#he would be the type of person to say mint chocolate tastes like toothpaste

[uknow]

[seonghw4ffles]

daydream

" it's your world, and i'm just in it. "

playing boy in luv, after school, happy fools ...

hongjoong x fem!reader

au: highschool

genre: grumpy!reader x sunshine!hongjoong, pure fluff, bad test score comfort, hongjoongs cocky but not really, first kiss

w/c: 1.4k

summary: you don't understand what went wrong. you're known to be the winner of these competitive exams, as the top a-grade student of the entire school, and it seems like your reputation has now been crushed. as the scoreboard was displayed, your name didn't fit in second place. your eyes, widened, follows north to the victor, and you're now in greater shock at who it is. kim hongjoong? how is he there?? he's absent less than half the time, class clown, and a jerk. he is the last person you could ever guess who held the capability of defeating you.

tw: ice cream, especially mint chocolate if that tells you anything, drenching rain, skibidi toilet idk

note: yeah if u could guess yea i got an ass test score and its the WORST when ur a perfectionist yeah this is just pure comfort, its NOT proofread cuz i just rambled on and on w this, and its so rushed for A REASON chat oh and also i wanna get back at him for hating my favourite ice cream flavour.

"heyyyy…"

hongjoong stands as he listens through the bathroom door, hearing the sobs of his nightmares. his ears instinctively presses to the gap between the door and the wall.

"hongjoong, go away."

"that's not nice."

he is genuinely inexperienced in this type of situation. he never cared, because he had nobody to comfort anyway, but at this moment, he wishes he spent his whole life studying therapy. he lightly trembles on his feet only listening to you cry. he does not know what to say.

"do… do you want to talk about it..?" he asks gently.

"you already know."

"yeah, but…"

hongjoong's fists clench. he always thought it was easy to comfort someone, but he now realises how impossible it seems to be. he strikes the restrictive, annoying door with his fist out of irritation.

"stop crying."

"get lost."

hongjoong loudly groans, slumping against the bathroom door downwards to end up sitting on the dirty floor. despite the crowds walking around the corridors to leave the school like escaping from a torture chamber, he can hear your crying way too clearly. he knows he probably looks crazy to be sitting against the door of the women's bathroom, but it is quite literally the last thing he is concerned about. you cannot ruin your own reputation if you never had one at all.

"come onn, 82% is not bad at all," he whines, really trying his best to convince you.

"compared to my other test scores, it looks disgusting."

your voice cracks, and so does hongjoong.

he slowly turns to look at the door. "hey… if it makes you feel better, wooyoung got 59%," he says, gently and affectionately, in hopes that it would comfort you.

"i don't care about wooyoung."

hongjoong slams his fist against the door once again.

"you're being annoyinggggg!! just come ouuutttt!!!!!!"

"no."

he groans again, loudly, leaning his head back. the stubbornness is killing him, and hongjoong is not one for patience. he never understood why a boy would want to sit against a public womens bathroom all for a girl… until you. however, all that frustration suddenly dissolves after he hears you giggle.

his head snaps up, and his heart flutters.

"y/n, if you come out, we can go to the park and get ice cream. i'll pay. to make you feel better."

˖ ࣪⭑

"there were 15 choices, and out of every single flavour, you chose mint chocolate??" he mumbles, looking sickened by the strange green coloured ice cream you're grasping. he sounds as if he did not intend for you to hear, as if he was merely saying aloud of what's on his mind.

"you don't like mint chocolate??" your head snaps as you reply, more than surprised.

"i don't understand why people would like such a thing."

"i don't think i can continue talking to you anymore."

"why would you like something that tastes exactly like toothpaste?"

"toothpaste?!-" you repeat loudly, now leaning your head lower to investigate him as he mindlessly consumes his ice cream, rising in astonishment the longer this topic is being talked about. your friend, seonghwa, has the same view and oftenly uses the same point against you. you sometimes wonder why everyone that knows you is always against you in almost everything. 

