#tb jacob x reader

[pajarinwrites]

The Perfect Set 02

➳ fem!reader x Jacob

➳ wc: 4.9k

➳ TAGS: volleyball player!jacob, college!au, best friends to lovers

➳ WARNINGS: drinking, cob busts his lip and has to get it stitches, piv sex, cunnilingus (it's all not very elaborately described tho

➳ AN: i initially meant to only continue posting this series once i have all rough drafts finished but then i got too impatient and here we are, also i have been obsessed with jacob again, i'll get back to continuing chapter four now (i'm in a writers block with this story TT)

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Jacob watched you from the audience, the way your eyes were so zeroed in on your opponent, following their words with every ounce of your attention. Jacob knows the other girl slipped up when he sees the minuscule twitch of the corner of your mouth. I’ve got you, now. It seems to say. He’s seen it countless times in your practice debates, and in quite a few of your rows with him, too. Sure enough, your turn for a reply comes around and you take your opponents entire argument apart with a few well placed jabs. She gets increasingly hectic and starts stumbling over her words. Jacob almost feels bad for her. But when the jury leaves to discuss your debate any empathy evaporates. Your face lights up as you turn around to your team mates, who all give you thumbs up. He’s quite sure everyone in the hall can tell that you had the upper hand in that debate.

Once the results are officially announced and you and your team have advanced to the next round, you sprint over to the seats. He catches you in his arms and whirls you around.

“I told you, you could do it!”

“I could have been more concise in my second argument, and I totally forgot to respond to one of the aspects she mentioned, but overall it went quite well.” Your smile is blinding and he’s having a deja vu.

“You should take more time to celebrate your achievements.” You stick your tongue out at him but before he can reiterate how proud he is of you, a familiar pair of arms wraps around you from behind.

“You did so great,” Juyeon whispers into your ear, kissing your cheek. You blush furiously and Jacob feels sick.

“You wouldn’t even be able to tell the difference,” you tease him. And momentarily, the weird feeling alleviates. Even if you’ve gone on a few dates with Juyeon, Jacob is the one who always makes time for you, who goes to your debate team meetings, does research with you until late at night. He’s the one that is always there for you, that has always been there for you since you were children. So it’s only natural that your open affection with Juyeon would trigger an adverse reaction. He knew his team mate was a good guy, but he wasn’t sure if he was good enough for you. And on top of that, “could you guys not make out right in front of me? I’m gonna have to throw up.” You chuckle, detaching yourself from Juyeon in favour of simply holding his hand.

“It was just a peck, hyung.” Juyeon says, as if the exact manner of physical affection that you display makes any difference to Jacob.

“Either way, it’s weird because we’re like siblings.”

You look at him quizzically before shrugging. “No problem, we’ll just go over to that dark corner over there and continue. See you later!” You wave, pulling Juyeon along with you, while Jacob is left behind with the exceedingly unwelcome picture of you and Juyeon making out in a dark corner seared into his brain.

You seem to generally be busy with his teammate because Jacob sees less and less of you over the next few weeks. Juyeon also shows up increasingly late for training, often sporting suspicious marks on his neck or swollen lips. Upon the snickering glances of the younger teammates, he only grins and pulls his neckline a little lower. As much as Jacob wants you to be happy, Juyeon’s faltering morale starts to affect the whole team soon, dragging everyone’s motivation and teamwork down. After two weeks, Jacob has enough and asks Juyeon to stay behind after practice.

The taller man slinks up to him with all the time in the world and a self-satisfied expression on his face. “What’s up, cap?” He asks.

Jacob decides not to beat around the bush, “I’ve noticed over the past training sessions that you seem kind of distracted and demotivated…” Juyeon shows no reaction, forcing Jacob to continue explaining himself. “I’m definitely not the only one who noticed, and at this point your spotty attendance and lack of commitment are starting to affect the whole team.”

“But, hyung, I’m only ever a few minutes late. How am I at fault if everyone starts slacking off?”

“We’re a team, Juyeon. Everyone is responsible for everyone, to a certain degree. On top of that, you’re one of the older members, so the freshmen look up to you for guidance and motivation. Your attitude is having a negative effect on the whole team, and I need you to start taking this seriously again.”

“Or what?” Juyeon asks, his eyes boring into Jacob’s in a way that makes him squirm. He’s always hated confrontation, the fact that Juyeon is one of his close friends isn’t making this easier in the slightest. “Or nothing. This isn’t a threat, Juyeon.”

“So you’re asking me nicely? As your friend?”

“No, I’m telling you nicely. As your captain.”

“That still sounds kinda threatening, though.”

“I can’t help that. We’ve got a big roster of players and if you’re attitude and behaviour affect our results negatively, you’ll be swapped out. It’s as simply as that. I’m not doing this to antagonise you.”

“‘Course you aren’t.” Juyeon replies, his eyes fiery. He snatches his satchel off the bench and stares down at Jacob, who feels increasingly lost. “So you’re going to put me on the bench just because I’m fooling around with your girl.”

That’s an odd way to phrase it, Jacob thinks. It’s also a way that makes it sound way worse than it is.

“She’s not my girl, Juyeon. She is her own person, and this has nothing to do with her. Except that she seems to distract you from what’s really important.”

“No offence, captain. But if you think volleyball is what’s really important, you’ve never gotten your dick properly wet.” Jacob feels like he’s been slapped in the face and he doesn’t know if it’s his hurt pride or the vulgarity of the statement or the fact that he feels like he needs to defend your honour once more. He stares at Juyeon, taking rapid but deep breaths and doing his most to not loose grip of his amicable disposition.

“I don’t think she’d appreciate knowing that that’s all she means to you.”

“What’s it to you? Whatever we do with each other is none of your business. You just said she’s her own person.”

“It is absolutely my business if you’re hurting her.”

“Fuck you! You really think I’d ever do that?”

“Well if you can’t even—“

“Stop!” Juyeon suddenly screams. He’s fuming; Jacob isn’t even sure what he did to incur his friend’s sudden wrath, “don’t pretend like you know what we need from our relationship! If you don’t trust me, ask her whether she’s happy or not.”

Jacob presses his lips together, meeting Juyeon’s burning gaze with the same intensity.

“This isn’t even about her,” he reiterates because it feels like his grip on this conversation is slipping, “this is about volleyball.”

“I have a feeling that this is exactly about her.”

“That’s probably because you need to get your head and your priorities on straight.”

“Oh, sorry, that the relationships with the people I care about are more important to me than some stupid sport. Most importantly herright now.”

“We’ve got different priorities, then.” Jacob says coldly.

“Clearly.” Juyeon replies in a similar tone, “I quit.”

That takes Jacob by surprise, despite everything, and the words only register once Juyeon has crossed the gym and slammed the door shut behind himself.

Jacob stands, staring at the door in disbelief. Inside he’s still fuming, and it’s a feeling he doesn’t truly appreciate. He tried his hardest to keep the conversation civil but he still seems to have triggered Juyeon. Jacob decides to give him space to cool down, knowing that he himself needs it before he can face his friend again. In the face of overflowing emotions, Jacob always takes the same path. So he decides to do what he always does when he is feeling upset. It doesn’t hurt to get some more targeted practice in anyway, he’d been meaning to dedicate more time to his jump serves anyway.

He rolls the ball cage over the end of the court and starts practicing. Some serves, he imagines the ball is Juyeon’s face smirking at him. But most of them he’s looking at himself and feeling increasingly bad. Jacob is so engrossed in his serves that he doesn’t notice the door to the gym open and close again. Neither does he realise that you’ve sat down on the benches next to the court, watching him smash ball after ball precisely into the corners of the opponents half of the field. You watch as your best friend over-exerts himself, well aware that sometimes this is what he needs to turn off the incessant stream of doubt that runs his mind some days.

The first time you found him like this was the first week of your second year of middle school. He had just found out that he wouldn’t make the regular line-up for games this year either. Despite him sacrificing the better part of his free time to volleyball and never missing a practice, no matter how sick he was, his coach chose a different line-up. Of course Jacob didn’t say anything, ever the pacifist. And without his soothing reassurance, you would’ve stormed up to the coach in his stead to demand fairness.

“Nepotism,” you had huffed as you sat on the bench, watching your best friend try jump serve after jump serve. He was breathing heavily, his bangs sticking to his forehead at that point.

