#kim taerae imagines

[iwillneverforgiveyousunghanbin]

taedros taedros

part two: taedros twodros ☆ part three: taedros tresdros**NEW wc: 2k reader: femme afab warnings: MINORS DNI EXPLICIT SMUT 18+ -- porn with plot, oral f!receiving, swearing, calling tae a virgin loser as a joke, mentioning the weeknd LMAO summary: loserbestfriend!taerae makes you watch the idol on hbo max with him for movie night, but a certain convertible scene sparks your "curiosity" more than the others... and taerae proves he might not be such a loser after all. :0 omg who am i?? i even wrote in all lower case letters in the fic to throw you off... i know you'll know right away though but that's not the point lmao!! i just didn't think i should be this horny for taerae on main so. here's the dedicated zb1 smut blog no one was asking for (except me. i was asking for it so let me live.) thank you to taerae for posting these pics next to each other and ruining my life. also the idol sucks and sam levinson and the weeknd are horrific for creating it. i only know some scenes from it because i watch comedy commentary videos about it. jennie is beautiful tho love her. ALSO i thought of this title and i cried laughing. mwahaha okay thanks for reading byeeeee

“this is the worst show I’ve ever seen in my life,” you say with a laugh, throwing a piece of popcorn in your mouth. “i can’t believe we’ve made it through two episodes already.”

🚨 SMUT BELOW CUT -- MINORS DNI -- 18+ 🚨

taerae sighs, “i think i’m gonna need to bleach my eyes.”

“throw some in my ears while you’re at it,” you joke, letting a leg drape over your best friend’s. you’re crammed together in the bottom bunk of his dorm room bed, watching the idol on the tv that’s hung at the foot of it. “i will never, ever be unable to hear the weeknd whispering, ‘stretch that tiny little pussy for me’. and every single day i will beg the lord for mercy.”

“are we sure we wanna watch the third episode?” taerae asks-- shifting a bit next to you. “this show is so graphic.”

“of course the virgin wants to chicken out,” you tease, smacking his stomach with a pillow. he grabs it from you and leaves it there. “you’re the one who wanted to watch it! now you wanna quit two episodes in? not gonna happen. we can make it through this.”

if you hadn’t pressed play at that exact moment, you would’ve heard taerae gulp beside you. 

the intro of the show plays, assaulting your eyes with an up-close and personal view of jocelyn’s bare chest. what else is new? you yawn, hoping the third episode’s graphic scenes (at the very least) won’t be repetitive. bitch has put on a blindfold to end both episodes so far...

sitting with your back leaning against the wall, you try to steal a glance at taerae. his upper back is propped up on his pillow as he lies perpendicular to you, facing the tv screen. you watch his eyes, catching the subtle dilation of his pupils. it could be the light from the television in the otherwise dark room shifting their size, but you find yourself curious nonetheless.

“do you think she’s pretty?” you ask suddenly.

taerae coughs. “me? do i think the actress is pretty?”

you nod, eyes returning to the screen in hopes that the lack of eye contact will make taerae feel comfortable enough to give you an answer.

“she’s pretty, yeah,” he says after a moment. 

“like, you’re attracted to her?” you clarify, throwing another piece of popcorn into your mouth.

“uh,” he hesitates and you feel his legs tense up under yours. “i guess. i mean she’s not really my type, but--.”

“but you like her tits.”

“exactly,” taerae agrees too quickly. “wait, no--.”

“no need to walk it back,” you cut him off with a snort. “boobs are hot. end of story.”

taerae sits up a bit more, seemingly trying to relax after your probing. you didn’t talk to taerae about sex or girls all that much, but you’d be lying if you said the show hadn’t suddenly made you a bit curious. what experience did your lovable loser of a best friend have-- if any at all?

the interrogatory questions you’re suddenly wanting to ask are thrown from your brain, however, as the show now cuts to a shot of the weeknd (you and taerae refuse to call him tedros tedros) and jocelyn in the back of a convertible-- their poor assistant driving these two insufferable cretins down the freeway.

nothing’s out of the ordinary until jocelyn crawls from her seat and lifts one leg to straddle the weeknd. she’s in a slinky tangerine bodysuit and little black shorts and the weeknd’s hands easily envelope her waist. you roll your eyes, already having grown so sick of these two. 

but when jocelyn is suddenly pushed to the edge of the seat, her back against the car door and her head resting on the frame-- your attention is piqued. the weeknd wraps his hands around her thighs, prying them apart so he can pull her shorts to the side just enough to fit his tongue. the actress’s head lolls back over the car door frame; her blonde hair dangling over the side and flowing in the wind. her face is screwed up in absolute bliss and the sounds coming out of her confirm her state.

would she really be screaming like that just from his tongue?

“um,” you hear taerae say and you look over at him curiously. “if-- if he’s good with it, then yeah. she would be, i guess.”

you frown. what was he talking about? if he’s good with what? ... oh fuck, you think as you realize that you’d accidentally said your previous thought out loud. and now poor taerae is stumbling to give you an answer.

what did he say? if he’s good with it then she would be.

“huh,” you mumble, your brow furrowing as you ponder his answer.

you turn back to the tv, but taerae clears his throat. “what?”

“what? what do you mean, what?”

“why did you say ‘huh’ like that?” he asks, the pillow on his stomach rustling as he shifts slightly. “do you not agree or something?”

“oh, uh,” you stutter as you feel your cheeks start to heat, not sure what to say. “um, i guess i wouldn’t know.”

the silence from taerae is deafening as your eyes stay locked on the tv. you’re not sure why you said that. you could’ve just lied. you should’ve just lied.

“are you a virgin?” taerae asks softly. the accusation whips your head around to stare at him angrily and his eyes widen cautiously.

“obviously not,” you answer in a huff. “i just... i’ve never...”

you look down at your lap, picking at the skin on your fingers. you should stop while you can. you don’t need to tell the truth. why are you even considering telling him this?

“no one’s ever gone down on me or anything.”

“oh,” taerae manages to respond after a long moment, but you can’t even look at him.

“yeah.”

another moment of silence. “you shouldn’t be, like, embarrassed by that. that’s... that’s entirely their fault for not prioritizing you, you know?”

your bottom lip tucks between your teeth, the aforementioned embarrassment flushing your skin as you nod. the show is still playing, but you can only hear garbled sounds. why did you tell him that!? now taerae has to awkwardly comfort you when you could’ve just shut your mouth in the first place. you didn’t really talk about these kinds of things with taerae. your best friend was there for movie nights, chinese food binges, laughing until you cry, and most importantly taking the absolute piss out of... 

and here you were making him uncomfortable by randomly talking about your oral virginity.

“would you want me to do it?”

taerae’s voice is so quiet that you’re positive for a moment that you hallucinated it. you look over at your best friend tentatively to find his knuckles turning white from how hard he’s gripping his pillow to his stomach. 

“what?”

taerae blinks nervously. “if you wanted to, you know, try it... i could--.”

“WHAT!?” you shout; hands grabbing the pillow on taerae’s stomach and throwing it across the room. “are you-- are you fucking joking!? you think i’m desperate enough to ask my best friend to eat me out?”

“no, no, no,” taerae respond quickly, hands flying up in defense. “not at all!”

“then what?” you ask, jaw setting in anger as you wait for a good enough answer to keep you from punching him in the balls.

taerae’s lips form the slightest pout. “you seemed really curious about it. i just... i just thought i’d offer.”

you bite your lip as you think. “what do you even know about that kind of thing? I thought you were a virgin loser.”

“ouch,” taerae says but quickly shrugs it off. “i guess you’re only right about half of that statement.”

you frown. even though you’d never talked about it before, was taerae secretly experienced? more experienced than you?

“you don’t have to say yes though,” he adds quickly. “i’m sorry; i probably shouldn’t have said any--.”

“okay,” you cut him off softly.

taerae’s eyes widen in surprise. “okay?”

you nod slowly. “i don’t believe you that you’re not a virgin loser, but if you’re offering...”

taerae sits up, leaning on his hands as a little smirk lights up his face. “i’ll eat you out and then you can eat those words. how does that sound?”

the way your heat flutters at his words catches you off guard. so does the way he swiftly flips you onto your back as you take the position he was just in.

“whoah,” you exhale, your best friend absolutely knocking the wind out of you as he positions himself between your thighs. he takes the hem of your shorts in his fingers, eyebrows raising at you expectantly. you lift up your hips enough for him to shimmy them off, discarding them on the floor without taking his eyes off your still-clothed center.

you glance at your underwear, panic immediately hitting you when you realize you wore the only clean pair that you had left...

a black, lace thong.

they were the only pair left, because you honestly hadn’t had a reason to wear them in a little while.

“fuck,” taerae curses, hands wrapped around the outsides of your thighs. “were you going somewhere after this or...?”

“if you don’t shut your mouth, i’ll be going somewhere before this,” you threaten, but the words come out shakier than you would’ve liked as taerae begins to plant open-mouthed kisses up your thighs. “... ‘s laundry day tomorrow.”

“mm, I see,” he replies, shifting his weight to one hand so he can bring his right hand to your heat. your heart rate rises as he moves towards where you’re quickly growing to need his attention most. two fingers press at your clothed-core gently and the sound of the tv in the background does nothing to dampen the moan that escapes you from just the small amount of pressure.

“laundry day’s coming just in time i think,” taerae says, a smirk highlighting his cavernous dimples in a light you’ve never seen before. “from the way you’re soaking through these.”

“shut up,” you groan, bringing your hands up to cover your face. taerae hooks his fingers around the waistband of your panties, tugging at them playfully to get your attention. peeking out through your fingers, you glare at him.

“do you want to stop?” he asks, removing his hands quickly. “we can stop if you want to or need to or anything.”

you reach down and grab both of his hands in yours, reattaching them to your underwear. “please keep going.”

he blinks at you for a moment before nodding, pulling your thong down your legs as you lift your hips up for him. taerae lies down fully in between your thighs now, guitar-string calloused hands wrapping around your thighs and guiding them to rest on his shoulders. 

“so pretty,” he whispers. eyes focusing on your throbbing cunt, taerae’s grip on your legs gets a little tighter-- a little more desperate. “really.”

“thanks,” you respond shyly, watching as a bit of steam begins to coat the rim of taerae’s glasses. you can’t help but smile as you reach for them, carefully removing the frames and placing them on the stand next to his bed. 

“thanks,” he echoes. 

“i’m still not convinced that you aren’t a-- oh fuck...” just as you’re about to tease your loser of a best friend again, his tongue finds your core and licks a long stripe up from your opening to your clit. taerae exhales a laugh against your pussy, tongue circling your clit as his hands now take hold of your hips.

“wait, what the fuck?” you whine breathlessly as he works you over with his mouth. “tae, i thought... oh my god.”

“taste so good, baby,” taerae moans like he’s enjoying it just as much as you are. he slips a finger in your entrance carefully, stretching you until he deems you ready for a second. “Think this pussy might be perfect.”

his eyes are closed; eating at you like you’re his favorite meal. it’s hot. way hotter than the scene from the show. way hotter than anything on that stupid show-- in which another sex scene is playing on the screen behind taerae. you suddenly feel so much pity for jocelyn; one of the hardest characters in history to pity. but the fact that there’s no way tedros fucking tedros is eating her out as good as taerae’s eating you out right now is tugging at your heart strings.

“tae,” you whimper, feeling the knot in the pit of your stomach begin to tighten. your hand tangling up in his hair at the nape of his neck causes him to moan into you and the vibration only makes you tug harder. “please, please wanna cum.”

“already? you sure?” he says, disappointment coating his voice. “could eat this pussy all night.”

“holy shit,” you exhale. you didn’t even know taerae was capable of talking like this. the only time he ever said pussy around you was if he was calling you one. now as he looks up at you from between your thighs, his pretty dimpled-smile covered in your juices as he continues to fuck you with his fingers and press his thumb against your clit...

you’re nodding frantically now. “please, please tae. make me cum.”

“fuck, baby, okay. whatever you want,” he agrees quickly, the lust in his eyes at your demand reaching a whole new level. he removes his thumb from your clit and the sudden lack of contact causes you to whine pathetically. “sshhh, don’t worry baby. i’ve got something even better, i promise.”

just as some tears from frustration are welling up in your eyes, taerae’s lips close around your clit and he begins to suck. “oh my GOD,” is all you can manage as your orgasm starts to wash over you. “taerae. oh my god, tae... c-cumming.”

you’re grinding your pussy against his tongue now to maximize the friction and the way he lifts your hips a bit to bring you even closer tells you that he’s loving every second of this. your moans match the ones that taerae is mewing into your core. he places your hips back down onto the mattress, holding them steady as you start to squirm a bit from the overstimulation. he continues to lap at you gently as your hand falls from his hair to his shoulder, causing him to look up at you.

your cheeks are red now from both your climax and the new wave of embarrassment that’s creeping up on you. you’re not sure what to say, but luckily taerae’s got you covered.

he inserts two fingers inside of you again and then pulls them out-- covered in your juices. without hesitating, he sticks them in his mouth and sucks them clean. “you’ve tasted yourself, right? probably a lot. fuck, i’m so jealous.”

your jaw drops a bit, now doubly unable to speak at the filth pouring out of your best friend’s mouth..

taerae frowns at you. “what? you want to make this awkward now?”

you shake your head. 

“was it good?” he asks, head tilting to the side as he squints slightly. you reach over to his nightstand and grab his glasses, handing them back to him. he puts them on; raising his hand to ruffle his hair.

“you know it was good,” you mumble annoyedly.

he grins. “yeah. i do.”

“UGH,” you groan, hiding behind your hands again. “i hate you.”

“please, pleeeease tae,” he mocks, climbing up closer to your face to really rub it in. “make me cum.”

“SHUT UP!” you shout, hitting his chest with your fists in annoyance. “do not get cocky about this.”

taerae shrugs, biting his lip to keep from smirking. “i guess you never wanna do this again then?”

you sigh defeatedly before replying softly, “i didn’t say that.”

“good,” he says with a smile-- shifting to the edge of the bed and standing up. “i’m gonna get you some water and a towel, okay? don’t move a muscle.”

you don’t. taerae had made sure of that with the orgasm he’d just pulled out of you. as the door to his dorm room closes behind him, you’re left with only your thoughts and the sound of that shitty tv show playing in the background. you reach for the remote weakly, pressing pause on a bizarre scene of the weeknd jerking it over a clothing rack (?).

all you can think about, though, is taerae lapping at your pussy like a starved man. what the fuck just happened? did you really just let your best friend eat you out?

and how the fuck had he managed to leave you wanting more?

[kkongdakz]

“ WE'RE SO CLICHÉ. ” ft. ot9

in which : i associate love tropes with members.

ot9 x gn!reader, genre : mostly fluff, warning : alcohol consumption in jiwoong's, bullying in hao's, swearing and blood in gunwook's, a little bit of jealousy in yujin's, word count : 3,164

kim jiwoong ♡⃗ exes to lovers

i feel like you and jiwoong had a little love story when you were younger, at the beginning of high school for example

so when you finished your high school studies, you lost touch and kind of.. break up

to meet up again later by chance, through a mutual friend you had and organized a "school memories" party where all former students gathered

and coming face to face with jiwoong brought back old feelings — he still looks the same, but in a more manly and mature way

and your heart suddenly raced, because seeing the love of your youth has made you all things again

and vice versa

just imagine ... ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀« oh y/n ! i'm happy you're here ! » says your childhood friend as she welcomes you into her home with open arms. a smile on your lips, you embraced her, checking on her, recalling fond memories of the past. but as your eyes drifted over the other people in the room, they focused on one particular figure : your ex-boyfriend from highschool. apologizing to her, you walked away to gently approach jiwoong, who in turn laid eyes on you. he was always the same, but taller, more masculine, more mature, but always with the same deep gaze and prince charming smile. grabbing two glasses of champagne, he finally approached you, handing you one with a smirk that caused your heart to miss a beat. « hi y/n, it's been a long time.. » you nodded gently, watching him for a long minute, trying to understand why your heart was suddenly racing so fast. old memories resurfaced in your head as the evening progressed, until it was time to leave, finding the two of you in the entrance to the building. and when he placed a warm kiss on your cheek, innocently slipping a piece of paper into the palm of your hand, you thought that maybe, just maybe, the flame of your love wasn't totally extinguished.

other members under the cut !

zhang hao ♡⃗ rivals to lovers

listen, he's number one in everything he do

he's so so so so so competitive

so of course, when you're as good as him in everything, he understands he has competition

and oh boy, he is so determined to destroy you and so are you

so for many years, your relationship is based on arguments and repeated bickering — a competition the whole school knows about, even forming “team hao” and “team y/n”

but one thing's for sure : hao is the only one who can compete with you and make fun of your grades. so when someone decides to attack you, right in front of his eyes, he's the first to defend you

which surprises everyone

and create a new sensation in your heart

just imagine ... ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀« who do you think you are, talking to them like that? » hao said suddenly, drawing the attention of the other students in the class. your eyes opened wide, observing his silhouette with his back to you, who had just slid in front of you — as if to protect you. the girl who had been trying to belittle you earlier suddenly found herself caught in the middle, with only one way out : to runaway. as she slipped away with a sigh, the other students around you commented in low voices, which didn't stop hao from turning to you, gently knocking the top of your skull. « don't let people put you down, okay? you know what you're worth. » — coming from the person who beats you all day long, it meant a lot. so you simply nodded, trying to ignore your heart pounding in your chest, but his hand grabbed your wrist, forcing you to get up and leave the classroom with him. which led you to end up in the library, studying in the company of the man you consider your rival. but well.. a cute one.

sung hanbin ♡⃗ soulmate

the invisible red string between you and hanbin is so real

ever since you were little, you've always felt that the love of your life, your soulmate, was not far from you

you pushed away every person who approached you in a loving way, to wait for the precise moment when you would meet the only one person who would be number one in your heart

and one day, as you entered the new cute and cosy café near your house

you saw it in the eyes of the pretty barista — the little spark that appeared when your eyes meet each other's for the first time

and instantly, your heart knew it, he knew hanbin (you still had the time to read his name on the nametag hanging on his apron) was the love of your life

your one and only soulmate

just imagine ... ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀you were frozen, facing the cash register, your eyes completely hypnotized and stuck on the boy in front of you. he was pretty, handsome, he looked as soft as cotton, radiant as the sun, cute as a puppy. and he was watching you in exactly the same way : as if two wires had touched in your heads and you'd short-circuited. his eyes seemed like two deep wells, into which you suddenly lost yourself — your heart was pounding as you suddenly found yourself at a loss for words. this boy seemed to be the one you'd been waiting for all your life. but you were snapped out of your trance when the person behind you suddenly cleared his throat, leaving the cute barista to finally speak. « uh, mh, hi- welcome. i'm hanbin, what can we do for you? » after coming to your senses, looking everywhere but into his eyes, you gave him your order, paid, and waited patiently on the side. you couldn't help but observe him, the slightest of his delicate gestures and the smile that clung to his lips over and over again. until you received your order, and noticed a phone number on your cup. “ i'm hanbin, call me when you want :)xx ”

seok matthew ♡⃗ boy next door

he's the perfect cliché of the cute-hot boy who's just moved in next door to you

look at him, his smile, almost every morning when you're out to pick up your mails

and you just.. freeze, looking at him and his honey voice when he told you “hello neighbor”

and you just runaway — slightly embarrassed at having remained frozen in place without saying anything

and after that, every time you hear a noise near your door, you sneak a peek to catch a glimpse of him, watching him taking care of the plants around your shared balcony

until one day, when you suddenly need a carton of milk, and you have no choice but to ask your beloved next-door neighbor for help

..ending up cooking pancakes with him

just imagine ... ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀you didn't know what to say, when he was standing in front of you, and you didn't look at all presentable. flour on your apron, and a spatula in your hands, you'd suddenly forgotten that you needed milk to make pancakes. « need help, neighbor? » he said suddenly, a chuckle escaping his lips, which brought you back down to earth. « hey, sorry, do you have milk? i want to make pancakes but i forgot the milk. » — nodding positively, he walked away for a few moments before returning with a carton of milk. but as you reached out to retrieve it, he gently pushed you as he closed the door to his apartment, pulling you into yours. « i'll help you, you seem to be having a hard time. » he announced, with a drop-dead smile that you didn't dare to refuse. following him to the kitchen, he helped you prepare the recipe, even taking the time to get to know you and make you laugh. finally, something interesting was happening between you.

kim taerae ♡⃗ first love

listen. taerae is so first love coded and you can't change my mind

he's the boy everyone secretly dreams about

the one you watch dreamily in class and who never fails to make your heart skip a beat every time he smiles

and when you finally get to date him, oh boi- you're in heaven

he's literally so sweet : always here for you, fingers that never miss an opportunity to tuck a lock of your hair behind your ear, take you home after school, help you study, ect ect..

he's the one who makes you discover love : the butterflies in your stomach, the scenarios in your head that become real, the sweetness of a first kiss, the soft warmth that settles in your chest when he tells you you're beautiful

a smile and you're won over. taerae is and will always be your first love

just imagine ... ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀it was a pretty warm afternoon, cherry blossom petals dancing in the air and the sun streaming through the classroom windows. you watched the clouds sail across the sky, tapping your fingers against the wood of your school table, when he entered the room. a gentle smile tugging at his lips as he caught sight of you, dreaming in your corner. then he moved towards you, settling into the chair opposite you before placing a light kiss on your cheek to bring you out of your reverie. taken aback by his action, millions of butterflies flew into your stomach, while your stunned eyes finally found the face of taerae. « i was looking for you, » he says, placing a carton of chocolate milk in front of you, « would you like to go for a walk with me after school? » — of course, you weren't going to turn down the chance to spend a special moment with the boy who was introducing you to all the emotions of first love. with your heart pounding in your chest, you nodded positively at the same time as his fingers clasped yours.

