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dojunie · 6 months

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MISDIAL; LJN [CH4] PICK UP THE PHONE!

[★]; [MISDIAL MASTERLIST] [PREVIOUS PART] [NEXT PART]

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lee jeno x fem!reader

college au

chaptered

very slow burn

genre; not-quite-friends to lovers, older brother mark lee, brothers best friend lee jeno, light angst, yn is a menace to society, story/character driven

warnings for this chapter; none

chapter wc: 9.5k / comment on this post for taglist!

taglist: @hibernatinghamster @jenoxygen @eaglesnotravens @donutswithjaminthemiddle @jvjsssnaa @huangrenhyucks @luvenshiti @shiningdery @jaeminsbebu @aliceinwhateverland @bebsky@gem-gem @jkjkseo @jenosbliss @pewpewpwe00 @ti--red @philanarose @softbbyg0rl @aaasteroidsky @carelessshootanonymous @en-boyz @jlsavyy @roseymerrie @bangchanisemo @skuezk @jaehyuns-adorable-dimples @ourbeautifulaffair@jeonnyread @jvjsssnaa @episkeyjeno @bockhyun @jenojammin @zarastrawberry @peachie-bear @itadaramaterasu @alymii @cuteejeno @episkeyjeno @nohunlee @ooojisoo @luv4jeno @not-clemb @jydivrs @maeyoung @axmdocs @nctzennikki09 @pinkysinnerbaby

unable to tag: @jenojenoyes

[a/n]: merry early christy mass

“SO. ARE WE GOING TO TALK ABOUT IT?”

It’s 7:38AM, and Jeno has finally driven for long enough that the Palisades building is no longer looming in his rearview mirror. In a perfect world he’d be heading back to his apartment right now to sleep away the next twelve hours of his life— but Jeno’s life has not been perfect since you moved back to Seoul, and he knows even before Donghyuck finishes speaking that the following conversation is going to be unbearable.

The man in the backseat slurps obnoxiously from the thermos he’s got at his lips. “Frankly, I’m a little suspicious that we’re not already talking about it. Because there is like… no chance neither of you have anything to say about all of that.”

“All of what,” Jaemin asks, nonplussed. “Your sudden closeness with little Jeon?”

Donghyuck scoffs, taking another loud sip from the borrowed bedazzled cup. The contents held within is fresh brewed coffee courtesy of the small Starbucks Jeon Somi’s has on her kitchen counter, and he’s practically perched on top of the center console because he’s leaning so far forward. “No, prick. Don’t even start. All of that being last fucking night. You know,” he prods very pointedly, “At Wooyoung’s?”

For a split second, Jeno’s mind goes completely elsewhere. Wooyoung’s. The guy was more Jaemin’s friend than his but he’d been invited to the party anyway, initially with a polite promise to swing by for an hour or two before clearing out to avoid the storm rolling in. Then, a few hours later at Mark’s place, you. Wandering into the apartment none the wiser to his presence, squinting into the depths of your phone; and the only thing Jeno can remember from the seconds before you looked up and shut him out again was wondering how the hell he didn’t notice how much you’d changed.

If he was being honest, it's something that's been bothering him since that night at Nabi Bar. Because you’d always been cute. Ask anybody with eyes. In highschool you were cute enough that sometimes Jeno didn’t quite understand why no one else seemed to be thinking about it as much as he was. Everything you did made him want to pick you up and shake you like a dog with a new toy. But somewhere along the lines, this…shifted.

“What about Wooyoung’s?” Jaemin sighs. “We were there for like, four hours. You’re going to have to be more—”

“You and Y/N,” Donghyuck says unrepentantly, striking right to the heart of his curiosity. “Mark’s birthday up in the woods, the lake house, whatever the fuck happened there. Her truth or drink question. To be specific.”

Jeno isn’t the best at understanding his own feelings, and he’ll admit that easily. So if he’s being serious about when he first realized something had shifted, when he noticed that something was undeniably different about you— he’d, coincidentally, also have to point a finger towards the weekend they all spent at the lake house. It was the first time he’d properly seen you in nearly a year. He’d shown up at Mark’s parents house with the van full of guys and hung out downstairs in the same living room he used to spend every afternoon in before college came and whisked them all away, and waited for you and your brother to come down.

And he’s not proud of this, but. Well.

Well, when you did eventually reveal yourself, finding his eyes amongst the crowd of his friends perking up at your arrival… he’d been expecting a bigger reaction.

He’d been working out more, is all. And he’d grown his hair out for the first time since he was a little kid, and had finally grown accustomed to the pokey, itchy world of contacts. He looked different. He felt different. He’d just finished his first year of college and was definitely feeling a little too cool about it. And in high school you used to look at him like he had done something great for just simply existing— so he’d been ready for you to all but drop when you saw him now— but you’d run your gaze over Jeno for what felt like half a second before turning to Renjun, smiling widely at this new guy like you’d been waiting to meet him and only him.

And he remembers being… confused.

That had been the first clue that something about you (or, maybe, something about him) had changed.

“Na Jaemin. You are absolutely not going to sit here and not explain what the hell she was talking about.”

“It was over a year ago,” Jaemin says. The uneasy beat that followed Donghyuck’s question was nothing to be envied, but Jeno wholeheartedly preferred the silence over actually listening to this conversation. “And you heard her. There’s nothing to explain. She was getting over someone, I was getting over someone, and like most stupid teenagers do, we did the only thing that came to mind—”

“Okay but you understand that she’s not like most stupid teenagers, right? You hooked up with Mark’s little sister. On his birthday. At his birthday party. Did you have a death wish? Why are you both acting like this isn’t breaking goddamn news?”

“Because it isn’t news,” Jaemin replies sharply. “For a myriad of reasons. Can you not phrase it like I was trying to seduce the Virgin Mary?”

“I’m not phrasing it like anything! I just… I mean, you’re not seriously going to pretend like this isn’t absolutely insane, right? It’s hard to imagine—”

“What about two people hooking up is so insane to you?”

Donghyuck seems flabbergasted by this. “Jaemin. Everything. Everything about it is insane. Because it’s not just two people ‘hooking up’. Of all the people on earth you could have— and trust me, the number of options you have is high, I’ve heard some of the shit the girls on campus say about you— you chose her? The single person on this earth that Mark would flay you alive for even—”

Jaemin snaps his eyes to the rearview mirror, and Donghyuck’s words cut short. “Is Y/N a human being to you?”

A stunned second passes.

“Or is she just some attachment to Mark, some little doll with no will of her own? You realize that this is why she hates being around us so much, right? Why she’s never around in her own fucking apartment? Did you even notice that you’ve only ever said her name once in this whole conversation? Do you know what you’ve been calling her?”

Jaemin’s question hangs in the air like a physical weight. Mark’s little sister. It hits Jeno like a punch; his hand tightens around the steering wheel with immediate guilt. Guilt for not even noticing how interchangeably they’d all been using the words in the first place and, much deeper down, knowing that even if Jaemin wasn’t talking to him, Jeno was definitely the worst culprit in the vein of only seeing you as an extension of your brother.

That’s basically what you’d told him on the balcony before you left and took half of his spirit with you.

“That’s not what I meant,” Donghyuck says, sufficiently chided. All the gossip-seeking enthusiasm has drained from his voice. Now he just sounds sorry. “You know that’s not what I meant. That’s not how any of us see her.”

“I know that,” Jaemin says quietly, returning his gaze to the window. “She doesn’t.”

They ride in silence for almost a whole block before Jaemin sighs.

“She found me after I got off the phone with Jurin for the last time,” he supplies, unable to ignore Donghyuck’s scolded pouting. “Sometime while you guys were off getting wood for the campfire.”

Perking up a little in the backseat, Donghyuck tentatively asks, “At… At the lake house?”

And, having foolishly assumed the reprimand would've ended this conversation, Jeno almost wants to slam his head against the headrest when Jaemin nods and he realizes they're not done talking about you. He feels raw; sensitive and uncomfortable and combative. It's residual from what just happened with you, he knows that, and he also knows saying something will probably just draw attention he does not want, but he still can't help but blurt; “Do you really need to hear the details, man?”

He’s not sure who he surprises more by the edge in his voice: himself or the other two. Both turn to look at Jeno like he’s just magically appeared in the vehicle.

Donghyuck is so caught off guard by the distaste that he actually rocks back a little bit in his seat.

“I’m not asking for those kinds of details!” he exclaims, scandalized. “I just want to know how it went down beforehand, because as far as I remember, they were the perfect picture of normalcy on that trip! Jaemin was a little sulkier than normal because of the whole girlfriend-breaking-up-with-him thing, but he perked up after, like…”

Donghyuck trails off. Then after a very long second he gasps, sounding almost appalled, forgetting Jeno again immediately.

“When we came back from camping because it started raining, you were like a totally different person. It was then, wasn’t it? You and her stayed back. I remember being worried that you were going to bore her to death if she ever came out of her room. Holy shit, dude, don’t tell me you guys planned—”

Jaemin whirls around. “Do you think I’m completely crazy?”

“Well how am I supposed to know, when you won’t tell us anything?!”

“You really want to know so badly?” Jaemin says, fed up. No, Jeno thinks uselessly.

“Earlier in the afternoon Y/N heard me on the phone with Jurin and figured something was wrong. She came over to talk to me about it and I found out that she was having guy problems of her own, so we tried to make each other feel better— Verbally," Jaemin tells, pointedly adding the last word when Donghyuck's eyebrows jump in scandal. "The next time I saw her was when you guys left to go camping and we stayed back. I was watching a movie in the living room and she asked if she could join me because she couldn’t sleep, and— And after that you can put two and two together. That’s it.”

“Prude,” Donghyuck mutters. When Jaemin shoots him another look in the mirror though, he’s the perfect picture of innocence. “—Is what I would have said, if you were talking about any other girl, ha ha. Anyway! Did you guys kiss?”

Jeno's arms tense up so quickly that he almost swerves into oncoming traffic. Hyuck nearly topples out of his seat.

“Fucking hell—! Hey! You’ve got precious cargo back here, jackass!”

“Pothole,” Jeno bites.

He’s lying through his teeth. But it’s the only thing he could think of. There’s no such thing as a pothole out here— they’re in Gangnam, on a main goddamn road, but he can almost feel Jaemin’s eyes on the side of his face, so keeps his eyes sharply forward despite the fact that his ears are no doubt already starting to flush pink from discomfort.

“I’m not telling you that,” Jaemin replies after a second. “Voyeur.”

“What? What type of sense does that make? You two literally fucked on our communal couch, but asking about a kiss is too—”

Even if it feels like every nerve instantly lights ablaze under his skin from this comment, Jeno is much better about controlling his expression this time around. It probably wouldn’t have mattered because in the moment after the words left Donghyuck’s mouth Jaemin whirled around in his seat to pinch him, a sharp grab at his thigh that had the boy yowling in surprise— and then immediately thereafter, agony, because Jaemin’s strength is nothing to sneeze at.

“Listen to me very carefully,” Jaemin hisses. “Not a word of this is leaving this car. Do you understand me, Lee Donghyuck? If you tell anybody—”

“Okay, okay!” Donghyuck cries out. “Fuck, do you have razors under your nails?! I think I’m bleeding!”

“I’m serious,” Jaemin continues darkly. “You can laugh about it all you want, but we all know exactly how Mark is going to react if he finds out and I am not interested in playing the odds on whether he ends my life via strangulation or vicious beating. Keep your mouth shut.”

Donghyuck is still muttering to himself, rubbing bitterly at the spot where Jaemin sniped him.

He’s thinking of ways to reassure Jaemin, probably. Or maybe that’s just what Jeno hopes he’s doing, because a younger him could have used some reassurance that Mark possibly wouldn’t have tried to kill him where he stood if, back in highschool, he’d ignored your brother's wishes entirely and actually told you how he felt.

But Donghyuck simply says, “Remember when we all watched him punch that watermelon in half during spirit week? Back in our senior year, when they were still finding chunks of it a week later in, like, the ceiling rafters and shit? I think my money is on him beating you to death if he finds out you slept with his sister.”

And on that very positive note, Jeno flicks his turn signal on and coasts into the lane that’ll take him right back to SNU.

It’s four days later, Jeno hasn’t seen you once in that span of time, and he’s beginning to think it’s driving him a little insane, because he’s been staring pathetically at a photo of you on Mark’s fridge for the last five minutes. You’re mid-laugh and you’ve got one arm tight around Mark’s neck— you’re both on the beach, jeans rolled up to your knees, and your hair is a startling, bright red.

Back in highschool, when you were a junior and he was a senior, you’d had a short lived obsession with dying your hair. Mark had mentioned it to him in passing, recalling the half a dozen conversations he’d witnessed of you trying to convince your parents to let you bleach it, but he hadn’t really thought about it too seriously until he was over at Mark’s house to work on a project a few weeks later. Your brother, who’s brain stopped working properly when he was hungry, tapped out after about fifteen minutes to hit the convenience store a few blocks away for a pint of ice cream and a few energy drinks.

It was only after the front door slammed shut that Jeno even realized you were home; he was slouched in Mark’s desk chair scrolling listlessly through his phone when he heard the bedroom door creak open, and turned around expecting your brother. It was not your brother.

It was you. Standing in the doorway like a deer caught in headlights as your eyes met, dressed in a pair of pajama shorts and a tank top, hair slicked down to your head with cherry red dye— it was all over your hands, splattered down your neck, an artful blob on the tip of your nose.

The two of you stared at each other for what felt like minutes. He hadn’t seen you this close for a few weeks now, since this was around the time that you’d started hanging out with your friends more and were rarely ever home. That was what he blamed for the way his brain seemed to start buffering at the sight of you.

“Are you okay?” he finally asked.

You stood up straight and hid your hands behind your back like he hadn’t already seen them in all their bloody glory, and said, “I thought you… Left. Just now. With Mark.”

“I didn’t,” he replied. You stared at each other some more. Then, because he wasn’t quite sure what else to do and he’s never really been good at reading a room, he said,“You missed a bit, there. On the top.”

You stiffened, and then your whole body slumped like he’d cut your strings with those eight words alone. “I know. Mark has a little mirror in here somewhere that I was going to steal while he was gone, because I didn’t realize until it was too late that I couldn't see the back of my own head.”

And somehow this ended up with Jeno standing behind you in your bathroom, dutifully brushing red goo into your scalp as you fidgeted and twitched and tried to pretend you weren’t staring at him in the mirror, even though it was very obvious that you were. Jeno pretended, like he’d been doing for the last three years, that he didn’t notice— even if he was finding it a little harder than normal to not stare right back.

Back then, he chalked up his jitters to all of the physical things that were happening in that moment. He credited his desire to stand a little closer to you than necessary to the pleasant scent of cherry coming from the dye in your hair, and blamed the uneven straps on your tank top for the reason his eyes kept drifting to the curve of your shoulders. He was hyper-focusing on the tiny beauty mark below your ear not because he found it fascinating, but because it was easier to keep his eyes trained on that than to risk forgetting what he was doing and finding your eyes in the mirror.

When the dye ran out and your head was sufficiently gooped, he’d been gearing up to ask if you needed help washing it out too, when the sound of the garage door opening whispered through the house and you stiffened. In an instant you were plucking the empty dye bowl from his hands and then herding him out of your bathroom— startled, he turned around to mention his sweater, only to find it flying at his chest with enough force to knock him back against the hallway wall. Your eyes were huge as you stood in the bathroom doorway, hand already on the door as if already positioning to slam it shut.

“Don’t tell Mark you helped me,” you said quickly, before blinking very hard a few times, “And— Thank you? This probably would have turned out like shit if you didn’t offer to help me. Thanks.”

Downstairs, the front door opened. Jeno stood there with his balled up sweatshirt in his hands suddenly feeling very odd. Only later did he realize that feeling was hesitance. He didn’t want to go yet. “Why can’t I tell him?” he asked.

“Because Mark’s going to freak out when he sees me, and I don’t want him to get mad at you too for, like, being an accessory to my crime.”

“An accessory to your what?”

“Oh,” you said belatedly. Then you raised your eyebrows at him, lip quirking into an innocent smile that felt like anything but, and his stomach twisted. “Might’ve said too much.”

Your brother's voice rang up the stairs and Jeno made the mistake of turning towards the landing. By the time he turned back to you, mouth opening to speak— even though he wasn’t even sure what he was planning to say— he only caught the last glimpse of your red stained hand through the shutting the door.

Mark returned a few moments later to find Jeno sitting back in the desk chair, back to peering into his phone, but what he probably didn’t notice was that Jeno was really staring at the little, cherry colored splotch on his palm.

Back then he hadn’t known yet, just what he was feeling. He didn’t put two and two together to realize why whenever he’d see the color red in the corner of his eye at school after that, he’d turn around in the middle of a conversation to see if you were passing by; why, when the school strong-armed you into dying it back to its natural color a few days later, the missing cherry red had bothered him more than he could justify. It took him another few months to really get it.

“No-Jam! Dude, did you get lost in there or something? The cola is in the little—The bin thing! In the back!”

Mark’s voice pitches over the rest of his friends' muffled bickering and right through the memory he’s sunk into, and he tears his eyes away from the fridge to remember who he is and what he’s supposed to be doing right now.

It’s movie night. He’s been put in charge of drinks now that the take-out has arrived, and yet he’s malingering in the kitchen like some kind of sad voyeur. Right.

He snatches the cans and shuts the door a little harder than necessary, if only to get away from that photo of you faster. The conversation he returns to isn’t much different than the one he’d left; initially it was Chucky versus Annabelle, now when he sits the rack of soda on the coffee table and sinks back down between Jaemin and Jisung, it’s Jason versus Michael. Hyuck is ripping his hair out trying to explain that Michael is a borderline mutant and therefore obviously the winner in this bracket, and per usual, Chenle is completely unbothered and arguing the opposite solely to raise their friend’s blood pressure.

