal makes him panic so much that he has fully gone off flirty mode - how could he flirt with you if he couldnât even get you to talk to him? He had been sure heâd read into your reactions right, that you had feelings for him, and that he was right to make a move, but not anymore. Now, he was just confused.
--
Since that fateful party, youâve unconsciously started seeing your life as pre-Heeseung incident and post-Heeseung incident.Â
Pre-Heeseung incident: itâs painful having such an intense one-sided crush, but at least you can keep it to yourself and not have to worry about Seeunâs reaction to you being in love with her brother. Sure, said brotherâs constant flirting and general existence donât make things easy for you, but itâs better to keep it a secret than to act on it.
Post-Heeseung incident: you have no idea what to do with yourself now that you know what it actually feels like to kiss and touch Heeseung, so youâve resorted to avoiding him like the plague and pretending nothing has ever happened. Itâs not fun either, and having to keep your inner turmoil to yourself is even harder than before, but you donât want to risk your friendship with Heeseung over one kiss.
On the afternoon of day five, youâre going crazy reiterating the events of the party, so you decide to text the girls and ask them to come over. They both answer that theyâll be there in fifteen, but not even three minutes after youâve sent the text, Chaeyeong appears at your bedroom door, face red and sweaty like sheâs just run a marathon.
Since itâs Chaeyeong, youâre only mildly surprised to see her there, but youâre curious about her quick arrival nonetheless. âYouâre already here?â
âY/N, we need to talk,â she says with all the seriousness in the world. Youâd be scared shitless if these words had come out of anyone elseâs mouth, but knowing your best friend, sheâs just exaggerating the gravity of whatever this is about.
Even though you try to match her earnestness, you canât keep the amusement out of your voice when you answer, âSure, go ahead.âÂ
She catches onto your lack of seriousness right away. âYou think this is funny?â she says in an almost threatening way. âI came early so we could talk about your little Heeseung problem without Seeun.â
Thatâs enough to shut you up for a few seconds as you look at her mouth agape, heat rising to your face. She takes your silence as a victory and crosses her arms over her chest, waiting for you to say something. âMy little Heeseung problem?â you echo stupidly, and she nods. âI donât have a little Heeseung problem.â You know that nothing about your tone or expression is convincing, but you still hope - in vain - that sheâll let you off the hook.
âNo, youâre right, you have a big Heeseung problem. And it must be discussed.â
You roll your eyes as she takes a seat next to you on your bed. âYouâre taking this way too seriously, you know.â
One thing about Chaeyeong is sheâs never at a loss for words. It makes arguing with her exhausting because sheâs always got something to bite back at you, no matter how much of a reach it is. So before the conversation even starts, you know sheâs going to win it. Youâre afraid of the truth she might shove into your face, but you figure it needs to be done at some point, so you let her.
âWhatâs serious is this crush youâve been harboring on him all these years, and that now that something has finally happened and you might be going somewhere with him, youâre running the other way.â
You only hear the beginning of her sentence, too focused on the bomb sheâs just dropped on you. âYou-you knew?â
Itâs her turn to eye-roll. âOnly an idiot wouldnât notice how much you like that boy, Y/N. Which means that Seeun is an idiot, by the way.â
The mention of your other best friend makes you wince slightly. It feels wrong to be going behind her back to talk about your crush on her big brother like this. âYeah, I know,â Chaeyeong says as if reading your mind. âIâve thought about it, and I honestly have no idea how sheâll react.â
You both look at your feet for a while, mulling over the different ways this could go down with Seeun. âIt definitely doesnât look good,â you say defeatedly. âI mean, if her reaction at the party is anything to go by. When we were playing the game, you know. When the bottle landed on me and Heeseung, she looked completely disgusted, but when we came out she didnât even question whether something might have happened, as if that was just impossible for her.â
Chaeyeong sighs. âWell, if you tell her, sheâll definitely be surprised. But Iâm sure sheâd be fine with it⊠right?â
Your friendâs doubt only makes you feel even worse, and you drop your head into your palms with a groan. âI hate everything about this.â
Chaeyeong nudges your shoulder with her own, making you turn your head to look at her. âIâm sure you didnât hate that whole part when you were in the closet with-â
âChaeyeong!â you scream before she can finish her godforsaken sentence, but it only makes her break into a fit of giggles. You try to pretend to be mad at her but a smile breaks through your pout at the sound of her laughter.Â
âWell? You canât deny it, can you?â
It takes another nudge of her shoulder with yours to make you reply. âOf course not, but-â
âSo thatâs it then! Letâs not think about any of the possible bad outcomes for now, and just focus on getting you and him together.â She doesnât even give you time to answer - your wide eyes and panicked expression are enough for her to know what you would say. âListen, Iâve had to sit here and watch you and Heeseung make heart eyes at each other without the other knowing, and that was already excruciating enough - I canât stand to watch you make heart eyes at each other now that you know what the other feels.â
It takes you a second to process all of her words. âY-you think Heeseung makes heart eyes at me?â you ask weakly. Itâs like you have selective hearing today.
âGirl! He somehow manages to make it even more obvious than you. Also, Jake told me that Heeseung told him that he likes you. Canât get much more reassurance than that.â Your dumbstruck expression makes her look at you in disbelief. âYou seriously donât see it?â she says in a fascinated voice, as if in wonder at your stupidity. You can only slightly shake your head no.
âI canât believe this is what I have to deal withâŠâ She sounds like an overworked office worker and mother of four rather than a high school senior on her summer break, and her attitude would make you laugh if you werenât so rattled by the thought that Heeseung might have actually liked you all these years, you were just too caught up in your own feelings for him to notice it.
She takes your hand in hers and sighs. âI can promise you I wouldnât be saying all this if I didnât really believe it,â she starts, voice much softer than before. âI remember the way he would get all shy and blushy whenever you were around, and that boy was already one hell of a nervous wreck on his own. And the blatant flirting since heâs come back makes me want to applaud him and vomit everywhere at the same time,â she says with a chuckle.
âReally?â you ask, a small smile appearing on your lips as you let yourself be convinced by your friendâs words.
âReally. And you, Iâve noticed how you pay more attention when his name is mentioned. And you were always a bit cheerier on the days you came back from school after riding the bus with him. Donât even get me started on the way youâve been this summer. You couldnât get more obvious. It screams âI canât handle being around this man for more than a minute so Iâll just run away,â and I mean that in a good way.â
You look at Chaeyeong with a pout, and her smile grows bigger. You squint your eyes as you look away, trying to keep your grin down. âGuess I wasnât as discrete as I thought I was.â
âYou really werenât,â she laughs. âProbably thought it was your own little secret, right?â
Youâre slightly embarrassed that youâd been uncovered such a long time ago, but itâs also a relief, being able to share this with someone.Â
âI didâŠâ you admit, and it makes you both break into laughter. After youâve calmed down, you ask Chaeyeong why sheâd never said anything about it before. She thinks about it for a bit before answering.
âIâm not completely sure. Maybe because you and Heeseung were both such losers, I thought that even if I told you I knew, nothing would happen.â You scoff, slightly offended, but more because you know sheâs right than anything. âAnd I donât know, you two were just so cute with your crush on each other. I wanted to let you figure it out on your own, but now itâs taken so long and itâs right in your face but youâre still doing nothing about it, so I got fed up.â
You nod at her words, taking it all in. Was it really time to let Heeseung know about your feelings?
âI also feel bad for Heeseung, you know.â You look at her, waiting for her to continue. âPoor guy has been in agony these days. You need to stop ignoring him. I know itâs because you feel weird about him being Seeunâs brother, but I swear I think he might die if you donât just at least talk to him. Iâve actually talked to JakeâŠâ she reveals, and you wouldnât have questioned her talking to Heeseungâs friend if it werenât for the way she said it.
âYou have?â you repeat with a suggestive tone.
âI have,â she says with a smile, âbut thatâs not the topic right now. Anyway, he said that Heeseungâs been losing his mind trying to figure out what to do. I think itâd make things a lot easier if you just went and talked to him, cleared things up, confessed your undying love for him, hm?â
âWho are we confessing to?â Seeun asks, suddenly appearing at the door and making you and Chaeyeong scream in genuine terror.
âNice to see you guys, too,â she chuckles before flopping down on the bed.
Chaeyeong is only good with her words when it comes to arguing - sheâs perhaps the most terrible liar youâve encountered in your life. But at least she knows this, and is always deft at switching the topic rather than attempting to come up with an excuse. âY/N and I were just talking about watching some movies with the boys tonight. Apparently, theyâre having a movie night at your place since youâve got the best TV, and Jake asked if we wanted to join.â
You know better than to look surprised by Chaeyeongâs words and make it clear that sheâs lying, but youâre still caught off-guard by the sudden news. Movie night meant being in a darkened room in proximity to Heeseung, and we all know what happened the last night you were in a dark room with him.Â
âY/N and I thought it was a good idea, but we wanted to ask you first. Right, Y/N?â Chaeyeong suddenly prompts, momentarily tearing you away from your thoughts of Heeseungâs lips on yours.Â
âRight,â you reply, somehow successfully pretending like youâre not on the verge of spontaneously combusting. Youâre even more embarrassed now that you know that Chaeyeong and Jake know about your little crush, and you canât even pretend it isnât there like you usually do.
Seeun hums. âAlright, sounds fun.â
The three of you chat the rest of the afternoon away, and before you know it, youâre getting ready to go to Seeunâs house. As you rummage around your drawers for that one pair of soft sweatpants that manages to be the most comfortable article of clothing on Earth while also making your butt look amazing, your phone buzzes twice, and so do Chaeyeongâs and Seeunâs. The first notification is of Heeseung having added you to a group chat simply named âmovie nightâ, and the second is of a link being sent to said chat. When you click on it, it redirects you to a poll to rank ten movies in order of how much you want to watch them. Your favorite movie is on the list, and you canât help but wonder whether itâs a coincidence or whether itâs something youâd talked about during high school and that heâd somehow remembered.
Once everyone has voted, you receive a second link, this one asking you to rank the three top movies in watch order. A smile breaks on your lips at this - itâs very Heeseung of Heeseung to do this and avoid later confrontation. As if to confirm this thought, your phone dings for a third time with a text from him that reads âthis is so we donât spend thirty minutes choosing a movie.â Youâre not sure why everything he does is so endearing to you, all you know is that trying to avoid as much conflict as possible is a very Heeseung thing to do, and youâre grateful for it too.
When you get to Seeunâs house around seven-thirty p.m., the first movie is already up on the TV, waiting to be played. Itâs horror, and youâre glad it wasnât picked to be watched last, otherwise, you mightâve had trouble falling asleep. You quickly notice that Heeseung is the only one of the boys not currently sitting on the couch or in an armchair, and the question appearing in your head is answered almost right away when Seeun asks about her brotherâs whereabouts.Â
âHeâs just in the kitchen getting the drinks ready,â Jay answers as he sprawls his body even more across the armchair heâs reserved for himself.Â
âWhy donât you go help him out, Y/N?â Chaeyeong proposes with a deceptively innocent smirk, and if Seeun hadnât been watching, youâd have given your hellspawn of a friend a serious death glare, but all you can do is mumble out âsureâ and make your way to the dreaded kitchen. The butterflies you used to feel when thinking of Heeseung or being around him before have now turned into brutal rhinos trampling your insides, and it doesnât feel so nice.Â
âHey, Heeseung,â you say quietly as you enter the kitchen, and your nerves make your own voice sound unfamiliar to your ears. He gasps at your sudden appearance, a blush immediately creeping on his cheeks, and youâre glad the lid on the bottle of Coke heâs holding is tightly screwed, otherwise, it mightâve spilt everywhere.
âO-oh, hey, Y/N,â he stammers in response. Itâs awkward for three seconds as the two of you stare at each other until you remember why youâre here in the first place.Â
âUm, I heard you might need some help?â you ask, and again, the sound of your own voice, so squeaky and unsure, makes you wince.
âOh, sure. Thanks,â he says with a hint of a smile. âHere, you can fill this bowl with ice.â
You comply, and the refreshing feeling of the ice against your fingers somewhat helps to cool you down. Itâs only quiet for a few moments, because although starting a conversation is terrifying, the tension in the silence and the thought of your feelings being left unsaid is far worse. So you take a deep breathe and open your mouth to speak.
âIâm sorry-â
âIâm sorry-â
You and Heeseung exchange a bewildered look, the surprise of apologizing at the same time quickly fading out into a burst of shy giggles. âYou go first,â he says, risking another glance your way as he busies himself again with the glasses and the drinks.Â
âIâm sorry for avoiding you all week,â you start. âI wanted to talk to you, I was just⊠scared. And I didnât know what to say.â
Explaining your behavior any further means confessing your feelings for him and articulating your fear of Seeun finding out, and even though it must be all clear as day by now, youâre still not quite ready to talk about it. Not now, when your friends are in the room right next to you. So you donât add anything and hope that Heeseung has developed some sort of telepathy skills over the last few days.Â
When he doesnât press any further, instead saying itâs okay and smiling at you (properly, with eye contact), a weight seems to be lifted off your heart. âYour turn now,â you say, still smiling. Youâve emptied the ice cube tray into the bowl, so all you can do is look at Heeseung and wait for him to speak. If only you knew how much harder that made it for him.Â
âIâm sorry for kissing you and then acting weird.â He canât quite bring himself to look at you as he speaks, and even though heâs done getting the drinks ready, he keeps his eyes trained on the glasses as if theyâll tell him what to say next. âIâm not sorry for kissing you,â he adds quickly, ânot at all.â Heat rises to your face and you have to tear your gaze away from him for a second. âI was confused âcause I never thought you might⊠want that too,â he says, voice quieter than before, like heâs scared that the others might hear him - like heâs scared that you might hear him.Â
The words are right there at the tip of your tongue, begging to be let free - so for once, you comply. âI do.â Your voice is just as quiet as his, perhaps even more so, and if it wasnât for Heeseungâs sharp intake of breath, youâd have thought he didnât hear you.Â
Your gazes lock, and the simultaneous relief and fear you feel are mirrored in his wide eyes. His face then breaks into a huge grin, and he is so dazzlingly handsome that you have to look away once more. You smile at the ground instead, grateful that breathing is something you do without having to think about it, otherwise, youâd have stopped doing it a long time ago.Â
Neither of you says anything more, letting the silence do its job. You look back up at him as he sighs deeply, almost contentedly, it seems. He smiles at the glasses as if they told him the right thing to say. He looks at you, smiles wider, looks away, looks back, looks away again, scratches the back of his head. You watch the whole time, small giggles bubbling up your throat and out of your lips.Â
He sighs once more and looks back at you, keeping his eyes on yours this time. âOkay, we should head back now. But talk more later?â he asks, and you nod immediately. Any other time, youâd have been embarrassed to show your interest so obviously, but youâd just told each other you both wanted to kiss the other, so agreeing to talk more later felt like nothing now.Â
âOkay,â he repeats, grin still wide on his lips as he picks up the tray and heads back to the others, you following close behind.
