#but it's more much fun to play with him than my other basic sims

[simsdastra]

Rahim couldn't control his outburst of anger and frequently took it out on others, including his own child. The collapsed dollhouse reflects their crumbling relationship.

[asahicore]

kiwi and layla - sjy

pairing. jake x fem!reader synopsis. in which you mistake jake’s backpack for your own, making you each go home with the other’s bag. both of you are too curious for your own good, so you quickly find out that you excel in the subject the other is failing - a mutual tutoring agreement ensues, and it turns into much more than what you had expected. genre. high school au, f2l, lots of fluff and some angst too, f2l, shy reader x outgoing jake warnings. food & swearing, mention of parent death and divorce, kms jokes, jake being stupid but also really cute (lmk if i've missed any!) word count. 26.3k a/n. this is part of the unexpected collab !!! go check out the other fics and caelin thank u for hosting <333 hope u guys like this one, it took me a while but i had so so much fun writing it !!! i love my jakey in here he's a little bit confused but he's got the spirit. @zreamy thanks for being the world's awesomest beta reader and a decent friend ig... 2 baddies wouldnt be the same without you... lifeguard wet body sunghoon coming soon guys dont miss it! as always pls remember how important reblogs and feedback is for us writers!!! it's what keeps us going <3 enjoy!!

listen to the playlist!

This was not your backpack. 

In your defense, it looked so similar to yours - scratch that, it was the exact same as yours - that you couldn’t possibly have been able to tell the difference between the two bags until you’d opened one of them. Just a basic black Eastpak that probably a hundred other kids in your school owned with nothing to tell them apart, because you hadn’t had the mind to add a little something to it and make it recognizable. You hadn’t really needed to - your backpack was always on your back, next to your seat or in your locker. There was no way you might lose it or mistake it with another.

Until today, obviously. Instead of having a chill last class before spring break like every other teacher, your psycho math teacher Mr Choi had decided to give you a major test on this otherwise beautiful Friday afternoon. While other students watched a movie or played Kahoot, you were stuck in a cold classroom with algebra questions in front of you. Mr Choi had argued that this would be better than having a test after the holidays and ruining your time off with studying, but a test was a test, and math was math, so you hated the idea anyway. 

To eliminate all cheating possibilities, Mr Choi made his students only take a pencil and eraser with them, leave their bag at the back of the classroom and put their phone in a box he kept on his desk. Plus, with his hawk eyes watching intently, there was no way to sneak answers on a small sheet of paper or even on your palm. 

When the test was over, your brain was so fried and you were so eager to get the hell out of there that you didn’t even notice the two identical black backpacks next to each other, you just grabbed the first one you saw, not even questioning that it might not be yours.

And indeed, yours it was not. From your snooping around, you quickly found out it belonged to one Jake Sim. 

You knew Jake. Although you’d been attending the same school for the past three years, you could probably count the number of times you’d talked on one hand - but you knew him. Or at least, you knew of him. You knew that he was good at STEM subjects and that he was on the soccer team; you knew he was a really sweet guy and was easy to talk to, even for someone shy like you. 

Most importantly, you knew he was friends with Park Sunghoon. This was important because you had liked Park Sunghoon since the moment you’d laid eyes on him - or rather, your whole friend group had. It might’ve sounded extremely odd to others, but you and your friends had a few random people at school you liked to keep tabs on or create backstories for, and Sunghoon, because of his dashing looks that had struck all four of you in your first week of freshman year, was one of your victims. Well, you liked to think of them as characters on a TV show rather than victims, but to each his own. Your other characters included that popular sophomore who already considered herself a celebrity because of her ten thousand followers on TikTok anyway, the French and Spanish teachers you were sure had a thing going on, and that one guy in Yena’s biology class that only showed up every two weeks but always looked stoned (hat guy, Chaewon liked to call him, even you’d never once seen him with a hat on). It was all harmless, really - none of you ever actually went up and talked to them, just discussed them among yourselves.

Perhaps Sunghoon was different, because each of you had had a class with him at some point, so you’d all had at least shared a word with him. You probably hadn’t talked to him more times than you’d talked to Jake, so the information you knew about him was pretty surface-level - he was an ice skater, but everyone knew that, and he was shy like you, which was immediately noticeable. He also had one of the most handsome faces you’d ever seen. But again, everyone who saw him knew that.

You, Yena and Chaewon had debated whether one of you should just go ahead and make a move (Hyewon didn’t participate because she already had a boyfriend, but she was all for approaching the boy). You guessed you could describe what you felt towards Sunghoon as a sort of crush, even if it was one you shared with your friends - you found him cute, and you got nervous when he was around. But you were more the watch-from-afar-and-pine type, so you were satisfied with liking him from a distance. You didn’t think you actually had the guts to strike a conversation with him - that was more Chaewon’s thing.

However, this didn’t mean you weren’t curious about the contents of his best friend’s backpack. Your being shy didn’t mean you weren’t interested in other people’s lives - if anything, you were quite nosy. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but you were just a regular teenage girl, so this was fine, right? After just a few minutes of snooping, you found out Jake Sim wasn’t hiding any big state secrets in his Eastpak, anyway. Just some textbooks, notebooks, and a lot of single sheets of paper. It was pretty messy in there. 

Your idea of him being good at STEM subjects was correct - he kept all of his graded tests in the sleeve pocket of his math notebook, and there was not a single one that had received a note under 95. He even seemed to be doing some extracurricular exercises - there were formulae that were completely unfamiliar to you and that you were sure you hadn’t done in class. You found it slightly insane, but that might have just been because you despised math and wouldn’t understand why someone would want to do more of it than was required of them. 

His English homework was another story. His essays had more red from the teacher’s pen than his own black ink, and from the grades on his reading comprehension tests, you highly doubted he’d actually read any of the assigned books. You weren’t in the same English class but apparently had the same teacher, Ms Park, so you were studying the same thing. You couldn’t help but cringe as you read his answers on a Pride and Prejudice reading test - he seemingly kept mixing the sisters up, assigning actions and character traits to Lydia that clearly belonged to Jane. At least he somewhat got Darcy right, writing that “he’s probably not as bad as he looks,” with no further explanation. 

As you aimlessly flipped through his English notebook, curious about the way he took his notes - or if he even took any - you noticed some scribbles in the margins. Looking closer, some of them were in his handwriting while others were in an unfamiliar one. It looked like some sort of conversation, so you assumed the other writing belonged to his deskmate. You also did this with your friends in classes where the teacher was very strict about no chatting in class.

dude coach said if I fail any of my classes I would be out of the team, you read Jake’s handwriting.

Wait seriously????

yeah and I suck at english so Im scared it might actually happen

You just need to study more bro

bro I DO but this shit is hard

Then find someone to help you

neither of you guys is that good in that subject either tho

Ok ouch but also just find someone else then

bro who

IDK man 

Y/N maybe ? she’s good at English and she’s nice so she might say yes 

there you go about y/n again dude MAYBE you ask HER to teach you some sonnets

Shut up you’re the one who needs help dumbass

whatever isn’t it weird just asking her randomly though like i dont want her to feel like she has to say yes

Lol if she sees your grades she might do it out of pity

fuck u man

You were surprised to see your own name written there - it felt weird knowing that Jake and his friend were talking about you, for some reason. And what if that friend was Sunghoon? You had a hard time believing he not only knew you existed, but thought of you as good at English and nice. You liked to think both of these things were true. 

He was also spot-on about saying you would agree to helping out Jake in those subjects, but what he got wrong was thinking you’d do it out of pity. Clearly, you and Jake were in very similar positions. You didn’t have any sort of club you’d be kicked out of if you failed a class, but it sure as hell wouldn’t look good on your college applications, so you needed to get your math grades up. 

Jake and you both desperately needed something the other person could help with, so you had a feeling he wouldn’t turn down the offer that was brewing in your head.

—

This was not Jake’s backpack.

He noticed it right away - it was much heavier than his own and the straps were tighter around his shoulders than they should be. He looked inside for some clues about who it might belong to, and luckily, the first thing he found was a journal that had Y/N’S DIARY written on the cover page in big, pink letters. 

Unluckily, however, he’d also noticed that you had practically sprinted out of the classroom as soon as the bell rang, and indeed, you were already far gone when he tried looking for you around school. He had to get to soccer practice anyway, so he put the issue to the side for the time being.

When he got home, he had to shower then have dinner, so it wasn’t until 8 p.m. that he remembered he had your backpack. He had meant to text you straightaway about it, and he knew it was wrong to look into someone’s belongings, but he couldn’t help himself, especially when his best friend Sunghoon had liked you for ages. Maybe this was an opportunity to find out more about you.

Your mind-blowing grades in English don’t come as much of a surprise to him, and after reading through your most recent essay, he thought you definitely deserved them. Your essay was on a Shakespeare play he had never heard of - you apparently also had Ms Park for English, and he didn’t know she was doing Shakespeare in class, so he wondered for a second if you were actually crazy enough to read another book and study it. As if 300 pages of Jane Austen weren’t enough as it was. 

What shocked him were your math grades. It was like looking into a fucked-up mirror: while you excelled at English, you sucked at math; while he excelled at math, he sucked at English. You were just as close to failing your math class as he was at failing English.

Now that he thought about it, maybe Sunghoon’s idea hadn’t been so dumb - you could help him out, and he had an actual argument as to why you should, rather than just using pity on you.

As he put your stuff back in your bag, he was reminded of something - your diary. For some reason, the pretty floral pattern on the cover made him feel even worse for opening the journal in the first place, but he did it anyway. Either you’d only just picked up the habit of writing in a diary or you had finished your previous one recently, but this one seemed pretty new, as only about ten pages had been filled with your neat handwriting. Judging from the dates at the top of almost every page, you wrote in there everyday, and Jake only felt even worse that you hadn’t been able to write in it that day.

Still, he flicked to the first page and started reading. And he read and read, unable to take his eyes away from your diary. He thought he wouldn’t have cared much and a page would have satisfied his curiosity, but the way you wrote about the people around you and about yourself fascinated him. Basic high school things like friend drama and annoying teachers actually became interesting through your words. You didn’t use particularly complicated sentences or unheard-of words, on the contrary, you used simple language, and that spoke a lot more to Jake than any of the classics he’d attempted to read for class. 

And then, he saw an all too familiar name in an entry dated from just a few days ago. 

I sat next to Sunghoon today. It was during physics and both of our desk partners were absent, so Mrs Kim made me change seats. She always does this, and I used to wonder whether she hated to see an empty seat or to see a student sitting on their own, but whatever the reason, today, I was just happy about it. This isn’t our first time sitting next to each other in class, but I was still nervous, since I wasn’t expecting it. I hope he couldn’t feel the awkwardness practically oozing off of me or the way I very obviously struggled with the exercises (obviously, anything to do with math is not my forte). We shared my textbook because he’d forgotten his, and he showed me his notes when he saw I couldn’t keep up with Mrs Kim as she told us what to write down. We only exchanged a few words but I was satisfied when class was over. It’s odd, because you’d think someone would want to talk to the person they like and get to know them more, but I don’t feel that with Sunghoon. Maybe it’s because we’re both so introverted, and he seems to have just as hard a time as I do starting conversations, so I’ve sort of accepted our silent fate. I’m fine just continuing to steal glances at him from across the cafeteria. 

After that, there were a few more pages of writing up until yesterday's entry, but it was the only mention of Sunghoon. Jake had apparently been wrong to think that a girl’s diary would be full of rantings about her crush and things along the lines of “omg, he looked at me today”. 

But you had very clearly referred to Sunghoon as the person you liked, and Jake wasn’t going to let that go so easily. This was precious information that he held in his hands now, so he had to figure out how to deal with it properly for your sake as well as his friend’s.

Turns out there was more he could help you with than just algebra.

—

Seeing Jake Sim in a setting other than school was slightly odd, if you were being completely honest. 

You had just been about to text him about the backpack mix-up when you’d received a message from the man himself, asking if you could meet up the next day to exchange them. In response, you’d asked where you should meet, thinking he’d offer either his house or yours, or some halfway point between them, but he surprised you by proposing some café in the center of town. They have good hot chocolate there, he’d said, and that had been enough to convince you. 

And also I have something I want to talk to you about. 

Your stomach had turned at this message - what on Earth could Jake Sim need to discuss with you had been your first thought, and then you realized you also had plans you wanted to share with him. So his idea of going to a café was actually good for you, too.

You’d only been waiting for about five minutes when he appeared at the café, red and panting from seemingly sprinting to his destination. 

“Y/N, I’m sooo sorry,” he immediately said when he saw you waiting. “I was planning to be early, but when I got on the bus I realized I literally forgot your bag, so I had to go back but the next bus wasn’t for another twenty minutes so I just ran the whole way here, and now I’m all sweaty, and I’m late, and I’m really sorry.”

He’d rushed through his sentence and was breathing heavily as he looked at you expectantly, waiting for your answer. He seemed so genuinely sorry for such a small thing that after your surprise faded, you started laughing. It was his turn to be surprised, and he immediately stopped talking at the sound of your soft giggles.

“It’s okay, Jake. I haven’t even been waiting five minutes,” you explained, smiling. “Let’s just go in, yeah?”

Jake’s heart did something weird just then, and the feeling was so unfamiliar and confusing that he decided to promptly ignore it. As if in a daze, he stood still for a couple of seconds until the sound of a bell ringing, the one the café had on its doors to signify the entrance or exit of a customer, snapped him out of it. He followed you into the shop, let you order and pay for you both (“I’m the one who took the wrong bag, it’s the least I can do,” you’d said) and sat across from you at a booth in the back.

You gave each other your respective bags back, then started chatting as you sipped on your hot chocolates (Jake had been right - they really were delicious). He was surprisingly easy to talk to, and whether he sensed you were a reserved person or was just naturally talkative, you liked that he both managed to do most of the talking and ask you loads of questions at once. Usually, you wouldn’t have really cared to listen to someone go on and on about their passion for soccer and the recent game that their team had won, but for some reason, you were hooked on Jake��s every word. The way his eyes widened in excitement as he recounted the winning goal he scored, the way the volume of his voice decreased as he filled you in on the team gossip even though no one was listening to your conversation, the way his grin turned into a proud smirk as he mentioned his coach congratulating him - every single one of his actions had you mesmerized. You’d never seen anyone so expressive in their speech, never seen anyone punctuate every sentence with a movement or a facial expression. It was just fun, listening to him.

Even when he didn’t talk, he stayed expressive. He asked you whether you did anything outside of school, and he listened intently as you told him about the theater group you’re in, humming and nodding and laughing at all the right moments. Usually, you wouldn’t have talked about it for more than thirty seconds, afraid to bore others with unnecessary details, but Jake’s reactions and the questions he asked made you actually feel listened to and like what you were talking about was interesting. So you grew more confident and told him what you loved about acting and about theater, about your own gossip (the arrogant actress who got the lead role and thought she was better than everyone else, that one guy who was clearly flirting with three girls at the same time), and you almost couldn’t believe Jake seemed so entertained by your stories. 

“So, you said your group focused on more classic plays, right? Does that mean you’re good at English Lit?”

With his spoon, Jake scooped some whipped cream into his mouth, hoping he was appearing as nonchalant as he was trying to be. He had to make you think he’d deduced that just now and not because he had been snooping through your backpack just the night prior. 

You, however, could not have cared less how he’d figured it out - you were just grateful he had segued into this topic of school and grades, because you’d been wanting to bring it up yourself but had no idea how.

“Um, yeah, actually, it’s my best subject. Math, on the other hand…”

You chuckled as his eyes widened and he leaned in across the table, pointing his spoon at you as he spoke. “See, that’s interesting, because math is my best subject, but I suck at English Lit.”

“Oh, really?” you asked, trying to sound genuinely surprised even though this piece of information was not at all new to you.

“Yeah,” he said, looking back down at his almost-finished drink with a small smile on his face.

“You know-”

“You know-”

You and Jake had spoken at the same time, and your eyes locked for a second before you started laughing. You gestured at him to go on first.

“I actually need pretty urgent help in English. Coach said he’ll put us out of the team if we fail even just one of our courses, and I’m very close to failing that class.” He took a moment to let out a sigh. “So, if you want, we could help each other out. Me with math, and you with English.” 

His eyebrows were slightly furrowed and he bit his lip as he looked at you expectantly. You thought he looked far too nervous for such a simple request, expression more like a boy who’d just asked his crush to the prom rather than offering mutual help you both desperately needed. You couldn’t help the smile that grew on your lips - you had never known Jake Sim to be so… cute. But he was waiting for an answer, so you pushed the thought out of your head.

“That’s a great idea, actually,” you replied, as if you hadn’t had the exact same idea. You were just relieved you hadn’t even had to bring it up yourself. “I also really can’t afford to fail math. It would look terrible on college applications.”

Jake let out a long, loud exhale. “God, yeah, college, I hadn’t even thought of that. Even more motivation to get better grades now,” he said with a chuckle.

You chuckled along, then cleared your throat and sat up straighter. You watched with amusement as Jake mirrored your actions and even the fake serious frown in your brows. You presented your hand for him to shake, which he did without hesitation.

“So it’s a deal then. We’ll tutor each other until we’ve gotten our grades up.”

“Deal,” he replied. As you both withdrew your hands, he dropped his serious facade and burst into giggles, a sound you hadn’t expected from the boy but somehow fit him well. You watched his face closely for a second, noticing the curl of his lips and the crinkle at the corner of his eyes, before breaking into laughter yourself.

You stayed in the café for another half hour, going over details of where and when you’d meet, of what exactly you needed help with (“Everything,” you’d said, to which Jake had replied “Same”), and just talked some more.

“I’m taking the 53 that way,” Jake said when you exited the café, pointing towards the bus stop.

“Oh, so am I!” you exclaimed.

“Seriously?! What’s your stop?”

And that’s how you and Jake figured out you only lived two bus stops away from each other. 

“That’s so cool! It’ll make it easy to meet up then,” he said, and you hummed in agreement. After a pause, he added: “But if we live so close to each other, how come we didn’t go to the same schools earlier? Aren’t you usually supposed to go to the one in your district?”

“I used to live in another part of town,” you explained. “Then my parents divorced when I was in middle school, and I stayed with my dad because he lived closer to the school I was at, but I moved to my mom’s place for high school.”

“‘Cause she lives closer?”

“Yeah, basically.” There was more to it, but you didn’t think Jake would be particularly interested in your parental issues - although you surprised yourself for even considering telling him. If Jake sensed that you weren’t saying everything, he didn’t push, just swiftly changed the topic as you waited for the bus to come.

When you got home some time later, the first thing you did was open your diary and start writing. It had felt wrong not to write in it even just for a day, so it was a relief to feel the pages between your fingers and the familiar scent of the paper and your perfumed pen. You wrote without thinking too much, simply letting all of your musings out into your diary and freely brushing the tip of your pen across the pages. 

You didn’t ever reread your entries right after writing them, but if you had that day, you might have noticed all you could write about was the boy you’d drank a hot chocolate with.

—

Spring break week passed by far too quickly, and it was on the first Monday back at school that you and Jake met again. He had soccer practice on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, while you had theater rehearsals on Thursdays and Saturdays, so you’d agreed to meet up every Monday and Wednesday after school. Since his mother worked as the school nurse, she drove him to and from school everyday - so on Monday, you met Jake in front of the nurse’s station, waiting for his mom to wrap things up before she drove you both to their home.

You had been surprised to learn that the kind nurse that never asked too many questions and always let students take a nap if they didn’t feel well was Jake’s mom, but upon reflection, it made sense. Once you knew, it was almost obvious that she had raised him - they shared the same friendliness, the same comforting smile and the same ability to make conversation. The whole ride home, she asked you about yourself and thanked you for agreeing to tutor “our little Jakey,” because “God knows he needs the help.” 

You couldn’t help but laugh when a blush crept on Jake’s face and he looked out the passenger seat window with an embarrassed frown, muttering something like “Thanks a lot, Mom.”

She noticed his reaction and laughed along with you. “I’m just saying, Jakey-poo. It’s good to know to ask for help when you need it,” she cooed, reaching a hand out to ruffle his hair. This only made Jake groan loudly and hide his face in his hands. You didn’t know Jake very well, but this flustered, red-faced side of him was definitely one you liked seeing.

The first thing that greeted you when you reached Jake’s house was a happy welcome home bark.

“You have a dog?!” you exclaimed, unable to reel your excitement in.

“Yeah! This is Layla,” Jake said, giving energetic rubs to the Border Collie that made her whole body shake side-to-side but that she seemed to thoroughly enjoy. 

“Hi, Layla,” you cooed, crouching down to her level to let her sniff you. She decided you were a person worthy of petting her. “She’s so cute!”

“I think she likes you,” Jake said, a grin on his face, as he watched Layla presenting her belly to you and asking for scratches there. “Do you have a dog?”

“We have a Corgi at home. And a cat, too.”

“That must be fun,” Jake chuckled. “Do they get along?”

“Depends. They have a bit of a love-hate relationship.” You looked up at Jake, and it was uncharacteristically quiet as you locked eyes for a couple of seconds. You both looked away at the same time, surprised by the sudden eye contact.

You gave Layla one last rub and lifted yourself up. “Um, should we get started?” 

Jake paused for a second as if he’d forgotten what you were here for in the first place, then started nodding his head quickly. “Right, yeah. Let’s go to my room. Downstairs is just one big room and my mom will probably watch TV or make dinner or something, so it might be distracting…” he explained, lightly scratching the back of his neck. It seemed like he was embarrassed to be bringing you to his room, which you couldn’t help but find endearing.

“Okay, sounds good,” you said with a smile, hoping it’ll reassure him.

You followed him up to his room, ignoring his complaints as you lingered on the framed photos on the wall next to the stairs and giggled at his baby pictures. 

“Do not look at those,” he said with a warning tone that didn’t scare you in the slightest. When you didn’t listen, he grabbed your hand that had been pointing at a photo of baby Jake in the bathtub and forced you to keep walking.

“Why?” you asked, a slight whine to your voice.

“‘Cause it’s embarrassing! I was an ugly baby.”

“What?! You were so cute!”

“Whatever. I’d rather study English than talk about this, and that’s saying something.”

When you looked at Jake, you were surprised to find that he actually seemed upset about this. You weren’t sure what was so wrong with looking at his baby pictures, but the last thing you wanted to do was make him mad, so you stayed quiet and continued your way to his room. Once there, although you were infinitely curious about all the posters, pictures, figurines, trophies, and other small tokens of Jake’s life, you didn’t ask him about any of them, just sat next to him at his desk and opened The Picture of Dorian Grey, the book you had both been studying in Ms Park’s class.

You’d agreed on spending forty-five minutes on English, have a small break, then spend forty-five minutes on Math. It wasn’t a lot, but you both had other homework and things outside of school you needed to do, so you’d decided to start out that way and see if it worked out.

You were glad to see how seriously Jake was taking this - he listened intently to what you said and asked questions when he didn’t understand something. You quickly figured out that what he didn’t like about English Literature was that the answers weren’t as straightforward or as logical as they were in math, and even worse, that multiple answers were possible depending on the reader’s interpretation. 

“It just all feels like a guessing game,” he said, resting the side of his head on one of his palms. “How am I supposed to know what this dude meant? And if it can be analyzed in different ways, how can Ms Park tell me the way I understand it is wrong?”

“It’s all about the way you justify it,” you explained. “You can’t just say whatever. Ms Park will look out for how you use the text to support your answers.” You then went on to pick out a specific part of the book, asking Jake to analyze Dorian’s mindset in that scene. 

“He sounds like he’s going insane,” Jake said flatly when he was done reading, getting a chuckle out of you.

“Exactly. How do you know that?”

“I don’t know, just the words he uses,” Jake replies, shrugging.

“Okay, underline those words,” you instructed gently. Jake sighed, but he complied.

“There.” 

“Good. What can you say about those words?” When Jake just looked at you like a lost puppy, you reformulated your question. “What do they have in common? What type of words are they? Are they common nouns, verbs…”

Jake looked back at the words he’d underlined on the page. “They’re… adjectives?” he said, tone unsure.

“Exactly!”

Jake paused. “So?”

“So now you can say that the author uses many adjectives to convey the gradual loss of sanity of the main character.”

“Oh.”

When you looked at Jake, he wore an expression like the words on the page were finally starting to make sense to him. “That’s the content. You can also look at the structure. See how many punctuation marks there are? Commas, semi-colons, question marks… It’s like he keeps cutting himself off. His thoughts are all over the place.”

Jake nodded slowly. “So, I just need to look out for things like that?”

“Basically, yeah. And the more you practice, the more these things will stand out to you. It actually becomes somewhat repetitive sometimes.”

Jake let out a shaky breath. “That’s actually relieving to hear,” he said with a chuckle.

Thirty minutes passed by like this as you showed Jake ways to make sense of a literary text. When the timer rang, he leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms out wide with a sigh. He put his hands behind his head and let it hang back, and the way your stomach flipped at the sight of his exposed neck and Adam’s apple made you look away immediately. You could barely meet his eyes as he turned his head to look at you, still in that same position, and, with a smirk, asked if you were ready for some snacks. 

You gulped, trying to look as normal as possible. “Uh, yeah, sure!”

Downstairs, Jake presented you with all sorts of snacks - there were so many, you felt like you were in a convenience store. This was worlds away from your ingredient-only household. You opted for some biscuits and a banana while Jake made himself a bowl of cereal. A very distracting ten-minute long argument then ensued about the order of milk and cereal - horrifyingly, Jake poured his milk before his cereal. You thought it was a myth that some people actually did it that way, but Jake very proudly defended his choice. 

“I bet you eat pizza with pineapple on it, too,” you said half-jokingly, only for your joke to punch you right back in the face.

“Duh,” Jake answered.

You could only shake your head in defeat. “Let’s just get back to studying before I murder you.”

“Damn, Y/N,” Jake said, laughing. “That’s harsh.”

“And you’re a freak,” you retorted, a grin blooming on your lips.

“You know, you remind me of my friend Jay,” Jake mused as you walked back up the stairs. “He has so many of these small battles that he just won’t let go of. He got super worked up over an argument about mint chocolate chip ice cream once.”

“Let me guess, you like that ice cream?”

Jake shrugged. “It’s not my favorite, but I’ll have it once in a while.”

“God, Sim, you just get worse and worse.”

You sat back down at his desk and started eating. “I bet you think I’m weird for liking math too, right?”

“That’s the worst offense of them all.” 

Jake’s sudden quietness caught you off guard. When you turned your head to look at him, he was already gazing at you with a smile and a sort of thoughtful glint to his eyes, resting his chin on his palm. It sounded like he was thinking out loud when he spoke next. “Guess we’re perfect opposites of each other. Like two peas in a pod!”

The realization of what he’d said dawned upon him as soon as the words left his mouth. He slowly lifted his head as his eyes widened. “I don’t mean- just, you know, since you’re good at English and I’m good at math, and- you know… I didn’t mean it in a weird way, or anything…”

His eyes kept glancing back and forth between you and his bowl of cereal, as if he was scared of looking directly at you but wanted to check your reaction. 

As a smile grew on your face, you kept your eyes trained on your biscuits so he wouldn’t see your flustered expression. But when you looked at him again, he held your gaze, mouth slightly agape. You didn’t have it in you that he had gotten the idiom completely wrong. “I know, don’t worry.” You chuckled. “We are opposites of each other. You just better be as good at teaching math as I am at teaching English,” you teased.

You watched as a smirk tugged one corner of Jake’s lips up and he raised an eyebrow. “Who said you were good at teaching English?”

You gasped. “You said you understood better now!”

Jake’s smile softened as he giggled. “I’m just teasing. You are a good teacher.”

You sat up straighter at the compliment, a proud smile on your face. “Your turn, Mr Sim. I’m all ears.”

“Right,” he said, mirroring your posture. “Shall we start by going over Mr Choi’s test from last week?” 

