#i will never stop taking photos in this game ngl

[chxpsi]

✧˖° the last of us part II - seraphite island on fire °˖✧

⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆

eventual tags: @misspearly1 @joelsgeetar

(lmk if u don’t wanna be tagged) 

[shippingmyworld]

Processing and coping with the fact that I finished Veilguard by rewatching clips of Davrin and Oscar's relationship on a continuous loop. That ending was too abrupt man, I feel like a drug addict that's been forced to go cold turkey.

Before anyone asks, yes I have already outlined a multi-part DavrinxRook fic.

Yes it's already at 20k words.

[bluetimeombre]

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ falling out of love

fans think that you and tom are falling out of love after filming for ballad of songbirds and snakes and you don't post about each other much, so you show them that it's far from the truth.

[heres to 2024 coming soon. this is not part of my ongoing series but a little something else to hold you all over. never proofread, just vibing. btw just watched salt burn and I’m scared of barry now]

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

liked by… rachelzegler, joshandresrivera, hunterschafer & others

tomblyth: the vibes are green

893k likes 398k comments

user: he’s so happy!!!

user: um, where’s yourusername?

user: that’s definitely not yourusername

user: they don’t have to be around each other all the time

user: they haven’t been seen together in ages ☹️☹️

user: if they break up I’ll cry myself to sleep every night

user: my man looks so good

user: maybe she just didn’t want to hike (i wouldn’t)

user: 😍😍

user: he’s active again!!!!

user: I miss them

user: where’s yourusername

user: daddy 🔥🔥🔥🔥

user: just wanna know who the girl he’s with is, i just wanna know

user: is that the necklace yourusername gave him?

user: y’all are obsessed!!!

user: let my man live

liked by …. florence.pugh, austinbutler, jaimieflatters & others

yourusername: packing only the essentials

901k likes 650k comments

user: packing?

user: what do you mean packing, where you going?

user: hotmamma

user: I love u

user: where’s tom

user: where is she going? to tom

user: is she leaving tom?

user: I love her whole vibe

user: I hope she’s going to go see tom 😔😔

user: why is she always slaying, it must be so tiring to be her

user: tomblyth

user: tomblyth

user: tomblyth

user: I can’t lose my third set of parents plssss

user: hearts breaking rn

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

user: rip tomblyth and yourusername, I’ll miss you

user: cosying up??? they’re literally just talking

user: it was bound to happen

user: tom!!!! cone get ur gurl

user: crying in the club rn

user: not believing in anything until they confirm

user: I can’t believe it; i won’t

user: love is dead

user: as long as they’re happy

user: they were probably pr for the hunger games and it’s been over two years, who cares now

liked by… jaimieflaters, sadiesink_, zendaya & others

yourusername: that’s a rap on me and my Malibu dude!

871k likes 0comments

[comments restricted]

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

‘It’s so over,’

trending on twitter

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

liked by… tomblyth, rachelzegler, jamieflaters, tomholland2013 &others

yourusername: tom and I falling out of love, a compilation

1.1m likes 832k comments

user: oh it’s so back

user: she really said stop it!

user: parents!!!!

user: THANK GOD

user: taking the toaster out of the bath rn

user: goals

rachelzegler: you guys are so cute I’m gonna throw up

user: the fourth picture hello?!?!?!

user: damnnnnn

user: THANK GOD IM SO HAPPY

user: stfu enews

user: he’s such a gentleman in every picture but the fourth

user: I just knows he’s packing

zendaya: ❤️

user: planning the wedding

user: twitter lied!!

liked by … yourusername, rachelzegler, joshandresrivera & others

tomblyth: falling out of love? more like falling in love with every single day that passes. I love you

tagged: yourusername

1m likes 750k comments

user: AHHHHHHHH

user: the posts!!!! the posts!!!!!

user: I just know they picked out these photos together

user: I love them

user: they’re giggling and kicking their feet rn

user: this is the cutest damn couple ever

user: I know they’re so in love because look at like these pictures, so darn cute

user: two years going on forever!!!

user: they could never make me believe you guys were over

user: they were literally probably just laughing off the rumors

user: they had us in the first half, ngl

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

‘Oh it’s so back!’

trending on twitter

[weixuldo]

Tinder and Tequila

Linecook/Roommate! Anakin x F!Reader

a/n: ngl this really has nothing to do with linecook ani- it’s more just tinder shenanigans lol- there’s more abt the context of the universe in the notes at the end- also to the anon who asked abt not putting padme in fics…. don’t read this one lol (i have nothing against padme, she’s one of my fav characters) this one’s v long

NSFW mdni!

After a night out with some friends, you decide to swipe on tinder…what happens when you see your very attractive roommate pop up on the screen?

Warnings: gn!reader, cursing, banter, past relationships mentioned, female anatomy, hand job, oral sex (f!receiving), blow job

________________________

You turned the knob on your shared apartment open and thrusted the wooden door open. Good thing Anakin was staying at a friend’s because you were completely wasted from a night out with your friends. One too many shots of a particularly strong tequila. 

You giggled at yourself as you stumbled your way through the living room. You flopped onto the couch before pulling out your beloved phone so you could mindlessly scroll. 

Before long your inebriated brain started to wander.

It was definitely good that Anakin was gone, because if he were here… You may not have been able to contain yourself. 

You licked your plump lips as you eyed his door… What if he were home though?

You hoisted yourself up and creeped towards his shut door. He had a woven piece of decor on his door; he told you his mom had made it for him before she passed unexpectedly in his last year of school. 

Nosily, you knocked before prying the white door open. 

Nothing.

You exhaled a shaky breath, it would have been so embarrassing if he caught you sneaking. Though, you couldn’t help but feel disappointed that he wasn’t here to keep you company.

You headed back to your spot on the couch and pulled out your phone again. Time to play your favorite game- Tinder. 

You knew it was a toxic mentality to have a stream of people constantly at your fingertips; judging them off only a glimpse of who they were. But it was so amusing to quietly scroll through people who potentially wanted to take you out. 

The first few people were average; bad angles, boring bios, and conflicting views. 

Whatever. 

Soon you were getting bored with the whole thing and were about to log off when your heart stopped. 

Anakin, 24

9 miles away

Hobbies: cars, cooking, movies, nature, travel

His initial photo was an amazing pic of him at a rooftop bar in NYC from the trip you guys took with some friends. His black shirt was unbuttoned enough to see his strong chest and the sleeves were rolled to his elbows to show off his muscular arms. 

He knew he was fine. 

Your eye twitched- his hair fell perfectly in front of his angular face and his smile was simply radiant. 

God really had his favorites, huh?

You swiped through his pictures with laser focus; gym pic, him on the couch, him shirtless…. him with his damn backwards cap on, and finally one that you took of him sitting in your shop.

You were really conflicted, you wanted to swipe right, obviously- but what if he didn’t reciprocate? What if he thought it was weird?

And he's on tinder! He probably just wants a hook up.

You sighed and prepared to swipe left when another thought popped into your hazy mind. 

Maybe he “played'' tinder like you did? He’d never brought anyone back to the apartment… and his bio does suggest he would cook for you (something he would rather do in his own kitchen). 

Ya know what? If he asked- you could just say you thought it would be funny! Yea, sounded like a great idea to your stupid drunk brain. 

With a deep breath you swiped right. 

A subconscious part of your mind was praying for the screen to pause and “match” to light up your phone- but sadly that didn't happen… oh well, maybe he just hadn’t seen it yet? 

You sighed and headed off to shower and go to bed. 

________________________

Anakin sat on his friend Ahsoka's couch with a chilled beer in hand. It had been awhile since his whole friend group had had time for a night and he was excited to catch up with them all. 

The living room was lit up with a neon LED strip that Ahoska had gotten back in her party days. The den had one large sofa, a few bean bags, some fluffy chairs, and her flatscreen that was currently showcasing the ROKU city with her music playing in the background. 

On the couch sat Anakin, his closest friend Obi-Wan (or “Ben” for short), and his girlfriend Satine. Ahsoka sat on the beanbags with Cody as they shared his new bong. And on the chairs sat Rex and their other friend Padme. 

“So when are you gonna get cuffed Skyguy?” Ahsoka asked with a smile after taking a rip from the blue tinted device. 

Anakin took a swig from the bud light he had in his hand and sighed, “Ya’ know? I’m not quite sure myself, Snipps” he lamented. 

Obviously he knew he wanted to- and he knew with who. But how to get there was a puzzle he hadn't quite solved yet. 

Padme’s eyes darted towards Anakin as he spoke. Throughout highschool Padme and Anakin had been flirty but nothing much happened between the two- nothing serious at least.

A few make-outs here and there at house parties, that one time after senior prom, and a couple late night hook ups when she was back in town from school, but nothing really since she graduated.

Anakin knew she wasn’t for him but she didn’t seem to get the hint. 

There was absolutely nothing wrong with Padme, she was a lively woman but Anakin just wanted something else- Maybe it was because she always made him feel inadequate, dumb even.

He knew it wasn’t her fault, but she had gone to law school and he always felt lesser when she would talk to him. Everything about her spoke class and refinery and he was… well, he was him. 

He spent his younger years wondering what a relationship with her would be like but as he got older he realized he only fantasized about her status- not really her. And that was fucked up. 

Another factor that got her off of his mind was when you started coming into his restaurant- The first time you ordered your wild combo he just had to sneak out of the kitchen to see what kind of person ordered cinnamon instead of butter on their mashed potatoes. He never in a million years guessed such a beautiful person would be sitting at booth 5. 

And when he found out you were his new roommate- he completely stopped flirting with Padme, how could he when you were right there?

He remembered when you first started living with him, Padme had called drunkenly to come over; of course Anakin usually would have said yes but tonight you had invited him to watch your favorite movie with him and he couldn’t pass up an opportunity with you. 

“Well everyone seems to have someone, we need to get you cuffed!” Ahsoka laughed. 

“Yea, get my bro a partner” Cody joined in. 

“Doesn’t seem like Anakin’s really into anyone- maybe he wants it that way” Padme chimed in, playing with a strand of her brown hair. 

“I never said that,” Anakin responded quickly. 

“Well- do tell then Ani” Padme’s voice lilted with passive aggression. 

He absolutely hated when she used that tone. 

“Well honestly it’s none of your business M’lady” Anakin shot back using a nickname she hated. 

“You’re such a child Anakin” she rolled her eyes before taking a swig of her martini. 

“Nothing you haven’t said before,” he remarked under his breath. 

She was about to fire back when Ben spoke up, “Guys, let's take a step back- Anakin, how’s the new roommate? Well, I guess she isn’t that new anymore-how long has it been?”.

Padme leaned back and crossed her arms as Anakin began to answer. 

“Oh, um it’s been a little over three months?” he said, even though he knew exactly how long it had been- three months and eighteen days. 

“And how is it? Will we meet her sometime?” Satine chimed in with a smile.

Anakin felt his mood lighten once he got the chance to talk about you, “Oh, it’s been really nice- She works in the cafe near my restaurant so we always have good food around” he smiled, playing with the rim of his bottle. 

“Well now you really have to have us over,” Rex laughed. 

“Soon guys, just gotta clean up a bit”.

“But you guys get along?” Ahsoka asked, “because you're not the easiest guy to deal with in a small space” she laughed. 

“We get along just fine- She happens to enjoy my company” he boasted. 

“Sure” Padme scoffed.

Anakin tried to ignore her but she spoke up again.

“Well if she can deal with you, why don’t you try to date her?” Padme said, trying to provoke him. 

“Maybe I will” he snapped back, making Padme’s face go white. 

“Good luck- once she finds out what an immature asshole you are, she’l leave just like everyone else does” she huffed before excusing herself to the bathroom. 

She definitely had one too many drinks- she was getting emotional. 

Anakin was annoyed at Padme’s outburst, but he also felt bad- he knew she fell for him back in the day and she never really let go of it. But life changed and so did he- he hadn’t flirted with her in over a year so it wasn’t his fault if she was still hung up, he hadn’t led her on in the slightest. 

“I’m gonna go check on her- I’ll be right back” Satine said, excusing herself to tend to her very drunk friend. 

Anakin sighed.

_______________________

It was around two in the morning and everyone except Ahsoka, Ben, and Anakin had gone home. Ben offered to go home with Satine but she insisted she took Padme back to her apartment alone. 

Ahsoka had fallen asleep on her bean bags, Ben retired to the guest room and Anakin was lying on the couch; he was drowsy but not quite ready for bed.

With a belly full of warm alcohol he decided scrolling on Tinder might be fun. 

He tapped on the flame icon that was buried in the deepest depths of his phone and waited for the app to open. Anakin wasn’t a big fan of dating apps or social media in general, but every once in a while he logged on. Some people crave cigarettes when they drink- he liked to swipe on tinder. 

Most of the girls on there were people he’d never actually go out with or were bots. He yawned after he had swiped for a few minutes and got ready to log off for the night when he saw a familiar face…. You. 

There you were, in all your glory; a radiant smile plastered on your face as you ran a hand through your hair. 

Fuck. 

He physically sat up and brought the device closer to his face; he scanned every detail of your profile as if he had a test on it in the morning. 

He slowly tapped through your photos, lingering on each one longer than the last. Maker, how were you real?!

His heart raced as he analyzed a photo you took in your shared living room. What he wouldn’t give to be able to get pics like these directly from you. 

He saw your profile said “short-term fun, open to long-term”. Damn. 

But then the thought… you never brought anyone home and you rarely went out… so, you wouldn’t have time to see other people.

Maybe this was his chance. 

With a shaky finger he swiped right and held his phone close to his chest to conceal the screen (like a stupid lovesick teenager). 

He shut his eyes and slowly peeked them open to see the bright pink lettering flash across the screen “Match”.

No fucking way. 

No. FUCKING. Way.

He stared at the chat box and thought about what to say for what seemed like hours; he didn’t want to come on too strong but also didn’t want to be forgettable (he could never be forgettable). 

He decided to go with a sarcastic but teasing line. 

“Hey sweetheart, don’t see me enough at home? I know I’m irresistible, but if you wanted me that bad, you could've just asked”. 

And send. 

Anakin snapped off his phone quicker than he ever had and slumped back onto the couch- now he definitely wouldn’t be able to sleep. 

_______________________________________

You woke up with a big yawn accompanied by a long stretch. Last night was fun, but you did have things to do today. After a few minutes of lying around you finally hauled your ass up to start preppring for your closing shift. 

It probably wasn’t the best idea for you to have drank so much, since you had a terrible headache now… but at least you had fun last night.

After showering, getting dressed, and eating a light breakfast, it was already quarter after one and you were suposed to be at work by two. You threw on your jacket and rushed out the door. 

As you hurried to work you mentally checked off everything.

Brushed teeth? Check. 

Showered? Check.

Cleaned dishes in the sink? Check.

Turned off the toaster oven? Check.

Grabbed employee card for the bakery? Check. 

Seemed like everything was in line! 

But there was something you hadn’t checked, something sitting snugly in your back pocket, something in a little app with a red flame. 

A new message from Anakin. 

To be fair, you never took tinder seriously and never had notifications on so you wouldn’t have seen it. But also you were pretty drunk last night so there was a big possibility that you didn’t even remember seeing him. 

Either way, you would receive a pleasant surprise when you finally did open your app. 

_______________

Anakin’s heart raced as he reached your shared apartment- you never responded to his message. 

Was this going to be awkward now? Were you going to have an uncomfortable boundary talk with him? How would you react to seeing him? Had you even seen the message? What if you were making fun of him with your friends?!

He legitimately could not turn his brain off.

But regardless of his restless mind, he opened the door. 

Nothing.

Anakin leaned against the doorframe and sighed when he realized that you had work today. Good. He got to avoid you for a few more hours as he sat around overthinking everything-wonderful. 

Being the hyperfixating overthinker he was, Anakin couldn’t help but check your status on tinder every so often

His stomach dropped when he saw you were active five minutes ago…

You hadn’t responded to his message, not even a “like”.

Fuck. 

Anakin had never felt so embarrassed in his whole life; should he just delete the message?

On the other side of town you were closing the shop when you pulled out your phone to check the time just to see your phone was already unlocked and on the tinder home screen.

No way your ass was scrolling through matches. 

You closed the app with a laugh; it didn’t really matter who you matched with you never really did anything serious on tinder. 

You finished your tasks and finally headed to your car. Once you got in you pulled out your phone again to see what matches your butt chose. 

Once you opened the app you could tell it had been open in your pocket for a while with the amount of people you wouldn’t have chosen yourself.

You scrolled and deleted profiles you weren’t interested in when you came across…Anakin?

Holy shit, you did see him last night. 

Anakin: [New Message]

A tiny rectangle holding only his circular profile picture and his name indicated he had swiped right on you too… and sent a message. 

You audibly gasped as you scanned the notif- was this real?? 

“Hey sweetheart, don’t see me enough at home? I know I’m irresistible, but if you wanted me that bad, you could've just asked”.

Home?

Electricity coarse through your veins; you secretly loved when he would refer to your shared apartment as home, it implied the two of you shared the space in a more intimate way than it really was.

His text was purely Anakin, every word just carried his personality. You were still stunned you were even in this position; never would you have thought he was actually interested in you.

The message was sent early this morning- you had left him on delivered for hours… 

Before you could think of the implications you jumped to respond; you wanted him to know you were very interested. 

“Road goes both ways Skywalker, obviously u like what u see too haha- yk I’m just one wall away ;)”

And send. 

After you sent it your stomach dropped again once you realized… you just sent your crush (and roommate?!) basically an open invite to come into your room whenever. 

You sat in the parking lot behind your bakery for a good 15 more minutes before finally heading home. 

___________________________________

Anakin usually didn’t have tinder notifs on, but he put them on today just in case you replied. So when his phone dinged while he was in the middle of making spaghetti for dinner he dropped the noodles into the pot and ran to the small device. 

It was you.

“Road goes both ways Skywalker, obviously u like what u see too haha- yk I’m just one wall away ;)”

A large smile plastered itself on his face- he was worrying for nothing!

He laughed and set the phone back down; just wait til he told the guys at work tomorrow morning!

Sooner than he anticipated, he heard the familiar sound of your keys jingling to open the door- he debated opening the door for you to save the hassle, but he stopped himself because he was worried he’d come off too desperate if he did so (you woulda been just fine if he did). 

You opened the door and were met with the savory aroma of marinara sauce and boiling noodles. After breathing in the scent you sighed, “someone’s been busy today, huh?” you smiled. 

“Well when you leave me home all alone…” Anakin trailed off with a stupid grin. 

Maker, you loved that look.

“Someone has to be the breadwinner in this house” you joked before setting your bags down. 

“And speaking of bread… I brought this back today- guess great minds think alike” you winked holding up a baguette from the bakery. 

Anakin’s face lit up and he eagerly received the bread, “Great! I was actually going to have to disappoint you since we’re out of garlic bread, but now we can just make it”. 

You nodded and went back to your room to change. It was pretty hard not to squeal at every little thing Anakin said, but you thought you were holding your own pretty well too.

Unintentionally, you changed into a rather enticing outfit- it was just a white tank with a lace trim and some flannel shorts (well, they were rather short). 

Anakin’s eyes observed your figure as you pranced out of your room and into the kitchen. 

“Why so fancy Ani?” you teased, batting your lashes. 

Both of you knew there was an obvious elephant in the room but neither of you wanted to address it. 

“Just ‘cause I wanted to, don’t get too excited princess” he laughed making you roll your eyes. 

“I’d never get excited over you” 

He arched an inquisitive brow and turned towards you, “oh really? Then why’d you swipe on me?”. 

There it was. 

You felt your face heating up quickly. Fuck. 

“Why’d you swipe on me?” you retorted back. 

“Uh Uh” he scolded, shaking his head while slowly walking towards you. 

“We both know you swiped first” he said, closing the space between you quickly. 

“I-I thought-” you stuttered, trying to come up with a witty response. 

He shook his head with a smile, “No sense trying to come up with a lie, pretty girl- you can tell me”. 

His tone was playful yet commanding- you felt compelled to confess everything to him right then and there. The burn of his striking blue eyes seemed to cut through all of your defenses. 

“Because I wanted to,” you admitted. 

A smile spread across his face as he leaned in, impossibly closer to you. 

“atta girl”

His confidence gave you goosebumps and you felt yourself leaning in to graze his lips with yours when he backed away abruptly to stir his pot of noodles- right. 

This was Anakin Skywalker we were talking about- the annoyingly charming linecook who could get anyone he set his sights on.

Maybe your intuition was right, he was just a playboy- how could you have been so stupid to think he actually wanted you?

With shame, you retreated to the couch as he strained his noodles and finished dinner. 

Unbeknownst to you, Anakin actually chickened out. He cursed himself as he stirred his famous spaghetti sauce; he was so close… and he blew it. 

Your sweet perfume flooded his senses and suddenly all of his charm just vanished. He felt like the awkward teenager Ben had to introduce to people because he was too shy to speak for himself. 

So in his moment of panic he went back to something he was comfortable with- cooking. 

Once he was finished he made two plates: one for him and one for you. Gingerly, he walked towards the couch with the plates in hand. 

“Here ya go princess” he attempted to sound normal. 

You didn’t meet his gaze as you took the plate and mumbled a “thank you”. 

He couldn’t blame you; from your perspective it probably seemed like he had just been leading you on- that’s not how he wanted to make you feel…at all. 

He set his food on the coffee table next to yours and sat beside you with a heavy thud, making the cushions deposit you next to his side. You were about to move away when he lightly grabbed your upper arm. 

You met his gaze in surprise, “Anakin, what-”.

You were silenced by his lips crashing into yours; your hand quickly found its way into his sandy hair just as he gently held the side of your face. 

Synapses were firing and you felt warm. With an unspoken agreement, he laid you down on the couch and continued to passionately kiss up and down your neck. 

“Anakin-” you said breathlessly, “What has gotten into you?”

“Nothing that hasn’t already been there for weeks” he responded through sloppy kisses. 

His touch was somehow better than what you’d imagined all those lonely nights in your room. How was this real?

You sat up and placed a hand on his chest; he sat on his heels with a worried expression, “What’s wrong?” he asked (did he do something wrong?).

“Weeks?” you parroted back to him. 

He huffed out a laugh and relaxed his tense posture before tenderly holding your face in his strong hands. 

“Yes, weeks. Don’t you know you drive me absolutely insane?” he asked in a playful tone. 

You shook your head in confusion. A lopsided smile settled on his beautiful face before he drew you closer for a soft kiss. 

“I thought- I thought you swiped on me as a joke… I had no idea” you admitted. 

His blue eyes scanned your face before shaking his head lightly, “No, no I’ve wanted to do this since the day I met you ''. 

Your confused expression slowly turned into a full blown grin before you pushed him into a seated position and straddled his lap. 

“Good to know, ‘cause so have I”. 

He let out a soft groan before resting his large hands around the bottom of your waist, his fingers gripping onto your flesh. His eyes were completely focused on you- they were hungry.

As you straddled him you felt his hardening member against your aching core. You wanted nothing more than to rip off his pants.

Just as you had wrestled his tight shirt off, his phone began to buzz. He rolled his eyes and let out an annoyed “fuck” when he saw it was his work. 

“I’m sorry, I gotta answer this” he said picking up the phone. 

“No worries” you said with a mischievous smile. 

What were you up to?

He ignored your tone and answered the call; just as he pressed the device to his ear you unzipped his pants. His eyes widened once he realized what you were so smug about. 

You were looking up at him through batted lashes as you freed his aching cock from the constrains of his boxers.

He was big- bigger than you expected; you licked your lips in anticipation, hypnotizing him with your ambition. 

You there Skywalker?

Anakin blinked himself back into reality, “Y-yes sir, I’m here”. 

Sorry to have to ask, but two of the other cooks just called in sick and we have abunch of parties booked tonight…would there be any possible way you could come in tonight

Anakin groaned loudly as you took his large member into your mouth, he had to cover his mouth with his free hand as you skillfully bobbed up and down on his dick. 

Now, I know it’s your day off, but I can offer you double time if you can just cover this one shift

His employer had no idea his head cook was getting the best head of his life on the other side of the line. 

He stifled a moan as you applied pressure with your tounge, thankfully he was able to disguise it as him thinking. 

“I-I guess I could swing it if there’s overtime-”

You’re a lifesaver! That’s why you’re my favorite linecook, when could you be in?

Anakin shuddered as you worked his tip. 

“I-It’ll have to be a lit-” 

He was cut off by the feeling of your moans sending vibrations up his shaft. 

“Have to be a little later, I’m a bit caught up at the moment”

No problem, how late we talking though?

“Just an hour, maybe hour twenty”

Done, see you then! And thanks again Skywalker. 

He hung up the phone as fast as he could and threw it against the recliner beside him. You laughed once he met your gaze again. 

“You’re wrong for that” he huffed out breathlessly. 

“For what?” you played dumb. 

He laughed bafore grabbing a handfull of you hair. 

“You know exactly what- now, I have work in an hour and I think you should finish what you started” he said with a playful yet demanding tone. 

“Yes chef” you said before taking him in your mouth once more. 

“FFuck” he groaned as your throat squeezed around his weeping cock. 

Without thinking he began to move his hips back and fourth to chase his high. You gagged around his length and clawed at his thighs. 

“Fuck baby, this what you wanted? You wanted me to fuck your throat raw? Better hope you don’t have to work the register tomorrow” he said with a smirk as he thrusted in and out of your mouth. 

You moaned around him and your tears began to spill over. This is exactly what you wanted- you wanted him. 

“God- You feel so damn good, I’m close” he said in a strained voice. 

In a moment of boldness, you removed yourself completely from his cock and began to vigorously pump his length, making his legs shake. 

“Ah- I’m gonna- I’m cumming! F-fuck I’m cumming” he babbled as his abs twitched with every rope that spurt out of his red, swollen tip. 

Once he finally settled down and caught his breath he sat up and wiped his mess off of his chest with the tissues from the end table. 

You wiped your mouth and smiled before nodding to the spaghetti, “You should probably eat, you’ve got work in a few”.

It was his turn to lick his lips, “Yea, I should eat”.

His eyes traveled down your body, “But I don’t think I’m really feeling spaghetti right now”. 

“Oh?” you said with a curious grin, before he pulled you into his lap. 

You kissed him passionately once more before asking “how hungry are you, Ani?”

Maker, you already had a nickname for him- you were perfect. 

“Absolutely ravenous” he responded before laying you on the couch. 

“Show me”.

He smiled and quickly slipped off your shorts and panties in one swift motion. You could already tell this was going to be a top three experience. 

Before you could register the feeling, he was already buried in your pussy. He lapped up your arousal and all you could do was toss your head back in bliss. 

“Oh Anakin” you moaned as he kneaded his large hands at the fat of your ass and your thighs. 

“Fuck, you taste so good- you’re so wet for me” he panted through licks. 

Once his tongue swiped over your swollen clit your back began to arch. You clenched your thighs around his head and tangled your fingers into his hair; this was heaven. 

His mouth worked on your pussy as his hands roamed your body, he seemed to just know what would drive you absolutely insane. 

“Maker- Oh my god Ani!” your breath hitched as his long fingers skillfully pushed into your aching core. 

The combination of his tongue and fingers alone, made you see stars (imagine what his dick would do). 

Embarrassingly, you felt your high coming; usually you lasted longer, but damn did Anakin know how to use his talents. 

“Wanna cum for me sweetheart?” He asked through hooded lashes. 

You nodded vigorously and with another curl of his fingers, you were coming undone in his grasp. 

