#met with my internship people today and it was basically nonstop from there

[miodiodavinci]

woughh,,,,, busy,,,,,,,,,

[soramei]

Intentional - Part 1

Pairing: Bang Chan x Reader (she/her)

Summary: Landing your first real job at JYPE was something short of a miracle. You were prepared to face the new struggles of this elusive career whilst moving to a new country, however, nothing could have prepared you for him. Will stolen glances, secret touches, and hushed nights spent in the recording room ever be enough for the both of you?

Genre: idol!bang chan au, forbidden relationship, coworkers to eventual lovers, slow burn 

Warnings: none right now, eventual smut,

Word Count: 7.3k 

Masterlist

A/N: hey yall this is my first ff im posting on tumblr :D im kinda scared to post but i hope anybody who stumbles on lil ol’ me will join me along the way :) also important!!! i made oc/reader asian cus i am lol (and this whole thing is basically a glorified self insert) so plz keep this in mind when reading!! oh god i didnt realize how slow this first part was sry... 

The cold silence of the room felt like stabs at your inside. You commanded your feet to stop bouncing up and down as you unconsciously started to bite off the dead skin of your bottom lip. The white corporate light from above reflected off your brand new lanyard hanging delicately from your neck. You felt the coarse blue fabric rub against your neck as you mindlessly fiddled with your lanyard; the newly printed photo of your face stared back at you with a smile. 

The creak of the door to your left was what broke you from your nervous fidgets. Whipping your head up from your lanyard, you immediately stood up ready to bow to whoever came through that door. 

It was a girl. She looked around the same age as you, if not older. Her attire was what gave her away. Her appearance essentially mirrored yours: hair tied back into a ponytail with a white blouse and black work pants. She also had the familiar blue ‘JYPE’ labeled strap hanging from her neck. 

“Hello,” you spoke meekly, scared to disturb the cold silence that had a hold on the room you were in. 

“Hello,” she replied. “My name is Choi Na-eun, I’m the new social media strategist intern and today is my first day.”

This is so relieving, you thought, another newbie to share the stress with me. 

“This is my first day too,” you perked up, “I’ll be starting as the new junior Chinese marketing assistant.” 

Getting the acceptance email from JYP Entertainment was definitely a high point in your life. The feeling of butterflies swarming your insides as you clicked the email open only to see your acceptance was immediately locked as a core memory. All the years of memorizing thousands of Korean and English vocabulary flashcards, the panic attacks before your finance exams, and the many, many late night coffee breaks were worth it the moment you received your first legitimate job offer, and from the esteemed JYP Entertainment company no less. 

“Chinese marketing?” Na-eun asked. “So you aren’t from here, I take it.” 

You shook your head. “I am from China. I completed my degree a while ago with a major in Language and a minor in Business. To be honest, I’ve done internships back home, but it’s been my dream to move to a new country.”

All of what you said was true. Up until now, your surroundings have never changed in all of your twenty-three years living. From the walk with your grandmother to daycare to the vast campus of your university, the view of your city has never changed. Your social circle stayed stagnant since you were able to talk and your love life was — for a lack of a better word — uneventful. 

It wasn’t until the day you decided to start applying for careers outside your home country that you felt hopeful. Hopeful that you could find an escape from your inert lifestyle and escape the burnout and stress that has been building up over the years. And so, on a day when you were feeling unusually confident, you gathered up the courage and spent hours sending out applications to organizations all over Asia that pertained to your specific degree. The applications were mainly for small jobs at small companies, however, your strange spike of motivation gave you the confidence to apply to the everso esteemed JYP Entertainment located in Korea. Of course you knew about this company — you and your friends played songs by ‘Twice’ nonstop back in highschool — but you didn’t realize the full power that this company had on the entertainment market until you did your full research. To say that you thought you had no chance was an understatement. This application was so far of a reach that you purposefully forced your mind to erase all memory of even applying. 

However, with your education, your work experience, and whatever tiny bit of luck you had, you somehow made it through the initial application process. Then the next. And the next. Then the interview. And now, you were nervously sitting in this white painted room with Na-eun, in a completely new country, waiting for your manager to come greet you. 

“So you’re from China? You’ve got to teach me chinese sometime.” Na-eun smiled. 

You giggled in return while nodding your head. You were relieved that you’ve met a potential friend so early in your career in this company. This was one of your big worries. With your social circle being so stagnant for the majority of your life back in China, you rarely had the opportunity to meet new people, much less make new friends. 

You were about to inquire more into Na-eun’s life when the door to your left abruptly opened. In the blink of an eye, three new people strutted in — two women and one man. They seemed to be higher status than you and Na-eun judging by their attire. All three were styled in some type of blazer and dress pants and there was no lanyard to be found on any of them. 

“Hello new employees,” the man greeted. Judging by his face, he looked to be in his late thirties at the least. His hair was styled back neatly and his lips slanted up, giving him a fox-like appearance. “I am Executive Manager Kim. Joined beside me on the left is Social Media Manager An and to my right is Marketing Manager Chen.” 

Both you and Na-eun immediately stood up to bow and introduce yourselves. 

“Hello. My name is Choi Na-eun, I’m the new social media strategist intern.” Na-eun said. 

“Hello. My name is y/n, I’m the new junior Chinese marketing assistant.” You repeated after her, copying exactly what she said. You did not want to screw anything up on your first day, especially your first impression. 

Manager Kim reached over to Na-eun, introducing himself and giving her a firm handshake. He then slowly moved over to you, and reached for your hand. 

“Y/n,” he gave time for your name to settle on his tongue as he gave a sly smile. “You’re not from here, aren't you?”

You shook your head ‘no’. “No, sir. I’m from China where I studied language and business. I hope to do well here as the Chinese marketing assistant.” You replied, mentally cursing yourself for sounding so timid. 

“I’m glad to hear,” Manager Kim chuckled, “I’m sure you’ll treat me and your other managers well.”

You felt an uncomfortable shiver pass through you as he brushed his thumb along your hand before letting go. This feeling was excused as nervousness, after all, this was your first day and your first time meeting your higher-ups. 

You introduced yourself to Manager Chen, assuming that she would be the one you were to assist in your time here at JYPE. Judging by her last name, you presumed that she was Chinese as well. 

“Forgive me for being so straight up Manager Chen, but are you Chinese?” You asked. 

“That is alright, y/n,” she smiled, “I’m not. My Husband is, but I’ve lived in China for more than half my life. I don’t want to brag, but my mandarin has gotten proficient over the past decade or so.”

Proficient? It’s amazing. You thought. This first day was turning out better than you thought. Other than the weird feeling you received from Manager Kim, everything was turning out splendid. A potential friend and a manager that could speak your first language.

“Since it’s about noon right now,” Manager Kim took a look at his watch, “What do you all think about some lunch?” 

The other managers nod their heads in agreement and gestures for you and Na-eun to follow them out of the waiting room you were in for so long. 

The whole building seemed so clean. With every corner lit, by natural light or artificial light, you could clearly see that every room, every piece of furniture and decor had been purposefully placed. You couldn’t help but have a stupid look of awe plastered on your face as you mindlessly follow your superiors over to the cafeteria.  

You turned your head over to Na-eun and gave her a tilt of the eyebrow, silently saying wow, this is where we work. 

With the turn of a corner and several silent strides, your little group made it to the cafeteria. 

The difference between your claustrophobic waiting room and this vast room was astonishing. With countless tables and romantic yellow lighting, this place almost resembled a five star restaurant. You’ve never seen a cafeteria as extravagant and clean as this before. However, to be fair, you’ve never had the experience of working with such a large corporation before. 

The managers led you to the serving station where you grabbed yourself a tray and proceeded to spoon small portions of rice and side dishes onto your plate. This cuisine was different to what you were used to, but nonetheless looked delicious. You were prepared for the small cultural differences, especially with the food, but from everything you’ve witnessed so far, the culture shock would be easier to overcome than what you’ve anticipated. 

“Have this soup y/n,” Manager Kim’s grating voice came from in front of you, interrupting your inner monologue. “It’s good for your complexion.” 

As Manager Kim hands over the bowl of soup, you feel the sleeve of his blazer brush up against your shoulder, causing the pit of your stomach to drop.

First day nerves. That was what this feeling was. You thought. 

You quietly thanked him with a small nod and walked briskly from the service line, trying to find where Na-eun went with the other two managers. Thankfully, they were just a step away and you quickly made your way over to the comfortable spot beside Na-eun. She gave you a small grin and you both followed your way to a table right in the middle of the room. 

Soon, all five chairs of the table got filled and sounds of chopsticks tapping and scraping against plates and bowls filled your ears. An awkward silence dominates your table as you start to pick at your food. 

“So,” Manager Chen cleared her throat, “after lunch I was thinking we should go to a meeting room and discuss Miss. Y/n’s role in our new project.”

“I was thinking the same for our new Intern Choi.” Manager An cut in, “What do you think, Manager Kim?” 

“It all sounds good. I will be accompanying Manager Chen to her meeting room as I wish to also further discuss the preliminary steps for our project.” Manager Kim looked from Manager Chen over to you. 

“Project?” You ask. 

“We’ve had a very successful year with our idol groups and we wanted to ride this success and start marketing in China. Recently, we’ve noticed a very large and growing Chinese audience for this group. I’m sure you’re very curious now, however we can discuss further details once we are in the meeting room.” Manager Chen replies while taking a sip of the water in her glass. 

Manager Chen appeared to be a very professional and respectable woman. With prominent collarbones and wide shoulders, she easily looked the part of a confident and adored manager. She needed minimal makeup to highlight her tall cheekbones, and even with a short heel on her feet she seemed to tower over you. However, her warm and comforting voice was what broke her intimidating demeanour. Just listening to her voice felt like you were back in your high school classroom with your favourite teacher explaining the motif of a sad love poem. 

