#linosbundlessvt

[linosbundles]

My colleague thinks pissing me off will get me to worship the ground he walks on || joshua x oc

Pairing : joshua x oc (harry) {can also be read as a y/n fic}

Genres : fluff

Word count : 4.2k {4288 words}

warnings : mentions of food, slowburn, Joshua is annoying and so are you

Summary : She hates her colleague. If she had to put up with him a little longer, she might start hating her job. He never intended to, but he became the reason her blood pressure was always up during meetings. All that “hatred” changed into something else… how?

Joshua. One name. That’s all it took for her blood to boil. She hated his existence at this point, and he made that happen so effortlessly. Joshua was merely her colleague, who wasn’t even on the same team as her, yet he managed to do everything that annoyed her. The days Joshua took off were easily the best days Harry had at work. She was just glad that he didn’t make her hate her work life entirely.

She rushed to the elevator doors, running late, as she saw Joshua already inside. He clicked the button that closed the doors immediately after he saw her and made her miss it. Normally she would be happy to not be in the same confined space as the annoying man but today she was already late, missing the elevator only made her later than she already was, which wasn’t good considering she had a meeting in 5 minutes.

He wasn’t particularly a fan of her either. Harry had her own ways to rile him up as well. The meetings that required both of them to attend had always been heated up by their arguments. They always had something or the other to mention against each other’s ideas. Someone had to constantly remind them that it was a meeting and not a debate.

At work dinners, the way Joshua would suck up to their boss would get on her nerves while the way she would ruin his moments by saying something against him.

“Why do you hate Joshua so much?” Soonyoung asked.

She paused. She forgot about the sugar cube she had just picked up to drop in her coffee and got lost in her thoughts. No matter how hard she thought, she couldn’t put a pin on the moment she started hating him. She snapped out of it and put the cube in her coffee and mixed it.

“I guess it’s just natural… I have no clue Soonyoung, but I don’t think the origin matters if I can’t even remember it. He’s just annoying as he is, all the time, every time, always.”

“Geez, I thought there was some lore behind this or something. Not gonna lie, I’m lowkey disappointed Harry.”

“Well, it is what it is.” She continued sipping her coffee as they headed back to their workspace.

Not today. She didn’t want to have any stupid interactions with Joshua today. Harry couldn’t handle Joshua’s annoying existence on the day she found out her longtime crush was a piece of shit. No, because one of the stories he posted just revealed that just like other “men” he turned out to be a misogynistic, homophobic, and ignorant idiot as well. She was filled with feelings like disappointment, disgust, anger, etc. One wrong step and she might blow up.

Thankfully she didn’t see him the whole day.

Until she did. He just had to be the one who parked his car a little too close to hers. Good thing he came at the right time though, because imagine waiting for the car owner to come and move their car for her to even go home on a day that was overwhelming enough. But that didn’t stop her from yelling her lungs at him. All the frustration and anger she had towards herself for liking such a person (not that she knew until that day) all came spilling onto Joshua’s face right out of her mouth. For some reason, Joshua didn’t feel like fighting back. Normally he would do anything to get back at her but for some reason he felt like he shouldn’t. He felt like if he fought back this time the so-called “hatred” that they had between them would turn into something real. That’s something that scared him like a little kid being scared that their best friend would stop playing with them.

After listening to her shout at him, he spoke. He shouldn’t have though, because he made her cry instead of winding her up more. If only he screamed back, she wouldn’t have felt guilty about the displacement of anger. If only he yelled back at her, she wouldn’t have felt so vulnerable. “Are you alright Harry?” Just that one sentence, coming from Joshua that too, broke her down. But she couldn’t afford to be vulnerable in front of Joshua of all people. She had to leave. That instant.

She pulled herself together and politely asked him to move his car immediately, wiping off her tears quickly. He did it without questioning her further. She took off without giving him an apology or an explanation, leaving Joshua as perplexed as he’d ever been.

The next day at work, she seemed just fine. Looking at her work like nothing ever went wrong yesterday, Joshua was glad to see her alright but also concerned and confused.

Is she acting like everything’s fine? Or is everything really fine? What was that yesterday? Was she mad at me? Was she just having a rough day? Should I ask her? Would that be weird? Maybe I could ask Soonyoung, I’m sure he will know. Maybe that would be crossing a boundary.

All that and a lot more thoughts occupied Joshua’s head for a couple of days. All he could do was look at her from a distance and worry. He tried his best not to interact with her at all because he didn’t want to annoy her until he was sure she was fine.

She found the distance between the two both peaceful yet empty. She liked how her blood pressure didn’t rise every other second but at the same time she also missed it a little. And that thought she trashed immediately. She convinced herself that it was only peace that she felt and no emptiness.

“Soonyoung…” Harry stared at a painting on the wall of the coffee room. He sensed that she was caught up in her thoughts and asked her what was up.

“So, is it normal to feel empty when a noisy neighbour finally moves out?”

“Did that karaoke machine guy move out? You miss him?”

She choked on her coffee. “No!! Seokmin didn’t move out.”

“Then who are you missing?”

“No one. I just saw that line somewhere online and wondered if that’s how people feel. That’s it. I don’t miss anyone. Why would you think it’s about me? I don’t have anyone that I could miss. Pfft.”

“Strong denial is strong agreement.” He laughed, but he also let it slide because he knew about the ex-crush and didn’t want to press in case it was about him. It’d been a week and she was finally back to normal. He wouldn’t want to mess that up for her.

Right then, Joshua walked in and grabbed a cup to get some coffee for himself. Yes, he was brave enough to be seen by her that day because it’d been a while since the incident and she seemed totally alright and back to form that morning in their meeting when they had their usual bickering.

He sat down across them to drink his coffee. He drank too soon and burnt his tongue. But not only was his tongue burnt but so was his stomach. He was jealous. He had the perfect view of Soonyoung wiping off some biscuit crumbs off the corner off Harry’s lips. Seeing them so close together made him lose his rationality. Joshua knew that Soonyoung was Harry’s best friend since before she joined work here so it was probably just normal for them to be close like that. But seeing them so close as if he was watching a drama didn’t do him any good.

He just threw a snarky comment and stormed off without even waiting for Harry’s comeback and squabble as he normally would. He just couldn’t stand being there anymore. He couldn’t see her like that with someone else.

Walking away, he calmed himself down and scolded himself for losing his cool like that and behaving totally out of character. He hoped that he didn’t make her hate him for real or anything.

That seemed to be a constant worry given their setup. If there would be a poster for a movie of their lives it would be a picture of Joshua and Harry standing face to face with swords against each other’s throats and killer gazes. That’s how a third person would describe their relationship. As much as Joshua hated it, he couldn’t stop it either because he didn’t know how else to communicate or interact with her. He would rather be her rival than be no one to her.