_______________________________

Anakin threw on one of his work shirts and zipped up his pants; once you came, he gave you the most aftercare he could until he knew he had to leave (Luckily the two of you had time to get cleaned up). 

“Fuck, ‘m so sorry I gotta go, I’ll be back though” he said as he rushed around looking for his keys. 

“I’d imagine so, you live here” you laughed as you stretched on the couch. 

He sighed and walked up to you again, “You know what I mean, I don’t want you to think this was a one time thing- we will be discussing this later”. 

You nodded with a small smile before he leaned down and ran his fingers through your hair; he drew you in for a soft kiss, “I really don’t wanna leave you right now, I look like an asshole”. 

“Don’t you always?” you joked, nipping at his lower lip.

“I’m serious, I don’t want you to think that is all I want from you…”

“I don't” you assured him.

“Alright” he smiled before kissing your forehead once more before leaving. 

_________________________

“Someone’s in a good mood, what’s got you so happy, playboy?” one of the cooks asked after Anakin didn’t immediately get annoyed when one of the servers rang in an order wrong. 

Anakin smirked and shook his head, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m always in a good mood-”.

“Bullshit! You were just skulking around the kitchen the other day ‘casue you saw someone flirting with your little roommate” another butted in. 

“Yea, are you ever gonna ask her out? You’re supposed to be a player, ain’t ‘cha?”

“Nah, man- I’m retired, i’ve been retired for awhile” Anakin said, cringing at his past flings. 

“What made you change?”

Anakin smiled and turned towards his co-workers, “this”.

He pulled out his phone and on the lockscreen were a few texts from you, the top one saying, “Can’t wait til you get back home ;)”.

The chef’s eyes all widened before the kitchen became loud with their excitement. 

“Skywalker’s actually tied down?!”

“Ya finally asked her out!?!”

“When are you bringing her ‘round here?” 

“We wanna meet this little roommate”

Anakin slipped his phone back into his pocket with a smile, “hold on, hold on- we’re not official yet, but i’m pretty sure by tonight we will be- I really like her”.

“No shit, Skywalker! We could all tell you had a crush ever since you moved in with her” one of them laughed to which the rest agreed. 

Anakin smirked before going back to work, “Whatever guys” he said, rolling his eyes, but he couldn't shake the warm blush that was climbing up his cheeks.

***

a/n: so this is taking a point from the linecook headcannons (matching on tinder) but it’s in the universe of pancakes and pastries (roommates- cook ani and bakery reader). i’m not acc sure if i’ll end up writing anything with server reader and cook ani that work in the same restaurant- but we’ll see haha

[stillaclownlol]

I don't like Christmas tbh but idk consider this a Christmas gift lmao

Holiday headcanons for the kids :p

Ashlyn

-Doesn't have any strong feelings about Christmas. Kinda overstimulating for her ngl

-hates when people come carolling to the house :) like hello she doesn't need her ears to bleed as a holiday gift okay

-when she was younger she used to go to church with her parents but she's stopped as she got older

-found Santa to be a creepy concept even when she was little lol

-she doesn't really like getting gifts from people besides her parents and she has THE WORST gift buying anxiety like. She has no idea what people want 🤡

-does like the food tho. Probably the only time of the year when she'll eat more than one plate.

-Weak spot for Logan's Christmas cookies.

Aiden

-he's spent a lot of Christmases alone watching holiday movies. He likes Christmas but he definitely doesn't associate it with spending time with his family or anything.

-he gives people really expensive gifts lmao. He's actually pretty good at gift giving, but he SUCKS at wrapping them, usually ends up with his hand cut up from the scissors and covered with tape.

-Loves Christmas movies, they give him a sort of nostalgia for a Christmas he never had. Really likes Elf and Home Alone (absolutely destroyed his house copying some of the traps)

-definitely the type of guy to look up weird Christmas games to play at the party because like Hell he's gonna have a boring party >:(

-Eats enough food to go into a food coma and then stays up all night anyways.

-believed in santa a littleeee too long.

-Blasts Christmas songs so loud the whole neighbourhood will hear it.

-definitely plotting how to get Ash under the mistletoe somehow (cuz he's a schemer you know it). Probably doesn't work, but doesn't hurt to try 🫠

Ben

-he LOVESSSS listening to carolling and Christmas songs. It makes him so happy <3

-Top Priority: Get an awesome gift for Lily >:) very careful with his gift shopping and he spends a lot of time for each person.

-Likes decorating the house, loves decorating the tree... likes stringing popcorn too :)

-he just really loves the cozy atmosphere Christmas brings. Likes huddling up in his blankets drinking hot cocoa and hanging out with his family ~

-Misses snow, since it doesn't snow in Georgia.

-Goes ice-skating if he can, Taylor's been teaching him ^_^

-Likes those pretty advent calendars but he has a hard time waiting for each day, so there's like a 60% chance he'll eat everything at once lol

-him and Lily dress up to take holiday photos, it's one of his favourite things to do cuz LILY LOOKS SO CUTE WITH HER LITTLE REINDEER HEADBAND AGHHH ✨️✨️✨️

Tyler

-Grinch lookin ahh mf 💀 Hates Christmas cuz he's grumpy >:( He still gonna go along with everything tho cuz Taylor loves it

-Sometimes he goes to mass because Christmas is the only time he will go to church. (He has that Catholic boy trauma)

-Helps Taylor make her little nativity scene so they can decorate the house.

-Can make a hell of a Nochebuena dinner 😌 everything so his mom and sis can have a good time (They really like his bacalao, tamales, and sometimes he makes rompope)

-prefers Spanish songs than English ones (El Burrito Sabanero goes hard/hj)

-his favorite flowers are Flors de Nochebuena :>

-if you got a gift from him Taylor picked it. (It's fair since he pays for it tho...)

Taylor

-She's SOOOOO GOOD AT DECORATING. She's amazing at detangling the lights LMAO When she's done with the tree, she makes it look like a work or art :>

-usually goes to mass with her mom even if she's not personally religious.

-Loves singing along to Christmas music and likes to go carolling!

-Loves giving gifts, and she really loves Secret Santa! She really likes making homemade gifts because a) it feels more heartfelt to her and b) they don't have a lot of money 😭

-Likes to make Rosca de Reyes, she really hopes she will get the little plastic doll baked in :D

Logan

-Mixed feelings about Christmas since it's a time where he gives a lot of thought to his faith (He got that queer religious trauma.)

-Goes to church with his grandparents every year even tho he has a lot of anxiety about it. His cookies are really popular at church tho :>

-Sugar fiend and bakes a lot. He loves hot chocolate, sugar cookies, Christmas pudding, all that jazz. Has a hard time picking gifts so he usually offers food! He likes fruitcake cuz he's weird like that.

-Really likes making the wreath they hang on the front door, it's like flower arranging. Puts up a lot of holly and a hidden mistletoe to surprise his grandparents ^_^

-Winter is usually a good time to stargaze, so before he met the gang, he'd stay up late to look at the sky. His grandpa usually gets him a better telescope each year :)

-he cooks gingerbread and with Taylor he likes to decorate a pretty little gingerbread house ❤️

-probably has a lot of really ugly Christmas sweaters haha, he gets cold easily!

[merrhea39]

binging everything judgment day pt 5

Raw 9/5/22 Edge starts off with a promo and his is pissed at Dom and Rey tries to calm him down. Rhea finally has her updated theme with the singer. And she comes out with Dom. Dom does not look comfortable yet. Lol I love the Eddie’s son chants. Dom is mean mugging this whole time lol. 

Rey has a backstage interview where he says he’ll never put his hands on Dom and that one didn’t quite age so well. Rey also challenges Damian or Finn. 

Rey vs. Damian(w). Damian big boots the shit out of Rey lol. Obviously when Rey starts taking control Judgment Day comes out and Finn is wearing the bandana here lol. Lots and lots of panning to Dom. HOLY SHIT THAT CLOTHESLINE FROM DAMIAN WAS WICKED. Damian wins partially because of Dom. Rhea cuts a post match promo and she is so papi. 

Raw 9/12/22 Ok the show starts with Seth Rollins with a promo and riddle attacks him before he has a match with TJD. And heel seth clears face seth easily. Shot game take a shot every time they say bro in this promo.

Riddle vs. Finn(w). Why did people even like that fucker Matt? Damian interfers and distracts riddle and balor takes advantage. Riddle screaming “my neck!” is giving “MY HOLE!”. Rey attacks Damian giving Riddle a chance to win but then seth distracts Riddle and Balor takes advantage and wins.

Dom cuts that promo you know the one. Fuck rhea… she makes me…

Rey confronts Dom backstage, Dom just ignores Rey the whole time. 

Rey confronts Edge but Edge is not having Rey’s shit right now lmao. 

Edge(W) vs. Dom. More of a beat down than a match in the early goings but because of Rhea Dom takes advantage. Rey interferes he doesn’t want Edge to hurt Dom. Edge wins via dq because Finn attacks him. Then dom beats the fuck out of edges leg. 

Raw 9/19/22 Rey has a backstage interview, and Rey is like ‘pwease come back to me dom but the others are dickbags’ and then riddle shows up and is like ‘bro lets tag together bro… bro bro weed bro i beat my wife and kids.” 

Judgment day come out together and I think I have the same harness as rhea is wearing here. Pre-match promo from the Judgment Day, Damian has an evil ass laugh. Dom is already being booed by the crowd here. They take that cute ass ‘family photo’ I love them. This great moment is interrupted by ‘Mr. ThisGuyTouchedMeInTheAirport’ Matt Riddle. 

Riddle + Rey vs. Finn + Damian(w). Why was Riddle over? Rhea screams lol. RHEA HURTS A MAN! Rhea suplexes riddle. TJD wins off of an interference from seth rollins and a distraction from Dom. 

Raw 9/26/22. I’m starting with a rey interview backstage where he talks about Dominik, and it’s all him saying he loves him and stuff lmao.

The Judgment day has an interview backstage where Finn mentions he wants AJ in the Judgment Day. Also Damian just roasts the fuck out of Matt Riddle the whole time then evil laughs.

Sami and AJ Styles have a match against eachother where sami wins and after Judgment day comes out to talk to him but I can’t help but laugh that Dom gets scared by the pyro here. Finn tries to recruit AJ with a ‘too sweet’ AJ flips him off and damian has the reaction image of all time. TJD start beating AJ a ton but then spares him from the chair. 

Priest vs. Riddle(w). Damian lookin fine here ngl. As much as I hate Riddle him and Damian have a fuck ton of chemistry in the ring. That also means they’ll fuck eachother up. Love matches like this. STOP GIVING ME SO MANY CLOSE UPS I’LL GO FERAL! Lots of kickouts. Riddle wins via rollup on Damian. After the match TJD beats up riddle but then Edge saves riddle and then turns into william afton I guess. Edge challenges Finn to an I quit match. 

Raw 10/3/22. MY HOMETOWN!!! Judgment day starts off raw. Dom Dom finally seems more comfy with Rhea and TJD. The Judgment Day cut a little pre-match promo. Rhea really wore a suit in my hometown and I wasn’t there damn. LOL I love dom dom so much. During this promo Finn fucks up and he says “I was so mad I accidentally said last night.” Aj interrupts TJD.

Styles + Mysterio vs Finn + Damian(w). The match starts off with a brawl. Damian takes a nut shot but the ref doesn’t do anything, FIRE THE CORRUPT ANTI-TJD REFS! Rhea pulls Rey off the apron lol. Dom distracts Rey and then Rhea flattens him and now Rey is out of the match and Finn stomps AJ to win. After the match AJ gets mad at Rey and pushes him. And after that TJD attacks AJ. Edge has a little promo where he tries to be ‘real’ or whatever and he says he won’t quit.

Extreme Rules 10/8/22. Only one Judgment day match makes me sad.

Balor(w) vs Edge. (I quit match) The crowd is pretty dead for this match. Finn pulls edge into the apron and it's kinda funny I won't lie. So Finn has edge by the commentary table and there’s this guy screaming ‘you suck’ at Finn and then Finn slams edges head into the table over and over and after every time he does that the guy yells ‘you still suck!’. They fight in the crowd for a bit. Rhea handcuffs edge to the top rope lol. Rey comes to save Edge. Rey gets fucked up by Dom lol. Beth comes out to save edge and she has a kendo stick and Rhea gets in the ring with Beth and the crowd goes nuts. Poor Dom takes a nut shot from Edge. Mami knocks out Beth with brass knucks and then Priest chokeslams Edge which allows Finn to stomp on Edge 3 times. But Edge doesn’t say I quit. Rhea threatens to conchairto Beth and this finally makes edge say I quit but Rhea hits Beth with the chair anyways.

[boba-beom]

! "couple goals" tag game !

rules: show your top 4 (or 6 if you need more room) self-ships and your couple’s aesthetic because y’all know you’d behave differently in different relationships

tagged by: @robin-obsessed; lee and @writingmochi; lissie <3 thank you <3

I smiles x beomgyu

my number one 🫶🏼 beomgyu loves his grey hoodies and as much as I love the thought about using his hoodies I think he’d love matching grey hoodies ^^ and because I’m a short girly I think photos like this would be so fun to take with him 🤭

our relationship would be goofy as, he’d tease me but always always apologise, but tease me again.

“I think you should stand on here, then you’ll see what I can see.” is what he’d say, with a cheesy grin on his face.

because of how short I am, I just know he’d be the type to rest his arm on the top of my head and just tease me with his cute pouts so I don’t get mad lmao

the rest under the cut

II smiles x taehyun

our sportsman, our gym boy— have you seen taehyun in his basketball jerseys?! he’d teach me how to be good with hand-eye coordination bc I lowkey sucks ass at it lmao,, but I can hear the “aww you’re so short, how’re you supposed to score at least one shot?” and then he’d chuckle and crouch down, patting his shoulders and offering to lift me up that way :’)

“come on then, let’s make your first shot.” and :(( I think he’d be so cute, and do the cute ‘aaaah’ sound when you manage to do a slam dunk from his shoulders 😭 “I’ll give you this jersey as your reward.”

III smiles x heeseung

for some reason, I imagine heeseung taking me on long, chill walks around the city, figuring out where to eat next. that is, until I'd get tired because his one step is equivalent to 2 and 1/2 of mine :') being short can be tiring lmao, so he'd offer to give me a piggy-back on the way to our bus stop

"I think you should invest in ni-ki's growing vitamins." he'd say that with my arms wrapped over his shoulders.

"do you have any last words? I have my arms around your neck, you know?" and he'd threaten to drop me and leave me to walk by myself :') (it's all fun and games)

IV smiles x hoshi

hoshi's character seems so wild and playful, I think that even if we'd be chilling together, watching movies or even just talking about nonsense, he'd grab a pillow — with me thinking he'd just place it on his lap — but would catch me off-guard and launch the pillow in my face T^T I can hear his goofy laugh until I'd return the hit with my pillow.

he started it, but I'm willing to end it. for the meantime, this pillow-fight will continue until a certain someone surrenders or one of us fall off the bed — given that we won't get hurt... too badly.

"you best give up right now." I would say after my attempt at launching my pillow at him, but he shields himself with his own.

"never say never!!"

V smiles x wooyoung

I think wooyoung would even want us to be matching clothes every now and again since his style is very much what I would wear too ngl, but I kinda think that's so cute >//< the same varsity jacket, him wearing denim jeans and I'd wear a pleated skirt and the same shoes in different colours hehe

wooyoung's definitely the type to be physical affectionate, taking mirror selfies would always be with him. he's so touchy and such a flirt, he'd probably ask to have my legs hang off of his since it already hangs off the seat, my legs would most likely be swinging back and forth too lmao

"let's take a picture, put your legs on mine. they don’t touch the floor anyway” and he’d LAUGH 😭🥹 but I love wooyoung :(( he’d be one to do that hug while apologising BUT STILL LAUGHING

“what if I don’t want to?”

“then I guess I’ll just match with someone else.” he’d be serious, I bet he’d match with yeonjun 🤭

VI smiles x sung hanbin

hanbin is literally the sweetest. I see him asking to go for a picnic before sunset, and after we eat the food, he’d lay his head on my lap and I’d have my fingers running thru his hair ☹️🫶🏼

he’d make me laugh sm and even when he laughs his whisker dimples appear.

“why’re you covering your smile?” is what he’d say.

“I don’t really like my smile,” I’d start. “I don’t like how I look when I laugh.”

“I think you look fine. your name is smile after all.”

because hanbin is the most loving person ever. so delicate and considerate about everyone’s feelings 🥹 I think he’d also talk to me about anything. I think my relationship with hanbin would be more on the platonic side ^^ asking me if I’m seeing anyone, talking about his past experiences etc. it’s that typa comfort vibe if I’m with him 🥹

tagging: @junniieesbby @heart2beom @banggyu0308 @fairyofshampgyu @txt-yaomi @moonhoures @mazeinthemoon @baljinciaga @hanniejie and anyone else who would like to do it <3

[uglyduckling339]

KY'S LIFE IS STRANGE DOUBLE EXPOSURE NONSENSE LIVEBLOG: Chapter 1

(spoilers obvi) (these will only make sense if u watched or played the game and even then it may be shakey lmao)

tutorial

(edit lmfao i forgot to post this on wednesday, its been sitting in my drafts so thats y some of the comments sound weird)

chat i fear this was such a bad playthrough on my behalf...

LOVE LOVE LOVE max having trauma. i want to see her suffer in this game

LIS2 PHOTO !!!!

something i havent seen alot of people mention is the fact that bc they have a diff pose, it's likely that they took a bunch (or at least 2) selfies and gave one to david then kept the other. (also means rhat chloe could have a version of this pic as well !!!!)

pricefield travelling bc they couldn't js settle down </3 (somebody remind me and i'll do my pricefield analysis btw)

depending on the outfit you pick, max can have pink tips !!!! #canonpinkhair

JOURNAL .

OH MY GOD SHES WRITING TO CHLOE.

stop okay i love this new journal. the idea that post storm she got a whole new one; max dissociating after the storm (she says the days blurred n stuff), max always being "stuck in the past", chloe never looking at her the same after she learned abt joyce, so much angst oml

"she left me" oh my god

okay i need to move on from the journal lmfao

ngl i actually love amanda as a friend. she fr brought max food and noticed rhat taking pictures helps her cope best

okayyy reggie is my new fav side character. he's such a cutie pootie fr

ew it's fake rachel amber

VINH?? THE VINH??

TAKE THAT BIPHOBIC MAX "FANS"

vinh and max have chemistry better then her and Amanda i fear

LMFAOO?? WHY DOES MAX HAVE THE REPUATION OF A LOCK-PICK?? WHAT DID SHE DO BRUH💀😭

i need gwen so badly tbh. i'm like 80% sure shes not evil and she's rhe david madsen of this game

actually ykw i need ALL of yall. this whole game is full of baddies

i love the accent that safi and her mom have.

that suicide question is fucking stupid bc?? the game is about solving a murder?? who would pick the probably option thats crazy (girl who picked the probably option)

i'm ngl from this point onward i started lowkey speedrunning the game and thats when i fucked up so i'm gonna replay soon and slow tf down😭😭

LORETTA WHEN I CATCH YOU LORETTA.

LET ME GET HER. LEMME AT HER.

im gonna beat this bitches ass oh my god

GWEN NO CUM BACK- I MEAN CUM- I MEAN CU-

shit i think gwen's rhe one i need to actually like me but like😭 im so bad without rewind

i love moses but blud is yappin too much tbh

yes king i miss her too. yes king men can cry too. yes king you can grieve. now give me magic

bye why is loretta theatening max.

max is SO unbothered by that threat💀 shes like "i rewound time to save my ex-gf from being shot and the kid who shot her continued to harass me for the rest of rhe week until my professor murdered him (and kidnapped me and killed my ex gf), this is so NOT a big deal"

chat so i MAY have gotten scared after gwen and avoided beefing with lucas. another mistake to fix next gameplay ig

yay magic

i miss using L2. R1 is such a stupid ass button

okay so all in all, its so interesting to see the ending percentages. especially knowing that its mostly super fans bc of the ultimate thing.

also interesting that as of 8pm EST on opening day, 59% of players chose bae>bay. also like a overwhelming majority romanced chloe and that is SO important to note to me

i'm 100% gonna resume chapter 2 tmmr and rhen likely start a new save at some point next week to slow down and REALLY focus on the details that i missed cuz i missed hella stuff

[policemanofprincesspark]

How Harry Could Improve

1. Post! Photos! On! IG! Nobody expects selfies from him but just the occasional pic of him on vacation, or something quirky he's seen on his travels, or a book he's read and recommends! His caption game used to be strong and showcased his sense of humor.

2. Find another London best friend who isn't Controversial Corden who nobody likes.

3. Take more care with your street style. Leave the hair clip, the woolly hat and the trackies at home. He killed street style between 2013-2017.

How Louis Could Improve

1. He won't stop smoking cigarettes and weed but he could stop glamorizing it by posting photos of himself doing it. I can't think of anyone else who does that these days including his idol Liam G.

2. Don't drink alcohol on stage or take pics with fans when you're clearly very drunk or high.

3. Ditch the fake Manchester accent you use when you sing. He never had this in 1d or on Walls. A lot of fans found the FitF songs hard to understand.

For Harry:

1. I miss Harry being active on social media. I know he might be trying to seem mysterious and unattainable, but I remember even when he posted while in 1D, at least in the years that I was a fan, he still retained that mystery and intrigue because his tweets were often cryptic and he rarely posted on instagram. Likewise, those posts also had cryptic captions. He comes off as super pretentious when he refuses to engage with fans via social media when most other celebrities do.

2. You are who your friends are. He has multiple zionist friends, has a bizarrely obsessive allyship towards Jewish people and Judaism, and pumps his fist at the Israel flag. It's clear that he is a PROUD zionist—but not proud enough to lose his career over his views. I know many celebrities right now aren't speaking up, but I'd rather they just tell us they're on Israel's side than say nothing. Like, don't be a pussy about it.

3. His street style used to look so fashionable and interesting. I guess he's just tired these days of having to "go to work" and get papped, so he doesn't put the effort in most of the time. That's my guess.

For Louis:

1. Yeah, there are no excuses for that. He needs to have some shame, especially when he knows he has so many teen fans. Most smokers I've known have discouraged me from picking it up. All Louis is doing is encouraging. Like, why? If time travel was possible, I wonder if Louis would want to tell his past self not to start smoking. Like I said, most smokers I've known regret it.

2. He has a very serious problem. Every alcoholic I've known used alcohol to "self-medicate" when all they had was depression, anxiety, or some kind of personality disorder that they never got diagnosed. I've talked about this before—I think Louis has ADHD and has not gotten a diagnosis. I have it myself, so that's why I recognize the symptoms he showcases. He was an alcoholic before his mother died, but I think it's only worsened since then. He's going down the route Liam (Payne) went. I fear he'll never recognize the problem for what it is though.

3. In 1D, they all had to sing in semi-American accents, so I wouldn't use that as an example of what Louis's "real accent" is. I'm not great with British accent differences, so if you could give me an example of Louis singing a specific word in both Walls and FITF in completely different accents, please do. If he really is putting on a fake accent to copy Liam Gallagher or whatever, that's... really cringey, ngl.

[rubyreduji]

strap in because you are about to receive EVERY SINGLE thought i have while reading this <<<333

okay first things first this playlist goes so hard but creep by radiohead jumpscare

all of the tags are so pussy like childhood friends to lovers? angst? fluff? smut? slowburn? i already know im going to be living

JUN'S LEGO SET FROM GAME CATERERS YEAHHH

the relationship between jun and the reader is already so cute hehe and funny we love a humor queen

yiren best friend goals

he wants the reader so bad (he offered her the cola)

BOBA DATE OFFER

jun swiftie real

bro pays attention to what jean's she's wearing? bro is in LOVE love

THE WAY YOU WRITE AND YOUR CHOICE OF WORDS IS SO FDSLSAKKL im obsessed and in love and i want to bite you omg

THE EIGHT OMG

the letter ugh <

the whole paragraph about his fingers touching your neck while driving is going to make me crazy

there is a lot more "creep" allusions in this than i was expecting ngl lol

HAND ON THE BACK OMG XU MINGHAO DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING

AN EX OMG

"it wasn't that serious" but he still has all of her stuff....

not the sibling angst over jun not having time for her anymore

EVERYONE LEAVING IM GONNA SOB SJKDA

abandoment issues reader she's just like me fr

im gonna sob over minghao always buying her soda that's so sweet and like ugh that way you've characaterized him is perfect i love him

descriptions? perfect. inner monologue? perfect. dialogue? perfect. i am not kidding mika your writing is literally perfect i love it

minghao is so caring to the reader that boy must have been in love from the start as well

DATING RUMORS HELP JSDFKLA

DJKSAFLALFLFH me barking over your descriptions

not taking photos for the carats pls...

reader commenting and giggling at her own comment is so funny to me

i- NOT MIKA CALLING ME OUT WRITING MINGHAO TO SAY YOU CAN'T DEPEND ON OTHER PEOPLE FJASDKFLSA

MIKA YOU AND MINGHAO ARE BOTH SO WRONG FOR THAT AHHHH

MINGHAO WHAT THE HELL 🔥🔥🔥

"congratulations you were unsuccessful" i giggled

i- the reader is so me omg djsklfalk but also that hurt smh i love angst but damn

NOT ABOUT THE FIC BUT MY PLAYLIST JUST STARTED PLAYING A RUPAUL SONG IT WAS NOT FITTING THE VIBE HELP

MINGHAO RUN IN OH NO

THE PINK JACKET AHHHHH mika stop playing wtih my feelings liket his damn

ANOTHER FIGHT???? THIS TIME WITH JUN AHHHHHH im in anguish

not minghao creeping outside her car fdjklsakl

see if that was me i would simply not let minghao into my car and would just crash instead

the reader not depending on minghao to buy her a cola...the consequences of his own actions

THEY'RE KISSING WHAT JDFKAKLS THEY NEVER MADE UP

im too petty of a person for this help

okay jk good she's still mad thank you for being realistic

actually - is it realistic or am i also hot headed....

FLYING TO KOREA JSDLLKA WHAT smh doing too much when jun and hao started the fights

CHAN APPEARANCE YEAHHHH

chan calling han out for not going to the gym lol, i love small humorous bits like that

impulsive decisions are so real for the reader

damn hao was kinda smooth with it

O SHIT JUMPING RIGHT INTO IT

oh its a timeskip lol i thought they just went straight to fcuking

still opened up to the middle of a smut scene love that for us /gen

NOT JUN CALLING HELP

okay smut scene 😍😍😍 ik writing it was probably like pulling teeth but it was worth it

HIM KEEPING HTE LETTER WAHT IF I SOBBED AND SCREAMED AND THREW UP

MINGHAO WROTE HIS OWN LETTER AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

MIKA WAHHHHHHH IT WAS SO GOOD AND WORTH THE WAIT AND I LOVED IT AND IM OBSESSED WITH YOU AND YOUR WRITING AND THE WAY YOU CHARACTERIZED EVERYTHING THE PLOT FLOWED SO WELL LIKE IT DID NOT FEEL AS LONG AS IT ACTUALLY IS AND YES PLS DROP MORE OF THE SMUT SCENES BC ID READ THEM (yes i am insane)

literally the angst was angsting (maybe bc im like the reader lol) but the fluff made up for it because we all know im a sucker for a happy ending

i am having so many thoughts but its mostly screaming about how fucking phenomenal this fic was so

mika if you actually read this know i love you and deserve the world and all your flowers 🫶🫶💐💐

the letter — x. minghao x reader

i hope one word, one letter, will laugh and cry with you (the letter / ateez)

description. in which you’re jun's little sister and have been pining for a man so close yet so out of reach for ages. now, years later, when you see minghao all grown up, famous, and still making your heart flutter, you're not so sure what to do about your not-so-little crush.

genres. smut (18+), slowburn, fluff, angst, childhood f2l tags. idol!au, alcohol consumption & underage drinking, lots of arguments, oral (f receiving), Lots of pent up emotions oops, miscommunication, sorta hot headed reader, minghao is minghao and that is a warning enough fic playlist. w/c. 26.3k a/n. i had so so so much fun writing this! huge thanks to @gyuswhore bc em literally helped me through every step of the way & sat through me planning & switching around the events of the story a bajillion times, and thank u to @honeyhypen who read over this for me ^-^ now this is a weeeeeeee bit long and if ur here for the smut uhh idk what to tell u it's at the end but i highly suggest reading the fic first bc i think it makes it like 349784 times better >_< if u like this, pls comment & reblog, it'd mean the world to me hehe!

