#I will really do anything and everything other than actually officially introducing cream au into the world‚ huh?

[magnusbae]

“The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me; my eye and God's eye are one eye, one seeing, one knowing, one love.”

[bonny-kookoo]

Cat Eyes (JJK x Reader) ❤️☁️🔞🐾

Pairing: Jeon Jungkook x Reader

Genre: Hybrid!AU, Human!Jungkook, Hybrid!Reader, Fluff/romance, Strangers to lovers?, slight angst, smut

Warnings: discussion of homelessness and unfairness against hybrids, mild mention of past abuse, trust issues, Sweet Koo, smut because duh, lovemaking it’s so sweet yall, dirty talk but only minor, overstimulation, multiple orgasms, doggy style, mild biting, yeah that’s it this time wait for part two oh my

Summary: on the streets, cast out. Just another week for you, but somehow you wonder if this stranger might mean a change for you.

Or alternatively: Jungkook feeds you and you’re kinda grateful for that.

Its cold, but you've been preparing for that outcome for a long time already. Being born as a hybrid, a simple housecat at that, you had nothing special or rewarding about you, making you just a pet getting passed around from person to person as soon as you got too boring to keep around.

This was a regular thing for you. The fact that you got kicked out so many times already made you wary of actually possessing any belongings at all, not even owning a phone or clothes you could consider your own- merely the things you currently wore, drenched in the water that had been dribbling from the skies in rough speeds, hood over your head already useless at keeping your hair and ears dry. But it was okay. This was normal for you, after all.

Sitting down between two glowing vending machines located behind a small convenience store, you tried to warm yourself up with the small amount of heat radiating off of the two metal machines- not really being successful, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

It's been three weeks already like this, trying to find a place to catch some sleep before roaming the streets again, searching for food and sometimes even finding a bit of money on the street. You didn't have a collar, so you had to hide your hybrid features well- not like you'd like to show your dirty fur anytime soon anyways.

Yawning before turning a bit, shoes squeaking a bit with the amount of water inside them, you closed your eyes, mind focusing on the buzzing next to your head, trying to use it as a form of lullaby to soothe you into sleeping a bit. Yet you were disturbed by someone pressing the buttons and inserting money into the vending machine, the loud noises of the soda can banging against the metal interior loudly enough to make you press your ears flat against your skull. You hoped whoever was craving the beverage was a human or didn't pay attention to you; but again- you were out of luck.

"Huh?" Came the humming question of a male voice, and you instantly tensed up as a warm hand was placed on your wet shoulder. "Hey.. you okay?" The voice asked, and you imagined his Umbrella shielding him from the rain, the pitter patter of it on the plastic fabric an indication that he probably used one. You weren't an impressive predator like a Tiger or a Leopard, but you certainly could distinguish noises from one another to see things around you, even without using your eyes. "Can you hear me?" He asked gently, and you wanted to turn around, scoff in his face that yes, you did, you just chose not to. "Do you have an owner.?" Well, piss. Seems like hiding your features didn't do much as well.

You only turned a bit, hood catching on a pointed piece of metal from the vending machine, making it reveal one of your wet ears to him, as well as a piece of the side of your face. You only saw him with one eye, but you already knew he was on the far opposite of the food chain- expensive suit and sparkling rolex on his wrist, connected to the tattooed hand holding his black umbrella almost mocking you as he looked at you with pity. You spotted his ears, or more lack thereof, already wanting to cry at them; a human like him didn't know the things you were going through. That's probably why he'd asked if you were owned immediately, and you wanted to laugh. Yet your croaky voice didn't say these things. It only stated the obvious. "No." Because you really didn't- the official timespan was two weeks, after that, a formerly owned hybrid was officially considered a stray if it went missing. You didn't belong to anyone other than the state itself- which was why you had to hide so well, to not get thrown into an adoption center again.

The stranger furrowed his brows a bit, before leaving. Well, at least he took the hint, you thought, before he came back again, placing a white bag with some plastic items down in front of you, before putting his umbrella over your head, the rain suddenly stopping from falling down on you. You looked downwards, at the plastic container- sushi? Dumplings? And another one that steamed a bit- rice? You didn't get it, but still turned around a bit, watching him warily as if you were waiting for him to yell sike and run away. Yet he didn't, simply scooting a bit closer to not get the rain onto his head, and waiting. The sound of cars passing by and some music being played somewhere was the only noise surrounding you for a bit, before you hesitantly reached out for the containers, always keeping an eye on him. He simply smiled when you started to unpack the plastic foil of the cheap chopsticks, digging into the hot rice as if it was a five star meal. You could practically feel it warming up your belly, making you suppress a sigh as you got lost in consuming the food he'd bought.

Only once you were finished, not being able to eat everything, did he actually move. He grabbed some of the leftovers, eating them until he took the boxes and put them into the trash nearby. You looked at him with a questioning gaze. Would he want anything from you now? You didn't trust his angelic features at all if you were being honest. "You're probably not gonna want to come home with me and thats fine." He said, before looking at you. "I'll leave the umbrella here, alright? Lets hope the rain stops soon." He mumbled, getting up, making you look up to him as he slowly turned around, giving you a small wave. "Goodnight. Stay safe." He simply said, before jogging to his car.

Huh. What a weird guy.

Jeon Jungkook was his name as he'd introduced himself on the second day of visiting you behind the convenience store, and he was indeed a weird human. He made it a simple casualty- visiting you every day after work with food, having full conversations with you, and asking about your day and life in general. He himself noticed a slight spark returning to your eyes, interest peaking in those orbs as you talked to him more and more. You were a quiet girl, not really giving away much about you, but managing to make him feel like he knew you. You were smart, and he liked that. After almost a week of daily conversations, he finally popped the question.

"Do you want to come home with me?" He asked, making you look up from your can of soup he'd bought you this time. You thought for a bit before shrugging. At this point he'd invested so much into feeding you that it felt like you had to- simply as a form of repayment. He smiled, before leaning his head a bit to the side, voice low and serious. "You don't have to. I'm simply offering." He said, and you put down the empty can, nodding.

"Alright." You said, and he grinned, standing up and putting the trash away before closing the umbrella still hanging over the vending machines, turning around. His eyes widened a bit at just how short you were, yet he found it endearing. He led you to his car, not caring that his cream colored interior could be stained with your admittedly dirty clothing and shoes. He'd pay someone to clean it the next day, and all would be fine.

"So uhm.." You began, unsure what would happen now. "What am I supposed to do when we get to your place?" You asked, and after a moment of realization, his ears turned red.

"No no no, I'm, oh my.." He cleared his throat for a moment, before he threw one leg over the other, as to make himself seem more sure of himself than he actually was. "I'm not that kind of person." He explains calmly, as he waves his hand to the driver, who nodded, before the window to the front closes, giving you two some privacy. "I simply saw you there and.. I don't know. I couldn't just leave you there." He said, and you nodded.

"So it's for your repuptation." You said. "I guess you're an investor then?" You knew people like him. Their initial thought was nice, but at the end of the day it was only for personal gain. Well, at least he'd keep you around for some months before the public would slowly forget about you again. You've been through that as a young kitten.

But he shook his head. "I am an investor, yeah- but I don't plan on showing you to the public eye. I don't want anything of you other than your company." You opened your mouth again, but he groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose for a second. "Not like that." He began. "My apartment is.. big. Huge. But it's also empty. A friend of mine had told me I should get a hybrid, and I genuinely considered. I was actually at a shelter the day we first met." He explained, and you nodded. "I didn't find anyone I was.. okay with, I guess. I can't just let anyone into my life, you know. Most people only want something, just to leave right after. When I saw you, yeah, at first it was pure pity, I won't lie." You nodded, watching him. "But the more we talked, the more I realized how compatible we were." Well, this was new. "I won't be home much, because I work a lot, but I don't like being lonely." He turns to you, serious. "If you're comfortable with it, I'd like you to simply be a companion. Someone who shares my home with me, accompanies me to those absolutely boring dinners I have to endure every week or so, and who sometimes maybe comes to work with me. If you simply want to stay home however, that's fine as well." He says, and you nod.

"Can I.. think about it?" You ask, and he nods, a gentle smile adoring his lips. The rest of the ride is filled with comfortable silence, and you almost drift off to sleep, but you arrive at his apartment complex before you can fully float away. There's nothing said between the two of you as he leads you inside the hallway of the building, a hand on the small of your back as if to make sure you won't get lost, his figure always close to shield you from wary eyes of the security and other residents walking by. Inside the elevator, silence is still present, until someone joins you two; a tall man, a little older than your now soon-to-be Master, who looks at you, and then at your Master.

"Ah, so you have finally found someone for you? I'm happy for you Jungkook." He says,a smile on his lips. "My name is Kim Seokjin my dear, may I ask yours?" He speaks, and you look at Jungkook close to you as if you were expecting him to answer for you- like it was typical. But he only smiled as well, nodding towards you in encouragement, so you, quietly, answered with a small bow of your head. "Ah, a shy one isn't she? But very pretty, I have to say." He said, and Jungkook chuckled as if to accompany that statement. "Ah, well. Please think about the company dinner next saturday, and oh!" Seokjin said as he left the elevator, hand holding the elevator door open for a moment as he looked at you one last time. "Bring her along, yeah? I heard that Jimin is bringing Yoongi as well. A good chance for her to make friends.!" He said, before winking, and waving goodbye- leaving you and Jungkook inside the elevator to climb a few more levels higher.

"Don't feel pressured now, please." Jungkook said, as the elevator chimed, the two of you stepping out as he walked past you to open his apartment door. "You don't have to if its too soon." He said, before opening his door.

He didn't lie when he said his apartment was big, but you never truly saw a skyline like that. It was a breathtaking view outside the windows, and it took a moment until you could finally avert your eyes to scan the rest. It felt.. almost sterile, in a way. Nothing truly screamed his name at you, neither the furniture, nor wall decorations. A few pictures were hung up, but other than that, the apartment looked like it got pulled straight out of an interior design magazine. "It's pretty bland, isn't it?" He lowly said, as he turned on some of the lights, hanging up his coat on the hanger next to the door as he untied his shoes. "I know it does. I.. hope that'll change, maybe." He said, before he made his way into the open kitchen. "Are you hungry? Thirsty? I can just show you your room and leave you be as well, yeah, that would probably be a good idea. Let me show you." He said, and you followed him after taking your own shoes off as well.

It was a rare occurence to have a room for yourself- so much so, that you only remember having one as a kitten, when it had been necessary. Stepping inside, you noticed the crisp air; he'd opened the window to air it out, it seemed. There was a bed in the corner, a wardrobe and a mirror- as well as a door that connected to a bathroom, right now void of light. "I'll leave you be for now. There are some of my old clothes so you have something to sleep in- don't worry, I washed them so you won't get my scent on you just yet, I know it makes hybrids a bit fussy." He chuckled, and nodded towards you with a smile. "If you want to, you can come out, if you don't stay inside, I won't be mad. I'll have the day off tomorrow and after, so we should use that time to get you some clothes if you want." He suggested, and you nodded into his direction. He bowed a bit, before leaving the room, and you alone.

You waited a bit so his footsteps got out of reach, before you walked around a bit. The room was bigger than the one you had as a kitten, but still small enough to be considered a guest room. Your first goal however, was the bathroom. Grabbing the clothes he had left you, you noticed immediately that it had been washed with hybrid proof detergent- a brand called 'noscent' which was typically used for newly homed hybrids so they wouldn't get overwhelmed. How he knew of that was unclear to you, but maybe he did have a hybrid before, or a friend told him. It didn't matter though, because you knew this was timed. Better make the most out of it. So as you climbed into the bathtub, soapy scent around you as you washed yourself squeaky clean, you felt okay again. Now was the time to mend yourself together, figure out what your master liked so you could make your stay as comfortable for everyone involved as possible, and just enjoy the good sides while rushing the bad.

But somehow there was a weird feeling in your gut.

Maybe things were really about to change this time.

The next morning was calm. Apart from something clattering in the kitchen, you awoke by yourself, shocked to see it almost being twelve. Why had he not woken you up, when he so clearly implied yesterday that he had plans with you today? For a moment you wondered if maybe this had been a test, but judging by his whistling in the kitchen, he was in a good attitude still.

So you went for it.

Simply brushing your hair and tail, you stepped out the room, smell of food immediately meeting your nose. "I was about to wake you." He said without turning, as he grabbed another bowl to fill. "I figured I'd let you sleep after all that change so you could rest well. Good morning." He said, finally turning around, making you gasp internally a bit.

You knew that his hand was tattooed, but what now showed was his entire forearm covered in ink. Completely different from yesterday, he wore a simple grey sweater and sweatpants combo, hair in a messy tiny ponytail on his head. He looked so.. young, yet masculine, not at all like the businessman you had encountered before. But it was a nice change; because if he let you see himself like this, he really was intending to have you around for longer, and was working towards a more personal companionship. Maybe he really did want you as a companion for himself, not his outside persona.

You sat down at the table before stopping immediately, eyes widening. He seemed to notice this however, chuckling as he placed a warm hand on your shoulder, helping you on the chair properly. "You can sit at the table with me, don't worry. Please move around freely; my home is as much mine as it is yours now, okay?" He said, and you nodded. "Thank you." He said, and you watched him for a moment, before you started to eat.

"How.." You started, and he wiped his lips with a tissue before looking at you, attention now on your words. You were grateful for that small gesture. "How do you know that much about hybrids?" You asked, and he smiled.

"Yesterday, Jin-hyung said something about Yoongi, you remember?" You nodded, a bit eagerly, since you were used to remember things that your master said all the time. "Good girl." He said, and it made your skin tingle a bit, as he cleared his throat, a bit shy after letting that slip. "He uhm, Yoongi-hyung is a cat-hybrid as well. His owner is Jimin, who's my coworker. Yoongi was a rescue a few years back, who I asked a bit about what to do if I take someone in who.. you know, wasn't from a shelter. He told me a few things." He explained, and you nodded.

"Why are you calling him Yoongi-hyung though, if he's a hybrid?" You asked, before taking another spoonful. You liked warm food. It made your belly warm.

"Ah." He mused, as he finished his plate, leaning back. "I'm not really following the whole foodchain-order stuff, to be honest. Yoongi-hyung is older than me, my hyung, so that's that. Oh, that reminds me, how old are you?" He asked, and you answered.

"I think.. 22?" You said, and he seemed a bit sad. Did you say something wrong? Did he want someone younger? Someone older?

"Ah, sorry.. but, you think?" He said. "So.. you haven't celebrated your birthday, at all?" He asked, and you shook your head. "Ah thats no good. We'll celebrate it this year, promise!" He said. "You're a bit younger than me, by the way. I'm 25." He said, and you nodded, saving that information inside your brain for future reference. "If you're done we can either go shopping, or if you don't want to, we can shop online. We should do that now though, otherwise you'll have to wait too long for delivery and stuff." He said, and you nodded.

"Do you have a collar for me then?" You asked, and Jungkook grabbed your empty plate to put away. A collar wasn't something he could just not give you- he knew from Yoongi that it wasn't demeaning in any way. Wearing a collar was a form of comfort, it wasn't just an accessory, it was a physical evidence that you were claimed and safe.

"Yoongi gave me one of his older ones, but we can buy a proper one you like today." He said, and dried his hands on a dish towel as he looked at you. "Go and get your shoes, I'll give you one of my coats to wear, and then we can go, yeah?"

Shopping was always a hard one to crack.

This was when you would somehow have to figure out by simply picking the opossum on the road to know if its dead or not- in a sense of; simply point, and wait for the blow. With Jungkook however, there never was one, and it confused you how calm and somehow even happy he was. For example, when you pointed at a pretty expensive collar that wasn't your style just to see how he'd react, you didn't know how to react when he smiled. "Ah, let's look for something more delicate, yeah? The price doesn't bother me, but I doubt that heavy chains suit you kitten." He had simply said, and somehow, the petname made your ears turn towards him, making a nearby bunny hybrid and her owner chuckle.

He'd somehow managed to wiggle under your skin in just a day.

Because somehow, every time he looked at you, helped you reach something, or talked to you about what you liked, it felt so genuine. It felt like he really cared.

"Okay, how about.. oh, this one!" He said, pointing at a collar hidden behind glass- one covered in velvet, with a pretty pattern and a silver plate on the front where your name would be. It was expensive; absolutely mind blowing however, but what made your eyes glisten were his words. "There's a jeweler next door, so we can have your name and ID, as well as my emergency information stamped in." Because, until now, you only had the one's where you slide a paper with all needed info underneath a clear cover- it was easier to replace or give back. But, getting it stamped onto such an expensive collar was definitely something that would last- well, forever. "Or- wait, hey hey, whats wrong? If you don't like it we can buy a different one-"

"I love it." You said, and he led you away from all noise, into a more secluded part of the shop, where he squatted down to properly look at you. "I just.. I..it's..-" You began, and somehow he understood, and had this absolutely frustrating smile again, as he helped you wipe your tears a bit less harshly than you did yourself.

"I haven't said it clear enough yet, haven't I?" He asks, voice warm. "I plan on forever, not just for the moment. What I said when you first came into my apartment was directed at you. I hope you'll make my home feel like a home one day. How can I think about giving you away, when I just got you?" He questions, and you shrug. "I know trust isn't something you give away easily, and thats completely fine. I can also Imagine that you're not too sure of things right now, considering where you came from. But I promise you, I really do-" He says, and takes your hands in his. "I'll stay by your side for as long as you let me." He finishes, and you nod after a moment. "Alright? Alright!" He says, and takes your hand to buy the collar, your eyes still sparkling when you later on watch the lady at the jeweler stamp in your name- and his at the bottom.

Maybe this really was permanent.

At the dinner table with all his colleagues, and the infamous cat hybrid Yoongi next to you, you felt less awkward than you thought you would. Yoongi was a huge help, his calm demeanor helping you to stay composed as well, even under the watchful eyes of the rest of the people. Seokjin had been sweet as well, immediately making you feel welcomed. Jungkook never let you out of his sight, and it made you feel save as well.

It felt good.

Yoongi and you conversed here and there, and occasionally, Jungkook or Jimin, Yoongis owner would chime in, which made it feel as if you were always a part of this. You started to smile a bit, converse more openly, all until a waitress came and turned everything upside down.

"Would you like us to escort the pets to a different table, sir?" She asked Seokjin, who you had learned owned the company Jungkook and his coworkers worked for. He cleared his throat, and shook his head; almost an apologetic look in his eyes as he looked at Yoongi, you, and Taehyung- an independent Tiger-Hybrid with working license, he'd told you. He seemed to clench his teeth as to stay quiet, as the waitress left, leaving an uncomfortable silence behind.

"I'm sorry, please continue." Seokjin said, but the reminder of your status made everyone a bit.. uneasy the rest of the night.

"I'm sorry about the waitress, by the way." Jungkook said, as he helped you into your coat, when everyone was leaving. You shook your head, but he held his unsure expression. "No, I really am. It was uncalled for, and I'm genuinely upset that she phrased it like that." He explained, and you smiled.

