#pls lord make the finals come and high school end

[jayflrt]

golden boy

❝ c’mon, this is exactly like the bahamas if you close your eyes. ❞

PAIRING ▸ lee heeseung x fem!reader

GENRES ▸ fluff, crack, best friends to lovers, summer romance au, rich kid au

WARNINGS ▸ profanity, underage drinking, heeseung is the biggest simp ever, and he calls you princess, mc has a stepdad, she is also a little spoiled in the beginning, tooth rotting fluff (like might be the fluffiest thing i’ve written), mutual pining ofc because this is a jayflrt fic, friends being insufferable (mainly 02z)

SUMMARY ▸ in the summer between high school and college, lee heeseung is determined to make you fall in love with the city of los angeles after your vacation plans in the bahamas fall through. somewhere between the lines, though, you end up falling for your childhood best friend.

WORD COUNT ▸ 16,375 words

PLAYLIST ▸ youth by troye sivan • tongue tied by grouplove • ribs by lorde • sanctuary by joji • cruel summer by taylor swift • stars by duncan laurence

AUTHOR’S NOTE ▸ i have been waiting AGES to share this one so i hope u guys like it !! ♡ also pls play stars by duncan laurence during the observatory scene if you’d like :’)

IT WAS THE FIRST DAY OF SUMMER VACATION WHEN YOU RECEIVED THE GOD-AWFUL NEWS.

“Your father and I are finally gonna have our honeymoon this summer!” your mother exclaimed, grinning excitedly as if she was expecting you to reciprocate the same energy.

Okay, maybe it wasn’t god-awful, but this was the one summer where you didn’t have to shoulder the responsibilities of being a student. Having recently graduated from high school, you were basking in the glow of finally becoming an adult and an incoming college freshman. You were finally free from AP exams, college applications, and the pressure of balancing academics and a social life. So, given all that, you were rather upset that your parents were leaving you behind before you had to fall into the routine of being a student all over again.

You didn’t mind having this talk. In fact, you were glad your mother was telling you in advance instead of just jetting away to another country and leaving a note behind. However, you didn’t understand why she had to have this conversation in front of your best friend, Lee Heeseung.

It probably didn’t help that you two had been joined at the hip since you were wearing diapers, but your families had gotten far too comfortable with each other. Just last week, Heeseung’s mom was asking you if you both had finally “tied the knot,” to which you replied by explaining that you had just graduated high school.

You were happy for your mother and stepfather, really. Your mother had experienced her fair share of bad relationships after your father left, so you were glad that she finally met someone so kind and genuine. You weren’t ever one to judge the men your mother brought home, but your stepfather always got brownie points for playing Mario Kart with you whenever he came over. Not to mention, he bought you the Nintendo Switch to play it on. He seemed to be the only man who didn’t feel insecure about your mother’s success and lavish lifestyle, so you only had good things to say about him.

While you were genuinely glad with the outcome of your parents’ relationship, that unbecoming, spoiled side of you was slipping through the cracks. Even your brain was shouting at you for complaining about having to stay in Bel Air for the summer. Yet, you were just far too frustrated with the bleak vision of your own summer to care about your parent’s honeymoon. In two weeks, you should have been vacationing in the Bahamas with a piña colada in your hand, not waiting for your parents to come back from Rome.

“That sounds so fun,” you chirped with fake enthusiasm, although you supposed it was easily detected due to your gritted teeth, “and that’s not gonna interfere with our trip to the Bahamas, right?” When she didn’t respond, you asked again, “Right, Mom?”

Your mother wore an uneasy look on her face at the sight of your displeasure, so Heeseung cut in quickly, “I think you should probably forget about the Bahamas this year, Y/N.”

“Heeseung!” you whined, sending him a sharp glare. He did not just tell you to forget about the Bahamas. “You’re supposed to be on my side!”

“Not around your mom, dude,” he muttered.

“He’s right, Y/N.” Your mother smiled as she placed her hands on your shoulders. “I mean, it would be good for you to stay here with all of your friends for once; I don’t think you’ve ever not left the country for the summer.” When you sulked, your mother tried to encourage you by gently squeezing your shoulders. “Heeseung and your other friends are here, and you have a car now! Yeji’s family moved to Irvine now, didn’t they? You can drive down to see her.”

You nodded, a little more encouraged. You and Hwang Yeji had been close ever since you met at Choi Jisu’s birthday party in middle school. When Yeji’s parents decided to move to Irvine, finding that housing was much more expensive in Los Angeles County, you were absolutely crushed. Plus, it wasn’t like Orange County was any less expensive, so you felt even more bitter about their sudden move. It wasn’t like you could drive and see Yeji whenever you wanted, either; the one hour drive felt like three with all the Los Angeles traffic.

You hung your head, dejected. “I guess so.” You turned your head to the side, noticing the snicker that Heeseung was holding back. After shooting him a dirty look, you looked back at your mother. “When are you leaving?”

“This weekend,” she responded, eyes fixed on her phone screen now. “I have to sort out my PTO with my boss today, though.” She kissed the top of your head and started heading for the door, heels clicking against the linoleum flooring with each step. “I’ll see you later tonight, Y/N! And make sure Heeseung actually goes home tonight!”

You shot a glance at your friend, who didn’t seem to have a care in the world in reaction to your mother’s words.

Heeseung tended to be scared of everything—everything except actually scary things, like biblically accurate angels or the wrath of his mother.

You gave your best friend a condescending half-grin, which he returned sheepishly. As of late, Heeseung had become notorious for staying out late with Jay Park, Jake Sim, and Park Sunghoon. (Yang Jungwon often joined them, but he was adamant about going home before midnight. Something about not wanting to miss out on his beauty sleep.) Everyone thought this was the beginning of Heeseung’s teenage rebellion (which was rather delayed), but then you discovered that all they did was play games in an internet café and occasionally use their fake IDs to get into VIP lounges at clubs.

When you heard the door shut, you circled around the couch to sit next to Heeseung.

“This sucks,” you said flatly. “Summer means an ungodly rise in temperature—hot enough to melt the skin off my bones, and I’d rather have that happen while I’m sunbathing in the Bahamas!”

“Do you realize how spoiled you sound right now?” Heeseung snorted, looking up from his phone where he was playing Cookie Run from the umpteenth time. You swore he was addicted to the game despite the numerous times he told you he was just playing it as a joke. Your best friend continued, “You should be happy for your mom instead of complaining about your summer being ruined.”

You sank back in your seat. You hated to admit it, but Heeseung was right; you were being uptight about this whole situation. You just couldn’t help but feel disappointed about the one thing you were looking forward to all year long.

Heeseung leaned closer so that you both were shoulder-to-shoulder, and he nudged you. You looked over and were met with his dazzling grin. Frankly, you were honored that you were graced with his attention in the middle of his Cookie Run gaming session.

“You can spend the summer with me instead,” he offered.

You snorted. “That was gonna happen, anyway. You spend all your free time at my place.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Heeseung asked, brows knitting into a frown.

He looked at you so intensely that your breath caught in your throat for a moment. The proximity coupled with the shift in tone made you feel self-conscious, and you were scared that Heeseung was going to let some unspoken feeling slip.

However, his face broke into a mischievous grin. “You guys have a jacuzzi.”

You pressed your lips into a thin line and shoved him harder. This time, Heeseung was laughing as he fell against one of the cushions on his side. You grabbed one of the throw pillows and started pummeling him with it.

“You have your own jacuzzi, too, dumbass,” you retorted. “You’d know if you actually stayed at your own house for once! Also, you’ve lost your pool privileges here after you poured bubble bath in ours.”

“Come on. It wasn’t that bad.”

“You clogged our jets and we had to pay someone to get rid of the bubbles, Heeseung.”

“Jake was the one who poured the bubble bath in!”

“And who was the one who gave him the idea?”

Heeseung grimaced, and you were seconds away from reminding him how you took the fall for him when your parents asked what happened to the hot tub. Before you could, though, he spoke up.

“I was being serious, though,” he started, “do you wanna have a fun summer with me, or do you wanna stay bitter and do nothing?”

Something about Heeseung’s condescending tone was pissing you off. You stared at him before delivering one last blow with the throw pillow.

“Ow! What was that for?!” he exclaimed, rubbing his arm. You rolled your eyes at his dramatics; you didn’t even hit him that hard.

“I’ll see you later,” you told him, turning on your heel to head upstairs without seeing your friend out. “I have plans with Yizhuo now.”

You weren’t exactly sure how you became friends with Ning Yizhuo, but throughout high school, everyone knew the two of you came in a package deal. When you were in third period AP World History, everyone knew that Yizhuo would switch out of her second period section to be in your class; when you didn’t show up to calculus, it was no surprise that it was because you were ditching with Yizhuo; when Zhong Chenle asked Yizhuo out, he realized that commitment came with becoming your friend as well.

At first, you assumed that it was because your mothers were close, but that didn’t explain why you spent countless nights at her place and picked her up for school every single morning. Heeseung even once admitted that he was jealous of your friendship with her. He was drunk when he mentioned that, of course. He would never admit to that while he was sober.

When she got into a school on the west coast and you got into a school on the east coast, though, you thought your life was over. (When you figured out your meet-up plans were somewhat manageable, you felt a little better.)

On the bright side, you were stoked to attend Yale with your partner-in-crime, Heeseung.

“Wait! Let me drive you,” said partner-in-crime offered.

You turned to face him, wide-eyed. “It’s like a thirty minute drive, Heeseung. I’m going to her country club.”

Despite your protests, you knew that Heeseung would be more than willing to drive all the way over there. Hell, you could tell him you wanted to go to Las Vegas right now, and he’d somehow manage to arrange a trip for you two. You had never met anyone as spontaneous as him.

Now, though, you were trying to get away from him because you were a little bitter about his comment. On the other hand, you really didn’t want to drive alone, so you kept his proposition on the table.

“Oh, her country club? The one up north, right?” he inquired. “Can I bring Jake, too? We’ll just hang out at the mall while you do your thing.”

You mulled it over—not for long, though, because you found yourself caving easily. “Fine.”

You forgot that Heeseung bringing Jake meant that Jay and Sunghoon were coming along for the ride, too.

The three of them were squeezed in the back of Heeseung’s Tesla, with Jay incessantly complaining about how he had to take the middle seat. He even went as far as to compare heights, and Sunghoon used his one centimeter on Jay to his advantage. Jake remained silent for once.

You ran your finger along the smooth leather of your seat and snorted.

“Are you making fun of my car?” Heeseung asked with a chuckle.

“No, I’m making fun of how you dropped extra money for white seats.”

“And for the seven-seater.”

“What?!” Jay exclaimed, swiveling in his seat to look behind him. “And you still squeezed me in the middle seat?”

“Not my fault you didn’t look behind you, dude.”

Sunghoon and Jake proceeded to laugh at their friend, and you were about to do the same until you realized you had looked to see if Heeseung was laughing along with you. To your delight, he was. That, and the wind was blowing in his hair so perfectly. The golden sun shone across his face in a way that made his eyes crinkle up and his smile grow. You would always scold him for not having sunglasses on him, but, this time, you were a little distracted by how he glowed.

Heeseung then turned to you, one hand on the steering wheel and the other on his thigh. “What’s up?”

“N-nothing at all.” You coughed, tearing your gaze away to look ahead at the freeway. “Are we almost there?”

You just then registered how the backseat had gotten awfully silent, and when you turned to check on The Three Idiots (you deemed this title upon them back in high school, and it stuck), they all had Cheshire grins spread across their faces. It was a little scary, honestly. Their antics were nightmarish on their own, but what their eyes suggested was something that would haunt you. You fought down the heat creeping up your cheeks in an effort to appear indifferent, and you turned back to look at the GPS.

Ten minutes. You had to deal with them for ten more minutes. That was 600 seconds. Maybe you could tune out the testosterone if you counted down your arrival time.

To your relief, though, ten minutes passed by much faster because the four boys got into a heated argument over the superior boba shop in the Bay Area. You had to interject by reminding them that none of them were even from the Bay Area. Heeseung wound up going on a tangent about how he and Choi Yeonjun went on a day trip last weekend, which you would have remembered “if you were a better friend.”

You did remember, actually. Heeseung was texting you the entire time about Yeonjun forcing him to choose between him or a PS5. You presumed that Heeseung chose the PS5 because Yeonjun posted a black screen on his Snapchat story with the caption “dhmu” followed by a wilting rose and broken heart emoji.

(They wound up gaming all night afterward, anyway.)

The Three Idiots sensed tension from the back seat, so they started a new debate: the superior boba shop in Los Angeles.

You couldn’t believe that this was the depth of their conversations.

When you finally arrived at Yizhuo’s country club, you were being nagged by Sunghoon to get out of the car. He was eager to go to the mall and try out a new sushi place that everyone had been raving about. For someone who seemed to lack any seriousness, Sunghoon was extremely diligent about his frequent Yelp reviews; he even got promoted to the Yelp Elite Squad.

“Alright, alright, I’m going!” you complained, shooting Heeseung a withering look—a please save me from your friends, which he grinned at. “Bye, then.”

“Have fun, princess,” Heeseung called as you were closing the door, and you were grateful your back was turned so that he couldn’t see the look on your face.

(“Princess?” Jay questioned. “Did you just call her princess?”

“It’s an inside joke!” Heeseung rebuked.

“And were you just checking her out?” came Jake’s muffled voice from inside the car, and a bark of laughter followed immediately after from Sunghoon and Jay.)

You shook your head when Heeseung sped off as quickly as possible. You could picture it so vividly; he would be defending himself to his dying breath, cheeks bright red as his mouth ran. Although you found it funny, you knew that Heeseung was probably just glancing out the window to make sure you weren’t too close to the car before he drove away.

“Y/N!” Yizhuo called from the entrance. You turned to see her clad in a cotton shirt and tennis skirt, standing next to Zhong Chenle. “Did you think we were swimming or something?”

Yes, you most definitely did think you were going to be sunbathing by the poolside. With a sheer cover-up over your black one-piece, you were definitely not ready to play tennis with Yizhuo and her boyfriend. You even had your red heart-shaped sunglasses on your head.

You let out a petulant whine, taking your walk of shame over to the two. “I’m already in the racquet club, so why would I come here to play more tennis?”

Yizhuo shrugged, but the one thing you loved about her was that she was flexible with plans. “I’ll just change into my swimsuit, then. I’ve been wanting to sunbathe,” she said before handing Chenle her racquet. “Looks like doubles didn’t work out. Are you and Jisung good with playing singles?”

“I don’t mind as long as I win,” Chenle answered with a grin. “See you two later.”

He was clearly delighted because you were probably the only competition he had to worry about. You were sure Park Jisung would complain when he found out that you weren’t going to be his partner. Jisung was utterly hopeless when it came to tennis—or, rather, he was scared of anything flying in his direction.

Yizhuo grabbed her Prada leather tote bag, pulling out a white two-piece with a gold clip in the front after some digging. She excused herself to change quickly, and came back within five minutes. You were grateful she came prepared. For her, though, it was inevitable considering she drove thirty minutes most days to lounge around her country club with Chenle.

“They’re renovating the banquet room right now,” Yizhuo informed as she settled into the lounge chair next to yours. “I was going to invite you for the opening next week, but you’re gonna be in the Bahamas, as usual.”

“Yeah, about that,” you drawled, “vacation plans fell through, so I’m not going anymore.”

“What?” Yizhuo sat up, startling the server who brought over cocktails on a silver plate. “But you always go to the Bahamas!”

You gingerly took one of the cocktail glasses, mouthing your gratitude before turning your attention back to Yizhuo. “My parents wanna spend their honeymoon alone, and Heeseung thinks I’m acting spoiled.”

Yizhuo smirked against the rim of her glass. “How is it that Heeseung always manages to come up in our conversations?”

“He doesn’t!” you exclaimed. “He’s just always around, you know? Like a fruit fly.”

“Just like how Chenle’s always around?”

“Chenle’s your boyfriend; Heeseung’s just a gnat.”

“I’m telling you, Y/N, you and Heeseung are the dictionary definition of couple behavior. I swear, you two are meant for each other.”

You sighed. “Heeseung and I have been best friends since, like, forever. Our relationship is just… different from my other friendships.”

Yizhuo raised a brow, a coy smile still creeping across her face. “So how come you refer to everyone else as friendships, but with him it’s a relationship?”

“Psychoanalyze much?” You sent a mocking smile right back at her. “Can I not have a friend of the opposite gender anymore?”

“You can have one that doesn’t make heart eyes at you,” Yizhuo replied with a scoff. “I’m telling you, the guy’s head over heels.”

“Whatever.” You slipped your sunglasses down to rest on the bridge of your nose. You didn’t want to think about potential romantic feelings for your best friend that could threaten the stability of your life-long friendship. “Let’s circle back to what’s actually important: my summer.”

“Poor Heeseung.” Yizhuo tutted. “Bahamas over love.”

“Love can happen any time,” you said, “but the window of opportunity only opens once, and that golden period is the summer between high school and college. Think about it, Yizhuo! Every summer after this one is gonna be loaded with classes, internships, and work.”

“So, what’s your game plan?”

You pondered on her question. There were only so many options you had, and, clearly, going to the Bahamas was not one of them. Honestly, you hardly felt like a real Californian with the little knowledge you had about what you could even do around your area; all you could think about was the beach or Disneyland. Plus, with Yeji doing a summer program in Irvine and Yizhuo spending her days at her country club, you didn’t have much room for spontaneous activities with them.

Unless you wanted to spend every single day like you would on a regular weekend, you had to find someone who knew how to make things fun.

And, unfortunately, that narrowed it back down to Lee Heeseung.

You turned back to Yizhuo with a sheepish look on your face. “I think I have an idea.”

“Be my summer escort service.”

“Excuse me?” Heeseung nearly choked on the tea your mother made for him. You watched as he set the cup down as delicately as possible while his eyes welled up with tears. He hit his fist against his chest a few times before calming down. “I don’t think you know what an escort service entails, but I think I know what you’re getting at.” He grinned slowly. “You’re taking me up on my offer.”

You did a lot of thinking on the car ride back to Bel Air.

A lot of thinking during the time when Sunghoon wasn’t complaining about the quality of the sushi place they went to. You were almost inspired to write a negative review yourself because of how passionate he was.

“Well, it’s inevitable that I’m gonna be seeing you almost every day, anyway,” you said, “so we might as well make the most of it, right?”

“I knew you’d turn around.” Heeseung reached over and ruffled your hair. “I’ll make sure you have the best summer of your life, Y/N.”

Lee Heeseung excelled at virtually anything. You were sure he would surpass your expectations with these impromptu summer plans, too.

You deemed the nickname “Golden Boy” upon him for this very reason, and it had everything to do with the fact that Heeseung was absolutely perfect at everything he did.

For a while, you even coined a theory that he had been created in a laboratory, specially designed to be absolutely flawless in every way imaginable. Of course Heeseung was born rich, smart, and handsome. Some people were just born lucky into the world, and, when you were younger, it was harder to accept that. Heeseung grew up with the world at his disposal; he got everything and anything he wanted, but that didn’t necessarily mean he took his privilege for granted.

You had to admit that Heeseung was a hard worker when it came down to it. Although he was definitely affluent as a fourth generation trust fund baby, Heeseung made sure his parents were never disappointed with his results.

Throughout high school, he consistently ranked first every single year, always coming right above you after the semester ended. Not to mention, he had even been scouted by several Division 1 schools to join their soccer team. He was even published at the mere age of sixteen for the research he did with a college professor. And, with a face and personality like his, any reasonable mother would’ve loved for their daughter to bring Heeseung home for dinner.

Another thing he never failed to accomplish was making you absolutely flustered.

“Well…” You turned your cheek. “I always have fun when I hang out with you, so don’t let it get to your head.”

“Too late. It’s getting to my head.”

You groaned.

“Hey, we might as well have fun,” Heeseung tried. “It’s not like any of us are vicariously living through each other’s summer romances.”

“Whoa. You said ‘each other.’”

“Yeah?”

You shot him a questioning look. “You’re implying that you have a summer romance that I’m not allowed to live vicariously through.”

“What? No!” Heeseung frowned as he tried to do the mental gymnastics to piece together your reasoning. “I said—actually, you know what, it doesn’t matter what I said. Who cares about being cuffed? Let’s just enjoy the last moments of our youth.”

“You know what, you’re right,” you agreed, getting fired up just by his words. Maybe it was the realization that time was fleeting, but you were determined to have the best summer ever now. “This summer, I’m Percy and you’re Grover. No one’s getting in the way of our side quests.”

“Why do I have to be the half-barnyard animal sidekick?” Heeseung deadpanned. “Can’t I be Annabeth?”

“No, put some respect on a satyr’s title.”

Your best friend picked his cup of tea back up when it had cooled. He blew gently on the surface before taking a careful sip, and then confidently drank more afterward. He set his cup down again and held a finger up, signaling that he wanted a chance to speak again. You were half-expecting it to be about the damn Percy Jackson lore.

“Your parents leave soon, right?” he asked instead. You nodded in response, somewhat surprised about his inquiry, so Heeseung continued, “Do they need a ride to the airport? We could have a sleepover after.”

“I think—”

“We would love a ride to the airport, Heeseung,” your mother gushed from the staircase as she was lugging suitcases down, “but you’re going straight back to your house after taking my daughter home.”

Heeseung swallowed thickly. “O-of course, ma’am. Straight home.”

You pouted a little. “You’re not staying?”

He smirked a little at your reaction, and you were a little flustered and disappointed that you managed to inflate his ego even further.

“Nah, I’ll just—” Heeseung cut himself off quickly when he noticed your mother was suddenly towering behind where he was seated on your couch. “I’ll—I’ll go straight to my house, like I said.”

“Come on, let the kids spend some time together before college,” your stepfather chimed in, following suit with a suitcase of his own. “Y/N hardly ever gets to stay in LA for the summer.”

“We’re going to the same college, Dad,” you pointed out.

“Of course,” He walked over to ruffle your hair, and Heeseung stared up at him as if your stepfather was some respected higher power, “but you never know what could happen in college. People grow apart whether you like it or not, and the life of a college student gets busy, so you two might as well enjoy this summer.”

When all you could do was stare at your stepfather in horror, he added, “I’m not saying you’re gonna stop being friends! It’s just easier to spend time together now than it is in college.”

“That’s why I’m your daughter’s escort this summer,” Heeseung spoke up.

“Escort?” your stepfather pressed. “That’s… a little concerning. Keep it PG, you two.”

“It’s not like that!” you whined. “Anyway, Dad, don’t you have to get to the airport soon?”

He checked his watch quickly and nodded at your mother. “Y/N’s right. We should get going soon, honey. I’m gonna go make sure I didn’t forget to pack anything.”

With that, your stepfather jogged upstairs with Heeseung’s curious eyes following him suspiciously. When you nudged him, trying to figure out why he was mugging your dad for no reason, he grinned a little. He gestured for you to lean closer so that he could speak quietly.

You leaned in close so that your ear was by his lips, and Heeseung whispered, “He’s totally packing your mom’s honeymoon present.”

“How do you know?”

“Classic move. My brother did the same thing for his wife.”

You pulled away, covering your mouth with a shocked look on your face. You had to keep yourself from audibly gasping since your mother was only a room away. Your face broke into a little smile. Seeing someone care for your mother so deeply made you so happy, especially with how she was the one who usually put in the most effort in her past relationships.

All your life, you wanted a relationship that was the complete opposite of your mother’s; now, though, you aspired to find someone who loved you that much.

Speak of the devil. She was walking over as you and Heeseung exchanged mischievous grins.

“What’re you two smiling about?” she asked.

“Nothing!” You smiled and fixed her hair. “Have fun on your honeymoon, Mom. I’ll make sure Heeseung doesn’t get into trouble.”

“Hey!” Heeseung interjected. “I’m not even that bad! Honest-to-god, Jake’s worse than me—just ask Jay or Sunghoon. Actually, don’t ask Sunghoon because I think he has it out for me right now.” He paused before adding, “Now that I think about it, don’t ask Jay, either. Just trust me on this one.”

You scoffed. “Nice going, Hee.”

Your mother smiled, and you could tell that it was a little sad. “We’ll take you to the Bahamas next time, okay, Y/N?” She did a quick sweep of the room before leaning in a little and whispering, “By the way, your stepfather was really happy that you started calling him ‘dad’ the other day. I think he almost cried!”

You hated to admit it out loud, but you felt inexplicably happy at those words.

“I’m ready!” your stepfather called as he came down the stairs. “Do you have everything you need? Are we ready to go?”

“Ready as ever,” your mother answered and turned to your best friend. “Are you ready, Heeseung?”

“Yep.” He got up from the couch, spinning his car keys around his fingers. “Come on, Y/N. Time to say bye-bye to mommy and—ow! Don’t hit me!”

The car ride to the airport wasn’t too long, but you and Heeseung fell into an uncomfortable silence while your parents were gushing about their vacation plans to each other. They weren’t even sitting next to each other. Your mother sat next to you in the back seat and your stepfather sat in the passenger’s seat to accompany Heeseung, but they were still going back and forth. You nearly considered asking your stepfather to switch seats with you so that you wouldn’t be caught in the crossfire of their incessant flirting.

When Heeseung pulled up to the drop-off zone, however, your parents pulled themselves together in record time. You received two kisses on your head from each parent after they got out of the car.

“Heeseung, let’s walk together for a bit,” your stepfather called. When you exchanged a shocked look with your best friend, your dad clicked his tongue with a laugh. “Just until the gates over there. I need some help carrying my bags.”

Heeseung, floundering for words, wound up not saying anything and scrambled to get out of the car to help him out. The conversation seemed to be light and easygoing, but you were craning your neck out of the car window to get a glimpse of what the hell was going on.

“Mom,” you whispered harshly, “tell me Dad isn’t telling Heeseung something weird right now. He’s still traumatized from the time he was interrogated about being my Homecoming date last year.”

Since neither you nor Heeseung had actual dates for the Homecoming dance last year, he made you a poster and asked you to be his date at your doorstep. At the time, you two were binge watching Parks and Recreation together, so he used that as inspiration for your poster: Please don’t REC my plans and say KNOPE to Homecoming. You vividly recalled being impressed by how neat the handwriting was only to be told later that Yeji helped Heeseung make it.

“I’m sure it’s nothing.” Your mother waved it off. “You should be more worried about how Mrs. Lee calls us in the middle of the night and asks where her son is. That’s gonna traumatize your friend.”

Wow. Lee Heeseung was already a pain in the ass to begin with, and only now you realized how his mother had it a thousand times harder.

“Have a safe trip, okay?” you told your mother after you helped her bring the rest of her bags to the gate. “And—don’t worry—I know when the gardener's coming by, so I’ll be home to let him in.”

She smiled fondly and kissed your forehead. “I’ll text you when I land,” she said. “Have fun, sweetheart, but not too much fun.”

“Mom!” you complained, cringing at whatever she was implying.

Heeseung and your stepfather were already at the front doors, and your best friend’s eyes lit up at the sight of you. You wondered if he needed saving from your father, and you confirmed this when you noticed him cower a little after shaking your stepfather’s hand.

