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luvvyouforever · 4 months ago

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undercover - aaron hotchner x reader

synopsis: in the middle of a case, your worst fear comes true. you have to go on an a date with aaron hotchner, the boss you've been crushing on for months. content: canon-typical violence, tropey, kissing, flirtatious aaron, mentions of alcohol, afab reader who wears a dress. word count: 4k+ a lil bit oops author's note: ahhh my favorite trope in crime shows. enjoy!

"so based on this geographical profile y/n and i worked on, there's only two bars our unsub could frequent with his victims. the first one is more of a nightclub and we don't think it's likely that he'll be bringing them to such a rowdy environment," reid spoke to the crowd of officers and agents awaiting instruction. "the other bar also has a restaurant attached so we'll be keeping our investigation here."

jj grabbed a handful of papers with the bar's information and passed them out to the officers. once reid had stepped to the side, aaron came forward to wrap up their profile.

"he's cunning, yet incredibly violent. do not ambush him. he will escape your grasp and hurt you in the process. be on the lookout officers," he said with a tap to the desk that sent everyone back to work. with a subtle turn, aaron gazed at you and reid. "good work on the mapping. meet back up in the conference room in 5."

"thank you, sir," you and reid echoed before beginning to organize your files back into a folder.

all the while you tried to remain professional, your heart throbbed in your chest at the smallest ounce of praise from your boss. the way he held the room in his hand and demanded respect without ever having to actually ask for it was a part of the reason why you've had a crush on them for the better part of a year.

crush, now, felt too small. it was an infatuation at this point.

it didn't matter much, however, because would you ever confess your feelings for your boss? the boss who has been nothing but stoic your entire time of knowing him? absolutely not.

shrugging the butterflies in your body away, you head over to the impromptu coffee station created for the large number of people inside the police station and pour a cup of stale yet hot and much needed energy. this case was a doozy, one that had every agent just wishing for its end. and it felt like it was soon to come to a close. they had been coming up with some kind of plan. what that plan was, you weren't entirely sure.

when you managed to snap a lid on the coffee cup, you headed into the conference room where the rest of the bau were seated haphazardly around the room. you took a spot between emily and reid, eyes focused on aaron and rossi standing in front of a whiteboard.

"that coffee's not any good, is it?" rossi asked, noting the cup in your hand.

"every sip is somehow worse than the last, but i think we all need it," you said, following your statement up with another pained drink. rossi laughed and out of the corner of your eye, you could've swore that the corner of aaron's lips titled into a smirk. you ignored it, though, and began reading the words on the board.

"so, we're hoping to catch the unsub tonight," aaron started suddenly, turning with his ever-present air of professionalism. "if he's still following his schedule, he'll find his next victim tonight, most likely at the bar reid and y/n found. we've thought about how we're going catch him and i think we'll have to go undercover. two of us."

"under what pretenses, exactly?" derek asked on the other side of the table.

"on a date," rossi answered. just faintly, a red tint appeared on aaron's cheeks. you wondered what could possibly have made him- "we've picked our two already. y/n and aaron."

"oh!" you said surprisedly. "what led to this decision, pray tell?"

aaron looked down at his folders as if they were the most important thing in the world in that very moment. rossi glanced over, shook his head, then looked at you again.

"you two just seem the most likely out of any of us to go on a date. we don't want to look suspicious, no?" rossi answered.

"i-uh-i suppose not," you said. "my go bag isn't really packed with date wear clothes. mostly just pantsuits and academy t-shirts."

aaron finally cleared his throat and met your eyes for the first time since it was announced that you two would technically be going on a date. even if you would be wearing bulletproof vests under your clothes.

"that's okay. we won't be going out till 7pm. it's only three now. you're free to find something. as long as it's easy to move in," he said in a voice that felt an octave deeper than usual. and then he did something that almost made you faint on the spot. aaron dug into his pocket, fished out his wallet, and pulled out a credit card. his credit card. "use this."

sheepishly, you took the card from his hands and placed it into your own bag. "thanks," you muttered. an elbow jabbed its way into your side from beside you and emily was smirking at you. you dismissed her with your hand and stood to exit the room.

"hotel lobby at 7, yeah?" aaron said.

you forced a nervous smile to your face and nodded, then left the room. with aaron's credit card in your bag. about to buy an outfit. for a date with him. you weren't entirely positive you could safely drive.

౨ৎ

with the information you had about the bar, you picked a semi-formal, simple dress that paired well with heels you already packed. aaron was already paying for the dress. you couldn't ask him to also pay for the accessories.

after some test laps up and down your hotel room, you declared the outfit was "easy to move in" and grabbed your bag, ensuring that his credit card was still inside. the time was only 6:45, but you knew aaron would already be there, waiting.

with a check that your holster was properly attached to your thigh, you left the room and took the elevator down to the first floor. your heart was beating irregularly in your chest and your hands were clammy, but the reflective surface of the elevator's walls let you know that you looked good. for a fake date with aaron hotchner.

the elevator dinged when the doors opened and immediately, you saw aaron sitting in a lobby chair. he looked up at the sound and stood. he was dressed impeccably well in a suit with his hair done in its usual middle part. handsome was the only word on the tip of your tongue.

"you look beautiful," he said upon reaching your figure. it seemed like he didn't mean for the words to slip out, but instead of retracting them, he simply held out his arm for yours to wrap around.

your mouth went dry, but you knew you had to say something back. "thank you, hotch. you look handsome yourself."

"i think for the purposes of tonight," he said, "you can just call me aaron."

you nodded, finding words hard to muster up. instead, you allowed him to lead out of the hotel to one of the least suspicious looking SUVs parked outside. when he reached the door, he opened it for you.

you couldn't hold back a little laugh at the gesture. "you know...we're not on the date yet," you said. regardless of the light humor of the situation, you allowed him to help you into the passenger seat. he smirked, shut the door, then walked around to his door.

when he got in, his usual stone expression found its way to his face again. "forgive me for wanting to make this feel as natural as possible. i'm sure it's awkward going on a date with your boss. even if it is undercover."

"oh, no!" you blurted out. his eyebrows raised as he backed out of the parking spot. his arm wound its way around your seat, neglecting the back-up camera for the traditional method. "sorry. it's not awkward. you don't have to worry. promise."

"yeah?" he asked, putting the car back into drive and heading to the downtown area of the small town you were in. at a stop sign, he turned to look at you. if you weren't such a highly trained profiler, you would've certainly missed the way his eyes raked up and down your body, taking in your dress of choice. "you made a good pick."

your cheeks warmed with his flattery. to avoid meeting his gaze, you fished the credit card out of your purse to offer back to him. "thanks," you muttered. "you didn't have to pay for it, you know?"

he took the credit card from your grasp and shoved it into his pants pocket. "don't worry about it," he said with a wave of his hand. "figured if you're forced into going on a date, you should have something nice to wear at least."

you looked over to his body in the driver's seat, his face focused on the road ahead of him. "why do you keep assuming that i'm hating every second of this? i mean...how rare is it that we get to eat somewhere nice while on a case? and i'm getting paid for it while in the presence of a handsome man. could be worse things." you didn't know what compelled you to add on the last bit, but when you saw his cheeks flare up, you didn't regret it.

instead of responding, aaron's body relaxed in the driver's seat.

after several minutes of driving, the bar came into view and you bit your lip in nervousness. this unsub was pretty intense and you were heading directly into the lion's den. you tried to cram the nervousness deep down in the pit of your stomach as aaron pulled into the small parking lot next door.

before turning the car completely off, aaron turned his body towards yours. "now we really need to look as inconspicuous as possible. it might feel weird, but we need to look like a real couple on a date, okay?"

"yes, sir," you responded on impulse. "i mean...yes, aaron."

despite his attempts not to, he breathily chuckled. "already off to a great start," he joked. you chuckled with him and unbuckled your seat. "i'm gonna text the team that we're heading in. don't open your door. let me do it."

a minute of quick texting passed by and aaron shut off the car, then stepped out. a few seconds passed before your door opened and aaron was extending his hand to yours. you took it with a sweet smile and let him lead you out of the car. he shut the door behind you and your arm found his own again.

regardless of the reason being for the case or for just the pure want to be closer to him, you leaned into aaron's strong body. he took to the gesture immediately and held you even closer. it was intoxicating, but you kept your gaze focused on the bar ahead.

after what felt like agonizing hours of walking side by side, you came onto the host stand at the front of the restaurant.

"how many?" the host asked.

"two," aaron responded. the hand that was holding on to your arm began rubbing the skin there up and down. every touch of his fingers left goosebumps.

the host gestured for the two of you to follow her. quicker than you'd like, she led you towards a table in the middle of the restaurant. your eyes surveyed the restaurant and bar around you, scanning for someone that resembled the unsub's profile. once the host walked away, you and aaron looked at each other and shook your heads, signaling that nothing felt out of the ordinary so far.

"order whatever you'd like," aaron said, his head pointing towards the menu in your hand. "hon," he added.

the petname rolled from his tongue naturally, as if it was a name he had been calling you for years. you tried to not show that it affected you much, but aaron noticed the way your breath caught in your throat. despite the nervousness that settled over your body, you decided to take another leap and with a shift in your seat, your heeled foot grazed over his leg. he was shocked at the sudden touch, but spread his legs further nonetheless.

you didn't pull away either when the server came forward.

"welcome, guys. date night tonight, i'm guessing?" she asked with a smile.

"mhm!" you answered first. "decided to get out and dress up for once in a while."

aaron looked at you with an almost impressed look. maybe rossi was right. you did look like a couple.

"isn't that nice? well, what would you two like to drink tonight?"

"an old-fashioned, please," aaron responded. "and a water."

"i'll take a cosmopolitan and a water," you added.

the server noted down the drinks and walked away. your foot continued sliding up and down aaron's legs, becoming a subconscious act at that point. he flipped through the menu once, then glanced around the room again. still nothing.

"an old-fashioned, hmm?" you asked, eyeing one of the meals on the menu that sounded particularly tasty.

"is that shocking?" he asked.

"no," you answered honestly. "just learning more about you, aaron."

aaron hummed, as if he were about to say something, but instead focused on his menu again. a few minutes of comfortable silence passed before the server came over with a tray of your drinks. she sat them down on the table, along with the waters, then pulled out a notepad again.

"had enough time to pick what you'd like?" she asked.

"know what you want, dear?" you asked, looking up at aaron.

"i'll take the steak frites," he said to the server.

both he and the server looked at you. you told her what you'd like from the menu, hoping it wasn't expensive enough for aaron. he barely registered the price, though, and instead collected your menus to hand to the server. if this was what dates were usually like with him, you could definitely tolerate them.

"you look like you're thinking about something," aaron said from the other side of the table where he had been watching both you and the door intently.

you took a sip of your drink and sat it back down. "i thought we said no profiling your coworkers, dear," you teased. "i feel like that applies tenfold when you're on a date."

he chuckled and took a sip of his own drink. you noted just how attractive he was with a glass of whiskey in his hand, laughing.

"pardon me for wanting to know what my beautiful date has in her head," aaron said. his words made you bite your lip and look down at the table. suddenly, though, his demeanor shifted as his eyes connected with someone coming in at the door. "don't turn around."

"is he here?" you whispered.

he nodded and picked up his drink, eyes following him to the bar. almost imperceptibly, he tilted his head towards the bar. "fifth seat," he whispered back.

sure enough, an unsub matching the physical profile had seated himself next to an alone woman at the bar. almost immediately upon sitting down, he began talking to her. the fact that the man you had been trying to catch for a long time, the man who committed some really gruesome murders was that close to you made you almost ill. you passed your emotions off by taking a drink.

"i'm gonna grab another drink, baby. i haven't seen the server around," aaron suddenly said. he nodded to you, perhaps for reassurance, before standing and adjusting his blazer to ensure the holster on his side was covered. luckily, the seat directly next to the woman was empty and he positioned himself on the other side of it. the unsub barely registered his presence, which was good. you took note of his clothes, his hair, everything, just in case she slipped through your grasp again.

eventually, aaron had flagged down the bartender, ordered his second drink, and came back with it in his hand.

"he's just flirting with her," aaron whispered once he was out of earshot. "but she's falling for it. probably not long till he tries to leave with her."

"i won't get to finish my food," you said half-seriously.

"i'll get it boxed up for you, hon," he said. though that time, aaron's voice was a whisper. the petname was for you alone.

just as aaron had expected, the unsub stood from his seat at the bar, the woman next to him following suit. together, they headed towards the back where the bathroom was, along with an exit inside the kitchen which he was likely going to use. both yours and aarons followed them and with a curt nod, you both stood to head towards the back, several paces behind them.

suddenly, they went through a door, to what seemed like a closet first before going into the kitchen. you and aaron paused at the beginning of the hallway. then some noises erupted from the closet, ones that would make an older woman blush and hold her hand to her mouth.

aaron looked back at you with a confused look on his face. at that very moment, the closet door opened. you and aaron looked at each other in panic, but just before they stepped out of the closet, you grabbed aaron by his tie and pulled him closer to you.

within seconds, you had hiked your leg up his own, revealing your thigh in the dress. his hand quickly came to the skin and he squeezed tightly. to add to the scene, you wrapped a hand around the base of aaron's neck and pulled him down. his lips met your own with a rough clash, but then the kiss smoothed out.

at first, he was still, lips unmoving against yours. when your fingers tangled themselves into the short hairs at his neck, he finally kissed you back. acting, he thought to himself as he deepened the kiss and pulled your leg higher up his. undercover, he tried to remind himself when your lips let forth a whimper into his mouth.

neither of you wanted to pull away. you only pulled your head back when you heard the kitchen door swing open and closed. you inhaled a deep breath and met aaron's dark brown eyes. they were wide and his cheeks were flushed.

"sorry. i-it was all i could think to do," you stuttered out.

aaron shook his head. "don't be," he said quickly. "come on, he's about to leave. we'll talk after."

you felt the warmth of aaron's body leave yours as he pulled the gun from his holster. you retrieved your own from your thigh and followed him through the kitchen. he flashed his badge towards the chefs to get them to stop yelling and they pointed towards the exit where the unsub had just left.

both of you picked up your pace. had the kiss deepened for a few more seconds, you would have certainly missed him. however, as soon as you threw open the exit door, the unsub was forcefully shoving the young woman into his car.

"fbi! put your hands up and back away from the car!" aaron yelled. the unsub didn't do immediately as asked, despite two guns pointing in his direction. "i won't ask again! put your hands up and back away from the car!"

in a quick flash, the unsub reached inside his jacket. in the streetlight, you saw the glint of a gun. hardly a second passed before he pulled it out, aimed, but then fell to the asphalt.

your finger came off the trigger and before lodging it back into the holster, you turned the safety back on. you hadn't killed him, only immobilized him in his right leg. it was enough for aaron to run forwards, take the gun and throw it to the side. while he placed handcuffs on the unsub, you ran to the other side of the car and rescued the woman from the passenger seat. crying, she fell into your arms. suddenly, you were surrounded by the town's police department, along with the rest of your team who had been waiting just down the street.

before everything got too hectic to seek each other out, you and aaron took a long look at each other. he nodded with a smile, his form of praise, before hauling the unsub into a police car.

౨ৎ

a few hours had passed before everyone was released from the scene. the bau loaded up into their SUVs, aaron taking the one you had rode together in. much to your chagrin, his car filled up before you could get in with him. instead, you rode with emily and reid on the way back to the hotel to gather your belongings.

when you arrived to the hotel, everyone split off into their rooms. aaron seemed to be speaking privately with rossi so you opted to go upstairs and change out of the outfit you had been wearing for the better half of the night.

as you were unbuckling your heels and placing them back into your go-bag, you heard a faint knock on the door. you rose from the bed, feet aching, and answered it.

there, aaron stood with a white t-shirt on, having had to change out of his clothes from the scene.

"hey," you said.

"can i come in?" he asked.

only then did you notice that he was holding something behind his back. you stepped to the side to allow him to enter and he scooted the item in front of him to prevent you from seeing.

"what do you have there?" you asked. slowly, he brought forth two boxes of food, having kept his promise from earlier.

"it's probably not the freshest anymore, but nothing that a microwave can't fix," he said sheepishly.

you could've cried on the spot. smiling brightly, you took the food from his hands and sat it on the hotel desk. a grunt escaped his lips as your arms engulfed him in a hug. his arms wrapped around your body and your feet lifted from the ground a little.

"thank you," you said genuinely.

aaron watched as you took the food and warmed them up, going for yours first so that he could have the slightly warmer meal. once they were both ready to be ate, you found some plastic silverware in the little coffee tray and handed one set to him.

"round two?" you said with a shrug.

"round two," he agreed. "but...i wouldn't mind a round three, or four, or five, when we get back home." he picked up a fry from his plate and popped it in his mouth.

"glad to know my impulsive gift didn't scare you off," you joked. you paused for a second and set the food down. "which, i mean, i wouldn't mind a round two on that either."

aaron paused too, setting his own box back down on the desk. he stood and offered his hand to help you up from the bed. you took it and rose. then, his hand wrapped around your back where his palm was splayed across the skin there.

"i wouldn't mind a round two either," he said quietly. "but i call the shots this time."

your knees felt weak being so close to aaron. you didn't miss the way his cheeks flared and one of his hands shook nervously. had he been feeling the same way for you for this long too?

"you can call the shots anytime, hon," you teased, echoing the petnames for earlier.

smirking, his free hand ghosted up your side till it met your chin. his fingers titled your head upwards and ever so softly, he leaned in. this kiss was much more romantic, more loving, less rushed. he had time, now. he wasn't kissing you to hide from someone else. he was kissing you because he has been wanting to for oh so long.

minutes must've passed before the two of you pulled away to a pure need to breathe. he smiled. "good round two?"

"i think i'm gonna need a few more just to double check."

#aaron hotchner #aaron hotchner x reader #aaron hotchner criminal minds #thomas gibson #aaron #hotchner #criminal minds #criminal minds x reader #aaron hotchner fluff #ssa aaron hotchner #bau

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mxnhoo · 1 month ago

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rollercoaster (s. jy)

╰➤ sim jaeyun x reader featuring wonyoung, liz, giselle, literally the whole of bnd, rei, chan synopsis having nothing to do in girls night, you and your gals decided that downloading a dating app would be absolutely perfect to spice up your lives. seeing the males on the dating app, you get violently irked out until you see someone who seems at least half-decent, which so happens to be a guy named "Sim Jaeyun" and it kicks off with him! until you.. start feeling the need.. to.. push away. genre looots of banter, romance, comedy, enemies to lovers, reader has a chaotic friendgroup, dating app, coffee shop, overseas trip, slowburn, reader is chaotic and loud at times, lots of coincidences/surprises, jake is annoying as fuck and super sarcastic lol, reader is awkward with new people and daydreams a lot, did i mention banter?, camping/out in the forest, they both secretly do things for each other, jake loves astronomy and seeing the stars, somewhat heated confrontation!, alone in the pool, dancing, partially proofread(?) word count 17,836 warning reader has an avoidant attachment lol, did i already say avoidant attachment?, vulnerability, ghosting, reader has to face her attachment issues, mentions of death/wanting to die, mentions of anxiety, LOTS of cursing, "go to hell", like one suggestive joke, mentions of stalking, jake mocks her attachment/issues, joking use of "i'm going to kill you", lmk if i missed anything cly's note i'm so happy this is done. i had this idea since last year november i had so much fun writing certain parts and you can definitely tell which, but i despised the other parts LOL omygosh i hate this sm but hope yall can enjoy it. ive been so inactive so this is my return!

now playing rollercoaster - bleachers "You are such a rollercoaster, and a killer queen you are"

��Hey, how ‘bout Wony goes next?” Liz exclaimed, and everyone silently agreed. Wonyoung reached her hand out towards the bottle that was sitting in the centre, twisting her hand and spinning it.

You and your friend group was having a girl’s night, and you all were planning to gossip and have fun all night, but it turns out the current situation was the exact opposite. Everyone’s eyes watched as the bottle spun, the speed of the bottle gradually slowing down as it eventually stopped at..

You.

“Y/N, truth or dare?” Wonyoung shot at you, her tone slightly uninterested and you shrugged.

“I dunno, truth, I guess?”

Everyone remained silent, waiting for someone to come up with a genius question that would make you reveal things about you that they didn’t know about.

Which was practically impossible.

The entire friend group have been together with each other for about 4 years, and even despite being separated by going to college, keeping up with each other wasn’t difficult, and hence, everyone knew everything about each other.

“Any.. questions?” you called out, in hopes that someone would miraculously have a fun question that hasn’t been asked already.

“Not really, no. We already know everything about you,” Giselle, who was sitting across from you, answered.

“Would you date any guy from your class?” Liz enthusiastically questioned, almost as if she didn’t already know your answer.

“No. They’re all either weird, ugly, or have a bad personality,” you sternly responded, your tone disappointed.

Everyone sighed at the expected answer, either leaning back or just scratching their heads.

“This is so boring,” Wonyoung bluntly said, puffing air on one side of her cheek and though it was harsh, she was right.

“Isn’t there anything fun to do?” you questioned, completely leaning backwards and laying back on the cold tiled floor, staring at the ceiling. It was dark outside, and you wanted to make the most out of your time before you go home, since meet ups with them were quite rare.

“Nah man, we already know everything about each other, there’s nothing to ask,” Giselle responded, going on her phone and scrolling.

“This sucks, no fun thing, no fun love life. Why’re all the guys in our classes so damn ugly?” you whined, letting out a loud sigh afterwards and resting your arm on your forehead.

“Hey, I might’ve found something fun,” Giselle muttered, as her finger stopped scrolling.

“What did you say?” Wonyoung responded, her eyes shooting up to Giselle, her expression curious.

“Dating apps!” Giselle announced.

“C’mon bro, that’s so bori-” “Let’s see how many people like our profile in 24 hours, how ‘bout that?” Giselle exclaimed, clearly proud at her idea.

Everyone rose up from their half-alive state, unitedly looking at Giselle as if she had just suggested the most thrilling and juiciest activity.

Liz questioned, "Aren't guys there like.. creeps?".

"Well, sure! But not all of them!" Giselle exclaimed, feeling proud at her idea.

“I mean, why not right?” you giggled, finally feeling alive after having the most boring truth-or-dare session.

And that was how you were on your study table, scrolling on your phone using that very same dating app.

Even after the 24th hour mark and comparing the number of likes each of you got, you were still scrolling through the profiles, either liking them and rejecting them.

You knew people on the app weren't so.. proper, but you were looking forward to it because of new experiences and fun, and who knows? You might even find 'the one' here. 'The one' who you're fated to be with, and go through everything with.

Your eyebrows raised as the profiles kept coming in non-stop, anticipating that you'd find someone at least half-decent. So far, all of the profiles are all fuckboys who don't show their face on their profile with bios like "Let's fuck" or "FWBs??".

Fuck no. Absolutely not.

Either that, or boys who full on show their body and stick out their tongues like some frat boys. You couldn't tell which one irked you more.

You sighed, your finger hovering over the dislike button. And that was when you saw it.

"Jaeyun Sim | Jake", and it was photo of a male who looked genuine. In the first photo, he was holding the strap to this big.. fluffy.. cute dog?

Wow, he's cute. The dog, actually. Or is the dog a girl? Whatever.

And him too you could say — this.. "Jake".

Intrigued by this profile, you scrolled through his photos. The first photo was him walking his supposed dog, then as you swiped, you're met with him cuddling his dog and having a surprisingly cute smile. Then the next, he's wearing a white long sleeve, and he seems to be in a field..? And it seems to be sunset with how the background is a pinkish-grey sky.

Shit. He's kinda cute.

"Here just for fun! Loves music, just wanna vibe here tbh. Friends!".

Your eyes wandered as you thought about pressing the like button.

It's just once.

What's the worst that could happen?

Your finger slowly hovered over the button as you thought about pressing it, suddenly feeling hesitant, but in a quick second you forced your finger down and you instantly squaled, turning your phone and facing it downwards flat on your table.

You had to take a breather, processing what you just did and realising the whole situation. You sighed and relaxed your shoulders — it wasn't that serious right? He didn't actually know you right? Whatever. This whole thing isn't that serious.

And your whole perspective flipped when you heard your phone go off, your hands instantly flipping it upwards and seeing that he messaged. Your eyes widened and your jaw dropped, surprised at the instant response and you stared at the screen for a second, mentally preparing yourself.

simjaeeejake liked your profile. You both matched! Start chatting now!

simjaeeejake : HEYYY WASSUP

You stared at the message, biting your lips as you started to type.

y/n : YOOOO y/n : how r u!

simjaeeejake : TIRED. simjaeeejake : But we gotta stay LOCKED IN!

You puffed up your cheeks, feeling intimidated yet impressed at his immediate and energetic response.

y/n : AS U SHOULD!

He didn't respond immediately so you started to think if your response was over the top.

Oh shit, did he think you were a weirdo?

simjaeeejake : YEAHH simjaeeejake : I'm jake by the way

Nevermind. All's good.

y/n : i'm y/n l/n y/n : just call me y/n

You were slightly smiling, feeling slightly excited because he matched your energy well.

And that's how you talked to him for not one. Not two. But three hours straight. You didn't even know you had that much socialising power in you, you felt like 30 minutes of conversation with someone you knew was draining, but here you were, talking to someone for 3 hours straight.