âTook you long enough,â Seeun says, scrolling on her phone as you step into the living room, but youâre too focused on something else to quip back at her.
Jay is still reigning over his armchair while Sunghoon, Seeun, Chaeyeong and Jake, in this order, occupy the main couch that faces the TV. This means that the only spot left for you and Heeseung to sit in is the other armchair opposite Jayâs, obviously big enough for one person but slightly too small for two people to sit comfortably on, as in to sit without their bodies touching each other.
Heeseung had just admitted he wanted to kiss you. You had also just admitted to Heeseung you wanted to kiss him. Now, you were going to sit together in an armchair that forced two people into proximity, and you had to pretend like that was fine.Â
When you manage to take your eyes away from the godforsaken armchair, your eyes meet Jakeâs, then Chaeyeongâs, and thatâs when you realize. They did it on purpose. The poorly-concealed smirks on their faces and giggles threatening to escape their lips as they take in your reaction make it all too clear. You could strangle your best friend right now. You know sheâs doing you a favor, and deep down, youâre thankful for it, but you also know sitting through these movies is going to be the most arduous task of your life when Heeseung is right there. Close enough to touch, close enough to lace your fingers together or thread yours through his hair. You remembered very well from your game of seven minutes in heaven that it was just as soft as it looked.Â
You send Chaeyeong yet another death glare, but it only makes her smile more. You set the bowl of ice on the table after Heeseungâs put the drinks tray down, and immediately make yourself a glass of Sprite to keep your hands occupied for at least a little bit.Â
While you do that, Heeseung takes a seat on the armchair, and the sight youâre greeted with when you turn to sit next to him makes you almost drop your drink. After the little confession-like moment you shared in the kitchen, it seems like all his confidence from before the party has returned to him. Heâs taken a comfortable seat indeed - heâs shamelessly manspreading, thighs almost taking up the whole space as if inviting you to find your own seat there. He lets himself be engulfed by the soft cushions as his head falls back against the headrest, exposing his neck and prominent Adamâs apple.Â
Youâd just gotten used to shy, flustered Heeseung again, only for him to return to his confident self in the blink of an eye. You try not to let it deter you, especially because youâre not the only two in this room, but his smirk as he looks up at you makes it hard not to. All you can do is redirect your death stare towards him, but sadly, much like with Chaeyeong, the only effect it has is to make him smile wider, as if torturing you was a fun pastime for them.Â
You mumble at him to scooch then sit down next to him, knees bent close to your chest so your legs donât touch his too much, but that plan is quickly thrown out of the window when you feel his hand sneaking behind your back until it reaches your waist, settling there. Even with a layer of fabric between his hand and your skin, the contact sends a shiver down your spine, and you have to keep yourself from audibly gasping. Conscious of the drink in your hand, Heeseung pulls you gently towards him, making your bent knees fall to the side and rest on his thigh. So much for keeping your distance.
Even your idea of occupying your hands with a drink turns out to be useless twenty minutes into the movie when the first jumpscare almost makes you spill your Sprite all over you and Heeseung. You take a big gulp before leaning forwards to set your glass on the table, and Heeseungâs hand stays put the whole time, even squeezing gently when you find your seat again. Without the drink, you know itâs a bit weird to stay sitting upright, but you canât imagine leaning fully back against Heeseung or resting your head on his shoulder. This already feels like a lot - to be even closer to him would probably send you into cardiac arrest. Plus, even in the darkness of the room, the light coming from the TV screen would be enough for the others to see your and Heeseungâs position on the armchair, and you definitely donât need Seeun to see you cuddling up to her brother.
Youâre already tense from sitting right next to Heeseung, and the movie playing on the screen is not helping - creepy music that puts you on edge, camera angles that only let you see the characterâs face and nothing else, weird silhouettes that flash for just a second - this is one of the rare times a horror movie actually does what itâs supposed to do, i.e. scare you. You almost managed to forget the boyâs presence next to you, but when a particularly suspenseful scene plays, you instinctively reach out to grab something, anything, and of course, that happens to be his wrist. Youâre so immersed in the movie that itâs only when he wriggles out of your grasp and takes your hand in his instead that you realize what youâve done.Â
Itâs like somebody pressed the pause button as you look down at your intertwined hands, the sound and light coming from the TV screen not registering in your mind anymore. When you dare to look at Heeseungâs face, heâs already shyly smiling down at you. He quickly turns away to watch the movie instead, but youâre still too focused on the warmth of his hand and the feeling of his fingers between yours to care whether the stupid white girl will make it out of the house safely or not.
This is something youâve daydreamed about a thousand times before. Every time youâd ride the bus together or walk side by side, you wondered what would happen if you just reached out and grabbed his hand. It was always right there - but the line youâd be crossing seemed miles and miles away. Now that itâs finally happening, you realize itâs a lot better than you could ever have imagined. You feel like you should be freaking out, scared by what this simple touch means and by the fact that Seeun could turn her head at any moment and see you holding hands with her brother, but all you feel is contentment. Your feelings for Heeseung just needed to be reciprocated, and now that you know they might be - no, that they are - itâs like you can be at peace with them.
Feeling bolder, you squeeze Heeseungâs hand once then bring it to rest on your knee. You sense his gaze on your face once again, but you avoid it and keep your eyes fixated on the TV screen, unable to keep yourself from smiling even though one of the side characters is getting brutally murdered. Your smile only gets bigger when he squeezes your hand back.
You stay like this for so long that your and Heeseungâs hands seem to melt together, and you can hardly tell where your own fingers end anymore. The doorbell rings during another tense scene, making everyone jump in their seats, but itâs just the pizza guy.Â
Seeun goes to get the door and pay, and the poor girl has barely placed the pizzas on the coffee table that the boys are already pouncing on it like starved children. Only Heeseung stays put, laughing at his friends and waiting for them to get a slice. The fact that he gives you a plate - with a slice of your favorite pizza, no less - before getting his own shouldnât make your heart race as much as it does, but your cheeks still heat up at the simple gesture. The darkness of the room does nothing to hide your flustered expression as you mumble out a âthank you.â
You all eat your fill and watch the rest of the movie, agreeing that the end was quite disappointing (even though you were all stressing out and holding onto each other for dear life during the climax - Heeseungâs hand found yours again as soon as you were done eating, and youâre pretty sure one of his fingers was close to breaking with how hard you were grabbing him).
To everyoneâs surprise, Seeun announces that sheâs going to bed halfway through the second movie.Â
âBut itâs only eleven p.m.!â Chaeyeong protests, as if knowing the time would make Seeun change her mind.
âI know, but that pizza took me out for some reason. Iâve been falling asleep for the past half hour, might as well just go to bed.â Thereâs not much to argue, so a chorus of âgoodnightsâ ensues as Seeun trudges upstairs. The three on the couch immediately use the added space to spread out more, Sunghoon extending his legs to the side so that the back of his knees rests in Chaeyeongâs lap and his feet in Jakeâs. Both of them complain about the weight but donât do anything to make him actually move, so he contentedly keeps his position.
You canât help but think that with Seeun gone, you can also make yourself more comfortable. Youâre thinking about whether to change your position on the armchair, going over the different ways Heeseung might react, when you catch Chaeyeongâs look. She raises her eyebrows at you as if to say, âwhat are you waiting for?â as if your next move should be obvious. You look away from her and back at the screen, then start to lean backwards as naturally as possible, but thatâs hard to do when your heart is beating a thousand miles an hour. Luckily (or not) for you, Heeseung seems to get the message immediately and wraps his free hand around your shoulder, bringing you closer to him - closer than you had intended to.
The loudness of the movie isnât enough to drown out the sound of your sharp intake of breath at the sudden proximity, and you feel your face heating up when Heeseung chuckles at your reaction. This is a comedy movie youâve watched a bunch of times already, which makes it all too easy for you to focus on him rather than the screen. Now that your head rests on his shoulder, if you turned your face ever-so-slightly, you could get a proper whiff of his cologne and his skin. You really, really want to bury your nose in his neck and inhale, but youâre afraid that might get you a couple of weird looks.
You look down at your intertwined hands again and happily realize that you can now unabashedly stare at Heeseungâs hands the way you had always wanted to. You can finally play with his long fingers, tracing the outline of them and bending them softly at the knuckles, and admire the lines on his palm as if they might reveal everything you want to know about him. You can finally do it, so you do, almost unconsciously - you donât realize that youâre touching his hand as freely as if it were your own until you hear his breath start to get shakier.Â
You halt your motions right away and look up at him alarmed, scared that youâve made him uncomfortable when he avoids your gaze. But then he reaches for your hand again and the corner of his lips tug ever-so-slightly into a small smile. Youâre not sure if itâs the light of the TV screen on his face, but it even seems like his cheeks have reddened. Youâve been flustered one too many times to not recognize the symptoms, but itâs still surreal to think that you might have the same effect on Heeseung as he has on you.
Giddy with this new realization, you make yourself more comfortable against Heeseung, resting your head in the dip between his neck and his shoulder and bringing your knees closer to him. His hand travels from your shoulder to your waist, holding you there. You continue to play with his other hand, only half-paying attention to the movie. In this new position, you can feel Heeseungâs chest rising in rhythm with his breathing, and that is much more mesmerizing to you than any movie could be.
The only times you tear yourself away are when Jay brings snacks in from the kitchen and when you need to go to the toilet between the second and third movies. Other than that, you stay cuddled up close to Heeseung, basking in the warmth youâd been longing for for years. Itâs so comfortable that you never want to leave, even when Heeseungâs touch burns as his hand sneakily finds its way underneath your t-shirt to trace patterns against the bare skin of your waist. You almost yelp from how unexpected but pleasant it is.
You both easily stay awake until the end of the third movie, perhaps because your nerves are too much in a frenzy from being so close for you to feel sleepy. Sunghoon, Jake and Chaeyeong, however, have all fallen asleep, and Jay wishes you goodnight and heads upstairs as soon as the movie is over.Â
In a whispered conversation that feels too intimate for your own good, you and Heeseung decide to let the others sleep on the couch rather than wake them up, and to clean up the pizza boxes and other things littering the coffee table.
Itâs quiet as you throw the trash away and put everything back in cupboards or in the fridge. Youâre on your last bite of a cold slice of pepperoni pizza when Heeseung breaks the comfortable silence.
âSoâŠâ
You look at him as he stands, lower back against the counter and gaze directed towards the ground. Now that youâre in a bright room, you know that the blush on his cheeks isnât just a trick of the light. A smile that mirrors his grows on your lips at his endearing shyness.
âSoâŠâ you echo, making him chuckle.
âIâm not sure where to start,â he confesses, scratching the back of his neck. Youâre not sure how this is the same Heeseung that had held you close to him just moments prior, but you understand that he might revert back to his nervous self when heâs in a more serious situation. Youâre not completely relaxed either.
You pretend to think for a second, but you know exactly what it is you want to ask. âWell, there is this thing Iâve been curious aboutâŠâ you start. He looks at you and tilts his head to the side, so you take it as your cue to go on. âWhat the hell happened when you were away at college for you to come back so different?â you ask with an amused tone to your voice.
So he tells you about his freshman year. About the party that Jake dragged him to and everything that ensued after it. He doesnât go into too much detail about exactly how he met Yunjin or all the flirting (and kissing) practice heâs had, just saying that he found ways to build his confidence - and at the end, he quietly confesses that heâd done it to find the courage to confess to you, but that it hadnât gone so well after all. You try not to dwell on the fact that he changed so much for you, because thinking about it for too long would probably melt you into a puddle.Â
âWhat do you mean, it didnât go so well?â you question softly, lowering your voice to the same volume as him. Youâve realized that when you and Heeseung talk, you often end up doing so really quietly. You donât know why you like it so much.
âWell, you know, youâve been avoiding me all week,â he starts, trying to make his tone the least reproachful he can, because heâs not mad at you, not at all - if anything, heâs mad at himself. âSo I thought Iâd really messed things up.â
âYou didnât mess anything up, Heeseung. If anything, Iâm the one who made things weird. I justâŠâ You sigh. âIâm so scared of Seeun finding out. ButâŠâ
âBut?â he prompts, a hopeful look on his face. Clearly, dating his sisterâs best friend isnât as much of a dilemma for him as it is for you.Â
âBut Iâm more scared of letting you go now that I finally have you,â you say to the ground.
