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soonyoungblr · 1 year
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WHEN OUR PATHS CROSS AGAIN — A YOON JEONGHAN SOCIAL MEDIA AU.
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plot: y/n is a business student, living the peaceful life—except from the odd chaos from their group of friends. however, the peace is interrupted when their professor pairs them up for a project with their arch nemesis from high school; yoon jeonghan. can they put their differences behind them and work together or will they bicker like old times?
pairing: yoon jeonghan x gender neutral reader
genre: enemies to lovers, uni au, a slight love triangle, fluff, angst, comedy, my terrible jokes, some written parts
warnings: swearing, lots & lots of bickering, friendly insults, mentions of heartbreak, y/n and their friends pick on each other (affectionately of course!), jeonghan and y/n annoy tf out of each other
starring: members of seventeen
release date: early october.
schedule updates: every one to three days.
status: ongoing
a/n: my first svt sm au!!! and actually the first time i'm writing for seventeen which is baffling because i've loved them for six years :(( i hope you guys enjoy this one 🌱
PLEASE IGNORE THE YEAR ON THE TIMESTAMPS.
permanent taglist: @honeyhuii @soobin-chois @fylithia @enhacolor @ja4hyvn @maiverie @bambisgirl @hiqhkey @its-madi @byeolwonnie @yizhoutv
general taglist (open): @shuatm @end-hyphen @yeosangiehwa @kayleeshinee @justasoftstan @strawberri-uyu @90s-belladonna @hochipochi @sunflowerbebe07 @mingiholic @strawberry-shortest-cake @sollum @angeltetae @amethyistheart @starryyeonjun @minhui896 @joshuaahong @zuzu-the-simp @wanna-skinny @blinkjunhui @anothershorthuman @flrtsbin @minhwa @woozarts @ahnneyong @canberrachloe
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✏️ = written part
profiles — y/n's squad ♡ jeonghan's squad
one — perseverance and determination
two — i would never help a criminal
three — hey google, how do i start a conversation with my enemy ✏️
four — sources tell me you're a brat
five — i messed up... ✏️
six — ice cream solves everything
seven — confidential information
eight — thoughts are being thought 👀
nine — #TEAMCHARLIE ✏️
ten — u moody skyscraper
eleven — you are insufferable, yoon jeonghan
twelve — confession
thirteen — wanna get coffee?
fourteen — always gonna be there <3 ✏️
fifteen — new friends 🥰
sixteen — the ex
seventeen — winner pays for lunch
eighteen — wouldn't wanna be chan rn
nineteen — door: 1, y/n: 0
twenty — friends? friends
twenty-one — birthday ♡
twenty-two — hot topic 👀
twenty-three — *sigh*
twenty-four — we're a family
twenty-five — taking the b down
twenty-six — NOT. A. DATE. ✏️
twenty-seven — your secret santa is........
twenty-eight — do you wanna build snowman?
twenty-nine — told you i'd win
thirty — i'm nicer than you
thirty-one
thirty-two
...more to come!
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armysantiny · 1 year
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-[Jungkook; soft bf headcanon
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P: Jungkook x gender neutral reader | G: fluff, headcanon | Inc: tooth-rotting fluff lmao, jk being a sweetheart, couple vlogs, domestic home dates, adrenaline junkie bf, I'm jealous of you lol | Wc: 341 | W: food cw | R: G
Minnie's notes: lol I had this on the backburner for a while-
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Oh he is the loveliest of boyfriends
You cannot convince me otherwise
I mean
You’re dating the cutest dork, what did you expect?
Absolutely abuses his ability to lift you up when he hugs you
Fr sweeps you off of your feet
Does not and will not stand for any y/n slander if you even hint that you’re worried you’re too heavy for him
Darling he will bench-press you to prove a point—
He absolutely lives for your smile
Sleepy smiles, goofy smiles, shy smiles – the lot I’m telling you
So expect this man to pull off the goofiest shit when you’re together
Even when the members come round to visit
Jungkook is not shy of back-hugging you and smothering you in neck kisses
His favourite kind
And you have such a kissable neck (his words), how could he possibly not?
Speaking of neck kisses
This man will just bury his nose into your neck at random intervals just bc
Legit goes
“mmm…you smell nice :)”
Is big, big, big fan of home dates where you put on a selection of movies, get all your favourite snacks/take-out and binge-watching them together
Even spices it up by picking ‘bad’ movies to lose your collective shit over
Is definitely an amusement park date bf, you cannot tell me otherwise
Mr adrenaline junkie over here
His competitive ass is making sure that he wins that plush for you
I like to think it goes without saying either tbh
But Jungkookie is 100% loved by your friends
A walking green flag I tell you
He becomes comfortable with your friends really quick too
Probably becomes close friends with some of them
Definitely likes vlogging with you
Creates a vlog channel for the two of you to share his favourite memories
Y’all are couple goals I’m legit jealous
People in the comments fr out here vicariously living their couple fantasies through you two I swear
But anyway—
Dating this man is an adventure every second of the way
There’s absolutely never a dull moment
You better treasure this man
Or else lol/j
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© copyright work of armysantiny 2022-2023
Networks: @kwritersworld, @kdiarynet, @ultkpopnetwork, @whipped-kpop-creators, @prism-nw, @k-library, @knet-bakery, @aandmlibrary, @hybenet, @bangtanarmynet, @btshoneyhive, @btscreatorscorner, @castlebangtan
If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading! Consider reblogging, leaving some feedback or donating to my kofi!
Taglist: @teeztheflag, @jeonqquk, @mikailo666, @iiindigocheesecake, @xavi-in-kpopland| Taglist form
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solneur · 1 year
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— ENHYPEN TEACHING YOU HOW TO DRIVE!
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SYNOPSIS. how enhypen would teach you how to drive.
PAIRINGS. enhypen x gn!reader
GENRE. mostly crack,, a lil fluff ig?
WARNINGS. ni-ki’s kinda careless lol... (PLS DO NOT EXECUTE IN REAL LIFE!!!) but that’s it i think
WORD COUNT. 0.5k (511)
AUTHOR’S NOTE. i started learning how to drive a few days ago and it inspired me to make this ! pls do remember that this is fictional and it does not portray the idols’ behavior in real life !!
HEESEUNG — makes fun of you throughout the whole thing.
we already know heeseung, he’s a huge tease. as soon as your hands grip onto the steering wheel, he’s already making fun of you. mans is laughing throughout the entirety of the drive, only occasionally giving you tips. he’s especially cackling when you accidentally hit the curb stop.
“i have never seen anyone this bad at driving.”
JAY — the quiet observer.
probably the most patient one out of everyone. sits quietly in the passenger’s seat while you drive. mumbles a “good job” when you do something right and confidently takes hold of the steering wheel when you start to panic and don’t know what to do. is surprisingly calm when you park the car, which scares you a little.
“not too bad.”
JAKE — extremely supportive.
is cheering you on from the passenger’s seat. he’s hyping you up for hours. gets very excited when you park correctly for the first time. even when you accidentally do something wrong, jake is super supportive and assures you that it’s okay. his constant energy amazes you, and you do your best to not let his efforts go to waste.
“see, i knew you could do it!”
SUNGHOON — worries too much.
as soon as you step on the pedal, he’s already a nervous wreck. sits stiff in the passenger’s seat while you drive. acts like a drama king when you step on the brakes too hard (according to him). is screaming bloody murder for his life when you make a mistake, and you have to tell him to shut up so you can concentrate and get it right.
“no!! i’m too handsome to die!!!”
SUNOO — the thorough explainer.
is really good at explaining how to maneuver the car. stays calm while you drive, never missing his cue on when to tell you to slow down or come to a stop. he makes driving seem like a piece of cake, and that’s exactly how it feels like when he’s the one teaching you. has a small smile on his face when he sees you driving with ease.
“i told you it would be easy.”
JUNGWON — stresses caution while driving.
emphasizes safety and is constantly reminding you to be careful while you drive. more worried about you than himself. is glancing at you from time to time to make sure you’re okay. hovers a little, but it’s more endearing than annoying. holds his arm out in front of you when you have to hit the brakes unexpectedly because he wants you to be safe.
“please, please, please be careful.”
NI-KI — a little reckless.
this man literally does not care. if the light turns yellow, he’s yelling at you to go faster despite your protests. if you run into a car waiting to turn into the road you’re driving on, he’s telling you to pass them. will not hesitate to make some rash decisions. however, you still follow the road laws and keep him in check, leaving him huffing and puffing in the passenger’s seat.
“what are you doing? go!!!”
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© solneur, 2023. do not copy, repost, or translate.
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serialee · 1 year
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Reject holding hands x ateez please
Ateez Reacts: Handholding Rejection
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genre: sfw - fluff [220 wc]
paring: mingi/wooyoung/jongho x gn.reader
warning: none
○ 'NEVERLAND MASTERLIST' || 'NAVIGATION'
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◆ SONG MINGI ◆
Very confused. Rapid blinking eyes kind of confused.
Looks at his hands, then to yours then back to his for a few seconds.
Starts getting 'teary' eyes and starts sulking, mouth a frown; silently worried he did something wrong.
"Baby .. nooo! What's wrong, did I do something? You ok? Heyy!"
Please link hands with him again or he will continue to be sad
◆ JUNG WOOYOUNG ◆
Notices your hand removing his even before you completely reject it.
Goes absolutely ballistic and starts 'warning you' to try and do that again.
Connect his hand again and uses all his strength so you can't remove it again.
"Ah ah ah!! Excuse me!! And what exactly do you think you're doing? Absolutely not!"
Might catch on but he will continue to be as dramatic as he possibly can ... so good luck!
◆ CHOI JONGHO ◆
Takes a few second to notice that his hand is no longer connected to your thigh.
Gets confused before catching on immediately, then smirks to himself.
Says "alright, bet" and actually plays along. Will not let you reconnect even if you beg for it.
"Jongho ... baby!! Jongho pleasee come back sjdosj i'm sorry!!!"
Hears you crystal clear but is playfully ignoring you ... you better start running to catch up.
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↬ Let me know if you'd like to be added into // taken off tags.
↬ My other works will be listed under 'neverland' || 'navigation'.
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ijhyo · 2 years
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TXT : FOOD AS A LOVE LANGUAGE
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pairing. ot5 x gn reader
summary. or, alternatively, the subtle romanticism of sharing food
genre. fluff ; established relationship (can be read as platonic) warnings. food (obvi) ; reader is sick in yeonjun's one wc. 629
notes. can we pls cook together and make a mess in the kitchen and not care and clean it up together and tell each other how good it tastes and be so so in love? i saw a tweet talking about how food covers all five love languages using txt as examples and i am crazy and wrote this in like 30 minutes
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— ✧ S O O B I N
“Oh my gosh, I just found a recipe for triple chocolate brownies.”
You look up from your phone to find Soobin standing over you with a crazed look in his eyes. “Did you, now?” you ask.
He nods enthusiastically. “Yeah, I remembered you saying how you were craving them yesterday so I searched some recipes and found the perfect one.”
You have to bite back the smile that threatens to break out on your face. “You could have just bought some.”
“Well, yeah, but I wanted to bake them together.”
This time, you can’t control it and a smile spreads on your face. “Okay, yeah, sure, let’s bake.”
— ✧ Y E O N J U N
“Come on, eat up.” You groan from your place on the couch, throwing an arm over your head, much to the amusement of your boyfriend. Undeterred by your antics, Yeonjun simply brings the spoon closer to your mouth. “Here comes the airplane,” he sing-songs, much to your chagrin.
You have a half a mind to swat his hand away and you would if you weren’t so weak.
“I don’t want to eat,” you croak out, the words scratching out of your throat. “My throat hurts.”
Yeonjun pouts worriedly, a crease forming between his eyebrows that you just want to kiss away. “I know, baby, but this will help you feel better. Let me feed you?”
He looks so cute, how could you deny him? With a huff, you push yourself up and open your mouth wordlessly. You are rewarded with a kiss ob your head and a blinding smile from Yeonjun.
— ✧ B E O M G Y U
“You can have the last slice,” you say gesturing to the pizza left in the box.
Beomgyu’s eyes flit between you and the pizza in question curiously. “Really?” You just shrug in response.
“Yeah, it’s no big deal.”
He hums thoughtfully and when you think he is about to eat it, he reaches for a knife and cuts the pizza in half. “There,” he says, putting one half on your plate, “we’ll both have the last slice.”
— ✧ T A E H Y U N
“What do you want for dinner?” Taehyun asks, approaching where you have been working on schoolwork for the past few hours.
You answer noncommittally, barely looking up from the books in front of you. “Um, I don’t know, we can just order something.”
Taehyun nods silently and retreats back into the kitchen. You don’t hear from him again until you finally finish your work and assume that he’s kept your food aside for you.
Surprised is an understatement for what you feel when you see the kitchen counter full of various side dishes and the Taehyun putting dishes away in the sink. “Did you cook this?” you ask taking a seat.
“Duh,” Taehyun deadpans, turning to face you. “You need to eat real food when you’re working that hard, dummy.”
You can’t help but smile despite the insult tacked on the end of his confession. “I’ll help with the washing up.”
— ✧ H U E N I N G K A I
“Here, try mine.” Kai holds out his ice cream cone for you, carefully pulling you closer to him so you don’t accidentally bump into anyone on the sidewalk.
You hum appreciatively at the taste, the flavour differing from the one you picked from yourself. When he pulls it back, he looks at you expectantly and you give him an enthusiastic thumbs up.
He grins widely and wordlessly takes a bite out of your own ice cream that you are holding out for him. “Ooh!” he squeals approvingly and goes in for a second bite.
“Stop it, you have your own!” you exclaim indignantly even though you know you would share him anyways.
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taglist. @hyukaas @xysthe @tsupuffs @yjwfav @mykalon @junityy @iyeonjuni @fairybinie @enhacolor @j6han @jjhmk @acciomylove @yeonjunsgf777 @soobin-chois @chosoluvr @bettyschwallocksyee @tatansoobin @liamsholygrail @wccycc @iichaeyj (fill form to be added)
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petrichor-han · 2 years
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blood is thicker than water | n.rk
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PAIRING | vampire!prince!ni-ki x gn!vampire!reader 
IDOLS FEATURED | nishimura riki, yang jungwon, kim sunoo, park sunghoon, jake sim, jay park, lee heeseung, kim seungmin, yang jeongin, bang chan, lee minho (mentioned), min yoongi, choi beomgyu (mentioned)
WC | 31.3k
GENRE | dark fantasy, royalty!au, vampire!au, body switch!au, enemies to lovers to enemies, angst
WARNINGS | gore, bullying due to social hierarchy, explicit language, major character death, ni-ki uses “vampire slurs” in a very derogatory way, blood drinking in a non-sexual manner, public humiliation, technical cannibalism, graphic descriptions of death, subtle allusions to racism and classism irl by using the aforementioned vampire hierarchy, choking, all-around violence, bad relationships with family, mentions of public hanging, one mention of the royal title “princess”, guilt
SYNOPSIS | the vampire hierarchy is built upon the four ancient pure-blooded families: the lee family, the park family, the kim family, and the nishimura family. the nishimura family is the purest of them all, and the crown prince nishimura riki knows it: and he makes sure that everyone around him knows it too. however, there are loopholes and tricks that one can use to worm their way into the elite society and rub shoulders with the royals, which half-blood (y/n) (l/n) has taken advantage of. but riki doesn’t like the scum that’s beginning to rot away his golden crown, and it becomes a cat-and-mouse game of who can top the other, until one day an unexpected accident brings them closer together, and then further apart than they could ever imagine.
A/N | this is my addition to the underworld eclipse collab hosted by @wonjaems, @dimplehyunn, and @iwonzzi! make sure to check out all of the other stories in this collab, as they are absolutely wonderful! a very special thank you to the hosts and co-host of this collab, along with everyone else who participated in it. this fic was a long time coming, and i hope that you enjoy—it sure took a lot out of me. 
request to be added to current and future taglists here!
MASTERLIST | TEASER
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prologue. 
Fate was a cruel hunter. 
As you stood in the middle of the vast ballroom, filled to the brim with glitzy, uptight purebloods, you thought you would rather die than move a damned muscle. Dark, thick blood dripped down your face, turning your vision red for more than one reason. Yet, you didn’t move; you were frozen, stuck to the polished floors, unable to even let out a peep as hushed whispers and murmurs swept the room. It was only when he jumped down in front of you, landing only slightly awkwardly on his feet, that everything clicked into place, and you took off running through the halls, as if you were Cinderella and the clock had just struck midnight. 
But of course, you were no princess, and this was no fairy tale. 
No. This was something much darker, and you were something much less pure. 
Your fangs emerged at the scent of fresh blood, and you collapsed as you finally reached the bottom of the grand staircase, the scent completely overwhelming your senses. 
i. 
You probably should have predicted what happened at the ball, but you didn’t. You were a fool, blinded by the fancy invitation that had arrived at your door that morning, with real gold leaf pressed into the delicate lettering, the faint scent of blood and roses woven deep into the thick paper. The smell of vampires. The smell of him. 
Of course, you supposed it was technically your scent too, but no one ever said anything about it. The wolves you knew never gagged when you walked by, never said anything about how all they could smell was the filthy redness of your diet. Not like what they said to the real vampires, the purebloods at school. No matter how deeply you inhaled the smell of your own clean skin, all you could smell was soap. Maybe it was a good thing; even though you had no problem eating your meals, the smell of it always made you queasy. 
You were never really included when it came to the race wars either. You never sided with the humans nor the wolves, and the vampires never accepted you as their own kin either. You belonged to no clan, and certainly not one of any significant name, so you always sat off to the side, watching the creatures growl and hiss at each other, complaining about the stench of wet dog, the sound of tempting rushing blood, and icy cold skin that sent chills down the spine of any nearby mortal. 
Perhaps if you had had just one friend, just one vampire that was more than decent towards you, you wouldn’t have gone to the ball. You wouldn’t have made such a stupid mistake that nearly cost your status and everything you had been working so hard for. But you were alone, always alone. Stuck in the terrible, terrible kingdom ruled by the most terrible pureblood family of them all. And worst of all, the heir to the throne, Nishimura Riki, wasn’t shy about his hatred towards you and your so-called unclean, tainted blood. When you had retaliated the first time you met him face-to-face, you ended up with that tainted blood dripping from your nose; one of his goons had socked you in the face without hesitation. And that monster did nothing but laugh at your shocked expression, your utter disbelief. 
From that moment on, you swore you would do anything to beat Riki, even if all you could do was take the top spot in your academic classes. It was a small, hollow victory in the sense of it all, but a victory nonetheless. And you dangled it above his head like he was a damned animal, waving it closer and closer until he grabbed for it, and you tauntingly jerked it out of reach. But maybe you got too cocky, because you forgot that his father was in charge of everything, and by the next day your name had been pushed down to second place, and Riki’s name was written in big bold black letters on the class list in first place. 
Damn these rich vampires, was all you could think as you put your head down and studied even harder for your next test, even though you knew he would just buy his way up to the top spot again. 
So perhaps that was why you wanted to go to the ball so badly anyways, to show Riki that you were in fact, a vampire, and were worthy of stepping foot inside his stupid castle. After all, no one else seemed to have a problem with you, although it would be a stretch to say anyone did more than tolerate you, except for Yang Jungwon. 
Ah, Yang Jungwon. The innocent little witch who huddled at your side when the race wars at school were taking place, for he was the only witch in his age group for miles around; he had to take classes with those much older than him. The next nearest witch was his brother, Jeongin, who mainly resided in the Kim kingdom and practiced his magic there. Jungwon had once told you that after he graduated from the prestigious academy in the Nishimura kingdom, his brother promised that he would be able to move there with him, and they could do as much magic as they wanted there. It seemed that the Kim kingdom was more accepting of outsiders, and for a moment you wondered if you should go there too. But then Riki had walked by, shoving your textbooks to the floor and scattering your brand-new quills, and you cursed his name in your mind for the millionth time, swearing that you wouldn’t leave this damned land until you showed him what you were truly made of. 
So, you went to the ball. 
You didn’t tell Jungwon of course, he was the closest thing you had to a friend and you knew he was downright terrified of Riki and anything that had anything to do with him. You got ready on your own, in your cramped little bathroom in your cozy home on the edge of the village, wondering just what was waiting for you at the castle. You had never set foot inside; most vampires hadn’t. Only the royals and the high-status ones frequented the large stone building atop the hill that overlooked the rest of the kingdom, and you were not quite a part of that crowd, although you knew that your name was well-known and gossiped about often. They would know who you were as soon as you walked in, although it wouldn’t just be because of the rumors. 
Using what little money you had left from your job at the nearby village café, you paid for a carriage to take you uphill to the castle, wishing that you were able to use money so freely every day; although the distance you were traveling today was much further than simply going to the academy. You peered out the slightly grimy window, pressing your gloved hand against the foggy glass, and watched the villagers walk by, selling their wares, unaware of how life-changing this moment was for you. You almost waved at someone from school with how giddy you felt, but retracted your hand as soon as they realized who you were, and suddenly you were glad that the horses decided to pick up the pace at that very moment. 
The carriage halted to a stop as the driver calmed the horses, and you felt just a little shabby as you looked around at all of the gigantic, expensive golden carriages pulling up in front of the castle, complete with personal chauffeurs and fancy, purebred horses, who were so well-trained that they did not even paw at the ground, instead snorting noisily and raising their heads in the air at the feeling of the cold night chill beginning to sink in. “You a vampire or something?” your carriage driver asked you, and you watched his nose twitch as he sniffed the air. He cringed and tightened his hold on the reins. “You don’t smell like one, but their scent is everywhere.” 
“I am,” you insisted stiffly, and you shoved your coins at him, annoyed, and didn’t even care when he dropped a silver piece that disappeared quickly underfoot as more carriages began arriving. 
Attempting to regain at least some semblance of dignity, and ignoring the way a few teenage vampires to your left with giant updos murmured about you and giggled, you walked up the large, stone staircase, lined with shockingly clean black carpet. Hurriedly, you hitched up your skirts and joined the masses of vampires crowding the front door, painfully aware of how they backed away from you, the crowd parting like the Red Sea.
“What’re they doing here?” someone sneered, and you felt the hair on the back of your neck raise up, their harsh voice sounding like the clashing of swords, making your own blood run cold at the thought of what they would likely do to you if it were allowed.
“They’ll really let anyone in these days,” another voice muttered, and you heard quiet, delicate laughter. No other creature could have such a terrifying laugh, something that mimicked the tinkling of bells, yet carrying the notion that there was something much more malicious underneath that initial elegant giggle.
Refusing to let them get under your skin, you walked through the impressive gates of the Kim castle, unable to contain your pure awe at the sheer size and elegance of it all. You, who lived in a poorer area of the village back home, could never imagine something so fantastic, so magnificent. You had heard things from Jungwon about the Kim kingdom, and it was odd to see things from his stories materialized right before your eyes. His brother Jeongin flew over the castle nearly daily, and had friends who had been inside. He had recounted the details and the tales to Jungwon, who in turn had spun the stories once more to you, although you were a little less interested than Jungwon had been.
Someone jostled you slightly as you walked, making your ankle wobble a little; your fancy shoes weren’t the most steady, and although the path, paved with perfectly level white stones, was even and flat, you found yourself wishing you had chosen something more difficult to embarrass yourself in. It was clear that you weren’t used to being dressed in such upscale clothing, and you knew that your blood status wasn’t the only reason the other vampires were whispering about you. You grit your teeth and did your best to stand upright, keeping your neck straight and jaw clenched.
Once you reached the entrance, finally, you held out your invitation to the skeptical butler, who raised a perfectly sculpted black eyebrow at you before handing it back and gesturing at the door, allowing you in. You could feel his cold gaze glued to your back as you walked in, beginning to think that maybe coming to the Kim kingdom wasn’t the best idea, perhaps, a stupid idea. It was then that you wished you had a vampire friend—you appreciated Jungwon to no end, but as you stood by yourself by the grand marble staircase, looking around and recognizing classmates left and right, you felt more alone than ever. You spotted Sunghoon, dressed in all white, and berating a poor individual, whose dress was caught on their hoopskirt, and for a moment you wanted to go over and help them out, but as you watched Sunghoon stalk off angrily, pushing his ebony hair out of his eyes roughly, you decided against it. The poor thing who had been verbally abused publicly looked stricken, and started up the staircase. You felt just a twinge of jealousy as someone else approached them—even though Sunghoon had been harassing them to no end, any attention still counted as attention. Then you caught a whiff of the air as someone rushed past and ah, there it was, they were a human, that explains all of the attention towards someone who wasn’t a royal.
Glumly, you crossed your arms in front of your chest and tapped your foot on the marble floor, puckering your lips as you looked around the impressive ballroom. You hadn’t spotted the man of the hour yet, unless you counted his main entrance with his mate, which you had just caught the end of as you arrived. Elegant, classical music echoed quietly through the room, and quiet, polite conversation went through one ear and out the other for you. You tried to approach Sunghoon at one point, but he had nearly slapped the shit out of you for even coming near him. You decided against talking to anyone else, especially Prince Minho, whose coming-of-age ceremony was soon too, but the evil glint in his eyes told you that he would very likely eat you alive, even if you were part vampire.
So you cozied your by yourself against a cold marble pillar, swirling your goblet full of thick blood and pretending to take sips of it—you weren’t very thirsty currently, and you felt weird every time you tried to drink, as everyone in your general vicinity would side-eye you curiously as you brought the flask to your lips. If there was one perk of this stupid ceremony, you supposed, it would have to be that you hadn’t seen Riki once all night.
But of course, things couldn’t be too quiet for too long, and as you prepared to take another false sip from your goblet, your vision suddenly turned red, and you felt a massive weight come down on you. Lukewarm liquid sluiced through your nostrils as you tried to breathe—you felt like you were drowning—but why did it smell just like blood? How were you drowning in blood in the middle of a ball? Then you heard it, that dreaded cackle, that evil, evil sound. “Having fun pretending to drink?” Riki asked loudly, and you wiped the blood from your eyes angrily, your vision stained red. He stood there in front of you, clearly having just jumped down from the platform above you, in a sleek black suit, dark hair slicked back in a stupid hairdo, and your hands clenched into fists. “It seemed like you were running out, I got you a ‘refill’,” he said smugly, and if you hadn’t just been publicly humiliated, you would have smacked the shit out of him for his lame attempt at a cool line.
It was then that you realized the entire room had gone silent—even the music had stopped, and everyone was focused on you. Your once pristine skirts were now drenched and dark, and you didn’t even want to imagine what your face looked like. The blood, compiled with your horrified and angry expression, was surely the cause of Riki’s failed attempt to conceal his laughter. You wanted to say something to make Riki just as embarrassed, wanted to make him sorry that he ever crossed you, but when you opened your mouth bile rose in your throat, your legs were reduced to jelly, and you found yourself sprinting out of the ballroom, to the closest restroom, and slamming the door behind you. You couldn’t breathe, whether it was from the blood you had definitely inhaled, or the anxiety from the way you had just been humiliated in front of every important vampire ever, and you clasped a fist to your chest, pounding on it roughly as if that would dislodge the rock of shame that had built itself up and made a home there. Slowly and painfully, you slid down the door, back pressed up against the cool wood, until your bottom hit the ground and jostled you slightly, doing nothing more than upset you further.
ii.
Furiously, nearly feverishly, you rubbed at your drenched skirts with a piece of toilet paper—nice toilet paper, as expected, but toilet paper nonetheless. The reddish brown stains refused to budge, as expected, and a pathetic whimper escaped your parched throat, your eyebrows furrowing in worry and frustration. “Damn it, damn it, damn it,” you whined quietly, voice barely above a whisper. The only thing you had succeeded in doing was leaving small white remnants all over your skirts, which now left pale skids all over the stubborn fabric, obvious proof of your attempted stain removal. Sucking in a deep breath, you waddled over to the shower and stepped in gingerly, shamefully aware of the trail you had left on the previously pristine bathroom floor—and the door, of course, from when you slid down it dramatically, which you now regretted endlessly. Reaching a shaking hand out, you turned on the water, letting the cool, clear liquid drench you further. You watched as red rain down your skin and pooled around the drain, the tainted water swirling around in a circle before disappearing down the deep black hole. You let the water run down your face and ruin your perfect look—it didn’t matter any more anyways, did it? You just wanted the blood gone. 
The water did little to remove the stains from your dress, which you had now accepted as being long gone. Even your shoes, now squishy with water, had turned an orangey color. Not wanting to ruin the bathroom any more than you already had, you took one of the white towels already splattered with blood and tried to dry yourself off after wringing out your clothes and shaking the water droplets from your shoes. The white fabric slowly stained red as well, and you felt guilt pooling in your stomach. 
But then again, the Kim family was loaded. They could afford an entire new bathroom, let alone a single towel. You buried your face in the towel and inhaled deeply to try and calm yourself down before you left your current safe haven. Underneath the irony smell, the fabric still smelled of perfume and cleanliness, and the material was so soft against your face. For the millionth time, you wished you had been born into one of the royal families, if not for the blood status, for the luxury of their every-day lives. 
A harsh knocking on the stained door jolted you out of your thoughts, and you quickly pulled the towel away from your cheek, brushing the hair that had plastered to your skin away from your face nervously—you still had a shred of dignity left after all, and you wanted to preserve that for as long as possible. “Occupied,” you called, voice much clearer and steadier than you thought it would be. 
“Let me in, half-blood,” a harsh voice sneered, and your veins froze up at the familiar voice. 
“... No,” you said, nearly a whisper, afraid to raise your voice any higher. 
You were met with mere silence, until a heart-stopping pounding on the door made you nearly jump out of your skin. “I said, let me in,” Riki hissed, and you shook your head side-to-side violently, as if he could see you through the wooden door. He pounded on the door again, shaking its squeaky-clean silver hinges, shifting them as if they were weak, old, and rusted. He hit the door again and again, until he stopped once more. You could hear his heavy breathing, his harsh exhales, and you could just imagine the sweat beading on his upper lip and the narrowing of his angry eyes. He hit the door just once more, but this time it sounded different—he was kicking it. And it was successful. 
How, you weren’t sure, but he managed to knock the door off its hinges with just brute strength—maybe it came with his stupid pureblood powers. You were shaking against your will, not wanting to show him that you were afraid, but you had caught a glimpse of his reddish iris peeking at you through the crack of the now-slanted door, and it had sent a stab of pure fear straight to your heart. You backed up without realizing it, back pressed up against the sink, the cold porcelain bowl chilling your skin and sending goosebumps across your exposed flesh—something that would never happen to a pureblood, as their skin always felt like ice. 
You felt like a fucking damsel in distress, pissed off at yourself for spending so much time in Seungmin’s bathroom wallowing in your own embarrassment and shame, forgetting about Riki and how much of a threat he really was to you. This could have all been so easily avoided but no, you were an idiot yet again. You had no one to blame but your own foolish self, and you knew it, gnawing on your bottom lip with your blunt front teeth as Riki kicked the door in, finally, and stood there in the splintered doorway, chest heaving with exertion, eyes glowing in the dim light. “Found you,” he muttered under his breath, one half of his mouth pulled upwards in an almost-crazy smile. “I thought you’d left already. Glad I was able to catch you.” 
“I was just about to leave,” you spat, smoothing back your hair again, somewhat to try and calm your quivering fingers, but also to try and hang onto that previously mentioned last shred of dignity. 
“You can’t leave yet,” Riki pouted, “the party has barely begun!” 
“Dawn will be arriving soon,” you seethed quietly, “I’m no fool. I’m leaving.” Despite your best efforts, you could feel your eyes burning, a sure sign of possible tears. You pushed past Riki roughly; moving him was much easier than you had anticipated—did he feel bad for you? Was he letting you go? 
You felt cold fingers enclose around your wrist. “You’re really leaving?” Riki asked, shock evident in his low voice. 
You yanked your arm out of his icy grasp. “Of course I am,” you snapped, “don’t fucking touch me. You know why I’m leaving.” 
He scoffed as you walked off as quickly as possible. “It was a prank,” he called, exasperation clear in his voice, “can’t you take a fucking joke?” 
You stopped dead in your tracks, feeling anger bubble deep inside of you, threatening to overflow like an erupting volcano. “It wasn’t a joke, Riki,” you snapped, “you really fucked me over, and I’m never going to forgive you for this.” Angry tears spilled down your cheeks, and you shamefully scrubbed at the droplets with your wet sleeve, doing nothing but wipe around more liquid. Sighing deeply and wanting nothing more than to be home, you picked your fast pace back up and strode down the hallway, refusing to look back at Riki even once. If you had, you would have seen the stricken look on the boy’s face, the twisted expression he usually wore absent from his features, stripping him of his maturity and evilness, and rendering him back to the young child he really was. 