And would you be surprised if I said the talking became a daily? Not 3 hours though — that'd be a stretch, but still — daily. You'd found out that he was in your neighbouring university, the universities only being separated by a few train stops, and that he really likes astronomy.

simjaeeejake : No cos simjaeeejake : I really love songs that just make you "feel" YKWIM

y/n : OOOH y/n : if you really love that y/n : i think you'd like rollercoaster by the bleachers y/n : I SWEAR IT'LL MAKE YOU FEEL

simjaeeejake : Oh! simjaeeejake : About that.. simjaeeejake : I know..

y/n : you know?

Thinking about what he meant, you gasped as you came to realisation 5 seconds later.

y/n : WAIT YOU KNOW THE SONG???

You stared at his typing bubble, anticipating to his response.

simjaeeejake : IT WAS SUMMER WHEN I SAWW YOUR FACEE

y/n : LOOKED LIKE A TEENAGE RUNAWAY

You sat up from your bed, genuinely feeling ecstatic as someone knew the very song you loved with your entire heart.

y/n : WHAT THE FUCK y/n : I FUCKING LOVE THIS SONG

simjaeeejake : Oh is it? simjaeeejake : Will defi take note

simjaeeejake pinned "I FUCKING LOVE THIS SONG".

And that's how you learnt a lot about a man you've never met in real life. He's studying something related to business, he has a cute female border collie named Layla, he shat his pants when he was 8, he especially loves My Chemical Romance, and there's more things you could've listed down.

Your friends could've listed them down too, from how much you talked about him in your shared groupchats.

Poor them! They were so obviously tired.

And the reason why they were even more annoyed is because you were talking so much about a man you have not met up with.

That sounds pathetic.

But you were completely okay with not meeting him, because if you met him, it'd start to feel a bit too... real. And you didn't want that.

But the day came.

simjaeeejake : HEY

y/n : HI

simjaeeejake : Crazy idea but..

y/n : UH HUH...

Your face leaned closer to the screen, watching his text bubble.

simjaeeejake : What if we met up.

Your smile dropped, feeling the excitement in you slowly slip away as you read the message.

simjaeeejake : IT'D BE SO FUN YKYK simjaeeejake : Like we can go see the stars w my telescope simjaeeejake : YKYK

You frowned, reading the messages.

y/n : uhhh

You bit your lip, feeling immense discomfort.

simjaeeejake : ?? Why

y/n : HAHAHAHA

You tried to think about a response that wouldn't blow him off.

simjaeeejake : What

y/n : sorry

simjaeeejake : Why??

y/n : uh y/n : i don't really like meeting up

simjaeeejake : Huh

y/n : not really my thanggg

You tried to be casual about it.

simjaeeejake : Okayyyy ms anxiety simjaeeejake : Ok but fr tho simjaeeejake : It'd be so fun simjaeeejake : Can't I be an exception?

You made a disgusted face at his response.

Ms Anxiety? Exception? Seriously? Who are you?

You closed the app, placing your phone on the bed as you stared at the ceiling, feeling as if you'd just lost a friend. Your phone vibrated again, and you looked at the notifications.

simjaeeejake : U good? simjaeeejake : Did i say something?

You sucked your inner cheek, thinking of a response but you turned your phone off, leaving this as a problem for later.

Laughter filled the room as you wiped the tears from your eyes. You could only feel your abdomen grow increasingly sore as your laughter becomes more intense. You pleaded, "No- stop!" as you continued laughing.

Liz continued, "And he did it.. again!".

Her comment caused the laughing session to continue, everyone having tears coming out of their eyes. Liz was ranting about a guy she'd met on the dating app, and it literally proves the point that people there are literally.. hopeless.

Wonyoung, who was slowly calming down, spoke, "So you're telling me that when he saw you for the first time, he ran up to you, slipped ONCE, got back up, and then slipped again not even 3 seconds later?".

Liz's eyes lit up and she pointed to Wonyoung, "Exactly that!".

All of you had gathered again, but finally with more stories to share especially after the dating app idea. The group has finally became lively again after the energy had been constantly stagnant for the past.. God knows how long.

The conversation continues, but it eventually lands on..

"Talking about meeting up, say, Y/N, you haven't been talking about that.. who was it..?" Giselle spoke.

"Jaeyoon? Jaehyun?" Wonyoung guessed as she tried to recall.

"Jaeyun. Sim Jaeyun, Jake," you corrected, your mood suddenly flipping.

Everyone wiggled their eyebrows at each other while making syncronised "oo" sounds. Liz placed her palms on the table, leaning towards you, "You even know his full name, huh?".

You gave her a weirded out look, "F'course I do! How could I not? It's literally in his profile!".

Liz nodded slowly, leaning backwards as she eyed the others.

Wonyoung spat out directly, "Are you dating him?"

"WHAT?!"

"You are! Aren't you?"

"No! Absolutely not!"

Everyone gasped.

"Y/N.. you don't need to lie," Giselle rubbed your back and you snapped your neck at her.

"I'm not lying! I haven't spoken to him in a while!" you confessed at the heat of the moment.

Everyone gasped, but this time there was complete silence afterwards. Everyone gave each other the look and you bit your lip.

Wonyoung pouted, "Is everything okay, girlie? What happened? You used to talk about him in our groupchat so much..".

You sighed as you leaned back onto the seat cushion, "He asked to meet up".

Everyone looked at you, anticipating to the rest of the story, "Then..?".

You looked at them with a puzzled expression, wondering what else they were waiting for. "That's all.." you muttered.

Everyone let out sounds of confusion. Giselle questioned, "What?! So you ghosted him?!"

Liz continued Giselle's question, "And it was because he asked to meet up?!".

You immediately felt defensive, facing your hands towards them and indicating them to stop, "It was scary, okay! What if.. I dunno, he's like a serial killer or something?".

Everyone gave you a glare, questioning your thinking process.

Giselle voiced out first, "Girl... weren't you talking about how 'genuine' and 'kind' he was.. what 'serial killer' bullshit are you thinking about..?".

You felt slightly guilty, now realising how childish it was that you ghosted him over something so small. Wonyoung snapped, catching everyone's attention, "How long has it been?".

"Since I ghosted?" you replied.

"No shit."

You pouted at their sassy response, pulling out your phone from your pocket and pressing into the app, careful not to press into the chat and read the messages.

"It's been.. 3 days?".

Everyone's jaw dropped in sync and Giselle held your shoulder tightly, "Girl! You better respond to that man!".

You felt helpless, "What for! He probably forgot about me already! I don't even know what excuse I'd give for not responding!".

Wonyoung leaned over the table and swiftly snatched your phone, causing you to gasp. Immediately, you try to fight back for the phone but Wonyoung started typing.

"Sent!".

Your heart dropped, "What exactly did yo-!".

You were interrupted when Giselle covered your mouth, your words being muffled and Giselle apologising to the other customers for your loudness.

That's when you looked around and saw all the unpleasant expressions from the workers and the other customers, and you tilted your head downwards to gesture that you were sorry.

You slowly sat back down, taking a deep braeth in as you looked at Wonyoung. "What. Did. You. Send?" you asked, your tone clearly infuriated.

"I sent him.." Wonyoung looked at the screen, reading out from the text message in a sassy tone, "omygosh hi, i'm so sorry but my phone broke. hope you don't get the wrong idea".

You realised how she was all smiley and giggly and you stared at her, only wishing you could slap that smile away. You took a deep breath as you tried to remain composed, clearing all the negative thoughts.

"And he responded!"

"WHAT?!"

Giselle immediately pulled you down to your seat.. again.. after you accidentally shouted and stood up. "Gosh.. Y/N.. we're gonna get kicked out," she tugged on your sleeve and you rested your forehead on your hands.

"Jokes!"

"You guys.." you sighed, feeling worn out, "are going to be the death of me..".

"He responded!!"

"WHAT?!?"

And that's how the 4 of you got kicked out.

"Gosh.. we weren't even being that loud.." Wonyoung complained as she rolled her eyes.

"Right!" Liz agreed, feeling wronged.

"Whatever," you rolled your eyes, feeling irritated at them instead of being kicked out. You started walking first, not saying your goodbyes and you heard them yell behind you.

"You better respond to his text!" "Update us!" "Don't ghost him again!"

You were thankful you were the only one heading this way, and you waved your hand without turning back.

You'd finished washing up, rubbing your damp hair with your towel as you sat on the bed, looking at your phone notifcations until you saw his name on the notifications.

Oh. Right.

You held your phone properly, carefully checking the notification and not clicking on it.

simjaeeejake : Thought you ghosted me for a sec simjaeeejake : What even happened

You hesitated, feeling the guilt fully set in and you sighed.

y/n : i kinda y/n : dropped my phone in boiling water

simjaeeejake : While cooking or something?

y/n : yea yea exactly!

simjaeeejake : But you said you can't cook

Oh shit. He's right.

y/n : uh y/n : i saw a recipe y/n : seemed cool, wanted to try it out

simjaeeejake : Hmm simjaeeejake : Okay

Man. Hopefully he bought that.

You felt guilty, so you continued the conversation, but there was still something inside of you making it uncomfortable, so your responses had breaks in between them, were less lively and drier than usual.

simjaeeejake : Okayy I gotta go now, mom's rushing me out simjaeeejake : Need to catch the stars tonight

You heaved a sigh of relief, thankful the conversation was ending.

y/n : okayy

You were about to close the chat until you saw his chat bubble appear. You stayed, curious to what else he had to say.

simjaeeejake : Btw simjaeeejake : I know something's up simjaeeejake : So if i did anything wrong, lmk simjaeeejake : Or if you need reassurance, lmk too simjaeeejake : I'm not a bad guy, I promise simjaeeejake : I really like what we have, so I hope we can progress :)

You stared at his messages, your chest being filled with all sorts of different emotions.

simjaeeejake : Sleep soon simjaeeejake : Gn Y/N

You felt reassured and happy, but at the same time there was this thing at the back of your head telling you to run. Ignore him. Ghost him again. You rubbed your forehead, feeling distressed, and you sent a quick reply before throwing your phone somewhere on the bed.

y/n : goodnight, jake.

You stared at the ceiling.

"Maybe I do have a chance at this.. 'relationship' bullshit," you mumbled to yourself. You sighed before turning over and plunging your head to your pillow.

"I really hope you'd take me in as an employee!" you pleaded with a big smile plastered across your face, watching as your interviewer nods in approval with a subtle smile. You watched as he took down notes and you awkwardly looked around, the big smile still on your face.

After a few seconds of writing sounds, he closed his book and you sat up straight, anticipating to what was next. He cleared his throat and you leaned in closer, praying for good news.

"So.." he started off. You bit your lip, feeling as the anxiety starts creeping in. He continues, "You start next week. Come in some time this week to pick up your uniform, yes? This weekend you'll get your training".

You felt so overjoyed you wanted to run around and hug your interviewer. "Yes- of course sir! I mean, yes sir!".

"Don't call me sir, call me Chan," he reassured, his tone friendly.

"Yes sir! I mean- sir Chan! I mean Chan!" you stuttered, clearly not being able to contain your excitement.

As soon as you stepped out of the cafe, you immediately texted your friends without care about your physical surroundings.

y/n : IM GOING FOR THAT OVERSEAS PROGRAMMEEE y/n : I GOT THE JOB I CAN FUND MY SHIT

giselle : DAMNN giselle : congrats girlie omg

wony : YAYYYYY wony : asking for a friend! do you have staff discount

liz : CONGRATS GIRL!! liz : ^^ what wony said

There was this upcoming overseas programme that happened yearly, and you begged your dad to go and he allowed you under one condition — you paid for 70% of the fees.

So here you were, getting a job in a cafe that paid fairly well. The programme was in about 3-4 months, and you'd started your school break so you'd have a lot of time to work and get that bag.

The streets were bustling, lots of cars and people walking, and it was quite impressive that you haven't bumped into someone or a pole. And that was when you did.

Your face bumped into a hard chest causing you to instantly look up. The male quickly scurried away as he muttered a swift 'sorry', and he had black hair and glasses. You watched as he entered the cafe you were working at and you rubbed your nose, slowly rubbing the pain away. You shrugged and you continued your way, planning to respond to the girls' messages later.

Jake? Well, you did it again. You ghosted the man when he initiated to meet up, contacted him again when you felt guilty and repeated. But last week, it was final.

This cycle has been going on for about a month, and you almost didn't know how he never ghosted you at least once. He stopped contacting you, so you were somewhat grateful yet you felt like apologising for the mess.

But you knew that if you apologise, the cycle would start again, so you decided to break it.

The dating app? You deactivated your account and deleted the app, deciding that dating apps really didn't have 'the' one you'd be fated with. The perfect one that you'd never want to avoid, unlike Jake.

Your life now was perfect. No man, no worries, no school for the mean time, and you were working part time at a cafe that had an environment that made you thrilled. You were also looking forward to the overseas trip, so life seemed ideal.

"Order for.. Yeppi?" you read out the unusual name, tilting your head, worried you were saying it wrongly.

Immediately, a man rushed towards your counter, giggling and you observed a distressed guy trailing after him.

"See, Sungho! 'Yeppi' sounds cute!" the guy nearer to you spoke.

You looked at the two of them, puzzled to what their banter was about. The supposed 'Sungho' ran his hand through his hair, frustrated as he approached you, muttering a small "thanks" as he took his drink. You gave an awkward smile and as soon as they turned their backs, you could see Sungho smack the other.

"I'll get back at you, Jaehyun!" Sungho threatened, ignoring the fact that Jaehyun was rubbing his arm after the hard smack.

You giggled at their fun banter, the confusion dissolving as you understood the situation. You went back to the counter, ready to serve anyone who's ready to order.

Having nothing to do, you opened the register and started to count the money, wanting to make use of your time. The chime of the entrance bell sounded, but being in the midst of counting cash, you didn't look up.

With a few notes left, you were almost done until you heard a soft, "Hello" at the counter. Your head shot up to look at the customer, but your smile instantly dropped. Your face went cold and you accidentally dropped the cash, still staring at the customer in front of you.

"Oh..?" the customer muttered.

"Oh.." you replied.

You inspected his features. His hair was the same colour and shaped the same way. His glasses had the same tape at the side. He had the same piercings in the photo.

You confirmed it.

It was him, the guy from the dating app.

It was Jake.

Your first instinct was to bend down to pick up the notes you'd dropped, and well — hide. Duh. The man you'd shamelessly ghosted was standing right there, and you'd have to talk to him — no, look at him at the bare minumum while serving him.

You mumbled all the curse words you knew under your breath as you picked up the last few notes, mentally preparing yourself before you stood back up.

You were met with his amused face, his arms folded as he raised his eyebrows at you. You looked down immediately at the cash register, slotting in the cash at its' designated spot as you clear your throat, hoping he didn't recognise you.

"If it isn't Ms Anxiety herself," he broke the silence.

Nevermind. He did. And he did not seem happy.

You cleared your throat again, plastering the most professional expression on your face as you clapped your palms together. "What would you like, Sim Jaeyun?".

"And Ms Anxiety remembers my full government name. Impressive," he mocked and your professional expression immediately dropped.

"Look, don't make this hard for me," you grumbled, breaking the professional image.

"Hard? For you? Was it hard to.. I dunno.. send a text back?" he attacked, his expression clearly displeased.

"Oh please, Jaeyun—"

"Actually, I prefer Jake," he perfectly interrupted you, a smirk on his face, "please use that instead".

Of course he wasn't going to make this easy. But what did you expect?

You huffed out air, almost thinking that this was all a dream from how coincidental and bizzare this whole situation was. He seemed so sweet over text, but seeing how he acted made you realise he was snarky and irritating

He spoke up again, "No offense, but I don't think there's any way for you to.. ghost me right now", his eyes wandered around, "especially since I'm the customer.. and you're the—"

"Okay, damn! I get it!" you scowled, biting your lip hard afterwards. You shot out, "What do you want?!".

He hummed and pretended to think about it for a few seconds, "Hmm.. you to explain why you ghosted me".

"Not that! Your damn order!"

He gave a soft smile, "Oh right, that".

He's fucking unbelievable.

You bit your lip in frustration as you eyed him down, all the curse words threatening to pour out of your mouth. He raised his eyebrows and stared at you, "I think.." he hummed, "I'll have your usual?".

"Your usual?" you shot, "Don't tell me you're a regular here?".

"You bet I am! Happy 'bout that?" he gave a cheeky smile.

You stared at him in disbelief, wishing you could just.. crumble into a hole and be buried until you die. You sighed and turned around, running your hand through your hair until you heard him snapping his fingers.

"Hello?" snap snap "My usual?".

You turned back around, giving him the most dead expression you could ever make out, "And how am I supposed to know your usual?".

"Maybe you could apologise for ghosting me and I'll let you know," he grinned from ear to ear, having high expectations that you'd give in.

Oh man. This job definitely wasn't going to be easy.

To make things worse? You've already taken up 5 shifts a week for 2 months to get as much money before your trip.

And if you think about it, you're definitely going to have to memorise his 'usual' sooner or later.

Oh man.

"It was summer when I saw your face," you sang into the tip of the broom, singing along to your favourite song that was playing in the cafe.

The infamous "Rollercoaster" by Bleachers.

You switched between sweeping and dancing, feeling free because you were closing alone.

"Man, I'm never the same," you sang, "We were shotgun lovers, I'm a—"

"You're a shotgun running away".

You screamed, immediately turning around at the sudden voice. You held the broom close to you and your heart accelerated from the scare. You thought it was ghost, but no it was something worse — Jake.

He leaned on the counter, "No wonder you loved the song, fits you so well".

You recovered from the scare, your face twisting as you retorted, "What the fuck are you doing here! We're closed!".

"Not yet," he pointed to the clock.

9:59.

One. Fucking. Minute. To. Closing.

"My usual, yep?" he voiced out, his tone irritating that you were tempted to jump on him and rip his hair out.

"And if I don't?"

"I can complain to your managers and get you fired. I'm close to all of them since I c'mere so often," he stared at the ceiling and scratched his head, "Surely you wouldn't want that, right?".

"Fuck you".

"Your usual?" you questioned, watching as he leaned forward and rested his head on his elbow, giving you a cheeky smile. You rolled your eyes, already prepared to make his order.

"Nah- na-uh, I have a special request," he squeeked.

You turned around and frowned at him, his face bringing you over the edge further.

"Put it under the name, 'The Best Jake'," he requested as he pointed a finger upwards, his tone cocky and you simply scoffed, walking away.

Upon finishing his drink, it pained you but you wrote it according to his request, 'The Best Jake'. You huffed out in irritation before walking up to the counter.

No way you were gonna say it out loud.

"Jake," you called out, staring at him as he sat down, occupied on his phone but to no avail.

You sighed, thinking you weren't loud enough, so you called him again.

And again.

And no fucking response. The boy was giggling at his phone and seemed completely oblivious to you calling him.

You definitely weren't going to walk over to him, so you did another thing that pained your heart.

"The best Jake."

"Yes, coming!" his whole body turned to you as he got off of his seat in a heartbeat, making his way towards you and you stared in him in disbelief.

He gave you a satisfied smile as he snatched the drink away from you as you watched him walk away. You were in disbelief, flabbergasted — no way that just happened.

Your new friend hit your shoulder as he continued to laugh.

"You—" laugh "gosh, I wish I would've seen that!" Leehan wiped his tears, his grin from ear to ear as you shared your work experiences with him.

"This 'Jake' guy is actually hilarious!" he commented.

To be specific, your experiences with Jake.

"It really isn't that funny, Donghyun" you snarked and his laughter started to calm down.

"Aw c'mon! Don't go using my actual name now. I wish I was working too when that happened!" he giggled and pushed you jokingly.

"Too bad, it was like a week before you joined," you sulked, sticking out your tongue and leaning on the counter.

Leehan whined as he walked over to lean on the counter beside you.

"Isn't it crazy that we study in the same campus?" he questioned, wanting to change the topic before you get too upset.

You sighed before glancing at him, "Mhm, hopefully we can bump into each other".

You both stood next to each other in silence, when you suddenly thought about your programme. "Say, are you attendi—".

"It's time to close!" he announced, clearly ecstatic at the thought of finishing up and going home. Your eyes shot to the clock, realising he was right. It was 10 sharp.

You watched him as he pushed off the counter and stretched his body. You silently sighed, thinking you'd ask him soon if he was attending the same overseas programme as you.

After 2 whole months of enduring Jake — and working of course, you were finally going to take a break since your trip was approaching. You'd originally planned to resign, but it became hard because you've met Leehan, and all your other amazing colleagues.

Your manager patted your back, giving you a sense of praise as he gave you a proud grin. "Have enough money for the trip? Want more?" he asked.

You hummed a little bit as you thought about his question. Was he offering you money? Of course you can't turn down an offer like that!

"Mmm... I might not have enough," you muttered, praying you'd get spare change from him.

He gave you a reaussring giggle as he patted your back, making you feel content before his laugh suddenly came to a halt.

"Too bad, work more then," he shot coldly and you whined, watching how he breaks into laughter afterwards.

"You're too cold.." you complained and sighed, folding your arms.

He calmed down and patted your back, "I'm sure you've earned enough, I'm almost sick of seeing your face every single day".

You giggled, the thought that you won't be working here for a while feeling somewhat bittersweet. He looked at his watch and straightened his posture, "Alright, time to go, Y/N, will see you when you return from the trip?".

"Yes, sir," you saluted.

You quickly packed up your belongings, and as you were about to leave, your manager suddenly called out.

"Oh right, before I forget, I remember there's someone who's in the same flight and programme as you!" he called out, and you felt relieved at his words.

You sighed in relief, and you were about to ask from across the store who it was but customers started coming in, so the manager quickly gestured for you to leave and waved.

Now, it was time for your trip. It was going to be the time of your life, and you were so determined to make new friends, new memories, new—

"Oh, you like that? Me too!" you spat out nervously, your voice squeeky as you tried to get to know the other people who were in the same group as you.

They nervously laughed and turned away from you, making you feel awkward. It seemed like they already knew each other from the way they kept glancing at each other and making looks.

Well, fuck.

New friends? Maybe not..

It's okay. You could still make new memories, right?

You walked away, dragging your luggage with you as you stood alone, observing the people that were obviously grouped together already. You were eyeing and judging people based on how friendly they looked, and plotting to befriend them.

Besides, didn't your manager say Leehan was in the same programme and flight as you? He should be appearing any second.

Your eyes scanned from left to right slowly, mentally taking note of the different details of the people for future reference, and as you continued, your eyes come to a halt.

You panicked and your hands fiddled as it tried to find your luggage handle, your eyes not being able to leave the person. You felt the blood in your face disappear and your heart beat rapidly as you finally gripped onto your luggage handle and started running away.

You couldn't believe who you just saw. You just saw Sim. Fucking. Jaeyun. Fucking JAKE. Out of ALL people.

Luck wasn't on your side though, because when you started running towards the other direction, it only took you 5 seconds before you bumped into a person's chest, making your luggage fall flat onto the airport floor, a loud slap sound echoing throughout the place.

Everyone glanced at you, but you made sure your back was facing the crowd to ensure that Jake... wasn't aware that you were in the same programme and flight as you.

You rubbed your nose, feeling the pain after the impact of bumping violently into someone, and you looked up, feeling the need to apologise to the person.

"Sorr—" you apologised, but stopped when you saw the person, your eyebrows furrowing as you tried to recall who he was, "Wait.. aren't you the 'Yeppi' guy?".

"Oh my god," he facepalmed himself while still offering a hand to you. You took his hand and he helped to pull you up, your eyes glued onto him as you remembered that incident in the cafe when you still first started working.

"Sungho! Not 'Yeppi', thank you!" he replied, his eyebrows furrowing at you.

Suddenly, you heard a familiar laugh trail behind Sungho, your head looking over Sungho's shoulder and you saw another familiar figure.

"See! Even strangers call you that!" the man laughed as he walked to stand beside Sungho, and as his eyes land on you, he gasped and pointed at you.

"Y/N!" he called loudly and you panicked, covering his mouth instantly, your head slightly turning over your shoulder to see if Jake heard, and thankfully he was still in his own world, talking to other people.

"You..! How do you know my name!" you whisper-shouted and the man panicked, his eyes widened as he felt unsure what to do with a 'stranger' covering his mouth.

He mumbled out gibberish you couldn't comprehend, and he had to slap your arm repeatedly before you let go of his mouth. He gave you a dramatic sigh and dusted his hands.

"The cafe!" he pouted. "I never said my name!" you shot. "Your freaking nametag!" he complained, feeling wronged.

You had to stare at him for a second, recalling if you wore a nametag, and you indeed wore a nametag.

"Oh.." you muttered out of realisation.

"Hey! You're so mean, Y/N! How could yo—" he pointed a finger to you before you covered his mouth again, desperately not wanting your identity to be known.

"Stop. Saying. My. Name. Out. Loud. Help me out here," you whisper-shouted again, your words sharp and Sungho giggled, enjoying the show in front of him.

"Stop.. covering.. my.. mo—" Jaehyun fought for his life, trying to get out a few words as you covered his mouth more.

He smacked your arm again and you let him go.

"Fine, fine! I'll stop saying your name!" he gave in, feeling wronged and he pouted.

He added on, "But why should I help you?! We're not even friends!".

You stepped back and sighed, straightening your posture and clothes.

