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mercemerry · 4 years

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( maya hawke, trans female, she/her, fire emblem: three houses ) * &. i know it must be scary for you, leonie pinelli, after surviving the takeover. to turn into someone like leighanne “leigh” phillips, a twenty-five year-old pool lifeguard at the delmare & student at castle town university, right here in castle town. just remember that you are as honest as you are competitive, and to be wary, be safe, be true to who you are : neutral through and through. ( hywia )

hey howdy hey what’s UP my DEERS ( please don’t murk me ) i’m back with . . . hopefully my last character for a while ?? i don’t really have any plans for anyone else as of Yet - leonie is a character i,,, absolutely adore but never thought i’d pick up in the beginning but holy HELL i love her and i’m so excited to write her and i’m here to defend her from all slander. click for more abt her under the cut !!

BEFORE THE SNAP / L E O N I E P I N E L L I .

soooOOOOO. okay. in FE3H , Leonie is a student of the Golden Deer house/class and like a few of the other students , she’s a commoner instead of a noble. and right off the bat you find out one thing - that she’s an apprentice of Byleth’s father , Jeralt , and he’s her hero and she idolizes him.

this !! was from an instance where Jeralt stopped by her little hunting village and rescued the people of her village from poachers ; he basically taught Leonie a few things she knows , and she referred to herself as his apprentice since.

it was because of him that Leonie knew what she wanted to do - she wanted to be mercenary , especially one that could succeed the man she idolized.

so flash forward to years later at Garreg Mach’s Officers Academy - Leonie got in through her entire village basically paying for her to go , and for that she baaaasically accumulated a lot of debt from it. she’s really frugal with her money because of this. but turns out !! jeralt’s there , and he brings his kid , byleth , with him , and leonie sort of forms a one-sided rivalry with them since they’re pretty much the next-gen and Leonie wants to prove she’s on-par with them , if not better , because they’re pretty much Jeralt 2.0 in terms of fighting premise and that was Leonie’s goal.

eventually , though , this rivalry turns into Leonie being attached to Byleth through mutual grieving once ( spoiler alert ) Jeralt bites the dust , as well as Leonie making a promise to Jeralt that she’d watch over Byleth if anything happened to him - essentially , filling Jeralt’s role , but not in the exact way she expected.

a few cool things !! leonie is really skilled in hunting & fighting - she makes a very good cavalry unit with skills in lance & archery - i’m setting her up to be my bow knight on my current playthrough - and holy hell she has a LOT she can boast about. she’s just a really good unit and could probably level a battlefield by herself with minimal grinding in-game.

her personality is very honest & truthful , but blunt in a sense that more often than not , even if the situation doesn’t call for it , she WILL speak her mind and give brutal honesty if she believes in it. sometimes , she’ll immediately say what she’s thinking , even if it’s here jumping to conclusions or snapping impulsively. i... honestly really adore that about her , since it’s not very similar to me , but i kinda wish i had her bravery in that sense.

but hOLY HELL is she determined & hardworking and she’s actually a pretty cool person - she’s what i call a chaotic lawful because she’s,,,, a subtle kind of chaotic that still has her own code. she’s also REALLY GOOD at managing her time & money and kind of sees every single opportunity she has to train and work hard and yeah leonie is no fucking slouch and we gotta stan that.

she’s one of the gd members who regularly says ‘fuck’ but also ‘watch your fucking language’ if, like, lysithea or sb swears. the one who probably contributes to as many chaotic fuckshit shenanigans as she tries to fix.

anyways i’m gay and i am sOOOOO excited to write her !! i’m not exactly dECIDED yet in what path i want to pull her from out of either verdant wind or crimson flower , since i love leonie staying with the deer and can’t really see her wanting to ally with the people who killed her mentor ( twsitd , who worked with the empire briefly ) but also a timeline where she follows byleth and fulfills her promise to jeralt - who was also extremely suspicious of the church. it’s INTERESTING and i haven’t figured it out yet.

also she’s a chaotic bi bc i’m a chaotic bi that loves to project.

also okay i just also wanna say pls no. ‘leonie wanted to [REDACTED] ur dad’ jokes they kinda,,, sorta,,, make me rly uncomfortable esp since leonie sees jeralt as pm her mentor and Nothing More so if u could just refrain from tht i would b !! grateful.

AFTER THE SNAP / L E I G H P H I L L I P S .

okay soooOOOOOOO. trigger warnings here for parental death & murder.

so she survived the takeover , and remembers all of the events of her past life , but . . . leigh phillips did not have a good time here in castle town.

she grew up firstly with a family who wasn’t doing so well - they were happy , certainly , but they lived in a bad part of delaware & it wasn’t the best scenario because there were a lot of times leigh went without basic needs. but they made it , it was okay.

thought things really changed when leigh was a teenager , just shy of sixteen years old when her parents were murdered during a home invasion & she was the only survivor.

still a minor - scared & alone - she was taken in by a family friend and her husband who were perhaps waaaay more well-off than she was. this essentially was a tragic rags-to-riches story , where a girl who had nothing lost everything she had , but was taken in by a loving home that gave her everything she ever wanted.

and in castle town , that sorta-kinda was her reputation. she was coddled & cared for by her foster parents and didn’t really have to do anything to support herself - she got a job at the local rich people hotel as a lifeguard , but she didn’t need it. she had a full ride in college paid for by her foster family & anything she asked for.

