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wooahaes · 2 years ago

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songbird

pairing: non-idol!joshua x gn!reader

prompt: soulmate au series. 5/13

word count: 2.8k~

warnings: reader slightly angry in jihoon’s DMs. mentions of joshua getting inappropriate DMs (please don’t be a creep in anyone’s DMs). very slight angst over first impressions and potential soulmate relationships.

daisy’s notes: i know i am in the minority of being okay with hearing shua sing sunday morning every single day. i am ok w this. when he said its a masterpiece i felt that.

summary: Joshua knows his soulmate is somewhere. He’s heard them sing before, and he knows they’ve heard him sing before. Maybe that’s why he takes Jihoon up on his offer to produce a song to post online. He just hopes that his soulmate starts to look up the lyrics sooner or later…

When Joshua found out his soulmate sign was being able to hear his soulmate when they sang, things felt right. Maybe it’d be a little more fitting for someone like Jihoon, but Joshua felt lucky nonetheless. He liked singing, even if he could never find out your name or your location or anything that could guide him directly to you. He grew up singing, sometimes in church, and he felt a little guilty that you had to put up with all of it. But he’d never forget the way he was singing in church one day, only to hear a pop song on the radio hours later. A sign you were out there. He had run off to tell his family immediately, and it only made him want to pursue music even more--if he could. He was young. Sometimes dreams just stayed dreams. He passed up following music as a career when he got a little older, keeping it as a hobby. He worked to support himself in college from the day he moved out, passing up invitations to join his friends at music festivals and concerts in order to pick up extra hours. Even if he gave up trying for a career, he held onto it as a hobby. He’d sit in his apartment sometimes and just play, singing along to songs he wrote or pop songs he learned unless you sang back to shut up because you needed the quiet. He never took it personally: he understood people needed silence to work. He did, too, sometimes. He’d always laugh whenever he heard your stilted, annoyed singing to get him to shut up, and he’d sing back his little apology. He hoped that made you laugh, or at least soothed any tension that might be growing between the two of you.

He just hoped that you used all of it as a reminder that he was still out there. Sometimes that’s what his singing was meant to be. When he could afford to just sit back, eyes shut and listen to you sing along to songs you liked, he loved to. It was a reminder you were there. Occasionally he could hear you singing along to the same sad songs Joshua assumed were a part of a sad playlist you’d made. He looked up lyrics and learned them so that he could sing along, too. Just so you knew that he was still there with you and that he cared.

Sometimes he’d wake up to your voice, too. Maybe you were taking a shower before work or school, or you were making breakfast, but Joshua just liked to lay there and listen. You didn’t have to be perfect for Joshua to already love the little pieces of you he was getting to know through music. Sometimes he dreamed of taking his guitar out into the city and playing in the park all the songs he heard you sing, just to see if fate would bring you to him.

It felt silly. Seungcheol always told him he thought it was kinda romantic to chase after a dream and a soulmate. Jeonghan would sometimes laugh and tell him that he looked more like he was trying to get scouted. Maybe in another life, Joshua would laugh. He knew he was lucky, in a sense: he could hear you whenever he wanted. He knew Jeonghan had dreams of a face he couldn’t fully remember, and that Seungcheol only saw life in black and white. He could only imagine that it was rough, but Joshua never had a problem going grocery shopping with Seungcheol just to help him pick things out.

Sometimes it felt like... fate, in a sense, that they all started to find their soulmates one by one after Seungkwan found his. Joshua had heard that story plenty of times, because Seungkwan loved to tell it. He’d met Seungkwan’s soulmate, too: a little bold, but sweet. Clumsy as hell, too, but they had Seungkwan to watch out for them (and Joshua found it sweet how much he doted on them, smoothing a bandage over their knee with that same lovestruck look on his face). Wonwoo had casually mentioned that his soulmate was kind, that he’d bring them around eventually if they all promised to behave. Minghao’s shared his love of art and seemed quiet and thoughtful, and Jihoon’s... had apparently been a bit of a mess. Jihoon had casually recounted the way they approached him, initially pissed because of all the bleached hair, but they genuinely seemed like someone he was getting along with. Of course, Soonyoung said that he barely looked them in the eye when they came to pick him up for dates, but that seemed normal for Jihoon.

Joshua thought that the song they were working on would get put off by Jihoon meeting his soulmate. Seungkwan spent a lot of time with his soulmate, Wonwoo had dates every weekend to get to know his, Minghao constantly talked about the art galleries he went to with them (making up for “lost time,” apparently, since he was happily experiencing a world full of color for the first time in over a decade)... It made sense, in Joshua’s opinion. Jihoon, however, had merely shrugged and said that this was work and his soulmate was his personal life. Those were kept separate. He wasn’t going to “prioritize” one over the other unless he absolutely had to. Soulmate time was soulmate time, work time was for work. His music was his life, and his soulmate already understood that. They worked it out (Jihoon said they were career-oriented, too, and he supported their endeavors), so all Joshua had to worry about was the song itself.

Joshua had his phone pressed between his shoulder and his cheek, “Are you sure? You can take more time for them if you need to.”

“Do you need to ask them?” Jihoon had said. “They’re okay with it. Ask Soonyoung if you need to. They have work and a social life, too, Shua. We’re talking. I’m not going to abandon our song just because I found my soulmate. That’s something an asshole would do.”

That had been the end of that conversation before Jihoon changed the topic to the lyrical changes they’d been talking about. Jihoon put everything into his music, and Joshua appreciated that passion. He felt bad for his soulmate when the time of recording finally came, since he knew how Jihoon was. He’d most likely have to re-record segments until they were perfect (and Joshua appreciated that, too--but his poor soulmate...). It was going to get grating soon enough, and he prayed that his soulmate wasn’t busy. But he stood in the booth, prepared to finally get this part over with.

As much as Joshua loved singing, he knew how long this would take. At least he would get dinner with Jihoon afterward. There were little victories like that when it came to hard work.

“Joshua...” Jihoon had pressed a button so that he could be heard in the booth. He was shuffling papers, idly keeping himself busy. “Do you ever think...” He trailed off, glancing up for just a second.

“On occasion.”

Jihoon rolled his eyes, which only served to make Joshua smile a little more. “Do you ever think you could use this to find your soulmate?”

He had. Multiple times since they agreed to do this. He could only imagine the frustration of hearing a song that wasn’t out in the world yet. Plenty of songs never made it this far, after all, or ever be posted, but this was going to be. Jihoon would have the lyrics posted somewhere, too. All it would take is a single search to find his name, to find him, and you could do that. “Sometimes.”

“Do you hope it will?”

Yes. “Maybe,” he settled on. “I don’t know. It’s in Korean. If they can’t speak it--”

“They’d look,” Jihoon said, completely serious as he watched Joshua glanced back up. “If they want to find you, they’ll look. I think... that’s what a soulmate does. That’s why we have signs, right? So we know we’re not alone?”

Joshua frowned. “Then why do you think some people don’t?” Like Seokmin. Like Soonyoung. Like Vernon, too. What did you think, too?

Jihoon said nothing, lips pressed into a thin line. “It’s not a guarantee. We know that,” he said quietly. “But sometimes if people just want a friend...”

Then they know you’re there. Joshua understood it. He... never thought of it like that. He always thought of his soulmate in the romantic sense, if he was honest. What if his soulmate wasn’t looking for that? He took a deep breath. Now wasn’t the time to get worried about that. He was okay with finding a friend, truly, but he’d still have to cope with that disappointment.

“Joshua?”

He looked back up.

“Are you okay?”

Joshua nodded, forcing a smile. “Just thinking.”

“About your soulmate?” Jihoon ran a hand through his hair--still dyed to match his soulmate. One day it’d fade and he’d have his natural color back, but Joshua liked to think that Jihoon wore his soulmate’s hair color with pride. “I think you’re lucky. Mine would have gone crazy if they had to hear me sing unfinished work over and over.” He smiled. “You ready?”

He was. This meant he’d be one step closer to finding you, hopefully. Or... well.. for you to find him. Unless you were living some sort of double life where you only performed when he was asleep, then Joshua knew you weren’t a singer. He shut his eyes, took a deep breath, and gave Jihoon a thumbs up.

One step forward.

Jihoon called him days after the song launched. They had their drinks, a celebration with friends, and entertained the idea of maybe writing and producing another one sometime (especially if this one turned out well). Thanks to Jihoon’s following (and having thirteen people, plus all found soulmates, sharing it around), it received pretty decent engagement. Joshua would check back to see what people were saying: the compliments on his voice, lyrical analysis, some people... admittedly thirsting over him (he turned his personal twitter private afterward--he had too many people asking if he had a soulmate, or outright asking for nudes). Aside from the creepier replies, it was nice to receive congratulations for his and Jihoon’s hard work.

“Where are you?”

Joshua had half an hour left of work. He took a quick glance around before lowering his voice, “Work?”

“Get to my place when you’re done.”

And then he hung up, ominous as could be. The moment Joshua could clock out, he did and made his way out with a text to Jihoon that he was on his way. Soonyoung had let him in, only slightly disappointed that he was not the delivery guy with their takeout, and Jihoon looked up from his spot on the couch.

“Sing something right now.”

Joshua furrowed his brow. “What?”

“Just do it.”

So he sang the first line of the masterpiece that was “Sunday Morning.” Jihoon rolled his eyes before typing something in on his laptop, and Joshua could hear Soonyoung snicker from behind him. “What’s this about?”

“Give me a minute.” He looked up, and then moved his bag from next to him. “You can sit down if you want.”

Joshua did, leaning back just enough to catch the glimpse of the Twitter website open to Jihoon’s professional account. He angled the laptop away.

“I don’t want to get your hopes up,” he said, still explaining nothing else. He glanced up one more time. “But... I think they found me.”

Joshua stared at him. “What?”

“You, technically, but you went private and they said you denied their follow.”

To be fair, Joshua blocked multiple people trying to follow him. Especially if they didn’t leave any public response. Those were the people who tried to slide into his DMs and ask for his dick. “That really doesn’t tell me anything.”

Jihoon raised his brows, glancing back up to Joshua’s face before he turned his laptop back to him.

The first message was from you: TELL YOUR SINGER FRIEND I’M GONNA KICK HIS ASS FOR GETTING THIS STUCK IN MY HEAD TWO WEEKS AGO.

Jihoon had answered pretty sensibly: he asked if you were his soulmate and if you could prove it. You had argued back that you knew the song and you had friends who could quote the lyrics back because you’d sang them under your breath so often. Jihoon snapped back that he wanted real proof, and that if you could name what his friend was singing, then he’d get you in touch.

He asked what he sang. You responded back pretty simply: was that goddamn sunday morning by maroon 5. not again. goddamn it. i’m not strong enough for this.

“They’re a little dramatic,” Jihoon sharply said, “but I don’t blame them.”

Joshua rolled his eyes. “Tell them to send another follow request and--”

Jihoon was already typing something in. Can you meet right now? Are you in the city?

“What are you doing?”

Jihoon looked up for about half a second. You confirmed you were in the city, and Jihoon rattled off a coffee shop name to see if you recognized it and how far it was from you. “You should meet them in person,” he said. “I think... It’s better that way.”

Joshua couldn’t argue with that. He’d dreamed of meeting you, and yet when it came down to it, he could feel a rush of anxiety. What if you hated him for all of his musical ventures? For getting so many songs stuck in your head? That was in no way one-sided (he had his own fair share of songs stuck in his head from you singing one part and leaving him to find the rest), but what if that was a deal-breaker for you? He got up once he saw the place confirmed, and told Jihoon to tell you he was on his way.

The entire drive over, he swore his hands were shaking. He couldn’t ask if this was how anyone else felt, except maybe Wonwoo. The same shaking giddiness at being so close to finding his soulmate, to meeting them for the first time. He’d seen cheesy movies too many times, and pushed away those expectations. There would be no passionate kiss, no immediate love between the two of you: just two people destined to be together, tied together by song. Jihoon texted him that you would be the one in a red jacket, sat in the corner of the shop.

Joshua parked his car and just sat there for a moment, taking a deep breath. He could see you from where he was sitting, curled up and leg shaking. Were you as nervous as he was? Or even more? That put him a little more at ease to know. Soon enough, he gathered his courage and left his car. No order for coffee or tea or anything he could spill on you: just a vague greeting to the teenager working behind the counter, and his path set to take him to you.

“Hi.” He smiled at you. “I’m Joshua.”

You stared up at him, studying his face. He could see the way you glanced at his phone, a picture of him and Jihoon open on your phone. You quickly set it down, screen facing the table. You introduced yourself calmly enough, nodding toward the seat across from you. “So... You’re my soulmate.”

He sat down, jacket folded over the back of his chair. “I’m your soulmate,” he reaffirmed. “It’s... really nice to meet you.”

“Is it?” You looked embarrassed. “I feel really bad for messaging your friend like that. I mean, I messaged him back after I got here to tell him the song was really good. Just... being a part of the production process...”

“I get it,” he smiled.

“You have a really pretty voice,” you said. “I mean. I’ve always known that, and you probably have, too, but...” You smiled at him after a moment, more genuine this time. “It’s nice to match a face to a voice.”

There was no spark between the two of you. Just a comfortable warmth that Joshua felt rise into his chest. Not love, but... the lovely feeling of sharing an experience. Maybe that was what the soulmate signs were for. People like Minghao and Seungcheol would be able to bond over seeing a world with little to no color. Jihoon no doubt bonded with his soulmate over the frustrations of hair dye.

“I know it’s kinda silly,” you said, gaze averted, “but those times you sang along to my sad songs really meant a lot.”

He smiled. “They did?”

“Yeah,” you drummed your knuckles against the table. “It’s a nice reminder that I wasn’t alone.”

Good, Joshua thought to himself. “If it helps... You’ll never be alone again, okay?” He reached out, taking your hand in his own. “I’m here. You can talk to me if you ever need to.”

You curled your fingers around his own. “I’d like that.”

It was a step toward a new future, and Joshua was glad to take it if you were right there by his side.

#wooahaes.fic #seventeen imagine #seventeen x reader #seventeen x you #svt x reader #svt imagine #svt x you #joshua x reader #joshua fluff #joshua hong fluff #joshua x you #joshua hong x reader

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alohajun · 3 years ago

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♡ TREASURE’S REACTIONS WHEN YOU CRY + FAINT DURING AN ARGUMENT

hyung + middle line treasure x gn!reader | wc : 1.6k words | content : possible grammar and spelling mistakes, lowercase intended, petnames (babe, angel, baby, etc), reader crying + fainting + feeling sick, arguing, angst (and fluff if you squint), one mention of being drunk | request : hi can i request treasure reaction when you faint + cry during an argument? take your time | loki's lines : i didn’t want to write for the maknae line bc i thought this entire arguing situation might be a lot to write for them (?)

CHOI HYUNSUK

🐷 hyunsuk was spending all his free days gaming with friends and as much as you understood he was having a holiday, you would’ve appreciated having your shared apartment be a little cleaner

🐷 you merely wanted to tell to clean after his messes, but somehow, here you were, amidst a horrendous argument

🐷 “suk, just grow up a little and listen to me!” the situation itself was tiring for you, the exhaustion causing you to burst into tears as you tried to get your point across

🐷 hyunsuk’s expressions would soften upon seeing you cry, kicking himself internally for driving you to your breaking point

🐷 “babe, i didn’t mean to, i promise i–” he’d sigh, wrapping his arms around you as he pulled you into a hug

🐷 as he kept patting your back in assurance, he was about to pull away when he felt you lean against him — and upon feeling your weight on him; he knew smth was wrong

🐷 his eyes would widen when he saw your closed eyes, realizing you had fainted

🐷 “y/n! y/n! hey, hey, no. wake up, please. what’s wrong?!”

PARK JIHOON

🐼 it was a stressful day for the both of you — but you knew better than to bring work problems home and vent on jihoon

🐼 “i’ll talk to you when you aren’t angry, jun. you aren’t thinking straight.”

🐼 despite his anger, jihoon noticed your tears, sighing to himself as he realized his anger had taken over him once again

🐼 by the time he reached your room to apologise, it was locked, and he already regretted the pain he put you through

🐼 “y/n. please open the door.” he’d knock softly, trying to hear if you were saying something

🐼 then he heard it — the softest thud which immediately rang an alarm in his head

🐼 your bloodshot eyes, the way you kept blinking often, your flushed cheeks; everything made sense — you were sick

🐼 jihoon kept banging on the locked door before hitting himself against the door, trying to break the lock

🐼 once he got in, his heart fell at the sight of you on the floor, immediately cradling your head in his hands as he looked at you

🐼 “baby, no. don’t do this to me. please wake up.”

KANEMOTO YOSHINORI

🐯 baby tiger yoshinori agenda (how many times have i started his hcs like this? idk, but i’m gonna continue)

🐯 yoshi and you barely fought, but whenever you did, he was the type to silently listen bc he knew you just had to blow off the steam

🐯 “it’s just a me problem! idk how you handle me–” you’d burst into tears, fisting your hands over your eyes as you tried to stop your crying

🐯 your head had been pounding for the past few hours, and your body ached, which contributed to your outburst

🐯 “it’s okay, angel. don’t cry. you are okay, it’s not a you problem,” yoshi assured, trying to approach you, not knowing you were sick

🐯 you slowly lifted your head, smiling slightly and nodding, but the black spots took over your vision quicker than you could tell yoshi what was happening

🐯 right in front of him, you fell into his arms, causing his eyes to widen as it was the last thing he expected to happen

🐯 “how much have you been bottling up, angel? why didn’t you tell me you were sick?”

KIM JUNKYU

🐨 as i’ve said before, a kunfused koala really

🐨 junkyu would be clueless as to what was happening from the second you started ranting about the work you had to do

🐨 he’d just keep nodding, pretending like he understood just so you wouldn’t get mad at him

🐨 it wasn’t really an argument — you were just frustrated with work and junkyu merely staying silent wasn’t helping you either

🐨 “junkyu, would you just mind doing smth else other than nodding your head?” you asked softly, sighing as you looked at him before the tears fell down your face

🐨 “jagi … no … why?” he’d quietly mutter, wrapping his arms around you as he patted your back, trying to console you before anything else

🐨 kinda like with hyunsuk, junkyu would feel weird when your bodyweight kept pushing on him, not realizing you had fainted until he pulled away

🐨 “jagiya? y/n? hey, talk to me. what’s happening?”

TAKATA MASHIHO

🐹 when arguing, mashiho definitely knows how to push all your buttons and get you riled up — ngl i feel like takata shortie is a little sadistic enough to enjoy making you cry during arguments too

🐹 don’t come for me, i’m not saying shiho is rude — heck no, i’m just saying he would make you cry out of annoyance rather than hurt

🐹 “shiho, will you stop being annoying for one second?! i’m trying to focus here!” you’d scream, getting frustrated by his teasing

🐹 “oh, no, y/n has brought work problems back home! how scandalous! shame on you, really. how could–” mashiho would tease you in a mocking tone, his grin only becoming wider with the way you kept frowning

🐹 when his teasing finally got to you, you’d burst into tears, making your way towards your boyfriend with a raised hand to whack some sense into him

🐹 but mashiho noted the way your steps faltered, raising his brow when you stood a few inches away from him, your hand falling to your side as your body gave away

🐹 “y/n? y/n! babe, look at me. come on, open your eyes, dammit! please … don’t scare me like this.”

YOON JAEHYUK

🦁 fights with yoon jaehyuk are rare — and even if it happens, you two knew exactly what to do to calm the other person

🦁 both your methods were leaving the room until the other calmed down and brought up the topic with a calmer mindset

🦁 so when you started crying during the fight, not even letting jaehyuk come near you to wipe your tears, he did what he usually did and left the room, letting you take a breath

🦁 for once, though, he was very reluctant to do so — smth about the way you looked made him feel like he shouldn’t leave you alone, but when you kept pushing him away, he didn’t really have a choice

🦁 when he heard a crash from the kitchen, his brows furrowed, getting mad himself — bc why tf would you vent your anger on some perfectly good ikea plates you two just bought a week ago?

🦁 however, when he arrived at the kitchen, it was a different scene that welcomed him

🦁 jaehyuk would immediately panic upon seeing you lying on the floor, passed from exhaustion, just picking you up and moving you to a safer place away from the broken plates

🦁 would panic majorly, but kept it under the wraps bc he knew he couldn’t afford to do so when you were passed out since there was no one else in the house

🦁 but he’d definitely stay by your side, just holding your hand until you woke again, only feeling his soul return to his body when you opened your eyes

🦁 “oh, thank goodness. y/n, don’t do that to me again, love. i could just get a heart attack.”

HAMADA ASAHI

🤖 asahi knew he could get a little iffy during arguments — bc you had told him so the following hours after you two had an argument

🤖 as soon as asahi saw the first tear fall down your face, he knew smth was definitely wrong

🤖 sahi knew you enough to know you were never the type to cry at what he said and figured smth else was wrong with you

🤖 “but again, you should — y/n, are you sick?” he cut himself off, standing in front of you before inspecting your face, resting the back of his hand on your forehead to check a fever

🤖 and indeed you had one

🤖 you waved it off, smiling slightly, holding onto his hand as you nodded — but maybe that was the wrong call

🤖 the movement caused you to get dizzy, and asahi immediately noted the way you kept blinking while looking at him

🤖 “sahi … can’t see.” you muttered before your eyes closed, falling right into him as he wrapped his arms around you

🤖 “no, no. wake up, y/n. come on, love. don’t do this to me now. please, wake up.”

BANG YEDAM

🦊 “everyone’s partners were there except you. you always avoid going to gatherings with me. are you embarrassed of me?” he’d ask, slightly tipsy with the alcohol in his system

🦊 and handling a drunk yedam was an absolute nightmare

🦊 as you tried to calm him down and get him to bed, he only kept screaming, spouting nonsense in his drunken state

🦊 “maybe i should date someone else. someone who’s better than you.”

🦊 his words hit you harder than you’d like, and you’d move away, trying to wipe away your tears before he could see

🦊 but yedam definitely saw and would make that a point to nitpick too

🦊 “oh, wow. you are crying.” he’d click his tongue, shaking his head as he watched you sway a little before falling to the floor. “didn’t know you were an attention-seeker too? what sick way is this?”

🦊 yedam would be a little more sober, getting off his seat as he stood over your fallen figure, eyes widening slowly as he realized you weren’t joking around

🦊 “yah! y/n, wake up! what happened? y/n, i didn’t mean–”

taglist — @kflixnet @neozonenet @ravenori @xiaosimp3 @nanasdream @twntycm @roseky21 @heejojo @jaesvelvet @fightmegirl @koishua @silent-potato @lovethyfandoms2 @kpoprhia @woooooooosh8 @milkybonya @enhacolor @yunho-leeknow @yoshiikore @f4ery @candililac @willdieforbeidou @luvbrie @jun-bug @mui890mew @yogurteume @one16core @soobin-chois @odetoyeonjun @wonluvrbot @augustle0 @acciomylove @idkwatodoanymore @kyufilms @enhatrejor (to be added, please send an ask or dm!)

TREASURE MASTERLIST

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bluehoodiewoozi · 3 years ago

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"Right? Right."

Soonyoung x GN!Reader

Genre: some fluff, more angst, a lot of wholesome friendships

Words: 13,5k

[Soulmate!AU] Your soulmate mark might be broken, but at least he will always be there for you.