“Heeseung,” your mother started, “thanks for bringing us here. I made brownies in the afternoon, so make sure Y/N gives you some before you go home.”

“Brownies?” Heeseung turned to you with a grin and thanked your mother profusely. “I hope you guys have a fun trip.”

After you all exchanged goodbyes, you and Heeseung headed back to his car. You were able to watch your mother and stepfather disappear into the crowd, a strange feeling lingering in your chest. You weren’t sure what it was, but you supposed you felt a little lonely. This was the first summer you were spending without your parents, and you weren’t sure what to expect.

As if Heeseung could read your mind, he said, “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you have a fun summer.”

“It better be the best summer of my life.”

Heeseung laughed and opened the passenger’s side door for you. “Then let’s start now.”

“Huh? Right now?”

“Let’s get bingsu,” he said. Come to think of it, you were craving shaved ice; you had mentioned it to Heeseung last week. “You said you were hungry, right? And then we can go home and dig into those brownies your mom made.”

“I never said anything about being hungry.”

“But you’re hungry, right?”

The corner of your mouth twitched before breaking into a little smile.

“Alright, let’s go.”

In all honesty, you didn’t expect anything special from Heeseung. That was why you had your own plans laid out for the coming week, and first on your agenda was going shopping with Yizhuo in Beverly Hills. Since your best friend was so adamant on spending the summer with you, though, you let him tag along.

“I hate you,” he muttered through gritted teeth as you handed him yet another shopping bag—Armani, this time. Heeseung was carrying at least six of them, letting them dangle off of his arms. “I said I’d show you how to have fun, not be your butler.”

“You said you would be my summer escort service.”

“Not like this!”

“Y/N, I swear,” Yizhuo started in a low voice, only loud enough to hear (although you wished you didn’t), “he’s like your boyfriend.”

You sped up to walk ahead of Heeseung, and Yizhuo matched your pace. Your poor best friend was lagging in the back, trying to keep up with the weight of your spending spree in his hands. Even though you told him virtually everything, this was a conversation that you couldn’t let him hear.

“He’s just my escort this summer!” you defended.

“His dad’s the senior vice president at Apple. You really think Lee Heeseung would just agree to be anyone’s manservant?”

“Well, I’m not anyone; I’m Y/N, and Heeseung and I have been best friends since forever, so it shouldn’t be surprising that he wants to spend time with me.”

“I’m just saying, it’s a little strange.”

“Yeah, yeah.” You waved off her concerns and pulled out your phone. “By the way, is the group hanging out tomorrow or something?”

“I kept seeing it in the groupchat, but I wasn’t sure whose house it was at,” Yizhuo replied. She turned and called, “Heeseung! Do you know whose house we’re all going to?”

“Tomorrow?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“Mine.”

“Yours?” you chimed in. “I thought Jake said it would be at his place.”

“He backed out ‘cause his cousins are visiting this week,” he clarified, “so I offered mine. My parents are going out of town, anyway, so why not?”

You were surprised that Heeseung was willing to host. Most of the time his house was the absolute last resort because he hated cleaning up after everyone. For this reason, it was normally at Jake’s house because he was the only one who would tidy up himself without nagging everyone else (read: Jay Park).

You always went to Heeseung’s place on your own. There were never times where the entire group hung out there together, so it felt like everyone was encroaching on your space with Heeseung.

Even though it was his house, technically.

“You’re coming,” Heeseung added, pointing straight at you with narrowed eyes.

You frowned. “You can’t decide that for me!”

“You agreed to let me be your summer escort service, so it’s within my power,” he argued.

You made a frustrated sound. “Fine. It better be fun, though. I’m sacrificing my Pretty Little Liars marathon for you.”

Heeseung rolled his eyes. “We can just watch it together.”

“Lovebirds!” Yizhuo interjected. “I would’ve called Chenle if I knew I was gonna be a third wheel.” Both of you turned to her with wide eyes, watching the blonde’s lips curl up in a small smirk. “What?”

“That’s not what any of this is,” your best friend grumbled.

“Oh yeah? Then why are you blushing?”

Heeseung shook his head, completely turning his face away from you. You managed to catch the tips of his ears flaming bright red. It was rather easy to make Heeseung flustered, so this wasn’t something out of the ordinary, but, for some reason, you felt butterflies in the pit of your stomach.

He walked ahead, saying something along the lines of, “Let’s just keep shopping!”

You and Yizhuo exchanged a look before hooking arms and bursting into a fit of giggles.

Yizhuo called after him, “We’re going to Miu Miu next!”

Slumber parties with your friend group sounded cute and tame, in theory. Add six men into the mix, and they became slightly terrifying.

“This is why we need to make plans in our group chat without the men,” Shen Xiaoting muttered to you with her eyes fixed on Heeseung’s flat screen TV. “This is not the girls night I was envisioning.”

Your friend group of eleven (excluding Yeji, who was away for the summer) was currently playing their ninth round of Mario Kart 8. You were all taking turns, though, since the game only catered to co-oping with four people. Frankly, you were starting to get tired of the game after about five rounds. You were hellbent on beating Jay, who was talking smack about how terrible you were at gaming, but it turned out that he was no better. You ended up beating him in the first race itself, and now you were just waiting for them to wrap it up.

“Fuck,” Jake hissed once Choi Beomgyu used his blue shell on him. Jake had been consistently winning every game he played despite everyone trying to get him in last place; in the last round, Kim Minjeong made a valiant effort to use most of her Crazy 8 items on him.

You were surprised that Jake showed up in the first place. Everyone suspected that he would be stuck at home because of his cousins visiting, but he somehow managed to get his way out of it. Although he was late, he showed up at Heeseung’s door with a pillow and a handle of cheap vodka. It probably tasted rancid, but there was no room for anyone to complain.

“Get the item box, get the item box!” Chenle yelled. “But you’re kind of screwed if you don’t get a super horn or a super star.”

“So, when are we wrapping up Mario Kart?” Nakamura Kazuha asked, sighing in frustration after being hit with a shell for the umpteeth time.

“Uh, after this game,” Heeseung replied.

“And how many more rounds is that?”

“Three.”

“Jesus Christ.”

The only girl in your group who enjoyed gaming was Yizhuo, but even she was tired of the seemingly endless rounds. Since the boys were going along with the girls’ plans later on, though, you had to be patient. Appease them with Mario Kart, and then the rest of the night was yours.

Somehow, you managed to grit your teeth and sit through the next three rounds (won by Jake, Yizhuo, and Beomgyu, respectively). Afterward, Jake got up to grab the case of Mike’s Harder on the kitchen island. He proceeded to open it up and hand each person a can.

Xiaoting cracked open her can and asked, “How’d you even buy these? Didn’t your dad confiscate your fake or something?”

Around a few months ago, Jake’s dad had caught him wasted at one of their charity galas. Apparently, the Sims didn’t care too much about their son drinking, but they were furious about Jake acting disorderly in front of their guests. Naturally, Jake was grounded for a month and got all four of his fake IDs confiscated. He deeply missed the one from Connecticut where his name was printed as Nathan Fielder, even though Jake looked nothing like Nathan Fielder.

“I got Vernon to buy them for me,” Jake said, “and please don’t remind me about the fakes. It still wounds me to this day.”

You remembered you used to have a little crush on Vernon Chwe, who was a senior when you were a freshman. When he graduated, you almost cried actual tears, but you stayed strong when you went to congratulate him after the ceremony. You figured he would have been a little freaked out if you started breaking down out of nowhere.

Jay, who was inspecting the handle of SKYY Vodka, let out a scoff. “Vernon? Then you could’ve at least asked for good vodka.”

“We can just make mixed drinks,” you spoke up, scrunching up your nose at the memory of blacking out because of alcohol during your prom afterparties. “Plus, it’s not like we’re actually trying to get drunk tonight.”

“Yeah.” Heeseung stood up and rested his arm on your shoulder. “Y/N and I can make the drinks. The rest of you can help put snacks out. Someone can put a movie on, too.”

Since everyone was impressed with Heeseung taking the lead for once, the plan was set into motion. While Kazuha and Sunghoon bickered over which movie to play, the rest of your friends brought out different snacks for the movie. Arguably, you and Heeseung had the hardest job, but you didn’t need any extra hands for drinks. By the time it took you two to finish eleven mixed drinks, they probably would have settled on a movie.

You looked back to see Heeseung eyeballing a shot into a glass cup, and then he proceeded to down its contents. You cringed when you saw him drinking. The last time he got drunk resulted in you trying to calm him down after he went on a long rant about how he just ate sushi, and the alcohol in his system would cause the raw fish to start swimming. You had to convince him that no, vodka would not bring an already dead and sliced-up fish to life.

Heeseung’s face soured and he pushed the handle aside. “Y’know what, let’s just take something from my parents’ liquor cabinet. This shit is vile.”

“You got triple sec and decent vodka?” you asked. “We could make Lemon Drops.”

“You read my mind.”

“You weren’t even thinking about that, were you?”

“Not at all.”

While you and Heeseung were making the drinks, though, you noticed some giggles coming from the living room. You raised your head to see about five of your friends look away as fast as they could. It hit you before you had time to process what was going on; they were making fun of you and Heeseung together.

You had no clue why. Sure, Heeseung and you had some strange moments here and there. But you two were just making drinks, for crying out loud. Nothing about the situation warranted this reaction from them.

You side-eyed Heeseung to see if he noticed. Thankfully, he was just focused on pouring the right amount of vodka so he didn’t accidentally kill anyone. You, on the other hand, were fighting down the heat rising in your chest.

After a brief war between you and Yizhuo, consisting of you glaring at her and her smirking at you, you ended up setting down a glass and sighing.

“Heeseung,” you said, “go crazy with the vodka in the rest of their drinks.”

“Huh?” he asked, genuinely contemplating whether or not to do it.

“Pour as much as your heart desires,” you muttered and set down six of the Lemon Drops on a tray with a little too much force. Without sparing him a glance, you picked up the tray and went to the living room to hand everyone their glasses. While you handed Yizhuo hers, though, you whispered, “I despise you.”

She grinned. “What? Still denying you like him?”

“I don’t like—”

“You like someone?” Heeseung called from the island, completely frozen in place.

You turned and stared at him, mouth agape.

Chenle spoke up, “No, she likes y—”

You kicked Chenle’s shin with enough force to shut him up, and he grunted before he could continue his sentence. Satisfied, you turned back to Heeseung and shook your head quickly.

“They’re just being idiots,” you explained. “Hurry up with the drinks. We’re watching My Best Friend’s Wedding.” You did a double take and turned back to Yizhuo, harshly whispering, “Why the fuck are we watching My Best Friend’s Wedding?!”

Yizhuo removed Chenle’s hand from her knee and stood up to loop your arm with hers. “Come.”

“Where are we going?” you asked, but she was already dragging you away from the living room. “Is that movie supposed to be some sort of sick message?”

“Oh, good. So you’re aware.”

After making some excuse about needing your assistance to get something from her bag, Yizhuo walked with you to the foyer until she turned on you. You nearly tripped backward over one of the boys’ shoes, so you used the wall to regain your balance.

“Tell me what’s going on between you two,” she ordered.

You let out a sound of exasperation. “Yizhuo, for the last time, Heeseung and I are just friends. That’s all there is to it.”

“I’m just saying, the two of you are going to college together and all, but you have to sort out your feelings before you end up figuring them out after Heeseung finds someone else,” she said. “I mean, what’re you gonna do when Heeseung starts dating someone else? He looks decent enough to pull, so there’s no telling what’s gonna happen when he’s cut loose in Yale.”

You snorted. “He’s already cut loose. I highly doubt Yale’s gonna change anything.”

“You never know. I just don’t want you to realize your feelings too late—you know, when things get messy.”

You both were silent for a few seconds before Beomgyu called, “Y/N, Yizhuo, we’re gonna start the movie!”

“Coming!” you responded.

You chose not to respond to your best friend because you truly had no idea what to think, but it did leave seeds of doubt in your head. It almost distracted you from the fact that Heeseung grabbed your arm and pulled you to sit down next to him. This was bad; you were quickly becoming overly self-conscious of every little thing he did, and that would not bode well for your friendship.

Whatever, you told yourself. Push it down.

“Are there any more pillows?” you asked, scanning the room to see that everyone seemed to have one except you. You looked back at Heeseung and narrowed your eyes at his throw pillow. “Give me yours.”

“What? No way.”

“I wanna lay down,” you whined. He was really the only person you could act a little spoiled around. “Give me your pillow before I—”

Before you could finish, Heeseung threw his arm around you and pushed your head down so that you were laying on his lap. You were startled with the sudden gesture, but you didn’t complain. He was comfortable, after all, and you two usually watched movies like this in your house. So, you adjusted your position a little and continued watching the movie, making a mental note to scold Heeseung later for being all touchy in front of the friend group.

What you weren’t used to, though, was the way he started threaded his fingers through your hair.

You did the only thing you knew how to do in order to deflect; you showed Heeseung a TikTok of a baby otter. Your volume was all the way down, but you still bookmarked the video.

“Look,” you whispered, holding up your phone. His gentle fingers did not stop running through your hair, but at least you could hold onto his friendly hum of acknowledgement. It was the only thing that made any of this feel remotely platonic. “It’s a little guy.”

“Oh, it’s so cute,” Heeseung mused. “Kind of reminds me of you.”

Screw platonic.

He just grabbed platonic and drop kicked it to the next dimension.

That was it. You were going to put your phone away and ignore Heeseung for the rest of the movie. The rest of the movie would be watched in complete silence. In fact, you weren’t going to spare Heeseung any attention for the rest of the sleepover.

That didn’t end up happening, though. Ten minutes later, you cracked and started commenting about the movie to Heeseung. Unbeknownst to the others, you two ended up texting each other messages that threatened to make you burst into laughter. Even though you were sitting right next to each other, you felt like this made your conversation feel like a little secret, like even Heeseung wanted to keep what you two had to himself.

When the movie ended, you two were surprisingly still awake, although there were several moments where you were tempted to doze off on Heeseung’s shoulder. Minjeong, Beomgyu, and Jay were still up, and they were taking pictures of Chenle and Yizhuo to send to the group chat. You immediately separated from Heeseung, feeling a little terrified that you two would be the victims next. However, the others were so preoccupied with Chenle’s arms wrapped around his sleeping girlfriend and their foreheads pressed together.

“Should we wake them up?” Kazuha asked.

“Nah, let them sleep,” Heeseung answered and stood up. “I’m gonna brush my teeth. You guys can use the other bathrooms—just not the one in my parents’ room.”

Minjeong stretched as she let out a yawn. “Alright, I’m gonna wash up, then. I’m exhausted.”

After Minjeong, Beomgyu, and Kazuha left the room to get their bags and wash up, you stared at Heeseung. Your best friend looked confused until you pointed toward his glass.

“Chug it,” you said with mischief dancing in your eyes.

“You’re kidding. It’s bedtime.”

You mocked a pout. “You’re gonna waste the drink I made just for you?”

“Oh, come on—we made it for everyone!”

“But I definitely made this one.” You took the glass and held it out to him, which he ended up taking reluctantly. “I wanna see you finish it.”

After a wince, Heeseung tilted the cup back and downed the contents. Although his face scrunched up, he relaxed once he had finished swallowing it down.

“That was actually pretty good,” he said.

“See? When have I ever let you down?”

“Honestly? Many times.”

You elbowed him in the side. “Hey!”

“Kidding!” Heeseung held his arms up in surrender before wrapping them around your waist. Another gesture you weren’t quite used to, but you went along with it. There was something funny about Heeseung; nothing he did ever made you feel the slightest bit uncomfortable, but sometimes you weren’t sure if it was meant to be friendly. “Let’s go brush our teeth.”

“I can just use the bathroom on the second floor.”

“Huh? Just use the one in my room,” he said. “Come on.”

You hesitated before following your best friend upstairs. First of all, you were feeling overly-conscious about going into Heeseung’s room with him. Secondly, you weren’t too enthusiastic about the fact that you had to use a man’s bathroom.

To Heeseung’s credit, he kept his room and bathroom mostly spotless. Sure, there were a few sweaters piled over the head of his chair and some books left scattered across his desk, but it was definitely cleaner than Jake’s mess of a room. You remembered Yeji stepping across his piles of dirty clothes left on the floor, as if they were hazardous to her health.

As soon as you stepped into the grand bathroom, you realized that you had forgotten your toothbrush. It wasn’t the first time this happened, so you knew to just take one of the unopened toothbrushes from the drawer. However, Heeseung told you they moved some things around, so you wound up searching for the spare toothbrushes for around five minutes.

It was almost ridiculous how Heeseung needed a bathroom bigger than a living room.

You two brushed your teeth side-by-side. Heeseung occasionally cracked jokes that made you giggle and tilt your head back so that your toothpaste wouldn’t dribble down your chin. When that happened, he reached over and wiped your lower lip with his thumb, despite your complaints about how gross that was.

But, to you, it wasn’t really all that gross.

If only Heeseung knew how his actions made your cheeks burn hot under your skin.

The next week was interesting, to say the least.

Heeseung wouldn’t let you rest for a second. You were going out with him every single day, having to see his face from sunrise to sunset. Even when it was nightfall, he would just invite himself over to your place and crash on your couch.

You pointed out that you had a perfectly tidy guest room for him to use, but he insisted that he preferred your couch. You didn’t mind him sprawled out across the cushions because you could take as many pictures of him sleeping as you pleased. You would show him your collection later when he woke up, and Heeseung would get embarrassed to the point of tickling you until you were in hysterics and gasping out that you would delete the pictures from your camera roll.

At this point, it was almost like you two were living together. Even though his parents were out of town, you felt slightly anxious about one of the adults in your parents’ circle discovering what you and Heeseung were up to. Not that it was anything scandalous.

But, you had to admit, you were having fun.

On Monday, Heeseung took you to the beach. You complained incessantly about waking up at six in the morning for cold water and sand all over your clothes, but you managed to drag yourself out of bed. Still, Heeseung had to put up with your grumbles and groans until you were energized enough to stop complaining. All it took was Heeseung feeding you a granola bar and making you coffee while you did your hair.

“C’mon,” he told you, the wind sweeping his hair to the side as the first rays of sunlight shone bright against his glowing skin, “this is exactly like the Bahamas if you close your eyes.”

“Uh-huh.”

You rolled your eyes at him, but you spent the entire day at the beach with Heeseung, anyway. You finally warmed up to going into the water with him, letting him take your hands and guide you deeper until the water was up to your waist. At one point, a particularly heavy wave pushed him closer to you until you both were chest-to-chest. You had to hold onto his bicep to keep yourself from floating away. And you swore you caught Heeseung checking you out in your bikini later on, but he turned away with pink-tinged ears immediately after.

Later, when the sun was starting to set and you retreated from the water to curl up in your towel, you sat on your large beach towel and waited for Heeseung to bring over food from the food trucks. The tide was getting higher, so you had to move yours and Heeseung’s belongings further up the sand.

Heeseung returned with two takeout boxes of tacos, taking a seat next to you with a relieved sigh. Since you two hadn’t eaten a proper lunch, you had been waiting for this meal all day. You were properly tuckered out from all the swimming and beach volleyball, so you dug in immediately.

“Good?” Heeseung asked, watching you eat with a small smile on his face. He must have been impressed that you practically inhaled your first taco in under five seconds.

“Good,” you confirmed, voice muffled.

With the back of your hand shielding your eyes, you looked off into the horizon to watch the sunlight ripple across the water’s surface.

And, yeah, maybe it was a little like the Bahamas.

Just a little.

You didn’t expect Heeseung to wake you up on Tuesday morning and drag you to an empty field. Although he told you that he had a surprise for you, you didn’t think it warranted being woken up at 5:30 a.m. without a clue of where you were going.

“Alright, close your eyes, okay? It’s a surprise,” Heeseung said, gesturing for you to cover your gaze. You found it adorable that he was fumbling so much, so you closed your eyes with a grin. “Keep them closed—hold on.”

“Heeseung, how much longer?” you whined.

“And,” he drawled, stretching out the syllable, “open!”

When you opened your eyes, towering over you was a 60-foot tall hot air balloon, its brightly-patterned nylon reflecting the bright sunlight. You boggled at its impressive size—absolutely massive. The pilot got down from the basket, walking over so that he could greet you two and provide a rundown of safety measures and procedures.

An hour later, you were in the sky, eyes sweeping over the expanse of Los Angeles. You were never that great with heights, but, somehow, you weren’t too afraid as you peered down. Heeseung stood beside you, keeping one hand on the small of your back as he pointed out different landmarks he recognized.

“I’ve never seen LA like this!” you yelled over the wind, cupping your hand around your mouth so that Heeseung could hear you.

He grinned. “Isn’t it beautiful? Makes the city actually feel peaceful for once.”

You wouldn’t dare admit it but, all the way up in the sky, thousands of feet above ground level, what made you feel like you were soaring was Heeseung’s arm slipping around your waist.

On Wednesday, Heeseung took you fishing. You absolutely hated the idea, but once you had the fishing rod in your hands, you were determined to catch the biggest fish. Heeseung ended up catching more than you, but the two fish you caught were stars in your eyes. By the end of the day, you were laughing hysterically as Heeseung’s hat got stuck in your hook and was flung into the water.

On Thursday, Heeseung took you to play mini-golf. You had gone golfing before with company executives and their kids, but this was different. You didn’t have to show off or try to be the best one there; you just had fun and laughed whenever your best friend missed the ball. You two ended the day by going to an arcade and playing almost every game inside.

By Friday morning, you were exhausted. Your limbs were aching when you woke up the next morning, but Heeseung promised to actually let you rest over the weekend. Tonight was Yizhuo’s country club’s party to celebrate the opening of their new banquet hall, so Heeseung only planned one thing for the morning so that you would have time to get ready for the party later.

Pushing your red Jacquemus sunglasses onto your head, you fixed your best friend with a puzzled stare. He was acting weird all morning, from nearly snapping at you for trying to open the trunk of his car, to staying silent when you asked where he was taking you.

For a moment, you wondered if this was the climax of a horror movie where the killer drove you to a quiet place to get rid of you. Your suspicion raised more when Heeseung parked by a marina with a hiking trail nearby.

This is where your body’s being dumped, you concluded grimly.

But, then again, this was Lee Heeseung. He cried when he was eleven because there was a spider on his backpack; he didn’t have the heart to hurt anyone, especially not you. In fact, you recalled when he nearly passed out in middle school because he thought he caused you extreme pain once. (It turned out to be your period cramps.)

“Are you gonna tell me where you’re taking me?” you asked, exasperated. “If we’re swimming, I’m gonna tell you right now that there’s no way I’m getting my hair wet before the party.”

Heeseung chuckled. “Don’t worry your pretty little head, princess. We’re just going for a spin on the lake.” He nodded his head in the direction of the yachts lined up by the shoreline. “Jog your memory?”

When your gaze landed on the gorgeous white yacht gleaming under the sun, you couldn’t help but gasp at its glorious sight. Heeseung had gotten the yacht for his birthday last year, but he never had the time to actually use it. One reason was because he didn’t trust his friends to not trash it, and the other being that he wanted his first ride on it to be special.

Your face burned. His first ride was going to be with you.

“Shut up.” You were gaping at the sight before turning to your best friend, who looked smug while he parked his car. “Shut up. You’re actually letting me go on your yacht?”

“Yeah, why not?” He tried to brush it off as something casual, but your heart was still doing cartwheels and flips. “It’s about time I went out on it.”

You two walked down to the harbor together, your hands sometimes shyly brushing and pulling away swiftly. There had been moments of thick, unspoken tension throughout the week, but you didn’t have the courage to bring it up.

Once you two reached Heeseung’s yacht, he firmly slapped his hand against the smooth, brilliant white surface. “Carver c52 Command Bridge,” he gloated. “Isn’t she beautiful?”

You snorted. “You talk about boats the same way old white men do.”

You allowed him to help you into the yacht, gripping his hand tight as you stepped onto the deck. You hadn’t questioned it before, but as soon as Heeseung let go of you, he set down the picnic basket so that he could spread out the blanket.

You helped him with the corners of the blanket. “What’s this?”

“Well, I thought we could sail out a little and then have breakfast on the deck,” he replied coolly, as if the sincerity of his words wouldn’t make your heart twist painfully in your chest. You really didn’t deserve such effort from him, and it almost made you feel guilty that you had acted so spoiled before. “I’ll go start the engine. You can just enjoy the view.”

However, you followed him to the cockpit. Heeseung raised a brow at you, but you giggled as you took a seat behind him, watching as he stood at the helm, fiddling with some controls you knew nothing about.

“You actually know how to operate this thing?” you asked.

“My dad taught me,” he explained. “I’m not licensed, though, so I don’t think this is exactly legal.”

“Not like that’s stopped you before.”

Heeseung grinned to himself. He started up the yacht’s engine by pressing a button on the dashboard. You watched his hands fly across the levers and controls before he started turning the wheel to steer out of the marina.

“You wanna head out to the deck?” he called out over his shoulder, but you just took the empty seat next to him. “Don’t you wanna sunbathe? Or you could check out the stateroom.”

“Nope,” you said, resting your chin on the palm of your hand as you watched him. “I’d rather wait for you.”

Sometimes, you’d almost catch Heeseung getting flustered. He’d always laugh and rub his nose, looking away shyly before anyone caught onto his awkwardness. The same reaction was unfolding before you right now, and you couldn’t help but smile like an idiot yourself.

You wondered if he ever felt butterflies in his stomach, too.

Once Heeseung had driven the yacht out far enough—far out enough in the water where the water was still and no one was there to disturb you two. You both headed out to the deck again. He took a seat to lay out what he packed in his picnic basket, and you removed your sundress so that you could tan a little in your bikini.

“Champagne?” he offered, holding up a bottle of Dom Pérignon that he most definitely stole from his family’s wine cellar.

You pulled out the two wine glasses in the basket and held them out for Heeseung to pour your drinks, smiling wide as he tipped the bottle. “Yes, please.”

“See, you wouldn’t be able to experience this if you were in the Bahamas right now.” He pushed his sunglasses up onto his head. “We didn’t get to hang out like this any of the past summers.”

“As if we don’t hang out almost every day.”

“But this is different!” he argued. “It’s summer. It’s not like we’re making impromptu plans to New York and flying back home a day later to study for an exam. We have all the time in the world right now.”

He was right, in a sense. You and Heeseung were always together, but you two never really got to spend long days together like this. You two got to make plans without involving anyone else in the friend group for once, and it was a lot more fun than you had expected.

“Do you think we’d be this close if we weren’t rich?” you asked after a while. Heeseung raised a brow at your question, so you clarified, “I’m serious! We wouldn’t be able to do stuff like this—flying in hot air balloons, driving yachts, going to country club parties—if we didn’t have rich parents.”

Heeseung crossed his arms behind his head and pondered, looking up at the sky with a wistful expression. He hummed before answering, “I’d like to think that we’d make it work the same way everyone else does.”

“Really?”

“Yep.”

“What if… you were rich and I wasn’t? Or vice-versa?”