“Maybe you should take a break?” You suggested, earning yourself nothing but a burning glare. “My serves still suck. I can’t even land them in the court half the time,” he gritted as if that was enough explanation, and you had learned to keep your mouth shut. Eventually he would tire himself out, so much that he could barely lift his arms. Then he’d start collecting the countless volleyballs he had shot across the gym in hours before. You’d help him, wordlessly. And, finally, he would crash down on the floor in exhaustion, looking up at you with a sheepish grin, as if he should be apologising to you for burning himself out like that. 

So today you sit there again, waiting for Jacob to tire himself out, as you’ve done countless times. He’s still going strong after half an hour and you’re starting to worry when he suddenly flops down onto the floor.

“Spent?” You call over. His head lolls back up, staring over at you in surprise. He just looks for a few seconds as if he hasn’t yet decided on an appropriate reaction. Slowly, a smile breaks out on his lips. “I’m so glad you’re here,” he says, which is the first time for him to ever say this. So it’s little surprising that it takes you aback so.

“Sure, whatever. You’re crazy,” you say, getting up and walking over. You hand Jacob his water bottle and start collecting balls all on your own. He starts helping you after a few minutes and together you clean and lock up. He takes a hurried shower, trying not to let you wait too long. The two of you are halfway to your dorms when you finally dare to breach the subject.

“So… do you wanna talk about what happened with Juyeon?” The frown on Jacob’s face manifests immediately.

“Not… really.”

“Ok, no problem. We don’t have to talk about it.”

“Did you talk to him about it?” His voice is quiet, nearly a whisper, so low that you can’t hear him over the sound of distant traffic. Only the campus’ eerie silence allows you to hear him. You haven’t heard him this insecure since the infamous middle school roster disaster. He’s staring at his feet while walking, as if he’s expecting to find a treasure on the floor any moment now.

“I mean, he talked to me about it… But don’t worry, I’m impartial.”

Jacob huffs. “I’ve never known a person to be less impartial than you,” he smiles.

You stew in silence until you make it to your dorm and you can’t quite decide whether or not it’s uncomfortable. “Do you wanna come in for a second? I still have that chai mix you love.” Your best friend lifts his eyes and there’s still a little hope in them.

“Sure,” he says, much to your relief. As he follows you up, you can hear from the heavy fall of his footsteps that the training exhausted him more than he likes to admit. Hence, it’s no surprise that you tell him to get comfy on your bed while you prepare the chai with the electric kettle in your room.

You hand him one mug, the one with the beagle saying ‘good morning’ on it, his favourite. When you sit down next to him, you decide not to prompt Jacob, instead giving him a chance to start talking in his own time. It takes few minutes and some sips from your drink before he takes a deep breath and looks at you.

“What did Juyeon say?”

“The usual.. you’ve got a stick up your ass when it comes to volleyball, you should care more about your friends, etcetera…

“Oh, he also asked me if I was happy. Which was… a little weird, just ‘cuz it was unprompted, you know?” Jacob looks up at you in surprise. “Are you?” He asks, “Happy, I mean.”

“Sure,” you say, unsure of where this is supposed to be heading, “I mean university is stressful especially with the exams coming up in a couple months. But other than that I’m pretty happy… Can’t say the same for you or Juyeon, though.”

Jacob nods sagely. “It’s just been a little rough between us lately and I don’t even fully know why.”

“Maybe it’s just tensions with the quarter finals coming up?”

“That’s probably a contributing factor.”

“All the more reason to make up with him,” you whisper, not sure if you’re breaching the subject too soon. But judging by Jacob’s heavy sigh, this is the pivotal point that his brain had been circling the whole time too.

“I know you’re right but… he said a few things. And I know, from experience, that he needs a little time to calm down.”

“He seemed just as confused as you, to be honest. Maybe give him a few days before talking to him. And maybe get him back on the team? How cool would it be if our university actually won this year’s volleyball championships?” Jacob laughs. Finally, you think, relieved at the way his face finally lights up, even if it’s just for a split second.

“So your motivations are entirely selfless?”

You rest on hand on your heart, “of course! They always are. I am a good samaritan.” Jacob smirks, falling back into silence, except this time you’re sure it’s a comfortable one. 

What he doesn’t want to tell you is that he still feels like his argument with Juyeon was only marginally about volleyball. He was worried his friend might have told you that he thinks volleyball is more important to himself than you. (Which isn’t even true, of course. He’s pretty certain you’d know either way that you have always been and will always be his trop priority.) But he is relieved that Juyeon was right, you are happy in whatever situationship you have going on with him. And the mixed feelings he had about that were only due to his momentarily strained relationship with Juyeon. As long as he knows that Juyeon’s treating you right, he has no reason to not be delighted about you being in a loving relationship. He worries. That’s all.

After twenty years of friendship, you can easily spot when Jacob goes into a funk. So when he stares absentmindedly into his empty cup of chai, you know he hasn’t entirely gotten over his dismay about the fight. On top of that, you can see his eyelids dropping in real time. For not entirely unselfish reasons (it’s been ages since the two of you had a sleepover), you offer him to crash at your place tonight. He accepts, with a soft, sleepy smile that warms your heart.

You give him a spare toothbrush and oversized t-shirt so he can comfortably squeeze into your twin-size dorm bed beside you. You wrap one arm around him and he mirrors you while pulling you close. He’s so close you can make out the faint scar on his upper lip. It takes more than a little effort to push the memories of that night out of your head. Especially since it’s the first time he’s sleeping over since that accident.

“Don’t fall out,” you whisper.

“I’ll try my very best.” He whispers back, “good night, sunshine.”

“We have to go!” You squeal, “it’s team-bonding!”

Jacob rolls his eyes at you, “you’re just happy to be invited to a big house party within your first month of uni.”

“So what? Something can be more than one thing at once.”

“Yeah, except this time it’s not.”

You’re sat on the floor in front of Jacob, legs crossed, while he was on your dorm bed. He had come over in order to watch a cute animated movie with you, the way the usually did after he played and won a match with his team. Except this time he barely made it through your door before you started bombarding him with questions about the after-game party that apparently was a tradition for your university’s volleyball team.

Jacob was hard-pressed to tell you ‘no’, especially with your puppy-dog eyes and the way your oversized shirt had ridden up your thighs when you had planted yourself in front of him.

“Why do you never want to go to parties with me?” You whine, pulling on his arm lightly, while pouting. He sighs deeply, already resigning himself to giving into your whim.

“We didn’t even tell them we’d be coming!”

“Oh, please, Jake! As if anyone cares about that. I bet you half a dozen random strangers will show up and no one will care!”

“We’ll be late.”

“No one will be bothered by that except for you.”

He groans, dropping dramatically back onto you bed. You crawl up beside, leaning over him with a smirk. His heart starts racing but he decides to ignore it. “So… is that a yes?”

“Yes, yes, fine whatever.” He says, but he knows you can see the smile etching itself onto his face.

“You’re the best!” You squeal, pressing a kiss to his cheek that leaves his face burning. Before he can even react you’ve jumped back up, throwing dress after dress on top of him. “Hey,” he tries to protest, sitting up but promptly getting hit in the face again.

“What should I wear?” You ask, already out of your t-shirt. You’re standing in front of him in nothing but a bra and your high school sport shorts. It’s not like he hasn’t seen you in less before but with how out of sorts his heart has been acting this night he’s starting to think he’s going to have a problem tonight. “I don’t know, any of them look good.” 

Rolling your eyes, your sigh, “You’re not very helpful, you know that?” 

You pull on a cute red dress and Jacob is about to compliment you when you frown and pull it back over your head. As you continue to rummage through your closet, he starts looking through the dresses you had haphazardly tossed onto your bed and, by extension, on him. There’s a short black one that sparkles lightly if he holds it up to the light just right. He holds it out for you to see to inquire about your opinion. The way your face lights up let’s him know that he hit the mark.

“It’s perfect!” You exclaim after trying it on and spinning in front of your mirror. He wants to tell you that it’s not perfect after all, that the hem is definitively much too short. But he keeps quiet because he’s not your keeper and he’s never had it in him to deny you something you wanted before. Jacob waits patiently as you put on your makeup and do your hair, and is fascinated again by how much work goes into looking like you put no work into your appearance.