Read also: Broken Pieces (Jihoon spin-off)

The morning of your 17th birthday was the most exciting one yet and would forever be engraved deep into your memory. It was the day you’d receive your soulmate mark. The only issue with it?

“Why can’t it just appear at midnight?” you groaned and leaned back against your pillows. “Why does it happen to be at a random time?”

Wonwoo chuckled and took your left wrist to examine it once again – just like he’d done about a thousand times already – before reminding you: “The mark needs some time to form, you know. It would be weird if it just appeared out of thin air.”

“Much unlike what it’s doing right now?” Jihoon snorted. He, just like all four of your dearest friends that had gathered in your bedroom for this joyous occasion, was intensely staring at your wrist.

“The universe is only trying to convey the information,” Wonwoo defended. He was one of the many that whole-heartedly believed in soulmates, though he often acted indifferent to the ways of the universe and of love. “It takes time.”

Junhui sighed deeply. “Maybe the universe needs a different wi-fi plan. It’s been four hours already. Mine appeared in two.”

“Mine too,” Wonwoo agreed. Soonyoung hummed in agreement. Only Jihoon remained quiet, still not yet 17 at the time. You supposed the process of watching all his friends go through the soulmark process was the most excruciating for him.

You glanced back down at your wrist. No mark had formed yet. Instead a small pool of black ink danced on your skin, still struggling to pick a form and stick with it. This was all part of the process. One ridiculously boring and irritating process.

Soonyoung rested his head against your shoulder. “Maybe you need a distraction. Let’s do something.”

“The arcade?” Wonwoo suggested.

“Oh! Can we go to the park and play something there?” Junhui proposed with an excited grin before pouting. “Mom says I need more sunlight.”

Jihoon chuckled. “Mine too. Compared me to a vampire the other day.”

“The park it is then,” Soonyoung decided for the group and jumped to his feet. He offered you a glance before clapping his hands together. “Oh! Right! Can’t have you be distracted!”

He rummaged in the pocket of his jacket before pulling out a wrist band. He gestured for you to give him your hand. Your friends and you watched curiously as he placed the band around your wrist, right over the still-swirling pool of black ink.

He then stood back and smiled widely. “There. Now you can’t keep checking it and lose at tag.”

Jihoon scoffed at that. “It’s (Y/n). There’s no way they won’t lose at tag.”

“Hey!” You frowned and threw a pillow right at his head. He erupted in giggles, much like Junhui and Soonyoung.

“I guess at least you have good aim. Even if you suck at running.”

You threw another pillow at his head.

The swirling pool of black never took a shape. You spent days watching it swirl and do nothing else.

“Maybe the universe’s wi-fi got cancelled,” Junhui offered as a joke all the while gently drying your tears when a week had passed since your birthday. Once again you and your friends were gathered in your bedroom, this time instead of awe and curiosity, you were surrounded by four pairs of worried eyes.

Jihoon hissed, much like an agitated cat. “Now’s not the time for wi-fi jokes, Jun. They’re crying.”

“At least I’m trying to make them laugh,” Junhui grumbled and pulled your head to rest against his chest. He was protective in that way.

Soonyoung silently sat on your other side, fingers gently tracing the unfinished marking on your wrist. His head was filled with thoughts no one could decipher for him.

He glanced down at where his own mark rested before turning to yours again. He and the boys had specifically made sure to hide their marks under sweater paws to not cause you further pain.

“Wonwoo, anything?” he then asked hopefully. The other shook his head no and focused back to the books in his lap. “Seriously? How has this not happened before?”

“I mean, it must have,” Wonwoo reasoned. “But I’m not sure if it’s been documented or has happened enough times to mean anything.”

Jihoon sighed deeply and slammed his laptop closed. “The internet has nothing. As far as Google and Bing are concerned, this has never happened before. Never.”

“The universe is broken,” Junhui sounded out his thoughts with a blank stare.

You sniffled before bursting into a fit of panic-induced laughter. “That’s great. That’s just great. So, I broke the universe. Great.”

“The universe isn’t broken,” Soonyoung argued softly.

“If not the universe, then I am the one that’s broken.”

He frowned and squeezed your wrist before going a step further and pulling you out of Jun’s embrace to hug you closer himself. As you continued crying, he whispered in your ear, “It’ll be okay. We’ll figure this out.”

“Promise?” You knew better than to ask. But desperation was an ugly feeling and a cloud of fog around the little hill your judgement lived on.

He squeezed you closer, arms tighter around you than ever before. “I promise.”

Before long, even Jihoon had gotten his soulmate mark, beaming with glee and excitement when he showed it off on the afternoon of his birthday. You seemed to forget your own misfortune when you looked at him practically bouncing around the house with an alive doodle of a small spotted cat napping on his wrist.

Seeing you smile for the first time in months made the boys feel more at ease again and soon they no longer hid their marks under a copious amount of wristbands and bracelets or sweater paws.

You grew to once again love watching the little deer run about on Junhui’s wrist, and the antics of the mischievous raccoon on Wonwoo’s. You were particularly entertained by the round corgi on Soonyoung’s hand, often sniffing the ground or rolling around without a care. Often times you found yourself wishing you had one on your own wrist.

“I think they like you,” Soonyoung whispered to you one evening when the two of you sat on the rooftop of his apartment building. He had a fond smile on his face as he watched you interact with the tiny dog.

It reacted to your touch, you found. It chased around your fingertip as you traced patterns onto Soonyoung’s wrist out of boredom and sometimes pressed its paw or nose against Soonyoung’s skin like it was a glass separating you.

“What do you think your soulmate is like?” you asked him that.

Soonyoung hummed in thought. “I think they’re playful and smart, like this little guy here.” He smiled fondly at the mark. “There must be a reason they’re represented by a corgi, you know. Wonwoo said corgis are smart and loyal, so my soulmate must be too.”

“Some corgis are pretty dumb though,” you countered with a laugh and he mirrored your amusement.

“I guess you are right,” he mused. “But either way, I’ll love them. I know I will.”

For some reason the idea made you feel a bit bitter. You sighed and rested your head against his shoulder, looking out at the city lights. You wondered if you’d ever get to say those same words with such conviction, or if you even had a soulmate to love.

“Hey,” Soonyoung caught onto your train of thought and nudged you softly, “I promised we’d figure it out, and we will, right?”

“Right,” you sighed softly, “we’ll figure it out.”

But promises are only promises. There are some that are a joy to keep, some that are a bit more challenging, and there are others that you can not keep however much you wish you could.

Time flew past at the speed of an eagle and soon it was time to go to university. The mark on your skin remained undrawn, the ink still swirling in predictable patterns like a buffering animation.

You found no joy in leaving your little hometown – what was the point of leaving it if you didn’t have a soulmate to find anyway? – and so you remained. The small local university would be good enough for now, at least until you found a dream to chase.

Wonwoo was the first to leave. He’d always been eager to see the world and find answers to the questions swirling in his head.

“If I find my soulmate along the way,” he told you upon opening his acceptance letters and glanced at the raccoon on his wrist before smiling back at you, “then it’s only a bonus.”

He had no time to waste and so you watched him pack his bags when summer came. The suitcases filled his father’s car to the brim, leaving no room for you and your friends to come and send Wonwoo away to his new home. When he hugged you goodbye, he promised to return soon and bring you all the cool books he found.

Soonyoung was the next one, though he did so a bit more regretfully. Like Wonwoo, he had always been on the adventurous side, though he was so purely for the adrenaline and experiences rather than the knowledge. Still, he cried when he told you about his plans.

“The school is very good,” he told you as if trying to convince you to let him go, as if you were the last person holding him in this town, “and I can come home for all the breaks! And– And–”

“Soonyoung,” you laughed while blinking away your tears, praying he wouldn’t see them and stay just to comfort you, “that’s great! I’m happy for you!”

“... You are?” He sniffled and squeezed your wrist – right over where your mark should’ve been –. “You’re not upset? I know how sad you were when Wonwoo left and I–”

You shook your head and frowned, ready to scold him for second-guessing. You knew him too well and cared too much to let him self-sabotage like this. “You are not allowed to stay.”

“I’m not allowed?” His sniffles paused in surprise, eyes widening as he attempted to understand what you were saying.

You nodded stubbornly. “If you stay here, I won’t talk to you for a month. I’m not letting you throw away this opportunity just because I’m sad.”

“But what about you?” he wondered after a pause of thought.

“This is not about me, Soon,” you told him and softly patted down his hair. You placed your hands on his cheeks, squishing them together for your own amusement, before continuing your speech, “You deserve to go to a good school. You deserve to see the world and make new friends and go on crazy adventures with them. You deserve to find your soulmate. And besides, you’ll come visit me at least a couple of times a year.”

“But I’ll miss you and you’ll miss me and then you’ll be sad and I can’t even comf–”

“Soonyoung!” you interrupted him a bit louder than necessary before easing down again, offering him a smile. “I’ll be fine. Junhui’s gonna stay with me anyways. We’re already looking for an apartment to stay together near the university. He won’t let me be lonely for a second.”

You sighed dramatically. “I doubt I’ll even have time to miss you when I live with him.”

Though begrudging to do so, Soonyoung had to admit you had a point there.

Within a few weeks, Soonyoung was packing up his things just Wonwoo had done before him. You helped him do so, deciding to take the time to make some last memories together before life would inevitably pull you apart.

It was a cold and cloudy morning when you said “See you later.”

He gave you a big smile (though it hardly reached his eyes) and a warm hug. For almost two minutes he refused to let you go, crying the last few tears into the grey hoodie he’d let you borrow with a silent promise of coming back for it before Christmas.

“I’ll miss you,” he told you softly when he finally managed to pull himself together long enough to let go.

“Me too, Soonyoung.”

He sniffled and offered another smile, as watery and sad as it was. You did the same before laughing at the similarities between you.

As if remembering something, he gasped before rolling up the left sleeve of his hoodie. You laughed once again as he held his arm up for you to see the corgi for the last time before their departure.

“And I’ll miss this little guy too,” you whispered, tracing a little heart on his skin. The doodle watched your movements intently before pressing its front paws and nose against the make-believe glass once again. You almost started crying all over again.

With half your friend group gone, you hid in your room, clinging onto the last bit of comfort you had left. Well, that and you prepared to start the next level of your own academic journey (between copious amounts of Buzzfeed quizzes).

“Good news!” Junhui burst into your room rather theatrically, practically singing his words. “Oh, you’re going to love this!”

You raised an eyebrow. “What exactly am I going to love?”

“So, you know how we’ve been looking at apartments for us to stay in for uni?” he asked and you nodded. You weren’t entirely sure how you could have forgotten when you’d been doing just that for the past two days. He continued joyfully, “There was this three-bedroom one that we liked, right? A block away from the campus and–”

“Too big and expensive for us to afford?” you finished for him with a sarcastic smile before turning back to your laptop. “Yeah, I remember, and don’t you dare get my hopes up unless you found us a roommate to split the rent with. We’re on a budget, you know.”

Junhui remained silent. Suspiciously silent. Your head snapped up to stare at him with wide eyes when you registered the smile on his face.

“You found us a roommate?!” You shoved your laptop to the side and leaned closer to your friend. “Are they good? You did do a background check before you told them to share an apartment with us, right?”

Junhui snorted. “I think almost twenty years of memories together serves as a good enough background check.”

“So, you’re going to move in with both Junhui and Jihoon?” Soonyoung’s eyes narrowed on the other side of the screen.

You nodded, adjusting the screen of your laptop a little before turning back to folding your laundry to pack them in the box Jihoon had so helpfully given you. “It’s gonna be fun. And at least it’s not a bunch of strangers.”

Soonyoung pouted. “But then… You’re bound to forget about me.”

“Why do you think that?”

“I mean,” he cleared his throat, his mischievous smile returning, “if living with just Junhui would probably take up so much time and attention that you won’t have time to miss me, then living with the two of them is going to be worse.”

“I doubt it,” you countered. “Jihoon is pretty well-mannered. He’ll probably babysit Junhui as much as I do.”

“I guess that’s fair,” he conceded. “But I still think you’ll neglect me.”

“I won’t.”

“They say that now, but wait and see,” Jihoon joked while walking into your room with yet another cardboard box in hand. “I brought you more boxes, by the way. If you need any more, let me know. I’ll be downstairs.”

Soonyoung’s eyes narrowed. “What are you doing at their house, Jihoon?”

“... Helping?”

Soonyoung’s eyes narrowed further. “It’s Sunday…” His tone only became more accusing when he realised, “You’re just there for (Y/n)’s pancakes, aren’t you? You traitor!”

Jihoon shrugged and smiled. “It’s my one true weakness.”

Soonyoung scoffed as Jihoon practically skipped out of your room. “I can’t believe he gets to eat your pancakes and I’m stuck living off of instant ramen.”

“Are my pancakes all that I’m good for?”

“Well…”

You resisted the urge to slam your laptop shut.

Living with Junhui and Jihoon was far easier than you expected it to be.

Sure, Junhui was prone to energy bursts where he ran about the apartment and tried to rope you into playing tag with him (or pretended the floor was lava and maniacally laughed at you and Jihoon as the two of you stared at him from the floor-level).

And sure, Jihoon didn’t always necessarily bother to leave his room unless there was food involved.

But perhaps that’s what made it so fun and comfortable.

“I think you’re just trying to convince yourself,” Soonyoung joked while shoving gummy bears into his mouth. He took a moment to chew before adding on, “They can’t possibly be that great roommates. Jihoon and Junhui is a chaotic duo.”

You refused to admit it. Even when the latter of the two in question rushed to your room to steal your laptop and Soonyoung for his own enjoyment and Jihoon only laughed at it from the doorway of your bedroom.

“How’s Seoul?” Jihoon asked Soonyoung over the videocall, leaning over Junhui’s shoulder in the living room to look at the screen.

“And why do you only ever call (Y/n)?” Junhui whined. “We’re your friends too, you know.”

Soonyoung laughed nervously. “I’ve called you plenty of times.”

“It’s been two months,” Junhui pointed out rather sassily. “It’s almost like you don’t care about me.”

“I literally called you two days ago?”

“No, that was me,” Jihoon corrected him off-handedly, already checking his call history for proof.

Soonyoung was baffled. “Four days ago?”

“Still me.”

“Then who did I call on Sunday?”

“Me.” Jihoon laughed and lifted his phone for everyone to see. His call history did not lie.

“Oh.” Soonyoung began laughing awkwardly. “Is that so?”

“You’re complaining about why he keeps calling me so often, but I think the real question should be why he calls Jihoon every two days,” you mentioned.

“He calls me every two days, but I swear I hear his voice from your room every day,” Jihoon countered, eyes narrowed as he challenged you. “It’s almost like he’s in love, I swear.”

Soonyoung coughed out a breath. “Haha, well, who knows.” He checked his wrist – and the definitely-very-real-and-not-imaginary watch on it – before gasping. “Would you look at that! It’s so late! I should– I have an essay due in two hours! I haven’t even started it and–”

“Soonyoung, what are you–” you tried to interrupt, but he was rambling already.

“Haha, I should start that essay now. Before it’s too late. This definitely real and serious essay I have to finish before the deadline that is in three hours.”

“Didn’t you just say it was in two hours?” Jihoon blinked.

“Well, it was nice talking to you, bye!”

Before you could ask any further questions, Soonyoung slammed his laptop shut and so he disappeared from view. You shared looks with your roommates.

“Well, that wasn’t suspicious at all,” Jihoon joked with his eyes hilariously wide.

Junhui shrugged, already past it all. “Who wants hotpot for dinner?”

“You’re cooking?”

“Hell no. I’m ordering.” He picked up his phone. “There’s a three for two deal today. You guys in?”

For once you wished you had Junhui’s attention span.

The end of the first semester came faster than you anticipated.

“Maybe the stress affects our sense of time,” Jihoon once suggested over a 2 am cup of coffee during the exam session. You were starting to think he was right.

There were two things you looked forward to this time of the year. One, the end of the exams and assignments that couldn’t have come soon enough. Two, the return of your two friends.

“Do you think they’ve changed at all?” Junhui wondered as you and your roommates sat at a table for five at the local diner, waiting for your friends. “Like, physically?”

“Have we?” you proposed the rhetorical question only to receive an answer anyway.

Junhui hummed in thought before deciding, “We haven’t changed at all. I mean, I think Jihoon’s changed the most with his new-found sense of style.”

You found his comment ironic considering he was the one that had dyed his hair seven shades of blue and grey. Still, you supposed this was less dramatic than his November pink and lavender phase.

“Maybe Wonwoo finally started working out,” Jihoon joked between sips of his cola.

He then proceeded to spit out his drink. His eyes fell on Wonwoo’s figure walking through the diner door. He gasped for air between coughs, repeatedly hitting his chest to get the cola out of his airways.

“Shit, I was kidding!” Jihoon stuttered out once he could breathe again and Wonwoo took the seat opposite of him. “What in the–”

“What?” Wonwoo laughed nervously while shrugging off his jacket. “Glad to see you guys too.”

“See to glad– Glad to see you too.” Junhui was a bit distracted by the muscles bulging out of Wonwoo’s t-shirt.

You rolled your eyes before slapping your roommates upside the head. You gave Wonwoo an affectionate smile and a pat on the cheek. “I missed you, Woo.”

“I missed you too,” Wonwoo replied, relieved to have at least one sane person in his presence. “Soonyoung hasn’t arrived yet?”

“Soonyoung said his bus got stuck and he’s walking here,” Jihoon informed you while checking his phone. “So, I guess he’ll be a while.”

“Or not!” an all-too-familiar roar sounded from behind you. Soonyoung was out of breath when he slumped into his seat, grabbing a brochure off the table to fan some cooling air towards himself. “Sorry I’m late. The bus got–”

“Stuck, we know,” Jihoon finished for him and offered his cola for the poor guy to drink. Soonyoung hummed gratefully and downed the glass’s contents in a single breath.

You chuckled at the sight. “Did you run all the way here?”

“How else would I have gotten here on time?” Soonyoung wondered.

“You could’ve taken a taxi, like a normal person,” Wonwoo pointed out. Soonyoung took a moment to do a double-take and you couldn’t help but snort out a laugh.

“Guys, can you stop ogling a Wonwoo’s pecs and biceps?” you scolded half-seriously. “You have all month to marvel at him.”

Wonwoo flicked your shoulder at the last comment.

Over the break, your apartment became the hub of socialisation. Both Wonwoo and Soonyoung found themselves there more often than not. Or rather, you found them there more often than not.

“Morning!” Soonyoung greeted you when you woke up one day. To your own surprise, you found him already in the kitchen, setting a bowl and a whisk on the counter.

You blinked at him, eyes still heavy with sleep. “What are you doing here this early?”

“It’s not that early.” He pouted while digging through your cabinets. “By the way, I think you might be out of flour. Either that, or I am blind and stupid.”

“You are blind and stupid,” you confirmed with a chuckle. “It’s the big box behind Jihoon’s coffee beans.”

Soonyoung squeaked in surprised. “Jihoon drinks coffee?”

“Exam stress does crazy things to you.” You took a seat on one of the stools at the counter, resting your elbow on the countertop and your chin on top. “What are you making?”

“It’s Sunday. You always made pancakes on Sundays, right?” Soonyoung let out a tiny ‘aha!’ upon locating the flour container. “I figured I should help you keep the tradition alive.”

“Do you even know how to make pancakes?” you wondered.

He scoffed at your mistrust. “How dare you! I survived a whole semester on my own! I’m a grown and independent man!”

“You are also the man that managed to burn spaghetti once,” you reminded him with a smile. He glared at you.

“I am going to make pancakes, and they are going to be perfect pancakes! Nice and fluffy and–” He blinked at the ingredients on the countertop, brain buffering. You raised an eyebrow.

After a long pause, he mumbled, “I feel like I’m missing something.”

You laughed. “Eggs and sugar, Soonyoung. You’re missing eggs and sugar.”

“Right! I knew that!” He scoffed once again and glared at you half-heartedly. “Obviously it’s eggs and sugar. Who do you think I am?”

“Kwon Soonyoung, the man that burnt spaghetti.”

Nevertheless, you let him believe he made the perfectly fluffy and delicious pancakes entirely on his own this time.

Watching movies was always a joy with your friends. You only realised how much you missed it when the movie night was finally there.

There was something home-like in the way Jihoon laughed a bit too loudly at the puns and dad-jokes and the way his ears turned bright red during romantic scenes.

There was something very comfortable in the way Wonwoo was practically bursting with fun facts about the movie you were watching and the way Junhui squeaked whenever something scary or sad happened.

But most of all, there was something incredible in the way Soonyoung cuddled into your side and refused to let you go until the end credits rolled onto the screen.

The second movie night was scheduled soon enough, all schedules cleared and all obligations divided before you could even agree on a movie series to enjoy.

You agreed on the last week before Wonwoo and Soonyoung’s second departure, just a week before the new semester’s beginning. Upon Jihoon’s fierce insistence, you sat on the couch and watched all the Iron Man films in a row.

This time, there was something different in the atmosphere between you and your best friend. Like always, he was cuddled into your side, head on your shoulder and gaze on the screen while he traced mindless shapes on your thigh with his pointer finger and thumb.

“Bathroom break!” Junhui announced when the second movie came to an end. He jumped to his feet and made a dash towards the bathroom with a loud laugh.

Jihoon snorted at that and stood up himself, heading for the second bathroom instead. Wonwoo sighed and did some mental calculations before heading after Jihoon: if he was gonna be in a bathroom queue, he might as well choose the shorter wait time.

Soonyoung, however, refused to let you go. He still held you in a warm tight embrace, eyes glazed over in thought.

“What’s up?” you asked him quietly after a moment of just watching him. It was unusual for him to be this quiet.

He sighed and took your left hand in his. His thumb traced over the bracelet you wore over your impending soulmate mark.

“It still hasn’t taken a shape?” he asked despite already knowing the answer. “After all these years… It must be so painful.”

“Not really,” you assured him. “Maybe my mark is just a black hole or something. Who knows. The marks aren’t always limited to animals.”

Soonyoung scoffed. “Black hole? That can’t be good.”

“Right?”

There was a frown on his face. “Don’t you wonder who they are?”

“Of course I do.” You picked up his own left wrist and tapped on it. The little corgi awoke from its nap and rushed to greet your fingertip. “But I’m happy just growing on my own right now. Or, maybe my friends are all the soulmates I need.”

He snorted. “Leave it to you to put a cheesy spin on it.”

“Maybe the universe is punishing (Y/n) for being so cheesy,” Jihoon joked while reclaiming his spot on the couch. “The day they makes their last cheesy comment will be the day when their soulmate mark finally takes a shape.”

You hummed in approval. “I like that idea. Should I stop being so cheesy then?”

Your two friends responded in unison:

“Please.”

“Never.”

The next break was bound to be a disappointment.

“I’m sorry I can’t come home for the summer!” Soonyoung whined on the other side of the computer screen under sight of your stern glare and Junhui’s disappointed pout just months later. “I already told you guys. I have–”

“Dance camp, yes we know.” You groaned and dramatically leaned back against the couch cushions. “But you can’t even come for a week?”

The silence lasted too long for comfort. He sighed deeply. “I’m sorry.” Once again he began justifying himself (he tended to do so when he disappointed you, or so Jihoon had told you), “This is very important to me. It’s extra credit and I can get some good practice and experience. Plus, it’ll be in Los Angeles and you know how badly I’ve wanted to got here all my life.”

