#where they live in an apartment together and go from college roommates/best friends to boyfriend and girlfriend

[waterhousse]

Invisible String

pairing: college!ellie williams x reader

summary: a week in your life where someone leaves you an anonymous note and you also meet a cute girl in one of your classes.

author’s note: this is un(necessarily) LONG, so take your time to read it. i hope you still enjoy it !! <3

• • • •

monday

you were in front of your dorm, digging for your keys in the mess of your backpack when a high-pitched voice yelled your name. of course, it could only belong to you best friend, blair. you prepared yourself to receive one of her bone-crushing hugs.

“there you are! i sent you like a million messages!”

“everything okay?” you asked before pulling away.

“yeah, i just have a little proposal.”

you narrowed your eyes at her, “what are you scheming?”

“you see, my gorgeous boyfriend is throwing this massive party on friday—”

“immediately no.”

“oh, c’mon!” she grumbled. “it’s been like five months since the last time we went out together. i miss my drunk little partner,” she pouted, pinching your cheek.

you let out a laugh, softly pushing away her hand out of your face. “i’m not exactly in a party mood, blair. i’m sorry.”

you made a poor attempt to avoid eye contact, but the weight of her stare was a difficult one to ignore. you looked back at her, already defeated.

“it’s nothing serious, but i’ve just been feeling a little insecure. and i’m okay,” you were quick to clarify, “i just want to stay in my dorm and watch a movie or something. it’s only temporary, i’ll feel better soon. you know i always do,” you opened the door and waited for her to inside first.

“how many times do i have to tell you you’re gorgeous for you to believe me? look at you!”

“blair—”

“i’m serious.”

“i know you are. thank you,” you replied softly. “forget about it, let’s just go inside. i’m tired and i wanna sleep.”

your friend had a worried look on her face, but decided to drop the subject, “still no roommate?”

“nope,” you grinned, closing the door behind you. “i’d invite you to live with me but you’re too busy staying at your boyfriend’s,” you teased her.

“can you blame me? his apartment is the size of a million of these dorms combined,” she exaggerated. “besides, he’s the sweetest man to ever exist. he’s every girl’s dream.” she sighed dreamily as she threw herself on the unoccupied bed. you raised your eyebrows at her, to which she rolled her eyes. “if he were a girl you’d be after him, too.”

after your friend bragged about her boyfriend for a few more minutes, both of you ended up falling asleep, totally drained from your long, boring classes. you woke up two hours later thanks to blair’s boyfriend who called her wondering where she was.

“wanna go grab some coffee? he’s paying!” blair offered with a big smile, which you returned.

“maybe he is every girl’s dream after all.”

you and blair headed outside shortly after, gossiping about people you didn’t even know. suddenly, your sleepy eyes spotted something strange on the door, more specifically, on the whiteboard you had outside. someone had left an anonymous message on it.

the prettiest girl on campus (and of everywhere else too) i wish i could come up with the courage to talk to you. guess i’ll just admire you from afar

ps: not in a creepy way

ps2: seriously sorry if this is creepy

you stared blankly at the message, reading it over and over again.

“did you do this?”

“hold on, i’m looking for that one tweet i saw. i’m telling you, she’s cheating on him—”

“blair!”

she finally looked up from her phone, “what?”

“did you do this?” you pointed at the board.

her expression comically changed from confusion to extreme excitement, eyes widened and mouth hung open. an over exaggerated gasp left her lips before she grabbed you by the shoulders.

“oh my god! you have a secret admirer!”

“no, i don’t. that’s probably not for me. someone must’ve mistaken my dorm for somebody else’s.”

“your name is literally on that board. besides, you are the prettiest girl to ever exist, so, i’m pretty sure they’re not mistaken.” blair kept looking at the note, meticulously analyzing it. “let’s pray it’s not a man who wrote this. imagine if he confesses his feelings for you in person. he’d be in for a very awkward rejection.”

you tried to downplay the situation by telling blair it was probably just a joke, but on the inside you couldn’t stop wondering who did it. as you walked down the hallway, you discreetly checked the whiteboards from the other dorms. all they had were random doodles and people’s names, nothing else.

tuesday

you were currently sitting under a big tree, admiring the sunset. birds chirped softly at the distance, adding even more magic to the beautiful scenery in front of you, but even the peaceful atmosphere that surrounded you wasn’t enough to calm your racing mind.

the anonymous note was certainly the most interesting thing that had happened to you in a while, but you were a serial overthinker. besides making you feel extremely curious about the identity of the person who wrote it, it had also made you spiral about the way you acted towards strangers.

being content with your small circle, you never put any effort in starting conversations with someone you didn’t already know. you felt as if you didn’t need anyone else in your life, but was that a mistake? what if the mystery person tried talking to you but you acted uninterested? what if they attempted to make eye contact but you were too busy staring down?

the most important question spinning around your head was how many special bonds had you lost simply because of your behavior?

as your silent crisis continued, the sun began to disappear on the horizon until it was fully dark. your eyes quickly found the moon, with the sky being clear, you could see her perfectly.

you took out your phone to take some pictures of the satellite, as well as everything else around you. the trees, your coffee cup, an empty bench and an orange cat that was laying next to it.

just as you were taking photos of the cute animal, someone crouched down next to him to pet him. that was the moment you saw her. a girl you had never seen before, but who managed to catch your attention right away. she was simply beautiful. many people, places, art pieces and more had been described with that adjective, but in your mind, that unknown girl was the first being in history to be worthy of it. you were completely mesmerized.

you put down your phone and watched the sweet moment develop in front of you. you could tell she was speaking to the cat, who seemed to really enjoy her company. the girl got up after a few minutes, giving the cat one last scratch between his ears before leaving. a frown instantly appeared on her face the moment she looked away from the animal, making you chuckle. she looked absolutely intimidating, the total opposite of what you had just witnessed.

your eyes followed her until she disappeared from your sight, but her image stayed on your mind for the rest of the day.

wednesday

you were having one of those days when everything that can go wrong, goes wrong. you had slept through your alarm, didn’t have time to have breakfast, couldn’t find your books and forgot your jacket on your way out. one may think it couldn’t get worse, well, unfortunately, it could.

you felt your soul escape your body when the, feared by many, physics professor laid his demonic eyes on you. you were certain you looked insane; hair a total mess, completely out of breath and slightly shaking from your nervousness.

“class started ten minutes ago,” his strident voice echoed in the big classroom. you didn’t even need to look to know everyone’s eyes were on you.

“i know,” your voice pathetically quivered. “sorry.”

“for your information, if you have somewhere to be you wake early enough to make it on time. it’s not rocket science, all of your classmates did it.” when he got no reply from you, he sighed. “there’s only one more seat available at the back. lucky for you, you’ll be sitting next to one of my best students. maybe you could be friends, she could teach you how to get here on time.”

with your eyes glued to the floor, you walked straight to where the professor pointed to without making a sound. you tried your best to ignore your classmates’ stares, but they lacked discretion.

fortunately for you, a nice surprised awaited you. the student the professor mentioned was none other than the girl you had seen the day before. she was even more beautiful up-close, which wasn’t exactly a good thing. she had just witnessed your most embarrassing moment. still, her eyes radiated kindness.

“this guy’s an idiot. you were only a few minutes late and didn’t even miss much. he was just struggling to turn on the projector the whole time,” the girl whispered at you once you sat down.

you were ready to reply with just a ‘yeah’, but the crisis you had the day before stopped you.

“he’s the worst,” you replied instead. “i always feel on the verge of puking whenever he looks at me,” the regret you felt after saying that was immediate, fearing it was too much information.

you felt yourself relax at the sound of her laugh, and of course it had to be the most heavenly sound you had ever heard.

“i’m ellie williams,” she leaned in, reaching over for your hand. you introduced yourself as your brain started mindlessly picking up details about her, like the fact that she had many freckles scattered all over her face.

you held her gaze for a few seconds before looking back at the professor, who had begun talking about punctuality. he sent you multiple looks during his whole speech, you found it hilarious. he looked like as if his eyes were about to pop out of his sockets.

trying to act as normal as possible, you grabbed your water bottle and took a sip in an attempt to calm down. you realized that was a huge mistake once you glanced at ellie, who was trying her hardest to hold in her laugh. you almost spit out your water when she made eye contact with you, causing you to choke.

“shit, you alright?” she leaned in, now fully laughing, and patted your back.

“yes— yeah,” you managed to say in between your coughing and laughing. you looked around, noticing how quiet the classroom had gotten. yours’ and ellie’s voices were the only thing cutting through the deadly silence. “sorry, i choked on water— sorry,” you apologized to the professor, who was impatiently tapping his foot on the floor.

“may i continue, ladies? is that okay with you two or should i wait for you to be done?” neither of you answered, so he let out one of his classic sighs. “as i was saying…”

the moment he looked away, you covered your face with your hands, trying to muffle the giggles that were escaping your lips. ellie was in the same state as you, which only made things worse.

“if he didn’t hate me before, he sure does now,” you whispered, eyes sparkling with amusement. “why does he have to be such a dick? it’s not like a choked on purpose. i could’ve died,” you dramatized.

actually, it’d be very rare to die from choking on a liquid, ellie almost said, but she didn’t want you to think she was a smart-ass. instead, she just kept laughing.

silence grew between the two of you as you came back to your notes and tried to pay attention to the class. ellie’s eyes inevitably fell on you again, trying to come up with something to say to keep the conversation going.

“you know, i, personally, wouldn’t take advice from a person like him, but i think he’s right about us being friends.”

“yeah, i think he is,” you warmly smiled before looking down at your notes again, unable to hold her gaze.

having fun in physics class seemed impossible at the beginning of the semester, but it had actually happened. you and ellie talked the whole time, which made the minutes go by faster than expected and also annoyed everyone around you.

“see you next wednesday? try to be on time, though. i don’t want him to kill you in front of the whole class.”

you laughed at ellie’s words and nodded, “see you next week.”

i really hope it’s sooner than that, the thought appeared in your mind without warning. you watched ellie go, a shy smile appeared on your lips when she glanced back at you and caught you staring.

the rest of the morning felt boring and uneventful in comparison to physics class, so you were really excited to finally be back at your dorm. your tired eyes fell on the whiteboard, no message from the mystery person. you tried to ignore how weirdly disappointed you felt and went inside, telling yourself it had been, probably, a one time thing.

thursday

shyness had never been a problem for you but, still, socializing wasn’t really your thing. if there was a chance for you to avoid interaction with strangers, you took it, so it was certainly weird seeing ellie at the dining hall and feeling an intense need to say hi. good thing she wasn’t exactly a stranger, right?

she was sitting alone in one of the most secluded tables, eyes focused on her phone. without giving it much thought, you walked towards her, but you began second guessing your decision once you realized she probably wanted to be alone. your steps became more hesitant the closer you got to her and just as you were about to turn around and leave she looked up. her surprised expression quickly changed into a delighted one.

“hey,” she greeted as she took off her headphones.

“hi,” you smiled back as a feeling of panic started setting in. you had absolutely no idea of what to say to her.

“you can sit if you’d like,” she offered, gesturing to the seat in front of her.

“you’re not busy? i can leave if you alone if—”

“no way,” ellie shook her head and, with her foot, pushed the chair towards you before looking up at you. “c’mon, sit.”

the moment you sat down, she leaned forward. you, instinctively, leaned back, but kept your hands just a few inches away from hers. you bit the inside of your cheek, trying your hardest to hold her gaze.

“so, how you’ve been? had any nightmares about our beloved professor yelling at you?” ellie asked, amused. you internally thanked her for starting the conversation.

“i can see his spit flying at me in slow motion whenever i close my eyes,” you replied, making ellie laugh. “that was definitely the last time i’m late to class. i hate attention, if i have to go through something like that again i’ll just die on the spot.”

ellie’s smile hadn’t faded since the moment she saw you, “just try not to be late to any of his classes, he’s the only one who gives you shit for that,” she adviced. “i knew he was insane because i’ve heard about it, so i tried to get on his good side by always being early. i considered sitting at the front, too, but that was too much.”

“you always sit at the back?”

“yeah, i don’t like having people behind me. for some reason, it really freaks me out knowing someone is staring at the back of my head.”

you hummed in response, mind deep in thought. you never looked at the back when you entered the classroom, in fact, you kept your head down, but ellie had always been there.

how many special bonds had you lost simply because of your behavior?

“hey, my friend’s boyfriend is throwing a party this friday, i was wondering if you’d like to go.”

“cool, yeah, of course,” ellie quickly replied.

“yeah?” you beamed, biting down your bottom lip.

“yes,” she nodded, the corners of her mouth quirking up again, “can i bring a friend?”

“sure,” you smiled. you took out a pen and a post-it from your backpack and wrote the address before sticking it on her hand. your eyes wandered further and ended up on her watch. without a second thought, you grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer to you, tilting your head to see the time. “shit, i gotta go to class, but i’ll see you friday?”

“see you then,” ellie said, but she didn’t want you to leave, and you didn’t want to go either. she hesitated before calling your name, making you turn around. “can i walk you to class?”

the question lingered in the air as you processed it. it had caught you completely off guard, which ellie could tell just by seeing your expression. fearing she messed up, time began moving slower and slower to her until you finally accepted her offer with a huge grin on your face.

ellie released the air stuck in her lungs before catching up with you. anyone with a pair of working eyes could see how nervous the two of you were, except yourselves. you were too busy focused on not to embarrass yourself by tripping and ellie was trying to regulate her breathing. neither of you dared to talk because it would make it too obvious, but ellie finally broke the silence once you stepped outside, asking you what class you had.

you had always hated small talk because you feared there’d be a point in which you wouldn’t know what else to say, but that moment never came with ellie. the conversation flowed smoothly between smiles and chuckles from the both of you.

“oh, look!” she suddenly said, casually grabbing you by your shoulder as if she had done it a thousand times before. you followed her line of sight and gasped when your eyes spotted a familiar orange cat. it was the same one you had seen ellie pet when you didn’t even know her yet. “wanna go say hi?”

“how is that even a question?”

ellie was the first one to approach him, crouching down in front of him. you copied her action a second later, already eager to pet him.

“his name is orange. original, right?” ellie sarcastically asked, gaining a laugh from you. “i didn’t name him, by the way. he has a tag with his name.”

“hi, little guy,” you pouted, scratching the back of his head.

“he must live nearby because he’s always here,” ellie told you. “he’s missing an eye, but he’s still cute, right?” she glanced over her shoulder.

you two were close. closer than a simple girl like ellie could handle. your perfume was all that she could smell, you were the only thing she could look at and her own heartbeat was the only sound she could hear.

“he’s the cutest,” you chuckled.

you stayed there for a couple more minutes. ellie told you about the first time she saw orange and you told her about the pets you had back home. it was such a sweet conversation, both of you using soft voices to not scare the cat away.

“alright, let’s go. i don’t want you being late to another class,” ellie told you as she stood up. “see you later, dude,” she waved at orange. surprisingly, the cat meowed back. “we’re best friends,” ellie jokingly bragged as both of you began to walk again.

“do you think he’ll accept me as a friend, too?”

“oh, absolutely. he loves you already.”

you ended up getting to class just in time, but you wouldn’t have cared if you were late. if it were for you, you would’ve skipped it just to keep hanging out with ellie.

“see you tomorrow, then?” you asked, hopeful.

“see you tomorrow,” ellie confirmed as she took a few steps back in your opposite direction, her eyes never leaving you until she fully turned around.

friday

it had been a while since you’d last chosen an outfit with someone in mind, wondering if they would like it. it took a while, but you finally settled on one. it was neatly laying on top of your bed.

“she’ll totally fall in love when she sees you in that,” blair’s voice cut through the silence, startling you.

“i’ve no idea who you’re talking about,” you obviously lied.

“maybe the girl you’ve been talking to me about since you met her?” blair guessed, “or is it the mysterious person who left you that note on monday?”

“it’s not weird that i still think about who could it be, is it?”

even if you had many other things to think about, the identity of the secret admirer, as blair had called them, was something that you were still curious about. it was difficult not to overthink every interaction you had with strangers, especially those who you’d catch staring or were friendlier than normal with you.

“are you kidding? if i were you, i would’ve asked every single person on campus if they knew anything about it,” she sat down on your bed, next to where your clothes were and handed them to you with a wink. “both ellie and the secret admirer will die when they see you tonight.”

a pathetic giggle escaped your lips on the way to the bathroom. you quickly changed into your chosen outfit, a rare feeling of exciment growing on inside you.

once you arrived at the party, you wasted no time and started looking for ellie. there were many familiar faces in the already drunken crowd, some of them even waved at you, but you didn’t even notice. between the lights and the loud music, you could barely pay attention to your own thoughts.

“what was she like again?” blair asked you, trying to help you find her.

“hot,” you replied, still scanning the room.

“right, thanks. that really helps.”

you laughed, “she’s—” your description was cut short when you suddenly locked eyes with her across the room. there was someone by her side, a girl who looked familiar but you couldn’t pinpoint where you knew her from. “she’s here.”

ellie leaned into her friend’s ear to say something, but her eyes never left yours. you tried to remain calm as you watched her walk towards you, looking annoyingly attractive.

“hey, there you are,” she greeted once she was close enough for you to hear her.

“hi! you came,” you beamed. “this is blair, my best friend. blair, this is ellie.”

“it’s really nice to meet you,” ellie shot a quick glance at your friend before glueing her eyes on you again.

knowing that that was her cue to leave, blair gave you a squeeze on your arm, “if you’ll excuse me, i have to go find my boyfriend. enjoy the party,” she wiggled her eyebrows at you before disappearing into the crowd.

“shouldn’t you call your friend over?” it was a genuine question, not wanting ellie to ditch the person she was with for you, but you also needed to know if she was really just a friend.

ellie looked over her shoulder and let out a chuckle, “i think she’s pretty busy.”

confused, you looked behind her. all of your doubts were cleared once you spotted her, she was making out with some girl.

she was definitely just a friend.

“oh,” you let out a short laugh. “good for her.”

ellie nodded at your words before looking back at you again. you were still distracted by the show ellie’s friend was giving and were completely oblivious to the spell you had put her under.

“you look really good,” she blurted out.

you broke into a sweet smile at the sudden compliment, “oh, thank you. you do too. really, really good.”

the fluttering of your heart made you want to burst into giggles, feeling extremely giddy. it was obvious how flustered you were, but seeing ellie in the same state as you made you feel slightly better. you would’ve never guess she’d be the type of person who blushes.

“wanna go for something to drink?”

you nodded at her question before reaching for her hand with the excuse of not losing each other on the way to the kitchen. ellie’s fingers quickly intertwined with yours as you started to lead the way. you offered many apologizes to the people who you accidentally bumped into, the place was absolutely packed and it was difficult to move. the kitchen was no different, you had barely any place to walk.

you grabbed two beer bottles and handed one to ellie, who looked a bit flushed from the previous interaction.

“next time someone doesn’t move after i say ‘excuse me’ i’ll just hit them on their ribs,” you furrowed your eyebrows. “where did they put the bottle opener?” you muttered to yourself, but ellie seemed to have heard you.

“here, let me help.”

you passed her the bottle and watched as she opened it against the table, taking the top off immediately.

“impressive,” you praised her before taking a sip. you grimaced at the taste.

ellie leaned back on the kitchen island, keeping her eyes on you. there was an amused smirk on her lips, “you don’t like it?”

“not really. i mean, it’s not like i hate it, but i only drink beer when there’s no other option,” you shrugged your shoulders. “i think there’s more to drink over there but there’s too many people and i don’t feel like getting trapped between sweaty drunk dudes.”

ellie swept her gaze over the kitchen before walking towards one of the many cabinets. “there’s gotta be something else in here,” she said as she opened every single door. “there it is!” ellie turned around and your eyes fell to her hands, she was holding a bottle of vodka. it was almost empty. “shots, anyone?” she offered.

a guy who was at the kitchen cheered, “hell yeah!”

ellie frowned, disgusted. “not you. go get your own bottle.”

a laugh escaped your lips at how disappointed the guy seemed to be, he immediately left after ellie’s words. “that was kind of mean,” you chuckled lightly.

ellie couldn’t tell you that she actually blew him off because of how shamelessly he checked you out the moment you entered the kitchen, so she just shrugged her shoulders. “he didn’t find it. open up,” she commanded you, placing a hand on your chin. you opened your mouth and felt how ellie poured the liquid down your throat.

“gross,” you wrinkled your nose. you grabbed the bottle from her hands and copied her action, softly grabbing her by her chin. she drank what was left of the vodka and you left the bottle on the counter behind her.

ellie smiled at you as she swiped her fingers across the corner of her lips. she gave you one last glance before walking past you. you watched her open more drawers and cabinets.

“psst, come here,” she called you over.

“what did you find?”

ellie looked around to check no one else was listening. you laughed at how secretive she was being. “look,” she whispered, she had found a box of chocolate covered strawberries. “shall we?” she offered, eyebrows up.

“absolutely,” you accepted, laughing. “but not here. let’s go to the balcony. it’s closed but i know where they keep the keys.”

ellie pushed herself off the table she was laying on and grabbed your hand, “i’ll lead this time, i know where it is.”

you stared down at your hands, blindly trusting her to guide you.

“how do you know where it is?”

“well, i kind of looked everywhere for you when i got here,” she admitted. “thought you stood me up.”

“sorry, i took forever to get ready,” you apologized, embarrassed.

“don’t worry, it was totally worth it,” ellie shot a quick glance at you as she said that, knowing it would mess you up. her personality changed from shy to flirty in a matter of seconds, so you didn’t really know what to expect of her.

you let out a sigh of relief once you were on the balcony, grateful for how muffled the people and music sounded from outside. “i remember why i haven’t gone out in months now,” you rolled your eyes.

“not a party girl, huh?” ellie let out a chuckle, leaning against the wall. she offered you a strawberry, which you gladly took.

“not lately,” you replied after taking a bite.

“so what made you go out tonight?”

you shrugged, “it was an impulse,” your answer was honest, but it was missing the rest of it.

because i wanted to see you again.

“it really helps you’re here, though,” you clarified. “actually, it doesn’t only help, you’re the only reason i’m enjoying this.”

“same here,” she smiled at you before looking up at the sky, she got lost in her thoughts for a moment before speaking up again. “it sucks that city lights don’t let us see the stars properly.”

you scoffed at her words, “i know, but hey, at least we have the moon,” you pointed at the satellite. “she never disappoints.”

there had been a few times were you felt as if the universe was on your side, somehow listening to you. that night was the moment you confirmed your theory because, coincidentally enough, the lights went off in what it seemed to be the entire city. a collective scream was heard from inside the apartment, along with multiple curses.

you took out your phone and turned on your flashlight, accidentally pointing it at ellie’s eyes.

“ow!” she let out, squinting her eyes. you couldn’t help but laugh, to which she complained.

“sorry, didn’t mean to blind you. especially now,” your excitement was enough to spark ellie’s curiosity.

“what do you mean?”

“come with me,” you grabbed her hand for the third time that day, knowing you’d miss doing that when the night came to an end. you still hadn’t gotten used to the weird, almost electric feeling that tingled in your palm whenever you touched her.

you guided her through the disappointed multitude, letting out apologies every now and then and also pushing those who didn’t move after you politely asked. you couldn’t blame them, though, they had used the darkness to their advantage and were shamelessly making out.

the air was ten times colder on the terrace than it was on the balcony, but neither of you cared because once you looked up you forgot about everything else. well, except maybe each other.

the view was completely breathtaking. without the light pollution, the sky looked straight out of a painting.

“it’s like looking straight at space,” you whispered, eyes sparkling with excitement. you had only seen the stars like that once in your life when you were a kid. it was as magical as you remembered, and the person you were sharing the moment with only made everything more special.

“i know,” ellie gazed at you before looking up again. “it blows my mind.”

as the night went on, you talked about many different things whilst laying on the floor; how your lives back home were, your friends, your families, favorite movies and songs and of course, with both of you being astronomy students, space-related stuff. you two were interested in each other’s point of view about everything, so you discussed many different subjects, enjoying the freedom to be incredibly nerdy about it.

“our lifespan is way too short. i mean, think about it. look at how many things have changed and advanced in only a hundred years. can you imagine how the world will change in, like, a thousand years?”

“maybe in fifty more years scientists will discover the key to immortality and we’ll be able to see everything,” ellie shrugged her shoulders. “or we could try to discover it ourselves once we graduate.”

you let out a laugh, “such an easy thing to do,” you sarcastically said. “i’m in, but maybe we could try with something easier, like, finding extraterrestrial forms of life, perhaps?”

“apparently, they are already here,” ellie pointed out.

you turned your head at her, “we’ll be the first to make friends with them, then. we’re pretty nice people, they’ll warm up to us.”

“deal,” she smiled at you, inevitably glancing at your lips for a second due to the proximity.

you kept enjoying each other’s company. there were moments in which neither of you spoke but, surprisingly enough, you didn’t care. even silence was fun with her.

neither of you had experienced a connection as strong as the one you had, especially in such a short amount of time. you didn’t question it, thought, it just made sense.

after a while, the power came back. the city was illuminated and the music from the party was back on. you two sat up, a little saddened that you couldn’t stargaze anymore.

“it was fun while it lasted,” you commented, ready to return to the apartment. you picked up the beer bottles from the floor, along with the empty box of chocolate strawberries.

“we can always go camping,” ellie suggested. “the sky will look even better than tonight.”

“i have zero survival skills, so you’d be in charge of everything. i can interest you with some random facts, though.”

“sounds good,” she laughed as she stood by the door and opened it, waiting for you to go inside first. the walk to the apartment was quiet, hating the fact the that night was coming to an end.

the loud music welcomed you again, people were even crazier after having to wait half an hour for the power to come back. it surprised you to see the same amount of people, apparently, none of them had left.

“i know it’s a friday night but, how the fuck has your friend managed to not get kicked out yet?” ellie leaned into your ear.