A beat passes. âSo donât,â he whispers, voice so low you barely hear it - but you do, and you understand his words loud and clear. They resonate in your head as he takes a step closer to you, then another and another. You feel your heart pulse throughout your entire body when he reaches you, standing right in front of you.Â
Your breath hitches when he rests one of his hands on the kitchen counter behind you. Gently, he cups one side of your face with his other hand and brushes your cheek with his thumb, prompting you to look up at him. Heâs so close you could count every single one of his eyelashes.Â
âSo donât,â he repeats with a small smile. When he bends down to kiss you, melting against his lips is the easiest thing youâve ever done.
The feeling of his soft lips against yours brings you back immediately to that closet. You both only realize just how much youâd been itching to pick things up from where youâd left them when the kiss gets heated in a matter of mere seconds, your need and longing for each other over the past five days evident in the way you pull each other impossibly close.
Your hands reach up, first resting on his shoulders but quickly finding their way towards the back of his neck, grabbing at the hair there almost instinctively, desperate to have something to hold onto. Meanwhile, his hands brush along your sides, moving from your hips to your waist before they encircle your middle in an attempt to bring you closer to him.
Thereâs no battle for dominance in your kiss, no trying to win the other over, no trying to make the other succumb - rather, you fall easily into each otherâs rhythm, relishing in the otherâs taste and the long awaited proximity. His mouth is soft against yours, his hair is soft under your hands, and his touch is driving you insane. You never want to stop.
After a few minutes, however, the light-headedness from a lack of air and kissing so passionately gets too much, so you draw back slightly to take a breath - but Heeseung seems to have other plans. He reacts immediately to you pulling away, and doesnât even give you a second to breathe before pressing his lips back against yours, as though his air were your kiss.Â
The suddenness makes you gasp, and he takes that opportunity to brush his tongue against yours, deepening the kiss even further than before. You feel your heartbeat speed up when his hands trail back down your body, but when he lowers himself slightly to reach the back of your thighs, picking you up and setting you on the counter with ease, never once breaking the kiss, youâre pretty sure your soul actually leaves you. All you can think about is Heeseung and all you can do is continue kissing him like your life depends on it. Having your face at the same level as his now that youâre up on the counter makes it all even easier and more comfortable.
But it also means he has easier access to your neck, and as soon as he realizes that, he jumps on the opportunity. Breaking away from the kiss, he presses his lips to the corner of your own before making his way along your jawline and down your neck. Your breaths come out heavy, almost sigh-like, and you really have to keep yourself from making any noise, lest the others in the room right next to you might wake up and hear you. The feeling of Heeseungâs lips on the sensitive skin of your neck is completely new to you, but itâs an amazing kind of new - itâs the kind of new you know you wonât ever get enough of, even when it becomes familiar.Â
His kisses are burning hot, and yet goosebumps spread all over your body. When he finds the spot that has you taking in a sharp breath and gripping his hair tighter, Heeseung is quick to focus his attention there and there only. He nips lightly at the skin, and that has you whispering out his name. Hearing that only makes him double down on his actions; he alternates between biting down and kissing to relieve your skin, and heâs only satisfied when thereâs a bright red spot in the crook of your neck. God, where did he learn how to do all that? Is this what they teach in college?!
He looks up at you with a proud smile, and heâs so cute that you almost say nothing about the very obvious mark he just left on you, but you still feel the need to scold him. âYouâre gonna get us in trouble, doing things like this,â you say with a smile just as bright as his, which probably doesnât make you look very serious, but you canât help it - youâre on cloud nine right now.
âWhat if I want to get into trouble with you?â he replies, gaze fixed on your lips. You canât say anything in return at that, so you just slightly shake your head in amusement and lean back in to kiss him again.Â
It seems that sharing so much oxygen has gotten to both of your heads, because this time around, the kiss is more light-hearted than intense, noses bumping into each other and teeth almost clashing from how hard the both of you are smiling, giggles spilling out through every touch of your lips.
âSee? I told you!âÂ
The sudden sound of Jakeâs voice coming from the doorway forces you and Heeseung apart and your face heats up immediately at the sight of Jake, Chaeyeong and even Sunghoon all looking at the two of you with a surprised but proud expression on their faces.
He takes a small step back from you and turns his body to face them, but canât actually bring himself to look at them; youâre not much better, smiling shyly at your lap and playing with your hands in shame at being caught. At least it wasnât by Seeun.Â
Sunghoon approaches Heeseung with big steps, clapping a hand loudly against his friendâs back when he reaches him. âYou finally did it, man! Iâm so proud of you,â he exclaims, and actually sounds really excited.Â
Heeseung risks a glance your way, obviously embarrassed by his friendâs words, but it only makes you smile harder. You slightly curse yourself for not having realized Heeseung liked you back earlier - you couldâve done this such a long time ago. As Sunghoon continues congratulating Heeseung, you catch Chaeyeongâs gaze, and she winks at you. You find yourself relieved to have her on your side, but you know that sooner or later, youâll have to talk to Seeun about this.Â
Indeed, the five of you head upstairs to go to bed, and before Heeseung and you go your separate ways, he catches your hand, squeezes it once tightly as if to bid you a silent âgood night,â then smiles his bright smile at you - and you know youâre in deep, far too deep to keep it secret for long.
(Thereâs an awkward conversation the next morning when Seeun asks how the hell you had gotten a hickey and Chaeyeong immediately jumps in, saying she did it. âFor⊠practice,â sheâd explained with as convincing a smile as she could. Luckily for you both, Seeun wouldnât put it past her to actually do that, so she didnât question it much further.)
--
You and Heeseung start sneaking around anyway, not quite ready to reveal your budding relationship to the world (read: Seeun).
You canât hang out at your house, because your parents would see or hear him, and blabber innocently to the adult Lees, even if you told them not to - why couldnât they talk to each other about their kids dating? Itâs great news! Letâs have a family dinner! What? You donât want Seeun to know? But sheâs your best friend! Sheâll understand, sheâll be happy for you!
You donât need to actually have the conversation to know what your parents will say. Youâve known them for eighteen years, after all.
For more obvious reasons, you canât hang out at his house, either - if youâre there, it means youâre with Seeun, and the risk of her finding you in her brotherâs room was too great to take.Â
At least Heeseung has a car. But itâs not like you can go many places, anyway - the town you live in isnât huge, chances of running into an old classmate or even a friend are high, news travels fast, word of Heeseung and you dating could easily get back to Seeun. You went to your local diner for your first secret date with Heeseung (Chaeyeong, of course, knew about it, but Seeun thought your period cramps were too bad to sleep over that night), and there, youâd seen three different people that you knew, and Heeseung two.Â
He didnât seem to care much about his sister, or anyone for that matter, finding out about the two of you - in fact, if it was up to him, heâd have screamed it to the world right after youâd kissed at the party. But he respected your wishes, and even found your slight paranoia and darting eyes the whole evening somehow endearing - although he wished youâd paid more attention to him than to the other patrons in the diner. You hadnât even noticed when he stole a whole handful of fries from your plate, or when he switched your strawberry milkshake with his vanilla one.
So he did the one thing he knew would get your attention - when you both reached his car, he led you to the backseat before you could head to the passenger side. You werenât sure what he was doing until he had you on his lap, a devilish smirk on his lips that you only got a glimpse of before he trapped your own, slightly parted in surprise, in a kiss. There was a faint protest of âwhat if someone sees usâ but any complaint you might have held flew away when his tongue ran over your bottom lip, asking for entry that you immediately granted. After all, you were just as desperate for more of him as he was for more of you.
You couldnât break away from the kiss - how could you, when his lips slotted against yours so perfectly, as if you were specially crafted for one another? All you could do was hope that the fire between you two made the windows of Heeseungâs car fog up so that no one could see inside and get a glimpse of what you were doing in there.
It wasnât any of their business anyway.
That first date opened your eyes to the many advantages of car dates. On warm summer nights like the ones youâre currently having, you can find a wide, empty space, and park there, laying down a blanket on the roof of the car and admiring the stars. You can spend hours sharing childhood anecdotes, asking Heeseung a thousand times about the moment he realized he liked you, and telling each other the things youâd always been too scared to reveal to another person. If you get hungry, you can drive to any food place and enjoy your late-night meal from your seats in the parking lot, or drive to another place with a view - although you donât really need any sort of scenery when Heeseung sits next to you. His delighted expression as he takes his first bite or his eyes looking at you with fondness you didnât know you could elicit from someone are some of the beautiful sights your eyes have ever been blessed with.
And after that, because innocent hand-holding and not-so-innocent thigh touches always lead to something else, most nights, you find yourselves in the backseat, basking in each otherâs warmth and relishing the otherâs touch. Every time, you grow needier. Every time, you need more. But so does he, and so you take and take and take just as much as you give and give and give. Even after two weeks of doing this, youâre just as on edge as before, just as reactive to any certain look he might send your way or any touch of his. Youâre so relaxed, so comfortable when the two of you are talking - but as soon as you notice him glancing at your lips, or the streetlights hit him a certain way, youâre reminded of the incredible way his kiss makes you feel, and your mind fixates on it, not satisfied until you have his body close to yours.Â
You also quickly find out that Heeseungâs favorite drink is Coke and you almost always taste it on his lips. You even bought Coke-flavored chapstick just to have a trace of him when you canât be together (youâre also maybe hoping that heâll taste the soda on your own lips, and start thinking of you whenever he drinks it.
What you donât know is that Heeseung is always thinking of you, no matter what heâs doing, anyways).
Thereâs also moments where you both revert back to your flustered selves, like when you stare too hard at him for his liking (he actually loves it, it just makes him really shy) or when he compliments you out of nowhere. In those moments, itâs like you forget about the many passionate kisses youâve shared, like youâre back on one of those comfortably silent bus rides or in that sunlit room, trying to finish a puzzle together. But then his hand grazes against yours, and youâre reminded you can hold it with confidence now - you can do many things with confidence now. As the days pass, Heeseung is pleasantly surprised to see you initiate more and more of your makeout sessions, and although your impatience to get your hands on him strokes his ego, heâll never get tired of you avoiding his gaze when he calls you pretty.
You have to make sure not to meet up too often, otherwise your continued absence would raise Seeunâs suspicion, but itâs also hard to go more than a day without spending a little time with the other. It seems that after years of unknown mutual pining, youâve both run out of patience and canât stand to be away from each other for too long. This is why, more than once, Heeseung has pulled you into his room just to smell your hair or bury his face in the crook of your neck or make out - but you always make him put a five-minute timer on.
Truth be told, even though you knew your feelings for Heeseung werenât surface level, in all the times youâd daydreamed about finally being with him, you hadnât expected itâd be so intense. Maybe thatâs what happens when you find out that the other person felt the same way you had felt about them the whole time - you feel so stupid for not finding out sooner that you canât afford to waste a second, and years of deep emotions are squeezed into mere hours of being able to see each other at a time.Â
Itâs the hardest when your two friend groups hang out - heâs right there, but you canât do anything. He sits next to you at the table or on the couch and pretends like everythingâs completely normal, but you grow even quieter than usual because his scent and proximity drive you crazy. Heâd be lying if he said he didnât enjoy seeing you getting flustered or clearly having to hold back - something about only him having that effect on you does something to his brain.
Chaeyeong and Jake are both your allies and worst enemies. While they always cover for you, they also love to put you and Heeseung in⊠situations. Like âoff-handedlyâ mentioning that game of seven minutes in heaven or that movie night (without mentioning you directly, of course, but they know what youâre thinking and you know what theyâre thinking), sending you on snack runs together or somehow leaving you two behind, alone in a room.Â
Or proposing an evening at the pool.
During the summer, your municipal pool stays open late at night every day, and on week evenings, it doesnât get very crowded. If you go there once the sunâs set, the atmosphere is amazing - the glow of the lights in the pool gives the whole space a bright blue hue, and the stars shine directly inside through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows. If youâre lucky, you and your friends might go on a night when you get the whole place to yourselves.
You know itâs a good idea. You know youâll all have fun, but you also know youâll have to pretend that seeing Heeseung half-naked with wet hair isnât putting you on the verge of spontaneously combusting. The worst part is you donât even need to use your imagination at all to conjure up that image - youâve seen him in the hallway as he came out of the shower before, so you already know how devastatingly good heâll look at the pool. Youâre weak in the knees just thinking about it.
Getting ready for the pool and the drive there pass in a blur, and before you know it, youâre in the changing room, and all you need to do is dress down to your bikini and head towards the pool where a shirtless Heeseung will be waiting to greet you.Â
You wrap your towel around your waist in an attempt to cover yourself until you actually need to get into the water. Because not only are you freaking out about seeing Heeseung in his swimsuit, youâre also nervous about him seeing you half-naked. The last time you went to the pool together, puberty still hadnât hit either of you, and you were still in the happy years of not being self-aware of your body or of othersâ. Even though summer hang-outs with his friends and yours werenât so uncommon, youâd never gone to the pool together, and the fact that youâre now dating and you know heâll be looking at you only adds to your nerves.Â
All four boys are already in the water when you, Chaeyeong and Seeun arrive, and you notice with horror that they all quiet down and study the three of you as you approach and rid yourselves of your towels, setting them on a bench before heading into the water.
Boys.
It makes Chaeyeong giggle and Seeun roll her eyes, but your whole body is burning under Heeseungâs intense gaze. You watch as his eyes slowly make their way up your body as if trying to commit each inch of you to memory. When your eyes finally lock, a smirk grows on his lips as though he couldnât care less that you caught him so unashamedly staring. At first, you look away with a huff, but his gaze doesnât leave you as you and the girls wade into the water towards the boys, so you fix with him a pointed glare instead.