Your smile dropped instantly at this. Reluctantly, you fished your graded paper out of your bag. You already knew Mr Choi was a psychopath, but you still didn’t understand where he found the will to grade thirty papers over the weekend. You avoided Jake’s gaze as you handed him your test with a big, red, circled D- at the top.

You cringed as Jake sighed. “At least it’s not an F, right?” he said in what you could tell was an attempt at reassurance but somehow only made you feel worse. He looked over your answers quickly, trying to find what in particular you struggled with. “All right. Let’s start from the beginning, yeah?”

For the next forty-five minutes, Jake went over each test question with you, breaking them down and explaining how to solve them in a way you understood. The words he used were so much clearer than the half-assed explanations you were used to from Mr Choi, and for once, math actually made some sort of sense. Your brain still felt broken after almost an hour of numbers and greek letters, but at least, you felt smarter rather than dumber at the end of it. You had never been more grateful for the sound of a phone alarm than the one signaling tutoring was over. 

“That wasn’t half-bad, right?” Jake asked with a wide grin.

You felt so tired, you could probably pass out right then and there, but Jake looked so proud of himself after you had been able to complete an exercise correctly on your own that you didn’t have the heart to tell him the truth. “Right,” you replied, mirroring his grin. “You’re an okay teacher, I guess.”

He jokingly glared and tutted at you, but you both laughed right after. “I need to walk Layla, so I can walk you home, if you want?” he offered as you started packing your things. His words had an uncertain tone to them, as if he wasn’t sure you’d still want to spend time with him after this - but it only took you a second of thinking to realize you’d rather continue hanging out with him than going home on your own.

“Sure! I need to walk Kiwi too, actually.”

“Your dog’s name is Kiwi?!”

“Yes,” you said, chuckling at his fascinated tone.

“That’s an adorable name.”

“Thanks, I chose it.”

“Oh, then I take it back. Worst name I’ve ever heard for a dog.”

“Hey!” you exclaimed, lightly hitting him on the head with your math notebook, making him raise a hand in self-defense as he laughed.

“Sorry, sorry. Does your cat also have a fruit name?” 

A pause. “Mango,” you mumbled, and he immediately burst into laughter again. You side-eyed him as you zipped up your bag.

“Wow, you have amazing taste in pet names, Y/N.”

“Shut up,” you said, laughing along. Then you realized something, and you suddenly stopped laughing, looking up at Jake with wide eyes that made him slightly start to panic. “Oh my God, Jake, are our dogs going to meet?”

“Our dogs are going to meet,” he echoed in a sort of fascinated whisper. You both understood the other - dogs becoming friends was the cutest thing ever.

“Let’s go,” you whispered back excitedly.

When you reached the living room downstairs, you bid Mrs Sim goodbye, then went to the entrance to put your shoes back on. “You two sure get along well,” you heard her say to her son with a suggestive tone. Even though she had dropped the volume of her voice, the door was wide open and there were only a few meters between you, so you’d heard her loud and clear. 

“Geez, Mom,” Jake groaned, seemingly irked by his mom’s insinuation.

“It’s just you’ve never brought a girl home, Jakey-”

“Okay, we’re leaving now! Layla, come!”

You hadn’t even realized how wide you were grinning until Jake saw you tying your shoelaces and grumbled “What are you smiling so hard for.”

“Nothing,” you giggled, and your smile grew as you watched a grin break through his pretend-upset expression.

You sighed contentedly as you stepped outside, letting the crisp early April air hit your face. You tightened your scarf around your neck and buried your hands in your pocket and you and Jake started walking side by side, Layla happily leading the way. The streets were fairly quiet at this time of day, save for the yells of children still playing in their backyards before dinner and a few cars of people coming home late from work.

Only the first five seconds of the walk were silent, until you couldn’t contain yourself anymore. “So, never brought a girl home, huh?” you asked with a teasing smirk.

Jake let out an offended scoff and looked up to the sky as if God could help him out of this one. Sadly, He didn’t, so Jake had to find an answer himself. “I’m not talking about this with you.”

“Why not?”

Pouting, Jake spared you a sideway glance. “Because you’re a girl,” he replied, voice lowered to a mumble.

You chuckled at this. “Very astute observation, Jake.”

“No, I- Ugh,” he groaned before laughing along with you. “I don’t need a girl to know how bad I am with- well, with girls.”

“I can help with that,” you said before you really thought about it. “I mean, I’m not a love expert by any means, but I can maybe give, I don’t know, pointers or something if there’s someone you like-”

“There’s no one I like,” Jake quickly cut in. “Um, not right now, at least.”

“O-okay,” you replied, nodding. “That’s fine.” 

“What about you? Do you like anyone?”

As Jake asked the question, he realized he already knew the answer - you liked Sunghoon. How could he forget?! Half of his plan had been to make you get closer to his friend, but he hadn’t even started thinking about that yet. In his defense, he’d come up with that plan three days ago.

Your answer surprised him. “Um, no, me neither. Not right now, at least,” you said, repeating his words with a smile on your face. You locked eyes for a second before looking away at the same time, chuckling.

“Right,” he said. He knew what he had read in your diary, so maybe you were just too shy to admit you had a crush on his friend of all people.

An unexpected awkwardness settled between the two of you, and you more than anything wanted it to go away. Even though it’d only been a few days since you and Jake had started getting to know each other, you already felt comfortable enough to be yourself around him, and it usually took you weeks before reaching that level with anyone. This hadn’t happened since you met Yena and Hyewon at the beginning of high school - they had been friends since middle school, and so had you and Chaewon, and when the four of you met, you had instant chemistry. But maybe it was slightly too early to start talking about crushes with Jake.

For once, you were the one to break the silence - you asked him whether he knew what he wanted to do after school. Basic question, but you were genuinely curious. 

Looking a little bashful, he confessed his dream had always been to be a math teacher and soccer coach at a middle or high school. You told him he already had the talent for it, and when he blushed at your words, you made sure to tease him for it.  

“I’m not sure yet,” you said when he returned the question. “I know I wanna go to college and continue doing English Lit and theater there, but that’s about it.”

“That’s already good enough,” Jake said with a smile. “Still got time to figure out what comes after, right?”

You naturally mirrored his smile - there was something contagious about Jake’s puppyish grin that made it hard not to smile yourself. “Right.”

The three of you reached your house quickly after that. Your mom still hadn’t come home from work, so Kiwi was even more excited than usual for your arrival home. You and Jake watched fondly as your dogs sniffed each other for a few seconds before starting to run around together. The fact that they got along made you really happy, perhaps unreasonably so, and you started bouncing up and down on the balls of your feet as you watched them play. “Our dogs are friends!” you exclaimed excitedly. 

When you turned to look at Jake, he wasn’t watching the dogs like you had been - he was gazing straight at you, eyes soft with something that made your heart skip a beat. You couldn’t look away, and it was only after a few seconds that he seemed to snap out of the sort of daze he was in. He cleared his throat and you finally tore your eyes away from him.

“Let me just- Kiwi! I need to put his leash around him,” you said, speaking quickly to dissipate the weird atmosphere as best as you could. You led Jake down the path you usually took with Kiwi that led to a park in your neighborhood, and you were relieved when normal conversation started again.

Jake insisted on walking you back to your house even though he had left his earlier. He made a whole show of not going until you’d walked inside and closed the door, so you’d rushed to your window to shout his name and wave goodbye at him, which made him laugh.

You turned back to Kiwi when Jake and Layla had turned a corner and you couldn’t watch them anymore. “Are you happy you made a new friend, Kiwi?”

The Corgi barked happily at you in response - probably more at hearing his name than because he understood your question, but still, you liked to think you could communicate with your dog on such a level. You chuckled and took him in your arms. “Me too.”

—

Apparently, you couldn’t even wave to someone in the hallway without being interrogated about it anymore.

“Y/N, did you just say hi to Jake Sim?” Chaewon asked like you’d just insulted her whole family.

It was 10 a.m. on a simple Tuesday morning, the day after Jake and you had studied together for the first time, and you’d just walked past the boy - so of course, you said hi to him. Maybe, your heart started beating slightly faster when you’d noticed him approaching. Maybe, it was nice to be on the receiving end of his friendly grin.

“Yes?” you replied, sentence coming out more like a question.

“Since when do you say hi to Jake Sim?!” 

“Since today, I guess.”

“But why?!” She’d raised her voice so much, you’d gotten strange looks from other students in the hallway. 

“I told you!”

She shook her head slowly at you as if to say, No you didn’t!

You rolled your eyes and sighed. Chaewon and her early onset short-term memory loss. “The backpack thing? And agreeing to tutoring each other? I wrote to the group chat about this!”

“Oh, that! Of course I remember that,” she said, even though you knew she had forgotten about it and remembered it just now. “So, has that started already?”

You reached the classroom for your next class and sat down in your usual seats next to each other, waiting for the teacher to arrive. Busy hallways like these were the perfect place for gossip, because they were loud and nobody paid attention to others’ conversations. “Yeah, yesterday afternoon.”

Chaewon gasped. “And you didn’t tell us?!”

“Will you quiet down? I was going to see and tell you guys today anyway.”

“Okay, so, tell me about it.”

“But-”

“Tell. Me.”

You wouldn’t see Yena and Hyewon until lunch in two hours, and you knew Chaewon didn’t have the patience to wait until then. So you sighed again and obliged, telling her about your afternoon with Jake in every detail you could remember, because she would ask about insignificant things anyway. 

To your surprise, the first thing she said when you were done talking was this: “Y/N, do you like Jake?”

Your mouth opened slightly in shock at the question, but before you could even retort, you started giggling. “No, I don’t,” you said in a way that sounded like you very much did.

“Oh my God! You so do!” Chaewon said, giggling along with you. “You whore, you’ve only talked to him, like, twice,” she joked.

You gasped fake-dramatically and slapped her arm. “Oh please, look at Hyewon and Jaemin, they started dating after a week of talking.”

“Yes, and they’ve been going one year strong, so clearly, you need to ask Jake out and get this over with. You’ll get a boyfriend and a math tutor all-in-one, it’s a perfect deal!”

“Don’t get too carried away, okay? Jake and I are friends. Like you said, we barely know each other right now.”

You meant this - sure, you had had a really good time with Jake both times you saw him, and you were looking forward to your next tutoring session, but you chalked it up to the excitement of making a new friend. Plus, barely last week you felt some sort of way towards his best friend - wouldn’t it be weird to practically transfer your feelings from Sunghoon to Jake?

“Whatever. Yena and Hyewon are gonna freak when I tell them,” Chaewon said excitedly.

You shook your head at your friend but couldn’t keep down the amused grin on your face. “You guys are insane.”

“Oh please, like you’re not the president of our Park Sunghoon fanclub. I can’t believe you’re leaving us for his best friend!”

“Hey, if anything, less competition for you, right?”

Chaewon opened her mouth to say something, but the teacher arrived, starting the lesson before having even put her bag down - Mrs Lee always arrived late but never wasted a second of class when she was in the room. Your friend resorted to sticking her tongue out at you instead, and you chuckled at her childishness as you opened your History notebook. 

—

Jake was a complete, total, utter idiot. His plan had consisted of two things only, and he’d somehow managed to forget one of them, even after talking about it with you, albeit vaguely. It had taken him two weeks and one Park Sunghoon to even remember it.

Between Jake’s soccer practice, Sunghoon’s ice skating practice and Jay’s being away at boarding school, the three friends only had one night every week on which they were all free - Friday night. So, every Friday, they planned some sort of hang out at one of their houses and gamed or watched movies all night.

Kinda like date night, but for bros.

This was one of those bro nights; namely, the one in the second week of you and Jake tutoring each other. The boys had decided to go to the burger joint they like that night and were in the middle of a french fry fight when Sunghoon mentioned your and Jake’s new friendship.

“So, Jake… what’s up with you and Y/N?”

Jake halted in his motions, redirecting to his mouth the fry he was about to throw at Jay. “Nothing’s up with me and Y/N. What makes you say that?”

“Just, you know, you seem like you’ve become actual friends. Talking in the hallways and walking your dogs together and whatnot.”

“Y/N as in Y/N? Sunghoon’s Y/N?” Jay said, halfway through a bite of his cheeseburger.

“She’s not my Y/N-”

“Yes, Y/N as in Y/N, you idiot,” Jake cut in. “And like you said, we’re friends.”

“Is she the girl you posted some BeReals with?” Jay asked, and Jake nodded. “She’s pretty! No wonder Sunghoon likes her so much.”

Sunghoon sighed as he let his head hang low. “God forbid I find a girl cute, because I’ll mention it once, two years ago and you guys make me out to be in love with her.”

“Sunghoon, you act like girls don’t exist, so of course when you not only mention a girl, but describe her as cute, that means you’re in love with her!”

“But I’m not! We were literally having a whole conversation about girls, I happened to see Y/N and her friends from far away, I said she was cute, and now you guys won’t let me live it down. Jay, you weren’t even there!”

“Yeah, but the way Jake told me about the whole thing, it really sounded like you liked her.”

“Why would you trust Jake to relay something like this correctly?!”

Jay paused and tilted his head. “You have a point there.”

“Hey!”

“So you don’t, like… like her, or something?” Sunghoon asked, looking at his friend as he sipped on his Pepsi.

This made Jake stop. Did he like you? Wasn’t the fact that he was considering it sign enough? Surely, if there was nothing there, he would have answered no right away.

But there was no use thinking about it. You liked Sunghoon. And as much as he liked to deny it, Jake knew Sunghoon liked you, too. After two years, there was finally an opportunity for the two of you to get closer - Jake wasn’t about to get in the middle of that. If anything, he should help his friends out. Then, when you and Sunghoon eventually got married, Jake would have the honor of saying it was all thanks to him in his best man’s speech. 

“No, I don’t. Don’t worry, Hoon, I’m not gonna steal your girl away from you.”

“Again, she’s not my girl-”

“Whatever you say. I’ll introduce you guys.”

Even if Sunghoon didn’t think he liked you yet, Jake knew it was just a matter of time - his friend just needed to spend a few hours with you to realize he did. You were pretty, smart, funny, nice, had the sweetest laugh he’d ever heard, got along with dogs, and even though you sometimes had weird opinions, it was always fun, talking to you. It was easy and comfortable. Anyone with taste would fall for you.

Anyone, except for Jake, of course.

—

For the past three weeks, you and Jake had gotten along perfectly, but today, on this bright Tuesday afternoon, you really wanted to strangle him. 

When he’d invited you to come and watch him at soccer practice, you’d been surprised, but happy - usually, you invited people to watch an actual game, not just practice. But you were just glad for the opportunity to spend more time with him. 

Without realizing it, you were giddy with excitement the whole day, counting down the minutes until classes were over and Jake’s practice started. Jake had told you to just head to the bleachers while the players got ready in the locker room, but when you reached said bleachers, someone was already sitting there, looking at something on their phone. You recognized him immediately as Sunghoon. He didn’t notice you right away, so you had time to wipe the surprise off of your face - you hadn’t thought anyone came to watch practice, but Sunghoon was probably here for Jake, just like you. 

“Hey,” you said quietly as you sat down next to him. Even though you were technically still on school property, this was the first time you saw Sunghoon outside of somewhere like a classroom, a hallway or the cafeteria. You weren’t as nervous as you thought you’d be, seeing him unexpectedly like this. 

You chuckled when Sunghoon started at your sudden arrival. “Oh, hey, Y/N,” he said, chuckling too, albeit somewhat awkwardly. “Sorry, didn’t hear you coming.”

“It’s fine,” you said with a smile as you sat down next to him on the bleachers. You didn’t know what sort of distance was appropriate between you two, if you should sit close or far, but you stopped yourself before you could overthink something as trivial as that. Neither of you said anything for a few seconds and you wished practice had started before you got here, so that you’d have something to look at other than an empty field.

You broke the silence before it became too uncomfortable. “So, do you come watch Jake often?”

You’d been fiddling with your hands as you spoke, only turning your head to look at Sunghoon as you awaited his answer. Your eyes didn’t even meet for a fraction of a second before he whipped his head to look at the field, as if unable to look at you and talk at the same time. At least he had a nice side profile for you to look at.

“Um, just on Tuesdays. I have ice skating practice after this, so I come here first, then he comes with me to the rink,” he replied. He glanced at you, lips pressed into a thin line that somewhat resembled a smile and that pushed dimples into his cheeks. You simply hummed in response. 

“What about you, how come you’re here?”

“Jake asked me,” you replied. Sunghoon let out a long “oh” as he nodded, turning his head back towards the field again. You didn’t think you’d ever had such a slow conversation. It was like you and Sunghoon both repeated your words ten times over in your heads before saying them out loud.

“Are you coming to my practice, too?” he asked after another pause.

The question took you aback slightly as you hadn’t even considered it, but it could be fun, seeing Sunghoon practice ice skating. It’d also be fun to hang out with Jake. “If it’s fine with you, then yeah, why not,” you replied, smiling at Sunghoon. He glanced at you again before looking away with a smile, an actual one this time that showed his teeth and made his eyes crinkle.

“Yeah, sure. People usually only come to actual shows, so I like it when someone’s there to watch practice.” Before you could find something to say, the players arrived jogging onto the field, immediately starting their warm-up laps. Some were serious about it and stayed focused as they ran, while others goofed around, running backwards and slapping other players on their butts before sprinting away. Jake, of course, was part of the latter group.

Now that something was actually happening on the field, you and Sunghoon had an excuse not to make conversation anymore. You tried to ignore it, but it was so awkward you wanted to die. You realized now why you were so attracted to people like Jake and Chaewon - without even being aware of it, they brought you out of your shell and made you feel at ease. You wished you could do that on your own, but you were always too scared, so you needed that person who was confident enough showing themselves to you first to make you feel comfortable doing the same. You and Sunghoon, unfortunately, were too similar in that sense to do that for each other. So you just sat there in silence, observing Jake and waving back at him when he caught your gazes.

The ninety minutes of practice didn’t go by in total silence - you asked Sunghoon about some soccer rules you didn’t get, and he shared some anecdotes from his and Jake’s earlier teenage years, including a very entertaining story about a tantrum 9-year-old Jake had thrown when he hadn’t agreed with the red card the referee had given him. You weren’t sure how the topic came up, but at some point, you even shared pictures of your pets. Sunghoon had one of those small crusty white dogs, but you kept your laughter in and cooed over how cute she was. 

But still, most of the time, you were watching Jake. You had never been interested in soccer or any sort of sport that involved balls until now. Somehow, he managed to make flushed cheeks, a heaving chest and hairline beaded with sweat look glorious. In total honesty, you were paying more attention to the player himself than to the sport, to the point that you barely noticed when he scored a goal during their practice match. It was only when Jake started cheering and high-fiving his teammates that you realized what had happened, and you gave him two thumbs up and a wide grin when he looked your and Sunghoon’s way, proudly shouting “Did you see that?!”

The realization hit you like a ton of bricks right there and then. The way your heart swelled as you watched his excited, puppyish grin take over his features was undeniable - you liked Jake. You like liked him. Your gaze continued to follow him as he finished his celebratory lap. If you could’ve seen yourself right then, you’d probably have been embarrassed by your awestruck expression and slightly agape mouth, but you couldn’t help yourself.

Much to your dismay, you realized that Chaewon had seen right through you. You hadn’t wanted to read too much into your feelings, but they had become too obvious to ignore. You hadn’t experienced them yourself since middle school (Choi Soobin had really been a heartbreaker back then), but you’d heard about the telltale signs of a crush too many times not to know about them. It was now clear that the way you felt about Jake and the way you had felt about Sunghoon were worlds apart. Feeling nervous around him and your heart skipping a beat when you made eye contact; wanting to see him smile; laughing at all his jokes, even the bad ones; missing him even though it’d been seconds since you said goodbye, and counting down the days until you saw him again. And, yes, looking at his pictures on social media over and over again. You did all those things, so you knew there was no point in lying to yourself anymore - you liked Jake Sim. 

It didn’t help that he was always kind to you, never making you feel stupid for not understanding something in your tutoring sessions and being patient enough to explain the same thing over and over again. He always paid attention to small things, which never failed to make your heart race, like asking after your aging cat’s condition after you’d told him he had a health check-up over the weekend or stocking up on your favorite snack the week after you’d told him about it. He’d also immediately picked up on your habit of teasing the people you felt comfortable with and you loved how he returned it tenfold. It was as much fun debating with him over nothing and making him shut up with your senseless arguments as it was being rendered speechless when he came up with the perfect retort. 

And of course, there was no denying that Jake was ridiculously attractive. There were times you got so caught up in the way his lips moved as he spoke or the way his fingers looked as he pointed at numbers on the page that your mind completely blanked out and you stopped listening to his words for a few seconds. You didn’t know what to make of his small chuckle and smirk when he noticed your gaze fixated on him, but you knew it wasn’t good for your heart. And let’s not even get started on the fact that sitting so close to him meant you could smell the lingering scent of his cologne every single time.

Even now, with flushed cheeks and hair slicked back with sweat, you want to run onto the field and give him a big smooch on his cheek, telling him you were proud of him for scoring that goal.

But even though you were getting closer and he had offered for you to come watch his practice, you squashed down as best as you could any hope that he might feel the same way about you. Even if he insisted he was bad with girls, Jake was popular at school, and you were sure there were many other girls who had a crush on him - so why would he like you of all people?

Sunghoon’s voice snapped you out of your thoughts. “Every time he scores, he acts like it’s the first time he’s ever done it,” he said, chuckling and shaking his head at his friend’s over-dramatic antics. The coach was trying to get Jake to calm down so that the game could resume.

“He’s so cute,” you said, voice quiet, before you could stop yourself. But as soon as the words were out, you realized what you’d done, and your eyes doubled in size as you turned to look at Sunghoon. He had whipped his head to look at you, too, and his eyes were just as big as yours. Then, he burst into laughter, and you hoped the Earth would suddenly open beneath your feet and swallow you whole. 

When his surprise had subsided, Sunghoon turned to you again, an incredulous but amused glint in his eyes. “Did you just call Jake cute?”

You crossed your arms over your chest, slightly frowning as you avoided Sunghoon’s gaze. “I just meant, you know, it’s cute how excited he got. I didn’t say he was cute,” you mumbled, knowing you were doing a poor job of defending yourself.

“That’s exactly what you said, though. You said, and I quote, He’s so cute.” You glared at Sunghoon. Who knew he would only become talkative once it came to teasing you about Jake? 

His expression softened slightly when he realized you might actually be upset about this, and he turned his attention back towards the field, smile growing when he found his friend. “Don’t worry, I won’t say anything.”

“There’s nothing to be said anyway.”

“Oh? So you don’t mind if I tell Jake that you have the biggest, fattest crush on- hmph!”

You’d cut Sunghoon off by pressing your palm to his mouth, mustering the most menacing look you could to scare him off. “I do not,” you said firmly as you moved your hand away from him.

“Sure, you don’t,” he replied, chuckling. Clearly, your most menacing look wasn’t so menacing.

“I get why Jake’s so annoying now, it’s because he’s friends with you.”

Sunghoon raised an amused eyebrow at this. “He might be annoying, but he’s also cute, right?”

“Shut up!” you shrieked immediately, but you couldn’t stop the grin forcing its way onto your lips.

“Just saying,” Sunghoon said, and you laughed together. Maybe you should’ve been more worried about Jake’s literal best friend finding out you had a crush on him, but you somehow trusted Sunghoon not to blabber about it. Whether because he was nice or because he wanted to watch you struggle with your feelings, you weren’t sure, but at least you felt your secret was safe with him.

You looked back at the field, and just as your eyes found Jake, you saw him turn his head away. Had you seen him just seconds prior, you might have noticed the crease in his eyebrows as he watched you and Sunghoon laugh together. Sunghoon isn’t that funny, he thought, what could you be laughing so hard about?

He didn’t understand the sudden weight in his heart at the sight of you and his friend getting along so well. This was his whole plan after all - force some proximity between you and Sunghoon so that you could talk and hopefully make your feelings clear to each other after some time. Clearly, it was working. So why was it bothering him so much? 

He had to turn his attention back to the game, so he could only ruminate over it for five seconds, but for the remaining thirty minutes, he could barely focus on anything. Whenever he glanced back at you and Sunghoon, you were both looking at him and not talking to each other, and that somehow bothered him even more. 

He used his time in the lockers to get out of the weird mood he was in - whatever was going on between you and Sunghoon, he didn’t want to ruin it by being grumpy. So when he came back out and found the two of you waiting for him at the bus stop, he put on his best smile. 

Having you around made his usual Tuesday afternoon with Sunghoon more fun - after years of friendship, Sunghoon ignored most of his jokes and could tune the sound of his voice out, but you still laughed at everything he said, and his heart swelled with pride every time he made you laugh.

It was only a ten-minute bus ride from the school to the ice rink so you still had twenty minutes to spare before Sunghoon’s lesson started. As always after soccer practice, Jake was famished, so you stopped by a convenience store and got more snacks than you really needed.

You sat next to Sunghoon and across from Jake at a picnic table in front of the ice rink, watching the boy in front of you with fascination as he gorged himself on banana milk and chocolate snacks.

“God, how long has it been since you last ate?” you asked with genuine concern in your voice. Sunghoon followed your gaze towards Jake, only then noticing his friend’s feral behavior as if this was a normal occurrence for them.

“Like three hours,” Jake answered. “I’m starving. So hungry I could eat Sunghoon.”

When he looked up, you were both peering at him with furrowed eyebrows and bewildered expressions on your faces. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Do you mean that Sunghoon is a horse?” you asked.

Jake mirrored your confused expressions. “What? No, why would I say that?”

“The saying goes, so hungry I could eat a horse, dumbass,” Sunghoon chimed in.

“Why would I eat a horse?” Jake replied, shaking his head and chuckling at you and Sunghoon like you were the ones who had gotten a basic idiom wrong.

“Why would you eat me?” Sunghoon bit back, sounding almost offended.

“It’s just a saying, dude.”

Half-an-hour and two whole packets of biscuits later, you and Jake sat side-by-side on the benches, watching Sunghoon as he did his warm-ups on the ice. This was your first time seeing a professional ice skater and you were transfixed, to say the least. He was just skating across the rink and rolling his arms and neck to get the muscles moving, but it all seemed so effortless and elegant that you couldn’t help but watch with your mouth slightly open, eyes eager to keep up with Sunghoon’s figure.

You were so mesmerized that you had no idea Jake was practically burning holes into the side of your face. Eyes narrowed and nose scrunched in disgust, he couldn’t believe you were enjoying the show in front of you that much. “He’s not even doing anything special right now, you know,” he said, but it only made him realize that when Sunghoon did start doing cool stuff, you’d like it even more.

Your head barely budged in Jake’s direction as you answered him, and your eyes certainly didn’t leave Sunghoon. “Really? It already looks so cool, though.” Jake scoffed, but that still didn’t get your attention, which made him scoff again. He crossed his arms over his chest and frowned like a child whose parent wasn’t paying attention to their drawing. 

“Cooler than me?”

Finally, you look at me, Jake thought, and his frown immediately dissipated into a grin when your eyes met. But judging by the teasing way your lips curled up, he already knew he wasn’t going to like your answer.

“Cooler than you,” you replied before turning your attention back to the rink.

Jake leans back with a pout, opting to glare at his friend instead of you. He tried to put himself in your shoes and figure out what it was about Sunghoon you liked so much that Jake didn’t also have. Devastatingly good looks? Check. Charming smile? Check. Cute dog? Check - Jake more so than Sunghoon. Brains? Okay, both of them lacked this. Good personality? Check - however, you needed months before Sunghoon revealed himself to you, whereas Jake was outgoing and was comfortable even with people he’d just met. 

So why was the bearer of your affection Sunghoon and not Jake?

And why did Jake even care that you liked his friend over him in the first place?

It wasn’t like Jake liked you - he couldn’t like a girl that his best friend liked - so why did this at all matter to him? If anything, the fact that you liked Sunghoon back should’ve been something to rejoice over. It had been, up until now, and Jake couldn’t figure out why. He couldn’t figure out this weird sensation that had plagued him in the soccer field and followed him to the ice rink as he watched you watch Sunghoon with amazement.