shen ricky ♡⃗ forbidden love

honestly i was thinking about a secretly rich trope but i feel like ricky really likes to tell people he actually is rich.. so naur

so my other option is. i can imagine him as a fake bad boy.

like he hates everyone but you..

so when you noticed him at school, he had already noticed you — but he played the unapproachable guy until you needed a hand with another guy who was getting a little too close to you

and suddenly you saw him from a different angle, and that menacing yet nonchalant look he had on his face made your heart miss a beat — pushing you closer and closer to the forbidden

obviously, the people around you don't approve of your relationship with him at all

but it's not like you care

he may be mean to others, but he's always been upright, courteous and gentle to you

just imagine ... ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀midnight had just passed, as the clock on your bedroom wall told you, and yet you were still working on your homework for the next day. a sigh left your lips as you rubbed your eyes, and suddenly your peace was disturbed by a few almost inaudible knocks against your bedroom window. frowning, you approached it, hesitantly shifting your curtain to finally catch a glimpse of ricky's face. hurrying to open your window, the young boy entered your room in no time, before hooking his arms around your hips to press you against him. « what are you doing here? » you asked, whispering so as not to alert your parents about the intruder who was currently in your room at such a late hour. slipping your arms around your neck, ricky simply smiled, « i missed you. » he affirmed, placing a kiss on your cheek before deviating to your lips. even if you loved the fact that he'd show up at any hours just because he missed you, you still had to be careful and make sure you could continue to see him despite your parents' prohibition. « you know my parents are here? » — ricky shook his head, shrugged his shoulders and lifted you off the ground, kissing you passionately while telling you how much he didn't care.

kim gyuvin ♡⃗ fake dating

he can't be serious but trust me, he's the most perfect fake boyfriend you could ask for

just imagine that you've promised to bring someone to your sister's wedding — but unfortunately you are completely alone

your only option is to ask someone you trust to take on this role for the duration of a ceremony : and that's where gyuvin comes in

and he's perfect : his hand on your hip and his eyes attentive to your every word, having fun with your younger cousins and talking to your parents about anything and everything

he's charming, polite and gallant — the perfect son-in-law according to your mother and the hot jackpot according to your sister

and when you finally have a little moment alone together, and you're about to thank him for the perfect fulfillment of his role, you meet the gleam in his eyes and that silly little smile that hangs on his lips

and suddenly nothing exists around you anymore — all that's left is him, you, and the sun shining on his caramel skin.

just imagine ... ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀the sun passing through the leaves gently settles on gyuvin's face, who looks at you in the most tender way possible. his hand is naturally hooked on yours — which suddenly makes you realize that he doesn't have to put on an act when it's just the two of you. « you can stop pretending, you know? » you say softly, but his pupils don't move from yours. on the contrary, his free hand moves towards your face, grazing your skin, touching your cheeks with his fingertips, as if there were only the two of you left on earth. you thought your heart was going to escape from your chest, because he was no longer pretending — his hand gently tugged on yours, pulling you closer to him, spinning slowly to the rhythm of the background music. « i think we should be careful and always act like a couple so as not to arouse suspicion, don't you think? » he whispered in your ear, and you just love the way he makes you feel at that very moment. as if you two weren't just fake.

park gunwook ♡⃗ enemies to lovers

okay this is from a personal experience because my boys planet' story with gunwook is enemies to lovers

since you met him, your relationship with gunwook has been very complicated — he don't really like you, and you don't really like him either

he tends to play the big guy to show off his superiority and that's what annoyed you about him in the first place

so ever since, you've despised him and given him death glares at every opportunity — and he can't help but prank or scare you at every opportunity

until the day you get paired together for a school project.

and, even though you'd have liked to do the job yourself from start to finish, your teacher didn't agree with you at all, which forced you to tolerate him a little

and introduced you to a new side of gunwook that you'd never seen before — a cute and silly kitty

just imagine ... ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀sitting on the floor of your living room, your work books covering every nook and cranny of the coffee table, not a word had left your lips or gunwook's since the start of the afternoon. but the atmosphere seemed heavy, this silence more distressing than relaxing, in the end. sighing as you got up to go to the kitchen, you tiptoed over to grab a glass from the top of the cupboard. but not everything went according to plan : and the next thing you know, the glass was on the floor, broken, and your finger was bleeding. « shit. » you say, running to the sink to put your wounded finger under the water, juggling from one foot to the other while holding back from swearing at how much it hurt. and suddenly gunwook was at your side, one hand on your shoulder and his eyes riveted on your wound, « do you have a first aid kit somewhere? » — nodding as you indicated where it was, you watched him grab the object and return to you, wrapping your finger in a clean cloth before guiding you into the living room. here, gunwook tended to your wound delicately, meticulously, asking you repeatedly if you weren't in pain. he was much gentler than most people you knew — he who tended to act tough in front of others, was actually an adorable kitten. with a smile on his lips, he lifted your hand and placed a magic kiss on top of the bandage he'd made, and that's probably when your heart decided to make room for him inside.

han yujin ♡⃗ childhood friends to lovers

he's still a child okay

so i can easily imagine yujin as a childhood friend

playing cards and video games as kids, right up to entering high school hand in hand

nevertheless, i imagine that you have different groups of friends, even if you remain each other's number one

and you meet up every day after class to go home together and tell each other about your day

obviously, you don't notice it, but yujin always keeps an eye on you — without showing the slight jealousy growing in his heart every time he sees you getting a little too close to your other friends

he's never shy about reminding you that he's right there and that he's still your favorite

just imagine ... ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀waiting patiently in front of the school gate, yujin kicked a pebble before suddenly hearing your voice ring out. looking away from the road to observe you, he watched you walk up to him after you had greeted your new friends. as you reached your best friend, you planted yourself in front of him, a grandiose smile hanging on your lips, creating a slight reddish tinge at the tip of yujin's ears. squinting as you started to move forward, you hurried over to him and slipped your hands around his arm, pulling him closer to you, « yah. you walk too fast with your long legs. » — slowing down to walk at the same speed as you, he was content to listen attentively as you told him about your day, nodding from time to time and speaking up when necessary. but you could see that something was on his mind, so you stopped walking, forcing him to stop and turn to face you with a questioning expression. « what's on your mind, han yujin? » you say, your sun-filled eyes dazzling his. clearing his throat while looking away, rubbing the back of his neck nervously, you tilted your head slightly to one side, watching yujin with a small smile on your lips. « i'm still your favorite, mh? » he asked, daring to look deep into your eyes, « because you'll always be mine. » — you couldn't explain, but it was like in the romance books, with butterflies in your stomach and your heart beating wildly.

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[tofuhoon]

zb1 boyfriend thoughts

i wrote this in literally 5 mins enjoy pls

genre: fluff warnings: mentions of eating masterlist

jiwoong is the type of boyfriend to stare at you with loving eyes, chin resting on hand, sighing in happiness. it's a cliche tactic, but you still catch yourself blushing every single time.

hao is the type of boyfriend to nag you to eat over text when he knows he can’t do it in person. makes you send selfies of you doing your little tasks and tells you how proud he is of you before you go to sleep.

hanbin is the type of boyfriend to ogle at you as you go about your day. he tells you not to mind him, as he’s just admiring your beauty, but you can’t help but be hyperaware of his doting gaze on your figure at all times.

matthew is the type of boyfriend who insists on carrying everything you take out, saying its his “duty as a boyfriend” or whatever. you let him, of course. who would want to miss out on feasting their eyes on his bulging muscles (he flexes them a little harder on purpose)?

taerae is the type of boyfriend to serenade you every other day. of course, you’ve convinced him that he has you already, but it’s his love language. mixing his two greatest loves together is his dream come true (though you have been plotting how you can get him away from his wooden beloved for ten minutes to cuddle you instead).

ricky is the type of boyfriend to buy you flowers every single day. as if he’s still courting you. he knows that this is a surefire way to give you assurance and also make you feel as though you are still being pursued.

gyuvin is the type of boyfriend to text you about every single thing that happens in his life. don’t get it twisted, he’s actually not just doing it to annoy you (contrary to popular belief) – he just wants to involve you in all aspects of his days.

gunwook is the type of boyfriend to let down his “tough guy persona” everyone else around him sees. he feels like when he’s with you, he’s safe to let down his guard and be his true self.

yujin is the type of boyfriend to brag about you all the time – to the point where the members have an exclusive look into your relationship, despite having not met you once.

[zerobaselove]

burning up | kim taerae

pairing: taerae x reader

genre: fluff, suggestive ?

word count: 788

warnings: a little suggestive? idk they make out. lowercase intended, not proofread.

prompts: 1. "want me to kiss it better? or..?" 30. "you make it hard to think straight."

notes: had a couple requests for this combination so here i am !! (nan bitna)

"son of a-" you ripped the burning hot spoon away from your lips, albeit a little too late. the damage was already done. sure, the spoon had been sitting on the stove, and sure, the stove had only just been turned off, but you hadn't quite expected it to be as hot as it was as you sat there, with a dull throbbing feeling from your now burnt lip. you seem to have caught taerae's attention as he grabbed the spoon from you, setting it down on the counter and coming to check out your lip.

"you have to be more careful," he shook his head, running his thumb over your lip as you stood there in shock; sure he was being helpful, but now you were holding your breath against your own will and your head was spinning at the thought of him that close to you.

you're not even sure when he pulled away, your mouth dry from how long your jaw was metaphorically on the floor. his voice pulled you from any more thoughts, "does it hurt?" his caring tone made your head spin even more, why couldn't he just laugh at you and move on, you thought to yourself.

you gave a small hum, "it's better but it's still not nice feeling, that's for sure." your voice softened as you brought your own hand to your lip, unsure whether you were doing it because of the burn or in an attempt to mirror the boy's earlier actions on your skin.

"want me to kiss it better? or..?" he smiled, and you couldn't tell if he was aware of what he was suggesting, but you could tell that your face was heating up, probably matching the spoon. "taerae" you whined, smacking his arm lightly, "you can't just say that, don't you know what that implies."

you couldn't even make eye contact at this point, too embarrassed by the heat radiating off of your face, so you missed the way a smug smile crossed his lips. "yeah, and?" he said, so matter-of-factly that it made you whip your head up a little faster than intended, "don't they say kissing it better helps?"

you only gave a small nod, you couldn't really say much, partially due to not knowing what to say, and partially due to the fact that you didn't trust yourself not to say something irreversible.

you must've been standing there thinking for a while as he waved his hand in front of your face, "is that a no?"

"no!" you quickly replied before realizing how that sounded, "i mean, you, you could." you managed to spit out. words were getting harder to form the longer you looked at taerae, his clearly pleased expression did bad, bad things to your head.

"sorry, what was that?" he toyed, wanting to hear you say it explicitly.

you let out a loud sigh, your hands coming up to cover your face. "god you," taerae only took a few steps closer to you, cornering you into the counter behind you, "i what?"

"you make it hard to think straight," you finally looked up at the boy, not realizing just how close he had gotten as you could almost feel his breath on your skin. the confession was music to his ears as he brought a hand up to brush a strand of hair behind your ear before cupping your face. "then let's not think."

your eyes fluttered shut as he leaned down to connect your lips; it was gentle, probably due to not wanting to hurt you, but when his lips were on yours you seemed to forget all about the pain.

getting lost in the kiss, you brought your arms up to wrap around his neck, playing with the strands of hair on the back of his neck. out of curiosity, you gave them a light tug, getting a muffled gasp in return. taking the opportunity, you let your tongue find it's way past his now parted lips, deepening the kiss.

this went on for a few more minutes before the two of you pulled apart, foreheads still pressed to each other. "you make it quite hard to think as well darling." he smiled, pressing a chaste kiss to your lips as his hands wrapped around your waist, keeping you pinned between himself and the counter.

"oh, i," you couldn't quite form a sentence, still thinking about his hands on your and his lips pressed against yours. bringing a hand up to ruffle your hair, taerae let out a tsk at your foggy state. "you're cute like this," you couldn't stop the blush from making it's way to your cheeks at the compliment, "and all because of me."

[keiwook]

BOILED UP ༄ KTR

syn reader and taerae get into a heated argument that leaves both of you angry but taerae still wants to let you know he loves you

genre bf!taerae x gn!reader, fluff, tiny angst if you squint, reader and taerae get into an argument, taerae is a bit scary when mad, reader is stubborn and stressed, going to bed mad wc 0.4k

notes happy taerae day ! decided to do a short drabble instead ! idk how i feel abt this one, its so rushed and i dissociated with life for like a week 😦

masterlist<3

you had gotten home later than usual and taerae was worried sick. you were a bit stressed about work and taerae bombarding you with questions didn’t help with it at all. although taerae had every right to be worried; he just wouldn’t let you off without his nags.

his questions met with none other than silence. every word of his pecking away at your patience. you had enough “taerae, can you stop talking for a moment?” you asked with a raised voice and taerae was taken aback.

usually taerae would respect your boundaries but you had been ignoring him for the past few days and his concerns were met with sudden anger. “i just wanted to know how you were-” he tried to speak up again but you cut him off “you don’t need to, it’s getting annoying.”

although your eyes weren’t on him, the obvious glare into the distance was enough to show how you were feeling. you stood to get away from the intense tension that filled up the room by the second when taerae grabbed your wrist.

“can’t you talk to me?” he asked, eyebrows furrowed as worries pile over him. “i don’t want to.” you respond, looking away from him as taerae speaks up again “what’s bothering you? are you alright?” there he goes again with the questions, making you raise your voice at him. “god, can’t you shut up for once?”

his mood sullens, obviously hurt by your words “i haven’t heard about you for days and i-” he stops momentarily to piece his thoughts together “you know what, it’s whatever.” he didn’t raise his voice nor argue back but that was the scary part; taerae would usually find a way to fix it right in the exact moment but this time he didn’t.

he sat down on the couch, fingers rubbing his temple as both of you seethe in anger. being too stubborn then, you immediately entered your shared bedroom and slammed the door closed.

as you slipped under the covers and swiftly turned off the lights beside you, you heard the door creak open. you thought he would’ve slept in the living room because of what happened but maybe he changed his mind.

taerae settled in bed, looking over to you as your back faced him. he hesitated for a moment, is he doing the right thing? he slid his arm around your waist, snuggling closer to you as he slowly interlocks both of your fingers. his thumb now carressing your hand “i’m sorry.” he whispered. your breath hitched, he still came back for you? of course he did, he always does.

© keiwook | 2023

tag @bruhiamistake @trashydez @chxrrymxxnlight @haesunflower @big-uwu-stan @gnwookie @kpoprhia @taerrrrrae

here if you wanna join the taglist !

[wonjnz]

in a valorant player!taerae brainrot ever since i found out he's diamond.. im still iron 🤕🤕

"holy shit, you suck." you hear taerae's voice over your discord call after losing your 2nd ranked valorant game of the night. you scoff at him playfully.

"as if you didn't make a new account just to match my rank." you retort as taerae queues again to your dismay. you swear you can play better when he's not around, it's like he's some bad omen that leads you to always getting killed per round.

taerae chuckles, "i wanna play with my duo in ranked, what's wrong with that? plus, i bought all your favorite skins so i can drop them for you."

though you can't say no to his invites, especially when you're the only one left and he's terrifyingly close to his mic, saying "clutch this for me, yeah?" (you always get killed whenever he says so.)

or whenever he uses his mic to give some insight, his voice deep you'd probably mistake him for another e-boy if he wasn't your boyfriend. he'd always spectate you and sometimes his "he's behind you, baby." never fails to make you smile.

but for tonight, you'd have to endure taerae's toxic trashtalking skills towards your teammates but at the same time defending you for performing the same way.

"i literally have the same stats as them?" you say after taerae gets mad at your teammate yet again. to which taerae simply says, "still my pretty girl, so you're better."

[nichoswag]

sleepy . kim taerae

pairing: bf!taerae x gn reader

warnings: heavy cuddling, kissing, lots of fluff, sleeping together in a non-sexual way

synopsis: you find it hard to stay awake while you're with your boyfriend.

song rec: venus fly trap - brakence (warning: song is vaguely sexual)

a/n: just a little drabble to make up for not posting all day 💔 i'm still working on all those requests btw !! just a lil busy cuz I'm preparing to go on a lil vacation. it's 2 am rn but that's okay here u go ♡

you rub your eyes and yawn as you wake from your nap. looking around, you realize you've fallen asleep on your boyfriend's chest while you were supposed to be watching a movie together in bed.

"you're awake." taerae smiles at you fondly and ruffles your hair.

"sorry i passed out on you," you apologize. "i know you wanted to watch this movie together."

he chuckles. "i can't complain, you were so cute. did you know you make these cute little snores when you sleep?"

you turn away from him and cover your face with your hands, blushing profusely. "ahh, that's so embarrassing!"

he laughs at that. "it was so cute though!" he takes your hands in his, pulling them away from your face. he then pulls you closer to him and kisses you. "wanna take a nap together?" he mumbles against your lips.

"what about the movie?" you ask, remembering he wanted to watch it with you in the first place.

"oh, forget that," he dismisses. "we can watch it another time."

"I'd love that," you smile sweetly. "i love you."

he leans forward and presses another peck to your lips. "i love you too."

you melt into him as sleep begins to overtake you.

©nichoswag | do not copy my work or repost onto any other platform.

[hazyskyline]

“unrequited, terrifying” | k. taerae

desc. | loosely based off the song “from the start” by laufey. where (y/n) cannot bear to be just friends with kim taerae.

pairing | kim taerae x male!reader

genre | angst? into fluff, songfic

word count | 1072

warnings | unrequited love kind of

bold text - song lyrics

——————————————————————————

don't you notice how,

i get quiet when there's no one else around?

me and you and awkward silence

it was another instance where you and taerae were left alone in a room together. you hated these times because of how you felt towards him. you could never work up the courage to talk to him while he would do whatever. for the both of you, it was awkward silence.

don't you dare look at me that way

i don't need reminders of how you don't feel the same

everytime taerae smiled at you, with that stupid, amazing, wide, bright smile, you wanted to scream. everytime he flashed that smile at you, once you got past the part where you mindlessly yell in your head, you thought about how he smiled at everyone. he wasn’t into you like you were into him.

oh the burning pain

listening to you harp on ‘bout some new soulmate

“she's so perfect” blah blah blah

when you were hanging out together with friends, taerae would always talk about his girlfriend. it was like he would purposely yell it directly in your ear to make you jealous. you wanted to meet this girl who he described as “so amazing at everything she does!”

oh, how i wish you'll wake up one day

run to me, confess your love, at least just let me say that

every day, you daydreamed that he would run to your house in the rain. he would bang at your door, drenched in water. you would open the door to see him, and he would rant about how he just broke up with his girlfriend because he realized that he couldn't lie about his feelings anymore and how he loved you the entire time and then he would go in for the kiss.

when i talk to you, oh cupid walks right through

and shoots an arrow through my heart

“hey (y/n), what are you thinking about?” taerae said, snapping you out of your daydream. the two of you were hanging out. in fact, it was the first time in a few months. he was looking at you through his disgustingly adorable glasses, with his signature shining smile.

“that i could go for a bite..” you said quickly, which wasn’t a complete lie. you were a bit hungry.

“honestly, me too.. wanna get lunch?” taerae asked innocently.

it would be absolutely foolish of you to say yes. practically insane! but before your brain even processed this, your mouth started to move.

“i would love to have lunch with you!” you said cheerfully.

“oh great another awkward lunch date with him,” you thought to yourself.

shortly after though, you gained some resolve. if nothing was going to happen, why bother even trying to like him. of course, it was much much much easier said than done, but you weren’t going to let your unrequited love for taerae determine your relationship with him.

even if he would never date you, it would be alright.

——————————————————————————

it was time for your lunch date with taerae. you had spent some of the time getting ready, but most of it was trying to shove your feelings for him even further down than they already were.

taerae honked at your door and you exited your home, preparing for what would most likely be a hard night.

——————————————————————————

the car ride was actually quite bearable, all things considered. sure there were moments of silence, but the two of you mostly bonded like you used to. you were doing a good job at hiding your feelings.

the two of you actually managed to talk for the whole lunch and even managed to get a few photos together. it was now right after lunch, you and taerae were outside the restaurant.

taerae looked at you and gave you his million dollar smile, “thanks for today! i had a really great time.”

you smiled back at him, “yeah i also had a really great time! do you wanna do this again sometime?”

“of course!”

the two of you locked eyes, before taerae pulled you into a hug. “i had a really good time (y/n), it feels like forever since we’ve talked like that.”

and that was all it took for all your feelings to come rushing back to the surface. it hit you fast that you couldn’t be “just friends” with him. it hurt too much to hear him talk about his girlfriend, to not be the one that holds him.

you softly pulled away from the hug. “taerae.. i can’t do this anymore.”

he had an expression that was a mix of confusion and concern. “what do you mean?”

confess i loved you

your eyes darted nervously, before your mouth opened to confess your thoughts, “taerae, i’ve liked you for so long, and i can't just be friends with you. i tried so hard to accept that you were dating this girl, but it hurt to hear you talk about her. i wanted to be her, desperately. and i could never explain this to you! i didn't want to completely shatter our relationship!” your eyes locked on his eyes.

as you prepared to get shot down you saw his priceless smile.