You do your best to ignore him as you all play around in the pool, racing each other to one end and back or trying to drown each other, but thatâs hard to do when he seems so set on teasing you as much as he can. He sometimes switches victims and decides to terrorize his little sister or Jake instead, but youâre still his main target. You want to be mad at him, but he seems so excited and happy that you canât bring yourself to actually scold him. Youâve never seen him so playful, and the way he laughs carefreely, head thrown back and eyes crinkling at the edges, makes your heart swell with adoration for him.Â
There arenât that many other people in the pool, mostly kids from high school, who are hogging all the inflatable pool toys - but that doesnât pose a problem for your group. âLetâs play chicken fight!â you hear Jake say at least four times before someone actually listens to him and agrees.
Someone calls out Jayâs name - you turn your head in the direction of the voice to find that itâs Jiung, whom you vaguely recognize as one of his friends from school. From his uniform, you assume that heâs on shift as the lifeguard. Jay swims towards him and they get into conversation, conveniently leaving six people to play Jakeâs game.
This is how he pairs you up - you with Heeseung (of course), him with Chaeyeong and Sunghoon with Seeun. You notice the two of them sharing a small smile, and even though itâs quite dark, youâre pretty sure you notice their faces reddening. You glance at Chaeyeong, whoâs already looking at you with a surprised expression - she saw it too. Jake is too excited to play chicken fight to pay anything else attention. He explains the rules, stricter than youâd expected and many of which seem completely made up by him, and announces who will play first. Clearly, Jake takes his chicken fighting very seriously.
You and Heeseung are first up against Seeun and Sunghoon. Heeseung lowers himself underwater so you can get onto shoulders, and you hold onto his head for dear life as he comes back up, loudly releasing the breath heâd been holding in. Thereâs something thrilling about being so close to Heeseung around the others that you canât help but giggle for seemingly no reason. You even bend forwards, beaming down at him as you help him push his drenched hair out of his eyes. His eyes meet yours and you giggle together - for a second, it really feels like itâs just the two of you in the pool, but then Jake calls out for you to get ready and starts the countdown for the fight to start.
Itâs a bit hard to concentrate on the game when Heeseungâs large hands hold tightly onto your bare thighs, but you do your best to will any impure thoughts away and focus on getting Seeun off of Sunghoonâs shoulders. You both laugh as you grab onto each other, trying to make the other fall while the boys splash each other with water. Itâs a tense game that has Jake and Chaeyeong cheering from where they sit on the edge of the pool, and your balance is thrown off a couple times (when Seeun gets into a game, she stops at nothing to win), but Heeseungâs legs are strong and heâs always quick to steady you before you can fall over.Â
A loud noise coming from the other kids in the pool momentarily catches your attention, but Seeun immediately pounces on you, not unlike a predator on its prey. With a yelp, you fall back into the water, bringing Heeseung down with you. When you come back to the surface, the sound of your opponents celebrating their victory is no more than a faint ring in your ears - the feeling of Heeseung wrapping his arm around your waist and the way he beams down at you, murmuring that you did a good job, make you forget about everything and everyone around you. Your gazes only stay locked like this for maybe two seconds, but you swear time stops for a bit.
Jakeâs voice snaps you out of your daze, and you and Heeseung take his and Chaeyeongâs seats on the side of the pool while they get ready to challenge Seeun and Sunghoon. Youâre relieved to find that you actually manage to hoist yourself up out of the water and onto the poolâs edge without making a fool of yourself in front of Heeseung.Â
You want to watch the game peacefully and cheer on your friends, but Heeseung is making it a bit hard. He really, really doesnât need to be sitting this close to you. Heâs leaning back on his palms, toned stomach and chest on display, which is already attractive enough, but his right thigh is also pressed flush against your left one, so much so that you know it has to be intentional. Because heâs placed his right palm close behind you, you can feel his right arm against your lower back as well, and youâre almost tempted to lean back against it.Â
Youâre completely lost in thought, brain only focused on everywhere your body and Heeseungâs touch. Itâs like he can see into your mind - he lightly pinches your hip, just underneath the string of your bikini bottoms, and you almost let out a loud gasp. But you manage to keep it down and sit up straight instead, looking at him over your shoulder like he just killed your entire family. He has the audacity to laugh.Â
This man really has no shame, rendering you unable to think straight in front of everyone like this. Although, to be fair, itâs also partly your fault for reacting so much to such small things.Â
âHey guys,â a vaguely familiar voice calls out, and you turn your head to find Jiung and Jay walking towards you. Thereâs a chorus of hey Jiungs from the four in the water, but they quickly get their heads back in the game. Jay stays standing, watching his friends fight while Jiung crouches behind you and Heeseung.
âSo are you guys finally together?â he asks excitedly, a genuine grin on his face, and both you and Heeseung choke on your own saliva. Did everyone know about your mutual crushes before you two did?!
You exchange a glance with Heeseung but quickly look away, suddenly finding great interest in Chaeyeongâs and Seeunâs tactics to make each other fall over.
Heeseungâs eyes dart between your face and Jiungâs as he answers, as if scared he might say one wrong word and offend you in some way. âUm, yeah, we are. But weâre not really⊠telling people, I guess.â
Jiung gasps in delight, clasping Heeseungâs shoulder in what you guess is a congratulatory gesture. âKeeping it lowkey. Got it. Congrats, you guys. Jay told me about you, like, three years ago, and Iâve been weirdly invested ever since,â he admits honestly, and you try hard to fight back the grin threatening to spread on your lips. Youâd never even spoken to Choi Jiung before.
From your peripheral, you can make out Heeseung turning his head to glare at his friend. âThanks a lot, Jay,â he mumbles.
A loud splash catches everyoneâs attention; Chaeyeong has fallen off of Jakeâs shoulders, and the other two are celebrating their second win in a row. Your friend just laughs, getting her long hair out of her face, but Jake is practically fuming.
âYou guys make a pretty good team, I guess,â he says, and even though itâs supposed to be a compliment, he really doesnât sound happy about it.Â
âWe do, donât we?â Sunghoon echoes, looking up at Seeun with a smile.
âWe do,â she answers with a giggle.
A giggle.
Seeun didnât giggle. UnlessâŠÂ
You lock eyes with Chaeyeong. She looks just as surprised as you feel. You tilt your head towards the two lovebirds, who seem lost in their own world, Sunghoon jumping around in the water with Seeun still on his shoulders and laughing. Chaeyeong nods fervently, as if screaming, âI know, Iâm seeing it too!â
Seeun didnât giggle, unless she had a crush on someone. You very much remember the day in freshman year when her middle school crush Kim Sunwoo, a senior at the time, picked up her locker keys that she had dropped in the hallway. The way she turned around when he tapped on her shoulder, awestruck as he smiled, handing her her keys, was straight out of a movie. She blushed and giggled to herself about it for the next two weeks.
You turn to look at Heeseung, but heâs busy listening to Jake, Jay and Jiung as they come up with a strategy to make the victors lose next time around. You internally roll your eyes at their obliviousness, but at least now you know why Heeseung had never figured out you liked him back.
âCâmon Jiung, letâs go beat their arrogant asses,â Jay then prompts, making his friend chuckle and get into the water. They wade their way towards the others, and when Jiung gets on Jayâs shoulders, Seeunâs game face is back on. Your friend can be quite scary.
âArenât you supposed to be watching the pool, lifeguard boy?â Sunghoon taunts like a three-year-old, although youâre not sure that âlifeguard boyâ is much of an insult. Itâs generally accepted that lifeguards are pretty cool.
âEveryone left, dumbass,â Jiung answers plainly. âItâs just us.â
You all look around, and indeed, the high school kids are gone, which means you have the whole place to yourselves.Â
Seeun looks back at Jiung with a smirk. âGood for you. At least those kids wonât see how much of a loser you are when we destroy you and Jay.â
Chaeyeong and Jake âoohâ at her threat while you and Heeseung watch amusedly. You canât help but think it isnât that serious, but seeing your friends so into the game is quite fun.
âBring it on!â Jiung exclaims, and neither team lets Jake count down before they start attacking each other. The poor guy tries to stop Seeun and Jiung from playing so dirty, reminding them that hair-pulling and armpit-tickling are forbidden, but the two really couldnât care less, so he quickly gives up trying to make them abide by the rules.
Chaeyeong comes to sit next to you and nudges your shoulder with her own to get your attention. âWhat do you thinkâs happening with Seeun and Sunghoon? Itâs definitely new.â
You almost hear the boysâ necks crack as they whip their heads to look at you. âSomethingâs happening with Seeun and Sunghoon?â they whisper-scream at the same time. Youâre glad the topic subjects are too engrossed in their game to hear anything.
You chuckle at their reaction but Chaeyeong rolls her eyes. âObviously. Theyâve been acting like teenagers this whole evening.â
âThey are teenagers,â Heeseung says with a slight frown as he watches his sister and his friend. âTheyâre eighteen and nineteen.â
Chaeyeong tuts. âThatâs not important. Plus, you really donât get to anything, Heeseung, when youâve been going around fucking your sisterâs best-â
Jake starts immediately howling of laughter, but all you want in that moment is to let yourself drown in the water and never have to face your friend ever again.
Heeseungâs eyes are wide and his hands are frantically shaking ânoâ as incoherent protests spill out of his lips. âI- no- we havenât, weâre not-â He sighs defeatedly when Jake just laughs harder and Chaeyeong joins in.Â
She knows you guys havenât done anything of that sort yet, youâve been telling her - or rather sheâs been making you tell her - everything that happens between you and Heeseung. Sheâs just teasing you, and itâs really working, and you hate her for it. You fix her with a glare that does nothing to make her laughter stop. When you look at Heeseung, his eyebrows have furrowed deeper, and a light blush has spread all over his face, ears and even his neck. With a small pout on his lips, heâs never looked more adorable. Nothing beats the sight of a flustered and slightly mad Heeseung.
His hands have returned to his lap, his right one fidgeting with the hem of his swim trunks. In a moment of boldness, you decide to take it in yours, giving it a reassuring squeeze as you smile at him - to be honest, you were also slightly amused by Chaeyeongâs words. She was right; he really couldnât say anything about his sister liking one of his friends when heâd made out with you so often.Â
You notice with satisfaction that he canât keep eye contact and that the color on his face deepens.
You all turn back to the tense game in front of you, noting with surprise that Seeun actually seems to have the upper hand over Jiung. She must be a seasoned chicken fighter, because she loses neither her balance nor her grip on Jiung once. The older boy doesnât even yelp when he falls into the water, as if heâd seen it coming. Beaming proudly, Seeun gets off of Sunghoonâs shoulders and the two share a quick celebratory hug before shaking their opponentsâ hands. The four of them swim their way towards you and you all hang out for a while, letting the fighters regain their energy.Â
âThereâs something Iâm not really supposed to doâŠâ Jiung then says, and chuckles when he feels seven pairs of eyes watching him intently. âBut I have the keys to the slides, and I know how to operate them.â Everyone cheers before he can even finish his sentence, and Jake and Chaeyeong are quick to get out of the water and run upstairs to the entrance of the slides. Jiung hurries to get the keys and follow them, the rest of you close behind.
Your heart starts beating loudly as soon as you place your foot on the first step. You try to ignore it - youâd never been a fan of attractions like big water slides or roller coasters, but you should get over it one day or another. Might as well try today.
Thatâs what you keep telling yourself, but once youâve reached the slides and Jiung gets them running, the loud gush of water falling rapidly makes you feel like youâre going to faint. Seeunâs screams as she goes down, even though theyâre from excitement, donât help your lightheadedness.Â
When Jake pushes himself down the slide, you clear your throat to speak. You hadnât even realized how dry your throat had gotten, and the shakiness in your voice takes you aback. âUm, I think Iâm gonna sit this one out, guys. Iâm not feeling too well.â
Everyone turns to you with a worried expression, and from your peripheral, you notice Heeseungâs hand jolting up towards you, but he stops himself before he actually touches you.
âOh yeah, I forgot you donât like slides,â Chaeyeong says with a pout.
âThereâs nothing to be scared of! This is totally safe,â Jiung tries to reassure, but for some reason, his eagerness makes you even more doubtful.
âWe can go together,â Heeseung suddenly offers. Judging from his expression, he seems surprised at his own words, as if heâd spoken out loud without realizing it. A chorus of agreement rises from the group, and Heeseungâs smile as he looks down at you makes you think that it might be okay to try - although youâre not sure if thatâs because you want to get over your fear of slides, or if itâs because the idea of Heeseungâs arms wrapped tightly around your waist and keeping you safe is very alluring.Â
âO-okay,â you answer, and his smile widens.
You wait until everyone except for Jiung has gone down. Heeseung stands behind you the whole time, a calming hand on your shoulder and the other playing with your drying hair, and his presence actually does wonders to soothe you. When itâs your turn, you sit down right at the top of the slide, trying not to freak out from the feeling of the gushes of water underneath your thighs. For once, Heeseungâs touch as he sits behind you, encaging your body between his legs and his arms, is reassuring rather than fatally heart-fluttering. Now you understand what people mean when they say they feel like nothing can hurt them as long as theyâre in their loverâs arms.
âYou ready?â Jiung calls out. Youâre too nervous to make a peep, only able to nod, so Heeseung answers for you.
âWe are.â Just before Jiung can give Heeseung a push, the boy behind you bends down to whisper in your ear. âDonât worry, Iâll keep you safe, okay?â
You hum back but the faint sound is drowned out by the noise around you as youâre whisked down the slide. Itâs so loud and so fast that youâre sure youâd have been screaming like you were being murdered had Heeseung not been there to calm you down. The grip you have on his hands probably hurts, but he doesnât complain, just laughs from the adrenaline the ride is giving him, and his calmness manages to make your heart stay calm.