Jake was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn’t even notice when you detached your eyes from Sunghoon, who was talking to his coach, and tilted your head at him. “Jake?” 

The boy only let out a low hum, still too upset to look at you.

An amused grin made your lips quirk up. “Are you pouting because I said Sunghoon was cooler than you?”

Jake scoffed, turning his head away from you. “No.”

A pause. “So you don’t mind if I go on and on about how elegant and beautiful ice skating is, while running after a ball and kicking it is the basis of the stupidest sport in the world?”

Jake glared at you, but it only made you smile more. “It’s not stupid.”

Despite himself, his pretend angry facade broke apart at the sound of your airy giggles. Jake didn’t think his ears had ever been graced with such a pretty sound before - he slapped himself mentally as soon as that thought crossed his mind. 

His heart did jumps and spins more impressive than Sunghoon’s when you reached a hand out to ruffle his hair, shaking your head at his behavior. For once, he was glad that you turned back to Sunghoon so that you wouldn’t see the bright blush spreading all over his face.

For the next hour, Jake put his weird feelings to the side and watched his friend practice his routine for his upcoming competition. Even he had to admit that Sunghoon looked pretty cool doing what he loved.

You told him you found it all the more impressive because you’d never skated before, so it looked unachievable to you, and an idea immediately formed in Jake’s mind. As soon as Sunghoon’s practice was over, he rushed over to his friend and asked if the two of you could join him on the ice. Sunghoon turned to his coach, who simply shrugged.

“I trust you to look after them,” she said. “Just make sure to be out when the hockey team gets here.”

Before you knew it, Jake was helping you tie up your ice skates (the sight of which made you faint-hearted) and both boys helped you onto the ice rink, each holding onto one of your hands as you tried not to freak out at the feeling of your knees being so wobbly. Sunghoon demonstrated how to move around the ice, and soon enough, you’d gotten the hang of it - but you still made sure to keep Jake at an arm’s length so you could grab onto him every time you lost your balance. Jake stayed by your side, smiling fondly at how excited you looked and cheering you on every time you took a step of your own. Sunghoon, on the other hand, seemed to find it funny to watch from afar and point and laugh every time you stumbled.

After some time, Sunghoon announced he was feeling hungry and decided to go eat some snacks, leaving you and Jake alone in the rink. The wink Sunghoon threw your way when Jake wasn’t looking let you know what his true intentions were, and you couldn’t believe Jake’s best friend had just become your wingman.

“Feeling ready to skate around the rink?” Jake asked. His boyish grin was contagious, and you found yourself matching it even though you were still nervous about moving around too much.

“If you help me,” you answered tentatively, looking at him worriedly as you held out your hand for him to take. The softness of his gaze as he smiled down at you made you want to melt into a puddle on the floor.

“Of course,” he said, taking your hand in his warm one. Your fingers intertwined as if out of second nature and you thought you finally understood why people said their hands were meant to hold someone else’s.

Being friends with an ice skater for such a long time meant Jake had acquired some skill, too, which is why he could so easily show you how to turn or pick up speed. Whenever you lost your balance, he was always quick enough to make sure you didn’t actually fall, picking you up before your backside could touch the ice. He found your frightened expression every time you thought you would fall absolutely adorable, but your pout and slight frown whenever he teased you were somehow even cuter.

He only let go of your hand after some ten minutes (neither of you had even begun to question Sunghoon’s whereabouts by then) when he came to stand in front of you, a serious expression on his face.

“I think you’re ready, Y/N,” he declared solemnly.

“Ready for…?” you asked, scared of whatever he had in mind.

He leaned in slightly and the sudden proximity took you aback, but he didn’t seem to realize. A mischievous smirk broke through his handsome features. “A race,” he whispered, then skated to one edge of the rink and motioned for you to follow him. Reluctantly, you did.

“First to the other edge has to…” he thought for a second, gazing at the ceiling. You wanted to be mad at him for proposing a race when you’d literally just learned how to skate, but how could you when he looked so cute and giddy, searching for the loser’s penalty? “Buy the other ice cream!”

Your eyes were probably the image of tenderness as you looked at him. “Deal,” you said, wanting to sound as playful as him but voice coming out soft. Since when had you fallen so hard for him?

You held each other’s gazes for a couple more seconds before both turning in front of you, getting ready for your race. Jake counted down from three, and your skating wasn’t so bad at first - until you got too cocky for your own good, trying to go at a pace you clearly couldn’t handle. Before you knew it, your knees betrayed you and you found yourself tripping over, your butt making a loud thump sound as it came into contact with the ice.

On your way down, you’d shrieked Jake’s name, and he was at your side in the blink of an eye, holding your shoulder and looking at you worriedly. The pain was immediate, and for a few seconds, you couldn’t answer him and reassure him that you were fine.

“Oh God, I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have asked to race, God Y/N I’m so stupid I’m so sorry are you okay I didn’t want you to get hurt-”

“Jake,” you squeaked.

“Yeah?”

“I’m okay, calm down,” you said when the pain subsided, managing a smile. “I’ll just have a sore butt tomorrow.” He chuckled at the word ‘butt,’ but you didn’t have it in you to roll his eyes at his childishness.

“Are you sure you’re okay? There’s an infirmary here-”

“I’m sure, Jakey-poo,” you teased, making him lose the concerned expression as he bore an unimpressed one instead.

“I guess you are fine if you can think to call me that. Come on, up!” he said as he stood up, reaching his hands out for you to take. Just as he helped you up, Sunghoon came sprinting and stood at the entrance to the rink.

“Is everything okay? I heard a yell,” he said, slightly out-of-breath with half a biscuit in his mouth. Guess he really was eating this whole time.

You and Jake laughed and shook your head at him, and you reassured him that everything was fine. 

“Good, ‘cause the hockey team’s here and we have to go anyway.”

There was a bus that took Sunghoon directly from the ice rink to his house, but you and Jake had to go back to the school to catch the one you usually took, which meant you had a forty-minute journey in front of you. And yet, Jake’s company made those forty minutes feel like five, and you found yourself disappointed when the bus neared your stop.

“If you want, we can still go walk Kiwi and Layla,” he offered shyly a few minutes before your stop, as if he’d read your mind. 

“I’d love to.” You watched as his small smile bloomed into a wider one.

“I’m glad,” he chuckled, relieved. “I was scared you’d be tired of me after spending the whole afternoon together,” he admitted, looking down at his lap with a bashful expression on his face. It wasn’t often that Jake looked timid like this, but whenever he did, your heart tripled in size.

“I don’t think I could get tired of you.” You were too shy to look him in the eye while you said this, but in your peripheral, you saw his grin get impossibly wider and his eyebrows raise. He bumped your shoulder with his, making the both of you burst into giggles.

You were still smiling long after you’d come home from your walk.

—

Unfortunately for Jake, forcing you and Sunghoon to sit together for ninety minutes hadn’t resulted in the two of you confessing your undying love for the other and getting together - clearly, his plan hadn’t worked very well. But Jake, instead of coming up with another strategy, decided he should just basically do the same thing again and hope it went better this time. 

Bro night had been a tradition for the past three years that the boys only very rarely broke, in cases of illness, filial obligations or important competitions the following day. This wasn’t any one of those cases, but Jake decided bro night must be slightly sacrificed that night - for your and Sunghoon’s sake. Years down the line, he knew you’d thank him.

This was why he tricked you into thinking you had been invited to bro night (you’d heard a lot about it and considered it an honor to be included) when really, he made Jay promise not to show at the cinema so that you and Sunghoon could be alone. The two of them would make up an excuse about not being able to make it on time and show up later at the diner (“If you want to set them up, shouldn’t we also leave them alone after the movie?” Jay had asked Jake over the phone, and Jake had been unable to explain why he didn’t want you to spend the whole night alone with Sunghoon).

“They ditched us,” Sunghoon had said in lieu of a greeting when you found him at the entrance of the cinema. He turned his phone screen towards you, showing you their group chat - Jay had had some sort of meeting at his school that had run late and Jake had to go to the vet suddenly because Layla kept making weird noises.

“Oh no, I hope she’ll be okay,” you said, voice laced with genuine worry.

Sunghoon just sighed. “I’m sure she will.” He knew what his friends were up to - it almost never happened that one of them was unable to make it to bro night, so two at once? They were clearly lying. He would make sure to tell Jake how worried sick you were about his dog’s fake illness later on just so his friend would feel extra guilty.

You had been looking forward to hanging out with Jake and his friends all day, so you were disappointed to know he wouldn’t make it until later. It wasn’t much comfort that the movie they had picked, some recent Marvel release, was one you were not at all interested in, and you couldn’t even obsess over Jake’s presence next to you instead of the movie because he wasn’t there. You’d have to sit with awkward, quiet Sunghoon for God knows how long - at least the cinema wasn’t much of a talking place. 

You declined his kind offer of sharing a big popcorn tub - you didn’t want to risk a cliché reaching-for-popcorn-at-the-same-time moment with Sunghoon, although you’d daydreamed and giggled about it happening with Jake earlier that day. Instead, you sipped grumpily on your Cherry Coke, watching the trailers for upcoming movies and discussing them with Sunghoon. (“I’m so excited for the Barbie movie,” he’d surprised you by saying. Maybe he wasn’t so bad.)

As the lights dimmed, announcing the imminent start of the movie, Sunghoon whispered something that completely changed your mind about Marvel. “It’s so stupid that Jake isn’t here, seriously. He’s been going on and on about going to see this movie since the trailer came out.” Suddenly, you’d never felt the need to pay attention to something more than this. 

Well, in your humble opinion, the film wasn’t anything to write home about. It was a lot of loud action scenes with some funny one-liners that, okay, you chuckled at. And the actors were hot. You could sort of see why Jake would enjoy Marvel movies, although you yourself liked films with more social commentary, such as Mean Girls or Bee Movie. You’d need to make Jake watch Twilight one of these days - you were sure he’d like the soundtrack, if nothing else.

At least, you and Sunghoon have something to talk about during your short walk to the diner. As you enter the restaurant, a familiar voice calling out your name catches you off-guard.

“Chaewon? I thought you didn’t work on Friday nights!” you exclaimed, letting your friend bring you into a hug. You gave her a once-over - she always looked so pretty in her work uniform, white t-shirt dress draping her body perfectly, apron cinching at her waist, and short pigtails under her 50’s style diner hat. If the blush spreading on Sunghoon’s cheeks at her sudden appearance was anything to go by, his thoughts might not have been too far from yours.

She pouted, taking your hands in hers and swaying them between the two of you. “I usually don’t, but Yunjin asked me to trade shifts and she always says yes when I ask her, so I felt bad saying no.” You nodded and she turned to Sunghoon.

“Hi, Sunghoon!”

“H-hi, Chaewon.”

“Where’s Jay and Jake?” she asked, looking behind the two of you. You’d told the group chat about your evening plans and a lot of freaking out had taken place. 

“Should be here any minute,” you sighed, and when she looked at you questioningly, you told her you’d explain later.

She sat you at a four-person booth by the window and brought you drinks (“On the house,” she’d said with a wink, but you weren’t sure this had been allowed by any of her superiors) for you to sip on while you waited for the others. Every time she was free, she came over to your table and gossiped about the customers. You did not miss the way Sunghoon’s face lit up whenever she approached you.

Jake and Jay see you before you see them. Jay, the only one with a driver’s license out of the three, had picked Jake up, and he was parking his car when Jake gasped loudly, making Jay jump. “I’m trying to park, man, can you be calm?”

“What’s she doing here?” Jake exclaimed, completely ignoring his friend.

Jay followed Jake’s gaze, but he wasn’t sure what his friend was going on about. All he saw was you, whom he recognized from pictures only, Sunghoon, and a waitress that seemed overly-friendly. “Who?” he asked.

“Chaewon,” Jake hissed, like her name was a curse. “She’s ruining our plan!”

Jay sighed. “First of all, this is your plan. Second of all, it was ruined from the beginning. And by that, I mean that your plan sucks, Jake.”

Jake clicked his teeth. “Whatever. Let’s just go,” he said, getting out of the car and heading straight for you. He made sure to give Chaewon a pointed look as he sat next to you in the booth, but she just seemed happy that more people had arrived. 

You bumped your knee into his to get his attention. “Hi,” you said with a smile.

He looked at you dumbly for a few seconds before Jay cleared his throat awkwardly. “Hi. This is Jay,” he said, tilting his head towards the boy but not taking his eyes off of you. You and Jay exchanged hey’s before Chaewon took your order, quickly giving it to the kitchen and scanning the room to make sure every table had what they needed, then headed back to your table. 

“Is Layla okay?” you asked Jake, worry making your brows furrow.

“Huh?” The sudden mention of his dog took him aback. Why wouldn’t she be okay?

“Layla?” you repeated, tilting your head. “Is she okay? You said you had to go to the vet.”

His eyes widened as he remembered his lie from earlier, and he started nodding frantically. “Oh yeah, yeah, she’s fine, we panicked over nothing,” he said with a nervous giggle. Jake was the worst liar Jay and Sunghoon had ever seen, but you were none the wiser.

“What about you, Jay? How was your school thing?” Sunghoon asked, turning to his friend with a glare and making him choke on his Coke.

“Oh, that was fine too, I guess,” Jay mumbled.

As expected, Jake and Chaewon were experts at leading the conversation, and Jay himself was pretty talkative. They all bounced off of each other naturally, and even Sunghoon knew how to throw in witty remarks now and there. You also participated, but you were more than happy just listening to them and laughing along. You tried not to think too much about how your knee would bump into Jake’s once in a while, or how he seemed to look at you every time he made a joke.

At some point, Chaewon had rushed over to your table, looking right at you with wide eyes and beaming. “Oh my God Oh my God Oh my God, Y/N, hat guy is here!” 

You instantly mirrored her expression. “Where where where?” you asked, lifting your body up to scan around the restaurant.

“Over there in the corner, but be discreet!”

You were not at all discreet as your eyes found said hat guy, noting with satisfaction that he was characteristically hatless, and you burst into laughter. “I can’t believe he’s here!”

“Right? Probably has the munchies or something,” Chaewon said, laughing along.

You only noticed then the perplexed looks all three boys were sending your way. “Who the heck is hat guy?” Jake asked, which only made you and Chaewon laugh harder.

“You wouldn’t get it,” she replied airily, waving Jake off as she made her way to a customer who had called for her. 

The boys turned to you and you shrunk in your seat at their attention. “Just a guy the girls and I find funny,” you explained, shrugging and glancing quickly at Sunghoon. If only he knew about all the times you and the girls had gossiped about him, even though he’d done nothing of importance.

When her shift was over, the first thing Chaewon did was take off her apron, then dragged you to the bathroom, where she drilled you for details about your cinema “date” with Sunghoon. 

“It was not a date, it just ended up being the two of us because the others couldn’t make it,” you insisted, but she wasn’t having it. “There’s nothing to say anyway. We got there, talked a bit, watched the movie, walked here, and that’s it.”

Chaewon sighed, shaking her head as she reapplied her lip gloss. A small smile made its way onto your lips. “I think he’s into someone else anyway.” 

You noticed how her hand faltered for a split second. “Oh yeah? Who?” she asked, trying to appear nonchalant, but you knew your friend too well. 

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” 

Unbeknownst to either of you, the discussion between the boys back at the table was not too different from yours.

“Bro, I’m literally going to kill you,” Sunghoon whisper-yelled even though you were way out of earshot already. “Do you know how awkward that was?”

“Just so you know, I had nothing to do with this,” Jay said. “I told him that putting two socially constipated idiots like you wouldn’t end well, but he wouldn’t listen.”

“Y/N’s not an idiot!” Jake immediately reacted.

“And I am?!” Sunghoon retorted.

Jay just rolled his eyes.

“You are, because this is the second time you’re alone together with the girl you like and you can barely make conversation with her.”

“For the last time, I don’t like her, I just called her cute once in freshman year-”

“Same thing!”

“Jake, I don’t know how many times I can tell you the same thing before you get it. I’ve been around Y/N enough to know I don’t like her like that, okay? We’ve had two classes where we sat together for a whole semester, and we’ve worked with other people in group projects. Not to mention, you’ve made me sit through one of your practices with her. She’s nice. She sends me the homework when I miss class. She even laughs at my jokes sometimes. And her dog is super cute. I’m sure we’d be better friends if we both didn’t have crippling shyness, but I don’t like her like that. I just don’t.”

“But how?!”

“What do you mean how? This sorta thing doesn’t have any sort of reasonable answer, you just do or you don’t. I don’t. Clearly, you do.”

Jake heard the last part of Sunghoon’s words, and promptly decided to ignore them. He had to understand this first - he’d figure out his feelings later. “This whole time, I thought you were just downplaying your feelings, ‘cause you’re an awkward asshole who doesn’t do emotions,” he said, eyes tightly shut and holding his head, the confusion making his brain hurt.

“Okay, ouch. But no, I wasn’t. I really don’t know what got into your head.”

“I know what got into his head,” Jay said. Both of his friends looked at him questioningly, so he went on. “When Sunghoon mentioned Y/N, you probably thought she was super cute too, Jake. But because of bro code and whatnot, you didn’t wanna show any interest. And then as you saw her around more, you probably liked her more, but you thought Sunghoon liked her, so you sort of gave him your crush on her instead of dealing with it. You lived vicariously through him, basically. Except you’re an idiot because he doesn’t even like her like that, so you could’ve shot your shot a long time ago already. I don’t know why you didn’t just listen to him, to be honest,” Jay finished, shrugging.

“You also thought he liked her!” Jake retorted.

“That’s besides the point. The point is that you’re stupid.”

“But- but, what about all those times you talked about her? I didn’t make those up!” 

Sunghoon rolled his eyes. “The most I ever said about her was something like, Y/N and I both forgot our textbook today, or Y/N brought cookies for the class because it’s her birthday. You were always the one to notice her everywhere and go, There’s your crush, or something.”

Jake sighed, defeated. He could admit Sunghoon was right about something, and he was wrong - but he hated that Jay was also right. Had he really managed to bury his feelings for you all these years just for what he thought was Sunghoon’s sake? Sure, he was a loyal friend, but that felt a little much.

“Whatever,” he mumbled, recoiling from his friends’ expectant gazes and taking a sad bite of his cheeseburger. “It’s not like she likes me back, or anything.” 

He watched in confusion as Sunghoon let out a loud groan, screwing his eyes shut and taking his head in his hands as if it hurt. “This is so frustrating, I’m going to kill myself.”

Jake turned to Jay for some sort of explanation to their friend’s sudden suicidal thoughts, but Jay just looked back at Jake with disgust. “When did you become so dumb? I swear you didn’t use to be like this,” he said, shaking his head in disappointment.

Jake’s eyes flickered between his two friends in utter dismay. “What?”

“Jake,” Jay started. “Do you really, honestly, genuinely think Y/N doesn’t like you?”

The boy leaned back in his seat with a pout. “Yeah,” he mumbled.

Sunghoon’s head whipped up at this. Jake gulped at the intense glare his friend fixed him with - he’d never looked so angry with him, and it made Jake wonder what on Earth he could have said or done that made Sunghoon so upset. “Why?” he asked simply, but the frustration was evident in his voice.

Your diary popped up in Jake’s head. What he had read was clear. Of course, the entry dated from over a month ago now, but why would your feelings have changed since then? Jake sighs deeply, getting ready to reveal to his friends what he’d seen, but then he sees you and Chaewon emerging from the bathroom. “They’re coming back,” he mumbled.

It was Sunghoon and Jay’s turn to sigh. “Just pay attention to her, Jake, okay?” Jay instructed, giving his friend an intent look.

“I already do,” Jake replied, frowning.

“No, really pay attention to her. Then use your pea-sized brain for once in your life, and maybe you’ll realize something.”

A strongly-worded reply was on the tip of Jake’s tongue, but all thoughts of violence and murdering his friend were replaced by images of rainbows and pretty flowers when you smiled at him. He felt like the biggest of idiots for liking you so much and only realizing it now.

“Hi,” he said dumbly as you found your seat next to him again, then stole a french fry from you even though he had many left himself. When you gasped at his audacity, he just giggled.

“Hey!” you exclaimed in protest before stealing a fry back. 

If you hadn’t been so caught up in your little world, you’d have noticed the knowing look your three friends exchanged and their simultaneous eye roll. 

—

The following Monday, you decided to have your tutoring session at your house instead of Jake’s. His mom was away at a convention for the week, so you’d have to take the bus anyway - since your house was two stops earlier, you offered to switch it up for once. Jake had never actually been inside your house and was curious to see what it was like, so he eagerly agreed. 

Kiwi was happy to see him and followed the two of you around the house as you gave Jake a quick tour before going up to your room. When you reached the top landing, you realized that Kiwi was still at the bottom of the stairs and was looking up at you expectantly. “Is she not allowed upstairs?” Jake asked.

“Usually not, but I let her come up when my mom’s not here. Come on Kiwi! It’s okay!”

Kiwi didn’t need to be told twice - she trudged her little body up the stairs, and you couldn’t help but giggle at her adorableness. “She’s so cute,” you cooed, looking at your dog with a huge smile on your face.

“She really is,” Jake agreed, but when you turned your head to face him, he wasn’t looking at Kiwi - he was looking straight at you, a softness in his eyes that made your stomach turn. He snapped out of it when he noticed your round, surprised eyes, and cleared his throat. “So, where’s your room?” he asked, looking around the hallway and avoiding your gaze.

“Over there,” you replied, fighting the smile that tried to make its way to your lips as you headed towards your room, Jake and Kiwi following right behind. 

You told Jake to wait for a second as you went to get a second chair. When you came back, he was standing in front of your shelves, upper body slightly bent forwards to observe all the decorations and framed pictures closer. You placed the chair next to your desk then joined him, answering all the questions he had about the items on your shelves. Who’s this? When was this? Where did you get this? In his defense, you really did have a lot of things - you were trying to get rid of your hoarding habits, but you got attached to every small thing that held some sort of significance. You went to sit at the edge of your bed and just watched him, his eyes glinting with curiosity.

It reminded you of the first time you’d been to his house, how upset he’d seemed when you talked about his baby pictures and how you hadn’t wanted to risk looking at all the stuff in his room. You were also curious about things like that, and you wondered once again what had bothered him so much. The question was burning your tongue - although you were nervous to ask it, not wanting to upset Jake once more, you now knew him well enough to know he wasn’t the type to stay mad for long. 

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” Jake replied, fingers toying with your favorite Littlest Pet Shop figurine you had kept from when you were eight.

“Why didn’t you want me to look at your baby photos that one time?”

Jake paused at your words. He stood up straight and set the figurine back on the shelf. He glanced at you before walking over to your bed and taking a seat next to you, leaning back on his palms while you rested your hands underneath your thighs. 

“You probably noticed I don’t mention my dad, right? Or the fact that he’s never home?” 

You nodded in response. You had noticed it, but you’d never brought the topic up in case it might be sensitive. Jake sighed. “He passed away when I was six.”

You turned your head towards him. To your surprise, his face remained expressionless - you couldn’t detect any sort of sadness or anger in his features, as if he was just reciting a fact. His uncharacteristic numbness upset you even more than any tears could have. 

He met your gaze and gave you a small smile. “I was so young that I only have very vague memories of him, like playing soccer together in the backyard or a trip to the beach with my parents and my brother. I only remember his face and his voice from the photos and videos my mom has shown me.” He sighed again, shifting forwards and resting his hands in his lap, fiddling with his fingers. “So when I see these pictures, they sort of just remind me of what I’ve lost? I really don’t like lingering on them. I sort of just ignore them every time I walk up or down the stairs.”

“I’m sorry, I wouldn’t have mentioned them if I’d known-”

Jake is quick to shake his head. “No, no, don’t be sorry. You couldn’t have guessed.” You want to comfort Jake in some way, thank him for telling you something so personal, but you’re not sure what words to use - so, instead, you take one of his hands in yours and bring it to your lap, then cover it with your other one. Your eyes meet for a second - he looks slightly taken aback at first, but then, his eyes drift down to your joined hands, and a small blush spreads on his cheeks.

“I’m- I’m okay, really. Like I said, it happened so long ago that I’m used to not having a dad now. It almost feels like it’s always been that way, which makes it even weirder to think it wasn’t. It’s just… It feels weird to miss someone I barely remember so much, you know?”

You nodded and let out a low hum. “I do know.” Jake tilted his head at you, silently asking you to go on. “It’s different, but I get that feeling of missing something you barely remember. I have these blurry memories of my parents being happy together and the three of us being a happy family, and then all of a sudden it’s hearing arguments from my room and my dad moving out, and they’re asking me, Do you wanna live with mom or dad?”

You watched as Jake moved his hand slightly, intertwining your fingers together and squeezing your hand. “I was older than you were when they divorced, so I guess I have more memories to hold onto, but they hurt more than anything.” You let out a deep sigh. “My dad cheated, so it’s not like I wished my mom had stayed with him, but I was too young to understand what was happening. I just wanted my parents together again.” 

When you lifted your head to look at him, he met your gaze, and his eyes were so soft yet so intense, like he was seeing right into you. Then he chuckled. “Do you ever get jealous of other people’s parents?” he asks, a shy smile playing on his lips.

“All the time,” you admitted with a chuckle, relieved to find out you weren’t the only one. “Yena has been blessed with these like, practically perfect parents that are still in love after twenty years, never argue and have a healthy relationship with all of their kids. I’m so in awe every time I see them.”

“Sunghoon’s parents are like that. I feel terrible, but every time they come to cheer him on at his competitions, I just get so jealous, wishing I also had three people coming to see my games and not just two. And I always feel so silly for feeling that way.”

“You’re not silly for that, Jake,” you said, and the honesty in your voice seemed to take him aback slightly. A grin spread on your lips. “You may be silly for other things, but not for that,” you teased, making him chuckle. “I can be your third person, if you want,” you said softly, lightly bumping your shoulder against his.

His eyes seemed to light up at your words, and your smile couldn’t help but get wider at his reaction - that was, until he raised an eyebrow, almost defiantly. “Yeah? I thought you found soccer boring,” he said with a playful smirk.

“It’s not boring if you’re the one playing,” you replied. A small noise of surprise escaped his throat before he could help it, not expecting you to be so forward, and you both burst into giggles. 

He cleared his throat when you both calmed down and stood up straighter, trying to put on a cool front. “Of course it isn’t.” He turned his head to look out the window, and the sight of the sunlight perfectly hitting his features and turning his dark brown eyes a hazel color almost took your breath away. “It’s really nice out,” he suddenly said. He turned back to you, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “How about we ditch the tutoring for today and go out?”

His eyes drifted down to your lips, watching as a smile tugged at the corners of your own. “I’m in.”

That was how you found yourselves sitting at a bench in the park close to your house, eating ice cream and watching Kiwi and Layla play together. You tried each other’s ice cream, and you regretted your choice of simple vanilla and strawberry as soon as Jake’s mango ice cream touched your tongue. Your eyes widened at the amazing taste - it felt like you had bit into an actual mango. 

“Good, right?” Jake asked, chuckling at your reaction.

“What the heck, yours is so much better than mine,” you mumbled, pouting at the ice cream in your cup like it had personally hurt you.

Jake thought for a second, looking back and forth between your upset expression and his own cup. “Wanna switch?”

Your heart was screaming yes, but your brain was screaming no. You tried your best to appear genuine when you smiled at him. “No, don’t worry about it. I still like mine.” You looked at him as you scooped another spoonful into your mouth as if to prove to him you were happy with your choice, even going so far as to hum in delight.

Jake just chuckled and shook his head at you, taking your cup and giving you his anyway. You were about to protest until he started eating your ice cream, imitating your previous hum. You quietly accepted the exchange, smiling as you tasted the mango ice cream again and trying to ignore the fact that Jake hadn’t switched the spoons with the cups, so you were using his and he was using yours. 