You sucked in a deep breath as you approached the main ballroom once again, knowing that the remaining vampires would only provide you with more looks of pity and for some, disgust. Seeing no other escape, you picked up your wet skirts and walked into the room. Thankfully, most guests were now too tipsy to realize what was really happening, or they were in the middle of departing themselves. Small poofs of dark smoke exploded here and there as vampires left and right transformed into bats, flapping their leathery wings and zooming out the large front doors, which had been propped wide open for the mass departure. Unable to transform into a small mammal yourself due to your half-blood status, something that you had always hated as it reminded you of your low class, and the fact that it was something that Riki often ridiculed you for, transforming back and forth between his human and bat self in front of you just to taunt you, you walked past Seungmin and the human, muttering a quick “congratulations” before hurrying out the front door, trying to ignore the loud gasps from the same butler who had admitted you to the ceremony hours earlier. 
The sky was beginning to lighten from an inky black to a deep cerulean—the sure sign of dawn. Soon, the stars would begin to disappear as the bright orange sun rose over the distant hills of your home kingdom. You really didn’t want to walk all the way home—it would take you all day, and you knew you had class the next day. You needed at least a day of rest: facing your classmates would be just as if not more humiliating than actually experiencing the prank that Riki had pulled on you. Surely, you would be reliving it all day, if not for the next few weeks. But seeing as how you had been so horribly rude to your carriage driver earlier, he was nowhere in sight, and you were doomed to walk all the way home. Sighing, you slipped off your uncomfortable shoes, which were now squishy with blood and water, and placed your bare feet on the white-stone paved pathway you remembered when you were first entering. At least you wouldn’t be walking on the dusty dirt path just yet—the paved way extended quite far. Your soles made small patting noises as you tried to speed walk without looking too ridiculous, although you were sure you looked silly no matter what your speed was. You cursed under your breath, wishing for once that you had been kinder to your carriage driver, but it was too late, and you knew it. This was once again, no one’s fault but your own, and you hated having no one else to blame. 
“Need a ride, stranger?” a kind voice asked from above. 
Immediately looking up, you almost smacked your forehead into someone’s face—Jungwon’s face. He was hovering right above you, balancing precariously on his broomstick, grinning widely, showing his slightly slanted teeth and pretty pink gums. His smile faded as he realized the state you were in, and he leaned in slightly closer, his small nose rubbing against the tip of yours as he scanned your face, which was still caked in now-drying blood. “What happened there?” he asked quietly, finally pulling away and floating down further, patting the back of his broomstick, wordlessly asking for you to come sit behind him. 
Your shoulders slumped and your grip on your shoes tightened as you swung one leg over the broomstick, settling in easily and wrapping your arms gingerly around Jungwon’s slim waist. “Riki happened,” you said glumly, once again fighting tears—what was wrong with you today? You weren’t usually such a crier. 
Jungwon gently took your soaked shoes from your grasp and wrinkled his nose at their state, tossing them aside. They landed with a small thump thump on the grass next to the paved pathway, and you didn’t even try to protest. They were done for, and you knew it. “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked softly, and you shook your head, swallowing hard as he looked back at you, a small crease between his dark brows, showing his concern. He hummed softly and placed one warm hand over your cool ones, tapping your fingernails to distract you as he lifted above the ground. “Hang on tight,” he said gently, and you shook your head again, not wanting to get watery blood all over his cloak. “You know I don’t care,” he mumbled, seemingly reading your mind. 
“But I do,” you whispered. 
Jungwon shook his head, exasperated, but kept that careful hand over yours as he soared through the sky, the deep blue sky eventually lightening to a greenish color as the yellowy-orange egg yolk-star peeked over the hills, just as you had predicted, and you eventually laid your head on his firm back, carefully, making Jungwon chuckle a little at your stiff movements. Your gaze was lowered, naturally, and you stared at the thick forest of trees below that you had avoided earlier in your carriage ride, opting for the more suburban route, even if it took longer. Every once in a while you would see a small black bat flapping its wings strenuously, and you wondered which vampire it was, wishing that you could do the same and follow in their footsteps. Daybreak grew closer with every passing minute, and you tried to concentrate on the whooshing of the cool air that whipped past your ears as Jungwon steered the broomstick this way and that, but you couldn’t help but wonder about class the next day. Would Riki really never let you live it down? Could such a young individual be that cruel? 
Before you knew it, Jungwon was slowly making his decline, angling the gnarled brown stick downwards ever so slightly, and he touched down smoothly right in front of your house—your good old house, far away from Riki. “We’re here,” he announced, as if you couldn’t see it for yourself. 
Morning had finally, fully arrived. Birds chirped noisily and cheerfully, hidden away in the eaves of the multiple trees surrounding your home, and you could hear the distant croaking of frogs from the swampy area a little ways down the road—Jungwon spent a lot of time there, as he claimed it was full of good potion ingredients. Instead of thanking your one and only friend, you stepped off of his broom and squinted at him in the bright sunlight. The yellowy-white rays of the morning sun made him seem paler than usual. “How did you find me?” you asked, “I never told you I was going to Prince Seungmin’s ceremony.” 
Jungwon rubbed the back of his neck, looking away momentarily before returning his innocent gaze to you. “Ah… you know how my brother lives there,” he said, and you nodded, motioning for him to continue. “So, I was in the area, and I heard about the ceremony… then I started seeing vampires departing, and some were quite… gossipy?” He flushed a pinky color, resembling a peach, before clearing his throat. “They said something about Prince Riki’s rival, and how he finally one-upped them. I knew that was you.” 
You scoffed a little at your title—’Prince Riki’s rival’, but sighed deeply, rubbing your temples roughly, feeling an impending headache coming on. “Thanks, Jungwon,” you said, attempting a half-smile at him. 
He shrugged. “Yeah, of course,” he said, mounting his broom again. “I’ll see you in class tomorrow, okay?” 
“See you then,” you said, hugging your arms close to your body for comfort. 
Jungwon took off, and you watched his figure until he was out of sight. Class had been canceled due to the large amount of students that were set to attend Prince Seungmin’s ceremony, and you thanked whatever higher being there was that it was so. Finally, you walked inside your home, as quiet and still as you left it, and shut the door behind you, letting the shade and the silence engulf you as the events of the night finally caught up to you and swarmed your head, annoyingly enough. 
iii.
You often wondered why the academy didn’t just hold classes at night. It wasn’t that the myth that vampires turned to dust in the morning light was true, but you much preferred being nocturnal rather than diurnal. As a half blood, you still retained a few human traits, including the one that required you to sleep—although you didn’t need nearly as much sleep to function as a full human did. 
After tossing and turning for much of the day and night, you finally dragged yourself out of bed the morning after, nearly an entire day after Jungwon dropped you off at your house and attempted to comfort you after your traumatic ordeal at Prince Seungmin’s coming of age ceremony. You still felt very much under the weather, very much like you would rather stay home and mope about rather than face the cruel truth of what was sure to be more teasing and mocking from Riki, but after receiving a message from Jungwon reminding you of the important essay on the history of the vampire government was due, you reluctantly put on your uniform and slung your messenger bag over your shoulder, trudging to school with a melancholy look upon your face. 
You were once again reminded of the luxury that were carriages, as one rolled past, full of students that all peered at you through the window, and you grimaced as you realized they probably already knew about what had conspired. The walk up the hill to the academy seemed even more insufferable than normal, and you found yourself angrily kicking up dirt as your shins burned as you walked up the steep hill, wondering what shit-for-brains decided to build the school atop one of the largest hills in the entire land. 
Finally, you wiped the sweat from your forehead as you climbed the cement staircase, clinging to the sun-warmed metallic railing as you wheezed. “Jesus, what happened to you?” Jungwon asked, showing up at your side with a small poof of purple smoke. You choked on it, waving your hand in front of you frantically as you dry heaved. Jungwon looked alarmed, using his own hands to try and clear the air in front of you too at your reaction. 
“I hate walking here,” you coughed, leaning against the railing heavily. You leaned over the edge of it, looking down the steep hill, how far you had walked. 
“I would offer to give you a ride, but it’s a part of my studies to practice teleportation this term,” Jungwon said, pushing out his lower lip in disappointment. 
“It’s fine,” you mumbled, dabbing at the sweat that had gathered at the nape of your neck, “I don’t like owing people. I can walk, I just like complaining about it.” 
“Sure sounds like you,” Jungwon muttered, and you lightly punched him in the arm, making him whine. 
“Come on, class is starting soon. I didn’t write this ten page paper for nothing,” you said, sighing as you patted your messenger bag. Jungwon’s large eyes bulged as you mentioned ten pages, having only written half that amount himself, but followed your stiff form as you walked inside the academy, a sigh of relief leaving your lips as the cool, musty air surrounded your sweaty form, a welcome feeling on your skin compared to the muggy air outside. Although the temperature was not much different inside, the vastness of the high ceilings and wide hallways provided a sense of individuality, a sense of freedom that made you feel much less constricted and clammy. 
You and Jungwon walked into class early. There were only a few other people sat at their desks, all talking amongst themselves quietly until you walked in—then they all scurried back to their seats and began pretending to scribble on loose pieces of parchment as they side-eyed you. Uncomfortable, you slid into your seat and Jungwon sat in his, right next to yours, and you pulled out your paper, laying it out nicely atop the waxed surface of your desk. Jungwon mirrored your actions, patting his wrinkled paper slightly and then pulling out a quill, muttering something under his breath as he scrambled to start writing something down in an uneven scrawl. “Didn’t get to finish last night?” you asked out of the corner of your mouth. 
“I just remembered something I forgot to include after looking at yours,” he said defensively, hiding his paper with his hand, taking care to make sure his fresh ink didn’t run down the grooves of the wrinkles on his slightly crumpled parchment. 
You hummed in acknowledgement, pulling out your own quill and ink—there was nothing you loved more than a fresh quill, and you had recently purchased yours from the shop near the new cloak store down where the shops were all located, in between the academy and the castle. The speckled eagle feather twirled between your lithe fingers as you eagerly tapped the fresh point of it against your desk, secretly hoping that you would be able to take some new notes today. 
A harsh but musical sound flooded your ears, and you looked up as you watched the bell outside being rung. The bell-ringer pulled on the frayed rope, muscles flexing under his uniform, as the golden bell twice the size of him clanged back and forth, signifying the beginning of class. Right before the professor walked in, you spotted Riki and his friends scurrying inside, throwing themselves into their seats and giggling amongst themselves as they spotted you, making you clench your fists. Jungwon noticed this and swallowed hard, afraid of Riki and his friends even though they had no clue who he was. Just hearing about their antics and how they treated you was more than enough to give Jungwon nightmares until graduation. 
The professor droned on, and you half-listened, half watched Nishimura and his friends fooling about in the back of the room. None of them had their papers set on top of their desks, which checked out, and you sighed in annoyance, knowing that Riki’s father would make up another half-hearted excuse for his idiot of a son, and Riki would remain at the top of the class without having to lift a finger. It pissed you off, it really did, but there was nothing you could do about it. Official or not, everyone in the school knew about your knack for academics, and knew that Riki was a no-good fool. That was enough for you, you supposed. 
As you looked back at Riki just one more time, he met your eye, and he grinned widely, moving his pointer finger across his throat, signifying that he would destroy you. You could tell that he’d already been spreading the word of what happened, and you held your breath so you wouldn’t shout out angrily. 
“Please have your essays out so I may collect them,” your professor crowed, and much to your surprise Riki pulled out his own paper—wrinkled, much more so than Jungwon’s, but it was a thick stack, comparable to yours. 
“Professor, there’s someone stuck in the broom cupboard again!” a panicked, high-pitched voice called, and a small, scrunched up face with a fur cloak hooded over their face poked its way into the doorway. 
Your professor sighed, rubbing her temples with her gnarled hands. “Have your essays out, I shall return momentarily,” she said airily, with a wave of her hand, and she followed the aggrieved student down the hall. You could hear the clicks of her pointed shoes fade out, and all of your classmates murmured as they crowded around the door, peering down the hall. 
“I bet it was Beomgyu again,” one of them giggled, “he’s always getting into trouble lately, to impress his older brother.” 
“He didn’t even come to school today!” another claimed, “he wasn’t by his locker this morning like usual.” 
With everyone preoccupied, you scooted across the room to Riki’s desk and fumbled around in his open bag, spotting something extremely convenient right on top—a box of matches. With all the clamor, no one heard you strike the red head of a single match against the rough side of the box, an orange-blue flame dancing atop the stick, and you hastily shoved the box back into Riki’s bag and picked up his paper, lighting the corner of it and dropped it onto his desk. The flame spread across the paper, avoiding the waxed desk surface; the old desks had all been recently replaced with new desks made of fireproof material, after a few witches lit up an entire classroom trying to practice a disappearing spell last term. 
You walked quickly back to the door where everyone else was gathered, and Jungwon’s eyes were round with fear as he grabbed your sleeve roughly and pulled you away from the group. “What the hell did you just do?” he hissed, fear evident in his voice. 
“I’m teaching that bastard a lesson,” you replied through gritted teeth. 
Everyone scrambled back to their seats as the professor’s footsteps reached your ears once more, and you heard Riki’s cursing as he gathered the singed pieces of parchment in his hands, making the corners of your lips twitch up into an eerie smile. “What the hell, did you do this, Sunghoon?” he snapped. 
“Why the hell would I do that?” the other prince muttered back in a bored voice, “I don’t give enough of a fuck for that.” 
“Was it you, Jay?” he accused, and a defensive voice replied. 
“Of course not, idiot. We were both with you the whole time, you know that.” 
“Maybe someone else in this room did it,” a cheerful voice piped up, and a chill ran down your spine as you recognized it to be Prince Sunoo, who definitely knew of your run-in with Riki the other night. He had been monitoring the party as the brother of Seungmin, and his bright bubblegum pink hair was hard to miss, bobbing amongst the sea of black cloaks and dark hair. 
“And who would that be?” Riki snapped. 
Jungwon side-eyed you, shivering, and you bit your lip nervously, shuffling your own papers. You held your breath, hoping that the feeling of several pairs of eyes staring at your back was just your imagination. “Who knows? No one really likes you. You have a lot of enemies here Riki,” Sunoo laughed, and you heard Riki scoff. You finally let out the breath you had been holding, and Jungwon seemed to do the same, rubbing his arms up and down, getting rid of invisible goosebumps. 
The professor seemed in a much sourer mood than she had been previously, as she walked up and down the classroom, snatching papers off of desks. She picked yours up, humming with satisfaction, then Jungwon’s, her smile lessening with the latter. You wanted so badly to watch as she approached Riki and his friends, but held your tongue. “Where are your papers?” she asked primly, and you heard all of Riki’s friends except Sunoo chime in with lame excuses, talking over each other and giving you a borderline headache. 
“I did mine!” Riki protested, and you heard a shuffling sound—it must be him trying to gather up the singed pieces of his essay. “Look, it’s right here. I really did it this time!” 
“You knew the rules this time, Nishimura,” the professor said firmly, “you just had to do this one assignment, that was what your father requested. I’m going to have to fail you on this one.” 
“I’ll lose my top spot!” he complained loudly, “that stupid half-blood will take it instead!” 
Despite the insult, your skin prickled with happiness at the thought of finally obtaining the top spot. 
“You should have thought about that before being careless,” the professor said, without pity, and she turned on her heel and walked away, leaving Riki with his mouth agape in shock. You couldn’t help but hold a hand up to your mouth to hide your pleased smile, as Riki angrily pulled out a new piece of parchment to try and rewrite his essay before class ended while simultaneously trying to write down the notes that the professor had immediately jumped into. 
And you were right. Your new quill wrote so nicely. 
iv. 
When the bell rang for the last time, you were giddy with excitement, still surprised that you were able to actually go through with sabotaging Riki’s essay, much to Jungwon’s horror. He had refused to make eye contact with you all day, even during lunch, where he merely picked at his food, hunched over as if he wanted to melt into the table. He was the same way all throughout the rest of the classes, and you were beginning to feel just a little bad—not for Riki, but for scaring the absolute shit out of Jungwon. 
“Hey,” you said brightly, walking up to Jungwon’s class. He was still shoving his spell books back into his bag, and he froze when you walked up. 
“What do you want?” he whined, slinging his bag over his shoulder.
“Want to come over and study? We have that history test coming up on the werewolf war, and I have some really good notes I think you could benefit from.” You wiggled your eyebrows enticingly, and Jungwon groaned. He sucked at history—and he couldn’t pass up this chance, no matter how pissed he was at you. 
“Fine,” he snapped, enunciating the first syllable, dragging it out to make sure you knew of his annoyance. “I’ll be copying them down, too. Mr. Jung usually lets us use our notes on tests if we have high marks on other assignments.” 
“You need me,” you sighed, patting him on the shoulder, which he reluctantly didn’t pull away from. 
“As if you don’t need me too,” he mumbled, “now let’s go, I don’t feel safe here any more.” 
Being such a wonderful friend, Jungwon walked home with you rather than teleporting straight to your house—he hadn’t quite mastered the art of transporting things with him yet. He claimed he was able to usually teleport himself and everything on his person flawlessly, if he wasn’t under pressure, and he was well on track to pass his test with high marks. But a few of his classmates were bragging that they could teleport others along with them, and that had stressed Jungwon out, and he had consequently left behind half of the rat he tried to teleport with him across the classroom. He claimed it was because of the pressure, and assured you that he would learn eventually, especially since he was going to visit his brother again soon, who was apparently incredibly talented at teleportation—it was one of his specialties. 
“I’m still mad at you,” he said stubbornly, as you skipped down the dirt path, kicking up clouds of loose dirt that Jungwon waved away from his pristine uniform, wrinkling his nose at your dirty shoes. “I don’t get why you did it. What if he figures out it was you? You’ll be done for!” 
“You worry too much!” you chided, “he has no proof that I did anything, and even if he suspects me that’s not my problem. He can’t do anything to me if he wants to keep that top spot.” 
“That’s exactly what he’ll do,” Jungwon complained, “what’s going to stop him from… eliminating you so he can have the top spot back?” 
“This isn’t a duel,” you drawled, “it’s school. Anyways, his dad will probably slip some gold coins into the school’s pockets by tonight and he’ll have the top spot back. I’m just celebrating while I can.” 
“You always say I’m the one who doesn’t understand vampires, but I’m starting to think you’re the one that doesn’t get how ruthless Riki truly is,” Jungwon said, shaking his head, “and you’re his main target!” 
“Just leave it, Jungwon,” you said, “I promise it’ll be fine. And even if he gets pissed you won’t be involved at all.” 
“I’m worried about you, not me!” he whined, but you just waved your hand dismissively, and he clamped his lips together, not wanting to piss you off. 
Even with Jungwon’s complaints, the company was welcomed, and the walk seemed to go by a lot faster with him by your side. You didn’t even mind how hot the sun was, how it beat down on your exposed skin and made it itch with a pre-sunburn. The back of Jungwon’s neck was pink, and beads of sweat gathered on his nose, but he didn’t say anything, instead just looking down at the ground as he followed you. With his thick, dark hair, you thought his head must be very hot indeed, and you patted your own head at the thought of it. Much sooner than you’d expected, you both arrived at your house, and as you pushed open the door, you sighed in relief at the rush of cool air. Whenever the warmer months rolled around, you were grateful for the large, ancient sturdy trees that surrounded your house and the other nearby houses, providing you with a small bit of relief from the constant heat. Since the Nishimura kingdom was the closest to the forest, such trees weren’t close to being rare, they were scattered about the village and the kingdom. 
Jungwon immediately snatched up a supposedly clean linen from your table and wiped at his face with it, groaning as he flopped onto your floor. “I forgot how tiring walking is. How do you do this twice a day?” 
“I don’t have any other choice,” you said, shrugging, “and spite fuels me. I just think about beating Riki academically and I speed up.” 
Jungwon chuckled as he rolled over onto his back. “We should probably start studying. I actually have no idea what the werewolf war was about.” 
“Do you even know which one we���re learning about?” 
His eyes widened. “There’s more than one?” 
Just as you were about to scold him and tell him that there were actually three, a harsh pounding on your door cut off your train of thought and made you jump. “Are you expecting someone?” he asked, unsure. 
“No…” you said under your breath, shushing him and creeping towards the door. Albeit hesitantly, you turned the golden knob and swung the door open, mouth dropping open almost comically as you stared at the tall figure in your doorway—someone you’d never expected to see at your humble home. 
“I know it was you,” Riki snapped, and you immediately tried to close the door on him, unsuccessfully, as he stuck his foot in between the door and the frame, preventing you from effectively shutting him out. “What the fuck, (Y/N)?” he asked angrily, “do you know how pissed my dad is now?” 
“That’s not my problem,” you responded snarkily, trying to shut the door on his foot. 
“Why’d you do it?” he demanded, pushing open the door and stepping inside your home without so much as an invitation. You glared at him, slamming the door and walking away. 
“I told you it wasn’t me,” you said, sitting back down and staring at your notes. Jungwon sat in the same spot he’d been in before you answered the door, frozen in fear as Riki followed you, rounding the corner and looking the witch up and down, somehow being demeaning and rude without saying a single word. 
“Why do you have a witch in your home?” he asked, disgruntled. Jungwon’s jaw clenched. 
“We’re friends,” you said monotonously, “if you hadn’t realized what that means.” 
Riki rolled his eyes at your tone. “Why did you do it?” he demanded again, standing right in front of you, blocking Jungwon from your view. “Look at me, not the useless little magic cunt.” 
“Jesus, Riki, it was shitty writing anyways!” you burst out, and you immediately regretted it as a bone-chilling grin spread across his face at your confession—it was pretty much just as bad as if you shouted to the world that you burned up Riki’s essay. 
“So you did it?” he asked smugly. 
“No, fuck you—“ you started trying to say, but before you could really finish, Riki had snatched you by the throat and shoved you against the nearest wall, upper lip pulled up in a snarl. His fangs had emerged, sharp and gleaming white in the afternoon sunlight trickling through your windows, and you eyed them, not without a dash of fear in your heart, as he flashed them at you. You scrabbled at the large hand around your neck, beginning to see black spots clouding your vision as he didn’t lessen his grip, even though you needed to breathe. 
Just as you were about to accept your fate, the hand loosened, and disappeared altogether, allowing you to fall to your knees and gasp for oxygen, massaging your now-sore throat with your fingers tenderly. You waved a hand in front of your face—there was odd purple smoke everywhere, clouding up your home, and you turned to Jungwon to ask if it had been from Riki—but Jungwon just stood there, birch-wood wand in hand, staring horrified at the tiniest black kitten sitting on your floor. “Jungwon,” you said warningly, “you better tell me that Riki left already, and that’s just some random stray.” 
“I can’t exactly say that without telling two enormous lies,” he replied, voice coming out muffled as he had one hand clasped over his mouth, “I think I really fucked up.” 
The Riki-cat hissed as you just approached it, and you hesitantly held out your hand to it. Although he was, in fact, a feline, he still retained oddly human mannerisms—something extremely disturbing to see on a cat. Riki raised one white whiskered eyebrow at you as your shaking fingers approached his face, and he hissed again when you tried to pat him on his tiny head. “Don’t try to pet him,” Jungwon said, panicked, “he might bite!” 
“He will bite,” you confirmed, as Riki nipped at your hand, tail puffed up in anger. He swished the furry black appendage back and forth in annoyance as you stood back up and shuffled towards Jungwon for comfort, who was examining the wand in his hand with horror. 
“What do I do?” he moaned, clasping a hand to his forehead, “I’ve never done a spell like this before! I have no idea how to reverse it!” At that confession, the Riki-cat yowled in anguish, a mournful wail that made goosebumps rise up on your skin. Jungwon seemed to be frightened by the cat’s outburst too, jumping as Riki fell over on his side and pathetically whined again. 
“Didn’t you say you were going to see your brother soon?” you asked nervously, watching Riki lay completely motionless on your floor, save for his swishing tail. “Couldn’t he help?” 
“I mean, probably,” Jungwon said, running a hand through his mussed hair, “but I just came back from the Kim kingdom, I’m not due back for a while, and Jeongin said he’s been busy lately with something. I think it has to do with his human friend.” He frowned at the mention of the human, the memory of the person leaving a bad taste in his mouth—for what reason, you did not know. 
Riki yowled again, turning both of your heads to look at him, and he trotted up to Jungwon, swatting at his uniform pants with sharp claws, fur standing up and making him look fluffy rather than scary. “Can’t you do some research or something? We can’t exactly let him leave like this,” you said, eyeing the kitten attacking your friend’s leg, unsuccessfully. “There’s got to be some sort of spell you could at least attempt.” 
“There’s no guarantee it’ll be right! It could go horribly wrong. Remember when I tried to teleport the rat the other day?” 
Riki meowed, cocking his tiny head to the side, obviously wanting to know what happened. You shook your head—telling him would only freak him out more. 
“Nothing,” Jungwon said quickly, but Riki scowled—a very odd expression on a cat. 
“I have a bunch of my spell books with me now, and there’s some advanced ones I could look through and try,” he said hastily, sitting back down at your table and rifling through his messenger bag. He pulled out a thick book with a leather-bound cover, thick brown strings tying the ancient material together at the spine. The pages were yellowed and thick as he turned them carefully, the ink brown and faded—more in some places than others. He thumbed through the book, lips moving slightly as he scanned the small text, and you sat down, sighing, staring down at the kitten on your floor, who was now very clearly getting sleepy, despite his best efforts to stay awake. 
“The sun is setting already,” you said, worriedly, watching the orange glow entering your home through your open windows, “have you found anything yet?” 
“I have one that might work,” Jungwon said, nibbling on his lower lip, “but it’s not the exact cure for the spell I used. It’s mainly used for body switching… not transformations.” 
“It’s the best chance we have,” you said hopefully, turning your attention to Riki, who had sleepily raised his head at the mention of a possible cure. “Just do it now.” 
“Don’t pressure me!” he snapped, and you stood back, a little ways away from where Riki sat, as Jungwon closed his eyes and began chanting under his breath. You could feel the magic in the air, as he mumbled, a faint purple glow erupting from the top of his wand, flowing out like silk and surrounding Riki. Tendrils of purple curled around the cat, making him let out a little yelp, and as he looked to you, the purple began drifting towards you, swallowing up your feet and ankles and slowly climbing up your legs like vines. 
“Um… Jungwon, is this supposed to be happening?” you asked nervously, but Jungwon’s chanting had become much, much louder, and he didn’t seem to hear you as he traced intricate shapes into the air with his wand, pursed lips moving quickly with every word he spoke. You looked back to Riki, terrified, and his big green eyes seemed to carry an unspoken emotion, something you never thought you would see—he looked afraid. “Jungwon!” you yelled again, but by this time all three of you had started lifting off the floors, bobbing up and down slightly in the air, and the purple had crept its way up your torso and your chest, now beginning to tickle your exposed neck. 
“Fuck, oh fuck,” you muttered, trying to push the inanimate fog off of yourself to no avail. The harder you struggled, the hazier your vision became, your surrounding blurring together in a mess of colors and vague shapes, but you didn’t realize what was happening until you slumped over, an unnatural lavender light erupting seemingly from behind your eyelids and singeing everything else from your sight, leaving you with a blank white canvas. You could feel yourself slump to the floor, but you couldn’t see anything, and as your limbs failed to move as you willed, you seemed to melt into unconsciousness, subtly welcomed by your tired body. 
v. 
Living alone, you’re quite used to waking up to complete silence, with no other living creature in your general vicinity besides yourself to disturb you. Which is why it’s so odd for you to jolt awake to a bloodcurdling scream, chilling you to the bone at the sheer fear in the voice, making your breath catch in your throat as you sit up so fast you almost get whiplash. Heart thudding heavily in your chest, you turn to the source of the scream, coming from behind yourself, and your jaw drops almost comically wide as you spot you shoving Jungwon to the floor, hands pressed against his chest as you slammed him roughly against the hardwood, upper lip pulled back in a snarl. 
“What the hell did you do to me!?” Riki, rather, you, screamed. You had never heard your voice go that shrill and it made you want to clamp your hands over your ears. 
“I’m sorry! I thought that this would just change you back! Not do something completely different!” 
Riki walked up to Jungwon, and the expression on your face was one that you were fairly sure you had never made, making the situation all the more real. Your short frame, inhabited now by Riki, looked up to Jungwon, your chin jutting outwards and jaw clenched in anger. “You better find out how to change us back, you scummy son of a bitch.” 
“Leave him alone!” you shouted, stalking over to the pair. Even though you were now painfully aware that you were now residing in Riki’s body, the deep voice still came as a shock. You used this to your advantage, shielding Jungwon with your tall stature. “He didn’t mean to do it, you asshole.” 
Riki sneered and crossed his arms, his facial expression turning more into a snooty glare. While it was a common expression you would see on his face, it was quite jarring to see it on yours, and the similarity was nearly nauseating to you. “You’re one to talk, half blood. How does it feel to finally be in the body of a real vampire? Bet it feels like you’ve won, huh? Does it taste sweet? That shallow victory? How does my body feel, (Y/N)?” With every poisoned word Riki spit at you, he took a step closer, his menacing aura sending a chill down your spine even though you knew he couldn’t hurt you while in his current state. 
Finally coming to your senses, you seized Riki’s arm and twist it painfully, a surprised expression appearing momentarily on his face. “You’re just hurting your own body, you know,” he grunted, lip curled upwards in a sneer. 
“But for now, it’s hurting you. Back the fuck off, Riki. I don’t enjoy this any more than you do. Jungwon is going to fix this as soon as possible.” You turn to Jungwon, letting go of Riki’s arm, which he retracts quickly, hissing in pain and anger. “You will be able to fix us, right?” 
“Of course, Prince,” he stuttered out, “No, wait. Of course, (Y/N).” Jungwon turned bright red at his mistake. 
“Dimwitted,” Riki scoffed, seemingly having recovered from his twisted arm. 
“Watch it,” you growled, and Riki only rolled his eyes and crossed his arms impatiently. 
“I’m going to need time to figure everything out, this is really complex magic,” he stammered, and you could tell he was still afraid of Riki, even though you were the one inhabiting him. 
“You literally did this to us in the first place, shouldn’t undoing it be just as easy?” Riki complained. 
“It was an accident,” Jungwon said pathetically. “I don’t even know how I managed to do this. Usually only a level six witch would be able to even begin body switch magic and I’m barely a level three—” 
Riki cut him off. “I don’t care about the specifics, you piece of shit,” he snapped, “just fix this as soon as possible. The longer I stay in this half-blood’s body, the filthier I feel. I don’t think I’ll ever feel clean again.” 
You narrowed your eyes at Riki’s insult but didn’t act on it, although your hands clenched into fists at his harsh words. Jungwon’s eyes flickered back and forth between the two of you quickly, his nervousness extremely apparent. 
“Got something to say, (Y/N)?” Riki said mockingly. “Want to be humiliated in front of the entire royal vampire court again?” 
With that statement, you leapt at him, your large hand enclosing around his throat, a snarl escaping your throat. His eyes opened comically wide in shock as you gripped his neck harder, quiet gurgling noises escaping his closed throat. 
“Stop it! You’re hurting yourself, (Y/N)!” Jungwon called in distress. 
You stared into Riki’s eyes, registering the flicker of fear that he desperately tried to hide, and reluctantly loosened your grip. But as soon as you did, he jumped at you instead, pushing his fists into your chest and sending you falling backwards, hitting your head on the wooden floor and sending a loud clunking noise echoing throughout the room. Pain stemmed from the collision site and you tried to reflexively bring your hand to the area, but Riki grabbed both of your wrists and straddled your torso, his immense strength preventing you from moving in the slightest. Jungwon whimpered from the corner, obviously wanting to help but too afraid to, and Riki’s smile only widened with the confirmation of Jungwon’s fear. 
The smile that was spread across your once familiar face was way too evil, too toothy and wide, for it to be you. Even more proof that Riki was the one in your body, you thought distastefully. Just like his sneer and his glare, the psychotic smile was one that would be more at home on his face rather than yours. The rapidly appearing bruising on his neck only added to his disheveled appearance, making him look more than crazy. 
“You’re going to regret what you just did, (Y/N).” You spat in his face, making him curse and release your wrists as he used his hands to wipe at the phlegm you had flung straight into his left eye. “Damn it!” he shouted, “that’s fucking disgusting!” 
With the distraction, you shifted out from underneath him, kicking backwards as you scurried away, wrists sore from his tight grip. Jungwon tried to edge closer to you, but upon studying your new form, he decided to keep his distance, side-eyeing you nervously as the real Riki grumbled to himself, standing up and rubbing furiously at his eye. “Are you done yet?” you asked him, crossing your arms in front of your chest, raising one eyebrow at him. 
“I think you should be asking yourself that,” Riki snapped, “you attacked me, not the other way around.” 
“You deserved it,” you muttered. 
Jungwon let out an awkward chuckle, badly timed and way too high-pitched to be normal. “Anyways! I think with some time for research, I’ll be able to actually switch the both of you back!” he said, instinctively stepping in between the two of you, preventing either of you from reverting back to your violent ways. “I’ll have to talk to my brother…” he mumbled to himself. 
“Does that mean you’re not coming to school today?” you asked, realizing with horror that there was no way you would be able to miss class, if you wanted to maintain your status as top student. 
“Are you going?” he asked incredulously. 
“I have to, we have a test today!” you exclaimed with horror, the realization beginning to really seep in. 
