#i’m only thinking about this more because usually mark and haechan argue about what the second song should be but 🥺🥺🥺

[ptvhyuck]

okay so when i’m with you in their title track yes but they choose another song to perform which is flying kiss so do you think they all chose flying kiss bc it was haechan’s first released song 🥺

[midmourn]

play the part

PAIRING Lee Donghyuck/Haechan/GN!Reader/Na Jaemin

SUMMARY Haechan’s your boyfriend, but Jaemin’s your best friend. How could he ever compete?

GENRE Angst

CONTENTS Brief mentions of (almost) vomiting, I think the phrase is called emotional cheating, alcohol use, surprise sad ending

WORDS 1,428

LISTENING TO that way by tate mcrae, traitor by olivia rodrigo, high infidelity by taylor swift

NOTE im not writing a part two so please don’t ask, thank you <3 i found this in my google docs so i tweaked it just a tiny bit and i couldn’t find it on my old blog so idk if i ever posted it or not

When Mark finds Haechan, the younger boy is still nursing the drink that he had received from Jaehyun when they first stepped inside the party. “Woah,” he tries to joke, already knowing how his best friend was feeling, “Still drinking that drink? You’d usually be in your fifth one by now. Finally decided to take AA seriously?”

Haechan doesn’t laugh, and Mark’s smile fades, sighing as his shoulders slump. Mark downs the rest of his own drink before setting it aside, not wanting it anymore. Haechan doesn’t look up when Mark sits beside him on the railing of the balcony, “You know, it’s probably not safe for us to be this close to the edge while drinking,” Mark gestures to the ground beneath them.

“I feel like death would be better than life right now,” Haechan murmurs, and even those the words could be taken as a joke, both of them know it’s not. And Mark has a pretty good idea on why that is. Mark follows to where Haechan’s gaze is, finding a group of people sitting around the pool in Jaehyun’s backyard, but Haechan’s eyes were only on two people— a familiar head full of of black and a familiar face.

Jaemin’s arm was thrown around your shoulders, the back of his head facing Mark and Haechan but your face was clear for Haechan to see. The grin on your face was so bright that even Mark’s eyes hurt. He wasn’t close enough to be able to see, but if he was, he was sure that he would’ve been able to see the stars decorating your eyes. Mark remembers when you and Haechan first met, the younger would not shut up about you. Mark knows things about you that he shouldn’t, and that’s because of him.

“They’re just friends,” Mark says, swallowing the lump in his throat for he can’t swallow the empathy swelling up inside of him— knowing exactly how his best friend feels. “You’re their boyfriend.”

“I have the title,” Haechan sighs, tilting his head up to drag his eyes away from the two of you. His glistening eyes stare up at the dark sky, clouds decorating the sky and moving to cover the moon. “But he has their heart.”

“If they had feelings for him, they would break up with you, Hyuck,” Mark tries to reassure him, but even Mark doesn’t believe his own words. He wishes he could help more.

“Not if they knew I’d be heartbroken by it,” Haechan swallows the rest of his drink down, welcoming the burning taste. It couldn’t beat the burning in his heart, though.

“Either way, you’re heartbroken,” Mark argues, shaking his head as he turns to face Haechan. “But if you were over, at least you’d be free to move on.”

Haechan doesn’t respond for a moment, only rolling his shoulders as he looks back down at the group of people again. He licks his lips before saying, “I have the title. That’s enough, right?” When Mark doesn’t respond, he exhales through his nose sharply, “I’m their boyfriend. I love them. That should be enough.”

There’s a painful silence before Mark speaks with an underlying tone of hurt, “Sometimes, it isn’t enough.” He’s starting to wish he had another drink. “Hyuck, you’re going to have to do it if they won’t.”

“Guess I’ll just have to play the part, then,” Haechan says suddenly, pushing himself off the railing and onto the balcony floor.

“What part?” Mark asks, eyebrows furrowing as he turns to him.

“Acting like I’m really stupid,” Haechan smiles, but it’s an empty smile. Mark’s not familiar with it— and he hates it. “And that I have no idea that they’re falling in love with their best friend.”

“How was your day?” Haechan asks, his phone laying on his bed with the speaker on. He’s drying his hair with the t-shirt he had on before he took a shower, staring into his mirror in front of his bed. “Have fun?”

“All I did was sleep and play Among Us with Jisung so,” you giggle and his heart swells at the sound, a smile forming on his lips. “Yeah, I did have fun.”

“So you’ll play Among Us with Jisung but not me?” He snarks, throwing his shirt into his dirty clothes hamper but you know he’s joking— he’s always joking like that. “Maybe you should date him instead.”

You giggle again, “Jisung is too young—”

“It’s barely two years,” he sits down on his bed, grabbing his phone to go through his photo gallery, almost every single one being of you. “I’ll even tell him for you, that way if you get rejected—” A small smile is on his lips as he stares down at a picture of you and him, visiting your shared lock at the Love Lock of Namsan Tower.

“Hey!”

“— You don’t have to witness it and ugly cry.”

“In this hypothetical situation, even if he said he liked me back, you’d still tell me he rejected me, wouldn’t you?”

Haechan laughs from surprise, sometimes forgetting just how much you know him, “And you’re right, for once. I’d then tell him the text was for someone else to humble him.”

Your laughter is loud and unapologetic, just how he likes it. “Oh, you are so—” You cut yourself off and it’s silent from your side before you start giggling, “Stop it.” His eyebrows furrow, head tilting as he pauses in his scrolling. What had he done? “No! Don’t be like that and don’t you dare—” You start giggling loudly again, shrieking for whoever to stop what they were doing. If you weren’t laughing, he’d have been concerned.

Haechan says your name once but when it’s not heard over your laughter, he frowns and goes back to the call, seeing that he’s not on mute. He says your name again and when no reply, he goes to say your name once more but a familiar voice stops him. His body freezes as his blood goes cold, staring down at his floor when he recognizes the voice.

No one has a voice like Na Jaemin does. And even if there was, he’d recognize that voice anywhere.

It’s when even after you stop laughing, and you talk to Jaemin like Haechan still isn’t on the phone with you, is when his heart finally drops like an anchor to the bottom of his stomach. You forgot.

They forgot, they forgot, they forgot, his mind chants back at him.

Haechan doesn’t register when your voice first cuts off, only looking down when he realizes and seeing that the call ended. He doesn’t remember if he ended it or if you remembered and did it yourself. Either way, his heart still hurts. Tears stream down his face as sobs rip out of his chest, with loud, violent sounds. His chest hurts, too. His chest is tightening, and coughs start to cough, each cough getting more violent than the next. He doesn’t know if it’s because of the harsh crying or—

He turns to find a water bottle for him to drink but his vision is blurry from crying and the coughing won’t stop, no matter how much he tries to breathe and calm himself down. The crying doesn’t stop, either. He has a feeling he’s about to throw up and pushes himself off his bed, stumbling to his bathroom with his hands on the walls and door frame so he won’t fall.

It doesn’t work, and he falls on his knees anyway. In only a matter of a few minutes, he’s soaked to the bone and his shirt is wet— his previously dry hair is clinging to his forehead and neck. Bile— he thinks— crawls up his throat and he throws himself to where he knows the toilet is, clinging onto the bathroom sink as it comes up and into the toilet.

He doesn’t know how long it’s been when he finally comes around, dried tear streaks on his cheeks and his vision is no longer blurry. His breathing is still heavy, but it’s slow and ragged. He’s not coughing or crying anymore. He can’t help but look in the toilet, not even knowing if he really threw up or if it was just his imagination. His breath catches in his throat, the sight of a familiar singular flower floating in the otherwise empty toilet. A light pink Orchid, your favorite flowers. He knows because he gave them to you on your first date.

Haechan isn’t stupid— and the flower only confirms his thoughts.

[jaemsun00]

Nct mark + 00 line when you give them an unexpected blowjob.

This is mature, do not interact if it make you uncomfortable. Exhibitionism acts.

- MARK

It was almost midnight and Mark was still stuck at the company room at the desk, writing whatever words came to his mind. You sat a fair bit away on your own chair, spinning around tiredly. He has told you, you should go home and go to sleep but you refused to leave him alone.

“This is so fucking annoying” you heard him swear, before ripping the paper out of the book, scrunching it up and failing to chuck it in the bin right beside his feet.

Just as you were about to say something a very interesting idea came to your mind. Mark has admitted that he has been feeling very uninspired to write any of his lyrics lately. Maybe he needed something to get the inspiration back.

Slowly walking towards him, you planned it out. It was going to be simple and Mark would not dare to say no to what your thinking.

Mark snapped his head when your hand touched his shoulder softly. “Let’s do something” you smile weirdly at him and he did eyes you. “I would love to but I have to finish this by tomorrow” he motioned to his book.

“I can help you” Mark tried not to let out a laugh when you said that. It’s no secret that your not talented in that area. “To get inspiration I mean” you scoff seeing how he was hiding his laughter. “Oh yeah? How you gonna do that?”

He was oblivious to your plan which made it seem even better. Mark was taken back when you spun his chair around and slowly dropped to your knees in between his legs. “Like this” you smile up at him, seeing how he gulped when you two made eye contact. he lifted his hips for you to slip his pants down and get right to work.

- RENJUN

“It’s very pretty” you smile at the painting Renjun has been working on the past two hours. You’ve barely been awake two minutes and he was forcing you to see all the drawings he has worked on lately. “You reckon?” He took the paper back and admired it himself.

“Mmm. Now can we go to beddd” you whine, hands resting on his desk as he shook his head. Ever since you’ve woken up with no boyfriend beside you, you’ve been whining to him about it. “Go by yourself” scoffing, you stood tall over his sitting figure.

“Renjun” he hummed as a response making you a bit more mad. But why not play with him a bit. “Renjun” you try again in a more sing song voice. Your boyfriend still ignored you. Thankfully the desk he was working on was easy to get underneath, yeah you hit your head once but who cares.

Renjun was a bit weirded out with you crawling under the table, but he wasn’t expecting your hand rubbing at him through his pants. “Baby?” He groaned out, pushing his chair back to see you smiling up at him. “Your just gonna-“ “okay I’m going to bed.” You say getting up, but Renjun was faster to grab onto your wrist. “You can’t leave. You’ve started something” “if you come to bed then I’ll finish it” your smile was so cunningly that Renjun couldn’t say no and followed you back to bed.

- JENO

It was funny, seeing how normal Jeno was trying to be while talking through the headset with Haechan. But you continued your task, bopping your head up and down on his length. “Go le- fuck left” your boyfriend tried to hide his moan. Haechan must of said something back because Jeno told him to shut up.

“I kicked my toe” he lied through his clenched teeth, just as you planned you took him in your mouth fully, gagging a bit. That just made Jeno want to cry out. You’ve never done this, never have you thought you would be doing this. But here you are, on your knees and giving your boyfriend a blow job under his desk.

“Okay I’m gonna- I’m gonna go” he stuttered before quickly taking his headset off and placing it on the keyboard. His head dropped down to see you doing your task. “Fuck you look so pretty” he smiled, hands running through your messy hair, making a make shift ponytail as his hips bucked into your face. Taking you by surprise.

- HAECHAN

The only reason why you were waiting under your boyfriend desk was because of the stuff you over heard him and some of his mates talking about. How he would love to get head under the desk while he played a game on his computer.

“I’ve got food” you heard his voice before the door opened, Hacehan saw the empty bed and sighed. Thinking maybe you went home already with how long he was taking. Just as he was about to take his phone out, he saw you shift in your spot under the table.

“What are you doing?” You crawl out of the small spot, facing Haechan who looked so confused right now. “Well I was- I was going to surprise you with... with-“ you felt so stupid having to explain it. Hacehan had no clue what was going on in your mind.

“With? Scaring me?” You shake your head, god how you wished someone would come in and save you from the embarrassment your about to face. “I was going to suck you off while you played the game” you mumble but Haechan heard it all. Quickly smiling at your words.

“Oh really?” You could hear the teasing smirk he wore but you couldn’t let him see how red your cheeks have turned since admitting that. “Well what’s stopping you? Get back under” he waved his hands towards the desk and started walking towards it. “Your? Uh” you let out a nervous laugh.

“Don’t say your getting shy now, come on you said you wanted to” he smiled so innocently at you as he sat on his gaming chair, leaving a space for you to crawl back under. “The food will go cold” “who cares. I don’t want blue balls”

- JAEMIN

“What are you doing?” Jaemin laughed as your wondering hands made their way to his thighs. He was just peacefully laying on the bed, laptop propped up beside him as he watched some sort of drama. “Nothing” you lie before your hand starts going further up to his cock, rubbing lightly before he grabbed at your wrist.

“You have work soon” he warned as if that was going to stop you. You nod, trying to move your hand again. “Your going to be late if you start it up” he looked down at his pants which were loose around his waist. “And? It will be fine”

Jaemin wanted it tell you no, you had a job to do and last time you went in late your boss threatened your job. But as soon as you started peeling his pants off, the words in his mouth disappeared. But your mouth, your mouth was now full with him. Eyes never left his own as you licked his tip.

“Your- fuck that feels good” he moaned out, hands running through your hair and playing with it as you worked on him. Jaemin felt himself grow hard and big in your mouth and gosh it felt too good not to lift his hips to get more friction.

- YANGYANG

He has spoken to you about this before, how it would be amazing if you gave him head as he played a game. Being bored all day you decided today was the best time to do it. What you didn’t expect was YangYang to have his mic on.

So he would just have to be quite. You usually sat on the floor studying as he played his games. So he thought nothing of it as you moved closer to his legs. The shorts he wore giving away how he wasn’t wearing any boxers right now. He had no plans so it didn’t surprise you.

“Nah nah I work fair and square your just a bad player” you have no idea who he was insulting, nor did you care. Yangyang stopped moving when he felt you prying his shorts off. It was hard as he didn’t lift his hips, giving up on trying you just pull his member out.

“One second” YangYang spoke, muting himself before staring down at you. “What are you doing baby?” He laughed as you started moving your hand up his shaft. “Nothing much” you shrug as if you weren’t making him harder in your hands. “Turn the mic back on”

Yangyang widened his eyes at you, slowly shaking his head. “I don’t think the boys want to hear that” “just do it” your eyes tell him he should listen. So he does, clicking the mute off and getting back to his arguing members.

You licked the underside did his length before shoving him whole in your mouth. Yangyang stuttered his words as he tried to focus on playing. But it was rather hard when you were blowing him right now. “Holy fuck” he let out loudly, his members thinking maybe he died in the game.

- SHOTARO

“Please” he begged but you ignored him again, laying on his lap as he tried to push you off. “Your my personal pillow so no. I’m not moving” you whine back at him, moving your head on his lap as he just sighed, letting you win this time.

The movie he watched continued playing as you turned your head, meeting his crotch and a smirk grew on your face. Shotaro clearly didn’t know your thoughts even when you moved to your side, so your face was met right where his dick rested.

“Are you hungry?” He asked innocently, pulling out his phone so he could order. “I’m very hungry” you say sensually but your boyfriend was oblivious to it.

“What do you want? Chicken? Or-“ “you” you spit out making him laugh awkwardly. “Yeah well I’m not edible so-“ you scoff at him, hands running down his stomach, feeling how he shivered every time your hand got closer.

“Right here? Sungchan will be back soon and I’m sure he-“ “it’s fine baby we just need to be fast” Shotaro didn’t know why his dick was growing at your words. Does he want to get caught? While he was in his thoughts you were pulling him out of his briefs. Already getting started with your hand.

“We can always go into your room?” The boy shook his head, lifting his hips so he could push his pants down to his ankles. “Just let’s be fast” you smiled at his words. You always get what you want either way or another. “I’m sure we will be very fast”

[nctsjiho]

Explode

warnings: there’s 2 swear words in there and it’s a bit angsty this one

❀ There’s some unexplained tension between the 6 youngest members of Dream and JiHo

A bunch of testosterone and very strong-willed men was a recipe for occasional conflicts. Getting into fights with your friends was never fun. It was even worse when that friend was someone you had to work with, live with and see everyday. It happened from time to time that the boys butted heads, but usually it was a very dumb and small problem which got resolved before the end of the day. (Often because other members got involved to tell them their problem was just dumb and nothing worth fighting over.)

This time however seemed like a very different situation. It wasn’t a small fight between the two youngest members about a dance move. It also wasn’t someone who was jealous of another member because they forgot about hangout plans to chill with someone else. No this time seemed a lot more serious. The older boys watched as the room filled with tension. JiHo had just walked in, not even saying as much as a hi or giving a smile. It wasn’t like her and before anyone had to ask anything they sensed the second source of the tension. The 6 youngest Dream members were all sitting together, blank to annoyed facial expressions and most uncharacteristically, not even one of them was talking.

The older boys were all exchanging questioning looks, but it was evident that no one knew what was going on. They even looked at Mark, hoping that if anyone, he’d be the one to know what was going on since he was a member of Dream after all, but alas. He seemed the most dumbfounded of them all.

Taeyong was about to speak up, but before he could one of their managers walked in, ready to brief them on their upcoming schedules.

Once the meeting was over everyone made their way over to the biggest practise room. JiHo had settled on the couch next to Kun and Yangyang, quickly putting her airpods in her ears, a clear sign she didn’t want to engage in any conversation. Since JiHo wasn’t going to talk the older boys thought that they could try prying some information out of the Dreamies. Not wanting to step on anyone’s toes though, they all agreed that Mark should talk to the boys.

He carefully approached the boys who had been talking amongst themselves and sat down in between Jisung and Jaemin. They made some small talk before Mark carefully brought up the subject. “So, did something perhaps happen? With- you know? With-...” Haechan scoffed, trying his hardest not to roll his eyes before standing up and turning to his backpack to find his bottle of water. Mark tried making eye contact with Jisung and Renjun who avoided it as if their lives depended on it. The other 3 boys just shrugged when Mark looked at them with Jeno starting to play with the strings of his hoodie.

Mark stood up defeated and went to report his lack of information to Taeyong. They decided to leave it at that for a little since neither party was going to talk and they still had a long day to go. Imagine what it would be like if their petty stare down evolved into a huge fight.

It had neared 3 pm. The members had been practising for about 2 and a half hours before they got their break. JiHo had seemed to become a lot less tense but Taeyong decided not to act on it yet. He had recruited Lucas, Johnny, Taeil and Hendery to come with him to the convenience store and grab snacks and drinks for everyone with the hopes that it would brighten up the mood and give everyone some more energy for the coming hours of practise.

What he didn’t expect was that on his arrival back at the practise room, a whole bomb would have exploded. Accusations were thrown around, and glares were being sent out. Yuta and Jaehyun were holding JiHo back while Kun, Ten, Mark and Yangyang stood by the Dreamies, Doyoung standing in the middle like some kind of referee. The other members standing off to the side, not wanting to intervene.

You’d might ask why 2 men had to hold a tiny girl back. Well Taeyong was confused as well, until he walked closer to see the deadly stares of the girl. He wondered how the younger boys hadn’t given up on yelling yet, one of those looks in Taeyong’s direction and he’d apologise straight away, even if it wasn’t his fault. JiHo was unarguably the scariest when angry, but the Dreamies were notorious for being stubborn and talkative, not backing down in the slightest.

“-if she would stop talking behind people’s backs!” Renjun had yelled. The boys who just walked in didn’t have a clue about what already had been said prior or what had ticked them off to start fighting right then and there, but their main goal now was to resolve the problem. “Oh what would you know?” JiHo scoffed, but Doyoung came to interject. “What did she say then?” “Why don’t you ask her!” Haechan argued causing Doyoung to groan. “I asked you didn’t I?” “I don’t even know what I did to get you guys so pissed of at me.” The girl was calm. Eerily calm and it send shivers down Jaehyun and Yuta’s spines who were standing next to her.

“Sure you don’t!” Haechan chuckled, not that he found it funny, he just couldn’t believe JiHo was feigning innocence right now. She rolled her eyes before turning around and walking over to the couch in the back of the room. She plopped down on it and pushed her head back against the back of the couch, her hands coming up to slowly massage her temples.

“Can someone explain-” “How dare you call Jisung a fake maknae and talk bad about him behind his back?” Jaemin had finally spoken up, his voice low. This comment shocked everyone. No way JiHo did something like that right? But before they could say anything Haechan fired another comment. “And say how Mark shouldn’t be in Dream anymore, because you’re just jealous that you’re not in Dream with us.” “Yeah! It’s not our fault you’re not getting any songs-” “What the fuck did you just say? I dare you to finish that sentence Renjun.” JiHo stood up from her seat, malice lacing her every single word.

“Wow wow wow- Guys I can’t imagine JiHo saying anything like that. It must be a misunderstanding-” Doyoung said before he once again got interrupted by the Dream members. “It’s true! We heard her say it!” Jisung said, his voice starting to crack as tears brimmed in his eyes. “JiHo?” Doyoung looked at her with hopeful eyes. “Please let this be a misunderstanding.” He thought. “Is it my fault that I didn’t get any songs to promote then?” JiHo asked, looking at Renjun, completely ignoring the question.

“Is that what’s important right now?! Jisung is crying for goodness sake! And it’s all-” Chenle started yelling but Mark silenced him. “Why would I argue about something that isn’t true?” The girl said in almost a whisper before turning towards Renjun again. “So? Is it my fault? Jaemin here gets to perform Work It with Jisung, Haechan and Jeno have 90s Love and Haechan sings From Home with you and Chenle. You guys also have Déjà Vu. Yes, maybe I’m not as great of a signer as you, or as great as a dancer as Jisung, or as great as a rapper as Mark. Maybe it’s because I’m a girl. Maybe it’s because I shouldn’t have been in NCT in the first place. But is it my fault?” Her voice was so steady and calm, causing everyone in the room to become quiet.

They all stood there for a minute, before a sob leaves Jisung’s lips. Everyone turns to look at him, but JiHo turns to grab her phone and bag planning to leave. “JiHo, wait-” “I never. ever! Said anything like that about Jisung. What you probably heard was me telling Johnny how I’m feel like the fake maknae of NCT 127. How I felt like I, NCT 127′s maknae, am just a silly excuse for an idol, and how I took Haechan’s place, while he’s 100 times a better fit for the role than I am. Oh! And that about Mark, I never said he shouldn’t come back to Dream. I was talking about how worried I was for him to join another unit because he already is in almost all of them plus SuperM. I was talking about the unit Lee Soo Man has been planning for 2021. Who would I be to tell him what to do and not to do? And yes maybe I’m jealous of you guys, but I’m not the kind of person to go behind someone’s back and talk shit. But if that’s what you think of me please go ahead.” JiHo said before putting her belongings in her bag. “Also Jisung? Thanks for trusting in Haechan so much, saying that you all ‘heard me say it’ when it was only Haechan there eavesdropping on my conversation with Johnny. I’m really happy that knowing you for all these years has build this much trust between us.” She scoffed sarcastically.

As JiHo walked out of the room she got stopped by Taeyong. “JiHo, we still have practise-” “What’s there for me to practise? I’m not in any songs anyway.” She pushed herself through the boys at the doorway before making her way to the dorm, supposedly.

With JiHo gone the boys had looked over to Johnny who sighed deeply. “I don’t wanna say it, but you guys really messed up. Everything she said was true. She was only talking about herself, she never mentioned Jisung, besides when she said she was proud of him.” The comment had sent all the Dream members over the edge, their actions finally sinking in and the severity of their accusations very clear now.

They had never meant to be so hostile towards the girl, but when they thought she had been talking badly behind their backs about one of their members, and definitely since they thought it was about Jisung, they couldn’t help but get furious. They had such a close bond and felt protective over each other. Jisung had taken the news of JiHo badmouthing him very poorly and that sparked protectiveness over the youngest from the other members. But now that they found out about what was actually said they all felt sick to their stomachs. How could they have said such awful words to her when she was already talking badly about herself? And out of all member Haechan felt the worst. How was he ever going to make things right again? What were the consequences for his actions? And how bad were they going to be?

---

Part 2

[sluttyten]

Good Thing

Poly Orgy Series: Part 7

Poly Series Chapter Index

summary: ten and kun had dropped a bombshell realization on you that you could be pregnant. this is the aftermath.

length: 13,002

tags: pregnancy!!, smut, polyamory, multiple partners, unprotected sex, the usual poly orgy series type of tags

Taeil didn’t know why you were being so clingy. He also didn’t care, you noticed as you settled in his lap, resting your head on his shoulder, and silently tucking your face into the warmth of his neck. He just circled his arms around your waist and held you as he continued talking to Haechan and Mark and Jisung. None of them said anything either as if this was all a perfectly normal occurrence.

You pretended like it was too.

Maybe if you pretended long enough that everything was perfectly normal, you could deny that what Ten had just said to you upstairs hadn’t completely shaken your world.

You couldn’t be pregnant. Could you? 

Of course, it was entirely a very real possibility. Despite being on birth control, there was still a slim chance of you getting pregnant. And you had a lot of sex, honestly, lots of semen inside of you too. And you weren’t perfect, you knew that there had been just a few times when you had accidentally skipped your birth control. Plus there were other things that could interfere with the effectiveness of your birth control, like certain medications. 

You shiver and sigh, your breath hitting against Taeil’s skin.

“Are you okay?” He asks you quietly.

You nod. 

Taeil readjusts his hold on you, tugging you closer, the perfect silent comfort that you need. You close your eyes and just try to escape your racing mind, but that inner silence only lasts a few moments.

Cool fingers touch the back of your neck. You open your eyes, hear Kun’s soft voice, “Can I talk to    you?”

“She’s comfortable here, look at her.” Taeil says, his fingers digging almost protectively into the skin at your hip. “Do you have to talk now?”

You press your cheek to Taeil’s shoulder, let your eyes fall closed once more. “Not now, Kun. We can talk tomorrow. Please.” And this time when you look up at him, he nods. 

Before you can close your eyes again, you spot Mark frowning, the others looking curious as well, but you don’t offer up any explanation as Kun departs, traipsing back upstairs. 

Taeil didn’t ask what you were up to when you kept nuzzling into his throat, when your hand slid down his chest, resting right in his lap, when your hand started shifting, not like you were purposely touching him to get him aroused, but just touching him. He just keeps chatting with the younger members, until you daringly press your lips right to the juncture of his neck, grazing your teeth there.

Taeil leans away and looks down at you. He shakes his head, puts his hand over yours, pulls your hand away from him, and then carefully he extracts himself from under you, leaving you sitting on the sofa without him to keep you warm. 

You consider crawling over to Mark’s lap, because you love the way the blush heats his cheeks when you start acting cuddly and clingy. Not that he would mind if you were alone, but doing it in front of Haechan and Jisung would make him so adorably embarrassed.

Taeil leaves the conversation shortly after that, slipping out of the talk, and then trying to walk away. You follow, whining his name as you do.

Taeil turns his head, looking at you over his shoulder. “You’re in a weird mood. All quiet but craving intimacy? And then Kun wants to talk to you, but you deny him and then get even touchier with me? What’s up?”

You just grab for his hand. “I just... I’m... I want you, Taeil. I want to be with you so badly right now.”