"It's okay, Master." You said, which made Yoongis and Taehyungs ears shoot towards your direction, as if on instinct. They didn't look, no, they were discreet. But they still wanted to know what would happen next. "She probably didn't know- after all, it's still quite uncommon to keep hybrids as equal partners nowadays. Change comes slow." You said, but Jungkook suddenly seemed even more serious as he placed his hands on your shoulders, as you looked up at him.

"Jungkook." He said, and you leaned your head to the side in question. "Please, don't.. please just call me Jungkook." He explained, and you nodded, unsure why he was so upset by this. He sighed, before he traced your metal nameplate with his thumb for a fracture of a second, smiling again. "Let's go home." He said, and you nodded, walking after him as he lead the way, not noticing the way that Yoongi and Taehyung shared knowing glances at each other.

When Jungkook came home, he didn't know what exactly made him realize at first. Maybe it was the way your shoes were placed where there used to be none, or how the clothing hangers held your coats and scarfs as well now. Maybe it was the scent, or the rug that was placed on the lightwood laminated floor because your feet were always cold- or maybe it was your body on his couch, covered by a thick blanket he'd bought you recently when the winter became colder. No, it wasn't that- it was what came next. Your ears which flicked into his direction from their place ontop of your head, and the words you uttered next. "Welcome home Kookie!" You said, and he smiled.

He simply walked over to the couch, letting himself lean ontop of you as he squeezed himself behind your body on the couch, holding you securely to his chest as you turned around to face him. He looked tired, but happy and you took in his scent, so distinctive you could probably tell his from a million others just after a second. He sighed, before he ran a hand over your back, cold palm warming up slowly. You were both unsure what exactly you two were- but it was clear that this wasn't just an owner-hybrid companionship anymore. No, the way Jungkook looked at you had something in it that you knew only lovers had; which made you feel so comfortable around him, after all.

So it was only natural, in a way, that after a moment or two, or maybe more (you didn't really notice anymore), you two found each other in his bedroom, a place you had spent your nights before as well. But this time there was no sleeping involved, at least not in that moment, as his hands roamed around, lips chasing yours as you mewled underneath him needily. He wished he could record it, but even if he did it would never sound as sweet as it did right now. Everything felt so good he didn't even care about his own noises, as you two began to shed your clothes one piece after another, until there was nothing to cover you anymore.

"You're so sweet, you know that?" He hummed against your neck, as you squirmed underneath his hands, his inked fingers wandering down between your legs, were you were aching for his touch to make you fall apart. "Even right now, with my fucking hand between your legs, you look so cute." He chuckled, while you could only rut into his palm like a touch-starved pet. He was teasing, and in a way you hated it, but somehow you couldn't tell him to hurry. No, you didn't want him to hurry at all, because you were at the point of realization;

"I love you, Koo." You said, and he stopped for a moment, some seconds that made you feel absolutely humiliated, before he groaned, pushing your legs against your stomach.

"You can't drop something like that onto me like this, Kitten." He scolded playfully, with no harm intended. No, he simply took hold of his already leaking length to guide himself into you, making you squeal in delight before you sighed out. "I love you too, I adore you so much, I swear to everything I have.." He said, as he began to move, almost as if he was unable to quite control himself. Technically, you were the one to act like an animal; but instead, it was him nipping at your skin, and growling out curses that sounded way too filthy to be uttered out from those lips.

You loved it.

The way he held you, played you like a well tuned instrument, how he sped up his pace without warning because he knew you could take it. You were his good kitten after all, all his, and he knew you would be good. You were lost in your own little cloud as his hand went between your bodies again, fingers suddenly flicking your nub in a sadistic movement that had you scream without sound- pleasure shooting through your veins so violently you were unsure if it was pain or heaven that you felt.

"Ah- Koo- I-" You pressed out, but he simply moved his hand away, never stopping however. "I can't-" You said, but he pulled out before you could finish, flipping you onto your stomach where he pulled your lower body upwards, entering you again as he teasingly stroked your tail which flopped down to one side to make space and give him a clear view of where you were connected so intimately.

"You can, kitten. And you will." He growled out, noticing how you were slowly clenching again. "I can feel you, greedy kitty." He growled out, pace growing harsher and harsher as the sound of skin against skin got louder and louder. "Come on. Give me one more, yeah?" He said, and you were unable to answer him. "Come on- come on, there we go-" He pressed out, a whining sound leaving his lips as well as he grew more sloppy, more desperate as you came again, your clenching core pushing him over the edge as well as he spilled inside you, before he pulled out, watching almost hypnotized how his cum dripped out of you after a moment.

"I love you." He said, uncaring of how you two probably stained the sheets right now. "I really do." He said, whispered like a promise, as he pulled your body against him, palms still kneading your breasts.

Because if you thought he was done with you, you were very wrong.

I apologize for how short it was, but I only have my phone for now. Sorry if this sucks, it's not my best work, but I didn't want to leave you hanging and without content for this long.. :< Love, Bunny <3

[peralta-guaranteed]

What abkut mafia!jake au

Stop giving me awesome AU ideas that I cannot write the fic for! 😭

- due to some really, really bad choices after high school (did he ever make other ones? who knows), Jake Peralta has ended up as a grunt for the Ianucci family. He doesn’t really do much - he’s mostly someone who gathers information and new areas for them to work in, because he’s good at randomly befriending people and milking them for all it’s worth. He’s done a few ‘deliveries’, too, but has never had to really get physical.

- (he was at one family meeting that turned into the ‘farewell’ of a mistrusted member and he still has nightmares about it)

- he’s never been arrested for anything and thought the police didn’t even know his name, so imagine his surprise when he’s approached by one of their higher-ups (as if he knows the rankings, psh, pigs are all the same) and subtly but definitely asked if he would be willing to work with them

- his task seems simple: bring one of their cops into the family undercover, the same way he has ‘recruited’ several bodega owners and other ‘low-skill’ workers that turned out to be useful for the family. Maybe keep an eye on the cop as well and help her out if she’s struggling

- she? oh yeah, it’s a woman. A frankly gorgeous woman, he realises when they meet up with her and some FBI dude who obviously pretends he’s not FBI, to discuss it all further. Her name is ‘Dora’, and he knows that’s a lie from the second she’s introduced, but the less he knows, probably the better. The rules are set, he gets a special cellphone number of a ‘cousin’ to contact if something goes wrong, and two weeks later Dora Perez is steadily working her way up the ranks with the Ianuccis, who are very proud of Jake for bringing in this brilliant new talent.

- He might or might not be looking out for her a little bit too much. He might or might not get involved in far more shady dealings with the Iannuccis so he can work closer with her. He might or might not be in deep, deep shit.

- ‘Dora’ is grateful for it, though, he learns every time he drives her home after a more difficult job. She used to be withdrawn and quiet with him, which he tried to equalise by cracking more and more stupid jokes and doing random silly stuff during their drives, but then one time they drive in absolute silence while she cleans blood of her hands, and he says something, he doesn’t remember what, but it’s the right thing apparently, because she starts to talk. She talks to him during every ride after, telling him about the stress and the constant guard she has to keep up and how none of her research binders prepared her for this, and at some point she tells him about nightmares and seeing death around every corner and she can’t wait for this mission to be over.

- (for her sake, he can’t wait for that either. For his sake, he wishes it would go on forever.)

- They’re sent out for a big job together once, because Jake has already become ‘connected’ to Amy in the Ianuccis’ eyes, and they both end up with blood on their hands, and some of it is hers.

- he gets out of the car after that drive home, and gets up to her tiny, fake apartment, and helps her clean the wounds (nothing too big, just cuts, because thank god that guy only had a knife before he beat it out of his hands and then beat the living daylight out of him after he injured her) with the softest fingers she’s ever felt. Then the cleaning alcohol is swapped for drinkable stuff, and they talk, and they talk about everything and nothing, about how a dead-beat dad and an absent mother make a Mafia goon, and how family pressure and a sense of constant duty make a detective who so badly wanted to say no to this assignment but couldn’t.

- “For what it’s worth, Dora, I’m glad you said yes. I mean, not that- not that I want you to do this kind of work- and I want things to be over for you soon, because- but- I’m glad it’s you.” “Amy.” “Hm?” “My name is Amy. Amy Santiago.”

- He wakes up in her bed the next morning, with her in his arms, and he kind of doesn’t regret a single thing, even as his smart-brain is screaming at him. He’s pretty sure he would’ve willingly died for her even before this night, but now, he realises... that he probably will.

- Amy (Amy, not Dora) does freak out a little more than he does when she wakes up. She can’t get involved, she says, this is a job, a dangerous one, and she has to focus on that job and getting the mafia gang and not- okay, okay, let’s not overthink this then, Jake says only to calm her down, we don’t do anything ‘involved’, we’re just... having fun. Keeping things light and breezy. Helping deal with the stress.

- and so, despite how much it hurts and how much it makes him happy at the same time, Jakey the Jew becomes Jakey, Dora’s Loverboy. It helps, he supposes, because it means the Ianuccis won’t suspect them hanging out so much, and send him along to most of her jobs now so he can watch out for her, and he gets to be with her in a way, even as she constantly reiterates ‘light and breezy’ to keep him at a distance no matter how close they get.

- it doesn’t feel very ‘light and breezy’ when they spend time together in front of the TV, though, to get their minds to relax after doing whatever the Ianuccis needed them doing. It doesn’t feel ‘light and breezy’ when they joke around in the bodega getting ice cream on a particularly hot day out doing jobs, or when she shows him around the library after meeting her ‘cousin’ there for a chat. It doesn’t feel ‘light and breezy’ at all when she sighs into his arms when he’s holding her in bed, neither of them even wanting to take the night any further than soft hands under tshirts, because all they really need at some point is the comfort of each other.

- and then one day, after a few months of this ‘light and breezy’ and ‘Dora’s Loverboy’, Jake gets invited for a ‘Talk’ by the family. With a capital T. And he’s not been that high up in the ranks at any point, and he’s not really done much for the family, but he’s not an idiot. He knows what that means. So of course he doesn’t tell Amy, writes her a short but succinct note instead that maybe ends with the L-word somewhere in it, and goes to have a Talk.

- The Ianuccis know that there is a rat, but they don’t know who. And they know that if Jakey is good for one thing, it’s information. So The Talk doesn’t end as quickly as it usually does, and the way he’d expected. It hurts a lot more, for one thing. Jake thinks of offering up some other goon or lower family member as the rat, if only to make the torture stop, but his brain is too broken in the moment to figure out a convincing story. And when the name ‘Perez’ suddenly drops into the conversation, there’s really only one other name he can still think of clearly to blame. Peralta.

- he doesn’t remember much after that - he’s pretty sure he heard gunshots, but none of them hit him, so what’s the deal with that? Everything else is pretty much a blur of pain and cold, and lots of shouting, and then warm soft hands on his face and a quiet voice saying his name amidst it all, and when he wakes up the next time he’s in a hospital bed.

- He’s in that hospital bed for two weeks to recover, and no one visits him. Not that it should be surprising - Nana is dead, his mom doesn’t know about anything he’s done since the age of 18 for a reason, and there’s no one else who in their right mind should care to visit him. So imagine his surprise when a detective shows up, introduces herself as Rosa Diaz, and explains that she’s Amy’s partner at work, but she’s not here for official business.

- “She wanted to come see you. Hell, she fought tooth and nail for it. But she had to be debriefed, stupid FBI assholes, and then it turned out two of the Ianuccis got away, so we had to find them first to make sure they don’t go after her for revenge” (well that explains the constant patrols in the hospital for him, as well) “and we had to hide her for her safety, but, Jake, she wanted to come see you. I swear.” “It’s okay.” Jake says, and it’s really not, but he’s been a brilliant liar for years now. “You can tell her... it’s okay. The job is done, and I’m, I’m glad she’s finally got it over and past her. Really. Tell her it’s okay.”

- He’s debriefed by the FBI after he gets discharged, as well. They tell him ‘good job’ and ‘thanks’ and pay him a surprisingly large amount of money and cover his hospital bills, so that’s good. They also advise that he move, not far, but far enough that any possible leftover scragglers of the family don’t remember his old place for a ‘visit’. So he moves, a few blocks only, enough to get a new favourite bodega and deli and discover that the library is actually nearby and that there’s this community college that Amy kept talking about for some reason, and if he takes a few classes to finally get a degree, it’s not about getting a proper job at some point, it’s more about not thinking about anything else. About maybe forgetting, even if it was her that basically got him where he is now.

- (it does not work)

- she knocks on his door a month later. She looks strange in her professional outfit instead of washed out jeans and a tanktop with a stupid slogan on it, but also so perfectly her. That’s Amy, he thinks, not Dora anymore. That’s Amy, and he still loves her just as much as he did when she was ‘Dora’ in his sweatpants and tshirt. Maybe more.

- “You’re a hard man to find, Peralta.” She says, and he knows that’s a lie, but she smiles with a scared look through it and he takes it for what it is - an attempt at saying anything, really, after 1 1/2 months of silence, when she’s probably got a speech all prepared in her head but needs to get there first. “That’s such a bad, cheesy movie line.” He helps, and she laughs and yeah, that’s all he needs in life. “Well we never watched any good movies, did we.” “Hey, we watched Die Hard. That’s the best movie there is.” She rolls her eyes but nods, and opens her mouth, and Jake thinks that the speech is coming now, but he has no idea what it might entail. Thank you and good bye, maybe. Good job, great work, can you sign this official statement for me so I can add it to my paperwork? possibly. “Screw light and breezy.” She says instead, and then she’s in his new apartment, which is much nicer and cleaner than the old place was even after she worked her magic on it, and she’s kissing him, and he’s never, ever letting her out.

[binniesthighs]

two tails | reader x minho |

Two 

Pairing: self insert, female reader x lee minho 

Genre: strangers to lovers, neighbors to lovers, fluff 

Tags:  neighbors au, comfort fic, catowner!minho, catowner!reader, author!reader, bestfriend!seungmin, coworker!hyunjin, florist!jisung, punk!jisung (yeah boiiii), agedup!skz, slow burn, plot-driven, gradual romance, lil bit of angst, strained parental relationship, explicit language, mentions of food, passive body shaming 

Word count: 5.5k (y e e t we love self indulgence) 

Tagging: @lauraneuuh​

Chapters 

P | ONE | TWO | THREE

busybody noun 

:an officious or inquisitive person. 

₍⸍⸌̣ʷ̣̫⸍̣⸌₎

There are a couple things that your mother is known for--or rather, a couple things that she has been deemed. 

Mother, wife, friend, matriarch, socialite, unofficial event planner, gossip, show off, professional nagger, and, to certain people, bitch. 

And yet, somehow your mother was intertwined with some of the most prominent circles within the city, and she knew everything about everyone’s business. Frankly, she often didn’t have anything better to to with her time. ” If she had any job at all, it would be calling you every weekend to give her opinions on your rather “less than auspicious” life choices. 

To her, another one of your “less than auspicious” life choices had to do with the way that you had dressed yourself; however little sense this made. 

Your mother sipped at her tea with dainty fingers, barely cracking with age due to her expensive hand creams. 

“Quickly. Go get changed. We don’t have much more time and you’re dallying. It should fit you, just as long as you haven’t put on any more weight.” Her hawk-like gaze inspected your hips and thighs. “Hmm. I think you’ll be fine.” 

Seungmin, where he sat on the couch with perfect posture tapped his feet up and down with discomfort. 

I hate you for doing this to me, he glared at you with despair, hiding it behind the wide smile he performed for your mother. 

“What? Do you not trust me to be alone with your friend here?” 

Your best friend nervously chuckled out in that little puppy-like way that he would. “What? Ahh no, I’ll be fine, go on Y/n, I should be leaving soon anyway, I was just stopping by.” 

Your mother’s eyes followed you up your staircase, watching for the very moment that you closed your bedroom door. The second you did, her snide voice hissed out loud whispers, undoubtedly drilling Seungmin about the usual questions: are you married, where do you live, what’s your profession, what does your family do etc. 

The little metal zipper of the pencil skirt pinched your fingertips as you attacked it up your body. Once again, your mother had underestimated your clothing size. You couldn’t help but roll your eyes looking at the tags for the designer matching skirt and blazer ensemble. There was nothing in your mother’s life that didn’t denote the status that she “worked so hard for.” 

In a way, you hated that you had done this to Seungmin as well. Initially you had thought that having some kind of male presence over when your mother arrived would deter her stabbing remarks about your singledom, but in fact, it has just made it worse. For once in your life, you just wanted to hold something over her. Now, you’d likely traumatized the best friend that you had. 

You nearly slipped on the carpeted stairs in your nylon stockings on the way down, but held fast the the banister, looking a bit like some kind of sad, business-casual, plastic-looking prom queen. 

Seungmin’s eyes widened seeing you in the toning skirt. Likely you knew that he must’ve been keeping his jokes to himself the very best that he could--you wouldn’t hear the end of it later. 

“Wonderful. Let’s get going.” Your mother set down her teacup with a clink. “I’ve got some cosmetics in the car that you can use as well. We’ll be stopping off at the flower shop before we get to the venue. I’ve ordered an arrangement for the bride-to-be.” 

“I feel like a China doll.” You muttered under your breath, catching a little laugh from your friend. Your eyes met as if to ask him if he was okay, which he rolled his eyes as his answer. 

You put on the only pair of kitten heels that you owned: they were brown, banged up and the pleather was cracking a little at the edges. Of course, your mother let out an exasperated sigh upon seeing them. 

“I’ll bring shoes next time.” 

Seungmin politely opened the door for the both of you and the spring morning’s sun washed your face in it’s warmth. The morning was perfect: the exact kind of day that you would spend in your garden writing or reading on the single-person porch swing you had just installed. Dew still held to the Kelly green blades of grass and your cherry blossom tree bowed a little in the breeze. 

“Well, it was nice meeting and speaking with you Seungmin--” 

“--We’ve met before thou--” 

“--You seem to be a strapping and organized young man. I do hope that you consider what we discussed.” 

Seungmin appeared to flush a little, “I-I’ll think about it.” 

You tugged at your friend’s shirt, pulling him in to whisper, “What the hell did she talk to you about?” 

“Don’t worry about it.” His eyes fluttered around nervously. “She just kept going on about how she wanted me to--”  

“--Oh, Y/n!” 

From your mother’s surprised expression on the other side of the car, to the way that Seungmin stopped dead in his sentence, you knew exactly who that voice belonged to. 

Your body turned around in slow-motion, hoping that this must have been some kind of nightmare, and that you hadn’t woken up that morning yet and were cozily still tucked in bed. 

If it would have been socially acceptable, you would have hidden behind that car until he walked away, but it was too late considering he already knew you were there. 

Your mother let out some kind of ungodly squeal before rushing towards Minho and taking his hand in hers to shake. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you! I take it that you know my daughter? And who might you be, such a handsome man as yourself???” 

You really did contemplate hiding behind that car. 