“You idiot, that means I’ll have to take the test as you,” Riki groaned, “and I fully refuse to do that.” 
“Oh no, we’re going,” you insisted, pointing your index finger at Riki, making his eyes cross as he tried to look at it. 
“So we have to spend time together at school now too?” he asked, punching the bridge of his nose, “what the fuck is everyone going to say about this? It’s just ridiculous!” You looked down at the floor, realizing that he was right. It would be extremely suspicious indeed if you both began spending time together out in public, especially with Riki’s obvious pure hatred for you—and your reciprocation of those feelings. 
“We’ll make it work,” you said, voice unsure. 
“Fuck no,” he scoffed, “you can go if you want. I’m not.” 
Using the strength that came with Riki’s body, you snatched yourself by your hair, large, unfamiliar hands tousled in your locks. Riki cried out as you tightened your grip, pulling at your own hair and making him look at you with fire in his eyes. “Let me go!” he shouted, fingers scrabbling at the hand in his—your hair. 
“Let me get something straight,” you said, voice dangerously low and unfamiliar, “I don’t give a fuck about you, Nishimura Riki. I hate you. But I’ll be damned if I let you take another thing from me. This is all I have left, and we’re going to school.” You released his hair, leaving him massaging his head with both his hands, whining at the pressure and the new-found throbbing. 
Seeing no other route, as he couldn’t very well go home in a different body, nor could he go to any of his half-blood hating friends, he sucked in a deep, painful breath through his clenched teeth, rolling his eyes. “Fine,” he spat, “but there’s no promises I’m doing well on that test.” 
You laughed. “You really thought I’d rely on your brain, Nishimura?” you cackled, “when hell freezes over. I’ll be sitting next to you and whispering the answers. The only one I trust here is my own damn self.” 
Riki met your glaring gaze with a scowl of his own, but then backed down upon realizing just how determined you were. He licked his dry lips. “Then we better get going, seeing as how neither of us can fly there now.” 
You leaned back and crossed your arms triumphantly. “Precisely.” 
Riki could do nothing but shoot you another angry look, amusing you at most. 
vi. 
With many uncomfortable moments pushed out of the way as Riki was forced to change into your school uniform, nearly screaming your ears off the entire time, hollering that he would never recover if he saw anything at all from a half-blood, making you and Jungwon exchange exasperated looks, you tried to slick down Riki’s unruly blonde locks with water, making him groan at the state his body was in. “You made me look like a little bitch,” he complained, hand twitching as he resisted the urge to fix his own hair. “Who does their hair like that?” 
“You made me look sloppy, so you can cope,” you snapped, the resisting hair having pissed you off. 
Riki clicked his tongue in annoyance, wrinkling his nose as he gave his own appearance one last once-over. “It’s just one day,” he muttered to himself, rubbing his tired eyes, “just one day.” 
You were about to spit something back at him in retaliation to his snarkiness, but Jungwon appeared around the corner just as you opened your mouth, turning your attention away from the figure with a wrinkled school uniform. Jungwon, who had had a worried look etched onto his cat-like features since the night before, looked between you and Riki again, eyes finally settling on you—although he was clearly still unfamiliar with the fact that it was you in there, not Riki. “I’ll be heading off now,” he said, fingers clasping the wall tightly, knuckles white. “Hopefully I’ll be back by tomorrow morning with help from my brother.” 
“And what if your brother can’t help us?” Riki piped up, voice nasally with accusation as he eyed Jungwon doubtfully. 
“He’ll be able to!” Jungwon insisted, cheeks turning a light pink color, “he’s a genius at magic!” 
“Seems like it doesn’t run in the family,” Riki murmured, upper lip curling in disgust as he examined his hands. Jungwon flushed even darker at the insult, but didn’t dare to say anything back. 
“I’ll see you then,” he muttered to you, “I promise I’ll fix this.” 
You shrugged. “I trust you and Jeongin—“ 
“I don’t,” Riki sneered, making you tighten your jaw in annoyance. 
“Let’s just go to school,” you breathed out, already feeling the beginning of a headache coming on. “At least there you’ll be forced to shut the fuck up for once, you’ll have to act like me.” 
“Annoying as fuck?” he asked, batting his eyelashes. 
“That’s my job, acting as you,” you mocked, making his expression darken. 
“Let’s just get this over with,” he muttered, defeated. “The sooner we go the sooner we’ll come back, and maybe that stupid fuck of a witch will figure shit out earlier than we hope.” 
You peered out the window as the aforementioned witch sped off on his broom, which he seemed to have summoned using a charm—something you knew he had mentioned learning last term, before slinging Riki’s backpack over your shoulder. It was much lighter than you’d anticipated, due to both your new-found strength and the emptiness of his bag, and you tried to hide your smug smile as you spotted Riki swaying back and forth as he tried to steady himself, your bag crammed to the brim with not only the required school materials, but extra quills, ink, parchment, and textbooks—as well as a few novels for light reading. “What the hell do you have in here, rocks?” he asked, perspiration already appearing on his forehead. He brought a hand up to it, swiping it away with vigor. “How the fuck am I supposed to walk to school with this? My back will break.” 
“I do it every day,” you reminded him, “you’ll live.” 
Riki muttered something under his breath as you held the door open for him smugly, closing and locking your door carefully behind you. You nearly bumped your head on the low eaves of your house, still not used to the newfound height, and ducked, ignoring the odd look Riki gave you as you almost tripped over your own feet. “Your feet are so big,” you muttered under your breath, “it’s like trying to walk in clown shoes.” 
“I heard that,” Riki hissed, looking back at you with an evil glint in his eye. 
You ignored the urge to plant your massive foot into the back of Riki’s bag, wanting nothing more than to see him stumble and fall flat onto his face into the dirt path, but resisted only when you remembered that everyone would think it was you that fell into the dirt, and instead glumly trotted behind Riki, wondering if he too was aware of the gawking looks you were both getting from passerby’s, both classmates and village people. It was no secret that you two were rivals, enemies, and to see the both of you together voluntarily was enough to drop jaws left and right. 
The looks only got worse as you arrived at the academy, and you fixed your gaze to the ground as you heard whispers raise in volume, spotted people out of the corner of your eye pulling their friends aside, jostling them roughly in pure shock at the way you followed Riki—or rather, the way Riki’s body followed yours, like a lost puppy. You could already imagine the rumors circling, and they made your head positively ache with disgust. 
You felt a rough hand pull on your shoulder and you were jerked back. You almost shouted something rude, but then your gaze met with the heavily lidded eyes of Lee Heeseung, and you clamped your lips together, waves of fear rippling through your body. “What the hell are you doing?” he hissed, “following that half-blood like a lovesick dog.” 
“I wasn’t following them!” you exclaimed, and Heeseung groaned, shoving you roughly and making you stumble backwards a few steps. 
“Tell me why Jay spotted the two of you leaving their house this morning then,” he hissed, pulling you by your tie and walking into the school with you, keeping you close. By then you’d already lost sight of Riki and you grimaced, hoping he had the sense to just go to class and not fuck around like he usually did—although, it would be quite hard to do in your body, as your only friend was Jungwon, who evidently didn’t come to school. You, on the other hand, were now equipped with several vampire friends, all royalty, and you swallowed hard as you spotted them leaning against a small outcrop in the wall, students weaving around their impressive group. 
“Finally,” Sunghoon sighed, spotting the two of you, and Heeseung shoved you towards him, making you yelp and almost trip over your unfamiliarly large shoes again, making Sunghoon shoot Heeseung a rather quizzical look. “What the fuck was that?” 
“Tripped,” you mumbled, straightening yourself up. Subconsciously, you pressed yourself up against the opposite wall that the four vampires were leaning on, and they all looked at you blankly. 
“Did they kidnap you or something? Fuck you up that bad?” Jay asked, crossing his arms over his chest. “It’s like you’re a completely different person.” 
“I just feel kind of sick today,” you said quickly, but you sidled over to their side as you said it, next to Sunoo, who eyed you up and down suspiciously. 
“Why are you standing next to me then!?” he whined, quickly pushing Jay next to you instead, making you hold your breath. Jay was the most perceptive of the three by far, being the closest to Riki, it seemed. Jay gave you a weird look before you heard the first ring of the bell, making your stomach lurch as you immediately felt guilty about being late. 
“Should we go to class?” you asked meekly, and Jay gave you a pitiful look. 
“Your dad’s working you that hard, huh?” he asked, chuckling, “can’t slack off much any more like the rest of us.” They all started towards the first class, and you breathed out in relief—you’d survived his friends for now. 
You felt so odd, slinking into the room late. The professor merely gave you all a disapproving look, clearly used to the tardiness from the group, and you slid into Riki’s usual seat. You faced the front of the room, craning your neck to try and get a glimpse of your body. You were there, of course, and you seemed to be scribbling away at the notes, and you sighed in relief—he was staying in character. It seemed so, at least. “Jesus, stop staring at them like that,” Sunoo whispered, “you’re like, in love.” 
“Am not!” you whisper-yelled, making the professor give you a nasty look. 
“Nishimura!” she called out, peering at you disapprovingly over her silvery glasses, “do you have the answer for the question?” 
You scanned the blackboard quickly, recognizing the topic as the werewolf war that you and Jungwon had tried to study the night before. “The First War began when the two largest packs came to a disagreement over relationships with humans,” you said quickly, and the professor raised her penciled-in eyebrows in surprise. 
“That’s correct,” she said primly, then she eyed your body—Riki, and you nearly leapt out of your seat to try and whisper the answer to him. “(L/N)? What were the names of the two packs that fought in the first war?” 
You watched your head bob from side to side, unsure, and your voice echoed off the walls of the room. “I don’t know,” Riki said hollowly, and you bit down on your lip, hard, at the way a collective gasp echoed around the room. 
“You don’t know?” she asked slowly, eyes flickering between you and him—clearly, the idea of Riki getting an answer right and you getting an answer wrong was too much surprise for one day. 
“No, miss,” Riki said monotonously, and she cleared her throat, turning back around to the blackboard. 
“They were Lupin and Luna, (L/N). Please write that down.” You watched Riki reluctantly pick up his pencil and scrawl it down hastily, furrowing your brow as he pressed down hard with your new quill. 
“I guess your dad yelling at you really worked,” Heeseung muttered, “you finally got an answer right.” 
“And what’s up with the half-blood? They got one wrong. That’s like, unheard of,” Sunoo murmured. 
“They probably just forgot,” you said quickly, “they stayed up really late last night.” 
“And how do you know that?” Jay asked, teasing among his suspicions. 
“They tutored me last night,” you lied, dragging the tip of Riki’s dull quill against the top of the desk, “that’s why I remembered the answer to the question too.” 
“Weird,” Sunghoon said, “out of everyone to get help from, you chose them.” 
---
“Great fucking job, you made all my friends think I’m in love with you,” Riki said sarcastically, shoving your own heavy bag at you. “I refuse to carry your shit. Come on, I wanna go home.” 
“Not so fast,” you said, shoving the bag back, “I have a job after school. We have to go.” 
Riki’s jaw nearly dropped to the floor. “Are you kidding?” 
“I’m not rich like you.” you reminded him, and he looked away, cheeks flushed. 
“Fine, let’s just get it over with,” he snapped, and you were surprised by his lack of protesting. He even let you lead the way to town, letting out only one groan of annoyance when you pointed out the daytime pub you waited at, as he clearly recognized the place as somewhere he often trashed with his friends. “What do I have to do?” 
“I wait tables,” you said, ushering him to the front door, “I’ll sit down at a table and make sure that you’re doing everything right.” 
“How do you wait tables?” Riki asked, voice only slightly panicked as you both walked inside. The owner of the pub waved you over and you motioned for Riki to follow her to the back. He shot you a glare as he shuffled towards the back, disappearing behind the heavy wooden door that led to the employee rooms. 
Satisfied and intrigued at the idea of Riki working for once, you sat down at a slightly sticky table, flicking away food crumbs and picking up a menu, pretending to read it even though you knew all the items by heart. “Can I help you?” a cheerful voice asked, and as you glanced up, you stared directly into the yellow, slitted eyes of your friendly co-worker, Jake Sim. Your eyes widened; you hadn’t expected him to be working today. “Pardon me, sir, but I never thought I would see you in a place like this,” Jake chuckled, and you laughed weakly, glad that you were the one he was talking to, not Riki—he wouldn’t have appreciated Jake’s jokey tone, nor the fact that he was a werewolf. Your gaze dropped to the fluffy dark brown tail that swished behind him playfully, and his ears twitched as you looked him up and down, unknowingly with a condescending look on your face. “Apologies if that was too forward, your highness,” Jake said quickly, and you tried to get into character quickly. 
“Whatever,” you muttered, drumming your fingers on the tabletop, “I don’t want anything yet. I need to look things over.” 
“I’ve got it from here,” another voice piped up, and with relief, you watched Jake shrink back and meekly slink away to another table. Riki huffed as he leaned against the sticky table, hands brushing against his wrinkled apron. “This is stupid,” he said, “and this place is disgusting, for multiple reasons.” 
“I need the money, so I can’t really be picky,” you said, rolling your eyes and returning your gaze to the menu, annoyed with Riki. 
“Don’t you dare put any of this garbage into my body,” he warned, snatching the menu away from you. 
“Don’t treat customers like that!” your boss hissed, sidling up next to Riki and plucking the menu from his hands, surprising him. She handed it back to you kindly, elbowing Riki hard and making him groan. “Apologies, your highness,” she gushed, “please, take all the time you need, (Y/N) is new here, excuse them for their rudeness.” She shot Riki a haughty look before putting on a winning smile and scurrying off. 
“I know I should be offended since she’s technically mad at me right now,” you mused, “but I could get used to this treatment.” 
“Shut up,” Riki snapped, “I still hate the idea that you’re in my body. It feels gross.” 
“I’m not saying I like being in your body specifically,” you retorted, “I just like being treated with respect for once, you damn pervert.” 
Riki’s eyes flickered with a different emotion—if you didn’t know him to be a cold-blooded bastard, you would think that he felt bad for you, if only momentarily. “I’m going to go wait on other people,” he muttered, stalking off, leaving you sitting alone awkwardly with the sticky menu still clasped in your hands. Your only solace was that if people saw you in a pub alone, they would be judging Riki for doing so, not you. 
You had to admit that it was amusing watching Riki hurry around the crowded pub, a panicked look permanently plastered onto his face as he tried to multitask and failing to do so, almost dropping drinks on customers several times. Your boss berated him multiple times, and you had to hide a giggle as she shoved him towards a group of rowdy teenage witches, who had been eyeing him with a glint of perverseness in their eyes. Perhaps you should feel more sympathy for your poor body, but knowing that Riki was the one suffering made you not mind as much, and you sat there contentedly, sipping at your mead as he rushed around until the sun began sinking below the horizon, washing the entire pub in a warm syrupy glow. 
“You’re done for the night,” Jake said quickly, snatching away a platter full of heavy mead glasses from Riki as he almost tripped over his own feet with exhaustion. “Just… just go. I don’t know what’s up with you today, but just go home and sleep or something.” He looked at Riki with pity clear on his face before walking off, balancing the platter with one hand perfectly. 
Riki untied his apron angrily, throwing it to the floor with a twisted expression on his face. “Ready to go home, Cinderella?” you asked him, batting your lashes at him with false innocence. 
“Shut the fuck up,” Riki snapped, “you never said that working was this hard.” You just shrugged as he rubbed his tired eyes. “Whatever,” he murmured, “we have to stop by the castle later tonight.” 
“Why?” 
“Because, idiot. I haven’t been home for days, and though this may surprise your simple-minded self, my parents give a shit about me.” 
“Jesus, calm down,” you said, standing up. “Fine, we’ll stop by.” 
The two of you didn’t say another word as you walked home, but you could tell that Riki’s feet were sore from the way he tried to shift his weight from side to side, and you momentarily felt bad—it had been a really busy day, worse than most, and he had to work the evening shift, which was well-known for being the second-rowdiest, right after the midnight crew. He sniffled just once, rubbing his runny nose on the back of his hand, and you had to physically stop yourself from putting an arm around his slumped shoulders. 
Luckily, he sped up, and you trailed behind him with relief, afraid that if he had remained so close to you, you might have done or said something you would have regretted. 
vii.
A warm yellow glow emanated from your windows, surprising both you and Riki as you exchanged glances. You unlocked your door and poked your head inside, immediately spotting Jungwon, who was curled up on the floor on top of your rug, limbs tucked in and face hidden. “Jungwon?” you asked softly, unsure if he was sleeping or not. 
“Wake up!” Riki shouted, “did your useless ass figure out how to fix this yet?” 
You shot Riki a look, and he shrugged as he closed the door behind him. Jungwon had not moved. Concerned, you inched towards him, kneeling in front of his scrunched up body and shaking his shoulder gently. “Jungwon? You there?” 
“He’s gone!” Jungwon burst out, surprising both you and Riki, “he’s gone!” He sat up immediately, forcing you backwards. 
“What? Who’s gone?” you asked, a rock of rotten anticipation settling in your stomach. 
“My brother,” he said hoarsely, wiping furiously at his eyes, which you now realized were extremely red and swollen. “They got him. The stupid vampires got him, and now he’s dead.” 
“Jeongin’s dead?” you whispered, heart sinking, both because you knew Jeongin was your only chance at reversing the spell and because you knew how much Jungwon loved his older brother. Those two words you uttered seemed to switch the waterworks on again, because Jungwon’s large eyes started leaking again as he stared at you helplessly, hands clenched into fists and placed upon his thighs. His knuckles were pale from how tight he was gripping onto his pants, and his chin quivered from trying to hold in his loud sobs. Wordlessly, you pulled him into a tight hug, his head nestled into the crook of your neck as he wet it with his endless tears, voice parched and throaty from how loud he was wailing. You hated it, the way it shook you to your core. His cries were so human, something that was odd to say about a witch, but they reminded you so of the time you passed by a human funeral—you didn’t know them in the slightest, but the way the young woman’s screams echoed off the walls of the surrounding buildings haunted you for many moons. Jungwon’s sobs were almost too reminiscent of that, and you glanced up at Riki, expecting him to have a look of pure disgust spread across his face as usual, but his expression almost mirrored yours—a mixture of helplessness, pity, and shock. 
“I’m sorry,” Jungwon gasped, small hands clinging to your sleeve desperately, “I can’t fix you yet, I need to find another way.” 
“That’s not our top priority right now,” you said sternly, wiping his tears from his paled, puffy face, “don’t even worry about that.” 
“I mean, still think about it,” Riki muttered, and before you could shoot him a venomous look Jungwon was already spluttering out an apology, pushing away from you and scooting towards Riki’s feet, hands splayed across your dark floor. 
“I promise I’ll find a solution,” he said quickly, bowing to Riki, “I promise.” 
You glared at Riki as you pulled Jungwon back into your arms, but he flinched as he looked at your face. “Please, don’t…” he whimpered, “you have his face. Even though I know it’s you in there… I can’t. I can’t be hugged by his body.” You felt your heart clench as fear flashed in his dark eyes momentarily, and he backed up unconsciously, closer to Riki than you. 
“Right, sorry,” you said quietly. 
For some reason, Riki felt his own heart clench painfully as he looked between the two of you. He felt bad that Jungwon couldn’t go near his body, even though he wasn’t even the one inhabiting it. Was he truly that bad? He felt a wave of unexplainable guilt wash over him as Jungwon stood up awkwardly, nearly slipping and falling as you rose with him, clearly not wanting you anywhere near him. “I’m going to go home,” Jungwon said, voice slightly nasally from his stuffed-up nose, “I think I need to be alone right now.” 
Riki watched your face fall as Jungwon pulled away from your reach one last time and rushed towards your front door, movements much too fast and jerky to be normal—it was clear what he felt about the both of you in the current moment. He slammed the door behind him after a momentary struggle with the lock, shaking the hinges on your door and making you jump slightly. “I really wish I had my body back right now,” you said quietly, looking over at Riki longingly. “I wish I could comfort Jungwon without freaking him out.” 
Riki swallowed hard—he wanted to comfort you for some odd reason, but he didn’t. “If I could give it back, I would,” he said gruffly, making you look up, slightly surprised at his response that carried the slightest semblance of pity. “Only because I still hate being in your filthy skin,” he said quickly, but from the way he stuttered slightly, the way his ears turned pink, you could tell he didn’t really mean it any more. In the single day that he had spent in your shoes—rather, in your body, he seemed to have gained a slight respect for you, and although it didn’t erase the years he spent making you miserable, you were glad that he was finally somewhat maturing, finally able to see how you experienced life. 
“Right,” you said, looking down at the floor, “that’s all it is. Disgust.” 
Riki’s insides twisted at your quick response, but he clamped his mouth shut. “Let’s go to the castle now,” he said, trying to change the subject, “I think my stupid dad has a bunch of magic books in the library anyways. If that useless witch won’t do anything then we’ll do some research ourselves.” 
“He isn’t useless,” you said sharply, “you know damn well what he’s going through right now.” 
“Whatever!” Riki exclaimed, crossing his arms in front of him, annoyed, “you know what I mean! We can help him out and do some research ourselves. Is that better?” 
You sighed deeply. “Sure.” 
You were beginning to realize that the awkward silences between the two of you weren’t as awkward any more, rather, they were the norm, as Riki’s attitude and your stubbornness often ended conversations abruptly, preventing either of you from continuing it. As you wordlessly packed a small satchel for your body, as Riki had claimed the both of you would be staying overnight at the castle, since he couldn’t bear sleeping in your shoddy cottage for another night, you began to feel unsureness creeping up into your throat, something you hadn’t really had time to ponder since the entire situation began. You’d always told yourself that the situation would be fixable, that it would only be a matter of a few days at most until you were back in your body, squabbling with Riki in class about his cheating ways, going to the pub with Jungwon and laughing at the way Jake attempted to flirt with every pretty being that waltzed in. But now that Jungwon’s only sure solution was gone—murdered, in fact, and he had himself admitted that he had no clue how to reverse the spell on his own, you were beginning to fear that you might have to pose as Riki forever. 
Even worse, Riki would have to pose as you forever. You brought your thumb—his thumb, you were now all too aware of, up to your lips, chewing nervously on the skin around his nail, pulling at it with your teeth until it tore and drew blood. Riki was much worse at coping with the situation than you were, and if this were permanent, it would only be a matter of time before he did something irreversible, and you knew it. 
“Whatever you’re doing, stop it,” Riki demanded. He had walked into the room while you stood in front of your dresser, rifling through your drawers looking for clothes to pack. “It looks gross. I don’t need you messing me up physically too.” 
“Sorry, bad habit,” you mumbled, letting your hand drop back down to your side. You ran your other fingers over the wound, trying to wipe away the stray droplets of blood. 
Riki ignored this. “Are you ready yet? You have to be the one to ask for a carriage.” You blinked at him tiredly, before he awkwardly lifted his hand half-heartedly, motioning towards your body. “You know… because…” 
“No, I know,” you said quickly, “I’m not an idiot, I didn’t forget.” 
“Right, good,” he responded, tone only slightly haughty. You could hear the clock from the hallway ticking loudly, attempting inanimately to fill the silence between the two of you as you looked at each other with unassuming expressions plastered upon both your faces. 
The night air was far too chilly for Riki’s liking, a dark contrast from the sweltering heat of the day that had tortured the two of you on the long walks to and from the academy. There was a slight breeze, rustling the dark leaves of the surrounding trees and making him shiver. It was especially uncomfortable since he was unused to not being able to control his body temperature—usually, his skin would be freezing no matter the weather, but he wouldn’t be able to really feel it. “Are you cold?” you asked stiffly, looking over his goosebump-covered form. 
“No,” he replied stubbornly, “and even if I was it wouldn’t matter anyways. We’re almost there.” You wanted to scoff at his callous response, knowing that if you were in your body you would be shivering so hard your teeth would be clattering together, but you kept your mouth shut as you arrived at the carriage call. Even at the late hour, it was open, an elderly werewolf sat inside the booth, slumped against the wall, clearly snoozing on the job. His ungroomed eyebrows were furrowed slightly, and a trail of thick drool dripped from his jowls, forming a puddle on the counter with every wheezy breath he drew in and out. Riki let out a small noise of disgust, causing the wolf’s ears to twitch at the disturbance, and he awoke almost immediately, bright yellow eyes blinking as the slitty pupils focused on the two of you. 
“What? What is it?” he asked gruffly, messily wiping the drool from his pockmarked skin with a wrinkled sleeve. 
“We would like a carriage,” you said stoutly, crossing your arms and trying to mimic Riki’s usual snobby behavior. “Now, old wolf.” 
The wolf wrinkled his large nose at your rude words, but he placed both hands—covered in thick dark hair, of course, on the counter as he pulled himself up, trying to get a closer look at you. “Prince Nishimura? Is that you? Here in the village this late at night?” he cackled, sitting back down in his creaky wooden chair, letting out a small puff of air as he landed a little harder than he expected. “What would your father say?” 
You side-eyed Riki, unsure why the old wolf was so comfortable with speaking so casually to him. “You aren’t allowed to speak of the king like that,” Riki said sharply, and you could tell that his anger was beginning to flare up—way too quickly and perhaps a little unnecessarily, as usual. 
“And what does the little half-blood have to say about the king?” the wolf asked curiously, his upper lip curling into his crooked teeth, and Riki shrunk back, clearly, he had forgotten that he was supposed to be acting as you. 
“They are right,” you shouted, surprising both Riki and the wolf, “no villager is to speak of the king in such a nonchalant manner, it’s disrespectful, and quite frankly… any mangy old wolf should keep all of our names out of his mouth, if they know what’s good for them.” You eyed the werewolf as menacingly as possible, trying to mirror the expression that Riki often plastered on when cornering you, and surprisingly, the wolf shrunk back, clearing his throat nervously and flipping through the thin pages of the carriage registry with his gnarled fingers. 
“Of course,” he said quickly, “I was simply joking around, that’s all, your highness. I’ll send a carriage right away. To the castle, I presume?” 
“Correct,” you said, waving your hand at him dismissively, “you’re lucky I’m in a good mood today, the king’s ears shall stay blind to this unfortunate run-in.” 
“Thank you, your highness,” the wolf said, bowing his head to you, “I thank you a million times.” 
“The carriage will be thanks enough. Spare the flattering that escapes your filthy maw.” You looked the wolf up and down one last time with a disgusted look upon your face as you heard the tell-tale sound of a horse’s hooves clopping against the stone path. Grabbing Riki by the shoulder, you guided him away from the booth—and he let you help him into the carriage, sticking his tongue out at the wolf one last time before you closed the door behind the both of you. 
“What was all of that?” he asked, sounding genuinely surprised. “I didn’t know you had it in you.” 
“I just said what I thought you would say,” you said, shrugging, “I didn’t really mean any of it. I always thought that old Lycan was a decent being anyways.” 
Riki chuckled a bit, looking out the window at the booth as the carriage began to shift forwards, the scenery outside beginning to blur as the equine sped up to a brisk trot. “Is that really what I sound like?” he asked, trying to sound nonchalant. 
“Most of the time,” you conceded, looking out your own window, impressed with the speed of the carriage as always. “At least, from what I’ve heard, yes.” 
Perhaps the carriage ride could have been full of more bonding, more talking with each other, but after you looked over Riki’s glum expression, you decided to awkwardly stare out your own window instead and not instigate any conversation, instead hoping that he wouldn’t try to start anything. He didn’t, of course, as he felt oddly ashamed at your honest response, for some reason wishing he had been kinder in the past, although he would never admit it out loud. He even felt bad for the old wolf—Lycan, you had referred to him as? But as the carriage finally rolled up in front of the castle, Riki wiped these thoughts from his mind. His father wouldn’t like it—he would think he’s gone soft. That was the last thing Riki needed: his father being even more disappointed in him. 
“Am I going to have to speak with anyone?” you asked, breaking the heavy silence that had settled upon the two of you like a thick blanket. “Your parents, or any servants…?” 
Riki shook his head. “Hopefully not. If we run into anyone it’ll be the head maid, but she isn’t that bright. Just tell her to leave us alone and she will.” 
“What if we run into the king? Or the queen?” 
“They don’t roam the halls at night,” Riki said bitterly, “they’ll have retired to their rooms by this hour. Don’t even worry about them.” 
You nodded slowly as you stepped out of the carriage, thanking the driver gruffly, trying to stay in character despite your worried mind, shoving a few gold pieces into his gloved hand. Riki stood on the other side of the road as the carriage began moving again, back down the hill away from the castle, and stared you down. “Come on. You have to lead the way, but I’ll tell you where to go.” 
Swallowing hard, you listened. As you walked the path to the main entrance, you couldn’t help but look around at the wondrous surroundings. You silently admired the gold that you spotted, woven into the stone, gluing them together, and you vaguely remembered Riki bragging about how rich his family was; so god damn filthy with money that they could afford to have gold in their floors—and your smile faded. 
There weren’t enough words in the world to describe the beauty of the aesthetic that the Nishimura family chose to follow. You had heard much talk of the sleek, modern aesthetic that the Kim’s followed from Jungwon, who often told you of his dreams to someday visit the Kim palace with Jeongin, even though they’d likely be stricken down the moment they stepped onto the property—just because the Kim kingdom in general was more accepting of witches didn’t mean that the royal family themselves were any less cruel than the others. You’d also heard things about the Lee kingdom, which was supposedly decorated with gaudy red and gold, the king refusing to let go of the classic colors that his ancestors had settled on centuries ago, stating that red and gold were the richest colors and therefore made them look the most rich—no one dared to tell him that it looked like a cheap eyesore more than anything. The Park kingdom supposedly went for a darker theme, associating themselves with black and purple, and you did remember seeing Prince Sunghoon around school with a dark violet handkerchief tucked neatly into the pocket of his school uniform. 
The Nishimuras seemed to echo the Kim’s aesthetic quietly, keeping their love for cold marble and white stone, but instead having gold woven in wherever possible, making the entire castle look as if it were made of shimmering gems and expensive materials whenever the sun shone onto it. Marble statues littered the outside of the castle, tall hedges and bushels of some sort of white flower neatly standing tall. For a moment you wondered how different your life would have been if you’d been born into a family like Riki’s, but quickly mashed that thought down, feeling guilty for even thinking it for a second. You would never want to be anything like Riki. Especially not after the mirroring of his actions that had occurred just minutes before—you would never forget the fear etched onto Lycan’s ancient featured as you spat poisoned words at him, young face twisted into a scornful, demeaning gaze. You’d been in Lycan’s place one too many times. You knew how it felt to be on the receiving end. And that made it so much worse. 
The inside of the castle was just as beautiful, the simple, elegant aesthetic continuing effortlessly indoors. You tried to make it look like you knew where you were going, but secretly kept looking over at Riki, who would point you in the direction you were supposed to go. The long hallway was completely empty, and your footsteps echoed through the deserted floor, even though the ground was carpeted. It felt almost eerie, with how completely dead the castle seemed to be. For a moment, you thought that it would be less lonely in your own home, even though you lived alone—just because the space was homier. 
The skin on the back of your neck prickled, and as you brought up a hand to soothe it you suddenly felt the opposite of what you had been experiencing—you suddenly felt a gigantic presence. Gigantic in the sense that someone was there—perhaps not so large physically, but the feeling that there was a menacing someone, someone who wasn’t there to play games or be nice. No, this person wouldn’t exchange false pleasantries with you, this person knew what they wanted. “Son, where have you been?” a cold voice asked. You watched Riki freeze up immediately beside you—clearly, he hadn’t felt the presence before the voice spoke. He side-eyed you, orbs almost bulging out of his head with fear, and your mind scrambled trying to come up with a response. 
“I was at a friend’s house,” you said quickly, and Riki let out a quick exhale, clearly extremely fearful. 
“What friend? Park? Lee?” 
“No… a new friend,” you said slowly. You looked over at Riki again, whose face had now gone an odd purple color; he was making it extremely obvious that you had said the wrong thing and you felt nauseous. You still hadn’t turned around to look at the king and you were quite certain that if you did, you wouldn’t live to see another day. 
“Oh?” he asked, voice dangerously soft all of a sudden. You heard heavy footsteps coming closer, then to your left, then they entered your view as he stood in front of you. He was not a large man, but his presence was immense, it filled the empty hallway and stretched the walls, the tension pushing against the white marble, straining to be let out. Your bottom lip quivered as you slowly raised your gaze up from his feet, which were clad in heavy black boots—heavy, but clearly expensive and fancy. He was dressed in a dark suit that fit his aging body nicely, flattering his silhouette without making him look as if he were trying too hard to hang onto his youth. You knew that vampires aged slower than humans, but even so, Mr. Nishimura was an old one, his dark hair salt and pepper, eyebrows unruly and gray. He had fine wrinkles all over his square face, mainly around his dark eyes and downturned mouth—a few features that echoed in his son. “And who is this new friend?” he asked, leaning forward ever so slightly. His cold breath fanned against your face, and it made you want to gag. You’d never felt a presence so cold, so undying. Even when Riki got up in your face to antagonize you, you’d never felt like this. He didn’t have half the presence the king did. 