“(y/n).. i broke up with her a month ago. i broke up with her because i realized that.. that, i was in love with you. i've wanted to tell you for so long, but i thought that you wouldn’t feel the same.”

your lips were just slightly parted, surprised by the information you just received.

taerae grabbed your hands, wrapping his hand around your fingers and holding them out in front of you. “i would love it if we could hang out sometime? as not friends.”

just thinking of you

you closed your mouth before grinning, “does this mean you’ll be my boyfriend, kim taerae?”

he let go of your hands before interlocking your fingers with each other. he kissed your forehead before saying, “of course, boyfriend.”

you were practically jumping up and down when you gave him the biggest smile you could physically create.

“well then will you drive me home, boyfriend?” you asked, a hint of sarcasm in your tone.

“what kind of a boyfriend would i be if i didn't?” he replied back, also joking.

the two of you hurriedly went back to taerae’s car, speeding back home.

i know i've loved you from the start.

——————————————————————————

a.n | this took a while to write because i just didn’t have motivation 😓😓. it’s here now though! i love taerae and this song is just too good to not get inspired off of. go stream it before bewitched comes out tmrw!!

[jebewonmorelike]

One Man's Loss Is Another Man's Gain

wc: 4k warnings: none; a little angsty, very fluffy ending; some swears; the other guy in this is a bit of a meanie bo beanie and won't leave you alone pronouns: none used; n/a summary: when a popular boy keeps begging reader for a second chance, bestfriend!taerae pretends to be their boyfriend to finally get rid of him; university au ~masterlist~ ♡ ~kofi (no pressure at all)~ Guys. Tae Rae and I have the same birthday (but a different year). I think I also have a very bright smile that is endearingly too large for my face. Must be a 7/14 birthday thing :) Kim Taerae I adore u, u perfect angel u

“Oh my god, ew!” You squeal. “Absolutely not.”

Noah rolls her eyes. “Really? He’s standing right there.”

You look to your left at your best friend Taerae, who is biting his lip quietly. “Sorry, Tae. Obviously I don’t mean that you’re gross. But you are gross to me.”

He nods. “No, yeah. I get it.”

Noah smacks your shoulder. “Come on, (Y/N). This is brilliant. You fake-date Taerae for a couple weeks and everyone stops bothering you. And then you can ‘break up’ and go right back to normal,” she urges. “Simple.”

“Taerae does not want to do that,” you reply, waiting for him to agree. The silence you’re met with is concerning. “Right, Taerae?”

Your friend is still chewing on his lip in contemplation when your eyes meet his again. “I don’t want people bothering you anymore. Especially that asshole…”

Brandon. President of the university honor society. Captain of the basketball team. Your assigned desk partner in Latin American History.

You'd sat next to him all semester, starry-eyed as you silently willed him to talk to you before finally being assigned to a project together on La Nueva Canción-- Chilean revolutionary music. Taerae had pouted for days when you were assigned the only topic relating to music.

The truth was, you didn't really care what topic you were assigned. The only thing that mattered to you was that after your topic had been assigned by your professor, Brandon turned to you for the first time all year and said, "Sounds kind of cool."

You nodded far too enthusiastically.

For a week, you met with Brandon in the library after his basketball practice to research La Nueva Canción and construct a compelling slideshow presentation for class. As far as you were concerned, spending your nights in the library was absolute bliss. Brandon smiled at you (sometimes), joked with you (twice), and even complimented you on your font choice for the presentation...

Then one night, a group of guys approached your table in the library. Brandon audibly sighed before putting on a smile to greet them. You recognized some of them as other guys on the basketball and football teams.

"You going out tonight?" One of them asked, resting his hand on Brandon's shoulder.

Brandon shook his head. "I'm tired."

Another guy rolled his eyes. "No, you're not. You just don't want to go out without Melanie."

Brandon shrugged. "I didn't say that."

"Yeah, but we all know it. Come on, man. Go ahead and get back out there. You can pull anyone you want!" The first guy insisted.

"I--..." Brandon stuttered before his head turned quickly to look at you, eyes lighting up. "I already did."

You blinked back at him wordlessly, unsure of what was going on. Brandon reached across the table, resting his large hand on top of yours.

"We're going out," Brandon announced. "Tonight."

The group of boys looked at you, seemingly having not even noticed you before Brandon's acknowledgement. Their brows furrowed confusedly, looking back and forth between each other to see if their eyes deceived them.

"But that's--," one of the guys started to say, but Brandon cut them off.

"Awesome, right? I thank you for being so supportive of me. We need to wrap up this project fast though if we want to make it to our dinner reservation on time! See you guys tomorrow," Brandon said quickly, waving at the guys until they gave up and left.

When it was just the two of you again, Brandon's head fell to his hands as he laughed in relief. He looked back up at you after a moment. "Sorry about that."

You were sure your eyes were absolutely bugging out of their sockets.

"Can I make it up to you by... buying you dinner or something?" Brandon offered with a lop-sided smile.

Your ability to suppress the scream that had built in your throat was an impressive display of restraint. "Really?"

Brandon shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. Why not?"

You nodded. "Okay."

"Wanna meet at the cafe down the street in an hour? I just want to drop my stuff off in my room and change," he suggested, picking up his bag and throwing his laptop and loose papers in.

You nodded again. "Okay."

Brandon exhaled a laugh, before making his way to the doors. "Okay."

You spent the next forty-five minutes racing back to your dorm and getting ready for your date with Brandon. Changing into something presentable, applying an ample amount of moisturizer to your face, and fixing your hair before rushing back out the door and strolling happily down the street to the cafe across from campus.

It was about 10:30 P.M. when you arrived and, once inside, you sat down at a table with cushioned chairs by the window. A waitress came to grab your order and, after a few minutes, brought you your drink.

"You look so lovely," she complimented, placing the drink down on your table. "Are you waiting for someone?"

You smiled shyly and nodded.

"Whoever it is is very lucky!" She remarked sweetly and returned to her post.

You took out your phone, scrolling mindlessly through Instagram while you waited for Brandon to arrive. You kept one eye glued to the door as the minutes passed, your heart beating so fast you considered the possibility of needing an ambulance.

But after ten minutes, twenty minutes, thirty minutes...

An hour later, you finally texted Noah.

Noah, you will NOT guess what happened... :)) Okay, I'll tell you! Brandon asked me out and now I'm waiting for him at the cafe across from campus!!

She responded quickly.

(Y/N)... Is that true? I don't know how to tell you this, but Brandon's at this party I'm at. And... I'm so sorry. I'll just show you.

You clicked on the video that Noah sent you, a bit blurry at first before zooming in on two people intensely making out. Your previously rapidly beating heart ceased all of its thumping as it sunk to the bottom of your stomach.

As they pulled apart, people around them cheered and shouted. Looking around the room with the biggest grin on his face was Brandon, his ex-girlfriend Melanie clinging to his chest.

Your eyes began to water involuntarily, wondering how you could've been so stupid. Wiping them quickly, you placed some cash on your table for the nice waitress and exited the cafe. You had been so distracted by the upsetting news that you hadn't even noticed it had started to downpour.

Mud and giant puddles lining the street, there was no chance you were making it safely back to your dorm by walking. Standing under the awning, heavy rain hitting the pavement and bouncing up to soak your clothes, you weren't sure if the water under your eyes was tears from the sky or tears from you.

Headlights bathing you in sickeningly bright light caused you to break momentarily from your crying spell. A car door opened and closed as a figure holding an umbrella made their way up to you.

"You look like a wet rat," the familiar, honey-like voice joked as he stepped under the awning with you.

"Taerae?" You wondered if your teary eyes deceived you. "How did you know I was here?"

He laughed that gorgeous baritone laugh. "You know Noah can't keep her mouth shut for anything."

You wanted to laugh, but you just couldn't. Instead, you wrapped your arms around Taerae and clung on for dear life. He was a bit surprised at first, seeing as your physical affection towards him usually manifested in the form of a punch or smack. But after a moment, his arms tightened around you, one hand gently caressing the back of your head.

"It's okay," he soothed. "It's gonna be okay. You deserve so much better than him."

You just squeezed him tighter.

"He's gonna regret treating you like this."

~

Brandon and Melanie broke up again before the clock had struck midnight.

And the next day, rumors started swirling that Brandon had stood up the Chancellor's kid at the cafe across from campus.

That was apparently when Brandon first learned that the University Chancellor was your dad.

He had shown up at your dorm, knocking on the door frantically. You opened it, shocked to see the boy you had such a devastatingly huge crush on in front of you.

"(Y/N), I'm so sorry," he said, his tone a bit frantic. "I'm so sorry that I stood you up Friday night. That was absolutely horrible of me. I was so tired, I just knocked out and--."

"And sleepwalked into a party and down Melanie's throat?"

His face fell as he realized he was caught in a lie. He sighed in defeat. "I'm sorry. I wish I could go back and change it, but I can't."

You nodded. "Okay."

"If you give me one more chance, I swear I'll make it up to you," he said, hopefully.

You couldn't lie-- your heart fluttered at his words. But after that night, crying as Taerae drove you back to your dorm, you knew you couldn't agree right away. "I'll think about it."

"Awesome!" Brandon says with a grin before lowering his voice and scratching his arm awkwardly. "I, uh... I didn't know the Chancellor was your dad."

"Oh. Yeah," you replied, brow furrowing a bit suspiciously. Why did that matter to him? Why was he bringing that up now?

"You're not gonna, like... say anything to him right? About me?"

"Why would I say something to him about you?" You asked, genuinely confused as to what his thought process was.

Brandon sighed with relief. "Oh, that's so good to hear. I want to keep playing basketball, you know?"

He laughed as you stared at him disappointedly, finally understanding why he was really here. Brandon was on a sports scholarship... and he was trying to make sure you wouldn't cause him to lose it.

"I'm not gonna snitch on you," you said, nodding as the truth sunk in. "So you didn't need to come here and pretend you were sorry."

His eyes widen, panic re-setting in. "No! Oh god, no, that's not what I was doing. I really am--."

You shut the door in his face.

And you've shut the door in his face for five days now. Every day, he'd knock on your door and beg you to go out with him and, when you refused, begged you to not tell your dad what an asshole he was.

Not to mention, you couldn't enter the student union or the dining hall without hearing people whisper around you. What had become apparent to you quickly was that Brandon wasn't going to stop any time soon and neither were the rumors flying around you.

So standing outside in the courtyard with Noah and Taerae now, you consider your best friend's sentiment.

"If it'll make him stop bothering you, I'll do it," Taerae says decisively, picking at a leaf on the tree he's leaning on.

You swallow hard. "Okay."

Noah screeches. "OH MY GOD! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU? YOU'RE REALLY GONNA DATE TAERAE!?"

You stare at her incredulously. "You literally told me to!"

She huffs. "I didn't think you'd actually do it."

"Well," you say, looking at Taerae who is still doing everything he possibly can not to meet your gaze. "I think it's probably the best plan we've got."

Taerae hums. "So, when do we start?"

"Huh?" You ask, tilting your head to the side.

"When do we start dating?" He asks, finally looking at you with an awkward, dimpled smile. "Now?"

"Oh shit," Noah says, biting her lip to keep from smiling. "I think he's asking you out."

You smack her quickly, shooting her a look before turning back to Taerae. "Yeah. I guess... now."

He nods, the brightest grin spreading across his face. "Okay, let's go!"

Grabbing your hand in his, he begins dragging you across the courtyard. "Go where!?"

"On a date," he says, looking back at you. "Duh."

"Oh," you manage to reply, trying your best to keep up with his incredibly fast pace. Taerae was normally a pretty leisurely walker and you would often have to yell at him to keep up.

"People need to see us, right? Let's go to the cafe," he suggests, slowing down a bit when you both reach the sidewalk. He squeezes your hand as you make your way to the cafe across from campus-- the cafe where you were stood up only a week ago.

You stop in your tracks, a flood of worry crashing over you. Is this a good idea? What if people know we're just pretending? What if Brandon is there?

Taerae turns around when he realizes he can't pull you forward anymore. He sees it immediately-- the look in your eyes as you ponder every possible negative outcome. Placing his hands on your shoulders, he smiles at you reassuringly.

"We've got this, right? We just have to sell it," he encourages, squeezing your shoulders a couple of times to pump you up. "You think you can pretend I'm not gross for an hour?"

You laugh, shaking your head. "You're not gross, Tae. I just..."

You look at the cafe sadly, remembering how hard you had sobbed into Taerae's chest as the rain poured down around you.

"Hey," your best friend says, taking a finger and placing it below your chin; tipping it up to keep your head held high. "There's no need to be sad. I'd never stand you up."

With that, you let Taerae drag you through the doors of the cafe and into a seat at one of the tables. Right away, you can hear the whispers begin to rumble throughout the cafe. Taerae sits down across from you comfortably, just smiling back at you as if he doesn't hear a sound. You can't help but notice he hasn't really stopped smiling ever since you agreed to this silly plan.

"Oh, hi!" The waitress that had been working Friday night greets, rushing over to you. When she stops in front of your table, she stares directly at Taerae and frowns. "Don't tell me this is the guy who stood you up."

Looking around anxiously and realizing all eyes in the restaurant are on you and Taerae, you both shake your heads furiously. "No, no," you correct. "This is... This is my--."

"Boyfriend," Taerae finishes.

Both yours and the waitress's eyes widen in surprise-- the other students in the cafe now dead silent as they strain to overhear your conversation.

"You were... going on a date with someone that wasn't your boyfriend?" She asks, suspiciously.

"I wasn't at the time," Taerae clarifies quickly, before smiling at you quite cutely. "But one man's loss is another man's gain."

The sun is shining directly on Taerae through the window of the cafe, his dark eyes sparkling as they lock on yours. His brown hair appears almost golden from the warm light as it rests across his forehead-- deep smile lines in his cheeks even more charming than usual.

You shake your head quickly to clear these thoughts from your mind, looking back up at the waitress sheepishly.

"Wow," she says, nodding. "I like him. I mean, just look at the way he's looking you."

Taerae's lips part slightly as she states her observation and he looks down for a moment at his lap, his cheeks sporting a tint of crimson. He had been putting on a pretty convincing performance so far and you wonder if it's starting to get embarrassing for him...

If he's starting to regret saying yes to this.

"It's hard not to admire someone so beautiful," Taerae says softly, looking back up at you; his bottom lip tucked between his teeth.

"Okay, you have to keep him," the waitress decides with a laugh. "Now, what are you both having?"

~

The next day, Taerae took you to dinner at the Mexican restaurant near campus that you loved. The day after that, you got ice cream and sat on the swings at the public park. And the next day, you both went to the art museum with Noah to look at the new interactive Monet exhibit (Noah was pretending to try not to gag the whole time).

Each day that week, Taerae had brought you on some little adventure with him and you weren't really complaining. You adored your best friend; spending time with him was already one of your favorite things. Actually, since the start of this semester, you hadn't seen Taerae as often as you normally would after he was elected secretary of the honor society. It made you happy to have an excuse to see him so much.

Tonight, Taerae had convinced you to see a movie with him. Some action extravaganza with no plot, but he bought you a big popcorn with extra butter and a cherry icee so you didn't mind.

"Why are we seeing this movie, though?" You asked, plopping down in the theatre seat. "There's a 45th anniversary showing of Grease literally playing in the next theatre."

"Because," Taerae starts, before shoveling a handful of popcorn into his mouth, swallowing it down with his Sprite. "Brandon and his stupid friends would never go see an anniversary showing of Grease."

"Yeah, but we would," you reply, before realizing what he had just said. "Wait, what!?"

He shrugs. "If he doesn't want people to know where he's going, he shouldn't talk about it so loudly at honor society meetings."

Just then, you hear familiar, unsettlingly male laughter sounding from the entrance of the theatre. Brandon turns the corner with his friends, eyes widening in surprise when he sees you staring back at him.

Your eye contact is broken, however, when Taerae reaches over and turns your face towards him. "Open up," he says, popping a piece of popcorn in your mouth in the most sickeningly adorable way possible. "Is it good?"

You chew, completely stunned by the affectionate action, eventually swallowing and nodding back at him slowly.

"So cute," he coos, loud enough for Brandon to hear. You watch as Brandon and his friends study you curiously-- the captain himself appearing quite angry. They soon take their seats as the trailers start, but throughout the movie you notice Brandon glaring up at you and Taerae every so often.

As the credits roll, you and Taerae grab your garbage and make your way out of the theatre. Still finishing your cherry icee, Taerae takes your free hand in his and you head off together towards the doors.

"(Y/N)!" You hear someone call behind you, turning around to see Brandon running to catch up with you.

"Oh," you say as the tall boy stops in front of you. "Hey, Brandon."

"Hey, uh..." Brandon looks at Taerae, then back at you. "I keep hearing something about you dating some guy."

Suddenly, Taerae leans in and kisses you. You momentarily forget how to breathe before he pulls back and turns to Brandon. "Huh. That's so weird."

"You--," Brandon strokes his chin, smiling and shaking his head like he's in disbelief of something. "You must think you're pretty clever, huh?"

You look at Taerae confusedly, wondering what Brandon was insinuating of your friend.

Taerae just shakes his head. "No. I think that I'm not going to let anyone treat my best friend so rudely ever again."

Brandon nods, huffing a sarcastic laugh. "Yeah. I'm sure you'd never lie about anything to get your way. Right, Kim?"

"Can you please leave me alone now?" You ask finally. "Taerae's my... boyfriend now. I'm not going to tell my dad about what happened. You're not going to lose your scholarship. Let's just present our project together tomorrow and never speak to each other again."

Brandon chews his cheek, replying annoyedly, "Fine."

With that, Taerae drags you out the door and into the open air.

~

It's the fourteenth and last day of your fake relationship with Taerae. He'd set up a picnic in the courtyard with your favorite sandwiches from the deli down the street and a bunch of different snacks and salads. He held out a strawberry for you, smiling as you bit into it happily.

No one is looking at you anymore. They hadn't been for some time now. You could've called this off a few days ago, but Noah had insisted with a smirk that you "play it safe".

"This hasn't been half-bad," you say, grinning at Taerae. "I got to spend two whole weeks with my very busy best friend. Everyone stopped gossiping about me. My former crush stopped... stalking me, I guess?"

Taerae laughs. "Yeah, he was definitely stalking you," he agrees before a frown forms on his face. "I'm really sorry that happened."

You shrug. "Thanks for helping to stop it."

He sighs and you're surprised by how sad it sounds. "Well, it's--... It's the least I could do... When I'm the one who started it."

Your eyebrows furrow in confusion. "What? What do you mean you started it?"

"I--... I might've been the one that let it slip to Brandon that the Chancellor was your dad," Taerae admits, hanging his head in shame. "I'm so sorry that I didn't tell you sooner. And I'm so sorry that it created such a nuisance for you-- that Brandon would bother you like that. That you'd have to pretend to date me. But he needed to feel bad for what he did... and we both know he wasn't going to unless it could mean trouble for him."

You just smile. "A bunch of people knew about my dad, Taerae. He would've found out eventually, anyway. You just... sped up the process, I guess," you forgive with a laugh. "So that's what you meant, huh? When you said he'd regret it?"

"Wow, not to sound like a vigilante or anything," Taerae snorts, shaking his head hearing his own words recounted to him. "But seriously, who could be so stupid as to get the chance to go out with you and completely waste it? I would never--."

He cuts himself off, seemingly considering whether or not he should continue.

"You would never what?" You prompt curiously.

Taerae swallows. "I would never stop going out with you," he says softly. "If I could."

You're frozen as he speaks, only waiting for him to say more.

"If you didn't think I was gross and if this wasn't just some plan to shut up the actual guy you liked..." He nods, meeting your gaze. "I would want to keep going out with you."

Your stomach flips as your best friend since childhood says these words to you. It's not a joke. It's not part of this plan you'd concocted. It's not even a dream.

"I like you," Taerae says earnestly, hugging his knees closer to his chest as the sun starts to set. "And I'm sorry if that ruins everything."

You're not immediately sure what the right thing to say is. You lean back on your hands, fingers gripping the grass as you stare up at the sky turning pink. If you thought about it, you'd spent more time with Taerae throughout your life than almost anybody else. Your introverted, intelligent, annoying-as-all-hell best friend; one of the greatest loves of your life, alongside all of your pets and your mom. A bit of an awkward kid, he had grown up quite handsomely. Was that wrong to say? How could you think that about Taerae?

But why was your heart still racing? Surely the actual anxiety of the confession had warn off by now. But the booming thud in your chest betrays you. You had dated Taerae this whole week and not even once had you actually wished it would stop. He was cute with you, always paid for your food; he never once stood you up-- he even kissed you that one time, even if it was to show off in front of Brandon. And you never hated any of it.

Moreover, you liked it.

Had you been dating Taerae for real this whole time?

Suddenly, your phone buzzes in your pocket. You pull it out, seeing a message from your dad lighting up the screen:

What is this I hear about you and Kim Taerae dating? The kid that used to run around our house with snot hanging out his nose? Is this true?

You look over at Taerae who is now mirroring you, leaning back with his hands in the grass and gazing up at the sunset beside you. When he notices you staring, he turns to you with a shy smile that causes your heart to gently flutter.

You can't help but smile back at him, bottom lip tucked between your teeth before quickly typing a reply to your dad:

Yeah. It is. :)

[tearaez]

I have been thinking about driver taerae for too much 😣

imagine giving him a nice head after a long trip, his fingers gripping your hair and his chin lifting up from the pleasure on the driver seat <3

hehehe ily anon ty for the drabble starter <3 I decided to turn this into a birthday drabble for the bday boy that we all love so much so I hope you enjoy this :) I hope you don't mind that I changed it up a bit but I tried my best to stick with the main topic ^^

DESSERT

dom!taerae x reader, mentions of jiwoong x reader, 0.8k words exhibitionism, I think that/s it(?) please let me know if I missed anything!

smut drabble under the cut !