Pulling the short straw really was a bad thing because Harry was stuck with decoration work along with Joshua. The usual bickering at least made sure that the room wasn’t filled with awkward silence. They made a plan such that they wouldn’t get in each other’s way so that they could finish up their work soon and stay away from each other.

“Joshua.” Harry called out.

“Yes Potter?” Yeah, that was one lame, not-so-creative nickname he had for her that pissed her off a lot. Not that she hated Harry Potter, or that she wasn’t used to it, it was merely the fact that hearing it from Joshua ticked her off.

“Do you mind if I play some music? Out loud. I think I left my earphones at home.”

“Only if you have good taste.”

Harry played her favourite playlist without hesitation. As soon as the first song started playing Joshua was delighted. He was happy to know that there was something in common between them now and that he didn’t have to bicker with her every time he spotted her, he could now talk about Day6 too. As a few more songs played and all were from Day6, he was just sure that she was a fellow My Day as well, but he just had to hear it from her to be 100% sure.

“My Day?” Was all he said for her to turn towards him without looking the slightest bit mad at him. “You too?” She asked. All he did was nod shyly for her to feel connected to him somehow, not even questioning why he was being shy. They started talking about Day6 and their music and all that for hours as they finished their work together.

A few weeks went by, there was bickering of course but none of it felt hostile anymore, it felt more playful except for in their meetings. The meetings became less of a debate room and more of a meeting room where both Harry and Joshua were able to express their ideas without jumping at each other’s throats. Even when there was a difference of opinion, it was expressed very politely and non-sarcastically. Everyone was surprised to see so much change in how they treated each other recently and started speculating things.

“You do realise that there’s some talk about you and Joshua going around now that y’all ain’t strangling each other mentally every time your eyes meet.” Soonyoung said as he placed their coffee cups on the table and sat next to her.

“Well…” Before she could complete it, Joshua entered.

“Hi Harry, hi Soonyoung!” He said, walking towards the coffee machine.

“Join us.” Harry said, earning herself a funny look from Soonyoung that Joshua failed to notice. She just nudged him from under the table and Soonyoung got the warning. Joshua sat across them again with his coffee, hoping not to burn his stomach this time.

“You tell me Joshua.” Soonyoung repeated the same thing he just told Harry before he entered the room. To which Joshua explained that the change in vibe between them both was because they kind of bonded over being My Days. Soonyoung laughed. He didn’t expect that. He was expecting something more like one of them was blackmailing the other or they slept with each other or something stupid like that. But this totally made sense to him since he knew how she got along with the fandom so well.

“I should get back to work.” Harry said, sipping the last bit of her coffee. “Soonyoung and I are going out for some drinks tonight. You can join us if you’re free.”

“If Soonyoung is fine with it too, and if I’m not intruding, I would love to!”

“Hey man you’re most welcome as long as the both of you don’t go on about Day6 for hours and leave me out.” He joked.

Harry and Joshua at the same time assured him that that wouldn’t happen and confirmed that Joshua was joining them that evening.

These little hangouts didn’t stop with just one. There were many more, sometimes it was just the two of them also.

They started getting along really well and the bickering came to an end. They were nothing like rivals anymore. Anyone who didn’t know how they used to be would call them good friends. To their other colleagues it was still a mystery as to how they went from wanting to throw each other off the rooftop to getting each other coffee and smiling at each other. There was one person happy with this development.

Joshua.

He’d always wanted to be on good terms with her so that he could at least have a shot with her. He’d fallen head over heels for her the day he laid his eyes on her for the first time. A few days had gone by, Joshua trying to get Harry to notice him, but it didn’t work. She didn’t know about him till they officially met in the meeting room. Getting on her nerves during a meeting was not on his to-do list. He didn’t know how to tell her that he didn’t mean to oppose her idea so strongly. He just had a difference in opinion and enjoyed having a conversation with her so he didn’t stop, not realising that it wasn’t enjoyable for her on the other hand.

Starting off on the wrong foot, Joshua felt helpless. He didn’t want his crush to be mad at him every time she saw him, no. He wanted her to smile brightly and run to him and talk to him about the most trivial things. He wanted to be the one she went to for anything that happened throughout her days. But instead, he became someone she wanted to avoid so badly. He wanted her to miss his absence not celebrate it.

Harry : You’re not at work today? I haven’t seen you the whole day. I hope you’re doing well.

Joshua’s day was made. He never expected her to check up on him, especially when his absence usually meant celebration to her.

Joshua : I’m fine, I just had a personal commitment so I took the day off. Thanks for checking in Harry 😊 Harry : Ah, good to know you’re fine. See you tomorrow then. Joshua : See you tomorrow Harry 😊

It was the best day of his life so far. But that would change soon if Harry said yes to him soon.

There’s no way she’s going to say no for this. He took the day of to get 2 tickets to the upcoming Day6 concert in hopes that Harry would go out with him. How he was going to ask her out was something he hadn’t planned yet.

Should he casually let it slip that he has 2 concert tickets and ask her to tag along? Should he send her an email of the concert tickets and then explain it to her. Should he ask her out for coffee or something before he gave her the tickets? Would that be too much?

The excited man showed up at work the next day, looking a little too happy. As usual, Harry, Soonyoung, and Joshua met at the coffee room and Harry had the chance to ask him why he was so happy that day. She made it easier for him to ask her then.

“So, I took off yesterday, right? It was to get 2 tickets to the upcoming Day6 concert!” Joshua spoke as the other two listened intently. Soonyoung figured where this was heading and excused himself pretending to get a phone call. Joshua then continued.

“Would you like to go with me?”

Harry was blushing a little. She wanted it to be a date, but he didn’t mention that. As if he could read her mind, he spoke again. “As a date.”

The bright smile of hers that he always wanted her to show him finally grew on her face.

“I would love to.”

Joshua couldn’t help but mirror her smile. He got up and put away their coffee cups. “I’ll mail you the tickets then, we could maybe go on a date before the concert too, you know, shopping for outfits or anything you would like.”

“Let’s go shopping for outfits, yes, that would be fun!”

The two continued planning their dates and went back to work soon.

“Girl! I knew it! I knew he was going to ask you out. I did well by leaving y’all alone, right?” Soonyoung was giggling.

“Literally, how did you know?”

“It’s so obvious that he has a huge crush on you, you’re just too blind to see it I guess.”

“I’m not blind, but I guess he is into me maybe? Because why else would he ask me out? And I’m interested too I guess because him asking me out made me happy?” “Harry, shut up. You’ve been crushing on him for a while too now.”

“No. I haven’t been crushing on him. I just think he’s nice.” “Just like him, you’re really bad at hiding your crush too. Anyone who knew you guys personally would know that y’all are totally into each other.”

What Soonyoung said left Harry wondering. How long had she found Joshua attractive and how long had he liked her? How come she never noticed it? She was happy he asked her out though. She could let her curious mind rest till the date and get her doubts clarified then.