It was unfair how you had to run him into at a time when he looked like that. Your mother was nearly eating him with her eyes while Minho looked to you in his confusion. 

Of course when your mother had to see him, he was fresh off of his morning run: white cotton sleeveless shirt, running joggers, a thick headband with sweat dripping down his body in rivets from his forehead to the curves of his toned arms. 

Life was just too fucking unfair.  

“Minho!” Internally, you crawled so far into yourself it was like you were barely there. You squeaked out the words coupled with a poorly-timed voice crack, “I didn’t plan on seeing YOu here!” 

“Minho?!” Seungmin echoed your phrase, grabbing onto your arm with force. 

“Uh, hello, nice to meet you I’m Lee Minho. And yes, I do know Y/n, I actually live a couple doors down--” 

“--A neighbor! How wonderful! I know she doesn’t leave the house that much, but I’m so glad that the two of you have met. Do you live your family..? Or...your wife...?” 

He smiled warmly, polite as always, “No Ma’am, I’m not married, I live with my mother.” 

“Your mother? Well, that’s very honorable.” 

You and your best friend locked eyes upon hearing the answer to the question that both of you had been silently wondering. 

With a little eyebrow raised, he gave you a smirk, before braiding his hand through his locks strung with sweat. “I also live with my cats too.” 

“Cats?” Your mother tried her best to hide the distaste in her mouth. “That’s...honorable as well. Taking care of animals is...hm, well, Y/n get in the car, time is ticking!!” 

Your mother’s shrill voice was clipped by the sound of the car door closing behind her. You and your best friend choked in silent laughter together. 

“Are you sure I don’t look ridiculous?” You patted down your itchy grey blazer. 

Seungmin nodded, “Do you want me to tell you the truth? Not your colors. But, you’ll just have to live with it.” 

“I think that you look nice.” Minho’s compliment melted into your skin like honey. “But I agree, the colors don’t work the best. Sorry.” 

“Oh. Thank you...” Your cheeks warmed, “Sorry! God, I’m-this is Seungmin, my-my friend Seungmin, sorry I didn’t introduce you both, my head is just--” 

“--Nice to meet you. Finally.” Seungmin’s expression turned a bit more stoic, a stark contrast to his softer features. 

“Nice to meet you as well.” 

“Okayyyy, well, I’ll just...get going then. See you both...later.” 

Seungmin slammed the door behind you, leaving you with your huffing mother in the car. 

“All of these handsome men around you and you can’t lock down one? I can’t believe you...” She threw her makeup bag on your lap. “I’ll play matchmaker if you want me to, I don’t mind, but you know that I have a lot going on already--” 

“--Haven’t you already started? Don’t pretend like you didn’t tell Seungmin something. Seungmin is my friend, mom.” 

“I just don’t get you. Aren’t you ever a bit sad that you don’t get invited to things like this since you have no female friends...?” 

“Honestly? I don’t really care--” 

“--You should. Thank God that you have me.” 

₍⸍⸌̣ʷ̣̫⸍̣⸌₎

The front windows to the floral shop winked in the morning sun and the gold lettering of the signage glistened with a similar glow. On the display, there were several dozens of different types of flowers all arranged into different glass vases, tied with bows or swaddled in burlap. The arrangements of roses, chrysanthemums, peonies, daises, sunflowers and other wildflowers appeared to be freshly cut, and beaded with water droplets. 

“Here. Take my card. If any of them seem to be brown at all, tell them that you won’t pay until they fix it.” 

You took the little plastic card from her red painted nails. “Will do.” 

There was a little bell hung over the shop door, and it tinkled when you entered like fairy chimes. The entire place seemed a little magical: the kind of place that you would find yourself reiterating in your writings. On the marble tiled floors, flecks of dirt seemed to gather in the grout. 

The golden brass counter stretched on for nearly the whole length of the shop, and held a display case which doubled as a cooler holding smaller things like corsages and boutonnières. 

“Can I help you?” 

The man approached you wiping the dirt off of his hands onto his canvas apron which was stained with smudges of green and brown. Your eyes were immediately drawn to the tattoos adorning his arms in beautiful patterns of black with muted colors of yellow, lavender and pink. They were nearly all floral in design and reminded you of the drawings from a botany book. His shaggy dark hair had a bit of a curl to it that tasseled over his eyes. His smile too was devastatingly charming, decorating it was a black hooped lip ring. 

“Here to pick up an order?” 

“Y-yes, for L/n.” 

“I just finished that one up, lucky for you.” He palmed through the little stack of receipts near the register. “I’ll go get it real quick.” 

It was criminal how fast you found your heart beating after hearing how strikingly soothing his voice had sounded. You also found your head spinning over how familiar he seemed, like someone you had met before, but couldn’t place where. 

He had brought the sizeable arrangement over, and upon seeing it, you knew that your mother must’ve asked them to pull out all the works. Not only were flowers like this a bit of an unusual bridal shower gift, but it was just one more way for her to show off. The moment that the two of you would arrive with that, heads would turn, and that was exactly what she wanted. It was so large, you had to crane a little to see the florist behind it. 

“That’ll be 360.” 

Never had you been more thankful to pay for a gift with someone else’s money. 

When you passed him the card, you noted the little scrapes up and down his hands and forearms, looking a bit like cat scratches.

“It’s the roses.” He chuckled. “This job is a lot more dangerous than you would think.” 

“Oh.” A heat in your cheeks rose along with his observation of you. 

“Beautiful day isn’t it?” He tapped at the register, then nodded to the sunlight streamlining in from the windows. There were little rainbows speckling the store from the prisms hung above the displays. 

“I-it really is.” 

Your eyes wandered to his nametag which looked like he had decorated with hand-drawn stars. Jisung. Once again, he caught your eyes, slyly rolling his tongue over that black hoop. 

“It’s the kind of day that makes me wish I wasn’t cooped up in here and doing something else; going somewhere else. You seen the cherry blossoms yet?” 

“I-I have one in my yard.” 

“Oh really? It’s my favorite time of year because of them.” 

His smile was a bit in the shape of a heart, and the way that his eyes smiled along with it was just as charming as the rest of him. 

Blaze. 

He was Blaze. 

Quite literally, never in your life could you have said that you had felt your heart skip a beat, but, you imagined that there’s a first time for everything. 

He scribbled down something down on the receipt, handing you both the card and the slip. 

“Have a good one, ‘kay?” 

Had it been socially acceptable, you would have slapped yourself square in the face, right then and there, to snap yourself out of your awe. 

“Yo-you as well.” 

It was a miracle you didn’t drop that expensive-ass floral arrangement getting out of there as fast as you did. 

“What took you so long? People will start wondering where we are.” 

Your mother said a couple more chastising remarks, but they faded away once you looked at the crinkled piece of paper on your hand: 

I hope to see you again, Blossom. 

₍⸍⸌̣ʷ̣̫⸍̣⸌₎

“Y/n!!! Oh my god, I am so happy to see you. I’ve been decaying, simply drying out in this office all by myself.” 

You swatted your melodramatic friend by the backside of his head, subsequently ruffling up his perfectly primped long, blond hair. 

“Shut up. You’re surviving just fine without me.” 

Hyunjin lowered his voice into a rather loud whisper, “Everyone here is just so boring.” 

“I don’t know what you’re expecting ‘Jin. It’s a publishing company, all we do is read here. You kind of did it to yourself too. Hell, you edit the children’s books!! You don’t have a thing to complain about.” 

“Are you sure that you can’t take an office here? We could eat lunch together, make coffee together from that broken-ass coffee machine, and bitch about Mr. Yoon together. By the way, what are you doing here anyway besides not seeing me?” 

“Picking up a couple manuscripts. I finished the ones from before.” 

“You’re inhuman. I don’t know how you get through 300+ pages over a weekend.” 

You shrugged, “It’s just what I like to do, that’s all. And, no, I will not be taking an office here, not when I have my classes too.” 

“Aren’t you the perfect symbol of adulthood.” Hyunjin pulled up for you the creaky plastic office chair from the empty desk next to his.

“Tell that to my mother, I think she’d have a different oponion.” 

“Screw your mother--and you can tell her that I said that too.” Your coworker fiddled with his white collar, pulling it from his neck. You knew how much he hated those and would have much rather preferred the silky low-cut ones which had become his trademark. 

“If only it were that easy.” 

“How’s Princess Bomi doing?” 

“My cat or the story?” 

“I was talking about the story, but sure, tell me about your cat too.” 

Hyunjin was a sarcastic little shit, but that was why you loved him. Seungmin tended to be the same sometimes--you surmised that perhaps you made the same type of people gravitate towards you. 

“It’s been pretty well received actually, and I think I’m just about done with the first book, there’s probably only a few chapters left. I just passed 8,000 reads.” 

“Wow, that’s actually...really impressive. I mean it.” 

When he wasn’t being a sarcastic little shit, Hyunjin was actually a genuine friend. He had been supportive of your writing ever since he forced the information out of you a few months ago after seeing a your chaotic notes mixed in with your manuscript ones. Of course, he had laughed at the prospect of you naming your main character after your cat, but he understood otherwise. 

“You’ve been getting good feedback?” 

“Mmhm! They really like Bomi as a character, that, and it seems like Blaze has some fans too...” 

Upon saying the same, the boy from the flower shop sneakily crept back into your head along with that stupidly Blaze-like smile of his--or at least, the smile that you had always pictured Blaze to have. 

Hyunjin snapped his fingers in front of your face. “Earth to Y/n? Where did you go?” 

“Huh? Oh sorry, I think I just got...lost in thought.” 

“I said I think that you should really consider brining it to the company. What if they want to publish it? I think that it’s worth a shot. You said yourself that its successful online. What makes you think that people wouldn’t be interested in the print version?”

“I--Hyunjin, Princess Bomi is kind of a personal thing...” 

“--Why do I even bother!” In his mock disgust, Hyunjin crossed his flabbergast arms against his chest. “I’m only trying to give you a helpful suggestion.” 

Above the two of you, the florescent white lights bore down on you with a harsh luminescence. 

“But--” You shyly picked at the hem of your blouse, “I could use your help with something else.” 

“What?” 

“What do you suggest that I wear...to meet someone’s mom?” 

Hyunjin practically leapt out of his chair and three feet into the air. 

“YOU’RE MEETING SOMEONE’S MOTHER?! I’M SO PROUD OF YOU!!” 

“Get your ass back down in your seat.” You whipped your head around to see your coworkers concerned glances. “Yes, I am.” 

“Thank God that you asked me. This is a serious matter.” 

“I can’t exactly ask Seungmin...so...” 

“Don’t you worry! I know exactly what you can do. So,” His voice turned sing-songy, “~What’s he like~ And how come you didn’t tell me about this sooner??” 

“-Because I knew that you would have this exact same reaction.” 

“I promise I’ll calm down, okay, go:” 

“Well, he’s my neighbor, and I’ve only met him a few weeks ago, and he’s got cats, and he’s really sweet and not to mention hot as well but in like kind of a... cozy, librarian kind of way? Anyway, he wears cardigans--and you know that I’m a sucker for a good cardigan--and I’m convinced that the universe is trying to get me to destroy him but, that’s beside the point--” 

“Slow down slow down! Literally all of the words you said just now don’t make sense together.” 

You wheeled your chair closer to the man across from you, “And then he asked me to meet his cats and his mom or maybe just his cats or his mom, he was kinda unclear about that now that I think about it...” 

“So he’s hot and has cats, hmm, sounds right up your alley.” 

“I-I guess.” 

“Are you sure he’s not, you know, trying to be neighborly?” 

You punched Hyunjin’s arm so hard you jiggled your glasses on your face. “Don’t ruin this for me.” 

“Sorry I brought it up! Ok, ok, I think I know what you should do. What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t help you bag this sexy librarian man?” 

₍⸍⸌̣ʷ̣̫⸍̣⸌₎

“I sure as hell hope that you’re not trying to be neighborly.” 

You smoothed down your freshly ironed blouse: a floral pattern with birds, something “light and springy” just as Hyunjin had recommended. The pleats in your trousers were in shape as well. He had suggested too that you tied your hair up, something about it being professional and “dateable.” 

Bomi sauntered up to you while you inspected your outfit in the full-length mirror. Her gorgeous green eyes were squinted after her day-long nap, and she yawned while she brushed up against your leg. 

“To what do I owe the pleasure Bomi?” You bent down to pat her head, which she promptly shied away from. “You think that this looks good? Mother-worthy?” 

Bomi blinked. 

“Thanks for your input Bo.” 

Another yawn. 

Your nightstand held your little jewelry tree, and from it you took a dainty silver necklace that hung just above the neckline of your blouse, as well as the thin tan wristwatch that you wore once in a blue moon. 

The watch face read 5 o’clock exactly.  

“Shit! Shit shit shit shit!.” 

Bomi scrambled out of your way as you flew around the room trying to find a matching pair of socks. You stopped one more in front of the mirror. Your mother’s words always did find a way of seeping back into your skin like poison. Even if you had looked “nice” a nagging voice deep down echoed: “you’ve only ever been less than auspicious. Why don’t you ever change that?” 

“Screw your mother.” Hyunjin had said. 

If it only was that easy. 

Your footsteps clomped down the stairs, and you threw on the same pair of kitten heels. 

“Shit. The gift.” You slapped your forehead, cursing your horrid memory. 

“And don’t forget to bring his mother something. A gift. Something small but thoughtful. Something that she can use. Mothers eat shit up like that.” 

You frantically searched your entire home for something that resembled a gift. After a few moments of searching, you had resolved to go without it--you’d explain that it was in the mail, or misplaced, or anything but the fact that you didn’t have one. You grabbed your humorous amount of keychains on your keys, eyes catching that little box of complimentary chocolates from the bridal shower.  

“Good enough.” 

₍⸍⸌̣ʷ̣̫⸍̣⸌₎

One more time, you checked your reflection in the glass door leading to Minho’s mother’s townhouse. 

“This is fine, you can do this. Don’t screw this up, you’re fine, you’re fine.” 

Minho opened the door, looking as confusingly adorable and downright gorgeous as you had grown to know him as. This time, he had ditched the cardigan for a sky blue sweater that still pooled at his palms. Seeing how casually he had dressed, you instantly felt overdressed, and made a mental reminder to cuss out Hyunjin when you got the chance later. 

“Come in,” He gently ushered you to the spot where you switched on shoes for slippers.

“You-um, look really nice.” Minho pushed up his glasses up his nose bridge, “Really pretty.” 

“Th-thank you, um, you too.” 

He snickered, “No one has called me pretty before.” 

“Shit, Sorry, that was weird, sorry, I’m just kinda...nervous.” 

“No, not at all, I don’t mind. I appreciate the compliment.” 

You stood at the doorway, awkward silence permeating the air. Suddenly, you remembered the chocolates in your hands. 

“Oh, this is for you and your mother, I thought I might as well bring something over...” 

Minho took it from you, and you prayed that he wouldn’t think too much of the packaging that just looked a little too wedding-y. 

“Thank you for this.” He popped the box open excitedly, “What kind are they?” 

It took a couple seconds, but you watched in horror as his expression turned from thrilled to deeply confused. 

“What is it?” You craned your neck over to see.

“Are they...supposed to look like that?” 

Inside of the little plastic compartments, each of the chocolates had melted into blobs pathetically and swirled together making one huge, brown, melted--and then solidified again--chocolate mess. 

“Oh my god.” Your throat felt as tight as a knot in your embarrassment. “They’ve...” 

Minho hurriedly closed the box. “It’s okay! Don’t worry about it.” He tried the best he could to suppress his laughter. “It’s still about the same.” 

“No it’s not.” You whined out the words. “Don’t let your mother can’t see them, oh shit, oh shit.” 

“What happened to them?” 

Your horrid memory suddenly let you remember the fact that those chocolates had stayed in the car after the bridal shower when you had gone to visit your mother’s home. 

“Nothing good, just-hide them--” 

“Minho? Is that Y/n? Is she here?”

“--Hide it, quick!!!” 

Minho shoved the box behind a large houseplant, still hiding his laughter caught in his throat. 

“Ahhh Y/n! It’s so good to meet you at last! I’ve heard so much about you!” 

You greeted Minho’s mother with a bow, throwing the box of chocolates a disdainful glare. She was a gentle looking woman who appeared to be a little older than your own, or,  perhaps the same age. You wouldn’t be surprised if your mother had paid enough to procure the elixir of life; sounds like something she would have done. 

“I’m so happy to meet you as well. Thank you for inviting me in.” 

“Minho!!” His mother nudged his arm, “You didn’t tell me how pretty she was.” 

Your cheeks flushed with heat when you gave another little bow in thanks. “Your home is really lovely too.” 

“Oh, it was all Minho’s idea, I’m just the one that did the cooking. I’m always happy to cook for a neighbor.” 

“Thank you.” 

“I’ve got a couple more things to prepare, Minho, you go show her the cats, I’m sure that she’d like that--I hear that you have a cat too?” 

You nodded. “Are you sure that you don’t need any help?” 

“No no, you both go on, I’ll handle this.” 

By each passing moment, this all started to feel a bit more like a playdate than an official meeting of one’s mother. Here you were, a grown woman, and you had gone over to someone’s house to play with their cats. Maybe you weren’t as much of a grown woman as you thought you were. 

“Over here.” Minho guided you to the living room: it was a modest one with furniture that looked to be very old, with beautiful traditional pictures of landscapes with assorted baby photos hanging on the walls. Everywhere, there was little pieces of evidence of the residence of cats: cat toys, scratching pads, a couple cat carriers and the cat tree nearest the window. At the top tier of the structure, there was a white and orange cat lazing with a foot slung over the side. 

“Doongie?” You carefully approached the furball to pet it’s tiny paw. 

“That one is Soonie, I have two cats that look a bit similar. Doongie is probably somewhere strange. You never know cats. Mine really like hopping on top of the china cabinet; it scares my mother half to death” 

“I can imagine.” 

Soonie remained unbothered, little cat body peacefully sleeping. 

“Over here is Dori, the youngest one.” 

Dori was a bit striped, with a grey body and a white belly. The smaller cat was rolled up into a perfect cinnamon roll on the loveseat. The cat stirred hearing it’s name, and keened into Minho’s touch when he scratched its head. You copied the touch, and Dori granted you the same permission. 

“You cats are so sweet...wanna trade?” 

“I...think that I’m good with the cat’s I’ve got. But that is a tempting offer.” 

Making a rather loud appearance was Doongie, who ambled into the room with a series of loud yowls and meows, looking up to both you and Minho with striking yellow eyes.  

“Doongie!” You crouched down to give the cat scratches under it’s chin, making it purr slightly. “Did you miss me? I hope that you’ve been staying out of trouble.” 

Minho’s gentle brown eyes observed your interactions with his cats, simply letting you play around with them as you wished. Every once and a while, you could catch his eyes following you with a contented little grin on his face.

There was something so domestic and comforting about the whole scene. Inside the townhouse that felt well loved and with the smell of a homecooked meal in the air, there was something so peaceful about it all that was a little foreign to you. 