You had decided to accompany Taerae to his business dinner that they'd planned for his birthday this time, around as you had to sit out last time due to your schedule. You loved meeting up with his friends since they were your friends too, but Taerae tends to get super possessive of you in public settings and it seemed that he just couldn't keep his hands off of you. His behavior seemed to intensify, especially around Jiwoong who seemed to be 'flirting' with you a lot, even though Taerae knew that's how he interacts with everyone.

It was almost the end of dinner, the time where everyone started ordering dessert for themselves and the others at the table, Taerae catching some of the looks that Jiwoong was shooting in your direction. You knew they were harmless, so you played along and shot his some looks back, but the birthday boy did not enjoy that at all. He was glaring at Jiwoong from across the table, hard. Jiwoong on the other hand, was still flirting with you from his side of the table, a wide smile on his face, only fading slightly when he glanced over and saw Taerae burning holes into the side of shis head.

"Would you like anything for dessert, sir?" The waiter asked him, only for him to shake his head in response, keeping his focus on the man across the table. "No thank you, I have dessert waiting for me already." he spoke sternly, one of his hands sliding up your thigh under the table, causing you to turn your attention to him. "On that note, we'll be taking our leave now, thank you for dinner, everyone." He gave a slight smile, wrapping his arm around your shoulder, pulling you out of your chair ever so lightly.

"Babe, I didn't get to-"

"We'll do it at home." He glared at you. It wasn't one of his stern and serious glares, it was deeper than that. You could see the anger in his eyes, and behind that, lust. You both exited the restaurant and went to his car, silence enveloping the both if you. When you got in, nothing was sad, but you could tell he was mad by the way he was sighing. Before you knew it, you were on the way to your shared apartment, which was some distance away. "You have some nerve you know."

"What? What are you talking about rae, are you okay?" You reached an arm over the console, but he pushed your hand away.

"What am I talking about? I'm talking about you and Jiwoong flirting right in front of me on my birthday, that's what I'm mad about y/n." When he said those words, you immediately felt guilt envelop your entire body.

"Oh Taerae, I'm sorry. That's just how we play around, we didn't mean to hurt you-"

"I don't care what you did or didn't mean to do, but just know that you'll be making it up to me, in more ways than one. I hope you're okay with starting now." Before you could even begin to comprehend his words, he unbuckled his belt and started pulling his dress pants and boxers down. Oh he meant like this. I'm screwed. All you could do was look, and his cock was looking back at you. "Go ahead don't be shy. You know what to do."

You snapped out of your trace, lowering your head until his angry tip was staring back at you. You took him in your hands, giving him a few pumps before placing light kitten licks around his shaft. He groaned immediately, and you took that as a sign of encouragement to keep going. You teased the head of his cock with your lips and tongue, knowing that you were majorly pissing him off. This didn't last for long though as he drove over a bump in the road, the motion pushing him into your mouth, you moaning in response. "Shit, if I have to pull over just know that you'll be in big trouble when we get home."

He made sure that you got to work on him, filling your mouth to the brim as one of his hands made its way to your neck, massaging the skin in the area as his fingers played with your hair. Taerae tried his best to not make any noise as this was supposed to be punishment for you and he knows that you enjoy hearing his moans, but he couldn't help himself at the stop light, throwing his head back in pleasure as he whispered small praises, only snapping back to reality when the car behind him honked, the light had turned green. "God baby, I'm so close." He whined, his voice very soft and breathy as he released his load into your mouth, making sure that you swallowed every last drop of him.

Needless to say you both made it home without pulling over, but that didn't mean Taerae was gonna be nice with you either. You were in for a long night.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

There will most definitely be a part 2 to this, don't worry ! I'll make sure that the reader knows how much Taerae cares for them, he isn't all that mean you know ;)

[iwillneverforgiveyousunghanbin]

taedros tresdros

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

part one: taedros taedros ☆ part two: taedros twodros wc: 2.2k reader: afab reader (pretty sure no specific gender mentioned but putting this disclaimer just in case!) warnings: smut 18+; MINORS DNI!!! -- specific warnings under the cut -- also some angst and some fluff :) summary: uh-oh... you fell for your best friend taerae. but was it all in vain after he's ghosted you the past two weeks? *ੈ✩‧₊˚ ITS DONEEE! you will notice i've went with "taedros tresdros" for the title. decided to keep all three parts with taedros as the first word lol. this is the finale for this little series and i really hope you like this ending i've made lol. i am so happy you've all enjoyed taedros taedros -- stay tuned for more works soon (hopefully) xx

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

warnings: 18+ explicit smut, fingering and oral (reader receiving), cumming in pants, eavesdropping/voyeurism by reader but it's only out of shock/anger, swearing, lots of innuendo in this one lmao... i think that's it!

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

“so, the ring finger goes here?” you hear a feminine voice ask; ear pressed gently to taerae’s door to hear better. just a few moments ago, you’d been taking deep, steadying breaths as you walked through the entrance to your best friend’s dorm building on your way to finally confront him.

something that was so familiar now made your heart race with anxiety. 

but when you’d rounded the corner to taerae’s room, you were surprised to find the door shut almost all the way. usually taerae left his door wide open, even when he was playing the guitar or getting changed or sleeping. in fact, his dorm-mates told you one night when you were leaving that the only time taerae made an effort to close it was when you were over... you couldn’t hear any noise coming from his room, which made you all the more curious as to what was going on in there. 

walking up to his door, you’d seen it was propped open just a bit by one of taerae’s shoes. you couldn’t see through the gap in the door, but you’d heard quiet murmurings from inside and gently placed your ear to the door to listen closer. the sound of a girl’s voice had completely shocked you. especially considering what you’d come here to talk about with taerae.

“yeah, it might take a bit to find the sweet spot,” taerae answers with a chuckle; his answer causing your jaw to drop. fingers? sweet spots? what the fuck is going on in there!?

“mmm, thank you again for teaching me, taerae,” the voice responds. upon closer listening, you realize you know this voice. it belongs to your world history classmate, jinah-- the girl who sits behind you and doodles the entire period. she’s very nice-- pretty and athletic, too, but...

you didn’t really think taerae was her type.

you hadn’t spoken to taerae much in the last couple weeks. ever since you’d actually slept together... things had changed. it felt like your best friend was avoiding you. when you’d texted to ask about movie night the past two fridays, taerae had said he was busy with homework both times. normally taerae would meet you for lunch in the student union every other day in between his music theory class, but he hadn’t come by since then. he’d barely said two words to you at choir practice last night.

was this why? he’d decided he liked jinah instead? he couldn’t face you after... using you? 

taerae would never do that. not to you. probably not to anyone.

then again, you’d never talked about whether what was going on between you was exclusive or not. and what it meant to you; what he meant to you. had you completely misinterpreted this whole situation?

“and the middle finger...” jinah trails off and the mental picture you have unfortunately painted in your head of the scene taking place is enough to make you gag.

“that one’s gonna reach as far up as possible,” taerae explains. if you had known your best friend was offering masturbation classes out of his dorm room, you probably would’ve been more careful about where you were sitting on his bed.

“i don’t think i can reach that far,” jinah huffs with a frustrated sigh. “it kind of hurts.”

“relax,” taerae soothes. “it’ll feel better if you relax.”

your hand flies to your mouth to muffle the sound of the audible gasp that escapes you, but your elbow hitting the door blows your cover. you stand up quickly as taerae’s door swings open-- revealing you in the doorway to taerae and jinah.

... and revealing jinah sitting on taerae’s bed and holding a guitar (quite clumsily, if you may be so brazen) in her hands; taerae sitting next to her and seemingly offering some sort of instruction.

“you--...” you stutter, surprised and also incredibly relieved to find that the lessons taerae was giving were much more wholesome than you’d been forced to imagine for the past few minutes. “oh thank fuck holy shit.”

as the uncontrollable string of grateful curse words leaves your mouth, jinah clears her throat awkwardly and stands up; removing the guitar strap from around her neck and handing the instrument to its owner.

“sorry for interrupting,” you mumble, bottom lip finding its way between your teeth as taerae glares at you. 

“no, it’s okay! i have to finish an essay for tomorrow anyway,” jinah replies, picking up her bag and walking towards the door. you step to the side for her to get by, awkwardly smiling as she calls behind her, “thank you, taerae! see you next week!”

jinah retreats down the hallway, leaving just you and taerae alone in a tense silence.

“what are you doing here?” taerae asks, rather unceremoniously. “it’s a thursday night. you have tutoring on thursday nights. that's why we have movie night on fridays.”

you nod, still leaning against the doorframe. “my last appointment cancelled so i--... i wanted to come talk to you.”

“oh,” taerae replies with a nod. “okay.”

you frown. “okay?”

“yeah,” he says, looking down at his guitar in his hands; starting to strum it lightly. “okay.”

your eyebrows raise in shock as your best friend seemingly shrugs you off. you walk over to him and snatch the guitar from his hands by its neck.

“HEY!” he protests as you bring the instrument over to its stand and place it there annoyedly (but carefully; you’re not an asshole). “i was playing that.”

“what the fuck is the matter with you!?” you snap, turning back around to face him. “you’ve been avoiding me for two weeks!”

taerae visibly gulps; eyes falling to the floor. 

“and this is how you’re gonna act?” you scold, folding your arms across your chest. “after we...”

for some reason you’re unable to say it. taerae is silent-- seemingly holding his breath as he waits for you to continue. coward.

“i came here to talk to you about everything and--... and then i heard you through the door giving jinah a fucking guitar lesson,” you explain while rolling your eyes. “better than the lesson i thought you were giving her, but...”

taerae looks up at you now; brow furrowed as his head tilts to the side confusedly. “w--... what kind of a lesson did you think i was giving her?”

you blink back at him; unsure of whether to tell the truth or not. but taerae catches on before you can commit to a lie.

his jaw drops in shock. “you thought--... did you think--”

you look down at your feet: embarrassed, anxious, and just plain sad after the events of the last couple weeks. this mixture of emotions forms a lump in your throat that you are now hopelessly trying to suppress. “i’m really sorry for interrupting. and for listening a bit. i just don't know what happened. i thought we were--... i thought you felt the same way that i did, but... you just must be really upset with me and i don’t know what i did but i’m so sorry and i really miss you so i wanted to talk to you and i just was... i dunno, i thought--”

taerae cuts off your rambling by standing up and wrapping his arms around you tightly. against your neck, he soothes, “ssh, baby. it’s okay-- it’s all okay. i promise.”

“i like you,” you confess into taerae’s sweatshirt. “i’m sorry, i didn’t know this would happen. but i really like you, tae.”

"fuck-- i like you, too. of course i like you, too,” he says, pulling back to look at you. “and this is all my fault.”

you sniffle as you ask, “what did you do this time?”

“something really, really stupid,” he replies with a sad smile.

mirroring his expression, you quip, “what else is new?” 

“yeah, yeah,” he accepts with a laugh. cupping your cheek in his hand, he runs his thumb across the skin sweetly. “i thought i was the one who fucked up... by falling for you.”

“... oh,” is all you can manage to say.

“oh is right,” he says, leaning in and kissing your lips gently. “i honestly wasn’t sure what to do about it. i didn’t want to hurt you and i thought maybe just... avoiding you for a bit would make it easier for me to stop having feelings for you. but it didn’t. it just hurt you and me more-- and it was really immature. i’m so sorry.”

you wrap your arms around his neck, having forgiven your idiot of a best friend before he even apologized. “i missed you so much.”

“i missed you more,” taerae says, peppering your cheeks with kisses. you giggle; taerae grinning before attaching his lips to yours again.

“but, um,” you say quickly, pulling back to meet his gaze. “i’d love to put in a request for no more guitar lessons with the door closed, if the suggestion box is still open.”

“it is,” taerae says with a laugh. “suggestion accepted, approved and implemented.”

“and, uh, maybe they don’t have to take place on your bed,” you say, biting your bottom lip and hiding your face in his chest.

“i will have you know my conduct is strictly professional at all times,” taerae replies and you can hear the smirk in his voice. “but you’re completely right. not to mention, it was probably rude of me to let her sit on my bed... without telling her what it’s covered in.”

“TAERAE-YA!” you shout, hitting his chest as he pulls you toward his bed-- pushing you down gently onto the mattress and climbing between your legs with ease. “you do wash your sheets, don’t you?”

he just laughs.

“tae, that’s gross,” you reply, shaking your head as he cups your center over your jeans. your protesting starts to waiver as he applies more pressure to where you need him most. “you--... you really should--”

“enough, enough, baby-- of course i wash them,” he replies, hooking his fingers around the belt loops of your jeans and shimmying them along with your underwear down your legs before discarding them on the floor. then he smirks at you, adding, “but sometimes i do wonder what the point is when you’re just gonna get them dirty again.”

“fuck,” you whine as taerae admires you. he’s licking his lips like he hasn’t eaten in days-- and he hasn’t. you wonder how he’s survived this long without you.

“so,” he says, starting to circle your clit with two fingers. his rhythm isn’t steady though; it’s intoxicatingly teasing. “what did you think i was teaching in these ‘lessons’?”

you feel your face heat up again at the mention of your faux pas. “don’t make fun of me.”

“never, baby,” he says; a glimmer of mischief in his eyes. “i’m just curious what you think i’m enough of an expert in to be qualified to teach.”

“i--... oh my god,” you say, shaking your head with embarrassment. “i thought you were teaching her how to finger herself!"

“hmm, i guess i can understand the confusion,” taerae runs his fingers through your folds, gathering some of your slick and painting it across your stomach. “since playing guitar requires so much skill with your fingers.”

“shut up,” you reply, pouting at him.

“no, really,” he insists with a nod. as he pushes his middle finger into you gently, you gasp at the sensation. “like, to play a chord; each of your fingers needs to hold down the correct string and in the correct spot. like, to play a d chord for example.”

taerae strokes up into your walls with his middle finger, causing you to whimper. “see this middle finger needs to be on that ‘high e’ string. and then the ring finger...”

plunging another finger into you, your hand reaches to grab onto taerae to steady yourself. he smiles at you, pressing both fingers firmly against your walls now. “will sit nicely on that ‘b’ string right here.”

as he works his fingers against your walls lazily, you whine-- desperate for more friction and soon. your prayers are answered when taerae inserts a third finger, stretching you carefully until he’s able to push it all the way in.

“and finally, the index finger is going to go...” he laughs lightly before pushing his index finger into the spongy, firm spot in your walls that only he has ever been able to find. as you cry out in pleasure, taerae presses kisses to your thighs. “you might’ve guessed, but that one’s on the ‘g’ string. and listen to that beautiful sound it's making.”

“did you--... did you plan that g-spot joke?” you ask breathlessly in between pleading moans as taerae picks up the pace of his fingers. “you’re the--*hic!*... worst person i know.”

the little hiccup from pleasure that separates your insult sends taerae reeling. “fucking perfect, huh? every inch of you.”

“baby, please,” you beg, self-control low after two weeks without taerae. “wanna cum. please, wanna cum for you.”

taerae moans and, from the way he’s looking at you, you know he’s just as desperate as you are. he falls to his stomach now between your legs as he says, “was gonna try to... keep my mouth off of you. show you i really like you. you-- not just your pussy but...”

“fuck it,” you both say at the same time.

lips attaching to your clit, taerae wastes no time in pushing you closer to the edge as he laps, sucks, eats at you-- one leg of yours hooked over his back as he continues to work you with his left hand. 

“tae,” you whimper, hands in his hair as you grind your hips into his touch. “g’nna cum... please, gonna cum.”

taerae whines and, with the state you’re in, you don’t even notice how feverishly he’s grinding into the bed. he switches to sucking, lips tugging perfectly on your clit and it’s all over for you.

“fuck, i--... i--... m’cumming,” you moan, taerae’s name falling from your lips a few dozen times as you come down from your high. “oh my god.”

taerae is noticeably quiet; removing his fingers from inside of you, he laps at the juices that drip out of you with his eyes closed. you know he really likes you... but it’s very possible he likes your pussy just as much. you’re not complaining.

“tae,” you call sweetly, sitting up on your elbows. “baby? come here-- want you to fuck me.”

he opens his eyes, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand as he sits up a bit. “um... so, about that.”

his gaze trails down to the crotch of his jeans and you follow it to find a nice, big wet spot soaking through the denim. 

“are you serious!?” you whine in frustration; sighing as taerae smiles at you sheepishly.

“i’m sorry,” he apologizes with a cute little pout. “will you forgive me if i say it’s because you’re just too hot?”

you roll your eyes-- grinning at him. “i’ll consider it.”

“thank god, because i think i can probably make it up to you...” he says, sitting up and grabbing your jeans from the floor. “after some dinner.”

you laugh. “are you asking me out?”

“i totally am,” he answers with a smile.

“you’re sure you’re not too... full?” you joke, grabbing his hand in yours. “you did just eat.”

taerae shakes his head, smirking at you:

“trust me-- i’m never full when i’m with you.”

[kkongdakz]

“ KISS ME. ” ft. zb1's hyung line

synopsis : what it’s like to make out with hyung line?

hyung line x gn!reader, genre : fluff & suggestive, warning : suggestive for some of them, wc : 1,445

after a long week of hard work, a movie night with your boyfriend jiwoong was all you deserved. and not the least of all : the first one he had chosen was none other than the famous titanic movie. the popcorn dish on his lap, one of your arms was hanging on his, the other picking a handful of popcorns before stuffing them in your mouth under the amused look of jiwoong. without paying more attention to his reactions, the film arrived at this famous scene, where rose asks jack to draw a portrait of her. being attentive to the least of their words, you do not notice the eyes of your boyfriend fixed and tenderly placed on your concentrated face. after a few seconds, you finally turn your face towards his, telling him in the most serious way : « draw me like one of your french girl. » — thanks to the weak light, you could not see the tip of his ears reddened, but in less time than it takes to say it, jiwoong's arms pushed you back, lovingly pressing his lips against yours. it was feverish and warm, his hands roaming your body in the most exquisite way, while your stomach was caught in a whirlwind of crazy butterflies. his fingers touching your boiling skin almost made you dizzy, not to mention his sweet way of kissing you. it was a mixture of feverishness and loving delicacy, it was addictive.

which is more cool than having a private music teacher, is to have the most talented boy in town as a teacher. and by that, i mean the one and only zhang hao. the irony was, you could play the violin almost perfectly, but your mother thinks you still need practice — so she did everything to make you the best and most complete teacher to the prodigy. but hao noticed very quickly that you didn't need help, but he feigns innocence so that he can continue to come to you at any time. and today was one of those days, you were studying together for your next recital, but your mind was occupied elsewhere, which prevented you from concentrating. « you're okay? » he said suddenly, as you let go of the firm grip you had on your ropes. « i don't know, i feel like my fingers are weak. » — hao suddenly moved into the room, slipping behind you to gently place his fingers above yours, guiding your movements. you could feel his breath tickling your neck from the close proximity, and when he whispered in your ear, you felt like fireworks in your heart. « let yourself be guided. » his voice was like a siren song : bewitching and delicious. activating your fingers on your instrument, you finished the latter without a hitch, almost perfectly. but that didn't make him pull away from you, instead hao leaned in to place a warm kiss against your shoulder, moving dangerously up to your neck and then your jaw. then his delicate fingers slipped over your chin, turning your face to place his lips against yours, kissing you with a rhythmic cadence worthy of the greatest opera authors. kissing hao was like writing your own ballet, with all the passion and dedication of creating a masterpiece. his deft fingers got rid of your violin, grabbing your hips to tape you to him, leaving no space between your two bodies eager for contact.

one thing to know about hanbin is that he is an excellent dance teacher. one thing to know about you is that you are a really bad student. easily distracted, and somewhat lazy at times, you'd much rather watch his fluid movements than follow the rhythm. which you were actually doing. sitting against the dance hall mirror, staring at hanbin's bustling figure, you wondered how a human being could be this hot when covered in sweat. you were so deep in thought that you didn't even notice that the music was over, and that hanbin was now facing you with a smile on his face. « did you remember? » he asked you almost out of breath, which made you come back to your senses. grabbing the water bottle next to you as well as the towel, coming to sponge his forehead, you slid on your knees to approach him under his attentive glance. « of course, i remember your every move. » your voice was warmer than expected, which caused hanbin to smirk. without waiting a second more, your lips were against his, exchanging a passionate kiss that followed a frenzied rhythm. kissing hanbin was like a tango sequence, it was hot, passionate, burning like a summer sun. his arms slipped over your hips to bring your body closer to his, his body heat mingling with yours, while your hands went up to his cheeks, keeping his boiling face close to yours. kissing hanbin was like a hot summer — passionate, energetic and the one you never want to get to the end of.

having been best friends with matthew all your life, led you to see him get hit by puberty like a truck. and lately, something in your feelings towards him seemed to have changed — you became jealous of other people who come close to him, on the verge of possessiveness. and matthew had noticed this, but never told you. so today, as he was finishing his shift in the cafe where he worked, and you were waiting patiently for him to come back home together, you noticed this girl who was too insistent on him. she put her hands on him in an almost inappropriate way, while he didn't seem to pay attention — far too concerned with having perfectly satisfied a customer again. as she finally exited the cafeteria, he hastened to lock the door and close the blinds behind her, as you approached the counter to help him with the chores. but suddenly his hands were on either side of your body, trapping you between the counter and his muscular torso. pivoting towards him, your dark look made him laugh slightly, « why are you so mad? » shrugging your shoulders, not determined to give him an answer, you didn't expect matthew to lift you up and put you on the counter, sliding between your legs. his fingers tickled the delicate skin of your bare thighs, while his gaze juggled between your lips and eyes, your hands resting on his shoulders. « if you don't kiss me right now, i swear i'll scream. » — a scoff left his lips a second before they end up touching yours. and there he kissed you exactly as you expected : in a hurried but envious and passionate way, making your whole body quiver. it was delicate but feverish, like a black coffee decorated with a hint of hot milk — it was perfect.

if you had to say something about taerae, it would probably be that he was the hottest smart nerd that you knew. studying with him was probably the most complicated thing to do, especially when his knee kept brushing your leg under the library table. it was probably no secret that you had the biggest crush on your classmate, especially since he had kissed you during a game of truth or dare — this scene remained engraved in your memory and kept on replaying in a loop. maybe you should try asking him to do it again? nervously biting the end of your pencil as his hand kept brushing yours for over an hour, you finally swiveled towards him, to see that he was already looking at you. « penny for a thought? » taking your courage in both hands, you looked him straight in the eyes, more determined than ever, « kiss me like the other night. » — a scoff left his lips, when he thought you were kidding, but when he realized that you didn't, he stuck his tongue against the corner of his mouth, before grabbing your hand, guiding you down an empty aisle of the library. your back was caught between the many books and his body, while he did not hesitate a second more to furiously press his lips against yours. as taerae kissed you divinely well, his fingers slipping innocently under the shirt of your uniform, he moved away for a few seconds to get rid of his glasses, and oh boy — you swore you had never seen anything this hot in your life, which made you feverish. it was like something unexpected but extremely attractive, that made you incredibly hot.