“(Y/N) (L/N),” you said in a small voice, looking over at Riki, who visibly shrunk down as the king turned his sharp vision over to him. 
“So you’re the dirty little hybrid that my son keeps losing out to at the academy,” the king mused, and you watched Riki’s throat bob as he swallowed nervously, eyes fixated at the floor. “Look at me when I speak to you, half-blood,” he snapped, and Riki immediately looked up, straightening his posture and chin pointed slightly upwards. 
“Don’t call me dirty,” he said, chin quivering, “I’m not dirty.” 
The king raised an untrimmed eyebrow, surprised that Riki had talked back to him. “All half-bloods are dirty,” he said cooly, “you’re no exception. Know your place.” 
“If you didn’t pay for your son to be at the top, I would be there over and over again,” Riki said shakily, “don’t dismiss me.” 
The king’s jaw clenched, and his wrinkled old hand quivered at his side, clearly aching to slap Riki across the face. “We’re going to go to my room. They’ve been helping me study,” you cut in sharply, stepping closer to Riki protectively, grabbing onto his sleeve. “That’s all. And this way, you won’t have to pay the school to lie any more.” 
As the king shifted his dark, beady glare back to you, you felt a chill run down your spine. His eyes were so black, so dark, that you couldn’t distinguish the pupil from the iris; it felt like one black hole that sucked you in and spat you back out, naked and shivering uncontrollably. “I expect good things from you, son. Don’t disappoint me again,” he said finally, before walking off into the darkness down the hallway, from the way you and Riki had come from. 
Your legs felt like jelly from the brief encounter. You thought that it had lasted at least an hour, but as you glanced at the grandfather clock propped up against the wall nearby, you realized it had been less than five minutes. Riki didn’t shake your grip from his sleeve—instead, he slowly shifted your hand to his own, and you fixated your gaze on your own hand clasping Riki’s. Wordlessly, he guided you down the rest of the hall quickly, and a tall staircase welcomed you, complete with cold metal railings and matching carpet on each step. Riki didn’t hesitate in stepping up, and all you could do was follow, first up the stairs and then down another long, empty hallway, until you finally came to a set of double doors. Riki finally let go of your hand here, and your palm was sweaty now. As he opened both doors at once, you wiped the clamminess off on your pants, trying to stop thinking about how nice it felt when Riki led the way, how it felt when his fingers enclosed around yours. 
“Well,” he said awkwardly, “welcome to my room, I suppose.” He motioned towards the dark room he had just opened the doors to with swaying arms, a slightly unsure half-smile spread across his face. 
viii. 
“Don’t get too comfortable, we have to go to the library to get books first,” he said, trying to joke and lighten the mood, but you merely gave him a tight-lipped smile, setting your bag down in the corner then looking back at him. 
“Ready,” you said blankly. 
Riki looked at you then at your bag, before raising a single eyebrow then motioning for you to follow him. “It’s not far. My room is fairly close to the library, I think my parents hoped it would encourage me to go there more often,” he rambled, and you nodded as he spoke, almost interested in what he had to say. “This is the first time I’ll really be getting any use out of it though,” he chuckled, a little sheepish. 
“At least we’re using it now,” you said quickly, “I mean, it’s the best resource we have, isn’t it? Without it we’d be kind of done for.” 
Riki shrugged, but was clearly pleased that you thought so, a grin creeping onto his face. “We have the library at school,” he said, fighting the smile, “but then again, it’s probably censored a lot. We’ll have better luck here.” 
“Exactly,” you said, smiling back at him. He looked away as he stopped in front of another large set of double doors and opened them, a quiet freak erupting from the right door, making him click his tongue in disapproval. 
“I’ll have to let the housekeeper know about that,” he said, disapprovingly, “they should be better about oiling the hinges on the doors, this material is known for squeaking easily. I don’t know why my parents chose it for every door in the entire castle…” As he muttered to himself, you peered around his frame into the library, and couldn’t help the awe-filled exclamation as your eyes widened at the sight. 
Even at night, the room was well-lit with multiple lanterns and other light sources that you couldn’t quite place—you were quite sure that magic was in use there though, as some of it looked almost unnatural. There were multiple floors—you could see that you were on the top floor, and there were at least two more below, and all three were filled with dark brown mahogany shelves, stuffed with thick leather-bound books. Riki stepped aside to let you wander inside, and you ran your hands along the first shelf you approached. There wasn’t a single layer of dust on the shelf or any of the books—surprising, as it seemed like this was the case for every single shelf. Riki’s housekeepers did nothing laze about, clearly. “Do you like it?” he asked, closing the doors behind him as he entered, walking up to you and looking at your hand, placed gently upon the shelf, fingers stroking a single book spine. 
“It’s so lovely in here,” you breathed out, “it’s so much nicer than the library at the academy, and I was in shock the first time I entered that one too.” 
“It’s alright, I guess,” Riki admitted, looking around. He scratched his head, slightly confused. “Reading has never been my thing, so I hardly ever come in here.” 
“If I had access to this library, not a single book would go to waste,” you sighed, looking around longingly, “you’re so lucky.” 
“Stop making me feel guilty,” he said stiffly. 
“I’m not trying to,” you said genuinely, “I’m just saying that it really is a wonderful place.” 
“You saying that makes me sound like a spoiled brat,” Riki said sourly. 
“You are, sometimes,” you said, eyeing him. “That’s not a completely untrue statement.” 
“Well, it’s not my fault you’re poor,” he snapped, “so stop making me feel like it is.” 
You closed your mouth, feeling anger bubbling in your stomach again. “If you hate me so much,” you said in a low voice, “why did you defend me, when we were talking to your father?” 
Riki let out a noise of denial, brow furrowed and nose wrinkled as he stuttered. “No reason!” he blurted out, “just… don’t look too deep into it, alright? There’s no reason at all.” 
“It seems like there’s a reason,” you muttered, feeling your cheeks heat up. You turned away, pretending to sift through books on the nearest shelf, even though you weren’t really registering any of the titles. 
“I didn’t like the way he talked about you,” Riki admitted, and you almost laughed at how quickly he had conceded and admitted. 
“You talk about me that way all the time,” you pointed out, “what’s the difference?” 
“He really means it!” Riki spat, “he’s a horrible man!” 
“And you don’t mean it, when you insult me?” 
“Not really,” he mumbled, “mostly, I just get annoyed by you. But I don’t really hate you. It just feels like it’s my job to because my parents hate hybrids. They think they’re worse than werewolves, worse than witches. Even worse than humans. My dad said they’re the scum of this world.” 
You let out a short bark of a laugh. “We’re the scum of the world? When creatures like him exist?” 
Riki laughed weakly, ashamed. “His words, not mine.” 
You didn’t respond, continuing to look through the books, then Riki cleared his throat. “Anyways,” he said, voice much more steady now, “I mostly defended you because it felt like he was yelling at me, since I was the one in your body taking all the bullying. It felt like he was disgusted with me, more so than usual.” 
“More than usual?” You ignored the first part of the sentence, the defense, and looked Riki up and down. He had sat down on the floor, half-heartedly looking at the titles of the books on the bottom shelf. 
“My dad doesn’t like me,” he said softly. You stopped yourself from saying something snarky, like I already knew that, it was obvious. 
“Why not?” you asked, “now that I’ve been forced to get to know you, you’re not all bad all the time.” 
“He’s ashamed of me,” Riki said gloomily, “he’s a narcissist, you see. I won’t ever live up to his expectations, because I’m not him. He criticizes anyone and everyone besides himself.” 
“Well, that’s not your fault. You can’t do anything about that, so don’t worry about it.” 
“It’s not that easy,” Riki chuckled darkly, “but I just have to deal with it, until he dies.” 
You stopped looking through the books on the shelf and sat down next to Riki, looking down at his hand, placed palm-down on the floor, fingers twitching slightly. With a brief hesitation, you placed your hand on top of his, letting your fingers wrap around his. Surprisingly, he didn’t jump up and yell at you to get your dirty hands off of him, and he instead shifted, letting you intertwine your fingers with his. It was weird, holding hands with him again. It made you feel weird; you knew you shouldn’t be so okay with being so close to someone who made you miserable for years. But for some reason, his presence was comforting, and you longed to rest your head on his shoulder, maybe even fall asleep like that, just basking in each other, enjoying the feeling of being together, defeating the loneliness. 
Slowly, you turned your head to look at him, and to your surprise he was already looking at you. The next thing that happened was something completely new, completely foreign to you. It was like a magnet was pulling you towards Riki, and you couldn’t resist it. You knew that you wouldn’t be able to stop yourself even if you wanted to—which you didn’t, no, not at all. You don’t remember when your eyes fluttered shut, but you’ll never forget the way his lips—your lips? Felt as they pressed against yours—his? Either way, the collision made fireworks erupt in your chest, made your head feel like it was in outer space. You felt like you were floating and drowning and grounded all at the same time, and for a moment it was like your mind left your body—it was like you were dissolving into the kiss, and you were nothing but a pair of lips pressed up against Riki’s. 
But then it clicked in your head—you were kissing Nishimura Riki, your sworn enemy, and you were back in your body, back in the library, sat on the carpeted floor, holding hands with him, and you pulled away, surprising him with your sudden move. You brought a hand up to your mouth, shaky fingertips tracing your lips, and you were sure that your facial expression was comical. 
Riki mirrored your actions, tracing his lips with his fingers, before smiling. “It feels like I just kissed myself,” he said, eyeing you. 
You laughed awkwardly. “Well, you kind of did. I guess I kissed myself too.” 
“Now that is something that doesn’t happen every day,” he said, leaning back on the bookshelf. 
“We were supposed to do research,” you said half-heartedly, pulling out the first book you laid your hands on. An Encyclopedia of All Things Pixie. You groaned and tossed it aside. 
“It’s late. Surely we can wait until tomorrow,” Riki said, stifling a yawn. “Tomorrow morning we’ll read, and then we’ll return to your home and wait for your witch friend.” 
“Jungwon,” you corrected him, “his name is Jungwon.” 
Before Riki could answer, it was as if you had summoned him just by uttering his name. A small scroll materialized in front of you, floating in front of your face with a small cloud of purple surrounding it—the sure sign of magic, as if it coming out of nowhere wasn’t enough of a sign. You plucked it out of the air and undid the ribbon holding it shut, tossing it aside as you scanned the parchment. 
(Y/N), Prince Riki— 
I’ve found a solution. It’s not the path I wanted to go down, but I’ve realized that he’s our only option with Jeongin gone. I can’t undo the spell myself, I just don’t have enough power. At least, I won’t have enough power until the next new moon, and even then there’s no guarantee that the spell will go right. 
I don’t want to say too much in case someone else gets to this before you, so just come home. I’ll be waiting. 
You sucked in a deep breath, dread filling your stomach. You had no idea what Jungwon was talking about, but from the shaky letters on the crumpled parchment and his fearful tone, you knew it couldn’t be good. 
“What’s wrong?” Riki asked, concerned. 
“We have to go back now. There’s been a change of plans.” Without another word, Riki snatched the paper and read it himself, eyes scanning the messy scrawl and widening as he realized the direness of the situation. 
He looked back at you, mouth thin and determined. “Let’s go.” 
ix. 
If you thought that the carriage ride to the castle was silent, the one back to your home was ten times worse. Both you and Riki had no clue what to say, awkward and embarrassed from the kiss, and concerned for Jungwon and the future of the situation—the more you repeated the words in your mind, the worse it sounded. 
It was all a blur. Until you stepped out of the carriage, feet planted firmly onto the dirt path right outside your familiar—yet now, somehow unfamiliar, house, you didn’t recall anything. Similarly to the time you and Riki had come back from the academy, there was a warm yellow glow erupting from behind your closed curtains, a sure sign that someone was home, and you quickly unlocked the front door, long skeleton key clicking in the lock as you jiggled it around frantically, anxiety growing by the moment. “Jungwon?” you called, as soon as you got the door open, “are you here?” 
“Of course he’s here,” Riki grumbled, getting touchy from the lack of sleep, “he said so.” 
“In here,” Jungwon said, voice coming from your right, and you rushed inside, shoving Riki inside and locking the door behind you, nervous that someone was already eavesdropping. 
When you rounded the corner, you spotted Jungwon sat upon your sofa, eyes red and swollen from crying, presumably, and your heart fell when you saw him. He had helped himself to a glass of water, but it seemed untouched, sitting on your rickety coffee table without any droplets spilled over the lip, free from lip marks or any blemishes on the glass surface. “Alright, what’s going on?” Riki asked gruffly, once he realized that neither you nor Jungwon were about to make the first move and speak. 
Jungwon cleared his throat clumsily—the sound uneven and stuffy. “Well,” he began, “as you know, there’s no witches around here that can do such magic, other than my brother.” 
“Your brother is gone,” Riki reminded him bluntly, causing Jungwon to lower his gaze meekly. 
“I know,” he said stiffly, “I’m getting to that.” 
“Oh, sorry,” Riki muttered. 
“Since Jeongin can’t help us, and none of the witches from the academy are up to this level either—“
“Seriously? Not a single one is able to help?” Riki interrupted, flabbergasted. “What about one of the professors?” 
“You think we can trust them?” Jungwon burst out, “even if you’re suddenly all nice to us, super close to (Y/N) and all that, that doesn’t mean your father will share the same sentiment! If a whisper of this reaches his ears me and (Y/N) will be hanged in the town square with no hesitation!” 
Riki’s shoulders slumped shamefully. “I didn’t think about that,” he said, sheepishly, shame evident in his voice. 
“Of course you didn’t,” Jungwon said, voice almost mournful. “It wouldn’t ever occur to you that we’d be in danger. It’s not as if you would care regardless.” 
You, who had stayed silent this entire time, looked back and forth between the two, feeling bad for both of them—mainly Jungwon. “The professors and the other students wouldn’t hesitate to tell the king. They aren’t close enough to us that they’d risk their own necks to save ours,” you said honestly, making both of them look at you. “Let’s listen to what Jungwon has to say.” 
Jungwon nodded, thankful for your calm input. “You know, there’s one more witch close by. He doesn’t attend the academy, and he keeps to himself, but I really think he might be our last option.” 
“Who is it?” Riki asked, unfamiliar with the vague statement. 
“His name is Min Yoongi,” Jungwon said, hands clasped tightly in his lap, “he has sort of a bad reputation among those in town who know him.” 
“And despite that, we’re going to him for help?” you asked doubtfully. 
“He hasn’t killed anyone, or anything like that,” Jungwon said quickly, “he just… keeps to himself. And you know how people like to talk.” 
“I don’t know,” Riki said, “I don’t trust this.” 
“We don’t really have a choice,” Jungwon said defensively, “he’ll probably ask us for a form of payment other than money, which is good since both (Y/N) and I lack funds, but it could be anything.” 
“This isn’t helping to convince me,” Riki muttered under his breath. 
“What do you think he’ll ask for?” you asked curiously, “anything that we could bring, just in case.” 
“It probably won’t be anything physical,” Jungwon said grimly, “material objects don’t mean much to him. In the past I’ve heard him ask for sacrifices, for experiments upon the ones who seek him. He may very well do that. It’s possible one of us might go and not be able to come back.” 
With those words, you felt your skin prickle with fear, and you hoped to any higher being that that wouldn’t be the case. You swallowed hard, looking past Riki’s horrified expression. “Should we go?” you asked, “better sooner than later, right?” 
“We can’t go in the morning?” Riki asked in a small voice. 
“His lair is only visible to outsiders in the night,” Jungwon said cooly, “if we don’t go tonight, we’ll have to go tomorrow night.” 
“No. We gain nothing by waiting,” you said firmly, “we’ll go tonight.” 
---
It was somewhat jarring to watch Riki’s body packing a small bag full of things from your humble home. You’d caught a glimpse of yourself in the mirror as you shoved a canteen into your leather bag, Riki’s long limbs seeming much too large to be contained by the small room. You felt more uncomfortable than you had in a long time, more so than you’d felt since you’d first come into this situation anyways. Every time you looked down at your hands or brushed against a piece of furniture, you were much too aware that the skin you occupied wasn’t yours in the slightest, and it disturbed you to no end. You were quite sure that Riki was feeling similarly, as you watched him snap at Jungwon for brushing up against him, goosebumps arising on his exposed skin—your exposed skin, from the subtle touch. 
“Where’s his ‘lair’ anyways?” Riki asked, breaking the heavy silence between the three of you. As you shoved another canteen in your bag, you eyed Jungwon, curious of the answer yourself. 
“In the woods,” Jungwon said simply, “you need a witch to navigate. Or else you’d never find him.” 
“How does that make any sense?” Riki complained. 
“It’s magic,” Jungwon said, exasperated, “and there’s a lack of witches in the area. He prefers to be left alone, and if someone finds him, he’d much rather it be a witch.” 
“And how do you know all this?” 
“Witches communicate, you know,” Jungwon replied, tone almost snarky. “I know others who’ve gone to see him, who’ve had to pay a price.” 
Riki stopped his questions after that, looking rather green with nerves and nausea, even as you all filed out the front door and you locked it once again, pocketing the key and turning towards the forest on the other end of the village—in the opposite direction from the castle. 
You’d read many fantastical tales of friends going on journeys and adventures together, always subtly longing to go on one of your own. The banter, the bonding, and the travel itself, all seemed to melt into an idealized version of an almost-vacation in your head, but perhaps you should have considered that this wouldn’t be it—for multiple reasons. 
Jungwon and Riki refused to speak to one another, attempting to converse through you when conversation was absolutely necessary. Not only that, but they wouldn’t even walk next to each other, again using you as a divider between them, making sure that they stayed on opposite ends of the path, their immaturity finally peeking through. Maybe it was sort of a relief, seeing that they still retained their youth through such an event, Jungwon especially when considering what happened with his brother, but they were getting on your nerves, and quite frankly, you weren’t sure you could handle such a long journey with the two of them silently bickering the entire time. 
Before you’d even reached the mouth of the massive forest, Riki had uncapped a canteen and guzzled half the contents, making Jungwon glare at him. “We need to conserve that!” he complained, and you could see his fingers twitching, resisting the urge to snatch the container away from Riki. 
“I’m thirsty!” Riki complained, “do you want me to dehydrate and shrivel up?” 
“You’ll live,” Jungwon said snobbily, and you took this chance to pluck the canteen from Riki, shoving it aside yours in your bag. 
“Just save it,” you said, annoyance creeping into your voice too, “you won’t be getting any more once you run out. There’s absolutely no safe water in the forest that we know of.” 
“The wolves know,” Jungwon said, “but we don’t want to owe any of them, especially one that belongs to a pack.” 
“Why?” Riki asked stupidly. 
“Weren’t you paying attention during werewolf studies?” Jungwon asked, eyes narrowed, “or was that when you were still fucking around with your stupid friends?” 
“That’s enough,” Riki snapped, “don’t call them stupid.” 
“They are stupid,” Jungwon continued, “especially that one guy—Sunghoon? Christ, his ego is massive.” 
Riki’s hands clenched into fists. He didn’t like his friends—he actually preferred hanging out with you, though he’d never admit it. He planned on bothering the two of you after switching back to his own body and eventually ditching the other princes. But he didn’t like the way Jungwon, a witch, was talking down vampire royalty—he could get him hanged in the blink of an eye if he reported this to his father. 
“Just shut up,” you groaned, “both of you. We have a long journey and I’m not listening to you squabbling the entire way.” 
Jungwon held his tongue, for your sake, and Riki did the same, focusing on not tripping over the disturbingly large tree roots that you were walking by. 
When Jungwon took the lead, silently waving his wand and testing the air, tilting back and forth, Riki had to physically prevent himself from jumping the guy—he was just so smug, and you couldn’t see that. It annoyed him—Jungwon annoyed him. Maybe when he got back he would just hang around you, rather than the pair. 
You didn’t go to the forest often. In fact, you avoided it as much as possible. The only time you really ventured inside was for a class when you had to examine different types of magical fungi, and even then your entire class had hardly walked inside the mouth—it seemed that several species of flora had suddenly spawned right at the entrance, convenient for your fear of the dark trees. If you weren’t still inhabiting Riki’s body, you just knew that your skin would be covered in goosebumps. The air inside the forest was completely different from the village; it felt like a different climate, a separate part of the world. Cold, damp, and moist, it felt like you were constantly in the shade—the fact that it was the middle of the night didn’t help with the low temperature either. Subconsciously, you rubbed your arms with your hands to warm yourself, still not used to the body that didn’t feel cold. 
You could even feel the cold forest floor through your shoes. Riki’s shoes were expensive, made of thick fabric and the soles were raised, made specifically to keep the material clean and away from the dirty streets. Even so, with the way your feet sank into the spongy, moss-covered dirt, you could feel your individual toes freezing up, becoming stiff and cold inside your wool socks. 
There was a thick fog creeping up upon the three of you as well, the moistness of the air unable to contain the oncoming wall of white mist. When you all stepped into it, both Riki and Jungwon shivered violently—in mortal bodies, the fog chilled their very bones. You, on the other hand, could feel the fingers of the fog tickling your skin, but you had no reaction to it. “This can’t be normal fog,” Riki spoke up, disgruntled—you now noticed that he was the one who always broke the silence, unable to keep his mouth shut for very long. “It’s way too cold.” 
“Nothing is natural in this forest,” Jungwon conceded, teeth chattering loudly, “there’s almost certainly magic in this fog. The weather here itself feels different.” 
“I get why everyone always told me to stay out of the forest now,” you said, eyeing an oddly bright blue insect squirm across the mossy roots of a tree—which you soon realized had speckled leaves. “I’ve never seen any of this stuff before. I thought half of these plants were myths.” 
“You’d be surprised,” Jungwon said, still chilled from the fog. You could hear it in his voice now, the cold creeping in and robbing his vocal chords of that natural mortal warmth that made his voice so honey-like, so comforting to you. It scared you a little, the way he sounded so different. 
“I’ve never even heard of any of this existing in the first place,” Riki said, leaping away from a snow-white frog that had waddled just a little too close to his foot. His voice remained the same. 
“If you never took any flora and fauna classes, I don’t see why you’d have heard of it,” Jungwon said, “I hear that vampires like to stay out of the forest as well.” 
“That’s correct,” Riki said, quickly returning to your side once the frog had hopped away, “we like to keep away from the wolves. This is wolf territory—smack in the middle of it, really.” 
“The pack lives further west,” Jungwon said, nose raised in the air, as if he were sniffing it. “Sorcerer Min lives as close to the center as possible, to even out the magic.” 
“I don’t know how that works, and I’m not even going to ask,” Riki said glumly, “I don’t get magic.” 
“It doesn’t make sense a lot of the time,” Jungwon agreed, “but when you do make sense of it, there’s no greater feeling.” 
“Like you’d know,” you teased, making Jungwon flush a deep pink. 
“Shut up,” he muttered, “at least, that’s what I’ve heard others say about it.” 
Almost perfectly on time, you heard an ear-shattering howl pierce the quiet that had just begun to settle between the three of you again. You felt your spine prickle—you’d never felt so afraid. There were horror stories about the pack ripping vampires to shreds for just trampling on their territory, and you were certain that you, Riki, and Jungwon wouldn’t be receiving a warm welcome. “He’s coming,” Jungwon said, freezing up, “we can’t run.” 
“Why not?” Riki asked, panicked. His stance looked as if he were about to take off sprinting through the forest. 
“You can’t outrun a werewolf,” Jungwon whisper-yelled, “it’s like trying to race a centaur!” 
“What does that even mean?” Riki asked again, confused. 
“It means you can’t do it!” you snapped, your heart racing. You could feel it hammering against your rib cage, blood and adrenaline pouring through your veins as the light sound of paws pounding against the ground entered your ears. 
“Do we hide?” Riki asked, looking around wildly, “we have to do something! I’m not going to die here, in their body!” 
“It’s too late,” Jungwon moaned, sinking down to the floor and hiding his face in his hands, “I thought we’d be safe if we stayed on the east path.”
You and Riki mirrored his actions, crouching down on the ground and wishing that you could sink into the dirt and burrow underneath the plants. “Jeongin?” a mellow voice asked. 
The unfamiliar warmth of the tone made you look up immediately—you’d expected nothing but growling and snarling before you were inevitably torn apart. You stared into the friendly yellow eyes of a male wolf—he was shorter than most, his build more stocky than lanky, but he was slim, and his limbs bulged with muscle. He seemed vaguely familiar, although you wouldn’t be able to name him if you were asked. 
“How do you know my brother?” Jungwon asked, rising to his feet almost immediately—it seems that the initial warmth of the voice uncorked the fear in him, too. 
The wolf put up his hands in defense, taking a single step back. You watched, not without admiration, as his exposed arms flexed with the movement. “He was my friend,” he said quietly, “you look very much alike, forgive me for the mistake.” Then Jungwon’s words seemed to click in his head—you could almost see the little metal gears shifting in his mind. “You’re his brother? Jungwon?” 
Jungwon lowered his wand, which he had begun to point at the wolf. “Don’t tell me you’re the wolf that my brother used to hang around with.” 
“Guilty,” the wolf said sheepishly. He risked a smile, deep, uneven dimples appearing on his unblemished face. It made him even more approachable, seem even more friendly. Dangerous for a werewolf. 
“Are you a part of the pack?” Riki blurted out, and the wolf’s slitty pupils shifted to look at him, making Riki flinch. 
“No,” he said quietly, “I left years ago. I live separately, with a roommate, further east. If you’re from the Nishimura kingdom…” he trailed off here, eyeing you—or who he thought was Riki, “… you might know him.” 
You knew only one wolf that didn’t attend the academy or belong to a pack. “Jake Sim?” you asked, only slightly surprised. “He mentioned a roommate a few times. Never a name though.” 
“That’s the one,” the wolf sighed. “You can call me Chan.” 
“Alright, Chan,” Jungwon said, evidently still wary, “we have somewhere to be, so we’ll just be on our way.” 
Chan’s eyes widened in amusement. “And what business does a vampire prince, a little witch, and a hybrid have in the forest at this hour?” 
You felt yourself flinch at the mention of your blood status—something that Chan picked up immediately. His dark gray tail swished behind him in amusement, and suddenly he seemed much less warm. This was what you were afraid of. But surprisingly, he didn’t argue, and he didn’t push you for more information. “Good luck, with whatever it is you’re looking for,” he said genuinely, “be careful.” 
“We know,” Jungwon said, and you noticed that he had started to raise his wand again. 
Chan noticed this too, eyes flickering down to the stick, before his smile faded. He morphed into a wolf—a disturbingly large wolf, before your eyes, and leapt into the bushes behind you, massive paws pounding against the forest floor as he galloped away. 
“We’re alive,” Riki gasped, one hand clasped over his chest, “I thought I was going to be mauled.” 
“We’re lucky it was him,” Jungwon said, rubbing his eyes in disbelief, “I can’t believe that out of all the werewolves we ran into, it was one out of two friendly ones.” 
“It would’ve been weird to run into Jake here,” you mused. 
“Better weird and awkward, than us getting viciously mauled,” Riki mumbled, and you let out a nervous laugh. 
“Maybe that was a sign that we should get a move on,” Jungwon said, looking around. “I don’t want to run into anyone else on our way there. We won’t be that lucky a second time, and there’s creatures that reside here that are much worse than werewolves.”
“Again, not going to ask,” Riki said quickly. 
Jungwon’s dark eyes were unblinking as he responded. “It would be far better for everyone if their titles were not repeated.” 
x. 
This time, Jungwon didn’t complain when Riki took long, greedy gulps from his canteen. You didn’t either. After the run-in with Chan, your tongue had felt like a desert, drier than ever with fear and the exhaustion from the journey catching up to you. “I wish there were carriages in the forest,” Riki complained, poking at a bright green plant that moved by itself. A small vine curled around his finger, and he panicked momentarily before shaking it off. The vine didn’t seem to mind, instead wrapping around a small caterpillar that was inching away, squeezing it so tight that it exploded, pink guts oozing out of its blue skin. Riki made a gagging noise and scooted away from the vicious plant. “Do you think Sorcerer Min will help us get back home?” he asked hopefully, looking at Jungwon innocently. 
“I don’t know how many times I have to say it, but we’ll be lucky to leave with all three of our lives,” Jungwon said, looking down into his own canteen. “Prepare for a long journey back.” 
“At least it’ll be day when that happens,” you said, trying to make at least one positive statement. 
Jungwon shook his head. “According to your timepiece, it’s half past seven in the morning now,” he said, pointing to Riki’s fancy watch that rested upon your wrist. You brought it up to your face in disbelief—he was right. It was already morning, and by seven thirty the sun was definitely risen—the foliage in the forest was just so thick that there was no difference between midnight and noon. You shook your head, wishing for sunlight for once—you swore you wouldn’t complain about the heat ever again. Even though you hadn’t been in the forest for that long, you could already feel the damp chill seeping into your bones and settling there. 
“Let’s go,” Jungwon said, standing up. He shoved his canteen back into his bag, looking at both you and Riki, and you did the same, eager to get a move on. Riki was more lethargic, complaining a little about how he was still so tired, how he wanted to rest more. 
“We’re close,” he promised, and Riki shut his mouth, surprising you again with his compliance. 
Taking the lead again, Jungwon walked with a faster gait than you and Riki. He didn’t look back to make sure you were keeping up, bustling through the thick bushes that were now chest-high. You noticed that you had deserted the “path” that you had been following ever since you entered the forest a while back, and you nervously pulled at your shirt collar—you’d always heard to never stray from the path in the forest. You just never thought you would need that advice, much less disobey it. 
You felt a cold hand slip into yours as you started breathing heavier, getting more anxious by the minute, and you looked over to see Riki looking over at you, concerned. His fingers wrapped around yours and he squeezed gently to reassure you—and maybe to reassure himself a little too, not that he would ever say that out loud. 
The only sound was all three of you pushing aside branches and other plants as you shuffled through the forest. It seemed like the forest was alive, using the dense brush to try and force you back, warn you that it wasn’t a good idea, that you shouldn’t be going this way and forcing yourself so deep into the thicket. You could almost taste the dread, metallic and thick in the back of your throat, as you reached a clearing. It was obviously unnatural, the trees and plants too smoothly cut off around the perfect circle. The grass in the circle was odd too, instead of the coarse, dark green grass that you had been walking upon since you entered, it was soft, light, and fine. It smelled strongly of magic—an indescribable smell, but unmistakable nonetheless. 
Jungwon was the first one to step into the circle. He almost stumbled, as if someone had pushed him roughly into the clearing rather than him going in on his own accord. He looked back at the two of you then motioned for you to follow. When no harm befell him, you and Riki let go of each others’ hands before stepping out from behind an especially thick, solid bush and coming into the clearing, standing next to Jungwon. “What’s supposed to happen?” you asked, looking around. 
“I’m not really sure. Every time, the entrance to his lair is different. I’ve heard stories of it looking like a cliff to a pool of unnaturally deep water. One witch even claimed that when she went, it resembled a waterfall of magma. I don’t know if I believe that one, though.” 
“Oh, it’s true,” a deep voice piped up. Though the voice itself was deep, there was something about it that screamed ancient to you, abnormal for a witch as they were usually mortal beings. The way that the being formed the words was slightly lilted, reminded you of the king in the sense that they were from a different time. It was also oddly smooth, the words flowed together in an unnatural way that was also strangely alluring—those three words weren’t enough. You wanted to listen to the voice more. 
“Are you who we’re looking for?” Jungwon asked vaguely. His voice shook as he asked.
“Depends. Who are you looking for?” the disembodied voice asked, the voice almost teasing. It sounded cocky, arrogant, yet sure of itself—the cockiness was rightfully placed. 
“The dark sorcerer,” Jungwon said vaguely, eyeing both you and Riki, still trying to not give too much away. 
“And what’s the name of this dark sorcerer?” the voice asked, tone shifting to a more serious one. 
Jungwon squirmed uncomfortably, clenching and unclenching his sweaty fists, unsure if he should just come out and say it. “Uh… I’ve heard that his name is Min Yoongi,” he said awkwardly, looking all around for the source of the voice, trying to direct his words in all possible directions. 
“Well, then you’ve come to the right place.” Suddenly, the voice was right in front of you—there was someone right in front of you. You weren’t quite sure what you were expecting of the dark sorcerer—maybe a stereotypical caricature of a batty old wizard with a long gray beard, a pointed purple hat, and half-moon spectacles. But the man standing in front of you looked just like any other villager, he could have very well passed for a human if he weren’t clad in a dark black cloak, twirling a wand between his lithe fingers. Maybe you expected him to be taller too, have a more impressive physical stature. It’s not that he wasn’t impressive—you were actually quite humbled by him; he had an aura that emanated pure magic, pure power. But he couldn’t have been taller than Jungwon, and he was definitely shorter than Riki, although most people were. He had a flat sort of smile upon his pale face, hooded eyes sleepy as he looked over the three of you with interest clear in his expression. “What business do you have with me?” he asked, and before any of you could answer, he waved his wand and seemingly out of nowhere, a rip in the air appeared. He pulled it aside revealing a room, and motioned for the three of you to enter. Looking to Jungwon for confirmation, you stepped inside, your two companions following close behind. Yoongi trailed Jungwon, who brought up the rear, and sealed the air with another simple wave of his wand—and you were then trapped in a cluttered, dimly lit room. 