ENVELOPE

To: Xu Minghao

“Why are you in my room?” Jun huffs, turning around to look up at you as you stand by his door. In front of him is a massive, yet unfinished LEGO replica of Hogwarts. You frown, glancing at his friend who lays on his bed with a phone up to his face.

He’s Jun’s new friend, and you’ve heard your brother talk about him but this is your first time really seeing Minghao in the flesh. Shaggy hair hangs loose over his dark eyes as he peeks over his phone and glances at Jun, as if to silently ask who you are.

“Dad says dinner is ready,” you tell him, feeling a little timid under the gaze of the new boy. He’s only two years older than you, but the only interaction you get with high schoolers is your brother, so you’re feeling shy. He’s a very nice looking boy, you think to yourself, but try hard not to stare as Minghao uncrosses his legs and sits up on your brother's bed.

Jun’s eyes soften when he notices you standing awkwardly, standing up and pointing at you as he says your name. “My sister—two years younger,” he explains.

“One point five, actually,” you correct him with a roll of your eyes, feeling more comfortable now that Jun is initiating something. Your brother laughs at you and ruffles your hair while Minghao stands up behind him.

“Ya-da, ya-da. You’re still two grades below, so it doesn’t really make a difference. Anyways, this is Minghao,” he says, pointing at his friend behind him who throws you a small smile and wave.

“I know,” you blurt out before you even have a chance to think, heat flushing to your face after you realize what you said and see Minghao give you a funny look. “I-I mean because Jun talks about you a lot,” you clarify, clearing your throat. “Y’know, he doesn’t have a lot of friends so when—”

Jun clamps a hand over your mouth and gently drags you out of the room as Minghao follows behind closely with silent laughter. “That’s enough from you. Watch it, or I’m never letting you talk to my friends again.”

“Friends? I think you mean friend,” you retort, looking back at Minghao who watches the two of you amusedly. “Are you sure you want to be friends with someone so mean to his sist—”

Jun flicks your forehead and you push his chest. “Shut up already! If you scare away all my friends, all I’ll have left is you, and you’ll just have to put up with me all day!”

“You’re right about that,” you say with a heavy sigh as you all make your way to the dinner table where your father has set out a meal for the three of you. Putting your hands up in defeat as you sit down at your spot at the middle end of the table, you glance at Minghao who takes a seat with Jun sitting between the two of you. “I guess I’ll back off for now.”

Jun scoffs. “You better.” The three of you laugh together.

Yiren rummages through your closet, and you frown deeply. “Hey! You better clean that up,” you warn, rolling off of your bed and onto the floor, lazily standing up.

“I’m helping you pick out a nice outfit! You said Minghao is coming ri—” You scramble to your feet to slap a hand over Yiren’s mouth, eyes wide.

“Shut up! My brother’s room is right there—he might hear you!”

Yiren rolls her eyes, nudging your hand off her mouth with a huff. “Oh my god, don’t tell me you haven’t told him yet.”

“What?” you narrow your eyes at her, grabbing one of your bras that she threw onto the ground and stuffing it back into your closet. “You thought I was going to tell Jun that I have a crush on his best friend?” you half whisper, half yell.

“Uh, why wouldn’t you? You’re seriously missing out on your chance to have him help you get with Minghao.”

You scoff, looking down at all the clothes strewn across the floor. “Have you met my brother? He would flip if I even mentioned being with a guy, let alone that guy being two years older and his friend.”

“You don’t know that,” Yiren retorts, throwing herself onto your bed leaving you to clean up the mess she made.

“Yes I do. This is how I can tell you don’t have any brothers …”

“Well if you never make a move on Minghao, how are you ever going to get him? You gotta start somewhere, and maybe your brother is the first nut you gotta crack to get there.”

“If you haven’t noticed, I haven’t exactly planned on making any moves,” you mumble, reaching down to pick up a cute pink jacket you haven’t seen in a while.

“Uh, why not?” Yiren piques, sitting upright on your mattress.

“Excuse me, have you looked at Minghao?” you groan, slumping against your wall with the jacket in your hands. “He’s so … cool, and popular, and handsome,” you gush, and Yiren makes a disgusted face.

“Uh, no, sorry I don’t fawn over your future husband, so I don’t really look at Minghao but—”

“And he’s going to be a senior! Why would a senior ever go for—” you look down and gesture at yourself, “—me.”

“You’re seriously downgrading yourself—you know you’re a catch.”

“Yeah, not for someone like him,” you snort, flopping down onto your bed next to her. “It’s whatever, it’s a stupid crush anyways.”

“Yeah,” Yiren says flatly. “You’ve only been crushing on him for like three years—hey! Don’t hit me!”

“Then stop saying this stuff,” you groan, throwing a pillow onto her head.

“Okay fine, I’ll stop. So are you going to wear that?” she asks, pointing at the jacket you left at the foot of your bed.

“Yeah, I think I will. It’s cute right?”

“Mhm … bet Minghao will totally like it and—”

“Yiren, shut up,” you giggle, pushing her again as you roll off the bed. “Okay, so the pink jacket and these jeans?” you ask, picking one pair off the ground and holding it up for her to see.

“Mm, no,” she says while shaking her head, standing up to join you as she looks at all of the clothes she threw across the floor. “Let’s see …” she hums to herself.

“Yiren,” you say with a laugh, “I think you’re putting more thought into this than me.”

“Well I can’t just let my best friend be single and lonely for the rest of her life! If all you do is sit around and listen to Radiohead, you’re going to end up being sixty-five and alone in some cottage in the woods.”

“Hey! That actually seems pretty peaceful,” you try to object, but Yiren narrows her eyes in your direction.

“Okay well,” she drawls out, putting her hands on your shoulders so you’re right in front of her, “Imagine being sixty-five and living in a cute cottage in the woods with Minghao. Sounds better, doesn’t it?” You can’t help the giddy grin that makes its way onto your face when Yiren says that, and she punches your shoulder lightly when she notices. “See, you do want that! So just listen to me, okay?”

“Okay, okay, fine! Just tell me which jeans to wear.”

She looks down, picking through the denim before pulling out a light blue one with little flowers embroidered on the pockets. “Look, this is cute. It’ll match with the jacket.”

You nod along, not questioning her because as far as you know, Yiren’s fashionable instinct stretches much further than yours and whatever she says about this must be true. As you change from your pajamas  into your new, curated outfit, Yiren sits back on the bed and grins widely.

“Looks perfect on you. Minghao will love it.”

“You think?” you pique, looking at her with bright, beaming eyes.

She winks at you and you jump up and down on the balls of your feet at the excitement. “I want at least 25% of whatever you get from your wedding gifts. You both will owe me big time.”

“I’ll believe it when it happens … Anyways, you ready to go? Let’s wait downstairs and get some pop while we wait for Minghao to come,” you suggest, Yiren agreeing with a nod as she bounces behind you. Jun, it seems, is still in his room waiting for his friend, so you stick your head through his door. “We’re going down to snack a little. Wanna come?”

Your brother shrugs, pushing himself off his swiveling chair to join you. “You know if we still have those cupcakes? The ones you made last week?”

“I think we have a few left. Why? You liked them?” you exclaim happily, turning around to face Jun as the three of you settle in the kitchen. You reach for a box you kept on the island, popping off the lid to show him.

Jun grins and pulls one out and you offer one to Yiren who stands beside you. “‘course I like them,” he says with his mouth stuffed with cake and cream.

Yiren, shooting a look of disgust his way, says, “Ew! Please don’t chew and talk, that’s gross.” Jun rolls his eyes at her as Yiren stuffs her own face with the cupcake, sighing as she digs in.

“Whatever,” Jun grumbles after swallowing it down. “They taste really good, you should make them more.”

Yiren nods, tapping your shoulder, “Agreed. Send me the recipe too,” voice muffled as she continues to munch down on the cupcake.

“Didn’t you just tell me not to eat with my mouth full?” Jun mutters, crossing his hands over his chest. You laugh at the banter and suddenly you hear the doorbell ring, ears perking up. “That’s probably Minghao—I’ll get the door.”

As your brother makes his way down to the foyer, you turn to look at Yiren. “I would give you the recipe but I don’t want to be the reason your house burns down. Seriously, remember the last time you tried baking and—”

“Oh my god, is the recipe what you’re thinking about right now? Minghao is just about to come—offer him a cupcake! Show him your amazing baking skills and show him what a good housewife you can be!”

You give your best friend a look of bewilderment. “What the hell Yiren,” you groan, slapping your hand on your face, trying to hold back your chuckles. “Okay, I’ll give it to him but only because I want him to be impressed. Not because I want to submit myself to misogyny for the sake of a man.”

“Okay fine but—look!” she exclaims in a hushed whisper. “He’s here!” You immediately straighten your back and smile when Jun walks back into the kitchen with Minghao. He’s wearing some loose jeans and a black hoodie, his hair longer than before.

He says your name when he sees you, throwing up a wave and a smile. Minghao then glances at Yiren with a blank stare, pursing his lips together. Yiren chuckles nervously and clicks her tongue while pointing at herself. “Yiren.”

“Ah. Hi Yiren,” he says politely.

“You guys want some pop?” Jun offers when he opens up the fridge. Yiren, Minghao, and you nod happily and respectively call out your choices.

“Sprite!”

“Cola!”

“Cola!”

Jun juts his lip out in a pout when he turns back to the three of you. “I wanted Cola too, but there’s only two left.” You’re about to furrow your brows and tell him that it’s okay, you don’t really want any, but Minghao speaks up before you.

“She can have the Cola, I don’t mind,” he says casually, grabbing one can from Jun and handing it to you with soft eyes. “Here.”

“Are you sure? I don’t really care for the difference between Sprite and Cola and—”

Minghao chuckles and shakes his head, and you think you might just pass out when your palm brushes against his knuckles when he eases the cold can into your hand. “Seriously, it’s fine,” he tells you. You glance at Jun and Yiren who are busy opening their own cans, turning your attention back to Minghao.

“Thank you … Uh, do you want a cupcake? I made some a while ago and we still have some left,” you offer, holding up the box to him.

“It’s the last one. Are you sure?”

“How the tables have turned,” you laugh, and Minghao cracks a bright smile at that and holy crap, if you weren’t so busy trying to keep your composure, you’d be freaking out over how handsome he looks when he smiles. “‘course you can have it. I’ve had plenty of them,” you admit sheepishly as he reaches for the cupcake and brings up to his mouth.

“Holy shit. I don’t blame you for eating a lot—if I had these in my house they’d be gone in like an hour.”

“Right!” Yiren agrees, and you can’t help but chew on your bottom lip when you smile from the praise.

“Guess this is just a sign for you to make more, huh,” Jun says, walking to stand next to you to lean on your shoulder.

“Uh-uh! You gotta reimburse me somehow,” you protest, looking up at your brother with a firm expression.

“Please make more, they’re really good. I’ll buy you boba if you make more,” Minghao chimes, and it’s safe to say you don’t expect it from the way you cough on your own saliva. Yiren laughs at your reaction, and Jun only looks at you weirdly when you nod in agreement.

“Oh, so you’ll make cupcakes when he asks but not for your dear older brother?”

You roll your eyes, saying, “He offered to buy me boba! You know I can’t turn that down.”

Jun huffs in faux irritation, digging his hand into his pocket to fish out his keys. “Ya-da, ya-da. Anyways, would anyone other than my super fake, mean, evil sister like to go to karaoke now?” he asks playfully. All it takes is one glare and pulling on his hair for a few seconds to have him shouting out apologies as the four of you make your way to the car garage.

The ride to the karaoke place is short with Jun in the front and Minghao sitting in the passenger seat next to him. You and Yiren pile into the back, and the three of you scroll through your phones to decide what songs to sing later while Jun drives.

“I get to sing Creep, right?” you ask excitedly, bouncing up and down in your seat.

“How’d I know you were going to bring up Radiohead,” Jun mutters, pressing his head back into the head rest when he stops at a red light, while Minghao turns in his seat to look back at you with wide eyes.

“You like Radiohead?” he asks with a small smile.

The corners of your lips are lifted and your face brightens when you nod vigorously. “Yeah I do!”

“I think ‘like’ would be an understatement. I’m like 99% sure Thom Yorke lives in her skin or something because what she has for Radiohead is a lot more than just ‘like,’” Yiren says.

“No way, I love Radiohead,” Minghao tells you. Holy shit. So Minghao is attractive and nice and smart and pretty much perfect at everything and he enjoys Radiohead? You might go insane.

“Really?” Your eyes are wide with your jaw hanging open, leaning forward in your seat.

You hear Jun groan from the driver’s seat, and both you and Minghao shoot him a dirty look. “I forgot both of you are obsessed with Radiohead. Seriously, could either of you get more emo?”

“If you weren’t driving right now, I’d strangle you,” Minghao says bluntly before looking back at you. “Anyways, what’s your favorite song?”

“Junnie, please, can you put on Creep now? You know I’ve been waiting forever,” you plead, holding your hand out to the microphone that’s in your brother’s hand. The room is dark and lit up with red and blue LEDs across the border, making the room glow purple.

“But I want to sing another round of Taylor Swift!” he protests, pointing at the big screen in front of you while clutching the microphone close to his chest. You scoff, poking his side. “You know I’m not ticklish, so that doesn’t work.”

“You’re not ticklish? How?” Yiren exclaims, looking at Jun with wide eyes.

You turn to squint at her. “He’s weird. I thought we already established this.”

“Hey!” Jun whines. “See this is why you won’t be getting to sing Creep tonight.”

“Jun!” you cry out, and you’re about to pull out a string of complaints and curses, but then Minghao is stepping in, pointing at you.

“Put on Creep. She’s been asking for a while and I want to sing it too,” he says. Jun is quiet for a moment before sighing and handing you the microphone which leads you to puffing up your chest and smiling proudly.

“Thanks,” you chirp gleefully, as Minghao holds his own microphone up to his lips.

When he smiles at you, it’s kind and sincere in such a way that it has your heart swelling under your pretty pink jacket. Minghao coolly points at Yiren who sits by the control tablet. “Creep. Hit it.”

The air inside your house is warm as you skip down the hall and down the stairs. When the bell rang the first time, you thought it was just some package but when you hear it ring twice, you think otherwise.

When you peek through the little peep-hole, you jump up and down on the balls of your feet, a mix of excitement and nerves pools at your stomach. You open the door and Minghao shuffles in front of you at the doorstep. You haven’t seen him in a few weeks, and his hair looks shorter. “Did you cut your hair?” you ask the seventeen year old as you move to the side so he can step in.

“Yeah, it was getting in my eyes too much,” he tells you with a nod, a small puff of vapor coming from his lips. It’s cold, and you hear him inhale a breath of relief when you close the door behind him. “Thought the door was never gonna open. I was freezing my ass off,” he says, unwinding the brown scarf from his neck.

“‘m sorry,” you reply sheepishly as he takes off his shoes, following you through the foyer. “Jun didn’t tell me you were coming so I was in my room. He’s still out with my dad, but he’ll be back soon.”

“That’s fine.” Minghao shrugs off his puffer jacket, placing it on the coat rack while you make your way to the kitchen.

“Do you want a drink? It’s cold outside, so I can make some hot chocolate. Jun got the nice kind from the cafe down the street.”

“That’d be great, thanks,” he says, sitting down at one of the stools in front of the kitchen island as you take out some milk and hot chocolate powder. It’s silent, and you chew your lip while thinking about how this is the first time in a really long time that you and Minghao have been alone together.

Nearing the end of his twelfth year in high school and just like the first time you met him, he’s as enticing as ever. Dancing competitions with Jun, left and right, smart and respectful with the teachers, popular among the students—you're lucky you get to talk to someone as cool as him, even if it is only on the account that you’re his best friend’s little sister.

“How’s high school?” he asks casually as you boil some milk over the stove.

“It’s alright … English is still hard as ever,” you admit, dropping the powder into the frothing milk.

Minghao chuckles softly when you turn around to face him, and a small smile makes its way onto your lips. “Yeah, it was never my strong suit either. You still friends with … what’s her name? Sorry, I’m not good with names—the girl who lost her voice at karaoke when she came with us?”

“Yiren?” you giggle softly, recalling the memory. “Yeah. Still friends, still as loud as ever,” you say with a sigh, mixing the milk as it turns light brown. “How are things with you? Jun’s been telling me the dance practices you guys have is pretty intense. He always looks like he could eat a horse when he comes home.”

“That’s good to hear, and yeah, it’s all going good. It is pretty tiring, but it’s a lot of fun,” Minghao replies, stretching his arms behind his back as you pour out the hot chocolate into two mugs, bringing it over. “Thanks,” he murmurs, grabbing from your hand sitting down at your regular spot, one extra chair seated between the two of you as always.

Arm’s length, you think for a moment, before shaking yourself of the thought. “I’m sure the practice is paying off though—seems like Jun is always talking about some new kinda competition or something.”

“Mhm,” Minghao hums, taking a sip of the hot cacao. “This is really good, thank you,” he says with a soft smile, and you’d be lying if you said you didn’t feel some sort of giddiness erupt in your stomach. “I think … I think we can really take it somewhere—our dancing.”

It’s a sparing thought that Minghao and Jun’s dreams are far beyond yours, and you have a bit of a difficult time trying to understand what he means by somewhere and if that somewhere includes you or not.

“You’re going to Korea?” your eyebrows furrow as you glance between Jun and your parents.

“Nothing’s finalized yet—” your mother says, but when Jun’s eyes flicker between you and the ground, you already know that this is set in stone.

“Yes it is.” Your voice is small when the words come out. “You—” you take a deep breath, “—you’re going.”

“Not now, of course,” your dad says, patting your back as he stands up, your mother following suit. “Talk for a few minutes, yeah?” he says as both your parents walk out. When your whole family walked into your room ten minutes earlier to tell you they had big news, you weren’t sure what you were expecting, but it certainly was not this.

And now you’re sitting with your brother on one end of your bed while you’re curled up against your pillows on the other, unable to meet his gaze.

“When are you going?” you ask quietly, finally breaking the silence.

“August.”

“That’s in a month and a half,” your shoulders deflate as you say it. “How long?”

“I don’t know. I’m sorry.” You bury your face in your hands in hopes that it’ll muffle your cries. It doesn’t.

Jun scoots over to you quickly when he sees your shoulders shake, one arm going around your back to pull you close to his body, but you still can’t bring yourself to look at him. “How are you going to do it?” you blubber as your brother pats your back. “You can’t just go to a whole different country alone and—”

“I won’t be alone. Minghao is coming with me,” Jun tells you quickly. Now that brings your head up. You don’t care that your nose is snotty and that your hair is all over the place and that your face burns, you just need to see the look on Jun’s face to see that he isn’t messing with you.

The way his own eyes are glossy gives you your answer. “Y-you both got accepted into tha-that company?”

Jun nods. “We applied together.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were applying? I-I would’ve understood. You could have given me more time to process this and—” You look down at your hands, “Fuck,” you mutter to yourself, not finding the words in your throat.

“We didn’t even know if we would get accepted. Me and Minghao promised each other that we’d only follow through with it if both of us got in and we didn’t think that there’d be a high chance of that because it’s so competitive … I only told Mom and Dad because until we got the acceptances, I really didn’t think it was going to actually happen.” You gulp at his words, trying to let it all sink in.

“I think … I think I just need to go on a walk. Take a breather, y’know,” you mutter under your breath as you stand up. Just as you're about to walk away, you stop yourself, looking back at Jun who stares down at his hands. You don’t think twice before wrapping your arms around his shoulders and hugging him tightly. “I’m really proud of you,” you say quietly before rushing out of your room and down the stairs.

You shove your feet into some slippers in the foyer, rushing out onto the street soon after. You aren’t sure what you’re doing or where you’re headed, but you continue to trudge along the sidewalk until you’re walking down the main road.

The summer air is hot and stuffy, and you wonder if you feel so suffocated because of the sun’s onslaught or because of thoughts that run through your head. It’s surrounding you, breathing it in, it fills your lungs, courses through your veins, rushes to your brain—you don’t know what it is, but it’s uncomfortable and has you dizzy and your vision foggy.

You lean against a thick lamppost next to you, hands on your knees as you knit your eyebrows together as sweat beads down your forehead. What the fuck, you think as you breathe in through your nose.

You hear your own name bounce around in your head, and the sound only grows louder and louder until you’re muttering under your breath, telling yourself to shut the fuck up, shut the fuck up, shut the fuck up. And there are tears in your eyes but you furiously wipe them away because while you don’t mind crying, you do mind crying if you don’t know why.

And fuck, there’s that voice again, your name echoing over and over again until it’s growing lowder and ringing in your ears. You think you might start crying again until the voice sounds familiar and you’re whipping your head up and standing straight when you see a car pull up to the curb next to you.

“Fuck my life,” you mumble to yourself when you see Minghao in the driver’s seat of the car. He rolls down the window and god, he looks so pretty with his hair back and upper body fit into a loose yellow shirt.

“Hey, what are you doing?” he asks you, brows pinched into a concerned expression as he looks at you, face flushed and sheen from sweat.

“I—” You’re about to smile at him and let the giddiness of having your crush talk to you take over, but then the words get caught in your throat when you remember the whole reason you’re out here. “—I’m just going on a walk.”

“In this heat?” He raises a brow at you. “Where to? Let me give you a ride. You don’t look too well.”

“Nowhere really,” you say with a shrug. “Actually, I might just head back home,” you rush out, turning on your heel to walk in the other direction so Minghao can’t pry any further, but he stops you.

“Wait, wait, wait,” he calls out, and you don’t have the willpower to ignore him. “Let me drive you home then. Seriously, you don’t look well—like you look like you’re ‘bout to pass out and shit—so just get in the car, please?” He says the last part with some sort of beggary etched onto his face and you just can’t deny him. Not now, not ever.

Pulling the door open, your limbs feel heavy as you climb into the car, air much cooler and fresher than outside. Leaning your head against the headrest, you let your eyes flutter shut as Minghao starts the car.

“Are you seriously okay? You look—”

“Sick, I know. I look sick,” your grumble, eyes still shut. You wonder if you should tell him Jun just told you everything.

“I’m sorry,” and you can tell from the way his voice doesn’t waver that he means it.

“Jun told me about Korea.”

“Oh.” Yeah, very big oh. “Just now?” You nod. “Is that why you were out here?” You nod again, finally opening your eyes.

“Hey, this isn’t the way to my house.”

Minghao keeps his eyes on the road. “C’mon, let’s get some pop,” he says, ignoring your statement and driving into the parking lot of a convenience store. He unbuckles his seatbelt and hops out his end, not saying a word, and you figure that you have no other choice but to follow.

Any other situation and you’d be grinning about spending some time alone with Minghao, but after hearing Jun tell you that he’s going to be traveling hundreds of miles and flying over borders within the next two months has your stomach churning in a way you don’t like.

You don’t know if you want to spend all the hours of the day with Jun and Minghao, or if you want to crawl up in your bed and pretend they don’t exist so it’ll hurt less when they’re gone. You feel stupid for thinking like this—you know it’s going to hurt either way.

You’re lost in your own thoughts as you walk into the store after Minghao, only snapped back into the present when he says something to you. “Hey, those are your jeans that you wore when we first did karaoke right?’

You blink once and then twice before looking down at your pants. They were those same jeans. “Yeah, how’d you know?” you ask him incredulously, and Minghao chuckles as he reaches into the cooler and pulls out a pink popsicle.

“I remember the flowers and how they matched your pink jacket. It was cute,” he says casually, and you hope he doesn’t catch onto the way your fingers twiddle together nervously and you avert your gaze. “Anyways, you like Cola right?” he clarifies when reaching into the drink fridge near the cooler. You nod shyly, thanking him quietly when he hands you a can.

As you make your way to the cash register, you fish around in your pockets for a few moments hoping you’ll dig up a dollar bill or something but then Minghao’s hand is on your wrist and he shakes his head with a smile.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll cover it.” He turns back so quickly you don’t have time to protest because he’s already sticking his card into the machine, throwing the cashier a thumbs up and walking out the store without a word.

“I could’ve paid for myself, y’know,” you grumble, following behind Minghao, watching to see where he’s headed. You think he’s going to get back into his car, but instead he plops down on the street curb, sitting on the ground. You just look at him for a few moments, contemplating what to do for a few moments before joining his side.

“Yeah, but I wanted to pay for it.”

The sun is bright and it beads down on you relentlessly, but you don’t complain. You both sit in silence as you both tend to your snacks—Minghao tries to lap up his popsicle quickly now that you’re out in the heat and you try to drink as much of your Cola as you can before it grows lukewarm. The air grows thick between you.

You can’t find the right words to say. You suppose there aren’t any right words or any wrong words, and that you can say just about anything right now and it wouldn’t matter.

Glancing at Minghao who takes a lick of his pink popsicle, you feel that uneasy feeling swarm inside of your chest.

You could kiss him right now. You could press your mouth against his sticky lips and lap at the sugar against his tongue. You could hold his face and run your fingers through his hair and cradle the nape of his neck. You could do anything right now and it wouldn’t matter.

Minghao, after all, was leaving.

But you’re scared and Minghao is mature and his dreams are big and he’s brave.

Your eyes linger on his plush lips for no longer than a second before you shamefully look down at the Cola in your hands, suddenly feeling sick to your stomach.

“You’ll remember this place, right? Like—if you get big and famous and stuff, you two won’t forget, right?” you resort to asking. You say ‘this place,’ but really, you mean ‘me.’ You don’t want to be forgotten.

Minghao watches you with his eyes clouded with something you can’t really make out. “Of course we won’t. We’ll remember forever.” Absentmindedly, you trace figure-eights into the top of your can of pop, and Minghao catches the motion.

Using his own finger, he traces the figure of the number eight over the cement of the curb. “See. Like infinity, y’know?”

You purse your lips together and nod, your mind going dizzy. “Can we … can we go?” you mumble softly, gripping the can in your hand. “I think the heat kinda got to me.” It’s not entirely a lie.

Minghao doesn’t question you, polishing off his popsicle and tossing it into the trash before unlocking the door so you can take the silent ride home.

Jun and Minghao flew out two months ago. You went with your family and Minghao’s family to bid goodbyes. It’s not like you wouldn’t see them again—give or take a few months and Jun would be back at home, but he’d have to leave again. And again. And again.

It’s sad, you think, as you slump against Yiren on some random person’s couch. You miss them so much, but when you think about Jun and Minghao, all you can see is the hard work they’ve put into going where they’re headed.