This would usually be Jeno’s pre-movie entertainment, chiming in with the occasional fact check to keep the sides even, but tonight he can’t focus on their debate. Instead, his eyes drift towards the clock on Mark’s TV stand.

7:06. He frowns.

“Where is Little Lee, by the way? Out getting into trouble?”

It’s embarrassing how quickly Jeno snaps back to attention at the sound of your nickname.

Mark shrugs in response, completely unbothered, even though Jeno is almost boring holes into the side of Mark’s head waiting for an answer to Renjun's question. “She’s at dance practice. Been at it all week for her showcase, and it goes real late. She should be back in about an hour if you’re looking for her.”

“Not looking,” Renjun says, “Only noticed she hasn’t been around. What showcase?”

“Goodness,” Jaemin coos. “My hard worker. Saw her this morning on my way to chem, looked a little like death, eyes all dark and broody. I guess that's why?”

“She leaves in the morning before I do, too. Probably dead tired.”

Mark tries to return to scrolling through Netflix’s catalog but Renjun, not satiated, flaps his hand in front of his face. “Wait, but what showcase, though? I didn’t even know anything was coming up. The school is hosting something?”

“Not the school,” Jisung offers instead. He sounds oddly eager to talk about it, and for a second Jeno is rattled by the idea of Jisung paying enough attention to you to know the intricacies of your schedule, until he realizes it’s the topic he’s excited about. “It’s this thing called the Aegon Showcase, a big competition for unknown hip-hop dancers. It’s a nationwide thing so it’s broken up into different showcases in every province, and there technically aren’t supposed to be favorites, because talent is like, everywhere, but pretty much everyone knows that the Seoul competition is the most popular. It’s pretty difficult to get chosen for Seoul, and yet Y/N’s team got in. They even air it on TV.”

Chenle whistles. “I knew about the competition, but I didn’t know all that. That sounds like a big deal.”

He remembers how sheepish you’d been when Somi told them in his car; the awfully shy look he’d caught on your face when your eye met in the mirror.

“It is a big deal!” Jisung declares, sounding proud. “Yonsei hasn’t been on the roster since 2016, so the guys in my hip-hop class are pretty excited about it. There’s posters up in all the hallways of the performance building and noona’s name is all over them. Jeongsob nearly knocked my head off when he found out I had a ticket to see it live, and I didn’t even tell him it was center house because I thought he’d really hit me.”

“A ticket?” Renjun’s spine straightens indignantly. “From where? When was this an option? I want to go!”

Jisung’s shrug is interrupted by the loud smack of Donghyuck’s mouth as he swallows a swig of his soda. “This is how I know you don’t read my messages.”

“What?”

“I sent you the ticket, loser. I sent everyone the ticket like, a week ago.”

“Where the hell did you get them?”

A beat of silence as Donghyuck stares at him, before he realizes Renjun is serious and begins to whine. “So you don’t read my messages or listen to me. Somi. Jeon Somi! Rockstar’s little blonde bestie pulled some strings and gave us all tickets. Gave the rest of us tickets, should I specify, since Y/N-ie doesn’t love us and only got one for Mark.”

The Mark in question only hums proudly.

“Right up in front,” Donghyuck continues. “All she’d tell me is that they’re opening with DNA.”

“By BTS?”

Chenle scoffs. “By Kendrick Lamar. My God. Listen to something other than Seoul Top 50.”

“Their tracklist must be stacked if they’re opening with Lamar,” Jisung adds, awed.

Jeno has never really seen you dance before. It’s something he’s always known about you, sure, but only through word of mouth; He knew you started dancing because of Mark, since your brother has been telling the story to anyone who would listen for half a decade. How you were dragged along to his lesson one day, bitter about missing out on an afternoon of Guitar Hero for some ‘lousy physical activity’, when the dance teacher happened to notice how quickly you’d been picking up on the moves. She convinced you to come to another, and then another, until you ended up attending those classes more often than Mark did.

Those lessons had been before you and Mark transferred to their school though. Mark dropped dance to pick up basketball, which meant Jeno didn’t hear much about it from him, and while you kept up with it, it wasn’t like the two of you were close enough to talk about things like that.

So it simply stayed a fun-fact. A topic only brought up in passing, like Mark randomly mentioning a competition you had one weekend, or apologizing for being late because he had to pick you up from a lesson across town.

A topic only brought up in passing until the next words that fall out of your brother's mouth.

“That’s the type of music she dances to all the time though,” Mark says belatedly. “Kendrick Lamar I mean. She has like, four or five videos on Youtube from that album alone. It was her favorite for a while.”

“She has videos on youtube?” Jeno blurts.

The world pauses. Or it feels that way to him, since he hadn’t even registered the ending of Mark’s sentence before his own mouth was opening without his permission. It’s the first words he’s spoken in nearly half an hour and it shows in how they all glance at him, varying from brief confusion to clear interest in his sudden curiosity— and he instantly wants to kick himself considering that the latter comes from Jaemin, who’s already suspicious that he’s hiding something.

Mark furrows his eyebrows, staring back at Jeno like your presence on youtube is just supposed to be common knowledge.

“I never told you guys? Freshman year of highschool, she had this channel she’d upload all her dance class videos to. Mostly just for progress, to see how she improved, but I guess they must’ve hit some weird algorithm or something because the videos actually ended up doing super well.”

“Rockstar is famous?” Jaemin asks.

Mark scratches his chin. “Subjectively, I guess so. I meant doing well as in like, a dozen of the videos have broken a hundred thousand views, but subscriber wise she’s not—”

Donghyuck chokes so violently on his cola that it sounds like he’s being waterboarded. Instinctually Jisung starts to pat his back, but even he looks surprised; not that Jeno is confused by why. A hundred thousand?

The second that Donghyuck is able to form words again he all but demands Mark pull up her channel on the TV, which is when he finally seems to realize the predicament he’s put you in. All of your older brothers' friends. Watching your old highschool videos. Without your knowledge. Any little sister’s waking nightmare.

Mark tries to backtrack; ‘Ah, well, the whole reason she stopped uploading was because she got embarrassed about all the attention. She’d seriously kill me if she knew I showed you guys.’ But Hyuck only grins. ‘You damned yourself to that the second you mentioned it at all, tiger. You know I’ll just find it on my own if you don't, right? I’ve got resources!’

Doubtful. Donghyuck can’t even find files on his own computer, much less sift through the entire internet for a few six year old videos from a person that’s no longer uploading. Even though Mark doesn’t look fully convinced, glancing warily between his phone and the clock like he’s worried you’ll walk through the door the second he picks up the remote, Jeno knows he’ll fold. He always does.

We shouldn’t, he could say to help. Y/N wouldn’t like it. You know she wouldn’t.

He would’ve a month ago. Maybe even a week ago.

But right now he’s mortifyingly desperate to see you again, even if it’s only through the glass of a screen. So he does nothing but swallow his shame when Mark sighs, “One video. One! And if she finds out, dude, I’m telling her it was you!” and snatches the remote from the coffee table. He does nothing when Mark scrolls through the seemingly endless list of people he’s subscribed to, and he continues to do nothing when you blip to life on the television, Xx_SGirl2002_xX’s youtube channel.

Mark presses play on the first video there is, the last thing ever uploaded to your account— a three-minute clip titled ‘Kiss Kiss - Chris Brown, (J’HO’s ADV class)’ with ninety-eight thousand views.

Jeno knows it’s 2016 from the date in the description but for some reason he’s still startled by how young you are here. This is how you looked when he met you, and its a whiplash he isn't prepared for. Fourteen years old with a glare that could cut down grown men. You have on a baseball cap that Jeno recognizes because it actually belongs to Mark, and an oversized t-shirt over a pair of green sweatpants (that Jeno also recognizes, because you wore them around your house all the time in high school)— but there’s no time to get into the intricacies of your outfit because soon enough the beat kicks in and Donghyuck is squealing like this is his favorite song.

You’re dancing with four others who look just as confident as you, bouncing on their feet before the choreo starts, but it immediately becomes clear why you’re in the front. Your movement is so natural that Jeno would’ve thought you were freestyling if it wasn’t for the others you’re on beat with, easily capturing the center of attention with your style— though he knows you’re not intending to.

That’s how you’ve always been. The brightest person in the room, without even realizing it.

It’s not as surprising as he expects it to be. Despite never having seen you attempt to dance in front of him in your life, he’d somehow always known you were going to be this good. It’s familiarity probably that keeps his eyes on you, even when the videos go on and on and on and new dancers filter in and out of the choreographies. He’s only made aware of how blatantly he’s ignoring everyone else in your videos when Jisung excitedly points out that he recognizes one guy you’re dancing with, some famous popper in the hip-hop circuit, and Jeno has to drag his eyes away from you to even realize you’re dancing with a man in the first place.

Too engrossed in showing you off now to remember why he’d been so hesitant in the first place, Mark, obviously, fails to stick to his word. They’re on video four or five when there’s the very, very sudden sound of the front door handle rattling.

It’s mere dumb luck that Mark manages to scramble for the remote fast enough to mute the TV before you get the door open. It’s even luckier that you wander into the apartment with both your headphones in and your eyes squinted at something on your phone. It’s just enough time for them to all assume the picture of perfect innocence when you do finally look up— appearing almost startled by the sight of them all staring at you with wide eyes, silent and still like a bunch of weeping angels.

Jeno for an entirely different reason than the rest of them, however.

“Hello… all?” you greet, clearly suspicious, but you can’t seem to put your finger on the reason they’re all looking at you, and this makes the whole room seem to relax.

“You’re late, Rockstar,” Jaemin says, playfully scolding, “Take-out’s gone cold.”

“I ate before practice. What are you guys doing?”

“Is it not obvious? Movie night, of course!”

There’s a beat as you glance at the TV behind their heads, all their eyes on you, before you nod slowly.

“Movie night. Right. Uh. I’m going to head in early since I have to be out of here early tomorrow, so try not to have too much… fun out here. I’ll leave you guys to it then?”

You readjust your duffel on your shoulder and pull an apple from the bowl on the island as you pass, not sparing a glance behind as you head for your room.

“Too much fun?” Jaemin echoes quietly beside him, the both of them still staring off after where you’d just been, when Donghyuck curses and brings their attention back to the front.

“Are you fucking— Has this been on the screen the whole time?”

It’s only belatedly Jeno realizes that, in his haste to just get your youtube channel off the screen, Mark must’ve just pressed any recommended video from the suggestions. Even if it didn’t make the most sense for them to be so diligently watching. Because, still muted, a video of an aerobics class plays on the TV dozens of women in a giant studio, dressed in very tight, very small clothes, all bending over and lunging and casually contorting their bodies into positions that would probably make nuns across the country blush.

Quite the movie you walked in on them watching. Together. Without speaking. On mute. Mark gasps when he realizes this and snatches the remote again, frantically clicking on something else like the damage hasn’t already been done, and Chenle laughs until he cries when he, also, finally understands what a sight that must’ve been. Jeno probably would’ve found it hilarious too, if he’d been paying attention to it at all.

Instead, all he could really think about was the fact that while he couldn’t take his eyes off of you— you hadn’t thought to look in his direction once.

Movie night comes to a close with two casualties— Renjun and Jisung, snoring and completely unconscious on the couch and floor respectively— Mark shooing the rest of them out at one in the morning with a loud yawn and a promise to continue Scream VI after everyone's classes tomorrow night.

Per usual, Jeno gets sacked with taking Jaemin home. And per usual, like a Gremlin straight from the films, Jaemin turns into a pit of insatiable hunger after midnight and demands they stop at a drive through so he can get something to eat.

But if Jeno is being honest— he really just wants to go home.

He’s tired. It’s been a long day. Four classes, basketball practice, having to take his car to get looked at because the air coming out of the aircon kept smelling like burnt lemons. The final nail in the coffin had been you not even batting an eye at him when you’d gotten home, when he’s been physically unable to think of anything else besides you for the last four days.

He is entirely ready to call it a night… but he knows that he’ll never, ever hear the end of it if he doesn’t take Jaemin somewhere before he drops him off, and it’s only fate that he spies McDonalds golden arches at the next turn signal.

He whips into the drive through and is preparing to turn right back out of the lot when the food is safely in the vehicle a few minutes later, but Jaemin asks him for something he’s never asked for before.

He asks him to park.

Jeno glances at him, incredulous, but Jaemin doesn’t seem to be joking at all. “You can’t wait until you’re home?”

“I’m hungry, I said. And I want to eat in peace.”

“You had two whole servings of that Lo Mein and still snuck some off of my plate.”

“Don’t fat shame me,” Jaemin replies mildly, eyeing the steaming contents of the paper bag. “My digestion is only a quarter of the reason. Jaehyun will snatch this from me if he sees me come into the house with it. Just park it, will you?”

And because Jeno has never really been one to argue, despite being annoyed by the detour, he does just that.

He should’ve known better though. Jaemin knows a dozen ways to sneak food into that apartment without setting off the nose of his brother; the two have been living together for a year and a half. He’s never asked him to park before because he’s never needed Jeno to park— but he doesn’t start realizing any possible ulterior motives until a few minutes in, when (after he’s polished off half of his nuggets in complete silence) Jaemin asks how he’s doing.

Jeno’s eyebrows dart up to his hairline. “What?”

“I’m asking if you’re okay,” Jaemin says. “Doesn’t take a psychiatrist to see that you’ve been off these last few days. What’s on your mind?”

“What’s on my mind?”

And only then does he put two and two together.

“Is this... is this an intervention?”

“What? Of course not! I can’t just wonder how my friend is doing?”

“You made me drive you into an empty parking lot at one in the morning because you were just wondering? Are you even hungry?”

“I would never lie about food,” Jaemin says with great offense, seemingly forgetting himself for a moment before he sees the jarred look on Jeno’s face. “Well. Okay. Fine. I just… I heard what happened on the balcony with you and Rockstar a few days ago.”

It’s like being suckerpunched.

“You’ve been all weird since,” he continues, “And watching you do nothing about it is starting to stress me out.”

Jeno expects to feel angry once the shock wears off; to get mad at Jaemin for eavesdropping, or butting in, or for trying to offer advice Jeno didn’t ask for. But nothing actually comes to him besides an eye twitch, courtesy of Jaemin’s straw squeaking as he stabs it through the soda cup lid.

He releases the tension from his spine. No need to play coy, then. “Weird is an understatement.”

“Of course it is. You’ve been moping around like you’re about to be executed.”

“Because I screwed up, man.”

“What?” Jaemin says flippantly. “Hardly. There were a few rough edges, like how you probably could’ve gone without calling the poor girl’s eternal undying love for you… cute, but as far as I know nothing you told her was a lie. I don’t actually see where you went wrong in telling her that her brother was the reason you didn’t acknowledge her feelings when she asked.”

Jaemin says nothing for a moment as he leans forward, shaking and then rifling through the brown bag for the few fries that had somehow escaped his previous sweep. Jeno knows better than to take that speech as final verdict, however. A silence this heavy over ever means that there’s a but. There’s always a—

“If you’re not interested in her anymore, that is. Because what you did up there was pretty straightforward, for someone who was actually trying to let a girl down easy.”

And there it is. Jeno screws his eyes shut and exhales for much, much too long, if only to focus on the feeling of his lungs caving in instead of where he is and what he’s talking about.

“And if I wasn’t trying to let her down easy?” Jeno asks.

Jaemin doesn’t even look at him. Just keeps his eyes trained lazily on the traffic going by, humming as he inserts another whole nugget into his mouth. “Then you’re fucked.”

Okay. Here the anger comes, just a little belated. The wave of irritation that hits him at Jaemin’s stupid reply catches him off guard. Then you’re fucked. If Jeno didn’t already know that would he have asked? Did Jaemin bring him out here to rub it in? Just to hear the details?

Without thinking he jams his middle finger into the push to start, roaring the car’s engine to life— if his only goal was to remind Jeno of his colossal mistake then he could finish his damn nuggests elsewhere.

“Woah, woah!” Jaemin bursts as the car jerks into first gear, big eyes wide in alarm, “Damn, man, I was just— Can I finish before you tear out of here like fucking Batman?”

“Why can’t you just eat while I drive?”

“What? No, I meant finish what I was saying! There’s still hope for you, dipshit!”

And he sounds so sure of himself that Jeno can’t help but hesitate. With a huff that even he knows is petulant, Jeno knocks the shift back into park and drags a heavy, tired hand down his face. “What hope.”

“Have you maybe considered telling her how you feel?”

“Did you pull that from an episode of Dr.Phil?” he mocks childishly, but before he can finish Jaemin socks him in the arm hard enough to make him yelp, patience waning, and wary of being hit again Jeno says the first thing that comes to mind.

“No! No, I’ve never considered it, because I don’t… I don’t know.”

Jaemin says nothing, so he just keeps going. “I don’t know how I feel. Whenever I felt myself caring too much about what she was doing I’d just chalk it up to Mark’s overprotectiveness rubbing off on me or something, and I’ve been like that for so long that it’s just become my go-to answer. I’ve never let myself think about it long enough to come to any other conclusion. I couldn’t.”

“Because you were scared of what you’d realize if you did?” Jaemin finishes, unsurprised. “You’re so stupid.”

“Fuck off,” Jeno bites, but Jaemin shakes his head.

“No. You’re actually dumb. You already know how you feel about her. You’ve known. You’ve just never let yourself say it out loud because saying it out loud means confirming it, and confirming it means you have to choose, but not looking at the writing on the wall doesn’t mean it isn’t there. What you still don’t seem to realize is that not choosing is still a choice.”

“A choice that keeps everyone happy,” he replies through a taut jaw. “Y/N got over me, and Mark doesn’t hate my guts. Easy.”

Jaemin looks like he has a lot to say about that statement, but swallows it down to ask the one he finds will get him the closest to his goal. “Why are you even friends with Mark if you think he’ll hate you over something like this?”

“What?”

