#jun hogwarts au

[aclowntiny]

🦉 Seventeen as Hogwarts Students 🏰

This picture filled me with so much serotonin 🥹 y’all can refer to these headcanons as the basis for all the Hogwarts AU fics I’m going to be writing 😌👀 get ready I can’t believe I held out this long 😂

S.Coups

☆ When the sorting hat was placed on his head, it paused in thought for a moment as it decided between Slytherin and Gryffindor. In the end, though… “Must be Gryffindor!” His caring heart won out the ambitious houses’ battle! At least, that’s what the hat said, and Seungcheol is determined to prove it right!

☆ Seungcheol is a Half-Blood, but both of his parents are wizards, so he grows up pretty chill on all the purity stuff but not knowing much about how people with no powers live. It’s definitely a curiosity for him, though.

☆ His favorite subjects are Defense Against the Dark Arts because he likes the idea of being able to protect others from harm and Charms because he likes small, quick, useful spells.

☆ He signs up for Ancient Runes because it sounds cool then highkey regrets it. It just kind of goes over his head.

☆ Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team right here 😌 Athletic and a great leader, Seungcheol is honored to receive this role even though it’s so obviously well-suited.

☆ Intimidating AND adorable. Seungcheol’s Patronus can do it all! His guardian takes the form of a Rottweiler dog: brave, loyal, protective, sweet to those who it cares for 😌

Jeonghan

☆ When the Sorting Hat hits his head, it immediately rumples in confusion. “Oh, you’re an interesting one, aren’t you?” It waffles between Hufflepuff and Slytherin before finally declaring… “Can you hear him trying to bargain? Must be a Slytherin!” Jeonghan, for his part, just laughs.

☆ The Yoons are an old wizarding family and their son knows next to nothing about the Muggle world. Thusly Jeonghan makes up a bunch of bullshit at school about Muggle life to convince everyone he totally does. It works every time…so long as no Muggleborns are present at least.

☆ Jeonghan adores Charms class because it paves the way for so many useful spells and gives him a whole arsenal of things to use. He also loves Divination aka bullshitting class because he thrives, duh 😌 the professor loves him, too, because he participates so much and knows what to say, but somehow it escapes his notice how often his predictions are actually accurate.

☆ History of Magic is a lot to remember and not an interesting enough class to give him the drive to study hard, so it’s his hardest subject.

☆ He plays on the Quidditch team because his friend convince him to, but man does it turn out he’s a skilled Beater. This man is a menace with a Bludger.

☆ Thinking of his happiest memory, Jeonghan exclaims “Expecto Patronum!”, unsure what to expect until he sees the burst of light come flying out, taking the shape of a little crow that lands on his shoulder. Not what he was expecting, but the bird charms him immediately with the way it playfully tries to get his attention.

Joshua

☆ “Oh, aren’t you a fun one?” Joshua, frankly, isn’t sure how to take that. Try and be more fun? “What are you planning?” The hat chides, bringing a slight flush of embarrassment to his face. “Lot of crafty ones this year, eh? We have another Slytherin!”

☆ Joshua’s a Muggleborn, so sometimes he feels like a fish out of water, but man is he liking the air. He wants to see it all, understand all that’s moving around him, and use magic to his advantage and enjoyment as much as possible!

☆ Being skilled at languages, Joshua takes up Ancient Runes as an elective and actually really likes it. Decoding is fun and it could prove useful if he decides to become a Curse-Breaker. He also likes Potions because it’s a nice, calm class.

☆ Transfiguration lowkey stresses him out, like what if he goes to transform his stuff and it never comes back??? Or a person?

☆ Slytherin’s Keeper. Good luck trying to score when Joshua is on the pitch 😌

☆ A bunch of other students ooh and ah at Joshua’s stag Patronus because that’s the one famous people get. Or something like that. The tall, antlered figure is elegant, imposing, and yet with a gentle side as it bows its head to its caster regally.

Jun

☆ “You spend a lot of time thinking about others.” Junhui’s eyes widen- he wasn’t expecting to have so much revealed through the hat. “I- I try to,” he replied modestly, at which the hat chuckles. “An innocent mind. Hufflepuff it is!” He’s still trying to wrap his head around how the hat read him and what it meant as they help him off the stool.

☆ He’s a Half-Blood, his mother being a witch and his father a Muggle. He got more experience with Muggle culture than his brother did, so he ended up getting to bond over showing him non-magical inventions 🥹

☆ Care of Magical Creatures is absolutely his favorite class, like Jun gets so excited every day they meet wondering what amazing being he’ll interact with next. The day they had a kneazle cat was pretty much his favorite day at school ever. He also enjoys Muggle Studies because it gives him lots of materials for letters home to his lil bro 🫶🏻

☆ Doesn’t really have a class he hates, but Arithmancy takes the most work so 🤷🏻‍♀️

☆ He tries out to be a Hufflepuff Chaser, but doesn’t make the cut 💀 avid fan and watcher of Hogwarts matches who sometimes tries to follow the commentator up to his post.

☆ Can’t suppress a grin in Defense Against the Dark Arts when a cute little striped cat bursts from his wand, turning around to rub against his legs.

Hoshi

☆ “Bravery aplenty!” Exclaims the Sorting Hat, which makes Soonyoung grin even wider, his excitement growing, “Eager too. A hard worker, sure, but this one’s too daring for Hufflepuff. Better be Gryffindor!” “Yes!” Soonyoung knew he’d be happy anywhere, but he wanted to be sorted with the lions and it looks like he got his wish!

☆ Soonyoung is a Half-Blood. Pretty much all of the Kwons are wizards, but somewhere up the family tree are some Muggleborns, maybe even a Muggle or two. All are welcome in Soonyoung’s family, so he grows up with little understanding how anyone could care about things like that!

☆ Loves to fly! It’s his favorite thing ever, like good luck getting him out of the sky. He also likes Defense Against the Dark Arts because it’s an active class, one where he can move, duel, and practice being in a real-life situation.

☆ Feels like History of Magic is all in one ear, out the other 🤕 that class is a cram before the test vibe for sure.

☆ One of Gryffindor’s Beaters. A little too excited about it, so some accidents have nearly happened but hey, it makes for an exciting game 🤷🏻‍♀️

☆ When that time comes in Defense Against the Dark Arts, a bunch of his friends tease him that he’ll have a small Patronus like a hamster or something, but he insists it’s going to be a powerful tiger, and he’s right 😌 is too overjoyed at the sight of the glowing tiger to rub it in their faces, though 🐅 big memories and emotions = big Patronus??? Not guaranteed, but in Soonyoung’s case certainly!

Wonwoo

☆ “Smart kid,” the Sorting Hat comments when it’s set upon Wonwoo, “sure, you’ve got a bravery about you, you’re kind, but you’re a Ravenclaw!” Wonwoo just nods, thanking the hat- he agrees with the verdict, happily joining his table.

☆ Being a Muggleborn, Wonwoo has a drive to learn about how magic works. Why do some people have it? Why don’t witches and wizards seem to know this or care, especially if they care about bloodlines so much? He also wants to be one of the best just to put the people who doubt him in their place.

☆ One of the few Hogwarts students who actually enjoys Arithmancy and History of Magic. To him, they’re just calm subjects he can focus on and pore over, which is kinda his study method anyway tbh. It kinda works out though because then they go to him for tutoring.

☆ Boy is good at everything, none of the classes are really a struggle for him. Divination seems like the biggest waste of time, though, once he gets in there.

☆ Joins Quidditch as one of Ravenclaw’s chasers. He isn’t sure how much he’s going to like it, but he loves being part of the team! Quite an adept scorer.

☆ People all assume it’s going to be a cat, but Wonwoo casts a polecat Patronus. So, you know, he gets it in the name even though it’s more rodent. Polecats are crafty, comfortable in their home groups, and probably more similar to their caster than everyone might have originally suspected.

Woozi

☆ “Someone’s a hard worker,” comes the Sorting Hat’s teasing comment upon touching Jihoon’s head, “you’ll study well, won’t you? But that dedication…that’s Hufflepuff for you!” Jihoon is a bit surprised, his mouth forming an ‘o’ shape at the news, but he likes to think the hat is right: he’s dedicated to his dreams, hardworking. Maybe that is his home.

☆ Being a Muggleborn, Jihoon has a bit of a tough time adjusting to magic. In some ways, he’s almost a bit resistant simply because he doesn’t want to rely on waving a wand for every little thing he could handle himself.

☆ There’s something so inspiring to him about looking at the stars, so he looks forward to Astronomy class. He also enjoys Transfiguration, the ability to make something new totally amazing him. He wonders what it feels like to transform like that.

☆ Defense Against the Dark Arts is kind of a boisterous, stressful class in his mind. All the running around and fighting isn’t really his style.

☆ Has enough other extracurricular stuff going on that he passes on Quidditch tryouts, but enough good friends play that he tries to make it to every game he can!

☆ At first, he isn’t sure why a bat Patronus would suit him, especially when everyone thought he was going to get a cat, but bats are known for using their voices to guide their way. They rely on their music and take time to trust, and Jihoon sees that as he bonds with his little guardian. Both of them take time to themselves, but thrive best in their circles when they come out of their shells.

DK

☆ “Bad thoughts don’t often cross your mind, do they?” The voice of the hat muses upon its placement atop Seokmin’s head. “And you’ve a big heart, yes, indeed… most definitely a Hufflepuff!” Seokmin claps, happy to be in a house with some friendly-looking people and a bit shy to hear the hat say such nice things.

☆ Seokmin is a Muggleborn, both of his parents so proud to have magical children. He thinks it’s super cool too and always says he knew all along his family was magical 🥲 all the magical stuff absolutely amazes him, even the most tedious things are things he wants to experience!

☆ He loves Care of Magical Creatures because omg look! A unicorn! A real-life hippogryph!!! Bowtruckles! It’s all so unbelievable, yet so real, like dreams have been laid out before him. That’s the same reason he looks forward to Herbology, like where else can you see sentient plants?

☆ Loves every class! They are all exciting! *Ancient Runes has entered the chat* Ok, maybe classes can be stressful.

☆ He wants to get over his nerves on a broomstick, so to do that he tried out for Quidditch and makes Seeker. He likes that position because it’s a little removed from the pandemonium of the game and he can think like a Snitch 😌

☆ He’s honestly expecting a small animal, not feeling very brave as he shouts “Expecto Patronum!” but well aware he’ll just be ecstatic if he gets any animal form. Imagine his surprise when he gets a magical creature, a beautiful unicorn leaping from his wand! “I- I made that???” He grins, immediately reaching up to try to stroke its mane, awestruck at the beautiful, pure creature even if he doesn’t realize how perfectly it suits his heart.

Mingyu

☆ “You’re a bit bold, aren’t you?” Mingyu nods, thinking he’s supposed to answer the hat. “Not exactly the most courageous…” “Hey!” “Confident, confident certainly…” “M-hm,” he nods again. “You believe you have skills to offer Hogwarts.” “Yes,” Mingyu agrees. “Send this one to Slytherin!” The hat chuckles.

☆ The Kims are an long line of wizards, Mingyu one of many Pure-Blood sons. He doesn’t know much about Muggle culture, frankly, but has more privilege in lifestyle than he does prejudice against people with different blood.

☆ Potions ace. So good at it sometimes the other students are salty at him, but he just shrugs. It comes naturally for him, whether it’s preparing the ingredients or knowing just how much to add. He also likes Divination just because it’s fun. What do his tea leaves say? He legitimately wants to know.

☆ He does have a fear of flying, so broom lessons are not his favorite 😅 he’ll stay on the ground, thank you.

☆ Obviously does not join the Quidditch team, but is on the stands cheering super loud at every game!

☆ Everyone can’t help but tell Mingyu how perfect his husky Patronus is once it manifests, the goofy, vocal, affectionate dog running around practically looking like his twin!

The8

☆ As if drawn in by his aura, the hat muses as it rests upon Minghao’s head. “An artist, eh? Kind, forgiving, wise, and very calm too. A bright one. Ravenclaw, certainly Ravenclaw!” Between what he felt was a suitable sorting despite telling himself he’d be happy with anything and all the attention, Minghao practically glows at the hat’s words.

☆ The Xus are a Pure-Blood family, but Minghao’s parents are both avid Muggle Studies enthusiasts, so their son grew up with lots of knowledge and no prejudice. They all see magic as a chance to help others with less.

☆ Nature is important to this boy here, so Herbology is where his gifts lie. He’s so gentle with the plants and genuinely appreciative of them all, it’s a rewarding class to be able to track their lives. Following the movement of the stars is another joy of his as well as sketching the sky and making star charts, so Minghao does great in Astronomy too.

☆ There’s no class he really hates, but his magic isn’t as Charms-suited as it is focused on creative magic, so those quick spells actually take him more time.

☆ Because he likes flying, he tries out to be Ravenclaw’s new Seeker when the position opens up and earns it 😌 he’s so calm yet fast as he flies, it looks like he always knows exactly where his little gold friend is!

☆ People make jokes about his Patronus being a frog or something of the like, but they’re sure proven wrong by the beautiful swan that slides out, skating gracefully on the air around Minghao.

Seungkwan

☆ The moment the Sorting Hat hits Seungkwan’s head, it shouts out “Oh, we have a loyal one here. This one is a Hufflepuff!” A very decided ceremony for Mr. Boo 😌 he’s both shook at how little time it takes and happy the hat thinks he’s loyal.

☆ A Half-Blood! His mom is actually Pure-Blood, his father a Muggleborn. He loves magic, but also really enjoys learning about the Muggle world. Totally open to differences. Would even consider marrying a Muggle.

☆ LOVES Care of Magical Creatures. One of the students who almost always volunteers for demonstrations because he wants to touch all the animals! Unless they’re, like, giant bugs or something that’ll try to kill him, of course. Muggle Studies is really fun because it’s a way to connect with a part of his heritage and understand others. It gives him social ground with Muggleborns and even non-magical people he’ll interact with in life.

☆ Who made Arithmancy a class??? It stresses him out just to look at 💀 You’re allowed to drop electives, so he straight-up nopes out of Arithmancy and signs up for Divination instead.

☆ He enjoys flying, but being up that high and being chased by sporting goods that want to break your bones? Nah, he’s good, thanks. It’s much more fun to watch and offer comment, so Seungkwan becomes the school Quidditch commentator…and often gets chastised by professors for sassing rival times and whining about missed shots that were so easy, come on.

☆ Really really hopes his Patronus is strong enough to take an animal form, so when it comes out looking big he’s kind of proud yet shook. The light forms a dolphin that bobs back over to his owner, leaping in circles in the air around him and bringing a smile to his face.

Vernon

☆ “Interesting mind on this one, eh?” Those are the first words the hat speaks when it’s set on Vernon’s head. “A perfect fit for Ravenclaw, this one!” He’s proud. His mother was a Ravenclaw during her Hogwarts days, part of the most artful and creative-minded house. He can’t stop smiling all night!

☆ He’s a Pure-Blood wizard, his maternal grandmother having actually attended Beauxbatons before settling down in England. His father’s side always attended Hogwarts, so the school is really what joined his family. People tend to assume Vernon’s a Muggleborn, though, just because he looks so spaced out or amazed sometimes.

☆ Yet another lover of magical creatures right here! They love him right back too 😌 other students get jealous of how much they approach Vernon. He’s also quite good at Arithmancy, there’s just something about it that clicks in his head.

☆ Accidentally set something on fire in Potions class once. Enough said.

☆ Enjoys playing Quidditch for fun with his friends, but doesn’t try out for the formal team. He’s happy to support Ravenclaw alongside his classmates.

☆ Can’t help but laugh when his Patronus comes out as a small turtle. It’s cute, though, he and others defend it, a good embodiment of happy memories.

Dino

☆ Another pretty fast sort. “You’d make it in Gryffindor, sure,” the hat mutters, “but I believe your place is in Slytherin!” And with that, Chan is off to his table! He’s a bit surprised, having expected Gryffindor, but hey, Slytherins are ambitious, so the hat’s probably right. He’ll do anything to succeed.

☆ The Lees have a whole-ass family tree on display- they’re Pure-Bloods. A little proud of it, but frankly Chan himself doesn’t care, almost feeling that much more like being the one to break the line just to shut them all up about it.

☆ Defense Against the Dark Arts star! That one kid that always gets called up to show everyone how to do it right 😤 such a natural dueler and just really good at dispelling negative vibes 😌 he also enjoys flying a lot, it just helps him feel free to soar into the air!

☆ Conversely, he has a lot of difficulty in Potions class, which makes him want to double down on it so he’s no longer stressing about it!

☆ Slytherin’s Seeker 😌 he’s such a nimble flyer with great control, Chan was born to play this role!

☆ He lowkey wants something big and intimidating like a dragon or a rhino, so when a small burst of light appears he fears he’ll be disappointed. The moment the otter slides into view, though, all he can do is smile and reach for it, taking its hand to run after it and play, too.

[alyssng]

lil affectionate ways ~ pt. 1

the actual svt au fic is still a wip but i come back w headcanons that are very self-indulgent ehe. anyway this post is basically the things the main cast does to show they care? i genuinely died writing this tho WHERE IRL FOR ME SKFJNKAJ. ill also repost my original hcs post one day (im rewriting a few sections cuz gose sparked new ideas) but finals month is literally SKFJNSKJF but i had the first half of the cast finished for this one ;)

also if anyones seeing this after reading my hcs post, you’ll know about the cast’s houses (lil reminder that i have two ocs in this fic) and stuffies but if you’re new, welcome and i hope you’ll enjoy the lil crumbs ehe

please give feedback or just comment if there’s anything you liked or want to ask! <3

seungcheol

hes so clingy and huggy help aksjfnsf, like hes the oldest but he just hugs the cast whenever. either cuz they’re not paying attention to him or hes just in the mood to. jun’s just eating breakfast normally and then cheol comes out of nowhere and hugs him from the back, arms around jun’s neck. the first few times he did this to ANY of the cast that were from slytherin, almost caused a riot because people were in shock “oh my god is the house rivalry over??????” not really no, there’s just the rare few from either house that can become besties with each other. pestering is another way that he shows he cares. not pestering but like looks after you and it’s a lot of it? babying the younger half of the cast is a better way to say it. on the way back from hogsmeade and alisa looks exhausted? he’ll give her a piggyback ride. minghao’s temper is clearly rising for reasons unknown? cheol’s there to resolve the issue as soon as he can. he’s also the type that just either falls asleep on you or lets you fall asleep on him. to him, being able to rest in front of someone is to say that you trust someone with your vulnerable side like yk?? the first time anyone fell asleep on him, it was on the way back to hogsmeade. they were all still chatting excitedly, with the exception of jeonghan and lily who were up ahead having a snowball fight (both snowballs and icicles were being thrown specifically), when he felt alisa’s head suddenly bump into his. he was piggybacking her again, but he didnt think she was tired to the point of falling asleep. he didnt mind tho. out of the entire cast, he and alisa were one of the closest in terms of older brother younger sister dynamic. decided to fall back so that he could watch the rest of their friends have fun while keeping alisa in a quieter “area” of sorts

jeonghan

because of the recent caratland (read: the only caratland that i saw a lot of videos of) i can just picture jeonghan just quietly carrying snacks in his pockets and handing them out to the cast randomly. especially during classes before lunch. for some reason, the slytherins are ridiculously unlucky, like how many years in a row can a house get stuck in potions before lunch? since theyre touching stuff like dead spiders and rat spleen blah blah, its obvious that they cant eat snacks so half the class is starving. double potions is even worse, so jeonghan just kind of… doesn’t touch anything. he’s prone to making the entire concoction shrivel up and die anyway so he lets alisa (his very unwilling potions partner) do everything BUT its because he can quietly feed her snacks as well as the rest of the cast. alisa was more than annoyed at first but then snacks were more important and it wasnt like jeonghan didnt help. at least he was reading out the instructions and trying to point out which was the next ingredient she needed. he also fiddles a lot with his hands when there’s nothing to hold on to. he could always hold onto his wand or quill but after he accidentally set alight his parchment by twirling his wand nonstop and splattered himself with ink via quill spinning, jeonghan kinda needed something else to fiddle with. so what does he do? takes the cast’s hands and starts playing with them. it’s definitely not something he does with anyone and in all honesty only lily and joshua were aware from the start. the others just let him without knowing why he liked to fiddle but it becomes more of a natural thing when they spot him making random shapes with his own hands and just reach over to put their hands over his

joshua

one word. headpats. it could be in a teasing way, an endearing way, he has his reasons for just reaching over patting the cast on the head. as role-modely as he is, he isn’t a perfect model student… (that title goes to minghao ngl) but anyway he gets distracted sometimes during class, and most of the time it’s because lily’s next to him doodling in her notebook or trying random enchantments. its because dada comes to her more naturally than other classes, but if the teacher calls on her and theres visible panic on her expression because she cant figure out the answer, joshua just makes things worse (he finds the whole situation hilarious) by patting her on the head, murmuring comments that leads to his leg getting kicked. (“should’ve paid attention, darling.” “if you don’t get your hand off of me, i have a pointy quill-”) the dada professor does not get paid enough to deal with their bs, but it was their decision to make assigned seats a requirement so- anyway apart from the whole headpatting, it’s the little things and by little, it’s simple things like memorizing their favorite things or just quietly going along with whatever antics anyone (read: jeonghan) planned. the latter, especially, he’ll just join in regardless of whether or not he approves- he has a prefect badge anyway. and a degree at jeonghan university he’ll bs his way out of trouble LOL. but yeah no, once vernon got sick during the holidays and so joshua sent him via owl post a bunch of his favorite foods and a few gifts too. (“did you get me the apple headphones max just because i was sick-” “well how else are you supposed to enjoy watching netflix and listening to music when your airpods run out of battery?) please note vernon’s a muggleborn and joshua’s a halfblood so yes they know about electronics-

lily

it’s not exactly physical touch but lily does this thing where she’ll kind of hold onto their cloak or shirt or the strap of their bag while they walk in the same direction. there’s no particular reason, she just found that she felt really comfortable doing that, but if it’s someone that she isn’t close to, no way in hell you’ll ever see that happening to. if she were to ever start dating, she’d be the type of person that doesn’t do huge things in pda but would do the little things like hands in each others pockets or linking pinkies. another way she is with violence LOL. either she makes meaningless threats or she’ll pretend to punch the cast. if she does hit them though, itll be like a light one unless its obvious said person will be able to handle it. the few times that she accidentally does hurt one of the cast tho she’s immediately hugging them (despite not being a hugger) and apologizing repeatedly and laughing out of panic. jun for example is an often target. sometimes he just pulls random pickup lines or is tryna drag away minghao and in response lily just attacks him, quite literally jumping on him but then once she accidentally punched him in the eye and instantly threw her arms around him out of apology, rambling “sorrys” in mandarin and english. the more threats or attempted violence she does, the more you can tell that shes close w them. its her way of showing that she enjoys the persons company and loves them. (“so does this mean you’re going to finally say something to marshall~?” “alisa i will not hesitate to pitch you off the astronomy tower.”) sometimes she genuinely means to attack them tho but some ppl (jeonghan) are clueless (read: chooses to ignore the warning signs) and then this violent-ish harassing becomes a running inside thing. FOR EXAMPLE, the first time jeonghan brought up lily’s fear of insects, bugs, creepy crawly stuff yk? lily chucked her butter knife at him and it almost stabbed poor minghao who was just tryna revise jun’s herbology essay. earned two weeks worth of detention but now its a running thing for lily to threaten and pretend/actually throw things at jeonghan if he pokes fun at her. its only for certain personal-ish stuff tho like about not being prefect or quidditch… her fears… a certain crush wink wink

thank you so much for reading if you made it to the end ~ alyssng <3

[toruro]

— ✧ the letter

i hope one word, one letter, will laugh and cry with you (the letter / ateez)

pairing. xu minghao x reader

description. in which you’re jun's little sister and have been pining for a man so close yet so out of reach for ages. now, years later, when you see minghao all grown up, famous, and still making your heart flutter, you're not so sure what to do about your not-so-little crush.

genres. slowburn, fluff, angst, childhood f2l

tags. idol!au, alcohol consumption & underage drinking, lots of arguments, Lots of pent up emotions oops, miscommunication, sorta hot headed reader, minghao is minghao and that is a warning enough

fic playlist.

w/c. 26k

a/n. the smut has been moved to a separate post which can be found here! i had so so so much fun writing this! huge thanks to @gyuswhore bc em literally helped me through every step of the way & sat through me planning & switching around the events of the story a bajillion times, and thank u to @honeyhypen who read over this for me ^-^

ENVELOPE

To: Xu Minghao

“Why are you in my room?” Jun huffs, turning around to look up at you as you stand by his door. In front of him is a massive, yet unfinished LEGO replica of Hogwarts. You frown, glancing at his friend who lays on his bed with a phone up to his face.

He’s Jun’s new friend, and you’ve heard your brother talk about him but this is your first time really seeing Minghao in the flesh. Shaggy hair hangs loose over his dark eyes as he peeks over his phone and glances at Jun, as if to silently ask who you are.

“Dad says dinner is ready,” you tell him, feeling a little timid under the gaze of the new boy. He’s only two years older than you, but the only interaction you get with high schoolers is your brother, so you’re feeling shy. He’s a very nice looking boy, you think to yourself, but try hard not to stare as Minghao uncrosses his legs and sits up on your brother's bed.

Jun’s eyes soften when he notices you standing awkwardly, standing up and pointing at you as he says your name. “My sister—two years younger,” he explains.

“One point five, actually,” you correct him with a roll of your eyes, feeling more comfortable now that Jun is initiating something. Your brother laughs at you and ruffles your hair while Minghao stands up behind him.

“Ya-da, ya-da. You’re still two grades below, so it doesn’t really make a difference. Anyways, this is Minghao,” he says, pointing at his friend behind him who throws you a small smile and wave.

“I know,” you blurt out before you even have a chance to think, heat flushing to your face after you realize what you said and see Minghao give you a funny look. “I-I mean because Jun talks about you a lot,” you clarify, clearing your throat. “Y’know, he doesn’t have a lot of friends so when—”

Jun clamps a hand over your mouth and gently drags you out of the room as Minghao follows behind closely with silent laughter. “That’s enough from you. Watch it, or I’m never letting you talk to my friends again.”

“Friends? I think you mean friend,” you retort, looking back at Minghao who watches the two of you amusedly. “Are you sure you want to be friends with someone so mean to his sist—”

Jun flicks your forehead and you push his chest. “Shut up already! If you scare away all my friends, all I’ll have left is you, and you’ll just have to put up with me all day!”

“You’re right about that,” you say with a heavy sigh as you all make your way to the dinner table where your father has set out a meal for the three of you. Putting your hands up in defeat as you sit down at your spot at the middle end of the table, you glance at Minghao who takes a seat with Jun sitting between the two of you. “I guess I’ll back off for now.”

Jun scoffs. “You better.” The three of you laugh together.

Yiren rummages through your closet, and you frown deeply. “Hey! You better clean that up,” you warn, rolling off of your bed and onto the floor, lazily standing up.

“I’m helping you pick out a nice outfit! You said Minghao is coming ri—” You scramble to your feet to slap a hand over Yiren’s mouth, eyes wide.

“Shut up! My brother’s room is right there—he might hear you!”

Yiren rolls her eyes, nudging your hand off her mouth with a huff. “Oh my god, don’t tell me you haven’t told him yet.”

“What?” you narrow your eyes at her, grabbing one of your bras that she threw onto the ground and stuffing it back into your closet. “You thought I was going to tell Jun that I have a crush on his best friend?” you half whisper, half yell.

“Uh, why wouldn’t you? You’re seriously missing out on your chance to have him help you get with Minghao.”

You scoff, looking down at all the clothes strewn across the floor. “Have you met my brother? He would flip if I even mentioned being with a guy, let alone that guy being two years older and his friend.”

“You don’t know that,” Yiren retorts, throwing herself onto your bed leaving you to clean up the mess she made.

“Yes I do. This is how I can tell you don’t have any brothers …”

“Well if you never make a move on Minghao, how are you ever going to get him? You gotta start somewhere, and maybe your brother is the first nut you gotta crack to get there.”

“If you haven’t noticed, I haven’t exactly planned on making any moves,” you mumble, reaching down to pick up a cute pink jacket you haven’t seen in a while.

“Uh, why not?” Yiren piques, sitting upright on your mattress.

“Excuse me, have you looked at Minghao?” you groan, slumping against your wall with the jacket in your hands. “He’s so … cool, and popular, and handsome,” you gush, and Yiren makes a disgusted face.

“Uh, no, sorry I don’t fawn over your future husband, so I don’t really look at Minghao but—”

“And he’s going to be a senior! Why would a senior ever go for—” you look down and gesture at yourself, “—me.”

“You’re seriously downgrading yourself—you know you’re a catch.”

“Yeah, not for someone like him,” you snort, flopping down onto your bed next to her. “It’s whatever, it’s a stupid crush anyways.”

“Yeah,” Yiren says flatly. “You’ve only been crushing on him for like three years—hey! Don’t hit me!”

“Then stop saying this stuff,” you groan, throwing a pillow onto her head.

“Okay fine, I’ll stop. So are you going to wear that?” she asks, pointing at the jacket you left at the foot of your bed.

“Yeah, I think I will. It’s cute right?”

“Mhm … bet Minghao will totally like it and—”

“Yiren, shut up,” you giggle, pushing her again as you roll off the bed. “Okay, so the pink jacket and these jeans?” you ask, picking one pair off the ground and holding it up for her to see.

“Mm, no,” she says while shaking her head, standing up to join you as she looks at all of the clothes she threw across the floor. “Let’s see …” she hums to herself.

“Yiren,” you say with a laugh, “I think you’re putting more thought into this than me.”

“Well I can’t just let my best friend be single and lonely for the rest of her life! If all you do is sit around and listen to Radiohead, you’re going to end up being sixty-five and alone in some cottage in the woods.”

“Hey! That actually seems pretty peaceful,” you try to object, but Yiren narrows her eyes in your direction.

“Okay well,” she drawls out, putting her hands on your shoulders so you’re right in front of her, “Imagine being sixty-five and living in a cute cottage in the woods with Minghao. Sounds better, doesn’t it?” You can’t help the giddy grin that makes its way onto your face when Yiren says that, and she punches your shoulder lightly when she notices. “See, you do want that! So just listen to me, okay?”

“Okay, okay, fine! Just tell me which jeans to wear.”

She looks down, picking through the denim before pulling out a light blue one with little flowers embroidered on the pockets. “Look, this is cute. It’ll match with the jacket.”