“Minho! Please come help me with the bowls!” 

₍⸍⸌̣ʷ̣̫⸍̣⸌₎ 

Crickets chirped along the pathway and into the spring’s chilly nighttime air. Minho had offered to walk you home, even though you were just two houses down. Because of this, it seemed as if the two of you were walking in slow motion, taking one step after the other as slowly and carefully as you could. Absentmindedly, you both wanted just a little more time. 

After spending the night being on your best behavior, you felt as if you could finally breathe. Granted, you had grandly spilled soup all over Minho’s mother, but this seemed to diffuse quickly once she had laughed raucously at the event. She was a sweet woman, with a kind soul, much like Minho. Her lightly wrinkled face shone like the sun and made you feel loved even without knowing her much. 

In many ways, you wondered what it would be like having a mother as such. It was likely however, maybe you just weren’t supposed to know. 

Minho cast his gaze up to the sprinkling of stars spread out over the vast sky: most of them invisible due to the closeness to the city. 

“You know, I’m starting to really like living out here, in the suburbs I mean. Everything in the city was so fast and chaotic, it’s nice to sit back and let things be still for a while.” 

“You don’t miss it?” 

“Not as much as I did. The city...holds a lot of memories for me; some of them I’d rather forget. Being out here feels like a new start.” 

The two of you stopped near the light coming from your porch. In the soft glow of yellow, coupled with the gentle navy blue tint of the night, Minho looked ethereal--perhaps even a little fairy-like. 

You cursed out your writer brain for thinking of your little made up world at a time like this when you had this boy, real, in front of you. 

“I had a nice time with you tonight.” Minho shoved his hands into his pants pockets with a cute little smirk. “I think my cats are a fan of you as well, so, that puts a good word in for you in my book.” 

“Me too. Thank-thank you for inviting me.” 

“Next time, we should do something different, I heard actually that there’s a meteor shower in a couple weeks.” 

“Wait, next time?” 

“Or, we could do something sooner if you’d like.” 

“You want to do something else? With me?” 

“Yes you, who else would I be talking about?” Minho capped his sentence with a little snicker. 

“S-sorry, I just...don’t understand...why would you... I mean, I don’t do too much besides kinda hide in my house with my cat...there isn’t really a lot of things interesting about--” 

Minho squatted down, sweeping something off of the sidewalk. It wasn’t until he had put it in your hair that you had realized he had taken one of the cherry blossoms from your tree to tuck it behind your ear. His head titled slightly as he admired the decoration, fingers lingering by the side of your cheek for a moment. 

“I disagree.” He hushed, barely saying the words louder than a whisper. “Even though you you tent to get yourself into...situations--not that I mind anyway, you are special. Hell, and I haven’t even known you that long. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.” 

Had it been socially acceptable, you would’ve kissed him right then and there. 

If only it were that easy. 

₍⸍⸌̣ʷ̣̫⸍̣⸌₎

Chapter 25 

There Blaze was, standing, simple, cuts on his face and that little scar on his eyebrow twitching. The campfire illuminated his eyes with the flames, creating that brazen fire that he had gotten his name from. 

Bomi knew him well. In fact, she thought she had known him better than most--a fact which she selfishly kept to herself. Blaze was everything she had known for the past year or so, and the time had interwoven their paths in ways that she had never expected. Before her was a person who knew her too, perhaps better than she knew herself. 

Blaze’s callused hand rose to cup her cheek, thumb rubbing over her own battle scars. 

“If you’ll not have me, please know Princess, you are the strongest warrior, bravest leader, and wisest friend that I have had the pleasure of knowing. I’ll stay by your side until I breathe my last breath.” 

With a shaking hand, Bomi took Blaze’s hand resting on her cheek. She memorized the way that his skin felt on hers, making a million silent wishes that she knew would never come true. 

“You and I, we both know that fate would have other plans for us...I’m sorry.” 

Bomi turned from the warmth of the campfire, and the way that his eyes held hers. 

She wished a million wishes, and he was nearly every one one of them. 

[laventae]

Serendipity

Summary: You accidentally bump into Suna once, then a second time, then a third time.... before it starts seeming like fate has already decided its course for the both of you.

Pairings: Suna Rintaro x F!reader

Genre: Mostly fluff, College/Uni au

Word count: 3.2k words

Part: (1) , (2) , 3 , (TBC)

(A/N: I’m so sorry ;-; this, unfortunately, took me way longer than expected to write. I was kinda in a writer’s block, and also me trying to write cute, casual dialogue = me having a breakdown 😫 anyways... I tried to make this longer than the last chap, so I hope you enjoy! Also if you want me to start a taglist for this story pls let me know.)

You go through the menu for what feels like the one hundredth time that night, and try to subtly glance up at him every once in a while, wondering what he was thinking

You’ve both been sitting at your table for a few minutes, without either of you saying much

‘Why did you do this to me Hina...’

You finally put your menu down, and clear your throat, but before you could say anything, Suna starts

“Honestly, I’m not really used to places like this” he says, putting his menu down as well and looks at you

“Didn’t you book this place though?”

“I’m not really familiar with a lot of places here, so Hina suggested this place...” he answers, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck

“Yeah, honestly, me neither...” you say and you both fall into silence again

“You wanna get out of here?” he speaks up again, and you hesitantly nod

You get up and grab your bag, then you both head for the door

As soon as you get out, you let out a sigh of relief

“It's kind of suffocating in there, isn't it?” Suna says when you’re both outside the restaurant

“Yeah... it kind of is” you chuckle nervously

He nods and starts walking away

“You coming?” he asks you, turning around

“Oh,” you hurry and catch up to him, “Uhm, yeah... Wait, where are we going?”

-~-~-

“-And I'll have the chocolate waffles with vanilla ice-cream, please” Suna recites his order

"Alright, I'll bring your orders shortly” you both thank the waitress as she rings your orders up

You both stumbled on a small, cozy diner near the restaurant your date was supposed to be in so you decided to grab a bite there instead

You look out the window next to the booth you were sitting in, hoping to drown out the silence between the both of you, and watch as people walk past, couples hand in hand, people walking their dogs, kids running around

‘It's a nice evening outside’

“So how do you know Hina?” Suna asks you suddenly, interrupting you from your thoughts

You turn him, “Oh, we met in Uni. We’re not in the same major, but we got along quickly” you tell him and he nods

“And you’re her cousin, right? She told me you came back from abroad recently” you continue

“Well, technically, we’re not really cousins”  

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Our parents were neighbors and super close friends. We were also born around the same time, so we grew up together, she’s like a little sister to me. But because we weren’t technically blood related, Hina started introducing me as her cousin instead”

“Uh... cousins usually are blood related though...”

“I don’t know; she said that when we were kids, and it kind of stuck. I'm used to it by now, though, so...”

You chuckle at how ridiculous that sounded

“What?” he asks

“It’s just kind of cute” you say and he looks at you a little surprised, and maybe a little red(?)

‘Is he kind of embarrassed?’

Or maybe that was just in your head, you weren’t really sure

“The story I mean” you quickly explain

“Right...” he says and uncomfortably shuffles in his seat

‘Do I make you that uncomfortable?”  

‘shit... did I say that out loud?’  

“What?” he asks you

“I mean,” you sigh, “Ever since the last time we spoke, it feels like you’ve been avoiding me or something. And, even though I know it’s weird meeting again like this, you kind of look like you don’t want to be here, which is okay, it’s understandable, but just let me know, we can just leav-”

He interrupts your rant, “Wait no, I thought you were the one who is uncomfortable”

You look at him confused, “Me? Why?”

“The last time we saw each other, you looked like you were the one trying avoid me, were you not? I guess I thought I should give you some space” he answers

“Oh... My bad,” you say, feeling bad as you recall that you were, in fact, trying to avoid him that time, “I was just embarrassed to have met you again like that after you supposedly walked me back home. Which, again, thank you”

“I told you, it’s fine” he says waving his hand and looking out the window, “As long as I don’t make you uncomfortable”

“No! you don’t!” you feel embarrassed at how quick your reply was and his head snaps to you

It looked like he was about to say something before the waitress comes right then, handing you your orders, and you both thank her again

-~-~-

After about half an hour of eating, and trying to make casual conversation every now and then, you both finish your meals and sigh in satisfaction

You then notice your phone vibrate on the table and you pick it up

1 NEW MESSAGE

You open it

FROM ‘Wifeyy <3’: “Heyy! So, hows the date going? hehehoho”

You smile and shake your head

‘Oh, yeah, definitely think I found the one, we actually agreed on officially dating now!’ you think, sarcastically, and can't help but let out a chuckle

“What’s up?” you hear Suna ask you and your head snaps to him

“Oh, nothing sorry, it’s just Hina asking about the date”

He looks at you, still slightly confused

“I was just thinking it would be funny if I told her we decided to start dating seriously” you say and look back at your phone to text Hina back, “but I was just jok-”

“Wait” Suna interrupts you

“What?” you ask looking back at him, “Wait, I was just joking-”

“That could work though...” he says looking back at you

“What do you mean...?”

“I mean... we could tell her we actually want to date each other seriously”

You look at him for a second, waiting for him to laugh or something, even though you didn’t take him as the type to actually make jokes like that

‘Wait... is he actually serious?’

“But... like... why would we do that...?” you ask him, getting even more confused by how serious he looked

“I mean, if you think about how Hina is like, we both know she will keep setting us up on blind dates if we stay single, right? Unless... you’re okay with that, then, my bad I said anything”

“Wait, no” you say thinking about it as well, “that’s actually not a bad idea...”

-~-~-

It was getting pretty late at that point, and after spending a bit more time at the diner discussing how you were going to tell Hina about how you guys were oh-so-in-love, you decide it was probably time to get home

“Oh shit,” Suna says as soon as you get out of the diner, “I think I forgot my phone inside, I'll be right back” he tells you and you nod before he goes back in to get it

You take out your phone to check the time

‘Damn, it’s almost midnight already...’

Honestly, you didn’t expect he would be the one to even suggest that type of idea to you, but it was true, you weren’t necessarily in the mood to go on any more blind dates, since you were hoping to enjoy your break in peace this time

And apparently, after discussing everything with Suna, it seemed like he had that same idea as well

Even though the both of you kept meeting under weird situations, you were kind of glad you at least were able to clear any misunderstandings you both had of each other

Also, having found another thing in common now, other than living in the same building, you felt like you were becoming more like friends now

'Well... I hope it’s not just me who feels like that anyway’

You didn’t know why, but the thought that you guys were getting closer made you feel happy

You smile at your phone as you look at Hina’s message again; you didn’t answer her yet, but you and Suna decided to let her know of the ‘Big plan’ soon

You suddenly hear faint footsteps from behind you right then and you couldn’t help but freeze in your place

‘Fuck...’

‘Fuck, Fuck, Fuck’

You start feeling anxious  

‘Look up, just move, just... go anywhere...’

You keep telling yourself to move in your head, as you hear the footsteps get closer, but somehow, you couldn’t bring yourself to

‘I’m so fucking scared...’ you think as you shut your eyes before someone grabs your shoulder gently

“Y/n, I was calling you” you hear Suna say, as he turns you to face him, and you open your eyes

“Wait, what’s wrong?” he asks you, looking worried, as soon as he notices your pale face  

“Suna...” you say, unconsciously reaching for his wrist, and try to hold back your nervous tears

He notices your trembling hands and looks around, before a couple passes by the both of you

You let out a sigh of relief when you realize it was just the couple and nobody else around, but you were still finding it hard to calm down your heart

“I’m sorry, I just thought...” you trail off, your breath hitching in your throat, as you let go of his hand

“Hey, it’s okay, I’m here” Suna assures you, “do you want me to hold your hand?”

It seemed to you like Suna understood what was going on without you having to explain, and if you weren’t as anxious as you were then, you would’ve felt embarrassed feeling that vulnerable with him, yet again

You hesitantly nod and he reaches for your hand and interlocks his fingers with yours

“I mean, that’s what a fake-boyfriend is for, right?” he says with a soft smile on his face, trying to lighten the mood

You couldn’t help but let out a light chuckle, feeling yourself calm down a little, but your heart was still beating fast. You felt like it was for a different reason that time, but you pushed that thought away

You stand there for a few moments, trying to calm yourself down before you look back at Suna, and notice the same worried look on his face

He quickly gives you a soft smile when he notices you looking back at him, “How you feeling now?” he asks, as he lightly squeezes your hand

“Yeah... I’m feeling better, thank you” you answer him looking away, the embarrassment finally hitting you

“You sure? You look a bit red?”  

You let go of his hand and cover your face with your hands, “I’m not! I’m fine!”

You weren’t sure if he was just worried and clueless, or he was teasing you right then; you weren’t even sure what you were even embarrassed about, the fact that he had to ‘save’ you again or the fact that he was holding your hand to help you calm down

You hear him chuckle next you and feel his hand on your head as he ruffles your hair lightly, “Alright, alright, you seem better now”

You slowly put your hands down and can’t help but feel charmed when you see his smiling face

“Come on,” he holds his hand out to you, “let’s go home”

-~-~-

“You sure you don’t want me to call a cab or something?” Suna asks you, breaking the comfortable silence

“No, it’s alright, this is more comfortable for me” you answer then quickly turn to him, “unless you’re tired..!”

He chuckles lightly, “No, I'm okay,” he looks up at the midnight sky, his hand still holding yours tightly, “It’s a nice night for a walk”

You slowly nod, hoping he meant what he said, and you weren’t forcing him to continue walking with you home, before you both fall back into the comfortable silence again

After a couple of minutes, Suna suddenly stops

You turn to him and find him looking at an unfamiliar building

“I guess this is you” he says pointing towards it

“No, our building is on the next blo-” you say before realization hits you, “Shut up!” you say as you lightly slap his shoulder

He then starts laughing, “What? Didn't I drop you off here last time?”

“You got jokes, huh?” you say, dragging him away from the building, which makes him laugh even harder and you can’t help but hide and embarrassed smile

“I’m sure it was that building, was it not?” he sarcastically asks, catching up to you

“You’re never going to let me live this down, are you?”

“I’ll have to think about it” he answers smugly, as you continue walking towards your actual building

After a few more minutes you finally reach your building and go up the elevator

As the elevator opens up to the familiar hallway you're used to, you couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed

Suna walks you to your apartment door, and after a few moments you both start letting go of each other’s hands

You sigh disappointedly, but hope he didn’t hear you

“I’ll, uh, watch you go in” Suna says, putting his hands in his pockets, and slowly shuffling backwards towards his apartment  

“Right,” you say as you go through your bag to look for your keys

You find them and take them out of your bag, but before you turn to your door, you start to speak up and you notice he does as well

“Sorry, go ahead” he quickly tells you

“I, uh just wanted to thank you again for tonight, and really the other night as well” you say looking down, feeling slightly embarrassed

‘What is this? A confession? Stop feeling this embarrassed’

“It’s okay, you don’t have to thank me” he answers and you both fall quiet

You look back up at him, “You were going to say something as well?”

“Oh,” he says, looking away for a moment before looking back at you, looking a little red, “I just wanted to tell you that you could call me, if you ever wanted me to walk you back home again or something. You have my number now, so,” he says, nervously scratching the back of his neck

You feel your heart start beating fast again, and your face flush after hearing him say that all of a sudden

‘Is he just being nice? Or...?’ you weren’t really sure

“O-Okay” you say quickly turning to your door and unlocking it, “Goodnight!” you exclaim before going in and closing the door

“Calm down...” you whisper to your heart as you lean on your door for support, before you hear Suna’s door shut as well

-~-~-

A week had already passed since your last 'date' with Suna, but you've both bumped into each other a couple of times in the morning before you left for work, or as you were coming back home after shifts

However, you only shared a few good mornings, hellos, or goodbyes

It slightly disappointed you that you weren't able to spend more time with him, but you were glad it didn't seem like he was avoiding you like before, well, that you both weren't avoiding each other

It was your last working day of the week before your weekend started, so you were texting Hina during your break, wondering if she had anything planned

Wifeyy: Omg                  Actually I met this cute guy recently                And he kinda asked me out on a date this weekend!@!

Y/n: No way!            thats cute          Where from?

Wifeyy: We met at the pub during my birthday party actually                It was right after you left                We been talking and he seems sweet

Y/n: thats so cute!!            Im excited for you!

You ask her about the details of the date and she excitedly tells you about it

Y/n: that honestly sounds super cute           you have to give me all the deets after           you understand?

Wifeyy: Obvo!                I mean now that you found someone                Its my turn too hehe

'Right..' you remember how you told her you were 'supposedly' officially going out with Suna a couple of days ago, and you feel your face flush slightly

'Wow, I feel like a little schoolgirl right now...' you think as you shake your head at yourself for getting embarrassed at just the thought of it

Hina took the news well as soon as you told her, actually, she was way too excited, telling you she knew you guys were meant for each other, especially after learning he was the neighbor you kept talking, or more like complaining, to her about

You couldn't help but feel bad about lying to her. You usually are very honest with each other, and you would never tell her such a stupid lie, and you hoped it wouldn't drag on for too long

You think that maybe you and Suna would be able to break the news to her that you ‘broke up’ after a couple of weeks. Now that she started dating someone herself, she wouldn't really have much free time to think about you and Suna's love lives, when she has to focus on hers

You feel bad again, but you hope the guy she decides to date is a nice person, and you decide to text Suna about this later

Wifeyy: im actually rlly nervous though                been a while

Y/n: hey, its going to be great          youre a strong, smart, and beautiful person          And if he doesn't see that,          then its on him

Wifeyy: ur right, ur right...                But i cant help but feel like that

Y/n: its okay, its normal          is there anything j could do to help?          i**

You sip on your drink as you wait for her reply and check the time to see how much of your break was left before you had to go back out

'2 more minutes...'

Wifeyy: omg wait!                I have a great idea!                It would defo help me be less nervous

Y/n: oh god, im scared

You reply and chuckle, knowing full well it's probably going to be another questionable scheme she plans, as usual, and you take another sip of your drink

Wifeyy: lets go on a double date!!

You choke on your drink as soon as you read the message

‘Uh oh...’

Y/n: hahahaha

‘Oh god, please say you’re joking...’

Wifeyy: no im serious!!                you, me, rina and my date!                what do u think?

“Hey y/n, you done with your break?” you hear your colleague ask you from the door of the staff room

“Yeah, sorry, I'll be out in a sec” you reply and you see her nod

Y/n: uhh lemme get back to u on that yeah?          break just ended

Wifeyy: Sure!                goodluck!

You shake your head as you get up from where you're sitting and head for the door

You knew things were going too smoothly, something like this was bound to come up, you just didn’t expect it to be so soon

‘Whatever, I'll worry about this later...’ you think to yourself as you get to the counter and nod to your colleague, as if to tell her she could take her break now

“Thanks!” she waves to you as she heads back to the staff area

You sigh as you clean up the register area, it wasn’t a very busy day today, but there were a few customers in the shop

You hear the café’s door jingle and your eyes snap up to welcome the customer

You’re taken aback when you see a familiar face peek in from the door

“Suna?” you ask quietly, as if you weren’t sure yourself if that was actually him

(HQ Masterlist)

[kessielrg]

[Dragon Age] Oreos

Summary: In which Varric teaches his kid the proper way to dunk an Oreo. Hawke is there to be an as-…sistant. [oneshot][female humorous Hawke][modern AU]

Rating: K+

Word Count: 1,971 words

If you liked this story, please reblog!