Finally you finish and make it to Sangyeon’s apartment two hours late. A stranger ushers you in. Jacob thinks it’s Sangyeon’s roommate, who he’s only met one singular occasion that left him with antipathy for the man, and the feeling is only exacerbated when said roommate’s inebriated.

“Dude, thought you wouldn’t show, cool you made it!” He greets Jacob, even though his eyes are still on you, blatantly looking you up and down. All that’s missing is him licking his lips, Jacob thinks. To his horror, you seem into it, winking at the player. Jacob's hand wraps around your arm, softly but decisively, and he pulls you into the kitchen to get some drinks. The communal space is full of his team mates. Most don’t pay any attention to your late arrival but a few stare at your ass as the two of you walk by. He’ll definitely need some alcohol to survive the night, he thinks. So that’s exactly what he does, he gets himself and you some alcohol, making sure to make yours mostly juice with only a spritz of vodka. Your reaction isn’t favourable but there really isn’t anything you can do about it now. Jacob would like to stick right by your side the entire evening but you’re almost immediately whisked away by no one lesser than his team’s co-captain. Unfortunately for Jacob he’s heard you gush about Sangyeon’s ‘bulging biceps’ on more than one occasion and he hates that the older man seems to have taken a liking to you too. 

Jacob tries to distract himself by watching a different group of players have a go at truth and dare in front of the couch but he’s constantly distracted. Even more unfortunately, once he gets up from the game fifteen minutes later, you (and Sangyeon) have disappeared. So, really, he thinks it’s understandable that he drinks a little more than he initially planned.

After a few too many cups Jaehyun finds him in the kitchen only to announce that they’ve set up a keg in the courtyard downstairs. In his woozy state, Jacob thinks that sounds like a grand idea. Also, if there’s partying happening outside, you might’ve simply gone there and that was why he didn’t find you earlier. Jaehyun is elated at the fact that his party-averse junior is following him easily and the both of them are greeted with cheers when they emerge from the apartment building. Jacob spots neither you nor Sangyeon but he’s so busy scanning the area that he doesn’t even fully realise when Sangyeon’s infamous roommate sidles up to him, “Dude,” he whispers, “it’d be so rad if you did a keg-stand right now.”

“Uh uh,” Jacob replies and he’s been led all the way to the keg and is already halfway into a handstand before he fully realises what he just agreed to. Whatever, he thinks, might as well. So he let’s Jaehyun and the roommate hold him up while the tries to chuck as much beer as possible. The only problem was that Sangyeon and you decided to arrive outside at that exact moment. Jaehyun spots you and immediately screams your and Sangyeon’s name.

“Weren’t you two gone for a while? How’s the dick?” 

Sangyeon and you throw up a simultaneous middle finger in response but Jacob can’t see that. He only hears Jaehyun’s comment and is momentarily so distracted that his hand slips.

There’s a few ways that this evening could have gone differently. For one, Jacob could have chosen to have a normal reaction to the person that is nothing but his best friend going off to fool around with his teammate. He could have drunken a normal amount of alcohol. He could have refused to go outside or he could have refused to do a keg-stand while being half a beer away from shit-faced. But he didn’t do any of those things. So when his hand slips it isn’t really surprising to anyone that he doesn’t manage to catch himself and instead slams face first into the keg.

It takes several stitches to sew up his lip. The same can’t be said for his chipped tooth. But the doctor’s verdict is generally favourable. “It could’ve gone much worse, young man.” He says at he shows Jacob out of the emergency room. Sangyeon, who had been sober, as it turns out, is waiting for him. He doesn’t have a comment as he leads Jacob to his car and drives him back to his apartment. He pulls up to the curb and Jacob is about get out when Sangyeon rests a hand on his arms.

“I’m sorry,” he says, leaving Jacob confused, especially because he still feels a considerable degree of tipsy, despite everything that had transpired over the last half hour. “For what?” He asks.

Sangyeon lets out a deep sigh,”I should’ve been there. It was my place, my invitation. I should’ve been responsible. And I wasn’t there.” For the first time Jacob sees his co-captain, usually a steady presence in the team, defeated. His shoulders are hunched over and Jacob realises the pressure that must rest on Sangyeon’s shoulders. He cares a lot, he’s a great co-captain, more responsible than their actual captain, to be honest.

“It’s not like you can be everywhere at once,” Jacob says, even though his insides feel like they're on flames when he thinks about where Sangyeon had disappeared to and with whom. Still, he’s great when he can tease a small smile from the older man’s lips.

“Thank you, Jacob. You’d make a great captain someday.” The man in question is more than a little taken aback.

“Because I showed such a great tendency for responsibility tonight?”

Sangyeon laughs, “No. Because you care, and you can read people very well. You’ll grow into it, don’t worry.” He smiles as if he has insight into the future in a way that Jacob doesn’t. “I’ll take better care of you from now on. But right now…” He looks out the passenger side window, past Jacob. “I think someone’s waiting for you.”

Jacob turns around, seeing you cowered on the steps to his dorm, your arms wrapped around yourself protectively.

Jacob waves Sangyeon off as his car drives off. He sits down next to you, bathing in the silence until the car lights have long faded away. When you still remain motionless next to him, he takes your hand in his softly and tugs you up the stairs to his dorm. He’s never been so happy that he has a solo dorm as when you wrap your arms around him fiercely the second his room door slams shut. He huffs as you press all the air out of his lungs.

“Are you okay?” You whisper into the side of his neck and he nods. You look up, your eyes big and shiny from tears that you must’ve cried before he arrived. He cradles your cheek to wipe the lingering traces of them away, but before he has the chance you close the distance between the two of you.

The press of your lips is light as a feather, unsure whether or not you’ve made the right decision. Jacob blames it on the alcohol, in hindsight. Otherwise there is no way he would’ve been ready to throw twenty years of friendship out the window. He moves his lips against yours, hungrily, because he’s afraid you might change your mind. But instead you wrap your arms around him more closely, trailing them up his back and his whole skin brakes out in goosebumps. One of your hands tangles in his hair, much more forceful now he’s given you permission. His hands wander as much as yours, he’s trying to commit every curve, every expanse of your skin to his drunken memory in the worry that this is some near-death-experience-induced hallucination.

But it’s still real when his hands sneak under your shirt, it’s still real when you take of his and start kissing across his chest. It’s still real when he strips you of your clothes and puts his mouth to your soaked core, it’s still real when you beg for more, your whimpers burned into his brain forever. It’s so so real when he enters you and when he feels you constrict around him until he’s releasing into the condom. You’re still real when you’re lying next to him in his tiny, messy dorm room, falling asleep curled into his side.

Unfortunately, it’s still real when he wakes up in the morning to your horrified expression. It’s real when both of you scramble out of bed, putting your clothes on backwards in the hurry and mumbling embarrassed ‘I’m sorry’s to each other. And it is all too real when you basically sprint out of his room only to send him a single text later that day, saying that, for the sake of your friendship, you’d be more than ready to just forget this ever happened.

[the-fiction-witch]

Londoner P1

REAL LIFE: COUPLE: TBS X READER RATING: SWEET

“This Week In Britania!” The voice yelled “Our Great Kind Regent has mad an agreeement for the free flow of supplies from the United Federation Boarder. The Master Player has Now retired from the spark after his sixteenth Year. At last the rebel leader balled 'Austin Breaker' has at last been captured and sent to the Isle Maximu security Prison. The preporations are being made for the Celebration of Our blessed Queen Megana-” it bluted on until dubi shot the screen

“BULLSHIT!” He yelled to the screen making me laugh a little

“You Have been fined Three Pounds for Breaking Rule 45” The voice smiled coming from the little speaker on his chair as the seat gripped onto his arm with metal cuffs so he couldn't move

“ohh Fine! Here!” he complains scanning his hand and It quickly let him go

“Thank you for your co-operation” it smiled so he stood

Dubi was a very tall dark skinned man his left ear full to the brim with piercings and enhancements, His leather jacket hiding most of his grey hole filled shirt. He wiped his hands on his tight black jeans and sighed

“Come on maxi, let's get out of here” he smiles offering his hand, his voice deep with a underlining accent he was slowly losing I don't know the place of the accent originaly all I know is he came from one of the places enveoloped into the asian rebublic. So I got up with him grabbing my bag and wrapping it around my shoulder as we walked out the broken sparking screen.  We walked out the cinema up the torn red carpet out to the street, The sky a colouded whitey and grey with no sign of sunlight, the cobblestone streets broken only by tracks for car's, trolley's and bikes to travel around. There where a few men patrolling the steet in there dark blue uniforms walking up and down the little streets like robots stuck to programing every so often tapping there wooden sticks on the stone street below them. We hid under the little roof of the cinema advertising what they had on at the moment, we covered our faces best we could with our clothes and stuch.