After some more awkward conversations mixed with a few work discussions, the five of you finished the delicious food on your trays. 

“Please excuse me whilst I head to the restroom” Na-eun spoke up after your group finished clearing the table. 

“Please excuse me as well.” You quickly followed, bowing as you both ventured off to the washrooms. 

I should get her number so I’m not completely a loner in this place, you thought to yourself. And so, after a quick inner struggle to speak up, you finally decided to ask. 

“Hey, should we exchange contacts? I don’t wanna look like the newbie eating in the cafeteria alone after today.” You chuckled. 

“Totally!” Na-eun beamed. “I was actually thinking the same thing…” 

And so, you both quickly exchanged each other's contact as you made your way to the restrooms. 

The hall of the washrooms were narrow, hidden away from the main cafeteria. You walked in, deciding you only wanted to retouch your hair and makeup before your first official meeting. You carefully fix the loose hairs that somehow escaped the confines of your elastic and dab on a fresh layer of foundation before applying your lipstick which rubbed off while eating. Looking over at Na-eun, you see she’s quite in the zone redoing her mascara. 

“Hey, I’ll just wait for you in the hall.” You said. 

Na-eun gave you a disinterested nod back as she kept focusing on her mascara. 

You walked to the end of the hall, leaned against the wall, and pulled out your phone. Smiling, you opened the virtual Tamagotchi app and saw your little friend staring back at you, bouncing up and down. The bundle of virtual pixels happily bounced as you fed and bathed it, making you happier in return. Playing this game, you were so entranced with your phone that the abrupt closing of the washroom doors broke you out of your hypnosis fast, causing you to flinch and drop your phone. 

You looked up, only to see a brown haired man wearing a long sleeved black shirt. The hem of his sleeve fell, covering his hand as he bent down to pick up your phone. He stood back up, fully facing you now and you immediately recognized who he was. You weren’t a fool, of course you did all your research on the artists of JYPE before applying for the job. Looking down at you right now, holding your phone in his hand, was Bang Chan of Stray Kids. 

The wispy tufts of his brown hair bounced over his forehead as he stepped over to you. He smiled, his dimple poking out of his cheek, and handed your phone back to you. “I think you dropped this.”  

Blushing tomato red, you embarrassingly accepted the phone, trying not to make your shaking hands noticeable. It seemed like that failed, however, as you noticed him glance at your hands and dimple grow deeper. 

“Thank you.” You meekly chirped and lowered your head, still in awe that you somehow bumped into a JYPE idol in the bathroom hallway of a cafeteria. 

“It’s good that there’s no cracks.” Bang Chan said, looking in your eyes. 

You looked back into his eyes. His smile never left his face, and you physically felt the warmth radiating off his body like rays from the sun. Some boring, objective part of your brain knew this interaction only lasted a fraction of a second, but you swore that time froze.

“Hyung!” A distant voice called. 

Your trance was broken as Bang Chan looked over to the person calling his name. He turned back to you, politely bowed, and casually sauntered over to the man who called him. 

What just happened? Your inner monologue ran, still trying to process the embarrassing interaction. The scent of his cologne lingered, swirling the atmosphere around your body. 

Thankfully, you didn’t have too much time to dwell on this interaction as Na-eun finally opened the washroom doors and was making her way toward you. 

You and Na-eun trailed behind the managers until you reached the set of elevators. It was there where you had to unfortunately separate from your comfort work buddy as she hopped in the elevator across from yours with Manager An. The other two managers led you to the elevator at the end and pressed the button for your destination floor. The ride in the elevator was silent. You stood there, fiddling with your nails. 

Once the elevator gave the ding of arrival, the three of you headed down a hall where you presumed had the meeting room. 

Manager Kim took a look at the watch on his wrist. “We are a minute late, everybody should be there already. Enter silently and respectfully.” He said in a stern voice.

You reached the frosted glass door of the meeting room and entered through the already opened door. The managers followed behind you with Manager Chen being the last one in and closing the door. 

Your eyes widened at whom you saw.

There was Bang Chan, who sat in all his glory, staring right into your eyes with his mouth ajar. His shocked expression didn't last long, however, as he quickly composed himself to fit with the professional atmosphere of this room. 

But why was he here? You thought. He’s an artist, isn’t this a management meeting? 

Your inner monologue was broken by Manager Kim’s stern voice. “Y/n, why don’t you sit with me for today?” He asked with a slight tilt of the lips. His hand was hovering above your back, almost guiding you to the seat just right of the head chair. 

Your heart rate quickened. There was no way that you could handle sitting right beside a high position manager on your first day. You barely knew what your duties entailed, you definitely could not handle the pressure of this seat today. You whipped your head around to look for Manager Chen. She was already sitting in her seat, looking like she was right at home. 

“Manager Kim, if you don’t mind, I would like to sit in this position for today, '' a voice spoke up, “I have a lot of new ideas I’d like to share that are written in my notes.” 

Bang Chan.

He paused a brief second, eyes switching between you and Manager Kim, and raised his iPad to show the screen filled with words. 

“I don’t mind at all, go ahead.” Manager Kim monotonously replied. He then made his way to the head chair. 

You looked over at Bang Chan, trying to subtly send the most grateful facial expression over to him. He returned your look, slightly grinning as his fingers tapped on the screen of his iPad and sat down to the right of Manager Kim. You looked over to see Manager Chen gesturing you to sit in the chair beside her and swiftly made your way over. At your seat, she handed you a notepad and pen, both adorned with the JYPE logo. 

“Now, as of 1:02 p.m., September first, the meeting will officially begin.” Manager Kim clasped his hands together on top of the table. “As most of you already know, we are in the preliminary stages of planning a Chinese debut for our artist group ‘Stray Kids’. All we have right now is the estimated timeline, which is four months. We have a basic grasp of the concept we are working towards, however, as you all know, trends are always changing and growing. While we are working to create a new and original concept for Stray Kids, we also want the concept to gather as much audience reception as possible.” 

Wow. That was a lot to take in. Your hands struggled to keep up with writing down what Manager Kim was saying. You knew this relatively new group was really starting to explode in the past year, but a debut in another country? This group must work really hard to even have the company consider a step as risky as this. So this is why Bang Chan is also involved in this meeting. 

You peaked your head up from your notepad. Bang Chan sat across from you, one hand on his chin and the other one holding the pen to his tablet. 

Manager Kim then carefully discussed the duties that each group in the room would take. Many of the jobs were directly involved with developing the concept itself, such as producing music, concept art, and theme development. Your pen never took a break from gliding on the notepad as you hurriedly jotted down everything that Manager Kim said. 

Eventually, Manager Kim’s delegations moved to Manager Chen. “Manager Chen, I’ll let you take over from here.” 

“Thank you Manager Kim,” Manager Chen cleared her throat. “While my main job here was to market Korean comebacks towards the Chinese audience, this new project changes things up a bit. Now, not only will I be in charge of marketing to the Chinese audience, but I will also be directly in charge of the concept itself. I will be working carefully with our team in China to monitor the trends which we can incorporate into our debut.

“This is my new assistant, y/n,” She turned and gestured to you. You politely nodded your head. “She will be gathering information on useful trends and reporting back to me, as well as some translating. Please report any ideas that you deem useful to her by the end of every week for her to sort through and deliver to me.” 

You almost want to call Manager Chen crazy for giving you so much power, after all, you were only starting out as her assistant. Despite this, however, you were determined to go above and beyond with the new responsibilities given to you, after all, you knew that choosing to work in an organization as big as JYPE would take blood, sweat, and tears. 

After some clarifications given by Manager Chen and a few more questions directed at her, Manager Kim took the reins back in his hands. 

“Now, as I’m sure you all know, this is Bang Chan: the leader of Stray Kids. Although our management team is in charge of this debut, we like to include the opinions of artists whenever possible. He will make an appearance whenever he can and act as a representative of Stray Kids, sharing their ideas and opinions.” Manager Kim explained. 

Bang Chan politely introduced himself, and quickly went on to express some concerns of his members. He made sure that each concern was answered thoroughly by Manager Kim before moving on to the next. 

“As for our concept ideas,” Bang Chan’s soft brown eyes met yours, “will I have to report to y/n?” 

You felt your ears redden. 

“You could, yes,” Manager Kim straightened his back, “but if you find the weekly deadlines too much of a problem, you may just report to me or at any subsequent meeting.” 

“No worries sir,” Bang Chan’s eyes lingered on yours for a fraction of a second more before grinning at Manager Kim, “I’m always punctual.”  

The rest of the meeting consisted of more introductions and preliminary plans. After about an hour, everybody seemed satisfied with the contents of the meeting and were starting to pack up all their clutter on the table. You looked over at Manager Chen, silently asking what should I do next? 

Manager Chen smiled. “Let's head to my floor. I can give you a quick tour, you can get settled at your desk. I have some paperwork that I’m almost done with; I’m sure you’ll have no problem finishing it for me.” She already was standing up and straightening over the creases of her jacket. 

You stood up as well and followed behind Manager Chen like a lost baby duckling. You both made your way over to Manager Kim to bid farewell. You politely thanked him, said your goodbyes, and were about to leave when he stopped the two of you. 

“Manager Chen, let’s go out for drinks tonight.” Manager Kim took a look at the intricate watch on his wrist. “With our whole team, of course. It’ll be a welcoming night and we can get to know the people on our team better.” 

“That’s a great idea, Manager Kim,” Manager Chen nodded at his idea in approval. She turned on her iPad to quickly get a glimpse at her schedule. “What do you think y/n? Can you make it tonight? I know this is very last moment, but I think it’ll be a great opportunity for you to get to know your coworkers better.” 

“I should be able to make it.” You definitely could make it. You had no plans anyways. 