“this building is mostly occupied by other students, so they are probably at the party, too,” you explained, raising your voice a little so she could hear you.

everyone was euphorically dancing, making up for the lost time. you glanced at ellie before grabbing her hand and dragging her to the improvised dance floor. she instantly followed you, completely mesmerized.

“oh my god, there you are! i thought i was imagining things when i saw you earlier,” a familiar voice said from behind you. it was tara, you shared some classes and had been partners in a project once. “you look so good.”

“oh, hey, tara. this ell—”

“yeah, hi,” she interrupted you, only glancing at ellie for half a second. “could you walk me to the bathroom? i– i don’t know where it is and i feel pretty sick.”

your eyes flickered between the two girls. you obviously wanted to stay with ellie, but tara had put you in a really awkward position.

“uh…” you hesitated, “where are your friends?”

“they already left,” she frowned. “c’mon, babe, come with me? please.”

the nickname she used echoed in ellie’s mind.

“i can’t, i—”

“you should go. i should check on my friend, so…” ellie’s lips were in a straight line, but she forced a smile when you looked at her.

“why don’t you come with us?”

ellie would’ve agreed if she hadn’t seen the nasty look tara had given her. she wasn’t intimidated by her in the slightest, but the thought of being a burden and indirectly forcing you not to leave her alone was enough to let you go, even if she didn’t want to.

“no, really. i need to go see if she’s okay. i’ll find you later.”

you didn’t have time to respond, because you had already been dragged away from there. tara started chatting your ear off about stuff you didn’t care, you could only think about ellie.

“do you want me to call you an uber or something?” you asked her.

“why would i wanna leave?”

“you said you were sick and you’re pretty drunk, you should go home.”

“oh, no, silly. i live in this building, maybe you could walk me to my apartment?”

you refrained from rolling your eyes in front of her and realized that the sooner you got rid of her, the sooner you could go back to the girl you actually wanted to be with.

“c’mon, let’s go,” you said. on the way out you messaged blair to find ellie and tell her you’d be right back, to which she answered she was on it.

you took the elevator to her floor. you could tell tara wanted you to initiate a conversation by the way she was looking at you, but you couldn’t care less about her. she hadn’t noticed, apparently, because she started talking about god knows what as you walked behind her, completely zoned out.

“wanna come in?” she asked you once you were outside her apartment. her intentions were crystal clear but, as flattered as you were, you couldn’t help but feel completely uncomfortable.

“uh, no, thanks,” you awkwardly said.

“you sure? i’ve got—”

“yes, tara, i’m sure. i gotta go, i’m sorry. you’ll be okay, though, right? see you around,” you took a step back with each word you said, by the end of the sentence you were in front of the elevator. you heard tara let out a very confused ‘bye’ before the doors closed.

you impatiently tapped your foot against the floor, wondering why was the elevator taking so long. once you were back at the party you immediately searched for ellie, but she was nowhere to be found. instead, you saw blair, who had a worried look on her face.

“hey,” you approached her. “did you talk to ellie?”

“i couldn’t. i saw her leave with that girl she was with like a minute after you texted me,” she grimaced. “what happened? why were you with tara?”

you sighed, “i’m so stupid,” you groaned. “tara found me and she put me in this really difficult spot, so i had to walk her to her apartment because she was pretty fucking drunk and feeling very sick, or at least that’s what she told me, and i did it as fast as i could, but—”

“okay, okay. stop. why don’t you text ellie and—”

“i don’t have her number.”

“try instagram?”

“i tried finding her on instagram the same day i met her and i couldn’t,” you awkwardly confessed. “she probably thinks i blew her off for stupid tara.”

“hey, calm down. i’m sure you’ll see her soon.”

sadly, that soon never came. saturday, sunday, monday and tuesday went by painfully slow. there was no sight of ellie.

wednesday

you were a hopeless romantic, even if you didn’t admit it out loud. deep down, you knew that meeting ellie wasn’t a coincidence. it could’ve happened at any given moment due to being classmates, but it did when you needed it the most.

it was unexpected, but as said before, you felt as if sometimes the universe was on your side, listening to your deepest desires, the ones you didn’t know needed to be fulfilled.

you had never felt a connection as genuine as the one you had with her. everything seemed easy with her, making you feel you’d known her for longer than a week.

that doesn’t happen often, especially to you, so you would do anything in your power to fix things.

you were currently in physics class, counting down the minutes for it to end. you had to fight the urge to look at the back to see if ellie was there.

the thought of her being mad at you for practically abandoning at the party you invited her to made you sick. you also feared she didn’t care at all, which was a hundred times worse.

once the class ended you waited for her outside, trying to calm down your racing heart. the majority of students had already come out. you had just started to lose hope of seeing her when you finally heard her voice. she was saying goodbye to the professor.

“hi,” you nervously smiled when she was in front of you. her looking as good as always didn’t help you calm down at all. “i’ve been hoping to see you since friday. i wanted to apologize—”

“oh, you don’t have to do that. i get it. i saw you leave with that girl, tara, was it? it’s okay, you don’t have to explain anything—”

“no, no. i didn’t leave with her,” you clarified. “she wasn’t feeling good so she asked me to walk her to her apartment, which was in that same building, and i only did it to get rid of her. i know i sound like a major dick, but i wanted to go back to you as soon as possible,” you confessed, heart beating a hundred miles per minute.

“you did?” there was a smile hiding on her lips, you could tell by the tone she used. she was amused and obviously enjoyed seeing you flustered.

“yes, and i told blair to find you and tell you that i’d be right back, but when i did you had already left and i had no way of communicating with you, so…” ellie was quiet, so you continued. “i’m sorry.“

it felt like an eternity until she spoke again. “i’m sorry i left.”

“it’s not your fault,“ you mused. “it’s tara’s.”

“it so is,” ellie let out a chuckle. “i’ll fuck her up.”

you laughed, which made ellie’s stomach flip. both of you became numb to your surroundings as you stared into each other’s eyes, dumb smiles plastered on your faces.

“hey, about that paper that we have to do on electromagnetism. would you, maybe, uh, want to do it with me?”

“yes, i’d love to,” you grinned. “we could meet at the library tomorrow. do you have any classes in the morning?”

“just one, it ends at 10.”

“see you at 11?”

“yeah,” ellie nodded.

“oh, i almost forgot,” you said before taking out your phone. ellie curiously watched you type something before you handed it to her.

an adorable smile formed on her lips when she saw you were asking for her number. you had already typed in her name with the alien emoji next to it.

“thank you,” you mused when she gave your phone back to you. you instantly sent her a text so she could save your number on hers, too.

“see you tomorrow :)”

ellie looked up from her phone, mouth upturned. “see you then.”

tuesday

“the library’s closed,” ellie announced the moment she saw you.

the lights were turned off and there was a sign on the door that read ‘closed for reparations’.

“awh, man,” you complained. “why didn’t they tell us sooner—”

“actually, they did. i just checked and they sent us an email about a week ago, we just don’t check our inbox,” ellie interrupted you, grimacing.

“oh, our fault then,” you shrugged your shoulders. “um, maybe we could go to my dorm? i don’t have a roommate so nobody will bother us,” you offered.

“woah, i’d give everything to have my dorm all to myself,” she groaned, tilting her head back. “why don’t you have a roommate?”

you didn’t realize you had already started walking together, mindlessly leading the way to your dorm.

“i had one at the beginning of the semester, but then she dropped out or something. they told me i’ll probably get one next semester, so i’m enjoying it while it lasts,” you explained.

ellie huffed, “my roommate is a music producer. she’s pretty considerate but sometimes she has to listen to her songs without headphones,” she rolled her eyes. “i think i’m gonna find a job and move out to an apartment.”

“you totally should. i’d do it too if i were capable of balancing work and college,” you told her. “you’re welcome to stay at mine’s for as long as you want and whenever you want, by the way.”

“really?” she grinned. “you’re already asking me to live together? i haven’t even met your parents, yet.”

you rolled your eyes, a playful smile growing on your lips, “fine, my offer is off the table, then.”

“oh, no. now it’s too late. i’m moving in tomorrow morning.”

ellie spent the entire walk planning an itinerary for when she moved in with you, which basically consisted in eating breakfast together, go to class, come back and have lunch together, have more classes, come back and have dinner together then have a sleepover every night.

“sounds fun, huh?”

“super fun,” you chuckled as you opened the door for her. “guests first,” you stepped aside, inviting her in.

“hey, this is practically my dorm, too, now,” ellie joked, curiously looking around as she scratched the back of her neck. she was trying her hardest not to show how nervous she actually was, but the fluttering on her stomach made it really hard.

you were in the same state as her, trying not to freak out. your eyes discreetly checked every corner of the room, making sure everything was in order and there was nothing embarrassing laying around.

ellie chuckled to herself when she noticed the ceiling was decorated with a bunch of stickers that glowed in the dark. stars and planets were placed all over.

“i know they’re childish,” you wrinkled your nose, visibly cringing.

“are you kidding? i love them. these will be the first thing i’ll buy for my new place,” her gaze fell from the ceiling to your eyes, a genuine smile spreading across her lips.

ellie kept looking around your dorm, grabbing stuff that caught her attention. it was funny seeing her ask for permission each time, looking back at you and pointing at the object she wanted to check out.

you took out your laptop from your backpack and sat down on your bed. it immediately bummed you out when you remembered that you had to do an assignment and weren’t just hanging out for fun.

“i’m gonna create a google drive file so we can both edit it later in case we don’t finish it today,” you informed her.

“yeah, that’s a good idea,” ellie replied, focused on a bracelet she had found on your desk. then, she continued snooping around your things, sometimes mumbling cool and i’m going to borrow this.

you checked the questions you had to answer and immediately sighed, “i’m completely lost.”

“want me to explain it to you?” she offered and you obviously accepted. ellie looked at the big whiteboard behind her and grabbed a marker from your desk. “okay, so you know that the earth’s core is mainly composed of liquid in the outer core and solid iron in the inner core?”

you tried your hardest to keep your attention on what she was saying, but the task turned impossible. her voice sounded muffled and you could only focus on how good she looked. you let out a few yeahs and rights when you thought it was appropriate, but the truth was that you didn’t know what the hell she was talking about.

“and this field has existed for at least three billions years, which is nuts, right?” you ears managed to make out of all the things she was saying. you saw how she laughed, clearly enjoying talking about the subject. you probably would too if you could be capable of actually listen and process what she was saying.

you watched as she continued to write and draw stuff on the board at the same time she explained something to you, but you couldn’t keep your eyes off of her.

“that’s about it, got it?” she asked, turning around.

“uh…” you let out, not being capable of forming an actual sentence.

ellie chuckled, amused, “you alright?”

“yes, it’s just—”

“was there something you didn’t understand? i can go over it again,” ellie kindly offered, but you could hardly hear her over the loud beating of your heart.

you weren’t really planning to, but you stood up. it was as if you were on autopilot, there was something else controlling your body and you couldn’t do anything to stop it. you walked closer to ellie, who looked confused.

“if i’m being honest, i didn’t listen to a word you said,” you confessed, smiling guiltily. “i swear i tried to, but there was something else on my mind.”

“what’s that?” ellie asked in a whisper, eyes scanning your face. you were extremely close to her.

“i don’t think i can go another minute without kissing you,” you softly confessed, looking up into her eyes. her pupils were dilated and a light blush had started to color her cheeks.

“no one is stopping you,” she replied, wholly captivated by you.

not even a second later, you crashed your lips into hers. ellie joyfully giggled, but that didn’t stop her from hungrily kissing you back. her hands found their way up to the sides of your face while yours ended up tangled in her hair.

ellie broke the kiss first, but your lips were still touching. “i’m still deeply disappointed you didn’t listen to my physics lesson.”

“i’m sorry,” you chuckled. “i heard some parts, you were great. i learned a lot.”

ellie smiled before leaning in again, bringing you impossibly closer to her as she gave you a breathtaking kiss. you melted against her, already eager for the kiss to end just so you could do it over and over again.

“this would’ve happened sooner if it weren’t for tara,” ellie joked, reaching over to grab your hand.

“i’ll kill her next time i see her,” you were standing so close to each other that you replied with a whisper.

ellie frowned, “you’re not seeing her again.”

“oh? i would’ve never guessed you were the jealous type,” you teased her, placing your arms on her shoulders again and bringing her even closer to you. ellie looked even better than before. her lips were reddened, her hair was a mess and her eyes had become even more hypnotic.

you could’ve stayed admiring her for hours, but a glance over her shoulder was all it took for you to wake up from your trance. you walked past her to take a closer look at the whiteboard she had used. it wasn’t what she had written that caught your attention, but the handwriting itself. it looked incredibly familiar.

your mind quickly came up with a crazy theory, which ellie’s expression confirmed the moment you looked back at her.

“you were the one who left me that note on my door?”

ellie’s confident and teasing demeanor was long gone. she looked panicked. her heartbeat accelerated significantly and she felt as she was running out of air.

“oh my god,” your mouth fell agape, a smile creeping up on your lips. “you did!”

she covered her face with her hands, letting out a groan, “you weren’t supposed to know that.”

“why?”

“it’s embarrassing! we didn’t even know each other when i did it. it’s weird—”

“it’s sweet!”

“it’s weird,” she repeated, not being able to look at you.

you smiled fondly at her, reaching for her hand and giving her a squeeze, “it really helped me, you know? it was as if you knew i needed it.”

ellie grimaced, “well, i actually kind of did…”

“what do you mean?”

she sat down on your bed, making you sit next to her. you didn’t let go of her hand. instead, you played with her fingers in an attempt to calm her down.

“i visited my friend that day, her dorm is across the hall. i was just about to leave when i saw you coming. i panicked, so i hid and accidentally overheard what you were saying to your friend,” she admitted. “i meant what i wrote. i’ve thought that way about you ever since i first saw you. it seemed like the perfect moment to tell you, at least indirectly.”

“but why didn’t you tell me in person? or at least, talked to me sooner.”

“i’m not as brave as i look and you’re fucking intimidating.”

you let out a laugh in disbelief, “me, intimidating? look at you!”

“no, look at you. you’re way to beautiful for me to just come up to you and tell you that. who could have the guts?”

“oh my god, shut up,” you hid your face in your hands, feeling how your heart fluttered like crazy at her words.

“i couldn’t tell you after we began talking, either. we were just getting to know each other, it would’ve been weird,” ellie stared down at your intertwined hands. “it’s still kind of weird,” she mumbled more to herself than for you to hear.

not being able to take it anymore, you succumbed to the urge of throwing yourself at her, leaving many kisses all over her face. the sound of her laugh made the butterflies in your stomach to fly all over the place.

“you’re the sweetest girl i’ve ever met.”

“don’t say that about me. i have a reputation to maintain,” she jokingly rolled her eyes. “so, be honest, you don’t think it was weird?”

“of course not. i think it was fate.”

“fate?”

“wait here.”

you quickly walked over to your desk where you had left your phone. you immediately searched for the picture you had taken of her last tuesday and almost ran to show it to her.

“is that me?” ellie grabbed the phone from your hands and zoomed in the picture.

“yup,” you nodded. “this was the day before we first talked. i was taking pictures of orange and you appeared, out of nowhere. you looked as you’d beat the person who dared to speak to you,” a laugh escaped your lips. “i thought about for the rest of the day and hoped to see you again, and guess what? i did. see? it was fate.”

ellie warmly smiled, she caressed your cheek with her fingers before bringing you closer to give you the softest kiss ever given, “i guess it was.”

[mewhenimanangel]

old friend ౨ৎ eren jaeger

pairing: eren jaeger x reader

synopsis: you knew eren for most of your life - your mom having been friends with his for so many years. he was your best friend and you were his. until you weren’t

wc: 3.8k

content!: friends to lovers, swearing, smut, oral sex, piv, fluff

you knew eren for most of your life - your mom having been friends with his for so many years. so naturally as kids, you hung out all the time. play dates, sleepovers, baths, you went everywhere together. he was your best friend and you were his.

when you entered your adolescence, you grew apart a bit and began leading different lives and make different friends. when you got your first boyfriend, it sparked the first ever real argument between you and eren. he claimed you were leaving him in the dust but it was plain and clear that it was simply jealousy. you were still friends you just had different priorities, eventually eren was starring in a new tv show where he acted as the main character so you saw him less and less. it's not like he forgot about you but now he was thrown into the limelight and things changed.

during college, that's when things really dried out. you still had his number, both of you sending the occasional holiday greetings and birthday wishes. you attended and graduated from university, now landed a job in fashion pr. you had an apartment, nothing too crazy and a little on the smaller side but it was only you living there and it was decorated completely to your liking so you barely had any qualms.

it was saturday night and your friend, dayana, invited you to a bar down town. convincing you it would be fun and bribing you with a ride there, you agreed. you hopped out of the shower to moisturize your body before moving onto your makeup.

you got dressed into a black off shoulder top with a pair of bootcut jeans and black kitten heels. you got your purse and utilities, put them into your handbag and left your house. dayana was downstairs waiting in her car, cigarette in hand when she looked up to see you coming. she smiled and unlocked the doors to let you in the passenger seat.

"hey boo, you ready?" she asked, leaning over to give you a hug. "yeah let's go" you smiled, turning on your joint playlist.

you met dayana when she was your roommate in college and instantly connected. without her college would have sucked for you. you'd spent almost everyday together and did almost everything together, making the best memories. she always dragged you along to whatever function was going on. even though you would be skeptical you always had a great time. you'd led each other to make some not great choices but what's life if not making mistakes to learn from. you also led each other to a life of greatness and abundance, so there was a good balance.

you two were singing and chatting the whole way there, which took longer than necessary - thanks to la traffic. you unbuckled your seatbelt and got out of the car when dayana went to the bouncer to get the both of you in the building.

you got in and head straight for a seat in the corner. you got on the high chairs and ordered a plate of nachos and fries to share. you ordered a tray of mimosas and dayana ordered a few shots of pink whitney. "ugh i needed this" you sighed with a playful smile on your face that made dayana giggle.

you spent the night laughing and talking about your lives as if you don't update each other everyday. you were on your fifth drink, luckily the food helped you not feel the drunk as much. "oh my god, okay don't look now but that guy over there is staring so fucking hard at you" you leaned over to whisper to her. disregarding your instructions she whipped her head in the direction you spoke of and caught the guy's eye. he shot a smile her way and she sent a small wave before turning back to you.

"okay you literally don't listen" you giggled. "is he still looking?" she asked. you sent a subtle look over to him and he was still looking back at her. "yeah. he's cute you should go talk to him" you told her. "aw but i don't want to leave you alone" she frowned holding your hand. "no it's okay. plus he is really fine, better take your ass over there before i do" you joked. she rolled her eyes fondly and got down to straighten out her skirt. "i'll let you know how it goes" she smiled before grabbing her drink and walking over to his table.

you grabbed your own and walked over to the bar to order more. "hey, can i get a shot of bloody mary" you told the bartender, before sipping on your almost done drink. he shortly after pushed the drink in front of you and you tilted your head back slightly to gulp it down. "can i get another one? thank you" you smiled.

you went on your phone for a bit before you heard your name being called. you looked over your shoulder to see eren - his hair was cut and slightly curly in the right places, he wore a plain black shirt under a black carhartt jacket with jeans that were a little baggy and adidas. "oh my gosh, hii" you smiled, getting up to give him a hug. he gladly returned it engulfing your body in a bear hug, arms around your torso.

"what are you doing here?" he asked, sitting down with you. "oh i'm here with my friend dayana" you pointed in the direction of the blonde now very obviously flirting with the man from before. "oh cool cool. well how you been? its been forever" he asked. "um i've been pretty good. i have a nice job and i got a cute little apartment in westwood" you told him. "alright nice, m'happy for you" he nudged your shoulder.

he waved the bartender over to order a jagerbomb. "you still drink those?" you furrowed your eyebrows at the memory of him getting blackout drunk from those when you were teenagers. "duh, they're good. plus they're literally named after me." "yeah i don't think so" you giggled. and he smiled, the smile you haven't seen in person in a few years the smile that you missed so dearly. "so what's been up with you? i finished attack on titan by the way" you said.

"really? what'd you think?" he asked, getting excited. "oh my god so good, i literally sobbed at the ending like oh my god" you put your hand to your chest. "right? i cried reading the script" he chuckled. "anyways i've been alright, doing stuff here and there you know. after we wrapped i've been on a bit of a break" he told you. "yeah well you're still everywhere on my feed" you joked. "yeah? do i at least look good" he asked. "great" you laughed.

"so, are you seeing anybody?" he asked, taking a shot. "not really, just sex and whatever. nothing serious" you answered. he nod his head and now it was your turn to ask. "what about you? what's been going on with you and salem?" you asked, referring to the headlines you'd read about him 'spotted' with a model. "nothing actually, just publicity. she's not really my type. but since we were in that shoot together, managers thought it'd be good" he told you. you nod your head.

"mm cool" you smiled and he gave you a look you couldn't decipher. you felt a tap on your shoulder and looked to see dayana with the guy on her arm. "think i'm gonna head out" she gave you a teasing smirk. "will you be okay here?" she asked. you looked over at eren before answering "uh yeah, just catching up. this is eren by the way" you introduced him. "hi, i'm dayana" she smiled. "anyways i've got to go. y/n can you close the tab for me, i'll pay back tomorrow" she asked. "yeah. stay safe, have fun" you winked at her. "oh girl i will" she smirked, walking away with her guy.

"she seems nice" he smiled at you. "she is. i love her" you sipped on your drink. "oh by the way i can drop you home. or you can come back to my house if you want." he offered. you thought it over for a second before answering "yeah, that sounds nice." you smiled.

you talked more at the bar before deciding it was enough alcohol if eren was to be driving home. you closed the tab and handed the bar tender your credit card before getting up with eren. "won't your friends or whoever miss you?" you asked him. "no they're good. come on, car's down this way" he said, grabbing your hand. he led you down the road to a black bmw parked by the sidewalk.

you got in the passenger seat and he drove in the direction of his house. it was a gorgeous two story house with even more gorgeous landscaping. "armin lives here too, that's why the lawn looks so nice" he unbuckled his seatbelt. "yeah cause i knew damn well that could not be under your care" you laughed. "alright not too much"

he pulled out his keys and opened the front door that led into the living room. it was furnished with a large white sofa and a matching arm chair by the window, round wooden coffee table in the middle of the room. you looked around more at the decor before following eren into the kitchen. "it is so nice here oh my god. where's armin? i wanna say hi" you said. "oh he's not here right now, he's in greece with his dad" he told you. "oh that's so cool, i'd love to go to greece" you said, before opening your phone to text dayana where you were.

"do you want anything?" he asked, opening the fridge. "um just some water, had a little too much tonight it's catching up to me" you laughed. he grabbed a cold water bottle from the fridge and put it down in front of you. "you hungry or anything? want a cookie?" he asked opening the container that was filled with chocolate chip cookies. you grabbed one and took a bite "mmm did you make these?" you asked him. "nah they're from the grocery store. but armin makes me put them in that container so it looks nicer in the kitchen. he's a real bitch about his aesthetics" he laughed, making you laugh.

he sat down next to you and took a sip from the water he gave you. "i missed you, by the way" you whispered. "i missed you too like a lot. i should've reached out more just been busy." he said. "no it's okay, phone works both ways you know." you nudged his shoulder. neither of you said anything for a while, relishing in the comfortable silence. "remember when we got into a huge fight because of isaiah" you brought up with a giggle. "ugh how could i forget, fucking hated that guy." he scoffed.

"yeah and you were right to" you sighed, remembering the turmoil he'd put you through in junior year. "always am" he shrugged. "i had a little crush on you actually, that's why i was so upset" he admitted with a laugh to brush it off. your head snapped toward him. "really??" you asked, finishing the cookie he gave you. "yeah i thought that was obvious, felt pretty obvious to me" you nod your head. "i think i had a crush on you too, like afterwards. but then you know we drifted apart and whatever" you shrugged.

"hmm well, back together now" he smiled, taking a sip. "yeah guess we are." you smiled back. "do you still like me?" he asked out of nowhere. suddenly you got all awkward and shy, it was showing by the way you twisted your face. "i don't know" you giggled. "i do." he said. you now turned to look him in the face to see if he was playing around or not but he looked serious.

"are you joking?" you furrowed your eyebrows. "i'm not, i'm serious. you don't even know how bad i've missed you." he pushed a curl out of your face. "then why didn't you say anything" you sighed. "i thought you got tired of me." he was rubbing his thumb along your jaw, not breaking eye contact. "i could never, i thought you got tired of me"

"never" he chuckled. you stayed like that for a moment before he asked "can i kiss you?" you nod your head and leaned in to press your lips against his in a needy kiss, arms immediately around his neck. "wait, are you still drunk?" he pulled away. "sober enough to know i want this" you answered finding his mouth again. he pulled you onto his lap, soft hands rubbing against your thighs. "god i can't believe we've never done this" he said. "then let's make up for lost time" you smirked, moving to kiss on his neck.

he let out a soft groan feeling your soft lips on the skin of his neck. you pushed your hand up underneath his shirt, rubbing a hand over his toned abs. you could feel him getting hard underneath you and whined your hips across his lap, the friction of your jeans rubbing on your crotch turned you on. "fuck okay we're not doing this here" he sighed, getting up from underneath you. you furrowed your eyebrows before he picked you up high in his arms and spun in the direction of the stairs making you giggle.

he moved up the stairs at he pressed kisses along your exposed shoulders. he opened a door to what you assumed was his room and moved to rest you on the bed. he leaned down to turn on his lamp and threw off his jacket. you kicked off your heels and got on your knees to crawl to the edge of the bed.

you reached for the hem of his shirt and pulled it up, ogling his abs and v-line that led down to his dick hidden under his boxers. "you got so muscly" you said, feeling him up. "had to" he smirked.

he kissed you again, now rushed and sloppy, gripping the skin of your ass. he laid you back down on the bed, hovering over you. he let go slowly biting your swollen lips before he lined kisses down your neck, sucking and leaving bruises along your collarbone and the top of your breasts. he reveled in the soft moans he managed to get out of you, sounding so angelic.

he lifted your shirt off you staring at your bare tits. he brushed over your nipple with the pads of his thumb, squeezing it. he put a nipple in his mouth, sucking and licking on it while his hand groped at its twin. you squirmed around letting out soft moans of pleasure. "you like getting your tits played with?" he smirked. you bit your lips and nod your head.

he got on his knees off you and and unbuttoned your jeans, tugging them down, lifting your hips to help him. "is it alright if i touch you here, princess" he asked, resting a thumb on your mons. "mhm" you mumbled with a smile.

through your panties, he pressed his thumb on your clit drawing out small whimpers from you. he moved his fingers down your clothed slit, cocky smirk on his face "jesus baby these are soaked" he chuckled. "eren please" you whimpered. "please what? tell me what you want" he continued rubbing you through your panties. "want you to go down on me" you whispered. he hooked his fingers through the waistband and tugged them down. suddenly shy, you squeezed your legs together to cover yourself.