Joshua : I’ll be there at 5pm to pick you up, you can come down whenever you’re ready. Harry : Great! See you at 5pm then :3 Joshua : <3

Harry was kicking her feet in the air at the sight of the heart emoji that Joshua sent her. She was excited for the date. She knew that she was going to have a good time. She didn’t know why she felt comfortable and confident that things would go well, because normally she wouldn’t trust men that easily. Something was different when it came to Joshua though. She was just sure that he wouldn’t let the door slam at her face, that he wouldn’t blame her or get impatient if she was a little late, that he wouldn’t walk too fast, inconsiderate of her heels making her slower than usual, that he wouldn’t fail her like other men usually did on the dates she’d been on.

“Were you waiting for too long?”

“Not really, and even otherwise you needn’t think about that. I’d wait for as long as you need to get ready the way you want to. And Harry… You’re beautiful.”

She needed to scream but that would make her look insane. Or give away how much she liked him already. He had a way with her heart. He effortlessly said and did the right things. Anything and everything that would make her comfortable and be her confident self. He was being the perfect date she had yet to experience.

He made sure to stop by a café to get her some milk tea so that she doesn’t have to go shopping on an empty stomach. He helped her choose a few outfits and waited for her patiently as she tried them out. He complimented her in all her new outfits but even more in the one he liked the most. He let her help him choose his outfits as well. They had their own goofy time at the accessory shop as well. Wearing rings on all the fingers and wearing multiple necklaces at the same time, wearing funny hats together, and clicking pictures like that.

After shopping for hours, Joshua knew that the milk tea would no longer keep them going so he drove them to a restaurant for some dinner.

They talked about how fun the date had been so far while they waited for their food to get ready. And that was the time where Harry had to ask. “Joshua… when… since when were you interested in me?”

“Oh. Um. I wouldn’t call it just interest. I’ve liked you ever since you joined our office. I didn’t know how to approach you, and before I even attempted anything I ended up being an annoying existence to you. I didn’t like how you were always mad when you saw me, but I was glad I wasn’t a nobody to you, so I went along with whatever dynamic we had setup for us. Hoping that one day we would become lovers instead of rivals. You have no idea how relieved I felt when—”

“Your food is ready.” The waiter started keeping their food on their table.

That gave Joshua the gap to catch her reaction, which made his heart skip a beat. She was sitting across him, listening intently, a little smile drawn upon her face, her cheeks a little red from his confession, her hair falling on all the right places on her face and shoulders.

And once the waiter was gone, he continued to confess, trying hard to maintain eye contact.

“So, yeah, where was I? Yeah. You have no idea how relieved I felt when we discovered we both were MY Days because honestly, if not for that discovery, we would probably be pulling each other’s hair out in every meeting and glaring at each other all the time at work.”

“Joshua… wow. I don’t know what to say. That’s… that’s so cute. You’re cute. And… I think I might like you too? Even if I’m not sure about that yet, I’m definitely interested in finding out with you if you would like.”

“I’d love that for us Harry. You don’t have to rush; you can take your time to figure out how you feel about me. I like you, and I respect you and your feelings. Let’s go out on a few more dates. If you like me, you like me. If not, that’s totally fine. Well not totally but I’ll still respect your decision.”

“Thank you for liking me, Joshua.”

Joshua : Rest well Harry and maybe keep your feet in some warm water, we did walk around a lot today. Harry : you too Josh. I can call you that, right? Joshua : anything you like darling Joshua : [deleted a message] Joshua : anything you like~

“Tell me everything!!” Soonyoung chased you around at coffee breaks and lunch time to hear all about your date. Not just that day but every other date you had with Joshua, Soonyoung was interested. “Your love life is my new favourite manhwa!” He exclaimed. Harry as usual told Soonyoung everything about all their dates. Soonyoung approved of Joshua unlike every other guy she had ever dated before.

“You know, I think I’m finally happy with a guy. I’m glad that it’s Joshua who makes me happy.”

“I think you’re falling. Falling in love.” Soonyoung said with stars in his eyes.

“Well, weirdly I can’t even think of denying it. Maybe you’re right Soonyoung. Is this how love feels?”

“You should totally tell him on your next date or something.”

She was thinking about what Soonyoung said. She wasn’t a person who openly expresses her feelings through speech like that. She had an idea.

“The night sky looks so pretty, doesn’t it Harry?”

Joshua and Harry were walking back to his car after the concert.

“It looks like the best night sky I’ve ever seen.”

“Is it because of the concert or because you’re with me?” Joshua playfully looked at you expecting an answer.

“I’d say both.” She let go of his hand. He watched her curiously. She fished out what looked like a pretty envelope from her bag.

“Joshua, get in the car.” She handed him the letter once he got in. “I’ll stay out here, I want you to let me know once you’ve finished reading it, alright?” He just nodded and started reading through the letter once she closed the door.

Now he was the one who couldn’t express himself through words. He couldn’t believe his eyes. His longtime crush who was his rival for so long, became friends with him, agreed to go out with him, and is now in love with him???? How was he supposed to react to this? The woman he loved, loved him back. That miracle happened to them. He was way too happy to contain himself, he threw the door open and hugged her tight.

He asked her softly, “Can I kiss you?”

She pulled away from the hug and leaned in close enough for their lips to almost be touching. “You can Josh.”

That’s all she had to say to experience the best kiss on the best day of her life.

She got to see a Day6 concert with the man she loved. She got to confess her feelings for him on that magical night. He returned her feelings. The man she loved, loved her back. She then had her first kiss with him. He drove her back home; she invited him up. They spent the night peacefully sleeping in each other’s arms.

[linosbundles]

in the heat || mingyu x oc

Pairing : mingyu x oc (sukee) {can also be read as a y/n fic}

Genres : fluff, angst, slight suggestiveness

Word count : 4.4k {4435 words}

warnings : mentions of food, slowburn, slight suggestiveness, but no smut, gyu is irresistible and you could get extremely delulu so read at your own risk !!

Summary : you're waiting for vernon to bring takeout from your favourite restaurant because it was cheat day, but instead he returned with your favourite cook : mingyu every time you tried to even prepare yourself to talk to him, you got lost in your train of thoughts that were always about how beautiful he was and how sweet he was (according to what you heard from bonon) you would just imagine how great you guys would be together and by the time you actually think of approaching him, he's already gone back. well not this time, because he won't be going back, at least not for a few nights.

“Have you showered yet?” Vernon asked, as Sukee could hear his breath along with his voice. She replied, “why are you breathing so heavily, and yes, I just showered, why?” Still breathing heavily, he said, “well, I’m climbing stairs, just passed the 5th floor, 6 more to go. And you might want to put on some clothes, more than just your bath robe, you know?” he whispered the last sentence. She wondered why for a second and then realised what was going on. She cut the call immediately and rushed to get ready. They had 6 floors to go, which meant she had approximately 6-7 minutes to get ready. Why they were climbing the stairs instead of taking the elevator was something she couldn’t give her mind to right now, she had to be ready in 5 minutes, not just ready, she wanted to be at her best.

