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quokkacore · 3 years

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with great power I [lee jeno]

summary: there are two things jeno loves most about his life. one being spiderman, the other being you, his best friend. there’s just one issue: after your father’s death, you decide you hate both spiderman and yourself.

pairing: lee jeno x reader

genre: superhero au, high school au, coming of age, best friends to strangers(ish) to lovers, fluff, ANGST, minor crack

warnings (for this chapter): language, violence, gun violence, the mafia, parental death, police presence, sexual references, bullying (ily san im sorry), the dreamies being dicks to each other, police corruption, towards the end jeno experiences something similar to sensory overload, americanized names, pop culture references, VERY jeno centric

song rec: we go up - nct dream // any song - zico // 21 questions - waterparks // talk (remix feat. megan thee stallion & yo gotti) - khalid // sunrise - ateez // i really like you - carly rae jepsen // dare - gorillaz // stray kids - the tortoise and the hare

word count: 10.5k

a/n: this is so late...... i blame attack on titan. but hey!! better late than never :] a huge thanks to @doderyscoffee for beta reading <3

main masterlist // story masterlist

chapter one: jeno and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week

Jeno despised Tuesdays. He was pretty sure that Tuesdays despised Jeno as well because all of his worst days just so happen to be Tuesdays. He was 96% sure that, if there was a god, his day off was on Tuesdays, or that the planets aligned in such a manner on Tuesdays that it caused universal despair and misery. If he was to take Donghyuck's word for it, his chakra attracted negative energy the most on Tuesdays.

When Jeno was 5, his goldfish Pippin had died on a Tuesday. When he had his ass handed to him on the playground by San Choi in the third grade, it was a Tuesday. And in the seventh grade, he'd failed his Spanish test, missed his bus and walked home in the rain only to find out that his Aunt Sunny was at work, he'd left his keys in his locker and that had to wait an hour before she got home to unlock it for him, all on a Tuesday.

And wouldn't you know it, here he was, late for the first day of senior year, which was, of all days, a godforsaken Tuesday.

In his eternal wisdom, he'd stayed up gaming with Renjun until two in the morning, and because of it, slept through his three alarms, one set at six-thirty, the other at 6:45, the last one at 7:00.

He'd woken up at 7:17, to the sound of his elderly neighbor's pet chihuahua barking at a pigeon, checked the time, immediately panicked, sped into the shower, gotten dressed in a haste, grabbed a few granola bars from the pantry, and ran out the door while trying to jam his backpack closed, and managed to catch the train at 7:40, which took about twenty minutes to get to his stop, plus a ten-minute walk to school, and class started at 8:10. Not to mention he’d have to stop by the office and pick up his schedule. At best, he’d be five minutes late to his first class. But tardies were tardies, regardless, and the last thing he needed was to lose his perfect attendance streak.

He fished out his phone while standing on the train, waiting for his stop, scrolling through Instagram, and liking random pictures. A ping! from his phone caught his attention, then two, then a third. He smiled softly when your name popped up on his screen.

[7:48 AM]

y/n: pssst

y/n: shithead

y/n: where r u ????

[7:49 AM]

y/n: i can sEE u online on ig u know

jeno: …… i'm on the train

jeno: woke up late

y/n: YOURE GONNA BE LATR

y/n: LATE*

y/n: ON THE FIRST DAY OF SENIOR YEAR

[7:50]

jeno: probably, yeah

jeno: it's the school district's fault, why would they make the first day of school on a fkn TUESDAY

y/n: ohhh yeahh its terrible tuesday

y/n: [sent an attachment!]

[7:51 AM]

jeno: SHUT UP

jeno: you're not funny >:(

jeno: how dare you laugh at my misfortune

y/n: au contraire im hilarious

jeno: meanie :(

jeno: im gonna be late i hate it here

jeno: it'll end up on my permanent record and i'm not gonna get into college and then i'm gonna die,,,

[7:52 AM]

y/n: sometimes ur worse than hyuck i swear

y/n: FIRST OF ALL permanent records dont even exist !!!!!! its propaganda duh

y/n: also ur literally never late

y/n: im sure o n e tardy wont do anything chill

y/n: dont be stupid youll be fine

Don’t be stupid. Too little, too late, he thought, already having got off the train at a previous stop. Now, he was looking for an unoccupied street or alleyway, which, for once, was easy, taking a deep breath before he did the exact opposite of what you’d told him not to do. Don’t be stupid.