You nod along, not questioning her because as far as you know, Yiren’s fashionable instinct stretches much further than yours and whatever she says about this must be true. As you change from your pajamas  into your new, curated outfit, Yiren sits back on the bed and grins widely.

“Looks perfect on you. Minghao will love it.”

“You think?” you pique, looking at her with bright, beaming eyes.

She winks at you and you jump up and down on the balls of your feet at the excitement. “I want at least 25% of whatever you get from your wedding gifts. You both will owe me big time.”

“I’ll believe it when it happens … Anyways, you ready to go? Let’s wait downstairs and get some pop while we wait for Minghao to come,” you suggest, Yiren agreeing with a nod as she bounces behind you. Jun, it seems, is still in his room waiting for his friend, so you stick your head through his door. “We’re going down to snack a little. Wanna come?”

Your brother shrugs, pushing himself off his swiveling chair to join you. “You know if we still have those cupcakes? The ones you made last week?”

“I think we have a few left. Why? You liked them?” you exclaim happily, turning around to face Jun as the three of you settle in the kitchen. You reach for a box you kept on the island, popping off the lid to show him.

Jun grins and pulls one out and you offer one to Yiren who stands beside you. “‘course I like them,” he says with his mouth stuffed with cake and cream.

Yiren, shooting a look of disgust his way, says, “Ew! Please don’t chew and talk, that’s gross.” Jun rolls his eyes at her as Yiren stuffs her own face with the cupcake, sighing as she digs in.

“Whatever,” Jun grumbles after swallowing it down. “They taste really good, you should make them more.”

Yiren nods, tapping your shoulder, “Agreed. Send me the recipe too,” voice muffled as she continues to munch down on the cupcake.

“Didn’t you just tell me not to eat with my mouth full?” Jun mutters, crossing his hands over his chest. You laugh at the banter and suddenly you hear the doorbell ring, ears perking up. “That’s probably Minghao—I’ll get the door.”

As your brother makes his way down to the foyer, you turn to look at Yiren. “I would give you the recipe but I don’t want to be the reason your house burns down. Seriously, remember the last time you tried baking and—”

“Oh my god, is the recipe what you’re thinking about right now? Minghao is just about to come—offer him a cupcake! Show him your amazing baking skills and show him what a good housewife you can be!”

You give your best friend a look of bewilderment. “What the hell Yiren,” you groan, slapping your hand on your face, trying to hold back your chuckles. “Okay, I’ll give it to him but only because I want him to be impressed. Not because I want to submit myself to misogyny for the sake of a man.”

“Okay fine but—look!” she exclaims in a hushed whisper. “He’s here!” You immediately straighten your back and smile when Jun walks back into the kitchen with Minghao. He’s wearing some loose jeans and a black hoodie, his hair longer than before.

He says your name when he sees you, throwing up a wave and a smile. Minghao then glances at Yiren with a blank stare, pursing his lips together. Yiren chuckles nervously and clicks her tongue while pointing at herself. “Yiren.”

“Ah. Hi Yiren,” he says politely.

“You guys want some pop?” Jun offers when he opens up the fridge. Yiren, Minghao, and you nod happily and respectively call out your choices.

“Sprite!”

“Cola!”

“Cola!”

Jun juts his lip out in a pout when he turns back to the three of you. “I wanted Cola too, but there’s only two left.” You’re about to furrow your brows and tell him that it’s okay, you don’t really want any, but Minghao speaks up before you.

“She can have the Cola, I don’t mind,” he says casually, grabbing one can from Jun and handing it to you with soft eyes. “Here.”

“Are you sure? I don’t really care for the difference between Sprite and Cola and—”

Minghao chuckles and shakes his head, and you think you might just pass out when your palm brushes against his knuckles when he eases the cold can into your hand. “Seriously, it’s fine,” he tells you. You glance at Jun and Yiren who are busy opening their own cans, turning your attention back to Minghao.

“Thank you … Uh, do you want a cupcake? I made some a while ago and we still have some left,” you offer, holding up the box to him.

“It’s the last one. Are you sure?”

“How the tables have turned,” you laugh, and Minghao cracks a bright smile at that and holy crap, if you weren’t so busy trying to keep your composure, you’d be freaking out over how handsome he looks when he smiles. “‘course you can have it. I’ve had plenty of them,” you admit sheepishly as he reaches for the cupcake and brings up to his mouth.

“Holy shit. I don’t blame you for eating a lot—if I had these in my house they’d be gone in like an hour.”

“Right!” Yiren agrees, and you can’t help but chew on your bottom lip when you smile from the praise.

“Guess this is just a sign for you to make more, huh,” Jun says, walking to stand next to you to lean on your shoulder.

“Uh-uh! You gotta reimburse me somehow,” you protest, looking up at your brother with a firm expression.

“Please make more, they’re really good. I’ll buy you boba if you make more,” Minghao chimes, and it’s safe to say you don’t expect it from the way you cough on your own saliva. Yiren laughs at your reaction, and Jun only looks at you weirdly when you nod in agreement.

“Oh, so you’ll make cupcakes when he asks but not for your dear older brother?”

You roll your eyes, saying, “He offered to buy me boba! You know I can’t turn that down.”

Jun huffs in faux irritation, digging his hand into his pocket to fish out his keys. “Ya-da, ya-da. Anyways, would anyone other than my super fake, mean, evil sister like to go to karaoke now?” he asks playfully. All it takes is one glare and pulling on his hair for a few seconds to have him shouting out apologies as the four of you make your way to the car garage.

The ride to the karaoke place is short with Jun in the front and Minghao sitting in the passenger seat next to him. You and Yiren pile into the back, and the three of you scroll through your phones to decide what songs to sing later while Jun drives.

“I get to sing Creep, right?” you ask excitedly, bouncing up and down in your seat.

“How’d I know you were going to bring up Radiohead,” Jun mutters, pressing his head back into the head rest when he stops at a red light, while Minghao turns in his seat to look back at you with wide eyes.

“You like Radiohead?” he asks with a small smile.

The corners of your lips are lifted and your face brightens when you nod vigorously. “Yeah I do!”

“I think ‘like’ would be an understatement. I’m like 99% sure Thom Yorke lives in her skin or something because what she has for Radiohead is a lot more than just ‘like,’” Yiren says.

“No way, I love Radiohead,” Minghao tells you. Holy shit. So Minghao is attractive and nice and smart and pretty much perfect at everything and he enjoys Radiohead? You might go insane.

“Really?” Your eyes are wide with your jaw hanging open, leaning forward in your seat.

You hear Jun groan from the driver’s seat, and both you and Minghao shoot him a dirty look. “I forgot both of you are obsessed with Radiohead. Seriously, could either of you get more emo?”

“If you weren’t driving right now, I’d strangle you,” Minghao says bluntly before looking back at you. “Anyways, what’s your favorite song?”

“Junnie, please, can you put on Creep now? You know I’ve been waiting forever,” you plead, holding your hand out to the microphone that’s in your brother’s hand. The room is dark and lit up with red and blue LEDs across the border, making the room glow purple.

“But I want to sing another round of Taylor Swift!” he protests, pointing at the big screen in front of you while clutching the microphone close to his chest. You scoff, poking his side. “You know I’m not ticklish, so that doesn’t work.”

“You’re not ticklish? How?” Yiren exclaims, looking at Jun with wide eyes.

You turn to squint at her. “He’s weird. I thought we already established this.”

“Hey!” Jun whines. “See this is why you won’t be getting to sing Creep tonight.”

“Jun!” you cry out, and you’re about to pull out a string of complaints and curses, but then Minghao is stepping in, pointing at you.

“Put on Creep. She’s been asking for a while and I want to sing it too,” he says. Jun is quiet for a moment before sighing and handing you the microphone which leads you to puffing up your chest and smiling proudly.

“Thanks,” you chirp gleefully, as Minghao holds his own microphone up to his lips.

When he smiles at you, it’s kind and sincere in such a way that it has your heart swelling under your pretty pink jacket. Minghao coolly points at Yiren who sits by the control tablet. “Creep. Hit it.”

The air inside your house is warm as you skip down the hall and down the stairs. When the bell rang the first time, you thought it was just some package but when you hear it ring twice, you think otherwise.

When you peek through the little peep-hole, you jump up and down on the balls of your feet, a mix of excitement and nerves pools at your stomach. You open the door and Minghao shuffles in front of you at the doorstep. You haven’t seen him in a few weeks, and his hair looks shorter. “Did you cut your hair?” you ask the seventeen year old as you move to the side so he can step in.

“Yeah, it was getting in my eyes too much,” he tells you with a nod, a small puff of vapor coming from his lips. It’s cold, and you hear him inhale a breath of relief when you close the door behind him. “Thought the door was never gonna open. I was freezing my ass off,” he says, unwinding the brown scarf from his neck.

“‘m sorry,” you reply sheepishly as he takes off his shoes, following you through the foyer. “Jun didn’t tell me you were coming so I was in my room. He’s still out with my dad, but he’ll be back soon.”

“That’s fine.” Minghao shrugs off his puffer jacket, placing it on the coat rack while you make your way to the kitchen.

“Do you want a drink? It’s cold outside, so I can make some hot chocolate. Jun got the nice kind from the cafe down the street.”

“That’d be great, thanks,” he says, sitting down at one of the stools in front of the kitchen island as you take out some milk and hot chocolate powder. It’s silent, and you chew your lip while thinking about how this is the first time in a really long time that you and Minghao have been alone together.

Nearing the end of his twelfth year in high school and just like the first time you met him, he’s as enticing as ever. Dancing competitions with Jun, left and right, smart and respectful with the teachers, popular among the students—you're lucky you get to talk to someone as cool as him, even if it is only on the account that you’re his best friend’s little sister.

“How’s high school?” he asks casually as you boil some milk over the stove.

“It’s alright … English is still hard as ever,” you admit, dropping the powder into the frothing milk.

Minghao chuckles softly when you turn around to face him, and a small smile makes its way onto your lips. “Yeah, it was never my strong suit either. You still friends with … what’s her name? Sorry, I’m not good with names—the girl who lost her voice at karaoke when she came with us?”

“Yiren?” you giggle softly, recalling the memory. “Yeah. Still friends, still as loud as ever,” you say with a sigh, mixing the milk as it turns light brown. “How are things with you? Jun’s been telling me the dance practices you guys have is pretty intense. He always looks like he could eat a horse when he comes home.”

“That’s good to hear, and yeah, it’s all going good. It is pretty tiring, but it’s a lot of fun,” Minghao replies, stretching his arms behind his back as you pour out the hot chocolate into two mugs, bringing it over. “Thanks,” he murmurs, grabbing from your hand sitting down at your regular spot, one extra chair seated between the two of you as always.

Arm’s length, you think for a moment, before shaking yourself of the thought. “I’m sure the practice is paying off though—seems like Jun is always talking about some new kinda competition or something.”

“Mhm,” Minghao hums, taking a sip of the hot cacao. “This is really good, thank you,” he says with a soft smile, and you’d be lying if you said you didn’t feel some sort of giddiness erupt in your stomach. “I think … I think we can really take it somewhere—our dancing.”

It’s a sparing thought that Minghao and Jun’s dreams are far beyond yours, and you have a bit of a difficult time trying to understand what he means by somewhere and if that somewhere includes you or not.

“You’re going to Korea?” your eyebrows furrow as you glance between Jun and your parents.

“Nothing’s finalized yet—” your mother says, but when Jun’s eyes flicker between you and the ground, you already know that this is set in stone.

“Yes it is.” Your voice is small when the words come out. “You—” you take a deep breath, “—you’re going.”

“Not now, of course,” your dad says, patting your back as he stands up, your mother following suit. “Talk for a few minutes, yeah?” he says as both your parents walk out. When your whole family walked into your room ten minutes earlier to tell you they had big news, you weren’t sure what you were expecting, but it certainly was not this.

And now you’re sitting with your brother on one end of your bed while you’re curled up against your pillows on the other, unable to meet his gaze.

“When are you going?” you ask quietly, finally breaking the silence.

“August.”

“That’s in a month and a half,” your shoulders deflate as you say it. “How long?”

“I don’t know. I’m sorry.” You bury your face in your hands in hopes that it’ll muffle your cries. It doesn’t.

Jun scoots over to you quickly when he sees your shoulders shake, one arm going around your back to pull you close to his body, but you still can’t bring yourself to look at him. “How are you going to do it?” you blubber as your brother pats your back. “You can’t just go to a whole different country alone and—”

“I won’t be alone. Minghao is coming with me,” Jun tells you quickly. Now that brings your head up. You don’t care that your nose is snotty and that your hair is all over the place and that your face burns, you just need to see the look on Jun’s face to see that he isn’t messing with you.

The way his own eyes are glossy gives you your answer. “Y-you both got accepted into tha-that company?”

Jun nods. “We applied together.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were applying? I-I would’ve understood. You could have given me more time to process this and—” You look down at your hands, “Fuck,” you mutter to yourself, not finding the words in your throat.

“We didn’t even know if we would get accepted. Me and Minghao promised each other that we’d only follow through with it if both of us got in and we didn’t think that there’d be a high chance of that because it’s so competitive … I only told Mom and Dad because until we got the acceptances, I really didn’t think it was going to actually happen.” You gulp at his words, trying to let it all sink in.

“I think … I think I just need to go on a walk. Take a breather, y’know,” you mutter under your breath as you stand up. Just as you're about to walk away, you stop yourself, looking back at Jun who stares down at his hands. You don’t think twice before wrapping your arms around his shoulders and hugging him tightly. “I’m really proud of you,” you say quietly before rushing out of your room and down the stairs.

You shove your feet into some slippers in the foyer, rushing out onto the street soon after. You aren’t sure what you’re doing or where you’re headed, but you continue to trudge along the sidewalk until you’re walking down the main road.

The summer air is hot and stuffy, and you wonder if you feel so suffocated because of the sun’s onslaught or because of thoughts that run through your head. It’s surrounding you, breathing it in, it fills your lungs, courses through your veins, rushes to your brain—you don’t know what it is, but it’s uncomfortable and has you dizzy and your vision foggy.

You lean against a thick lamppost next to you, hands on your knees as you knit your eyebrows together as sweat beads down your forehead. What the fuck, you think as you breathe in through your nose.

You hear your own name bounce around in your head, and the sound only grows louder and louder until you’re muttering under your breath, telling yourself to shut the fuck up, shut the fuck up, shut the fuck up. And there are tears in your eyes but you furiously wipe them away because while you don’t mind crying, you do mind crying if you don’t know why.

And fuck, there’s that voice again, your name echoing over and over again until it’s growing lowder and ringing in your ears. You think you might start crying again until the voice sounds familiar and you’re whipping your head up and standing straight when you see a car pull up to the curb next to you.

“Fuck my life,” you mumble to yourself when you see Minghao in the driver’s seat of the car. He rolls down the window and god, he looks so pretty with his hair back and upper body fit into a loose yellow shirt.

“Hey, what are you doing?” he asks you, brows pinched into a concerned expression as he looks at you, face flushed and sheen from sweat.

“I—” You’re about to smile at him and let the giddiness of having your crush talk to you take over, but then the words get caught in your throat when you remember the whole reason you’re out here. “—I’m just going on a walk.”

“In this heat?” He raises a brow at you. “Where to? Let me give you a ride. You don’t look too well.”

“Nowhere really,” you say with a shrug. “Actually, I might just head back home,” you rush out, turning on your heel to walk in the other direction so Minghao can’t pry any further, but he stops you.

“Wait, wait, wait,” he calls out, and you don’t have the willpower to ignore him. “Let me drive you home then. Seriously, you don’t look well—like you look like you’re ‘bout to pass out and shit—so just get in the car, please?” He says the last part with some sort of beggary etched onto his face and you just can’t deny him. Not now, not ever.

Pulling the door open, your limbs feel heavy as you climb into the car, air much cooler and fresher than outside. Leaning your head against the headrest, you let your eyes flutter shut as Minghao starts the car.

“Are you seriously okay? You look—”

“Sick, I know. I look sick,” your grumble, eyes still shut. You wonder if you should tell him Jun just told you everything.

“I’m sorry,” and you can tell from the way his voice doesn’t waver that he means it.

“Jun told me about Korea.”

“Oh.” Yeah, very big oh. “Just now?” You nod. “Is that why you were out here?” You nod again, finally opening your eyes.

“Hey, this isn’t the way to my house.”

Minghao keeps his eyes on the road. “C’mon, let’s get some pop,” he says, ignoring your statement and driving into the parking lot of a convenience store. He unbuckles his seatbelt and hops out his end, not saying a word, and you figure that you have no other choice but to follow.

Any other situation and you’d be grinning about spending some time alone with Minghao, but after hearing Jun tell you that he’s going to be traveling hundreds of miles and flying over borders within the next two months has your stomach churning in a way you don’t like.

You don’t know if you want to spend all the hours of the day with Jun and Minghao, or if you want to crawl up in your bed and pretend they don’t exist so it’ll hurt less when they’re gone. You feel stupid for thinking like this—you know it’s going to hurt either way.

You’re lost in your own thoughts as you walk into the store after Minghao, only snapped back into the present when he says something to you. “Hey, those are your jeans that you wore when we first did karaoke right?’

You blink once and then twice before looking down at your pants. They were those same jeans. “Yeah, how’d you know?” you ask him incredulously, and Minghao chuckles as he reaches into the cooler and pulls out a pink popsicle.

“I remember the flowers and how they matched your pink jacket. It was cute,” he says casually, and you hope he doesn’t catch onto the way your fingers twiddle together nervously and you avert your gaze. “Anyways, you like Cola right?” he clarifies when reaching into the drink fridge near the cooler. You nod shyly, thanking him quietly when he hands you a can.

As you make your way to the cash register, you fish around in your pockets for a few moments hoping you’ll dig up a dollar bill or something but then Minghao’s hand is on your wrist and he shakes his head with a smile.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll cover it.” He turns back so quickly you don’t have time to protest because he’s already sticking his card into the machine, throwing the cashier a thumbs up and walking out the store without a word.

“I could’ve paid for myself, y’know,” you grumble, following behind Minghao, watching to see where he’s headed. You think he’s going to get back into his car, but instead he plops down on the street curb, sitting on the ground. You just look at him for a few moments, contemplating what to do for a few moments before joining his side.

“Yeah, but I wanted to pay for it.”

The sun is bright and it beads down on you relentlessly, but you don’t complain. You both sit in silence as you both tend to your snacks—Minghao tries to lap up his popsicle quickly now that you’re out in the heat and you try to drink as much of your Cola as you can before it grows lukewarm. The air grows thick between you.

You can’t find the right words to say. You suppose there aren’t any right words or any wrong words, and that you can say just about anything right now and it wouldn’t matter.

Glancing at Minghao who takes a lick of his pink popsicle, you feel that uneasy feeling swarm inside of your chest.

You could kiss him right now. You could press your mouth against his sticky lips and lap at the sugar against his tongue. You could hold his face and run your fingers through his hair and cradle the nape of his neck. You could do anything right now and it wouldn’t matter.

Minghao, after all, was leaving.

But you’re scared and Minghao is mature and his dreams are big and he’s brave.

Your eyes linger on his plush lips for no longer than a second before you shamefully look down at the Cola in your hands, suddenly feeling sick to your stomach.

“You’ll remember this place, right? Like—if you get big and famous and stuff, you two won’t forget, right?” you resort to asking. You say ‘this place,’ but really, you mean ‘me.’ You don’t want to be forgotten.

Minghao watches you with his eyes clouded with something you can’t really make out. “Of course we won’t. We’ll remember forever.” Absentmindedly, you trace figure-eights into the top of your can of pop, and Minghao catches the motion.

Using his own finger, he traces the figure of the number eight over the cement of the curb. “See. Like infinity, y’know?”

You purse your lips together and nod, your mind going dizzy. “Can we … can we go?” you mumble softly, gripping the can in your hand. “I think the heat kinda got to me.” It’s not entirely a lie.

Minghao doesn’t question you, polishing off his popsicle and tossing it into the trash before unlocking the door so you can take the silent ride home.

Jun and Minghao flew out two months ago. You went with your family and Minghao’s family to bid goodbyes. It’s not like you wouldn’t see them again—give or take a few months and Jun would be back at home, but he’d have to leave again. And again. And again.

It’s sad, you think, as you slump against Yiren on some random person’s couch. You miss them so much, but when you think about Jun and Minghao, all you can see is the hard work they’ve put into going where they’re headed.

You feel selfish as you bring a cup up to your lips. You feel pathetic and lame and if you weren’t already drunk, you’d be wallowing in self pity as well. The alcohol tastes just as bitter as your feelings, and while you wince when you gulp it down, you don’t hesitate to let some more run down your throat.

Yiren watches you worriedly when you clutch her arm and shut your eyes tight. “I miss them,” you whisper, and she doesn’t know if you’re talking to her or to yourself. She strokes your hair and coos to you about taking you to lie down somewhere.

Your head spins as she helps you stand, letting the cup fall to the ground, not bothering to pick it up. Yiren pulls you into an empty bedroom and sits you on the bed. “Drink this,” she instructs, handing you a bottle of water.

“Yiren, I miss them,” you repeat yourself.

“I know, I know you do. Do you want to go home? I’ll drive you and—”

“No, you go have fun. I just need to sit down for a sec,” you tell her, letting your back fall onto the mattress. Yiren gives you a warning look, but you shoo her off. “Trust me, I’ll be fine. I’ll call you if I need anything.” She looks like she wants to protest, but you both know you’re on a one track mind right now.

“Please don’t do anything stupid,” Yiren begs as she walks away and closes the door behind her. You’re still dizzy, but not nearly as bad as before. Sitting up, you glance around the room. It’s simple—probably a guest room in whoever’s house this is. Also probably why the door was unlocked in the first place.

You feel you might pass out until your eyes land on an open notebook on a table in the corner of the room. You don’t think twice before standing up and ripping a sheet out, scrambling for a pen.

DEAR MINGHAO

I’m drunk right now. I miss you and I miss Jun. I hope when you guys come back again, we can go to that karaoke place again and sing to Radiohead. I’ve expanded my taste you know—my favorite song is Fake Plastic Trees now, and I even got a record player just so I could play the vinyl for it. Sorry I didn’t tell you earlier.

When you come back, we should really go there again. Yiren’s been getting really tired of me singing Creep every time, so I need a new duo partner. And she’s leaving too, so there’s that.

I really want to kiss you right now, but you’re in Korea.

I miss Jun a lot too. I think I hate you for it. He’s my brother but somehow you get to see him more and talk to him more and be with him more. Sometimes I call him and it’s for less than five minutes and I hear your voice in the background and I don’t know if I want to listen to you speak forever or strangle you so you can never talk again. I get that Jun is busy, and that you’re busy, but you guys get to be busy together.

Yiren told me she’s probably going to go to college out of the country next year. I’m going to miss her like hell. I think I already miss her, and so I drag her to karaoke with me so she won’t ever forget about me and Radiohead and how garbage I am at singing Creep.

Jun says he’s going to come visit home in two months, and that you might come along. I didn’t know home was a place you only visit, but I guess being an idol changes you. I probably sound super bitter right now. I’m not. Maybe I’m upset that you guys are gone, but I really am happy for you.Jun is happy, and you’re happy, and I’m so happy you have each other.

It’s hard to focus on your exam—halfway through your degree and you still get the jitters every time you step into the testing hall. It’s probably the nerves. And the caffeine. And the fact that you’ll be seeing your brother and Minghao in three hours.

It’s mainly the third that has your leg bouncing up and down on the balls of your feet as you jot down your answers. The exam takes longer than you’d like to finish, but as soon as you’ve finished the final question, you’re bolting out of the large room and toward the parking lot.

Connecting your phone to your car, you call Jun as you back out of the parking spot. “Hey, you guys at the airport?” you ask when you hear him pick up.

“Yeah, we’re just getting out right now but there’s kind of a crowd so it might take a while to just get to the car.”

“I forgot you guys are, like, famous,” you mutter jokingly. “Where’re you headed first? Minghao’s place first?”

“Yeah probably. He’s gonna see his parents and stuff first and then I’ll go to Mom and Dad’s house, so you can just come there.”

“Okay … we’re still good for our dinner plans, right?”

“Yeah, actually I was wondering if Minghao could tag along,” Jun says, and you can hear some muffled shouting from the other side.

“Oh okay, yeah su—”

“Hey, look, there’s a lot of people here and I can’t hear much so just text me your response and I’ll get to you in a second,” Jun tells you quickly as the shouting grows louder. He hangs up soon after and you sigh heavily as you start driving to your parents house.

The ride is quiet but you’re happy to be met with gleeful parents when you get to their place. You’re all a bit spirited at the prospect of Jun coming home, so when you hear the old ringing of the door bell, you’re bolting to the door and swinging it open, jumping into his arms.

“What happened to ‘hi,’ ‘hello,’ ‘how are you?’” Jun teases as he hugs you close, awkwardly trying to shuffle into the house. You poke your tongue out at him when you finally unwind your arms from around him.

“Hi. Hello. How are you? You seem obnoxious, as always,” you shoot back, and Jun only grins, pinching your cheek tightly.

“Oh how I missed my little insane sister,” he says before moving onto your parents, enveloping them in hugs as you all begin to settle down in the living room. The four of you spend a few hours catching up with Jun before he excuses himself to freshen up so he can get ready for your plans for the evening.

When he comes back all ready, you’re pulling out your keys from your purse and waving bye to your parents, promising them you’ll stop by the next morning as you and your brother make your way to the door.

“See you later!” Jun calls out before closing the front door behind him and following you to your car. Minghao’s house is close by, no more than a five minute drive, and it’s quiet as you take the familiar roads through the town to get there.

“Should we go in?” you ask when you park in Minghao’s driveway. “You haven’t seen his parents in a while, have you?”

“Oh yeah, you’re right. C’mon, let’s go.” You both slip out of the car and make your way to the front door. Minghao’s mother opens the door and you spend a few minutes exchanging greetings and catching up before Minghao is stepping out, clad in some black jeans and a grey hoodie.

He smiles when he sees you, pulling you into a hug, giving you a chance to feel the slightly damp hair against your cheek and the woody smell that always reminds you of him. “Hey, how’s it been?” he asks when he pulls away.

“I-I’m good,” you say shyly.

“Let’s talk more in the car, yeah?” Jun suggests, turning back to Minghao’s parents to give them a hug before you all wave your goodbyes and get into your car.

“Where’re we headed?” Jun asks, as you back out of the driveway. Jun sits in the passenger seat while Minghao slips into the back.

“It’s this new place—opened just a few months ago so I doubt you’d have gone there yet,” you tell him as you start driving.

“Is it the place next to the cafe?” Minghao asks you, and you nod excitedly.

“Yeah … how’d you know?”

“My mom told me about it, and said I should try it out. I guess now’s my chance, huh.”

“Yeah! It’s really good, I hope you both like it,” you say, reaching over to the AUX controls to flick on one of your playlists. “Okay guys … are you ready?” you warn, watching Minghao’s eyes brighten through the mirror.

“Oh my god, don’t tell me you guys are going to sign Creep again—” Jun starts to groan, but you reach over and press a finger over his lips to shut him up.

“Quiet,” Minghao hisses to his friend, scooting forward in his seat so you’re in his view, placing his hands under your headrest. His fingers brush against the back of your neck and you’re scared you might crash the car from the way his touch makes you shiver. Fuck, more than half a damn decade and you still can’t fight it off. “Turn it up,” he instructs from behind, and you can only grin as you reach over and pump up the volume.

The deep rumble of snare and guitar echoes through the car as the song starts and you already feel your heart begin to swell in your chest. So when the first lines of, ‘when you were here before,’ leave your lips, you aren’t sure if you feel your heart mending itself, or if it’s salt being poured on the wound.

Because from behind you is Minghao’s voice, so deep and velvety and angelic it has you almost in a trance. He’s been good at singing, always, but now his voice sounds … mature, and developed and … and you love it.

You think back to the first time you sang Creep with him, and the lyrics already have you reminiscing when you both sing, ‘couldn’t look you in the eye,’ because goddammit you still struggle to look at Minghao for too long because you’re scared you’ll get lost.

And when it gets to the part before the bass is blaring in your ears, Minghao and you are singing, ‘I wish I was special, you’re so fuckin’ special,’ at the top of your lungs and you can’t help but let the irony sink in.

Now you’re pretty sure when Thom wrote Creep, he didn’t mean it to be about your love life, especially not the non-existent one between you and your brother’s best friend, but Thom is speaking to you right now, and you wonder if Minghao can hear the way you’re singing from your heart. How you’re singing for him.

When the song comes to an end, Minghao’s fingers brush over the nape of your neck one last time before he retreats back into his seat. You try to not mull on the feeling any longer, shaking your head of all of those thoughts when you near the restaurant.

“Here it is!” you chirp, parking the car on the curb. The three of you shuffle out of the car casually, making your way to the entrance.

“Looks nice,” Minghao comments as he opens the door for you and Jun. Your brother hops in merrily and you and Minghao both share a soft smile as you go inside too, your body nearly jerking when you feel his hand on the small of your back as he follows behind you.

His touch is warm and gentle and—fuck, does he know what he’s doing to you right now?

You’re more relieved than anything when he finally lets his arm drop, the three of you making your way to the table you booked. You were scared that if Minghao stayed close any longer, he’d be able to feel your heart beating through your chest.

You guys sit down at the table, Jun next to you while Minghao settles across the two of you. “So how’s your classes going?” he asks you as you look through the menu. “Jun said you had an exam today, right?”

“Yeah, it was my final one,” you tell him with a sigh of relief. “It was stressful preparing for it but it went better than I thought.”

“Good to hear,” Minghao says as a waiter comes along to pick up on your orders. After he leaves, Jun turns to you.

“What’s Yiren up to?” Jun asks you curiously. “Haven’t seen that girl in ages.”

“She’s, uh, she’s good,” you reply. “I haven’t seen her in a while either … she went off to college in Korea, remember?”

Minghao chuckles, “Seems like everyone’s going there, huh? Maybe you should pull up too.”

You scrunch up your face and shake your head while you take a sip of water. “I think I like this place too much to leave. Plus, who’s going to take care of our old folks if I leave too?” you tease, nudging your brother in the side.

“Mom and Dad can take care of themselves just fine,” Jun shrugs, ruffling your hair as the waiter brings along some food.

“Looks good,” Minghao says, holding up some chopsticks as you all look down at the sizzling dishes in front of you.