"don't hide from me, you're fucking gorgeous" he got down between your legs, resting them on his shoulders, lining kisses down them. he stopped just before your entrance, sucking on your thighs leaving marks. he sucked and licked on your clit like he hadn't eaten in days, he was sloppy with it but still mindful making sure you came.

he worked his tongue over your slit while continuing to suck on your folds. "eren! oh my god" you cried out, closing your eyes and looking away. "ah-ah look at me baby" he whispered. you followed his instructions but the eye contact and the stimulation was sending you over the edge. he pinched the skin on your ass to get you to look back at him.

"fuck ren im so close!" you whined. he just continued working his tongue over you while your rode your hips against his face and tangled your hand through his hair. you felt the familiar sensation in your lower body that let you know you were about to cum.

seconds later you were sighing in relief as eren lapped up every last drop from your cunt. "you still good, baby?" he asked, pushing his middle and ring finger past your folds, reaching further than yours ever could. "so good" you whined. he curled them inside you, rubbing against your walls, hitting the perfect spots inside you.

"god you're fingers feel so good" you moaned. "i'm gonna cum again, eren. mmm feels so good" you whimpered. "cum on these fingers baby" he leaned down and kissed you, tongue immediately in your mouth. you bit his lip feeling yourself reach climax and moaned into his mouth as your cum pooled around his fingers. he leaned up to suck your essence off him before pulling his jeans off and grabbing a condom from his nightstand.

he eased his boxers down off his hips and dick sprung out from the waistband. it looked about seven inches, tip the same pink as his lips and cut. he pushed the condom down his length and hovered on top of you, your arms finding their place around his neck bringing him closer. he lined his tip up with your hole and gently pushed himself inside you. he was stretching you out so good, the pain mixed with the pleasure was driving you crazy.

he was taking his time but you needed more "ren, fuck me harder please" you groaned. he followed orders and spread your legs further, pushing himself deeper inside you. he moved at a faster pace, hands squeezing tightly around your hips. "god y/n you're milking me dry" he whimpered. his dick hit your g spot so right you weren't sure how much longer you would last. when he put his hand on your tit, squeezing and tugging at your nipple your chest arched into his hand.

he moved his thumb to your sensitive clit rubbing slow circles over it, making you jump. "oh my god!" you wailed. "that my new name, princess? i like it" he said with a cocky grin on his face.

"you can give me another one right baby?" he asked, increasing the speed on your clit while he dug his hips into you. you only whined in response, quieting a moan. "don't. i wanna hear you" he moved your hand from over your mouth. "ren fuck i'm gonna cum, i'm so fucking close" "go ahead baby" was all he said and for the third time that time you came, face hot and chest heaving.

"good girl, knew you could give me one more" he leaned down to kiss your forehead before he felt himself close too. he continued pumping inside you, until he whimpered and groaned not breaking eye contact with you as he came too.

he flopped down in the bed next to you with a grin on his face. he reached a hand out to your cheek bringing you in for a gentle kiss. your legs entangled each other's and his arms wrapped around you bringing you closer as if to completely morph into you. "you okay?" he asked, rubbing a thumb over your cheek.

"yeah i'm okay" you smiled. "i'll be right back" he told you. he got up and pulled the condom off to throw it away before he put his boxers on and went out the room.

you heard his footsteps descend down the stairs before he came back with two glasses of water. you sat up in the bed and he handed you a cup. "thanks ren" you smiled, gulping it down.

he left the room again and went down the hallway. you heard water running for a bit before he came back into the room with a silly smile on his face. "what?" you furrowed your eyebrows. he didn't say anything he just picked your bare body up in his arms and carried you down the hall into his bathroom.

he had drawn a bath for you, lit with candles. "thanks to armin and his self care sundays i have these prepared" he said, arms secure around you. "this is so cute" you giggled before peppering his face in kisses.

he let you down and you slowly stepped in sinking into the bubbles. he leaned back on the counter and just watched you. "you're not getting in?" you asked him. "don't wanna disturb you" he shrugged. "it's your bath tub" you said back. "it's your bath" he retorted. "just get in the tub dummy" you rolled your eyes fondly.

he chuckled and pulled off his boxers throwing them into the hamper in the corner. you moved your knees up to your chest to make room for him in the tub as he eased in, sloshing the soap around. "m'getting flashbacks from when we were little. feel like my mom is about to yell at me for splashing" you joked.

you stayed in the tub giving each other full and detailed updates on how your lives have been since you were close. you stayed so long the bath began to run cold and that was your sign to wash up and get out.

eren stepped out of the tub and wrapped his towel around his waist before going to the closet to get a spare towel for you. you picked up your phone to see the time read 12:43 am. "hey um it's getting late, think i could get that ride home now?" you asked. "oh...i was thinking you could just stay here. i mean- i mean if you want."

you were having a good time and weren't ready to go home anyways so you agreed. he gave you one of his shirts and a pair of clean boxers to wear to bed before getting dressed himself. "are you sure though, don't wanna rob you of your bed" you hesitated. "plenty of room, now come here." he plopped down on the bed, beckoning you over.

you got under his comforters sneaking closer to him. he threw his arm over your waist and pulled you closer to him. "i'm so glad i ran into you tonight" he said, so close you could feel his breathing on your forehead. "yeah me too" you looked up. you entangled your legs between his, eyelids growing heavy. "i really don't want you out of my life again" he whispered, caressing your waist underneath his shirt.

[nouies]

hello and welcome to the june fic rec featuring my favourite works i read during the past weeks. as always, please check tags before reading. if you liked the fics please reblog their posts, leave kudos and write a nice comment. happy reading! (and happy pride month!) rec tag | more rec lists

— harry/louis —  

໑ Don’t Embarrass Me, Motherfucker by @allwaswell16 (T, 1.4k, established relationship, time stamp, professor harry, pets) Harry comes home from work to find Louis and their parrot are up to something.

A Darcy the Parrot time stamp

໑ All My Life by wanderlou (NR, 5k, established relationship, marriage proposal, humour) The four times Harry tries to propose and the one time he gets it right (or does he?)

໑ Take My Hand, Dumbass by LadyLondonderry / @londonfoginacup (G, 6k, enemies to lovers, a/b/o college au, roommates, touch depri) There's only alpha dorms at university, and Louis Tomlinson, omega, refuses to pay the exorbitant fees to live off campus. So, four years pretending to be an alpha it is! That'll be easy.

And maybe it would be easy, if not for the depri and the annoying alpha roommate and the fact that Louis is, honestly, a bit too stubborn for his own good.

໑ Little Love by GoldenSunflouervol6 (NR, 8.7k, friends to lovers, a/b/o au, fbi, homelessness) Written for the Omegaverse fic fest for prompt: 205. L & H are FBI/CIA/MI6/whatever agents and best friends. L goes on a mission without H (they’re partners, so they usually go together) and he doesn’t return. 2 yrs later he returns to the agency after escaping from wherever he was (maybe he was kidnapped, experimented on, etc., can be up to the author!). H tries to get L to talk about why he was gone/what he went through, but L isn’t ready. They continue to go on missions, but L is falling apart. Maybe he’s having nightmares, flashbacks, etc. Whoever held L captive ends up finding him again and takes him back. He either escapes again or H finds him. The author can obviously add stuff! This is more like an outline, maybe? Preferably omega L & alpha H, but ultimately up to author. Would love to see the other boys in it too, but that’s up to the author as well! [possessive & jealous h, sassy & tough l] L can be feminized, but preferably not too much.

໑ the past might be painful, but i’m in love with our future by localopa / @voulezloux (T, 10k, established relationship, pride, time stamp) it takes a lot of convincing for louis to let harry take him to his first pride. harry understands his worries and fears. really, he does. he just wants to show his boyfriend that he doesn’t have to be alone anymore.

a don’t be afraid to love (and love again) time stamp.

໑ Louis and the Very Terrible, No Good Sleep by Stria / @nooradeservedbetter (E, 10k, roommates, a/b/o au, insomnia, 5+1 things) Louis had always been used to sleeping in a puppy pile back home. It was something that just happened, with all of his siblings being omegas, they just ended up in a giant nest all together, and Louis loved to cuddle in the warmth, and breathe in the familiar scent of home. He hadn’t thought much about it when, after graduating from the local uni, he got a job offer in Brighton and had to leave the family den.

Or, Louis is insomniac. Follow him in his quest to fall asleep.

໑ You Just Be Yourself by @lululawrence (NR, 13k, strangers to lovers, a/b/o au, kid fic, 5+1 things) “Thanks, Mom.”

Louis’ breath was knocked right out of him at those words, and Grey froze. They then immediately pulled out of Louis’ arms and scurried out of sight before either Harry or Louis could respond.

“Shit,” Harry cursed quietly, looking between Louis and where Grey had disappeared.

“I…” Louis blinked and looked down at the boxes still scattered on the floor. By the time he had gathered them back up, Harry was also gone.

Or five times Harry's daughter claims Louis as her mother, and one time Louis claims them both as his too.

໑ back where we belong by Ashisinlove (NR, 15k, exes to lovers, a/b/o au, college/university au, lack of communication, omega drop, read tags and author’s note) an exes to lover university!au where louis did not know how to express his concern in the relationship and harry did not know his omega was feeling this way.

໑ Ugly love by Hazzaslittle28 (E, 16k, kind of established relationship, governor harry, prostitute louis, accidental pregnancy) And Louis knew one thing as he stares at the dark sky and trees, the town moving away from his vision that he's never going to let his child feel the betrayal and hurt and all the hardships he went through.

He's going to give his baby enough love to fill the absence of her father. The ring in his fingers burn, there was rage inside Louis but most of all resided a boy who was still in denial that one day, one day his love would return back to him. Hold him and they'll stay happy as ever.

Or

The 1860s Au where Louis is a prostitute and Harry's a governor, they both are in love until they aren't.

໑ frightened by the bite, no harsher than the bark by localopa / @voulezloux (T, 21.6k, strangers to lovers, a/b/o au, rockstar louis, bodyguard harry, touch deprivation) louis loves going to the barricade during his shows. if it’s because he’s got a bit (lot) of touch deprivation and is using it as an excuse to have his big alpha bodyguard, harry, touch him, well, that’s a secret he doesn’t need to tell.

໑ Scarred by @allwaswell16 (E, 23k, enemies to lovers, soulmates, a/b/o au, sick fic, touch deprivation, soul bond, scars, read tags) As a male omega, Louis has learned to live with disappointment and rejection, but he dreams of the day he finds his soulmate. When Harry inadvertently rejects him as his soulmate, Harry has no idea he's doomed Louis to a slow, painful death.

Pride doesn't keep Louis from telling Harry the truth. But love does.

— rare pairs —

໑ It's You by @allwaswell16 (louis/louis, T, 2.7k, a/b/o university au, clones, 5+1 things) Five times alpha Louis talks to omega Lou and one time he admits he wants more from his omega clone

໑ The Tiniest Moves by @allwaswell16 (louis/nick grimshaw, T, 1.5k, getting together, famous/non famous au) Coffee shop owner Nick Grimshaw may or may not have come to work on his day off in the hopes that fresh-off-his-world-tour Louis Tomlinson might stop by.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for not defending an ex-friend when people called her a slut?

I (20 f) fell out with my best friend and roommate M (20 f) at the end of sophomore year of college. reason we fell out isn't the main subject of this post but I think it's relevant so I'll try and keep it as brief as possible.

For context I'm Black attending a VERY white school. Frenshman year I was the only black girl in my building and this was just post-covid so student groups were pretty dead. So first trimester most of my college friends were the girls from my floor including M (white) and S (20f, asian american). It was very isolating tbh, esp bc I experienced a lot of microaggressions, but the girls I befriended were pretty good at sharing my outrage and letting me confide in them.

The worst incident was when at a party, a guy (G, white) made some very racist comments towards me and in general (said the n-word a few times). I admit I escalated it by engaging w him and the whole thing got out of hand, a lot of people saw, and he got a reputation as a racist. Afterwards, he was always rude to me, blaming me for egging him on while drunk and just constantly making disrespectful comments about me and my 'attitude' where i could hear. no one ever said anything to his face but were supportive of me after the fact - S was always particularly supportive and said she could relate.

I was generally fine with avoiding G esp in sophomore year when we moved out. I lived with M and another friend (P) and it went pretty well. We were asked in like November if we would renew our lease, and though M and I wanted to the third friend didn't, so we began to think of replacements, and S was looking for a place.

Thing is, while S and I were still on good terms I felt like she was being a bit secretive w me. She'd often come over and talk privately w M and I got the gist she was seeing someone and didn't want me to know. I shook it off as us growing apart and the fact I'd gotten more involved in Black student groups and hadn't hung around with our dorm friends as much, but then in Jan, as we were planning to sign the new lease, I found out she was dating G. Tbh at this point we weren't even close friends that I felt a strong personal betrayal, but more so I was mad at them both for not telling me while making plans for us to live together. They knew I was uncomfortable around G and wouldn't want to live w his gf, esp without knowing. It felt like they were almost purposefully going behind my back.

I didn't do anything at the time, just slowly backed out of the lease renewal and made other arrangements. I stopped hanging out with S almost completely and was just cordial w her and took a big step back from M and our dorm friends.

The other relevant bit of context here is M had a boyfriend (T, 20 m) who was in our freshman dorm and very close to our year one friends (lived with them sophomore year and now junior year too). She broke up w him in Feb, which led to a lot of her friendships w our dorm friends (her only friends really) to deteriorate a bit, esp as she was no longer super comfy hanging around where he was. this especially became an issue in the spring trimester bc she got a new boyfriend over the break, a friend from her classes T hadn't liked.

So, M kept pressuring me to hang out w her and our dorm friends a lot more, which inevitably meant seeing S and now G, who they'd all decided they were cool being around when I distanced myself. I told her why i didn't want to and I didn't want to see G again but she promised he had 'changed' and wouldn't say anything to me. eventually I folded and went out w them all once and it honestly sucked. M completely abandoned me to be w her other friends, G didn't say anything but kept glaring at me the whole time, and I felt very out of place. afterwards I told M i was sorry, I know she felt awkward around her ex without me, but I wouldn't do that again.

She left it till like the end of the year then there was a big dinner she really wanted to go to that T would be at (her bf was not invited), w all our dorm friends. I kept saying I wouldn't go, but then she told me she checked w the hosts and confirmed (and promised) G wouldn't be coming. I said okay but asked we sit next to each other and made it clear how I felt around S etc, and she agreed and promised we would. Long story short G was there, I wound up next to S and across from him snickering at me the whole time, with her on the other end of the table. I texted M about it, she said it was 'fine' and I was imagining it and to try and enjoy the gathering.. yeah no. I dipped before desert, she chased me outside asking what was up and I explained why i was upset, she said i can't expect her to be there for me the whole night and she's allowed to 'have a good night without my drama,' i said racism wasn't drama and she literally dragged me along to deal with her drama, nevermind my comfort, and that she was an incredibly selfish friend for putting me in this position. I left, she wound up crying with everyone comforting her, everyone there (M included) went off at me for being an unsupportive friend/dredging up year old drama with G/overall making everything about race, I cut them all off and moved my stuff into my girlfriend's place a week after all this and didn't speak to anyone since.

which is pretty much all the backstory (longer than the main bit, sorry), that gets us to the actual AITA situation. Junior year starts, I'm at a welcome back party w some other friends and i'm vaguely aware my old dorm friends (including S and G) are also here, but it's a huge party and i'm w my very supportive friends who ik will back me if anything happens so i dont really care. eventually M arrives w her bf, gives me an awkward look but doesn't say anything to me.

Then at some point, I'm upstairs using the bathroom and I hear the girls from our dorm group speaking to M in the hallway. Apparently it came out over summer she'd hooked up w her new boyfriend before she ended things with T and they were all pissed at her (esp for her playing the victim w her ex). I tried to stay in the bathroom until the conversation ended but someone was pounding on the door and I wound up having to get out and waddle past them awkwardly to get back downstairs. When I got out one of the girls was calling M a slut and other names and while i tried to avoid it I accidentally made eye contact with M, who was super upset and crying. I kinda just shrugged and went downstairs.

Later that night i got a long ass message from her new bf about how he knows I'm upset with her but it wasn't fair for me to just leave her in that situation, and that it was petty and selfish of me (esp bc I'm usually the person calling out this shit). I spoke to my gf, and she said she understands why i did nothing but also that it's never okay for people to call someone a slut. I agree with that 100% and in any other case i might have tried to diffuse the situation (like if it was safe and I thought I could). I've told a couple friends who think I did nothing wrong and it wasn't fair to expect me to say smth when she never said/did anything to defend me and that she had it coming, but my mom told me I should've done the kind thing and not stoop to their level and it's made me feel really bad. I think I might be TA bc i could have stood up for her without anything bad happening to me beyond being in an uncomfortable convo, and also bc it kinda felt good seeing her friends turn on her? Like she threw me under the bus to be in their good books and defend them and they dropped her ass anyway, and if I acted from a vengeful place then thats asshole-y of me. but also no one in this story has apologised to me once and as my friend says its not fair to rely on black ppl to fix racist white ppls mess.

so, AITA?

What are these acronyms?

[shaunamilfman]

Champagne Problems

Summary: You were Jackie’s best friend in college, but you’ve drifted apart a bit since she’s moved in with her boyfriend-turned-fiance Jeff. You’ve been in love with her for the longest time, but when she calls you still agree to be one of her bridesmaids. Sure hope no one has any second thoughts. 

A/N: Jackieshauna fight still happens but Shauna never slept with Jeff. Also assume the wedding planning stuff happens between scenes.

You still remember your and Jackie’s first meeting vividly. Not because it was love at first sight or anything, but because you entered your new dorm room for the first time to the sound of your roommate violently sobbing into her pillows. You stood in the doorway wide-eyed and glanced back at your mother who seemed just as surprised as you. You quietly shut the door and came back a few hours later and pretended that it had never happened when Jackie had excitedly introduced herself to you.

Much of your first semester was spent in a similar way. You had a lot of sympathy for Jackie as she cried so hard about her ex-best friend you’d thought for the longest time that she had died. You had a little less sympathy when you found out they had just gotten in a fight, but you still spent a lot of time comforting her. Her and Shauna had eventually made up after they had both gone home for winter break, but you and Jackie’s bond had already been cemented. You and Jackie were practically inseparable for all of undergrad, and you got fairly close to Shauna for that reason. 

You and Jackie had a lot of moments where you were sure that you were about to kiss, but she’d always pull away at the last minute and laugh about how drunk the two of you were. You’d nod along unconvincingly and avoid her for a few days afterwards. You couldn’t remember at what point you had fallen in love with Jackie. Maybe you always were and just didn’t know it. Not that it mattered all that much, you would never tell her. Not when she had him. You didn’t want to ruin that for her, even if it meant stifling all of your feelings. You had a desperate need to get some space between the two of you, in the hope that distance would help your feelings fade.

That had been a big reason why you and Shauna decided to get a place together after Jackie moved in with her long-time boyfriend Jeff. You had both decided by chance to go to the same school to get your Master’s degree and decided to live together to save money. Jackie was both over-the-moon that her two favorite people were living in the same place, and jealous that you were doing it without her. When she drunkenly admitted it one night you looked at her curiously. “Wouldn’t Jeff be one of your favorite people?” You asked. “Oh,” She murmured, as if she had forgotten about him. “Yeah, him too of course.”

…

You were sitting at the kitchen table across from Shauna, the both of you working on separate assignments as the phone rang. Shauna looks up at you to see if you are going to answer it but rolls her eyes as you pretend not to hear the phone. You watch as she gets up to answer the phone, and stand up quickly as she says “Oh, Hey Jackie.” She gives you a smug grin as she holds the phone closer to her ear so you can’t hear what she’s saying.

You watch her as she talks to Jackie for a moment before she gestures at you to walk over and holds the phone between the two of you. “Alright, Jackie. We’re both here now.”

“Hey,” Jackie says excitedly. “Guess what?” She asks.

You and Shauna share an amused look and you groan exaggeratedly. “You could always just tell me?” You plead. 

“You drive a hard bargain, L/N.” She teases, “But here it is. Jeff proposed!” You stiffen in shock. Shauna looks at you sympathetically and reaches over to gently squeeze your hand. You wouldn’t say that you and Shauna were close friends, but there’s a certain amount of familiarity that comes from being Jackie-and-Shauna and Jackie-and-Y/N that’s bonded the two of you together. Shauna’s shockingly perceptive when it doesn’t come to things that involve her and Jackie, so it didn’t surprise you that she was the first one to realize that you were in love with Jackie.

You cleared your throat quietly, trying to keep your voice from cracking. You were a little surprised that they had gotten engaged, given that you had met the man a total of ten times throughout the entirety of undergrad, but you congratulated Jackie nonetheless. “Thanks,” Jackie says, in that special way of hers where you can tell even over the phone how hard she’s smiling.

“I want the both of you to be a part of my wedding.” She says, then hesitates.

“I also wanted to talk about my maid of honor.” She says slowly, a little uncertainty clear in her voice.

“You mean you wanted to talk to Shauna about being your maid of honor?” You say teasingly. “I get it, Jackie, really. You’ve been planning on Shauna being by your side since you were children. It doesn’t hurt my feelings.”

“Besides,” You say, grinning smugly at Shauna. “Quality over quantity, after all.” Shauna scoffs and hits you on the shoulder. Fuck, that hurt. You try not to let on how hard she hit you for the sake of your own pride, but she seems to realize anyway. Sorry, Shauna mouths apologetically. You wave her off and snatch the phone from her to say goodbye to Jackie. Shauna promises to get you the details later and you go back to your assignments. You stare off into space for a while before you manage to shake yourself out of it.

She was never yours to lose, after all.

…

You and Shauna drive down separately on the account of you refusing to ride in her deathtrap of a car, and her being offended on her car’s behalf. You're staying at Shauna’s house for the duration of the wedding as Jackie claimed that “you really didn’t want to have to stay with her parents.” From the little Jackie has talked about them you think she’s probably right. Jeff’s car pulls up Shauna’s street about 15 minutes after yours. Jackie, predictably, still refuses to get her license. 

Jackie throws the door open before the car even stops and starts running down the driveway towards you. Your eyes widen and you scramble to set your coffee down and brace your knees before she practically mows you over in a hug. You stumble back a few steps and she buries her head in your chest. You hold her tightly against you and breathe in the familiar scent of her shampoo. You can distantly hear Jeff’s car driving off in the background.

After a few long minutes she pulls back a little and looks around curiously. “Where’s Shauna?” She asks, “I thought you left at the same time?” You grin wryly at her.

“We did,” You confirm, “You know Shauna and the speed limit, though.” She laughs brightly. She steps back and rests her hands on your shoulders to look you over thoroughly. 

“You’ve gotten your hair cut shorter,” She accuses, running her fingers through the ends. 

“I did. I’m surprised you noticed though, it’s only an inch or two shorter than I normally get it cut.” You say.

She looks at you seriously for a moment before softly admitting, “I always notice things about you.” She slides her hands down your shoulders to envelop you once again. You lean back against your car and hold her in silence until Shauna’s car pulls down the driveway.

…

“I’m a little confused,” You say slowly, looking over the bridal magazines Jackie has strewn across the table. “There’s not nearly enough pink and green in here?” Jackie glares at you as Shauna snickers behind you. 

“Yeah.” Shauna says playfully, “I don’t feel like this is really you, Jax.”

“Shut up,” Jackie whines pitifully, “It was one time!” You and Shauna share an amused glance over her shoulder as Jackie crosses her arms and pouts at the both of you.

You roll your eyes and hold your hands up placatingly. “I like it if you like it, Jackie.” You say, “You should have whatever you want in your wedding.” Jackie sighs dramatically and flops backwards against the couch.

“Shauna said the exact same thing,” She accuses. “Neither of you are any help.”

“I could have an opinion on the cake,” You offer. Shauna perks up and nods. 

Jackie pulls a pillow over her face and screams into it.

…

You slipped away early to go to bed, letting Shauna and Jackie stay up to talk details about the wedding. You weren’t as excited about it as Jackie deserved, anyways. You wake up to the soft sound of the latch catching as someone gently shuts the door behind them. “Shauna?” You murmer a little deliriously.

You hear a quiet laugh as someone sits on the bed next to you. ��Not quite.” Jackie says. You glance up at her all bleary eyes and messy hair. She smiles softly at you, looking surprisingly charmed. She runs her fingers through your hair to straighten it out. 

“What are you doing here?” You ask.

“Just wanted to see you, I guess.” Jackie says, letting her hand drop as you sit up and scoot backwards against the headboard. “I feel like we haven’t seriously talked in a while,” Jackie admits, looking sad.

“What should we talk about, Jackie?”

She sighs quietly. “I don’t know, Y/N. I just feel like you’ve been pulling away from me lately and I don’t know why.”