“Yeah, I mean…” he trailed off for a moment, eyes cast down as if he was trying to find the words on his tongue. Then, he continued, “I think I’d be happy doing anything with you, even if all we could do together was sit at home and watch TV.”

Whatever response you had prepared at the back of your throat had died on your tongue. All you could do was look at him helplessly, wondering why his words were making your heart beat faster than when you were thousands of feet up in the sky days ago. You wondered why such gentle words from your best friend had roused a violent storm in your heart.

The wind picked up, sending your hair flying every which way. Heeseung reached out to brush a loose strand of hair away from your face, fingers lingering on your cheek as he pulled back. You went completely still, chest frozen mid-breath as he pulled away.

“You had something in your hair,” he mumbled, quickly scrambling to offer you a caprese skewer. If you looked closely enough, you would’ve noticed that his ears were bright red. “Eat quickly before the food gets stale.”

“I don’t think food normally goes stale that fast.”

“Shut up.”

There was one thing about formal gatherings that all trust fund babies could agree on: only get drunk behind your parents’ backs.

They definitely knew what was going on, but they paid no attention as long as their children were staying safe and not embarrassing themselves. When you were much younger, you would always catch sight of the older kids sneaking away to get drunk in the bathroom, but you never understood the excitement they felt until you became a freshman in high schooler, being dragged away by Yeji to drink with the older kids.

Back then, you were doe-eyed and curious as Vernon would pour shots for you in moderation. Now, you were nearly gagging when Yizhuo handed you a shooter of Pink Whitney.

You two had locked yourselves in the bathroom with Xiaoting, Kazuha, and Minjeong as Yizhuo pulled out various shooters from her purse. It was fine for you to drink wine with the other adults, but you were all certain that the adults would frown upon you drinking hard liquor in front of the other guests. So, the five of you snuck away to get drunk secretly.

For the past fifteen minutes, as you all were downing shooter after shooter, the girls had been pressing you about something going on between you and Heeseung. After he posted you on his Instagram story, showing off his boat in the process, you were bombarded with texts that you were only able to ignore until you got to the party.

A loud knock at the door nearly scared you out of your wits, causing Minjeong to bark out a laugh at the sight of you flinching.

“Occupied!” you yelled, although the syllables slurred together strangely.

“It’s us!” came Jake’s voice. “We’re going drunk golfing.”

You frowned and stepped aside to let Yizhuo open the door for Jake. He scanned his surroundings nervously before shoving his fists into his pockets and stepping into the girls’ bathroom.

“Jake,” Xiaoting started. Although her face and neck were completely red, she focused her eyes on him to keep a serious tone. “We need you to tell us if Heeseung’s into Y/N or not.”

“Xiaoting!” you complained.

“You know what, I’d like to know, too,” Jake replied with shocking enthusiasm. He leaned against the crystal sink, folding his arms across his chest. “Screw drunk golf; this is way more fun. Y/N, do you have feelings for Heeseung? ‘Cause everyone wants to know if—”

“Jake, we didn’t bring you in here for girl talk,” Minjeong cut him off with a wave of her hand. “We brought you in here for answers.”

He let out a childish whine. “But I wanna be here for girl talk.”

“Wait, but answer his question.” Yizhuo turned to you with a wide grin on her face, handing you yet another shooter—probably to make you more honest. You seriously wished you could call Chenle over to put a leash on your friend. “Do you have feelings for Heeseung?”

Did you? You had never been so confused about where you and Heeseung stood until this week. You two had always been close—always did everything together—so why were you feeling conscious about everything now?

But, despite all of your confusion, the one thing that was clear to you was that you felt something for Lee Heeseung with every beat of your heart.

Everything he did, everything he said—you weren’t sure what it was that had you so intoxicated on his attention, but you knew you would’ve felt sick to your stomach if he did the things he did with you with any other girl.

You felt it whenever you saw him lounging around your house, digging into the brownies your mother made as if he lived there. You felt it whenever someone told a joke and the two of you made eye contact with each other first, hoping to see if the other person found it funny, too. You felt it whenever he touched your hand and called you princess, unaware that your heart was fluttering pathetically in your chest.

His smile, his laugh, his happiness—you wanted to be the cause of it all.

You caved with a defeated sigh. “Yeah, I think I might actually have feelings for him.”

A collective cheer erupted in the bathroom, the sound echoing for a few seconds after. Jake stood up just to high-five Yizhuo so hard that the impact left their palms stinging, and then Yizhuo proceeded to scold Jake for putting his full force into the high-five. You pinched the bridge of your nose with embarrassment flooding your chest.

Jake decided to abandon the boys’ plans to go drunk golfing and spent the next ten minutes discussing strategies to get you and Heeseung alone. He had integrated himself into your circle so well that he almost seemed like one of the girls. You slowly backed up into one of the stalls during their conversation, starting to feel horribly nauseous and lightheaded. You were pretty sure that Yizhuo handing you shooter after shooter was starting to have adverse effects on your body.

“How about we tell him that Y/N’s puking in the bathroom and he needs to—” Minjeong cut herself off as soon as she heard you retching by the toilet. “Oh, wow, she’s actually puking in the bathroom.” She turned to Jake after opening the door for him. “Go get Heeseung.”

“If you let me join girl talk next time,” Jake bargained.

“Are you seriously negotiating with me in this situation?”

“Yes.”

Minjeong groaned. “Okay, fine, Jake, we’ll invite you the next time we have girl talk. Now go fetch Heeseung.”

“On it!” he agreed quickly. “Don’t die, Y/N.”

“I’ll try not to” you croaked out weakly, your head hanging between your knees as you willed yourself to not barf out your guts.

“Are you okay?” Kazuha pouted as she rubbed your back in soothing circles. “This is all because you kept making her drink, Yizhuo.”

“I didn’t make her,” she retorted. “Y/N, do you need water or anything? I can ask someone in the kitchen for liquid IV, too.”

You shook your head. “No, just bring Heeseung here.”

They shared a secretive giggle, but you didn’t care. You felt way too sick to mind the girls teasing you. You even tried to distract yourself on your phone, but the bright screen just made you feel worse. You closed your eyes and leaned your head back against the wall, groaning miserably.

It had really gotten to the point where you didn’t care that you were sitting on the country club’s public bathroom floor. It was all fancy and sanitary, of course, but you would normally feel icky about this sort of scenario playing out.

You weren’t sure how long it had been, but eventually, you heard the door opening and the rest of the girls rushed to make sure it wasn’t someone outside the group. You heard them ushering Heeseung inside, explaining what had happened to you before they left the bathroom.

Heeseung knocked on your stall as a formality but let himself inside, anyway. The crooked grin on his face upon seeing you only made you turn your head away and sigh in exasperation.

You turned your head back to face him when you heard his shutter go off.

A scowl was plastered across your face. “Did you just take a picture of me?”

Heeseung snickered. “Yeah, I’m posting it on my story. Right after the one of you looking all pretty on my boat.”

“You’re supposed to be here to help me.”

“That’s why I brought soda,” he replied, holding up an entire bottle of Sprite. You were confident he snagged it from the kitchen, which you were pretty sure would result in Yizhuo scolding him for treating the country club like his house. “Anyway, why’d you drink so much? Just because I’m driving you home doesn’t mean you’re allowed to give yourself alcohol poisoning.”

You settled back into your previous position with your head between your knees. This way, Heeseung wouldn’t be able to see how stupid in love you were. There was absolutely no way you could tell him that you were mindlessly drinking while you were spilling your feelings for him.

“Where’d the girls go?” you asked instead.

“I told them to go drunk golfing while I took care of you.”

“Don’t you wanna go play, too?”

Heeseung shrugged. He took a seat on the floor next to you, not minding the indecency even though he was sober. You felt like your heart was going to explode if he kept doting on you like this.

“I can always go play another time,” he said. “Plus, I’d have more fun if you were there.”

You both went quiet for a moment. The weight of Heeseung’s words only made your heart feel heavier, and you weren’t sure how much longer you could go pretending that you only cared for him as a friend.

Then, your stomach started churning and twisting with the need to puke out your guts again, and the silence was filled with your retching. Heeseung rubbed your back sympathetically and held your hair back while you hunched over the toilet seat again.

This was definitely going down as one of your most unflattering moments.

“Want some soda?” Heeseung tried.

You shook your head.

“Drink some water, then—here,” he said, handing you a red solo cup that was filled to the brim. “I stole it from Hoon.”

Reluctantly, you lifted your head to accept the cup from him. When you took a sip, though, you just ended up hawking and spitting out the contents into the toilet.

Trying your best not to gag, you got out, “Not water—vodka.”

“Oh, my bad.” Heeseung frowned, inspecting the cup. “Why’d Hoon pour this much? No wonder he drove the golf cart into the lake.”

After throwing up basically everything in your stomach, you started to feel dizzy all over again, stumbling and wobbling all over the bathroom until Heeseung had to hold you upright. He had already gotten Yizhuo’s approval to drive you home for the night, but there was no way you were making it to his Tesla in your heels. Heeseung had you hang tight while he ran to his car to get your Dolce & Gabbana rubber slides, knowing there was no possible way for him to carry you out to the car without the adults getting suspicious.

You felt much more comfortable in your slides, so you walked out hand-in-hand with Heeseung while he held onto your heels. Although you felt bad about leaving Yizhuo’s grand opening party early, you figured that it would be more shameful for her parents to see you in this state.

You had greatly underestimated the power of alcohol.

After you had walked up to about three different cars that weren’t Heeseung’s (including Jay’s Mercedes Benz, which started going off once you pulled on the handle), he had finally grabbed you by the shoulders and manually directed you to his Tesla. You giggled as you got into the passenger’s seat, allowing him to buckle you in and watch over you as he called Jay to turn his car alarm off.

Heeseung shot you a glance as he drove out of the country club’s gated entrance. “You’re going straight to bed when we get home.”

“Don’t wanna.”

He surprisingly gave up fast on trying to convince you. “What do you wanna do, then?”

“I dunno.” You shrugged. “Anything. Wanna bake cookies? Or watch a show?”

“Down for a show. Don’t know if I trust you around kitchen appliances right now,” he answered. After letting out a giggle, you caught Heeseung’s smile illuminated by the moonlight. “See? Aren’t you having more fun than you would’ve had in the Bahamas?”

“I wouldn’t ask this question after I nearly got alcohol poisoning.”

“The important thing is that you didn’t.”

You snorted, but something fond unraveled in your chest. You rolled the window down and looked outside, watching the bright lights of the city twinkle and shine under the inky black sky. You remembered all the skies you watched with Heeseung this week—the hazy gray in the morning, the bright blues of the afternoon, and the faint peony glow at sunset. And, yeah, you would’ve given up the Bahamas any day for this.

“Yeah,” you answered him, though you weren’t quite sure if he could hear you over the wind, “I’m having a lot of fun, Hee.”

Two weeks flew by far too quickly.

You were dumbfounded when you realized your parents were coming back the next day. You had spent two entire weeks solely with Heeseung, and you were having so much fun that you totally lost track of time. You were so caught up in your adventures that it had completely slipped your mind that summer would eventually come to an end.

Heeseung suggested that you two spent your last night doing something special. You had no idea what that meant, but you went along with whatever he had planned.

Apparently, he had been wanting to take you to see the stars, but you didn’t realize that he meant the observatory until you were in his car, parking on the steep slope of a hillside.

“It’s so far,” you complained.

He tutted. “It’s a five minute walk, princess, and it’s worth it. Trust me.”

You hesitated before grouching again, “It’s cold.”

Without another word, Heeseung took off his sweater. You tried to peel your eyes away from his white shirt that kept hiking up as he did. He passed it to you, and you couldn’t do anything but accept it because he was already getting out of the car. You wanted to hand it back to him because you knew he would be cold (made evident by the goosebumps that pricked his arms), but he profusely refused. He seemed perfectly content at the mere sight of you joining him.

He waited as you slipped on his sweater, the biggest grin stretching across his face. You were a little blindsided by how blinding Heeseung’s smile was, especially under the glow of the moon. Your cheeks heated up a little when you smelled faint traces of his Blackberry & Bay cologne in the fabric.

“You’re microscopic in my clothes,” he teased. You started walking a little faster to catch up with your friend, but his comment made you punch his shoulder.

“Oh, shut up.” You waved off the comment, but part of you liked how the sleeves of his sweater fell past your wrists. “We used to be the same height in, like, middle school.”

Heeseung barked out a laugh. “That was so long ago! Look at our height difference now.” Before you could anticipate his actions, he stepped in front of you and compared both of your heights.

You looked up at your best friend, raising a brow at his comment. Of course you were aware. Maybe at one point you denied it, but that was when you both were in elementary school and Heeseung would tug on your hair because he sat behind you.

Being this close to him made you a little nervous. After realizing that you had feelings for him, it was becoming difficult to keep them at bay. It was very clear that Heeseung had become much more masculine over the years with his buffer chest, muscular arms, and deeper voice.

And he looked extremely attractive.

“Yeah, I know you’re tall,” you replied flatly. It was normal for Heeseung to tease you, but whenever he did so in public, you always felt your heart squeeze in your chest. Then, he’d brush it off, and the feeling would fade out like bubbles floating to the ground. “You know, giving me your sweater and messing around like this probably gives people the wrong idea, right?”

“Oh… does it?” Heeseung mumbled, voice an octave higher than usual, and he turned his face away before you could detect the dust of pink across his cheeks. “By the way, have you been to a planetarium before?”

“Nope.”

You had always heard of the large domes that showcased the night sky. People sat underneath as a narrator droned on about stories from the past and the history of the universe. However, you hadn’t ever actually been to one, although you almost would’ve if you hadn’t gotten grounded before a class trip, resulting in all of your friends going to a planetarium show without you. You remembered Yizhuo was texting you throughout the entire trip, complaining about virtually everything that was going on and telling you how much she missed you.

“You’re kidding,” Heeseung’s eyes went round. “No way! You’ve never been to a planetarium?”

“Well—”

“Oh my god,” he continued, absolutely astounded. “Have you even lived?”

“I’ve just never had the chance!” you argued. “It’s not like anyone’s ever asked me to go to one. Plus, if there’s anyone I’d go with, I’d rather just go with you.”

Silence.

You and Heeseung had been settling into a lot of awkward pauses lately. It always followed some odd comment or action between you two, like when he got extremely close to you on the yacht. You still had no idea what exactly his intentions were during that whole ordeal, but your heart had never raced so fast.

Eventually, your silence was broken by an employee ushering you and Heeseung to walk past the velvet ropes and into the observatory building. You both were still silent upon walking in, but when you saw the signs pointing to the planetarium, you nudged your best friend’s side.

“It says the next showing starts in five minutes,” you pointed out.

“Fuck.” He slapped the pockets of his jeans, feeling for something solid in them. “I have my tickets—somewhere. Give me a second.”

Thankfully, he managed to figure out that he saved his tickets to his Apple Wallet. The sign stating that the shows were sold out nearly made your heart drop, but, of course, Heeseung had planned this out well in advance.

As always.

“Where should we sit?” you asked when you walked into the room, looking up at the dome-shaped ceiling in awe.

“Anywhere.” Heeseung grinned at you. “All we have to do is lay back and stare at the sky, so wherever you wanna sit.”

You both settled with two seats in the middle. It was smack dab in the center of the dome, right where the screen curved. Heeseung made a comment about how this was the ideal spot because it felt like you were getting sucked in by the stars.

When the show started, you gazed up at the screen in complete awe. Swirling nebulas and galaxies were painted across the night sky, blinking down at you. The narrator’s soothing voice made you feel absolutely immersed, and you had to grab the arm rest whenever the animation started speeding through the universe.

Heeseung booed when they showed Earth, throwing up a thumbs-down and then quickly shoving his hand back into his pocket, as if the planet would take offense.

And you realized you were in love with him.

You didn’t know why it hit you right then and there—a person droning on about space overhead, glancing over at your best friend to see him gawking at the solar system—but you were certain you would never feel this way with anyone else again. The feeling stampeded through your body, making your blood rush and your bones feel light. You were engulfed in a fire that burned only for Heeseung.

It felt so simple, yet all the more complicated. You were in love with your childhood best friend—the person who had been with you through everything.

It wasn’t like fireworks. Not a splash of ice cold water or like you had been kicked in the chest. It was more like slowly sinking in quicksand, not even realizing how deep you were until you were completely submerged.

You had been in love with Golden Boy for a long time now.

Later, after the show was over, he took you outside to overlook the city. Apparently, it was quite the sight to behold from this high up. You were still gushing on and on about the planetarium show, but as soon as you took a glance over the railing, you forgot all about the wonders of space.

Now, looking over all the bright lights really made it feel like the City of Angels. You were completely captivated by the sight. It was different from how it looked from the hot air balloon; everything was so miniscule from that height, but you could see how far the city stretched from here. The lights blinked past the horizon, and you were certain this was your first time seeing stars down below instead up in the sky.

Heeseung folded his arms onto the railing and tucked his head in them. “You can’t get this view anywhere else.”

“It’s beautiful,” you said, hardly audible.

“Yeah,” he replied. You wondered if he was talking about the stars above or the city below, so you turned your head to catch where he was looking. There was an alarming spike in your heartbeat when you realized he was looking at you, but Heeseung didn’t look away this time. “It really is.”

You never fully appreciated how gorgeous Los Angeles—never really looked past all the traffic and smog and crowd. The bustling city was tiring to keep up with at times. You saw it more as the city of burnouts than the city of stars.

But here, where the stars weren’t in the sky but down below, you realized that the brightest star of them all was the one right next to you.

It was Heeseung.

“You don’t still wish you were in the Bahamas, do you?” he asked suddenly, which spurred you to start laughing.

You stared up at him with incredulity in your eyes. “Hee, I never once wished I was in the Bahamas when I was with you.” You nodded to yourself. “I’d say you made this a successful summer.”

Your heart flipped in your chest when you saw those gleaming eyes and bright smile of his. It almost lit up the sky brighter than the city of Los Angeles itself. The way he was looking at you made you forget everything you were saying.

“Actually,” he started shyly, “there's something else that could make this summer perfect.”

“What’s that?”

“Will you go out with me?”

The question knocked you off orbit, electrifying every nerve in your body like it was cut wire. You weren’t sure what expression you wore on your face, but the shy look on Heeseung’s face was plunging you deeper in that inescapable quicksand. Of course, your friends had suspected this all along, but hearing it yourself was entirely different. You felt like you were glowing brighter than Polaris.

“I’ve liked you since we were kids,” he started to explain after gauging that you still needed time to process his words. “It’s not like I just felt this way overnight. I was just trying to make the right choices so that I could stay by your side for as long as I could. I mean, I’ll always be your best friend, Y/N, but I also wanna be something more than that to you.”

“And it’s okay if you don’t feel the same way,” he continued. “I knew that this could possibly ruin our friendship, but I also knew that if I didn’t tell you how I felt, then I would’ve been lying to you through college, too.” He sucked in a shuddering breath. “It’s only ever been you.”

Change was hard. You’d been at war with your mind for a while now over starting something new with Heeseung. Although it was unfamiliar and new, and although you were scared of things potentially not working out, you still wanted to try for him.

“You don’t have to worry about ruining our friendship.” The words were on your tongue like a pearl. Your soul leaked out of your body, straight into the Earth, then seeped back into you with newfound bravery. You blinked back tears that dared to spill and sounded so stupidly breathless when you confessed, “I’m in love with you, too, Hee.”

His eyes were as wide as saucers, unblinking. “You are?”

His voice was soft, imploring, almost desperate, so you stepped closer and cupped his cold cheeks with your warm hands. Heeseung’s gaze seemed faraway, but he placed his hands over yours, as if he was trying to make sure you were real.

“I don’t think there’s anyone else out there who would rent an entire hot air balloon just to make sure I wouldn’t miss the Bahamas.” You laughed, a moonstruck grin on your face. “And, for the record, I’d choose you over a stupid vacation any day.”

You had been waiting to see his face break into that dazzling smile of his where his eyes crinkled at the corners. Instead, Heeseung just gazed at you longingly before he placed a hand on your cheek and bent down to kiss you.

His mouth moved with yours carefully, almost like he was too scared to go any further. You moved your hands to loop around his neck, drawing him closer so that you could slowly deepen the kiss. You were grateful that Heeseung waited to match your pace, and soon he was dropping his hands to grab at your waist and pull you closer to him, too. It sent butterflies straight to the pit of your stomach whenever he smiled between kisses, mumbling something about how pretty you were or how he had been waiting to do this forever.

Sometimes, you realized, feelings didn’t need to be expressed through words. You didn’t need the confirmation because with Heeseung’s lips pressed to yours, you felt like you were glowing brighter than the stars above.

You supposed you could say your parents were a little shocked to come back home and discover a major change in your relationship status.

You had to give them the rundown of what happened, of course. It wasn’t very hard to do, considering you had reiterated the same story to Yizhuo about a hundred times until she was satisfied. Thankfully, your other friends just needed to hear it once to fully grasp that Heeseung was now your boyfriend. For Yeji, you had to bring out a whiteboard just to draw everything out to her over FaceTime.

As you broke down what happened while your parents were in Rome, you noticed the silver necklace on your mother’s neck that glimmered whenever the light caught it. You smiled to yourself when you realized it was probably your stepfather’s honeymoon present, and you were grateful that your mother was able to experience such a wonderful love herself.

“See?” There was an excited gleam in your mother’s eyes as she bit into one of the chocolate chip cookies you and Heeseung made for them last night. She pointed the cookie in your stepfather’s direction. “I told you they’d get together!”

“I thought so, too!” he agreed. “That’s why I had that little talk with Heeseung when you two dropped us off at the airport.”

“That’s what you guys were talking about?!” you exclaimed, jumping up to your feet and then sinking back down in your seat with your hands covering your face. “I knew it was gonna be something embarrassing.”

“Oh, honey, don’t say that. Have a cookie.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Heeseung, who had been silent the whole conversation, spoke up. He reached over and took the cookie from your mother, but you smacked his hand lightly while he was bringing it to his mouth. “Hey! You almost made me drop my cookie!”

You huffed. “She was talking to me, idiot.”

You were honestly over-the-moon that dating Heeseung was this easy. You worried about having a boyfriend and having to go through the hassle of introducing him to your parents and waiting for them to warm up to him. With Heeseung, though, he was already like family in your household, so nothing felt too different.

Except that your parents could outwardly tease you both now.

Since you were in his parents’ good graces, too, everything seemed to click for you two. Both of your parents were planning to go out for dinner sometime this week to celebrate your new relationship, which you felt was a little over-the-top. You suspected that Mrs. Lee was hoping you would be her future daughter-in-law.

They were even planning on renting a Airbnb together for yours and Heeseung’s move-in at Yale. It was almost terrifying how everyone in your life seemed to be fully on-board for this relationship.

Not that you were complaining, though.

“Are you guys going somewhere now?” your mother asked, eyeing Heeseung’s white button-up that you were wearing over your swimsuit. “Make sure you wear sunscreen. It’s supposed to be the hottest day of the year.”

You checked your bag to make sure your sunscreen was, in fact, there. Heeseung took his baseball cap off to put it on your head, which made you crack a smile.

“Yeah, we’re going to the beach,” you said. “Yizhuo and Chenle wanted to spend the day at Santa Monica, and then we were gonna head over to Jungwon’s house.”

“Well, have fun.” Your mother moved to the kitchen to grab Tupperware to package the cookies. Your stepfather followed her in to help her out. “I’m sorry we couldn’t go to the Bahamas this year, but the beach has to be the next best thing, right?”

You shared a grin with Heeseung, and his eyes crinkled beautifully at the corners. “Yeah, it’s exactly like the Bahamas if I close my eyes.”

AUTHOR’S NOTE ▸ thank you for reading all the way to the end if you made it this far !! :’) i have always wanted to write pure fluff without any room for misunderstandings or angst LOL and heeseung is just the perfect embodiment of bff2l ♡ i hope you enjoyed reading this as much as i enjoyed writing this !! 

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Taglagas dahil may bagong pagsibol

a 2023 highlight

Life update! I'm a non-major now. With many prayers and humbling times, mama finally agreed. and guess what? she said she was just waiting for me to ask her because she has trusted me already with the Lord. What an answered prayer.

<if 2023 would be described in 1 photo>

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's the start of a new year!

Recently, I've been very contemplative. Maybe it's my age catching up to me. haha.

"I had a blast this 2023" was an understatement.

When I reviewed my IG stories, I was utterly shocked how the darkest time and brightest time of my life happened in just a year, in this year.

Just now, I saw my journal and my expectation for it a year ago. Never could I have imagined what happened now that it has ended.. It's rly humorous how there was a big "Be more like Him" in the first page. I prayed that I'd be more christlike and here I was; given the biggest fishbone to my throat. haha.

BUt! that was just half of it.

When I reached September, our 2nd sem, everything I wished for happened. It was the greatest time of my life.

My classes were soooooo fun. I've made palpable my table and college-ing ideas. I have been receiving high scores in my exams. I also had a very craaaaaazy class wherein we discuss about and dance disco. fUn! And beh, don't get me started on the people I've interacted with! I met many nationalities, became friends with them, and even went to another nation! (side note: I also learned about how exchange students works. hihi. maybe, Lord? Is it ur will, even for a sem? *cute face while on my knees* haha) In that other nation, I saranghae-d everywhere. First time had I experienced a negative degree celcius temperature! As cute as it sound like, hear me say this. It. Was. Not. Fun. hahaha. i wished to experience that when I was a child, but who's laughing now to be eating my words back decades after. I couldn't even take pictures. haha. I really tried my best to screen shot them in my mind for future reference and rly just go back in the summer time someday. for sure. :) When I prayed to get closer to God, he gave me something I super mega really didn't expect. Grabe, siz. I was given a privilege to disciple 4 girls in my campus, and 5 girls in our local church! I became part of the campus core team (who were *chef's kiss*), and even serving as one of the evangelism servant-leadership! I really had no kawala because I've became more accountable to His pips. hehe. a pleasure... Heart wise, it was so cuuuuuuuute! I'm happy these are all buried with me but, gorl! It was my first time to be asked out on a date. For clarity, I declined ah. Pero back in high school I aced that. (kaya God made sure I learned haha) Then in senior high, I protected my heart. Now, it was so funny 'cuz I only see these things in movies. hahaha. Thanks for asking me out, you. Nevertheless, I think I only got 2-3 other crush this year. The most recent ferson was the one whom I first saw on television, loved his testimony, and surprise surprise, he was on the same satelite as my campus and even friends with my team mates. His voice is already a sweet honeycomb in the summer. hihi satin lang to pls. But kidding aside, because of my mature ates and kuyas, it makes me want to be mature as well, and set, and contented in the Lord. So, when God's best come, I can be ready. for sure. :) haha. Lord, take this hart/plez

woop. already 30 mins in and I havent started on what I wanted to share. words cant rly be concise when talking about these things. >,<

Soooo, let me continue.

Recently, I've been very contemplative. Anxious, too. Because of that, I've been indecisive in many things, including on what I should be devo-ing. But the Lords says to just do it. So, I maximized the available resources and found the verse Joshua 1:8-9 for my last day of 2023.