“I know, I know,” you softly told him. “It’s okay.”

“I’ll come for Christmas. I won’t miss that break, I promise.” He held out his pinky in a vow and you did your best to imitate him with a fond smile on your face.

He pouted. “I wish I could come home for the summer…”

“But you can’t miss out on this opportunity,” Jihoon assured him. “That’s okay. We understand.”

“Guess only Wonwoo will get to enjoy (Y/n)’s delicious pancakes this time,” Junhui joked. “And me, of course.”

“Me too!” Jihoon cheered with a little laugh.

Soonyoung laughed weakly. “I guess that’s an appropriate punishment for my wrongdoings. But I fully expect you to make me pancakes when I come back eventually.”

“I’ve really spoiled you guys too much,” you realised a bit bitterly in that moment.

This time Wonwoo brought along a book that looked more ancient than anything you’d seen before.

“What’s that?” Jihoon wondered, being ever the curious cat. “What is this book about?”

“1672?!” Junhui screeched when he opened the book. “I thought books this old were only in museums.”

Wonwoo rolled his eyes and shooed the other two away. “Careful. I brought this book over for a reason, you know.”

“The reason being?” You sat down next to him on the couch, peeking over his shoulder to glance a the contents of the book. “Can you even read this?”

“I took a course on the language of this time,” he told you rather proudly. “I passed with flying colours.”

Junhui raised an eyebrow. “At this point I just assume that all the books you read are this old.”

Wonwoo snorted and shook his head. “Anyways! I’ve been doing some research about (Y/n)’s mark. I found this book at an antique store.”

He flipped through the book carefully until he reached the tiny bright pink sticky note that served as his bookmark. Between those pages, you saw a ripped lined page of a notebook with Wonwoo’s handwriting on it, a translation.

He cleared his throat. “Here. Listen to this:

“Though uncommon, soulmate marks not taking a shape for weeks, months or years at a time is not unheard of. There are two–” he pointedly looked at you and held up two fingers, “–two reasons for this phenomenon.”

“So, there is information about this,” Jihoon mumbled.

“Well, come on then!” Junhui whined and bounced in his spot. “What are the reasons? You can’t leave us hanging like this!”

With a roll of his eyes, Wonwoo returned to the book. “It says that either the soulmate has not yet become the person chosen for you or your mark is broken.”

“So… we learnt what from this right now?” Junhui wondered, seeming rather annoyed. “That our friend’s broken?”

“Or their soulmate hasn’t become the right person yet,” Wonwoo quietly corrected, but Junhui was paying no attention to him.

“You’d think broken soulmate marks would be more common,” Junhui continued rambling with a frown. “I mean, seriously, we spent years researching and looking only for some weird 15th century cookbook–”

Shutting the book, Wonwoo grumbled under his breath, “None of that is correct, but okay.”

“– to tell us what we already could have guessed ourselves! Ridiculous!”

“Jun,” Jihoon whispered, tapping the man’s shoulder. “Hey, Jun…”

“I mean how ridiculous is this whole situation? What was the other option? Their soulmate has not yet become the person meant for them? What does that even mean? Is he being baked in an air-fryer as we speak? Has he been in a cauldron of soup all these years?”

Wonwoo’s eyes narrowed. “I can’t help but notice all the allusions to food in your speech…”

“I’m hungry and I’m upset!” Junhui burst before jumping to his feet and marching – quite literally – to the kitchen. “Anyone else want a sandwich?”

Jihoon took the chance to complain, “Seriously, what’s his–”

“ANYONE ELSE WANT A SANDWICH?!”

“No! We’re good!” Wonwoo called back with a chuckle. He turned to you. “Hey, you okay? Was that too much?”

“That was barely anything,” Jihoon mumbled while shifting to sit next to you. Uncharacteristically, his chin came to rest against your shoulder – a silent attempt to comfort you. “How could it be too much?”

“My soulmate mark might actually be broken.” The realisation was seeping in slowly. You couldn’t help but laugh at the bitter twist of fate. “I’m actually broken.”

“Hey now, that’s not a guarantee,” Wonwoo whispered. “Maybe your soulmate is…” He took a deep breath, unable to believe the words he was about to utter. “Maybe your soulmate is, as Jun said, being baked in an airfryer and not ready for you yet.”

Jihoon snorted. “It somehow sounds funnier when you’re the one saying it.”

“Let’s just forget about this,” you decided with a soft sigh. “Maybe it’s better to just… act like there’s no mark on my wrist at all.”

After all, how shameful is it to walk around with a broken mark?

Soonyoung’s questioning stare paired with that adorable pout on his lips made it hard to hide anything. Even as you put on your best smile to act like there wasn’t a cruel insecurity chewing at your courage to face the world, he seemed to see right through you.

“Okay, there’s clearly something there,” he finally declared after staring at you for a minute. You could hear the familiar screech of his roommate’s gaming chair as Soonyoung leaned back. “Something’s bothering you and you’re trying to hide it from me.”

Your breath hitched and your eyes immediately glanced towards your wrist. Ten points to Kwon Soonyoung.

Still, you played dumb. While adjusting your hair, you raised an eyebrow at his words. “What are you talking about?”

“You–” He rolled his eyes before pouting at you. It was a familiar sight that you couldn’t help but wish to witness in person. Even so, you refused to admit your thoughts.

Your left hand fell off the desk soundlessly, hiding from his view. Maybe if he couldn’t see the countless bracelets, it would all disappear from his mind as well.

As if reading your mind, he waved off his thoughts and put on a bright smile. “Ah, I guess if you say there’s nothing wrong, then I’ll trust you. You wouldn’t lie to me, I’m your best friend.”

You offered a smile that you could only hoped looked less awkward than you felt. “Right. I would never lie to you.”

“Right? Right.”

The winter break couldn’t come fast enough. You craved the comforting presence of Soonyoung and the soothing voice of Wonwoo. Junhui and Jihoon were great, but you could only handle the two of them alone for so long.

Wonwoo was the first to arrive once again, hopping off his train just five minutes before your best friend’s arrival. He greeted you with a wide smile, a tight hug, and a worried look.

You were glad he didn’t mention the colourful bands around your wrist. Now you could only hope Soonyoung wouldn’t either…

You heard him before you saw him at the train station. His voice carried through the halls, calling your name like he’d forgotten how good it felt to say it.

Junhui – tall as he was – set eyes on him first. It was sort of comical: the way he started bouncing on his feet, jumping around and waving for Soonyoung to find the three of you. You soon found yourself joining in the cheer.

Next thing you knew, Soonyoung’s arms were around your waist and he was spinning you around like you weighted no more than a duck’s feather. Your joint laughter (alongside the giggles of Jihoon and Wonwoo) echoed in the station.

Jihoon was the next one to be engulfed in a tight embrace. His half-assed attempts to swat at the taller man’s arms were fooling no one. At least not when he was laughing as joyfully as he was even when Soonyoung lifted him off the ground with a tiger-ish growl.

Wonwoo joined the two in a hug before long, much to Jihoon’s loud giggling protests.

The friends were together again at last.

“I swear I was going to go crazy without you guys,” Soonyoung confessed through laboured breaths. “It’s been… what? A year?”

“A whole year since you last visited us, you jerk,” Jihoon made a point to enunciate with a playful punch against your shared friend’s arm.

Soonyoung sighed blissfully before shouting out, “I missed you guys!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Wonwoo nodded nonchalantly before nudging your side. “Is it just me or has this guy gotten louder since the last time we saw him?”

“Definitely got louder,” Jihoon grumbled as Soonyoung laughed at you reactions.

“Wait, wait!” Soonyoung gasped, scandalised. “Wonwoo got home before I did? Unfair!”

You couldn’t help the smile that refused to leave your face. It seemed to be frozen onto your face with the immense joy you felt: your best friend was back!

You reached over to pat Soonyoung’s cheek (had he always been this tall?) and spoke, “We missed you too, Soon.”

“I know you did,” he replied easily. “I am hard to not miss. I mean, just look at me!” He did a playful twirl, showcasing his no-doubt newly bought outfit. “Who wouldn’t miss this?”

You blinked before sharing a look with Jihoon who soon sighed softly. “Is it too late to put you back on a train?”

Soonyoung was happy to help you pull on your coat. A bright smile seemed to be etched onto his face ever since he got off the train two days ago.

“I wonder what he’s gonna tell us,” he gushed all the while adjusting your scarf. He made a point to cover your nose before giggling.

Jihoon joined the conversation, “Who? Wonwoo?”

“Who else?” you and your best friend replied in unison, looking at him in disbelief.

Pausing his movements for a second, he sucked a breath in through his teeth. “You guys scare me.”

“You just don’t understand us,” Soonyoung pointed out rather proudly before nudging you. You shared a fond look. “Are you coming with us?”

“Nope!” Jihoon lightly jumped in his spot as if to check his footwear. Which was fair: poor boy was wearing only his sneakers. “I have to drop by the library, and Jun’s–”

“Going with Jihoon to make sure he doesn’t do something stupid!”

As if summoned by magic, Junhui appeared in the front hall, already dressed head to toe with his puffer jacket and winter boots. Despite his dashing looks, when he pulled the hood of his hoodie over his head, all eyes went to the two pointy ears on it.

“Are…” Even Soonyoung was taken aback. “Are those cat ears?”

Junhui offered a cute smile and did a cat-like motion with his hand. “Meow~”

You chose not to speak on the topic, instead turning back to Jihoon. “Since when are you so big on libraries? I swear you’ve gone three times this week alone.”

The man in question froze briefly, as if glitching, before shrugging casually. “Research.”

Perhaps you had imagined the freezing. He seemed perfectly natural. Which, in itself, was sort of odd for Jihoon, now that you thought about it…

When you were finally outside and out the other two’s hearing range, Soonyoung declared before you could, “He totally has a crush on the librarian. A hundred percent.”

“Or maybe someone who frequents the library,” you posited.

Soonyoung eyes narrowed at the thought, weighting it in his mind before he nodded. “That’s possible. Maybe he found his– …” His voice trailed off as his words registered in the minds of the both of you. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” you sighed, looking up at the sky. It was oddly cloudy. “I’ve grown used to it.”

“It must still hurt a bit, right?” He offered you a small smile and a gentle comforting nudge. “It’s okay. We don’t have to speak about it.”

“No, no, it’s fine,” you told him though you found yourself somewhat regretting it as fast as you said it. Still, you bit your tongue and added on, “I can’t just avoid this topic forever.”

It felt like you were telling it to yourself rather than him. Maybe this was your first step towards acceptance of your fate.

Soonyoung hummed in understanding. “It’s better to just rip off the band-aid, right?”

A deep and painful breath of air. A forced smile. “Right.”

The road to acceptance turned out much worse than you thought it would be. You only realised this when Junhui sat down in front of you later that night, his eyes dimmed by worry.

Other than Soonyoung, he was your closest friend. It only made sense for him to rush to your aid when your best friend couldn’t.

(You recalled Wonwoo smiling brightly. “The thing I wanted to tell you is…”)

Barely three hours had passed since your get-together at Wonwoo’s parents’ house. And you were a mess when you should have been over the moon for your best friend.

(He took a deep breath, the smile remained. He seemed almost shy as he finally revealed his big surprise: “I found my soulmate.”)

(The room erupted in cheers, you joining in the chaos.)

It was easy to fake a smile and feel happy for your friend while you were in his presence. But your smile dropped the moment you were in the comfort of your bedroom.

You had cried your tears years ago. Now all you felt was emptiness.

The warmth of Junhui’s hand enveloped yours. “Do you want to talk about it?”

You almost shook your head.

“Go ahead,” he whispered sweetly. “I’ll listen to you.”

“I just–” A sense of hopelessness filled you. You hid your face in your arms. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I should be happy for Wonwoo, but instead I’m–”

Junhui didn’t need you to finish your sentence before pulling you into his warm embrace. Your face found a new hiding place in the crook of his neck.

He hummed softly before finding the words to say, “It’s complicated, isn’t it? Finding the balance between happiness for us and misery for yourself. I’m sorry I can’t help you.”

“No one can,” you whispered, “but it’s fine. This all will solve itself eventually, right?”

“And if it doesn’t, I will fight the universe for you,” Junhui declared and you could hear the smile in his voice. “I’m sure Jihoon and Wonwoo and Soonyoung will help me too.”

You couldn’t help but laugh at the idea.

“Who’s fighting who?” Soonyoung’s voice sounded just as the door cracked open ever so slightly. A familiar face peeked in, a kind smile on his face. “I heard my name.”

“You’ll help me fight the universe, right?” Junhui blurted out all the while glaring at the other. “Right?!”

Soonyoung blinked in confusion before humming in approval and nodding curtly. “Of course.” He shuffled into your room and made himself comfortable on your chair. “But… why are we fighting the universe?”

“It– It–” Junhui stuttered, waving an accusatory finger around while still holding you with his left arm, “It made (Y/n) sad!”

A scandalised gasp sounded from the other side of the room. Soonyoung’s voice now sounded almost upset as he spoke, “Then we must fight the universe! There’s no other choice!”

You breathed in the scent of Junhui’s fabric softener (which was coincidentally also yours and Jihoon’s; a triple win) before mumbling, “I love you guys.”

“I’d honestly be a bit offended if you didn’t,” Junhui pointed out with a chuckle.

Between his words, you heard Soonyoung’s soft voice repeat your words back to you. “I love you too.”

A fourth voice echoed in the apartment, distinctly calling Junhui’s name.

You watched your roommate’s eyes widen comically as realisation hit him. He wasted no time in abandoning you to your bed and running out of your room to fix whatever error he had committed to annoy Jihoon to the point of yelling.

A comfortable silence filled the bedroom after Soonyoung took over Junhui’s place by your side. He offered a goofy smile and rested his head on your shoulder.

On instinct almost, your hands reached over to pick up his left wrist. Like more often than not in your presence, he had his mark covered by the sleeve of his dark blue sweater.

Despite wondering why you were doing so, you rolled back his sleeve and tapped on his wrist. The little corgi woke up almost immediately, the cartoonish “Z”s fading as the doodle came to life to greet you with a paw against Soonyoung’s skin.

“I missed this little guy,” you told him in a whisper and tapped the skin in a different spot. Like always, the dog ran to meet your fingertip.

You didn’t see Soonyoung’s smile, being too focused on your playful doodle friend, but you could hear it in his voice when he told you, “I think they missed you too. A lot.”

As you played with the long-missed friend – the one soulmate mark you didn’t have anything against –, Soonyoung reached over to pick up your own wrist. You glanced up at him as he examined the bands around your wrist.

“You really covered it up?” he asked softly. As if the implications of the words hurt his very soul.

You nodded gently, the little dog now forgotten as worries clouded your mind again.

“Since when?”

“Since summer break. People kept asking questions at school and I just…”

Soonyoung moved the bracelets and colourful wristbands aside. His finger brushed against the persisting black void on your arm. They did so lightly, you almost didn’t feel it.

“It’s okay.” He smiled at you so brightly you almost mistook it for a genuine look of joy. “I can’t wait to see the animal that appears when your time finally comes.”

Swallowing back a clomp in your throat and nodding, you told yourself to be happy, for his sake.

“Me too.”

There was a tradition no one dared to break. It was like a blood vow between the five of you: no one can miss Valentine’s day friend date.

The date always included a walk through the park, all the way from your favourite diner to the newly refurbished playground to Wonwoo’s parents’ house where warm dinner and an array of video games waited for you.

“Why do we still do this?” Jihoon grumbled some three minutes into the walk, brushing rapidly falling snow off the hood of his jacket. He jumped in his spot a few times, willing the snow to fall off of him and leave him dry. The snow had no such plans.

Soonyoung laughed and reached over to help brush a stubborn clump of snow off of Jihoon’s shoulder. “It’s tradition.”

“We’ve done this since we were in middle school,” Wonwoo gladly reminded him with a blissful smile. Despite his usual inclination towards tropical climates, he seemed to be enjoying the heavy snowfall as much as the rest of you, even if he had to hide his hands in his pockets.

“No offence to any of you,” Jihoon grumbled, “but our traditions kind of suck.”

Junhui wasted no time in throwing a carefully crafted snowball right at Jihoon’s chest. The latter glared at him before shaking off the snow in the most adorable manner.

You didn’t have the heart to tell him he and Soonyoung had been the ones to start this tradition.

“It’s a perfectly good tradition!” Soonyoung fiercely defended, fighting a smile as he tried to seem angry and intimidating.

“The people at the diner did look at us a bit weird though,” you pointed out with a soft laugh, shivering at the memory of the narrowed glares and wide eyes that accompanied you through dinner.

Wonwoo nodded. “There were a lot of couples there tonight.”

“It’s Valentine’s Day. Of course there were a lot of couples at the diner,” Junhui loudly reminded you all. He frowned. “Let them stare all they want! It’s not our fault they’re too cheap to go on a proper date. I mean, seriously, the diner? For Valentine’s Day?” He shook his head in disappointment. “I can almost smell the divorces about to take over this town.”

“Calm down, drama queen,” Jihoon joked and rather affectionately brushed a clump of snow off of Junhui’s hood. “It’s not that bad.”

Junhui and you shared a look before shaking your heads: this guy’s soulmate was in for an unromantic ride. You almost felt bad for them.

“You know,” Soonyoung spoke up, “in some cultures Valentine’s day is celebrated as a day of friendship.”

Years of practice led you, Jihoon and Junhui to turn to Wonwoo. You could never trust a Soonyoung fun fact without a Wonwoo fact check, after all.

To your surprise, Wonwoo’s eyes widened and he nodded. “That’s true…” His head tilted to the side curiously. “Since when are you so smart?”

Soonyoung assumed the pose of a great philosopher, finger resting under his chin and his gaze turned to the sky rather dramatically. “The university is where a boy becomes a man.”

Much like Jihoon, you felt a shiver of cringe run up your spin. The two of you visibly shook in your places.

“The train home can’t come soon enough,” Wonwoo mumbled before a snowball crashed into his chest. His eyes widened and soon enough he was gathering snow to get back at the culprit.

Before you knew it, your friends were engaging in a snow war to end all wars. As tempting as it was to join them, you decided the well-being of your would-be-frostbitten fingers was more important.

To your delight, Soonyoung pulled you behind him and shielded you from Jihoon’s oncoming attack. He laughed a little before pressing a soft kiss to your cheek and declaring, “Don’t worry, my liege! I’ll protect you from the evil wizard!”

“What?!” Jihoon stood there, scandalised. “Evil?! Me?!”

Soonyoung and you could barely conceal your giggles as he threw snowball after snowball after you. True to his word, Soonyoung took each hit for you without hesitation, though an almost maniacal smile remained on his face.

As he dramatically shielded you, a thought crossed your mind. A thought that maybe you wouldn’t mind having soulmate like Soonyoung.

That maybe you wished he was the one universe meant for you to love.

“Hey, you okay?” He shook you out of your thoughts, his eyes betraying nothing but concern. You must have zoned out. His fingers rose to brush some snow off your head and he offered a smile. “You must be cold. Let’s go inside.”

His fingers fit in yours in a way so ridiculously perfect that you found yourself wondering how you had never realised before.

The thought plagued your mind for weeks. Even after he left you again, you couldn’t help but keep thinking about it.

Your mind was filled with the image of his hand in yours, fingers intertwined like perfect puzzle pieces, and the warmth shown in his eyes. His touch against your hand seemed to never disappear, like an engraved memory on your skin.

He left the day after Valentine’s day. It was almost March now.

Why couldn’t you get him out of your mind?

In your chaotic quest to figure out what had changed between Soonyoung and you, the mark on your wrist became an afterthought, if even that. You couldn’t remember the last time you glanced at it or the last time anyone had asked about it.

It was all about to change.

“Huh,” Jihoon’s voice woke you from a daze. His fingers brushed over the bands on your wrist almost habitually. Since you covered it in bracelets, he had made it a point to check on your mark every once in a while.

(“Just in case,” he argued when he first did it.)

This time, he hummed in confusion. “I could’ve sworn the mark was bigger than this.”

You frowned at the mention. “What do you mean?”

He shrugged and brushed over the bands again, enough to reveal the little gaps between them but not enough to see the full swirl of black ink. “I thought your mark was bigger. You know, a big black hole. Has it changed since the last time I checked on it?”

A moment of silence passed. Information slowly registered.

A synchronised gasp. Your eyes met his.

There was a sense of urgency in the way you began sliding off the bands, undoing the stubborn ones while also refusing to look at what they were hiding. You almost squeezed your eyes shut.

As the number of bands diminished, a realisation hit in time with Jihoon’s little squeak of surprise. What used to be a large black dot on your wrist, swirling back and forth like an endless ‘loading page’ animation, was empty skin.

Only four bracelets remained, covering the last possible hiding place of the magical ink.

You didn’t even realise your hands were shaking until Jihoon’s hand came to rest on your newly revealed wrist, hiding it from your view. He offered you a small tight-lipped smile.

“Are you okay?” he softly asked you, keeping a brave face for your sake.

Though he’d never admit it out loud, he cared for your well-being and happiness. Just like your three other friends, he often wished to the stars and his birthday candles that your mark would take a shape. They had mentioned it to your once.

As if attracted by the odd air of anxiety, Junhui stumbled into the kitchen. It took him exactly five seconds to figure out what the countless wristbands thrown all over the dining table meant. With a soft gasp, he sat at your other side, his hand coming to rest over Jihoon’s.

“Do you– Are you–” He began stuttering as he tried to catch up. As if short-circuiting, he shook his head before resting his free hand on your shoulder. “Do you want me to call the others?”

You didn’t know why, but you shook your head. You were sick of waiting. But there was still a sense of fear in you.

“What if–” You squeezed your eyes shut so tightly a tear slipped out. “What if it’s disappeared?”

“Then we’ll fight the universe together,” Junhui assured you with a semi-sincere smile.

Jihoon nodded. “We’ll stay by your side and peer-pressure the universe into fixing your mark.”

You couldn’t help but let out a laugh at his plan. It was this ridicule that made you so fond of them.

Yet even with their assurances, you couldn’t brings yourself to remove the last four bands. As you stared at them, you realised it was rather fitting that they were the ones your four friends had gifted.

“Do you want us to help you remove them?” Jihoon asked softly and you nodded before the words even fully registered.

A part of you wished Soonyoung was there to do this instead. But alas, your best friend was somewhere on the other side of the country.

“Alright,” Jihoon breathed, gently lifting his and Junhui’s hands off your wrist.

His fingers were a bit unsteady as he unfastened the first bracelet. The air stilled. You didn’t dare to look.

Junhui caught your gaze and kept it while his hands worked to remove the second band. You didn’t dare get your hopes up. When he let out a soft breath, you closed your eyes again.

Jihoon swiftly removed the third one. If you had been paying better attention, you would have thought he was excited. You could hear his smile as he whispered, “It’s okay. It’ll be okay.”

You still kept your eyes shut.

It was only when Junhui removed the last band – the one Soonyoung had gifted you for your 18th birthday – did you finally look.

You couldn’t help but cry while smiling. Your right hand rose to muffle your sobs as you stared at your wrist. A sense of disbelief lingered: was it just your imagination.

“You finally got your mark,” Junhui mumbled through his own silent tears.

It was official. It was real. You were not abandoned by the universe. You had a soulmate.

When you told him the news some thirty minutes later, you feared Soonyoung would wake up his entire dormitory with his voice alone.