"you're literally eating rainbow flavour. you can't be more shallow than that," you rebut.

"what?"

"mint adds personality. rainbow flavour... what are we? five??"

he is bewildered by what you said.

"EXCUSE ME?!?>>!?!>?!?!!??!>?!" hongjoong exclaims. "i got the highest of the whole school, thank you very much, little miss smarty girl or whatever."

being the competitive person you are, the topic brought up annoys you. you're still tremendously salty about the outcome of that event. you really expected to be first, like all those other times.

he is one great child of mischief. he listens to no one, and is involved in every physical fight. schoolwork is nothing to him, considering his awful reports of missing assigments. however, you are the complete opposite. sure you're straight a's but you also work hard, hence the term 'lazy genius' throws you off the most.

hongjoong seems visibly amused by your silence, as if nothing was funnier.

you huff. "how did you get FULL MARKS on that damn test??"

"oh," he laughs. "math is easy."

"go away from me," you immediately respond.

"heehee~~"

but despite that, you never felt so easily reassured after such a plight like that until now. sure, you're disappointed, but the stroll with hongjoong strangely makes everything okay.

the conversations turned into silence, enjoying the outside, appreciating the beauty of the city. and maybe, just subtly, each other as well.

nothing felt more fulfilling.

you walk across the city, greatly dazzled by a few paintings displayed on the exterior of a building. "you like art?" you ask hongjoong, witnessing the way he immerses in them. he never appeared to be one with a passion for such things. "yeah. i can't create art, though, which is a shame."

unlike him, you liked creating art a lot. you were known to be a good artist by many. in fact, there was a temporary art exhibition held at your school not long ago, involving pieces developed by countless students, including yours. you remember him being the last one there as a guest after everyone left satisfied, although couldn't recall a piece with his name.

"you spent a lot of time at the school's exhibition."

"it's really cool that i'm within a community of many great artists."

it's indeed very odd for a clown like him to appreciate something so much, especially one that involves the most patience, such as art.

"hongjoong, which painting was your favourite?" you ask, your eyes gazing at the public creations drifting past as you walk.

"truthfully? yours," he says with no hesitation.

you slowly turn towards him, quite unexpected of that answer. "huh?"

"yours. whenever i observe them, i feel like i'm somewhere else. a dream, perhaps, rather than mere paint on a canvas."

he catches you surprised, and he smiles.

you never really felt this flattered. nobody complimented your art with such sincerity. maybe this hongjoong guy in your class isn't as bad as you depicted him to be.

the walk continued, and it was wonderful.

˖ ࣪⭑

"it's OKAY that you're upset! it's a GOOD thing!!"

he laughs, breaking free from under the umbrella to spin around in the soaking rain. hongjoong turns to you with an invincible, illuminant smile.

all you could do was dread school, everything, after that test score.

but despite the desperately falling rain, the cold breeze and the faded sunshine, he remains happy. it seems as if there is truly nothing he fears. he stands out in the darkness. he has the glamorous ability to make an environment so suffocating into a moment so beautiful. before hongjoong, you never noticed the refreshing smell of dew that blooms in wet weather, or the raindrops creating beautiful rings on the puddles of the ground. yet, you still cannot decide if hongjoong's mysterious enthusiasm was rather impressive or just infuriating.

"can you just… stop being so… you, right now?"

you stop walking, tightening your grip on the umbrella while staring right at him, watching him pause and turn around.

you both stare in silence at one another, your surroundings of the threatening winds and rain now feeling louder than before. in merely a few words, the adrenaline mood that hongjoong has constructed has now vanished within the harsh winds. the sudden tension causes you to instantly drown into deep regret.

"hongjoong… i just-"

you are cut off by his large, sudden step towards you. he holds out his hand, and you flinch at the sudden touch from your cheeks to your soaked hair. he hides a stream carefully behind your ear as he gazes. his fingers felt so soft and gentle, despite that it is the hands of your greatest academic rival. he smiles, and you feel as though he has reached through you and mended your stone-cold heart.

he brings his face closer, now inches away.