You feel selfish as you bring a cup up to your lips. You feel pathetic and lame and if you weren’t already drunk, you’d be wallowing in self pity as well. The alcohol tastes just as bitter as your feelings, and while you wince when you gulp it down, you don’t hesitate to let some more run down your throat.

Yiren watches you worriedly when you clutch her arm and shut your eyes tight. “I miss them,” you whisper, and she doesn’t know if you’re talking to her or to yourself. She strokes your hair and coos to you about taking you to lie down somewhere.

Your head spins as she helps you stand, letting the cup fall to the ground, not bothering to pick it up. Yiren pulls you into an empty bedroom and sits you on the bed. “Drink this,” she instructs, handing you a bottle of water.

“Yiren, I miss them,” you repeat yourself.

“I know, I know you do. Do you want to go home? I’ll drive you and—”

“No, you go have fun. I just need to sit down for a sec,” you tell her, letting your back fall onto the mattress. Yiren gives you a warning look, but you shoo her off. “Trust me, I’ll be fine. I’ll call you if I need anything.” She looks like she wants to protest, but you both know you’re on a one track mind right now.

“Please don’t do anything stupid,” Yiren begs as she walks away and closes the door behind her. You’re still dizzy, but not nearly as bad as before. Sitting up, you glance around the room. It’s simple—probably a guest room in whoever’s house this is. Also probably why the door was unlocked in the first place.

You feel you might pass out until your eyes land on an open notebook on a table in the corner of the room. You don’t think twice before standing up and ripping a sheet out, scrambling for a pen.

DEAR MINGHAO

I’m drunk right now. I miss you and I miss Jun. I hope when you guys come back again, we can go to that karaoke place again and sing to Radiohead. I’ve expanded my taste you know—my favorite song is Fake Plastic Trees now, and I even got a record player just so I could play the vinyl for it. Sorry I didn’t tell you earlier.

When you come back, we should really go there again. Yiren’s been getting really tired of me singing Creep every time, so I need a new duo partner. And she’s leaving too, so there’s that.

I really want to kiss you right now, but you’re in Korea.

I miss Jun a lot too. I think I hate you for it. He’s my brother but somehow you get to see him more and talk to him more and be with him more. Sometimes I call him and it’s for less than five minutes and I hear your voice in the background and I don’t know if I want to listen to you speak forever or strangle you so you can never talk again. I get that Jun is busy, and that you’re busy, but you guys get to be busy together.

Yiren told me she’s probably going to go to college out of the country next year. I’m going to miss her like hell. I think I already miss her, and so I drag her to karaoke with me so she won’t ever forget about me and Radiohead and how garbage I am at singing Creep.

Jun says he’s going to come visit home in two months, and that you might come along. I didn’t know home was a place you only visit, but I guess being an idol changes you. I probably sound super bitter right now. I’m not. Maybe I’m upset that you guys are gone, but I really am happy for you.Jun is happy, and you’re happy, and I’m so happy you have each other.

It’s hard to focus on your exam—halfway through your degree and you still get the jitters every time you step into the testing hall. It’s probably the nerves. And the caffeine. And the fact that you’ll be seeing your brother and Minghao in three hours.

It’s mainly the third that has your leg bouncing up and down on the balls of your feet as you jot down your answers. The exam takes longer than you’d like to finish, but as soon as you’ve finished the final question, you’re bolting out of the large room and toward the parking lot.

Connecting your phone to your car, you call Jun as you back out of the parking spot. “Hey, you guys at the airport?” you ask when you hear him pick up.

“Yeah, we’re just getting out right now but there’s kind of a crowd so it might take a while to just get to the car.”

“I forgot you guys are, like, famous,” you mutter jokingly. “Where’re you headed first? Minghao’s place first?”

“Yeah probably. He’s gonna see his parents and stuff first and then I’ll go to Mom and Dad’s house, so you can just come there.”

“Okay … we’re still good for our dinner plans, right?”

“Yeah, actually I was wondering if Minghao could tag along,” Jun says, and you can hear some muffled shouting from the other side.

“Oh okay, yeah su—”

“Hey, look, there’s a lot of people here and I can’t hear much so just text me your response and I’ll get to you in a second,” Jun tells you quickly as the shouting grows louder. He hangs up soon after and you sigh heavily as you start driving to your parents house.

The ride is quiet but you’re happy to be met with gleeful parents when you get to their place. You’re all a bit spirited at the prospect of Jun coming home, so when you hear the old ringing of the door bell, you’re bolting to the door and swinging it open, jumping into his arms.

“What happened to ‘hi,’ ‘hello,’ ‘how are you?’” Jun teases as he hugs you close, awkwardly trying to shuffle into the house. You poke your tongue out at him when you finally unwind your arms from around him.

“Hi. Hello. How are you? You seem obnoxious, as always,” you shoot back, and Jun only grins, pinching your cheek tightly.

“Oh how I missed my little insane sister,” he says before moving onto your parents, enveloping them in hugs as you all begin to settle down in the living room. The four of you spend a few hours catching up with Jun before he excuses himself to freshen up so he can get ready for your plans for the evening.

When he comes back all ready, you’re pulling out your keys from your purse and waving bye to your parents, promising them you’ll stop by the next morning as you and your brother make your way to the door.

“See you later!” Jun calls out before closing the front door behind him and following you to your car. Minghao’s house is close by, no more than a five minute drive, and it’s quiet as you take the familiar roads through the town to get there.

“Should we go in?” you ask when you park in Minghao’s driveway. “You haven’t seen his parents in a while, have you?”

“Oh yeah, you’re right. C’mon, let’s go.” You both slip out of the car and make your way to the front door. Minghao’s mother opens the door and you spend a few minutes exchanging greetings and catching up before Minghao is stepping out, clad in some black jeans and a grey hoodie.

He smiles when he sees you, pulling you into a hug, giving you a chance to feel the slightly damp hair against your cheek and the woody smell that always reminds you of him. “Hey, how’s it been?” he asks when he pulls away.

“I-I’m good,” you say shyly.

“Let’s talk more in the car, yeah?” Jun suggests, turning back to Minghao’s parents to give them a hug before you all wave your goodbyes and get into your car.

“Where’re we headed?” Jun asks, as you back out of the driveway. Jun sits in the passenger seat while Minghao slips into the back.

“It’s this new place—opened just a few months ago so I doubt you’d have gone there yet,” you tell him as you start driving.

“Is it the place next to the cafe?” Minghao asks you, and you nod excitedly.

“Yeah … how’d you know?”

“My mom told me about it, and said I should try it out. I guess now’s my chance, huh.”

“Yeah! It’s really good, I hope you both like it,” you say, reaching over to the AUX controls to flick on one of your playlists. “Okay guys … are you ready?” you warn, watching Minghao’s eyes brighten through the mirror.

“Oh my god, don’t tell me you guys are going to sign Creep again—” Jun starts to groan, but you reach over and press a finger over his lips to shut him up.

“Quiet,” Minghao hisses to his friend, scooting forward in his seat so you’re in his view, placing his hands under your headrest. His fingers brush against the back of your neck and you’re scared you might crash the car from the way his touch makes you shiver. Fuck, more than half a damn decade and you still can’t fight it off. “Turn it up,” he instructs from behind, and you can only grin as you reach over and pump up the volume.

The deep rumble of snare and guitar echoes through the car as the song starts and you already feel your heart begin to swell in your chest. So when the first lines of, ‘when you were here before,’ leave your lips, you aren’t sure if you feel your heart mending itself, or if it’s salt being poured on the wound.

Because from behind you is Minghao’s voice, so deep and velvety and angelic it has you almost in a trance. He’s been good at singing, always, but now his voice sounds … mature, and developed and … and you love it.

You think back to the first time you sang Creep with him, and the lyrics already have you reminiscing when you both sing, ‘couldn’t look you in the eye,’ because goddammit you still struggle to look at Minghao for too long because you’re scared you’ll get lost.

And when it gets to the part before the bass is blaring in your ears, Minghao and you are singing, ‘I wish I was special, you’re so fuckin’ special,’ at the top of your lungs and you can’t help but let the irony sink in.

Now you’re pretty sure when Thom wrote Creep, he didn’t mean it to be about your love life, especially not the non-existent one between you and your brother’s best friend, but Thom is speaking to you right now, and you wonder if Minghao can hear the way you’re singing from your heart. How you’re singing for him.

When the song comes to an end, Minghao’s fingers brush over the nape of your neck one last time before he retreats back into his seat. You try to not mull on the feeling any longer, shaking your head of all of those thoughts when you near the restaurant.

“Here it is!” you chirp, parking the car on the curb. The three of you shuffle out of the car casually, making your way to the entrance.

“Looks nice,” Minghao comments as he opens the door for you and Jun. Your brother hops in merrily and you and Minghao both share a soft smile as you go inside too, your body nearly jerking when you feel his hand on the small of your back as he follows behind you.

His touch is warm and gentle and—fuck, does he know what he’s doing to you right now?

You’re more relieved than anything when he finally lets his arm drop, the three of you making your way to the table you booked. You were scared that if Minghao stayed close any longer, he’d be able to feel your heart beating through your chest.

You guys sit down at the table, Jun next to you while Minghao settles across the two of you. “So how’s your classes going?” he asks you as you look through the menu. “Jun said you had an exam today, right?”

“Yeah, it was my final one,” you tell him with a sigh of relief. “It was stressful preparing for it but it went better than I thought.”

“Good to hear,” Minghao says as a waiter comes along to pick up on your orders. After he leaves, Jun turns to you.

“What’s Yiren up to?” Jun asks you curiously. “Haven’t seen that girl in ages.”

“She’s, uh, she’s good,” you reply. “I haven’t seen her in a while either … she went off to college in Korea, remember?”

Minghao chuckles, “Seems like everyone’s going there, huh? Maybe you should pull up too.”

You scrunch up your face and shake your head while you take a sip of water. “I think I like this place too much to leave. Plus, who’s going to take care of our old folks if I leave too?” you tease, nudging your brother in the side.

“Mom and Dad can take care of themselves just fine,” Jun shrugs, ruffling your hair as the waiter brings along some food.

“Looks good,” Minghao says, holding up some chopsticks as you all look down at the sizzling dishes in front of you.

“It is! See?” you say pointedly, looking up at Jun. “Imagine I moved to Korea—I wouldn’t be able to eat this.” Your brother only rolls his eyes and Minghao and you laugh together while you dig in.

As you work through your meal and catch each other up on your lives, Minghao eventually leans back in his seat and sighs heavily. “I’m really craving something sweet right now.”

“I’d say we should pick up some pastries from the cafe next door but they closed two hours ago,” you say sadly.

“Oh shit, I forgot about that place. They made the best chocolate buns ever,” Jun mutters to himself, polishing off his plate.

“Let’s go to the cafe tomorrow evening, yeah?” Minghao suggests as he takes a sip of water. At the suggestion, you chew at your lip.

“Uh, I don’t think I can go then,” you say, hoping they won’t pry any further.

Of course, your brother doesn’t allow you a second of peace. “Why not? Your last exam was today, right?”

“Yeah, but I have stuff to do,” you reply nonchalantly. Jun scoffs and tugs your ear, causing you to whine. “What was that for?!”

“You didn’t clear your schedule out for me? I thought you missed me! You know I have to leave in like a week,” he complains, and you and Minghao share an amused look as you nudge Jun on the side.

“Relax, you can have me in the morning and afternoon and everything … I just have to go somewhere for the evening.”

“You’re being really ominous about this, you know,” Jun retorts, crossing his arms over his chest. “Where’re you going?”

You chew on your tongue, contemplating if this is the right moment to bring it up, or if you should even tell Jun and Minghao this at all. “I just have to see someone.”

“Oh my god, shut up,” Jun groans. “You’re literally asking me to pry. Tell me who—a boyfriend?” You chuckle nervously, eyes flickering between Minghao and your brother, shaking your head.

“No—not a boyfriend,” you say dryly, scoffing at the irony. “Remember Renjun? I told you about him when I was in freshman year.”

“Vaguely. Remind me who he is again?”

“He’s just a guy, and he has some of my stuff I need to pick up.” Both Minghao and Jun cock an eyebrow at you after that. “What?” you huff, leaning back in your seat.

“An ex?” Minghao asks and your face burns.

“I—yeah,” you say casually. “An ex.”

Jun frowns deeply. “I didn’t know you and Renjun ever dated. I didn’t even know you ever had a boyfriend,” he says, voice evidently upset that he was left out of this.

“It wasn’t that serious,” you pat his shoulder as to soften the blow. “Plus it happened when you were on tour—we hardly talked then.”

“Still! You could’ve told me!” You bite back a, ‘But could I really?’ because this isn’t the time or place for that.

“It’s whatever. I just need to pick up some stuff I left at his place and—”

“So it ended pretty recently then?” Minghao piques, and your eyebrows furrow, slightly annoyed by both of their belated interest in your love life.

“What, no! It’s been months and—wait, I don’t see how that’s any of your guys’ business,” you huff and Minghao backs off a little, but Jun still stays curiously leaning in.

“Whatever. You’ll be available to come with us to the lake on Friday though, right?” Jun asks, pulling out his phone and holding it up to your face to show you a picture of a lake house. “I booked a place to stay the night and all.”

“Of course I’m going to come—I’ve been looking forward to it!”

“Good,” Jun says gruffly, still somewhat glaring at you.

You give him a funny look. “What?”

“I’m still mad you never told me—you’re supposed to tell me this stuff! How else am I supposed to know that you’re doing fine on your own and actually growing up.”

“Oh my god, Jun, I’m an adult! Did you think I would never have boyfriends?”

“No! At least not without telling me!”

You chuckle and Minghao follows in suit, enjoying the little sibling bicker. “Okay fine. I’m sure I’ll be telling you every detail of my love life when it gets resurrected.”

Minghao snorts at your use of words, and you revel in the way the sound makes you feel. Fuck it, it’s been more than half a decade and you still get butterflies—you can’t fight away the feeling, so you might as well wallow in it.

You wonder what Jun would think about this—your love life being pulled and shaken by his own best friend. Oh well, some secrets are best kept hidden anyways.

“Here’s your stuff,” Renjun says softly, handing you a paper bag that’s stuffed with a wide array of your belongings.

“Thank you. Is my pink jacket in there? I’ve been looking for it for a while and I didn’t know if I left it at yours,” you ask timidly, holding the paper bag close to your chest.

He scratches the back of his head as he steps back, nodding. “Uh, yeah I think it’s at the bottom.” You peer down at the contents of your back, and give a half smile when you see the pink cloth peeking out from underneath.

“Thanks for taking care of my stuff. I know you’ve basically moved out and all.”

“No worries. Do you, uh, need a ride home or anything? It’s pretty cold.”

You purse your lips at the offer, but shake your head. “It’s fine …” There’s an awkward silence and you quickly wonder if you should say anything more. Renjun looks awfully … apologetic right now and you feel there’s some more you can say. “How’s your new place? Have you seen it?”

“Yeah, I flew up there a few weeks back to get some of my main stuff shipped. A nice apartment, way bigger than whatever I had here,” he says with an awkward chuckle. You appreciate the effort.

Nodding, you tighten your grip on the bag. “That’s good to hear. I hope it all goes well with you. I … I think I’ll be taking my leave now. My brother’s back in town so …”

“Oh yeah, I heard from Jianing. Hope you’re having a good time—I know you haven’t seen him in ages.”

“Thank you. Anyways, I’m gonna get going now. Thanks again,” you say as you step back, throwing out a small wave.

A half-hearted, “See you,” leaves Renjun’s lips as you turn on your heel and start walking back to the bus station. There’s no promise of seeing Renjun later, or ever again, and something cold sinks in your stomach at the thought.

The thought that this all could’ve been avoided if Renjun hadn’t gotten that stupid job offer hundreds of miles away. If he didn’t decide to pack his bags and fly away just like Jun, like Yiren, like Minghao. Renjun was leaving, just like everyone else.

You clutch the paper bag close to your chest as you make your way to the bus stop, one hand fumbling in the pocket of your jacket as you search for your wallet and within seconds you’re a frantic mess. “Shit,” you mutter under your breath. “Shit, shit, shit!” you cry out when you drop your bag and pat frantically over your pockets to try and feel for your wallet.

Your digging into every crook of the coat and there’s a growing feeling of dread that washes over you once you realize that you lost your fucking wallet. Hands clenched at your side, you feel hot tears well up in your lash line as you stare down at the ground, letting in the shitty events of today sink in.

You don’t even know why you’re crying now. It’s hardly even cries, really, you’re downright sobbing as you plop down on the curb of the empty street, fumbling with your phone as you pull up Jun’s contact. Pressing the phone to your ear, you shut your eyes tight in an attempt to calm down your breath, but when you hear the line go dead you cry even harder, realizing that Jun is probably napping right now.

“Fuck my life,” you complain to yourself, letting your head hang low as you scroll through your phone. You aren’t even sure what compels you to click on him but before you know it you’re on speaker as you hear the buzzing of the phone as you wait for Minghao to pick up.

One ring. Maybe he’s busy.

Two rings. He might be looking for his phone.

Three rings. He probably won’t pick up.

Four rings, and you’re about to hang up but then it stops. “Minghao?”

Minghao’s voice is cool and calm when he says your name. “Do you—”

“I need your help,” you say so quietly you aren’t sure if he’ll be able to hear it. And then Minghao hears it: your soft pants and shaky breath and something about the sound has him squeezing his phone tightly.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m—” No, I feel like shit and I’m freezing my ass off and it’s so cold and I need you to help me. “Can you pick me up? I lost my wallet which has my bus card. I’m sorry, I know it’s a little late and you’re probably busy but—”

“Send me your location.”

Minghao is pulling up in his black car within twenty minutes and by then you’ve had enough time to wipe the tears from your face and piece together yourself to look presentable. Rolling down the windows as you wave over to his car, you hear the doors click and you’re roughly yanking on the door and throwing your stuff and yourself in.

Minghao raises a brow at your ruckus, asking once again, “Are you okay?” When you only sigh heavily, buckling yourself up, you hope Minghao will just leave it alone. You’d rather not talk about the stupid breakdown you just had in front of your childhood crush.

Minghao clearly doesn’t get the message, so when he starts the engine again, he murmurs, “Have you been crying?” You purse your lips together tightly as if the question itself as the tears bubbling up to the surface once again. “Did meeting with Renjun not go well?” You’re surprised he remembers his name—Minghao was never great with names. “Can you say something? I’m worried.”

“Sorry,” you say softly, letting your shoulder drop down, and from the corner of your vision you see Minghao watching you carefully. “I-I just got overwhelmed. And it was cold. Really cold. And then—” You take a shaky breath. “—and I lost my fucking wallet on top of it and it’s all so shitty and—”

His hand is on your shoulder and you hardly realize that Minghao has pulled over and parked so he can turn to face you. You’re crying again and you don’t even know how this fucking happened, all you know is that there’s so much going on in your head and Minghao is right there, he’s so close but then again, he’s so far.

“Hey, hey calm down for a sec’,” he says calmly, gripping your arm firmly. “Breathe slowly, and tell me what happened.”

You inhale sharply through your nose and scrunch your face up as you bury your head in your hands. In your right mind, you wouldn’t even think about telling Minghao about what’s on your mind but it’s been a really terrible past hour and you can’t control yourself.

“Renjun’s leaving. Didn’t want to do long distance and so he’s gone and—fuck, I don’t even blame him but why’d he have to leave,” you ramble, tears streaming down your flushed cheeks as Minghao pats your back gently.

“Did he say something to you when you met with him?” he asked, tone laced with concern. “I’m sorry, I’m just—are you o—okay please don’t cry.”

You don’t know why, but Minghao telling you to cry only makes the tears fall faster. “And Yiren—” you hiccup, “Yiren left too, I haven’t seen her in months and Jun a-a-and you—you’ve all been gone.” You don’t realize when Minghao grabs both your shoulders and forces you to face him completely.

“Slow down, please. No one’s left you, we’re all going to be here for you, you know that. Did Renjun say something which made you think like this?” he asks, the grip on your shaking shoulders growing tighter as you desperately try to steady yourself.

“N-no, but you’re not here. I hardly ever get to see my own brother and Yiren and you and Renjun and everything is so shitty I just—” you cry out and suddenly you stumble forward in the seat and before you know it Minghao’s arms are around you.

It’s not like you haven’t hugged him before but this is the first time you’re blubbering into his shoulder about your feelings, and if you weren’t so sad, you’d be fucking appalled. His warm hand is on your back, rubbing up and down slowly until you’ve finally found the conscience to actually breathe and realize just what’s going on.

Slowly, you pull away from Minghao’s hold, furiously wiping away at your face to dry yourself, looking down at your lap bashfully. “I am so sorry, what the fuck, I-I don’t know what came over me,” you blurt out when Minghao drops his hands from your shoulder. You miss the warmth, but you’re quite very embarrassed with yourself and don’t have the will to chase after his touch.

“Please don’t apologize,” Minghao replies softly, watching you with wide eyes. “That … was a lot and—”

“I’m sorry, look, I was just having a shitty day and it all piled up and you just—I don’t know I guess, let’s just pretend this never happened,” you beg with him. Minghao’s face looks like he wants to say more, but you really can’t tell with the way his eyes are clouded.

“Are you sure? You know you can talk to me.”

You gulp at the irony. No, you really can’t. You can’t tell Minghao anything, really, because even after crying and sobbing and wailing in his car he still looks at you with so much care and it has these stupid fucking butterflies erupting in your stomach like you’re fifiteen with a massive crush on your brother’s best friend.

“Can you just please drive me to my place?” you ask, looking up at him with pleading eyes. “I think I just really need to sleep.”

You can tell Minghao still has questions, but you don’t seem too willing to answer them so he doesn’t say anything when he nods and turns back to the road. The ride is silent, and when he finally parks he pats your shoulder.

You look out the window and furrow your eyebrows. “This isn’t my apartment complex …” you tell him, confused as you see a convenience store in front of you. The same one.

“C’mon, I know you love pop,” he says casually, unbuckling his seatbelt leaving you with no other choice to follow behind him. There’s an odd sense of deja vu that envelopes over you, shoving your pockets into your jacket shyly.

“Remember the last time we were here?” Minghao asks with a chuckle as you guys walk into the store.

“Don’t remind me,” you murmur. “That was a shitty day.”

Minghao gives you a nervous smile as he pulls out a can from the fridge and hands it to you, grabbing his own bottle as well. “Yeah, but Cola made it better, right?”

“I guess it did. Cola always makes things better,” you admit. “Hey, fuck you,” you say jokingly when Minghao pulls out his wallet. “You should’ve taken me here another time when I actually had my wallet—I need to pay you back for that day!” you whine with a pout. “Now I’m in debt to you twice! You’ve bought me two Colas!”

Minghao rolls his eyes playfully as he pays for the drinks. “Yeah well things are different now, and I’m pretty sure my wallet doesn’t care about the cost of two Colas.”

“Is Mr. Big and Famous too good for my money now?” you huff when you step back outside, opening your Cola. “I will pay you back, no matter how stupidly rich you get.”

“I’ll have to hold you to that,” Minghao laughs as you slip back into his car. The air is lighter as he drives you back to your place for real this time, and the lingering feeling of pop on your tongue is sweet and fun.

“Thank you for the ride. And the Cola,” you add when he’s in front of your building.

“You remember what I said?”

You nod as you step out of the car, picking up your brown bag. “Thank you so much for this. I’m sorry again.”

“Stop apologizing. Is there … is there anything else I can do? You want another Cola perhaps?”

“Very funny, but I don’t think I want to be jumping off the walls tonight …” you answer, closing the door but still peering through the open window. You think for a second as you chew your lip, nodding when you come up with something. “But do me a favor … don’t tell Jun.”

Jun takes you out to the lake house he booked three mornings after you met with Renjun and sobbed to Minghao in his car. It’s a refreshing turn of events, if you’re being honest, and you’re eager to sink into a relaxing weekend after a stressful exam season.

Your brother drives the three hours on the way with the promise of you driving on the way home hung over your head. When you reach the house—a medium sized cabin perched right by the lake and surrounded by trees and mountains—you’re greeted with the sight of Minghao sitting in his car and scrolling on his phone.

As you and Jun pile out of the car and grab your bags, Minghao comes out too, walking toward you with his hands stuffed in his pockets. “Thought you guys would never come. If you were gonna be late you should’ve just given me the keys to this place,” he says with a huff.

“Don’t blame me,” Jun shrugs, locking the car after you’ve both taken out your stuff, walking up to the cabin’s entrance. “She’s the one who wanted to stop and buy some pop.”

“Don’t act like you didn’t want it either,” you retort, reaching into your tote bag to hand Minghao a can of Cola. “Here,” you offer with a smile which he returns gleefully.

“Okay actually, totally valid reason,” Minghao says, flicking open the can before taking a sip.

“Hey! Don’t be on her side,” Jun whines as he opens up the cabin. Minghao and you chuckle together, your heart warming at the sound as you three start to load your things into the house. Minghao doesn’t say anything about that night when he picked you up, and for that much you’re grateful. This much, you can manage.

By the time you all have settled your things into your respective rooms it’s noon and the sun pummels down with admirable strength. As you stick your head out of your room, you catch Jun making his way down the hallway toward the bathroom.

“You going for a swim?” you ask, gesturing down to your swimsuit that you’ve already eagerly put on.

“Nah, I’m gonna go later. I need to take a call right now,” he says with a sigh and you nod, about to retreat back to your room before Minghao walks out of his own room.

“I’ll go if you’re going,” Minghao tells you casually, and you don’t waste a second to nod. “Give me five so I can get changed and then we can go out.”

You jump down the hall excitedly after he closes the door behind him, making your way to the backyard porch which leads into a deck over the lake. As you place your towel on one of the chairs outside, you hear the sliding door open.

Minghao walks out shirtless, lower half only covered with his swim trunks as he runs a hand through his shaggy hair, shaking his head lightly as he makes his way towards you, placing his towel next to yours. “Thanks for waiting … shit, it’s hot as hell,” he murmurs, and you’re thankful that you’re facing away from him right now—you aren’t sure you’d be able to handle the proximity and the sight of his bare upper body.

“Yeah,” you agree, finally straightening your back and putting some distance between the two of you when you start walking towards the edge of the deck. “The water’s so clear,” you think out loud, looking down at the blue lake in front of you.

“It’s really pretty … you want a picture?” Minghao suggests, walking up behind you.

“I would, but I left my phone inside.”

“Let’s just take it on my phone,” he says casually, holding up his phone in front of you, waving at you to step back a little so he can take a picture. “A candid one would look pretty with this view—like you’re looking out at the lake and stuff,” he begins to say, placing a smooth hand on your shoulder so he can manually turn you around so that you’re facing away from him.

When he lets his hand drop, it brushes over the curve of your hip and you have to bite down on your lip to stop the pathetic whimper that threatens to escape your lips. Luckily, Minghao can’t see the pained expression that makes its way onto your face as he steps back holding up his phone.

“Okay ready …” he calls out from further behind. “Three … two … one!” You hear a faint tapping sound as you still, letting Minghao take the pictures as you wait patiently. It takes a few moments, and you’re about to ask him how much longer he’s going to go at it before you hear the sound of something being dropped, and then a few rattling thuds.

“Minghao, what—” you begin to question as you slowly turn on your heel but by then it’s too late. “WHAT THE F—”

Your scream is cut off short when Minghao runs forward and lunges at you, one arm wrapping itself around your waist as he jumps into the water, bringing you down with him. The cool water of the lake hits your body and the wind gets punched out of your lungs as you feel your limbs entangle with his. Instinctevely, your arms tighten around one of his as your eyes press closed tightly as you feel your warm body start to level with the temperature around you.

