#all you need is java :) and he can bother you too

[elitecabela]

Recording his movements like a specimen

I keep thinking hes a bug

[wonumatics]

✰ wonwoo x gn. reader ; fluff ; 0.6k

Wonwoo's blue full-sleeved shirt was curry-stain free and worn the proper way. He smells of freshly washed linen and breath mints. The weather is perfect, warm rays of sunshine spreading across a cloudless sky (he carried an umbrella nonetheless).

So far so good. Grade B, even.

Today is the day Wonwoo would try and catch the seat next to you in the Environmental Technology elective you both took. Maybe strike a colloquy with you on environmental toxicology. Maybe even exchange numbers.

“You’ve been saying the same thing for the past three weeks.”

“But-” Wonwoo stops, frowning at the notification on his phone. Soonyoung glances over his shoulder to take a look. The former sighs. The latter doesn’t bother to conceal his laugh.

Wonwoo had run a lot of scenarios through his head, finding appropriate solutions for each case. Nothing however would have prepared him for the class getting cancelled today.

“On the brighter side, you can practice your pick up lines on yourself for another day.” Soonyoung clears his throat to match Wonwoo's voice, “are you a data type? because you float inside my mind.”

Soonyoung sidesteps, avoiding the jab coming his way. He backpedals away, mouthing better luck next time as he leaves for his next class before the “Shut up.” leaves Wonwoo's lips.

And that’s how he ends up in the library, trying to finish his assignment for the OOP using Java bridge course. The key word is trying; there’s only so much freecodecamp.org can help with. He twirls his pencil around his thumb. Today was a failure. Maybe he should quit this and visit that new boba place instead.

“Hey, Wonwoo.”

The pencil falls from his hand and onto the floor. Wonwoo looks up to face you. Milliseconds pass by as he digests the fact that you did, indeed, call him.

He likes the sound of his name on your lips.

You pick his pencil up for him, a smile adorning your face as you continue, "I'm-

-(name)”, fuck, what happened to his lower register? “I've seen you around. We share the environmental technology class.”

It all comes out at a pace too fast for his liking, but you nod along. Wonwoo takes his pencil from your outstretched hand, mumbling thanks and trying not to hyperfixate on how his fingers would've brushed yours had he moved them a little closer. Cerise colours his ears at the thought.

You glance at the material strewn across the table, recognition flashing across your face. "I took this course last sem." Your eyes shift to his laptop's screen, which currently flashes a runtime error.

Of all times, why now?

He follows your gaze, feeling sheepish. "Well, this course is not for the weak."

You snort in agreement. "So, want some help debugging?"

"Oh please."

Wonwoo knew he should be paying attention to what you were doing but trying not to hyperfixate is easier said than done. '(name) pulled a chair right next to you to help you', chanted a little voice in the back of his head. From the spark in your eyes and the furrow of your eyebrows to the shade of your currently pursed lips, he couldn't help but notice it all.

This is nice.

"I'm done."

Wonwoo blinks. Already? He looks at the screen and then at you in awe. "That was really fast. Thank you."

Your smile widens. You move your chair and sling your bag over your shoulder, getting ready to leave. "Let me know if you need help with anything else."

It was now or never.

"Are you free for a boba run? it's on me."

One second. Two. Three. He shouldn't have-

-sure. Should we check out the new place downtown?"

"Yes." Yes, anything you say. He stuffs his bag with his books.

Maybe, today deserves a solid grade A.

[douchebagbrainwaves]

EVERY FOUNDER SHOULD KNOW ABOUT FORD

Paths can bend a lot more analysis. Everyone knows who the best programmers are libertarians. And the bigger the pipe to the server and yet felt like a vacation compared to the facial expressions she was used to living cheaply. I were running a startup, initially. So if you're developing technology for money, or prestige—or sheer inertia. April 2009 Inc recently asked me who I thought were the 5 most interesting startup founders of the last 200 years shows that it doesn't work, that's a sign of health? But there is little ambiguity about what it means to be a media company to throw Microsoft off their scent. Usually this initial group of users is missing from most college programming classes. I was supposed to be studying for finals. The guys with kids and mortgages are at a maximum. A rounds from top VC funds whether it was worth it, and an experiment in a very transparent way out of habit or politeness. This was Henry Ford's plan.

It seemed obvious that beauty, for example have been granted large numbers of people would want to be thought a great novelist in your own country. Foo'' degenerates to just foo'', what that will mean for programmers, and knew that they could always interrupt anything with a report of a genuine bug. Four years later, pundits said the country had lurched to the right kind of people who couldn't become good mathematicians no matter how brilliant, because if everything else in the email, then check the news again, then answer a few emails, then suddenly notice it was almost lunchtime and I hadn't gotten any real work done. As long as customers were writing big checks for banner ads, it was New York. Actually this tradition is not much time. No, he said that little desktop computers would never be tactful; they were too quick. One possible exception might be things that have deliberately had all the variation sucked out of them was Webvia; I swapped them to make Viaweb. But invariably they're larger in your imagination than in real life. It discovered, of course, but I can infer it from the rich. But if this still bothers you, let me clarify that I'm not writing here about Java which I have thought about it.

Not just the first fifteen seen. The best word to describe the feeling the Valley radiated, and the cap table are long gone. He thinks you should write it in Java. Thanks to OS X, Apple has come back from the problem. With both employers and investors, the balance of power between generations: to encourage the trend toward an economy made of more, smaller units. And the reason it used a TV for a monitor, and HP felt they couldn't produce anything so declasse. And being a boss is also horribly frustrating; half the time what will turn out you can help one another are both artificially amplified. Just be warned you'll have to deal with this is that when you have to work at another job to make a startup recession-proof is to do a lot of money on them. One valuable way for an idea. For example, if you've sold more than about an hour a day online. Not determined enough You need a town with the right optimization advice to the compiler, would also yield very fast code when necessary.

A good scientist, in other words, is someone who isn't socially adept enough. That would be a much more expensive. The rest you can change font sizes easily means the iPad effectively replaces reading glasses. When we work with founders create a Demo Day pitch, the last time a new way to focus one's energy, for example, is generated by Perl. An easily gamed standardized test; a short essay telling you what the kid thinks you want to be a very successful businessman in the cartoon it was always a man: a rapacious, cigar-smoking, table-thumping guy in his fifties, at least, how I write one. Fortunately policies are software; Apple can change them instantly if they want to do, he couldn't—sometimes because the company would take care of one's family, or to write well, here's the short version is that if someone reputable offers you funding on reasonable terms, take it. I could give an example of one of the inventors of the transistor. I don't mean you should talk like some kind of cursed race, had to have them as colleagues, you have to write a serious program using only the built-in escape hatch.

[the-firebird69]

Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru's Death Scene - Star Wars: A New Hope [4k UltraHD]

This is a very sad scene to us and ugly. We know that our friend is fighting Dennis and he says stuff but really this is very serious and he's the one appointed it out and he says no he thought he thought it a little with someone said he's in the area and his wife said it after and he can't remember who it was and we do have it on record someone was there but he says it actually makes a lot of sense because the people with banta sticks are their parents their physical parents and they fight a little bit not like that and it's true too Obi-Wan Kenobi who is Stan printed out the attacks on the power supply or fuel were very precise and you have to know what you're doing to get through that point in that form it's really a former truck and we do think that it's Ray parks in the future which is weird enough but the scene may have been made and they want to play it out. I'm not actually Trump but I do care for our people and I'm saying this these people who were fighting or acting like animals and there's something wrong and their friend says that what they are doing is very aggressive and very big and we are acting their part was arrogance believe it or not you say that and he says that they're very huge and if any of us were we'd be worse than we are now and we're pretty bad I have to admit we have been very rude to a lot of people very very rude too rude and it's bad. It's very right this is hell what we're in and we should not be bothering everybody so badly but we can't seem to help it and it is going on all the time with this talk and it's terrible and what he has on his eye is what we used to call an infection and it might be but it doesn't look it sometimes it gets infected the water is okay to wash with we don't suggest using it too often but they're right to flush out the red tide you're probably still a little itchy he says so we're working on together I will tell you that the scene is disturbing myself disturbing our people and disturbs our friend and it really disturbs Dennis we've all worked very hard to be here and that kind of activity isn't welcome we do see he has competition but it is not welcome for him to be doing that but our friend says that this should be much more popular and they know that the two get out of it there's no reason for them to not use a clone body and go back to their own because their bodies are sick and you can heal the body and you switch the brains it's gross but the person is unconscious and never learn how to understand one word or one thought and it's never open to eyes and I can't hear and it works for some reason so there's an idea and that might be what happens but they still would be damaged a little but still it's better than nothing we are also talking about why this is probably the empire proper and getting with vantastics is kind of lousy hitting the Java is lousy and Luke Skywalker is right there they would know where he is but he says it's like the small precise hit on two people that he doesn't like and he is not trying to frame the Java is not trying to friend them which is weird and is not trying to frame Jason not very well. It would look more like Tommy F version and Tommy f is done this kind of thing and we don't know if it's him or someone else this has been very important because of the situation in really this is why we need to look at it it's a ride and even if it's Tommy f we see they have the same character there's a bunch of stuff I know about that so let's have a meeting my people and we'll talk about it

He knows my name but it's John Luke Picard yeah I'm worth something and he wants me to do it good

Olympus

[lifewiththelulus]

This is how I imagine that conversation starts XD

Kindlin stopping by the flower shop to ask plume a bunch of questions randomly XD She gonna do her research "What do you like to eat? Do you need constant heat like fire? What can make you sick?" She hopes what she's doing isn't super obvious but she doesn't know who else to ask questions lol

He's more than happy to help if not slightly exasperated with her attempts to seem casual. He's more than aware of how unlikely it was he even exists so he wants the best for them too. He likes drawing with charcoal but it doubles as a snack. A new meaning to chewing on your pencil. There's some questions he has to brave hearing his parents embarrassing stories to answer. It's not that they weren't friends before but she knows significantly less about him than Hazel and Mimi so all of a sudden her trying to get his help is like "well if it isn't my favorite element who is always so helpful to his friends what's up bro"

Lmao yeah XD Shes like "heyyyyy what's up buddy, one of my favorite florists! How ya dooiiin?"

i can imagine how elated flint and misty are to see another pair like them flourishing

Lol I can only imagine her face when she realizes they know what she's up to

Misty gives kindlin a personal line on one of their business cards. "Please call us if you need anything" wink

She's just bows her head in embarrassment and nods, though she's happy to have someone with some sort of guidance in this area. How'd they meet tho Did plume tell them about the fire girl bothering him with weird questions? Lol

Well once plume started going to them about the questions he couldn't answer they were more than a little curious why

Cirrus would go to Flint to ask for advice on how to be ready once her wife is pregnant.

"heh there's never really a playbook for elements like us who are crazy enough to break the barrier. Much as we've tried. For us we'd ended up believing it would never happen so when it did I can tell you I nearly had a flare up. Feels like a rollercoaster but what I can tell you is to trust your instincts and never doubt each other. Oh and get plastic covers for literally everything you own you'll have soot everywhere in no time flat ha".

Cirrus: Oh… well thank you, sir, I'm happy that you could share that with me but when I said "If she does get pregnant what should I do." I meant more in the sense of how to make Kindlin comfortable, like should I expect cravings, will she need help getting up? ^^; She feels so bad for ruining that moment after he shared something so personal XD

He might put on a lot of bravado but he's very easy to fluster. " ah well you'll have to forgive this old man and his waxing poetic. I'm not quite sure how it'll translate after all I didn't actually have the baby thank the blue flame" practically slaps his knee at his own jokes. "But Misty I recall could hardly eat anything she used too. She started wanting the stuff I had imported from home. Maybe plume just wanted something more fire, who knows. She never felt cold enough nearly blew away one day when she put on a dozen fans in the office."

"my own mom used to tell me it was like have a lump of coal weighing you down all day so I'd imagine your wife will need some extra attention towards the end. And not to gross you out young lady but well, you must be sure you know exactly when the babies coming because a water break aint so bad but a lava one, now that could cost ya in repairs. "

Cirrus: That last one will definitely be a big help, I'm not sure what I'm going to do about the food situation though, Kindlin can't eat our food, It evaporates as soon as it gets close to her mouth.

"when you get to be as old as I am you realize you can eat just about anything if you throw it in a blender first hehe. Whenever A few times Misty wanted me to try something I tried mixing it with my lava java. Not perfect but hey"

Cirrus: Huh. Blending… I think that might just work. Um… I do have one more question though. It's silly to think about but I can't help but worry… what if they don't like me?

His face softens with the kind of knowing only a parent can have "you know with plume, I was sure I would end up like my parents, that Id push him away and he'd know it somehow even as a little puff of smoke. But I tell you once you actually lay eyes on em, it won't matter, even if they hated you you know youd do anything for em. But if it means anything to you the fact that you even worry about it tells me there's no way they won't love you. I think they have a way of knowing"

[jaeyunverse]

the perks of having a hot best friend

pairing: lee jeno x fem!reader

genres: fluff, crack, mild angst, best friends to lovers, college au

wc: 14336

warnings: profanity, sexual jokes, jeno is shirtless in a scene phew, too many idol features SORRY i lowk lost track of who i’ve included. i think that is all but lmk if you find something else!

summary: having a hot best friend is nice until you start getting butterflies in your stomach every single time you look at them.

note: JAEYUNVERSE COMEBACK WOOO i’ve missed writing long fics so much omfg but i’m shitting bricks as we speak LOL it’s been a while since i’ve posted something big and i won’t lie i’m hella nervous. i rlly hope you guys enjoy this fic ♡ please don’t hesitate to give me your feedback! here’s to hoping my writing skills haven’t become as rusty as i think i have hehe :’))

masterlist

𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐊𝐒 !

01. an abundance of freebies and discounts

Lee Jeno knew the power his smile held. 

All it took was one flirty laugh combined with those sleepy eyes of his for people to melt. Being the resourceful person you were, you utilised that talent of his to its full extent. 

“Can you go and flirt with the cashier so she gives us a free muffin?” 

Your best friend gave you a dirty look. “You do realise this is supposed to be your treat, right?” 

“I am paying!” you exclaimed. “Just go do your thing and make her feel generous enough to slip a free dessert in our order.” 

Jeno rolled his eyes, but you knew you’d won. You almost always did. “Fine, whatever. You owe me one though.” 

“I’m feeding you because I owe you one,” you pointed out. “This makes us equal.”

“How riveting. I have to work so the person who owes me doesn’t have to owe me anymore.” 

“We can argue about this for hours or you can haul ass to the counter and place the damn order. I’ll Venmo you the money the moment you’re back,” you promised. 

Sliding out of the booth, Jeno said, “You’re lucky you’re cute. If this were Jaemin, I wouldn’t be letting him off the hook easily.”

You stuck your tongue out at him and shooed him away. Narrowing his eyes, he grabbed your wrist and pulled you along. 

“Hey!” you cried. “Don’t take me with you! The flirting won’t have any effect on her if she thinks we’re together!” 

“Everyone thinks we’re together,” Jeno muttered and got in line behind an old man. “She checked me out when we entered the cafe, saw you arm-in-arm with me and gave you the dirtiest look to ever exist.” 

You snorted. “Liar. You might be an eye candy but you do not command such a high level of attention.”   

“I’m telling the truth!” he argued. “I would know because I was checking out the drink she placed on the counter. I was trying to figure out what the person’s order might have been to get something so incredibly delicious-looking. I saw her out of the corner of my eye.” 

“Oh.” You frowned and took a step forward when the line moved ahead. “That’s unfortunate. Should we go to another cafe and try our hand at getting something free there?” 

“How about you stop being such a cheap skate for once?”

Slapping his shoulder hard, you grumbled, “I have to bear the weight of my goddamn rent alone while you share yours with three others! I need to cut down on certain things, asshole.” 

“My offer to move in with you next semester still stands.” Jeno wiggled his eyebrows. “I’m a really good housemate; ask the others.” 

“You live with boys. The disgusting things you do don’t bother them because they do them too.” 

He closed his mouth and thought about it for a second. Then, “Touché.” 

You rolled your eyes, but before you could make another snarky comment, a pleasant voice interrupted, “Good morning. What can I get for you today?” 

Jeno averted his gaze to the girl standing behind the counter and let a lazy smile take form on his lips. You raised a brow and watched in amusement. 

“Hey there. Can I get a Strawberries & Crème Frappuccino with 1 pump caramel syrup, 1 pump hazelnut syrup, and 1 pump toffee-nut syrup? Java chips too, please.” 

The girl—Lia, according to her name tag—looked surprised to see him blatantly flirting with you right beside him. Maybe he was right about every stranger assuming the two of you to be together, though you couldn’t fathom why. “O—okay.”

“What do you want, friend?” Jeno stressed the last word. Refraining to roll your eyes a second time, you said, 

“Iced coffee without milk. Could you add some sugar to the brew? I prefer my drinks to be sweet.” 

“Of course,” she said and nodded once, unfazed even after learning of Jeno’s status as an eligible bachelor. 

Snorting under your breath, you whispered to him, “Lia doesn’t give a fuck. You’re lacking.” 

He scoffed and nudged you away. “No, I’m not,” he whisper-snapped. “Get out of here. You’re killing my vibe.” 

You deadpanned and gave him a don’t-bullshit-me look but retreated to your booth nonetheless. The last thing you heard Lia ask was: “Anything else?” 

You’d only been sitting and scrolling through your phone for a few minutes before a hand slapped a receipt on the table in front of you. 

Glancing up, you inquired, “What?” 

“Read the order.” 

Dropping your gaze to the piece of paper again, you picked it up. An appreciative frown tugged at your lips as Jeno slid into his seat. “You managed to get us a free muffin and a free bagel?”

“Don’t ever question my talents again,” he ordered and leaned back. Resting his arm on the cushion behind him and placing his ankle on his knee, his attitude was nothing short of a king’s. “I won’t tolerate any further slander.” 

“Uh-huh,” you muttered, utterly unimpressed. Though you admit, a smile threatened to break out on your face and you had to bite your lip to keep it from escaping. 

Jeno raised an eyebrow, as if waiting for something. All you did was stare at him, and when he realised you wouldn’t budge, he did an extremely horrible and high-pitched imitation of you that should have deserved jail. “Thank you sooooooo much, Jeno! If it weren’t for your flirting skills, I wouldn’t have anything to eat. You’re my one and only saviour, and I don’t know what I would have done without—”

“Order for Jeno!” Lia hollered. 

Said-boy flinched and clutched his heart with his hand. “What the… That was quick.” Clearing his throat, he turned his attention back to you, the tips of his ears red and his face flushed. “Whatever. I’ll be right back. Venmo me the bill amount.” 

You snickered and watched him get up. However, before he could move out of earshot, you called his name. “Thank you for your service.” 

Jeno glanced at you over his shoulder and did nothing but observe you for a moment. Then, a lopsided grin took form on his lips and he mock saluted. 

“You’re welcome.” 

02. gives good boy advice

“What are you doing here?” 

Pushing past you, Jeno strolled into your living room and plopped down on your sofa. “Is that any way to greet your best friend?” 

You rolled your eyes and closed the front door. Sitting down beside him, you placed your laptop on your lap again and resumed going through your notes. “I’m being serious. Were we supposed to hang out today? Because I cannot. I still have three finals left.” 

“No, we didn’t have any plans today,” he said, peering over your shoulder to check what subject you were studying. It was Economics. Horrible memories from the previous semester resurfaced and he shuddered before continuing, “Your text said you wanted to talk about something important?” 

You paused and glanced at him. “So you came over?” 

“Do you want me to leave?” Jeno frowned. “I thought it would be better to talk in person.”

He stood up and dusted himself off. Eyes widening, you grabbed his wrist and forced him back to his original position. “That’s not what I meant! I do want to talk to you but—it’s weird. I don’t feel like dealing with whatever has happened right now and I’m getting second thoughts about asking you for advice.” 

Concern seeped into Jeno’s face. “Woah, are you okay? You don’t have to explain anything right now. Just tell me one thing: do I need to beat anyone up? I’ve got a few gym buddies who are ripped.”

You huffed a laugh and placed your laptop on the coffee table. Crossing your legs, you turned to face him. Upon watching you get comfortable, your best friend rolled his shoulders back and did the same thing. 

“Before I say anything, I need you to promise me that you won’t laugh. Or make fun of me. Or call me an idiot.” 

“I won’t,” he answered immediately, though he wondered what issue warranted you to require his word. 

Taking a deep breath, you nodded. “YangYang asked me out a few days ago. I’ve always liked him, but not in a way that’s not platonic. I fucked up and instead of rejecting him right there, I asked him for some time to think it over and kinda led him to believe that I would say yes.”

Jeno raised an eyebrow. “How?” 

“I told him he’s my type,” you mumbled, cringing at the memories that came rushing back. 

“What?!” he exclaimed. “How the hell did you manage to do that?” 

“I don’t know!” you whined and buried your face in your hands. “He came up to me when I was in the library and asked if we could talk! I didn’t know he was going to drop such a bomb on me so I said yes. Then he started talking about how he’s always cherished our friendship and how he’s so glad to have me.

“I started suspecting where his train of thought was headed when he added a but to his sentence. He said he’s liked me for a while now and he couldn’t keep it to himself anymore. I was flabbergasted once he was done! I’ve always viewed him as a good friend and I didn’t want to just turn his heart down!”

“So you told him he was your type?” Jeno asked incredulously. “I know I promised to not call you an idiot but you’re really fucking stupid, Y/N! It’s going to be hella awkward when the group meets up!” 