·˚ ༘ taglist (fill out this form to be added to the taglist) : @invuwrld @iram5shaikh_ @annoyingbitch83 @kpoprhia @ilovechanhee @wtfhyuck

[yourstruleejn]

six days of us

six days of a love story. from its beginning to its end.

⋆

pairing // kim taerae x fem! reader; other characters mentioned are hanbin and kim chaehyun on the readers side, and junhyeon and matthew on taerae’s!

genre // fluff & angst; university student! au; he fell first, she fell harder-ish; it’s based on six selected day6 songs!

word count // 14.5 k

tw // not too sure, insecurities in one’s own feelings but if there are any more lmk!

playlist // here (i recommend listening in order but i can't really tell you what to do so! have fun!)

author’s note // i‘m back!! so sorry it took so long but i genuinely loved writing this! it was so much fun, i tried to keep it kind of realistic but it’s been a while since my last relationship so i’m not too sure i succeeded lol! anyways i hope you enjoy reading and that it was worth the wait!

!!! reminder !!! everything i write about on here is entirely fictional and in no way am i saying this is how the people mentioned would act in real life! it’s all just pretend! ♡

How come when the skies turn grey, heavy clouds like curtains keeping out the light, we forget the vivid of the blue, the warmth of sun? How come when the winter months set in and the trees stand bare, we forget the rustle of the leaves as the summer wind hums the tune to July? How come when a person enters our lives, we cannot imagine our life not knowing them? But how come, once the same person leaves, everything reminds us of them, like a ghost coming back to haunt us, to remind us of what could have been?

1. hi hello

The smell of coffee, polite smiles, and the morning rush. It was usually around May when you noticed that the hot chocolates turned into iced americanos. An established tradition for your co-workers and you, was to buy the drink for the first customer who ordered it iced. A welcome to summer, a deed to make someone smile. Of course, the lot of you usually ended up giving out more than one free drink, not only because of miscommunications, but mostly because it seemed like the right thing to do. Thus, you and the other employees were more grateful than ever that your boss was as lenient as he was, usually laughing it off, and popping an ice cube in his steaming hot cappuccino as a gesture. Nevertheless, he was sure to give a stern warning (or a friendly reminder, as he liked to call them) to not give out any more free iced drinks once the first week of May had passed. You usually just smiled at your phone as the yearly text made all of your phones whistle in unison.

The first Friday of May was here and with it you had hoped a comfortably busy day at work. The weather was embracing the light mood of the university students running around near campus, and you were convinced more than one of them would crave an iced beverage of some sort.

You had been cleaning the espresso machine, making sure everything was bound to run smoothly for your next order, when the serenity of the afternoon made itself known to you: No customers were queuing for their orders, the inside-tables of the small coffee shop were empty, the ones outside just as unoccupied, which was due to the unexpectedly harsh sun, who warmed the cement for the first time, radiating it back towards the already heating air. It was to be expected, the parasols were still packed away in the storage room in the back of the shop. Sighing you rested your head on top your hands looking through the opened front as the quiet outside world was conquered by the sunrays of early May. You could feel the cool of the counter spread onto the palms of your hands, as the dooming boredom of your uneventful work afternoon towered over you.

Very quiet, you thought.

Too quiet, you complained silently.

And it was unusual that nobody was here. In the two years you had worked at the café, the only times nobody had come in was in the midst of summer, and even then, there had usually been at least one person at a time. So, this was very odd. If Chaehyun had been here, she would have told you to not question God’s gift of a minute of peace and quiet. However, this wasn’t a minute, it had been minutes. Plural. On top of everything you enjoyed working as a barista, even if it was stressful at times, at least there was always something to do. Well, apparently almost always.

At the beginning of your shift, your boss had asked you if you would be fine alone for a few hours today, you had agreed reluctantly, as it could have very well gone wrong, but now you were glad that you had not insisted on anyone else coming in. You knew Hanbin was busy with dance practice, and that Chaehyun had been excited all week for a date she was going on today. Having one of them come in unexpectedly and then do nothing all afternoon, would have been not only a waste of their time but also of your boss’ money. So, you supposed, it was fitting for this particular Friday to be slowest day ever. Even though it meant boredom for you. Oh my god, this was going to be a long afternoon.

Time was passing three times as slow as it usually did. In the past 15 minutes you had been sure three times, that it was time you started the closing duties, only to realize that merely a handful of minutes had passed. You had grown so impatient with today, that you considered turning the time forwards, so that you could close early ‘on accident’ and go home. Of course, as an amazing employee you would never do anything like this ever, but it sure crossed your head once or twice (or three times actually). Sighing at the clock once more, you retreated back to your position with your head resting on the counter as you wait for the seconds to creep by.

Immersed by the ticking of the time and so busy tapping the rhythm of the melody stuck in your head that you didn’t notice someone approaching the shop, until the bell announced his entry.

“Hi,” a rather low voice greeted as you scrambled into your usual upright position behind the counter.

“Hello!” You smiled at the young man in front of you. He must have been around your age, maybe a little bit older, but that was judging by his voice. His appearance was sweet and youthful, his smile bright, his hair a little messy, but just the right amount. Charming. He was the kind of boy that would star in a Taylor Swift music video. Classic friends-to-lovers. You had to suppress a small giggle at the thought of it.

In the moments between his greeting, your greeting and the Taylor Swift fantasies, your brain still found the time to wonder what his order would be (it worked fast like that). Maybe something classic like an iced americano? Or something unexpected like a strawberry latte? You had been so bored, alone the thought of making a drink excited you beyond reason.

“What can I get you today?” you asked with a practiced, but this time more genuine than not, smile on your face.

“Oh,” He looked a little lost, you noticed only now, fidgeting with his hands in front of him, “I was just going to ask whether or not it was okay for me to set up for busking in front of the café?” He turned around, pointing to the small open area in front of the unoccupied seats.

 It was a nice spot for busking, the shade from the trees making it cool enough to perform in the summertime as well. Your eyes darted to the guitar bag slung across his shoulder, lips caught between his teeth as he expectantly waited for your answer.

“Oh. So, you don’t want a drink, huh?” You really tried to suppress the disappointment, but judging from the look on his face, you weren’t doing a good job. Well at least you would soon have some sort of entertainment. And who knows, maybe he was so good, he’d bring in some customers.

“Do I have to buy a drink to be allowed to busk?” His eyebrows shot up, his expression changing from sweet to curious.

“What? Oh, no that’s okay. You can go ahead.” You smiled at him, nodding to the small square in front of the café.

He smiled slightly, determined to satisfy your need to prepare a drink for him, “Actually, I could use a little bit of a refreshment.”

Matching his expression, your face now showcased a bright smile as you handed him the menu. You weren’t sure if he could tell how grateful you were to finally be able to do something other than stand around and check the time, but you tried to show it to him by whipping back and forth slightly, stealing glances at him as he decided. You waited patiently as he studied the menu, tongue poking out between his teeth. He was cute, in a clueless kind of way.

Some time passed, but nothing compared to the amount you had been standing around until your saviour in the form of a busker came into the café.

Finally, he lifted his head, adjusted his guitar, slung over his shoulder, and cleared his throat, “Actually, could I maybe get a bottle of water?”

You were about to cry. A whole menu full of drinks ranging from coffees to mochas to fruit teas and smoothies, and this man wants a bottle of water? You were sure he could see the disappointment written on your face once again as he looked up from the small piece of paper in his hands.

A somewhat apologetic smile rested on his lips; he knew what he did.

“Water?” you asked again, just to be sure. Just so that you didn’t misunderstand and accidentally got the man a water instead of the strawberry matcha latte he just ordered.

“Uhm… I-Is that not possible?” A nervous smile was present on his features. On any other day, you probably would have noticed that the boy in front of you was quite literally a nervous wreck; Not only would he be busking in a new area for the first time, but his friends had also convinced him to go ask the cute barista if it was okay to play in front of her café, although he knew it was more than okay and even encouraged by the owner. Still, he did it out of curtsey, and not to finally have a reason to talk to the girl. He had had several pep-talks from his friends, as well as his mother (although she didn’t know what the peptalking was for), just to stumble over his word when ordering a water? Taerae, you really can do better.

“Water is free.” That interrupted his mental face palm as you smiled politely and pointed to the jug to your right. It was filled with fresh orange and lemon slices as well as mint to give the water a little something. Usually, the taste of the fruit would not be that strong as it would get refilled and emptied quite quickly, but today it had been standing around for a while, so you were sure it would actually taste a bit like the citrus and herbs floating inside of it. You supposed the boy would be in for a treat.

“That’s nice.” That’s nice?

“Do you need a cup for it to take it outside?” As you were speaking, you already turned around, grabbing one of the paper cups and a pen ready to write his name on it. You realized it was unnecessary to do this for a mere cup of water, but in all honesty, you were just as intrigued by the man in front of you, as you had been disappointed by the lack of creative drink-ordering; You wanted to know the name of the man that gave you hope just to take it all away from you again.

“What’s your name?” you smiled innocently, already setting the pen down to write as you looked at the man through your lashes.

“Oh. Uhm Taerae.”

You chuckled, “Okay, Oh-Uhm-Taerae,” you handed him the cup, “Enjoy your water!” you winked at him, smiling as he filled it up.

Taerae was a blushing mess. How was he supposed to perform in front of the café now? And also, why would he have ordered water? Of all things, he could have ordered, he asked for water. Wow. For a moment Taerae wondered if it was more embarrassing to play in front of here now, or to just leave and never set foot into this part of the city ever again.

Taking a sip of his water he set down his guitar and finally let out a dramatic sigh, he didn’t realize needed to leave his body right this second. There was not much to his busking set up, just him and his guitar, a stool, and a small speaker. Taerae used to have a booklet with all of his favourite songs, but he knew them by heart now, so no need to hide behind the notes. Matthew always said he would hide his face behind the pages, and when he first performed without it there had been twice as many people, not because he was better, but because people could see his smile. Taerae wasn’t so sure that that was the reason.

Today he seemingly would be playing for an audience of two. Himself and you. You who had been watching his ever move during his set up, as you were wiping down the already clean tables. If he hadn’t been so nervous, he would probably say this was his favourite way to meet new people. In fact, he had met almost all of his best friends through music; be it busking or the choir at his high school, or even just bonding over their favourite artists, music had always brought people into Taerae’s life. So Junhyeon’s theory to just go and ask if it was okay to play in front of the café as to finally talk to you, should have been fool proof. Count on Taerae to mess it up though. He debated whether or not he should text the group chat and ask for some moral support and customers for the café, but ultimately decided against getting teased to death by his favourite tormentors.

The sun was getting lower and lower as Taerae procrastinated starting to play. He could feel as the anticipation radiated off of you. You had settled back behind the counter, still watching him as he pretend to tune his guitar for the nth time. Taerae couldn’t hold eye contact with you for longer than an accidental moment, if had been able to, he would have seen the amused smile on your face as you sipped on a glass of water yourself. Taerae had his ‘Oh-Uhm-Taerae’ titled cup sat on the ground beside him. He had blushed even more when he had realized how you had teased him and was sure you’d get along great with Junhyeon once he introduced the two of you. If he got to ever introduce to his friends.

He was sure by now you could tell he was stalling, so with one last look around the area, and one last sip of his wonderful water, he strummed his guitar.

*

Music attracted people like honey did flies. Over the years you learned that whenever busking was held in front of the café, the customers would float through the doors, order drinks, and relax to the live music. But as the first notes of Taerae’s singing reached your ears, you wished that nobody would come to distract you from his voice. For the first time today, you wanted nothing but be left alone with the boy and listen, maybe sway through the small room a bit. But sure enough, the first song wasn’t even over, the sun hadn’t even retreated further towards the horizon, its light still bright and strong, not yet soft, and golden, when the first couple came strolling by, and after a short moment of weighing their options, the woman sat down outside, her attention undivided on Taerae, as the man came inside to order their drinks. You sighed softly as your focus on Taerae shifted to the coffee machine, it sound muffling his voice as you grinded coffee ground after coffee ground. Out of the corner of your eye, you could already see the next person enter the shop, still half looking at the performer outside. Now, it would be busier than usual, you were sure. You smiled softly, be careful what you wish for.

*

Taerae was happy he could bring you some business. He was also happy that your very distracting eyes didn’t linger on him quite as intensely as they did during his first song. It had been a successful busking for him even after his first struggles. The sky had eventually turned darker and darker, and the air had gone crisp with the last goodbyes of what once was winter. With more and more people leaving it was time for him as well to wrap up. At one point there had been so many people, it was almost impossible for Taerae to see the front of the store, making it difficult for him to confirm that you were still watching, paying attention to him. The awkward interaction out of his mind, he was happy to catch you look at him during any free moment of your now busy work afternoon/evening.

*

When Taerae started to pack up, the café was already closed. He hadn’t seen you leave, but there had been so many people around, he easily could have missed you. Besides, there was always a chance of a back entrance or something of the like. On the one hand, it was nice that he now could relax and not worry about embarrassing himself again in front of you, on the other he really wanted to know what you thought of his songs; Whether or not you liked them, if it was okay if he came back and played again, if he could take you out to dinner. The usual after busking questions really.

Zipping up his guitar, Taerae got ready to leave. He could still feel the guitar strings giving way and embedding themselves under his fingertips, that’s how he knew it had been a good session. It was quiet now that he had stopped playing, no spectators left but the first cicadas welcoming the night-time. Taerae would have just left if it hadn’t been for jingle of keys followed by a soft “Wait a moment” that caught his attention.

He turned and sure enough there you were, bag slung over your shoulder, hair tied out of your face, revealing a smile and gleaming eyes.

“Hi,” you smiled.

“Hello,” Taerae reciprocated.

You handed him the takeaway cup you were carrying, adorned with a neat ‘Oh-Uhm-Taerae’. You smiled as he raised his eyebrows at the nickname, his own heart swelling at your chuckle.

“It’s tea,” You explained, “I figured you could use some after singing all afternoon.”

He nodded, bringing the beverage to his lips. The stark contrast of the cool May night and the heat of the tea made him realize how his body had cooled down, “Thank you. It’s nice.” There he goes again with his nice. He rolled his eyes at himself.

“Well, that’s good! I can make more than water, you know?” you smiled, “Anyways, thank you for today, you brought in more customers than any other busker has thus far. In the name of my boss and his business, I wanted to invite you back to play again. Preferably Tuesdays, Thursdays, or Fridays in the afternoons. That’s when I work.”

Taerae should have acted cool and said something like, I’ll see if I can make it, or I will if my schedule allows it, but instead he just laughed and nodded ‘okay’. He didn’t trust his own voice right now; it would probably give away his excitement.

“Good,” You smiled satisfied, “Then I’ll see Tuesday, Oh-Uhm-Taerae.” You turned to walk away.

“Just Taerae is fine!” He was not going to have his crush call him Oh-Uhm-Taerae.

If he had been any smarter, he would have just said ‘Taerae’. In fact, if he had been smarter, he would have not stuttered saying his name in the first place. But Taerae was Taerae, and you were you.

So, turning around, but not stopping your walking backwards, you smile mischievously, “Alright then, Just-Taerae, see you Tuesday!” you could see his mouth opening and closing in retaliation, but before he could say anything more, with a slightly louder voice you said, “I’m just Y/N, by the way.”

Taerae watched as you waked away, smiling to himself, sipping on his tea, skipping on the way home. He had now been officially introduced to ‘Just-Y/N.’

2. i like you

Another Thursday, another busking event for Taerae in front of the café. It had become somewhat of a tradition for him to play at least once a week when you were working. After each time you’d come out with a cup of tea, which had evolved to iced as May progressed into June and with that spring into summer, and the chill of the nights was more welcomed as a contrast to the hot daytime. Sometimes the two of you didn’t talk much, or hang out, be it due to university or other plans, but most of the time you’d spend the better part of the night walking around, trying new food spots, or just talking and hanging out in front of the café, munching on the left-over pastries of the day. Either way, Taerae was glad to see you at least once a week, and thus the two of you went from strangers to close friends.

This Thursday in particular you had something planned, as you had let him know beforehand. Taerae was excited, a little bit nervous even, it was unusual for you to plan something, normally having Taerae decide what the two of you would eat and do. He was very good at reading people, and he’d usually figure something out that fit with both of your moods.

But not today apparently, today you had decided, and Taerae had no idea what it was so, yes, he was a tad bit nervous.

The daylight stretched until well after 8 p.m. and with the café closing at 7.30 p.m., Taerae made sure to get his guitar and busking stuff home before you were done finishing up at the café. He had been so careful with planning his schedule, that he now arrived back at the square a little early, you were still working, getting drinks to customers, preparing the last slices of cake in the soft pink take-away boxes, smiling at children, laughing at unfunny jokes customers made. He was in awe of you. How could a person be so dedicated to their part-time job? And it was not only at work that you were diligent, more than once had Taerae spent and afternoon studying with you in either your or his universities’ library. The focus you were able to uphold was something Taerae was almost jealous of.  He was jealous of you because you still could concentrate, even if he was around, something he struggled with whenever you were in sight. He had also been jealous of whatever you were focusing on. What in the world could be so important for you to focus on, when he was right there next to you. When he was your… friend?

It frustrated Taerae to no end that he did not have the same effect on you, as you had on him.

Sure enough, after another few minutes of waiting the familiar jingle of keys rushed Taerae out of his head, back down to earth. Back down to real you, not head you. He liked both versions equally, so he wasn’t complaining.

You grinned at him as you made your way towards the boy, “Hi.”

“Hello,” he greeted with suspicion. The expression on your face was foreign, but it really couldn’t mean anything good for Taerae, as it reminded him too much of Junhyeon’s scheming face, you were scheming. In Taerae’s head there were only two options; Either you were planning some intricate prank with his friend, or you were planning something sweet, far from a prank, and Taerae would spontaneously confess in a waterfall of words and your newfound, yet very precious friendship, would suffer from it.

“Why do you look so anxious?” there was a somewhat nervous smile on your lips, eyebrows scrunched up in worry as you handed Taerae his post-performance-beverage.

Taerae shook his head, “I’m not. I just don’t want to get murdered by you. So, before we go, I just wanted to remind you that my voice is a gift to the world, and if you are planning on un-aliving me today, that you’d be taking it away from the whole world and everybody would be mad at you.”

You looked at him, a half scoff, half laugh escaping your lips.

“I’m serious, Y/N. I’m sharing my location with Junhyeon this entire evening.” Taerae crossed his arms in front of his chest, awaiting your reassurance that in fact you were not going to kill him.

“What makes you think Junhyeon isn’t in on the plan?” you smirked, while Taerae’s expression fell.

This joking manner was one of the only times Taerae could look at you without his heart combusting or his eyes diverting as soon as they met yours. And while you were laughing at your very lame retaliation, he had time to take you in. It was beyond Taerae how someone could make him so nervous yet so at peace at the same time.

“Come on now, Taerae” you smiled leading the way towards the metro station, “have a little faith in me, yea?”

If only you knew the amount of faith he had in you. So, of course, Taerae followed.

*

Laughing and joking the two of you discussed all the songs Taerae played today. Thus far he had not played your request, which, like every time after a performance, you let him know by complaining excessively.

The station way bustling with people going home from work, students finding their way to their after-school-studies, and people like you; Looking for activities to end the day on a relaxing note. Out of instinct Taerae placed his hand on your lower back, guiding you through the sea of people towards the train as you were rambling on about this week’s songs and the lack of your favourites (although any song sung by Taerae was your favourite, but not that he needed to know that just yet).

Whenever you and him were together, you had noticed that you forgot the rest of the world existed. Not necessarily in the way, how everything else goes blurry and your focus was solely on him, but rather that real life just slows down a little bit. Whenever you were with Taerae, everything else just seemed less important, far away.