“YOU GOT YOUR MARK?!”

You laughed as he jumped out of his chair and began dancing around his room under his roommate’s judgemental stare. Faintly, through the speakers, you heard him tell the other male the good news.

To your utter surprise, the roommate jumped to his feet and began bouncing around with Soonyoung. It was nice to see Soonyoung making good friends in another city. His last roommate had been much less friendly.

“Oh!” Soonyoung slapped his forehead before dragging his friend over to the webcamera. “This is my roommate, Seungkwan, by the way! He’s very nice!”

“Maybe he’s the soulmate,” Junhui joked from his spot behind you.

Soonyoung pouted at the mention and gave Seungkwan a disapproving glare before shoving him out of the view.

“Okay, okay!” Soonyoung settled back down – though he was absolutely and visibly vibrating with excitement for you – “I have so many questions now!”

“Ask away.”

He took a moment to form the first one. “Does Wonwoo know yet?”

“Wonwoo is either gaming or sleeping, but either way he’s ignoring our calls,” you told him and it was true. As attentive as Wonwoo was, he had those two weaknesses. He loved his gaming friends more than he loved you, or so Junhui often joked.

“Oh, he’s gonna be pissed about this,” Soonyoung cheered a bit too happily. “Okay, question two!” You nodded. “What animal is it? Show me!”

“Well, we’re not a hundred percent sure what animal it is,” you somewhat joked. Except it was kind of true. It was hard to tell the species of the black and skin-coloured doodle running about your wrist. You did have two guesses though.

Soonyoung guessed them right away when you lifted your wrist to the camera. His eyes narrowed at the visual. “Is that supposed to be a tiger or a hamster?”

“We’re telling you, we don’t know,” Jihoon affirmed your earlier joke. Well, not much of a joke, you guess. “For all we know, it could be a hamster pretending to be a tiger or something.”

“It doesn’t even act like either of them,” you grumbled but fondly watched the little animal.

Letting out a hum, Soonyoung leaned back in his chair. His lips pursed in thought before declaring, “I’m going to say it’s a tiger.”

“Because you like tigers?” you guessed.

“Correct.”

“Do I get a say in this?”

“You do not.” Though his smile stated otherwise.

The little tiger-hamster hybrid quickly became your dearest companion. Before long, you found yourself greeting them every morning and giving them little head pats. Sometimes you asked them questions, perhaps hoping they’d give you the answers you so seeked.

(“You know,” Jihoon mumbled one morning, “they remind me of Soonyoung a little.”)

And wouldn’t you know it, now you couldn’t get the thought out of your head even as you watched Soonyoung through the computer screen.

“What are you staring at?” he wondered cheekily. “Are you crushing on my roommate already?”

“I can’t help that I’m so good-looking,” the man in question joked from his spot on the bed.

Soonyoung made a show of pretending to gag at his words. He smiled when you laughed at his dumb joke.

“I’m not staring at Seungkwan,” you assured him, much to his absolute delight.

“You heard that?” he made sure to ask the other. “You have no chance, Boo.”

Seungkwan stuck out his tongue and mumbled something under his breath.

Jihoon’s words echoed in your mind again as you watched Soonyoung’s eyes crinkle in joy. When you glanced at your soulmate mark, it wore a similar expression on its face. Almost identical.

“--- Hey! Hey! Check in, (Y/n), are you still there?” His voice pulled you off the edge of the cliff above an endless pit of self-doubt and hopeless hopes.

You put on a smile and nodded. “Yeah. What were you saying?”

“I was saying,” with a mischievous smile, he made sure to drag out the words to make sure you were listening this time, “I’m coming back to town next month. Yay!”

How you had missed that little announcement, you had no idea. Immediately, you straightened up. “Really? You’re coming back so early?”

“The faculty’s going on strike or something and they’re letting us go early this semester. The exams will probably be tougher to balance it out though.”

But you didn’t care about the reasons. Your best friend was coming back to town.

There was little time to be excited about his return. Barely two weeks after he told you he was coming, your friend group was hit with a new obstacle.

The apartment was uncharacteristically quiet when you came home after classes. Usually both of the boys were home by this time. Neither of them were big on socialising, so having them home was a safe bet.

Coming home and seeing neither of them? A big screaming red warning sign.

A quick inspection led you to Jihoon’s room. The sight presented to you broke your heart than your glitching soulmate mark ever did.

“What happened?” you asked Junhui who rushed to meet you. “Why is he crying?”

Junhui opened his mouth – he wanted to answer – but there were no words. He sighed instead and led you to the crying roommate.

“Jihoon,” you softly tried, hesitating to pull him into a hug. To your utter surprise, he wasted no time in throwing himself into your embrace.

“I thought she was the one,” he whispered through hiccups, sobs and painful tears, “but she was using me to get back at her actual soulmate.”

In that moment, you wished you could heal his first heartbreak. Honestly, you would find yourself wishing so for several weeks to come. Perhaps this is how your friends felt when they watched your broken mark all this time.

That evening, you spent your free time in Jihoon’s room instead of your own.

Though he didn’t want any more hugs, he gladly rested his head on your lap and played with your hand. His tears were long dried but the ache remained.

You felt his fingers trace shapes onto your wrist as he mumbled on and on about his new-found hatred for the universe.

It was odd though.

The little animal on your arm never once reacted to his touch unless his finger directly pressed against them. Your mind travelled to all the times you had played with the corgi on Soonyoung’s wrist. Was your mark still broken?

“What are you thinking about?” Jihoon’s voice was a little raspy, you noted. Your hand reached over to text Junhui to bring some tea. Several half-minded typos later, you got your message across.

“Hmm?” You’d forgotten his question already.

He scoffed. “I asked what you were thinking about. Seemed very serious.”

“Just…” You hesitated to tell him. Instead you shook your head. “Nothing. It’s nothing important.”

You reached for Jihoon’s left wrist. He let out a little laugh at the tickling feeling of your fingers tracing shapes onto his wrist. You quickly found yourself playing a game of mirroring each other’s actions.

But as you were playing, you came to a delightful realisation: your mark wasn’t broken. Jihoon’s was the same.

Soonyoung’s bright smile lit up your room even through the computer screen. “How’s little Hoshi doing?”

“Hoshi?” You raised an eyebrow. “Who the heck is Hoshi?”

Raising a hand to rest above his heart, he seemed almost offended by your words. He sputtered and gasped before informing you that he meant your soulmate mark.

“Seriously?” You couldn’t help but laugh. “What kind of a name is that?”

“It’s a cute name!” he protested, slamming his hand on the desk hard enough to make the camera shake. “Tiger’s gaze! Hoshi!”

You rolled your eyes. There was no way you’d admit that you liked the name. Agreeing to Soonyoung’s plans meant feeding his already inflating ego.

“Why do you get to name my soulmate mark, huh?” you argued. “Then I should get to name yours too!”

“You can not!” he whined loudly, “They already have a name!”

Your breath got caught in your throat, soon leading to coughs. “Since when? I’ve never heard a name for them.”

“It’s a secret,” he told you through a cute pout, refusing to meet your eyes. You decided to let it go this time. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

“Oh!” He jumped out of his seat and leaned down, probably to get something out of his drawers. When he re-appeared he held up two hoodies. “Which one do you think is better? I need your opinion.”

You snorted out a laugh and averted your eyes. “Since when do you come to me for fashion advice?”

“There’s a first time for everything, you know.” He held the hoodies up higher.

A black one with a tiger embroidered on the chest. The other one a white with a corgi embroidered on the left upper side. You couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at the choices and their correlation to the real world.

“I mean, they’re both cute. Where did you even–?”

“I have a friend who majors in fashion and sewing, or something like that…” He paused for a moment, staring at the ceiling in thought, probably proof-checking. He then nodded affirmative. “Yeah, fashion and sewing. Anyways!”

He held up the hoodies again. “He made these and gave them to me. They’re so cute but I wanted to give one to you. Do you want the tiger or the corgi?”

“I’ll let you pick,” you told him and he groaned loudly enough to earn yet another judgemental glare from Seungkwan.

“Then you’re getting the corgi,” Soonyoung grumbled and hid the hoodies again. A smile appeared again soon after. “Only a week to go! And then I can come home.”

“You know, you could be productive and catch up with your assignments and readings in those two weeks,” Seungkwan pointed out loudly enough for you to hear. “But no, you just have to go and see your little–”

“I miss my friends!” Soonyoung cut him off rather suspiciously. “Why can’t I miss my friends?”

Seungkwan rolled his eyes. “Friends, my foot.”

You chose not to question him about that.

“Why is he back again?” Jihoon wondered tiredly as the two of you waited in the chilly train station. “Does he have nothing better to do?”

“He just misses us,” you defended your best friend while silently cursing Junhui for having morning classes, leaving you waiting in the cold with the grumpiest friend anyone could ask for. You could only hope and pray Jihoon’s new-found hatred for everything would melt at the sound of Soonyoung’s voice.

Jihoon rolled his eyes. “I don’t miss him. I hear his voice too often.”

“Come on, Hoon,” you nudged his side playfully, “aren’t you at least a little glad to see him again?”

He hissed softly. “Is it just me or are you just extra annoying today.”

“They aren’t but I am!”

Soonyoung’s voice was just as loud (if not louder than) as you remembered it. In your little debate, you hadn’t noticed the bright-eyed guy sneak up on you, a wide smile on his face.

Trying to hide his smile, Jihoon blinked. “Did you– Did you just call yourself annoying?”

To your astonishment, Soonyoung nodded. “I am not an idiot, you know. I know how much I annoy you but you know what?” His smiled even wider. “I’ve chosen to not let it affect me. If annoying is what I am, I will embrace it.”

“You scare me,” you mumbled before pulling him into a tight hug.

You heard Soonyoung’s joyful giggle in your ear and immediately found your home again. This was the best place to be.

“I missed you,” he whispered into your ear. You might have imagined it, but the soft brush against your ear felt an awful lot like a kiss. He let go of you to open his arms wide and offer Jihoon a maniacal smile. “Jihoon, my little prince, my love–”

Jihoon habitually began backing away, fighting a smile. He lifted an accusatory finger. “You– Don’t get closer. I’m warning you. I’m warning–”

His threats were in vain and turned into loud laughter when Soonyoung pulled him into an embrace anyway.

It felt like getting back both of your friends. You wanted to stay in that moment forever.

“Hey, can we walk back?” Soonyoung suddenly asked, perking up at the idea even.

You raised an eyebrow. “It’s a long way to go. Won’t you get tired with all the bags?”

He shrugged. “Nowhere’s too far with good friends.”

“The bus is faster.”

“I want to spend time with my friends. To catch up.”

“It’s cold.”

“I’ll keep you warm.”

Was that sentence supposed to make your heart all loud?

“S-Sure.”

You could almost hear the questions behind Jihoon’s baffled stare. You’d address them another day.

Except, the another day ended up being the same day, just another hour.

Barely two minutes after Soonyoung went to shower, Jihoon cornered you in your bedroom, eyes narrowed and a cat-like grin on his face. You suddenly no longer wondered why Chan from your literature class thought he was terrifying.

“Can I ask a question?”

You sighed deeply in defeat and slumped in your seat. “If you must…”

“Do you like Soonyoung?” For once you were sort of glad he wasn’t the type to beat around the bush.

Still, there was a part of you that liked to keep a secret. You shook your head, hoping to play it off as casually as possible.

Unfortunately for you, Jihoon was smarter than that. He raised an eyebrow, looking rather disappointed in you.

“Are you sure about that? Should I ask again?”

You did not appreciate the way he leaned closer to you until your noses were almost touching. It felt like he could even catch your lies by your breath alone.

So, you now decided it was better to come clean.

“Maybe?”

“Maybe? That’s it? You maybe like him?”

You sighed. “I don’t know. I might…kind of…”

Jihoon rolled his eyes and leaned away again. “So do you, or do you not? And don’t lie to me.”

“... yes.”

Jihoon watched you for a moment and you had never felt so exposed. After a moment of silence, he began laughing. “Oh my god, I was actually right. You like him!”

“Scream it louder for the whole town to hear, why don’t you?” You rolled your eyes and crossed your arms. Sometimes Jihoon was the most annoying member of your group.

Instead of paying mind to your grumbling, Jihoon sat down on your bed and leaned forward eagerly. His eyes shone with something skin to mischief. “Are you going to tell him?”

“I– He doesn’t even like me.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“I’m serious, Hoon.”

“Me too!” He nodded towards your door. “That guy’s been head over heels for you since high school.”

There went your heart again: going crazy like you had just finished a full marathon.

“How– How would you even know?”

“Are you kidding me?” Jihoon sighed deeply, gathering the last bits of his patience. “I’m his friend, you know. He tells me stuff sometimes.”

You frowned. “He never told me anything.”

“That’s because– You–” Jihoon fell backwards in your bed, the drama queen he is, and groaned. “This is going to take you guys a while, isn’t it? It’s gonna be like one of those slow-burn fanfics Junhui wrote in middle school…”

You took great offence to that and decided to do something about it. In time. No need to rush.

Right.

No need to rush…

It was 2 am when you woke up. At what?, you weren’t entirely sure. But awake and confused you were.

A soft knock and a whisper of your name sounded.

“So that’s why,” you mumbled to yourself when your brain finally made the connection halfway through pulling on your slippers.

You shuffled over to the door and opened it.

Soonyoung stood there, a sheepish smile on his face. His hair was tousled and sticking up in odd ways – a clear sign he’d at least tried to sleep.

“I couldn’t sleep,” he whispered to you before walking into your room. Before you could say anything, he lied down in your bed and gestured for you to join him.

With a soft sigh, you did as told and cuddled into his side. He offered you a smile at the gesture before resting his head against yours.

“Why couldn’t you sleep?” you asked him.

He hummed. “I don’t really know. I just couldn’t. It’s weird.”

He reached for your wrist. You watched as he traced his thumb over the skin. The little tiger-hamster doodle immediately rushed to meet his touch, tapping its little paws against the barrier in an attempt to reach Soonyoung.

“That’s weird,” you mumbled, sleep already heavy in your eyes. It was hard to keep them open so you decided to just close them. Sleep always came easier in his embrace. Still, you took the chance to mumble, “Hoshi never reacts to Jihoon’s touch… Or Junhui’s…”

Soonyoung chuckled. The vibration felt nice against your ears. “Do you want to know what I named my mark?”

You hummed through the heavy veil of sleep. You weren’t sure you could even be considered awake anymore.

“... Pancakes.”

Though you smiled upon hearing him say it, you didn’t remember it in the morning.

The exam session was relentless. It was the time of the year where you wished you had been born with even half the brain capacity of Jihoon, or even just 3% of Wonwoo’s.

“How am I supposed to memorise this?” you grumbled to no one in particular while staring blankly at your textbook.

Junhui shared your sentiment. He was, after all, stuck in a similar pickle. Jihoon’s zero-pity laughter from the other side of the couch was doing nothing to help either of you.

“Is this hell?” Junhui wondered softly, lifting his eyes to glare upwards before he burst out in an angry tone, “What have I ever done to deserve this, huh?!”

Soonyoung chuckled and patted his shoulder. “It’s not that bad.”

“Says the dance major to the STEM major,” Junhui curses under his breath and crouches back over his textbook.

Deciding that the Chinese friend was too gone to be helped, Soonyoung instead shuffled to sit next to you and patted your head gently. “Can I help somehow?”

You did not fail to catch Junhui’s quiet “You could shut up.”

“No,” you sighed, “I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?” Soonyoung’s adorable pout made an appearance and you couldn’t help but smile at the sight. It was always cute to look at. Your freshly-realised crush was only doubling its effect on you.

“You could get me some snacks?”

“I’m guessing gummy bears and skittles?”

“Apple slices for me, please,” Junhui spoke up. “I’m trying to eat healthy.”

Soonyoung chuckled. “Got it! Jihoon?”

Jihoon contemplated for a moment before sheepishly admitting, “Some cola would be nice.”

“You guys are lucky I love you,” Soonyoung said just to be dramatic.

In your exam daze, you barely noticed the way his lips brushed against your forehead before he left. If it hadn’t been for Jihoon’s knowing (and judging) stare, you would have missed it completely. You told your heart to calm down just this once.

When the exam session came to an end and your seemingly everlasting assignment list came to an end, Soonyoung decided it was only fair to celebrate.

Jihoon let out a loud groan when he entered the kitchen. “Seriously?”

Covered in flour and sugar, you and Soonyoung offered him confused looks which prompted his next words, “I swear, since Soonyoung came here, all we’ve been eating are pancakes.”

“I’m making up for lost time,” Soonyoung told him quite happily. “I didn’t get to eat a single (Y/n) pancake at school.”

“It’s a bit of a reach to assume they cooked this many pancakes while you were gone,” Jihoon pointed out but reached for a plate and motioned for you to flip a fresh pancake onto it nevertheless. He added a spoonful of strawberry jam and left the room in favour of the comfort of the living room.

Soonyoung chuckled. “Glad to see he’s better already.”

“Yeah,” you sighed, “I think you being here has really helped him get over that…”

You barely resisted the urge to call the woman the b-word. You were better than that. Soonyoung wasn’t.

“That bitch really deserves her heart broken. Let’s see how happy she’ll be then,” he grumbled.

Though you softly slapped his arm at the statement, you couldn’t help but smile a bit.

“You know I’m right,” he told you pointedly before turning off the cooker and lifting the last pancake off the pan.

He was quick to lift several pancakes onto his plate and begin eating. He let out a soft moan of delight at the familiar taste. The greatest compliment.

Your heartbeat positively picked up at the sight of the smile he sent your way. “This tastes so good. I missed your pancakes so so so much.”

Unceremoniously he shoved another forkful of pancakes into his mouth until his cheeks puffed out like those of a greedy hamster. The resemblance was uncanny.

But as you watched him, your mind was elsewhere. It felt like you were in a movie as a hazy memory of him revealing the name of the corgi on his wrist came to your mind. Pancakes.

“You okay?” he gently asked you upon seeing the baffled expression etched onto your face. He laughed nervously. “What’s wrong?”

He’d been in love with you since high school. He got his mark in high school.

“(Y/n)?”

His soulmate mark reacted to your touch and yours reacted to his. The little tiger on your arm never reacted to Junhui’s little scribbles.

He reached to shake you by your shoulder.

The tiger’s face reminded you of Soonyoung’s. His mark liked you since the day it came to be.

“Okay, you are scaring me,” Soonyoung declared and abandoned his pancakes.

You fell for him just before your mark appeared.

He gasped. You felt his thumbs frantically brushing against your cheeks just seconds later. “Oh, (Y/n)... What’s going on? Talk to me.”

It all fit together. A puzzle that you always had all the pieces of but never could figure out. It came together now and your heart was racing like crazy.

Without a single word, you threw yourself into Soonyoung’s embrace. He held you close, just like you needed him to.

“Did you know this whole time?” you pulled away to ask him. Your eyes must have been full of hope even when he betrayed nothing but confusion.

“Know what?”

You took a deep breath. “That I was your soulmate.”

He gasped. You hoped it was happiness and not disappointment or shock. You hoped he was as happy as you felt.

For once, your hopes came true. His lips turned into a smile, his eyes crinkled like they always did, and he pulled you into another hug.

He breathed out in relief. “You finally figured it out, you dummy.”

“It was you all this time… right?”

“Right, it was me all this time,” he assured you with a smile.

He pulled apart from the embrace just for a moment. Reached for your left hand with his own. To your absolute delight and surprise, the tiger-hamster on your wrist ran to meet the corgi where your skin met.

“You should’ve told me,” you whispered to him while watching the two animals play with each other on your arms. A little doodled heart floated around them. You smiled.

Soonyoung smiled and pressed a soft kiss to your forehead. “I was going to, but I was afraid.”

“Of what?”

“I– I don’t remember all of a sudden,” he chuckled and pressed another kiss to your face, the tip of your nose this time. “But you figured it out just fine. I knew you would.”

“I love you.” It felt good to say those words. Nothing could stop them from spilling from your lips.

He laughed, almost unable to believe what was happening. “I love you too. My soulmate.”

[the end]

A/N #1: if at any point you found yourself wondering if this is a Hoshi or a Woozi fic, please know that it was completely unintentional. I am at fault and just ridiculously soft for a certain Lee Jihoon.

A/N #2: I planted seeds for possible spin-offs in this au in case I ever feel like writing more or if anyone wants to read more of aus like this. so please do let me know if you’d like more writings in this au! maybe a soulmate jihoon? a soulmate Wonwoo? a soulmate Junhui? a soulmate Seungkwan even?

A/N #3: I caved and wrote a Jihoon spin-off!

#seventeen au #seventeen scenarios #seventeen x reader #soonyoung scenarios #hoshi scenarios #seventeen fic #kwon soonyoung x reader #hoshi x reader #seventeen #Avy writes

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wondernus · 3 years ago

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12: We're on a boat!

pairing: professor!seungcheol x baker!reader sm au

chapter genre: fluff

chapter warnings: cursing, mentions of food and TONS of alcohol (it’s new year’s eve)

wc: 2.1k

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“Minghao, that was disgusting,” you grimaced at the aftertaste the alcohol left in your mouth, passing your empty shot glass back to your friend. The ten of you were crowded around Seungkwan’s car in the parking lot by the dock, pregaming before heading onto the yacht for the New Year’s celebration event. Vernon and Chan dropped some of you off earlier and immediately drove away after seeing Minghao’s usually calm aura change into a rather sinister one. The World Literature professor had somehow been able to sneak a bottle of kaoliang liquor and some shot glasses in the inner pocket of his blazer and was currently getting everybody in your group to finish the entire bottle before going in.

All of you were at least three drinks in, and you didn’t know if it was the alcohol talking or the fact that you were surrounded by the people you loved, but you were having a great time. The boys were clumped together on the dancefloor, Seungkwan and DK having an intense dance battle while Wonwoo laughed and clapped from behind. The rest of the boys had their arms around each other and swayed to the beat of the music, singing at the top of their lungs. You and Hoshi were sitting at the bar within eye distance of the boys, both harboring a glass of iced water in your hands. Seungkwan’s motherly instincts immediately went into full effect after his drunk radar went off after seeing you and Hoshi try to leave your group a few times hand-in-hand to dance battle strangers around you. He decided to put you two in “time-out” for the next few minutes. However, when a familiar beat came on, Seungkwan and Seokmin started shouting for Hoshi to join them, the “time-out” rule completely forgotten. The man sitting beside you hesitated for a minute before turning to you with pleading eyes and a pout. You nodded for him to go, and he immediately jumped off of his barstool to run to the group, not before hugging you and shouting, “You know where to find us, right?” to which you shouted back it was pretty hard to lose the group when the three tallest men in the club belonged to your group. Soon the trio was screaming the lyrics to their favorite song while an all familiar “Go Soonyoung. Go Soonyoung. Go Soonyoung” filled the air. You sat and smiled at the rowdy group.

Unfortunately, the water wasn’t working because the longer you sat on the barstool, the drunker you got. You winced at the brightness of your phone screen and immediately regretted not setting your phone to night mode. Vernon was updating you on his pancake adventure with Chan and the baby. Your stomach growled at the sight of the stacks of pancakes, and you suddenly had an urge to buy the overpriced food they were selling above deck. Just then, someone tapped you on your shoulder, and you turned around to see a very familiar face you haven’t seen in a while.