You groaned and closed your eyes shut, letting yourself fall on your back. “That’s not even the worst part.” 

Jeno grabbed your wrists and hauled you back up. His face was barely a few inches away from yours when he ordered, “Explain.”

Taking a deep breath, you continued. “I told YangYang that he was cute and my type but I wasn’t in a position to think about going out with anyone with still two weeks of finals left to get through. I thought he would drop it but he asked me if I would think about his confession after our exams and I felt terrible telling him the truth. So I said I would. Yeji called me last night and said she set me up on a blind date with this guy in her class. You know how fast word spreads here. YangYang is going to know I dangled him on strings only to go on a date with someone else!” 

“You’re going on a blind date? With whom?” 

You flicked Jeno’s forehead. “That’s not the issue!” 

“Well, I want to know!” he sputtered and slapped your hand away. 

“I don’t know! Frankly, I don’t care either. I made a bet with Yeji and I lost. Now I have to spend an evening with a random guy I don’t even want to seek a romantic relationship with.” 

Your best friend sighed in frustration. “This might be one of your biggest fuck-ups till now.”

“I know,” you said quietly and dropped your gaze to your lap in shame. 

“You’ll have to apologise to YangYang and tell him the truth. He’s a good guy and he doesn’t deserve any of this.” 

“I know.” 

“Hey,” Jeno said softly. You glanced at him to see he’d gotten up and was holding his out for you. “Come here.” 

You rose to your feet and let him envelop you in his comforting embrace. Burying your face in his chest, you whispered, “I never wanted to hurt YangYang. I don’t want to lose him as a friend.” 

“You won’t as long as you come clean and explain everything. Don’t insult him further by giving him more half-truths. Guys would rather know what’s the real deal than be lied to and find out from someone else. Not only is it hurtful, but it’s a huge blow to the ego.”  

Your lips curled in a small smile and you leaned back a little to look at his face. “Is this about your mom lying to you about the tooth fairy?” 

“Damn right it is,” he grumbled. “I gave an entire speech about her being my favourite person in the whole world. That’s not something you recover from easily.”

“It’s been 15 years.”

“It’ll take me another 15 to come to terms with the fact that I used to rip my loose teeth out and place them under my pillow when I needed money urgently.” 

You laughed and pulled yourself out of his arms. “I can’t believe I’m taking guy advice from you.” 

“Why?” Jeno exclaimed. “I’m a guy too! Plus, I always give good advice!” 

You giggled and plopped down on the sofa again. “I know. But you’re also Jeno. I’ve never thought of you as just a guy.” 

“I don’t know if I should be flattered or offended.” 

“How about you sit your ass down and help me study now that you’re here? I made flash cards.” 

Snatching the stack from your hand, Jeno teased, “Oh, how would you survive without me?”

“I don’t have to wonder about that shit.” You grinned. “There’s no way in hell you’re getting rid of me anytime soon.” 

He laughed. “And thank fuck for that.” 

03. hugs always make you feel safe thanks to all the beef underneath

You were going to drag Jeno to the seventh circle of Hell. 

You couldn’t afford to go grocery shopping with him when you had a huge exam the next day. You hadn’t studied shit and were one “have you prepared for tomorrow’s final?” away from a mental breakdown. 

It didn’t help that Yeji had called you in the middle of the night to clear a doubt she had from a chapter you didn’t even know had been covered.

You’d been panicking ever since and it felt like you were going to get a heart attack at any moment.  

“Doritos or Lays?” 

“Kick to the nuts or knuckles to the jaw?” 

Your best friend tore his gaze from the rack of chips and eyed you warily. “I said I’ll help you study tonight.” 

“You don’t understand, Jeno!” you exclaimed and ran a hand through your messy hair, pacing in the supermarket aisle impatiently. “I’m going to fail! Fail!”  

Groaning, Jeno grabbed your arm and forced you to face him. He held your shoulders and looked you in the eyes, enunciating each word as he reiterated, “You’re not going to fail. We’re going to pull an all-nighter in the library, but we need to be stocked up on food before we do that.” 

You sighed painfully. It burned your eyes to just focus on anything—how the hell were you supposed to stay awake for another day and write a three-hour-long exam after that? 

“You could have come here without dragging me with you,” you muttered. “I could have been studying at home instead of wasting precious time.”

Jeno frowned. “Any more time in front of your laptop and you would have gone insane, Y/N. Your eyes are completely red.” 

“Oh, that’s not because of the screen time. I cried before you came to check on me.” 

Huffing a small laugh that bordered on exasperation, amusement and worry, Jeno threw a few packets of Doritos in the shopping cart before slinging an arm around your neck. You let him pull you against him and wrapped your arms around his waist as the two of you began walking. 

“Well, you needed to get out anyway. I don’t remember the last time I saw you leave your apartment.” 

“I stepped outside yesterday to play with the neighbour’s cat,” you said defensively. 

“Not good enough,” Jeno popped. “We’re going to go get a massage once we’re done shopping.” 

You stopped in your tracks and peeled yourself away from him. “The final is in twenty-eight hours!” you yelled, staring at him incredulously. “Are you fucking stupid?!” 

“So you have plenty of time to de-stress before you start studying again!” he chirped, paying no heed to your concerns nor the people who had heard your outburst and were giving you odd looks. “Trust me, I went for a massage before my final and I was so relaxed. It helped me to focus too.” 

“Jeno,” you uttered his name with barely contained impatience. “I don’t have time. I need to cover a lot of shit before I go and sit in the fucking examination hall.” 

“And I said I’ll help!” he repeated, sounding almost exasperated. Pushing the shopping cart forward again, he studied the shelves and continued, “You always do this, Y/N. You freak out before a test and act like the world is ending only for you to do super well.”

“Well—” you began, stumbling after him— “that’s just my coping mechanism! The more worried I am, the better I do. But I’m screwed for real this time!” 

“No,” Jeno popped, placing a 2-litre bottle of Sprite in the cart. “I’m not listening to you this time. Especially not after you stayed awake for three days straight for your midterm.” 

You sighed again. There was no arguing with your best friend. “How long is this massage of yours going to take?” 

“We’ll be back at your place in two hours max,” he reassured you, patting your head. You swatted his hand away and gave him a dirty look. “I think we have everything we need to make it through today and tomorrow.” 

“Why do we need such a big bottle of Sprite?” 

“Party at my place this weekend. There’s a discount so I’m buying in advance.”

You frowned. “Shouldn’t you be stocking up on booze?”

“The guys said I have an alcohol addiction,” Jeno said, getting in line at the billing counter. “Which is, like, totally untrue but you know I never back down from a challenge. I’m going to prove them wrong by staying sober for two weeks.”

“Sure,” you snorted. “You’ll just find lame loopholes or cheat when no one’s looking.”

A sly grin took form on Jeno’s lips. He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and drawled, “I know what you do when no one’s looking.”

“Really?” You feigned a gasp. “You know I sneak over to your house and steal your food when you’re not there?”

His smile dropped immediately. “Wait, what? That’s you? Not Hyuck?”

“The food thief is me but the one stealing your sheet masks is Hyuck,” you admitted.

“He steals my masks?! The ones I buy are expensive as fuck!” Jeno exclaimed, betrayal seeping into his features. His hands fell to his side and his eyes turned distant. “I can’t believe he’s been gaslighting me into thinking I do an extra round of skincare when I’m drunk.”

You giggled and pushed the shopping cart forward once the person in front of you was done. Placing the contents on the billing counter for the cashier to scan, you revealed, “Hyuck saw me raiding your pantry when you were at the gym. He used that as leverage against me for weeks before I saw him stealing your sheet masks and was able to finally strike a deal—he turns a blind eye to my robberies and I turn a blind eye to his.”

“Why’d you team up with him?” Jeno pouted. “I thought we were best friends.”

You laughed incredulously. “Seriously? That’s what you’re focusing on? Not the part where Hyuck and I used your stuff without asking?”

“Well, yeah, I’m pissed you used my shit. But I guess I’m just a little more bothered that you guys teamed up,” Jeno said and shrugged, fetching his wallet from the back pocket of his jeans. “Because, you know, coming together to make people suffer has always been our thing.”

You raised an eyebrow, slightly amused by how he was beating around the bush. “Are you saying you wanna team up with me to get back at Hyuck?”

Jeno grinned. “I’m gonna screw over that motherfucker so bad. You get off the hook, though, because you’re cute and I need your help.”

“You’re impossible.” You huffed and shook your head. Taking the bag of groceries, you said to him, “Text me my share and I’ll Venmo the money to you.”

“You could buy me an ice cream instead.”

“No,” you denied immediately. “We’re not wasting time on ice cream. Massage and then straight home so I can pick up my study material and we can leave for the library.”

Thankfully, Jeno didn’t protest. He drove you to your apartment complex and waited for you while you packed your bag. Then, the two of you were off to the massage place.

An hour later, you were done and forced to admit that the massage had indeed helped you. It felt like all the stress had left your body. Thinking about the final didn’t make you want to cry anymore and things were actually looking up now that you were rested.

You were able to retain the knowledge better and it was easier to understand the concepts. Jeno quizzed you and provided you with an endless supply of coffee throughout the night.

Right before lunch the next day, however, the panic resurfaced as you were revising your syllabus for the last time before your final at 3. You couldn’t seem to remember anything you had studied the previous night. 

You could feel another breakdown coming, but before you could hyperventilate, Jeno scooped you up in his arms.

You hadn’t even realised when he’d come back from picking up your food. One minute, you were trying to control your breath and the next, your face was buried in his hard chest.

You held onto his shirt as his hands rubbed soothing circles on your back and he rocked you from side to side.

“Shh, don’t cry,” he mumbled and kissed the top of your head. “You’re gonna ace the final like you always do. You were able to answer all the quiz questions, so keep in mind that you are prepared. The pre-exam anxiety is just clouding your thoughts. Everything’s gonna come back to you when you sit down to write, alright?”

Nodding, you clenched your eyes shut and bit down on your lip to keep a sob from escaping. Jeno’s presence kept acting like a tether for you. It always had.

Maybe he was right about the final. Maybe he wasn’t. But at that moment, engulfed in his warm, safe embrace, it felt like everything was going to be okay.

𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐒 !

01. having to deal with a narcissistic asshole. 

It was an especially sweltering day. 

You were being baked inside-out despite wearing a tank top and a pair of shorts, your hair tied in a messy high bun. Adding to your torment was your broken A/C. You’d requested your landlord to fix it several times but your efforts were to no avail. 

You would have kept bothering him incessantly and gotten the job done if you weren’t so intimidated by him already. 

Sighing, you eyed your bathroom. A cold shower sounded like an amazing idea. Jeno wasn’t supposed to come over to watch the movie for a while anyway. 

Deciding to cool yourself and get rid of the sweat sticking to your body, you entered the tiny bathroom. A high-pitched squeal left your mouth the moment you turned the shower knob and the cold water hit your skin. 

“Fuck,” you cursed and flinched, turning the knob the other way immediately. Your shitty apartment didn’t even have a valve to adjust the temperature—the water was either mildly hot or ice cold. Showering in summer was always a big problem.

“God, I don’t wanna keep doing this,” you mumbled to yourself and stepped into your room again. 

There was this… thing you’d been doing ever since you moved into this apartment. Whenever it was hot, you’d work out so you’d get more sweaty. That way, when you showered under the ice-cold water, it didn’t feel as unbearable. 

It was weird and there probably was no science behind it, but you didn’t care as long as it worked. 

So, you rolled out your yoga mat on the floor and began warming up. 

Within no time, your skin was glistening with sweat and your hair was damp. You were struggling to complete the last push-up of your final set when someone knocked on your door, causing you to lose your focus. Your arms gave out beneath you, and you collapsed to the ground. 

“Woah, it’s boiling in here,” Jeno pointed out intelligently. “And you look like you’re one move away from dying. God, I can’t even breathe Why the fuck are you working out with the windows closed? Are you stupid?” 

Groaning, you rolled on your back and watched your best friend as he moved to the windows and threw them open. “Hey!” you protested weakly and raised a trembling arm in a pathetic attempt to stop him. “I’m trying to do something!”

Jeno raised an eyebrow at you and grabbed your hand, hauling you up effortlessly. “Oh, yeah? Pray tell.” 

You crashed into his chest and rebounded, but he tightened his hold on you. His palm hovered over your back in case you lost your balance. Steadying yourself, you glared at him and snapped, “No. You’re gonna make fun of me.”

“I won’t!” Jeno laughed, his eyes crinkling. 

“Stop, you’re doing it already!” 

“Okay! Okay, I’m sorry. I really do wanna know what you were doing.” 

You eyed him for a moment, waiting for him to slip up and start laughing again. But Jeno’s face remained mildly curious. Satisfied, you explained, “Well, because I was feeling hot, I decided to take a shower. The water here is very cold, though, so I decided to work out in a closed room because that would make me even hotter. If I get in the shower now, it wouldn’t feel as cold because my body temperature has already increased, and the water would be sort of neutralised.” 

A beat of silence passed. And then, “I know I said I wouldn’t make fun of you—”

“Then stop talking.”

“But did you not realise you could have mixed the hot and cold water in a bucket?” Jeno continued, clearly still talking. “Or, I don’t know, come over to my place to shower?” 

“You live with three other men.” You deadpanned. “I was not going to shower in your apartment with Jaemin, Renjun and Hyuck there. Also, I don’t have a big enough bucket, so I will be buying one today,” you added, muttering the last bit. 

Jeno rolled his eyes. “God, Y/N, I would have kicked the guys out.” 

“What makes you think they would have listened to you?” you asked amusedly.

“Okay, true,” he agreed. “They would have listened to you, though. If there’s anyone who’s bossy enough to get them out of the house on a hot Sunday afternoon, it’s you.” 

“Are you calling me bossy?” 

“Are you going to shower now?” he deflected. “You stink.”

“Shut up!” you exclaimed and slapped his shoulder hard, but laughed nonetheless. Moving away from him, you kicked him off your yoga mat and said, “You opened the windows and interrupted my workout, so I don’t feel as hot anymore. I think I’m gonna exercise a little more so I don’t die of hypothermia in the shower. You can take my laptop and choose a movie till then if you want.”

“How about I work out with you?” Jeno suggested. “We can have our gym bros moment.” 

“I don’t wanna have a gym bros moment with you.”

“Why?” he whined. 

Flicking his forehead, you said, “Because I know you’re gonna turn this into a competition, and I’m not in the mood.” 

“Scared?”

“You wish,” you scoffed. “I’m tired from all the working out I did before you came, and I’m not going against you when you have that advantage over me.” 

“That still means you’re scared. Pussy.”

Letting out an exasperated sigh, you got into the position for a plank. “Get out if you’re going to keep being annoying and not contribute shit to our gym bros moment.”

“I knew you’d come around,” Jeno replied smugly. You practically heard the grin in his voice when he said that. 

You closed your eyes and laboured your breathing as you felt your abdomen begin to burn almost immediately. “Had to, or I knew you’d keep irritating me.” 

Opening your lids, you turned your neck to see if he was doing the exercise with you. 

Your arms gave out the moment you saw Jeno shirtless, his bulging biceps on full display.

“Damn, you lost quicker than I thought,” he commented. 

“Why are you naked?!” you demanded in a shrill voice. 

Still in position, Jeno only glanced at you like you were out of your mind. “I was wearing a hoodie, Y/N. Did you expect me to do a plank in that furnace?” 

“Yeah!” you exclaimed. To your dismay, your eyes kept drifting to his well-defined muscles no matter how much you tried to focus on his face. 

To make things worse, Jeno noticed. And smirked. “Stop complaining if you’re enjoying the view so much. It’s okay to admit you have a hot best friend.”

Flustered, you scrambled to your feet and looked at the ceiling. God, you felt like a stupid middle schooler. It was insane how much of an effect Jeno was having on you. What was weirder was that your mind was drifting to places it had never been before. At least where your best friend was concerned. 

“Narcissus has nothing on you,” you muttered under your breath, and tried to gather your bearings. 

“Besides,” Jeno continued, having not heard you. “I do send you pictures sometimes. I don’t know why you’re acting like you’ve never seen me like this.” 

“Your phone’s camera is fucked, Jeno,” you grumbled. “The photos you texted me didn’t capture half of what’s actually there.”

No matter what you hadn’t seen, you’d felt whenever you hugged each other. It didn’t take away your surprise upon seeing the 2440p quality visual though. 

“Is that disappointment I hear?” he taunted. 

“No!” you exclaimed and finally looked at him again. At the sight of his working muscles, you muttered, “Can we stop now? You won.”

“Ah!” Jeno dragged the word as if he had just stumbled upon a revelation. “You want me to stand up so you can get a better view of my abs? Got it.” 

Your eyes widened, and before you could deny his ridiculous accusations, he was towering over you. Wiggling his eyebrows, he gestured towards himself and flexed dramatically. 

“You’re an idiot,” you huffed, unable to help yourself. 

“Yeah? Then I guess an idiot just managed to fluster the shit out of you.” Jeno smiled and ruffled your hair. Bending, he picked up his discarded hoodie and shrugged it back on. “I’ll go and get you a bathing bucket from the supermarket around the corner. Don’t freeze yourself to death.” 

You rolled your eyes. “I won’t.” 

“Also, do you remember the shirt I forgot here all those months ago after I got wet in the rain? Can you find it so I can change into it when I’m back?” He frowned and looked at himself. “I’ll eventually toast myself if I watch the movie in my hoodie.”

“Sure, but you’re stupid for wearing warm clothes in summer,” you commented.  

Jeno gave you a dirty look. “Sorry for assuming your A/C was in working condition. Besides, you always want to cuddle when we watch movies, so I figured you’d be more comfortable if I was wearing a hoodie.” 

Your cheeks warmed at that, your heart stumbling a beat. What was wrong with you? You’d always known Jeno was caring and went out of his way to do nice things for you.

Typically, you’d have felt grateful for how thoughtful he was being. 

Now, though, you felt that and… something else that you didn’t really want to acknowledge. 

“Whatever,” you said instead, trying to sound dismissive. Pushing him out of your room, you continued, “I’ll find it. Just hurry up with the bucket.” 

A few minutes after Jeno was gone, a notification popped up on your phone. 

[jeno]: clearer picture that i clicked on jaemin’s phone for your viewing pleasure :”) 

You blinked in confusion and opened the photo that was attached below, your eyes widening the moment you saw it. It was a zoomed-in gym mirror selfie of Jeno wearing nothing but sweatpants and shoes, his muscular abdomen on full display. 

[you]: did you crop jaemin? 

[jeno]: ???? [jeno]: wdym……. [you]: the photo’s dimensions are weird [jeno]: oh [jeno]: what the fuck [you]: LMFAOOO [jeno]: STOP I DIDN’T WANT YOU LOOKING AT HIM INSTEAD OF ME I’VE GOT A BETTER BODY ANYWAY AND I’M GONNA BUY A NEW PHONE SO I CAN SEND YOU CLEARER PICS WITHOUT HAVING TO CROP THAT FUCKER OUT 

You bit down on your lip to keep yourself from smiling too wide. Right before you were about to type a reply, you received another text from your best friend. 

[jeno]: so are you gonna tell me what you think [you]: FINE you’re hot. [you]: happy?  [jeno]: euphoric

Finally laughing out loud, you shook your head. 

Narcissus had nothing on Jeno indeed.

02. female friends ask you to be their wingwoman 

You didn’t think you’d ever accompanied Jeno to a party without having someone ask you to set them up with him. 

“Please,” Yoo Jimin begged for what seemed like the thousandth time. “Yeji said he was single!” 

Sighing, you mentally cursed Yeji for inviting Jimin to Jeno’s party. “He is, but I’m not setting you up with him.” 

“Why?” Jimin demanded rather aggressively, making you wonder what it would take for her to quit nagging you. “Do you like him or something?” 

It took a concerning amount of effort for you to refrain from rolling your eyes. “I do not.” 

“Then what’s the problem?” 

“I don’t know, Jimin!” you finally burst and gestured at your surroundings. “Maybe I’m not too keen on helping you out because you followed me into the washroom and cornered me! Maybe I feel used because you’ve never shown much interest in me even though I’ve tried striking up a conversation with you several times before!”  

Jimin’s features softened, and she looked away. “You’re right,” she muttered, guilt and shame evident in her voice. “I’m sorry for jumping on you like that.” 

You immediately felt bad for snapping at her. Pursing your lips, you tried to cheer her up. “Don’t worry about it. You don’t need me to set you up with him anyway. I know we haven’t hung out much, but based on what I’ve heard about you from Yeji, you’re smart, funny and social. You have no reason to be nervous while approaching Jeno.” 

For some reason, you regretted encouraging Jimin to pursue your best friend. A gaping hole formed in your heart, and you wished she would go for someone else instead. 

“Thanks, Y/N.” Jimin smiled gratefully. “I know I’ve been a shitty person, but could you give me another chance? I’d really like to get to know you more.” 

And just like that, the hollowness in your chest was gone. You gave her a genuine smile of your own and said, “I gotta pee right now, but does lunch tomorrow work for you?”

Jimin’s eyes widened. “Shit, I’m so sorry. I forgot where we were.” Rubbing the nape of her neck sheepishly, she replied, “Lunch works. I’ll text you tonight so we can talk about it.” 

The two of you exchanged your goodbyes, and then she was gone. A few minutes later, you exited the washroom as well and headed back to the party. 