THEN SHE WAKES UP.

wakes up as in , she wakes up with this new past & life in castle town and the thing is . . . leonie ?? isn’t a fan of living the rich kid life. isn’t a fan of not having to work. isn’t a fan of allowing herself to be coddled & protected & sheltered and basically have everything served to her on a silver platter.

she finds out how this happened and while she doesn’t condemn the people who took her in - because they are good people - she starts defying it in any other way. she starts working odd jobs at other places and saving any penny she gets. and this is weird , because everyone else in castle town knows her as this spoiled rich girl who would get all of the best things she wanted and now ?? she wants to live on her own ?? support herself ?? she’s shopping at walmart and the thrift store ??

hell yeah.

leigh’s whole mission is to pretty much break away from that reputation that was created for her in this fake life ; and that , in turn , basically has her trying to morph back into one more like home. she currently is living by herself , but is still employed at the delmare since , yeah , it’s a job , and any job will do. but she doesn’t really want to rely on her foster parents anymore for support , since they did a lot for her but she doesn’t like the idea of overstaying her welcome.

so it’s sorta-kinda a case of leigh is acting . . . VERY DIFFERENT from how she would prior to her realizing she’s actually leonie pinelli from fodlan and not someone else. so it’s gonna be a reALLY interesting dynamic to play and i’m so so SO excited for it.

anyways !! i’m gonna be heading to bed , but tomorrow i’ll be back for plotting & stuff and will do some replies/starters and maybe even some wcs to get the ball rolling for my girl !! love y’all xoxo

#castletown.intro #abt tag tbd #death tw #parental death tw #murder tw #if i missed anything lmk !!

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peachymhaechan · 5 years

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“You have to do better than that, darling.”

Genre: angst to fluff, street racer! au

Warnings: language, drinking, smoking, and I have a very limited knowledge of cars lol pls don’t come for me in the replies

Pairing: lee jeno x reader

Summary: Lee Jeno was one of the best (if not the best) street racers in Seoul. All of that changes when a new racer joins the scene, that racer going by the name Y/N. Will Jeno be able to hold onto his title, or will newcomer and naturally talented Y/N dethrone him?

Author’s Note: hey y’all, I've been dying to write this for a while now, so here ya go. school is finally out so at this point all i’m doing is getting ready for tsa nationals (if u know what that is, you’re a real one lol) and working, so I have a lot more time on my hands to write stuff!! if you want something specific, just send a request or something!!

Fog curled around your vision, making it difficult to navigate the back streets of Seoul you had only ventured through a few times before. Factor in that it was well after eleven pm, and the whole thing seemed even more daunting. Rain gently fell down and ran into your eyes, and you hoped it would stop soon. After all, rain would have put a damper on your big splash into the new street racing scene.

Music playing from the speakers in your Mazda MX 5 Miata, you quietly rolled through the streets until eventually, you found it. You knew you reached your destination when there was more and more chatter from excited people who, albeit, were shady looking.

And as much as you hated to admit it, you were shady looking, too.

There was no denying that fact, seeing as you relied on illegal street racing to stay afloat.

Having been in only one race beforehand, you were still new to this whole racing thing. Most people would have called you insane if they knew you went to Seoul for your second race. Even if you won your first race, no logical person would head all the way to Seoul for their second, no matter how big the first race was.

Pedestrians moved out of the way, pointing and whispering as you drove past. They had heard rumors that a new racer would be there tonight, which definitely helped raise attendance and betting. Hey, that means either more money to get and people to impress, or more money to not get and people to embarrass yourself in front of.

You drove to the finish line, front tires behind it and turned your music off. Leaving the car on and in park, you got out and tried to find whoever was in charge there. To your understanding, it changed every night, but some of your friends from the races in Busan had told you that you should look for a man named Taeyong, or a younger guy named Mark. Apparently, Taeyong had pink hair and Mark had black hair, and neither of those pieces of information helped you much, because everyone there had outrageously dyed or black hair. Great.

You must have seemed lost, because a group of boys your age approached you. “Hey, you new here?” the tallest one asked, with a quirked brow and boys following him. Don’t let them see that you’re nervous. Head held high, chin up, shoulders rolled back. Just because this place is unfamiliar doesn’t mean it should be scary, a race is a race no matter what, you thought.

Looking up at the boy and staring him directly in the eyes, you said, “Yes, I am. My name is Y/N and I’m looking for either Mark Lee or Lee Taeyong. Do you know where I can find them?” Crossing your arms over your jacket clad chest, you stared down the group of guys in front of you. The tallest had a head of blond hair, the kid right next to him had bright pink hair, making him seem younger than he actually was. There was a boy with raven locks who gave you one hell of a death glare, right by a boy exuding confidence and charm with peach hair. He gave you a wink as your eyes rolled to the one with sun kissed skin and highlights of pinks, greens, and much more in his delicately styled hair.