“Don’t get mad at me, Jeno, actually think. He’s your best friend. You’re closer to brothers than two people who only met in high school. But you swear he’d drop you without a second thought if ever found out that you ever happened to look at Y/N in a way that wasn’t entirely innocent. Why? Are you some sort of threat Mark should be wary of? Do you have nefarious intentions with his baby sister?”

Jeno balks. Jaemin is clearly just trying to rile him up, his questions nothing but rhetorical, but regardless of knowing this Jeno still feels something angry and dark churning in his gut. His voice is a touch sharper than me means for it to be when he says, warningly, “What the hell are you trying to say, Jaemin?“

“I’m not trying to say anything! I’m asking you, because I’m seriously starting to think that you’ve never asked yourself! What reason do you actually have for thinking Mark wouldn’t even hear you out?”

“I know you’ve heard him, man. When he told us she was hanging out with Yeonjun again, you don’t remember that? How pissed he’d get— the tangents he’d go on, how he’d insist no guy was good enough for her, how guys ‘our age’ have nothing good in mind when it comes to chasing after girls? You think just because we’re his friends that rule doesn’t apply to us?”

“I don’t think that, actually,” Jaemin snorts and pulls yet another nugget from the bag. “Especially because Yeonjun was a super senior that was nearing twenty when he graduated, and had a reputation you could see from around corners for using girls like fast food napkins. That’s your big hang up? That Mark didn’t want some sleaze like that hanging around his sister?”

He has a point. But in Jeno’s mind this isn’t nearly enough to undo years and years of Mark’s theoretical judgment hanging over his neck like a guillotine.

“Yeonjun is a strong example, but it still seemed pretty clear to me that he meant that about every guy. Not just the real shitheads.”

“Then you read him wrong.”

Jeno surprises even himself when he laughs. “What makes you so sure, Na?”

“‘Cause he—” And Jaemin hesitates. All that informative bravado wavers, a visible wave of uncertainty crossing his face. “Because a few years ago he pretty much gave me permission. To go after her, I mean.”

Jeno thought for sure that after Wooyoung’s party he’d really experienced it all. The confusion, at first, as the explanation fell so casually from your mouth; Hooked up with one of your siblings friends, Somi said. But you only had one sibling, and Jeno also was pretty fucking sure he knew all of Mark’s friends since. Some itchy part of him wished you were lying— merely putting a finger down to look cool amongst the party goers and not because you’d actually lost the round, but he knew you and was therefore acutely aware of the fact that you weren’t one to play pretend for strangers.

Then, before he even had time to come to terms with why he felt so bothered by this knowledge, Somi accidentally outed this mysterious Mosquito Boy and Jeno felt like he’d just been doused in ice.

In the span of a few seconds he ran though the five stages of grief like a racecar zipping around a closed track. Denial, quick and easy, he thought Somi must’ve just been mistaken. That Jaemin probably just looked like whoever it was that you hooked up with, and in her stupor tried to connect dots that weren’t there. But not only did that stop making sense once he really thought about it— since you explicitly mentioned the lake house and Mark’s birthday, two landmarks that would be very hard to miscalculate— he’d seen the look on your face when Somi said it.

You weren’t annoyed that she got it wrong. You were terrified because she’d gotten it right.

Then came anger. Sharp and barely contained, Jeno’s eyes drifted from your face to Jaemin’s, and a wash of deep, burning… something, took him over. Jeno might not have been able to name the crime Jaemin committed, because you were both consenting adults who were fully allowed to do what they pleased and it wasn’t like Jaemin was bound by blood to tell them everything he did in his freetime, but Jeno as he watched Jaemin smile at you, none the wiser to what secret of his had just been spilled to half their class, he still felt like he was staring at someone who should be on the top of a wanted list.

There simply was no final stage of acceptance, because for the last week he’s been stuck squarely in depression. Replaying that moment on the balcony over and over again like a kid picking at a scab, moping around campus like some sort of ghost as the days went by.

He thought he’d felt it all, in the last four days. He thought that there were no more bombshells to be dropped.

This presumption is blown out of the water when, after the near fifteen seconds it takes for him to compute what Jaemin has just said, Jeno finally feels something new.

And whatever it is, the appearance of it on his face seems to worry Jaemin greatly.

“He gave you… permission?”

“Which I did nothing with,” Jaemin says with careful haste, “I didn’t. He’d just… picked up on something. He took the fact that I dote on her so much as— As a sign, or something, that I liked her, and pulled me aside one day before you and Hyuck got to their house.”

He swallows. “When?”

“Some time when we were juniors. I know it was close to summer because I just turned eighteen.” He laughs, awkwardly and a little too loud, like this is the first time he’s telling this story and is just now realizing how ridiculous it is. Jeno doesn’t laugh with him. “I asked if Rockstar was coming home ‘cause I had something for her, and he said dropped her off at her friend’s house already. Then he got this look on his face and said, super seriously, that he wouldn’t mind if she liked a guy like me. I said what, he said what, and then elaborated that he noticed how much I fuss over her and stuff, and that if I liked her more than I let on that he’d be cool with it. Said I’d— He knew I’d treat her well.”

“Cool with it,” Jeno echoes distantly. “Cool with… you. Dating Y/N.”

“I turned him down,” Jaemin tells him for some reason. “Just laughed it off, because I didn’t know what else to do.”

“Why?”

He blinks like this is the last question he was expecting Jeno to ask. “Why?”

“Obviously, you—” The words almost don’t want to come out. “You’re clearly attracted to her. I don’t see why you wouldn’t take that as a greenlight to really pursue it.”

“You’re asking me why I didn’t ask her out?”

“Yes?”

“Are you kidding? I didn’t do anything about it because of you. So you could then kill me in my sleep?”

“I wouldn’t have felt anyhow about it,” Jeno lies. “If Mark gave you his blessing then that— That has nothing to do with—”

“Yes it does, man! I only brought it up because it’s proof that Mark doesn’t just shoot blindly when it comes to who his little sister likes, and if you don’t have to worry about that, you can stop lying to yourself about what you really want. You have a chance.”

“I had a chance,” Jeno blurts before he can swallow it, truth sharp and instantly sobering. “Before the lake house. Maybe even before what I said on Saturday. But—” He remembers the look on your face on the balcony. The clear, deep hurt. Then he remembers how you looked at him an hour ago. Or how you didn’t look at him, more realistically— Casual, unbothered, composed.

Unlike him, you’ve already reached some semblance of acceptance.

“But this time I think I really messed up.”

The lights of the restaurant are too bright in his periphery. The silence is too quiet, and the air in the car is too suffocating. Again he’s grabbed by the urge to go home, and before Jaemin can say another word Jeno glances at the finally empty fast food box in his lap.

This time when the engine revs and Jeno wordlessly kicks the car into drive, Jaemin says nothing.

You owe it to her to tell her the truth, you know.

Jaemin lives in an apartment with his older brother, a few short blocks from Jeno’s own place. The ride had been mostly silent, neither of them really feeling the need to speak in lieu of the rather tense exchange they’d left behind— the first thing Jaemin said since they left the parking lot was when he was pulling in front of the building, and it was for Jeno to cut down on the moping if he didn’t want to have wrinkles by twenty-five.

Before Jeno could roll his eyes and tell him to get out, Jaemin opened the door and stepped out himself; but not without doing what he does best. Lecturing.

She’s miserable. You’re miserable. I know you know that much.

Jeno only sighed.

All because of one big miscommunication. I know you, and I like to think that after half a decade of being in her house I’d know Y/N pretty well too, and you’re both never going to be able to look at each other again without this hanging over your heads if you don’t sort it out. If you’re so sure that this is the end, then you have nothing to lose by telling her the truth about everything. Everything. How you feel now, and how you felt then. And if there’s any part of you that believes this can be saved, then you need to try as hard as you can to make sure it happens. And it starts with you manning up and telling her feelings weren’t nearly as unrequited as she thinks.

And Jeno wasn’t quite in the mood to tell him he was right, so he didn’t. Instead he squinted at Jaemin, and asked the question that’s been prickling in his mind since they pulled out of the fast food place.

“What Mark said about giving you his blessing,” he started, “You said you turned it down for me.”

Jaemin raised an eyebrow. “Yeah. Because regardless of how obtuse you are, I know what I saw. You liked her. A lot. I wasn’t getting in the way of that.”

A beat.

“And If I wasn’t there to get in the way?”

It’s a clear inquiry to Jeno, cut and dry, but Jaemin laughs like he’s just been asked a trick question. With his eyes narrowed and a cavalier smile in his expression, Jaemin stared at him as if he was thinking ‘Do you actually want to know the answer to that?’ and in that moment without a single word spoken, Jeno saw it all. There was a world quite similar to this one where they weren’t having this conversation, or talking so casually about you, or sharing advice. A world where Jaemin was a more opportunistic person who didn’t care that Jeno had liked you first; A world where they weren’t friends, but rivals.

If you weren’t in the way then she would be mine.

“I don’t think asking things like that is going to help you get the girl.”

“I would still appreciate the clarification,” Jeno said, just as vague.

“Mmm. I bet. Well, Lee Jeno,” Jaemin tapped the roof of the car twice, the whole car echoing with the force of it despite how casually he spoke, “My answer to that question is going to make you do everything but appreciate me, so how about we call a draw here, huh? Before we open that can of worms and everyone gets all… thinky.”

And they both knew that by not answering Jaemin had actually replied loud and clear. But once he heeded his words— really sat there and thought about it, what good it would do for anyone if Jeno knew how Jaemin really felt about you, he found himself agreeing.

Maybe ignorance is bliss.

“You smell like french fries,” Jeno called offhandedly, as Jaemin retreated closer and closer to the revolving doors of his building. He turns right as Jeno steps out of the driver's seat, just in time to catch the tiny cologne he keeps in the console for emergencies. “No chance Jaehyun won’t clock you.”

Jaemin cooed. “So thoughtful you are, No-Jam! If you weren’t so buff and scary, Y/N-ie might’ve had competition.”

And for the first time all night, maybe even all week, Jeno felt a genuine laugh.

[♥︎]: and there it is, folks! please leave a like if you enjoyed! it REALLY gives me the motivation to work on this faster! plus, yay, new chapter after a literal entire year, LOL

[MASTERLIST] [PREVIOUS PART] [NEXT PART]

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mafiadad5 · 5 months

Text

Masterlist and rules

Hiii! I’m 18 and I write for nct🩷

18+ blog, I only write for nct but I do write for all units (except new team) feel free to request, but I may get to them a bit late 🎀. sometimes I feel uncomfortable about writing for certain members or topics… please understand and don’t be rude.

Please dont plagiarize my work, if you really need help literally dm me, but it’s not cool to steal😭… ©mafiadad5

Thank you so much and feel free to leave comments and my dms are open!

Mark

• Friends with benefits

(Second person pov)

(First person pov)

you walk in on your roommate and long time friend doing something… a small argument about it turns into something else

Imagine

“I saw this tweet that was like mark would be the type to say dude romantically and i can’t stop thinking about it 😣😩!”

————————————————————————————

Haechan

• Drunken thoughts

(Second person pov)

“You and your friend group decides to play a new and risky drinking game, but it only becomes risky for you and Haechan. “

————————————————————————————

Renjun

• self control

(Second person pov)

your roommate is fed up with how you dress around the apartment and asks you to stop, but you’re fed up with him acting like he doesn’t like it so you finally confront him.

————————————————————————————

Chenle

• Try, try not to think about us in that way.

(Second person pov)

(First person pov)

You and Chenle has been friends for years now, since freshman year of Highschool, you finally graduate and go on a summer trip that you guys have been fantasizing to go on since sophomore year. You've always had a crush on him, but stopped trying after he rejected you freshman year. Not wanting to ruin the friendship, you ignore your feelings. That's until you're standing at the beach…

• part 2

————————————————————————————

Jisung

• imagine

(Second person pov)

“Omg can you maybe do like visiting jisung in the practice room for a quickie while the others are out #dontgetcaught!!”

• part 2

————————————————————————————

Jeno

Nothing yet :(

————————————————————————————

Jaemin

• White tee

(Second person pov)

(First person pov)

no summary, just read :)

• arguments

(Second person pov)

you and your bf got into an argument the night before, but you still have an attitude that he wants to knock out of you.

————————————————————————————

Ten

• Can I be the one for you? (Part 1)

(Second person pov)

(First person pov)

Your boss seems to have a problem with you, and loves to tease you and make you work harder than the rest, that’s when you both get invited on a business trip that could change everything, literally. Are you gonna go on this business trip with him or not?

• one more night with you (part 2)

(First person)

it’s been years since everyone has split up from high school, but a knock on the door graduation day changes everything.

————————————————————————————

Hendery

Nothing yet :(

————————————————————————————

Yang Yang

blame it on the high.

(Second person pov)

you finally give into your stoner roommates habit and decide to smoke with him, the high makes you different you…

————————————————————————————

Xiaojun

Nothing yet :(

————————————————————————————

Win win

Nothing yet :(

————————————————————————————

Kun

Nothing yet :(

————————————————————————————

Johnny

Nothing yet :(

————————————————————————————

Taeil

Nothing yet :(

————————————————————————————

Yuta

Nothing yet :(

————————————————————————————

Taeyong

Imagine

“Omg imagine sucking off taeyong backstage right before a show 😭😫”

• Just for the night.

(Second person pov)

(First person pov)

————————————————————————————

Jungwoo

Nothing yet :(

————————————————————————————

Jaehyun

• Kalopsia

I went back to my college town, my dad worried about me and my safety makes sure to load me with a bodyguard to be safe, little do I know it turns into a whole web of secrets, lies, and history that shouldn’t have been dug up.

(First person pov)

————————————————————————————

Doyoung

• Kalopsia

(First person pov)

————————————————————————————

Nct dream ot7

• Imagine

(Second person pov)

(First person pov)

“hii i don't know if you're accepting requests, but could you do nct dream reaction to you still being horny and wanting more rounds, even tho you just had sex and they're exhausted 🫠”

————————————————————————————

Wayv ot6

————————————————————————————

Nct 127 ot9

Nothing yet :(

————————————————————————————

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flwoie · 1 year

Text

PROM WITH WHO?

cover designed by the lovely @giantkeroppi

AN UNEXPECTED PROM REJECTION LEADS TO GOING WITH THE TWO WORST PEOPLE ON THE PLANET

・❥・ SYNOPSIS ➸ Prom is one of the best events of the year, especially when you have someone to go with. After getting ditched at the last minute on the night, you have two choices for your date: your ex or your enemy.

PAIRING ➸ ex! jake x f! reader x second-lead! enemy! heeseung

GENRE ➸ smau, crack, fluff, angst if u look closely, enemies to friends, exes to lovers, love triangle, highschool au (00s, 01s & 02s are portrayed as juniors) (reader is an 02), one-sided pining (heeseung), mutual pining (reader & jake)

WARNINGS ➸ profanity, just bomin getting kicked out of the gc every chapter (yes that’s a warning bc it’s an unfunny joke 😭) each chap has its warning

FEATURING ➸ enhypen jaemin of nct shuhua of gidle bomin of golcha mentions of tbz (changmin, sunwoo & hyunjae) but portrayed as a hs band

NOTE ➸ THIS SMAU IS PURE FICTION, ALL THE IDOLS MENTIONED IN THIS DO NOT REFLECT WITH THEIR ACTUAL LIFE AND CAREER. THIS IS A NON-IDOL ALTERNATIVE UNIVERSE

STATUS ➸ discontinued :(

╰┈➤ START 03/26/23

╰┈➤ END …

SONATA SPEAKING ➸ so i got inspo from an instagram post so why not make this a series, this would’ve been great as a written series but yk how i am with written series 🤥🤥 (sorry mr puddles) BUT who wouldn’t love heejake smaus (sorry heeseung…)🔥🔥 and yes the og title was this or that but i hated it so…

☆ playlist — «on days like this, i miss you»

DATES ❥ interlocking toes club 💐 bonk playerzzz

ONE — no date 🤣🤣

TWO — got a date

THREE — super cool prom night > written

FOUR — raging 😹😹

FIVE — doing my job, trust the process

SIX — IM A FORTUNE TELLER 🔥🔥

SEVEN — everyone loves tbz 😊

EIGHT — e etb. rjur. a.

NINE — i can;,;t,ttt,\ttttt,

enhypen masterlist

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i-luvsang · 1 year

Text

［ ☆ #C50039 — na jaemin

1K MILESTONE EVENT ☆ OPEN

¿ ｡′ for ☀️ anon , gn!reader , fakedating!au , highschool!au , fluff, kinda angst(?) , cw: mentioned parental issues for both reader and jaemin, swearing (once) , wc: 1.4K ！！

the couch in his room is red. you thought it was gaudy and stupid looking when you first saw it. you still do, but you’ve gotten used to it and don’t tease him about it as much as you used to.

right now though, it’s a little too hard to ignore when his brand name cashmere sweater is the same exact shade of red and it looks like his top half has melted into the couch.

“jaem, you look so stupid right now, you know that?” you jab at him.

“is this about the stupid couch again?” he replies, sinking further into the plush and propping his feet up on the coffee table.

“of course it’s about the couch. if only you could see yourself, you’ve made quite possibly the worst fashion choice for sitting around in your room doing nothing,” you scrutinize him from the chair across him.

“well we’re not going to be sitting around here doing nothing all day. besides, it’s not like anyone is here to judge my choices,” he refutes, all of the sudden moving up from his laid back position to lean in close to you. he boops your nose, leaving you on the verge of irritation. he pushes you over the edge when he grins and tells you, “but it’s fine. you’re cute when you say pointless shit.”

you scowl and move away from him. “and maybe you’d be cute with a sock shoved in your mouth.”

he just chuckles at that and returns to his slouched position in that damned couch, pulling out his phone. he begins to scroll mindlessly, not even bothering to look up when he speaks again.