Here are the things I realized:

Josh 1:8 is the same sa Deut 31: 8. The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.

"What about it?," you may ask. My answer would be, "It's all about it." It was the same promise I held on to back in my 1st year. It just make me realize how God is whispering, shouting even, the same words. It's like, "Child, listen. Just like what wanted and prayed for, I also want that. I want you to be succesful and glorify Me. That is why, I want you to be careful in doing the things I say." Amazing isn't it? Eto yung unshakable, unchanging, and constant shelter, Father, lover, and God. I also came across some verses God used to speak to me in the time I asked if I should really leave Engggg.

in all of these, God was reminding me how he was faithful in His word of last 2 years and last year, and will surely still be this year. How he speaks to me when I give my heart to linger and listen.

My vision for 2024 is to thirst for Him (psalm 63)

Part of my quiet time is look for real meaning of some words, or terms in its origin language. When I was searching about "meditate," I also saw maaaaaany verses that this kind of meditating was mentioned. <Psalm 1:2, Psalm 63:6, Psalm 77:12, Psalm 143:5, and Isaiah 33:18> All of those I read were about a person in a difficult circumstance and forgetting God's goodness yet reminding the self in faith.

That's the power of not letting this this Book of Instruction go out from one's speech and meditating or reciting it or understanding and applying it day and night. How mindful and intentional is the Lord of the littlest thing that he had to mention specific times of a person's day. Note also that it is in perfect tense meaning ~~~ an action started in the past and continues in the future ~ or so. He alone.

God wants me to be successful.

May it be not in my current definiton of it but he wants to. When I searched for what does it mean to be successful, I came across Deutoronomy 28. How beautiful is that painting of God's blessing. The only thing God is asking for His people is to love him. To love him in obedience. To ensure that I do aaaaall that is written in His word by His grace through faith, in all that I can.

This means a lot. All of the things I've written in this blog are all complains if God really wants me to to be succesfull. God is answering me now. He does.

He wants to bless me. He wants to love me with all that He can.

If only I'd allow him to.

<photo from that trip> hehe

[astohria]

Tag game! 

I was tagged to post a selfie by @kingscross (it took me 37926373 years to notice it I'm so sorry)! 

 I'm tagging some people whom I haven't recently but love dearly: @shriekingshxck @madlymalfoy @praisemalfoy @ofjamesandlily @parseltonquinq (as per usual, taking part is optional)

[lenaariewrld]

dream girl

synopsis;; l/n y/n finally goes off to college after a gruesome last year of high school! And, boy, is she excited! With college comes new people, new environments, new classes, and roommates! Of course, ever the people pleaser, y/n follows her roommates whims and does whatever they say. Only after a series of strange events and a handful of new friendships does she truly strike out on her own and decide to make decisions for herself.

pairings;; osamu miya x reader / suna rintaro x reader / sakusa kiyoomi x reader / matsukawa issei x reader / iwaizumi hajime x reader / oikawa tooru x reader

genre;; college!au, smau, crack, angst, multiple endings (maybe poly/harem ending? who knows), fluff

warnings;; female! reader, drug use/alcohol use, swearing, sexual themes, vulgar language, violence (like,,, a small fight type violence), unhealthy relationships/friendships (not between you or the pairings), unedited writing, more tags will be added

status;; finished !!

taglist;; !closed!

apartment b-5 | dreamboats

chapters

1. roomies

2. partygoing

3. smooth

4. pick-me-up

5. thanks, terushima

6. house rules, roomies drool

7. in other news

8. burritos and coffee

9. clearing things up

10. first day

11. another party

12. coffee or laser tag?

13. it’s NOT a bootycall

14. a whole clusterfuck of a night

15. clusterfuckery continues

16. NOT the three musketeers

17. tell us

18. mattsun’s invitation

19. the friends meeting

20. oops, spilled your drink!

21. just dinner

22. bullies :/

23. kunimi…

24. she sees the truth

25. karaoke

26. holy shit!

27. kaori plays dumb

28. be honest

29. this is disappointing

30. cheer up

31. catch up!

32. sicknesses and sorries (lmao)

33. much needed fun

34. sick of it

35. and so it spreads

36. summarise

37. oh lord

38. besties pls

39. kunimi is a genius (for once)

40. bad news, good news

41. we move on

42. accusing

43. sweethearts

44. cultural festival !!

45. realizing everything has changed

endings

osamu miya !!

sakusa kiyoomi !!

suna rintaro !!

matsukawa issei !!

iwaizumi hajime !!

oikawa tooru !!

multi ending !!

[potter-imagines]

Being Thor and Loki's Little Sister and Dating Peter Parker Would Include...

Notes: wow I haven't written a marvel one in a long time pls don't read too much into the timeline lol I know things overlap but just go with it (:

Warnings: none... I think ??

Word Count: 3.6k (sorry its a bit long for a write like this but I couldn't help myself)

You managed to do a decent job at keeping your relationship under wraps from your brothers for quite some time

Of course every other member on the team knew before the two of you even begun officially dating

Peter had spent three months ranting and raving to Tony Stark about how cute he thought you were and how much he liked you

Tony insisted time and time again he should tell you but Peter’s fear of rejection was much too large for him to find the courage for that

Unbeknownst to him,

You had spilled about your crush on Peter to Wanda and Nat almost a week after living in the compound

Being the only other girls there besides Pepper, it was easy to confide in them

Day after day you would wander to Wanda’s room and lay on her bed and gush about how handsome Peter was and how kind of a heart he had

Wanda found it adorable

And Bucky, Steve and Sam had placed the pieces together after days on end of watching Peter and yourself flirt like school kids in the gym during training

Even after being frozen for years, Steve recognized the look of smitten on Peter’s face when he talked to you

Bruce on the other hand had to sit through most of the kids talks with Tony in the lab so he figured it out fast

So when the two of you finally confessed your feelings for one another and Peter asked you out, there was only one road block holding the moment back from perfection

Your brothers

You and Peter shared the news with all the other team members expect the two, possibly most important in your case, members

You’ve been close to your brothers since you were brought into this world so it wasn’t like you didn’t want to tell them

It was more or less how overprotective they could be that made you bite your tongue

And as nervous as you are, Peter is 1,000% more worried about your brother’s finding out

Like honestly can you imagine how petrified Peter would be to tell Thor and Loki you two were dating

He’d purposely walk in the opposite direction every time he saw either of the two for the first week

Couldn’t stop fumbling with his words when he spoke to either of them

Like he was terrified

It’s sort of a cliché to have protective older brothers but older brothers who were also both Gods ????

Peter felt like a deadman walking

When the day finally came that you did tell your brothers about your relationship with Peter, it was absolutely cringe worthy

Peter had been coming home to the tower after a long day at Midtown High School when he spotted you the second he stepped foot out of the elevator

His excitement had clouded his judgement as he failed to check and see if the coast was clear

“Y/n! Hey!”

He nearly tumbled over his own feet as he rushed over to you

His face was gleaming with happiness and for a brief moment you felt a smile creep to your face until you were pulled back to reality by his hand reaching out to grasp yours

Your eyes widened in shock as you stared at Peter and before you could warn him to stop, he had planted a soft kiss on your cheek

That adorable smile was glowing from his face as he reached down for your hand only to fall once you pulled your hand away

He gave you a look of confusion, clearly surprised by your lack of response

But when an awkward cough sounded from behind him, he suddenly knew why

Peter didn’t have enough time to make any sort of a move when a husky, all too familiar voice spoke up,

“Hello, man of spiders. May I ask why you just kissed our little sister?” “Oh shit- I uh, well you see I…um...she had something on her face so I uh…”

Loki would snicker in amusement at seeing the boy squirm and prolong his torture “So you kissed her?” “Yeah…” “Hm, there something you’d like to share, little one?”

It wasn’t exactly the way you were hoping to break the news to your brothers

But it was certainly one way of doing it

The rest of the night was filled with awkward tension as you and Peter had to confess the truth to your brothers, who then made you share the news with the rest of the team

Thankfully, the rest of the team pretended they were just hearing about your new relationship for the first time, seeing as no one wanted to deal with an angry Thor

Now let’s get into your relationship with Peter

Peter Parker is the most caring person in the universe

Honestly

And dating him certainly came with it’s perks

You can expect to wake up every morning with a fresh coffee and a pastry on your nightstand, courtesy of Peter

He’ll also write you a sweet little ‘good morning’ note with a sketch of spider-man hanging from a web

(( he’s actually pretty talented in the doodling department ))

Makes cute sketches of him as spiderman and you as a princess ( vv fitting)

But also draws you as a total badass saving the galaxy bc… well you are

Count on him to be the first person to greet you when the sunrises and the last person to wish you a goodnight when it falls

Gets Mr. Stark to buy you an iphone so he can teach you how to use it

Has your name as “goddess” in his phone

The first thing he does is teach you about texting so he can pay you in imessage games

Refuses to play you in battleship since you somehow have crushed him every single time

Gets slightly annoyed with the overwhelming amount of random photos you snap of him

But he knows its all new to you and finds it irritatingly adorable

Loves it when you walk home with him from school

Will also keep reminding you that you shouldn’t have walked alone all the way to Midtown High School alone

Peter often forgets that you’re Asgardian and can protect yourself just fine

But it’s so cute how protective he is

He’s very observant and notices nearly everything

Like when you’re feeling a bit homesick

He picks up on it right away and will ask Thor and/or Loki for advice

Or when you start to become bored and tired at one of Star’s parties

Peter made his way over you before you even had the chance to turn and search for him

He’d escort you back to your room and lay with you until he was positive you had fallen asleep

Kisses to the top of your head

Is the boyfriend that will take your makeup off for you if you wear any

(( and sets yours lashes on the nightstand so neatly and labels which eye they were on cause the poor boy doesn’t understand ))

Spends weeks learning how to master the intricate braids that adorn your head

It’s so cute cause he’ll sit and look up Youtube videos and try to learn how to make the different braids and is just so confused but so determined

Taking Peter to visit Asgard

“Woah- this place looks like something from Lord of the Rings! It’s awesome!” “Lord of the Rings? I’ve never met that God.” “Uh, no, it’s a movie from Earth. We can watch it when we go back.” “To Midgard?” “Midgard? No, to New York.”

Loves it when your people refer to you as “Princess Y/n”

For some reason it makes him blush

Will tell everyone back on Earth that he’s dating a princess

I could def see Peter getting annoyed and frustrated with the Asgardian men trying to flirt and win your heart

Although that’s something that already belong to Peter

And even though Peter trusts you entirely

He’s still insecure from time to time

Especially when he sees how much taller and stronger Asgardian men look in comparison to him

But he finds reassurance in the feeling of your hand in his and the gleeful smile adorning your face as you show him around your homeland

Attempting to help Peter study

Although you’re not much help to Midgardian school work “Peter, darling, I don’t have a clue what a watergate is and I haven’t an idea how that could be scandalous.”

Maths however you excelled in

And Peter was thoroughly surprised to find you had the sequence of PI memorized to the one hundredth number- and in song form

Holding your hand 24/7

Endless cuddles on the couch

And when you’re walking around together, he does that thing where he swings your hands and back forth

Movie theater dates… at the tower b/c your brothers feel the need to be in close proximity the you guys at all times

Trying ice cream for the first time with Peter at two in the morning

One of Peter’s favorite things to do with you is take you through a walk in his world

At least three times a week Peter and you will walk around the city and find new things your Asgardian self has yet to experience

Like pizza

New York pizza to be exact

And hot chocolate

Ice skating at Rockefeller Center once the weather got cold

Loves to take you for drives in the more woodsy land of New York once fall set in and the leaves began to change

But by far his favorite thing is showing you Midgardian films and movies of all sorts

He loves that you don’t judge him for nerding out over his love for films

Not to mention you actually sit and watch Star Wars with him

(( maybe it was the whole space element but Peter was just thrilled you liked it ))

But then he shows you ‘Alien’

And it was an instant regret

It took him the rest of the night to convince you that the movie was fake

You made him sleep in your room just for reassurance

Your favorite out of the films Peter played was called ‘Toy Story’

Buzz Lightyear reminded you of Thor

In terms of TV shows

F.R.I.E.N.D.S. which quickly became your guys comfort show

Parks & Rec too “That Andy fellow looks an awful lot like Starlord, don’t you think?”

Peter refuses to let you watch Black Mirror

After the whole incident with Alien

Black Mirror didn’t seem like a good idea

Constantly teasing from the rest of the Avengers

Tony just can’t help it

He loves tormenting the two of you

Especially when Thor and/or Loki are around

“Hey Peter, I thought I saw you go into Y/n’s room last night but I didn’t see you leave until the morning. Heard a lot of noise too- thought Y/n was getting attacked. What was that about?”

Or

“Kid, I got you those condoms you asked for. How’d you manage to run out of that last box so quick? I just bought it for you a week ago!” “Messing with you, they’re just sugar packets- Thor put Peter down right now!”

Aunt May absolutely adores you

Always tells Peter how sweet you are and is constantly inviting you over for dinner

Lets you two have sleepovers in his room at her place

As long as the door stays open

Peter can’t stop laughing when you compliment May on her ability to make an amazing bowl of cereal

She thought it was a joke seeing as she burned dinner the night before to a crisp and laughs until she’s in tears

And you’re literally sitting there so confused, clearly not understanding the joke

Peter then takes you on a trip to a grocery store for the first time to show you a whole aisle full of cereal

It is then that you realize Aunt May didn’t hand make the fruity pebbles

She still laughs about it to this day

Befriending Ned and listening enthusiastically while he gives you a full speech on the franchise Star Wars

And his rant on how terrible Star Trek is in comparison

Is shocked when you ask questions out of genuine interest

Ned immediately takes a liking to you after that and asks Peter daily to invite you to hangout

Whenever Stark adds an upgrade to his suit, you’re the first person Peter shows it to

He shares quite literally everything with you

As do you to him

The rest of the Avengers love gossiping about you guys

Nat and Wanda have already started planning the wedding and Pepper has the perfect venue in mind, much to your brothers dismay

For some reason

Thor and Loki are always within reasonable distance, enough so they can keep an eye on you but also give some sense of privancy

Thor is def always the first one to step in

“Peter, please remove your hand from my sister’s behind.” “Oh uh, ye-yeah… sorry, Mr.Thor.”

Loki would find Peter amusing

He loves to mess with him whenever given the chance

“Ah, Peter. Good to see you. I’m sure Y/n informed you of our task today. Very impressed that you offered yourself as the sacrifice to the aliens-” “Wait, what? Y/n?!” “He’s kidding, Peter.”

Everyone in the Avenger’s tower knew Peter was lactose intolerant and knew the repercussions of the boy consuming any sort of dairy

(( he physically cannot leave the bathroom for a full day ))

Yet Loki regularly will swap Peter’s specially labeled almond milk with a jug of skim milk just for the hell of it

There’s something so hilarious to him about the look of panic and alarm that smacks abruptly across Peter’s face as he quickly stumbles out of the kitchen to his room

It keeps him laughing for days

You’ll just shoot your brother a look of disapproval, clearly certain it was his doing

“Loki, why did Peter run off?” “Not sure, darling sister, maybe he’s got one of those stomach bugs. I’ve heard Midgardians are prone to them…weak bodies and such.” "You switched out his milk again didn’t you.” “I haven’t the slightest clue what you’re accusing me of, little one.”

Thor is a bit more hesitant on accepting your relationship with his fellow Avenger

He trusts that Peter would never harm you

Although he did not trust that you would never be harmed because of Peter

It was risky enough that both your brothers were big names in space, as well on Earth, however

Thor knew Loki and himself were capable of protecting you but Peter?

He was just a kid, in Thor’s eyes

However the one thing that kept him from telling you this was seeing how happy Peter made you

As your older brother, Thor trusted your judgement and tried his best to be accepting of his little sister dating

And as much as he wanted to deny it, he saw crystal clear the care and love Peter gave to you and he wasn’t willing to break that for you

Still

Thor is the type of brother to barge into a room and shove himself between Peter and yourself without warning

This man does not care at all

At least Loki has the decency to give you two space as a couple

Thor does not

He is constantly third wheeling on your dates and will ‘accidentally’ walk into rooms he knows you two are in claiming he forgot something

Not that he ever grabs anything,

He’ll usually just stand and stare at the two of you until you either leave the room or ask him to leave

To which he always answers,

“No.”

But with a smile

A smug smile

PDA is something he will never be okay with

Thor will yank Peter back by the collar every time he sees his lips on yours and glare at him, “Man of spiders, I know you’re in love with my little sister but kissing her infront of me is too far.”

And Loki will physically gag just to piss you off

For the most part, your relationship with Peter is nearly perfect

It would be entirely perfect if you weren’t constantly worrying about him dying on a mission or getting hurt

But still, just like any couple, you had your moments

And when you did fight, it was typically over Peter’s safety or him not wanting you to tag along for a mission

Your common way of dealing with conflict was the silent treatment

Which is pure torture for Peter

Not only does he miss the sound of your voice

He misses having you around

Seeing your smile

Hearing you laugh from something he said

He felt terrible everytime

He’d go to Tony for advice and spend hours rambling on to him about how sorry he was for yelling at you and for adding to the fight

Tony would half listen while he worked away on a new system and suit, offering a ‘yeah’ and ‘hmm’ every few seconds which pleased Peter who thought his mentor was fully listening

And after almost two hours of his non-stop talking, Tony Stark had reached his limit

Setting his wrench down on the metal table with a thud he turned around to face the young boy

“Kid, why’re you saying all this to me and not her? I mean, I’m all ears but I’m also not Y/n. I know we’re both good looking so I can see why you mixed us up, but you should be talking to her right now.”

Similar to Peter you also had someone to confide in when the road got rocky

Loki had always been the one you shared all your secrets with

As children you were attached at the hip to both your brothers but Loki a smidgen more than Thor

Your father, Odin, had Thor at his side 24/7 growing up

While he was busy learning the ropes to ruling Asgard, Loki and yourself run amuck causing trouble left and right through the royal palace

Through the years of bonding Loki become your best friend, and you his

So when trouble struck in paradise, your older brother was the one you ran to

He’d welcome you with open arms and a questioning gaze

Loki is by far the best listener in your family

Instead of telling you what to do, he asks what you want, which is a refreshing change

After a long talk with Loki you’d search the tower high and low for Peter while ironically Peter was doing the same thing

When you did finally make-up, it felt like coming home

The apologies were so sincere and genuine

You’d end up having a sleepover in your room watching 80’s films that Peter claimed were ‘iconic’ and laying in his arms

And that’s where you felt complete

Fights never occurred often but bickering ???

DAILY

You two bickered playfully over everything under the sun

Like who’s the better superhero; Ironman or Captain American

Or

Debates between living in New York and living in Asgard

Loves to pull up Midgardian inventions and ask you to guess what it is “Princess, what do you think this is?” “Oh! Oh! I’ve seen this one! Tony has one in his kitchen!” “Okay, so what is it?” “Yes, it’s a chicken nugget maker!” “It’s actually an air fryer but we only ever make chicken nuggets in them so I’ll give you a half point.”

Peter sneaking out of your room at the crack of dawn and sprinting to his

As much as Thor and Loki liked him and supported the relationship

He was sure they’d both team up to murder him if they caught him sleeping in your bed

Steve and Tony, who seem to be incapable of sleep, have watched him tiptoe out of your room numerous times but they only share a look of amusement then go back to their previous discussion

Playing hide-n-go-seek and tag on rainy days at the tower

Cuddling in Peter’s bed while he asks you to tell him stories about Asgard

Loves hearing about your childhood and what it’s like to grow up with siblings

Is fascinated when you tell him about Heimdall

Stealing Peter’s hoodies

Especially his Midtown High School ones

They’re insanely soft

Sweet little kisses throughout the day

He's just so sweet and gentle

Loves getting to hold you and snuggle in his bed

Most weekends you spend lounging on the couch with Peter’s head in your lap while you play with his hair

Other times you’re sitting next to Peter on his bed watching him play some video game and asking a million questions “Who is that man, Peter?” “That’s me, he’s the main character of the game. That’s Mario, babe.” “You’re not Mario- you’re Peter.” “No, the main character of this game is Mario, I’m just playing him.” “Oh… and what is that green dinosaur creature?” “That’s Yoshi!” “Adorable.”

Making out between games

In terms of... y'know... sex

Neither of you were keen on rushing the process

You had tip toed on the line multiple times yet never fully crossed it

Until you had decided to make the first real move after being together for about five months

You trusted him with all your heart so it wasn't exactly scary, but rather exciting

He had a way of making you feel safe, comfortable, and loved all at once

Lets be honest, Peter nearly fainted the first time he saw you naked

And still, no matter how many times the two of you have sex,

He worships every inch of you like it was your first time all over again

You couldn't have asked for a better lover

Dating Peter means a new adventure everyday

You’re constantly learning new things about each other and from each other

Despite coming from two very different worlds

You’ve never felt more connected to a soul until Peter came along

[batarangsoundsdumb]

yet another ask dump yeehaw!

do you ever think that jay's mother was one of those bitch who believes in horoscope and tarots and things like that and so he believes in these things too, or it is just me projecting?

sheila haywood took one look at jason's birthchart said 'nah this won't do' and left.

Wait, but what happens when the justice league does find out that Bruce and John fucked? Lmao it sounds like it would be hilarious, really, I don’t want a justice league that doesn’t make fun of Bruce for like his entire life.

barry runs out of the meeting immediately and comes back with an entire sti testing kit. diana fully seriously wants bruce to get tested while bruce is sitting there like 'come on guys, you're being ridiculous, i already checked twice'

john is standing in the corner clearly offended while bruce is just like 'don't even say anything, constantine, you fucked a shark'

tim was like "i'm drake now" and everyone was like ahh so your fursona is a dragon and tim was like pffffft no. ducks.

on the one hand, good for him, on the other hand, bro, how do you still have a secret identity when your superhero name is just your last name,,,,

Your fic on ao3 was GOLD PLEASE CONTINUE I loved Dinah's cameo btw ( @purple-vixen

thanks so much! i already continued but this ask is like 10 years old because i'm a notorious procrastinator (also yes! i love dinah so much aahhhhhhhhhhhh)

I've FINALLY been watching the Batman animated series and I gotta say, after watching "the gray ghost" I am CONVINCED that Batman is a closeted super hero geek who was 100% freaking out the first time he met Superman and is just REALLY good at hiding it.

bruce internally: holy fuck holy shit holy fuck holy shit holy fuck holy shit holy fuck holy shit holy fuck holy shit bruce externally: get out of my city, alien

AHHH ur multimedia fic is the only thing that brings me happiness anymore continue it forever pls

uhh thanks, but can't continue it forever because my attention span is that of a toddler on crack on a good day and i can't function without at least 10 things going on at the same time and music in the background

Oi, so I'm getting into dc and watching batman the animated series, and they use fruitcake a lot. Which I thought was very funny and wanted to share w you - Denilla

wait like fruitcake (food) or fruitcake (derogatory) ?

young justice 🤝 teen titans slut shaming batman

tim drake and dick grayson to their respective teams 'you guys stop it, that's my dad'

Happyhoganon: If an eighty year old Batman had fought crime in Gotham City for decades and the only threats to him and the city lately are a wheel chair bounded Penguin, your usual purse snatchers and a few con artists popping up every now and then, how well could the Dark Knight do in maintaining the peace in Gotham despite him being just somewhat fit to do that as an elderly man (which says A LOT given how old he is)

uhh he'll probably do what my grandpa does and that is ruthlessly prank them until they die of shame.

in the death in the family interactive movie there's an ending where Jason is tasked with raising Damian and he decides he's gonna raise Damian to take down the waynes and al ghuls which uh maybe isn't great BUT the idea of Jason raising Damian... PRICELESS. CHAOTIC. I just need more people to know about this :)

yes i saw that wow holy shit but jason would accidentally drop damian on his head one (1) hour in and jason just yeets him into the lazarus pit.

Headcanon: The Penguin has a really hard time fighting any of the Robins because of his avian obsession means there's always a small part of his mind that's like "Birb. Child. Protect" ( @subspacecadet )

as soon as dick becomes nightwing the penguin is like 'you know what, fuck this dude' and shoots at him.

Y'all talking about King Shark dating Constantine, let's not forget about John literally hooking up with Satan

listen there's a clear difference between monsterfucker and satanfucker in that king shark is literally a shark and satan still looks like a normal dude

Does everyone in Gotham think Batman is a teen dad?

everyone in gotham thinks batman has been around since gotham was founded, but they do think that bruce wayne is actually a teen father and dick grayson's biological dad.

why. why would you do that fancast when you know it will only hurt people

what? i loved my fancast it was really well done. i did it with good representation in mind and i really managed that with alfred pennyworth being ✨italian✨

Seeing james charles a jason gave me psychic damage how dare you i need to wash my eyes

well that's a you problem isn't it?

do you think dick grayson thirst tweets about nightwing just to annoy his family/cause problems on purpose in general?

he thinks nightwing is hot, next question.

holy jiminy cricket batman, its as cold as the good lords ass crack in here!!

i- what? this is why i don't fuck with english expressions it's way too goddamn weird

Brooooooo, your teen dad!Bruce au is soooo good. I've got brainrot.

Honestly if you ever write anymore, I'd read that shit twice. Sign me the fuck up. Good stuff, Good Stuff.

uh yeah i'm thinking about writing a fic, but i have exams coming up and i don't wanna fail because that would suck. but after i'll certainly be writing more tho

your teen dad AU is so great! bruce acting like a big brother for all of like a week before he's telling everyone about his son. what if in the AU dick meets the JL because they need to rescue him? maybe he's in trouble/kidnapped at a gala and bruce starts calling for JL. clark finds him and has to fly with dick to bring him home - that's how dick and clark meet and superman becomes dick's fave hero. he goes around the manor thinking he can fly with a red blanket draped around him like a cape.

actually- if you want a young dad! bruce fic with like that kinda stuff(just with damian) go check uhh- in for a penny by cdelphiki. it's really good and bruce is like 24/25-ish. (and dick's there!!!)

This account has solely convinced me that Tim is a trash goblin ( @hamilcat-and-magic-turtle )

because he is. that boy has slept in dumpsters on multiple occasions even if he is the son of a billionaire.

Okay but when you said victory dance I did think of the whole justice league defeating the big bad and then they all start flossing

well that's exactly what hal jordan does and that's why batman uses a gun now. no but the victory dance in my opinion is like the 'we're all in this together' dance from high school musical.

The horrors in Invincible s1 was nothing compared to the comics, I cant wait for s2

oh well okay, i mean i personally react to horror and violence by laughing awkwardly so i can't wait to be called a monster for accidentally laughing at a mass murder.

I'm currently watching Batman: The Brave and The Bold and- Bruce is just talking about Oliver like he's an old love (@nightwings-kid)

okay im going to watch that lmao that's totally and completely in character for him tho.