Finally, your eyes landed on the last boy there, and everything about him screamed cockiness. He looked like he was at ease, at home, there, and it made him comfortable. So comfortable, in fact, that he could get away with anything. And if that meant picking up what he called die hard fans every night for a good time, then so be it, that’s what he was going to do. His lean figure towered over you, staring you down, and it dawned on you that you’d be racing against him. Immediately, the list of names your friends in Busan gave you of the top racers in Seoul ran through your mind: Na Jaemin, Huang Renjun, Lee Haechan, Kim Doyoung, Wong Yukhei, Johnny Seo, Nakamoto Yuta, and Lee Jeno. Most importantly, Lee Jeno, seeing as he was practically the reigning champion, having lost only two races out of all twenty eight he had been in during his tenure. And, it became even more intimidating when you recalled that he was your age.

You knew right away that that was Lee Jeno.

“Ah, Mark hyung is over that way, if you’ll follow me. I’m Jisung, by the way,” the tall boy told you, finally giving you a name to pair with his face. The rest of the boys stayed behind, whispering and shooting you glances as you walked away.

“Yo, Mark!” Jisung exclaimed as you two approached a young guy with black hair and ink curling around underneath his skin. Despite his stereotypical intimidating nature, his eyes lit up and a huge grin broke out on his face at the sight of Jisung, and that scary façade fell away at once. He caught sight of you, and asked, “Are you the flag girl for tonight?”

You tried to not be insulted, but you couldn’t help but to lace venom in your voice as you responded, “No, I’m not. I’m Y/N, I will be racing tonight.” Mark broke out into an even bigger grin and asked, “So you’re Jeno’s competition for the night?” Obviously confused because each race had at the minimum of three racers, Mark took note of your raised brow and said, “Wong Yukhei will be competing tonight, too, but he isn’t any competition for Jeno. Make sure to kick Jeno’s ass, Lord knows the kid needs it.”

“Don’t worry, I was planning on it. Otherwise I wouldn't be here.”

“YOOOOO, I like her, man!” Mark exclaimed, clapping and hitting Jisung’s arm, who stood there laughing. They both stood there for two minutes just cackling. When Mark composed himself after a bit, he said, “Alright, let’s get down to the business part of this, I need all the information on your past races, your car, all that jazz that you can give me. For starters, what kind of car do you have?”

“A black Mazda MX 5 Miata.”

“Oooooh, dope, dude! Where are you from and where have you previously raced?”

“Busan.”

“Okay, and how many races were you in there?”

Gulping, you said, “One.”

Silence. Mark and Jisung took a step back in confusion and Mark repeated the question to make sure he heard you correctly. “One. One race,” you repeated, confirming what he thought he heard.

“Okay.... and how did you place?”

“First, with the second place competitor reaching the finish line twenty minutes after me.”

“Holy shit, okay. How old are you?”

“Eighteen.”

“Not to go all mom on you, but are you sure you should be doing something so dangerous this young?” Mark asked, writing everything down with a concerned look on his face.

“It’s either this or deal with my family, and I refuse to go back to them. I’d rather you act like my mom than my actual mother,” you told him, making him raise a brow in response. “Fair enough. I don’t know you, but I feel that one,” Mark said, finishing everything up.

“Okay, I have everything I need. The race starts in about half an hour, park your car right next to that red Toyota Supra, and get ready. Oh, and good luck!” With that, Mark waved you two goodbye, and ran off to one of the boys you saw earlier, yelling, “RENJUN! TELL THIS TO THE BETTERS!”

“So, only one race, huh?” Jisung asked, falling into step with you as you walked to your car. “Yep, only one,” you told him, already preparing for the same dialogue you had with yourself.

“Why did you decide to come here if you’ve only been in the Busan races? Well, race, really.” Jisung kicked a rock by his feet, looking down at you and occasionally waving to people as you guys walked by. “Well, I don’t know if you’ve been to the Busan races, but they’re surprisingly large. Your race here has a minimum of three racers and rarely get more than that because the route is so intimidating. In Busan, there is a minimum of fifteen racers because the track is moderate, so the people in charge rely on the high amount of competitors to make it difficult. The route in Busan normally takes forty minutes, it took me twenty. Driving is easy for me, it has been ever since I started. I figured why not come out here and at least try, you know? Even if I lose tonight, at least I know what to expect when I eventually come back.”

Jisung absorbed your words, and instead of calling you stupid like you thought he would, he said, “That’s pretty smart, Y/N.” A small smile made its way onto your face and you replied, “Thank you. You’re the first person in a long time to say that.”

Jisung looked like he wanted to push the topic, but decided it’d be better to just drop it and wish you luck. “Good luck tonight. Oh, I agree with what Mark said earlier, too; kick some ass.” He turned on his heel and left, giving you the opportunity to relax some before the race started. Instinctively, you pulled out the pack of cigarettes in the glovebox and placed one between your teeth, lighting it and puffing out curling smoke. Your phone provided a much needed distraction and you were so lost in your own little world that you didn’t notice the person standing in front of you until the cigarette was taken out of your mouth and put in his.