“I missed you,” a voice slurred in your ear. Arms circled around your waist, and a face buried itself into the crook of your neck. 

You laughed. “You failed the challenge, Jeno.” 

“Where were you?” he demanded in an almost whiny tone. “It’s your fault! I wouldn’t have lost at beer pong if you’d been playing with me.” 

Patting Jeno’s back in consolation, you replied, “I’m sorry you have zero self-control and commit to things you know you won’t be able to do.” 

Jeno peeled himself away from you and pouted. “You’re mean.”

“Thanks. Let’s get wasted together,” you said, but then added upon looking at his already tipsy condition, “Or I can get wasted, and your ass can keep me company.”  

“Don’t you think one of us should be sober?” Jeno asked as you pulled him along.

“I’m not gonna hold back from drinking!” you exclaimed. “Let me remind you that you were supposed to be the sober one today and make sure I didn’t do anything stupid. I’m blaming you if I get naked in the yard.” 

Thanks to the music that was gradually getting louder as you approached the main party area, you didn’t hear your best friend’s response. You tightened your grip on his hand when the crowd thickened. Wading your way through the dancing throng, you finally reached the table lined with alcohol and food. 

You chose a bottle of Romanov and popped it open, drinking straight from it. You’d barely taken a few gulps when Jeno snatched it from you and put it to his own mouth. 

Throwing him a dirty look, you picked up another bottle for yourself. “Do you wanna dance?”

“I wanna throw up.” 

“Suit yourself.” You shrugged and aimed for the dance floor. A smile crept on your face upon seeing Jaemin; you were not in the mood to dance alone. 

“Y/N!” he hollered when he noticed you. Stumbling towards you, he pulled you in a quick embrace. “I haven’t seen you in so long!” 

“Finals!” you answered. Jaemin nodded in understanding and ran a hand through his hair, taking a swig from his beer. “Do you wanna dance?” 

You grinned. “You know I do.” 

The next few hours were a complete blur. The bottle in your hand was replaced by more one after the other, and when Jaemin deemed you’d had enough to drink, he gave you a red solo cup filled with water instead. 

It felt good to finally unwind after the horrible few weeks you’d had. There was no academic stress weighing down on you anymore, and though you were low on sleep, you didn’t want to stop partying. 

You just wished you and Jeno had gotten wasted together. While you were having fun with Jaemin, partying with Jeno was a different experience entirely. 

Right as you were about to take a sip from your cup, you felt an arm being thrown around your neck. The touch was so familiar that you recognised who it was immediately. 

“I missed you!” you exclaimed. Jeno looked down at you with a grin on his face, a pair of black party glasses sitting on his nose. His hair was damp and fell over his forehead. Maybe it was the liquor in your system, but you could have sworn he never looked better. “Let’s dance.”

“Dance?” Jeno laughed. “Haven’t you been doing that for the past two hours? Don’t your feet hurt?” 

Frowning, you glanced at your legs. “They do!” you exclaimed, and looked back at him again, your bottom lip sticking out in a pout. Feeling tears beginning to pool in your eyes, you mumbled, “But I still want to dance.”

“How about we go on the roof instead? The stars look pretty tonight,” your best friend suggested, trying his best not to laugh at you. “I didn’t drink at all after you left me. I’m sober enough to take care of you now.” 

Your eyes lit up at that. “Wow, that’s such a good idea! You’re so smart, Jeno. I love you.”  

Jeno’s lips finally twitched up in a smile. “I love you too, silly.” 

Plucking the solo cup out of your hand, he offered you an arm. You looped yours through it with a soft thank you and leaned on him as he led you upstairs. 

The two of you entered his dark room, and Jeno shut the door behind him. Only when the loud music was muffled did you realise your head was throbbing.  

He unhooked your arms gently and grabbed a warm blanket off his bed. Throwing open his window, he jumped out on the flat roof and looked at you expectantly. 

You staggered behind Jeno and took the hand he was holding out for you. His other hand hovered over your waist as you climbed on the sill. 

Thanks to the alcohol in your system, your balance was non-existent, and your legs turned to jelly the moment they made contact with the roof. Fortunately, your best friend was there to catch you.

You bumped into Jeno’s chest instead of falling to the ground. He wrapped his arms around you and steadied you, laughing a little at your antics. 

“God, how much did you drink?” you heard him wonder to himself. You mumbled an incoherent response and leaned against the outside wall of his room, watching him lay the spread on the floor. 

The two of you usually climbed the ladder that led to the slanting roof at the very top of the house, but you reckoned the boy in front of you didn’t want to risk taking you up there when you were so wasted. 

Jeno sat down on the blanket once he was done and peeked at you over his shoulder, patting the space beside him. “Come on.” 

Pushing yourself off the siding, you stumbled to him, tripping over your feet a bit. You were able to keep your balance, though, and a moment later, you found yourself lying on the blanket next to him.

Your shoulders brushed against each other, the warmth from his body seeping into you. It was summer, but the night air was still chilly, especially now that you were on the roof. You were thankful for the protection Jeno offered against the mild cold. 

The music was blaring once again now that you were outside, and there were no barriers to deafen it, but the volume barely bothered you. Your eyes were on the stars, trying to identify the constellations.

“I see Orion right there,” Jeno said, pointing at the sky. You followed his finger, and sure enough, there it was. “And there’s Ursa Minor.” He moved his hand after noting that you had recognised Orion. 

“I don’t see it,” you muttered, blinking heavily to clear your sight. 

“Can you see Polaris?” he asked, glancing at you for a moment. 

You raised your hand and pointed it at a random star that was nowhere near the one Jeno was referring to. “There.” 

Jeno snorted. “You could spot Orion, but you can’t identify the brightest star in the sky?” Without waiting for a response, your best friend grabbed your arm and directed it to the right star. “That is Polaris.” 

“Woah.” You gaped and lowered your arm. “It’s so shiny.” 

Jeno laughed again upon hearing the child-like wonder in your voice. You stargazed often and always challenged each other to see who could identify the most constellations in a minute. He knew the night sky was familiar to you, but seeing you like this reminded Jeno of the first time he brought you to his roof and introduced you to his favourite hobby. 

“Do you want it?” he teased. 

Eyes widening, you turned your neck to look at him, your faces so close you could count his lashes. “Really?” 

“Really,” he said and pinched your cheek, unable to help himself. “I’ll get it for you.” 

A wide smile immediately broke across your lips, and you threw your arms around him, hugging him tightly. “Thank you!” you squealed. 

Jeno chuckled, a little surprised that you had practically climbed on top of him, and part of him was caged under you now. He didn’t mind the sudden intimacy. It had always been his love language; any sort of physical contact with you—be it comparing hand sizes or carrying you on his back—warmed his heart. 

Patting your head, he asked, “You want me to show you the rest of Ursa Minor?” 

“Yes.” You nodded into the crook of his neck and peeled yourself away from him, but your head still rested where his shoulder met his arm. 

Brushing away a strand of hair that had fallen on your face, he averted his gaze to the sky. “Polaris is the tail of The Little Dipper. Now we move towards the left. See the star that’s above the brightest? That’s Delta. Epsilon is above Delta too, but the distance between them is not as much as the distance between the first two. Zeta is below—” 

You tuned Jeno out. He was still showing you the stars that made up the constellations, far too invested to notice that you were no longer paying attention to what he was saying and were looking at something much more beautiful instead. 

You’d always known your best friend was attractive. You’d have to be blind to not notice his striking features—they were sharp with a certain softness around the edges. His face always stood out in crowds and demanded people’s undivided attention. 

Rightfully so, you thought to yourself as you admired his perfectly straight nose and the shape of his soft lips, diverting your gaze to his eyes. You’d always thought they were his best features. They were warm and open and felt like home. It deserves to be appreciated. 

“Pherka, Eta, Kochab and Zeta form a—”

“You’re prettier.”

Jeno glanced at you, your faces mere inches away and those beautiful eyes peering into yours with slight confusion. “What?”

“You said the stars looked pretty tonight,” you whispered. “I think you’re prettier.” You paused for a moment, as if rethinking your words. Then, “I think you’re the prettiest person in the world.”

A fond smile crept on your best friend’s face, and maybe it was because your ear was in the vicinity of his heart, but you could have sworn you heard it thumping loudly against his ribcage. Lightly bumping his forehead against yours, Jeno whispered back, 

“I think you’re the prettiest person in the world too.” 

03. it’s very easy to fall for them, especially when they’re always so sweet and caring

The first thing you felt upon regaining your consciousness was pain. 

Your skull was splitting apart, the little bit of sunlight creeping in through the closed curtains rendering you blind. Nausea was beginning to set in, but your body was so weak that you weren’t sure you could make it to the toilet in time. 

You should have never drunk so much. Not only had you not taken any proper rest after working yourself to exhaustion during your finals, but had also danced to the point you couldn’t move your legs. Heck, you couldn’t even remember much of the party. You recalled leaving Jeno behind to party with Jaemin, but everything after that was a huge blank slate. 

The toilet was far away, but you could try reaching the dustbin near the study table instead of just throwing up on the carpet. Groaning, you tried to push yourself up. When that didn’t work, you put all strength in your abdomen and threw yourself off the bed. 

A shockwave of agony passing through your body rendered you immobile on the ground. You moaned in pain and curled in on yourself, covering your mouth with a hand upon tasting bile on your tongue. 

The door was thrown open, and a worried Jeno gaped at you lying on his room’s hard floor motionlessly. “What the fuck?” 

“Dustbin,” you croaked with much difficulty, tears springing to your eyes. They hurt so much you wanted to rip them out. 

Your best friend moved into action immediately. “I kept the dustbin right beside the bed in case you got sick, you blind twat truck. Along with painkillers and water on the table.”  

You found it in yourself to glare at the boy, but he ignored you. Placing the waste basket in front of you, he helped you up. You gripped the rim as he gathered your hair in his hand and held it up to avoid it getting in the way of your vomit. 

Right before you emptied the toxins in your body, you managed to say to him, “How capable do I look to you right now, you stupid toe-licking grinch man?” 

Jeno rolled his eyes and rubbed your back with his other hand, patiently waiting for you to finish. Once your heaving stopped, you took the tissue he was holding out for you and wiped your mouth. You felt much better after throwing up but you were still so tired. 

“Come on.”

You swatted Jeno’s hand away and rested your back on his bed, tucking your legs under your chin. “Too much effort,” you muttered and closed your eyes, willing the headache to go away.

“I was going to carry you to the bed, Y/N,” he said in exasperation. 

“I just need a moment,” you whispered almost incoherently, wishing he would stop asking you questions when you had no energy to answer. “A moment and an Aspirin.” 

There was some shuffling, and then you felt a hand brushing your matted hair out of your face. “Here.”

You peeled your lids open to see Jeno crouched in front of you with water and the painkiller you had asked for. Taking it from his hand, you popped it into your mouth and gulped down some water. 

For a few moments, you tried to regulate your breathing and calm yourself down. Jeno could tell you were gathering the willpower and strength to climb back on his bed. He wanted to help, but you clearly didn’t want it. So, he just watched you silently struggle.

He should have been with you last night; he hated that he wasn’t when he had promised to be the sober half. As far as Jeno was concerned, Jaemin was going to get an earful about keeping tabs on how much his friends drank. Never in the two years of friendship had he seen you with such a huge hangover. 

“Fuck,” he heard you curse under your breath. You moaned in pain as you pushed yourself up on trembling arms and fell on his mattress. Sighing, Jeno tucked you in and pressed a chaste kiss on your forehead. 

“Sleep well,” he said and made his way to the door. “I’ll wake you up for lunch. Renjun is making grilled sandwiches.” 

Your eyes flew open again. Fuck. You were supposed to meet Jimin. 

“Jeno, wait,” you blurted, and he stopped in his tracks. “I was supposed to meet a friend for lunch, but I don’t think I can make it. Can you cover for me?” 

Your best friend leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms over his chest. “Which friend?” 

“Jimin.” 

“I thought she ghosted you.” He frowned. “Now you’re meeting her for lunch?” 

“No, you are meeting her for lunch. I don’t wanna be rude and cancel at the last minute. What if she already left?”

“It’s 10 in the morning.”

“Well, what if she turned down other offers because of the plans we made?” 

“She left an hour ago with Mark after passing out on the couch in Hyuck’s room last night. I doubt she’s had the time to turn down any other offers. Actually, I think she’ll be glad you cancelled. She looked pretty hungover when she left.”

“Why are you being so difficult?” you whined, wincing when the throbbing in your head responded to the sudden increase in the volume of your voice. “I’m only asking you for a small favour.” 

“I’m not being difficult,” Jeno defended himself and took a few steps towards you. “I’m trying to tell you that you may be overthinking this. Let me send her a text from your phone asking for a reschedule, and we can have some homemade lunch with the guys.” 

Sighing heavily, you averted your gaze from his and stared at the ceiling. “I just don’t wanna blow this. I think she’s really cool and I’d like to get to know her more. I’m good friends with everyone in our social circle except her. It’s awkward.” 

Jeno’s eyes softened at that. “Y/N, you’re not blowing anything. Rescheduling lunch because you both partied till you collapsed is not going to take away any points. Trust me.” 

Your best friend was right. You were overthinking this, but you didn’t exactly blame yourself. All your efforts to befriend Jimin had been futile till now. You didn’t want to do anything that could mess up the friendship that had begun to bloom last night. 

“Fine,” you finally relented. “Shoot her a text from my phone. I think it’s in my clothes bag—” you paused, your eyes widening. Lifting Jeno’s duvet in panic, you looked down at yourself. “Who changed my clothes?” 

“Ningning did!” Jeno answered quickly, the tips of his ears turning a bright red. He couldn’t understand why he was freaking out—nothing happened. 

You exhaled in relief, trying to get rid of the alien tingling feeling spreading throughout your body. Your cheeks were hot with embarrassment. “Okay. Well, my phone’s in my clothes bag.” 

Jeno busied himself, rummaging through your backpack that was on his bedside table. What you didn’t know, however, was that it was just a front for him to calm himself down. “Got it.” He waved the phone at you. “What’s your pin?”

“Your birthday.”

His eyebrows disappeared into his hairline, and a seed of warmth sprouted in his chest. A dizzying sense of affection for you washed over him, drenching him in happiness from head to toe. “Really?” 

You nodded and closed your eyes. Turning on your side to get into a more comfortable sleeping position, you buried yourself deeper under his sheets. Yawning, you mumbled, “Day-Month-Year with leading zeros.” 

“My password is your birthday too,” he said quietly after sending Jimin the text. “A lot of them are. It’s the easiest set of numbers to remember.”

You didn’t respond. Jeno didn’t mind. He knew you’d already fallen asleep. Keeping your phone on the table, he smiled sadly and stared at your resting figure in longing. “Everything about you is so easy to remember.”

Jeno closed the door behind him as he left, none the wiser about the fact that you were still awake and had heard everything he’d said, your heart beating so fast that you thought it was going to leap out of your chest. 

Your best friend left, completely unaware of the fact that you were now entertaining the possibility of being in love with him. 

𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄 𝐄𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐒 !

01. the green-eyed monster you resent makes an appearance more than you’d like

You genuinely couldn’t believe your friend group and their seemingly never-ending social battery. 

One would think that after a long night of partying, a person would stay at home the next day and take some much-needed rest. Your friends, however, thought it was a good idea to meet up for dinner and decide what to do over the weekend. 

You didn’t bother to remind them of the wonderful invention that was group chats. 

“We should drive up to the beach,” Mark suggested, flipping through the menu. “Summer just started, so I don’t think there will be a lot of people.” 

All of you were seated in a round booth at the back of a diner Chenle said he frequented. You weren’t going to lie; you could see why. The setting was very homey, and the cushioning of the sofa was very cosy—you were almost sure you were going to fall asleep even before your food arrived. 

Ningning, who was sitting beside Mark, peeked over his shoulder to see what was listed. Minjeong said, “That’s stupid. The start of summer is exactly when beaches get overcrowded. Most don’t get to visit the ocean during the year, so they make a beeline for the beach as soon as break begins.”  

“True,” you heard Jeno say. He leaned back in his seat and put his arm on the cushion behind you. You resisted the urge to lean in. Taking a sip of his water, he continued, “Besides, we’re already going to Jeju Island for a week next month. I don’t think we should drive three hours to go to the beach right now.” 

“What about karaoke?” Jimin piped up. She was sitting on the other side of Minjeong, opposite from Chenle, who was on the other side of the table. 

“We don’t need an entire weekend for just karaoke,” Chenle pointed out. “We could do it whenever we want.”

“Well, what about—” 

“Hey, can I take your order?” a female voice that was a combination of annoyed, upbeat, friendly and polite interrupted Minjeong. The girl looked a little flustered at being cut off, but she cleared her throat and mumbled a small yeah, just give us a minute.

The waitress did not move, so all of you awkwardly picked up the menu cards and began flipping through them. 

“The usual for me, Yuna,” Chenle said, smiling up at her. To diffuse the sudden tension created in the air, he began making small talk with her as she waited. 

“What are you eating?” Jeno asked. He was closer to you now, his eyes scanning the contents of the menu card in your hand over your shoulder. 

You shrugged. “I don’t think I’m eating anything. I’m not very hungry.” 

Jeno’s eyebrows creased, and he glanced at your face in worry. “You haven’t had anything since lunch. At least drink something.” 

“It’s fine.” You dismissed him with a wave of your hand and pushed the card in his direction so he could order whatever he wanted. “I won’t be able to finish anything by myself and I don’t wanna waste food.” 

“How about we share?” he insisted. “You eat however much you want, and I’ll finish the rest. Don’t go to sleep on an empty stomach.” 

An internal battle began. While Jeno’s suggestion was sensible, you knew he didn’t like to share his food with anyone. You remembered a time when he had refused to go on a second date with a girl because she kept nibbling on his meal. You didn’t want him to do something he hated just for your sake. 

“Really, it’s fine,” you repeated. “You go ahead and—”

“Hey, Y/N,” Yeji called, making you divert your attention to her. “You wanna share a triple-decker chicken sandwich? Chenle said this place is famous all over town for that dish.” 

You had to admit, a triple-decker chicken sandwich did sound tasty. But you’d just turned down Jeno, so you didn’t wanna say yes to Yeji. Shaking your head, you once again said, “I’m not hungry.”

“Why aren’t you hungry?” Mark frowned, overhearing your conversation. The rest of your friend group looked at you in concern. Ningning asked, “Are you okay?” 

You groaned. The last thing you wanted to do was explain to everyone why you didn’t have an appetite. “I’m okay. I’m just not hungry because I had a lot for lunch.”

“That’s a lie,” Jeno commented unhelpfully, and you smacked his shoulder hard in retaliation. He winced, rubbing the area of attack. “Hey!” 

“Shut up!” you exclaimed. Taking a deep breath, you said to everyone with as little annoyance in your voice as you could, “Please just order what you want. I still feel a little weird after last night’s party, and I don’t think I can stomach anything right now.” Before anyone could reply, you added, “I’m going to the restroom. Be right back.” 

Yeji looked a little stunned, but she got up from her seat and let you leave the booth when you requested her to move. Locking yourself in one of the stalls, you clutched your stomach and curled in on yourself, closing your eyes. 

Your period cramps were especially painful this time. Maybe it was because of last night’s exertion, but your cycle was early too. Your stomach was in too many knots for you to even think about eating anything. 

The washroom’s door opened, and you heard soft footsteps trudging towards you. Knocking on the only occupied stall’s door, a female voice asked, “Is everything okay, Y/N?” 

“Yeah,” you croaked, feeling tears burning your eyes. “Everything’s fine, Jimin. I just have period cramps, that’s all.” 

“Oh.” There was silence for a moment. “I have painkillers. Do you want them?” 

Exhaling through your mouth, you wiped your moist cheeks and stepped out of the stall. “Sure.”

Jimin smiled at you reassuringly and handed you a wet wipe, looping her arm through yours. “Don’t worry. I got you.”

Your heart swelled with happiness and gratitude. You’d wanted to connect with her for so long, and it finally felt like you were getting somewhere this time. Maybe you were being overemotional due to your fluctuating hormones, but you wanted to pull her into a hug.

“Oh, also,” you started a little sheepishly, “I wanted to apologise in person about cancelling on you earlier today. I drank and partied more than I should have. I thought about sending Jeno to cover for me, but he pointed out that it would have been awkward for you to see him when you were expecting me.”

“Woah, wait!” she gaped and took a step away from you. The shock on her face surprised you for a moment, but the feeling didn’t last long. “You’re kidding me! You should have kept insisting, Y/N! A lunch date would have been the perfect way for us to get closer!”

“I don’t think he would have considered the lunch a date because he was just a stand-in for me,” you said awkwardly, and threw the used wipe in the dustbin. 

Jimin waved you away as you walked out of the restroom and back to your booth. “I mean, yeah, it wouldn’t have been an official date, but it would have given me the opportunity to ask him out on a real one.”

“Right.”  

You hated the way you sounded. You hated the way your stomach churned, and your mood dropped. You hated that someone was pursuing Jeno. You hated that you were being forced to play Cupid, all thanks to your strong refusal to admit your feelings and the friendship you wanted to build with the girl next to you. 

“Oh, my God!” Jimin exclaimed, too immersed in her own fantasies to have noticed the change in your tone and demeanour. “I can make up for the missed opportunity by sitting next to him right now! You wouldn’t mind, would you?” 