He, however, seemed always grounded. Even when you were excitedly babbling on, Taerae simultaneously smiled and made sure you weren’t in anybody’s way, yet still matched your energy and made sure to react to you. You never understood how he could be so focused on the rest of the world as well. It was especially frustrating because you could either focus on him entirely, or not at all; for you with Taerae it was an all or nothing situation.

*

The train was more or less ripping at its seams when you got on. You always wondered how so many people could fit in such a confined space and not get squashed. You had hoped that due to the nice weather and the rather late hour, it would have been a little emptier, but no, clearly nothing beats the AC of a subway. The hopes of a seat after a long afternoon of work had been abandoned a long time ago, as you got pushed closer and closer towards Taerae.

In all honesty, the boy was panicking. He didn’t know where to put his hands, what to hold onto as to prevent the both of you from falling at each halt the train took. His only hope was for the crowds to thin once the next big transfer point arrived. But until then? He wasn’t sure how to keep standing upright and breathe properly, with you this close.

“Y/N?” Taerae whispered barely audible.

“Hm?” You looked up at him, waiting for him to continue.

But just as Taerae started to speak, you saw the man behind him stand up from his seat. In an effort to not notice how close Taerae had been, you had heard him grumbling to himself how packed the train was and that he could get off at the next station and walk the rest home, but that had been three stops ago. Now that he was actually getting up, you had to act fast. The man pushed past you and in a swift motion you pushed Taerae against the seat, making him sit down with a thump.

You smiled at him triumphantly as his big eyes looked back at you. The man getting up and you pushing Taerae had happened so swiftly that, Taerae hadn’t noticed he had grabbed a hold of your hand as to not lose balance. And you hadn’t either, smiling happily to yourself as you stood in front of Taerae, shielding him from the masses.

Taerae however, would not have you stand when you had been the one working almost all day. He pulled you towards him, getting up at the same time. To spectators it might’ve looked like a twirl, a spontaneous dance on the subway. Well, as a result, you were now sitting and Taerae was leaning over you, satisfied with the change of position.

For a moment there had been a smug grin on his face, but it was soon wiped away by a blush, as he noticed a group of students squealing next to you, whispering to each other and giggling. You too had looked away from Taerae in an attempt to hide your flushed cheeks. But Taerae noticed. And he smiled.

*

From this moment on, the train ride seemed to go on forever. The crowd thinned as your stop approached and soon only a handful of people were in your compartment. Taerae had sat down beside you, taking one of the high-school girls’ seat once they got up and left, but only after they had made sure Taerae did in fact sit down next to you and not anybody else. It was kind of sweet. Still, you couldn’t look any of them in the eye as they got off the train.

Finally, your stop arrived and in a swift motion you got up. Taerae was excited too, he still didn’t know where exactly you were going, but now he at least knew the broad area; The stop was a little towards the edge of the city, where parks and playgrounds dominated the cemented roads. It was a nice change of scenery, and Taerae welcomed it.

Coming up above ground, he noticed how quickly the sun had set, the sky only showing remnants of the bright day at its horizon. You had stopped a few paces in front of him, finding it hard to regain orientation somewhere you hadn’t been in such a long time.

“Where to first?” Taerae asked, curious as to where you could be going this late. You had let him know beforehand that there would not be a grand meal today, and that he should eat something in between busking and your… date?

“The convenience store.” You explained, once you saw the small corner store you used to visit as a kid, “To get ice cream, naturally.”

So, the two of you made your way towards the store and after a few minutes of weighing options and discussing preferences, Taerae and you had decided on green-tea ice cream, and a caramel flavoured one.

“Okay, ice cream secured,” you smiled at Taerae exiting the shop, “Now, Mr. Kim, I shall show you one of my favourite places of all time.”

“What an honour.” He smiled as he tagged along, catching up with you as you started in the direction of a small park.

It had been a little later than you had anticipated, making it a little harder for you to find the exact spot you were looking for. The trees were practically pitch black, and although there were a few lanterns lighting the way, they were too little and too far apart to actually help a great deal. The gravel crunched beneath your shoes as you snacked on the ice cream and made your way further into the green.

“There it is!”

As soon as the small wooden pavilion was in sight you tugged on Taerae’s sleeve to hurry. He had to admit, he wasn’t sure why you were this excited about a wooden structure in a park, at the other end of the city. He thought it was adorable, nonetheless. Coming up the small hill he saw that the pavilion overviewed a small pond, where this time strategically placed light illuminated the water surface.

“Nice, is it not?” you teased, smiling up at the boy. Reacting to things with a quick ‘Nice’ had become an inside joke between the two of you, well for you mostly; It was fun for you, but Taerae usually just rolled his eyes.

“It is.” He confirmed, “But why exactly are we here? I mean don’t get me wrong, I absolutely adore being squeezed together on a train for more than half an hour and then sitting in a park. I’m just wondering.”

“Careful, Taerae,” you narrowed your eyes at him, “I could still murder you and dump your body in the pond.”

He laughed., “No but seriously, what is this place?”

“I’m not sure. I just stumbled upon it one day during my first week of uni. It was strangely familiar and when I talked to my parents about it, they said we used to come here when I was a kid,” you shrugged, “It’s nothing super special but I just wanted to show you.”

Taerae smiled at you, and you smiled back. It was one of these quiet moments you shared. Your friendship thus far had been filled with laughter and music and teasing, but every once in a while, a quiet moment like this made it special. Until someone decided to break the quiet, of course.

“You should have told me; I would have brought my guitar. Properly serenated you.” He pouted.

“No more serenating, I’m growing sick of your voice Taerae, for real.” You mocked, laughing.

This only made Taerae pout more, pushing your shoulder slightly.

The sound of your laugh faded, and Taerae observed a shift in your manner. The look you gave him in that moment sent a shiver down his spine and for a moment he wondered whether or not you had been actually joking about murdering him or not. You looked so unsure and serious, Taerae had never seen you this way.

In your life, not many days had gone your way. You weren’t sure if there were going to be a lot in the future that would. But you really needed today to go your way. Needless to say, you were worried. Of course, there had been another reason you had brought Taerae here; It wasn’t simply because you wanted to show him one of your favourite places, it was a reason as well, but not the only one. But now that you had to put your plan into action, you worried. You had been scared of your body reacting this way just before this moment. Your throat had dried up and your hands were slightly shaking and your heart, oh dear, your heart was going as fast as ever. Maybe you should just cancel the original plan and just, come up with a plan B? Was this a good idea? Did you really need to do this now?

If anything, the troublesome journey here had only confirmed your plans for today. So yes, you really had to get it off your chest, you quite literally couldn’t keep it in anymore. From the moment you saw Taerae today, to you grabbing his hand and not letting go (as if that was on accident), from the highschoolers, and everyone else on the train, as well as in your co-workers and friends, seeing what was right in front of your eyes. You just really had to tell Taerae.

“Hey, actually, there’s another reason I brought you here,” you forced a reassuring smile onto your lips, as to not worry Taerae.

You were terribly failing at not worrying Taerae; As his mind raced through all his possible wrong doings so that he could predict what horrible thing you were going to say, he kept quiet and anxiously waited for you to continue.

“Well, I wanted to bring you here because, I mainly associate this place with incredibly happy memories and I just wanted that to be a good omen, I guess.” You were stalling. You knew that. Taerae probably knew that.

But Taerae also felt relief. It can’t be anything horrendous when you want this place to be a canvas for good memories right? No, right?

Taerae didn’t say anything. He watched your every move as you turned towards the dark that spread across the small body of water. He heard you let out a deep sigh.

This might go incredibly wrong. It might go amazingly right. Either way, you had to say it.

“Taerae,” you started finally turning to the boy, “There’s no going back after I say this, but just know that it’s okay if you don’t feel the same, I just need to tell you, okay?”

A small smile spread across his face. Oh my god. He knew where this was going. He definitely wanted it to go there. He nodded for you to continue. In the moments between his motion and you starting to speak he thought about how he had failed as a musician. He sang love songs as a passion, he had been singing them as a hobby for years, he studied music at university, he was pouring out his heart to anyone who would listen, confessing to you every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday afternoon through the one language he knew, the one language that felt safe to him. Yet, here you were, about to confess to the boy who had been singing to you for weeks-

“I like you. As more than a friend.” You offered him a nervous, crooked smile. The words leaving you lips much faster than you had anticipated.

“That’s such a relief.” He answered.

“Huh?” You looked almost scared, the blood draining from your face. Was this his way of rejecting you? No, he didn’t look apologetic at all, no pity in his eyes.

“That means all the love songs I’ve been performing have not been in vain.” He smiled taking a step towards you, brushing a stray strand of hair behind your ear, “I like you, Y/N. And I’ve been trying to hold it in, so you can’t even begin to imagine how happy I am that I can finally tell you.”

If it were possible for human eyes to form themselves into hearts, yours would have changed by now. Whatever this man triggered within you, made your heart overflow with feelings, “Thank god.” You answered, making both him and you laugh.

In your nerves and relief and happiness, you hadn’t realized how impossibly close he was by now, even closer than he had been on the subway. You could feel his breath on your face and the warmth of his hand on your cheek. One last smile spread across Taerae’s lips before he finally leaned in to connect your lips to his. You met him in the last millimetres, eager to finally kiss.

It wasn’t perfect by normal standards; The two of you laughed and smiled into each other. You were a little awkward with your limbs, and a little too out of breath to be still considered sexy. Still, it was perfect because it was just the two of you. It was perfect because it was Taerae. It was perfect because it was you. It was perfect because you liked him, and he liked you.

The night was calm and cool when you and Taerae first shared a kiss. The sun had set, and the stars were watching, as your friendship bloomed into love.

3. when you love someone

Summer had been long and lovely, and now Autumn was just around the corner; it was so close, you wouldn’t be surprised if all the leaves had changed colour once you got off this never-ending shift. Taerae’s eyes followed your body as it moved from table to table with full drinks and plates with pastries and then back to the counter with empty dishes and new orders. The memory of the quiet café on the day the two of you first met, was a picture unimaginable, as the small interior was now buzzing with customers. To think you had wished for more customers on that fateful afternoon, when now you hoped the swarm of people would just evaporate in front of your eyes. To describe this time of the year as hectic would be an understatement; Just before university started up again, the café turned into a spot for last goodbyes between parents and now young adults, as well as spot for catching up after the long summer months for friends, who had come to return to their studies.

Taerae had been waiting for quite some time, he was lucky enough to had spot a free table, right when he arrived to pick you up. He had also been lucky since he didn’t actually have to queue for his drink; Taerae, just like all the other significant others of the employees, got the boyfriend/girlfriend treatment; Their drink of choice waiting for them as soon as they entered. By now, you were sure he had finished his drink, even though you hadn’t finished work. You were supposed to get off half an hour ago, but with the floods of people coming through your doors, you couldn’t bring yourself to leave Chaehyun and Hanbin alone, feeling the responsibility as the longest and most experienced worker, as well as the burden of being a good friend heavy on your shoulders.

Not only that, but also your boss had spontaneously decided to go on vacation a week ago and had left you in charge. Although it had felt good to be entrusted with this responsibility, you had not anticipated the amount of work it would mean. You had worked almost every day, having to postpone meetups and get-togethers with not only friends and family, but with your boyfriend as well. The two of you had barely seen each other this week, and thus you wanted nothing more than to leave with Taerae and curl up on his couch just as you had planned, but apparently your customers had a different idea: Whenever you made your way over to his table, somebody asked for some special drink that only you knew how to make. Or the cash register decided to spontaneously combust. It was almost comical.

Every now and again yours and Taerae’s eyes met, and you mouthed an ‘I’m sorry’, to which he just shook his head, telling you it was okay.

In all frankness, Taerae didn’t mind waiting for you at the café.

He loved watching you. It was all the interaction he had with you for the longest time before he finally asked to busk in front of the café. He loved watching you so much that if he had to put down his three favourite things in the entire world, it would be making music, kissing you and watching you while you went on about your tasks.

There had always been something magical in the way Taerae perceived you; He had gotten to know you so well over the past three months you’ve dated, that he felt even if he was simply looking at you, he was experiencing something special, a unique feature to your relationship.

 So, it was okay. He really didn’t mind waiting for you.

What he did mind though, was how stressed you seemed; How you always did everything for everyone, more than what they’d ask for, just in case they needed that little extra; How you clearly didn’t see when there was too much on your plate, and still space on someone else’s. Taerae knew that you tended to do everything by yourself, and didn’t want to worry anyone, but Taerae was worried about you. He wanted to be your resting place, to be helpful in some way.

So, when you had finally found a spare minute to come to his side, Taerae couldn’t wait to be of some comfort, to help make you feel a little better.

“Hi,” smiled softly at the man.

Instinctively Taerae’s hand snuck around your waist, pulling you closer for maximum body contact. You smiled as the familiar warmth spread inside your chest, making you instantly ease up a bit, feeling more at home on this busy day.

“Hello,” he greeted, smiling up at you. 

You just smiled at each other for a moment, tanking up on some well needed calm and support, which only your boyfriend could offer. Soon enough however, your gaze was stolen away by a couple that had just joined the queue.

You sighed, “I’m not sure I’ll be able to leave before closing.”

“That’s okay. I’ll wait, I don’t mind. We can go to my apartment after.” Taerae hoped you would agree, but he knew it was unlikely.

Your eyes were fixed on the clouds outside darkening the sky, making it seem later than it was, “Hm… Maybe you should go now before it rains. I’ll come right after locking up.” You smiled at him, cocking your head to the side. A cute habit of yours, Taerae noted, but he could still see the tiredness in your eyes.

Pulling his eyes away from you towards the looming downpour, he was almost convinced. He hesitated because he just wanted to make sure you were okay and would get home as soon as possible as well.

“Okay. But make sure to hurry once you’re done, okay? And don’t get rained on.” Taerae said while slipping on his denim jacket.

You nodded confirming his words and promising to get home as soon as possible, “The rain will be done once I’m off, I promise.” You smiled.

“Okay, weather fairy, I’ll see you at home.”

He planted a kiss on your cheek and got ready to leave, the next occupant of the table already making his way towards the empty space.

*

It had in fact not stopped raining by the time you had cleaned the espresso machine and wiped down most of the tables. Hanbin and Chaehyun had left a few minutes ago, running towards the subway station, in the spare moments the rain had eased up a bit, leaving you to lock up alone. Now the rain was back to its full power, slamming onto the pavement, windows, cars, and soon you as well. You were afraid the small umbrella you found in the back of the locker room would not do much to keep you dry and warm on the short walk to Taerae’s apartment, but it had to be better than nothing.

The storm was just about to regain its entire might when you left the safety of your workplace. Turning the keys, you felt the cold wind hit your exhausted legs, sending shivers up your whole body, and sending more than a few leaves on their journey towards the ground prematurely. You cursed at yourself for thinking that late-summer-thunderstorms carried the warmth, that mid-summer-ones did. Struggling to keep the umbrella upright, you wrapped the bright blue zip-up sweater you had stolen from Taerae’s closet closer over your body. If there had been any more wind, you were sure would have been blown away.

In fact, you had been so busy trying to not take off, you barely noticed a figure hurrying in your direction.

An out of breath Taerae appeared in the far distance, his silhouette not only blurred by the rain, but also the impressive velocity of his figure running towards you. In Taerae’s hand you could make out another one of his hoodies and a definitely more sturdy-looking umbrella, more than big enough to fit the two of you.

His cheeks and nose were red, even more so due to the red fabric of the umbrella, but mainly because of the unexpected cool temperatures. Taerae hadn’t been home long when he had decided to come and get you once the café closed. A decision he now noted as more than smart, having witnessed you almost fly away like Mary Poppins.

He couldn’t help the smile as he pulled you towards himself, underneath the little shelter his umbrella offered “So, this is where my favourite sweatshirt has gone to.” He pointed towards the fabric currently keeping your body just a degree away from a shiver.

Unfortunately, you had been right about your umbrella being bad at its job, the sweatshirt now thoroughly soaked, “Sorry,” You smiled innocently, “But hey, at least it’s clean now.”

Taerae shook his head, granting you refuge and additional warmth underneath his arm as he wrapped it around your body, pulling you as close as he could, “You could have texted you know?” he whispered in your ear, barely audible over the rain continuously slamming onto the thin fabric above the two of you. 

“I thought my equipment would suffice,” you confessed, although you knew your umbrella would have been unlikely to hold up to this kind of weather, “I’m sorry you had to come out to rescue me.”

“It’s what I’m here for, no? Serenating and rescuing.” Taerae smiled, his hair curling itself back to its natural state, “University student and professional busker by day, personal saviour and superhero of Y/N by night.”

You chuckled; he really was your hero.

*

Finally inside and in dry clothes, you let yourself fall onto Taerae’s couch. As soon as your body touched the soft fabric, the sleepiness started to set in. Between the bustle of work and the adventure of running through the rain with Taerae, your body had gone from low battery to out of it completely. The only thing missing right now was your boyfriend, who was making instant noodles and a cup of tea for the both of you, insisting that you had made enough beverages today to last a lifetime, and you couldn’t agree more.

The day had been so long, and just an hour ago you had wished for nothing more than for time to pass by more quickly, but now that you had actually had time to spend with Taerae, you willed the clock to slow down for a bit.

Now in the warmth of Taerae’s apartment, you didn’t mind the weather at all; The rain was still going, tapping onto the windows nonstop, and flooding the streets outside without doubt, but what did it matter to you now that you were able to rest with your favourite person in the entire world.

Speak of the devil; Taerae set down the bowl of instant noodles in front of, followed shortly by a glass of water and a cup tea.

“That looks so good, I could kiss you right now.” You smiled looking at food in front of you.

“Do it then.” Taerae turned his head towards you, expectantly waiting on the kiss you had promised.

You placed a quick peck onto the smiling boy and then started to slurp down your meal. It had been some time since Taerae had seen you so happy. It had been some time since Taerae had seen you, period. Not counting the café this afternoon, of course, but it really had been a while since the two of you had hung out alone like this. And Taerae would be lying if he said he hadn’t missed you. Just like you would be lying if you said you hadn’t been stressed out of your mind this past week. Just like you would be lying if you said you weren’t tired right now. Just like you would be lying if you said you hadn’t missed Taerae too.

“It was a really hard day today, huh?” Taerae’s voice was laced with worry, and it made you anxious. You didn’t want to worry him, there really wasn’t anything for him to worry about, he was helping as much as he could without worrying.

“It was okay,” you answered, a little too quiet for Taerae’s liking, “I’m just glad I won’t be in charge anymore next week.”

While Taerae believed that the majority of what you said was true, he wouldn’t have you downplaying your feelings like that. He sighed, “You don’t have to pretend with me, Y/N, you know? I’m here to help. I want to know when you’re stressed or feel bad or hurt.”

In the past few months that you and Taerae had been dating, it was made obvious on more than one occasion that your boyfriend’s love language was acts of service. Be it to drive you to your favourite bookstore, or to get you some medicine when you were sick. Taerae loved to just do things for you.

You smiled at your sweet boyfriend, your heart overflowing once again, “I know, it’s just… I can do this on my own. I don’t want to worry you.” You nodded to yourself, feeling a little exposed.

“I get that, but the thing is, you don’t have to,” Taerae took your hand in his, “That’s what it’s like when you love someone; I want to share the hurt and the burden and the stress. I want to do it for you, and I want you to do it for me,” his smile was faint, his eyebrows scrunched up slightly, “I’d rather worry with you, than worry for you.”

You weren’t sure what you had done to deserve someone like Taerae. Smiling you leaned into his side, resting your head into the crook of his neck, “Alright, I’m sorry.”

He kissed the top of your head as a response, triggering the warm and fuzzy feeling once again.

“Hey,” you whispered against his body, “I love you.”

Taerae hugged you tighter, engulfing you in all his warmth; the rain so loud against the window, the wind so strong, the building howled its tune, his words so soft they warmed you up from inside, “And I love you.”

4. so let’s love

Being in love was harder than you could have ever imagined. It was also simply more than what you could have ever thought it would be. It was more difficult, more intense, more complicated. But the more you felt it, the deeper, the stronger your feelings got for Taerae the more aware you got of your need for him.

Everything Taerae felt with you was new to him as well. In the past, Taerae had never had a problem figuring out how he felt, and he surely didn’t have any problems expressing his emotions. For Taerae, music had always been the easiest, most natural way to communicate. It was what brought him the most precious things in life: a purpose and you. But lately, it was difficult for him to encompass his love for you through actions or music. And he had a feeling he would struggle his entire life to put this into words.

*

The leaves had long turned brown, the weather had long switched from sunshine to frost, and Taerae had once more found his way home from a long day of classes, and an even longer week of not seeing you. Lately, he had felt something shift between the two of you, and he felt difficulty to raise the issue, to talk it out. He even felt difficulty to play it out, to sing it out, to just let his frustrations flow.

Of course, Taerae knew that couples fought. He knew it was normal for lovers to throw hurtful things at each other’s heads from time to time. He could list more than 10 songs that captured this exact feeling of defeat, when one hurts the person, they love the most. It was his hyperawareness of this fact, that made it all the more difficult to ignore the fact that you just did not fight.

It was not like the two of you would not have reason for conflict, but it always seemed like whenever the two of you were close to fighting, you shut down. Your passiveness got a hold of you, and you logged out of Taerae’s life until you were ready to forget about the reason you would have fought anyway. Whether or not you reflected and decided it wasn’t as big as a deal as it seemed at first, or if you just ignored the hurt, Taerae didn’t know.

What he did know however was, that this could not be healthy. Neither for you, nor for him. He refused to lose the love of his life over something such as the lack of fighting. All Taerae wanted was to love you. He wanted all that there is to a relationship, the love, the fights, the forgiving. He didn’t need perfect; he didn’t want perfect.