“Am I invited to this top secret party you’re all having?” A now very distinguishable voice came from behind you. Bang Chan stared at Manager Kim with a very mischievous expression. 

“Would your manager allow it?” Manager Kim questioned, knitting his eyebrows. 

“I’m on a diet, so I can’t drink alcohol or eat anything,” Bang Chan’s nose scrunched up in annoyance, “but I want to be as involved as I can. Just because I’m an idol doesn’t mean I can’t help behind the scenes as well.”

“Very well,” Manager Kim nodded with a fixed expression, “Let’s all meet at that restaurant about a block away west. I’ll go tell the others.” And with that, Manager Kim left you, Manager Chen, and Bang Chan to stand in awkward silence. 

“Well,” Bang Chan cleared his throat and clapped his hands together, “I’ll get going as well to do some work now, but it was nice meeting the both of you.” 

“You as well.” Manager Chen replied for the both of you and Bang Chan left soon after. 

Manager Chen then led you to the elevators again and you headed up yet another few floors to reach your destination. You nervously fiddled with your hair as you silently waited behind your boss, looking up at the smooth lines of her blazer every few seconds. The elevator doors dinged, letting you know of its arrival. The two of you swiftly headed out the elevators and walked to what you presumed was Manager Chen’s office area. You kept following behind Manager Chen in silence before you stopped in front of a set of doors that looked identical to the ones at the previous meeting room. Manager Chen opened the doors for you, and you headed in. 

You paused a step in, looking wide-eyed at the interior. The office was clean. A big glass desk sat right in the middle of the vast room in front of a huge set of windows. There were a couple of soft looking chairs placed right before the desk with a huge rug right underneath it. Over to your left, you spotted a water dispenser with a kettle right beside it. You stared at the room a bit longer before realizing you must have looked very stupid with that astonished look on your face. 

“Is this your office, Manager Chen?” You asked. 

“Yes. It seems that you like it,” She chuckled. You felt the heat rise to your ears. 

“Since you’ll be working so close to me, I’m sure you’ll be happy to come here more often.” 

“Thanks.” You awkwardly laughed. You blamed your bad response on the fact that you still weren’t familiar with the language, not your blatant awkwardness. 

Manager Chen made her way over to her desk, picking up a small stack of papers. “These are some letters I’ve received from several designer companies in China. Since we are still in the very preliminary stages of this project, we would like to keep our options open for the stylists here.” She picks an annotated letter from the pile. “I’ve translated and created a summary of the main points of this letter. There are a few more left which I believe I can trust you with. Just do as I did with this letter and add the sample pictures along with it.”

You quickly complied, taking the stack of papers from her hands. 

“I’ll show you to your new work space.” She led you out of your office and over to a cubicle that wasn’t too far away. It was considerably smaller compared to Manager Chen’s office, but you thought it had a certain coziness to it. Plus, working close to your coworkers could also boost your motivation. “Here is your desk, it’s not the most exciting thing, but you may bring photos or whatnot to decorate it. Now, I’ll let you settle in and get started on your work. You can meet me at my office around six, I can double check your work before we leave.” 

You thanked her before she left and immediately got started on your work. You diligently translated the whole of the letters before picking out the main points that matched with Manager Chen’s example. After this was done, you included the photos that came with each letter and slipped them into their own cozy folder. This work was monotonous, sure, but it was something you needed on your hectic first day here. 

You were so captivated by your work that you completely forgot about the time. The sun was starting to set, and you only remembered to look at the time after you tucked your last letter neatly in its folder. You briefly panicked, praying that you weren’t making your manager wait. Thankfully, it was only a quarter until six. You took the next fifteen minutes double checking your work, making sure to also check the time every once in a while. At exactly six, you left your desk and scurried over to the big doors of Manager Chen’s office. 

Knocking a couple times, you waited patiently to be let in. 

“Come in.” 

You let yourself in, handing the papers to your manager, then sat quietly in one of the chairs before her desk, crossing your fingers together. You fiddled with your thumbs, patiently waiting for Manager Chen to speak up. 

“Not bad, this is some decent work.” Manager Chen announced as soon as she finished glossing over your work. “I’ve noted some places that you can either fix or improve. I’ll scan them and hand you a copy tomorrow.” 

You let out a breath that you didn’t know you were holding. A tidal wave of relief washed over you as you let yourself relax further into your chain. Not bad, this is some decent work. You proudly repeated this moment in your brain. Although you were disappointed with the mistakes that you let slip through, to get somewhat of a compliment on your first day meant a lot to you. 

“Shall we get going now?” Manager Chen asked. 

You grabbed your bag and stood up. “I’ll let you lead the way.” 

                                                         _______

It seemed like all you were doing on your first day was following Manager Chen around like a lost puppy. The situation right now was no exception either, as you tried to copy her confident strides over to the restaurant a block down. You watched the busy rush hour streets and sidewalks fill with people, some people going home after a long day, some people going to party just like you.

Soon, after a few more minutes of walking, the both of you arrived at the small wooden doors of the restaurants. It seemed like the both of you were a bit late as Manager Kim was already waiting in front of the entrance with the rest of the team. Bang Chan was also there, head down looking at his phone. 

“Sorry we’re late, have you been waiting for long?” Manager Chen somehow sounded confident despite making everybody wait on her.

Her voice seemed to have caught everybody’s attention. You watched as Bang Chan swiftly turned his head up from his phone, his eyes making contact with yours. You immediately focused your eyes somewhere else, trying to casually play off the fact that your eyes subconsciously drifted to him. 

“We’ve only been waiting for a couple minutes.” Manager Kim gave a tight smile. “Let’s go in before you all get too cold.” 

Your little group of around ten people slowly entered the doors, filling the restaurant. Manager Kim called over a waitress, signaling that you had ten people in your group, and let the waitress lead you all to a long wooden table. 

The restaurant was nice, nothing too fancy, but that’s how you could tell the food was good. With dim lighting and tightly packed tables, it made you feel fuzzy and warm on the inside. 

However, your thoughts on the restaurant were soon broken by a hand on your shoulder. 

“Y/n, why don’t you sit with me?” Manager Kim’s lips curled up, “After all, this is a work gathering, how good of a boss would I be if I didn’t even treat my newest team member to a drink?” 

Your brain was in shambles. You seriously didn’t feel comfortable sitting with him all night. However, the logical side of your brain was saying something different. He’s just being nice as a boss. You don’t know how people in this country act anyways, stop being paranoid. 

It seemed like your inner turmoil was taking longer than necessary, as you heard another familiar voice speak up. 

“Manager Kim-” Bang Chan called out. 

“You don’t need to sit with me here, Bang Chan.” Manager Kim chuckled as he stared directly in Bang Chan’s eyes. “I’d rather not talk about work outside the office.”

You watched as Bang Chan’s eyebrows furrowed, looking back to you in reluctance. You smiled at him before turning your attention to Manager Kim. It was just one night, right? Plus, there’s no harm in establishing a good impression with your boss. 

“I’ll sit with you, Manager Kim.” You smiled, “thanks for offering.”

And so, you took your seat next to Manager Kim at the table. Bang Chan, who was to your left, looked askance at Manager Kim for a brief second before his facial expression did a complete 180. His familiar, boy-ish smile was plastered on his face like it was the most natural thing. 

When the menus came, everybody at the table — including you — started to order onslaughts of food and alcohol. After brief moments of casual chatter about topics such as the weather or how good the food was here, everything that was ordered arrived at your table.

You grabbed a can of beer and started sipping on it. You’ve drank before — of course — with your old friends at university, but it’s been at least a year since you last did. Better ease myself in. You thought. 

However, your preconceived plans were ruined when a small glass of clear liquor got pushed in front of you. 

“Y/n, surely you aren’t going to sip on that can all night.” The ends of Manager Kim’s lips curled up. 

“Wasn’t planning to, sir.” You replied while tipping the glass up and into your mouth. The bitter liquid burned your throat as it went down. You took a moment to recollect your surroundings. Seems like your tolerance was higher than you thought. 

“Bang Chan, do you not drink? Why not eat something then?” Manager Chen pointed to the food on the table. 

“No can do ma’am, I’m on a strict diet. My manager would kill me.” Bang Chan pointed to his glass of water. 

“In that case,” Manager Chen filled another glass, “Y/n, have another drink.” She slid the glass down the table in front of you. 

You gladly accepted your second drink, downing the alcohol in one go. Your eyes instinctively squeezed together as you felt your throat burn. From the tips of your ears to the ends of your toes, your whole body felt warm and alive. 

You lost track of the time. As your conversations got livelier, your head got fuzzier. You stopped counting your drinks after four, especially since so many people were eager to offer the new employee a drink. Although your vision was starting to blur, you could still think straight. I can still think, you thought to yourself, still — what a powerful buzz.

Your thoughts ran rampant in your mind as you stared at the lightbulb across the room. What a pretty light. So bright. Warm. 

“Y/n.”

Was the light calling your name? 

“Y/n!” 

Your eyes focused again and snapped away from the lightbulb. Where was the voice coming from? You slowly turned your head. Bang Chan.

“Hi.” You smiled. 

“Hi.” He smiled back. So bright. Warm. “It’s been hours and I haven’t even offered you a drink yet.” 

You tried to focus your eyes on his face as he slid the glass over to you. One more drink wouldn’t hurt your buzz, right?  

You gladly accepted, slowly moving your hand over to the glass to pick the clear liquid up. It went down in one go just like all the others. 

Huh? Was this water? 

You struggled to focus your eyes on the person who offered you the drink. “That was yummy.” 

“I bet it was,” the talking blur chuckled, “How about another one?”

You nodded, then took the glass he slid towards you. It’s funny how water flows even when in a cup. Water. You needed to pee. 

“Hey,” your words dragged out, “where’s uh, where’s the washroom?”