"Hi, my name is Y/N L/N. I major in Film Studies, and I enjoy anything related to music. You guys are my friends now, Sungho and..."

"Hah! You don't even kno—"

"Jaehyun. His name's Jaehyun," Sungho butted in, giggling again as he saw Jaehyun's little tantrum from his name being given away.

"So Jaehyun and Sungho? Got it," you thought out loud, memorising their names and faces.

You and Sungho teased Jaehyun a little bit, until Jaehyun suddenly spat out a question, "Say, why don't you want us to say your name?".

You jogged to place yourself behind them, holding their shoulders, and discreetly pointing to the main target, "Him".

"Jake?" they both said in confusion.

"SHH!"

You sighed, before continuing, "Long story short, we met on a dating app, I ghosted him, and he's so not happy about it!".

"Whaat? Why'd you ghost him?" Sungho questioned.

"I am NOT doing this right now," you recalled to when your girlfriends asked the same question, and the incident in the restaurant you ate at.

Both males sighed as they began to understand the situation. You began to feel nervous, thinking if they were friends with him.

"Wait, you guys aren't friends with him, right?" "Not really," Sungho responded.

Jaehyun answered, "Just acquintances, bump into him in campus and the cafe every once in a while".

You sighed in relief as you pulled their shoulders, making them turn towards you again.

"Help me avoid him," you pleaded and they both gave you weird looks.

"How exactly..?" Jaehyun asked. "Hang out with me. That's all," you gave a simple solution and they both gave each other looks before they both sighed.

"Okay.. Ms Y/N.. friend," Sungho replied and you fisted your hands and punched the air in happiness.

"I promise I'm a fun person!"

You were in luck when you found people to stick with right after discovering that the person you literally ghosted was in your surroundings. You've managed to hide yourself from him, hiding behind Sungho's broad shoulders from time to time whenever he was nearby. The others have given weird looks, but as long as Jake doesn't find out, it doesn't matter.

You, however, weren't that lucky with your seat in the plane. Both Jaehyun and Sungho were seated together, away from you. When you watched them board, you saw their cheeky faces as they waved you goodbye and you could've thrown a tantrum.

Now that you were alone, you were more prone to bumping into the very person you wanted to avoid with all your might. As you were waiting to board the plane, you constantly kept checking your surroundings to know if you had to hide yourself or even run away.

As the queue shortened, your turn was nearing and you were starting to feel more reassred as there were no signs of Jake. When it was the person in front of you's turn to have their ticket checked, you made one final check around.

"Who we lookin' for?"

"Ah, no one," you continued to search, feeling more safe that you were boarding without seeing him.

"Does his name happen to start with a 'J' and end with an 'E'?"

Your eyebrows raised in amusement, "You're right, actually!", you slowly turned to the person, "How'd you—".

Oh.

"Know....?" you whispered, barely audible.

Your eyes were glued to the person, your mouth slowly agape as you process what was happening.

Jake was looking at you over your shoulder and you were just staring at him. He gave you that cheeky smile he'd always given you whenever he was plotting something at the cafe. You blinked multiple times when he suddenly stuck his tongue out and cut your queue, walking in front of you and having his ticket checked first.

When the worker approved of his ticket, he turned around.

He teased, "Could end with an 'N', too. 'Jaeyun', y'know?"

He flashed that devilish grin once again before turning around and walking in.

You stared at him as he walked in, the worker who was checking the tickets growing irritated at you as you held up the line. You heard grumbles from people at the back and you immediately snapped back to reality, dropping your passport and ticket in the process.

Your heart was beating really... really.. fast. Too fast for your liking.

You were staring into nothing, your body feeling exhausted even though you did nothing but sit down on a plane seat for 7 hours straight. Your jaw was slightly dropped, your eyebags painfully visible as you stared at the friends you made along the way.

"Hello!" you heard voices, but it wasn't enough to break you from your daydream.

"Earth to Y/N!"

Suddenly, in your vision, someone snapped their fingers, literally snapping you back to reality and you immediately scanned your surroundings, seeing familiar faces.

Familiar faces that you actually wanted to see.

"Well, finally Y/N!" Sungho folded his arms.

Jaehyun added on, "We thought you almost—".

You let out sounds of cries as you opened your arms and pulled both of them into a hug, feeling emotional that you finally saw people you felt comfortable with after possibly the worst 7 hours of your life.

"—died.." Jaehyun's voice lowered significantly, taken aback by your sudden embrace but he didn't complain.

You stuffed your face into Jaehyun's shoulder, feeling like shit and finally letting out all your emotions after bottling it up. You were crying, just without the tears.

Sungho eyed Jaehyun before pursing his lips and patting your back, "There there.. Poor Y/N..".

"Was the flight that bad..?" Jaehyun questioned genuinely.

Your head shot up, your eyebrows arching upwards, "Yes!".

Luckily on the way to the hotel, you could choose the bus and the seats. There were 3 buses, and you made sure to take the one different from Jake's. The entire way there, you ranted about Jake's sudden appearance and the entire flight.

The entire flight which Jake unfortunately was a major part of as well.

"During dinner time, instead of getting dinner that everyone gets, I got something different?!" you complained.

"What do you mean?" Sungho and Jaehyun tilted their heads.

"I'd get a platter that's different than everyone else's — I checked and it was on the special menu — and—"

"Isn't that a good thing?!" Jaehyun spat. "Yeah, you get good food!" Sungho added on.

"No— I mean, okay, sure! But there was this paper note on it and I opened it, and it fucking said 'Wanna text me back?'," you grumbled loudly, not caring about the weird looks you were getting from others.

Jaehyun and Sungho had big reactions, immediately gasping and laughing. You gave them dirty looks and rolled your eyes, your misery being their joy.

"And then I turned around on instinct! And first person I made eye contact with? Fucking him!" you continued.

They both hit each other in excitement, enjoying as the story continues to unfold.

Your neck was aching from how much it was tilting to one angle. Your body was uncomfortably straight, and your palms were incredibly sweaty. You were laughing at Jaehyun's joke more, since there was a problem.

With a Jaehyun on one side, you unfortunately had a Jaeyun on the other.

Call that fucking unlucky.

"Nooooo way you did thaaat!" you dragged on your words, laughing extra loud, hoping that others would perceive that you were comfortable. Happy. Satisfied with where you were and who you were surrounded with.

Complete opposite actually.

All the students part of the programme were gathered in the same hall, and multiple groups were formed to make bigger ones for orientation. In the merged groups, everyone was sat in a circle to play some ice breakers, and with the amount of people in this circle, you thought the whole world was against you when the only person you didn't want was placed beside you.

You were mentally calculating the probability, and it was like a... 1/50 chance. You were eyeing the game leaders that were in the centre of the circle, discussing amongst themselves as you prayed even harder that they'd start the games soon so you can find a chance to slip away and sit anywhere else.

You turned once and you were only met with his raised eyebrows and cocky smile, making you gasp softly as you snapped your head back to Jaehyun and Sungho, your mind going blank as you tried to find things to say.

You simply burst out laughing, slapping Jaehyun's back a little too hard causing him to yelp out loud, accidentally catching everyone's attention and your head immediately snaps to everyone else, your eyes widened as everyone gave especially you, weird looks. You raised your hands as if you were surrendering and you heard a snicker from the other side.

"Nice one, smartie," you heard him taunt you.

You gasp and you turn your head to his, your furious eyes meeting his. "I'm going to kill you," you threatened and he snorted, crushing your ego even more.

He patted you and you shivered. "Ghosting and killing, huh? What did I ever do wrong?" he questioned, but it sounded rhetorical.

You forcefully pulled his hands away from your head, "Don't fucking touch me".

"Getting all worked up, aye?"

You thanked all of the Gods above when you finally heard the game masters in the centre of the circle start talking. You looked at Jake one more time, seeing his irritating smirk as you forcefully nudged his body hard enough to make him fall backwards. He gasped loudly and you stuck your tongue out at him.

It was your turn to snicker, and when he recovered and got up, he was about to raise his hand and smack you, but before he could do anything, you saw a pair of feet from your peripheral vision, causing the two of you to freeze.

"Ehm."

You two turned your head upwards, your eyes met with the girl who seemed like she could actually kill the both of you. You bit your lip as you scratched your neck, your head looking down in shame and Jake did the same.

"What are you two doing? I said I wanted you two to introduce yourselves since you guys are so energetic," the girl said, her tone so daunting you almost regretted doing anything.

She continued, "Stand. Up".

You two cleared your throats and stood up on clue, not wanting to anger her any further.

"I'm Y/N!" "I'm Jake!"

Both of you glared at each other, offended that the other spoke over them.

"I—" "I—"

You two looked at each other again.

"You may go—" "How about you—"

You both looked at each other again. You sucked your cheek, feeling your blood boiling. You were about to start arguing with him when the same games master loudly interrupted the both of you.

"This is Y/N, this is Jake!".

Your eyes shot at her, suddenly feeling sheepish as you realised that you were dragging on the entire programme.

"All your fucking fault, Ms Anxiety," he whisper-shouted, his hands neatly placed on top of each other as he looked down.

"Fuck you, go to hell," you whisper-shouted, wishing he could just disappear.

As the game master introduced the both of you, she turned back to the two of you and held your shoulders.. tightly.

"Sit down. Behave," she commanded and you two immediately said 'Yes ma'am' and sat back down on the floor, your heads tilted downwards in shame. Your knees accidentally bumped and you sent a glare but you made sure to not make a ruckus out of it.

It was finally the party after the orientation, and you were finally starting to meet new people. Sungho and Jaehyun were still by your side, practically being your body guards as the three of you socialised with new people.

"Say, that was so hilarious! That was like a scene out of a movie!" Woonhak burst out laughing as he recalled when you and Jake got called out in the circle in front of everyone else.

You face palmed as you took a sip of your drink, cringing as you replayed the memory in your head, "Yeah, sure, funny. Worst thing that has happened in my life..".

"Ever?" Rei questioned.

"Ever," you, Sungho and Jaehyun answered in unision.

They all laughed, enjoying your hatred and misery when it comes to Jake. Riwoo questioned, wiping his tears "Do you even know him?".

"Not at all!" you shot back immediately, your eyebrows furrowing so much it would form permenant creases on your skin.

Sungho wrapped an arm around your shoulder, "She's been suffering even before the trip.."

He started to share your cinematic experiences with Jake while working in the cafe and you helped out with the details he missed out.

On the other hand.. Jake, who was standing at the opposite corner of you...

"Bro, do you know her?" Taesan questioned him, giggling from the same incident Woonhak questioned about.

"Yup. Very well actually," Jake smirked, taking a sip from his cup.

Day 1.

You don't know what the programme organisers were thinking, but they thought that camping was a good activity. You thought you'd be learning more about the country, going to the city side, trying new food, but here you were.

You stood in the middle of everyone, your friends pulling on your sleeve as you stared into blank space, devastated and not looking forward to anything.

Suddenly, someone pushed your shoulder and you stumbled forward. You shot, "Hey!" and you turned to the person, and you couldn't have expected anyone else.

Jake snickered as he saw your worked up expression, wanting to push your buttons further but before he could try anything, your friends successfully pulled you away.

"Stop slacking!" Sungho nagged as he held your forearm, dragging you like a mother would and you groaned, allowing him to do so.

"I'm so not excited for this," you complained, still staring into nothing as your legs continued to move by themselves.

There were many reasons why this is the last thing you wanted.

First of all...

"JAKE! GET THAT AWAY FROM ME!" you screamed, causing everyone to turn back as Jake held a cicada and held it near you, giggling.

"Or what?" he tested the waters.

You hated bugs.

Second of all,

You were walking cautiously, sensitive to every sound. Everyone was split now to smaller groups and you all had agreed to gather different items. You were alone with Sungho, but he told you to stay put as he climbed the tree to get items.

You were tapping your feet, looking around cautiously in any case that something.. or someone attacks you.

Your face went cold when you heard a branch crack behind you and you immediately froze. You heard the cracks getting louder and closer, and you immediately covered your ears and squatted, screaming, "PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!".

You closed your eyes, tears already forming in your eyes from the fear and you were thanking your family and friends for being with you up till your final day.

A tear broke free when someone tapped your shoulder and your shoulders stiffened even more.

"Y/N, chillax.. it's just me," you heard Sungho's voice and you immediately looked up, heaving a sigh of relief and having more tears break free.

You were absolutely a scaredy cat. No survival instinct.

Third of all...

The group was hiking up the hill, a river flowing down and a waterfall nearby. You were looking into the body of water, fascinated but unwilling to go too close to it anything happens. You looked at how the fish moved around, slowly hiking up with the others when you scanned around, spotting Jake a little in front of you.

Suddenly, a delivish and smart idea appeared in your head, and you snickered cheekishly as you slowly started to jog to catch up to him, walking behind him. As he continues to walk, he starts becoming closer to the body of water without realising and you held up your hands and pushed him into the body of water.

But one thing you didn't know he had was his fast reaction skills.

He yelped. Held your wrist out of instinct. Pulled you down into the water with him.

Your body was immediately filled with panic as you become fully submerged into the water, thinking you'd die and your legs kick frantically in an attempt to save yourself. Jake had let go of your wrist to help himself, and as you put in all your effort to swim upwards, you gasp when your head finally reaches the surface.

"Are you fucking serious?" he glared at you, watching as you struggled to swim up. He continued to throw bashful words, "Are you like.. fucking.. 5 years old?".

You wanted to fight back, but the only thing you could fight for right now was for your life. You frantically kicked yourself up, your breathing frantic as you were filled up with fear that you'd die here.

"Don't tell me.. you can't swim..?" he commented after watching you for a while.

"I..!" gasp "Can't..!" gasp "Swim..!"

You were hopeless when it came to nature. The compatibility between you and nature was similar to the compatibility with you and Jake.

He sighed before he swam over to you and held your waist, pulling you up from the water and you instinctively wrapped your arms around his neck, nervous that if you'd let go you'd drown again.

You could hear everyone panic as they all call out for the both of you, frantic that the two of you were in water but from the way he was supporting you, you knew you'd be safe.

You stared into his eyes, seeing how the water runs down his face and how there was an irritated expression on his face. You felt his breath on your face, making you realise how close the two of you actually were.

"I like this expression," you mumbled, completely forgetting your panic 5 seconds ago.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" he snarked.

"This irritated expression. I hope you can be angry forever," you requested and he scoffed.

He rolled his eyes, "I save your fucking life and this is what you say?".

He glared at you, and you could say you were the happiest person alive but the thing that caught you off-guard was how his eyes flickered to your lips.

At this realisation, you let go of his arms, yelping as you fell back into the water. Jake was flabbergasted, caught off-guard that you suddenly let go of him and everyone on the surface screamed for help.

"Soo.. what you're saying is.. it's my fault you were dragged into the water, so you're asking me to pay for your laundry when we get back?"

"Precisely that!" you pointed a finger to Jake's face and he looked at you with a dead expression. He looked like he wanted to fight back but he simply sighed and rolled his eyes, not wanting to drag this further.

He offered his hand, "Your number?".

"What the fuck?"

"I'm not asking you for your number to be ghosted again by you. I'm asking for your number so I can tell you when to pick it up," he clarified.

Your chest stung a little by his comment, an ounce of guilt filling you and you cleared your throat, "Fine".

"Huh? Where'd this pillow come from?" you questioned after returning to your tent after cautiously making rounds around the area with Sungho and Jaehyun. You looked at Rei, thinking that she was the one who gave you the pillow but she simply shrugged and responded with a simple "I don't know".

Rei added on, "I left for a second too, and it was here when I came back".

Your eyebrow raised in suspicion, but you had no complains. You simply shrugged your shoulders and tucked yourself into the sleeping bag, the pillow adding comfort.

You sighed as you tried to forget about where the pillow possibly came from. You turned to Rei, who was beside you.

"Is that pillow given to you too?" you questioned as you pouted at her, placing your hands to your face to add to the comfort.

"Nah, it's mine," she responded, her voice slightly raspy.

"What?! You knew to bring?"

"It was literally in the itinerary!"

"Jake, what's up with your neck?" you heard a guy question.

Your eyes shot to his direction, curious to see what the commotion was about, your eyebrow raising in curiosity.

Jake shrugged as he continued to rotate his neck in circles, stretching out the muscles. You shot a weird look despite him not looking in your direction and rolled your eyes.

"Just slept funny, I guess" you heard Jake respond.

'That's what you get. May your neck be cursed and remain stiff eternally!' you thought to yourself.

You giggled to yourself, enjoying that you were cursing him out and the others looked at you in concern. Riwoo nudged Woonhak, whispering into his ears, "Has she gone coo coo..?".

Woonhak shrugged and snickered, having the same exact thoughts as Riwoo.

Day 2 wasn't that much better than day 1, but you've grown used to the nature, becoming braver than you were yesterday. You'd stop flinching whenever a branch nearby cracks, you're at least more brave to walk around as long as there's at least one person beside you. You're more capable, though there were moments where you ran to Rei and held her tightly, embracing for impact.

Everyone was on the trail, the stream of water flowing down. The atmosphere was filled with the waters crashing and the sounds of conversation, and you were simply following and enjoying the view. Though you admitted that you hated being in the forest, it's not everyday you get to enjoy the nature.

Your eyes scanned around the area as you continued to walk, your neck turning when you suddenly make eye contact with someone's camera. The person instantly pans their phone away from you, your eyes blinking to make out who it was to realise it was the one you hated the most.

"DId you take a fucking photo of me?" you called out, still walking. You were irritated, but you weren't that worked up compared to yesterday.

"Yeah, you looked fucking ugly, Ms Anxiety," he scoffed.

You didn't fight back, deciding that you didn't have anymore time and energy to waste on him.

"Whatever floats your fucking boat," you responded and his eyebrows raised, amused that you weren't being a public nuisance and causing trouble as usual.

You've grown accustomed to the nature and walking around, but you didn't get accustomed to obstacle courses. To be specific — elevated obstacle courses, also known as high elements.

"I DON'T WANNA GO!" you screeched, holding onto the rope that kept you secure and safe, your grip insanely tight as you shut your eyes closed.

The instructor nervously laughed, patting your back as he tried to encourage you to go. You were already halfway and it would be such an inconvenience to you and everyone behind you if you turned back, so you could only move forward.

You looked downwards slowly, peeking over the edge and feeling your legs grow more wobbly. You had a fear of heights, and that added onto the reasons why the forest is the worst place you could be.

"Don't look down! Just— just go!" you heard Sungho cheer you on from behind. You took a brief second to turn backwards, feeling motivated and encouraged by Sungho's words, but as soon as you looked back down you panicked and stopped again.

"Fuck! Why did I come onto this trip!" you whisper shouted to yourself, your lips quivering from fear.

Your nails were digging into your palms and your hands were shaking. You were ready to just.. die, until..

"Y/N! Don't be scared! Just jump!" you heard a voice ahead and your head immediately shot up, shocked to see who was motivating you.

Jake was caught off-guard by the expression on your face and he bit his lip, scratching his neck for a split second. "Just.. just jump you dumbass!" he yelled, stepping back into the course and holding his hand out.

You slowly stood up, your legs wobbly as you frowned at him, surprised to see this new side of him but at the same time, you could only care about getting over this high elements obstacle course.

"You..!" you muttered.

"Don't put the 'anxiety' in Ms Anxiety!" he mocked you in an attempt to motivate you.

A part of you felt like punching him, so you immediately scoffed, screaming as you jumped towards him. He was bewildered at how you did it with no hesitation after his comment, but he took your hand. Your foot landed on the checkpoint, but you accidentally slipped backwards.

You yelped loudly but he immediately gripped your forearm, pulling you towards him and preventing you from falling. Your foreheads knocked from how close he pulled you, making you groan in pain as you rub your forehead.

Your eyes slowly trail up his face, eventually locking eyes with him, feeling his breath on your face, and as you realised how he was staring back into your eyes, your chest tightened and your stomach tensed up. The strands of hair on your arm stood up, and you immediately became fully conscious, standing up properly while screaming and pushing him away in the process, making him dangle in the air.

"ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?!" he yelled as he dangled in the air, desperately trying to get hold of the checkpoint edge as you stared at him, your eyes about to pop out as you frantically tried to reach your hand out.

You'd never thought you'd see your hotel bed again after 2 days in nature since it felt like 400 years. You enjoyed the coolness of the AC and jumped onto the bed, enjoying the texture of the sheets after it being untouched for the past 2 days. You cuddled up to your pillow, bringing the sheets towards your face as you stretched your back and legs, your eyes shut from how comfortable you felt.

After getting comfortable and sufficiently stretching, you flipped onto your back, staring into the ceiling and thanking all the Gods above that you managed to reach back the hotel safely and that you get to enjoy the comforts of a hotel room.

You were about to doze off until you heard your phone vibrate. Excited that Sungho, Jaehyun or the rest texted you, your eyes immediately opened and your hand flew to the nightstand, where your phone was placed, and you turned it on to check your notifications.

unknown : Hi unknown : Don't ghost me unknown : I have your clothes

What. The. Fuck. Who was this stalker?!

y/n : who the fuck are you. y/n : are you fucking STALKING ME

unknown : You fucking dumbass unknown : Don't flatter yourself unknown : The poor guy who got ghosted for absolutely no reason unknown : Remember him?

Oh my god.

jake : The poor guy who so happened to be me?

y/n : i figured

jake : Still no remorse?

y/n : can you shut the fuck up

You made a disgusted face at your screen, irritated by his attitude.

jake : Oh? jake : Okay. jake : Rooftop in 5 or else i'm throwing your clothes down the building.

You gasped loudly, sitting up on your bed.

y/n : you would not FUCKING DARE.

And before you knew it, you were out the door.

You sipped the drink that Jake had made, tapping your tongue at the roof of your mouth to taste the drink, before you made a satisfied expression, raising your eyebrows.

After a long day at the cooking workshop for day 3, you decided that you wanted to make coffee for yourself at the shared hotel kitchen room, missing your barista job when you realise that Jake was already there.

You two were bickering, when you two eventually came to an agreement that Jake would make you something.

Without poisoning you, of course.

You licked your lips as you frowned, looking at him afterwards. "Hate to give it to you.. but—"

"It's good, right?" he interrupted, his arms folded and his head high, feeling proud of the drink he made.

You rolled your eyes at how he praised himself. "You're thinking too highly of yourself," you commented, "But it's not bad".

He grinned in satisfaction, the compliment filling a part of the void in his heart. You continued, "You're actually kinda good at this".

"Well, duh? I'm close to your boss?"

You pursed your lips, "Whatever".

jake (DNI) : Want my drink again?

You were surprised to see the notification pop up at the top of your phone. You didn't think it through when you drank his coffee when you were literally about to sleep, now you were struggling.

y/n : you wish. y/n : i literally cant sleep

And the next surprising thing? It was the fact the two of you texted until you both fell asleep, just like how you two texted when you were on that dating app. However, this time was different, because you didn't feel like pulling away.

"You're more tolerable these days," you mumbled, barely audible that Jake almost missed it. Jake's eyebrows raised and he froze for a second, taking a moment to process what you'd just said. He cleared his throat and scratched his neck, recovering from your sudden comment.

Everyone around the table made low sounds of approval as they understood what happened, giving each other the eye and smirking. For the entire of day 4, it was a free day to let everyone explore, and your group decided that shopping to get souvenirs was a good idea.

You didn't even know how, but Jake suddenly appeared with your group but you didn't fight against it, slowly growing used to his presence.

After gathering back at the hotel, everyone, including the leaders, were having dinner together. You also didn't even know how but Jake ended up sitting beside you, and after being teased by the rest, Jake popped the question "What do you think about me?" to tease you further, which led to that answer.

You didn't know why you were so blunt. You didn't know why you weren't having the usual banter with him — you didn't feel like it. You ignored all the mummers and sounds from others, picking up your fork and slightly playing with your food.

"So I've looked through your activity recommendations for tomorrow when you guys submitted your forms, and we decided between two activities!" one of the leaders announced and you folded your arms, sleepily resting your head on Rei's shoulder as everyone paid close attention.

"Probably gonna be boring, huh?" you commented.

"Yup, maybe," Rei responded.

The leader continued, "FIrst activity would be ocean gazing at the nearby beach!".

There were sounds of approval across the crowd, people looking at each other and nodding excitedly.

"And the next would be star gazing at the nearby school's rooftop!"

Your eyes immediately scanned the room for Jake. You observed how his face lit up — his eyes about to pop out, his eyes widened, his mouth agape and you noticed how he smacks his friend in excitement. You giggled to yourself, finding him cute how he was so excited for the activity.

"Who're you looking at?" "No one!" your head immediately shot forward, your smile dropping and your posture straightening.

Rei gave you a doubtful look but brushed it away.

"You guys would have to vote between the two!" the leader continued, and you noticed from your peripheral view how Jake's shoulders slowly dropped.

Your chest slightly tightened at his mood change, you immediately turned to Rei. You voiced out, "Say, isn't star gazing so cool?".

"Huh? But ocean gazing sounds more—" "Nahh, you have the opportunity to do that back home! Unlike for star gazing!" you tried to convince her. "Hmm, you have a point.."

It was your victory when it was declared that star gazing was the chosen activity. You'd been going around, convincing people that star gazing was the better option and to your luck, they were all open-minded to your idea.

As the activity was declared, you watched how Jake punched the air in excitement, your chest tightening and your stomach feeling queesy at the sight.