“It is! See?” you say pointedly, looking up at Jun. “Imagine I moved to Korea—I wouldn’t be able to eat this.” Your brother only rolls his eyes and Minghao and you laugh together while you dig in.

As you work through your meal and catch each other up on your lives, Minghao eventually leans back in his seat and sighs heavily. “I’m really craving something sweet right now.”

“I’d say we should pick up some pastries from the cafe next door but they closed two hours ago,” you say sadly.

“Oh shit, I forgot about that place. They made the best chocolate buns ever,” Jun mutters to himself, polishing off his plate.

“Let’s go to the cafe tomorrow evening, yeah?” Minghao suggests as he takes a sip of water. At the suggestion, you chew at your lip.

“Uh, I don’t think I can go then,” you say, hoping they won’t pry any further.

Of course, your brother doesn’t allow you a second of peace. “Why not? Your last exam was today, right?”

“Yeah, but I have stuff to do,” you reply nonchalantly. Jun scoffs and tugs your ear, causing you to whine. “What was that for?!”

“You didn’t clear your schedule out for me? I thought you missed me! You know I have to leave in like a week,” he complains, and you and Minghao share an amused look as you nudge Jun on the side.

“Relax, you can have me in the morning and afternoon and everything … I just have to go somewhere for the evening.”

“You’re being really ominous about this, you know,” Jun retorts, crossing his arms over his chest. “Where’re you going?”

You chew on your tongue, contemplating if this is the right moment to bring it up, or if you should even tell Jun and Minghao this at all. “I just have to see someone.”

“Oh my god, shut up,” Jun groans. “You’re literally asking me to pry. Tell me who—a boyfriend?” You chuckle nervously, eyes flickering between Minghao and your brother, shaking your head.

“No—not a boyfriend,” you say dryly, scoffing at the irony. “Remember Renjun? I told you about him when I was in freshman year.”

“Vaguely. Remind me who he is again?”

“He’s just a guy, and he has some of my stuff I need to pick up.” Both Minghao and Jun cock an eyebrow at you after that. “What?” you huff, leaning back in your seat.

“An ex?” Minghao asks and your face burns.

“I—yeah,” you say casually. “An ex.”

Jun frowns deeply. “I didn’t know you and Renjun ever dated. I didn’t even know you ever had a boyfriend,” he says, voice evidently upset that he was left out of this.

“It wasn’t that serious,” you pat his shoulder as to soften the blow. “Plus it happened when you were on tour—we hardly talked then.”

“Still! You could’ve told me!” You bite back a, ‘But could I really?’ because this isn’t the time or place for that.

“It’s whatever. I just need to pick up some stuff I left at his place and—”

“So it ended pretty recently then?” Minghao piques, and your eyebrows furrow, slightly annoyed by both of their belated interest in your love life.

“What, no! It’s been months and—wait, I don’t see how that’s any of your guys’ business,” you huff and Minghao backs off a little, but Jun still stays curiously leaning in.

“Whatever. You’ll be available to come with us to the lake on Friday though, right?” Jun asks, pulling out his phone and holding it up to your face to show you a picture of a lake house. “I booked a place to stay the night and all.”

“Of course I’m going to come—I’ve been looking forward to it!”

“Good,” Jun says gruffly, still somewhat glaring at you.

You give him a funny look. “What?”

“I’m still mad you never told me—you’re supposed to tell me this stuff! How else am I supposed to know that you’re doing fine on your own and actually growing up.”

“Oh my god, Jun, I’m an adult! Did you think I would never have boyfriends?”

“No! At least not without telling me!”

You chuckle and Minghao follows in suit, enjoying the little sibling bicker. “Okay fine. I’m sure I’ll be telling you every detail of my love life when it gets resurrected.”

Minghao snorts at your use of words, and you revel in the way the sound makes you feel. Fuck it, it’s been more than half a decade and you still get butterflies—you can’t fight away the feeling, so you might as well wallow in it.

You wonder what Jun would think about this—your love life being pulled and shaken by his own best friend. Oh well, some secrets are best kept hidden anyways.

“Here’s your stuff,” Renjun says softly, handing you a paper bag that’s stuffed with a wide array of your belongings.

“Thank you. Is my pink jacket in there? I’ve been looking for it for a while and I didn’t know if I left it at yours,” you ask timidly, holding the paper bag close to your chest.

He scratches the back of his head as he steps back, nodding. “Uh, yeah I think it’s at the bottom.” You peer down at the contents of your back, and give a half smile when you see the pink cloth peeking out from underneath.

“Thanks for taking care of my stuff. I know you’ve basically moved out and all.”

“No worries. Do you, uh, need a ride home or anything? It’s pretty cold.”

You purse your lips at the offer, but shake your head. “It’s fine …” There’s an awkward silence and you quickly wonder if you should say anything more. Renjun looks awfully … apologetic right now and you feel there’s some more you can say. “How’s your new place? Have you seen it?”

“Yeah, I flew up there a few weeks back to get some of my main stuff shipped. A nice apartment, way bigger than whatever I had here,” he says with an awkward chuckle. You appreciate the effort.

Nodding, you tighten your grip on the bag. “That’s good to hear. I hope it all goes well with you. I … I think I’ll be taking my leave now. My brother’s back in town so …”

“Oh yeah, I heard from Jianing. Hope you’re having a good time—I know you haven’t seen him in ages.”

“Thank you. Anyways, I’m gonna get going now. Thanks again,” you say as you step back, throwing out a small wave.

A half-hearted, “See you,” leaves Renjun’s lips as you turn on your heel and start walking back to the bus station. There’s no promise of seeing Renjun later, or ever again, and something cold sinks in your stomach at the thought.

The thought that this all could’ve been avoided if Renjun hadn’t gotten that stupid job offer hundreds of miles away. If he didn’t decide to pack his bags and fly away just like Jun, like Yiren, like Minghao. Renjun was leaving, just like everyone else.

You clutch the paper bag close to your chest as you make your way to the bus stop, one hand fumbling in the pocket of your jacket as you search for your wallet and within seconds you’re a frantic mess. “Shit,” you mutter under your breath. “Shit, shit, shit!” you cry out when you drop your bag and pat frantically over your pockets to try and feel for your wallet.

Your digging into every crook of the coat and there’s a growing feeling of dread that washes over you once you realize that you lost your fucking wallet. Hands clenched at your side, you feel hot tears well up in your lash line as you stare down at the ground, letting in the shitty events of today sink in.

You don’t even know why you’re crying now. It’s hardly even cries, really, you’re downright sobbing as you plop down on the curb of the empty street, fumbling with your phone as you pull up Jun’s contact. Pressing the phone to your ear, you shut your eyes tight in an attempt to calm down your breath, but when you hear the line go dead you cry even harder, realizing that Jun is probably napping right now.

“Fuck my life,” you complain to yourself, letting your head hang low as you scroll through your phone. You aren’t even sure what compels you to click on him but before you know it you’re on speaker as you hear the buzzing of the phone as you wait for Minghao to pick up.

One ring. Maybe he’s busy.

Two rings. He might be looking for his phone.

Three rings. He probably won’t pick up.

Four rings, and you’re about to hang up but then it stops. “Minghao?”

Minghao’s voice is cool and calm when he says your name. “Do you—”

“I need your help,” you say so quietly you aren’t sure if he’ll be able to hear it. And then Minghao hears it: your soft pants and shaky breath and something about the sound has him squeezing his phone tightly.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m—” No, I feel like shit and I’m freezing my ass off and it’s so cold and I need you to help me. “Can you pick me up? I lost my wallet which has my bus card. I’m sorry, I know it’s a little late and you’re probably busy but—”

“Send me your location.”

Minghao is pulling up in his black car within twenty minutes and by then you’ve had enough time to wipe the tears from your face and piece together yourself to look presentable. Rolling down the windows as you wave over to his car, you hear the doors click and you’re roughly yanking on the door and throwing your stuff and yourself in.

Minghao raises a brow at your ruckus, asking once again, “Are you okay?” When you only sigh heavily, buckling yourself up, you hope Minghao will just leave it alone. You’d rather not talk about the stupid breakdown you just had in front of your childhood crush.

Minghao clearly doesn’t get the message, so when he starts the engine again, he murmurs, “Have you been crying?” You purse your lips together tightly as if the question itself as the tears bubbling up to the surface once again. “Did meeting with Renjun not go well?” You’re surprised he remembers his name—Minghao was never great with names. “Can you say something? I’m worried.”

“Sorry,” you say softly, letting your shoulder drop down, and from the corner of your vision you see Minghao watching you carefully. “I-I just got overwhelmed. And it was cold. Really cold. And then—” You take a shaky breath. “—and I lost my fucking wallet on top of it and it’s all so shitty and—”

His hand is on your shoulder and you hardly realize that Minghao has pulled over and parked so he can turn to face you. You’re crying again and you don’t even know how this fucking happened, all you know is that there’s so much going on in your head and Minghao is right there, he’s so close but then again, he’s so far.

“Hey, hey calm down for a sec’,” he says calmly, gripping your arm firmly. “Breathe slowly, and tell me what happened.”

You inhale sharply through your nose and scrunch your face up as you bury your head in your hands. In your right mind, you wouldn’t even think about telling Minghao about what’s on your mind but it’s been a really terrible past hour and you can’t control yourself.

“Renjun’s leaving. Didn’t want to do long distance and so he’s gone and—fuck, I don’t even blame him but why’d he have to leave,” you ramble, tears streaming down your flushed cheeks as Minghao pats your back gently.

“Did he say something to you when you met with him?” he asked, tone laced with concern. “I’m sorry, I’m just—are you o—okay please don’t cry.”

You don’t know why, but Minghao telling you to cry only makes the tears fall faster. “And Yiren—” you hiccup, “Yiren left too, I haven’t seen her in months and Jun a-a-and you—you’ve all been gone.” You don’t realize when Minghao grabs both your shoulders and forces you to face him completely.

“Slow down, please. No one’s left you, we’re all going to be here for you, you know that. Did Renjun say something which made you think like this?” he asks, the grip on your shaking shoulders growing tighter as you desperately try to steady yourself.

“N-no, but you’re not here. I hardly ever get to see my own brother and Yiren and you and Renjun and everything is so shitty I just—” you cry out and suddenly you stumble forward in the seat and before you know it Minghao’s arms are around you.

It’s not like you haven’t hugged him before but this is the first time you’re blubbering into his shoulder about your feelings, and if you weren’t so sad, you’d be fucking appalled. His warm hand is on your back, rubbing up and down slowly until you’ve finally found the conscience to actually breathe and realize just what’s going on.

Slowly, you pull away from Minghao’s hold, furiously wiping away at your face to dry yourself, looking down at your lap bashfully. “I am so sorry, what the fuck, I-I don’t know what came over me,” you blurt out when Minghao drops his hands from your shoulder. You miss the warmth, but you’re quite very embarrassed with yourself and don’t have the will to chase after his touch.

“Please don’t apologize,” Minghao replies softly, watching you with wide eyes. “That … was a lot and—”

“I’m sorry, look, I was just having a shitty day and it all piled up and you just—I don’t know I guess, let’s just pretend this never happened,” you beg with him. Minghao’s face looks like he wants to say more, but you really can’t tell with the way his eyes are clouded.

“Are you sure? You know you can talk to me.”

You gulp at the irony. No, you really can’t. You can’t tell Minghao anything, really, because even after crying and sobbing and wailing in his car he still looks at you with so much care and it has these stupid fucking butterflies erupting in your stomach like you’re fifiteen with a massive crush on your brother’s best friend.

“Can you just please drive me to my place?” you ask, looking up at him with pleading eyes. “I think I just really need to sleep.”

You can tell Minghao still has questions, but you don’t seem too willing to answer them so he doesn’t say anything when he nods and turns back to the road. The ride is silent, and when he finally parks he pats your shoulder.

You look out the window and furrow your eyebrows. “This isn’t my apartment complex …” you tell him, confused as you see a convenience store in front of you. The same one.

“C’mon, I know you love pop,” he says casually, unbuckling his seatbelt leaving you with no other choice to follow behind him. There’s an odd sense of deja vu that envelopes over you, shoving your pockets into your jacket shyly.

“Remember the last time we were here?” Minghao asks with a chuckle as you guys walk into the store.

“Don’t remind me,” you murmur. “That was a shitty day.”

Minghao gives you a nervous smile as he pulls out a can from the fridge and hands it to you, grabbing his own bottle as well. “Yeah, but Cola made it better, right?”

“I guess it did. Cola always makes things better,” you admit. “Hey, fuck you,” you say jokingly when Minghao pulls out his wallet. “You should’ve taken me here another time when I actually had my wallet—I need to pay you back for that day!” you whine with a pout. “Now I’m in debt to you twice! You’ve bought me two Colas!”

Minghao rolls his eyes playfully as he pays for the drinks. “Yeah well things are different now, and I’m pretty sure my wallet doesn’t care about the cost of two Colas.”

“Is Mr. Big and Famous too good for my money now?” you huff when you step back outside, opening your Cola. “I will pay you back, no matter how stupidly rich you get.”

“I’ll have to hold you to that,” Minghao laughs as you slip back into his car. The air is lighter as he drives you back to your place for real this time, and the lingering feeling of pop on your tongue is sweet and fun.

“Thank you for the ride. And the Cola,” you add when he’s in front of your building.

“You remember what I said?”

You nod as you step out of the car, picking up your brown bag. “Thank you so much for this. I’m sorry again.”

“Stop apologizing. Is there … is there anything else I can do? You want another Cola perhaps?”

“Very funny, but I don’t think I want to be jumping off the walls tonight …” you answer, closing the door but still peering through the open window. You think for a second as you chew your lip, nodding when you come up with something. “But do me a favor … don’t tell Jun.”

Jun takes you out to the lake house he booked three mornings after you met with Renjun and sobbed to Minghao in his car. It’s a refreshing turn of events, if you’re being honest, and you’re eager to sink into a relaxing weekend after a stressful exam season.

Your brother drives the three hours on the way with the promise of you driving on the way home hung over your head. When you reach the house—a medium sized cabin perched right by the lake and surrounded by trees and mountains—you’re greeted with the sight of Minghao sitting in his car and scrolling on his phone.

As you and Jun pile out of the car and grab your bags, Minghao comes out too, walking toward you with his hands stuffed in his pockets. “Thought you guys would never come. If you were gonna be late you should’ve just given me the keys to this place,” he says with a huff.

“Don’t blame me,” Jun shrugs, locking the car after you’ve both taken out your stuff, walking up to the cabin’s entrance. “She’s the one who wanted to stop and buy some pop.”

“Don’t act like you didn’t want it either,” you retort, reaching into your tote bag to hand Minghao a can of Cola. “Here,” you offer with a smile which he returns gleefully.

“Okay actually, totally valid reason,” Minghao says, flicking open the can before taking a sip.

“Hey! Don’t be on her side,” Jun whines as he opens up the cabin. Minghao and you chuckle together, your heart warming at the sound as you three start to load your things into the house. Minghao doesn’t say anything about that night when he picked you up, and for that much you’re grateful. This much, you can manage.

By the time you all have settled your things into your respective rooms it’s noon and the sun pummels down with admirable strength. As you stick your head out of your room, you catch Jun making his way down the hallway toward the bathroom.

“You going for a swim?” you ask, gesturing down to your swimsuit that you’ve already eagerly put on.

“Nah, I’m gonna go later. I need to take a call right now,” he says with a sigh and you nod, about to retreat back to your room before Minghao walks out of his own room.

“I’ll go if you’re going,” Minghao tells you casually, and you don’t waste a second to nod. “Give me five so I can get changed and then we can go out.”

You jump down the hall excitedly after he closes the door behind him, making your way to the backyard porch which leads into a deck over the lake. As you place your towel on one of the chairs outside, you hear the sliding door open.

Minghao walks out shirtless, lower half only covered with his swim trunks as he runs a hand through his shaggy hair, shaking his head lightly as he makes his way towards you, placing his towel next to yours. “Thanks for waiting … shit, it’s hot as hell,” he murmurs, and you’re thankful that you’re facing away from him right now—you aren’t sure you’d be able to handle the proximity and the sight of his bare upper body.

“Yeah,” you agree, finally straightening your back and putting some distance between the two of you when you start walking towards the edge of the deck. “The water’s so clear,” you think out loud, looking down at the blue lake in front of you.

“It’s really pretty … you want a picture?” Minghao suggests, walking up behind you.

“I would, but I left my phone inside.”

“Let’s just take it on my phone,” he says casually, holding up his phone in front of you, waving at you to step back a little so he can take a picture. “A candid one would look pretty with this view—like you’re looking out at the lake and stuff,” he begins to say, placing a smooth hand on your shoulder so he can manually turn you around so that you’re facing away from him.

When he lets his hand drop, it brushes over the curve of your hip and you have to bite down on your lip to stop the pathetic whimper that threatens to escape your lips. Luckily, Minghao can’t see the pained expression that makes its way onto your face as he steps back holding up his phone.

“Okay ready …” he calls out from further behind. “Three … two … one!” You hear a faint tapping sound as you still, letting Minghao take the pictures as you wait patiently. It takes a few moments, and you’re about to ask him how much longer he’s going to go at it before you hear the sound of something being dropped, and then a few rattling thuds.

“Minghao, what—” you begin to question as you slowly turn on your heel but by then it’s too late. “WHAT THE F—”

Your scream is cut off short when Minghao runs forward and lunges at you, one arm wrapping itself around your waist as he jumps into the water, bringing you down with him. The cool water of the lake hits your body and the wind gets punched out of your lungs as you feel your limbs entangle with his. Instinctevely, your arms tighten around one of his as your eyes press closed tightly as you feel your warm body start to level with the temperature around you.

And so even as your legs kick around for a few panicked moments, you begin to feel oddly at peace when your head finally reaches the surface of the water, Minghao’s hand still steady over your hips as you gasp for air.

“You’re a bitch for that,” you say, a few choked giggles escaping your lips as you do. Minghao finally unwinds his arm from yours, and while you miss the contact, his body is still dangerously close to yours, and you figure that that is already more than you can manage.

Minghao smiles gleefully, pushing his face so close that it’s right up in front of you. “Mm maybe, but it was really funny. Got it on video too.”

“What?!” you screech, swimming backward so quickly that you hit  your head on the wooden platform of the deck. “Crap!” you exclaim, hand immediately flying up to press against the throbbing crown of your head. Minghao’s eyes widen with concern as he wades his way towards you, tall enough to still have his feet touch the lake bottom unlike you.

“Shit, I’m sorry, are you okay?” he asks worriedly, his own hand coming up to feel the back of your head. His eyes are big and brown as he looks down at you, and for this moment, you forget about the dull ache and bask in the way the sun hits his skin so perfectly he glows.

“I’m fine!” you squeak quickly, letting your hand drop so you can tread in the water lightly, slowly moving a safe distance away from the deck.

“A-are you sure?” he probes, making his way to you, and you have a moment to admire him from afar—the way his hair is matted against his forehead and water drops gather at his lashes, making his eyes look prettier than ever.

You chuckle at the way his lips are pursed together apologetically, and you splash some water at him to lighten the mood. “Yes, Minghao, I’m great. I hardly hit myself.” Minghao’s face looks uneasy, and you laugh again.

It takes a few more minutes of you trying to convince him that you’re totally fine before he finally lets it go. Eventually, you find yourself on a big inflated duck-shaped floaty, laying down with your face up and eyes closed. You lose track of time, enjoying the white noise of Minghao splashing around in the water around you, drifting off into a hazy state until you hear a loud yell and feel yourself being flipped over and off your floaty.

“Jun!” you whine, rubbing your eyes as you furiously push hair off your face when you resurface, glaring at both Jun and Minghao laugh side by side. “You guys have to stop doing this to me,” you groan, eyes finally adjusting to its normal state.

“What are you talking about?” Jun asks innocently as you make your way over to the two of them, not bothering to turn your duck floatie back up right. “It was just an accident I fell on you—hey!” he yells out when you lunge at him. Minghao steps back quickly as you and Jun waddle and fight in the water, splashing water at each other while you try and get your revenge.

“Okay! Okay! I’m sorry,” Jun admits with a pout. “You didn’t do this to Minghao after he dunked you in the water,” he complains as you release him.

You narrow your eyes. “How do you know about that?”

“He sent me the video.”

“Minghao!” you exclaim, turning to the boy who is now treading around a meter in front of you. He only shrugs and grins cheekily.

“It was really funny,” Jun tells you with a laugh. “I might just post it on my story.”

“Oh my god, don’t you dare.”

Jun only shakes his head and starts slowly swimming further into the lake. “Don’t worry—I wouldn’t do that. Minghao can’t have any dating rumors, now can he?”

You chew on your lip, not responding. Minghao doesn’t say anything either, only chuckling along with your brother as he follows after him. You aren’t sure what to say to that, and the comment leaves some uneasy feeling hanging in your stomach.

Fuck, maybe you did hit your head hard.

You three spend a good few hours out in the lake until it’s evening. It’s a slow day and you start to realize just how much you missed spending time with your brother and Minghao like this—it isn’t often they get the opportunity to do things like this, so you’re grateful that they decided to share some of their few days of peace with you.

The second day is even hotter than the first, and you wake from your sleep early in the morning when the sky is still blooming with purple and orange hues. Crawling out from your bed, you make your way downstairs. If it was just you and your brother, you wouldn’t be so mindful about keeping your noise levels down because god knows that Jun can sleep through just about anything, but, Minghao is with you guys now, and you’d hate to sour his experience even just a little by accidentally waking him up for being too loud.

So you can imagine your surprise when you walk into the kitchen to see Minghao already leaning against the counter as he scrolls through his phone. He hasn’t noticed you and you contemplate leaving it like that for a few moments.

He’s wearing a tight fit, black, sleeveless top that shows off the curve of his shoulders and lets the sparkle of his silver chain glint under the morning light. Minghao is attractive—you and the millions of people in his comments know that—and you feel an odd sense of pride well up in your stomach that you’re one of the few people who get to see him like this.

With his hair messy and brushing over his eyes, legs crossed over each other as he presses his body weight against the kitchen island, bare skin glowing from the natural light, he’s beautiful.

Your face heats up when you realize you’ve just been staring at him, so you quickly clear your throat. “Good morning,” you chirp, walking into the kitchen so he can finally see you.

Minghao looks up from his phone, tucking it into the pocket of his sweatpants to greet you with a smile. “Hey, I didn’t know you were up. How’s your head doing?” he asks shyly, walking over to casually run his hand over that same spot on the crown of your head.

It’s an oddly intimate gesture, and if you didn’t know any better, your heart might have given out from the way he was touching you. Still, you know he’s just checking to see if it’s swollen, but your heart flutters anyways.

“I-it’s fine,” you reply, opening the fridge to pull out some orange juice as his hand drops. “I didn’t know you were an early riser. Jun always sleeps in whenever he gets the chance.”

“Yeah, well that’s why he’s paged as a literal cat by everyone,” Minghao says with a chuckle as you place a jug on the counter. “Do you want some tea? I’m just boiling the water now so I can add some more if you want.”

“Sure, that’ll be nice.” You pour yourself some orange juice. “Do you want to eat something? I brought some cupcakes to have for breakfast,” you offer, reaching into one of the bags you didn’t unpack to pull out a box.

“Are they those cupcakes?”

“Yup—the one and only!” you exclaim, opening the lid to show him. Minghao grins, pulling two out.

“God, I missed these. Y’know, Jun actually gave your recipe to Mingyu too, but he just doesn’t make them the same,” Minghao tells you, and your eyes light up.

“Really? Poor Mingyu,” you say with a sigh.

“If you ever end up visiting us in Korea, you should really make some,” Minghao suggests as he goes to take care of the boiling water, dropping some tea leaves into it before moving the water into a pot. Then, pulling out two small cups and plates, he says, “Me and Jun have told the others about how good you make them, but they really need to try them.”

“I’d love to,” you say with a grin, giddy with the way Minghao is boosting your ego. As he pours out the tea into two mugs, you put the cupcakes on the small plates, looking out to the glass sliding door which leads to the porch by the lake. “You want to eat outside? The sky looks really beautiful now, and the weather looks like it’s nice too.”

Minghao nods, holding up the two mugs while you grab the plates and follow him outside and onto the little shaded porch where you sit by two of the chairs and the small, knee level coffee table. The sky is still deep in its changing colors, and you pull out your phone to take some pictures.

“Can you take some pictures of me? For my WeVerse and Instagram and stuff?” he asks when you’re done, holding out his phone in your direction.

“Yeah, of course.” Leaning back after you grab his phone, you position yourself as Minghao poses. “Lean back a little more so the background can—yeah, perfect …” You take a few photos, and Minghao nods happily when you show him.

“Can you take some more candid ones?”

“Sure, let’s switch spots. I think it’ll look nicer if it looks like you’re looking out to the lake from here,” you suggest, getting up from your seat. Minghao complies without protest and you spend a few more minutes taking some pictures before finally handing him the phone. “You like them?”

“Hell yeah I do,” he says, looking through his phone. “You’re great at this,” he compliments sincerely.

“I’m used to taking the kinda pictures you guys like now … Jun has trained me well,” you joke, sitting back in the seat and reaching for your own cup of tea. It’s quiet for a few moments as you both relax and watch the sky grow brighter by the minute.

Jun wakes up an hour later, trudging out his room with groggy eyes as you poke fun of him. The morning is slow for a short while after that before Minghao is reminding you all that you need to start heading back home. The two of them are leaving for Korea in two days, after all, and that leaves them with only today and tomorrow to completely bask in themselves and the rest of their family, so you pack your things and end your stay at the cabin before the clock hits noon.

That night, after you drive yourself and Jun home and you retreat to the comfort of your apartment, you flop down onto your couch and pull out your phone. You’re met with a few notifications from WeVerse and Instagram, casually scrolling through the apps when your eyes catch a few familiar pictures.

It’s on Instagram and you recognize the bright orange of the rising sky that sits behind Minghao who is smiling into the camera. The next picture is a candid one of him looking at the lake while he drinks some tea, and the third is a picture of the cupcake you made.

You grin at the picture—the rest of the world won’t know it, but you definitely do—it’s a little piece of you that Minghao is sharing with the world. Though, you aren’t sure if he put as much thought into it as you are right now.

Brushing it off as Minghao just wanting to share a pretty picture of a nice looking cupcake, you purse your lips together only for them to be parted when you read his caption.

i’m a weirdo

Scrolling through the comments, you come across people saying, many among the following:

ur not a weirdo >:c fellow radiohead fanatic i see is the8 a certified creep? o: i didn’t know minghao liked radiohead … another reason to stan!

As you ignore the increased palpitating of your heart at the idea that Minghao quoted a line from, in your opinion, “your guys’ song.” you sit and think for a moment about what to do. You consider just liking the post and scrolling past it before a funny thought crosses your mind, and so you start typing into the comments.

i wonder who took these pics lol

No one’s going to see it. Minghao is definitely not going to see it, but you giggle to yourself anyways. You’re about to put your phone down when you get a notification of a reply to your comment. Curious, you open it up, and see that it’s just a random person.

imagine it’s his gf

You laugh to yourself. You wish.

The last day or two with Jun goes as they always do when he’s here—slow, but all that you need. He spends his time at your parents house and you stop by for lunch and dinner the day after you both return from the lake house.

The afternoon, you both went down to the cafe and stocked up on chocolate buns—Jun’s request—and spent the rest of your time until evening going over your plans for the rest of the summer. You enjoy this part, always. Not Jun leaving—of course not—but spending these tame moments with him.

It makes you wonder what things would have been like if he never left. Maybe he’d move out for university someplace else, but you’d get to see him more, probably. Get to hang out with him every weekend, instead of every two months.

You shake yourself off the thought as you drive to your parents house. Having Jun around more often would be nice, but there isn’t any point in dreaming about the impossible.

As you pull up to the driveway and park your car, you notice Minghao standing out by the front door with his suitcase and a bag. “Hey, looking for Jun?”

“Well, yeah. Of course I wanna say bye to you both before you go … is the van here yet?”

“Nah, it’s still taking some time but Jun is on the other side of the house to see if the car is gonna come from that side,” he explains.

“I’m gonna miss you guys … you know when you’re both going to come next?” you ask, voice softer than you anticipated.

“I really don’t know—I’m sorry. You know how things are.”

“Yeah,” you mumble, shoulders deflating as you look down at the ground..

“I know—it’s not … it's not easy for Jun, either, I can tell. It isn’t easy for any of us to leave.” When Minghao finishes speaking you only nod, and as your eyes meet,you feel like there’s something he wants to say. “Hey,” he murmurs quietly.

A heavy hand is placed on your shoulder, and you feel you might as well sink to the ground and let the earth swallow you up. “If you’re going to talk about—”

“Hear me out, yeah?” Minghao cuts you off, and when you open your mouth in protest, he continues. “Don’t …” he inhales deeply before saying, “Don’t take what I’m about to say the wrong way, okay?”

You cross your arms over your chest. “That really depends on what you’re going to say.”

“Okay, just … just listen. Jun, and me, and Yiren, and Renjun—” God, why is he bringing this up? “—we aren’t trying to hurt you.”

“Of course I know that.” Your eyebrows knit together and Minghao sighs at your reaction, letting his hand fall from your shoulder. You miss the touch, but your mind is a little too preoccupied with trying to decipher Minghao’s words to dwell on it.

“I’m just saying … you shouldn’t try to depend on anyone.” You open your mouth and then close it, trying to figure out how the hell he expects you to respond to this.

“What d’you mean?”

“Well I mean,” he huffs before continuing, shoving his hands in his pockets, “you obviously have been … upset about people leaving you and you can’t expect everyone to stick around forever.”

“If you’re talking about Renjun, he was my boyfriend. I think it’s okay for me to expect someone who I’m dating to ‘stick around,’ even though it might not be forever.”

“I guess, but it’s not just Renjun, right? Jun … Yiren … me …” he voice trails off.

“I basically spent my whole middle and high school years around you and Yiren, and Jun is literally my brother. Do you think me wanting the people I quite literally grew up around to be here for me is being ‘dependant?’”

“I don’t know what to tell you. I mean we were all going to grow up eventually? Look, don’t take this the wrong way and—”

“Excuse me?” you blurt out harshly, taking a step back, scoffing before you continue. “I wouldn’t be taking this the wrong way if you obviously didn’t mean it the wrong way. You basically just said I’m not independent.”

Minghao frowns at your reaction before responding, “I didn’t say that. I just said you shouldn’t depend on anyone.”

“Which implies that I am depending on people unnecessarily!”

Minghao adjusts his backpack straps as he says, “I mean you did cry for quite a while about how people are leaving you. I just don’t want you to get more hurt by being dependent on others.”