“Dr. Yoon?” you were definitely drunk. There was no way he was here. Have you manifested the image of him for so long that he would literally show up when you least expected?

“Oh yn!” he was grinning while holding two paper trays filled with fries. “You want some fries?”

It turned out Dr. Yoon, who reintroduced himself as Jeonghan, lost his friend a while back while buying fries and spent the last few minutes walking around, trying to convince the random people around him to take his extra tray of fries. It never really occurred to him that people usually wouldn’t accept food from strangers, especially at clubs, until you told him. The two of you managed to drunkenly run to one of the booths at the side and snag it immediately after it cleared up. Even more so, Jeonghan spent the last few minutes catching up with you and feeding you the greasy fries while you desperately tried to sober up - your whole upper half leaned against him like he was your life support. He repeatedly reassured you and said that he found it cute, but you only felt more embarrassed. You were never going to pregame with Minghao ever again. Kaoliang liquor was dangerous.

-----

“Dude, I can’t believe we lost yn,” Seungcheol was going to have a mental breakdown, which, by the way, was definitely not a good feeling to have when drunk. He recalled sitting you and Hoshi down at the bar and keeping an eye on you two before blacking out after Minghao and Jun returned to the group with another round of shots. The next thing he knew, he was sitting on one of the sofas on the deck of the yacht, the other boys sprawled out next to him, the cold ocean breeze cool against his skin.

“Did we miss the countdown?” Jun rubbed his eyes and shoved Hoshi’s sleeping body off of his. Wonwoo shook his head letting him know that they didn’t miss the countdown.

Woozi approached the group with a grin on his face. There was a man walking alongside him who seemed to be his acquaintance. “Guys,” Woozi addressed the group, causing the men to groan and look up at him, “This is my coworker, Joshua.”

His friend waved at the group and his eyes widened in excitement after realizing who was in front of him, “Dude, you never told me you were friends with the Twitter dilfs.”

Accepting Joshua into the group was fairly easy. He also lost his friend who came with him and spent the last half hour wandering around the yacht before he bumped into Woozi who was in line for the restroom. He reassured Seungcheol that his yn friend he was continuously calling for was going to be fine because everybody in their friend group had yn’s location and what was yn going to do? Swim? Luckily, yn texted Mingyu earlier and told him that they were fine, and Seungcheol sighed in relief. The boys quickly accepted Joshua into the group after Woozi told him to buy them all a round of shots to which Joshua replied, “Who do you think I am? The next three rounds are on me,” garnering an eruption of cheers from his new friends.

Just like that, they were back on the dancefloor ten minutes before the countdown, blackouts and hangovers completely forgotten, drunker than ever. They made a last-minute plan to ditch the dancefloor and celebrate the new year on the ship's deck after being pushed by a mob of people in all directions. They were practically a fresh and unbroken set of pool balls waiting for someone to start the match at that point. The fresh air they felt was a great complement to their sweaty skin, and it was nice to not need to shout at others while the bass from the speakers constantly reverberated in their ears. There were still a few minutes left until the countdown. Seungkwan, Seokmin, and Soonyoung were still gone after previously stating that they needed to use the restroom together. In the distance, Mingyu, Jun, and Joshua, who left to take pictures, all let out a collective scream and jumped up and down in excitement.

“I can’t believe it finally happened.”

“You too? We’ve been rooting for them since the first pineapple bun.”

Before Seungcheol could turn around to look at what caused the commotion, Jihoon made a joke about daring Soonyoung to jump overboard and was immediately lectured by Wonwoo who dragged Seungcheol along with him. An announcement blared through the speakers that the countdown would start in a minute and the bakery boys yelled at the rest of the group to join them.

-----

10! Seungkwan, Seokmin, and Soonyoung managed to return to the group just in time, but not without a tray of free tequila shots from the different patrons around them. Apparently, the people around them really enjoyed their company, whether it was when they were tearing it up on the dance floor or whether it was when they were joking with those waiting in the long line for the restroom. Jun looked at the shots with so much fear in his eyes while Minghao patted him on his back.

9! Jeonghan and you also spent the last hour receiving free drinks from those around you left and right.

“People must be very generous tonight,” you thought out loud.

“Yeah, I definitely haven’t been telling them that we’re newly engaged,” Jeonghan winked at you.

The both of you were standing on the deck of the superyacht, leaning against the railing. The captain dropped the yacht's anchor a while back when the yacht reached a place where one could turn back to see the twinkling lights coming from docks and piers from the ocean. The yacht gently rocked with the waves, and you were happily wrapped in Jeonghan’s arms, your drunkness a now numb and tingly sensation. The two of you were staring at the ocean and admiring how pretty the night sky was on that particular day. You didn’t see it, but he was smiling at you like you were the greatest thing in the world – like the feeling of biting into a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie, the edges crispy and the center gooey, both the chocolate and dough melting into one.

8! Seokmin handed Seungcheol a shot.

7! Mingyu complained about there being no lime and salt.

6! Seungcheol heard a familiar laugh that made him forget about his surroundings for a split second.

5! Wonwoo put his arm around Seungcheol’s shoulder.

4! Jeonghan spun you around to face him.

3! Seokmin accidentally took his shot early.

2! Seungkwan quickly slipped his shot into the older boy’s hand and took the empty glass before the rest of the group took notice to what happened. It was fine. He was the designated driver after all.

1! The crowd erupted in cheers, and the group clinked their glasses and tilted their heads back to take their shots. Fireworks lit up the sky in a multitude of vibrant colors. Jun was busy yelling, “Chase with a smile. Chase with a smile,” at those who were complaining about the lack of lime and salt. Soonyoung was trying to hug Jihoon, who kept pushing him away until he finally gave in. It was a new year; he would allow it just once. Seungkwan was in the middle of recording a video of the group with his flash on which resulted in him accidentally blinding Seungcheol for a split second. This caused Seungcheol to turn away from the group to try to blink the dizziness away. When he finally recuperated, he couldn’t help but stare at the scene in front of him.

“Oh my god,” Seungcheol groaned, “I’m so glad we made the sexiling rule. They were literally sucking each other’s faces off. It was disgusting.”

Joshua raised his eyebrow at him. He also saw what happened. “Dude are you ok?” he questioned. “All they did was kiss once.”

The rest of the group quickly turned to see what Seungcheol was talking about and immediately burst into excitement when they realized who they were looking at. You broke away from Jeonghan and buried your face in his chest to hide in embarrassment when you recognized the group of voices calling your name. The man beside you jokingly covered you with his blazer to hide you when he realized you were flustered. It was a really cute and sweet sight, and it was custom to kiss someone on New Year’s. So why did seeing you kiss someone else make Seungcheol feel so annoyed?

the kids are going to be alright

synopsis: life as we know it (2010 film) au | when an unexpected accident leaves you and your blind date from five years ago to become caretakers of your mutual goddaughter, you are forced to learn how to navigate parenthood all while trying to balance work and social life.

a/n: join the taglist!

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taglist: @seokcalibur, @skylions-den, @semicolorn, @boowanie, @niikipuff, @serenadesvt, @tfmingyu, @jeonjungkaka, @shiningstar-byulxx, @onigiriyuki, @justasoftstan, @fr0gluver, @fairyjius, @happyvitamin, @noniesgirl, @hanniewife, @amymoonl, @melkwhore

unable to tag: @fairyjius, @hanniewife

#seventeen social media au #seventeen sm au #svt smau #scoups x reader #seungcheol x reader #scoups fluff #scoups angst #seventeen imagines #seventeen scenarios #seventeen fake texts

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goingtreasure · 4 years ago

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my best friend’s best friend ‌|‌ ‌p.jh

pairing: park jihoon x reader (f)

word count: 12.2k

genre: enemies to lovers, slow burn, fluff, angst, smut (kinda), humor

warnings: swearing, alcohol use, implied sex, mention of drugs, trust issues

synopsis: you hated jihoon for trying to take your place as junkyu's best friend, but nothing that a few hours stuck with him can't change.

author’s note: this is my first time writing in english, so please forgive me if I make any mistake TT,,, i wrote for fun and because i really love treasure, so i hope you can have fun as well <3

You swear you had never been the jealous type of person.

Through all your past relationships, you were always the chill one. The ond that never really cared about where your significant other was or who they were with. Everything was fine to you, after all, you knew that no one was your property.

However, all of your conceptions changed, to be more exact a year ago, when your best friend Junkyu introduced you to Jihoon, his childhood best friend who got transfered to the same university both of you went to.

As a first impression, you didn't like that guy. He talked too much, he laughed too much, he dominated the conversation too much. But the worst part is that Junkyu seemed to really like him. In all of your years of friendship, you never saw him being so excited about someone.

That's when you acknowledged your jealousy.

You were deeply scared that Junkyu could possibly replace you with Jihoon. So damn scared that you started to despise Jihoon for life. Of course, despising him wouldn't make Junkyu despise him as well, and to be fair that wasn't your intention at all. Even if you hated their friendship, you knew Junkyu really appreciated him. So it was more like a self defense mechanism. The less you think about Jihoon, the less anxious you would get.

Ignoring him was hard task though. Cause as soon as Jihoon met your other friends, they became drown to him too. You never knew why he was so popular and why everyone found him so cool and funny to be around. In your perspective, he was just annoying and full of shit.

As the time passed by, your antipathy for Jihoon only increased. It was so obvious that all of your friends and Jihoon himself knew about it, but they always thought it was just the two of you being childish so they never cared enough. Jihoon didn't make anything easier for you as well. He would always show up at your home or wherever you and Junkyu were to tease you and start random conversations as if you were friends. And every time Junkyu and Jihoon were together, you felt like the third wheel.

Friday nights were different though. You and Junkyu would forget about the whole world, get your popcorn and drinks ready and lay down with a fluffy blanket for an exciting movie night. Just the two of you. No interruptions. It was the only time you felt like Junkyu wouldn't abandon you.

In a specific friday night you decided to watch Harry Potter, since Junkyu had never seen it before. He only had a general idea about the plot because of what he saw on the internet. When the two of you were in the middle of the scene were Sirius Black was getting killed by Bellatrix when the doorbell suddenly ring.

Junkyu got up. Wiping the tears off his eyes. He went to the door, echoing a tiny "oh!" when he saw who was there. He slightly looked at you before opening it up, knowing you wouldn't be so happy with a certain pink haired boy walking trough your house.

Jihoon jumped inside, holding your friend by his shoulders, "Kyu, get rea-", but stoping himself when he saw him crying. "Wait- why are you crying?" His voice startled you and you pressed play on the movie, trying to ignore his presence.

"They killed Sirius Black!" Junkyu explained, pointing to the TV.

"Uhm... Anyway." He laughed. "Go get yourself ready!"

"Ready?" Junkyu squeezed his face, confused by the sudden offer. “For what?”

"Jaehyuk is throwing a blast party right now! We need to go!" He exclaimed.

Usually when Jihoon showed up, you would lock yourself in your room till he left, but in that very moment you weren't giving enough fucks to get out of your comfortable couch.

"Me and Y/N are watching a movie right now..." He pouted, not sure what to do with his invite.

Jihoon took his hands off Junkyu's shoulders, bending his head to the side, finally noticing your presence. "Oh man, I forgot it's friday… but Y/N can go too! It will be fun!" He smiled.

You laughed ironically. "You know what, Kyu? Go. I'm kinda sleepy anyway." You lied.

"But what about Harry?" Junkyu asked. He was lowley curious to finish the movie.

"To be honest, this movie is kinda boring. I just realized that." You gave him a half smile.

"Are you sure?" Junkyu asked and you nodded in response. The boy took his time to examine your reaction, just to make sure you were telling the truth. "If you say so..." He mouthed, leaving you and Jihoon as he walked to his room.

Jihoon stood up at the door, eyeballing you with a very suspicious expression. He did that a lot, and you hated it.

"Why do you always do that?" You asked, your eyes not leaving the TV.

"Do what?" He groaned.

"The weird stare. It’s like you always find your silly ways to annoy the fuck outta me." You rolled your eyes. "By the way, I know that you know that it's friday."

"So what?! I invited you!" He walked to the couch, jumping on the other extremity of it. "Why don't you go with us?"

"Thanks for inviting me, what an honor! But I don't wanna have to look at your face for the rest of the night." You took the remote control, increasing the TV's volume.

"There will be a lot of girls there, you know?" He mentioned, trying to convince you in some weird way. "Aren’t worried with that?" At that moment, you definitely regret not going to your room before.

"I'm not into girls, I'm sorry." You said.

"That's not what I'm talking about! There will be a lot of girls there chasing cute guys like me and Junkyu. Will you be at peace knowing that?" He leaned back on the sofa, hands behind his head as he teased you.

"Ew! I'm not jealous of you, Jihoon." You laughed.

"Well, I wasnt talking about myself, I was talking about Junkyu." As Junkyu's name was mentioned, you paused the movie and looked at him. "But if I'm the one who makes you jealous, we can do something about it. Just kidding. What I am saying is: I know he's your crush."

"I have literally no idea what you're talking about." You tried to cut him off.

"That's why you hate when I'm around, right? You fucking like Junkyu and you want him all to yourself!" He said it like he was a detective solving a mistery, so stupidly, but so loud that you had no other choice besides jumping on him and closing his mouth with your hand.

"Don't you dare saying that again! He's gonna hear us!" You ordered.

The boy slowly moved your hand out of his lips. "You like Kim Junkyu." He whispered this time.

"Yes! I'm jealous, okay? But not that kind of jealousy!" You stated. "I don't like you because I used to be his favorite friend! Well, until you came out of nowhere to took my place." At this point your patience was almost gone.

"Took your place? That’s dumb. I’m not convinced. You’ll have to prove it. " He shrugged.

"I don't need to prove you anything!"

"Go to the party, and help him get with someone. Then I will believe you." Jihoon continued, completely ignoring what you said.

"No way, that's gross." You wrinkled your nose.

"It’s not! And just so you know, if you dont help him, I will anyway. The girl he's interested is going and asked me to do so. That's why I ran here so fast." He said, quite surprising. That was something you didn't know about. Junkyu never told you he was interested in someone.

You took your hands out of Jihoon's face, moving away in shock.

"Does he like someone?" You murmured. "He never told me that."

Jihoon quieted himself. It was a surprise to him that you didn't know about that.

Junkyu emerged in the room, fully dressed and ready to go. "How do I look?"

"Are you really wearing this outfit again?" Jihoon fired when he noticed Junkyu wearing the same shirt as always. He's never been thoughtful with his choice of clothing.

"You know this is my favorite!” Your best friend said in a whiny, childish voice.

"You will never get Dahee's attention dressed like that!" He jumped out of the sofa to talk do Junkyu.

"Hey!" You interrupted them, receiving two curious looks. "Wait for me. I'm going."

Jihoon gave you an evil grin.

Was it a good idea? No. Were you gonna regret it later? 100% Yes. But you did it anyway. And now you were wearing a purple tiny dress and a pair of black boots at Yoon Jaehyuk's house (aka your ex boyfriend’s house!!) surrounded by drunk and wasted people. And the worse part is that you were doing exactly what Jihoon wanted. But the idea of your best friend hiding secrets from you made you so desperate, that staying home right when he could’ve possibly be telling more secrets to your rival was enough to motivate you to go.

You and the two boys went straight to the kitchen to get some drinks and food. Junkyu was preparing some drinks while Jihoon was gossiping about someone you didn't care about. You looked around, admiring the ambient. Jaehyuk’s house was large and full of luxurious artifacts. You remember when you went there for the first time and how easy it was to get lost among all of the rooms. But after dating him for almost a year, you knew this place better than anyone.

"Here’s your cocktail, Y/N!" Junkyu said, offering you a red cup full of alcohol.

"Thank you, Sir!" You grabbed it from his hand and drank it all, feeling the bitterness down your throat.

From the other side of the kitchen, you spot Jaehyuk. You had this weird impression that he was always glaring at your direction. You didn’t broke up on bad terms, but the atmosphere would always be strange wherever you were in the same place because you knew he still felt physically attracted to you, after all, your relationship with him was pure based on looks.

"So what about Dahee?" Jihoon questioned, while taking a sip from the vodka bottle.

"I don't know, guys... I don't think it will work." Junkyu shyly said, looking down at his feet. Poor baby, you knew he wasn't very confident, so even though he kept it from you, you still felt empathetic for him. “I haven’t told you about her yet, Y/N. Cause I’m not actually sure about what she thinks of me...”

"Y/N said she'll help you." Jihoon said, pouring the rest of the vodka on your cup.

"Oh, really?!" The raven haired boy eyebrow’s popped out.

"Uhm, yes. That's why I came after all..." You glanced over Jaehyuk again, his eyes still glued on you. He's not gonna come over, right?, you whispered to yourself.

"So you guys are friends right now?" He pointed at the two of you.

"Not really." Jihoon answered, about to drink more of his vodka bottle, but before he got the change you grabbed it away from his hand, tanking a sip from it and then another sip, and another one and another one. Everything to avoid yourself from freaking out.

"Shouldnt we go find Dahee?” You got up from your seat, looking at Jihoon.”I think we definitely should go find Dahee!" You smiled, pulling Jihoon by the shirt. "Wait for me, Kim Junkyu! Tonight is the night!" You shouted, leaving your friend alone on the kitchen. At first he was confused, but as soon as he saw Jaehyuk watching you from afar, he understood your hurry.

You guided Jihoon through the dancing crowds and the marijuana's smokes, already feeling dizzy due to the great amount of alcohol in your body, but luckily you succeeded to find what you were looking for: the gaming room, one of the rooms of the house locked with a digital password. You stopped in front of it, trying to remember what the passcode was. Jihoon was way too confused, but watched you in silence, you pressed the first numbers that popped into your head and the door lock opened. You walked straight to the sofa, throwing yourself between the big orange cushions.

"Are you okay?" He asked, confused. "I thought we were looking for Dahee."

No, you were definitely not okay.

"I can't do it, ok? Ugh! I think I need to go home." You confessed, brushing up your hair. An immeasurable amount of thoughts running through your mind.

Seeing Jaehyuk was definitely not good for your mental health right now. When you broke up, you felt like it was too easy for him to forget you. He made you feel like you were nothing besides a body. That your relationship was nothing but a fetish to him. And your thoughts were confirmed some time after you broke up, when he started chasing atfer you again in order to have friends with benefits relationship with no feelins involved. Now you realized that maybe he was the reason why you started to feel so insecure, all of this happened right when Jihoon came to your college.

"So I was right? You do have a crush on Junkyu and can’t stand the feeling of him with someone else?" He asked.

"If I like Junkyu? I don’t know. How could I know? I mean, he's the only person I have by my side, so maybe yeah it is possible that I like him!" You said feeling very emotional even if that was not the reason why you were anxious. "Maybe I do have a crush on him, but it's weird, because I never thought about it before. I mean, Yeah! I think he's cute! But everyone thinks he’s cute, right? it's like common sense " You looked at the boy. "Do you think he’s cute?"

Jihoon laughed. "You're drunk."

"Yes I am!" You stated.

"Hey, you—" Jihoon was just about to say something, when the sound of the door being unlocked interrupted him. "Wait, are we allowed to be here?"

"I don't think so." You grabbed the boy and conducted him to a locker in the back of the room not even knowing if it was big enough for the two of you. Spoiler allert: it wasn't. You and Jihoon were practically glued on each other, you could even feel his breath on your hair.

"Wow! Jaehyuk, your house is so big." You heard from a female voice that you were not familiar with... And she was talking to Jaehyuk?!

"Who is that?" You whispered.

"Fuck shit. I think it's Dahee!" He answered, holding the same face expression as you.

"No way..." You said silently.

"Yes way! It's definitely her." He whispered back.

"There's a lot of other things I can show you." You ex added. Fortunately, you couldn't see anything from that tiny locker.

"So Junkyu’s crush is about to make out with my ex boyfriend?! Yup, That's weird..."

"Ex what?!" He furrowed his brows.

"Jaehyuk and I used to date, stupid."

"Oh, so that's why you know this house so well?" His eyes widened. "Even the passcode!!" You have to assume. He was kinda cute sometimes... but it was Jihoon after all.

"Shut up, oh my god!" You rolled your eyes. "Let's hear them."

The couple were flirting a lot in a very cringy way. The weirdest part of it all is that Jaehyuk used to use those same pick up lines on you and it worked. How lame. Jihoon seemed to be really entertained by this horror show, seen by his amused face expression.

"You know what would look good on you?" Jaehyuk asked.

"Uhm, what?" She said softly.

"Me."

Jihoon and you switched looks, holding yourselves to not burst into laughing. He mimicked a silence sign, and comically, almost like if everyone had obeyed him, the whole room went silent. He frowned for a few seconds, then opened the locker door to see if the couple was gone, but they weren’t, in fact the two of them were lying on the sofa you were before, looking like they were in the middle of "something". Luckily the back of the sofa was against you, so it was impossible to see any disgusting detail.

"Do we have to stay here til they leave?" You looked at him with drunk puppy eyes.

"Hum... I don't know. We can try to run away, but what will you say if he sees us?" He asked.

“That we got lost?" You sent him a playfull glance, knowing that was a terrible idea.

"Yup. you're really drunk." He said.

"Excuse me?!" You said. "You are as drunk as me! I can smell the alcohol coming out your mouth."

"You're smelling yourself, dummy." He chuckled.

"Oh, right." Incredible as it sounds, you were having a really fun time with Jihoon. Who would believe that? You didn't know how Jaehyuk and Dahee haven't heard your conversation yet.

At this very moment, you finally became aware how close you were to each other and how awkward this was. His torso and yours were touching, the palm of his hand was slightly brushing your thigh, his body was warm in your skin. You were not used to that. It was dark at first, but as your eyes got used to it, you could see his face very well, even noticing the tiny moles around his cheek. You've never been so close to him. Maybe it was the vodka, but when you noticed his lips were right in front of you, centimeters apart, you spaced out, silently exploring his traits.

"It's so hot in here." He whispered.

"What?" You asked, surprised by his deep voice tone.

"It's so hot, I'm even sweating right now." He clarified himself, bringing you back to earth. "Sorry about that."

"Right.. Yeah, I'm literally melting too, don't worry..." You blinked, knowing that in fact you were melting for him, not the temperature.

You were in complete shock. What kind of feeling was that? It was like you were in a roller coaster, but without the roller coaster part, mixed with a feeling of denial and an immense desire, but mainly the need to run away from him immediately.

Suddenly, you could hear a click coming from the outside of the locker, like a door closing.

"I think they're gone!" The boy said, "Let's get out of here." Jihoon opened the door carefully, bursting it as soon as he he confirmed that Jaehyuk and Dahee were gone. "Yup! We are free!" He exclaimed, welcoming the freedom with open arms.

"Finally! I was going crazy!" You shouted, jumping around like a little kid. Jihoon watched you in amazement, you and Junkyu were very alike, even if sometimes you sounded more serious, you were nothing but a baby in disguise.

You turned back to him after your little celebration. "Okay, now I’ll go find Junkyu! To tell everything about that Dahee girl." You said about about to run through that door, but Jihoon suddenly held your hand before you could tresspass it.

"Wait." He said in a serious tone, making you stop your feet and look back at him. "Earlier, you said that Junkyu is the only person you have you have in your life. I know this is not the moment and we aren't close or anything, but I want you to know that if you ever need someone, you can count on me, okay?" He spoke sweetly, not waiting for your response before he let go of your hand and left you behind.