Taking a drag, Lee Jeno looked down at you from between his dark lashes, and stared you down for a bit. “Take a picture if you like the view that much,” you quipped, his behavior annoying the shit out of you. You were hoping that line would frustrate him, but all it did was get him started. A small smirk went on his face and you knew you were in for it.

“You know, I came over here to wish you luck because you’ll need it, but I think I’m going to take it back,” he explained, smirking an infuriating smirk. “Oh, what a shame. Maybe I should be wishing you luck instead. After all, I am a nobody. Who knows what I am capable of doing?” You knew you got him there, so you took your cigarette back and held eye contact with him while waiting for a response.

His tongue poked his cheek out and he chuckled, looking at you and then the ground, back at you again. “You sure do seem confident for someone I’ve never heard of.” That put a smile on your face, simply saying, “Trust me, you’ll hear of me after tonight.” You took the cigarette out of your mouth and stepped on the butt, smearing the wet ground with ash.

“Good luck, Jeno,” you said as you opened your car door and got in, finding a playlist for the ride. Deciding on a song by Childish Gambino, you rolled your neck and tried to focus. Two minutes later, a new car pulled up to you on your right and presumably Wong Yukhei got out of the drivers side. The white Toyota 86 blasted Jay Park, and Wong Yukhei strutted over to your passenger seat. He opened the door and slid into the seat.

“Hey, I’m Yukhei, or Lucas,” he greeted, flashing a goofy grin, not paying any mind to the ridiculousness of the situation. He held out a large hand for you to shake, head bobbing slightly to the music leaving your speakers. “Um, hi. I’m Y/N,” you said, shaking his hand.

“Y/N? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of you. You race before?” he asked, stretching in his seat and putting his hands behind his head on the headrest. “Only once before, in Busan.” He stopped relaxing and jumped, then turned to look at you. Lucas’s jaw dropped, looking almost comical.

“Once? You’re serious?” he scanned your face, then said, “Oh my God, you’re serious. Oh, well. We all have to start somewhere, right? But why Seoul if you were already in Busan?”

“Had to get away from my family. They weren’t very fond of my career choices, friend choices, or any choices, really, so I had to get out of there. I bought this car with the last of the money mommy and daddy promised me, went to the race in Busan, took the winning money, and dipped. Now... I’m here,” you told him, his eyes lighting up due to having a similar background.

“Mommy and daddy’s money? Damn, what did your parents do?” Genuine curiosity latent through his voice, he wanted to know you more.

“They, um.... they own one of the biggest chains of business corporations in the country and United States.” Something that you had hated ever since being a small child, your parents felt the need flaunt their wealth at any given moment. A part of you understood that yes, they had earned that money and that privilege, but they never made any attempts to help those less fortunate than them. You, on the other hand, would take your monthly allowance and donate it to the homeless shelters nearby, and when your parents found out, it angered them to no end. So, yeah, you held no remorse for leaving your parents as soon as you could.

“Holy shit, so you’re rich rich,” Lucas said, a bit taken aback considering your appearance and attitude. Sporting ripped jeans, beat up boots, and a leather jacket, you were hardly what he imagined new money looked like. Factor in your over-all-this-bullshit and straight to the point attitude, you didn't act like how he imagined new money to act, either. Chuckling, you corrected him by saying, “My parents are rich rich. I’m not my parents, nor will I ever be.”

“Fuck, I should get back to my car, the race is about to start. It was nice getting to know you, princess! Oh, and one more thing: don’t ride Jeno’s ass, he can and will slam on the brakes to make you rear end him.” After that he got out of the car, leaving you a bit confused as to why he gave you advice when you both were in a competition. Shaking your head to clear your thoughts, you put all your energy into focusing on the task at hand: winning the race. Out of the corner of your eyes, you spotted Jeno ducking into the drivers side of his car and blowing kisses at a crowd of girls gathered by the side of the road to watch him and Yukhei. Gross. They have fan clubs.

You could feel Jeno looking at you, so you turned to look at him with a what-the-fuck-could-you-possibly-want? look. Smirking, he revved his engine, annoying the shit out of you. You rolled your eyes and turned your attention to the girl confidently walking out into the middle of the road, checkered flags in her hands and smile on her face. At least the flag girl seemed excited. Adrenaline taking hold, anxiety furling in the pits of your stomach, you took a deep breath and watched the flag girl like a hawk. She made sure she was standing between the cars, then raised the flags in a big arc, and lowered them promptly. From then on, it was like you were on autopilot.

Jeno, as expected, took the lead, with you behind him but a bit to the left, and Yukhei directly next to you. Vaguely, you could her the cheers of everyone watching, the girls crying out a mix of Jeno and Yukhei. Paying no mind to it, the music filled your ears, a melody by Cyndi Lauper allowing you to focus on the road in front of you. A T in the road quickly approached, and you called upon all the studying of the Seoul map you did just a few days ago.