“there’s a matching sweater in the bag by the door. put it on before we go to dinner.” his tone is uninterested, bored even, as he casually reveals that there just so happens to be a brand new, immensely expensive article of clothing waiting for you to put on so you can fool everyone into thinking you’re head over heels in love with each other.

but you’re used to luxury nearly as much as he is, so you hum in acknowledgement as you pull out your own phone. sometimes you wonder how the two of you do it; turn into a lovey dovey couple in front of anyone else, when what’s most natural while alone is silence or teasing flirtations with a few biting remarks and scowls thrown in. that’s not to say you hate each other or anything like that. you’re friends; friends out of a mutual understanding of what the other wants, maybe even what they feel.

it's simple really, what the both of you want; escape in any form you can get. your presence prevents unwanted nagging from his parents. and of course your presence with him means you don't have to be where you'd rather not. parading around on jaemin’s arm is far better than spending your time at home. you don’t care if the act you put on around others is fake, it’s certainly not as fake as whatever interest your parents pretend to have in you from time to time.

his parents like you. not because they actually care about who you are either, but because you come from money too. before you started “dating” him, jaemin’s parents did everything they could to set him with other rich kids, wanting him to be set with a profitable marriage at the ripe age of eighteen.

so he cornered you after class one day with one of his stupid winks and asked you to pretend to date him, just to get them out of his hair until college. you told him he’d be dumb to think you’d actually agree to it, but you still asked him why he went to you first. he told you it was because you would be the only one who could actually make it convincing.

“what about your little fanclub?” you had asked. he told you, despite the fact that he thinks they are very cute for liking him so much, he doesn’t think he could actually pretend to be in love with one of them.

“so you could pretend to be in love with me then?” you teased.

he scoffed, “sure i could. it’s not too hard. but aside from that, none of those kids would stop acting in love with me once we’re out of everyone’s sight. you would. it might actually be bearable with you, that’s why i’m asking.”

“flattered,” you deadpanned. “but i still think you must have lost your mind in thinking i’d actually say yes.”

“c’mon, y/n. it won’t be half bad, i swear,” he pushed.

“sure, but what the hell do i get out of this whole thing?” this had been the essential question.

“food?” he suggested. “i’ll buy you snacks and dinner everyday.”

“you want me to eat dinner with you every night?”

“there’s such thing as delivery, but if that’s what you want, don’t be afraid to say it,” he joked.

“god, no,” you looked at him with feigned disgust, but let your thoughts run anyways. “i’ll think about it though.”

two days later, of course to keep him in suspense, you agreed, on the condition that he really, truly had to pay for your food whenever you so pleased. you didn’t need him to pay for your food with the money you had, but it was a bonus anyways. what you really got out of it was a great excuse to stay away from home as long as you could. there it's lonely, too quiet, too empty, yet no matter how large its expanse, you couldn’t escape your parent’s prying questions, prying eyes. so you said yes, because with jaemin you can bicker as a way of saying “i’m comfortable with you.” with him, you can go out into the city without feeling alone. you can laugh at people's jokes, even if they aren't very funny. it can be loud, but in a fun way. it can be quiet without feeling empty.

really, you almost like to spend time with him now. not just because it’s an escape, but because he’s maybe just a bit funny. you’ll never tell him that, of course, he’d never let that go.

and he’s sweet. he acts like he doesn’t care sometimes, but he’ll squeeze your hand tight when you have to go back home. he told you it would be just fine the first time you met his parents. you could tell he wanted to tease you for being nervous, but he didn’t. instead, he told you they’d love you, almost as if he was starting the act before the curtains opened.

tonight is dinner with his parents. every thursday, you accompany him to family dinner, where his parents still pry and chide and meddle with his business, but they no longer tell him he needs to be smarter about finding a partner, that he has another blind date this weekend. still, everytime they say something stupid, you let yourself grab his hand, or squeeze it tighter if it was already resting in your lap. he never says anything about it, but afterwards he always tells you that dinner wasn’t too bad this week, that this whole ordeal is worth it.

today is no different. he collapses on his bed and you slouch in your favorite chair.

“today wasn’t too bad, huh?” he sighs out. “definitely worth it not to have them breathing down my neck about how i really should start dating someone rich.”

“for sure,” you agree, not needing to really say much else. today’s one of the quiet days, you can already tell. so you let the silence settle, and that’s fine until you glance over at him resting against a mountain of pillows.

his nose looks quite pretty from this angle.

“jaemin?”

“yeah?” he doesn’t even look up.

“are you sure this is entirely fake?” you ask. he meets your gaze at this.

“no,” he answers, honestly, plainly, quietly. “i’m not sure.”

“good. me too.” you let out a sigh of relief. you can’t quite believe you said any of that, but there it is. it’s out in the open and even though the silence settles again, it feels nice that way. maybe you’ll talk about it tomorrow. or maybe you’ll just kiss him on the lips when he drops you off at home.

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justalildumpling · 1 year

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1k follower event!

hello hello! in celebration of reaching this milestone i will open up requests for the first time!! slots will be first come first serve basis. i will try to post the requests as fast as i can but please be understanding if life gets in the way :(( thank you so so much again for supporting my works and helping reach this milestone💗

rules!

➢ i will only take requests for smau oneshots (so no written fics)

➢ i do NOT write smut! (sexting, things with sexual content) however, i am okay with suggestive fics (fwb au etc)

➢ i do not write member x member; reader by default will be female or gender neutral

➢ please request thru my asks a [ scenario, desired member and trope/genre ]! feel free to send in scenarios about previous characters i have written about (eg. any y/n from the lovesick universe with any member or alternate ship👀)

➢ i will only write for nct dream for this event (however will make exceptions for characters from the lovesick fools universe /i’m looking at u sunwoo/)

slots!

jaemin [friends to lovers, college au, fluff, crack] jealous confession

haechan [fake dating au, figure skater/hockey player au]

haechan [friends with benefits, high school au??, angst, fluff]

jeno [brother’s bff au] sneaking around older bro! jaemin

jaemin [exes to lovers, angst]

sunwoo [sports au, mutual pining]

renjun [established secret relationship]

mark [established relationship, fluff, angst]

renjun [academic rivals to lovers] love letters

haechan [mutual pining, idol au, fluff, crack, suggestive]

list of tropes and genres! (just in case u can’t think of any)

friends to lovers enemies to lovers exes to lovers strangers to lovers fake dating mutual pining one sided pining unrequited love frenemies to lovers established relationship lovers to enemies friends to enemies exes to strangers one night stand friends with benefits arranged marriage college au highschool au sports au idol au

fluff angst suggestive platonic crack

permanent taglist: @polarisjisung @wooyoung-a @w3bqrl @ficrecnctskz @rv7hsua @n0hyuck @neosdaisy @baekhyunstruly @rum-gone-why @dinonuguaegi @xxxx-23nct @maeumiluv @produmads @shwizhies @dearlyminhyung @barbkh8450t @cupid-yuno @mxnhoeuwu

#may extend the slots if needed🫣#dumpling's milestones 🐳#nct x reader #nct dream x reader #nct dream #nct dream smau

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tinted-skies · 2 years

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my first or last?

Mark `~ first.

He'd be your first and he'd make you feel as if you were his first as well (even if that weren't the case).

He would take you out whenever he found the time to and always ask for permission before kissing you or taking your hand in his... wholesome boy™, would never take you for granted.

You could swear he was the boy you were meant to grow old with but his insecurities would get the best of him. Was he holding you back? Were you with him just because you had no ex to compare him to?

Mark would refrain himself from ever being your last because he believed you deserved someone better than him.

Renjun `~ last.

After too many failed first encounters, you were now 30+ years old, working a random day job with no desire to start a romantic relationship whatsoever.

But unfortunately for you, the moment you decided to give up on love, the universe decided to send you cute coworker!Renjun to prove you that there is still hope after all.

He was kind, sweet and loveable but also very determined - hence why he didn't beat around the bush, asking you on a date quickly after he realised his feelings for you. Cue the start of a beautiful relationship that would last years to come <3

Renjun would be the reason you believe in love again.

Jeno `~ last.

Opposed to Mark, I believe Jeno's insecurity would be towards you (due to rough past relationships) and he'd fear that you wouldn't reciprocate his level of affection. However, after endless reassurance about how you felt for him, he was finally able to let down his guard.

Now you'd spend the rest of your days being followed around by a big baby who wants nothing more than to bear hug you and give you some cookies!!

This may be a weird thing to say, but in my eyes Jeno is a very responsible person when it comes to other people's feelings, so he'd find great joy in taking care of you and making sure you were happy all the time - aka the perfect last.

You and Jeno would have an happily ever after type of love.

Haechan `~ first.

Listen... *sighs*... he's a gemini.

I think Haechan would love to be your first, you might not have been his first but that didn't make things any less exciting for him. He'd have fun showing you new stuff and taking you on little adventures and everything would be so cute and chill but also intense because you'd both be so drawn to each other. But then, one day, he'd probably just get bored of it all.

And it doesn't mean he doesn't love you anymore (because he DOES), but the spark just isn't there anymore and he likes to live life always searching for that spark, you know?

I think it'd depend on the time you'd start dating tho. Maybe there would come a time when he'd want to settle and find a bit of stability, choosing to stay with you, as long as you promised to search for that spark alongside him.

Haechan would be your exciting and passionate first love.

Jaemin `~ last.

Hear me out, if I had to pick any dreamie to write a soulmate!au it would be this man right here. Childhood friends to lovers!au <333

In a perfect life you would have noticed the huge crush Jaemin had had on you all through highschool, and he would have been your first AND last. But due to your density college!Jaemin pushed his feelings aside, blaming it all on the raging hormones puberty came with (LIAR)

Although life sometimes got in the way, the world always seemed to put you two back together, and after years of trying to convince himself he was over you, he finally said "fuck it" and risked it all by confessing his feelings for you.

When you revealed you felt the same way, a weight lift off of his shoulders, feeling dumb for not having talked to you sooner. Little did you know that you'd be with him for the rest of your life, leaving you with plenty of time to make up for it.

Jaemin would love you through thick and thin, he'd want to be your first and last.

Chenle `~ last.

Chenle wouldn't give a shit if he was your first or last, he was living his life and just happened to come across you (and well now he happens to be stuck with you forever 🙃)

He'd be a super chill but also very responsible partner, taking care of your financial bills, possessions, insurances... *insert other economic stuff idk shit about* He'd show his love through little acts of service but would never shy away from an opportunity to shout to the world just how much he loved you.

You'd be a great team. He had always seen relationships as something stable and long-lasting, instead of passionate and intense (contrasting with Mr. Lee Haechan).

Chenle would be the laidback but very caring type of last.

Jisung `~ first.

Let's be honest this boy would be a nervous wreck, and chances are you wouldn't be much better.

Jisung was probably one of those people who'd start a relationship still not knowing exactly who he was and what he wanted. So I believe his first love wouldn't be his last because he needed to grow and find himself.

However, I think if you broke up and later in life found him (and you were both single), he'd be up for another try, basking in the way both of you had grown so much and become more aware and determined.

Jisung would be the one to regret finding you first.

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theficblog · 2 years

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NCT MASTERLIST

♫ Just say you love me~

A separate masterlist for NCT since this blog is majorly about it. Contains all types of writings and members ahead.

[All of these writings are oneshots unless mentioned otherwise]

JOHNNY

Need Help?

↳ [ smut + office au ]

TAEYONG

Happy Birthday

↳ [ fluff + birthday boy taeyong ]

[9:56 am] [ Timestamp ]

↳ [ fluff + established relationship au + dad taeyong ]

YUTA

Forelsket

↳ [ fluff + enemies to lovers + football au ]

KUN

There Are More Fishes In The Sea

↳ [ angst + neighbour kun ]

[7:16 pm] [ Timestamp ]

↳ [ fluff + established relationship au ]

DOYOUNG

Medicament

↳ [ fluff + student au ]

[6:28 pm] [ Timestamp ]

↳ [ fluff + established relationship au ]

TEN

Cats, Brushes and You

↳ [ fluff + social media au ]

Run, Stupid

↳ [ crack + established relationship au ]

JAEHYUN

Culpability

↳ [ smut + exes to lovers au ]

You Know I Hate This

↳ [ angst + fluff + mafia au ]

Fortuitous

↳ [ fluff + strangers to lovers au ]

Forever

↳ [ angst + established relationship au ]

Hearts [ Series ft. Jeno + Jaemin + Haechan ]

↳ [ rich kids au + arranged marriage au + college au ]

Not Here

↳ [ smut + established relationship au ]

[7:25 am] [Timestamp]

[ fluff + newly married au]

MARK

Concerns

↳ [ fluff + established relationship au ]

Little Lady

↳ [ suggestive + car mechanic mark ]

XIAOJUN

Black Umbrellas

↳ [ angst + exes to lovers ]

JENO

Baby Daddy

↳ [ fluff + established relationship au ]

Topsy-Turvy

↳ [ fluff + crack + suggestive + ft. nct dream 00s ]

It Hurts

↳ [ angst + highschool au ]

Daydream

↳ [ suggestive + strangers au + nyfw jeno ]

Hearts [ Series ft. Jaemin + Haechan + Jaehyun ]

↳ [ rich kids au + arranged marriage au + college au ]

11:06 pm [ Timestamp ]

↳ [ smut + stranger jeno ]

HAECHAN

Redeem

↳ [ fluff + established relationship au ]

Unblock Your Heart

↳ [ smut + enemies to lovers + student au ]

Back Together

↳ [ suggestive + exes to lovers ]

Freesias and Frocks

↳ [ angst + yandere + childhood lovers ]

Hearts [ Series ft. Jeno + Jaemin + Jaehyun ]

↳ [ rich kids au + arranged marriage au + college au ]

JAEMIN

Babysitting

↳ [ fluff + established relationship au ]

The Idiot That I Love

↳ [ angst + fluff + racer boyfriend jaemin ]

Just Not Enough

↳ [ fluff + bed sharing au ]

Hearts [ Series ft. Jeno + Haechan + Jaehyun ]

↳ [ rich kids au + arranged marriage au + college au ]

YANGYANG

Tongue In Cheek

↳ [ suggestive + fluff + friends to lovers au ]

Problem

↳ [ fluff + haters to lovers + highschool au ]

Now and Then

↳ [ fluff + exes to lovers ]

CHENLE

2:26 am [ Timestamp ]

↳ [ fluff ]

JISUNG

Third Wheel

↳ [ fluff + acquaintances to lovers ]

PLEASE REFRAIN FROM PLAGIARIZING ,TRANSLATING, OR POSTING OUTSIDE THIS PLATFORM.

#nct #nct masterlist #nct fanfics #nct smut #nct fluff #nct angst #bae basics #ash

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0710studios · 2 years

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MGA KARAKTER. jaemin x good girl, virgin!reader

GENRE. smut, highschool!au (both jaemin and the reader are right of age) | SETTING. philippines

BILANG NG MGA SALITA. 3.2k

MGA BABALA. smut, corruption kink, mentions religion, protected sex, oral (f receiving), fingering, car sex, public sex, losing one's virginity

CHIKA NG ADMINS. wow nakakapanibago na may format na kami wahahahah pero eto na nga mga beh, para mas easy to read! this is a requested piece from an anon sa old account! enjoy!

anon said: what if... fuckboy jaemin x catholic all-girls school student yn + corruption

SABI NI SISTER ANNE, AVOID THE BOYS FROM THAT SCHOOL.

but how could you avoid them when you’re literally meters away from them? sino ba kasing nasa tamang isip na ilagay ang all girls school sa tapat ng all boys school? from the very beginning, your school has always been competing with that school in front of you. minsan nga, hindi mo malaman kung ano ba talagang pinaglalaban ng school mo dahil hindi naman kayo co-ed, isang all girls school kayo at all boys school ‘yung kabila. anong pinaglalaban niyo kung magkaiba ang takbo at ang curriculum ng school niyo at bakit gustong-gusto nilang patumbahin ang school na nasa harap niyo?

isa sa mga building hallway niyo ay nakaharap sa hallway ng kabilang school, kaya madalas niyong makita ang isa’t isa na lumalabas sa mga classroom. unfortunately, toka ka sa magch-check ng classrooms kung may naiwan pa ba dahil may program kayo sa auditorium. hindi madaling maging student council president at sabayan pa nito na senior ka na, madalas kang pagod kakalakad sa mahahabang hallway ng school niyong puno ng rebulto ng mga santo. sa kabilang banda ng building, nakita mo ang isang lalaking bumababa galing ng emergency exit ladder mula second floor ng building. hindi mo inaasahang magtatama ang mga mata niyo— hindi mo inaaasahan na siya rin pala ang magbabago ng takbo ng buhay mo.

jaemin na, isang senior katulad mo. after that eye contact, nagulat ka dahil pag-uwi mo ng bahay at pag-bukas mo ng cellphone mo, may isang message request mula sa kanya. hindi mo alam kung paano niya nalaman ang account mo, let alone knowing your name, but you found yourself smiling while talking to him. it's been months since nangyari 'yun, he even asked you not to tell his school dahil una't huling beses na raw niyang gagawin 'yun. bakit ba 'ko may paki? hindi naman kami magkaklase! isip mo kasalukuyan, nanonood ka ng movie kasama siya sa discord.

"sama ka sakin bukas," sabi nito at pinause ang pinapanood niyo. nag-taas ka ng kilay, "punta kong mall, 11:30"

"may pasok bukas, ano ka ba" tawa mo, pero seryoso ang mukha nito. "seryoso ka ba? na pinapasama mo ako sa'yo?" tumango si jaemin at sumandal sa upuan niya, parang confident at alam kung anong mangyayari bukas. "i can't do that tapos 11:30 pa, that's the time i get ready to lead the angelus and open the gates papuntang cafeteria. tsaka hindi ako basta-basta makakatakas ano"

"takas? easy lang 'yan, my sister does that all the time" ngiti nito, "my ate graduated at your school, five years ago. lagi niyang sinasabi may masakit sa kanya and boom, makakalabas na siya sa school niyo"

hindi naman sa ayaw mong sumama kay jaemin, ang totoo nyan, gusto mong sumama. gusto mong kilalanin pa ang lalaking 'to, pero sobrang risky ng gusto niyang mangyari. kung dito graduate ang ate niya five years ago, malamang iba na ang takbo ng school sa dati. mas lalong naging strikto ito lalo na sa clinic at guards. "okay, let's say pinayagan nga ako umuwi ng clinic namin… hindi ibig sabihin nun pwede akong lumabas mag-isa. kailangan ko ng sundo, the guards don't let students go home alone unless may letter"

nagbuntong hininga si jaemin, "hindi naman ako papasok bukas, pwede kitang sunduin" sabi niya, "i have my car, ano bang tinatanong ng guard sa visitors kapag papasok sa gate niyo?"