You were so touched you couldn't move for a minute. This was even more confusing. Your mind spun and spun trying to understand what his hidden intentions were. After all, it was Park Jihoon, he wouldn't just be nice to you.

"Uhm, Y/N?!" You turned around, seeing Jaehyuk right in front of you. "What are you doing here?"

Your eyes doubled the size as you realized you were still in the gaming room. "I- I got lost!" You screamed, running outside as fast as you could.

When you found Junkyu, he was surrounded by your friends. Hyunsuk, the blue haired one, was a clingy guy, he was always hugging and kissing everyone, like the mom of the group. You approached the guys and Hyunsuk immediately acknowledged you, lifting his cup and placing an arm around your shoulders.

"My sweetie Y/N! I haven't seen you all night!" Said Hyunsuk, the blue haired one. He was a clingy guy, who was always hugging and kissing everyone, like the mom of the group. He also had a very special nickname for you: sweetie.

"Hi, Suk." You said placing a peck on the boy's head, as you usually did.

Besides him, there was Junghwan, he just turned 18 and was new in your friend group, he met Hyunsuk through a close friend. Yoshi was a japanese boy who went to Korea to study.

You looked at your best friend, noticing he was still drinking. Thankfully he wasn’t the type of person who gets drunk easily. "Hey, Kyu, can I talk to you?"

"Sure, but where's Jihoon? Weren't you together?" He asked loudly, catching everyone's attention and curiosity. You wanted to kill Junkyu for that.

"What?! Y/N and Jihoon are dating?" Junghwan arched his eyebrow and lowered his sunglasses, you didn't see the point of him wearing sunglasses if it was dark.

"No way! You and Jihoon are fucking?" Hyunsuk yelled, eyes popping open.

"Ew, what the hell? Obviously not!" You scolded them, disgusted by their assumptions. "Junkyu seriously! We need to talk!" You demanded, pushing him to the backyard.

Your time at the party didn't last long after that. You told the boy everything everything that happened (except the locker thing, of course), and honestly, you didn't expect Junkyu to be so sad about it. You thought he only had a tiny crush on Dahee, but seen by his reaction, it was a lot more than that. You decided it was time to go home.

Jihoon didn't show up again that night, but the next evening, he was at Junkyu's room trying to cheer him up.

Unfortunately, Junkyu's disappointment didn't end up in just one day, for the rest of the following weeks, he was still feeling low-spirited and unmotivated for everything. Seeing that cute baby like that was letting you down as well. However, because of that you realized that your assumption of having a crush on him was indeed not real, because even though Dahee broke up his heart, you still wished things went differently and she had given him a chance, so Junkyu would be jumping around like he usually did.

On the other hand, as soon as you realized you didn't like your best friend that way, you started to notice that you may or may not were starting to develop some kind of spark for Jihoon. Yes, that was weird and it didn't feel right at all, but you couldn't help but think about what he said to you. And now you were paying attention to certain things about him that you never did before, like his athletic body contrasting his cute face, his honey sounding voice, the moles distributed all over his body, not only his face. He was really cute and he cared a lot about Junkyu, just like you. You always thought he was annoying but lately you found it funny.

Things have really changed in a short period of time. Now instead of avoiding him at all costs, you walked around looking for him, just to see his face from far away, and when he showed up over your apartment, you stayed in the living room, hoping he would start random conversations with you.

"Kyu, you can't stay like this forever." Jihoon was there to cheer Junkyu again.

The boy didn’t want to get his ass off the carpet and Jihoon, as a responsible friend, felt deeply annoyed by that. So he was constantly trying to make him go to class, but Junkyu was too strong headed. "Here. I bought your favorite Boba Tea, why don't you drink?"

"I don't want it." He muttered, laying on his arms in the coffee table.

You were sitting on the couch, right behind the space Junkyu occupied on the carpet. Jihoon was sitting next to you, he offered you the drink Junkyu just denied.

"Hey, Y/N, do you want it?" He asked.

"Sure, thanks." You picked it up, your fingers slightly touching, causing tiny shivers through your spine.

"Dahee is just another girl!" Jihoon continued the previous topic. "And she's into Jaehyuk, so she's tasteless!"

"Oh so you're calling me tasteless?" You asked.

"Oh, shit, I forgot." He smiled. "Well, you used to be tasteless, not anymore I hope. Dahee is still tasteless!”

"Please don't say her name..." Junkyu cried.

Jihoon rolled his eyes at the younger one. "You know what?! Dahee, Dahee, Dahee, Dahee, Dahee, Dahee..." He screamed, dancing around him.

"Oh my god stop!" Kyu taped over his ears to stop his suffering.

Right when Jihoon was about to say Dahee again, his phone rang, he took it from his jeans' pocket and picked up the call. You and Junkyu stopped to listen him with attention.

"Hey, how you doing?... Right now?!... Yeah, of course I can!... Ok, see you in ten minutes." He turned off the phone. "I need to go now."

"Who were you talking to?" Junkyu asked.

"No one. Let's play league of legends tonight?" He asked, in an attempt to change the subject. You were scrolling through your instagram, listening to everything.

"Let me see!" Junkyu stretched his hand, trying to catch his smartphone.

"No!" Jihoon exclaimed.

"Come on!" He got up and held the boy's arms, finally reaching the object. He unlocked the screen cause he knew his password. "Chae Hana?" He read it out loud. "So I am suffering and you are seeing someone behind my back?" Your finger stopped scrolling, when you heard that.

"Hey, it's not like that, ok?" He took his phone back. "I’m helping her with something."

"Sure... Helping with something." The dark haired boy said with malice. "I hope you're having fun while I'm not."

"Don't be overdramatic." Jihoon took off his stuff and stuck into his bag. "See you guys later." He said, leaving the apartment.

Your blood boiled watching that scene. You had no idea who that person was, let alone that Jihoon was seeing someone. You couldn't control yourself. You felt the absolute need to know what that was about.

"Who's Chae Hana?" You turned to Junkyu, asking him innocently.

"Chae Hana? She's a girl from Jihoon class. The one with blonde hair and bangs. I don't think you know her." He answered, with a suspicious expression. "Why're you asking?"

Your looked arount trying not to make it obvious cause you weren’t ready for this type of question. "No reason... I just wanted to know." You shrugged.

"Sure... but why?" His expression made it regret asking that question.

"I already answered."

"Why though?" He insisted.

"Geez, it's nothing! I just think I heard that name before. That's all." You said, checking your clock on the wall. "My class is starting soon. Will you skip yours again?" You sent him a worried glance.

"Yep." He shrugged.

"You're being irresponsible, Junkyu! You know that!" You took your books as you walked out before he could come back to the previous topic.

"Whatever." He murmured. "Anyway, if you see Jihoon, punch him for me."

"I would love to do that! Bye!" You closed the door, leaning on it after you locked it. Now you would rather punch yourself for being such an idiot.

Okay, so Jihoon was having a fling with a girl. So what? You were not friends, nor did you get along. He only were nice to you once, it doesn't mean he cares about you or anything, yet you were there suffering just like Junkyu. You knew you should never develop those kinds of feelings towards him and you hoped it was just a phase. All you needed to do was finding a distraction and to focus on yourself. Maybe attending your favorite class would be enough to make you forget about it.

Well, unfortunately you were deeply wrong.

Your class passed so slowly that some hours felt like days. You just couldn't concentrate properly. Your mind was prowling around the same subject the entire time. When it was finally time to go home, you left the classroom and strolled around campus hoping to find a little pink dot among all those students, then maybe you could talk and maybe his irritating way could make you remember why you despised him so much. For your disappointment, you've only managed to find Yoon Jaehyuk's dumb face.

"Y/N, there you are!" Said the least person you wanted to see, with a lollipop on his hand and a history book on another.

"Hey." You said, already feeling your energy being drowned.

"You know, I haven't talked to you later cause I was busy, but I still wanna know what you were doing in my gaming room that night So… What were you doing?" He questioned. You did not expect that, but Jaehyuk always had his ways to make you incredibly uncomfortable. You should've prepared yourself for this moment.

"Which night? Which room? I can't remember..." You scratched the top of your head, pretending to not understand in an attempt to fool him.

"You can't remember Park Jihoon?" He mocked.

"Wait, what's up with Jihoon?" You frowned your face.

He licked his blueish lollipop before talking again. You were so fucking anxious.

"Well, people saw you together." Jaehyuk said. "They told me he left the gaming room right before you did. I even heard that the two of you were running around the house holding hands and stuff. Is that true?"

You opened your mouth, but no words were able to leave. Jaehyuk looked at you like he was so superior and the worst part is thate you really felt like he was.

"So it's true..." He took a step forward, slightly nodding. "You and Jihoon are a thing right now?" He laughed. "Wow. That's unexpected…" He moved his lollipop to his mouth again. It infuriated you.

"I don't know who told you that, but they must be lying. We are not a thing and Jihoon is even seeing someone at the moment, also you know we don't get along. You thought you knew me better than anyone." You said, in the most serious tone ever.

"Hey, I'm just messing with you, okay?" He laughed, pretending he was kidding all of the time, so it would make him feel like he knows it all. "But, yeah, I have an idea of who he is seeing." He said, observing something behind you.

"You do?" You squeezed your eyebrows. Jaehyuk gestured for you to turn back and you did.

At the entrance of the campus you could see a blonde girl with bangs in a beautiful white dress leaning against the wall, next to her was Jihoon with a smile that almost made his eyes disappear. He seemed entertained by the young woman, you couldn’t help but feeling strange.

"Jihoon and Hana?! I’m not surprised. I always thought they had a good chemistry." Jaehyuk commented. "That's good for you, you know, maybe he'll finally let you breath."

Hana laughed so loudly that you could hear from where you were standing, she withdrew from her position and caressed Jihoon's arm, gesturing goodbye after that. Jihoon continued to smile while he watched the girl get in her car. When he walked back into the campus, he saw you facing him, your eyes met for a split of second, before you turned to Jaehyuk again.

"Well. That's good." You smiled, crossing your arms. "Now he can leave me and Junkyu alone."

"Yeah." He grinned. "Anyway, are you busy this weekend? I was thinking of throwing another party since my parents are still on vacation. It will not be as big as the last one though, just a few close friends. You should come over."

"I will think about it, thanks... I have to go now." You patted his shoulder, heading home right after. Obviously, you had no intention of going to his stupid party again.

Once you got home, you saw that Junkyu was completely focused on playing online games with some of his friends. You walked right past him without even saying hello and went straight to your bedroom. Your mind kept asking if you should let him know or not, but maybe it was not the right time. So you decided to keep it to yourself until you were sure. He had always been your comfort shoulder when you went through such confusing times. You knew you could trust and tell him everything without the fear of being judged. But this time it was different, after all Jihoon was his best friend too. And he didn’t tell you abou Dahee at first so now you were even.

The day after was a warm friday evening. You were gathering with your friends on the cold cement floor of a skate park. Hyunsuk made you and Junkyu leave your home for some picnic and skate near his house, he said some fresh air would be good to heal the boy's lovesickness. He didn’t knew about your own situation though, so inviting Jihoon was not a problem for him. So now you had to pretend it wasn't a problem for you as well. And to make it way more difficult, Jihoon was looking really, really good with his recently dyed black hair. You didn't remember him looking so fine with dark hair, the sun was reflecting on his head, making the blueish sub tone on his hair pop, you found it stunning, he should have done it before.

You watchend Hyunsuk and Yoshi as they got walked in your group’s direction, holding two bottles of wine each. Junkyu really loved wine, it was the only thing that could calm down his childish self. You, on the other hand, didn't like it at all, grapes were not really your thing in general, so when you saw Hyunsuk's bright green sunglasses and Yoshi's big smile coming over your direction with wine and nothing else, you knew you were in trouble.

"I didn’t know we were drinking today!" You pouted. The sun burned your eyes when you looked up at them. You didn't plan to get drunk, not only because wine was the only option, but mostly because you were too afraid of looking messy in front of Jihoon.

"Sweetie, I don't know about you, but I surely am drinking." Hyunsuk chirped, placing the bottles in the middle of the circle the six of you were forming. He sat between Junghwan and Jihoon while Yoshi kneeled down on his skateboard right by your side. "It's saturday! Exams are over! Let's enjoy it!"

Junkyu playfully poked you in the shoulder. "Guys, don't mind Y/N, she is acting weird these days." he mocked you. You rolled your eyes, grinning at him.

"I'm not being weird, you're just too sensitive these days!" You leaned over him, pinching his puffy cheeks. Your eyes switched to Jihoon in the process, only to find him fully focused on his phone screen.

Yoshi picked one of the bottles and easily opened it. "Geez, we forgot to bring cups!" He said.

"Just drink straight from the bottle. Who drinks wine in plastic cups anyway?" Junghwan protested, taking the bottle from the japanese and sipping directly from it.

"I do! What are you talking about?!" Junkyu contested. You leaned your head on his shoulder.

"The feeling is not the same! The taste is different…" They continued the argument.

Usually, Jihoon was the one leading these arguments and conversations in your group, usually making fun of everyone, but today he was quiet. You wondered why he was so distracted on his phone. Probably talking to Chae Hana. Your smile unconsciously faded at the thought.

"Guys, no one will need to share saliva with me today. I'm not drinking." You raised your hand, joking.

"Oh, you're not into wine, right?!" Hyunsuk remembered. "Damn, I totally forgot!" He cried.

"No! It's fine, really!" You said. "It's not because of the wine, I just don't feel like drinking alcohol."

"Well, then at least let me buy you something else, Sweetie. The convenience store is near-"

"I can go." Jihoon finally opened his mouth, interrupting the older boy. "I won't drink either." He tucked his phone in his pocket as his got up up on his feet.

The boys stared at him in shock. Jihoon declining alcohol was very unusual.

"Now, what happened with our Jihoon?" Yoshi pointed out.

"I know exactly what happened and it starts with a 'H'?" Junkyu laughed. "He wanna get clear for her tomorrow."

H as Hana... Okay, you get it.

"Yeah, it does start with a 'H', meaning my Head Hurts a lot." Jihoon said, then turned to you. "What would you want from the store, Y/N?"

To be honest you didn't want anything, but as he looked at you waiting for your response, your mind felt obligated to choose something to drink even if you couldn't decide. It would be better if you went there with him so you could choose it yourself and make him company in the process, but wouldn't it be suspect if you offered yourself to do so? What would the boys think?

It was so confusing. How do people act when they're interested in someone? Should they step back and wait for the other person to take actions or should they step forward and take actions themselves? And what if there is a third part?

"Y/N?" You blinked twice when your name was mentioned again. "What will you have?" He repeated.

"Uhm…" You hummed, thinking about your final decision. "I'm not quite sure... I think it’s better if I go with you so I can choose myself." You finally said getting up while brushing the dust off your clothes.

Jihoon nodded at your response, but didn't mind it at all. "Fine." The boy shrugged, walking away. It felt weird that he didn't make a joke.

You quickened your step to reach the him walking in front of you. He seemed looked distracted staring at the skaters around. Something you have noticed about Jihoon that evening is that he didn't bring his longboard to the park, which was unusual because you knew skating was one of his favorite hobbies since he tried to teach Junkyu more than once, but it never worked out since Junkyu was not interested enough. Maybe that's why he looked so hypnotized by wathcing the other skaters surf around.

"Watch out!" Someone screamed as they passed by you, almost hitting you.

"Hey!" You screamed back. "Damn it…"

The convenience store was indeed close, just a few more steps and you arrived there. Jihoon greeted the employee and went straight to the freezer, you followed him quietly as he chose what to pick. His expression was closed up and he seemed distant. Something was off, you could tell, and it was making you freak out inside. He shouldn't be acting like that, he shouldn't be sad.

"Where's your longboard?" You decided to ask, trying to change the mood a little bit.

He searched through the beverages, taking an orange juice. "I broke it." He answered, playing with the can, throwing it in the air and catching it with his hand.

You pressed your lips together. "Sorry about that…" That was definitely not the right question to change the mood.

"It's fine, I don't even like it that much." He shrugged. You knew something was wrong, and it could’ve only be that.

"I don't believe in you." You snorted. His eyes keep focused on his soda going up and down, avoiding making eye contact with you.

Again, he threw it up and down.

"Why?" He arched one of his eyebrows. At some point you started to follow the can as well.

Up and down.

"Because you were watching those skaters like a little child who wants to join them." You pointed it out.

Up.

"Since when do you pay attention to me?" He inquired with a straight face.

Down.

"I don't, you were just too obvious." You shut your face as well. Jihoon was trying to provoke you, but you would try your best to not fall for his tricks.

Up.

"Am I that easy to read?" He continued, still looking at the juice flying in the air.

And… do-

You extended your hand, catching the can before it could land on his palm.

"No, you're just an asshole who's not being yourself today." You spoke seriously.

Jihoon's vision finally slided from the can to your face. Your muscles tensed as he advanced towards, placing his hand above yours.

"Am I the only one though?" He asked, gently taking the soda back from you, with your fingers slightly touching just like the day prior on your living room. He proceeded to the cashier, without waiting for you.

You quicly opened the freezer on your left and took the first item on the shelf, running torwards the register and placing the product on the balcony. Jihoon took it in his hands and place it with his orange juice.

"Let me pay for it!" You told him.

"No." Jihoon said, immediately handing the money to the worker. He flew away out of the store before you could protest.

"Hey, I wanted to pay for mine." You told as you closed the door and ran to the tiny parking lot. Jihoon was standing there waiting for you.

"Don't worry." He stood against the wall, taking a few sips of his drink.

You quieted yourself, thinking about the words he said. Was him feeling something wrong about you too? You knew you were feeling different, but did other people notice that? You mirrored Jihoon as you leaned through the wall.

"What do you even mean?" You suddenly asked, expressing your thoughts.

"Hum?"

"I said that you're not being yourself and you answered 'Am I the only one?'. What do you mean?"

He turned to look at you you, now his right shoulder was against the wall instead of his back

"Jaehyuk invited you to his party, right?" He questioned seriously. Staring you down.

"Yes." You answered.

"Good to know. I see you there then." He said, ready to go back to the skate park.

"What? I’m not going." You affirmed and he stopped his track.

"Why? Aren't you getting along?" He implied, visibly annoyed.

You frowned your eyebrow. "What?! No."

"Really?! I thought so, since I saw the two of you looking at me like you were gossiping or something, and right when you left, he came to me and invited me to his party as well and said you were going together!"

"Well, you're clearly wrong." You said. "First of all, he came to talk to me out of nowhere. Second, I didn't know he was going to invite you, okay?" You yelled.

“That’s crazy knowing that when I mentioned that Dahee was tasteless because she likes him you said you are tasteless too.”

“Oh my god, do you even realized what you’re saying? I was only trying to know why you were down and then you come and try to change the topic!” You argued. "So what it you were right? What if I was going there with Jaehyuk? Why would you fucking care?"

"Because you shouldn't trust him and you know that!"

"What's wrong with you?" You groaned. "Since when do you care about me?" You murmured, rolling your eyes.

"I do care." He stated. "I think I made it obvious at that last party." Your stare ran back to him.

You were left speechless. He really said you could count on him, but you didn't take his words seriously. That made you feel heavy. Silence was placed between the two of you. His presence felt intense, to the point you couldn't breathe properly.

You wanted to kiss him. You wanted to kiss him so bad that you froze, your hands got weak, your blood circulation intensified, and your ears got red, and you hoped your hair was enough to cover it. Jihoon was close, very close, his slightly parted lips were right in front of you. For some reason you always felt like something magnetic happened between you, even if you didn't like each other, everytime you were together, the two of you eventually would get close to each other.

You could easily kiss him right now and you felt like a force was pushing you towards the boy, but a voice inside your head was telling you not to.

You closed your eyes and breathed. "The last thing I wanna do is get along with Yoon Jaehyuk again." You talked slowly, turning your head away. "He came to talk to me because he said some people saw us together and he asked me if we were in a relationship or something."

Jihoon listened to everything carefully before speaking. "And what did you say?"

"That we are not, of course."

You were expecting some big reaction, but he simply took the last sip of his drink and threw it on the trashcan after he finished. "Cool." he shrugged, stepping away as he headed back to your friends.

You looked right at him and down at the Iced Tea you picket ar the store, you didn't even enjoy that flavor.

Shit... you should make better decisions.

"Wake up, Y/N! The alarm clock is ringing!" Junkyu sang from the other side of your room’s door, waking you up.

You got up from your fluffy pillow and took your phone, the room was cold and dark and you were feeling dizzy. The day before passed so fast that you couldn't even reason if what happened was a dream or not. The light of your phone screen turned on and the first thing you saw was a picture from the skate park. So it was not a dream after all…

The memory of Jihoon's lips centimeters apart from you haunted your brain. You touched your mouth, thinking about how he would feel against you, what would he taste like.

"Y/N, where are you?" Junkyu sang again, bumping on your door.

"Why does he have to be so happy all the time?" You commented to yourself. "Wait…"

You jumped out of your room and ran to the boy that danced in the living room.

"Are you feeling happy again?!" You asked, holding his shoulders.

"I am!" He smiled, the bright and large smile you missed so much, but something was wrong, you could feel it.

You hugged him. "Finally! But what happened? There must be a reason for that, am I right?"

"Uhm…" He broke the hug and started to walk to the kitchen. "Actually, you're right… Dahee texted me."

"Dahee?" Your shoulders dropped. That name didn't give you good vibes at all, especially because it automatically resembled you of Jaehyuk and the way they almost ate each other right in front of you… and Jihoon.

"Yes, she said she's been thinking about me and asked me to go to a party with her tonight!"

"A party tonight?... I don't know about any other party besides Jaehyuk's." You commented, scratching the top of your head.

"It is Jaehyuk's." He murmured.

"Oh…" You sat down at the kitchen table, clearly uncomfortable. "So you and the girl you like are going together to a party, which the host is the boy she kissed some weeks ago?"

"Yeah." He shrugged.

"And are you okay with that?"

"I am." He nodded. "Hey, don't worry." He said, placing a light peck on your hair. "I can ta-"

Suddenly, a knock was heard from the front door, followed by the sound of it agressively being opened and heavy fast steps to the kitchen. You already knew who it was.

"Kim Junkyu, are you stupid?" Jihoon screamed as he reached the kitchen door.

"Oh, no..." Junkyu murmured.

"You're being so dumb right now!"

"I gotta go..." You whispered as you moved from your seat.

"No, you don't!" Jihoon blocked your passage. "We saw it all, Y/N. Tell him!"

"I already did..." You managed to avoid eye contact with him, still thinking about what happened the yesterday.

"Guys!" Junkyu echoed. "It's fine!" He raised his hands. "I am an adult, I need to take care of my own stuff. It was a mistake asking for your help and I will give her another shot, but all by myself this time."

Jihoon took a deep breath. "Okay."

"Okay?!" Junkyu frowned. Jihoon accepting things that easily was not very common.

"Yeah… Just… Do your thing, or whatever."

Junkyu eyeballed you, as if he was waiting for your opinion.

"You don't need my approval, you know."

"Thank you, guys! That means a lot to me!" Junkyu smiled. "By the way, do you want breakfast? I'm gonna cook some eggs and... maybe bacon? An american style breakfast, how about that?" He went to the refrigerator, picking all the ingredients needed.

"Sure. I love bacon…" Jihoon said.