“Thanks for the concern,” you shoot sarcastically, “but I’m not dependent on anyone. I was upset that night because all the people closest to me have moved away and if you ask any normal person, I’m pretty sure they’d agree that that’s a valid reason to cry a little. So sorry if that was too much for you.” You say the last part with disgust laced on your tongue, and you watch Minghao’s face grow increasingly sour as you go on.

“Okay, now you’re just twisting my words,” Minghao huffs, glancing around to make sure that no one is close by.

“What the hell Minghao,” you scoff, clenching your fists at your side. You don’t want to be the person to jump down his throat, but you can’t help but feel like you’re being talked down to. “Why—why are you acting like I’m still a little kid. I’m more than Jun’s little sister, you do know that right?”

“Oh my god, seriously?” Minghao retorts, eyebrows rising in a mix of disbelief and irritation. “You think that’s what this is about? For fuck’s sake I’m just looking out for you.”

“Exactly!” you exclaim, pointing an accusing finger at him. “There’s no reason for that! Like I said, I’m not some little girl anymore and I’ve been looking out for myself for years. You just happened to catch me in a moment where I let myself be sad about it which, again, is a totally valid thing to be sad about.”

“I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

“Well congratulations! You were unsuccessful,” you mumble out, feeling an ugly knot build up in your throat. “I trusted you,” you say softly, and Minghao looks at you with eyes so apologetic you almost think about forgiving him. “That night after I saw Renjun—I-I trusted you,” you add more harshly this time. “And I cried to you even though we haven’t properly spoken in fuck knows how long and you take all that and make me out to seem like some sort of defenseless kid—”

“Can you stop—you’re putting words into my mouth. I never said you were defenseless or not independent or anything like that—I don’t even know why you think I would think of you like that because you know that’s not true.”

“Minghao, I don’t know if you’ve realized but it’s been years since we've talked properly. Just because—” You take a deep breath before continuing your bitter words. “—just because you get to live your stupidly amazing life with my brother by your side doesn’t mean that you know me and that I know you, because clearly we don’t know each other at all!”

“I’m sorry?” he says exasperatedly. “Sorry I care about you or whatever, even though things have changed.”

You scowl, and in your right mind you wouldn’t let your next words slip out of your mouth. “Well don’t. I’ve been fine without your sympathy so far, I’m pretty sure I can go on a bit longer.”

Minghao is about to respond, you can tell from the way his hands fiddle at his sides, but then there’s a buzzing and you reach into your pocket to pull out your phone. “Hey Jun,” you say, answering the call without meeting Minghao’s gaze. “… Yeah, he’s with me, we’re just waiting for the car … okay I’ll tell him.”

Tucking the device back into your pocket, you look at Minghao. “Jun is asking for you on the other side of the house. You should go,” you say flatly and you can tell from the look on his face that he wants to say more, but holds back.

Grabbing his suitcase, he tears his eyes from you and doesn’t look back after saying, “See you,” walking away and around the corner of the street. There’s that similar chill that takes over your body when Minghao says the same words Renjun said just a few nights before, and you silently wonder if this is history repeating itself.

“So,” Yiren says as she plops down onto your couch, kicking her feet up onto your coffee table. “How’d meeting with Renjun go? He give you your shit back?”

“Why wouldn’t he?” you grumble as you walk over and nudge her legs to get her to put them down. “And you can’t just flop down and sit! Put your suitcase away so it’s not in the middle of the room,” you order, trying to be stern as Yiren sticks her tongue out at you.

“So bossy—your best friend is visiting your cute little abode and you can’t help her out with her stuff?” Yiren juts out her bottom lip into a pout as you sit next to her and wrap your arms around her waist, sinking into the couch. “Okay what’s going on. You’re being extra snappish …” she asks a bit more seriously, pulling away from your hold to get a better look at you. “Was it Renjun? Did he say something before he left?”

“No!” you say quickly, looking away bashfully, leaning back against the arm rest. You fucking wish you were in this sour mood because of Renjun because you could manage that. Renjun is gone, and it would hurt but you’d get over it.

You aren’t sure how long it’ll take to get over Minghao, if you ever do at all.

“Are you lying to me? You know I can tell when you’re not telling the truth.”

“I am telling the truth.” Just not all of it, you think to yourself.

Yiren sighs loudly, sitting up straight and facing you completely. “You are so bad at this. C’mon tell me—what’d he say? Or was it not Renjun—Jun? Which Jun was it? Did you and Jun fight?”

“I—”

“Like that one time two years ago and you didn’t talk to each other until he came back a month later and—”

You cringe at the memory, slapping a hand over her mouth. “Yiren don’t bring that up. I hated that.”

“Okay sorry,” she says sheepishly. “But seriously—what was it? Renjun? Jun? Which one? Or wait—Min—oh my gosh, don’t tell me it was Minghao!” When you take more than a second to respond, Yiren gasps. “Oh god, it was Minghao.”

She stands up quickly, looking down at your figure on the couch. Before you can say anything, she turns on her heel and walks towards your kitchen. “Hey, where are you going!” you call out to her, sitting upright.

Yiren doesn’t respond, only reaching into the fridge and pulling out two cans of pop. Walking back, she sits down in front of you and hands you a Cola, opening her own Sprite herself. “C’mon, you need to tell me about this. The pop is just here for emotional support.”

You narrow your eyes at her. You thought you were dealing with the effects of your argument with Minghao perfectly fine, but as you look down at the cold can in front of you, an uneasy feeling bubbles up in your stomach. Taking a deep breath, you set the can down on your coffee table, leaving it unopened.

Yiren gapes at you with wide eyes. “You’re not going to have it?” Neck hanging low, you shake your head, and you hear her gasp quietly. “Oh my gosh, you just turned down a Cola,” she mutters, grabbing a pillow and pushing it in your direction. “Okay now you need to tell me what’s going on.” She pauses, shuffling closer, adding softly, “It’s okay, you can cry.”

And just like that, the dam breaks and stray tears fall from your lashes as you clutch the pillow close to your chest, blubbering your mind away to your best friend.

“I don’t even get it—I thought I was over him?” you question aloud. “Like when I was with Renjun I was happy and I didn’t think about Minghao because Renjun was great and he was so nice but he just—” you choke back a sob and Yiren pats your back.

“But he left,” she murmurs softly and you want to cry harder because Yiren left too, but then you remind yourself of what Minghao said. Taking a deep breath, your wipe your face of your tears and although your lips still quiver, you start to speak.

“It’s okay,” you mutter, because it isn't like you haven’t cried over this before. “I just—I guess I haven’t really tried hard enough.”

“Tried to … what exactly?”

You huff, throwing your back onto the couch as you look up at the ceiling. “You know: get over him.”

Yiren chuckles a little, and even through your sniffles, you laugh with her. “What are you saying—you gonna fuck around now?”

“Maybe not fuck around,” you say, crossing your legs. “More like … have some fun.”

“So basically fuck around.”

“Yiren!”

“Oh c’mon—you need me to set you up with someone? My sister knows a lot of—”

You nudge her playfully. “What happened to ‘Ms. I Want Half of the Proceeds from your Wedding with Minghao?’”

“First of all,” Yiren waves a finger at you pointedly, “I only asked for 25%, but if you two can come back from this, I will be asking for at least 50% because I have been rooting for you two since day one.”

“Aren’t you the one who’s trying to set me up with other guys?”

“That’s only because you come first to me. Your relationship with Minghao—”

“The nonexistent one,” you correct and Yiren glares at you.

“Okay fine. Your nonexistent relationship with Minghao comes second. I want to see you happy. If you get to be happy with Minghao that’s just an added plus because, you know, 50% of all the gifts and—”

“You’re getting 25% max.”

“Don’t worry. There’s still time for plenty of negotiation and—”

“Yiren!”

You don’t live up to Yiren’s expectations—in her words, she wanted you to have a hot girl summer, but you couldn’t be bothered to go through with it. Well, sort of.

The next two months go along as your summers usually do. You take up a job near your apartment, working through the morning and afternoon, spending your evenings at home or occasionally out with Jianing.

Jianing doesn’t know much about anything when it comes to your (nonexistent) relationship with Minghao, and you figure she doesn’t need to. When you need a distraction, all it takes is a quick message asking her to accompany you for whatever endeavors you have going on for the night and she’s on board.

It’s a slow summer, but you don’t really mind. Not burdened with the stress of your classes and with Jun and Minghao gone for the next two months for their own performances and promotions, you have time to focus on yourself.

Occasional parties, indulging in hobbies, daily walks in the mornings, late nights of binge watching TV shows, outings with Jianing—it’s all a part of a simple routine that you’ve curated to do one thing, and one thing only: relax.

It’s only near the end of the summer, around three weeks before your classes are set to resume, that Jun calls you to let you know he’s coming home with Minghao. He seems pretty casual about it, and you’re reminded about how Minghao probably didn’t mention anything about your argument to your brother, which you’re thankful for.

It’s a passing thought that you’ll have to figure out how you want to act when you finally face him again. Whatever. That’s a problem for another time. Right now, you relax.

That problem for another time seems to have become a problem for now. Jun came home two days ago and things were alright—no run-ins to Minghao and you spend time with your brother like you usually do whenever he returns: with bickering and meals.

It’s only on the third day that things become a little … a little iffy. Your brother texts you in the evening to get ready quickly because he’s stopping by with Minghao for dinner at his place, and it’s all happening so quickly that you don’t have time to come up with an excuse.

So here you are, throwing on your sacred pink jacket because it’s the first thing in your vision, some old jeans, and waiting outside your apartment building much less enthusiastically than you’d like. It’s only a matter of minutes before your phone buzzes with a text from Jun letting you know he’s here and you see Minghao’s car pulling up in front of you.

Making your way to the back door where you usually sit with the two of them, you furrow your brows seeing Jun sitting in your usual spot.

“Sit in the front,” Jun orders when you go to open the back door, “I wanna lay down.” You shrug, making your way to the passenger seat as Jun settles into the back, resting his head on the window while kicking his legs up onto the other two seats.

“Hi,” you say quietly to Minghao who nods and speaks his own quick greeting, averting his attention to the wheel in front of him without much more than that.

“Please,” he huffs, watching Jun through the rear view mirror, “don’t put your shoes on the seats. I just had the car cleaned.” Jun clicks his tongue and kicks his shoes off, continuing to lay back in the seat as Minghao starts the car. The ride is silent as he drives toward the restaurant, both you and Jun on your phones while Minghao has his eyes trained on the road.

Once he parks in front of the place, you watch from the corner of your vision to see Minghao unbuckling his seatbelt before your brother speaks up.

“You guys can wait here, I’m gonna grab the food,” Jun says, slipping in his shoes and making his way to the restaurant, leaving you and Minghao in thickening silence. His hands are resting on his thighs and you press your head on the window, looking out as you try to focus on anything but this.

“Uh,” Minghao clears his throat, and you silently brace yourself for what he might say. “Nice jacket.”

Oh.

Glancing down at what you’re wearing, you twiddle with the hem of the familiar pink jacket. You wonder if this is Minghao’s way of holding out a figurative olive branch, and then you think harder about if you’re willing to accept it. “Thanks,” you reply, matting a hand over your hair before turning your attention to Jun who’s walking towards your car now.

Slipping into the back seat, he shakes the plastic bag in the air as he buckles himself in. “Takeout secured. Let’s go back to your place now,” Jun says, tapping on Minghao’s shoulder from behind. There’s an odd tension in the air, and you don’t doubt that Jun feels it, although he keeps his mouth shut about it.

No one says a word until Minghao is parking in his driveway and unlocking the front door. You follow behind the two of them, Jun grabbing the food as you enter Minghao’s house.

“What are you doing tomorrow?” Jun asks, putting the takeout bag on the coffee table of the living room as you all begin to settle down.

You shrug off your coat as you say, “Uh, I have to go back to my place and go out for the afternoon and evening with Jianing. Me and her have this little monthly date day thing, and we’re going to the city.”

“Wha-a-a-t,” Jun drawls out, a frown etched onto his face. You narrow your eyes at him, shrugging.

“What? It’s not like you’re leaving right after tomorrow.”

“Yeah, but I’m not here for long. I wanted to do something tomorrow, since I might be doing stuff after that!” Jun whines, pointing at Minghao. “We might be going to this cool store and take some pictures and stuff.”

You huff, slightly annoyed as you flop down on a couch. “Okay well can’t you do that tomorrow then? I already have plans.”

Jun pouts, and if he wasn’t so on your nerves right now, you would poke some fun at him. “Why-y-y? You knew I was coming this week!”

“Well it’s not like I can clear my schedule for you. If you wanted to do something you should’ve told me earlier!”

“I let you know last week I was coming down!”

“Jun,” you say with a half laugh, noticing the way Minghao’s eyes have been flickering back and forth between you two through the whole conversation, “one week is not enough time to change some plans. I’ve been meeting with Jianing consistently at this time of month for over a year!”

“But still—”

“It’s not like if I showed up to Korea whenever the time’s convenient for me, you’d drop everything you’re doing to spend time with me!” you exclaim.

Jun’s fists ball at his side before he says, “That’s because my job is important and—”

“The stuff I do in my life might not seem important to you but it is very much important to me. Sorry I’ve made commitments to other people before I even knew you were coming, but I don’t know why you’d expect me to drop all my plans just for you. It’s not even like we aren’t going to see each other afterwards too.”

“Well I’d only hope that’s the case—I only ever see you once every few months so sorry for wanting to take some of your time.”

“Guys—” Minghao starts to say, standing between the two of you but when both you and Jun glare at him, he steps back.

“Do you think your time is worth more than mine or something?” you scoff at Jun, ignoring Minghao.

“You know I didn’t mean it like that.”

“I’m sorry, what exactly did you mean it like then?” you hiss.

Jun sucks in a breath between clenched teeth and runs a hand through his hair. “You know what I meant. Things are just—they’re different. You wouldn’t understand.”

“Right yeah. I won’t understand because I don’t have all these girls throwing themselves at me, making me think I’m entitled to everyone’s damn time.” Maybe you crossed a line with that one, but you’re too angry to care now. Hot tears well up in your lash line, threatening to fall any moment now.

“You were the one who was being a brat when you found out I was going to go to Korea in the first place!” Jun exclaims. “Fucking hell, why are you making such a big deal out of me wanting to spend some time with you now?”

Your face screws up into some kind of ugly frown at the words, and you clench your fists as your side. “A brat?” you repeat. “A brat? Is that seriously what you think of me?

“Well you did make a pretty damn big scene about me leaving, so yeah, maybe I do feel entitled to some of your time seeing that you were the one who was desperate for it in the first place.”

“Desperate? Are you kidding me—desperate? I was sixteen and you dumped the fact that you were moving away in like less than two months on me —of course I was upset but desperate? Well fuck you too I guess.” You punctuate the last word by turning on your heel, grabbing your coat off and marching past Minghao and over to the door.

You don’t hear Jun say anything after you do, and for that you are grateful because you don’t think you’ll be able to handle hearing his voice again. Walking out the foyer past the door, you stomp your way to your car, forcefully yanking the driver’s seat open and plopping yourself down with a heavy thud.

Without a word, you press your forehead against the steering and scream a loud and painful, “FUCK!” You can’t even remember a damn thing you or Jun said but all that throttles in your head is the word brat and you feel you might just pull the steering wheel off your stupid car and tear just about everything else apart too.

The prospect is pretty tempting, actually, and in your red, you continue to hit your head, albeit gently, against the wheel as you mutter incoherent curses to yourself. The thud of your skull against the smooth letter rings in your ears until it becomes all that you can hear, so loud that it almost drowns out the knocking sound that comes from outside.

“Holy shit!” you gasp, when you see Minghao from the corner of your vision, standing outside your car with his lips pressed into the thin line. Rolling down your windows, you grimace. “You fucking scared me so bad. Please never creep up on me like that again.”

He narrows his eyes at you. “Don’t fucking storm out like that again then,” Minghao says, and your eyes widen slightly when you hear his voice. It’s harder, firmer, more serious than you’ve ever heard before.

“What are you—”

“You can’t drive when it’s night and you’re sobbing—”

“I am not sobbing,” you fruitlessly choke out, wiping some tears off your cheek as you straighten your back and glare at him.

“Look I get you’re mad at Jun and all but can you please calm down and talk to me so—”

You let out a humorless laugh as you begin to roll your windows back up. “Don’t even get me started on you.”

Minghao clicks his tongue as he sticks a hand into your window to stop it from going up any further, looking sideways for a second before turning back to you. “Okay well I don’t want you to drive yourself home like this. It’s not safe.”

“I am not staying here tonight.”

“Then let me drive you home,” Minghao suggests and you open up to object but no words come out. “You agree? C’mon, step out.” You let out nothing more than a huff as you open the door, slipping out quickly and shuffling to the other side where you sit with your arms crossed over your chest, bottom lip jutting out into a pout.

Minghao has already taken your spot, hands on the same steering wheel that you were planning on smashing with your head just minutes ago. He’s quiet for a few moments as he backs out of the driveway and starts driving down the street, the car echoing nothing but your soft sniffles that haven’t seemed to stop.

When Minghao opens his mouth again, you’re bracing yourself for a round of chiding, but all that comes out is a one-word question. “Pop?” He takes your silence as a confirmation, and soon enough Minghao is pulling up to that same convenience store. “Do you want me to get it for you?” he asks after he’s parked in front of the convenience store.

You purse your lips together, finally letting yourself turn to look at him. You really want to be mad at him but when you catch the way his fingers are shoved into his pockets, teeth gnawing at his bottom lip as he awaits your answer, you start to realize that Minghao might be just as apprehensive about this as you are.

“It’s fine,” you mutter, unbuckling your seatbelt so you can get out, Minghao following you quickly.

You’re the first to walk in this time, grabbing a Cola for yourself before looking at Minghao with a raised brow. When he nods, you toss him another can and he makes his way to the cash register. He’s about to pull out his wallet when you’re brushing past him and getting there first, holding up your card to the machine proudly.

“Just because I don’t want to be in any more debt to you,” you murmur, handing Minghao a can after you’ve paid for them both. You lead the way, walking out of the door and slotting yourself into the passenger seat of your car and Minghao gets into the seat next to you, turning on the engine.

You’re still quiet when he starts driving towards your apartment building, and you think that this is the perfect chance for you to drown in the silence. Maybe if you pretend you’re alone, you’ll be able to forget about all the thoughts running through your mind.

Pressing your eyes shut, you slump down into your seat and just as you’re about to let your mind drift into the silence, you hear a familiar rattle of the snare and guitar bridge and your eyes snap open, staring at Minghao directly. He faces forward, eyes trained on the road as he pulls closer to the curb in front of your complex, sighing deeply when the car starts to slow down.

“What are you trying to do Minghao?” you finally say weakly, burying your face in your hands. “You—you’re playing Creep and you took me to get Cola and all you were supposed to do was take me home so—”

“Can I not try to make you feel better? I don’t want you to be upset, so I’m sorry if I’m trying to do the things I know you enjoy,” Minghao responds with a heavy breath, parking in front of your building just like that night he did when he picked you up from the bus stop after you met with Renjun.

The deep strumming of guitar and vibrations of the bass bounce off the walls of your car, and you slip into your seat as the words of the song sink in.‘What the hell am I doing here?’ Glancing up at Minghao, your vision grows blurry. “Minghao …” your voice is quiet and strained when you call for him, and in that moment, you know.

All those years ago when you wanted to kiss him and hold him and pull him close, but you didn’t because you were scared. When you wanted to let your tongues collide and tug at his hair, but you didn’t because you had so much to lose.

You still have so much to lose, but you’re not scared anymore.

And it seems Minghao isn’t either.

Tonight, you get to taste the lingering drops of Cola on his tongue. You get to feel his arms fumbling over the armrest, slipping around your waist and yanking you onto his lap. You get to hold his neck and let your fingers sit in his hair. You get to indulge.

Minghao’s mouth is hot against yours, tongue lapping at your bottom lip when you take a sacred moment to breathe on top of him before your eyes are fluttering back shut and your lips mold into one once again. He hugs you so close you don’t know how you can still breathe, don’t know how your bones don’t melt into each other in this burning moment.

Your lips work fervently to slide against each other in a wet, calculated mess that has you whimpering into Minghao’s mouth when one of his hands cups your jaw. His thumb is soft against your cheekbone when he tilts your head to the side so that your noses brush against either and his lips delve deeper into the caverns of your mouth.

You don’t know how long you two go at it, fingers grappling at whatever skin you can, Minghao’s hand brushing under your shirt and stroking the plush of your hips. And when you feel like you can’t breathe anymore because your heart is so full, you pull away, letting the thin string of saliva connect your shiny lips.

Your brain is foggy and you and Minghao simply sit in the comfortable silence. Well, almost comfortable silence.

You shouldn’t try to depend on anyone.

“W-wait,” you stutter when Minghao leans forward in hopes to catch your lips in another fleeting kiss. “Oh my god,” you mutter to yourself, pushing his shoulders back against the seat as you try to shuffle off his lap.

Minghao holds your waist tightly, but you break free of the grasp. “What are you doi—hey, wait a sec!”

“You said you’re trying to make me feel better but you just did exactly the opposite,” you scoff, slipping on your coat as you push the car door open.

“What are you talking abo—” You cut him off by slamming the door, and Minghao quickly grabs your keys and follows after you. “Slow down.”

You whip around to face him, tears streaming down your face for what feels nth time tonight. “Look, you left like two months ago spewing all this stuff about how I should be independent but the second you come back you act like you’re trying so hard to make me feel better and stuff and then—” You take a deep breath, “—then we makeout and you—fuck I don’t know, I don’t know what you expect from me! Do you just expect me to forget about this and not get upset when you leave again?” you choke out. “Just keep my keys and drive yourself back to your place. I’ll pick up my car later,” you mutter.

“Can you stop doing this? It’s just like what happened last time, and I don’t want to have to leave if you’re—if we’re not okay.”

“What ‘we?’ Weren’t you the one who told me to not expect anyone to stay? I’m not going to do this ‘we’ and ‘us’ thing with someone who is just going to leave all over again. I’m not going to expect you to stay.”

“Look, I just don’t want this to be hanging over your head when I’m gone.”

Ironic, you think to yourself. You want to tell Minghao that he’s been hanging over your head ever since you met him all those years ago, but you bite back the words.

“Minghao,” you say, your voice strained and tired, “I’m already exhausted and my brain isn’t working so can you please just give me my space.”

And if Minghao is one thing, it’s not pushy, and you know that this is all it takes to get him to back off. Though, you don’t miss the way his face falls as he steps back quietly.

“See you,” he mutters through gritted teeth as he turns on his heel, and you can’t tell if you’re relieved or bothered by the way he leaves so silently.

You don’t see Minghao or Jun after that night. They’rewere  supposed to leave for Korea in the next four days, and so you spend those four days lodged up in your apartment, not leaving unless absolutely necessary—you’re scared that you might run into one of them, as pathetic as that sounds.

Jun doesn’t text you and you don’t text him. It’s a bit abnormal, you two communicate at least once every two days, if not more. It’s a bit of an unspoken rule, but now that you’re both hot-headed and very much not in the right mind, you figure some rules are meant to be broken.

It’s two days after Jun and Minghao were scheduled to leave, the only confirmation that you got that they actually did leave being the group picture at the airport your father sent to the family group chat.

Jianing comes to your apartment when you finally call her over, quickly picking up on your sullen state.

“I don’t get it,” she says with a shrug after you explain to her everything that happened between you and Jun and Minghao.

“Well yeah, I guess you don’t, but this has been going on for a while,” you reply begrudgingly, sinking into your couch as she stares at you blankly from your armchair.

“Just—I dunno—talk to them?”

You give her a funny look. “How?” you groan, throwing your head back. “They won’t be back for like a month at least, and I don’t want to call them.”

“I forget they’re famous sometimes” Jianing mutters, rolling her eyes, and you laugh at the comment.

“You and me both,” you say, straightening your back.

“But still, I don’t get it. I mean just visit them?” she suggests casually.

“I can’t just fly up to Korea unannounced!” you exclaim, bewildered.

Jianing rolls her eyes at you and you frown. “Why not? I mean you just said this might go on for a while if you don’t talk to them so I don’t get it. Just go see them.”

YOURS TRULY

you: chan i need ur help [8:13 AM] chan: this is ur first time texting me in three months [8:15 AM] chan: so i am going to assume this is pretty important [8:15 AM] you: i’m at incheon airport [8:16 AM] chan: what [8:17 AM] you: what [8:17 AM] chan: jun didn’t say anything about u coming??! [8:19 AM] you: DON’T TELL HIM [8:19 AM] chan: what … [8:20 AM] you: i’m surprising him [8:20 AM] chan: ????? [8:21 AM] chan: who knows [8:21 AM] you: um you do [8:21 AM] chan: thank u [8:22 AM] chan: so what do u need [8:22 AM] you: can u pick me up [8:23 AM] chan: i don’t have a choice do i [8:24 AM] you: nope :3 [8:24 AM]

When black SUV stops in front of you by the curb at the airport, you smile brightly, waving at the driver as the windows begin to roll down. You’re about to chirp a quick, “Hi Chan!” but the words get caught in your throat when you see who’s driving.

“Jeonghan?” you ask confusedly. He waves at you from the front seat, and Chan sticks his head in from the back to look at you through the window.

“I’m sorry!” he exclaims, opening the door to help you pull in your suitcase and get situated into the back seat. “Look, I tried to leave without anyone noticing but they saw me so I told them I was going to the gym, but he said he wanted to come and —” Chan glares at the man in the passenger seat, “— I don’t even know why since he hasn’t gone to the gym in ages—”

“Watch it Chan!” Jeonghan calls out from the front as the cat starts to move, pulling an eye roll out of the boy sitting next to you.

“Whatever. Basically, I had no choice but to bring him along and tell them I was actually picking you up.”

“You guys didn’t tell Jun, did you?” you ask worriedly.

“I—no,” Jeonghan says. “And even if we tried, he won’t be awake for another hour or whatever. That’s besides the point anyways—Chan is terrible at lying.”

“You caught me off guard! I wasn’t expecting to see anyone this morning, so I didn’t have any excuses prepared …” Chan huffs, sinking into his seat as you glance back and forth between them nervously.

“Thank you for trying anyways,” you say sincerely, adjusting in your seat. “I know this was all really sudden but I didn’t plan anything out and I kinda ended up here before I could even process anything,” you add.

“Hey, Minghao was telling us about these really good cupcakes you make—if you have time, can you bake them for us?” Chan asks, out of the blue.

You give him a funny look and then smile. “Sure, if I have the time. I’d like to—they told me Mingyu tries to make them for you guys.”

“Yeah! That would—”

“Thank you, but I’m going to assume that you are here for a reason other than making us your infamous cupcakes,” Jeonghan says, merging onto the freeway.

“As much as I’d love for that to be why I’m here, you’re right,” you mutter, resting your head against the headrest.

“Is everything alright?” Jeonghan asks.

As you’re about to respond, Chan chimes in. “This is about Jun, isn’t it?”

“Ai—Channie, don’t jump to conclusions,” Jeonghan reprimands but Chan shakes his head, holding his hand up as he turns to you with wide eyes.

“No, no, I’m not assuming anything. I’m right, aren’t I?” Partly. Chan continues. “Well it’s just—I can kinda tell. He’s being a little snappier. Jeonghan wouldn’t know but—“

Jeonghan gives Chan a warning look through the rear view mirror. “What do you mean I wouldn’t know?”

“Hannie, just listen to me. So me and Soonyoung and Minghao and Jun have been practicing at night right—for that next performance—and you know that Jun has a bit of a temper, especially in the night, but I don’t know—it’s just been different recently.”

You stifle a scoff when Chan mentions Jun having a short temper, looking out the window hoping no one heard. Jun does have a bit of a fiery streak, but the truth is that you’re just as sporadic as him.

Fire meets fire. Huh, wonder what that makes. More fire, probably. That’s what got you here, isn’t it? Unfortunately.

“Has, uh,” you pause wondering if you should ask this, but curiosity does kill the cat, after all. “Has Minghao seemed … off?”

Jeonghan narrows his eyes at you. “What’s Minghao got to do with this? Did something happen with him too?” Curse that emotionally intelligent man.

Chan eyes flicker between the ground and you. “It’s hard to tell when Minghao is upset. He seems normal even when he’s upset so I can’t really tell … why though?”

“Just—just a lot of stuff. I think I need to see them both. Separately.”

Jeonghan nods, pursing his lips together before responding, “Do you need our help?”

Jeonghan takes you to his apartment first so you have a moment to drop your suitcase off somewhere, and you get to say hi to Seungkwan who you’re pretty sure didn’t even recognize you in his drowsy state.

“Where’re we going?” you ask when you get back outside of the building heading towards the car.

“C’mon, let’s walk,” Chan says, pulling you away from the car.

“Jun’s apartment building is just down the street here,” Jeonghan explains. “He should be sleeping right now, so just wake him up.”

“Are you kidding me? He might kill me!” you complain with a frown.

Chan huffs, “Well you did come here unannounced and without a plan, so you don’t have much of a choice anyways.”

You chew on your lip as you fruitlessly try to come up with an answer, sighing in defeat when you come up with nothing.

“Exactly,” Jeonghan concludes, stopping in front of a building that’s built similar to his. “Anyways, his suite number is 345 on the third floor. You should know the code to his apartment right?”

You nod, but then shake your head. “I know it, but I think I’ll just knock until he wakes up. He might actually kill me if someone shows up inside his home unannounced.”

Chan laughs at that when the two of you lead you to the elevator of this new building. “That, he might.”

“So encouraging,” you mutter, sticking your tongue out at them as the elevator door opens. “Anyways, thank you for helping me, really. I’ll make cupcakes if I make it out of this alive,” you promise while you step in.

“You better!” Jeonghan calls out as the doors slide shut and the elevator begins to take you up.

It’s now, when you’re alone, that it all begins to sink in. You’re in Korea. You’re about to see Jun. You might die—okay maybe you’re being a little dramatic, but you aren’t sure what to do with yourself so your mind is jumping towards the worst possible scenario as you reach the third floor and make your way to his apartment.

You stand in front of room 345 for a few moments once you arrive, not even sure if you’ll manage to go through with this. What the fuck are you even going to say?

(Un?)fortunately, you have a tendency to not think before you act, and before you have a second of thought your knuckles are rapping against the door. It’s silent for a moment and you wonder if you should go again.