The buildings are low, he thought to himself, it’ll be easier to see me.

Don’t be stupid.

Too late!

Thwip!

Jeno didn’t hesitate to use the web fluid to pull himself up onto the wall, climbing in a haste, before running and jumping onto the next building. He quickly built up a quick pace, using the web fluid occasionally to swing onto a building slightly out of jumping range.

Signs in English, Chinese, Korean, and Spanish flew past him as he seemingly flew over the Queens traffic, leaving Flushing behind and crossing quickly into College Point quicker than he would if he took the train. He glanced to his left and caught a view of the bay, and far across it, the LaGuardia airport watchtower.

Jeno had lived in New York City his entire life. He knew Queens like the back of his hand, knew every dingy alleyway, every sketchy street, which restaurants to avoid if you didn’t want to get food poisoning, which convenience store aunties were the nicest and didn’t pinch his cheeks too hard. It was his home, and most likely would be for the rest of his life.

But seeing it like this, flying past him below as he glided with ease from building to building would never cease to be a sight to him. It was like watching from the perspective of an outsider, seeing people in their cars, walking along the street gave him a brand new perspective. A Jeno’s eye view, he called it, since he was pretty sure he was the only one in New York City.

Another noise from his phone brought him back to reality. He shook his head, stopping briefly to catch his breath and fish out his phone briefly.

[7:57 AM]

y/n: let me know when u get here !!!

No time to respond, he put away the phone and continued his trek to school. He had less than ten minutes to get there. But he knew he was already at least five minutes away, much quicker than he would be if he had decided to stick to the train. He smiled a bit to himself, feeling ever so slightly smug.

The hustle and bustle of the city definitely proved challenging to find a place to land without many eyes, but he figured it out eventually, landing behind a dumpster in an alleyway behind a restaurant that he knew was about three or four blocks from the school. He figured it would be a lot better to take it on foot from here. The notebooks he was carrying in his backpack bounced up and down with every step he took.

After what seemed like forever, the gates to the school appeared in his view, and Jeno felt a joy in his heaving chest, something he would have never thought would happen upon seeing the absolute hellhole that was Samuel Morse High School.

[8:06 AM]

jeno: just did >:D

Picking up his schedule was both quick and insanely long. He couldn’t stop himself from tapping his left foot while the secretary found his schedule and handed it to him. “Kibum, please hurry,” He muttered, and Kibum raised an eyebrow at him, but his gaze was teasing. “That’s Mr. Kim to you, in school at least.”

He handed Jeno his schedule a few seconds later. “Tell your Aunt to come pick up her casserole dish, by the way. She left it at my house after my last viewing party.”

“The Bachelor?”

“Please. We’re too classy for that. Drag Race.”

“Ah. I see.”

“Jeno,” Kibum said, staring up at him from his desk, his gaze now much more serious, “Get to class. Happy first day of senior year.”

“Thanks, Mr. Kim.”

He managed to make it to chemistry class at 8:09 with seconds to spare. His eyes quickly scanned the room upon entering, hoping his friends were in the class with him. He caught a few familiar faces, most of which, like San Choi's, he wished to avoid. No one paid him any mind. Everyone was still speaking to the people next to them, no doubt exchanging stories of summer vacation.

A hand shot up towards the back, waving at him. A smile stretched across his face as he registered your face, feet not hesitating to carry him towards the empty seat next to you. His heart skipped a beat at seeing your smile, and he tried his best to ignore it.

“Hey,” You greeted, “That was fast. I thought you said you were gonna be late.”

Jeno shrugged, eyes landing on the dark shade of the lab table. “The train was a lot faster than I expected, apparently.”

You wrinkled your nose. “Why do you smell so bad?”

“I, uh… ran a little.”