You came back to where you sat before, Jihoon occupied the chair in front of you. You tried to convince yourselft that you were fine, but the atmosphere said otherwise. For some reason, Jihoon seemed uneasy, unlocking and locking his phone screen constantly. You couldn't say if it was because of Junkyu or something else.

"Me and Y/N are going too." Jihoon spoke.

"Uhm?" Junkyu turned around in surprise. “Really?”

"Yes! Yesterday Y/N said she was invited but didn't wanna to go alone because of… of her ex?! You know…" He continued, creating a whole new story. "I said, 'Hey maybe we can go together, since Junkyu is not going because of Dahee and your... ex.' and Y/N was like 'Yeah, that would be good, so we can know each other better and forget the past' and… yeah... That's how it went. We are going." Jihoon looked at you, as if he was waiting for you to help him build up that storyline.

"So we can forget the past… Yeah, that's exactly how it went…" You faked your smile.

Junkyu crossed his arms and pursued his lips. "Is it a date?" He asked.

"What?! No, no!" You screamed loudly.

"We are knowing each other! Knowing each other!" Jihoon exclaimed. Your voices overlapped each other.

"Wow…. Guys, that's really cool! It means a lot to me that the two of you are finally getting alo-" He paused, feeling a strong smell of burning eggs. "OH NO! THE EGGS!" He turned back to the stove.

You cleaned your throat, standing up. "I need to go to the library to return some books."

"But what about your breakfast?" Junkyu cried.

"I'm not hungry, but thank you, Kyu!" You eye-smiled.

"I can drive you if you want." Jihoon spoke.

"I don't want, thanks." You cut him off, heading inside to get yourself ready to leave.

You put on a random sweater and a pair of boots. To be honest, you didn't have any books to return, that was just an excuse to get out of your house as quickly as possible. Why would Jihoon offer to drive you? Why would he invite you to the party? Couldn't he leave you alone? Even if he didn't know your feelings, he should just leave, that way it would be easier for you to ignore your heart, after all, it was inevitable not to think about what happened the day before.

"Since when do you care about me?"

"I do care. I think I made it obvious at the last party."

Shit… You couldn't stop thinking about him.

"Y/N?" A voice came through the door. Jihoon’s voice.

"I don't wanna talk." You affirmed.

"You’re going to the part, right?" Jihoon pleaded. "I'm afraid she's playing with Junkyu's feelings."

You sighed, walking close to the door. "Where's him?" You asked, referring to Junkyu.

"Bathroom."

You opened the door, immediately facing the boy.

"Jihoon, I'm gonna be honest with you. I don't know if I really wanna go. Junkyu said he can deal with that and I don't wanna spend my night babysitting a grown ass man. And by the way, I didn't forget how you treated me yesterday."

You were about to go back inside, but Jihoon didn't let you close the door again, holding it with his feet.

"It's not... completely about Junkyu...” He confessed. “Didn't you have fun last time? Even though we were inside of a locker, with almost no air to breathe, it was one of the parties that I enjoyed the most. It was so fucking fun." He said, smiling largely. He sounded like a kid.

"So you liked playing spy?" You laughed.

He scratched his neck. "Yeah, but I also told the truth in the kitchen... I said I wanna know you better and I really do."

"Actually, you said that I said that to you." You corrected it.

"Right…" He rolled his eyeballs. "But now I'm the one saying." He extended his hand. "So what do you say?"

You looked at his fingers pointed to your direction and decided to give it a shot. "See you there." You answered, closing the door without holding his hand.

"Well, thanks for being polite!" He said ironically, going back to the kitchen.

You laid down on your bed with an indescribable excitement surrounding you, your hands took the closest pillow and placed it over your face, giving the loudest shout of victory you could give. You wished you had someone to share the news, but unfortunately you didn't want Junkyu to know that you were happy about it, it was a matter of pride. You wondered if Hyunsuk would hear you without judging you? Nah… Maybe it was smarter to keep it to yourself.

What should you wear? Something cute? Something sexy? Maybe both? You knew you had to look effortlessly pretty, but you didn't find yourself pretty even when you put effort on it, all of that thanks to the boy in eighth grade who made fun of your teeth, but it's fine because he probably looks weird and lonely right now, while you were going to hang out with the boy you like.

You opted for a vintage look, a white 90's tee and a black miniskirt, paired with black boots and your favorite tights. It was nothing out of your comfort zone, but you felt like it enhanced your curves. For your makeup, you choose a light blue eyeshadow with a red lipstick to give you that fancy look.

"Wow, Y/N, you look effortlessly pretty!" Junkyu said when he saw you. Does he read minds?

"Oh, really? I wore the first thing I found." You bragged, obviously lying. "You do look really cute too, Dahee is gonna fall in love." You complimented him, this time telling the truth. He was wearing a blue t-shirt paired with baggy black jeans, it was nothing fancy, since Junkyu liked to make it simple, but it suited his style.

"Wow! Thank you very much, madam!" Junkyu said, pleased. "Shall we go?"

"Let's go!"

You stepped out of your uber, watching Jaehyuk's huge house. The feeling was different from the other times you went there. Your hands were sweaty and the heels of your boots were making you lose your balance, and you weren't even drunk. You could tell Junkyu was feeling the same since he also couldn't manage to step inside the house. Unfortunately, you had to be the determined person this time, so you pushed him inside, scaring the shit out of him.

"Y/N, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" He screamed, surprised and paralyzed when he saw how many people were in there. Jaehyuk told it was a close friends party, but apparently he changed his plans. "I… I think we should go home. Jihoon was right, Dahee is not that trustable…"

"You're being a coward!" You exclaimed, then realizing that you were in the same situation as him. "You know what? I agree! Let's come back home!" You changed your mind instantly.

"Look who just arrived!" A pair of arms held you and your friend from behind. "My best friend and my new friend!" Jihoon looked at both of you. Damn, he looked so good.

"Hey, Jihoon, nice to see you. Uhm, by the way, me and Y/N just changed our minds and we are going home!" Junkyu exclaimed nervously, taking the boy’s arms off his shoulders. "Or maybe we can go somewhere else... McDonald's?" He looked at you.

"Ooh, I want a milkshake!" You agreed, raising your hand.

"You're not going anywhere!" Jihoon protested, putting your hand down with the arm Junkyu just took out of himself, while his right arm was still around you. Now it looked like he was hougging you, cause he kept his hands in yours. "Junkyu, go find your girl! Me and me and Y/N are going to… hum… walk around! BYE." He pulled you further into the house.

While you passed through the crowd, you received several suspicious looks from the people around you. Park jihoon and Y/N together, walking around holding each other. Something must be wrong. And maybe it was, but you were not complaining.

"We are acting suspicious." You told him. Jihoon didn't seem to be bothered at all. "They are looking at us!"

"Who?" He asked.

"Everyone..." You answered, looking around and noticing your classmates gossiping about you.

"Fuck them!" Jihoon slightly squeezed your hand. "Why is your hand so damn cold?" The PDA was making you nervous, it wasn't bad, but you and Jihoon had nothing going on. You were afraid that you were being too delusional, the way you loved how Jihoon's embrace felt on your skin made you feel like a fool. Was he doing this because he liked you, or does he act like this with everyone else?

"What are we gonna do?" You asked when he directed you to the dance floor. He swirled you around, letting you go away from his arms.

"We need to wait, Dahee is not here yet!" You finally could see him. He was wearing a light beige short sleeve shirt, with some buttons open, matched with black jogger pants, black converse shoes and a fanny pack hanging around his chest. You never saw Jihoon looking so beautiful. "Do you dance?" He asked.

"Only in my room." He laughed at your answer.

"Oh my God!" Hyunsuk suddenly came across you. By his singing voice and dumb smile, you could tell he was already drunk. "Sweetie, I didn't know you were coming!"

"I didn't know you were coming either!" You gave him a big hug, but carefully, trying not to spill his drink.

"Hey, can I have that?" Jihoon asked, taking Hyunsuk’s cup to himself.

"Of course, man. We got a lot more of these." You broke the hug. "The other boys are here too. Yoshi is playing beer pong, and Junghwan is… actually, I don't know where he is, but he's around! Anyway, let's meet later, okay?" He said, leaving the two of you as and waving goodbye.

You laughed at Hyunsuk's extra mood.

Jihoon took a sip of his mysterious drink and offered you. "Do you want?"

"What is that?" You questioned, glaring at the green plastic cup.

"I have no idea." He laughed out loud. "But it tastes good!" He handed it over you.

You stared at his cute face for a few seconds before taking the object from his hands and drinking it without hesitation, just to feel the most bitter flavor you've ever tasted before.

"Ew, what is that?" You screamed. "You said it tastes good!"

Jihoon bursted into laughter.

"Oh my God! I'm gonna kill you, Park Jihoon!" You said.

"Oh, no, please have mercy on me!" He mocked you, holding his hands up.

"I really wanna punch you right now!"

"Ok, punch me! I dare you!" The boy said, playfully leaning in your direction. Of course, you would rather give a peck in his cute cheeks.

You palmed his face and slightly pushed him away. "Get out, dork."

"Not related, but, you know, when I first met you, I thought you and Hyunsuk dated." Jihoon said, changing the subject.

"Really?" You tilted your head. He nodded in response. "Why?" You asked.

"I don't know, he always called you sweetie, so I thought it was, like, a boyfriend and girlfriend thing." He said, scratching the back of his neck. "Why does he call you that?"

"Oh, it's actually a weird story!" You said. Although you were on the dance floor, you couldn't focus on dancing at all. "But basically, I was at Hyunsuk's house with the boys and we wanted to make a surprise for Yoshi's birthday. So we decided to bake a cake. Everything was going well, until I tried to get the sugar from the shelf and I accidentally dropped it and got myself entirely covered in sugar. Hyunsuk made so much fun of me! He started to call me sweetie as an irony, but then he kept calling me that for some months and we just got used to it." You explained.

"Now that makes sense... Kinda." He laughed out loud. "Hyunsuk really cheers for you, you know? He’s a very good friend." He said.

"He's a good friend to everyone…" You half smiled.

"What I mean is." He stepped so you could hear him better. "There's a lot of people for you, Y/N… You're not alone in the world." He just said it, then quickly changed the subject to other stuff. Little did he know what those simple words meant to you.

You and Jihoon kept messing around talking about a bunch of random stuff. You were so distracted by each other that you didn't see Junkyu and Dahee even once. As you watched him laughing, you remembered a place that could be funny for hanging out together. You opened your mouth to speak, but wasn't sure if it was a good idea after all.

"What?" Jihoon asked, arching an eyebrow at you.

"What?" Your eyes widened.

"You were about to say something but you hesitated. I saw it." He pointed at your face.

"No, I didn't." You shift glances around.

"Yes you did." He declared. "Definitely."

You slowly looked back to his playful expression as he waited for you to say what you had in mind.

"Fine." You gave up. "Do you wanna see my favorite room in the house?"

Answers were not needed, his eyes said everything. So you guided him down to the hall on the first floor, to the small door closed with a digital lock. Before entering the password, you hesitated, but decided to open the it, quickly letting him in and closing it up again.

"Do all rooms have these fancy locks?" He questioned.

"Nah, just the cool ones." You said and Jihoon turned over to look around.

It was a very expensive area. Even when you dated Jaehyuk, you never went to that room a lot. All of the ambient was built in dark brown wood, there were some really comfortable chairs placed around the pool and a mini bar with the most refined drinks in the corner. But the pool filled most of the space. Of course you were planning to hang around the bar for a mini karaoke session.

When you noticed, Jihoon's mouth was already dropped. "An indoor pool?!" He gasped.

"Yeah, and there's also a bar area with a karaoke machine!" You pointed to the left, but he seemed too impressed by the pool, even though swimming wasn't what you were planning to do.

"Who cares about karaoke? Let's swim!" He walked towards the water. "Is that a tiny waterfall? No way…" Jihoon was having the time of his life.

"You wanna swim?" You followed his steps. Of course who wouldn't want to swim in this big warm pool? You just were expecting to hang around the bar and sing in the karaoke.

He shrugged. "You don't?"

"I don't have a swimsuit right now." You mumbled, feeling embarrassed.

"And do I look like I do?" He questioned ironically.

"How would I know?" You laughed nervously, caressing your own arm. It wasn't a pool party, so of course he didn't.

"Hey, hand me your bag for a minute." He requested and you innocently handed it to him.

Without saying anything, he threw your bag and his fanny pack on the floor, right before picking you up and jumping into the pool. The first thing you could feel as you hit the water wasn't the water itself, but his hands around your back. You opened your eyes into the deep pool and saw his closed eyes as he swam up holding you. It was like you were watching a slow motion video.

As you reach the surface, he opened his eyes and smiled.

"Your hair is all over your face." He chuckled, gently moving your locks away asyou let go of him.

"What do we do if we get caught?" You whispered softly. "Now we are soaked!"

"We run." Jihoon smiled and you splashed water on him.

"I'm serious! We would be so screwed!" You cried out loud. “Jaehyuk is already mad at us!”

"Trust me, I will take you in my arms and run away with all of my lungs!" He joked. "Do you know what's funny? We still have our shoes on." He said and your eyes popped out.

"MY SHOES!" You screamed, taking them off immediately and throwing it away. "Hey, what about Junkyu?" You changed the subject, you couldn't walk around the house soaked in water to check on him again.

"Hum… Maybe we could let Junkyu work this out." He mumbled. "I mean, he said he could do it by himself, so…"

"But I thought you were worried about him." You frowned your eyebrows. He invited you to look out for Junkyu so you could have fun with each other while doing it. Was this his way to say he doesn't wanna hang out with you anymore?

Jihoon looked up, feeling kinda embarrassed about what he was about to tell. "I… lied." He coughed.

"What?!" You tilted your head in confusion.

The boy sighed, unable to look in your eyes. "I didn't ask you to come because of Junkyu, I mean, I'm still mad at him for being so fucking dumb, but that's not the reason… I actually just wanted an excuse to be there with you."

"An excuse?... Why?" You questioned, feeling quite apprehensive.

He looked away, embarrassed of himself. "I realized that I like being with you." He vented. "But I thought you were mad at me, so I didn't know how to do it." You noticed his ears being colored in a warm tone of pink. Now, that was the true surprise for you.

You blink twice, not really sure if you have heard things right. "You… You could've just invited me I-"

"You wouldn't come. I know you're upset with me." He added. "I'm sorry." Then you remembered the day before. At how rude he was with no reason at all.

You turned your head down. "You were really cold…" You whispered. "That was the first time I saw you being rude with me. Even if we had our differences, you never treated me like that."

Jihoon sighed, swimming into your personal space. "Hey, you know that I was jealous, right?" He placed his cold hand on your face, caressing your cheek with his finger.

"I dont care. You're an idiot." Even if you were talking like that, your body couldn't get angry, so you leaned in his touch. "You were so insensitive! I was just worried about you and you were mad at me for nothing." You murmured.

"I wasn't mad at you." He moved your chin up, making you look him in the eyes. "I was mad at me because I thought you were getting back with Jaehyuk, before I even had the courage to ask you out. And I was mad at Junkyu for saying I was into another girl in front of you.”

“Oh right... Hana...” You mumbled.

“There’s nothing between us! The thing is, Hana is gay and I was just helping her to come out!" He finally told the truth. So he was being a good friend all of this time and you and the boys misjudged him. “I like you okay? I like you a lot, you have no idea. I would never look at anyone else.”

"I don't care." You turned your head away, pretending you were still mad, but you know you couldn't hide your burning ears due to his proximity.

"See? I just confessed my feelings to you and you're still upset with me." He spoke sweetly.

"I wasn't upset anymore, until you remind me why I was upset... So the blame is on you." You groaned.

"Do you like me more than a friend?" He asked.

"Yes." You crossed your arms. "Why do you think I was worried about you?" You murmured.

Jihoon let a tiny laugh escape, as he leaned on you, snuggling his head over your shoulder. "Stop being moody." He whispered, wrapping his arms around your waist.

"You're embarassing." You touched his shoulders.

"I really like you." You felt his nose brushing through the skin of your neck, sending shivers through your spine.

You smiled to yourself. Who were you lying to? You couldn't get mad at him.

"Me too..." You admitted.

So he placed a peck on your skin, and then another one, trailing kisses from your neck up to your face, making your heart beat like crazy. The pool was cold, but his lips were burning hot. The water from his hair drippin over your skin.

Jihoon stopped himself to look you in the eyes, as if he was waiting for your permission, so you nodded and he leaned in, sealing your lips together. It was an amazing feeling, Jihoon lips were soft and tasted like alcohol and candy.

He grinned and slipped his hand to your thight, so you took the opportunity to straddle him and cross your arms around his neck. He shifted from kissing your mouth to plant tiny kisses around your face. Everything was so deep and slow, as if he waited his whole life to do this and needed to savor every second.

The last thing you remember was you and Jihoon running to his car as fast as you could, in an attempt to not be spotted by someone else. Honestly, you think you did a good job. By the time you left, probably the whole party was wasted and people were not giving a shit about anyone anymore, so it was very easy. You came to your house and cleaned yourself, then you went to sleep, not courageous enough to deal with Jihoon after.

You couldn't stop thinking about what happened between you and him. It didn't feel real and it didn't feel right. You just couldn't believe the fact that he liked you more than an enemy or more than a friend. You knew him for about two years and all of these feelings were so new that it scares you. You didn't want to be just a body for someone again, you wanted a real connection, and even if Jihoon made you fall for him, you were not sure if it was the right decision.

You took your handphone, seeing some messages by Jihoon. You were so nervous, you had to rewrite your answer a hundred times.

Park Jihoon: Hey, I had to go to class and I didn't wanna wake you up... Can we meet up later? Btw your bedroom’s door was open this morning and you’re a very ugly sleeper. Nah just kidding u cute

You: I always knew you were kinda creep, but watching me sleep? Weirdo…… Yeah let’s meet up, i really wanna talk :)

You messaged him back and laid on your bed.

What should I do?...

"So how was your date?" You asked Junkyu, who was sitting across you on the table of the coffee shop located down your university street. Both of you wore sunglasses to hide your hangover, now you wonder why someone would do a party on a sunday.

He poured sugar into his coffee. "It was so-so. To be honest, Jihoon was kinda right, we didn't really click that much."

"Wait, what did she do? I swear if she mess up with you I will drag her face on the floor and-"

"Calm down, Y/N. Dahee is fine, she's just different. We don't like the same stuff and have nothing in common." He commented. "And also... she wanted to hook up with me and you know I like to take things slower. At some point we just went to hang with different groups and I haven't seen her after."

"Shit… I'm sorry." You sighed.

"I'm okay. Can't believe I cried for her." He laughed. "What about you? When I came home Jihoon was sleeping on the couch."

"Oh… We… Had a good time." You looked down to your chocolate cake. "But anyway… l Sometime at the party, I went to the indoor pool with someone…" You said it like it had nothing to do with Jihoon.

"Wait- THE INDOOR POOL?!" He screamed, then noticed the other people from the cafe staring at him. "I love that pool, geez, you should have called me."

"I thought you were with Dahee, dummy." You standed your hand to pinch his cheeks. "But it's not about that. I was with this guy and… He said he liked me… and we might had sex in the pool…"

Junkyu almost spilled his coffee. "You what?! With who?"

"You don't know him!" You lied. "The matter is, it felt really good and I think I like him too…"

"This is getting interesting."

"But I feel like I shouldn't have done this so early… You know why…" You told him. And junkyu nodded, cause he knew more than anyone about your insecurities. The fear of being left out.

"Y/N, why don't you talk to him? If he really likes you, he will understand." Junkyu continued. "Otherwise I will call the guys to beat him up! Even Jihoon and Mashiho since they're the strongest ones."

You laughed out loud. If only he knew.

"Yeah… You're right. Thank you, Junkyu." You sincerely smiled.

"Anything for my best friend. But I'm really hurt that you didn't talk about him before! You should introduce him to me!"

"I will!" You laughed. "I'm going to class, see you later!" You waved and he waved back.

You haven't visited the university dormitory many times, since you lived in a slightly larger apartment just a few meters away from this location. But you didn't remember it being that small. Now after so long, you could understand why Jihoon spent so much time at your apartment. You waited for him in front of his door while Jihoon needed to stay in class for a while, solving some problems with his essay. He didn't let you wait so long though, soon enough you spotted him at the end of the corridor, proudly walking to you.

"Hey!" He said casually, placing his arm over your shoulder.

"Hi, you seem happy." You acknowledged. "What happened?'

He took his keys from his pocket and opened the door. "What do you think?" He asked, making your mind go back to the day before. He entered inside his room with you and closed the door.

"Hum, let me guess… You saw Chae Hana in your way here?" You teased him just to receive a mortal glare.

"So you're still jealous, huh?" He pressed his hands on your hips. Jihoon has always been confident, unlike you, who were almost freaking out.

"I'm just messing with you." You murmured, feeling nervous at how Jihoon held you.

He didn't need to take a second look to realize something was off. "You don't need to lie to me, Y/N." He whispered seriously. "What's on your mind?"

You looked down your feet, sensing his deep eyes stabbing your body. You know you were a bad liar, but Jihoon always seemed to read every tiny thing you did with perfection. It was time to just be honest with him.

"We need to talk." You took a step back and a very long breath. Just speak your feelings. "I'm scared…" You confessed. "I'm scared because… Every day, I wake up thinking everyone will leave me at some point… that I will be used while I am useful and then I will be thrown away… For all of this time, Junkyu was the only one I could really rely on, but when you came around I was sure he was preparing himself to leave too. That's why I ignored you and missed the opportunity to know how sweet and amazing you are… Jihoon, I like you. I really do. But I wanna be serious about whatever is going on between us, and it's completely fine if you don't feel the same, I just don't wanna feel scared anymore, so please be honest…"

Jihoon nodded, taking a step back as well, respecting your personal space. He leaned on his small study table and looked you deep into your eyes.

"Remember when we first met? Junkyu invited me to your apartment, saying I should meet his roommate/best friend. At first I thought I would find a dude, but it was you. Man, I tried so hard to be nice with you, but you cut me off every single time I spoke, you remember that? I was so annoyed at first, but then I came home and I couldn't stop thinking about you… I never stopped. I think about you everyday since I saw you for the first time. You're smart, confident, strong… sometimes scary… but you're also sweet, funny, caring, sensitive." He smiled to himself. "My feelings ain't new, Y/N. It has always been you."

You started to feel your tears rolling down your face, not sad, but happy ones. "Are you being honest?"

"More than ever." He said. "I am serious about you. So do you wanna be my girlfriend?"

You runned and hugged him, borrowing your face on his chest. "More than ever."

— Special Scene

"Did something happen?" Junkyu asked, feeling anxious about the sudden meeting.

You and Jihoon called him to make an announcement about your new relationship. You were afraid because you had no idea of how he would react. Now he was sitting on the sofa of your living room. You and your boyfriend stood right in front of him.

"Say something, I'm nervous!" He begged.

"Yeah, something happened…" You said with caution, trying to choose the most natural way to reveal the news. "Junkyu, it's complicated but-"

"Me and Y/N are dating!" Jihoon simply announced. Without making big dramas or speeches.

"Oh!" Junkyu released all the air he held in his lungs, relieved. "Thank God! I thought Y/N was pregnant or something!"

"Wait, so you're not surprised?" You asked, really confused.