“Head down Aim high”I tell him handing him the metal pipe from my bag and I grab my hammer

“Gotcha” he nodded as we walked out him going down east street and I went down west street walking away from each other, I kept walking down the cobblestone streets my boots often slipping on the uneven stones till I saw the more popular area with the cute little wooden windowed shopps for groceress and clothes little cars parked up and down the streets parked perfectly in the track lines people walked in orderly fashions ladies in there pastle dressed and men in there shirts and ties. I tucked my lather jacket around me a little more as I heard my watch click 3.07 I stood still a moment knowone even noticed I was there stuck in there own little worlds. I heard the echoing sound from behind me of feet rumbleing, I grabbed my hammer a little harder in my hand before swinging it so I crashed threw a bakery window, the window cracking and breaking with a loud clang the glass hsattering into a thousand tiny light blue pieces onto the stones and into the little gaps between them

“BRITANIA FOEVER!” I scream every last person froze as they noticed me stood here a police office saw me and began coming for me. Perfect timing as Dubi ran though from behind me though the mist with the others all of them smashing cars and windows in there immeidatly area. The office ran for back up and the Londoners scattered into stores or into other sreets screaming and running as fast as they could, as the rebals threw fire bombs and cheap tools at everything breakable I quickly found Dubi and my friends joining them in kicking and smashing anything we could get close to.

“PIGS!” I heard someone at the front of our group scream making everyone stop short I looked and saw many officers with riot gear mainly shields and tasers

“Surrender your weaponry, and you will be taken into custody peacefully” A officer yelled

“BRITANIA FOREVER!” Erupted from the crowd making me a little proud

“Any wish to surrender?” a office asked and not a single person even moved “You had your shot, TAKE ANY YOU CAN GET!” a officer yelled as an order to the others the officers insatly broke formation and began shocking and trying to arrest anyone they could get there hands on

“FALL BACK TO THE BOARDER!” I scream and many began to run or try to fight off the officers from taking there friends I tried to fight getting a officer around the head with my hammer till someone grabbed my arm I went to scream but they put a hand over my mouth till they got me out the back of the crowd

“We just lost Austin what the hell are ya doin! Get back Y/N get everyone back through the boarder” Dubi told em as it was revealed it was him who had been tugging me out

“I'm not running like a rat they need me” I tell him trying to go back but he held my arm

“I'll stay with them, you go back get everyone back” He yells pushing me away so I sighed running off down the streets as fast as I could getting threw the broken glass and metal we all just destoried on this street till I passed the cinema catching up with a few of the others who where running back. I spotted mean police after me

“Mikey! Get everyone back though the boarder I'll shake the Pigs” I tell him and he nodded to me calling for everyone who was running to follow him and I ran off down the other street jumping threw fences and turning hard fast corners trying to lose them as allmost every single one was now following me. Past O street, North street, palace way, jacobs close, I tried to stop for my breath I can't do this I can't out run them all the way to the boarder I spotted a bike parked just by the side of the street with a person on it so I jumped on behind them “DRIVE!” I yell

“Excuse me? Who are you?” The boy asked turning to see me he was a tall boy, extrodinarily thin, dirty blond and brown hair with a very obvious high end london accent must have been from around here, he had tight blue jeans that left little to your imagination and a bark blue button down hidden by his black motto jacket

“You deaf and stupid I said drive!” I yell

“Not until you tell me-” he began getting very confused  just grabbed my pocket knife and held it to his neck “uhhhh O- Okay” he stuttered quickly turning the bike on and starting off down the street I kept checking behind me in case a office was catching up to me

“Can't this stupid thing go any faster?” I ask him

“Well. It's limited to thirty five down here” He answered “and I can only go on the open tracks-” he began to explain

“isn't I hotwired?” I ask him

“Hotwha-?” he asked very confused as he drove

“Ohh for-” I sigh grabbing his keys from the slot making the bike insantly stop and I moved sitting infront of him mostly on his lap as I opened the hatch starting to fiddle with the wired and tech inside it he seemed very shocked with me sat on him often stuttereing trying to get something out not sure what I wasn't listening

“HEY! You two! What are you doing!” a office yelled as he noticed us just as I got it hot wried putting the keys back in as the officer began to run over so I reved it a little the speedomiter going insane

“I suggest you hold on” I warn him

“Why should I-” the boys asked me before I started the bike letting it race off the tracks at around eightie miles an hour he insantly grabbed my waist hard. People and cars we past freaked out a little as the bike rushed threw the busy streets and outrunning everyone and everything making sure nothing was still following up

“Sorry needed a get away, I'll drop you home when we lose them” I tell the guy now froze holding my waist in a death like grip

“uhhh Sure” He answered a bit scared

“Ohh sorry, I'm Y/N” I tell him

“uh, Thomas” he answered nodding as he spoke

“Nice, Now sorry Thomas, about this” I tell him

“About what?” He asks and I smiled kicking him off the bike onto the street he was yelling for me but I ignored him speeding up off to the london boarder quickly over it and into the outskirts.

[pajarinwrites]

The Perfect Set 03

➳ fem!reader x Jacob

➳ wc: 7.7k

➳ TAGS: volleyball player!jacob, college!au, best friends to lovers

➳ WARNINGS: mentions of underage drinking, Cobie has a steamy dream about reader but it's, again, pretty tame descriptions

➳ AN: it's my one year anniversary of publishing writing here, so I finally felt enough pressure to publish something; I tried finishing two pieces, but I only realise the occasion yesterday, so I didn't make it in time; enjoy this :)  

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Despite your worries, Jacob sleeping over ended up feeling like the most normal thing in the world. You shared your cereal in the morning and walked you to class, hugging you goodbye as always.

“Will I see you for lunch,” he asks and you have to shake your head with a pout on your lips.

“I promised Juyeon I’d eat with him…”

Jacob smiles, although it looks a little tight-lipped. The fight must still be a sore topic, you assume. But he reassures you that is fine and says he’ll see you tomorrow for lunch, instead. You wave until he’s around the corner, only then do you wander into your lecture building.

It’s the same dreary monologue as usual and you heave a sigh of relief when it’s finally over. You’d like to be out of the room before your professor can think of any reading he wants to assign. But you can’t scoot out of your row when someone plops down in the seat next to yours, throwing an arm over your shoulders.

“Hey, babe.” Juyeon says, pressing a quick kiss to your lips.

“Do you have to call me that?” You say in lieu of a greeting. He grins in response, “Just trying to get you riled up.” It earns him an exaggerated eye-roll from you.

“Why are you here already?”

“Snuck out a little early to pick you up from class,” he chirps.

“Why are you in such a good mood today?” You ask, remembering how troubled Jacob still seemed to be by the fight. How could Juyeon treat it like it was nothing, when his friend was still so upset about their argument?

“Just happy to see you, maybe?” He winks at you.

“Okay, cool. You can actually be happy to see me outside the room as well.” You insist with one eye on your professor, who’s just taken a look at his notes. The first lingering students have started leaving the room and you wish they would just walk faster. Why have they still not figured out he’ll give us reading if we stick around too long, you think in agitation.

“Why are you in such a hurry. I wanted to ask you where you wanted to eat?”

You stand up in an effort to hurry your fuck buddy out of the row of seats but he will not budge. You have half a mind to just climb over his lap but you’re sure he’d use it to cause a scene.

“I don’t really care,” you say instead, trying to pull him up.

“What are you doing?” Juyeon asks.

“Juyeon, please, for the love of god start movi—"

“Ah before I forget,” your professor says.

“Ohmyfuckinggod,” you groan.

In your opinion, Juyeon brought your terrible mood on himself. Even his offer to buy you lunch didn’t lift your spirits. You were munching on your free fries, burning holes into the table with your eyes. “Two hundred pages! Two hundred, Yeon! Until next week!”