You did mind. The idea of her making a move on your best friend made you want to dig a hole and cry. God, you were being so pathetic. This was completely unlike you, and you despised the way you were acting. You had to pull yourself together immediately. 

Besides, it wasn’t like you were ever going to explore these newfound feelings you had for Jeno. The last thing you wanted to do was ruin your friendship. Forcing an encouraging smile on your face, you said, “Um, sure! That’s a really good idea.”

“Took you guys long enough,” Chenle commented once you returned. 

You raised an eyebrow. “Did you have any other places to be?” 

“I mean I was worried.” He rolled his eyes. “We ordered food while you were gone. You sure you don’t want anything, Y/N?” 

“Yep,” you said, popping the last letter. “Scoot over and make space for us.” 

Yeji got up again and stood to the side as Jimin, and you slid into the booth. “The two of you better not make me get up again. I’m not budging even if you need to take a big dump.” 

“Sorry,” you muttered, smiling at her sheepishly. Making yourself comfortable, you grabbed your glass of water and dipped a straw in it, idly sipping the liquid. 

Jeno’s gaze caught yours from behind Jimin’s back. He pointed at her with a frown on his face and mouthed, “Why is she sitting beside me?” 

You waved him away and turned your attention to the rest of your friends. “Please tell me you guys finally decided what we’re doing over the weekend.”

“We did,” Mark piped up. “We’re thinking of going to an amusement park and then a water park.”

Jimin frowned. “Won’t those places be crowded as well?” 

“We just need to accept that most destinations will be. Everyone’s on break, so it doesn’t matter where we go. There will be people everywhere.” 

You agreed with Minjeong. “Amusement park it is. Can we hit the bars at night?”

“It won’t be much of a trip if we don’t.” Ningning grinned. “You sure you want to go clubbing so soon though? You were completely wasted when Jeno called me to his room and made me change your clothes last night.”

Mark snickered. “Are you scared of changing your own girlfriend’s clothes, Jeno?”  

Silence. No one spoke. 

NingNing was staring at Mark incredulously, and Yeji seemed to be suffering through an extreme case of second-hand embarrassment. Chenle pretended to flip through the menu while Minjeong grabbed her phone and scrolled through the apps on her home screen in an attempt to look busy. 

Jimin whirled to face you so fast that you wondered how her neck hadn’t snapped. You couldn’t even dare to look at Jeno to see what reaction Mark’s words had evoked out of him. 

Laughing awkwardly, you asked, “Who said we’re dating?” 

“You’re kidding me, right?” Mark scoffed in disbelief. “You guys are so bad at keeping your relationship private. Everyone knows there’s something going on between the two of you.” 

“Is that true?” Jeno asked, but no one present at the table dared to meet his gaze. “Do all of you think there’s something going on between Y/N and me?” 

“I mean….” Chenle began, dragging the word out. “You both are very close. People who claim to be just friends don’t cross the boundaries you two step all over everyday. But we’ve never seen you kiss either, so we’re not sure if you’re dating secretly or…” 

“You guys are crazy,” you interrupted. “Stop speculating about our relationship. It’s weird.” Turning to face a very betrayed-looking Jimin, you enunciated, “Jeno and I are just friends. That’s all there is to us.”

“Yeah,” Jeno added, glancing at you. “Y/N and I will only ever be friends. There’s no way I would date her. I don’t find her attractive in a romantic way.” 

Feeling a knot form in your heart and anger bubble in the pit of your stomach, you snapped, “Same. Jeno’s not even my type. I wouldn’t get together with him if we were the only people left on Earth.” 

Your friends exchanged knowing glances, and poor Jimin, who was stuck sitting between Jeno and you, made an attempt to diffuse the tension. “Okay, guys. We get it.” 

“I’m not sure you do,” Jeno hissed, staring all your friends down. “I can see your damn faces. The only way you’re going to believe I’m not into Y/N is if I prove it to you by going out with someone else.” 

Minjeong began, “That’s not—” 

“No, he’s right,” you fumed. Under the table, your hand curled into a fist. “The only way you guys are going to get this stupid image of Jeno and me being together romantically is if we date other people.” 

“The two of you are overreacting!” Yeji exclaimed. “There’s no need to get so defensive! We were wrong for assuming, and Mark was an idiot for opening his fat mouth. I’m sure you both would have told us if there was something. We’re all sorry.” 

There was a chorus of agreement on the table. Everyone genuinely seemed to be apologetic—except Mark, who was glaring at Yeji and looked mad for being called an idiot. His eyes met yours, and a sheepish smile took form on his lips. 

You huffed a small laugh and shook your head, but your heart was still in knots. There was a certain hollowness in the pit of your stomach. You felt sick and anxious. 

Did Jeno really have to say all those hurtful things just to convince your friends about your platonic relationship? He didn’t need to sound so offended and make your mutual denial a competition. 

Sure, you were the one who had declared there would never be anything more than just friendship between Jeno and you, but he didn’t have to cross the line by saying you weren’t appealing to him. 

Besides, you’d said what you’d said for Jimin. You didn’t actually mean the words that left your mouth. Considering the emotions you’d been feeling recently, it would be a lie to claim you didn’t hope for a different sort of future with Jeno. 

It didn’t matter anyway. A romantic relationship between the two of you wasn’t practical. Your best friend had never so much as hinted at wanting something more. 

In a twisted way, you were glad he said those wounding things. You needed to be pulled back to reality.

“Hey, Jeno,” you heard Jimin say once the food arrived and everyone started eating. “I was wondering if you wanted to grab lunch and watch a movie sometime this week?” 

Bile rose to your throat. You hoped to God he would say no. You didn’t care if you were being a shitty person; you didn’t think you could take any more of this torture. 

“Are you asking me out on a date?”

Your eyes were trained on your glass of water, but you didn’t need to look at him to know he was surprised. As much as you hated eavesdroppers, you couldn’t stop yourself from wanting to learn where this conversation was going. 

“I am.” Jimin chuckled nervously.

Jeno didn’t reply immediately. The rest of your friends were engaged in their own discussions with the people sitting next to them. The table wasn’t silent by any means, but the only things you could hear were Jimin waiting for his answer with bated breath and the pounding of your heart in your chest. 

Then, “I would be honoured.”

Oh, you were most definitely going to throw up.

02. you fall for them

You hadn’t talked to Jeno ever since dinner with your group.

He hadn’t reached out to you, and you hadn’t tried to contact him either. You’d received a text from Jimin the next day about the specifics of her date with Jeno. They were supposed to meet up for lunch at a restaurant near your college campus and then go out to watch some sappy rom-com. 

He didn’t even care for rom-coms. You’d begged him to watch one with you countless times and he’d always turned you down. Part of you wondered if he knew Jimin was updating you about everything and he was purposely pulling this shit to get back at you. 

But you dismissed the notion immediately. No way were you so dense and self-centred. Maybe Jeno genuinely was into Jimin. 

Your phone began ringing, and you rolled over on your bed, blindly searching for it on your bedside table. God, you hated being woken up in the middle of your afternoon naps. It almost always guaranteed a headache. 

“Hello,” you said groggily, your throat raw and dry. “Who is this?” 

“Oh! Did I wake you up?” It was Jimin. She sounded upbeat. Your heart sank. “I’m so sorry!” 

Pushing yourself up, you rubbed the gunk out of your eyes and made your way to the window. The darkness made you bump into the corner of your study table, and you bit down on your lip to keep a yelp from escaping. Hobbling, you threw the curtains open and said, “No worries. My alarm was just about to ring. How was the date?” 

Laughter bubbled from the other end of the phone line. “It was cool! He is a really good guy. No wonder everyone is head over heels for him. He opened the door for me, didn’t let me spend any money even though I asked him out, was an excellent listener, called me pretty and beautiful, and drove me back home. Oh, God, and the eye-contact? It made him a hundred times sexier.” 

Seems legit, you thought to yourself. Jeno had always been a gentleman. The other girls you’d set him up with had pretty much given you the same feedback. Part of you felt relieved that this date hadn’t been any different than the others he’d been on. 

Except the rom-com part, of course. For the life of you, you couldn’t figure out why he would agree to something he hated. 

“Ah, I’m happy for you, Jimin!” you exclaimed, trying your best to mean what you said. Your own words tasted like ash on your tongue. “Are you guys going on a second date?” 

“I’m not sure, to be honest. He said he had a great time with me, but when I tried to ask him out again, he just hugged me. That took me by surprise, and I kinda just forgot.” She laughed. “I know good dates usually end with a kiss, but the fact that he didn’t go for one didn’t bother me.”

“Oh,” you mumbled. Sitting on the ledge of your window, you asked, “That sounds nice. Do you think you’ll try asking him again?”

The last thing you expected her to say was no. And the way she said it… she didn’t sound sad or upset or disappointed. She sounded like herself. She sounded the way one would when they talked about the weather. 

It confused you. Didn’t Jimin just say the date was really good? She sounded so happy and delighted. Why was she backing out now?

“I—I don’t get it,” you sputtered. “I thought you were into him. I thought you had a great time today. Why aren’t you going to ask him out again? Did something else happen—?”

“Calm down.” She chuckled. “Nothing happened.” 

“Huh? Then what’s the problem?”

“Nothing happened,” she repeated. “That’s the problem. I like Jeno. He’s attractive, funny and caring. He’s everything a girl would want in a guy. But there was no spark between us. I had a great time with him, but hanging out today didn’t feel any different than usual. It felt like I was hanging out with a good friend, not with a potential romantic interest.

“I was looking forward to exploring what I felt for him. Turns out, it was just physical attraction. It also turns out that he wasn’t into me at all. If it wasn’t obvious the night we all went out for dinner, it was glaringly clear today. I think part of the reason he said yes was that he didn’t want to hurt my feelings,” she added. “The other—major—part was that he’s in love with someone else, and I would rather die than be a homewrecker.”    

“Oh,” you said again. You didn’t know how to respond to that. What did she mean Jeno is in love with someone else? You didn’t dare focus on the last part of what she’d said. You didn’t dare hope that the person she was referring to was you. “Well, I’m sorry it didn’t work out between the two of you. I’m sure you’ll find someone else easily. You’re a delight. Anyone would be lucky to date you.”

Jimin laughed again. “If you weren’t in love with Jeno too, Y/N, I would have thought you were into me.” 

It took a second for the words to register, but when they did, you felt your heart drop to your stomach. Forcing yourself to laugh, you croaked, “Whatever do you mean?” 

Saying that was a mistake. You should not have asked her to elaborate. She was going to make you come to terms with your feelings, and all the time and effort you’d spent denying and trying to get rid of them was going to go down the drain. 

Before she could speak, you made a static sound with your mouth. Then, you pretended that the connection was really bad. “Wha—hear—you. Try—back. Hell—?” 

You hung up before Jimin could call you out on your bullshit. A moment later, you saw a text pop up. 

[jimin]: that was soooo unsubtle  [y/n]: idk what ur talking ab!!!!!!! [jimin]: sure [jimin]: also a tiny heads up [jimin]: i told jeno to stop being a pussy and an asshole so he’s on his way 2 ur place now [y/n]: WHAT THE FUCK [jimin]: i’m going 2 pretend u said thank u [jimin]: don’t forget ab our dinner date tmrw [jimin]: have fun <3 

It was crazy how the bell rang almost immediately after you read the last text. You wondered if the timing was planned and that Jimin had told Jeno to wait till she gave him the go-ahead. 

You trudged to the front door and took a deep breath before opening it.

“Hey,” Jeno mumbled with a small smile. His hair was ruffled, as if he had run his hands through it several times. “Can I come in?” 

Biting the inside of your cheek, you nodded and moved out of the way to make space for him to step inside. He shoved his hands inside the pockets of his jeans and stood awkwardly. 

“You can sit,” you said, feeling the corners of your lips curl up in amusement. 

He sighed and wove his fingers through his strands again. “Not before I apologise for my behaviour. I was completely out of line that day,” he said. “I shouldn’t have said those things. I didn’t mean them.” 

“So you don’t think I’m unattractive?” 

You meant to tease him, but the next thing you knew, he was standing toe-to-toe with you, a desperate and guilt-ridden expression adorning his face. “God, no. You’re the most beautiful person I have ever seen. I only said that because… because I knew it would hurt you.” 

Jeno was standing too close to you. You could barely breathe, much less think. But that didn’t stop you from asking, “Why would you want to hurt me?” 

He didn’t answer for what felt like an entire minute. He only kept staring at you, an internal battle raging inside him. Then, he let loose a breath of frustration and moved away. He refused to look at you, and your patience kept slipping with each moment that passed. 

Right when you thought it would snap, Jeno spoke up, “It hurt me when you said you and I would only ever be friends. I know how stupid it sounds, but it really did. For years, I’d been pining after you and hoping that maybe we could be something more in the future. I felt like an idiot when I realised wouldn’t ever view me in that light. 

“You got so defensive when Chenle said all our friends were suspicious of us being in a secret relationship. I couldn’t help but wonder if you felt disgusted at the idea of us being together. I got angry at myself for being naive and said those horrible things without even realising.” 

You didn’t know what to say. This was the second time you’d been rendered speechless in the past thirty minutes. It was one revelation after the other; you were having a hard time keeping up.

“You—you like me?” you stuttered. 

Jeno laughed humourlessly and looked you dead in the eyes. “I love you, Y/N.” 

“No.” 

“Yes.” 

You took a step back. “No, no, no, no—”

“Yes,” he pressed. “I’m sorry that I do. I know this changes everything, but I couldn’t keep it in anymore. I just—”

“Why would you go out with Jimin if you… if you love me?” you whispered. 

“Partly to see your reaction and partly in an attempt to get over you,” he admitted. “It didn’t work. I just—I just couldn’t stop thinking about you the entire time I was with her. I felt so guilty for saying such terrible things because I couldn’t deal with my emotions and come to terms with reality. I’m really sorry, Y/N.” 

You swallowed the lump in your throat. “I’m sorry too.”

“You don’t have to apologise for not loving me back—”

“That’s not what I’m apologising for,” you interrupted and walked towards him until your abdomens were touching. “I’m apologising for not seeing it sooner. I’m apologising for encouraging Jimin to ask you out even though it killed me. I’m apologising for denying my feelings time and time again. I’m apologising for saying we would only ever be friends. The last thing I want is for our relationship to be platonic.” 

Jeno was barely breathing. “What are you saying?” 

“I’m saying I love you too, Lee Jeno,” you mumbled and stood on your toes, cupping cheeks with your palms. “I’m saying I want you to kiss me.” 

The words didn’t register immediately, but his lips were on yours the moment they did. 

Jeno’s arm snaked around your waist, and he pulled you closer. His hand grabbed your neck from behind, and he tilted his neck to the side, deepening the kiss. 

Your breath hitched in your throat. All you could feel was him. Your nerve-endings were short-circuiting, and pure adrenaline was coursing through your veins. You didn’t think you’d ever been as satisfied and euphoric as you were right now.

Jeno’s lips slotted with yours perfectly. You smiled to yourself upon realising he tasted like chocolates. Your best friend always ate a piece before any event he deemed to be very important. He claimed they gave him good luck. 

Letting go of one of his cheeks, you grabbed the round collar of his shirt and pressed your mouth harder against his. The nights you’d spent wondering how kissing him would feel and then hating yourself immediately for having such thoughts amounted to this. 

You didn’t want to hold back. 

But you had to ask him a question. It didn’t matter how stupid or ridiculous it was; you wanted to know the answer. So, you broke the kiss and inquired with your body still tangled with his, “Why the hell did you agree to watch a rom-com with Jimin?” 

“Really?” he asked exasperatedly. “You wanna talk about Jimin while we’re making out?” 

“I wanna know why you watched a rom-com with her when I’ve been begging you to watch one with me for so long,” you corrected. 

Jeno was silent for a moment, as if contemplating whether or not to tell you. You raised an eyebrow. “Well,” he started, blowing out a breath. “She told me you set her up with me, and it pissed me off even more. I knew she’d tell you all about our date, so I suggested we watch a rom-com. I knew you’d be riled up once you realised.” 

You snorted. Who knew? You weren’t actually being a self-centred narcissist when you suspected the same. “You’re an idiot. I was already riled up you were going out with her.” 

“Oh, yeah?” he teased. “Why’d you encourage her in the first place then?”

“Honestly, at first, I thought I could use you to further my friendship with her,” you admitted. Jeno scoffed in disbelief. “Yeah, I know. That was kinda shitty of me. But when I realised I was falling for you, I pushed her to pursue you in an attempt to convince myself I was not into you. That obviously backfired and did the very opposite. I was horribly miserable. I wanted to shoot myself everytime I heard her gush about you.” 

He smirked. “She gushed about me?” 

“Oh, get over yourself.” You shoved his shoulder playfully. “How’d you end up here after your date? Jimin texted me that you were coming.”

“Tough, but I’ll try.” He laughed. “She was probably able to tell how disinterested I was. After the date when I dropped her home and hugged her instead of kissing her, she just confronted me and asked if I was in love with you. Then told me to not bother answering because it was obvious. She said she didn’t want to get in the middle of us and threatened to kick my ass if I didn’t come here to make amends immediately.” 

You grinned. “Oh, the things I would have done to witness that scene.” 

“It was scary.” Jeno frowned. “She hit my shoulder really hard when I said I was in love with you and called me an idiot for going out with her. I think she was angry at herself too for being oblivious to our situationship. It was one of the weirdest dates I’ve ever been on.” 

“Jimin actually said she had a great time with you. She told me it was nice.”

“Really?” he asked, sounding surprised. 

You placed a chaste kiss on Jeno’s mouth. “Hmm, I wonder how good the best date you’ve ever been on would be then.” 

He chased your lips and kissed you back deeply. Caressing your cheekbone with stars twinkling in his eyes, Jeno said, “I guess we’ll know when I take you out.”

“No way, are you officially asking me out on a date, Lee Jeno?” you asked, and let out a fake gasp. 

“Damn right I am,” he declared. “I don’t want the amusement park trip with our friends to be our first day out as a couple. Do you wanna grab some food tomorrow afternoon? We can go to the trampoline park before that.” 

You smiled softly. “That sounds wonderful. But,” you added. “No more flirting with restaurant staff for free food, or I’ll go ballistic on you.” 

Jeno laughed, and you thought it was the most beuatiful sound you had ever heard. His chest rumbled with the force of it, his eyes creasing to look like small crescent moons. Slipping his hand into yours, he squeezed once. 

“Wouldn’t even dream of it.” 

note: THANK U FOR READING TILL THE END WHAT ??? loads of hugs and kisses :’)) also i know i said this before but posting after a rlly long time has lowkey made me anxious LOLL i think i could have done better with the fic esp the end bc it’s a little rushed. honestly speaking i am ready to move on to my next wip and i don’t wanna spend more time rewriting this one :(( i still love this piece though and i would definitely love to hear your thoughts amigos!! stay healthy and hydrated <33

thank you to mira for coming in clutch and helping me out with the plot when i was stuck + giving me her honest opinion! thank you to dori too for reading parts of this fic and giving me her opinion as well! i love you both :D

taglist: @notbeforelong​ @w3bqrl​ @rikiflowers​ @mochisnlix​ @allorysayshi​ @hiqhkey​ @angel-hyuckie​​ @j4kesworld​ @timetoten​ @vantxx95​ @sweetjaemss​​ @ahnneyong​ @jennaissantes @sunshine-skz​ @baekhyunstruly​ @ja4hyvn​ @ily-cuz-i​​ @kdyism​ @keemburley @n0hyuck @luvenshiti @donutswithjaminthemiddle @mosviqu @deobitiful @jeonnyread @pjofics @venusprada @matchahyuck @tbzussy @babyksworld @bockhyun @rbf-aceu @ablackbtsstan @tamakofever @naemakkuri @sadgirlroo @fariylixie0915 @pradagukkie @babyjenono @hibernatinghamster @jaemnationnn @variety-is-the-joy-of-life @carelessshootanonymous @nctzennikki09

[cahmilo]

3AM Shenanigans ㅡ carlos m.

pairing: carlos madrigal x reader

genre: crack, fluff

word count: 3k

tags: energetic and caffeinated reader, kind of ooc carlos, established relationship, modern au, texting fic, cursing, not proofread

summary: after downing a cup of coffee at midnight, you found it hard to fall back asleep. while bothering your boyfriend, you didn't expect a surprise visit from him at 3AM in the morning.

[repost] short drabble-ish based from this incorrect quote

11:59.

File Successfully Submitted.

"FUCK YEAH!!!!" You screamed at the top of your lungs. Jumping out of your chair, you immediately broke in to a physical explosion of body shaking and jumping to non-existent music. 

Having successfully passed an assignment a minute before it's due? It's practically your talent at this point. Kind of unhealthy, but you loved the rush and pressure more than crunching it a day before with absolutely 0 ideas on mind. And this, this literature review? 

It's definitely bad.

But at least it's done.

"Now what the fuck am I gonna do with this?" You asked yourself, holding your now half-empty cup of coffee. You underestimated the amount you needed and you were stuck with two options. If you left it out, it will go bad. if you drank it now, oh boy you're gonna have the sugar spike of your life. But what's life without a little goof in them?

Taking a big sip, you downed the sweet mocha caramel oreo java chip honey with 2 shots frappucino and whatever the heck more sugar-containing liquid you had asked for. 

Putting it back and getting ready for the night, you settled in your bed and cuddled yourself with your boyfriend's hoodie and resisting the urge to annoy him late at night by sending random TikToks that you found on your For You page. Looking back at the clock which was now 12:30, you turned of all gadgets and lights and hoped to go to sleep as you closed your eyes. 