You look down, avoiding eye contact. “I’ve just been busy. Pinky promise.” You say, holding your pinky out playfully.

She reaches forward and links her pinky with yours. “A pinky promise? You must be really serious.”

You talk for a while about what's been going on in your lives before she suddenly grabs your hands excitedly. “Y/N!” She admonishes playfully, “He was totally flirting with you.” Your face falls and you start fiddling with her fingers anxiously. She tenses a bit as she watches you. “What’s wrong?”

“I… I’m gay, Jackie.” You say, “I thought you knew that.” She tilts her head in confusion, an unreadable expression on her face.

“Since when?” She asks.

You laugh disbelievingly. “The entire time, Jackie. You met my ex-girlfriend several times.” At her continued confusion you add “Beth, remember?”

Her eyebrows furrow in thought. “You were dating Beth?” She mutters under her breath. “You guys didn’t act any differently than me and Shauna do, though. I thought you were trying to replace me as your best friend.” You snicker at her and she gently smacks her hand against your shoulder in admonishment.

“Don’t make fun of me!” She whines, before looking at you seriously. “How did you know you were gay?” Jackie asks.

“I don’t know,” You say thoughtfully. “I kind of always knew, I guess? One day I just realized that other girls actually care about boys and don’t just pretend to.” You laugh quietly and add, “I used to pick random boys to crush on. I thought everyone did it.” 

Jackie stiffens so imperceptibly that you don’t even notice. She smiles stiffly and says “I’m glad you told me. Even if you apparently forgot.”

“I thought you knew!” You defend weakly.

“Sure,” She draws out playfully. “I know how you can make it up to me,” She says, lying back against the bed and tugging on your hand. You shift down the bed and lie on your side facing her.

“I want to sleep in here with you tonight. Like we used to.” She says, flipping over to lie facing away from you. Tentatively you lie your hand over her and pull her closer. She settles happily in your arms.

“You’re marrying Jeff in a few days, don’t you want to be spending time with him instead?” You ask softly against her ear.

She hums dismissively and laces your fingers together, pulling your arm tighter around her. “I’m spending the rest of my life with him,” She says unenthusiastically, “He’ll be fine for a few days.”

“You don’t seem that excited about it.” You say carefully. She doesn’t answer immediately, and for a while you think she fell asleep. “He’s Jeff.” She says finally, as if that ends the conversation. You decide you’ll let her, and drift gently off to sleep.

…

It’s the day before the wedding and you're getting dinner with Jackie, her parents, Jeff, Shauna, and some of her other bridesmaids. You knew one of them from college, but the other you’ve never met before. You think she’s one of her friends from her soccer team, but you’re not sure. You hadn’t really had the chance to find out one way or another. The Taylors have a way of making everything in Jackie’s life about them. They haven’t stopped talking long enough for anyone else to make an attempt at conversation

You smile politely, trying not to let on that you're dying inside. “Don’t you think you should have made us dinner, dear?” Mrs Taylor interjects snidely, “Imagine how embarrassing it would be for poor Jeff if he had a wife that couldn’t cook.” Jackie stiffens as the smile falls off her face. You hold your drink with a white knuckled grip and turn to speak to her. “You’re probably right,” Jackie says, catching your gaze and subtly shaking her head. You’ll let it go for her sake, but you're still pretty tense.

Suddenly you feel Jackie’s foot at your ankle, creeping up your leg. You take a sip of your drink to hide your reaction, stifling a smile around your straw. You nudge her back gently and stop paying attention to the conversation for a while as you play footsie under the table. 

You're shocked suddenly when Shauna elbows you under the table. “What?” You ask her sharply. Mrs Taylor gives you a condescending look. 

“I asked if you were bringing a date to the wedding, Y/N?” She asks. 

“Oh, uhm no. I’m not.” You answer. 

She shares a knowing look with her husband and murmurs “See, I told you she was one of those…” quietly enough that she thinks you can’t hear her. You scoff quietly, shifting uncomfortably in your seat.

“One of what, mom?” Jackie asks sharply, smiling tensely. Mrs Taylor visibly startles.

“Oh, just… One of those feminist types that don’t want a man.” She lies unconvincingly, the shock of being called out obvious. Jackie grins dangerously at her, like a shark that’s smelled blood in the water.

You can’t look away from her. Have her teeth always looked this sharp? You wonder. You’ve never been on the other side of this Jackie, and you hope you never will be. Still, it’s one of your favorite versions of her. This is Jackie defending someone that she loves, even though she rarely defends herself.

“Really?” She asks softly, “It sounded like you were implying something else.” Shauna lifts her drink to her mouth to hide her grin, watching intently. Seems that she’s been waiting for the Taylor’s to get what’s coming to them for a while. Jeff looks between the two of them looking confused, but ultimately decides it’s none of his business as he returns to eating his dinner.

Mr Taylor lays a hand on Mrs Taylors arm and smiles stiffly at Jackie. “I’m sure,” He starts, “That your mother wasn’t trying to apply anything untoward, Jackie.” Jackie relaxes back in her seat, obviously content with her parents backing down. She turns to look at her mother. 

“Could you pass the water pitcher?” She asks sweetly, as if nothing had happened.

You catch her arm outside the restaurant later as she goes to leave with Jeff. “Could I talk to you real quick?” You ask. She looks back at Jeff who shrugs and walks over to lean against his car. “I just wanted to say thank you. For earlier.” You say.

“Oh, with my parents? It was nothing.” She says.

“It wasn’t nothing, Jackie. I know how much your parents' approval means to you.” You admit. “It really meant a lot to me that you’d risk it to stick up for me.”

“Of course I’d stick up for you,” She says obviously, as if the idea of acting otherwise never even crossed her mind. “You're my…” She trails off unsurely. She worries her lip between her teeth for a second before continuing quietly. “You’re my Y/N.”

“Your Y/N?” You ask playfully.

“Yep,” She confirms, popping the p. Jeff sighs audibly behind you. She glances back at him before saying “I’d better get going, then. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I’ll look for the prettiest girl in white there,” You whisper conspiratorially. She looks down to hide her blush, but you know her far too well. She turns to walk away before quickly stepping back towards you. You stand there frozen as she stands on the tips of her toes and gently presses a kiss against your cheek, before hurrying back to Jeff.

You watch as she turns and gets in the car, making eye contact with you until Jeff finally turns out of the parking lot. You watch the car go down the street and out of view. Then you just stare at nothing. One more day. You think. One more day until it’s over. One more day until you lose her forever.

…

You glance over at the clock curiously. The corners of your lips quirk up, but you try hard to suppress a smile. Jackie’s never been the most punctual of people, You think, But I never thought she’d be late to her own wedding.

You imagine the look on her face if you said that to her. Fashionably Late, Y/N. She’d chide. Besides, I’m worth the wait aren’t I? You can practically see the smug little grin she’d be wearing. You're lost in thought for a moment until you notice Shauna motioning to you out of the corner of your eye.

Your eyes snap to her and she motions you towards her. You step out of line with the other bridesmaids and walk after her curiously. When you’re both out of view she leans against the wall and pinches the bridge of her nose between two fingers, sighing exhaustedly. “Jackie wants you,” She says.

“Want me for what?” You ask. What could she possibly need you for five minutes past the time she was supposed to walk down the aisle? You wonder.

“Why don’t you go ask her? I’m not the messenger, Y/N” She says. You hold your hands up placatingly before walking off to Jackie’s room. You knock three times on the door but she doesn’t answer. You hesitate for a second, glancing back at Shauna who waves dismissively at you. You slowly open the door and see Jackie in her wedding dress crying on the window seat.

The sight stops you in your tracks. You hadn’t seen Jackie’s wedding dress as she insisted on it being a surprise. “You’re a vision,” You breathe out in awe. You can’t take your eyes off of her. You’ve always thought she was the most beautiful woman you’d ever seen but this… This was something else entirely.

She huffs a laugh as she looks up at you through teary eyes. “I probably look like a mess,” She says dismissively.

“I don’t think you could ever look like a mess,” You admit as you sit next to her. She watches you for a long moment as she tries to discern whether you're telling the truth or not. She leans forward quickly and kisses you desperately. You're frozen with shock and she seems to take this the wrong way as she pulls back and starts babbling apologies. 

You lay a calming hand on her shoulder, and lean down to kiss her again. “No, I was just surprised. What…” You hesitate. “What about Jeff, Jackie?” You startle as she starts crying even harder.

"I don't want to marry Jeff!" Jackie sobs out. You groan loudly and she looks up at you through tears. 

"Hey, hey no it's okay," You console as you wrap your arms around her. "You couldn't have made this decision while we were still in the car, though?" 

She laughs wetly as she buries her head in your neck. "Do you think you can run in your wedding dress?" You ask. 

She pulls away to look at you wide eyed. "No. Not without falling." You hum in acknowledgement and shift Jackie in your arms to get a better grip on her. 

"We'd better get going then. Your dad is still waiting down the hall to walk you down the aisle." You say. 

She looks shocked. "You're coming with me?" She asks quietly. You laugh softly. 

"You can't drive, Jackie. Were you planning on being a walk away bride?" You tease. She blushes, turning her face away. You stand up with Jackie still in your arms and she screeches in shock as she grabs onto you. 

You start walking her towards the door when Shauna storms in, obviously hearing Jackie. She looks at the both of you confused. "Jackie forgot her running shoes," You say wryly. 

Shauna's face lights up and she grins. "You're leaving Jeff at the altar?" She asks Jackie. 

Jackie pulls her engagement ring off and holds it out for Shauna. "Will you tell him for me?" She asks softly. 

Shauna nods and reaches forward to grab the ring. "It's my duty as maid of honor. Of course I will." Shauna says, amused. 

You start walking hurriedly towards the exit when you hear Shauna mutter "And my pleasure," as she gleefully marches off towards the ceremony. 

You set Jackie back on her feet as you reach your car and unlock the doors. You start the car just in time as Jackie's parents come storming out of the church screaming at her to get back. She looks at you wide eyed and you raise an eyebrow in question. 

"Drive!" She yells gleefully. You pull out fast enough to squeal the tires as you zoom down the road and away. She leans back against the seat and laughs hysterically, her once perfectly pinned hair wild and unkempt. You sneak a glance at her out of the corner of your eye, shaking your head softly with a grin on your face.

…

3 Months Later

You climb up the bed and settle on top of Jackie, burying your head in her neck. 

"God," Jackie says, shifting under you to get comfortable. "I'm exhausted."

You barely resist the urge to laugh, settling instead on the most charming smile you can muster. You don’t think it works all that well.

"What's so funny?" Jackie says, pouting at you. 

You reach for her arm and press a gentle kiss against her hand . She grins softly at you and links your fingers together. "I just think that it's a little funny," You start, holding your thumb and your index finger barely apart. "That you're so exhausted, when…" You press another kiss to her hand.

"When… What?" She asks softly, smiling so hard that it looks like it hurts. You tighten your grip on her hand. 

"When you didn't really do anything." You whisper playfully. She scoffs and pushes weakly at your shoulders to get you off of her. 

"I did things," She whines, pouting pitifully at you. 

"Yeah?" You tease. She nods seriously.

"It's hard being the main event. You wouldn't understand."

"You're right," You say. "I guess I don't understand the difficulty of lying on your back and looking pretty."

She blushes and tugs gently on your hair in warning. "My talents are always under-appreciated." She agrees playfully. 

You huff a laugh into her neck and settle your full weight on top of her. She fakes a pained groan, but presses a kiss into your hairline anyway.

"O'course, princess. Whatever you say, beautiful." You murmur sleepily.

[shingekinohyrulewrites]

& They Were Roommates

Armin Arlert is in need of a roommate, and you just so happen to need a place to live. For some reason you cannot figure out, his best friend, Eren Jaeger, has a problem with you.

Read on AO3 here

SMUT AHEAD, MDNI, 18+ ONLY, CONTENT WARNINGS FOR :

Couch Sex, Unprotected Sex, Spitting, Creampie

Armin Arlert is an accomplished man.

After graduating as valedictorian in both high school and college, he decided to continue on with his higher education by going on to graduate school. With his Molecular Biology Bachelors Degree under his belt, he was moving on to get his Masters and, sometime in the future, his PhD. His alma mater, Eldia University, offered a great graduate program, and he decided to continue his education there.

He had been living in the same off-campus apartment since his freshman year. Since he excelled in high school, his tuition and living expenses were paid for, which meant he had his pick for where he wanted to live. Wanting to have the “real” college experience, he opted to choose a two bedroom apartment two miles from campus, and he took the bus to commute to class.

Annie Leonhart stumbled into his life during his second semester. They were both taking Chemistry, and they had been assigned as lab partners. Despite her stern demeanor, Armin managed to break through, and the two began dating halfway through the semester. Sophomore year she moved into his apartment, the extra bedroom being converted into a guest room. They graduated together, and she also decided to pursue a graduate degree like her boyfriend. Their first year was stressful, navigating much more difficult, specialized classes while balancing a job at the local pharmaceutical company.

Over the summer, Annie was presented with the opportunity to study in her family’s native country, Russia. Despite safety concerns, the top pharmaceutical company there had offered a chance for her to work there, gain experience, and attend classes at the local prestigious university.

It was a chance she couldn’t refuse.

However, this left Armin with a conundrum. Now that he was in graduate school, only his tuition was covered. Given that he was expected to have a job, his living expenses were now up to him. Since he had chosen a rather swanky apartment, he knew he would need some help with paying for the rent. He put out an ad in the university’s newspaper, hoping that a fellow student would be willing to reside with him.

The week before Annie was set to leave, Armin’s best friend, Eren Jaeger, heard about his situation and stopped by. The two had been best friends since they were kids, and he wanted to see if he could help out somehow.

“Hey, why don’t you let me move in?”

Armin’s nose had scrunched up, which immediately annoyed Eren.

“What’s wrong with me?” he asked, frowning deeply.

“No offense, Eren, but I need someone who is just as studious as me. I can’t afford any distractions right now.”

Eren opened his mouth to argue, but Armin held up a hand to silence him.

“Look, you’ve been done with school. You work as a personal trainer. You don’t have a set schedule, so you would be coming and going at unpredictable times. I need consistency.”

For some reason, Eren decided to take this personally.

He currently lived at home with his parents and half-brother, Zeke. Although he made good money as a personal trainer, it was hard to find an affordable place that he could afford by himself. He had been hoping that this would be a chance to finally move out, and the thought of living with his best friend made him excited.

“Why don’t you help me vet roommate options? I know it’s not moving in, but at least you have an idea of who you would see when you come hang out.”

For the next week, Armin arranged “interviews” when the both of them were free. They interviewed both undergraduate and graduate students, with Armin asking the questions while Eren studied them quietly. Unbeknownst to the blond, Eren was fuming. He hated every single option, finding stupid reasons for Armin to reject them. He had decided that, regardless of who Armin decided to go with, he would hate whoever his roommate ended up being.

Two days before Annie’s flight, Armin was freaking out. He still hadn’t found a suitable roommate, and Eren had been no help. The responses to the ad were basically zero now, and Armin hadn’t heard from friends about anyone who may need a room.

Then you showed up.

A mutual friend of yours who had a few classes with Armin had casually mentioned he needed a roommate, and you had immediately jumped them for details. You were finishing up your Masters Thesis, jumping between meetings with your advisor and your job. However, your roommate had dropped out, the stress of graduate school causing a nervous breakdown, leaving you essentially homeless.

Your friend gave you his contact information, and the two of you arranged to meet the day before Annie’s flight. You were greeted by him, relieved that he seemed kind. He introduced his best friend, Eren, who regarded you sternly. The both of you toured the apartment, with Armin explaining the amenities and breaking down the bills. He asked about your schedule, and was pleased to see that it essentially aligned with his. You both conversed about your respective Masters programs, and he had a feeling the two of you would get along great.

“How soon can you move in?”

“I can move in tomorrow!” you excitedly said.

“Sold!”

Eren watched the exchange with a scowl, rolling his eyes as Armin went over the lease paperwork and how to get a copy of the keys. The next morning, you moved in, settling into the second bedroom before leaving for work. The two of you had decided to go out for dinner to better get to know each other. Armin had dropped off Annie that morning, which meant he had time for you that night.

You immediately admired Armin. It was evident he was a hard worker, and you listened intently as he talked about the difficulties of his program and his job. You asked about his study habits, and were pleased to hear they were similar to yours. The two of you had similar personalities and senses of humor, and a part of you predicted that you would be getting along very well.

It took one week to fall into a routine. Since your schedules were almost the same, you were up at the same time, sharing a quick dinner before running out the door. Twice a week, your lunch time aligned, so you met for lunch. You would usually get home before him, which allowed you time to relax a bit before you started dinner just as he was getting home. He would ask about your day as you ate before watching a bit of TV and retiring to bed.

Eren came over the week after. It was Friday, and Armin had suggested a movie night. You had happily agreed, hoping to get to know Eren better. Armin talked about him often, letting you know that they had been friends since they were kids and that he had always been super protective of the blond.

“I was usually a target for the neighborhood kids,” he had admitted sheepishly.

You had offered to pay for the pizza that evening, and you asked Eren what he wanted on his. He shrugged, saying pepperoni was fine. His aloof personality put you off a bit, but you figured you were still a stranger to him, so he was weary.

While you waited for the food, Armin and Eren caught up. You sat to the side, scrolling through your phone silently while you quietly observed Eren. It was hard not to notice how attractive he was - he looked like he could be a model. His long, brown hair was pulled into a messy bun, just like the first time you had met him. A few pieces had slipped out, framing his face. Thick, dark eyebrows sloped over a pair of expressive turquoise eyes, who often eyed you with suspicion. His nose was slender but rounded at the tip, above a pair of full lips. Your eyes traced the sharp line of his jaw, watching his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed.

The sound of someone knocking at the door pulled you from your thoughts.

Armin sat in between you two, eyes fixed on the TV screen. Eren hadn’t said a single word to you beyond thanks for paying for the pizza. For some reason, it really bothered you.

Meanwhile, Eren was absolutely annoyed with you. Armin had been gushing about you over text, going on and on about how you were essentially a perfect roommate. The two of you got along great, and his studies weren’t interrupted. When he had invited him over, Eren was intent on saying “thanks, but no thanks.” But Armin had mentioned how it was so important for them to get along, and Eren couldn’t say no to that.

His eyes watched you from the side. Your eyes kept flicking between the plate on your lap and the screen. You were wearing a thin tee shirt and sweats, your hair messily braided. Armin had mentioned you had been busier than usual with work that week, which explained your tired appearance. You weren’t cute or whatever.

That movie night opened a door. Eren came and went as he pleased, stopping by to hang out with Armin. Sometimes you cooked an extra plate for him. Other times, him and Armin went out for dinner, leaving you alone. He still kept you at arm’s length, never greeting you past a nod. Armin tried to push him to open up, but you saw how hard Eren resisted.

“It really wouldn’t kill you to get to know her.”

It had been a month since you moved in. The two were currently sitting in a booth at the local diner, waiting for their burgers. Eren rolled his eyes, taking a long sip of his drink.

“She’s really nice. I mean, she goes out of her way to include you at dinner and stuff.”

“Have you considered that she might be trying to break you and Annie up?”

Armin, bewildered, stared at Eren.

“What?”

“I mean, she’s pretty cozy with you.”

“You’re joking, right?”

The waitress brought their food then. Eren immediately began eating, keeping his eyes low as Armin continued to stare at him.

“She’s met Annie. I introduced her the first time I Facetimed her.”

Eren ignored him, keeping on with his meal.

“She’s given me advice on how to deal with a long-distance relationship. I don’t think anyone who wants to break up a relationship would do that.”

When he saw that Eren wasn’t going to respond, he sighed and picked up his burger. The rest of their meal was silent, with Armin dropping Eren off before returning home. Eren lay in bed, arms behind his head as he stared at the ceiling. What was it about you that bothered him so much?

You’re obviously trying to take Armin away from me.

He scowled, turning on his side. That had to be the reason. You knew how close the two of them were, and you wanted to pull Armin away. That had to be it. He saw how chummy the two of you were, and he figured you were just nice to him out of sympathy.

Whatever.

He rolled over to his other side, letting out a long sigh.

It had nothing to do with how hot he thought you were.

***

It was the first week of June, which meant the heat was starting to kick in.

The last week of classes was fast approaching, and you and Armin were thankful to have some reprieve before the Fall. Annie was set to return in mid-July, and you were excited to meet her. The couple had agreed to let you stay for the next school year, with all three of you set to graduate next June.

Armin’s week was chaotic, with back to back exams, as well as meetings with his thesis mentor. You, on the other hand, had it slightly easier, as you were taking one elective. Your final paper had been finished last week, as you had wanted to get an extra week to relax. Your boss had also been kind enough to give you Finals week off, which meant you had a week to do nothing.

Eren had been told about the end of the semester, and he realized he would have more time to spend with Armin. Normally, he would text him to give him a heads up, but he figured Armin would be home, so he stopped by. He whistled a tune as he walked up to your building, letting himself in with the gate code and climbing the stairs to your unit. Armin had given him a spare key for emergencies, so Eren let himself in.

The apartment was silent, sunlight streaming through the open windows. Normally, Armin would do his work at the dining room table, since it gave him the space he needed. Instead, it sat empty. Eren listened for any sounds coming from his room, but the entire place was silent.

“Armin?” he called, but no one responded.

He waited a minute, but figured that neither of you were home. Shrugging, he kicked off his shoes and left them by the door before laying down on the couch. He figured he could hang out while he waited for Armin to come home. The two of them could probably grab some dinner then.

Unbeknownst to him, you were home. You had slept in, going for a run before coming back and taking a shower. The heat, plus the exhaustion from working out, made you sleepy, and you decided to take a nap. It was still hot in your apartment, so you climbed into bed naked and fell asleep. When you woke up, you were feeling better but still feeling warm. You used the towel beside you to wipe some sweat before standing up and stretching.

Armin had texted you that he was working overtime, so not to worry about dinner for him. You had texted back you would order something for him, and he had sent you his order along with a smiling emoji. The apartment was yours, and you figured it wouldn’t hurt to walk around naked and pour yourself a cold glass of iced tea.

The apartment was filled with sun, and you made a mental note to shut the blinds to try and cool the place down. You yawned, pausing to stretch again in the living room. Your joints popped, satisfaction flooding you at the sound.

“Holy shit.”

You jumped, head whipping around towards the voice. Eren was sitting on your couch, eyes wide as he took in your very naked figure. You could feel your cheeks burning, and looked around desperately to cover yourself.

“What are you doing here?” you squeaked.

He didn’t reply, still staring at you.

“EREN!”

He jumped, shaking his head before hesitantly turning his head away.

“I, uh, thought Armin would be home. He told me you’re almost done with school.”

“Why didn’t you text him?!”

He shrugged.

“Oh my god, I am going to kill you.”

“Look, you’re really distracting. Can you put some clothes on?”

“This is my home! I have the right to be naked if I want to!”

He didn’t respond, his eyes continuing to take in every single curve. 

“Get out!”

Instead of listening to you, Eren stood up. He slowly strode over to you, and you backed up until you were pressed against the wall. The cool sensation had you relaxing slightly, the heat flaring through your body going down. One of Eren’s hands came to rest beside your head while the other came to rest gently on your waist.

“You have been such a fucking pain in my ass.”

You narrowed your eyes at his words and opened your mouth to argue with him but he shook his head, the hand on your waist coming up to cover your lips.

“Now, here you are, walking around naked as if to punish me.”

A dark chuckle escaped him as he shook his head.

“Were you just waiting for your chance to tease me like this?”

You shook your head as you narrowed your eyes further.

“Tell me you don’t want this. Tell me and I’ll stop.”

You hesitated, and he immediately took note of this.

“Oh, look at you, naughty girl.”

A quiet whine was muffled against his hand. He chuckled again, removing his hand and placing it carefully back on your waist.

“Tell me to stop and I will.”

You looked up at him, all the times he had been dismissive of you the past few months playing in your head. He cocked his head to the side, waiting for your response.

Fuck it.

You stood on your toes, gripping the back of his neck to pull him towards you. His lips met yours messily, your lips pressing against his as he sighed, allowing your tongue to slip in. The hand beside your head slid down to your hips, squeezing the flesh there before he bent down and picked you up.

“I’m going to fuck you on this couch, and you’re going to think of it everytime you sit here.”

He laid you down on the couch before hastily removing his clothes. You admired the muscles on his body, eyes trailing down his abs and following his happy trail down to his erect cock. He stroked himself, smirking as he watched you study him.

“Like what you see?”

“Shut up.”

He paused for a second before realization crossed his face.

“Shit, I don’t have a condom. Um, do you think Armin has any?”

“Eren,” you laughed. “It’s fine. I’m on birth control. Are you clean?”

He nodded, relief crossing his face. You opened your legs as he kneeled at the end of the couch, eyes half-lidded as he took in your naked body splayed out beneath him. He leaned down towards your core, close enough that you could feel his breath. You sucked in a breath as you waited to feel his mouth on you, but instead he spit on your core.

“Eren,” you gasped.

He shrugged.

“Gotta make sure my girl is ready.”

He slapped his cock against you before sliding it slowly along your slit. You moaned, wiggling your hips to try and get him to slip in. A low chuckle rumbled in his throat, and he finally obliged you, pushing in at an agonizing pace. He was very well endowed, and you winced slightly at how thick he was. The stretch took some getting used to, but he went slow, murmuring praise until his hips were pressed against yours.

Your left leg came to wrap around his hip while the other hung off the couch. He pulled his head back to kiss you for a moment while you adjusted to him. After a moment, you lifted your hips, your silent signal that you were ready to take him.

His head came to settle in the crook of your neck, groaning as he pulled out. You felt how heavy he was as he dragged himself out until just the tip was in before pushing back in. One hand came to grab the back of his head, pulling at his hair while the other began to claw at his back. His pace started slow, repeating the slow drag and harsh push before he started to pick up the pace. The couch creaked noisily underneath you as he fucked you faster, your moans getting louder and filling the living room. He turned his head to kiss and lick your neck, biting down lightly in an effort to mark you.