Yoongi didn’t wait around for a response from any of you. As soon as he closed the tear, he busied himself with a large, empty cast-iron cauldron that was sitting upon a small ring of fire, encapsulated by several large white stones. A green flame warmed the bottom of the cauldron, and you couldn’t help but peer in, feeling just the slightest bit disappointed as you realized it was empty. “Well then, little hybrid, it seems like you’ve been through a lot the past few days,” Yoongi sighed, turning around and rifling through the mess of glass containers on his lopsided shelf, pulling one out and uncapping it. He smiled at your bewildered expression and emptied the jar into the cauldron—the contents were a swampy gray-green sludge that you wished you hadn’t smelled. 
“You know?” you asked, stumbling over your words just slightly with shock. 
“Of course I do,” he said, pulling out a vial full of some sort of dried plant from his pocket, “it’s very obvious when you think about it.” 
“So everyone knows?” Riki blurted out. 
Yoongi chuckled a little, shaking his head as he plucked out a single strand of dried herb from the vial, tossing it into the cauldron almost carelessly. “No, no, prince. It’s easy for me to tell, since I’ve been told to do and undo so many of these spells, that’s all. I’m sure that to the untrained eye, there would be little difference. Unless you acted extremely out of character, that is.” 
Riki leaned against the slightly grimy wall, crossing his arms and fixating his gaze on the cauldron. “Oh. That’s good to know.” 
“So I assume you’re here for a spell reversal,” Yoongi said nonchalantly, emptying more random bottles into the container, and you watched in awe as colorful sparks and smoke erupted from the concoction as he added more ingredients. 
“Correct, sir,” Jungwon said quickly, “that’s all.” 
Yoongi cocked his head to the side and looked Jungwon dead in the eye, making the younger of the pair straighten his posture unconsciously. “And why are you here? There doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with you.” 
“I’m the one who cast the spell,” Jungwon explained, “I figured I should at least tag along and help them find a cure.” 
“Surely, if you cast the spell, you could undo it yourself as well?” 
Laughing sheepishly, Jungwon looked away, the tips of his ears burning red with embarrassment. “That’s what I initially thought too,” he admitted, “but this magic is far beyond my current level. I’m not even sure how I cast the spell in the first place.” 
“Such power in a young witch is impressive,” Yoongi said, nodding slowly, “it often erupts in spurts, when you least expect it. It can’t help but seep out sometimes when there’s just so much of it inside you.” 
Jungwon shrugged, but was clearly pleased with the compliment. “I suppose. My brother was much better at magic than I was, though.” 
“Was?” 
“He was murdered recently by one of the vampire princes.” 
Yoongi didn’t seem all too surprised, even though both you and Riki looked at each other with wide eyes, shocked at Jungwon’s forward manner. “My condolences,” Yoongi said slowly, “that’s tragic, to lose such a strong, young witch.” You didn’t miss the way his gaze quickly flickered to Riki, if only for half a second. 
“You knew of him, perhaps?” Jungwon looked up hopefully, and you had to remember that he hardly ever interacted with other witches—the ones at school didn’t like him much since he was friends with you. 
“I have,” Yoongi said, “though I never met him in person. But if he was half as talented as you, I’d say you’re already following in his footsteps by just existing—maybe even exceeding them, outgrowing them.” 
Once again trying to hide how pleased he was with the compliment, Jungwon smiled at the floor, bringing a hand up to the back of his neck to rub at it nervously. 
In an attempt to steer the conversation away from more compliments for Jungwon, Riki cleared his throat, making everyone in the room turn their attention to him. “Just a question,” he began, “how are we meant to use the cure? Is it a drink? An injection? Another spoken spell?” 
“If you’d paid attention in potions class, dear prince, you would have realized that I’ve been brewing it this entire time.” Almost smugly, with a wave of his hand, he emptied several more containers into the cauldron, liquids and solids alike. “It won’t be difficult. It’ll be just like taking a sip of your favorite drink.” 
Distastefully, Riki looked into the pot again, of which the contents were now thick and bubbling. The color had changed from the unpleasant gray-green to a deep, burping brown, and clearly, both you and Riki were displeased. “Is this some sort of anti-spell, in potion form?” you asked curiously. “I’ve never heard of a direct cure being in a different form—usually the antidote for a spoken spell is the same, another spoken spell.” 
“Correct,” Yoongi said, ladling the thick liquid into two crystalline cups, which he seemed to materialize out of thin air with a wave of his hand, “usually that is the case. For ordinary witches, at least.” 
You couldn’t help the way your eye twitched a little at his cockiness, even if you knew it was rightfully placed. The steaming contents inside the glasses made the clear crystal turn foggy with heat, and just as Riki’s hand twitched to reach out for one, Yoongi’s eyes flashed up at him. “Patience, dear prince. There’s a missing ingredient yet. If you consume it now, you’ll die a very painful death.” 
Riki’s hand retracted. “I wasn’t going to drink it if you didn’t directly say so,” he said defensively, but he folded his hands together behind his back, as if the cups were too tempting to risk anything at all. Yoongi hummed a little in response, disappearing and reappearing in different parts of the room, looking through the clutter for the apparent missing ingredient, muttering something about how someone named Hoseok had come and messed everything up, how things weren’t usually so messy. You had no clue who that was, but from the way Yoongi was cursing his name under his breath, you assumed the worst. 
Finally, he reappeared right in front of the three of you, making Jungwon jump ever so slightly. He uncapped a small tube; the glass was a dark brown so you couldn’t really see what was inside. You could tell it was some sort of powder, and as he gently shook it over top of the two full glasses, you saw that it was a powder indeed—white, sparkling, and pure. “Is that powdered unicorn horn?” Jungwon asked, voice full of awe. 
“Of course,” Yoongi said simply, pointing a finger at the concoctions, making them stir themselves. “I doubt they have such good quality powder down at the academy. It may look a bit unfamiliar to you, I’m surprised that you recognized it.” 
“My brother used to work with it a lot,” Jungwon said, watching with wide eyes as the brown slop turned into a liquidy sky blue. 
“Now you can drink up,” he said, pushing the cups towards you and Riki, “the results should be instantaneous.” 
“Should be?” Riki asked distastefully, “you mean things could go horribly wrong again?” 
“Things could always go wrong with magic. You have to learn to take risks,” Yoongi said passively, “but I doubt things will go badly. Just trust me.” 
Just as you raised the glass to your lips, Jungwon called out, “Wait!” 
“What now?” Riki asked, annoyed. 
“You haven’t named your price yet,” Jungwon said, gaze flickering back and forth from you and Riki to Yoongi, who had been watching you closely, one hand propping up his chin as he leaned across the table to stare at the both of you. “Don’t drink anything yet.” 
“You really are smart,” Yoongi sighed wistfully, “I’ve been wanting an apprentice forever, but no one has come close to approaching my standards. Until you, that is.” 
“You want me as your apprentice?” Jungwon asked, clearly not wanting to say yes. His thick brows furrowed as he took a step back, woozy from Yoongi’s intense gaze. “I don’t know…” 
“Just take him!” Riki complained, “he wants to do magic and you want to teach it, what’s the problem?” 
As Riki uttered those words, Yoongi’s eyes flashed, and Jungwon’s filled with fear. A gummy smile, too innocent to be paired with such an evil glare, spread across his face as a beam of light erupted from him. An incredibly thick book appeared in the air, a black feather quill with it. Without any ink, it guided itself to Jungwon’s hand, and against his own will, his hand traced the familiar shapes of his signature, signing himself unwillingly to Yoongi. “What the hell!?” you shouted, “what was that!?” 
“You three came in as a trio,” Yoongi said, eyes finally returning to normal as the book slammed shut. “When you entered my domain, your minds became one, your words became one. Riki uttering a simple confirmation signed Jungwon over to me.” 
“Signed him over to you?” you spluttered, “what, he’s going to have to stay here forever?” 
“I’m no monster,” Yoongi said scornfully, “he gets days off. But he will indeed remain here with me for much of his time.” 
“For how long? When will he be freed?” 
“He’s apprenticed for life, of course,” Yoongi said simply, “unless he chooses to extend his lifetime, he’ll be here until he dies.” 
You felt your throat close up at that statement. Jungwon sank to his knees, shoulders shaking as he looked at you helplessly. “That’s not fair,” you snapped angrily, “you never told us that would happen.” 
“You never asked,” Yoongi said, “I had no reason to clarify. And I got what I wanted, and so did you. Why so angry?” 
“I didn’t think the cure would come at the cost of my best friend!” you shouted, slamming your hands down on the table, shaking the glasses. 
“Careful,” he said sharply, “if you spill, I won’t make more. This is your only chance at the cure.” 
“We’ll find another way,” you said spitefully, “right, Riki?” You turned to look at the prince, expecting to look into your own eyes—a sight that was now familiar. But instead, you stared into the eyes of the prince himself—he had drank the potion and turned back already. 
“Just drink it!” he said impatiently, “then it won’t be all for nothing.” 
“You’re fucking sick,” you spat, “how could you just drink the cure that Jungwon’s captor made? How could you be so selfish?” 
“We came here for a reason, okay?” he snapped, “I’m not leaving without it. We can leave without him.” 
“Just drink it (Y/N),” Jungwon said quietly, “we don’t know when we’ll find another cure so easily. Or if we ever will.” 
“I can’t do that to you,” you said softly. 
“Drink it or don’t, but I don’t want you here any longer,” Yoongi said, annoyance creeping into his voice. “I have a new apprentice to begin training.” 
Three pairs of eyes fell on you, and you shakily reached down for the glass. Jungwon nodded at you encouragingly, a small smile spread across his lips—even in a situation where he was at risk, he was trying to comfort you. Riki refused to meet your eyes when you looked at him, and perhaps that was for the best; you couldn’t even think of his name without burning rage filling your chest, flames licking up and down your rib cage at the thought of Jungwon being imprisoned here forever—and all because of Riki and his stupid, immature, impatience. Yoongi’s dark violet eyes settled on you too, making a shiver run down your spine. You hadn’t felt afraid of him previously, but now that things had spun out of control you didn’t trust him as much as you did before. He felt much more dangerous, much more unpredictable. He didn’t help you to be a good person, because he felt bad. He helped you because he benefited from it. 
After much hesitation, you brought the glass to your lips and sipped the liquid. It was oddly cool temperature-wise, even though there was still steam rising from it. The taste was almost indescribable, with how many flavors flowed over your tongue. It was sweet and bitter, tangy and bland, salty and sickly. It felt like ice going down your throat, getting colder and colder as it traveled through your body. Your skin prickled, an unfamiliar feeling. It was like you were shedding layers and layers of it at once—but then you blinked, and your hand was your own again. “That’s it?” you asked hoarsely, “I’m back?” 
“That you are,” Yoongi said, “now, I’ll be nice and give you a little help on your way back. After all, you don’t have your navigator with you any more.” 
You looked over at Jungwon, who was still kneeling on the floor. His hands were clasped together tightly, and his lips were pressed into a thin white line as he looked at you with the saddest, most fearful eyes you’d ever seen on a mortal being. Ignoring Yoongi and his muttering, you strode across the room and captured Jungwon in your arms, and he buried his face into your neck as you held him close. You could tell that he had started crying, feeling hot tears against your skin. “I‘ll come back and get you out of here,” you promised. 
“You can’t do that,” Jungwon sniffled, “you know that.” 
You did. But you didn’t want to believe it. “Fine,” you said under your breath, “then I’ll get revenge on the one who did this to you.” 
“I hate him but it’s not his fault. You know that,” Jungwon reminded you. 
“I don’t care. Someone has to pay,” you growled. You pulled away from Jungwon, ignoring his concerned expression. You walked back over to Riki, who still refused to look you in the eye, and Yoongi nodded at the two of you. 
“Ready?” he asked. “You won’t be able to come back once I cast the spell.” 
“Ready,” you said quietly, crossing your arms and looking down at the ground. You felt a weird folding experience—almost as if you were contorting your body into cramped positions unconsciously, and you caught only one more glimpse of Jungwon before you blinked, and then you felt sunshine on your skin, a welcome sensation. Squinting, you looked up to the sky. You were standing right outside the forest on the village path, where you had entered the previous night—with both Riki and Jungwon. Now, only Riki stood next to you, shielding his eyes from the bright light. You didn’t say anything to him, knowing that you’d end up yelling, and instead turned on your heel and walked home, trying to stuff down all of the emotions that were threatening to spill from your very being—you needed to preserve this energy, save it for your revenge. You couldn’t let it out just yet. 
xi. 
If Jungwon were still here, he would have stopped you long ago. He would have sat you down and shouted at you for being so stupid and impulsive, called you an idiot for thinking any idea of yours was remotely good. You knew this, of course. After years of Jungwon berating you for your emotional responses to traumatize events, you pretty much memorized what he would say about certain things, how he would react to your stupid plans that you never really intended on carrying out. It was a little fun to press his buttons sometimes, and you didn’t really mind his lectures. It showed you that he cared, and he never said anything really hurtful. It was his way of protecting you and comforting you. 
This time, instead of him sitting you down on your familiar old rug, hands on your shoulders to hold you in place while you squirmed around and complained, his spot was empty. The chair that he always occupied was cold and absent. You sat in your spot on the rug, fiddling with your hands as you stared down at the papers on your floor. It had taken you nearly a week to obtain them, especially due to your blood status, and after receiving many a confused look, you had marched home with the packet in your hand, triumphant. 
As triumphant as one could be, at least, before a real victory. You knew that obtaining the papers were the first step. Without them, you would be arrested, and Jungwon’s sacrifice would be in vain. But with the papers and the approval from the royal vampire court, you could legally kill Riki Nishimura and get revenge for signing away Jungwon’s life to the dark sorcerer. 
Was it a solid plan? No. Did it even really make any sense? No. If you spent too much time thinking about it, you began to chicken out, afraid that he would beat you in the duel, that you would end up bleeding out in front of the entire village, ashamed by your final decisions as your life faded from your body. But you were too blinded with rage too care, you someone to pay and that someone was Riki. 
You chewed on your thumb nail as you scribbled down the necessary information, pouting to yourself a little as you glossed over your opponent’s information. You were starting to overthink it again. Thinking of Riki didn’t only make you mad, it made your heart ache, and you hated it. 
It was like he could almost read your mind, sense the worst time to come knocking at your door. Because for the third time that week, a heavy pounding erupted from your front door, and you could feel a headache beginning to form. You never let him in, of course, you let him exhaust himself by yelling your name and kicking at your door. He had the strength to kick it down if he really wanted to, but he never did. It was like he wanted you to open the door yourself and invite him in. Was he really expecting you to be civil after what happened? You didn’t think anyone could be so callous, so ignorant. 
The sound of his voice made your skin crawl. You were glad that even though you acknowledged the brief period of time that you liked Riki, disgust had overtaken those emotions entirely, and you couldn’t think of the kiss without tasting bile. With a flourish, you wrote down his name on the opponent paper in a messy scrawl and folded them up, tucking them inside a cream-colored envelope, reminding you just a little bit of the invitation you had received days ago, the thing that had started this entire situation. You shook your head as you thought of it. Why had you been so stupid? So naïve. 
“Damn it, just let me talk to you!” Riki shouted, making you pause as you sealed the envelope. 
“What would you even say?” you demanded, voice shaking as anger seeped through, poisoning your tone. 
“You’d know if you just opened your damned door,” he snarked. Tossing the envelope aside, you stomped over to your door, throwing it open and staring directly into the red irises of Nishimura Riki. 
He looked like shit. You could say that bluntly. His hair was a mess, clearly it hadn’t been washed in days from both the look and the smell. His face, although still annoyingly pristine, looked marked and puffy. His clothes were rumpled and wrinkled, every part of his uniform sloppy enough to be violating the dress code. His bag hung off of his bony shoulder, sinking slowly to the ground as it slid off of his arm; he had dropped it as you opened the door to glare at him. His expression was one of longing, yet you couldn’t sense any regret for what he had done, only seeing selfishness. “Fine. The door is open,” you said monotonously. 
“Fucking finally,” he said, running his hand through his hair—that’s why it was so mussed. 
“I can close it again,” you threatened, and his eyes widened as he shook his head. 
“No, I have shit to say to you!” he shouted, “I think I deserve the chance to tell you.” 
“Then hurry up and say it. I don’t have time for this.” You leaned against the door frame, rubbing your sore temples. You needed to get the papers to the court before long, the sooner the better. Seeing Riki in front of you didn’t help either, you already wanted to beat the shit out of him even though he’d barely uttered twenty words. 
“Why haven’t you been at school?” he demanded. 
“That’s what you’ve been dying to say to me?” you deadpanned. 
“It’s part of it,” he snapped. 
“I don’t have any reason to go back,” you said, avoiding eye contact with him. “Jungwon isn’t there and I don’t have any place at the academy.” 
Riki flinched at the mention of Jungwon’s name. “So?” he asked. “That never bothered you before. You went because you like school.” 
“That’s not true,” you scoffed, “I went because I needed something to do, somewhere to try and belong. I needed a goal to work towards and beating your ass academically was exactly that.” 
“Is that… not it any more?” he asked. 
You shook your head. “I have a new plan.” 
“Is it to get Jungwon back?” he asked, face scrunching up in disgust. “You know that won’t work, right?” 
“Who are you to tell me what to do?” you seethed. Even though his guess wasn’t accurate, you still felt attacked, obligated to defend Jungwon. 
“I’m just saying!” he yelled, “and you know, Jungwon isn’t even that special. Other than the fact that you hung out with him because you’re both social rejects, you really had nothing in common!” 
Your jaw dropped. “Are you fucking kidding me? That’s what you have to say after you signed over his god damn life to that two-faced sorcerer? You’re really not sorry at all!” 
“I’m not!” he shouted back, “he was a little prick and he deserved to be taught a lesson!” 
“So you thought that apprenticing him to Yoongi for life would be the right thing to do?” you asked, throwing your hands up in the air. “How stupid are you? I’ve been trying to give you the benefit of the doubt, making excuses for you in my mind, trying to tell myself that you’re not as bad as your father. I was sort of right, you’re not as bad as him. You’re a million fucking times worse.” 
“Kill the dramatics,” he sneered, “and keep my father’s name out of your mouth, half-blood.” 
“Back to the name-calling again, I see,” you muttered. 
“It’s just what you are,” he spat. “I can’t believe I ever let myself get close to you.” 
“Don’t flatter yourself,” you chuckled lowly, “you’re no prize either, prince.” You spoke his title mockingly, leaning in close to his face and making him wrinkle his nose. 
“You smell just as bad as a werewolf,” he said, backing away. 
You felt your face heat up with embarrassment despite your internal promise to not let him get to you. “Whatever,” you snapped, “get the fuck away from me.” 
“You don’t get to tell me what to do!” 
“I’ll do whatever I damn well please, you coward!” 
Instantly, you were knocked off of your feet, laying flat on your back, the cold wood of your floor pressing into your exposed skin. Riki hovered above you, lip curled upwards into a silent snarl, hands gripping your wrists tightly again, reminding you of the first time he came to your home to attack you. “Get off of me,” you spat, wriggling around in his grip. 
“I could kill you right now,” he said evenly, staring into your eyes, “you know that, right?” 
“Then do it,” you said, “I don’t care!” 
“No one else would,” he said, tightening his hold. “You’re nothing in this world. Your blood status is trash. You’re nothing but a lowly half-blood who had to cheat her way to the top, and for what? For someone who claims to hate the blood caste, you sure know how to manipulate your way around it, bending it to your will.” He paused and licked his lips, letting you catch a glimpse of his exposed fangs. A chill ran down your spine at the sight of them despite the fact that you’d seen them before. It was different when he was threatening you. “What’s it all for anyways? A taste of royalty? A feeling of sick inner satisfaction? All it takes is one look, and anyone would know you’re not a part of us.” 
“I wouldn’t want to be anything like you anyways!” you shrieked. 
“Then what is it that you want? A taste of our blood? A taste of my blood?” Riki brought his own wrist up to his mouth, slitting open his wrist with an angled fang. He let the dark blood drip onto your cheek, and you could feel your own fangs emerge at the scent. He chuckled as you squirmed helplessly, tongue trying to lick up the blood—no matter how much you hated him, how you hated blood, you craved his—drinking the blood of a full vampire would erase your shameful half-blood status and turn you into a full vampire. “You’re fucking pathetic,” he chuckled, licking up the trail of red that had begun creeping down his arm, and then licking your cheek, the feel of his cold tongue making you recoil in disgust. “There’s no chance of that.” He lowered his sleeve so that his cut was hidden, and you almost whimpered at the loss, feeling more pathetic than ever. He was right. It was pathetic of you to just lay there and take it. 
You raised your knee, which he had sloppily failed to hold down, and rammed it into the area that was infamously sensitive, making him groan out loud and slump down. His hold on your wrists loosened for a split second, but it was enough for you to escape. You wrenched them from his grasp, and pushed his heavy body off of yours, squirming out from underneath and backing up until your back pressed up against a wall. Riki shot a glare at you, and you bared your teeth at him, trying to show him that you weren’t afraid, even though you were, just a tad. “Get out of my house,” you said lowly, “and get the fuck away from me.” 
Riki said nothing as he stood up shakily, dusting himself off and stalking out your door, neglecting to slam it behind him. You watched him transform and take off, leathery wings fluttering in the air as he flew away, and it was only then that you let yourself take a deep breath, wiping away a stray tear that had somehow escaped from the corner of your eye. 
It was time to turn in those papers. 
---
The confirmation arrived shockingly fast. The next morning, you awoke to the sound of a thick envelope slipping through your mail slot, the slap of it against your floor enough to make your ears twitch. You didn’t try to hide the grin that spread across your face as you read the confirmation, immediately preparing yourself. There wasn’t much to it, you knew you could beat him if you managed to get him down just once. Riki wasn’t a strong fighter. He might look it at first glance, from his tall, lean build, but he was predictable, and once you knocked him down he had a hard time regaining his confidence. In front of an audience, you knew he would struggle with this especially. 
The duel was scheduled for that evening, and you couldn’t do anything but wait. You watched from your window as the town square cleared, people whispering and gossiping as royal officials began sweeping the floors and surveying the area, roping off the center of the square. You felt a rush of glee course through your body. Finally, Jungwon’s life would be avenged. 
Evening came much quicker than you thought it would. Every time you looked at the clock it was as if another hour had slipped away, and you could feel your nerves beginning to creep up on you, making you anxious. You tried to shake it off, tried to tell yourself that there was no way you would lose to Nishimura Riki, but there was an inkling that you might. That was enough to make your mouth dry, make your hands shake. You felt stupid for feeling that way—who were you, Riki? Nerves had never bothered you before. 
You decided it was time to leave the house when the sun began sinking below the horizon. The sky was painted violet, heartachingly reminiscent of Jungwon’s big round eyes, and you clasped your hands together as you looked up at the fading daylight. There was a certain chill in the air. You were almost unfamiliar with the sensation of feeling temperature again, after spending so long inhabiting Riki’s body. That was one thing you missed about it. 
“You challenged me to a duel?” There was one of the many things you didn’t miss about Riki’s body—the fact that he was always around. 
“And what if I did?” you retorted. You watched as Riki strode towards you, long legs eating up ground as he approached you, getting up in your face. You peered behind his broad frame and spotted a fancy carriage pulled by pristine white horses, their hooves pounding against the uneven village pavement. You were almost one hundred percent positive that the king and queen were inside the carriage, from the way guards surrounded it. 
“That’s the most cowardly thing anyone could ever do,” he laughed, throwing his head back and cackling. 
“No more cowardly than accepting the duel,” you said, and before Riki could protest, you had walked away, refusing to let him see the way he had made you tear up just by speaking to you. 
You situated yourself on the other end of the roped off area, pacing back and forth, clenching and unclenching your fists as you tried to avoid looking over at Riki. You were right about the king and queen—they were now being guided to their own special seats. Almost everyone in the village had come out of their houses, abandoned their jobs to come and watch the duel. There hadn’t been a serious duel in over fifty years; it was a rare occurrence, and most wouldn’t miss it for anything. 
You went over things in your head one last time as the officiant emerged from a second carriage. They held a large book of rules, thumbing through the pages, lips contorting into silent words as they read through it. You spared a single glance at Riki, and almost burst into laughter. His father was patting him on the shoulder, whispering into his ear, and his face was stony—although you couldn’t miss the way his lower lip quivered as he lowered his gaze. This time, you didn’t feel bad for him. He deserved this. 
“Shall we begin?” the officiant asked, closing the book. They looked between you and Riki, their face devoid of any sort of emotion, any sign of preference between the two of you. “(Y/N) (L/N) challenges you, Nishimura Riki, to a duel. Do you formally accept the invitation?” 
Riki’s eye twitched slightly. “I do,” he said. 
“Good. Now, do we need to go over the rules?” they asked. 
“Yes!” the crowd cheered, just wanting to prolong the experience, “yes!” Their tone was almost giddy with excitement, their screams full of happiness and glee. They couldn’t wait for the carnage to begin. 
“No magic, no weapons, and absolutely no cheating,” they said seriously, “I’m sure we all remember the time a princess was mauled by a pack of werewolves—there is to be no one else in the roped off area besides these two. No exceptions.” 
A roar of laughter erupted from the crowd, including the king and queen—hadn’t the aforementioned princess been their daughter? 
“That’s all,” the officiant said formally, “go for the kill.” They exited the roped off area and took a seat among the villagers, their own excitement just as obvious. 
You turned your attention to Riki, who stood on the other end of the area awkwardly. He shifted his weight from one side to the other, hands balled into fists as if he were about to get in a fistfight with you, as if you weren’t ready to rip out his throat with your teeth. “Maybe you should rethink this,” he shouted, refusing to move from his spot, “do you really want to fight me?” 
“There’s nothing more in the world that I want!” you seethed, taking a step forward. “You deserve this!” 
Riki flinched as you continued moving towards him. “(Y/N), please…” he said, “I can’t hurt you.” 
“You had no problem with it the other day!” you snapped, “when you shoved me down, bruised my wrists from your grip alone. You had no problem telling me that you could kill me. What, you were all talk? All bark, no bite? Are you too afraid to kill me?” 
“I’m not afraid!” he shouted, “I just don’t want to hurt you!” 
“Bullshit.” You stood right in front of him now. “That’s bullshit.” 
“I really can’t,” he said quietly. 
“Then I will.” You grabbed him by the wrist, pulling him down to the ground. He didn’t even attempt to get up, and his face smashed against the paved ground. You turned him over and kicked him in the ribs, making him wheeze as you felt bones crunch under your foot. His nose was freely bleeding now, dark liquid dripping from both his nostrils. You kicked him over and over again, waiting for him to get up and try to beat the shit out of you—wanting him to get up and try to beat the shit out of you. “Get up and fight me!” you shouted, smashing your foot into his face. You watched his eye begin to swell up almost immediately. “Get up!” 
“I said I wasn’t going to hurt you,” he said thickly, and he spit a mixture of blood and saliva out, doing nothing more than turn his head to the side. 
“If this is a sad attempt to try and make me feel bad, it’s not working,” you said. 
“It’s not,” he said, sitting up. “I don’t feel bad for what I did. I hate Jungwon. But hurting you yesterday didn’t feel right.” 
Your upper lip twitched in annoyance. “You really are a sick fuck,” you muttered. 
Riki chuckled darkly. “And?” 
You shook your head. “I really have to stop thinking that you’re going to redeem yourself, that you’re good underneath all of this.” 
“That’s certainly your weakness,” he agreed, spitting out more blood, “stop seeing the good in others. More often than not, there isn’t any. So stop looking for it.” 
“Fine.” You felt something break inside of you—not a snap, not a sudden sever that made you leap onto Riki and quite literally tear out his vocal chords—but something that had been wearing down over time. You knelt down next to Riki. “Then I’ll end it here, if you’re going to be a coward until the end and not ‘hurt me’.” 
“Go ahead,” Riki said sarcastically, “I don’t give a shit.” 
“Coward,” you repeated. Your fangs, which had already emerged at the beginning of the duel, as soon as Riki had begun bleeding, latched themselves onto his neck. He gasped a little at the feeling, and then quickly went limp in your arms as you drank away his life. You felt a little nauseated at the feeling of his skin puckering under your lips, the lack of blood making him feel empty. You didn’t even enjoy draining humans—draining a vampire felt even weirder. 
As you finished him off, you could hear absolutely nothing around you—no cheers, no talking. Silence. You wiped your lips and stood up, looking around at everyone. They sat there in a stunned silence; they had been expecting a bloody fight to the death, not something almost comparable to a humane euthanization. 
You turned your attention to the king and queen. The king was frowning deeply, clearly confused as to why his son had just seemingly given up, but the queen looked unbothered, already standing up to head back to the carriage. 
The king watched his wife walk past, and then stood up himself, approaching you with a confused expression on his face. “Well then,” he said formally, “welcome to the life of being a pureblood.” He held out his gloved hand to you, and you took it, shaking it once and then letting go. You could feel the power coursing through your veins, almost feel your status elevating by the moment as people in the audience began standing up and politely applauding for your win. But it didn’t feel right, you felt stupid, humiliated, and empty. Even though you’d won, it felt as if you’d lost. You didn’t have Jungwon back, Riki lay dead at your feet and you didn’t even get to really fight him, and you had nothing left. 
You were ranked as a pureblood now, but what difference did it really make? 
The applause faded out, and you looked up at the sky—the sun had almost set completely now. It wasn’t even fully night yet, that was how fast the duel had gone by. 
You regretted it all. 
Sinking to your knees, you looked down at your blood-covered hands. The villagers began filing out of their spots, going back home to sleep off the disappointment of the near gore-free duel. You were left alone with Riki’s drained corpse, and you glared at it as you propped yourself up on your heels, looking back up to the sky, not knowing what to do next. Tiny stars began appearing as the color darkened from violet to blue to black—and you felt your heart clench as you thought about what could have been. 
You really did taint everything you touched. You deserved this. 
Blood is thicker than water—but the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb. You repeated this bitterly, realizing that what you had been craving this whole time was family, comfort from loved ones, and now the only person you’d ever loved was gone, locked away in a prison deep in the woods, and the one who you’d falsely accused of attraction was nothing more than an empty corpse. 
You couldn’t help but weep, for Jungwon and Jeongin, for Riki, and most selfishly of all, for yourself. 
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DIVIDER CREDIT | @firefly-graphics​
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© petrichor-han 2022, all rights reserved
551 notes · View notes
bermudas · 2 years
Text
vanilla salt
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↳ summary: the entire school thinks you’re in love with kim sunwoo, but only you and sunwoo seem to know that’s not the case. 
↳ prompt: “and i’m thinking that at this point, we’re so terrible that we deserve each other.“ 
↳ pairing: sunwoo x gender neutral reader
↳ genre: fluff, angst
↳ themes & tropes: friends to lovers, high school au, matchmaker au, implied love triangle?
↳ warnings: the word “damn” is mentioned once
↳ word count: 4.1k
↳ notes: if you understand what the title is referencing i love you <3 this fic is loosely based on toradora and was originally written as a birthday present for a mutual but life got in the way for me and then they deactivated… ira if u see this, this one’s for you!!! there’s also a brief tense switch in the second scene to emphasize that it’s a flashback, so i hope that’s not confusing either. 
[this fic has been reuploaded]
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“So you and Sunwoo…” Eunbin pries, her face lighting up in curiosity as she peers around your locker.  
“We’re not together,” you say, exasperated, grabbing your lab notebook before slamming the door shut. 
“But you like him, right?”
“We’re just friends!” 
Before you can turn to leave, she pulls you back by your sleeve, leaning in to whisper in your ear. “I’ve never seen you exchange more than two words with Kim Sunwoo outside of class until last week. I’m your best friend and even I find it strange.” She pokes you firmly in the chest as if to further drive her point home. “You’re hiding something, I’m sure of it.”
You don’t know why the entire school seems to think you’re in love with Kim Sunwoo. Under different circumstances, you might’ve found the situation amusing, especially considering the person you really like is Eric Sohn, Sunwoo’s best friend, and the person Sunwoo likes is Kwon Eunbin, your best friend—the very same Eunbin who’s convinced the two of you are hiding something from her.
Then again, you and Sunwoo are the only ones who know the truth. That’s the reason why you’re in this mess in the first place.
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The classroom was empty, lights dimmed and doors closed. You took one more glance at the hallway, making sure that no one else had come back from lunch early before slipping into the room without a sound. Your grip tightened on the note in your hand as you made a beeline for Eric’s desk, the edges of the envelope starting to fold under the pressure. Crouching down, you unzipped his backpack quietly.
“What are you doing?” a voice called out, causing you to jump up in surprise. 
“Nothing,” you squeaked, attempting to conceal your confession before the intruder could catch a glimpse of it. A hand shot out to grab your wrist, and with a sudden tug, you found yourself face to face with Kim Sunwoo, the star of the boys’ soccer team—and the school’s resident heartthrob. He plucked the piece of paper out of your grasp, a smirk on his lips. 