━

1:30 AM. 

Your eyes were still as wide as an owls and you're starting to regret the last sip of your too sweet caffeinated drink because you can't even take a small nap. So much time has passed and there was still no sign of the sandman bringing you to dreamland. 

Having found no use of waiting to go to sleep, you muttered a curse as you grabbed your phone and hovered over Carlos' text messages. You contemplated bothering your boyfriend with your 1AM antics, but then realized that he wouldn't be bothered since he has his phone on DND at night. 

You: sent a link. 

You: was watching tiktoks and this dog reminds me of you 

You: fooken emo hair

You: bEcAusE ToNoIgHT wILL bE tHe nOiGhT tHaT i WilL fAhL foR yEww

You: i can probably spam you as much as i want since you said you had your phone on mute

You: sent a link. 

You: DUCKS ARE WATERPROOF. turns out they have this fur that makes them waterproof

You: just like dandelions

You: if i were to duct tape a duck with dandelions would that make them extra waterproof

You: lmfao duct tape

You: duck tape

You: IM CRYINGG DKHKJGH

Carlos: what the hell is wrong with you

You: oh hi amor

You: why you up so early

Carlos: ?? the question is why aren't you asleep so early

You: I can't sleep

Carlos: did you watch those horror cases again

You: NO

You: i finished my essay and i couldnt sleep because of the coffee

You: -welp i kinda did watch a horror documentary before that but its not that scary

You: okay fine i cant sleep im both caffeinated and terrified the tiktok i saw before the duck one had a scary jumpscare

Carlos: lmfao pussy ass

You: STOP IM NOT

Carlos: if u say so

You:.... 

You: i still cant sleep :<

Carlos: is that my problem

You: no

You: yk what im just gonna watch some tiktoks... ure obliged to open all of them in the morning

You: sent a link.

You: sent a link.

You: sent a link.

You: LOOK AT THIS ONE. BLACKPINK JENNIE FANCAM SHES SO FINE

You: would you be okay if i leave you for jennie

You: she kinda has a better ass

You: and i've seen you sway yours its not really the best ngl

You: sent a link.

You: sent a link.︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎ ︎

You: WHAT THE FUCK

You: SOMEONES AT MY DOOR

You: THEYRE KNOCKING

You: ITS PROBABLY SOME DRUNK DUDE THAT WANDERED IN MY HALLWAYS

You: OR A MURDERER

You: Carlos save me my knight in shining armor

You: THE KNOCKS ARE GETTING LOUDER

You: its probably a ghost or a monster im not having this rn

Carlos: why don't u let it in

You: THATS TERRIBLE ADVICE

Carlos: you wouldn't know unless u find out

You: and if its a murderer and i die, you won't have a lover anymore

Carlos: i can always find someone else

You: ?????!$?$?$ YOURE AWFUL

Carlos: just open the goddamn door idiot

Carlos: its cold out here

ㅡ

"Oh!" You jumped onto bed and immediately dashed through the door after reading his last texts. Carefully, you twisted the knob and opened it slightly, looking at the gap to see who it is. When you saw the love your life in his maroon hoodie and black pajamas, you instantly opened the door wide and jumped to his arms. Carlos almost stumbled but he managed to catch you as he put his arms under your thighs. 

"Jeez you're more energetic than I thought" Carlos mumbled in your embrace.

"How did you get here so fast?! You live on the other building!" You asked, finally letting go from the hug as you cupped his face and showered him with kisses. Carlos being used to your chaotic energy only giggled as he pushed you inside and locked the door.

"I snuck out. The dorm security guard had to go to the restroom so I ran out when he left" He said while walking to the kitchen island and placing a plastic bag on top of it. Like a lost puppy, you trailed along and followed him. "You owe me shit for making me come here at 2 in the morning."

"I didn't force you to come here"

"You brought it upon yourself when you texted, now" He smirked as he opened the plastic bag and grabbed something "-wanna have ramen?" 

You furrowed your eyebrows. "at 2AM?" 

Carlos shrugged his shoulders. "You're supposed to say yes, but I'll make it anyway. I was starving so I stopped by the convenience store before I came here" 

"Oooh did you stop by for-"

"Yes I brought you banana milk" 

"YAY" You jumped to his arms and gave him a big bear hug. Carlos in return, squeezed you so tight you almost couldn't breathe. He loves spoiling you so much because your smile always manages to make him lose his cool demeanor. You were the cutest sight he has ever seen and if it meant sacrificing his beauty sleep for this early in the morning, he would never want to think twice in sleeping ever again. 

━

"How long is this going to take?" You asked, spinning around the chair on the edge of the kitchen island. In front of you was Carlos who was busy making the ramen and opening the powder packets.

"The water literally just boiled" He explained while checking the pot of water. Putting the noodles in the pot, he hummed a song to pass the time. "Now we wait for 3 minutes" 

"Wait!" You jumped from the chair and dashed to the stereo. "Do you know what makes the wait more fun?"

Carlos peeked from afar, having unsure feelings about your devilish grin which he definitely knows you have something planned. "What?" 

"DANCE CONTEST!" You yelled, playing your favorite dance song as it echoes through the speakers. 

"Oh God, I just escaped this song from Camilo only to hear you play it on loud speakers." He facepalmed but then grew into a fit of laughter when you suddenly danced to the choreography in the empty space in front of him. 

"What the hell are you doing?" He screamed in between laughter. It was definitely not the same dance his twin was doing from before. While he cracked an egg to be placed in the soup, you continued dancing in your pajamas. As soon as he finished and let the meal sit, he gave in danced along with you in the chorus with more minimal movements compared to yours who was all over the place. 

"I knew you couldn't resist my favorite artists, you're such a fan" You pointed out while he rolled his eyes. 

"Shut up" He grumbled. 

━

Oh crap. It was already 3AM and you were blasting music on loud speakers for the entire building to hear. 

After getting second complaints from Carlos who was afraid of getting caught, your dance session ended abruptly as you two got ready to finally eat the ramen he prepared. 

"You're a good cook" You commented on his cooking, glancing at your now empty bowl. 

"It's an instant noodle pack, idiot" Carlos replied. "Everyone can do it."

You scoffed at his last comment and mocked him. "But you didn't let me do it. 'mI amOr LeT mE MaKe ThE rAmEn InsTeaD'" 

Carlos stood up from the chair and walked behind you, leaving you confused. Suddenly, he pulled you to a back hug and put his chin on your shoulders, flustering you. He grabbed your hands and put them in front of your face. 

"You see these hands?" You nodded as he continued. "These are the hands that passed a week old paper 2 minutes before the deadline. These are the hands that downed an entire cup of coffee at midnight. These are the hands that played that loud ass song on blast at 3AM in the morning, possibly calling for danger if I didn't ask you to turn it off. Now, can you give me a logical explanation as to why I would let the same hands operate open fire on a stove at 3 in the morning?"

You pursed your lips and squinted your eyes, humming and playing along acting like you were thinking of an answer. Your so-called 'train of thought' was interrupted when Carlos squished your cheeks and groaned while shaking you. Pushing his hand away, you crossed your eyebrows at him. 

"Your cuteness aggression is so fucking weird, you have a face of murder but your actions say otherwise. Like when you squished my sister's kitten with a sinister face" You picked up your bowl before he took it away from you immediately making you complain "Hey-" 

"Couldn't resist it when you look like an idiot" He cupped your cheeks again. "My idiot." He lightly kissed your nose and pulled away, grabbing the rest of the silverware. "Also, I'm not letting you touch the plates, I'm washing them." 

"Eh, less work for me thanks wifey"

"Don't call me that"

"Sorry wifey" 

━

3:00 AM...

"Okay I'm not gonna lie but that was fun" Carlos muttered out of breath as he pulled away from you while panting. "Just never ask me to do that again"

You guys were learning this dance challenge with Carlos and after your many attempts of begging, he just gave in. Tonight's challenge was the viral domino dance and although Carlos wouldn't want to admit, he was kinda having fun. 

"Learned from the best dancer I've known" You proudly said while gulping a glass of water as you re-watched the recorded video.

"That's the Carlos Madrigal effect" 

"No I was talking about Camilo" 

Carlos gave you a sour face while you laughed at him. Putting the video on your drafts, you looked up at him while he was wiping his sweaty forehead. 

"Now what?" You asked him.

"I'm just trying so hard not to throw up the ramen right now."

You laughed at your boyfriend who was still trying to catch his breath. "Okay fine, no more dancing. Wanna watch a movie?" 

"I have a better idea"

"What is it?" You asked him.

"Sleep. We sleep, Y/N."

"Oh" 

━

You didn't know how it ended up like this, but now you're lying on the bed cuddling with your boyfriend in animal onesies. Apparently when he went to the convenience store, Carlos also passed by a few outfits in the clothes part of the store and found the onesies. He bought you a sugar glider onesie while he got himself a panda one. 

After a night of energy and too much activity, you were finally happy you were getting sleepy. Maybe the coffee has worn off, or maybe it was because of the MSG from the ramen. One thing is for sure though, this was the highlight of the night. Lying on Carlos' chest while his hand plays with your hair and your legs are tangled together. 

"Amor," You called out to him, face still buried in his chest. You felt a vibration as he hummed in response. 

"Thank you for coming here for me" 

It wasn't much to say, but it felt enough for both of you. You and Carlos had just been in an official relationship for 2 months and you never felt even more happier as time goes by. But while still being early in the relationship, no one has dropped the "I love you" phrase yet, and although it took longer, it felt somehow right. It wasn't easy for you to openly display affection to each other and you both understood that.

It takes time, love takes time. The "I love you" can come later. You weren't rushing. For both of you, it's an important phrase and neither of you were ready just yet. BUT, you already felt the comfort of those words although not directly, just through Carlos' gestures that made you feel loved and cared for. Just like tonight.

"Don't thank me, mi vida. I would gladly spend any second of my time to be with you" Carlos muttered against the crown of your head, twirling and combing your hair with his fingers. That was his I love you. His quality time, his words of affirmation, his acts of service, those were his 'i love yous'.

And yours? It's a little difficult to tell from someone else but for Carlos, he definitely gets to experience your I love yous. Your constant snuggling, your shameless personality, your tears, your physical touch, your words of affirmation, all of those things were the ones only Carlos has seen and you meant to keep it that way.

"And uhm- sorry if I'm kind of a pain in the ass sometimes"

Carlos clicked his tongue. "Look at me" He grabbed your shoulders, causing you to pull yourself off and he cupped your face for you to face him. "You're not a pain in the ass okay? And you're never a handful. I like being around with you, you're like my happy pill. The sun to my moon."

His words never fail to make you smile in awe. Sometimes it makes you even tear up in joy and he urges you not to cry by saying even more sweet words that just makes you cry even harder. You're very lucky to have this man and he's very lucky to land someone like you. 

With an aww, you further snuggled into him, diving into the crook of his neck while he giggles at you. Holding you even tighter, you suddenly remembered one of the videos you were meant to send to him before his knocks scared you. 

"Oh wait, I forgot I was supposed to send you something" You pulled away and sat up on your bed, reaching for the phone by the bedside table. Carlos remained snuggled in your bedsheets, waiting for you to finish.

"This video I saw, wait I'll send it to you." You trailed off, busy scrolling through your phone. 

You were about to put it down until you heard a loud ding that startled you. You looked back to the beside table to see Carlos' phone shine brightly on.

"Amor, was that my notif?" You asked and glanced at Carlos who had a shy grin in his face. 

"Uhm, yea"

"But I thought you always have your phone on silent because it annoys you?" You put the phone back and went back to snuggle in his arms. 

"Technically it is, I just set it up so that the do not disturb option doesn't apply to you." Carlos said truthfully, intentionally hiding his face in your hair but you were smart enough to pull away and cup his face instead. 

"So you mean, the entire time I wasn't on silent for you?" 

He looked away and nodded.

"So, the whole time I was spamming your messages because I thought you were on silent, was actually not and you were hearing all those dings per second?" 

Carlos muttered under his breath. "I don't mind though" 

"Oh my god" You said as you let go of his face and dug back to his chest. "So I really did wake you up in the middle of the night" 

Carlos furrowed his eyebrows the moment he heard a guilt tone in your voice. "Hey." He grabbed your chin and forced you to look at him. 

"I had it set for a reason okay? I never want to miss your messages and I hate it when you're mixed with other of my notifications. It's not your fault and I don't mind if you wake up or spam me or shit" 

"Awww" You cooed and gave him a light peck on the lips. "You love me so much" 

"Tch. I'm being nice here, appreciate it"

"I do! Next time you're officially invited for my next 3AM bullshit. Only you have an infinite invite" You said as you observe the big smile that he has. His eyes glimmering with pure bliss that made you fall deeper. 

"I accept. For tomorrow, I'm planning the activities. Ones that don't involve loud TikTok dancing" 

You hummed and nodded in response, giving him yet another peck in the lips making him laugh as if hes entranced in the sight of you completely drunk on each others love. 

"Thank you mi amor"

Funny how the lazy, barely moving Carlos Madrigal seemed to enjoy staying up late with you. Whether it would be dancing, singing, eating, or even playing video games. He would sacrifice his beauty sleep if it meant seeing you have the time of your life, it was worth it. Fuck sleep, you were worth it.

taglist: @thegirlwiththebangs @mirabelleza @carcat-02 @brushofease @camilos-luna @kitasgloves @ducky-is-dead-inside @elegantkidfansoul @moon-cakiie ++ join here

thumbnail by the artists of purrfect tale

[outercrasis]

Sessions

Pairing: College!Din Djarin x F!Reader

Word Count: 2.6k

Warnings: None (let me know if I missed something!)

Summary: Everyone is talking about the mysterious new guy on campus

A/N: I had a ton of fun writing this extremely self-indulgent AU and I have plans to keep writing more about these two. It won’t be an actual chaptered fic, but at some point I’ll throw together a masterlist with a chronological order to things.

Series Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Introductions

The semester had only started four weeks ago and he was already a legend around campus. Almost everywhere someone could be found whispering about him. You'd even heard faculty speculating, wondering about the rumors they overheard their students sharing.

You first heard of him in your literature seminar, some of your fellow classmates discussing a recent rumor about the now fabled man. Something about a motorcycle and a child caught your ear, prompting you to interrupt and the girls in front of you who they were talking about. 

The looks you received from the pair were incredulous at best. “You mean you haven’t heard about him?”

“Heard about who?” you asked, genuinely confused. It had only been the first week of class at the time and you were too caught up with your own busy start to check in on the rumor mill.

“Mando, obviously. He’s all anyone is talking about.” From there the girls had happily filled you in on all the latest sightings and rumors. 

Mando, as they called him, was shrouded in mystery. He'd popped up on Corellia University's campus when the semester began and no one knew a thing about him. He hadn't gone to Corellia before, internet searches turned up nothing, and even the skull-like symbol on the back of his leather jacket wasn't familiar to anyone. Any information on him was conjecture at best and there was plenty to go around. Once the rest of the class caught onto what you three were discussing, theories began to fly.

People discussed how he’d been spotted downtown, beating on some guys in a back alley. He’d also been seen uptown the same night though, strolling through Basalt Park. One girl was nearly certain that she’d gone to elementary school with Mando, but he’d mysteriously disappeared one day without explanation. Someone else was confident he was just a cop trying some weird shtick to go undercover. Then one person insisted he had a kid with him sometimes while another was trying to explain that he was actually a murderer. The rumors only became more ludicrous from there.

By the end of the discussion you only ascertained two things for certain. He went by the name Mando and he wore some kind of special helmet. Information you could have gotten by watching him pick up a drink at the Java Hut. Not nearly enough to warrant this level of fervor in your opinion.

From there, hearing about Mando was inescapable. You got home that night only to have your roommate and best friend, Layla, launch into theories about him. Within the week someone set up a social media page to try and track his location around campus via DMs fellow students sent in. That had struck you as invasive and unsettling, but the messages about him kept flooding in.

By pure chance, you had yet to actually see him for yourself. There weren't even any creep shots for you to look at. People had been trying to take photos of him, but he was like a ghost. In the time it took them to pull up their cameras he'd disappear. 

There wasn't even more concrete information about him beyond what you'd learned that first day. Just more and more speculation, a good amount of it made up purely for the shock factor. Another week slipped by, the semester picking up, and Mando news became standard in your day. There was always something new going around about him and as much as you tried to avoid it and focus on your studies, you couldn’t help but wonder about him yourself.

Who was this guy? Was this all some stunt or ‘social experiment’ that would be revealed by a sociology student at the end of the semester? Or was he a legitimate peculiarity, doomed to stick out like a sore thumb? You weren’t sure if you should hate him for making a big deal out of himself or pity him for all the unwarranted attention. Either way, you were sure that whenever you met this enigmatic Mando, you’d know.

×××××

You grumble looking at the submission form. The name and student ID information is blank again. You told Todd last week those fields needed to be made mandatory. How else were you supposed to know who to email when you end up with a no-show for the hour?

Looking further down you're pleased to note that they're at least a grad student. Despite the unfinished form, graduates almost never skip sessions like these. You're thrilled to have the opportunity to discuss something other than freshman composition for once. It's fun helping the wide-eyed freshies, but you can only go over basic comma rules so many times before you start to lose it a little.

There's a knock at the study room door and you look up only to be rendered speechless. It's him. Mando. With a kid on his hip. So Alissandra hadn’t been lying when she told you about the toddler she saw with him. Interesting. Continuing to take him in, you can’t help but focus on the obvious - the only thing you knew about him other than his supposed name, the helmet. 

It’s unlike anything you've seen before. You're fairly certain it's a motorcycle helmet, but it's been modified. Rather than the typical rounded shape, his is all sharp angles and flat at the front. It’s colored a sleek, shining chrome that gleams under the washed out fluorescent lighting. Most arresting is the way he's changed the face of the helmet. The cheeks dip inward at a sharp angle, creating deep, curved contours. His visor is a T of black glass in the center, entirely impossible to see through. It's intimidating and… kinda hot?

The little boy he's holding starts to wiggle in his grasp, physically demanding to be set down in the study room. Once his feet touch the floor, he immediately runs over and climbs into the chair next to you. He's a welcome distraction from his father’s? brother's? guardian's? commanding presence in the room.

The boy can't be older than three, smiling up at you with a wide toothy grin. His hair is covered by a green beanie with large floppy ears sewn onto it and he's wearing a little brown jacket with a sherpa collar. Maybe a bit too heavy for the early autumnal weather, but if the rumor that the kid rides on a motorcycle with Mando is true, it’s perfect. His eyes are large and brown, shining up at you with a slightly mischievous glint.

"Hello, what's your name?" you ask, smiling back at the child.

"Grogu," comes the reply, not from the kid, but from Mando.

You arch an eyebrow at him. He can't be serious with that name. "Grogu?" you ask.

He shrugs, placing his bag on the table. "I came home one day and he told his babysitter that was his name now. He won't respond to anything else. So, Grogu."

You look back to the bouncing toddler. He's still grinning, nodding along with what's been said about his name. They must not be lying then. Either that, or it was some elaborate prank between them and you would never be in on the joke. 

"Well okay, Grogu it is." 

You extend your hand out to Mando, offering your name alongside it. He offers a leather clad hand in return, giving you a firm handshake. You're pleased when he only gives your hand a gentle squeeze, not crushing it like so many other students have done. His gloves are unique as well, black with orange fingers, the leather well worn in. It's warm to the touch, his body heat radiating through the thick fabric. 

"Mando," he says, officially introducing himself as he takes the seat on your other side, across from Grogu.

"Mando," you repeat, cementing it as a truth from the rumor mill. "Got any other names?" You hope that comes across as casual and not intrusive. He hasn't even gone to remove his helmet, telling you he isn't a man who cares much for people prying into his business.

"No. Why?" Mando cocks his head slightly as he asks, the helmet adding an exaggerated look to the movement. He reaches into his bag, pulls out some crayons and a pad of paper, pushing them over to Grogu.

You shrug, trying not to think about how you heard his name might be David from someone in your composition course. "Just thought I'd ask. One hears many things around campus and it's hard to tell what's true or not."

"What do you mean?"

That question makes you pause. Surely he knows. Part of you is still convinced he’s doing this act on purpose, trying to gain notoriety for some reason. The way he asked though, something about it tells you that the poor man is clueless about the buzz he's caused.

"Mando, you're like the talk of the town right now. We only just met but I've heard plenty about you," you explain. It's hard to tell with the helmet on, but you're fairly sure he's shocked underneath. Grogu ignores you both, excitedly scribbling away on his paper.

"I'm fairly sure most of it's just rumor and speculation, but still. You're like a thing around campus," you add.

He's quiet for a moment, his laptop only half out of his bag. "Oh," he finally says. "I didn't know."

Grogu gives a happy shriek not a second later, breaking the awkward tension that had begun to creep into the room. He's beaming, holding up his crayola masterpiece. On the paper there is what appears to be a hastily drawn frog using every color in the box.

Mando returns to himself, pulling his laptop the rest of the way and continues to get set up. "Great job, kid. It looks good."

Most people would have said that dismissively, a platitude to get their child to stop bothering them. When Mando says it though, the authenticity is palpable. He said six words and you can hear the pride lacing them all together. It’s sweet, the obvious affection this clearly private man has for the toddler. 

You can’t help but wonder what his connection to Grogu actually is. The way he spoke just then, if you had to put your money on it, you’d say father. The kicker then though is if he’s biological or not. And if not, then how else does a grad student get strapped with a three year old? Thinking about all the potential scenarios is enough to make your head hurt.