Taking a deep breath, you continue knocking on the door at a steady rate before you hear soft footsteps growing louder in volume until they stop at the door. You hold your breath and let your hand fall, fisting it at your sides in anticipation.

When you see the door crack open, a wave of relief washes over you. But when you see Jun’s blank face as he looks down on you, a new sense of uneasiness takes over.

“What are you doing in my apartment?” Ah, how nostalgic.

“So cold. You aren’t going to let me in?”

Jun rolls his eyes, and you grow more anxious because you can’t tell if he’s being playful or not. He steps to the side though, and you quickly slip through the door so he can close and lock it behind you.

“What are you doing here?” he reiterates and you feel your tongue go dry.

“Uh, Chan told me that you’re being—well—how do I put this?” you mutter to yourself, rocking back and forth on your feet.

“Difficult?” Jun guesses, bitterness laced in the word and you cringe at the tone.

“I guess.”

“I don’t think you came all the way to Korea just because Chan told you I was being difficult.”

“I, uh, I talked to Jianing about it when she visited and … I guess I felt I should come see you.”

“So if Jianing didn’t talk to you about this, then you just wouldn’t have talked about it?” Jun asks harshly and you glare at him.

“Well it’s not like you would’ve come talk to me about it either,” you retort, and Jun goes quiet at them. “And Jianing didn’t make this decision for me, by the way, I made it all by myself.”

“Okay well you’re here now. What is it?” An uncomfortable silence sits between you two. “If you only came here to just stand there and stare off into space then—”

“Jun, please shut your mouth for like one minute,” you mutter, pinching the bridge of your nose. “I-I wanted to apologize. That night I … I was on edge.” Jun watches you intently as you finally meet his gaze. “There was a lot running through my mind and I was just—just fucking annoyed at everything and I took everything you said the worst way.”

A feeling of worry climbs up your throat—you and Jun don’t often apologize, at least not like this. Apologies usually come in the form of figurative olive trees—you buy him a LEGO set, he buys you a gift card to your favorite cafe, or something among that. Then again, this isn’t your usual argument with Jun, and maybe sometimes resorting to more traditional methods are most effective.

Jun sighs softly, not looking at you, and you grow worried that he’s even more angry than you anticipated. You brace yourself for his next possible words. “I … I did say some mean stuff too. I’m sorry—I just—I have a shitty temper. You know that. Chan probably told you that too.” Jun is silent for a second before continuing. “Is … is everything okay?”

The question isn’t quite what you’re expecting and you press your lips together tightly because you want to cry. You want to let the tears stream down your cheeks and tell Jun that you have no idea but also the perfect idea of what you’re doing and it’s all jumbled up mess in your head.

“I guess—I mean, I hate fighting with you,” you admit. “But, that’s why I came here and we didn’t say goodbye the last time and I know that was partly my fault but also I missed you.”

“But are you okay?”

“Jun—”

“Because I know you’re stubborn—it really is annoying sometimes but I’m not one to complain,” he adds with a huff, “and I know you’re a little weird—”

You both laugh and you point a finger at him, “Watch it—you and me both.”

“Whatever,” he says lightly before turning to a more serious tone. “But I never thought we’d fight again like that one time two years ago and—”

“Why does everyone keep bringing that up!? Yiren said that too,” you sigh.

“To make a point. Which, by the way, is me going back to asking you if everything’s okay. I just … I know that you’re a little crazy but I never thought that you’d fly over here for something that we could probably sort out over the phone. Not that I’m not glad to see you here, I mean, I am, I’m just … worried.”

“I kissed Minghao,” you blurt out, immediately slapping a hand over your mouth after you do.

“What?!” Jun’s eyes go wide for a moment before he relaxes a little. “Is that what’s been up with you?”

“What do you mean ‘up with me?’”

“Moody. Cranky. Like you’re in high school again.”

You cross your arms over your chest. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” You chew on your lip as you try to read Jun’s expression. He doesn’t seem mad nor happy nor confused, and you’re running out of emotions to label him under.

“I knew you liked him in high school, you know. Thin walls, plus Yiren is loud as hell.”

“Ugh, I always told her to keep it down! She didn’t believe me!”

“Doesn’t matter now. What you or him do isn’t much of my business anyways,” Jun mutters, awkwardly stuffing his hands in the pockets of his hoodies. “I mean I guess it is, if it makes you all upset and not okay like this,” he continues.

You can tell he’s encouraging you to explain more, and you press your eyes together trying to figure what and what not you should say. “Has Minghao … has he seemed different?”

“I mean not really, but also it’s hard to tell with him because—” Your whole finger droops and Jun quickly places a hand on your shoulder. “Hey, what is this about? Did something happen? You know you can tell me.”

“It’s a lot,” you confess. “I don’t know, I-I came here to talk to the both of you but I haven’t even thought about what to say to him. I kind of booked my tickets last night.”

“Last night?!”Jun exclaims. “Are you stupid or what?”

“Maybe I am!” you murmur, slapping your palm against your forehead. Jun looks down at your pained expression and frowns.

“You’re not going to tell me what happened, are you?”

“What happened to, ‘I don’t care what you guys do it isn’t my business?’”

“Well it is my business if you’re upset! I’m the only person who’s allowed to be a bitch to you.”

“Well ditto to you too!” You follow with a sigh. “I think I just need to talk to him.”

“He’s at the gym right now. Do you want to get coffee instead?”

“Hogging me all to yourself? I know you missed me but don’t you think this is a little unfair—I’d like to at least say hi to the others first. Or maybe have some time to sleep. I kind of got here at like seven in the morning.”

“Be grateful! I’m actually looking out for you, because they’ll literally hound you, plus I want to make up for not spending time with you last time I visited.”

You grin at the words, rolling your eyes playfully. “Fine. But you’re paying.”

“When do I not pay for you?”

“Loads of times!”

“That’s because you insist on paying for yourself.”

“Irrelevant!” you exclaim triumphantly, waving a fist in the air before Jun locks his arm around your neck and traps you in a headlock. Good times.

“We have afternoon practice, then recording in the studio in the evening, but we should be done by like eight,” Jun explains, taking a picture of the coffee in front of him.

“Must you take a picture of everything?” you sigh, taking a sip of your own drink. Jun rolls his eyes, flicking your knee from under the table.

“I am a celebrity. I kinda need to keep records of everything I do.”

“Okay well I’m your sister and I kinda need you to help me talk to Minghao.”

“Just like—I dunno—find him and talk to him. Can’t be that hard.”

“You—ugh, you’re just like Jianing,” you groan. “No help!”

“Okay fine, fine. What do you want me to do? Corner him? Lock him into a closet and keep him there so you can talk to him? Force him to—”

“Junnie what the hell,” you mutter, slapping a hand to your forehead. “I think I’m just going to have to ask Jeonghan and Chan for help again because—”

“Okay no. I’ll help. What do you need me to do?”

“Have you been listening to me? Tell me when and where I can talk to him!”

“Well I already suggested the closet but you turned that down so—”

“Jun.”

“We can try the meeting room? He’s there a lot and it’s usually empty in the evenings. He responds to emails and shit there, I don’t know, so you won’t be interrupting much.”

“You sure it’ll work?”

Jun cocks an eyebrow up. “You don’t trust me?” You kick him under the table and he winces. “Okay yes, yes, it’ll work so would you stop kicking—hey! I said stop kicking!”

“We have afternoon practice, then recording in the studio in the evening, but we should be done by like eight,” Jun explains, taking a picture of the coffee in front of him.

“Must you take a picture of everything?” you sigh, taking a sip of your own drink. Jun rolls his eyes, flicking your knee from under the table.

“I am a celebrity. I kinda need to keep records of everything I do.”

“Okay well I’m your sister and I kinda need you to help me talk to Minghao.”

“Just like—I dunno—find him and talk to him. Can’t be that hard.”

“You—ugh, you’re just like Jianing,” you groan. “No help!”

“Okay fine, fine. What do you want me to do? Corner him? Lock him into a closet and keep him there so you can talk to him? Force him to—”

“Junnie what the hell,” you mutter, slapping a hand to your forehead. “I think I’m just going to have to ask Jeonghan and Chan for help again because—”

“Okay no. I’ll help. What do you need me to do?”

“Have you been listening to me? Tell me when and where I can talk to him!”

“Well I already suggested the closet but you turned that down so—”

“Jun.”

“We can try the meeting room? He’s there a lot and it’s usually empty in the evenings. He responds to emails and shit there, I don’t know, so you won’t be interrupting much.”

“You sure it’ll work?”

Jun cocks an eyebrow up. “You don’t trust me?” You kick him under the table and he winces. “Okay yes, yes, it’ll work so would you stop kicking—hey! I said stop kicking!”

You twiddle your thumbs nervously behind your back as you wait in the elevator with Jeonghan. Jun had to take care of something with one of the other members, so he sent you off with the older boy to take you to the meeting room.

“He’ll be there, don’t worry,” Jeonghan tells you as he pats your shoulder lightly. “I just checked his location and I’m positive he’s there right now.”

“Thanks,” you say with a sigh, shifting your weight from leg to leg, “but I’m more worried about what I’m going to say. I think you already know but I planned like zero percent of this.”

“It’s becoming increasingly evident, unfortunately,” Jeonghan admits when the elevator dings and the door opens onto a floor full of rooms. “You’ll figure it out, I’m sure, seeing as you’re just like Jun.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Jeonghan chuckles and leads you to a door a few steps down the hallway, pointing to it. “Don’t worry about it. He’ll be in there. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be down on floor three making some ramen,” he says cheerily, waving at you before retreating to elevatory before you have even a moment to protest.

So now you’re left with nothing but yourself and yet another door. This time, instead of knocking your life away, your hand is pressed against the knob as you debate whether or not you should turn it or not.

Once again, your body acts without your mind and you’re quietly opening the door and poking your head through the crack. Inside is Minghao with headphones over his ears, sitting at the end of a long table with his head crooked down as he scrolls through his lap top.

He doesn’t hear you, but you aren’t sure if it’s for the better or the worse. In some ways, you still have a chance to run, but in others, you’ll have to call out to him if you want him to notice you. Gulping, you realize that you’ve been too scared for too long and so you clear your throat.

“Minghao,” you call out.

It only takes a second for his eyes to shoot up, hands flying to his headphones to take them off as he takes in the sight of you in front of him. You’re at opposite ends of the room right now, and you nervously shut the door behind you as you finally meet his gaze.

“What are you doing here?”

“I—” You inhale sharply. “—I don’t know. I just think we both needed to talk.”

You can see him visibly gulp as he stands up, and looks away as if trying to figure out what he should do with himself.

“Shit,” he mutters under his breath, dread washing over you.

“I’m sorry,” you blurt out, face burning. “I know I just showed up like this without warning and I know that’s not fair so if you don’t want to talk you know I totally get it and—” you start to blabber so fast you hardly notice him walking over and down the length of the table, “—I just really wanted to see you and talk to you but I couldn’t do it over the phone because—”

“Slow down,” Minghao says firmly, now standing in front of you as he gazes down with wide eyes. “Is everything okay? When did you come here—wait, did you come here just to talk to me?”

“Well yeah. And Jun.”

“Are you okay?” Minghao asks softly. “This doesn’t seem like you.”

You wince at the familiar words but shake it off. “I know, I just had so much to say and I’m sorry because you were right, and when you said you didn’t want this hanging over my head I was angry and I thought I could ignore this and ignore you but I was wrong and just really needed to sort things out. And the night you picked me up after Renjun and all—I know you told me to not depend anyone or anything—and I know I’m not listening to you right now and I don’t want you to be disappointed but—”

“Stop,” Minghao says, holding a hand up. “Disappointed? I—please don’t think that. The stuff I said that night was …” he sighs before continuing. “You were so upset that night because you didn’t have us around and I felt so bad but also, there wasn’t anything I could do about that.”

“I …” your eyebrows knit together as you try to find the right words. “… I know that. I didn’t mean to make it feel like you had to change anything, or that it was your fault.”

“I know and—”

“Wait, please hear me out. I don’t want to ever make you think that I blame you or Jun for leaving—I-I’m so happy for you guys you don’t understand. I was just … I was bitter,” you admit. “And I was jealous of you because you get to be around my own brother more than me and … I guess I was also jealous of Jun because he gets to be around you so often too.”

You finish your confession by burying your face in your hands, face heating up as you can only imagine the look on his face. He says your name softly, and you peek up at him through the gap between your fingers.

“Hey, no, I get it. I mean, I guess I don’t exactly understand how you’re feeling but I don’t blame you either.”

“I wrote you a letter,” you blurt out, a hand digging into your pocket as it toys around with the folded paper inside. Minghao raises a brow, and you pull it out and hold it in front of him. “Right after you guys left,” you explain as he takes the paper from your hand, carefully unfolding it. “Don’t open it now! That’s … embarrassing. Just read it when I’m not here or something because I might just die out of humiliation.”

When Minghao chuckles, you feel some of the tension in your shoulders dissolve. “Noted,” he murmurs, tucking it into the pocket of his sweats before turning his attention back to you with a more serious expression which has your stomach tying up in knots.

“You know how my job is. I can’t promise how often I’ll be home and when I’ll be able to make time and I know that people leaving hurt you so much and … I guess I just didn’t want to give you hope that I would be able to give you a ‘normal’ relationship, because I can’t, even though I want to. I think when I told you all that, I just—fuck—I hoped that you’d be able to focus on someone better for you.”

You want to cry and tell him that you don’t want someone ‘better,’ but choose to save those words for a different time. “T-then why’d you kiss me that night?” you ask quietly.

“I—” Minghao pauses, looking down as he searches for what he’s about to say. “I only have so much self control.”

You chew on your lip, debating if you should frown or grin at his statement. “So you—you wanted to kiss me?” Minghao responds in a heartbeat.

“Of course I did,” and then he clears his throat, “I wanted to for a while. I still do.”

Chuckling nervously, you start to say, “I don’t kn—”

The air is successfully sucked from your lungs when Minghao slides his hand around your neck, angling your jaw up with his gentle thumb. You think you might just go dizzy from the way he’s touching you until his warm mouth presses against yours, and this is the moment you feel every last muscle in your body let go.

He kisses you softer than the first time, his tongue running against your bottom lip for only a moment before you let your hand grip at his torso instinctively. “Sorry,” Minghao murmurs sheepishly when he breaks away. “Told you. Only so much self control.”

“I-I won’t complain,” you admit quickly, and though you let your hand drop to your side, Minghao keeps his where it is: cradling your cheek. He’s quiet for a moment before whispering again, and the words make your face burn and your heart fly around in circles.

“Can I kiss you again?”

link to smut!

“You have everything? Your tickets?” you ask as you lean against the doorframe. You’re both standing outside your parents house right now, waiting for Jun to finish his last bit of packing (why he was so insistent on you two coming quickly when even he wasn’t ready is still a mystery to you) so you can call over the van to take them to the airport.

Minghao shrugs at you, pulling out his wallet to look through the pockets to double check. As he’s shuffling through them, a familiar piece of paper sticks out and grabs your attention. “You keep my letter in your wallet?”

Minghao nods, seemingly unbothered by your surprise. “Yeah. Where else would I keep it?”

“Well, I don’t know but—”

“It’s a cute letter!” Minghao reasons. “And I like having it with me. Like a little good luck charm.”

You press a kiss to his cheek when he says that, but continue to say, “I don’t get what’s so cute about me getting drunk and writing to you.”

“Okay that part, I don’t like. Seriously. Underage drinking is not cool,” Minghao mutters. “But the rest of the letter is pretty nice I guess,” he teases, tucking his wallet back into his pocket.

“Pretty nice?” you scoff, trying to snatch the wallet back from him to grab your letter. He swipes it away too quickly though, and you’re left pawing at his chest to try and get it back. “You don’t deserve that letter! I put my heart and soul into it!”

“Heart and soul? I think you mean you poured five shots of vodka into it.” You frown deeply, and Minghao relaxes his shoulders. “Okay I’m sorry—you know I love the letter.”

“Do I?” you huff stubbornly, looking at the ground.

Minghao traces a hand down your face and tilts your chin upwards. “C’mon look at me,” he murmurs, and you begrudgingly meet his gaze. “I love the letter.” He pecks you on the lips. “Do you believe me now?”

“You might have to kiss me one more time for that.”

Minghao grins and presses his lips on yours again, a little harder this time. “Good now?”

“Yes—you got lucky.”

“Okay good … but just for extra measures, I have something that might sweeten the deal,” Minghao tells you, pulling a folded paper out of his pocket and handing it to you. Carefully, you take it and unravel it, glancing over the words.

There’s a lot—like a lot—and Minghao’s face flushes as you skim over the paragraphs he wrote, slapping a hand over the paper. “Okay don’t read it in front of me!” he whines, and you beam because history has a tendency to repeat itself.

“Fine, fine,” you sigh, looking down at it one more time when your eyes catch a little note at the bottom.

Pursing your lips, you glance up and find Minghao watching you with wide eyes and a bright smile, and you can’t help but fling yourself into his arms. Your heart swells when you feel him wrap his hands around you rightly pulling him close as the words cast their imprint into your mind.

You’re happy. So, so, so happy.

Yours truly, Xu Minghao (weirdo)

P.S. I love you.

a/n. okay wow i can't believe this is done ... genuinely put so much into this fic i hope u all enjoyed reading it as much as i enjoyed writing it! i definitely might be writing more about these two bc i loved them so much😭 i had like 2 more ideas for a smut in mind but decided not to add them but if you'd be interested in reading them, i might post them as a oneshot/bonus, so lmk what you're interested in! please reblog if u did, and let me know ur thoughts—it would mean a lot to me :3

tags. @synthetickitsune @ixayjun @leejihoonownsmyheart @dahliatopia @gyuswhore @hoeforcheol @5xiang @hajimelvr @miriamxsworld @blinkjunhui @lixiel0ver @josefines-things @mimisxs @ming-h0e @kawennote09 @bbyjjunie @junhui-recs @ichorjeon (strikethrough could not be tagged)

[bee-the-loser-recs]

☼My The8/Minghao One-shot Fic Recs☼

𖤓 The letter By @toruro 26k, Idol Minghao, Jun is reader's brother, fluff, angst, long term pining, slowburn, childhood friends to lovers

𖤓 Oh my By @toruro 13.6k, strangers to lovers, mutual crushes, fluff, reader is roommates with Vernon, Svt as one big friend group, smut

𖤓 Flight of the stars By @toruro 13.3k, race car driver Minghao, physical therapist reader, shoulder injury, fluff, angst, smut

𖤓 Red (k)nights By @toruro 6.7k, royalty au, princess reader, knight Minghao, established lovers, fluff, returning from scouting, slight secret relationship, smut

𖤓 This idiot of mine By @mirisss 3.7k, school au, bad boy Minghao, clumsy nerd reader, fluff, affectionate teasing, oblivious reader

𖤓 Fixer upper By @seungkwansphd 9.5k, blind date au, strangers to friends to lovers, ignoring feelings, fluff, slow burn, smut, cute, matchmaker & Minghao

𖤓 Avant-garde By @hoyoungy 4.1k, college student reader, painter Minghao, fluff, adoration, reader loves his painting, so cute, I have revisited this so many times :D

𖤓 Muses By @luvidzy 5.5k, small town au, summer holidays, falling in love, artist Minghao & reader, fluff, cuties

𖤓 Lowkey By @viastro 3.6k, dancer au, college au, pining, embarrassment, dance club, fluff, reader sobs after confession

𖤓 Since we were eighteen By @viastro 1.8k, best friends to lovers, drunk confessions, reader breaks up with their ex cause their in love with reader, fluff

𖤓 Better with you By @viastro 3.1k, friends to lovers, summer fair au, fluff, humour, nauseous reader, cute, love confessions

𖤓 Playing cupid By @sluttywonwoo 4.5k, college au, party, confessing feelings, valentines day party, fluff, smut, pining

𖤓 Once bitten By @sluttywonwoo 3.2k, vampire Minghao, college au, locked in a museum, project partners, aphrodisiac venom, smut, some fluff, slight enemies to lovers

𖤓 Light of my life By @escapewriter 2k, Minghao's birthday, celebration/cute date, painting and lighting lanterns, fluffy, so cute

𖤓 Hi (I love you) By @wheeboo 5.5k, college au, painter Minghao, photographer reader, falling in love, hidden feelings, fluff, really cute

𖤓 Academic infatuation By @berriesandjunnie 2.5k, teachers au, art teacher Minghao, Chinese language teacher reader, fluff, everyone is rooting for them

𖤓 Introverts By @berriesandjunnie 3k, highschool au, Chinese exchange student Minghao, introvert reader, bullying, fluff, fighting back, cute

𖤓 Felix felicis By @blue-jisungs 7k, Hogwarts au, Slytherin Minghao, Hufflepuff reader, project partners, cute dynamics, fluff, angst, mentions of social anxiety

𖤓 Apple of my eye By @rubyreduji 2.4k, Descendants au, Evil Queen's son Minghao, Snow white kid's reader, fluff, bullied reader, soft Minghao

𖤓 Glacial pace By @wonusite 5.3k, college au, fake dating, mutual pining, idiots in love, fluff, finally getting together, communicating, smut, meddling friends

𖤓 To love easily By @minghaoyoudoin 13.5k, college au, fake dating, photographer Minghao, ex Joshua, catching feelings, fluff, angst, smut

𖤓 Moonlight By @ilwonuu Brother's best friend trope, Jun is reader's brother, fluff, pining, oblivious lovers, Jun ships them, smut

𖤓 Minghao + historical au By @husbandhannie 6 one-shots, historical au, duke Minghao, duchess reader, marriage of convenience, falling in love, fluff, smut

𖤓 Love has no language By @renaiswriting Platonic Jun x reader x Minghao, college au, exchange student reader, learning Korean, exam stress, supportive behaviour

𖤓 Headliner By @horangboosadan SMAU one-shot, non-idol au, photographer Minghao, college student & cleaner reader, fluff, developing relationship

[yutasbimil]

Raincheck

woozi x fem!reader | seventeen ff. [one-shot] !!! also posted on my ao3 acc! { here } tags: fluff cw: hogwarts!au, slytherin!woozi, prefect!woozi, sly gf testing jihoon's nerves lol, teasing, couch cuddles, you're different houses with jihoon, established relationship, fluff! note: this is an old piece I wrote! just wanted to share it here as well :3 ! also, not that comfy w/ 2nd POV, tho hope 3rd POV is good for y'all ♡ word count: 1.1k

do not repost © yutasbimil (2018)

The rain pouring hard outside can't seem to be heard well in the Slytherin common room.

The only thing that can be heard from the dimly lit room was the mild crackling embers by the fireplace, and the blond Slytherin humming along as he got himself comfortable on the couch.

Maybe it is actually the resounding, non-stop downpour outside or is it that Jihoon got too engrossed in a book he got from the Restricted Section that got him too preoccupied, that he didn’t even notice someone creeping into him.

"What are you doing here?" He says, almost a hiss at the figure of the person he's so familiar with. 

He almost flinched at the sudden presence, as if she apparated in front of him. His voice reverberates a bit too uncomfortably due to the lack of people occupying the room, it's as if both their breathing echoes along the droplets of rain.

Y/n just comes in and sneaks into the Slytherin common room as if it's her usual thing— quite a common… room occurrence to put that pun lamely out of the box.

Well, it might as well be, but it isn't as settling for the older male as she's so casual about it.

His eyebrows remained knitted together, looking at the girl standing before him. He was so sure that everyone was out since there are still classes on-going...

"Y/n, seriously, this is not the time that..."

She shushes him quickly. Not even bothering about the daggers he's shooting at her as she quickly makes herself comfortable on the couch.

This is definitely not the time I am in a particular mood to see my girlfriend busting into another house’s territory.  Let alone her breaking the rules.

‘Rules are meant to be broken,’  a smug tone rings in his ears. Jihoon could already hear her mischievous lips saying those exact words to retort to him.

He remains his glance over her, following her every move like a hawk hunting for its prey. He suppressed a sigh. Even seeing her in her pajama pants, feeling way too comfortable and home-y to be even in a different house common room.

Jihoon just grips on the book at hand and then settled to place it on the table nearby.

“Come on. I’m asking you. Answer me,” he pressed with a tone full of authority.

But she gave no flying broomsticks about it.

“How bossy,” she snickers, finally talking after being silent at Jihoon.

He just glares at her.

“Come on. Jun told me how to get in… And I know things around here already.” She says nonchalantly, as if it’s gonna convince him. He just puffs, way too distracted to even go back to the book he’s reading.

He stares right at her.

“Have you even forgotten about that ‘raincheck’ we talked about, Ji?” she slightly tilts her head sideways, then puts her lips into a thin line. “Earlier?  …this week?”

More staring.

“You told me? Because you were busy and…” She bits her lip, necessarily pausing to give time for him to put the puzzle pieces together, but he’s just left with more pieces. Y/n suppresses a huff.  “Nothing…?”

She crosses her arms when Jihoon looked more confused than he already is with handling plants in their Herbology classes. And FYI, he got an E on his O.W.L.S. result.

“I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about.” He says in defeat. Y/n only nods absentmindedly, leaning in close to him to remind him of some things.

“You told me that I can come by this week since your schedule’s more free, and that if I can come by at my convenience… I can then spend time together with you in the dorms...” she says, as if laying out a parchment of proof for him to remember. Exams might’ve taken a huge toll on his brain power hence being so absentminded.

Jihoon goes back to his stern look at her, as if he really can’t trace back on anything that he might possibly said.

Y/n slumps her shoulders yet again.

“At least look like you’re happy to see me.” Y/n cooed, gesturing a bit of affection to trickle out of the male’s sharp expression.

Finally, Jihoon’s features soften.

Okay, he does remember some of it coming off his lips, but I didn’t mean it in a sense you barging in here like a mad woman…  He holds back a sigh.

“Well, I am, but still…” He looks away for a moment, worrying his lower lip. Being a prefect he is… he’s also bothered of course. She might get in trouble.  Not on my watch that she’ll get away with it, that is.

“Stop worrying too much, and let me be…” She says in retort, automatic as if reading his mind. But that’s full of guts for her to express. “Besides, the seniors know me too well. I assure you I am safe here.” She stretches a bit, and even gets comfortable by the toasty fire nearby. It contrasts with the cold stares the older male is giving her, along with the cold weather cooping them inside.

He rolls his eyes at her, letting out a chuckle. 

“This is why you get issued on how much of a Slytherin you are.”

“And do you think I care, Oppa?” Y/n sat right up at that, then pouts her lips, playing with the ends of her sleeves. “I don’t think that’s a bad thing though.”

“Like I said, so Slytherin-like of you.”

Y/n emits a soft laugh at that, standing up to even do a curtsy for him. “Thank you, my good Sir.”

It remained quiet after a while.

Even as she gives him a smirk, she still gets silence from the older male. The coldness surrounding them reflects the feeling like the foggy glassed walls enrapturing the muddled stares between them. It’s a distinct type of tension, no words are needed to be exchanged to reveal it.  

Y/n shakes her head lightly, perking a brow at him followed by a cheeky smile. “So that means to say I am welcome here anytime then, huh?”

That finally got a reaction from him.

“Unbelievable.”

“Dude , you’ve been seeing bizarre, floating things and disappearing objects on and off for almost two decades,” she throws her hands high, then gesturing at him and to herself, “and you do not believe in an enchanted lady like me?”

“I do agree with the ‘enchanted lady’ part.” He responds and then clears his throat.

Jihoon avoids his gaze as he begins to feel he’s letting himself loose. He shrugs off the blush across his ears and cheeks with a question he had been throwing at the younger.

“What actually brings you here, Y/n?”

She laughs at that, putting both her hands behind her. “Oh, come on, babe. No need to sound so casual.” Y/n smiles. 

He just sounded stiff there at his probe.

She pats him on the head. “Lighten up a bit.”

In these instances, he begins to question if they really switched houses. He gets quieter and curious-er whenever she’s around, and her being the sneaky and more of the talker between them.

“I will, now that I got you here.”

Without a word, Y/n envelopes Jihoon in her arms, giving him a light peck on the side of his face. Jihoon wraps his arms around her as he kisses the top of her head.

He breathes in her scent, feeling her legs wrap around his. Jihoon stares at her. “You missed me too much, huh?”

Y/n just warmly beams, nodding in response.

Jihoon then puts a stray hair of hers behind her ear, tucking more of her hair behind her jumper. He leans closer to her again, seeping in more of her warmth.

She scrunches her nose at that, with Jihoon’s eyes forming into light crescents as both of them are immersed into each other’s world again. 

They just let the sound of the loud pouring rain seep into them, letting the warmth of each other be enough to ease the coldness they feel.

“What are the odds to have both our classes cancelled, huh?” Jihoon asks after a while, content as the sound of the rain is still evident outside. Y/n finally has done her explaining to him.

“And what better way to spend it like this then.” She leans more on his chest, breathing in his fresh scent with ease as she felt vibrations from him as he lets out a chuckle.

“It does feel nice…” he says, more of a thought out loud.

“And come on, champ, let’s not use our spare time thinking about that and just spend it wisely instead.” she prompts with a pat on his shoulder, scootching closer till they’re no longer hair strands apart. So clingy.

“I’m just saying.” Jihoon moves his arm above the shoulder, playing bits of her hair.

She feels his shoulders relaxing as he heaves in a deep breath.

It feels nice here, it gets more comfortable as time passes, she thought, closing her eyes.

Like home.

She lets the silence envelop them, a smile slowly forming a similar curve on both their lips.

Maybe she does belong here after all.

She accepts her Slytherin side more so in these instances.

And imagine if they were in the same house though… She can get all the time she needs and wants to have him at arm’s length and look after him.

But for now, she can manage very well to slither in their dorm to her convenience.