“Mine,” he slurred out. “You’re mine now.”

You lifted the leg on his hip higher, allowing him to hit a different angle. Stars began to dance in your vision, and you tried to warn him through moans.

“You want to cum, yeah? You think you deserve to? Walking around naked to fucking rile me up?”

“I’m s-sorry,” you stammered out. “I-I didn’t mean t-to, Eren.”

He grabbed your cheeks harshly, turning your face so you could look at him. His face was flushed, pleasure evident on his features as he kept on fucking you.

“Look me in the eyes while you cum. I want to remember what it looks like.”

His words were the nail in the coffin, and you moaned out his name loudly as you came around him. He groaned with you, relishing the feeling of you tightening around him as he kept on until he came too. You could feel him twitching inside of you, his cum flooding you and leaving you warm.

The both of you were quietly panting, trying to recover from the intense sex you had just had. After a moment Eren pulled away, one hand pushing your hair out of your face. He studied you, a trace of intimacy in his eyes, before he leaned in and kissed you. The kiss was so different from before, tender and full of affection. You didn’t want him to pull away, but he did so to pull out and sit back on the other side of the couch.

“Are you alright? Let me go get you some water.”

Your heart swelled as you watched him pad into the kitchen and return with a cold water bottle. He handed it to you, kissing you before he sat down again and took a long swig of his own bottle.

“Do you hate me?”

He sputtered on his water.

“No!” he exclaimed, eyes wide.

“Then why have you been so cold to me since I moved in with Armin?”

He looked away, cheeks flushing.

“I was, er . . . jealous of you. Armin and I have been best friends since we were kids, and I just didn’t want someone to take him away from me.”

A deep frown touched his brows as he stared at the coffee table.

“He’s my closest friend, and I care about him so much. I just . . . I didn’t want him taken away from me.”

You let out a quiet giggle as you scooted closer to him.

“You were just being protective of your friend. You’re like a golden retriever.”

“Hey! I am not!”

You laughed, ruffling his hair before snuggling into his side.

“Well, I guess we better come up with a story for Armin. But I think we should leave the couch out of it.”

It was Eren’s turn to laugh and he pressed a kiss to the top of your head.

“Great idea.”

[einsteinsugly]

Hey Megan, I have a question for you.

If you had written season 8 of T7S (and the entirety of That 90s Show), what would you have done?

Season 8:

Donna: Goes back to being a redhead. Applies to UW Milwaukee, but is in community college in the meantime. She starts interning for the Point Place Chronicle, while still doing WFPP sometimes. She deals with a nightmare boss. She and Eric are still together, obviously.

Eric: He's about the same, minus breaking up with Donna and he doesn't get shit on all the time. He gets kicked out of the program, after questioning apartheid. He and Donna now plan to go to UW Milwaukee together.

Fez: Laurie is his new roommate, and it's revealed they never really divorced. They both go to cosmetology school, and hijinks ensue. Fez, slowly but surely, returns to his season 4 self.

Hyde: He and Jackie reconcile, and at some point, they get engaged. Hyde wants to wait for a wedding. Jackie is impatient. He still lives with the Formans, but he's about to move out with Jackie. He and Jackie are going to move to Milwaukee together. Kitty suffers with imminent empty nest syndrome.

Jackie: Also applies to UW Milwaukee, and is in community college in the meantime. She and Donna are studying journalism together. She still has a disastrous internship (this time) with Christine St George, and she tries to come to terms with essentially wasting her semester. But she wants to continue, as someone who is way better than Christine St George.

Kelso: He's about the same, but he's a cop, and he and Brooke officially get together.

That 00s Show: With no irl constraints, obv.

It'll take place in the early-mid 00s, when the gang's gang are most likely to be teens. Y2k nostalgia is definitely more prominent, atm, anyway. Anywho.

Eric and Donna live next door to Jackie and Hyde, in Chicago. ED, JH, and the kids are the main focus, as well as KB's son Jay (16).

Eric is a history teacher, ala Mr Feeny, at the school where the kids attend. ED's eldest kid is constantly humiliated. Donna works for the Chicago Sun Times.

Eric and Donna have two daughters (16 and 12), one of which is a tween and is the Matt McGuire nuisance type. The tween crushes on the older Hyde boy. The older ED daughter has been best friends with JH's daughter for the longest time, but she doesn't like Jay, and they're beginning to drift apart.

*****

Jackie has her own TV show, and Hyde owns a Grooves. Grooves, like The Hub, is a default hang out spot for the kids. Hyde imparts his wisdom, sometimes.

Jackie and Hyde have a daughter (16) and a son (14). The daughter is interested in Jay, and Hyde is overprotective and annoyed.

So, the gang includes...

Jay Kelso. Jackie and Hyde's son and daughter, William "Will" and Sarah. Eric and Donna's older daughter Alexandra "Allie." Fez and Rhonda's LGBTQ son Julian (15), and his black boyfriend Tony (15). Plus, there's ED's daughter Lucy on the fringes.

It's not that far off from my verse, obviously. I just had to do some things to make it less drama-filled and more comedic. Aka, omit Laurie and her brood, and the seriously troubling behavior of my OC Leah (ED's younger daughter).

[1starqi]

Not That Bad

genre: fluff, college!au (you briefly fight with your best friend/old roommate)

pairing: bassist!soobin x student!reader

wc: 1.2k

note: I've never moved anywhere don't come at me for how I wrote it, please. YXA is yesterday x alone lol

(Chapter List)

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

There had been tension all morning in the apartment you shared with your best friend, Lee Soyoon. Something had been off since you two woke up. When she woke up, she deviated from her usual routine and ate breakfast alone and the rest of the time had been lounging in her room, unseen. Finally, she came out of her room and stood in the doorway to the main room.

“I’m moving out.” She said tentatively. You could almost feel your heart stop. You paused rolling your kimbap lunch, resting it on its red cotton napkin.

You tensed your eyebrows as you looked at her, “What?”

“I’m moving out.” She said it with more conviction this time. “I’m moving in with my boyfriend.” She sounded apologetic, but firm in her decision—unfortunately for you.

“What the hell, Soyoon? You know I can’t afford this apartment alone. Do I really have to find a new roommate?” Your apprehensive question was rhetorical.

“He has a roommate too! He needs somewhere to stay. He can split with you, I’m sure of it.” Right, her boyfriend had to kick out his roommate to live with her too. Rooming with someone you didn’t know wasn’t what you expected this year—not at all. You were excited about girls’ nights and spending the year doing everything together, but that all came crumbling down.

“Are you joking? I’ve never talked to him! I don’t even know his name.” You were almost yelling, now. Your chest rose and fell with a deep breath to console yourself. “I know you like him. I’m sorry for yelling, Soyoon. This is just a big change for me. Give me his number, would you?” You told her. You couldn’t afford to be fighting with your lifeline at your university and also struggling to pay your rent, but you were still mad and processing the change your life was about to undergo.

“It’s Choi Soobin. I’ll text you his number.” She knew you were still mad when you closed your eyes and took another deep breath. Even aside from the obvious signs, she can read your usually bubbly personality like a book. “He’s kind of shy but he’s a sweetheart, I swear. If you don’t become friends you don’t even have to talk.” This would’ve been fine if you weren’t so excited to have someone to talk to all the time.

“Fine.” Ding. You got his number. The pads of your fingers grumpily typed out a message. If you had the power of hindsight then, you might’ve cared to reword the text.

That was how you got to where you are now, waiting for Soobin to finish unloading his last pack of things into the middle of your main room. After you sent him the text, he sent an apologetic one back. With rent coming up so soon, and him having nowhere to go, you figured it was best for him to move in. He seemed shy and reserved, the opposite of what you were looking for, but you told yourself it would do. Your new, scarily tall roommate ducked under the main door, carrying the poster child of a moving-in box—brown, cardboard, and full to the brim. He gives you a slight nod as he comes in.

“Want a tour?” You ask him, wishing for some semblance of human connection. He nods again, but it’s a larger motion this time. “That’s the living room,” You point to your left, his right, “that’s the kitchen,” you point to your right, his left.

“Where’s the open bedroom?” He asks in a soft voice. He seems scared to be in your—now equally his—apartment.

“It’s right over here! Mine is on the right, and yours is on the left. They have the same blueprint.” You tell him, guiding him down the short hallway that ends at the door to the bathroom. “What do you like to do?” You attempt to strike up a conversation.

“Not much. I study a lot.” You were wishing for a more in-depth answer other than studying, but you tell yourself you’ll work with it.

“What’s your major?” You ask him, both standing in the same hallway that Soyoon told you she’d be leaving in and it’s an unwelcome realization of cause and effect.

“Pure math.” You purse your lips and nod, silently asking for him to say more, but he doesn’t. “Um, I’ll tell you if I have any questions. I’m going to set up my room.” He flashes a slight smile that creases the edge of his eyes. His tall figure squeezes past you to get the boxes and haul them into Soyoon’s now-empty room. You watch as he picks up the first box, labeled bass before you turn into your room and shut the door behind you. Does he play bass? Does he just really like fish?

For the rest of the day, you don’t interact with each other. He stays in his room while you mill about the rest of the house. When closing the door, he didn’t know you had to really push it hard to close it (Soyoon would know), and his door is cracked open.

Trying not to be a respectful roommate, you try to walk past as fast as possible. But on your fifth round of walking in and out of your room, something catches your eye in his room. He seems to have unpacked nicely. His room is mostly dark, as he has the shades drawn, but you can see a glint of sunlight reflecting off of his dark mahogany bass—a guitar, not a fish. He’s sitting cross-legged on the carpeted floor, wearing chunky black headphones and a raspberry jam-colored sweater. He’s hunched over a book, maybe a comic book, and has a quarter-full water glass from your kitchen in his hand. He looks up. He looks up. You’ve been staring for too long. 

He pulls one side of the big black headphones off of his ear. “Are you okay?” He asks, voice gravelly from apparent lack of use.

“I was looking at your bass.” You push the door open a little wider to talk to him, it creaks on its hinges.

“Really? What about it?” He sounds suspicious. The way he says it is way out of character for your current impression of him.

“I play guitar so I just think it’s cool.” You shrug.

“You play!?” His eyes light up. It looks like his interest is piqued.

“You didn’t see? My door’s been open all day!” You tell him. His previously aloof atmosphere is gone. It’s like you broke his shell with one sentence in one day. Maybe you should start rethinking your lucky number.

He starts to defend himself, looking giddy, “I wasn’t looking! What kind of guitar do you play?”

“I started off with acoustic, but I play mostly electric these days. I like playing YXA, what about you?” You cock your head slightly at him.

“Did you say YXA?” He’s so excited he takes his headphones off and places them on the (new) patterned carpet under him.

“Yeah, do you know them?” 

“I play their music all the time! I love their music so much.” He’s almost giggling now. It’s really cute to see him fanboy over something when he was so aloof the rest of the day. Here, you realize he’s not actually aloof—he’s just shy around new people. “Want to do a duet sometime? I’ve been itching for a guitarist to play with.”

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad living with him after all.

[run2yew]

Glass.

Pairing: Seo Changbin/Female reader

Genre: romance, suggestive, smut, friends to lovers, college au

Word count: 6.5k

Warnings: swearing, making out, fingering, dom Changbin, mentions of exhibitionism/voyeurism, sexual tension

Summary: Changbin isn't lying, Chan had the tendency to treat you like anything and anyone could break you, as if you're made of glass.

•

"You can't be serious." You whine, throwing your books to the table, unable to accept your soon-to-be faith.

It's a typical afternoon, and you and your three roommates—your closest friends—sat at your usual table in your favorite restaurant off campus.

You met up to get lunch together every wednesday, like a small little ritual to catch up, when you didn't have classes that clashed- even though you lived together.

The main goal was always to be with each other, of course. But you couldn't help but get a little carried away by your daily shenanigans, so it would always end up with the four of you chatting, maybe gossiping a bit, about anything and everything.

However, today you used this time for something a bit different.

A house meeting.

"I'm sorry, but we need this. I can take one cockroach, but two? Unbearable!  What if it spreads?" Sumin argues, taking a bite of her food.

"I'm pretty sure that was the same cockroach, just in a different spot." Shuhua says, leaning into your ear, so you're the only one that can hear it."

You snort, swatting at her arm playfully, turning to face Sumin again when you feel her annoyed gaze on you.

Denying Sumin's request to fumigate the whole place due to a single cockroach was, the most logical response.

But It'll be only a day, you tell yourself; she took the responsibility to pay for it too. And honestly, that would probably help your apartment overall.

Sighing, you comply. "Okay, but it still isn't fair to me; you all have somewhere to go. Where am I going?" You pout, fidgeting with your cup in dejection.

Most times, you didn't mind being single, you could even say you enjoyed it a lot since your last relationship wasn't the best.

But these little moments, where you knew all of your friends would be at their boyfriends and girlfriends houses, did tug on your heartstrings a little, and not in a good way.

"You can stay with me if you want."  Ryujin suggests, finally looking up from her phone to take another bite.

"And risk hearing you and Soojin in the middle of the night again?" You shake your head"No, thank you." 

That day was traumatizing.

And not in a bad way.

No further explanations are needed.

She parts her lips for a split second before closing them again, like she's pondering what to say, before shrugging in defeat. "Well, I tried."

"You can always talk to your 'Channie'." Sumin teases, but her smile remains sympathetic. "You have two days to decide, they're coming on friday."

"Fine." 

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

"Of course you can stay with us." Chan responds, and he seems nearly offended at the fact that you thought you couldn't.

You've known Chan for a long time—since high school, to be exact. You got paired up for a group project once, and the rest was history. You were practically inseparable all through high school.

When you got into the same college, the two of you basically morphed friend groups and started hanging out with the same people. It happened naturally. Chan moved in with a few guys from his major right away, and you lived at the dorms for a year or two before moving in with the girls. After a few months, everyone was coming together, and you and Chan would always take pride in finding such good people to be around—well, you would, that man is just too humble for that.

So logically, he was the first person in mind when this whole "let's fumigate our entire place because of one cockroach" thing began, but you still had your doubts, he lived with three people after all.

"Are you sure?" "It won't be weird?" You had to ask, no matter how close you are to him and the guys; it still felt invasive.

He tsks, throwing a hand over your shoulder, squeezing lightly, "No! Plus, most of the kids don't sleep there on fridays anyway; you might have the luck to have the house all to yourself."

You smile at the word "kids." Cute.  Typical dad, Chan.

"And they're cool with that?" You insist, trying to wrap your head around your own idea.

He rolls his eyes, delivering a pat on the side of the shoulder he's still holding. "Please, we've been friends forever, you know better than this."

"I just don't want to bother, but my house is too far and I-" 

"Mate,"  He grabs both of your shoulders now, forcing you to look at him. He smiles and it immediately feels comforting, little dimples peeking adorably. "Don't overthink this, there's no need to, yeah?"

"Thank you." You pull him into a hug. 

Chan never failed to know what you were feeling; he understood your tendency to overthink even the smallest things and always made you feel like you didn't have to. "I love you."

"Ayyy, I love you too, mate." He pats your head, and you can feel his chest vibrate as he chuckles. "What's our next class?"

"Statics."   You groan.

"Kill me, kill me now." Do it." 

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

Friday came along rather quickly, and you didn't think your day would be as full as it actually was.

You got to shower at home after the gym in the morning, which was a relief, but you had to leave at 9 a.m. right after it. It didn't matter because your day was packed with stuff, you had a few extra classes that extended all the way through the evening, and you barely had time to have lunch—you did though, Felix forced you.

You left the campus around six, and once you got to the guys' apartment, panting, you have to take a moment or two to breathe.

"Fucking Google Maps decided to lie about this being a fifteen-minute walk." You mumble to yourself, holding your knees for support. 

You've never actually walked all the way to the guys apartment, Chan would drive you everytime.

But it took you nearly thirty-five minutes to get there, with a huge backpack full of your things.

Gathering some courage to knock on the door is the next thing on your list, and you hate how nervous you are. You've known these people for three years now; you've spent the night over at this place a few times too. Why is it so hard to just be cool with it?

Maybe it's the text that Chan sent you this morning.

chris 🐺: don't think I'll see you today, im sorryyyyy

you: why? something up??

chris 🐺: yeah, I have this track to work on and i think its gonna take all night, for monday but i wanna finish as soon as possible

you: :(((

you: but that's okay!! I'll be fine don't worry, I'm just gonna miss you

chris 🐺: why cant you be this cute when we're around other people?

chris 🐺: ill be home for breakfast tho

you: okay, don't forget to have dinner <3

chris 🐺: dont do anything I wouldn't!

For some reason, that conversation has been lingering in your mind. You've never spent the night without Chan, and you do trust the guys, a lot actually but you don't trust...

Yourself.

Especially if Hyujin and Jisung are not around.

You feel a wave of courage build up and knock, bouncing on your feet in anticipation.

You'll be fine, as long as it's not just you and-

Changbin opens the door abruptly, beaming at you in his usual sweatpants and hoodie combo, his black hair falling on his face slightly.

Shit.

"Hey, come in!" He says and you walk inside, closing the door before you and grabbing the bag from your hand almost instantly.

"I'll put this in Chan's room, looks heavy." He rushes before you can thank him, and you exhale sharply, only then realizing you've been holding your breath.

You take a second to look around, and it doesn't take long for you to figure out that he's the only one in the house. It's weirdly quiet; you haven't heard any screaming to open the door, let alone loud music coming from any room.

"The guys are out, as you can see." Changbin points, pulling you away from your thoughts. "I texted Chan about it a few hours ago, but I think he forgot to tell you, sorry." He adds, shoving his hands inside his pockets and taking a step closer to where you were standing.

"Out as in..."

"As in, probably not coming back today." He pinches his tone teasingly, and you chuckle. "Chan's spending the night at the studio with Jisung working on a track, and Sanha dragged Hyujin to a party that apparently goes all the way to the morning."

So it's just you and Changbin.

Alone.

"Oh..."  You trail off, uncertain of what to say next.

Changbin blinks at you as if he's trying to read your expression, his eyes searching as he brings himself to speak again. "If you're not comfortable, I can go to the studio and finish up my work there,"

"No, no!." You rush to cut him off, afraid you might make him feel like he's making you uncomfortable. "This is your house. "I'm good. Don't worry." 

But it's hard not to feel touched by his proposition, really. Changbin stood there with a reassuring smile, offering to leave his own home to study on a studio couch, with a bunch of work to do.

It's oddly sweet.

And it's even harder not to stare at him for too long.

"Okay." He finishes, making his way to the couch and reuniting his papers and laptop, throwing his legs over the coffee table. "Make yourself at home; you know where everything is." 

You smile back at him, confused about what to do next. Until the knowing and painful feeling of duty washes over you.

You had to write a fucking essay.

"Shit."  You mumble, closing your eyes in disapproval.

"You good?."

"Yeah, just this essay I forgot I had to do." You answer.

"Hey, the sooner you do it, the sooner you finish, hm?" He points, giving you an empathetic smile. At least he could relate to you.

"Yeah, I'll take a shower and get it over with."

"Be my guest."

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

You come back from the shower feeling refreshed, especially after all the walking you did.

Chan's room looked the same as always, except a tiny bit tidier.  He left a note on his bedside table, pointing out where things you might need were and the places you could put your stuff. Sweet, you think. He could've just texted you, but oh no, that's not Chan, you know Chan. He enjoys going the extra mile for the people he cares for.

You decided to put on something more comfortable since you'd be working on your essay for a few hours. Settling for a white tank top and some sweatpants, you take your stuff and make your way back to the living room.

Changbin's still seated in that same spot, attentively looking at his laptop screen, headphones over his ears, brows furrowed in thought, mumbling things you can't quite figure out.

Thankfully, he doesn't succeed in noticing your staring. But he notices your presence when you sit by his side, open your own laptop, and prop it on the coffee table.

"What a great way to spend your Friday night, huh?" He ironically asks, pulling down his headphones.

"I know, so exciting." You joke, bringing out your notepad with the class notes you took.

"Anyways, good luck with that." 

"Thanks Bin. You too."

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

One hour passes.

And you're halfway through your essay when Changbin shifts by your side, bringing out his arms to stretch his limbs.

"You want some water?" You ask, already thinking about getting up, legs on the verge of falling asleep.

"That'd be nice, thanks." He says, releasing a sharp breath. He sounds tired. And of course he is; he's been studying since you got here an hour ago.

Pushing yourself up from your very comfortable position on the couch, you head to the kitchen, taking two water bottles with you.

Except some apples call your attention when you turn around, and you're starting to crave a snack to accompany you throughout your torture.

"Want an apple?" You ask, voice raising so Changbin could hear you all the way through the kitchen.

"Sounds good!." 

"See?  Everything's cool. You got this" you say to yourself.

The truth is, you may or may not have had a crush on Changbin when you first met him.

He was the first one to call your attention out of all of Chan's friends once he moved. He seemed so attentive and caring, and he was really funny too. Not that any of that has changed; of course, he is still the same, if not hotter. But you learned to keep those teeny feelings on the down low; you didn't want to make things awkward between you and him, especially when you're in the same friend groups.

And you did well for the most part. The first few months of freshman year were definitely the hardest, even though you've never let the feelings grow past a crush. You were always so aware of his presence, of the way he looked, and of the way he spoke. He never made it easier on you either, with that pretty smile and soft-looking eyes.

Then he got a girlfriend, and that's when you burried your feelings to the ground. And even after they broke up, you just didn't feel things with the same intensity; you were completely over the crush.

Except when he smiled at you a little too brightly, or when he called you to workout with him and Chan and helped you with your sections, or when you two were hanging out with everybody and he'd look directly at you when saying something. And today, when he opened the door, and you're sure you're not crazy, you're sure his smile grew even wider when he saw it was you.

Yeah, maybe you weren't totally over it.

But it didn't matter.

Shaking your thoughts, you go back to the living room, and once you're back, you're met with a quite different sight. One that makes you trip on your own feet, almost dropping everything in your hands in the process.

Changbin. In a tight, plain white t-shirt that was clearly too short for him. His hoodie, long forgotten, was tossed to the side of the couch, he probably felt hot while you were in the kitchen.

It's enough to make your legs shake.

You're able to balance yourself back without actually dropping everything, but still, Changbin rushes to help, taking the plate with the apples and the knives from your hands.

"You okay there, champ?" And my God, his tone was teasing, a bit condescending, but no matter what, he was always attentive and careful. 

"Yeah, sorry."  You force a chuckle and say, "I got distracted for a second."

"I could tell." 

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

Now that it's been three hours and you're finally done, your neck hurts, your head feels a bit heavy, and your limbs are begging to feel numb.

You sigh deeply, placing your computer on the coffee table, and stretching as much as you can.

In the process, you catch a glimpse of Changbin's eyes on you through your perimetral vision, and without thinking, you turn to meet them. He smiles sheepishly, shifting his attention to his own work, like he's been caught.

You don't fail to notice the way his eyes are a bit heavy; he's probably even more exhausted now, after this whole time.

"Changbin?."  You ask, scooting closer to him on the couch, feeling much more comfortable with his presence now than you did several hours ago.

He doesn't respond, and you assume he didn't hear, so you carefully pull down his headphones, making him jolt in surprise, his eyes going wide.

"Yes?" he asks.

"Are you hungry?" Because you were, you're positive that this essay sucked every bit of life and energy out of you.

His lips curl up immediately as his gaze softens; he closes his laptop and nods, meeting your eyes. "Starving."

You laugh, nodding your head as you get up. He follows shortly after.

"I think there's kimchi in the fridge. I'll make some rice and you cut up some vegetables?" He's asking, of course, there's definitely an audible question mark to it. But something about his tone doesn't fail to make it sound a bit demanding, like a soft order.

"Sure."  You agree, washing your hands and searching for the cutting board.

You already know where most of the things are; you've been here a million times, so overall, it's very intuitive to you to figure things out. Regardless, you find it endearing when Changbin takes everything you'll need and places it on the kitchen counter for you.

You thank him and begin to carefully cut the vegetables.

Changbin is right in front of you, at the kitchen sink, grabbing some rice to put on the rice cooker.

You begin taking his presence in, traveling your eyes through his figure. He's one hell of an attractive guy, and the secret fixation you have on his arms is only growing stronger with that white t-shirt - that was was a little too small for him - hugging his biceps so heavenly. His sweatpants, contrary to your own, were criminally low-waisted, leaving a small gap between them and his shirt, exposing a bit of skin right on his v cut. 

Oh my God.

Maybe you should chill; this is starting to get to you.

Changbin turns abruptly around, probably wondering why the cutting sound stopped and you panicked, trying not to make it obvious you were ogling him. It feels like he knows, like he's felt your gaze on him all this time. The corners of his mouth go up contradictorily, like he's holding down a smirk.

"Something wrong?."  He asks.

You're screwed.  Changbin saw you checking him out, and you're screwed, because how are you going to come up with an explanation-

Oh no.

He's crossing his arms.

Changbin is crossing his fucking monster arms in front of you.

You want him to headlock you.

He tilts his head, signing for you to talk, to give him an answer, but you can't form a cohesive phrase.

Say something, anything, your brain urges you. Just don't admit you were watching his gorgeous figure and pretty face.

Come up with something, just...

"...We're matching."  You begin, and the embarrassment washes you straight away. Seriously?  That's the best you could come up with? Out of any excuse?

"Like, our outfits and stuff. I just realized it." You completed it; it should make it better.

At least you made a valid point; you were matching. Even though you had on a very simple look, it caught your attention after you said it. same color of sweatpants, and your white tank and his white t-shirt went perfectly together.

"Oh, yeah,"  He looks down at what he's wearing, pulling on the ends of his shirt, before looking back at you with that fucking gorgeous smile and saying, "Guess we are."