And so even as your legs kick around for a few panicked moments, you begin to feel oddly at peace when your head finally reaches the surface of the water, Minghao’s hand still steady over your hips as you gasp for air.

“You’re a bitch for that,” you say, a few choked giggles escaping your lips as you do. Minghao finally unwinds his arm from yours, and while you miss the contact, his body is still dangerously close to yours, and you figure that that is already more than you can manage.

Minghao smiles gleefully, pushing his face so close that it’s right up in front of you. “Mm maybe, but it was really funny. Got it on video too.”

“What?!” you screech, swimming backward so quickly that you hit  your head on the wooden platform of the deck. “Crap!” you exclaim, hand immediately flying up to press against the throbbing crown of your head. Minghao’s eyes widen with concern as he wades his way towards you, tall enough to still have his feet touch the lake bottom unlike you.

“Shit, I’m sorry, are you okay?” he asks worriedly, his own hand coming up to feel the back of your head. His eyes are big and brown as he looks down at you, and for this moment, you forget about the dull ache and bask in the way the sun hits his skin so perfectly he glows.

“I’m fine!” you squeak quickly, letting your hand drop so you can tread in the water lightly, slowly moving a safe distance away from the deck.

“A-are you sure?” he probes, making his way to you, and you have a moment to admire him from afar—the way his hair is matted against his forehead and water drops gather at his lashes, making his eyes look prettier than ever.

You chuckle at the way his lips are pursed together apologetically, and you splash some water at him to lighten the mood. “Yes, Minghao, I’m great. I hardly hit myself.” Minghao’s face looks uneasy, and you laugh again.

It takes a few more minutes of you trying to convince him that you’re totally fine before he finally lets it go. Eventually, you find yourself on a big inflated duck-shaped floaty, laying down with your face up and eyes closed. You lose track of time, enjoying the white noise of Minghao splashing around in the water around you, drifting off into a hazy state until you hear a loud yell and feel yourself being flipped over and off your floaty.

“Jun!” you whine, rubbing your eyes as you furiously push hair off your face when you resurface, glaring at both Jun and Minghao laugh side by side. “You guys have to stop doing this to me,” you groan, eyes finally adjusting to its normal state.

“What are you talking about?” Jun asks innocently as you make your way over to the two of them, not bothering to turn your duck floatie back up right. “It was just an accident I fell on you—hey!” he yells out when you lunge at him. Minghao steps back quickly as you and Jun waddle and fight in the water, splashing water at each other while you try and get your revenge.

“Okay! Okay! I’m sorry,” Jun admits with a pout. “You didn’t do this to Minghao after he dunked you in the water,” he complains as you release him.

You narrow your eyes. “How do you know about that?”

“He sent me the video.”

“Minghao!” you exclaim, turning to the boy who is now treading around a meter in front of you. He only shrugs and grins cheekily.

“It was really funny,” Jun tells you with a laugh. “I might just post it on my story.”

“Oh my god, don’t you dare.”

Jun only shakes his head and starts slowly swimming further into the lake. “Don’t worry—I wouldn’t do that. Minghao can’t have any dating rumors, now can he?”

You chew on your lip, not responding. Minghao doesn’t say anything either, only chuckling along with your brother as he follows after him. You aren’t sure what to say to that, and the comment leaves some uneasy feeling hanging in your stomach.

Fuck, maybe you did hit your head hard.

You three spend a good few hours out in the lake until it’s evening. It’s a slow day and you start to realize just how much you missed spending time with your brother and Minghao like this—it isn’t often they get the opportunity to do things like this, so you’re grateful that they decided to share some of their few days of peace with you.

The second day is even hotter than the first, and you wake from your sleep early in the morning when the sky is still blooming with purple and orange hues. Crawling out from your bed, you make your way downstairs. If it was just you and your brother, you wouldn’t be so mindful about keeping your noise levels down because god knows that Jun can sleep through just about anything, but, Minghao is with you guys now, and you’d hate to sour his experience even just a little by accidentally waking him up for being too loud.

So you can imagine your surprise when you walk into the kitchen to see Minghao already leaning against the counter as he scrolls through his phone. He hasn’t noticed you and you contemplate leaving it like that for a few moments.

He’s wearing a tight fit, black, sleeveless top that shows off the curve of his shoulders and lets the sparkle of his silver chain glint under the morning light. Minghao is attractive—you and the millions of people in his comments know that—and you feel an odd sense of pride well up in your stomach that you’re one of the few people who get to see him like this.

With his hair messy and brushing over his eyes, legs crossed over each other as he presses his body weight against the kitchen island, bare skin glowing from the natural light, he’s beautiful.

Your face heats up when you realize you’ve just been staring at him, so you quickly clear your throat. “Good morning,” you chirp, walking into the kitchen so he can finally see you.

Minghao looks up from his phone, tucking it into the pocket of his sweatpants to greet you with a smile. “Hey, I didn’t know you were up. How’s your head doing?” he asks shyly, walking over to casually run his hand over that same spot on the crown of your head.

It’s an oddly intimate gesture, and if you didn’t know any better, your heart might have given out from the way he was touching you. Still, you know he’s just checking to see if it’s swollen, but your heart flutters anyways.

“I-it’s fine,” you reply, opening the fridge to pull out some orange juice as his hand drops. “I didn’t know you were an early riser. Jun always sleeps in whenever he gets the chance.”

“Yeah, well that’s why he’s paged as a literal cat by everyone,” Minghao says with a chuckle as you place a jug on the counter. “Do you want some tea? I’m just boiling the water now so I can add some more if you want.”

“Sure, that’ll be nice.” You pour yourself some orange juice. “Do you want to eat something? I brought some cupcakes to have for breakfast,” you offer, reaching into one of the bags you didn’t unpack to pull out a box.

“Are they those cupcakes?”

“Yup—the one and only!” you exclaim, opening the lid to show him. Minghao grins, pulling two out.

“God, I missed these. Y’know, Jun actually gave your recipe to Mingyu too, but he just doesn’t make them the same,” Minghao tells you, and your eyes light up.

“Really? Poor Mingyu,” you say with a sigh.

“If you ever end up visiting us in Korea, you should really make some,” Minghao suggests as he goes to take care of the boiling water, dropping some tea leaves into it before moving the water into a pot. Then, pulling out two small cups and plates, he says, “Me and Jun have told the others about how good you make them, but they really need to try them.”

“I’d love to,” you say with a grin, giddy with the way Minghao is boosting your ego. As he pours out the tea into two mugs, you put the cupcakes on the small plates, looking out to the glass sliding door which leads to the porch by the lake. “You want to eat outside? The sky looks really beautiful now, and the weather looks like it’s nice too.”

Minghao nods, holding up the two mugs while you grab the plates and follow him outside and onto the little shaded porch where you sit by two of the chairs and the small, knee level coffee table. The sky is still deep in its changing colors, and you pull out your phone to take some pictures.

“Can you take some pictures of me? For my WeVerse and Instagram and stuff?” he asks when you’re done, holding out his phone in your direction.

“Yeah, of course.” Leaning back after you grab his phone, you position yourself as Minghao poses. “Lean back a little more so the background can—yeah, perfect …” You take a few photos, and Minghao nods happily when you show him.

“Can you take some more candid ones?”

“Sure, let’s switch spots. I think it’ll look nicer if it looks like you’re looking out to the lake from here,” you suggest, getting up from your seat. Minghao complies without protest and you spend a few more minutes taking some pictures before finally handing him the phone. “You like them?”

“Hell yeah I do,” he says, looking through his phone. “You’re great at this,” he compliments sincerely.

“I’m used to taking the kinda pictures you guys like now … Jun has trained me well,” you joke, sitting back in the seat and reaching for your own cup of tea. It’s quiet for a few moments as you both relax and watch the sky grow brighter by the minute.

Jun wakes up an hour later, trudging out his room with groggy eyes as you poke fun of him. The morning is slow for a short while after that before Minghao is reminding you all that you need to start heading back home. The two of them are leaving for Korea in two days, after all, and that leaves them with only today and tomorrow to completely bask in themselves and the rest of their family, so you pack your things and end your stay at the cabin before the clock hits noon.

That night, after you drive yourself and Jun home and you retreat to the comfort of your apartment, you flop down onto your couch and pull out your phone. You’re met with a few notifications from WeVerse and Instagram, casually scrolling through the apps when your eyes catch a few familiar pictures.

It’s on Instagram and you recognize the bright orange of the rising sky that sits behind Minghao who is smiling into the camera. The next picture is a candid one of him looking at the lake while he drinks some tea, and the third is a picture of the cupcake you made.

You grin at the picture—the rest of the world won’t know it, but you definitely do—it’s a little piece of you that Minghao is sharing with the world. Though, you aren’t sure if he put as much thought into it as you are right now.

Brushing it off as Minghao just wanting to share a pretty picture of a nice looking cupcake, you purse your lips together only for them to be parted when you read his caption.

i’m a weirdo

Scrolling through the comments, you come across people saying, many among the following:

ur not a weirdo >:c fellow radiohead fanatic i see is the8 a certified creep? o: i didn’t know minghao liked radiohead … another reason to stan!

As you ignore the increased palpitating of your heart at the idea that Minghao quoted a line from, in your opinion, “your guys’ song.” you sit and think for a moment about what to do. You consider just liking the post and scrolling past it before a funny thought crosses your mind, and so you start typing into the comments.

i wonder who took these pics lol

No one’s going to see it. Minghao is definitely not going to see it, but you giggle to yourself anyways. You’re about to put your phone down when you get a notification of a reply to your comment. Curious, you open it up, and see that it’s just a random person.

imagine it’s his gf

You laugh to yourself. You wish.

The last day or two with Jun goes as they always do when he’s here—slow, but all that you need. He spends his time at your parents house and you stop by for lunch and dinner the day after you both return from the lake house.

The afternoon, you both went down to the cafe and stocked up on chocolate buns—Jun’s request—and spent the rest of your time until evening going over your plans for the rest of the summer. You enjoy this part, always. Not Jun leaving—of course not—but spending these tame moments with him.

It makes you wonder what things would have been like if he never left. Maybe he’d move out for university someplace else, but you’d get to see him more, probably. Get to hang out with him every weekend, instead of every two months.

You shake yourself off the thought as you drive to your parents house. Having Jun around more often would be nice, but there isn’t any point in dreaming about the impossible.

As you pull up to the driveway and park your car, you notice Minghao standing out by the front door with his suitcase and a bag. “Hey, looking for Jun?”

“Well, yeah. Of course I wanna say bye to you both before you go … is the van here yet?”

“Nah, it’s still taking some time but Jun is on the other side of the house to see if the car is gonna come from that side,” he explains.

“I’m gonna miss you guys … you know when you’re both going to come next?” you ask, voice softer than you anticipated.

“I really don’t know—I’m sorry. You know how things are.”

“Yeah,” you mumble, shoulders deflating as you look down at the ground..

“I know—it’s not … it's not easy for Jun, either, I can tell. It isn’t easy for any of us to leave.” When Minghao finishes speaking you only nod, and as your eyes meet,you feel like there’s something he wants to say. “Hey,” he murmurs quietly.

A heavy hand is placed on your shoulder, and you feel you might as well sink to the ground and let the earth swallow you up. “If you’re going to talk about—”

“Hear me out, yeah?” Minghao cuts you off, and when you open your mouth in protest, he continues. “Don’t …” he inhales deeply before saying, “Don’t take what I’m about to say the wrong way, okay?”

You cross your arms over your chest. “That really depends on what you’re going to say.”

“Okay, just … just listen. Jun, and me, and Yiren, and Renjun—” God, why is he bringing this up? “—we aren’t trying to hurt you.”

“Of course I know that.” Your eyebrows knit together and Minghao sighs at your reaction, letting his hand fall from your shoulder. You miss the touch, but your mind is a little too preoccupied with trying to decipher Minghao’s words to dwell on it.

“I’m just saying … you shouldn’t try to depend on anyone.” You open your mouth and then close it, trying to figure out how the hell he expects you to respond to this.

“What d’you mean?”

“Well I mean,” he huffs before continuing, shoving his hands in his pockets, “you obviously have been … upset about people leaving you and you can’t expect everyone to stick around forever.”

“If you’re talking about Renjun, he was my boyfriend. I think it’s okay for me to expect someone who I’m dating to ‘stick around,’ even though it might not be forever.”

“I guess, but it’s not just Renjun, right? Jun … Yiren … me …” he voice trails off.

“I basically spent my whole middle and high school years around you and Yiren, and Jun is literally my brother. Do you think me wanting the people I quite literally grew up around to be here for me is being ‘dependant?’”

“I don’t know what to tell you. I mean we were all going to grow up eventually? Look, don’t take this the wrong way and—”

“Excuse me?” you blurt out harshly, taking a step back, scoffing before you continue. “I wouldn’t be taking this the wrong way if you obviously didn’t mean it the wrong way. You basically just said I’m not independent.”

Minghao frowns at your reaction before responding, “I didn’t say that. I just said you shouldn’t depend on anyone.”

“Which implies that I am depending on people unnecessarily!”

Minghao adjusts his backpack straps as he says, “I mean you did cry for quite a while about how people are leaving you. I just don’t want you to get more hurt by being dependent on others.”

“Thanks for the concern,” you shoot sarcastically, “but I’m not dependent on anyone. I was upset that night because all the people closest to me have moved away and if you ask any normal person, I’m pretty sure they’d agree that that’s a valid reason to cry a little. So sorry if that was too much for you.” You say the last part with disgust laced on your tongue, and you watch Minghao’s face grow increasingly sour as you go on.

“Okay, now you’re just twisting my words,” Minghao huffs, glancing around to make sure that no one is close by.

“What the hell Minghao,” you scoff, clenching your fists at your side. You don’t want to be the person to jump down his throat, but you can’t help but feel like you’re being talked down to. “Why—why are you acting like I’m still a little kid. I’m more than Jun’s little sister, you do know that right?”

“Oh my god, seriously?” Minghao retorts, eyebrows rising in a mix of disbelief and irritation. “You think that’s what this is about? For fuck’s sake I’m just looking out for you.”

“Exactly!” you exclaim, pointing an accusing finger at him. “There’s no reason for that! Like I said, I’m not some little girl anymore and I’ve been looking out for myself for years. You just happened to catch me in a moment where I let myself be sad about it which, again, is a totally valid thing to be sad about.”

“I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

“Well congratulations! You were unsuccessful,” you mumble out, feeling an ugly knot build up in your throat. “I trusted you,” you say softly, and Minghao looks at you with eyes so apologetic you almost think about forgiving him. “That night after I saw Renjun—I-I trusted you,” you add more harshly this time. “And I cried to you even though we haven’t properly spoken in fuck knows how long and you take all that and make me out to seem like some sort of defenseless kid—”

“Can you stop—you’re putting words into my mouth. I never said you were defenseless or not independent or anything like that—I don’t even know why you think I would think of you like that because you know that’s not true.”

“Minghao, I don’t know if you’ve realized but it’s been years since we've talked properly. Just because—” You take a deep breath before continuing your bitter words. “—just because you get to live your stupidly amazing life with my brother by your side doesn’t mean that you know me and that I know you, because clearly we don’t know each other at all!”

“I’m sorry?” he says exasperatedly. “Sorry I care about you or whatever, even though things have changed.”

You scowl, and in your right mind you wouldn’t let your next words slip out of your mouth. “Well don’t. I’ve been fine without your sympathy so far, I’m pretty sure I can go on a bit longer.”

Minghao is about to respond, you can tell from the way his hands fiddle at his sides, but then there’s a buzzing and you reach into your pocket to pull out your phone. “Hey Jun,” you say, answering the call without meeting Minghao’s gaze. “… Yeah, he’s with me, we’re just waiting for the car … okay I’ll tell him.”

Tucking the device back into your pocket, you look at Minghao. “Jun is asking for you on the other side of the house. You should go,” you say flatly and you can tell from the look on his face that he wants to say more, but holds back.

Grabbing his suitcase, he tears his eyes from you and doesn’t look back after saying, “See you,” walking away and around the corner of the street. There’s that similar chill that takes over your body when Minghao says the same words Renjun said just a few nights before, and you silently wonder if this is history repeating itself.

“So,” Yiren says as she plops down onto your couch, kicking her feet up onto your coffee table. “How’d meeting with Renjun go? He give you your shit back?”

“Why wouldn’t he?” you grumble as you walk over and nudge her legs to get her to put them down. “And you can’t just flop down and sit! Put your suitcase away so it’s not in the middle of the room,” you order, trying to be stern as Yiren sticks her tongue out at you.

“So bossy—your best friend is visiting your cute little abode and you can’t help her out with her stuff?” Yiren juts out her bottom lip into a pout as you sit next to her and wrap your arms around her waist, sinking into the couch. “Okay what’s going on. You’re being extra snappish …” she asks a bit more seriously, pulling away from your hold to get a better look at you. “Was it Renjun? Did he say something before he left?”

“No!” you say quickly, looking away bashfully, leaning back against the arm rest. You fucking wish you were in this sour mood because of Renjun because you could manage that. Renjun is gone, and it would hurt but you’d get over it.

You aren’t sure how long it’ll take to get over Minghao, if you ever do at all.

“Are you lying to me? You know I can tell when you’re not telling the truth.”

“I am telling the truth.” Just not all of it, you think to yourself.

Yiren sighs loudly, sitting up straight and facing you completely. “You are so bad at this. C’mon tell me—what’d he say? Or was it not Renjun—Jun? Which Jun was it? Did you and Jun fight?”

“I—”

“Like that one time two years ago and you didn’t talk to each other until he came back a month later and—”

You cringe at the memory, slapping a hand over her mouth. “Yiren don’t bring that up. I hated that.”

“Okay sorry,” she says sheepishly. “But seriously—what was it? Renjun? Jun? Which one? Or wait—Min—oh my gosh, don’t tell me it was Minghao!” When you take more than a second to respond, Yiren gasps. “Oh god, it was Minghao.”

She stands up quickly, looking down at your figure on the couch. Before you can say anything, she turns on her heel and walks towards your kitchen. “Hey, where are you going!” you call out to her, sitting upright.

Yiren doesn’t respond, only reaching into the fridge and pulling out two cans of pop. Walking back, she sits down in front of you and hands you a Cola, opening her own Sprite herself. “C’mon, you need to tell me about this. The pop is just here for emotional support.”

You narrow your eyes at her. You thought you were dealing with the effects of your argument with Minghao perfectly fine, but as you look down at the cold can in front of you, an uneasy feeling bubbles up in your stomach. Taking a deep breath, you set the can down on your coffee table, leaving it unopened.

Yiren gapes at you with wide eyes. “You’re not going to have it?” Neck hanging low, you shake your head, and you hear her gasp quietly. “Oh my gosh, you just turned down a Cola,” she mutters, grabbing a pillow and pushing it in your direction. “Okay now you need to tell me what’s going on.” She pauses, shuffling closer, adding softly, “It’s okay, you can cry.”

And just like that, the dam breaks and stray tears fall from your lashes as you clutch the pillow close to your chest, blubbering your mind away to your best friend.

“I don’t even get it—I thought I was over him?” you question aloud. “Like when I was with Renjun I was happy and I didn’t think about Minghao because Renjun was great and he was so nice but he just—” you choke back a sob and Yiren pats your back.

“But he left,” she murmurs softly and you want to cry harder because Yiren left too, but then you remind yourself of what Minghao said. Taking a deep breath, your wipe your face of your tears and although your lips still quiver, you start to speak.

“It’s okay,” you mutter, because it isn't like you haven’t cried over this before. “I just—I guess I haven’t really tried hard enough.”

“Tried to … what exactly?”

You huff, throwing your back onto the couch as you look up at the ceiling. “You know: get over him.”

Yiren chuckles a little, and even through your sniffles, you laugh with her. “What are you saying—you gonna fuck around now?”

“Maybe not fuck around,” you say, crossing your legs. “More like … have some fun.”

“So basically fuck around.”

“Yiren!”

“Oh c’mon—you need me to set you up with someone? My sister knows a lot of—”

You nudge her playfully. “What happened to ‘Ms. I Want Half of the Proceeds from your Wedding with Minghao?’”

“First of all,” Yiren waves a finger at you pointedly, “I only asked for 25%, but if you two can come back from this, I will be asking for at least 50% because I have been rooting for you two since day one.”

“Aren’t you the one who’s trying to set me up with other guys?”

“That’s only because you come first to me. Your relationship with Minghao—”

“The nonexistent one,” you correct and Yiren glares at you.

“Okay fine. Your nonexistent relationship with Minghao comes second. I want to see you happy. If you get to be happy with Minghao that’s just an added plus because, you know, 50% of all the gifts and—”

“You’re getting 25% max.”

“Don’t worry. There’s still time for plenty of negotiation and—”

“Yiren!”

You don’t live up to Yiren’s expectations—in her words, she wanted you to have a hot girl summer, but you couldn’t be bothered to go through with it. Well, sort of.

The next two months go along as your summers usually do. You take up a job near your apartment, working through the morning and afternoon, spending your evenings at home or occasionally out with Jianing.

Jianing doesn’t know much about anything when it comes to your (nonexistent) relationship with Minghao, and you figure she doesn’t need to. When you need a distraction, all it takes is a quick message asking her to accompany you for whatever endeavors you have going on for the night and she’s on board.

It’s a slow summer, but you don’t really mind. Not burdened with the stress of your classes and with Jun and Minghao gone for the next two months for their own performances and promotions, you have time to focus on yourself.

Occasional parties, indulging in hobbies, daily walks in the mornings, late nights of binge watching TV shows, outings with Jianing—it’s all a part of a simple routine that you’ve curated to do one thing, and one thing only: relax.

It’s only near the end of the summer, around three weeks before your classes are set to resume, that Jun calls you to let you know he’s coming home with Minghao. He seems pretty casual about it, and you’re reminded about how Minghao probably didn’t mention anything about your argument to your brother, which you’re thankful for.

It’s a passing thought that you’ll have to figure out how you want to act when you finally face him again. Whatever. That’s a problem for another time. Right now, you relax.

That problem for another time seems to have become a problem for now. Jun came home two days ago and things were alright—no run-ins to Minghao and you spend time with your brother like you usually do whenever he returns: with bickering and meals.

It’s only on the third day that things become a little … a little iffy. Your brother texts you in the evening to get ready quickly because he’s stopping by with Minghao for dinner at his place, and it’s all happening so quickly that you don’t have time to come up with an excuse.

So here you are, throwing on your sacred pink jacket because it’s the first thing in your vision, some old jeans, and waiting outside your apartment building much less enthusiastically than you’d like. It’s only a matter of minutes before your phone buzzes with a text from Jun letting you know he’s here and you see Minghao’s car pulling up in front of you.

Making your way to the back door where you usually sit with the two of them, you furrow your brows seeing Jun sitting in your usual spot.

“Sit in the front,” Jun orders when you go to open the back door, “I wanna lay down.” You shrug, making your way to the passenger seat as Jun settles into the back, resting his head on the window while kicking his legs up onto the other two seats.

“Hi,” you say quietly to Minghao who nods and speaks his own quick greeting, averting his attention to the wheel in front of him without much more than that.

“Please,” he huffs, watching Jun through the rear view mirror, “don’t put your shoes on the seats. I just had the car cleaned.” Jun clicks his tongue and kicks his shoes off, continuing to lay back in the seat as Minghao starts the car. The ride is silent as he drives toward the restaurant, both you and Jun on your phones while Minghao has his eyes trained on the road.

Once he parks in front of the place, you watch from the corner of your vision to see Minghao unbuckling his seatbelt before your brother speaks up.

“You guys can wait here, I’m gonna grab the food,” Jun says, slipping in his shoes and making his way to the restaurant, leaving you and Minghao in thickening silence. His hands are resting on his thighs and you press your head on the window, looking out as you try to focus on anything but this.

“Uh,” Minghao clears his throat, and you silently brace yourself for what he might say. “Nice jacket.”

Oh.

Glancing down at what you’re wearing, you twiddle with the hem of the familiar pink jacket. You wonder if this is Minghao’s way of holding out a figurative olive branch, and then you think harder about if you’re willing to accept it. “Thanks,” you reply, matting a hand over your hair before turning your attention to Jun who’s walking towards your car now.

Slipping into the back seat, he shakes the plastic bag in the air as he buckles himself in. “Takeout secured. Let’s go back to your place now,” Jun says, tapping on Minghao’s shoulder from behind. There’s an odd tension in the air, and you don’t doubt that Jun feels it, although he keeps his mouth shut about it.

No one says a word until Minghao is parking in his driveway and unlocking the front door. You follow behind the two of them, Jun grabbing the food as you enter Minghao’s house.

“What are you doing tomorrow?” Jun asks, putting the takeout bag on the coffee table of the living room as you all begin to settle down.

You shrug off your coat as you say, “Uh, I have to go back to my place and go out for the afternoon and evening with Jianing. Me and her have this little monthly date day thing, and we’re going to the city.”

“Wha-a-a-t,” Jun drawls out, a frown etched onto his face. You narrow your eyes at him, shrugging.

“What? It’s not like you’re leaving right after tomorrow.”

“Yeah, but I’m not here for long. I wanted to do something tomorrow, since I might be doing stuff after that!” Jun whines, pointing at Minghao. “We might be going to this cool store and take some pictures and stuff.”

You huff, slightly annoyed as you flop down on a couch. “Okay well can’t you do that tomorrow then? I already have plans.”

Jun pouts, and if he wasn’t so on your nerves right now, you would poke some fun at him. “Why-y-y? You knew I was coming this week!”

“Well it’s not like I can clear my schedule for you. If you wanted to do something you should’ve told me earlier!”

“I let you know last week I was coming down!”

“Jun,” you say with a half laugh, noticing the way Minghao’s eyes have been flickering back and forth between you two through the whole conversation, “one week is not enough time to change some plans. I’ve been meeting with Jianing consistently at this time of month for over a year!”

“But still—”

“It’s not like if I showed up to Korea whenever the time’s convenient for me, you’d drop everything you’re doing to spend time with me!” you exclaim.

Jun’s fists ball at his side before he says, “That’s because my job is important and—”

“The stuff I do in my life might not seem important to you but it is very much important to me. Sorry I’ve made commitments to other people before I even knew you were coming, but I don’t know why you’d expect me to drop all my plans just for you. It’s not even like we aren’t going to see each other afterwards too.”

“Well I’d only hope that’s the case—I only ever see you once every few months so sorry for wanting to take some of your time.”

“Guys—” Minghao starts to say, standing between the two of you but when both you and Jun glare at him, he steps back.

“Do you think your time is worth more than mine or something?” you scoff at Jun, ignoring Minghao.

“You know I didn’t mean it like that.”

“I’m sorry, what exactly did you mean it like then?” you hiss.

Jun sucks in a breath between clenched teeth and runs a hand through his hair. “You know what I meant. Things are just—they’re different. You wouldn’t understand.”

“Right yeah. I won’t understand because I don’t have all these girls throwing themselves at me, making me think I’m entitled to everyone’s damn time.” Maybe you crossed a line with that one, but you’re too angry to care now. Hot tears well up in your lash line, threatening to fall any moment now.

“You were the one who was being a brat when you found out I was going to go to Korea in the first place!” Jun exclaims. “Fucking hell, why are you making such a big deal out of me wanting to spend some time with you now?”