---

“Now where did I put them?” Varric mumbled to himself as he looked through the pantry. He cursed to himself when he tried to reach a bit higher up. Curse the Maker for making him vertically challenged. Had to use a stool in his own home and still couldn’t reach the top shelf. Go figure.

“Got it!” the dwarf exclaimed as his hand got a firm hold of the plastic packaging. After a very careful extraction, Varric held the Oreo package close as he then moved the stool to its rightful corner. He placed the Oreos on a serving tray he had arranged on the kitchen counter. Humming some Kidz Bop song he heard earlier, he then went into the fridge to pull out the milk.

As he poured the milk into three glasses, Varric kept an ear out for the living room. The sounds of a young voice were easy to make out, but was she talking to someone else or just herself again? As he put the milk back in the fridge, Varric really wished that Hawke kept her medicine in the kitchen instead of the bathroom. The last time he checked, her prescription needed to be filled again, and Hawke had yet to do so. It worried him. It worried him a lot more than he was willing to admit.

Varric let out a sigh before taking the tray and heading into the living room. Varric had his own kid to tend to, and it wasn’t Hawke. Still didn’t stop him from letting out a sigh of relief in seeing both Hawke and Hana sitting at the living room coffee table. He wouldn’t have to force her out of bed today. Good. Not that the promise of deliciously nasty cookies was anything to ignore. Hawke was a sucker for sweets whether she was aware of it or not.

Hana seemed rather chipper though. Actively serving as the only genuine energy in the room, Varric’s daughter had her straw yellow hair pulled into two low pigtails today. She was gladly going on about some topic that Hawke couldn’t feign actual interest in. Was she going on about how pretty Selena Gomez was again, or that game that her birth giver introduced her to a few weeks back? Oh well, it didn’t matter now. Now that Varric had gotten everything ready, it was time for the main event.

“We have gathered here today for a very momentous occasion.” Varric announced, striding over to the girls and effectively earning their attention. “Today is the day that we teach 7 year old Hana Tethras how to properly dunk, and eat, Oreos.”

Hana put on a wide smile. Hawke even gave a rather generous round of applause. She even peppered it with a few “That’s our girl!” and “She’s getting so big!” cheers for extra effect. It only helped the younger girl beam with pride. Even Varric gave a light smirk of appreciation.

“Now teenybopper,” he said as he took a place across from the girls, placing the tray right in the middle of the coffee table. “How do you feel? You nervous? Already got a preemptive tummy ache from all the sugar your old man is going to let you consume?”

“Nope!” Hana told him with a firm shake of her head. She then slammed her hands down with determination before saying, “Bring it, Papa!”

“Rein it back kid,” Varric laughed, “Don’t want to get the milk all over the coffee table, do we?”

“Sorry.” Hana sheepishly apologized. She carefully took her milk glass from her father and placed it to her left. She even gave it a good, hard stare, as if she was pressuring it into not falling over later. Varric snorted before handing Hawke her glass as well, then went about divvying up the cookies.

“Ah, Oreos,” Hawke thinly mused as Varric gave her share. “The only cure for my depression.”

He tried to hold it back, Varric scoffed. “They are not. That’s what your medication is for.”

“Well, you don’t have to act so sure about it,” Hawke frowned. “Give me my delusions and plausible deniability, Varric. It’s all I got in this world.”

“You have me Hawke!” Hana quickly chirped. “And Papa too!”

Hawke gave Hana a rather tired look, not quite intended for the child to see. The woman absently placed a hand on Hana’s head. She then gently stroked the top of Hana’s head as if it were a calming mechanism. Maybe it was; something about little Hana did give off a rather comforting aura. But Hawke would be damned if she knew just what it was.

“I do.” Hawke carefully agreed- although the sentence came out more as a question. Seeing Hana’s bright smile only made Hawke a bit more dazed. Varric looked on with a rather concerned expression on his face. He gently coughed into his hand, leading the ladies’ attention back to him.

“Now, for your first proper lesson, I’ve decided to go the easy route. I’m not training my young’in with the normal Oreos- that would be an exercise and a half not to break them. No, we’re going to use double stuffed Oreos. The best kind.”

“Naw, what about the triple stuffed Oreos, Varric?” Hawke whined. “Why can’t we use them instead?”

“Too much stuff.” came the rather firm answer. “I am a man of correcting my previous mistakes, and I’m not taking that road again.”

Hawke gave a badly exaggerated groan before telling him, “Having a kid really ruined your sense of fun.”

“No,” the man asserted. “Having a kid gave me a greater sense of avoiding 3 AM puke fests because someone decided to eat too much cookie cream.”

“It was one time!” Hawke argued, despite the rather amused look she had- Hana was stifling a cute little laughter beside her. “Everyone was black-out drunk anyway, and it was the perfect prank.”

“I don’t think Sebastian would say the same.”

“Since when were you ever one for accurate reaccountments, hmm?”

“You know he’s a dunker, Hawke. It gives him a sense of purpose.”

“Was he? Always seemed more like a licker.”

“Anyway…!” Varric then loudly proclaimed. “We’re getting off topic.”

Hawke and Hana exchanged a look before erupting into a set of bemused giggles. Varric rolled his eyes. Surround yourself with girls, they said. It would be a joy, they said. At least one of them was directly related to him- he wasn’t sure why he kept the other around.

“Now that I have your attention again,” Varric told them, “Let us first begin by picking up the Oreo itself…”

. . .

In a way, this whole thing was just so Varric could easily say seven year olds had the fine motor movement to carefully manipulate something as delicate as Oreo cookies. Always write what you know, yeah? It was a bit hard to believe that his own spawn actually stuck her tongue out when she was concentrating. She definitely didn’t get that from his side of the family. If anything, it was something he could see Hawke doing…

“I finally got it!” Hana suddenly exclaimed. Varric and Hawke both looked at her at the same time. The girl was proudly showing her two Oreo halves. One side had just the cream, the other was completely clean.

“Great job, teenybopper!” Varric approved. “Hawke, lean over and muss her hair for me. I can’t reach.”

Hawke nodded, but didn’t mess up Hana’s hair. Instead, she gave her a small elbow nudge and said, “Great job, teeny. Now we can audition you for all those Oreo commercials. You’d be a shoo-in.”

Hana’s smile grew even wider at the approval. Oh, to be young and easily proud of your (usually useless) accomplishments.

“Remember to only use your teeth to scrape the cream off if your tongue can’t find a good pocket beforehand.” Varric reminded his kid. Hana gave him a firm nod before returning to the cookie. He gave her a smile as he returned to his own lot as well.

Hawke had also returned to her Oreo dunking. After two cookies, she no longer felt like licking the cream off before dunking, so she just let the Oreo soak for a few moments. It was almost a routine that she zoned out for. Dip the Oreo, wait a bit, then eat it. Nothing to think about. It was a legitimate surprise when half the Oreo fell into the milk as she tried to pull it out. She blinked a few times before looking up at Varric.

“Varrrric,” Hawke whined, “Cookies got lost in milk!”

“That’s because you tried to dunk too much of the Oreo in the milk.” he replied without so much looking at her. “Then you pinched it as you pulled it up, and all your mushy cookie got lost.”

“But I didn’t pinch it!” she went on. A small edge in her voice made Varric look up. For a moment, he wondered if she was legitimately upset about it. “I only had half of it in the milk- you saw it! Tell ‘im, Hana.”

“You’re so funny, Hawke!” Hana laughed. The poor girl obviously not seeing that Hawke wasn’t quite being dramatic on purpose this time. Not that Varric could blame her- he’d bottle that innocence up and repackage it back into Hawke herself if he could.

“A real barrel of monkeys.” Varric mused. He gave a small click of his tongue before asking, “Hawke, did you take your meds today?”

Hawke proceeded to look at him like he was crazy. The dwarf was unrelenting, though. He had full plans of staring her down until Hana interrupted all of their thoughts with a musing;

“What do they make Oreo filling with anyway?”

A silence followed after this. Mostly because Varric didn’t want to stop nonverbally bullying Hawke into confessing she wasn’t taking care of herself again. He had to relent, letting out a defeated sigh before telling Hana, “Dunno, teenybopper. We can look it up later if you want.”

Hana gave a thoughtful hum and a little nod of her head, her attention too focused on staring at the Oreos now. Varric shook his head at her, before trying turning his attention back to Hawke. But Hawke had left the coffee table. She had slunk her way onto the couch, and was now actively trying to find the TV remote. That meant in a few minutes, Hawke would find something on TV that interested Hana, and the Oreo eating portion of their day officially over.

And Varric would be the one cleaning up the mess, because of course he would.

Varric let out a sigh before starting to get up. He made a trip to the kitchen to get a note off the fridge, then went back into the living room and straight to Hawke.

“The pharmacy closes in six hours,” he told her as he handed the note over, “Call them, or I’ll sit on you.”

Hawke looked at him, not sure whether to be amused or angered.

“Having a kid really ruined your sense of privacy.” she said, almost in a grumble

“No,” he told her. “Having a kid gave me a greater sense of caring for others. I’m not asking you twice, Hawke. Call them.”

The corners of Hawke’s mouth twitched as if she wanted to tell him off. He never gave her the chance. Instead, he sat back over with Hana, and quite purposely started to make conversation with her. The girl was rather ignorant of the friction between the two friends. In a way, Varric was grateful for it. She’d know and understand it better when she was older. But for now ignorance was bliss.

He just prayed that every force used to beat Hawke down never reached his own kid.

[stayforya]

SEÑORITA

member: kim namjoon

genre: ceo!au

words: 4.7k

summary: when you learned spanish, you knew it would take you to many places in business matters. however, you couldn't imagine that it would create a special conexión between you and your new boss.

monday morning, 7am

you were very nervous, to be honest

after graduating, you finally found your first job in your field, business administration

because of all your experiences as a student, you could get a good opportunity like this

you just took some fruit, yogurt and left the house to get the bus

you were supposed to be in the building at 8am to start

but because it was your first day, you came early

other coworkers were also coming

you greeted them as they knew you were a greenhorn in work

you started to organize your stuff on the table, turn on the computer and open up the folders

“good morning, everyone”, a very beautiful lady came in

you remembered her from the interview day

she was very sweet

her name tag said kim kyeongmin

“oh, ms. y/n, welcome! everyone, this is your new coworker, please welcome her”

you felt smiles around you and smiled back, also thanking kyeongmin

kyeongmin went to her office, which was right in front of the big room where all employees, including you, had their computers and stuff

the place was nice, spacious

and there was also a coffee machine plus a candy machine

modern office’s stuff

“hey, my name is jane, nice to meet you”, said the woman sitting by the table beside you

“oh, hi, I’m y/n. it’s my pleasure.”

“so, if you need anything, you can just ask me”, she delivered a friendly smile, “I started here six months ago so I know there must be some questions”

you nodded, “of course, thank you”, showing gratitude

you spent the whole morning working and there was a lot to catch up on

your coworkers asked if you’d like to come for lunch but you honestly weren’t even hungry

when you were into something, you didn’t like to pause, so you’d only stop when you’re finished

not that it’s good, since you had to eat

but yeah

during the lunch break, when you finally finished what you were writing and took some sandwich from inside your bag to eat

someone entered the room

you immediately looked, cause your table was the first view when someone got through the door

it was a man and the first thing you noticed was his height

he was tall

a simple white shirt, two buttons opened

black pants

his hair was styled in a nice way too, no strand of hair out of place

you could tell he was a serious guy but not a boring one

“excuse me, where’s everyone?”, he asked

you touched your face just in case there was any bread bran on it

“oh, hm, they are lunching”

he looked at his watch

“I’m sorry I thought the lunch break was already over”

“it’s okay, how can I help you? is there anything you need to deliver to ms. kim?”

he stopped for a brief second and then opened a little smile

“oh no, no, I can come back later”

you nodded

he was almost leaving when you, not satisfied, extended the conversation introducing yourself

“I’m sorry for my manners, my name is y/n”

he looked at you

“you’re the new employee, right? nice to meet you, I’m namjoon”, he said

“yes, nice to meet you too”

you didn’t know how he got that information

probably your proactive beginner way of being said it all

maybe he didn’t work there since he didn’t even have a name tag

you shrugged and came back to your work once he left

not so long later everyone came back, one by one

your new friend (could you call her like that already tho?) jane brought you a cupcake as a welcoming gift

“omg thank you!”, it was cute with a funny character designed on top

“no problem”

you had a lot of things to work on

kyeongmin brought you some stuff on paper to transfer to the virtual folder

you were very concentrated cause, in your mind, mistakes shouldn’t happen on your first day

when the door opened, you couldn’t help but look

the guy from earlier came in again

“excuse me, is kyeongmin already here?”

“no, sir, she was but she had to solve a problem at the bank”, another co-worker answered

sir?

“I’ll have to go into her office, then”, he said to himself out loud

everyone but you nodded

when you noticed, you just followed the nodding session

by the glass wall you could see him inside the office very concentrated

“he came here during lunch, who’s him?”

“oh, you don’t know yet?”, another colleague questioned

“I thought he came to deliver something…”

“no, girl, he’s the owner of this”

“w-what?”

“ms. kim and him are partners in business, he’s the CEO, tho”

everything in your mind made sense

“seriously? I had no idea”

“it’s okay, you just started”

after almost thirty minutes, he was still there

by that hour, everyone was making coffee

“so, every afternoon we like to make coffee, and we always make one to ms. kim when she’s very busy”, jane explained the routine to you

“since she’s not here, we’re making one to him…?”, you asked

“yeah”, someone else answered, putting some cream on top of his cup

“and every day a different person does it”

you looked at them

“I get it”, you said, “I’ll bring him the coffee since I’m new here”

they giggled

you made his coffee exactly like yours since you couldn’t guess how he liked it

everything ready, you knocked at the door

he didn’t move his head but looked at the door opening

“hey, hm, sir, we thought you’d like some coffee”

omg are you going to be informal like this and then add ‘sir’ just to make it better???

“oh”, he relaxed and leaned on the chair more comfortably, “it came in the right moment”

you gave a simple smile

he reached to take the cup from your hands

“thank you… y/n. right?”

you were surprised

“exactly”

you were about the get out the room but

“y/n?”

“yes?”

“do you speak spanish?”

“what?”, you spitted that out without even thinking

cough

“I mean…”, you tried to clean up the mess

but he smiled and laughed a little

your boss l a u g h e d a little

“sorry, I caught you by surprise. it’s just that I have a meeting with a team from Spain in one week, and I am not that good in spanish, so”

“I actually… do… speak some spanish.”

“oh!”, he seemed excited, “I asked the others but they don’t. spanish is not an easy language, so…”

“but, if you prefer, I could find a professional translator and-”

“don’t get me wrong, I know it’s not your job to do this, but it would be better if someone from the company could go with me, since we’ll talk about market research analysis and those business administration stuff, which is your field, right?”

did he read your resume too? you thought only ms. kim hired you

of course he would read, he’s the ceo

so he knew you could speak spanish too, it was on your resume

that’s why he asked so directly

“yes, yes, it’s our field”

he agreed, now playing with a pen in his right hand

“now, if you excuse me…”

“of course”, he said and even stood up as you bowed

people were really respectful in this company, huh

he was kinda nice tho

you thought he’d be cocky cuz he’s the ceo

but nah he was nice

anyways it would be a very good opportunity to be the official translator

you’d meet new people

alright, time to practice spanish again

the whole week was ok

you didn’t meet namjoon again, only kyeongmin, until the other week, on wednesday

one day before the meeting he was meant to attend to, he asked kyeongmin to send you to his office

“y/n, namjoon is calling you at his office. you’re attending the event tomorrow, right?”, she was so nice to you

you wonder what namjoon and her were of each other

“yes”, you smiled

“great! you can finish your work here later, ok?”, she pointed to the computer with her head

“thank you”

“tell him he owes me one”, she said when you were already leaving

when you stepped at his office

it was like

a whole new world lol

minimalist but so… chic?

it was so clean you almost took off your shoes to not dirty the floor

there was a wall full of books

he could even live there if he wanted to because it was so cool

his taste was great for interior design, in case he was the one who picked the stuff himself

there was a name tag made of glass with “kim nam joon” on it

he looked so powerful sitting there

but in the moment he saw you, he stood up and bowed too

“excuse me”

“please”, his hand pointed to the chair in front of that beautiful wood table

ok you were so mesmerized by that interior design lol

you sat in front of him while he was printing something

then you saw he was actually making a copy of the paper he was about to give you

it had like two pages and it was full of notes, but very organized

he put some glasses on and, dude, in that moment

he reached a new level of handsome

“how are you?”

you were caught by surprise a little

this is the type of question everyone asks but at the same time they don’t in situations like this

mainly when there’s something more important to talk about

“I am fine... you?”

“looking forward to the meeting. I’ll ask my driver to pick you up at 5pm so we won’t be late”

you nodded

“this”, he gave you the paper, “contains the main points we’re going to discuss tomorrow. I also made some notes and… if you have some question, go ahead”

namjoon’s personality was friendly and you could tell that by the way he talked and welcomed you

that’s why you read that paper and made all the questions you wanted

and wrote down some other notes

you’d definitely spend the rest of the day studying

it was your field, but you didn’t want to disappoint

“do you have any other question?”, he asked

“yes. what’s your spanish level?”

he smiled because of the question

you were very straightforward

he was probably expecting another question about the points he wrote down

“well… I can introduce myself, speak some simple sentences, but I understand more than I speak, so…”

“ok”, you said, writing down

he seemed curious about what you wrote

“it’s just because I need to know what do I have to translate”

“don’t worry, you’ll know”

you frowned

“you’ll notice my lost expression”, he said

“ok, so, I think this is it…”

“see you tomorrow, then”

“thank you, mr. kim”

“you can call me namjoon”

you only knew him for – what – a week

he walked to a sort of furniture where there were clean and ironed clothes

proving he could really live there

you stood up and went to the door, going back to your work space

thankfully there weren’t a lot of things to do there

because, hello-oh, you were still working for the company in the reunion with namjoon

you were organizing all the papers you had to bring home, then you noticed one of the files namjoon gave weren’t there

there were so many on his table that maybe you forgot it there

so you came back

the door was slightly opened and you knocked

you really did

but he didn’t answer so maybe he wasn’t there

and you just had to find your file

so you got in and he was coming back from the bathroom

you froze

his white shirt, usually two buttons opened

was now fully unbuttoned

a great physical was showing

tanned

he must work hard on gym

you tried to look at his face at the moment you saw each other

but your eyes kept coming back to his chest

he was starting to button again when he saw you

“oh I-”, just shut up, y/n

namjoon turned his back

“I’m sorry”, he said, looking at you over his right shoulder

“I’m sorry I walked in, I knocked but you didn’t hear…”

“no, that’s okay”, he said in a friendly tone, it really sounded genuine

“I think I forgot my file here”

it was exactly where you left it

“that’s it, thank you”

walking fast was complicated cause the sound of your heels in the ground broke the silence in a disturbing way

“excuse me, y/n”, namjoon said and you turned to him again

he was fully covered now

phew

“yes?”