"i know," he mutters. it is the only few words you needed to recover.

"as much as i like you, y/n, i'm going to kindly decline that offer."

he was quiet, but was close enough for you to listen to every word he says and every detail of his voice. his voice sounds treasuring, his words felt soothing, and the way your name leaves his mouth makes you a little happier.

and he kisses you.

he kisses you like there was nothing else in the world. like the rain wasn't pouring, like the cars weren't tumultuous. you felt warm.

you were unable to fully comprehend this entire situation before he already stepped backwards. his smile remains wide, despite his completely soaked frame, continuing to be a target for the clouds to rain on.

"now, if you continue to waste time, i'm dragging you home before you catch a cold."

[deadtired03]

💜🃏Jeremiah Valeska Headcanons 🔪💣 (ft. Jerome):

1. Before he was abused and before Jeremiah left, Jerome was a normal kid. He took risks, loved jokes, and enjoyed pulling pranks, but he wasn’t “crazy.” Jeremiah, on the other hand, was considered a very strange kid. Because Jerome was wild, Jeremiah liked to act as though he was the “sane” twin. In reality, Jeremiah would do or say a lot of weird things that didn’t make sense to anyone but himself.

2. He’s a compulsive liar and often makes up a lot of things about himself (which only slightly got better as he grew up).

3. He has an eery and unnatural fearlessness (though he tries not to be too reckless) and would often have to fake his fear in order to seem more normal in the eyes of others. He also has a freakishly high pain tolerance, which would often secretly baffle Jerome as a kid.

4. As a kid, one of Jeremiah’s favorite hobbies was dissecting stray animals (mostly alley cats) out of “curiosity” and then blaming it on Jerome (in the future, after killing his mother, Jerome’s memories blurred together and he genuinely believed he was the one responsible for all the dead animals when he was a kid).

5. He’s always had odd responses and reactions (such as the time his mother freaked out over a spider and Jeremiah’s immediate reaction was to hide it instead of getting rid of it).

6. One strange tendency he’s always had, which always embarrassed him as a kid, was letting out random, short bursts of laughter or giggling (which he learned to control as he grew older).

7. Ever since he was a kid, he’s had a habit of arguing with himself, out loud, when he’s trying to make a decision (this would earn him a lot of weird looks from the other circus folk).

8. After leaving the circus, he was bullied in school for being “weird”, causing him to attempt to suppress his strange behaviors. All his progress came undone after being sprayed by Jerome’s insanity gas.

9. After being sprayed with the insanity gas he started hearing multiple voices in his head, three of them being Jerome, Lila, and Zack.

10. He’s really good with makeup and often tried on Lila’s makeup as a kid, which Jerome secretly knew about.

11. He’s an extreme pyromaniac and secretly loved setting things on fire when he was a kid, once almost setting the trailer on fire (y’know, for science). His obsession with fire, however, eventually evolved into an obsession with bombs and explosions.

12. After being sprayed with the insanity gas, he adopted two pet hyenas for Ecco on her birthday (one is named Bruce while the other is named Lila). After killing Ecco, Jeremiah took care of the hyenas until they were later given to Harley Quinn.

13. Similar to his mother, he has a slight addiction to alcohol and usually drinks whenever he’s stressed/paranoid, sad, or disappointed.

14. He’s always loved a good show and was definitely interested in theater. However, I think he refused to indulge in those interests/desires in fear they’d make him seem similar to Jerome.

15. While sleeping, post-spray!Jeremiah sometimes speaks complete nonsense, says incredibly disturbing things, or just giggles (I feel like Ecco would somehow know about this and record him without telling him).

16. While Jerome’s canon favorite ice cream flavor is chunky monkey, Jeremiah’s favorite ice cream flavor is mint chocolate chip (I also like to headcanon that Jerome would make fun of him for liking ice cream that, in his opinion, tastes like toothpaste).