You hadnât even realized youâd squeezed your eyes shut until he told you to open them. The previous flashing lights that had overwhelmed you even with your eyes closed were over, and when you blink your eyes open, youâre fascinated to find that there is no top over the slide, letting the stars shine down on you in all their glory. The feeling of the night breeze against your skin is surprisingly refreshing, and you actually let out a âwow,â all of your previous anxiety slowly leaving your body. This time, when Heeseung giggles against your ear, you actually join him.Â
Your friends are the sweetest, and when you reach the end of the slide and fall into the water, theyâre all clapping and cheering for you as if youâd just come first place in a marathon. You discern a sort of inquisitive look on Seeunâs face as she looks at you and her brother, but you decide to not pay it too much attention and swim away from the slide for Jiungâs arrival.
âSo? Wasnât too bad, right?â Heeseung asks with a grin, his hand sneakily finding yours underwater.
âNo, it was nice, actually. Doesnât mean Iâm going a second time, though,â you reply, and he chuckles. You force yourself to look away from his smiling face because you know how easily you can get lost in his gaze, and youâd rather not raise any more suspicion. You swim to the edge of the pool, hoisting yourself up out of the water so you can dry off a bit in the night air.
Jiung whoops his whole way down, and as soon as he comes back to the surface, he asks who wants to go again. Everyone except for you and Heeseung raise their hands. âYouâre not going again?â you ask him, eyebrows raised in surprise.
Heâs still smiling, and you wished it was just the two of you so you could kiss that pretty smile right off his face. âNo, one time was enough for me. Iâll stay here with you.â
This, of course, elicits an obnoxious chorus of âoohâs from your friends. âO-kay,â Chaeyeong says in a singsong voice.
âWeâll leave you two to it, then,â Jake adds with a wiggle of his eyebrows. You hadnât known you had such murderous tendencies in you until you met this boy.
When you catch Seeunâs gaze, sheâs looking at you with slightly raised eyebrows. For a split second, you feel like youâre gonna crumble - sheâs gonna figure it out, and sheâll hate you and never speak to you again, and- but then she smiles, just a tiny hint of a smile, and you think that maybe, just maybe, this might be fine after all.
You release a breath you hadnât even realized you were holding when she walks away with the others, but a second breath gets caught in your throat right away when Heeseung crosses his arms over your lap, and you realize itâs gonna be just you two for a little while now. Itâs exactly what you had wished for not even a minute ago, but now that itâs actually happening, your heart starts beating wildly once again.Â
âIâm proud of you,â he says quietly, looking up at you with those big brown eyes you adore so much.
A grin breaks out on your face. He closes his eyes, sighing contentedly as your hand rakes through his dark locks. âThank you,â you reply just as quietly. âI would never have done something like that on my own.â
He opens his eyes again. The way he looks at you makes you wonder what he sees in your eyes that has him so captivated. You just hope he canât hear the loudness of your beating heart.
He presses himself closer to you, somewhat forcing your thighs open to accommodate his body in between them, and wraps his arms around your waist. Even if he canât hear your heartbeat, he can surely hear your shaky intake of breath as he places a soft kiss to the top of your thigh before resting his cheek against it, closing his eyes like heâs planning on napping right there. Your fingers are still in his hair but your brain has stopped computing, so they stay immobile. You try to stay calm so as not to disturb the position Heeseung is in, but your stomach has never been so swarmed by butterflies as now.Â
Somehow, this feeling is even scarier than going down the slide - maybe because you knew the slide would end at some point. This feels like it might consume you whole and stay with you for the rest of your life. The worst part is you donât even know exactly what it is that youâre feeling. But itâs everywhere. It makes your fingertips sizzle with electricity, it makes your head almost ache, and it twists your insides all around, but itâs also weirdly pleasant.
It makes you want more.
You canât believe one simple kiss on your thigh is making you react this way, but now that youâve felt it, itâs as though you might die if you donât get to have it over and over again; you already know that a second or a third time wonât be enough either.
âHeeseung?â you call, his name coming out like a question, and his head whips up so quickly you think he might have been waiting for you to say something.
âYeah?â he replies, something that sounds like anticipation making his voice come out as a whisper.Â
You werenât even completely sure what it was you wanted to say, but the way Heeseung looks up at you eradicates any train of thought youâd had. Itâs a different type of gaze than before, something youâd only gotten glimpses of during particularly heated make-out sessions but that Heeseung had always seemed to reign in. Hooded eyes that are darker than usual, that seem to be in some sort of a daze, giving the impression that he isnât quite thinking straight. Youâre sure youâve also had that look in your eyes more than once, when Heeseungâs hand brushed along a particularly sensitive spot on your back or when he absent-mindedly thrusted his hips against yours as you straddled his lap in the backseat, making you moan into his mouth as he hurriedly apologized for getting carried away. You didnât know how to tell him you were ready for whatever it was he wanted, so you always shushed him with an âitâs okayâ and resumed kissing him feverishly. Youâd be lying if you said you didnât press yourself down against his bulge - that neither of you mentioned, but both knew was there - just to get a reaction out of him once in a while, and to get that fire-like feeling in your belly you were starting to crave more and more.
You try to push those far-from-innocent thoughts away from your mind and come up with something to say, but then someone disturbs your peace. Indeed, you hear Jake before you see him. âHeeseung and Y/N, you better not be smooching when I get there!â
Heeseung sighs deeply, a real, pained, frustrated sigh, and youâre glad youâre not the only one going crazy because of your friends. Itâs like everyone has forgotten that you and Heeseung are supposed to be a secret. Reluctantly, he detaches himself from you and makes his way next to you, body still in the water but forearms resting on the ground next to the pool.
Another hour or so passes before stomachs start growling from too much fooling around in the water and you all agree to go home. Sadly, thereâs nothing open so late in the night in your town, and none of you can be asked to drive all the way to the nearest city for food. On the whole drive home, Chaeyeong bombards Seeun with questions about Sunghoon. Seeun tries to avoid it at first, looking out the window to hide her growing blush, but once the two girls are similar in that once they have set their mind on something, you know theyâll get it. It only takes two minutes of arguing for Seeun to start spilling.Â
âWell⊠Iâve known him for a really long time, right? Him and Jay became friends right away, just like the three of us did. Iâve always associated him with Heeseung, so I never thought of him that wayâŠâ
âWhat way?â Chaeyeong cuts in, although she knows exactly what Seeun means.
âLike- like more than a friend,â Seeun explains, voice getting quieter the more she speaks. Chaeyeong squeals in excitement and you chuckle.
âSo what happened?â Chaeyeong prompts, and you almost want to remind her to focus on the road. You donât need to get into a car accident over Seeunâs love life.
Seeun sighs like sheâs exasperated by Chaeyeong, but you catch her small smile in the rearview mirror and you know sheâs actually happy to be talking about this with you guys. âSo, you know that movie night we had?â she starts, waiting for the two of you to nod. You try not to think about what you did on that movie night. âWell, we were sitting next to each other, which usually wouldâve been totally fine, right, but for some reason, it made me feel super nervous that night. Like I was hyper-aware of his presence next to me. I could actually smell him, and oh my God, he smells so good, I donât know how Iâd never realized that-â
You and Chaeyeong burst into laughter at that, and Seeun canât help but join in. âSmelling good is definitely attractive,â you chime in, thinking about how intoxicating it is to have your nose buried in the crook of Heeseungâs neck and get a whiff of his scent.
âAnd, like, Iâve always known Sunghoon was handsome, right, Iâm not blind, but I swear I never felt a particular type of way about him before then, just âcause I always saw him as one of my loser brotherâs loser friends,â she says, and you make a mental note to repeat that to Heeseung later, âAnd at first I thought I was going crazy, that I was just feeling that way âcause we were sitting so close together in a dark room and everything, but then our knees touched, and I was like, âokay, I shouldnât be losing my shit just âcause our knees touched,â but I was losing my shit-â
Sheâs retelling the story in such a dramatic, un-Seeun-like and very Chaeyeong-like way that you canât stop laughing, your stomach almost starting to hurt. âWhich is why I went to bed during the second movie. And after that, I was thinking about him so much it was so weird, and I thought I was doomed âcause I didnât wanna have a crush on my brotherâs best friend, right?â she says, and Chaeyeongâs and your eyes meet for a second in the mirror. âBut then you know that fair thing they had in town last week? You guys wouldnât volunteer with me, but he was volunteering too, so we spent, like, three days in a row together, and it was really, really fun. We would spend the whole day together, eat together, even hang out afterwards and everything. And then we started texting, and today was the first time we saw each other again since then, actuallyâŠâ She takes a deep breath there and laughs, as if relieved to have finally let it all out.Â
âThis is amazing news. Absolutely fantastic news,â Chaeyeong beams. âHow come you didnât tell us sooner?â
âI really wanted to but I was scared I was making up a bunch of stuff in my mind and he still saw me as nothing more than his best friendâs sister. If it had been someone else I wouldâve told you guys immediately, but I donât know, I was already trying to wrap my head around the fact that I was starting to like this guy Iâve known my whole life, so I wasnât ready to talk about it.â
If it had been someone else I wouldâve told you guys immediately. You know that feeling all too well. It makes you think that you should just go ahead and tell Seeun about you and Heeseung, but after years of conditioning yourself that she could never find out about your crush on her brother, and now that youâre dating him, itâs not easy to just come out with it.
Your attention had drifted away from the conversation for a bit but you tune back in when Chaeyeong mentions college. âPlus, he goes to our state university, right? Just like us! That means you guys donât have to worry about long distance, same for Heeseung and Y/N-â Chaeyeongâs eyes widen immediately when she realizes what she did.Â
âHeeseung and Y/N?â Seeun echoes, searching for your face in the rearview mirror.
Once more, you can thank your friendâs impeccable bullshitting abilities. âOh, no, I just meant that even though sheâs going to a different college than us, sheâll still know someone there. Not that they wouldnât have to worry about long distance like you and Sunghoon.â
âRight,â Seeun answers, eyes still fixated on you in the mirror. An uncomfortable beat passes before she speaks again. âBut is there⊠is there something happening between you and Heeseung, Y/N?â
Youâd seen the question coming, but it still somehow manages to punch you in the stomach. Before you can even think of a way to tell your friend the truth in the most delicate way possible, your reflexes and old habits kick in. âNo,â you simply reply, the lie coming to you way too easily. You hope she doesnât notice the slight tremble in your voice - youâre definitely not as good a liar as Chaeyeong. âI mean, weâve gotten closer this summer, but thatâs about it.âÂ
Chaeyeong stays silent, her eyes on the road. Youâre less than a minute away from Seeunâs house, but you wish you could just get there already and have this conversation be over.
âOkay, if you say so,â she says, not sounding fully convinced. âBut, you know, if there was, I wouldnât- I wouldnât be mad. A little weirded out, maybe, but not mad.â Sheâs looking at you so intently as she says this that you think she must know, otherwise she wouldnât be saying all this. Itâs like sheâs asking you to just tell her, but still, you canât bring yourself to do it. As if youâve dug your own grave and have to lie in it.
Heeseungâs car is already in the driveway when you reach the Leesâ house, and he must have already gone up to his room because he isnât in the kitchen or in the living room. You feel a slight pang of disappointment in your heart at the thought of not seeing him again tonight, even though itâs already so late, but you have a feeling youâll stay up for hours thinking about his warm hands and his lips.
âShower then food?â Seeun proposes when youâre all done taking your shoes off. You all nod and head up to her room. Just then, your phone buzzes with a text from Heeseung. Then another, and another, and the sound piques your friendsâ interest.Â
âWhoâs spamming you?â Chaeyeong asks, but she figures it out as soon as she sees the lovestruck smile on your face.
âOh, just a groupchat Iâm in,â you reply without looking up from your phone.
hee: Can you drop by my room? hee: Find an excuse to leave and come and see me :D hee: I want to see you. hee: Oh sorry about the period I know you donât like that hee: I want to see you <;3 hee: !!!!!!!!! hee: Please you: be there in a min hee you: i wanna see u too hee: K hee: :DDD
âY/N, you wanna go first?â Seeun asks, snapping you out of it.
âHuh?â
âThe shower. You wanna go first?â she repeats, amused by your sudden weird behavior.
âOh, actually, um, I remembered my mom wanted to go to the farmersâ market at, like, nine tomorrow, so I should probably just sleep at home,â you say, which is actually true. Youâve never been so thankful for your momâs love of organic and local produce. Thankfully, your friends also know about it, so they donât question it at all and just wish you a good night.
Little do they know that youâre actually headed straight for Heeseungâs bedroom rather than your own. Normally, your paranoid brain would tell you that your friends, especially Seeun, might question why they didnât hear the sound of the front door closing, but you doubt theyâll actually be paying attention to it.
You make a beeline for Heeseungâs room, not wanting to be caught by one of the girls as they go to the bathroom. Heeseung seems to be waiting for you, because youâve barely knocked on his door and heâs already taking your hand, pulling you into his room.
Itâs the first time youâve been here since you were a kid, and youâre sure thereâs many things on the walls and shelves to pick Heeseungâs brain about, any and every piece of himself interesting to you, but thereâs one thing that stands out to you; itâs just the two of you in here. It makes your heart skip a beat in anticipation.