“What were you doing in Eric’s bag?” he asked, holding your letter in front of him.
“None of your business,” you snapped, snatching it out of his hand. Thankfully, he hadn’t even bothered to open the note, saving you from any future embarrassment.
Or so you thought.
When Sunwoo opened his mouth to speak again, you wished the ground would swallow the both of you whole, dread filling the bottom of your stomach. 
“Do you like Eric? Is that what that was? A confession?” 
“I said, mind your own damn business,” you hissed, crumpling the envelope in your hand as you turned to leave the room. 
“Wait! I think we can help each other out!” 
You stopped in your tracks, eyeing him curiously across the room. “What do you have in mind?”
“You like Eric, right?” Sunwoo didn’t even bother to wait for an answer, instead launching straight into his next point. “You know, I’m his best friend. I can set you two up.” 
“What’s the catch?” you retorted, crossing your arms over your chest. 
“Well uh…” Sunwoo started, his voice trailing off as he sheepishly scratched the back of his neck, the tips of his ears turning red. “Do you know if Eunbin likes someone?” 
“Wait. You like Kwon Eunbin?” you exclaimed, despite Sunwoo’s frantic gestures for you to keep quiet.
“Do you have any other friends named Eunbin?” 
Your jaw dropped open in shock. Kim Sunwoo, who could have anyone he wanted at the school, was asking you, a virtual stranger, to help him win someone over? You almost laughed at how absurd it all sounded, half expecting someone to come barging through the door to tell you it was all a prank.
“Why do you look so surprised?” he questioned, brow furrowed in confusion. 
“To answer your first question, no, she isn’t seeing someone. I’m just surprised you asked, that’s all. You don’t seem like the type who needs advice on how to talk to girls.”
“She’s not just any girl! She’s your best friend!” 
“I’m sure you can manage to talk to her without my help.”
“If you help me, I won’t tell anyone about your crush on Eric. One best friend to another, deal?” 
“Fine,” you muttered, reluctantly shaking Sunwoo’s hand. “Just don’t tell anyone about what you saw today.” 
Sunwoo tilted his head to the side, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “What are you talking about?”
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By the time you head down to the cafeteria for lunch, Sunwoo’s already waiting for you, pulling out the chair next to him as you place your bag down. 
“Our class trip is this weekend,” he says.
“Eunbin thinks we’re hiding something from her,” you blurt out at the same time.
Sunwoo stares at you blankly. “We are hiding something from her.” 
“She thinks I have feelings for you!” you continue. “How are you going to ask her out then?” 
“Just tell her you like Eric! Problem solved!” 
You catch a glimpse of Eric out of the corner of your eye, quickly shushing Sunwoo as you fix a pleasant smile on your face. 
Eric places his tray down across the table from you, glancing up in your direction. “This seat isn’t taken, right?”
“Not at all!” Sunwoo chimes in. “I was just talking to Y/N about the trip this weekend. You’re coming with us, right?” 
“Sure, if it’s fine with you guys. I can always hang out with the baseball team.” 
“Don’t worry about it! Y/N’s planning on bringing Eunbin too,” Sunwoo insists, his face lighting up with a grin.
“I am?” you ask, earning yourself a nudge from Sunwoo’s elbow. “Oh yeah, I am!” 
“Oh, that sounds good then,” Eric replies with a small smile. 
Ever since your encounter with Sunwoo a week ago, he and Eric have become familiar faces at your usual lunch table, making themselves at home amongst your friends. Today, however, Eunbin is nowhere to be seen. 
She must be running late because of calc, you muse, stealing a fry off of Sunwoo’s plate.
“Hey!” Sunwoo protests, moving his tray further away from you as you make a face at him in return. “Get your own!”
“What are you guys up to?” Eunbin interrupts. Both of you turn around to find her standing behind you, her backpack left half open in her rush to get down to lunch in time. Sunwoo pauses, a blush starting to blossom on his cheeks, and you quickly step in.
“We were just waiting for you! You’re free this weekend, right? I was hoping you were gonna come on the class trip with us.”
“Sure, that sounds fine,” Eunbin responds, shrugging off her bag as she takes the seat next to Eric’s. 
“What do you think they’re going to do this year?” Eric asks.
“I don’t care as long as it’s better than last year’s trip,” Sunwoo offers, leaning back in his chair. “That sucked.” 
“Oh god, I remember that,” Eunbin adds. “It rained the entire time and we were crammed into the bus.” 
“It wasn’t that bad,” you counter. “At least we were dry.” 
“It was lame, Y/N,” all three of them say in unison, causing the four of you to break out into a fit of laughter. 
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“Not that I mind hanging out with them, but since when were you, Sunwoo, and Eric a ‘we’?” Eunbin muses after school, stopping in front of her car to look for her keys. 
Taking a deep breath, you briefly glance around the parking lot, making sure you’re out of earshot from anyone nearby. “Ok, promise not to laugh,” you reply, recalling Sunwoo’s advice to you earlier that day. 
Eunbin sends you a confused look, a small frown forming on her lips. “I’m not going to laugh at you.” 
“Sunwoo’s setting me up with Eric.”
Eunbin pauses, her grip on the car door loosening as she whirls around to face you. “You like Eric?” she screeches, the words practically ringing in your ears. You wince, hoping no one was close enough to hear her. 
Lowering your voice to a whisper, you mutter, “Yeah, I like him, not Sunwoo.” 
“How come you told Sunwoo before me?” Eunbin pouts, throwing her bag haphazardly into the back as she climbs into the driver’s seat. “I’m your best friend!”
“It’s not like I wanted him to know!” you respond, shutting the passenger door closed. “He caught me trying to sneak a letter into Eric’s backpack during lunch last week.” 
“You were going to confess to him?” 
You wave your hands in front of your face, cheeks heating up in embarrassment. “Yes! No! I wasn’t going to put my name on it, think of it like a secret admirer.” 
“You must really like him then,” Eunbin murmurs as she starts the car, her eyes fixed on the rearview mirror. 
“Yeah, I think I do.”
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“Let’s check out the haunted house!” Eunbin calls out, dragging you ahead of the group. Looking over your shoulder, you can’t help but notice how Sunwoo lags behind his peers, bending down to retie his already tied shoelaces in an attempt to slow you all down. 
While the rest of your group excitedly lines up in front of the venue, you wait for Sunwoo, nudging him gently with his shoulder as he passes by. “What are you worried about?” you start. “Nothing’s going to happen to you.” 
Sunwoo doesn’t respond, biting his bottom lip in apprehension. 
“Come on, let’s catch up to the rest of them. You don’t want to get stuck in the back, do you?” you tease, taking his hand in yours.
Despite your valiant attempts to maneuver Sunwoo towards Eunbin, it seems like fate has it out for you. As soon as you reach the rest of the group, Eric shouts, “Rock paper scissors to see who has to go in the back!”—prompting a chorus of groans to erupt around you. None of your friends seem to have any better ideas, though, which is why you end up having to endure the entire haunted house sandwiched between both Eric and Sunwoo. 
By the time you manage to make it out (alive, you might add, no thanks to the both of them), you think you might have to get your ears checked out later, especially with the amount of screaming emitted from the three of you two of them. Your heartbeat pounds erratically in your ears, and you can’t tell if you’re feeling the residual effects of the adrenaline rush, or if it’s because of the way Eric still clutches onto your hand like a lifeline. Next to you, Sunwoo practically falls to his knees in relief the minute he steps foot outside, taking a moment to catch his breath. 
“What took you guys so long?” Eunbin exclaims, pushing herself off the wall to help Sunwoo back up. 
“Sorry, we got separated! These two”—you gesture at the two boys at your side—”were screaming so much that even the workers started to get worried.” 
You don’t miss the way Eunbin’s eyes widen at the sight of your hand in Eric’s, your fingers tightly interlaced together. She winks in your direction, flashing you an inconspicuous thumbs up before she whisks Sunwoo away.
Seems like we didn’t need as much help as we thought we would, you think, watching Eunbin and Sunwoo dissolve into a fit of giggles as they wait in line to order their food. 
Eric clears his throat next to you, letting go of your hand as he glances in the other direction sheepishly. “We should probably get lunch soon too,” he says, interrupting you from your thoughts. “We don’t want to fall behind again.” 
A quick look around the area confirms his suspicions. It seems like most of your group has already branched off to get their own food, and while you can spot a few familiar faces nearby, you don’t feel like intruding. 
“Ah, we should… Does this sound alright to you?” you ask, pointing at the menu of a nearby food stand. 
Eric beams at you, his smile as warm as the sunlight on your skin. “I’m down for anything,” he replies, taking hold of your hand once more as he leads you to the line. 
Your gaze lingers on your hands. What does this mean? you wonder, attempting to quell the thunderous heartbeat in your chest.
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Your phone clatters on the library table, cutting through the sounds of shuffling papers and clicking keyboards as you stare at Eunbin in shock. A few people glance up, surprised by the sudden noise, but thankfully, most of them don’t even bother to lift their heads from their work. Eunbin avoids your eyes, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear.
“Youngkyun asked you out?” you hiss, repeating the words she had uttered only moments before, making sure to keep your voice down. 
“Yeah,” she murmurs, taking the seat next to you. “We started hanging out after we worked on that history project this month. Right around when you and Sunwoo started hanging out.” She props her chin upon the palm of her hand, her cheeks flushed.
Ah, you do remember her mentioning his name before. It makes sense that the two of them grew closer while you spent more time with Sunwoo and Eric. It’s not like you expected her to wait around for you. 
Speaking of Sunwoo…
“I didn’t think much of it at first,” Eunbin continues, “but now, I think I like him too. ‘Kyun’s really sweet,”—the corners of her lips twitch up into a shy smile—”and cute.”
Both of you chuckle at that, and you lean in closer, silently prompting her to provide more details. There’s no denying that Eunbin cares about Youngkyun. Her face seems like it’s bathed in a celestial glow, even under the library’s harsh lighting, and her eyes shine like the stars as she gushes about him. 
Despite this, your cheeks feel heavy as you muster up a grin in her direction. You’re happy for your best friend—you really are—but why does it feel like you’re betraying Sunwoo? 
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You spot Sunwoo in front of the school the next morning, his hands tucked into his pockets and the tip of his shoe scraping against the pavement. When he spots you walking through the gates, a broad grin breaks out across his face as he waves in your direction. 
Glancing briefly around the area, you pull Sunwoo aside, away from any possible eavesdroppers. You take a step back, making sure to maintain a good distance away from him, lest people get the wrong idea. 
You dread what’s about to come next. 
“I understand if you don’t want to help me anymore,” you mutter, eyes fixed on the ground as you avoid his gaze, guilt pooling in your stomach. 
Sunwoo takes a step forward, tilting his head to the side in confusion. “What do you mean?” 
He probably hasn’t heard the news yet, you think, taking a deep breath. “Oh, um...”—you twist the strap of your bag in your hands—”Youngkyun and Eunbin are together now, so you don’t have to help me with Eric anymore since I can’t help you. I’m—”
Sunwoo shakes his head, chuckling softly under his breath. You stop mid-sentence, taken aback by his reaction. 
You don’t know how you expected him to act, but despite all of the possible scenarios that ran through your head the night before, Sunwoo still manages to surprise you. 
“Are you laughing at me?” you sputter, shoving him in the shoulder. 
Sunwoo catches your hand before you can land another blow, his grip light around your wrist. “That’s not your fault,” he replies, his gaze softening. “Besides, I’d rather see her happy. She’s my friend now too.”
“I didn’t know you were such a romantic,” you scoff, rolling your eyes. 
“Don’t worry about holding up your end of the deal. We’re friends, so I’ll help you anyways.”  He gives your hand one more squeeze before releasing it from his grasp, just as the bell rings. 
“I’ll see you at lunch!” Sunwoo calls out over his shoulder, turning back to head inside. 
“See you!” 
You glance down at the palm of your hand. What was that about?
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“Is Sunwoo running late?” Eric asks, scanning your surroundings. The two of you are standing in front of a local cafe, both of your bags filled to the brim with textbooks and notebooks. With exam season drawing closer, Sunwoo had suggested the three of you meet up to go over notes and quiz each other—and yet, he’s nowhere to be seen. 
As if to answer Eric’s question, both of your phones light up simultaneously, text messages popping up on your screens. 
sunwoo: sorry i cant make it 
sunwoo: something came up w my sister
sunwoo: u guys can study wo me 
“He’s not sorry at all,” you mutter, your face heating up in embarrassment. Way to be subtle, Kim Sunwoo. 
“What was that?” Eric glances up from his phone. 
“Nothing!” you blurt out, waving your hands in front of you. “Do you want to head inside?”
“Sure. I mean, it’s not like Sunwoo was going to be that helpful anyways,” he jokes, his eyes crinkling up with his smile as he holds the door open for you.
While the two of you wait in line to order, Eric nudges you gently with his arm, leaning over to whisper in your ear. “You can go find us a table. Just tell me what you want, I’ll pay for it.” 
“You don’t have to!” you protest, fumbling through your bag for your wallet. 
He places his hand over yours, offering you a reassuring smile. “You can pay next time!” 
Next time?
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In fact, there is a next time, and a time after that—and a time after that. Soon enough, you and Eric don’t even need to make plans, not when both of you regularly show up to the coffee shop at the same time each week, like clockwork. But as the weeks go by, you can’t shake the feeling that Sunwoo’s starting to avoid you. 
You shouldn’t think twice about how Sunwoo goes out of his way to push you and Eric together at every opportunity he gets. It’s a ridiculous notion—especially considering the nature of your relationship in the first place—but Sunwoo’s your friend now too, and you care about him. 
Maybe it is a bit strange that Sunwoo always seems to avert his gaze whenever your eyes meet, as if he’s guilty of something. Maybe it’s also strange that Eric no longer makes your heart race when the two of you are alone—at least, not like he used to. (You chalk that up to the fact that you and Eric have grown closer to and more comfortable with each other over time though.)
As much as you enjoy spending time with Eric, your days feel empty without Sunwoo’s presence at your side, even though your paths cross frequently in the halls and you exchange small talk between classes. 
(He smiles at you like nothing’s changed. It feels like there are oceans between the two of you, like the two of you are on opposite sides of a bottomless chasm held together by a fraying rope bridge. You can’t even fathom crossing it.) 
You miss him.
You miss Sunwoo. 
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In hindsight, you probably should have realized that you have feelings for Sunwoo sooner. You should have noticed on your class trip, after you instinctively reached out to him in the darkness of the haunted house, holding onto him for comfort (both his and your own). You should have noticed when Eunbin tells you about her feelings for Youngkyun and your first thoughts are of Sunwoo’s happiness, not your best friend’s—nor your own. You should have noticed as Sunwoo rubs gentle circles onto the back of your hand in the school courtyard, even as he tells you that it’s ok that you can’t help him anymore because Eunbin has a boyfriend now, and he can’t control her feelings any more than you can. You should have noticed your disappointment every time Sunwoo blows off your plans so that you can spend more time with Eric, and you can’t bring yourself to admit that you would have rather spent time with him. 
There’s no epiphany, no eureka moment, no precise instant where the sheer force of your emotions barrels into you, forcing you to come to terms with your newfound reality. Instead, the realization trickles into you slowly, like water dripping from a leaky faucet: slow enough for you to compartmentalize it and save it for another day—until you can’t possibly ignore it anymore. 
You’re in love with Kim Sunwoo, and he still thinks you have a crush on his best friend. 
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We need to talk,” you say, pulling Sunwoo into an empty classroom while everyone else heads down to the cafeteria.
“What is there to talk about?” Sunwoo responds, his voice flat as he leans against the door. “All you have to do now is ask Eric out. I’ve done all that I can do for you.”
With that, he slides open the door, slipping out of the room before you can get another word out.
So much for not letting the deal ruin our relationship, you think bitterly, your gaze drilling holes into his back as he turns the corner and disappears from your line of sight. Swallowing your pride, you run after him.
The staircase door slams shut, echoing throughout the empty hallway. You head towards the sound, your breath coming out in quick huffs as you pick up the pace, not willing to let this chance slide out of your grasp. 
As soon as your fingers graze the handle, the door swings open. You crash into Eric’s chest, his eyes widening in surprise as he grabs ahold of your shoulders to steady you. 
“Whoa there,” he says, grinning widely once he realizes it’s you. “I was just looking for you. Do you have a minute?” 
“Not right now, sorry. Have you seen Sunwoo?” you ask, craning your neck over Eric’s shoulders. 
“Oh.” You don’t know if it’s your imagination, but Eric’s smile falters a bit. He releases his hold on your shoulders, gesturing upwards. “I didn’t see anyone on my way here, but I think I saw someone heading up to the roof.” 
“Thanks! I’ll catch up with you later.”
“Don’t worry about it!” Eric shouts after you as you run up the stairs. 
Slamming the door open, you lean against the wall to catch your breath, scanning the roof for Sunwoo. When he sees you, he starts in surprise, taking in your disheveled appearance and the rapid rise and fall of your chest. 
“You ran after me?” 
“We weren’t finished talking,” you grumble. 
“But I saw Eric coming upstairs! I thought you would have talked to him instead. I mean, you like him,” he rambles, as if he still can’t believe the sight in front of him.
With a sigh, you push yourself off the wall, marching up to him. “Can we stop talking about Eric?” 
Confusion flickers across Sunwoo’s face briefly as he pauses, his response dying down in the back of his throat. 
“I want answers,” you continue, your voice cracking under the weight of your emotions. “You said this arrangement wouldn’t change anything between us, that we would still be friends. But why have you been avoiding me for the past month? Please, Sunwoo, please just talk to me.” 
Sunwoo takes a deep, shuddering breath, his eyes meeting yours once again. “I’m selfish, that’s why. I don’t think I could have watched someone I cared about fall in love with someone else, even if I cared about them too much to interfere with their personal happiness. I thought putting some distance between us would make things easier. Clearly, I was wrong.” 
“You made me miserable, you know—” you laugh mirthlessly. A poignant silence hangs between the two of you. Your eyes trace his features carefully, committing him to memory in case you shatter what is already hanging by a thread. 
“—and I’m thinking that at this point, we’re so terrible that we deserve each other.” 
“What’s that supposed to mean?” 
“I like you, Sunwoo. Not Eric,” you reply, a shy smile spreading across your face. “We’re terrible at this matchmaking thing, by the way. I mean, look at how this turned out. We both ended up falling for each other instead of our best friends.” 
“I guess you’re right about that.” Sunwoo laughs as he takes your hand in his, lacing your fingers together. “I like you too, in case you didn’t know.” 
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© bermudas, 2021. all rights reserved.
225 notes · View notes
taem-min-archived2 · 2 years
Text
soured up || l.tm
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PAIRING || Taemin x Female Reader
GENRES || Best Friends to Lovers AU, Bartender!Taemin, Humour
SUMMARY || After your last relationship failed, you turned towards your best friend, Taemin, for comfort. Only that he too was hiding something, something he could not disclose unless he wanted to become your ex too.
Or, in which Lee Taemin tries not to sour up his status as a best friend.
COLLAB || Part of the Crimson Aurora Hotel and Spa collab by @myeoning-call​. Thank you for letting me take part in this collab! Check out the other authors here!
WORD COUNT || 3.1k
A/N || Finally writing something so long please bear with me if it isn’t the best TT
WARNINGS || Mentions of breakup
TAGLIST || @shrutiajit​ @exoxobsession​ @nctisthecity​ @woo-minhee02​ @semanticbias​ @buttvi​ @vllxchor​ @stayinzencity​ @watsonparker​ @joepomonerof​ @imdamnconfused​ @ahtisa02​ @moonchilddfics​ @spacebyuns​ @xavi-in-kpopland​ @midnightmoi​ @whatudoing​ @fifty-shades-of-mischeif​ @softmark1999​ @myluv-yeonjun​ @cara-18​ @ongshimi​ @xuxibelle​ @soobin-chois​ @yerimezzy​ @trashlord-007​ (If you want to be added to my taglists, fill in this form)
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“What are you doing here again?”
The woman in question just smiled at him as she sat on the stool opposite him, causing him to sigh. It wasn’t that he was irritated by her because no way the woman across from him could ever irritate him, but rather, he was worried about her. Worried about what would become of her if she kept on living like this.
“Can I not visit my best friend?” She asked.
“You aren’t visiting me. You’ve booked for overnight again, haven’t you?” He grumbled, getting ready to make her drink.
“Ah, Lee Taemin. You know me so well.”
He ignored the sarcasm in her voice and continued with his work. Of course, he knew her well. He was her best friend, and that position came with the heavy responsibility of having to know almost everything about the said person. 
“What do you want?”
“The usual, of course.”
“No I mean, what do you want from me?” He asked, placing her drink in front of her. 
“You are so mean.” She pouted and took the glass in her hand, swirling the liquid content slowly. Taemin sighed once more and rubbed his temples, feeling that consoling her today would take much longer than other days. Then, in a much sadder voice, she added, “When did you become so mean? When did everyone become so mean?”
At this, Taemin felt his heart clench painfully. Seeing her down like this was already painful, but when she talked like that…he felt like it was all his fault that he couldn’t protect her. After all, the two of them met each other because of him.
“Don’t- don’t say that.” He said, reaching out to hold her hand. He clasped her fingers in his and she looked up at him, tears welling in her eyes once more. “You know I’ll always love you right?” His statement held double meanings but he doubted she could even see through it, especially in her given state.
Y/N took in a shaking breath and forced a smile at him, leaning closer to him. “Yeah, yeah I know I’ve always got you. Which is why I always come here!”
“Really?” Taemin faked a gasp. “Not for some other reason?”
“Hmm, maybe it’s mostly because the beds here are really comfortable?”
“Y/N!” He pouted at her, looking visibly upset while deep inside he was glad that she was not thinking about her breakup anymore. Even though he doubted this was the right coping mechanism, he wanted her to let go on her own. “How can you choose something materialistic over me!”
She just laughed at this and looked at her drink once more, before finishing it up in one go. Then, she looked at Taemin softly, causing his stomach to drop once more. He really wished he wasn’t in love with his best friend, but it was something that had never been in his control. He wasn’t even sure when or how he had fallen in love with her or if he had been in love with her all along. 
"So what are you going to do tonight?" He asked. Usually, when she came over, she hung out in the bar with him until his shift was over, after which she went to her room and him to his.
"Me? I'm not sure, to be honest. I haven't seen the swimming pool yet even though it's my eighth visit. Or maybe I’ll just get a massage. Jongin’s still there, right?" Y/N replied, picking up her second drink. "Where's Sinjae though? I'll try to avoid wherever his shift is."
Taemin set down the glass he was cleaning and sighed. He had hoped she wouldn't ask this question but of course, she did.
"Hey what's wrong with you today? Why are you sighing so much? Seriously, your customers will think you've hit a mid-life crisis in your 20’s already." She said jokingly.
"I'm having a midlife crisis and a headache right now because of you though. "
"Sheesh if you can't bear with me then you should just tell me to get lost."
"I can?" He asked, sounding too eager. He laughed at her hurt face as she stuck out her tongue at him. She motioned him to come closer to her and he leaned in, catching her familiar scent. The same scent which comforted him when he was upset and crying in her arms, the same scent that he breathed in whenever they engulfed each other in hugs and whilst cuddling on the sofa watching some cheesy rom coms.
“You can’t get rid of me that easily.” She whispered to him like it was something top secret. “I promise you that I’ll stick with you forever, no matter what.”
“Then I guess I’ll need to start piling up on those aspirins, huh?” He smirked at her.
She waved her hand as though warding off evil. “Do whatever you want. Take whatever precaution you want because you and I are going to be together for a very very long time.”He could feel his heart racing at her sincere words, even though she meant it platonically. He wondered for the millionth time if she would ever feel the same way for him as he did. “Also, why am I not getting drunk tonight? Are you sure you are giving me alcohol and not coloured water? I’ll complain to your manager if you try to cheat me like last time.” Y/N glared at her cup as Taemin stared at her. After a while of concentrating, she set the cup down and looked up at him, causing him to nearly blush as she caught him staring. “Do I have a booger on my nose?”
Her question caught him off guard. “What?”
“Do I have a booger on my nose?” She repeated her question, looking at him 
He looked at her with an annoyed expression. “You didn’t know? It has been hanging there since you walked in. Did you even look in the mirror before coming or did they all crack due to your ugliness?”
“Hey!” She smacked him lightly. “Then why were you staring at me?”
“Who said I was staring at you?” Taemin countered back, the lie coming very easily to him over the years of practice. “I was staring at the art behind you.” He pointed at someone behind her with his chin and Y/N turned back to look at the art. One of the guests, who was sitting on the seat next to the windows, waved at Taemin and he smiled back at her. She was just a guest he had gotten to know a little better due to her prolonged stay, but there was definitely nothing between them. Y/N then turned back to him, with a mischievous smile on her face.
“Are you sure you were looking at the art? Or…her?”
To this, Taemin snorted. “Get lost. I have other customers to attend to. Go back to your room and get some sleep, it's already too late.”
She shook her head sadly, as though pained by Taemin’s annoyance. “And Mr. Midlife Crisis strikes again. Oh God, when did you get this old? Loosen up, Taem! Get a girlfriend, stay out till late at night! And who goes to bed at 10 PM? For starters, I don’t think you do.”
“Well, for starters, my shift starts at 9 PM?” Taemin countered back, unable to contain his smile. Y/N was very tiresome but for some reason that made her endearing. “Also, if you are so good at this, why don’t you become a professor on this subject? Might as well publish Ph.D. papers?”
Y/N’s eyes lit up, like no one had ever told her a more brilliant idea than this. She snapped her fingers and pulled him closer by his sleeves. “You know what, that’s an amazing plan! Why don’t we start with you then?”
“Me? Oh no, I’m happy with the way things are going-”
“First things first, I’m going to invite that girl over there and you both better get talking-”
“Don’t you dare!” Taemin snapped, pulling her by the arm as she tried to get up. She was taken aback by his sudden temper and he sighed, cursing himself to get angry at her. “I’m just- Don’t okay? I’ll get fired or-”
He stopped when she raised an eyebrow at him. Taemin ran his hands through his hair, trying to think of some good reasoning. “Really, I’ll get into huge trouble. Also, I just- I just don’t feel comfortable for some reason. Flirting isn’t my thing and I- uh, I really- you know about my views on love, don’t you? I don’t like-”
“Taemin!” Y/N gasped, as though realising something important. “You like someone, don’t you?” She asked softly and he looked at her, surprised. This time, she sighed and took his hands in hers.
“How did you-”
“It's written all over your face. Oh my god. How come I never realised this? I’m so sorry Taem. I should be better at this. Oh my god, I’m such a bad best friend.” She said, sounding so sad that he was worried she would burst out in tears, which she tended to do whenever she was drunk. Taemin wanted to say something comforting to her, that she wasn’t a bad best friend at all but he caught his breath when he looked up at her again. The yellow dim lights of the bar were throwing a warm shade on her face and he felt his heart squeeze, making him fall for her even more, if that was even possible.
“I’m so sorry.” She kept blabbing, which he kind of found cute, jolting him back to the present. “I’m so sorry I shouldn’t have tried pushing you towards her. You could have gotten into trouble because of me-”
“It’s fine. It doesn’t matter really. She isn’t interested in me, anyways.” He said, hoping she would leave out the topic. Taemin didn’t want to risk her finding out about his feelings in case it ruined their friendship. He rather stayed friends with her than make her feel completely uncomfortable. 
Y/N looked at him apologetically, drumming her fingers on the counter trying to think of something. “Fine then, leave the girlfriend part. I won’t press you about it since you don’t feel like it. But how about having some fun? You could go clubbing-”
“Please don’t talk about clubs in front of me.” Taemin groaned. Serving drinks all night had made him give up drinking and the last thing he needed to do was go to a place filled with loud music and drinks.
“Then go to a cafe. You might meet someone in your zone. Someone…who’s as sweet as you and a soft lover as you.”
“You think I’m sweet?” He asked, smiling a little at her words. Y/N rolled her eyes, causing him to chuckle. 
“Yes. How much ever I hate you, I cannot deny that you are sweet. And to some extent, a ninety percent boyfriend material man.”
“Only ninety?”
She ignored him and continued. “You are super sweet, romantic, passionate, a good listener, you take care of me well, give me warm cuddles and hugs…what else does a girl need?”
“Hmmm. But apparently, I’m not enough.” He muttered, wondering why she couldn’t see his feelings ever. Was she that clueless? Or was it his fault for never dropping a single hint?
“Who is this girl though? Who is this person who thinks she’s better than my beloved best friend?” Y/N demanded, looking at him angrily. He smiled at her weakly before shaking his head.
“It’s not that she thinks she’s better than me. It's just that our circumstances…haven’t allowed me to express my feelings for her.”
“Huh?” Y/N looked really interested now. “What was the circumstance? Maybe I can help you?”
Taemin narrowed his eyes at her, snatching away her cup from her and glaring at the waiter serving her. “Help yourself first. Get yourself out of this mess and move on. Sinjae was a loser and didn’t deserve you.”
She sighed heavily at his words, and for the first time in the evening, she looked tired, her face losing all the charm. Slowly, she nodded, agreeing to his words. “What can I do? What can I do Taem when he broke my heart this way? I really try moving on but-” She took in a shaky breath, her eyes brimming with tears now. Taemin looked at her shocked, as a single teardrop slid down her cheek. “I really try moving on and that’s why I come here but you always are in a rush to drive me out and I don't know where to go or whom to hold onto or whose shoulders to cry on. I know why you don’t want me to come here but still, I just- I just want to be with my best friend. With you.”
“Hey.” Taemin whispered, taking her hands in his. “Let’s go up to your room, okay?” She looked up at him as though to protest that she was fine enough to stay but he shook his head firmly. “Don’t worry, I won’t leave you alone. I’ll meet you up there too, okay?”
Fifteen minutes later, he found himself in her room, changing into his pair of pyjamas she had stolen from his house. Once he was done, he walked out of the bathroom to find Y/N had already changed and was sitting on the bed. She smiled at him when she saw him and patted beside her for him to sit. Taemin sat down, making sure to keep a little distance between them but she just wrapped her arms around him and pulled him closer to her. He stiffened a little at her touch but hoped that she hadn’t noticed that.
“Taemin, my Taemin. What would I do without you, my best friend?” Maybe it was his buried feelings, but she seemed to use the term ‘best friend’ a little too much today. 
“Well, you probably would have trouble tying your shoelaces too if it weren’t for me.”
“Ugh, so true. What else does one need in a best friend apart from the ability to tie their shoelaces for them?”
He rolled her eyes at her and tried shrugging her off, but she just clung on to him more tightly, laughing at his attempts.
“Get.” He grunted, as this turned into a pulling and pushing competition instead. “Off. Me”
“No. Never. Ever.” Y/N laughed, finally landing in a position where she was on his back as Taemin was on his stomach, pressed against the sheets. He could feel her chest rumbling against his back as she laughed, causing him to smile too as euphoria bubbled in his chest. 
"You always enjoy torturing me." He whined, though he didn't want her to get up. Taemin felt her rest her cheeks against his shoulder blade, wrapping her arms around him. Her body weight pressing down against him was so comforting, reminding him of all the times they spent together, lying down beside each other.
She rolled off him but pulled him along with her so that they were lying on their side now, with Taemin's back pressed against her chest and she hugged him like her personal teddy bear.
"You never answered my question, you know." She said.
"Which one? You ask too many."
"Where's Sinjae?"
Taemin froze, hating the fact that they were back to the beginning of their conversation; her ex-boyfriend. He felt that lately, all their conversations were in loops. They would begin with her breakup, talk about something else for a while to distract her, and then come back to Sinjae. Nonetheless, he turned towards her.
"Sinjae…left. Fired actually."
"What?" She looked at him shocked, an expression Taemin was expecting. He looked at her worriedly before wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into a hug.
"Do you…still love him?"
She blinked at him, before burying her face in his chest. Gently, he stroked her head to calm her down. "I don't really know. I guess I did move on but there are some days where I might be doing something which reminds me of him and then there's this pain in my heart."
"Don't worry." Taemin whispered. "It will go away too. Soon everything that reminds you of him would just be a happy memory."
"I hope so. It's just that…I've realised I share happier memories with someone else."
He wanted to ask her who it was but didn't think this was the time to press her. "I'm sorry I'm barely there with you when you need me nowadays."
"But you are always there." She muttered. "You are the only one who's there to hold me no matter what."
"Still. Sometimes I wish…I was more to you." He said, the words out before he could stop himself. He felt as though his heart might explode 
"You are, Taemin. You are my everything, you know." 
"I love you."
Y/N looked up at him surprised, as Taemin tried to comprehend what he had just said. His cheeks burned and he tried apologising to her furiously.
"Sorry, I didn't mean-" but he never got to finish his sentence because the next moment, her lips were against his.
Now it was Taemin's turn to be surprised. He stared at her as she moved her lips against his, before his eyes fluttered close and he kissed her back.