Taeil seems like he sees some fault in your reason, but he doesn’t argue it, just holds your hand tighter, lets you reel yourself toward him, and then he keeps walking, heading upstairs with you. You can feel Mark’s eyes on the pair of you as you head upstairs. You just scatter light kisses over Taeil’s neck and shoulders.

You try to spin him around and kiss him on the stairwell, just wanting to have his honey-sweet kiss to melt into, to lose yourself in, but Taeil pulls away before you can really kiss him at all. He doesn’t look at you as you keep walking up the stairs, even when you pout and whine.

It’s only when you’re safely tucked inside Taeil’s room, the door shut behind you, that Taeil sits you on the edge of the bed and he looks at you, stands in front of you with his arms folded. “Okay, now will you really tell me what’s up with you?”

“I just want to forget.” You exhale, trying to stand up to kiss Taeil again, but he puts a hand to your shoulder. 

“Forget what? What’s going on?” 

“Nothing! I just want to forget how to think, okay? Sometimes it gets so exhausting to think all the time, don’t you agree? So just...” You grab the front of his shirt, pulling him closer to where you sit on his bed. “Fuck--” You spread your legs to welcome him easily  between them. “Me, Taeil. Until I am just a brainless body for you to fuck.”

Taeil looks at you, his gaze searching yours for a few long seconds in which you think he’s about to back away and tell you no. 

And then he crashes into you, mouth hot and sharp against yours, fingers searching, dipping, diving beneath your clothes and pushing them away. His hands are on your tits before you realize it, and he pushes you onto your back.

“Oh, sorry.” Someone gasps at the door. 

Taeil pulls away, and you both look in the direction of the voice. Taeyong and Doyoung are both standing there, looking at the position you and Taeil are in.

Taeyong clears his throat. “We were going to ask if you wanted to watch--”

“Clearly they don’t,” Doyoung says, pushing Taeyong’s shoulder. “We should just go.”

But before he can tug Taeyong away by his sleeve, you touch Taeil’s arm, and he looks back at you. “You said you want to be fucked senseless, right?” He asks, and when you nod quickly, he grins and says, “Why don’t you two stay? You can join in.”

And then from outside the doorway, you hear Johnny’s voice. “Well, I want in too.”

He steps inside, following Doyoung and Taeyong, and then, to your surprise, there’s Ten and Kun also. 

“The three of us were coming to see if we could talk to you.” Kun explains. He closes the door behind him. “Well, Johnny hyung just tagged along, but Ten and I....”

Ten reaches for Johnny. “He wasn’t just ‘tagging along,’ I thought he’d be interested too. And now look, we found something really interesting. It’s been a bit since we had group sex, and god how I’ve missed it.” He drags on Johnny’s arm, snatches up Kun’s hand too, and brings them both closer to where you’re still on your back on the bed.

You reach over for Johnny, and as Taeil shifts slightly to the side, Johnny leans in, letting your hungry, needy lips find his. And while you’re busy with that, you feel hands undressing you the rest of the way, feel Taeil’s plush lips moving over your skin. The heat spreads through the tips of your fingers and toes. 

Johnny moans into the kiss when you reach for his belt loops, fingers searching along the line of his waistband to unfasten his pants. He pulls away, though you try to follow. A simple hand to the base of your throat is enough to get you to lie flat, docilely gazing up at him.

Beside you there’s a grunt, and you reluctantly tear your gaze away from Johnny’s warm brown eyes to see Kun on his back, Ten straddling him with a devious grin. The bed shifts when Taeyong climbs on, scooting toward the center of the bed, and he beckons you toward him. 

Johnny’s hand falls away, and you eagerly crawl forward, throwing yourself over Taeyong. His body--all sharp edges and surprising muscles--welcomes yours as your bare tits press against his, and your lips burn a line up his throat and along his jaw. His hands, long fingers grip at your shoulders and then slide down your arms, lacing his fingers with yours.

Someone else is touching you too, and you shiver in response to the fingers tracing the line of your spine all the way down to your tailbone, to the thin band of your panties. You feel the elastic snap against your skin, and you push back into the warmth of a palm on your bottom. Taeyong lets out a low moan at the same moment that you feel an accidental touch to your thigh, and when he moans again, you realize that you’re not the only one being touched.

You look back over your shoulder.

Kun grabs your hips, pulling you up onto your knees, and still Ten snakes his hand between Taeyong’s legs, teasing as he grins up at the pair of you. “Gotta get you nice and hard for her, hyung.”

Taeyong just bites back another sound, rolls his hips into Ten’s hand, and lets it go. 

“Relax, we want to take care of you,” Kun murmurs to you just as you feel his fingers dip inside your panties. Of course he finds you wet, already so slick from how badly you want this, want all of them to just take you and fill you up and make you forget. You don’t want to wait any longer, you just want to have at least one of them inside you.

Kun just glides his fingers through your wetness, the perfect tease. “What do you say we take these off of you?” Kun asks.

You start to complain when you feel him moving you off of Taeyong, turning you over onto your back beside the man, but then Kun sinks down between your legs, loops his fingers in the waistband of your panties, and starts to pull them down your legs. When you feel his warm breath between your legs, you close your eyes and bite your bottom lip in anticipation of his hot tongue working magic on your clit.

But then, nothing.

He chuckles, and you instead feel his lips on your thigh, moving farther away, down your leg, over your knee, your calf to your ankle. Your panties move with him, and soon they’re off one foot, dangling from the other ankle. And Kun slows down, kissing every last centimeter of the line down your calf to your ankle.

You whimper frustratedly, knotting your fingers in his hair, trying to push him away or at the least pull him closer to where you want him.

Kun tugs back, grinning even as he skims a kiss near your ankle. At last your panties slip off your foot, but Kun takes his time, kissing your ankle and slowly working up your calf to your knee. Beside you, Taeyong moans again and Ten giggles, you can hear him whispering to Taeyong, can all but see the way that Ten’s grinding their erections together.

“Kun, please. I want.... I want it.” You try to pull him up by the hair again, but he doesn’t budge. “Daddy, lick me, finger me, fuck me. Anything!” 

The bed sinks beside your head, and you cast a pleading gaze up at Doyoung. He’s entirely naked, and your eyes rake down his form--his broad shoulders and chest, his slender frame narrowing down to his hips, and his erection blushes between his legs. You can’t help licking your lips while looking at him.

“She just wants to be fucked, that’s what she told you, right, Taeil hyung?” Doyoung asks, and Taeil must nod somewhere in the room, because Doyoung smiles down at you then. “Yeah, she’s just desperately horny tonight. Wonder why? What made you need your pussy stuffed so badly?”

You can’t give him that answer, but you can open your mouth and try to sit up, try to reach his dick with your lips. 

Kun’s left off kissing a trail back up to your pussy, and when you’re just shy of Doyoung’s tip, Kun curls his fingers around your throat, pressing you down into the bed like Johnny had done just a handful of minutes ago. You whine again, straining up against his hand. Doyoung kindly offers you his finger, which you happily suck on.

For a moment it seems that Kun’s about to deprive you of that too, but then Ten calls his name.

“Kunny, come help me with Taeyong. He could use some teasing, leave our girl to Doyoung.” Ten just has to touch Kun’s arm then, and Kun slides away from you. 

Doyoung quickly fills the space between your knees. 

“You want to be filled up, baby girl?” Doyoung asks, stroking your hair. His voice and touch are both so tender. You nod, squeeze your knees against his hips, trying to urge him into you. “These past couple weeks finally catching up with you?”

It’s true, the past couple weeks you hadn’t really wanted any of the boys to touch you. You’d been sensitive and just not in the mood, but tonight, this is exactly what you need. 

“Yes, Doyoung.” You slip your hands over his ribs, digging your fingertips in, pulling him impossibly closer. “Kiss me?”

He happily obliges. 

You moan against his lips when Doyoung glides inside you, spreading you around his cock, pushing in deep. You stop thinking, set on only enjoying this feeling--your boyfriend inside you and kissing you. You think you succeed in absorbing all of his attention too.

Doyoung caresses your body, his hips gently rolling against yours, lips locked with yours, and he moans softly. He might not even notice Taeyong beside you getting a hickey the size of Jupiter sucked into his throat by Ten, moaning as Kun wets his cock with his pretty lips. Johnny sits in the chair beside the bed, legs spread, watching the events unfurling in front of him with a cool, sexy focus in his eyes.

The kiss breaks when you feel something warm and damp prod your cheek, sliding to the corner of your mouth, edging in against where Doyoung’s lips meet yours.

“Hyung?” Doyoung groans, sitting up, readjusting his hold on your hips, dragging them higher in his lap as he grinds his cock into you. “Really? You couldn’t wait your turn?”

Taeil just taps his cockhead impatiently against your lips again, and you let your mouth fall open. The sweet sound of Taeil’s moan as you lean up to take his cock in, is music to your ears. Doyoung makes another disgruntled noise, and one of his hands slides up from your hip to your chest, thumbing over your nipple. You groan, immediately reaching to push his hand away because your boobs are sensitive, and just Doyoung’s gentle touches hurt.

Taeyong gasps and whines, and you hear a low murmur from Kun, Ten’s devilish giggle, and then Taeyong sounds rise in pitch and frequency. You want to look at him, to see the moment when Kun and Ten pull him apart and send him crashing into an orgasm, but Taeil knits his fingers through your hair and begins thrusting into the wet heat of your throat.

“Mm, shit,” Taeil groans. “I’ve missed this. When was the last time we had an orgy like this? Eh, Johnny?”

Johnny grunts, and your eyes flick in his direction. He’s sitting with his legs spread wide, his hand slowly massaging his erection, eyes on the picture of you and Doyoung and Taeil, moving occasionally beyond you to the other three twisted together.

You hear Ten laughing again, Taeyong whimpering and crying out. 

Doyoung’s hand (once denied your tits) migrates down to your clit, his thumb circling that delightfully sensitive bud, tweaking it in a way that sends a delicious spike of heat deep into your belly. You can’t help but circle your hips, trying to get him in deeper, but at this angle that feels impossible.

You gag around Taeil when Doyoung pulls back suddenly, readjusting the position to finally give you what you want. He thrusts in deep, forcing the breath from your lungs right as Taeil fucks in so deep that your nose is crushed against his abdomen, his balls against your chin.

You’re choking, dripping spit and gasping for breath, when he pulls back. But there’s something so sexy about it. Taeil does it again, and Doyoung--the bastard--does it again too.

Being entirely filled from both ends, left breathless and full, feeling roughly used, is so hot, exactly what you’d wanted. You moan while you try to adjust to the girth of Taeil, letting him use your mouth as his personal toy.

When you lift your gaze up the length of Taeil’s body to lock your eyes with his, Taeil swears under his breath. 

The next time he pulls back, giving you the chance to breathe, you pout and beg, “Oppa, please.” You attempt to act cute, begging adorably for him to cum in your mouth, but the cute expression you try to pull is ruined when Doyoung roughly thrusts into you, hitting the spot just right so that your cute expression shatters into one utterly fucked out.

Taeil’s cum splatters your lips and tongue, his hand jerking over his length as Doyoung bounces you back on his cock, your face screwed up from the pleasure. 

You push forward hungrily, seeking Taeil’s tip to clean him up, suck him dry. He moans, pushing into your lips as you suck at him, his hips rocking slowly, teasing at your lips, not even letting you take in more of him than his sensitive pink head.

Doyoung, getting possessive the closer to his orgasm he gets, reaches around, pinches your jaw between his thumb and forefinger. You feel Taeil’s cum slick on your skin as Doyoung pulls your mouth away from the eldest member’s cock, and Doyoung pulls you upright, his body crashing against yours. 

You grasp his wrist tightly, squeezing his arm just as hard as he holds your jaw. You refuse to let go, even when Doyoung leans in and licks at the corner of your mouth, down to your chin. His tongue traces the sticky feeling on your skin brought about by Taeil’s cum and your drool. Your body goes hot, the feeling flashing like electricity through you, your orgasm the thunder that follows.

Your free hand flies to the side, seeking anything else to hold onto. You find Taeyong’s hand, and you hold on, squeezing tightly as Doyoung fucks you through your orgasm, his own leaking inside you more with each deep thrust. 

Doyoung finishes cleaning your face with his lips and tongue, presses one more kiss to your lips, another to your forehead, and then he draws away, leaving you feeling very empty, though you’ve barely had time to really feel it before Ten’s climbing over you, helping you sit up, and asking, “Are you okay? You good for more?”

You nod, feeling your vision blurring from the pleasure you’ve just finished experiencing. You want whatever he’s going to give you next. This hunger inside is insatiable.

Taeyong looks up at you as Ten helps you onto your knees to straddle Taeyong. Ten’s body presses up right behind yours, hot skin against hot skin, growing hotter when you feel Ten helping you to sit down right on Taeyong’s already sensitive cock. The poor thing twitches, dripping precum, achingly hard as Ten and Kun have just been teasing and edging him.

Gently, Ten helps you sink down, and Taeyong feels so good, fitting snugly inside you, filling in that emptiness after Doyoung. You sit firmly down on him, and Ten strokes your back, his palm pressing lightly between your shoulders, and you lean forward until your breasts brush Taeyong’s chest, your face hovers right above his.

Ten’s fingers probe at your pussy, one slipping inside to stretch you even more around Taeyong’s cock.

“You look so pretty right now,” Taeyong tells you quietly. He brings a hand up to your cheek, fingertips carefully brushing your hair back from your face even though it immediately falls forward again. “Your lips are looking all puffy from Taeil hyung, though.”

You moan, dropping your head forward so your forehead rests on his. Ten slips two fingers inside you, scissoring them alongside Taeyong’s cock.

“Bet you’ll feel so nice, so tight with Ten inside you too.” Taeyong grunts, his hips jolt up off the bed, plunging fully inside you. Ten snaps a hand down on your bottom, his fingers inside you wiggling as he scissors them apart. Taeyong moans, “Mm, fuck, you feel perfect, angel. I just want to cum, God. Why do you have to have two boyfriends who are such teases?” His head jerks to the side with a groan.

Ten’s pulled his fingers out, but you feel something bigger prodding at your pussy. His voice is soft as he tells you, “Let me know if it’s too much.” And then he’s slowly pushing his hips forward, spreading your pussy to take him and Taeyong. The stretch burns but not necessarily in a bad way. You can take it, especially for the reward of having both of them in you.

Taeyong pants beneath you, his eyes screwed shut. You feel his cock throbbing. Every part of him from his face to his body language, his breathing and the hoarse whine that echoes from his throat, tells you everything you need to know about how desperately Taeyong wants to cum. 

He deserves it, you think. Putting up with Kun edging him was marvelous, especially as long as he’d done it. 

When Ten finally bottoms out, you feel full to bursting, your core is alive with fire, and you just want one of them to move. But Ten holds still, achingly still.

“Yongie hyung,” Ten’s smile is evident in his voice, and you just know that his nose is scrunching up as he brings a hand around to stroke Taeyong’s hair. “Cum with me inside her. I know you want to.”

Taeyong moans, a long keening whine. He bites his bottom lip so hard you’re afraid he might break the skin. Ten reaches around you, his chest hot and sweaty against your back, and you look down as his hands come to Taeyong’s chest. He pinches each of Taeyong’s nipples, twisting slightly.

His hips jolt and rock, his load shooting into you as his whole body shakes. Ten starts moving as soon as Taeyong’s finished, and the sweet feel of them both inside you plus Taeyong’s warm cum sets off a chain reaction in you. The heat blooms and spreads, your orgasm swelling fantastically, you push back on both of their cocks, and feel your heart pounding against your breastbone.

Taeyong manages to sit up, his lips on your neck. His hand comes up to caress your hip, moving around to attempt to cup your ass, letting it fill his palm, and he moans. Between your pussy pulsating around him, Ten’s cock stroking right alongside his, Taeyong shivers and moans with oversensitivity.

You moan. “Ten, god. Please cum, I want to feel you cum in me too.”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you want to be bred like a bitch full of pups.” Ten groans. He leans closer, his lips touching your ear as he says,“You’re already probably knocked up, but you want more, don’t you?” 

From the side of the bed, Johnny swears and moans. You’d almost forgotten about him, too lost in the excitement of what was happening right around you. 

Ten laughs. “You like that, John? Our girlfriend all big and beautiful with our babies. Maybe one for each of us?”

“No, not that.” You say, twisting slightly within Ten’s arms. “Stop.” That’s too real, too close to the situation that you want to forget.

Ten backs off, putting a placating hand on your arm. “I’m sorry. Do you want to keep--?”

“Just make it up to me.” You groan, leaning back with your head resting on his shoulder. “I told Taeil to fuck me brainless. Do that.”

Ten drops his mouth to your throat, sucking at the sensitive skin there, and he lowers his hand down between your legs, running his finger in circles over your clit as he rocks his hips forward, and now Taeyong’s starting to move again, twitching inside you, thrusting in perfect rhythm, and you feel your body lighting up and tingling sensitively again.

You go limp when this orgasm breaks through you, and you slump forward against Taeyong’s chest. His arms go around you, and both he and Ten thrust a handful of times more before they spend themselves. Ten pulls out, and you feel his cum sticky over your ass and lower back. Taeyong cums once more inside you, and you just rest your cheek over his heartbeat, listening to the music of their moans, drowning in the tingling of oversensitivity.

Your eyes roll back in your head at some point, so you don’t see which of them pulls you off of Taeyong, laying you gently on your back. Which of them it is that paints your body with kisses, paying special attention to your breasts, kisses so light and loving that it doesn’t hurt, and his fingers gathering up the cum between your legs before pushing it back inside you. Your breath catches in your throat, another orgasm fluttering through you on his fingers.

“So pretty, so good.” Johnny murmurs, his breath flushing over your skin, so you know that he’s the one touching you like this. “You’re doing so good, sweetheart.”

And when he presses his tip inside you, you reach for his hands, scratching your nails across the backs of his hands. He pauses. You’re so sensitive and he’s so big; it’s a lot to take him right now, but you breathe for a few seconds and then Johnny pushes in more and more, giving you his cock inch by inch.

And then even when he’s fully inside of you, you find that you want more. You mean what you said to Taeil earlier, you want to be fucked until you can’t think. To be fucked brainless by these men you love until you can completely forget that earlier tonight Ten and Kun heavily suggested to you that you might just be pregnant which is the most terrifying thing that has happened to you.

“More.” You beg, and your voice comes out hoarse. “Just fuck me, Johnny. Be rough, I don’t care. I can take it.”

And you can take it, it’s what you want.

But Johnny pulls out of you. You could cry. Tears actually do spring to your eyes, but before they have the chance to spill, you feel his fingers digging into your thighs, and you’re dragged to the edge of the bed, roughly turned over onto your belly, and you feel Johnny lining up behind you.

Fuck, the way it feels when he just rails into you, his hips flush with your ass, thrusting into you, letting his need take over, with nothing else left. It feels so good. Your mouth falls open, cries of pleasure dripping from your lips, loud enough that the rest of the house can probably hear, but you don’t care. Your vision blurs, making the spot where Ten and Taeyong are cuddling muddled in your eyes.

Doyoung is reclined against the pillows, lazily jerking off again. Taeil’s on his belly, facing you, watching your face. You can’t see Kun at that moment, but you suspect he’s standing to the side behind you.

Your fingers twist in the bedsheets, and you press your face into the soft material too, hoping that it will somewhat muffle the sounds that you no longer have the energy to even attempt to keep to yourself. 

Johnny grunts, groans, and swears, thrusting into you so deeply that you’re helplessly pushed up bit by bit on the bed.

He’s balls deep inside you, continuously trying to push in deeper, when he cums, fucking his load as deep into you as it can go. He groans as he pulls out, and you can feel the cum oozing out of you.

You feel so used up and dirty, but in the best possible way, and when Johnny slaps his hand against your ass, pushes your legs farther apart and says, “Kun, fuck her,” you love it even more.

Kun thrusts right into you, smoothly with how lubed you are by cum, how stretched you are from their cocks. You can do nothing but moan wantonly, drooling onto Taeil’s sheets. He thrusts a few times and then pulls out. “Share her with me.”

And then there’s another cock gliding into you. You cry out again, your moan turning almost into a gurgle.

Again, it’s only a few thrusts before he pulls out of you, and Kun steps back in. They play this game, each fucking into you for a few seconds before switching off, using you like their toy to get off, and you fucking adore it, but you haven’t figured out who else has entered the room, who else is fucking you with Kun. You don’t have the energy to look over your shoulder and see.

“Shit, she’s so loose.” He groans at last, and you recognize him by his voice. Hendery. “Oh fuck.” 

He switches off with Kun again, and Kun groans. “I’m close, but I don’t want to cum yet. You keep her.”

So Hendery thrusts back into you again, slick cock entering you with ease. There’s no slight resistance even, and your body is beyond orgasming at this point, just constantly overwhelmed by the pleasure, you’re just dripping helplessly onto the floor as Hendery keeps going, your moans dissolving into just noise.

Kun swears, and he’s not even in you when he cums, but you feel him step closer, his knuckles brushing your ass as he jerks off, his semen dripping onto Hendery’s cock as the younger continues plowing into you, though after that moment, when he’s fucking you with Kun’s cum on his cock, Hendery doesn’t last much longer either, even as he tries pulling out and switching up his rhythm to hold off a bit longer.

As soon as Hendery pulls out, you can’t even try to hold the multiple loads inside you. You can’t do anything except lay there in the overwhelmed state you’re in. Cum and whatever else drips from you. Your body sticks to the sheets from sweat, drool, and tears (and more cum).

It’s Johnny’s tender touch that peels you from the foot of the bed, his arms that secure you to his chest. He carries you from the room, down the hallway to one of the other rooms. He places you on a bed and disappears, and whenever he comes back however long later, he wipes you down with a damp cloth.

Taeyong comes into the room, settles down on the edge of the bed, lifts your head to pillow it on his thigh, and he helps you drink a few mouthfuls of water. He kisses your forehead and brushes his fingers through your hair, whispering to you, and Johnny joins in after he’s finished cleaning you. 

“You were amazing, sweetheart,” Johnny says as he pulls a sheet up over you. “You should get some rest now, okay? We’re going to make you breakfast in the morning, whatever you’d like. Or maybe lunch, you’re probably exhausted. Just sleep now. Okay?”

And your eyes do close, but before they’re shut, you’re already drifting off into dreams.

Jungwoo teases you when your stomach begins gurgling. You can’t help it. You’ve been feeling sick since about mid-morning, and in between running into the bathroom to puke and then just curling back up into bed, you were trying to watch YouTube videos with Jungwoo. 

But now the noise coming from you is one of hunger, which makes sense given how you’ve certainly emptied your stomach. 

“Hungry, baby?” Jungwoo puts his hand on your belly, rubbing it gently as it growls. “Do you want to eat?”

You don’t really know. You’re afraid that the second you put something inside your stomach, it’ll be rejected, and you’ll just find yourself hanging your head over the toilet bowl again. 

It’s been a week since that night when Ten and Kun implanted that thought in your mind. 

Pregnant.

You still didn’t want to believe it. But now, here you are, facing what is most likely morning sickness. You’d searched a bit around online, looking up symptoms of pregnancy, and it scared you to see that several of the things lined up with experiences you were having. And it terrified you because you didn’t really want it to be true.

Your stomach growls again, and this time Jungwoo throws his legs over the edge of the bed, carefully extracting himself from where he’s tangled with you. “I’ll go grab you something to eat. Don’t move.”

And you don’t want to move. Staying curled there in the warm sheets of Jungwoo’s bed, the material still smelling of fabric softener since you’d only pulled the clean sheets out of the machine a few hours before to assist Jungwoo in freshening up his section of the bedroom.

But as you lie there, thinking about what he’s going to bring you to eat, you feel the curl of nausea in your belly again, rising inside you, and you throw yourself from the bed, dashing to the bathroom down the hall. You just manage to throw the door open and reach the toilet before you’re heaving again.

Someone passing by the bathroom steps inside. You don’t see who it is, but you feel his fingers gathering your hair back from your face, his cool touch feeling heavenly against your warm skin. He just sits there with you until you’re finished, and when you press your cheek to the cool porcelain, you finally open your eyes.

Yuta strokes your hair, reaching for the toilet paper beside him, and he tears off a wad, and gently wipes at the corners of your mouth and your chin.

“I keep hearing you run in here,” he says, “Do you want some tea? I know some tea that might help.”

You’re about to tell him no, that you’re fine without, but then you feel a burning sensation, the tightening of your belly. Luckily this time you only spit into the toilet. 

“Tea sounds good.” Your voice is hoarse. 

Yuta helps you to your feet, flushes the toilet, he hands you a cup to rinse your mouth out with water, then walks with you back to Jungwoo’s room. 

Once you’re settled in the bed, Yuta kisses your forehead. “I have to run to the store to grab the tea, but I’ll be back soon. Anything else you need?” You shake your head, sinking lower in the sheets, drawing them up to your nose and relaxing as you inhale.

When Jungwoo returns to his room with food, you just wrinkle your nose and tell him that you don’t think you’re actually up for eating anything after all. He shrugs, slips back in beside you, and eats what he brought as you keep watching videos together.

You’re dozing against Jungwoo’s shoulder when Yuta comes into the room again some time later. He’s carrying a steaming cup of tea. 

“Orange ginger mint,” Yuta passes it carefully into your hands. “Let it cool a bit before you drink it.” He settles on the edge of the bed beside you, his hand resting tenderly on your knee as he watches for a moment what you and Jungwoo are watching. When the video draws to a close, you sip at the tea, feeling its soothing heat swirling down to your belly. Yuta drums his fingers on your leg. “Do you like it?”

You nod. “It tastes good.” 

Yuta smiles. “Good. I also bought a few other things for you. I put them in your bag in Taeil’s room.”

“Thank you, Yuta.” You lean over, brush a kiss to your sweet boyfriend’s cheek. 

He leaves not too long later, and shortly after that, Mark comes in to join. 

Snuggled between the two of them--Jungwoo being all clingy, Mark just happy to have you resting your head against his heart--you feel perfectly content. Yuta’s tea did the job, easing your nausea. You don’t want to move, but as the day grows later and later, you know that you need to head home, back to your own apartment which you’ve seen less and less of over the past few weeks, spending most times that you’re not at work here at the house with the boys.

But you do have to work early in the morning, and staying here at the house tonight just doesn’t seem like the best choice.

Jungwoo’s asleep by the time you finally make the move to go.

Mark groans, pleading with you to not leave.

“I have to, Mark. All my stuff for work is at my place. And if I’m paying to live there I should probably try to at least sleep there every now and then, right? Plus I have work in the morning, and my poor cat is probably lonely” You laugh, trying to climb over him while prying Jungwoo’s fingers from the edge of your shirt. 

“Your cat is probably glad to have the place to himself. He thinks he’s king of the jungle. And why do you still live there?” Mark asks quietly. “Why don’t you just move in here?”

You stare at him for a long moment. “Move in here?” 

He nods. “Yeah, I mean, you’re pretty much here all the time anyway. I don’t know about everyone for sure, but I’m pretty sure, like, we’d all really enjoy having you live here with us.”