âWhereâs Jake?â
Heeseung smiles shyly and looks down at your question. âI sort of, um, kicked him out.â You whip your head towards him at his words, looking at him with wide eyes. He chuckles. âI made him sleep over at Jayâs house. I really wanted to sneak you in here tonight.â
And just to make sure you really understand what he means by that, he fixes you with a look that canât be misinterpreted. His eyes rake up and down your body as he approaches you, his smirk growing when he sees the obvious effect it has on you. He places his hands on your hips and heâs close enough for you to see how dilated his pupils are. He almost looks hungry, like he could just eat you whole, and it makes you weak in the knees. Heat rises to your face when you think about what must be going on in his head, especially since itâs probably not far from the thoughts that have been plaguing you for a while now. Unconsciously, you bring your legs closer together, and the way his eyes dip down then back up to your face with an arch of his brow like he knows what youâre thinking drives you slightly insane.
You donât realize youâve been staring at him until he tilts his head at you, an amused expression on his face. âWhat is it, doll?â he asks, but his tone makes you inclined to think he knows exactly what it is.
You also know, but you donât know how to put it into words. So, instead, you take a step closer to him and wrap your arms around his waist, burying your face in the dip between his neck and shoulder. He smells like chlorine and something thatâs entirely his, and you swear youâve never smelled anything so intoxicating in your life. âHeeseung,â you murmur, voice muffled as your lips move against his skin.
âYes?â he answers in that same amused, knowing tone. Your clear-mindedness starts to slip away from you as it often does when youâre near him.
When you repeat his name, this time more whiny as you wrap your arms tighter and bury your face deeper, he chuckles softly, a low, deep sound that sends electrifying shivers right down your spine. He places both hands on the sides of your face to make you lean back and look up at him. He canât help but chuckle again at the pout on your lips, although your slightly hooded eyes make his stomach twist into the familiar tight knot of desire.
âI was gonna take a shower, if youâd like to join me,â he says, a glint of mischief playing in his eyes, and your own widening immediately at his words, or rather at the meaning behind them.
âA shower?!â you whisper-yell back.Â
He just laughs again and nods. âMh-hm. We can keep our swimsuits on.â He looks down at you, at your eyes that are still wide, but now more out of anticipation than shock, at the way they seem to search for reassurance in his own. You seem to find what youâre looking for, because you nod.
âWe just have to wait until Seeun and Chaeyeong are done, okay? I told Seeun to text me when the bathroomâs free.â
A small smile tugs at the corners of his lips when you nod again. He tucks a strand of hair behind your ear, then bends down to close the distance between the two of you, just as heâs done many times before, by pressing his lips to yours. He wants to tell you that heâs fine with whatever you want to do; that you can go as fast or as slow as you want; that no matter what, heâll always be there to hold you and kiss you and call you pretty.
But heâs not the best with words, so he opts for kissing you gently instead, probably the slowest kiss youâve ever shared, as if he's scared you might suddenly run away from him and he'll lose your warmth.
Heâs never been as relieved as when he feels you not only reciprocating the kiss, but deepening it, asking for more when you start to whine into his mouth and slightly claw at his back. It takes everything in him to pull away from you, but thereâs more comfortable ways to make out, including ones that donât involve you bending your neck backwards trying to reach his lips, so he tugs at your hand for you to follow him. âCâmere,â he says, leading you to his bed. He sits on the edge, and, with a smile you can only describe as devilish, pats his lap for you to straddle.Â
You oblige immediately, of course, and even though youâve done this many times before, it feels like the backseat of his car and his bed are worlds apart. It feels charged with an intimacy you two havenât quite shared before, like youâre finally letting go of everything that mightâve been holding you back before and youâre now ready to take a step further together.Â
At least, thatâs how you feel, but if the way he sighs into your mouth as soon as you press your lips to his, and the way his hands roam your back like trying not to leave an inch of your body untouched are anything to go by, then it seems like he feels the same way.
Thereâs a desperation to the kiss that makes your whole body feel like itâs on fire. Your hands quickly make their way to what seems their favorite place, Heeseungâs hair, and your fingers rake through it, gripping at the strands like you might float into space if you let go of him. His hands slowly make their way down your back until they reach your ass, sneaking underneath your loose shorts to grab at the skin underneath. He brings you closer to him, pressing you down onto his bulge, and it hits such a sweet spot between your thighs that you canât fight back against the moan that makes its way out of your lips.
Heeseung is quick to shush you, and for some reason, it only makes the fire in your belly burn harder. âShh, you have to be quiet, doll. Can you do that for me?â He continues to guide your movements against him, rubbing over that spot over and over again. Your forehead falls against his shoulder, and you know you canât answer him, because if a sound comes out of mouth, itâll be a moan, and not words.
But Heeseung isnât happy with that. âHm? I asked you a question, Y/N.â
What he is happy with is the whimper you let out at his words. âY-yes, Iâll be quiet,â you breathe out like even saying a few words is too complicated for you.
âThatâs a good girl,â he says, and even though you were already a mess before, these are the words that really do you in. With a small whine, you wrap your arms tight around his neck and bury your face where his jawline meets his ear, hoping that any sound coming from your mouth will be muffled there. You know thereâs no point trying to kiss him right now; you wonât be able to focus on that and grind on him at the same time.Â
Truth be told, Heeseung has little to no idea what heâs doing. Heâs never gotten this far with anyone before, and now that heâs assumed a more dominant position, since thatâs what heâd gathered youâd like from your backseat sessions, heâs scared he might have made this a lot harder for him. He wants to do his best for you and guide you through what he knows are your first sexual or even romantic experiences, but the thing is, this is also the first time for him. Itâs the first time heâs had this intense, almost ravaging craving to go further with someone, to touch and be touched and just cherish every single inch of someoneâs body.Â
All he knows about sex, heâs gathered from porn, conversations with his guy friends, and Yunjinâs âspicyâ romance novels. He has enough critical thinking skills to know that none of these are a hundred percent reliable sources, but he figured that the novels would be the closest to what women actually like.
Heâd been scared sex and everything around it would be the most complicated puzzle heâd have to put together in his life. But in reality, heâs been relieved to find everything has come fairly easily. He just has to pay attention to the things you like; you like it when he takes the lead, so he does; you like it when he compliments you, so he does; you like it when he presses kisses all over your face and neck, so he does. He knows thereâs still many things you like that he hasnât found out about, but heâs more than eager to learn about each and every one of them. Apparently, you really like whatever it is the two of you are doing right now, so much so that he can feel your legs start to shake and can hear you containing your moans, so he keeps on doing it.
As for him? Well, he likes you. His biggest turn-on is seeing you turned on. Seeing your swollen lips and heavy eyelids after a make-out session, hearing your small moans and heavy breathing, feeling you rest your body against his and letting him make you feel good, like youâre doing right now, thatâs what gets him going. Heâs always so focused on your pleasure that he could almost forget about his own. So, itâs only when you announce through broken moans that you think youâre gonna cum that he realizes heâs dangerously close to finishing too. âThatâs okay, baby, cum for me,â he coos, and thatâs all you need to come undone.
He really wants to keep it in, really doesnât want to jizz inside his pants like a highschooler, but itâs to no avail. In his defense, itâs really, really hard not to when youâre holding onto him like your life depends on it and when his name, sounding so pretty on your lips, is the only thing you can say as you cum against him. Itâs something right out of a young Heeseung wet dream, and now that present-day Heeseung is actually experiencing it, he can say with pride that this is much better than a dream.
You both take a few seconds to come down from your highs, the first that youâve shared together. It feels surreal. When you find the strength to lift your head and face Heeseung again, the look on his face is so hot, you think you might cum again from the sight alone. Hair sticking to his forehead, already-plump lips completely red, wet and swollen and curled up into a small smile. You press your foreheads together and laugh for no reason other than you couldnât get happier than this. Your smile doesnât leave your lips as you kiss him again. Youâre only eighteen, but you donât think life gets much better than this.
Then Heeseungâs phone dings with a text from Seeun: bathroomâs free. Heeseung looks at you with a mischievous glint in his eyes that wasnât there a minute ago. âWanna go get cleaned up?â
You giggle at his renewed eagerness and nod, letting him take your hand and guide you stealthily to the bathroom he and Seeun share. Thank God for locks.
Once inside, he lets go of your hand and turns on the mirror light rather than the bright, harsh overhead one, giving the room a more comfortable atmosphere. Thereâs a neck-scratching moment where neither you or Heeseung know what to do, your eyes darting nervously around the room, but it passes by when Heeseung turns around, quickly strips down to his swimming trunks once more and gets into the shower. He has his back next to you when he turns it on and finds his desired temperature, but he leaves the shower door open for you - you know heâs waiting for you to get in with him, but youâre stuck in place as you watch the water fall rapidly down his back and his muscles slightly shift out of relaxation.Â
Youâd seen him half-naked and wet just an hour ago, and itâd already messed with your head, but this was so much worse. Maybe it was the heat slowly rising in the room, maybe it was the fact that you could join him at any moment and get to touch him, whatever it was, it was making it hard to breathe. You practically choke when he turns back around, facing you and smiling when he realizes you havenât moved an inch.Â
âYouâre not coming?â he asks quietly, and you know you canât just stand and stare forever - youâve done too much of that already. Your heart beats like crazy as you pull your sweatshirt over your head, then rid yourself of your shorts, because although heâd already seen you in your swimsuit, itâs nerve-wracking to undress right when you know heâs watching.
His smile hasnât left his face when you step in and close the shower door, and heâs looking at you so intently that you have to focus on something other than his eyes, so you settle on his collarbones. Everything about him is pretty, you realize.Â
You suck in a breath when he places one of his hands on your waist, then the other, and makes you get under the water with him. Itâs the perfect temperature for you, not too hot that it burns but just enough to make your skin tingle, and you wonder how many more of these small things you have in common.Â
âY/NâŠâ he says quietly, just loud enough for you to hear over the sound of the shower. You finally dare to meet his eyes. âHave I ever told you how pretty you are?â he asks with a smile, and just like that, you have to look away again, resting your forehead against his shoulder to hide your flustered expression from him. Receiving a compliment from Heeseung is one thing, being in the shower with him is another; both happening at the same time is too much for you to handle. Somehow cumming in his lap wasnât enough to rid you completely of your shyness around him. He chuckles at your reaction and wraps an arm around your waist while his other hand caresses up and down your back.Â
âYou have,â you manage to reply even though his touch is close to making your mind go blank.
âWell, let me say it again.â He bends down so that his mouth is right by your ear, lips tickling it when he speaks next. âYouâre the most beautiful girl Iâve ever seen.â
His words paired with his low voice make your core throb. You try not to gulp when he stands back up to his full height and smirks down at you - even though itâs impossible that heâs grown any taller in the last hour, it still feels like he towers over you much more than before.Â
He doesnât say anything more, your reaction apparently enough to satisfy him, and he reaches behind you for the body wash. He squeezes a dollop of it into his palm, and you think heâll clean himself up, so you let out a small âohâ of surprise when his hands touch the area above your chest, then start to spread the gel all over your arms, back and stomach. You watch as he lowers himself to lather your legs in the product as well, and youâre not sure why the sight of Heeseung looking up at you from this position makes your heart flutter so much. The illusion is slightly broken, though, when he decides to press a kiss to your stomach but immediately regrets it. âSoap,â he simply says before rinsing his lips with the shower water.
You laugh and shake your head at him. âYouâre so cute sometimes, you know that?â you say, the words tumbling out of your mouth naturally, and press your lips to his in a chaste kiss. When you lean back, Heeseung is staring right at you, stunned.
âIâm the one who does that,â he says, a light tone of protest to his voice.
âDoes what?â
âCompliments you then kisses you,â he answers with a pout, but it only makes you laugh more.
You wrap your arms around him, pressing yourself flush against him and letting the water fall on top of your bodies. Before you can even comprehend the thought forming in your head at that moment, your lips betray you and words fall out of them against your will. âGod, I love you so much.â
In the split second after youâve said that, the realization hits you and your whole body stiffens. Slowly, your heart threatening to jump out of your chest, you lean back to see Heeseungâs reaction. He looks down at you in a mix of shock and pure, unfiltered happiness, eyebrows raised high but his smile reaches his ears. âYou love me, huh?â
âHeeseung, I-â
âGood, because I love you too, Y/N.â
All the dread you felt rushes out of your body and is immediately replaced with relief. In the minute youâd realized you actually loved Heeseung and didnât just have a big fat crush on him, you had the reassurance that he loved you, too. Life really canât get any better than this.
Your lips find each other like second nature, but kissing is hard when youâre both so high on your confessions that you canât stop giggling. You feel your whole body melt for him when he starts peppering kisses all over your face, saying âI love youâ in between each peck.Â
You take his face in your hands to steady his head and kiss him on the lips, a deep, firm kiss that has him wrapping his arms tightly around you and bringing you close to him. Itâs like a switch flips inside of him, and all his playfulness transforms into intensity, and suddenly all he can think about is your lips on his and your body against his. You try not to gulp at the feeling of his growing hardness pressed against your stomach. What youâd done on the bed earlier had opened up a whole new world of sensation for the both of you to discover, and you found that you were already craving it again.Â
Thereâs not much to be said in a situation like this; you both know what the other is thinking, itâs just a matter of who will act first. Usually, youâd rely on Heeseung to make the first move, or youâd do it yourself if you were feeling impatient; but right now, he seems to be enjoying making you squirm and taking his sweet time, hands roaming your back like he doesnât know youâre desperate for more.
So you do what youâre usually too shy to do, and ask for what you want directly. âHeeseung, please,â you plead quietly against his lips, eyes shut tight as if in pain.
You can feel the smile that grows on his lips at your words. âPlease, what?â
You take a shaky breath in and press wet kisses along his jawline before you answer. âMake me feel good, please.â
âAnything you want, doll.âÂ
You can feel the blood pumping through your veins as you wait for whatever Heeseung will do next, but for some reason, heâs decided not to do anything in a hurry. He slows the kiss down as his fingers trail up and down your sides at snailâs pace, and you have half a mind to just tell him to hurry up already, but thereâs something delicious about being on edge like this, desperately waiting for your release.