As you ate in silence, occasionally chuckling at your dogs’ antics, Jake stole some glances at you. He wasn’t sure why you looked so much prettier today than all the times he’d seen you before. Or maybe you were just as pretty as you’d always been, and he was just finally letting himself admit it. 

He may have had many friends, but there weren’t many people Jake was truly himself around. He always felt the need to be this friendly, outgoing guy that made it seem like everything was going well in his life, but with you, he felt like it was okay to stop pretending. He felt like it was okay to ask for help, like it was okay to reveal the darker parts of his life.

Now that Jay and Sunghoon had practically forced him to see the truth, Jake didn’t know what to do about his feelings for you. He finally understood why he always looked forward to your tutoring sessions, why he was so excited whenever he walked past you in the hallways, and why he was so bothered about you and Sunghoon getting along.

Sunghoon. Because even if Jake now knew that he liked you, he also knew that you liked someone else. And what was the point of letting himself fall for you even more when there was no happy ending in sight for him? He’d only get hurt in the end.

Just as the thought hit him, you turned to look at him and meet his gaze, a soft smile on your lips. Every time you smiled at him like that, Jake felt like he was watching a movie. Everything happened in slow-motion, with flowers falling around you and violins playing in the background. Jake almost felt sick, knowing he was only the second lead in your romance movie. He was the stupid werewolf and Sunghoon was the vampire that glistened in the sun and got the girl. (You had convinced him to watch Twilight, saying it was a mandatory watch to understand who you were as a person. Of course, Jake had streamed it that same night. The soundtrack was surprisingly good.)

Your voice snapped him out of his downward-spiraling thoughts. “You know, I almost got scared that Sunghoon would appear out of thin air and start hanging out with us.”

Jake tried not to sneer at the mention of his best-friend-turned-number-one-nemesis. “Why? Wouldn’t you like that?” he mumbled, clearly doing a poor job of seeming unaffected.

You frowned, then lowered your head, focusing your gaze on your almost-finished ice cream. “No, I’d rather if it was just the two of us.” Jake’s eyes widened, unsure if he’d heard that correctly or not. But before he could say anything in response, you spoke again. “It’s just, he was there when I came to watch your practice and when I thought we were all going to see a movie together, it was just him and me. You would’ve liked that movie, by the way,” you said, looking up at Jake with a smile.

Jake’s heart swelled. He wasn’t sure what what you were saying all meant, but unconsciously, his lips mirrored yours and he smiled back at you. Until he remembered you didn’t like him, and his smile fell immediately. Obviously, you had no idea what he was thinking, so his sudden stony expression sent alarms ringing through your head.

“It’s not that I don’t like him, or anything,” you said, panicked, and Jake had to keep himself from scoffing, “it’s just that- you know. It’s nice to hang out with you outside of tutoring sessions,” you finished, mumbling. 

Jake had no idea what you were saying, so he stayed quiet, watching as Kiwi and Layla ran around in circles. You liked Sunghoon, so why would you rather hang out with Jake and not him? You weren’t making any sense. 

You, on the other hand, were not liking Jake’s uncharacteristic silence. In hopes of getting his attention, you crossed one leg over the other, shifting on the bench to face him. “Plus, don’t you think he and Chaewon really hit it off the other night? I think that was the most I’ve ever heard him talk,” you said, trying to lighten the atmosphere. To your dismay, it didn’t work. You didn’t know whether he was sulking or genuinely upset - all you knew was you desperately wanted to see a smile on his pretty face again.

“Jakey?” you called out, and your voice sounded so small it hurt his heart. He hummed in response, only glancing at you for a fraction of a second. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?” he replied, scooping the last of the ice cream in his mouth. As he tasted the strawberry and vanilla flavors, he couldn’t believe he had given his precious mango ice cream up all for a girl who didn’t even like him back. What a fool.

“I don’t know, you’re all- weird, all of a sudden, for lack of a better word.” You searched for some sort of an answer in his eyes, but he supplied you with none. 

Jake sighed deeply. He could feel the ugly mix of emotions in his belly turning into anger - anger at what exactly, he wasn’t sure, but he didn’t want to lay it on you. “It’s just the heat, it’s making me tired,” he said. Sure, it was warm for a May afternoon, but it wasn’t that hot. But you didn’t want to push it.

“Should we go home?“ you offered, and the worry in your voice made him feel even worse. He just couldn’t understand why you were being so nice to him. He knew you probably just thought you were looking after a friend, but he'd rather you not care about his well-being and leave him be. He didn’t need one more reason to like you - he already had plenty of those. 

He nodded, mustering as convincing a smile as he could. “Sure.” 

The walk home was much quieter than usual. You could feel that Jake was keeping something to himself, and it was killing you; but whatever it was, you wanted him to tell you when he felt ready and not feel forced to. Your hand was aching, desperate to reach out and grab his as you had done before, but you were afraid that would only push him away even further. So you stayed silent most of the time, only commenting on the things around you or speaking a thought out loud when you thought it might make Jake smile. Every time his lips curled up, even ever so slightly, your heart swelled with relief.

Unbeknownst to you, Jake was making up his mind. He knew he needed time away from you to gather his feelings before he could see you as a friend again. 

When you reached your house, Jake waited outside with the dogs as you grabbed his bag he’d left upstairs. You hugged goodbye as always, but this one was different - it lasted a few seconds longer than usual, and you could swear Jake held you tighter than he normally would. It felt like he was saying goodbye for more than just a couple days.

You didn’t understand why it made your heart ache so much.

—

The next day, when you walked past Jake and Sunghoon in the hallway, Jake barely glanced at you and only tilted his head in your general direction instead of his usual wide grin and wave. You were so shocked by his sudden snubbing that you halted in your steps right away, looking behind you at his retreating figure. You locked eyes with Sunghoon, who seemed just as confused as you felt. He shrugged at you before returning to his friend and nudging his arm.

On Wednesday morning, you got a text from Jake that he couldn’t make it to your tutoring session that afternoon because of an extra soccer practice to prepare for their game that weekend, something he had never mentioned before.

Thursday and Friday weren’t very different, and your heart became heavier with every time you walked past each other and he acted like you weren’t even there. You desperately wanted to know what you’d done wrong, why he’d started to reply in one-word sentences instead of his usual voice messages and tons of emojis, but no matter how much you cogitated, you couldn’t figure it out. Even when you asked him how his game had gone, a dry Good stared back at you from your phone screen.

That Saturday, your girlfriends came over. Yena had brought beads and strings to make accessories out of, and the mere sight of them had brought fond memories back to all four of you - during your first sleepover in freshman year, this was the exact activity that had kept you occupied for hours. 

You got started on them immediately, each finding a comfortable spot in your room as soft music played in the background. You lay on your bed while Chaewon and Yena took over the floor and Hyewon sat at your desk.

“I’m gonna make one of those phone accessories,” Yena said excitedly, reaching for the biggest, most colorful beads.

“I’m gonna make couple bracelets for Jaemin and I,” Hyewon said somewhat shyly but beaming. Yena and Chaewon groaned at her words, but they gave you an idea.

“You guys are vomit-inducing,” Yena replied, and if you didn’t know your friend any better, just going off the tone of her voice, you’d have thought she was being serious. Hyewon just rolled her eyes, used to this daily slander she received simply for being in a relationship.

“I’ll make something for my little sister,” Chaewon butted in, and you and Yena simultaneously ‘aww’ed. 

“So it’s aww when Chaewon does it for her sister, and it’s vomit-inducing when I do it for my boyfriend?” Hyewon exclaimed, appalled.

“Little sisters are cute. Boyfriends are gross,” Yena replied matter-of-factly, making you giggle.

“Whatever. You guys are just jealous that you’re dying alone and I’m not. What are you making, Y/N?” she asked before Yena could retort again. The two exchanged a glare as you thought over your answer.

“I’m not saying,” you replied with a giggle. 

“She’s making one for Jake, that evil wench,” Chaewon immediately said, making your eyes widen. Yena gasped dramatically while Hyewon smiled at you.

“How did you know?” you asked Chaewon.

“Just your face. You’re so obvious,” she snickered. 

“You’re a traitor, Y/N!” Yena exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at you, and you hid your face in your hands, muttering an apology. “Wasting time and energy on a boy.”

“Don’t listen to her, Y/N. Whatever it is you make, he’ll be super happy you thought of him. Then he’ll finally ask you out and you’ll live happily ever after, just like me and Jaemin,” Hyewon said with a serene smile on her face. Chaewon and Yena exchanged a look, then faked a gagging sound. “So bitter,” Hyewon muttered, shaking her head at your friends.

“I’m not sure about that,” you sighed. “I just want to be friends again. He’s been ignoring me all week.”

All three snapped their heads up at you. “He’s been ignoring you?” Yena echoed, and you meekly nodded. “Give me his phone number. No, give me his address. I’m going there right now,” she said, already sitting up.

“Gosh, Yena, it’s fine,” you said, gesturing at her to sit back down, laughing at your friend’s seriousness. “I’ll see him on Monday anyway, I can just see how he behaves then.”

Yena didn’t look convinced, but she yielded anyway. “If he hurts you, I swear I’ll give him a stern talking to. And a broken nose.” You laughed as you thanked your friend. 

Hyewon asked for more details about this Jake situation, so you filled your friends in about his mysterious behavior that week. Chaewon had been the only one to see it firsthand, when you’d walked to a class together and Jake had walked past you without saying anything. You told them about his sparse answers to your texts, his lack of response to the TikToks you sent him. He wasn’t even reacting to your BeReals anymore. It was just such a complete switch-up in attitude that you had no idea what to make of it. They tried to come up with reasons for it, but it really didn’t make much sense. It just felt like he suddenly decided to hate you - or maybe you had been interpreting everything wrong, and the two of you had never been friends in the first place. 

“This is so confusing,” Chaewon suddenly said, seeming lost in thought. “I thought for sure that he liked you.”

“Liked… me?” you echoed.

“Yeah. Just the way he was when we were at the diner. He kept looking at you and was always smiling and blushing whenever you talked to him. Also the way Jay and Sunghoon were behaving. Boys are so obvious when their friend likes someone, it’s like they’re trying to fumble it for him. And I mean, anyone with functioning eyes can see that you like him too, so I don’t know why he’s doing this all of a sudden.”

Yena sighed. “Boys are stupid.”

“That, they are,” you agreed, sighing as well and returning your attention to your craft. Maybe a simple gift like this wouldn’t fix what was going on between you and Jake, but you had to at least try. You couldn’t let go of your friendship so easily.

Even though it seemed as though he could.

Nothing changed the next week. On Monday, you woke up to a text that pulled your heart down into your stomach.

jakey-poo i think we should stop tutoring each other for now

For an hour as you ate breakfast and got ready for school, you ruminated over your answer, only to ask him a simple why? in the end.

jakey-poo i’m to busy w soccer practice and other stuff we can start again when exams are near

you oh okay

You felt pathetic, but you had no idea what to say. You couldn’t force him into this, and you definitely couldn’t show up at his house and demand a better explanation. If you were Yena or Chaewon, maybe you could - but you weren’t. You couldn’t even bring yourself to ask him if the two of you could still hang out outside of that, so scared you were for his inevitable rejection.

During the week, you tried to find a time when you could give him your small handmade gift, but Jake wasn’t even looking you in the eyes anymore. The only time you made eye contact with him over those five days was on Wednesday at lunch - as you walked into the cafeteria, you scanned the whole room, unconsciously searching for him. When you did, he was already looking at you - he was close enough for you to see the slight frown in his eyebrows, the lack of the usual glint in his eyes. But as soon as he’d seen you’d found him, he turned away. You only looked away when Chaewon called out your name.

In the few classes you had together, he always slipped away before you could get to him. Him walking past you like he couldn’t even see you broke your heart a little bit more every time, and by Friday, you had completely given up. Your friendship with Jake was over, and you had no idea why, no idea who or what to blame.

Monday and Wednesday afternoons felt empty now that you had gotten used to spending them with him, and you couldn’t even walk Kiwi without missing him. He seemed to miss Jake and Layla too - he’d sometimes tilt his head at you as if asking where your new friends were, and when you got to the park, he’d gloomily stick to you instead of running around like he usually would, especially when Layla was there.

The worst part was at night, when your thoughts kept you up. You’d reread your and Jake’s text conversations, wondering what went so wrong so quickly, warm tears spilling from your eyes out of sadness and tiredness. On those nights, you’d sneak Kiwi up to your room and let him cuddle up to you in your bed. You’d comfort each other that way.

You had no idea that a couple kilometers away, Jake lay in bed sleepless as well, Layla at the edge of his bed and whining in her sleep. You had no idea that missing you had carved a deep hole in his chest.

—

Enough was enough.

It had been days since Layla had last seen Kiwi, and to a young pup like her, that felt like eternity. Lately, Jake hadn’t seemed happy to go on walks with her like he used to, and he barely had any energy to play with her. She also hadn’t seen you in days, and she wondered if that had anything to do with Jake’s recent despondency. 

But thankfully, Layla was a smart girl, so she knew exactly what to do to fix this dire situation. On Friday, she waited for Jake to come back from soccer practice and take her on a walk. As soon as they reached the sidewalk outside of their house, she pulled on her leash in the opposite direction of their usual route. Jake tried pulling her the other way, but she wouldn’t budge.

“We’re going that way, Layla,” Jake said, amused by his dog’s sudden stubbornness. Layla barked back. “Come on!” 

She was really not moving. “We never go that way,” Jake said, sighing. “That way’s the-”

That’s when he realized. Layla wanted to go to the park you went to with Kiwi. “But what if we ran into them?” Jake asked. 

Layla barked again. She wanted to say, That’s exactly why I want to go there, but of course Jake didn’t understand. He sighed again and obliged, letting Layla lead the way. She had a good feeling that she’d finally see her friends again today. 

Jake’s heart started beating faster with every step he took, knowing that you might be out right now, too. When he’d seen you at school, you’d seemed as sad as he was, and he felt terrible for perhaps being the reason behind it - but he didn’t know what else to do. He could either spare your feelings or his. If this was hurting you, he knew you’d move on quickly enough anyway - and when he came to terms with being just friends with you, he’d come back, and everything would be perfect like it used to be. Foolproof plan.

If there was one thing Jake had learned from the tutoring sessions with you, it was that the weather always reflected the protagonist’s inner thoughts. If they were upset, it would be gray and rainy - if they were happy, it would be warm and sunny. Jake glared at the sun, just another reminder that he wasn’t the main character in this story. If he was, it would be thundering and lightning would be striking.

As if his life was a joke, two minutes after Jake and Layla had walked into the park, he saw you. At least you were facing the other direction, so you couldn’t see him, and he could redirect his route to avoid you. But he let himself indulge in the moment for a few seconds. You had laid out a picnic blanket for you and Kiwi and rested on your stomach with your elbows propping you up, reading a book. Kiwi slept peacefully next to you - this dog was the furthest thing from a guard dog Jake had ever seen. You kicked your feet up in the air, flip flops discarded to the side of the blanket. Jake was happy to see you like this, enjoying the warmth of this sunny May afternoon. 

He was about to walk away, but a sudden movement caught his eye. Two school kids started running to you, and before you could even register their presence, one of them snatched your flip flops and they both sprinted away, shrieking with laughter like two little devils. Where the hell were their parents?!

Without thinking, Jake started running after them, and so did Kiwi and Layla. 

“Hey! Come back here!” Jake yelled, hoping in vain that these kids would listen to someone older than them. Kiwi did his best, but his tiny legs didn’t allow for such a chase - Layla, barking loudly at the thieves, was the first to reach them, and she managed to scare them so much, they tripped over their feet. But unlike them, she was well-behaved, so she sat once her job was done and waited for Jake to arrive. 

“What are you two doing? You can’t just steal other people’s things!” he admonished, holding onto his knees as he tried to catch his breath.

Both kids were already teary-eyed. “We just wanted to play a prank, we’re sorry!” one of them quickly said, voice shaky.

“It’s not to me you should apologize, but to her,” Jake said, turning around to point in your direction. That’s when he noticed you sitting on your knees, hands covering your face as your shoulders trembled. “You made her cry!” Jake exclaimed, tone much angrier than seconds prior. “Let’s go,” he said, grabbing the kids by their shoulders and forcing them to keep up with his quick steps.

You didn’t notice their presence in front of you until Jake prompted them. At the sound of the all too familiar voice, you whipped your head up. Jake swore he heard his heart breaking when he saw your red eyes and tear-streaked cheeks. You barely heard the kids’ apology, so amazed you were at suddenly seeing Jake.

“We’re sorry for stealing your flip-flops and making you cry,” the first one said.

“Sorry,” repeated the other one, handing you your shoes.

“Oh, right. Thanks, just don’t do it again,” you replied, sniffing as you took back your shoes.

“We won’t!” they replied in unison before running away once more.

Jake stood there awkwardly for a few seconds, unsure what to say. He watched you stare at your flip flops like you’d never seen them before in your life. “You’re not going to thank me for catching those delinquents?” he asked after a small while, chuckling slightly.

This made you look up at him. He gulped as your eyes met. Then, you burst into sobs again, and Jake started panicking. He crouched down to your level, first holding you by the shoulders then forcing your head out of your hands so he could wipe away your tears with the pads of his thumbs.

“No no no, why are you crying, Y/N?” he asked softly, pulling you into a hug.

You continued crying into his shoulder, ignoring Kiwi and Layla’s confused stares. “You- you- I haven’t seen you in ages!” you exclaimed.

Jake sighed. He didn’t understand why you were crying like this for him, all he knew was that he’d never felt so awful. “I’m sorry, Y/N,” he whispered into your hair, pulling your shaking body closer to him. “I’m sorry.”

You leaned back to glare at Jake, your bottom lip jutting out in discontent. “Do you even know how much I missed you?”

Jake held your head in his hands like it was the most precious thing in the world. Mouth agape in surprise, he looked at you with sad eyes. “You… you did?”

Your eyebrows creased. “Of course I did!” Another sob rippled through your body, and Jake took you back in his arms, wrapping them around your shoulders and resting his cheek against your hair. 

“I missed you too.”

“Then why did you do this?” you asked, voice breaking.

“Because I didn’t want to get hurt,” Jake whispered back. “But I didn’t think I’d hurt you. I’m so sorry, Y/N.”

You leaned back again, but this time, you looked confused rather than angry. His eyes were soft as they scanned your face and as he brushed strands of your hair back behind your ears. “Why would you get hurt?” you asked again, bringing your voice to the same volume as his.

Jake sighed and squeezed his eyes shut for a second, as if in pain, before opening them again and boring them into yours. “I like you so, so much Y/N. So much so that I don’t know what to do with myself. But I know that you don’t feel the same way, and I was scared that by staying by your side, I’d just fall in love with you even more and get hurt in the end. So I pushed you away because I didn’t know what else to do, but I’m so sorry I- You’re crying again?”

Your fists grabbed at the front of Jake’s t-shirt as sobs raked through your body once more. It was official - Jake was the stupidest person you’d ever met. And you were in love with him.

“Why are you crying?”

“Because I like you too, you idiot!” you yelled back. Your tears were probably staining his t-shirt, but you couldn’t care less. He liked you. Jake liked you.

You were too busy crying to see Jake’s eyes slowly widening in disbelief. “You what?!”

Gently, Jake pushed your shoulders back so he could look at you. Even with puffy eyes and a runny nose, you were the prettiest girl he’d ever seen. Pretty like an angel that had graced the Earth with her presence. “You what?” he repeated, just to hear you say it again.

“I like you, Jake. I’m so in love with you it's actually pathetic,” you said with a chuckle, looking down out of shyness. But when you looked back up, Jake’s eyes were going back and forth between yours, the expression on his face like he couldn’t believe what he’d just heard but desperately hoped it was true.

As you locked eyes, both of your faces lit up with grins. You burst into laughter together, finding each other’s hands and intertwining your fingers together. Then Jake brought you back into his arms, holding tightly, as if he was scared you might disappear any second. Kiwi and Layla had long walked away to give the two of you some needed privacy.

In each other’s arms, you rocked side to side gently and laughed for no reason other than the incredible fact your feelings were reciprocated. “You stink, you know,” you suddenly said in-between giggles. “You sweat while you ran after those kids.”

“I sweat? You mean I swote, right?” Jake asked a pause.

You leaned back to look at Jake. “Swote?” you echoed, and he nodded. Your umpteenth smile made your cheeks lift. “You have to be kidding-”

“I am,” Jake cut off, mirroring your smile. “I just wanted to make you laugh.”

You gasped and lightly punched his chest before letting your body fall against his again. “You’re so silly,” you said, sighing in bliss at the sound of his giggles.

Then all of a sudden, Jake pulled away and looked at you, almost frightened. “What about Sunghoon?” 

“What about him?” you asked back, confused by Jake’s question.

“I thought you- Didn’t you- you know…”

You tilted your head at Jake, a small grin spreading on your lips again. “I don’t know.”

“I thought you liked him…” Jake mumbled, looking away with a pout.

Before you could stop it, a noise of confusion left your throat. You looked at Jake like he was insane. “I can barely have a conversation with Sunghoon, what made you think I liked him?”

Jake pursed his lips and let a resigned puff of air out of his nose. “I, um- Remember when we mixed our backpacks up?” he asked and you nodded, smiling at the fun memory. “I may have, um, I may have read… your… diary,” he admitted, voice getting quieter with each word. He dared a glance at you - you looked horrified, eyes wide and mouth agape. “And you wrote that you liked Sunghoon,” he finished with a whisper.

It was silent for a few seconds, and Jake was bracing himself for a slap to the face or your screams, until you did the last thing Jake expected you to do - you laughed. You laughed so hard and for so long that he got scared you had gone insane and this was the first part of your mental breakdown before you murdered him in cold blood for having invaded your privacy. He would’ve deserved it, he thought.

“I don’t- oh my God, Jake, I don’t- I don’t like Sunghoon. I never really have, or not in the way you think, I can’t- oh my God,” you explained in between giggles, trying to catch your breath but starting to laugh again every time you managed to compose yourself. Jake tried to laugh along, but he was too confused to do so properly.

“You’re not mad?” Jake asked, eyebrows furrowed with worry.

“No,” you replied, shaking your head and the last giggles out of your throat. “You read it ages ago, and we didn’t even know each other back then, there’s no point in being mad now. It’s just funny - I know exactly why you think I liked Sunghoon, but I didn’t. Not really. And even if I did, those feelings are nothing compared to the ones I have for you now,” you said, beaming. A blush spread on Jake’s cheeks, and you could tell he was trying (and failing) to contain a proud grin.

You explained to Jake the ‘character’ thing you and your friends had going on and that Sunghoon (and hat guy) just happened to be one of them - you watched as Jake narrowed his eyes and slowly nodded, trying to understand this concept that was so foreign to him. 

“You know, it all makes a lot more sense now,” Jake said when you were explaining. “It would’ve been weird for you to like Sunghoon when I was right there.” He smirked down at you as you playfully rolled your eyes. 

“Oh my God!” you suddenly exclaimed, startling Jake in the process. Dramatic as always, he put a hand over his heart and exhaled loudly. “I have something for you. For us, actually.” You reached into your bag and got out the two accessories you’d made for you and Jake. “These are for us to put on our backpacks, so that we don’t confuse them again. They also match.”

Jake’s eyes were fixated on the string of beads as you placed into his palm. “I tried to give it to you over the week, but…” 

A teardrop fell into Jake’s palms, and when you looked at him, you realized he’d started crying. “Jake?” you cooed softly, and he sniffled, wiping away the tears from his eyes.

As a response, he wrapped his arms around your shoulders and buried his face in your hair. “Thank you. And I’m sorry. I promise you’ll never go a second without my undivided attention from now on,” he said, voice shaking with emotion, and you hummed happily.

“I wouldn’t expect anything else.”

He leaned back, and you were relieved to find the familiar puppyish grin on his lips. You gazed into each other’s eyes for a few seconds, and before he could stop himself, he grabbed your head in his hands and pressed a delicate kiss to your forehead. You raised your eyebrows in surprise, but when his face was back in front of yours, your eyes immediately drifted to his lips. They looked soft and plump and pink, and were utterly inviting. Every time you’d started daydreaming about kissing Jake, you’d stopped yourself, not wanting to over-indulge in your fantasies. But was this finally, really happening?

“Y/N?” Jake said quietly. You could swear his face was getting closer.

“Hm?”

“Will you be my girlfriend?”

Your face broke out into a grin. Without warning, you pressed your lips against Jake’s - initially just for a peck, but as soon as you started pulling away, Jake chased after your lips and trapped them into a kiss, a proper one this time. You’d never done this before, so it was naturally somewhat clumsy, but you and Jake were so giddy with excitement that you couldn’t care less. So what if you were smiling so hard, your teeth clashed against his, or you kept bumping noses? You were kissing Jake Sim. 

The second time around, he let you pull away to catch your breath, and you wished you could photograph the sight in front of you - Jake with flushed cheeks, closed eyes and a serene smile on his face. He was so pretty, and now, he was all yours.

When he opens his eyes and finds you looking at him, his smile widens. “I’ll take that as a yes?”

“Yes,” you echoed, laughing. You pressed your lips to his cheek before burying your face in the crook of his neck.

He hugged you to him and the sweet sound of his giggles filled your ears and your heart. “My girl,” he whispered, before leaning his head back, face to the sky, and screaming it loud enough for the whole park to hear. You tried to shush him, but you couldn’t stop laughing yourself out of sheer excitement. Layla and Kiwi came running back to you, barking happily and trying to lick your faces. 

“I cried so much today, my eyes are gonna be puffy tomorrow morning,” you said between giggles. 

Jake pressed his lips to yours in a chaste kiss. “I’ll make sure you never cry again, Y/N,” he said, and he sounded so genuine, you almost wanted to cry again right then and there.

The rest of the afternoon went by in a blur - while you and Jake kissed, laughed, talked, and hugged, hours that felt like minutes passed you by. Jake kept on looking at the accessory you made him, poking fun at you for knowing his favorite color even though he’d never mentioned it.

“It was a lucky guess,” you grumbled. “Your room’s walls are that color,” you said, pointing to a particular dark blue bead.

“I love it,” he replied with a kiss to your forehead.

As always, he walks you home - and this time, you can take his hand without any hesitation. Your mom had come home from work while you and Jake were out, and you found her in the kitchen, prepping some veggies for dinner. 

As soon as Jake introduced himself, a flash of revelation struck her and she shot you a knowing smirk. “So you’re Jake,” she said, and the boy glanced at you with amused confusion. “That one over there has been badgering me about you these past few weeks.”

Apparently, you agreeing to be his girlfriend had already gone to his head, because instead of looking surprised at your mom’s words, he slowly turned to you with an arrogant smirk gracing his lips. “Has she?”

Your mom nodded slowly. “Oh, yes.” Then her expression slowly morphed into something else as she remembered your red, puffy eyes from the other evening when you’d told her about what was going on with Jake. She raised her kitchen knife and pointed it straight to him, eyes narrowed. “If you ever hurt my daughter again, I’m putting you in the lasagna, young man.”

Jake gulped, smirk completely wiped off of his face. You just watched in amusement. “I- I won’t,” he stuttered, eyes fixed on the blade of the knife.

A wide grin reappeared on your mom’s face as she went back to cutting the vegetables. “Good!” 

Jake looked at you for some sort of explanation, but you simply shrugged. He’d just have to get used to your mom’s crazy. 

“You know, you’re just as handsome as she described,” your mom told Jake with a wink.

“Mom, please!” you exclaimed, cheeks burning with heat. You liked it better when she was threatening your boyfriend with a knife, but he was relieved by the new turn this conversation had taken.

“What else has she said?”

“Oh, you know, just your typical he’s so smart, he’s so cute, he’s so funny-”

“Okay, that’s it!” you cut in before your mom could spill more on you. You ignored Jake’s noises of complaint as you grabbed him by the shoulders and led him towards the door. “I think it’s time for you to go home, no?” 