You think you hear him mumble, ‘Not quite two hundred…’. But he’s clever enough to drop it at the glare you shoot him.

“Sorry… But I couldn’t know he’d give you that much reading,” he tries to justify, but you throw a fry at him. He picks it off his shirt and throws it into his mouth.

“Sure. Except I told you about this dude two days ago. Juyeon, I was trying to get you to leave for five minutes and you wouldn’t budge. So now we have two hundred pages of reading.”

“Okay, okay. I really am sorry. But there’s nothing I can do about it now, is there?”

“You could be a little more empathetic.”

“Am I not being empathetic right now?” You’d like to throw another fry but that will probably just end up making you even more mad. Instead, you decide to redirect your righteous anger to the most pressing issue at hand.

“Anyway, how are you today. Jacob’s been… talking about your fight.” He cocks his eyebrow as if to insinuate you’d speak anything but the truth. Maybe you even want Juyeon to be a little miserable about this. Especially with how Jacob had been acting this morning, you feel like the emotional burden of the row is unevenly distributed between participants. Juyeon shrugs, “I’m fine. Volleyball’s been getting on my nerves anyway.” 

Now it’s your turn to raise an eyebrow in disbelief.

“Sure”, you muse, “the sport you’ve been playing for almost a decade and have been super passionate about since I first met you is something you were actually sick of this entire time. I can’t believe I didn’t see the signs.”

“Okay, well maybe it didn’t get on my nerves. But I can enjoy a short break. Maybe it’ll give me room to focus on my academic achievements for once.” You snort into your milkshake, looking up at him.

“Yeah right, ‘cuz you’re always so motivated about those.” You two share a laugh that makes you appreciate how easy Juyeon is about his own shortcomings. You’re used to Jacob being too hard on himself for every little mistake he commits. Maybe Juyeon’s lazy confidence is what drew you to him in the first place. Still, his carefree attitude isn’t something you’d want to encourage. Especially not if it’s about something that is important to so many people: Juyeon himself, your best friend, their team. And in a way, it’s even in the best interest of the university and its students if you press the issue. Your volleyball team never stood a better chance at finals, after all.

So with the heavy heart of the harbinger of hard truths you say, “You shouldn’t take it this lightly, Juyeon. Jacob is actually mad at you. And even you admitted that he had a point about your lack of motivation. I know volleyball is important to you. And I know your teammates are important to you. You shouldn’t forget about that. If this is seriously what will make you throw the next match, I think you’ll regret it afterwards.” His frown had darkened with every word you uttered until he was glaring at you close to the same way you had been glaring at the table earlier.

“I don’t see why you feel like you have the right to talk down to me like that.” You want to interrupt him to reiterate that you weren’t trying to patronise him, only trying to look out for a friend, but he doesn’t give you the chance.

“You’re so entitled with your unbiased opinion. Tell you what, you’re anything but unbiased. You don’t give a shit about whether or not I want to re-join the team. You only want your bestie to be happy. You’ll always look out for him first, before you consider anyone else’s happiness.” He stands up, towering over you with an expression hung up between anger and sadness. You’ve never seen Lee Juyeon truly hurt, so you’re at a loss for words when you should be standing up stopping him. Stopping him leaving in anger. Stopping him from hurting. Stopping him from rushing out of your sight with the idea in his heart that you don’t truly care about him. Instead, you sit there, like the terrible person you are, and watch him disappear around the corner.

You had to finish your lunch stewing not only in your quiet but also in your own spiralling thoughts. If you hadn’t known that Juyeon always needs time to cool off, you would’ve liked to call him and set things straight immediately. It’s times like this that you regret having formed the most part of your group of friends around the boys from the volleyball team. With Jacob busy and preoccupied, you have to carry your worries around with you for another day until you can finally fall into you best friend’s arms with a sigh.

“Juyeon can be so insufferable!” You groan. Jacob chuckles, picking you up lightly and squeezing you tight.

“I know. Although I think in my case it was actually me who was being insufferable.”

“Probably,” you whisper into his neck. He lets out and soft ‘hey’ in mock offence before letting you follow him into the student accommodation. The two of you make yourselves at home in the communal kitchen with you packets of instant ramen, tofu, and kimchi in tow. The number of times you’ve cooked together makes for a comfortable atmosphere, not even disturbed by his dorm mates checking in once in a while. You’re done with preparing the tofu and only waiting for the ramen to cook when a light on your phone alerts you to a new message. It’s from Juyeon, who’s telling you he’s outside Jacob’s dorm in case you want to talk. You didn’t expect him to reach out so soon; you hadn’t even had time yet to discuss it with your best friend or make up your own mind about how to continue the discussion. One glance back at Jacob and you decide that you don’t want to squander the golden opportunity that has presented itself.

“Jake?” You breech the subject softly. He only hums in response, so you continue, “I gotta go out real quick. Just like five minutes. Juyeon’s waiting downstairs.”

Honesty is the best policy, you decide. And if you see a slight hint of disappointment in Jacob’s eyes for a second, you blame it on your own damned hopeful imagination. You take his jacket off the back of the kitchen chair and hurry outside. Juyeon’s standing across the street under one of the big oaks.

“Hey,” he mumbles as you cross over to him, standing as close as you dare without annoying him. You’d like you reach out but you’re scared he’ll push you away.

“How did you know I was here?” You ask.

He shrugs, “Your dorm window was dark. Where else would you be?”

An uncomfortable silence settles over the two of you until you decide to ask the question you hadn’t even realised had been burning on your soul until now, “Does it bother you that we’re so close?”

Juyeon cocks an eyebrow, “Of course not,” he says, “I know he comes first. You’ve always made that clear. I just want you to admit that as well. To me, but more importantly to yourself, I think.”

Who’s being patronising now, you want to say. But somewhere inside you know he’s right.

“I’m sorry I pretended to know better than you yesterday,” you say instead, “I really did want to help. I always thought volleyball was as important to you as it is to Jake.” Juyeon smiles softly in the dark. His eyes twinkle a little too much to be completely dry.

“No, you were right. I’m just scared he’ll still be mad at me. It’s hard to get him angry, but he was pretty intense during our fight.” You nod, remembering how hard he was training after the altercation.

“Yeah, but he knows it’s the best for the team to let you back on. You just gotta make sure to be on time once and again.” You want to joke, but it comes out a little too seriously and for a second, you’re scared that you’ve crossed a line again. At the end of the day, you aren’t involved in the volleyball club in any way shape or form. There’s nothing that would justify you to pass judgement on any of the players in such a way. But Juyeon seems to only have been lost in thought about your comment. His voice is impassive when he continues, “Yeah. About that… we should probably start seeing each other less.”

“What? I didn’t… that’s definitely not what I wanted to insinuate, Yeon.”

“I know. I just think it’s for the best.”

Every further word feels like a punch to the chest. You stare at the man in front of you with wide eyes. Some part of you seemed to have begun to take his affection for granted because between his apathetic tone and the distant expression in his eyes you can feel your heart constrict.

“Did I… Is it because I… because of what I said?” You question. He shakes his head softly, but you can’t stomach the pity on his face any better than the apathy.

“Nah, it’s just about to be exam season, and we’ve got our matches coming up. Also, we were never exclusive, and I wanted to remind you of that.”

You nod, your head full of lead. Of course you knew that. That had been one of the conditions of your agreement but you had gotten used to his steady presence. Still…

“Is it something I did?” You need to hear him say it, explicitly. It may be selfish but you need Juyeon to tell you that he still likes you, still cares for you.

“Of course not,” he placates your worries and you release the breath that had been stuck in your throat for minutes. His gaze is soft, “I just think we could both use the break.”

You don’t agree. You want to scream at him that he has no idea what you want or need or use. You want to scream that he clearly knows how you’re feeling right now and still doesn’t seem to give a single fuck about your emotions. About the fact that, apparently, you needed him more than you thought. In the end all you can murmur is, “I like when we spend a lot of time together. But if space is what you need, I won’t be the one to stand in your way.”

Juyeon looks regretful, saddened to a degree beyond your own superficial disappointment. His eyes are still glistening. He nods, turning to leave. At the last second, he breathes parting words, so low and softly that you don’t catch them, can’t make sense of them until he’s long gone and has left you standing alone in the dark.

“I think you only like spending time with me because then you don’t have to think about him.”