Before you left your hometown, your racing friends had helped prepare you for the confusing streets of the racing route in Seoul. You studied that thing with their help for days on end, and by the time you left, it was committed to memory. And thank God it was, because Jeno was an expert, with Yukhei being a close second at having it memorized. You knew that at the T, if you took the right you would be able to reach a short cut and that would give you an edge at getting Yukhei off your tail, and maybe even getting ahead of Jeno.

As expected, Jeno made the right turn and Yukhei made the left. You felt bad, but you knew that Yukhei was pretty good at what he did, but he had never been especially daring when it came to taking risks. Jeno, on the other hand, did not care. His whole being exuded not giving a flying fuck, and God did you wish you could be like that. Tonight’s race, however, would determine whether you could live in Seoul and be away from your parents, or have to move back to Busan and keep on the move to prevent them from dragging you back home.

Grinning slightly, Yukhei left your lane and you were left directly following Jeno. Don’t ride Jeno’s ass, he can and will slam on the brakes to make you rear end him. Taking Yukhei’s advice, you made sure to stick close to him but not too close. Close enough that you could see his eyes flicking to the rear view mirror, you decided that it was time to drive next to him. Pushing the gas down, you made sure that the move would be made quick enough that you wouldn’t hit any of the trash cans on the side of the alley and none of the stray cats would get ran over. Successfully, you drove up beside him and were concentrated on everything around you. The alley opened up into a four way intersection, and you knew to make the left. You already knew Jeno would choose the left, so all you could do is rely on drifting to get you there quicker and put you ahead of the boy. Thankfully, when you were learning to drive a few years ago from one of your friends, he had taken you to an old run down part of town and taught you how to drift. Never did you think that skill would come in handy.

Feeling your muscles come into play as you drifted, you scanned the rear view mirror and found Jeno in complete shock. He mouthed, “FUCK!” right as another car cut him off from pulling out behind you, making you smirk. Your tires left marks on the ground as you peeled it out of there, taking that opportunity that was given to you by Yukhei making the wrong turn but eventually catching up with you two. Yukhei realized what he did and laughed at the expression of the boy in the car behind him.

“Thanks, Yukhei!” you yelled out your window, hoping he’d hear but knowing he wouldn’t. With you in the lead, you made the next shortcut you could, opting to drive straight ahead rather than turning right. The dangerous part of shortcuts, you had found, was that there was no guarantee of no other drivers on those roads. On the main route there were hardly ever any other drivers, something you greatly enjoyed. However, on the shortcuts, you an the risk of hitting pedestrians, or even worse; cops knew when the races were happening sometimes, and seeing as the whole activity was illegal, they’d be waiting for the racers to slip up. You, though, knew to be careful and not risk too much.

Yukhei and Jeno followed you that time, the two of them fighting to be directly after you. You rolled your eyes at their childishness and kept focused on the road ahead of you. Crowds of people congregated on the sides of the outskirt streets and cheered you on, shock plain on their faces at seeing something other than Jeno’s car in first place.

There were only three turns left in the race, and then it’d all be over. Right as you were calculating your next move, Jeno swerved in front of you. Smiling into the rear view, he really thought he had done something. He took the next left, you right on his heels. Don't ride his ass. Don’t ride his ass. Throwing that out the window, that is exactly what you did, and it proved especially helpful, as you were able to drift around him and out of the next turn while he slammed on his brakes. One more turn and you had it in the bag. Jeno hesitated starting to drive again as he had been so shocked at what just happened that Yukhei got in front of him again. Easily, you made the next left and found yourself at the finish line, a small smile on your face.

“You have to do better than that, darling,” you mumbled to yourself, and partly to a Jeno, who could not hear you.

Your front tires went over the finish line first, with Yukhei and Jeno at a close tie following you. Off to the side of the street you saw Mark, Jisung, and all the other boys standing there, jaws to the floor in shock. Slowly, you parked the car and right as you were about to get out, you felt someone open the car door for you.

You found yourself looking up at Wong Yukhei, who held a hand out for you. “I’m thoroughly impressed, and also kind of thankful,” he told you, giving you a huge grin and patting you on the back. “Thanks? Why though?” you asked, obviously confused. Yukhei guided you over to a floored Mark, who had wads of cash in his hands.

“Because, silly,” Yukhei started as he winked at the crowd of fans trying desperately to get his attention, “you managed to fuck over Jeno and get me in second place. Well, kind of.”

“I’d say fucking over Jeno was a joint effort,” you told him, taking the money from Mark. “I wasn’t expecting that, Y/N,” Mark said, still in shock. The boys from earlier encircled you, asking a million questions at once.

“HOW DID YOU DO IT?” “HOW DID YOU KNOW THE ROUTE SO WELL?” “HOW DO YOU KNOW HOW TO DRIFT?” “HOW IS THAT YOUR SECOND RACE EVER?” “CAN YOU TEACH ME?”

“Holy fuck, give her some space,” a familiar voice said, making the boys all take a step back. Jeno walked into the middle of their little circle and looked directly at you. “Can I speak to you for a minute?” he asked, taking your hand and dragging you away from them before you could answer. Taking your hand back, you huffed and shoved the money in your jacket pockets, still following the boy.