"Hnnm? Who's got you smiling to yourself?" Jaehyun bumps his shoulder and your face immediately stones up. You didn't respond in hopes he'd magically forget that you were giggling to yourself.

He leaned in, inspecting your face, smiling while pointing at you, "Ohh? You're even red!".

You slapped your hand onto Jaehyun's mouth, "You better stop!".

You would be jumping for joy, but instead you were down, staring into nothing with your heart feeling empty. For some reason, Jake felt distant. It would already be a surprise if you two conversed without getting onto each other's necks, but the fact that he hasn't teased or argued with you once this day?

You occasionally took glances at Jake, often making eye contact but instead of him making a snarky expression, he immediately broke eye contact and turned away, his expression unreadable.

You sucked your inner cheek, feeling unsure to why your chest was tightening at such sight. You should've been happy right? He's finally leaving you alone just like you've always wanted.

But at the same time, you wish he'd just tease you at least once. It was driving you crazy at the possibility that he was ignoring you. He was just okay yesterday, so why the sudden shift overnight?

"Is that a telescope?! Looks so cool!" Woonhak exclaimed as he started jogging towards the telescope that was placed beside the fence on the rooftop.

The rooftop was dark, the area being lit up by the lights around. You could hear loud conversation sparsed out in the area, each of them being thrilled and in awe by the night sky. The sky had countless of bright gems, the view looking spectacular.

You folded your arms as your friends wrapped their arms around your shoulder, running and dragging you towards the telescope. Today felt off, you didn't really feel like doing anything but you couldn't just sit out.

Sungho patted your back, "C'mon, I don't know what's wrong but you can't possibly still be sad after seeing this view?".

You shrugged, tilting your head upwards as you saw the view, in awe as you grinned to yourself. You turned down and looked up ahead, and there was the telescope. You saw a group of people approaching it, peeking into the scope and hearing sounds of curiousity and enthusiasm.

Your eyes looked around, and you saw someone behind the group of people. You watched how Jake tapped his feet impatiently, smiling to himself and filddling with his fingers as he peeked over the people's shoulders, wondering when they'd be done so it'd be his turn.

Your friends talked to each other, your mind somewhere else as you stared at the boy. Once it was his turn, his whole body shook and he started to walk towards the telescope. You beamed at nothing, enjoying the sight of lively Jake, but right before he peeked into the scope, he turned around.

He turned around and his eyes scanned the crowd, until it met yours. However, this time he didn't break it, and neither did you. You two stared each other for a brief moment, and you gave him a genuine smile for the first time ever. He weakly gave you a grin, and you nodded and gestured for him to look into it quickly.

You knew it had always been his passion, and though you hated his guts, you had to admit that a part of you was happy for him.

"You came back?" you questioned, and Jake immediately turned his head from the telescope. He was stunned to see you, eyeing you up and down.

"Ms Anxiety's here too?" he remarked as he pouted, his expression unreadable again.

Everyone had returned to the hotel 2 hours ago, and by right you were supposed to be sleeping by now, but you couldn't brush away the thought that Jake was purposely avoiding you earlier in the day.

"Nickname's getting old," you pursed your lips, dragging your feet and sitting on the floor beside him.

"This is getting old," he shot and you looked at him, puzzled.

"What are you talking about?"

"Us," he declared, and he finally leaned back from the telescope, looking down at you and for once, you could finally read his expression. His eyes were filled with hurt, and his frown was genuine. He wasn't looking for a fight — he felt wronged and hurt, and he was finally showing it. You two stared into each other for a period of time, the sound of your heart beat loud in your ears.

He broke the silence, "Why did you do that?".

"Do what?"

"Convince everyone to go star gazing?"

"You.. knew?"

"Of course I did. I'd be a blind fuck if I didn't," he snarked.

You stared into his eyes and frowned, struggling to form words. You knew the reason, but you didn't want to admit it. There was another period of silence, as you were lost in your own thought.

"I thought about it over and over this entire day," he stepped back from the telescope and took a step towards you, "and I've concluded that it was for me, wasn't it?".

He squatted down in front of you, his eyes full of vulnerability. If you were in your normal state, you'd throw out curse words, slap him and run away as usual, but this time you felt the unusual urge to be honest, open up, tell him the truth.

"It was," your voice was quiet, your eyes never leaving his.

He sighed as he looked away, scratching his neck. " I just want to ask," he turned back at you, "Why did you do it?".

He didn't need to specify what he was talking about. You knew exactly what he was referring to, and it wasn't the reason why you were running around and convincing everyone to go star gazing, but you played dumb.

"Because star gazing is—"

"No," he cut you off, his voice stern, "I don't care about that. I'm talking about why you ghosted me".

He turned his head back to you, his eyes on you. The question was heavy, and even if he was the one who was wronged, you could tell that he was still patient. His gaze wasn't scary, it was welcoming. His eyes were softened as he waited for you to think about a response.

You looked at him, guilt taking over as you built up courage and forced yourself to maintain eye contact. You pursed your lips and scratched your neck, having the reason in your head but being unable to form proper words.

"It.." you started, "Was scary".

He tilted his neck as you said one sentence that was completely vague.

"I really liked you, you were fun," you confessed, "I've never texted someone so much in my life before," your eyes drifted away, feeling slightly embarrased, "But it was getting too real".

Your eyes wandered back to his, and you could see a soft frown on his head, the creases on his forehead slightly visible.

"It was scary, I was scared," you continued, "I started to make myself hate you, put a distance, push you away".

"But fate's crazy, brought us together, and here we are, hating each other," you commented.

"Are you sure?" he questioned, doubt in his voice.

"Well, of course fate brought us together, if not—"

"I'm asking about the 'hate' part. Are you sure you hate me?"

You stared at him, being completely speechless. You wanted to be open about your feelings, confess how you felt, and as soon as you were about to open your mouth, you started to get second thoughts

What if he hurts you? What if he makes fun of you? What if—

"Yes," your response came out quiet, barely audible and you looked down, not having the conscious to look at him in the eye.

There was a moment of silence before he said "Okay" loudly and turned away, walking back towards the telescope. You looked up at him, puzzled as to why he wasn't reacting.

"W-what?"

"You said you hate me, so why are you still here?"

You had to think about it for a second, "I don't—".

"You don't know. You hate me, so just go," he demanded.

You were confused as to why he was shutting you out now. You've always hated each other, so what's different now?

"Jake, why are you acting like this?" you questioned without thinking.

He scoffed before turning back, a smirk on his face, "Why am I acting like this?". He took a few steps, standing directly in front of you, your faces a few centimetres away from each other.

"Why do you think, Y/N?" he smiled, but it wasn't a welcoming one. It was a frightening one.

You simply stared at him, not knowing what to say.

"Call me crazy but, even over only text, I've smiled and laughed way more with you compared to the people I've been on actual dates with," he confessed, "And I was patient and understanding with you, and yet you left because it was... 'getting too real'?".

He scoffed, ruffling his hair in frustration and laughing to himself as if this was all a joke. You wanted to express your true thoughts, but he continued to talk before you could.

"And you say all of that, yet you still do things for me that make me question... everything?"

You frowned at his sentence, not knowing what he was referring to, "Question.. everything?"

"Question if what we had was real."

He sucked his inner cheek, placing his hands on his hips as he stared at you, fury in his eyes.

"Laugh at me all you want, call me someone who's emotional over someone 'online', I don't care anymore," he declared, "Don't talk to me anymore. Don't do anything for me, Y/N, I don't want to associate with you anymore".

He sharply turned his back to you, and your heart ached at the sight. You bit your lip, not having enough courage to face him, especially now when he was so pent up with fury. He walked back towards the telescope, leaning and looking through the scope.

You wanted to walk to him, tap his shoulder and just talk everything out, but what was the point? You two weren't even friends. You.. hate him, so what's the point? What's there to talk about?

You bit your lip hard, clenching your fists, turning your back and walked away, fighting every urge to just turn back and confess everything to him. You couldn't even mutter an apology — you didn't have the guts to.

It was the last day, and you were supposed to be having fun — clinking glasses with other people, swim with other people in the pool, dance to the music, but here you were, sitting on a bench far away from everyone, staring into blank space as memories of the previous day kept coming to your head.

Your chest felt heavy and you didn't have the energy to do anything. You stood up from the bench, wanting to go back to your hotel room to pack up your things for the flight tomorrow, but before you could leave, someone gripped your wrist.

"Y/N! Where are you going? Let's go for a swim!"

You turned around and it was Rei, and you were about to nicely decline, but before you could do that, she started to pull you towards the pool.

"Eh? R-Rei, wait-! My necklace!" you panicked, using your free hand and trying to get your necklace off but before you knew it, she dragged you into the water with her, making you completely submerge into the water.

You panicked because you didn't know how to swim at all, but when you kicked, your feet immediately came into contact with the pool floor, so you stood up, everything from your shoulder being in the surface.

You pouted at Rei, "I'm going to kill you".

She giggled cheekily and started to run in water, "Not if you can't catch me!".

Packing your luggage, you were mentally ticking things off from the list you made at the back of your head, touching and rummaging through your luggage to confirm the item's presence.

After a few hours, you pretty much packed everything, but there was this one item in your list you couldn't quite remember what it was. You tried walking around your hotel to get visual cues on what the last item could possibly be, walking into rooms and turning on the light then standing still for a moment to try to recall the item.

You walked around like an idiot, a puzzled expression on your face throughout and you sat down on your bed, feeling defeated when you layed down, staring at your ceiling. You scratched your neck in confusion, but you realised that the sensation felt different.

And that's when you realised — your necklace is gone. You sat up from your bed, patting your neck violently in hopes a cold metal would come into contact with your hand, but to no avail. You started to inspect your body thoroughly, hoping to feel a hard bump anywhere especially in your pockets, but absolutely nothing.

You immediately stood up, letting out sounds of panick as you frantically looked around, searching high and low as you opened and closed cupboards frantically, hoping it would appear in your sight. You even checked under the bed, the bathroom, trash can, and you paced around the room.

That's when you remembered — the swimming pool.

Your eyes widened and your shoulders dropped when you remembered trying to frantically remove your necklace before Rei dragged you in the water.

Oh. My. Fucking. God.

That was the fastest you ran out of your hotel room, not having any thoughts to bring your phone or other personal belongings. You headed straight for the pool, praying to all the Gods above that you'd be able to find your necklace.

Searching frantically, you ran around the swimming pool area and tried to recall when you were still here, trying to retrace your steps. You've checked the perimeters of the pool, every single corner of all of the benches, each crevice you stumble upon, and yet there was nothing.

"Finding something?" a voice scared you and you jumped. You immediately turned around, a frown plastered across your face from the stress and then you realised who it was.

"Jake? What're you doing here?" you questioned, blinking awkwardly as you recalled your argument the previous day. You suddenly became fully conscious of the way you stood and looked, stiffening up as you pursed your lips.

"Couldn't sleep, need help?" he replied, dark eyebags obvious under his eyes.

You stared at him, slightly bewildered to the difference in his personality compared to the previous day. You recalled his words, feeling the same hurt again, and at the same time, thinking how you could avoid hurting him again.

"It's okay if you don't—" he was about to turn his back. "No!" you yelled, ducking down slightly and checking the area, hoping there weren't any teachers checking the area.

When you realised you were in the clear, you stood normally, "I need.. your help".

The facial expression on his face softened and he sighed, "What are you looking for?".

"My mom's necklace," you answered promptly, making him raise your eyebrows.

"The same one you mentioned that one time?"

"The exact same".

He gave you a reassuring look, silently letting you know that you weren't alone in finding it. You didn't know how to react to him suddenly acting different, but that was something out of your concerns. You needed the necklace before you leave.

The two of you checked the area again, on the tables, cabiets, near the benches, the perimeters of the pool, but absolutely nothing. You were stressed out, pulling your hair in frustration when he suddenly spoke up.

"Have you checked the water?"

You looked up at him and frowned, "No? Why would it—" and then you recalled that Rei dragged you into the pool, "Oh".

You puffed up your cheeks, "You're right".

He sat down on a nearby chair, "I'll wait for you to change and come back".

You raised an eyebrow at him, taking a step into the water, "What are you talking about? I'm going in now".

He looked slightly amused to see you step in with your pyjamas, following you inside afterwards. You were wearing your precious pyjamas, while he was wearing a normal top with basketball shorts.

You felt awkward because you weren't in the proper clothes to be in the pool, but you could care less. You had one goal and that was all that mattered. The two of you split up, taking different sides of the pool, but when you heard the sudden sloshing sound of water, you immediately turned to be met with the sight of Jake raising his hand in the air, with something metallic and shiny dangling from his hand.

"Bingo," he declared and you immediately ran (in water..) to him. Your eyes widened and weight was taken off of your shoulders, the constant ache in your chest from worry slowly disappearing.

"You found it?!" you asked a rhetorical question, your eyes never leaving your precious necklace. It was a necklace you've worn every single day and cherished because it was something your mother gave to you before she passed on.

"I did," he smiled at you.

You ran up to him, placing your hands on his chest, trying to take the necklace from his hand but he straightened his arm, making the necklace out of reach. You pouted at him as you tried to jump for it, which was practically impossible because your clothes were drenched and so heavy it was pulling you down, and his arms were too long.

You whined and he teased you back and forth, both of you laughing loudly. You both played in water, splashing each other and making waves as you tried to fight for your necklace.

It was almost like yesterday didn't happen. It was almost like he never asked you to stay away from him.

"God, Jake, give it back! I still need to finish up my packing!" you whined, a smile never leaving your face.

He gave a smug expression, "Okay, fine".

You waddled towards him to stand in front of him, and you watched him offer your necklace. You felt content, feeling satisfied after finding the thing you were so desperate to fnd, reaching your hand to grab onto it until he suddenly raised his hand up again.

You stumbled and fell forward, his hands immediately catching you and your hands landing on his chest as you tried to stabilise yourself. You blinked a couple of times, processing what had just happened before you slowly looked up to be met by his gaze.

Your faces were too close for comfort, and you only blinked at him. Your face grew more red by the second as you understood what was happening, and you wanted to step backwards, but you were frozen.

His jaw clenched as he stared at you, feeling flabbergasted as well. He slowly lowered his arm, your necklace just dangling next to his face. You bit your lip and gently took the necklace from his hand, and he didn't resist at all.

"Uhm," you looked away and scratched your neck, "Thanks".

Your eyes wandered back to his again, only to see the same expression on his face and you immediately felt nervous, so you wanted to make your leave.

"Well, uhm, thanks, I'll be—" you turned your back but he quickly grabbed your hand, preventing you from turning further.

"Don't.." his voice came out as a soft whisper, "Don't go".

You slowly turned back, seeing his pleading expression and all the thoughts about leaving the pool left your head.

"I'm sorry," he said in the midst of nowhere, catching you when you were unguarded, "I said things yesterday, and I said it because I was.. out of it.

Your gaze remained on him, watching how his eyes flicker from left to right as he felt regretful. You sucked your inner cheek, feeling guilty, "No, you were right".

There was silence, the only sounds audible is the sound of water slowly flowing and crickets. You noticed how his eyes flickered to your lips, his grip on your waist tightening. The space between the two of you was basically non-existent, the tension in the air growing stronger to the point you couldn't just walk away without doing anything.

He licked his lips, and you watched the way his tongue runs across his lip. His mouth parts and your eyes meet his again, sensing the desperation and need in his eyes. Your arms snake around his neck, and both of your faces leaned in closer, your foreheads resting on each other.

You slowly closed your eyes, leaning in until you heard a loud shout.

"WHO'S THERE?!"

The two of you immediately came back to reality, your heads turning rapidly as you tried to scan the area and detect where that sound was from.

"Shit, shit shit! Go go go!" he panicked, holding your hand and dragging you out of the pool. You followed along, running as fast as you can even with the pyjamas slowing you down, running into the hotel and drenching the carpet with all the water dripping.

You two laughed as you run across the halls, the trail of water being left as your mark, hearing the teacher run after you. The two of you ran up the stairs, deciding that the lift would screw the both of you over, and when you reached your level, you tugged on Jake's hand.

"This is my floor!" you announced and he grinned at you, panting.

"Okay, go now, g'nite!" he let go of your hand and continued to climb the stairs, the sounds of the teacher rushing up the stairs echoing through the entire staircase, and you immediately opened the door on your floor that led to the hallways, making it to your room and opening the door swiftly.

You shut the door locked, your back pressed up against your door as you stayed silent, trying to listen for any signs of the teacher outside, After a period of time, you concluded that you were in the clear.

It was literally 1AM, and you were in your pyjamas, drenched and literally dripping. You sighed as you immediately made your way to your bathroom to take a shower after ensuring your necklace was kept in a safe spot.

Did last night really just happen? Was it a dream? Was the way he looked at you real? Was the way he leaned in genuine? Were you two about to kiss? What would've happened if you two kissed? Would it all be real—

"Y/N!" a voice snapped you out of your day dream. Jaehyun frowned, folding his arms as he positioned himself directly in front of you, "I've said your name 5 times, and you still can't hear me! Are you okay?!".

You huffed out air, scratching your neck, suddenly fully conscious of your surroundings. "Sorry 'bout that.." you puffed up your cheeks and eyes wandered around, hoping to catch one person.

"I swear, Y/N has completely flipped, the person she was before this trip...." Sungho started, but his voice slowly started to fade out in your ears when your eyes finally land on him.

Jake was smiling as per usual, as if nothing had happened last night, and your chest ached slightly at the sight, making you question if it was only you feeling confused about the whole situation. You wanted to approach him, confront him, but a part of you wished he did it first.

You cleared your throat, shaking the thoughts away as you tried to forget about it. Maybe you'll get a chance to talk to him before you board, or when you're on the plane. Definitely.

"Who're you looking for?" Woonhak questioned, and you immediately shook your hands as if you'd just gotten caught.

"No one!" you defended yourself, your voice high pitched and Woonhak nodded, looking away. He knew you were lying but he didn't want to push it.

Everyone was collecting their luggages, but for some reason, even before, during, and after the 7 hour flight, you have not seen him at all. You haven't gotten the chance to talk to him at all, and it was driving you mad.

You couldn't bring yourself to ask anyone else, because you knew it would just be endless teasing until you die, so you kept it to yourself, hoping a miracle would happen and that he'd be right in front of you.

But nothing.

Next place you'd look to find him? Work. But even so..

"Ah, hey Y/N! You're back! Just wanted to know we opened a new outlet in the other area and we already planned to shift you there!"

Next place..? The dating app.

But you tried searching his user, finding your old chats, but it was all missing. Absolutely no traces of him.

Maybe it was fate for you to forget him. I mean, what can be so hard about it, right? You've already hated his guts, wishing the worst for him, but at the same time, you remembered the image of him leaning in, making you shudder and kick your legs in confusion.

You screamed into your pillow, hoping that you could just forget him and the things you've done for the past few months. Maybe you shouldn't have met him, or downloaded that stupid app. If not everything would've been okay.

"Ah, Y/N? That's such a lovely name!" the male sitting the opposite of you complimented, and you gave a small smile.

You decided that dating apps do work, and that Jake wasn't really that special, right? If Jake had been implanted in your mind, it can be the same for other people you meet! Or so you thought.

You were fiddling with your fingers, looking through your bag for a non-existent item, going through your phone when you were literally on a date, and worst of all — you wished it was Jake sitting in front of you.

You hated him? Maybe, but did you wish for his presence? Definitely.

The male in front of you started talking about himself, showing off his status and wealthiness, and you nodded repeatedly to show you were physically listening, but your mind was somewhere else.

That was when you suddenly felt a grip on your wrist and a strong tug, making you gasp loudly and shoot your eyes towards the person who was pulling onto you.

"Jake?! What are you—"

"Sorry bro, she's booked by me," Jake faced your date and patted the guy's back, who's jaw was dropped. Poor boy.

Jake dragged you out after you finished packing up your things in a swift, and as soon as you were outside, you snatched your wrist back, frowning at him and giving him a snarky look.

"What do you think you're doing?!" you snapped, feeling completely taken-aback by his rude appearance. You just wanted to run back in and apologise to your date for Jake's rudeness.

"Saving you, what do you think?" he replied sarcastically, raising his eyebrows at you. He continued, "And also, you're willing to go on a date with that.. dude? And you can't even meet up with me?".

"What do you mean saving?! And you make my date sound like he's a bad guy or something! I'm going to apologis—" you scolded, turning your back to walk back in until he held your wrist again.

"Nah—uh, you're staying here with me. I paid for the bill already, ordered a few extra drinks for the man, so you have nothing to apologise for," he voiced out.

You turned back to face him again, "Okay?! But that doesn't change the fact that I'm just rudely leaving him?!".

"Why does that matter? You're never gonna see him again," he asserted, and you glared at him.

"How do you know that, huh?"

"Because I'm here."

You scoffed as you snatched your wrist again, folding your arms, "You've been gone from my life for a while, and you're suddenly here and you still have the audacity to think that I still like you?!".

"So you admit you liked me?" he smiled.

"Not the fucking point."

He sighed and folded his arms, pacing in a small circle before his eyes settled back on you. He spoke, "If you don't want me to take you on a date right now, walk back in," he raised up his hand, "I'll give you 5 seconds".

"5" "4" "3" "2"

He looked at you, the amusement in his face never leaving.

"1"

And he finally closed all his fingers, the smile on his face widening. He extended his hand, gesturing for you to take it, "Let's go on a real date now, shall we?".

You silently took his hand, the frown still on your face, "I thought you ghosted me".

"Well, taste of your own fucking medicine, no?".

You and him did so many things together, and you could finally say that you were having a good time, unlike when you were having that dinner date with the other boy. You were laughing like there was no tomorrow, running around as he chased you down and tickled you when he caught you.

He kept telling you things like "This is what I wanted to do when I asked you to go out" which made your heart flutter, but he always had to add salt to the wound by saying something cold like "But someone felt the need to avoid me".

You and him ran up the staircase of the building, barging the door open where you were met with the night view. The rooftop was chilly, the cold wind blowing and Jake closed the door behind the two of you. You were in awe when you saw the stars in the sky, the sky looking so bright, more than you could've imagined.

"Say," he broke the silence, "Since I trust you won't run away now, could I ask of you to do the thing I've been wanting to do the most ever since?".

You glanced at him, puzzled to what he was referring to, but you saw him offer his hand. Still confused to what he was referring to, you took his hand in hopes he'd give you context.

"Let's dance," he asked and you were flabbergasted.

"So suddenly?" you choked, "But we have no music!".

"So what?" he twirled you around, his hands finding comfort in your waist afterwards.

You frowned at him, raising an eyebrow at him, "If someone thinks we're crazy, I'm going to blame you".

He scoffed and rolled his eyes, "Okay, sure whatever".

It started to quietten down as the two of you start to focus on each other, eye contact never breaking as he started to initiate the dance. The dance was.. slow. He took small steps, making it easier for you to follow along and when you accidentally tripped on his shoe, he quickly caught you, his hands around your waist. You were feeling doubtful of yourself, but he gave you a reassuring smile which gave you the courage to continue.

He slowly started to speed up as you started to get the hang of it, your body starting to feel less awkward and moving with the flow. You started to feel comfortable, the thought of someone suddenly coming to the rooftop and judging the two of you disappearing.

He twirled you around, the grin on his face never-leaving as he watched you. You were so sure he could hear your heart beat from how fast it was beating, and you teasingly stuck your tongue out at him, earning a loud chuckle which broke the silence.

The two of your bodies moved along with each other, your rhythms matching each others' even if there was no music to cue the both of you. He moved passionately with you, and you felt like you could do this all night.

Your eyes left his for a second to glance at the sky once again, and although you could see this every night, for some reason it seemed like the stars were shining brighter.

The stars seemed brighter, the sky looked prettier, and the moon's glow looked more ethereal.

"Hey," he broke the silence.

Your eyes fell back on his, curiosity filling you, "What?".

"You're more fun when you don't run away," he confessed.

He wasn't being mean or mocking you. He was being honest. Genuine.

You stared at him in awe, being lost in his gaze.

"Can I kiss you?" he asked you, making your smile drop.

"What?" you muttered out, being caught off-guard that he asked such question. You were surprised that he'd ask you that out of the blue, but instead of feeling the need to push him and run away, you stayed on the spot and stared at him.

"I know you heard me," he stopped his tracks as well, the two of you now just standing and staring at each other.

You blinked at him, not believing what is about to happen. You suddenly remembered the time at the swimming pool, and your face turned red.

"Oh-ho, the moonlight isn't helping you!" he pointed at you, "I can see you blush!".

Your jaw dropped and your arms releases from his neck, cupping your cheeks and feeling your cheeks physically become hot. You avoided his gaze and turned your head from side to side, feeling nervous.

"I—" you muttered, only forming incoherent words.

His teasing made you feel embarrased, and you wanted to run to a corner to prepare yourself, but before you could turn away, he held your hands, "Nah-uh, I literally just complimented you for not running away".

You licked your lips, avoiding his gaze as you allowed him to inspect your face further, feeling more conscious of yourself.

"Look at me, please," he pleaded, and after a few seconds of building courage, you finally looked at him and saw vulnerability and love in his eyes.

"I'll ask again, okay?" he stated, "Actually no, I won't even ask—". He declared, "I want to kiss you".