17. After being adopted, he was diagnosed with general anxiety disorder, insomnia, and OCD. After being sprayed with the insanity gas, he developed psychosis and depersonalization disorder.

18. He’s definitely a cat person, which he probably tries to hide. He’s the type of person to be strongly against getting a cat but ends up being the one most attached to it/also probably hates dogs, especially big ones. However, he still has no qualms with killing cats as long as they’re feral.

19. He’s agender (AMAB) and goes by any pronouns (I think, especially after being sprayed with the insanity gas, he’d be completely apathetic to the concept of gender and just wouldn’t care).

20. He’s bisexual with no preference (pre-spray!Jeremiah had a crush on Ecco and post-spray!Jeremiah developed a crush on Bruce).

21. He once sent a chocolate cake to the Wayne mansion on Bruce’s birthday and said it was from Gordon, but when Alfred cut into it it was just lasagna shaped like a cake and covered in chocolate frosting.

22. Due to years of drawing out his plans for engineering and designing mazes, he’s actually pretty good at drawing and enjoys sketching weird things when he has nothing else to do (which is rare as the Joker).

23. I feel like he’d be really into 1920s jazz music and electric-swing and would dance to it with Ecco (I headcanon his favorite song to be Let’s Misbehave by Irving Aaronson).

24. He never actually needed glasses, he just wore them to look “smarter” and to differentiate himself from Jerome.

25. I feel like his adoptive parents would’ve made him learn an instrument (specifically piano) throughout middle school and high school (probably far-fetched).

26. Puns make him unnaturally and unreasonably angry, so of course Jerome would make them all the time when they were kids (he considers puns to be an insult to actual jokes). He also probably fell for a lot of Deez Nuts jokes, courtesy of, surprisingly, Ecco.

27. Jeremiah = Mad Hatter

Jerome = Cheshire Cat

Bruce = Alice

28. His and Jerome’s birthday is April 1 (April Fool’s Day).

29. He’s extremely unpredictable after being sprayed with the insanity gas, which adds to his chaotic behavior. Some days he’ll commit crimes such as murder or blowing up a hospital, other days he’ll pull weird, elaborate pranks (usually on the GCPD or Bruce/Batman).

30. He’s the only one besides Alfred who knows that Bruce is Batman.

31. Really bad at and hates video games (except The Sims/probably made a Sim of himself and Bruce).

32. (⚠️Trigger Warning⚠️) Was probably sexually abused by his uncle without Jerome’s knowledge (otherwise Jerome would’ve killed Zack a lot sooner) and was a big part of the reason why he lied in order to leave.

33. I can see him being interested in learning different languages to expand his knowledge, mainly Spanish, French, Russian, and German.

34. Definitely born the younger twin, but became the older twin after Jerome died for a year and thus stopped aging.

35. For some reason I feel like he’d really like horses and would probably show up at Bruce’s mansion with a black horse wearing a tutu and a clown wig as a present or something.

36. Ecco sometimes catches him talking to animals or inanimate objects like he’s having an actual two-way conversation.

37. He learned how to wield a knife and use basic hand-to-hand combat from Ecco. However, he mostly relies on tricks to beat an opponent.

38. If he were an animal he’d be a purple poison dart frog (or a peacock lmao). Jerome would obviously be a hyena and Ecco would be a cat (guess what Bruce would be).

39. Constantly tells jokes and pulls pranks in a desperate attempt to make Bruce/Batman laugh (which of course only Harley manages to accomplish).

40. All of his weapons are custom made and have a clown/circus theme. He also has fake guns that just shoot out red flags saying “BANG!”

41. He hates bad manners/etiquette and tries to seem as proper as he can while at the same time acting like a clown. He’s a weird mix between polite and psychopath.

42. Absolutely despises being or getting dirty. Even just the thought of being covered in any form of filth makes his skin crawl.

43. I genuinely think that the only thing the insanity gas did to him was amplify his already existing thoughts and behavior and take away all of his impulse control.