“I guess I just wanted to say... congratulations on winning tonight,” Jeno muttered, leaning against the side of your car and admiring how clean it was. “Um. Thanks? You’re not... mad at me or anything?” you asked in disbelief. “Oh, I am a little mad, but not at you, exactly. More so, I’m mad that someone as inexperienced as you beat me in my own realm. How did you know the route so well, by the way?”

Chuckling, you rubbed the back of your neck and said, “Well, funny story, actually. I studied a map of Seoul for days to commit the track to memory.”

“And the drifting?”

“One of the first things I learned how to do when driving.”

He took a step back, then stared at you with an unknown look in his eyes. “Who are you?”

Smirking, you recalled what you said earlier that night.

“I told you you’d know of me after tonight.”

[Time Skip]

“I can’t believe it,” Renjun said, pulling you out of your trance. “This is the fourth time this week!” You stepped out of your Mazda, grinning and giving him the what-else-did-you-expect? look. He shook his head in shock and handed you your money, a whopping amount of bills and enough to support you for two months, at least. It had been a few weeks since the first race you had been in in Seoul, and to say that you were a regular there would be an understatement. You had earned regular betters, people that could only be referred to as fans.

“Neither can I, Renjun, but it happened,” you told the boy, giving him a smile and a pat on the back. “Meet up at mine?” you asked he boy, hoping for your group of friends to come over after. Well, the closest thing you had to friends in Seoul. That group consisted of Renjun, Jaemin, Chenle, Jisung, Mark, Lucas, and Jeno, mainly because they were all in your age range, although occasionally some of the older boys would come over. Jeno, despite being your age, didn’t come over as much. You wrote it off as him being your biggest competitor, but the others claimed it was something else.

“Dude, he has the biggest crush on you,” Mark told you one evening, messily eating nachos you made in the kitchen of your tiny apartment. The earnings from the races were enough to keep you afloat and still have some pocket change. “No way. He always seems so cold when I’m around, I think it’s the opposite, really,” you told the Canadian boy, earning groans from everyone else. “Y/N, you’re a dumb thot,” Jaemin called out from the living room couch, causing you to roll your eyes. “Whatever.”

Renjun and the others agreed to meet you at your place in an hour, as they had to finish some things up at the race. Giddily driving to your humble abode, you noticed a familiar car in your rear view mirror. Jeno?

After parking outside of your building, you got out of the car and walked over to what appeared to be Jeno’s car.

“I didn’t mean for that to be creepy, just an fyi,” the boy started, getting out of his car to stand next to you, who had been incredibly confused about the entire situation. “Alright, noted. But why did you follow me home? I didn’t even know you were there tonight,” you told him, nothing making any sense. Jeno had stopped racing as frequently after you arrived, as you kept messing up his statistics. Kind of hard to be the best driver in Seoul when he had some legitimate competition.

“I uh, I need to talk to you about something before the boys get here,” he explained, rubbing the back of his neck and avoiding eye contact. “Can I come inside?” he asked, gesturing to the apartment building behind you. “Oh yeah, of course, Jeno. You’re always welcome at my place,” you told the boy, turning on your heels and heading up the stairs to your place. Your tiny apartment was a one bed, one bath small little startup on the fifth floor of an old building, with most of your neighbors being elderly or young college students trying to avoid living in dorms. That was okay with you, though, as you were rarely home.

“Can I get you anything to eat or drink?” you asked as soon as you two got in, trying to break the awkward silence. Jeno shook his head and made himself at home, plopping down on the couch and turning the television on.

“So, what did you want to talk about?” you asked, taking your jacket off and pulling him out of his zone. “Oh shit, that’s right. Two things, really,” he clarified, making you even more confused.

“Okay, shoot. You may have the floor,” you joked, allowing him to take the reigns on the conversation. “Okay. First things first, I would like it if you stopped racing as much.”

You didn’t know what to say, other than, “What?”

“You are ruining my reputation, and not that many people are betting on me anymore.”

“Woah, I do what? You still win against me sometimes!”

“That might be true, but you win more often than I do. Do you realize that I wan the number one racer here before you showed up?”

“Okay, and? Not my fault.”

“Y/N, you’re dragging me down-”

“I’m not though, you’re sinking just like everyone else did when you first started.”

Right as you said that, the door opened and the rest of your guests arrived, arms full of junk food to snack on. “Uh.” They all could sense the obvious air of tension the second they walked in the room, and felt the aura crackling with annoyance. “Hey, guys,” you and Jeno said at the same time, voices both monotone and not very amused.

“Are you two okay?�� Jisung asked, not even bothering to try and beat around the bush. Leave it to the youngest to not give a fuck. “Yes, we are... fine, we are fine.”

“If you say so,” Chenle says, grabbing one of the bags of chips and flopping down on the couch. Jaemin grabbed a can of beer from your fridge and hopped onto the couch. He grabbed your wrist and pulled you down, so you were laying across his lap, legs over Chenle. “Yooo, what the fuck?” Chenle complained, throwing your legs off him and standing up. “Jaemin, what are you doing?” you questioned, annoyed at his antics.