She ran to get the door when Vernon rang the bell, leaving her just as breathless as were they. “Hi?” Sukee said to the both of them. Vernon just walked past his sister muttering the same word again and again, which sounded like ‘shorter’ but with context she could figure out he meant water so she went to get him some water right after Mingyu greeted her with a wide smile and a small wave.

After the guys caught their breath and had a glass of water each, she finally asked, “Now why would you climb 11 flights of stairs instead of just taking the elevator?” To which Vernon tried to hold his laughter, while Mingyu glared at him, which only made him burst into laughter. Since he couldn’t stop laughing, Sukee just looked at Mingyu hoping he would answer, thankfully he did understand her non-verbal cue and spoke. “He is so wily. I can’t believe I fell into another one of his traps. He made me believe that people normally can’t climb stairs after the 10th flight and that’s why there’s no stairs further than that. And I argued that that’s not true, and they probably have a different reason for not having stairs above 10th floor. Since I always used the elevator, I even believed the first half of what he said, but he kept trying to convince me which made me want to prove him wrong, and that is why…” he pointed at Vernon who was only laughing harder listening to his best friend narrate. “And only after reaching the 10th floor and seeing the staircase that led to the next floor did I realise that I was actually tricked.”

She couldn’t help but laugh too but as soon as she realised that Vernon hadn’t brought anything from her favourite restaurant as he promised, you were puzzled.  “Hey, how come you didn’t bring me any food when that was why you went out in the first place?”

Vernon put his arm around Mingyu’s shoulder and said, “I thought I could bring home your favourite chef instead of just your favourite food.” Mingyu tilted his head, “I am her favourite chef?” Vernon just nodded because his sister was looking at him with eyes that said, “if you dare speak more, I’ll rip your intestines and feed them to some animals.” Mingyu, unaware of that, just blushed at the thought of being her favourite, even if it was just as a chef.

Vernon who noticed that, smirked while she was still giving him that glare. Mingyu, on the other hand, was too busy admiring the way Sukee’s hair fell behind her shoulders, all the way till her waist, the way half of her collarbones peeped out of her boat neck top, the tiny studs that she wore on her ears, and also looked at the new addition to her accessory collection; her new nosepin. Oh, what that did to him, she could never imagine. He quickly snapped out of his thoughts as he heard her sweet voice slide into his ears like music.

“Okay, so what are we doing for lunch though?” she ask, with her hands on her tummy.

The way she pouted with her hands on her tummy as she asked drew a smile on his face. “I’m cooking for us, today and till the end of next week.”

“That’s what I was about to tell you, before you started threatening me with your eyes. He’s going to be staying with us for a couple of weeks because he’s moving but is homeless right now. His house doesn’t get ready till the end of next week.”

That was hard for her to digest. To live under the same roof as her crush, the Mingyu, that was one task she would say. First of all, she would have to talk to him, second of all, she would have to do that without letting him in on her huge crush, third of all, she would have to stop herself from throwing herself at him. Now wasn’t that tough?

“Alright, is he sharing your room or are we clearing the study?” she asked, trying to keep her composure.

“I’m fine even with sleeping on the couch, you guys needn’t change anything for me, I’m only here for a couple of weeks.” Mingyu said in the sweetest voice with his cute puppy eyes that his best friend’s sister found so irresistible.

Vernon side eyed Mingyu, “You’re staying here for a couple of weeks, and as the good hosts we are, we’re going to make you the most comfortable we can, so stop trying to adjust and just make yourself feel home. Who knows, you might want to get used to living with other people already.”

There was a hint of panic on Mingyu’s face, but he didn’t say anything and just shrugged.

“Help me clear the study while I go help Gyu bring his stuff, will you Sukee?” Vernon asked. If it was someone else, his sister would’ve been annoyed, but she wasn’t, because things were always different when it came to “her Gyu”.

It had been a couple of days but she had yet to have spoken more than a few basic words to him. It was mostly just, “Pass me the water” or “excuse me” or “where’s this/that” or “oh it’s here.”

That was improvement too for her, but she had to try to talk to him for things to not be too awkward between them for as long as he was there. And since Vernon couldn’t stand by and watch his sister and his best friend waste their opportunity, he called for a movie marathon. Of course, Vernon was in charge of preparing the movie list. Mingyu was in charge of the snacks and Sukee was in charge of the drinks. And once again, he stepped his game up by sending them both shopping together.

The car ride was silent, but what was new? Well, Sukee caught him stealing glances at her through the rear view mirror a couple of times, which flustered her but also made her wonder why, so she decided to ask. “Do you have something to tell or ask me?”

“Why do you sound so formal, are you here for an interrogation or something???” She beat herself up in her mind.

Mingyu cleared his throat. “Beautiful.” He said that in such a small voice that she couldn’t even tell if he had spoken or not, if not for catching his lip movement. “Pardon?” She asked hoping he would be audible this time.

He fixed his eyes onto the road and said, “You’re beautiful is what I said.” Refusing to look at her, he couldn’t believe what he had just said. The first ever proper sentence he said to his crush was that. What would she think of him? Some fuckboy flirting around just to sleep with her? He wasn’t thinking that way baselessly, it was true that many mistook him for such a person when he just genuinely complimented people when he felt like they deserved it.

“Thank you. You are beautiful too.” She barely managed to pull words out of her mouth as she was already imagining her future with him.

“Get a hold of the reality Sukee, that was one compliment, that’s all. Don’t get all delulu!!”

Once they both were done shopping, Mingyu carried the heavy bags leaving “his pretty girl” to only carry the bag that had his tissues, glasses and his shaving kit. Vernon let them in as soon as he heard his little sister knock with her elbow, well aware that they couldn’t possibly be able to fetch their keys and get the door themselves while carrying all the shopping bags.

Each of them got working to set up the screen, food and beverages. After they all finally settled down, Vernon started playing the first movie. They all watch so intently, as if they were all one of those characters and that was her life story.

By the first quarter of the second movie, Vernon got up saying his boyfriend had an emergency. Everyone knew Seungkwan was just dramatic like that and his emergencies could easily just be “lack of cuddles” or “how could I possible not fall asleep in my boyfriend’s arms” but Vernon still ran to him at each call, which was kind of cute. And well, there was no harm in that, he lived only a couple of apartments away.

“I have to go to Kwannie right now, but you guys are going to stay up and finish the rest of the movies too!” He signalled them that he had his eyes on them and rushed to the door after grabbing his jacket.

Sukee looked at Mingyu. He held her gaze and she stayed like that for a minute or so, oblivious to the movie playing in the background. But a loud noise from the movie brought back her attention to it, or at least their gazes. Because they were definitely looking at the movie on the screen, but neither of them was thinking about that for a few minutes. Then slowly they were paying attention to the movie again.