“Mark...” You finally get Jungwoo’s fingers off your shirt. You stumble a bit as you move over Mark, and he reaches up to steady you, his pretty doe eyes still gazing imploringly at you. “How would that work? Me, living here? Where would my space be? You’ve all already got your own rooms, where would I fit?”

“Taeil’s room.” Mark says without a moment of hesitation. “That’s usually where your stuff is anyway. And you sleep in that bed the most, right? It would be so easy, you living here with us. But I understand if you don’t want to.” He suddenly looks away and rubs the back of his head. “Like, there’s a lot of us, you probably do want your freedom, some space from us sometimes.”

There’s a few seconds of silence as you think it over. It would be nice to move in, to get to live here with the men you love.

“Do you really want me to move in?” You ask softly.

Mark nods, his gaze jumping back to your face. “Yes! I love you, so having you around all the time, it just makes all of this feel more permanent, like it’s so real, like we’ve actually got a plan as to where our path will lead. I know this whole entire relationship has been incredibly unconventional, but, shit, baby. I--I look at you, and I see a future with you that I want. You moving in here is the first step to a future.”

Your belly flutters, every cliched butterfly waking inside you, and you feel yourself smiling at Mark. He doesn’t know about this worry in the back of your mind, this unacknowledged possibility of a very possibly real future potentially inside you. But what he’s saying, it’s enough to bring happy tears to your eyes.

Mark wants a future with you. Whatever else happens, you know that.

You bend down to kiss him, and he makes a sound of surprise, but kisses you back. 

“Is that a yes?” Mark asks, his voice dipping low into a whisper.

“I’ll think about it.” You whisper back, kissing him again. When you pull back, Mark’s grinning. “But tonight, I really should go home.”

He keeps smiling. “Alright, text me when you get home.” He holds onto your hand though, even as you try to walk away, his thumb stroking over your knuckles. “Be safe, baby.”

Taeil’s room is empty when you walk inside to fetch your things, and as you crouch down to pick up your bag, you see the small sack that Yuta must have tucked inside earlier from the store.

At the top of the small bag is a bag of chocolate, a container of the tea he’d made for you, some more chocolate, and when you pull out that one to get a better look, a sticky note falls off, fluttering to the floor.

You pick it up to read it, blinking the tiredness out of your eyes to better read Yuta’s handwriting. 

“Don’t be mad at me.” The note reads. “I just thought you might want it.”

You don’t understand why he thinks you might be mad about the chocolate, but then you pull the bag open a little more and see what the note was referring to. 

Tucked there in the bottom of the little bag, buried beneath the chocolate and tea and a few other small things that you can’t even focus on, is a box containing a pregnancy test. 

Your body flushes with heat and a different sort of nausea tightens your belly. You shove the chocolate back into the bag, pushing it as deep into your bag as you can get it. You quickly close your overnight bag, heave it onto your shoulder, and rush from the room. Hendery hops out of the way as you barrel past him down the stairs, and you barely hear him call out in question.

Doyoung, Renjun, Jeno, Johnny, and Jaemin are sitting around watching a movie together, and they all turn to look as you blow by them. You nearly bounce off of Yuta as he appears from the kitchen. You spin away, facing the room, you announce, “Goodnight, I’m going back to my place.”

Yuta says your name, and you feel his fingertips graze your arm, but you step away, feeling warmth rushing to your face, nervous and fearful tears bursting to your eyes as you hurry to the door, shove your feet into your shoes, and duck out into the night.

The bag with the chocolate and the test sits heavy in the bottom of your bag, undisturbed except for when you’d dug out the container of tea to brew yourself some the morning after that night. You didn’t want to think about it. 

Did you really need to take the test? Maybe if you ignored all of this, it would just go away? But even when you think it, you realize how silly that is. Of course it won’t go away. If anything, it’s becoming more real.

Not to mention, your behavior lately is clearly beginning to worry your boyfriends. Just two days after your hurried departure from the house, you’d met up with WinWin on your lunch break. You were just pushing your food around, stomach still a bit sensitive from that morning’s bout of nausea, when WinWin cleared his throat and said, “For some reason, Yuta and Mark both think that you’re angry with them.”

“I’m not!” Your utensils clink loudly against the dish.

“No?” WinWin cocks his head to the side, but stares down at his food. “Maybe you should tell them that. I heard Mark saying that he asked you to move in with us, and he thinks that upset you, especially when he heard how you acted when you were leaving the other night. Yuta won’t tell anyone what he thinks he did wrong.”

You shake your head, and it takes a moment to swallow down your emotions, to try to push the words out around the knot in your throat. “He didn’t do anything wrong. I’m not angry with either of them. Or with any of you. I think I’m just upset with myself, more than anything. But don’t worry about it. It’s nothing.”

Beneath the table, WinWin’s foot knocks against your ankle. “I feel like that’s not true. You’ve been different for a couple weeks now, especially over the last several days. Whatever’s upsetting you, you can talk about it.”

“I don’t want to talk about it, and that’s just upsetting me even more.” You huff out, poking at your food once more. “Can we talk about something else?”

The table falls silent, but then after a beat, WinWin says, “So, you know we’d all love to have you move in, right? Lucas was just complaining the other day that he hated your place, because he dropped you off there one night, and he saw a couple skeezy guys hanging out nearby. Not the best neighborhood, right?”

You shrug. “It does the job. A roof over my head, place to sleep.”

WinWin’s hand falls over yours. “You can have that with us too. A roof, as many different beds to sleep in as you’d like, a whole group of guys who just want to love you and make you happy, make sure you’re cared for. Move in with us.”

You bite at your lip nervously, contemplating it.

“Can I tell you a secret?” WinWin asks after a moment. He laces his fingers with yours, and your heart jumps at the intimate move. WinWin isn’t one to often initiate physical affection like this; rarely does he want to be touched by anyone, even you, when in public. But here he is, holding your hand while you eat together in public. 

You nod, knowing that whatever he’s going to say must be good.

“The secret is that it’s no secret that we all love you so much. Just move in with us. Don’t worry about it. We all want you in our lives, and having you living with us just has you more firmly with us. We want you. Think about it if you need to, but just know that we want you there.”

And later as you’re walking back to work, and WinWin’s traipsing along at your side, you stop, snag his sleeve, and you ask, “Can I tell you a secret too? One you swear you won’t share?”

WinWin frowns as he looks into your eyes. “I swear I won’t tell.”

Your heart pounds harder, faster, rising up until you can barely speak around the feeling of your heart in your throat. But you close your eyes and push the words out.

“I think I’m pregnant.”

Silence welcomes your words, but just the act of having said them makes you feel better. The admission leaves you feeling lighter, your racing heart eases a bit, though still certainly beating harder than normal. You nervously keep your eyes closed, not wanting to see WinWin’s reaction.

But then you feel his palm on your cheek, cupping your face. You hear a breathy laugh, one of surprise and awe. And then, “Really? That’s, uh, honestly really unexpected, though I guess it shouldn’t really be. Have you not told anyone else?”

You open your eyes then. 

WinWin looks happy, though when you meet his gaze you can see his mind is whirring away in there. But he’s smiling, holding you in his hand, looking at you like you’re this amazing and precious gift.

“I haven’t told anyone yet, no. But Ten and Kun are the ones who first put the thought in my mind, and since then I’m thinking they’ve got to be right. And Yuta also definitely thinks I’m... pregnant. The other day when I kept getting sick, he bought a pregnancy test and just, like, hid it in my bag.” You look away from him and scuff your toes across the ground.

“Is that why he thinks you’re mad at him?” WinWin brushes his thumb over your cheek. “Have you taken the test yet?”

You shake your head. “No, I’m too nervous.”

“Don’t be nervous. It might be a bit scary right now, but you’ve got all of us, right? We’re here for you, whatever happens. Whatever the result is, whatever you choose to do next, we’re here for you.” He smiles again, such a soft, tender expression on his face that you can’t resist pressing forward to kiss him. WinWin smiles even more into the kiss, and when you fall back, he follows, keeping it going for another few moments until a vibration in your pocket reminds you that you need to get back to work.

“I won’t tell anyone, I promise.” WinWin vows as he leaves you a block away from your job. “But keep me updated. If you want me there when you take the test, or if you need anything else---”

You feel loads lighter when you walk back into work, but then later a different weight settles in your belly. Yes, you’ve finally spoken your thoughts into existence, you’ve confided in WinWin, but now what? Do you take the test? Do you tell the others before you take the test or after? And then, who are you going to tell first?

As far as you can tell, WinWin keeps his word. He doesn’t tell any of the others, but when you come over to the house any time over the next week or so, he seeks you out and sits close to you. If the others find it strange that WinWin keeps holding your hand, giving you little kisses, they don’t call it out.

You decide that, in order to ease Mark’s worries that he made you angry with his comments about you moving in, you agree to move in with them the following month when your lease on your apartment is up. Mark pins you to his bed when you tell him, and he scatters kisses all over your body until you’re laughing and moaning, torn between pushing him away and pulling him closer as his kisses tickle. 

And then there’s Yuta who watches you cautiously from the corner of his eye, as if he’s still worried that he offended you or something when he bought you that test. 

So it’s you that has to make the move and approach him. It takes another week, but you do it.

Yuta’s sitting in the back of their house, soaking in the late afternoon golden rays of sunlight. He’s reading, looking like some kind of sexy uni scholar, all his golden skin in the radiant lighting, his hair tucked behind his ears, and he looks up from his book when you sit down in front of him. 

“I was just a bit freaked out that night, not angry with you. I didn’t want to think about what you were suggesting, but over the last few days, it’s just.... becoming more and more of a real possibility.” You admit to him quickly and quietly, casting quick glances up at the windows along the back of the house, hoping none of them are open, that there are no ears eavesdropping on this conversation.

“Did you take it?” Yuta asks you just as quietly. 

You shake your head. “I’ve been nervous and scared. So, no.”

“Just take it,” Yuta shrugs. “You’ll know then, one way or the other. Wouldn’t it be better to know for sure if you are pregnant?” He glides his thumb over the edges of the pages of his book, and the fluttering sound soothes you a bit more. “Don’t be scared.”

So you take a deep breath and stand up. “Fine. I’ll be right back.”

The box is still buried in the bottom of your bag, and it takes only a few moments to dig it out. The house is quiet and half-empty. Most of the members are working, the rest are out doing their own thing; judging by the singing echoing from the uppermost floor, Doyoung’s home, showering.

You use the bathroom on the ground floor of the house. Your hands shake as you open the box, as you do everything you’re supposed to. Your heart pounds and your breath comes out a bit unevenly as you sit there on the edge of the toilet in the bathroom and wait for the time to run out, for the result to show. 

Maybe you wait too long, your eyelids glued together by anxiety, because eventually Yuta comes knocking on the door, calling your name. “Are you okay?”

You don’t even look at the test, you rise from where you’re sitting, standing on shaky legs as you open the door. Yuta looks at your face, then looks past you, but you know he can’t see the result from there. “I haven’t looked yet.”

He takes your hand, and together you turn to the edge of the sink, to the little stick resting on top of the box. 

Positive

You spin, throwing yourself into Yuta’s arms, hiding your face against his shoulder. He swears in Japanese, his arms tighten around you. 

“This is a good thing,” he tells you, murmuring the words into your hair. “You’re pregnant; it’s a good thing.”

Is it? You want to ask, but your voice has abandoned you. Is being pregnant a good thing when in a relationship like this?

“Don’t tell anyone.” You finally manage to say after what feels like forty minutes, but couldn’t actually be much longer than two minutes. “Please. I want to tell all of the others. And I need -- I need to think about this.”

Yuta pulls back then, looking down into your eyes. “Think about it? About what? Do you not want a baby?”

“I do, I think.” You sigh. “I’m just not sure now is the right time. Your careers. The confusion of this relationship, like, really, Yuta. I’m pregnant, and there are fourteen different men who could be the father. That’s... major, isn’t it? Like, you’re acting excited and happy. So did WinWin when I told him that I thought I might be, but if neither of you are the father, are you still going to be so happy with me having and keeping this baby?”

Yuta frowns, and he captures your hands, brings it up to his lips. He presses his lips to your palm, and he thinks for a moment. “If you want this baby, I’m here for you. I’ll love any baby you have because I love you. I don’t care if I’m the father or not, a real man can raise and love a child that isn’t his by blood. And if you don’t want this baby, then I support that decision too. It’s your choice. I don’t want to push you into anything you don’t want, that you’re not ready for.”

“Do you mean it?” 

Yuta nods, his face sincere. “Of course I do. I love you.” His face breaks out in a grin then, and he says, “So does this mean that you’re definitely moving in with us?”

You laugh too. “Of course. I told Mark already that I think it’s a great idea. I guess that’s some more news we’ll need to share with everyone.”

Yuta slips his arms down around your waist. In an excited voice that fills the bathroom, Yuta says, “Everyone should be here for dinner tonight. No schedules except the one where Kun, Jaehyun, Taeil, and Jaemin were all told that they’re making dinner for us specifically because we don’t have any schedules. So it’s the perfect time to tell everyone that you’re moving in. And that you’re pregnant.”

“Shh!” You laugh, leaning up on your toes to kiss him quiet, but before you can quite do that, you hear something else.

A choked-off gasp from right outside.

“You’re what?!” 

Your head snaps up and you see Doyoung standing there in the open doorway of the bathroom, his hair dripping still onto his shoulders, soaking through his shirt. He blinks at you, mouth hanging open in surprise. 

“Did you just say...?”

You untangle yourself from Yuta, and step closer to Doyoung, putting a hand on his arm. “Doyoung!”

“Are you...?” His eyebrows draw together.

You feel Yuta place a reassuring hand on your back, and you take a deep breath, then say, “I just took a test, and it came back positive, which honestly shouldn’t be a surprise. I’m late by a couple weeks, nauseous half the day, I have weird cravings already.”

Doyoung looks like he’s trying to look like he’s not freaking out, but his eyes are still wide, and even though he’s closed his mouth now, you can tell that in spirit his jaw is on the floor. 

“Why don’t you go sit down?” You suggest, stepping out of the bathroom, and guiding him by the arm over to the sofas. Yuta follows, chuckling at Doyoung’s reaction. 

“I’m sorry,” Doyoung apologizes a few moments later after he seems to have better wrapped his head around this. “I just wasn’t expecting that.”

“Me neither.” You laugh, resting your head on his shoulder. “I’m still processing, but I think I’ve known for a while. I was just denying it.”

And you do find that the more you sit here in the aftermath of reading the positive on the test, you do find it a bit easier to think about. It is a relief, much like Yuta had suggested it would be. Knowing that you are pregnant is a weight of uncertainty lifted from your shoulders.

“Are you going to keep it?” Doyoung asks after a little while. “Like, that’s a baby.” He looks down at your stomach, as if there’s anything to see yet.

“I don’t know. I need to think about it. Do you think I shouldn’t?”

Doyoung shrugs. “It just seems a bit strange, bringing a child into all this. And especially not knowing which of us is the father. I love kids, I’ve always wanted one, a daughter and a son, but I don’t know about this.”

“Very helpful,” Yuta rolls his eyes. “I think it’s totally her choice. Or, I guess, we could wait until the kid’s born, do a paternity test, and then her and whichever of us is the winner of that race can make the decision to keep it or put it up for adoption.”

“You can do a paternity test before birth,” Doyoung mumbles, dropping his face forward into his hands, rubbing the heels of his palms into his eyes. “I thought you were on birth control. How did this happen?”

“Birth control isn’t always 100% effective, you know. Even with me using birth control, there’s still a chance of this happening. A very, very low chance, but it’s not impossible.” You stare at Doyoung and his worried state, the emotions pouring off of him, and what you’re mostly getting right now is worry and frustration. So you ask, “You’re not mad at me, are you?”

“Don’t be stupid,” Doyoung says.

Yuta reaches around you to hit Doyoung’s arm. “Don’t call our girlfriend stupid.”

“I didn’t mean--!” Doyoung groans and looks at you. “Of course I’m not mad at you. I’m just thinking about this. Thinking about how the others are going to react.”

“It’ll be mixed reactions, I suppose. That’s why I’m planning to tell everyone on my own. The last thing I want is for one of you to go telling one of the others that I’m pregnant, and then him thinking that I didn’t want to tell him for some reason. Or that because you found out before him that it means that you’re more special to me than him. So can you keep this to yourself for now, Doyoung?”

Doyoung promises, sealing it with him wrapping you up in a tight hug, squeezing you against his chest until you’re squirming to be released. Yuta leaves to go fetch his book from where he left it outside, and when he returns he curls up on the recliner chair nearby, once more reading his book.

You continue to stay there with Doyoung, laying against his chest. The damp material of his shirt dries against your cheek, the comforting heat coming off his skin warms you, and Doyoung just combs his fingers through your hair, and starts talking to you about other things, babbling about the latest drama that he’s watching, telling you a story about something that happened while he was practicing the day before. Occasionally he’ll randomly cut himself off to say in a wondrous tone, “You’re pregnant,” before continuing. He shows you pictures his mom sent him from the trip she and his dad are taking. Doyoung talks until you start to doze off.

You wake up some time later to find Kun in front of you. He apologizes quietly, “I didn’t mean to wake you.” And you realize he’s just laid a blanket over you and Doyoung, who has also fallen asleep at some point. “Are you staying for dinner? I’m cooking tonight.”

You nod, and start to sit up. “I’m staying.” A yawn puts your next words on hold, but then you say, “Also, I decided I’m going to move in. I don’t really have any reason not to move in, and a few new things have managed to convince me that moving in with all of you would be the best choice. And I have something else important to tell you.”

Kun smiles, watching closely as you seem to be searching for the right words to say. So he speaks up instead, asking you, “Are you pregnant? Like Ten suspected?”

Again, you nod. “I took a test earlier, and I want to tell each of you myself. So far only you, Doyoung, and Yuta know, so please don’t tell anyone else. Even Ten.”

“I promise I won’t tell.” He grins brightly. “This is exciting. Like, I figured this must be it, how could you not be pregnant with the way you’ve been lately, getting sick and just acting a bit different. This is really amazing, my love.” Kun can’t stop smiling, and it makes you smile too. “I’m going to start dinner now,” Kun tells you. “You should go back to sleep, get all the rest you need.”

You don’t manage to fall back asleep; now that you’re awake, your mind refuses to think about anything but being pregnant and telling the boys and what this means for all of you and how they’ll react and how you’ll do this and when you’ll tell your parents and what the boys will say and which of them is the father? All of these anxious thoughts run in circles around your mind.

The worries only slow their laps in your head when Ten and WinWin enter the house together. Both of them look worn out after spending their day practicing choreography together, and WinWin collapses to the floor almost right after taking off his shoes. He stretches out on the floor, while Ten stands above him, rolling his shoulders, trying to relax some.

Doyoung doesn’t even stir when you leave him to go to them, but Ten drapes his arm over your shoulders, welcoming you into his side. “You look sleepy,” he tells you. “Were you napping?”

You nod. “Mmm, I was talking with Doyoung earlier, and we fell asleep.”

“Yeah,” Ten’s nose crinkles mischievously. “Talking to Doyoung can do that to you sometimes.”

You pinch his side, and Ten squirms. WinWin watches the two of you, but doesn’t say a word until you look at him, and you say, “So, there are some updates that I think you should both be aware of.”

“Are you moving in?” WinWin asks. 

“Yes, and something else.” You reach up to play with Ten’s fingers, a nervous habit that he doesn’t seem to mind at all. “So, Ten, you remember that night when you reminded me how late my period is?” You feel him go stiff, his head snapping toward you, eyes laser-focused on your lips as they form the next words: “You were definitely onto something, because I took a test earlier, and it came out positive, so, I guess that means that I am pregnant.” 

You look between Ten and WinWin. 

WinWin grins, just as happy now as when you told him that you thought you might be. Ten’s face goes slack, but you don’t think he seems displeased by the news, just caught off-guard, like you’re sure all of them will find the news.

“I haven’t told many of you all yet, so if you could just not say anything to anyone else yet.” WinWin nods again, reaching for your hand to squeeze your fingers, reaffirming his previous promise. Ten gulps, but he agrees, “Of course.”

You don’t plan to tell all of them that day. It felt important to tell Yuta, Kun, Ten, and WinWin though, as they’d all been a part of this already. Doyoung had just so happened to walk in on that moment, otherwise he probably wouldn’t have found out until you were ready to tell each of your boyfriends. 

So as the house fills over the next couple hours, you just settle back in on the sofa, shaking Doyoung awake after a bit. Jaehyun, Taeil, Jaemin all come home, moving into the kitchen to join Kun where he’s already begun cooking dinner. Soon the home is filled with the raucous voices of your boyfriends and the younger members, the smells of delicious dinner wafting in from the kitchen, and the energy is so high that your mood lifts even higher. 

Everything just feels so happy and light. 

All of the boys seem excited that you’re moving in with them, the Dreamies included, and when Taeil had finished working on his part of dinner, he’d come out of the kitchen and joined in the conversation, mentioning that his room could be yours now too. 

“You basically have already moved in, right? My room never feels quite right when you’re not in there.” His smile stretches wide, and your heart swells like a hot air balloon, filled with warmth and love for him. 

Jaehyun and Jaemin are finishing up in the kitchen, but everyone else is standing or sitting around in the living room area of the house, and that’s when you hear it.

“Uh, what the fuck is this?” 

A voice breaks through the already loud volume of the room, and you turn to look, just as every other head in the room does, swiveling in unison to see Haechan standing in the doorway of the bathroom.

Your heart drops out your ass as you see what he’s referring to.

The test.

You forgot to throw it away in the excitement.

The room falls entirely silent. Half of the heads turn back to you. Haechan stands there, holding your pregnancy test with several layers of toilet paper. 

This isn’t how you wanted this to happen. Not all at once. Not in front of the younger members.

And then.

Jaehyun pops his head out of the kitchen, looking around. “Why’d it just get so quiet? What’s--?” And then he sees Haechan, sees what he’s holding, and notices how everyone else in the room is looking at you. You could deny it, pretend like it’s not yours, but what’s the point? A few of them already know, and they’ll all know soon enough.

“Surprise!” Your voice sounds weak though you try to make it cheerful. “I’m pregnant.”

“You’re pregnant?” Jaehyun’s jaw drops.

“She’s pregnant?” Hoarse whispers repeat around the room. 

“Yes.” You sink back into the sofa, wishing you could dissolve. This isn’t how you wanted them all to find out, but now they know. All of them. Your boyfriends and the younger boys. 

Doyoung takes your hand, stroking his thumb over your knuckles. “It’s a good thing,” he says softly to you, and then louder to the general collection of boyfriends and younger members, he says, “Her being pregnant is a good thing. We can do this.”

“Of course we can do this.” Jaehyun walks over, edging around several of the boys to be able to reach you. “Was that ever really in question?” He kneels down in front of you and takes your other hand. He presses a gentle kiss to your fingers, turns your palm over, and kisses there too. “I love you.”

“You know it might not be yours, right, Jae?” Johnny says from where he sits a few feet away. “It could be any one of ours.”

“I know. That doesn’t matter.” Jaehyun squeezes your hand. “Does that matter to any of you? Didn’t we all enter into this relationship knowing that there were multiple others involved? Of course this was always something that could happen.”

Mark laughs sarcastically, and you look over at him. He’s staring at Jaehyun, anger simmering in his eyes. “Wasn’t it you that caused this relationship to fall apart several months ago, Jaehyun? Because you couldn’t handle the thought of sharing her with us anymore? But now what? You’re just perfectly fine with this? No temper tantrum, telling her that she has to choose one of us now?” Mark’s voice burns angrily,

Jaehyun pushes to his feet, turning to Mark, looking like he’s ready to fight.

You put a hand on his arm. “Please don’t. Don’t fight about this, any of you.” You throw a look around the room, quelling any other arguments that might rise from any of the others. In doing so, you catch sight of the younger members looking awkwardly around at each other and the drama unfolding before them.

You stand up, putting a hand on Jaehyun and attempting to propel him down into the seat you’d just left. He falls back, still glaring over at Mark.

“All of you, I want you to listen to me. Today has been a lot more dramatic than I planned. I took that test over there today.” You point over at where Haechan is still standing, pinching the pregnancy test between his fingers as if it’s diseased or something. “All of this is just as new to me as it is to you. I don’t know which of you is the father, I don’t care which of you is the father. I’m just sorry to you boys that aren’t in this relationship for having to hear all about this too.”

“It’s okay, noona,” Chenle says, “It’s not like you being pregnant is anything strange or unexpected. We’re not ignorant of everything that goes on between all of you, you know. Right?” He nudges Jisung beside him with his elbow, and Jisung just sinks awkwardly back into his seat and attempts to hide the blush that rises to his cheeks. Chenle laughs, “I bet Taeil hyung’s the dad, I mean, you’re in his room almost every single night you’re here, don’t pretend like all you do is sleep in there.”

Now it’s your turn to blush. WinWin claps a hand over Chenle’s mouth before he can say anything else to embarrass you.

You fight to suppress your blush as you continue to address all of your boyfriends gathered here. “So this is something very new, very big, and I know that it might just change how this relationship can continue. If any of you don’t want to be a part of this now, I understand. I don’t expect you all to be happy about this, to want this, or to be okay if this baby isn’t yours.” Now you look back at Jaehyun. 

Everyone in this relationship knows that Jaehyun’s had a thing for telling you that he wants to knock you up with his baby. He’s not been as vocal about it when the others are around, but it’s come out a few times. He’s had several bouts of jealousy. He’s made it obvious that he wants you, wants a baby with you, and now you’re worried that if this baby doesn’t carry his DNA it could ruin everything between you and him, despite what he says now.

“I love you all, and I understand that the future has just changed monumentally, and that will be difficult for some of you to handle.” You look around the room, gaze snagging on Hendery who’s now sitting there anxiously biting at his nails as he listens to you speak, then you see Taeil staring down at his hands silently, and finally you look at Taeyong whose face is frozen in a look that’s somewhere between excited and scared.

The room falls silent then, and it’s only when Kun stands up at last, and says, “Dinner’s ready,” that the awkward feeling in the room breaks a bit as everyone goes to eat.

You can’t remember the last time Mark took you on a date, a real proper date. 

He’s dressed nicely, picked you up like a gentleman at your place with only one little comment about how much he dislikes your apartment and can’t wait for you to move in with them, and then Mark takes you out to a proper dinner, with a fancy dessert. Mark holds your hand under the table, his fingers fidgeting with yours, thumb stroking over your knuckles in what is probably meant to be a soothing manner, but after about five solid minutes of it, you have to free your hand before the skin gets chafed.

Mark just laughs a little and then gulps at his glass of water. You don’t think too much of his nervous habits. Every date you go on with him in public, Mark always acts very nervous and paranoid about being spotted by a fan or someone who recognizes him. The last thing he or any of the boys want is for you to be dragged into the chaos that is their public lives. Especially now.

After dinner and dessert you kinda just want to head home. The cute outfit you wore is beginning to pinch in places and you’re just plain sleepy. You think dragging Mark into your apartment he hates so much, bringing him into your bed to sleep together (literally just sleep; you’re already yawning at the dinner table), might just be the best end to this date night.