“Follow me. I’ll show you.” Manager Kim stood up and reached his hand out towards you. You didn’t want to take it, but it seemed like nobody was noticing his offer. 

Reluctantly, you took his hand and stood up, only to stumble down again. Did your knees not want to listen? 

“Whoa there, better hold on.” Manager Kim said. 

“No, I can walk. I-I can walk.” You let go of Manager Kim and tried to focus all your brainpower on moving your feet in a straight line. This tactic only worked for a second, however, as your knees gave in and you stumbled down. 

“It’s obvious that you can’t.” Manager Kim’s lips turned up. “It’s time for you to go home. I’ll take you back.” 

What? No. You didn’t want Manager Kim to take you home, not after all the awkward events of today and the general vibe from him. You tried to express your thoughts, but nothing came out of your mouth. 

“Manager Kim, you’ve been drinking!” Bang Chan’s voice came from some part of the room. “It’s not safe to drive, I’ll call a taxi for you.” 

“What about Y/n here? I’ll get a taxi for us both.” Manager Kim said. 

“I called my manager earlier to pick me up, we can drop her off along the way. It’s not a good idea to put two drunk people in a car. I’m completely sober right now, so let me do all the work.” Bang Chan grinned, patting Manager Kim on his shoulder. 

“Is that what you want, Y/n?” Manager Kim glared. 

You dizzily nodded. 

“Alright. In that case, I can call my own taxi later.” Manager Kim grimaced. 

“Stay safe, Manager Kim.” Bang Chan smiled. He turned to you. “My manager’s been waiting outside for a while now, do you want to leave now?” 

You nodded. You tried to start walking again, but your damn knees just wouldn’t listen. 

“Do you want to hold on to me?” Bang Chan knitted his brows together and held out an arm.

“I,” you slurred, “can walk.” You tried to start your feet again, only to end up stumbling down. 

“I know you can,” Bang Chan said as he reached his hands out to stabilize you, “but — ah —  I’m really tired after today. Can you hold on to my arm so I won’t fall out of exhaustion?” 

You agreed to help him. Bang Chan waved to everybody still at the table before leading the two of you out to a black SUV. He allowed you to stumble your way in the back seats first before sliding in himself. He asked you for your address, which took many tries for you to accurately type it into his phone. 

You leaned your head against the window, staring at passing blurred lights as Bang Chan’s manager started driving. Just being away from the loud and bright environment seemed to have cleared your head a little, but the pounding would not stop. You cursed yourself for being so irresponsible on your first day, especially because you were still alone in this new country.   

“Hey,” you felt a gentle tap on your shoulder, “want some water?” You looked over to see Bang Chan holding out a plastic bottle with the lid screwed off. 

You languidly reached your hand out for the bottle and gulped down as much water as you could in one breath before handing it back to him. The street lights started getting blurrier as you tried to fight exhaustion, the muscles in your eyelids starting to get more and more uncontrollable. 

“Y/n.” 

“Hmm?”

“Don’t fall asleep yet, we’re almost there. Ten more minutes.” 

You couldn’t hear anything after that, however, as you felt your eyes give up on you and your body fall into a deep sleep. 

“Y/n… Y/n.” A familiar voice called.

You fluttered your eyes open, your head pounding. Not knowing where you were, you surveyed your surroundings in a panic. It seemed as though you were in the back of a car… Parked outside of your apartment building? 

“Hey, you’re finally awake.” Bang Chan’s voice entered your ear. It all came rushing back to you; the restaurant, the drinking, entering the SUV. 

“How long have we been parked here?” Your groggy voice sounded inhuman. You had to clear your throat a couple times. 

“It’s only been twenty or so minutes. I’m not allowed to leave the car, are you able to get home alone? I can ask my manager to go with you.” Bang Chan scratched the back of his neck. 

“I should be fine.” You mumbled, a bit embarrassed to have fallen asleep in the car of a person you just met that day. This wasn’t even his car, it was his manager’s. 

“Hey… can I put my number in your phone?” Bang Chan avoided your eyes. “Just so you can tell me when you get home.” He quickly added. 

“Okay.” You awkwardly handed him your phone with your contacts already opened. He quickly typed his phone number in before handing it back to you. 

“Text me when you get home. Remember to lock your door, okay?” 

You thank both him and his manager before hurrying back to your apartment. Your head was still pounding unrelentlessly as you pressed the elevator button for your floor. The events of today were still unprocessed in your brain. You met a potential friend, which was a highlight. However, you also met two higher up managers and an actual idol, only to get hilariously drunk in the presence of. At least it’ll make a good story to tell my mom. You thought. 

In no time, you made it in your apartment and locked the door behind you, remembering what Bang Chan told you in the car. You texted the new number in your phone. 

Y/n: Hi. It’s y/n. I just entered my apartment.

Not even a minute later, your phone lit up, signaling a new text message. 

Bang Chan: great!! remember to lock the doooor hahaha ( ◕ω◕✿ )

You subconsciously grin at your phone. Cute. Throwing your phone haphazardly on your bed, you begrudgingly began your night routine. After washing up and throwing on a random shirt from your closet, you fell on your bed ready to sleep. You were about to close your eyes when your phone lit up again with a ding. It was another text.

Bang Chan: Hey… Just so you know, if you ever feel unsafe around the office just tell me okay? I’ll always try to help you in whatever way I can.

[talk-geek-to-me]

Stolen Kiss

Pairings: Peter Parker x Reader

Warnings: some bullying, fluff, Flash being the dick he is, 

Disclaimer: Reader is going to have features similar to tony’s. Like his hair and eye color. It took me so long to write this because i realized that while i wrote i edited. And i was having some problems with my masterlist. but the mastlist part is fixed -sorta- and i think it’s time to get this baby out.

Tagging: @hollandroos @parkerpuffwrites

Please send feedback!!

----

Flash didn’t expect you -of all people- to walk into his chem class. You’re Tony Stark’s daughter, for God’s sake, he thought he was dreaming. How can someone as beautiful as you go to Midtown? He watched you scan the classroom, your beautiful eyes landed on him, recognition flashing in your eyes,  making him smile and wave at you.

He watched you make your way down the aisle, passed him, and drop your books on the table as you climbed onto the empty stool next to Parker, who greeted you with a smile and moved the sheet of paper to the middle of the table. Your shoulder brushing against Peter’s as a smile grew on your lips. You brushed your hair behind your ear and pulled it onto your other shoulder, revealing multiple ear piercings. Peter caught a glint of the new helix earring. He gently touched it, seeing as it was still red and healing, as if you had just gotten it done. Which, you did. Seeing how you and Peter interacted, made anger spread throughout Flash’s chest.

“I think you got the wrong seat, there’s one opened next to me.” Flash leaned over the table behind him, making you look at him.

“Hmm... No, not I don’t.” Your smile faltered as your eyes raked over him, disappointment crossed over your face.

“How do you even know each other? Peter’s never been in the same room as Tony Stark,” Flash shot back at you, getting up from his seat and sat down in front of you. He leaned over your desk, into your personal space, causing you to sit up straighter. He grabbed your phone that was laying on the table, clicking the home button. His mood dropped more when he saw a picture you and Peter had taken about a week ago as your lock screen. You and Peter were laying on the floor of your room, making funny faces at the camera.

“Actually, he has.” You grabbed Peter’s pencil and jabbed the eraser onto Flash’s forehead a couple times, grabbing your phone in the process.

***

Peter jammed his keys into the apartment door, sending it opened with his foot. 

“Hey May” Peter tossed his bag on the ground as May quickly swallowed her drink.

“Hey, how was school today?”

“It’s ok. There’s this crazy car parked outside,” Peter froze in place when he saw who was sitting on the couch next to May. His eyes tore away from Tony’s to meet your brown ones, his breath hitching in his throat.

“Oh, Mister Parker” Tony looked over at you, seeing how you became Peter’s distraction.

“Umm.. Wha- What’re you doing- hey, I’m-I’m-I’m Peter,” the words finally coming out of his mouth making you stifle a giggle.

“Tony, and this is my daughter Y/N. She’ll be working with us.”

They went on to talk about the fake grant Peter got. Tony then talked to Peter in private, and you made small talk with May.

“Ya know, I’ve never seen Peter look at someone like the way he just looked at you.” She poured you more tea.

“I-I don’t know about that. He’s- yes, he’s very attractive. But I don’t even know him.” You let out a nervous laugh.

“Give it time” She smiled.

“Alright! We’re in business!! Y/N, let’s go. May, it’s ok we take him for a couple days right? For the internship,” Your father looked at May.

“Yea! Of course!!”

After the fight in the airport, Peter was back in his hotel room when a knock came from the door.

“Just a second!” He flipped off the bed and opened the door to reveal you, in sweats, hair in a bun, sporting a busted lip from the fight, and holding two pizza’s.

“I didn’t know what you liked on your pizza but I got you a pepperoni with extra cheese.” You walked into the room, and placed the food on the table.

That night, you and Peter stayed up, eating pizza and bonding over little things. You watched him talk about the fight, finding it very cute how excited he was.

Little did May know, she’d be right. You two had gotten close, the flirting was nonstop. You’d spend as much time as you could together. You eventually begged your dad to let you transfer schools from the one Upstate -which totally wasn’t your style- to Midtown. Something more you.

***

Flash took the pencil and broke it in half, annoyance filling his eyes.

“C’mon Y/N, you don’t need to lie for Peter. Just, come sit by me and I’ll show you how to make real chemistry.” He picked up your hand and went to kiss it, but not before Peter’s fist collided with his nose. A gasp fell from your lips, eyes widening as blood spilled from Flash’s nose.

“Oh my god!” You looked over at Peter, seeing anger was written across his features.