“can you help me choose a necktie?”

he lifted two of them

“hm… I’d say the burgundy one”

“I wanted exactly this one”, he smiled and lifted the chosen one, “thank you”

you nodded and walked through the door

namjoon stayed there, immobile

deep down he wanted to ask something else so you’d stay there for another minute

he didn’t know you for long, ofc

but ever since you guys met

the way you were so carefree when talking to him

he liked that

it wasn’t because of how you look

even though he found you very pretty

but because of how you guys had some kind of connection when you spent almost an hour chatting earlier

maybe your vision, your ideas

he found that attractive

next day, you worked the whole morning

but kyeongmin told you to go home earlier because of the appointment

you thanked her and went home

a while ago, you bought a nice dress and maybe the good opportunity to use it would be now

it gave that serious neat vibe plus made you feel comfortable

you also made your hair in a nice way and when everything was finished

not one minute after 5pm

the car was in front of your home

the back door opened

not by itself

someone opened it but you couldn’t see

it was a fancy car btw

you didn’t know much about cars but who needs to know

everyone can tell when it’s fancy

you firstly looked inside and namjoon was already sitting there

you quietly sat there and closed the door

“hey”, he said

“hey”, you answered back

the informality though lol

you watched so many videos in spanish your brain was almost colliding

“just in time”

“I came home earlier”, you were avoiding eye contact

but you felt his lovely smile on you

“¿estás lista?"

“already practicing, mr. kim?”, you tried to sound unconcerned

he started looking through the window

namjoon was always very elegant

the fact that he’s tall probably helped a lot

but it was all about his posture

the way he speaks

walks

dresses

and his personality itself

he was dressing very simply

a white shirt, black blazer and pants

hair perfectly done as expected

“we arrived”, the driver said

namjoon and you got out from different doors and joined the place side by side, through the large stairs

the room was full of people and for a moment you felt insecure

you studied, you knew what you were doing, so why feel like this?

namjoon noticed the way you were touching your hair and straightening your clothes

“you look great”, he said, looking at you, “don’t worry”

the first group you two met were korean speakers, the second one had a lot of english speakers

and finally two men and one woman approached you

you kinda felt it was the spanish team you studied for but when you were wondering

they said “hola”, so you knew it

namjoon introduced himself pretty well in spanish

his accent was also good, it didn’t sound weird or try hard

he introduced you as “señorita y/l/n”

it was unexpected even tho you didn’t know why

when people started referring to you, you felt like it was the right time to get into the conversation

so you explained you’d be translating some stuff for namjoon

they were okay, probably used to it in meetings like that

you were nervous at the start but they were nice

plussss you were doing your thing

talking about your field

about everything you studied

in the end you felt like it was a very good opportunity to introduce yourself in this business world

namjoon had to talk to another team and he left you alone for some minutes

you thought you would panic but the conversation was very pleasing

after a long time talking to them, namjoon begged leave to eat something with you

you felt his hand on your back, close to your shoulders, but he wasn’t touching you

you just felt the presence of it, like, floating over

“you left me alone”, you said

“come on, you were doing so well”

you didn’t know what to answer so just kept walking until the place where drinks and foods were

“I thought your spanish was good but now I know it’s perfectly fluent”

he wasn’t looking at you while drinking

you both were leaning against a wall

“don’t be so kind”

“don’t be so harsh on yourself”, he looked at you and raised his eyebrows making a cute expression

your lips created a shy smile

almost three hours there making new partnerships and discussing about business administration, marketing, finance, etc

you were about to leave

while he was on the phone, you waited in front of the place

on top of the stairs, holding your coat and purse

“so”, you heard his voice from behind you

you turned to him

and for a moment

you looked up to him, since he was taller

he’s taller than anybody

and he looked into your eyes

INTO IT

you felt that

but it was just for a moment so he continued

“my driver can’t come”

“really? why?”

“he wasn’t feeling good, so he needed to rush to a hospital”

“ah… do we need to take a cab? I can call one”

“actually”, his hands on the pockets and his body swinging in a childish way, “he left the car here and went in a cab”

“where are the keys?”

“in reception, I got it already”, he showed it

“hm can you… drive or…?”

he smiled and scratched the back of his neck

“to be honest, I’m not good when it comes to control cars”

you kinda wanted to laugh but you bit your lower lip

“you can laugh”, he said

so you let it out

“I really thought you had a driver just for the fanciness”

“I wish”

“well, give me them, I’ll drive”, you reached out for it

he didn’t even think twice before giving it to you

so you leaded the way

he followed you to the car

and he was about to open the back door

“oh-oh, not there”, you said, “you’re coming in the front”

“oh I’m sorry”

you know when you’re anxious for something

then the thing happens so you feel an inexplicable relief

and it’s like you could conquer the world now it passed

you were feeling exactly like this

although namjoon was your boss, he was so nice that you felt like there was no big barrier between you two

so you felt comfortable with him

you knew the age gap wasn’t that big because he was one of the most successful CEOs under 30

“¿a dónde vamos, senõrita?”

“your spanish is improving, huh?”

he laughed

“you’re a good teacher”

you felt kinda keyed up

quickly back to normal

“I’ll take you home and I’ll call a cab from there”

“oh no, you can take the car”

“what? no, no, I’m okay”

“turn left”, he said

“pardon?”

“my house. you have to turn left now”

“oh ok”

your face started to burn lol thank God it was dark inside the car

and he giggled by himself

namjoon’s house was quite far

the location was private btw

the good thing was that you both chatted a lot along the way

“here you go”, you said taking off the seat belt as if you were about to get out too

“are you staying?”, he asked

your eyes widened

“eh? I’ll leave the car with you”

“no I told you to go home with it”, he said

“I just don’t feel comfortable…”

“don’t get me wrong, if you want to stay over, there’s a room for you”

“excuse me?”

“that’s why I started with ‘don’t get me wrong’, maybe you’re tired to cross the city. a cab will be very expensive”

“ok, so I’ll take the car”

he nodded, agreeing

“tomorrow I’ll give it back to you”

“you could give me a ride, though”

you laughed

“am I your new driver now? it seems like I have a lot of new positions”

“I didn’t mean that way”, he was being serious now

maybe he thought you were being serious too

you didn’t see it as overwork at all

because it wasn’t

you would have an extra payment for going with him to that meeting

driving him wasn’t a job, it was a pleasure

“I’ll come. can you be ready at 7:30am?”

“uh early”

“that’s the hour we all go to work, sir”

“I’ll think about a change of the office hours, señorita”

“is señorita a thing now?”

he shrugged

“see you tomorrow?”

“at 7am”, you answered

namjoon was standing in front of his place when you arrived there

you really thought he would be late but wow

looks like he was trying to impress

he was a fun person to talk to even being quite sleepy at that hour

when you guys arrived, you left the keys at the reception for the driver

and went to your office

namjoon went for his and that was the last time you saw him that day

you kinda smiled sometimes during the day cause you remembered the moments you guys had

talking to him was so nice you forgot he was your boss

kyeongmin and some coworkers asked you how the meeting went

and you felt good talking about that because, professionally, it was a great moment for you

you felt exactly where you should be and it made you create new goals for your career

the next week came

you both only saw each other for quick moments

he smiled at you every time

another week came and another one too

it was a very busy moment for the company after the meeting

new partnerships, new responsibilities

until the day he called kyeongmin

you were at her office in the moment she received the call

“oh yeah she’s here… yeah, okay”, she turned off the phone

“it’s namjoon, he asked if you could go to his office”

“yes, if you let me…”

she opened a bright smile

“y/n, don’t worry about that, he’s the ceo. if he calls you’re the one to say yes or no, just let me know”

“well…”

“I’m his sister by the way, in case you have mistaken me for his wife, girlfriend or anything”

you didn’t know what to answer

“no I didn’t have any thoughts about it”, you smiled shyly

liarrrr lol

you thought she was his girlfriend once

but after some days and seeing how they were acting with each other, you knew they didn’t have any love relationship

knowing they’re siblings made sense

you went to namjoon’s office quite nervous

even at the first time, you weren’t nervous like this and now your stomach was writhing

you knocked at his door and he opened it quickly

“hi”

oh heeey he looked really cute

you greeted him back and got in once he asked you to

“so…”, you said

“I’m about to promote you”

he saw your eyes getting bigger in surprise and couldn’t help but smile

“as my new driver”

“oh how funny”, your voice was funny itself after the shock

“it’s the only way we can have nice talks, right?”, he sat on his chair

“is it?”

ok where did your boldness come from

his expression looked like he was asking the same question

“ok, so, can you tell me why did you call me here?”

“just because” – he wanted to see you, but he didn’t finish the phrase that way – “the Spain partners really liked you”

“oh!”, the surprise was genuine

“you were great, they praised you a lot and asked me if you could be the official in-between person in our business with them”

you clearly didn’t have words to express the surprise

“I feel honoured”

“you should. so, is it a yes?”

“of course!”, you were about to say something else but a huge noise echoed

namjoon was getting a pen to write something but

SOMEHOW

he dropped the whole pen holder

very clumsy of him and it wasn’t the first time you noticed

you both immediately started to pick up the pens

that cliché thing happened, not gonna lie

your hands touched when you tried to pick up the same pen as him

coming back to your seats you tried to lighten the atmosphere

“do you break a lot of things or-?”

he laughed

“at this point I think being clumsy is already a personality thing I was born with”

“deep”, you said, which made him keep the smile

“ok, you’ll accept the offer, then?”

“which one?”

he frowned

“oh, the Spain team one, right? definitely”

“did I make another one…?”

you looked at his eyes

they said a lot, btw

and you found that one of the most attractive features of him

“I just thought you wanted to”

by his face he couldn’t believe you noticed

you were quite an observant and, come on, you were into him too

not to the point your body talk expressed it, because you were very cautious about love interest in the workplace

he crossed his fingers, hands on the table

“look, now that you noticed, I can’t help but say…”

“not that you were trying to hide at all, right, sir?”

the way you always had answers left him speechless

“I find you interesting”, he said, lowering his voice, “and I know work is not the best place for it”

“still you find a way to see me”

“y/n…”

“be honest. who are we lying to?”

namjoon stood up

wandering around the room, maybe trying not to make eye contact

“look, it never happened before”

you stood up too, listening

“I really like the way we connect. and y e s, I know it sounds deep but it’s not that deep, we bond well”

you agreed

“so if you want, we can meet again. somewhere else. maybe on a library, a café, idk”

you smiled at him

“yes, let’s do this”

“so it’s mutual”

“you’re my boss, I couldn’t let it show- oh, your collar”, you couldn’t concentrate looking at his messy collar

you just went closer to straighten it

“sorry, it was messy”

he watched you do that

now you were close

and you felt his eyes on you

you wanted to look back but the reaction would be uncertain

cause you’d probably do exactly what you did

your hand rose to his neck and namjoon automatically leaned down even closer

your lips touch and it was so quickly you didn’t even notice the exact moment

so you both did it again

as if the first kiss was just an attempt

when it felt like you did the right thing and wanted it again, that was when you just let it happen

namjoon’s kiss handn’t rush

anyone could get in but he didn’t care

you two were into the moment

your minds went blank and just the feelings of the kiss took control

his hand caressed your hair and put one lock behind your ear

so his fingers could softly touch your face

you touched his shoulders and the back of his hair

and you knew he liked it because of the smile between the kiss

he tightened his grip as your hand caressed his neck

when you finally stopped, eyes still closed and foreheads touching

the silence took over for a minute, until you were the first to cut it

“I think I have to go now…”

his face was saying please, stay for a while

“I’ll wait until we meet”

you smiled at him

“me too”

[velvetchen]

Bound | pt. i

[ back to masterlist ]

genre: angst, some fluff - arranged marriage au, enemies to lovers au member: sehun word count: 6k warnings: angst i guess?

summary: How do you know which things are better left unsaid? 

a/n: okay i KNOW i said writing hiatus but this has been sitting in my drafts for a while and i have no idea if this fic will go anywhere since i didn’t plan anything but..here you go!

next part >>

The night Kyungsoo tells you ‘maybe we should take a break’ for the third time this month, you know it’s over. He’s nice about it, of course. He’s always nice. But you know that your relationship isn’t going anywhere, and have known it for the month and a half you’ve been officially dating. Which is why he doesn’t complain when you start to cry right there in the park where he asked you for a walk. He wraps his jacket around you, resting his hand over your shoulder as you sniffle, embarrassed, and rummage in your bag for tissues.

“It’s okay,” he says, and if Kyungsoo says it’s okay, it is. You both part ways right there on the bridge, in a moment that for any other couple would be romantic, picturesque - with the full moon glimmering over the lake below, and the soft glow of streetlamps seeping through the trees above. You know that once you leave, you won’t have any reason to see each other again. 

Perhaps that’s just the way it should be. 

You would have been okay with that, would have gone home feeling not as heavy as you should have had it not started raining on the walk home. Seven blocks separate you from the comfort of your apartment when the first drops hit your head. You barely take a few more steps before it’s a full-out downpour, and you’re completely soaked through. Your hair hangs limply around your face, your clothes quickly plaster to your skin, and the chill of the night invades. 

The tears come back. You clasp your arms tightly around yourself as you trudge back home, the rain showing no signs of letting up. When you finally struggle into the lobby of your apartment building, you leave a sodden trail towards the stairs.

When you manage to drag yourself into your apartment, it’s dark and quiet. It isn’t too late, but Minji had gone out earlier, so you suppose you’re alone for now. All the better - you want to be alone right now, want to have the privilege of drowning in your misery before reality hits you again. But first, you’re cold and wet and your face is sticky from tears and rain. You shut yourself into the bathroom, the silence feeling heavy as you sit down under the stream of hot water in the shower.

You come out twenty long minutes later, swathed in your blanket, and wearing your softest pajamas. Your ‘breakup pajamas’, you call them. 

You’re surprised to find Minji there, sitting cross-legged on the sofa, her laptop propped up in front of her. There are extra pillows next to her, and snacks on the table. “I made you some ramen, too,” she calls when you’re halfway down. “It’s on the table.”

A small smile slips onto your face.  Somehow, she knows when you need someone to sit beside you in silence as you eat ice cream and watch Netflix, when you’re still smarting from a broken heart. 

Kyungsoo is your thirteenth breakup, and the one that hurts the most. Which is why Minji seems to be extra understanding. She sits in silence as you curl up on the couch next to her with the cup of ramen, which is perfect, just the way you like it, as you try to follow the movie she’s watching. You eat in silence, taking longer than usual to finish, and when you’re done you put the cup away and lean back on the couch.

Minji mutes the movie. “Do you want to talk about it?” She asks carefully. 

You usually don’t, but this one time… “Okay,” you say.

She shifts slightly so she’s facing you. You take a deep breath, unsure where to start. “I…think you can guess what happened. He broke up with me. I mean, not explicitly at first, but I knew. We don’t work together, and as much as I care for him, we just realized it wasn’t…going anywhere.”

You and Kyungsoo had chemistry. Off-the-charts chemistry, Bora had said. You first met him at a career fair, and you spent the whole hour staring at him, and he spent the whole hour staring back at you. At one point you couldn’t take it anymore and you walked up to him and introduced yourself. He took you home and gave you (arguably) the best night of your life. You hooked up three times before he asked you to properly date him, one night as he was spooning you, his velvety voice in the shell of your ear. 

You had chemistry, but you didn’t make sense together. You both wanted different things. He never said so - he was too nice - but you could tell that he was unsure about your dating history. You knew he wanted something permanent, something steady and smoldering instead of a spark that flared and fizzled out. Which was all you had. 

Surprisingly, even as you tell Minji this, you don’t cry. You don’t feel hollow or worn out. “I hope he finds someone who’s right for him,” you murmur. “He deserves it.” 

“You really care for him,” Minji observes. 

“I do,” you say. “But enough about that. It’s over. Done. I have to move on, right?” You laugh, a hint of irony seeping in. 

Minji gives you a sympathetic smile, and leans onto your shoulder, patting your arm comfortingly. Then, something strikes and she springs up to look at you, a hint of something sparkling in her eye. You know that look - it’s her ‘I’m your best friend and you’re going to do what I say’ look. You pull away, wary. “What?”

“I read about this thing,” she says, trying very hard not to smile. “It’s like an experiment or something like that. A study? Anyway, I think it would be perfect for you.”

“What is it?” You’re almost scared to hear what this newest idea is. 

“It’s an experiment on love,” she grins. “You sign up, and they pair you up with someone for six months based on how compatible you are. And you have to stay with them for those six months, live in the same house and do normal relationship things, but the catch? You don’t get to know who your partner is until the wedding.”

“Sounds…” you start, then backtrack. “Wait, what? Did you say wedding?”

“Yes, a wedding! And then you go on a honeymoon and stuff, and after the six months you can choose to stay married, if, you know, they end up being your true love, or you can get a completely legal divorce.” She winks. “Their last study had an eighty percent success rate. And the honeymoon is all expenses paid.”

“Honeymoon?” You repeat dumbly. “Minji, I don’t - I don’t want to get married. I just want a romance. To, like, enjoy life.” Never mind the growing doubt in your head now, after this, that maybe you’re just not cut out for that. That love isn’t for you - that maybe, you don’t believe in it anymore. Maybe you should stop trying.

“It’s like a trial!” she argues. “Besides, what if you actually end up finding the love of your life? It’s worth it!” She gives you a meaningful look, and your mind flicks over all the failed relationships you’ve had over the past few years. And you brush over your most recent wound: Kyungsoo. 

“What if I don’t, though?” You mutter, turning away and tucking your knees up into your chest as you chew at your bottom lip. “What if it doesn’t work out, again, and I’m stuck with them for six months?” 

Minji pats your knee. “Have some faith, Y/N. If you keep worrying about things not working out, then you never really have the chance to let go and just…enjoy the moment.” 

You don’t know what to say to that, except that she’s right. To some extent. Maybe you are too caught up in the fact that things don’t work out for you, and that’s why they don’t. 

“So?” she nudges you. “What do you say? Will you do it?”

“I don’t know,” you answer honestly. 

“I just want you to be happy, Y/N,” she groans. “Like, really. I’m trying my best here.”

“I know,” you crack a smile. “Okay, maybe I’ll check it out. For your sake only.”

She flings her arms around your neck. “Thank you! Thank you thank you. You’ll sign up, you’ll find the perfect partner, and I’ll say I told you so.”

“Of course you will. I wouldn’t expect anything else.”