Your eyes widened and your face grew even more red, the tips of your ears starting to become red as well.

"If you want to kiss me too, please say it too," he softly whispered, his eyebrows furrowing upwards as he grew more nervous to see how you'd respond.

"I.." your voice was quiet, "want to kiss you too..".

His eyes widened, and before you knew it, his lips clashed onto yours.

The kiss was slow and patient, as if he was being patient with you. It was similar to how he's been patient with you this entire time when you've been ghosting and pushing him away. You were awkward at first, feeling afraid and wanting to just disappear, but when he pulled you closer to him, it was almost like he was reassuring that he won't run away and hurt you.

You finally gave in, letting yourself loose after keeping your guard up for so long. The kiss felt heavenly, and it felt like a huge weigh on your back was finally removed. Your face grew even more red and your heart was beating more rapidly, your hands turning into fists as you fought the urge to push him away.

His lips felt like heaven. It was so comforting, and the way his lips moved with yours was perfect. He tilted your neck and snuck his tongue in after you finally started to kiss him back, earning a soft gasp from you. He explored the depths of your mouth, making you let out a moan.

Upon hearing your moan, he froze and instantly pulled back, "Did you just.. moan?".

"Shut the fuck up!"

He laughed out loud and you felt so irritated at his teasing, making you raise your fist. Seeing your raised fist was his cue to start running, and you chased him around, throwing curse words and threatening him that if you ever caught him, he'd be dead.

Originally, this was how you pushed him away, but in the end after you've confronted your feelings, this is how you pull him closer —no more running away, embracing and confronting the connection you both shared.

extra note : dare i say this is inspired by a real life experience except it wasnt fun and thrilling like this and i ghosted him after like 1.5 days lol

taglist @cutehoons02 @vixialuvs @jvngw0nlvr @ikeulove @addictedtohobi @miszes

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writingsoftarnishedsilver · 2 months ago

Note

I just imagine sebastian being like wake up sleepy head to ominis (like the vine ) Only for mc to go what the fuck from the bed cue the running and laughing like the vine

Wake-Up Call | Ominis Gaunt x Reader

💚 The Vine, for reference. This was so cute and fun to write, thank you for the ask, Anon!!! I hope you love it ahaha

Words: ~1,800

Tags: Reader Insert, Female MC, No Y/N, Friendship, Fluff/Crack

Morning came gently, slipping in through the curtains in soft, golden streaks. The world outside was quiet, still half-dreaming, and Ominis would have liked nothing more than to stay exactly where he was: tucked beneath the blankets, warm, content, and completely tangled up with you.

It still felt unreal.

Your breath ghosted softly against his collarbone, your body pressed against his side as if you belonged there. (And you did—you always had, he realized.) The weight of your leg draped over his own, anchoring him in place, and one of your hands rested against his bare chest, fingers curled lightly over his heartbeat.

Ominis tightened his hold on you slightly, just enough to feel the give of your body against his. The fabric of his oversized shirt—the one you had stolen to sleep in—shifted under his fingers, but it wasn’t enough. He wanted to feel your skin again, warm and bare under his hands.

For years, he had resigned himself to loving you quietly, distantly, safely. He thought it was better that way, to spare himself the risk of losing you altogether. But last night had shattered all of that. The way you had touched him, whispered his name against his lips, told him you loved him—he could still hear it now, echoing through his thoughts like a spell he never wanted to break.

He had you. You loved him.

Ominis could have stayed like this forever, just holding you, listening to your steady breathing, pressing lazy kisses to your hair while the rest of the world ceased to matter.

But, of course, Sebastian Sallow had other plans.

The sound of heavy footsteps storming up the stairs made Ominis’s eyes snap open. A flicker of recognition—and dread—spread through his drowsy mind, but before he could react, the bedroom door slammed open so violently he almost expected it to come off the hinges.

“WAKE UP, SLEEPYHEAD!”

Sebastian’s voice exploded into the room, and just like that, Ominis’s perfect, dreamlike morning was utterly, violently ruined.

You jerked awake beside him with a startled gasp, sitting upright so fast that the blankets fell away from your shoulders. Your hair was an absolute disaster, your face still slack with sleep, your eyes bleary and unfocused as you processed the intrusion. And your voice—groggy, irritated, and utterly unimpressed—cut through the chaos like a knife.

“What the fuck?"

Ominis felt Sebastian freeze, could hear the split second it took for realization to dawn.

Then, Sebastian let out the single most obnoxious cackle Ominis had ever heard in his life—loud, breathless, utterly delighted.

Ominis didn’t move. He didn’t breathe. He just sat there, shoulders hunched, gripping the bridge of his nose as the morning crumbled into absolute disaster.

Sebastian was laughing so hard he could barely stand. He was bent at the waist, one hand clutching the doorframe as if it were the only thing keeping him upright, the other pointing wildly in Ominis’s general direction. He gasped between fits of breathless cackling, his voice breaking into high-pitched wheezes, his entire body shaking with uncontrollable mirth.

Ominis inhaled deeply through his nose, his jaw tight, his grip on the bridge of his nose whitening his knuckles. He tried—tried—to will himself into calm.

It didn’t work.

Because Sebastian was still laughing. Because this morning—the most perfect morning of his entire miserable, tortured existence—had been utterly, violently desecrated by Sebastian bloody Sallow, who had apparently appointed himself agent of chaos and ruiner of happiness.

“OH—OH, THIS—” Sebastian wheezed, laughing so hard he snorted. “THIS IS INCREDIBLE—”

That was it. That was the last bloody straw.

Ominis had the vague, dull thought that murder was technically illegal, but at this moment, he was fully willing to risk it.

He flung back the covers with enough force to send a rush of cool air through the room.

Sebastian, meanwhile, still had the audacity to stand there, grinning, hands on his hips, clearly about to launch into a monologue about how he was right all along—

Ominis didn’t give him the chance. He surged to his feet.

Sebastian’s grin instantly faltered. “Ominis, wait—”

“ABSOLUTELY NOT.”

Sebastian had always been fast. Quick on his feet, trained in dodging punches, skilled in knowing exactly when to run for his damn life.

And run, he did.

He scrambled backward so fast he slammed into the doorframe, nearly knocking himself out, before turning and sprinting down the hallway like the devil himself was after him.

Which, to be fair, he was.

“Ominis, mate—”

“YOU BLOODY IMBECILE—”

“I WAS JUST SAYING GOOD MORNING—”

“DON'T YOU KNOW HOW TO FUCKING KNOCK—”

You sat in bed for a long moment, blinking at the now-empty space where Ominis had been while listening to the heavy thud-thud-thud of feet flying down the staircase.

From the bed, you could only stare at the open doorway, watching the last fleeting glimpse of Ominis’s bare back before he disappeared completely down the stairs, hot on the heels of his laughing, screaming best friend.

“Merlin’s sake, Ominis, let’s be rational about this—!”

“Rational?! You just—”

Then came the sound of furniture scraping against the floor—probably Sebastian vaulting over the sitting room sofa in his escape. A muffled thud followed, then Ominis’s furious voice.

“STOP RUNNING AND FACE YOUR FATE, YOU COWARD.”

Sebastian’s response was a hysterical, “AS IF—”

Another loud thud followed. Something crashed. Possibly a chair.

“Okay, ow, that was unnecessary—”

You groaned, rubbing at your face, exhaustion weighing down your limbs. All you had wanted was one peaceful morning—one slow, perfect, love-drunk morning wrapped up in Ominis.

Instead, this.

That's when the back door slammed open.

You sighed, shoving the blankets off and forcing yourself out of bed, your body sluggish and still aching from last night (not that you were complaining). Tugging Ominis’s oversized shirt down your thighs, you stumbled toward the window, blinking sleepily against the morning light.

What you saw was nothing short of absurd.

Sebastian was sprinting across the grass in the back garden, kicking up damp earth in his wake, absolutely booking it toward the far side of the yard where the trellis climbed up the garden wall, and right on his heels—furious, relentless, and hellbent on bloodshed—was Ominis.

“I WAS JUST TRYING TO BE NICE!” Sebastian yelled, breathless as he dodged a thrown shoe (where did Ominis get that?)

“YOU ARE A PLAGUE UPON THIS EARTH, SALLOW!” Ominis shouted back.

Sebastian shrieked—an actual, honest-to-Merlin shriek—as he realized that Ominis was not slowing down.

He made a desperate grab for the trellis, yanking himself up in a frantic attempt to climb over the garden wall.

Big mistake.

Ominis was on him in seconds, gripping the back of his shirt and yanking so forcefully that Sebastian let out a strangled yelp and tumbled backward, landing in a heap on the grass.

You winced. That sounded painful.

Ominis, meanwhile, did not give him time to recover. He was on him immediately, shoving Sebastian onto his back, pinning him down by the shoulders with an iron grip.

“You are the worst human being alive,” Ominis seethed, breath still ragged from the chase.

Sebastian grinned up at him, eyes still watery from laughing too hard. “That’s a bit dramatic—”

Ominis shook him. Sebastian wheezed.

“You—” Ominis snarled, his voice low and deadly “—are lucky that I respect Anne too much to murder her brother.”

Sebastian, still grinning like an absolute menace, coughed, clearly thrilled by the whole situation. “Merlin’s sake, Ominis, you’re acting like I—like I walked in on you shagging her—”

Ominis’s grip tightened. Sebastian immediately regretted everything.

“WAIT—WAIT, NO—”

Too late.

Ominis decked him.

It wasn’t his full strength—just a precise, well-aimed punch to the shoulder, but it was enough. Sebastian yelped, clutching at his arm, curling in on himself like a wounded animal.

“Oh, come on,” he groaned, rolling onto his side, still winded. “That was unnecessary—”

“So was your existence in my bedroom this morning, and yet here we are.” Ominis huffed, shaking out his hand as if debating whether or not to go for round two.

You, watching from the window, sighed deeply. You had a feeling that if you didn’t intervene, this ridiculous chase was going to last all bloody morning.

You leaned out the window, out just enough for your voice to carry across the garden.

“Ominis!”

He didn’t let go of Sebastian's shirt.

The brunette, however, perked up, flashing you the smuggest grin imaginable. “Good morning, darling!” he called sweetly, dodging a swipe from Ominis at the last second. “Sleep well?”

You rolled your eyes.

“Ominis, love,” you tried again, making sure your voice was sickly sweet, laced with just enough teasing to make him falter. “Are you really going to let him take you on a full lap around the garden when you could be back in bed with me?”

That did it.

His grip on Sebastian's shirt slackened, his breath still heaving from the chase, but his priorities had just been rearranged. Because you were right. He had far better things to be doing than entertaining Sebastian’s nonsense.

Ominis stood to his full height and turned on his heel, stalking back toward the house. When he reached the door, he paused, tilting his head slightly in Sebastian’s direction.

“For the record,” Ominis said smoothly, “if you ever pull something like this again, I won’t stop at one punch.”

Sebastian, sprawled dramatically in the grass, grinned up at the sky. “Worth it,” he sighed contentedly, massaging his shoulder.

Ominis didn’t dignify that with a response. Instead, he turned back toward the house, his pace quickening as he climbed the stairs.

As soon as he stepped inside the bedroom, he felt you—warm hands against his chest, laughter still humming in your throat as you tilted your head up to press a kiss to his jaw.

“You look murderous.”

“I am murderous,” he muttered, rubbing his temples as if physically willing the memory of the past ten minutes out of his head. “He’s never going to let this go.”

You grinned. “Of course he’s not.”

Ominis let out a long, suffering sigh—but then you were pulling him back toward the bed, curling your fingers into the fabric of his shirt.

“Come back to bed,” you murmured.

Ominis exhaled slowly, his fingers finding your waist, curling into the hem of the shirt you were wearing—his shirt. Just like that, the last remnants of frustration, irritation, and righteous fury toward Sebastian Sallow unraveled, dissolving into something softer. Something infinitely more important.

And so he followed you into the sheets without hesitation, sinking into the warmth of your embrace, determined to reclaim the peace that had been so disgracefully stolen from him.

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wondergotham · 2 months ago

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From Shadows to Sunshine

Request: “Joaquin x reader idea if you’re interested 🫣: he and the reader are friends who sort of playfully flirt with each other but neither of them thinks the other would actually want to a real relationship (silly dummies 🥺) until Joaquin wakes up in the hospital post-Indian Ocean to find the reader in the guest chair like clearly disheveled and sleep deprived because they’ve been so worried about him and have refused to leave his side”

“Hii! I’d like to request were joaquin had a pretty bad argument with the reader then make up to her (angst/fluff)”

Pairing: Joaquin Torres x Reader

Warning: Mentions of death

GIF Creds: @ ex0rin

“Joaquin stand down! Sam’s got it, let’s GO!” You yelled as you flew through the sky next to Sam.

If there was one thing the many years of being an Avenger taught you it was to never question an order or it could jeopardize the mission.

But Joaquin clearly didn’t know this.

You contemplated telling him before the three of you left but since he was a Lieutenant you thought he knew this already.

Clearly you were wrong.

“BACK OFF” Sam ordered.

“I GOT IT.”

Joaquin shot the missile.

The explosion was too close, he was hit. You saw the flames erupt into the air and the force violently threw him back. His body rapidly descended towards the ocean at an alarming rate.

“JOAQUIN” Sam yelled.

“NOOO” You screamed.

You snapped out of the trance you were in, now was not the time to be emotional. You and Sam needed to finish this and save the others.

“I’ve got him Sam you go save the last pilot.” You stated as you rapidly flew down towards Joaquin.

You managed to catch him moments before he hit the water and flew him back to the ship quickly.

Medical personnel were waiting for you both already. You placed Joaquin’s body on the stretcher and followed closely behind them.

════ ⋆★⋆ ════

A couple of days passed. Joaquin still hadn’t woken up. You were always at the hospital, waiting.

The only times you left were to go to the bathroom, take a shower or get something to eat. Other than that you were glued to his side.

Maybe Sam was right? Maybe it was time for you to confess your feelings.

But you still were hesitant. What if it was too good to be true.

Your heart aches as you notice the burns on the right side of Joaquin’s neck. But even with them he still looked handsome as ever.

“Have you seen the way he looks at you? That boy likes you Y/n just as much as you like him, maybe even more.” You recalled Sam telling you a few days ago.

You remembered the conversation you had with Joaquin prior to the mission. It was playful and flirty like the other million interactions you had before.

After changing into your suit you stepped out adding some weapons on your belt. As you adjusted the holster on your thigh you looked up to see Joaquin staring at you.

You giggled as he looked away, “Can I help you Lieutenant?”

“Sorry, it’s-you just…you look amazing. You’re gonna make it really difficult for me to focus on this mission.”

You blushed, “Well that makes two of us pretty boy. Green is definitely your color.”

He was about to say something until Sam walked in but you just smirked.

When Joaquin woke up it took a moment for his eyes to adjust to his surroundings. Thankfully there were no bright lights just the warm sun peeking through the window.

“Where am I?” He murmured. His voice hoarse.

He looked down noticing the hospital gown and a pulse monitor on his finger.

Shit, he thought.

What took him most by surprise was when he turned and saw you sleeping in the chair beside him. You had small dark circles under your eyes. Clearly an indication of the lack of rest the situation gave you.

You were asleep with a blanket on your legs covering your matching set. Even in a hospital you dressed great. Your hair spilled over your shoulders, bathed in the gentle sunlight.

You looked so beautiful.

He smiled to himself knowing you cared about him, that you were by his side just waiting for him to wake up.

A wave of warmth washed over him as he remembered the accident that landed him here. He knew he was gonna hear it from you. He could already see the scold and lecture you were going to give him.

But you were still cute when you were upset.

He shifted slightly, careful not to wake you, and took a deep breath. The sight of your peaceful face brought a smile to his lips.

Despite the sterile scent of antiseptic, the room felt like a sanctuary.

Just then, you stirred before slowly opening your eyes. You blinked at Joaquin, momentarily disoriented.

“Joaquin?” You whispered, a sleepy smile breaking across your face.

He chuckled, “Hey sleeping beauty.”

“How long have you been awake?”

“Just a couple of minutes. I couldn’t bring myself to wake you up. I had a gorgeous view in front of me.”

Even when he was injured he still managed to be a flirt.

You shook your head trying to hide your blush, “Your charms won’t work on me right now mister. You’re in trouble. What were you thinking?! When Sam gives us an order we listen to it the first time. You scared the shit out of us. Your heart stopped on that operating table Joaquin. You died!”

He noticed the soft crack in your voice and the tears you were trying to keep at bay. He hated the fact that he had hurt you.

“And do you know what would’ve happened if the doctors hadn’t been able to revive you? Sam would’ve blamed himself and I-I don’t think I could’ve lived with myself knowing that happened.”

Joaquin sighed, “Y/n it’s nobody’s fault but my own. I just wanted to be like Sam. I’ve looked up to him for years. And you too, seeing someone my age fighting with the Avengers for years made me believe I could also do it. I just wanted to prove myself.”

“Baby steps Joaquin. Nothing is given it’s earned. And you earn these things by listening to your team. It’s gonna take time and I know you’re impatient but trust me it’s worth it in the end. You’ve already proven yourself why you do think Sam let you come on these missions? And gave you the wings? He trusts you but you’ve gotta show him he made the right decision, okay?”

Joaquin thought about your words for a moment before nodding, “Yes ma’am. I won’t argue with you on that.”

“Ugh you’re a pain in the ass Torres. What am I going to do with you?” You shake your head slightly laughing.

“Well if I recall you did promise me a date after the mission.” He raised his eyebrows like a little kid. A small but cute smirk spread across his lips.

“I did say that but I meant if the mission went well….clearly it didn’t.” You gestured to the hospital bed.

Joaquin chuckled, “Y/n you’re killing me here. Come on preciosa. Look I don’t want to force you but I really like you. I would love to get to know you better and spend time with you other than when we’re on missions or training.”

This man was perfect. You couldn’t believe guys like him existed.

“Joaquin I really like you too. I was just messing with you, I would love to go on the date with you. But-once you’re better, the baby Falcon needs to heal.” You ran your hand through his hair causing him to smile.

“With you by my side that’s gonna be easy.” He lifted your hand and placed a soft kiss on it. “I can’t believe you stayed.”

“Of course I did.” You said softly, squeezing his hand. “I was worried about you.”

“I’m sorry. I’m going to make it up to you I promise. It’s gonna be the best date you’ve ever had.”

“Ooh I have no doubt about that. But for now focus on getting better, okay? I’ll be right with you.” Joaquin nodded with a smile on his face.

A soft knock came from the door. You both looked up, it was Sam.

“That’s my cue. If you thought my lecture was bad just wait for his.” You smirked.

“What happened to you being right by my side?” He huffed like a little kid pouting.

You chuckled, “Hey protégé’ conversations aren’t included. But don’t worry Sam’s understanding you’ll be okay. I’ll be right outside.”

You leaned down and placed a soft kiss on his cheek. As you pulled away Joaquin held your wrist softly.

“Hmm wait I think I need one more doctor, I can feel it healing already.” He teased.

You giggled before leaning down and kissing his cheek again but you let your lips linger a while longer.

“Okay wrap it up lovebirds I gotta talk to this one. But I’m sure you already lectured him didn’t you Y/n?” Sam grinned.

“You know me so well Sam.” You saluted as you walked out of the room causing both men to chuckle.

#joaquin torres #joaquin torres imagine #joaquin torres x reader #ca:bnw #captain america #marvel #marvel imagine #captain america brave new world #falcon #brave new world

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lemonsdietcoke · 3 months ago

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Get Gone - Player 230

Dark!Thanos/Choi Su-bong x Fem!Reader

This is part 3 of my mini series love ridden

Warnings: physical abuse, DV, implied NONCON, toxic relationship, emotional manipulation, gaslighting, and intense depictions of psychological distress. Reader discretion is advised.

Summary: “How many times do I have to say To get away, get gone?” A late-night confrontation unearths buried truths, forcing you to confront the cost of her own survival. loosely inspired by Get Gone-Fiona Apple

MINORS DNI!

A/n: yall I’m sorry this took so long, I have work & school during the week and low-key got lazy lol but it’s finally here!!! Lmk if yall fw it. I love feedback. Lmk what you think!! <3

…………………….

The room feels smaller now, the air pressing down on you like it’s alive, like it’s conspiring with him. Every second ticks by painfully, loud and sharp in your ears. You swear you can feel the weight of his gaze on you, heavy and unrelenting.

“If you walk out that door,” Su-bong says again, his voice low, deliberate, “you’ll never see me again.”

There’s no anger in his tone, no malice. Just a quiet certainty that chills you to your core. It should feel like a relief—like a clean break. But instead, it feels like a threat wrapped in a promise.

Your hands tighten around your phone. Ji-hye’s name still flashes on the screen like a lifeline you’re too afraid to grab.

“Why would you say that?” Your voice is barely above a whisper.

“Because it’s the truth,” he says, tilting his head slightly, his eyes narrowing as he watches you. “I don’t want to play games anymore, Y/N. I can’t do this halfway. Either you stay, and we figure this out together, or you leave… and that’s it.”

The simplicity of his words makes them hit harder. They slice through you like glass, leaving behind wounds you can’t see but can feel.

“You don’t mean that,” you say, your voice trembling despite your best efforts to keep it steady.

His lips curl into a faint, humorless smile. “Don’t I?”

You feel like the floor is shifting beneath you, like the ground you’ve been standing on has suddenly turned to quicksand. “You’re just saying that to scare me,” you accuse.

“Am I?” His voice is calm, measured, but there’s a sharp edge beneath it. “You think I don’t mean it, but deep down, you know I do. You know I’ve always meant it when it comes to you.”

“Stop,” you say, your voice cracking.

“Why?” he presses, taking a slow step toward you. He’s close now, too close, his presence overwhelming. “Because you don’t want to hear it? Because you don’t want to admit that it scares you?”

“I’m not scared of you,” you shoot back, even though your heart is hammering in your chest.

“No,” he says softly, almost thoughtfully. “You’re not scared of me. You’re scared of what happens if you leave. You’re scared because you don’t know who you are without me.”

Your stomach twists violently. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I know exactly what I’m talking about.” His voice softens, but that only makes it worse. “You don’t want to leave, Y/N. You’re just trying to convince yourself that you do. But we both know the truth. You’ve always been afraid of being alone.”

Your breath catches in your throat. “That’s not true.”

“Isn’t it?” His words are quiet, but they land with the force of a wrecking ball. “You stayed with me for two years, even when you knew you should’ve left. You forgave me for things most people wouldn’t. And why? Because you didn’t want to be alone. Because you don’t know how to be alone.”

Tears sting at the corners of your eyes, but you refuse to let them fall. “You don’t get to do this,” you say, your voice trembling with a mix of anger and desperation. “You don’t get to make this about me. You’re the one who—”

“I’m not making this about you,” he interrupts, his tone sharpening. “I’m just telling you the truth. You don’t want to hear it, fine. But don’t act like I’m the bad guy for saying it.”

You let out a shaky breath, your chest heaving as you struggle to hold yourself together. “You don’t know anything about me anymore.”

He scoffs, the sound low and bitter. “I know everything about you, Y/N. I know how you think, how you feel. I know you better than anyone, including Ji-hye.”

The mention of her name sends a jolt through you, sharp and electric.

“that’s who you’ve been talking to, right?” he asks, his voice dropping into something quieter, more dangerous. “Ji-hye?”

Your throat tightens. “She’s my friend. Of course I’ve been talking to her.”

“About me?” His question is calm, but there’s something venomous just beneath the surface.

“She’s my best friend,” you say, lifting your chin even though your hands are shaking. “I tell her everything.”

His jaw tightens, his lips pressing into a thin line. “I thought what we had was private. I guess I was wrong.”

“Private?” you repeat, your voice rising. “You’ve been calling me nonstop for weeks, leaving voicemails threatening to kill yourself, and now you want to talk about privacy?”

“That’s different,” he snaps, his control slipping for the first time.

“Is it?” you shoot back, your voice cracking. “Because it feels a hell of a lot like you’re just mad that I told someone the truth about you.”

He steps closer, and you instinctively take a step back. “You’re the one dragging her into this,” he says, his voice low but cutting. “You’re the one making this worse.”

“She’s worried about me!” you shout, your emotions spilling over, raw and unfiltered. “She’s worried because she knows what you’re like!”

His expression darkens, his gaze boring into yours. “She doesn’t know you like I do. She doesn’t know what you’re like when you’re falling apart. When you’re scared. When you don’t know what you want.”

“I know what I want!” you yell, your voice breaking. “I want to leave!”

The words hang in the air, heavy and suffocating.

“Then go,” he says, his tone soft but razor-sharp. “But don’t come back. Because if you walk out that door, Y/N…” He pauses, his gaze steady and unrelenting. “I promise you’ll never see me again.”

Your chest tightens, panic clawing at your insides. “What does that mean?”

“It means I’m done,” he says simply. “I’m done chasing you, done begging you to talk to me, done waiting for you to figure out what you want.”

You stare at him, your mind racing, your pulse pounding in your ears. “You don’t mean that.”

“Yes, I do.”

Your phone buzzes again in your hand, the sound startling you. You glance down at the screen, Ji-hye’s name flashing like a lifeline.

“She’s outside,” you say, your voice trembling. “She’s waiting for me.”