One of his hands then makes its way to your back, finding the string of your bikini top and playing with it. âCan I take this off?â he asks, voice barely audible over the sound of the water. As soon as you nod, he unties it and pulls the fabric away from your body, letting it drop at his feet and leaving your upper body completely naked for him. Your cheeks blaze under his fascinated eyes, but in that moment, his gaze really does make you feel like the prettiest girl in the world.
His other hand that had patiently rested on your waist makes its way up your front until it reaches your breasts.Â
You hadnât even known your nipples were this sensitive until his palm brushes against one of them, making your body jolt of its own accord. Heeseung seems to like that reaction, so he starts playing with it more, twisting it lightly between his fingers, eliciting moans from you (that you try to keep down, still conscious of the fact that anyone in the house might hear you if you were too loud) and making your back arch involuntarily.Â
As his hand drifts to your other breast to pay your other nipple some well-deserved attention, you decide that Heeseung deserves as much attention as heâs giving you right now. Slowly, almost innocently, your hand snakes its way down his chest and abs to his trunks. You palm him over the fabric, hoping it makes him feel as good as his hand on your breast makes you feel. As his ministrations continue, your breathing gets shallower and shallower, but youâre glad to be having a similar effect on him - he rests his forehead against yours as a breathy moan escapes his lips, and you know youâre not doing as bad a job as you think you might be.Â
âY/N,â he breathes out after a minute of this. You hum. âI think my self-control is starting to wear out,â he says, voice shaky as his hand makes its way down your side. His touch burns more than the scorching shower water.
âGood,â you simply reply, and press your lips to his. You can let go is what youâre trying to convey through your kiss as it turns hungrier, needier, more impatient.Â
Apparently he gets the message, because heâs quick to push you against the shower wall, left hand behind your head and the other holding on tight to your hip. He presses himself against you, letting you know just how much he wants you, and you canât help the whimper that escapes your lips. This seems to spur him on - so slowly it hurts, his hand makes its way from your hips to the front of your panties. Youâve been waiting for this for so long that you feel like you might come undone right away when heâs barely even touched you.
You let out an involuntary moan when he presses his palm against your clothed sex, but heâs quick to shut you up with a kiss. He continues such ministrations for a bit, unhurriedly rubbing two fingers up and down your core. If heâs going slow so as not to overwhelm you, it doesn't work - you can already feel a familiar knot twisting in your stomach. You canât even kiss him back anymore, too caught up in the feeling of his hand touching you exactly where you need him, so he settles on kissing your face and your neck.Â
You swear a little bit of your soul actually leaves your body when he slips his hand underneath your bikini. He trails two fingers up along your slit, watching your face intently in the hopes that your reaction will tell him when heâs found your sensitive spot. Youâve never felt anything other than your own fingers there, and the sensation is breathtaking, especially when he starts rubbing small circles right onto your clit.
âLet me know if it feels good, okay? Iâve never actually done this before,â he admits with a small chuckle. Your eyes shoot open and you grab onto his forearm, making him halt his motions as panic bubbles inside him. âWhat? Are you okay? Did I do something wrong?â
âYouâve never done this before?â you echo his words back at him like thereâs no way they might be true.
He smiles shyly and looks away, an odd mix of shame and pride at your reaction. âNo, I havenât.â
âWow,â you breathe out, disbelieving. âYou seem to know exactly what youâre doing, this whole time, I thought you were like, a sex expert or something.âÂ
He laughs again and quickly resumes his previous actions, and any surprise you might have felt at his confession is thrown out the window when his fingers move against your clit again. âI promise you Iâm making it up as I go.â
âYouâre amazing,â you reply.
You can feel yourself getting wetter by the second, Heeseungâs fingers going at the perfect speed and putting the exact right amount of your pressure against you like heâs done this his whole life. âAm I making you feel good?â he asks, a rhetorical question that he has to know the answer to considering your bodyâs reaction to him, but you still do him the favor of answering.Â
âYou are. Feels so, so good, Hee,â you sigh as his fingers leave your clit and start to tease at your entrance. Heeseung sighs, too, but more out of exasperation than out of pleasure.
âLetâs get rid of this, hm?â he offers, already pulling your swimming bottoms down your legs and discarding them next to your top. âItâll be easier like this,â he says, and before you know it, heâs pushed a finger inside you, and you let out the loudest moan you have all night at the feeling.
Heeseung chuckles as he shushes you gently. âQuiet, baby, okay? I know it feels good, but we donât want to wake anyone up, now, do we?â
You shake your head fervently at his words, but in a twisted way, you care more about your current pleasure than about anyone catching you and Heeseung in the middle of the act. He curls his finger inside you, brushing right against that spot that has you seeing stars, and you let your body grow heavy, trusting him to hold you up when your legs stop working. As if one wasnât enough, he adds a second finger, thrusting them inside you at an increasing pace that has your thighs shaking sooner than youâd like to admit.
âH-heeseung, oh my God,â you murmur, and thatâs somehow enough for Heeseung to understand.
âGonna cum, doll?â
You barely manage to answer him, your second high of the night approaching faster than you expect it to. Fingers still inside you, Heeseung brings his thumb to rub against your clit again, and five seconds later, youâre cumming all over his hands, body shaking against him and holding onto him throughout it all. You try to be as quiet as possible, and Heeseung presses his lips against yours to stifle any sound, but a few whimpers and broken moans still escape your lips.
When heâs slipped his fingers out of you, you hug him tightly, taking a few seconds to regain your breath as you come down from your high. âYou did so well, baby,â Heeseung praises, lips moving against your temple before he presses a kiss there, and his words alone make you whine again.Â
As soon as your sanity has somehow made its way back into your head, you remember your boyfriendâs pleasure and you press your hand against his bulge once more. He lets out a shaky breath as you start to rub your hand up and down his shaft over his swimming trunks. âYou donât have to,â he says quietly, eyes screwed shut in pleasure.Â
âI want to,â you reassure, dipping your fingers under the waistband of his trunks so he gets the message. When he takes them off, his fully hard dick slaps against his stomach, and even though you havenât seen a great amount of dicks in your life, you recognize a big dick when you see one.
Itâs always the nerdy, lanky ones.
As you take him in your hand, you look up at him with a sheepish smile. âIâve never done this, so tell me if it feels good, yeah?â
He takes a deep breath as if trying to steady himself, but his eyes stay closed. âIt already feels better than anything you could imagine, baby.â
âBut Iâm not doing anything,â you say, slightly confused.
âStill.â
You chuckle, and Heeseung almost joins in, but any laughter is ripped from his throat as your hand, formed in a fist loosely gripping him, makes its way down his shaft, then back up. Itâs a clumsy motion, and he can tell youâre doing this for the first time, but it drives him crazy anyway. The sole fact that itâs you touching him is enough to turn him into a whimpering mess.Â
He has to keep himself from moaning loudly and waking up the whole house when your palm brushes against his tip, but thankfully, you notice his reaction right away. As you continue jerking him off, you make sure to pay particular attention to his tip, sweeping your thumb over it every time your hand reaches it. Fascinated, you watch the rise and fall of Heeseungâs chest, the clench of his abs, and the way his beautiful pink lips part, and listen intently to any sound that might come out of them. Heâs much less chatty than before, and you canât help but ask for reassurance from him. âDoes it feel good, Hee?â
The worried tone in your voice makes his eyes flicker open. âOf course, baby. Feels amazing,â he answers with a breathless chuckle. You beam at him, and the contrast between your innocent, happy expression and the motions of your hand actually makes him see double until he closes his eyes again.
You press yourself closer to him so you can leave kisses all over his neck, paying particular attention to his Adamâs apple that you know is sensitive. Youâre so close that you can feel your own hand against your stomach as you fist it up and down his shaft, slowly picking up speed. You bite down against his neck, not hard enough to leave a mark but definitely hard enough to garner a moan from him, and he can feel his orgasm is mere moments away by now.
âWanna make you feel as good as you made me feel,â you whisper before pressing a kiss to his cheek. âLove you so much, Hee,â you say, your voice almost a moan, and thatâs what drives him over the edge. Knowing that you love him.
He spills his seed all over your hand and stomach with a choked moan and finds your lips to trap them in a feverish kiss. Just like before, the immediate reaction for the both of you is to laugh; coming down from your high and helping the other reach theirs make you feel like youâre on top of the world. You help rinse each other and you spend another five minutes shampooing the otherâs hair to get the chlorine out of it, but after that, youâre out of the shower, realizing that your hands and feet have started pruning after what could have been anything between twenty minutes and two hours in the shower.
No matter how many times you tell him you can do it yourself, Heeseung insists on helping you dry off, making sure thereâs not a droplet of water on your body before you head back to his room together, just as stealthily as youâd come earlier. You really hoped the sound of the shower was enough to cover any sound you made and that everyone was sleeping too deeply to realize how much time youâd spent in there anyway.
Heeseung quickly puts on clean underwear before getting into bed, then watches you with a lazy smile as you put your panties, shorts and tank top back on. âWhat are you staring at?â you grumble because even after everything, his intent stare makes you shy.
âYou.â
You should have expected it, but it still makes your heart flutter. You canât even pretend to be annoyed, not bothering to hide your grin as you get into bed with him, snuggling up to him and sighing in contentment at the feeling of his warmth against you. Youâd daydreamed one too many times dreaming about what it must feel like falling asleep next to Heeseung, or even better, in his arms, and it was finally happening. You rest your head against his chest, listening to his calming heartbeat while his fingers rake through your hair in a soothing manner.Â
âIâm spent,â you murmur against his skin. âI think Iâm gonna fall asleep in two seconds.â
âMe too,â he chuckles, then presses a kiss to the top of your head. âSleep, baby. Weâll talk more in the morning.â
âOkay,â you whisper, nuzzling yourself closer against him and letting sleep wash over your tired body.
--
You wish you could say that you wake up the next morning because of the sunlight pouring on your face or because of Heeseung peppering your face with kisses and awaking you, but really, itâs just your 8 a.m. alarm reminding you you have to go to the market with your mom. The sound jolts you awake, like someone just poured a bucket of cold water over you. You and Heeseung have somehow barely budged from the position you fell asleep in and you want nothing more than to stay there for a couple more hours, but a promise is a promise, so with a sigh, you start to sit up.Â
When Heeseung feels your body shift away from his, his arm tightens its hold around your waist almost out of its own accord, pulling you back to him. âJust five more minutes,â he pleads, voice slightly whiny and still dripping with sleep that makes butterflies erupt all over your stomach. You give in immediately.
âJust five,â you repeat, and he hums in satisfaction.
But five turns into ten turns into twenty, and when your alarm rings again, itâs already thirty past eight, and you only have fifteen minutes to go home and get ready before your mom will want to leave.Â
You sigh and, once again, start to pry your limbs away from Heeseungâs, but, once again, he stops you before you can get off the bed, hand coming to grab your wrist gently. You sit up and smile affectionately down at him, brushing away the hair that had fallen in front of his eyes during the night. He blinks his eyes open but can only look at you for a few seconds before he shuts them again, trying to hide his flustered expression under his forearm, but you can still make out his smile and the growing blush on his cheeks.
âWhat?â you ask quietly in the silence of the room, chuckling at your boyfriendâs cuteness.
âI just remembered last night,â he says, letting his forearm fall away from his face so he can see your reaction.
Your smile grows and you continue to play with his hair as images of last night flood your mind, a sort of fluster enveloping your whole body and making you feel light. You bend over to press soft kisses to his forehead, to his cheek, and then to his lips before burying your face in the crook of his neck. His hand comes up naturally to your back, slipping under the thin fabric to graze his fingernails across your exposed skin.
âLast night was amazing, Hee. Thank you so much,â you whisper, trying not to get carried away by the feeling of his caresses.
âThe pleasureâs all mine,â he replies, kissing the top of your head and burying his nose there to inhale the scent of your hair.Â
You count down from ten, and on zero, you sigh, pushing yourself from Heeseung for good this time. âOkay, I really have to go now.â He sits up with you, fixing you with a pout, but you wonât let him use his cuteness against you and trick you into staying. âIâll text you when Iâm done, okay?â
âOkay. Iâll walk you downstairs.â When he sees you about to protest, he puts on his best smile, akin to one that an athlete would wear after winning first place. âI wanna kiss you goodbye.âÂ
You roll your eyes but your smile makes it obvious how delighted you are that he wants to be with you âtil the very last second. You gather your stuff and head into the hallway. You know his parents are already at work, and even though Chaeyeong and Seeun usually sleep in until much later than now, you still want to make sure theyâre asleep. You gesture at Heeseung to be quiet as you peer inside Seeunâs room quickly and quietly - if they wake up, you can just say you forgot something yesterday and came back to get it quickly, and if they donât, youâre pretty safe to escape without getting caught.
When they donât budge an inch, you close her door again and head down the stairs to the entrance where your shoes lay. You check your phone and realize with dread that your momâs not going to be very happy with you, but you donât have it in you to push Heeseung away when he insists on helping you into your shoes (theyâre slip-ons) and when he wraps his arm around your middle, bringing you in for another kiss. You let yourself melt under his touch - itâs not like thirty seconds will make much of a difference now that youâre already late anyway.
âYou do know that if weâre caught kissing here, weâre dead?â you breathe, pulling away slightly from Heeseung to speak. Youâre still so close that you feel his lips move against yours as they curl up into a smirk.