But Mark has other plans. 

“There’s this light sculpture exhibit thing,” Mark says, once more fiddling with your fingers. “One of the stylist noona’s was talking about it earlier; she said it’s really pretty, and it’s not going to be there for much longer. I just thought you might like to see it?”

It does sound lovely, so you agree, but when you’re walking out of the restaurant where you had dinner, you yawn again. A big yawn, and you rest your head on Mark’s shoulder. He looks at you for a few long moments.

“The lights will still be there for the rest of the week. Maybe we should get you home to sleep.” He sighs softly, reaching a hand up to caress your cheek.

You can’t argue with that, and you just offer up, “We can go in a couple night, bring some of the others with us.”

Mark makes a sound of agreement. “Johnny’s been looking for something to do for a new episode of JCC. We could go look at the lights, I guess. He’d like that.”

You doze on the way back to your apartment, and by the time you arrive, you’re feeling a little more rested, though still there’s a tiredness rooted deep within you. Mark walks inside with you, stepping in before you, walking through your apartment to turn on the lights.

“Checking for boogeymen?” You tease when you notice him peeking into corners. You toe out of your shoes and rub at the back of your neck as you cross the floor toward him. “If you’re so worried about me, you can stay tonight?”

Mark bites his bottom lip and takes your hand in one of his. “I could definitely do that. I don’t think you’ve ever asked me to stay here with you before. That’s exciting.” He fidgets, looking around the room once more, his eyes lingering on your bedroom door.

You roll your eyes in a lighthearted way. “You’re ridiculous. You asked me to move in with you guys, but you’re excited about me asking you to spend the night with me?”

Mark smiles, his nose scrunching up adorably for a moment before his face suddenly smooths over, suddenly serious as he clears his throat. “Yeah, actually, on that topic, I have something else I want to ask you.”

You raise your eyebrows, giving him the go-ahead with a little nod.

Mark swallows hard, and he says, “Well, you know I love you. A lot. That I’ve told you that I can picture a future with you, and the idea of having you right there at home with me, with us, is exactly what I want. And that was before I knew about... about you being pregnant. What you said the other night about this changing things, you’re definitely right about that.”

Your heart suddenly picks up, pounding as you listen to his words. You’re not exactly sure you like the sound of this, especially with those last few words. Thus far, in the last several days since the big reveal happened, nothing has really changed. And you certainly didn’t think that Mark would be the first one to give you his decision on things.

“Baby,” Mark’s voice cracks a little. “I don’t want to have to worry about anything in the future. I don’t want you to have to worry either. I love you so much, and the other night I was thinking about the future, about you, about the baby, and really it seemed to me that there’s only one true next step for me to take.” 

Mark takes a deep breath, and you watch as Mark begins to sink down in front of you. 

“Baby, will you marry me?”

Traces of You <- Previous || Next -> Coming Home

a/n: so, go figure, she was pregnant. It was only a matter of time really. The next part should be out much sooner than this one was since I do mostly have it finished already since this almost turned out to be like 28k words or something ridiculous like that, the next one just needs a few tweaks, maybe I’ll have it up by next weekend hopefully. I kinda felt like this one turned out kinda short, because there’s only really the one smut scene, but I promise the next one has much more. 

As usual, please let me know what you thought! Comments, tags, reblogs, everything is appreciated 💗

[soleilsuhh]

— nct 127 as types of housemates.

[✿] — TAEIL is the best-friend type of housemate; he’s so chill yet he’s so willing to get to know you and make you comfortable, although it might be a little awkward at first. the type to initiate a night-in where you just sit on the couch and talk about yourselves while eating dinner. always asks you how your day was. the type to bring his friends over for movie nights and introduce you to them and include you in future hang-outs. also the kind of housemate that willingly helps you with your work or projects. leaves you little notes around the house: “went to meet up with a friend. will be back around noon.” or “left you some breakfast. good luck with the test/interview today.”

[✿] — JOHNNY is the housemate that you hit it off with since day-one. the type that you can have the most fun, interesting, and effortless conversations with. the type to divide chores and is pretty responsible about his part and won’t hesitate to let you know if he thinks you’re slacking off on your side. he’s such a good listener; the kind of housemate that’ll patiently listen to your problems and help you solve them. he probably won’t bring a lot of friends over simply because he prefers to hang out outside. also extremely helpful with the household gadgets and other handy works around the house, like changing the light bulb. you have a guilty-pleasure tv show that you watch religiously every weekend and no one knows about it — it’s your little thing.

[✿] — TAEYONG is the ‘mom-friend’ type of housemate. he’s basically your family away from home. he’s friendly but also really respects your boundaries and space so he takes his time getting to know you and understand you. your new emotional support system. always there to hype you up. the type that occasionally makes a pretty big dinner for you both just for the heck of it. he’s so considerate and always thinks of you; the type to go ahead and make a sandwich for you too when he’s making one for himself. also protective in a sense that he’ll lowkey get worried and send you a text or two if you’re out later than you usually are — only to a certain extent though; it won’t be overbearing or anything. 

[✿] — YUTA is the housemate that you find intimidating at first but he gradually becomes your emergency contact and confidant. he values his privacy so it’s not uncommon for him to spend a lot of his time in his room when at home but he also loves to have fun so he initiates night-outs. also movie-nights; so many of them. loves to talk the night away but that won’t be too frequent, although every time it happens, you have the most interesting and insightful talks. will directly call you out if you don’t pay your portion of the rent on time or if you leave your dirty dishes on the sink. also lowkey becomes your bodyguard; offers to pick you up or walk home with you at night.

[✿] — DOYOUNG is the dependable type of housemate. he doesn’t mind taking care of the household bills and keeping the house clean; will let you know the house rules from day-one and act all strict about them but actually a softie and lets you get away with breaking them most of the times. you will never run out of toilet paper and will probably get at least a week’s notice before having someone over. when you come back home from a drunken night, he gets you a glass of water and helps you to bed. depending on how close you are, he might even start nagging a little. has a habit of telling you to ‘be careful’ whenever you go out. reminds you to take the umbrella if it looks like it’s going to rain later.

[✿] — JAEHYUN is the type that makes you wonder ‘is he even home enough to be considered a housemate’ or ‘does he even have a life outside of this place?’ no in-between. kinda has this ‘you do what you want and i’ll do what i want’ attitude; usually minds his own business and is generally nice and helpful. very tolerant and easy-going, and won’t mind if you ask him to lower his music. your house/apartment probably won’t be the tidiest BUT you both tend to go on these random cleaning tangents where you clean the whole place together, which is surprisingly one of your ways of bonding with each other. he’s also the type to call you and ask you to check if he has left the wallet on the counter. 

[✿] — JUNGWOO is a sweet and fun housemate, like there’s never a dull moment around him. the type that won’t mind doing the grocery shopping or even lending some money if you need it. always texts you about roommate stuffs, ‘did i leave the stove on?’ ‘i’m at the convenience store; anything you want me to pick up?’ lots of yelling at each other from across the apartment or from each other’s rooms as a way of communicating. almost always texts or calls you to let you know ahead if he’s going to be back home late. will try to set you up with potential boos or on blind dates.

[✿] — MARK is the type of housemate who always seems busy and has a lot of things going on for him. you might be a little intimidated at first because he always seems so focused with his work but as soon as you talk to him, you’re like oh nevermind, he’s such a wholesome dork. he doesn’t seem like it but he notices the little things around the house; compiles extensive shopping list and give it to you so that you can do the grocery shopping — might tag along sometimes. reminds you that you have to pay rent soon, just in case you forget but then ends up forgetting it himself. he also has so many friends but gives you heads-up if they’re coming over. 

[✿] — HAECHAN is the type of housemate that is kind of a mess yet also somehow does so effortlessly well at school/work. makes you question his sleeping habits a little; stays up late at night, playing games and ends up yelling out curses in frustration suddenly and you have to go and tell him he’s going to wake the neighbors or that you’re trying to sleep. more than once, he accidentally slams doors at 3 AM and then apologizes loudly. you will probably bicker and argue at least once a day but it’s mostly over stupid things like who ate the last bag of chips. observant and notices immediately if you’ve had a bad day; best shoulder to cry on. playing board games on your bed then ending up falling asleep together.

[✿] — MASTERLIST.

[minjiwritesstuff]

NCT DREAM Reaction: You Have a Miscarriage

Mark

When Mark heard the news of your miscarriage, his whole system stopped working. He didn’t know how to breathe, he didn’t know how to think. He forgot everything he learned for a good five minutes. His mind went blank, it was just empty. He was so excited at the idea of becoming a father and starting a family with you that this news crushed him from the inside out. He couldn’t find the right words to say for a good 15 minutes.

“There will be another time baby... It’s going to be fine”

Renjun

Renjun didn’t want to believe it. He simply couldn’t accept the fact that you lost the baby. Though he would never blame you for this, I feel like he would need some alone time to process the news. He didn’t like the idea of leaving you alone in that room, but he couldn’t stand to be there for the moment. He did come back a few moments later when he was finally calm and ready to face the situation.

“We will work this out, don’t worry. I’m here for you and you’re here for me. We need to and we will be strong for each other baby”

Jeno

Jeno would cry hard. Hearing about the loss of his child, his little baby whom he’s been so ready to meet since the instant you announced him your pregnancy, truly broke his heart in a million pieces. Similarly to Mark, he didn’t know what to do or say but he would stay by your side the entire time, just holding you as you both cried hot tears. After you both got home and you laid down in bed, Jeno would hold you close still, making sure you slept good.

“The time might not have been the apparent right one, but once it’ll be there, you’ll be the most perfect mother”

Haechan

Of course Donghyuck would cry too. You miscarried later than mothers usually do so at this point it was more than unexpected as you were out of the most common miscarriage times. You had almost everything ready for the baby’s arrival and were the most excited about meeting your little bundle of life. Even though Donghyuck would cry, he would try to not cry in front of you so he could be strong enough to support your pain.

“I don’t have to feel this way but I’m sorry baby. We will have another chance to meet our little angel again don’t worry”

Jaemin

I think Jaemin would be more like Renjun. He would need a little time to process the news. Would he leave you alone? No, because he simply couldn’t stand the fact of leaving you alone in this now cold seeming room. He would just stand by your side, kind of arguing with the doctor, asking how it happened and why it happened. His first words to you after that were in the car on the way back home. He felt bad for not talking to you before but he couldn’t, his throat shut down after talking with the doctor.

“Please don’t feel like it’s your fault. It is not. I never thought we would feel this pain but now we do and we have to be strong baby. Can you be the strong girl you are for me?”

Chenle

He would be a mix of everyone. He would take a few minutes to process the information, then wouldn’t know what to do. Quickly enough he would start crying and then he would argue with the doctor about how they could’ve prevent it. But most of all, Chenle would be most supportive one. Afterwards, he would always make sure you had everything you needed. He would take a few days, or even one or two weeks off so he could always be by your side. His way of making you feel better would be by cooking you comfort food.

“I know this is hard, and we won’t ever forget the pain, but when we’ll have our kids you’ll be the most wonderful mother to them, but until now, we just have to be strong and keep a positive attitude”

Jisung

Jisung would be the most confused. Not only did he not understand why it happened, he didn’t understand how he felt. He felt anger, sadness, he felt hurt and also uncomfortable. His mind wasn’t with him and the doctor’s words didn’t even made their way to his ears. All he knew was that you were crying and he was too. Out of all the members, he probably would be the one that was most angry at life. He couldn’t believe it happened to the both of you.

“I don’t know why it had to be us, but it happened and we can’t change anything. Now was not our time but it will come back and we’ll be extraordinary parents”

############

itook so long to write this reaction i’m so sorry to whoever requested it but i hope you still enjoyed it! 💕💕💕

[kopikokun]

Beach Day Blues༄ l.dh

↳ Out on a day trip to the beach with your boyfriend and his friends, you’re anticipating a fun time filled with sunny memories and sand filled swimsuits. What you’re not expecting is the cold shoulder from your usually happy-go-lucky boyfriend, but you’re going to get to the root of this issue, even if it’ll kill you.

pairing: lee donghyuck x reader ft. yuta, mark & jaehyun

content: fluff, beach day, reverse comfort fic, jealousy fic, very mildly suggestive ending

word count: 2053 words

Request 36: Haechan + “I need a hug.” (42) + “You’re cute when you’re angry.” (47) + “You own my heart.” (59) + Jealousy

← BACK TO NAVI.

— 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝.

Perhaps you’re being delusional. Perhaps you’re just dehydrated or, maybe, you rationalise, the scalding rays of the evening Sun have burned not only your skin but your brain cells too (if there were any to begin with). Maybe all of this is just in your head and you’re overthinking it.

    “Hey,” someone hisses, “is it just me or is Donghyuck giving you the cold shoulder?”

    At the question, or rather observation, your head swivels an almost sharp 90 degrees to stare Yuta straight in the eyes. “So, it wasn’t just me thinking that!”

    Yuta chuckles. “Yeah, he definitely seems off…” He peers at Donghyuck discreetly from beneath his sunglasses before turning back towards you. “Did you guys get into a fight or something?”

    “A fight? No way!” You pause, suddenly doubting yourself. “At least, I don’t think so…”

    Though you’re confident in your verdict of innocence regarding a fight, Yuta’s question prompts you to briefly run through the events of the day. To preface things, you, your boyfriend, Donghyuck, and a few of your friends—namely, Yuta, Jaehyun and Mark—had decided around half a month ago to clear up one day in advance for a ‘beach day’ this week. The idea had sprung after someone had brought up how nice and sunny the weather had been lately, and everyone just unanimously came to the conclusion that sunny weather equals beach day.

     You had begun packing for this trip a few days ahead to the surprise of everyone including yourself, which is a testament to your overwhelming excitement, because you rarely--if ever--pack that early for just a single day trip. But who can blame you? This would be your first official trip with Donghyuck. No, you should rephrase that. This would be your first official trip with Donghyuck as your boyfriend. You’ve been on plenty of trips before when you two were just ‘friends’, but now--and maybe this is the romanticist in you which you’ve successfully kept stored away up until recently speaking--it just feels different. You’re sure someone out there can relate, because you’ve never been one to obsess over something as feeble as a label, yet this trip has had your stomach in knots for ages.

  The packing process had gone smoothly--neither you nor Donghyuck had forgotten anything--and so had the car ride over. As far as you can recall, your day at the beach so far has gone without a hitch too. You’d had a little picnic, dipped in the oddly warm sea, played some beach volleyball (badly) and gotten some icecream afterward. No fights, no issues, no nothing.

   Maybe, you think, he found out I was involved in that little switch up with the sea water. You don’t entertain the idea for too long though immediately casting it away, because you know Donghyuck would never be the type to get so upset over a prank.

    So, why the attitude?

    You gaze at Donghyuck’s back, hoping that this mystery might just unravel itself if you stare long enough.

    “Huh…” Yuta’s voice tears you from your zealous staring competition with Donghyuck’s shoulders. “Then I wonder what’s up…”

    You sigh. You know you should confront him and have a mature conversation about what’s bothering him, but that’s so much easier said than done. Maybe this is God’s way of punishing you for ridiculing all those scenes in cheesy teen flicks where the couple would experience a major fall-out because of poor communication. During said scenes, you’d be pulling your hair out, internally screaming at the couple to just freaking talk already, yet now that you’ve been presented this obstacle for you to overcome yourself, you’re erring on the side of caution.

    Come on, you reason, I’ve been friends with Donghyuck for over half-a-decade and we’ve gotten into our fair share of arguments during those five years. What’s so different about now?

    Yeah, you’re right. You find yourself agreeing with your own thoughts, physically nodding along like you’re speaking to someone. Yuta raises a concerned eyebrow at you. Nothing’s different compared to then. You’re doing it again. He’s just my boyfriend, and that’s just a label. Stop. Obsessing. Over. Labels.

    Admittedly, it’s a bit embarrassing having to psyche yourself up to do this, but that’s not what’s important right now. What’s important is that little pep-talk, no matter how laughable it sounded, has gotten you to stand and saunter to Donghyuck with utmost confidence. In hindsight, you should’ve said something to Yuta beforehand instead of just springing from your seat and marching away. The thought hadn’t crossed your mind though, as it was obviously preoccupied with something arguably much more important than giving him the luxury of context.

    You decide not to be too transparent about your feelings at first as you take a seat beside Donghyuck on the sand, leaning your head on his shoulder, hoping that all of this was really just your imagination getting the best of you. You silently plead that he’ll perhaps treat you like he normally would, giving you a little peck on the cheek or at least wrapping his arm around your waist. Unfortunately, your hopes are smothered just as quickly as they arise because Donghyuck doesn’t even bat an eye at you, continuing to chat with Jaehyun and flat-out ignoring your presence. Still optimistic for a reaction, you leave a chaste kiss to his bare shoulder, just to let him know that “Hey, I’m here!”, but to no avail. Infuriatingly, he doesn’t even flinch. All he does is drone on to Jaehyun about something you couldn’t care less about.

    You huff. Audibly. A last ditch effort in vying for Donghyuck’s attention. It goes just as well as your previous attempts. You cross your arms, glaring at the side of Donghyuck’s stubborn little head, hoping to bore a deep hole through his brain. Maybe then he’ll finally take notice of you. Sensing the undeniable tensity in the air, Jaehyun clears his throat awkwardly, offering Donghyuck some lame excuse about needing to take a piss, before shuffling away. Well, at least someone knows how to take a hint.

    With Jaehyun’s departure, you’re left alone with Donghyuck. Usually, he’d be leaping to drown you in affection the second you two had privacy--or even if you two didn’t, to be frank--but all he does now is fiddle with the strings of his swimming shorts absentmindedly.

    “What’s wrong, Hyuck?” you finally ask, desperate to break this frustratingly suffocating silence. “Is something wrong?”

    Finally, after what seems like centuries, Donghyuck acknowledges your existence, though the look he gives you is not a pleasant one. In fact, it’s one of agitation. His tongue prods at his inner cheek before he says, tone bitter, “I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me?”

    Evidently taken aback, you crease your eyebrows at him. “I… Did I do something wrong, babe?”

    “Oh, come on,” he scoffs, scornful amusement overtaking his normally amiable features. “Don’t pretend like you don’t know. You can just come out and say it.”

    “Say what, Hyuck?”

    “How much more you’re into Mark than into me,” Donghyuck says like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

    You can’t help but laugh, simply bewildered as to how on Earth he came to this conclusion. “I’m into who now?”

    “Mark,” Donghyuck rolls his eyes, “don’t have to pretend like you’re surprised.”

  “I’m not into--” you sigh, a smile of disbelief tugging at your lips. “Okay, tell me why you think I’m into Mark.”

    “I don’t think. I know,” Donghyuck argues and you scoff, “but it’s obvious. And I have proof. Take when we were playing volleyball for instance. The whole time, you kept eyeing Mark up and laughing at his jokes. All of them. Even the weird ones that nobody gets.”

    You snort. “Baby… I wasn’t ‘eyeing Mark up’, I was watching him just in case he missed the ball. And about the joke thing, to his credit, some of them were actually pretty funny! But, as for the the rest--and don’t tell Mark I said this--I felt kinda bad nobody else laughed at them, so I just laughed along with him. Trust me, I’ve been in his shoes before and it sucks. Not all of us are born as naturally as funny as you, Hyuck.” You’re a little remorseful that you’re essentially dissing Mark, but you’re sure he’d understand. Your relationship’s on the line here.

    Donghyuck harrumphs, but you can tell by the slight quirk of his lip that he’s a little tickled by you poking fun at Mark and he’s totally been swayed by your compliment.

    “Okay, fine that explains that, but how about when we went swimming just now? Why did you and Mark keep exchanging funny looks?”

    “That?” You giggle. “You know how your drink was mysteriously replaced by seawater?”

    “Yeah,” he trails off, his suspicion growing by the second.

    “Who do you think that was?”

    Donghyuck groans. “Wait, that was you? Seriously? That was mean, babe.”

  “Aww, I know, Hyuck. I’m sorry,” you coo. Your hand inches its way closer to his as you attempt to intertwine your fingers together.

    Donghyuck rejects your endeavour of fondness. “Nu-uh, no way. I’m not done with you yet.”

    “Oh my God, Hyuck, there’s more?” you complain, though there’s a tint of amusement in your voice.

    “Yes, there’s more, and you won’t be able to worm your way out of this one either,” he says smugly, as if it’d be a good thing if you in fact, couldn’t worm your way out of his next accusation. “How about when we went to get ice cream and you kept sliding up next to him?”

    You pout. “I just wanted to try the watermelon popsicle he got.”

    Donghyuck blinks at you, his once irritated expression dissolving. He seems dumbfounded as you hold his gaze, your mirthful smile never faltering. He turns away from you. “Oh, well… then whatever. I guess you aren’t into Mark.”

    “Hyuck,” you say, hand crawling up his arm, “were you jealous?”

    “Well, yeah, obviously,” he deadpans, still refusing to meet your gaze.

    You giggle. “You’re cute when you’re angry.”

    His cold facade is immediately abandoned at your teasing intonation, and just like that, your cheery Hyuck is back. “Baby,” he whines, readjusting himself so he’s facing you head-on, “don’t tease me. I couldn’t help but be jealous, you know?”

    “And why is that?”

    Donghyuck purses his lips. “Why? What do you mean why?” He gestures up and down, eyes sweeping over you. “Look how pretty you are! What am I supposed to do when you look this good all the time? It’s unfair, really, that you’re this pretty.”

    A blistering heat, one that is much hotter than the Sun, gathers in your cheeks. “Oh really now, Hyuck?”

    “Yes, really,” he says, genuity seeping into his every word. “Literally, everyday I’m surprised you’re even real.” You grin bashfully and Donghyuck pounds his fist to his chest dramatically like he’s been shot. “See! You’re only smiling and I’m already having heart palpitations at just twenty years old.”

    “Okay, okay, Hyuck. You can stop hyping me up now,” you chuckle. You’re beyond glad that your boyfriend has returned to his spirited self, but you know you should address what just happened seriously, just in case. “But hey, I’m sorry that I made you feel that way. Looking back, it definitely could’ve been misinterpreted as flirting and I would never want you to have any reason to feel insecure about our relationship because you own my heart, Hyuck.”

    “Aw, babe, you can be really cheesy when you want to be,” says Donghyuck, pinching your cheeks. He plays what you said off casually, but you know that deep down, it resonates with him, and he honestly appreciates your sincerity. “Come here, I need a hug.”

    “Right now? There are people around, Hyuck.”

    “But you look so good right now. I can’t resist.”

    “I don’t know, Hyuck…” You smile demurely.

    “Alright, then what about,” Donghyuck reaches to tuck your hair behind your ear, whispering, “we ditch the beach day and go cuddle in the car? My skin’s burning, anyway.”

    You grin. “They’re gonna notice that we went missing, you know?”

    “So?” Donghyuck challenges, leaning in to place a short but telling kiss on the juncture which connects your ear and your jaw. “Even better. I want them to know.”

[asthmark]

❝ stuck ❞ l.dh

request → “Hi~ I'm absolutely in love with your work. It makes me so soft uwu. I was wondering if you could write a Haechan one similar to the roommate Jeno one you wrote. About what it's like to just live with him” —@demiwizardstay​

pairing → demon!haechan, reader, guardianangel!mark

word count → 4.5k

a/n → whoops i made this into a demon!haechan au hahaha sorry i hope this is domestic enough for u tho :D

your eyes must be playing tricks on you.

there’s no other reasonable explanation. 

on the other hand, the shadow splayed out ever so comfortably on your couch seems to be very real. it must be just as aware of your presence as you are of its but to your surprise, it isn’t telling you to put your hands where it can see them or demanding to know where all your most valuable items are. it sits there, peacefully as if it owns the place. for a split second you consider the possibility that you walked into the wrong apartment but the key in your hand reminds you that the situation you are in is not your fault in any way. 

“so... are you gonna scream or just stand there?”

the figure’s voice is unmistakably masculine and drips with sass. you know you should feel scared. your heart should be pounding as your shaky fingers dial 911 and you hysterically report an intruder to the authorities and beg them to come fast. however, it seems that this stranger’s calm aura has rubbed off on you as you respond with an equally as unbothered tone.

“well, i would appreciate it if you invited me in.” you pause. “oh wait, it’s my apartment.”

with that, you step inside and go about your regular routine with a calmness you didn’t know you possessed; especially when there was an… unwelcome visitor lounging on your sofa. despite that, you kick off your shoes and toss your jacket somewhere on the floor like you normally would. you twirl your keys around your fingers as you go to turn to flick on the light switch. it rids you of the darkness that had settled upon your apartment and the stranger is completely revealed to you.

the first thing you notice about them is their sun kissed skin that’s littered in the freckles you would compare to the most captivating constellation. although, the stranger’s flawless complexion is the least of your worries considering the two horns that peek out from underneath their tufts of brunette hair. 

you physically restrain yourself from asking for his skin routine and instead opt for yet another sarcastic comment. “all ready for halloween, i see.” your eyes lock onto the appendages, choosing to ignore how realistic they were. “was party city having a sale?”

your comment seems to get your uninvited guest out of his daze as he scoffs. “are you kidding?”

“hey, this is my place, i ask the questions,” you scold.

he ignores you, instead going to tug on his horns. “these are all real, baby.”

you force yourself to maintain eye contact with him, waiting for him burst into laughter and tell you it was all a prank. instead, his unfaltering smug gaze pierces into you. you swear you stop breathing when his eyes flash bright red for a second.

“alright, you can tell the camera crew to come on out.” you glance around hoping this really was just some sort of hidden camera–practical joke type of thing. you half expect ashton kutcher jump out and tell you that you had gotten punk'd but you’re never granted that privilege. your eyes end up back on the boy lounging on your sofa and he returns the stare, eyes narrowed and mouth curved into a smirk.

it was almost… devilish. 

“oh my god.”

“not quite.” he finally stands, stretching his limbs out without a care in the world. “wanna try again?”

you stay silent, mouth slightly agape. there was only one other explanation. 

he’s satan. and he’s also in your living room. and the worst part was how undeniably hot he is.

you regret giving him the satisfaction of your stunned silence as it seems like that was the exact reaction he wanted. he laughs at your expression and it just sounds evil. 

“alright, alright. i’ll tell you what i am. but only because you mortals are always so cute when you’re scared.”

“i’m not scared, you idiot,” you interject without a second thought. “i just didn’t know i’d be selling my soul today. it’s a total bummer. i’m so young, i still have so much to do. i never even got around to trying yoga with ryujin!”

the boy’s eyebrows furrow in confusion. “your soul? did i say i wanted your soul?”

“well, you’re like, satan right? isn’t that what you do?”

he rolls his eyes. “i’m obviously a demon. satan is a loser who never leaves his fiery throne. which, by the way, isn’t as cool as it sounds. we’re not on the best terms at the moment.”

“so... you don’t want my soul?”

he shakes his head vigorously, looking disgusted at the mere idea of it. “what would i even do with it?”

“i don’t know. honestly i’m just going off of what i see in the movies.”