“I-I don’t- I need to get out of here.” Peter grabbed his backpack and your hand, fleeing the classroom with you in tow.

Peter dragged you down a maze of hallways before stopping in front of his locker. He dropped your hand, and began pacing back and forth. His hands running through his hair, breath quickening.

“Peter, you wanna tell me what the hell that was?” You leaned against the wall of lockers.

“I just- I don’t know- I- couldn’t just sit there! Him touching you! I-I-I couldn’t let him touch you, I don’t want him to touch you.” His voice shaky.

“Pete, hey, stop pacing,” You grabbed his hand, pulling him to you. “He’s not going to touch me. Hell, I would’ve done something if you hadn’t.” Your hand smoothed over the wild curls, eventually settling at the base of his neck, making him look at you. 

Peter felt his nerves begin to calm as he stared into your brown orbs. His hands finding their place on your hips, he gently placed his forehead against yours. Both of your eyes closed at the action, soaking in each others presence. A burst of confidence surged through him, his nosed brushed -almost feather like- against yours. You slightly tilted your head up, lips parting.

Your lips brushed together, causing goosebumps to scatter over your skin. Your fingers found their way back into his hair, his grip tightening on your hips. The shrill sound of the bell filled your ears, pulling you two apart. A groan escaped Peter’s lips as his head landed on your shoulder. Your head leaned against the locker as blush dusted your cheeks, heart racing.

Students had started filling the hallway, chatter came along with it. Peter’s arms had slid around your waist, and his face was now in your neck.

“I have to go to Spanish, but I’ll see you at lunch Y/N.” He planted a small kiss on your neck, which made the blush turn a deeper red. His arms disappeared from your waist, hand dipped down to grabs yours and giving it a gentle squeeze.

You watched him walk down the hall towards his Spanish classroom. You turned around, a grin broke out across your face as the memory of your almost kiss played over and over again in your mind. You knew it was going to distract you for the rest of the day. And it did.

By the time lunch rolled around, your were absolutely famished. You were definitely ready for the fries that you knew were going to be on the table by the time you arrived. 

You were sitting at the table with Ned and Peter talking about the latest theory of the new Wonder Woman movie that was coming out. You were dishing out fact, while Ned spews out something he read on the internet.

“Ned, she’s a damn Amazon! Basically a God! She can’t die!” You stood up from the table to throw away the trash that had built up between the three of you. 

“Damn right she’s an Amazon,” A lust filled voice said behind you sending discomfort through you. “Right Penis Parker?”

You turned around, finding Flash standing directly behind you. You took a step back to get as much space as you possibly could. You could see the dried blood on Flash’s nose, a failed attempt to get all the blood off was obviously made.

“You don’t have to pretend to like him Y/N, I know you don’t.” Flash grabbed your hand and began to pull you towards his table.

“Actually,” You ripped your hand out of his grip. “You’re right Flash, I don’t like him.” You walked towards Peter, seeing the pain in his eyes you sent him a wink. You stopped behind his chair, pulled it out -Peter still in it-  far enough for you to take a seat in Peter’s lap, startling him enough to jump and instinctively wrap his arms around your waist to keep you from falling off him. Your arms around his shoulders, your eyes searching his.

Your hand tangling in the hair at the base of his neck, foreheads touching. You were reenacting your almost kiss. Your lips brushed against his, feeling the hesitation, you took a leap of faith. Hoping you didn’t hurt him enough to make him pull away. You lips met his, his grip immediately tightening. Your heart swelling when he cupped your cheek, deepening the kiss. Someone cleared their throat making you pull away. A blush had found its way onto Peter’s cheeks this time. Your foreheads still pressed together, a smile was ever-present on his lips making you smile.

“I’m falling in love with him.”

Part 2

[spideytingle616]

Five Months

Masterlist / Part 2

*based on the five stages of grief*

Pairing: Peter Parker x Female Reader

Warnings: Angst, death, swearing, possible implications of anxiety/panic, mentions/implications of sexual activity, blood/injury

Description: The first time you touch your soulmate, you’re able to see a glimpse into your future. What happens if your future is also your end?

Chapter Summary: You and your best friend Peter Parker are having a study date. Upon learning that you’re soulmates, more secrets and truths are revealed, and you story might close before it even starts. (Takes place during “Homecoming”, give or take some plot details.)

Word Count: 7.7K (all text in bold and italics are thoughts)

A/N: Hello to whoever is reading this, happy holidays! This is my first ever story that I’ve ever written, and I’m excited but also super nervous to be sharing it. I’m not too sure about the ins and outs of writing or being on Tumblr in general, but I’ll try my best. Please enjoy and leave some comments if possible <3 

Month One, Denial: The Flashforward that Never Happened

“You think by now I would be able to write a stupid chemical equation,” you complained, throwing your hands up in exasperation and slumping into your bed.

Your best friend Peter lets out an airy laugh from your desk, not even looking at you. He was too busy with the book in front of him, making sure he remembered as much as he possibly could. You were having a big study session tonight to prepare for midterms. For the past couple of days, you, Ned, Peter, and occasionally MJ have all been hanging out to prepare. However, tonight you and Peter just wanted to study with each other. Not only were you two the only ones that could keep up with each other, but you were also best friends. Shoutout to your freshman physics teacher for pairing you two up, you’ve been inseparable ever since, despite what Ned might think. When it came down to it, you and Peter were each other’s number one.

“You can look at my notes for that chapter if you want, hopefully, they help.” Peter offered, but all you could do was let out a heavy sigh.

“I don’t know at this point; my wires are getting crossed. I’m fifty percent sure what I’m studying is chemistry. Can we please take a break or something?”

“Maybe later, I’m almost done with this section, can’t lose steam now,” Peter said as he continued to trudge on, not even blinking an eye at you.

You admired his determination, for a second it makes you think he might be the smarter between you two, but you would never say that to his face, no matter how cute it is. You couldn’t deny that your best friend was probably one of the most adorable people you’ve ever met, but that didn’t mean you liked him in that way. After all, you knew it would never happen. He’s not your soulmate.

Everyone is given a soulmate when they are born. A soulmate could be found by as simple as a touch. From a hug, a friendly high-five, or even an accidental check to the shoulder, you’d be able to find out who was made for you. After physical contact with your future partner, both people can see what the future holds for them. A quick glimpse, and you could see your happily ever after. You and Peter have been friends for about three years, meaning there have been plenty of opportunities for physical contact with each other, though you couldn’t exactly remember a specific one. It must’ve happened at one point though; if you had a romantic future with your best friend, surely you both would’ve realized by now.

However, even though you tried to push away any romantic thoughts, you just couldn’t resist every now and then. Since the start of this year, you started to pay closer attention to Peter. MJ taught you how to quietly observe, and you occasionally used these newfound skills on him, albeit with slight guilt. You started to notice when Peter’s curly hair got messy throughout the day, and you caught yourself watching as he struggles to keep it neat. You also noted how he had a habit of talking nonstop when he’s excited, probably trying to organize his sporadic thoughts. You felt a small flutter in your stomach when he smiled, and a slightly bigger one when he laughed at your jokes. Yet these moments didn’t mean anything to you. It was harmless. You knew when your soulmate came, you would instantly fall for them and forget all about the brunet. In the end, Peter would always just be your best friend. Nothing more.

Peter was the friend that you could confide everything to. There wasn’t a secret that you didn’t tell him, and you know he feels the same. You trusted each other with your lives. At least you thought so.

A few months ago, he got an internship at Stark Industries, something that you have been applauding him forever since. It was a great opportunity, and you were glad Peter was the one who got it. However, despite the achievement, you couldn’t help but be disappointed in his new schedule. He dropped marching band and robotics club for the internship, leaving you to fend for yourself in both activities. Peter has been having more late nights since then, causing him to fight his fatigue during the day. Most importantly, his internship left him canceling your plans last-minute, leaving you in the dust. The time spent together seemed to be shortening every day. You try to let it slide as you could only imagine the hectic schedule Tony Stark has, yet you still couldn’t exactly make out the sense of it all. Peter was a normal, although brilliant, kid. How important could an intern be?

You push those thoughts aside for today. Right now, he’s yours. Peter has been available all week for studying, so both of you took advantage of your time together. You realize that you’ve been staring at the back of Peter’s head this whole time, spacing out, but also admiring how focused he was. Even if he didn’t study, his classes were so effortless for him. You sat up, glancing at your friend one more time before returning to your worn-out notebook. Just as you were starting to focus, you hear police sirens race by your apartment. You ignore the noise as it quickly dies away and continue to look at your notes. However, Peter suddenly became tense, the hair on his arms prickling up.

He knew that he should go out and follow the emergency, but he couldn’t leave without warning. Peter starts to fidget with the pen in his hand, maybe the cops didn’t need Spider-Man tonight. As he was trying to ignore the sirens, he couldn’t help but run through a list of plausible excuses just in case. A few minutes pass and more police cars speed past the road.

Forget it, I just need an excuse.

“Sorry Y/N, Mr. Stark texted and said he needs to see me right now,” You snap your head up as Peter scrambles to pack his things. “Uh y-you can take my notebook to study. I don’t need it.”

He continues to stuff his books in his backpack and doesn’t notice the irritated look on your face. “You can’t be serious right now, what could he possibly want this late at night?”

You don’t want to snap at the boy, but Jesus Christ. Why is he always leaving at the worst possible times? You clench your jaw, trying to bite back on saying anything you might regret.

“I’ll explain later, I have to go now or it’ll be too late.” Peter throw his backpack over his shoulder, the guilt starting to pool inside.

“No, you don’t Peter, you’re just an intern. He’s not asking you to save the world.”

If only you knew. It hurts Peter that he couldn’t tell you the truth, but it’s for your own good. Yet this isn’t all that great either, both of you were tired of the sudden disappearances. But what else could he do? If Peter told you his secret, he’d be putting you at risk. The last thing he wanted was for his best friend to get hurt, especially if it’s because of him.