※ my masterlist | #enjeiwrites ※

[forjongseong]

masterlist for jongseong

code: ❤️‍🔥 smut / 💛 fluff / 💗 suggestive / 💙 angst / 3️⃣ written in 3rd person POV

words of affirmation; bf!jay au (released on May 19, 2022)

summary: you’ve put on a couple of pounds and it bothers you, but your boyfriend is there to remind you that you’re beautiful. // wc: ~1.6k ❤️‍🔥3️⃣

quality time; bf!jay au (released on Jun 9, 2022)

summary: you’re on a date with your boyfriend, and you bump into your ex :/ // wc: ~1.3k 💛💗3️⃣

quiet; bf!jay au (released on Jun 20, 2022)

summary: you're helping your ex with a second opinion while a potential new love interest is waiting for you (or the two of you) right outside... // wc: ~1.2k 💛3️⃣

rolex; bf!jay au (released on Jul 12, 2022)

summary: spending absolute quality time with a potential new love interest... who seems to keep throwing questions that feel like hugs. // wc: ~1.5k 💛3️⃣

favorito; bf!jay au (released on Jul 21, 2022)

summary: you get home from a lovely dinner with your boyfriend's parents, and since you didn't get to order dessert, your boyfriend fixes something for you. // wc: ~2.1k ❤️‍🔥3️⃣

mareado; bf!jay au (released on Jul 28, 2022)

summary: you wake up in your boyfriend's arms after a long night. // wc: ~1.1k 💛💗3️⃣

la boca; bf!jay au (released on Jul 31, 2022)

summary: your boyfriend is back from an overseas schedule and you just can't wait to jump on him. // wc: ~2.4k ❤️‍🔥3️⃣

maybe baby; bf!jay au (released on Aug 4, 2022)

summary: after a pleasant dinner, you invite Jay to stay the night at your place. // wc: ~1.9k 💛💗3️⃣

taste; bf!jay au (released on Aug 13, 2022)

summary: you've been dating for a while and tonight is the night you decide to go for a taste of your boyfriend. // wc: ~2.1k ❤️‍🔥3️⃣

overworked; bf!jay au (released on Aug 18, 2022)

summary: your boyfriend visits you for his off days to find you chasing a deadline. despite this, he chooses to stay and be in your presence to support you. // wc: ~2.6k ❤️‍🔥3️⃣

jealous; bf!jay au (released on Jul 15, 2022)

summary: you attend the party of the year and you're lost because your boyfriend isn't there to keep you company. luckily you've got a surprise waiting at home. // wc: ~3.4k ❤️‍🔥3️⃣

afterglow; bf!jay au (released on Aug 26, 2022)

summary: you come home from dinner with your boyfriend and when you end up arguing, you realize you have met your match. // wc: ~2.9k ❤️‍🔥3️⃣

the archer and his queen; royalty!au, archer!jay (released on Apr 6, 2023)

summary: As reigning queen, your most important task is to produce an heir, but without a king, you must exercise your power to find a worthy man. That man happens to be your kingdom's best archer. // wc: ~8.2k ❤️‍🔥

free fall; secret agents!au, doctor!jay (released on May 1, 2023)

summary: you were tasked to eliminate a target, which should be just another day in your life, but what were you supposed to do when said target was your ex-husband whom you had left months ago? // wc: ~1.3k 💗💙

first mate; pirates!au, quartermaster!jay (released on May 9, 2023)

summary: After the passing of the Captain, you had to mourn in your own way. Your ship's Quartermaster, Jay, showed his concern for you, and it tugged your heart in a way that you never thought could happen. // wc: ~2.3k ❤️‍🔥

bite me; royalty!au, knight!jay (released on June 10, 2023)

summary: a knight stumbles upon your castle, and unlike anyone you have encountered before, this young man seems to have a scent that you somehow cannot resist. // wc: ~6k ❤️‍🔥

the reward; campus!au, student!jay (released on June 12, 2023)

summary: you teach for a living, and you had been picking up tutoring since the extra money wasn’t that bad. most of your meetings consist of essay-writing, mock tests, and speaking exercises; so when Jay became your student, you weren’t expecting the lessons to include rewards. // wc: ~9.5k ❤️‍🔥

pine-fresh; hogwarts!au, slytherin!jay (released on September 17, 2023)

summary: a dash of bickering and a whole lot of miscommunication in Potions class landed you and Slytherin’s Park Jongseong in detention. did you ask for it? no. did you regret it? also, no. // wc: ~4k ❤️‍🔥

© forjongseong 2023, all rights reserved

please do not plagiarize, translate, or repost any of the works above to any other platform.

[dalivanmagritte]

FIC REC : SEVENTEEN

FICS REC LISTS PER MEMBER

choi seungcheol (scoups)

yoon jeonghan (jeonghan)

hong jisoo (joshua)

moon juinhui (jun)

kwon soonyoung (hoshi)

jeon wonwoo (wonwoo) part 2

lee jihoon (woozi)

lee seokmin (dk)

xu minghao (the8)

kim mingyu (mingyu) part.2

boo seungkwan (seungkwan)

chwe hansol (vernon)

lee chan (dino)

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SEVENTEEN OT13 (finishes series)

getting closer masterlist (serie finished, smut, angst, fluff, vampire!au)

the xperiments masterlist (serie finished, supernatural!au, angst mostly)

monster mash (serie finished, halloween!au, paranormal!au, smut, tons of differents versions of seventeen)

monster mash season 2 (serie finished, halloween!au, paranormal!au, smut, tons of differents versions of seventeen)

the letter box (finished serie, fluff)

SVT HUBS hyung line maknae line

14 nights of halloween (mostly smut and horror, supernatural!au)

fear : an ode to your blood (dont have the link bc @msmadness99 deactivated if anyone knows if the fic is somewhere else PLEASE lmk) (vampire!au, smut, horror?)

getting closer (an ode sequel) (same thing as fear: an ode to your blood)

SEVENTEEN OT13 (ongoing/unfinished)

amortentia (ongoing serie, hogwarts!au, fluff, angst)

welcome to seventeen world (ongoing serie, CEO!au)

mafia seventeen (ongoing serie, smut, mafia!au)

imprinted (serie ongoing, werewolf!au, differents stories, smut, fluff, angst depending on the member)

tales from the pack (serie ongoing, werewolf!au, differents stories, smut, fluff, angst depending on the member)

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reaction

finding nude pola (smut, suggestive)

walking on you and them (smut)

Other bloggers masterlist/fic recs

sebuntease masterlist (mostly smut)

bbugyu headcanons/recs

[sanccharine]

mishaps gone right masterlist

hogwarts au

pairing: hufflepuff!tzuyu x slytherin!reader genre: fluff, slice of life word count: 0.5k for teaser; currently 45.9k for the series; 1.1k for bonus chapters

warnings: injuries, blood, bullying, implied bad parents, swearing—more will be added as the series continues

summary: whether on the field or during class, you never shied away from trouble. and in your sixth year, trouble seemed to follow you like a shadow, though you couldn't complain. especially when that series of misfortunes led you to the transfiguration prodigy, chou tzuyu. includes: red velvet's yeri, viviz's sinb, ateez, dreamcatcher's gahyeon; idols from 98 line and forward

status: ongoing | last updated: jun 03 2024 a/n: since around nov 25 2020, this fic has been haunting me and it is finally being released HFSJDKFH also i have no schedule and write sporadically, so expect updates to be the same :]

teaser

chapter 1: a hufflepuff and a slytherin chapter 2: the trajectory of a bread roll chapter 3: getting away with cheating chapter 4: potential, promises, and plotting chapter 5: something stupid chapter 6: major tackling fail chapter 7: how to break a nose 101 chapter 8: truest intention, deadliest curse chapter 9: headmistress boa again? chapter 10: spiralling... chapter 11: troublemakers. prodigies. chapter 12: what the fuck was that? chapter 13: winners and losers chapter 14: communication: the key to healthy relationships chapter 15: child labour more to come...

bonus chapters — everything forgotten | 1.1k

taglist: @someone-who-likes-broccoli @tatliegilim @nanabongos @pandafuriosa60 @eternallyghosting

send an ask to be added !

[ilovebellatrixandseverus]

HP longfic rec collection

With reddit closing down, and a lot of rec lists being lost to the public that way, I made a post on here asking for recommendations, and now that there were some in the notes - thank you all! - I thought I'd share them here! Feel free to reblog add to it, more the better! Starting and ending this beginning list with one of my own favs each to give you all some recs back:

Wizards in space by esama on Ao3, almost 50k

The Dumbledore's Army use the Room of the Requirement to get themselves a spaceship.

Harry Potter & Stargate fusion, No Warnings, Gen, Complete Work 27 Feb 2015, HP LJ GW FW HG RW LL GW CC ME, AU - Canon Divergence, Dumbledore's Army IN SPACE!, Science Fiction, Chapters: 10/10 Comments: 456 Kudos: 4807, (Knowledge about Stargate is not necessary to read this story)

Reccing this because I adore it so much it always makes me feel things!

Secrets by Vorabiza on ao3, almost 400k words.

Beginning with Draco's unexpected arrival at the Dursleys, Harry's summer after sixth year becomes filled with activity and many secrets. As his summer progresses, Harry generates several unexpected allies as he finds himself actively becoming the leader of the Light side. H/D post-HBP ~~Complete~~

Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Drama, Romance, Explicit Language, Sexual Content

Recced by @niccolo-machiavelli07 with the note 'contains good Snape and Malfoy's. I do need to warn you that it's Drarry and Draco has a literal kid...'

Harry Crow by Robst on FfNet - 700+k

What will happen when a goblin-raised Harry arrives at Hogwarts. A Harry who has received training, already knows the prophecy and has no scar. With the backing of the goblin nation and Hogwarts herself. Complete.

Harry Potter, T, English, chapters: 106, favs: 31k+, follows: 19k+, updated: Jun 8, 2014 published: Jun 5, 2012, [Harry P., Hermione G.]

Recced by @elizabethgoudge with the note 'Harry Crow is quite hetero, but has a super interesting premise about goblins and is very long. He has another one with interesting elves, as well.' and I have read the fic before and can second the recommendation! It's an amazing longfic.

Delenda Est on FFnet (Reboot & Original) 100+k

Dying, Bellatrix uses her heirloom to send Harry to the past. There, he can try stopping Voldemort while making the acquaintance of a young and impressionable Bellatrix Black, who may opt to serve Lord Black instead of Voldemort. H/B. Rewrite of DE with different plot, some new characters. No need to read original. Backwards compatible with PB.

Harry Potter, T, English, Adventure & Romance, chapters: 12, favs: 1k+, follows: 2k+, updated: May 8 published: May 2, 2022, Harry P., Bellatrix L.

Recced by @str82theheartpls with the note 'my all-time fave is being rebooted and the original is amazing too'. Description of the original version is 'Harry is a prisoner, and Bellatrix has fallen from grace. The accidental activation of Bella's treasured heirloom results in another chance for Harry. It also gives him the opportunity to make the acquaintance of the young and enigmatic Bellatrix Black as they change the course of history.'

Oh God Not Again! By Sarah1281 on Ao3 & ffnet, 150+k

So maybe everything didn't work out perfectly for Harry. Still, most of his friends survived, he'd gotten married, and was about to become a father. If only he'd have stayed away from the Veil, he wouldn't have had to go back and do everything AGAIN.

Gen - Hermione Granger & Harry Potter & Ron Weasley, Draco Malfoy & Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom & Harry Potter, Sirius Black & Remus Lupin & Harry Potter, Luna Lovegood & Harry Potter - Old Fic, Humor, Time Travel, like literally, originally posted september13 2008 on ff.net, story completed as of december 2009

Recced by @polyvirnl with the note '"Oh God Not This Again" is very good', and I can second that, I read and rearead the fic many times, it's crazy awesome!

The Andromeda Program on Ao3 120+k

Hermione Granger is one of the select few to join the prestigious Andromeda Program to explore space for all of humanity. She thinks it will be an excellent opportunity to prove her worth and show her mettle, but perhaps living on a spaceship and spending her time with the same group of people is not all it's cracked up to be. Or maybe one person in particular is making it especially difficult.

Hermione Granger/Severus Snape, Alternate Universe - Space, Alternate Universe - Muggle, Healer Severus, Adult Hermione, Medical Inaccuracies, Minor Injuries, Slow Burn, Swearing, Angst, Power Imbalance, Alcohol

Recced by @echoofawind with the note 'I love The Andromeda Program. It's a Severus x Hermione muggle Sci-fi AU that has Ender's Game vibes'

Pride of Time by Anubis Ankh on Ao3

Hermione quite literally crashes her way back through time by roughly twenty years. There is no going back; the only way is to go forward. And when one unwittingly interferes with time, what one expects may not be what time finds...

Mature, Violence, F/M, HG/SS, Time-Turner, Time Travel,bChapters: 51/51 COMPLETE Jun 2012, Comments: 438 Kudos: 3133 COMPLETE

Reccing this because once you start reading you can't stop! I don't usually read Snamione and I have no idea how I ended up here first, but I've reread it twice since! Hermione as a death eater spy's wife is amazing.

If you have any other fic recs, feel free to reblog and add them to the post!

Note that reblogs are better than replies (or likes) because reblogs help share the post around - so more people get the recs, and more people see the post and might add their own recs as well!

If you rec more than three please use a readmore under the first or so, so not to spam everyone's dash!

[greenflamedwriter]

HP au

Since a03 is down HERES a little something :D Enjoy.

Harry Potter AU with Binghe/QIngqiu. Its Cang Qiong school [like hogwarts] with the four houses slytherin etc but the ministry of magic is Huan Hua. And Yue Qingyuan is the headmaster. So Shen Qingqiu [slytherin] bullies and abuses Luo Binghe the kid one year younger and then Binghe gets powerful and then takes his revenge by killing and tortuing his childhood bully.

So of course Shen Yuan dies and gets drop kicked into this HP fanfiction ):

Shen Yuan transmigrated into Shen Qingqiu the rival of Luo binghe inthe opposing house of slytherin to his Griffendor. He was doomed! after Binghe’s rise to power he tortures Shen Qingqiu in the worse way making him wish for death. Binghe's use of leglimency destroys Shen Qingqiu’s mind better and leaves him a husk thats only AFTER his limbs had been ripped off. well better than Shang Qingqiu, who ends up chocking himself to death from mobei juns curse.

Already they were in fifth year and after another year Luo binghe will fall into the abyss during the triwizard tournament, it wasn’t the school years that was the worst, it’s what came after at the ministry of Huan hua.

Luo Binghe would become the new chief warlock and minister and to do that needed a lot of votes so he ended up needing most of the seats of the ministry lords and ladies not only becoming powerful and destroying Shen Qingqiu’s reputation he became a powerful dark wizard. And there were so many loose threads of potential! but that hack writer was always inconsistent, creating plot holes and problems then ignoring it! Airplane should spend less time on Twitter and more focused on this mess of a magical fantasy world!

Poly juice potion! Easily made by third years and yet bypasses the ministry of magic when Luo Binghe and Liu Mingyan pretended to be important figure heads and -you guessed it- stole important and classified documents!

Thank god the bank was run by demons! At least their money was safe along with the cursed artefacts it was protected! If cultivators were in charge all of them would be bankrupt! 

And now here he was staring at the small white lotus before him. Luo Binghe was on his hands and knees bullied and humiliated in front of all of his peers. Shen Qingqiu cursed, it was too late he had been abusing Binghe his whole childhood if he acted nice now it would be ooc!

And Binghe’s eyes flashed with hatred as Ming Fan laughed mockingly, Shen Qingqiu grimaced although it looked like a sneer at Binghe but truthfully. Ming fan was in a world of hurt. This was when everything went downhill for Shen Qingqiu when he started getting his karma and Shen Yaun rotted for it. Now that he WAS the character he knew he had to avoid his fate.

“Enough, you’ve tortured the beast enough.” Shen Qingqiu walked away and of course Ming fan would follow now that left it up for one of Binghe’s ladies to find him. 

During his time trying to find a way to FIX this mess he ends up finding airplane who looks pretty bullied by Mobei-jun. Shen Qinqiu pressed him up against the wall of the boys toilets stalls. “You have to get me out of this! It’s your dumbfuck writing that landed me here!”

“Hey I’m in here too! My death is just awful!” Shen Qingqiu scowled then closed his eyes, “If you help me, I’ll keep you away from Mobei-jun and break that curse.” Shang Qinghua looked relieved and decided to tell Shen Qingqiu ‘everything’ about his draft and plot lines and where they were going to go. Turns out airplane had been in this world longer so he figured out early on it would go with his original script and not the one he settled on to pay the bills.

“Why are you avoiding a-Lou?” Ning Yingying asked and Shen qingqiu grimaced turns out he had his own bully qui jianlou who was also nicknamed a-Lou and it triggered Shen Qingqiu of his past.

Also, the reason Shen Qingqiu bullied Binghe was because he had a crush on Ning Yingying although Shen Yuan never saw the appeal and also trying to go after Binghe’s ladies is a no- no!

And he could see he was stressing binghe out not attacking him, the waiting and anticipation probably had his nerves on edge the poor thing.

His response was so crazy it might work hopefully Luo binghe may understand and be disgusted and want to avoid him maybe if Shen Qingqiu plays it up in the torture later on it might make Luo Binghe back off? Who knows it was worth a try.

“I like him.” Shen Qinqiu spoke “An infatuation that I misinterpreted as loathing sometimes you get the two confused.” Ning Yingying blinked “You know pulling pigtails? You tease or bully someone you like?”

She puffed her cheeks “that’s not very nice! And it’s not true you’ve never expressed any interest in a-Lou like that!”

“Well I would never treat someone I love like that but the thing was a-Ning I didn’t know! Now that I understand what those feelings are I’m ashamed, and I do know a lot about Binghe.” He spoke nose in the air. And Ning Yingying placed her hands on her hips eyes narrowed.

“What’s his favourite colour?”

“Red, he wears it in his wardrobe all the time and if not that then Black.” Because of his poor upbringing he couldn't experiment on colours and always settled on black, it was easy to clean as well.

She blinked not expecting that, then began to question Shen Qingqiu on everything he knew about Luo Binghe and he answered every single one. He was a binghe stan and read these books religiously and battled many a troll online he can recite Binghe’s introduction chapter by heart! 

And Ning Yingying watched how he grew more animated and passionate as he listed of each question he knew Binghe’s favourite food [the same one as his mothers meal that he cooked for her and she smiled and complimented him and it was plain congee, which he feeds his ladies with all the time and yet each one never appreciated it or cared to understand the signifigance] his best friends, his favourite subject his least favourite subject.

“It’s charms which makes sense since he’s-“ he cut himself and remembered Luo Binghe would probably see these memories in a pensive, he grimaced when he realised how uch he was geeking out.

Ning Yingying watched how Shen Qingqiu stood up straighter clearing his throat as if he wasn't just waxing poetry about Binghes hair. The thing is the wizarding world was sensitive to certain topics such as dark light and nuetral wizards. Dark wizards were ostricised and looked down on for being evil. And since Shen Qingqiu is from a dark family and an advocate for it is obviously the villain while Binghe is a prophosised chosen one. Luo Binghe had little romps through the castle stealing a pensive and using it. And if it came to light that Luo Binghe was a dark wizard well-

Oh it was a shock to him too airplane called it irony, that Shen Qingqiu the first son of a line of dark witches and wizards had a light core because it was revealed that he was a bastard and would soon be disowned for being a light wizard. Unable to continue that line meanwhile binghe the champion of the light was in fact a dark core wizard because of his father Tianglang-Jun jun who was currently in Azkaban.

 Charms was a light subject while defense or actual dark arts itself was obviously dark. Luo binghe was going against his core and if it goes on for too long may end up destroying it. Hence the abyss he learns that little secret and ends up becoming all powerful and over turning the Huan hua masters and overtaking Cang Qiong school and changing the subjects to be more aligned with the proper cores.

One person had almost destroyed their core by two opposing sides using the wrong magic that rebounded, Liu Qingge. Who was currently in a coma in the medical bay being looked after by their professors. He would’ve been moved the Qian Co peak to be monitored by mediwitches but Mu Qingfan moved into the school personally so to make it easier for school mates and Liu Mingyan to visit her brother since there was nothing they could do for him but wait for him to wake up.

Of course Shen Qingqiu must have murdered Liu qinnge in his sleep and airplane said; “Nope all me, to frame Shen Qingqiu as public enemy number one away from the obviously suspicious me. But this time I won’t do that so Liu Qingge will wake up and tell everyone it was ‘him’ that did a dodgy spell and not you!” 

Yes the reason that Shen Qingqiu wasn’t suspended after their duel was because they couldn't take the other side of the story innocent until proven guilty.

Blame Yue Qingyuan for that, the headmaster of Cang Qiong. Their was a weird relationship between him and Shen Qingqiu and airplane told him it’s better if he didn’t know he’ll tell him depending on if they live or not.

 Which wasn’t reassuring.

“Ming fan stop bullying the beast, it’s just depressing at this point. We’re fifth years it’s time to act our age.” Ming fans face fell “Of course Shen -shixiong.”

How he got followers is beyond him, his Ning Yingying is his friend was also puzzling.

And he could see Luo Binghe’s glower.  _________________________________________________________

“A little birdie told me you had a crush on me.” Shit.

Keeping his expression blank he calmly replied “Yes? What of it?”

“It seems unfair that I was faced with so much abuse over something so trivial, I deserve compensation.” 

Shen Qingqiu sneered “as if, this one can’t take back everything he’s done. So what do you want?”

“Well I was just wondering what if you were lying? Just to avoid all the consequence of bullying me?” Shen Qingqiu Definitely wilted in guilt. “I’m sorry.”

That seemed to shock Luo binghe at the apology but Shen qinqiu meant it. Luo binghe didn’t deserve any of that.

 Also how crappy is this situation? If binghe even believed it or returned his feelings that is borderline abusive and a dash of Stockholm syndrome if Shen qinqiu was reading this he would spit blood!

Although Luo binghe did have some questionable wives who were just as cruel then became his ladies to his lord so maybe binghe would be into it-

He kissed him, Shen Qingqiu made a startled noise at the back of his throat as binghe kissed him and- and- he was good at it! So binghe already had some ladies under his belt, good for him!

And Shen Qingqiu moaned, melting into a puddle like putty in Binghe’s hands, he was really good at this. Shen Qingqiu eyes slid shut deepening the kiss and following Binghe and chasing him when he pulled back until the kiss broke.

Oh he had to prove it. They had to pretend.

“D-don’t mess with my feelings if you don’t mean it.” Shen Qingqiu scowled, face flushed red and he was fighting to calm down and not feel so hot. “Likewise.”

So pretend dating. He could do this, when binghe took his hand as both slytherin and griffendors were paired he stiffened then scowled pulling at Binghe’s hand under the table. Binghe had his other hand in his cheek looking up at Shen Qingqiu, he hadn't had his growth spurt yet and Shen Qingqiu knew when Luo Binghe got bigger and towered over him Shen QIngqiu became more irritated and lashed out more in fear as well as envy.

 “Surely this looks worse, Qingqiu.” 

Huh? He looked at him oddly, how was it worse? He glanced at their shared hands then looked back up “Uh, how is it worse?” he still didn't understand, Binghe looked delighted and leaned close to whisper in his ear “hands under the table to do strange things,” Binghe’s hand moved to Shen Qingqiu’s thigh although they were still holding hands so Shen Qingqiu’s was taken along for the ride and it still didn’t make sense to him.

“Or this,” then Binghe moved their combined hands closer to the inside and Shen Qingqiu snatched his hand back his ears red “Shamless.” He hissed beneith his breath.

Binghe was mocking him but this was fine he could do this. Better than the alternative.

Unaware that binghe had learned. Leglimency early on practising with his ladies and more contact with someone the more he can use it without sharing eye contact and since Shen Yuan was new to the magical world didn’t know when someone’s mind brushed against his and had no defences and was an open book.

_________________________________________________________

As Luo Binghe is now suspicious of Shen Qingqiu he, with his invisibilty cloak takes Liu Mingyan and Ning Yingyin as they follow Shen Qingqiu as he disapears at odd hours. It's suspicious.

So, As they follow him and Shen Qingqiu is going through secret turns and loops in the castle that even they didn't know about startle to see him going towards the medical ward.

And see him approach Liu Qingge's bed.

Liu Mingyan almost exposed them so Luo Binghe grabbed her arm keeping her still.

Truthfully Liu Mingyan visits her brother all the time and swore to avenge him and expose Shen Qingqiu as a murderur. Yet each time she visits her brother always has fresh flowers, she assumed it was Mu Qingfan or some student who idolised her brother but truthfully he didn't have many friends.

So the three watch in stunned fascination as Shen Qingqiu disposed of the flowers Liu Mingyan almost snarled before freezing when Shen Qingqiu reached into a bag and pulled out a fresh batch of flowers to place beside the bed.

And his face, Shen Qingqiu looked miserable. Alone in the ward he had no need for pretense. And yet he scratched his neck as he gazed down at Liu QIngge.

"You need to wake up you know. And cut down on the beatuy sleep you're already too beautiful." He spoke reaching out and taking Liu Qingge hand. He looked awkward and irritated.

"I still not used to this- and don't laugh at me!" Shen Qingqiu growled out glaring at the sleeping man "Muggle's spoke about talking to comotase patients and that sometimes they can hear them." He rubbed his thumb against a pale calloused hand that barely responded.

Shen Qingqiu sighed closing his eyes "This is stupid."

But he kept talking, about his day, his spells how Liu Qingge should hurry up and wake up.

"They think I'm going to hex them every time I walk past and yet it was you or tried a spell that was not in lign with your core but no your Liu Qingge you don't listen to reason."

Shen Qingqiu waited and only watched the steady rise and fall of the others chest.

"The more you lay asleep on this bed like the useless shidi you are, the worse it'll be." Shen Qingqiu pressed his lips together looking more and more irritated.

"Liu Mingyans in danger." He spoke with a smirk on his face as he leaned closer, "If you don't wake up I'll hurt her. And it'll be your fault because you decided to lie in instead. I'll do it, it'll be so easy. And you will just let it happen."

And the strangest thing happened.

Liu Qingge's hand twitched.

The three watched stunned as Shen Qingqiu gaped then with new vigor leaned closer "I'm going to do it Liu Qingge, you'll wake up and find out your little sister is dead because of me. The scum villain." He spoke energetic "It'll be so easy, I'll just use polyjuice potion and pretend to be someone she knows someone familiar and lead her out to a secluded area I'll even use that persons wand."

His face truly looked monstrous, like a villain and yet it was all said to wake up Liu Qingge. Because he knew his brother would do anything for his sister.

The things he said was in contrast to his actions and instead of exposing or revealing any answers of Shen Qingqiu only raised more questions.

And Liu Mingyan watched as how Liu Qingge brow furrowed and how even Shen Qingqiu held his breath a genuine smile on his face waiting for Liu Qingge to wake up-

But nothing.

Shen Qingqiu slumped in disapointment. Still holding Liu Qingges hand in a vice like grip.

"Maybe you don't care about her, huh?" he tried one more time but nothing.

Shen Qingqiu scrubbed his face then flinched when he felt something behind him.

"You are doing well, Shen Qingqiu. Talking helps the both of you and this master knows Liu Qingge will wake up in his own time."

Shen Qingqiu looked away "But what if he doesn't? this- does it even work?" Shen Qingqiu asked ripping his hand away and looking up at Mu Qingfan.

The Medi-wizard sighed and looked down "Magic is...a delicate thing. And is very unpredictable the only thing we can do is observe and wait."

"Damn this Shidi of mine, casuing everyone grief...he responded a little at one point."

"Oh? What happened?"

Shen Qingqiu turned around leaning his arms over the chair and resting on it "I threatened his sister, I thought he was going to wake up."

The wizard nodded "Maybe that might wake him up, if Liu Qingge could hear and has some awarness it might give him the push to wake up. Liu Mingyan visits but she never speaks if she keeps consistent it might reinforce that something is wrong. It might wake Liu Qingge."

Shen Qingqiu nodded.

"There's only so many times I can threaten Liu Mingyans life..." Shen Qingqiu joked but still looked hopeless.

Luo Binghes hand clenched against the fabric as he gestured for the others to go.

missing the next interaction.

"You will end up like Liu Qingge if you continue on like this."

Shen Qingqiu looked away "This one has no clue on what you are reffering to Mr Mu."

"Liu Qingge has a nuetral core and tried a very powerful light spell. Thats what made him end up in this state. Your home studies and dark arts could land you in the same boat." Shen Qingqiu tensed "This student-"

"You are a light wizard, Shen Qingqiu. Not a dark or even nuetral. A pure light wizard and if you continue to do spells not alligned with your core then being bed ridden may not be the worse of it."

Shen Qingqiu sighed "This one would gladly but- it's impossible. My family are trying to salvage the dark arts- not all of it is evil!" Take a look at Luo Binghe! In his adventures he's always used his powers for good and to protect his wives!

"If it came out that their son is a light wizard- it doesn't matter if I'm related or not they'll spin it that any one can magically change their cores and alligment it'll reflect badly on the community."

Mu Qingfan sighed "I can't force you, but only in lessons but if you can help it never perform any dark art spells. And take this if you're going to damage your body." Shen Qingqiu blinked at the potion.

"Take that twice morning and night. it'll keep you stable." Shen Qingqiu blinked "I- thank you...and thank you for beliving me and letting me visit Liu-shidi."

Mu Qingfan shrugged "I'm a doctor I knew what happened from the lab results, but this one can't reveal the information as its client confidentialty and only Liu Qingge could reveal his core and story if he wants to."

Shen Qingqiu nodded in other words Mu Qingfan would love to put the rumours to rest that Shen Qingqiu was innocent. But with Yue Qingyuan being so biased and if Mu Qingfan showed no evidence then they would assume that Shen Qingqiu was manipulating them to get away with murder!

____________________________________________________________

In potion lessons, Shen Qingqiu sneers "Honestly? You have been a student this long?" He noticed Luo Binghe stiffen and moved towards the other moved bhind him as he leaned over Binghes shoulder and took his hands and guided them.

He began to cut the ingredients the right way and even the timing on when to place them in "Remember to crush these not to cut them-" He spoke then tsked in Luo Binghes ear as the other was stood frozen.

"You can cook- I fail to understand how you can be this incompetent at potions." Shen Qingqiu bemoaned, this was because of that stupid fake potions book wasn't it!?

As Shen Qingqiu moved to his own cualdron, he let his thoughts run wild and Binghe was listening to everyone of them.

Damn those brats, Binghe had great potential and they sabotaged him. oh look there he goes.

Luo Binghe listened to his guidance and started treating potions like he did cooking ignoring the book and listening to his instincts instead.

look, he's a natural! of course Binghe is the best and could excel at anything he chooses too but people are so jelaous they have to hold him back! Such a waste!

But there are times when Binghe pretends to be stupid! I can see you, y'know that white lotus act doesnt work on me, protagonist!

Shen Qingqiu sounded annoyed and was even taking it out on his potions. He was really passionate about Luo Binghes wasted potential.

He heard Shen Qingqiu sneer "Was it that hard to be competent?" He asked with a raised eyebrow as Luo Binghes potion passed with flying colours for once.

Of course he's competent, Binghe is amazing. If he wanted to could wipe the floor with anyone here including me! Shen Qingqiu thought looking at his cauldron and Binghe felt his ears flush red.