“that was your first mistake, baby.” he makes his way closer to you. “this isn’t the movies.”

“okay, back it up,” you say, attempting to put some distance between you and him.

he raises his hands in defeat as he obeys, retreating back to your couch. 

“why are you here of all places? shouldn’t you be sipping on a piña colada with satan right now?”

he crosses his legs nonchalantly. “like i said, we aren’t on speaking terms. in fact, i’m kind of… banned.”

“banned?” you echo. “from where?”

“hell? duh.” 

you scowl at his attitude. “it’s not my fault you’re on timeout.”

he pinches the bridge of his nose in frustration. “don’t call it that. it’s just a punishment.”

“same thing,” you say, making your way into the kitchen. you weren’t sure if leaving a demon unattended in your living room was the best idea but the initial shock had already worn off. besides, it seemed like he had been in your apartment for a while already. “what did you do anyway?”

“it’s not even that bad,” he grumbles.

“must have been if you got kicked out of hell.” you chuckle to yourself as you open up your pantry, looking for something to stuff your face with. “do you understand how bad you must be if even the devil himself can’t stand you?” 

“i’m not bad, per se,” he says, picking at his nails. “just a little annoying.”

“no kidding,” you grumble to yourself, rummaging through your pantry, in pursuit of your favorite snack. you were sure everything would make more sense once you got some food in your system. when all you find is an empty, crumpled bag where your chips had once been, you whine loudly. “did you eat all my hot cheetos?”

“they reminded me of home!”

“i can see why they kicked you out,” you retort. 

“listen, i get that this is an inconvenience—”

“that’s kind of an understatement.”

“but, this is the only place i can stay. turns out people freak out when you appear in their living rooms. you were the only one that didn’t.”

“yeah, people usually don’t take too kindly to that—hold on, did you say stay?”

he crosses his arms over his chest. “where else am i supposed to go?”

“anywhere but here.”

he gives you an unamused stare, his eyes glinting red once again. 

“i mean, don’t you have any demon friends you can stay with?”

“not here. we avoid earth at all costs. it’s trashy. that’s why this is a punishment.” 

not even you can argue with that. “understandable. well, how long are you gonna be here?” 

“don’t know.” 

you blink at him. “so… you’re planning to crash with me until satan decides to be your friend again?” 

he groans. “first of all, he’s never been my friend. second of all, yes, that was the plan i had in mind when i broke into your house.” 

“broke in?” 

“well, actually i used teleportation powered by the dark arts to get in but i don’t think your tiny human brain is ready for that conversation.” 

“and i don’t think it’d be in your best interest to insult the person you’re currently trying to move in with.” 

that seems to shut him up, as he purses his lips together and stares at you blankly. 

“listen, if we’re going to do this, there’s gotta be some ground rules, okay?” 

he stays silent so you decide to continue. 

“you have to pull your own weight around here. you might be some powerful being of the underworld but that doesn’t mean you get out of laundry day and doing dishes, got it?” 

he seems displeased, if the frustrated huff of air he lets out is anything to go by. 

“and you have to promise me that by staying here you aren’t putting me in any kind of danger.” 

“well, i can’t guarantee i won’t cause problems,” he says, raking his fingers through the hair in between his sharpened horns. “but i can protect you from whatever crap comes our way.” 

you contemplate it. you weren’t entirely sure what a demon like him was capable of but it seemed like it would be a list that was equally lengthy as it was impressive. yet, you still can’t bring yourself to agree to anything. 

as if he senses your apprehensive nature, he grabs your chin, forcing you to look into his hazelnut eyes. you only get to admire the warm tint for a split second before his eyes flash red yet again. they stay glowing longer than any of the previous times; long enough for you to notice how shiny and bright they are, reminding you of ripe cherries. 

“i promise.” 

the tone of his voice is surprisingly firm and definitely the most serious you’ve heard him the entire night. he retreats his hand from you and you find yourself leaning forward, almost craving his touch. his eyes go back to their original hue and you feel yourself regain your senses. 

“what did you just do?” you ask, leaning back from him. “what kind of dark magic was that?”

he tries to conceal his smile but ultimately fails, his pearly whites coming onto display. “that wasn’t magic, baby. i believe you just got lost in my eyes but don’t worry. i would too.” 

you let out a bitter laugh. “oh my god, you’re vain.” 

“do you mortals have to mention him every five seconds?” he chides, grimacing. 

it takes you a moment to realize who he’s referring to but when you do, you erupt in laughter. “really? that gets to you? you’re pretty sensitive for a big and bad demon.” 

“i have a name, baby.” 

“so do i.” 

his lips curve into a coy smile. “donghyuck.” 

you give him your name in response, not even bothering to think about it twice, much to your surprise. most would probably be more hesitant to introduce themself to a demon, much less invite them into their home. 

yet here you were, doing both. 

he offers you nothing more than a grin—it seemed more genuine than the last—before turning on his heel to make his way farther into your apartment. “so, where will i be sleeping? i was thinking your bed would be ideal.”

“well, i was thinking you could start with a thank you,” you suggest, trailing after him. 

he saunters down the hallway, twisting the knob of the door second to the left and peeking in. you can only imagine how much snooping around he had done before you had arrived, judging by the fact that he maneuvered your home so expertly. 

he hums as he scans the room as if it’s the first time (which you’re sure it’s not). “it looks comfortable enough for the two of us.” 

you can tell there’s no arguing with him, especially as he steps inside and sits himself on the edge of your bed, hands running over the soft fabric of your comforter. he bounces up and down a couple times, seeming satisfied enough with the mattress. 

in the blink of an eye, he’s underneath the heaps of blankets, tucked in snuggly. 

you exhale, trying to maintain patience. “i can tell this whole dark magic thing is going to be a problem for me.”

even though only his eyes peek out from beneath the polyester sheets, you’re positive he’s wearing an obnoxious smirk. his voice comes out slightly muffled when he answers, “think of it as a blessing, not a curse.”

“we’ll see.” you try to suppress a yawn but it manages to escape you, eyes squinting and your hand clamping over your mouth. “right now, i gotta sleep. hopefully i’ll wake up tomorrow and realize this was all a dream.”

“so, what you’re implying is that i’m a dream?”

“i meant to say nightmare.”

“that’s more accurate.”

as if the dazed tone of his voice didn’t give his sleepiness away, donghyuck’s drowsy eyes and horns sinking into the soft plush of your pillow certainly did. he looked the least threatening right then and there and you decide that this is the donghyuck you like best. you can’t help the sudden urge you feel to curl up in bed right next to him and doze off into blissful unconsciousness. 

“what are you waiting for? get in here.”

could demons read minds too? you can’t be bothered to think about it for another second before you take donghyuck’s very tempting offer and crawl into your bed. you don’t care that you’re not in your pajamas or that you smell like coffee beans, courtesy of the cafe you worked at.

all you can seem to focus on is the feeling of donghyuck’s soft breath against your neck and his oddly cute snores. it was ironic; a demon all cuddled up beside you, sleeping like a baby. you almost giggle at the striking comparison. 

needless to say, you fall asleep with a smile on your face.

+

“you know, it really pisses me off to come home and see you sitting in the exact same position you were in when i left.”

donghyuck rolls his eyes, an expression he’s mastered over time. “what else am i supposed to do? you made it pretty clear that you hate my demonic rituals and that’s kind of my speciality.”

you shrug as you kick your shoes off upon entering your shared apartment. “i don’t know. but binging the entire marvel movie saga can’t possibly be healthy.”

“we don’t have this in hell!” donghyuck exclaims, gesturing to the television his eyes remained glued on. 

“well, you should get used to life on earth considering you don’t know how long you’re gonna be stuck here.”

“i’m already on it. pop culture is actually really informative.”

“not what i meant. i was thinking more along the lines of a job.”

donghyuck finally tears his eyes away from the television to give you an unamused stare. “that’s really funny, y/n.”

“i’m serious! would it kill you to get off the sofa?”

“no. nothing would. i’m immortal, remember?”

you narrow your eyes. “oh yeah, almost forgot. you’re gonna be a bother to me forever and ever.”

“this isn’t the ideal situation for me either. but no need to torture me with low life mortal tasks.”

“bills gotta be paid, it’s a part of life,” you respond, taking a seat beside him. “or else we’ll both be breaking into people’s houses and begging them to move in.”

“i didn’t beg, alright? and i didn’t break in either! i simply...  appeared.”

“that’s even worse.”

“you didn’t seem to mind when you were all snuggled into me this morning.”

donghyuck’s words paired with his taunting tone cause you to feel slightly warm but you ignore it for the sake of a comeback. “you seemed comfortable yourself because when my alarm for work went off your arm was pretty tight around me.”

you swear you see him pout for a moment. “that’s not my fault! there aren’t many people open to cuddling in hell! i was just… seizing the opportunity.”

“since you’re all about opportunities, you should really look into that job. remember what we agreed on? no slacking off.”

“i’m not! just look in the kitchen!”

you know whatever it is, you’re not prepared for it. nevertheless, you tiptoe to said area, hoping your roommate had simply followed instructions and done the dishes and swept. but, of course, that itself is too much to ask as you watch the sink overflow with suds, plates and silverware scrubbing themselves clean and floating into their respective cupboards. a broom dances across the tiled floor, dust flying everywhere. you find that the mess in your kitchen resembles a train wreck; you want to look away but you just can’t. 

you call out to donghyuck, eyes still trained on the chaos before you, asking, “what did we say about rituals?”

“it’s a little more complicated than a ritual, baby!”

once you finally gather enough willpower to walk away from the kitchen and whatever is happening in it, you return to the living room, placing yourself in front of the television that donghyuck is so entranced in. 

“you’re coming with me to work tomorrow, got it?”

donghyuck groans for a second before rolling his eyes dramatically hard. “fine. now, can you move? the avengers are about to fight thanos.”

you comply, retreating to your bedroom but not before shouting back, “iron man dies!”

you shut your door, donghyuck’s frustrated screeching still coming through loud and clear.

+

your phone alerts you that it’s 6 am by playing an alarm so loud donghyuck falls out of bed. comically enough, it’s the loud thump! that comes when donghyuck makes contact with the floor that really gets your eyes to flutter open. you peek over the edge of the bed, every bit of grogginess leaving your body the second you see your roommate tangled in your sheets, limbs sprawled on the ground. 

“are you okay?” you ask, laughter lacing your words.

“doing just fine,” he mumbles in response. soon thereafter, his eyes shut once again.

“hey! no way are you going back to sleep, we have work!” 

you drag yourself out of bed over to where donghyuck lays, attempting to resume his peaceful slumber. you grab his arms, attempting to hoist him up. you’re almost positive he’s making it more difficult than it should be as he lets his body go completely limp in your grasp. when you finally get him standing upright, he smiles lazily at you, obviously still half asleep. 

“c’mon dork, you need to get ready. you’re gonna make some cash today!”

+

donghyuck makes it clear he understands nothing as the morning progresses.

he doesn’t get the importance of being on time or even working in the first place. he offers to just take out your landlord, which according to him will “solve all your problems”, more times than you count and you’re sure that if he mentions it one more time you’d actually consider it. he also claims he doesn’t understand the concept of a shower, asking you to help him out, yet the knowing smile on his face lets you know he’s more than well aware of what it entails. unfortunately, you realize this after spending more time than you’d care to admit explaining the concept of getting naked to him in a tight, confined space to him only for him to request a demonstration. 

upon leaving your apartment, more new things are revealed to donghyuck. you can’t help but admire the wonder and awe in his eyes. the adoration quickly wears off when he throws a temper tantrum at the subway station, refusing to board it and you have to physically force him on and promise that no, he won’t get trapped inside.

despite the slight bumps in the road, you arrive at your shift with time to spare. the clock tells you that you won’t have to be behind the counter for another five minutes so you grab your apron and provide donghyuck with one too. you give him quite possibly the quickest tour of the cafe ever and explain to him over five times what you were there to do (“so, we just take people’s orders? we serve them?” “and they pay for it.” “just when i thought it couldn’t possibly get dumber”). you end putting him on cleaning duty since you were well aware of his lack of social skills. he frowns when you tell him he has to do it himself, no magic allowed. the last thing you needed was someone getting nearly knocked over by a levitating broom and bringing it to your manager’s attention. speaking of—

“good morning, y/n,” greets doyoung. his hair is slicked back and his eyes shine, as always. “always a pleasure to see you on your shift.”

donghyuck watches you cautiously, observing the way you smile nervously and avoid meeting doyoung’s eyes. he assumes he has some kind of authority over you. 

“and hello there. who might you be?”

doyoung is now very aware of donghyuck’s presence, giving him a wide smile but a menacing stare. you don’t get a word out before donghyuck’s giving him a polite smile and nod of his head.

“i was just hired, y/n is showing me the ins and outs. i honestly could not be happier working under leaders like you, sir.”

doyoung hums, obviously enjoying donghyuck’s praise enough to let it blind him from the fact that you hadn’t even been hiring in the first place. “sir, huh? haven’t heard that one before.” 

donghyuck holds his breath, wondering if he had overdone it.

“i like it. you seem like a hard working fellow. glad to have you on the team.” your boss gives him a firm pat on the back before walking away, probably to go scare some other employees. 

donghyuck sticks his tongue out at him once his back is turned and you simply laugh, smile still present on your face when your first customer arrives.

+

“i’m here!”

you glance up from the cash register to catch your coworker rushing in, looking frazzled… as always.

“hey mark,” you greet, giving him a welcoming smile. “i’m so glad you’re here. there’s been this crazy demand for frappuccinos all day and you know i suck at those.”

mark chuckles as he ties on his apron. “no offense, but the only order you should be taking are the puppuccinos.”

you shoot him the most non-threatening glare possible which ends up with you bursting into a fit of laughter. “i’m not even gonna argue with that.”

“hypothetically, if i made doyoung’s coffee explode on him but made sure he didn’t know, would you be mad?”

you roll your eyes at donghyuck’s bold entrance yet you still giggle. “at this point, i say go for it. ooh, maybe we could even sneak out while he’s cleaning it up. what do you say, mark?”

where there would usually be a giddy laugh, there’s nothing but silence on your coworkers behalf. you put a pause on counting the money in the register to steal a glance at mark who’s eyes are dead set on donghyuck who also seems to be intensely focused on the blonde. 

“demon,” mark mutters.

you feel yourself freeze up; how could he possibly know? despite the panic that settles upon you, you’re sure donghyuck will find a way to handle the situation. you expect a lie, maybe even some magic if the situation called for it. when you see his lips curve upwards sinisterly, you know you’re in for an entirely different outcome.

“angel.” there’s a teasing lilt in donghyuck’s voice; it sends chills up your spine.

mark’s jaw is clenched and you know he’s equally as tense as you are. “we should go, y/n.”

“mark, he’s just—”

“now.”

the sudden desperation yet dominance in mark’s tone is even more alarming than donghyuck’s. 

“you know,” donghyuck begins, rounding the counter, dramatically. “i’ve never been a fan of the way guardian angels think they own their person.”

you swear your brain shuts down. there was no way you had come into contact with a demon and now an angel—your guardian angel. and there was definitely no way it was your closest coworker, right?

“it’s our responsibility—she is my responsibility.”

donghyuck folds his arms as he gives mark a once over. “you won’t mind if i take over, right?”

mark chuckles, begrudgingly. “you know i can’t let that happen.”

“i’m not hurting her, i’d never hurt her.” donghyuck takes his place next to you, wrapping an arm around you. he peers down at you, eyes glowing red for the first time since your first encounter. “my angel.”

you know the nickname is to piss mark off and you assume it works as you observe his hands clench into fists. although, you’re more focused on how the pet name effortlessly rolled off donghyuck’s tongue, like temptation itself. 

“don’t make this difficult for yourself,” donghyuck continues. “you know feelings are dangerous. that’s what they tell you when you first sign up. just don’t let that get you into trouble, got it?”

the tension is suffocating and you almost wish a customer would enter the currently empty cafe to save you from it. although, donghyuck makes sure that you don’t have to endure it any longer as a second later, you’re both gone, only a cloud of red smoke left behind. 

mark stands alone in the cafe.

he had gotten this job for you; to look after you. 

perhaps he had caught feelings, as well.

he assumes that was his first mistake. 

+

when donghyuck takes you back to your apartment, it seems the awkward atmosphere from the cafe has followed you home.  

“uh, can i ask what that was all about?”

“that guy, mark was it? yeah, he’s your guardian angel. i can’t stand it when those guys act like they’re in charge of the person they’re sent to look after,” he seethes. 

you watch donghyuck’s fit of frustration carefully, eyes wide. when he sees how confused you are he can’t help but sigh. 

“i’m sorry, i just… didn’t appreciate him acting like you were his. guess i don’t really like the thought of that.”

you would have to be oblivious beyond compare to not realize donghyuck was completely and utterly jealous. you prod him further, asking, “well, then who would you rather i belong to?”

he glances up at you. “whoever you want, baby.”

“you know what? i think i have somebody in mind.”

not even a second later, donghyuck takes you back in the security of your bed, under your piles of fluffy blankets. what feels most comfortable (and strangely familiar) is the feeling of donghyuck’s arm clinging to you, making you sure you’re pressed right into his chest like a puzzle piece. 

“the person you had in mind was me, right? ’cause if not, this might be awkward.”

your eyes roll back despite knowing he can’t see it. “no, it was mark.”

“not funny.”

your shoulders shake with laughter. “it’s a little funny.”

“whatever, keep laughing. just let me hold you, alright?”

“that would be heaven.” silence settles upon the both of you as you go into nearly hysterical laughter. “get it? because you’re a demon… from hell… and that’s like, the opposite—”

“yeah, i get it, baby.” he pauses. “how many more lame jokes surrounding me being a demon will i have to endure?”

“i definitely have more where that came from so my guess is...  more than you can count.”

he moans in displeasure. “you’re lucky you’re cute… for a mortal.”

[jaembby]

christmas kisses

pairing: johnny suh x gener neutral!reader (featuring NCT 127)

genre: fluff, christmas party!au, suggestive

word count: 2.2k

desc: merry christmas!! to my readers, I bring you the gift of a johnny suh x y/n fluff! hope you enjoy the story and have a great christmas!! love you all <3

-----

“But Hyuck, are you sure I’m allowed to come?? I mean, it’s your friend group’s Christmas party... I wouldn’t want to be a burden.”

“Oh shush, the boys love you and you hang with us enough that we basically consider you to be in our group anyways. Besides, there will be some of the guys’ other friends there so you won’t be the only one... and Johnny’s definitely going to be there. Who knows what’ll happen,” your best friend, Haechan, said with a wink and a (very suspicious) smirk. It’s times like these where you regret telling Haechan about your very big crush on the one and only Johnny J Suh, especially when he brings you along to outings like this and makes it a little too obvious that he’s trying to get the two of you together.

“Fine, I’ll go,”

“Go shower while I get your outfit ready, smelly,” Haechan says before shoving you into your bathroom and going towards your bedroom to pick out something for you to wear.

Once you were ready, Hyuck drove you back to his place so he could change.

“Hurry up! The party starts in like 20 minutes!” You shout at Haechan, noticing how little time you have to arrive at Yuta’s house which is where the party’s being held.

“Excited are we? Can’t wait to see a certain someone?” Hyuck laughs as he walks out of his room with and grabs his car keys.

“Hey! You forced me to come to this thing! It’s rude to be late... not that you’d know what manners are,” you manage to say before your best friend shoves you out of his apartment, quickly following behind.

“Yeah yeah whatever,” he says as he gets into the driver’s seat of his car and passes you the aux cord.

The drive to Yuta’s was a quick one and you somehow managed to get to his place 10 minutes early. As you entered the house, you were greeted with the smell of cookies... probably Taeyong’s doing.

You wandered further into the house and were greeted with Yuta, Jaehyun, Doyoung and Jungwoo setting up a beer pong table and other games while Taeil, Winwin and Johnny got a bunch of Christmas movies ready for whenever the group of you decided to watch them. You turned to ask Haechan what you should do to help set up, only to find him missing. 

You looked over to your left, towards the kitchen and saw your best friend and Mark already having a drinking competition with a flour-covered Taeyong attempting (but failing) to stop the two boys. 

“Y/n!” you turned around at the sudden call of your name, seeing Taeil, Johnny and Winwin waving you over. 

You walked over to the trio and greeted them before helping them pick between the new animated version of The Grinch or the traditional one. Personally, you thought the animated version was better because it was funnier and had a pretty good soundtrack, so when the boys asked you to pick between the two (because they couldn’t make up their minds), that’s the one you chose.

“See! I told you the new one’s better!” Johnny all but shouted as Taeil rolled his eyes, attempting to hide a smile.

“Yeah, okay.” The older male said before crossing out the traditional Grinch from the list of movies.

“I mean, we could watch both,” Winwin said, not seeing why Johnny and Taeil were arguing over which one when there’s plenty of time to watch both movies.

“If we’re not all passed out and drunk by the end of this, then yeah maybe there would be time to watch both,” Johnny noted, amused at the thought of what would happen if the group watched The Grinch while drunk off their heads. You giggled at the idea, too.

“What are you laughing at, missy/mister?” Johnny asked as he nudged your arm lightly.

“Oh, nothing,” you replied, your cheeks heating up slightly at the nickname.

“Okay, whatever you say,” He said before grabbing your hand and leading you towards the kitchen where Haechan and Mark were making stupid bets with each other, already slightly tipsy.

“Johnny, y/n, let’s see who can down their shot the fastest!” Mark spoke, passing shot glasses for Taeyong to fill.

“I don’t know if that’s a great idea, the party only just started-”

“shh,” you were cut off by Johnny, “come on, it’s just one shot,” he said as he grabbed his glass from Taeyong (who had now decided to watch over Mark and Haechan’s games and be the “judge” to make sure nothing ended badly) and passed another glass to you.

“Okay, ready? 3, 2, 1, drink.” at this, the four of you downed your shots with Johnny coming in first place, Haechan coming second and you coming third. Mark was disqualified as the majority of his drink missed his mouth, leaving a mess over the already sticky kitchen.

“Let’s play again!” Haechan announced, upset with having come second to Johnny. The four of you continued another few rounds until you and Johnny were just a bit tipsy and Haechan and Mark were barely able to walk straight.

“That’s enough, guys. Time to find something else to do,” Taeyong said, not wanting to clean more messes right at this moment.

“You five! Come play games with us!” a tipsy Jaehyun shouted as he stumbled into the kitchen before leading you all to where he and the others had set up games. 

Jaeyhun had roped you into playing beer pong (you sat out and watched because you didn’t want to embarrass yourself) followed by a few games of truth or dare.

“y/n, truth or dare?” a pretty drunk Jungwoo had asked.

“truth,” you replied, knowing Jungwoo’s truths were usually not as bad as his dares... usually.

“Who out of this group would you let give you a hickey?” Shit. Everyone (who was still conscious) snapped their heads towards you as Jungwoo asked this, anticipating your answer. There’s only one person you’d let give you hickeys but if you say his name, the others will know. He probably doesn’t even like you back! It could ruin your whole friendship. 

Then again, maybe you’re overthinking it. You only live once, so why not take a risk? The other boys are drunk as shit from all of the previous games anyway so they wouldn’t remember this in the morning. So, with the liquid courage in your system, you answered.

“Johnny,” You breathed, barely loud enough for the others to hear. A silence hung in the air for a few moments before Haechan decided it was time for him to pass out, falling dramatically in the process. By now, the guests had headed home which left only Haechan’s (which is now also yours) friend group and you, half of whom were unconscious, sprawled out across couches and the floor in the living room of Yuta’s house.

“I think we should clean up,” Taeyong said, noticing the rest of the boys dropping like flies and the mess that everyone had left around the house. Even when drunk (although not as wasted as others), Taeyong was sensible. Taeyong got up, followed by Doyoung, and headed to the kitchen to start cleaning the sticky mess of different alcoholic drinks spilled across counters, leaving you with a sleeping Haechan, Mark, Winwin, Yuta and Jungwoo, a concerningly drunk Jaehyun and Taeil and a surprisingly not too drunk Johnny, who was staring at you from your confession moments prior.

You decided that the awkward silence was too much for your tipsy brain (and so were Johnny’s stares) so you made up your mind to put on a movie for the drunk Jaehyun and Taeil, then sat them on the couch so that they can’t do anything stupid.

“Jaehyun, Taeil, let’s go watch a movie,” you said, grabbing both boys by the arm and pulling them up. You took them over to the couches that weren’t occupied and sat them down, taking a seat beside Taeil and playing whatever movie came on first.

You stayed like that with the two boys for about 10 minutes before Johnny decided to come in, too.

“Why wasn’t I invited, y/n?” He asked with a pout.

“I’m stopping these two from doing anything stupid,” you replied, scared that if you take your eyes off the screen to look at Johnny, you won't be able to look away from the handsome man.

He hummed at your answer and took a seat beside you, the four of you now quite squashed together on the couch.

“What do you say I take you up on your offer?” Johnny asks out of nowhere, leaving you confused.

“What offer?”

“This one,” Johnny turns towards you and places a gentle kiss to your neck before lightly sucking on the spot. If you were thinking clearly, you would’ve tensed up and become a shy mess, but you weren’t. You turned slightly to face the tall man beside you and craned your neck to give him more access when he started sucking harder, gently biting the skin before placing a soft wet kiss on the mark he’d just created.

When Johnny found your sweet spot, you couldn’t help but let a small whimper of pleasure escape your lips. Your eyes darted to the two drunk men on the other side of you, thankful that they had passed out, before focusing back on johnny and the love bites that he was leaving all over you. 

“Please, Johnny,” you didn’t even know what you were begging for at this point. The only thing you knew was that you didn’t want Johnny to stop.

“You look so pretty, prince/ss. My marks all over your soft skin,” He hummed back before going to suck harshly on your sweet spot again.

“C’mere,” Johnny mumbled and grabbed your legs, pulling you into his lap. 

Out of nowhere, Johnny stopped his attack on your neck and moved to attack your lips instead, cupping your face with one hand and your back with the other.

He let his tongue glide across your bottom lip, asking gently for permission. You obliged and let him in to explore your mouth while your tongues clashed and needily fought for dominance.

“Yo dude!” A voice came from behind the two of you. Mark, you realized, had just gained consciousness (although he looked like he was about to drop again any minute) and had witnessed you and Johnny’s little make-out session just now.

“Fuck this, I’m going to bed before you two start fucking.” The drunk boy said, jogging to a guest room in Yuta’s house.

“Maybe we should stop,” you suggested, worried about the others getting up and finding you two making out and worried about things going too far.

“We should probably clean up a bit, seeing as everyone else’s out cold and no one’s going to want to clean with a hangover tomorrow,” You suggested.

“Yeah, we probably should. Good thinking, doll,” Johnny said before pecking your lips as you moved to get up.

The two of you cleaned the mess of Yuta’s house and soon enough, apart from the drunk bodies of your friends, the house was (almost) back to the way it was before you arrived.

“A job well done I’d say, prince/ss,” Johnny announced proudly as he walked up behind you and placed a gentle kiss on your cheek (which made you blush but we won’t talk about that).