“Taking your mind off things, sweetheart.” Scoffing, you stood up, shoving him away. “You’re such an idiot, Jaems.” “An idiot for you, honeybun.” “Gross,” you laughed, smacking his chest. “What do you mean gross? You didn’t say that last night-”

“I’m going to go, something came up,” Jeno suddenly announced, distracting everyone from the disaster that was Jaemin fake flirting with you. “Here, let me walk you out at least,” you mumbled, only for Jeno to shake his head. “No, it’s fine, you don’t have to.”

Regardless, you followed him out and left the boys to bicker and choose something to watch (a terrible idea, never trust those few to pick a movie for movie night, it’ll only end in tragedy). “I said you didn’t have to do this,” Jeno said, not even looking back at you following him. “I’m aware. I don’t care, I don’t like how that conversation ended and even if we didn’t fight, you’re still a guest at my house and I want to see that you made it to your car okay.”

Rather than saying to fuck off or something, he kept his mouth shut and kept walking. “I feel like we should resolve that argument we had,” you started, grabbing his wrist and turning him around so you knew he was listening to you. Jeno didn’t push your hand off him as he stood there, waiting for you to speak. “Okay, then you get to speak first.” His voice was cold, but there was a tone of openness. For some reason, no matter how much you two butted heads, you would always be civil with one another. Your dumbass wrote it off as not wanting things to be awkward around the others, even though you were told it was due to other reasons.

“I cannot stop racing as much, Jeno, simply because you told me to, because it is tarnishing your reputation. You know as well as I do that that money is far too tempting to just give up,” you explained as you two exited the apartment building and were almost at his car. Jeno took the keys out and unlocked his car, the beep echoing through the little parking lot for the building.

“Why can’t you give it up though? It seems like to me that you’re not even spending all of your money, so if you can obviously budget yourself to not need it, why get it in the first place?” At that point he was just nitpicking, looking for anything to piss you off.

“Jeno, do you realize how ridiculous you sound right now? I put that money in my savings account, and use it to pay my bills. You know why I’m here, and you know that I’ve been cut off from my parents. If I am going to survive, then I need that money. And I know that you need that money, too, but at the end of the day, there is a solid chance that either one of us wins. And you know that I have only ever been supportive of you when you win, when it seems like I’m good at nothing and even this one thing I’m relying on to survive isn’t doing that great.”

He didn’t exactly know what to say to that, so he stood there, leaning against his car and crossing his arms over his chest. However, you didn’t expect him to apologize. “I’m sorry, I just.... I haven’t been thinking right. You’re right... I shouldn’t be expecting you to just give up your way of living.”

“I... It’s okay, Jeno.”

He shifted his weight forward and leaned toward you, pulling you into his chest and holding you close. Your eyes instinctively widened, hands down at your side, not knowing what to do in response to his sudden actions. After a few seconds, you melted into the warmth of his body, the feeling of his hand caressing the back of your head soothing. Automatically, your eyes shut and your arms wrapped themselves around Jeno, not controlling your own actions.

All too soon he let go, taking a step back and not making eye contact. Jeno’s cheeks were dusted with pink, shocked at his own actions. “Good night, Y/N. Sorry if that was weird,” Jeno whispered, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck and kicking a rock on the ground. Still in shock, you said nothing and instead focused on that rock and tried to hide the blush on your cheeks. Jeno got in his car and gave you a small wave before driving away, never telling you what that thing that popped up was. All you could do was stand there and give him a tight-lipped smile, your racing heart screaming at you to say something, anything, to the beautiful boy who had been stuck in your head since you arrived in Seoul. He was the one constant, an admittedly frustrating constant, but a constant nonetheless. The boy knew exactly how to pull on your heartstrings without trying, and you hoped that maybe - just maybe - you did the same to him.

Little did you know, you did.

You did it so much that it pained him to think about, sometimes.

[Time skip]

Rain was pouring down again, meaning that normally there wouldn’t have been as many people waiting to hear the roar of the car engines, smell the intoxicating exhaust, and get an adrenaline rush from the high speed chase of the races. However, seeing as it was the last race of the week (and the next few weeks), hundreds of people lined up to watch it all go down. Of course, Jeno had his fan club, Lucas had his, Yuta had his, and you had your won. Nobody, it appeared to you, was as popular as Jeno, though. Like always, he strolled over to the barricade and started “talking” to a group of girls. You knew what “talking” meant by then. That meant that Jeno would end up in her pants by the end of the night, only to be gone by the morning and never speak to her again. It happened time and time again, and as much as he made your heart race, you could never put yourself through something as emotionally taxing as that. Right?

Stop thinking like that. It took everything in you to keep a level head when unsurprisingly, again, Jeno sauntered over to a dyed-blonde with bright pink lipstick and started doing what he did best: stealing hearts. “Hey, baby,” you heard him say all the way from over there. Rolling your eyes and scoffing, you threw the cigarette butt on the ground and focused on someone else, someone else who would make you happy and still make your heart beat. Not as fast as Jeno could. For some reason, that boy had a strong hold on you, one you’d never get out of.