âI know, but I wanna risk it.â And just like that, his lips are back on yours, and all other thoughts are blown away like feathers in the wind.
Itâs almost dangerous how you canât think of anything else when youâre this close to Heeseung. How his scent, his warmth, the feel of his skin and his hair under your hands fill your mind up to the brim. Itâs dangerous because itâs precisely in moments like these that you should think before you act, before you let yourself be consumed by him. And itâs moments like these that you look back on later and curse yourself for being so foolish.
âHeeseung? Y/N?â
Alarm fills your body as soon as you hear Seeunâs shaky voice calling out your names. She looks down at you from the stairwell, shock evident on her face and her eyes immediately welling up with tears. Your hands let go of Heeseungâs t-shirt and your arms fall limp at your sides, but other than that, youâre frozen in place. You watch as Seeunâs eyes dart between you and Heeseung and as she realizes that youâve been hiding something big from her; that you even lied straight to her face.Â
Itâs only when a sob escapes her lips and she whips around, heading back upstairs to her room, that you snap out of it. You immediately go to follow her, but Heeseung calls out your name as his hand reaches out to grab your wrist. You look down at where your bodies touch, and your gazes lock just as the sound Seeunâs door slamming shut reverberates through the house.
âI have to talk to her,â you whisper as you wrench your wrist away from Heeseungâs hold.Â
You walk away and leave him behind.
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#enhypen x reader#heeseung x reader#enhypen smut#heeseung smut#enhypen fluff#heeseung fluff#enhypen scenarios#heeseung scenarios
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Worse duo to be stuck between in the bsd universe, go!
anonnnn this is so difficult????? my initial and knee jerk response was fyodor and dazai because theyâd melt your mind into the stickiest goo between the two of them and youâd leave so fucking stupid but then i thought about akutagawa and atsushi who would literally play tug-of-war with you and probably tear you into bits before anything good even happens </3
#anyway those are the two that come to mind instantly lmao#especially because like fyodor and dazai would have FUN together#like theyâd have fun trying to outsmart one another#whereas atsu and aku would just be total brats who canât learn how to share#so honestly theyâd probably be worse hahaha#i guess it depends on ur personal preferences~#but i just know fyodor and dazai would terrify me and leave me in a puddle of my own tears#hope ur having an awesome day anon!!#enjoy ur monday n stay safe!#inky.bb#clari gets mail#inky.bsd
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Haihai
ur fics r so awesome dude.
i was wondering if we could get a boat boys fic where etho is essentially just a human sized puppy following joel around lol, because that's pretty much their dynamic. like if joel tells etho to do something he'll probably shut up and do it y'know?
and joel's definitely cat vibes, begging for attention and then being all grumpy when he gets it.
i dunno where i'm going with this. uhh i hope it's vaguely reqlike? i just wanted to read more of ur boat boys and ur writing in general lol :)
that is a pretty good reqlike in my opinion đ you get a gold star in reqasking â also, lucky anon you are, im finally back to my clacky keyboard so comfy writing đ _____
đ§ Day 44 -
Characters - Etho/Joel Words - 984 Time - 30 mins Content - Modern AU | High School AU
In hindsight, Etho became attached by very little. But at the time, when they were younger and barely able to see over the table even on their tiptoes, what Joel did was life changing. A true feat.
He barely remembered what it had been about, but he remembered being on the floor, his vision blurry with tears in his eyes, hiccups on his throat, sniffs and snot on his nose. There was pain somewhere on his body, maybe his butt where he had fallen over, maybe his chest where he had been pushed from. He remembered trying to not cry, holding back the pained sounds, but his trembling lips betrayed him.Â
His vision cleared a little with every blink, with every long sniff, then the world seemed to stop for a moment. The group of confused kids and Etho watched as the aggressor kid toppled over, breaking into sobs almost as soon as they hit the floor. And there was another boy behind, just lowering his arms, staring at the aggressor with an unreadable expression. Etho stared at the boy with brown hair and brown eyes, a red panda on his yellow shirt and lighting on his shoes. The boy stared then promptly turned around and walked away, almost bored yet confused about the situation. They boy had saved him like a knight or superhero beating the bad guy, then leaving.Â
Etho decided then, that he owed his life to that boy.Â
And now that he is older, he realized âowingâ his life was an exaggeration.Â
But he had sat next to the boy the next day and let him borrow his favorite markers. He found out, written in big bold letters on a piece of paper and the table, that the boyâs name was Joel. And Joel liked to color and play, and Etho liked making Joel happy.Â
It was easier back then, doing things for Joel. As they grew, Joel looked weirded out, always questioning his intentions. And really, Joel had all the reason to. He would randomly pop up beside him with a treat, or he would grab a too high book on the shelf for him, or Joel would find himself with Ethoâs pen from all across the classroom. Maybe he was overdoing it, but just a little, because it was too easy to simply⊠do it.Â
Again, Etho was attached by very little.Â
Today, the morning had been fine and sunny, though it got chillier later in the day. It was a matter of hearing it once, even through the grapevine, that Joel was cold, and nearly a minute later of finding out, Joel would have his jacket around his shoulders. When they entered high school, it was much harder to keep track of him, because there were more people and they had different groups of friends, and life always seemed to get in the way. Etho would try, always, despite Joel scolding him to stop smothering him.Â
He should, but Joel looked too cute in his oversized jacket that he might have forgotten to actually listen to what Joel said.Â
Oh, well, there was always next time to hear.Â
They did not talk often, Etho realized as he reached a red light, pressing the lightâs button before stepping back, momentarily distracted in his mind. The rain continued to tap on his umbrella, incessantly. But few things could get him to stop thinking about Joel, and the one other thing that could make him stop thinking about Joel was Joel himself.Â
It happened quickly, one second he was alone and the next someone had scooted over under his umbrella, pressed shoulder to shoulder. Etho turned to the side, catching a glimpse of green peeking over the hood, green in between browns, and he knew.Â
âJoel!â he greeted, way too happily despite the horrible weather. It was almost unthinkable that the morning had been sunny and so hot, now cold and pouring. The light was still red, so Etho took the chance to switch the umbrella between him, almost leaning it more towards him to cover him better. Joel was soaked, and he did not want him to get sick if he could help it.Â
âShut up, Eefo, youâre annoying,â Joel grumbled back, not even looking up at him. And Etho should have felt sad or hurt, but he was almost used to the dismissiveness, and learnt rather early on that Joel would never push him away regardless of what he did. So he beamed under the mask, because he realized that maybe they could have a conversation.Â
âIâm getting my driver license soon,â he said, then hummed, turning his head ahead to look at the light. âMight be a car alongside it. You wonât have to walk in the rain again.â
âAnd what if I like walking in the rain, huh?!â
âBut youâll get sick!â
The beeping signal interrupted them, forcing them to cross, side by side, shoulder to shoulder. Joel tried to speed walk, probably deciding that this was not worth it, but Etho was good at keeping up. He was not half as sporty as Joel was, but he was good enough to keep up, and that was all he really needed. So he kept up, holding the umbrella above him, eventually slowly down after the sound of soles sliding.Â
 It did not take long for Etho to guide the way. Though he knew the route to Joelâs place, Joel seemed unbothered or at least did not voice annoyance when he continued heading to his own house. He would drive him home later, or his parents would. It happened plenty times before.Â
âMaybe I could drive you to school too. We can go together, and then Iâll drive you home after.â
Joel simply scoffed. Etho said nothing else as Joel linked a hand on his arm. Shoulder to shoulder, side by side, they walked under one umbrella.
_____
so. yeah. back to the grind now. i dont feel at all refreshed, but we âš cope âš ill probs be doing some requests. and maybe, maybe some inspired by art to get back in the groove >.> nudge nudge wink wink also, i guess this fic is a pre-relationship? or maybe relationship. who knows. it doesnt matter. this could be purely platonic or qpr for all i care. it's whatever my boys. that's all that matters
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hi!! Just found ur account today and Iâm SOOO obsessed. You are incredibly talented!!!
I just wanted to ask if youâd ever be willing to draw Antigone, and possible her brother Polynices who was super close to her before his exile from Thebes. Theyâre some of my fav siblings in Greek mythology and I lovee their tragedy!!! Honestly if youâd be willing to draw anyone from the Theban Cycle I would be over the moon. Have an awesome day!!
Youâre too nice to me anon, thank you so much for the encouragementđđ
I also am a bit emotional about the tragedy of Theban royalty starting from Cadmus and Harmonia, so hereâs a quick drawing of Antigone (+ Polynices)!
I hope you have a lovely day toođ
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idk if u do like .. quick little cutie drabbles but omg have you seen all of matthews rizz videos omg ??? HES SO ADORABLEEEđ AND THE HASHTAGS HE PUTS â#iâmnotputtingthephonedownâ AND THEN THERES JUST SO MANY CLIPS OF HIS RIZZ JOKES.
ok um point is, matthew trying to use his super cool super good super awesome rizz on you but gets sad when it doesnât workđ im not very elaborate but do what you wanna !!! IVE JUST BEEN SEARCHING FOR A WRITER FOR DAYS AND I LIKE UR WRITING SO !!!
also meant to ask abt becoming an anon .. idk if you do that either but lmk !! if you do can I be đ ?!?!?! THANK UUUđ
LMAO PLS YEAH IâVE SEEN THE TIKTOKS
i get second-hand embarrassment sometimes and be like âok scroll and pretend nothing happened.â AND YES YOU MAY BE đ ANON !! i hope this is what you meant by cute lilâ drabbles đ«¶
matthew would have his phone out ready to play some sick music after he drops the bomb on you
âif i could rearrange the alphabet, i would put âuâ and âiâ together, aha ha.â *sticker by nct 127 starts playing*
and then you stare at him for a good minute as he poses throughout the music
heâs lipbiting and swiping his hair back and stuff đđ
it doesnât matter the time or location, he will take any opportunity he gets
he has pickup lines picked out for the next day and he even practices on his friends first
he gets suuuuper pouty when you donât react because he put real effort into damaging his dignity for you
âsay somethingggg.â literally will whine all day if you donât give him the reaction he wants
might post them on his own priv tiktok and makes it a series like ârizzing up my partner day 508â
and in every video, youâre there with your hand covering your face in embarrassment
but you still find him cute in all his efforts!!
#faithâs inbox àŁȘ âč đ« . . Ę àŁȘ#đđ#ì맀í àŒ * đđ#zb1#zerobaseone#zb1 imagines#zb1 scenarios#zb1 drabbles#zb1 reactions#zb1 x reader#zb1 fluff#zb1 matthew#zb1 seok matthew#matthew x reader#seok matthew#matthew
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jesus christ man, ur art is sick, keep doing u and just know if u go for the grift, if u make a "fixing your art" YouTube channel even though theyre so fucking annoying and dumb run by entitled ass 26 yr olds who went to art school, u can make a lottt of money if ur rly 14 and lean into that gimmick, as wel as the actual merits of ur shit cus. like bro if i had a time machine. and i was in ur shoes. honestly do it. go for the grift. fuck the merits of art anyway it doenst mean shit. "art is dead" but not in the cringe bo burnham way but in the way where being a furry is slowly being poisoned by capitalism as companies notice that demographic can be profitable (this is why furries need to be actual freaks. but not you you are like a child. just do whatever u want man i dont care dude)
but forreal you should make one of those art drama channels where u fix peoples art so there are less annoying ass fucking 26 year olds who talk like assholes on purpose and being intentionally divisive and annoyingggg running those channels that genuinely suck balls and dick and cock at art . like ok i shoudlnt be saying this to a 14 year old. sorry for the naughty words. balls are the orange things with black lines on them on a baskertball cvourt. mihcale jordan.. yeah..... he was tall as fuuuck boy. anyway ur art is cool and made me have an internal crisis because i am like almost 3 years older than u and leagues behind. but that's ltierally so cringe because we both love skibid toilet because we are both basically children so oh my god so much in common! wha tthe fukkk this is like when the hipies invaded the white house. or sonmething. i love peace and love on the earth oh m god dude skibidi bop yes yes. skbidi biden is kind of fucking hard as fuck though bro i aint even gon lie to u i aint even holdin u to that it kind of is actual heat,. this is on anon man, but i dont even care, i speak for the communitnmy, i hope u never sell ur soul for the art world and community, but if u do, i hope u make a shit ton of money for it because art youtubers are fucking annoying as shit but make a ton of money. do it bro i swear to god youll get huge if u lean into the 14 yr old thing god DAMN im old now oh my goddd DONT GO INTO A RETAIL JOB!!!!!! well, u should for the experience, but DONT GET STUCK THERE AT LEAST. EXPLOIT YOUR COMPANIES TIME. SLACK OFF ON THEJOB. UNIONIZE SECRETLY AND DONT TOLERATE NARCS AND SNITCHES. art "fixing" channels are lowkey scabs like they are the type to be worker scabs but also god damn man they are a scab on the art community cus theyre ANNOYING AS FUCKKK I DONT CARE IF THEYRE ETHICAL ONES THEYRE ANNOYING. I literally dont fucking take them seriously like oh my god ok bro yes aw ohm y god wow! anyway. becvome one of the scabs. the art youtube scavbs not a worker scab. make money. then dip and god please god dont turn 26 ever, i have ten good years maybe and then boom iim that colleen girl and i have to killmyself! dont do it !!! dont do it
holy shit wow. that is a whole disquisition and a half
thank you though i appreciate the fact that you took the time outta your day to spam my inbox with kind (and equally as questionable) words!!
i havent really been able to draw cus of exam season but here you go chew on this stupid dirk doodle til i have the time to whip up something a little less ballsy
peace out mwah mwah youre awesome and i will be looking deeper into the bill gates foreskin couch conspiracy
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