You’re still shell-shocked from his words when you make your way back into Jacob’s dorm. He’s still standing in the kitchen, just finishing up the plating for your dinner and looks up with a bright smile as you re-enter.

“Woah,” his smile drops, “did you see a ghost or something?”

“Umh, not really…” You open and close your mouth a few times, trying to make sense of the words in your brain but before you can find any way to string what just happened into a coherent sentence, Jacob lifts his hand.

“Actually, I don’t want to know. I’ve already had to suffer through so many locker room stories of Juyeon’s make-outs.” You blink, getting your wits about yourself enough to chuckle.

“It’s not that,” you admit, wiping furiously at your eyes.

“Hey, hey, hey. No, what’s wrong?” Jacob coos, hurrying over to you at the sight of your tears. He pulls you into a hug, soothing his hands up and down your back. For a few seconds you stay like that before he pushes you to his room, gently. He sits you down on his bed, rushing back to get dinner. At the sight of your sniffling, he rests both bowls on his nightstand before sitting next to you. His hand returns to your back, still trying to calm you with soft, steady movements.

“What happened out there?” He asks.

“He said we should stop seeing each other,” you heave between sobs. The hand on your back falters for a second before resuming its rhythm. You drop your head to the side.

“And you hate that?” It’s phrased more like a statement than a question, but you still nod against his shoulder.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” Jacob whispers. The two of you are encased in silence for a few beats before he continues. His voice is hesitant as he suggests, “Maybe you should tell him. I don’t know what exactly your relationship is. But if you’ll miss him this much, maybe you should… fight… for him?”

You reply with more sobs, “I don’t think he likes me anymore.”

“Nonsense! Not even Juyeon’s that big of an idiot.”

You giggle into his shoulder weakly. “So, what do you think I should do?”

Jacob is silent for a long time, so long you almost start to think he has no answer. Eventually, he replies in a whisper, so low that it’s hard to tell his tone, “It seems to me like you should ask him out.” It sounds less than sure, and he must see your doubt when you lift your head to meet his gaze. He immediately elaborates, “Up until tonight, he seemed to have been… good for you…”

Your best friend turns to the night stand before you can get a proper glance at his face. He hands you a bowl of ramen, decisively.

“No good decisions are made on an empty stomach and sadness,” he proclaims. He sets his laptop down in front of you, turning on Gilmore Girls. By the end of the second episode, your eyes have dried and you’re smiling softly. He puts an arm around you, gingerly. You lean into him.

At the end of the night, he has to wake you from where your head is buried in his shoulder. One of your hands has been draped across his lap since you shifted to face him earlier, nuzzling his side in your sleepy, half-awake state. Jacob allows himself a minute of self-indulgence, simply watching your face. He can still make out the trails of tears down your cheeks. His insides churn at the thought of Juyeon, the way he’d made you feel. And a not so small part also bristles at your reaction. He hadn’t known the extent of your feelings for Juyeon. But if you cared about him this much, maybe he would have to… let you go. For lack of a better term. All Jacob knows, with certainty, is that he hates seeing you upset. And if his friendship isn’t enough to keep the tears out of your eyes, he needs to shove that confusing churning in his chest down, that wants Juyeon and you to stay apart.

He wakes you softly, helping you up and walking you all the way to your own dorm, hand in hand, because you’re still drowsy from sleep. As he waves goodbye in front of your building, you stop him, a hand twisting in his sweater. His words have struck a chord, you think, and you want clarification before you take any further relationship measures.

“Did you mean it? What you said earlier?”

“Which part exactly? In the kitchen? Where I told you I’d do all the chopping because I don’t want any fingers in the food? Yeah, pretty serious.”

“Har har. I meant after I met Juyeon. That we look good together or something…” Your gaze remained stubbornly on the hands in his sweater. Looking at Jacob’s expression seemed an unsurmountable task at that very moment, even though you simply couldn’t fathom why looking at him would ever make you nervous.

“Sure,” there is hesitance in his voice as he sounds out his reply, “I mean, you said you’re happy. And that’s the most important part. I’m glad you’re in a relationship that makes you so… happy.”

You’re doubtful of his tone and the confusing lack of eloquence. Nevertheless, you nod, unsure on what this swirling feeling in your chest indicates. Instead of contemplating it, you give your best friend another tight squeeze and a small kiss on the cheek. He stiffens in your arms, and as you stand in front of your apartment complex, waving good night, it somehow feels like a farewell.

The air between the two of you still doesn’t seem to be cleared when you meet two days later at your favourite café. He places your usual order in front of you.

“How have you been?”

“Since when are you so formal?” You laugh.

Jacob replies smirking, “I just interviewed for an internship. I guess my conversation setting hasn’t reset to ‘standard’ yet.” 

You shake your head in amusement, returning to a former discussion of the merits and shortcomings of your favourite comfort sitcoms, and other silly subjects. He’s just begun telling you another funny locker room story from a recent practice, when a jingle alerts you to the entry of a new customer. The silhouette is familiar, even from your peripheral and you whip your head around. Juyeon enters, chatting with a girl on his arm. You think you’ve even met her before, once or twice.

Jacob follows your gaze, looking caught somewhere between pensive and pent-up. You wonder if it’s a good idea to bring up their row, but Jacob beats you to the conversation.

“You should talk to him,” he says. His eyes are fixed on his hands.

“You think?”

“Yeah, I mean… look at you. You clearly miss him.”

You only make a noncommittal noise, looking over at the two laughing again. You’re not sure yourself of what these feelings are. But no one knows you better than Jacob. So, if anyone could give you good advice, it was him. Definitely.

“Maybe you’re right,” you say, sounding about as convinced of the idea as Jacob himself. “I’ll be right back.” When you leave, he finally lifts his eyes. You don’t see the way they follow you.

“Juyeon,” you interrupt the two while they’re taking their drinks off the counter. He turns in surprise.

“Oh, hi!” The girl is first to answer, smiling widely at you. “It’s been such a long time, y/n! How have you been?”

“Uhm, to be completely honest… I’ve been better,” you glance at Juyeon and the girl follows your eyes, realisation hitting. She looks between the two of you before taking a step away from Juyeon.

“Oh, uhm, well… seems like you two have something to discuss. I’ll be waiting… uhm… over there!” She points into a vague direction before rushing off.

“I’ll be there in a sec, Heather!” Juyeon calls after her.

“She seems nice,” you supply pointlessly. Juyeon doesn’t deign you with an answer, only stares down at you intensely.

“I…” you really should’ve thought this through more thoroughly. You’re melting under his gaze, but the memories of his teary eyes break to the surface.

“I don’t want to stop seeing you,” you whisper. Juyeon’s eyes widen in surprise.

You continue, “I like you way too much to suddenly cease all contact with you. If this is what you need, of course I’ll stay away. But… I just wanted to make sure that you knew that I really care for you, and I love seeing you, and you make me laugh, and I will miss you a lot, and maybe we could find some compromise or—“

Juyeon interrupts you with a hand on your face. His expression is more vulnerable than you’ve ever seen it before as he presses his lips to yours, softly, hesitantly. An inquiry, rather than a reply. He pulls away, his face inches from yours. All you can think is that this is horrifyingly embarrassing to be doing in front of the counter of a busy campus coffee shop, but you try to suppress your awkwardness. You giggle, causing Juyeon to also break out into a smile.

“I’m so glad,” he murmurs, “I don’t think I could keep seeing you as just a friend. Or worse, just some fuck buddy.”

“Huh?” You ask, but Juyeon blazes over your remark.

“I never thought you could feel the same way. I always thought,” his eyes flit over to somewhere else for a split second, so short you wonder whether you imagined it. “I always thought there was someone else. But I’m so relieved now.”

“Uhm, yeah… me too,” you stammer, feeling anything but relief. Is this what you came here to do? Was this how you had wanted this to go? Jacob seemed to think you and Juyeon would be good together. That implied a relationship, didn’t it? You are still thinking when Juyeon gives you another kiss.

“I kind of promised Heather to help her with some assignments. But I’ll text you. Maybe we can hang out, no, go on a date tonight? A proper one.” He beamed at you, making your heart squeeze. This is excitement, this feeling in my chest. Surely, it must be, you think.

“Sure, yeah. Text me.”

He hurries over to Heather’s table, who greets him with a wide grin and a ridiculously loud high-five. When you return to your own seat, Jacob’s expression tries to emulate the same feeling, but falls painfully short.