44. As a kid he would manipulate Jerome into doing whatever he wanted, which mainly consisted of stealing things for him (I firmly believe Jerome was stealing Zack’s snickerdoodle cookies for Jeremiah).

45. Besides changing color (after the gas), Jeremiah’s eyes can also see extremely well in the dark.

46. If I were to give him a theme song it’d probably be Mama’s Gun by Glass Animals. I just think it fits the whole going insane vibe.

47. Jerome is against killing or hurting babies and children, but Jeremiah won’t hesitate to get rid of anything in his way (except Bruce).

48. Refuses to swear and instead says the weirdest things as a substitute (Ecco tries so hard to deal with it).

49. Actually likes snakes and got along well with them like his mother. He was definitely Sheba’s favorite and was the only one she tolerated besides Lila.

Note: I’ll probably add onto this if I think of any more. Also, feel free to let me know what you think.

[exoluxionlove]

EXO-L JPN Planet #14: Chen's One Summer Day

👤: What do you think of once you heard the word summer? ⚡: Hot! I can only think of this in the first place (laughs) I actually dislike summer the most. I would want to run away from the heat. Also, watermelon! It is the most tasty fruit in the summer. I don't really eat fruits normally but I really watermelons. Summer = watermelon.

👤: Did you always dislike summer? ⚡: I feel like I wasn't as (weak) about the summer when I was in primary. I used to be a kid that likes to play under the heat. But I became more weak about summer.... (laughs)

👤: How do you like spending your summer? ⚡: I like to spend it indoors with my air con switched on. Even if I go outside, I will be visiting shopping malls indoors. I enjoy movies too so I will visit late shows in the cinema as well.

👤: How did you spend your summer holidays when you were a student? ⚡: When I was a student I remember spending my summer holidays in tutorial lessons. My parents are quite strict about education so I spent a lot of time in tutoring school (laughs) When I was even younger I used to play with water guns as well. The water gun I used to play with will have half of it leaking when I tried shooting with it (laughs) It reminds me of those days today during this shoot. But the quality of the water gun is good today. I thought water guns will leak all the time (laughs)

👤: What food would you like to eat in the summer? ⚡: Eels and chicken ginseng soup. I would want food that gives me stamina (energy). Ah, but rather than wanting to eat I feel entitled to eat these food (laughs) Since I feel like I lose energy due to the sweat, I would want food that increases my stamina. There is a word called "Sambok" in korean and there were three days to it. I will eat (those food) during those days. First day it will be chicken ginseng soup, the second, eels.. something like that. I will eat these food no matter what happens (laughs) The members love food like these as well. Not even in the summer, but when we prepare new albums me and my members will eat these kind of food.

👤: Favorite summer fashion? ⚡: I like the type of clothes I am wearing today! I love clothes that are comfy for the summer. Instead of clothes that fit, I like over sized t-shirts, my tension will go down if I wore fitting clothes that stick onto me due to the sweat. In terms of colour, I usually wear black no matter which season it is. My wardrobe is 50% filled with black garments (laughs) I don't usually wear white that suits the summer, I also wear bright yellow and grey if not black. It is hard to have a lot of variations with summer fashion. Thats why I will wear rings and bracelets, watches etc. And actually I don't really like wearing sunglasses either, I like to wear rings and bracelets as details. I actually own quite a lot of bracelets made of beads and bangles. I used to wear chain bracelets but lately I am obsessed with beads bracelets.

👤: Were you the type that plans to do your summer homework? ⚡️: I was the type that had my homework clogged up. But instead of the last day, I will begin doing it slightly earlier, around a week beforehand (laughs) Diaries, summaries of books read, workbooks etc... Even if there were many I will still do everything by myself. I hate writing summaries and thoughts after book reading most. I like DIY homework most, I have made a windmill with kibigara.... It reminds me so much of my old memories talking about this.