He was sure of his feelings for you, he had been for the longest time. Maybe he did love you more than you did him, but that didn’t even matter to Taerae. He was just worried, he’d lose you. He was so confident in his own love, he became insecure of yours.

So, on this day, on his way home from university, on his way to you, he thought about how maybe, he just wasn’t worth enough for you to fight with him. Maybe it wasn’t that you didn’t like to fight, maybe it was that he just wasn’t worth fighting with. And for the first time, these kinds of Taerae’s feelings made sense.

*

From the beginning of your relationship, you had been determined to give Taerae your whole heart. You wanted nothing more than to love the sweet boy to your heart’s full capacity. And the more you got to know him, the more your heart’s ability to do so grew. And with that your fear of losing him.

In your entire life, you had not really fought with anybody, ever. Of course, there had been disagreements and discussions, but most of the time you hadn’t deemed the topics worth fighting over. You had also had relationships before, none as serious as the one with Taerae, and they mostly ended amicably. Definitely nothing like any Olivia Rodrigo song. You intended to keep the number of break-ups you had had the same, although you knew realistically, the number of fights had to go up at some point, but thus far even disagreements with Taerae hadn’t proven annoying enough to fight over. All you wanted to do is love him.

You didn’t want to fight with him, or to worry him, or to hurt him. You just wanted to love Taerae.

So, on the day the temperatures had dropped as well as all the leaves, and Taerae used the spare keys you had given him to let himself into your apartment, to cook together, the last thing you had expected was to fight.

One look, out of the window and you saw the blanket of grey and white that threatened (or promised) to spill the first snow of the season. You had been waiting for Taerae to come home for some time now and had been working on some university assignments until the all too familiar jingle of keys announced his arrival. The first thing you heard right after the sound of the soft thump Taerae’s guitar case made when he set it down, was a sigh. And only then did you realize just how stressful the past month had been for the both of you. You and Taerae were both drowning in assignments and projects and that meant you spent the majority of your time in the library, as he did in the studio. It had been hard for you with work and university to find time to just be together, especially with a lot occupying both of your minds.

Communicating had never been your forte and you found it even harder to discuss your worries when the time you had together was so scarce. Taerae had been good at voicing his feelings and telling you when he was stressed but in the past days, he seemed a little closed off as well, so this sigh seemed to be a giveaway.

Still, worries aside a soft smile rested on your lips as he entered the kitchen, the table currently occupied by books and sheets of paper, your own little chaos ruling over the space.

“Looks intense,” Taerae chuckled as he made his way to you.

“It’s even worse than this looks in here,” you motioned with your finger to your head as you closed your laptop shut, standing up to hug your boyfriend hello.

Taerae kissed your cheek, taking in your scent. He noticed the hints of coffee scent in your hair, an indicator that you had worked the morning shift. He didn’t know you had worked today. You used to share your work schedule with him at the beginning of the week. Taerae knew you weren’t obligated to share your schedule with him, he wasn’t possessive like that, but just stopping to do so, irked him in some kind of way.

“You okay?” you asked as Taerae was staring off into space, and you grabbed a bottle of water.

“Yeah,” one look at you and he knew you didn’t believe a single word he just said, “it’s just the usual. Creative pressure and such.”

You cocked your head, the way you always did when processing things, thinking of what to say, “You sure that’s the only reason? You kind of seem a little off the past few days.”

He knew you didn’t mean it like an accusation. He knew that doing this, fighting, on grounds of you asking if there was anything else wrong was ridiculous. But Taerae also supposed it was as good a reason as any. Still, he didn’t mean the words to come out quite as harsh as they did.

“Yeah? You mean like how you don’t even tell me when you work these days anymore? Or what assignments you’re working on? Who you’re working on them with?”

One look and Taerae realized you were clearly taken aback by what he had said. Or how he had said it.

“I’m- I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you had to approve my schedule. I don’t mean to keep it secret Taerae, but I’m not talking about schedules or shifts, or even university. Something’s clearly bothering you.” Your brows were scrunched up and arms crossed.

Taerae scoffed silently, “Why…” he tried to gather the words in his head, to make them seem a little less ridiculous than they were, “Why won’t you fight with me?”

“Huh?” now you were taken aback. “Why won’t I fight with you? Maybe because there’s nothing to fight about?”

“Oh, come on, Y/N. I know you get annoyed when I stay in the studio for too long and don’t text you when I know you’re waiting for dinner plans or something. And I - I get annoyed when you just brush things off, but you always apologize even if there’s nothing to apologize for. Sometimes– Sometimes I just want to be annoyed with you and you should be annoyed with me as well for being annoyed.”

You frowned, what he said was true, even if you weren’t sure he was making sense 100%. In any case, these things just seemed inconsequential. Whenever stuff like that occurred you had been more worried than annoyed, sad maybe, but definitely not mad.

“What do you mean? I just don’t think these things are worth fighting over.”

Taerae closed his eyes, in the way he did when he couldn’t get the right chord combination, in the way he did to coordinate his thoughts, in the way he did just before letting go of a frustrated breath.

“See? This is what I mean. I just- It just feels like that to you I’m not worth fighting with.”

Now there was hurt on your face. Taerae didn’t mean to twist your words but it just, that is what it sounded like to him. This is what it felt like to him.

“I- That’s not what I said at all, Taerae,” Your tone had also changed. It was more straight forward, more matter-of-factly. Yet your eyes seemed desperate to just clarify this situation, so, you searched in his for some sort of doubt of his last statement, “You know that that’s not true, right?”

“I don’t know! It seems like it if I’m being honest,” his voice was just below a shout. Although it definitely didn’t seem angry, it was just as desperate as the look in your eyes. He tried to understand you, the way you tried to understand him, “It feels like whatever I do, whether it’s good or bad it doesn’t matter.”

“What? Of course, it matters. Taerae, you matter, so much!” You tried to hold the eye contact, but your emotions seemed to overflow, making it impossible to think and talk, but you tried anyways, “I am sorry, and don’t get me wrong, this is not me not wanting to fight right now, I’m just trying to understand- to make you understand; Never has anything you did not affected me. Be it negative or positive. I know we’ve talked about it but- you know I’m still learning, right? I just- I don’t want my feelings to be a bother to you. I don’t want me to be a reason for you to not do something. I just- I simply want to be a support for you. I don’t want you to have to worry about me and my feelings too, because I just- I so confidently want you. I just want to love you, Taerae.”

He looked at you, and you looked at him as you continued.

“Never did I mean to hurt you by not fighting with you. If you want to fight then okay, let’s fight. Let’s scream at each other and hurt each other, but I just- I just want to be able to love you through it all.”

You didn’t realize you had started to cry. And Taerae hadn’t realized how much it would hurt to see you cry. So, all he did was pull you close and engulf you in a hug.

“Okay. I’m sorry, too.” He was afraid of letting you go, as the thoughts raced through his head, as he tried to turn back time. He cursed himself for not realizing how much it sucked to fight. How much it sucked to hurt the person you love the most. “Okay, let’s love, okay?”

So, when the first snow began to fall, as it covered the rooftops and bare trees like sugar did pancakes, and a peacefulness settled after the first fight, you and Taerae decided to love each other, but also fight with each other, and cry and laugh with each other, and hurt and forgive each other. The both of you just prayed that you wouldn’t lose each other.  

5. i loved you

An unexpectedly cold spring night put you in an incredibly uncomfortable position.

One would think that at the end of April the temperatures would somewhat rise above 10 degrees, but to your disappointment, they had even dropped below zero. You didn’t know what had come over the city to still be as freezing as it was, but you couldn’t help but think it was your heart that had conjured up the unexpected mid-spring-ice-age.

The temperature wasn’t the only thing that made it difficult for you to get out of bed. It was also a simple lack of anything warm in your life. So, on the morning of this especially chilly spring day, you rummaged through your closet to find one of your warmest sweaters, to try and keep your body from going into hypothermia on your way to your opening shift at the café. Trying to distract you from the shivering even inside your apartment, you thought about the workday ahead, and what spices you would throw into your free morning coffee, when your hand grazed over what felt like your warmest, snuggest sweater. Satisfied with the choice, you grabbed onto the thick fabric and pulled it out, but not without a few other items falling out of your closet in the process.

Cursing at your own messiness, you at first didn’t notice that the sweater you had pulled out, was in fact, not one of your own. You had even been so distracted by the mess that was now on your bedroom floor, that you pulled the sweater over your still with sleepiness marked head, and diligently threw the stray items into the closet, shutting the door before they could fall out once again.

Only when you caught a glimpse of your own reflection, did you realize what you had just slipped onto your body. Comforted by the familiarity of the striped sweater, but startled by the memories it brought back. The scent of its owner still hung heavy in its fibre. You stopped to look at yourself in such a familiar, yet strange item of clothing.

If anyone had told you two months ago that it’d feel strange to wear Taerae’s hoodie in April you would have thought it would have been because of the warm weather, and not because Taerae had broken up with you just a couple of weeks before.

The fabric felt now heavy on your shoulders, and you sensed an all too familiar weight drop a little heavier onto your chest. You had done your best to go back to the life you had known before, but in the past two weeks you had been semi successful in achieving that: More than once had your co-workers caught you staring off into space, your gaze unintentionally fixed upon any busker in front of the café, your eyes even fixated on the spot when nobody was playing. With a gentle tap to your shoulder, Hanbin had brought you back to your task of making espresso shots, a routine that felt almost too easy to get distracted from.

You were well aware that you had had a life before Taerae. You just didn’t know you would have one after Taerae. In all honesty, you had hoped you wouldn’t have.

The most tragic part was, Taerae just hadn’t given you the closure one would need after getting broken up with by the love of their lives. He hadn’t really given you any explanation at all. Nothing more than a lot off bullshit, and a just-because. It was easy for most people in your life to go from loving to hating him, but even with the lack of sympathy for your situation, you found it difficult.

You had tried to hate him, you had tried to resent him even, but nothing had proven effective enough to erase your love for him. Taerae had been engraved into your bones. And now he expected you to just move on?

*

In hindsight, you should have seen it coming. At least that’s what you told yourself, that’s what you told your friends who were asking why the two of you broke up. Coming up with more than absurd reason of why you should have known, when in reality you simply couldn’t have. Because even in hindsight, you never could have seen it coming.

So, on the evening of, when Taerae had told you things weren’t working for him anymore, his face straight and not showing any emotion, not showing his signature smile, or even a tear; On the evening of, when you had begged Taerae to just tell you what you had to change, what it was you had done wrong and that you would fix them, if only he’d stay; On the evening of, when even after you had cried and shouted, he just took his guitar case and left; On the evening of the break up, you hadn’t gotten an answer. And neither had you in the two weeks since.

In fact, you had not seen Taerae at all. Or heard from him, not even through friends or social media. You wondered if he was okay, if he really was as unbothered as he had seemed, even though it was unnatural for him to act the way he did. You had always deemed Taerae a gentle person, but the way he ended things, was just so unlike him. So, he had to be not okay as well, right?

The lack of answers made you do something you had never had to do before, which was speculate and wonder. Taerae had always worn his heart on his sleeve and expressed himself so diligently most of the time, if not through words, surely, he would have done so through music. So, speculating about how he must feel now, was something you had never had to do. But now you caught yourself wondering all the time. You wondered how many things he thought about before the thought of you popped into his head. You speculated what the songs he was composing these days sounded like. Were they about you?

Either way, there was no hiding from him. Not for you, not just yet.

His presence, the imprint he had left on you followed you everywhere you went. The grocery store, the library, the café. Everywhere the memories of Taerae loomed over you. You wanted to forget him, so much to the point you had seriously considered hypnosis, if that was thing. It was like you could not, not consider him. He was so engraved in your brain; he was so engraved in your everything. You weren’t sure how to erase him from your everything, you weren’t sur how to erase him from anything. You weren’t sure you actually wanted to.

Still, the hurt you had felt the first few days was overwhelming, you couldn’t eat or sleep or do anything much other than run on autopilot. It had become so bad, that some of the regular customers noticed. It was almost like all life had been sucked out of you, and in a sense it had been; A possible future life had been taken from you. A future you had hoped for ever since you had met Taerae. A future you now grieved.

So, now looking at yourself in the mirror, the striped sweater hanging from your body, keeping it warm, felt like a glimpse of what if. A glimpse of Taerae. A glimpse of the person you had been when you were with him. A person you could have been, but never would.

For a second you wondered again, Taerae well established in your mind. But in the end, it didn’t matter. There was no use wondering and retracing everything you did during the last few days of your relationship. There was no use, because you did everything you said you would: You had loved Taerae, you loved him still, with your heart’s full capacity. Over the months you had fought and made up and hurt each other and forgiven the hurt. But now none of it mattered, so you might as well try and forget, instead of dwell and grieve.

So, with a swift motion you stripped the sweater off your body, exposing yourself once more to cold of the spring morning that had even seeped through the walls of your apartment. The frost making itself known in the form of icy crystals on your window. You didn’t look for another sweater, you wanted to feel the cold.

You weren’t sure what you had done wrong. But still, you knew more than you didn’t. You knew there was nothing you could do. You knew you would hurt for some time still. You knew you would see Taerae in buskers, guitars, and iced tea. You knew you would hear him in Hi-Hellos and the jingle of keys. You knew you loved him, and you knew it’d be a long time before you stopped.

So, for now you’d try to forget.

6. you were beautiful

There was a hum in the air, a melody that made its way through the busy streets of the city. The warm weather had finally decided to stay, and it stuck to the cement like chewing gum, barely cooling down overnight.

Taerae had kept himself busy over the past month, not really wanting to slow down, but with graduation coming up, also not really being able to do so. For him there had barely been any time to just stroll around, or go to cafes with his friends, or to simply just think; These days Taerae still didn’t really knew how to function normally, how to function like he did before you. Of course, he still had to perform, write, and produce music for university, but he rarely went out to busk or did these things for joy like he used to. It was something outsiders could have never noticed; How Taerae did everything but nothing at the same time. Only the people close to him, could tell something was up. They knew of the break-up of course, but they could only guess why exactly it happened in the first place.

In any case, it was evident that Taerae had closed himself off. He didn’t really talk to any of his friends about it, and neither did his songs show any reflection of what he felt. They hadn’t become bad, they were just cliché. Some of his professors even pointed out the shift in his lyrical style. But there was nothing Taerae could do; he was both too busy and exhausted to deal with his feelings.

Walking around in the area by his apartment was one of the only times Taerae consciously searched for some down time, to sort out at least some of his thoughts. Of course, he was cautious not to stray too close to your workplace, more for his own sake than yours. As of now, Taerae wasn’t sure how his heart would react if he was to come face to face with you unexpectedly. Ever since he had decided to break it off with you, he had barely fathomed to hold a single thought about you. He simply couldn’t conjure up enough courage to deal with his own heart break. So, up until now, pushing everything away would have had to do the trick.

He wasn’t sure what exactly had ticked off his thought process to recall the day of the professor-student conversation. Maybe it was the undeniable sense of Deja-vu he felt when he spotted a young busker, surrounded by only a small group of people, who were all listening carefully to the boy’s song. Maybe it was the girl listening, who from the back looked exactly like the one he loved. It could have been either of these two or another altogether, but in any case, Taerae knew, that maybe it was time to face this inevitable heart ache, even if just for the duration of this walk.

*

At the beginning of each semester, music and music production majors are required to sit down with one of their supervising professors, to discuss projects for the upcoming term. Most of these conversations were easy going, and the projects subject to change, but the conversation at the start of the second semester senior year was one equally feared and anticipated.

The senior project for music and music production majors was basically the making of an entire album, with full creative freedom. Taerae had been more than excited to get started on it, in fact, he had been so eager that the songs for his album were ready for recording as soon as his supervising professor approved of them.

So, yes, Taerae was a tad bit nervous entering the professor’s office. But he was generally well-liked and so were his songs, so he was sure this meeting would go over smoothly, and he would have to do nothing more than to put in a reservation to one of the student recording studios and was good to go.

And that was the case, partly.

Everything was going well; the professor praised his compositions and skills as a lyricist. The way he had described Taerae as someone to get across any type of feeling, made Taerae’s chest swell with pride. It wasn’t until the last few minutes of the meeting, when Taerae was supposed to thank the professor in front of him and get straight to work, that everything was pushed out of his rightful trajectory.

Taerae was about to get up out of the chair he had been sitting in somewhat tensely, when the professor said something, that in hindsight, put as many things into perspective as it pushed out of it. At least for Taerae.

“This girl must be quite the experience for you as a song writer.”

“Excuse me?” Taerae had said then, distraught, and genuinely confused.

The professor had then proceeded to explain how certain people, certain experiences, determined the colours of the artists in any art form. And that you, were certainly one of these experiences that would influence Taerae a great deal, even once the next experience would come into his life.

Looking back now, Taerae wasn’t sure why he had taken what his professor said so to heart. He definitely didn’t think of you as an experience. He didn’t think of you as something temporary at all. He didn’t think that there was any more evolving for him to be done, Taerae would have been good writing songs about you for the rest of his life.

But was this how the world perceived you? As an experience? Did he, through his songs somehow reduce you to something less than what you were, something temporary, something to live through and then move on?

From this point on Taerae couldn’t help but spiral in his self-doubt. Doubt for his love for you, and doubt for his skill of song writing. Thinking back on statements his friends had made, like how they would also write songs as good as Taerae’s if they had a Y/N in their lives, only confirmed his insecurities in his own love for you. Taerae somehow had gotten way into his head about it.

In Taerae’s mind it wasn’t fair to you. It wasn’t fair to make you an experience in his life. It wasn’t fair, when all you did was give, when you read his every thought and tried so hard to be better and learned with the mistakes you made, learned to love Taerae even more.

Taerae remembered that you had said you wanted nothing more than to love Taerae for the rest of your life, that he was your person. And all Taerae had done was make you an experience.

*

Lost in thought, a sigh heavy on his lips, Taerae hadn’t noticed the young woman listening to the busker turn around. She hadn’t yet looked at him, instead she was gushing about the music to the friend who had just joined her. Had the other joined the young woman any earlier, Taerae would have known in an instant that it was in fact you: the pink hair of your best friend and co-worker a dead giveaway. The two of you a duo Taerae found difficulty in separating, even during the days of you dating.

Chaehyun was whispering something in your ear, which made you laugh a little louder than you had anticipated, a hand coming to cover your mouth as you snickered in slight embarrassment. More than once had Taerae witnessed an interaction similar to this one, and looking at you now, made his heart ache with longing.

But he understood that that was something he wouldn’t be able to see again. He knew that he couldn’t really love you the way you deserved to be loved, so he wouldn’t try.

In the past, Taerae had always felt he was good at expressing himself. You had always promised him to get better at things, to learn the love Taerae needed. Without missing a day, you had told him you loved him. Sometimes first thing in the morning, sometimes it was the last thing he heard when he fell asleep. You had always thought of Taerae first, he had been the most important thing in your life, and Taerae had been well aware of this fact, you had told him more than once. Yet you still didn’t put pressure on the young man, you waited patiently on him in every sense. Maybe Taerae hadn’t been so good at expressing his feelings, maybe you had been the one very aware of your own feelings along.  

Watching you from afar, he wondered if you thought of him as much as he did of you. He wondered if everything the two of you had been, was something of the past to you, or if everything, if he, was still present in your life, if he still was something you had to consider, even if it was just to avoid him successfully.

*

The warm wind grazed over you, as it did Taerae, sending your hair flying in its direction. Your head turned towards the young man standing more than a few metres away from you, gaze fixed upon you. It took you some time to remember to not stretch out your arm and wave at him in greeting. It took you even longer to remember not to make your way towards the boy to greet him with a soft kiss on the cheek.

It also took some time for Taerae to not expect any of this from happening; looking at you now, you were a stranger he still loved.

But looking at him now, you realized he was a stranger you once loved. And thus, a small smile made its way onto your face as you turned away, interlocking your arms with your friend, and walking off into the direction of your workplace.

*

To Taerae it had always been interesting how people forgot, once it was over, once it was done. But Taerae would never forget what it was like to love you. He would never forget what it was like to be loved by you. How it was beautiful, how you were beautiful. Taerae would aways remember, he could simply never forget. Maybe someday, he would be fortunate enough to remind you again.

yay!! you made it to the end!! i hope that you were able to enjoy it despite the somewhat sad ending!! thank you again for reading and i’d love to hear your thoughts on it!! love youuuu

this piece was written by @yourstruleejn so please don’t post on any other platforms or translate into any other languages! thank u !!!

[ohsunnyboy]

i insist | kim taerae ˚₊‧⁺˖

when there's moments like this, it's hard not to fall in love with kim taerae all over again

TAGS: drabble, gn!reader, kissing but cute <3, full throttle fluff, cuddles galore, established relationship

A/N: taerae is the softest man i have ever seen and i will die on this hill :) as always, purely self-indulgent

WORDS: ~900

Battling against a fever for the past week doesn’t turn you – or anyone! – into the prettiest person.

In fact, you were entirely against Taerae even coming over to look after you in your horrid state: your three-blanket wrap, two ramyeon a day diet and maybe one sick retch every other hour. But whatever Taerae insists, Taerae gets. And it takes a week of constant mothering, cleaning and cooking, for someone like you to go insane under him – or rather, for him. It's actually infuriating how good Taerae is at this.

However, sometimes you want to hold him in place and demand, "who have you done this for before?!" because this type of mothering takes years of practice to perfect. Though, can you really expect anything less of your Kim Taerae.