“You really should address that fight with him,” you murmur, your cheeks burning. Jacob replies in a short grunt that could mean everything and nothing at all. He’s staring at his hands again.

You try to shake off the weird feeling, but it lingers for minutes. Only when Juyeon and Heather leave can you breathe more freely again. Jacob doesn’t seem to share your sentiment, and you spent the better part of ten minutes wondering what could be the issue. He responds to none of your prompts properly, preferring to stir his coffee continuously. Eventually you get so sick of his attitude that you announce the first coming to your mind. In hindsight, you still don’t know what possessed you to utter your next statement.

“I could set you up. I mean, Heather’s cute.” It feels like bile is coming up with the words immediately. Your throat feels tight.

“Juyeon’s friend?” Jacob asks, finally looking up.

“I just remembered that Heather likes you a lot. And she seems super nice!” You smile.

“I thought you didn’t like Heather?”

“That’s just ‘cuz we have nothing in common. She’s actually super nice. I have that on good authority!” You insist.

“Whose authority?”

“…Juyeon.”

His face falls a little and you wonder when the two of them will start getting along again. You reiterate both that Heather is a perfectly wonderful person and that Jacob should really sort out the argument with Juyeon before your best friend mumbles that he’s meeting a classmate in the library for a project. You nod, a little taken aback at the abrupt end to your conversation. You go your separate ways when you return to your dorm.

Somehow, your brain isn’t able to turn off, switching incessantly between guilt about Juyeon and doubts about Jacob. So, a relaxing evening turns into a lot of mental gymnastics and unrest for you. At some point you call Shuhua, asking whether she has a time for a movie evening. She immediately agrees, and is standing in front of your door in her pyjamas, with four different sorts of gummy bears and chips in hand within fifteen minutes.

“Did you sprint here?” You laugh, immediately feeling your spirits lift at the sight of her hair rollers, mid-way through the process of falling off her head.

“You expect me to remain calm when you say you want to watch Mean Girls with me? Hello? Do you know me?”

In the end, you’re barely watching and mostly catching your friend up on the events of the day. Shuhua always has the best reactions, gasping in shock or cracking a joke in exactly the right moments. You feel tons lighter after your talk, leaning against each other and chewing on gummy worms. With her presence, you feel almost peaceful as you hang after your own jumbled thoughts, desperately wishing you could pinpoint what had been off between Jacob and you for the past few days so you could work past it. When Shuhua falls asleep on your shoulder, you cover her with a blanket, shooting Jacob a quick text.

You should seriously ask out Heather. You two would be so cute together.

Inside, you wonder if the two of them would really be so perfect for each other but you’ll be damned if you take your best friend’s chance at a nice relationship just because of these funny feelings in your chest.

“I don’t think he’s getting the message,” Heather murmured, looking at the training from the bleachers.

“How do you mean?” Juyeon asked, cowering lower in the hopes of his teammates not spotting him.

“I don’t think your captain has understood, that you now got dibs on his girl.”

“She’s not his girl,” he said, rolling his eyes.

“Suddenly. That’s what you’ve been calling her for, like, two years.”

He smiled down at his girlfriend, who was currently filming the boys’ serves to help them review their form. “Luckily I was wrong.”

“And you’re not bothered that he’s basically all over her?”

“They’re best friends. They’ve always been that close.”

“He’s hanging off her shoulder.”

He turned away from the court, facing his friend directly, “I appreciate that you’re worried about my fresh relationship, Heather. But I know I can trust her, and you need to trust my judgement on that.”

“I don’t question her motivations. I just know boys. And I that looks like a boy hopelessly in love with his best friend.” 

“He would never—“

“Love makes you do stupid things, sometimes.” She insisted, raising a cocksure eyebrow.

Juyeon threw his hands up in defeat and shouted, “What’s your suggestion, then, Heather?” A few of the players on the court looked up at the outburst. He winced, waving carefully at them. To his immense relief, most of them waved back. When Jacob followed their gaze and turned around, his captain only acknowledged him with a curt nod. Nothing to work with, but at least he didn’t kick me out, Juyeon thought.

Heather leaned forward, waving towards Jacob. From the corner of her mouth she whispered, “Maybe… okay this sounds a little weird, but, like, mark your territory?”

“That sounds more than a little weird.”

“You know what I mean,” she insisted, leaning back in exasperation, “look, they’re finishing up. Just go down there and make out with your girlfriend for a while. Jacob will see that the two of you are fully committed, and I bet y/n will not mind getting to hang onto you for a bit.”

He mulled it over for a second, considering that the others had already spotted him anyway, and Jacob didn’t seem to be too annoyed at his presence. Although Juyeon wasn’t sure whether making out with Jacob’s best friend in front of his face might not tick him off after all. All hesitance flew out the window when you turned around, spotting him with wide eyes. You waved, smiling widely. Before he could even register it, he was already out of his seat, jumping over the row in front of him instead of taking the long way around.

When he reached the side of the court, he picked you up and spun you around. You giggled, surprised when he covered your mouth with his upon setting you back down on the ground. His hands wrapped around your waist. You sighed against his lips, your hands wrapping around his shoulders as you cocked your head to deepen the kiss. He always lost track of time when he kissed you, missing the smirks of his team mates, and the soft groan of his captain. Only when Heather startled him, tapping him on the shoulder, smiling, did his senses return to his surroundings.

“Are you two ever going to stop again?”

He grinned, while you smiled at the floor. He considered whether to tease you about your reddening cheeks, but a more than mildly annoyed shout of Jacob, urging them to free the gym for the next club, cut him off before he had the chance. He followed the rest of the team out, fingers linked with yours.

Jacob did decide to take your suggestion seriously. After all, there was no person who knew him better and almost no one whose opinion mattered as much to him. It still took him close to a week to gather up the courage to text Heather. The timing also most definitely had nothing to do with what Jacob had witnessed at training the day before or the resulting dream. Not a dream that was entirely new to him, either, but one that stood out against the great majority with unprecedented clarity, and ruined his mood for the entire morning.

Maybe it had been pent up frustration from a subpar practice or the fact that he had to stand in the gym like an idiot, watching his teammate suck his best friend’s face off for a solid five minutes. Jacob could have looked away, of course. But his ever-busy brain was intent on analysing the exchange, making observations that all found their way into his night-time routine. He only had one singular experience to go off of (a very drunk one, at that), but he knew the way you had melted against him, pressing your chest into his with adamance. It was nothing akin to the way that you had leaned against Juyeon. (Jacob didn’t want to attribute it to the publicness of the whole situation.) He knew how your hands wandered, how they grasped when they were looking for something to hold onto, to pull closer. He knew how you sighed in pure bliss when he returned your warm gestures in kind. And he believed, whether true or not, that whatever had happened with Juyeon had been nothing like that. Unfortunately for Jacob, somehow, it seemed a short step from his night time routine to his REM brain. One second, he was lying in his bed, staring at the ceiling and lost in thought. The next, he was pressed up close to you. His treacherous body apparently remembered every second of that night, it was stamped across every fold and ridge of his frontal lobe, it seemed.

“Love,” he breathed against your mouth, because he wished every day that he had said it back then.

You giggled, removing yourself just long enough to tease him about his sappy streak. He didn’t have it in him to counter anything, just smiling at you, in his arms, where you belonged. It was a haze, as dreams usually are, leaving him with nothing but the memories of kisses trailing down your soft tummy, nipping at the flesh of your thighs, taking extra care and time in all the places you were insecure about. Memories of your hand in his hair, something he hadn’t known could drive him this mad before you had been the one to do it. You shuddering under his calloused touch, your head thrown back, the glistening of your skin, your touch, your taste, your voice, you, you, you.

Jacob woke up, swearing he could still taste you on his tongue, feel your skin under his fingertips, your shape in his arms. Groaning, his consciousness dragged him back to the surface, sunlight filtered through the slit in his curtains. He felt beaten and bruised from the sudden absence of you. It registered slowly, together with the pitiable state of his aching cock. To add insult to injury, after the cold shock of reality came the dragging sludge of shame. It crawled up his neck and settled into his burning cheeks as he groaned.