He doesn’t react at first. And then—

“Of course she is.” His lips curl into something that isn’t quite a smile. “You always need someone to save you, don’t you?”

The words hit you like a slap, the sting radiating through your chest.

“Fuck you,” you whisper, your voice breaking.

“Go ahead,” he says, stepping aside and gesturing toward the door. “Run to her. But don’t pretend you’re doing this for you. We both know you don’t have the guts to face this on your own.”

Your legs feel like lead, your heart pounding as you take a shaky step toward the door.

And as you reach for the handle, his voice cuts through the silence one last time.

“When you realize I’m right,” he says softly, “don’t bother coming back.”

You don’t look at him as you open the door.

But you feel his eyes on you the whole way out.

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

The car door shuts behind you with a heavy, final thud.

For a moment, there’s only the sound of your own ragged breathing, loud and uneven in the stillness of the cabin. The air inside feels thick, stagnant. You reach for your seatbelt with trembling hands, but the buckle slips from your fingers twice before you manage to click it into place.

Ji-hye doesn’t start the car. She doesn’t even move.

Her knuckles are wrapped tight around the steering wheel, her nails biting into the leather. The dim glow of the dashboard casts her face in sharp relief — her set jaw, the hard line of her mouth, the slight tremble in her lips she’s fighting to keep still.

Her eyes flicker toward you, then away, like she can’t bear to look too long. “You okay?” she asks, her voice low, strained. The question sounds more like an accusation than concern.

You nod — a jerky, unconvincing motion that does nothing to quiet the storm inside you. “I’m fine,” you lie, your voice breaking on the last syllable.

Her fingers tighten on the wheel, the tendons standing out in sharp relief. “You don’t look fine.”

“I just…” You press your hands to your lap, flattening them against the fabric of your dress to keep them from shaking. “I just want to go home.”

She exhales sharply, the sound cutting through the silence like a knife. But she doesn’t start the car.

“What happened, Y/N?” Her voice is still low, but there’s an edge to it now — a tremor beneath the surface, like she’s holding herself back from grabbing you by the shoulders and shaking the truth out of you.

“Nothing happened,” you say too quickly, too defensively.

Ji-hye’s head snaps toward you, her eyes narrowing. “Don’t bullshit me.”

You flinch at the sharpness in her tone, the anger laced through it, though you know it’s not directed at you.

“I…” You shake your head, your breath hitching. “I don’t know.”

Her jaw tightens. She turns back to the steering wheel, but her fingers twitch against it, like she’s holding herself back from punching something. “What the fuck does that mean, you don’t know?”

“I mean I don’t remember!” The words explode out of you before you can stop them, loud and jagged and filled with panic. Your chest heaves, and your eyes sting as the tears start to well up again. “I don’t fucking remember, Ji-hye! I blacked out, okay? I don’t know what happened!”

She goes still, completely still, her hands frozen on the wheel. Slowly, she turns to look at you again. “You don’t remember anything?”

Your breath hitches, and you shake your head.

Her gaze sharpens, her eyes scanning your face like she’s searching for the pieces of a puzzle you can’t see. “But you woke up there,” she says finally, her voice quieter now but no less intense. “At his place.”

You nod, and the weight of the admission makes your chest tighten, makes the shame press down harder.

Ji-hye leans back in her seat, dragging a hand through her hair. “Fuck,” she mutters under her breath.

Her reaction makes your stomach churn. “I—” Your voice cracks, and you have to swallow hard before you can speak again. “I don’t know if anything happened.”

Her head snaps toward you again, her eyes widening. “What do you mean?”

“I mean I don’t know,” you whisper, the tears spilling over now, hot and relentless. You clutch at your dress, twisting the fabric in your fists as the words come tumbling out. “I don’t remember getting there. I don’t remember going to bed. But when I woke up—” Your voice falters, your breath hitching painfully. “There were bruises, Ji-hye. On my thighs. And my underwear was—” You choke on the words, unable to finish the sentence.

The silence in the car is suffocating.

Ji-hye doesn’t say anything for a long moment, and when you finally glance at her, her expression makes your chest tighten even more. Her lips are pressed into a thin line, and her eyes are dark, her gaze fixed on the dashboard like she’s barely holding herself together.

“You think he—” She can’t even finish the question.

“I don’t know,” you whisper, the words barely audible. “I don’t know, Ji-hye. But what if he didn’t? What if I’m just overthinking it? What if I’m—”

“Stop.” Her voice cuts through your rambling, sharp and commanding. She turns to you fully now, her gaze locking onto yours. “Stop right there. Don’t you dare blame yourself for this. Don’t you fucking dare.”

“But—”

“There is no ‘but,’” she snaps, her voice rising. “You were drunk, Y/N. If he did anything — anything — that you didn’t consent to, it’s not your fault. Do you understand me?”

You can’t answer. Your throat is too tight, your chest heaving as you fight to keep yourself together.

Ji-hye exhales sharply, dragging her hands through her hair again. “Fuck,” she mutters under her breath, her voice trembling now. “That fucking piece of shit.”

Her words make your stomach twist, the nausea bubbling up again. “What if I—”

“You didn’t do anything,” she cuts you off again, her voice softening but no less firm. “Do you hear me? You didn’t do anything wrong. He’s the one—” She stops herself, her voice breaking on the last word. She clenches her fists, her nails digging into her palms.

The silence stretches between you, heavy and unbearable.

Finally, Ji-hye starts the car, but she doesn’t drive. The engine hums beneath you, the only sound in the suffocating quiet.

“What do I do?” you whisper, your voice trembling.

Ji-hye’s hands tighten on the wheel. She stares straight ahead, her gaze burning with quiet fury. “You don’t go back to him,” she says, her voice steady now. “Not ever. I don’t care what it takes, Y/N. He doesn’t get to be a part of your life anymore.”

You swallow hard, her words cutting through the fog in your mind like a lifeline.

“We’ll figure it out,” Ji-hye says, her voice softening. She reaches over, her hand resting on yours. Her grip is warm and steady, grounding you. “I promise. Whatever you need, I’ll be here.”

The weight of her words sinks into you, anchoring you to the moment. You don’t know what comes next. You don’t know if you’ll ever be able to put the pieces of last night together.

But for now, you let her words steady you. For now, you let yourself believe her.

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

The air smells like caramelized sugar and charred meat. Smoke curls from food stalls, the sizzle of grilling pork belly mingling with the faintly sweet aroma of tteokbokki simmering in spicy sauce. Somewhere in the distance, someone’s laughing, the sound light and bright, cutting through the low hum of the crowd.

Ji-hye’s arm loops through yours, her grip warm and grounding as she steers you through the maze of vendors. It’s loud here, chaotic in the way only street markets can be, but you’ve missed it—this pulsing rhythm of life, the neon lights reflecting off puddles of rainwater on the pavement, the voices overlapping as vendors shout over one another to hawk their food.

“Y/N,” Ji-hye says, tilting her head toward a stall where skewers of fish cake glisten in the warm glow of a heat lamp. “You want one?”

You start to shake your head, but the look on her face stops you. She’s been trying so hard to pull you out of your own head, to make you laugh, to make you eat.

“Sure,” you say. Your voice feels foreign, stiff and distant, but Ji-hye beams anyway.

She orders two skewers, handing one to you before taking a bite of her own. “This is the best part about winter,” she says, her words muffled around a mouthful of food. “I swear I could eat eomuk every single day.”

You take a bite, the broth-soaked fish cake warm and savory on your tongue. It’s good—comforting, even—but it doesn’t reach the hollow ache in your chest.

Ji-hye is still talking, something about the new club opening next weekend, but her voice fades into the background as your gaze snags on something across the street.

Purple hair.

Your breath catches in your throat, the skewer trembling slightly in your hand. It’s not him—it’s a girl, her hair cropped short and spiked, her face unfamiliar—but your body doesn’t know the difference.

Your heart is racing, the world around you narrowing to a pinpoint. The noise of the market fades, replaced by the pounding of your pulse in your ears.

“Y/N?” Ji-hye’s voice cuts through the haze, her hand on your arm.

You blink, your chest heaving as you drag your gaze away from the girl. “What?”

“Are you okay?” Her brow furrows, concern etched into every line of her face.

“I’m fine,” you say quickly, forcing a shaky smile. “I just—thought I saw someone I knew.”

Her lips press together, like she doesn’t believe you, but she doesn’t push. Instead, she squeezes your arm and changes the subject, dragging you to the next stall.

The rest of the evening passes in a blur. You smile when Ji-hye laughs, nod when she talks, but your mind is elsewhere. Your skin feels too tight, your senses stretched thin. Every shout from a vendor, every gust of cigarette smoke, every glimpse of purple in the crowd sends your heart skittering in your chest.

When you finally part ways with Ji-hye, your cheeks ache from forcing smiles, and your stomach churns with the weight of pretending.

The walk home is quiet. The market’s noise fades into the background as you leave it behind, replaced by the distant hum of traffic and the occasional bark of a stray dog.

Your apartment building looms ahead, its shadow stretching long and dark across the street.

You reach the door, your fingers trembling slightly as you punch in the code. The lock beeps, the door clicking open, and you step inside, the familiar scent of your apartment wrapping around you like a blanket.

Safe.

You kick off your shoes, leaving them by the door. The silence is heavy, pressing, but it’s better than the noise. Better than the chaos.

You make your way to the bathroom, the tiles cold under your bare feet. The fluorescent light flickers to life, casting your reflection in sharp relief.

You look… tired.

But not the same kind of tired you were before. It’s different now—less hollow, less fragile. Still frayed around the edges, but stitched together enough to pass.

You wash your face, the cool water shocking against your skin. Your movements are slow, methodical, each step of your routine grounding you just a little more.

The week since you left Su-bong’s apartment has been a blur.

You’ve thrown yourself into small, safe routines: going to work, meeting Ji-hye for meals, scrolling aimlessly through your phone until sleep overtakes you. Anything to fill the silence. Anything to drown out the questions.

For the first time in years, you feel like you’re breathing again. Slowly. Unevenly. But breathing.

Ji-hye says you look better. Healthier.

You believe her, mostly. Even though you still jump at sudden noises. Even though crowds make your chest feel tight. Even though you sometimes find yourself scanning unfamiliar faces for someone who isn’t there.

The clock reads 12:03 AM when you finally collapse onto the couch, a mug of tea cooling in your hands.

You’ve only just started to relax when the knock comes.

At first, you think you imagined it.

You weren’t expecting anyone this late.

Then it comes again. Louder this time.

You freeze.

Another knock.

“Y/N.”

Your heart drops into your stomach.

It’s him.

No. No, this isn’t possible. He doesn’t even know where you live.

You moved after the breakup. You didn’t tell anyone except Ji-hye.

So how the fuck does he know?

Your chest tightens, your breaths coming in shallow gasps as you stare at the door.

Another knock.

“Y/N, I know you’re in there.”

His voice is slurred, thick with alcohol or something stronger.

“I just want to talk. Please.”

Your fingers dig into the couch cushion, your nails scraping against the fabric.

“I’m sorry, baby,” he says, the words cracking in his throat. “I shouldn’t have said those things. You know I didn’t mean them.”

The lump in your throat grows heavier, your stomach twisting violently.

“Don’t ignore me.” His tone shifts, harder now. “I can see the lights are on.”

Your pulse roars in your ears. You grab your phone from the coffee table, your hands trembling as you scroll to Ji-hye’s name.

The knocking stops, but his voice cuts through the silence like a blade.

“Y/N.”

Your fingers freeze.

“Just open the door, okay? I’m not going anywhere.”

The weight of his words settles over you like a lead blanket.

“I need to see you.”

No.

“You’re not being fair, you know that? After everything we’ve been through…”

You press the phone to your chest, your other hand gripping the armrest so tightly your knuckles ache.

“Do you really want me to cause a scene?” His voice is softer now, coaxing, but the threat is clear beneath it. “Your neighbors don’t need to hear this, do they?”

The knot in your chest tightens, fear and anger twisting together into something sharp and unbearable.

“Come on,” he says again, his voice breaking slightly. “Please. I just… I just need to talk to you.”

The silence stretches, your own breathing ragged in the quiet.

Then, a softer knock.

“I’ll leave if you just talk to me,” he says. “I swear.”

You close your eyes, your stomach churning violently.

You don’t want to open the door.

You don’t want to see him.

But you know Su-bong.

You know how loud he can get when he doesn’t get his way.

And it’s late. Your neighbors are probably asleep.

You take a shaky breath, your body trembling as you rise to your feet.

The floor feels unsteady beneath you as you make your way to the door, every step heavier than the last.

Your fingers tremble as you unlock the deadbolt, the sound unnaturally loud in the stillness.

You open the door just a crack, your body blocking the gap.

And there he is.

His hair is a mess, his shirt wrinkled and half-untucked. His eyes are bloodshot, his pupils blown wide. The faint smell of alcohol wafts off him, mixing with the cloying scent of his cheap cologne.

But it’s his expression that makes your stomach drop.

The desperation in his eyes.

The anger lurking just beneath it.

“Y/N.”

Your name falls from his lips like a prayer, soft and broken.

You grip the doorframe, your nails digging into the wood. “What do you want, Su-bong?”

“I want to talk.” He shifts his weight, his hands twitching at his sides. “That’s all. Just… just talk to me.”

The second you crack the door an inch more, you regret it.

It’s instinctive, the way you step back as he pushes forward, brushing past you into the apartment like it’s his. Like there aren’t layers of pain, distance, and boundaries between you now.

“Su-bong, wait—”

“I’m not waiting,” he says, his voice low, a slur of alcohol softening the edges. “Not after you’ve been ignoring me for a week.”

He’s already halfway to the couch. The door is still open, the cold night air seeping in as you stand frozen, your fingers gripping the edge of the doorframe like it might ground you.

He turns back to glance at you, his expression unreadable in the dim light of your apartment. “You’re going to leave it open?”

You blink, your heart hammering in your chest. Slowly, reluctantly, you close the door.

The sound of the lock clicking into place feels like a nail in your coffin.

When you turn back, he’s sitting on your couch, slouched like he’s settling in for a long stay. His elbows rest on his knees, his hands clasped together loosely, but there’s nothing casual about the way his gaze locks onto you.

“So this is where you’ve been hiding.” His voice carries a hint of something sharp, but his eyes stay soft, almost sad. “I didn’t even know where to find you, Y/N. Do you have any idea what that felt like?”

You stay near the door, keeping as much distance as you can, your pulse roaring in your ears. “How did you even—”

“How did I find you?” He cuts you off, leaning back into the couch like he owns it, like it’s still the one you used to share. “I have my ways.”

Your stomach churns. The vagueness in his tone makes your skin crawl. “What do you want, Su-bong?”

He lets out a soft, bitter laugh, running a hand through his hair. “What do I want? I want to know why you blocked me.”

His words hit like a slap, the audacity of them stealing the breath from your lungs. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Do I look like I’m kidding?” His gaze sharpens, the softness in his eyes hardening. “You didn’t even let me explain, Y/N. You just—what? Cut me out? Pretend I don’t exist?”

“I had to,” you say, your voice trembling. “You wouldn’t leave me alone.”

“Because I needed you!” The words burst out of him, loud and raw, echoing in the quiet apartment. “I didn’t know where else to go! I didn’t know what else to do!”

Your throat tightens, your chest heaving as you fight to keep your composure. “That’s not my problem anymore, Su-bong.”

He flinches, just slightly, but the hurt in his eyes is quickly replaced by something sharper. “You really think you can just shut me out like that? Like I don’t matter?”

“I never said you don’t matter,” you whisper. “I just… I couldn’t do it anymore.”

“Couldn’t do what?” he demands, standing suddenly. The movement makes you instinctively take a step back, your fingers brushing against the wall behind you.

“This.” You gesture between the two of you, your voice cracking. “You calling me nonstop. Showing up here. Saying things you can’t take back. I couldn’t—” Your voice falters, breaking on the words. “I couldn’t keep letting you drag me down with you.”

The silence that follows is suffocating.

His jaw tightens, his hands curling into fists at his sides. “Drag you down?” he repeats, his tone quiet but venomous.

You press yourself harder against the wall, your palms flat against the cool surface. “You know what I mean.”

He takes a slow step toward you, and your stomach twists violently. “No,” he says, his voice dropping lower. “I don’t think I do.”

“Su-bong, please,” you say, your voice barely above a whisper. “Just leave.”

He stops, just a few feet away from you now. “You really don’t get it, do you?”

Your breath hitches, your chest tightening painfully. “Get what?”

He tilts his head, studying you like he’s trying to figure out a puzzle. “You’re scared,” he says finally, his tone softening. “You’re scared because you don’t know what you’re doing without me.”

The words land like a punch to the gut. “That’s not true,” you say, your voice trembling.

“Yes, it is.” He steps closer, his presence overwhelming, suffocating. “You’ve always been scared of being alone, Y/N. That’s why you stayed with me for so long, even when you knew you shouldn’t.”

Your nails dig into the wall behind you, the sharp pain grounding you. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I know exactly what I’m talking about.” His voice softens, but it only makes the words hit harder. “You blocked me because you couldn’t handle it. Not because you’re over me. Not because you’re moving on. But because you’re scared of facing me.”

Your vision blurs with tears, your chest heaving. “That’s not true.”

“It’s not?” His voice drops to a whisper, his eyes searching yours. “If it’s not true, why’d you let me in?”

The question cuts deeper than you want to admit.

“I don’t know,” you say, your voice breaking. “I don’t know why I let you in.”

His lips curl into something that’s not quite a smile, something that makes your stomach twist. “I do,” he says softly.

“What do you mean?”

He steps closer, his hand reaching out to brush against your arm. You flinch, but he doesn’t pull back.

“You let me in,” he murmurs, his voice low and steady, “because you still love me.”

The words hang in the air, heavy and suffocating.

“No,” you whisper, shaking your head. “That’s not—”

“You do,” he says, his tone almost gentle. “And that’s okay. I’m not mad about it. I’m not mad at you.”

His hand lingers on your arm, and you feel like you’re drowning, like the walls are closing in on you.

“Su-bong, please,” you whisper, tears streaming down your face now. “I can’t do this.”

“You don’t have to do anything,” he says, his voice soft and coaxing. “Just… let me stay. Just for a little while.”

You shake your head, your breath hitching. “I don’t want you here.”

“Yes, you do,” he says quietly, his hand moving to cup your cheek. “You don’t have to say it, but I know you do.”

The weight of his hand on your face is unbearable.

And in that moment, you realize—

You’re trapped.

His hand lingers on your cheek, warm and steady, but the weight of it feels crushing. Your breath catches in your throat, your vision blurring as his thumb brushes gently over your skin. It’s too much — the closeness, the intimacy he’s trying to pull you back into.

“Stop,” you whisper, your voice trembling.

He doesn’t.

“You don’t have to fight this,” Su-bong says softly, his voice slurring at the edges. “I’m not your enemy, Y/N.”

The words twist in your chest, sharp and suffocating. You push his hand away, your fingers trembling as you take a step back.

“You need to leave.” Your voice is quiet, but there’s an edge of panic creeping into it.

He doesn’t move. Instead, he watches you, his gaze heavy and unreadable. “Why are you doing this?” he asks, his voice low and raw. “Why are you pushing me away when you know—”

“Know what?” you snap, cutting him off. “What the fuck do I know, Su-bong? Because right now, I don’t know anything.”

His jaw tightens, his hands curling into fists at his sides.

“I don’t know why you’re here,” you continue, your voice rising, breaking under the weight of your emotions. “I don’t know why you can’t just leave me alone. And I don’t know what the fuck happened that night.”

The room goes still.

For a moment, all you can hear is your own ragged breathing.

“What are you talking about?” he asks, his voice carefully neutral.

Your chest tightens, your stomach twisting violently. “Don’t do that,” you say, your voice cracking. “Don’t act like you don’t know.”

He shakes his head, a humorless laugh escaping his lips. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Y/N.”

“Stop lying!” The words burst out of you, loud and jagged, echoing in the suffocating silence. Tears spill down your cheeks, hot and relentless, as you take a shaky step forward. “Stop fucking lying to me, Su-bong!”

“I’m not—”

“Yes, you are!” Your voice breaks, the weight of your anger and fear crashing over you all at once. “You’ve been lying this whole fucking time, haven’t you? About everything.”

His gaze flickers, something dark and frantic flashing in his eyes. “I don’t know what you’re—”

“Tell me what happened that night,” you demand, your voice trembling but unrelenting. “Tell me what you did.”

He flinches, just slightly, but it’s enough.

Your heart pounds in your chest, your breath coming in shallow, uneven gasps. “I woke up in your bed, Su-bong. I had bruises on my thighs. My underwear was backward.” Your voice falters, cracking under the weight of the words. “And I don’t remember anything.”

His face goes pale, his eyes widening ever so slightly before he quickly looks away.

“Say something,” you whisper, your voice breaking. “Fucking say something.”

He drags a hand through his hair, his movements jerky and unsteady. “I didn’t—” He stops, his jaw clenching so tightly you think it might shatter. “I didn’t mean for it to—”

Your stomach drops. “For it to what?”

His gaze snaps back to you, wild and panicked. “I wasn’t thinking, okay?” His voice rises, cracking at the edges. “You were just—”

He stops himself again, his words hanging in the air like a noose tightening around your throat.

“I was just what?” you demand, your voice trembling. “Say it, Su-bong. Finish your fucking sentence.”

He doesn’t.

He looks at you, his chest heaving, his lips parted as if he’s searching for the right words. But none come.

And that’s worse than anything he could have said.

The silence stretches between you, heavy and suffocating. Your mind spins, piecing together fragments of the truth you’ve been trying to avoid.

“Did you…” The words catch in your throat, your stomach churning violently. “Did you touch me?”

“No,” he says quickly, too quickly.

You flinch, the sharpness of his denial cutting through you like a blade. “Then why can’t you just tell me what happened?”

His hands shake at his sides, his knuckles white as he clenches them into fists. “Because it doesn’t fucking matter, Y/N!”

The words hit like a slap, stealing the breath from your lungs.

“It doesn’t matter?” you repeat, your voice barely above a whisper.

He exhales sharply, his gaze dropping to the floor. “It’s not what you think, okay? I didn’t—” He stops himself again, his voice breaking. “I didn’t mean for it to go that far.”

The room tilts, the weight of his words crashing down on you like a tidal wave.

“That far?” you whisper, your chest tightening painfully. “What the fuck does that mean, Su-bong?”

He doesn’t answer.

The silence is deafening, your pulse roaring in your ears as you stare at him, waiting, hoping for something—anything—that makes sense.

But all you get is the look on his face.

The guilt.

The shame.

The fear.

And you know.

You know.

Your legs give out, and you sink to the floor, your back pressing against the wall as your breath comes in short, shallow gasps.

“Y/N,” he says, his voice soft now, pleading. He takes a step toward you, but you hold up a hand, stopping him in his tracks.

“Don’t,” you whisper, your voice shaking. “Don’t come near me.”

“Please,” he says, his tone desperate. “Just let me explain—”

“There’s nothing to explain,” you say, your voice cracking. “You did it, didn’t you?”

His silence is all the confirmation you need.

You press your hands to your face, your tears spilling over, hot and relentless.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he says, his voice breaking. “I swear, I didn’t—”

“Get out.”

The words are quiet but firm, cutting through the suffocating tension like a knife.

“Y/N, please—”

“Just fucking go!” you scream, your voice raw and jagged, echoing through the apartment.

He doesn’t.

“Get the fuck out!” you scream again, your voice raw and jagged, slicing through the suffocating tension.

But Su-bong doesn’t move.

Instead, he stares at you, his chest heaving, his face twisting into something you can’t quite recognize. Something darker. “I’m not leaving,” he says, his voice low, dangerous.

Your stomach twists violently. “You need to leave, Su-bong. Now.”

“Why?” he snaps, his voice rising. “So you can sit here and hate me? So you can keep twisting this into something it’s not?”

“Something it’s not?” Your voice cracks, your hands balling into fists at your sides. “You just admitted it! You just fucking said—”

“I said I didn’t mean for it to go that far!” he shouts, cutting you off. His face is flushed now, his eyes wild, the faint slur in his voice sharper. “That’s not the same thing!”

“It’s exactly the same thing!” you scream back, the words ripping out of you like a knife. “You knew I was drunk! You knew I couldn’t—”

“You didn’t say no,” he interrupts, his voice low and venomous.

The room falls silent.

Your breath catches in your throat, the weight of his words hitting you like a punch to the gut.

And then, quietly, trembling—

“That never stopped you before.”

The silence that follows is deafening.

Su-bong’s face twists, something dark and ugly flashing across it. His jaw clenches, his fists tightening at his sides. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“You know exactly what it means,” you say, your voice shaking but firm. “You’ve always pushed, always taken. And I—” Your voice falters, cracking under the weight of your emotions. “I let you, because I loved you. Because I thought you loved me.”

“I do love you!” he shouts, his voice breaking. He takes a step closer, his movements unsteady, uncoordinated. “I’ve always fucking loved you!”

“Love?” you laugh bitterly, the sound harsh and cutting. “This isn’t love, Su-bong. This is control. This is you trying to fucking own me.”

“I don’t want to own you!” he yells, his voice cracking. “I just—” He stops, dragging a hand through his hair, his movements erratic. “I just want you to stay. I just want us to be okay again.”

“There is no ‘us,’” you say, your voice trembling but resolute. “Not anymore.”