Minji heads back home later - Baekhyun comes over to pick her up, and even as you wave goodbye to them you’re hit with the solid pang of jealousy in your gut as you watch him kiss her temple and help her into the car, both of them giggling at something he’d said. 

That pang is what makes you whirl around and head to your computer. Your fingers hover over the keys for just a moment before you type in the words: Project Cupid. 

Their website is sleek and businesslike, not the pink-and-red extravaganza more fitting for Valentine’s Day that you were expecting. Everything seems legitimate, and you even have to admit their description is attractive:

At Project Cupid we endeavor to study the true constituents of love. What makes it bloom? What makes it tick? And what keeps it going? This is why we ask you for help. We ask you to put your trust (and your heart) in our hands as we pair you with someone who is at least eighty percent compatible with you in all aspects - emotionally, physically, even astrologically. 

Though this is an experiment for us, for you we hope it will be so much more. A chance for you to find what everyone seeks and what hundreds of stories and folk tales have exalted for centuries: true love. 

You scan the site, heart thudding unnecessarily fast as you navigate to the ‘apply now’ page. Should you do this? Is it worth the risk of another heartbreak, perhaps worse, just for the chance at true love? 

The questions are intimate. Really intimate. There are things you’ve never even thought of by yourself, much less came close to thinking about in the context of relationships. You never lasted long enough with anyone to really think about these things - well, except for one person. Is family important to you? Do you value honesty or loyalty? What do you look for in a partner above all else? And questions that you wouldn’t expect to have anything to do with a matchmaking service. What emotions does the color blue evoke for you? Where did your parents go to school? Questions that make you blush fiercely, even as you answer them as truthfully as you can. Do you enjoy being sexually active? What kinds of activities excite you during intimate moments with your partner? 

When you come to the last section, though, the part where you have to read through the legal terms and book an interview with someone who’ll complete your profile and have you sign papers - you hesitate. It’s taken you three hours to spill everything about yourself into an online form that’ll be sent to people you don’t know, for them to review and pair you with someone whom you don’t know. You’ve laid yourself bare here. Somewhere, the person you’ll be paired with has filled out the same form too. 

The thought hits you full force. This is real. If you click submit, then you’ll be matched with someone. A real person. Who’ll be given the power to make you fall in love with them, to break your heart. 

You can’t do it. You can’t go through with it. Minji will understand, won’t she?

If you save your profile now, you can come back to edit it at a later date. You click save and turn off your computer, the dark of your room closing around you.

Junmyeon is wonderful. The kind of boyfriend that everyone dreams about coming home to, settling into a comfortable life with. He’s that kind of person for you, too. Bora is your mutual friend, and when she says a childhood friend of hers recently contacted her and she’d like you to come with her to meet him, you’re not expecting a set-up. You should have, though. Bora knows it’s been over a month since you and Kyungsoo broke up, and you’ve been on two dates since then, neither of which led anywhere. Dates number fourteen and fifteen were both startlingly similar to Kyungsoo in hindsight, but you hadn’t had any of the same chemistry. 

It’s been two weeks since you’ve gone out now. Junmyeon is a refreshing change. In some ways he’s very much like Kyungsoo, too, ways that you can’t help but notice - he’s dependable, hardworking, sweet, considerate, nice to a fault. But he’s different, too, and you find yourself liking that. He’s soft where Kyungsoo was rough, he’s steadfast where Kyungsoo yielded. 

On your third date, you stop comparing him to Kyungsoo. On your fifth, you confess to Minji that you think you might be in love, with the operating word being ‘think’.  There’s still that dark cloud lingering in the back of your mind. After so many failed relationships, failed opportunities, there’s nothing that guarantees this won’t be a failure, too. The words sink down in your gut every time you consider it - you just aren’t made for love. 

Still, Junmyeon is a comfortable presence in your life, and you don’t hate yourself enough to push him away. Not now. You don’t stop to wonder if you’re taking things too fast. He’s nearly four years older than you, but you don’t mind, and he doesn’t either. You spend nearly every night at his apartment instead of yours. You let him take you shopping. You wake up next to him in the mornings, tracing the lines of his lips and nose in the early sunlight as he pulls you closer in his sleep; blush as he kisses the palm of your hand and says, voice husky from sleep, “Good morning, beautiful.” 

It feels like a honeymoon. This is it, you think. He’s the one. Everything is perfect, just the way you always wanted, and you’re finally thinking things might settle down for you. You’ve had fifteen bad endings. You don’t need a sixteenth. You’ve found your happy ever after, and the part of your mind that is whispering to you that this delusion will eventually shatter is pushed down into a box that you quietly pack away and hope you never have to open again.

Junmyeon leaves for a business trip the next weekend, and you come back home. It feels strange - home is with Junmyeon now, with the steady kind of rhythm you both had built over the last month and a half - he never explicitly asked you to move in, it just happened, and neither of you are complaining. Home is waking up to him, eating dinner together when he takes a break from work to spend time with you, and curling up in his lap and talking as he runs your fingers through your hair before bed. 

This is new for you. You’ve never had anything this comfortable, this constant. Junmyeon is everything you could have wanted and more, which is why you can’t escape the feeling that this is too good to be true. 

You pluck up the courage to talk to him about the future one day. You figure that it’s better to ask him about his plans now than after you’re completely headfirst in love with him, too deep to swim out. There’s only one way you can think of to calm your nerves - the moment you’ve both washed your dishes from dinner, you corner him against the fridge and box him in. 

A mischievous look slips onto his face. “Already, Y/N? You couldn’t wait until we went to bed?” 

“No,” you admit, placing an open-mouthed kiss on the side of his neck, coming down to suck at the curve between his throat and shoulder. He shivers, his reactions always satisfying. “I couldn’t.” You pull away abruptly and grab him by the hand, leading him inside. 

In the space after you’ve both finished, laying panting on the sheets as the cool air brushes across your skin, you ask him. He’s turned off the bedside lamp, and you’re comfortably curled up into his chest. His hand is curved over your bare back, and he strokes it up and down as he watches you speak. 

“Junmyeon,” you begin, “do you want…a family someday?” It’s too dark to see his reaction, but you’re already feeling like you’ve crossed a line, so you quickly backtrack. “I mean, not necessarily with me, I know we’ve only been together a few months, but would you ever…have you considered it?” 

He chuckles. “Of course I’ve thought about it. And I’ve thought about a family…with you, too. It’s been long enough that the thought has crossed my mind.” You wait expectantly. “And?”

“Yes, I do,” he says, somewhat wistfully. “Someday. I gave it plenty of thought, and I want to focus on my career for now. I’m still on my way up, and I want to come to a stable place before I make any outside commitments. Besides, you know how busy things get these days.” You can hear the frown in his voice - you know he hates that.

You hum sympathetically. “I wish you didn’t have to spend so much time working,” you murmur into his skin. “But yeah, I understand. And I know you’ll be successful.”

“You’re always so flattering,” he chuckles, and rolls onto his back, pulling you up with him so you can pillow your head on the broad expanse of his chest.

“Because I’m proud of you,” you say. “What about…us, though?”

“Hmm,” he says. “I like how we are right now. We didn’t plan anything out. I like that. I think we should just see how it goes like this.”

You smile, but the fact that that isn’t a promise sits heavy in your stomach. The box in the attic of your head starts to peel open again.

Junmyeon breaks up with you over a phone call. In a way.

Maybe you’re exaggerating. It’s not a breakup - more like a mutual agreement of termination. Junmyeon is too tidy, too sophisticated, for a breakup. Like signing a contract, snapping a stick, but nowhere near as clean. He leaves you with ragged edges and even less hope than you had before you started dating him. 

He gets the offer on your three-month anniversary, during your obligatory fancy dinner, and excuses himself to take the call. When he comes back, he’s elated - it shows on his face. You’ve never seen him this happy. 

You lean forward, over the table, bursting with curiosity. “What is it?”

“I got a promotion,” he says, and grins ear to ear, his eyes turning into shining half-moons. “To regional director. They want me to take over managing the whole branch.”

You gasp, reaching for his hand. “Junmyeon, that’s incredible. I’m..I’m so proud of you.” 

His smile grows broader, if that’s even possible. “I’m honored to hear you to say that about me.” And then his face falls. “But I didn’t mention…the position is for their Tokyo office. I’ll have to move.”

Your heart sinks like an anchor, but you try your hardest to keep the dejection off your face. “That’s okay. I know you’ll be perfectly fine.”

“What about us? I can’t ask you to move with me,” he says, and you hate so much to see that his excitement over the offer is dampened by this. By you. You’ve always known this - that his career comes first - but it hurts just the same, it really does. 

“I can’t go,” you agree softly. You can’t leave your education for him. Tokyo is a whole sea away - even visiting now and then is out of the question. “It’s fine. We’ll figure out the…the long distance thing.”

He stares at you long and hard. You can feel his conflict, almost see the wheels turning in his head. He’s trying, you know, trying to find a way. Then he shakes his head. He can’t meet your eyes now; he thumbs the skin on your wrist as his voice lowers. “I don’t know if we can. The time difference…and I’ll be busy a lot. My workload will be even worse than it is now.” 

You swallow. 

“I can’t do that to you,” he murmurs. “It would be selfish of me to keep you when I know I won’t be able to give you what you deserve.”

You want to offer to try it out for a while, but close your mouth before the words slip out. You know how busy Junmyeon is. He makes time for you now, sure, and you know at what cost he does. You can’t put the extra stress on him of having to find ways to spend time with you while he’s in another country, in a different time zone, with a workload so tough he’ll barely have time for himself.

Nodding quietly, you squeeze his hand. “When do you leave?”

Minji finds you crying over an empty carton of ice cream after you come back from the airport and text her to come over. You’re sure you look pathetic, laid out on the floor, your hair a mess, tears staining your cheeks and your pillow, but you don’t care. Alarmed, she turns on the light and you groan, raising your arm to cover your eyes. “Minji,” you drag out her name. “Turn it off. I’m sensitive.”

She doesn’t. She rolls his eyes as he squats down beside you, plucking the empty carton from your hand and heading over to throw it away. “Stop wallowing in your despair.”

“Just one day,” you plead. “I’ll be fine tomorrow.”

“If by ‘fine’ you mean chasing after the next person who’ll break your heart…”

It might just be because you’re still smarting from Junmyeon leaving, but that cuts a little too deep. “It’s not like I actively seek out people for that purpose.”

“I gave you a solution! You chose not to listen to me!”

“Yes, because I had Junmyeon-”

“And now you don’t! Why are you so scared to take risks, Y/N?” 

You groan and bury your head in your pillow. “Because I’ve taken so many, and all of them end up with me like this! I’m…Just let me be sad for today, okay?”

“That’s what you say every time,” she comments, but her hand rubs comfortingly over your back. 

You must fall asleep, because you wake up in the dead of night with a sticky note stuck to your forehead. Grumbling, you pull it off. 

I had to leave 4 a night out with B but I made you some dinner!! Love, ur BEST FRIEND

P.S.  don’t be an idiot!!! You know what im talking about!!

Minji has indeed left you dinner on the stove, and she’s also surreptitiously left your laptop on the counter with your Project Cupid website open. Another sticky note is stuck to the screen: DO IT!!! 

You let out a long sigh, ignoring the laptop for a moment as you go over to pull a bowl from the cabinet. She’s right; you are unwilling to take risks, but isn’t that what you’ve been doing this whole time? Trying again and again, taking the risk of someone breaking your heart and then dealing with it anyway. How is this any different? You drag a chair over to the counter and sit down, glaring at the logo on the screen as you mull it over.

You can’t say it won’t hurt, because it probably will. The chance of you, with your current track record, finding your dream partner from a random matchmaking service - no, an experiment - and having everything sail smooth from day one is realistically zero. The chance of you finding someone who will truly love you, someone whom you can spend your life - or at least a good chunk of it - with, considering your track record, is realistically zero.

How is this different from you dating sixteen people in the fruitless hope that you’ll find the one?

Then it strikes you, like a blow to the chest, that the reason you don’t want to go through with this is because you believe it might actually work. At that, your brain starts reeling. Isn’t that what you want? Isn’t that what you’ve been waiting for? 

You stand up, leaving the Project Cupid page open to the submit button and pacing around the kitchen. “I can’t do this sober,” you mutter to yourself, and head over to your wine cupboard. With your head fuzzy, the conundrum you’re facing doesn’t seem so hard. 

Three glasses later, you almost can’t think straight. “Fuck it,” you say, and press submit. 

The email confirmation greets you the next morning, when you wake up with your head pounding and the light from your phone screen threatens to make your skull explode. But you’ve done it. You’ve done it, and you feel like an utter idiot now that the implications have set in, but it’s too late to take it back.

Dear Y/N,

Thank you for your application to Project Cupid! We take our applicants very seriously. A committee of dedicated reviewers will go over your application, evaluate it with very specific, expert-verified criteria, and eventually pair you with someone who we think best matches you in every aspect. To follow up on your application, we’d like you to meet up with an interviewer - attached is the contact information for the interviewer in your area. Please discuss a time and location that works for you so we can go ahead with the matching process.

Here’s to true love, The Project Cupid Team

Your interview is a week and a half later, at a coffee shop that you frequent often. Minji can’t hold in her excitement as she offers to drive you there on her way to Baekhyun’s - you’re trapped in the passenger seat with mortification still bubbling up in your chest. 

“I’m so proud of you, Y/N,” Minji says, and the look on her face is so sappy that you can’t help but smack her arm lightly. 

“This was a complete mistake. I did this in a moment of weakness,” you mumble, fidgeting with the hem of your shirt. It’s just the interviewer you’re meeting - not even your future partner - but you’ve taken the same care in dressing up that you would for an actual date, even going so far as to curl your hair and put on more than just mascara. 

“It’s not a mistake, trust me,” Minji insists. “This will all be worth it, I promise.”

“Well, I’m holding you to that,” you tease. You take a deep breath as you rearrange the strap of your handbag, and Minji brings the car to a stop a block away from the Brim, the coffee shop you’re supposed to meet at. 

“I believe in you!” Minji grins, and you blow her a kiss as you step out and head inside. 

The Brim is mostly empty - just your luck. The few patrons that are here are hunched over laptops or their phones, and Minseok, the barista you’ve become familiar with, isn’t behind the counter today. Your interviewer isn’t here, either. I’m wearing a bright pink shirt and heels, she’d laughed over the phone conversation you had this morning. There’s no way you can miss me.

You pay for your coffee and then settle for the most secluded spot available - a little booth tucked away by the window that is partially hidden from view by a large statement art wall. You’ve only been scrolling through your phone for a few minutes before you hear a familiar voice. You look up and bright pink fills your vision. “Hi, Y/N,” Tiffany beams, and slides into the seat opposite you without any further preamble. “Sorry I’m late.”

“It’s alright,” you say, voice catching, and you clear your throat as subtly as possible. 

“So, let’s get right to business,” she says, and pulls out a file from her bag. “This is your application, and I’m going to ask you to talk a little more about some of it before we get on to the official interview questions, okay?” 

“Sure.” Your face heats up a little when you think about some of the stuff you had to write on the application. “I can choose not to answer a question if I want, right?” 

She shakes her head vigorously. “Of course you can. You have no obligation to tell us anything you aren’t comfortable talking about.” 

“Right,” you say. “What’s first?”

“How’d it go?” You can hear Minji practically bouncing over the phone. Baekhyun’s laugh is audible behind her. 

“It went pretty well,” you admit. Tiffany was nice, and like she promised, she didn’t pry. She’d listened to you carefully, taking notes occasionally in neat black ink, and interrupted here and there with anecdotes that lightened the mood. “I feel considerably better about this whole mess now.” 

“Did they say when you’ll be paired?” 

“A month from now,” you frown. “And the weddings-” you choke a little on the word “-a couple of weeks after that. I’m not going to go on any dates while I wait. I’ll just enjoy my alone time while I can.” 

Minji laughs. “Guess what this means, Y/N.”

“What?”

“It means I totally win our bet from second year of university about you getting married before me.” 

You whine. “This doesn’t count! It’s not an actual wedding.”

“Yeah, but if - when - this works out and you decide to live happily ever after with whomever they pair you up with…” she trails off. “In any case, you owe me…crap. I don’t even remember what the stakes were.”

“Neither do I,” you confess, laughing. “But if - when - this works out, I’ll definitely take you out for dinner, on me.” 

Minji’s voice softens. “I’m happy to see you finally having some hope again, Y/N.”

“Yeah, well,” you shrug, even though she can’t see you. “Better hoping than dreading, I guess.”

Dear Y/N,

Congratulations!

After considerable thought and thorough deliberation, you’ve been matched! We sincerely hope that our efforts are not in vain, and that this opportunity gives you love and a fulfilling relationship. Your partner is a perfect match in almost every aspect - our experts estimate that your compatibility lies between 80 and 90 percent, one of the highest rates in this round of Project Cupid!

According to the conditions of our experiment, we cannot disclose any details about your partner to you before the fixed date of your ceremony, which will be negotiated with both of you in the coming weeks. At the ceremony, you will get to meet them for the first time: an exciting, magical moment that we hope you’re looking forward to as much as we are! 

Here’s to true love, The Project Cupid Team

“I’m calling to invite you to my wedding,” you laugh over the phone. 

“Has it been decided?” Again, Minji can’t contain her excitement. “I’m going to be right there next to you. Honestly, I’m tearing up just thinking about it. My best friend is getting married. Wow.” 

“Minji,” you pout, but then you’re smiling, her mood contagious. “Anyway, it’s not a proper wedding, they said. It’s just a contract that we sign that binds us together, but we’re not given ‘married’ status on any legal terms. The actual wedding is…we can have one after the experiment period is over, if we decide to stay together.” 

“I’m coming anyway,” Minji says, “and so is Baekhyun, and I am taking you shopping this weekend because you have to make a good impression on your future life partner.”

“He’s going to live with me for six months and see me in old t-shirts and my rat-nest hair anyway,” you say, and speaking the words out loud really hits you like a stone. You’re going to live with a complete stranger - never mind the 80 percent compatibility - for six months. You’re going to try to fall in love with them. They’re going to try and fall in love with you. The next breath you take catches a little in your chest. 

“You okay?” Minji asks, concern evident. 

“I’m good, I’m good,” you say. “Anyway, shopping this weekend?” 

“Or else!”

The Project Cupid office is sleek and futuristic, with glass and steel everything and a stunning view over the expanse of the city. The woman at the front desk leads you to a waiting room, which is far more extravagant than you ever expected, and a few moments later someone comes in with glasses of champagne for you, Minji, and Baekhyun. 

You can’t sit still, and your stomach is in no condition to process alcohol, so you hand your glass to Baekhyun, who takes it gladly. “I don’t know, but I’d never pass up free stuff, especially when it’s champagne this expensive.”

“I don’t really want it,” you say in a small voice, staring at the flecks of gold leaf on the pastries they’ve left in the table in the middle of the room. Minji rubs your back comfortingly. The dress you picked - a classy deep emerald green that falls right above your knees - is suddenly stifling, and all you want is to be out of this office and back home, where you don’t have to worry about getting married - for all intents and purposes - to a complete stranger. 