Your face screws up into some kind of ugly frown at the words, and you clench your fists as your side. “A brat?” you repeat. “A brat? Is that seriously what you think of me?

“Well you did make a pretty damn big scene about me leaving, so yeah, maybe I do feel entitled to some of your time seeing that you were the one who was desperate for it in the first place.”

“Desperate? Are you kidding me—desperate? I was sixteen and you dumped the fact that you were moving away in like less than two months on me —of course I was upset but desperate? Well fuck you too I guess.” You punctuate the last word by turning on your heel, grabbing your coat off and marching past Minghao and over to the door.

You don’t hear Jun say anything after you do, and for that you are grateful because you don’t think you’ll be able to handle hearing his voice again. Walking out the foyer past the door, you stomp your way to your car, forcefully yanking the driver’s seat open and plopping yourself down with a heavy thud.

Without a word, you press your forehead against the steering and scream a loud and painful, “FUCK!” You can’t even remember a damn thing you or Jun said but all that throttles in your head is the word brat and you feel you might just pull the steering wheel off your stupid car and tear just about everything else apart too.

The prospect is pretty tempting, actually, and in your red, you continue to hit your head, albeit gently, against the wheel as you mutter incoherent curses to yourself. The thud of your skull against the smooth letter rings in your ears until it becomes all that you can hear, so loud that it almost drowns out the knocking sound that comes from outside.

“Holy shit!” you gasp, when you see Minghao from the corner of your vision, standing outside your car with his lips pressed into the thin line. Rolling down your windows, you grimace. “You fucking scared me so bad. Please never creep up on me like that again.”

He narrows his eyes at you. “Don’t fucking storm out like that again then,” Minghao says, and your eyes widen slightly when you hear his voice. It’s harder, firmer, more serious than you’ve ever heard before.

“What are you—”

“You can’t drive when it’s night and you’re sobbing—”

“I am not sobbing,” you fruitlessly choke out, wiping some tears off your cheek as you straighten your back and glare at him.

“Look I get you’re mad at Jun and all but can you please calm down and talk to me so—”

You let out a humorless laugh as you begin to roll your windows back up. “Don’t even get me started on you.”

Minghao clicks his tongue as he sticks a hand into your window to stop it from going up any further, looking sideways for a second before turning back to you. “Okay well I don’t want you to drive yourself home like this. It’s not safe.”

“I am not staying here tonight.”

“Then let me drive you home,” Minghao suggests and you open up to object but no words come out. “You agree? C’mon, step out.” You let out nothing more than a huff as you open the door, slipping out quickly and shuffling to the other side where you sit with your arms crossed over your chest, bottom lip jutting out into a pout.

Minghao has already taken your spot, hands on the same steering wheel that you were planning on smashing with your head just minutes ago. He’s quiet for a few moments as he backs out of the driveway and starts driving down the street, the car echoing nothing but your soft sniffles that haven’t seemed to stop.

When Minghao opens his mouth again, you’re bracing yourself for a round of chiding, but all that comes out is a one-word question. “Pop?” He takes your silence as a confirmation, and soon enough Minghao is pulling up to that same convenience store. “Do you want me to get it for you?” he asks after he’s parked in front of the convenience store.

You purse your lips together, finally letting yourself turn to look at him. You really want to be mad at him but when you catch the way his fingers are shoved into his pockets, teeth gnawing at his bottom lip as he awaits your answer, you start to realize that Minghao might be just as apprehensive about this as you are.

“It’s fine,” you mutter, unbuckling your seatbelt so you can get out, Minghao following you quickly.

You’re the first to walk in this time, grabbing a Cola for yourself before looking at Minghao with a raised brow. When he nods, you toss him another can and he makes his way to the cash register. He’s about to pull out his wallet when you’re brushing past him and getting there first, holding up your card to the machine proudly.

“Just because I don’t want to be in any more debt to you,” you murmur, handing Minghao a can after you’ve paid for them both. You lead the way, walking out of the door and slotting yourself into the passenger seat of your car and Minghao gets into the seat next to you, turning on the engine.

You’re still quiet when he starts driving towards your apartment building, and you think that this is the perfect chance for you to drown in the silence. Maybe if you pretend you’re alone, you’ll be able to forget about all the thoughts running through your mind.

Pressing your eyes shut, you slump down into your seat and just as you’re about to let your mind drift into the silence, you hear a familiar rattle of the snare and guitar bridge and your eyes snap open, staring at Minghao directly. He faces forward, eyes trained on the road as he pulls closer to the curb in front of your complex, sighing deeply when the car starts to slow down.

“What are you trying to do Minghao?” you finally say weakly, burying your face in your hands. “You—you’re playing Creep and you took me to get Cola and all you were supposed to do was take me home so—”

“Can I not try to make you feel better? I don’t want you to be upset, so I’m sorry if I’m trying to do the things I know you enjoy,” Minghao responds with a heavy breath, parking in front of your building just like that night he did when he picked you up from the bus stop after you met with Renjun.

The deep strumming of guitar and vibrations of the bass bounce off the walls of your car, and you slip into your seat as the words of the song sink in.‘What the hell am I doing here?’ Glancing up at Minghao, your vision grows blurry. “Minghao …” your voice is quiet and strained when you call for him, and in that moment, you know.

All those years ago when you wanted to kiss him and hold him and pull him close, but you didn’t because you were scared. When you wanted to let your tongues collide and tug at his hair, but you didn’t because you had so much to lose.

You still have so much to lose, but you’re not scared anymore.

And it seems Minghao isn’t either.

Tonight, you get to taste the lingering drops of Cola on his tongue. You get to feel his arms fumbling over the armrest, slipping around your waist and yanking you onto his lap. You get to hold his neck and let your fingers sit in his hair. You get to indulge.

Minghao’s mouth is hot against yours, tongue lapping at your bottom lip when you take a sacred moment to breathe on top of him before your eyes are fluttering back shut and your lips mold into one once again. He hugs you so close you don’t know how you can still breathe, don’t know how your bones don’t melt into each other in this burning moment.

Your lips work fervently to slide against each other in a wet, calculated mess that has you whimpering into Minghao’s mouth when one of his hands cups your jaw. His thumb is soft against your cheekbone when he tilts your head to the side so that your noses brush against either and his lips delve deeper into the caverns of your mouth.

You don’t know how long you two go at it, fingers grappling at whatever skin you can, Minghao’s hand brushing under your shirt and stroking the plush of your hips. And when you feel like you can’t breathe anymore because your heart is so full, you pull away, letting the thin string of saliva connect your shiny lips.

Your brain is foggy and you and Minghao simply sit in the comfortable silence. Well, almost comfortable silence.

You shouldn’t try to depend on anyone.

“W-wait,” you stutter when Minghao leans forward in hopes to catch your lips in another fleeting kiss. “Oh my god,” you mutter to yourself, pushing his shoulders back against the seat as you try to shuffle off his lap.

Minghao holds your waist tightly, but you break free of the grasp. “What are you doi—hey, wait a sec!”

“You said you’re trying to make me feel better but you just did exactly the opposite,” you scoff, slipping on your coat as you push the car door open.

“What are you talking abo—” You cut him off by slamming the door, and Minghao quickly grabs your keys and follows after you. “Slow down.”

You whip around to face him, tears streaming down your face for what feels nth time tonight. “Look, you left like two months ago spewing all this stuff about how I should be independent but the second you come back you act like you’re trying so hard to make me feel better and stuff and then—” You take a deep breath, “—then we makeout and you—fuck I don’t know, I don’t know what you expect from me! Do you just expect me to forget about this and not get upset when you leave again?” you choke out. “Just keep my keys and drive yourself back to your place. I’ll pick up my car later,” you mutter.

“Can you stop doing this? It’s just like what happened last time, and I don’t want to have to leave if you’re—if we’re not okay.”

“What ‘we?’ Weren’t you the one who told me to not expect anyone to stay? I’m not going to do this ‘we’ and ‘us’ thing with someone who is just going to leave all over again. I’m not going to expect you to stay.”

“Look, I just don’t want this to be hanging over your head when I’m gone.”

Ironic, you think to yourself. You want to tell Minghao that he’s been hanging over your head ever since you met him all those years ago, but you bite back the words.

“Minghao,” you say, your voice strained and tired, “I’m already exhausted and my brain isn’t working so can you please just give me my space.”

And if Minghao is one thing, it’s not pushy, and you know that this is all it takes to get him to back off. Though, you don’t miss the way his face falls as he steps back quietly.

“See you,” he mutters through gritted teeth as he turns on his heel, and you can’t tell if you’re relieved or bothered by the way he leaves so silently.

You don’t see Minghao or Jun after that night. They’rewere  supposed to leave for Korea in the next four days, and so you spend those four days lodged up in your apartment, not leaving unless absolutely necessary—you’re scared that you might run into one of them, as pathetic as that sounds.

Jun doesn’t text you and you don’t text him. It’s a bit abnormal, you two communicate at least once every two days, if not more. It’s a bit of an unspoken rule, but now that you’re both hot-headed and very much not in the right mind, you figure some rules are meant to be broken.

It’s two days after Jun and Minghao were scheduled to leave, the only confirmation that you got that they actually did leave being the group picture at the airport your father sent to the family group chat.

Jianing comes to your apartment when you finally call her over, quickly picking up on your sullen state.

“I don’t get it,” she says with a shrug after you explain to her everything that happened between you and Jun and Minghao.

“Well yeah, I guess you don’t, but this has been going on for a while,” you reply begrudgingly, sinking into your couch as she stares at you blankly from your armchair.

“Just—I dunno—talk to them?”

You give her a funny look. “How?” you groan, throwing your head back. “They won’t be back for like a month at least, and I don’t want to call them.”

“I forget they’re famous sometimes” Jianing mutters, rolling her eyes, and you laugh at the comment.

“You and me both,” you say, straightening your back.

“But still, I don’t get it. I mean just visit them?” she suggests casually.

“I can’t just fly up to Korea unannounced!” you exclaim, bewildered.

Jianing rolls her eyes at you and you frown. “Why not? I mean you just said this might go on for a while if you don’t talk to them so I don’t get it. Just go see them.”

YOURS TRULY

you: chan i need ur help [8:13 AM] chan: this is ur first time texting me in three months [8:15 AM] chan: so i am going to assume this is pretty important [8:15 AM] you: i’m at incheon airport [8:16 AM] chan: what [8:17 AM] you: what [8:17 AM] chan: jun didn’t say anything about u coming??! [8:19 AM] you: DON’T TELL HIM [8:19 AM] chan: what … [8:20 AM] you: i’m surprising him [8:20 AM] chan: ????? [8:21 AM] chan: who knows [8:21 AM] you: um you do [8:21 AM] chan: thank u [8:22 AM] chan: so what do u need [8:22 AM] you: can u pick me up [8:23 AM] chan: i don’t have a choice do i [8:24 AM] you: nope :3 [8:24 AM]

When black SUV stops in front of you by the curb at the airport, you smile brightly, waving at the driver as the windows begin to roll down. You’re about to chirp a quick, “Hi Chan!” but the words get caught in your throat when you see who’s driving.

“Jeonghan?” you ask confusedly. He waves at you from the front seat, and Chan sticks his head in from the back to look at you through the window.

“I’m sorry!” he exclaims, opening the door to help you pull in your suitcase and get situated into the back seat. “Look, I tried to leave without anyone noticing but they saw me so I told them I was going to the gym, but he said he wanted to come and —” Chan glares at the man in the passenger seat, “— I don’t even know why since he hasn’t gone to the gym in ages—”

“Watch it Chan!” Jeonghan calls out from the front as the cat starts to move, pulling an eye roll out of the boy sitting next to you.

“Whatever. Basically, I had no choice but to bring him along and tell them I was actually picking you up.”

“You guys didn’t tell Jun, did you?” you ask worriedly.

“I—no,” Jeonghan says. “And even if we tried, he won’t be awake for another hour or whatever. That’s besides the point anyways—Chan is terrible at lying.”

“You caught me off guard! I wasn’t expecting to see anyone this morning, so I didn’t have any excuses prepared …” Chan huffs, sinking into his seat as you glance back and forth between them nervously.

“Thank you for trying anyways,” you say sincerely, adjusting in your seat. “I know this was all really sudden but I didn’t plan anything out and I kinda ended up here before I could even process anything,” you add.

“Hey, Minghao was telling us about these really good cupcakes you make—if you have time, can you bake them for us?” Chan asks, out of the blue.

You give him a funny look and then smile. “Sure, if I have the time. I’d like to—they told me Mingyu tries to make them for you guys.”

“Yeah! That would—”

“Thank you, but I’m going to assume that you are here for a reason other than making us your infamous cupcakes,” Jeonghan says, merging onto the freeway.

“As much as I’d love for that to be why I’m here, you’re right,” you mutter, resting your head against the headrest.

“Is everything alright?” Jeonghan asks.

As you’re about to respond, Chan chimes in. “This is about Jun, isn’t it?”

“Ai—Channie, don’t jump to conclusions,” Jeonghan reprimands but Chan shakes his head, holding his hand up as he turns to you with wide eyes.

“No, no, I’m not assuming anything. I’m right, aren’t I?” Partly. Chan continues. “Well it’s just—I can kinda tell. He’s being a little snappier. Jeonghan wouldn’t know but—“

Jeonghan gives Chan a warning look through the rear view mirror. “What do you mean I wouldn’t know?”

“Hannie, just listen to me. So me and Soonyoung and Minghao and Jun have been practicing at night right—for that next performance—and you know that Jun has a bit of a temper, especially in the night, but I don’t know—it’s just been different recently.”

You stifle a scoff when Chan mentions Jun having a short temper, looking out the window hoping no one heard. Jun does have a bit of a fiery streak, but the truth is that you’re just as sporadic as him.

Fire meets fire. Huh, wonder what that makes. More fire, probably. That’s what got you here, isn’t it? Unfortunately.

“Has, uh,” you pause wondering if you should ask this, but curiosity does kill the cat, after all. “Has Minghao seemed … off?”

Jeonghan narrows his eyes at you. “What’s Minghao got to do with this? Did something happen with him too?” Curse that emotionally intelligent man.

Chan eyes flicker between the ground and you. “It’s hard to tell when Minghao is upset. He seems normal even when he’s upset so I can’t really tell … why though?”

“Just—just a lot of stuff. I think I need to see them both. Separately.”

Jeonghan nods, pursing his lips together before responding, “Do you need our help?”

Jeonghan takes you to his apartment first so you have a moment to drop your suitcase off somewhere, and you get to say hi to Seungkwan who you’re pretty sure didn’t even recognize you in his drowsy state.

“Where’re we going?” you ask when you get back outside of the building heading towards the car.

“C’mon, let’s walk,” Chan says, pulling you away from the car.

“Jun’s apartment building is just down the street here,” Jeonghan explains. “He should be sleeping right now, so just wake him up.”

“Are you kidding me? He might kill me!” you complain with a frown.

Chan huffs, “Well you did come here unannounced and without a plan, so you don’t have much of a choice anyways.”

You chew on your lip as you fruitlessly try to come up with an answer, sighing in defeat when you come up with nothing.

“Exactly,” Jeonghan concludes, stopping in front of a building that’s built similar to his. “Anyways, his suite number is 345 on the third floor. You should know the code to his apartment right?”

You nod, but then shake your head. “I know it, but I think I’ll just knock until he wakes up. He might actually kill me if someone shows up inside his home unannounced.”

Chan laughs at that when the two of you lead you to the elevator of this new building. “That, he might.”

“So encouraging,” you mutter, sticking your tongue out at them as the elevator door opens. “Anyways, thank you for helping me, really. I’ll make cupcakes if I make it out of this alive,” you promise while you step in.

“You better!” Jeonghan calls out as the doors slide shut and the elevator begins to take you up.

It’s now, when you’re alone, that it all begins to sink in. You’re in Korea. You’re about to see Jun. You might die—okay maybe you’re being a little dramatic, but you aren’t sure what to do with yourself so your mind is jumping towards the worst possible scenario as you reach the third floor and make your way to his apartment.

You stand in front of room 345 for a few moments once you arrive, not even sure if you’ll manage to go through with this. What the fuck are you even going to say?

(Un?)fortunately, you have a tendency to not think before you act, and before you have a second of thought your knuckles are rapping against the door. It’s silent for a moment and you wonder if you should go again.

Taking a deep breath, you continue knocking on the door at a steady rate before you hear soft footsteps growing louder in volume until they stop at the door. You hold your breath and let your hand fall, fisting it at your sides in anticipation.

When you see the door crack open, a wave of relief washes over you. But when you see Jun’s blank face as he looks down on you, a new sense of uneasiness takes over.

“What are you doing in my apartment?” Ah, how nostalgic.

“So cold. You aren’t going to let me in?”

Jun rolls his eyes, and you grow more anxious because you can’t tell if he’s being playful or not. He steps to the side though, and you quickly slip through the door so he can close and lock it behind you.

“What are you doing here?” he reiterates and you feel your tongue go dry.

“Uh, Chan told me that you’re being—well—how do I put this?” you mutter to yourself, rocking back and forth on your feet.

“Difficult?” Jun guesses, bitterness laced in the word and you cringe at the tone.

“I guess.”

“I don’t think you came all the way to Korea just because Chan told you I was being difficult.”

“I, uh, I talked to Jianing about it when she visited and … I guess I felt I should come see you.”

“So if Jianing didn’t talk to you about this, then you just wouldn’t have talked about it?” Jun asks harshly and you glare at him.

“Well it’s not like you would’ve come talk to me about it either,” you retort, and Jun goes quiet at them. “And Jianing didn’t make this decision for me, by the way, I made it all by myself.”

“Okay well you’re here now. What is it?” An uncomfortable silence sits between you two. “If you only came here to just stand there and stare off into space then—”

“Jun, please shut your mouth for like one minute,” you mutter, pinching the bridge of your nose. “I-I wanted to apologize. That night I … I was on edge.” Jun watches you intently as you finally meet his gaze. “There was a lot running through my mind and I was just—just fucking annoyed at everything and I took everything you said the worst way.”

A feeling of worry climbs up your throat—you and Jun don’t often apologize, at least not like this. Apologies usually come in the form of figurative olive trees—you buy him a LEGO set, he buys you a gift card to your favorite cafe, or something among that. Then again, this isn’t your usual argument with Jun, and maybe sometimes resorting to more traditional methods are most effective.

Jun sighs softly, not looking at you, and you grow worried that he’s even more angry than you anticipated. You brace yourself for his next possible words. “I … I did say some mean stuff too. I’m sorry—I just—I have a shitty temper. You know that. Chan probably told you that too.” Jun is silent for a second before continuing. “Is … is everything okay?”

The question isn’t quite what you’re expecting and you press your lips together tightly because you want to cry. You want to let the tears stream down your cheeks and tell Jun that you have no idea but also the perfect idea of what you’re doing and it’s all jumbled up mess in your head.

“I guess—I mean, I hate fighting with you,” you admit. “But, that’s why I came here and we didn’t say goodbye the last time and I know that was partly my fault but also I missed you.”

“But are you okay?”

“Jun—”

“Because I know you’re stubborn—it really is annoying sometimes but I’m not one to complain,” he adds with a huff, “and I know you’re a little weird—”

You both laugh and you point a finger at him, “Watch it—you and me both.”

“Whatever,” he says lightly before turning to a more serious tone. “But I never thought we’d fight again like that one time two years ago and—”

“Why does everyone keep bringing that up!? Yiren said that too,” you sigh.

“To make a point. Which, by the way, is me going back to asking you if everything’s okay. I just … I know that you’re a little crazy but I never thought that you’d fly over here for something that we could probably sort out over the phone. Not that I’m not glad to see you here, I mean, I am, I’m just … worried.”

“I kissed Minghao,” you blurt out, immediately slapping a hand over your mouth after you do.

“What?!” Jun’s eyes go wide for a moment before he relaxes a little. “Is that what’s been up with you?”

“What do you mean ‘up with me?’”

“Moody. Cranky. Like you’re in high school again.”

You cross your arms over your chest. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” You chew on your lip as you try to read Jun’s expression. He doesn’t seem mad nor happy nor confused, and you’re running out of emotions to label him under.

“I knew you liked him in high school, you know. Thin walls, plus Yiren is loud as hell.”

“Ugh, I always told her to keep it down! She didn’t believe me!”

“Doesn’t matter now. What you or him do isn’t much of my business anyways,” Jun mutters, awkwardly stuffing his hands in the pockets of his hoodies. “I mean I guess it is, if it makes you all upset and not okay like this,” he continues.

You can tell he’s encouraging you to explain more, and you press your eyes together trying to figure what and what not you should say. “Has Minghao … has he seemed different?”

“I mean not really, but also it’s hard to tell with him because—” Your whole finger droops and Jun quickly places a hand on your shoulder. “Hey, what is this about? Did something happen? You know you can tell me.”

“It’s a lot,” you confess. “I don’t know, I-I came here to talk to the both of you but I haven’t even thought about what to say to him. I kind of booked my tickets last night.”

“Last night?!”Jun exclaims. “Are you stupid or what?”

“Maybe I am!” you murmur, slapping your palm against your forehead. Jun looks down at your pained expression and frowns.

“You’re not going to tell me what happened, are you?”

“What happened to, ‘I don’t care what you guys do it isn’t my business?’”

“Well it is my business if you’re upset! I’m the only person who’s allowed to be a bitch to you.”

“Well ditto to you too!” You follow with a sigh. “I think I just need to talk to him.”

“He’s at the gym right now. Do you want to get coffee instead?”

“Hogging me all to yourself? I know you missed me but don’t you think this is a little unfair—I’d like to at least say hi to the others first. Or maybe have some time to sleep. I kind of got here at like seven in the morning.”

“Be grateful! I’m actually looking out for you, because they’ll literally hound you, plus I want to make up for not spending time with you last time I visited.”

You grin at the words, rolling your eyes playfully. “Fine. But you’re paying.”

“When do I not pay for you?”

“Loads of times!”

“That’s because you insist on paying for yourself.”

“Irrelevant!” you exclaim triumphantly, waving a fist in the air before Jun locks his arm around your neck and traps you in a headlock. Good times.

“We have afternoon practice, then recording in the studio in the evening, but we should be done by like eight,” Jun explains, taking a picture of the coffee in front of him.

“Must you take a picture of everything?” you sigh, taking a sip of your own drink. Jun rolls his eyes, flicking your knee from under the table.

“I am a celebrity. I kinda need to keep records of everything I do.”

“Okay well I’m your sister and I kinda need you to help me talk to Minghao.”

“Just like—I dunno—find him and talk to him. Can’t be that hard.”

“You—ugh, you’re just like Jianing,” you groan. “No help!”

“Okay fine, fine. What do you want me to do? Corner him? Lock him into a closet and keep him there so you can talk to him? Force him to—”

“Junnie what the hell,” you mutter, slapping a hand to your forehead. “I think I’m just going to have to ask Jeonghan and Chan for help again because—”

“Okay no. I’ll help. What do you need me to do?”

“Have you been listening to me? Tell me when and where I can talk to him!”

“Well I already suggested the closet but you turned that down so—”

“Jun.”

“We can try the meeting room? He’s there a lot and it’s usually empty in the evenings. He responds to emails and shit there, I don’t know, so you won’t be interrupting much.”

“You sure it’ll work?”

Jun cocks an eyebrow up. “You don’t trust me?” You kick him under the table and he winces. “Okay yes, yes, it’ll work so would you stop kicking—hey! I said stop kicking!”

“We have afternoon practice, then recording in the studio in the evening, but we should be done by like eight,” Jun explains, taking a picture of the coffee in front of him.

“Must you take a picture of everything?” you sigh, taking a sip of your own drink. Jun rolls his eyes, flicking your knee from under the table.

“I am a celebrity. I kinda need to keep records of everything I do.”

“Okay well I’m your sister and I kinda need you to help me talk to Minghao.”

“Just like—I dunno—find him and talk to him. Can’t be that hard.”

“You—ugh, you’re just like Jianing,” you groan. “No help!”

“Okay fine, fine. What do you want me to do? Corner him? Lock him into a closet and keep him there so you can talk to him? Force him to—”

“Junnie what the hell,” you mutter, slapping a hand to your forehead. “I think I’m just going to have to ask Jeonghan and Chan for help again because—”

“Okay no. I’ll help. What do you need me to do?”

“Have you been listening to me? Tell me when and where I can talk to him!”

“Well I already suggested the closet but you turned that down so—”

“Jun.”

“We can try the meeting room? He’s there a lot and it’s usually empty in the evenings. He responds to emails and shit there, I don’t know, so you won’t be interrupting much.”

“You sure it’ll work?”

Jun cocks an eyebrow up. “You don’t trust me?” You kick him under the table and he winces. “Okay yes, yes, it’ll work so would you stop kicking—hey! I said stop kicking!”

You twiddle your thumbs nervously behind your back as you wait in the elevator with Jeonghan. Jun had to take care of something with one of the other members, so he sent you off with the older boy to take you to the meeting room.

“He’ll be there, don’t worry,” Jeonghan tells you as he pats your shoulder lightly. “I just checked his location and I’m positive he’s there right now.”

“Thanks,” you say with a sigh, shifting your weight from leg to leg, “but I’m more worried about what I’m going to say. I think you already know but I planned like zero percent of this.”

“It’s becoming increasingly evident, unfortunately,” Jeonghan admits when the elevator dings and the door opens onto a floor full of rooms. “You’ll figure it out, I’m sure, seeing as you’re just like Jun.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Jeonghan chuckles and leads you to a door a few steps down the hallway, pointing to it. “Don’t worry about it. He’ll be in there. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be down on floor three making some ramen,” he says cheerily, waving at you before retreating to elevatory before you have even a moment to protest.

So now you’re left with nothing but yourself and yet another door. This time, instead of knocking your life away, your hand is pressed against the knob as you debate whether or not you should turn it or not.

Once again, your body acts without your mind and you’re quietly opening the door and poking your head through the crack. Inside is Minghao with headphones over his ears, sitting at the end of a long table with his head crooked down as he scrolls through his lap top.

He doesn’t hear you, but you aren’t sure if it’s for the better or the worse. In some ways, you still have a chance to run, but in others, you’ll have to call out to him if you want him to notice you. Gulping, you realize that you’ve been too scared for too long and so you clear your throat.

“Minghao,” you call out.

It only takes a second for his eyes to shoot up, hands flying to his headphones to take them off as he takes in the sight of you in front of him. You’re at opposite ends of the room right now, and you nervously shut the door behind you as you finally meet his gaze.

“What are you doing here?”

“I—” You inhale sharply. “—I don’t know. I just think we both needed to talk.”

You can see him visibly gulp as he stands up, and looks away as if trying to figure out what he should do with himself.

“Shit,” he mutters under his breath, dread washing over you.

“I’m sorry,” you blurt out, face burning. “I know I just showed up like this without warning and I know that’s not fair so if you don’t want to talk you know I totally get it and—” you start to blabber so fast you hardly notice him walking over and down the length of the table, “—I just really wanted to see you and talk to you but I couldn’t do it over the phone because—”

“Slow down,” Minghao says firmly, now standing in front of you as he gazes down with wide eyes. “Is everything okay? When did you come here—wait, did you come here just to talk to me?”

“Well yeah. And Jun.”

“Are you okay?” Minghao asks softly. “This doesn’t seem like you.”