The words hit him like a physical blow. He staggers back slightly, his eyes wide, his chest heaving. “You don’t mean that.”

“I do,” you whisper, your voice breaking.

And that’s when it happens.

He lunges forward, grabbing your wrist—not hard enough to hurt, but enough to make you flinch. “Don’t do this,” he says, his voice desperate, pleading. “Please, Y/N. Don’t fucking do this.”

“Let me go.” Your voice is sharp, but your heart is racing, your pulse pounding in your ears.

“Not until you listen to me!” he shouts, his grip tightening slightly.

“Let me go!” you scream, jerking your arm back. The force of it sends you both stumbling, and for a moment, everything is chaos.

Your hand connects with his chest—an instinctive push to get him away from you. He stumbles again, his back hitting the edge of the couch.

And then he snaps.

“Fuck!” he yells, slamming his fist into the wall beside him. The sound is loud, jarring, the plaster cracking under the force. “Why the fuck do you always have to make everything so goddamn hard?”

Tears stream down your face, hot and relentless, as you back away from him. “Get out,” you whisper, your voice trembling. “Get the fuck out of my apartment, Su-bong.”

“I’m not leaving,” he says, his voice low, dangerous. “Not until you stop lying to yourself. Not until you admit you still love me.”

You laugh. Bitter. Sharp. The sound scrapes its way out of your throat, raw and venomous.

“Love you?” you say, the words trembling on the edge of rage. “I fucking hate you.”

The air in the room shifts.

His expression changes — a flicker of something unrecognizable crossing his face before it hardens into something darker. He steps toward you, his chest heaving, his fists still clenching at his sides.

“What did you just say?” he asks, his voice dangerously quiet.

“You heard me,” you snap, your voice rising, shaking. “I hate you. I hate everything about you. I hate what you’ve done to me, what you’ve made me. I fucking hate you, Su-bong.”

For a second, you think he’s going to hit you.

But he doesn’t.

Instead, he reaches for the mug sitting on the table beside him.

“You hate me?” he says, his voice shaking with barely-contained rage. “After everything I’ve done for you? After everything I’ve put up with?”

The mug is in his hand now, his knuckles white as he grips it.

“You could barely last a week without me,” he spits, his voice rising. “You think you’re so fucking strong now? You’re nothing without me, Y/N. Nothing.”

And then he throws it.

It happens so fast, you barely have time to react.

The mug shatters against the wall behind you, fragments raining down around your feet. You flinch, your heart slamming against your ribs, your breath coming in short, sharp gasps.

“Are you fucking insane?” you scream, your voice cracking.

“You’re the one who made me like this!” he yells, his voice raw, ragged. He takes a step toward you, and you instinctively step back, your shoulders hitting the wall behind you.

“Get out,” you say, your voice trembling. “Get the fuck out of my apartment, Su-bong.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” he says, his voice low and dangerous.

“Yes, you are!” you scream, your voice breaking. “You don’t get to do this to me anymore! You don’t get to keep fucking breaking me and acting like it’s my fault!”

“I never broke you!” he yells, his voice rising to a roar. “You were already broken, Y/N! You’ve been broken since the day I met you!”

The words hit like a slap, stealing the breath from your lungs.

“Fuck you,” you whisper, tears streaming down your face.

“Go ahead,” he snaps, his voice venomous. “Blame me for everything. That’s all you’ve ever been good at.”

“Blame you?” you shout, your chest heaving with rage. “You ruined my life, Su-bong! You fucking destroyed me, and you don’t even care!”

“I cared more than anyone else ever did!” he shouts back, his voice cracking. “No one else gave a shit about you, Y/N! No one else stayed!”

“I wish you hadn’t!” you scream, your voice breaking. “I wish I’d never met you!”

The room goes silent, the weight of your words hanging in the air like a guillotine.

He stares at you, his chest heaving, his hands shaking at his sides.

“Say it again,” he says, his voice dangerously quiet.

“I wish I never fucking met you,” you whisper, your voice trembling.

The air in the room shifts, heavy and suffocating.

His chest heaves with every labored breath, his fists trembling at his sides. And then he moves.

It’s a blur—the way he closes the distance between you, the way his hand shoots out and tangles in your hair. Pain flares at your scalp, sharp and instant, as he yanks you closer with a force that steals the breath from your lungs.

“Su-bong!” you cry, your hands flying up to claw at his wrist. “You’re hurting me!”

“No,” he snarls, his face inches from yours, his voice cracking with rage and desperation. “No, you’re hurting me, Y/N! You’re hurting me!”

His words are guttural, raw, as though they’ve been ripped from the deepest, ugliest part of him. His grip tightens, pulling harder, and you stumble, your knees buckling as you try to twist away.

“Let me go!” you scream, panic lacing every word. Your nails dig into his arm, leaving crescent-shaped marks against his skin, but it only seems to fuel him further.

“You don’t get to do this to me!” he yells, dragging you closer until you can feel the heat of his breath on your face, the wildness in his eyes swallowing you whole. “You don’t get to walk away like none of it mattered!”

“I didn’t—” Your voice cracks, tears spilling over, hot and relentless. “I didn’t do anything to you!”

“Liar,” he spits, his grip jerking you violently. “You’ve done everything, Y/N. You’ve ruined me, and you don’t even fucking care.”

Your heart pounds, a frantic, desperate rhythm that drowns out everything else. “Please,” you choke out, your voice trembling. “Please stop.”

But there’s no stopping him.

You twist sharply, pulling against his hold with every ounce of strength you have. He lets out a snarl of frustration as you manage to free yourself, stumbling back against the wall. For a moment, you think it’s over, that maybe he’s come to his senses.

But then his gaze drops to the lamp on the side table.

“Don’t,” you whisper, your voice trembling.

He doesn’t hesitate.

The lamp is in his hand before you can react, his fingers curling around its base like it’s an extension of his rage.

“You want me to stop?” he spits, his voice rising. “Fine. I’ll fucking stop.”

And then he throws it.

The lamp sails through the air, and for a split second, time seems to slow. You see it coming, but there’s no time to move. It smashes into your shoulder with a sickening thud, the force of it sending you sprawling to the floor.

Pain blooms instantly, sharp and white-hot, radiating from your shoulder down to your fingertips. You cry out, clutching the spot where it hit, your breaths coming in short, ragged gasps.

“Does it hurt?” he taunts, his voice dripping with venom. “Good. Maybe now you’ll fucking listen to me.”

Your vision blurs with tears, the pain and fear twisting together into something unbearable. “What the fuck is wrong with you?!” you scream, your voice breaking.

“What’s wrong with me?” he snaps, his voice cracking. “You, Y/N. You’re what’s wrong with me. You made me like this!”

“You’re insane,” you whisper, your voice trembling.

His laughter is low and bitter, a sound that sends chills down your spine. “You drove me to this. You, with your lies, your fucking games—”

“I didn’t play any games!” you shout, your chest heaving. “I just wanted to get away from you!”

“You don’t get to run!” he roars, his face twisting into something unrecognizable. “Not after everything I’ve done for you! Not after—”

He stops abruptly, his gaze flickering to you, then to your throat.

And before you can move, before you can scream, he’s on you.

His hands wrap around your neck, his grip cold and unrelenting.

At first, it doesn’t feel real—the pressure, the way your breath catches in your throat, the way his face looms above you, wild and furious. But then the reality slams into you all at once, and the panic sets in.

You claw at his hands, your nails scraping against his skin as you gasp for air. The world narrows to the sound of your strangled breaths, the pounding of your pulse in your ears, the fire spreading through your lungs as you fight to inhale.

“Why do you always make me do this?” he growls, his voice shaking with anger. “Why do you always push me, Y/N? Why?”

Your vision blurs, black spots creeping in at the edges.

He’s saying something else, his voice a low, guttural snarl, but you can’t make out the words. All you can focus on is the pressure, the way it feels like your throat is collapsing under his grip.

And then—

A loud, sharp knock cuts through the haze.

“Police! Open the door!”

The sound barely registers at first, muffled and distant, like it’s coming from another world.

But it’s enough.

The knocking grows louder, more insistent. Voices shout from the other side, commanding, urgent.

“Police! We’re coming in!”

Su-bong’s grip falters, just slightly, as the realization dawns on him.

His gaze snaps to the door, then back to you.

“You called the fucking cops?” he snarls, his grip tightening again, his face contorting with rage. “You think they can save you? You think anyone can fucking save you from me?”

The sound of the door bursting open cuts him off.

In an instant, the room is flooded with voices—sharp, commanding, barking orders that you can’t quite process.

“Get off her!”

“Hands up!”

Su-bong freezes, his hands still around your throat, his body trembling with barely-contained fury.

“Let her go now!”

For a moment, he doesn’t move. The tension in the room is suffocating, the weight of his anger pressing down on you like a vice.

And then, finally, he lets go.

You collapse to the floor, gasping for air, your body trembling violently as you clutch your throat.

The officers swarm him, grabbing his arms and pulling him away from you. He struggles against their hold, shouting obscenities, his voice wild and broken.

“She fucking lied!” he screams, his voice cracking. “She lied about everything!”

You don’t respond. You can’t.

All you can do is lie there, your chest heaving, your vision blurred with tears, as the reality of what just happened crashes over you.

The officers’ voices blur together, a cacophony of sound that you can’t quite make out. One of them kneels beside you, their hand on your shoulder, their voice soft and steady.

“Miss, are you okay?”

You don’t answer.

Your gaze drifts to Su-bong as they drag him toward the door, his screams echoing in the apartment.

And for the first time in years, you feel something you haven’t felt in so long—

Relief.

You know what’s good for you.

You’ve done what you could for him.

And he was finally gone.

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prythiansprincess · 1 year ago

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chicken noodle soup.

pairing: mattheo riddle x reader

song inspiration: is it really so strange? by the smiths

author's note: just a soft fluffy comfort fic cause i've been thinking about matty lately and i needed cheering up after the end of kwaf. let's all laugh at the fact that i set a 1k limit on this fic only to fail miserably lmao 😭

Mattheo Riddle was not a fan of Mondays.

Most of the time, Mattheo spent the first day of the week nursing a hangover and getting higher than a hippogriff at the Astronomy Tower with his friends to achieve equilibrium. The only thing he looked forward to every week was the prospect of riling you up in class. To be fair, it didn’t take much to get under your skin. Being himself seemed to do the trick.

As he walked through the castle halls, Mattheo smiled to himself as he plotted out all the different ways he could provoke you on this dreadful day. For some sick and twisted reason, he reveled in the fact that only he could manage to rouse such a violent reaction out of you. There was something satisfying about the way your eyes blazed, your rosy cheeks tinged with heat as you told him off.

Maybe he'd flirt with you today. Tell you how good you looked in your short little skirt. Watch as you turned as red as the tie around your neck. His pretty little Gryffindor good girl. In Mattheo's mind, you were his to tease and taunt.

With his usual swagger, Mattheo sauntered into Advanced Transfiguration fully prepared to test out his new tactics on his nemesis, but you were nowhere to be found.

At first, he figured that you were just running late. Throughout the duration of your rivalry, Mattheo had never once witnessed you skip class. He would’ve bet his entire cigarette supply that you’ve had perfect attendance since first year. When Professor McGonagall started the lesson and you were still missing in action, Mattheo was understandably concerned.

The uneasy feeling in his stomach didn’t mean that he was worried about you though. This was purely about mutual benefit. Mattheo couldn’t very well have his Transfigurations partner skipping out on lessons. Even though he regularly did so himself. But still, that was different. Everyone knew he was a delinquent. You, on the other hand, were anything but. Until today, you’ve probably never missed a class in your life.

Mattheo waited. Surprisingly, the two of you had the majority of your classes together. All of which dragged more than usual since you weren’t there to yell at him for dicking around. When you still hadn't turned up for Charms or Herbology, he became convinced that something was horribly wrong. Missing one lesson was alarming, but three in a row? That was entirely out of character for you.

When Professor Sprout finally dismissed the class, Mattheo sauntered over to Granger’s desk. As always, she was surrounded by her two dimwit friends who immediately tensed the second he loomed near. Potter and Weasley shot him matching menacing glares, but Mattheo ignored them entirely.

“Granger,” he drawled, leaning against the wooden desk. “Care to tell me where my partner’s been all day?”

The Gryffindor girl appeared a bit perturbed by the question. “Why do you want to know where Y/N is?”

Mattheo sighed in exasperation and produced the set of notes he’d taken during class. A first for him. He couldn’t remember the last time he actually listened to an entire lesson, let alone take notes, but he knew that you would have a million questions for him when you returned. The notes were his way of saving himself from your relentless interrogation.

“Figured the little know-it-all would want my notes.”

“Y/N is feeling a bit under the weather,” Hermione said cautiously. “I can take the notes to her if you’d like.”

“No.” Mattheo declared rather suddenly. He cleared his throat and attempted to smooth over the sharp response. “No, McGonagall tasked me with it. I don’t want her docking points from my house when she finds out that you did my dirty work for me.”

Hermione raised a brow. “Sure.” The quirk of her mouth told Mattheo that she wasn’t convinced by his excuse. “Well, Y/N is resting up in the tower if you fancy a visit.”

After a quick detour to the kitchens, Mattheo made his way over to Gryffindor tower. It was surprisingly easy to gain access to the lion’s den. He simply threatened a third year to let him in and got on with it. They truly needed to upgrade their security measures. One glare was all it took for Creevey to crumble and cave.

With a satisfied smirk, Mattheo walked past the gaudy common room. For Salazar's sake, hadn't the Gryffindors ever heard of subtlety? The decor consisted solely of crimson and gold and the furnishings looked like something out of that muggle show his nan loved to watch—Antiques Roadshow. Antique was right. The worn out couch that he passed looked older than him.

Merlin, now he was starting to sound like Malfoy. Mattheo hurried along before he caught the urge to fold origami notes and chuck it at Potter's head. Fortunately for him, the place was devoid of the Chosen One or anyone for that matter.

By now, his fellow classmates were all in the Great Hall eating dinner, which he was thankful for. It was no secret that Mattheo’s presence wouldn’t be welcome here and he wasn’t really in the mood to fight his way through the Gryffindors just to deliver a note from the kindness of his black heart. Thank Salazar that there wasn’t a single soul in the tower to bicker with. Until he reached your dorm, of course.

The relationship between the two of you was volatile to say the least. Despite Mattheo’s reputation, you weren’t shy about telling him off. When you were first assigned as partners, Mattheo had fully intended to let you do all the work while he skipped class to smoke, but he quickly realized that this would not be the case. You hunted him down at his hideout in the Astronomy Tower and discovered him blissfully sharing some premium grade mirthroot with Theo and Draco. When you found him, you were so angry that you dragged him by the ear all the way to the library, much to the amusement of his friends. Needless to say, Mattheo never missed a study session again.

In a way, Mattheo admired you for it. Aside from his friends, everyone in the castle feared him. It was sort of refreshing to have someone call him out on his shit. Especially if that someone was a funny, feisty, ferocious Gryffindor who he enjoyed pestering every chance that he got. Mattheo always did have a penchant for girls with an attitude problem.

Even as he knocked on your door, the Slytherin boy couldn’t help but chuckle to himself when he heard you grumbling from the other side.

“Oh, for Godric’s fucking sake, what is it now?”

The door swung open, revealing a very pissed off Y/N. Clad in striped pajamas and fuzzy bunny slippers, you placed a hand on your hip and frowned. Even in the throes of sickness, you still somehow managed to inject venom in your glare. Mattheo grinned like an idiot.

“Nice slippers, princess.”

You huffed, crossing your arms. “What do you want, Riddle?”

“To make sure my partner doesn’t slack.” He waved his set of notes around. “Don’t think your sickness excuses you from studying.”

“This is payback for making you revise with me after you fell off your broom and broke your arm, isn’t it?”

Mattheo cringed as he recalled the quidditch accident that sent him to the infirmary for a week. In true Y/N fashion, you were sitting by his bedside with a stack of books in your lap the second he woke up. Madam Pomfrey hadn't even put his arm in a sling yet before you were drilling him on proper spell enunciation and wand movements.

“You terrorized the infirmary with your mnemonics,” Mattheo said with a dramatic sigh. “It’s my turn now. This is sweet revenge, Y/N.”

You squinted at his barely legible handwriting. “I’m just surprised you took your head out of your arse long enough to take notes.”

“Glad to see that illness hasn’t lessened your bite. If anything, those teeth seem a little sharper than usual.” He leaned against the doorframe and smiled down at you. “Feeling a bit feral, princess?”

“Why don’t you come a little closer and find out?” you quipped, baring your teeth at the aggravating boy.

The gesture appeared intimidating for a full second until you sniffled and launched into a coughing fit, which made Mattheo frown.

“Are you alright?”

“Of course I am. I regularly cough my lungs out on nosy Slytherins whose sole purpose of existence is to make my life a living hell.”

He pressed the back of his hand against your forehead. The way his brow furrowed strangely resembled concern. Mattheo trained his chocolate brown eyes on you, examining the rosiness of your cheeks and the slight pinch of discomfort in your features.

"You're burning up." Mattheo's hand dropped from your forehead to the side of your neck. He pressed his fingers against your pulse point, feeling the erratic beating of your heart underneath his touch. It was strangely intimate. "You have an elevated heart rate."

You flushed and swatted his hand away. "Well, yes. That usually happens when one is ill."

"Come on, you should sit down."

"Don't tell me what to do, Riddle."

Mattheo rolled his eyes before dragging you by the elbow. Your protests fell on deaf ears as he barged his way into your dorm and walked you over to the bed. You watched as he pulled up a chair next to you before rifling through the contents of his backpack. Out of the sordid mess of his belongings, Mattheo produced a small container of soup. With a flick of his wand, he conjured a spoon.

“Here, have some of this. It should help.”

As soon as he pried the lid open, the heavenly smell of chicken noodle soup filled your senses. Mattheo scooped up an equal amount of soup and noodle and blew on it to cool it down before tilting it towards you. The sight of him offering you food like you were some helpless toddler was only slightly insulting. You swore to Godric that if Mattheo started making airplane sounds, you’d strangle the bloody twat.

“I can feed myself, you know.”

“Just eat the damn soup, Y/N.”

You rolled your eyes in return, but obliged nonetheless. Despite the source, you could never resist comfort food.

“Chicken noodle soup?”

As soon as you tasted it, you knew that it wasn’t just soup. It was your favorite soup. The very same one that Winky made every third Wednesday of the month. You knew because you looked forward to it every time. It was even marked on your calendar. That’s how much you liked it.

Mattheo nodded absentmindedly. “Yeah, I know it’s your favorite so I bribed Winky to make some.”

You furrowed your brows in confusion. “How do you know it’s my favorite?”

For once in his life, Mattheo looked utterly uncomfortable. He averted his gaze and busied himself by stirring through the carrots and celery. “You, uh, mentioned it in class once.”

You couldn’t help but smile. Maybe it was the fever talking, but you thought that was sweet. “You remembered that?”

Mattheo looked up, a stray curl kissing the tops of his cheekbones as he met your gaze. The shy smile on his face was alarmingly endearing. Sometimes when you looked at those angelic curls and stupid big, brown eyes, you forgot that you were supposed to loathe him. “Of course. It’s my favorite too.”

You chuckled, sniffling a little. “It’s like a hug in a cup, right?”

The curly headed boy nodded. “It totally is.”

After you finished the soup, you expected Mattheo to take his leave. Instead, he inspected the vials of potions laying out on your night stand. He read through every label, frowning a little.

“You should really have some pepperup potion in here.” Mattheo remarked as he arranged the vials one by one. “Are you sure this dose is potent enough? Maybe you should ask them to brew something stronger.”

“Pomfrey prescribed them herself. No offense, but I think I’ll take her years of healing experience over your expert opinion.” Mattheo gasped rather dramatically, which made you chuckle. “As much as I appreciate the notes and the soup, I don't think it's wise for you to stick around. I’m feeling a bit better, but I might still be contagious.”

Mattheo shrugged. “It’s alright, I’m not scared of a little cold. Besides, I still have to go over the Transfiguration assignment with you.”

“Aren’t you worried that I’ll get you sick?”

“Not really,” he said, waving off your concern. “I know you’re going to pester me about everything you missed in class, so I figured I’d kill two birds with one stone.”

To your surprise, Mattheo’s notes were extremely detailed. It was a bit hard to read given his boyish scrawl, but with a little help in translation, you were making great progress in becoming fluent in Riddle. The more Mattheo explained the concepts and ideas that were discussed in each class, the more baffled you were. You've always known that he was smarter than he let on, but this was borderline impressive.

“How do you know all of that?”

“I asked.”

“You asked?” Mattheo stared blankly at your surprised expression. “You never ask questions in class.”

“I never had to since you're always there interrogating the professor like the little know-it-all that you are. Thanks to your absence, I had to fill your role in class today.”

You grinned. It grew wider and wider, spreading until your cheeks hurt. Mattheo glared at your joyous expression. “What? What’s that shit eating little grin for?”

“You missed me.”

Color flooded Mattheo’s cheeks. You were surprised to find how well crimson suited him. It was almost the exact shade of your house colors. “Don’t be ridiculous—”

“Riddle, you asked questions in class. You took notes for me. You brought me chicken noodle soup." Mattheo flushed as you pointed out the obvious. "You totally missed me.”

“If you tell anyone, I’ll hex you.”

“Admit it, Mattheo. Your day was utterly dull without me.”

Mattheo rolled his eyes, sighing in defeat. “Fine, you’ve got me. I was bored out of my mind without you around. How else am I supposed to pass the time if you’re not there for me to argue with?”

“There’s plenty of other people in the castle that you could bicker with.”

“Yeah, but they’re not you.”

He seemed a little shocked by his own statement, but he didn't try to retract it. In fact, Mattheo almost seemed resigned to it.

“Careful, Riddle. It almost sounds like you have a crush on me.”

“I’d have to be a bloody idiot to fall for a girl who absolutely despises me.”

“That wasn’t a denial, you know.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose like the very idea of it vexed him, but you caught the little smile he hid beneath his fingers. Mattheo snatched the notes from your hands. “Focus on the lesson, will you?” He grimaced as soon as the words left his mouth. “I can’t believe I’ve just said that. Look at what you’re doing to me, Y/N.”

“You’ll live, Riddle.” You poked a section of his notes that you hadn’t quite deciphered. “Now what in the bloody hell is the Gobstopper Ruffian?”

“The Goblin Rebellion. Merlin, my handwriting isn't that bad.”

“Are you kidding? A kindergartner writes more legibly than this.”

The hours passed while you bickered and bantered. You hated to admit it, but you missed arguing with him too. Laying in bed all day had you positively bored, but yet time passed within the blink of an eye as you went back and forth with Mattheo. Somewhere between discussing the possibility of Longbottom running an underground exotic plant ring and arguing over the best Smiths song, the sun had set over the horizon. Mattheo rubbed his eyes and yawned.

“You look knackered, Riddle,” you teased, patting the spot beside you. “Do you want to lie down for a bit?”

Chocolate brown eyes widened at you. “Lie down? With you? On your bed?”

“Yes, that’s typically how people do it.” You smirked as he shot you an apprehensive look. “Unless you’re too scared.”’

Never one to back down from a challenge, Mattheo lifted the covers and gestured for you to make room. “Scoot over, then.”

The jest seemed to have backfired on you because now Mattheo was crawling into bed and making himself completely at home. All the apprehension from earlier melted as he pulled you against him, his chest pressed against your back as he nuzzled into the crook of your shoulder. You stifled a giggle as Mattheo released a satisfied little sigh.

Mattheo wrapped his arms around you until you were covered in the scent of amber, cinnamon, and leather. You never expected to unearth the fact that Mattheo Riddle was a great cuddler, but yet here you were, reaping the benefits of this newfound revelation. He slipped his fingers through yours and nuzzled closer.

"Who would've known that Mattheo Riddle was such a great cuddler?"

"If you tell anyone—"

"You'll hex me. Put a curse on my family. Set my possessions on fire. Yes, I know, Riddle. You keep threatening me, but you never follow through. I'm starting to think that you're losing your touch."

Mattheo squeezed your hip before twining your legs together. "I wouldn't test me, Y/N. You're in a very vulnerable position right now."

You chuckled as he scooted even closer. "Maybe, but you won't do anything."

"Why's that, princess?"

"You like me too much," you retorted, chuckling as Mattheo buried his face in your hair. "One day without me and you're already a needy mess."

"You infuriate me," Mattheo whispered against your ear. "But you're also the best part of my day. I couldn't imagine fighting with anyone else but you, my dear nemesis."

"I totally loathe you, Mattheo Riddle."

He chuckled as you snuggled into him. "I loathe you too, Y/N Y/L/N."

The irony of the statement contrasted with how tangled up you were wasn't lost on you. For two people who supposedly hated each other, cuddling with your enemy had never felt so right. The steady beat of Mattheo's heart lulled you towards sleep. You were slowly succumbing to its hypnotic lullaby until Mattheo's voice broke through the silence.

“Y/N?” He murmured against your hair.

You shifted, your eyes feeling heavy as his warmth enveloped you. “Hmm?”

Mattheo’s voice was low and gravelly, flowing like honey in your ears. “This is nice.”

You smiled against the pillow, staring at your intertwined fingers. “Better than chicken noodle soup?”