“Y/N, come on!” Jake whined, giggling. 

“Why don’t you stay for dinner, Jake?” your mom offered, making you stop in your tracks. You stared wide-eyed at her but she just looked at Jake, wearing an inviting smile.

“Sure!” Jake beamed. “I just need to call my mom.”

“Oh, invite her along! I always make enough to feed an army, anyway.”

“Really?” Jake asked, incredulous. Since his brother had left for university, it had always been just he and his mom at the dinner table. The thought of sharing a meal with you and your mom filled his heart with warmth. 

“Yeah!”

Jake smiled giddily as he got his phone out. “Thanks, she’ll be stoked.”

Although you both wanted to help your mom, she urged you to stay outside with the dogs and enjoy the last rays of sunshine of the day, insisting she didn’t need any help. So you and Jake spent some time throwing sticks for Kiwi and Layla and giggling at their cuteness. Kiwi quickly got exhausted and came to lie down at your feet, but Layla was tireless. “Your dog, your responsibility,” you said as you sat down next to Kiwi, rubbing his tummy and watching Jake throw the stick over and over again for Layla.

Jake was as relentless as Layla, and every time she ran after the stick, he ran to you and pressed a kiss to another part of your face, making you giggle every time. Once on your forehead, once on your nose, once on your cheek, then the other, and once on your lips.

Then his mom rang the bell, and as your mom opened the door for her, the oddest thing happened - they called out each other’s name and hugged as if they were old friends. You and Jake exchanged a confused look before turning your attention back to them.

“What a coincidence!”

“Right! Such a small world, I can’t believe you’re my daughter’s boyfriend’s mom.”

“Boyfriend? Gosh, has he finally asked her out? I was going crazy seeing him moping around in his room!”

“Mom!” Jake yelled, face already reddening as you burst into laughter.

You joined them inside the house and set the table while your mom finished up dinner. Jake’s mom had brought a bottle of red wine as a gift, so she poured two glasses for her and your mom, but you and Jake stuck to Sprite. 

Apparently, they knew each other from some yoga class they both went to every Sunday - you found out this was the woman your mom often went out for lunch or drinks with. They were so excited to meet each other like this that they talked most of the time, leaving you and Jake to eat your food quietly and giggling every time you made eye contact or your feet touched under the table. 

Just as you were about to take your last bite of lasagna, your phone pinged with a message. Curiously, so did Jake’s. Chaewon had sent a message into the group chat, asking to meet her at work when her shift was done because she was craving an Oreo milkshake.

chae bae y/n u better come ik ur not doing anything better tonight anyway

You scoffed. You were doing something better.

“Shit, today’s Friday! The boys are waiting for me at the diner, I completely forgot,” Jake exclaimed as he read the messages on his phone.

“Language, Jake,” his mom scolded.

“At the diner?” you repeated.

“Yeah, that one we went to last time. Why?” Jake asked when he noticed your surprised expression.

“That’s where Chaewon wants to meet.”

You both turned to your respective moms, silently asking for permission to leave the dinner table.

“Just go,” your mother said with a smile.

“I’ll take Layla home later,” Jake’s mom added.

You thanked them before rushing to get a bag and heading to the bus stop, hoping a bus would come by soon. Twenty minutes later, you were opening the doors of the diner and looking around for your friends, who were nowhere to be found. You were fishing your phone out of your pocket to call Chaewon when a familiar voice caught your and Jake’s attention.

“What are they doing together?” you heard Jay say, followed by loud shushes. You turned your head to find all five of your friends (plus Jaemin) crammed in a booth in the corner that was somewhat hidden from the rest of the restaurant. But they were trying so hard to be discreet that it made their presence even more obvious - they hid their faces with their hands as if that would make them disappear from your view. You and Jake shared a look before chuckling, shaking your head at your friends.

“Whatever, they’ve clearly found us,” Jay sighed and exited the booth, walking towards the two of you.

“Were you guys trying to get us to make up or something?” Jake asked with an amused smile.

“Yeah, we grouped up and planned this whole thing. It was a real team effort.”

“It might’ve worked better if you hadn’t all stayed here, you guys were so obvious,” you chided.

“Tell that to your friends over there! They insisted on watching it unfold,” Jay grumbled, and you looked behind him to see your friends frantically waving at you.

You switched to a bigger booth that could accommodate all seven of you, and as soon as you’d placed your orders, Yena practically pounced on you, demanding an explanation as to how the two of you were already made up.

You turned to look at Jake and smiled at him before answering. “It’s all thanks to Kiwi, really,” you told Yena.

“Kiwi? As in your dog Kiwi?” Chaewon asked with furrowed eyebrows.

“Mh-hm.” In your peripheral, you noticed Jake tilting his head at you.

“You mean Layla, right?”

You imitated his head movement. “No, I mean Kiwi.”

“But Layla made me go to the park today. I wouldn’t have gone there if it wasn’t for her,” Jake insisted, giving you an are you being serious look that you mirrored.

“I wasn’t going to go outside at all but Kiwi kept bugging me to take him on a walk, that’s why I was in the park in the first place. It’s thanks to Kiwi,” you repeated.

“It’s thanks to Layla,” Jake retorted, playfully narrowing his eyes at you.

“Trouble in paradise,” Jaemin whispered, and Hyewon slapped his arm.

The whole table was silent as you and Jake stared each other down, waiting to see who would cave first. It was like everyone could breathe again when Jake’s face broke out into a grin and he rested his arm behind your shoulders. “Okay, it’s thanks to Kiwi,” he conceded, making you hum in satisfaction. You rested your head on his shoulder and ignored Yena’s groan of disgust at the PDA.

But Jake, as always, wasn’t letting you off the hook so easily. “And Layla.”

—

02.06.202X - 12:18

rodrigo hater y/n i can see you being gross from across the courtyard can u guys not feed each other ur still on school grounds and ur ruining my day have some decency

sweet hyewon you guys are super cute <3  jaemin and i only have the same lunch period once a week i miss him

rodrigo hater ugh wheres chaewon she’d have my back

you hyewon love u yena frigg off you’re not going to like this… i think she’s with sunghoon rodrigo hater WHAT

sweet hyewon omg hahahaha saw it coming cuuuuute

rodrigo hater i hate you all so much you’re all kicked out of my celibacy club

chae bae we weren’t part of it in the first place

rodrigo hater GO AWAY YOU TRAITOR

03.06.202X - 09:15

you jake wake up  wake up wake up please

jake ??? R U okay?

you kiwi keeps whining i think he wants to see layla come over?

jake . did u just wake me up before 10 am on a sunday morning for this

you i made pancakes?

jake i’m going back to sleep

you but i miss you :(

jake running

07.06.202X - 16:39

stink #1 hey

jake no

stink #1 wtf man

jake im busy

stink #1 smooching ur girl?

jake yeah stay mad bro

stink #1 where’s hoon

stink #2 he’s at ice skating practice with me <3 this is chaewon btw

jake AYO????

stink #1 HE GAVE YOU ACCESS TO HIS PHONE???

stink #2 hehehe bye losers

stink #1 oh my god jake this is huge

jake right… our little boy he’s grown so much

stink #1 i’m getting teary eyed anyway i wanted to say i think we should invite the girls to bro night more often it’s always fun with them

jake oh? if u wanna see yena just say so bro

stink #1 fuck u man

jake ur literally so obvious you get 100% more obnoxious when she’s around

stink #1 idc she laughs at my jokes

jake which is proof that there’s something wrong w her anyway i’ll ask my girl about it

stink #1 ew and thx ^^

09.06.202X - 17:03

jakey-poo y/nnnnnn y/n hellloooooo y/n y/n y/n baby :(((( where are u what r u doing i miss you hello y/n my baby darling angel pls answer me layla misses you

you jake sim

jakey-poo HIIIIII

you jay is a genius i’m anime pomodoroing the hell out of this essay it’s working so well i’m almost done with it already

jakey-poo don’t compliment another man ever again i’m going to cry

you but jay’s your friend

jakey-poo i’ll kill him if i have to

you gosh okay jay’s an idiot

jakey-poo hahaha he is ice cream after dinner ???

you duh

31.07.202X - 21:03

jakey-poo i’m waiting for you outside the theater baby we have a lot of talking to do. i can’t believe you kissed someone else in front of me

you jake baby it was just acting <3 you know you’re the only one i really kiss

jakey-poo i know i am so come here and kiss me quick you did so well and you were so pretty on stage and i love you so much  COME QUICK I WANNA KISS YOU

you i’m hurrying i promise but a lot of people are trying to talk to me :(

jakey-poo ofc they are you killed it my baby’s already famous <3

you hehe love you my jakey-poo

jakey-poo STOP IT WITH THAT

permanent taglist: @zreamy @sunghoonmybeloved @lalalalawon @sd211 @w3bqrl @raikea10 @wntrnghts @moonlighthoon @4imhry @rikisly @loves0ft @iamliacamila @theboingsuckerasseater9000 @chaechae-23 (ask to be removed/added!)

© asahicore on Tumblr, 2023. please do not repost, translate, or plagiarize my works. feedback and reblogs always appreciated!

[filmbyjy]

ARE WE REALLY ENEMIES?

PAIRING: enhypen x fem!reader

GENRE: enemies to lovers trope. angst & fluff

WARNING: a little suggestive on some parts for the hyung line. mentions of throwing up on jake’s part (no, the reader is not pregnant)

WORD COUNT: 10.2K words (because what the shit)

a/n: i wanted to write this for fun but i really also love the concept of enemies to lovers. let me know if you'd like me to turn any of these into actual full fics!

— placing this in case the read more messes up —

⭐️ LEE HEESEUNG

PAIRING: basketball star player!heeseung x manager!reader

it was tormenting to have someone constantly annoy you during class, lunch and basically the whole day. you have never wanted to choke someone alive until you entered the first year of high school.

the said person you'd like to choke alive was named lee heeseung. you swore on your life that he was actually satan in disguise out to torture you.

like any other day, you were about to settle down on your seat. only problem was that, you develop a huge trust issue before you settled down. you see, since heeseung has decided to devote his time to ruin your life...it meant he liked to pull pranks on you. well, pranks was something he'd say but you'd say it's more of a punishment in some way.

your 'favourite prank' heeseung did was the water bucket trick where he placed the bucket of water on top of the door. you went home with soaking wet hair by the way. it got you so mad that you gave heeseung the silent treatment the day after and he did not like it. he kept annoying you the whole day by trying to get your attention.

other than him being your enemy, he was also the resident hot guy or popular boy of your school. which meant, yes, there were girls constantly around him. he played basketball and had joined the school's team quickly due to his talent and height. you cursed him because he also loved to make fun of your height.

since heeseung was on the school's team, they consistently win games against other schools. it wasn't much of surprise since they also had other great players like sim jaeyun or nishimura riki for example. the team was just great from the start. you just so happen to have the 'pleasure' of being the team's assistant manager which was why...

"babe, pass the bottle of water." heeseung demands.

you rolled your eyes, "since when was i your little water boy? also would you quit calling me babe?"

"no, I won’t stop and since you became the assistant manager. now, pass me a bottle."

you grumbled and shoved a bottle into his hand before settling down on the bench. jake slides next to you and throws his arm around you.

"pretty, could you help me?" jake pouts.

"yes, sim?”

"i need a patch on my neck, it's hurting."

you sighed, "do you need a massage or something?"

"yes please." he gives his little puppy eyes.

"turn around-"

heeseung grabs jake's arm and pulls him away. jake whines. you shook your head and just went to check their training and match schedules. training went as per usual, you knew you had to stay until the boys left so you sat down on the bleachers waiting for them to come back to the hall.

"everyone here?" the coach asks. the boys looked amongst themselves.

"heeseung isn't here."

"where is our star player?"

"i think he is still in the showers."

"well, someone go get him."

"the thing is...he won't come out unless (name) drags him out."

you pointed at yourself, "me? you want me to go into the boy's shower room? what if he's naked. i am not risking that chance."

"(name), i am so sorry but since heeseung won't go out if you don't drag him...could you-" you groaned at the coach's words.

"fine, i'll go. only because everyone here needs rest and get home." you say. you entered the locker room.

"yah, lee. you better get out here now. everyone is waiting for you."

“lee heeseung?” you called out once more.

but you don’t hear any shower turned on. you could feel someone standing right behind you before arms wrapped around you. you gasp and turned back to the person.

of course, it was heeseung with that stupid (ly handsome) smirk. you rolled your eyes.

“get changed and get back to the court. everyone is waiting for you.” you were ready to walk out but heeseung tugs your wrist and pulls you back.

“let’s go out together, pretty.”

“I am not waiting for you to change. you’re only wearing a towel. do you even have underwear on under that?”

“wanna find out?” he smirks. you pushed him a little.

“no thanks. wouldn’t like to see something that has been inside someone else.” you said in disgust.

“then would you like to reset it by putting it in you?” he steps forward.

you gagged, “no thanks, lee.”

he chuckles before deciding to change his clothes. your eyes unknowingly trailed on his arms, his back, just his body in general. you caught yourself and blushed before looking away. however, heeseung knew you were blatantly staring at him. which was why he had a smirk playing on his lips as he changes.

“alright, i’m done.” he swings his arm around your shoulder. you rolled your eyes and pushed it off before walking off.

that was simply the dynamic of the both of you. however, you couldn’t lie and say you weren’t attracted to him. heeseung was an attractive guy with a shitty personality which you somehow fell in love with. you hated that you developed this stupid teen crush on heeseung.

“coach? we need to talk.” you say.

“what’s up?”

“there is going to be an issue if we play minjun in the starting line up.”

“what’s wrong?”

“he umm got into a fight.”

the coach sighs, “fine, then who could we replace him with?”

“siwoo. however, as you know…heeseung and him kinda have a hostile history.”

“right. maybe we could change up the usual tactic we use. think we should put heeseung on the bench first?”

“it’s possible but the consequences is that it may be risky. our opponents this time are really scary and only heeseung could handle them.”

“what do you think, (name)? should we take the risk?”

“I think we should.”

you wished you hadn’t mutter those words. now, heeseung was giving you those stanky eyes as you went with your day. you opened your locker to put some stuff but it was abruptly shut.

“I’ll cut to the chase. why am I benched for the first quarter of the tournament?” heeseung says.

“minjun got into a fight. we need to change the tactic, I think it’s better to let this opponent not expect the change.”

“bullshit, you know it’s best to keep the same tactic. we play the best when i’m not benched.”

you turned to face heeseung, “then would rather play with siwoo the whole time?”

“I would rather he doesn’t play at all.”

“then too bad, it’s best for you to not play in the first quarter.”

“but (name).”

“heeseung.” he stops. “please, just listen to me this once. these opponents are not just your regular playtoys that you can beat. they are higher level and I just-” you paused.

“forget it. just please listen to me. don’t complain anymore.” you say. heeseung stands there stunned as he watches you leave.

match day. it was the most extreme match that Decelis Academy had played. even jake was getting worn out. both you and your coach had decided to keep heeseung on the bench for longer. heeseung was itching to play but you knew if he went in now, he’d get hurt.

that’s right. you decided to change the whole thing because you were afraid of heeseung getting hurt. you didn’t want to admit it but you cared about him a lot more than it seems. your coach subs in people after people, none that were heeseung. it was the 3rd quarter of the game.

you were checking up on the tactics and calculated everything. finally, an idea popped into your head as you spot an opportunity. you whispered to the referee and told them to sub in heeseung. you waited until the ball was out. before that, you settled next to heeseung. he never once talked to you during the match.

“we are letting you play.” you say. heeseung turns to you.

“after the first half? you promised me after 1 quarter.” he scoffs.

“heeseung, didn’t you see nishimura get annihilated by the opponents?”

“so? we could be winning by now if I played 30 minutes ago.”

you clenched your fist, “I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

“oh really? would you care that much if I get hurt? we aren’t exactly on the best terms.”

“would you believe me if I said yes? that I care if you get hurt? because I do.” your eyes was glossy. you held back any tears that were about to fall.

“just shut the fuck up.” heeseung says before stands up and gets ready to be subbed in. you let out the breath you were holding. a tear slips out and you wiped it away.

as heeseung gets subs in, you excused yourself and left the hall. you walked over to the school’s garden and settled on the bench. you didn’t know why you even cared. why was it so hard for you to take the hint that heeseung hated you. maybe you should have just let him play.

you wiped the last tears that strayed on your cheeks and went back to the game. you had to watch and review the match. however, it was hard to watch it while heeseung played. thankfully, the match ends.

once again, Decelis Academy wins with ease with heeseung being the top scorer of the match. the whole time as the their coach debriefs, heeseung stares at you. you ignored it.

“all right, good job boys!”

“coach lets get something to eat! after all, we couldn’t have done it without you and manager (name)!” yunho says.

the coach turns to you, “would you like to have dinner with the team?”

you smiled weakly before shaking your head, “you guys go ahead. I don’t feel too well. enjoy, oh and send pictures in the groupchat.”

“aww come on, noona.” ni-ki pouts. “it wouldn’t be fun without you.”

“i’m sorry ni-ki, I wish I could go.”

“aww okay, noona. oh and thank you for helping with this!” ni-ki points to the bandaged up knee. you smiled.

“any time, your legs were bleeding. why wouldn’t I patch that up.” you grabbed your bag. “anyways, I have to leave now. see you guys.” you waved.

the boys waved back. you left the place.

“(name).” heeseung calls out. you didn’t look back. he grabs your wrist.

“let go.”

“did you really mean what you said back then?”

“why? so you can think it’s a lie again?” you turned back to him. “look, just cause we are enemies or on bad terms doesn’t mean I can forget my human morals and let you get injured. i’m the manager for a reason. I help out the coach and I make decisions. the coach is just there to advise things.”

“are you sure it’s just your morals?”

“heeseung, I don’t know what you’re going on about but can you please let me go? I want to go home.”

“do you love me, (name)?”

your heart drops to the pit of your stomach. you felt those feelings coming back to you like a waterfall. it was dumped onto you. feelings that you want to push back because it didn’t feel right.

“I don’t love you, lee.”

“you’re lying.”

“and who are you to validate my feelings? like you said, we aren’t on the best terms.”

“because I know you love me.”

you scoffed, “an utter bullshit. I don’t love you.”

“baby.”

“heeseung, just let me go. before I scream.” your voice wavered. you could feel yourself about to cry.

heeseung doesn’t let you go. instead, he presses his lips against yours. you shut your eyes and felt the hot tears rolling down your eyes. heeseung reaches up to wipe it away as he focuses on kissing you.

he pulls away. his fingers caressing your cheek softly. though no words were exchanged, the both of you knew that this was something you would have to have a serious talk about. for now, you would rather have heeseung in your arms, holding you tight.

⭐️ PARK JONGSEONG

PAIRING: CEO!jay x manager!reader / you are pretty stubborn here and jay is an ass here.

you remembered that cursed smirk. the way he carried himself around as he gloats at the fact that he gets better scores than you. it didn’t help the fact that years later, you’d be working under him.

he constantly made your life harder. other employees may praise him but you cursed him.

“ah, CEO park? oh he is sooooo handsome! he even gave me flowers for Valentine’s Day!”

“oh! you’re right! he gave all the lady staff flowers. roses to be exact. he is such a romantic guy!”

you could gag every time they praised him. you didn’t even get a single rose from him. you got some flower called heliotrope.

‘heliotrope: eternal love, devotion’ what joke was he pulling? was he making fun of you for being single? for being a virgin?

you slammed the bouquet down into the trash can startling the two ladies who were talking. you turned to them with a fake smile.

“it’s work hours, don’t you think you should be focusing on your work?” you threw daggers through your eyes at them. they gulped and nodded before focusing on their work. you sighed.

you felt a tap on your shoulder and so you turned to the person.

“what’s with the frown on Valentine’s Day? did jay not give you head or something?” jake teases. you grit your teeth and hit him. jake winces and pouts.

“could hand this to jay?” you gave jake a resignation letter.

“well, jay is kinda busy with-” you grabbed jake’s collar and the boy gasps.

“I don’t care, this letter better reach him. I am fucking done with his antics. i am going to grow white hair if i continue working here and it doesn’t help that he keeps making my job extra hard.”

jake nods and you let his collar go, “you may leave.” jake runs away. you groaned and massaged your temple. later on in the evening, jake hands you back the same letter.

“where is he, now?”

“in his office but wait-”

you got up from your seat and went straight to his office. you burst into his room and were caught off guard by how jay quite literally has a girl on his lap and they were making out.

“well well well, seems like this is what you’ve been doing during work hours.” you folded your arms.

jay rolls his eyes and pecks the girl’s cheek before whispering something to her. she gets up and walks out, not forgetting to give you stank eye. you rolled your eyes.

“why are you here? can’t you see I was busy? or did you come here to do some unsolicited activities too.” jay smirks.

“with you? in your dreams, park.”

jake runs in, “jay, i’m so sorry.” jay waves jake off. the boy pouts and leaves.

“why are you here then?”

you threw the letter at him, “I gave you this letter but jake came back with it.”

“I don’t approve of you leaving.”

“what kind of person doesn’t allow some who wants to resign leave?”

“you have no reason leave. hence, I didn’t approve it.”

“you don’t make any sense. I have every right to leave, you are the reason.”

“and I am the CEO, I can disapprove of you resigning. besides, shouldn’t you be happy I gave you the manager position?”

“I didn’t want to just be promoted unfairly. you manipulated this.”

“I didn’t, I think you quite fit the manager position.”

“sure, think however you’d like but I am resigning from this job.” you left his office and went back to your own.

you grabbed a box and threw your things in. jay walks in.

“(name). what are you doing?”

“packing because I said I would resign.”

“I already told you that I am not letting you leave.”

you slammed the box, “look here fuckboy. if I said I would leave, i will. moreover, I am done with you. you’ve tormented me since high school, you’ve bullied me through college. do you know how much I hated to hear my own mother comparing me to you?”

jay keeps quiet. you grabbed the flowers and pushed it back to him.

“keep this and give this to that girl you’ve been making out with. i don’t know what you were thinking for mocking my non-existent love life and that i’m a virgin but it’s not funny.”

“I wasn’t mocking you for being a virgin.” jay says.

“oh really? giving me a heliotrope? when it means eternal love and devotion. why would you give that to me when you don’t like me? oh and even if you did, why would you kiss another girl? what kind of sicko does that?”

“(name).”

“just fuck off.” you say. jay keeps his mouth shut and leaves your office. you sat back on your chair and choked up. that was a lot that you dumped on him but it was the truth. you had enough of everything and you wanted to just leave in peace.

once you were done, you carried the boxes out. everyone quietly watches you. you placed the boxes into your car trunk. you noticed jay walked towards you.

"what else do you want-" you gasp when he throws you over his shoulder. "yah! what are you doing! put me down!"

jay does not put you down, rather he carries you back into the building. you smacked his back a bunch of times and flailed in his arms. everyone was staring at the both of you but it wasn't a surprise, this sort of thing happened occasionally. everyone knew you and jay had some sort of hatred for each other.

jay only ever puts you down once he arrives at his office (which was a distance from the entrance of the huge building). once he places you down, he traps you in between his desk and himself. you fold your arms.

"you're really stubborn, huh?" you spat out. jay smirks.

"baby, you really think i'd give up on you?"

you rolled your eyes, "mr.park, it's work hours. what you're doing is workplace harassment."

he snickers before leaning more forward. you could feel your heartbeat quicken. jay lightly places pecks on your neck.

"really? it's not exactly one if you aren't moving away from it." you moved away from it a little since he pecked somewhere ticklish. you stared right into his eyes.

"don't leave." jay says.

"why? haven't you already had your fun with me all throughout high school and college?"

"(name), that's not what i meant. i don't want you to leave not to hurt you even more. i don't want you to leave because i need you."

"what? your last mission before i leave is to take my virginity?"

jay sighs, "no. that's not what i meant too. i like you, alright?"

"then why go makeout with a girl when you like me?" you fold your arms.

"because i'm stupid, alright?"

"great to know that you think so too." you watched his eyes turn dark.

"you're a brat, do you know that?" jay says.

"you pushed me to be like this. i'm force to defend myself every time you speak to me."

jay grumbles, "well i confessed to you. do you like me?"

"well, i can't possibly like someone who has tortured me for the past years." jay huffs. "but i wouldn't lie and said you've made my heart leap a couple of times."

"so...?"

"i do like you too. that was just sarcasm."

jay pulls you into a hug, his arms tight on your waist. you felt your heart race quicker.

“I’ll make it up to you. I promise.” he whispers.

⭐️ SIM JAEYUN

PAIRING: academic rival! jake

studies was everything to you. it was a validation to get your parents to even stare at you in the face. you see, your parents never cared about you. they only cared about the red marks that displayed the total marks and the leaderboard amongst the whole cohort.

you were doing well until a certain brown haired boy came into the picture. everything was daises and glitter, all according to normal but it all quickly disappeared when everyone was in awe by the new student. the new student was like a new shiny object that people loved to stare at.

there was no denying the boy was blessed with good looks but his attitude. god, you have never wanted to strangle someone to death more than ever. jake sim, the epitome of every male lead rom-com. too bad, he wasn’t the main lead in your little drama, rather the villain in your chapter.

— “eeeekkkk jake sim is sooooo cute!!! did you see his latest Instagram with his dog?”

layla. everyone knew about his dog, he loved boasting about his puppy. you must admit though, she is an adorable puppy. her owner however…you’d kill him if you could.

“what’s so special about him?” you questioned.

“that i’m better than you.”

that annoying buzzing voice

you rolled your eyes before turning to face the boy. “god, do you ever just have some humbleness in you?”

“aww that wouldn’t be fun if I was humble with my academics.” jake pouts

“it would be for me so I don’t need to hear your annoying ass voice.” you growled. jake laughs.

“cutie, you try too hard. maybe you should get laid or something. I wouldn’t be opposed to help of course.” you shoved him.

“in your dreams, sim.” jake chuckles.

“would love if you were in my dreams, cutie.” he winks. you gagged.

typical morning. it was the usual and students definitely knew of the rivalry.

— “they’d probably make a cute couple.”

— “I’d say they are probably fucking behind the scenes. I mean, smart people need to blow out the stress weighted on them. right? what better way than to help each other!”

— “I heard jake had a crush on (name) but due to the rivalry, he keeps it hidden!”

complete utter bullshit when you heard the last comment. there was no way, the devil’s son would find you attractive in any way. he literally goes out his way to annoy you. it kept you up at night to even imagine his-

stupidly handsome face…

his stupid handsome, sexy ass, nice body-

no. keep it together. he is your rival. he is your enemy. he annoys the fuck out of you and you hate it. you hate him. there was no way you like him….

and then came the 2nd devil reincarnated into a form of the most beautiful girl. her name was…

“hi, my name is ji-ah.” she says as she holds out a hand. you skeptically shake it because why in the world would a pretty girl like her want to be your friend. there must be a reason.

the said reason: sim jaeyun

yup, the only reason why ji-ah became your ‘friend’ was to get with jake. it’s not like you were jealous.

“you’re funny jake!” she smacks his arm. jake blushes and bashfully smiles.

you could feel the blood raging in you. now what was this feeling? surely, you weren’t jealous. it was impossible.

but alas, jake sim made the impossible, possible. you had feelings for jake. it took you a singular day to figure out. props to you being the smartest student, I guess? however, with jake being entertained by the pretty girl. you couldn’t do much.

so you stopped reciprocate his small little teases. you don’t roll your eyes anymore and instead choose to walk away or ignore him. at first, it made jake stunned but he soon learnt to shrug it off and went about his day. his day being filled with ji-ah. which meant, it wasn’t a surprise to hear they started dating.

however, your heart aches. you want the old jake back, the one who would tease you and flirt with you. now, he doesn’t even talk to you. you were sad. exams made your feelings 10 times worse. you felt your body wanting to shut down on you as you continued to study late at night.

you woke up to find yourself on your study table, the lamp still turned on and you were laying on the math paper you were working on. you felt horrible. it was like you got ran over by a truck or something. you still went to school though. only this time instead of looking so enthusiastic, you had covered yourself with a hood.

during break time, you didn’t feel like eating so you laid your head on the desk and fell asleep. the next time you woke up, the teacher had knocked on your desk. you apologised and asked to go to the bathroom. however, you couldn’t make it to the bathroom when suddenly, your legs gave up on you. you fell to the ground and blacked out.

when you woke up again, you realised you were in the school’s infirmary. you sat up but felt like the room was spinning so you laid back down. the curtain pulls back and jake appears.