“Y/N please, I’m really sorry. I promise we can study tomorrow if you want.” Peter’s urgency increases, and he’s praying to god that you’ll let it slide.

You don’t seem to be letting him go that easily. He could see the anger in your eyes as they narrowed, drowning him in guilt.

“I don’t care about that!” You yell, Peter’s shoulders tensing up.  “I want to know why you’re running off late at night for no reason.”

“And I’ll give you an answer later, just not right now.” With that, Peter is almost out the door before you jump up to meet him.

“This is such bullshit,” you snarl as you grab his wrist, stopping him from turning the doorknob.

Suddenly, you and Peter were outside. 39th Street, in front of the Daily Bugle, to be exact. The street is usually buzzing, people at every corner, but it’s dark and empty. You couldn’t help but feel an ominous mood surrounding the area. You were kneeling on the sidewalk, the rough pavement scratching on your knees. You look down and finally notice Peter on the ground with you. Your arms were wrapped around him as you basically cuddled him. He felt cold, shivering just enough to feel the vibration throughout your arms. After the initial confusion about the position, you start to take in his features. His lower lip was cut, a fine red line in the middle that contrasted the paleness of the rest of his mouth. His right eye had a red bruise under it that was turning purple, and a bloody gash could be spotted in the upper corner of his head. The rest of his face was decorated in smears of dirt and dust. Beyond the confusion and the horrendous state of his face, you could see that Peter was absolutely terrified.

“Y/N I-I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything. I don’t know what happened I-“

“Shhhhhhh, it’s okay Peter. It’s okay. You’re okay, I promise.” You assured.

It was like word vomit; you couldn’t stop yourself from speaking. You didn’t even know what was happening right now, but the conversation seemed to know where it was going. Stunned and confused, you felt a terrible strain on your heart. You couldn’t exactly make out an emotion that went along with this, but something in the back of your head knew what was happening. Heartbreak.

Unless you suddenly became a wizard overnight, you did not have the ability to teleport. How could this be happening? Was this a dream? Just seconds ago you were arguing with your best friend about his recent flakiness. You were annoyed with the secrecy, so you stopped him and grabbed his wrist…

His wrist.

Your hand.

You grabbed his wrist.

You made physical contact with Peter.

This wasn’t a dream.

This was a glimpse into the future.

Peter was your soulmate.

Panic started to radiate off your body, your breaths getting heavier with each inhale. You tried to focus, looking around the scene in front of you for clarification. Your eyes started to water, everything slightly blurring together. An urge to cry was crawling up your throat. Your body felt like it was on fire, you were surprised it didn’t spontaneously combust at that very moment. Everything just hurt.

Forcing yourself to ignore the burn, you saw the rubble that covered the road across from you and the destroyed buildings it fell off from. Cars were almost pressed flat like a pancake and you could see the sharp crystals of glass surrounding it. You heard sirens and car alarms in the faint distance, but no one was here to save you two from this nightmare. Finally, you look down and are met again with the face of a broken and scared Peter.

That’s when you notice the feeling on your hand. Warm and wet. You pull it up to your face to look at it, but it’s covered red. Blood. Thick, warm blood drenched your entire right hand. You let out a shaking gasp when you realize it wasn’t yours. Looking down past Peter’s face, you see his stomach covered red. In a panic, you put your hand back to where it once was. You vaguely remember people saying to keep pressure on the wound. Holding Peter tighter you try to keep your eyes away from your hands. You realize he wasn’t wearing normal clothes. He was wearing nothing but red and blue. In Peter’s right hand, you see a bunched up, red cloth, almost like a hat, or a mask even. But on the chest of his hoodie, just above the blood…

A spider.

You wanted to question the wounded boy in your grasp, but his eyes started to close. You were about to scream at the sight. It was too late. At that same moment, you were back in your apartment, hand on top of Peter’s. The scene before you was gone.

You direct your stare from your hand to his face. He was pale and his eyes looked hollow. Mouth parted in shock; you could imagine you looked the same. You tried to focus on Peter, trying to find something to say. You were tongue-tied, mouth going dry at the thought of making words. Your right hand was still firmly grasped onto Peter’s wrist. The same hand that was covered in blood. His blood.

The shock of the memory made your body go numb. So, you let go. You stepped back to stare at him, squeezing your hands into fists. Arms shaking and knuckles turning white, you were almost ready to cry. You tried to keep a distance from him as if he was some bomb waiting to go off. In fact, he kinda was.

Face still white as snow, Peter is snapped back into reality when he hears the sirens engulf the borough. This time, you paid attention too. All you could do was listen to the noise and let it ring through your ears. It almost felt like the emergency was you.

“Y/N I have to-’’ Peter tried to speak, but you cut him off before he could finish.

“Yeah, y-you need to go,” Fully understanding what he meant all these times.

Peter nods, lips slightly pursed. He couldn’t handle your terrified, icy stare, so he quickly faces the door once again. He turns the doorknob with less force this time, but still just as guilt-ridden. When the door closes, you were officially all alone. You blink, a single tear slipping from each of your eyes. Three thoughts kept your brain occupied for the rest of the night.

Peter Parker was Spider-Man.

Peter Parker was your soulmate.

Peter Parker was going to die, and you didn’t know what to do.

——-

After he left and the morning after, you didn’t hear back from Peter. When you woke up in the morning, your first instinct was to check your phone. Sadly, you lacked any messages from a certain spiderling. You weren’t surprised, but you were still disappointed. As you got ready for school, you couldn’t help but be nervous. It seemed that every step you took, there was a sense of uncertainty. One wrong move and a boobytrap would show itself. But you couldn’t miss school due to midterms. The school also didn’t have “existential crisis due to future with soulmate” listed under possible excuses, but that wasn’t exactly a common issue among students. Ignoring the terrible feeling in your gut, you grab your backpack and head out the door.

The subway ride there didn’t clear out anything in your head. You enter the building with muddled thoughts and a twinge of unsolved anger. Peter has been keeping this secret for months. Ever since the videos of Spider-Man appeared over the past year, it’s all everyone at school talks about. In fact, you’ve probably gushed about how he cool he was to Peter. You were one of many that happened to have a celebrity crush on Spider-Man. Did it not occur to him that he’s had so many opportunities to tell you?

Frustration continues to boil your blood, but you knew better. You couldn’t be mad at his secret right now, not after seeing what the future holds for you two. But then when can you be mad at him? It seems like you were at a loss for answers and until you talk to Peter about it all, you were going to be left clueless.

You opened your locker and grabbed your books for class. Too focused on avoiding thoughts about a certain hero, you didn’t notice MJ on the other side of your locker door until you closed it, making your shoulders tense up.

“And I thought I was the mopey one,” MJ observed.

“Yeah well, I guess I’m just not in the mood today.”

Dozens of thoughts started to wrap around your brain. Does she know about Peter’s secret? MJ’s smart, with enough observation she might’ve been able to figure it out. Did Ned know? Was Spider-Man a secret he could only tell another guy? Peter isn’t sexist, is he? What if you weren’t actually his best friend and you were the third wheel between him and Ned all along?

“Y/N?” MJ asked, eyebrows scrunched. Her head was tilted in confusion.

“Sor-sorry. Spaced off,” You dismissed.

MJ nodded, but she was still a little confused by your shaky attitude. You wanted to end the conversation there, but you couldn’t wait to talk to Peter. For all you know, he wouldn’t even show up to school. You decided that MJ will suffice as a confidant.

“This is a super random question but, what do you think of soulmates?” You didn’t know how to word the question without sounding like a weirdo, but you hope that MJ will just answer it without questioning you back.

“I mean, what about it?”

“Just- what do you think? Is it real?”

You kept trying to avert your eyes, but when you looked back at MJ she seemed her normal, uncaring self.

“Well, I mean, I couldn’t care less,” You can only stare at her in response. “Who knows when that’s gonna happen to me, or you for that matter. But like, why argue with the universe? Seems like they know what they’re doing.”

Well if that’s the case, then the universe has a terrible hit list.

“So, you think being with your soulmate is inevitable?” You continue to ask.

“Well, what are you gonna do, avoid them forever? Seems kinda stupid to do that, don’t you think? If you find them, just go for it, you have no reason not to.”

You could think of a million reasons why not to, but before you could list them all in your head, MJ continues to talk.

“I’m sorry but why are you bringing this up? Did you find yours or something?” Silence fell between you two.

“No, I was just wondering. Cause, wow, you know?”

“It hurts to watch you lie. You know that?” MJ states.

“Hey, I can keep a secret. In fact, I have tons of secrets.”

Like the fact that my soulmate has an expiration date.

MJ laughs at your response. “Uh, okay. You keep telling yourself that. Last time you tried to pull a lie you ended up telling Ms. Gonzales that you had a long-lost twin.”

You cringe at the memory. Maybe she did have a point, but you knew you couldn’t tell her the exact details without Peter’s permission. Your somewhat pathetic lies will have to do.

“Anyways, back to the case at hand… It must’ve happened recently. Maybe yesterday?”

You were starting to think that MJ was the real-life Sherlock Holmes, she was going off of nothing but a question and a terrible lie. Amidst being impressed by her detective work, you wish this case was left cold. You continued to remain silent as she scanned your face for clues.

“Wait, didn’t you have a study date with Peter?”

You were by surprise at how quickly she guessed correctly. MJ knew she hit the target when your eyes shifted away from her.

“It’s him. Peter’s your soulmate. Oh my god, I had a feeling you were, but you’ve been friends for so long I wasn’t sure. How did this not happen sooner? By now I thought you’ve made out at least once for the heck of it. Not even a hug or something?”