👤: Most memorable summer holidays in private? ⚡: I went camping with my friends during high school. We had a tent in the beach and I can never forget about how fun it was. We had bbq, fireworks, ate watermelons... but there were some happenings. We had meat but no one brought any utensils for it and we can't begin our bbq for it... (laughs) We played paper scissors rock and the one that lost had to spend an hour and a half going to the shops alone. It is like hitch hiking since the shops are so far. Btw I was one of those who won (laughs) We went together as a group of nine and this teenage memory is something I still remember deep in my heart.

👤: Do you eat cold food? ⚡: I love korean cold noodles. I can eat those no matter which season. I have shops that I would definitely recommend if you visit Korea (laughs) I always check if there are any new restaurants selling Korean cold noodles too. But even though I like cold food, I don't really like sweet food. Even if I want ice cream due to the heat I won't choose chocolate flavors. If I had to eat those I would choose the fruity flavors. I also like soda flavor too. I like ice candies that are of soda flavor since they aren't too sweet. I also like mint flavor. Even though some hates it because they say it tastes like toothpaste (laughs)

👤: What drinks during the summer ⚡: Cola! I like diet coke instead of the usual ones. It helps when I am thirsty drinking cola. If we are talking about drinks adults like during the summer, I love beer most, but since I won't drink beer everyday I usually have diet coke instead (laughs) My taste towards drinks qre quite complicated, even though I like carbonated drinks I don't really enjoy sweet ones like soda and cola. But I won't drink the carbonated water either (laughs) I only drink diet coke. Also, though I like watermelon I won't drink watermelon juice. I feel like it's more tasty eating it instead.

👤: Memories with EXO's members? ⚡: We usually spend our time preparing for albums during that period. We used to film together the MVs under the heat. Even if it's not in summer it reminds me of our trip to Taiwan for variety show. It doesn't feel like filming but we got to be our natural selves, and it made me felt like I have enjoyed a summer vacation. Since this was a reality show we got to spend our time outside together.

👤: Which member suits summer the most? ⚡: Chanyeol. His personality fits summer. He is bright and energetic, which fits summer perfectly. On the other hand, Xiumin Hyung and I probably are the types that are weak to summer most.

👤: Which song fits summer most among EXO's discography. ⚡: It has to be Power! Isn't this the song that brightens the atmosphere most? I like listening to up-tempo songs to drive the heat away in the summer too. In that sense, Power fits summer most.

Even though Chen has mentioned he likes watermelon better as a fruit itself, our staff didn't notice and prepared him a watermelon ice candy.... but Chen is the kindest person as agreed by his members!

Translation

[verdetea511]

Chapter 8

Mark had excused himself to answer a phone call and left you, Renjun and Haechan sitting down on the benches, and the boys were munching on pretzels that they bought.

You stare at your boyfriend from afar; he was lazily combing his fingers through his hair as he smiled brightly and laughed full-heartedly at whatever the person on the other end of the line was saying.

Even though this wasn’t a date, seeing Mark act so cheerful on the phone unnerved you. Your fingernails dug crescent moons into your palms as you saw his eyes twinkle as he spoke with animated hand gestures, the same way he used to look and talk with you.

He looked...genuinely happy.

“Want some?” A bag of pretzels were pushed into your view. You looked up at the owner of the snacks standing in front of you and frowned.

“You know I don’t like pretzels Renjun.”

“Yeah I know. But you glaring at his head isn’t going to make it pop either”, he said while shoving a handful of brown, salted goodness into his mouth.

You tore your eyes away from your friend’s. “I wasn’t glaring”, you mumbled and your cheeks started to flare up.

“Could’ve fooled me”, Haechan drawled from the other side of you, “I thought you were trying to burn a hole into the side of his head.”

“Oh shut up you two”.

“You know y/n-”

Before Haechan could finish his sentence,“Hey guys sorry to keep you waiting”, Mark came walking back. “But I gotta go head out first, an important meeting came up that I need to attend to.”

“It’s fine, your call looked important”, you said, trying not to sound pained.