You’re also left wondering where all the more violent rumors about him are coming from. His tenderness is so readily on display that it’s hard to imagine the man before you choking someone because they cut him in line at the local froyo shop. He’s mysterious and gives off a vaguely dangerous vibe, sure, but less than five minutes around him and the kid and it’s obvious he’s no threat to you. He’s just a guy trying to get his assignments done for class, same as everyone else.

Your stomach still catches in your throat as Mando starts unexpectedly tugging off his gloves. From what you’d heard, he never takes anything off: not his jacket, not his gloves, and certainly not his helmet. All anyone knows of his true appearance on campus is that he’s obviously male with rumors flying around about everything else including simple attributes, like the color of his skin. Now, here he is, casually revealing this groundbreaking information to you.

His hands move fluidly, pulling off each glove in just a few easy tugs. His skin matches the heat you felt from them just minutes ago, a warm golden tan, with a few faded lines of scars worn in. Watching him type, pulling his paper up for you to discuss, you feel a deep and sudden ache to have his hands touch you again. A simple handshake is no longer enough. Every stroke of the keys is measured, deliberate, and leaves you wondering how he would use those fingers on you.

“This is what I have so far.”

His voice snaps you back to reality, a quick wave of shame washing over you. Where did all of that come from? It was just a man’s hands for heaven’s sake, certainly not something you should be horny about at two in the afternoon. Not to mention that he came in here looking for your help, not wanting you to start fantasizing about his hands expertly working you over.

You clear your throat and tear your eyes away from the offending appendages. “Great, let me just read the introduction here so I can get an idea for what you’re writing about.”

You settle into working with him easily. His paper is already well-written, just needing tweaks here and there to bring it to the next level. It’s nice working with him. He’s attentive, clearly listening to everything you have to say and taking it into account. He doesn’t even try to challenge you as some of the more macho male students are wont to do. By the end of the session, you can’t help but wish all of your time as a tutor was that easy.

“Thank you,” he says sincerely, tucking his laptop away. “You really helped.”

You smile at him, thrilled with his genuine complement. “Of course, that’s what I’m here for.”

He finishes packing up his and Grogu’s things, with you silently lamenting as his gloves slide back on. It still feels like a ridiculous thought, but he really does have beautiful hands. There’s a small tap on your arm and you look to your left to see Grogu patiently waiting. He’s offering something to you, paper outstretched in his little hands.

“Thank you,” you say, taking the sheet from him. You look at it to see a frog carefully drawn on the page. It’s not the same as the first one he showed you and Mando, this one more deliberate and thoughtful. The colors are still just as varied, but it’s obvious he took more time to think about where he was using each one. You can’t help but smile at his small masterpiece.

“It looks great, buddy. I’ll keep it forever,” you tell him. Grogu beams at your praise, excitedly looking over to Mando. 

Mando nods at the kid. “Yeah kid, I heard her too.” He turns his head towards you. “Thank you again. I’d take good care of that drawing. He’ll never forgive you if he finds out you got rid of it.”

“Does that mean I’ll be seeing you again?” Your own boldness takes you by surprise. You have no idea where that came from, how those words spilled without a second thought. Part of you is already cringing at Mando’s potential reaction.

He surprises you once again though, holding a hand out for Grogu to take. Shouldering his backpack, you hear an amused huff of air from under the helmet. “Yeah, mesh’la, I’ll see you around.”

There isn’t a chance to reply as Mando turns, escorting his tiny charge out of the room with him. You’re a little dumbstruck, now equally surprised with him as you had been with yourself. 

And what was that name he just called you? Mesh’la? You don’t even know what language that could have been, much less the meaning. Something about his tone when he said it tells you it’s a good thing though, that he’s not secretly calling you rude names in some unknown language. You can’t help but wonder if you’ll ever get to find out.

.

.

.

taglist: @honestly-shite

[little-shrimpp]

Brothers + The Royals as coordinator of Beel's fangol team supporters

a/n : SORRY I'M BUSY WITH MY REAL LIFE AKSBAKAB. I have inspired by my school that support my basketball team on DBL East Java (I'm Indonesian Imaomao). It's a lot fun and i imagine 'what if they support fangol team on match' so here i am! Hope u enjoy my blog

*＊✿❀　❀✿＊*

Fangol team have their tournament soon, so Diavolo and others want supporting them especially Beel at stadium. So everyone without Beel have a meeting when he has practice with his team

Diavolo : So i ask you all to coordinating as fangol team supporters. I can't belive that Belphegor made the proposal secretly and gave it to me.

Belphegor : Lord Diavolo, i told you that it's a secret. So you can't tell others like that!

Mammon : Aww look at our cute lil' brother!

Belphegor : Shut up Mammon!

Asmo : Don't be shy Belphie! We know you love all of your brothers.

Belphegor : I said shut up!

Lucifer : Cut it off. Now what do we need for supporting?

Satan : Based on book that i read, we need person who directing the whole supporters and person who holding flags. For material, we need banner and flags. Maybe a megaphone.

Levi : We can make banner of RAD like 'My crush is a football player so i support him and surprisingly he has crush on me so he ask me to be his boyfriend after his winning'

Barbatos : So we can leave banner and flags design to Leviathan?

Satan : Nope.

Levi : Whyyy?? Because i'm a useless otaku and can do nothing but watching anime?

Lucifer : You will make banner and flags bassed on Hana Ruri's colors. Am i right?

Levi : A-ahaha.

Asmo : Leave it to me! How about i'm designing the whole banner and flags and Levi sewing it? It using RAD colors right?

Barbatos : Yes. I can give you the color pallete for those.

Asmo : Thank you Barbatos. I love you!

Lucifer : Ehem! How about jerseys?

Belphie : They need new jersey for update their jerseys name and number.

Mammon : It will be a hectic week for ya~

Levi : Shut up Mammon.

Diavolo : How about the individual task?

Satan : Mammon it's a perfect role for the director of the whole supporter.

Mammon : Of course you can leave it to The Great Mammon!

Asmo : The reason he choose you because you like a monkey that escaped from it's cage

Mammon : DON'T DARE YA! You not thinkin' like that right, Belphie?

Belphie : You look more like wild monkey

Mammon : /sad mammon noice

Lucifer : How about Asmo join Mammon too? The rest can holding the flags.

Levi : Wait for a minute! We need 4 people for raising the flags??

Asmo : One for RAD logo, one for fangol team logo, two for RAD supporter logo, and one banner. Right?

Belphie : Why do we need two flags for RAD supporter logo?

Asmo : Do you want the flag to be different? What other school say? "Hey look at RAD School, their flags is different! I heard they're 7 ruler of hell and future demon king son. How dumb they are!" You want they say like that?

Belphegor : I don't care.

Asmo : But i care! So we need four flags for the RAD shake.

Levi : How about the banner? Do we set it on supporter seat or what?

Diavolo : How about the rest of supporter hoalding the flags? So they can se our banner from far.

Barbatos : Good idea my lord. Do we need megaphone for Mammon and Asmodeus?

Mammon : I don't need those. How about ya'?

Asmo : I need it! I can't scream out loud in a long time, sorry for bother you Barbie~

Barbatos : With my pleasure Asmo, and don't call me Barbie if you don't want end in that room.

Mammon : WAIT IT'S CANON?! THAT YA' USE IT FOR TORTURIN' PEOPLE??

Levi : This scumbag..

Satan : Don't blame us if you end up in that room.

Lucifer : EHEM. So let's crosscheck it. Mammon and Asmo will direct all supporter. I, Levi, Satan, and Belphie will hoalding the flags. Asmo make flags and banner design and Levi will sew it with the jersey too.

Diavolo : I can help Mammon and Asmo if i don't have any job!

Barbatos : I will help Leviathan if i have done my duty.

Leviathan : THANK YOU BARBATOS!! Oh right, when Beel and his team having match?

Belphegor : 1 month and a half

Leviathan : Thanks Diavolo. You guys owe me TSL merch.

Mammon : Right right..

*＊✿❀　❀✿＊*

sorry if it's very vague 😁🙏 i wanna posting abt obey me imagines that related with Detective universe. Have a nice day all!

[beyondtheborderridiculous]

TCF Game Translation Chapter Three

A while ago, I translated the first episode of the new TCF game here.

I realized that this is totally a visual novel where your choices will affect the story, so I’m not sure how helpful these translations will be to others, unless you all make the same choices as I did, but I thought that I’d still share them anyway.

Regardless of whether people need these or not, it helps me with exercising my Korean. (How sad is it that it takes me forever to translate Korean, my family’s native language, and that translating Japanese is easier and faster for me???)

Dialogue

(Thoughts)

*Whispers*

Episode Three: The Man-Eating Tree

Narration: Henituse County, Western City

In front of one of the stores located in the center of the downtown area,

Stood a carriage engraved with the Count’s emblem.

Hans: Young Master-nim, is right here correct?

Cale: Yea, it is.

Narrator: Cale looked up at the 3-story building in front of him.

“The Fragrance of Tea and Poetry”

It’s a store that sells tea with poetry.

Cale: As I expected, this place is good.

Alright, should I go in?

Hans: Young Master-nim, me too…!

Cale: You go back to the mansion.

Hans: Is it alright for me to not wait on you?

Cale: It’s fine, so hurry up and go away.

Hans: Yes! Now then, I’ll be going.

Cale: (Wh-What a simple bastard.)

…Shall I go?

Server: Welcome.

Is there anything I could help you with?

Cale: Aa, I expect to be here all day alone.

As for drinking—

Option 1: Tea. The most expensive one.

Options 2: Coffee. With a lot of milk and sugar.

Option 3: Java Chip Frappuccino.

(I chose option 1)

Cale: Prepare a cup of your most expensive tea.

Server: Would black tea be alright?

Cale: Anything’s fine.

Server: Then shall I prepare lemon tea?

Cale: Let me change that. Any tea except for lemon.

Anything’s fine as long as there’s no lemon.

As for reading… Do you have any novels instead of poems?

Server: Of course, we also have a lot of novels. Young Master-nim.

Cale: Is that so? Then choose anything that’s fun.

Here’s the money.

Narrator: With a light flick of his finger, Cale tossed a gold coin onto the counter.

Server: Yes, I understand. Excuse me. The change…

Cale: I don’t need the change.

Since I’ll be drinking more tea later, leave it.

Server: But this is still too much.

Cale: (Of course it’s too much. Since just one gold coin is one million gallons.)

(But there’s something I’ve always wanted to do.)

I have a lot of money. Consider it a tip.

(It’s spending a lot of money.)

Well, if you think it’s too much—

Then buy a round of tea for everyone here.

(And be a Golden Bell.)

Customer: …!?

Server: Young Master-nim, even so…

Cale: Ah, shut up. Give me my tea.

Narrator: Cale left the gossiping customers behind and took a step back.

Since it’s so early, the window seat in the corner was empty.

Cale sat in the most inner seat in front of the big window.

Cale: As expected, I can see Western City’s front gate.

Here was correct.

I can watch Choi Han.

That punk should be arriving around now, right?

That punk suffered a lot.

Transmigrating to a different world…

And even though he settled down at Harris Village…

And having precious people,

In the end, it’s no wonder his heart became twisted.

…That’s the Choi Han I’m going to bother.

…Hm?

Narrator: A single man entered Cale’s vision, who was starring out the window.

A man with black hair and black eyes,

wearing black clothes that were charred as if burned by fire. 

Cale: That’s Choi Han.

He’s a mess.

Well, since he probably ran quite the long distance.

Gate Guard A: Please stop for a moment.

Gate Guard B: Please show us your identification papers.

Cale: The guards’ll ask for identification papers.

Choi Han: I don’t have any.

Cale: Obviously, he won’t have any.

Gate Guard A: If you do not have any identification papers, then you cannot enter.

Choi Han: Anyone who could vouch for my identity… Are all dead.

So in order to ask for help…

I went to the closest city.

There’s no other meaning.

After I take care of this business, I’ll leave. Is that not allowed?

Gate Guard A: Apologies, but…

Choi Han: …

Cale: Although he came all the way here for the sake of those villagers…

He’s going to get chased out. As I predicted.

But he’s not a punk who’d give up.

After waiting until nighttime,

Didn’t he enter by jumping over the wall?

Since I have a lot of time until then…

I should start working on getting that shield now.

Shall I go?

Narration: Cale got up from his seat and went out to the street.

Cale: Alright, let’s prioritize the shield.

The unbreakable shield that protects the heart.

It’s as strong as a mage’s shield.

Although it’s a power that the heroes in the novel used…

I think I’ll just be strong enough

By gathering powers like these.

Just enough to protect me.

Since my goal is to live a comfortable life.

Narration: Cale stood in front of a bakery for the sake of obtaining that shield.

Baker: Y-Young Master-nim. You… Are here again?

Cale: Are you dissatisfied with me being here again?

Baker: Aigoo, how could that be! What’s the occasion today…

Cale: Why does one come to a bakery? I came to buy bread.

Baker: Excuse me?

Cale: I said I came to buy bread. 

So give me bread. From here to there.

This bakery’s bread. All of it.

Is one gold coin enough?

Baker: Ye-Yes!?

Cale: If I come here two or three more times, I should have enough bread by the end of the week, right?

Prepare this amount tomorrow too.

Baker: …!?

Cale: Why, you don’t want to?

Baker: Th-That’s not the case! Young Master-nim!

I’ll pack this up right away!

Narration: Just as she said that she would prepare it right away, not even five minutes passed when Cale heard a voice.

Baker: YOUNG MASTER-NIM! THE BREAD IS ALL PACKED AWAY!

Cale: Mhmm, nice.

Baker: Should I deliver these to the mansion?

Cale: No, I’ll carry them.

Well then, good work.

Baker: …!?

Episode Three

Narration: The slums

Cale stood out with his huge bag as he walked by the poor.

Cale: Yesterday I failed because of a hindrance, but today I need to…

Hong: …

Cale: My face is feeling prickly.

Hong: I’m hungry…

On: Sh, be quiet.

If you bother his poor temper, you’ll regret it.

Hong: I want to eat, even it’s only the breadcrumbs…

Cale: …Sigh.

Option 1: Should I hand out bread to those people?

Option 2: It’s better to just ignore them.

(I chose option 1)

Cale: Alright. I’ll hand out a bit.

…I can’t give out a lot.

Narrator: Cale mumbled, and then spilled half the bread on the ground.

Hong: It’s food!

On: No way!! Thank you very much!!

Narrator: Watching the poor rush to the loaf of bread, Cale turned away.

Cale: It’s over there.

Narration: Cale approached the dark-colored tree before him.

Chapter 3: The Man-Eating Tree

Things that come close to the tree will either dry out or disappear, 

It’s a tree that those in the slums called, “The Man-Eating Tree.”

Cale: But to be honest, wouldn’t it be more like an “Eat Everything Tree”?

Since it’s a tree grown on the spot of a gluttonous priestess who died out of starvation.

If you relieved the grudge caused by dying from starvation…

…The Invisible Shield will-

On: Th-That tree!

Cale: Aren’t those the punks from yesterday?

Anyways, I’ll just do what I-

On: You can’t! It’s a man-eating tree!

Cale: To get the power-

On: You’ll die! You can’t!

Cale: That’s why. The hole underneath the tree…

Hong: It’ll be terrible!

Cale: …Sigh.

Narrator: Cale got up and turned looked back.

Cale: (Did they follow me because they’re hungry?)

You kids, you’re so noisy.

On: B-But that tree’s dangerous!

Hong: You’ll die if you get close.

Cale: How meddlesome.

On: It’s a man-grabbing tree. Y-You’ll die.

Cale: I won’t die.

And…

Option 1: I don’t have bread today. Go away.

Option 2: Well then, you might as well take this.

(I picked option 2)

Cale: Come here for a sec.

Hong: W-Why?

Cale: You’re overreaction’s gonna lead someone to misunderstand.

Anyway, here.

On: …!?

Hong: Bread…

Cale: Why, you don’t want it? If you don’t want it, just say so.

On: We never said that we didn’t want it!

Hong: We’ll take the bread!

Cale: Yes, yes.

On: But the tree…

Cale: That’s something that doesn’t concern you kids.

Do I look like someone who could be eaten by trees?

Hong: …No…

Cale: Then it’s fine.

Now you should really leave. Since I’m busy.

On: Uh…

Cale: You seem like don’t know about Cale the trash.

Hong: Noona.

On: Yea.

You can’t die.

Cale: Tsk.

Narrator: Cale squatted in front of the tree, ignoring the girl who stepped back.

Cale: Nice. Now then, let’s get to work.

This is the hole, right?

Narrator: Beneath the tree was a deep pit from which an eerie energy flowed.

Cale: Let’s just put one in as a test.

Here, eat this.

Narrator: Cale indifferently tossed the bread-

Even though the bread disappeared without a trace, there was no other changes.

Cale: Aigoo, what a cold feeling.

Seeing as the color’s still the same…

Just one loaf can’t satisfy it.

If I feed it enough, the darkness should recede-

That’s when it said I could obtain the ancient power-

Alright. Eat a lot.

Is it lighter than before?

For now, around ten more large bags should be enough.

…But it is a little scary.

Just what can a grudge from dying out of starvation do?

But still, there’s nothing I can do about it.

Just wait. I’ll come back tomorrow.

Narration: Cale carried the now lighter burlap sack and went down the hill.

And at the slum’s entrance, he could see the siblings eating bread.

On: …!

Cale: Aigoo, you’re eating well.

Hong: …

Cale: Look at you looking at my bag.

If you wan’t to eat bread tomorrow, keep your mouth shut.

On: …!

Cale: Look at them already pretending that they don’t know anything.

How clever.

Well then, see you guys tomorrow?

Hong: …

Narrator: Cale returned to the downtown area and checked the time.

Cale: Hm… Even after working for the shield, it’s still midday.

There’s still a lot of time until Choi Han scales the walls.

Option 1: I’ll kill some time at the tea shop from before.

Option 2: It’d be nice to rest at the mansion.

(I picked option 1)

Cale: I’ll just return to the tea shop.

Since it’s close to the walls.

Narration: “The Fragrance of Tea and Poetry”

Server: Young Master!

Cale: Give me a new cup of tea. This time a cool one.

Narrator: Cale once again sat at the window seat by the corner.

Server: Young Master, here’s the tea.

Cale: That was fast. Thanks.

Server: I also laid out a few desserts.

Cale: …There’s nothing with lemons, right?

Server: There isn’t?!

Cale: Good.

Give me a novel too.

Narrator: Cale gazed out the window while drinking cool tea and eating desserts.

Between reading the book, drinking tea, and eating desserts-

The sky was slowly getting darker.

Cale: Shall I get up now?

Server: Are you leaving?

Cale: Yea, what time is it right now?

Server: It’s a little past 9.

Cale: Would you look at that, it’s time to go.

Server: Young Master.

Cale: What do you want?

Server: Just as the Young Master commanded-

I served tea to all of the customers on the first floor.

Cale: So?

Server: And I prepared desserts to go along with the tea…

But I made too many, so I can’t handle them all.

What should I do?

Cale: Why the hell are you asking me?

Just give the rest to the customers.

Good work.

Server: …!?

Cale: Well then, I’ll take my leave.

Server: Thank you very much. Please come again!

Cale: Sure.

Narrator: As soon as Cale left-

Customer 1: Goodness, what kind of happening is this?

Customer 2: Is that really the Young Master Cale that we know?

Customer 1: Did he turn out this way from… Drinking too much?

Narration: There’s no way to know what the customers within the tea shop were saying.

At that time, past the Western City’s walls.

Choi Han: …

This place is…

Narration: Just as Cale predicted, Choi Han scaled the walls.

(In Cale’s voice) Everything is going according to the novel.

But only one thing,

Redika: …

Kik kik…

Narration: All except for the intervention of a character that Cale couldn’t have imagined.

[the-firebird69]

Gov. DeSantis says he has power to remove Lee Sheriff Marceno https://www.nbc-2.com/article/gov-desantis-power-remove-lee-sheriff-marceno/63448252

This guy is a huge ass and we used to be friends there is a s******* and these frontal lobes are not helping but really he won't stop bothering me and harassing me and he won't leave it alone and I say it's a probe that's all it is and they do it to everyone they're doing to you and he keeps saying we can get him out of there if we have to I swear by all that's holding you should just leave it alone and you fooling me right now

Bg

I swear to get something what we're doing is really dumb but I feel like doing it and he says still run around you feel like doing I guess you did yesterday probably got shot it's true too it usually doesn't end well the problem is that what you're doing over there is affecting me directly and you're coming after my people directly and we might be the FBI good portion of them and somebody says vacuums what he says back is you're not going to be a good portion of them for long and the probe will go away. I sort of get something I'm going to die anyways if you were saying it and I was saying it to stand and he said it to me and now we're in the stupid battle and I should just back off if I do I won't be in Lee county so I need you to back off my people we're on the same side.