"...name and purpose of visit, they also keep the records of the visitors"

"pssh, easy. akong bahala sa'yo bukas," ngisi nito, "it's late, matulog ka na. see you tomorrow, y/n"

hindi ka agad nakatulog, kinakabahan ka kasi sa plano ni jaemin. umabot na sa puntong gumawa ka ng pekeng excuse letter at binakat ang pirma ng nanay mo mula sa mga ibang dokumento mo. all this for a boy, y/n? sabi mo sa sarili mo habang nilalagay ang gawa-gawa mong letter sa loob ng isang envelope. pag gising mo, alam mong dapat umakto kang may masakit sa'yo, either hindi ka papapasukin o 'di kaya papayagan ka ng parents mong mag-stay sa bahay. okay na sana 'yung mag-stay ka sa bahay, mag-isa ka lang naman at pwede pang tumambay dito si jaemin, pero ang problema dyan ay ang mga kapitbahay niyong chismosa. kapag nalaman o nakita nitong nagpapasok ka ng lalaki sa bahay niyo, malamang sa malamang, ikukwento ito sa mga magulang mo.

nagpumilit ka sa nanay mo na papasukin ka na lang, gumawa ka pa ng drama na mag-isa ka lang sa bahay at nakakalungkot. it's a good thing she bought it, hinatid ka pa sa school bago pumasok ng trabaho. napaki-usapan mo ang vice president ng student council na siya muna ang bahala sa lahat ngayong araw dahil masama ang pakiramdam mo at nag-stay ka sa loob ng clinic buong umaga. hanggang sa nag-ring ang bell para sa lunch. saktong 11:55 nagriring ito, 5 minutes before 12 para makalabas na ang mga teacher sa classroom at para mag-handa ang mga estudyante para sa angelus. nagpaalam ka sa school nurse, binigay ang pekeng excuse letter at pinirmahan. 12:10 nung makalabas ka sa clinic, papuntang parking kung saan sabi ni jaemin ay kikitain ka niya. inabot mo na rin sa gwardya ang excuse letter mong may pirma saka pumunta kay jaemin.

there he stood in a simple white shirt, maong and sneakers, leaning against his car. lumapit ka agad sa kanya, "paano ka nakapasok?" tanong mo, kinuha nito ang bag mo at nilagay sa loob ng kotse niya.

"sabi ko sa guard pinapasundo ka sakin, na pinsan kita. 'yun lang," sagot nito at pinagbuksan ka ng pinto, "tara na?" pumasok ka sa loob ng kotse niya at hinintay siyang makaupo sa tabi mo. in a car guy's term, pogi ang kotse niya— tulad niya. mabango at malinis. "may extra ka bang dalang damit?"

"oo, hindi ako pwedeng makita na naka-uniform… hindi rin naman ako pwedeng mag-palit dito kasi… bahala na, sa mall na lang siguro"

"pwede ka naman magpalit dito sa kotse ko, tinted naman 'to tsaka pwede akong pumikit, 'di naman ako manyak 'no." tawa nito, "labas na lang ako habang nagbibihis ka"

nagulat si jaemin dahil bigla mo siyang pinigilan nung bubuksan niya na ang pinto, "'wag— um sige labas ka saglit…" ngumiti si jaemin sa reaction mo, so corruptible, so innocent. "please? five minutes." tumango si jaemin at lumabas ng sasakyan, buti na lang at nasa harap mo lang ang bag mo kaya agad kang nagpalit ng damit.

thankfully, hindi na pinababa ng gwardya ang bintana ni jaemin kaya mabilis rin kayong nakaalis sa campus. kinakabahan ka dahil baka isumbong ka sa principal, naturingang presidente ng student council, nagcucutting classes— kasama pa ang lalaking galing sa kabilang school. akala mo nung una, sa sm sa malapit lang kayo pupunta ni jaemin. nagulat ka dahil biglang pumasok sa slex ang kotse nito and the next thing you know, nasa alabang na kayo pareho.

"sorry, should've told you na sa alabang tayo pupunta. may gusto kasi akong puntahan na café sa town," sabi nito habang nagpapark.

"okay lang, i kind of miss town rin. it's been a while since i last visited," sagot mo.

ilang buwan na simula nung nagusap kayo ni jaemin, may something talaga sa kanya na hindi mo ma-explain. imagine, nag-skip ka ng class dahil lang inaya ka niyang mag-mall? all this time ang akala ng parents mo, nasa school clinic ka at nagpapahinga— pero eto ka, nasa alabang at kumakain kasama si jaemin. it turns out that jaemin was living alone (actually with his yayas) dahil nasa ibang bansa ang parents at kapatid niya. sabi niya kaya siya ganito, kasi pakiramdam niya ito lang ang paraan kung paano niya makukuha ang atensyon ng parents niya. hindi naman sa hindi niya mahal o may galit siya sa parents niya, pero madalas kasi siyang hindi binibigyan ng atensyon nito.

his way of getting their attention was bring girls home and cut classes. it was always successful, but after that, hindi na ulit siya papansinin. halatang halata sa'yo na sheltered ka dahil hindi mo siya gaano kakilala. jaemin na was straightforward, agad niyang sinabi sa'yo na he fucks girls for fun— some girls are from your school even. kaya siguro palagi kaming wina-warningan nila sister. because jaemin na is the boy that sister anne was talking about, the boy you must avoid at all costs.

"so, you're telling me, since prep dyan ka sa school mo nag-aaral?" tanong nito, "that's crazy! spent your whole life there na pala"

tumango ka, "i did, nakakasawa sa totoo lang, but i have no choice dahil 'dun graduate ang mom ko, mga tita ko, even my lola" ngumiti ka dahil pinagbuksan ka ulit niya ng pinto, he's not that bad. "i can really say na 'dun na ako tumanda" pagpapatuloy mo nung pumasok siya sa kotse. binuksan niya ang makina, agad namang umilaw ang screen at pinakita nito ang oras. 6:38 PM na, dapat nasa bahay ka na pero rush hour at malamang traffic sa slex. "jaemin, thank you for today."

"it's nothing, why are you saying thank you?"

"because… you made me feel free. na not all the time i have to abide by the rules, that i can breathe and that there's life outside of school. na hindi masamang mag-break ng rules for once. gaya nga ng sabi ko, masyado akong sheltered dahil bahay at school lang ang madalas kong puntahan." ngiti mo, you leaned towards him, hahalik ka sana sa pisngi ngunit bigla siyang humarap at tumama ang labi niyong dalawa. my first kiss… "s-sorry, dapat sa pisngi lang…" nahihiya mong sabi, "what was i thinking… we're not even on a date."

namutla ka bigla, remembering how your first date happened dahil chaperone ang nanay mo. that was three years ago, and never happened again dahil ang mga lalaking nagkakagusto sa'yo, hindi makaligtas sa nanay mong overprotective. "all this time you think this isn't a date? i was honest with you and even brought you to my favorite café" sabi nito, inangat mo ang ulo mo para tignan siya. date 'to?

"inassume ko lang na 'to date kasi… you were telling me about the girls you've been with and 'yung body count mo, who—" nanlaki ang mga mata mo dahil bigla kang sinunggaban ng halik ni jaemin, soon enough, you melted in his kiss, yet you had the courage to return it. his lips were soft and tasted like the iced americano he was drinking bago kayo makarating sa parking. humiwalay ka sa pagkakahalik, kapos na kapos sa paghinga. "i think… i think i like you, jaemin"

"i think i like you too, princess."

muling nagsalubong ang labi niyong dalawa, dahan-dahan kang nilipat ni jaemin mula sa passenger's seat papunta sa driver's seat. umungol ka sa bibig nito nang maramdaman mo ang ari niya sa'yo. napahawak ka sa dibdib niya at inangat ng kaonti ang sarili mo, "j-jaemin… aware ka ba na may boner ka?" tanong mo, hindi mo binababa ang sarili mo dahil kinabahan ka bigla.

"oo," sagot nito, "look, pwede naman tayong mag-make out lang kung hindi ka pa ready makipag-sex. i'd understand din kung hindi ka pa handa, we've only been talking for months and this is our first date…" hinaplos niya ang pisngi mo, "if you want to go slow, then we'll go slow"

tangkang ibabalik ka na ni jaemin sa pwesto mo, pero pinigilan mo siya. "n-no, ready na 'ko." sabi mo sa kanya, binaba mo ng onti ang sarili mo at muling naramdaman ang tigas niya. "ready na 'ko, jaem."

"sure ka? dito sa parking ng town?"

"anywhere, as long as it's with you… i'm giving you my consent"

jaemin adjusted his seat, commanding you to head to the backseat dahil may kalakihan ito. baka kasi kapag sa driver's seat kayo gumawa ng milagro, biglang umandar ang kotse. nung nakaupo na siya sa harap mo, hinalikan ka nito ng mabilis sa pisngi. "sure ka na ha" tanong ulit nito, tumango ka at ginabayan ang kamay niya para siya na mismo ang magtanggal ng butones ng suot mong polo. napakagat labi si jaemin nung makita niya ang suot mong bra— white lace. his favorite color. it's a coincidence dahil hindi naman niya sinabi sa'yo kung anong paborito niyang kulay. "can i?" tanong nito, inalis mo ang nakaharang na buhok sa leeg mo at tumango. tumaas ang balahibo mo nang maramdaman mo ang kamay niya sa balat mo, onti-onting binababa ang cups ng bra mo. "parang lalo kang gumanda, y/n" nakaluhod ka sa upuan ng kotse niya kaya halos kapantay ng labi ni jaemin ang dede mo.

you moaned when you felt his tongue on your nipple, napahawak ka pa sa ulo nito dahil bigla niyang kinagat ito. "jaemin… fuck, ang sarap." it indeed felt good dahil bihira ka lang mag-mura, at sobrang sarap ng ginagawa ni jaemin— hindi mo maiwasan. good girls can be curious; iniisip mo kung anong pakiramdam kapag may ibang gumagawa sa'yo ng mga bagay na ginagawa mo sa kwarto tuwing madaling araw gamit ang sariling kamay. kinuha mo ang kamay niyang nasa bewang mo at binaba ito mismo sa gitna ng hita mo. "t-touch me, please…"

ngumisi si jaemin at nilayo ang sarili niya sa dede mo, sinabihan ka niyang humiga at bumukaka— which you willingly did. naghubad ka ng suot mong shorts kasama ang suot mong underwear. fuck, agad na naisip ni jaemin. sa tagal niyang nakatingin sa'yo, bigla kang naging conscious at sinara ang mga hita, tinakpan ang dibdib gamit ang braso. "don't," sabi nito at naghubad ng tshirt, "ang ganda mo, 'wag mong itago."

the back of jaemin's car has a huge leg room kaya kayang kaya niyang lumuhod dito, kaharap niya ang namamasa mong puke. parang dati lang, sa porn na aksidente mong nahalungkat sa internet ka lang namamasa, iba pala ang feeling kapag nangyayari na sa'yo mismo. "wala ka pang experience, 'no?" tanong nito, tumango ka naman at huminga ng malalim nang maramdaman mong pinaghiwalay niya ang labi ng puke mo. "even fingering? have you ever touched yourself, princess?" naramdaman mong nag-init ang mukha mo, hindi ka makasagot kaya tumango ka. "naughty" he said, you sucked air when you felt his tongue flat on your clit. napahawak ka sa ulo ni jaemin, unconsciously pulling his locks hard. parang nakikipag-laplapan si jaemin sa puke mo, sucking the sensitive bud until he felt your body shiver. tumingin siya sa'yo, hindi lumalayo sa puke mo ang mga labi niya. napansin niyang nakapikit ka lang at naka-kagat labi, pinipigilan umungol ng malakas. "let me hear you, princess. don't hold back."

nanlaki ang mata mo dahil narinig mong mag-alarm ang kotseng katabi niyo. hindi mo maiwasang hindi takpan ang bibig habang dinidilaan ka ni jaemin, "j-jaemin, may tao sa labas" mahina mong sabi, agad namang lumayo si jaemin sa'yo. "itutuloy pa ba— oh my god…" napapikit ka dahil bigla siyang nagpasok ng isang daliri sa butas mo. dahan-dahan niyang ginalaw ito, napakapit ka sa bisig niya at pumikit nung nagdagdag pa siya ng isa pang daliri. hindi mo malaman kung ano ba ‘yung namumuo sa tyan mo habang gumagalaw ang kamay ni jaemin, parang butterflies na hindi mo malaman.

“you look so cute, princess. you look like you want to be ruined by me so bad,” sabi nito, nagkukuyom ang puke mo sa daliri niya kaya napangisi siya. “let go, alam kong lalabasan ka na”

you let out a loud moan, pretty sure every person outside the car could hear it pero wala ka nang paki. you’ve never orgasmed that hard before— dati kasi, kapag nanginginig ka na, alam mong ‘yun na, tapos na. you never expected it to have another one, so that’s a whole new experience for you. jaemin pulled his fingers out of you, putting his fingers on his mouth kaya nanlaki ang mata mo. “ang tamis mo, princess” ngiti nito at inalis niya ang daliri niya sa bibig. agad na binuksan ni jaemin ang belt niya, sumunod ang zipper ng pantalon niya.

“jaemin, a-ang laki mo…” nahihiya mong sabi, “kaya ko ba ‘yan?”

“kakayanin mo, baby” sagot nito, gamit ang isang kamay at bibig, binuksan niya ang wrapper ng condom at ni-rolyo ito sa ari niya.

nilinya ni jaemin ang tite niya sa butas mo, kasabay nito ang paglapit ng mukha niya sa mukha mo. muli niyang pinagdikit ang mga labi niyo, dinidistract ka sa sakit na mararamdaman mo. ulo palang ang napapasok ni jaemin, pero napailing ka sa sakit at lumayo sa labi niya. “jaemin…” iyak mo, may isang luha na lumabas sa mata mo at agad itong napansin ni jaemin. hinalikan niya ang mata mo at nagsimulang magsabi ng kung anu-anong matatamis na salita. dahan-dahan lang, pero naipasok ni jaemin ng buo ang tite niya sa loob mo. ilang bayo pa at nakapag-adjust ka na agad sa laki niya. jaemin’s cock was different from your own fingers. it can reach the sweet spot you’ve been looking for since you discovered how to touch yourself. the boy smiled as he looks at you under him, and he realized, he was once again fucking a girl from that school— a virgin girl. ayaw aminin ni jaemin, pero virgin girls turns the shit out of him. gustong gusto niyang nangco-corrupt ng babae, he gets turned on by the thought of exposing these innocent, good girls to sex and other kinky stuff.

nararamdaman niya ang sikip mo, ang pagkapit mo sa bisig niya ay humihigpit at kada bayo niya ay napapaluha ka. “jaemin, faster…” bulong mo sa braso niya, “please…”

gaya ng sabi mo, binilisan lalo ni jaemin ang pagbayo. wala na siyang pakialam kung umuuga ang kotse o kung may nakakapansin na ba nito, para sa kanya, he’s having the best sex of his life inside his car— in a parking lot somewhere in alabang. pinulupot mo ang binti mo sa bewang niya ay nilapit niya ang mukha niya sa mukha mo, pinagdikit ang mga labi niyo bago ito ilipat sa leeg mo. “you look so fuckable, baby” sabi nito at kinagat ang tenga mo, “kung lalabasan ka na, let go lang… t-tangina, wait, don’t clench”

with one last piercing thrust, jaemin felt his dick twitch inside your tight pussy. you swore you could see stars when you felt it. hindi kayo gumalaw ng ilang segundo, hinahabol ang paghinga ng isa’t isa. jaemin places a kiss on your forehead before pulling out of you, halos mapuno ang condom sa dami ng laman nito kaya agad itong tinali ni jaemin at nilagay sa maliit na basurahan na meron siya sa kotse.

“you did great, y/n.” sabi nito at humalik sa pisngi mo, “tara na? it’s 7:45, hinahanap ka na siguro ng mom mo.”

pagka-uwi mo, sinalubong ka ng galit mong nanay. 9:30 na kasi nung maka-uwi ka at nalaman pa niyang tumakas ka sa school gamit ang pekeng excuse letter. kada salita ng nanay mo sa’yo, hindi mo maintindihan dahil isa lang ang tumatakbo sa isip mo. ang nangyari kanina sa parking lot ng isang mall sa alabang.

jaemin #0813: hulaan ko, pinagalitan ka ‘no?

jaemin #0813: if you need to breathe and break the rules, you know where to find me ;)

TAGLIST( NA NAKALIMUTAN NA ADMINS SORRY DBDBSHSH): @butterjaems @shairamaexx @flovezen @yoitlover @haebragi @maleegayuh @thesirenita @hanjisungpark @j00reads @jaefam @mklver @stickerjae @winwinxiiv @91qowngus @dxoah @adorenjun @dongsicheng28 @bebskyy @ciscachenh @xnishimura @jenoluuvvs — may mga hindi kami ma-tag 🥲 sinusumpong nanaman si tvmblr pota

#nct smut #nct dream smut #jaemin smut #na jaemin smut #nct scenarios #nct dream scenarios #jaemin scenarios #nct hard thoughts #nct dream hard thoughts #jaemin hard thoughts #nct hard hours #nct dream hard hours #jaemin hard hours

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dojunie · 1 year

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MISDIAL; LJN [CH 4 TEASER] PICK UP THE PHONE!