You grimaced, and Jeno tried to casually sniff at his slightly sweaty clothes. It’s not that bad. “I still don’t understand why you won’t let me drive you to school. You’re literally next door.”

“I don’t know,” He answered, rolling his eyes, “Maybe it’s because when it comes to that truck, you are absolutely insane. You won’t even let me drink water in that thing.”

The truck in question, a faded red 1998 Chevrolet S-10, had been your gift to yourself for your 17th birthday. You’d spent two summers saving up to buy yourself a truck, and that was what you were able to get for what you had. To say it was a huge piece of junk on wheels was an understatement.

The thing smelled like mothballs no matter how many air fresheners you bought it, the engine sounded like an old man having a coughing fit, and there was a very suspicious stain in the backseat that wouldn’t go away no matter how many times you scrubbed it. But for some reason, you treated it like it was your own baby. The amount of times you’d yelled at Jaemin for trying to put his feet on the dashboard was too high to count.

You mirrored his movement, eyes rolling as you sighed. “At least let me drive you home after school today. Maybe you can stay and we can finally watch Blade Runner.”

You’d been trying to get him to watch the film for almost a month now, begging and pleading because you insisted that he’d love it. He offered an awkward stare, before opening his backpack and pulling out a notebook. “Can’t,” He mumbled, “I’m headed into Manhattan. I have my internship afterwards.”

“Oh, yeah,” You said nonchalantly, eyebrows shooting up as you remembered, “Park Industries.”

He was about to reply when Mrs. Baker, the chemistry teacher, finally entered. She’d been working at SMHS for 30 years and had never, apparently, been nice, if his Aunt Sunny’s stories were anything to go by. However, she had apparently always spoken as if she smoked two packs a day. She was rambling about the importance of making the most of senior year academically, adult responsibilities, college, and whatnot. You and Jeno exchanged glances often throughout the monologue, hoping it would end soon.

“Enough of that,” She said after what seemed like an eternity, “Everyone quiet down, I’m going to call roll.”

Names were quickly called, and Jeno was ready to pull out a pencil and start working with you until Mrs Baker demanded a switch in seats, beginning to call on random names in an effort to deter everyone from speaking.

"Please not with Choi, please not with Choi," Jeno muttered under his breath, glancing warily at San, who was staring ahead, looking bored.

San had had it out for Jeno ever since day one, in first grade. For some reason, everything Jeno did seemed to annoy the other boy. He wasn't funny enough, or too nerdy, or too quiet. Jeno was always too much or too little for him.

You touched his forearm, and he looked towards you.

“You’ll be fine,” You said softly, trying not to alert the teacher, “You’re not gonna get paired up with him, and you can take it to the office if you need to.” “Yeah, because I’m sure Coach Peralta would be thrilled if someone tried to get his precious midfielder in trouble.”

“Choi, San,” Mrs Baker’s voice rang throughout the room, and Jeno braced himself for the worst, eyebrows furrowing with worry.

“You’ll be sitting with… L/N, Y/N.”

Jeno’s shoulders slumped, but your face remained impassive. You picked up your stuff, and pouted silently at Jeno in apology, before making your way to the front.

“Lee, Jeno,” Mrs Baker called a few minutes later, “You’ll be sitting with Jang, Yeeun.”

He breathed out a sigh of relief. Yeeun is nice, Jeno thought to himself, I could sit with Yeeun. She wasn’t part of his main friend group, but he had tutored her in math during sophomore year in exchange for her helping him with Spanish, and they’d been pretty friendly ever since.

“Hey,” Yeeun greeted as Jeno sat down, and Jeno smiled at her.

“Remember, these will be your assigned lab partners for the rest of the semester. No changes, no exceptions.” Mrs. Baker sat down at her desk, before beginning to talk about something Jeno didn’t really pay attention to.

You exchanged glances with Jeno, and he gave you a look of sympathy as you gestured at San with your eyes. San was talking to you about something—probably bragging about some soccer achievement—but you weren’t paying him much attention. Jeno swallowed something growing in his throat as he looked at how your hair looked today.