“you’re awake.” he says.

“why are you here.” the tone sounding a little too harsh and you nearly winced at it.

“I brought you here because you fainted.”

“you have no reason to stay here.”

“I have every reason to stay here.”

“you have a girlfriend. you should go to her.”

“we broke up.”

“I don’t care.” you say. you try to sit up again but couldn’t because you felt like throwing up.

“have this, I know you have not eaten yet.”

“how do you know?”

“because i saw you sleeping. you didn’t have lunch.”

“was that before or after you broke up.”

“I thought you said you didn’t care?” he teases. you don’t even have the energy to roll your eyes. your lips felt numb, you must look horrible. “let’s get you home.”

“no. it’s fine, i need to study. let’s get back to class.”

“you’re sick.”

“and? that doesn’t stop me from getting higher marks then you.”

“your health is more important.”

“my life depends on my grades so let me get back to class.” you tried to stand up once again but jake doesn’t let you.

“I don’t care if you get higher marks then me. I just want you to be healthy.” jake says.

“and why do you care?”

“because I like you.”

it went completely silent. not a single sound except for the ringing at your ears.

“you what?” that’s before you hurled into a bucket nearby. jake pats your back trying to soothe you as you threw up. he hands you a tissue so you could wipe your mouth. he then hands you a juice box so you could have some energy.

“I like you a lot.”

“but don’t you hate me?”

“hate you? I could never.” jake says.

“then why do always attempt to ruin me? why do you go through the troubles of making my life miserable?”

“are grades that really important to you?”

you sighed, “not exactly but my parents they-”

“only care about your grades? (name), my parents are exactly like that.”

“so?”

“why don’t we date and rebel against our parents together? it’s best thing we could do. they can’t control our lives and what we want.”

“jake…”

he leans in and you covered your lips, “yah, I threw up. what are you trying to do?”

he smirks, “did you think I was going to kiss you or something?” you smacked him.

“shut up.” he notices the tips of your ears turning red and smiles.

“how about I take you home and take care of you, hmm?”

“but my mom is home.”

“oh so you’re not opposing of me taking care of you?”

“jake, I swear to god.”

“come on now, baby. I gotta nurse my girlfriend back to health!!”

he picks you up and you wanted to disappear from the plane of the earth but I guess at least you got jake.

⭐️ PARK SUNGHOON

PAIRING: childhood enemy! sunghoon / roommates au! / one-sided hatred

i'm sure everyone had their fair share of people they hated for no reason when they were younger. however, this wasn't the case for you. you had a reason to hate park sunghoon. he was the worst. what exactly was the reason for you to hate the boy? he ruined your favourite barbie doll. moreover, that barbie doll was the one your late mother gave you before she passed on due to a mystery illness.

you vowed to never chat with him. you prayed to never see him when you started middle school.

alas, the universe cursed you and you saw park sunghoon every grade you moved onto. you remembered the stupid glasses that adorned his face. the annoying laugh that would surround the hallway as he laughed with his friends. after graduating from middle school, you prayed once again to never want to see sunghoon.

it didn't work as you know. you saw him again. you suffered through his teasing for many more years in high school. then college came. as what you knew, sunghoon was going to choose a different college from you and you were happy.

but why was he standing in the same living room as you?

"what the fuck are you doing here?" you say. a smirk slowly adorns his face.

"well, well. fancy seeing you, princess." sunghoon smirks.

since you didn't see sunghoon at the last day of high school graduation, you had not seen him for months. it was a surprise to you to see the boy had changed...a lot. he was a complete heartthrob but that didn't mean you'd fall for him.

you rolled your eyes, "why are you here? i thought you wanted to go to some sports college with your ice skating girlfriend?"

"high school sweethearts don't always last. besides, i planned to make a better and stable living. ice skating isn't a guaranteed success. once i reach 30, i'll be thrown to the side anyways. they only focus on younger talents."

you were staring at him as if he was insane. when did he get so matured? it's only been like 5 months since high school ended. how could he change that much?

"i don't know what happened to you fooling around but i'm sure you'll easily find a girlfriend here. they'll definitely like the little passionate talk you gave me just now." you grabbed the box on the floor. "guess we are roommates. don't talk to me and just pretend i'm not here."

you left and went to the empty bedroom. there were 2 other bedrooms which meant there were probably two other housemates/roommates living in the same dorm. it didn't surprise you to see another guy and girl show up. from what you heard, sunghoon and the guy knew each other. guess they warmed up during the orientation that you didn't go to.

"hi, i'm byeol." she holds out her hand. you smiled and shook it.

"i'm (name)."

"oh, i heard. sunghoon said that you and him knew each other back then. he said something about being high school lovers?" you pinched the bridge of your nose at her words and sighed.

"sunghoon is wrong. we-" you paused. did sunghoon even hate you? it felt really one-sided. whatever. "we hate each other."

"really? cause it seems like sunghoon looked really happy to talk about you."

"gross. me and sunghoon could never be a couple."

“oh really? that’s great…”

“great?” you tilt your head.

“I think I might start crushing on sunghoon. he is so good looking.” byeol shyly says.

“that’s good for you.” you say. however, you can’t help but sense something off. it felt…weird. you just brushed it off though.

“think you could help me? you know him the best since you’ve known him for so long.”

“uhh sure? but like I said, me and him are enemies-”

“yeah but you’ve known him for soooo long surely you’d realise little things right?” byeol pouts.

“well no-”

“great! you’ll help me. thank you!!” byeol skips to her bedroom afterwards.

god, she’s insane…

and she truly was. when she first moved in, you thought that maybe…just maybe you’d have a friend that didn’t fall in love with sunghoon but unfortunately, luck was never on your side. to make matters worse, byeol always tries to play the cutesy card. using aeygo at any given chance with sunghoon. you were surprised he even put up with her. maybe he likes her…

*snap* *snap* “earth to (name). hey, we need to continue with the project.” jake says.

“fuck, i’m sorry.”

“i’m thankful that we are roommates. it’s so much better since we can just stay in the living room and do our work till late at night.”

“me too.”

you hear byeol’s giggling and your eyes went to where the sound came from. byeol’s bedroom was wide open and her lights were off but you could see a slip of light under sunghoon’s door. she was in sunghoon’s room, you couldn’t help but frown at it.

“are you okay?”

“yeah, sorry. let’s continue.”

“do you like sunghoon?”

“no. I don’t.” you continued to draw out what was needed for the project.

“you know…byeol and sunghoon have been hooking up.” you paused after hearing jake.

“why should I care.”

“because I know you like him.”

“jake, I don’t like him.”

“stop lying to yourself.”

“i’m not.” jake sighs and grabs the pen that you were gripping. he places it down on the table and holds your hands.

“look at me in the eyes and tell me you hate him.” you looked at jake but no words were coming out. your lips quiver and your head drops down. jake hugs you.

“I like him.” you whisper.

after that interaction with jake that night, you started to avoid sunghoon. I mean you were already avoiding him since you ‘hated’ him but you completely avoided him even more. you never stepped foot where he did and it’s like you disappeared in sunghoon’s sight.

you locked yourself in your room if sunghoon was home and you never came out.

“congrats on the ‘A’ partner.” jake nudges you. you smiled.

“you too partner.”

“wanna go out for dinner to celebrate-”

“(name).” you froze when you heard that voice. you felt your fight or flight mode kick in and you instantly wanted to get out of there. as you stepped once, sunghoon grabs your wrist and pulls you away from jake.

sunghoon brings you over to a secluded spot. he folds his arms and his jaw clenched. you were honestly kinda scared.

“why are you avoiding me?”

“why do you care?”

“I was worried.”

“and why should you be worried? you have a girlfriend to tend to.”

“what girlfriend?”

“ah right, sorry I meant your little hook up toy.” you fold your arms.

sunghoon pinches the bridge of his nose, “me and byeol never did it.”

“jake told me you guys have been hooking up.”

it went silent after you said it. “so it’s true.”

“(name), is not true.” sunghoon says.

you couldn’t trust him. not when he has constantly ruined your life. you bit your lips to hold back yourself from crying. however, once you blink, a tear escapes. you quickly wiped it away.

“I have to go.” you left sunghoon. sunghoon watches your figure leave. he wanted to run to you but his foot remains on the ground.

back at the house, you threw yourself on onto your bed and cried. you cried for hours and hours, the tears didn’t stop and you didn’t know why. was this what it felt like to be heartbroken? your heart hurts like it was actually torn apart.

there were knocks at your bedroom door but you ignored it. it stops after a while and somehow, you fell asleep. your body was tired, giving up on you after hours of crying. the next morning, light peaks through your curtains and shines down on you. you tried getting up but you felt lethargic. you felt like you were on fire. you got up and you had stumbled out of your bedroom.

you looked around for your medicine that you had. however, before you could even get to the kitchen, your body shuts down. you fell to the ground. the next time you wake up, you realised you were not in your bedroom but you were still in the dorm. you looked around and realised a familiar pair of ice skating shoes in display. the medals and trophies that were displayed on the shelf.

“I still remember when you attempted to throw your silver medal at me.” sunghoon says. your head turns to meet the boy’s figure. he was leaning at the doorframe.

“why am I here?”

“you fainted. you’re also running down fever.” he checks on your temperature by kissing your forehead. you felt your cheeks heating up. “yeah, it’s still pretty bad.”

his eyes met with yours. you swore his eyes flickered onto your lips for a split second. you pushed him away.

“thanks for taking care of me while I was out cold but I can take care of myself now. I don’t need your help.” you tried getting up but sunghoon sighs and grabs your wrist.

“me and byeol didn’t hook up. jake just told you that because he assumed we did.” sunghoon says.

“why are you telling me this?”

“because.” you felt his arms wrap around your waist and his head placed on your shoulder. “I know someone cried yesterday.”

you tried to pry his hands that wrapped around you but failed since he was strong.

“I didn’t know you liked me (name).” sunghoon says. you rolled your eyes.

“I don’t like you.”

“but you were jealous.”

“who said I was jealous. you can hook up with that bitch.”

“hmm but the only one I want is you.” you felt butterflies erupt.

“didn’t you say i’m sick? shouldn’t you be 1 arm away from me?”

“I don’t mind getting sick if I get to hug you like this.”

“god, who knew you’d be such a simp.” you rolled your eyes.

“for you.” he says. you giggled when he snuggles his head at the crook of your neck. “want to cuddle my girl.”

“but i’m not your girl though?” you teased. sunghoon picks you up and places you down on his bed. he quickly wraps his arm around you to cuddle.

“mmm but you are my girl.”

“I never said about being your girlfriend though.” he pecks your lips and you gasp.

“will you be my girlfriend?”

“what if I said no?”

“I know you wouldn’t say no.”

“you’re so full of yourself.” you chuckled. sunghoon pecks your cheek once more. surprisingly, you fell asleep really quickly. guess you were tired and maybe sunghoon’s warmth made you feel comfortable.

⭐️ KIM SUNOO

GENRE: vice president of student council! sunoo + president of student council! reader

if you were to recall back the day you were elected as the president of the student council…you could remember the scowl that was plastered on your vice-president. you could also faintly remember the complaints he let out to his friends when the results were out.

“if I didn’t get the position of president, they should’ve just kicked me out as a whole. who even wants to work with (name). she’s sooooo annoying.”

you grimaced. you understood sunoo hated you but damn he really despised you. to the complete point where he didn’t even want to work with you. too bad though, they made sunoo the vice-president and he was forced to work with you.

lately, the whole council has been busy with the school’s music festival. since your school was a music/performing arts school, this event was the most important event ever. there would be tons of students performing and showing off their skills (those who signed up only).

both you and sunoo had practically been overworked trying to plan the event. how it would go, the lighting, getting the stage ready, etc. you couldn’t even get enough sleep since the teachers would be up your ass for the forms and paperwork. who knew being president would be so hard?

“jungwon, please help me get a signature of approval from Mrs.Jae.”

“on it.” jungwon runs out of the room with the papers. just as jungwon leaves, sunoo enters. he places his bag down on the couch.

“why are you here so early?”

“we need to finish up the remaining paperwork and it’s better we start early.”

“then why didn’t you tell me?

“because you mentioned that this class is important so you need to be there the whole time?”

“I never mentioned that.” sunoo rolls his eyes.

you slammed the pen down and it startled sunoo.

“you can do everything yourself, (name). I have an important class to attend and my grades depend on this lesson. the teacher is going through some exam tips.” you mocked sunoo.

he folds his arm, “you don’t even have proof.”

“look sunoo, how about you take this set of paperwork and do it. I have no time to argue with you.” you grabbed the other half of papers and left the office.

“god, she’s so grumpy.” sunoo grumbles.

you sat in the library for some peace and quiet. it was the perfect place for you to concentrate and you were so happy you were far from sunoo. the air-conditioning blew perfectly and it was nice. it made you sleepy. what if you just…lay your head down on the table for a while.

the next time you woke up, you realised a jacket was wrapped around you. who had placed this. however, you were more worried about the stack of papers that you were tasked to go through. it was gone. you panicked for a second until you noticed the note stuck on your phone.

‘took your other half and did it. once it’s done, I’ll place it on your desk. also you look like an idiot drooling whilst sleeping.’

– sunoo

you huffed. if he was just going to do everything why didn’t he just say so. instead, he made you think he didn’t want to do it. this meant one thing though, this jacket was definitely sunoo’s. you could quickly tell too since there was a whiff of the strawberry lipbalm he uses.

wait how did you know how his lipbalm smells like? you shook your head. no, it’s just because there are times where you and sunoo were close enough while working on some student council work. it’s not because you’ve thought of kissing him. you would be insane to think so.

the next day, you hand sunoo the jacket right as he was talking to his friends.

“here. your jacket, thank you for lending it to me.” you say. this causes his friends to glance in shock at the both of you.

“are you two-” “no. we aren’t.” sunoo quickly shuts down jake’s words.

“we have a meeting later. see you and jungwon later.” you quickly say before leaving. right as you step away, you felt your heart beating fast. what is wrong with you?

it’s nothing. you walked to school quickly. speed walk, power walked to school. which was why your heart is racing.

that’s when you were wrong.

it took you probably 2 hours later to realise, no random person’s heart would race after talking to a guy. a guy they hated as a matter fact. which only meant.

you liked sunoo.

you liked his stupid annoying voice. you liked the fact that he argues with you. you mostly definitely loved the fact that he is the only one who pays attention to you. why did you have to discover this right before the meeting. now you can’t face kim sunoo without imagining his lips on yours.

it was an x-rated thought. why did you have to think about him kissing you and why do you kinda like imagining it. you must be insane.

however, here you are in the meeting with the other council members. they were showing off PowerPoint slides and presenting the flow of the event however you weren’t even paying attention.

“pres, is this okay?” jungwon asks. you hummed a little confused.

“oh, i’m so sorry. yeah, it’s fine. we should also have some of our members be on standby to queue the next group to perform.”

jungwon nods, “I’ll ask haneul if she can be the backstage coordinator.”

“sunoo, do you have anything to add?” you asked.

“no, everything has been well planned. we just need to execute it on that day. hopefully, the event will turn out as successful as the ones our seniors had done.”

“alright, that’s all. great job everyone, see all of you at the festival and please wear something appropriate. you saw what happened to our seniors.” you warned the others. they nod.

each one of them slowly leaves the room and the only ones left were you and sunoo. you had pushed back the chair and made sure everything had been cleaned up.

“are you joining the festival?” sunoo suddenly voices out.

“hmm? oh, no. I can’t sing.”

“but you can dance?”

“i’m too shy to get on stage. I have stage fright.”

“but you dance.”

“it’s just a hobby I do.”

“yeah but you joined a performing arts school.” sunoo says.

“well, that’s pretty obvious huh? can’t I have stage fright even if I am in a performing arts school?” you glared at sunoo. sunoo rolls his eyes.

“I thought I could have a once in a lifetime civil talk with you but you make it impossible to hold a conversation with you.” sunoo says. you gasp.

“the only annoying ass person that can’t hold a conversation is you!”

sunoo glares at you before huffing and leaving the room. once he leaves the room, you let out a sigh of relief. your heart was racing quicker than usual and you hated that sunoo was the cause of it.

the day of the music festival arrived. tons of students were running around trying to play the carnival games that were organised. there were also some redeeming prizes after the amount of tickets they gathered. you sighed, you would love to have fun but you were the council president. you had to watch over everything so nothing goes wrong.

today, you didn’t feel exactly the best. after studying so much for the past few days, you felt under the weather. however, since you were the president, you had to be present. you held onto the wall beside you and steadied yourself. you had to be strong, you couldn’t show your weak side. however, you nearly fell but someone holds onto your shoulder to prevent you from falling.

“hey, are you okay?” it was sunoo.

“yeah. I’m fine.” sunoo places his hand on your forehead and sighs.

“you’re burning up.” he grabs your hand and drags you to the nurse’s office.

“i’m fine.” you say as you arrived at the nurse’s office. unfortunately, the nurse wasn’t around as she went out for lunch but sunoo knew what to take.

“you look pale and you were about to faint. god, did you even eat lunch yet?”

“no I skipped lunch-”

“to do administrative? prioritise your health first, dummy.” sunoo huffs. he hands you a bottle of water and also a protein bar.

“eat this then take the medicine. it’s not good to eat your medicine on an empty stomach.”

“but i’m fine!”

“no you’re not!”

“sunoo, listen I don’t know why you care about me but I-”

“I care because I like you!” sunoo shouts.

dead silence

it’s like you could only hear both yours and sunoo’s breathing only. you were shocked, sunoo liked you? how was that possible? he hated you? what happened to being enemies? i mean, you weren’t complaining since you liked him too.

“the thought of you getting hurt, it also pains me too. you know. I get that you want to study and do well in your studies but please don’t hurt yourself in the process.” sunoo begs.

“sunoo.”

“like come on, you’re already smart. I don’t get why you have to study so late at night. it’s already annoying to see you do so well that I can’t possibly catch up with my crush but damn-”

“sunoo!”

he stops blabbering, “thank you for caring about me and thank you for liking me. I just, didn’t expect you to like me too.”

“you…like me?” sunoo’s eyes widened.

“yes. well, I would’ve said it slightly earlier but you were rambling-”

the boy cuts you off with a peck to your cheek. it catches you off guard.

let’s just say you left the nurse’s office with a boyfriend. people were definitely shocked to see their president and vice-president holding hands and smiling at each other.

⭐️ YANG JUNGWON

PAIRING: class president! jungwon x bad girl! reader. more of a one-sided enemies.

you were I would say a bad student. both in academically and in physical terms. jungwon was the opposite of you. he was the bright star student that constantly gets praised, was appointed class president of your class and was also really kind.

well to others. not to you. you have no idea why yang jungwon hated your guts. maybe, he just hated bad looking people. you’d say he’s uptight and would always turn down party invitations to study.

however, that thought changed when you saw yang jungwon in a loose fitting clothes and sweatpants. it was a comfortable choice but made him look stunning nonetheless. his bangs were down, he laughed with his friends whilst taking a sip of his…is that wine? you didn’t expect him to even be drinking.

clearly, you stared for too long because soon jungwon’s gaze falls onto you. you looked away and simply went about your merry way. however, jungwon didnt stop staring.

“who are you staring at?” jay asks. jake’s eyes trailed jungwon’s gaze and he realised that jungwon was staring at you.

“I thought you hated her? why are you staring at her?”

sunghoon suddenly smirks, “oh? does little wonie have a crush?” jungwon rolls his eyes.

“as if. she’s literally the worst girl I’ve ever seen and had to deal with.” jungwon rolls his eyes.

“and yet she piqued your interest, didn’t she?” sunghoon nudges jungwon.

it was true. though you were a ‘bad girl’ a complete opposite of jungwon. you still piqued his interests and he wanted to observe you. from far of course. or maybe, up close too.

the next day, you walked into class late. the teacher scolds you the whole while you walked to your seat. you’ve practically tuned it out, already used to the yelling in your life.

“detention!” the teacher finally says. you sighed. yet another detention, of course.

“and I will have jungwon tutor you since you are lagging behind class!”

your eyes widened. that flower boy was tutoring you? him? he was literally a bunch of rainbows and flowers every time. after the teacher says so, you turned to look at jungwon. he was already staring at you. great, he already hated the idea of tutoring you. his little cat eyes just slowly turning into a glare as his eyebrows furrow.

yay! you were so excited to have him tutor you (read: sarcasm). I mean, you knew he isn’t evil, he just probably hates you because you’re always in the detention and you are like the worst student possible. however, it’s not like you offended him in any way. the tutor session should be fine!

that was you 4 hours before actually starting the tutor session. you have never felt so intimidated by your class president but why was he so scary while teaching you.

“if x equals to 6 what is y?” jungwon raises eyebrow at you.

“u-uh 15?” you squeak out. it made you sound so weak which is weird because normally you’d be the one who was confident.

“wrong. it’s 24. you got the question wrong once again.”

“right. uh, how you…do this question again?” you asked. jungwon groans.

“I’ve gone through this question 5 times already. how do you not get it.”

“well, if math wasn’t so hard. I would get it.” you groaned.

“well, too bad. suck it up and learn how to do it.” he rolls his eyes.

“why the fuck do you hate me so much? I did nothing wrong? i’m just being myself.” you whisper yelled because you were in the library.

“because you’re annoying.” jungwon says.

“what? I never interact with you in class at all. how am I annoying?”

“every single time you’re late, I have to report to the teacher and it’s tiring to write down everything.”

“sounds like a you problem. you could’ve said no to being our class president.”

“and not be lucky to get leadership points?”

you rolled your eyes, “well, if you don’t like me. you could’ve not come to teach me!”

“I would if I could but because the teacher is counting on me, I have to do this.” jungwon folds his arm.

“you know what? forget it.” you packed your things. “since you don’t want to take the initiative to leave. I’ll leave for you, I have detention anyways.”

as you leave, jungwon’s jaw drops. never in his whole life has someone walked out on him like that. it kinda threw him off. well, okay. it threw him off by a lot.

the next day, jungwon catches your wrist and drags you to the library. it startled you and he pushes you to sit down on the chair.

“we are going to study whether you like it or not!” jungwon huffs and takes out his book. “turn to page 135.”

you were shocked, "hey, you can't just drag me here and force me to study. you didn't want to teach me in the first place!"

"stop being stubborn and flip to page 135."

"jerk." you muttered under your breath.

1 month later, you were still studying with jungwon. he was more civil now at least, he kept his thoughts to himself and you were thankful you didn't have to hear him complain about your mathematics being horrible. he points to the question and asks you for the answer.

"72." jungwon hums at your answer.

"correct."

you sighed in relief, "great. now, this means you can stop tutoring me."

"who said i would stop? you still have 99 more questions and you still have to pass the finals."

"why are you so insisted on helping me? i thought you made it clear you didn't want to teach me?" you huffed and folded your arms.

"seeing your grades look horrible irks me and i hate to see failing classmates so i'm here to help."

"weird. i don't usually see you go around helping our classmates. do you like me or something?"

your words caused jungwon to freeze in his seat. did he like you? no, it's not possible when you're looking really pretty in your leather jacket and coloured hair-

okay...jungwon liked you.

"and if i said i did? what are you going to do about it?"

this time it caught you off guard.

"you what?"

he gets closer to you and you gasp, "i said what if i did? what if i liked you? what are you going to do about it?"

you didn't say anything. completely speechless. you could feel your heart racing. why did jungwon suddenly look so good? you must be going insane.

jungwon pecks your cheek, "alright. turn to page 180 now. we need to cover the next few questions."

you do as you were told. still not getting over the little affection jungwon just gave you. you had to concentrate on your work for now, maybe you'd get your answers later.

or maybe he might actually kiss you for doing a good job. now, that was your motivation.

⭐️ NISHIMURA RIKI

PAIRING: star basketball player! ni-ki x fem! reader (they are college so I sort of aged up ni-ki)

basketball, the sport that ni-ki loved so much and grew to love. besides, with the advantage of being so tall, why wouldn’t he use it?

“heeseung hyung, pass the ball!” he yells out on the court. it was a small game, to train before their big final game. you were there to snap some pictures since you were part of the journalist club of your college. they usually placed someone in charge of sports for the season and this time around you were the chosen lucky one.

your job was simple, take pictures of them playing and then interview the players before and after the match to gather their thoughts. it would be simple, if you weren’t forced to literally take charge of the basketball team. you hated them, they were the worst people ever. okay, one person on the team was and it was nishimura riki. the literal bane of your existence. your enemy the most annoying person you ever met, you wished he wasn’t so good in basketball because he wouldn’t have gotten into the same university as you without his stupid athlete scholarship.

just as you snapped some photos and reviewed them, ni-ki grabs your camera and places it above his head. he was mainly teasing you for how short you are compared to him. you tried jumping to get it but failed multiple times, he laughs.

“aww little shorty is trying sooo hard to grab her precious camera.” he teases.

“nishimura, give it back. if you break the camera, i will break your legs and you won’t be able to play the season.”

he leans down to face you, “and if you break my legs will you play with the team for me?”

you scoffed and grabbed the camera from his hands.

“no. you can suffer yourself.”

just as ni-ki was about to retaliate, heeseung yells after him. ni-ki smacks your shoulders and winks at you before leaving.

“oooo nishimura, stop flirting with your girlfriend while we have practice!!” yunho, a fellow member of the team yells.

“yah! me and that asshole aren’t dating!!”

“you wished though!” ni-ki yells.

“fuck off!” you yelled back.

ni-ki’s teammates laughed as you two bicker. this was how it was, the constant bicker and subtle flirting. you weren’t flirting with ni-ki, at least that’s what you thought. maybe you just didn’t understand flirting but you clearly could tell ni-ki was sort of flirting with you. which was weird because didn’t he hate your guts in high school? why was he so flirty now? maybe he was just going through it, being a freshman and seeing college girls. it gives you the freedom like you are old enough to do something.

finally, it was the final match to the end of the season. you could finally catch a breath because you wouldn’t be focusing on the sports team next season. as the basketball team surrounded each other discussed their tactic, you took a video and snapped some photos. hopefully this would make it more professional.

the basketball team disperses and the game starts. the ball being dribbled down the court and each of the boys moving swiftly. you snapped some photos as they were playing and honestly, you think that the current pictures you took were going to be legendary. just as you put your camera down, you realised the basketball ball was being hurled at you. you closed your eyes ready for the impact but all you felt was someone holding you close and a thud.

when you opened your eyes, you realise that ni-ki had hold you close. the basketball rolling away. he checks up on you before grabbing the ball and going back into the court to finish playing the game. your cheeks were glowing, your face felt hot so you had fanned yourself. a few of the people in the crowd were making noise at the gesture ni-ki had done. it made you want to hide in one corner and just disintegrate into the ground. however, you knew you still had to continue with journaling the match because this was your job as a journalist.

the match continues with the occasional squeaking of shoes because that's how all basketball games turn out. the announcer watches and comments on every move that the players on court had to say. there were a lot of moments where your school's team could've scored a goal but the game was just toxic in general. the other team played dirty multiple times, they always found a way to not get kicked out of the court and manage to get away with it.

ni-ki was starting to get annoyed. his jaw clenches, that is when the whole room felt different. it's like a light switch was turned on because suddenly it felt really dangerous. before the time ended, your college basketball team start scoring more goals. it was brutal to the other team but ni-ki did it. the team won. they carried him up and threw him up in the air as ni-ki held the trophy. you managed to capture that moment and it was amazing.

you were smiling a little. it was heart warming. the team lets ni-ki down and he stumbles over to you.