He pulled her in closer by her waist and she gently cupped his cheek. He was sure she could hear his heart hammering because it felt like it was trying to escape from his chest. Taemin kissed her gently firstly, and then a little more deeply, all the feelings he had felt over the years crashing into the kiss.
Finally, they broke apart, gasping for breath. He felt his cheeks automatically pull into a smile and Y/N did the same, mirroring the same happiness he could feel. He really wanted to kiss her again, her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were shining, but he felt that they both had something to say to each other.
"Did you know," she whispered, "we both talked about each other today without knowing it was each other?"
"No." Taemin whispered back, feeling too elated to express any other emotions. "I did not know. Did you?"
"Me neither." Her smile was too much for him to take and he felt like he might die if he didn't kiss her again.
And so he did.
"I love you. I've always loved you." He whispered against her lips. She chased his lips and he felt himself smile finally the feeling of love fully sinking into him.
"I love you too. I always will."
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A/N: Please do tell me what you think about this story!! I worked really hard on it and I would love to know everyone’s thoughts on it~ Comments and reblogs are appreciated!
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honeyhuii · 1 year
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Make My Heart Race
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Sports Au, Nascar Au, Illegal Street racer Au, Journalist Au, Strangers to Lovers
Genre:Fluff, seriously don't know how i managed to not even add an ounce of angst
Pairing: NascarDriver!Xu Minghao x Journalist!Reader
Wordcount: 9.2k
Warnings: Swearing, Mentions of food, illegal street racing, breaking the law, possibly wrong nascar termiology
Rating: PG-13 for swearing and breaking the law lmao
A/n: This is for the Sport Au Collab hosted by @gyukult! Thank you so much Gyu for letting me apart of this amazing collab. I made some wonderful friends and thank you to those who helped me figure out plot and which banner was better. You guys are the best! I also want to thank @sungbeam for helping me with the outline, without you I would seriously still be struggling where to go with this! I would also like to thank @heeracha for letting me use her all eyes on me line! I also hope you don't mind the awkward pov switches. I tried to space out the places when I would switch them. Also, some of the parts are purely self induldge and Hao is a bit oc...
Engines rev as they wait for the chequered flag to wave signalling the start of the race. Loud music blasted from the several cars, all of different types, but all doing the same thing…making the person behind the wheel hellbent on winning the race. One racer stood out amongst the crowd, She was notorious for winning and was one of the fastest racers Seoul has seen in years. She however, could care less about winning because she just wanted to feel the adrenaline course through her veins as she sped through the streets, she just happened to win every single time. This time was no different. She sped through the streets, turning tight corners, zooming past red lights. She just loves the thrill of racing.
You quickly looked over your outfit in the mirror in front of you, making sure it is deemed appropriate for a journalist interview. This was it. You were finally going to interview the people you’ve been dreaming of meeting. You gave yourself another look in the mirror before confidently nodding to yourself and grabbed your keys off the table, heading out the door with a confident walk.
Once you looked at the building in front of you, you felt your previous confidence leave your body. You’ve never felt so intimidated by a building before until now. But, you had to present yourself with confidence, so you took a deep breath and let your anxiety release as you breathed out. You let your false confidence return to you as you walked towards the arena with a notepad and pen in your hands. You flashed the security guards your press pass and walked through the doors. You  could hear the sounds of engines roaring as you walked to the pit stops in hopes of catching one of the racers . Cars would zoom past you and you could feel the gush of cold air fly past you just as the cars did.
 You let a grin take over my face as you spotted the very racer you were hoping to be able to interview. He was just getting out of his car as you made your way towards him, as his best friend sauntered over to him with a big grin stretched across his face. The very racer you were making your way over to, notices you walking towards him and cocks his head in confusion.
He watched as she made her way over to him. There was something fascinating about her, the way she carried herself. Full of confidence and intimidation, but the man did not feel an ounce of fear or nervousness as she continued to make her way towards him. No, instead it made him curious about her. He wanted to know…No, he needed to know more about her. He was compelled to walk over to her. To start a conversation, to talk to her. It was like he was under a spell or some magnetic force that pulled him towards her. He couldn’t even hear a word his best friend was saying. Not even when she was right in front of him, looking directly into his eyes. He only started to pay attention when she opened her mouth and started to talk to him.
“Hi! I’m Y/n, I work for the Daily Carat. I’m a journalist there and I was asked to come interview you and the upcoming Indy 500. Are you able to answer questions right now or do you need to get back to practising, I don’t mind coming back another time or scheduling an interview,” you say, trying to be confident with my words. 
“No worries, I’m available to talk now. Is it me you want to interview or Seungcheol,” Minghao asks with a slight smile on his face. 
“Well, both if you don’t mind. I originally came here to interview you, but I don’t mind interviewing The Quickest Lane Switcher either,” I smirk looking over at Seungcheol. 
“Yeah, yeah. Of course you would call me that,” He rolls his eyes, but there’s mischievous glint in them.
“Do you two know each other,” Minghao asks, confusion written over his face. 
“Yeah, just a bit. I’ve run into him a few times,” I reply, “Anyways, let’s get on with the interview. You guys are probably very busy with the race only being next month.”
“Right, so what do you want to know,” Minghao sits on the hood of his car.
You pull out your notepad and look over the questions you had previously prepared beforehand. “Well, I want to know how you feel about being a third time winning racer going for his fourth win. It must be pressuring for you to have to live up to big expectations. Especially with everyone expecting you to win. How do you try to not let the pressure get to you and push forward?”
“Yeah, there is a lot of pressure with people trying to constantly expect me to win for the fourth time. I feel like I’d disappoint them if I didn’t strive to always win because it’s just expected of me. I try to not let it get to me and use it as motivation. I want to be able to surpass everyone’s expectations and go fast each time. I want to surprise people,” Minghao looked away from me, jaw clenched in frustration. Something must be bothering him.
You write down key notes about what Minghao has said and move onto the next question, ‘Seungcheol, what about you? I know you might not be going for your fourth win, but going for a third one is still a big deal. Is there a lot of pressure around it? Especially, since this time you have to go up against your best friend. Are you planning on taking it easy on him,” you let a teasing smirk play on your lips at the last comment.
“Haha very funny, you think you’re very funny because you beat me. Don’t get so cocky, I’ll win next time,” he rolls his eyes with a cocky smirk.
“Yeah yeah, whatever you say. Now answer the questions Choi,” You rest your hands on your hips, fully confident in yourself. Your anxiety has completely left and you feel completely in my element.
“Fine, Lee. I would say there is and there isn’t a lot of pressure. I think I mostly put the pressure on myself because much like Minghao, I want to surpass people’s expectations of me. I don’t want to be seen as only one thing. I want to be able to surprise people with a variety of skills. And no, I’m not going to go easy on Minghao just because he’s my best friend.”
You continue asking them questions and they continue answering them, but every once in a while you couldn’t help but look over at the cars driving by. The way that they would speed past  you was thrilling. You couldn’t help but let a small grin take over your face whenever they would drive past.
Minghao noticed the way her eyes would gleam whenever they drove past them. He was growing even more curious about her. He wanted to know her secret. He wanted to know what she loved about racing and why she loved watching people race. He was also rather curious to know how she knew Seungcheol and what the hell they were talking about. He was so enthralled by her and the way she spoke that he failed to realise that the interview was over and that she was walking away from them now. He couldn’t help but wonder if he would see her ever again as he watched her figure leave the arena. Damn it, he should’ve asked for her number before she left.
Seungcheol whacks him on the back of the head, “Dude, you’re staring, she’s not coming back. Who knew Xu Minghao would be the type of guy who would fall in love at first sight.” 
“I’m not in love with her,” Minghao replies, rubbing the back of his head.
“Oh yeah, definitely not. I’m also not an illegal street racer,” Seungcheol rolls his eyes at the obliviousness of his friend.
“Whatever, I’m just curious about her. I’ve never met anyone quite like her before.  I just…I don’t know how to explain it, but she has the magnetic aura about her that pulls me to her.”
“That’s the first step, then boom next thing you know you’re in love getting married and having kids and-”
“Choi Seungcheol.”
“Sorry man. I was just trying to make a point. But, speaking of Illegal street racing. There’s another race tonight. You should come with me. I’ll even drive you there,” Seungcheol says, hoping to convince Minghao to finally go.
“I don’t know Cheol. You know how I feel about those races. I’ll have to think about it.”
“C’mon man. It’ll be fun, I promise. How about this, if you don’t have fun or enjoy it, I’ll drive you home immediately no questions asked. I will never ask you to attend another race again.”
“Why do you want me to go to this race so bad?”
“Well, I’ll be racing in one of the events tonight plus I think it might surprise you about who else will be there tonight.”
“Who else?”
“Come and you’ll find out. Don’t want to ruin the surprise.”
“Fine. One race and that’s it.”
Evening finally rolled around and Minghao couldn’t believe how many people showed up to an illegal street race. He would think that there were famous people here with the amount of people that showed. Well, not counting himself and Cheol because they were technically celebrities. “Seungcheol, what’s up with all of these people? You would think it would be a bit more discreet…Is there some sort of celebrity coming to the race or something,” Minghao asks, eyes widening  as he sees even more people join the neverending crowd.
“Hush! Don’t call me that here, call me S.coups. People don’t know me as that here, can’t let them know I’m a famous racer, otherwise they would think that I’m cheating, they don’t take that shit lightly either,” Seungcheol, quickly hushes his friend.
“Alright, Alright. Calm down. You didn’t answer my question nor did you tell me that before we arrived here,” Minghao couldn’t help but roll his eyes at Seungcheol’s stupidity. 
“Oh, yeah. Sorry,” He rubs the back of his neck, “Well, somewhat famous people. At least what we consider famous in the illegal street race community. First, there’s DK, but you know him as Seokmin, yes a lot of nascar racers do illegal street racing. Then there’s Woozi, he’s known for his speeding  tricks. He’ll speed up and pass someone just to slow down right when they are behind him. It pisses everyone off when he does it, but it’s a brilliant way to always stay in first. Lastly, the one even more famous than you and I, Zero Light. She always wins because no one seems to be able to beat her. She also happens to be DK’s sister so she grew up behind the wheel, racing is in her blood. It’s my dream to be able to go against her in a one on one and win. Ah, here she comes, that’s her car.” As Seungcheol was talking, a car sped down the street. It was jet black and had white racing stripes.It was the coolest car Minghao has ever seen, but the comment about Seungcheol wanting to win against her made him confused. Because Seungcheol was a literal nascar driver, she can’t possibly be that good, right?
Once everyone noticed the car, they surrounded the car, and started to whoop and holler. Two people got out of the car and because everyone was surrounding them, Minghao couldn’t make out their faces. But he could definitely feel the change in the atmosphere when they showed up. Before everything was chill and people were just vibing, but now people are buzzing with excitement. 
“Hey! Zero Light, over here! I have someone I want you to meet. Bring DK with you,” Seungcheol shouts, waving his arms hoping to get their attention, which it somehow does.
They start weaving their way through the crowd to him and Seungcheol. And Minghao couldn’t believe who was in front of his eyes, “Y/n? What are you doing here?”
Her lips curved up to a smirk and he swears he’s never seen anything more attractive than the confidence he could feel surrounding her, “Ah, Minghao! I see S.coups has finally convinced you to come to one of these. And please, refer to me as Zero Light. Can’t let anyone know my real name in case the cops catch someone from one of these races. We should give you a nickname in case too. Do you have a nickname someone calls you that you like?”
“Uhm…”
“How about The8, for his love of infinite speed,” Seungcheol pipes in, “Also, where’s Woozi? Isn’t he supposed to be racing tonight?”
“I think it’s perfect,” you say, “Yeah, he’s on his way. He said he should be here in a couple of minutes. We won’t start the race without him anyways. What’s a good race when Woozi isn’t there.” 
“I like it,” Minghao replies, a confident smirk on his pretty lips, “Whose Woozi? S.coups mentioned him before, and said he was some sort of illegal street racing celebrity.” 
“Cool. Woozi’s my best friend. Yeah, he’s well known amongst the community here in Seoul, not quite sure if he’s as well known outside of it as we mostly do our races here. Oh, right. This is my brother DK. You probably recognize him, but because of him I’ve been able to see every single race of yours. Gotta say, I’m quite the fan. S.coups also talks quite a bit about you and wanted you to come to one of these. Glad you finally decided to come.”
“Really? Every single one? And you talk about me, they better be good things or I’ll-”
“Haha. Don’t worry, he only says the best things. Well, maybe a few embarrassing stories here and there, but that’s what friends are for. They gotta embarrass you sometimes and you them otherwise, are you true friends?”
“I guess you do make a good point.”
“Oh, Zero Light. I wanted to ask you if we could hold a one vs one tomorrow night. I don’t think there’s any scheduled illegal races for next week,” Seungcheol asks, butting into the conversation.
“You really want to lose that bad, huh?”
“I don’t think I’ll lose. I am a nascar driver after all,” Seungcheol smirks, confidence blooming in his chest.
“Although that may be true, how many times have you lost to me? I mean the same goes for DK here. He’s my brother so he would hate to lose to me at something he does for his career,” you rest your hands on your hip, cocking your head with a mock.
“Yeah, yeah whatever. What do you say? You in?”
“Sure, why not. I could use a break from all the tough competitors,” you smirk as Seungcheol scowls.
“Oh fuck off will you. Anyways, I can’t wait to finally win against you and rub it in.”
“Confident are we? Speaking of racing, where the fuck is Woozi. He said he’d be here soon, we can’t wait all night for him.”
Soon enough another jet black car comes barrelling down the street and instead of white racing stripes, it has a single red stripe down the centre of the car. When everyone notices that car, they start shouting yet again and the already buzzing energy gets even higher as someone new makes their appearance. 
“Ah, Woozi’s here. Perfect timing as always,” you roll your eyes and look over at the car that’s currently parking.
“That’s Woozi? I’m not going to lie..I expected him to be a lot more-”
“Intimidating? Taller? He’s very intimidating when you first meet him, but once he warms up to you, he’ll be someone you never forget,” you say, looking over at the short male with a smile on his face as he greets others while he makes his way towards us. 
“Hey guys! Who's the newbie? I swear I’ve seen you before, are you a model or something,” Woozi asks, looking up at Minghao.
“That’s The8,” you lean closer to Jihoon’s ear, “His name is actually Minghao and he’s a nascar racer. He’s S.coups best friend and has raced against DK before.”
“Ohhhh. Wow, I’ve heard so much about you from Zero-” Woozi starts to say until I elbow him before he says too much.”
“That’s enough out of you. We’ve got a race to start now that your ass has finally arrived,” you roll your eyes.
“Oh, it’s starting now? Good luck Zero Light! You too Woozi and S.coups,” Minghao says, smiling with sincerity. 
“Baby, I don’t need luck,” you wink and leave a flustered Minghao behind as you head back to your car.
“I do, thanks The8,” Woozi says, “Especially if I’m going up against her.”
Minghao couldn’t even respond to Woozi because he was so caught up in his thoughts of her. His heart sped up just like the very cars he was surrounded by. Maybe Seungcheol was right. Maybe he did fall in love at first. “Come on lover boy, quite staring at my sister. You’re not going to want to miss this,” He lets Dk pull him somewhere they can see the race and just ignores the comment he made because again, it might very well  be true.
Engines revved as they waited for the chequered flag to wave. Loud music blasted from all the cars, pumping up both the racers and the viewers. Minghao could hear Villain blasting from her car. He was excited to see how she would race. Since he’s never been to one of these, he’s not quite sure how  they work. But he’s pretty sure you aren’t supposed to wait for everyone to speed off while you wait behind. Except that’s exactly what she did. She stood at the start line for five seconds before she finally sped off. 
You could feel the bass of the song thrum against you as it blasted through the speakers. You waited for about five seconds before you decided that it was long enough for everyone to get a good distance from the start line. You waited so that you could feel the real adrenaline race through your veins as you raced through the streets desperately trying to catch up. But for you, it was nothing.
You zipped through the streets, fast as the speed of sound. You could hear the tires screech against the asphalt every time you took a tight turn left. You drove up next to a jet black car with a red racing stripe and you knew exactly who you just caught up to.. you looked to your left and saw Jihoon flip you off and grinned from ear to ear. You could hear his laughter ring through my ears as you finally drove past him, making me come in first.
Watching her drive the way she did ignited something in Minghao, something he hasn’t felt in a while. He wanted…he craved to know what it felt like to drive the way she does. He wanted to be both the passenger and driver. He wanted to feel the thrill she felt. And he could tell she loved the adrenaline by how excited and how her smile beamed into the night as she celebrated her new victory. 
You climbed out of the car. A grin present on your lips as you bask in the glory of your win. Minghao pulled you into a tight hug, congratulating you on the win. Woozi even came over and joined the crowd  to congratulate you, though he did tease you and tried to say that you cheated. You could still feel the adrenaline pump through your veins. There was nothing more thrilling than racing down the street reaching new speeds. 
The glory and excitement was cut short as soon as you and everyone else heard sirens race through the streets desperate to find you and where everyone was hiding. Everyone quickly scrambled to get out of there before the cops showed up. Everyone was so panicked about getting caught that Seungcheol forgot to grab Minghao. DK and Woozi must've sped off together because they were nowhere to be found in the vicinity. 
Minghao still hadn't registered what was happening even when you pulled up next to him furiously trying to get him into the car. "Hao, fuck. Come on get in the fucking car, we don't have time for you to look like a cute lost puppy!"
"What? What's going on Y/n-" you didn't let him finish his sentence and opened the passenger side and yanked him in the car. You see flashing red and blue light's behind youand siren's blaring, "FUCK!"
You hurriedly shift your car into gear and speed down the street. Cops seemed to catch on that you were one of the racers and started to follow you, "Fuck, fuck. Okay, Hao...We are currently getting chased by cops, so I'm going to need you to duck down, so they don't see you. Can't have you going to jail."
Minghao listen's instantly and ducks down, hiding himself from the view of cops. You grip your steering wheel so tight that your knuckles start to turn white. You keep taking several left and right turns to throw the cops off your track but it doesn't last long enough. 
You quickly turn left into an alley. Fortunately, the cops were far enough back that they didn't seem to notice the sharp turn, so you quickly turned off the car and ducked down to remain hidden. You look over at Minghao to gauge his reaction. To your surprise, he looked like he was having the time of his life. He let out an elated laugh and you couldn’t help but start laughing alongside him.  “I think we’re safe now. I don’t hear the siren’s nor do I see flashing lights. I’ll take you home, where do you live,” you sat up in your seat and pulled out of the alley and drove Minghao home.
You walk up to Minghao and tap him on the shoulder, “Hey. My boss didn’t think we got enough questions yesterday, so I’m back again. Is Cheol not here today? Also, if you aren’t free right now, I can come back another time, schedule a lunch with you if need be.”
“No! No. It’s fine. I have time now. Yeah, Seungcheol is still a bit shaken up from last night, so he wants to take the day off from practising, especially since he has the race against you tonight,”Minghao sits on the hood of his car, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
“Ah, typical Cheol,” you reply playfully, “Anyways, some fans want to know how you got into racing in the first place. I’m not going to lie,  I’m also curious as to how you got into the whole nascar racing scene as well.”
“Well, Seungcheol would be the reason. He’s my best friend and he’s been doing illegal street racing since we were teenagers. I went only once to one of those and it was an amazing experience. I know I said I haven’t gone to one before, that is mostly true. I haven’t been to one since that one because after that I started to do more research about Nascar racing and just fell in love with everything. The way that there is no limit to how fast you can go. What about you?”
“Huh? What do you mean,” you look up from your notepad and give him a quizzical look. 
“What do you love about racing? Why don’t you become a Nascar racer instead of doing illegal ones?”
“Hey, I’m the one supposed to be asking the questions, not you. You can’t take my job like that,” you tease, trying to fight off the embarrassment.
“Awh, please? I won’t ask anymore questions. I’m just curious to know more about you,”Minghao takes his hands out of his pockets and folds them over his chest.
“I was just teasing you,” you sat next to him on the hood of his car. ”Jihoon actually got me into it. That’s Woozi’s real name, don’t tell him I told you,” you point your pen at him and he puts his hands up in surrender, “You would think it was my brother, but it wasn’t. He was a Nascar racer and sure that was cool too, but there were too many rules, plus tell me how many women Nascar drivers you see. But anyways, much like you. Jihoon was an illegal street racer as a teenager too and at first I was terrified of being at one of those races. Then he convinced me to and instead of being on the side lines, I was in the car with him. I got to feel the air whip through the car as we went faster and faster. I was so scared that we were going to  crash any time we took a tight corner. However, it was the most fun I’ve ever had and I just loved the rush of adrenaline.”
“Wow…that’s amazing,” he truly looked like he was in awe of what I told him. you felt extremely touched that he wanted to learn more about you. You also felt your heart pick up the pace.
“I guess..Anyways, are you ready for the Nascar race next month?”
“Yeah, I guess I’m excited,” Minghao lets out a breathy sigh and looks a bit dejected.
“Is everything okay? You can talk to me if something’s bothering you…”
“No, I’m fine! Don’t worry. Are you excited for the race against Seungcheol?”
“I mean, it’s Cheol. How excited can one be? I’m kidding, I’m kidding,” you say when you notice the look he was giving me. “Yeah, I’m excited. I'd be even more excited if I were to know whether or not you would be making an appearance there.”
“Honestly? I love being a Nascar driver and being able to go fast. But when we were speeding away from the cops? What I felt then? That was something entirely different. The thrill and rush of getting caught was so exhilarating. I want to experience it again. Seungcheol didn't ask me to go, so I wouldn’t know where it was being held and-”
“I could take you,” you quickly chime in.
“You want to take me?”
“Yeah! It would be fun to have a passenger, someone that isn’t my brother or Jihoon,” I let out a chuckle, causing Minghao to smile.
“They, hell yeah!”
“Cool! What time should I pick you up?”
“I’ll give you my number and you can text me a time you think would be good.”  
Score! “Cool, I’ll text you then. I’ve got to go, but I’ll see you tonight. Bye Hao!”
“Bye…” 
The ride to the new area, where the race will be held, was a silent one. Not an uncomfortable or suffocating silence, but rather one that you basked in. You felt so comfortable around Minghao and you’ve only known him for two days. It’s crazy to think about how you’ve gotten close over the span of 48 hours, but you guess if you are getting chased and fleeing from the cops, it does that. Not that I’m complaining. It was somewhat a magical night, one that you will commit to memory forever. You wonder if he would do the same. 
You pulled into the lot and everyone crowded around your car once they noticed you had arrived. You told Minghao to stay in the car until you gestured for him to get out. You spotted Seokmin, Jihoon, and Seungcheol walking towards your car, so you waved for Minghao to get out of the car. Everyone gasped in surprise when they saw Minghao get out of the car, you even noticed your friends making confused faces, but you ignored them.
“Hey S.coups. Ready to lose,” you ask, taunting him.
“I don’t think so. Tonight is the night I finally beat you,” Seungcheol smirks.
“You think? Want to put a bet on it?”
“Sure. Loser buys dinner?”
“How about dinner for the entire group, your friends and mine?”
“Deal. But before we start the race, I want to know why you guys arrived together?”
“Yeah, I’m also curious. Last I checked, you only ever brought us two,” Seokmin points to him and Jihoon, “Are you guys a thing?”
“What? No,” both Minghao and you shouted together, causing some onlookers to stare.
“Uhm no. I asked if Minghao was coming and he said that he wanted to but you didn’t invite him so I did. I took your personal cheerleader, jealous?”
“Well, I thought after last night he wouldn’t want to come to one of these things again. Or maybe he didn’t come to see me race, but rather someone else,” Seungcheol looks over at Minghao, hinting at something.
“Who? It’s only  us racing tonight,” you ask obliviously.
Seungcheol rolls his eyes at your response which confuses you more, “No one, no one. Speaking of races, Minghao, are you prepared for the race next month? I still feel like I haven’t gotten enough practise in and I’m doing these illegal street races. I can’t imagine what it would be like for you.”
“I’d rather not talk about it right now. You have a race to lose,” Minghao quips
Seungcheol looks absolutely baffled to the point where you want to take a picture to laugh at in the future, “Wow. I thought you were MY best friend…”
“I am. Also try not to get too angry when I sit with her in her car,” Minghao starts walking backwards towards my car.
“Wait, what? I thought you would’ve wanted to ride with Seungcheol,” you replied.
“And be on the losing team? Nah, plus after the experience from last night, I want to experience that again with you,” Minghao gives your a toothy smile, that just maybe, just maybe makes your heart flutter a little. 
“Suit yourself,” Seungcheol walks past my car to his, not before passing by Minghao whispering something in his ear. 
You could hear music blasting from Seungcheol’s car as he revved the engine. The grip on your steering wheel tightened. You could feel the adrenaline start its course through your veins. You took a deep breath in and let it consume you. You felt a hand on yours, took it off the steering wheel and intertwined it with another. You look over and see Minghao’s hand interlaced with yours. Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion, you were about to question it, but Minghao squeezed your hand in reassurance. Silently, he was cheering you on. Your heart definitely did flips that time.  The chequered flag waved, but you were too caught up in Minghao to notice, that was until he released his hand from yours and pointed. Oh fuck…you were going to have a hard time explaining this one.
It took everything in Minghao to hold back his laughter. He didn’t want to throw her off her game. But as soon as she noticed she went flying down the road. Instinctively, he grabbed the handle and held onto it for dear life. He could tell that as soon as he did that, that Y/n was trying to hold back her giggles. As the car continues to pick up speed, Minghao starts to let loose a bit. He lets go of the handle and rolls down the window to truly feel air whip through his hair. He takes a deep breath in and truly tries to feel how she’s currently feeling. He pictures himself behind the wheel instead of her. He breathes in every sight, feels every turn, and can taste victory around the corner. Well, he could. That was until Seungcheol came speeding down the street, fast as lightning. Seungcheol quickly took the spot as first place. Minghao looked over at Y/n and noticed the panicked look on her face. This must not happen very often. Minghao did the first thing he could think of that would ground her. He put his hand on her arm, causing her to look over at him. Her eyes widen in surprise as she continues to look forward to the road ahead of her. She took one of her hands off the steering wheel and interlaced it with Minghao’s. He felt his heart speed up as the car began to speed up. They both secretly conveyed their thoughts and feelings to each other without murmuring a word. They could tell just by how someone would squeeze their hand. Minghao was cheering on and motivating her without having to say a word because all she had to do was look over at him and see the emotions in his eyes. 
To celebrate your win with Minghao, the both of you went to a fast food place to grab a bite to eat. “Hey,” you hear in a soft voice and look up from your burger to see Minghao staring at you with a curious gaze.  You blink in confusion. “Yeah? You need something?”
“I was wondering if you knew a place where we could chill out for a bit. I don’t really want to go home yet, you know?”
“Yeah, I do. I’ll take you there after we finish eating. Is that good with you? If not, I can bring our food with us.”
“I don’t mind waiting for you.”
You park the car on the grassy hill away from city life. You stepped out of the car and let the cold breeze fill your lungs as you breathed in the fresh air. Minghao also stepped out of the car and took in the surroundings around him. You could see a soft smile greet his lips., causing you to smile at his contentment. You sit on the hood of your car and put your hands behind your head as you lay down to look at the stars above. You feel the car shift in weight as Minghao lays next to you. You look over and see him already looking at you. You take one of your hands from underneath your head and innerlace them with his. At this point, when your hand isn’t in his, it feels strange. Like a sense of lostness. Your hand feels like it belongs in his. You feel at home when you're with him. you can’t help wondering if he feels the same as you do.
“Why didn’t you want to go home? Is there something bothering you,” your voice is soft and not above a whisper. You continue observing his face as he looks away from you and towards the city in front, oblivious to love blossoming in the air. 
Minghao lets out a deep sigh, “there’s a reason I didn’t really want to talk about the race. I’m not all that happy racing anymore. It’s kind of become a burden to me instead of a fun career. I don’t really feel the same passion and energy that I used to feel. I think it’s because people nowadays only care about winning and will do whatever it takes to win, even if that means cheating.  I’m actually thinking this will be my final season as a Nascar racer.”
You sat up in shock, “What? Really?”
He nods his head, “I haven’t made a final decision yet, but it’s something I’ve been thinking of. My passion for racing is dwindling everytime I go to the race track to practise for my upcoming race.” 
“What if I help you get your passion and love back for racing? I mean these past two days, I’ve seen you smiling and you look so light and free than I’ve seen you in your past races. What if I help you get your love back? You can maybe try illegal street racing and if you don’t want to physically be in the driver's seat, you can sit next to me. I really really want to help you. Maybe even use this as practice for the Indy race instead of actually practising. Get away from the race track and the rules for a bit.” 
 “Yeah…Okay. That sounds like a good idea. Let’s do it,” Minghao warmly smiles towards you and your stomach does somersaults. 
It’s been two weeks since you had that talk with Minghao. You’ve been going to illegal races almost every day, minus a few breaks here and there. But it’s sort of become a tradition that after every illegal race, you would go grab some greasy food and go up on the hill away from the city. Some of those nights were the best nights of your life. You would just sit and talk about anything and everything that came to mind. Those nights were your favourite because you get to listen to him talk about his life.  
Tonight was no different. You guys were chilling on the hood of your car staring at the stars talking about life. “Y/n,” he quietly speaks up.
“Yes Hao?”
“I think I’m ready.”
“Ready for what?”
“I want to race in an illegal street race,” he looks over at you, eyes full of anxiety.
“Are you sure,” you ask and he nods his head, “Well, why don’t we make an announcement at tomorrow night’s race? Hell you can even race it! I’ll let you take my spot for tomorrow night’s race!” 
“Are you sure you don’t want to race one last race?”
“Nah, I’m fine. I mean I can always join you in the car if you are that worried I would get bored,”
“What? I wasn’t worried, I just didn’t want your fans to get mad that you aren’t racing.”
“I could use a break. They’ve seen me win enough times. So, don’t worry about them.”
The evening rolled in faster than you thought it would. You could feel the excitement and adrenaline radiating off of Minghao as he sat next to you on your way to the illegal street race. It was his debut night as an illegal street racer, so to see him not anxious in the least bit surprised you to an extent. He was a nascar racer after all, but you think he would be a little bit nervous about racing in an actual street race where he could potentially go to jail for. But no, you could see the confident smirk and glint in his eyes. 
You arrived at the parking lot where others were currently parked and waiting for you to arrive. The spectator’s and your friends surrounded your car as you parked, whooping and hollering as soon as they saw you exit, but their cheers grew when Minghao stepped out. Minghao walked over to your friend group while you thought now was a good time to announce Minghao’s debut because everyone was all fired up by his arrival. But first you had to get their attention.
“ALL EYES ON ME,” you shout, cupping your hands around your mouth to make your voice louder.
“ALL EYES ON YOU,” everyone shouts in return except there’s a faint voice yelling, “my eyes are always on you.” You could’ve swore it was Minghao saying that but why would he.
“Alright, now that I have everyone’s attention. I have a few announcements about tonight’s race. I know some of you might be a little disappointed with some of the news I’m going to share, but I don’t care,” you playfully tease, hands on your hips and a growing smirk on your lips.
 “The first announcement is that tonight, I am not racing.” You could hear a series of groans come out of people’s mouths. You also noticed Jihoon and Seokmin furrow their eyebrows in confusion, meanwhile Seungcheol is raising an eyebrow towards Minghao, but he chooses to ignore him. “I know, I know. You’re all mad and upset because you took the time out of your night to come and see me. I appreciate it, I really do, but I’m going to be taking a break from racing for a bit, Not for too long, but a small break, like around a week.”
If that didn’t confuse everyone then what you’re about to say is going to definitely elicit surprises and confusion. “Since I’m taking a small break, someone’s going to need to take my place for the race tonight. I want to introduce you to one of my good friends who will be taking my place tonight and for future races. I know you all have been quite curious about him, so why don’t I let him introduce himself? The8, come here please”
Everyone turned to look at the man you pointed to; and the previous disappointment everyone felt vanished, instantly replacing it with excitement. Cheers surrounded Minghao as he made his way towards you. He had a rather shocked face at all the cheers…it was really cute. 
“Hello everyone! I’m The8 and I’m taking Zero Light’s place for the time being. I hope you guys won’t be too upset about your future losses and your upcoming loss tonight,” Minghao says with a cocky smirk, firing up the crowd even more. 
“Alright, alright. That’s enough boasting, why don’t you actually show them what you’re capable of? Because you may be able to talk the talk but it doesn’t mean you’ll walk the walk. How about it ladies and gentlemen? Are you ready for the race to start,” you shout, screams encompass the parking lot, bouncing off the walls echoing through the small neighbourhood. 
Minghao grips the steering wheel, knuckles turning white. He hasn’t felt the rush of adrenaline like this in a really long time. He’s been craving for another taste ever since he lost his love in racing. This. This feeling is what he’s missed for so long. He can’t even say he’s nervous because he’s not. Although he should be with you watching, however, it brings him a sense of comfort knowing that you’ll be watching him race. Watching him win. He let his confidence take the wheel and stepped on the gas as soon as the flag was waved.