Around the middle of the third movie, almost all the snacks were gone except for a bowl of nachos and 3 cans of soda. Both of them had to scoot closer to reach the bowl. The moment her shoulder came in contact with his arm, she was intoxicated, and so was he. But both of them tried their best not to show it.

The close proximity didn’t allow either of them to focus on the movie. She was too tired to even keep her eyes open, they were just forced to stay open because of the person beside her. She was no longer shy and filled with thoughts about her future with him, she was completely in the present, just thinking about him sitting next to her. That was good, that made her feel like that was probably the moment where she had to start talking to him.

She paused the movie and turned to sit facing him. He shifted to a position mirroring her and looked at her as if he was expecting her to do something.

“So where are you moving to?” Sukee asked, her voice giving her sleepiness away.

“You will be surprised if you know that actually. I’m moving in to this place, the empty apartment right across this one.” He said pointing down, indicating her apartment.

“Oh, we’re going to be neighbours? Might as well break the ice and get to know you better then!”

He couldn’t stop smiling because this was the most that she had ever spoken to him and she had never seemed so excited. Maybe it was the night, maybe it was the tired, maybe it was the sugar, Mingyu had no idea which one of those it was but she looked prettier than ever, he could see stars in her eyes. But he soon realised that he had to reply.

“Yes, that would be great. Where shall we start?” He asked, trying to sound as confident as possible in hopes of hiding his nervousness. Right then, a few strands of her hair fell over her face. Mingyu couldn’t bear the hair covering her visuals, so he reached out to fix her hair. His heart wasn’t helping him, already, but his best friend’s little sister just had to make it worse. She just had to hold his hand. She kept his hand in hers as she asked her first question.

“Let’s skip the obvious, because we do know each other through Vernon. Let’s talk about things he wouldn’t have shared with us, personal stuff.” She shifted a little to adjust her legs but she still didn’t let go of his hand. After a while actually, Sukee even held his other hand too.

Dwelling deep into both of their pasts and getting to know each other well, her crush only became bigger and bigger. He was no good either, he kept falling deeper and deeper for her the more she revealed about herself. The way they both understood each other was new to them. It was as if no one else could ever understand them the way they understood each other.

Vernon was welcomed home by the picture of her and Mingyu all cuddled up on the couch, sleeping against each other. He smiled and tiptoed to not wake them up.

“Darling, you left your phone back at my place!!” Seungkwan entered, screaming at the top of his lungs, waking vernon’s sister and his best friend up. Both of them were so confused to find themselves in such close proximity, not to mention that their bodies were stuck to each other like they had been glued together. Vernon was looking at Seungkwan with an upset face. “Did I do something wrong hun?” He asked, to which Vernon replied, “I wanted to click a picture of them like that.” Seungkwan stood there with an “oops” written all over his face. Both of them break the connection and immediately headed to each other’s rooms and got refreshed for the day.

A few days passed by, both of them slowly became friends. Vernon joked about them being cute together all the time, just to see both of them act all flustered and speechless. But they had really bonded and she didn’t want him to leave even if it was just right across the hall.

She was making breakfast for herself, that was a rare sight. But it was Saturday and she had a lot of time for herself. She liked to keep it simple so she just went for omelette, toast and some smoothie. While she was switching on the frying pan for the omelette, she felt someone creep their hands around her waist. She almost dropped the bowl of beaten egg but she froze when she felt a chin rest on her shoulder.

“Let’s stay like this for a moment.” Sukee heard Gyu’s raspy morning voice. She had no idea what was going on and why. She was going insane while he was there resting his head on your shoulder and back-hugging her calmly. “Is he drunk?” was all she could think of. She turned off the pan and waited for him to pull himself away from her so that she could cook with full focus.

In about 5 minutes, he detached himself and just walked back to his room as if nothing had happened. Whenever she tried to bring that incident up, he would either change the topic or act as if he didn’t know what she was talking about. He denied the happening so much that she almost started believing that she was just so delusional that she had started hallucinating. Once she was completely convinced that it had never happened, she started acting normal with him again, till he…

The four of them were drinking, talking, playing games, etc. Seungkwan kept signalling Vernon to follow him out once he left. It was so obvious that even Sukee and Mingyu caught on but Vernon didn’t notice. Seungkwan just got up, “For god’s sake!” he exclaimed and left, leaving Vernon extremely confused.

“Go after him.” Both of them said in unison. Vernon smirked at the sight of the two of them momentarily and ran to catch up with his boyfriend.

“I bet they’re making out, that’s why Kwan called Vernon out. Ah, how I wish I could do that too. Well, of course not with Vernon, but you know what I mean, right? I don’t even have to explain myself-” Sukee stopped rambling when she noticed that Mingyu stared at her intently with a wide smile plastered to his face. “Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked.

“You wish you could do what? Make out with someone?” He asked with a smirk. It was probably the alcohol running in his blood that made him feel so confident. Without even waiting for her response, he said, “I could make that wish come true.”

He pulled her chair closer to his, such that he had one of his hands on the side of her chair and the other on air right above her thigh, looking at her face for approval. She nodded and he rested his hand on her thigh. He started leaning into her face. The closer he got, the louder she heard his breath, the hotter she felt, the sweatier her palms became, the harder it became to keep her eyes on his. Once again, he stopped, right in front of her face, his lips almost touching hers. Dangerous. Very dangerous. She wanted to lean in and kiss him. That was what she wanted to do the most. But she didn’t. Instead, she pulled away and excused herself to bed.  

Mingyu stared at her door as she slammed it shut. He kept staring for a while before he went to bed too.

She left early in the morning next day and stayed a couple of nights at Seungkwan’s. She asked Seungkwan not to ask her anything but well, he was him. “So, when are you going to tell me what happened? You seem very off, I’m pretty sure you’re crashing at mine only because something has happened and not because this is one of our extended sleepovers.”

She sighed heavily. Where would she start? With the almost kiss? With the hallucination? With her crush moving in and also becoming her soon-to-be-neighbour? With her huge crush on him ever since she met him?

She decided to spill anyway, thinking that even if Seungkwan couldn’t probably help her with it, he could at least give her an ear.

Seungkwan only promoted communication as if he was endorsed.

But was the man wrong? Nope. She couldn’t just run away like that. Either she had to go back and pretend nothing happened or if he wanted to talk about it, she had to tell him the truth. But she needed some time before she could face him, so she decided to stay at Seungkwan’s for another night.

There was a huge power cut, and this was the peak of summer. She couldn’t possibly wear the clothes that she brought along and feel comfortable, so she went up to get her clothes. And who knows? Maybe she will find some courage to just stay there.