[★]; [MISDIAL MASTERLIST]

info;

lee jeno x fem!reader

college au

chaptered

slow burn

genre; not-quite-friends to lovers, older brother mark lee, brothers best friend lee jeno, light angst, eventual smut, yn is a menace to society, story/character driven

warnings for this teaser; none

teaser wc: 2k / comment on this post for taglist!

taglist:@hibernatinghamster@jenoxygen@eaglesnotravens@donutswithjaminthemiddle@jvjsssnaa@huangrenhyucks@luvenshiti@shiningdery@jaeminsbebu@aliceinwhateverland@bebsky@gem-gem@jkjkseo@jenosbliss@pewpewpwe00@ti–red@philanarose@softbbyg0rl@aaasteroidsky@carelessshootanonymous@en-boyz@jlsavyy@roseymerrie@bangchanisemo@skuezk@jaehyuns-adorable-dimples@ourbeautifulaffair@jeonnyread@jvjsssnaa@episkeyjeno@bockhyun@jenojammin@zarastrawberry@peachie-bear @itadaramaterasu @alymii @cuteejeno @episkeyjeno @nohunlee@ooojisoo@luv4jeno @jydivrs @pinkysinnerbaby @jenojenoyes @maeyoung @axmdocs @nctzennikki09

[a/n] jeno lovers this is for you... thank you all for sticking around through these random long ass hiatus(es?), i promise the full chapter is being worked on and coming soon. here is a longer teaser for your trouble. i love u.

“SO. ARE WE GOING TO TALK ABOUT IT?”

“All of what,” Jaemin thankfully asks, nonplussed. “Your sudden closeness with little Jeon?”

For a split second, Jeno’s mind goes completely elsewhere.

Wooyoung’s. The guy was more Jaemin’s friend than his but he’d been invited to the party anyway, initially with a polite promise to swing by for an hour or two before clearing out to avoid the storm rolling in. Then, a few hours later in Mark’s place, you. Wandering into the apartment none the wiser to his presence, lost and squinting into the depths of your phone; and the only thing Jeno can remember from the seconds before you looked up and shut him out again was wondering how the hell he didn’t notice how much you’d changed.

If he was being honest, it's something that's been bothering him since that night at Nabi Bar. Because… you’d always been cute. Ask anybody with eyes. In highschool you were cute enough that sometimes Jeno didn’t quite understand why no one else seemed to be thinking about it as much as he was. Everything you did made him want to pick you up and shake you like a dog with a new toy. But somewhere along the lines, this…shifted.

“What about Wooyoung’s?” Jaemin sighs. “We were there for like, four hours. You’re going to have to be more—”

“You and Y/N,” Donghyuck says unrepentantly, striking right to the heart of his curiosity. “Mark’s birthday up in the woods, the lake house, whatever the fuck happened there. Y/N’s truth or drink question. To be specific.”

Jeno isn’t the best at understanding his own feelings, and he’ll admit that easily. So if he’s being serious about when he first realized something had shifted, when he noticed that something was undeniably different about you— he’d, coincidentally, also have to point a finger towards the weekend they all spent at the lake house. It was the first time he’d seen you in nearly four months. He’d shown up at Mark’s place with the van full of guys and hung out downstairs in the same living room that he used to spend every afternoon screwing around in before college came and whisked them all away, and waited for you and Mark to come down. And— And, he’s not proud of this, but— Well.

Well, when you did eventually reveal yourself, when you finally found his eyes amongst the crowd of his friends perking up at your arrival… he’d kind-of been expecting a bigger reaction.

He’d been working out more, is all. And he’d grown his hair out for the first time since he was a little kid, and had finally grown accustomed to the pokey, itchy world of contacts. He looked different. He felt different. He’d just finished his first year of college and was definitely feeling a little too cool about it. And in highschool you used to look at him like he had done something great for just simply existing— so he’d been ready for you to all but drop when you saw him now— but you’d run your gaze over Jeno for what felt like half a second before turning to Renjun, smiling widely at this new guy like you’d been waiting to meet him and only him.

And he remembers being… confused.

That had been the first clue that something about you (or, maybe, something about him) had changed.

“Na Jaemin. You are absolutely not going to sit here and not explain what the hell she was talking about.”

“It was over a year ago,” Jaemin replies belatedly. The tense beat of silence that followed Donghyuck’s question was nothing to be envied, but Jeno almost instantly preferred that to actually hearing… this. Whatever this is about to be. “And you heard her. There’s nothing to explain. She was getting over someone, I was getting over someone, and like most stupid teenagers do, we did the only thing that came to mind—”

“Because it isn’t news,” Jaemin mutters sharply, starting to sound a little agitated. “For a myriad of reasons. Can you please not phrase it like I was trying to seduce the Virgin Mary?”

“I’m not phrasing it like anything! I just… I mean, you’re not seriously going to pretend like this isn’t absolutely insane, right?”

“What about two people hooking up is so insane to you?”

Jaemin snaps his eyes to the rearview mirror, and Donghyuck’s words cut a little short. He’s reached the end of his rope.

“Donghyuck, is Y/N a human being to you?”

A very, very stagnant second passes.

“Or is she just some attachment to Mark, some little doll with no will or power of her own? You realize that this is why she hates being around us so much, right? Why she’s never around in her own apartment? Did you even notice that you’ve only ever said her name once in this whole bullshit conversation? Do you know what you’ve been calling her?”

Jaemin’s question hangs in the air like a physical weight.

Mark’s little sister. That’s what Donghyuck had been mindlessly referring to her as. The realization hits Jeno like a punch— his hand tightens around the steering wheel with immediate guilt; guilt for not even noticing how interchangeably they’d all been using the words in the first place and, much deeper down, knowing that even if Jaemin wasn’t talking to him, Jeno was definitely the worst culprit in the vein of only seeing you as an extension of your brother.

That’s basically what you’d told him on the balcony before you left and took half of his spirit with you.

“Jae... that’s not what I meant,” Donghyuck says, sufficiently scolded. All the gossip-seeking enthusiasm has drained from his voice. Now he just sounds sorry. “You know that’s not what I meant. That’s not how any of us see her.”

“I know that,” Jaemin replies quietly, returning his gaze to the window. “She doesn’t.”

They ride in silence for almost a whole block before Jaemin sighs.

“If you want to know so bad, freak— she found me after I got off the phone with Jurin for the last time. Sometime while you guys were off gathering wood for the campfire.”

For a moment Jeno genuinely doesn’t know what he’s talking about. A millisecond later Donghyuck perks up from the backseat though, and that’s never a good thing.

“At… At the lake house?” he says tentatively.

“At the lake house,” Jaemin nods.

Shit, Jeno thinks. Fuck.

“Y/N found out that she and I broke up, I found out that she was having guy problems of her own, and we basically had compliment-time to make each other feel better. The next time I saw her was when you guys left to go camping and we stayed back. I was watching a movie in the living room and she asked if she could join me because she couldn’t sleep, and— And after that you can put two and two together. That’s it.”

Jeno's arms tense up so quickly that he almost swerves into oncoming traffic.

“Fucking hell—! Hey! You’ve got precious cargo back here, jackass!”

“Pothole,” Jeno grunts.

“I’m not telling you that,” Jaemin replies after a second. “Voyeur.”

“What? What type of sense does that make? You two literally fucked on our communal couch, but asking about a kiss is too—”

“Listen to me very carefully,” Jaemin hisses. “Firstly, don’t be crass, before I actually pinch you where it hurts. And secondly, not a word of this is leaving this car. Do you understand, Lee Donghyuck? If you tell anybody—”

“Okay, okay!” Donghyuck cries out. “Fuck, do you have razors under your nails?! I think I’m bleeding!”

“If anyone asks me anything about the lake house in the next few days that’s only what's first to come,” Jaemin replies darkly. “I’m serious. You can laugh about it all you want but we all know exactly how Mark is going to react if he finds out, and I’m not interested in playing the odds on whether he ends my life via strangulation or vicious beating.”

Donghyuck mutters to himself, still rubbing at the spot where Jaemin sniped him. He’s thinking of ways to reassure Jaemin, probably. (Or so Jeno hopes, because the younger him could have surely used some reassurance that Mark possibly wouldn’t have tried to kill him where he stood if, back in highschool, he’d ignored your brother's wishes entirely and actually told you how he felt.)

Jeno is probably listening even harder than Jaemin when Donghyuck simply whistles and says, “Remember when we all watched him punch that watermelon in half during spirit week? Back in our senior year, when they were still finding chunks of it a week later in, like, the ceiling rafters and shit? I think my money is on him beating you to death.”

And on that very positive note, Jeno flicked his turn signal on and coasted into the lane that would take them right back to SNU.

[thanks for reading! full chapter coming sooooon ♡]

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haepii · 1 year

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Metanoia | NJM (01)

(n.) the art of changing one’s perspective

Pairing: Na Jaemin + Fem!Reader

Genre: Werewolf!AU, Supernatural!AU, Fantasy!AU, Romance, Drama, Angst

Series: Main Navi, Neo Culture Pack Series Masterlist, Limerence, next part

Warnings: Violence, Gore, Mentions/Use of Weapons (I.e., swords, daggers, knives), Mentions of Blood, graphic depictions of Murder/Blood, Werewolves (if you don’t like it, leave), Mentions of bones cracking/breaking, Mentions of witches/witchcraft, mentions of vampires/fae, mentions of werewolves (duh), Jealous/Controlling Behavious (I do not condone these behaviours in real life, but obviously this work is pure fiction and so are the characters in it even if they are based off real people), dark themes, mentions/depictions of trauma/symptoms of PTSD/Anxiety/other mental illnesses, angst, mentions of superpowers/witchcraft/etc. (for anyone who has beliefs against this), reader has feminine qualities and fem pronouns/descriptors

WC: 9.6K

Taglist: @peepsibo @seajae @thesunsfullmoon @suhappysuho @traint0tokyo @niinjo

NOTE: for the readers of Jisung's series, I thank you for all the support but I must advise that this series takes a much darker route from Part 1 so PLEASE read this series at your discretion. This series includes much darker themes that some of the other series do and takes on a more tragic tone, please DNI if any of the warnings above trigger you, for parts with more graphic depictions there will be excessive warnings and warnings during the parts where it gets excessively dark.

Additionally, I wanted to mention the release date of this series being so far from Limerence. As some may know, I have just completed my senior year of highschool in the last few weeks, so the writing of this first part took place over months and months in the background of schoolwork/final exams. I once again want to thank you all for the patience you've had for this series finally being released.

Without further commentary, enjoy the teaser and get ready to step back into the weird and whimsical world of the Neo Culture Pack. If you haven't yet read Jisung's series, it is recommended you read it first (as this is a series of series, and this series is the second in reading order, interchangeable with Kalon (Mark's series). However, as of right now I plan to release them in seperate stints (or after I've released 5-8 parts of this series), so pretty much how I did the release of Jisung's on its own. – Grace <3 :)

Ten Years Earlier…

“Jeno!”

Jaemin yelled, searching the remains of the pack house, as he waded through the bodies of massacred pack members that lined the floors beneath his feet. His hands were covered in blood, and he could not recall whether it was his own or somebody else’s, but he felt determined to find Jeno. Something inside him told him that his twin brother was still alive.

Images of the moments before flashed in the young boy’s mind. He remembered everything; his mother’s kiss to his forehead as she hid him in the attic, the desperation in her voice when she told him not to leave until she came to find him, and her cries for Jeno when she’d desperately left to reunite the twins amidst the Slayers’ attack. The irony of it all was, perhaps, that his mother never had the chance to return to him and lead him out of the attic. Instead, Jaemin staggered out of the attic when he realised he was alone.

Now he found himself in the kitchen, defeated and alone, he now prayed by some miracle of the moon goddess that his brother was alive. “Jeno… it’s me, Jaemin. We’re alone, we don’t have to hide anymore.”

A loud creak sounded, and out from the pantry stepped Jeno, who ran to his brother and hugged him tightly. There was a long silence before Jaemin pulled away and Jeno dared to ask with a dread-filled tone. “Where’s Mother?”

Not being given the chance to form an answer, Jeno felt his stomach sink when the sound of wary footsteps filled the room. The elder of the two, Jeno, barely had time to pull the young into his former hiding place. Jeno didn’t register the voice at first, the only sound registering in his ears was the pounding of his heart.

“Jaemin? Are you in here?” The voice was distraught and broken, just like they were. Clinging to the hope of a familiar face. Chaeyoung continued into the kitchen, clutching at her wounds, praying by some miracle of the moon goddess that she was not alone. She also prayed that she was not sinking into insanity, that Jaemin’s voice was not a trick of her mind or desperation.

It was only when she came into the eyeline of the boys, tears streaming down her face as she collapsed against the side of the stone countertop, clutching at her thigh. She must’ve been hallucinating, she’d lost a lot of blood, but she could swear on the last inch of her life that she’d heard Jaemin’s voice. As if it was her last hope, she let out a final mumble. “Jaemin… please tell me you’re here… I don’t want to die alone.”

The younger brothers rushed forward out from the pantry, and into the debris-littered kitchen to their eldest cousin, the daughter of Beta Min. Their father was the Alpha, their uncle the Beta, and three of them, the twins and their cousin were to be the future of the Blood Moon pack. That was until the massacre. Throwing their arms around her, they let her sob into their shoulders, both Jeno and Jaemin grateful that she was with them.

“We’re the only one’s left…” Chaeyoung sobs out, partially with relief that she was not alone, partially with sorrow that their family was mostly dead, but mostly with fear. It was only them now, Chaeyoung had only freshly turned 18 and was set to begin her travels to find her mate. The twins were learning to phase into their wolves, not even older than 10. “We’re no longer safe here. We need to leave.”

Jaemin does not hesitate to ask, but instead looks to Chaeyoung for any answers she may have. “Where’s our mother?”

At the mention of her Aunt, Chaeyong closed her eyes tightly, in an effort to keep the blood scene from her mind. She recalled it all as clear as she’d seen it with her own eyes. How, in her final moments her Aunt, the twins’ mother, had made her promise to keep them safe. Their mother had made her niece promise to find them, go as far away as possible and to never return. “I found her in your father’s office… she’s–”

Jeno cuts off that sentence, not wanting to hear it for himself. Sadness filled his voice. “You don’t have to say it. We know.”

There was a long and sad silence that overcame the group, but the feeling that they would never be able to return here made Chaeyoung find her courage once again. She was the first to speak, and her voice had taken on the same tone of her aunt’s when she’d told her sons that she would come back from them. For some reason, it made the brothers trust their cousin more than they ever had. “Look… I have a friend, the alpha of a pack not too far from here. It's only a few days’ journey, but it's not an easy one. He’s the only one I am certain will take us in with no questions asked, but I need you to listen to me. Can you boys do that?”

They nod, and without question, turn to listen to her. She pauses for a moment, shifting her bleeding leg slightly. With a pained voice she mumbled out. “I need you boys to phase… and follow my lead.”

The journey had taken weeks, weeks of fighting off hunger, hiding from rogues and running for their lives. Chaeyoung was right when she had said it would not be easy. Not for her or the boys who followed her in their small wolf forms. Yet, here they stood, at the entrance to the Neo Culture pack house. She registers the scent before she registers the commanding presence of Taeyong before her.

The smell of citrus and jasmine filling her nose from the young man, freshly 18 standing on the stairs as he looks at her with the same glowing eyes. She didn’t care what would happen to her, or that her dress was tattered and her hair was wet and dripping onto the marble tiles beneath her, she only cared about the Beta standing on the stairs with the blue glowing eyes, who smells like citrus and jasmine. She instinctively finds herself moving towards him, letting go of the two boys who clung to her. They met in the middle, colliding like magnets as she looked up at him, only uttering one word with the utmost happiness in her voice. “Mate…”

Eight Years Later…

A silence fell over the Dominyen royal court. Queen Iseul barely hid her sobs, as her husband, King Minhyung spoke over the crowd of the twelve Dominyen Noble houses and their lieges, the slayers who did their bidding against the werewolf packs on their lands. “Prince Baekhyun has been found guilty of the murder of Lady Eunbi, his Erasthai and betrothed. It is according to our ancient customs that he must be sentenced to death to pay for his most unforgivable crime.”

Your breath hitched as you turned to your father from your smaller throne two rows down from his and your mother’s seats at the head of the court. Feeling the calming hand of your Novicitai, Yeona on your arm you turned to face her, yet her efforts to block out the overwhelming betrayal and grief your mother felt, combined with the fear of watching her only son’s execution was all in vain. Your stomach sank at the thought of having to feel the moment your brother died, the brother you held so dear. The brother, who for many years had been the reason you’d never have to face the burden of the crown, and the reason you’d never have to place duty over love. Baekhyun, your brother would be sentenced to death and you would have to watch his execution before your own eyes.

The court remains silent as Yeona looks to her mother, who stood beside your own mother, a soothing hand on her shoulder. She grips your hand like a soothing vice and whispers into your ear. “You cannot look away. If you do… they’ll all know.”

The marble floors of the royal courtroom open and a platform rises, holding your brother in chains with his head against a chopping block and the executioner with his pure Dominyen silver axe. Your eyes fill with tears as Baekhyun remains still. Your father speaks with authority over the court once again. “May justice be served.”

Your eyes remained transfixed on a single spot on the marble tiles, not looking at the execution but not looking away. You grip Yeona’s hand with such force that your knuckles are white and her hand is purple. As the executioner raises his axe, tears fall from your cheeks. The nobles are on the edge of their seats, some with opera glasses pressed right up to their eyes, others watching in shock.