"Or maybe this is just the swamped college student's go-to outfit." Well, if you couldn't convince him, you could at least humor him.

Thankfully, Changbin lets out a loud laugh, and you don't miss the way your stomach turns at the sound. "That's a possibility, yes." He nods.

"You wore it better though." He simply adds, voice suddenly going lower, before turning back to the sink to wash his hands.

His tone echoes in your head. Is he...

You blink "Thanks." 

Is that ...flirting?.

Nope. You're probably just projecting.

You decide to focus your attention on the cutting board Infront of you instead, picking up your knife.

Gladly, you're done with everything pretty soon. "I'm all set here." 

"Cool, let's cook them while we wait for the rice." "You want some fried eggs too?"

You nod, going over to the sink to fill a pot with water.

"Changbin?"  You ask, watching him pour the vegetables on the pot and turn on the fire.

"Mhm?"  He hums.

"Sorry if this is an invasive question. But why aren't you majoring in music production too?"

"Not invasive at all." He leans on the kitchen counter, facing you. "Elaborate."

"Like, yeah, I know you like health and physical stuff, and etcetera. But I've seen you at the studio before, and you're so in your element. When you talked about Jisung and Chan today, it made me wonder, why you aren't there with them."

He breathes out, looking down at his feet. "It's a boring, logical explanation honestly,"He begins, "My parents, though supportive, didn't think it'd be the best for me to go full time into the producing thing, and let's just say they're pretty good at convincing." The hint of humor in his voice at the end of his sentence has you chuckling lightly, contrasting with the seriousness of his words.

"I picked a major I was interested in; I figured being a gym instructor would be fun, or maybe a P.E. teacher, something a bit more stable, that would get them off me for a while."

"So you just met Chan and Ji randomly around campus?" You ask, leaning closer to him as your interest grows. You've never had this type of conversation with him, it was intriguing.

"Not really. I considered double majoring, but classes were already kicking my ass at the time. So I went with the next best thing, taking a few classes here and there to keep me entertained and learning. That's when I met them, at one of those classes. Now I help Chan and Jisung whenever they need it, do some featuring if they beg me hard enough, and work on my own tracks from time to time."

You nod, slowly taking in the information that was delivered to you. "That's smart. You're smart."

Hearing this from him felt nice; it was a question that had stayed on your mind for a bit now, and you're glad he was honest. You enjoyed hearing him talk.

Changbin chuckles, patting the top of your head - like he knows you hate it - but the small contact still gets a fuzzy reaction out of you

"It took me a long time to figure it out though, don't flatter me." 

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

The rice is finally ready when you're done with your conversation, and the two of you go back to preparing the food.

Eventually, you're both sitting at the kitchen counter as you stuff your face with that glorious kimchi; the fact that you were starving may have helped a bit too. And once you're done, you offer Changbin the option of resting for some extra minutes before diving back into his work.

He doesn't think twice before accepting the offer as you two move to the couch to chat away about everything and anything. Some cookies Felix baked the night before are now sitting in front of the two of you as you talk.

"Okay. First impressions. Total honesty. Go."  You shoot, sipping on your soda.

"Okay." Changbin blinks, his lips parting just a little before closing again, like he's carefully thinking about the next thing to say. "When Chan got here with you the day he moved, I thought you were his girlfriend or something." "I got a little hurt with the fact he never told me anything about it."

You let out a chuckle, scrunching your nose and shaking your head in refutation.

It's not like you and Chan haven't been mistaken for a couple before; it has happened. But the actual thought of it being real seemed so distant to the two of you. You were simply too close for that.

Changbin shrugs in an almost apologetic way before continuing. "Then he told me you guys weren't dating, and I..."

He pauses, looking directly into your eyes and licking his lips.

Focus. Focus. Focus. Focus.

"You want total honesty?" He hesitantly asks.

You tilt your head, confused as to why he'd need to check again, and nod. "Yeah, gimme. I can handle the truth."

"I was happy you weren't his girlfriend." "I found you hot."

Shit.

You're halfway through a sip when he confesses, and you nearly spit out your drink, coughing furiously, your eyes shutting forcefully.

Seo Changbin, found you hot.

"Me?." 

"Yeah," he confirms, as if it's totally obvious. "It's not like you don't know you're attractive; come on now." 

"Well...,true."  And now is his time to chuckle, playfully rolling his eyes. "I just didn't know you found me attractive, especially back then."

He shrugs again and then taps your thigh with his index finger, breaking the invisible barrier between your bodies.  It's enough to make your stomach twitch again, a familiar feeling filling you. 

"I did. But Chan was so overly protective of you at the time, I mean, not the he isn't like that usually, but still."

He isn't lying, Chan had the tendency to treat you like anything and anyone could break you, as if you're made of glass. And at the time, you were the only reminiscent of home he had, so it got stronger.

"He scared the living shit out of us too, talking about you 'being off limits'". You both laugh when he mimicks Chan's typical dad voice, the one you all knew so well.

"Anyways, your turn."  He encourages.

"So, like, total honesty?"

He nods.

"When I stepped my foot in this house, I didn't know what I was expecting, but it definitely wasn't all of... this." You wave your arms around vaguely, gesturing wildly.

"What?."

"Chan told me, "I'm moving out with a few new friends," and I was like, "Cool, I'll help you move." But of course he forgot to send me the memo that his roommates were, like, insanely hot. "I would've put on some gloss at least." 

He snorts, and you feel kind of proud of how many laughs you've gotten out of him this whole night.

"So I have to admit my first impression of you was kind of vague; my head couldn't shake out the "Oh my God, he's so good looking." So I didn't have much to think about until the second time we saw each other.

You're just blabbing at this point, your brain is focused solidly on the fact that Seo Changbin thinks you are hot.

"And how was that?" Changbin speaks again, but his voice doesn't hint at an ounce of curiosity; instead, it's a bit challenging. 

"Different.  I wasn't expecting you to be that polite, let alone that shy. It was cute. So I guess that was my first impression: cute."

And so hot you wanted to jump him right there and then, but you can't add that.

"I don't think that's the best first impression to have." 

"Hey, we're here now, so you can say it worked." You nudge his shoulder, unable to hide your smile.

"It could've worked better."

"Really?  How so?."

Changbin doesn't answer. Instead, he delivers another tap on your knee, and you shiver, biting on your bottom lip, staring directly at him.

"Don't look at me like that." His voice is low, raspy even—a contrast from how sweet he sounded a few minutes ago.

"Like what?." 

Silence falls between the two of you as you lean in to get a better look at his face. Changbin doesn't look away from you either, not even for a split second, and you tilt your head, licking your lips when his gaze falls on them.

"You don't know what you're doing right now..." He trails off, a glint in his eyes when they land on yours, and you can see the way they darkened, gaze dragging through you.

Unbelievable.

Changbin wants you too.

In order to test your theory, you allow yourself to get just a bit closer to him, and his hand opens on your knee, squeezing it gently. "Maybe I do know what I'm doing." You whisper.

"Fuck, Chan's going to kill me for this." It's all Changbin says before pulling you into a kiss.

The kiss is passionate, really passionate. Changbin chases your lips like he's always wanted you, and you gasp, your body still afraid to give in to the fact that Changbin is kissing you, really kissing you.

You push the doubts away, tired of overthinking so much, giving in to the want and need you had of him. It's the best decision you could've ever made.

His strong arms wrap around you, pulling you into his warm embrace, and you nearly whimper just at the feeling of his body against yours. He nips your bottom lip, coaxing you to open up, and you needily comply with his request, allowing his tongue to explore your mouth and holding back the urge to moan against his lips.

You allow your hands to trace up his chest, feeling and moving them all the way to his biceps. He moves to your neck, and it's embarrassing the way you're already panting, struggling to keep your breath steady as he moves down to place open mouth kisses on your chest, but the effect he has on you is so obvious.

"You're so hot, holy fuck." He whispers against your skin, tightly gripping your waist. "I've wanted to do this for a long time."

"Really?." You ask shakily.

He begins trailing hot kisses on your neck, and you whimper at the sensation. He suckers and bites your sweet spot, and you throw your head back, allowing him to work properly. Nodding, he answers, "Chan used to hunt me for it; he didn't want me to make a move on you if I wasn't sure...

"And now you're sure?" You want to keep pestering him about it, to ask more; you're so curious to know every single thing he wanted to do to you, all the things he thought to himself.

Instinctively, you run your fingers through his hair and give it an experimental tug—a little harsher than you usually do, to be honest—because you can't think straight anymore.

He lets out a low groan and pulls away, staring at you with so much lust that you feel like you're ready to combust. "I'm more than sure."

Changbin pulls away from you for a split second, and you furrow your eyebrows in confusion, until you catch him shamelessly gazing at your chest.

"Like what you see?" You cross your arms, bouncing on the couch just to tease.

"So much..."  He unwraps your hands and brushes his thumb against your hardened nipple, and it's pathetic how your whole body jerks just from that simple touch. 

"You act all big but can't take a tiny touch from me, huh?" He adds, carefully taking your top off and exposing your bare chest.

You wait for Changbin to do something, but he doesn't. His wide, lustful eyes travel over your body at a painfully slow speed.

"Never seen a pair of these in your life?" You joke, and he rolls his eyes, pulling you closer to him by your waist.

"Let me enjoy this moment, will ya?"

"You can enjoy it better with your mouth on me."

"You're so perfect." Changbin dives into your boobs like he's a starved man, sucking and swirling his tongue around the bud in such a skilled manner that you wonder how good he must be in between your legs. You're biting on your bottom lip so hard that it feels like it'll draw blood.

"Don't hold back." "We're alone, and I want to hear you." He sinks his teeth into your nipple, playful, and you whimper at the sensation. 

His left hand is now resting on your thigh, and you moan when his fingers slowly move upward, so close to where you need them.

And you need him badly.

You pull him into yet another searing kiss, the feeling of his mouth doing wonders on yours making you dizzy; you're moaning against his lips within seconds, and his hand is now on your inner thigh, just a few inches from your core.

Your breath catches when he sinks his fingers into the flesh; eyes forced shut, you bury your head in the crook of his neck.

"Bin," you plead.

"Mhmm?  " "Where's all that attitude now?"

"I...just..."  It's like your brain is shortcutting, all you can focus on is how his thumb is drawing patterns on your inner thigh.

"You have to tell me if you really want this. I need you to be sure." He says, in between pecks on your jawline, squeezing your inner thigh.

You're so drowned in lust you can't seem to find a way to answer him.

"Come on, I know Chan babies you, but you're a big girl."You can talk."

Him mentioning your best friend in such a sinful moment shouldn't have this much effect on you, but it only makes you grow wetter. The thought of not being seen as Chan's innocent best friend anymore... sets something inside of you.

"Fingers. Please, I need them; I need you." You squirm, and he chuckles darkly, pressing his middle finger against your clothed middle.

"But first..."  You trail off, tugging at his shirt. "I want this off."

"As you wish." He says this before quickly pulling his shirt off and tossing it to the side, turning back to meet your eyes that are now far away from his own.

Now that you understand exactly what he was feeling, you want to take a picture of it and save it for later.

Changbin's big, and you know this; you've always noticed how broad he is when he decided to follow in Chan's footsteps and wear those slutty little shirts, but this, this was so different. The man is so damn built and so insanely broad. Your hands eagerly traced around his large arms, going all the way to his wide, really wide shoulders, and you could almost draw at the sight of him.

When you shift back to meet his eyes, he's looking at you with his eyebrows raised and that fucking knowing smirk decorating his face. 

He's so smug. He knows he's hot.

"Fuck, Changbin, you're the hottest person I've ever laid eyes on." You don't know why, but you're breathless. The feeling of wanting him for so long and finally having him fills you completely.

He doesn't answer; instead, he chuckles darkly, pulling you by your waist. You gasp when, with one quick motion, he succeeds at pulling down your sweatpants and your pants. at the same time.

This man needs to stop, or you're going to go cum untouched.

Changbin begins rubbing circles into you, and it doesn't take long for you to buckle, holding onto his arms for support, fingers digging into the skin. 

He clicks his tongue, his face is inches away from yours. "Found it." 

"Shut u-"  He cuts you off by pushing a finger into you. He grabs your nipples in between his fingers with his free hand and pinches it, earning a rather loud whimper from you. 

"So sensitive." He mumbles, a bud still in his mouth, licking a long stripe that has you arching your back. When he pushes a second finger, you're already feeling overwhelmed, his scent and the growing knot on your belly being the only things on your mind.

You catch his mouth, leaning into his touch, wanting to feel him in every way you possibly can now. The third kiss you share is messy, just how you like it: tongues clashing, drool spilling from your mouth when you pull away gasping for air.

"Messy." He points, lips red and swollen; his thumb brushes against your clit again and you moan. "So dirty too, you don't even care if someone hears you, do you?"

You shake your head, unable to bring yourself to speak, holding back the urge to grind down on his fingers.

"What if Chan walked in?" "And saw his little innocent best friend moaning my name so sinfully, going dumb just from my fingers."

The picture fills your head: Chan opening the door suddenly and catching you all open and wide while crying out his other best friend's name.

It's wrong. Chan's been your best friend of years.

It shouldn't turn you on.

It really shouldn't.

But it does.

And you clench, whimpering from embarrassment, when Changbin raises an eyebrow at you.

"Oh, you like that?" He scuffs, quickening the pace of his fingers. "You like the thought of being caught?" No, you like the thought of being caught by him? "You want Chan to see how much of a mess you are for me?"

No, no, you can't admit that to him, you can't -

"Answer me, you can take it. You're a big girl, you're not made of glass". He takes this opportunity to curl his fingers, hitting just the right spot.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck." "Yes, yes, yes, I do, just... please, please." You don't even have time to warn him before you're cumming, and you're left shaking, panting, and reaching for his body to ground you in every way you possibly can.

"Holy shit."  You murmur, speechless.

He snorts, pulling his fingers out of you slowly. He's about to wipe them on his shirt, but you stop him, grabbing him by the wrist and bringing his hand closer to your face. You don't know what's gotten into you when you push his fingers inside your mouth and lick them clean, but it's not like you've never tasted yourself before; plus, the look on his face and the low grunt he lets out...priceless.

"Bed?."  You ask mid-sucking, eyes pierced on his.

"Have I told you you're perfect today?"

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

You wake up with an uncomfortable light coming from the blinders, hitting your eyes. Whining, you try to shift on the bed, only to be met with Changbin's strong arms holding you close and still next to him. Smiling at the sight, you let yourself enjoy this moment just a bit longer. Even when the soreness from the night before and the fact that you actually slept with Changbin hits you, you push the doubts away.

Those lovely seconds are rapidly disturbed by a sound on the kitchen, though, and you panic. You give Changbin a pat on the back in an attempt to wake him up.

"Bin?."  You call.

Rolling your eyes, you try to break out of his embrace, failing miserably when his grip tightens.

"Binnie, wake up!" you try again, louder this time. He shifts, and you think he's finally awake, his eyes fluttering open lightly to meet your own.

"It's too early to wake up." Changbin whines, somehow moving even closer to you, taking your left leg and placing it on top of his. "And you need rest if you don't want to be tired for our first date later."

You tense when the word "date" hits your ears, and you must've given a hint of that tension because Changbin lets out a small chuckle, eyes fully opening.

He looks so beautiful and soft like this, with messy hair—that might've been your fault—droopy eyes blinking slowly at you, and the sweetest grin on his face. 

Even though all of that happened, the fact that Changbin is in front of you wants to amaze you, and hearing that he wants to go on a date with you? or even date you for real? Breathtaking.

"I think someone's here, Binnie." You mumble quietly, afraid that might affect this whole situation.

"And what's wrong with that?" He's now lazily playing with your hair, fingers caressing through the locs carefully.

"You're not... bothered by it?" They might come check on us."

"Not really, I'm quite happy actually." He shrugs.  "Unless you aren't, if so, we can-"

"No," you interrupt, struggling to meet his eyes. "I'm happy too." 

"Good."  He kisses your forehead and leans your head back to rest on his chest. You can feel his heart beating fast, and it's somehow reassuring, like it's saying, "I feel the same way about you." 

All you can feel is utter happiness to be in this moment with him.

Until your phone rings.

Changbin gives you a look that says "don't answer," but your gut tells you otherwise, your phone is within arm's reach anyway, so you don't have to move around much to grab it. 

Once you do, you catch the glimpse of Chan's name, apparently he called you and send a few texts. 

Now it's Changbin's turn to be tense.

Opening your chat, you're met with his messages.

chris 🐺: really?

chris 🐺: I leave you guys alone for ONE NIGHT and you have sex?

chris 🐺: not that I didn't saw it coming, you're terrible at hiding it, but you could've at least WARNED ME before 

you: how do you even know that????

chris 🐺: YOU'RE BACK 😭

chris 🐺: anyway, may or may not have walked into the two of you cuddling in your sleep

The sight could've been innocent honestly, if Changbin didn't sleep in his underwear and his hand wasn't placed on your ass throughout the entire night.

you: sorry, i was going to tell you this morning

chris 🐺: it's fine, im just sad that you're growing so fast 😭😭😭😭😭

you: christopher, quit acting like my dad!

chris 🐺: sorry 

chris 🐺: it was cute though, i sneaked a couple of pics, doesn't matter

you: YOU DID WHAT????

Changbin snorts, eyes fixed on your phone, following your texts

chris 🐺: love you

chris 🐺: im making pancakes, if our breakfast plans are still up.

you: yeah, be out in a sec, need to soothe Changbin. he's traumatized, afraid you'll kill him

chris 🐺: oh and I will.

chris 🐺: after we eat tho :)

[cupoftaae]

Forever And A Day (KTH x READER) series ♡ Epilogue .....

Summary: your lifelong friend is forced to face his true feelings for you once he breaks the number one rule of becoming friends with benefits: dont fall in love. He knows he loves you, but you on the other hand need more convincing of the most important thing: the right decision.

Genre: fwb. Roommates, friends to idiots to lovers, fluff, angst, smut, the whole 9 yards tbh.

Pairing: taehyung x female!reader

rating: 18+ (minors dni!!!)

A/n- this takes place years after the previous chapters.... I hope you enjoy it m'loves.

-Nini

Taehyung was your one true love.

And that was always so obviously apparent to onlooking eyes.

"my love...I don't think those are for you to pick-"

"shhh" Taehyung reached up and grabbed another apple from the tree, tossing it into the bowl he carried in the other hand.

You two had recently made an expensive upgrade from your small city apartment in Busan to a small cottage house in Gwangju.

Your mothers health had not been the best within the past year, and it became difficult to travel over to her so often, so Taehyung made the decision to move closer for convince, now she was more accessible.

He also appreciated the smaller atmosphere of the country side, he actually had a yard now, which he was going to take advantage of immediately.

You've only been in the new house for a month and a half and he's already burning bridges with the neighbors, who are a much older couple and dont seem too pleased with the idea of 20 something year olds living beside them.

"didn't they "accidentally" mow over your new flowers?" tae points out, as if its some competition with the 62 year old husband next door.

"he apologized" you cross your arms, watching your boyfriend pick from their fruit trees.

"we need a fence" he suggested, proudly showing you the bowl of fruit. "what? you are upset?"

You raise an eyebrow as he stands beside you.

"we can make apple pie, baby!" he smirked and walked to the side, entering your house as you giggled, following behind. Apple pie does sound convincing, you have to admit.

He walked to the kitchen and placed the bowl down, smiling at you as you picked up Yeontans toys scattered around the living room. "you know.." he adjusted his farmers hat that he insisted he bought so he fit the role of the town, "im gonna build you that porch swing you always wanted"

"yeah?" you giggled, listening to his voice from the other room.

"and I'll build you a nice white wooden fence around here.." he points out the window, "so we can have all our privacy, and then I'll build you a treehouse, so when we have kids we can hang in there and we can paint it and-"

You hug him as you walk into the room, taking his hat off as you put it on yourself. "youre so caring and considerate, my love"

Taehyung blushed and hugged you back, "because I love you"

"i love you too, country boy" you poked his chest, smirking. "and you know we can build the tree house now, why wait for kids? we can have fun in there I think. Put a tv up, snacks, pillows-"

"I dont think thats a good idea" he raised an eyebrow

"taehyung we arent gonna have sex in the tree, stop it" you giggle, looking at the apples he picked. "what time do we need to leave?"

He turned to look at the clock, "um, in an hour"

"oh shit, Im gonna go get ready now"

"you do that, lil lady" he teasingly smacked your butt as you left the room.

Taehyung informed you that he was taking you out on a small date tonight, but refused to disclose exactly where or why.

It was not often the two of you got to go out together anywhere, He had to transfer jobs when you both moved, meaning he went from a college art teacher, to a full time elementary school art teacher, which was in his words, "more enjoyable then teaching college kids".

Meanwhile, you were lucky enough to join the arts and culture center as an activities director, meaning you helped out plays and performances as well as acting in them. It wasn't too different from your job in Busan, the only real change is the people you worked with were much younger and around your age, which helped make you feel more comfortable.

bottom line, You and Taehyung were working all the time every day, leaving weekends the only time for you two to be alone. So when he told you he had something planned, you didnt want to question it too much, instead, you wanted to appreciate it.

A while later, you both had hopped into the car, he drove to the unknown destination while you put lipstick on in the overhead mirror of the passenger seat.

"please dont hit the pothole, I want to look good not like a clown" you mumble, lining your lips with the dark red coloring.

Taehyung giggled and looked over, "you do look good, baby, seriously" his hand rested on your thigh.

"did I overdress?" you look at him, "you wont tell me where we are going so I assumed to wear something sort of nice?"

He nodded, "you look amazing, not overdressed, promise"

You trusted his word as you pulled into the parking lot of a restaurant that reserved near a small lake, it really was beautiful, and for someone who grew up near the area, you've never seen or heard of this place before.

The sky became dark as you two walked in, he smiled and made sure to hold your hand, his cologne creating a comforting aroma for you.

"hi! reservation under Kim" he mumbled to the woman as she checked the laptop.

"for 3?" she looked up

"yeah" taehyung glanced at you nervously as you raised a brow.

"three?"

You followed the waitress to a window seat where you were met with your mother sitting, she had a wide grin plastered across her face as she saw both of you two.

"mom?" you giggled, running over to hug her as she sat in her wheelchair

Tae smiled softly as he stood behind you, a hand on your lower back before he hugged your mom too. Once you both sat down, you stared at taehyung waiting for an explanation as to why, although a pleasant surprise, your mother was here on date night.

He cleared his throat, "I just thought we could all use a night to just sit down and eat without having to worry about cooking" he smirked, your mother trying to hold in her giggle as she agreed, "yup"

You seemed confused, you didnt mind cooking a dinner for everyone if she wanted to come over to your house, but you suppose its the thought that counts.

Throughout the meal, you all shared small conversations that seemed casual, other than the fact your mother and taehyung kept sharing similar glances, making you suspicious.

"is there some kind of joke I dont know about?" you suddenly spoke up, pouting as you took a bite of potato.

"no baby, why do you say that?" he asked, reaching to hold your hand

"dunno.." you shrug, looking around.

Taehyung began to grow more nervous and fidgety as the night went on, even more so as you excused yourself to use the restroom.

Your mother put her hand on his back, whispering, "dont be nervous, taehyung, youre giving it away you know" she laughed

Taehyung ran his hands over his face, "ahh I know but...what if she-"

"she loves you, she wouldnt have put up with your shit this long if she hadnt"

"true..." he chuckles , sitting up as you return to your seat.

"lets order dessert" your mother suggested, making you nod and smile

"good idea, do you guys wanna get the ice cream float and we can all share it? its pretty big.."

Taehyung was suddenly too anxious to even speak casually as he looked at you "yeah, sounds good." he spoke flatly, his eyes drawing to the live band that sat across the room you were in. He smiled and got up, walking over to them as you and your mom discussed dessert.

"hello, do you take requests?" he whispered, hopeful.

"we do!" the man cheerfully replied, taking his earpiece out so he could here the young boy. "what would you like to hear?"

Taehyung looked back to make sure you werent paying attetion, "well...um, do you guys think could play this?" he showed him his phone

Return to me, Dean Martin

That song held a certain significance in yours and Taehyungs relationship.

every couple had a song, and that just happened to be yours.

He had a deep love for music from the 50's, constantly playing vinyls throughout the house that echoed most nights as you came through the door after a long work day.

You loved to consider Tae a classical romantic, the kind to make you a cd with all of his oldies on his after you two get into a fight, which he's done before.

Taehyung returned to the table, smiling at the dessert on the table as you lifted the spoon to his mouth, "taste it baby, its so good"

He chuckled, taking the spoon and wiping his lips, "that is good my love"

He reached out to hold your hand over the table as you began talking, your mother couldn't help but tear up at the sight of how much love was budding between her daughter and this boy so obviously.

The current song playing through the restaurant came to an end, and taehyung nervously swallowed his wine, his foot bouncing not going unnoticed to your eye.

The gentle instrument began, alerting you immediately as you stopped mid-convo with your mom to look around, gasping, "tae! its our song! they are playing our song!"

Return to me Oh my dear I'm so lonely

He smiled gently, looking across at you as your face lit up. God, you were so beautiful. "yeah, it is..." he mumbled, eyes only drawn on you.

Hurry back, hurry back Oh my love hurry back I'm yours

you turned to your mom to explain how you and him always hear this song on the radio, like it follows you everywhere.

"lets dance?" he gently nudged your hand, nodding towards the center of the room where much older couples swayed slowly in the dimness.

You blushed, "now..?"

"why not, baby?" he took one last sip of his wine, hoping to gain any courage he could as he stood and grasped your hand, slowly leading you away from the table to the floor.

Your mother pulled her phone out and filmed, if you werent so caught up in taehyung right now you would have noticed her not-so-slick grin.

His hands rested on your hips, pulling him closer as you looked up at him, blushing once more.

"why you always so shy, baby?" he whispered, nudging his nose against yours.