"Beast- why is your face red?" Shen QIngqiu spoke ah I hate calling him that! but he'll find it suspicious if I stop now- and I cant call him Binghe its too shameful! i don't deserve to call him that, after what I did.

"Are you allergic? Do we need to call Qingfan?" He asked his tone was devoid but Binghe could see the worry.

He's not sick is he- is Binghe even allergic to anything? Does he know? Maybe we can get him tested he was muggle-raised he wouldn't have HAD the wizard vaccines for dragon pox and kneazles shit!

Shen QIngqiu was starting to sound more panicked but Luo Binghe watched in slow motion as Shen Qingqiu placed a hand over his forehead "You're not running a fever..."

Luo Binghe took his hand "This one is fine- just..." Binghe looked away.

"Can you stop calling me that?"

"Hmm? Call you what?"

"Beast, I have a name."

He noticed the relief as the other found himself easily agreeing just as uncomfortable with the name as Binghe was and yet...it started to change. Binghe was almost seeing it as a term of endearment and never bothered to correct it.

But it obviously bothered him.

"Call me Binghe. We are together aren't we?" Binghe asked squeezing Shen Qingqiu hand before relaxing. Now it was Shen Qingqiu's turn to flush.

"I-you, shamless!" He ripped his hand away and went back to his cauldron grabbing his book...that was upset down and Shen Qingqiu eyes were laser focused on the writing.

But clearly not reading it.

I cant call him that- too informal! too close I don't deserve it! Shameful! Only his girlfriends call him that! and this- this isn't, he's just testing me because its pretend!

Ah, Luo Binghe leaned closer "Qingqiu." The other stiffened as he spoke in his ear "Your book is upside down." Shen Qingqius face exploded red.

Binghe was disapointed the first time he heard Shen Qingqiu call it pretend he thought it was another form of bullying. Until he heard his thoughts. Shen Qingqiu liked him and that was the truth, and honestly thought Binghe was playing with him.

But the best part was how even Shen Qingqiu thought if he liked guys, hypothetically and dated it would take him months maybe even years to get the courage to hold someones hand. His last girlfriend took ages to kiss and then weeks later they broke up.

Pretending made his Shizun a bit more forward, too thin face. But to not be caught in the 'lie' ended up inniciating a lot more. Luo Binghe sat back down, his palm on his cheek as he watched his flustered shixiong. Luo Binghe was observent and had noticed how other students older and younger would act towards people they liked.

And Binghe was slowly starting to accept the truth that Shen Qingqiu truly had no idea, misplaced loathing for loving. Luo Binghe scowled when he thought of the relationship he had with the headmaster, Shen Qingqiu was just as prissy and even yelled at the teacher in front of others. And yet he saw the two always going to the office or having tea together in the mornings.

Just what was their relationship?

He couldn't read Yue Qingyuans mind, for some reason his mind was very strong and not easy to gain access into, when his eyes locked onto Binghes he immiedtly backed off and never tried again.

Luo Binghe still hadn't forgiven Shen Qingqiu at first but then noticed the other actually stick up for Luo Binghe and even told his followers to back off. For the first time Luo Binghe was able to just...be at Cang Qiong and learn without worrying about someone trying to hurt him and the more time he spent with Shen Qingqiu the less he was bothered.

...it was nice.

He didn't want to forgive Shen Qingqiu but he could see he was trying, and even went out of his way to help Luo Binghe. He even secretly left the castle with Binghe to get him his wand.

Shen Qingqiu told him to shut up as he payed for it, as Luo Binghe could never afford his own wand and had to get it cheap or second hand, of course Shen Qingqius thoughts were crying for Binghe.

No wonder he was behind! Imagine the power he has with an actual wand that works for him!

Something tells Binghe that maybe the reason Shen Qingqiu was frustrated with him, was how weak and pitful he was as a kid but knew he was a strong and powerful wizard. Then once he realised WHY Binghe was doing so poorly went out of his way to fix it and the weirdest part?

Luo Binghe soaked up the praise and actually wanted to TRY and be better, he never cared for school before but now he actually tried.

When he showed his homework to Shen Qingqiu for pointers the other sniffed "Adequete."

Luo Binghe is amazing! Look how much he's improved even his penmenship has gotten better! Thats my Binghe the smartest student in this school!

Luo Binghe, may have became obsessed to the point of even neglecting his girlfriends. He never told Shen Qingqiu and his girls never minded either they were just happy to be a part of his life and didn't mind sharing.

And Ning Yingyin was his first with Liu Mingyan his second then Sha Hualing came after, and the thing was...they reminded him of Shen Qingqiu. His explosive temper could rival the demon saintess, the way he was cold and aloof and barely spoke like Liu Mingyan or when he genuinly cared and only wanted what was best for binghe he was smart Shen Qingqiu but at times came across as naive he had some strengths but understanding people? That was his weakness. Like Ning yingying.

And to think if it wasn't for her, Luo Binghe may have missed this.

________________________________________________________

On another adventure to expose Shen Qingqiu, he found out he was having private lessons away from the school in a hidden underground classroom.

Probably indoctirating his followers, even though they were dating and Luo Binghe found himself liking Shen Qingqiu of all people he still didn't trust him.

Luo Binghe was the chosen one he was told that as soon as he entered the wizarding world but at what? He still didn't understand it or what people wanted from him and Shen Qingqiu was his enemy. Almost all the adults around them told them that.

Shen Qingqiu was scum, evil and cruel and Luo Binghe was their saviour.

So when he and Ning Yingying entered the room, both Shen Qingqiu and they were surprised. It was a classroom with Shen Qingqiu teaching spells on a chalkboard.

This couldn't be it...right?

"Ah can I help you?" He seemed flustered a little and Luo Binghe smiled. "Not at all, this one heard you were giving lessons, and both Ning Yingying and I were wondering if we could join your study group."

"Piss off, Griffen, go away." Ming Fan growled but Shen Qingqiu spoke "Theres no need, you can stay. Pull up a chair."

Ming fan do you have a death wish!? and Ning yingying is right there! How are you expected to gain her attention while being a dick to her best friend honestly? Well, I never choose him as a friend for his brains.

"Now, that we've learned about the dangers of polyjuice potion and the petrificus totalus-"

"Is it true that you can use that to...do something to someone?"

"Like sexual assualt? Possibly." "And obliviate could remove such a memory?" The girl asked petrified "Yes, hyopthetically- are you okay?" He asked noticing her pale "How would you know?"

"Check a medi-wizard. They are well equipped with such things." He spoke no nonsense.

Luo Binghe felt Ning Yingying squeeze his hand almost horrified.

Luo Binghe was too, not once had he even considered such a thing...and these were light spells?

"Now onto Cores." Shen Qingqiu waved his wand and three chalkboards appeared with the chalks moving simultainlously to create illustrations, others awed at the talent of such a feat. Even Luo Binghe was watching.

Shen Qingqiu caught his eye then flushed looking away luckily as he was done as some chalk faltered in his hold. This is nothing! Binghe can do that and more!

"Now," he pointed to the middle board that had a venn diagram of Dark, Nuetral, Light with nuetral overlapping with too.

"Every witch or wizard has a core. you are born with such core and cannot change it, thats a myth going directly against your core could damage your meridians."

A hand raised "Whats meridians?"

"Its your magical veins in your body, squibs are usually people born unlucky, most are witches or wizards who have lost their magic and thats what a squib is a mage who has lost their magic."

"Then why aren't we taught this?" "Power in ignorance I imagine. Now Nuetral users can use only basic light or dark magic. Same as how dark and light can use nuetral" he circled an area and Luo Binghe realised it was in layers, like a number system.

Dark being 5, 4 3. Nuetral being 4, 3, 2 and with Light being 3, 2, 1

"So there are spells that all cores share, a 3 type spell such as alohamora. Why is that?"

"It unlocks doors so...an action spell?"

"Yes, spells that have no gain nor energy, even levitation is a 3 spell. But what can you tell me about the patronus charm?" "That its difficult?"

"Exactly its a light charm against dark creatures such as dementors. Now why do you struggle with it?"

"Because we're dark witches." The others stared and realised thats why they've been failing most of their lessons. Shen Qingqiu nodded "Exactly, this school curriculumn in all of china by the laws is only allowed to study light magic only."

"But- it'll make us lose our magic!" One cried and Shen Qingqiu nodded "They won't see the harm. If dark magic dies out only light magic will remain. So much has been lost for these new laws such as the Parcel tongue ability. And parcel tongue was the last of witches talking to creatures there were others who could speak to all manor of animals not just snakes. And now such an ability is gone, others who can shapeshift, veelas who can charm and bewitch so much gone. Because of ignorance."

There it was, the dark magic properganda.

"But I don't struggle?" A hand rose and Shen Qingqiu smiled "Maybe it might be that you are not a dark wizard?"

"No I am! My family is I'm a dark wizard!"

"Its okay, its okay!" Shen Qingqiu panicked at the sight of tears and flipped a board "See- Wei Wuxian is a prime example of why we can't change our cores and his input is important!"

"Wei Wuxian? That traitor? He deviated to the light side!"

Shen Qingqiu shook his head "I have letters," he flicked his wand and a ton of paper appeared and floated towards each student in the class.

"Most stole his work and research or even censcored the tomes he created, he wanted to appeal but they said they wouldn't publish unless these corrections were made. Here is the passages and theories he wanted to write. Currently his husband is fighting the freedom of speech amendment at the Huan Hua palace."

"Who?" "Hanguang-Jun."

There was silence "But hes a LIGHT wizard!" Shen Qingqiu nodded full on beaming "He was seen as a pillar for the rightous and active fighter for the light side, others think he's been bewitched by Wei Wuxian but hes the only one fighting alongside other dark witches and wizards for the right of dark magic being explored."

"But Wei Wuxian says that resentment is pure dark and shouldn't be tampered with."

"Wei Wuxian is a nuetral Core."

He didn't think he could keep shocking them "What he meant was as a nuetral wizard who had already damaged his meridians with pure light magic couldn't contain the dark resentment of the dark and ended up overtaxing his core. He almost died if it wasn't for Lan Wangi, now he's a squib whose lost all magical ability." And to think airplane left this out, if he hadn't listened to the rat and sent out letters inquiring about cores with the great demonic cultivator he wouldn't have found all this out.

"Wei Wuxian was an advocate for the dark side as he was best friends with Lady Wen. A dark witch who speicilised in medicine she almost lost all of her research by light wizards if it wasn't for the Grandmaster of demonic cultivation. Both worked together and he decided to be a test subject to investigate further into core magic. Core's are private there is a law that you can't reveal your core to anyone unless you have explicit permission from that person. Even medical witch and wizards cant tell anyone that a client has damaged their cores thus keeping it more silent from the wizarding world."

A hand raised "How can we check our cores so we don't lose our magic?"

"Well, I have just the thing here." Shen Qingqiu began to put on gloves and went over to retrieve something a crystal ball.

"Now this, is a magic glass that clouds with smoke. Black, grey and white. If you touch it, it'll show you your core."

"Now there is a curtain here if you want to do it privately, or if others don't mind sharing can come up now as I prepare the curtain. Don't all touch it at once or it'll get confused. One at a time."

He moved away to fix the curtain as others stood up walking towards the ball.

"Mines nuetral...but my parents told me I was dark?"

"Even the dark familys will also want their children to be dark they will disown any who have otherwise. They know how the light wizards will spin it that the dark are forcing their children to learn dark arts against their core and may even take them away deeming them unfit." The boy looked horrified as did the others.

Ning Yingying shook her head "They wouldn't!"

"Seen Wei Wuxian? The prodijy? How fast was he cast out when he began demonic cultivation." Ming Fan spoke and she deflated. She placed her hand on the orb and it was pure white. Of course. Ming Fans was grey.

And others began most pitch black but a small few were grey.

"Qingue-shixiong? What spells are grey and what spells are dangerous?"

Shen Qingqiu paused the curtain set up "I-I don't really know, no one has documented them. I could only guess so far."

"Then...then why don't we do it? You have a researcher who can help as well!"

"i don't know- we are not doing wei wuxian is doing we cant damage our bodies for this."

"It's going to happen anyway, in lessons we'll write down which magic was hard to do and which was easier and if anything hurts."

Shen Qingqiu pinched the bridge of his nose "I'll inform Mu Qingfan. Better to have a mediwizard on hand."

Once they were done and all students left Luo Binghe stayed behind.

Shen Qingqiu was avoiding his eyes, "Luo Binghe, can I help you?"

"To think this was where you were sneaking off too..." He raised his wand and Shen Qingqiu stiffened "Binghe?"

Why's he pointing it at me? Is he going to hurt me- why I didn't do anything I thought we were friends-

"Petrificus totallus."

Shen Qingqiu seized and fell backwards unable to even cry out but Luo Binghe caught him before his head could crack against the stone floor like an egg.

"There is something I want to try."

Shen Qingqius eyes followed him, his heartbeat thumping in his ears.

Luo Binghe picked up the glass and paused as it turned Pitch black and hummed "Thats peculiar."

Shen Qingqius eyes widened he wasn't-

no- no he can't find out! its too early! If this secret came out his life would be ruined!

"here, can you hold this," he placed the ball on the ground and raised Shen Qingqius hand, the other kept staring at Binghe Please- please don't-

His hand touched glass and a bright light filled the room.

Shen Qingqiu shut his eyes, and the spell released as he was unfrozen and snatched his hand away and scrambled back.

Luo Binghe was blinded covering his eyes as he looked up and Shen Qingqiu punched him in the face.

"Fuck you, and to think your nothing more than a beast!" He hadn't meant to say that but he was angry even shattered the glass ball of course he directed the glass away from Binghe. He hated him right now but he didn't want him hurt!

He stomped away missing the dazed look on Binghes face as a cupped his cheek.

Luo Binghe may have realised he went too far. But Shen Qingqiu...was a very powerful light wizard...

Shen Qingqiu gets a howler acts calm and collected but then ends up crying in the bathroom.

 Binghe finds him, comforts him but finds himself liking Shen Qingqiu when he’s crying a deep part still hurt by him finding sick delight from all the times Shen Wingqiu bullied him.

 It was poetic karma.

 But Shen Qingqiu didn’t care about his family, he looked at Binghe perplexed and admitted it wasn’t his family- he’s effectively homeless. Someone of high standing having to live off the streets and he only had a few months left of school.

 “I don’t know what the do,” he admitted “I already have a summer job at Knockturn, so at least I have some income and hopefully it’d be enough. Sure I wanted to move out-  but I thought I had time to prepare at least.”

And even so what if that money wasn’t enough?

 He doubted it. He can’t afford a place to stay and eat and the same time not to mention he’d be buying his own school robes or he’d have to rewear these and hope the school doesn’t accidentally change their uniform.

He remembered so many parents buying those stupid pointy hats for first year and they ended up getting rid of them after, how annoying.

 He’d have to do what Luo Binghe did, maybe…

 Shen Qingqiu wiped his eyes with his wrist, and realised the position he was in.

 And Luo Binghe was holding him, and looked up at Shen Qingqiu with a series look on his face.

 “Live with me.”

Shen Qingqiu’s mouth fell open- what!?

 “What but that’s-“

If anyone was going to live with Luo Binghe it’d be one of his girlfriends! They might kill him to find out he was living so close to the modern Adonis!

 Luo Binghe chuckled suddenly looking amused.

 “Please, this Binghe lives alone, and it would help if someone helped share the rent.”

 Shen Qingqiu felt awful, here he was feeling sorry for himself and Luo Binghe was struggling at home.

 From what Shang Qinghua told him, it was the last place Binghe had fond memories of his mother, the only thing he had left was his fake jade pendent, as he had to pawn of her belongings for his school clothes.

Shen Qingqiu’s eyes glanced down feeling something break at Luo Binghe’s threadbare clothes, and how he only asked for food from his girlfriends and they barely noticed anything was wrong, always asking Binghe to buy them gifts. Because it was the boys that had to gift the girls even when they were flat out broke.

 Shen Qingqiu looked away.

“Can I live with you? It wouldn’t be- I would t be imposing?”

“Not at all, Qingqiu.” Luo Binghe spoke cuddling Shen Qingqiu closer, hiding his pleased grin into the crook of his shoulder.

 “This Binghe would be delighted to host you.”

___________

The next year was the tournament, but Shen Qingqiu found himself forgetting about it when he lived with Binghe.

 He ended up taking additional shifts and was exhausted when he returned home.

 Working retail was no joke! 

Lifting heavy boxes when he was t used to that labour was a nightmare!

But worth it for his pay check, he split the bill but ended up paying more than Binghe.

 He was saving up, even when he came home ate food and collapsed in bed, exhausted it didn’t matter!

 Luo Binghe deserved nice things!

 He felt bad though for leaving Binghe with the cooking and cleaning even when Binghe was struggling with his own shifts, so Shen Qingqiu split the rent from a 50/50 ratio and payed more he told Binghe it was the least he could do when the other told him it wasn’t fair.

But to Shen Qingqiu it was, he was pants at doing laundry, although he did try to do the dishes in the morning. He was a good roommate after all. But with the additional laundry and cooking from Binghe it didn’t make sense and so Shen Qingqiu payed more for Binghe’s labour and for the food detergent the extra person needed.

“Take it as extra payment for the food and laundry detergent.” He said.

 A shame they were underage and could t use magic! Ugh!

 Even so- Other than paying rent, Shen Qingqiu wanted to get Binghe a present his birthday was during Christmas and both decided to stay at Cang Qiong over the holidays. So he needed to buy his presents in the summer [before he forgot] and as well as buy Binghe his uniform. Shen Qingqiu’s was still good from the previous year, since his parents bought expensive clothes that tended to last.

 But Binghe on the other hand? It was his sixth year! He had to have good clothes!

 And school supplies! His bag was falling apart and his cauldron wasn’t going to last long now that Binghe was using it more often when he found out he wasn’t as useless at potions as he thought!

Of course while Luo Binghe felt as if he was doing more work, he couldn’t help but find it nice as he had someone else to help lighten the load.

He was exhausted when he came home from working at Potions and pots, now that he could understand it better he was helping the shop owner get more potions out for his clients quicker.

 And when he remembered he had to dry and iron their clothes he felt more tired.

So his surprise to see the basket empty, and saw them all put away instead.

 He came to the living room to see Shen Qingqiu asleep, mouth open with drool down his chin with an open book in his lap.

 Luo Binghe’s chest tightened at the sight. How adorable.

 He moved closer silently and glanced down at the book, and saw it was about demonic beasts and flora.

Huh studying even when school was out. That reminded Luo Bknghe he had homework. But he was finally have a day off to do it, now with the extra help. 

 And to hear his thoughts of buying Binghe’s school uniform as a surprise.

 Maybe because he wouldn’t be caught dead standing with Binghe unless he was dressed the part, but even so-

 Luo Binghe felt touched, not even his girlfriends had been this thoughtful, always demanding presents instead and completely blind to his problems.

Although Luo Binghe was proud and didn’t advertise that he was struggling in a sea of students who looked worse of not for lack of money, but by playing too rough and destroyed their uniform and parents refused to pay for it.

To anyone who didn’t know him, they’d assumed that Luo Binghe was just a bad kid always messing around.

 Not realising he took extra care of the only items he had, one rip and his week was ruined.

 And Shen Qingqiu was saving up to buy him things. He didn’t have to work those extra shifts, or exhaust himself. He did it to surprise Binghe, and to get him his Christmas present.

 Binghe of course was working extra to hopefully bribe his mentor at the Potions and Pots shop for his limited edition Demonology book.

 The man was working with potions and barely opened it! It was gathering dust!

 And when Binghe showed how serious he was the man promised to give it to him if he worked extra shifts.

 Just a few more and it was his.

 He couldn’t wait for the look on his…on Shen Qingqiu’s face.

_______________________________

When they returned to school after summer holidays, Binghe confessed to Shen Qingqiu that he still had to work at the local town outside Cang Qiong [name of the town with the skinner] 

 And told Shen Qingqiu that he worked on weekends when most students had their day off, to send the money back to their flat. Even if they weren’t living in it, he still had to pay the monthly fee.

 Shen Qingqiu’s eyes widened. How long was Binghe working!? Oh no wonder he never did homework!

 “Is their any vacancies?”

“Hmm? Why?”

“I’ll work there too- I’ll check if any of the local shops have openings.”

“Qingqiu- it’s fine! This Binghe is used to it.”

“You need a break! All you’ve done is work.” Shen Qingqiu wouldn’t allow it, Binghe’s grades would suffer more this year if he worked himself with no breaks! Hell Shen Qingqiu was looking at his school days as a vacation! 

 They also had to work in the winter as well now that he thought about it.

 “Okay, if this one worked we both get one weekday off,” 

“Shen Qingqiu it’s fine- it’s my house-“

“But I’m living in it. It’s unfair for Luo Binghe to do all the work.”  

Ah and he was looking forward to his vacation-

“Mister Shen? A word.” Yue Qingyuan appeared out of nowhere.

 And Shen Qingqiu glanced his way “Yes, Head Principal Yue?”

 God he nearly died! Don’t scare him like that!

 “If you’ll follow me.”

Shen Qingqiu blinked then glanced back at Binghe, he noticed all of his girlfriends at the table watching them, then felt awful that he was hogging Binghe all to himself!

 Shen Qingqiu patted his arm “This Qingqiu may be awhile- your girlfriends are waiting for you.”

 Luo Binghe’s face spasmed and Shen Qinqiu wondered what was wrong- until he remembered they were pretend dating at school he wondered if Binghe forgot after all he dropped the charade when they lived together and didn’t touch him as much. Not needing to play it up for others.

“I bet your sick of my face Aha- go say hi to Ning Yingying for me.” He smiled and walked off with the principal before Binghe could say anything.

 Luo Binghe scowled as he walked towards the table with his girlfriends.

 Sha Hualing was sitting in Liu Mingyans lap, Hmm it appears they no longer want his company.

Luo Bknghe found himself relieved by that and of course he slumped into the chair as he leaned his head on Ning Yingyings shoulder, and sighed miserably.

“That bad?” She asked and he hummed, “it sas awful. Both of us had work so I barely had a chance to even-“ 

It was so domestic and wonderful, but they barely had time to sit and talk- and since Shen Qingqiu was always asleep he couldn’t get a read on his thoughts.

 “He still thinks it’s pretend?”

“Hmm-Hmm.”

“You should tell him.”

Luo Binghe blinked wondering why Ning Yingying gave him a hard look “Because it’s not pretend anymore, for both of you.”

Luo Binghe’s gaze narrowed, as he tried to grasp her mind and found the shields up.

 He could rip past them but didn’t to stay polite.

 “You’ve met someone else?”

“Don’t be mad.”

“Why would I be?”

“…it’s Ming Fan.”

“…”

He was judging her hard, “I know he bullied you but he promised he would apologise-“

“That’s not it- Ming Fan!?” He asked sceptical, and Ning Yingying nodded and he turned and almost missed him.

Ming Fan had a glow up.

 He wasn’t as handsome as Shen Qingqiu or himself but defiently upgraded from ‘passable’ to good looking.

 And he watched how even Shen Qingqiu who entered the hall did a double glance and even called his name in shock-

And that work preened under the attention.

Luo Binghe wanted him dead, was Shen Qingqiubeasily swayed?

“It’s hard to grasp his type.” Ning Yingying spoke looking as perplexed as him.

 “First Shang Qinghua, but with you we figured he liked smart handsome men, but it appears even Ming Fan draws his eye.”

So average pathetic people?

Was Binghe too handsome? Was that why Shen Qingqiu thought it was pretend? He assumed it was a joke?

As Shen Qingqiu, he nodded looking proud.

 Ah, he thought just as it should be, Binghe with his future wives they all look good together. I hope I’m invited to the wedding although being best man at Binghe’s wedding may be a dream come true he might ask someone else.

Binghe might ask someone else, because he would be in place of husband, not best man.

Binghe paused as he had that thought.

Marriage? That was a little quick although maybe living together made him feel strange.

“What did he want?”

“Hmm?”

Shen Qingqiu glanced at him while spreading butter on his toast.

 Luo Binghe wished he cooked his school meals for him.

Shen Qingqiu would always enjoy his food, face closed in bliss. Alas he didn’t want others to see Shen Qingqiu looking so spoiled.

 “Oh, we’ll um. Yue Qingyuan was aware of my living situation.” Shen Qingqiu but his lip as he tried to cut his bread into an even triangle.

 But Binghe felt himself grow cold, Shen Qingqiu was leaving him?

 That stupid principal- he saw how he looked at Shen Qingqiu their strange dynamic and rumours circulating that Shen Qingqiu was brutal to the people he liked and the way he was treating Yue Qingyuan meant he was practically fucking him!

 No- no he can’t leave!

“He decided to help me out,” Shen Qingqiu spoke taking a breath “Apparently as the whole world found out about my controversial core, my family kicked me out. Well since I’m a light core it gained a lot of sympathy,” Shen Qingqiu sneered, probably hating to be pitied or looked down upon.

 Of course since I’m the perfect victim the wizarding world would bend over backwards to help but people like Binghe? Or Wei Wuxian? Anyone whose not a light core gets shafted- 

“I’ve been proposed some offers, but since I’m still in school they promised to wait, Yue Qingyuan told me I could start my exams now and graduate early.”

Luo Binghe’s eyes widened “What?”

Shen Qingqiu sat up, eyes alight with excitement “Ues and their high paying jobs too- I showed some interest in working with Hanguang-Jun but he’s a top seater, even though I’m exiled I still have a seat and they want me to fill it now that I’m a light core they think my vote would result in Light magic as the main curriculum and make dark magic illegal.”

Sha Hualing gaped “That’s illegal and what about demons? All our magic is dark!”

“That’s why I need to work for Hanguang-Jun. The quicker I study and apprintence and show my aptitude I may become his secretary.”

“Why him specifically?”

“He’s the only series seat member at Huan Hua, the others who are sympathetic to the cause either have a disreputable past or would be seen as biased.”

“Why? Aren’t we doing okay? Do you want to leave that badly?”

Shen Qingqiu blinked only just remembering Binghe and it hurt more.

“What? No! This is to pay you back! I’ll be earning three times what we’re got now and you can graduate without having to worry about anything.”

Luo Binghe clenched his fists, it felt unfair.

 “I don’t want to be in your debt, and I didn’t offer, to make you indebted to me.”

I didn’t think that, Binghe has suffered so much I just want to help him and make easier for him he deserves a break.

“Please, Binghe. I’m not doing this because I feel obligated to, I just want to, your education shouldn’t suffer anymore.”

“So is that all its for? My education?”

What was Shen Qingqiu pampering Luo Binghe like he was some pedigree dog? Was he going to get some payoff after make sure Binghe was well educated.

Shen Qingqiu frowned, “Binghe,” he sounded lost, unsure why Luo Binghe was upset.

 “Didn’t you…want to be chief warlock?”

Luo Binghe looked perplexed, “Why would I want that? I have enough on my plate being the chosen one. What’s the point in laying roots if I get cut down one day.”

Shen Qingqiu flinched, “I thought,” 

If Binghe didn’t want to be chief warlock- was it just spite? Revenge? 

 Surely that can’t be the only reason. He’d want to change things, make it where people like him in the wizarding world would live better.

Or at least that’s what Shen Qingqiu believed.

 “I don’t believe in wasting my time in things that don’t suit my end goal, and being Chief warlock isn’t my future, and if you don’t understand that then you never knew me at all.”

Oh that hurt.

Sha Hualing cackled “Owch, breaking up on the first day?”

Shen Qingqiu blinked at her, forgetting she was there and Sha Hualing bristled at the look.

Oh, I completely forgot about that.

And Luo Binghe’s face still looked cold so Shen Qingqiu nodded “Ah, of course, Luo Binghe.”

He nodded then stood up to leave, his breakfast lay there untouched.

Luo Binghe stiffened, almost calling out- no Sha Hualing was saying crap, 

“Leave him alone.”

Ning Yingying spoke and he scowled but saw her face as she shook her head,

“Remember when he got that howler? How he looked indifferent? But you found him in the bathroom crying?”

Luo Binghe nodded and Ning Yingying glanced at Shen Qingqiubas he turned the corner and disappeared.

 “He looks the exact same now as he did then-“

Binghe wasted no time dumping Ning Yingying off his lap as he ran to chase Shen Yuan.

“Ning Yingying!” Ming fan cried as he helped her back up.

A/N: 

 Ming Fan Neville longbottomed us lmao.

Luo Binghe finds Shen Qingqiu and explains his reaction and that Shen Qingqiu had a lot of assumptions and expectations and Luo Binghe felt as if he wasn’t meeting them.

And Shen Qingqiu apologised stating that he never meant for binghe to feel like that and asked what his plans were if chief warlock wasn’t in the cards.

Binghe wanted to open a restaurant. And Shen Qingqiu melted and told him how wonderful that was.

Yue Qingyuan looks into Binghe’s accommodations and learns that the ministry was paying for Binghe’s house. So why was Shen Qingqiu and binghe working?

He calls binghe in. And binghe assumes he’s in trouble since he and Yue Qingyuan don’t get along well. And finds that Yue Qingyuan asks him his housing issues then gets it sorted because of that Luo Binghe is then compensated over a grande worth of money. He finally feels as of everything is looking up! Even Shen Qingqiu can’t believe the good news then blows up about that two big realtor that was taking money from the ministry AND binghe and was even blackmailing binghe would lose his home if he missed a payment.

“Once I’m in Hua Huan ministry I’ll hunt that rat down and make him wish for death, I’ll ruin him. Drive his buisness into the ground, make it impossible to find work, and give him a taste of what you went through- Binghe?”

Binghe was in love.

_______________

After the ‘exposing’ his core Luo Binghe was threatened expulsion. And Shen Qingqiu came to his defence.

Shen Qingqiu forgave Luo Binghe. He was still mad but didn’t think Binghe deserved to lose his right to his education over a mistake.

But Yue Qingyuan did not.

 “This is serious, Luo Binghe you are dismissed.”

As Shen Qingqiu was left alone, he felt awkward he and Yue Qingyuan had a history and he knew what that history was even so.

 “Luo Binghe paralysed you and exposed your core. That is a violation of basic wizarding rights, akin to rape. And yet you defend him? Why?”

 “Binghe would’ t do that-“ Shen Qingqiu spoke.

Yue Qingyuans eyes flickered but then returned to Shen Qingqiu as he continued.

“I bullied him, hurt him, and all of a sudden act like I’m in love with him. He was bound to snap, he thought I was pranking him and probably wanted to catch me in the act. He was just trying to protect himself anybody would be wary in their school bully changed and acted out of character.”