Minghao sped down the streets as quickly as he could. Zooming through the streets, weaving through the cars, passing obvious stop signs, and doing his damned best to win. There was no way he was going to let someone show him up. Racing was in his blood after all. It’s what he lived for. It was what drove him to be the person who was. So there was no way he was going to lose.
Minghao had to do a double-take when he saw Jihoon sitting on the hood of his car, waiting for his fellow racers to show up. He didn’t even see Jihoon pass him. How the hell did he get there before him? Minghao storms out of the car, or correction, your car because you oh so graciously let him borrow it, but not without threatening him if he puts a scratch on your precious baby. He marches his way over to Jihoon, “Dude, when did you even get here? I never saw you pass me?”
Jihoon shrugs his shoulders, “maybe you just weren’t looking for me. Slipped right past you, near SVT Street.”
“That far?! Seriously, how did you do it? You have to teach me, but I still can’t believe I lost.”
“Well this is your first street race. You may be a Nascar racer, but you don’t know the streets like we do. We know what streets we can skip, plus we aren’t afraid to play dirty,” you walk up behind Minghao, “don’t be too sad that you lost. It was more than likely you were going to lose against Woozi.” 
“I could teach you a couple of tricks if you would like,” Jihoon suggests.
“Yeah, okay. Who knows, they might help me in Nascar racing too. It wouldn’t hurt to try,” Minghao tries not to pout, but couldn’t help it. He genuinely thought he would win. You walk up to him, and without thinking about it, you press your lips gently to his cheek, hoping that you will slightly cheer him up. When you pull your face away from his cheek, you find him staring at you, an unknown emotion swirling around his eyes. You’ve never noticed how his eyes are a vast ocean that will pull you under. It’s almost as if you could find all the answers to the world hidden inside.You would’ve stared longer, but you quickly moved away from Minghao as soon as you heard Jihoon clear his throat behind you. You spun on your heels and practically sprinted to your car. 
Jihoon looks over at Minghao to question him about what just happened, but he could tell the man was lost in thought, staring at your faded silhouette. Jihoon just shakes his head at the obliviousness between you two. “Dude, are you just going to stare at her longingly and let her keep waiting for you? Or are you going to follow her? Maybe ask her what the fuck just happened,” Jihoon says, mumbling the last part.
“What?” Minghao furrows his eyebrows and lets confusion fill his features. 
“She’s going to leave your sorry ass behind if you don’t hurry up and get it together.”
“Shit,” Minghao sprints after your car, waving his hands hoping to get your attention.
Jihoon sighs, pressing his fingers to the bridge of his nose, “idiots to lovers I tell you. Oblivious idiots.” He rolls his eyes and sticks his hands into his pocket and jumps off the hood of his car to head home.
Jihoon has been training Minghao in the art of street racing, alongside you. He’s definitely changed since you first met him at the track. At first he was so reserved, reluctantly answering your questions, but now he can’t stop talking about himself. In a positive way, of course he always remembers to ask you questions in return. Usually, those questions are asked while the both of you are laying on the hood of your car, your head on his chest, and his arm lazily wrapped around your waist. Those nights were your favourite because it’s become some sort of tradition that the both of you would head there after one of Minghao’s street races, but not before grabbing some greasy food to eat while staring at the far city lights, surrounded by thousands of glittering stars. 
It was hard to believe that a month has passed since you struck up the deal together. You’ve noticed that not only is he not as reserved, but he’s gotten his spark back. You can see it in the way he smiles while his hands are on the steering, shifting gears, and zooming past cars. He’s finally found himself and his love of racing. However, there’s a few problems that you’ve come to realise. 
You realised that you were madly in love with Xu Minghao, especially the Minghao you only got to see. You couldn’t determine whether or not he felt the same, but he had to at least feel something during those nights when he would sing to you, gently kissing your forehead and stroking your cheek while you accidentally fell asleep on the hood of your car.
But the next problem you ran into was a major one. If you were to ever tell Minghao your feelings and he returned them, he would easily forget about you. Afterall, tonight is his final street race before he has the Indy 500 the next day. And once he’s done with the race, he’ll probably go back home, continuing his life as a Nascar racer. Meanwhile, you’ll be left alone in a giant city. 
“Hey Minghao! Are you ready for your final race tonight? Even if it’s up against me,” you smirk, walking up to Seokmin’s car. Seokmin let him borrow it for the night because he wasn’t going to use it, not if you, Jihoon, Seungcheol, and Minghao were all planning on racing. No, he valued his life much more than his car.
“Yeah, hope you’re ready to lose this time,” Minghao returns your smirk.
“Against you? Never. Remember who you’re talking to baby, I am Zero Light, the undefeated,” you lean in closer, breath tickling his ear.
“How about this, if I lose against you, I’ll tell you a secret,” he whispers, bringing his hand up to your face, resting his palm on your cheek, gently grazing it with his thumb.
“And if I lose? What will I have to do,” you ask, leaning into his touch.
“Nothing because that’s how confident I’ll win against you,” he pulls his hand away from your face, grabs your hand, kissing your knuckles. His smirk widens when he looks up and sees the light red hue spread across your face.
“I better get back to my…uh… car….the race will…um… be starting soon,” you back up away from the car accidentally bumping into a stranger, “Oh my god, I am so sorry. I wasn’t watching where I was going.” You keep apologising to the stranger, while Seokmin, Jihoon, and Seungcheol all collectively sigh watching both you and Minghao act stupid in front of each other.
You swung open your car door, stomping your way over to him. You swing his door open and yank him out of the car after he unfastens his seatbelt. You bring him into a bone-crushing hug and hold him tight. Tears well up in your eyes and you slightly pull away from him, “I can’t believe you.”
“Can’t believe what? That I won and that you lost,”  Minghao teases, looking deep into your eye, mapping every detail of your face.
“No. I can’t believe how far you’ve come during this month. I’m going to miss you when you leave to go home,” you wrap your arms around his neck, drawing his face closer to yours so that you can truly stare into his eyes forever.
“It wasn’t without yours and Jihoon’s help, thank you for everything. I’m…” you can see the hesitancy within his eyes. He wants to say something…he needs to tell you…
“Hao? What is it? You can tell me anything,” you take his face into your hands and gently brush your fingers against his cheek, much like you did before, he leans into your touch.
“I’m going to miss you too…I’m going to miss you more than you can imagine,” you can hear the sincerity in his voice and it takes every last bit of self-control in you to not smash your lips onto his, so all you could offer him was a comforting smile.
Minghao was anxious, you could tell even far up in the bleachers. You wanted to be in the pit with him, cheering for him, but you couldn’t. You were only allowed down there when they weren’t busy getting ready for a race, 1 minute left, you noted, and when it was appropriate for journalists and reporters to ask their questions. 
He was pacing back and forth. The anxiety chewed him up inside. He got so used to racing in the street races, that he seemed to forget some of the basic rules. He has to go over them before the race starts. What was it? What was the first rule? Shit…He can’t remember.  
Then his phone rings. He knew it was you. He could tell because he purposely picked out a ringtone for you, so that he always knew it was you calling him. “Y/n?”
“Hao…breathe for me. Just remember you’ve got this,” your voice soothes his growing anxiety.
“But what if I accidentally forget that this isn’t a street race and it’s an official one?”
“You won’t. Do you know how I know,” you see him shake his head from a distance, “Because on the track you are Xu Minghao, not The8. You are just yourself and not some persona you put on for others. Because if you lose, I won’t tell you a secret.”
“A secret?”
“Yeah, if you win…I’ll tell you one of my deepest secrets.”
As if a switch was flipped, in that very moment, you could feel the fiery energy radiate off his aura. Even though he was going up against his best friend and your brother, he had confidence in his ability to race. He knew he would win. He had to win. He’s never felt this desire to win this strong before. Not until you gave him a reason to want to win. When he races, he doesn’t care if he wins or loses, as long as he’s feeling the adrenaline pump through his veins he’s okay with losing. But now? You telling him one of your precious secrets? He has to win.
Lap after lap, it felt like the race was never going to end. You felt anxiety raise each time someone overtook Minghao’s first place, but he always seemed to be able to kick it into gear and steal his spot back. You were at the edge of your seat, hanging by a thread. Sometimes, it looked like Minghao wouldn’t even be able to take his spot back, but then suddenly he would use a move Jihoon taught him and it was like appeared out of thin air and was back in first place.Once the race was truly over, you were over the moon excited that Minghao was able to secure his fourth win. But more anxiety came once you realised you had to tell him your secret. 
“Hao! Congratulations! I’m so proud of you! After you're done taking pictures and celebrating, can we go to our spot?”
“Of course! I can’t wait to celebrate my win with you,” Minghao sends a wink your way.
“Do you remember what I said to you over the phone before the race started,” you ask, voice barely heard over the whisper of the lofi radio. The gentle glow cascades you both in a paint-like-lighting. Your question pulls Minghao out of his thoughts.
“How could I forget? It was my motivator…the reason I wanted to. It was the first time I ever really felt a desire to win that much,” Minghao looks over at you, but you are avoiding all eye contact with him, just staring out at the setting horizon in front of you, “what is it? The secret?”
“I don’t want you to leave and go back home. I want you to stay here with me…with all of us.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m in love with you. I don’t know when it happened, maybe when I was first introduced to you as a racer or maybe it was after I truly got to know you…” you finally gather the courage to look at Minghao, only to find him already staring at you. There that unknown emotion is again. It’s ever so present, swirling and mixing in his eyes.
You take his long silence as rejection and hop off the hood of the car, you can feel the tears well up and slowly slide down your face. You don’t know where you're walking to and frankly you don’t care, you just want to get as far as you can from MInghao. 
You feel gentle fingers grasp your wrist, you turn around to see Minghao crying. Why is he crying? You’re not sure, but you know that you’re crying along with him. “Y/n…you didn’t wait for my answer.”
“You took too long to answer, so I took it as a rejection.”
“Only an idiot would reject you and I am not one. But I am an idiot for not saying something sooner. I wanted to tell you that I loved you last night, but I just couldn’t form the proper words or sentences. I was also going to tell you that I was planning on staying…over the course of the month, Seoul has become my place because you are my home.” Tears start to slide down your face again after his heartfelt confession. He brings a comforting hand and lightly wipes your tear stained cheeks with his fingers…“Beautiful…as always,” slowly his face gets closer to yours. And as you stare into each other's souls, Minghao searches your eyes for any hesitancy and when he doesn't find any; he tilts your chin up, bringing your lips closer to his, finally letting them meld together like two puzzle pieces meant to find each other. 
Taglist for Seventeen: @mhyori1117
Networks: @the-k-neverland @cacaokpop-fics @timenote-library @k-radio
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hy6ck · 2 years
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11:52 pm !
childhood best friend!jaemin x gn!reader. fluff. 0.5k. warnings : mentions of a kiss.
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“jaemin, look! another shooting star!”
your eyes are closed tightly as you make your wish, hands clasped together in front of you. you think that your best friend, jaemin, is doing the same thing next to you, his own eyes shut tightly as he makes his wish. unbeknownst to you, jaemin’s eyes have been wide open and looking at one thing the entire time – you.
the way the starlight illuminates your face perfectly or how cute you look with your nose scrunched in concentration as you think of your wish all add to the way his heart beats a little faster the longer he watches you. you open your eyes, turning to see if your best friend had finished making his wish, only to see him already looking your way.
“jaemin? are you okay?” you ask, snapping him from his daze. he quickly brushes your question off, reassuring you with a sweet smile. “so what did you wish for?” you follow up, eyes gently scanning over the face you had grown up with.
“i can’t tell you then it won’t come true,” he replies, looking back up at the stars. his eyes widen and he quickly points up at the stars, another shooting star streaking across the sky. “quick! make another wish!” he exclaims quickly, lacing his fingers together.
the moment your eyes close, his eyes are back on you, chewing his lip. when you had practically dragged him out to watch the meteor shower on the night he had been planning on confessing, he had taken it as some kind of sign from the stars that he should just go for it, but every second he sat there, the more he second-guessed himself. childhood friends falling for each other is common, sure, but what if he makes a fool of himself? he curses softly under his breath, deciding that it was now or never. if this really was a sign, he’d be an idiot to miss out on it.
as you make your wish, jaemin slowly moves closer to you, your legs now touching. jaemin gulps, taking in a final, shaky breath before leaning in. he’s hyperaware of how close your faces now are, his eyes scanning over all of your pretty features before one of his hands gently comes up to cup your cheek. you instantly lean into his palm, the familiar warmth spreading across your cheeks as your eyes flutter open.
“jaemin?” you whisper softly, eyes meeting his as he gives you the familiar smile that has butterflies fluttering in your stomach.
his breath is warm against your lips before he’s leaning in again, lips meeting yours. the kiss is slow and sweet, every little bit of adoration the boy felt for you being put into it. your lips fit together like missing puzzle pieces – perfect. you pull away, cheeks warm with a shy smile on your lips, face still resting in jaemin’s palms. he smiles, little stars in his eyes as he looks at you, whispering loving words against your lips that make your heart race more.
“to answer your question, that’s what i wished for”.
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svchengss · 2 years
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bad habit | k.dy
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doyoung moved his gaze from the dimly lit phone screen towards the motion of people walking in and out of the shiny glass doors. he can’t help but think of your voicemail from last night. perhaps, the last voicemail ever since you’re moving to a new state for your studies.
“and uh, i’ve been thinking of this for a really long time but we should be transparent. we’ve been best friends for more than a decade even, so no judgements, okay? i may have, um, had feelings for you since, i don’t know, a few years back? and, i’m not expecting anything from you now, just decided to let some stuff off my shoulders. guess i’ll see you when i see you, bye doyoung. take care,”
why now? why in the world did you only come clean about your feelings now when the both of you are about to be busy with your own lives and maybe about to meet new people?
god, i wish i knew you wanted me, y/n.
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soonyoungblr · 1 year
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six — ice cream solves everything
pairing: yoon jeonghan x gender neutral reader
warnings: none
genre: angst, comedy, fluff
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previous • masterlist • next
taglist: @honeyhuii @soobin-chois @fylithia @enhacolor @ja4hyvn @bambisgirl @hiqhkey @its-madi @snowwonnie @yizhoutv @shuatm @end-hyphen @yeosangiehwa @kayleeshinee @joonsytip @justasoftstan @strawberri-uyu @avidcasualreader (bold cannot be tagged)
a/n: i took another tiny hiatus. i don't cope with grief very well which is why i'm off schedule for a few weeks. hoping to get back on track soon <3
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armysantiny · 2 years
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Midnight Ice Cream – HHJ
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P: Hyunjin x gender neutral reader | G: fluff, drabble | Inc: established relationship, late-night cravings, ice cream, midnight convienence store run~, artist Hyunjin | Wc: 778| W: cw food| R: G
Summary; It’s late. Hyunjin wants ice cream. Midnight convenience store shopping ensues.
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Staring at the ceiling long after the movie had ended and with his head comfortably resting in y/n’s lap, Hyunjin furrowed his brows. Why was he having cravings at stupid o’clock at night? And why did he not know what it was that he was supposedly craving? Shifting around until he made eye-contact with y/n, Hyunjin beckoned his partner closer, a content smile on his face when y/n reciprocated his affection.
“You doing alright Hyun-ah?”
“Am I not allowed to kiss you without an ulterior motive?” Hyunjin whined, sitting up and turning to face y/n’s loving gaze. Pouting until y/n gave him an apology kiss, the artist huffed. He still wanted his answer after all.
Okay, maybe he might have had an ulterior motive, but that wasn’t the point here.
“Course you are love, but you look like you’re trying to stare through the ceiling.” Y/n reasoned, gently poking Hyunjin’s forehead. The couple’s poor ceiling had to endure his staring for so long. Lightly scoffing at his own behaviour with his lips pursed into an unimpressed straight line, Hyunjin wordlessly wandered over to the freezer, peering his head inside before his head poked back out again.
“We don’t have ice cream.” Huh?
“We – what?” Joining their boyfriend by the fridge-freezer, y/n followed Hyunjin’s line of sight. Why were they looking for ice cream again?
“Y/n, I wanna get ice cream.”
“Now?” Peering around to check the clock, y/n’s jaw nearly hit the floor. They had been awake for that long? Granted, it was the weekend, and Hyunjin was a freelancer, but the realisation still hit like a truck. “Hyun baby, it’s one-thirty in the morning…”
“There’s a 24/7 convenience store down the road though? C’mon, let’s get some now! It’ll be fun~!”
Sighing with an exasperated smile as they found themselves in the apartment block lift, y/n turned to the very excitable Hyunjin. How they had ended up in this situation was beyond them…but a happy Hyunjin was a cute Hyunjin, and there was little anyone could do when faced with the puppy eyes and pretty mole that belonged to Hwang Hyunjin. Stretching out a yawn, they watched the electronic display count down towards the ground floor, humming the last song they heard. That last song, of course, being the soundtrack of their favourite drama.
Walking down the pavement, the road the couple lived on looked rather pretty at night. Admiring the way moonlight danced and fell across the buildings and vehicles they walked past, y/n couldn’t resist the urge to snap a few pictures for whatever boredom-induced photoshop project they had next. Switching the camera mode to record when Hyunjin started skipping, their heart fluttered at the sound of laughter, all ferret-like and sweet.
"Someone's excited~” ending the recording and jogging to catch up, y/n pocketed their phone. They could watch the footage again when they got home.
“We’re getting ice cream; I have every right to be excited darling.”
“That you do.”
Walking into the 7-11, Hyunjin quickly greeted the part-timer working the graveyard shift before making a beeline for the ice creams, y/n in tow. Filling a basket with a quantity that definitely could not be eaten in one sitting, Hyunjin hummed to himself as he looked for an ice cream he could eat on the walk back home. Stuck between far too many good options, the brunet jumped when a certain y/n popped out from behind him.
“Make noise, will you?!”
“Hyun-ah…I’ve been standing here for the past five minutes.”
“Oh.”
A satisfied grin on his face as the two left the store with a bag full of ice cream, Hyunjin hooked his arm around y/n, reaching into the bag with his free hand. Passing one over to y/n and tearing off the wrapper of his own sweet treat, Hyunjin finally indulged his midnight cravings, the trademark happy dance following soon after. The ice cream was good, and in the secrecy and quiet of the night with y/n by his side, it was even better.
Still nibbling on their ice cream, as they re-entered the shared apartment they called home, y/n chuckled as they nearly struggled to put everything away. There was enough to last the couple longer than y/n could frankly imagine, but the late-night trip was worth it. Humming when a pair of grateful arms wrapped themselves around their waist, y/n shuffled in place, leaning forward and kissing a now very tired Hyunjin.
“I wanna sleep…”
“You do? And here I was thinking that you were wide awake~!” biting back giggles at their boyfriend’s unamused face, y/n continued. “Fine, fine~, let’s go to sleep.”
“I’m the big spoon tonight!”
“Sure thing, Hyun-ah~”
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© copyright work of armysantiny 2022-2023
Networks: @kwritersworld, @kdiarynet, @ultkpopnetwork, @whipped-kpop-creators, @prism-nw, @k-library, @knet-bakery, @kpclub, @k-mysticsnet, @stayhavens, @districtninewriters
If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading! Consider reblogging, leaving some feedback or donating to my kofi!
Taglist: @teeztheflag, @jeonqquk, @mikailo666, @babyboobean, @taem-min, @xavi-in-kpopland | Taglist form
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solneur · 1 year
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##☆ OOH LA LA! — S.JY
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SYNOPSIS. what do you do when you’re lonely and desperately want a boyfriend? you ask the first guy you see to be your boyfriend, of course!
PAIRINGS. jake x gn!reader
GENRE. college!au, high school!au, strangers to lovers!au, fluff, slight angst, comedy, drama, smau with some written parts
WARNINGS. language, suggestive/dirty jokes (nothing too crazy), death jokes (never made or taken seriously), slight age gap but they are both of age (jake is in college while reader is in high school), appearances of other idols, will add if there are more!
STATUS. coming soon!
AUTHOR’S NOTE. this smau will be on the shorter side ,,, i’m looking at about 15 chapters but we’ll see what happens 😃 this is also based off of the original manhwa with the same name ! enjoy^^
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PROFILES.
y/n and the squad 😜‼️
suffering college students 🙏
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PARTS.
one.
two.
three.
more coming soon...
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TAG LIST. open :D send an ask to be added ! (not accepting replies or dms)
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© solneur, 2023. do not copy, repost, or translate.
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bikerjongho · 2 years
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set the bar | choi jongho
genre: realistic fiction, romance
pairing: gn!reader x biker!jongho
description: Y/N’s attraction for the biker gang leader Jongho gets in the way of the friendship they have with surfers, but what’s the harm in a little bit of flirting?
word count: 2.6k
warnings: suggestive comments (once)
author’s note: jongho leather jacket brain go beep boop brrrrr. jongho beep boop brrrrrr
taglist: @itsapapisongo @mangomingki​ @irehlevant​ @blueprint-han​ @doievoir​​ @bvlnoriyas​
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There had been many times in Y/N’s life when they had to put on a mask to hide their true intentions. When they had stolen an entire case of sticky notes from their art teacher in middle school, they had stayed after school to help her look for them even though they were safe inside their backpack. When Y/N had snuck out of the house to go to a party and came back late at night, they told their flamed parents that they had been at the library studying for a test. The next day, they aced the exam.
In many ways, it was Y/N’s reputation of being a responsible person that allowed them to get away with so many things like this – they were the last person anyone would suspect of doing any awful deeds. That was what made them so good at being bad. But sometimes, the mask to hide their intentions was used for things that weren’t tangible, but it was the same practice as any of their capers. They had to put that mask to good use when Jongho walked into the bar where they worked.
Y/N was laughing with surfer friends and passing out drinks to customers when he walked through the door in all of his leathered glory. They made eye contact and Y/N flushed, both out of fear and attraction. They had never interacted with both their surfer friends and Jongho at the same time. Their friends had a different reaction.
“Oh, wonderful,” Beth groaned, sitting at a large table on the opposite side of the entrance to the bar. “Him. This just ruined my night.”
“For real,” Y/N laughed while making ferocious eye contact with Jongho. He noticed, and they minutely tilted their head toward their surfer friends and gave a stiff smile. Jongho’s eyes widened, but the mild panic disappeared as quick as it came, and he seated himself at the front of the bar and tossed his leather jacket off, then turned to where they were standing. Y/N realized what he was doing.
Almost like he knew what was going through their head, Mingi echoed their thoughts. “Well, have fun serving him,” he said with genuine sorrow, and the surfers’ nods around him echoed the feeling in his voice.
“It’s my job after all,” Y/N shrugged and gave a meek smile to Beth, who was glaring at Jongho’s back. “See you later.”
“Let me know if he bothers you,” Yunho said to them seriously and Y/N tried their best to sigh with relief.
“Thank you,” they said, but their words weren’t genuine. They walked towards the bar table with a little too much glee in their step.
“What are you doing here?” Y/N said, schooling their face into a scowl when all they wanted to do was smile. “Don’t mind my face. I know my friends are staring at me.”
Jongho understood their cues immediately and smirked. “I wanted to see you, Y/N.”
“I didn’t know I’d see you today,” Y/N said, grabbing a glass and wiping it clean with a cloth. “I wanted to see you, too. This is a treat.” The truth of the matter was that Y/N had seen Jongho just last night. They had seen a lot of him then. Now, with clothes on, there was less to admire, but it pleased them nonetheless that he had gone out of his way to come to the bar. The only issue was their surfer friends that were watching them like hawks as if Jongho would suddenly leap over the bar table and throttle them.
If he was affected by their words, he didn’t show it through his face. Though, by the way that he adjusted himself in his seat, throwing his arms to the table and giving them a warm smile, he was clearly out for a kill because he knew what they liked. Y/N pretended like they didn’t notice his hulking biceps or his gorgeous facial structure as he raked a hand through his red hair.
“Jongho,” Y/N hissed, turning away. “We’re in public.”
“And I’m not allowed to stretch?” Jongho smiled, raising his arms for a stretch. The sleeves of his black shirt slid down with the stretch. Y/N looked very intently at a saltshaker on the table beside him. “Y/N, I’m just existing.”
“And your existence hurts me,” Y/N said and pulled out their notepad to take his order. They pretended he didn’t have arms. That made them feel better.
The face Jongho put on was pure arrogance as he put his arms down and folded them across his chest, signaling that he had completed whatever goal he had in his head. The move only highlighted his muscles. “I know.”
While Y/N jotted down his order, they tried their best to imitate discomfort for their surfer friends that were watching. Although they weren’t a couple, they very well could have been because of their mutual feelings and genuine chemistry. The only block to their relationship was Y/N’s reluctance to leave their surfer friends. Luckily, Jongho found pleasure in keeping their relationship down low. There was something dastardly about secret love, and he thrived in it.
As Y/N gave Jongho’s order to the cook and started on his drink, they glanced over at their surfer friends. To their dismay, their eyes were all on them. It made sense – Jongho was someone that they all hated, and they assumed that all of them wanted to get up and hurt him had the environment been right. Instead, it was all a standoff. Y/N looked back to Jongho and saw his eyes on them. Their stomach tightened.
“Jongho,” Y/N said, coming to the counter, “don’t pay attention to them.”
“They’re paying attention to me,” Jongho said, not looking back at them. His cold glare irked them, both because they didn’t think the surfers needed attention, and also it wasn’t worth it for him to do so.
“And they’re not worth your attention,” Y/N said, waving a hand in front of him. “Pay attention,” they said with no real intent for romance or teasing, “to me.”
Jongho finally released his gaze from the surfers to look at them. His eyebrows raised as he looked them up and down slowly. He smiled. “All right.”
And they really felt his eyes on them. They had been making his drink while they talked, but now that he was looking at them they could barely concentrate. Idly, they wondered if there were any stray hairs or blemishes on their face.
“Okay, never mind, I literally cannot concentrate,” and they could only hear him chuckle because they refused to look up and see the blatant satisfied look on his face from their comment.
In the corner of their eye, there was movement from the other side of the restaurant. Y/N’s stomach lurched – Yunho was on his way towards them with resolve in his eyes. “Oh my God,” Y/N whispered and hoped Jongho would see him and realize what was going on before he got to them.
And Yunho was there in a flash. He glowered over Jongho and leaned against the counter of the bar while he folded his arms. Y/N imagined his height came in use right now, he looked intimidating and terrifying over Jongho. Then, he lost the scariness of himself as he looked up at Y/N with kindness in his eyes.
“Is he bothering you, Y/N?” Yunho said softly, raising his eyebrows.
“No,” Y/N said too quickly, smiling as they finished up Jongho’s drink and slid it over to him. He caught it with one hand and was looking at Yunho with mild amusement. Perhaps he thrived in Y/N’s answer to Yunho like he was pleased that they did not resent him like a majority of the people currently in the restaurant.
“We were just talking, don’t worry,” Y/N said. “He’s not scary to me.” They said this to remind Yunho of their neutrality, but Y/N realized the implication of their words only after they had said them.
In the corner of their eye, Jongho was using all of his willpower to remain in a neutral expression, but they could still see hints of a laugh threatening to overtake it.
If Yunho caught a whiff of their attitude towards Jongho, he didn’t say anything about it. Y/N assumed he was too wrapped up in his own dislike for Jongho to notice Y/N’s more than friendly nature to him. He looked at Jongho, then Y/N, then back to Jongho before sighing. “Just wave to me if you need anything, okay?”
“Of course,” Y/N said, smiling at him. “Thanks for caring. I have other orders to do though.” They laughed a bit and waved him goodbye, even though they didn’t have any in actuality.
“So you don’t think I’m scary?” Jongho said immediately after Yunho had left, his eyes sparkling. He leaned off of the stool he was sitting on to get closer to Y/N and smirked. “Hm, you’re fearless. That’s attractive, you know.”
Y/N glared at him while a blush formed on their cheeks. “No, you’re not scary,” they said, turning away from him briefly to give themself a moment to collect themself.
“Then what am I to you?” Jongho continued, eternally riveted and not lowering himself back onto his stool. He took a dubious sip of his drink.
“You certainly look scary,” Y/N said and opened their mouth to continue.
“Good to know,” Jongho mused.
Y/N glared at him. He smiled. “You look scary,” they continued. “And I guess it would be strange if you didn’t. But I’ve known you and I’ve seen you in private, you’re not scary at all. You’re a bit of a softie.”
“Because I like you,” Jongho said, and Y/N shrugged. They both knew that already.
“Yeah?” They said, “I didn’t notice.”
Jongho readjusted himself on the counter. He was painfully close to them now, so close that he could have taken their hand and kissed it had he so desired. But instead of the flirty look in his eyes, there was something darker in them now.
“I’ve hurt people before,” Jongho said, not losing eye contact with them. “That's not scary to you?”
Y/N looked over at the surfers, who were now laughing with each other. “They’ve hurt people too,” they said. “That’s the nature of a feud like this, isn’t it?”
“But it’s not scary to you?” Jongho asked again with an urgency to his voice, like he needed to hear a certain answer from them. Y/N looked at him dead in the eyes. They saw something in there that they hadn’t seen a minute ago.
“No,” they said finally. “It’s what you have to do to make your opinion seen. It doesn’t define you or make me think less of you. It’s just something you have to do.” They believed what they said was truthful, but it was also hard to tell the complete truth when a face as handsome as Jongho’s was looking at them so intently. Truthfully, Y/N was neutral for a reason because they hated the conflict. But getting to know Jongho, from his favorite foods to how much he loved his family to how passionate he was to how his lips felt on them, they knew that even something as awful as murder was not so black and white. The intention of it mattered, and the person behind it mattered. They knew that the bikers weren’t good, but the surfers also weren’t the angels that they painted themselves to be. They were just better at hiding it.
Y/N knew what was coming next. “So then be my lover, Y/N,” Jongho said. “Because you’re right. Most people aren’t as wise as you are, they look at everything at face value. You don’t hate me, you like me, and I like you. Doesn’t it just make sense?”
Y/N was silent, and Jongho noticed that. He rephrased his words. “But it’s always your choice,” he said. “I don’t want to force you to date me, and I know you care about your surfer friends. It’s not an easy choice to make.”
It’s not an easy choice because dating you would be an enormous and public spectacle, Y/N wanted to say, but Jongho knew that already. They had tossed around this conversation so many times in the past.
But at the same time, what they had said was truthful. They didn’t see him as a terrible person, and they wanted to be with him so badly. There was just a surfboard-sized block in-between them, and Y/N didn’t have enough strength to break their hearts just yet.
“It’s not,” Y/N said finally. “And it’s a no,” they said, and they watched his face fall. “But,” they said slowly, “your persistence in my life is something that certainly is coercing and convincing me to say something different.”
Y/N pulled out a slip of paper from their pocket and scribbled something onto it with the cheap ballpoint pen behind their ear. They slid it over to him. Jongho took it, and his eyes widened when he registered what it was.
“That’s my apartment,” they said. “I’m not affiliated with either side, but I suppose I am affiliated with you. If you need any help,” they said, “you can come to me, and I will try my best to help. Because you’re right,” they said, glimmering. “I do like you. More than I’d like to admit. Congratulations.”
Jongho, who had maintained a cool aura the entire time he was in the bar, broke into a painfully cute smile at those words. “I’m a little nuisance in your life,” he teased. “You can’t rid me from your mind.”
“Uh-huh,” Y/N smiled. They looked over at the surfers. “I’d give you a kiss, but there are surfers around.” Jongho began to stand from his seat, and Y/N shook their head. “And wouldn’t it be suspicious if we both went into the back room together?” They clarified, raising their eyebrows.
They tapped at the piece of paper they had given him. “Come and meet me tonight, we can talk then. Or not do any talking at all.”
There was a fire in his eyes now, and a smirk tickled his lips. Y/N could see the essence of a biker leader in him, more clearly than they had seen this entire evening. “I’ll make you mine at some point or another, Y/N,” he said, nodding his head. “Trust me.”
“I don’t doubt it,” Y/N smiled, their eyes lingering on him for a little too long, his doing the same. “Now get out of my bar before I carry you out myself.”
“I’d like that,” Jongho said, but he stood up anyway and put his jacket back on. He gave them one last smile, a smile that made their heart hurt. “I’ll see you tonight, then,” he whispered with a glimmer in his eyes. He used a moment to brush his hair back, looking at Y/N for any sign of being flustered. they had lost their shield to his charms long ago. Satisfied, he left the restaurant in a flurry of leather, bright hair, and allure that left Y/N at the bar, missing him dearly.
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ijhyo · 2 years
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ITZY WHEN YOU TEXT ASKING WHICH MEMBER THEY WOULD LET YOU MARRY
pairing. ot5 x fem reader
genre. established relationship ; idol au ; crack
warnings. talks of death, dying
notes. what's up gay ppl? could not for the life of me remember where i saw this but idk i think it's funny
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taglist. @xysthe @tsupuffs @acciomylove @skzfairies @hellohumansonplanetearth @junityy @fairybinie @enhacolor @soobin-chois @chosoluvr @liamsholygrail @iichaeyj (fill form to be added)
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