She went in and got changed into a spaghetti strap crop top with a pair of shorts. She wished she could walk around shirtless, that was how hot it was. She ran into Mingyu as she came out of her room, he was standing there wearing a black tank top, his hair, that he was growing out was pushed to the sides of his face.

“We need to talk” he said. His eyes weren’t laid on hers, instead they were looking for a place to look at other than her chest, she didn’t notice at first because she was doing the same. “Sure.” She said and followed him to the couch.

“Could you get me some water?” His best friend’s little sister asked him in order to buy some time for preparing herself to talk. Mingyu came back with water and sat next to her, quite close, she was taken aback. Sukee drank the water. “Thank you, so what is it that you want to talk about?”

“First of all, please come back, I feel so bad that you’re staying away from your own home just because of me.” He said with those puppy eyes that made her so weak. But she was determined to stay strong. “Who said it’s because of you? You’re delusional.”

He knew he deserved that so he didn’t counter that, instead he continued. “Second of all, I’m sorry I acted as if nothing happened the day I back-hugged you. I panicked. I thought you would be disgusted. I thought you would hate me for doing that, without even asking you too. I just, I just really want you to not hate me.” She just listened carefully, seeing her nod, he continued with the confirmation that she was listening.

“Third of all, this one’s a question, why did you run away that night? If you had just said no, I would’ve known you weren’t interested. But because you ran away without saying anything, my mind wouldn’t rest, I have constantly been thinking about that night. You let me come so close to you, but didn’t let me kiss you. It’s okay if you didn’t want to, I would understand that. But it clearly looked like you wanted to but then you thought of something and backed out. Why, Sukee?”

He called your name, looking like a lost puppy but also his body covered with sweat and a sexy black top and a pair of shorts that rode up to his mid thighs. He was talking seriously, she had to focus.

“Stay strong Sukee!! Serious talk!!!” She thought to herself.

“Well…” she took a moment to gather her thoughts.

“So, I am back. I just have to bring a few more things back here. It was because of you. The day you back-hugged me and then pretended it never happened made me think that you were just toying with my feelings or that you just tried something and your really hated it so you just ran away from the truth. And then, to answer your question, I didn’t kiss you because pretending that the back hug never happened was painful enough, I couldn’t even imagine how much it would hurt to kiss someone I like and then pretend it never happened just because you didn’t like it. That’s why I didn’t kiss you and instead of talking to you I chose to run away from the truth once too. Let’s call it even.”

Mingyu patted her head and pulled her into a hug. He nuzzled his head into her neck and whispered into her ears, “Dumbo! I like you, that’s why I back-hugged you and tried to kiss you and everything. But I panicked. I thought you might think I was taking advantage of you; I didn’t even consider the possibility of you liking me back because I am Vernon’s best friend, he’s your brother and I thought you would only see me as another brother. I’m sorry I hurt you like that, will you give me a chance to show you how much I like you and that I will try my best not to hurt you and even if I did, I’ll fix it in the best way ever.”

“Are we doing speeches?” she asked as she chuckled. “I’m still shocked that you like me back. Apology accepted, I’m sorry too for hurting you by running away instead of talking to you about the kiss we almost had.” She pulled away from the hug and look into his eyes.

“Apology accepted. Now why don’t we remove that almost?” He said as he leaned in. She could feel her noses touch and his breath falling on hers. Slowly she leaned in too and kissed him. He kissed her back slowly for a while, and then it changed. It became anything but slow, it became thirsty, hungry, driven. He was almost eating her mouth. He parted his lips from hers for her to catch her breath as he trailed kisses along her cheeks to her jawline, to her neck.

Leaving a couple of hickeys on her neck, he moved down to her collarbones and then looked up at her as if he were asking for something.

“What is it?” she asked as she also kissed his neck. “T-take off. Can I take o-off your top?” He tried to talk while catching his breath as she kept kissing his neck.

She nodded into the kiss. He took her top off and stopped she from kissing his neck. He was admiring her body, the way she was carefully sculpted by the angels. Forget it, she was an angel herself to him. The staring made all the blood in her rush to her cheeks. “Can you stop staring?” she asked.

He raised an eyebrow and said, “How could I possibly not look at the beauty in front of me?” He placed tiny kisses on her chest and below.

“You do know that I like you, right Sukee?” He asked. She cupped his face and made him meet her eyes. “I like you, you like me. Now since our facts have been established can we continue what we were doing?” She asked, her eyes filled with desire. He just continued without a word.

“I can’t believe you have to move already.” She pouted. He patted her head and said, “I’m right across the hall, princess. But if it’s that unbearable you can move in with me anytime you want.”

“You’re so sweet for saying that even if it was just empty words.” She kissed his forehead.

He kissed her forehead back and said, “I meant every single word I said, you can come over any time you want, you can even move in with me if you wish.”

Vernon emerges out of nowhere, “I’m going to start another part time job if I have to pay the rent all by myself. I’ll go look for new jobs then, you lovebirds keep it up then.”

He went to Seungkwan’s.

“I told you this plan would work, didn’t I?” Seungkwan said with such a proud look on his face.

Vernon couldn’t help but smile and kiss Kwan all over his face. “Thank you love, for helping me get those two lovesick birds to become lovebirds.”

[linosbundles]

7pm || hoshi

Genres : fluff

Word count : 1.2k {1215 words}

warnings : established relationship, mentions of food

a/n : i seriously suck at this whole warnings thing. if i have to add any or if something is unnecessary please let me know 😭 i wrote this because i was inspired by the song and my recent walk to the beach but seriously. isn't 7pm just such a wonderful song 🥺🥺💗💖

Summary : just another date with your longtime boyfriend

written in reader's pov

it’s wednesday. my favourite day of the week. oh, I’m not crazy… yet. I know that it’s a day that most of the working population hates, well other than monday. but wednesday…

we chose this day for a reason, of course. the very same reason that everyone dislikes the day for. since it’s right in the middle of the week, unable to have hope for the weekend but also unable to loosen up because the week just started.

to not hate the day like the rest, and to have some motivation, every wednesday is our recharge day.

wednesday 7pm is the one moment I wait for every week. I get to see my tiger baby. well, I was forced into calling him tiger baby and then it kinda grew on me, but no, I will not admit that in front of him… getting back to the point, it’s 5:50pm right now, I’m stuck at my desk for 10 more minutes for me to clock out. all I have to do is check some data and mail it to seungkwan and I’m done.

y/n : baby y/n : babe y/n : babbbbbbeeeeeeeeeeeee y/n : babyeyeeyeyye y/n : baaaaaaaaabeyeyey tiger baby <3 : I’m assuming ur not drunk yet and ur juz missing me y/n : bingo y/n : can’t wait to see u later tiger baby <3 : same babe tiger baby <3 : i’ll pick u up at 7 y/n : luv u tiger baby <3 : luv u too tiger baby <3 : now finish up soon and leave tiger baby <3 : need to see u at 7 sharp y/n : can’t even waste a moment without me eh? tiger baby <3 : bingo y/n : not u using my “bingo” when u say it’s weird all the time tiger baby <3 : sometimes I like to flatter u y/n : right tiger baby <3 : see u soon y/n : see u luv

okay. I’ve got this.

using 7pm as my motivation yet again, I checked the data pretty quickly and mailed it too. but the thing is, I’ve mailed it to seungkwan. and he’s definitely going to be here in 3, 2, 1—“missed me already?”

rolling my eyes in the most noticeable way, i replied coldly.