But your eyes betrayed your words as tears started to pool. You quickly averted your eyes to the gravel ground in hopes that no one would notice the tears that were threatening to spill.

A rush of anger washed over Haechan when he saw a flash of hurt across your face, pushing him to provoke Mark, “Important enough to leave your girlfriend? You seemed to be smiling and giggling over the phone. Wanna tell us who it was?” Haechan took a step closer towards the man being questioned, coming to stand face to face with him.

The atmosphere crackled with tension as both males glared at each other.

In an attempt to defuse the situation, Renjun took his best friend’s arm and pulled him back. “Calm down”, he quietly hissed.

Mark tore his glare away from Haechan when he remembered you were there, “Y/n, I’m sorry. I promise I will make it up to you.” A guilty look on his face.

“Just go Mark, it’s fine. You’re always too busy for me anyway”, You swallowed hard at your own words.

“Y/n, that’s not what I meant-”

“Mark, I think it’s better if you leave now”, Renjun intervened calmly, looking at him dead in the eye with a serious expression.

Mark stood conflicted for a moment, he awkwardly rubbed his neck as he decided if he should listen to Renjun and just go or try to comfort you. He wasn’t expecting his sudden departure to have such a strong reaction from either you or your friends. So he decided on the former and left with a nod, the corners of his mouth slightly lifting into a half smile.

And you thought the day couldn’t have gotten any worse. So much for a “good” day y/n.

The three of you were mindlessly walking. No one had uttered a word until...

“Well that was ugly”, Renjun broke the silence.

You rolled your eyes at him, “yeah no shit sherlock.”

Haechan, the one who was never afraid to be the first to share what’s on his mind, was unexpectedly silent after Mark had left. You glanced over at him and gulped in nervousness. His usual warm smile was nowhere to be found, instead replaced with a cold expressionless stare.

What was Haechan trying to get at with Mark earlier? Last time you checked they were great friends, and sometimes you even thought Haechan was Mark’s girlfriend considering how much time they would spend together. It was weird to see them both act so hostile towards one another. But then again, you haven’t seen them hang out with each other for a while now.

You had a gut feeling that both your boyfriend and best friend were keeping you out of the loop on something. And you were tired of it.

“I gotta go to the bathroom”, you and Renjun both swiveled your heads towards Haechan who was in the middle of you two. Without giving you guys the time to respond, Haechan suddenly turned on his heels and left, walking with purpose in his steps. You and Renjun were both left stunned by his sudden outburst and disappearance. It was just the two of you now.

“Sooo that fairy floss you owe me…”

You laugh at Renjun’s attempt to lighten the mood. Clasping onto his right hand, you dragged him along towards the food stalls, “Sure let’s go grab some”.

The sadness and hurt you felt earlier were starting to disappear; and Renjun, not knowing how to react, simply stared at his right hand being held in your small ones.

                                                         ******

“You noticed?”

“Noticed what?”

“Me and Mark…” You trailed off.

Renjun knew what you were getting at.

You were both strolling around the theme park, sharing a huge pink, flower-shaped fairy floss. You tore off a piece of floss and popped it in your mouth, the sweetness melting away the bitter feeling you had.

“Well you’re not exactly an open book but I am pretty observant. Your face dropped when your boyfriend had to leave”.

You bitterly smiled at his response.

“Anything on your mind? You always feel better after talking it out” Renjun softly asked.

You paused in your steps, looking up at the sky, letting Renjun’s words repeat in your head.  The sun had just begun to set and casted rich hues of red blended with shades of orange and purple against the clouded sky.

There was something about Renjun —other than the fact that he was a calm and level-headed person— he gave off a feeling that you can trust him. It has always been something you’ve felt about him ever since you first met him through Haechan, who had introduced you to him on the second day of first year as you both took the same statistics class. He wasn’t shy but he mostly kept to himself, only talking when necessary. But the longer you spend time with him in and out of college with your friends, the more he showed a different side of himself — straight-forward and blunt but also mindful of his actions and of those around him. He was attentive, patient and always understanding with you. The only time he ridiculed you was when you said mint chocolate was your favourite flavour of ice-cream. He told you to grow up and pick a real flavour that didn’t taste like toothpaste.