You sighed, looking sadly at your friend. “I don’t know MJ. I don’t want to go into all of it right now, I just wanted an opinion. And no, we have not kissed ‘for the heck of it’.” You bite the inside of your cheek as you gave a small eye roll, falling silent once again.

Your dark-haired friend was left confused by your statement. Since when were soulmates a bad thing, especially when your soulmate was your best friend? MJ knew better than to push it. She would just wait till you were ready to say more.

“He left before we had a chance to talk about it. I was afraid he wouldn’t show up today, I talked to you so I wouldn’t go crazy thinking about it all day. But I might just have to. This was stupid to even bring up in the first place.” You apologized, frustrated.

There was so much that you couldn’t talk about, you regret talking about it at all. The only person that you were able to talk to isn’t to be seen. Your deepening frown indicates to MJ that the conversation was coming to a close. She simply nods and you say your goodbyes before parting ways.

Your first period class goes by slowly as you try to shake off any negative thoughts along with your grogginess. Your teacher lets your class have a study hall to prepare for your tests. You decided to finish up your studying from yesterday, grabbing your chemistry notebook and opening it up. Sadly, you forgot how confused it left you last night, so you shove it in your backpack before spotting Peter’s. Just because he wasn’t talking to you doesn’t mean you couldn’t use his notes.

You flip through the pages trying to find the section you were looking for when a dog-eared page catches your eye. You open it to find the title “Web Fluid, Version 3.01” written in blue ink. You can’t help but smile at the page, admiring his neat handwriting and sketches scattered throughout. His work was admirable, and you’ve seen plenty of videos of him webbing through the city that proved his formula to be true. The stuff was strong, and at that moment, you could only be impressed by his work. Peter was truly was of the smartest guys out there, and he was using his skills to save the city, how could you not be proud of him?

Yet as amazing as Spider-Man was, he was also Peter Parker; the guy who hasn’t talked to you since last night. The person who ends up risking their life to save New York. The boy who was your soulmate. Dispirited, you closed the notebook and decided to study for your calculus test instead.

Second period was chemistry, a subject that seems to keep coming up not only in your studies but also in your life. You and Peter were lab partners, which meant if he was here, you would be met with his presence very soon. Less than a minute later, you spot his curly hair entering the doorway.

It doesn’t look at neat as it normally does. He’s probably just as distressed as me. Probably more, cause… death…

Peter takes his normal spot next to you, keeping his stare straight forward toward the whiteboard. At first, you thought you should do the same, but you hated the silent treatment. It was now or never, you had to confront him now.

“Uh, h-hey.”

Nailed it…

He awkwardly turns his head to meet your gaze. Nodding, he gives you a classic white person smile before saying hi back. This was such foreign territory to you, Peter might keep to himself with people he doesn’t know, but the two of you always had something to say to the other. A small part of you wished none of this ever happened. You liked going to school. You liked the friend group you settled into. You liked the life you’ve been living. Most importantly, you liked the relationship you had with Peter. Any other feeling besides friendship felt null and void. You could easily give it up to stay friends with Peter, but that doesn’t seem like an option.

“Pete, I wanted to talk about-” The bell cuts you off before you finish your sentence.

Normally, the bell wouldn’t stop you from talking. Throughout the class, you and Peter would continue to make small talk as you paid attention to the lesson. But Peter turns away from you and stares back at the board. You knew this wasn’t a topic that you could just push onto him, you were on the outside looking in. Opening your backpack, you grab his notebook and slowly slide it sideways across the table.

“The webs are impressive by the way.” You complimented, mouth curling into a small smile.

Peter ignores your comment and grabs the notebook. In another reality or situation, he would’ve been extremely flattered by the compliment, but all he did was avoid your stare. He spaces off the rest of the class and you could tell by the emptiness in his face. You were in the same boat. Words went in one ear and numbers out the other. This was probably the trickiest class for you and you knew you needed to pay attention. But when there’s a human-sized obstacle sitting right next to you, everything else was blocked.

You couldn’t blame Peter. He could go rob a bank and you wouldn’t blame him. He was dying. It seemed like it was your fault. You touched him and you were the one that was running toward him for a confrontation. The thought only makes you more disheartened. When class is over, he quickly heads for the door and is one of the first people to leave. You don’t go running after him, not right now. Slowly standing up from your chair, you leave the classroom and head to your next class.

Fortunately (or unfortunately) for both you and Peter’s sake, you had different classes third period. The only friend in your English class was Ned and you had a feeling that might be just as awkward. You weren’t sure how much he knew of the situation.

Walking toward your desk, you make eye contact with Ned. You tried to force a genuine smile for him as he awkwardly sends one back. He seemed unsure of what to say to you, his thumb rubbing back and forth on his pen. Your smile turns into a look of concern as you sit down.

For midterms, your English class had to write research essays, but you and Ned both finished yours early. Proud that you didn’t procrastinate on your work, you wish you both had something to keep yourself occupied. You turn your head to look at Ned, but when he turns back, you look away. Your leg was shaking, and you were torn between talking or keeping your mouth shut. Taking in a deep breath, you grab your chair and move it next to Ned’s desk.

“Hey,” You whispered so the whole class didn’t hear you.  

“Hey Y/N.” Ned replies.

“Do you know?”

“Know what?”

“You know… the thing?” You asked, referring to the soulmate situation.

Your eyes widened, trying to give him the look. It only left Ned confused, and to be honest, a little scared. You had a slightly crazy look in your eyes like you were on the hunt for something.

“There’s a thing?” He questioned.

“Peter… me…”

“Spider-Man?” He does know, about one thing at least. How could Peter trust him but not you?

“What no, that’s not what I’m talking about dude.”

“Oh. Well, then he’s not Spider-Man…” You give him an are you kidding me look, squinting your eyes.

“I already know his secret, Ned. I’m asking if you know about last night.” You wanted to know how Peter felt so you could help him. The silence was understandable, but he couldn’t do it forever.

Ned bites his lip and takes a deep inhale. “Well, I know some.” You nod your head, encouraging him to continue. “All he said was you two were soulmates, but Spider-Man would just put you in danger. That’s pretty much it. But it was weird though, he seemed super out of it this morning. Like something else was bothering him.”

You swallow hard. Peter didn’t give him much to go off of so you don’t say anything else. You give a half-smile to Ned as a way of saying thanks. Neither one of you knew what to say, and Ned hated the awkward silence. Ned’s eyes light up and he turns to grab something from his bag.

“Hey, we still have thirty minutes left of class. Do you want to play World of Warcraft with me?” He smiles, opening up his laptop.

You let out a soft chuckle at the offer, appreciating the gesture. Ned truly was one of the sweetest guys ever. You’re jealous of whoever gets to end up with him.

“Hell yeah, dude.” You grin, scooting your chair closer to him.

That was the first real smile from today.

 Peter had successfully avoided you for the rest of the school day. He skipped out on lunch to study in the library. In the two other classes you shared, he managed to be the first one in there and picked a spot in the back corner. By the time you got into class, most of the spots around him were taken, leaving you to sit close to the front. The boy thought he was in the clear when he opened the front doors to head out. He stopped walking to take in the fresh air and let the traffic lighten up. However, you got there faster and were already outside. You realized that Peter would try to avoid talking to you forever, but you both needed answers now.

You both spot each other at the same time. Peter was a deer in headlights, but he took his feet and try to quickly walk away from you. He was so close to the gates before you stopped right in front of him. You were concerned, how could you not be? Peter stops too, not moving away from you. The expression on his face was hard to read, but you could see his jaw tense up. Has it always been that chiseled?

You swat away the ridiculous thought. It was a miracle that you were able to catch up to him, especially at the speed he was going at. Afraid that he could run away at any given moment, you opened your mouth.

“I let you ignore me all day, but I know you’re going to keep at it unless I stop it. I have no idea what to say right now, but that doesn’t mean you should run-”

Once there were fewer students in the way, Peter started to push away from you. He didn’t know what to say anyway, what was the point?

“I’m sorry Y/N but I should be going.”

“Peter please…” You trail off, but it was no use.

“I-I’m sorry. I just, I need to go.” Peter excuses himself as he took a running start before jumping over the ten-foot gate in front of you.

Was he always this obvious? Jesus, dude.

“I’m not going to stop until we talk!” You yelled, but you doubted he heard.

However, Peter’s senses were able to pick up your exclamation, much to his dismay. He hated that he didn’t talk to you all day, but looking at you brought a wave of emotions. Confusion, panic, fear. The idea of confronting what was at hand seemed hard, but manageable. But when it actually happens, or almost happens, it feels like he’s looking at a black hole. If he got too close, he might get sucked in.

He turned a corner and was met with an alleyway. Webbing his bag to the wall, he starts changing into his alter-ego. Halfway into getting into his suit, Peter starts to breath heavier. It felt like he was struck by lightning, all of his senses going into overload. Seconds later, his chest is heaving. Oxygen couldn’t get into his system fast enough, the buildings around him tilting and spinning. The pain in his upper body increased and the rest of him started to burn up. He had an urge to be dunked into cold water, but he already felt like he was drowning. Knees buckling, he collapsed to the ground as his face almost meets the ground. Peter found his mask but kept struggling to open the hole for his head. He stretched the fabric as far as it could go and onto his head. Lopsided at first from his shaky hands, the mask adjusted itself and starts tracking his vitals. The mask helped calm down his enhanced senses, but it only does so much. The nausea remained as the world started to settle. Peter could see that besides his heartrate being over 150, he was perfectly fine health-wise. Too bad he still felt like he was dying.