"i won for you." he says.

you snicker, "oh really now, nishimura?"

the boy nods. "since i won this for you, may I take you on a date as a prize?"

"what is this? i thought you saw me as a threat?" you teased him.

"yeah, a threat to my heart." he flirts back. you laughed.

"go bathe, you stink." you pushed him lightly. he laughs.

"so it's on?"

"shut up."

ni-ki scoffs playfully. "you didn't say no, i'll see you later~" he leaves to bathe.

yup, this was your enemy. a dork but you liked it that way.

taglist[perm]: @ja4hyvn @ahnneyong @milklix @kar0ki @sugarsunoo @http-gyu @simpforniki @vatterie @victoriazynui @myu3ki @jhopesucker @dimplewonie @chwlogy @ilovewonyo @xiaoderrrr @uwuheeseungie @miercerise @liikno @hxney-luga @tiktaktiki @ajayke-reads @yizhoutv @s00buwu @ilovehanni1

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

The shorter version: Hey could you talk about stone tops more? Or anything like that, people who like giving but not recieving?

The longer version: I’m sort of going through that process of self discovery, I’ve been meaning to ask about it somehow- basically I am sexually attracted to people (I think??), I get aroused, I enjoy masturbating, even talking with my partner about stuff we could do is arousing to me. I enjoy some submissive kinky stuff. Hell, my boyfriend (transmasc, both of us are) recently let me go down on him and it was like a fucking religious experience, I LOVED it, but I find it really difficult to enjoy anything being done directly to /my/ genitals. Like, I can feel the sensations, and they feel good, but I don’t build any arousal, like I can’t get in the mood? I know I’m not, but I do feel fucked up and broken. Spiritually, I want my boyfriend to rail me into next week, but physically I’m afraid there’s like. Something wrong with me, like,, I don’t work??? Idk. I’ve got major anxiety, I’ve got dysphoria, I guess I always figured it was one of those things. There’s only so many times I can feel Way Too Seen by fanfiction about Noted Asexual, Archivist Jonathan Sims before I start to wonder what exactly they’ve hit directly on the head, if that makes sense. I’m not asking you to Diagnose Me Asexual lmaoo but I was wondering about more like… asexual adjacent things? My boyfriend suggested I look into “service top” too. I… don’t feel like a top? I’m very submissive. But I’ve heard it’s not always top= dom, bottom=sub… how can I be a submissive top?

Sorry this is… so much. It’s really been weighing on me. Even if you don’t feel up to answering this I thank you profusely for the sex ed content you’ve been posting lately. Demystifying sex and promoting sexual health is so incredibly important, and even just what I’ve read from you makes a difference in the agency I feel over my sex life.

hi anon,

weeeeeee!!! this is a fun one.

so, first off, I'm just gonna throw this out there: liking the idea of something - for instance, your boyfriend railing you into next week - is not an innate sign that that's something you'd like in real life. I'll jack off to the idea of getting railed like Thomas the Tank Engine, sure, but in real life vaginal penetration has never felt like much of anything to me + I haaaaAAAAaaaate the idea of doing anything with even a teeny tiny slight chance of getting me pregnant. some stuff is fine to stay in the brain!

if you do ever decide to tentatively explore it with your bf, that's also fine and wonderful, but let's focus on what we know about your likes right now. you don't want to get fucked (awesome) but you like going down (also awesome). none of that means you are or aren't asexual, btw, there are loads of asexuals in the world who love to get railed and hate going down and also feel every possible way about every other possible array of sex acts. you're only asexual if you want to be, keep that in mind.

you're also only stone or a service top or whatever else if you want to be. words exist to be useful, not as an innate ontological truth to discover within yourself. personally I think it's waaaaay more important for people to refine their sense of likes, dislikes, communication, and boundary-setting than finding the exact right word for their particular cup of tea.

as long as we're talking about terminology, let's get into dom/sub and top/bottom. you're absolutely correct that they're not interchangeable, whatever the hooligans on various hellsites would have you believe. dom and sub are terms for power exchange play, when two people enact a power differential in which one partner is consensually given a great deal of control over the other, be it physically, psychologically, financially, or what have you. top/bottom simply refer to who is acting vs who is being acted upon during a sexual act; while some people identify intensely as either a top or a bottom, it's also a simple matter for those roles to switch on a dime depending on what kind of sex you're into. it's completely possible to have sex without designating anyone the top or bottom, and I'd argue that most people have sex without there actually being a dom or sub involved.

so can dom bottom, or a sub top? of course; people can mix and match whatever pieces of sexuality they want in their own explorations. a dom can boss their sub around like a little servant, giving them extremely detailed instructions about exactly how to rail them, and perhaps punish them (in the fun consensual way, obviously) if they fail to meet those expectations and don't get their dom off the way that was wanted. you can, and I cannot possibly emphasize this enough, do whatever you want forever.

a service top, incidentally, is generally considered a separate thing from a dom (which is not to say they can't overlap!) in that a service top isn't always dominating, but is topping because they enjoy getting their partner off in whatever way they like. the overlap of service tops and folks who are stone is notable!

in your particular case I would recommend not worrying so much about which of these terms, if any, are the correct one for you and focus way ore on exploring and playing with your partner to find a rhythm that works well for the two of you. doms, subs, tops, and bottoms all have something useful to teach people about how they like intimacy, but there's no rush to figure out which category, if any, you fit in. just focus on what's fun and feels good to you and toss the rest.

[jollyinha]

I have brought... My YuuriVoice listeners.

...On The Sims, because I can't draw for shit. I spent pretty much the whole day redesigning (except Rookie, who already got a glow up bc he's my favorite child) and dressing them up like Barbie dolls lol

DISCLAIMER: I'm being a lil' poser because I have never watched Bittersweet nor the Faust audios (and yet I still have Sugarboo and Star done, go figure), and am catching up on Lost and Found as I type this. ANYWAY HERE ARE MY BABIES, MORE INFO ON THEM UNDER THE CUT YIPPEEEEEEEE

FÉLIX/ROOKIE:

- As previously mentioned, he's my favorite child, sorry not sorry, I adore this boy so much

- Dumb of ass and home of sexual (out of the closet to everyone except his mom, oof), pulled a millionaire CEO with his ADHD swag. Also canonically a cheeky horny bastard

- An artist (draws/paints and crafts all sorts of stuff) at heart, but had to pursue a more lucrative career in order to support his family. So, Law school it is. Viva le capitalism

- Is an ENFP and his birthday is on February 16th

- His mother is Brazilian and his dad was Colombian. They have been living in the USA since Félix was a young child. He also has a little sister (not so little, she's in college by the time Shattered begins) whom he loves very much and basically raised her, to the point where she sees him as his dad more than their actual dad (whom passed away when she was a toddler)

- Has an excellent relationship with his uncle (and his wife), aunt and cousins. Him and Joy/Sunflower don't meet that often bc she lives a bit far away, but when they do, they share the same braincell

- Appears to be suave and chill when he's at work, but he's actually a SOFTIE. The biggest golden retriever... Well, not literally the biggest. He's 5'7ft/1m69cm. Compared to Auron, he's pocket-sized. But anyway-

- He loves Trish. They bully Auron together. Incredible dynamic

- Has pyrophobia bc ✨ PAST TRAUMA ✨. Began cooking as a hobby to try to work through it

- Likes: Arts, cooking, biking, peacocks, sun imageries (long story), sea monsters and plaid jackets

- Félix has SO MUCH LORE and tidbits (like his tattoos!) about him, I would need an entire separate post to tell it all. And I might do it bc I need that sweet infodump dopamine...

JOYCE "JOY"/SUNFLOWER

- Actually my first YV OC! I met the channel through the infamous Finn compilation

- Bisexual! Finn is her first serious boyfriend, though, up until she met him, she only had girlfriends... And she had the worst luck with all of them. Oof

- Colombian, just like Félix

- Huge animal lover, especially the aquatic critters and reptiles. Has a Bull Terrier named Cow (yes, that's her name.) that has her entire heart. Currently trying to get a job in the veterinarian field! Just... Don't put bugs near her. Please

- Is an ESFP and her birthday is on July 27th... The day the Finn compilation premiered

- Her mother had her pretty young. She doesn't know who her father is, and her mom refuses to talk about it... But tbh, Joy doesn't care that much. She loves her mama, and that's all that matters

- (also her mother loves Finn dearly. everytime they meet, he leaves with a piece of cake or some other home made food bc she loves to spoil her "son-in-law" lmao)

- Surfs on her spare time! Queen shit! Also plays a bit of soccer

- Had pretty severe acne as a teen and still has its marks

- Golden retriever energy runs in the Torres family, because she has it too

- Likes: Snakes, whales, surfing, soccer (as stressful as it is to watch it lol), jogging, her dog Cow, hoodies, fun scrunchies

CARINA/SUGARBOO

- Like I previously stated, I haven't watched Bittersweet, so, I may not have much to say about Sugarboo except for the (few) misc audios from Al and Seth I have heard... BUT GODDAMNIT SHE'S SO BEAUTIFUL OH GOD

- Straight, but poly

- Japanese, but was born and raised in the USA and, sadly, doesn't has much connection to her roots... Mostly bc she's not super close to her family :(

- (Canonically) Likes to bake! Also cooking, but still has a preference for pastries. Works in a bakery... Which isn't a very healthy workplace, but, oh well

- Is an ESFJ, and her birthday is on January 20th (it's coming!!!!! happy early birthday, queen!!!!!)

- Pulled TWO bitches by having ADHD

- Has A SHIT LOAD of tattoos because she's best friends with a tattoo artist... Who may or may not be Star 👀

- Used to have long hair when she met Alphonse

- She may be Al's impulse control, but Seth is her impulse control 💀

- Calls Alphonse "bug". Earlier on their relationship it was ironically ("so you and me together can be bugaboo!"), but the pet name has stuck

- But in reality, she does have a passion for bugs! Especially butterflies and moths ("NOT Mothman, Seth. Normal, regular moths.")

- Also love cats

- She bullies Seth for believing in cryptids... But believes in aliens

- Again, I haven't watched Bittersweet, so feel free to discard this part if it's contradicting canon events, but... She kind of likes Charlie. She thinks he's cute, even with all the shit that happened

- Likes: Baking, collecting jewelry like some kind of dragon, bugs, cats, tattoos, aliens

ASHER/CASPER

- The coolest mf to ever walk on this earth. I don't make the rules, it's the truth

- FtM trans of gender, also home of sexual

- Just american. F

- Yes, his last name is a Life Is Strange reference, sue me

- I... I have no idea what he works with? Because gotta wait for more Charlie videos to find out wtf canon!Casper is up to he's such a mysterious guy,,,,,

- (I really hope that the "Casper works for Auron" theory is true tho, the Auron/Félix & Charlie/Asher shenanigans would be so funny to imagine)

- What I do know is that he's kind of a gym bro, except if said bro was fruity

- Seriously though, he's a sporty guy. Likes to go jogging, (he and Joy/Sunflower would be good workout buddies!), climbing, hiking, good ol' fashioned working out and, of course, skating! But after Charlie left, he got into roller skating as well, and he's pretty damn good at it

- He's an ISFP, and his birthday is on April 22nd (Earth Day, get it, bc his favorite color is green,,,,,,)

- Disowned by his parents, but was taken in by his uncle and aunt, whom really support him <3

- Has a tooth gap! Cute shit

- Braided his hair as a kid, still does it nowadays. Certain things never change

- He WANTS to get SO MANY TATTOOS AND PIERCINGS... But he has a pretty bad case of trypanophobia (his ears are pierced bc his parents had him pierce it as a baby). Having his top surgery was challenging enough! He just wanted to get some tattoos... :(

- Always carries an extra hair tie on his arm, like a bracelet. Mostly for himself, but sometimes he gives it to Charlie too

- Has dyslexia! Fucking hated school bc of that

- Likes: Skating, roller skating, climbing, collecting sick ass knives, bad horror movies, hair styling (he wanted to be a hairstylist as a kid even!)

- I don't have thaaaaat much to say about him as of right now since I'm still finishing Lost and Found, but he's growing a lot on me, I love him

PAIGE/ANGEL

- URGH I LOVE HER SO MUCH AAAAAAAAAA ULTIMATE SASS AND NIHILISM

- Their relationship with gender is... Confusing. Doesn't like any labels, really. Just go with she/them and you'll be fine. Considers themselves to be pansexual, though

- British ("sadly, stupid ass country"), still has a strong accent even if they have been living in the USA for quite a while

- ...They like tea though

- She works on the IT department of a big company. Boring office job. But she doesn't mind it that much. Everyone is nice enough and it pays the bills. That's more than enough for her

- But besides programming and gaming, her big passion in life is... Sewing! 80% of the plushies in her collection are handmade, including Sir Gengar himself

- Also a huge cinephile

- Is an INTP, and their birthday is on September 4th (it may or may not be a reference to Gengar's pokedex number)

- Pulled a LITERAL DEMON FROM HELL with her autism swag

- Has chronic pain on her left knee due to a past accident

- Obviously, huge Pokémon fan

- Ironically enough, doesn't really like cooking, which explains why their house didn't had shit when it comes to ingredients lol At least now they have a demon boy to cook for them

- Awful relationship with her family. All of it. Ran away for the USA to escape from them

- Doesn't have many friends irl, most of them are virtual friends

- Considers themselves to be "plain and boring". Normally they don't give a damn about it, but got kind of insecure when they and Lucien got officially together... But in their most confident days, they think it's hilarious how the most normal-looking human ever managed to pull a demon

- Deep, deep down, Paige is a sweet and caring person. Heck, that's why her soul was so enticing. She just has trouble demonstrating it (Autistic Struggle™)

- Likes four leaf clovers. No idea why. She just does

- ...I feel like she would watch Faust's streams ironically. She thinks the cat boy is hilarious

- Likes: Cinema, games, programming, plushies making, clovers, tea

ENID/STAR

- ...I haven't watched a single Faust audio in my life, but Enid just... Popped up in my head. Their design came to me and they were yelling at me to bring them to existence. So here they are?????? I really gotta hear the twink's audios any of these days...

- I don't even know much about them tbh lol But here's what I do have:

- Non-binary (AFAB), bisexual

- A tattoo artist! They're Sugarboo's friend that I mentioned all the way up there

- Likes to write and read in their spare time (IMAGINE THEM AND AURON WRITING FANFICTION ABOUT THEIR S/Os! Beautiful)

- Likes to watch sports (don't look like the type, do they?)

- Likes questionable shirts with 80s/90s aesthetics

- I can see them being friends with Paige/Angel, ngl :D

- ...That's all about Enid for now, maybe I'll develop them if I get around to hear more of Faust eventually lol

Idk if there's someone reading all of this, but if there is, tysm for reading this HUGE infodump 🥺 If you have any YV OCs, I would LOVE to hear about them too! My DMs are open!

[laurelnose]

a disorganized pile of ninefox ttrpg thoughts

it is HERE! also it was late in shipping by like, a day? or two? so android press sent me the PDF version also, which was very very nice of them. For this I will forgive them the weird jank in the PDF version’s character encoding. (Maybe like 5% of characters consistently copy-paste as different characters. I think they fucked up the font subsetting somehow. It’s fine, it’s just weird. Makes quoting it a little bit of a hassle. Might be less fine if you use a screenreader.)

So pleased with several little random details which are not at all relevant to like, gameplay or the worldbuilding at large but which I just kind of wanted to know. The calendar months! The full set of Kel rank symbols! Signifiers for Kujen and Tseya! <3 Also, an additional set of symbolism for the factions per the calendar months? If I’m reading this correctly it's Rahal/Wood (!?), Andan/Bells, and Vidona/Knives. [We basically knew the other three, which are Shuos/Eyes, Kel/Pyres, and Nirai/Stars.] As a visual artist I am contractually obliged to be hype about all my little guys getting Symbols, they make my life easy and fun.

This is a slim little volume, so it’s light on lore details that you couldn’t find either a) in the actual series or b) on Lee's dreamwidth. That said, one new bit was that it was not previously clear to me that the nominal arrangement of power in the heptarchate was explicitly unequal between the Liozh and the others — I thought the extant six turned on the Liozh as one of their fellows, not that they deposed the ruling faction. Interesting.

Disappointing: there are no mechanics for the calendar besides the ability to tag the current festival/remembrance. :( I wanted to roll dice about calendrical rituals!! Funnily enough there's a whole little caveat section where he’s like, inevitably someone will want to have space battles, which can be accommodated by keeping them character-focused bc this system is not designed for battle sim crunch. No similar apology for those who might want magic system crunch, if anyone wanted any further evidence that Lee and Jedao are the same guy, lmao.

Other than that I’m not actually that much of a crunchy rules guy myself so I like the system itself fine. I enjoy the concept of every check involving not necessarily skills but character traits. And also the commitment to sixes. You need A LOT of d6s for this game.

If you’re really committed I think it would be fun to play with a set of these (normal d6s except instead of numbers or pips they have clock faces showing hours 1-6):

Jedao’s character sheet is so funny. “Complications: I have abysmal taste in lovers.” BE NICE TO HIM LMAO

It’s not entirely clear to me under which circumstances you wind up the Hexarchate Clock. Is it actually only if Kujen is in play? Does that mean he’s literally required if you want to run a long take-down-the-whole-hxx campaign?

The prewritten scenarios are neat! I don’t have a lot to say about them. They look like they would be fun. I like “The Field of Diplomacy” and the concept of the adjacent polity a lot. Oh also the note at the end of “A Heretical Sacrifice” that is just like “if the ‘human sacrifice’ bit is too vague for you and you want to add more torture, here are some ideas!” is 1) funny and 2) appreciably graphic and wince-inducing. HXX-typical gore: delivered on!

This is a petty note, but excluding servitor PCs on the grounds that this is a game about moral complicity and thus only human faction members can be PCs sure is a Statement. I know servitors are slaves and thus the moral calculus is certainly different, but like, the complicity is the entire point of Hemiola’s arc??? And faction servitors quite obviously often consider themselves to be legitimately part of that faction? The one Shuos servitor we meet is as interested in games as any fox, the assault on Shattered Needles is made possible because the Unspoken Law’s servitors consider themselves Kel, the Aerie interlude with sin 𝑥² is about a servitor who considers itself so deeply Kel it wants to go down with the hivemind. I understand they complicate things mechanically but excluding servitors for thematic reasons is silly.

That said, I feel like a servitor hack wouldn’t be too much more mechanically complex. None of the prewritten scenarios work with an all-servitor group, but I think they could all be run with one or maaybe two servitor PCs. You’d have to do some pregaming to figure out how you’d open communication between human/servitor PCs. Lore-wise, the faction traits are clearly not meant to represent the faction exotics or the Shuos wouldn’t have one; they read more like “specialized skills developed as a consequence of picking this faction” than calendrical stuff, so faction servitors could have standard faction abilities, with the caveat that a lot of interpersonal Edges may be hard for Andan servitors to hit on account of social interaction between servitors & humans being, well, you know. Alternatively, no faction abilities for servitors, but all servitors +2d6 to anything involving grid-diving and/or mechanics. Servitors can have ranks just like human PCs, though these ranks are only relevant to other servitors (and possibly moths). Servitors can probably tag calendar traits like humans, they just can’t participate in formations or affect calendrical gradients (neither of which have explicit mechanics in this system anyways). Heresies are the same for servitors as humans.

This really made me want to dig out that calendrical cryptocurrency heist concept I had to see if I can put together a scenario. And maybe also make some cardboard game spinners for a tactile clock experience...

[rainymoodlet]

i couldn’t do it, y’all. i spent the time to age up and adjust ivory’s save, because playing her in a world where dallas didn’t exist just felt wrong 🥺 that’s one dinner party of five down! (which i missed, bc i left my computer running dhdhs)

catch up with the kruegers below! ⛓️

for those of you who don’t know, dallas (sixth pic, they/them!) was a nameless sim i’d created with the idea of playing through the joy of life legacy with! they became much larger in-game than the confines of the challenge, though, and while they were working on starting their own 🌿 bakery, dallas was also working as a stripper and a sex worker at “the flamingo” in del sol valley.

dallas wasn’t on any protection when they successfully seduced mayor ted roswell at the club and freak-a-leeked the next month’s rent payment out of him. when they found out they were pregnant, they resolved to raise their daughter as best as they could.

little ivory was born maybe three in-game weeks into the game, i’m not kidding.

though she was a major upset in the course of the challenge, ivory has been a delightful sim to watch grow up! dallas did a wonderful job raising her - but their fate was never to be a simple legacy founder!! so while dallas is freed of mantle of “tjol gen one”, ivory gets to don the “tjol+ gen two” crown 💛 i did a timeskip in-save and now we catch up with her fresh off of her graduation from ubrite 😌

i hope this can help explain a little bit of what’s happened and why the legacy has been all over the place! we’re sticking with ivory from here on out, who has a much more streamlined gen dhdh

morgan fyres, wolfgang munch, savannah price, cassandra goth, and gemma charm are ivory’s best friends since highschool. she used to date cass when they were still teens, but they cooled things off before going to college. now, ivory’s crush on savannah has been popping up in her mind from time to time… 👀 shingo sasaki (fifth pic) was ivory’s nanny from the moment she was born to the moment she grew into a teen! he was there since day one, and over the course of the years has woven his way into the kruegers’ lil unit of two. he’s wearing a ring because dallas proposed to him, not the other way around 🥹 he’s also the reason our girl is level 5 in komorebigo, and they exclusively gossip together in this language. (shingo has never learned simlish dhdhd he’s like level 4 and we love that for him) ivory calls him “toji” or “otoji” — basically “grandpa-dad”. cliff kiser (by @gothoffspring) and anaya jang (third pic) are dallas’ best friends and the first two sims outside of her parent and nanny that ivory ever made friends with! they’re solid figures in her life, and ivory views cliff as the fun-uncle-slash-father that she never had in ted!

(ivory has been thinking a lot about ted in-game, though: she’s been calling him to chat every day bc her “think about family member” dialogue is always him. i’m imagining that the motherfucker didn’t exactly go to any of her graduations 🙄 ted still doesn’t recognize ivory as legitimate, even if he was paying her child support and even if she’s met her half-sisters and they adore her!)

also like??? my baby dallas did so good, look at ivory’s traits 🥹 none of these were cheated in: dallas was just an absolute super parent!

[choicesmc]

I've been following you for a while, but the only one of your characters I feel like I know is Fiona. Who are your other favorites? Please gush away 🤭

Caro, love this ask! I'll take literally any chance to gush over Rin and Rams 🥺

I tend to talk more about Fiona than any of my others (though I’m slowly working on that!!) I’ve just had Fiona rotating in my brain for longer than my other two! 

I have two other MCs: Rams (the Elementalists) and Rin (the Freshman series but is not the MC for it). Rams I made for the book club event and Rin I made for the fun of it. 

RIN 

Where do I start? She’s amazing, she’s awesome, she’s possiblytheloveofmylife. She’s the only one where I’ve really sat down to write down her backstory [here]. I like her, she’s tough but still caring and kind –just in her own way. 

Rin’s main angle is a motive of control. For most of her life, her circumstances were beyond her control. She’s had to just roll with the punches life has given her which meant that when she did have control, Rin clung to it tighter than a mother beat with her cubs. Rin wants control, she wants to steer her life in a way that matters despite the world going out of its way to rip any semblance of control from her. 

A twin angle to her character is instability: her mom, her domestic life, her education –all were built on rough ground and could be taken/leave very easily. Even the positive relationships she’d built weren’t permanent. So Rin’s gotta act like nothing will last because nothing has  lasted. 

But like I said, despite all of that. Rin wants to be there in the way few were. She wants to be that janitor that quietly took care of you when your parents were hours late picking you up. She wants to be that one dude on the train that saved your regular seat for you when you ran late. She wants to be a small piece of kindness that you don’t stop thinking about. 

At her core, Rin wants to be good in a world that wasn’t good to her. I love her for it. 

RAMS 

Rams, Rams, Rams. Where to start with cos? Co is a little slippery to me, I won’t lie. But co’s got a solid center, just a bit harder for me to express right, I suppose?

When it comes down to it, she wants to be there for others. She wants to support everyone and be reliable and be their comfort. Rams wants the people around her to know that she’s always open to them —that she’ll always care about them even when she’s not caring about herself. 

The tiny problem? A lot of that isn’t reciprocated for a long time. Rams makes themself so so available to their detriment that often people just… forget the effort it takes to do that. It becomes natural to rely on them in a way that Rams loves but can’t keep up with. 

By the time, he’s in highschool Rams is running on empty. He can’t disappoint anyone, can’t not be there, can’t not care about them. Rams has to keep this going. In addition, he’s a good student: was labeled gifted in elementary and so suffers for it now. His deans toss all the hard classes to him and he’ll perform. He’ll do it with mild complaint because that’s how it has to be, right?  

It’s all reinforced by the idea that no one cares about co. As I said, the immense effort co puts into his relationships (at this point platonic, romantic are a different story that’ll throw me off track–) is not returned and the lack of praise or criticism co receives from Mr Erndheart (co’s guardian) affirms his belief that it doesn’t matter what happens to co as long as co can still survive. Pretty much ‘alive’ is all co expects for coself. Co could be unhappy, tired, hungry, etc (basically a Sim but all the bars are red all the time) and as long as co can hear co’s beating heart, it’s fine for Rams. 

Add that Rams doesn’t want to worry anyone. Blessedly, lack of sleep doesn’t show up to well on him so he plays it off when people notice. He takes extra care that he seems to be doing well even if he really is suffering behind the scenes. If he confesses that no, he’s just a swimming duck desperately trying to keep afloat then what can he provide? Who would take assurance from him? Who would he be reliable for? Who would stay around him? If anyone knew what he was, who would stay? 

In Penderghast, Rams is basically healing. Xe’s been tossed into a world xe doesn’t have any reference for where no one expects much from xim. And for the first time in forever, Rams just breaths. Exists with minimal responsibilities and starts to understand just how much stress xe’s put ximself under and I love that for xe. 

[weirdthoughtsandideas]

So I am planning that dcla consent video in my head atm. And I won't say I will talk about all of these things in order, but it's basically stuff I want to bring up.

I wanna start with discussing how these shows like to use "surprise kissing". Which basically means "I didn't know, or were prepared, for you to kiss me but I am fine with it". With this, we can start to see what was actually consentual and what was not.

Violetta did not know Leon was gonna kiss her in their first kiss, BUT she very much liked it and sees it as a happy memory. It became consentual.

Violetta technically kissed Leon without his consent in 3x06, since he was asleep. However, in this case it was to mimic the way it happens in fairytales, and I like the trope of the princess waking up the prince instead of reverse. Also, it did cause Leon to wake up, and HE does not seem to have minded this. And if we'd elaborate on this we'd have to dig in the whole fairytale kissing people sleeping problem. In the end: We'll let this slide because it was supposed to be a romantic fairytale moment and everyone involved was ok with it. But, please do not kiss sleeping people irl.

I don't think Yam was that prepared that Ramiro would kiss her in S1, but when she saw the situation he was in, she went from "WHAT are you doing?! >:(" to "Oh! I see you need to get out of this situation! Okay!"

Maggie randomly kissed Rey on several occasions without him being prepared, just to disguise what they were actually doing. I don't know if he was that ok with it but he let it slide.

Naty was quite shook when Maxi kissed her in 2x71 but she liked it seemingly and then wanted him to do it again so.

Angie and Germán have "surprise kissed" each other several times and like. Germán at least liked it. He's like a sim, he got kissed once and got in love and so now when you don't control him he's gonna go kiss the other sim automatically without you wanting to

Ludmila and Federico's first kiss is very unclear

I mean when Leon kissed Roxy he did it mid sentence of her trying to talk and tbh out of context he was kind of pushy when she tried to talk herself OUT of the situation, but that whole scene I feel like we should pass

And then there's moment where people are non-consentual and it leads to nothing.