"im not" you reply, giggling

"mm yeah you are"

You shook your head, swaying with him slowly as you rested against his chest. In that moment you heard his heart beating rather quickly.

"why is your heart beating so fast?" you whispered, closing your eyes."

For my heart wants you only Hurry home, hurry home

"is it?" he played dumb, resting his head against yours.

The softly played music and warmness of his body against yours made you almost forget where you were. You didnt care if people stared, you felt so in love in this moment, and almost protested for another song as it came to a close.

Retorna me Cara mia ti amo Solo tu, solo tu, solo tu, solo tu Mio cuore

Taehyung took a deep breath and exhaled, spinning you around slowly as he looked at you, in a way youve never seen before.

"taehyung?"

He smiled gently, the instrumental playing in the back as the floor cleared out.

"Y/N" he whispered, grabbing your hand as he slowly sunk down to one knee. Your heart froze, hand covering your mouth as you immediately caught on.

"y/n"....he looked up at you with eyes so nervous yet hopeful, you wanted to cry out of the amount of love you had in your body for this boy. "I...Ive loved you for so long, you are my other half and have always been. Without you, theres no way I would be here today as the person as I am, you make me a better man, and I cant imagine going a single day without you beside me" he was now crying as he spoke, the entire room watching with careful eyes, "we know eachother better than anyone, and all I want to....all I want to do baby is love, and spoil, and take care of you for the rest of our lives. Let me make you mine, forever, my beautiful girl" he whispered as tears of your own fell.

Suddenly his previous behavior made sense, watching him reach into his back pocket to pull out the small black box.

As a little girl, you dreamed of this moment, the moment someone will love you enough to offer you their life and promise to treat you with care. You began to fear that moment would never come, but now as you stand here with the love of your life, looking at you so passionately with the ring in his hand as he patiently waited for your response,

It was straight out of a fairy tale.

"will you marry me, beautiful? and let me pick apples for you for the rest of time?"

You giggled, wiping away your tears as you nodded quickly, "y-yes, yes! over and over again, yes" you have him stand so you can kiss him, the room erupting in applause as you do so.

He kissed you deeply, pulling away and pressing his forehead to yours, "I love you..."

"I love you too.....so much"

You watched as he slid the ring onto your finger, making everything seem so real. "oh, wow...this is so beautiful" you sniffed, leaning against him as you looked at your hand.

"yeah? you like it baby?" he smiled, kissing your head, "im glad"

You made your way back to the table to hug your mom, who, by the way, was an absolute mess.

"I filmed it all" she spoke, wiping her teary eyes.

"were you behind this, mama?" you giggled, kissing her cheek as she nodded, "you know I always am"

You looked at taehyung as he sat with you two, nodding.

"about a month ago after we moved here, I spoke to your mom about me proposing, and she gave me her blessing under one condition..." he trailed off

"that im here to see it" she finished softly, making you smile sadly.

"oh mama..." you sniff, hugging her again.

Your mothers health has taken a turn for the worse recently, leaving things a lot more difficult for you. Time and life is never a given, so for taehyung to go out of his way to make sure she was here to see such an important moment, knowing how much it means to you, made you love the man even more....if that was possible.

"thank you" you whispered to tae, looking at him with teary eyes.

He wiped them softly, kissing you delicately. "My baby, I love you so much"

Once the night was over, you and Taehyung were sat inside of your house once more.

It felt different, like someone flipped a switch and suddenly life was a lot brighter. You still had your entire future to see, and now taehyung has just promised to be there with you, and to share each beautiful moment. Things could not have been lovelier.

"I cannot wait to be your wife"

"and I cannot wait to be your husband"

You giggle, brushing his hair back with your fingers as your eyes glued onto his, the bed was warm, large blankets covering your bodies.

"I seriously.....dont know what I would have done without you. I never assumed I would marry my best friend" you whisper, thumb brushing his cheek. "Im lucky enough to have known my person my whole life"

He smiled warmly, palm placed on the back of your hand. "we dont have to worry about what ifs, or ever fear being lost again, yeah? I'm never gonna leave you"

You kissed his nose before nuzzling into his neck.

"I adore you...and I cannot wait to see all of the adventures life has in store for us" he mumbled, rubbing your back.

"I cant wait either....i just hope everything goes smoothly"

"oh things will be crazy, we attract crazy" he teased, earning a laugh from you, "but we can handle it.....we always do."

"yeah, we do" you whisper, looking down at the shiny ring that now sat proudly on your finger.

it symbolized a new chapter in your life, and God, you were so ready to enter it headfirst with Taehyung. Through thick and thin, you were his.

Let the story begin.

A/N-

AHHHH im kind of sad this is over, I apologize if this is rather short, but I wanted to keep it quick and sweet because I didnt want to add too much plot into the finale. There will be a drabble series following their life coming soon, I already planned it out and im so excited for it! Thanks again to my amazing followers who read my chapters weekly and support me, I love you all so much and I hope we can all have this experience with future works I put out.

Taglist-

@turnthepageandbeburnt @taebangtanbabe @borahaexoxo @lelefoodlover @tan-veee

[themculibrary]

College/University Roommates Masterlist

a home for two (ao3) - watsonmj (divineauthor) mj/peter T, 3k

Summary: MJ can’t count how many times Peter has shown up in her dorm.

Peter and MJ become unintentional roommates. They’re also incredibly in love with each other.

A Little Larceny (ao3) - checkmate bucky/tony T, 5k

Summary: Bucky has a bit of a thing for his roommate, but Tony is far too busy setting him up on blind dates with other people to notice.

California king (ao3) - withered bucky/tony T, 1k

Summary: Bucky should be used to Tony ending up in his bed.

cross your heart (ao3) - softnslow mj/peter, ned/betty T, 6k

Summary: God, he's so pretty.

His eyes dart from the textbook to his journal, and his head is lowered so a brown curl droops down from his forehead. His dorky T-shirt is hiked up slightly so it reveals- his stupid perfect six-pack, damn. 

The soft glow of the lamp outlines his sharp, perfect jawline to his pretty boy features.

MJ looks back down, biting the inside of her cheek.

She's crushing so hard on Peter. A nerd. A dork. A really hot, cute, awkward, pretty guy. 

--

or, a sweet roommates au featuring babysitting morgan stark, snowball fights, and study sessions.

Death and the PhD (ao3) - buckybarnesdeservestobehappy (hutchabelle) steve/bucky T, 3k

Summary: PhD student Bucky Barnes loves his research on Thanatos, the Greek god of non-violent death. So wrapped up in his studies that he doesn’t realize someone’s stalking him and his roommate Steve who’s come to mean more to Bucky than only someone who resides in his apartment, he’s forced to find the courage to resist when he comes face-to-face with his stalker.

Education is the key (ao3) - SrebrnaFH G, 1k

Summary: Steve Rogers is rescued from the ice earlier than in the MCU timeline and Army decides he needs to complete his education.

Howard Stark suggests MIT. Guess who is going to be Steve's roommate... Or roommates.

for all of the perfect things that i doubt (ao3) - spoondrifts loki/mobius, valkryie/ravonna T, 6k

Summary: Mobius M. Mobius, age twenty-three, philosophy major, isn't sure what to make of his new roommate. Especially considering that it's three months into the semester and he hasn't even seen the guy yet.

Home (ao3) - Pandagirl86 tony/bruce T, 4k

Summary: It's been a long time since Tony's felt at home.

In This Together (ao3) - i_buchanan bruce/tony E, 62k

Summary: Bruce was pretty sure that he was going to be the youngest person at MIT. He didn't realize that honor actually went to his roommate, the already-infamous Tony Stark. Granted, the child prodigy turns out to be nothing like he expects, for better or worse, and Bruce figures that they just have to make it work. Besides, it should only be for one semester, right?

Or, the fic where they live together, move out together, and eventually get together.

Let Me Love You (ao3) - inclinedtoarson mj/peter M, 3k

Summary: Peter is Michelle's best friend, and Michelle is his. He is always there for her on her worst days, and now that they're roommates she's spent a lot of nights confiding the deepest parts of herself with him. There's no one she trusts more in the world, no one who knows her better. So when her boyfriend just up and leaves, MJ is glad Peter is there to tell her she's beautiful and valuable and that he's there for her. He'll always be there.

Marvel Collegiate University (ao3) - Ultra bucky/natasha, pepper/tony, steve/peggy T, 48k

Summary: What if all the Avengers were ordinary human beings who just attended college together?

Oh where do we begin (ao3) - steveandbucky steve/buckt M, 24k

Summary: Halfway through his third year of college, Steve Rogers rents out the spare room in his apartment to make living close to campus more affordable. At first sight his new roommate, Bucky Barnes, seems to be the stuff dreams are made of, but living together turns out to be a nightmare, and the academic year is a lot more adventurous than either of them expected, as they slowly turn from enemies to friends to lovers.

Painterly (ao3) - avintagekiss24 steve/bucky E, 8k

Summary: Steve's entire semester hinges on the art project that Bucky just kinda, sorta put a hole in.

save, saving, saved (ao3) - firebrands steve/tony G, 1k

Summary: simple joys, or: tony exhausting himself trying to help literally everyone and steve tutting and making him noodles

Smart Enough (ao3) - AuroraWest loki/stephen T, 3k

Summary: Loki has never been smart enough to keep his mouth shut around people who don't like him. When he gets beat up by the university rowing team (seriously?), his roommate insists on helping with the injuries.

At least Loki is smart enough not to fall for his roommate, despite Stephen's crooked smile and floppy hair. Right?

some days i'm lonely (and some days i'm not) (ao3) - wittepain peter/harley T, 77k

Summary: Harley turns eighteen in a day, graduates in two weeks, and despite all of the questions now being thrown at his head, he has absolutely no direction in life.

-

or, it takes leaving everything he's ever known for harley keener to finally learn how to love and be loved.

Surprise! (ao3) - Ray_Day peter/harley T, 2k

Summary: Harley and Peter are dating and are roommates in college. Neither of them knows that they know Tony Stark (Though on Harley's end, he just doesn't connect the dots).

So when Tony shows up for a surprise lecture for their shared class, neither of them know what to do.

The Loveliness of Loving You (ao3) - ElisabethMonroe sam/bucky E, 4k

Summary: Staring SamBucky, featuring: Valentine's Day ✔️ Baking Cookies ✔️ Lingerie ✔️ Mutual Pining By Friends With Benefits ✔️ And They Were Roommates ✔️

The One With The Haus Party (ao3) - neversaydie steve/bucky, natasha/sam, past steve/tony, bucky/pietro M, 8k

Summary: Sam ends up giving Mr Five-Feet-Five of Cock-Deprived Fury a piggyback home, mainly because he's too drunk to protest being carried and Sam would like to get home before the sun comes up this time.

"I hate Bucky." He's been grumbling about Barnes for the entire walk. There's a thin line between love and hate, Sam supposes, and apparently that line is someone else's dick in Bucky's mouth. "Fucking… gonna call him Fucky from now on."

"He'll like that." Sam points out, shifting Steve's weight to get the bony knees out of his ribs. He'd better get some good karma for this shit, he wishes he didn't have such a strong conscience that he can't knowingly let this guy sleep on a sticky frat house floor for the night. He's way nicer than his messy friends deserve.

"Gonna call him fuckface then. Fuckface fucking Barnes. Sucking all the dicks. S'not fair, where's the dicks left for everyone else?!"

[the gang go to a house party at a hockey frat, mistaken identities and inadvisable drunken behaviour abound, and Steve is a Hot Mess]

The Rift (ao3) - seapigeon steve/bucky M, 53k

Summary: Steve Rogers is used to things going wrong. He's had poor health and bad luck his entire life. He's not really sure why he thought witchcraft would be any different. Maybe because he didn't believe it was real...?

Turns out, it's all kinds of real, and now he has a ghost in the attic, a mystery to solve, and a huge crush on his roommate.

[forabeatofadrum]

Ljubili se (7/21)

Notes: Hi! I am still writing. I am just very busy with uni work.

Anyway, it's a small world in the Ljubili se universe.

AO3 | S&C

–

Blaine never really got to know Santana Lopez. He hasn’t seen her in years and he hasn’t thought about her in years. Santana is one of Quinn’s childhood friends. They lived in the same hall of the dorm of their fancy boarding school. They kept in touch when they were in college. Santana and her girlfriend Brittany, who was also a friend of Quinn’s, even came to see Quinn in New Haven. That’s where Blaine met them, after all.

But distance muddled the relationship and by the time Blaine and Quinn moved to LA, their friendship had fizzled out. As far as Blaine’s aware, Quinn, Brittany and Santana only send each other an annual happy birthday message. That’s how things go. Blaine’s also fallen out of touch with people in his life.

That’s also why he didn’t expect to run into one of Quinn’s former best friends in his boyfriend’s apartment.

Blaine and Santana are staring at each other in disbelief. Kurt and his other roommate Rachel are clearly confused.

Rachel therefore breaks the silence.

She holds out her hand and walks up to Blaine.

“Rachel Berry, so nice to meet you, even though Kurt kept you a secret until now,” she says and she winks towards Kurt.

Blaine shakes her hand and manages to look away from Santana, although he still can feel her gaze on him.

“Yes. Right,” he says awkwardly, “But ah, well, that’s because of me. Mostly.”

Great. He’s a mess. He had rehearsed what he was going to say, but that was because Blaine was under the impression that he’d be meeting complete strangers. It had never even occurred to Blaine that Santana, Kurt’s roommate, is the same Santana. Kurt even mentioned that Santana has a girlfriend who isn’t Brittany!

Did she and Brittany break up? Does Quinn even know?

That’s not what matters now. What matters is that Blaine is woefully unprepared for this. Santana is still very unfamiliar with him. They barely talked when she came to New Haven, since she was there to hang out with Quinn and Blaine didn’t want to impose, but she clearly recognises him, probably as “Quinn’s boyfriend”.

And he’s correct.

“Does Quinn know?” Santana interrupts.

Everyone looks at her and Blaine can hear Rachel mutter “Quinn?” under her breath. Kurt also still looks very confused.

“Yes,” Blaine answers honestly, “Of course.”

“Ah. Damn. Okay.”

Santana nods to herself and Blaine almost wants to clarify that Quinn is fine and that she’s moved on since she’s dating Denise, but Quinn is still deeply in the closet, so he keeps his mouth shut.

“Sorry, I think Kurt and I are missing something here,” Rachel says, “Quinn? Quinn who?”

“Fabray, from high school,” Santana answers and Rachel gets a dark look on her face.

“Oh,” Rachel says and she takes a step away from Blaine.

“Quinn Fabray started dating some guy when she went to Yale,” Santana continues, “And Blaine is that guy.”

“Hi,” Blaine waves awkwardly. He is the aforementioned some guy.

“But it looks like they broke up and that Blaine’s gay now.”

“That is correct,” Blaine says. That is one way to put it.

Then Santana’s look goes from baffled to amused, and Blaine does remember that side of Santana. She has a cheeky grin on her face.

“Damn, Hummel, is your dick so good it can turn people gay?” she laughs.

“Santana!” Kurt exclaims.

“It’s a good dick,” Blaine says back, which makes Santana laugh even louder and Kurt groan. But Blaine is beaming. He can’t believe he just said that!

Maybe it’s a good thing that he sort of knows Santana. He knows her enough to understand that he can say that. He can find himself relax. Santana is also over her shock and Kurt’s turned red, but he’s smiling too. Only Rachel has retreated to the kitchen.

“But yeah, this is really new for me,” Blaine admits, “You two are actually the first people I’ve come out to back here in America.”

“We met in Ljubljana,” Kurt quickly clarifies, “We’ve been together since April.”

“Oh, wow,” Santana looks impressed and slightly touched, “I’m honoured.”

“Good for you,” Rachel says from the kitchen, and despite her obvious sudden distain for him, she sounds genuine.

Then she loudly announces that she needs to go. Kurt points out that she doesn’t have plans, but Rachel in turn says that it has been changed. It’s a clear excuse to get out of the situation, and before anyone can protest anymore, she’s gone.

“She has some sort of beef with Quinn,” Santana says once the door is shut, “Don’t ask me. I don’t know what’s up either.”

Blaine might bring it up to Quinn then.

“Well, then, Porcelain,” Santana walks towards the kitchen to open the fridge, “We really have a lot to catch up on.”

She takes out a bottle of wine and goes through the kitchen for glasses. Kurt takes the time to check in on Blaine.

“You alright?” he asks quietly and squeezes Blaine’s hand.

Blaine nods.

He is.

This really didn’t go the way he planned and he’s still nervous about coming out to more people, which he should’ve seen coming. It’s not as if he could come out once and be done with it. But he’s also alright and Santana’s babbling from the kitchen makes him feel at ease. Santana (and also Rachel) acknowledged that it was important to him, but also didn’t act as if it was a huge deal.

Blaine likes that. He really, really likes that.

Kurt’s also moved to the kitchen to get some snacks and Santana tells Blaine to sit down and just relax. She later returns with a glass for him and Kurt also emerges out of the kitchen with a tray of goodies. Santana sits down in a comfy chair and puts her feet on the table, but no one cares.

“So,” she starts and Kurt sees that as his cue to tell Santana how he and Blaine met.

“I was a mess,” Blaine affirms when Kurt describes how desperate Blaine was for pizza.

“Right. And I think I liked him from the start, but you know me,” Kurt sighs. Santana nods.

“And in hindsight, I was really drawn to Kurt since the start, but I was, you know, straight.”

“A mistake we’ve all made before,” Santana says and Kurt also lets out a small laugh. Blaine also smiles. Santana is right. Being straight was the phase for him.

“I even thought I was homophobic for a while,” Blaine mutters and Santana almost chokes on her wine.

Kurt and Blaine continue their story and once they’re at the part where they actually get together, Blaine asks how up to date Santana is about Quinn’s life.

“Honestly, I haven’t heard from her in ages,” Santana answers.

“Yeah?”

She hums.

“Yeah. I knew you were off to some European country, but truly, that’s the last I heard. We’ve really been out of touch. I haven’t even told her about Brittany yet.”

“Ah.”

Blaine wonders how she is. He also didn’t really get to know Brittany, but he liked her enough.

“How did you and Brittany break up?” Kurt asks. He also hasn’t gotten around to asking.

Santana shrugs.

“I think a part of me will always cherish her,” Santana starts, “And we parted on good terms, but we just realised there are no more feelings. Sometimes people fall out of love. I think I was in denial, but then I met Dani, my current girlfriend, and I was sure it wasn’t right.”

“Is she also still in New York?” Blaine asks.

“Yeah,” Santana answers, “Man, it’s a good thing we never adhered to the lesbian stereotype of moving in together. I mean, her school was just in a different part of the city, but still.”

“Isn’t Brittany bi?” Blaine asks.

“Does it matter?” Santana says back and Blaine frowns. He thinks it does. If it matters to Brittany. Blaine thinks about Quinn, who got quiet when Blaine brought up this same stereotype.

Santana doesn’t pick up on his slight discomfort and talks a bit more about Dani, but she really catches Blaine’s attention again when she suggests that the four of them go to a gay bar.

“New York is filled with them,” she says, “Although not all of them are great, but Kurt and I know a place.”

Kurt nods.

Blaine’s filled with a mix of curiosity and discomfort. He really wants to see the queer scene for himself. He’s been thinking about it ever since he and Kurt got together. So far, he’s only been a bystander in some Pride stuff in Ljubljana.

But on the other hand, he’s not sure if he’s ready for that. But then why isn’t he ready for that?

“Can I think about it?” Blaine asks, “I’ll be in town for a week.”

“Plenty of time,” Santana agrees.

The three of them hang out for another hour or so, but Blaine realises he’s tired. He was in Los Angeles in the morning, and now he’s here, so it’s been a long day. Kurt and Blaine tell Santana they’re going to bed and of course Santana can’t help but make a bad joke about it.

“Good night to you too, Santana,” Kurt says.

[rockislandadultreads]

Fiction Recommendations: Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month

If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha 

Kyuri is an achingly beautiful woman with a hard-won job at a Seoul "room salon," an exclusive underground bar where she entertains businessmen while they drink. Though she prides herself on her cold, clear-eyed approach to life, an impulsive mistake threatens her livelihood.

Kyuri's roommate, Miho, is a talented artist who grew up in an orphanage but won a scholarship to study art in New York. Returning to Korea after college, she finds herself in a precarious relationship with the heir to one of the country's biggest conglomerates.

Down the hall in their building lives Ara, a hairstylist whose two preoccupations sustain her: an obsession with a boy-band pop star, and a best friend who is saving up for the extreme plastic surgery that she hopes will change her life.

And Wonna, one floor below, is a newlywed trying to have a baby that she and her husband have no idea how they can afford to raise in Korea's brutal economy.

Together, their stories tell a gripping tale at once unfamiliar and unmistakably universal, in which their tentative friendships may turn out to be the thing that ultimately saves them.

Fiona and Jane by Jean Chen Ho

Best friends since second grade, Fiona Lin and Jane Shen explore the lonely freeways and seedy bars of Los Angeles together through their teenage years, surviving unfulfilling romantic encounters, and carrying with them the scars of their families' tumultuous pasts. Fiona was always destined to leave, her effortless beauty burnished by fierce ambition—qualities that Jane admired and feared in equal measure. When Fiona moves to New York and cares for a sick friend through a breakup with an opportunistic boyfriend, Jane remains in California and grieves her estranged father's sudden death, in the process alienating an overzealous girlfriend. Strained by distance and unintended betrayals, the women float in and out of each other's lives, their friendship both a beacon of home and a reminder of all they've lost.

In stories told in alternating voices, Jean Chen Ho's debut collection peels back the layers of female friendship—the intensity, resentment, and boundless love—to probe the beating hearts of young women coming to terms with themselves, and each other, in light of the insecurities and shame that holds them back.

Things We Lost to the Water by Eric Nguyen

When Huong arrives in New Orleans with her two young sons, she is jobless, homeless, and worried about her husband, Cong, who remains in Vietnam. As she and her boys begin to settle in to life in America, she continues to send letters and tapes back to Cong, hopeful that they will be reunited and her children will grow up with a father.

But with time, Huong realizes she will never see her husband again. While she attempts to come to terms with this loss, her sons, Tuan and Binh, grow up in their absent father's shadow, haunted by a man and a country trapped in their memories and imaginations. As they push forward, the three adapt to life in America in different ways: Huong gets involved with a Vietnamese car salesman who is also new in town; Tuan tries to connect with his heritage by joining a local Vietnamese gang; and Binh, now going by Ben, embraces his adopted homeland and his burgeoning sexuality. Their search for identity--as individuals and as a family--threatens to tear them apart, un­til disaster strikes the city they now call home and they are suddenly forced to find a new way to come together and honor the ties that bind them.

Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang

Our narrator produces a sound from the piano no one else at the Conservatory can. She employs a technique she learned from her parents—also talented musicians—who fled China in the wake of the Cultural Revolution. But when an accident leaves her parents debilitated, she abandons her future for a job at a high-end beauty and wellness store in New York City.

Holistik is known for its remarkable products and procedures—from remoras that suck out cheap Botox to eyelash extensions made of spider silk—and her new job affords her entry into a world of privilege and gives her a long-awaited sense of belonging. She becomes transfixed by Helen, the niece of Holistik’s charismatic owner, and the two strike up a friendship that hazily veers into more. All the while, our narrator is plied with products that slim her thighs, smooth her skin, and lighten her hair. But beneath these creams and tinctures lies something sinister.

[rouxed]

FULL NAME: Aviva Marie Roux

GENDER: Cis woman

PRONOUNS: She / her

AGE + BIRTHDAY: 28 / may 7th

LENGTH OF TIME IN FAIRFORD: Most of her life

HOUSING: Downtown Fairford

OCCUPATION: Radio show host for local station / podcaster

tw for death , car accidents , small injury mention , abandonment ( none in explicit detail )

the story doesn't start with aviva. it starts with other people : camile, faith & elodie.

the random roommate selection created three best friends at a small local college in houston, texas. where faith and elodie were a couple soon after meeting, camile was their best friend -- the pair had planned to open a veterinary clinic in houston after graduation further down the line while camile was going into social sciences. the three of them were inseparable, even after college.

though they didn't live together post - college, the trio were just as close and over the moon when camile and her then - boyfriend were expecting. it was a bit sooner than she had expected and anticipated, but she was happy.

ABANDONMENT MENTION / their romance was whirlwind, and by the end of it, she was 8 months pregnant and alone ---- her father dipped, leaving camile alone. she was willing and capable to handle it though. everything was set up for the two of them and she was willing to do it alone, no father on the birth certificate.

instead, elodie and faith stepped in. they were taking the time to make moves and get their own business started, camile was grateful they would allow aviva to stay with them during the 9 to 5 camile was working to make sure she was being properly cared for by people she trusted. by the time aviva was a few months old there had already been a routine in place: bring aviva to work, have her stay with faith and elodie and then go home. every day, that was it. until it wasn’t.