You hummed in agreement before letting out a yawn, feeling tired after a night of partying.

“Let’s get you to bed, baby,” Johnny said as he grabbed your hand, leading you towards a spare room in the house.

You would just stay in the room that Haechan usually stays in and Johnny would stay in the one next to it. 

“Thanks for tonight,” you said quietly to Johnny.

“Pleasure’s all mine, baby,” he replied, admiring your flustered face.

The two of you stayed that way for a few moments, not daring to separate your gazes, hands held comfortably.

“One last kiss for tonight?” Johnny asked, noticing the mistletoe above your heads.

You hummed before leaning up towards the pretty boy’s face, your hands moving to the back of his neck while his moved to hold you close, one hand on your waist and one on the small of your back.

The kiss wasn’t as needy as the one you had previously shared. This one was gentle, loving, full of care. It was your lips meeting his soft ones in a way where nothing needed to be said, all of your feelings being displayed with each movement. 

Even after pulling away, Johnny held you close and kept your gaze as you moved one hand to rest on his chest and the other resting on his upper arm.

“By the way, Haechan had already told me,” He said, snapping you out of your trance.

“About what?” you questioned.

“Your little crush,” He replied with a smirk, making you blush and look away.

“Don’t be embarrassed, it’s cute. I like you too, y/n. I thought I’d been making it too obvious,” Johnny laughed.

“Really?” you had no idea that he felt the same.

“Really,” he confirmed.

“Merry Christmas, y/n,”

“Merry Christmas, Johnny,”

“Goodnight, prince/ss,” Johnny pulled you closer to him and placed a lingering soft kiss to your forehead before returning to his own room as you went into yours, unable to stop the butterflies from flying around in your stomach and warmth spreading throughout your chest.

[tepidtrashpile]

covering taeyong’s parts

I am HEATED.

tldr: i don’t usually do stuff like this but i’m highly caffeinated and have nothing better to do so prepare for a (very convoluted and long) rant cause omg im so fucking mad. 

so for those of you who don’t know, nct 2020 had a resonance vlive/concert last night (dec 26/27) and taeyong and jisung were unable to perform due to a back injury (herniated disk) and knee injury respectively.

I’ll mainly be talking about taeyong in this just due to his extrEmely large presence within NCT and also jisung was there to vocally cover his parts.

(also not to take anything away from jisung, however in the sheer amount of screentime and tracks ty is in, him missing is much harder to disguise within a performance with or without vocals) 

in order these are the members that covered ty’s parts in each song (tbh i may be forgetting some, but the point is look at how hard they had to work to even fill ty’s dance position within the concert, the boy is in like 50% of their performed tracks)

nct u - boss - sungchan

nct u - the 7th sense - shotaro 

nct u - light bulb - yangyang

nct 127 - touch - haechan (first part), johnny (iconic ty and mork), yuta (pulls up in the chorus to fill in ty part to the stage right of jh) 

nct u - make a wish - jeno (first part), jaemin (basically rest of the song)

nct 127 - kick it - mark (usually the center parts), jaehyun (first rap), yuta (end dance break), johnny (mark stepped on him rip lol)

nct u - misfit - johnny (start), sungchan (end)

nct 2020 - resonance - jeno / jaemin (?) - dude idk im having trouble keeping up at this point

// I want to make it very clear that NCT would not be where it is without taeyong. I’m not suggesting that he is replaceable in any way, shape or form. however as a person with two parents in the performance industry - and im sure that many of u understand just from general life experience -- the show mUst go on. when you have a presence as large as ty missing, it is undoubtedly going to take a toll on the overall energy and performance but i personally think that the boys fucking killed it -- especially with such a short turnaround from learning that ty would not be performing. (jaemin said that jeno legit had one HOUR to practice the beginning of maw (and by proxy the beginning of resonance) and that amount of talent and skill is unfuckingbelievable) but I digress. 

// there is nothing wrong with being disappointed that taeyong cannot perform. (get well soon ty!) he is an incredible performer and human being. there is nothing wrong with seeing (and understanding) that another member filling ty’s part is going to FEEL different, even if they do a phenomenal job. there is nothing wrong with feeling the difference in energy and performance -- there is obviously ANOTHER PERSON doing the part that we are accustomed to. there is nothing wrong with having a conversation and discourse about the performance. however... there IS something wrong with putting down members and harshly criticizing their performance in a malicious way. constructive criticism is one thing, but a lot (not all but an overwhelming amount) of what I have seen in the comments and the little bit of twitter i have been on has just been bashing members (one in particular) about their performance. 

//

// let me get the easy part out of the way here. jaemin and jeno killed it during maw. yuta’s dance break, mark’s center time, jaehyun covering ty’s rap, and johnny stepping up to get stepped on (hehe i’ll stop now don’t mind me) were all surprisingly refreshing. yangyang covering lightbulb was (imo) one of highlights of the concert. for a rapper who often doesn’t get the recognition that he deserves he did a PHENOMENAL job covering the entirety of ty’s parts in his own way and conveying his emotions. yes, the members weren’t the same as taeyong, however, they added their own twist and their own personalities to it. it is in fact BETTER to do this and be remembered for their own style than attempt to emulate someone else’s performance. it is the sign of a great artist to take something and make it your own. 

// now, onto the two newest members. i will be candid about this. the biggest difference I felt within the performance was when sungchan and shotaro were covering ty’s parts. tbh this is to be expected (?). i’m not trying to put down the boys but the reality is that they debuted 2-3 MONTHS ago? all of the other members covering ty’s parts have had significantly more experience in every aspect of performing. jaemin and jeno may be about the same age as chan and shotaro but they have upwards of 4 years more experience (debuted anyway, and anyone can tell u that practicing vs the real thing can be a very daunting change) than the other two. the other members have performed in front of a live crowd, they have had time to deal with criticism and learn from it. they are just in every way more experienced, and although we expect great things out of all the members, it is simply unrealistic to expect the same level of performance out of members with 2 years less experience than anyone else on the stage. 

aneway...

shotaro covered one of the hardest parts in nct history - taeyong’s 7th sense. in every way - the rap, the technicality of the dance, the sheer charisma ty brings - this was a daunting task. him being a rookie DID show in the performance. this isn’t a bad thing. the tone of his rap did sometimes lack nuance and the level of sophistication that we know taeyong to have. however, i do think shotaro was the right choice for this song. you have to give rookies experience for them to grow, and a concert like this (even without a live crowd) is a great time to do it. (i’ll get into logistics later but bear with me)

the sad reality is that we’re probably not going to have large in person concerts for at least the next year and it will be a long time til travel, concerts, and simply life return to what they were before covid. it will be a very long til the boys get to perform on a stage with the energy of a crowd in the same way they have up til now. 

now sungchan. my poor bb sungchan :(

sungchan covered ty’s part is boss (and a little bit in misfit but johnny covered the first part and its more of a hype rap song than one with designated dance moves and centre parts). the dance (in boss) may not be the most technical but this is an unfORGETTABLE song when it comes to taeyong’s part. the beginning “nct leggo?” *chefs kiss*. from what i’ve seen sungchan is the one receiving  the most criticism (read hate) about his performance. look, i’m not going to argue that out of all the members who filled ty’s part he was the weakest. (im not trying to hate, but imo his performance was the weakest, u can disagree with me). he definitely less comfortable with covering taeyong’s part than anyone else was - including shotaro. i think most of the criticism is coming from the fact that he just looked anxious and unable to throw himself into the choreo and when comparing him to taeyong (who again just -- idk he’s unexplainable) his performance does fall a little flat. imo the rap was okay, his tone is actually somewhat similar to ty. i really think that most of the hate is stemming from the execution of the choreo rather than the rap. HOWEVER... calling him “stiff as a board” and commenting “cap” emojis does absolutely nothing except spread unnecessary hate. sungchans position is NOT as a dancer. he is only listed as a rapper. shotaro, however, is listed as both a dancer and a rapper. not to say that these listings are the end all be all of a member’s position, but because they are so new they are a decent representation of what SM thought their strengths were. we would love our idols to be aces at everything, but they are human and humans have their strengths and weaknesses. compared to taeyong, and also shotaro, sungchan does not have the technical ability nor the confidence while dancing. I’d like to believe that anyone who analyzes their performances and takes an objective view can understand where i am coming from. 

tldr: you are placing unrealistic expectations on a rookie who’s main position is NOT main dancer. you are asking him to fill the shoes of arguably one of the most charismatic and talented rappers, leaders, and centers of 4th gen kpop... as a ROOKIE. his performance is most likely going to show cracks of being relatively new to the stage. its okay to acknowledge that, but don’t be fucking rude when discussing his performance. 

// the amount of posts i’ve seen calling sungchan “untalented” “stiff as a board” just im so fucking over it. yes, his performance had its weaknesses but name-calling and just straight up hate does nothing to help a performer and just ruins everyone’s mental. you can bet your ass that every single one of these boys has worked their ass off, given up unimaginable things, and faced challenges to get where they are today. not to mention that (in particular the case of sungchan and shotaro) these boys are young. the other youngest/newest members have had about 2 years (yangyang, xiaojun, hendery) to become accustomed to the criticism and also hatred that comes with being in the spotlight. sungchan is less than a MONTH older than me. shotaro is just a year older than me. my best friend is legit older than both of these boys. idk your age but think about yourself at their age, or where u think you’ll be at their age. they have accomplished SO much and are so young. they’re 19 and 20 and in an internationally recognized band. we know that a lot of these boys (and idols) do read our comments. i don’t care how much media training you’ve received, how strong your mental is, getting called untalented and being hated on is going to take a toll on your mental. along with that, what is the NEED? to spread hate? to show that “huhu, im such a big deal that all these people are responding to me”. like, legit wtf do u gain from this? 

// when you are a performer you do open yourself up to criticism, it is part of the job. but criticism and hate are two very different things. to get where nct is today, every single member has to be humble enough to accept guidance AND constructive criticism. we all know how much the boys value nctizens opinions and take them into account when performing. when you are a performer like that you also have to criticize your own work. no matter what profession you are in, no matter what you do, you analyze ur own work and attempt to make it better. i can all but assure u that shotaro and sungchan (and all the boys) know their strengths and weaknesses, know when a specific move, performance, or other area of their ability is not up to par (or they just want to improve which is imperative to success in the music industry)

just be a decent human being. put urself in all of the boy’s shoes and think “hmm how would i feel if some stranger on the internet said this about me” before you make hateful statements. 

again, there is nothing wrong with having a discussion and understanding that humans have strengths and weaknesses, but don’t just put someone down because u feel like it.

//

in case you aren’t convinced to be a decent person, have a more logical (?) approach -- not that u should have to shown a dissertation to be a decent human but i digress.

(think about how many other songs the rest of rap line has to perform, logistically, who else are you going have cover the entierty of boss and 7th sense.)

rap line is: taeyong, mark, lucas, hendery, jeno, jaemin, yangyang, shotaro, sungchan, and jisung (?).  

everyone except lucas and hendery (and jisung but bb was injured :( ) covered ty’s part in some aspect. in fact, people not in the friggin rap line helped cover some of ty’s rap (johnny, jaehyun, haechan im looking at you) and other members covered dancing and center parts when they were asked to.

mark is in just as many tracks as ty and was RUNNING around to get to the next song this entire concert. you can legit see his outfit change with jackets and hats. he filled in for ty in kick it (group effort but u get the point) but in 7th sense just to the way that the song works and the dance etc etc, you can’t have mark doing his part as well as ty’s without it falling flat and taking a huge toll on mark. same with boss, marks filling just as big a role as ty and like, legit how do u give this boy mOre lines than he already has. (u can see that sm did a similar thing with jeno and jaemin in the beginning of maw, jeno covers the first part and then jaemin the rest of the song because jaemin can’t leave an open space at the vEry beginning of the song) (10/21 total performances)

lucas isn’t in as many as say mark but he is in boss and make a wish (boss being very hard for him to cover ty’s part, and jeno and jaemin covered maw. if i’m being completely honest i don’t think lucas has the same tone or technical ability to fit into ty’s parts in the songs as much as say - sungchan on a pure technical and tone pov (6/21 total performances)

hendery, similar to lucas isn’t in an absurd amount of tracks but still enough to tire a guy out lol. because of him performing full choreos in other songs it doesn’t make sense for him to learn a completely new choreo while simultaneously having to memorize and practice the others songs. also, in a similar vein of lucas, i just don’t think hendery is the first choice when choosing someone to cover ty’s parts (dont kill me hendery and lucas stans lol) (6/21 total performances)

jeno while jeno isn’t in the sheer number of performances as other members, he does end up covering ty’s starting part in maw (see reasoning for jaemin above). this by proxy means he covers the maw part in resonance. while he does a fantastic job covering the starting part, asking him to learn the entirety of boss or 7th sense would be a fuckton of work. u can legit see him yEEt himself out of camera view after his part - not to mention again that he had an hour to practice lol (6/21 total performances) 7/21 covering

jaemin - first off u can literally see jaemin’s energy fall throughout the final song the boy is so tired by aneyway... it makes total sense for him to cover maw as he already knows the choreo and it take less effort than learning an entirely new song. also, when ur comparing popularity/center time between jeno and jaemin vs. hendery (even lucas sometimes) they simply have more, and when u aRe in the center u have to expend more energy becAuse u are holding the performance together (6/21 performances)

yangyang let me get my yangyang simping out of the way, but this boy is so fucking talented and his rap deserves more praise. lightbulb compared to other songs ty is in, is a more melodic and emotional based song. there is no choreo, therefore the person covering the rap just has to focus on the rap itself rather than the rap AND the choreo. imo this was the best possible choice for someone to cover ty’s part in lightbulb (6/21 total) 7/21 covering ty’s part

shotaro shotaro is only in 4/21 performances. it simply makes sense for the rap line member with the fewest songs to perform to learn a a full choreo. as stated above, 7th sense is the more technically difficult of the songs that required learning and covering a full part. assigning shotaro (the dance line member) to the more challenging choreo is just the easy choice -- especially if ya’ll gonna come for sungchan’s dancing skills, give the damn song to shotaro smh (4/21 performances) 5 when covering 7th sense

sungchan tied with shotaro for the fewest performances (just by nature of being the newest members) in the same way that it makes sense for shotaro to learn a full choreo, it makes sense for sungchan. reasoning for the assigned songs above. (4/21 total performacnes) 5 with boss

// the songs where they didn’t have a designated member cover most/all of taeyong’s parts were in the 127 songs as well as in baby don’t stop (ten and taeyong duet). 127 is the most veteran of the nct subgroups, and is in general just more accustomed to filling in parts (ie winwin - screw u sm lol). they have johnny who trained as a rapper who can fill in, jaehyun, haechan, and yuta have all proven that they can cover rap with more a sing-rap style and mark can take/cover parts when it is logistically possible. 

// in 127′s songs although ty does often take center and many lines, in general 127 is just a more well rounded group. (don’t come for my ass). in the same way that dream has an undeniable chemistry, 127 is the same way. when you work with the same group of people for an extended period of time without many (if any) changes you just build better chemistry. in nct u taeyong takes more of the spotlight just due to his charisma and raw power. think about it. which performance suffered more due to taeyong’s absence: touch / kick it or make a wish / boss / 7th sense. 

also: because 127 is a fixed unit all the boys know the choreo and have consistently performed it at concerts allowing for member to step in where they know they are comfortable without the amount of discussion it might otherwise take in a rotational group

// take a second to think about a certain performance without taeyong in it. it may just be me, but i think 127 fare much better without their leader than any rotational group without taeyong very (firmly ?) bolstering the performance in the center. (taeyong doesn’t hold all these titles for nothing, he is truly another breed)

// in baby don’t stop they didn’t even attempt to cover taeyong’s absence. idk if that was ten putting his foot down and saying that he didn’t want someone covering the part or if it was more of a choice based on marketing and fanservice. baby don’t stop is truly ten and taeyong’s song and idk if even pairing 10 with a dancer with ty’s vocal in the backtrack would have received positive feedback. 

//

if you have somehow made it this far props to you lol. a rant that started because i wanted to defend sungchan has turned into a long analysis of members... whoops.

tldr: just be a decent human being. everyone in nct is human. a talented, multifaceted, human with strengths and weaknesses. being a nctizen doesn’t mean not being proud, disappointed, happy, or any other emotion about the boys. but it does mean treating the boys and other fans with respect. 

[purpleyellow]

Don’t trip

NCT 22nd member / Dream 8th member

Bee’s Masterlist

“Bee gets hurt during a concert” Thanks to the anon who requested this!!

a/n: I think this could be more dramatic but if I’m honest with you, I like the way it came out. Don’t be shy and interact a little, ask box is always open. Any kind of feedback will be very appreciated💛

It didn’t make much sense to Bee when the stylists decided to give her black heeled boots for one of the Dream Show concerts when she had perfectly performed in the previous days with her usual platforms and sneakers with an obnoxious amount of sole.

It’s not that she didn’t know how to wear heels, on the contrary, being the tiny person she was, she had gotten used to dance in them for award shows and quick performances. But thinking about the hoverboards and excessive jumping off things they did during the concert, she felt uneasy about doing them without as stable shoes.

Talking about it to one of the stylists, the older woman brushed her off. “We thought you would look more mature in them, I’m sure you won’t have much problem with it. You’re lead dancer after all, aren’t you?”

Bee agreed with her, still a bit uneasy about the situation, she considered talking about it with one of the managers around, yet the fear of being an annoyance kept her silent. She would only wear them for the first two parts of the concert anyway, after they got out of the fancy costumes and put on the shirts and jeans she would be able to wear sneakers again.

Chenle stood next to her and furrowed his eyebrows “Why did they give you fancy shoes if you’re as tall as you were with the other ones?”

“I don’t know” She mumbled shrugging her shoulders “At least they’re fancy” Side hugging her, he led them to where the rest of the dreamies were getting their mic packs to go on stage. 

The first few sets went by without much trouble, Bee tried her best to dance naturally and even managed to forget about the boots at some point. Although, she was more cautious when jumping around since she felt the floor more slippery than before.

When they went for outfits change the girl felt a little relieved she could get comfortable again, but the stylist handed her a pair of white boots with even bigger heels. Unfortunately, she didn’t have time to argue, and when Bee talked briefly with her manager, he only gave her an encouraging pat on the back and urged her to stand in place.

Walking next to Renjun, the boy raised an eyebrow as she fumbled with her in-ears. 

“Is everything okay?” He asked her standing on the marked spot and watching Haechan and Jisung going on stage first.

“Yeah, I’m just a little worried about the turns,” She told him remembering the choreography, mentally cursing at herself for not practicing it in different shoes before.

“Isn’t there some way she can change her shoes?” Renjun asked a nearby staff, also a little worried something could go wrong, but all he got as a response was a no. 

The cheers increased again as Jeno, Jaemin, and Chenle went on stage and the girl tried standing on her tippy toes.

“Just change the choreography,” Renjun told her.

“But I’m supposed to be mirroring you” Bee frowned, not wanting to make things different because of an inconvenience.

“I know, just make it look cohesive and no one will mind. Really, if you don’t think you can do it then change it” As he spoke, the staff urged them on stage, the song slowed down relatively as they went out, going from hip-hop to contemporary.

The girl took a deep breath and started doing the movements like she had learned them but when it came to the end of the set, she couldn’t think of anything interesting enough to do. So feeling less than confident, she jumped in the air as an attempt of completing a spin. 

The jump went fine, her arms elongating the move beautifully, but when it came to the landing, her left foot touched the floor sooner than anticipated, making her lose her balance and, as an unconscious attempt to soften the crash, she landed with all her weight on her right knee.

With the rest of the boys walking near them to finish the dance routine together, Haechan was the closest to her and he reached out to help her get up with a hand on her arm. Taking the first step to her position, Bee felt a shock of pain burst through her right knee, making her stumble a little in his hold. 

Sucking it up so it wouldn’t be so noticeable, she out herself together and walked to her spot, making a lot of effort so she wouldn’t limp while dancing to the rest of the song, occasionally feeling one of the boys staring at her worriedly. 

After the song ended, they jumped straight into the next one and the girl noticed how it wasn’t hurting as much as before yet she was sure once the adrenaline from the concert wore off, it would hurt ten times more and she would have to heavily ice her knee for it to get better quickly.

Trying her best not to limp too much, Bee pushed through until they had a break to interact with the fans, using that time to rest on her left leg and not move too much.

Moving his mic from his mouth, Renjun approached to talk to her “Is it hurting too much?” he asked and she nodded leaning her weight on him but hiding it with a side hug to not worry people too much.

After she answered him, Renjun turned to Jeno, who had been watching them from the other side of the stage, and gave him a thumbs-up, sending the older running backstage.

“What’s he doing?” Bee asked him, moving her microphone as well but didn’t get a response back.

Instead, she stood next to him and watched the boys talking. Two minutes later, when Jisung was the one speaking, Jeno came back running with her usual white sneakers in hand, making the girl sigh in relief, Bee had to fight back a smile when the fans started cheering even though they probably didn’t know half of what was going on.

Kneeling in front of her, Jeno set the shoes down and started unzipping her boot. “I can’t do it, get up,” She said loud enough that her mic picked it up making some nctzens laugh.

Looking at the audience with an annoyed face, Jeno rolled his eyes exagedarily and went back to change her shoes.

“And that my friends, it’s a gentleman,” Haechan said extending his arms to them and adding to the entertainment of the fans.

Patting her foot once he was done, Jeno got up and Bee thanked him with a smile, picking up the boots from the ground and handing them to a staff member who had run on stage. Even though her knee was still slightly hurting, she was glad she didn’t have to deal with the shoes from hell anymore.

Going down for the last change of costumes, the girl noticed how the stylist didn’t look her way at all, but since she would only wear a white skirt with the standard black shirt from the concert, Bee didn’t really need her presence. Yet, she still felt bad for not following the woman’s wishes. 

“Jeno said she wasn’t willing to give away your sneakers that easily, but since he had to be on stage one of the managers pressured her to give them to him,” Jisung said sitting next to her as they waited for the rest of them to be ready. A makeup artist coming close to dry some sweat off of his neck.

“I should apologize to her” Bee mumble and Jaemin approached them.

“You’re acting like you couldn’t have gotten seriously hurt today,” He said untangling his in ears and softly kicking her knee with his foot “That fall looked bad, is it hurting?”

“Just a little” She nodded as someone screamed for them to head back on stage, getting up from her chair, Bee felt that the pain had increased, probably from the minute she spent cooling down. Wincing and leaning her weight on her left leg, she made both boys arch an eyebrow at her “Okay, maybe it’s worse than I thought”

“Arg, Yun-hee. We can’t take you anywhere” Jaemin said with fake annoyance and crouched down in front of her, gesturing for a piggyback ride. 

“I should walk there to warm up again. The show isn’t over you know” Bee smiled patting his back and Jaemin huffed getting up.

“I talked with the staff, they’re putting a stool for you to sit on for the rest of the performance” Renjun spoke as the group got together on the hallway.

“They don’t have to, I can pull off the rest of the concert, it’s almost done, anyways,” The girl said, not because she didn’t want to seem incapable, but because she didn’t want to make people more worried.

“You’re limping right now, do you seriously think you can do it?” Haechan pointed out and walked in front of her, doing the same thing Jaemin had done a minute ago.

“Been there, done that, she’s not accepting piggyback rides” The pink-haired boy said with monotony.  

“I almost fought with the stylist for your shoes, you’re sitting in the stool,” Jeno said uncharacteristically serious putting an end to the argument and dragging them to the stage.

Sitting on the stool, the girl tried her hardest not to pout as the boys walked around the stage. She felt even more stupid since they weren’t even dancing to the songs playing, so as an attempt of entertaining herself, she got off the chair and dragged it closer to the edge of the stage, opting to interacting with the fans there instead of sulking.

[scarletwinterxx]

Kiss You Series (Mark Lee)

I saw this twitter trend about whether your idol is the type to “oooh you wanna kiss me so bad” during an argument or  the “i wanna kiss you so bad” during the argument. I’ll try and do it for different members ^^ leave a comment on who will say kiss me or kiss you hahaha

Hope you enjoy!! xx - A

For my other works you can check them out here, and for my other story series’ you can check them out here.

All works are copyrighted ©scarletwinterxx 2020 . Do not repost, re-write without the permission of author.

MARK || YUTA || HAECHAN

I don’t even remember how the argument started or who started it. We were both having a bad day and snapped at each other without meaning to. 

Now I locked myself inside the bedroom while Mark was in the other room. I can hear him walk back and forth down the hall, stopping infront of the door a few times but walks away again. Now I can hear him playing the guitar. 

I didn’t even mean to snap at him, I was just having a very long day and wanted to rest when I got home and now this happened. It was probably over something so petty and we just blew it out of proportion

After a while I finally got tired of avoiding him, that and I was hungry. I finally exited the bedroom, Mark stopped playing his guitar long ago, I’m not sure what he’s up to now.

Just as I was about to put the food in the microwave I see Mark emerge from the hallway, dressed up and about to make his way out of the apartment,

“Going somewhere?” I asked him, he still had a stoic expression on. It was enough to tell me he was still a bit upset with me

“Yea, I’m going over at Johnny’s”

“But you said you weren’t going out tonight” I replied, he sighed and closed his eyes for a second. Resting a hand on the counter before looking at me

“Just a while ago you wouldn’t even talk to me”

“Because we weren’t talking, we were just arguing”

“And whose fault is that?” 

This time I turned around to face the microwave, taking the food out and setting it on the counter

“Whatever, go if you really want to” I mumbled, I don’t have the energy to argue with him anymore. I knew if we kept it going we might say things we don’t actually mean

“If you don’t want me to go , just say it” I hear him say, his footsteps alerting me that he’s walking closer to me

“You clearly don’t want to be here so” I turned once again to face him, he was only a few steps away from me. So close yet so far. 

I was going to say sorry but it got to that point where we’re both being stubborn about it and now I’m more annoyed. 

“You know sometimes you infuriate me so much” Mark told me, looking straight at me with a blank look on his face. Far from the usual sparkly eyes my boyfriend had whenever I look at him. 

“Good to know” I rolled my eyes, crossing the room to walk back to the bedroom and lock myself again in there. I couldn’t even exit the kitchen because Mark already had his hand around my wrist pulling me back to him

“You infuriate me so much sometimes, you drive me mad. Sometimes I can’t even understand you and yet I can’t take my mind off you” his low and eyes boring into mine

“and?”

“And even when you’re being like this I can’t help but think how I want to kiss you so bad”

Those were bold and confident words coming from him, usually Mark would be more shy and act all flustered. That clearly isn’t the case right now. 

My mind was turned to mush, the room suddenly getting hotter and my cheeks feel like it’s burning

I looked down on his shirt, too flustered to look at him

“I’m sorry for shouting at you” I mumbled, I hear him chuckle before his hand that was around my wrist now under my chin, lifting it up to make me look back at him

“I’m sorry too, didn’t mean to snap at you” his finger caressing my cheek, “Come here” he said then pulled me in for a hug. The petty argument long forgotten. 