Beto kissed a random lady, and he thought it was Jackie?? But HE WASN'T EVEN DATING JACKIE TO BEGIN WITH so even if it was her it would've been just as strange

Jade kisses Germán without his consent on multiple occasions. This does not lead to very much other than them being awkward and moving on from it.

I will discuss Benicio later. I don't know why Ámbar keeps forgiving him for assaulting her...

I will then proceed to discuss the cases on non-con kisses that affected the plot somehow. Starting with Andrea kissing Maxi without his consent in S1. Yeah, remember Andrea? She had 2 actresses for some reason. Anyway, she was played as completely delusional and kissed Maxi without his consent, and then HE got the blame for it. After discussing that case, I will be like "so that was just one case... but there's a BIGGER ONE" and then BAM, we cut to the Yo Soy Asi duet. I will have my big fair share about Diego here. Maybe I can go tease the Diego supremacists who thinks he's perfect and that "Violetta is not the victim" in S2. Also I'm gonna question Pablo as a teacher for even trying to enforce them kissing.

When I am done with the Diego rant, which will be glorious, we shall move over to Matteo. This will be epic fun. Especially since I know many Lutteo shippers LIKE the scene you know I will talk about. So I will be like "I know many would see this more as a surprise kiss... but it's not. I have heard the argument that 'Luna didn't pull away from him so she must not have been that uncomfortable'. So this is why I disagree with that:"

With Matteo done, I can just slip in about Emilia. "Now when this happened to him, these were the consequences". Emilia definitely needs to be held accountable for it and I am glad the show DID hold her accountable for it. But, it also feels weird that, when Matteo does it to a girl it's romantic and when a girl does it against him she gets held accountable immediately. I know it was different situations but STILL.

We can then move over to Michel. I will discuss how out of all three of Luna's love interests, only ONE of them have had their first kiss with her consentually.

Then we can go to Eric and how Nina and Luna sort of bond over being kissed without their consent ??? and continue to ship each other with the respective boy????????

Yes... then I will mention Felipe Diaz. Fuck that guy I hope Ludmila and Naty kissed each other in front of him while flipping him off and then threw him into the river.

And then Benicio. Of course <3 I will make sure to also mention the kiss at Dia de los muertos. That was a curious case where the kiss was intented to be consentual and then BECAME non-consentual when she realized who she kissed. Good job Benny boy.

Then I guess I'll just take things I've missed. Maybe I can mention Tomas' "Your kiss with Leon was my kiss" even if it doesn't have to do much with consent but rather just because I wanna complain about it

[kimbapisnotsushi]

who do you think is addicted to games on their phone? maybe which games?

ooooh this is a fun one!! let's get it!!

(also let's studiously ignore the fact that a lot of them would not have had smart phones you could play on in 2012 LMAAO)

kenma obviously and i think he's willing to try any game once - whether it's platformer, retro 8-bit style, romance visual novel, rhythm games, match 3, whatever. the fun is in the trying and seeing what the games hold, and who knows? he might find something he really likes!

he DOES have a few ultimate favorites tho he really likes pokemon go (which i maintain that EVERYONE has bc it's funny as hell that way) and mmmm i'd say some kind of rpg/mmorpg or story-driven game

(not including monster hunter bc we know he has that on a handheld already and i don't know if they have mobile games for that)

i think lev would be a big cookie run ovenbreak fan LMAAAO. it's a super easy gacha system and all the cookies have really fun designs and stories that never seem boring to him!! his favorite cookie is space doughnut cookie bc he thinks it's fucking hilarious that they have cookie aliens in the cookie universe

tendou really likes visual novels and will download every single one he finds, whether they're thirty minutes long or take days of playing through. he loooves a good story and cool art and being able to impact the plot, and isn't particularly picky about the genre - he just wants it to be fun!

osamu, fukunaga, and yukie are all avid players of food fantasy (which was developed by the same company who did love nikki dress-up) and if you've never heard of it i totally recommend it!! it's so much fun and has gorgeous characters/art and a fun story and fun events. i haven't played in a while bc updates can take up a lot of storage which i currently do not have (RIP) but it's the only game i consistently re-download other than candy crush and pokemon go LMAAAO

(yes it is about anthropomorphic foods. no i am not ashamed to admit i am in love with some of them. they are your friends and teammates and you can battle with them and it's SO MUCH FUN)

semi DOES play love nikki dress-up which tendou finds hilarious not because of toxic masculinity or whatever the fuck but because "eita HOW in the world do you get good scores you literally dress like a grandpa on our days off"

he also really likes the music!!

i think watari really likes farming/cozy village life sims and if it's the type where you can name the characters around you he names everyone after seijoh (and when he has even more characters than that he starts branching out to other teams LMAAAAO)

the mayor is oikawa obviously

the twins def have a game that they can challenge each other/co-op in so like maybe brawl stars or something??? aran has it too bc of fucking course they want to play with him and aran drags kita into it who drags oomimi who drags akagi and the twins get ginjima and suna to download it and so the whole of inarizaki basically has this one game they all play with each other and know a lil too well

bonus pics of some of my food fantasy crushes:

[soulful-simmer]

🌌

Milky Way 😁

What is the character development [process] like for your characters? Do they change a lot or not much at all?

Thank you for this question! 

I love the character development process because 1) I just love thinking about my characters and 2) I am always surprised at the outcome. 

My characters change quite a lot as I get further in the writing process. I start with a general idea of a character in terms of personality, motivations, fears, desires, etc. This is typically pretty broad and will become more granular as I write. Some characters I am able to see really clearly from the beginning and from there I just get to explore them more in-depth.  In this story, Orla is a character I found intriguing from early on, so I really leaned into her story. My original sense of her was mostly superficial, she was more conniving and almost an antagonist. But as I wrote, she developed into a very ambitious and nuanced character that I have only become more and more enamored with. Other characters remain more of an enigma, and I have to “get to know them” through the story. This is so fun for me because it is like I am finding out about them alongside the readers! Garyth is an example of one of the more enigmatic characters (which is ironic because he was basically the protagonist/main character when I started writing), and it was only deeper in the writing process that I began to understand him more. I started with the basic hero archetype, the idea of a strong warrior running from his past. But Garyth revealed himself to be so gentle and much more complex than I originally thought (as you will hopefully see soon). 

When you write, you get to ask really specific questions. How would this character handle this type of news? How would they react to their loved one’s betrayal? How would their morals clash with this situation? When you start asking more of these questions, the character really starts to show themselves. One thing I especially love about storytelling using sims is that I can also gain a lot from just playing the game and letting this add complexity to how I initially perceived the character. I can only hope that some of these nuances make it from my head to the page in a way that is valuable to the reader too :)

[mrszeoxin]

Cafe Enchante Review

This game is one that honestly I just saw on the Nintendo eShop and it looked so cute I had to play it. I didn’t know too much going in, just the game summary and trailer. So I know the MC inherits a cafe from a relative and it’s actually a magical cafe (kind of like Coffee Talk?). But in excited to play, using this as a pallet cleanser from BUSTAFELLOWS, plus just as a cozy game since it’s cold out and I wanted something cozy to play.

I’m going to play in the recommended play order which I’m pretty sure is also the order of their main chapters are in the common route. Speaking of, I loved the common route, but it is wayyy longer than the individual ones. Which I always think it’s a bummer when common route is longer than individual ones.

Canus

Oh my! I loved Canus so freaking much! I was really excited that he was first on the list as he definitely was who I was most curious about going into the game the first time. I think the concept of a headless love interest is so unique and fun, it definitely had me questioning how his route would look or work. Then on top of that he’s such a sweetie and such and kind and good hearted character. I really can’t think of a single thing I disliked about him.

He’s definitely the warm-hearted stoic type so if you like those characters and wanted a fun and magical twist then Canus is the perfect guy for you.

I love how they changed the color of his flame to represent different emotions, and found it impressive how well they could communicate how he was feeling without a head. It was really impressive and super creative. On top of that, I loved his story and world, it was all so unique and fun. He is from the world of fairies which is so cute, and a lot is based on western fairy lore which is unique for an otome game. On top of that some aspects of this route reminded me of Sailor Moon R, which since I loved that as a kid, being reminded of that made it feel extra special.

Overall I love Canus a lot, and while I’m definitely interested in the other guys, I really wonder if they’ll be able to pass Canus as my favorite because I just love this guy so much!

Rindo

I decided to play him second because I honestly wanted to just get his route over with. I’m sure he’s a great guy but realistic age gaps weird me out way more than impossible ones. Also his “chapter” is second, and I’m basically following that original chapter order. But honestly I wasn’t very excited going into his route, and maybe that’s not fair, but he’s just the least interesting and his age gap weirds me out the most (some people like age gaps and probably would like him because of that, but personally I like it when they are either close to my age or so crazy older because they are immortal it doesn’t even matter lol).

Okay rant time. I started this review in January, but the first episode of Rindo’s route made me so upset I literally stoped playing for three months 😭. So spoilers ahead.

I really didn’t like this route. I already wasn’t a Rindo fan, and then add the main conflict for his route and I was UPSET. I had a feeling since the main route that Kuu was a nonhuman, to me that much was obvious. HOWEVER, I was not expecting Kuu to be dating Akira, and to be Rindo’s sister 😭. That reveal at the end of episode one literally made me stop playing because I was so upset. It took a lot to come back to this game after that.

But I forced myself to come back and finish Rindo’s route, and oh boy, it just kept getting worse. I think it is really cruel and unethical to keep Kuu alive. It was a totally selfish act, and while the game does address that, it still made me very upset and uncomfortable. They then parallel this with Rindo and MC, when MC forces Rindo to become nonhuman. It made me so upset. It was like “no consent the dating sim”. I’m not usually a stickler for that stuff, but it actually made me very upset. I know it’s fictional and it’s meant to be a good story, but I just hated it. It made me miserable and uncomfortable. It made me not like MC, and it really soured my view on the game. This is like if you were unconscious but had expressed not wanting a certain treatment prior, and then your significant other forces it on you knowing your against it. It’s just so messed up, and I know it’s addressed as being messed up, but I just couldn’t vibe with it. Not to mention Rindo got even uglier when he became nonhuman which is so stupid 😭. I’m just glad it’s over, and I’m sorry for being a hater, but I had to say it.

Ignis

Now see I’m excited to play Ignis’ route. He reminds me of Kyo from Fruits Basket, who I had such a big crush on growing up. So because of that I’m super excited to play his route. Plus he’s just really funny, and seems really sweet. He’s also closest to MC’s age which is nice. So because of all these things I’m really excited to play his route next. I really hope I like it more than Rindo’s 😩.

As expected I really loved Ignis’ route. He’s such a big softie, and he’s so cute. I laughed, I cried, I felt so much as I played. Now I won’t lie, this route has some disturbing and gorey parts. But I love Ignis so much, and this route was really compelling. It had so much intrigue and things that built on one another. I just really liked the story, it really had me at the edge of my seat the whole time. Also we got so much Kororo content, which I absolutely adored! I just really liked this route, so far it’s my favorite 🥹 it’s just so good I really can’t put it into words. 💕💕💕

Il

I’m super excited for Il’s route. His appearance isn’t what I’m usually drawn to, but his character design is so unique, and similar to Canus I don’t think I’ve ever seen a character like him. Not to mention his obsession with otome games is so endearing and he’s such a cutie. So overall I have been really excited to get to play his route.

Oh my lord. This route actually destroyed me. First off, I just want to say, I love Il, like I love him so much, he’s so precious, and he deserves the world. I enjoyed this route, it was so good, but it absolutely destroyed me emotionally. I was screaming, I was crying, I was ugly sobbing, I was laughing, I was squealing. I felt so much while playing this route, which feels extra fitting since it has a focus on emotions.

I will say, the assistant thing didn’t surprise me, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. But wow. I just don’t even know what to say. I wanted to actually slap MC in the face at the climax/ending of chapter two, because honestly, how dare she?! But honestly this route was extremely good, and Il might be my favorite 😅. Don’t get me wrong I still loved Canus and Ignis, in fact Ignis is still a close second in my heart. But oml, Il’s story just really hit me, and even though I don’t usually like characters that look like him, this was truly such an exception. He’s so beautiful, and so kind, and so pure, with so much potential! I’m just upset we couldn’t see more of their lives together.

One thing that stood out to me though, was how similar Il’s route was to Shiraishi’s route in Collar X Malice. I feel like their backgrounds and stories have a lot of similarities. The difference being that they have very different personalities. But I would say their backgrounds are very similar, and they are both very pure and deserve so much better. But I am curious if anyone else noticed how similar these two are, because once I started to notice it, I just saw so many similarities between the two.

But overall, I really did love Il’s route, and I really do love him. Out of all of their routes, his makes me the most upset that this game doesn’t have a sequel/fan disk. Because I just want to see more fluff with Il and MC, to just be happy and domestic with each other. I think I deserve it after crying so much lol.

Misyr

So Misyr is last since he’s locked until you play all other routes at least once. He’s the main guy/poster boy for the game, and the prologues heavily hint about his route. Honestly, I don’t hold anything against Misyr, he has a lot of great lines and seems like a very caring guy. I love his relationship with Il in particular. But for whatever reason I just wasn’t super excited for his route. Maybe it’s because most poster boys/true routes aren’t my favorite? Or maybe it’s just because I was just drawn so much to Canus, Ignis, and Il, that I wasn’t as excited. Honestly, I’m not completely sure. But I’m going to play it, and I’m hoping I’m pleasantly surprised. However, I am now worried his route might also be depressing and dark after seeing how the others have been, and based on what we see in the main story and prologue. But I guess we’ll see, and I’ll be back once I’ve finished.

So I feel very conflicted. On one hand I do like Misyr as a character, and the overall plot was very interesting and had me constantly wondering what was going to happen. However, I really don’t tend to like “true” ending routes, and unfortunately his route did a lot of that “true” ending stuff I just don’t like. Mainly, the fact that my poor baby boy Il had to go through all that suffering AGAIN. Like oml can’t he catch a freaking break 😭. But also the ending was pretty sad, and yet it also kind of felt like a cop out? Like I just feel all over the place. I didn’t hate him, or the route, but I just couldn’t find it as enjoyable as other routes. And even though it was definitely sad and heartbreaking, it didn’t emotionally impact me as much as Il’s route. So I think unfortunately Misyr is just another victim of the poster boy and true ending syndrome. Where the writers want to tie every previous story together, and spends so much time on the plot and other characters, you don’t really have time to focus on their romance. Which personally makes their unyielding love less believable. This is definitely a personal preference thing, and so I think if you like when all endings are tied together you’d probably like it more. Also if Misyr was your #1 pick you’ll probably also like it more. But for me I just don’t think it was a great fit.

Overall

Playing this game was such a journey. As I mentioned before I started playing this in January then had to take multiple months off before finishing it in April. I thought this was just going to be a cute cozy supernatural dating sim, that has a unique cast of characters. Which to be fair, the music, sound effects, voice acting, the CGs and artwork, it was all so stunning. It was an amazing game and there are so many things I really loved about it.

However, this game can get pretty dark and depressing, which I wasn’t really expecting. I think if I knew that going into the game I could have managed my expectations more, but because I didn’t it was a huge shock and definitely took a toll on me. So I wish someone had warned me 😅.

Overall, I did really like this game. It’s probably one of my favorite switch otome games I’ve played since Collar X Malice. So I would definitely recommend it. I was kind of sad to see it doesn’t seem to have an active fandom, like I couldn’t find many fanfic or fan art of the game, which made me sad. As far as rankings go I think my favorite, in order from most to least liked would be; Il, Ignis, Canus, Mystr, then Rindo. Which honestly going into the game I thought Mystr or Ignis was going to be my favorite, so Il was definitely a pleasant surprise. But I really enjoyed all the routes, except for Rindo’s, personally.

So that’s my thoughts! I’ll be graduating this week, so if I get some free time before getting a job, I’m planning on playing Cupid’s Parasite, next since I’ve heard that’s one is like a rom-com. And I definitely want a fun light hearted game after all this crying.

[beepborpdoodledorp]

Yeah...I have no idea what to think about this.

The entirety of the new update just seems...unnecessary? Of course there’s nothing wrong with updates that just act as cute filler - we just got one - but this entire thing just seems to have come from out of the blue. As in, there are no connecting threads to anything from before. Everything from last year had something intertwining them - Cookie Odyssey was a transition into the next wave of the main story that included or mentioned basically every important character, Duskgloom made an NPC from Odyssey a playable character and gave him his own story, Tales Around the Fireplace acted as a sequel to The Frost Witch and the Lantern in the Snow, Invitation From the Slumbering Moon/Eternal City of Wizards followed up on the plan the Council had established in Odyssey, etc. Even filler stuff at least made sense - Cherry Blossom came during spring, Macaron, a musician with a Christmas aesthetic, came in the middle of the BTS update and to foreshadow the Christmas update, Prophet came to give New Year’s Fortune’s, etc.

This, is, uh...what’s the connecting thread here? Who are any of these people? Why should I care about them? Sure, Parfaedia and the Creme Republic are mentioned, but that’s basically the only thing that’s connected to anything else, and both of the new Cookies associated with these cities haven’t even so much as been foreshadowed before. Companies like these make their updates months in advance, would it be too much to ask to even vaguely hint at the new paladin Cookie during Cookie Odyssey? Like, seriously, who are these people? Is the new Super Epic’s school Scovilla connected to Dragon’s Valley or the Mala Sauce Tribe in any way? I sure hope so, because otherwise it would just see disjointed from everything else. How is the Triple Cone Cup a ‘historic event’ that has been going on for decades if we’ve never even heard it mentioned before? At least with things like the Creme Republic never being mentioned before that had significance for a reveal that some Cookies managed to survive Dark Enchantress’ attack on the Vanilla Kingdom and were able to co-create the Creme Republic with the sea-faring Cookies that were already there. Why is Triple Cone Cup?? Why is any of this?? To make a Harry Potter reference? Like 20% of your fanbase is trans! I don’t think we want a Harry Potter reference!

Also, from what little we have the April Fool’s gag seems...kind of lame. At least in comparison to what we got last year. Poking fun at dating sims/high school rom-coms could be a neat idea but the entire concept is just ripe for potential of making fun of the fanbase’s shipping culture. CRK’s Twitter might have a great engagement with the fans, but the Twitter people don’t make the game, and I honestly have my doubts about if this is going to be a light-hearted jab or just cynical.

The other stuff seems neat enough. Mala Sauce seems like a bit of a weird pick for a Magic Candy, but it does fit well enough with the theme and the poor woman is in desperate need of a buff. Squirrel Shop’s coming back...that’s cool, I guess.

I don’t know, maybe I’m just being more pessimistic than usual because of all the shit happening over in Ovenbreak right now. Maybe I should just skip the entire update - I stopped playing Ovenbreak so I can’t really help with boycotting the new update by not playing it, but in the cases of either game I really don’t feel like giving Devsisters a tick up in their player base activity.

[liloinkoink]

anyway i wrote a fun little edit to actually include my ideas for Grian from the treesekai fic. so here’s the Scar scene quickly rewritten to have that now in the middle

Martyn watches Impulse and his chaperone go with a smile, then turns his eyes back to the crowd. There’s really only one person Martyn has yet to see, and the more he thinks about it, the more sure he is that the final option is his best one.

Silver-tongued and shady, Scar Goodtimes, advisor to the King. Scar is a fan-favorite, charming and funny. He dresses more colorfully than even the royal options, and if one plays his route, they’ll find him strongly implied to have some kind of magical ability that is never fully elaborated on.

Though he seems incompetent at first glance, all wide smiles and clumsy movements, it’s a cover for the fact he’s been blatantly skimming off the top of the King’s coffers for years.

His bad end is probably the most tame, simply landing him in jail for money laundering. That in itself is proof of Scar’s insidiously skillful speech, of course, talking himself out of even the gallows.

Even if Martyn follows the bad end exactly, no one has to die, which gives him the most wiggle room to try to wrench free a happy ending for the King. And, honestly, Scar probably should be in jail, anyway, on account of the ridiculous amount of money he’s stolen.

But bloodless doesn’t mean easy. When Martyn finally spots Scar’s ridiculous purple jacket and striped pants across the room, he’s standing beside the main problem with his route: Grian.

Scar’s route is especially difficult because, unlike the other three love interests, Scar’s story has two villains: Ren, a rival for Bdubs’s affections; and Grian, a rival for Scar’s.

Grian and Scar already have something brewing in this point in the story, though it hasn’t yet been acted on. Hell, if the player picks any route other than Scar’s and approaches the bad end, Scar and Grian will skip town with all of Scar’s stolen funds, exacerbating any existing problem for Ren and Bdubs—forcing the player to consider the possibility of war with the Crastle, for example, with a significant loss in funds to support the country through it.

If the player picks Scar’s route, then they have Grian to deal with. And christ, is that guy a pain in the ass.

He’s much closer to the normal sort of villain you’d see in any other dating sim, trying to sabotage the player for the sake of securing Scar’s heart. Petty insults and slights which quickly escalate until Grian very nearly sets Bdubs on fire toward the middle of the Scar route, making for one of the route’s most climactic moments of drama.

Not to mention he’s basically nonexistent in any other route, which makes Martyn even less willing to convince Bdubs to pursue Scar. If Martyn does pursue that route, he’s going to have to contend with playing the game with an actual antagonist, a factor that will otherwise be absent if he’s trying to help the character who is usually AtPM’s one and only villain.

But then again, Bdubs didn’t have any help in his route. Now he’ll have Martyn, however self-serving and dishonest Martyn’s motives may be. Perhaps having someone on his side will make the secondary villain easier to manage.

And, again, it’s not like anyone dies. Even if Martyn fails to manage the second villain, Bdubs and Scar and even Grian will survive. The King will survive.

In the end, Scar really is the best option.

With his target and ending in mind, all Martyn has to do is find Bdubs and engineer a first meeting himself.

Really, how late could the guy possibly be?

[og fic here]

[yellowocaballero]

i found a product description talking about "the unwavering support [Chrom and Dimitri] offer each other amidst the trials they face" (idk what game this is... maybe fire emblem warriors??) so i gotta ask. what do you think of Chrom/Dimitri.

I think the FE Franchise puts all of its little guys in a little phone and shakes them around in the same box. Which, alright. I feel like it would work better if more than maybe two or three FE games have very strong characters and characterizations, but live your truth. My main experience with FE is Super Smash Bros, the genesis of American FE. Maybe that's the way it was meant to be.

Personally, I've really only fully played Awakening (a long time ago.) and FE3H. But Awakening was actually pretty crucial to my enjoyment to FE3H, and Dimitri in particular - when I first saw him, I really easily wrote him off as 'oh, he's the Chrom - bland, unassuming, generically nice and friendly, lots of speeches about friendship, princely and heroic'. Admittedly, Awakening was my one and only moment of deep and vicarious heteroromantic heterosexuality, but also F!Robin/Chrom was just the strongest relationship for the narrative, so I threw my hat in on romancing Dimitri for the sake of the narrative too (FE3H is MUCH less dating sim than Awakening, as I found out, but it's all about the internal narrative, baby - I was writing Weekenders in my head the entire time).

And then Dimitri went full Mask Off and revealed himself as a uhhhhhh somewhat very very bad person lol. And THEN I got unironically invested lmfaooo. But it was because of Chrom (and Marth, and Roy, and Sigurd) that I had that very basic expectation that was subverted in a very fun way.

So...I could never ship them, because a) how could I break up the happy family of Me My Husband Our Adult Daughter From The Future And Our Adult Son From The Future, and b) Dimitri would rather eat Chrom than have sex with him.

Now that Rosetta Headstone is up I can actually say: Dimitri is, like, my fourth or fifth favorite FE3H character. He's actually behind Yuri, Claude, Felix, and maybe Sylvain. I know. Seriously. Admittedly, I do have the most thoughts about him and Byleth by a mile.

[bunbeeplays]

The Lemon Legacy: Generation 1, Chapter 46 - Some Therapeutic Truth

Ophelia finds she's really comfortable talking to Omari, even about stuff she's never told anyone other than her gran.

Ophelia: You're probably going to want me to talk about my family eventually, huh?

Omari: Perhaps. We're going at your own pace, though. This isn't a race.

Omari: Why don't we start with this for today's conversation. What made you consider re-traiting sessions in the first place?

Ophelia: I got caught trying to swipe something.

Omari: Hmm. If you don’t mind, was it by a townie or someone you know?

Ophelia: It was Xander.

Omari: Ah. Your woohoo partner, correct?

Ophelia: Yeah. He got really upset.

Omari: A lot of klepto Sims get an embarrassed moodlet when they get caught, I’m sure it was the same for you.

Ophelia: I’d never felt so humiliated in all my life. Xander’s such a sweet guy, I hated that I made him so upset. Before, swiping was just something fun I did that felt harmless but when he thought I might have been stealing from his sister… it made me feel disgusting.

Ophelia: It was such a stupid thing too, I got mad and tried to steal something from a former coworker that screwed us over and he walked in. Of course it was the one time I wasn't stealing from some random ownerless community lot.

Omari: These things can happen for a reason.

Ophelia: What do you mean?

Omari: It’s to my understanding that Xander is the one who recommended you to this office. If he hadn’t caught you, would you be here right now?

Ophelia: No, I guess not.

Omari: Sometimes it takes a wake up call to realize things need to change.

Omari: It sounds like Xander means a lot to you.

Ophelia: He does. We have fun together. My bandmates say we don’t do it right though.

Omari: Can you clarify what you mean by ‘it’? I’m assuming you’re not referring to the act of woohoo itself.

Ophelia: They said we’re not being woohoo partners right.

Omari: Did either of them explain why?

Ophelia: According to them, woohoo partners don’t kiss because that’s only a romantic thing, but I have so much fun kissing him! And he likes kissing me too.

Omari: Hmm. Well, you two are consenting adults. If you like kissing him and neither of you consider it to be romantic, then that’s your prerogative. Kissing releases serotonin, which is why it feels nice.

Ophelia: So I’m good? My bandmates are wrong and they suck?

Omari: Well, I have another question. If you had a different woohoo partner, would you also kiss them? Kissing could potentially feel good with anyone, but perhaps a more personal connection is enhancing that urge to kiss, and subsequently woohoo, in the first place.

Ophelia: I don’t know. Maybe. I have a hard time imagining it. It’s such a personal thing, I’d only want to do it with someone I trust.

Omari: Like Xander.

Ophelia: Yeah.

Omari: Woohoo is a very intimate act. Being that vulnerable can be hard unless you care about someone.

Ophelia: Drew and Moses think Xander and I are basically dating now.

Omari: Because you kiss?

Ophelia: Well, he also stays the night a lot. And we eat breakfast together. And dinner most of the time. And he’s met my friends. And we cuddle. And he called me pumpkin butt once.

Omari: I see. Would you like my opinion as your therapist or as Omari?

Ophelia: Uh, let’s give Omari a shot.

Omari: Honey, you two are dating.

Ophelia: Shit.

Ophelia goes to the gym, without her Hot Girls, to clear her mind.

Don: Good job, keep at it!

Ophelia: Sorry, dude. I'm allegedly in a relationship.

Don: Don't flatter yourself, I'm the gym trainer. It's my job to encourage randos.

Ophelia: Oh.

Well, I'll give Don Lothario this, he is actually a pretty good gym trainer. His fitness tips distract Ophelia from her current issues well enough, at least.

On her way home, Ophelia stops by La Coppia Serena to play a melody that's been knocking around her head for a couple of days. She's always wanted to write her own music, but it never came as naturally as it seems to right now. Maybe something's inspired her.

It's midnight by the time Ophelia walks to the beach by her house. It's a beautiful night. She lays in the sand and gazes at the moon, the sound of the nearby waterfalls soothing her nerves from thinking about the conversation she knows she's going to have with Xander tomorrow.