This is it. This is the big day. Minji clasps your hand in hers. “Everything is going to be just fine,” she murmurs, her voice as comforting as ever. “You’ve got this.” 

Your stomach is still churning when a knock sounds on the door and Tiffany pushes her head in, a broad smile on her face. “Morning, Y/N! We’re all ready for you, so if you are, we can have you meet your partner.”

“Oh god,” you say, but it comes out as an unintelligible groan. Baekhyun snorts, and Minji kicks him lightly. “I mean, yeah, I’m fine, I’m great. Let’s go.” You stand up, too suddenly, and Minji has to wrap her arm around you to steady you. 

Tiffany gives you an encouraging smile, and - this is it. This is what you’ve been waiting this whole time for. 

The hallway down to the signing office feels far more constricting than it really is. You have your arms crossed tight over your chest, and you stumble a little in the heels Minji picked out for you. The walk down seems like a million miles, but then it’s over, and you’re at the door of the signing office. 

“After you,” Tiffany says, and with a deep breath, you push inside. 

You can see the back of his head. His hair is jet black and falls with that perfect mix of casual and perfect around his face. He’s wearing a forest green suit. We’re matching, observes the part of your brain that’s still functioning. He’s sitting in front of the desk, but you can see that he’s tall. Pretty tall. Fit. Well-groomed. 

You feel like you might fall over, and then the woman behind the desk, facing you, looks up at you with a smile. “You’re here,” she says, and the man - your partner - turns around. 

And you think you might be sick, because you know him. His face is achingly familiar, every slope and angle of it engraved in your mind. The tilt of his brows, the shape of his lips. The ghost of what he looks like when he smiles. 

He stands up. He is very tall, and his face shadows when he looks at you - recognition flashing for a moment in his eyes. Yet he doesn’t say anything. The woman gives you an encouraging nod, and he holds out his hand for you to shake. “It’s nice to finally meet you. I’m your partner, Oh Sehun.” 

“Likewise,” you choke out. “Y/N Y/L/N.” His voice is as smooth, as warm as you remember it, before - 

“You look wonderful together,” Tiffany beams, and you feel like you’re about to collapse any moment now. Deep breaths, you tell yourself, as she guides you over to sit in front of the desk. Next to him. Next to Oh Sehun. The man who promised you, almost ten years ago, that you would never meet again. 

Your hands are shaking when you sign the contract. You don’t know what you’re doing - your brain is on autopilot. It’s only when you step out of the room ten nerve-wracking minutes later that you remember you had the right to refuse the contract. That you had one last chance to withdraw from the program, no hard feelings intended, but by now it’s too late. 

The minute you burst back into the waiting room, Minji takes in the look of utter panic on your face and hurries toward you. “What’s wrong? Y/N, what happened?”

You fall into her. “Minji, it’s him,” you sob, the flood of memories hitting you again, all at once. “It’s him. My partner is Oh Sehun.”

[renegon-paragade]

Based on this prompt from @exyprompts

This got way longer than I meant it to be, and I probably did way more research than neccessary. Google probably thinks that I own a pregnant cat now.

In this au Neil is in witness protection after all the shit went down with his father

Also, Andrew and Neil are neighbors

They haven't officially met yet

Andrew absolutely does not wake up early to watch the cute boy on his jog. Nope. Not at all. He just happens to be sitting on the balcony at the same time

And since their balconies are next to each other, and they both tend to smoke late at night when they wake up from nightmares, they sometimes smoke silently together

Sir is Andrew's cat and King is Neil's.

And Andrew is perfectly fine dealing silently with his crush annoyance with his neighbor

Except there's a slight issue

You see, Neil has never owned a cat before. He found King while on a run and decided to take her in. While he did a bunch of research on toys to get her and what to feed her, he didn't know about getting her spayed

Andrew hasn't had the chance to neuter Sir. Nicky convinced him to get the damn thing when a coworker's cat had kittens because he thought Andrew was lonely. Andrew agreed just to get him to shut up. He knows he needs to get Sir neutered, but the vet closest to him doesn't care about the animals at all (He's the type who puts down healthy animals because of divorce and tries to sell owners a bunch of medicines they don't actually need) so he's waiting until he has the time to go to the one a few towns over that Renee swears by. It shouldn't really be an problem. He has an appointment booked and everything.

Well, it wouldn't be a problem so long as he didn't knock up another cat

Both Neil and Andrew allow their cats out on their balconies as they please. It's fine, they don't roam much except to visit each other (Andrew assumes King is a male cat and thus doesn't think twice about Sir not being neutered)

Eventually, Neil starts to notice that King keeps throwing up, and her stomach is getting bigger

Neil panics and rushes her to the vet (the one a few towns over, thankfully, because he's heard bad things about the local one from Dan and Matt) where he finds out that King is fine

Except, you know, she's pregnant

Neil, overbearing cat dad that he is, starts making a queening box and buying specialty food, supplies for the kittens, books about how to care for kittens, etc

What I'm getting at here is that he's carrying a lot of things that announce to the world that his cat is both a girl and pregnant

And, of course, because Neil's life is the cosmic equivilant to shattering 20,000 mirrors, his bag rips and drops all of it right as he's walking into the lobby of his appartment

Directly in front of Andrew

And Andrew is not normally the kind of person to help out of the kindness of his heart, but the completely overwhelmed look on cute runner boy's face as all of his purchased goods fall to the floor makes him reconsider that

And if it just so happens that this works as the perfect opportunity to introduce himself and maybe flirt, well, no one needs to know

So Andrew helps Neil pick up the stuff and bring it to his appartment, while Neil rambles on about King and the pregnancy and how out of his depth he is

And Andrew thinks that this is the perfect way to get closer to his crush that Neil is such a mess of a human being that he has to help him out, for the poor animal's sake

(And, in the back of his mind, Andrew knows that Sir is probably the father. Andrew decides to keep this thought to himself for now)

So Andrew starts visiting a bit, taking care of King while Neil is out and helping Neil get everything ready. He makes sure that Neil has his number and keeps his phone charged so that if he isn't home when King goes into labor Neil can call him and maybe so Andrew could text the idiot

So of course at 7 am on a fucking Saturday, Andrew wakes to Neil pounding on his door and rushes over

Of course, cat labor doesn't actually require human input

Andrew knows this

He's not really there for King

He's there to stop Neil from being a hoverparent and stressing King out

He does this by sitting Neil down in the same room as King so they can keep an eye on her while they watch an Exy game, much to Andrew's disgust

It was the only thing that distracted Neil from worrying, so whatever, Andrew will watch stupid stickball

After a couple of hours, King is finally done with labor, having given birth to 3 adorable kittens

Two match King's black and cream tortoiseshell markings

But the last one is ginger and fluffy

Just like Sir

Andrew snorts. "Guess we know who the father is"

Andrew doesn't do guilt or regret. They're pointless

That doesn't mean that he doesn't acknowledge that if he had gotten Sir neutered earlier, Neil wouldn't be forced to take on the emotional and financial burden of kittens

And he knows it doesn't make sense, but maybe he feels something bad when he realizes that if he hadn't been there for the birth, his cat would be a deadbeat dad who abandoned his kids

Just like Andrew's father

So Andrew decides to help out where he can

He buys nursing mother food and drops the bag on Neil's balcony with a paper taped to it saying "child support"

Neil's laugh when he sees it absolutely does not make him blush

Andrew and Neil take turns watching over the cats to make sure they are okay

King, like the spoiled brat she is, adores the attention

Meanwhile Sir is getting antsy

His friend (girlfriend?) just disappeared out of the blue? Why won't she come out to play?

He sits on the balcony watching Neil's apartment, waiting for King to show up

Neil is the one who suggests a visit, to let Sir meet his kittens and to see how he reacts to them

He almost takes it back when he learns that sometimes male cats will attack kittens - he knows too well what it's like to fear your father - but ultimately, he decides to give Sir one chance, so long as he's supervised

So when the kittens are about 12 days old, Andrew brings Sir over to visit (with more "child support")

Both Andrew and Neil are ready to grab him if anything goes wrong

But Sir doesn't attack the kittens at all

At first he just watches King as she washes the nursing kittens, keeping his distance and observing

After a minute or so, he moves closer, coming up and sniffing at King, who watches him but doesn't move to react

Slowly, he begins to wash her head, purring softly

King steadily relaxes, accepting that Sir won't hurt their kittens, which makes Neil and Andrew relax as well

They spend the rest of the day together while the cats do their thing. Andrew makes Neil dinner because he has quickly learned that Neil can't cook more than basic meals

Andrew also forces Neil to watch something on tv other than exy games

"Seriously Josten, what the fuck is with you and stickball"

They end up binge watching "My Cat From Hell" until 3am, when they finally decide to call it a day

This quickly becomes routine for them. Andrew and Sir come over for dinner and to catch Neil up on pop culture

Neil thinks "Mythbusters" is interesting, but finds "Finding Bigfoot" stupid. He loves "Planet Earth," since he gets to learn things that he missed in school. His favorite is still "My Cat From Hell," though Andrew doesn't know why he expected otherwise from a man who channels the same energy as a 85-year-old crazy cat lady

(He eventually stops complaining that they're missing the game)

(Eventually)

Time passes quickly and soon the kittens are three months old and ready to find a new home

Neil wants to keep them, but acknowledges that he doesn't have the room or the money for 4 maybe 5 cats

Dan and Matt say they can take in one, Aaron and Kaitlyn ask for another, but Andrew and Neil are still looking for a home for the third

They don't want to give any of the kittens to someone they don't trust to take care of them, but neither of them are exactly social butterflies and none of their remaining friends or family can take in the last kitten

Andrew mentions it during one of his weekly meetings with Bee. She promises to look around and get back to him if she finds a suitable home

A few days later, she texts him and says that if the kitten is still available, she would love to adopt it.

Thirteen weeks after King gave birth, the kittens all go to loving homes

Dan and Matt adopt the oldest, Princess Lazyfluff, aka Princess, who takes after her mother's royal grace and her father's depleated energy levels

Aaron and Kaitlin get second-born Marquis Sweetums McCatterson, aka Mark ("No Nicky I am not calling her that ridiculous name"), a quirky kitten who only sits still when she wants to be pet

Bee gets the youngest, Dutchess Flooftail of Caterbury, aka Dutchess, who's curious but quiet nature makes her the perfect companion for Bee

(Eventually, Bee gets Dutchess trained as an emotional support animal to help patients who are in need)

Andrew and Neil are sad to see them go, but calmed in knowing that they will still see the kittens often and that their new families will take care of them properly

(And also in knowing that all of them, including King and Sir, are now spayed or neutered, since they are responsible cat dads and don't want any more suprises)

Neil is kind of worried that things will go back to how they used to be, with Andrew not talking to him, not coming over to visit every night. He does not like how that prospect makes him feel

But that night, like clockwork, Andrew shows up with Sir

"King is probably going to miss the kittens and I don't want her yowling to keep me up all night"

Of course, Andrew keeps coming after that night too

The only time Neil asks him why, Andrew claimed that he was doing his civic duty in making sure Neil eats real food and catching him up with the rest of the world

This goes on for another month, during which they also start to cautiously trade truths, revealing the parts of themselves they hid from everyone else.

Neil goes to visit Dan, Matt, and Princess. At some point Matt references Harry Potter and Neil snorts. The others are shocked that Neil actually understood what they were talking about, so Neil explains about his evenings hanging out with Andrew and Sir

Dan and Matt, confused, ask if they are dating. Neil is quick to say they aren't, they're just friends, but the idea is planted in his head

That night, as he and Andrew are eating dinner, Andrew notices how distracted he is and asks what's wrong

"Are we dating?"

Neil didn't really mean to blurt it out, and kind of regrets it when Andrew tenses up

"Do you want us to be?" Andrew asks cautiously

And Neil thinks about the quiet companionship. He thinks of Andrew's presence calming him after nightmares and during King's labor. He thinks about the worry in his gut when he thought Andrew was going to go back to ignoring him. He thinks about how his kitchen is arranged how Andrew likes it, how his couch is covered in Andrew's blankets and pillows, how King and Sir are never seen apart anymore, how seamlessly their broken edges fit together. How Andrew learned his truths without flinching

Neil nods, uncertain of how to proceed

Andrew leans in, eyes moving to pointedly look at Neil's mouth then back to his eyes

"Yes or no?"

"Yes," Neil answers, the first of many, many more

[justsomekpopstuff]

Beginning (Mark)

Pairing: Mark x Reader

Type: Soulmate AU

Requests: OPEN

MASTERLIST

You and your soulmate are connected by heart - you do not have a heartbeat until you meet your soulmate...

you were born without a heartbeat

you were alive of course, that much was obvious

but, whenever you tried to see if your heart was beating, you felt nothing

even when you had other people check, they didn’t feel a single thing

no thumping, no heartbeat

just pure nothingness

it was almost like you didn’t have a heart at all

when you were little you struggled to find an answer to why you didn’t have a heartbeat

you tried to exercise to see if it was just very faint, but that didn’t work

you would try doing dangerous things to get your adrenaline pumping, but still nothing

it wasn’t until your parents caught you one day trying to scare yourself into a heartbeat that they sat you down to talk to you

they told you that the reason you did not have a heartbeat was because of your soulmate

you were confused

why did you not have a heartbeat because of a soulmate?

they explained that your heartbeat would officially start once you met your soulmate officially

you knew that what they said was most likely true, but that did not stop you from continuing trying to get your heartbeat

eventually the more you tried, the more disheartened you got when you failed

eventually you just stopped, knowing that you were not going to get anywhere

however, that also made you a little frustrated

you tried so hard to get your heartbeat, but now you had to wait for someone else to unlock it

you grew impatient, and you longed for the day where you would not have to worry about it any more

Mark was similar, in a way

for as long as he could remember he had always worked himself very hard

but, no matter how hard he tried, he could never feel his heart beat

but instead of getting upset about it, he actually found it rather interesting

he would show this off to everyone that he met

he would show them that no matter what he tried, he never had a single heart beat

when he became a trainee, he would play games with the others to prove that he really didn’t have a heartbeat

it was something that he found interesting about himself, even after finding out the reason why it wasn’t there

and, as cool as he thought it was, there was that little piece of him deep down that was curious about what it felt like to have your heart beating

that curiosity never really left the two of you

but that mystery would be solved sooner than you thought

you were with your friends at the beach, since you were officially on break from school

and to be honest, you were a bit grumpy

you didn’t really want to go in the first place, preferring the indoors and some movies to the bright sun and sand

however, here you were, sitting on the beach under an umbrella, watching as people ran and splashed through the water

there was a group of boys that were around your age that were on the beach as well

you couldn’t really miss them though

you were sure that you could probably hear them all the way down the beach if you checked

you were perfectly fine staying some distance away

that was, until, your friends nagged so much that you dragged yourself to the water

you didn’t even notice that one of the boys kept looking over at you as you waded out to meet your friends

spoiler alert: it was Mark

you stood shin deep in the water, awkwardly splashing around with some of your friends

the more time you spend goofing around, the closer your group and the group of boys from earlier inched closer together totally not on purpose

eventually your groups got so close that to anyone watching on the beach, it would have looked like you all came together in one mass group

one of your friends decided to be a bit devious and sent a massive wave of water your way

the scare sent you tumbling back, not being able to keep your balance

you ended up slamming into someone, sending you both down into the water

you scrambled to get up, frantically apologizing to the person who you just tackled into the water

you noticed that it was one of the boys from earlier, and you felt your entire face heat up

you stuck one of your hands out to help him up as an apology for tackling him

meanwhile, your friends and his friends were both dying of laughter at what they had just witnessed true friendship

the boy took your hand and you pulled him up, asking him if he was okay and if he needed anything

as he shook his head, you felt it

something in your chest

it felt like someone was beating a drum, causing your entire body to feel, in a word, alive again

this was it

that was your heartbeat

and the person you had just tackled into the water was your soulmate

“what...what is this?” you could hear him ask to himself

“i think...i think its a heartbeat...” you suggested

“no way...guys come here and feel this,” he called out to his group

they all rushed over as you called over your own group

each of your friends took turns pressing their hands gently to the spot on your neck where you can feel your heart beating

and each one of them became ecstatic

your hearts were actually beating

you were actually soulmates

your friends smothered you with affection, overjoyed that you had found your soulmate

meanwhile, the boys continued to tease Mark 

their lil Canadian smol had found his soulmate

after being smothered and teased, your friends shoved the two of you back together

however, with the force they put into it, the two of you ran into each other again

and of course, that meant both of you ended up right back where you started

in the water

as the two of you sat up for the second time after tackling each other into the water, you laughed

“we have got to stop meeting like this,” you joked

he let out the most adorable giggle you had ever heard

“sorry about that,” he apologized. “I’m Mark”

“(Y/N),” you introduced yourself

you both started to feel your heart beat faster, and you gasped, not being used to the feeling

you could hear both groups squealing at the two of you, thinking the two of you were so cute they could die

“I apologize in advance for my friends. They’re dumb, but I love ‘em,” you spoke with a smile

“I know the feeling...” Mark responded

after the two of you got up again, everything went relatively back to normal

only this time, the two of your groups were now joined together

it was complete chaos

but it was worth it

you all stayed at the beach until the sun began to set down below the horizon

as you all climbed out of the water to retrieve your stuff, Mark caught up to you

“hey, we’re all headed out to go get some food. Would you like to join us?”

you could feel your friends nudging you to respond, but no words would come

eventually, one of your friends spoke up for you, saying that they would love to join them

you all headed out to the restaurant together, your friends all making small talk

however, you and Mark, being the awkward beans you are, became extremely quite

after all, you had just met that day

what did you expect?

and of course, when you got to the restaurant, your friends basically made sure that the two of you sat next to each other

you felt like you all sat in that restaurant for hours, barely being able to hear your own thoughts over the chatter that went on at the table

once you were all finished, you all exited the restaurant, your groups beginning to go their separate ways

that was, until they nudged you and Mark back together to talk

“so...we didn’t get to talk very much,” he started

“yep”

“maybe...we could go...get food...sometime...together...” he started

“like a date?” you asked with a smile

you could see him start to feel a bit flustered, which you thought was the cutest

“i mean, yeah...if that’s what you want...” he trailed off

you paused for a moment, taking the moment in

“i’d love to,” you answered. “Only this time, we don’t bring our friends”

you both shared a small laugh

your friends behind you were all dying as they watched the two of you interact

you and Mark exchanged numbers before walking towards your respective groups

immediately you were both hounded by questions

“when’s the wedding”

“are you two official?”

and all that nonsense

you refused to give your friends an answer, but your heart was definitely beating a bit faster than normal

eventually they gave up as you all drove away into the night

a few minutes into the drive, you felt your phone buzz

you smiled when you saw that it was a text from Mark

“Hey, would you be up for some ice cream tomorrow?”

“Sure” you responded

you could barely remember what life was like before your heart started beating

that night you knew

you knew that it was the beginning of a new life for you both