The axe lowers, you jolt slightly, feeling the fear then the piercing pain as if the sword had sliced through your own neck and chopped off of your head. Your mother lets out a cry that shatters the silence in the court before she is ushered out by her Novicitai, Yeona’s mother. You raised a hand to your neck, the feeling of your brother’s death still lingering in the back of your mind. Your eyes avoid the scene of the floor being lowered once again, before your father speaks.

“It is with the best interests of our realms at heart, that I present to you my heir, Princess (Y/N), the council’s delight and the future Queen of Dominyens.” You rise from your seat, dropping Yeona’s hand as you step forward onto the balcony before you, eyeing the hundreds of nobles and representatives. Within moments, they all bend the knee to you, swearing their loyalty to you as your father’s successor.

Two Years Later, Present Day…

“Three months? Three months! Oh, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Yeona grumbled, shaking you awake as she entered your room. Crossing over to your dresser, she began to pull out all of the clothes she could stuff into your duffle bag, while you got up from your bed. You’d supposed the near two years of running had been in vain, judging by the bare walls of your room in the college share house you’d manage to manipulate your way into.

“You’d think after two years they’d stop.” You could feel the waves of Yeona’s stress wash over you, and it ate at you. Her feelings slowly ebbed at you, as if your stomach was a sinkhole and it was gradually collapsing on itself. The curiosity ebbed at you, and you couldn’t help but ask, your voice no louder than a whisper. “Rogues or Guardians?”

“They’ll never stop, you’re too important, you know that. It's only Guardians, nothing we can’t handle.” Her voice sounded strong, and hid her emotions well. If you didn’t have the ability of feeling and influencing the physical and mental pain of others, you’d never have guessed her inner turmoil. Either way, her efforts to conceal her emotions would be in vain, after all, she was bonded to you as a Novicitai like her mother was to your own mother. Her emotions were your’s, as your’s were her’s.

“Baekhyun was important…”

Yeona paused her movements, and turned her attention from the array of her silver weapons in front of her to you, as you packed all the essentials into her purse. You could feel the hesitation, the mental pause before she stammered over her words. “Baekhyun was… well, he didn’t align with their values.”

“... and we do?” You looked at her, almost challenging her for a moment. For once you wanted to stop running, the whole reason you agreed to leave was not only because you feared the crown, but you feared the institution itself. The institution, under which your father so willingly watched and forced his wife and daughter to watch his own son publicly beheaded for a crime that… he may not have committed. You could tolerate the arranged Erasthai pairings, and the fanfare… but the killing, the public executions of family members. You drew the line at that.

If you thought about that day long enough, that feeling still lingered. The excitement of the nobles, the horror of your mother, the blade slicing through his neck, the fear… all of it. There were still nights when Yeona had to wake you from the nightmares, or face seeing them herself through your mental bond. You needed to leave, there was no other option.

Snapping you out of your thoughts, Yeona spoke with her usual calm and reserved voice but she now moved with more urgency as the Guardians outside were growing in numbers and it would be increasingly difficult to escape as morning drew closer. “I don’t, you do… and if you don’t, it doesn’t matter because they don’t care who you are as long as you can be who they want you to be.”

“Do you remember our drills?” She asks, handing you your duffle bag, which was stuffed to the brim with every personal and essential item you had. You tried to recall all the times Yeona had awoken you in the night, it was on random nights, but each time it was the same.

Get to the car, stay low, lock the doors, and wait for Yeona. It was clear her regimented training to be your sworn protector, and a Guardian still played a major factor in her personality. She always had to keep you on your toes, and keep herself fit. You still remember the jobs she’d gotten as a vet science student and a vet nurse. Funnily enough, animals never really seemed to like Novices, Guardians, or Slayers for that matter. They only seemed to like royal Dominyens. You’d supposed wherever you found yourself next would be the same. You’d be enrolled in high school, playing the role of a quiet loner and keeping a low profile. Yeona would be your older sister and ‘legal’ guardian as your parents were abusive, out of the picture, dead, or some other cover story. It was the same every time.

“I remember.” You answer with a small nod, pulling on a hoodie, and chucking its hood over your head. Yeona nodded, handing you your duffle and her purse. You could feel the pressure she felt, or more accurately, placed on herself. She gave you a small reassuring smile, though deep down you knew it was only for her benefit. “Good. It’ll be okay, alright? No pressure, but if they even suspect it’s you, we are totally fucked.”

“Right, no pressure.” You let a small smile come onto your face, trying to ease the situation. Yeona sighs and looks at you. You don’t feel it at first, but underneath all that tension, there is the flicker of amusement that you always manage to pull from her in moments like these.

She opens her arms slightly with a small giggle as you hug her tightly. She mumbles into your hair, as she squeezes you tight. “You need to remember what we’re running from to remember why we’re running in the first place. I promise you, this time will be different. No more running.”

“I know.” You say, the sweet moment you had just shared taking on a sombre tone. She’d always say there’d be no more running, and though you appreciate the sentiment, you just knew it couldn’t be true. She’d say this everytime, and everytime it would end the same. It is an endless game of cat and mouse. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Stay safe.” She mumbles into your hair, and you can feel the anxiety coming off of her in waves, and you can’t help but take the edge off. Slowly feeling her anxiety calming, you gather all of the stuff you’d carry down to the car parked in the alley below. The alley littered with Guardians.

No pressure, you’d thought to yourself, as you slung your duffle over your shoulder and Yeona’s obnoxiously large purse over your arm. Opening the door to the hallway of the boarding house, you slowly began to walk down the stairs. It was early morning, and you knew for a fact the only person who would be awake was the creepy gamer across the hall. It was dead silent, and in a way peaceful. Yet, this peace provided you no relief to the gut feeling that plagued you every time you had to run.

Maybe it was the rush of knowing Guardians wait in the alleyway just down the stairs and out the back door. Maybe it was the fact that Yeona had never pulled off one of her schemes against more than three Guardians, and by the way she felt, you knew there were more. Yet, maybe… deep down, you knew this would be the last time you’d ever see Yeona, because maybe it wouldn’t work this time, and maybe you’d have to admit defeat and face your duties. That thought felt like stabbing in your chest, the thought of having to give up Yeona, who in many ways, was like a sister to you, who’d been through so much for you. You couldn’t let this plan fall through, not this time.

You walked down the last few steps, and made it to the back door with relative ease. Out of the corner of your eye, you see Yeona out the window, preparing her distraction. Gulping down the lump in your throat, you headed out the door, and down the path to where the old car, an early 2000’s Toyota Camery, Yeona had bought a year back had been parked. Opening the passenger side door, you get in, and the second you close the door, you lock it and shove the bags you’d been carrying into the back seat. Out of anxiety, you tighten the strings of your hoodie as Yeona ran over to the car.

Opening the door, and jumping in she locked the car, before you could even blink she had her foot on the accelerator. She looked mad, yet you continued to stay low in your seat, for fear of being seen, or being identified by the guardians. “They had samples of me too. They’re upping their game.”

You knew what this meant. Typically, royal Dominyens were bound to a Novice, or Guardian, who became their sworn protectors, like a friend or, better put, a sibling. This bond was called a Novicitai, expanding both from the physical aspect and to the mental. The bond had used to be common back in ancient times, when werewolves were savage creatures and blood witches had yet to be overthrown by elemental witches. However, as the supernatural world began to evolve into its modern form of diplomacy, the council, the bond had almost entirely faded out with evolution.

After Baekhyun’s execution, the Novicitai bond between yourself and Yeona had been unlocked. Through this bond, there were times where Yeona could see through your eyes, and into your mind without being born with your power. Among other things, she could feel your emotions, and channel your power if you were injured and needed her protection. Without the bond, the blood of a Dominyen royal was needed to activate this, thus the need for a blood sample. Your stomach sank.

Yet, it was not Yeona they were after. They were after you and your gifts granted to you by the Goddess Athena at birth, was both a blessing and a curse. The power to heal both physical and mental wounds at the expense of your own health made you powerful, but your power to feel the emotions and pain of others made you unstable. In many ways you were a powerful, but unreliable successor to the Dominyen throne.

“Good news is, there was a coven of slayers annihilated recently by a wolf pack in a town only a few hours from here. I could get you set up at the high school in that town, and there’s a university in the town over.” Yeona paused her words. She seemed optimistic enough about this prospect, and even though your eyes were shut from fatigue, you still felt the warmth of her optimism flowing through you. She continued in an even more positive tone. “If we up our game… the wolf pack might not even notice we’re there. We could be normal and make friends. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

“Yeah… but how would we up our game?” You ask, noticing how she seemed to hesitate over your question. She knew the Guardians had upped their game, and had begun finding you two in increasingly shorter time spans of previous interactions. At first it took eight months, then six, five and four. Now it only took three months.

Yeona frowned, looking out at the motorway ahead of you. “I’ll have to think about it. You just focus on getting some sleep, okay?”

With a pat to your knee she continued down the motorway, and for some reason you just knew everything would work out. It had to, you’d put your life on the line for two years, and you, much like Yeona, thought it was time to enjoy your newfound freedom. Besides, what was a climb without enjoying the view?

The sun flooding in from the car windows lured you from the depths of sleep. Yeona didn’t notice you were awake for a few moments, before she mumbled out. “Morning, sleepyhead.”

“Morning.” You smiled softly, shifting up in your seat so you could see your surroundings. To your surprise, Yeona was pulling into a roadside diner, one of the ones that served the greasy but hearty breakfasts, and what she really needed, coffee. You didn’t notice it at first, but her fatigue hit you like a tsunami, and you had to brace yourself for a moment. “Woah, Yeona, let me.”

As you reached your hand out to give her some energy at the expense of your own, she softly caught your wrist. Shaking her head, she gave you a stern look. She was always like this, stern but meaning well. “No, not when you’re on an empty stomach and not when I’m driving.”

“It’s just energy.” You say with a small laugh, taking the hood off of your head and rolling up the sleeves of your hoodie.

Yeona shook her head, pulling the handbrake of the car and looking over at you with a worried look. “Energy that you need, too. After you eat, I’ll let you do it then.”

“Okay.” You sigh, pulling yourself from the car. You’d deny it to Yeona, but stretching your limbs felt amazing. You walked slowly to the entrance of the diner, Yeona having already made it into the restaurant in the first place, most likely to get a booth. Walking through the door, and sitting across from Yeona, you find her already drinking from a pot of coffee she’d ordered.

“You better look at the menu, she’ll be coming back to take our order soon.” She gives you a small smile, and you can tell she immediately feels better after drinking her coffee. It’s as if she didn’t even need the energy you so readily offered to give her. “Also, I’ve already enrolled you in the highschool there, so they’re expecting us to get your uniform this afternoon.”

“That was quick…” You let out a breathy laugh, reading over the menu as you did.

Yeona looks up from her own menu, as she mumbles out, careful not to have any prying ears of potential other supernatural creatures listening in. “I’ve been planning this move for a few weeks now. The annihilation of that coven was inevitable and their extinction has not yet been registered with the council. Technically, we could pose as the holders of their territory for a while. It’s a somewhat long-term solution.”

Most of the time, you trusted Yeona with this sort of thing, but something about this wolf pack felt off, like something big would happen that would change everything, and you didn’t think you wanted anything to change. You liked things the way they were. “I know you call these shots… but I was meaning to tell you that I think this whole overlapping territory thing with the werewolves… they’ll eventually notice. It’s too risky.”

“If we blend in then maybe… it’d work out.” Yeona raises her mug to her lips and takes a long sip of the scalding coffee.

“Blending in hasn’t been doing much good for us these past few times.” You try to reason, and though it is out of concern, you sense Yeona’s sadness and betrayal at the fact that you don’t seem to fully trust her on this.

“Well, maybe we’d blend in more if you made friends, and you’ll be able to at this new place. The office lady, Mrs. Min said that they have a very welcoming top student and sophomore head girl to give you a tour on your first day tomorrow.” She tries to sound convincing, but you don’t get the chance to respond before the waitress is walking over.

“G’morning ladies, what would y’all like to order?” She asked, her voice laid on thick with the ‘customer service’ persona she was presenting.

“Bacon and eggs please.” Yeona gave the girl a tight-lipped smile. It was clear she wanted to keep interactions with the waitress to a minimum, and you thought it best to follow her lead. You supposed it was because you still weren’t far enough from any overlapping territories with your location.

“Make that two.” You added with a soft smile.

“Anythin’ else?”

“Uh… maybe another pot of coffee.” Yeona suggested, looking at you for any confirmation. You nodded enthusiastically and turned back to smile at the waitress.

“Comin’ right up!” The girl smiled, and walked off back to the kitchen.

Yeona turned to you as silence fell over the near empty diner, with the other patrons being an elderly couple down the other hall of booths, and a truck driver sitting at the counter. “This will be a good start for us. I promise. Plus the flat I rented out is a major upgrade. It’s just a matter of finding a job now.”

A silence falls over the pair of you in the minutes it takes for your food to be delivered. You can almost feel Yeona’s emotional drain. As you began to eat your greasy but hearty breakfast, it didn’t even cross your mind to break the peaceful silence that befell over your booth. Now that you came to reflect on it, you were both sick of running.

The anxiety of always being found and having to skip out on normal teenage girl experiences had left you without anything to enjoy. All of this running, hiding and keeping a low profile–in many respects–had been for nothing. Part of you felt that, maybe you didn’t get to have those experiences because you were, in fact, not a normal teenage girl. You never could be from the get-go, because you were not a mortal, and no amount of wishing you were would make it so. Yet, you wanted to be.

The harsh reality you faced was that you wanted to be mortal, human, and free. Oh, to be free. You’d do anything for the privilege of being free. Free from the running. Free from the fear of being taken back to the gilded cage you inhabited by the people who wouldn’t stop looking for you. Lastly, you wanted to be free from the anxiety you felt every time you closed your eyes, for your fear of the nightmares that plagued you.

You couldn’t help but air the thought that constantly plagued your mind every time you moved again. “What if we have to run again?”

And, just like every time, Yeona placed a soothing hand on top of your own and looked deep into your eyes, and with a grave tone she gave you a reassuring smile; “I will make sure that we won’t have to.”

“I can’t believe I agreed to ask one of the Min twins so that we would be able to spend time together at this stupid dance tonight.” Jeno’s expression was painful, his voice may have been even more painful. Though most teen boys would froth at the mouth to even snag a date with one of the hottest twins in school, neither Jeno nor Jaemin seemed to care. Hana gave the muscular, much larger boy a scathing look. The dance tonight was supposed to be fun, but at the daunting thought of having to deal with one of the Min twins the entire night… he was filled with dread. “What? They’re insufferable.”

“That’s one word for it.” Jaemin scoffed out in agreement. While these girls were insufferable, they were still highly attractive, and many would say that it was almost expected for Jeno and Jaemin to ask them in the first place as the hottest boys in school, and respective captains of the Basketball and Wrestling teams.

“You guys are being mean. Micha and Nari are lovely.” Hana took a long sip of her black coffee, sinking into the cardigan she had wrapped around her as Jisung wrapped his arm behind her seat. Though she still wasn’t fully recovered, no one could deny how much progress she’d made, enough for Nayeon to allow her to go to the dance that night.

“No, because for once I agree with the twins.” Ryujin spoke, her mouth full of scrambled eggs and bacon, but nonetheless understood by the group at the breakfast table.

“I agree with Hana.” Renjun did not even need a moment to think of his stance now that the topic of discussion was on the Min twins and not how Hana was recovering or even the mere topic of mates. Though everyone knew that the topic of mates was… touchy for Renjun, the normally calm Beta had never found his mate, as far as the pack knew. Though, anytime the topic was brought up, he’d grow distant.

“Your opinion is irrelevant, you always agree with Hana.” Ryujin stated, as if she was the judge in a courtroom. Before Jisung could even move to defend Renjun, the feisty Beta pointed her finger at him. “Jisung, before you even say it we know you’re Switzerland and are, therefore, irrelevant in this conversation.”

“They’re nice to my beautiful and amazing girlfriend. So, they’re fine by me.” Jisung turned to Hana with a smile, who turned back to him for a moment, her coffee mug now resting on her knee, that was now propped up to her chest as she sat at the table. She gave the much taller boy a small peck on the lips.

“Irrelevant! He’s pussy-whipped.” Ryujin once again spoke as if she was the deciding factor on relevance, but then feigned vomiting with a vulgar gesture as her best friend once again leaned in to kiss Jisung, which had left Chenle laughing hysterically like a dolphin, even if his first instinct was to react the same as her.

“Fine! What makes them so terrible?” Jisung teasingly smiled at Ryujin pulling Hana closer to him as he spoke.

Simply enough, Ryujin gave him her answer. “They’re bitches.”

“To who?” Hana replied, as if it was a way to defend the Min twins who were not there to defend themselves. Even when everything she was told about someone was negative she still tried to see the best in them, even if it meant going against her best friend.

Ryujin’s expression had changed at that moment. No longer did she look like she enjoyed speaking to Hana as much as she’d done in the moments prior. She looked hurt and her expression resembled that of a kicked puppy. She could long hold in her thoughts, so they tumbled out in her overly-emotional rambling. “Me! And they’re far dumber than me, too! Any conversation of substance with them is about boys and gossip. Beyond that, they’re as shallow as a kiddy pool and they’re only care in life is when they’re gonna get their next mani-pedis. Oh! And they talk in sync and it makes me want to fuck myself gently with a chainsaw.”

“That just about sums it up.” Jeno agreed with a short laugh, scruffing Ryujin’s hair slightly, earning him a glare from her.

“We’re in for a painful night.” Jaemin agreed, even though it was his idea to begin with. If he was anyone else, Jeno would have probably punched him by now. Too caught up in their fates, neither Jaemin nor Jeno caught the incredulous look Hana had given Ryujin.

“Don’t look at me like that, Hana. We all knew I never was Mother Theresa. Even before… I became a werewolf.” Her voice was pitiful and almost whiney in tone, before it changed into a laugh, and she was consumed with giggles. She had to take a moment to compose herself, before raising her hands as a sign of peace, trying not to offend her packmates. “Sorry, I can never take myself seriously when I say it...”