You felt him grin against your skin before he leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss on your temple. “Way better than soup.”

TAGLIST

@annaisabookworm @bubybubsters @criesinlies @niktwazny303 @therealallisonspear @athenalikethegoddess @clairesjointshurt @vixzwrites @elle4404

#a cuddle from him could reset my brain chemistry #mattheo riddle #mattheo riddle x reader #mattheo riddle smut #mattheo riddle x you #mattheo riddle imagine #mattheo riddle fluff

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finsplurtz · 8 months ago

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ruined vanilla — izuku.midoriya

— dom ! male.reader x sub ! Izuku midoriya

— contents : izuku gets turned into a bdsm lover , argument turns into crazy sex or smth… short loll , deku does pee himself uhm. Begging and yay

warnings : there is a PISS KINK in there so be wary…

✩°｡ ⋆⸜ 🎧✮

thinking about vanilla!izuku with like the kinkiest partner ever

He was scared shitless during first time sex with you but you made sure it went smoothly and gently and slowly with the most care in the world…

Well now you can’t take that away from him

Izuku is SO vanilla, he loves slow passionate sex filled with kisses and quiet praises, sweet quiet moans as you both make a mess on each other…..it’s so SOFT HE LOVES IT

He always passes out with a smile on his face just happy as hell and you swear you gain an extra 10 years of life because he’s SO CUTE

but you’re the real freak and can’t help but wonder what he’d be like all overstimulated and crying n shi

You’ve got issues BUT ITS OKAY

Izuku is too scared to do anything more than vanilla sex, toys? Absolutely not, one time you brought it up while in the act he shed a couple tears and gave you the saddest eyes you just… YOU HAD TO PUT THE FUCKING TOY AWAY

dirty talk. deeearrrr loooorrrrrdd he will be tears, he’d hate it so much he just wants LOVE nothing negative.

“I wanna make ya feel better…vanilla is sooo boringgg” you whine to your green haired boyfriend who giggles and kisses you knowing you’d never go against his word, his cute faces save him and he knows they are your weakness. He’s got nothing to worry about

One argument goes down and you give him the time of his life

Hands tied, legs spread, cock buried deep inside his twitching hole and a small vibrator stimulating his cock at the same time. Tugs and slaps to his nipples that make him jolt and whimper breathlessly.

He’s whining and can’t say anything, the ball gag in his mouth preventing him from speaking. His eyes can barely stay open, he’s looking at you with begging glossy green eyes, flushed face it’s all so much. You can’t help but want to keep him like this all night:(

His dick is twitching from how much he’s already nutted lawl and his prostate was so sensitive, your dick barely touching it has him squirming and crying.

“what…too much, dear..?” You hold back a grin and wipe his tears away. Everything muffled, you look at his saliva coated ball gag and let out a small chuckle.

“I’ll take this off. Only if you admit you were wrong, and apologize.” You bring your hands over to the back of his head where you played with the buckle.

He’s biting the ball and glaring at you.

“Hm. Too bad.. I really wanted to kiss you” you sigh and bring your hands back down to his hips where you held him tightly, fucking into his used up hole.

He moaned and cried, you notice he started to get a bit more violent and looked back at his tear filled orbs. You pull the gag forward letting him speak, “y-yn st..stop it..! I need to p..nghh..” he looked down at his dick that vibrated due to the toy, he’s stuttering and you caught on.

You wrap your hand around the base of his dick, thumb at the tip. He screeched and moved around telling you to stop.

“It’s alright, izu. You can go” you can’t take your eyes off his pathetic face, biting your lip at his expressions. He gasped as he stopped holding his piss in, panting all exhausted. He’s embarrassed and his breath is hitching, the vibrations don’t stop and it’s starting to hurt.

“Augh..~! Yn please I’m..I can’t..!” He bent over trying to cover his lower half.

You still hadn’t let go of the ball and watched as he looked up at you with his big green eyes. “well?” You grind up into him, your dick hitting that spot again. He rolls his eyes back and groans, “please yn..? I’m sorrrry…I won’t..do it again..~ so p..plea..” you pull the gag down getting it off him.

He’s sighed in relief as you took the mini vibrator off.

“I’m not finished yet…just lay there in your mess, yeah?” You coo, his dick twitching at your nasty voice.

Before he passed out while you were pounding into him restlessly, his back was arched and he gripped the sheets till his knuckles turned white. His legs trembled like crazy, the last thing he remembered were your rough kisses and bites on his soft skin.

He woke up in your arms, he felt so refreshed it was brazy he just looked at your resting face and touched it gently. He kept thinking back to how you treated him and as dirty as it sounds he kept giggling and squealing to himself thinking about it

he was scared it’d hurt or just be scary but noooo he turned into a real FREAK

After that day you guys had sex that was way more intense, he became a slight brat and you loved it lol! He’s so cute I love his green locks

a/n: writers block will not keep me away from deku

#𓏲𝄢𝙄𝙯𝙪𝙠𝙪 𝙈𝙞𝙙𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙮𝙖 #boku no hero academia #my hero acedamia #izuku midoriya #izuku midoryia smut #izuku x male reader #izuku x reader #mha izuku #dom top reader #dom male reader #top male reader #gay #male reader #smut #dark content #mha x male reader #mha deku #deku x reader #bnha deku

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god-complex-12 · 2 years ago

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The Most Violent Year master list

Main master list

Abel Morales

Ataraxia (fluff)

PLEASE CHECK OUT MY ALTERNATE ACCOUNT WHERE I WRITE SHORT STORIES (not fanfiction): n-writes12

#god complex 12 #x reader #x y/n #x you #x male reader #the most violent year #the most violent year master list

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applepiewinchesters · 8 months ago

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Every Universe (Logan Howlett x fem!Reader)

A/N: This was written while I was slightly intoxicated, I regret nothing though and hope you guys enjoy it. It was proofread but I cannot say there will be no grammatical errors. Regardless, please enjoy!! :) Also, takes place in the Deadpool and Wolverine universe.

Word Count: 4,158 (this bitch is long, for me at least)

Warnings: None really unless you count angst and fluff as well as the mention of butt stuff

Finding out that not falling in love with a man being the sole reason you were sent to the void seemed like a pretty patriarchal reason to essentially be damned but who were you to question the TVA.

The day you were sent to the void you’d seen the news, MULTIPLE CASUALTIES AFTER ATTACK AT XAVIER’S SCHOOL FOR GIFTED YOUNGSTERS, names such as Jean Grey, Marie D’Ancanto, Scott Summers, Hank McCoy, and Logan Howlett were read out by the heartbroken looking anchor.

Being a mutant yourself, the news stung and left a pit of anxiety in your stomach. It was an attack by an anti-mutant terrorist group, if they were bold enough to attack the home of Charles Xavier, why not a shopping mall next, or another school full of mutant and non-mutant children alike.

Only minutes after the newscast on the tragedy started four rectangular, orange portals opened in front of and behind you. Four men dressed in odd looking military uniforms stalked towards you. You didn’t even have time to attempt to fend them off before they grabbed you, holding you down while you attempted to break free but even with your mutation, they were too strong.

All you remembered was one of them placing some weird stick against your stomach and you screamed as you essentially dissolved into nothing.

When you woke you were found by who you now knew as Blade, and were told you were in the Void, where you would stay until you died or were killed by a fellow member of said Void.

You’d been there for a what you thought was probably a few years when a couple of Deadpool and Wolverine variants were found by Laura in an absolutely fucked Honda Odyssey. She brought them there and Gambit and Blade brought them inside and laid them down. They appeared as if they’d just had a horrific fight or the most violent sexual encounter ever.

The Wolverine variant was the first to wake up, quite literally shooting up into a sitting position while breathing heavily. His claws extended quickly from his knuckles, and he made an almost animalistic sound.

“Easy there killer,” you almost teased, holding up your hands, you’d been the one unfortunate enough to be closest to him when he woke up, so his eyes immediately fixed on you.

Several emotions seemed to flash across his face at once, his look of anger changing to one of shock. His claws disappeared just as quickly as they’d appeared just moments ago as you slowly put your hands down, now a little concerned for the man.

“Y/N?”, he asked, his head tilting slightly.

It was your turn to look confused, “Did we know each other?”, you asked.

Sure, you’d heard of Wolverine, of Logan, but you’d never met him personally, you had originally been set to attend Charles Xavier’s school when you were 18 but after an attack on the school the same year your parents had decided against it.

The Logan before you’ s face fell slightly; he seemed almost hurt. It took him a second to respond, “I, uh, I guess not.”

That was when Elektra cut in, explaining to Logan where he was and how she’d found him and Deadpool. While he seemed to only half listen, he got up and found the nearest bottle of Gambit’s booze and started drinking it.

When Deadpool woke up it was a completely different side of weird, you hadn’t had the pleasure of coming across a Deadpool variant, but you’d heard how odd they were, and unfortunately for you, you thought they were exaggerating.

After annoying literally everyone in the room, the Deadpool variant all got you to somehow agree to help him and Wolverine get back to the TVA to save his timeline, as well as a sneak attack on Cassandra Nova. The whole time Logan watched you from the corner of his eye.

He couldn’t completely convince himself it was you. The last time he’d seen you, you were lying dead on the front lawn of the school, killed by a large group of humans, along with almost everyone at the mansion. You were covered in blood and cold by the time he’d gotten there. He’d held onto you until the coroner was nearly begging to take you away.

Logan remembered almost everything about you. Your favorite movie, what food you hated, and even the feel of your hand in his. But when you looked at him with little to no recognition in your eyes, his heart could’ve broken all over again.

You had no idea the conflicting feelings he’d had while you sat only a few feet away. You looked practically the same, maybe older than you were when you’d died in his world, he was older too, maybe you just didn’t want to be with an old man and were pretending not to know him. He was the worst Wolverine after all, he wouldn’t blame you.

But then there were some things you did that reminded him of his version of you, the way your laugh sounded exactly the same, how you sat the same way in your chair, and you even made the same face when you’d taken a drink of Gambit’s whiskey as when you’d sip his occasionally while the two of you sat on the couch in the mansion watching some movie one of the others had put on.

It was you, just, one that apparently hadn’t fallen in love with Logan Howlett. Logan himself couldn’t help but wonder if that had been your reason for being sent here, but thought better of it, deciding he'd probably never have that kind of impact on any kind of world.

After a successful attack on Cassandra and her small army, Deadpool and Wolverine were gone, and you hadn’t expected to ever see them again. Then Cassandra almost destroyed every timeline to exist, and you’d thought for sure those two variants had gotten themselves killed.

But then the TVA came for you and brought you to said Deadpool variants world, which he had successfully and somehow saved with Wolverine’s help. You couldn’t help but notice Logan’s shirt missing this time around. Almost cursing yourself for not trying harder to go to Xavier’s school when you were younger, having a chance to meet your world’s Logan. A man’s abs can do that to a woman.

“Happy to not be in the void and all, but why am I here?”, you asked, eyeing the agents around you and taking in the cracked subway station.

“I thought I’d give a little gift to Wolvie here,” Deadpool replied in an overly enthusiastic manner, throwing an arm around Logan who instantly pushed him away.

“I’m not a gift to give you dumb fuck,” you replied, crossing your arms over your chest.

Deadpool ignored your obvious distain and continued, “Well I figured since he lost you in his world and you never falling in love in your world caused his death that you could stay here with us!”.

Your eyes widened and you had to think about what he’d said for a moment, “I-I got him killed? I got Logan and those other mutants killed?”.

Logan couldn’t focus on the other details once his name left your mouth; he hadn’t heard you say that in almost a decade.

You on the other hand turned to the woman beside you that looked to be in charge.

“Is that the reason I was sent there, because I didn’t fall in love with Logan Howlett and he died because of it?”, you asked, you felt like you could be sick.

The woman sighed, almost regretful, “Yes, it was,” she finally answered you. “Without your help of your mutation those mutants did not survive that attack on the school.”

“Oooooo, trauma plot twist,” Deadpool practically squealed.

“Shut the fuck up!”, you snapped back, making Deadpool whisper a bashful, “Sorry,” and take a step back.

The TVA agents left shortly after, and that was how you found yourself living in a small apartment with Wade, Logan, and the craziest old lady you’d ever met, Blind Al.

Wade and she shared a room as weird as it was, you were given the spare room Blind Al reluctantly let you use, as it was now formerly her grow room, and Logan elected to sleep on the couch.

You settled in somewhat nicely, you still felt awkward in a world that wasn’t yours living with a doofus that you'd grown somewhat fond of and a man you got killed in his other life, but you had new friends, ones that didn’t have a huge chance of dying every day so that was a plus.

Yukio and Ellie had gravitated towards you, you were somewhat close in age, with them being early twenties and you in your somewhat late twenties, they reminded you of your younger sibling’s friends from back home in your previous world.

So, when they invited you to go out a month after you settled in, you couldn’t say no, it would get you out of the house at least, you wouldn’t have to sit and listen to Wade and Logan argue or endure Logan’s kicked puppy look when he thought you weren’t looking.

You felt awful you weren’t the you he thought you were, and you knew it was nothing you could control but after Wade let it slip what had happened to you in Logan’s world you couldn’t imagine how you’d feel if the roles were reversed.

So, to hopefully be able to forget about everything for a few hours you got ready, doing some easy makeup and hair, you put on a cute outfit you’d bought earlier in the week, Yukio had begged you to go shopping after finding out you didn’t own anything for “going out” yet on this world.

You relented and picked out a skirt, top, tights, and boots, it was simple yet cute enough to not be mistaken as any old outfit.

When you’d exited your bedroom in your shared apartment shortly before Yukio and Ellie were due to come get you, Wade looked up from whatever the hell he was doing on his phone, which could be anything from porn to angry birds.

His eyes widened slightly, “Got a date?”, he asked, only slightly feigning shock.

Logan had looked up immediately at the mention of a date, he was sipping a bottle of whiskey at the kitchen table. His eyes traveled over your outfit when he thought you were busy glaring at Wade.

“Not that its your business merc but no, I’m going out with Yukio and Ellie,” you stated, tossing a lip balm you had in your hand to your small purse.

“Girls nightttt,” Wade sang, only making you sigh.

As if a divine intervention interrupted there was a knock on the door and when you opened it you found the two girls standing there waiting.

“Hi Wade!”, Yukio exclaimed waving at him.

Wade leaned back in his seat to look around you at Yukio, “Hi Yukio!”.

“Come on,” you told them, moving to leave but a hand on your shoulder made you turn around. It was Wade.

“Now honey,” he began, “don’t take drinks from strangers, don’t go off alone, and don’t hook up with anyone. You know what they say about beer goggles, you’ll be waking up next to the crypt keeper.”

While you rolled your eyes and pushed Wade’s hand off your shoulder although you knew he really did care. Logan on the other hand clenched his jaw. You weren’t his and he knew that, but Wade’s last comment set his teeth on edge.

“I’m a big girl Wade, but thanks,” you told him, turning around and leaving this time without so much as a glimpse Logan’s way.

When the door shut Wade spoke again, “She’s gonna get picked up by every hottie in the club in that outfit. Did you see her legs Peanut?”.

Wade then almost immediately flinched when he felt glass shatter on the back of his head, the alcohol in the now broken bottle staining the back of his My Little Pony shirt.

He didn’t even have to look back to imagine the look on Logan’s face, “Gotcha,” was all Wade replied, picking out a rather large glass shard from the back of his neck.

…

It was hours later when you were so drunk you couldn’t feel the cold outside, but you sure felt good on the inside. The only bad thing was that the other girls wanted to go to another club, and your social battery was just about gone.

You three stumbled out of the club, Yukio and you giggled at something Ellie had yelled at some perv leering at you when you’d walked out. Stopping the other two from turning the opposite way to another club, you spoke rather loudly despite being out of the crowd and loud music.

“I-I think I’m gonna go home! You girls go!” you told them, making Yukio frown.

“Don’t walk home by yourself, call Wade or something,” Ellie commented.

You nodded thoughtfully before gasping, “I’ll call Logan, Wade is doing butt stuff with Vanessa tonight!”.

Your loud comment sent Yukio into a giggling fit and made a guy near you wince, maybe he’d done butt stuff too.

Ellie only nodded, rolling her eyes as you pulled your phone from your purse, scrolling through the very few numbers you’d had, Wade had gotten both you and Logan phones soon after arriving, claiming he needed to be able to send you both funny videos every day. Which were no doubt ignored by Logan.

Pressing on Logan’s contact, you put the phone up to your ear, listening to it ring only once before the call was answered.

“You alright?”, was the first thing out of Logan’s mouth and you couldn’t help but laugh.

“Oh, I’m great!” you replied, “but Ellie doesn’t want me walking home alone and Wade is doing butt stuff so will you come? I’m only a few blocks from home.”

The whole sentence was sort of rushed and you thought maybe Logan hadn’t heard you correctly because the line went silent.

You were about to repeat yourself when Logan stopped you, “I’m coming,” he told you, you could hear him shuffling around and the sound of a door closing, “What’s the name?”.

Despite having been in the club for well over an hour you had to look up and squint at then brightly lit sign, “Uhhhh,” you mumbled into to the phone, before your eyes finally focused, “House of Yes!”.

You could’ve sworn Logan chuckled, “Be there soon,” was all he said before hanging up.

“Escort secured,” you told the two girls, slipping your phone back into your purse. “He’ll be here soon,” you added, attempting to replicate his gravely tone, only succeeding in making yourself cough and sending Yukio into a laughing fit.

It was only 15 minutes of standing around before Logan showed up, you spotted him first, having turned yourself that way to look for him. He was dressed in his usual jeans, button up, and undershirt, along with a leather jacket he’d picked up recently.

He looked good you had to admit, nearly every girl outside, and even some guys turned to look at him when he walked past. He didn’t give them any sort of acknowledgement though, earning some disappointed looks from a few of them when he walked up to you.

What was it Wade said about beer goggles? Logan was hot without alcohol though, so you shook off the thought.

“Ready to go?”, he asked, eyes scanning over you, not to be a perv but to make sure everything was the same as when you left, and it was, save for the way you swayed slightly and the way you smiled at him like you were so happy to see him. He thought he’d never see that again, but he has to remind himself for what felt like that hundredth time that it wasn’t you, not his you at least.

You nodded, turning around to hug both of the girls, telling them to be safe, although you knew Ellie wouldn’t put up with anyone’s shit.

“Bye Y/N! Bye Logan!”, Yukio exclaimed, waving at you both before grabbing Ellie’s hand as they turned the opposite way.

“Alright, come on,” Logan said, taking a step away from you and waiting for you to follow him to keep walking, he made sure to keep you closest to the buildings, it wouldn’t be too great to have you fall in the street in front of a car.

It was silent for a couple minutes, you stumbled every so often and Logan’s hand always shot out, ready to catch you, but you always righted yourself, giggling as you did, and Logan found himself smiling at the sound.

You caught him smiling after a couple times, narrowing your eyes, “What’re you smiling at grumpy?”, you asked, voice anything but angry.

“Grumpy?”, he asked, raising an eyebrow at you.

“Yeah, it’s what I call you sometimes in my head, Mr. Grumpy is also a good one,” you told him in a very serious tone.

“Mr. Grumpy,” Logan found himself repeating, only making you laugh, which made you stumble, nearly knocking into someone walking the opposite way of you both. Logan instinctively wrapped an arm around your shoulders, pulling you away from the almost collision and into his side.

You immediately noticed he was warm, you could feel it even with his multiple layers on, it was growing colder now outside as the days went on and you yourself knew without the alcohol, you’d probably be cold but here he was, a personal heater.

“Are you actually just a werewolf?” you asked him, making him stop walking completely and turn towards you, removing his arm from your shoulders, making you pout a bit.

“I am not a werewolf,” he told you seriously.

You groaned, “Okay but you’re really warm, you have claws, you can run on all fours, and you’ve got those little…,” you trailed off, putting your pointer fingers up on each side of your head, attempting to mimic the little swishes his hair made.

Personally, you had no idea if his hair just did that (because he’s a werewolf), or if he styled it that way. You couldn’t decide which option to like more.

When Logan didn’t seem to understand what you’d said, you reached up, lightly running a finger along one of the swoops of his hair. You jumped a bit when his hand caught your wrist as you were pulling your hand back.

There was a look in his eyes you didn’t recognize but it soon disappeared as he let you go, “Sorry,” he quickly said. “Reflex.”

You shrugged, “No harm done,” you told him, and his eyes softened at the way you brushed off his behavior from years of enduring nothing even remotely close to the gentle way you’d just touched him.

Maybe you didn’t think so badly of him. You always seemed so wary, afraid to make him angry, to say something wrong, like he was a ticking time bomb. It put him on edge and made him want to steer clear of you, he didn’t want to scare you off either. But now, standing there staring at you while you just smiled at him made him relax a bit.

“Let’s go,” you suddenly said, beginning to walk away from him. He was back at your side in moments, and you found yourself bumping into him every so often, apologizing every time you did.

Finally, he wrapped an arm around you again, pulling you back into the warmth of his side. You smiled when he did, stumbling slightly but he held you up easily, not letting you fall.

“Thanks for coming to get me,” you told him when you were only a block from home.

“No problem,” he replied, keeping his eyes on the sidewalk ahead.

There were a few moments of silence before you began to giggle suddenly, Logan’s brow furrowed as he looked down at you, “What?” he asked, hopefully not regretting asking.

“So, you’re not a werewolf?” you asked, looking up at him.

Logan groaned looking away from you, “No, and if you keep asking, you’ll regret it.”

“Ooo what are you gonna do?” you mocked, poking his side.

“Wouldn’t you like to know sweetheart,” he replied, making you stumble at the nickname.

“I would,” you challenged, after righting yourself with the help of Logan’s arm around you.

Logan regarded you for a moment before shaking his head, “You’re drunk, another time.”

“Ughhhhh,” you groaned, “Tell me!”.

“Not a chance,” Logan replied, smirking a bit. He’d been drinking since you left and was buzzed himself, he couldn’t help but smile at your behavior.

The you he’d known had always acted like this, at least when intoxicated. You were whiny, clumsy, and clingy. The way your fingers gripped the back of his jacket to stay up right made his heart ache though and his smile fell.

You noticed his attitude change and became concerned, “You okay?” you asked, attempting to stop walking, but Logan kept you going.

“Fine” he replied, his hold on you loosening slightly, you couldn’t help but notice.

So, you stopped, much to Logan’s dismay, moving to stand in front of him, swaying slightly as you very determinedly looked him in the eye.

“What’s wrong, did I do something?” you asked, genuine concern in your voice, he could almost feel his heart crack just slightly.

“No, it’s…,” Logan began, his tongue getting tied, he was never great at emotions, that’s why he drank so much. You didn’t have to feel anything then.

“I’m listening,” you reassured, resisting the urge to take his hand.

“You’re so much like…like her, like you,” Logan finally said, not really meeting your eye. “I thought I could ignore it, but I can’t, you even smell the same.”

Logan had rendered you with nothing to say, could you truly comfort him? Reassure him? You felt yourself sobering up a bit at the thought.

It was a few moments of silence before you found your words, “I know this has been shitty for you too, and I'm sorry I haven't been a better friend. Honestly sometimes I think you hate the fact that I'm not her, me her, whatever...that you hate me. But then you do things like this and it makes me think otherwise. I guess I just don't know how to...approach you, Logan."

Logan felt his heart drop at the word “friend”, and the thought he made you feel inadequate. God he really was stupid enough to think he might have a chance with this version of you.

But he found himself lifting a hand to your cheek, feeling your skin heat up beneath his fingers, “I could never hate you, not in this universe, not in any, got it? Its my fault, for pushing that onto you, making you feel like you have to be someone you’re not.”

You couldn’t help but laugh slightly, “We’re both just fucked up in our own special way, aren’t we?”.

Logan nodded, dropping his hand, but you caught it in your own, “It’s not your fault either you know, I personally blame whatever bitchass overlord of the universe did this.”

Logan had to keep himself from solely focusing on the way your hand wrapped around his, “But…,” he went to argue.

You put up a hand to stop him, “Enough with the self-pity Howlett, its unbecoming of a man of your nature.”

“My nature?” Logan asked, titling his head at you.

“Yes, the nature of being absurdly attractive,” you admitted, looking away from him as you spoke, attempting to walk away, but he pulled you back, almost into his chest, but he kept you a few inches away, still concerned with scaring you.

“Absurdly?” Logan asked, the smirk returning to his face.

You swallowed hard, “Did I say that? I meant unappealing, completely unsightly.”

Your attempt at saving your future sober self from your drunk self was failing miserably, but Logan gave in after a few seconds, shrugging as he turned, placing his arm around you once more, guiding you towards the apartment building you could finally see in the distance.

“Whatever you say kid,” he told you.

This was the most at home you two had felt in a while, and when you sat next to each other at breakfast in the morning, Logan passing you whatever you needed when you’d asked, Wade gasped dramatically.

“Did you two also engage in butt stuff last night, or is that not your cup of whiskey Wolvie?” Wade asked.

This earned him a fork to the forehead, easily tossed across the table by Logan.

The way you laughed made Logan’s heart skip a beat instead of crack again. For the first time in quite a while he felt hope, and if being here with you meant putting up with Wade’s dumbass mouth, he could make an exception just this once.

A/N: Thank you so much for reading! I felt like Tumblr was seriously lacking in Logan fluff so here ya go!

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