The invincible comic is like super gratuitous with its violence so much so I'm shocked the show was able to adapt it in a faithful way! Anyway had the show been live action it absolutely wouldn't have the same impact as it does as an animated show and I'm so glad so many people agree with me on that

also because a live action casting would've been like uhh amanda stenberg for amber, the dude- the guy from the supernatural but with a mustache for omni-man, and scarlet johanssen for debbie grayson

Debbie grayson is a milf, yes. You're welcome for the invincible propoganda, now you can questions your life. Bruce def seems like the perfect father next to Omni-man. Like they really took a rip off justice league and I was like well, now I'm attached even tho I was like hah I know who they're supposed to be. And then bam- death gore death gore gore gore sad Mark grayson just had to have daddy issues. Why does every character have daddy issues. I'm sick of the attacks

because daddy issues make a person arguably funnier, that's why i'm not even remotely funny (haha good dad flex). i liked that it was dark contextually, but not in the colouring, bc i hate when it's like 'uh yeah graphic murder and now a shot so dark you have to sit in a dark room and squint at the screen to faintly see the characters. (like dcau ugh)

About the Wayne insurance, for a moment I thought you would put the video with moans over the waves.

i mean- i could've done that, but rick rolling seemed more family friendly.

Its the first time in forever that im surpise rickrolled, i usually expect it. Congratulations (i really should know better this is tumblr)

i get rickrolled so often but i actually like the song so i dont really give a fuck

Actually, my information about Damian and John's kids is outdated because it was revealed that the old men telling the kids stories about the Supersons were actually Jon and Damian the whole time. I was blinded by my thirst for Grandpa!Bruce Wayne but I was wrong... I liked my version better, tbh (@artemisa97)

fair enough. but i'd honestly like to see damian and jon getting together, just because it's a really fun dynamic and their friendship was really cute when they were kids. (also idk maybe it would be nice to have one (1) main batfam/superfam character that's not cishet)

How am i JUST finding your blog skdskfkd you're so fucking funny and ur takes are hot

i thought u were calling me hot :( but youre not :( crime detected (but lmao thanks)

So I have depression and I swear that your memes are one of the few things that have made me laugh so thank you 💛🥺 (@katekanebadass)

aw you're welcome, and i hope you're doing okay!

The metropolis memes are so funny, I love them 💀😌

i think metropolis is also so fucking funny it deserves more attention imagine having your entire police force being upstaged by an alien from kansas and his kids

as an american i feel your complete lack of knowledge of us geography is just so sexy (platonic) ❤️

thanks so much (i also don't know any other geography, i'm not kidding, like you can tell me you're from hungary and it will just blank, there will be nothing that comes to mind)

In the DC universe they don't say "Can't have shit in Detroit" they say "Can't have shit in Gotham"

this just reminds me of that guy whose porch got stolen like the steps to his door, and i'm thinking of people living in gotham and waking up without a front door and going "can't have shit in gotham"

honestly all i know about chicago is the bean, so. what would gotham's famous sculpture be?

gigantic gargoyle statue in front of one of the police precincts because a villain thought it was a smart way to keep the police inside, but it's too heavy to move.

why tf do people go on about how batman "works alone" or how he's the "lone wolf" when he like 38290202 members in his family

bc people think it's cool that a grown man in his 30s has no friends or family instead of calling it what it is (sad)

Bruce is gotham's sugar daddy

why would say something so controversial yet so brave.

my favorite batfamily fanfictions are the ones where they use their shitty codenames, unironically, in any context

dick: gerard way are you in position, gerard way are you in position

tim: for the last fucking time, my codename is 'totally not count olaf' this week, abbafan 3000

dick: shut up my codename isn't 'abbafan 3000'

dick: it's 'abbafan number 1' and you know it

I have a feeling Tim drake is ur favourite batfamily member but okay u don't have favs if u say so ok

i mean he is, i won't deny it. but i love each and every one of the batfam just the same, i just have a weak spot for short dumbass nerds, because i'm a short dumbass nerd.

Omg i fuckin love boy meets world too fam shsjkfk

bro boy meets world was the shit!!! it was just fire and awesome and so fucking great like bro. it was so good im not even going to be accepting criticism

you know I find the whole "joker completes batman" thing a bit disgusting considering the horrendous stuff the batfamily went through because of the joker and let's not get started on the "joker has a point" thing like yeah he's this cool complex villain but he's absolutely batshit crazy

like yes! i get what you mean the joker just fucking sucks man he doesn't do shit for batman's character or the batfam he's literally just annoying as fuck. like the joker has a point' shit is so stupid. i will accept 'magneto was right' because he fucking was and i think he didn't do anything wrong, but joker? he's just like that. he's not even cool and complex he's just a weirdo with a bleach kink at this point.

ALSO YOUR RACISM POST- SO TRUE BESTIE

thanks bestie, i'm glad you agree.

in today's essay of why I think cass should become batman- I was thinking Tim would probably be the most efficient batman in many ways but I also think he wouldn't want to be batman tbh none of the batfamily members would want to be batman because they're trying to outgrow him but cass is the one who wants to represent the symbol that is batman

absofuckinglutely i will say it again and again that cass represents the batsymbol more than anyone in the batfam, in batgirl (2000) she literally didn't care about anything else than bruce's oath to not kill, she thought the batsymbol was more important than anything in gotham. she's just an excellent character because her motivation to not kill is not 'i'm scared i can't come back from it' or 'well my dad says no murder so i'll go along with it' but that she's killed somebody as a young child and she never wants to kill a human ever again and that's so fucking beautiful for a new batman like yes.

need more cass, duke and tim inclusion in gothamite memes

yes yes, a tall order of cass, duke and tim coming up in 1-14 business days

oldest to youngest batfam members cus I'm confused as shit

okay order of being taken in: dick, jason, tim, cass, damian, duke order of age: alfred, bruce, dick, cass, jason, tim, duke, damian (though cass and jason are around the same age general consensus is that cass is a little older)

I'm so confused Steph is a redhead?? like how was it that hard to get this right? the source material is literally right there and free

cw is jared, 19

do you receive anon hate? if so, how do you deal with it

uh no, i'm not remotely popular enough to get anon hate and i also don't say a lot of things that would attract anon hate, but i do send anon hate to @the-real-peter-parker because he forgot about the specialists from winx club

Wait how many languages do you speak??

uhh- 5 if you include latin, but that's a dead language and i'm really bad at it. but english, my native language, german, and french also, tho german and french not fluently.

You can mix aguaepanela with aguardiente 😈 and is tasty

okay but now i'm curious if the liquor deserves the 😈 emoji or if that's a you problem. but i googled it and it looks like something you'd take one sip of and then not remember the rest of your evening.

[natashxromanovf]

I don't wanna go...

Pairing: Marauders × platonic!fem!potter! reader

Word count: 1.3K

Warnings: swearing, blood, death

Type: angst

Summary: No one knows what will the new year at Hogwarts bring. Well, this year was very much more different than the others.

A/N: Okay. I’ve probably hurt myself more when I wrote this than I will you. It’s my first angsty fic, so I don’t know if it’s good. I haven't mention Peter, but he is somewhere around. I just didn't know where to put him. Feedback would be really welcomed and appreciated. I’m sorry in advance. 

“I DON’T WANNA GO!” you yelled, trying to convince Euphemia not to go to the party.

“Well you’re going,” she said, “it’s Dorothy’s birthday and she invited us, so you’re going.”

“But-” you tried to contend

“No argues here young lady. You’re going.” she stated, that mother tone in her voice.

“Fine, but so that you know, James doesn’t want to go either.”

“Hey, don’t drag me into this! I honestly don’t care. Besides we’re gonna see Pads again, so it’s worth it.”

“Fine,” you finally stopped trying “There’s gonna be alcohol, right?” you whispered into James’s ear.

“You know it.” he whispered, a smirk appearing on his face. Well, that explains a lot of things, you thought.

It was a sunny, beautiful morning. The birds were singing, the sun was shining through the curtains and overall, it was lovely. You and James were enjoying the last weeks of summer, having to go back to Hogwarts soon. You almost forgot it was Dorothy’s birthday until mom reminded you. Dorothy was your mother's best friend since Hogwarts. She is a brunette woman with green eyes. She loves to talk and compliment the twins each time they get there. And it wasn’t any different this time.

“Oh, Euphemia, you have such beautiful and healthy kids.” she said cupping both of your and James’s cheeks.

“Thank you” your mother said.

“I see Pads,” you whispered

“Make an excuse” he whispered back.

“We would really much like to talk, but we gotta go to the bathroom.” you quickly made something up.

“Sure honey, go.” your mom replied.

“Bathroom, really?”

“Well did you have a better idea?” you whisper-yelled back.

“Whatever. PADS!”

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t my favorite twins. Hello, fancy seeing you here.”

“Oh, shut up” you said, wrapping your hands around his neck, pulling him into a hug

“I’ve missed you.” he says.

“Well, what am I? A potato?” James said, putting his hand on his chest.

“Oh, don’t be such a baby” Sirius said, giving him a bro hug. The rest of the evening was quite enjoyable, drinking champagne and catching up with one another, not hanging out since the end of the 6th year.

~

Holidays were over before you knew it. Now here you were, standing at the King’s Cross saying goodbye to your parents and greeting Remus. The train took off and soon enough you came to Hogwarts and the term started. 

The first few months went by ordinary; with the fact that NEWT’s were coming, of course. You couldn’t wait to finish Hogwarts and become an Auror, as you always wanted. It was your dream and soon they’ll come true. At least you hoped. But hey, with Remus tutoring you and you getting your shit together, anything is possible. 

Months went by and NEWT’s were getting closer and closer as were your nerves getting bigger and bigger. You really wanted it. To become an Auror. You and Sirius made a vow when you were younger to become Aurors, together. You weren’t worried for him, he’ll do all of his exams perfectly. He’s naturally talented. The person you were concerned about was you.

“Y/N, relax. You can do this! We’ve been practicing this for over a month now. Those hours spent in the library are gonna pay off.” said Remus, at breakfast before the potions test. It was the last one you had, the last step from committing to your dream career.

“I know Rem. It’s going to be alright. I’m gonna nail it!” you shouted. Maybe a little too loud, because half of the Great hall turned to you.

“Now, we’re talking.” he high-fived you.

“I know I can do it, I know I can do it.” you kept muttering to yourself.

“Miss Potter!” an unknown person shouted. Probably from the ministry, you thought. For the last time, you repeated your lessons with Remus from the library, before stepping into the classroom. The questions weren’t too hard and soon enough the lady said you passed. You couldn’t believe it. You did it! You are becoming an Auror. It was like a weight rolled from your shoulders and heart. For the first time, in a long while, you were extremely happy. And you couldn’t help yourself but play a little joke on your friends. As soon as you stepped into the common room a bunch of questions hit you.

“How did it go?” yelled Remus

“Did you pass?” asked James

“Are we fulfilling our dreams?” questioned Sirius. You hold your poker face on, trying not to grin as crazy and tell them the good news. They were getting kinda worried by now and you finally decided that enough is enough.

“I got an E!!!!” you yelled with pure happiness heard in your voice. They all let out a sigh of relief, pulling you into a group hug joyful words coming out of each of them.

“We’re so proud of you, darling!” Remus announced.

“More than you can imagine.” added James. Sirius just smiled, that grin telling you all of what he wanted to say. You’re making your dreams come true. 

~

The graduation took place about two weeks after. It was a little bit cloudy, but warm day. It was a perfect day. Not too hot, yet still enough to be in T-shirts. The students, including you, were all so excited. You’re finally leaving this school and going into the real world. Tho you were a little sad, giving the fact that you won’t see your friends so often. But all that matters is that you’ll stay a group. And that did not worry you. The happiness, radiating from your faces, could be seen from a mile away. It was all you ever wanted.

It’s over. You’re officially out of Hogwarts. Tho you still were in the yard where the graduation was, you were now drinking butterbeer and having a laugh with Marauders.

“Look who we have here.” said a voice. You could recognize it anywhere.

“Go away Bella!” you yelled without even turning around to look at her.

“Oh, rude are we today Y/N.” you had enough. No way this bitch is gonna ruin the day. It was too good.

“Look, Bellatrix,” you said “can you please leave us alone, it’s just such an amazing day.” you begged.

“Okay, but I have to do something first.” she pulled out her wand

“What are you doing Bella?” asked Sirius. You froze. You knew she was doing some nasty business for the Dark Lord, but you never expected you will be the target.

“I’m sorry Y/N. He said I have to prove myself to him.” she muttered an unknowing curse and it hit you in the stomach. First you thought nothing was happening. She did something wrong, you thought. But then you felt a sharp feeling in your stomach. It was like someone just stabbed you. The blood started pouring out of your belly and you collapsed to the floor. It was like everything was happening in slow motion. James ran up to you with the two boys right behind him. He put your head on his lap, Sirius and Remus both on your sides holding your hand.

“Y/N, you’ll be okay, stay awake for me!” yelled Sirius. All of them were crying, not knowing what to do. Many people said that when you’re about to die, the whole life repeats before your eyes. It wasn’t like that. All you could think of were your friends, crying over your body.

“Pl- please, don’t be too sad,” you whispered. “It’s okay. I made peace with death a long time ago.”

“No stay with me, please.” sobbed James. You knew you were about to die. It was true though, you were okay with it. But right before it happened, you felt a sudden wave of fear and it got the best of you.

“I don’t wanna go” you murmured as you bleed out in his arms.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Taglist: @voidmalfoy @cunningambitousdetermined @pregnant-piggy

If you want to be added, send me an ask or message me :)

[edens-breathless-melodies-moved]

shinsou + gentle pls 🥺

words: 500

characters: shinsou hitoshi

warnings: absolutely none, babes, you’re golden

➰ send me a character + adj request!

long deft fingers curled loosely around your wrist as his tired body relaxed further into the couch. a soft hum escaped his chapped lips while you ran your fingers gently through dry lavender locks, slowly massaging his scalp. you snorted gently when he gently nudged your hand when you stopped, a signal to continue.

you decided to humor him, lord only knows how work was today.

no one ever said that hero work was easy, that much was a given. but sometimes you truly wonder if the public understands just how draining it can be; how energy absorbing and tiring it is.

everyone sees heroes as pillars of strength, blinding smiles and tough skin as they wade through the dangers and filth that is keeping society safe. but they don’t see the bags under sleep deprived eyes, or the bruises and scars hidden under elaborate uniforms.

no hero ever fully relaxed, and if they are, they aren’t truly heroes to begin with. your shinsou is no exception.

he’s come a long way from your early years of high school. lanky arms and sleepy eyes have transformed into a lithe and dangerous build, sharp tongue and even sharper eyes making him a formidable foe if you’re playing for the opposite side.

at first, it was strange to see just how much his persona changed while on the field versus the cozy four corners of your home.

amethyst eyes gleamed almost manically, which contrasted sharply to his otherwise calm demeanor, lower half of his face hidden by his voice vocoder.

when your agencies paired the two of you together for the first time, you almost took a step back and questioned if this truly was the man you met all those years ago and the one you shared a bed with.

nothing about him was the same; all his edges were sharp, words manipulating and fists unforgiving. you shiver at the memory of being blindsided by his capture weapon, skin tingling at the phantom pain. you pitied the poor bastards on the receiving end at full strength.

there was a reason that villains feared him, and for a good cause. but that was when he’s a hero; that’s when he’s out there.

but here - here is when he’s just shinsou. a soft smile grazed your lips at the snoozing man on your lap, face finally relaxed. this is your favorite look on him.

harsh lines and furrowed brows are smoothed out, drooping eyelids finally resting as his lips are slack, no longer pulled into a frown or indifferent line.

like this, he looks almost ten years younger, (though he’s only in his early twenties.) like this, all of those sharp edges and slivered eyes are all but non-existent. there is no danger here, there is no constant worry of what to say next or who to impress, there is no need for hero persona that all but erases what shinsou truly is.

because behind those rough eyes and wry smile, he’s gentle.

[ah-ga-seven]

Till’ The End Of Summer - Chapter 3

>> series masterlist <<

Pairing: Choi Yeonjun x Reader

In a Nutshell: College!AU, Rich Kids, Friends to Lovers, Fuckboy athlete Yeonjun, Overprotective Best friend Soobin, contains all of TXT and other Idol cameos, Omnipresent perspective.

Synopsis: You and Yeonjun are caught up in a cat and mouse game because of unspoken feelings and endless pining for each others’ attention. With the summer break approaching and lots of college parties, will you finally get a chance to explore your feelings for each other; even though the world and Yeonjun’s reputation makes things complicated?

Word count: 5K

Genre: Angst, Fluff.

Cameos: NCT Johnny, ITZY Yeji.

Warnings: Mentions of alcohol consumption sexual implications, arguing, and conflict.

A/N: English isn’t my first language, pls don’t come for me ;)

Mia wakes up from the movement of her boyfriend stirring in his sleep. His arm was wrapped around her waist protectively and her head, as well as her arm, rested on his chest.

She winced at the dull pain in her head and soon realised she didn’t remember much of what happened last night.

Mia tried to untangle herself from Soobin without waking him in the process, and as she did so she started to look for her phone, finding it in the charger on Soobin’s desk. She grabbed it, looking for clues on social media as to what happened last night. She looked at the Instagram stories of some people that were at the party, but nothing stood out to her.

She realised you hadn’t posted anything and frowned. That’s unlike you.

Something in her told her to check for Yeonjun’s story, but again. Nothing. Very unlike him too.

She sighed looking back at her boyfriend who was still sound asleep.  

“Something is off,” she whispers to herself.  

You wake up with heavy lids. Usually, the first thing you do is grab your phone. But this time you just stare at the ceiling.  

Last night was the most eventful night you’ve had since you started college and not in a good way.

It started out great, though it ended quite abruptly and well, terribly. 

You close your eyes again as your mind flashes back to what had happened right before you left.

“Y/n,” Soobin says cautiously. “I-” he starts but you don’t let him finish.

You tear your eyes off of Yeonjun and Yeji, who by now had detached themselves from each other as they giggled to themselves.. They hadn’t noticed any eyes on them yet, especially yours.

“I want to go home,” you say saddened, turning back around to Soobin. He still wasn’t able to tear his eyes off of Yeonjun and Yeji as he stared at them, fire emitting from his pupils.  

“Soobin,” you warn him. “Let’s get Mia and let’s go. Now. Please” you plead.

Soobin finally looked at you, his heart breaking into a million pieces seeing the way your face fell. If it wasn’t for your pleading tone to leave the party, Soobin would have probably launched himself at Yeonjun. 

This was exactly what he was afraid of, but not in a million years did he guess it would happen this way.  

“Ok, ok. Let’s go,” Soobin says taking your hand and leading you through the crowded house.

You left without saying a word to anyone else, avoiding as many people as you could.  

Mia was fast asleep in the back seat of the car, and you silently stared out of the window lost in deep thought.

Soobin didn’t bother to start talking to you about what happened, knowing it would be to no avail.

“Are you sure you want me to take you to your place? You live alone…I don’t think-”

“I want to be alone,” you say cutting him off, your voice weak and hoarse.  

Soobin nods at your request. He put his hand on your thigh to comfort you before making a left to drop you off at your place.

The buzzing of your phone snapped you back to reality, and when you see the caller ID you sigh, it’s Mia.

You want to tell her everything, but you don’t really know where to start. Somehow you feel thankful for the fact that she was shitfaced drunk last night, cause if she wasn’t, she would have killed Yeonjun.

You let your phone ring until it goes to voicemail, but much to your dismay, Mia calls again.

You knew she wasn’t going to stop until you picked up. So you accept her call at the third try.

“Hey,” you say, your voice still laced with sleep.

“Hey, are you okay? Where are you? I don’t remember anything from last night and I need you to fill me in. What happened? Did you and Yeonjun kiss? Or better yet? Did you fuck? Is he with you?”  

Mia’s questions are like a whirlwind to your scrambled thoughts and her words basically go in one ear and out the other. You wince at her mentioning Yeonjun, sighing and burying your face in your pillow wanting to scream.

When you stay quiet on the other end of the line she realises that something was up.

“Y/n?”  

You take a deep breath and tell her everything in one go. From the fight you had with Soobin, to the walk you had with Yeonjun, all the way to the MTV Cribs tour you had with Johnny. You explained further on how Beomgyu, Soobin, and Yeonjun barged in and how hostile and angry Yeonjun suddenly got.

Mia didn’t react much other than a few ‘What the fucks’ until you got to the part where Soobin basically made you cry as you reconciled,  now getting to the juiciest part of it all.

“And then I witnessed Yeonjun basically eating Yeji’s face in front of everyone.”  

“N-O,” Mia gasped. She couldn’t believe it. Anger filled her senses as she inhaled sharply.

“Dude. ‘I’m here. I’m at Soobin’s. He didn’t take me to my place, he took me to his place. That means that Yeonjun is next door. FUCK,” Mia whisper-screamed.  

You sit up, your eyes growing big. “Mia, I swear to god. Do. Not. And I mean, DO NOT say or do anything to Yeonjun,” you curse at yourself for not asking where Mia was before. You should have known Soobin would take her with him since he would want to take care of her.  

You nervously bite the inside of your cheek, waiting for her to reply.  

“You want me to pretend like everything’s okay when you just told me all of that?” She scoffs. “I guess you don’t know who you’re talking to,” Mia says walking out of Soobin’s room.

None of the other boys had woken up yet, so the living room was empty. She looked at the door to Yeonjun’s bedroom, biting her lip while angrily glaring at it.

Mia walked further into the living room, sitting down on the couch, deciding against any rash decisions.

“Well, he’s here. I see his car keys on the coffee table,” Mia says staring at the keys as she clears her throat.

“Dude. Don’t do anything. Please, I’m begging you. I’ll look crazy desperate.”  

“I could go key his car,” she says lifting the keychain, playing with it in her hand.

“Mia,” you warn her.  

“Alright, alright. The two of you should resolve this together, like adults. We’re not in high school anymore and this endless pining for each others’ attention needs to stop,” she sighs putting the keys back on the coffee table.  

“Besides he probably just kissed Yeji because he thought that you replaced him with Johnny,” Mia states confidently.

“That sounds so juvenile,” you say kicking your sheets off of yourself and getting out of bed.

“What other reason could he have, y/n?” Mia sighs. “He’s like a little kid who’s never had a serious relationship. All he knows is meaningless sex. And given the fact that the only girl he actually liked in college basically blew him off for another rich and popular senior, probably just made him insecure.”

“The words Yeonjun and insecure don’t belong in one sentence,” you say rolling your eyes.

“It’s true though. He just wants to be loved, but he’s afraid of getting hurt. That why he doesn’t let anyone get close.”

“Maybe you’re right,” you give in.  

“No, I AM right. You should’ve just watched him play beer pong and fed his ego a little. He’s a Virgo, he wants the satisfaction and the attention of the person he likes. Yet you went ahead and ditched him for a house tour with another hot guy,” she chuckled at her own observation.

Mia and her god damn astrology references. You hated how right she was.

You also hated how clearly she judged the situation because lord knows you couldn’t. Suddenly you had so much more to think about.

You rub your temples in an attempt to release the tension building up in your brain.

“Well, I hope so. Cause the other explanation would be that he’s just not that into me as I thought he was,”  you groan.

Mia sighed throwing her head back on the couch but as she did so, she heard a bedroom door creak open. Mia’s ears perked up at the sound, snapping her head in the same direction as the noise.  

It was Yeonjun’s room, but the person exiting the room was not Yeonjun.

Mia’s eyes widen as she sees Yeji close the door behind her.  

“Mia?” you call out for her due to the long silence on the other end of the line. “Earth to Mia?”  

Mia manically tried to lower the volume on her phone so your voice couldn’t be heard by Yeji, but Yeji jumped at the sound of a voice, looking straight into Mia’s widened eyes. They both looked at each other like deer’s caught in headlights.  

Busted.  

“Mia! What…are you doing here. You scared me,” Yeji’s voice was barely audible but you heard it. And you knew exactly who that voice belonged to.

Does this mean what you think it means? You immediately put your volume up. Basically gluing your phone to your ear to hear what was going on a little better.

“My boyfriend lives here,” Mia stoically replies, earning an understanding nod from Yeji.  

She couldn’t believe this and neither did you.

“Ahh, right. Soobin.” Yeji says putting two and two together.  

“You were in Yeonjun’s room?” Is all Mia could ask. And as if she could sense it, she quickly put her phone on the armrest of the couch, hoping you could hear their voices clearer, and you did.  

“I-uh…well yeah, it kind of happened,” Yeji says awkwardly smiling at Mia.  

“Yes. Hate it when that happens.” Mia’s sudden cold tone confused Yeji, but she didn’t think much of it as she collected her coat and bag from the dinner table.  

“I was just about to head out…” she says walking towards the front door.

“Enjoy your walk of shame,” Mia says under her breath.  

To your relief, Yeji didn’t hear the snarky comment your best friend made. You did not want more drama to erupt. None of this is Yeji’s fault, though it would be easy to blame her, you knew that would be even more childish than Yeonjun’s behaviour. 

Yeji turned to look at Yeonjun’s bedroom door one more time before she opened the front door to their apartment. “Tell Yeonjun I had fun,” is all she says, and just like that she’s out the door.  

As the door closed behind Yeji, Mia frantically reaches for her phone again.

“Bitch. Did you hear that!?” She exclaims trying to be as quiet as possible.

“Y-yeah.” 

You’re frozen in place and literally couldn’t compute.

“Tell Yeonjun I had fun? What in the fuck. How about you tell him yourself, bum ass bitch,” Mia scoffs as she continues her rampage. “I take back everything I said about resolving things with Yeonjun as adults, not after this revelation. The fucking nerve this took from him. Why would he take her home? As if no one would find out-”  

“I’m gonna hang up,” you say before Mia could go on any further.

You had to admit, this hurt. Seeing them kiss was also painful but you could come back from a kiss that happened out of childish jealousy. This, however, was a different pang to your heart.  

“Y/n….” Mia’s tone softened as she heard the weak sound of your voice.  She knew you were upset, and she hated that she couldn’t give you a hug right now.  

You hang up. Deciding that a hot shower is the only thing that will make you feel better.  

Mia silently made her way back to Soobin’s room. To her surprise he was already awake, scrolling through his Instagram feed.

“Good morning baby,” he hums with his low raspy morning voice, smiling at her as he sees her messy bed hair and grumpy hang-over face.  

“Hi,” she sighs. “Thank you for taking care of me,” Mia says apologetically as she climbs on top of him, sitting down on his torso.

“You don’t have to thank me for things I’m supposed to do,” he says yawning.  

“Oh, by the way…” Mia smirks seductively, inching closer to Soobin. “What?” Soobin looks at his girlfriend with expecting eyes, pouting his lips for a kiss but instead of a kiss, he gets surprised with a hard slap across his chest.

“AH, What the fuck was that for!?” Soobin whines, rubbing the affected area with his large hand.

“That’s for fighting with y/n and making her cry,” she says crossing her arms.

“So…you talked to her,” Soobin sighs. He untangled himself from Mia, getting up and stretching his body. “I should call her,” he says rubbing the back of his head.