Content to be bundled up in bed for the rest of your life – it really is a lovely life.

Sun streams through the crack in the curtains splashing your room in a dull yellow glow. The spring sun brings a chill that no one likes to admit exists. With your duvets woven around you like shields, the warmth seeps into you like a slow rambling fire. It takes a moment to blink halfway awake, to only just notice the arm slung around your waist and the feel the kisses peppering your nape.

"G'morning," you mumble into the bed. Voice all scratchy and dry, but noticeably smoother than it has been for the past week.

You can feel Taerae bury into your neck with another flurry of kisses now that you've woken up. Without a doubt shy, but eager to see you awake. “Do you feel better today?" he asks softly. His already deep voice rolls especially low and heavy in the morning wake. A tender blush climbs to your face as he hums into your neck – the steady thrum tempting you back to sleep.

"Did you fall back asleep already?" Taerae flicks the back of your head, and you kick him in the shins for revenge.

His laughter rumbles behind you, and your soft amusement follows suit. "Not when you’re such a morning menace." Smiling, you turn over to face him, tangling your legs back up with his and burying just a little more under the covers.

His blush stretches across his cheeks and to his ears – both cherry red. Taerae’s grin is abashed, and all you want to do is hold him by the face and kiss him stupid. Entwined in your sheets like this, it's a mess of limbs: his arm around your waist, your leg now hitched around his, and hands toying through hair. It's impossible to say where each other ends and the other begins.

"I feel much better," you answer. "All thanks to you and your kisses." You cup his face now, loving the way his smile stretches across it. It’s an unbearable warmth that spreads across your cheeks at seeing his wide smile and easy heart.

You could spend the day in bed doing nothing but trace his gorgeous smile, listen to the roll of his voice and tasting love on his tongue. It would feel as natural as a spring day to sleep in and do nothing – especially after the past week doing exactly that. Though, draped in this golden light, it’s hard to forget how stunning Taerae looks when he holds you. When you hold each other.

Frame by frame, second by second, you drink it in.

"… I'm glad.” He hesitates, for a second – one moment. If you were any less awake you would have never caught it.

You’re both close enough that all you have to do is tilt your head forward a bit to catch his lips. Maybe lean just a bit more to plant a kiss to each of his dimples and stretch an inch for one blessed kiss to his forehead. So close, all you can do is look to find the light tension about his eyes and little pinch to his lips.

It takes a moment to realise what the problem is.

"My breath stinks, doesn't it,” you deadpan. Entirely aware of how the little distance between you two doesn’t help and how he twists his nose is enough of an answer.

"It does,” he relents, and all you can do is whine. You two know that leaving the bed to go brush will only invite the spring chill but alas, one must make sacrifices for a relationship.

Brave and bold, you start to move to get up. The least you can do is get the day started between you two. “I’ll go brush my teeth then.” Fate accepted and doom foretold, you begin to lift your duvet.

But Taerae pulls you back down and keeps you where you were. “Nope! You stay in bed, it’s still early and cold.” He tucks your head back under his chin to silence you. The enveloping warmth traps you and wow do you not want to get up – stupidly effective. “You go back to sleep, and I’ll wake you up with breakfast later, okay?” he murmurs into your hair.

“I feel better though!”

Taerae shifts under you and presses you further into him. “And? Let me do this for you, I insist.” Then and there, you melt into him. It’s inevitable that you blush; head filled with nothing but fuzzy thoughts and mush.

Head hidden in the crook of Taerae’s neck, you can feel how his voice thrums and pulse beats along to a steady melody. Some ballad song that can have you both fully belting in the car but dreamy when going to bed. One that swings you away to sleep, bundled in warmth and kissed with joy.

thanks so much for reading!! a like and reblog would be wonderful if you enjoyed :) ⭒ masterlist

[matthyeu]

you love mozart ― ktr.

pairing ⇢ kim taerae x gn!reader 

genre ⇢ angst, forbidden love, royal!au

warnings ⇢ slight violence, i find it kinda cliche but it’s cute

word count ⇢ 2.8k

synopsis ⇢ no one ever understood why a prince was so caught up in playing an instrument when there were people hired to play music, people like you. (part 2)

notes ⇢ this time on prince!zb1 who want to do everything but be a prince (ummm i just like royal aus ig??) + it is pertinent to my plans

a quick tune was all taerae needed before he started his mid-morning guitar session. it was really the only time he was allowed to practice his skills. early morning or late night would wake people, even when he tried not to. his father would always come into his room to lecture about the needs of other people before his outrageous need to play music. then during the day, he would be too busy doing other princely matters he didn’t even consider necessary. 

it was rare for him to let something distract him from his limited time to play; however, at the sound of another instrument’s melody, he couldn’t help but wonder who produced it. as far as he knew, the piano in the middle of the palace was for mere decoration, not use. there wasn’t even anyone who could play it!

but there you were, sitting at the piano bench and focusing on the sheet music in front of you. well, for the most of it. at some points you even closed your eyes, the movement of your fingers coming naturally to you as they produced music. 

“enjoy the music, son?”

he turned on his heel to meet his father’s gaze, the father who disapproved so greatly of his musical ambitions. 

“you’ve never cared for music, father. you always tell me i’m causing a ruckus when playing, so why hire someone to do the same. isn’t one of me already enough for you?” he pondered. 

“well, now that there is someone who can play–extremely well may i add–there should be no need for you to fiddle with your own instrument. leave it up to the professionals, the ones who actually spend their whole lives practicing to be able to play well. instead, do carry on with your own duties. more time means more things to be done.” 

as his father left, taerae could only look back at you, a slight jealousy growing in his eyes. how could someone be granted with a life where they were able to play music whenever they wanted? why was he granted a life of luxury and duties when he could have been like you? 

as much as he wanted to hate you for being able to live his dream, he couldn’t. how could he when you immediately stood up from the bench to bow upon opening your eyes and seeing him. he could tell you were kind, not someone he could hate for baseless reasons. 

“do you have a specific song you want to hear, your highness?” 

still, he could not face you so easily, for you still held a power he didn’t have, the only one he didn’t have. you held the power of freedom, the freedom to play music whenever you wanted to cheer people up, which was the only thing taerae ever wanted in his life. 

“no thank you. do carry on.” 

he walked away from you without another word. after all, if his father was using you as a means of diminishing his passion for music, it was in his best interest to not be discouraged by your musical ability. one day he would be like that too. 

it didn’t take very long for taerae to stop ignoring you. you sat at the piano day after day, playing music whenever anyone asked, whether it be the cleaners who wanted background music to work to or a visitor who wanted a warm welcome. it was hard to not become interested in the pianist who put everything into every note. 

that was why one week after your arrival, taerae couldn’t help but stand and watch you play as he was heading back to his room after a long day of meetings. he watched with a content smile on his face, taking in the music you played. you played more beautifully than any of the pianists he had seen in recitals. 

“your highness!” 

your exclamation forced his eyes open to see you standing in a stiff bow. a panic ensued in him, waving his hands around as if a sign to tell you it was alright. of course, you couldn’t see anything in your bowed state. 

“it’s far alright,” he attempted again with his voice, “it wasn’t my intent of scaring you. i was just enjoying the music. you can stand. no need to bow any longer.” 

upon command you shot back up, hands folded in front of you. you looked frightened, as if you were scared he would do something to you. taerae wouldn’t even think of doing anything. he admired having someone so similar to him in his home. 

“would you…like me to play something for you?” you hesitated, unable to look him in the eye. 

he tried giving you a reassuring smile that he was safe, but he didn’t know if that would reach your petrified state. “sure, that would be lovely.” 

immediately you went back to sitting on the piano bench, finger hovering over the keys to play. however, you didn’t begin playing right away. you seemed to be in deep thought about something, probably what you wanted to play for him. in the end, you couldn’t decide, and instead, asked a question to help. 

“do you prefer beethoven or mozart?” 

he chuckled at your nervous question, but answered quickly to ease those nerves. “i prefer beethoven.” 

you quickly flipped through your book of sheet music, trying to find the perfect piece to play to him. though, your frantic hands did make you drop several sheets, which made you even more panicked. 

taerae understood how you felt though. most people were nervous in the presence of royalty. he tried to make conversation, so you could feel a little more comfortable around him. after all, he wanted to know more about how your pursuit of your career came about. 

“how about you, whose pieces do you prefer?” he asked as you finally pulled the appropriate sheet music on the music rack. 

“me?” 

he nodded, “yes, who do you prefer out of beethoven and mozart?” 

you thought about it for a moment as you placed your hands on the appropriate keys to start the piece. “well, i prefer mozart. i think his pieces tend to be more fun than beethoven’s.” 

taerae’s smile widened seeing as you began to feel less tense around him, so he let you play. as you played, he recognized the melody more. you were playing one of his favorite pieces. 

“tempest,” he finally said once you paused your hands. 

you nodded. “i just thought you’d appreciate that one. a lot of people have asked me to play moonlight sonata, so i wanted to change it up a bit.” 

“sonata no. 17 is one of my favorites actually, especially the movement you played.” 

“really?” you asked, now turning to him, “do you enjoy classical music?” 

“very much,” he confirmed, “my father tries to get me out to recitals, hoping that listening to music would rid me of my need to play myself. it has only strengthened it.” 

“play? are you a pianist?” 

he shook his head. “no i could never play the piano. i like playing guitar when i find the time to.” 

“i’m sure you’re amazing for what time you have. i imagine it’s quite difficult to have time for yourself when you’re preparing to take over a whole kingdom. it sounds a bit tedious with all the meetings and whatever else princes usually do in their lives.” 

he rolled his eyes while leaning on the piano. “believe me, it’s a whole lot of gibberish and things i probably won’t even remember a week from now. it’s so boring to sit around while people discuss things i have no say in yet as i’m in no position of power. i wish i had more allotted time to practice, but i’m always doing these things. even now, it’s quite hard when i have to play to myself.” 

“then, would you perhaps want to play for me?” you offered, “no one would question any noise if it came from here. besides, i could be the audience you wanted.” 

it was an offer taerae thought he would never receive, so he went straight to his room to retrieve his instrument. perhaps, having you around wasn’t the worst after all. 

the next few weeks were filled with a lot of things, mainly you playing beethoven for taerae and taerae playing some of his own pieces to you. 

you two had bonded over many things. you both had told many stories, stories that would be far too long to tell only over the short amount of time he had between his work. instead, he often invited you over to his room past dark, when everyone was sleep and could not catch the pianist sneaking into the prince’s room. 

mid-talk, taerae winced at the way you played with his fingers, the calluses on his fingers stung in contact with your hands. you hesitantly pulled your hands away, but he nodded as an indication that it was alright for you to continue. 

“i just want to be able to play more. the calluses have been in development, but because my schedule is so irregular, it always seems to pain me more than needed.” 

“you just have to give it time,” you explained, “eventually the calluses will help you play more frequently.” 

“that’s just it! i don’t have the time even if they have developed. my father has so many other plans for me that i feel these calluses will just be a pain in my hands when i have to do something else. i can’t play the guitar when i have so many other things to do,” he complained. 

by then, you had already dropped taerae’s hands to pay more attention to him. you had to think long and hard about his predicament, but you eventually came up with an answer: “you should just tell your father you want to be a guitarist.” 

he looked at you and then leaned back, trying to find some sign of joking in your expression. why would you encourage him to defy his own father? why were you encouraging him to go against the king? he found no sign of that, just your stoic expression staring back at him. 

“you’re insane, how could i–” 

“taerae.” 

he looked at you, the seriousness not burning in your eyes. those eyes knew he was hesitating. 

“you want to be a guitarist. you don’t want to fill your day with whatever princely duties there are,” you laid out, “you shouldn’t have to give up on your dream because of a life planned before you even had a say in it.”

he sighed, taking your hand into his and barely feeling the tenderness of your fingers. there were so many things you didn’t know about his life, and he didn’t want you encouraging things that were impossible. 

“it’s impossible. i can’t–” 

oh you loved to cut him off. “nothing is impossible. dreams are for you to follow, not for them to stay as dreams. if you love to do something, you should do it, even if there is something holding you back. this is your life and, you get to live it for yourself. this isn’t a life someone else dictates for you. you are your own person. you can make your own decisions. you can follow your dream if you believe you can. i believe you can.” 

he wanted to believe you, but there were so many things that could go wrong. he leaned in further to keep the conversation close and quiet. such a risky topic made him fear more that someone may be eavesdropping on you two. 

“i’m terrified,” he admitted, “i’m terrified about what would happen if i go against my father. i’m terrified i’ll be left alone in this world if i try to follow my dreams of being a guitarist. i’m just terrified.” 

you held his shoulders, leaning in yourself to try to calm him down. 

“you will not be alone,” you guaranteed, “you will always have me. i am a musician, and i am happy with what i’m doing. i’m not living a luxurious life, but i’m happy. i don’t want you to be living a life where you’re not happy.” 

it was hard to understand the words you were saying. the close proximity made taerae’s main focus your face, especially your lips. 

when you found him not paying attention to you, you made eye contact with him, soon mimicking his actions when you realized what had him preoccupied. 

without much thought, you two closed the gap between you two, lips against each other for a brief moment. for a moment, taerae felt like his worries had all washed away, like he was finally free from his life. 

however, it did have to end eventually when you abruptly pulled away, clearly shocked at your own actions. you couldn’t believe what you had done. 

“i should go,” you stammered, getting up from his bed, “i hope you’ll listen to my suggestion. i just want you to be happy.”

SLAP! 

holding his hand to his cheek, taerae stared at the king. it was a cruel reminder that before this man was a father, one who should accept the decisions of his child, he was the king, one who only cared about raising the perfect future ruler. 

“you are a prince, not a guitarist. your main job is to learn about the ways this kingdom is handled because it will be yours someday. you have no time to play a role you don’t fit.” 

when he remembered your words, he was able to fight back. “the role i don’t fit is not the guitarist. it’s the prince.” 

the king scoffed. “you can’t deny what’s in your blood. it’s who you are, who you were born as. you were foolish to think you could. why even try?” 

he was silent, not knowing what else to say. he did, however, find some courage to speak up more when he realized his father understood more about his thoughts. 

“the pianist…”

“what?” 

“that pianist is the one who ruined you!” 

no, he couldn’t pull you into this mess. you only pushed him. this was the dream he had always had. you had nothing to do with it. 

“father, stop! this is my own doing. don’t pull other people into it!” 

that didn’t stop the king. taerae desperately followed behind the fuming man, pleading for him to not accuse you of something you didn’t do. he knew what the king was capable of, and he didn’t want you to face the consequences of his actions. 

still, he was useless, thrown away by his own father before watching you be tormented by someone much more powerful than you. 

you who were so adamant about him following his dreams. you who were so passionate about defending a love for music. you who were so brave in his eyes. they all crumbled down at the sight of the angry king. him being thrown by his own father only enforced the nauseating feeling in your chest. 

he wanted to speak, to yell so badly, but there was a knot in his throat. the only communication he had was in his eyes. i’m sorry.

even through the fear in your eyes, you managed to send one back. it’s okay. 

“you were supposed to put out the flame that was his desire to play music on that dreaded instrument. you only fed it more kindling.” 

“i don’t what you’re talking about your–” 

“don’t even try to lie to me. i have gotten reports of your exchanges after his works, how you talk for times when he passes about music. i’ve heard the way you’ve played for him and only gave him more reason to love music. and now, there’s no need for you anymore because you’ve proven to me that there will only be trouble so long as you are here.” 

the king looked back at his son, an evil look in his eyes forming. taerae knew what was going to happen. 

“away with you.” 

upon orders, several soldiers and guards came to your side. when you struggled, they only put more force on you, using your own body weight to destroy what you loved the most. every part of you would soon be gone from the palace, both yourself and the piano you gave life to. it was all his fault. 

when he tried to reach you, there were more people holding them back. he was powerless. finally, he found the courage to talk again, the knot in his throat untying itself. 

“i’ll find you somehow!” he called out, “i will! even if it does take a hundred years, maybe even more. just remember! you love mozart. i love beethoven.” 

taerae meant it figuratively when he said he would continue searching for you even past a hundred years. he didn’t know it would really be around two hundred until he could hear you play the piano again. 

[gyubaseone]

kim taerae. lovestruck

❛ i would do anything for you, always. ❜

pairing — kim taerae x f!reader

genre — fluff, just taerae being the best bf EVER

synopsis — taerae grew up with so much love surrounding him, he had to share that love somehow. of course, it had to be with his favorite human being.

warning — none! third person pov, lowercase intended, not proofread thoroughly.

word count — 1,126

notes — kind of went off from the request but i hope the anon who requested this enjoys still 😭 i was actually planning to do something similar so i mixed my idea with the request .. not really happy with it but 💧

★ ( please fill out this form to be on my taglist ) ❕

kim taerae was probably the kindest and sweetest soul that y/n has ever met. even after months of them being in a relationship, it seemed like nothing changed. he was still the charming dork that she fell for ; he was perfect in every way.

now imagine, if she thought that he was perfect then how would he feel? the answer is: he's absolutely smitten. since the moment they became a couple, he was always with her. even when he wasn't, he wanted to be with y/n or would be texting her about how much he wanted to be with her. taerae was so lovestruck.

every moment they spent together, all their date nights whether it was eating out or a movie night at his apartment — he was always his happiest when he was with y/n. there was nothing she could do wrong in his eyes.

taerae could literally stare into her eyes for days on end if nobody stopped him. his eyes were definitely heart-shaped whenever he looked at her with such fondness while smiling brightly.

growing up in a loved family, taerae had to be the best boyfriend anyone could ask for. he was definitely the best boyfriend y/n could have asked for. it's like he always knew what to say or do when he was with her.

whenever y/n was down, he was the first and only person she talked to ; taerae would be at her front door in a matter of 10 minutes. whenever y/n wanted to have a late night snack, he would sleep over at her apartment while they munched on the things he bought for them.

he just loved seeing her happy and he was the reason she was so happy. it's like taerae was her comfort place whenever she was sad or stressed about life. so when y/n suddenly shows up at his front door with a sullen look, of course, he had to take care of his favorite person.

taerae was heating up some leftovers in his kitchen when there was a subtle knock at his door followed by a louder one. "i'm coming, one second!" he yelled, putting his phone on the granite counter before walking over to the door.

once he opened it, taerae was met with y/n who embraced him immediately. he almost fell back due to the impact, not expecting his girlfriend to be over or to be hugged so quickly right after opening the door. nonetheless, his arms landed on her back as he regained balance.

"bad day, hm?" he inquired, only to be met with a nod as she still rested on his shoulde, "don't worry.. i know what'll make you feel better."

leftovers? they didn't exist anymore. taerae ended up putting them back into the fridge after settling y/n onto the couch and ordering food delivery for the two. maybe he could've taken her out to eat so that she could forget whatever was on her mind, but he knew her. she wouldn't want to go outside on a day she was sad.

"food will be here in 15 minutes," taerae informed, falling into the couch and laying down so his head would be on y/n's lap. he looked up, seeing her smile slightly just having him with her. "there's that smile that i love so much.." his hands ended up cupping her face, pinching her cheeks while she whined in protest. "wanna tell me what happened today?"

and so, y/n began ranting about how her boss had yelled at her for the whole morning even though she had done nothing wrong. "i just felt like breaking down in the bathroom by then but there were 3 hours left of my shift," she let out a sigh exasperated, "i'm so tired, taerae. i shouldn't be treated like this right?"

"you shouldn't, you don't deserve that," taerae agreed, changing into a sitting position to put his head on her shoulder. "i would hit your boss if it wasn't considered assault."

the two stayed in the same position the entire time they waited for the food, not doing anything but basking in each other's presence. it was nice ; peaceful. it was exactly what y/n needed after a day where she was constantly yelled at.

after finishing their food, taerae and y/n ended up in his bedroom to take a nap since they were stuffed from their meal. he was sitting down at the end of his bed, waiting for y/n to come back while passing time on his phone. but once she came back, he was in for a surprise.

y/n was wearing a different shirt, his shirt. in some way, taerae might've just fallen in love with her all over again. "is that my shirt?" he asked, a bright smile on his face as y/n walked closer to the bed and sat down beside him.

"yeah, i didn't want to sleep in my clothes.. they were too rough," y/n explained, looking over at taerae while fixing her hair, "is that okay?"

"okay? it's more than okay! maybe you should just keep the shirt, it looks better on you anyways," taerae placed his hands on her thigh slowly, patting her leg while he admired her.

"okay— well, let's go to bed! i'm tired," y/n looked away from taerae while pretending to yawn, feeling her cheeks burn up at his words.

the two got situated in taerae's bed, facing each other in silence. "did i do a good job at making you feel better?" taerae asked, running his hand through her hair.

"you did, just like always," y/n gave him a soft smile, nodding her head while she started becoming drowsy, "thank you for always being there for me."

"what can i say? i love seeing you happy," taerae smiled as he stared into her eyes, slightly tilting her chin while he suppressed a kiss onto her nose, "i would do anything for you, always."

before he knew it, y/n had leaned in for a kiss on his lips after he pulled away ; she could feel him smiling through their kiss. it started with small pecks, slowly progressing into a longer one before they parted and stared into each other's eyes for a moment. the moment was perfect.

taerae wrapped his arms around y/n's waist, pulling her closer to him as she rested her head on his chest ; nuzzling her head to be even closer if she could. but of course, taerae couldn't go to bed without peppering her forehead with more fluttery kisses ; making sure he didn't miss a spot. the two slowly drifted off into a slumber, holding each other close.

© gyubaseone — please refrain from copying, translating, reposting, or claiming my work as your own.