Yue Qingyuan looked at him in pity, “You think you deserve it. You think your getting your karma and think that makes it okay for others to hurt you. But Shen Qingqiu with that type of thinking, when do those types of people stop? What happens when you know longer can tell whose the bully and whose the victim? You may have hurt him, but Luo Binghe is old enough to understand his own actions and is aware enough that he is responsible for those actions no matter the reason.”

“Please don’t expel him, he’s good- he’s a really good kid.”

 Yue Qingyuan sighed, “You used to have better judgement than that, but for you Shen Qingqiu the boy won’t be expelled.” Shen Qingqiu relaxed.

“Instead I’ll personally see to his detention myself.”

“Thank you, Headmaster Yue- should I get him?”

“No need. He’s probably went to class you should return yourself.”

Once Shen Qingqiu was gone Yue Qingyuans warm gaze dropped turning cold.

He flicked his wand and the invisibility cloak was ripped from Luo Binghe who was trapped, his face red from anger.

 “To think Shen Qingqiu was defending you and you have the nerve to spit on that kindness.”

How!?

How did that old man know he was here!?

Yue Qingyuan would never reveal that he could sense when someone was trying to read his mind. And Luo Binghe was stunned, he barely saw the sect leader move!

He was strong. Really strong.

As Yue Qingyuan approached, Luo Binghe didn’t feel afraid just humiliated and annoyed.

“Shen Qingqiu may have flaws, but to spit upon his kindness is too far.” 

Yue Qingyuan reached out…and cupped Luo Binghe’s face.

Luo Bonghe felt his head tilted up, feeling his heartbeat quicken- what was he doing?

Yue Qingyuan dazed at him, cold and dismissive. Luo Binghe could feel sweat heading down his neck as he couldn’t move.

 “He felt like this. Trapped unable to move while another could do whatever he pleased.”

 Yue Qingyuans hand lowered and Luo Binghe’s throat bobbed. Yue Qingyuan was powerful, and Luo Binghe was arragont.

 He never understood the vastness of their power until now- he still couldn’t move.

“Shen Qingqiu was powerless, as you did whatever you liked…”

Yue Qingyuan was going to-

His hand squeezed his throat, not enough to hurt but to cut of oxygen, and Luo Binghe breath falterered feeling his heartbeat quicken as Yue Qingyuan gazed at him with indifference.

 “Do you understand now, Mr Luo? Or should I give more demonstrations.”

Uh- more demonstrations.

 Yue Qingyuan may have officially jump started Luo Binghe’s sexual awakening.

 “You can do whatever you like?”

And Yue Qingyuans lip pulled into a sneer, “Mr Luo, Shen Qingqiu may think you hung the stars and the moon but from what I see, is nothing but a self absorbed brat. I can’t find anything to be impressed with.”

 “You should see my dick, then you’d be impressed.”

Yue Qingyuan probably thought he was joking, but the man only tightened his grip, and Luo Binghe was powerless against it feeling a thrill as Yue Qingyuan leaned closer.

 “I prefer someone with more experience than a fumbling teenager who can’t tell when someone is saying no.”

Yue Qingyuan let go and Luo Binghe could finally move and breath while he panted.

 “You’ll be having detention with me. And Binghe, if you don't persuade me that what Shen Qingqiu see’s in you is true, then I will make life very difficult for you.”

Luo Binghe understood the threat. Yue Qingyuan could’ve been the youngest chief warlock by his prowess alone but decided to be a principal and said that it’s be better that someone who was older like the Palace Master should be chief warlock instead. 

 Even so, Luo Binghe shifted grabbing his cloak and sulked out the office.

He already slept with his girlfriends and learned all he could know, but when it came to men he was ignorant.

 He bet that if he played it right Yue Qingyuan would scratch that itch when Shen Qingqiu was being obviously obtuse with his teasing.

“I want to learn how to please men and you should teach me.”

Yue Qingyuan raised an eyebrow, then tensed when Luo Binghe grew bold moving forward groping the principal.

Yue Qingyuans face grew thunderous, “Luo Binghe-“

The boy grew coquettish as he purred “It’s fine isn’t it, this Binghe knows you have fantasies about your precious Shen Qingqiu but you don’t want to ruin your relationship with him pretend I’m Shen Qingqiu take out your frustration-“

 “One more word and I’ll stick it shut.” Yue Qingyuan warned feeling more irritated as Luo Binghe pressed closer, “Hmm, I just want to be more informed on how men have sex I want to be prepared if Shen Qingqiu and I take that next step. I don’t want to hurt him.”

Yue Qingyuan pushed him back turning around to ignore him until-

“Or I could contact the ministry about that full body bind you pulled. All it would take is them seeing a student in that position with the head principal of Cang Qiong and you’d be ruined.”

He was blackmailing him.

Yue Qingyuan glared and Luo Binghe beamed. Jackpot.

…nope he regretted it.

 Yue Qingyuan covered his bases. He actually treat it as a lesson. Making a rebound spell so binghe couldn’t get within a foot of him and actually gave binghe sex education. With the boring diagrams and vague descriptions on sex like it was theory.

 Luo Binghe was so bored and yet it was educational. 

 Even so he decided to back off from teasing Yue Qingyuan because the lesson itself was punishment enough. 

Yue Wingyuan was worried about Luo Bonghe and even though he did not want to touch that stick with a ten foot pole he decided to broach the subject.

“Mr Luo.” 

“Hmm?”

Binghe was copying down lines, about how he will never do something without that persons explicit permission.

And Yue Qingyuan wondered if maybe- 

“We’re you ever…assaulted as a child?” Well assault was a strong word, here Binghe paused as he looked up.

“Huh?”

“Did an adult touch you inappropriately when you were young? Was your boundaries constantly crossed so now you don’t understand what a boundary is?”

Luo Binghe blinked, and almost felt offended.

“No! No one has- why would you think that?”

Yue Qingyuan raised an eyebrow “Well given that you’re making me worried about making a student pregnant with your escapades, or possibly in danger of an std your are more sexually active for a student your age.”

Luo Binghe eyes narrowed “That’s normal.”

“What isn’t normal is to pursue a teacher who is eight years your senior.”

Wow only eight. Luo Binghe thought he was older.

 “To not understand the basic principles of consent.”

 Luo Binghe placed his pen or paper down.

“What? Want to know my history?” Luo Binghe leered and Yue Qingyuan only gazed at him cooly, unaware that it was really doing something for him.

 “No. I’ll just inform Mu Qingfan and set you up to a mediwitch.”

“You want to send me to a shrink?”

Luo Binghe spoke flabbergasted, and Yue Qingyuan nodded “Yes.”

Luo Binghe thought it wouldn’t help but then it turns out the more he talked, the more he was told that his lack of power and control when he was bullied made him react. Having sex and finding out he was good at it gave him confidence not to mention his first time wasn’t really consensual.

Luo Binghe didn’t understand he was raped by a women and thought that was impossible as all men liked it? The mediwitch only gave him a pity look. And told Binghe he was becoming the bully, he had this dynamic where Shen Qingqiu was now the victim. And flipped their dynamic. When it comes to acedemics Shen Qingqiu bullied him, looked down on him and now seeing Shen Qingqiu looking flustered and unsure gave Binghe the confidence and wielded his sexual knowledge as a weapon. And looked down on Shen Qingqiu.

“This isn’t healthy.”

 Luo Binghe pressed his lips together.

 He didn’t understand it before but now…

“The only good thing about your relationship with Shen Qingqiu, is that he respects your boundaries, he only lets you control how far you’ll go.”

“That’s because he’s scared to.”

“Maybe he’s happy just being friends? But he doesn’t discourage any type of act of intamicy. He lets you decide how far you want to go and with that your in control. But that is a lot of trust he is placing in your hands and that’s when you need to start thinking of his needs and when you need to stop.”

 Luo Bonghe blinked, after all…he had already read Shen Qingqiu’s mind, he wasn’t a threat anymore. Playing these mind games was just cruel at this point.

 “You think about that, I’ll see you at your next session.”

When he came back to Yue Qingyuans detention he was more subdued, and less flirty. Yue Qingyuan was almost getting used to it. “What is it?”

“What I did to Shen Qingqiu others can do. Isn’t there a system to stop students from taking advantage of one another? A rebound on wands to the caster gets hit with the spell instead of a victim?”

Yue Qingyuan nodded, “Yes, I have been working on such an array to stop students from hexing and jinxing the others as well as other types of malicious spell casting. I figured what if I only make it where you can only cast spells in a classroom? But that creates a resentment and all students need to do is wait until they graduate before attacking others because they were curious on what would happen if they did.”

“But a rebound to make them experience the spell will make them think twice, it’ll put them in their victims shoes.”

“Maybe an alert so the security would be able to apprehend both parties so no one gets hurt.”

 And Luo Binghe and Yue Qingyuan worked on an array together for their detention.

This ends up saving Shen Qingqiu’s life from a vindictive Qiu Haitang. And Shen Qingqiu feels frustrated when she was ejected from their friend group and yet Shen Qingqiu felt as if he was just filling in for Qui Haitang.

 Shen Qingqiu scowled, even with Luo Binghe’s hand wrapped around his waist but his attention was on Ning Yingying, and Shen Qingqiu felt something sink in the pit of his stomach and felt heavier.

 It wasn’t going to last, he glanced at Luo Binghe who smiled at him, he smiled back.

Soon it’d be me being banished from this group, after all it’s only pretend. After Luo Binghe is satisfied he’ll forget all about me, so what does it matter?

Luo Binghe’s smile faded.

“Hmm? Binghe? Are you all right?” Luo Binghe’s grip on his waist tightened, “Qingqiu, you know I like you right?”

“Yes and I like Binghe.” Obviously.

“And I like Binghe,” Sha Hualing spoke as did Ning Yingying and Liu Mingyan which wasn’t helping his case.

 Luo Binghe opened his mouth then shut it. Shen Qingqiu didn’t care that Luo Binghe exposed his core, which lead to Qui Haitang finding out and blaming to Shen Qingqiu’s parents. He forgave him because he thought it was payback. That it was justified to a bully from a victim.

But from a lover?

Luo Binghe realised that Shen Qingqiu never saw their relationship as official or real only pretend. Because Luo Binghe didn’t treat it as such, he was callous in his feelings and Yue Qingyuan was right, a child acting petty and was awful. 

 Luo Binghe betrayed his trust, Shen Qingqiu wasn’t forgiving but he had pursuade himself that the relationship was pretend to spare his own feelings.

 If Shen Qingqiu didn’t have that thought to call back on, Luo Binghe would have hurt him beyond anything he could fix.

As he went to Yue Qingyuan that night, he felt ashamed of himself. And found his mothers words coming back to him hauntingly.

Remember to be kind.

 She would be disgusted with Binghe.

Yue Qingyuan glanced up, seeing Luo Binghe diligently doing his notes without lip.

…something was wrong.

So Binghe asked if there was a way to rebound the worst curses such as the full body bind or even stupify.

[villainsblog97]

Xdinary Heroes in Hogwarts

So as some of you may know I love Harry Potter, Ive grown up with it and recently I found out Gaon likes Harry Potter as well... I also saw the pics from the fansign. So obviously I had to place the others in hogwarts. Here is what I think each house the members would be in and how they would be in Hogwarts!

Warnings: some mentions of spells and potions.

Scenario: fantasy, Harry Potter AU, headcannon

Gun-il ❤️🦁🪄

Obviously our brave leader would be a Gryffindor

Gotta admit

He'd probably be a prefect too

He's also the star of quiditch

Either the Seeker

Or the Keeper

He never loses either

He's loved by all the teachers

I feel like he's very responsible

He's the Hermione Granger of his time

He's gaining all the house points

He's answering every question thrown at him

I think he would possibly be a half blood

So he has experience in the muggle world

And the magic world

He makes his parents very proud either way

Jungsu 💛🦡🪄

Our sunshine

Need I say more?

Jungsu was tough because he's either a Hufflepuff or a Gryffindor

But I ended up going with Hufflepuff

He's such a sweet guy

But I feel like Jungsu is the type of Hufflepuff you should never underestimate

He's smart

And also works hard

He won't let anyone get in his ways of his goals

I feel like he's a master at Herbology

He knows not to stick his finger in a screaming Mandrake

He also knows the specialty of Gillyweed

He's clumsy so Quidditch could end bad

Or it could end with him accidentally nearly swallowing the golden snitch

Who knows

He's definitely a pure blood

Full blown wizard boy!

Making his house proud of him

Gaon 💙🦅🪄

Now this one was tricky

This boy could literally be in ANY house!

I could see the Sorting Hat actual sweat 😂

But Jiseok is so smart

So I think Ravenclaw would be a good fit for him

I feel like he would know all the history of his house

Like the Gray Lady Helena

The diadem she posses

Even some of the past students in Ravenclaw

He'd know it all

I also feel like he's a fantastic quidditch player

Definitely a beater

Or a Keeper

He also knows some advanced spells

Like ones you don't learn in your first 3 years

He could also try for the Tri-Wizard Tournament!

He could even win it too!

He's also either a half blood

Or non magic parents (I don't use the MB word 🤨)

But either way he's not all that perfect

You know him and Jooyeon are gonna have some fun around the castle

Keeping the prefects on their toes

O.de 💚🐍🪄

The very first time I saw Seungmin

(Yes in a clown nose saying "Weee!!!")

I knew right there

This boy's a Slytherin

You just kind of look at someone and think

"Yeah I bet they're a Slytherin"

Welp that was Seungmin

Now he's like a total flirt

Definitely a bad boy

Yet still manages to get his house some house points

Keep up in all his classes

And pass his owls with a perfect score

Who does he do it?

He's also very skilled in Dueling club

A smirk on his face when he knocks down his opponent

(🥴)

He's definitely a pure blood

I mean not like the Malfoys...

But rich like them

But he loves his friends

And he wouldn't trade them for anything

JunHan 💙🦅🪄

Jun Han was another tricky one

Like Jungsu

He could have either been Ravenclaw or Gryffindor

But I feel like his reserved personality puts him in a better fit for Ravenclaw

Jun Han is shy

But he has his fun side

He would definitely be the focused one in his classes

I feel like he would take a liking to multiple classes like transfiguration, and care of Magical Creatures

So yes

He got a time turner so he could experience multiple classes

He'd definitely enjoy freaking out Gaon

He also looks like the kind to spend his spare time in the astronomy tower

He loves the view from it

He's also a sucker for Hogsmede

Junhan would have non magic parents

It's just how I see it

He also talks to the paintings on the walls as he passes by to get to his common room

(My heart)

Jooyeon 💚🐍🪄

Again with Jooyeon

Definitely a Slytherin

His mischievous side

And his fun energetic side

Makes the perfect combination

He probably gets his house, house points without even trying

Now idk why

But the boy looks like a potions master

Like he'd kill it at potions!

As good as the Half Blood prince himself

He loves messing with the prefects

Especially Gun-il

He's always forgetting the password to the common room

He's also always pulling pranks

Like he lives as Weasley's Wizard Wheezes

Him and his Nugget Gaon are always messing students

Bullies beware

Jooyeon is afraid of heights

So no quidditch

He likes to stay on the ground

He would also freak out the first time the stairs moved

Another pure blood

His parents might occasionally be disappointed in his decisions

But come on

It's Jooyeon

Hope everyone enjoyed it! Also congratulations to My boys for taking Rookie of the Year and Best Band Performance at MAMA! and thank you Villains for making it possible!! I love you guys so much and I'm so proud of all of you! 🥳

[aclowntiny]

♱ My Masterlist! ♱ About Me/Rules

༺♰༻ ༺♰༻ ༺♰༻ ༺♰༻ ༺♰༻

(I have tags for groups, members, female reader, & gender neutral reader, so you can also use my search bar to filter fics that way 🥰)

☆ = a personal favorite! hehe

🏴‍☠️Ateez🏴‍☠️

All Members (Gender Neutral): How Ateez Act Around Their Crush

When Their Crush Kisses Them & Runs Away ☆ Finding Out Their Crush is Allergic to Flowers When They Accidentally Walk in on You Changing ☆ How Ateez Confess To You

Ateez’s Ideal First Date How They Tell the Other Members You’re Dating

Ateez’s Preferred PDA

Ateez With a Tall S/O

S/O Watching Their Fancam ☆

Things Ateez Do That Make Your Heart Flutter ☆

Ateez + Kisses to Prove You Can Make Them Blush ☆

When You Call Them ‘Pretty Boy’

Call Your Bet! (Ateez Losing Bets Against You) When You Get Clingy

Taking Care of a Sick S/O Sharing Clothes With Their S/O

Spa Day With Ateez

What Type of Kisser is Ateez? ☆

First ‘I Love You’ With Ateez ☆

When Their S/O Kisses Their Neck ☆

Ateez + Love Languages

Ateez + Aftercare

Ateez as Hogwarts Students

Meeting Pirate!Ateez (Female Reader)☆

Black Flag, Black Hearts? Falling for Pirate!Ateez (Pirate AU Part 2) Meeting Superhero!Ateez (Superhero AU) ☆

Who in Ateez

When You Don’t Like Popcorn

Most Likely to Prank You

Most Likely To- 24 Hour Saying Yes Challenge

Most Likely to Go For a Childlike, Happy-Go-Lucky S/O

Most Likely to Let You Hypnotize Them

Unathletic & Clumsy S/O

Individual Members:

🐯Hongjoong🐯

Ink Trails- Hongjoong x GN!Reader (Soulmate AU) ☆

Hongjoong + Firsts

🐰Seonghwa🐰 May the Flirts Be With You- Seonghwa x Female!Cosplayer!Reader ☆

Seonghwa + Firsts

🐻Yunho🐻

Puppy Love- Yunho x Female!Barista!Reader

Yunho + Firsts

🍓Yeosang🍓 Blue Skies- Yeosang x Female!Baker!Reader Yeosang + Firsts

🏔️San🏔️

Down the Drain- Barista!San x Female Reader

Mon Petit Chou- Best Friend!San x Gender Neutral Reader

San + Firsts

🦁Mingi🦁 Unstoppable Forces and Immovable Objects- Mingi x Female!Reader ☆

Mingi + Firsts

🐺Wooyoung🐺 Business Booster- Wooyoung x Shy!Female!Barista Reader

Wooyoung + Firsts

🍎Jongho🍎 It’s Not Easy Being Green- Jongho x Female!Writer!Reader

The Wind Again- Jongho x Paranormal Investigator!Reader (Gender Neutral)☆

Jongho + Firsts

💎Seventeen💎

All Members (Gender Neutral):

How Seventeen Act Around Their Crush

When Their Crush Has a Guy Best Friend How Seventeen Confesses To You

Seventeen’s Ideal First Date

Carnival Dates With Seventeen Seventeen’s Preferred PDA What Type of Kisser is Seventeen? ☆ Other Members Catch You Together First ‘I Love You’ With Seventeen ☆ Things Seventeen Do That Make Your Heart Flutter ☆ Seventeen Meeting Your Parents For the First Time

Your Birthday With Seventeen Spa Days With Seventeen

Seventeen As Hogwarts Students

Individual Members:

🍒S.Coups🍒 Smell You Later- Gryffindor Quidditch Captain!S.Coups x Slytherin Quidditch Captain!Reader (Gender Neutral) ☆

👼🏻Jeonghan👼🏻

🦌Joshua🦌 Love is Blind- Joshua x Gender Neutral Reader

🐱Jun🐱 Kalon- Model!Jun x Female!Assistant!Reader

🐯Hoshi🐯 Brush Strokes- Hoshi x Female!Face Painter!Reader

🦊Wonwoo🦊

Silent War- Wonwoo x Gender Neutral!Reader

🍚Woozi🍚

Sunflowers and Snapdragons- Woozi x Female!Florist!Reader ☆

Ska Day- Woozi x GN!Soulmate!Reader

⚔️DK⚔️

🐶Mingyu🐶 A Date Like No Other- Basketball Player!Mingyu x Female!Reader (College AU) ☆

🐸The8🐸 Nails and Nighttimes- The8 x Gender Neutral Reader ☆

🍊Seungkwan🍊 Foolproof- Seungkwan x Female!Best Friend!Reader ☆

🐢Vernon🐢

In Every World- Vernon x Gender Neutral Reader

🦦Dino🦦 The Dancing Effect- Best Friend!Dino x Gender Neutral!Best Friend!Reader (College AU)

🌟Stray Kids🌟

All Members (Gender Neutral):

Things Stray Kids Do That Make Your Heart Flutter

Cute Dates With Stray Kids

Stray Kids’ Preferred PDA

Stray Kids as Dads

Stray Kids as Hogwarts Students

Who in Stray Kids

Most Likely to Trick You Into Saying Something Funny in Another Language

Individual Members:

🐺Chan🐺

🐰Lee Know🐰

🐖🐇Changbin🐖🐇

🥟Hyunjin🥟 Task Failed Successfully- Hyunjin x GN!Reader (College AU)

🐿Han🐿

🐥Felix🐥

🐶Seungmin🐶

🦊I.N🦊

➖Enhypen➖

All Members (Gender Neutral):

Enhypen as Meet-Cutes

How Enhypen Act Around Their Crush

How Enhypen Confess To You

Enhypen’s Preferred PDA

Enhypen as Hogwarts Students

Crossover Special!

Wooyoung & Changbin as Each Other’s Wingman (GN!Reader)

[alyssng]

lil affectionate ways ~ pt. 2

ehe tis the second half of the cast for my svt hogwarts au fic ~ 

another reminder that if anyones seeing this after reading my previously posted hcs, you’ll know about the cast’s houses (i have two ocs in this universe fic!!) and stuffies but if you’re new, welcome and i hope you’ll enjoy the lil crumbs :D

please note tho !! that im pretty fluent in mandarin imo at least so the mandarin/pinyin in jun’s section is not just via google translate i used my overworked braincell for that o7

please give feedback or just comment if there’s anything you liked or want to ask! <3

jun

pranks omg. the more pranks the more childish he acts around the cast, the more obvious that hes showering them with his love and affection for them. lily’s already reached the level of just sighing and accepting the pranks, and someone even asked if cheol if he’d rather deal with jeonghan’s teasing or jun’s pranks. cue the panic and stress because neither option is good for ones health. at least jun’s victims are mostly just lily alisa and minghao sooo. cheol’s mental state can take a breather. (“jie~ lets go get some chinese food. malaganguo hongshaorou ni bu hui ye xiang he zhengzhunaicha ma~?” “i- okay…”) half the time minghao cannot believe for the life of him that jun is a year older. “im letting you guys in on a secret, ive been tolerating him for years” is what he says especially when jun’s messing with him in front of their juniors. jun’s sHAMELESS TOO when it comes to pickup lines, dropping them randomly and grinning widely when the person receiving it is bright red, flustered, and unable to reply. but then koff at some point in the future, one of his constant targets flirts back and the way his smile just. drops. NOT BECAUSE HES MAD OR ANYTHING OKAY. he cant believe it, so he immediately just collapses into their arms, face faced away so that they cant see how flushed he is. despite all the pickup lines tho, jun’s the type that cant say certain things outright like “youre my best friend!” or “i love you guys” but he WILL however compliment you a ton AND give reasons to justify it. oh are they getting embarrassed? nope, just stand there and let him show how much he loves you. (“i know its my birthday but youre not supposed to explain the compliments…” “no but i want to, so just stand there and listen.”)

alisa

she’ll listen to the cast talk, they can ramble on forever, and she’ll just listen quietly. but it’s not like she’s zoned out, proper reactions are still given! ironically, compared with lily, she’s 100% the extrovert, but when the two of them hang out, from an outside perspective, you’d think lily was the e because she just goes on rants or starts talking excitedly whenever a shared interest or topic is brought up and alisa just likes listening to her view on it all. (“sorry… did you want to get back to slughorn’s paper?” “oh merlins beard no. ive been listening, don’t worry, lily. keep going. besides, you cant stop your story now!”) another thing is that she’ll have specific inside jokes or little things individual to every member of the cast. it’s something only she and the other can understand, which makes it special. like with jeonghan, it’s a running joke for her to wreak havoc on him in hopes of making his hair color change, which he is aware of so he returns the chaotic energy nearly twicefold sometimes lolol. or with vernon, they have a fun thing of mimicking each other’s dramatic reactions, especially when the other is doing a presentation of sorts. being in different classes and years won’t stop them! once joshua just witnessed the whole thing during one of his free periods, watching alisa pull random faces (to him at least. they seemed vaguely familiar though…) and then scaring her half to death when she turned around to find him just standing there. (“do i even want to know what you’re doing to poor vernon?” “bloody hell- at least make some sound to announce your presence shua.”) and then alisa just gets headpatted while he accompanies back to whatever class she snuck out of under the pretense of “going to the hospital wing.”

minghao

hao’s a muggleborn (and hes in slytherin too a slay i must say) anyway, his phone is FILLED with pictures of the people he cares about (ie best friends and family). any small moment, whether its meaningful or just something he finds funny, his phone is snapping away and recording everything. when the cast finished their first year together (minus vernon unfortunately for age diff reasons), minghao was snapping away, taking both candid and posed shots of everyone when they were leaving kings cross and when they were still heading out of hogwarts. plus some pics of him, jeonghan, and jun in the slytherin dorms clowning around in the last night (read: just jun because hannie does not have enough energy for that and minghao was attempting to meditate his tolerance for bs needs to improve if he has to deal with jun, jeonghan, and alisa for the next six years) anyway. he looks back on them sometimes and just smiles and reminisces quietly. whenever he does that, though, he just sorts them into albums: “slytherin gang,” “evil/actual twins,” “<3,” and more. like joshua, though, its the little things he does, but while joshua’s things are more like random (imo at least like memorizing someone’s drink orders or indulging their hand-fidgety habits seems plenty random to me but anyway), hao actively like makes sure the cast is getting through with basic needs i.e. did jun crash into another marble column, did lily sleep too late, did vernon eat enough. (“hao, i promise i did not stay up reading-” “have you looked in the mirror, lily.” “i was born with those eyebags!”) sometimes minghao just drags vernon over to the slytherin table and gives him his plate full of food and makes sure the latter is eating properly. (cheol was worried that hao was threatening murder at first but all was good lolol) also as students, another basic need relates to homework, so of course, hao and cheol are in charge of making sure that everyones assignments are finished. or in some cases if pestered enough, minghao is willing to revise their assignments (mostly just jun and vernon). (“didn’t you say that you understood the bowtruckle’s anatomy just yesterday?” “well yea… and then i kind of forgot everything after dinner.””for gods sake, jun.”)

vernon

vernon may be oblivious to many things, not paying attention to details, but once he develops a routine for certain stuff he’ll keep to it. for starters, he texts cheol, joshua, lily, jun, and hao the first thing in the morning when he wakes up (mostly because they know how texting works-) but when he sees the rest of the cast, he says hi, greeting them instantly. he’s also the one who comes up w the idea to teach the non-halfblood-muggleborns to use devices and his patience w that is ridiculous- (“IT’S RINGING, LILY- WHY THE BLOODY HELL IS IT SHAKING-” “ALISA, FOR GODS SAKE- I ALMOST DROPPED HANNIE’S PHONE INTO THE SINK, YOU MORON-” “YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE HELPING ME?!” “ahh, so your phone started shaking because a notification showed up. i texted you so that you could save my number.” “oh. merlins beard, why didnt you just tell me beforehand, vernon-” “...i dont know…”) anyway vernons also really passionate about music right? so over the course of a few holiday breaks, he compiles a spotify playlist for every one of them and for every one, he tears out some parchment and writes down some comment for each song in said playlist. “it reminds me of whenever you get mad at us for sneaking food from kitchens, cheol…” or “no particular reason the girlboss vibes are just there yk?” hao actually teared up a little and just hugged vernon without saying much. OMG WAIT AND THE AESTHETIC PHOTO COVERS OF THE PLAYLIST. okay he stole half of them from joshua and minghao via just quite literally taking their phones (they just let him lololol) and scrolling through their camera rolls. its very cute no i am not projecting and wishing i had a friend group that would do smth like this IM KIDDING I LOVE MY FRIENDS VV MUCH REGARDLESS OF ALL THIS :3

thank you so much for reading if you made it to the end ~ alyssng <3

[fairchilds-glasses]

austin-chr-2-0 asked:

Some Hogwarts AU:

Junior: Guys! You wouldn’t believe what happened?

Devon: *reading a book on black magic, arms and back completely bandaged*

Lexy: What happened, Jun-Jun?

Junior: So me and Jake decided to practice some forest magic, specifically manipulating the weather and trees! Devon told him something about it, and while we were there, this HUGE ASS black dog came up to us and-

Devon: Tried to bite you?

Junior: Yeah…wait, how’d you know about that?

Devon: *was the black dog* Lucky guess.

Oh hell yeah, I’ve missed the Hogwarts AU and I absolutely love this 😂

[barclaysangel]

Some Hogwarts AU:

Junior: Guys! You wouldn’t believe what happened?

Devon: *reading a book on black magic, arms and back completely bandaged*

Lexy: What happened, Jun-Jun?

Junior: So me and Jake decided to practice some forest magic, specifically manipulating the weather and trees! Devon told him something about it, and while we were there, this HUGE ASS black dog came up to us and-

Devon: Tried to bite you?

Junior: Yeah…wait, how’d you know about that?

Devon: *was the black dog* Lucky guess.

Omgggg that would totally happen!

[mikrokosmcs]

cheong  hyunmin  -  humano  -  27  años  -  28/01/1995  -  acuario  -  compositor  y  letrista  /  baterista  en  "the  hooligans" key    words:    entusiasta,    positivo,    cariñoso    y    coqueto

jeon  yunseo  -  humano  -  27  años  -  16/02/1995  -  acuario  -  artista  escénico  /  coreógrafo   key  words:  dramático,  impulsivo,  terco  y  excéntrico universo    alterno:

urban  witch  (brujo  del  agua)

jun  sakwon  -  humano  -  25  años  -  27/03/1997  -  aries  -  diseñador  de  modas key  words:  despreocupado,  cambiante,  temperamental  y  burdo universo    alterno:  

witchy  au  (representante  del  arcángel  miguel  (general  numero  1)

shin ryeohee - humano - 29 años - 29/03/1997 - aries - policía en cubierto / detective de narcóticos key words: independiente, argumentativo, asocial y de personalidad fuerte universo  alterno:

witchy au (nigromante)

shifter au (alfa de manada)

hunger games au (74° ganador de los juegos del hambre / minero de carbón)

hogwarts au

underworld au (vampiro)