“I already did and she told me everything. But here’s the thing. As I was on the phone with her in the living room, Yeji suddenly emerged out of Yeonjun’s room.” Mia explains in a hushed tone, afraid that the walls suddenly became thinner and Yeonjun could hear them speak.

Soobin’s mouth fell agape. “What!?” He exclaims in a whisper.

Mia just nodded at her boyfriends’ shocked expression. Soobin clenched his fist as his face contorts from shock to anger in a matter of milliseconds.  

“I dare him to breathe near y/n again, I swear to god,” Soobin says through his teeth.

You had gotten out of your way too long shower, hair wet, dressed in nothing but your underwear and an oversized t-shirt which ended just below your butt.

You mindlessly do your whole skincare routine but you jump when your phone starts to buzz. You reach for it, eyes widening as you see who just texted you.

[Yeonjun 12:43 PM]: Hey.

[Yeonjun 12:43 PM]: Do you still have my jacket?  

You stare at your phone, but it’s like your brain doesn’t want to comprehend that this is what he starts the conversation with. Maybe he needed an excuse to come and see you? Or maybe... you were just getting ahead of yourself and the dude just wanted his expensive Versace jacket back.  

Which you understand.  

[Y/N 12:45 PM]: Hi, yes I have it, sorry.

[Yeonjun 12:45 PM]: Can I come pick it up? You left without saying goodbye.

You scoff at his unbelievable reply and you hate acting impulsively, but you can’t seem to stop yourself from typing.

[Y/N 12:46 PM]: You seemed a little occupied, so :)  

[Yeonjun 12:46 PM]: Huh?

[Y/N 12:46 PM]: I’ll be home for another hour if you want to pick it up before I leave, be my guest.

[Yeonjun 12:47 PM]: Ok…

[Yeonjun 12:47 PM]: Are you mad at me or something?  

You roll your eyes at his observation. This motherfucker is either dense as fuck or he’s just pretending to be dumb. It’s like he couldn’t put two and two together.

You didn’t reply back to him and didn’t really expect him to show up either. Half an hour later you were seated on your couch, watching an anime while eating some instant noodles when you heard a knock on your door.

Shit. For real?  

You get up in a hurry, quickly chewing down the noodles that were still in your mouth and retrieved Yeonjun’s jacket from your dresser.  

You take a deep breath before you open the door, and there he is. Choi Yeonjun, as handsome as ever.

He looked like he never even partied the night before as if he got a full 8 hours worth of beauty sleep. He was dressed in an oversized black shirt with his Adidas joggers, accompanied by his usual chains, rings, and earrings that he never seemed to take off.

His eyes widened when he saw you, dressed in nothing but a large t-shirt while your hair was still damp from the shower you took. Right, you forgot to put pants on but you honestly didn’t mind taunting him a little.  

“Here you go,” you say try not to stare at him for too long as you hand him his jacket.

Yeonjun retrieved it from you without a word, still looking at you with wide eyes. His feet were frozen to the hard wooden floor beneath him.

“Was that all?” you ask crossing your arms as you lean on your doorpost.

You tried your hardest to sound unbothered and it was working. You got Yeonjun flustered and confused. His least favourite emotions.

“I-eh…I guess?” Yeonjun says rubbing the back of his neck.

“Ok, have a great day,” you say closing the door, at least that was your plan but Yeonjun put his foot between the door; stopping it from closing on him. You’re shocked at his reflexes and so was he judging by the look on his face.

“Wait,” he says opening the door again. “That’s it?” He asked, looking at you with his confused puppy eyes.

You give him the same look of confusion. “What do you mean, you came to get your coat. Did you need anything else?”

“So you are angry at me?”  

You can’t help but roll your eyes, breaking character and he notices. 

“Why?” He asks biting the inside of his cheek.

 It’s one of his habits. He does that when he’s trying to understand something, or when he’s nervous. You couldn’t tell which one it could be this time and honestly, you didn’t give a shit. 

“Listen, if you truly can’t figure that out yourself then that says enough.”  

And just like that, it’s like an epiphany happened inside of his brain. His calm and collected demeanor disappeared as he scratches the back of his head.

“You saw me with Yeji.”  

You stay silent, ready to close the door again but he forces it open, walking inside of your apartment.

“I didn’t realise I invited you in?” you say looking at him in disbelief as you close the door behind you.

He nervously paced back and forth. “Is that why you left? Cause you saw me with her?”  

You still don’t answer him, which annoyed him. “Talk to me,” he says putting his jacket down on your nearest piece of furniture while taking a step closer to you. 

“You should’ve talked to me first, but you ran. Like a coward.” 

Your voice was laced with venom as you took a step back, away from him.

He didn’t know why, but you calling him a coward hurt more than he would like to admit. He scoffed, taking another step towards you.

“Cut the bullshit y/n. You’re the one who played me. I thought we were getting along just fine but I turn around for two whole seconds and you leave with some other dude.”  

“Johnny is nothing more than a friend.”

“Does he know that?”

“YES!” you yell at him. You’re frustrated at your sudden outburst but you couldn’t take it anymore.  

Your anger startled Yeonjun and he took a step back giving you some space. 

His eyes were still looking for more answers in yours. He opened his mouth to speak but you beat him to it.

“You don’t get to put this on me when you wouldn’t even listen to what I had to say. Instead, you run off and have sex with Yeji out of spite? Cause you were jealous of Johnny? Real mature, Choi.”

“Wait, how do you know th-”

“I want you to leave,” you interrupt him, opening the door for him once again.

“Y/n...”

“No,” you sigh closing your eyes. “Leave.”  

Yeonjun sighs in defeat. Picking up his jacket once again, walking to your front door, stopping just inches away from you. “For what it’s worth…I’m sorry,” he said giving you one last look.

“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out,” you say, your tone bitchier than you expected. 

He didn’t reply, and you didn’t dare to look him in his eyes either, knowing that those dark orbs would pull you back under his spell again. 

You close the door behind him and lean your forehead against it, emotionally exhausted from the whole situation. But you had a feeling it was nowhere near over yet.

A few days went by like nothing had ever happened. You distracted yourself by organising your entire closet and cleaning out your cabinets.  

You cleaned your whole apartment hoping it would clear out your mind as well but Yeonjun was still a prominent figure that captivated your thoughts. You swore you wouldn’t open his Instagram stories or Snapchat’s, but you used Mia’s account to do so anyway.  

He was his usual self, he had fun and showed it off. You only see the good parts of Choi Yeonjun on social media, so you weren’t surprised. He wasn’t the type to post sad-girl quotes in his stories or subtweet to get attention, making it even harder to figure out what was really going on in his head. He just shows us what he wants us to see anyway. 

You couldn’t believe the fact that you fell under his spell even though everyone around you seemed to warn you about him. You just had to get yourself hurt, once again.  

You were more mad at yourself than you were mad at him, to be honest, but for some reason, his pleading tone accompanied with the desperate look in his eyes from that day kept swirling around in your thoughts.  

For the next couple of days, you focused on yourself and your mental health.

You decided to be anti-social even though your friends invited you to go do stuff. You just wanted to binge on your favourite shows and unwind from the hectic deadline filled semester that you had.

Apart from Soobin and Hueningkai visiting you to check if you were still alive, you hadn’t seen anyone else yet since that night. However, tonight there was a campus festival/bonfire for the new freshman who were coming in after summer as an introduction and orientation day and you and Mia volunteered a few months back for extra credit.

Everyone and you mean EVERYONE at the school that had somewhat of a social status was going to be there since it’s the last official event before the summer break officially started. Meaning that you would certainly see Yeonjun again.

“I can’t believe you got me to do this,” Mia sighed as she clips her name tag on to her hoodie a little too crooked to your liking.

You chuckle and fix it for her. “Also, you ghosted on us after the party. Did something else happen?” You bite your lip and shake your head. “Nothing worth mentioning.”

You didn’t want to hide stuff from her, but if Mia knows, Soobin knows. And you weren’t ready for that. Especially when you were still organising your thoughts on the situation.

The rest of the day went by pretty fast. You ran around with your checklists and made sure everything was ready and set for the festival to start with some other student board members. Mia, on the other hand, was in charge of giving groups of students full tours of the campus, which meant that you were separated for most of the day.

When the clock strikes 8 PM, the festival starts, and more and more people start to come in aside from the future freshman that were already there.

You stand at the sideline, checking off the last task on your to-do list and sigh in relief.  

Technically you are a supervisor for the night. So you couldn’t enjoy the party. 

Also, some of your teachers were there as well. Which meant that you couldn’t misbehave even if you wanted to.  

Your phone buzzes and you check your messages.

[Soobin 8.04 PM]: Hiiii, I’m here. Where are you?

[Y/N 8:04 PM]: Near the entrance, to the left. I’m wearing our obnoxious purple campus hoodie, shouldn’t be hard to find me.

[Soobin 8.04 PM]: I see youuuu, don’t move.

You chuckle and search for your friend. It didn’t take long before you spot him since he was built like a skyscraper. You watch him bulldoze his way through the crowd to greet you and laugh as he almost trips over his own legs as he approaches.  

“Hey girl, heyyy,” Soobin says enveloping you in a hug. He was followed by Taehyun and Beomgyu. Who also hugged you and said their hello’s.

“Are you already drunk?” You ask Soobin as you make him look at you by tugging at his chin.

“We tried to stop him but it was of no use,” Beomgyu chuckled.  

“Let him live a little,” Taehyun interferes. “Our captain has worked so hard all year.”  

“Just…look after him since Mia and I won’t be able to. We have to work tonight,” you pout.

“That sucks. We missed you at game night yesterday and now you’re telling me that you don’t get to party with us at all tonight?” Taehyun pouts back at you. And you simply nod at him with a sad facial expression to match his.  

You were wondering if Soobin told them about what happened that night at the party. Soobin is a horrible liar and you knew he wouldn’t lie as to why you didn’t make it to game night. But you didn’t want to ask.

“Where’s Hueningkai?” you ask looking around for him. “Or did you kill him at game night for cheating in that fruit card game you guys play?” You joke, earning chuckles from the boys.

“He’s with Yeonjun hyung and a few others from the team. They had dinner somewhere before they came here. We came straight from the dorm��� Beomgyu explains, as he was texting someone on his phone.  

They definitely knew something was up. Taehyun is smart and quick-witted, so you were sure he knew too. Especially since his eyes grew in size a little after he heard Yeonjun’s name.  

Beomgyu however, was too busy with his phone to care. You decide to pry and look over his shoulder. “You’re talking to Ryujin again?” you say smirking as you read her name and Beomgyu immediately hides his phone from you. “Maybe,” he pretended to be annoyed but he couldn’t help but crack a smile at the sound of her name.

Soobin sighed, clearly unamused. “Where’s Mia?” He asked sitting down at the bleachers behind him.  

“She should be on her way back from her last campus tour,” you say looking around you, hoping you would see her and that’s when you spot him.

Yeonjun.

He walked in with his confident stride, surrounded by other attractive guys from the team, including Hueningkai.  

You could see the future freshman girls freak out a little as they entered. And you couldn’t help but roll your eyes.  

He ate it up, lost in his own bubble. No one could touch him, that’s how unreachable he made himself seem.

But you knew better. Your mind flashing back to his desperate eyes, trying to find answers in yours when he stepped foot in your apartment, and his desperate eyes when you kicked him out.  

You averted your gaze from them quickly, but not before Yeonjun’s eyes found yours.  

Shit.  

You sigh and pick up your schedule. “Guys, I’m sad to say this, but I have to leave. I have bar duty.”  

Soobin’s ears perked up at the word ‘bar’ and he looked at you, his eyes disappearing into crescent moons as he gave you a coy smile. “Does that mean you’ll give us free drinks?”  

“The opposite,” you say sticking out your tongue at him. He just glares at you in return and you laugh at his childlike antics.

“Gotta go, when I’m free, I’ll join you guys, and please keep an eye on him,” you tell Tae and Beomgyu as you run off.

“Will do sis,” Taehyun yells after you.

You arrive at the bar stand and see Mia already overwhelmed and panicked. Trying to keep up with the number of people in line. She spots you and sighs in relief.

“Thank god! Where were you? I can’t handle this alone,” she says throwing an apron your way.  You swiftly caught it and tie it around your waist.

“Sorry, I ran into Soobin, Tae, and Gyu. Soobin is already drunk by the way,” you say as you start pouring drinks in cups, organising them so they could be handed out immediately.

Mia rolled her eyes. “Of course he is,” she chuckles shaking her head.

“Did you see Yeonjun yet?” Mia asks carefully as she leans against the bar, staring at you intently.

“Yes, he was with Hyuka and some other guys from the team.”

“He didn’t try to talk to you at all since the party?” Mia asks confused.

And just as you opened your mouth to answer her question, you were interrupted.

“I’ll take two beers, and your phone number.”  

A familiar voice made your ears perk up, and you turn around. You spot the tall brunette and give him a wholehearted smile.

“Johnny!” You exclaim enthusiastically, giving him a clumsy hug over the counter.

“You and your endless flirting,” you joke as you hand over the beers to him.  

He gave you a beaming smile, taking a sip of his drink as he hands you the money in return. “I mean, you pretty much left without saying goodbye. And since I didn’t have your number I couldn’t contact you,” he points his finger at you accusingly, and you giggle.

Mia was behind you, busting her ass trying to serve the alcohol deprived students but that didn’t stop her from keeping an eye on you and Johnny.  

She noticed how your face lit up, and she also noticed how Johnny leaned closer to you over the counter. And then…her eyes landed on an equally tall figure, standing behind Johnny.

“Are you gonna take much longer bro? I’m trying to get drunk tonight.”  

You freeze in place, feeling like you were caught doing something you weren’t supposed to do.  

It was Yeonjun. He looked at you with his intense gaze. And all you could do was stare back at him in shock. 

A different type of tension filled the air. Your eyes darting from one to the other in panic. 

He glared at Johnny through half-lidded eyes, impatiently tapping his feet. “I’m in desperate need of some vodka,” Yeonjun states, giving Johnny a sarcastic smile, who by now had turned around to meet his eyes.

“So am I,” you say to yourself, preparing for the worst.

Chapter 4.

[bisexualoftheblade-old]

how many wips do you have? like what are they all, and not the number of wips in a fandom? what are all the names?

okay. fuck you. fuck you so much. fuck you.

i’m putting this under a read more cut no one else deserves to see this shit. a lot of these are requests, and for those i will just write out the request itself

Shadowhunters:

domestic polycule fluff with tem, jessa, and will because im not a coward

Supernatural

- hehe hoho i request destiel hehehe

- request 61/? cai cai cai cai i need you to rewrite the destiel scene but yk. GOOD. not like i'm in the know about the spn fandom or anything, it's been years for me. but DO IT

Bright Sessions

- caleb/adam grisha AU

- mark bryant vs. united states aka sue the AM

- caleb/adam college fluff

Umbrella Acaademy

- request 31/? i want a ben and klaus drabble please spare me some brotherly bickering

- AND SO BEGINS NIGHT 4 with request 13/? oooh oooh can i get a raymond and allison playlist??? i think their vibes together would SLAP

- hi there night 2 is technically morning 3 but who's counting not me anyway request 5/? can i get a ben moodboard? gotta rep my tua bb

Percy Jackson

- request 9/? can i get a percabeth moodboard or quote edit?? like god they're the og couple goals take me back to high school cai

- For the 100 follower things :D Jercy getting caught in the rain

- request 29/? a drabble about literally anything to do with pjo. i’ll be happy with anyone and anything i’m love these children

- *somersaults in like I’m a real fancy acrobat* hello ello ello may I request some camp half blood chaos possible involving *does a flip* ✨side characters✨ <3

Penumbra Podcast 

- request 52/? drabble about the penumbra podcast. this is for ren bc ren likes it and i don't actually know anything about it. juno? i think? that's the one ren likes. write it for ren

- Tpp ghost hunting / buzzfeed unsolved au

- sad juno smut

- final resting place fic go brrrr

Marvel

- request 6/? i'm going to my roots y'all can i get a spider-man playlist? if not a playlist then i'd honestly be happy with literally anything involving spider-man

- request 15/? i'm going crazy this is recorded evidence of me actually losing it ANYWAY can i get a quote edit for something from iron man? literally anything that man says is gold so cai's choice :D he deserved better in endgame i'm still bitter

- request 42/? do another spidey thing that differs from the other spidey thing

- request 73/? you have Opinions. rant about infinity way and/or endgame. go.

- request 74/? quote edit for deadpool!!

- spideytorch relationship character study

- peter parker as a tired grad student monitoring the young avengers (send help)

Six of Crows

- okay listen i wasn't going to request anything bc i worry about you but also? if you want to/have the time hit me with a playlist for our girl nina zenik

- request 43/? fuckin give me the ending anya should have had. she is alive and with her new son and having a great time

- request 45/? inej moodboard?

- request 47/? will you make literally any meme of your choosing for six of crows?

- request 48/? write a drabble for kaz, my favorite bastard

- okay so i don't actually like nina or mattias that much but i still wanna hear about your thoughts (and also see if you'll change my mind)

- kaz brekker turning 18 fic. birthday party, everyone singing, whole shebang. i need it stat

- religious trauma fic aka i started shipping kaz/alina/inej and i can’t stop

- kaz trauma soup (he has D.I.D. and you can’t prove me wrong)

- my two redacted fics for @grishaversebigbang​

- wesper fake dating

- six of crows bright sessions crossover: everyone gets therapy

TMA

- uhh... s1 gang having a nice time? melanie getting to have some Pride™️? some "fun" horror thing?

- request 7/? spare steph and jason bonding? please sir? spare some for a humble child such as myself?

- okay so this was meant for night 3 but i had midterm shit SO this is honorary night 3 let's DO THIS request 8/? i want a moodboard of extremely out of context magnus archives shit like i mean confuse the FUCK out of me i don't go here i know Nothing about it

- request 11/? OKAY so i need tim stoker meeting tim drake now i need my timmy to meet your tim plus i want to see character differences no i'm not trying to create a tim stoker in my head so i can read a's fic while NOT thinking of tim drake whaaaaaat you're crazy

- request 18(i think)/? i need a quote edit of every time within the first like. 15 eps of tam where jon is like “sounds fake but go off” thank u bb

- request 40/? i challenge you to write a tma drabble based only on the episodes i've heard. i'm currently halfway through episode 23

- Jon being lovingly bullied into taking a break. I'm aware this has been written a million times but it is one of my favorite things.

- spiral!sasha AU

- extinction martin go brrrrr

- high school era timsasha. they've both been friends for years, and everyone always asks when they will be a couple. they decide to fake date, to prove everyone wrong and show what a bad couple they would be. turns out that's a bit trickier than they thought

- after sasha comes back, tim is broken. he can't let go, scared that if he looks away for even a minute he'll lose her again. sasha suggests shibari as a way for him to give up control

- sasha pov mag 19 au, sacrificing herself to save the others, knows that if she gives herself up to the not!them it will let the others live

- this is the "tim finds a polaroid of sasha" trope

- early archives days,, long nights in research,,, clothes sharing,, somft. late nights and falling asleep at their desks warm and safe in the other's presence

- two parts: timsasha as kids, each picking a constellation that is "theirs". just soft kid antics. tim at sasha's grave glancing up to see their constellations

- continuing your job’s a joke (you’re broke)

DC Comics

- TIMSTEPH HADESTOWN AU,,,

- my redacted fic for @batfam-big-bang​

- request for you to get a decent amount of sleep? serious answer, dickkori, SAL's Venus

- request 4/? timsteph morning after 👀 mayhaps?

- a concept: nonbinary stephanie brown

- teehee hi mom, you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, but can i request damian angst for your accomplishments 100 followers?

- hi you can ignore my first request if you want, or you can ignore this one. but bls possibly write some bikini ra’s? -the bikini bitch

- request 27/? jay is asking through me for a jondami playlist but tbh i also want it so win win yk?

- "I don't know how to help you but I can help you find someone who does" with bruce and jason? im just craving bruce being a good day to jason for once

- “I am putting you in time out because you need to understand the consequences of your actions.” with steph and jason as dumbass disaster bi best friends pretty please?

- request 32/? timsteph patrol date!!!

- request 33/? timsteph *gala* date? mayhaps??

- request 37/? tim drake drabble but make it Edgy cai

- request 39/? drabble of a prank war between tim and damian

- joyfire cuddly fluff please? or like just any outlaw fluff if joyfire isnt your thing (feel free to add every member of the outlaws, dont feel like u gotta stick with jason, kori, roy i love them all)

- barbara and robin! jason fluff? bonding over books or something?

- request 62/? i need a drabble about the chaotic trio jason, tim, and steph i'm love them ty

- request 63/? batfam x mcu crossover. batfam meets ironfam. give me ALL the cliches. ALL OF THEM

- request 64/? young justice x young avengers - jay cuz idk SHIT about the young avengers

- request 66/? jondami moodboard pls and ty

- request 67/? timsteph moodboard!!!!!!

- request 69/? HEHEHE kinky 😏 i would v much like a timsteph drabble of the almost first time. does that make sense? like i don't want you to go all the way NSFW cuz i know that's against the rules and i'm a rule follower. but like they *almost* go all the way. this could be fade to black or some shit i don't care just make it a lil steamy and have Fun

- i request damian angst! all of it

- hmm... maybe i request? jondami?

- mayhaps,,,,some batfam,,,,,committing crimes? ily be gay do crime <3 - lu

- How about a ficlet with Steph and Cass?

Found Family Bingo Prompts

- no powers au

- tunnel

- first day

- join the club

- hurt/comfort

- experiment

- playing favorites

- hold on

- possession

- 10 o’clock

- singing

- road

- snitch

- curfew

- timer

- fantasy au

- zombie au

- dreams

- campfire

- are you okay

- movie night

- games

- scared

Miscellaneous

- a request: Write A Drabble, Coward

- is it too late to request a moodboard for me?

- request 20/? i’m going off book because i’m in a Chaotic Mood™️ can you just absolutely vibe check me like go off cai demolish me

- request 21/? i formally request that you pick a favorite cai. i don’t care what that favorite pertains to, just pick a favorite something

- request 23/? roast me

- request 24/? can i have a buzzfeed unsolved spoopy playlist but spoiler alert it’s not spoopy bc shane doesn’t believe does this make sense it has been a Day™️

- request 25/50 i want a jake and amy fic make it Soft cai i’m love them b99 is so good

- request 28/? i know nothing about the lord of the rings so make something that will confuse the shit out of me

- request 34/? malvie and jaylos moodboards 😈

- request 35/? a moodboard for the bbb mods!! perceive all of us!!!

- request 36/? moodboard for the tua mods too???? mayhaps??

- request 41/? doctor WHO? idk but i want a drabble of him and the one character i know from doctor who which is rose

- request 46/? make an alignment meme with our group, have fun!!!

- request 49/? i want you to kin assign me a character from every fandom you can/want to. go feral

- request 50!!!!/? this is a special request. the most special request. can you make a bastards tbh playlist? i want our vibes encapsulated. i want us in music form. i want to hear those songs and be like "that's me and cai" and smile.

- requests 51/? i know jack shit about good omens. explain it to me in the most confusing way possible. make me know less by the end than i know now

- request 53/? can you write a mel aesthetic? i'm Curious

- request 54/? give me a list of book recs cai i want some good book recs pls

- request 56/? edit a picture of US together too

- request 58/? oooh can i have a disney edit? like. hm. i just really love disney and i want anything to do with disney. like a quote or an aesthetic or an aesthetic edit i just want disney.

- request 59/? i would v much like a recipe for carbonara. i've never had it but it sounds fucking delicious

- request 60/? ooh hey can i get a makeup tutorial? i know you like makeup, i'm shit at doing makeup. teach me

- request 65/? i need the most emo playlist you can make that vibes with dear evan hansen thank you

- request 68/? i want a superwholock moodboard. this can be serious, with the actual fandoms in mind, or literally what the era felt like. the insanity. the horror.

- request 70/? ooh ooh ooh do you have a good bread recipe?? i wanna get that bread

- request 71/? i want a playlist with the vibes of summoning a demon. please don't ask questions. i don't have answers. and if i do, no i don't.

- For the requests, how about writing something based on a friend?

- request 75/? MMMM i want literally anything to do with natasha, pierre, and the great comet of 1812

- request 76/? i want some healthy recipes. help a girl out

- a feral bbb quote or two?

- you perceive my plant but now I dare thee to perceive mine own visage

- okay this is a two for one request. 1. you did the bee movie script so now we need a shrek two script edit 2. sleep please

- Pansexual mb for my lil queer soul?

- my (probably) final request is just for you to ramble about something, i don't really care what

- HI ILY CONGRATS AS WELL CAUSE IM LATE BUT CONGRATS. could i request a pirates of the caribbean (or just pirates) or whatever you what to do, free range.

- mood board for the beluga whales who got brought to the animal sanctuary in Iceland please?

- 100 follower request: Moodboard for my stuffed cow Oaky?

[dekuscrybaby]

Could I request a super shy reader asking out Bakugou ? Scenario or hcs ! Whichever you like ! She’s like super nervous and just ends up going on a rant on why she likes him and asks him out and he just blushes and says yes . I hope that’s not too specific or something >.

y’all be giving me too much freedom, like tell me to choose one format over another and you will end up getting both because that’s just the type of clown that i am! also, i’ll kinda be loosely basing this on me because i’m pretty shy myself, but i’ll keep it as general as possible! also pls my friend, i have none so feel free to privately message me or we can chat through asks i don’t mind 😌 also, i think i went a little overboard with the “scenario” but i’m not all that sorry bc i love my feral bby but also the scenario is kinda booty so sorry about that

(ps this is literally bakugou as you confess/rant to him)

out of the billions of people you could’ve had a crush on, your heart probably chose the worst person

bakugou katsuki, a very angry gremlin if you please

and i’m not saying that bakugou is ugly or anything

it’s the complete opposite actually, hence why you have a crush on him

bakugou’s physical appearance is far from ugly, he’s hands-down one of prettiest boys in your class

that being said, his personality can be considered an acquired taste

as kaminari once said his personality is comparable to “flaming hot garbage”

but that didn’t stop you from liking blasty boy

your friends know about your crush bc it’s just obvious to them and pretty much everyone else (except bakugou)

you’re always asked “what is there to like about bakugou?”

well, what isn’t there to like?

his ash-blonde hair always looks so soft, you just want to run your fingers through it

his eyes are just so beautiful and you want nothing more than to stare into those ruby orbs for hours and hours

his physique is just so amazing and let’s not get you started on how bad you want his muscular arms to wrap around you

and his thighs? phew, please! is it getting hot in here or what?

answer: it is getting hot and by that i mean your face has lit up all shades of red

confessing to crushes is usually hard regardless of how confident a person is but it’s even harder for you because you’re the shyest person in class a

you’re so shy that you’re just known for your blushy cheeks which turn even redder when you’re in the presence of lord explosion murder

you probably even struggle to get a full sentence in when you’re “talking” to him

you guys know how izuku stutters right? well you’re worse than that

you just have the FATTEST crush on this blonde douchebag

so what do your friends do about this crush?

they do what all friends do for their introverted friends with a huge crush on a huge ass extrovert

put you on the spot

*insert your shy ass mentally screeching*

to be fair, you’ve been crushing on bakugou since like the beginning of the school year

something has to happen before your entire class just decides to scream at bakugou about your very clear crush on him

for the sake of a chaotic confession, i’m gonna say that you’re apart of the bakusquad with mina being your best friend

and mina being mina, she’s SICK of your shit and wants you to tell katsuki how you feel

so what does she do?

she shoves you into the janitor’s closet with bakugou

will not let you out until you spill everything

“hey! raccoon eyes! you better let us out before i fucking explode your ass!” bakugou growled as he pounded on the metal door, obviously he was caught off guard. he was just walking back to class with you and your guys’ friends before mina’s crazy-ass pulled you back and shoved you into a small room.