“Let’s not fight again, okay?” I hear him mumble then feel a kiss on my forehead

“Okay” I answered then looked back at my boyfriend, his eyes are back into looking like they hold all the stars in the universe. 

“Thought you said you wanted to kiss me” he didn’t even give me a reply, the next second I feel his lips on mine. I can’t help but smile. 

A few seconds after we broke apart, smile on both our faces. Mark pecked me again on the lips then on my nose

“Might argue with you again so I can get more kisses” 

[inctlife]

Hey how would nct react when they see their daughters wearing revealing clothes to hang out with friends? I'm sorry if you feel burdened by this request its just that I really love your writing 🥺🥺🥺💕💕 Stay safe! 💚

this has taken so long as there are so many members!!! sorry!! and never feel like your request is burdensome! i love completing all of these💕

Taeyong -

he’s just so teary cause he’s like ‘omg my baby’s all grown up’ doesnt worry too much about her outfit,, would probably give her style tips ajshsj would probably be worried about other men at the club more than her? but as long as nari comes home or texts her dad about where she stays the night,, he’s fine

Taeil -

similar to taeyong, he’s just very shocked/proud at how grown-up his daughter is🥺 but unlike taeyong would probably advise her to put on a jacket,, like what if she gets cold??? but he’s not worried !! taemi’s so sweet and she knows what she’s doing

Johnny -

“fuck it up ava, lets go!!!!” i see him as being the type of dad to do shots with his kids before they go to parties,, or at least pour them out lmaoo,, i think bc johnny spent his teenage years as a trainee, he’d just be really happy to see his kids enjoying theirs as regular teens !! will warn ava about weird men but mostly is like ‘you look fucking amazing darling,, go on,, get shitfaced’

Yuta -

is just so wary of men,, he’s like ‘cant you find an all female club’ and airi’s like ‘wtf is the point in that???’ like he sits her down and is like ‘please, please be careful of MEN they’re TRASH, they’re ALL TRASH’!!!! makes airi’s friends promise to all keep an eye out for each other

Kun -

i really think that kun would be unbothered !! he’d see her and just be like ‘have a great time sweetheart’ and she’s like ‘:D see you later!’ but one thing i can see him doing is staying up until she either comes home or he gets a text saying that she’s safe at someone’s house, then he can go to bed

Doyoung -

his eyes just bug out of his head i stg he’s like ‘tHAT on YOU??!!?’ and aeyoung/eunyoung gets a bit self conscious?? they’re like ‘what?? whats wrong??? do i look bad????’ and doyoung’s like ‘no!!!!! you look amazing!!! but my baby!!!’ and you have to be like ‘stfu stop being dramatic’ and then doyoung gets really worried about men but kinda forgot to tell them in the moment so you have to spend the night calming him down

Ten -

very similar to johnny,, he’s like ‘pour it up!!! lets go!!!’ just really loves seeing his daughters express themselves in their outfits and be comfortable in their skin🥰 and more than being wary of men, ten’s the type of dad to be like ‘just kick him straight in the balls and leave’

Jaehyun -

just so proud!!! he just looks at them and is like ‘wow,, my little girl’s a woman now’ for jina i think she’d be all like ‘look at my outfit!!! dont you like it!!!!’ and for jaeun she’d be like ‘do i look okay?’ so jaehyun just hypes them up no matter what

Lucas -

that’s his baby🥺 his youngest baby🥺 his only daughter🥺 and all her older brothers are putting their jackets over her and being like ‘are you sure you dont want a pair of trousers?’ and lucas is just like ‘its a right of passage, let her go forth and be a hoe’ and jasmine is just so done she just goes while they’re still arguing about her outfit

Mark -

he doesnt like it😠 not in the sense of protectiveness as such but just like,, ‘if ur old enough to dress like that, then that means that i am old!!!!!’ and he does not want to accept that,, but overall just warns them about the cold and makes sure that they’re safe by the end of the night

Xiaojun - 

i can see dejun being one of the most worried members just because he’s like ‘men are horrible,, men are monsters,, men are terrible terrible monsters’ but also just because they’re his babies🥺 and in some selfish way he just wants them to be his babies forever

Hendery -

i feel like kunhang would have a very trusting relationship with yingtai??? so when he sees her he’s just like the usually ‘you look beautiful!!’ and just wishes her a good time !!! but will definitely wait up for her, cause she is still his baby!!

Renjun -

i think he’d be all for the outfit,, like she looks good and she knows it!!! but he makes sure that she texts him at least once during the night and definitely wants her to come home (will go and pick her up if he has to)

Jeno -

is just concerned,, he does NOT want his baby getting a cold, he’s like ‘hani, it’s winter!’ and she’s like ‘and we’re gonna be inside??’ but he is not convinced and has to give her his jacket😠 even if she doesn’t wear it, his heart is at ease knowing she at least has it

Haechan -

he’d be loving it,, i can see him fake crying and being like ‘my babies being all grown up’ secretly i think he’d be really worried but on the outside he’d just be like ‘have a good time! call me if a boy tries to do anything!!’

Jaemin -

he’d do his little ‘woahhoo!!!! wow!!!’ because areum is just so beautiful🥺 and i definitely think he’d feel a little bit sad/protective but he knows that she’s gonna be fine so he doesn’t really let it show !! waits up for her though :)

YangYang -

i think yangyang would kind of be unbothered as well??? i mean i’m sure he’d be freaking out on the inside but he doesn’t want to make a big deal out of it and embarrass her/make her self conscious so he’d just be like ‘look at you!!!!! go and fuck it up, and dont talk to strange boys’ but would stay awake because he’s so worried (would only sleep when he hears her come through the door/text to let them know where she is)

Jisung -

he’s just so shocked😭 that’s his baby??? his little girl???? wearing that???? and like,, she looks incredible but he just doesn’t know what to say!!!! kinda comes up with this ‘stay safe, love you, have fun, men careful’ and sunmi just kisses him and is like ‘i’ll be home before midnight’ and he doesnt worry bc he trusts her

[jaehotbuns]

high school

rating: pg - 13

word count: 7207

characters: you x mark 

genre: university!au, best friends to lovers, fluff, slight angst

song recommendation: high school - umi

summary: out of chance in your third year philosophy course, you reconnect with Mark Lee, your best friend and first love from high school who abruptly left after you two confessed to each other on your prom night. you both can’t help but fall for each other again but you can’t shake the thought out of your mind, why did he leave in the first place?

[tuesday, 4:29pm] 

Your excitement for meeting new people at the beginning of your summer semester quickly diminished as you were grouped with the worst combination of people that you could have ever imagined. Usually you didn’t enjoy group work but when your professor announced that the 10% participation portion was to write a short summary of your group’s discussion on the week’s reading and lecture, you were looking forward to hopefully making new friends and an easy A. However, once the ball started rolling on the topic for this week’s topic, your group mates started to “debate.” You didn’t know how in any context where debating included two people not listening to each other and simply saying, “I understand but…” before continuing to ignore any counterpoints of the opposition and merely restating their stance. 

While Haechan, the curly haired boy with a whiny voice was arguing with Yeri, the pretty well-dressed girl with the high-pitched voice, you slumped down into the study room’s uncomfortable faux leather swivel chairs and rested the side of your head on your hand which was supported by your elbow that was digging into the chair’s arm. Although the position was uncomfortable, at least it allowed you to direct one ear to the group and the other to the corner of the room to block out their constant bickering. You tried to interject so that you could get them to share their opinions civilly but they brushed off your attempts and continued to go at each other’s throats. So for about ten minutes you summarized their points in a Google document and your own, and then sat for the remaining time considering no one else had contributed in a thoughtful way. 

As you looked down at your phone’s time, you noticed that the fourth member of your group was still missing. You were envious of them, at least they didn’t have to sit around and listen to a verbal fight on if human beings had consciousness or not and in turn if animals had consciousness if they weren’t able to speak. Your head turned to the side when you heard the soft click of the door closing after a tall slender boy stepped into the room with a four slot case of Starbucks iced coffees in his hand and a pile of textbooks in the other. 

Haechan and Yeri didn’t notice him come in until he set the drinks down on the wooden circle table and started to speak, “sorry I was late.” He huffed as he settled down into another chair and set his belongings down on the floor, “the line for textbooks was crazy but I had to line up before they were sold out hahaha.” He laughed awkwardly as the two looked at him and shook their heads. “I got us all drinks to make up for it!” 

It seemed like they knew him before as they muttered a “whatever” before each grabbing a drink to replenish their vocal cords to continue their bickering. You looked at the boy with jet black hair, which was sticking to his forehead with sweat from his run from the university’s bookstore to the library which was a good kilometer. He’s cute, you thought as you looked at him clumsily slip his laptop out of his black backpack which matched his black jean jacket, black t-shirt, and black jogger pants. But something was unsettling about him, you felt like you’ve seen him before. 

“Hey,” you sat up in your chair and swirled your chair to face him. You introduced yourself and watched him as he jumped slightly as he furiously typed into his keyboard to bring up his lecture notes as the upright student that he was, he didn’t want to be a burden on the team although every meeting was only worth 1% out of the ten. 

He came out of his trance and turned to you and smiled, “sorry I forgot to introduce myself to you!” He gestured to Yeri and Haechan, “I already knew them so I forgot about introductions altogether haha.” His hand rubbed the back of his neck shyly, “my name’s Mark Lee, nice to meet you.” 

Your head tilted to the side in familiarity and realized why he felt familiar, “no way!” Mark also tilted his head to the side, confused at your exclamation. “Humberside High? The Mark Lee?” 

The Mark Lee who was on the basketball team and volleyball team even though he was a sophomore and didn’t hit puberty until his junior year which resulted in him as the shortest member on both teams although the players were his age or only a year older. The Mark Lee who was confident in his flute skills from touring with his middle school band but was rejected from the high school band. The Mark Lee who was sighing all day when you were trying to study from because he was rejected so you had to buy him ice cream to cheer him up. 

“How would you like your eggs?” You asked him, trying to suppress your laughter from your memories of him in high school. 

He seemed to have forgotten your inside joke as he could only answer with an “ummm…” 

Your lips pursed as you were slightly disappointed that he didn’t get the joke right off the bat, “I see your memories are just as bad as your flute skills.” You folded your arms across your chest and gave him another chance to remember, “I’m sad, looks like someone doesn’t remember me.” 

Finally you saw recognition flash over his eyes as he snapped his fingers and opened his mouth in awe before giving you the answer that you were looking for. “Cooked!” Both of you burst out in laughter and doubled over in your chairs, with the same fond memory in your minds. 

“Dang, I can’t believe it’s you,” he wiped the corner of his eye from laughing too hard and placed a hand on your shoulder, patting it as if to welcome the ensuing rekindling of your friendship. You were glad that he was still comfortable with you despite not seeing him or speaking to him for at least 3 years. “Do you remember how we’d used to go to Denny’s all the time after school?” 

You slapped him on the shoulder lightly, barely grazing him as his oversized denim jacket took the brunt of your slap, “do you not remember how much you’d embarrass me?” 

“Dang I got such a bad mark on my chem test…” Mark pouted as he gripped both sides of his marked test with his hands, his fingers making jagged wrinkles on the sheet as his grip tightened in disappointment in himself. His walking was more irregular and heavy than usual as you felt the gravel and pebbles kick up onto the back of your calves as you two walked off the school property and onto the sandy patches next to the road, towards the bus stop. 

You peered over his shoulder to see his mark and saw a bright red ‘79’ with a quickly drawn circle on it. Usually with your other friends you would roll your eyes and say “that’s a great mark, if that’s a bad mark what does that make me?” But with Mark you knew the high standards he put on himself despite juggling AP classes and two sports teams. And telling him that would only guilt him. He would think “I shouldn’t be complaining” along with “I’m still not good enough.” 

So instead, you decided to take him somewhere that you knew he would be at ease, even if it were only for an hour or two. “Hey, let’s go to Denny’s,” you proposed. Mark’s sad eyes left his paper and was now looking into your eyes. 

“You’re only inviting me to make me feel better,” he mumbled with pouted lips. You smiled as you saw his hold on the test sheet weaken. 

“Well, it always works,” you replied before snatching the paper out of his hands and folding it neatly so that the two ends lined up. “You can always do better next time! For now let’s enjoy the rest of the day.” You went around to Mark’s back to open up the largest pocket of his backpack to slip in the test and out of the corner of your eyes you saw his lips curl into a smile as he placed his hands into his pockets. 

Due to his mark that fell below his standards, Mark’s pace was slower and that meant the two of you took longer time to make it to the bus stop. When you heard the sound of an engine behind your heels, you knew the bus was approaching. You and Mark were still approximately 100 metres away from the bus stop and had to make a run for it unless you wanted to walk 30 minutes to the restaurant. 

Without warning, you grabbed Mark’s hand and pulled him in the direction of the bus stop. Although for the first few seconds you were dragging his much taller and lanky body, he got the message and matched your pace to dash for the muted yellow bus that was about to pass. Your eyes were straight ahead and determined to make it on time, but as Mark ran behind you with his arm outstretched in yours, his eyes were smiling in crescent moons and a soft pink tint was present on his cheeks. 

Once you made it on the bus, you two plopped down on the 3rd row to the right window where you usually sat. He let you have the window seat as always, because you liked to look at the passing houses and trees and he liked to look at you smiling at the scenery. Little did he know that you could see his reflection in the window glass, grinning and admiring your face. He also didn’t know that you were smiling at his face and not at the view either. 

 Both of your hearts were still pounding from the short time of contact, but you were glad that you could use the excuse of running and being out of shape to blame your fast heartbeat. Unfortunately for Mark, he was an athlete for no justification for his fast heart rate to cover up the fact that he liked holding your hand, especially when you looked back at him to make sure that he wasn’t slowing down. When he saw the wind blow your hair back to frame your face, your bright smile, and shine from the heat; he was glad that you turned around instantly so you couldn’t see him smiling up to his cheeks. 

He snapped out of his trance when you stood up and pat his head to signal him to follow. He stood up and stepped out into the aisle so that you could step off of the bus first. Both of you thanked the bus driver and walked with light feet towards the Denny’s parking lot. They didn’t have a street entrance as usually only drunk people stumbled in from the parking lot or their Ubers, or the high school theatre kids after their performance in their parent’s cars. 

You two settled down into the booth seats next to the window, your favourite as there was a neon pink sign right above you which gave a retro feeling, and started to look through the menu. “Hmmm, I want something sweet and savoury tho,” you said as you were deciding whether to get a breakfast grand slam or tres leches pancakes. 

“We can get both and share,” Mark said, barely skimming the menu before closing it and setting it down on the slightly sticky diner table. He couldn’t stomach the sickeningly sweet pancakes and would much rather have waffles or a simple smoothie but he never minded sharing the pancakes with you if he could see your eyes light up when you took your first bite. He just hoped that you had a big appetite today so that you could eat the majority of the dessert so he wouldn’t have to eat more than half, knowing how much you hated to waste food. 

“Are you sure?” You asked with suspicion as his eyes barely touched the menu. It seemed like he only opened the menu to wait for you to make up your mind and for him to agree to it. “It’s supposed to cheer you up, after all.” 

He nodded with certainty and took the menu out of your hands to stack his and yours for the waitress to take easily when it was time to order. “Seeing you stuff your face already cheers me up,” he grinned and placed both of his elbows on the table and folded his hands together. He was smug with his discrete compliment that was disguised by a teasing remark. 

“Pfft,” you rolled your eyes and gave him a stank face although you could see through his intentions. You were about to look away to avoid his intense stare until the waitress came at the perfect time so you had an excuse to not look at him. “I’ll have the tres leches pancakes, thank you.” 

She turned to Mark with her pen in one hand and the notebook tucked under with her other hand, “and for you?” 

“The grand slam please,” he said. 

“How would you like your eggs?” 

Mark looked confused, which also made you confused because why would that question make him confused? You’ve been to Denny’s dozens of times but this was the first time Mark was asked how he’d like things to be cooked. And with no cooking skills or knowledge, he blurted out his answer which sounded more like a question, “uh cooked?” 

You were embarrassed as you saw the waitress hold back a suppressed laugh as she pressed her lips together at the teenage boy who still had no idea how to answer the question properly. “Sunny-side up please!” You answered for him and handed her the menus. 

“That’ll be right up,” she smiled and grabbed the menus from you before walking behind the counter to place your orders. 

With heat rising through your neck to your temples and cheeks, you slapped Mark lightly on his arm. “‘Cooked?’” You asked with disbelief. “Obviously they’re going to cook them! She wanted to know how you wanted them cooked!” 

With no embarrassment whatsoever but rather an insightful expression with his confusion resolved, he nodded and said an “ohhh… That makes more sense.” 

You shuddered at the memory while all Mark could do was look at you and laugh. She got cuter, he thought as he smiled while watching your face scrunch up in second-hand embarrassment once more. “I’m still haunted by that memory, I can still remember it as if it were yesterday,” you sighed with a hand clutching your shirt over your heart. 

He put both his hands up to his side and shrugged, “and to this day I do not feel embarrassed.” He leaned back into the chair smugly with his arms now folded across his chest, “you live and you learn.”

Compared to him, who was a total dork that was loved although clumsy in both speech and manners, you internalized every single moment that he messed up or said something off. It was as if the shame that he missed was transferred to your body to suffer instead. “I’m glad you think so.” You scrunched your nose at him and shook your head at his nonchalantness. “I just hope you don’t answer ‘cooked’ the next time you take a girl out to a fancy restaurant.” 

Mark sighed and moved his arms from their original folded position to hold the back of his neck again, “if only I could get a date.” For some reason, once he said that you were relieved. There was no reason for your relief as you two lost contact for three years but knowing that he was single and had trouble finding someone was reassuring. 

Who were you fooling though; you were afraid of falling in love with him again. 

[saturday, 6:54pm] 

It’s been two weeks since you reconnected with your high school best friend and first love. And like back in high school you two were glued to each other by the hip once again. From sending each other memes at 2am when both of you were tired yet weren’t bored enough to put down your phones, to studying at the library to only get food and talk for the rest of the day when either of your stomachs started rumbling; you felt as though you were transported back 3 years. 

Despite reliving the fun memories, you couldn’t help but think about why you and Mark stopped contacting each other 3 years ago. However, that story was for another time and you knew that it was inevitable for you two to talk about it to find closure. So for now you focused on the problem that you were faced with; you were running late. 

Mark suggested going to the drive-in movie theatre an hour away from campus to watch The Matrix since it was assigned as a reading for your philosophy of human nature course. You weren’t so sure about being in an even more cramped space than a small study room with Haechan and Yeri no matter how much you liked them after getting to know them. If anything the car would amplify their sibling-like spat or even worse, they talked throughout the movie. 

Luckily for you; Haechan had an essay due that night that he had to write due to his poor planning and procrastination and Yeri had a volunteering event that she held for her club as the Vice President. Unbeknownst to you, Mark had actually begged the two not to come so he had an excuse to bring you to a romantic date spot considering the both of you only hung out for school related activities like catching each other between breaks or to study on the weekend. As the innocent boy that couldn’t tell you any white lies, they actually did have those things to do but the previous day. With that justification, he felt like he didn’t lie but rather stretched the truth. 

On the side entrance of your dormitory, Mark was in his car with his phone in his hand trying to craft a text message to send to you. He wanted it to seem nonchalant but a little flirty as if he was up to pick you up from a date to hopefully give you butterflies. He had been doing that for 10 minutes already as he arrived 15 minutes early from the time you two agreed on; 7:00pm. When he looked at the time from his car’s radio, he saw that you were running five minutes late and hurriedly wrote a text because he was afraid that you forgot or ditched him. “Hey, I’m out front. You good?” 

You cursed when you saw your phone light up with his text as you sprayed your fruity floral perfume on your neck and behind your ears. You spent too long picking your outfit, shoes, accessories, and even which body gel would go better with your perfume that you took nearly two hours to get ready for a seemingly chill movie session for school. When you looked into the mirror before heading out the door, you hoped that your cardigan and jeans, beachy hair, and light accessories didn’t look too much. 

Once you slipped on your sneakers and rushed out of the door, you nearly tripped over the pavement until you grabbed onto Mark’s black Mercedes-Benz passenger door handle. You pulled it open and plopped inside the car. You were out of breath from rushing down four flights of stairs and nearly tripping, and from the nerves of being in a car with Mark for at least 4 hours. “Whoops sorry I’m late,” you huffed as you placed your bag onto your lap to let the seat belt lay comfortably over your torso. 

When you entered the car suddenly, the air blew the sweet smell of your perfume and mix of mango pineapple body wash over to Mark. His cheeks flushed a light pink as he saw your face with a pinky spring makeup that was different from your everyday neutral. He didn’t know how much prettier you could look in his eyes. A soft cough escaped his mouth which prompted him to place his hand over it when you suddenly settled into your seat and looked over at him. 

“Do you think we’ll be on time for the movie?” You asked. He shook his head from the daze that your scent and pretty face caused him to fall into and started the engine. 

“We should be fine,” he said confidently before placing his right hand on the back of your headrest and using the other to steer. When he leaned in closer to you, you were taken aback and for a second thought he was going to kiss you until his head looked towards the back of the car to back up and get out of the circular entrance of the dorm. You watched the muscles of his neck clench slightly as he pulled out of the driveway and turned back around to start driving out of the city and to the highway. 

You weren’t used to how much Mark had grown. Back then you liked him because he was cute, dependable, and shy. But now he was buying you snacks in between classes to make sure you ate, staying on the phone with you when he knew you were coming home from lectures late so that you weren’t scared and so that he knew you were safe, and even knowing how to effortlessly drive like the male leads do in rom-com movies. 

To divert your attention on how darn good Mark looked with his freshly washed hair, white jeans and black hoodie, you ran your fingers through his fluffy hair. “Who knew we’d meet each other again all grown up.” Your slightly cold fingers would graze against the back of his neck occasionally, sending chills and shivers down his spine while his hands gripped the steering wheel. 

Three years didn’t seem long but it did wonders to Mark’s appearance. Mark was always attractive even with his shy and quirky habits. Girls from your grade would say, “hey did you notice that Mark is kinda cute?” But they never made a move because the only girl he was comfortable with was you. That’s what you thought, but really he was only interested in you and he didn’t want to talk to other girls in case you got the wrong idea. His plan backfired when you thought him avoiding girls for your sake was him being hopeless around the opposite sex.

“Why? Did I get mature?” Once you were at the stop light, he turned his head to look at you and you turned to face him as well.

“Yeah,” you smiled with your hand still on his neck. “We both grew up.” He wasn’t expecting you to agree with him. He was expecting a typical reply that best friends gave each other like, “you wish,” or “no you’re still ugly.” Mark was getting his hopes up that you didn’t see him as a friend but as a potential boyfriend but like you, you both had to talk about why he left 3 years ago. 

He was relieved when the traffic light turned green so that he had an excuse to avoid your loving gaze which he mistook for nostalgia. “I remember I didn’t even have my driver’s license yet,” you recalled as you slipped your hand on his neck and onto your bag, knowing that you had it in your card case along with your student ID. 

Mark chuckled, “hey, it doesn’t make a difference.” He waved his finger up and shook it at you with his eyes still on the road. “I drive you everywhere to this day.” He was right. Every late night drive to McDonald’s when you were tired of creating troublesome bibliographies and when he was sick of trying to figure out why his Python code didn’t run was in his car. 

“Back then I asked my mom to drive to you,” you recalled. 

His eyebrows lifted in surprise, “what? Your parents would’ve killed you if they saw you going out with a boy!” 

You nodded and laughed in agreement, “I’d have her drop me off at Mina’s and I’d walk all the way over to your house.” 

Mark chuckled in disbelief and shook his head, “her house is 20 minutes away! You’re crazy.” 

“Only for you,” you winked and shot him a finger gun when he looked into the rear view mirror. He suddenly took his eyes off and put his head out the window slightly to cool his blushing face off. Satisfied that you managed to make him shy you straighten your back into the seat smugly, “what is this? Are you getting shy? Did Mark really grow up?” 

Out of embarrassment he said loudly, “hey! I’ll drop you off on the side of the road if you keep teasing me!” 

You put your hands up in surrender with a wide grin across your face, “oops, I won’t make that mistake again.” He shifted in his seat uncomfortably and calmed down after a few meters. “But I know you’d never do that to me.” 

How could she be so sure, Mark thought even though he would never forgive himself if he did anything relatively mean to you. 

Because you like me, you thought to yourself. You always have. 

But then another thought disturbed your mood, so then why did you leave? 

You brushed your hair so that it gathered behind your back; every strand of hair signifying every negative moment from the past as you two were nearing the drive-in theatre. The sun was setting and the clouds were transitioning from a warm orange to a soft indigo blue. Tonight, you wanted to enjoy your time with Mark and you could have a serious talk with him next time. If he doesn’t leave you again, that is. 

After Mark paid the attendant at the booth in front of the parking lot, he drove to a spot dead center so that both of you had an optimal view of the screen. If you drove to the very front then the screen would take up your field of vision and ruin the ambiance of watching a movie during sunset simultaneously but moving too far back would mean that you couldn’t see what was happening. 

With only another car parked at the very back left corner of the lot, you felt as if you and Mark were in a separate world than the outside. Once the opening credits started to roll in, you pulled a bag of maltesers and gummy worms out of your bag as well as a ten dollar bill. Mark snagged the bag of gummy worms but grasped your hand that held the money between your fingers and slipped it back into your purse. “Keep it,” Mark said. 

Both you and Mark watched the movie, occasionally popping a sweet treat into your mouth but both of you had watched the movie before. You watched it in high school economics to learn about how Neo might have been Karl Marx and the society was actually capitalism, and Mark watched it on his own time ten times because he loved the movie and wanted to dress up at Neo for Halloween until he realized that he didn’t look as good as Keanu Reeves but rather resembling a shiny roll of black licorice. 

The two of you could care less about the movie or even watching it for discussion which was worth a meager 1 percent out of your final mark, but also two didn’t want to talk which would admit that you both wanted it to be a date. Way to be more mature about your feelings, you thought.

When the movie was finally done, you noticed that the sky was now pitch black. The car behind you left, which you could see from the side mirror, and the ticket attendant probably left early knowing that it was the last movie for the night and that no one would come to a drive-in theatre in the middle of nowhere on a Saturday night. Except for two people who wanted to go on a date without admitting it was a date of course.

Once the ending scene was done, the screen turned black which caused Mark’s car to lose all visibility as well. Although there were four street lights that shone in the parking lot, you could barely see anything without any headlight. You heard the jiggling of keys as Mark fished them out of his pant pockets until you heard him curse lightly. “Ugh, I dropped it.” 

“The lights,” you said as you raised your hand to the car’s ceiling to turn on the interior lights so that he could find the keys. When you finally felt the smooth plastic button, you pushed it and the pale yellow light brightened up the car immediately. “Oh…” You said out of surprise when you realized Mark’s face was centimeters away from yours as he was also looking for the light switch. 

You expected him to blush and turn away like he always did when your faces got close together. Like when you drank out of your straw when he was drinking out of his milkshake or when you leaned in close to him to pull an eyelash off of his cheek. But this time he leaned closer, his gaze falling from your eyes down to your lips.