Jacob knew he hadn’t chosen this. He hadn’t deliberately had another scandalous dream about his long-time best friend. But by now he knew from experience that the guilt never lessened any for that fact. Maybe he should avoid you for the foreseeable future. And maybe he should try to get his mind off you.

Jacob Bae fancied himself a more considerate person than to jump onto the first chance of rebound he could find. So, he rid himself of his most pressing problem during his morning shower before pondering his options for the better part of the day. Finally, he conceded to give a date with Heather a shot. She seemed perfectly kind and funny over text, and when he first met her, she didn’t look like she had minded that he got in touch with her over a mutual friend instead of talking to her in person. They went to the park for a walk since she said she saw enough of the inside of a coffee shop during her part-time job. Jacob learned a lot about her daily life and her substantial interest in collecting different kinds of coffee. Heather was opinionated and enthusiastic, and he didn’t mind listen to her rant with a big smile on her face. On a later date, he learned that the actual reason they hadn’t gone to a café the first time was actually because Heather could get too absorbed in a thorough critique of the establishment’s roasts and preparation techniques. He laughed at her sheepish expression when she confessed this and after walking her home that afternoon, he leaned in to kiss her. She returned the kiss, smiling against his lips and whispering, I’ve been waiting for you to do that. They kept kissing until a notification on his phone reminded him that he really had to get to practice. And if the whole affair had been keeping him from spending time with you, well it wasn’t really his fault.

You are waiting in front of the gym for him, frowning in disapproval when he admits that he still hasn’t cleared the air with Juyeon. You let out a breath and get to your feet. The slinking feeling that you only got to see your best friend when you showed up to his volleyball practice, when he couldn’t escape you, didn’t exactly put you in the mood for diplomacy.

“Disappointed. But not surprised, Jacob. Which is why I texted him that he should come because you wanted to talk to him about that silly argument you had ages ago.” Jacob isn’t really sure why he is flummoxed; he really shouldn’t be. The self-satisfied grin on your face is, after all, something he has come to grow accustomed of over years of your scheming.

“In fact,” you point out merrily, “that should be him, over there.” You spin and vanish into the gym with a soft wave of the hand. The man in question saunters up to Jacob, cocking an eyebrow.

“I figured it was a set-up and that it wasn’t you, who wanted to see me.”

Jacob heaves a sigh, “Well, I guess she wasn’t completely wrong either. We should talk about this.”

“Not that she already tried hard enough on your behalf,” Juyeon hisses. This is news to Jacob, who had never expected for you to breach this sensitive subject with your boyfriend. Much less to apparently take Jacob’s side in those discussions.

He clears his throat, “Be that as is may, we should talk about it face to face. It’s not exactly her concern after all.” It comes out a little sharper than he would’ve liked.

“Sure. I assume you’re going to apologise, find a convenient excuse for the fight like ‘we were tired, it had been a long day, assignments were stressing us’, and ask me to re-join the team, right?”

Jacob purses his lips in reply. He was planning to do just that. But now he has to fight down an impulse of spite. Before he can confirm or deny any suspicions, however, Juyeon continues, “You’re much too peaceable, you know that? Don’t be a pushover to make others happy.” His friend holds eye contact with him but there is no challenge, neither in his tone nor his expression. So, Jacob gives in, nods, and smiles softly. He realises he had missed Juyeon’s well-intended meddling.

“I’ll try,” he yields. Juyeon claps him on the shoulder, a similarly tentative smile on his lips.

“I’m sorry, too. I never wanted to fight with you. Especially not over… volleyball.” Jacob is going to invite him in to practice when he is prevented by a familiar voice calling out for him. The two men spin around, surprise on their faces at the sight of Heather striding across the concrete to them. Jacob calls back, waving, and trying to smile in earnest at the unexpected visit.

He is greeted with a kiss before she moves on to give a hug to Juyeon, who looks almost more excited to have her here than Jacob.

She lets them know that she came spontaneously to watch them practice, and Jacob doesn’t have the heart to tell her that practice is technically closed for outsiders. So instead, the three of them make their way inside together. Their greeted by an equally confused team and you, with an expression that drops from elation to something akin to consternation real quick. Jacob doesn’t have time to find it weird before their coach calls them onto the field. They’re warming up and he glances only once or twice over to the bleachers, where Heather has joined you and tries to make conversation with you, who is clearly enveloped in watching them practice. The next time he checks, you’re still watching attentively. Heather has taken out her phone and started scrolling. Jacob doesn’t bother to look back over until after practice, when Heather’s face lights up at the final whistle. He winces at the thought of all the solo practice he’d usually add to their regular schedule. His girlfriend bounds over, her arms open wide, but stops herself short, a mere metre from him. He listens to her tease him about being sweaty and smelly while he sees Juyeon stroll over to you behind Heather’s back. He leans in to whisper something in your ear. You look confused for a second before you reply. Jacob would love to listen in on the small discussion between the two of you before you eventually roll your eyes, lean forward, and smack a kiss onto Juyeon’s lips. He frowns and when Juyeon turns around to cock an eyebrow at him, Jacob leans forward, asks for permission, and starts kissing his amazing, pretty girlfriend. She’s all too eager, as long as she gets to keep her hands from any part of exposed skin on Jacob and it takes them a few minutes to detach again. When he looks over, both you and Juyeon have long gone.

Sandra Oropeza enjoyed nothing more than watching the two of you grow up together. She remembered your family move into the house across the street, the burning heat of the summer sun was especially intense when the movers had finally finished and your family van pulled into the driveway. Your mom helped you out of the car and you immediately took off across the lawn towards the swing set under the big oak tree. Your blue sun hat tumbled off your head, but you didn’t seem to notice, throwing yourself, belly first, onto the swing. You spent almost the entire afternoon in the shade of that tree, content all by yourself.

In the evening, one of your parents picked you up and walked you around the neighbourhood, greeting everyone and distributing home-made popsicles. You waved at most of the people excitedly, until you made it to the Bae’s household. Sandra had to lean far over the edge of her front porch to see the door open to reveal Jacob. His eyes widened and he hastened back, out of vision, as his mother stepped forward. The grown-ups made small talk until you tugged at your parent’s shorts and whispered something up to them. Within a second, you had reached past the doorway, and pulled little Jacob out by the wrist. The two of you took off across the, luckily empty, street and into your garden.

Mrs. Oropeza stayed out longer than she usually would have, watching the two of you swing, laugh, and eat ice cream. The rest of the summer, until the start of first grade, Jacob and you could always be spotted under your oak tree or in his backyard. Sometimes his older brother joined, but it was obvious that the two of you, so close in age, simply clicked into place.

She remembers countless Halloween’s in which you two came dressed up together, matching as salt and pepper, Dora and Boots, Lilo and Stitch, Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable, and so many others.

She remembers watching Jacob sprint over to your place and present you with his newest treasure: a brand new Mikasa volleyball. And how you spent hours practicing digging and setting with him, even though she could tell you were having a hard time.

She remembers babysitting the three of you when your parents were out, before Jeff got old enough to take on the job. How you two would also stick together and agree on things, how no fight lasted longer than ten minutes, and ended with either of you running to the other to apologise.

She remembers watching Jacob’s games with you, wondering when the expression on your face had changed from friendly support to unconditional admiration, and whether you were aware of it.

But most importantly, she remembers something she thinks both of you have, at this point, forgotten. You were in high school, stumbling home in the middle of the night. She was looking out her open window by chance, but couldn’t help watch in amusement at the tell-tale lack of coordination in your steps. Both of you were laughing too loud, and then shushing each other until you broke out into another fit. Jacob took a step forward, trying to press a hand over your mouth, but couldn’t keep his balance, taking you down with him. The giggling died down and Sandra knew she should stop intruding on this particular moment, but the need to see the two of you at least make it inside safe and sound was too strong.

As expected, young people were nothing if not predictable, Jacob leaned down. It was a short kiss, nothing more than a peck, really. But the two of you stayed down, staring at each other for a small eternity, especially given the late hour. Eventually, he helped you up, whispering something Sandra had no way of making out from all the way across the street. With another quick kiss he was gone, towards his own house and out of view. You waved cutely before unlocking your door with some difficulty and entering your house. She heard another door shut before the night returned to its previous state of summer silence, crickets chirping, the wind blowing softly through the leaves. She closed her window and went to bed. She wonders if both of you truly forgot, or if you simply thought it easier to pretend.