“not until y/n fesses up!” mina shouted back, pulling on the door handle with all her might. she’s doing this for you, it’ll only help you and bakugou, it’s a mantra mina keeps going over in her head. hopefully, a mantra that will prevent her from being killed by the furious blonde.

“what the hell do you mean fesses up?” the blonde bellows out, still pounding at the door.

as they’re screaming and cursing at each other, you have your face hidden away in the sleeves of your school jacket. your face is the reddest it’s ever been and your mind has never spilled this many thoughts until now. your brain is so overwhelmed that there is practically no filter between your brain and your mouth so at this point you’re babbling on endlessly.

it’s not very loud, probably only loud enough for it to be heard in the small room you’re currently in, but that’s where the problem lies.you’re babbling on and on about your huge crush while he is in the same cramped up room as you are. to make matters worse, you guys are completely alone.

“what do i do now? i’m completely alone with the hottest guy in not just the class but probably even school. is mina really not gonna let us out until i tell him i like him? i mean she can’t keep us in here for too long, right? of course not! class is bound to start soon and she has to go to class. plus she has to let us out before mr. aizawa comes to look for us or something. then again, me confessing can’t go that bad. i mean what’s the worst that can happen? well, if i do end up confessing, then there’s a high chance that bakugou might not even like me back and then everything will be super awkward. he prob-”

you probably would’ve continued to rant on if it weren’t for bakugou’s rough voice pulling you out of your verbal thoughts, “what the hell are you going on about?”

you snapped your head up in the direction of your voice, “huh?”

“you heard me, rosy-cheeks. what are you going on about?” he questioned with a quirked eyebrow.

“r-r-rosy-cheeks?” the new nickname just made even more blood rush onto your already blushed cheeks.

bakugou rolled his eyes a bit, “yes, rosy-cheeks. your cheeks are always red so it suits you.”

“oh! uh, thanks i guess?” you tucked a strand of your hair behind your ear, not knowing how to respond to the slight compliment you received from your crush.

a quiet snicker could be heard from the opposite side of the door and that ended up provoking bakugou’s short temper.

“fucking let us out, you used tampon!” he began to yell again. (i couldn’t think of any other nicknames)

“i said i wasn’t letting you out until ms. rosy-cheeks confesses!” mina retorts, matching the level of intensity of katsuki’s voice.

“huh? and what should she be confessing?”

“i don’t know, bakugou, maybe you should ask her instead!” now it was bakugou’s turn to snap his head towards you.

“spill, y/l/n.” he said, his voice much softer than it was a few seconds ago.

“w-what?” you stuttered.

“the faster you tell me whatever mina wants you to tell me, the faster we can get out of here,” he grumbled as you began twiddling with your fingers.

“i-i can’t.”

bakugou sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. “what do you mean you can’t?”

“i just can’t, bakugou.” you whimpered quietly.

“y/n, class is going to start again in less than ten minutes and i don’t know about you, but i don’t want to be held up after class by aizawa.”

“i’d rather be held up later than tell you,” you wrapped your arms around yourself, fearing that you’d make him upset.

“goddamnit, y/n! just tell me! it can’t be that hard!” he raises his voice and ultimately, this causes something in you to snap.

“okay, okay! i like you, okay? i’ve liked you for so long that it’s actually embarrassing. it’s just that you’re so cute and something about you just has my heart beating out of my chest. i always feel short of breath and lightheaded when i’m around you and i can’t do anything about it. you’re also so so smart and im actually jealous.” you drew in a quick breath before continuing.

“sure, you might not have the best personality ever according to others but i still find your ‘garbage-like’ personality drawing me into you. do you know how many times people come up to me asking why the hell i like you? it’s quite a shocker for them to hear that i basically like everything about you.”

“i like your spiky blonde hair that is probably super soft. i like your eyes that are the most beautiful shade of red and i always find myself lost in them whenever i look into them for even the briefest moments. i like how passionate you are about your goals and i like how you give your all to reach them. you’re just so amazing and i always find myself wanting to confess to you, hoping that you might feel the same way. i would just absolutely love to call you my boyfriend, you know?”

you finally concluded your rant after what felt like an eternity and for some reason, you forgot about the situation at hand. once you realized that you actually said everything out loud, you felt your entire body heat up. this has to be a dream. or maybe someone used their quirk and caused you to say all of that. not missing a single beat, you glanced up at bakugou, only to find him the same position as you. cheeks and even ears, a bright red that could easily rival midoriya’s sneakers.

“i-i-i, uhh…”

“tch,” bakugou interrupted what could’ve started another rant. “you could’ve just said so earlier.”

“what?” you stared at him with a gaped expression as his cheeks heated up even more,

“i’m just saying, you would’ve said this earlier…then maybe i would’ve been your boyfriend already,” bakugou mumbled as one of his sweaty palms, cradled the back of his neck.

“a-are you serious?”

“do i look like a liar to you, rosy-cheeks?”

“well, uh, no?”

“damn right. now let’s get to class, i’m pretty sure raccoon eyes heard the entirety of your rant and if she reacted anything like me, then she should be satisfied.”

you were still too shocked to properly digest what just happened that you for some reason didn’t feel bakugou take your hand to lead you out of the janitor’s closet. after you walked out with him, you turned your head and noticed mina grinning at you, congratulating you on what was your new relationship with the boy you’ve been pining over for ages.

[calypsoff]

One.

I have only been out for six months now, being locked up since I was eighteen and just getting out at the age of twenty three, I have missed so much of life. Staring at the hoodie with Robyn’ face on it, it’s weird to see. I even find it weird to see her on TV, like this is just so much. I still see her as that innocent Barbadian girl, I ain’t ever tell Seiko that I did initiate sex, but she didn’t want it and it was cool, I always thought she left because I was in fault, because she left just after that. I was fine with it, she said not yet, and I didn’t mind it. But Barry thinks we did, I let him both think that. TJ still shouts about it, like it’s not even that but it’s weird to see that. Nobody understands how Robyn was, she was so sweet bout everything with me and I think that is what pulled me in. She is way different now, her beauty is still there but her confidence is high, just thinking back on things. “Baby, baby, come on. Baby, come on, baby, come on” I bopped my head “Oh, when you walk by every night. Talking sweet and looking fine, I get kinda hectic inside. Mmm, baby, I'm so into you” Robyn sang, I nodded my head laughing “yeah, you got it. Not going to lie that is a dope song, but I can’t sing for shit, maybe I can be your backing vocals” I pointed “come, we need to go. Don’t worry about it, this party is lit. You will be fine, just don’t start singing” Robyn just finished off putting her earrings on “you sure I won’t look odd, I am not from around here. You will be there right? Like not leave me” placing my hand over my heart “promise, I got you. What I say? Twin. Come on, bring it in” holding my pinkie out, Robyn wanting to smile but is stopping herself “say it” tightening the grip around her pinkie “twin” I laughed nodding licking my lips “you got it, I mean come on. I came here for you; these white folks don’t like me. They like you though” letting her pinkie go “they are nice, they said you are loud and you will corrupt me” kissing my teeth “they don’t add spices to their food and they mad at me for pointing it out, come on Robyn” walking behind her, placing my hand on her shoulders to escort her out, she making me late “he is paying, ain’t you” hearing Seiko’ voice, I jumped at her voice “huh, uh yeah. What is it?” looking at her “pay the man” she laughed at me.

It’s weird to see my girlfriend wearing Robyn’ face but it is what it is “we can sit here” I guess you get what you pay for, we get to hang here and wait until the concert actually starts “thank you so much boo, thank you for this gift to me” sitting down smiling “it’s ok, I know how much you love her music. You got me, I got you” Seiko sat next to me pressing a kiss to my cheek “oh my god! That is Rihanna’ best friend Mel, be back. I want a picture” Seiko shot up, seeing people gathering around her friend. I do remember Robyn telling me she missed her best friend, that is the friend of hers. I don’t know what to expect, I think she may have forgotten me anyways. She won’t notice me because I lost weight, I lost that fat I had when I got locked up. It would be dope if she does remember me, but I would like to know why she left, just like that. That was wack on her end, did she just go for family reasons or to chase fame. If only she waited a little more, I was so close to making her my girlfriend. There are some girls that make a difference in your life, she was one of them, but I think she was just different in every way, unique. Her vibe was different, my friends knew it. she easily became one of the gang, maybe she would have saved me form the stupid shit I got myself into. For such a short time, it felt like a lifetime for me. I am just a Amazon warehouse worker now, trying to keep on the better path because I fucked up, I won’t be a Basketball player, or anything of that matter so I am just going to count my blessing that I have an apartment and a job.

Seiko came back ever so excited “she is everything I imagined; her friend is a bad bitch. So we asked what is Rihanna doing, she said she is here but getting prepared for the date. I am so happy, look at us” Seiko turned her phone to me “that is cute for you” I didn’t think she was that big of a fan “what made you such a big fan? I ain’t seen you this hype” she is too happy for this “since pon de replay, I love her. Her nonchalant attitude, she is always herself. I love that about her, and I mean look how beautiful she is” she is making me laugh “but I didn’t think you was a massive fan like this, you’re here getting all wet about her” Seko hit my arm “but if she wants to take me home, then I have no boyfriend got it?” nodding my head laughing “I have no girl either too” I winked “Mel is so sweet, them two are so close, like they do everything together. I follow her on Instagram. She called me pretty” pulling a face “what is she calling pretty? I am confused” moving back from Seiko before she hit me “Mel said today is a special day for Rihanna, her man has arrived” my face softened “she has a man? You know everything” this is weird behaviour “yeah, like it only just got leaked and Rihanna actually admitted to it. But they been dating for like three months now” that is interesting, I mean not like I have a chance. I don’t even think she will remember me; she is a big star now and I was just the fat nigga that showed her around the school.

I look so miserable here “you go up front, I am sitting here!” I shouted over the music, Seiko side eyed me knowing I am being miserable but what the fuck do I look like singing to these female ass songs, Seiko stormed off pouting. I am glad to be sat down, imagine having to be stood up. Looking at Robyn on stage and then looked down at my phone, I am texting Barry and TJ in the group chat, they are tripping right now.

TJ: Who the fuck cares if she got a man!!! Dump psycho and go! My nigga do it… I woud not trip over that

Barry: This is y ur ass is single

TJ: This is RIHANNNA bro!

I laughed at them both going back and forth in the group chat, they really tripping, let me message them both back.

Chris: I am here with Seiko, we just going to vibe, meet her and go. Twin got a man so it is what it is, she also won’t remember me so pls miss me with that.

Pressing send on the message, they are both tripping thinking that Rihanna, global popstar will remember goofy ass me. I don’t even care anymore, I just want to go home because I got a shift in the AM with Amazon, I came here out of the goodness of my heart because she loves her, way more then I assumed actually. These niggas really going at it in this group chat, like they ain’t stopping at all with these messages.

TJ: Did ‘Twin’ titties look bigger in person?

Barry: Yu straight trippin, bruh does Second know yu went there for yu nd not her?

Looking up from my phone laughing, my eyes drifting to Robyn on stage. She is a hundred percent a different girl, she ain’t the girl I met but I am not wanting anything. Looking back down at my phone.

TJ: What you mean playa? So this was for himself?

Barry: Let lay off bruh! He just come out of lock up! He testing waters out.

Locking my phone laughing, I am done. I cannot deal with that conversation; they are acting up “good lord she is beautiful!!” Seiko shouted and sat next to me “why you over here again?” I rather be in my own thoughts, she going to sitting here screaming in my ear “because I know she is going to sing Skin and I want to grind on you!?” staring at Seiko dumbfounded “and what is Skin?” she playfully mushed my head “you are so annoying, just you sit here and let me grind on you, I know the next song will be Skin, I love that song with my whole chest” licking my lips placing my arm behind the chair, Barry seems to think I came here for me which I didn’t. I mean a little part of me likes to think she felt that way, but I mean she ain’t had to be locked up for twenty three hours a day and only an hour to be outside, I had all the time to just think of things and think why she went, I mean it’s weird to think if she did forget because we spent so much time together, I will not make it known if she doesn’t.

“And your name?” the lady asked “Chris” I said, this is backstage finally “Christopher?” nodding my head “I got two, for me and Seiko” I pointed, she continued to write on the pass, she put my full name. I was ok with Chris, I didn’t need the full thing on there “just put this on and we will walk you to the room ok?” grabbing the pass, looking down at the Rihanna pass, it’s funny to me “boo” looking up at Seiko, she took a picture of me which made me laugh “yay Rihanna fans?” I sound so unenthusiastic about this “I hate you; I really do. Stop it” placing the pass on “what makes you like her so much anyways?” I asked “because I can relate to her, she is super cool. Bad bitch attitude, I told you this” she is right she did “come along now, please stay together and follow me” Seiko squealed “that is Jen, another best friend” she pointed, Seiko is a stalker now I can tell “I am glad you like this gift, I really didn’t think you was this much of a big fan, you got me speechless to think” she held my hand as we followed the lady.

Rubbing my chin watching this big black guy just walk into the room “Hi guys, I am Jen so we are going to do this one at time with the meet and greet, please don’t be nervous. Rihanna is just like you all, Rich will escort you in and you can just ask Rihanna what you like and get your things signed. But it will be one at a time” Seiko put her hand up “even if me and my boyfriend paid together?” of course she would ask that “you can both come in together that is fine, so if we can start from this end of the room and work ourselves around” this is good, we are last “and what if I wanted to go alone? Ever thought of that?” Seiko scoffed at me “anyways, is your mom coming to the apartment this weekend?” nodding my head slowly “I can’t wait to see her actually, I appreciate her doing that for me. Getting the apartment for me, I did say to her that I will pay her back. This is why I am working those hours” I really want to pay my mom back “I really think it would be good if I move in” here she goes “and what I say about that? Hold off on that, I just need to get my bearings on shit, like I didn’t think I would be out and already got a girl, it’s hard. You know how it is, I am just tyring to find my feet with things. My cousin getting me that job alone, I think if we always in the same room. We will end up hating each other quickly, I like my space” Seiko nodded her head “I understand, I still think you’re an idiot for holding any type of drug for your cousin, you wasted your life” she is telling me like I don’t know this.

Answering the call, I went to the bathroom quickly and TJ been harassing me with calls “man, what!?” I spat “do not blame me, Chris. He is here trying to get details” Barry said in the background “man, I ain’t seen her yet. I will tell you all the details. I promise, I told you all I expect nothing from this at all. I came for her” TJ and Barry both laughed out “you got drunk bro and you told us both, you were shouting that you wanted answers. TJ and I think you just want closure on why she left, look don’t get kicked out either” I sniggered “be quiet please” disconnecting the call, sighing out stuffing my phone in my pocket. Staring at the mirror in the bathroom, staring at myself. Maybe they are right, but the main thing is if she remembers me, she must do because I remember her. Nodding my head walking out of the bathroom, pulling open the door. This will be ok; she won’t know me and there it is. That will be the end, walking into the room “uh, where is she?” I asked, “in there” Seiko already gone “oh, without me?” she done ditched me for Rihanna, that is not cool “you can still go in there after, we just needed things to proceed quick” sitting down on the couch huffing out, I guess I got to wait “and where are you running off too?” the lady said to this guy “go in and see Rih?” who is this black guy, why does he want  “now you know Rakim, she will see you after. Besides, you need to buy a meet and greet to see her” they both laughed, I guess they know him.

Seiko finally emerged out of the room; she looks so excited. She let out a scream “she is everything and more” it made me smile to see her that happy about meeting another human “why did you leave me?” I asked, I mean she just went “I was not missing an opportunity because you wanted to cry in the bathroom” I didn’t think I was that long “she is super sweet Chris, and look how cute our picture is” Seiko placed some poster down “Christopher, would you like to go in? You’re the last person” letting out an oh, I am next to go in “uh yeah” getting up from the couch “oh now you want to go in? You were hating everything about this day” I laughed nervously “well I did pay so I might as well get my money worth huh, be back. Can she wait here, I know like the fans get escorted out after?” I asked “sure, just sit there for us” the lady said, I feel pretty nervous about this. My heart is actually beating hard against my chest and it’s like I have so many unanswered questions, but she may not be the Robyn I know, if she doesn’t mention a word of it then I won’t say a word “puta!” my ears perked up hearing Robyn shout that “you better calm down, you got your next little fan here” some guy said, he also had a Barbadian accent but very thick. I am guessing he is where she is from, or a family member, oh wait. That is her brother, she showed me a picture.

Watching place her wine glass down, she is wearing an extra big tour merch hoodie. Her legs bare under it, a snapback on “I am coming” I feel so awkward just stood here, looking down at myself before looking back up and it’s the smile, her smile from when I first met her in my class, she is smiling that way as she walked over to me, her smile soon faded as I smiled because it’s been years. Robyn’ face softened, the look of horror and shock. She abruptly stopped walking to just start pointing at me “no, oh my god. Chris!?” she spat, my cheeks felt flushed “yeah” I said laughing “twin!” she screamed “no fucking way, oh my god” she lunged at me, I fell back a little as she hugged me, so unexpected that I didn’t know what to do “ahhhh, oh my god! It’s really you! Chris, oh my god. This is Chris” she moved back from the hug, both hands on my shoulders as she looked at me out of breath, shock has taken over her “it’s you!” she said again, she dragged her hands down my arms, I lifted my hands up a little and she held my hands in hers “I came back, I came to Essex High, I came back Chris. You weren’t there, you were gone. And you’re here, oh shit” nodding my head laughing, I feel like the foreign one. I probably feel like Robyn did in school when I was loud as fuck, putting my head down before looking up “I uhm ended up leaving school early, then some shit happened” Robyn frowned at me, frantically searching my eyes for answers “ain’t you done with this now?” some guy came in, Robyn moved her hands away from mine, that is the same dude outside “I know him, this is Chris. I uhm, oh my god. I will be with you” she said to him “I have one question; I just need to know why you left without telling me? Like you didn’t even leave a note” I need that answer, I need to know if it was me that she left because of.

[dangermousie]

The Usual Shows I am Watching List

For the next week or so at least (obviously, I am unlikely to watch every single one on the list, but they are all in the running; it’s like a preview for posts I am likely to make).

The Abyss (Korea) - I am a few eps behind and, frankly, the drama about two dead people brought back into different bodies, hunting a serial killer and finding love, should be more engaging and smarter than it is, but it’s a pleasant easy watch and I am very fond of the two leads.

Angel’s Last Mission (Korea) - I am only two eps in, but the gorgeous intensity reminds me of old-school kdrama melos that I love so much. A bitter blind ballerina and an angel who is supposed to help her find love but falls for her instead is probably doomed for disaster in terms of happy ending, but I will be eating up all the pain!

Arthdal Chronicles (Korea) - grim (but not too grim) cool and otherwordly fantasy. I still don’t care for any characters, but the drama itself is great to watch.

Cage of Love (China) - surprisingly, not a BDSM tale. Hawick Lau wears amazing outfits and seeks revenge while trying to clear himself from being framed on a regular basis and dealing with heroine who sometimes loves him and sometimes thinks he is the resident serial killer. I started it years ago and now feel like continuing.

The Crowned Clown (Korea) - I need a sageuk in my life and watching Yeo Jin Gu in the pretty inferior Absolute Boyfriend made me remember how impressed I was by him playing both a psycho king and a sweet acrobat doppleganger who replaces him, so I restarted it.

Good Omens (UK) - loved the book when I read it a gazillion years ago and the first ep was good!

Heart of Stone/Hua Jai Sila (Thailand) - basically a 1980s romance crack about a pimp who comes back for revenge on his stepmom and falls for his childhood friend, this is insane! But addictive! Also make-outs!

Here to Heart (China) - it’s on my list and I may or may not get to it. I like the angsty premise and credits (they used to be lovers until she broke his heart in what I am sure is either a misunderstanding or noble idiocy), now he is mega rich and she is hired as his assistant, but Zhang Han has never clicked with me for some reason. He’s good-looking, he’s an OK actor, but for whatever reason he just doesn’t have that “it” for me. Maybe this drama will change that. 

Just Between Lovers (Korea) - when it was airing and people were falling madly in love with it, I was in a kdrama slump that no kdrama could cure. But now - oh, this is so achingly, perfectly, emotionally gorgeous. Only one ep in, but I already know this will be a keeper.

Kimse Bilmez (Turkey) - the one Turkish entry on this list! Starts on Tuesday, promises angst, women in danger, macho traditional men who defend them blah blah blah. As a modern feminist, I should probably be appalled, but I like what I like and gimme gimme gimme!

Le Coup de Foudre (China) - I just want to see the aristocrat daughter and the hot constable from An Oriental Odyssey be an OTP, all right?

Legend of Fuyao (China) - am on ep 22 I think. It’s pretty and shippy and I won’t stay awake freaking out about characters or plot twists, but watching Ethan Ruan worship the ground Yang Mi walks on never gets old.

Legend of the Phoenix (China)  - on ep 4! Get subbed quicker for my sanity, pls. Love story, scheming courtiers, angst, period costumes. What more does a girl need? Jeremy Tsui looking scrumptious, apparently.

The Legends (China) - finally hit ep 20! I like it and it’s a relaxing, fun, cute watch. Though if Zhao Yao figures out Demon Boy likes her before at least a dozen eps pass, despite him doing everything but carving “I love Zhao Yao” into his chest, I would faint from shock.

Letting You Float Like a Dream (China) - I am excited Young Lord from Minglan gets to be the hero of his own story and get the girl he wants (even if he has to reincarnate a couple of times first), plus look cool in 1930s duds. This is very much my thing.

Likit Ruk/The Crown Princess (Thailand) - sometimes a lady just wants to watch a good, old-fashioned princess x bodyguard romance, especially when said princess and bodyguard are hot enough to set the Chao Praya river on fire.

Listening Snow Tower (China) - on ep 38 now. Gorgeous visuals, awesome fights, and the Victorian duality of the chaste and almost unspoken but frighteningly intense romance is so my jam. But if they kill the hero, I will riot. Let him and Lady Badass wuxia into sunset together, pls. 

My Absolute Boyfriend (Korea) - I am all up to date with this one. Which is weird because I am not up to date on other dramas I like more. This is a giant meh emotionally, and wastes some really good actors, but it is so good-naturedly unoffensive, I can’t even complain. Still, perhaps the story of a lady buying a lovebot should have stayed solely in manga form because I’ve never seen an amazing adaptation of it.

Pretty Man (China) - I liked the first ep, and you have no idea how rare it is for me to say that about a contemporary cdrama. Childhood loves who find second chances yes pls.

Princess Silver (China) - Yuu Watase, is that you? Did you write this? Cracky, not too serious, but seriously addictive, this is a chocolate bon bon in drama form. PS Pls cure the prince of his touch phobia through LOTS of skinship, princess!

Siege in Fog (China) - romantic dysfunction reigns supreme, even more so than gorgeous 1930s outfits and people. Elvis Han and Sun Yi boil my blood in amazingly pleasant ways as two people in a marriage of inconvenience, where he pines for her but won’t show it and she loves another, until she wakes up and realizes that HELLO IT’S SEX ON LEGS ELVIS, I NEED TO GET SOME OF THAT! And the civil war says, “not so fast!”

Too Late To Say I Love You (China) - I started it years ago when it was not fully subbed and loved it because in my secret heart-of-hearts, I too want a mega hot warlord who looks like Wallace Chung and has stylish 1930s cars and a private army to sweep me off my feet and obsess over me in an unhealthy but hormonally incredible fashion as if I am the only woman in the world. SiF reminded me of this so here we are. 

Tried and dropped:

The Plough Department of Song Dynasty (China) - watched one episode, felt my brain leaking out of my ears and bailed. Granted, I watch plenty of dumb stuff so far be it from me to act high and mighty about a bit of brainless fun, but I don’t like mysteries, there was no angst, and I couldn’t care less if all the characters fell into a giant pit, so here we go...

Well Intended Love (China) - people didn’t like it because the male lead was a sociopath. I didn’t like it because it was cutesy and boring and nobody in it  bothered to act (or couldn’t.) I bailed long before the dysfunction, that’s how bored I was. 

[alternislatronemhq]

Congrats, Beth, you have been accepted to AL for the role of Kingsley Shacklebolt (FC: Aldis Hodge). Beth!! Way to go in breaking the ice on picking up your second character! I know that you’ve been thinking and dreaming about Kingsley since the beginning, and the way that you’ve brought a familiar but mysterious character to life while keeping that mystery alive is incredible! There’s so much tension within Kingsley that even he isn’t really aware of in his need to please in following in his father’s footsteps, and I can’t wait to see how that comes into play as the war begins to heat up again. Fantastic job! Please send in your blog (no sideblogs for first characters, please) in the next 24 hours and be sure to take a look at our new player checklist. Welcome home (once again), we’re so excited to have you join the family!

OOC

name — Beth age — 24 pronouns — She/Her timezone — CST

IC Overview

name — Kingsley Shacklebolt

age — 34 (Birthday: March 2, 1952)

gender — Cis Male

sexuality — Asexual, Biromantic: Kingsley hasn’t put much focus in relationships, and it’s left him feeling a bit lonely. Straight out of school, he began training to be an auror and was shortly after inducted into the Order. Even after the war ended, Kingsley has focused his attention on work things, like making sure Voldemort isn’t coming back. Still, he can’t help feeling like it would be nice to have someone to come home to—someone he could kiss good morning, make dinner for, and fall asleep with at night. Kingsley isn’t sex-repulsed and will have it with a partner he feels highly committed to, but he doesn’t seek it out or find inherent pleasure in the act itself so much as the intimacy with someone he loves and trusts. He hasn’t technically shared a bed with anyone since Hogwarts when he was still figuring himself out, and Kingsely has only had one romantic relationship as a full-fledged adult. He misses having someone he can be romantically close to. He feels alone and wonders at this point if that will be his lot in life.

hogwarts house — Hufflepuff, and it would be difficult to find one more likely to work hard than Kingsley. He probably trusts too easily, but his years as an auror have taught him to rely less on that instinct. Despite his experience, he has a hard time believing that anyone is ever truly without good. People can be redeemed, and Kingsley is pretty sure the moment he stops thinking that is the moment he stops being a good auror.

blood status — Pureblood (Though his non-English mother doesn’t exactly have his family in high standing with the “truly” pure English elite.)

patronus — Lynx, both because it’s canon and because that aloof individualism + steadfast loyalty thing feels fitting for Kingsley.

boggart — In school, his boggart was his father scoffing and yelling at him for failing out of school and being a disappointment. It was counteracted by imagining his mother coming in and laughing that his father was reading too many puff news publications and that no such thing was true of her well-achieving little boy. As an adult, it became a Death Eater slowly moving toward him. If he gives it long enough, it eventually takes off the mask to reveal his own face. The only time he’s been faced one in front of other people, Kingsley quickly cast the spell, imagining the figure tripping over his own robes and dropping his wand before the mask could come off. The explanation was a conversation Kingsley didn’t want to have.