“it’s a work mail, seungkwan. get over it.”

“oh come on, we all know you love me.” he said with playfully shiny eyes and smug all over his face.

as much as he was cute, he was annoying too and he was fixated that I was in love with him, despite the fact that I made it very clear that I had a boyfriend, multiple times at that.

“in your dreams.”

“at least there then.” he winked and left.

not having enough time for seungkwan’s drama, I packed up quickly and headed home, right as it ticked 6.

getting all excited for the date, I couldn’t erase the smile off my face. seems like the obvious little smile was too obvious to go unnoticed, I could feel people staring. but who cares, I have a cute boyfriend to see at 7pm.

it’s been over 2 years since we started this tradition, a bit more than 2 years since we started dating, not to mention the painful 1 year of secretly pining over each other in the name of being friends. yet I’m always excited when it’s date day.

oh no, we don’t have any special story behind how we met though, isn’t it important how special our love is instead?

we just met at vernon’s party 4 years ago. yes, nothing special. we just randomly danced together and seemed to find each other interesting and became friends.

man, little did I know that night, that he would be the love of my life.

alright, let’s put the thoughts away for a while.

tiger baby <3 : it’s 6:59 and I’m at your doorstep tiger baby <3 : open the door exactly in tiger baby <3 : 6 tiger baby <3 : 5 tiger baby <3 : 4 tiger baby <3 : 3 y/n : hi love tiger baby <3 : 2 y/n : oh tiger baby <3 : I see you luv y/n : I see you too luv

standing there, my boyfriend, my love, kwon soonyoung, handed me flowers. now that’s a surprise. he rarely buys me flowers. but these are so pretty! I love it!!

“right on time love.” he smiled brightly.

I received the flowers and returned his bright smile. “baby, thank you, I love them.”

knowing what more he needed than those words, I pulled him into a hug and gave him a small kiss on his ear.

we left for our date.

it’s usually not very grand. we just walk along the long road that leads to the beach since my house is pretty close to it.

strolling through, we also have a lot of snacks while we’re headed towards the beach and light dinner on our way back.

there’s nothing much to it but doing this, even if it’s repeated and could be boring if done alone or with someone else, since it’s with him, it feels like a new experience every time. even if it’s once every month, and it’s like the 19th time we’re doing this together, still feels new.

“so, how was your day?” he asked.

I started ranting about my whole day and then it was my turn to listen to him rant. and once we were done with that, we had some light talks about random topics or about our friends or our future while eating those snacks.

but once we reach the beach, we switch our silent modes on.

literally, on our phones yes, but also our mouths. we don’t talk there for half an hour, it’s just us, laying down on the sand, listening to our beach playlist and the waves, and looking at the sky.

we’ve done this so many times but I don’t think I’ve asked him what he thinks about during that half an hour. I spend the whole 30 minutes thinking about how pretty he is and how much I love him and how grateful I am to have this wonderful person in my life, as the love of my life.

by the end of the 30 minutes, we both get sleepy so we leave for dinner.

then we go on a long walk to ease the digestion.

once back at home, we get ready to sleep.

we can’t afford to stay up late when we’re both working adults. having an evening off every week is fairytale-like enough for our economy.

snuggling into the sheets he wrapped his arms around me, “good night love.” he whispered in my ear and hugged me tighter.

“it would be a goodnight if I could breathe babe.” I joked, making him loosen his grip a bit.

it wasn’t even a few minutes after that I already find him asleep.

the way his eyes were closed and his hair had fallen towards his sides as he laid down next to me, the way his breath was also a nice sound for me, oh how hopelessly in love I was with him. I smiled and whispered into his ears,

“good night tiger baby.”

[linosbundles]

magic shop || dk x woozi

Pairing : dokyeom x woozi {seokmin x jihoon}

Genres : angst , fluff

Word count : 2k {2001 words}

warnings : long distance relationship ; reserved boyfriend ; homophobic society ; dry humour

a/n : my first seventeen fic 😭🙈 i'm so excited to write this ;-; listening to magic shop made me feel so comforted and also this song inspired me to write something, so here we are!!

Summary : Seokmin has a very thoughtful surprise for his boyfriend who has returned back home after 4 years and has a hard time opening up about anything which worries Seokmin a lot over the years.

Walking back and forth on the carpeted floor, Soonyoung couldn’t contain his excitement anymore. Even though he didn’t know many details of what was going to happen there, he knew one thing for sure. His best friend, Seokmin, was going to meet his boyfriend, Jihoon, after ages. Jeonghan and he helped Seokmin clear up and adjust the store for the day so that the couple could use it personally. Jeonghan even made a playlist of the songs Seokmin asked him to put together.

Of course, the tiger was excited for his best friend! Although he wasn’t able to be by Seokmin’s side much because of his work with the dance studio and studies, he still cares and knows what his friend has been through, those rough times when his friend felt lonely or worried for his boyfriend. Being someone who has been there from the start, Soonyoung felt like an avid watcher of a melodrama.

4 years ago

They dated well for a few months and then Jihoon got accepted into the university where the music course he had been dying to study was allotted for him, he wanted to go there ever since he started making music. Seokmin got accepted into a local university which he wanted to and he studied English. He even secured a part-time job that paid well, he wrote a couple of books that became unexpectedly pretty popular. Jihoon studied and made music. The long-distance was killing both of them but they managed to stay together.

After 4 years of being separated, Jihoon finally got a proper month-long leave and he was coming back to Seokmin. Seokmin had been doing something for Jihoon, he wanted to surprise him so he wrapped up quickly and started the business.

Because of the concept of the store, it was pretty popular among students and people with 9-5 jobs.

Today, the day his boyfriend returns, he closed the store. Just like those whole restaurant reservations that rich main leads do in K-dramas, he wanted the store for himself and his love only. He wanted to show Jihoon what he had done for his boyfriend while he was away, he wanted to tell him how he got this whole business idea because of him, he wanted to tell him everything.

Fixing his hair, Seokmin paced through the dense crowd as soon as he entered the airport to the watch shop Jihoon mentioned he would wait next to. The moment the shop lined with his vision, he paused. He stopped there, scanning the entire place to find his boyfriend. Looking at the tiny figure of his boyfriend who was checking out watches. Not moving a finger of his, remaining at the place where he stood, he admired Jihoon for a couple of minutes. His mind was blank, thinking about nothing but how cute Jihoon looked in his grey hoodie and faded black jeans, the way he opened his eyes wider when he saw each watch, the way he bopped his head to the music playing in his ear pods, just everything about him.