CAR ACCIDENT + DEATH TW / it was a year and a half of this routine. they were running late, and camile hated being late. one wrong place at the wrong time and they were t-boned in an busy intersection after the other driver was going way over the speed limit. the impact left aviva with scratches due to the seat she was in and position of the hit, and her mother without her life. elodie and faith were listed as aviva’s god parents due to their close relationship ( her mother had considered them practically family in every regard for obvious reasons ) , they took her in. by that time they already had quite a child and it was a no - brainer when it came down to it.

in the early 2000's, the family moved to fairford to take care of faith's ailing parents, and they've been here ever since. they currently ( and have always ) lived on a farm on the outskirts of town, taking care and raising animals.

currently, aviva is a radio show dj on the local station ( she has a 12 to 3 am spot most nights ) , podcaster / youtube. she loves online horror and mysteries and trying to figure them out. currently lives in a small apartment downtown and visits her parents weekly at the very least.

despite her adoption, aviva has always carried her mother's last name, in an almost - tribute.

has a radio show most nights, but sat and fridays are reserved for playing 2000s club bangers ( playlist of mine , probably what she plays is here )

can and will in fact play her friends requests and music. she loves finding new music and bands and musicians and will play the shit out of them.

very stubborn and headstrong. this can be quite confusing for her because she will not do something someone tells her to do, and will switch up at the drop of a hat just to enforce her own personal rules.

attended the local community college for media studies, graduated a year or two ago.

her big dream is to make scripted series, has various scripts hidden all around and is always taking inspo from life around her, including current + past relationships and people she knows.

i think her podcast is very much nightmind, nexpo, blameitjorge type of content with a more serious danny / kurtis / drew type of comedy, if that makes sense. she's very sarcastic and sometimes a bit dry humored but can take a topic seriously if asked and needed.

pinterest, musings blog tag

tldr: grew up 99% in fairford, a goofy gal who loves her family but most importantly club bangers

[jxnsasnows]

Sansa is so tall that all of her sweaters fit Jon and NO you can’t change my mind. His fave one to wear is her bomber jacket in the Stark colors with a direwolf on the back and when they’re at their apartment together alone, he wears her over-sized heather grey jacket that says ‘the future is female’ in blush pink, all-caps letters and she loves it, and he always leans into the crook of her neck (and sometimes into her chest) when they watch cheesy rom-coms together on Friday nights. In short; Jon loves his skyscraper GF and u can’t change my mind

[j0hnj4ej3n]

it's rare for two people to fall in love at the same time

Best friends to lovers! Jeno x fem!reader ft. the dreamies

Word count: 5.6k

Warnings: mentions of alcohol, some cursing, slightly suggestive

Note: happy birthday Jeno Lee !! <3 jk. I know it’s been more than a month since his birthday but I was too busy with my finals to finish this au in time for his birthday :( Anyways, here’s a best friends to lovers!jeno au for everyone! I hope all of you have been doing well! I have also recently set up my kofi and will be opening commissions soon, so stay tuned for that! For now, enjoy some fluffy Jeno content <3

You’ve been best friends with Jeno since freshman year in highschool, the two of you lived in the same neighbourhood and would hang out together all the time. Now, you’re both in the same college, in courses you’re passionate about. He frequents your apartment when your roommate isn’t around and you go over to his place just as often, even if just to hang out with him and the rest of the boys. 

It’s a Friday night and you have your small apartment to yourself, since your roommate is crashing at her boyfriend’s. And you thought, why not invite Jeno over since you haven’t really hung out together because of how busy school has been. It was just another night over at your place, another heart to heart talk, another sleepover. 

Except, tonight wasn’t just another night. 

You two had some to drink, Jeno was on his second bottle of soju but his tolerance is pretty high so you assumed that he was still pretty sober. Maybe it still helped that he had a little liquor to pump up his courage. 

“Have I ever told you that I think you’re really pretty?” he asked, as he leaned closer to look at your face. Although his neck was slightly red, his eyes were clear and genuine. 

You, on the other hand, just downed your first bottle when he said that. You were not a bad drinker, but you’re not the best drinker either. You were tipsy to say the least, so you laughed and pushed his face away, telling him to shut up while doing so. 

“No, like, seriously.” 

“No… Actually, yes, once. At our highschool prom, but I hated my dress that night.”

“Ah, right. I always thought you were really pretty though, like all the time.” He took a swing of soju after he completed his sentence.

You frown, genuinely confused even in your tipsy state. You could feel your heart thumping steadily in your chest. The thumping rang loudly in your ears, you can’t tell if it was because of the alcohol in your system or the words that Jeno just said. You wondered if he could hear how obnoxiously loud your heart was beating. 

He looked at you and chuckled at your expression, shaking his head before mumbling a soft, “nevermind”. 

“You’re drunk,” you said, taking a sip from your newly opened bottle, all the while trying to excuse what he said as drunken words. Then you remembered that people were a lot more honest when they’re drunk and you want to slap yourself in the face. 

“Maybe, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make things weird.” 

You shook your head, meaning to tell him that it was fine. 

Your conversation drifted into other things. About how finals sucked ass, how you don’t know how you’re going to pass your data analytics class. He talked about training, about how he can’t feel his legs sometimes after skating in the rink for so long. Then, you two talked about the future. 

“I hope we could still be this close after we graduate,” you tell him, pulling his hand towards you and holding it. You two held hands often, not outside when you’re walking in the streets like a couple. But in special, heartfelt times like this. 

Jeno first held your hand during your highschool prom, when your parents insisted on taking multiple photos of you two together, even though both of you had your own dates. You two still danced together that night, just for sentimental purposes. 

You held his hand when he lost his first ice hockey match in college. He really didn’t play well that day, you held his hand to lift him off the ground where he sat to sulk after the game. And held his hand a while more after that, just to provide some solace. 

“We will be, you have nothing to worry about.” Jeno assured you without hesitation. 

The night continued on and you were dozing off on the sofa, so Jeno started cleaning up a bit. He started by disposing of the empty pizza boxes that were lying on the coffee table. He cleared the soju bottles too and by then, he was sure you were knocked out on the sofa. And needless to say, he was right. 

He tried to nudge you softly awake to bring you to your bed, but you only whined in protest. So his last resort was to carry you, which he was used to doing on nights like this. You were awoken by suddenly being lifted off the sofa but kept your eyes closed because your mind was too tired to fight the drowsiness that the soju brought. 

Jeno placed you gently down on your bed and got dragged down along with your arms that circled around his neck. You knew damn well how bad you look drunk and maybe it was liquor courage helping you this time, because you spoke before you could think of stopping yourself. 

“Even now, you think I’m pretty?” 

Jeno’s face was mere inches away from yours, you could feel his breath on your cheeks and smell the alcohol that stuck to your bodies. And if Jeno was anyone else, he might just kiss you right now. But he was not going to do that to you, especially not when you’re drunk. He convinced himself that he would save this for another time, if fate allowed it. 

But you are not Jeno and you lack the self-control that he possessed. You stared at his lips, his pink and pretty lips. And since your arms were still wrapped securely around his neck, you began to pull him in. 

However, he tugs at your arms lightly, freeing himself from your hold and continues to tuck you in. 

In that moment, the slight embarrassment began to set in and you let him go. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean t-” you started but was cut off by Jeno. 

“y/n, it’s fine. Trust me, I want it too. But not like that, you’re tipsy and I don’t want us to do something you might regret tomorrow.” 

You only nodded as a reply, not really knowing what to think. Because yet again, your heart was thumping so loudly, you couldn’t comprehend what he just said or what he meant. 

“But to answer your question, yes. Even now I think you’re pretty, I always think you’re pretty,” he replied with the smile that reached his eyes. 

He pats your head, like he does every time he puts you to bed when you’re drunk. Except that this time, you’re not asleep yet. And you stare at him, smiling endearingly down at you. With the soothing way Jeno is patting you, you gradually fall into a sleepy state. 

With the amount of soju in your system, it was no wonder that you eventually fell asleep despite all the emotions that sent your thoughts spiralling. The last thing you remembered was Jeno continuously patting your head as you drifted off to sleep. When Jeno was sure you fell asleep – signalled by your slowed and deep breaths – he gave in a little and pecked you lightly on the forehead. This would be his little secret that he would bring to his grave. 

And that was how the night ended. Jeno went to wash up and came back to sleep on the foldable mattress you always had in your room for when he sleeps over. Tonight however, the thought of the girl sleeping on the bed beside him was busy keeping him up all night. 

 You woke up feeling a little groggy but nothing yet close to a hangover. Still, Jeno left hangover tablets on your bedside table like he always does, along with a cup of water. And as you take the tablets, you realise that Jeno wasn’t in the room. 

You went to wash up and still, no Jeno in sight. Your roommate was also not home yet. 

You went back to your room to make your bed and paused when you remembered what happened yesterday. There’s no way Jeno just left like that, right? 

Just then, you hear the opening and closing of your apartment door and you walk out to see Jeno. He had his glasses on and was wearing a baseball cap, along with his hoodie and sweatpants that he left in your apartment from his previous visit. 

He looked at you as he held up the all too familiar Starbucks bag and gently shook it, chuckling at how relieved you looked. You really needed some coffee, after a night of drinks and also to prepare yourself for the conversation you were going to have with Jeno. 

You know how there’s this belief that girls and guys can’t be ‘just friends’, let alone best friends? You always thought this didn’t apply to you and Jeno. He was your best friend and that was it. That was until he got his first girlfriend. It was then that you realised that maybe he wasn’t just a best friend to you.  

You wouldn’t say that you got jealous. But you got pretty close to it, you never mentioned it to Jeno though. But you were sure that it showed somehow. 

On Jeno’s end, the relationship wasn’t what he imagined it to be. His girlfriend was great and she really liked him and he would say that he really liked her too. Then, how come he keeps thinking about you even when he’s with her? They broke up eventually because Jeno was training too often to spend enough time with her. 

When you started dating someone too, Jeno didn’t look like he was jealous. And to be completely honest, he wasn’t. He was more angry than jealous. Because your boyfriend was so insecure about your friendship with Jeno that he was manipulating you to try and mess with your friendship. However, your friendship with Jeno was stronger than these tactics. Thankfully, you were smart enough to break things off before it got out of hand. You were still heartbroken though, and you wouldn’t stop crying for days. 

All Jeno could do back then was bring you the food you liked and stayed with you till you felt better. 

Both of you knew that your friendship wasn’t as simple as you two hoped for it to be.

And now, the two of you were seated at your dining table, facing each other. You took a sip of your warm coffee, feeling much better than when you just woke up. Coffee works like magic for keeping you awake and energised for most days, but you believe there’s no cup of coffee strong enough to prepare you for the conversation you’re about to have with Jeno. 

He was tapping his coffee cup, staring at every little thing in your tiny apartment except you. 

You took in a deep breath and gave yourself a quick mental pep talk and finally spoke. 

“Don’t you have something you want to tell me?” 

His eyes averted from the window behind you as he looked you in the eyes and pressed his lips tightly together. He held his coffee cup with both hands as he straightened his back, as if preparing to speak. 

“Ah… that, last night was just…I was… I didn’t really know what I was doing.” 

You looked at him with your eyebrows raised, obviously taken aback. Was he about to pretend like nothing happened last night? Who does he think you are? You two have been best friends for years and he thinks you wouldn’t pick up when he’s lying? 

The way he’s rubbing his thumbs together anxiously and the way he can’t even look you in the eye after saying what he said. 

“You’re lying!” you accused him loudly. 

His eyes widened, like how they always do when he starts to get defensive. 

“What? I’m not!” He quickly refutes before his lips fall into a pout. He has a tendency to pout unknowingly when he bickers with you. And it triggers something in you, you let the words slip out before you even thought to stop yourself. 

“Then how did we end up almost kissing last night?” 

After you realised what you said, your face fell and you instantly felt your fight, flight, freeze response kick in and since you couldn’t hide anywhere in this tiny apartment, you froze.

Jeno opened his mouth as if to say something only to close it. His eyes averted briefly down to your lips before catching himself and looking you in the eye again. A light hue of pink spreaded across his cheeks and you were sure your expression mirrored his too. 

After a few seconds of neither of you speaking, Jeno sighed. 

“I’m not lying though, I really didn’t know what came over me. I’m just… I’m really conflicted y/n. I don’t know what to do.” He said as he leaned back against the chair, putting both his hands in the pockets of his hoodie. 

You felt yourself frown slightly, “Why? Are we not on the same page? You like me too…right?” 

Jeno pushed his glasses up in an attempt to hide his smile behind his hand, then his expression turned serious again. His worries threaten to overwhelm him again. 

“I-i do.” 

He finally admitted it. He finally lets you know and he felt like he was going to explode. So he does the only thing he knows to do and let his body take control. He pushed the chair back and stood up abruptly. You look up at him, confused as to what he is about to do. 

Jeno took five quick steps to your sofa and plopped himself onto it, face first (with his glasses still on his face, man is fearless). You can’t help but let out a laugh, standing up from the dining table to walk over to him. 

You pulled a cushion out from under him and whacked him gently with it multiple times, “What the fuck is wrong with you? Get up and talk to me properly like a man!” You playfully mocked him. 

He lifted himself up from his lying position to grab another cushion to shield himself. “Okay, okay, stop it,” he protested in between your attacks. 

He swiftly pulls the cushion out of your hands and drags you down to sit beside him. You were now face to face again, but closer now, without the dining table separating you two. 

“I just don’t want things to change. I love how things are but I also want more. But I’m afraid of wanting more. What if things don’t go well? What if I end up losing my best friend?” He tells you while looking into your eyes. The air in the room stills as he waits for your reply. 

You could tell by the look in his eyes that he probably thought of the worst case scenario over and over again already. You have similar concerns too. 

Movies and books always make falling in love with your best friend look so magical. And in your case, it kind of is magical. It’s a good thing that both you and Jeno have fallen for each other. But he’s right, who knows if things will go well? At the same time, how could you rule out the chance that this could be the best thing to happen with the two of you? 

It is completely normal that Jeno was conflicted. But you didn’t want to miss out on this opportunity in the name of ‘not ruining the friendship’. So you did the only thing you knew could put his mind at ease and assure him. 

You wrapped your arms around his neck and pulled him into a hug. You felt his shoulders relax as his arms circled your waist, bringing you closer to him. “We’ll just have to make it work then. We’ll be fine… great even. We’ll be the best couple ever, I promise.” You assured him best you could, even though you shared the same concerns. But they didn’t matter right now. 

You felt him chuckle against you as you pulled away to look at him, arms still around his shoulders. “Then, I promise I’ll take care of your heart from now on if you let me,” he whispers loud enough for you to hear as he leans his forehead against yours. It was both the cheesiest and the sweetest thing you have heard coming from Jeno.

You can’t help but scrunch your nose – something you did often when you get flustered. “Don’t get shy with me now, you wanted me to talk to you about it like a man.” 

“Are you always going to be this cheesy? Because I can’t promise I won’t just laugh in your face when you say things like this.” You tell him as you push him away lightly to hide your flustered face. 

“Hey, I’m trying my best to be a good boyfriend here, plus I’m actually being serious too,” the both of you couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of the past ten minutes. Less than half a day ago you two were seated on this same sofa hanging out as best friends. And now, you’re two blushing adults, revealing your ‘long-hidden secret’. 

“So, you’re my boyfriend now, huh? Since when? You didn’t even ask.” You teased, realising how he very smoothly self-proclaimed the title. 

He rolled his eyes as he pushed his glasses up again and cleared his throat. 

“Will you be my girlfriend?” He mumbled while looking away. 

“What was that?” You frowned exaggeratedly while cupping your right ear, pretending you didn’t hear him. 

“My dear y/n, will you be my girlfriend? Before I consider retracting the offer,” he said with gritted teeth. You gasped at the audacity of this man and he laughed at your reaction. 

“Fine, fine. I’ll be your girlfriend, don’t retract the offer,” you replied in fake reluctance. 

The two of you hugged again, and you felt yourself melting into his arms, the cups of coffee left forgotten on the dining table. The hug fell into a half an hour long cuddle that consisted of the first few awkward minutes of trying to get into a comfortable cuddling position. With the rest of the time you two fell into comfortable conversation, it’s like nothing really changed. And yet, everything has. 

You two talked about how things will be like from now on and realised that it’ll pretty much be the same, just better. Because you two don’t have to resist your feelings anymore. The secret is out and you can both relish in the fact that you can openly express your love for the other now. 

The next few weeks went by and the two of you were inseparable, just like in highschool. When both your schedule permits, you would have meals together in school. He crashes at your apartment more often than you did at his place since your roommate walked in on the two of you cuddling in your room once. No doubt, you were teased to death everyday for at least a week after she found out. 

If that sounds bad, you can’t even begin to imagine how the boys would react if they found out. Which is why you and Jeno rarely slept over at his place anymore, because to his friends, you two were very much still merely best friends. 

However, you were over at his place one day after your classes because you missed his stupid face after not seeing him for two days straight. Jeno said he would drop by your place once he was done playing his video games. But you knew that meant that he might turn up at midnight and for the sake of your sanity (being a college student is not easy, sigh pie) , you could not afford to have another late night this week. 

He also informed you that most of the boys had club activities or were out today. So here you were, sitting on his bed, reading one of your course texts while he played his ‘last round’ of this video game on his computer. He has been on the said last round for the past hour and you were sure you saw him die and respawn more than once already. 

“Lee Jeno…” you called out through gritted teeth, burning holes on the back of his head with your glare. 

“Yes baby?” He replied while his fingers moved frantically across his keyboard. 

“Can’t you spend some time with me while I’m here?” You said as you got up to stand beside him, gently running your hand through his dark hair, while watching his progress in the game. 

You always had a habit of ruffling his hair even from back in highschool. In the past, it was an act of simple teasing. You used to do it especially when he was sulking over something, like when you pretended to forget his birthday. When really, you were planning to surprise him with some of his friends. Or when he got upset over you not wanting to go to get ice cream with him at three in the morning because you wanted to sleep. 

Recently however, it has turned into something more natural and affectionate. Like the effortless expression of longing and love for this man, who was both your best friend and your lover. 

“Alright, this will be the last one. Promise.” He said as he tried to move out of the enemy's line of vision. Only to get shot when he turned the corner. He sighed and slumped onto his chair from his previously upright position. 

“See, told you it would be the last round,” he looked up at you from the position on his chair and smiled, the kind that turned his eyes into crescents. The realisation that he had you waiting for an hour finally hits him and he was trying to be all cute and clingy now that you’re visibly on the brink of being annoyed. 

You rolled your eyes at him and complained about how he has been saying that since an hour ago and he only laughs and pulls you onto his lap. He has a habit of doing this now that you two are together. He would ease your annoyance about his gaming by having you close to him. Sometimes he would have you on his lap and you two would snuggle close like this for a while before he went back to gaming while you got comfortable on his lap, with a book in hand. 

The two of you naturally fell into conversation about your respective days up once you stopped nagging at him about his gaming ‘addiction’, to which he would whine about how you sound like his mum. You like to respond to that by ensuring him that you would definitely tell on him when the two of you went home to visit your parents over the semester break. 

As your conversation flowed, Jeno filled you in on his ice hockey training schedule, while drawing circles on your thigh as you continued stroking the back of his hair. 

 “Season begins next month, so trainings are going to pick up. But my weekends are free, so we can hang out on those days,” he said with a hint of worry in his voice. 

Jeno started playing ice hockey in highschool, since he had always loved to ice skate. In your junior year, Jeno was appointed as vice-captain of the team, alongside Mark, who was the senior captain. When Mark graduated, Jeno stepped up as captain in his senior year and led the team to victory in the championships for the third year in a row. 

To say Jeno was passionate about the sport was an understatement. Jeno loves ice hockey more than anything and always tried his best to improve even though he was already a phenomenal player. And you loved watching him play, you wouldn’t miss a game ever since you first watched him during your sophomore year. As his best friend, you would cheer the loudest when he played well and was there to support him after his lower moments in the rink. 

But you could tell from the tone of his voice that he was worried that training would take away too much of his time with you. Even though you didn’t want him to worry about something so minor, it made your heart flutter quite a bit. 

“Jen, don’t even worry about it. We’ll work around it, besides, I’ll be at every game so you better train well to win!” You told him as you reached to hold his face in your hands, emphasising your point. 

“Oh, bet.” He retorted confidently, following up with a question you knew was coming. 

“And what would I get if I do win? Hm?” he asked cheekily pulling you closer to him. 

“We’ll see about that when you do win,” you responded, refusing to give in to his antics just yet. 

“Well, I’ll suggest that a kiss like this will suffice as a good example of a celebratory gift,” Jeno said as he pulled you in gently by the neck and kissed you. You could feel him smile against your lips as you kissed him back. 

In the weeks since you became a couple, kissing quickly became something that happened naturally. Having Jeno’s soft lips against yours was not a foreign occurrence by now, and yet every time your lips met his, you could not stop your heart from beating faster and faster with the passing of each second. 

He kisses you gently, carefully, like he was savouring every second of the kiss. Jeno’s lips felt ever so soft as they moved against yours, and you felt your heart swell as if it could explode any minute. He pulled away briefly, his eyes never leaving yours. He pushed your thighs away ever so slightly to give you enough space to reposition yourself so that you were now straddling him. 

Then he began as quickly as he stopped, pulling you close by your waist to claim your lips again. This kiss, more intense than the last. Little shivers of pleasure shot through you as Jeno deepened the kiss, parting your lips. You had one hand on his shoulder to steady yourself on his lap as the other hand dug into his locks. 

Jeno’s warm hands slid under your shirt, caressing your smooth skin and his touch sent tingles down your spine. Giddiness took over the two of you as you parted again, as Jeno stared at you with a dumbstruck smile on his face. You began to catch your breath, and just when you thought he was done, his hands claimed a firm grip on your bare hips and he lifted you off his lap like you weighed nothing. 

Your legs wrapped around his waist as you let out a yelp, shocked from the sudden movement. He began making his way to the foot of his bed and you prepared for the impact of landing on it. With his face so close to yours, he tenderly pecked your nose before leaning in to kiss you once again. 

His fingers skimmed over the soft skin of your back as your arms tightened around his neck. Jeno always kissed you like his life depended on it and you returned his kisses with the same longing and intimacy. With Jeno, you finally understood why people always described kissing as melting. You felt like every part of your being was dissolving into him, becoming one. 

You feel Jeno’s body leaning forward, and you instinctively hold him closer, ready to crash onto the soft duvet. Instead, you hear the slight creaking of the door and a sharp gasp. Jeno pushed your body away and onto his bed. You landed on the very edge of it, almost toppling over when you catch a glimpse of Jaemin standing by the door with his mouth agape. 

“I’m so sorry,” he managed to mutter out. But Jaemin's shock visibly turned into amusement as he chuckled under his breath. He let a few more snickers out as he began to excuse himself from the room, closing the door on his way out. 

Before he closes the door fully, he pops his head back in, “I won’t tell the rest, but you have to tell me everything later,” he gleefully tells Jeno, with the biggest smile on his face. 

“Okay, fine. Please leave. Now.” Jeno says through gritted teeth as he walks towards the door to try and shove Jaemin out. You watch as the two boys struggle at the door before Jaemin gives up and leaves, Jeno locking the door behind him. 

“I can’t believe what just happened,” Jeno uttered as he ran his hand through his hair. 

“I can’t believe you just dropped me like that,” you said while laughing as Jeno chuckled with you, apologising as he walked towards you to pull you up to your feet. 

“I thought you said none of them were home,” you asked when you two calmed from being caught. To which Jeno could only shrug, “I thought so too.” 

“Well whatever, I’ll bear the teasing if it means I can hug you around the house now.” 

Jeno gave you a quick peck and engulfed you in a hug. You melted into his hold and hugged him back, swaying slowly as you two stayed like this until Jeno’s phone vibrated on his nightstand. 

He let you go to check the notification and you leaned in to look at the screen, only to turn red from the message. 

- 5:25pm -

NANA🐰: “don’t forget to use protection ;)” 

“This little fucker… WE’RE NOT DOING ANYTHING!” Jeno shouted loud enough for Jaemin to hear it from outside and the two of you could hear Jaemin’s cackling laughter as a response. 

Jeno continued cursing under his breath before he plopped himself onto his bed. You laughed at his reaction and joined him. The evening ended with cuddling and the occasional exchange of kisses, but every cuddling session had to come to an end somehow. You had an early lecture tomorrow morning and you had to go back to have an early night. 

Jeno tried to convince you to stay the night, even offering to drive you to class if you do. As tempting as it was, you rejected his offer. You knew he had a long day tomorrow, with training after his classes. You weren’t going to have him get up early to drive you to class when he could be sleeping in. So you told him he could sleepover at your place soon and he was satisfied with that for tonight. 

He walked you to the door, since you also rejected his offer to drive you to your apartment. It wouldn’t take long and you were going to meet your roommate at the bus stop to walk home together anyways. 

When you two left the room, all the boys were already back home. And Jaemin was trying to hide his smile while he was sitting beside Jisung on the sofa. You bid all the boys goodbye after some small talk and went to put your shoes on. 

“Have a good rest tonight, I’ll see you soon,” Jeno said as he opened the front door. You hummed in agreement as you gave him a brief hug which you two always did. 

“Alright, I’ll see you Jen,” you said as you tip-toed to give him a quick peck on the cheek, before walking out the front door. 

“See you baby,” Jeno called out one last time as he waved you goodbye. He couldn’t help but smile as he watched and waved until you entered the lift. He finally locks the front door and turns to walk back to his room. However, he can’t help but feel the stare from six pairs of curious eyes behind him as he walks past them. 

He turns to look at his friends staring at him, frowning before muttering out a confused “what”. 

“Did you just call y/n…baby?” Renjun asked with wide eyes, to which Jeno froze, realising that the boys saw the whole interaction and the two of you were too infatuated to even remember to keep up the “we’re-just-best-friends” act in front of them. 

“And did y/n kiss you on the cheek before she left?” Mark questioned when Jeno failed to answer the first question. 

“Trust me, they’ve done more than that-” Jaemin began to say as Jeno’s fight or flight kicked in and he tackled Jaemin on the sofa to cover his mouth before he splurts out anything else. But Jaemin has exposed enough to send Chenle cooing and Haechan frantically asking when this even fucking happened. 

Jeno spent the next two hours sitting on his living room floor, getting interrogated by his friends. Half of him wants to punch himself for letting the act collapse in front of his friends like this. But the other half of him was glad it was finally out. With how he couldn’t stop himself from smiling when he told the boys about you to how happy the boys were to see the two of you finally get together despite all the teasing, Jeno was the happiest he has ever been in a while. 

Who would have guessed that Jeno would be lucky enough to be in love with his best friend? And how extremely lucky it was that the stars aligned for him, that you too loved him back. Many would see this as the happy ending to a beautiful fairytale. But for you and Jeno, this was just the beginning of an incredible love story.