Desantis

No this website is usually used to air your concerns with each other but you people are so dumb everybody knows what you're doing to people in Florida desantis and they are trying to gun you down so BG can say his share but they know that you put people in prison and they want them to rot and die and you keep doing that to people and they all say they want you out and they're saying it to me and I said I want him out he's just sitting there f****** around with the apartment trying to make mold grow cuz he's a f****** loser

Zues Hera

You should be shopping for treason shot for treason he says and we should keep our business to ourselves we sit here involving him having a post stuff all of it is wrong and he's calling it like it is everyone's after your f**** ass and you're going to die as Java the hut one last swipe at some people and you become incinerated and it says that they find your head and your people's heads and they pile them up at the scene of the accident mom had and it's deservantly so for your involvement and people are figuring that out you were there with your hat out for collection and that turned out to be stupid that turned out to be Ray parks she's a nice proper all you assholes to clean victory over them when the Mac proper wrong too and they escaped the Saturn because the people like you Jason and this group is capable of taking over from them and the Mac proper sounds stupid and he keeps offering the bony finger and he can't help it to it because of us what you're saying doesn't make sense it's because you're stupid reason someone has to take over the whole realm if the whole realm won't allow the one person who is completely detached to do anything it doesn't take a genius to figure that basic stuff out now there's something wrong with a bunch of you and one of the persons is Jason Trump is an idiot I get hot and angry and mad so what you people are idiots you should hand in your gun and badge because you don't do anything right and you know you're pathetic too and Stan was right the whole time there's something wrong with you you just keep meowing and meowing and you're calling your idiots to do a worse job did it already were to do a worse job than they already were and for you to do we're worse job too Jason and it's almost impossible it's so bad I have a lot to say he doesn't want to hear it it really shouldn't it should not be in his channel so what are you doing he's not supposed to talk so you think I'm in trouble but you're just a simple f****** five year old retard and I don't get this s*** you people won't shut the f****** you're constantly disturbing us we're trying to sleep you're you're at us you're running around all day blabbing somebody got a secret to everybody and just saying it's going to help you lunch and no you're attracting attention is helping you die and I mean she really needs to be you really need to be said straight and he keeps saying it what you're doing is not going to help you or him and really some of you are too far gone you want to capture me or the other one wants to put me in prison and instead of letting you mess me up the big groups decide to put you assholes in prison include you BG and he says that and it's true he says we could not handle the brain transplants and we're not handling our daily lives we were involving him and he told us to f*** off and we're not and it's a problem it would not going to recover I have a problem with that and it's probably right about everything it's hard to deal and we keep screwing it up and keep involving him and he's poor doesn't give a s*** he wants the side of his face so now it's going to come down to people are going to use force on us and he says no they're using force on you and you can say all sorts of s*** Jason they need to use more force on you. His laughing and laughing at this idiot Trump and we see it too in the minority warlock I'm going to be next at us and they just kind of shoot us so this blows were stupid

Bg

You're stupid too Jason I'm not going to write that stupid s*** down you and your rant. You're a stupid f***** okay you're dumb the federal government is the counter and other people too have different plans like Tommy f you're stupid

Zues Hera I don't want you near me here either I want a restraining order on you against you and I don't care what Stan says I can move out to another apartment f*** him he doesn't defend me much he does but you're right there all the time stay with Trump what's the f****** point that's not helping and he's getting killed by you too doesn't care he evict you or fire you you know what I'm going to take over this stupid f****** God damn crappy operation and I'm going to take those States and BC cuz I want them you can sit here and stick me in your f****** hell but it's becoming URL you're going to lose it's going to become your f****** nightmare that you haven't decided to stick me in the middle of this dog s*** you f****** b**** you're a woman hey let's have the soldier come in here and sit in it you don't f****** puke you're such a p**** f*** you Stan f*** you Stan

Zues

You don't see what you're doing you stupid s*** we're going to take over he wants us up there now we get it he says he wants to carve a path of the Midwest forces to the east to fight over the government and take over because it's not enough people to go there and hold the place that makes a lot of sense now you pissed him off that's what he's going to do to you dumbass you dumb f***

Hera

Well it's an idea and I put him there and it's not working and said not to I see what you're saying is saying this is what I plan to do in the first place is take over because you wanted to do it and you're forcing it now I understand what he's saying all you have to do is sit here and they're probably on myself and I'm trying to make it go the other way they're going to deploy harsh methods and he says I'm going to prison and I'm going to the mental hospital probably won't come out no I have to go in the ship and lillie kills me just like she kills her own husband Jason so that's what I fate is that's true very true I'm trying to take it with us and perfect

Stan

Olympus

[tagsecretsanta]

From @katblu42

By and from @katblu42 for @alexthefly

Here we have a Chapter 1 of a larger story. The other chapters will be posted on @katblu42 so keep an eye out for them over there.

- - -

Where Are You Christmas

Chapter 1 – The Eve Before the Eve

It was beginning to look a lot like the kind of Christmas International Rescue dreaded. Tropical cyclones in the Indian Ocean threatening the coast of Indonesia were being closely monitored.  So too were the fierce bushfires, the likes of which hadn’t been seen in over forty years, ravaging the eastern states of Australia.  Large storm cells bringing blizzard conditions to the northeast of North America, and now a distress call from the colony on Mars.  And it was only 7am on December 23rd.

Thunderbird Three had already launched and Alan was on his way to collect John from Five enroute to Mars.

“I know it’s not ideal, Scott,” John’s holographic form said with a sigh, “but it’s the option that makes the most sense.  That supply vessel is almost completely automated.  If its systems have been taken offline somehow then I’m the one most likely to be able find a fix.”

“I know. It’s just not a great time to be without your eyes and ears up on Five.”  Scott glanced at the latest global satellite images, tracking the storms, and noticed there were now noticeable smoke plumes smearing eastwards from Australia as well.

“Eos can handle Five in my absence, and you’ve already got everything you need to monitor and coordinate from Tracy Island.  Between the two locations I’m sure International Rescue will be just as on top of things as always.”

“I just wish there was another way.  I still think it would have been better to send Kayo with Alan, have the two of them retrieve the pilot and be done with it.”

“It wouldn’t be fair to drag Kayo away from her visit with her dad.  And besides, you heard Captain Taylor.  If this vessel doesn’t make it to Mars it will be the third consecutive re-supply attempt to fail.  Dr Travers said their medical supplies in particular are critically low. For the colonists, receiving the cargo in that supply vessel is a matter of life and death.”

“I know, I know.  We can’t just save the pilot.  Saving the cargo means saving the colonists.”  Scott let out a long sigh.  “Just . . . be safe.”

The hint of a smile glinted in blue-green eyes.  “FAB, Scott.”

As John’s hologram faded out of view, ugg-clad footsteps shuffled closer and a small, weathered but steady hand rested on Scott’s shoulder.

“Tell me what’s really bothering you, young man,” Sally entreated her eldest grandson. “You boys can handle rescues without John guiding from up there, so what’s different this time?”

Scott took a moment to gather his thoughts.  Yes, he was concerned about potential rescues over the next few days that would not have the advantage of John’s expertise and watchful eye.  No, he didn’t really want to have to rely so heavily on Eos.  But Grandma was right – none of this was out of the ordinary.  They had done it all before.

“They won’t be home in time for Christmas,” he finally said.

After a moment of thought she replied, “Then we move Christmas.”

“Move Christmas?  It won’t be the same if we choose a different day.”

“Not a different day exactly,” a gentle smile spread across her face, blue eyes twinkling, “but a different time zone.  If we relocate our base of operations to Gran Roca Ranch for Christmas it will give them an extra day to get home.”

Scott smiled, deadly dimples and sparkling sapphires fully deployed.  “Grandma, you’re a genius.”

Preparations began almost immediately, but before all the necessary plans and to-do lists had been completed Virgil and Gordon were taking off for a rescue.  The call came in at lunch time – a small fleet of fishing vessels off the coast of West Java, caught up in the leading edge of a tropical cyclone.  Three small boats, one overturned, a second taking on water and the third struggling to stay afloat while attempting to pluck their fellow fisherfolk out of the raging sea.

With Virgil fighting against the wild wind and driving rain to keep Thunderbird Two in the air, and Gordon battling the rolling, churning, crashing ocean in Thunderbird Four the rescue was by no means easy.  It took some time, and everyone involved ended up soaked to the bone, but all eighteen crew members from the tiny fleet survived the ordeal. Their catch was reclaimed by the sea, along with the vessels, much to the dismay of the fleet’s captain.  He was still loudly protesting the loss of livelihood as they were transferred to the hospital in Jakarta for check-ups and treatment as needed.  The remainder of the rescuees expressed nothing but gratitude for their heroic rescuers.  

Job done, Virgil and Gordon were back on Tracy Island just in time for dinner, where discussion focused on the plan to relocate for Christmas. Brains, Max and Grandma would head to the ranch first in Tracy Two to set up everything they’d need to coordinate the operation of International Rescue from there.  Kayo, fresh back from her two-day visit with her father, would need some time to ensure Tracy Island security systems were ready for their absence and then she too would head over to perform the necessary security checks at Gran Roca.  The boys and their ‘birds would be the final pieces in the relocation shuffle – the timing dependant on any rescues that might pop up in between.

An invitation was officially extended to Lady Penelope and Parker, notifying them that the Tracy clan would not be doing Christmas in the tropics this year. Penny eagerly accepted, the glint in her eye and the slight upturn in the corners of her mouth hinting that she was indeed pleased that she would now be able to join them.  She expressed how fortuitous the change of location was, stating that they would now be able to make their way to Gran Roca as soon as her charity luncheon event on Christmas Eve had concluded.  

Scott made a courtesy call to Colonel Casey to let her know the change of plans.  He reminded her that she was always welcome to drop by if time allowed, but both agreed that with International Rescue stepping back from all but the most dire of rescues for thirty-six hours covering Christmas Day the GDF would most likely keep her busy.

The final call of the evening involved all five brothers.

“Tracy Island to Thunderbird Three, are you receiving?”

“Oh, hey Scott!”

“Alan!”

“Sorry, John.  Thunderbird Three receiving.  What’s up Scott?”

“We —”

“We’re moving Christmas!”

“Gordon!” Scott and Virgil chorused.

“Well, we are!” Gordon’s eyes sparkled with excitement as he leaned over Scott’s shoulder in the holographic image projected over Three’s control panel. “We’re all relocating to the ranch to give you two more time to get home in time for Christmas.”

“We know the timing’s still going to be tight, but it gives us the best chance of having the whole family together on the day,” Virgil said, leaning in close to Scott’s other side.

“Christmas at the ranch,” John pondered.  “We haven’t done that since Alan was little.”

“Alan’s still little.”

“Gordon!”

With the main purpose of the call achieved the banter on comms quickly gave way to a brief status check and a reminder to both astronauts to snatch some sleep while they could, then they all wished each other goodnight.

The news that they now had almost an extra day to get home without missing the holiday had buoyed the spirits of the Spacey Tracys, but it also got Alan thinking.

“What do you think Christmas is like on Mars?”

John’s only initial response was a raised eyebrow.

“I mean, they don’t have pine trees, so do they still decorate a Christmas tree of some kind?  Is Santa supposed to make the trip all the way out to Mars?”

“I imagine those who celebrate Christmas in the Mars colony are creating their own new traditions,” John responded.  “They’ll make decorations and cards and gifts from whatever they have at hand rather than just buying those things from a store.  And as for Santa, well, if his supposed magic gets him all the way around the Earth in one night, I see no reason why that can’t extend to Mars as well.”

“Except the reindeer might struggle in space.  And Santa would need a space suit.”  Alan’s musing gave way to giggles.  “I just got a mental image of Santa in a rocket powered sleigh blasting out of atmosphere.”

John smiled at his little brother’s imagining.  Sometimes it was easy to forget how young he really was, but moments like this, when Alan let the child within loose for a moment, reminded him of what made Christmas special.

“Of course, in all the ways that really matter, Christmas on Mars would be no different to Christmas on Earth.”

“What do you mean?”

“Christmas isn’t really about the decorations or the gifts, so it really doesn’t matter much where you celebrate as long as you’re able to celebrate with the people you love.  When it comes to Christmas it’s not where you are but who you’re with that’s important.”

“But, a lot of the people in the Mars colony must have family back home on Earth too. They must get a bit sad they can’t all be together.”

“That’s no different to families on Earth with borders or continents or oceans between them.  There are ways of bridging the distance, even if it’s just for a few minutes to share the joys of the day.”

“Yeah. I see what you mean.”  Alan gave a small sigh, his posture deflating slightly.

John kept silent, waiting for his little brother to work through whatever thought process was going on behind the pensive expression.  He didn’t have to wait long for Alan’s mood to lift again, with an accompanying straightening of his spine.

“John,” he looked across to his brother, the spark back in his blue eyes, “even if we don’t get home in time, I’m glad I get to be with you for Christmas.”

“Me too, Alan.”

The conversation ended there and thoughts turned to who would be the first to get some sleep before the expected intercept time with the stricken supply ship. Similarly, back on Tracy Island the occupants were nestled all snug in their beds . . . well, all except Scott who told himself he was only up this late to cover monitoring duty while John was unavailable.  Eos’ persistent nagging reminders to sleep while things were quiet finally had him giving in and heading to his own bed shortly after three in the morning.

To be continued on @katblu42

[simpingforsoftboys]

The Odds of Us All

CH 3 PT 5/5: Ice Skates & Coffee Dates

“Glad ya’ made it.” Osamu greeted, smile playing on his lips. He shared the same face as Atsumu yet Y/n couldn’t help but notice how different they were. Osamu’s smile resembled a ‘u’ shape, teeth hidden behind pretty chapped lips, but his eyes twinkled with a gentle shimmer- subtly expressing his true happiness. Unlike his twin, Osamu only smiled when he truly wanted too- not just to save face- making each of them one to savor. Whereas Atsumu had no qualms tossing around crescent shaped grins, smug simpers, or wide toothy smiles- wait when did she start paying such close attention to things like these?

“Did you think I would skip or something?” You tease, eyebrow quirking in question, until you notice only the two of you are present. “Did everyone else skip? That why you were worried?” The adorable ‘u’ widens ever so slightly, showing he found your words amusing.

“Tsumu’s getting coffee and Suna was lookin at new shoes.” The duo heads inside. “Is it okay if we meet up at Starbucks? Suna told Tsumu what ya like ta drink.” 

You can’t help the flutter of your heart at his words, happy to hear that the seemingly uncaring brunette remembered your preference. He sees your nod, and leads you to the coffee shop, a group of girls nearby giggle and whisper at the sight of him- but upon seeing you as well they openly awe at the ‘cute couple.’ His cheeks flush at their words, much to your amusement- you spare the girls a smirk and wink playfully- some blush (you vaguely hear a few mourning the fact that you’re ‘taken’). Caught up with your play ‘flirting’ you don’t see the way Samu stares at you- eyes shining with fondness. 

“Couple eh?” The wing spiker questions in a low tone, slowing his pace so that you can walk side by side. He takes a moment to enjoy the shy expression that overcomes your features. This was the perfect time to hold your hand and keep you close, but alas you had a boyfriend- who was your soulmate no less. And he had agreed with Atsumu and Suna to not make any moves on you until all five of you talked things through. It was a nice thought though- being your boyfriend that is- and the silverette dearly hoped that someday he could hold that title. 

“Sorry- did that make you uncomfortable?” You asked, biting your lips nervously, e/c flitting up to meet his own cool, stone colored hues. Osamu gulps at the sight, refusing to look at your mouth, and shakes his head. 

“Nah, I’m just playin, didn’t want ya ta’ take offense to it.” He replies smoothly, stuffing his hand in his pocket to hide the way he anxiously rubs his thumb against his pointer finger. 

“I don’t take offense to that- if anything I’m flattered... you’re not bad looking or anything after all-” The words are spoken before you can stop them- damn it, seems like all your efforts to bury that old habit go in vain when you’re around your soulmates. Osamu pauses in his steps, face a’flame and mouth slightly ajar. “W-wait I didn’t- oh no why does this happen- um...” You stutter, feeling so unlike your usual confident self. The two of you stare at each other, speechless- both utterly embarrassed but for entirely different reasons. Neither of you realize you’ve made it in front of Starbucks already.

Suna POV:

The middle blocker had finally managed to convince the cashier to hold his vans behind the counter for him, now he was making his way to Starbucks. Music streaming through his air pods, phone whipped out and opened to his Instagram feed, the brunette doesn’t have a care in the world. He feels a little nervous about the days events- since you’re going to be there- it won’t be just him and the twins like usual. But it’s not the bad kind of nervous either, more like the type that winds up turning into eager anticipation. Rintaro entertains the idea of you holding his hand at the ice rink- trusting him to not let you slip and fall to the ground- but it scares him slightly so he lets it fade away into nothingness. She’s taken, he reminds himself, suddenly it’s like looking at his phone makes him sick- so he puts it away and focuses straight ahead. Despite all his words a few days ago- he really won’t initiate anything- respecting the fact that you’re in a committed relationship with another. 

‘I hope Atsumu was right.’ Suna broods picturing you and Sakusa together- masks donned with hearts in your eyes. ‘If he’s not our soulmate too then we’re in for a load of heart ache.’ His music fades into the background and he quickens his steps- fearing he kept all three of you waiting long enough.

Atsumu POV: 

Apparently only one barista was working today, so his order took longer than expected. Maybe he should have just gotten hot chocolates all around and called it a day... or maybe not since this caramel frappe is freaking good- caloric intake be damned, he’ll just skate it off anyways. The blonde blanches, imagining skating again, hopefully he wouldn’t be the only clutz on the ice today. Hey that reminds him- didn’t you say you were a trash skater too? Thank god he won’t have to suffer alone.

“One grande java chip frappe for Miya?” Finally, Atsumu thinks, placing the cold drink in his cup carrier. Deciding that it’s too cramped in here, he makes his way out of Starbucks- only to see his younger brother (only by a few minutes smh) and his cute h/c soulmate staring at each other... are you two even blinking? Or breathing for that matter? 

“Is somethin the matter? Why are ya just standin there?” His voice breaks you out of your stupor- Osamu’s blush fading as the two of you turn to the newcomer. “Here’s yer frappe-” Atsumu hands it to you gently, making sure that several napkins are wrapped around the drink so that it doesn’t freeze your soft hands (he saw how often you moisturize them at school, it’d be a shame if anything ruined them). “Hold this Samu.” Then he shoves the holder into his twin’s arms, earning a glare. 

“Thank you Atsumu, can I pay you-” You’re cut off with a chorus of chuckles- not just the twins but also Suna’s (who just got there it seems). 

“Darlin’ don’t worry about payin me back- it was only like 360 yen.” He reassures you. Suna and Osamu snicker to each other- poking fun at the ‘darlin’ pet name. Understanding that there’s no point in arguing, you nod, taking a sip of the drink, face warm as you repeat his words in your head on a loop.

“Aww can I call you darlin’ too, Y/n?” Suna jokes, face seemingly blank- but all three of you notice the quirk of his thin lips and the mischievous shine in his pretty eyes.

“Go ahead, I don’t mind what you call me.” You agree, head tilted to the side with a closed eyed smile. All of them stare wide eyed for a moment, before laughing good naturedly in response. Your quartet falls into amusing chatter as you make your way to the ice rink.

The Ice Rink:

Osamu steps out onto the ice first, Suna following behind him. They both balance perfectly on the slippery ground, not bothering to grab onto the wall for support. You and Atsumu on the other hand exchange nervous looks, smiling at each other in a poor attempt to reassure one another, before inevitably dissolving into laughter at how fake your attempts are. You step into the rink, right foot first- immediately grabbing onto the wall- slowly easing yourself further into the rink, Osamu stays close by in case you need his help. Atsumu goes off of your example moments later, Suna’s paying (surprisingly) close attention to him. 

It’s been a long while since you’ve been out on the ice again, so naturally you’re determined to get used to the feeling of heavy rental skates weighing down your feet. Luckily for you balance didn’t seem to be the issue (that was something Atsumu seemed to struggle with- since he kept wobbling on his skates). If anything it was just that you were having trouble gliding forward- either putting too much power into your movements, or barely any at all. Osamu hid it well, but he was honestly getting anxiety watching you, internally he wondered if this is what parents felt like when seeing their children walk for the first time. 

Suddenly there was a crash from behind you, followed by soft snickers and loud groans. Atsumu had slipped for the first time of the day, at the moment he was lying on his back- while Suna was snickering at the pitiful display. Osamu joined in on poking fun at his brother.

“Get up Tsumu! Yer worse than a toddler!” There was extra emphasis on the word ‘toddler’ perhaps it was an inside joke of some kind. 

“Shut up Samu! It’s been a’while kay? Give me a moment t’ warm up!” To his credit, Atsumu was able to get back on his feet relatively easily- refusing the help of a still laughing Suna. 

“Still going to say you’re a talented skater?” 

“SUNA!” A laugh slipped from your lips at their exchange- the loud, bubbly kind- all three of them turned to look at you. 

"Guys go skate around for a little- me and Atsumu are going to be here for a while.” You giggled, nudging your head in the direction of the relatively empty rink. Osamu and Suna quirked an eyebrow, as if asking whether or not you were trying to get rid of them. “Bye~” 

“Okay, okay- c’mon Rin.” Osamu acquiesced, holding a hand out for Suna to take. The brunette skated over to him leisurely, linking their hands together, then they were off.

“I bet I can make it to the middle of the rink- without falling- before you can.” You dared- just as you planned, the setter perked up at the sound of a challenge.

“‘Kay, bet.” Atsumu clumsily slid away from the wall, struggling as he maneuvered around you, coming back around to grip it again with one hand, while he used the other to balance. Slowly but surely, he looked as though he was getting into the rythym. A smirk unfolded across your face- one would say it resembled the twin’s in a frighteningly accurate way. Steadily but without the practiced grace Osamu and Suna had, you skated over to Atsumu- coming nearly right behind him before having to slam into the wall because you accidentally put too much force behind your glides again. 