The thought crossing his mind made his face scrunch in agony as hot tears began to spill. A cold breeze passes by and Peter slowly finishes getting dressed. He continues to leave the mask on to hide his tears, even if the mask isn’t fully soaking them up. The mask hides his identity from the world and puts up a barrier. Bad guys don’t see his fear, and he can pretend that he’s not scared. Hiding his cries, he pretends that his life hasn’t changed. After regaining control of his breathing and heart rate, he bites his lip hard as he blinks away the last of his tears. Crime was living on the streets and he needed to stop it. As he shoots a web, he takes a deep breath and ignores his burning, red eyes. For now, he’s just a friendly, living, neighborhood Spider-Man.

——-

 May treated you as if you were her child, so it wasn’t a surprise when she let you into her apartment with ease. You felt guilty for doing so, but you tried to assure yourself it was for good reason. You wanted to help Peter and possibly save him. Whatever you could do to help, you wanted to figure it out. The only way to do so is to talk to him, which is why you decided to wait in his room until he came back. May said he was at the “Stark Internship” and should be back soon, all you had to do was wait.

More than thirty minutes pass and you were growing impatient. You didn’t do anything to pass the time, as if occupying yourself was disrespecting the matter. All you could was think and try to imagine the fear he must be experiencing. Maybe he knew it was a possibility given his job, but you knew Peter. He looked out for others before himself. You were similar in that way, which is why you two worked so well together. You looked out for one another, which is why you were sitting on his bed waiting for him to come home.

You pull your knees to your chest and place your chin on top. Studying has put a toll on you and the lack of sleep from last night didn’t help either. Fatigue began to creep in as your eyes started to close. You would’ve had completely fallen asleep if it weren’t for Peter opening his window, crawling inside.

He locks the window, snapping you out of your catnap. You look around the room to find it empty. Well, all except a red and blue spider on the ceiling. You closed the door after you came in, so you were able to yell, “What the fuck Peter?” with more volume.

He didn’t even notice you when he came in, too busy trying to be silent. You were the last person he thought he would see. The surprise was so alarming, he loses his grip, back meeting the carpet with a loud smack.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry.” You panic, leaning forward on his bed.  

He only replies in a grunt, slightly in pain.

“A-are you okay?” You ask.

“Yeah, I’m great. Just perfect.” He says as he starts to sit up, taking off his mask.

There was more sarcasm laced in his voice than normal. You figured it wasn’t due to the fall, although that probably didn’t help. A wave of guilt hits you once again. The meeting wasn’t ideal, but it had to do.

Peter begins to stand up, taking off his mask. His face looked more tired than it did this morning and his eyes were slightly swollen. Neither of you says anything as you both knew why you were here.

“I can’t even imagine what you’re feeling right now. And I know this isn’t the best idea, but it was the only idea I had. I get why you’re avoiding this, but I want to help. You’re my best friend Peter, you’re so important to me. So please, can we talk? For both our sakes.”

You looked like you were on the verge of tears, which pulled on Peter’s heartstrings even more. He couldn’t run away from you, a clever move on your part. You couldn’t solve anything if you didn’t talk about it, and Peter really missed not talking to you, even if it was only for a day. It might’ve been the dread, but school felt bleak and boring without you. Even though he ignored you in chemistry, it was still the most interesting part of his day.

The silence got less awkward as you could see Peter thinking. He sighs and gives you a small nod, agreeing. You give him a small smile in response.

“I didn’t actually think this far through; I was so nervous just to come over.” Peter quietly chuckles at your lack of preparation. His face warms up to you, boosting your confidence. It’s just Peter. Your friend Peter.

“Wait actually,” Peter interrupts. “Do you mind if I change out of the suit? It’s just, May doesn’t know so…”

“Oh, yeah sure. Sorry.”

You don’t move, however, confusing the brown-haired boy.

“Oh, you meant here. Right. My bad. I’ll just, yeah.” You stutter, motioning that you’ll turn around.

It takes you a second to realize his suit was different. More high tech, probably Tony Stark’s doing. In the future, he was wearing an older suit, one from his earlier YouTube videos. A relief fills your body. It might not happen after all, with an upgrade like this he would never go back to his original Spider-Man costume.

Peter presses the spider on his chest and his suit loosens and slips right off of him. He rummages around for a shirt and you start to slowly turn your head toward him before you even realized. It wasn’t a good idea, but there was a sudden urge of curiosity that made you want to look. What you saw made you draw back a breath. You figured Spider-Man had a lot of muscle, but seeing it on Peter was different. The idea that they were the same person is still very new to you, so you couldn’t help but stare.

If you had to describe Peter’s attractiveness, the only word you could use was “cute”. Looking at him now, you could see it wasn’t the case. He was beautiful, hot even. Your stare wasn’t a sexual one, but one of admiration. Part of you thought you were starting to notice who Peter truly was. He quickly puts a baggy shirt and some sweatpants, and you look away at the last second. A pink blush warms your cheeks. When he’s fully composed, you turn and both look at each other. Peter seemed to be at a loss for words as his mouth kept opening, almost looking like a fish with his pathetic attempt. You flash an awkward smile before starting the conversation.  

“I’m sorry. I know I’m pushing it, but I’m at a loss right now. You’re my first priority, forever and always. I’m always here for you, even if you don’t want me to be.” Peter flashes you a sheepish smile at your words. “But why, Peter? Why would you keep this from me?”

You were trying to ease him into an easier conversation, although without the whole soulmate doom looming over you, this subject wasn’t an effortless manner to discuss. Peter sighs, remorse shown on his face.

“You’re my first priority too, I care about you so much. The last thing I want is for you to get hurt, fo-for anyone to get hurt.” He stutters at the last part. “But I have an obligation to save the city. The world doesn’t hand around powers like these to anyone, so I need to use them. I didn’t want anyone to be caught in the storm, especially you. Ned found out on his own when he caught me red-handed, I didn’t mean for him to know. But I should’ve told you afterwards too, and I’m sorry about that. I was just looking out for you and everyone else.” The confession earns Peter a half-smile from you.

“It’s okay, Pete. It hurts, yeah. But I’ll get there.” You never use this nickname on him very often, but it felt like the right time to do so. “I understand, I probably would’ve done the same thing. I was just shocked, you’re the Spider-Man after all.”

A small chuckle surrounds the two of you, the first smile between you two today. You wish you had more time to process this more, but both of you had more important issues. Knowing that eventually you’ll get over his secrecy, you accept his apology. He did it because he cared, and you shouldn’t be mad at someone for caring.

“I’m going to be honest, Peter, I don’t know what else to say. Surely you have a million thoughts running through your head.” You encourage, hoping he’ll shed some light on how he’s feeling.

“I-I, I don’t know actually.” He shrugs.

“Oh. Okay, uh, that’s fine. I guess we’re on the same page.” You say, followed by an awkward and uncomfortable laugh.

Nothing? How could he be so nonchalant about all this? Peter seems so calm and collected, you weren’t sure if he realized the situation at hand. Or maybe he does, and he’s just in denial of it all. You weren’t sure which of the two it was. Hesitant on asking, you tried to think of something else to say. However, Peter stops you from speaking again.

“Actually, this is kinda weird. Um, you see the thing is, I’ve been interested in Liz lately.”

The confession made you surprised and hurt, to say the least. You figured Peter would at least feel a slight attraction like you did, given the news that the two of you were soulmates. But you also couldn’t blame him for eyeing Liz. Popular, smart, beautiful in every way, of course, Peter would be into the captain of his decathlon team. Well, his used-to-be decathlon team. It now makes more sense as to why Peter quit, yet another club he left you behind in.

“Th-that-that is great. She-she is great.” You reply, trying to make this conversation less awkward.

“Yeah, I know that’s not how it works…”

No shit, Sherlock. We end up together no matter what.

”But I don’t know, she’s cool and I want to get to know her. It’s not like, illegal to date your non-soulmate. Plus, she seems like she likes me enough, why not at least try?”

Why try when you have your freaking soulmate right next to you? Why are you so dense?

You wanted to scream these thoughts at him. Grab his shoulders and shake some sense into him. But you couldn’t push Peter, not now, maybe not ever. Going along with whatever he said seemed easier for him, and hopefully you too.

“Yeah no, I get it.” You lie.

How could you get it? You’ve had eyes on him for more than half a year. The soulmate discovery only confirmed that your feelings were real and not a fling. You had the love of your life right in front of your eyes, but he was nothing but a ghost right now. Wasn’t the concept of soulmates supposed to make love easier? The romantic comedies that you watched were set in universes that didn’t have this luxury, and it was a pain seeing them try to find “the one”. You pitied the characters, but now it seems like you’re one and the same.

“So, what do you want to do about all this? About us, or whatever.”

“Uh, nothing really.” Peter awkwardly crosses his arms. “I mean, there’s nothing really to do, right? I mean, I don’t really like you in that way.”

Ouch.

“So, yeah. I say let’s just keep doing what we’re doing. S’been working for a couple years already, why ruin our friendship?”

You nod at Peter, but your eyes try to look anywhere but at his. Every time he opens his mouth, he’s ripping your heart bit by bit. But the situation is just too much and too awkward, it seems that your heart is too busy to be broken right now. Maybe his idea is what’s best after all, though to your dismay. Both of you were in agreement, and you were off on your depressing way. The journey home felt like the longest ten minutes of your life.

And that was that; the rest of the week at school goes by as if nothing happened between you two. He would sit next to you at lunch and joke around with Ned with a smile on his face, and it actually seemed genuine. Peter was not a good liar, but when your life is on the line, perhaps anyone’s inner actor can be brought out. You reluctantly continue with your life, cracking half-ass jokes across the chemistry table. Midterms came and gone, you and all your friends passing with flying colors. It kept you all occupied for the last two days, and any awkward conversation was blamed on your focus toward your studies. To the outside, it seemed that your friendship was the same as it’s always been. And maybe to Peter, it felt the same way.

But in the back of your heads, you know better. You could never look at each other the same again.

Masterlist / Part 2