Taking a deep breath you finally decided to confide in him. “Remember the time you, Jaemin and I went to the coffee shop near campus during our break, and I called Mark to ask if he wanted a coffee as well?”

“Yeah, you didn’t look so well that day”, Renjun was a few steps ahead from where you stood, concern lingering in his eyes.

“When I-” You hesitated, struggling to get out the words. “When I called him, he didn’t pick up. But at that moment, from the window of the cafe, I saw Mark with a girl across the street from us, talking and laughing with each other.” You gulped hard.

“I didn’t want to draw any conclusions, so I ignored it. I pushed aside any feelings of jealousy and doubt because I thought that my two years with Mark amounted to something; it couldn't just end like this. He looked so happy that day and on the phone just before, and I want him to find that happiness in our relationship again. So I went along with the things he suggested, because I thought that if he had things his way then he would be happy, and if he was happy then I could be happy too.”

There was a brief silence, and the entire time you had avoided Renjun’s gaze. You had just spilled the things you had hid in your heart to him, the things you hadn’t even told anyone, not even Haechan. You finally took a peek at him, at his face. He had an undecipherable expression and merely looked at you with a piercing gaze that somewhat unnerved you a little. Renjun took a couple of steps closer toward you and took your left hand in his, rubbing soothing circles on the back.

“For someone so smart, you can be so dumb too. You know it’s okay to be selfish with the person you love right?” Your breath hitched at his words, your eyes locked onto his.

“You were always the type to put others first, always the one to make sure they’re happy, always giving your all. I guess that's really just who you are, but don’t let that happen at the expense of your own happiness, y/n. If you want to make the people around you happy, you need to find your own happiness first. So being selfish is not always a bad thing.” His voice slowly trailed at the end.  

You both stared at each other, and Renjun, finally realising how close you both were took a step back to create some distance between you two. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked elsewhere with a slight flush in his cheeks.

“Sorry I might have gone a little too far”, he said with a low voice.

You were silent. In fact, you didn’t know how to respond. What he said to you completely struck you and left you questioning your own happiness with Mark. You were happy with him, in the past. When you had first started dating you were constantly on cloud nine, every little thing Mark did made your stomach erupt with butterflies. Lately, your relationship with him has become quite tiring and disheartening. But after spending time with him today, well before he left, you felt as if your relationship could go back to the way it used to be; where there was laughter and love.

But then you were reminded of his expression when he was talking on the phone.

“Being selfish huh…” Renjun swivelled his head to look at you.

“I’ll try.” You looked straight at him with a bitter smile. “But thank you Renjun, what you said helped me”, you said. You had hope in your heart, however little, but you were willing to take the chance on a ‘what if’ in your relationship.

You finally concluded. You felt comfortable with Renjun.

                                                         *****

You hopped onto the ferris wheel carriage as it arrived to a stop in front of you with Haechan, who, a while ago, came back from the bathroom with a sour look on his face. You all decided to get on one last ride at Lotte World before heading back home. It was just you and Haechan on the ferris wheel, as Renjun had refused to ride it because he was “afraid of heights”, he said.

In the distance, the dark brown-haired individual quietly observed you and his best friend  stepping into the ferris wheel.

“You know it’s okay to be selfish with the person you love right?”

He looked down at his right hand and squeezed it.

Renjun, you hypocrite.

Without You || chapter 8

Genre: angst, slight fluff, romance, humor, college au

Summary: In a strained relationship with her boyfriend, y/n unexpectedly finds comfort in someone she never knew she could have with. Is it just a friendship, or something more?

Taglist: @longassride​

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a/n: oml so happy chapter is finally done scjndsjdf keen to write texts again btw we know y/n is being big dumb rn that was on purpose, we the authors aren’t that dumb :’)