Your arm fell limp to your side when he placed his index finger from under your chin to lift up your head. Your eyes closed as his soft pink lips came in contact with yours. Two of his warm hands cupped your face as he leaned in closer and kissed you more aggressively. Your hands grasped his forearms and felt the overflowing love that you two had kept from each other from all those years spent apart. 

Mark pulled away to look into your eyes, “I-”

“Don’t say it,” you smiled sadly. “If you say it I might lose you again.” 

[tuesday, 1:23am]

Ever since your kiss with Mark, you two continued to act like normal surprisingly. He wasn’t avoiding you and even if he was, there was no way in hell that you would let him out of your sights again. You still met with each other, texted each other, and behaved as you normally would. You weren’t pretending that your feelings weren’t mutual or that the kiss didn’t happen, you two just didn’t bring it up. 

“Do they usually drink like this?” You asked with Yeri’s left arm slung around your shoulder as you placed her carefully into the Uber that you called for her and Haechan. 

The two of them decided to celebrate your “awesome teamwork” after finishing the semester with a perfect 10% on your participation mark. “It was really because you transcribed their arguments,” Mark whispered when the two of them shouted at how high their mark was because of the participation boost. 

Grateful for having members to do the work for them, they decided to treat you and Mark out for drinks. “Tab on us,” they announced proudly as they downed tequila shots while you and Mark had only a fruity cocktail each which contained a maximum of two shots. 

“Yes,” Mark groaned as he pushed Haechan haphazardly into the seat next to Yeri. They folded against each other as they were about ready to pass out. You prayed to the stars that they didn’t throw up into the poor man’s Uber. “Please take them home safely,” he said after securing seat belts for his classmates and closing the door. 

After you two watched the car drive off, you stood in awkward silence. You both didn’t want to go home yet, but someone had to initiate an invitation. “You hungry?” Mark asked. 

“Kinda,” you replied with a smile. You knew where this was heading.

“Denny’s.” The two of you laughed after saying the infamous drunk food, I mean breakfast diner, chain. 

You walked with him slowly to the diner that was conveniently located within walking distance of the bar that you had just left. Your feet swung off the concrete surface with every step, kicking off small pebbles to hear the satisfying sound of the soles of your shoes against the rough surface. 

“Remember when I left,” Mark said suddenly. 

You shivered at his words, prompting him to take off his bomber jacket and place it onto your shoulders. You didn’t shudder because of the breeze but because you were dreading talking about what caused your relationship to end abruptly. 

“How could I forget?”

“Cheers!” Mark exclaimed, holding up his shot of whisky next to yours. 

“Cheers!” You repeated after him and clinked your glass to his. You quickly downed the hot liquid which burned your throat as travelled down and coated the inside of your stomach. “Oof,” you nearly gagged at your first sip of alcohol as it reminded you of fuel but like the slightly sweet smell. “What a rollercoaster,” you said, trying to seem cool. 

“How’s this for a prom!” He said laughing at your wrinkled face as if he didn’t spittle a little out of his mouth in surprise at how bitter alcohol really was. 

You both wanted the prom experience but hated the theme for this year. “Tropical fairy,” you remember looking at the poster and squinting your eyes in distaste. “What kinda theme is that?” 

Mark nodded at your dislike and shook his head at how little effort went into the planning. Your high school was hit with a bunch of budget cuts, university admission changes, and faculty switches which led in students with less time to plan and on top of that less money. So instead of the fancy prom that you envisioned at an elegant French bistro where your school always held it, this year was at a retirement home with catering from a pizza place. Not even a fancy pizza place that had arugula. It had pineapple pizza, which you loved, but still it wasn’t fancy.

So here you were, having our first taste of alcohol with Mark in Montreal where the drinking age was only 18 compared to Vancouver where it was 19. He begged and pleaded with his dad to borrow his car to drive for the weekend trip and you had to convince your mom that you were going with Mina and not a boy you had the biggest crush on. 

“Do we have to take more?” You asked, half excited and half terrified of drinking more. 

“Of course!” Mark exclaimed. “I didn’t drive this far and pack for a trip if we're only going to take a single shot!” 

If only you knew he was going to tap out after two tequila shots and a white Russian. “I think it would be good if I stopped here,” he said, burping slightly as he pushed the empty glasses away from him. His face was glowing slight and you saw him sway slightly. 

You laughed, also a little tipsy but no where near the state he was in. 

After you two paid the bill, you sat in the nearest local park that you could find and Mark instantly laid down in a snow angel formation once you found a clean patch of grass. You cringed at the thought of leaving soil stains on his dark blue suit as he laid flat on the ground but his face was so at peace you didn’t care enough to scold him. 

You squatted on the grass carefully to avoid sitting down and ruining your deep red ‘prom’ dress which was really a FashionNova knit dress that made you look like you were ready to take pictures for instagram. With your white sneakers planted on the soil, you hugged your knees into your chest to balance yourself. 

“Hey,” Mark whined when he opened his eyes and saw you not committing to his coming of age, angsty, lying in the grass with his best friend who he’s secretly in love with-moment. His hand grabbed your forearm lightly to take you off balance so you could plop on the ground next to him. Your knees swung towards the patch of grass next to him and your head landed neatly on his chest. Before you could sit up, he placed his hand on your head to keep it there, brushing stray hairs out of your face. “Stay like this,” he slurred. 

You laid like that with him with your heart beating out of your chest and thousands of thoughts running through your mind. He was never bold like this. He’s probably a touchy drunk you thought. “Did you know that I’ve liked you since freshman year?” The alcohol was definitely affecting him. What a lightweight. 

“Obviously,” you chuckled. Your muscles were relaxing from their previous tenseness from his abrupt actions. “You thought you were so slick but I always knew it.” 

Even from his voice, you could hear his surprise and the fact that a pout followed it. “Wait what?!” He said in his high-pitched voice whenever he was shocked. “Why didn’t you say something about it?” 

“I didn’t want to be the first one to confess,” you said. Even though it took you all four years of high school and you could only do it when you were drunk, you thought. 

Like the clueless teenager with little experience with girls, he was still confused with your ambiguous confession. “Wait… that means…” 

“I like you too, you big head dummy!” You sat up with his arms and shook your head at him, embarrassed that he didn’t get your confession right away and also shy at the fact that you were basically sober and confessing to him when he was way past tipsy. You turned your head away from him to feign annoyance. 

“Hey,” he said. He sat up and held both sides of your face with his warm and callous hands. His deep brown eyes were looking intensely into yours. You couldn’t bear to look at him for long without blushing, but luckily for you, you closed your eyes when his lips came into contact with yours. 

You weren’t sure if it was his first kiss or not, but it was sloppy and rushed. It felt like he was releasing all of the pent-up passion for you ever since he realized that he liked you when you both met in your art class and started a conversation when he sprayed dark blue paint over your light blue denim jacket when he was trying to make the splatter effect with a paint brush. You didn’t mind though, because it was your first kiss and you didn’t know if he was good or bad without any reference. 

He pulled away slightly and rested his forehead gently on top of yours, “I love you.” 

“I love you too.” 

You chuckled lightly to yourself as you recollected that night. Both of you didn’t even know what love meant yet said that to each other in the heat of the moment. Or maybe Mark said that as a goodbye, a last minute confession before he’d leave you. 

“What?” You said as Mina dropped the bomb on you. 

“He didn’t tell you?” She asked, completely shocked that you weren’t the first person he told considering you two never spent time apart. “He moved to Korea for university.” 

For three months you two were texting back and forth, FaceTime calls whenever he could, and phone calls when you two had free time but were too embarrassed to show your faces because now you both had confessed but weren’t official yet but still not as comfortable as just friends now either. He said he was only going to Korea for the summer to visit his family. 

“Why wouldn’t he tell me?” 

Out of hurt, you started to send him less frequent messages and began declining his calls or attempts to FaceTime. Out of confusion, he stopped trying to reach you and the short lived relationship dissolved just like that; before it even began to bloom. 

While you two were talking about what happened, you had already arrived at Denny’s and sat in a booth with your orders already sent to the back. “So,” you said dryly while stirring the cubes of ice in your glass of water with your straw. “Why didn’t you tell me?” 

“You know how we planned going to university together,” he started to explain with his gaze fixed on the corner of the table. “It was your dream school and we were so excited to become roommates and take electives together because you were in Arts and I was in the Science department…” He corrected himself, “well planning to be anyways.”

Mark paused, looking up to try and figure out how to verbalize the whirlwind of emotions that caused him to keep the truth from you in the past. “I realized that I wanted to study in Korea when I was there for vacation. I dropped everything and I didn’t know how to tell you I decided on my dream school over you.” 

Your eyes shot up to match his in disbelief, “Mark! I wouldn’t hold you back. I would understand you, I would support you. Why would you keep that away from me?”

“Because I didn’t know if it was my dream school if you weren’t there,” he sighed. You were surprised and at a loss for words. You knew he had a crush on you but didn’t know how much it affected him where he was deciding on something as important as school over you. 

“So why did you come back? And when you did, why didn’t you call me?” 

“I came back because I don’t know,” he shrugged, taking a sip of his coke. “It didn’t feel the same as Canada, I felt lonely.” Sure he had friends, but he didn’t feel the same connection to them as he did back to the ones he had in his hometown. “I didn’t call because I didn’t think you’d want to see me. Especially after those dry messages.” 

You nodded and realized that both of you messed up. He failed to communicate his desire to go abroad and you didn’t even ask him why he suddenly left. “So us meeting again was really fate huh?” 

“You could call it that,” he smiled. His hand moved cautiously over the table to hold yours, nervous that you would pull back and reject him. “I’m sorry.”

Your fingers intertwined with his, “I’m sorry too. We were both too young.” 

“So, will you take me back?” His eyes were twinkling with hope.

“Mark,” you said. You watched him gulp, his adam’s apple bobbing up and down with nervousness. “You never lost me in the first place.” 

author’s note: ahh thank you for reading my writing and making it through to the end! i love umi’s song high school and basically just wrote this based on the lyrics haha. is it just me or did denny’s get worse? like i used to go for the food but now I just go for the nostalgia lol. anyways, please head over to my inbox for ships, requests, or if you just want to talk i’m always online nowadays lol. but for now; stay safe, stay healthy and happy! i’m here for you no matter what you’re going through. thanks for reading!

[taehyungtrash2-0]

Sincerely, Love and Affection Ch. 2

— genre ➙  fluff but smutty words

— words ➙  3383

— member ➙  Yuta Nakamoto

— warnings ➙  slowburn! strangers to lovers! foreigner!

Note: i read over it once, ill read over it again tomorrow, please take it easy on me the next chapter will be MUCH MUCH BETTER AHHHHHH -JR

----------

“So are we all going to act like the hottest girl we have all ever seen didn't just give Yuta her number?” Haechan asked sitting back on the couch. Everyone else going back to what they were doing before the sexual tension in the air was thick like a milkshake. 

“Hey shut up, I don't want to deal with Johnny hearing about it yet.” Doyoung grumbled, heading back to the kitchen.

“Didn't want me to hear what?” Johnny asked walking back into the living room with a tissue still in his nose. 

“Oh nothing, just y/n gave Yuta her number.” Ten said devilishly, knowing the chaos that was about to happen. My eyes widening like saucers, shit. It was so fast how it escalated, Johnny’s face went red, his fists clenched and then he lunged. Taeil caught him before he reached me across the room, Mark and Doyoung holding him back as I just stood there. 

“You what!?” he charged angrily, Doyoung and Mark pulling him back more. Everyone, now standing to help with the situation.  

You need to chill the hell out, Taeyong and y/n are just upstairs.” Taeil spoke firmly to Johnny. Slowly calming himself and letting the guys loosen their hold. 

“What the hell is your problem? Everyone knows I am into her, so why the fuck would you do that to me, Yuta.” he asked, hurt in his voice.

“I’m sorry Hyung, she just started talking to me in Japanese and offered to be a friend.” I shrugged. That was technically not a lie but man it summed it up yeah? Totally no chemistry or trace of sexual desire...haha.

“Oh yeah it's totally not because she smelled nice and looked like a pornstar. Not to mention she has the sweetest voice and-” Lucas rambled on, staring into space. 

“I think they got the picture Lucas.” Kun patted his shoulder, returning to his phone. 

“Ughhhhhhhh!” he whined, stomping his foot and heading back to his room. Okay, that was much too close for me to be comfortable. Maybe I should just sit on the couch with my back to the wall for a while. 

---

“I told you this on the phone, we exchanged plushies so we could be close even though there were 1,155 kilometers between us. Now that I’m back I WANT MY BUNNY BACK!” I yelled, grabbing it from his hands again. 

“But I’ve grown attached, besides, you haven’t brought me my bear back so?” he argued, attempting to grab it back as I reached the door and swung it open. 

“Help! Taeyongie is going to take my bunny from me!” I shrieked and ran out to the living room hiding behind the first body I see, clutching to his shirt tightly with my bunny in my arms. 

“You gave it to me!” he rushed in, pointing his finger at me. Everyone now looking at us, enjoying the fight to death. 

“Whoa whoa whoa, freeze. Give me the bunny and I’ll decide who gets it.” the voice of the man I was holding onto announced. Ah yes, Doyoung. I know exactly what to do. 

“But it’s my bunny rabbit Oppa! I’ve missed it so much!” I let go of him and clutch my plushie, giving my pouty face to him. The look on his face glazing over in what I can only imagine is something rated mature, he grunted to clear his throat and look at Taeyong.

“It’s her bunny rabbit Taeyong, just let her have it,” he suggested, spoken like the man of the house. I knew I could count on you Doyoung. 

“Whatever, I want my bear back ASAP then,” Yongie muttered, crossing his arms. Watching this war Mark, Jaehyun, and Jungwoo couldn’t help but laugh at his pain. Doyoung gives me a confirming nod as he heads back to the kitchen. 

“Well, I think it's  time for me to head out, you choose the place and text me okay?” I replied, looking at my now angry older brother. 

“Alright let’s ask who all is going to join us and then you can go,” he muttered, checking to see who all is in the room and pulling out his phone. 

“Leaving so soon y/n?” Mark asked from the couch he was sharing with Jaehyun and Ten. 

“Yeah all my stuff is at the hotel so I’m going to head over there, take a shower, and get ready for tonight,” I responded, checking to make sure I had all of my things with me before leaving. 

“Wait, a hotel room? I thought you already had an apartment lined up?” Taeyong questioned, everyone now looking at me, expecting an answer. 

“I did but the person backed out last second and nothing is available tonight so I’m going to stay at a hotel until then,” I reassured shyly, not making eye contact with anyone. The room is quiet. 

“How about you stay here?” Jaehyun broke the silence, looking around at the other members for confirmation. My eyes immediately widened to the size of dinner plates.

“Yeah I don't want you to have to stay in some expensive hotel, don’t waste your money.” Taeyong replied, looking down to me. 

“Yeah your family now!”  Sicheng called from the chair by the television. I looked around seeing everyones eyes meeting mine. The expectation to give in becoming more and more present. 

“I appreciate the offer really but there are so many of you and I'm sure you don't need another person crowding in on your space.” I replied, holding my bunny in front of my tummy, rubbing its ear in between my fingertips. 

“No seriously, only 8 of us live in this house, the others live in either the dreamy dorms or the WayV house.” Taeil chimed in behind him. 

“I can stay on the couch so you can bunk with your brother.” Doyoung offered, trying to add some comfort to the awkward situation. A small sigh escapes my lips, all the guys staring at me. 

“No no it's fine really doyoung i'll sleep on the couch.” I smiled back, everyone smiling happily to the conformation. 

“Nonsense, I'm a gentleman and I say you can have my bed.” he responded, putting a light hand on my shoulder. 

“Who knew that doyoung was such a softie” Mark chuckled standing up beside him. 

“More like, he wants to be gentle with herrrrr.” Lucas whispered to Kun.  Earning a dirty look from Doyoung and Taeyong. 

“Its called being a man, look it up.” Doyoung snapped at him. His hand returning back to his side, trying to gain back a cold demeanor. 

I can sleep on the couch doyoung, its okay! I just want to make sure everyone is okay with it.” I said reassuringly, wrapping my hand on his shoulder feeling him tense underneath my fingers, wow doyoung...is there something bothering you? I look across the room and make eye contact with my best friend.

“You know Johnny and I don't care.” Mark chuckled, looking back to his phone.

“Doyoung and I are obviously okay with it, you're my sister.” Taeyong replied, looking at me. My hand began to recoil back to my plushie. 

“She smells good so i'm fine with it.” Taeil called with a grin.

“Same here!” Jungwoo claimed, sitting up next to him and Sicheng.

“She's pretty so I'm not complaining.” Jaehyun answered slyly, the smirk on his face, evident. What also became evident that the last person to answer was Yuta, who is usually faster to answer, based on his interviews but seems rather spacious. I looked to him, 

“Is it okay with you, Yuta?” I asked, looking for any sign of hesitance. He looked back with a smile that could melt a million suns. This man was going to be the death of me, I could feel my destiny change. The universe itself paused for a moment and only him and I existed. 

“Of course, you can have my bed if you want.” he replied, standing up. What is with these men and offering beds?

“Oh no it's okay i'm going to sleep on the couch!” I said, putting my hands up in defense. His face did a complete 180, his face turning in confusion,

“What? No, you can't sleep on the couch you can take my bed, you could hurt your back! Did Taeyong not offer his bed?” he asked, stepping forward and looking at my brother like he was from outer space. I couldn't stop myself from laughing.

“Doyoung offered but i don't want to intrude on anyone.” I giggled, holding my plushie closer to my chest. 

“I'll kick someone out of their bed, don't worry.” he winked, causing us both to laugh. His laugh is like sunshine, how? I hate this flutter I'm feeling in my chest. I just met him, how could this be happening already, if Taeyong knew he would surely kill us both. This leaves everyone else around to murmur and look at us in confusion. 

“But seriously though, is it okay if i stay here for a little while?” I looked him in the eyes, again looking for some sign of him not wanting me.  But to no avail, his smile grew again and lit up the room.

“I'd love it.” he answered. All the other members of the house murmuring and talking quietly waiting for a response. Yuta nodded to them to answer their unasked question. 

Okay, so now that that is out of the way. Who all is going to come to dinner tonight?” Taeyong asked, pulling his phone from his back pocket, clearly trying to avoid whatever it is that is happening. 

“Well we already know Johnny, Jaehyun, Haechan, and I can't go because of recording.” Ten replied, gesturing to all of them as they nodded. 

“I'm helping Kun, Sicheng, and Lucas with their English.” Mark responded after. 

“Im free” Taeil stated, looking at us.

“Same here.” Doyoung claimed, behind me. 

“I can go.” Jungwoo said. My eyes  wandered to look into Yuta’s. Is it silly of me to ask him to come? I don’t want to be weir-

“I'll come.”Yuta beamed brightly. My cheeks begin to flush, why does this man have this effect on me? I don't get it. 

“Okay so that's y/n, Doyoung, Taeil, Jungwoo, Yuta, and I.” Taeyong stated, checking his phone for a good spot. 

“Well then that's it I suppose, I will see you guys at dinner then.” I smiled, catching his gaze as I left.

---

“Lucas, don't you have English lessons with Mark?” Jungwoo asked the disheveled Lucas as he walked up to our table. The restaurant that Hyung picked was nice but casual so Lucas didn’t look out of place; he just seemed jittery, almost. His hand pushed his hair back as he was trying to come up with an excuse before he just gave up. Doyoung and I make eye contact, we both know why he is actually here. 

“Yeah but I-I  never got y/n’s number so we could hang out…” he mumbled to the group, earning a laugh from everyone except Taeyong. Hyung’s face stern as he reached for a glass of water, clearly not liking the fact that everyone was attracted to his little sister. 

“You could just ask Yuta.” Taeil chuckled, grabbing his drink next to Jungwoo.  

“Whatever I just wanted to come by and tell her that the rest of WayV is down to hangout sometime if she wants.” he grumbled, clearly embarrassed at the fact that he didn’t get her number in the first place. 

“Hey guys!” a sweet voice chimed, walking behind Lucas was y/n. Her little, white dress was short and hugging every single inch of her body. Beautiful hair framing her face. She looked...delectable with every sense of the word

“Dear god,” Doyoung gulped under his breath. It was obvious now that I was not the only man at this table who regrets their choice in pants. I can already feel myself tenting. Fuck.

“What the fuck” Taeil murmed to Jungwoo as the dress slowly rose up her thigh. The second that happened I felt my blood begin to boil, god she was hot. I felt the sirens in my head screaming BONER ALERT BONER ALERT PLEASE LEAVE AND RELIEVE. I was in no way expecting blue balls to be on the menu. The lump in my throat began to slide down slowly as she made it to the table. Fuck; clevage. I looked to Doyoung to see him zeroing in on the same area as I was. Lucas was right, she is 100% pornstar material, is it so awful to want to break the back of a good friend’s little sister? 

“Hey sis, I saved you a seat next to me.” Hyung stated, standing up and pulling the seat across from me. Well fuck me. 

“Hey y/n, um we forgot to exchange numbers earlier so i couldn't tell you that the rest of WayV would love to hang out sometime.” Lucas said, catching her arm, she turned to look at him with a dreamy smile and my stomach tightened. What a smile.  

“Oh really that's great! I- wait is.. Is Xiaojun going to be there?” she asked, quizzingly. Xiaojun? Does she like Xiaojun? Why do I care so much? I just met her. 

“Um yeah?” he responded, just as confused as I am. She quickly took out her phone and pulled up her contact with him.

“Here’s my number.” 

“Oooooo does y/n have a crush on Xiaojun?” Jungwoo teased as Lucas put down the number in his phone. 

“I thought I was your favorite member?” Taeyong questioned, clearly offended by his sister’s actions.

“As great as Xiaojun is, he is not my bias or crush by any means,that one is already taken.” she replied, putting her phone back in her pocket and sitting across from me. 

“Well I'm glad you finally decided to tell everyone princess,” Lucas chuckled and winked. 

“As handsome and charming as you are Lucas, it's not you either bUT YOU WERE SO CLOSE IM SORRY.” she exclaimed as Lucas was really hurt. I mean I would too if an extremely hot girl gave me her number and said ‘your not my first option, or any option really’. 

“Well I know her favorite is me, because i’m her brother, but crush ew no way.” he stated in disgust, crossing his arms. 

“You're right on that.” she laughed. 

“Wait…” Doyoung mumbled, everyone beginning to finally catch up to what she had just confirmed to the group.

“So that means you do like A MEMBER OF NCT!” Jungwoo exclaimed, everyone grinning in curiosity, on the edge of their seats just like me. 

“Tell me!” Taeyong commanded. 

“Who is it?” Taeil asked.

*“DON’T SAY MARK!” JOHNNY CRIES IN THE DISTANCE*

“So what can I get you all tonight?” the kind waitress asked as she finally reached the table. 

“Two bottles of soju, what will everyone else be drinking?” y/n asked with a chuckle, earning the laugh of the rest of the table. 

---

As a series of bottles and delicious plates of food made their rounds through the table, so did the conversations. Everyone was laughing so hard, Jungwoo actually had water come out of his nose. She was definitely a little spitfire. 

“So you really ran through the fountain naked and drunk at 2 in the morning and got caught by campus police?” Lucas laughed out loud and in disbelief. She swallowed her drink and nodded.

“Yes but one of them was my friend’s brother so he gave me his jacket and took me back to my dorm.” she chuckled, taking another bite.

“Okay, so when a hot girl does it it's okay but when I take my shirt off at the market everyone gets pissed?” Lucas looks around at the rest of the table, once again in disbelief. This quickly earned him a bread bun tossed at him by Taeyong himself.

“Hey that's my sister!” he shouted, everyone laughing at the argument, including y/n.

“But that's when I used to party and stuff, I actually haven't been to the club in a few months, any good places around here?” she asked, scanning the guys for any good suggestions.

“You are not going to a club.” Taeyong replied.  

“Obviously not tonight.” she smirked. 

“Hey I know a place a couple blocks from here that's really cool. But if you’re talking clubs, the right person to ask is Ten.” Taeil replied, grabbing another dumpling.

“We should go sometime! Man, Yongie your friends are so cool, how could you keep them from me?” she asked, giving him a small elbow to the ribs. 

“Because you always take my friends from me.” he grumbled. Which is absolutely clear why. She giggled again. God her laugh is so contagious, its impossible not to smile when she giggles even. I grabbed my cup when I felt something against my sneaker. I gently nudged it back when it nudged back. I looked up to see my opponent of footsie when a beautiful pair of eyes poured into mine. I nudged her back and she did it again, making her crack into a smile, which inevitably seeped into mine. 

“Are you okay you’ve been kind of quiet?” she asked me kindly, usingher chopsticks to push around the chicken on her plate. 

“Yeah, I'm just not as fast as you guys are, today.” I confessed, what a lie. Its because youre nervous for the first time in forever and it fucking shows. 

“How about we talk then?” she suggested, picking at her plate. 

“What do you mean?” I asked looking at her. Little did I know that it suddenly felt as if the entire world ceased to exist at this point. It felt like it was just her and I.

“Tell me about yourself, Yuta.” she elaborated with a voice as sweet as honey. The lump now finds a home in my throat. Why is it so hard to talk to her, I never get nervous like this. 

“Oh um, I’m a Scorpio?” I muttered, grabbing my soju and taking a swig. 

“Ooooo a mysterious guy. That definitely matches the aura.” she chuckled. God, how can she make me nervous but confident so fast. 

“I guess so, I've been told I have a mysterious side.” I explained, looking back at her. 

“You really do, it’s the eyes, hands down.”  she claimed, grabbing for her water. 

“Really I was joking at first but hey i'll take it.” I chuckled. 

“Definitely, you have these deep eyes that make you look menacing. It's almost like you could read someone's deepest desires or you could attack them. But you have such a  handsome face, it just goes together so well. I’m rambling, sorry!” she confessed, nervously nudging her feet against mine. 

“Hey, i like it. Do i make you feel that way?” I looked at her deeply, her shy demeanor cracking to show her inner self. 

“Oh yeah. But I think i'm more concerned about how I make you feel, Yuta.” she claimed, nudging her foot against mine again, resting her head on her propped up arm. 

“Well-

“Hey what are you guys talking abou-” Taeyong interrupted. 

“Shut up, Yuta is talking” she slapped his arm before turning her full attention back to me, which made me laugh. 

“Well for starters, you are absolutely gorgeous so that's a given. But I feel there's so much more to you than you are letting show.” I replied, giving her my full attention again. I could slowly see her once shy facade turn into something much more flirty. Her eyes glazing over just like mine, a tension starting to fill the air. 

“I’ve been caught huh?” she whispered, her eyes glazing over.

“Like you said I like to see what's underneath it all.” I answered with a grin.

“Well looking like that it can't be that hard to get underneath it all.” she looked up coyly. 

“Hey guys, we were thinking about heading back to the dorms, we have a stream and we were going to watch a movie. You guys ready?” Taeyong asked us both. I looked up to her as she smiled at her brother and nodded. And man, I could never agree more.