"Of course not?! You think I'm dumb, but the two of you are even dumber than me! Both of you came telling me the same pool story and thought I wouldn't find out!" He bursted into laughing, leaving you completely blown away.

"I can’t believe we were fooled by Kim Junkyu..." You said, shell-shocked.

“I feel backstabbed.” Jihoon added. “Ok, let’s leave this traitor alone. Wanna have some coffee?”

"Jihoon idiot! Y/N idiot! Idiot couple!" Junkyu mocked you. "Wait, I want coffee too!"

You laughed. "Come on, idiot Junkyu!"

#treasure #yg treasure #treasure maker #treasure scenarios #treasure imagines #park jihoon #jihoon #jihoon scenarios #park jihoon scenarios #kpop scenarios #park jihoon imagines #jihoon imagines #jihoon smut #jihoon fluff #teume

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renjuseyo · 4 years ago

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I'm the one that ask about poly. I want to make request now if you're okay with it about male reader jihoon and seungcheol. Seungcheol being jealous when reader babied jihoon even though Seungcheol get it most of the time. While jihoon hate it when reader doing that but only whine and do nothing at all. Reader didn't stop because he know Jihoon enjoy it and also watching Seungcheol pouting and making a fuss is one of his entertainment.

pay attention to me ; s.coups & woozi

group: seventeen

pairing: choi seungcheol / lee jihoon / reader (male)

synopsis: just because seungcheol’s dating you two doesn’t make him less jealous when you direct your attention to jihoon, even if he always receives your pampering.

genre: fluff

i hope you liked this anon! i think this is a very cute prompt, and i had fun playing with jicheol’s dynamics. i kind of lost inspo if you couldn’t tell though lol... anyways, feedback is always appreciated!! ^^

age order goes as: seungcheol > reader > jihoon

jihoon: i won’t be home until late, so don’t wait up for me [11:58 PM]

that was sent to you and seungcheol four hours ago. seeing how seungcheol had gotten off work at a decent time (if you consider ten-thirty decent) compared to usual, you had assumed it would be the same for jihoon, too. apparently not.

normally, by the time the clock strikes three am, you would be fast asleep, squished between seungcheol and jihoon. but instead, you’re parking your car outside of the pledis building, with seungcheol struggling to stay awake in the passenger seat. “you know, i could’ve driven here instead,” the older offers, yawning.

you roll your eyes, pushing your door open. “don’t be ridiculous. you can barely keep your eyes open, and you’ve worked all day. driving is the least i could do.”

you two step out of your car. after locking it, you begin walking towards the studio. the dim glow of the lamp posts and the faint twinkle of the stars are your only guides to the entryway, and you’re reminded once again just how late it is when you take in your surroundings. not a single sound can be heard, and the sky above you is blanketed black. what in the world is jihoon doing so late?

(well, there’s only one thing he could be doing this late. but most importantly, why? the members of seventeen are supposed to have the weekend off, so he has plenty of time to finish up any projects.)

once seungcheol unlocks the door, you two trudge inside, yawning. it takes a few minutes for you both to find jihoon’s studio, but it isn’t hard to spot. in the dark hallway, there’s only one room lit up, with a blue, fluorescent light splashing its walls. you glance at the small window, and just as you had suspected, your boyfriend is perched on his chair, hunched over his desktop.

luckily his door isn’t locked, so seungcheol twists the doorknob and pulls it open. the intrusion startles jihoon, evident by the way he flinches in his seat. when he spins around, you frown at the weary look on his face. the bright blue of his room highlights his eye bags, and you can see him struggling to stay awake. “what are you two doing here? you should be asleep,” he says.

you stride towards him, eyebrows furrowed. “that’s what we should be saying. do you have any idea what time it is? you’re supposed to be at home with us.” seungcheol nods in agreement, probably too tired to engage himself in a conversation.

“not until i finish this,” the younger protests, gesturing at his monitor. you peek behind him to look at what’s pulled up, and unsurprisingly, there’s a new project loaded up, probably one of the songs he’s working on for seventeen’s next album. “management said i have to get this done by next week.” he glances at the clock. “plus, it’s only three am. i’ve had less sleep.”

“by less sleep you mean no sleep,” you correct, propping your hands on your hips. you almost look the part of a disappointed parent. “that’s so bad for you, you know.”

“hoon, we have this weekend off. you can work on it then,” seungcheol replies, yawning. “come sleep with us. anyone with a pair of eyes can tell that you’re tired.”

jihoon rolls his eyes, but the yawn that leaves his throat is evidence enough. “i’m just fine. i already downed a whole bottle of soda, anyways.”

you tiredly trudge over to him, tugging at his sleeve. he raises a questioning eyebrow, but he doesn’t say anything as you drag him over to the couch by the wall. “hoonie, you’ve been up since six am. it’s not good for babies to sleep so late.”

he flushes at the implications, frowning. it ends up looking more like a pout, though, further proving your point. “i’m not a baby. you’re acting like one right now,” he protests.

you pull him onto the couch, arms trapping him. “but you’re the youngest, so you’re the baby. right, cheol?”

instead of agreeing with you, the oldest of you three pouts, flopping down beside you. “that’s no fair, (name). both hoonie and i worked today, so why are you only babying him?” he whines. for someone who’s supposed to be the oldest, he sure craves attention like a child.

you wave a dismissive hand, scooting over so seungcheol has more room. this causes you and jihoon to squish even closer together, and as discomforting as it is for all three of you, no one makes any moves to go to a more comfortable area. but then again, you three usually wound up like this more often than not, so you all stopped minding altogether. “hush, cheol. we cuddled for like, an hour when we were home. hoonie hasn’t had anyone to take care of him yet.”

jihoon rolls his eyes, pressed against your chest. “i’m right here, you know.” as much as he dislikes skinship, he’s too tired to move, and your embrace is comforting, though he’d never admit it.

you hum, snuggling closer to him. “lack of sleep makes babies grouchy. you can worry about your project tomorrow.”

“but-”

“don’t talk back to the adults,” you murmur, dozing off, pressing your forehead against his.

jihoon grumbles, though he doesn’t try to move. “this is crazy. i’m only a year younger than you and seungcheol-hyung. what do you mean don’t talk back to the adults?” he snorts.

when you don’t respond, he can only assume you’ve fallen asleep. he rolls his eyes and cranes his neck to peek at seungcheol. his eyes are also fluttering close, arms firmly wrapped around your waist. sometimes he wonders why you call him the baby when seungcheol is right there, constantly whining for your affection. if anything, he’s the baby of you three.

seeing how he can’t wriggle his way out of here (not that he would. drinking a whole bottle of coke-cola has done nothing to lift his drowsiness), he can do nothing but surrender to your clutches and lay limp in your arms. he closes his eyes in an attempt to fall asleep, but hearing your voice in his head makes it a tad difficult.

you’re the youngest, so you’re the baby~

jihoon huffs, glaring at you, who’s oblivious to his piercing eyes. “says the one who always needs to hug something before he sleeps,” he quietly grumbles, poking your cheek.

to his surprise, the subtle motion is enough to stir you awake, and he feels himself heat up when your eyes flutter open. even when you’re tired, you still manage to look breathtaking. “go to sleep, hoonie,” you remind again before dozing back asleep.

when jihoon glances at the clock, the white, neon digits show him that it’s nearly four am. so this is what he ends up doing, but not because you told him to.

jihoon knows that despite your constant babying, you recognize that he’s a functioning adult who’s more than capable of handling responsibilities. even more than you, he might argue. you just have an affectionate nature and make it your sole duty to take care of everyone around you, even if they’re older than you, like seungcheol. plus, you just like calling those younger than you babies. if it weren’t for the fact that you’re only a few months older than him, he would’ve thought you were the oldest of you three.

though he claims to despise your affectionate nature, he’s thankful to have your presence, especially around him and seungcheol. he knows that as the leader of one of the biggest boy groups - both metaphorically and physically - the stress is undoubtedly more burdensome than the ones the other members have. he knows that seungcheol spends more time structuring himself as a strong leader and wise oldest member than as a twenty-five-year-old man who likes music and video-games. which is why he’s grateful that you’re around to give him the pampering and leisure he deserves, reminding him that it’s okay to be taken care of sometimes.

he isn’t mad that you direct most of your pampering at seungcheol. if anything, he’s more than happy, because now you’re there to give him the attention he complains about when he can’t. your presence, for a lack of better words, acts as a balance for you three. but there are times where you choose to baby (read: pester) him, simply because he’s the youngest and needs attention once in a while. your words, not his.

now is one of those moments.

jihoon blinks, staring at the shoe box perched on the table before him. he looks at you, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. you gesture at the shoe box in a flourish, widely grinning like a child who’s won candy. “ta-da!” you exclaim. seungcheol, who had been immersed with a mobile game, is now looking his way, curiously staring at the box. judging from his expression, he guesses he doesn’t know what the contents are, either.

“and what exactly am i looking at?” he asks.

“open it!” you exclaim.

he does as he’s told, lifting up the lid of the box. to his surprise, they’re a pair of black slide-ons. he remembers eyeing a pair a week ago at a mall he had gone to with you and soonyoung, but had dismissed the thought after seeing the number shopping bags soonyoung had on each arm. he isn’t sure if you remembered or if this is a mere coincidence. either way, he’s surprised you bought him a pair of shoes out of the blue.

“what!” seungcheol exclaims. he throws his phone onto the couch, the device bouncing on the cushions. he walks towards you, instantly wrapping his arms around your waist and resting his chin on your shoulder. “you bought shoes for hoonie, but not for me?”

you roll your eyes. “cheol, you’re the one giving people your credit card information. you’re quite capable of buying your own shoes... actually, you’d buy them, unprompted.”

“but it’s different when it’s a gift,” he whines. “i want you to buy me shoes, too.”

ignoring your whiny boyfriend, you gesture at the sandals. “i saw you looking at them when we were at the mall with soonyoung last week! i know you don’t have a lot of time to go shopping, so i bought them for you,” you explain.

jihoon frowns. he’s the one practically swimming in a pool of money, so he should be the one buying you nice things, not the other way around. “oh... you didn’t have to.”

when he looks up at you, he sees the excitement vanish from your face, being replaced with a pout. seeing you like that makes him wonder why he and seungcheol never try babying you, especially when you have the audacity to look as cute as you do now. “do you not like them? i can always return them and get you something else...”

he practically flies out of his seat, eyes wide. “no!” he blurts. you and seungcheol are startled by the sudden outburst, your eyes mirroring his. “i mean-” he clears his throat, “i like them, i really do. but i should be the one buying you things, not the other way around.”

thankfully, you smile. “don’t worry about it! a baby like you should be bought nice things, even if you probably have better versions of them,” you tease, blowing him an air kiss.

jihoon scoffs. "you know, now that i think about it, you always pay for my things even though you’re the, and i quote, broke college student. what’s up with that?”

“because babies shouldn’t be paying for things.” you size him up, feigning innocence. “are you even allowed to have a debit card?”

seungcheol snorts at your comment, stifling his laughter by burying his head in your shoulder. on the other hand, jihoon’s jaw drops in disbelief. “this is bullying!” he yells, exasperated. “i’m being bullied by my boyfriend. hyung, you can’t be siding with him.”

the older shrugs, nuzzling his face into the crook of your neck. “when i do it, you always kick me, but you never do anything when it’s him. it’s so fun, seeing you get all flustered.”

he glares at you both. “i actually hate you two. especially you,” he seethes, pointing at you.

you lean over to whisper in seungcheol’s ear, but you’re side-eyeing him, obviously trying to get him to hear you. “has he been fed yet? you know babies get grouchy when they don’t have food in their system.”

“(name) (last name)!!”

seungcheol knows that like him, you’re usually the oldest in most situations. because of this, taking care of those around you has practically become second nature. making sure everyone around you is healthy and happy has become instinctive, and you’re willing to go through hoops and hurdles just to achieve that. it’s one of the many traits he loves about you.

he’s grateful to have you around to take care of him, but most importantly, he’s glad that there’s someone like you taking care of jihoon. sure, he whines about not being the center of your attention, but he knows that there are times when jihoon needs it more than he does. viewed as the genius producer and leader of the vocal unit of seventeen, there’s no doubt that the pressure he receives to repeatedly produce big hits is unimaginable. though it’s something that the two of them share in common, he knows he would never willingly open up about his thoughts, afraid of burdening the already stressed leader.

thankfully, there’s you, with a warm and loving aura encompassing you. you just have this aura that makes people want to lower their guard, even for those as whole and reserved as jihoon. it undoubtedly helps relieve the tension that the young producer has, even if he claims to hate it.

even if he knows this, though, that doesn’t stop him from wanting all of your attention. you’re the only person jihoon allows to pamper him (even if he denies it), so it’s not surprising that you take every opportunity you get to do so. while it’s fun to see him get riled up, seungcheol can’t help but act bratty when your attention isn’t on him.

on an exceptionally mundane day where the members of seventeen are lounging in the practice room, taking a break after excruciating hours of nonstop dancing, you knock on the door, arms loaded with bags of takeout. a few seconds later, the door swings open, and you’re standing in front of a sweaty chan. “oh, hyung! what brings you here?” he asks, surprised.

“hey chan,” you greet with a smile. he moves to the side, giving you space to enter the room. when you do, you’re greeted by twelve boys who seem equally sweaty and exhausted, who slur their greetings. “i was going to drop off some food for cheol and hoonie, but i figured you guys would be hungry,” you explained, gesturing towards the bags. from the way their eyes light up, you can tell they’re pleased with the surprise. “i have fried chicken, tteokbokki, japchae... just a bit of everything.”

immediately, the thirteen boys gather around you, salivating at the scent wafting out of the bags. “thank you hyung, you didn’t have to do that for us,” dokyeom smiles.

you shrug, seating yourself between seungcheol and jihoon. “it’s the least i could do, don’t worry about it. now eat up! you all are probably starving.”

another chorus of thanks echoes throughout the room, and soon, everyone begins to dig in. as you chat with the other members, catching up on each others’ lives and learning about comeback preparations, you suddenly feel someone pulling you up by the armpits before placing you down on their lap. startled, you crane your neck and see seungcheol, who responds by pecking your forehead. “what was that for?” mingyu asks from across you, voicing your question.

“you haven’t paid attention to me at all,” he murmurs.

you simply hum, leaning forward to stab a piece of fried chicken. you aim the fork at seungcheol’s mouth, who eagerly sweeps in and takes a bite. from the corner of your eye, you can see the other members eyeing you two with disgust. “sometimes i forget this is a three-way relationship, seeing how you both react so differently around (name)-hyung,” seungkwan snorts, scooping more japchae onto his plate. “why can’t you be more like jihoon-hyung? at least he doesn’t whine when (name)-hyung isn’t around every five minutes like you.”

you roll your eyes. “please. hoonie likes it when i baby him, too.” you send him a wink, to which he responds with by rolling his eyes.

“you’re talking nonsense.”

“don’t lie~” you coo, leaning over and ruffling his hair. “our cute baby hoonie~”

above you, seungcheol pouts, resting his chin on your head. “why don’t you ever treat me like that, (name)? this is unfair.”

you add more tteokbokki onto your plate. “it’s fun, seeing both of your reactions. hoonie’s more fun to tease, and it’s fun seeing you get all mopey.” he pouts, though he can’t refute your claims. jihoon does have funnier reactions than he does, and judging by both the amused and unimpressed looks the other members give him, he’s sure that he looks nothing short of glum.

“you know,” wonwoo begins, “i never would’ve imagined that jihoon would’ve gotten together with them. maybe with (name), but not with seungcheol-hyung. you both cling onto him more than to each other, anyways.”

“cheol here just comes to me more because he’s scared of hoonie,” you laugh, patting his thigh. “besides, they have each other when i’m not in the picture.”

“(name), you shouldn’t spoil cheollie so much. he’s already so bratty when you’re not here,” jeonghan sighs. “i’d love to see you tease jihoon more, though. you’re the only person who can get away with it unscathed, anyways.”

both seungcheol and jihoon darken in embarrassment. “shut it, yoon jeonghan,” they snap in unison.

when seungcheol and jihoon wake up one saturday morning, they don’t expect to be clinging onto each other in bed. they also don’t expect you to be awake already, seeing how you’re usually one of the last people to get up.

“where’s (name)?” jihoon groggily asks, scooting closer to an equally tired seungcheol. though he rarely lets seungcheol hold him, his need for warmth overpowers his disdain for skinship.

the older doesn’t seem to mind his sudden touchiness, wrapping an arm around him. “dunno,” he mumbles.

neither of them further questions your disappearance, cuddling closer to each other. they both begin to drift back asleep when the floorboards of the hallway creak, signalling a new presence. the bedroom dear squeaks open, so when they both turn to face the source, they see you tiptoeing your way in. “oh, morning guys,” you whisper, sheepishly smiling. “sorry for waking you two."

“it’s fine,” jihoon yawns, slowly sitting up. beside him, seungcheol turns to dig his face into his pillow, stretching his limbs. “why are you up so early? it’s-” he pauses to glance at the clock, which reads 11:30 am. “okay, maybe it’s not so early. but what are you doing up?”

you shrug. “cheol elbowed my face earlier, and i couldn’t fall back asleep again, so i decided to get out of bed.”

seungcheol turns around and looks at you with guilty eyes, sitting up. “sorry babe,” he apologizes. he grabs your arm and pulls you onto him. “is your pretty face okay?” he asks, rubbing your cheeks.

you thread your fingers through his hair, untangling the knots as jihoon rolls over. “why don’t you come back to bed and sleep some longer? i know how irritable you can get when you don’t get enough sleep.”

you shake your head at his offer. “it’s okay, but thanks.” you reposition yourself so you’re sandwiched between seungcheol and jihoon, which is when they notice the navy apron hanging around your neck. “i made food not long ago, it should be warm still. come eat with me.” you wriggle your way out of the human sandwich, standing up again. “get up, lazy bums!”

“kiss me first,” seungcheol jeers like the brat he is.

you lean in close until your breath fans his lips. when he looks like he’s going to reciprocate, you move your lips last minute and peck his forehead instead. “brush your teeth first, brat. your breath smells like ass.” before you leave, you swiftly move your head and place a kiss on jihoon’s cheek, running out of the bedroom before either of them can do anything about it.

half an hour later, jihoon steps out of the bedroom and trudges into the kitchen. seungcheol’s still in the bathroom washing up. when he rounds the corner, he nearly screams to see you so close to him. you take this opportunity to wrap your arms around him and lift him up, to which he responds with a yelp. “put me down!” he shrieks.

you pay no mind to his shrieking, walking towards the counter. you plop down on a stool and seat him on your lap. he’s still squirming, but your grip is tight, so his fidgeting proves futile. “good morning, my baby~”

for someone who claims to hate the nickname, he always flushes a pretty red when you or seungcheol use it. even after getting together, he still isn’t used to it. “how many times do i have to tell you to not call me a baby? i’m only a year younger than you.”

“then what should i call you then?” you pucker your lips, which are met with jihoon’s palm. “my liege? my love? which do you prefer?” you flirt.

his blush darkens, and he can only look away in embarrassment. “shut up.”

your laugh is so loud it hurts his ears, but it’s endearing and true, something he never gets tired of listening to. “our baby is so cute when he’s flustered~”

“is today a bully seungcheol or a bully jihoon day, i wonder?” a voice in front of you asks. he cranes his neck as much as he can and sees seungcheol pouting in front of you two, bangs wet. “do i not get this treatment because i’m the oldest?

you stick your tongue out at him before flicking his forehead. “come on, let’s eat! you two took forever.” fortunately, seungcheol pulls out a stool for jihoon to sit on, so he’s all too eager to hop away from your clutches.

you’re sitting across from the duo, who are seated beside each other. the kitchen is mostly silent, save for the clinking of utensils. it isn’t when seungcheol takes a bite from an egg that you notice a band-aid plastered near his chin. “did you hurt yourself?” you ask, aiming your fork at his wound.

he absentmindedly runs a finger against the band-aid. “oh, this? i was shaving earlier and accidentally cut myself,” he explains. he gauges your reaction, from your furrowed eyebrows to worried eyes. just then, he lets out a cry, startling you and jihoon. “oh (name), it hurts~”

you laugh at his silliness, while jihoon snorts. “you’re so embarrassing. gosh (name), this is what happens when you spoil him too much. one single mishap and he comes running to you with fake tears. look at the monster you’ve created.”

you glance at seungcheol, and the mischievous smirk on your lips only spells for disaster. “cheol-ah, you were just fine a moment ago. i think you’re strong enough to handle a tiny cut, aren’t you?”

normally he would never allow for someone to question his strength, but when it comes to you, all he wants is your pampering, even if he makes himself look like a fool in the process. “don’t tease me, (name)~ don’t take jeonghan’s words so seriously!”

you laugh, recalling your friend’s words. you love to indulge your boyfriends, though teasing them is also fun, too. you used to only tease jihoon with your sickening babying, but seeing how seungcheol whines only fuels your mischievous nature. “i think you can handle it, cheol.” changing the topic, you smile at jihoon. “how’s the food? i think i did a good job for someone with abysmal cooking skills.”

“babe~” he whines.

“the food’s good, although your chopping skills could use some work,” jihoon comments, poking at an unevenly cut tomato.

you snort. “i’m cooking for you guys, not gordon ramsay. as long as it tastes good, it should be fine.”

“this is bullying.”

you turn to face seungcheol, who’s still pouting. “why don’t you ask hoonie?”

“because he’s going to say no. or worse, he’ll kick my shins.”

you laugh, getting up to refill your water. before you enter the kitchen, you cup seungcheol’s face and press a chaste kiss on his band-aid. “there. happy?”

the dopey, lovesick look he gives you is answer enough, and as confident and nonchalant as you are when it comes to flirting, you can feel butterflies swarming in your stomach. it never gets less exhilarating, knowing you have him wrapped around your finger. “suddenly, my cut doesn’t hurt anymore.”

jihoon gags. “disgusting.”

“you like it when we’re disgusting,” you mumble, pressing a kiss on his hair. before he can react, you swoop down and squish his cheeks, leaning in to press your lips together. he makes a disgruntled noise, though he doesn’t make any attempts to pry your hands off or to move away. when you pull away, a satisfied smile rests on your lips. “see? i knew you liked it when i babied you.”

you move your hands away from his face and lay them atop his hair. on the other hand, seungcheol squishes your cheeks together and begins peppering kisses on your face, drawing out little giggles from you. below you, jihoon frowns, folding his arms. “you’re so annoying. i could step on your toes if i wanted to.”

“if you wanted to,” you reiterate, turning your head so seungcheol doesn’t muffle your words with his lips. “key word is if, my dear. you would never actually hurt me, our cute baby.”

seungcheol relinquishes his attacks, sitting back onto the stool. “i wonder what would happen if i called him that?” he wonders out loud. suddenly, he squishes jihoon’s cheek, mirroring the fond look you always give them. “our cute baby jihoonie~”

right when he does this, seungcheol decides then that is the first and last time he’ll ever try to baby jihoon again - at least, if he wants to stay unharmed. pampering is more of your forte, anyways.

#seventeen #seventeen hip hop unit #seventeen vocal unit #kpop #seventeen x reader #seventeen x male reader #s.coups #choi seungcheol #woozi #lee jihoon #jicheol #seungcheol x reader #seungcheol x male reader #woozi x reader #woozi x male reader #renjuseyo : seventeen #renjuseyo : fics

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