You wince at the familiar words but shake it off. “I know, I just had so much to say and I’m sorry because you were right, and when you said you didn’t want this hanging over my head I was angry and I thought I could ignore this and ignore you but I was wrong and just really needed to sort things out. And the night you picked me up after Renjun and all—I know you told me to not depend anyone or anything—and I know I’m not listening to you right now and I don’t want you to be disappointed but—”

“Stop,” Minghao says, holding a hand up. “Disappointed? I—please don’t think that. The stuff I said that night was …” he sighs before continuing. “You were so upset that night because you didn’t have us around and I felt so bad but also, there wasn’t anything I could do about that.”

“I …” your eyebrows knit together as you try to find the right words. “… I know that. I didn’t mean to make it feel like you had to change anything, or that it was your fault.”

“I know and—”

“Wait, please hear me out. I don’t want to ever make you think that I blame you or Jun for leaving—I-I’m so happy for you guys you don’t understand. I was just … I was bitter,” you admit. “And I was jealous of you because you get to be around my own brother more than me and … I guess I was also jealous of Jun because he gets to be around you so often too.”

You finish your confession by burying your face in your hands, face heating up as you can only imagine the look on his face. He says your name softly, and you peek up at him through the gap between your fingers.

“Hey, no, I get it. I mean, I guess I don’t exactly understand how you’re feeling but I don’t blame you either.”

“I wrote you a letter,” you blurt out, a hand digging into your pocket as it toys around with the folded paper inside. Minghao raises a brow, and you pull it out and hold it in front of him. “Right after you guys left,” you explain as he takes the paper from your hand, carefully unfolding it. “Don’t open it now! That’s … embarrassing. Just read it when I’m not here or something because I might just die out of humiliation.”

When Minghao chuckles, you feel some of the tension in your shoulders dissolve. “Noted,” he murmurs, tucking it into the pocket of his sweats before turning his attention back to you with a more serious expression which has your stomach tying up in knots.

“You know how my job is. I can’t promise how often I’ll be home and when I’ll be able to make time and I know that people leaving hurt you so much and … I guess I just didn’t want to give you hope that I would be able to give you a ‘normal’ relationship, because I can’t, even though I want to. I think when I told you all that, I just—fuck—I hoped that you’d be able to focus on someone better for you.”

You want to cry and tell him that you don’t want someone ‘better,’ but choose to save those words for a different time. “T-then why’d you kiss me that night?” you ask quietly.

“I—” Minghao pauses, looking down as he searches for what he’s about to say. “I only have so much self control.”

You chew on your lip, debating if you should frown or grin at his statement. “So you—you wanted to kiss me?” Minghao responds in a heartbeat.

“Of course I did,” and then he clears his throat, “I wanted to for a while. I still do.”

Chuckling nervously, you start to say, “I don’t kn—”

The air is successfully sucked from your lungs when Minghao slides his hand around your neck, angling your jaw up with his gentle thumb. You think you might just go dizzy from the way he’s touching you until his warm mouth presses against yours, and this is the moment you feel every last muscle in your body let go.

He kisses you softer than the first time, his tongue running against your bottom lip for only a moment before you let your hand grip at his torso instinctively. “Sorry,” Minghao murmurs sheepishly when he breaks away. “Told you. Only so much self control.”

“I-I won’t complain,” you admit quickly, and though you let your hand drop to your side, Minghao keeps his where it is: cradling your cheek. He’s quiet for a moment before whispering again, and the words make your face burn and your heart fly around in circles.

“Can I kiss you again?”

“M-Ming—hao,” you whine, hands fisting the linen beneath you. A string of slick connects his mouth to your glistening folds, tethering him down to you even as he lifts his face. His eyes stare down at the slobbering mess between your legs, ignoring your soft chanting of his name before diving back down to close his mouth around your clit.

“Tastes so good,” he groans into you, hot breath fanning down on your folds as he licks fat stripes up and down into your cunt. One of his large hands reaches up and you instinctively guide it so that he can grasp one of your tits, squeezing tightly as your back arches into him.

“Fuck—Hao!” you cry out, when he peels his mouth away from you again. He looks up at you with heavy lidded eyes and a shiny wet chin and bright grin. “Was s’close … s’close,” you whimper, as he presses kisses on the inside of your thighs, licking and nipping at the soft flesh.

“I know baby, I know, but I wanna cum with you,” Minghao murmurs against your skin before crawling up onto his arms and over you. Your eyes flutter shut as he presses his lips against yours, sliding his tongue against yours fiercely.

Moaning at the taste of yourself, you wind your arms around his neck to pull his burning body flush against yours, grinding upwards in a determined mess to make sure the remnants of your almost-orgasm don’t ebb away.

You feel his hard length prodding against the inside of your thigh as Minghao shifts above you, adjusting his hands so they’re resting by your head when he finally pulls away, panting. Black hair sticking to his sweat-slick forehead, cheeks flushed, lips swollen—you don’t think you’ll ever get used to seeing Minghao like this.

You gasp loudly when you feel his cock brush against your already sensitive folds, burying your face into the crook of his neck as he runs one hand up and down your body. “Spread your legs a little,” he mutters, tapping at your knee so that you raise your thighs so he can settle better between you.

You’re about to egg him on and tell him to speed it up but then Minghao is punching the air out of your lungs in one ruthless thrust, forcing his fat cock into you in one go.

You’re in such a haze right now, you almost forget that you’ll have to face your brother and parents in less than an hour. Minghao and Jun were, after all, going back to Korea today, but your pre-orgasmic state pushes away the nasty thought of having to say goodbye to your boyfriend and brother so soon after having them to yourself.

It wasn’t easy, of course—the first few months after you came back home from Korea with the title of being Minghao’s girlfriend hanging above your head. It was what he’d been most worried about, when he first asked you to make things official the night before you left.

“I know what I’m doing Minghao, trust me.”

And trust you, he did. He trusted you when you were kids, when he was just your brother’s best friend, when you called him (almost) every night, and he trusts you now, as he’s ramming his cock into you.

Gripping onto his back tightly, you lodge your bottom lip between your teeth as you feel the rough drag of Minghao’s cock against your walls when he pulls his hips back halfway before pounding himself back in.

“God, fuck—I’m gonna miss this so much,” he grunts, punctuating his last word with an especially harsh thrust that has your body lurching against the sheets.

“M-me too,” you gasp, forcing your eyes open so you can watch the way his neck is strained and eyes are dilated as Minghao looks down at you.

“Yeah?” Minghao chuckles between heavy breaths, using one hand to cup your jaw while the other goes down to pinch at your clit. The touch against your sensitive nub as your mouth goes wide as you whine into Minghao’s mouth, lips swallowing up your loud moans while he kisses you.

Tongue and teeth meet in a clashing mess as you struggle to hold onto your last bit of sanity, his rough movements against your clit now turning to more a sharp and calculated circular motion that has you clenching around his cock.

“Minghao, fuck—” Your curse is cut off by the obnoxious ringing of your phone from the nightstand. Minghao groans, stilling his movements while his cock is pressed balls deep inside of you as he reaches over and grabs it.

“Just hang up,” you instruct but Minghao sighs, holding it up to show you the caller ID. Rolling your eyes, you grab the phone and hold it up to ear as you try and calm down your erratic breaths.

“Jun, I’m kind of busy—”

“I don’t care. Just make sure you guys come in like the next hour,” Jun says into the phone before pausing. “Why are you breathing like—ew. Gross. Forget I ever called. Well, don’t forget what I said, but you get the point. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to vomit now.”

Your phone beeps before the call cuts and you throw it to the side, clutching Minghao’s face to smash his lips on yours. “You heard him,” you mumble into his lips. “We don’t have a lot of time …”

Minghao sighs heavily, pressing his forehead to yours when you pull your lips away and glance down at the wet mess where his cock slams into your cunt. You feel your orgasm creep up on you again, tickling your stomach and spreading through your bones as you begin to squirm beneath him.

“Fuck, I’m close,” you moan, starting to lift your hips weakly to meet his thrusts while Minghao presses wet kisses to your collarbone. Your skin feels like it’s on fire and every snap of his hips is sending you closer and closer to the edge until you feel his cock twitch inside of you, triggering the storm to clock in on you. “‘m cumming—fuck, Hao, feels s’good. Feel s‘full,” you mewl when his eyes finally meet yours and you let go.

Your limbs convulse in a haphazard mess as a long awaited orgasm racks through your body, the waves of pleasure only heightening when you feel Minghao’s thick spurts of cum shoot through your swollen cunt. He weakly thrusts into you for a few final moments until you’re both in a buzzing, overstimulated haze, his body going limp when he finally collapses on top of you.

“Do you think we have time for another—” Minghao begins to ask, lifting his head to look at you when you lightly smack a hand over his head.

“Minghao, this is our third round,” you groan when he slips out of you, rolling off of you so you have room to cool down.

“And? I’m not going to see you for at least another month,” he whines, squeezing your cheek from the side.

Pressing a kiss to the side of his cheek, you murmur, “I wish we could but you heard Jun. We need to shower, still …”

Minghao rolls his eyes, propping himself up on his arms, eyes flickering between you and the shower before smirking. “So … are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“You horndog,” you scoff, sitting up straight as Minghao gets up from the bed. He turns to you, an eyebrow raised.

“So is that a yes or a no?”

Giggling, you kick the covers off and follow after him. “Only if you’re quick with it.”

Minghao grabs your arm, yanking you close to him as you stumble into the bathroom. “I love you,” he murmurs, your tits pressing close to his chest.

“I love y—” The words melt on your tongue before they can be heard, Minghao’s mouth engulfing your breath.

You’ll really have to apologize to Jun for being late.

“You have everything? Your tickets?” you ask as you lean against the doorframe. You’re both standing outside your parents house right now, waiting for Jun to finish his last bit of packing (why he was so insistent on you two coming quickly when even he wasn’t ready is still a mystery to you) so you can call over the van to take them to the airport.

Minghao shrugs at you, pulling out his wallet to look through the pockets to double check. As he’s shuffling through them, a familiar piece of paper sticks out and grabs your attention. “You keep my letter in your wallet?”

Minghao nods, seemingly unbothered by your surprise. “Yeah. Where else would I keep it?”

“Well, I don’t know but—”

“It’s a cute letter!” Minghao reasons. “And I like having it with me. Like a little good luck charm.”

You press a kiss to his cheek when he says that, but continue to say, “I don’t get what’s so cute about me getting drunk and writing to you.”

“Okay that part, I don’t like. Seriously. Underage drinking is not cool,” Minghao mutters. “But the rest of the letter is pretty nice I guess,” he teases, tucking his wallet back into his pocket.

“Pretty nice?” you scoff, trying to snatch the wallet back from him to grab your letter. He swipes it away too quickly though, and you’re left pawing at his chest to try and get it back. “You don’t deserve that letter! I put my heart and soul into it!”

“Heart and soul? I think you mean you poured five shots of vodka into it.” You frown deeply, and Minghao relaxes his shoulders. “Okay I’m sorry—you know I love the letter.”

“Do I?” you huff stubbornly, looking at the ground.

Minghao traces a hand down your face and tilts your chin upwards. “C’mon look at me,” he murmurs, and you begrudgingly meet his gaze. “I love the letter.” He pecks you on the lips. “Do you believe me now?”

“You might have to kiss me one more time for that.”

Minghao grins and presses his lips on yours again, a little harder this time. “Good now?”

“Yes—you got lucky.”

“Okay good … but just for extra measures, I have something that might sweeten the deal,” Minghao tells you, pulling a folded paper out of his pocket and handing it to you. Carefully, you take it and unravel it, glancing over the words.

There’s a lot—like a lot—and Minghao’s face flushes as you skim over the paragraphs he wrote, slapping a hand over the paper. “Okay don’t read it in front of me!” he whines, and you beam because history has a tendency to repeat itself.

“Fine, fine,” you sigh, looking down at it one more time when your eyes catch a little note at the bottom.

Pursing your lips, you glance up and find Minghao watching you with wide eyes and a bright smile, and you can’t help but fling yourself into his arms. Your heart swells when you feel him wrap his hands around you rightly pulling him close as the words cast their imprint into your mind.

You’re happy. So, so, so happy.

Yours truly, Xu Minghao (weirdo)

P.S. I love you.

a/n. okay wow i can't believe this is done ... genuinely put so much into this fic i hope u all enjoyed reading it as much as i enjoyed writing it! i definitely might be writing more about these two bc i loved them so much😭 i had like 2 more ideas for a smut in mind but decided not to add them but if you'd be interested in reading them, i might post them as a oneshot/bonus, so lmk what you're interested in! please reblog if u did, and let me know ur thoughts—it would mean a lot to me :3

tags. @synthetickitsune @ixayjun @leejihoonownsmyheart @dahliatopia @gyuswhore @hoeforcheol @5xiang @hajimelvr @miriamxsworld @blinkjunhui @lixiel0ver @josefines-things @mimisxs @ming-h0e @kawennote09 @bbyjjunie @junhui-recs @ichorjeon (strikethrough could not be tagged)

[the-flaneur]

act like an angel, and dress like crazy (cl16)

pairing: charles leclerc x piastri!reader [ff + smau]

summary: despite your image of innocence, charles secretly finds out that oscar's little sister quite the party animal when drunk

warnings: alcohol consumption, drunk confessions AND 18+, MDNI, NSFW -> smut ft. drunk sex with dubious consent (reader is drunk, but does consent to sleeping with charles), unprotected sex (wrap it before u tap it)

wc: 1903

[masterlist] [requests]

-> instagram

y/n.piastri

liked by oscarpiastri, charles_leclerc, friend1 and others

yourusername as a wise woman once said: vodka's not the answer, but it's worth it to take a shot 🥃💋

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friend1 AHHHHH GIRLIEEEE COME TO VIP NOW 🤩

friend2 ALSO BRING YOUR BROTHER'S FRIENDS yourusername when will u guys stop asking me to hook you up with them friend1 never, they're our besties and they love us anyways 😘

user1 WHEN DOES Y/N NOT LOOK GORGEOUS

user2 ISTG even when drunk and sweaty as hell, she's glowing user3 she and her friends are stunning, im surprised some of the other f1 drivers havent tried getting with them

user4 she's only pre-gaming, but she looks drunk af 👀

user5 god forbid a girl drinks alcohol 😐

oscarpiastri please don't come home shit-faced

y/n.piastri baby bro dont worry - besides lando's here watching us over like a hawk. i suppose you had something to do with that 😔 user6 lol oscar being the older brother, but y/n loves teasing him cause she's taller user7 as she should, sisters are there to humble their brothers

charles_leclerc looking gorgeous mon cherie

user8 damnnn ig charles tryna rizz up baby piastri tonight user9 bro this is literally like a running joke in f1 - she doesn't really interact with him and he's never seen her in person before... friend3 it's ok, he's gonna keep trying until he can... although he has never met drunk y/n yet either sooo....

user10 ngl charles and y/n would be an absolute power couple

landonorris yo y/n hurry up to vip pls, your friends are strangling me rn 💀

f1gossipofficial

liked by user11, user12, user13 and others

f1gossipofficial it seems that some of our f1 boys are out partying during the summer break in monaco tonight 👀

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user11 ughhhh they all look amazing as always 😏

user12 why is lando always the dj 🤣

user13 i lowkey see y/n piastri in the back of max's photo

you and charles had not interacted often in the paddock. oscar had only been in f1 for two seasons, and had struck up a somewhat unfortunate “rivalry” with carlos, meaning you never had any reason to go over to ferrari. 

but it would be a mistake to say you had no interest in the handsome monegasque. 

you had been caught an unfortunate number of times by both your brother and lando starring a little too long at the screens in the mclaren garage, or your extra attention in crafting a reply in charles’ handsome instagram selfies. 

however, charles had seldom reacted to anything you were doing, whether it was a cute instagram story showcasing a day out with friends or a tweet about oscar and his races. so you didn’t think the driver had any interest in you

at the club however…

charles was leaning against the plush couch of the monaco club, sipping on his g&t which max had drunkenly handed to him at the beginning of the night. pierre had already wandered off onto the dancefloor with his girlfriend, whilst joris was already shit-faced and snoring besides him.

a couple of regular club patrons had attempted to throw their attention at him, but his eyes strayed from them and wandered over to you. 

it was typical of him to see you in floral skirts and ribbons in your hair, prancing your way down the paddock chatting to oscar and his girlfriend. definitely not in the shortest glittering dress, with a scandalous slit pulled high enough to reveal your tasteful lack of panties to anyone who looked too long. and charles had done just that, along with many others. 

among the raucous crowd and dancing with your friends, charles had spotted at least ten men and eight women whose gaze had lingered on your thighs for too long - but you hadn’t noticed. your boisterous laughter hinted at your reckless inhibitions, as you grinded and stumbled your way through the club.

it was almost second nature for you to notice charles’ gaze on you, and so you danced your way over to the man, who now was looking a little more keenly at your approach figure. 

"careful there, sweetheart," charles said with a sly grin, as you slid onto the couch beside him, "you're really letting loose tonight."

“hi charlie,” you smirked, face flushed, “i can handle my booze you know, i'm not some delicate flower, you know."

charles chuckled at your words, wiping a small drop of your drink from the corner of your mouth. he leant in close, his voice low and conspiratorial.

"i never said you were, but maybe you should slow down a bit. don't want you making a fool of yourself...or worse, getting into trouble", he said, taking a sip of his own shot before setting it down. 

"oh, come on charlie," you slurred, reaching out to rest a hand on his thigh. "live a little. let's have some real fun tonight..."

your fingers trail higher, eagerly brushing against the growing bulge in his pants. sober you would have never approached charles in such a state, but drunk you had the confidence and attitude of a bad bitch. charles’ breath had grown more ragged at your delicate touch, and his body responded instinctively to your boldness.

you pulled him up from the couch, before quickly dragging him into the centre of attention on the dance floor. 

turning to face him, you grabbed his hands to guide them to your shoulders. the moment his palms made contact with your warm skin, a spark ignited between you both. he leaned in closer, his breath hot against your ear as he whispered, "looks like someone's feeling the celebratory vibe tonight…”

without waiting for a response, he began to move his hips in time with the rhythm, his body undulating against yours in a slow, deliberate grind. one hand slid down to rest on the small of your back, pulling you flush against him as he continued to sway to the music.

"mmm, you're quite the dancer, aren't you?" you teased, your voice low and playful in his ear. the dim lights of the club and the pounding bass added to the electric atmosphere, as you could feel his bulge against your thigh. the pounding in your head from the alcohol had subsided slightly, but you felt like you were on cloud 9 as charles’ hands moved to grope your boobs

your movements together were fluid, sensual even, as you grinded against him and his hands moved over the swell of your ass, before dipping beneath the metallic fabric.

“mon dieu, you are incredible,” he grinned, spinning you around so that your back was against his chest, “i think you should come home with me tonight,”

“i think so too. take me home leclerc,” you mumbled. charles’ lips curled into a predatory smile as he scooped you up into his arms, cradling you against his chest. wrapping your legs around his waist, you nuzzled your face into the crook of his neck as charles carried you towards the exit.

-> instagram

f1gossipofficial

liked by user14, user15, user16 and others

f1gossipofficial apparently charles leclerc has been spotted leaving the monaco bar at 2am with a mystery brunette - who could this be?

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user14 GUYS IM FREAKING OUT RNNNNN SOMEBODY SEDATE ME 😩

user15 OK LITERALLY SAME, BECAUSE YOU CANNOT TELL ME THAT'S NOT Y/N user16 im literally trying to argue with my friend rn, cause that is most definitely y/n, like the hair, the fit + her post from earlier

user17 charles finally bagging a baddie, only took him like two years

user18 fr fr but like y/n has been obsessed with him too 😍 user19 charles' probs just like silently simped for her from the side

user20 i wonder what oscar thinks of charles and his sister, seeing that he isn't at the club with her tonight

user21 not like it's his decision anyways, but im sure he's fine with it user22 im sure he's happy it's charles and not some random stranger lol

user23 lowkey i wanna see them get together, y/n is basically a wag anyways

user24 reallllll, we would finally get y/n wag content user25 she and oscar's girlfriend would finallly get to go to the wag dates together, istg y/n was missing out on all the gossip 😔

when you finally reached charles' apartment, he practically kicked open the door, desperate to get the two of you inside. he carried you straight to the bedroom, tossing you onto his bed and crawling over with a wicked gleam in his eye.

as your back hits the plush comforter of his bed, charles climbs between your thighs, dark eyes sparkling with desire as he admires your body. with a playful smirk, you lean in, your lips brushing tantalisingly against charles' in a teasing kiss. you nibbled gently at the corner of his mouth before delving deeper, tongues dancing sensually in an erotic tango.

as you made out passionately, your nimble fingers roamed over charles' chest, tracing the contours of his muscles through his shirt. you revel in the warmth of his body above your own, feeling his heart race in sync.

"now then, little minx," he purred, pulling up your dress to expose your naked body, "let's see just how much of a party animal you really are,"

his mouth descended upon your chest, teeth grazing the swell of your breasts. you writhe beneath him, your own hands fisting in his curly hair, urging him to go harder, faster.

"fuck, charlie..." you whimpered, grinding your hips against his clothed thigh, the rigid length of his cock straining against the zipper, "i need you so bad...please..."

charles growls, drinking in the sight of you, so desperate for him, just for him. and he plans to make you beg for him even more. without warning, he plunges two digits deep into your core, pumping them in and out as he captures your mouth in a searing kiss. you cry out against his lips, your hips bucking wildly against his hand.

"that's it, baby," charles coaxes, breaking the kiss to nip at your earlobe, "take it. fuck, you're so tight and wet for me already..."

your moans escalate as charles works your pussy with relentless intensity, his fingers curling to stroke that sweet spot inside your pussy. you’re lost to the pleasure, your mind hazy with lust and the effects of the alcohol still coursing through you. "yes, yes, oh god!" you chant, your nails raking down charles' back as you pull him closer, "more, please...i need more!"

in a sudden burst of strength, you flip charles over, pinning him beneath you, reaching for the button of his trousers. with shaky hands, you free his straining erection, wrapping your fingers around the thick shaft and giving it a few experimental strokes.

"mmm, so big," you giggle, leaning down to lick a bead of precum from the tip, "i think it’s gonna feel so good inside me..." your words send shivers down charles’ spine, igniting a fire deep within him. he leans in closer, your faces mere inches apart now. his eyes stare into your own, and you blush at the heat radiating off of him, smelling the intoxicating scent of your cologne mingled with the musk of your shared arousal.

charles lets out a guttural groan as your hot tongue laps at his cockhead, your words sending a jolt of pure need through him. he grips your hips, guiding you to position yourself above his cock.

"do it, baby," he urges, his voice strained with anticipation, "ride me hard. make those pretty tits bounce while you sink down on my dick."

you comply, sinking inch by delicious inch onto his throbbing length, while charles thrusts up to meet you, filling you completely. "fucking hell, you feel incredible," charles gasps, his hands roaming your body, squeezing your ass and kneading your breasts, “i’ve wanted you.. i’ve wanted this for so long”

“god, charles...you have no idea how badly i want that too. how many nights i've spent imagining your touch, your kiss...your cock buried deep inside me,” you whisper breathlessly, pawing desperate hands against his chest.

charles moans at your words, moving his hand down to press against your clit, as you grind against him, pushing you further down onto his dick. at this point, both of you are too far gone to hear the simultaneously ringing of your phones from the bedside tables (oops), as charles now grips his fingers into your hips, undoubtedly leaving marks there for future you to discover. 

arching your back, you dig your nails into charles’ shoulders, desperate for him to fuck you into oblivion. you’re sobering up from the alcohol, but still drunk off the feeling of charles’ cock, thick and veiny pounding into you. you can’t believe you finally have the man of your dreams beneath you, fucking the very soul out of you, and you clench again as he pulls you into a passionate kiss, groaning as you feel his tongue against yours.

the force of his upwards thrust eventually grows aggressive, sending you hurtling over the edge, as your orgasm crashes through you. you scream his name, voice raw with ecstasy as you convulse around charles’ length.

“charles! oh god yes, right there!” you scream, milking his cock as you ride out the intense waves of pleasure.

the sensation of your pussy clamping down on charles, rippling with your climax, pushes him over the brink. with a groan, he buries himself to the hilt inside you and erupts, his cock pulsing as he paints your insides with thick ropes of cum.

“fuck, baby! take it all!” he grunts, your body shuddering as he fills you to the brim.

“so good...so perfect…” you collapse onto him, his dick still buried deep in you. your chests heave against each other as you catch your breath in the aftermath of the passionate encounter.

charles lets out a satisfied smirk watching your naked breasts jiggle in the moonlight, “you know darling, i never would have guessed that behind this cute innocent facade lies such a wild party animal!” he chuckles softly, his fingers lightly tracing patterns on your bare arm.

“the way you were grinding on the dance floor tonight...and those shots you did? i don't think i've ever seen you let loose like that before!” you grin mischievously, your eyes eyes twinkling with amusement.

“perhaps there’s still a lot for you to learn leclerc,” you sigh, your arm flopping against his muscled chest.

“give me the chance to learn on a date tomorrow morning?” 

-> instagram

f1gossipofficial

liked by user25, user26, user27 and others

f1gossipofficial update: charles leclerc seen this morning having breakfast with the same brunette as last night - could we see a new wag in the paddock soon?

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user25 OK GUYS MOTHER AND FATHER ARE OFFICIALLY TOGETHER ATP AND DONT CALL ME DELUSIONAL 🤩🤩🤩

user26 finally everyone will stop hounding charles to get a girlfriend 🤣

user27 i'm actually so happy for the two of them, i can't wait to see all their pics 🥰

user28 GUYS IT'S Y/N AND CHARLES TOGETHER, WE ARE MANIFESTING HER AT THE NEXT GP AS A WAG 🥳

user29 THEY DEFENTLY F*CKED AFTER LAST NIGHT LIKE BRUHHH DID U NOT SEE THEIR HANDS IN THE PAP PHOTOS

charles leclerc and y/n.piastri

liked by charles_leclerc, oscarpiastri, landonorris and others

y/n.piastri i wonder who... jk jk thanks charlie for being the best boyfriend there is 💋😘

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charles_leclerc i love you too mon amour... although i do require so payment for last night 🤪

user30 god charles is back on SIMP MODE user31 as an og delusional y/ncharles stan, i have never felt more vindicated to know that i shipped them together 😏 user32 now i wanna see, is y/n gonna wear ferrari red religiously, considering she hates the colour of papaya orange???

oscarpiastri it was nice to find out about this at 5am... at least it was before everyone else 🤔 and i always knew it would be charles :)

user33 oscar on his big bro duties 😄 user34 but he's so cute for shipping them ngl ahhahaha user35 he's probably thankful that isn't going to be third wheeling his girlfriend and his sister anymore y/n.piastri thanks oscie <3, i love you too big bro ❤️ charles_leclerc thank you for not threatening to kill me oscar user36 does this mean y/n's dating her brother's adopted dad?

user37 it's been only one day, but i would kill everyone if anything happened to them

user38 it's basically been two years in the making atp....

landonorris HA I ALWAYS KNEW IT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN - BUT YOU ALSO LEFT ME ALONE WITH YOUR FRIENDS Y/N

user39 lando's somehow third wheeling every single f1 relationship 😐 user40 somehow he's the only one not in a relationship right now, despite the amount of girls he could pull y/n.piastri sorry not sorry ;)

carlossainz55 does this mean there is a piastri-sainz truce now?

y/n.piastri i will consider it 😃 user41 istg if we see y/n messing with carlos in the ferrari garage user42 I WILL SELL A KIDNEY FOR A Y/N PRANK ON THE FERRARI BOYS 😼

user43 CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THEM OFFICIALLY AT THE PADDOCK

user44 y/n officially an f1 wag 😙

permanent f1 taglist (comment or msg me to join)

@charlesgirl16 @tallrock35 @sweate-r-weathe-r @unlikelystay

© the-flanuer || do not copy, rewrite or translate any of my work on any platform.