He could swear his mind was about to burst because of the bazillions of thoughts he had when he was on his way and till just before he spotted his partner at the watch shop. It was all kicked out of his head by the cuteness of his favourite cat.

He then snapped out of it and walked towards the shop. Jihoon spotted his love approaching him and he exited the shop. The moment Seokmin realised that Jihoon had noticed him, he ran towards his boyfriend and hugged him. The smile he couldn’t hide was perhaps contagious, for Jihoon had started smiling too and hugged the younger one back.

“Straight home or do you want to stop by somewhere?” Seokmin asked Jihoon still having him in his embrace.

Jihoon replied, “Home. I want to cuddle with you and sleep for a while.”

“Your wish is my command.” Seokmin said as he broke the hug and saluted. Jihoon laughed and handed some of his luggage to Seokmin.  

Walking through the bustling streets, Jihoon told Seokmin all about how this elderly woman next to him on the plane kept talking about her granddaughter’s wedding which she was going to attend in a couple of days. She had gone away for a surgery, she accepted to get the medical process done only because it meant she could happily enjoy her granddaughter’s wedding with her, even though there was a risk of losing her life and not even being able to be a part of the family’s celebrations. He told the sharp-nosed dude how this heart-warming story inspired him to write a warm song.

Just before they turned right, Seokmin grabbed his boyfriend’s arm and stopped him. “I’m going to blindfold you.” He said as Jihoon smirked, “Right here?” To which the younger one blushed and said, “No. I just have a surprise for you. Now let me tie the blindfold.”

They walked a few more steps and when they were right in front of Seokmin’s store, he instructed Jihoon to remove his blindfold and so he did.

HOONIE’S MAGIC SHOP

Looking at the banner on top, Jihoon was super confused. He was at a loss for words.

He had so many thoughts at that moment. ‘Am I dreaming? Is this for real? Is that Hoonie as in Jihoon? Is this Minnie’s shop? What is going on here? Am I still asleep?’

Seokmin, his right hand on the nape of his neck and his left hand slightly pushing his love towards the entrance of the store, instructed him to go inside.

Jihoon was once again speechless.

The store looked exactly like what he had mentioned to Seokmin while sleep talking. The place looked exactly how he described his wannabe-hideout. He couldn’t believe that Seokmin still remembered that and did all this for him.

A big hall with the perfect temperature and scented candles every other corner, a small fireplace, a couple of beanbags around, soothing lofi music playing in the background, a counter where you could borrow headphones, a row of cubicles inside which you can request to be customized according to your comfort. The lights not too bright, not too dim. The music not too loud, not too quiet, the scent not too strong not too weak, everything just perfect to calm people down. There was even one cubicle which was soundproof for people to bring in their pets if they wished to. A beverage stall too, for anyone who wanted hot tea or hot cocoa or any other drink for that matter. All you had to do was get an appointment beforehand. It wasn’t even that expensive considering the effect that place has on you.

Jihoon was overwhelmed. He just sat down on one of the beanbags and pulled Seokmin on top of him. Seokmin was flustered. Jihoon smiled and pecked Seokmin’s nose. He said, “I can’t believe you did all this.” To which Seokmin replied, “Anything for you love.” He eskimo kissed his boyfriend and got off him.

“I wanted to stay like that for a bit more.” Jihoon pouted.

Seokmin walked towards the headphones counter to plug his phone in and he played some of Jihoon’s songs from the playlist that he requested Jeonghan to make for him and brought back a gift-wrapped box that was about the size of an average pencil case.

Seokmin tossed the gift to Jihoon and pulled the other beanbag closer and sat next to him. Jihoon opened the navy-blue gift wrapper and found a box with a pendant, he noticed that it was the exact same design that Seokmin was wearing. He handed it to his boyfriend to let him put it on him and that wasn’t the only gift. There was a letter.

Hoonie!! I miss you so much. I can’t wait to see you again. You have been such a great boyfriend the past few years. Though you were extremely busy, you always made time for me. I am really grateful to have you in my life. The fact that we are apart breaks my heart but one smile from you during our video chats makes my day and I forget all pain. You have been nothing but nice to me when I may be lacking. You are the best thing that ever happened to me and so I want to be my best self for you. Because of our damned society and how people are so narrow minded, we haven’t been able to come out except to our best friends. It does feel frustrating at times, yes. But what matters most is how safe and comfortable you feel so it’s alright. I know you’re sorry about that but I’m telling you that you don’t have to be. Let the idiots think whatever they want to, we can come out about us only when you feel like it, alright baby? You have always made me feel loved, you never abandoned me during my tougher times, you were always there for me. You on the other hand are kind of reserved and you don’t open up much, it does upset me a bit but then I understand that you’re doing your best by telling me whatever you can. I want to be your safe place where you can rest without any disturbances. I want to be that person who makes you feel better, I want to be that person with whom you feel safe, I want to be that person with whom you have nothing to hide, I want to be that person in front of whom you don’t mind being vulnerable. In your stressful world, where you are always busy, I want to be your escape, your stress relief zone, I want to be your comfort person, I want to be anything that soothes you and makes you be yourself. I want to give you all of my love just like you give me your all. Forgive me for any mistakes that I might have made. When you come back for good, can we live together and have those mundane lives where we’re just lovey dovey and there’s no stress? Are you willing? Because… I do. I do is all you have to say. - love, your Minnie <3

The older one was in tears, he put away the letter so that it doesn’t get stained. He rolled over and fell on Seokmin and they rolled over again to hit the floor. Seokmin embraced Jihoon. Jihoon couldn’t stop crying which made his boyfriend cry too.

They cried for a fair amount of time and then Jihoon spoke. “You are the best.” That’s all he could say, with the heavy breathing because of all the crying. Seokmin’s grip tightened and Jihoon buried his face into the younger’s firm chest.

“About the letter…” he spoke again after catching his breath after wiping his tears. “I would love to live with you, in fact I have been thinking about it for quite a while now. And who told you that you have to become any of those only hereafter? You already are, love. You already are my safe place, comfort person and someone in front of whom I can be vulnerable. You haven’t made any mistakes for me to forgive you.” He paused for a couple of seconds to peck Seokmin’s cheek and then continued. “You are my everything, thank you for understanding that it’s hard for me to open up. I know you get frustrated at times because of that but you still understand and for that I really really… I love you.”

Seokmin’s eyes widened. He heard the L word from his boyfriend for the first time. He was ecstatic. He lowered himself to get his face aligned in order with Jihoon’s and kissed him. The older one kissed him back just as passionately as the younger one had.

Once they pulled away to breathe, Seokmin said, “I love you too babe.”