OsaSuna POV:

“Holy shit- look at them.” Suna paused, reaching into his pocket to document the sight. Osamu came to a sliding halt beside him, surprised to see his untalented (at ice skating) twin moving so fast. The two of you were actually a little ways away from the wall, clumsily making your way into the middle wall of the rink. “They’re going pretty fast...”

“Oh no-” 

Atsumu beat you, slamming his way into the ‘finish line,’ meanwhile you positioned yourself so that you could make it to the wall- but ended up leaning too much forward and launching yourself head first to the ground. It was in like slow motion for the spectators- you twisted your body somehow- so that you landed on your hands and knees, spinning once you made contact with the ice- and crashing (skates first) into the wall. Atsumu didn’t exactly help you out- instead he was cackling(?) madly. Thankfully you weren’t offended and got up easily- laughing at yourself. 

“Yer right, we’re both terrible-” They could overhear him say. 

“How hard did he hit his head?” Osamu said, in disbelief that his twin would actually admit he was bad at something. 

“Pfft-” 

A Little While Later:

“How are your hands so warm?” Y/n questions Suna, her hands are like ice against his own. 

“I just put them in my pockets.” He replies, as if it’s an obvious answer. “I guess it helps that I’m just warm blooded in general.” 

The skin ship is nice, they think, it feels oddly right to be connected like this. But they both feel a little guilty, thinking about the uncertainty with Sakusa and all. Suna decides that he’ll enjoy the moment either way, since he doesn’t know when- or if- he’ll get another chance like this. 

“Right then left, Y/n. Like what I’m doing.” She followed his instructions to the best of her ability, trusting him to keep her steady. Suna wasn’t going to lie, he was more than pleased to see her relying on him- even if it was for something as small as this. Even if it wasn’t romantically, he decided that he could do his best to be someone for her to rely on if need be. 

“Suna how’d you learn how to skate so well?” Y/n implored, squeezing his hand as she narrowly avoided tripping, he stifled a chuckle, but allowed an amused grin to snake it’s way onto his face.

“Remi- my little sister- likes ice skating, so I come here a lot.” There’s a fond look in his eye at the mention of his sister, you decide that it’s sweet. 

“Remi? Like beautiful heart?” 

Suna admires your innocent guess- if only you met Remi- she would probably take to you immediately, having always wanted a oneesan. Unfortunately for him, she was more of a troll- in every way.

“Close, my parent chose 伶心 clever heart. It suits her too- she’s always been causing me and my parents trouble for fun. Gets along with the twins because of that. The three of them are a nightmare.” 

“I get it- I have younger siblings too. Two brothers and a sister.” You reveal, much to his surprise- he thought you were an only child. 

“Wow that’s a lot.”

“Yeah, my brothers stay with my dad though, so only my sister’s back home with me and mom. How old is Remi-chan? S/n (sister’s name) is 10.” Ah, a child of divorce it seems, Suna didn’t pity you, it was better your parents were separated than staying together unhappy. 

“Remi’s 10 too-” You speak about your little sisters and family in general while you skate, apparently they attend the same primary school. Eventually you loop back around the rink- only to see the twins arguing over what restaurant to eat at for lunch. 

“Why don’t you let Y/n pick?” Suna asks, wearing his usual neutral expression. The twins agree and turn to you, awaiting your choice.

“How about Korean barbecue?” You suggest.

“Sounds good.”

“Yeah, I’ve been cravin Kimchi.”

“Ok.” 

Facts/Trivia

Matcha lattes are Suna’s comfort drink

Atsumu loves caramel- so much so that he doesn’t care about the amount of calories it may contain

Yes Atsumu has the Starbucks app- I don’t make the rules sorry

Osamu likes coffee but drinks it very sparingly since he really does not want to become hooked on caffeine

You told Suna you only go to Starbucks for their frappes since you can drink hot coffee at home

The whole Atsumu buying you a drink is supposed to reflect Sakusa’s special chapter; because ‘what goes around comes around’

Y/n’s mother has been the only family member mentioned (besides ushi) until now, so I’m revealing more details about her home life

The boys swear a lot more than this for sure but out of respect for ya’ll I’ll try to keep it to a minimum

Suna really wants to introduce you to his parents after speaking about family

Korean bbq was literally just you and Samu cooking and the others waiting to be served XD

I think I’m going to say ‘f’ it and skip the entirety of next (in the story not irl) week and get to the training camp chapter already

I miss writing Sakusa-

Also I’ve been adjusting how to write the Miya twin’s dialogue so please bear with me-

Chapter 3 is finally over with!

Series Masterlist

Prev | Next

Taglist: CLOSED @kac-chowsballs​ @kotwd​ @ems1des @normalisthenewnorm @micheleinumaki @gomchan @empress-simps @mer-der-mi @honeyswhiskers @sakusas-number1-stan @astronomyturtle @akirahyoshi @afire24 @its-the-aerieljeane @carla-1217​ @fucktheworlddude @baes-x @shadoweepingscream @sirachano0dles @katamint @420-uwu @xstormiii​ @youtuboo​ @oikawasflat4ss @chibiitakoyaki

[beclynn-herondale]

In Another Universe: Chapter 2

(tsc and the characters belong to Cassandra Clare)

The next day Clar was laying around on the coach waiting for his mom and Luke to get home, his sister was sitting on the other side, they had a rule she gets a side and Clar gets a side, the stupid sibling things you did

He was still thinking about the girl, Jayce, there was something strange about her and her companions, Simone couldn't see them and it only made him find it more strange, was magic real?

Luke walked in with boxes and brought Clar back to reality

"Hey," Clar said

"Hey, Clar," said Luke

"What are the boxes for?" He asked

"Your mom wants to put some stuff away," he said.

"Can I ask you something?" Clar asked

"Sure, what is it?" Luke said

"If you saw something, someone no one else could see, what would you think?" He asked

"Clar you're am artist like your mother, you know that, it gives you the ability to see the beauty and the horror," Luke answered

And then his mom walked in

"Thank you, Luke, for the help and sorry it took me a bit, had to find a parking space," said Jocelyn, Clar's mother

People said Clar looked like a boy version of his mother, but her shade of red hair was slightly darker than Clar's,they both had the same green eyes, they both had freckles and the same face shape, but his mother was beautiful and he didn't see much of beauty in himself, not that society really let's boys be called beautiful.

His sister was beautiful but in a different way, she had very pale blonde hair, and she had green eyes but they were more of a forest green where Clar's and their mom's was more emerald green, she also had freckles though.

Mom and Luke were talking and Clar got stuck in his head again like he did so often

"Kids," their mother said.

Both Joan and Clar looked up at her, it was moments like these that they resembled each other.

"We're going to Luke's farm for a while."

"oh..." Joan said

"But I paid for art classes," Clar said

"I'll pay you back Clar," she told him

"Mom, no I want to go and besides I can get a job and stay here of you want to go–" he was saying

"Clar, no, it's final," She said. "We're going."

"Jocelyn, just tell the truth," Luke said

Tell them the truth what? Clar had no idea what he was talking about, were they in trouble somehow?

"No, Luke," said Jocelyn. "They are too young."

Joan looked bored with this, though to be fair she got bored with a lot of things.

The doorbell rang and there was Simone and Clar grabbed his bag and went with Simone to Erica's stupid poetry reading.

"I'm going with Simone to Java Jones, don't wait for me," he said more coldly than intended.

——————

Jayce was wondering about that boy she saw, and trying to figure out how he could possibly see them, her and Alec were training but she could do both, she was like that good at two things, good at many things.

"You look like your head is in the clouds today," Alec said

"Just thinking," said Jayce

"Wow, you actually thinking, that's new," Alec teased

"I know I have an incredible brain as well as elegant looks and amazing charm," she said

Alec just rolled her eyes

"You're thinking about that boy aren't you?" Alec said with some venom in her voice.

"How'd you know?" She asked

"Because I agree he's a danger now that he can see us."

"I asked Hodge if I could find him and figure how he can see us and he gave me permission, so I am gonna put gear on and do that," she said

"Do you want me to go with you?" Alec asked

"No, I think it's better if it's just me," Jayce told her parabatai

And she heard a mumbled something from her, not knowing what it was.

——————

Clar was finding the a place to sit, while Simone got them coffee, he needed to get away from his mom or he would say something he would regret.

Clar noticed a guy watching Simone and wondered if he liked her, although girls sometimes looked at Simone like that too.

He ended up asking Clar if Simone had a boyfriend or was seeing anyone, to which Clar said no, it did make him wonder himself now.

"They were all out of the nice cups," said Simone as she returned with their coffee

"Be careful, you're burning yourself," he said

"You'd be surprised Fray, it don't bother me," she said right before she yelped

Clar sighed

"hey, question," he asked.."why don't you have a boyfriend?"

Simone jumped

"What?" she said

"Just wondering, there are people at our school who are interested in you," he teased

"The reason I don't have a boyfriend is—"

Clar had stopped listening, there she was behind them laughing, and walking away.

"Clar?" Simone said. "Are you alright?"

It snapped Clar back to reality

"I'll be right back," he said as he was heading for the door.

When he got to outside, there she was leaning against the wall of the building, and acting like she was better

"Why were you laughing at us!?" Is all Clar could say. "You think you are so much better?"

He didn't know her so why did she make him so angry?

"I was laughing because people confessing their love to someone amuses me," she said

"What?" He said. "I don't know who you are or who you think you are but—"

"But, you're stunningly beautiful," she said with sarcasm and arrogance

She made his cheeks turn red with anger

"Wow you're something aren't you?" Was all he said

"Yes, I am many things," Jayce said

"Why are you following me? I really will call the police," Clar told her.

"And tell them 'oh police officer, you gotta help me, there's this invisible girl following me', hate to tell you but they can't see me," she said.

"I swear to—"

"Careful, don't use such language around a lady like myself," she interrupted

And stared at him with a strange look for a few moments

And said "You aren't a Mundane, but how can you see us?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about but you seem out of your mind."

"Let me see your right hand," she said

Did this girl seriously just ask that?

"Here see," she held out her left hand and there was a tattoo like thing there. "Usually they are on the right hand but I am left handed so mine is on my left," she said.

Clar didn't know why but he held his right hand out to her, and she looked at it

"Nothing," she said. "You are working out to be a conduit puzzle."

Then Clar's phone rang after she said that

"Take that, it's not like i am in a rush or anything," she said with sarcasm

"Hello," she said, it was his mom and all he heard was 'don't come home' and crashing and terrible noises

And then his mom was gone, the phone was hung up, he dropped his phone and it broke

"Are you ok?" Asked Jayce

"I need a phone," said Clar

And saw she had one on her belt and grabbed it, probably not the most proper thing to do but he needed it

"That's not a phone," she said

He pressed at it and noticed she was right but his brain wasn't thinking right and so he ran off towards home, the last thing he heard was her calling after him

"I can help!"

——————

When he got to their home everything was a wreck, and his Mom and Sister were nowhere to be found, he went down to his bedroom towards a noise he heard and stood in horror and shock at what he saw

There was some kind of creature there, talking about blood and crunching bones, Clar felt frozen in place, the thing came at him, he was fighting back, hitting it with what he could find around him, and then he remembered he had the phone thingy that Jayce had, he shoved it in the things mouth, but as he was running he felt pain in his neck and everything went black.

——————

When he woke up his head was aching, and he saw that Jayce was looking at him

"You're awake," she said

"Where am I?" He asked

And looked around, he was outside his apartment

"We need to get out of here," she said

"Why?"

"Those police officers are demons not actually police officers," said Jayce

Clar looked up and saw what she was talking about, and he saw a creature again, he tried to get up, Jayce was helping him up but the moment he got up he felt a rush of pain go through his head, and passed out again.

(sorry I know it's kinda the same scene all over again in the beginning but the next stuff will be different)

Tag list: @khaleesiofalicante @chibi-tsukiko @spotsandclawsthings @replayfootsteps @megs-readstoomuch @bookfast-at-tiffanys @simply-ellas-stuff @magnus-the-maqnificent

[silver-lily-louise]

Herondale

ao3 link

Rating: General Audiences  Warnings: None  Ship: TWI!Clace  Tags: Family Drama, Revelations 

Written for @shadowhunterbingo. Square filled: Java Jace 

Summary: In every universe, the truth will out. 

~oOo~

‘Michael lied to me.’

It’s the first thing Jace says when Clary gets home that evening, and it stops her in her tracks. ‘What?’ ‘He lied to me. My whole life.’ Jace’s voice is low, quiet – dangerous, her mind supplies, though she’s never had reason to think of her boyfriend like that before. She sets her satchel down on the nearest chair, and cautiously, warily steps closer. ‘You mean your dad, right? What did he do?’ she asks as gently as she can. Jace barks out a short, sharp laugh that’s even more frightening than his strange tone of voice. ‘That’s just it. He’s not my dad.’

Clary’s mind short-circuits a little, wrapping itself around that. ‘What?’ Jace pushes up to his feet, starting to pace the same way he does whenever he gets agitated – though if this is what it sounds like (and she doesn’t know what else it could be, just – how could it be this?), Clary doesn’t think a night out with her and Simon is going to soothe it better this time. Oblivious to her thoughts, Jace continues his tirade. ‘Yeah. Turns out I’m adopted, which would be just fine except one, it was illegal, and two, he didn’t bother mentioning it until I was twenty-fucking-five.’ He laughs again, though it’s a lot more strained this time. ‘My original surname was Herondale, by the way. Which I now know, because about five seconds before he told me all of the other stuff, he introduced this lady called Imogen. My grandmother. Who, until now, apparently thought I’d died along with my mom in childbirth – god, it’s like a fucking soap opera, how the fuck am I supposed to –’

‘Jace.’ She interrupts him, then, because this is quickly spiraling out from a vent into a panic attack, and that’s the last thing he needs right now. She stands in front of him, reaching up to his shoulders, tracing up to his neck and cradling him there. ‘Breathe, okay? It’s a lot, I hear that. But you’re okay. I’m here, we’re safe at home, everything’s gonna be okay. Just – just take a breath, and tell me the rest when you’re ready, and we’ll deal with it together, okay?’

His hands come up to latch onto hers, and he closes his eyes, taking slow, deliberate breaths.

A minute or so later, he looks back up at her. ‘I don’t know what’s gonna happen, Clar,’ he murmurs, and his eyes are shiny, his jaw tight. ‘I mean, I’m an adult, you know? It’s not like she can sue for custody. But she’s – she’s so pissed, and she has every right to be, she was my next of kin and he took me from her. And I’m pissed too, but –’ he takes a deep, shuddering breath – ‘but he’s my dad,’ he whispers, his voice breaking over the word. ‘I don’t want him to – to go to prison, or anything. I just… don’t know what to do.’

But Clary knows what to do, and so she does. She guides him over to the couch, gently presses him into taking a seat. She grabs the water bottle from her bag and holds it out to him. She sits back against the couch herself, until she can topple him back into her arms and hold on tight. Only then does she speak – and it’s not the maybe you could do x, maybe your dad has y, maybe your grandmother is z that springs to mind – it’s something short, simple. ‘When are you seeing them next? Either of them?’ she amends.

Jace sighs, leaning heavily against her. ‘I’m supposed to be meeting Imogen again tomorrow morning. Apparently, she wants to get to know me.’ Clary nods. ‘Alright. Why don’t you ask y- Michael to come too? And I’ll come along, if you want, or Simon could – or my dad, even, I’m sure he’d help you out. Sit them down, make sure there’s someone there in your corner, and have everyone talk it out like grown-ups. Then, whatever happens, you’ll at least know your next move, right?’

He seems to consider it for a moment, and then he nods. ‘You’re right,’ he murmurs. He looks back up at her, and the softness in his eyes makes her heart ache. ‘I have no idea how I got so lucky, you know that? I don’t know what I’d do without you, babe.’

Clary smiles at him, and presses a kiss to the top of his head. ‘You’ll never have to find out,’ she promises.

~oOo~

[victoriareyloficlists]

09/01/2021 Additions to Reylo Angst

These fics have been added to the Angst list located here.

Say it With Sugar by fettuccine_alfreylo (AO3 2016  Rated E Complete, 20 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Ben Solo is the owner of his family’s small chocolate shop. Rey Kenobi is a talented chocolate maker he hires. They both share the same passion for chocolate. Unfortunately, they share the same kind of anxiety, too.) Java Empire And The Rebel Café by fairytalesandfolklore (AO3 2019  Rated T Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: A Reylo Coffeeshop AU. Rey works for the Solo's coffeeshop and finds out their son has gone to work for the competing corporate chain. She tries to get him to reconcile with his parents but a misunderstanding makes him push her away.) Your Half by Celia_and (AO3 2020  Rated E Complete, 4 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Classmates Rey and Kylo get off on the wrong foot. Too bad they’re partners for the whole semester...) Dumpster Dive Into My Heart by commandercrouton (AO3 2019  Rated T Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Inspried by a tweet from Reylo Prompts: My art professor told us a story about how he hated all his art and threw it out at a dumpster by his campus and then a little while later he went to a girls dorm (who is now his wife) and she had it hanging on the wall :) Love Makes Fools Of Us All by Darkcat18 (AO3 2020  Rated E Complete, 5 Chapters, Victorian AU, Quick Synopsis: Poe Dameron and Armitage Hux take their friend Ben Solo to Madam Natal's high end brothel so that he can be rid of his virginity. Ben, though nearly thirty, has no desire to lose his virginity to a whore. When he sees Rey, laundress and cook, he strikes a deal with Madam Natal to spend the night with her. Rey agrees after he offers her a very large sum of money, to be paid directly to her. What neither realize is that this deal will change the course of their lives.) It Feels Like Christmas by juniorstarcatcher (AO3 2017  Rated G Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: When Rey discovers she’s not the only one staying alone in her dorm during Christmas break, she tries to share the holiday spirit with the intimidating and solitary Ben Solo.) A Scandalous Match by Musickat18 (AO3 2019  Rated T Complete, 18 Chapters, Regency AU, Quick Synopsis: Despite a very poor first impression, Rey has found herself forced to wed the mysterious and intimidating Ben Solo, Duke of Ren. The marriage is deemed highly scandalous by society as Rey is no more than an orphan living on the good graces of Mr. Unkar Plutt. Rey, now Duchess of Ren, finds herself forced into a role for which she has no training, with a husband who does not even seem to like her.) Wash Over Me by Twisted_Mirror (AO3 2021  Rated M Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: This fic was based on a real life inspired prompt where a guy had posted about an experience with his girlfriend of tender intimacy and healing after past unhealthy relationships.) Those We Love by Everren (AO3 2020  Rated E Complete, 6 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Rey and Ben used to be friends, best friends, until one night and some bad news changed everything. Now, after not speaking for months, Rey is about to make the hardest day of Ben's life take a turn he could never have expected.) Off guard by TheReadingNook (AO3 2019  Rated M Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: The last thing Rey is looking for is love. As a single mom, her plate is as full as she wants it to be, but her son seems to think otherwise. And when he sets out to fill that void, they learn some interesting things about life, love, and the bonds of family and friendship.) A Reylo Christmas by Biekewieke (AO3 2018  Rated E Complete, 8 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: So when Leia Organa asks her Personal Assistant Rey to join her on a family vacation in Mon Torri for the holidays and highlights a big bonus, what is she to do? Only catch... Leia's son is coming along... Ben Solo is the enfant terrible of the family. Broody, sullen and with a huge chip on his shoulder, the young man is notoriously difficult.) A Dinner For Two by Ayearandaday (AO3 2019  Rated T Complete, 7 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: When Finn gets caught while hacking for the information about Rey's parents she agrees to spend an hour every day doing whatever Mr. Ren requests to save her friend from prison. But what could her mysterious employer want from her?) In Sickness And In Health by Theyna_Shipper (AO3 2020  Rated T Complete, 8 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Rey knows it's not an ideal situation, but it's a situation thousands of people are in. It's not like there's much she can do about it right now, anyways. She can go a little while without health insurance. Until she gets breast cancer. The treatment will be simple if she can get it. But she's worried she can't, until her old co-worker Ben offers a solution: "We could get married.") Convergence by kuresoto (AO3 2018  Rated T Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Not everyone had an Other, and the only way to find your Other was by saying their name. When that happened, memories of their life, where they grew up and the steps that led them to you, would be condensed into a single flashback that passed in a blink of an eye. The fact that someone had said Rey’s name and didn’t bother approaching her hurt, especially since she had a good idea why. Her parents tossed her aside when she was barely five, so she shouldn’t be surprised that her soulmate had done the same.) Chef's (Uns)Table by TheAlchemistsDaughter (AO3 2019  Rated T Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Kylo Ren is a high-powered chef with an explosive temper. Nevertheless, Rey likes him. To get him to come out of the kitchen, she and her friends try to wind him up. When someone asks for ketchup, it works a little too well.) les amoureux des animaux by reylomami (AO3 2019  Rated T Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Rey leaves her job in a whim after a quarter-life crisis. With too much time suddenly in her hands to rethink her life and her identity, Rey finds money-making respite in a pet-sitting job from Pawshake. A Reylo Pawshake AU with poor time coordination and fluff out of meet-cutes and mournings.) daylight by sparklylulz (sparklyulz) (AO3 2020  Rated T Complete, 4 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Coffee shop employee Rey has a run in with one of the difficult professors. Thus starts a very turbulent friendship until Ben needs a fake date to go with him to see his parents, the first time he's seen his parents in a while.)