[bisluthq]

Is Shawn gay for real? People joke about it all the time but I am serious. Before Camila, he never had a public gf and Hailey does not count that was not a real couple- more like situationship or hook up.

Apparently he used to date his prom date Lauren but I dont know if there is proof of that. He tweeted he used to have a secret gf in like 2017 for two years which could be a lie. Every other singer flaunts their gf or bf but he gives bearded vibes ngl. We know every male pop star women they claim and they are affectionate publicly to them.

That photo of Shawn from last summer with his guy friends who were all obviously girly pop is so funny. A straight man can be friends with a gay guy but that many of them...kinda sus

I heard some rumours so take it with a grain of salt, but I heard Shawn dad is homophobic...

bruh. Bruh. Shawn has BEGGED people not to discuss this so this discussion will genuinely be my 13th reason. He says it makes him uncomfy, that it makes him super self-conscious, and that as far as he knows he’s not gay lol (tho he’s also not homophobic and *is* an ally but some of his denials come off somewhat homophobic but ALSO just LEAVE HIM ALONE that’s all he’s asked for and then he wouldn’t have to issue weird sounding denials). Who KNOWS lol? Maybe Shawn himself doesn’t. But it’s super weird to speculate about something that personal when a person LITERALLY BEGS FANS not to. When a celeb - or fwiw a person you know - says “I am asking people very nicely not to discuss my sexuality” and you keep doing it that’s super messed up.

Now people who are soft closeted - like Richard Madden lol where super legitimate publications put “roommate” in inverted commas because he doesn’t want to publicly come out but he’s also not exactly doing anything to hide it - are fair game lol we can all have a chuckle about that. (Not at Richard so much but at people who don’t buy that he’s yk not straight even though he’s doing bugger all to hide it beyond saying “I’m not gonna publicly come out because it’s not your business” essentially like obvi everyone who knows Richard irl knows his “roommate” is his bf and anyone with two brain cells knows whichever flavor of the year it is is in fact his bf). When celebs signal before they publicly come out or just like to hint they’re open to it, also fair enough (like Rihanna has never said “I’m bi” but she’s made enough comments that obviously she’s at least somewhat into women). But if someone explicitly says “this makes me extremely uncomfortable, KINDLY stop doing this” idk why anyone would feel the need to keep going??

This is also my issue with even the softest Gaylors atp - she’s asked people to stop??? She says it makes her feel weird??? She hasn’t said it makes her feel as weird as Shawn said it made him feel but she’s also asked to like shut it down???? Which part’s not clicking???

Finally re public gfs idk lots of people in the public eye don’t want to date super publicly - some for sexuality reasons for sure, some because they tend to date more normies, some because like idk about y’all but I don’t hard launch every fucking thing I’m involved in so why would celebs? It’s imo sorta weird to go “well this person doesn’t post a bunch of flings on Insta and they don’t take dates to celeb hotspots and don’t date people as famous as them necessarily so ergo they don’t date anyone” yk? (Not saying that’s what you said because you did say PUBLIC gf but like my point is public is irrelevant bc we don’t know who they’re seeing outside of the sliver of their life that we are privy to).

Anyway, my personal rules are if a person says they don’t like that conversation, stop having it. Also don’t accuse people of queerbaiting because real people genuinely can’t lol? That’s a term created for shows and films and books that tease it to keep a gay audience with no intention of writing it into the plot. Don’t accuse people of being fake gay either because MANY OF US experiment and aren’t quite sure of exact labels and that’s okay too. Normalize just saying like… people are people and celebs are people. If labels make them happy, dope. Trust that they know that whichever one they’re using rn fits them best in their own head or at least is the best one for them to say out loud. Also remember that you’re allowed to change your labels. You’re allowed to experiment and try shit out on all sides of the equation. You’re allowed to have a preference but pepper in some other stuff lol. Idk man just let people vibe.

Gossiping about celeb mess is fun lol but gossiping about something that personal like… being gay/queer LABEL WISE or “are they closeted???” isn’t mess it’s a super personal thing and idk man. Like if you wanna say lol - with some evidence - “I heard Shawn kissed a boy at this party he went to lol” I’d be like “lmaooo what happened” but that’s got fuck all to do with his label/speculation about his identity then - that’d just be a fun rumor about him doing something a bit wild. It’s the speculation on identity that I have a problem with? I’ll add the one thing I’m even more hectic about tho is fertility speculation because there’s NO WAY that can be a fun rumor. Also serious psychiatric diagnoses like if you say someone is on the spectrum or has a personality disorder idk why that’d be a fun rumor. Gossiping about mess = funny. Gossiping about real deep shit like… isn’t fun or funny to me and shouldn’t be to anyone with a tad of empathy.

Fyi that’s also my rule for real life gossip. Hilarious to hear like my friend got drunk and made out with a bunch of people and like snorted ❄️ off someone’s tits or w/e. Not hilarious to be like “did u hear that couple is going for IVF but it’s not working” yk??? Just have idk empathy.

[winderlylandchime]

Anyway when we got home from the ER he had a package waiting for him and it was basically like a care package from “his girls” aka the drag queens that he’s friends with back home. They sent him some usual normal stuff like his favorite candies and some snacks and just random stuff that he really likes. But the best part of it was that he pulled out four shirts they had made for him. One of them has ‘Team Brian’ written on it but this one is actually printed on and not written with a sharpie so he can now stop rewriting it every time he washes it (yes, thats what he has been doing lately). The second shirt had a picture of Brian inside of a heart (it was a picture of him in the Pride ep where he’s sitting on the steps and he’s wearing sunglasses right before Justin joins Jen in the parade), the third shirt had a picture of Justin on it during s1/2(?) where he had that shirt on it that said too busy too fcuk. And yes his photo was also in a heart. And the fourth shirt was the one that kinda made him tear up, which i thought was adorable. It had a picture of “his girls” in full drag on it and under it they had ‘(his name) girls’ written on it. They also wrote him a note that was really sweet and continues to make me curious as to what type of life he lives back home ngl (maybe i should move in with him for a few months next and see how the other side lives). But my favorite part of the note was when they wrote ‘we can’t have you walking around in bad fake merch. We tried to find some good real one but we couldn’t agree on anything so we just made it ourself.. next time maybe get hooked on something that social media was around to witness.’ And then the PS they wrote for Brian made me laugh because honestly same, it just said ‘PS I’d wanna fuck him too, i get it now’ so he now officially has unofficial merch and he was so happy with it that he immediately ran to the neighbor who has seen qaf to show him his new merch. And in case you wanted to know: while I fully expected him to put the Brian shirt on first, it was actually his girls shirt he put on first. And he made me take a picture of him wearing it so he could send it to them. And he showed me their texts and they were all so sweet but the best part was that all of them wrote a different version of ‘bitch what the fuck happened to your arm’ and one of them wrote a text that somehow managed to describe the last few months of my life and it read ‘i thought you went there to get better? Why do you keep getting more injured?’ BUT he is really happy with his little care package and with his shirts and this is honestly the most ridiculous thing in the world. I never thought THIS is where my straight brother would’ve ended up when he said he wanted to see the show.

ANON! This is the sweetest thing I've heard in a long time.

Your brother really has a whole drag family, doesn't he? They're making him t-shirts and sending him a care package? I love it.

next time maybe get hooked on something that social media was around to witness <- so true. In some ways I'm glad QAF is fairly untouched by social media but on the other hand, there is so little content as a result.

PS I’d wanna fuck him too, i get it now <- ALL of us regardless of gender or sexual orientation

It's so sweet that the first shirt he put on was of his girls and very sweet that they responded:‘i thought you went there to get better? Why do you keep getting more injured?’

You know, I talk a big game about loving drag. I should really get involved with my local drag scene more and have queens that will send me unofficial official merch if I'm ever recovering from surgery. Your brother is a hero (in this sense!).

[moabunnie]

TxT | You’re on vacation with them ❤️

🦋

Hey guys! I’ve got a sudden creative spurt so you’re probably gonna get more than one post this week :) hope you enjoy ~

For story context: you guys have been planning a vacation and finally get to go together for a whole week!

Warnings: mention of weight gain, Yeonjun accidentally hurting himself (no details of blood or gore or anything), slight smut/sexy things

🦋

Soobin

You guys are going to Paris!

Ngl I think soobin really just told you to plan it and just goes along with everything you wanna do lol

You guys would walk literally everywhere

Always stopping at different bakeries and cafés

And feeding each other cute lil pastries

Acting like newlyweds😭😭😭

Soobin just always looking at you and into your eyes because he’s so in love 🥺

Soobin would buy a beret and then never wear it

OBVIOUSLY you’d go to the Eiffel Tower

He would surprise you and bring you flowers :,)

There would be some guy playing violin nearby for tourists and and you and soobin just hugging each other, soobs giving you forehead kisses

Stray cats would follow you guys around

Soobin would joke about you being their mom

And you’d just kinda give him a wink and say something like “I could be one after this trip”

And then he gets all flustered and red and ahhhhhh

Yeonjun

You two are going to Hawaii!

You guys are basically gonna be swimming the whole time you’re there

Whether it’s in a pool or on the beach

Yeonjun is your personal photographer and takes photos of you whenever he can (which is basically 24/7) because he just thinks you are so beautiful:,)

Him pretending to not know you and flirting with you like “Ayo baby you got a man?” And wearing sunglasses and like tilting them to look at you (I hope you know what I mean???)😭😭

matching outfits

Trying all the little local restaurants

Also stopping at stands that sell pineapple and coconut, and making a meal out of it lol

Yeonjun trying to impress you by surfing/boogie boarding and totally failing and accidentally hurting himself from the string waves

But it’s okay bc you go back to your hotel room and make sure he feels comfy and safe ❤️

Every night you two usually drink wine and just watch movies and cuddle, and fall asleep :,)

Beomgyu

You lovebirds are going to Greece!

Beomgyu would make a whole ABBA playlist for you two to listen to the whole time your there

you two getting sunburned and just putting aloe vera and lotion on each other everyday lol

“Baby ow be gentle I am SENSITIVE” -Choi Beomgyu being the drama queen he is and that we love and adore

I can see beomgyu taking you here for like your birthday

So he would wake you up on your birthday with breakfast in bed

Maybe cute new outfit??? Lingerie?????👀

he loves going to the shops in town and buying you pretty clothes and jewelry

Even though you basically wear his tshirts the whole time

Let’s be honest you guys would be all over each other the whole time

Kissing and hugging everywhere and at all times, just can’t get enough of each other 🥺

Taehyun

Y’all are going to Korea!

I know he’s from here but hear me out-

✨Staycation✨

He’s showing you his favorite places!!! Restaurants, scenery, stores, everything

I think you would stay at a different hotel every night

Even though you could easily stay at his place (for free lmao)

You guys turn it into a game to test out which hotel is the best😂 we all know what y’all are doing at night in those hotels beds tho

I can see you two cuties getting tiny matching tattoos :,)

Lots of museums

Tae taking pics of you at the museum and being like “I’m loving this art piece” and you just roll your eyes 😩

Even though he’s lived there his whole life, he would say he’s never been happier there :,)

HueningKai

You cuties are going to Italy!

Cue him faking a really bad Italian accent

Except he’s bad at accents and actually does like a German or Southern accent lmao

You’d visit the colosseum, obviously lots of restaurants, museums

Kai never stops looking at you though

He’s so happy to be there with his favorite person 🥺

You rent a scooter / motor bike and share it, which is probably a bad idea but still fun nonetheless

Takes lots of selfies with you mostly of him kissing ur cheek

Your hotel has a balcony and he likes to go outside into the street while you’re on the balcony and wave at you from below 😭😭

buys matching rings :,)

He’s not proposing he’s still a baby watch urself (but u gonna be thinking about it the whole time😂😂)

You guys are gonna gain weight from this trip from eating so much pasta and pizza lol but you’re so happy and content you don’t even care 💕

[haik-choo]

karasuno first years out late w/ their s/o

request: Could you write how 1st years (yachi too pls🥺) going out with their s/o late at night ?

a/n: this is such a cute little concept i -- 

[KARASUNO FIRST YEARS OUT LATE AT NIGHT WITH THEIR S/O]

-tsukishima, kageyama, yamaguchi, hinata, yachi

tsukishima kei.

not gonna lie, he’s often awake late at night. he’s a night owl and doesn’t mind sacrificing his sleep to watch some youtube videos

occasionally, he even goes out late at night, slipping past his parents and brother’s room and softly closing the front door with his headphones covering his ears and his hands stuffed in his pockets

so when you text him at 3am and ask if he can go out with you to the convenience store, he agrees in seconds to meet you at the halfway point between your houses

wastes no time in putting on his sneakers and a hoodie; he wants to get there quickly so that you aren’t left out by yourself

tsukishima knows there’s creeps out there, which is exactly why he jogs to the halfway point and is relieved when he’s the first one there

as soon as he sees you in the distance he fast walks to catch up to you, and slips his hand into yours

he totally brings bluetooth earbuds so that you two can listen to the same music instead of his wired headphones <3 uwu

is always on the lookout for any weirdos, and if he spots someone eyeing you up he shoots them the nastiest glare

eventually wraps his arms around your shoulder while your hand is sitll in his and its that cute little thing where your arms is across your chest holding his hand </3

pays for whatever you get at the store, ignores your complaints and tells you to shut up when you continue to insist on paying

“im trying to be a good boyfriend for once, for the love of god PLEASE shut up”

secretly takes a candid photo of you at some point in the night and sets it as his home screen -- NOT his lock screen, and when you see it he outright denies having taken it

tsukishima: you told me to take a picture of you

you: stop lying i know you’re a closet hopeless romantic 

convinces you to stop at the park and eat the snacks you both got there, music still humming in your ears as the moonlight washes you both in cool tones

tsukishima when he’s alone with you is so soft -- he literally kisses your hand and temple and mutters very softly “love you” 

all in all, tsukishima kei is the perfect night-owl boyfriend to go on snack-runs with 

kageyama tobio.

"why would i go out right now. do you know what time it is. i have practice in the morning”

kags really out here kinda hurtin’ your feelin’s ngl boy doesn’t understand the vibes LOL

honestly you probably woke him up, he’s asleep at like ten every night (even tho he still has homework to do he just flat-out ignores it LOL) 

only agrees to go out walking with you because you said he could bring his volleyball and you’d toss a few for him....and also because he’s a little worried because it’s so dark out

doesn’t walk with you to the park but meets you there LOL

he deadass has his wholeass duffel bad with the ball, two waterbottles, two towelettes, volleyball sneakers and everything

“you know,,,,we’re not playing a game, right, tobio?”

“yeah???? and??? what’s your point”

acts nonchalant but is totally having fun and is lowkey glad you asked him to go out so late because it’s cool out, there’s no one to bother him, and you just look...really good under the stars

he’s not a cheesy person but...god you just take his breath away sometimes. not that he’ll ever say that though

you ask to take a break like thirty minutes in because you are LITERALLY dying meanwhile he hasn’t even broken a sweat (”you’re already tired? maybe you should workout more” “shut UP kageyama”)

you both sit on the bench, and you’re lowkey waiting for him to reach for your hand but they’re just folded in his lap as he stares out in the nothingness of night

kageyama can’t take a hint. we know this. he’s incapable of knowing what you want unless you flat out tell him; so you have to be a very honest person

he doesn’t even really initiate skinship, not because he doesn’t want to, but just because it never really crosses his mind

plus he doesn’t feel the need to constantly show affection because he thinks it’s obvious that he likes you

despite this, he is good at spotting weird people, and he’s pretty protective of you, so you’re completely safe with him. trust him, he’ll keep you safe

all in all, have patience and stamina because kags will play volleyball with you until you pass out. also, he loves you 

yamaguchi tadashi.

is in bed by 11pm but doesn’t actually go to sleep until two am because he’s scrolling through tiktok on his phone

sees your text about wanting to go out for a late night walk and maybe go through the little forest near your house and automatically sends a text that says “ill meet you at your window! can you pack some snacks? :)”

he walks all the way to your house, even if it’s more convenient to meet halfway because he wants to protect you! he’s not the strongest nor is he the most intimidating, so all he really has to offer is his presence

despite not being strong nor scary, yams literally has eagle eye. you can’t tell me that he can’t read people in a heartbeat -- he’s extremely perceptive 

also texts you to not bring a jacket because he’s bringing on of his own for you !!! so sweet what the hell

he waits at your front door and when you step out he automatically pushes his volleyball jacket into your hands and he takes the bag of snacks from you and sticks out one of his hands UGH such a gentleman

lets you ramble about anything and stares at your side profile as he listens 

joins in with a few quips here and there but ultimately is pretty quite and lets you speak or lets the silence cozy into the conversation

sees that there’s a guy sitting on a bench up the road and he switches places with you so that you’re further away from the stranger 

also wraps a protective hand around your waist until you both are past the random dude but yams will glance behind yall every once in a while

when you two reach the mini forest he ends up taking the lead claiming that he knows a good spot

and damn, he’s right

it’s a little clearing that is illuminated solely by the moonlight and he sets the bag of snacks down beside him before sitting down himself, apologizing for not bringing a blanket that you two could sit on 

pats the spot next to him so that you sit right beside him and he leans back with his hand on yours ONGMIRG 

is the super cheesy type and tells you that you look really pretty and that,,,he kind of wants to kiss you

you: *experiencing heart palpitations* and you did this for what. 

yamaguchi: ...because i love you?

you: *K.O*

all in all, yamaguchi is the boyfriend that completely indulges your late-night escapades <3 

hinata shoyo.

is either completely fast asleep and doesn’t see your text or was awake and not planning to sleep for the next five hours, no in-between

but if he’s awake and sees your text, he agrees right away and asks where you want to meet up and what time because homeboy probably has to bike to get there AgAGAGAGA

literally doesn’t even show up in sneakers. he’s wearing sandals and shorts with a short sleeve top 

“i came in my pjs”

“i see that.”

asks if you two can bike around instead because he doesn’t want to have to wheel his bike around for like an hour 

he tells you to hold on tight because the bike was built for one person, and when you press against his back his warmth is literally so,,,comforting 

has no sense of awareness and will scream going down a hill in the middle of a neighborhood, no fucks given

so, no, he doesn’t notice any weriod people even if there are some around

you always end up running into some weird people and you get new interesting stories every other day because let’s be honest hinata is a magnet for crazy shit and crazy people (usually crackheads) 

you both just ride around as he talks about his day, usually his sister always comes up in the conversation( “she asked me to marry you the other day” “doirhgAEROIHFGRE SHOYO WHAT” “what? i told her i would. i keep my promises!”)

after like thirty minutes he begs for a break and you stop at a little 24/7 ice cream store that is run by the sweetest elderly couple

you share a sundae because you don’t want to eat too much this late at night

he plops on the bench right outside the store with his bike leaning against the metal handles, and h snuggles up to you and watches you scroll on your phone

he talks a little here and there, but for the most part, he goes quiet, and it’s during this time where you’re unaware of his gaze that he just takes his time drinking in your features in the yellow light of the lamppost 

he can’t read the mood most times, but this time he does, and he stays quiet, and he thinks to himself

that he really will marry you one day

all in all, hinata gives you the impulsive young teenage experience of late night bike rides while eating his fair share of ice cream

yachi hitoka.

another either or, except this time she’s either fast asleep or stressing over homework and the nine tests she has the next day

when you ask if she can go on a walk with you she’s hesitant because she doesn’t want to get in trouble with her mom and she’s a total goody goody and terrified of doing anything reckless; but then she remembers that her mom was on a business trip and so she, very cautiously, says yes

you: good. i’m outside your door btw

yachi: i never had a choice did i

you have to meet her at her house because she’s way too scared to walk by herself at night; she might even make you factime her as you commute because she’s worried for you

jumps at every little thing, even the crows cawing make her shit herself

instictively grabs onto your sleeve and nervously look around the entire time, to the point where she doesn’t hear what you say

so you offer to go to a little cafe that’s still open and right away she nods

she’s so adorable, she bows really deeply when you two walk into the store and apologizes for it being so late

and finally, because you two are safe, she’s calm and smiling as she sips at her strawberry smoothie

awkwardly and very shyly reaches out for your hand on the table and gently lays her palm on yours

canon: yachi totally has freckles and you can’t convince me otherwise 

her face is red and her freckles are just on display you can’t help but coo at her and tuck some hair behind her ear because god could she get any cuter?

you two end up staying for like a hour and a half and very shyly she asks if you could walk her home 

and this time on the walk she’s not overly cautious and seems to enjoy the nighttime breeze and your hand softly clasping hers

does that cute thing where she lays her head on your shoulder or arm while you both are walking and looks up at you through her eyelashes and asks if you could give her a kiss on the cheek </3

you: stop. please. im going to die.

when you’re at her door she literally just stands there awkwardly for a few seconds before tilting her head upwards and pressing her lips to yours and then promptly running inside

video calls you three seconds afterwards to make sure you get home safely 

all in all, you might need to be the impulsive one, but yachi enjoys spending late night time with you more than she admits. also please kiss her thanks      

[taleasnewastime]

hey!! congrats on the job!! woooo!

as for the drabble game...how about 38 & 42 with Yoongi?? thank you! congrats again!

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Had my first meeting about it today and ngl a tad stressed. But thanks for the congrats and for the request!! I hope you like it :)

38. "Choose me." & 42. "I came to say goodbye." | Yoongi | Word count: 1337

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Yoongi is dressed nice, far too nicely for a Friday night when he is usually just in sweats. Even his hair is styled, pushed back off his forehead, not greasy or messy, suggesting he’s recently showered. He looks good, way too good, and something funny bubbles in your tummy as you watch him jitter around the room.

He’s not paying you any attention, shuffling around in the search of something you feel like you should help him find. But you don’t offer your help, just sit and watch him fumble around. He looks cute, all dressed up, muttering to himself while he looks through some draws. You wait a minute or two before you finally give in, and just as you open your mouth to ask what he’s looking for, his phone lights up on the table in front of you.

“Why has a picture of a fat cat just popped up on your phone?”

His head whips in your direction at the question, the first time he’s paid you any attention.

“What?”

“Your phone,” you start to clarify, leaning forward so you can pick up his phone and get a better look at the picture that’s now disappeared. “There was a contact photo -”

Before your hand can even get close to the phone, it’s snatched from beneath you. The sight cutting off your words.

“It’s my dating picture,” he says it casually, as if should explain everything, but it only causes you to have more questions.

“I’m sorry, what?”

His attention is now on his phone, unlocking it to read the message that’s just come through. You have to lean back in your seat to get a good look at him stood above you. The smile that blossoms on his face as he looks at his phone only makes the strange bubbles in you to intensify.

“The cat. It’s my profile picture on my dating profile,” he says, eyes still on the phone.

“Firstly, your profile picture is a cat not yourself? Secondly, you have a dating profile? Thirdly, your profile picture is a cat?” The words are light and teasing, but Yoongi still rolls his eyes at you as he puts his phone in his pocket and starts to walk away.

“You can’t ignore me on this, I need to know everything,” your voice raises in volume as he continues to walk away.

“I need to find my house key,” is all he says in reply.

“Just tell me this; is your date in a park? Will you be eating chunks of chicken in gravy out of bowls with no cutlery? Are you taking her catnip instead of flowers?”

Before Yoongi disappears around the corner he throws a crude gesture over his shoulder that has you laughing.

But as he disappears and even as the laugh continues to come out of you, you feel that slightly hollow pit inside you grow. You didn’t know he was dating, he hadn’t told you prior to tonight, and the fact makes that gaping hole in you feel that little bit bigger.

You’ve been a chicken around him, known you’ve liked him more than just a friend, more than just a house mate, for a while now, but have just been too scared and worried to do anything about it. Yoongi isn’t good with emotions, doesn’t easily let on to how he’s feeling. But dating? That feels like a massive step in the direction you didn’t want.

“Found them,” he steps back into the room, jingled said keys.

“Does the girl you’re going on a date with also have a profile picture of a cat?” You joke, because trying to make light of the situation makes it feel a lot better than taking it seriously.

He sighs, but still steps closer to you, enough so that he looms over where you’re sat on the sofa.

“It’s like the opposite of Tinder. It’s supposed to be a blind date, you don’t know what the person looks like, just get matched based on personalities and that’s how you get to know each other before you decide to meet,” he explains.

“It sounds awful.”

“It’s supposed to work better than other apps because you get to know the person, don’t judge them on their looks first.”

“So she’s not going to be disappointed when you turn up and aren’t a massive fat ginger cat?” You tease.

“I came to say goodbye, not to be ridiculed and made to feel more nervous than I currently do.”

“Sorry. It’s just… I don’t think I’ve ever seen you go on a date before.”

He shrugs, suddenly avoiding your eye contact.

“It’s good,” you try and fail to sound enthusiastic. “You should date.”

“I sense a but,” he says flatly.

“But,” you pause wondering how best to say this. “You shouldn’t go on a date if you don’t want to.”

“I never said I didn’t want to go.”

“You implied you want someone to like you for you, not for your looks.”

“That doesn’t mean I don’t want to go.”

“Ok,” you refrain from rolling your eyes, taking a deep breath before you carry on. “You just don’t seem excited is all.”

“I’m excited. Just because I’m not dancing around the room and shouting about it like you normally do doesn’t mean I’m not excited.”

“Fine. Go. Have a nice time.” You snap the words at him, unsure how your conversation has escalated to feel so hostile.

But while you snap and remain stiff, eyes going to the TV that’s turned off, Yoongi sighs and sits down next to you.

“Hey,” his voice is soft, the complete opposite to a few seconds ago.

“You should go if you don’t want to be late,” you continue to be snappy.

“I’ve got time,” he says simply.

But you continue to ignore him, continue to keep your body angled away from him, continue to keep your eyes trained on the black TV screen as if it’s playing a fascinating show you don’t want to miss a second of.

“Y/N,” Yoongi tries again, and though you know he’s a patient man, he won’t wait here trying to work out what’s wrong forever. And maybe you’re stupid or just stubborn, but you still don’t turn to him. “Why don’t you want me to go?”

“I never said I don’t want you to go.”

“You didn’t need to say it, I know you, you don’t want me to go. Why?”

Your leg starts to bob up and down on the floor. He’d called you out. He’d so easily seen through everything you’d just said and though the thought makes you warm, it also makes you feel so seen.

A large hand comes to rest on your leg, stopping its movements.

“You can tell me,” he says in the same soft tone and you swear you hear hope in the tone.

“Ok, I don’t want you to go,” you start, unable to meet his eyes as you are about to admit your feelings. “I want you to stay here and watch crappy TV with me and complain about how bad it is and order takeaway and stay up way later than we should. I want you to sit a little too close to me so when I get tired, I can rest my head on your shoulder and you can put your arm round me and I can fall asleep like that. I want to wake up in the morning and know that you were asleep next door to me, alone, not with some girl you’ve met online that has a picture as horrifying as that cat.”

“I guess what I’m saying is,” you pause, finally looking at him, his pupils blown out, mouth popped open, you can see he’s worked it out, and still, you say it. “Choose me.”

He doesn’t do anything for a second, just looks at you with that shocked expression and you’re pretty sure you’ve blown it until he leans forward and presses his lips against yours.