Hana’s expression does not change, instead she sighs and takes another long sip of her coffee, before she speaks again. “Well… I form my own opinions on things.”

Sometimes Ryujin had to admit Hana wasn’t the easiest to be best friends with. She was perfect and every flaw Ryujin had was magnified when she was placed next to Hana. She would never be smart enough, never have a boyfriend perfect enough, never fit into the pack where she was clearly unwanted. Those were her deepest, darkest thoughts. She’d never air them, of course, Areum wouldn’t allow it. Or… maybe Areum would, after all, her sister seemed to have a clear favourite in Hana over herself. Nevertheless she opts for a light-hearted smile. “Well… clearly you’re not a totally unreliable source, since you have us.”

The drive had been long and quiet, with a thick yet comfortable silence. The once sunny morning had turned into a rather grim and rainy afternoon. As the beat up Toyota Camery drove down the lush and green highway, you found yourself watching the raindrops race down the window.

Out of nowhere, Yeona had broken the silence, just as she took the nearest exit off of the highway. Her focus still on the road, her proposal sounded more like an order than it did a question. She didn’t bother asking your opinion on the matter. “We’ll head over to the school tonight.”

“Okay.” You sigh. It had always become like this between the two of you when you had to move. Probably because every time you had to outrun them, you’d always swear it was the last time, though that statement never seemed to age well.

The drive only seemed to near an end as you began to see the mountain range in sight, shrouded in thick fog, and covered in dark green, lush trees. You could almost smell the earthy pine and rain from inside the car, and it seemed to enthral you for no apparent reason. Yeona could feel this excitement that had suddenly brewed within you.

It wasn’t long until she had turned down a side street, and pulled into a small parking lot, filled with other cars, most of them trucks, one camper van parked next to another truck. This town seemed to be the retiree’s dream, as you’d gathered from the walking distance of most places to this one apartment building.

Yeona pulled the keys from the ignition and smiled slightly at the humble apartment building before you. “Welcome to our new home.”

Yeona soon got out of the car, and made her way to the reception desk that sat behind a small sliding door. This building was not student accommodation, like your previous places had been, it was long-term rentals that were across four blocks of units with a central courtyard. It was humble, but nice. It didn’t take long for Yeona to walk out with the keys to the new apartment, and despite the raindrops setting into her hair, she yanked the door open and sat down in the drivers’ seat. “What are you thinking?”

“That this town isn't half-bad.” You turned to her with a small smile.

“Me too.”

She returned your smile, and then glanced back at all of your stuff littering the back seat of the car. You looked at her, and despite your mental fatigue you gave her a smile. “Where to now?”

“Well, the building manager had said that we should try Benny’s Beans cafe just a short walk down the main street.” She answered over the sound of the rain droplets slapping against the windshield and windows.

“And then?”

She lets out a sigh, knowing this would be the lesser of the two you would want to do. She knew you well enough to know that people, specifically people’s emotions, were bound to come in-clutch with school life. Ironically, it was something you wanted to avoid, feeling the emotions of others knowing you could not fix it, as mortals did not take kindly to things they did not understand. Specifically, the abilities you and others like you possessed. “We still need to go down to the school to finalise your enrolment and get your uniform all sorted for tomorrow.”

“Let’s do it, then. The school, then the Cafe.” You sighed, the dread filling you as Yeona started the car. It was going to be a long trip to the school, and you couldn’t shake the feeling of dread and excitement that had built inside you. It was a feeling that could only be described as impending doom, but maybe it wasn’t doom, because you did not feel damned. You only knew something was coming towards you, steadfast and at top speed.

The drive to the school was silent, rainy, and long enough that it had come to a slight sunset. It was hardly 5pm, but it was clear the town was ready to kickstart the evening early. One thing that was clear to the both of you was that this town had no night life, and the school dance was on that night. From the girls in pretty dresses to the boys, who had their hair slicked back and wore dress shirts. It was clear that the teens of the town had an event on, happening to fall at the same time as you were getting started. Maybe that is what you were dreading, the school dance that meant you’d have to pass your future classmates on your way to the administration office.

With a sigh, you found yourself getting out of the car before Yeona, and heading over to the main building. You turned back to the car, the slight drizzle of raindrops had begun to soak into your hoodie, that you impulsively zipped up to your chest. Raising your eyebrows you yelled out at the car, hoping she’d hear you from the piece or scrap metal that was her Toyota Camery. “Well, aren’t you coming?”

With a sigh, she gets out of the car, crossing her arms over her body, and her leather jacket now collecting the small raindrops that rolled down from her shoulders, not quite absorbing into the jacket. Her voice holds a level of caution and authority that she had only ever used when she felt you were in danger. “Let’s go.”

Her voice alone had told you everything you needed to know. This school was not entirely safe, and coming here was a definite risk, when you hadn’t had much of a chance to start ‘blending in’. At the wave of conflict that washed over you from her, you knew that she felt it was essential for this to be done today. Otherwise, the school would suspect you, and the prominent presence of a very powerful werewolf pack in this town, in every facet of its community, meant that she had to ensure all went smoothly.

“We’ll have to keep this brief.” She says with a curt voice, before smiling at some passers by, a couple of teenagers who were dressed to the nines. You could feel their excitement and butterflies, knowing from that alone it was most likely their first school dance.

Your eyes fluttered around the groups of people, landing on one particular large group. You saw the group, only about twelve dance-goers, and the rest being family. You could feel the annoyance of a few members of the group, and the complete love and adoration of a pair standing slightly off to the side. A girl in a sparkly blue dress, and a very tall, lanky boy with golden brown hair wearing a button-down shirt and dress pants. However, their feelings were short-lived in your mind when Yeona began pulling you towards the administration office.

“Hi, dears. You must be Yeona, called earlier is that correct?” The plump middle-aged office lady smiled. She was dressed in a bead-embellished blouse and wore a deep brown lipstick coupled with cheeks that were heavily coated in a pink cream blush. You noted that she too would be joining in the school dance festivities after you’d been and gone.

Yeona gave the woman a smile and a nod, holding you close by the arm, and though you sensed her unease, she still rubbed soothing circles on your forearm with her thumb. “Yes, thank you so much for taking the time to organise (Y/N)’s emergency enrolment.”

“That’s not a problem, Hon. I know how hard it is in a situation like your’s. I’ve organised our head girl, Hana, to give her a tour first thing tomorrow. It’ll be a later start due to the dance, it should be all on the school’s app.” The woman gave you a warm smile, before handing a small flyer to Yeona, and gesturing to the QR code as she mentioned the school’s app.

Yeona gave the woman a nod and tucked the flyer into her pocket. “Right, thanks for reminding me. I’ll have to download that.”

Pausing for a moment, the woman had positioned herself at her computer and began to type uncannily loud, akin to a receptionist. “So you are the legal guardian of (Y/N), correct?”

“Yes. I am her older sister. Bad family home, living together now. Court ruling a few months ago.” Yeona’s tone seemed to grow sadder, and knowing her performance you seemed to sadden your expression too, but not laying it on too thick as to be noticeable to the office lady.

“I am so sorry about your situation, girls. We’ll do our very best to be accommodating for your situation.” The office lady, or Mrs. Min, as you read from her name badge, had placed her slightly wrinkled hand atop your own.

“Thank you, Mrs. Min. I very much appreciate your kind words.” You gave her a small, sad smile, the best one you could muster, before pulling your hand out from under her.

The woman gave you a small smile. “It is a pleasure, my dear. So, uniform, timetable, textbooks and locker…”

The trip to the school ended as quickly as it had started, and by the time you had left, less students lingered in the parking lot, but the group from earlier remained taking photos from the school’s lookout point of the mountain range, the school itself sitting on one of the mountains that was smaller in front of the main range, where majority of the town was built.

Walking past the group to get to Yeona’s car, you felt eyes burn into you. Though you managed to ignore it, focusing more on how the wind blew hair into your face than the eyes burning into your side profile. It seemed as though you didn’t need to dread anything, all seemed well.

Even though the dread you felt had left you for the evening, a new onset of the feeling washed over you the following morning. This day seemed to arrive too quickly for your liking, but as you sat up, you saw your uniform, ironed and clean, hanging on your wardrobe door. You let yourself smile slightly, seeing a heart-shaped sticky note attached to the door, next to your hanging uniform.

Walking over to the wardrobe across from your bed, that was nothing special, just an ikea bed frame and mattress provided by the landlord. You pulled the note from the door, looking over Yeona’s loopy handwriting. “Gone for a job inquiry at the local vet clinic, breakfast and lunch are on the table, walk to school is short, and I’ll pick you up! - Wishing you the best of luck and much love, Yeona XO.”

You could feel the affection she put into every act of service she did for you. After all, it was her way. Placing the note back on the door, you pulled your uniform down from the wardrobe door and placed it on the end of your bed. Just like always you went through the motions of getting ready, having a shower, brushing your hair, doing some light makeup, and hiding the silver necklace you wore for protection beneath your school blouse.

Walking out into the open-plan kitchen-dining, and living area, you saw the steaming breakfast on a plate, next to a brown paper bag. Placing down your canvas tote on the chair next to you, you began to slowly dig into the feast before you. It was clear Yeona wanted to make sure you went to school feeling good, because she’d made your favourite, French toast.

Back when you still remained within the walls of the Dominyen royal palace, attending the Dominyen academy, and being a member of the Dominyen royal court, you could eat French toast for every meal if you desired it. However, after you’d fled your position within Dominyen society, French toast became a rarity. Now, you only had it when Yeona took the time to make it, or on the rare occasion Sunday brunches weren’t interrupted by having to run for your lives, or rather, your freedom.

You smiled down at the plate before you, seeing how she’d taken the time to get your favourite berry compote to go on top, with whipped cream and maple syrup. It made you feel all warm and happy inside, a feeling that had also become a rarity since your brother’s execution. Finishing up the affectionately made breakfast Yeona had prepared for you, you placed the plate and cutlery inside the dishwasher. Finally, you made a move to grab your lunch bag, locking up the small flat, before you made your way down towards the pedestrian sidewalk.

The walk down the main street of the town was peaceful, and quiet. You saw a few other students walking to school, all with umbrellas in hand, despite the morning being sunny with not a cloud in sight. Continuing your trek, you found yourself slowing as you made it up the walkway, bypassing the school’s parking lot. Glancing at your leather wristwatch, the time only showed it was 8:45AM, it was just over an hour until the day officially begun, due to the late start.

Though you made no attempt at rushing, instead, you made it to the administration office with plenty of time to spare. Pushing open the door to the office, you walked in, seeing Mrs. Min at the desk, with an overly peppy smile after a long night chaperoning at a school dance. “Oh! Good morning, (Y/N)! I take it your morning was good?”

“Yes, very, thank you for asking. How was your morning?” You gave her a soft smile, taking in the newly put up halloween decorations that littered the office, and probably the school halls too. The decorations alone were a sign that the days of summer were over, and that autumn was just beginning. You loved autumn, especially when it rained, it was beautiful.

“Oh! That’s wonderful! My morning was just fine, dear!” Mrs. Min smiled, eyeing you with a confused expression before continuing her formalities. “Hana will be here shortly to give you the tour! Did you want to stop by your locker first? You are quite early.”

“Uh… yeah. Is it okay if you give me some directions?” You were taken aback by her kindness, she was a kind woman. Old, but still kind, and it was obvious she was nearing her days of retirement. However, you did not think the woman would leave this town and trade it for a beachside one. Instead, it seemed that people who were born and raised in this town never left.

“Of course, sweetheart.” She gave you a small smile, giving you directions in a kind manner. Down the hall, and turn right at the doors to the auditorium. Your locker number was 364, and she took the liberty of writing down your combination for you.

You bid her a quick ‘thank you’ before heading out the office door and turning right away from the main entrance of the school. The hallways were practically deserted save for a few of the school’s star athletes who were finishing up their early morning practice. You could feel the slight pain in their muscles, as you passed two of them who were at their lockers, and eating Greek yoghurt from plastic pouches. Finally, you found the doors to the auditorium and took the right turn down the deserted hallway.

Your eyes scanned the locker numbers that were engraved on small, steel plaques overhead. 358, 360, 362, and finally, 364. You stopped, taking in the blue locker before you. You flung your bag behind you, so that you had more room to input your combination.Carefully, you read the numbers on the paper, inputting them and pulling the lock open. With a sigh, you looked over the empty locker, getting straight to work on loading all of your textbooks on the middle shelf, and hooking your bag onto one of the hooks on the bottom shelf. You looked around the locker and decided you’d need to decorate it with time. With a final glance at your new set up, you shut your locker, proceeding to lock it before heading back to the administration office.

The walk back to the administration office was short, but you noticed as time had passed, more students began to arrive. With some of them came the feeling of a severe hangover, and you knew it would take all of your efforts to block out the feelings of others throughout the day.

If there was one thing you hated about mortal school, it would be the constant feeling of teenage angst washing over you nearly every second of the day. You hated it, because you knew it was difficult to block out so many things at once, meaning the feelings would ebb at you until you were finally alone. It was both physically and mentally draining.

Once again you entered the administration office, seeing a girl with long dark hair that was curled in perfect waves that fell down her back. Holding the curls back from her face was a puffy velvet pink headband with beaded flowers and pearls sewn onto it. She wore her uniform to a T, with the exception of her tie which was the male version that hung loosely around her neck, and not the ribbon the girls wore. Lastly, her makeup was classic, with a warm pink blush over her cheeks and nose, and light brown, glittering eyeshadow, that was topped off with a classic nude blotted lip. She was beautiful, and aside from that, the gold badge sitting above the school crest on her blazer read ‘Head Girl’ in bold lettering. It was clear she was well-loved in this place.

“Ah! You’re back, and just in time. This is Hana, our head girl and your tour guide for this morning.” Mrs. Min smiles, as she looks back and forth between the two of you. “Hana, this is (Y/N). I’m sure you’ll make her feel welcome.”

“Of course! It’s lovely meeting you! Now, should we start over in the sciences and arts building?” She smiled, and you could feel her sincerity radiating off of her. She was a genuine girl, and you could sense it.

Since you didn’t know the school either way, you just gave her a short nod and a smile. “Uh… yeah sure… I don’t mind.”

Hana was nice, showing you around the school, telling you all the best spots to sit on sunny days like today, getting your school library card sorted and helping you find your classes. It was during her analysis of your timetable she sighed. “Well, it looks like that brings us to the end of our tour.”

She folded up your timetable and handed it back to you with a smile. “Don’t worry though, I’ll walk you to your first class since I have a spare. It’s English Literature for you, which isn’t as bad as it sounds. I have a friend in that class, his name's Jaemin. He’s super nice. You’ll have to join us all for lunch sometime!”

“Sure, I’d like that.” You gave her a small smile, your own voice much quieter than her’s, as she was more of an extrovert. She returned the smile as she stopped her walking outside a classroom door.

Before you turned to walk in, she gave you a sincere smile as she spoke. “Also! If you need anything, anything at all… please don’t hesitate to ask me, okay?”

Judging by her sincerity that you felt washing over you, she was kind and it was clear why she was well-liked. She was basically the perfect popular girl, everything many strived to be with seemingly minimal effort. “Thanks… I guess I’ll see you around?”

“Not if I see you first. Enjoy!” She nodded towards the door with a smile, which you returned before walking into your first class. The class all turned to you as you walked in, and while you didn’t dislike anyone you’d met so far, you disliked how the tour made you late for class. All their eyes burned into you and it made you feel queasy.

“Ah! You must be (Y/N). I’m Ms. Jeong, and it’s a pleasure to meet you!” She smiled, and turned her gaze out over the sea of students sitting at desks. She beamed when she finally spotted a spare desk next to a boy who didn’t take his eyes off of you, even after everybody else had turned back to their tasks.

“There’s a spare desk by the window. Since you’re coming so late in the year, I’ve prepared some extra credit assignments for you to do over the next few weeks. See me after class, yeah?”

“Perfect. Thank you, Ms. Jeong.” You gave her a small smile

“It’s my pleasure.” She returned the smile, and as you were walking over to the last spare seat, she continued with her lesson, speaking to her class about the use of intentional symbolism within a text.

The second you’d entered the room, Jaemin had felt his world shift. His eyes burned into you as he registered the strong smell of lavender, rain, pine and bergamot filling his senses. The scent made his heart race and mind go blank. He didn’t need to overthink this, or analyse it like he normally would. He already knew what was happening. It was imprinted within his soul from the moment he was born, and immediately he knew. He was meeting his mate.

However, something put him on edge, something that made his stomach sink, hands shake, and made him see red. The potent smell of wolfsbane and silver filled his senses, intermingled with your own. He couldn’t believe it at first, he refused to, but as you took your seat next to him, he knew his senses had not deceived him. The one person he would love unconditionally was the one thing he hated more than anything in the world. Anger had consumed him whole. What he didn’t realise is that you could feel it too, burning you as it washed over you in rough, unrelenting waves.

His emotions were impossible for you to block out, the burns of his anger feeling as though you were physically being burned. Your eyes welled with tears as your heart raced, because any attempts you’d made to block his powerful emotions were all in vain. The boy next to you did not once look at you. Instead his eyes burned down onto the paper in front of him, as his hands were a stark white, balled into fists as they shook slightly. You, on the other hand, stared at the clock with misty eyes, willing the tears in your eyes not to fall as you waited for the torturous lesson to end. However, he paid no mind to you, the only thing he could think about was your scent.

At first, he didn’t know what to make of it. After all, he had always vowed to himself to see whomever his mate was as everything he needed. Yet, as he sat there, inhaling the sweet scent shrouded in the potent stench of silver and wolfsbane, he couldn’t help but feel defeated.

Out of all things you could’ve been, from fae to witch, even a vampire… you had to be the one thing he hated most in this world. The one thing he’d kill for his own enjoyment if he so pleased… a Dominyen.

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