IC In Depth

personality traits —

Kingsley is an incredibly driven individual, although he may have been accused of being obsessive a time or too. That drive has always worked out for him since he’s so goal-oriented, and both his job and his, well, other job have benefited from his methodical approach. Occasionally Kingsley has been called naïve because he desperately wants to see the best in people; however, he sees no problem with being trusting and giving people the benefit of the doubt. He has a big heart and doesn’t try to hide that from the people he’s closest to, perhaps even making him a romantic. His whole life was grooming him for a position as an auror, so Kingsley does well under pressure. He comes off cool and collected. A person would be hard pressed to consider him callous for this lack of emotion, but The Prophet has made the claim in respond to Kingsley’s ability to keep his emotions hidden during stressful interviews. Still, that power to remain calm and not let his feelings get the best of him are part of what makes him good at his job.

character biography —

The Shacklebolts are a longstanding pureblood family, and while Kingsley has some halfblood cousins, his immediate family could still claim their Sacred 28 title if they wanted.  His mother was born Esi Caron and attended Beauxbatons Academy before beginning her career as a seer. Her parents had immigrated from Libya to French when she was a small child, but Esi never fully felt comfortable there. It wasn’t difficult for her to give up those new roots when Cypress Shacklebolt entered her life while abroad on a Ministry mission. Although it was another three years before they married, Esi moved to the UK almost immediately.

The two were lovely together, even if they weren’t always the most cohesive. They loved each other and never had a harmful household, but when they didn’t agree, it was certainly a tense one for Kingsley and his siblings. Two headstrong parents meant that an argument could stew unsettled for the better part of a week. Still, his parents worked at their communication and always tried to create a loving environment for their kids.

As the oldest, Kingsley had a certain responsibility to look out for his younger siblings. Irma, Hendrick, and Rosetta had plenty of responsibilities too, but it was Kingsley who grew up constantly trying to meet Cypress’ expectations and always felt like he never truly got there. Cypress’ approval was hard won, and occasionally Kingsley wondered how his father would react if Kingsley hadn’t wanted to become an auror. It was family legacy at this point, but because of Kingsley, his siblings didn’t have the same expectations. The option was there if they wanted it, but it was Kingsley who had Cypress’ attention.

The weight of his father’s expectations wasn’t easy to live with, especially when Cypress was killed by a cursed object when Kingsley was sixteen. Kingsley was a fifth year studying for his O.W.L.S. Momentarily his indecision paralyzed him, but the thought that he’d never have his father’s full approval made Kingsley throw himself even harder into his studies. Maybe he couldn’t ever have his father’s praise, but he could follow the steps that would have made his father proud.

Kingsley came of age and joined in aurors right as long brewing tensions and whispers finally broke out into war. At first, he was convinced that the Ministry could handle it and that the aurors would be the front lines working toward stopping Lord Voldemort and his Death Eater followers. Instead he saw firsthand the Ministry’s corruption as higherups looked the other way or stalled searching on ‘important families.’ Kingsley grew more frustrated by the day as they barely reacted to something that had already spiraled beyond the Ministry’s control.

Alastor Moody saw this frustration. After some small testing of Kingsley’s loyalty and conviction, he invited Kingsley into the Order of the Phoenix. Despite its technically illegal nature, Kingsley never hesitated when faced with the opportunity to make lasting impact. Almost ten years of his life was devoted to that cause, but when the war ended, Kingsley couldn’t wrap it up quite like everyone else. Between the Ministry and the Order, he’s kept himself fairly busy in the time since then.

Kingsley has watched two of his siblings find happy partnerships and one have children. In his father’s absence, he hasn’t ever tried to be that figure, but he has certainly tried to help out his mother as much as possible, especially with Rosie. The gap between them is large enough that she literally has no memories of him before Hogwarts, so they’ve always been a little different than the other sibling relationships in their family. Every once in a while, Esi gently inquires about Kingsley’s love life, but she accepts his no with just a small nudging reminder that she wants to see him happy. Kingsley is happy. At least, that’s what he’s told himself.

With rumors of Voldemort returning and Death Eaters beginning to shift, Kingsley isn’t so sure he found the happiness and stability he was looking for. This has been his life for about fifteen years now. He’d hoped they were on the tail end of cleaning up that mess, but apparently that might not be the case. When he can see the rebuilding around him, Kingsley has a hard time accepting that everything could shift again in an instance, but he knows how easily it could happen. He’s hoping to be part of the force that can keep that shift from ever coming.

plot ideas —

The Order: Obviously certain members of the Order have never really stopped looking to cement that Voldemort doesn’t return. People like Alastor and Sirius are among Kingsley’s closest confidants. Surely they don’t always agree about how to move forward, though, especially right now when there are so many whispers about Voldemort’s potential return.

The old Order: Some members of the Order have “retired” so to speak in light of Voldemort’s disappearance. I’d love to see the tense interactions of people like Kingsley trying to convince them there’s still a threat—or on the flip side, Kingsley trying to mislead them against it for their own good.

Known Death Eaters: Plenty of Death Eaters escaped justice, some with fairly sizable evidence or gut instincts betraying them. Even if he wants to see the best in people, Kingsley won’t trust them.

Siblings: This is more character than plot, but it could be interesting to eventually see some of Kingsley’s siblings or in-laws in play. How do they react to their workaholic big brother? How do they feel on the matter of blood status? Family dynamics are always interesting, and the range for the Shacklebolts could be fun.

Potential romance: As I said above, Kingsley is asexual, but he’s still a romantic soul. In fact, he’s quite lonely and wouldn’t mind a relationship if he had more time to meet someone. It could be fun to play out a potential relationship forming, whether it works out or fails dramatically. I could also see fun potential for an ex where things didn’t go well (I mentioned above one particular one in his adult life, and that could be interesting to play with). Another connection off this idea is a well-meaning friend trying to set Kingsley up on dates that don’t really work out because his friend doesn’t really know much about his type (although to be fair, Kingsley isn’t always sure either).

Whistleblower: Eventually something is going to happen which cannot be denied any longer. While Kingsley wouldn’t probably be the person to go, “He’s back,” or, “The situation is worse than you’ve all feared,” I could see him potentially supporting the person who is, depending on how they go about it. Regardless of his beliefs, it would be interesting to see how everyone reacted and who the surprise denialists are.

extra —  

Family tree: https://narcissaamaryllis.tumblr.com/private/621468809324380160/tumblr_3GKGHoSROIWvKhxY7

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/myrpboards/kingsley-shacklebolt/

[ofstoriesandstardust]

Can I pls request an imagine with Alex standall for prompt 19. “I just need a hug.” :)

A/N: I can not tell you how unbelievably excited I was to see this in my inbox! Partially because the 13 Reasons Why fandom is slowly disappearing and I’m more than happy to try and bring a little bit more life back into the fandom and partially because I didn’t expect anybody to request from my prompt list! The requests I got have been overwhelming so give me your patience while I try to write all of these! (But don’t let that stop you from requesting; I just need time!!!) Also, I think this is the longest imagine I’ve ever written???

Word Count: 2,316

Warnings: Angsttttt (but happy ending-ish), Swearing (but honestly if you watch this show is that even a warning???), Death, Underage drinking,

Not Okay

Your longtime best friend Jeff stood in the doorway of your room as he tried to persuade you to go to Jess’ end of summer party. You and Jess knew each other through a few classes and had hung out at Monets a few times,  but didn’t start to get close until you had started to date Alex Standall. Because Alex and Justin were so close, you and Jess had started to hang out a lot more in group settings and that soon blossomed into a beautiful friendship. However, a few weeks ago, you had broken up with Alex- well, technically he broke up with you. You two were going through a rough patch in your relationship and rather than stay and fight for it, he walked away. Since then, Jess had been closer to you than ever before, as she understood your pain on a personal level. Jess had already tried several times to get you to come out to this party fo hers, but you knew Alex would show up and you couldn’t face him sooner than you would have to, what with school starting in a few days. You stood next to your closet, putting away some laundry as Jeff pleaded with you to go. “Y/N, please. Leah is sick and can’t go; I can’t show up to the party alone.” Jeff complained as he leaned against your doorframe. You chuckled and continued putting clothes away.

“Yes, you can. You’re Jeff Atkins.”

“Y/N, please?” Jeff asked again with a sigh. You groaned and turned around to face him with your hands on your hips.

“Is Alex going?” You watched as his face changed as he tried to come up with an acceptable answer.

“I don’t know… maybe… probably… yes.” He finally admitted to you.

“Then I don’t want to be there.” You said, shrugging your shoulders as if it was the most simple thing in the world. He groaned and pushed himself off of your doorway and for a brief moment, you thought you had won.

“Y/N, I am so sick and tired of you sitting around here moping. Sure Alex broke up with you. But HE broke up with YOU! It’s his loss, not yours! You need to get out of this damn room and have some fun, drink a little, kiss a boy! So you’re going to that party, no excuses! Alex was not a forever thing! He’s a high school douchehole who doesn’t care about you! He walked away from you so you have no excuse to be sitting around, throwing a pity party for yourself! Get over yourself and move on!”  You stood in shock for a few minutes. Jeff was a generally kind, calm dude and you had only ever seen him angry a few times in the 16 years of friendship, and he even liked Alex.

“Douchehole isn’t a word.” You muttered and Jeff threw his hands up in the air. “Ok, ok, fine! I’ll go to the stupid party!” You grumbled.

-

An hour later, the two of you sat in Jessica’s driveway. You looked at the house in contempt; you were regretting giving in to Jeff right about now. You two walked up to the door silently and Jeff knocked. He looked over at you and sighed while you stood with your arms crossed, glaring at the door. “Hey, look, I’m sorry about yelling at you earlier. You didn’t deserve that. I should’ve been more understanding, I just can’t keep watching you beat yourself up over this because you deserve so much better.” he apologized, giving you a sincere look. You sighed and turned to him.

“Don’t be sorry. I kinda deserved it and I needed to hear it and much better you than someone else. Lord knows I’d probably only listen to you anyways.” You said, with a slight chuckle at the end.

“Are you sure?” He asked to which you nodded in response. He pulled you in for a hug and you wrapped your arms around his tall frame. “Still friends?” He asked, laughing.

“Always.” You laughed along with him. You both turned to the door as it was finally opened. Scott came into view and his smile grew when he saw the both of you. Jeff and Scott bro-hugged and Scott gave you a side hug as you walked into the Davis home. He leads you to the kitchen, where you found Zach, Justin, and Jessica.

“Look who I found!” Scott announced as you walked into the kitchen. The three cheered as they saw you. Jess was the first to run over to give you a hug, followed by Justin, then Zach.

“Didn’t think you’d make it!” Zach exclaimed and you laughed.

“It’s not a party without me and my charm, Dempsey.” Everyone laughed until you felt a pair of eyes on you. You turned around at the sight of your friend’s gazes. There stood Alex, with Clay behind him, who looked extremely uncomfortable. You locked gazes with Alex, but quickly turned away and cleared your throat. “So where’s the alcohol?” you questioned.

“Oh my God, Y/L/N, drinking??” Justin questioned, laughing. You laughed with him and playfully shoved his shoulder.

“Shove it, Foley.” He slung an arm around your shoulders, chuckling.

“Come on, it’s out back. I’ll show you.” You two made your way to the backyard and you stood awkwardly next to the keg as he poured you a drink. He handed it to you as he poured himself one. “How are you holding up?” You stared at the drink in your hand.

“I’m here, aren’t I?” You asked rhetorically, avoiding his gaze. He once again slung his arm around your shoulder, chuckling.

“And that in itself is a miracle.” He said, causing you to giggle. “Come on, drink up.”

-

Two or three hours later, you stood out on the front porch, enjoying the cool breeze and just gazing at the stars. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Alex talking to a few kids from school but you don’t think he had noticed you yet. You stood there soaking in the peace until you heard your name being called. You looked out to see Alex, who was now standing only a few feet from you. “We need to talk.” He stated harshly and you felt the eyes of the few people outside on you. You walked down the front steps.

“Fine, talk.” you said, putting your hands on your hips.

“I can’t believe you.” He seethed.

“What the hell are you talking about Alex?”

“Oh, come on, we’ve been broken up for like 2 weeks and you’ve already moved on. Please. You’re such a slut.”

“Excuse me?” You asked incredulously.

“You know, I always thought you had a thing with Jeff while we were dating but God, I mean, he has a girlfriend, (Y/N).” At this point, it became very apparent Alex was drunk.

“W-what?”

“But you know, you never needed me. You’ll just whore it up with the entire baseball team to get over me? Fine by me. Go. I don’t need a bitch like you anyway.” you stared at Alex in shock.

“Standall shut the hell up.” Jeff’s voice came from behind you and you turned to see Jeff standing with Clay on the porch and coming around from the back of the house was Zach and Justin.

“You know, you should probably tell your little bestie Jessica that you’re gonna sleep with her boyfriend. She’ll hate you really quickly. God, you’re just like Hannah. The school slut. Go whore it up with Justin; let Jessica come running back to me. I always loved her anyway. I don’t give a damn about you. I never loved you.” Ouch. that one hurt… a lot. You had always been insecure about Jess and Alex’s history, but Alex always assured you he was happier with you.

“Standall, I’m gonna kick your ass so hard…” Justin yelled as he moved toward Alex. Zach drunkenly tried to hold him back.

“Justin.. don’t.” You mumbled, voice thick with tears. You turned away from the boys and began to head down the street. God, how you just wanted to hid and never come back to this shitty ass town.

“Clay… Clay… I don’t have time for this.” You heard Jeff say and for a moment you thought to turn and wait for him but your feet kept moving, wanting to get as far away from Alex as possible. Clay said something back but you didn’t quite hear it. “Clay, I had two beers, two hours ago. I’ll be fine.” Soon enough, you heard footsteps and paused as the slightly out-of-breath Jeff came into view. “Damn, you’re a fast walker.” It was at this point that you realized you were crying. Jeff pulled you into his chest, wrapping his arms around you. You had no clue how long you stood there but Jeff held you in his arms until you could cry no more.” You slowly pulled yourself away from his embrace and wiped your eyes.

“I’m going on a beer run; do you want me to take you home on the way? I can even come over after I drop the beer off.” Jeff asked gently. You looked up at him.

“Jeff, haven’t you been drinking?” You questioned, more concerned about his safety then getting home. He sighed.

“Like I told Clay, I had two beers, two hours ago. I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?” You questioned. You had a weird feeling about all of this.

“Yes.” He insisted. “Do you want me to take you home?” You shook your head, both in response and an attempt to clear yourself of this odd feeling.

“I really just need to clear my head.” Jeff looked uncertain.

“Alright, well if you need anything call me, ok?” He said, pulling you in for another hug. You nodded, breathing his scent and shutting your eyes shut. Every red flag in your head was going off and you hugged Jeff even tighter. “I love you, (Y/N/N).”

“Love you too Jeff.” He pulled away and headed back down the street to where his car was. You watched him walk out of view and then turned back in the direction of your home. Another 20 minutes or so passed as you walked home in the silence. All of a sudden, you heard a screeching noise and then a crash. Your curiosity got the better of you and you headed towards the noise. As you approached the scene of the wreck, Clay came into view. “Clay?” You questioned as you moved towards the oh-so-familiar car, you recognized the boy sitting in the front seat. And at that moment, the sky seemed to fall in on itself.

-

And when the sun rose that morning, the news of the tragedy that had occurred in the darkness of the night came with it. It had been two weeks since that horrific night. You had felt so numb since you watched the ambulance take away Jeff’s lifeless body and the true pain of losing him hadn’t hit you, even at the funeral. You sat on your bed, mind at a blank. You heard footsteps and you looked up to see Alex. Strangely, you weren’t angry with him anymore. Jeff’s death had overridden every other little thing, including what Alex had said that night. “Look, (Y/N), I am so incredibly sorry. I was drunk and I didn’t mean a word I said. I didn’t even know what I said until Scott told me the next morning. I was so scared that you’d move on, that you’d see me the way I see myself and I just got so terrified that I left you before you could hurt me. But I never meant to hurt you and I feel so awful that I did. But I’m going to be here for you through this in any way that I possibly can if you’ll let me.” Alex spoke and you looked at him for a brief moment.

“I just need a hug.” You said, standing up. Alex moved towards you to bring him into his arms and at that moment, the grief of losing your best friend since birth hit you full force. You let go of everything as Alex held you close. The concept of time seemed to slip away as you grieved. Alex held you through every heart-wrenching moment. Even after you had stopped crying, Alex continued to hold you as you listened to the comforting rhythm of his heartbeat. The more you thought about that night, the more you realized that it could’ve been you. If you had agreed to let Jeff take you home, it could’ve your lifeless body Clay found. It could’ve been your funeral Jeff attended. And in all of this, you had realized that you were no longer angry with Alex. You just wanted to be with him; you couldn’t lose him too.

“(Y/N), I am so sorry. About everything, About what I said, about Jeff, I just…” He mumbled into your hair but you stopped him from getting very far.

“Alex, it’s ok.” You said, even though you knew that was the farthest from the truth.

“No, it’s not. It’s not ok. Nothing is ok.” Alex said, pulling out of the hug and looking you dead in the eye.

“You’re right, nothing is ok. But you don’t need to keep apologizing for what happened. It could’ve been me instead of Jeff that night and I can’t keep living like I don’t still love you. And I need you more than ever right now.” You said, and you began to feel yourself tremble at the weight of everything.

“Ok.” Alex whispered, pulling you close again. “Ok. I’m gonna be here until you’re ok again, no matter how long that takes. I promise.”

[forsythiias-blog]

heyy there !! im rachel ( so new to being twenty i keep accidentally saying im nineteen / she & her pronouns / gmt ), and im gonna be bringing this lil serpent bb to life !! i hope y’all like her as much as i do, and if u wanna plot or anything, pls just hit that like !! 

*　benedetta gargari, cisfemale, she/her, canon　━━　riverdale’s very own FORSYTHIA PARTHENIA JONES is now nineteen years old. she has lived in town for all of her life, bar a few years break, and pop never forgot her regular ━ fried chicken, chilli fries and a cold nehi on the side. you’ll likely find the student and part time waitress hanging around pops / the speakeasy, probably playing whats new pussycat twelve consecutive times on the jukebox or trying to survive her coursework. her friends on the southside will tell you all about how she’s individualistic, tenacious and morally sound, but others might describe her as loquacious or acerbic. oh well, no matter how you feel about jb / jellybean, you can’t deny that with her debate skills, she’s gonna be one hell of a lawyer someday. you can check out her pinterest board HERE !

   it's the heat that drives the light, it's the fire that ignites,     it's not the waking, it’s the RISING.

part one of three : bullet point history. trigger warnings for talk of infant health issues. 

im gonna have to uh. ask for forgiveness in advance cause riverdale has nOT given ya girl a lot to work with in regards to jellybean, and the comics are another mess altogether. this is a history steeped in headcanon to flesh out what’s non-existent in canon, which i hope is all ok !!!!!!!!!! 

august fifth, nineteen years ago. it was a sticky autumn night when forsythia parthenia jones entered the world with a pitiful cry - the only daughter of two southsiders, gladys and fp and the younger sister of jughead, she wasn't born to MUCH... which made all that she did have matter all the more. a mother and a father that loved her? check. an older brother she would someday idolize like no other? double check. a small ventricular septal defect, discovered only after her birth? triple check.

forsythia was, it seemed, destined to be a sickly child. her first few months of life were dotted with trips to the emergency room and visits to the family doctor, something always seeming to be wrong. infant colic was ten times worse. she caught a chill when she was two weeks old, and needed to spend a week in icu because of the resulting chest infection. the doctors who treated her at birth had been confident that over time, the hole in her heart - jellybean shaped, on the first ultrasound - would close by itself, as many do. however, it DIDN'T... and as she got older, the effects of this became more and more pronounced. she kept suffering chest infections. she wasn't putting on weight. breathing was, at times, a struggle - and she was sleepier than any baby they had ever known before. the original plan had been to wait and see and hope that forsythia's heart healed. at ten months old, when it became apparent that this wouldn't happen, she had to have a surgery.

your baby is supposed to be perfect. she's not supposed to take ill every few days, and ultimately require open heart surgery. it was likely a very HARROWING experience, and those first few months of forsythia's life were understandably marred... but if there had been any doubts before, it became clearer than day when she came out of surgery that the youngest jones was a FIGHTER, through and through. they'd been prepared for a month long wait to bring her home - it ended up only being a fortnight. she didn't cry, after. she didn't FUSS. it was like she knew the first while had been tough, and was hellbent on making everyone's lives a little bit easier, afterwards. lord knew the jones' needed it, considering the stress of her early months was just ON TOP of the stress of money. 

now affectionately named jellybean after the defect she had survived, she grew to be a remarkably NORMAL child. there were some differences, of course, between her and the kids she grew up with - she required regular checkups, she needed to dress extra warmly in winter, and she always got a bit more wiped out than everyone else - but anyone told the story behind the scar in the middle of her chest gaped in SHOCK. the girl who swung from the lower boughs of the trees at the edge of sunnyside trailer park and sprinted after her friends full speed had once had a hole in her heart? impossible! that sort of health issue was associated only with those that had a lot less LIFE to them than the high-spirited girl that jellybean was known as, and never once did she allow it to define her. she was a SPITFIRE, pure and simple, and she's proud to say that never once did she sit out of an experience.

life wasn't all sunshine and adventure, though. not every child notices cracks in their home life as they're appearing. jellybean didn't - not until the rug was pulled right out from under her feet. to her wide eyed and rose colored self, everything seemed to happen over night. one day, she and her family were happy. the next, her dad had become an alcoholic, and she and her mum were in transit to toledo. she didn't UNDERSTAND the why of it all - couldn't have even hoped to, when she was still so young. the reality of her father losing his job and their lives going to shit thanks to it didn't sink in. all she knew was that she had lost the father she idealized and the big brother she wanted to BE.

she spoke to them both on the phone, of course. she was even lucky enough to see jughead a couple times - it must have been jarring for him, the first time he turned up to see that the pigtailed little girl who loved kids pop that he remembered had sheared her hair overnight and now listening strictly to pink floyd and the other classics - but it wasn't the SAME. it wasn't having their family together. to say her drastic transformation might have stemmed from a place of resentment towards whatever forces were at play in the ruining of her family wouldn't have been incorrect. jb wanted things to go back to NORMAL. it taking so long to do so killed her.

and what killed her more was that they never really did. she and her mom returned to riverdale, finally, but things never went back to how they were BEFORE. she learned not to talk about it, though, and now... well. NOW she's older, and wiser, and she knows how to hide her real feelings behind an easy bluff. there's nothing to do but make the most of what she does have and stop dwelling on what she used to, she supposes, so that's really all she's doing. 

part two of three : headcanons.

first things first - law. jb hasn’t always wanted to be a lawyer. scratch that: she never wanted to be one, right up until she announced it was her chosen major. when she was still in single digits, she wanted to be a real life PRINCESS. no reason, per say, other than overhearing some of the older serpents sarcastically referring to the jones’ as southside royalty, and really running with it. when she hit doubles, though, and started growing up, jb decided ( right around the time she chose to shorten her jellybean nickname ) that what she wanted more than ANYTHING was to own a record shop. nothing too extravagant, really, just a first floor, one room sorta deal - she’d plaster the walls with posters of the greats and keep the merchandise in crates resting on rickety tables, and every friday night she’d hold a jams night where people could come and lounge around the floor on beanie bags, listening to some of their favorites. she had it all planned, and it’s still something of a dream - but if there’s one thing that jones’ family knows how to do, it’s sacrifice dreams for reality. with penny peabody DISGRACED, the serpents and southsiders in general need someone who knows them to represent them, when things go to trial, and feeling a sense of duty to the people she was raised around, jb bit the bullet and stepped up. she’s got a love for arguing and a knack for winning, so much so that god HELP whoever goes against her in a courtroom, someday - but it’s more a duty thing than it is her passion. 

she has yet to officially join the serpents ( reasons tbd, though it’s not for lack of WANT ) - but jb went right ahead and got a tattoo on her right hand anyway, cause as a jones, she’s still serpent adjacent. the only difference between the picture linked and the one she has is that hers is done in white ink - her way of keeping things lowkey while still honoring her heritage.

miss her with a motorbike. they’re COOL and all, but jb values her life a little bit too much to trust a two wheeled death trip waiting to happen. she’s more into classic cars, anyway, and has pretty recently invested in the frame of a 1979 pontiac gto from the scrapyard, that she plans on fixing up to perfection.

her style is southside meets cute. of course she loves her leather and fishnet combos - but jb is ALSO a huge fan of dungarees and sloganed t-shirts in a whole assortment of colors. anything ‘edgy’ she wears ( big boots, mesh tops, the list .. could go on ) gets coupled with something a little less so ( pink scrunchies, colorful makeup, a disney bag ... again, the list could go on ), and that makes her her. 

and finally, for now, cause i’m not sure i’ve done a good job of conveying it - jellybean is a good kid. she REALLY, truly is. she’s got some bite to her ( enough of a short fuse that it’s advisable not to test her limit ) & wouldn’t be her fathers daughter if she DIDN’T, but she’s also genuinely sweet. being a serpent doesn’t equal being a bitch, and so long as people out there treat her with respect, she’ll do the SAME. jb doesn’t turn unless she’s given reason to ... and if they do, she won’t hold back. 

part three of three : wanted connections. 

kids from the south ( or north ) side that are in or around the same age, who jellybean would have grown up with / went to school with !! they might have reconnected after she returned to riverdale and now know her as who she’s become, but they also might be people who she lost contact with for a LONG TIME and who never got to see her post transformation - any and all variance on this wc would be fun! 

anyone attending riverdale college who she might, maybe, rub shoulders with !! i don’t know if there are any other law students here, but i’d still love the most mundane of connections - maybe they sit with each other during lunch, or they help each other study, or one time, jb dropped a book on their head in the library and they’ve been friends / enemies since! gimme anything !

regulars at pops / the speakeasy. so .. jb is pretty self sufficient, and she’s paying her way in terms of college by working shifts at pops and picking up extras in the speakeasy. she’d know a lot of people from that, i’d wager, and i’m sure she has her favorites! 

more people southside serpent adjacent who she can play off of !! one of jb’s goals in life is to become an OFFICIAL member of the gang, which she hasn’t yet - but she is something of a southside princess, and that means she’d know most of them in some way! 

p much anything else

i love her so much and just wanna throw her at everyone