“Peaches, what are you thinking about?” Lucas curiously asked, wanting more than anything to know what was running though your head at that moment. “How you’re going to eat ass and lose to me again tonight,” you playfully told him, warming up instantly at the boy in front of you. Ever since you moved to Seoul, Lucas had taken a special interest in you and had gotten increasingly closer. Any outsider could see that the gentle giant was smitten, but you simply did not care. Part of you wanted to get lost in his chestnut eyes, forget your worries in his touch, but the other part of you knew better. Not only was it damaging to play with hearts like that, but it was also stupid. Yet there Jeno was, doing it without any problems.

Jeno again. Stop thinking about Jeno. “Xuxi?” you asked, knowing fully damn well that Yukhei loved it when you called him that. “Yes, Y/N?” His fingers delicately played with yours, trying to memorize the shape of your small hand in his large one. “Do you ever get jealous?” That was quite the loaded question, so Yukhei had to take a step back to think.

“What do you mean? Do you mean like when people ask for your number, or when you stare at Jeno?” That question was enough to send ice through your bloodstream. So, Yukhei knew. It didn’t look like he particularly cared, though, which had been the scariest thing about it all. “I- Yes, then.”

“In all honesty? I don’t get jealous, but it does hurt a little. I know I don’t have your heart, though, and that’s okay. Your heart belongs to you, and you only.” “You’re right, and that means I can’t keep stringing you along like this...” Lucas gave you a small smile, pain in his eyes right alongside knowing. “Y/N, I’d let you hurt me anytime, any day. My heart is yours to break, but... yours is not mine. Go talk to him.”

Kissing the boy’s cheek, you decided to say fuck it and follow his advice. Why you were doing that, you had absolutely no idea, because you two could barely make it through a conversation without arguing. But there you were, marching right up to the boy to get his attention and speak your mind.

“Lee Jeno, we need to talk,” you told him, a commanding tone in your voice. The tone of your voice pulled Jeno away from the random girl, his cheeks flushed at your sudden presence. The girl scoffed in annoyance, sending him a who-the-fuck-is-that? face, only for him to wave her off, dismissing her from his life entirely.

“Well?”

“I think I like you.”

A beat of silence, and then, “You think?”

“No, I know. I know I like you. I don’t know why, because all we ever do is fight, and I haven’t known you for that long, but I-”

A pair of plump lips cut you off, silencing your rambling with a soft kiss. Your first kiss with Jeno had been everything you had dreamt of and more; his soft lips crashed on yours, taking your breath away and breathing air into your lungs at the same time. He grabbed your waist and pulled you in closer, gently cupping the sides of your face and holding you there, making you feel like the most precious thing on the planet. And to him, you truly were.

“I like you too, dumbass,” he mumbled against your lips after finally pulling away, resting his forehead on yours. The feeling of him was foreign, but felt so familiar, as if you were meant to fit together.

A smile made its way on your face, and stayed there until the flash of a camera pulled you two away from one another. “What the fuck?” Jeno murmured, holding you close to him, his head atop yours. Mark and Renjun stood there with shit eating grins, Renjun with his phone out, snapping a picture. “It’s about time!” Mark exclaimed, getting the attention of the other boys. “This,” Renjun said, showing you the image he snapped of the both of you awfully close to each other, “is my evidence for my side of the bet.”

“Bet?” you asked, confused as to why Renjun needed evidence of you kissing Jeno, and Jisung and Chenle groaning in the back and pulling out their wallets. “We all placed bets for when you guys would finally kiss. I called four months, and they all put money on six to twelve months. I should be getting.... a shit ton of money,” Renjun explained, a smug grin pulling his lips up. The boys started forking off cash to him, and all you could do was stand there in disbelief.

“Anyways, if you don’t mind us, we are going to go race now,” Jeno announced, pulling you away with him. The boys all hollered behind you, laughing and being how they normally were: loud and obnoxious, but sweethearts all the same. The announcers got in place, all the betters taking their seats and fans standing up and waving signs. Well, the race was about to start. You made eye contact with Yukhei, who winked and gave you a thumbs up, then got in his car.

“Well, this is it. Wish me luck, baby,” Jeno said, looking down at you and kissing your temple as you two reached his car. Smirking, you started to chuckle and played with his fingers in yours.

“Oh, you’re going to need it, honey.”

“Is that a threat?”

“Not a threat, a promise.”

“You know what? How about this: if I win, I take you out on a date. If you win, then...”

“If I win, then we still can go out on a date, I’ll just keep tonight’s money and clown your shitty driving the whole time.”

“Wow, that’s so tempting, you drive a hard bargain, Y/N.”

“You know you like it, though.”

“You’re right. It’s a deal.”

Needless to say, Jeno was not a fan of being the butt of the endless jokes the next day, but he certainly was a fan of hearing the chiming of your laughter and the pure joy spread across your face as you poked fun of him.

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