It was nothing relatively new, the same hairstyle you used on most days. But still, there was a bit of a shine to it. He wondered vaguely if you had changed your shampoo, the other day you’d been complaining about how itchy your normal shampoo made your scalp—

“You still haven’t told her about how you feel?” Yeeun asked quietly, and Jeno’s head snapped back to look at her, eyes wide.

“W-what? Me. Like Y/N…” He laughed nervously, trying to keep his voice down. He scratched the back of his head, avoiding Yeeun’s accusatory stare. “You’re hilarious, Yeeun. Tell another one.”

Yeeun shook her head. “You’d better hurry before someone else snatches her up, Jen. She’s not gonna wait around for you forever.”

“I don’t like her, Yeeun.”

“Keep telling yourself that.”

“Hey! Jeno Lee!”

“Hey! Jaemin Na! What do you want!” Jeno answered as he sat down, mimicking Jaemin’s tone next to him.

“Well, for starters, a million dollars, and second, a date with Yiren Wang, but I doubt you can help me with either of those, so...”

Jeno glanced at the rest of the table. Along with Jaemin, Mark, Renjun, Donghyuck, and you were watching the interaction between the pair. “Where are the munchkins?” Jeno asked, noticing Chenle and Jisung’s absence. No one could really call them munchkins anymore. That nickname dated back to middle school, before the two underclassmen had gone through growth spurts.

“Eh, they should be here soon,” Renjun said, chewing on a french fry, “How’s your day been?”

“Pretty good so far, I guess. I got AP Calc with Mr. Washington later, though. That man wants me dead.”

You rolled your eyes. “He doesn’t want you dead. I’m telling you, you and Hyuck have been spending way too much time together. You’re being more dramatic than usual and Hyuck’s being more… weird than usual.”

“And just what is so weird about being enthusiastic about senior year, Y/N?” Donghyuck asked, shaking his head, “It’s our last year in this hellhole, I’m excited that we’re finally getting out of here. And besides—”

“Please don’t bring up the fact that you’re abandoning us next year.” Chenle seemingly appeared out of nowhere, sitting next to Renjun, Jisung following quickly behind him.

“Hi, Sungie,” You said with a smile, and Jisung smiled back. “Hi, Y/N.”

“What were you saying, Hyuck?” Jaemin looked at Donghyuck, who had taken the quick interaction as an opportunity to take a bite of his sandwich. His wide eyes darted to the slim boy, cheeks stuffed with chicken.

“Oh,” He replied after swallowing, “This is gonna be my year. I’m getting male lead for the winter musical and no one is gonna stop me.”

“Do you even know what musical you guys are doing yet?” Mark asked, “What if it’s like… Shrek?”

Jisung made a face. “There’s a Shrek musical?”

Mark nodded, and Renjun laughed.

“I don’t know about male lead, if it’s Shrek. You should try out for Donkey,” The Chinese boy joked, “With those front teeth, you’re a shoo-in.”

The entire table was silent for a moment, before snorts and chortles started pouring out from everyone except Donghyuck.

“Fuck you, Huang.”

Renjun flashed the friendliest smile he could muster. “Not if you paid me a million dollars.”

The subject remained on extracurriculars, everyone in your group except for Chenle and Jisung now wary of college applications. Donghyuck had been in theater ever since middle school, Renjun was in the robotics club and the debate team with Jaemin, who was also in the student council. Mark was on the math team with Jeno, and you had founded the film club.

"You're not gonna believe who asked to sign up for film," You huffed, looking kind of confused. The rest of the table looked at you expectantly, and you pursed your lips, almost as if you were trying not to laugh.

"San Choi."

Renjun scoffed. Jaemin raised his eyebrows before letting out a single, humorless laugh. Jeno made a face, poking his plastic fork at you.

"What is San Choi doing asking to sign up for film?"

"Fuck if I know. He said he needed one more extracurricular if he wanted to get into some college in Florida and he liked going to the movies, so he wanted to try out film."

Mark rolled his eyes. "I swear there's nothing in that guy's head but hot gas. It blows my mind."

"He's a dick," Chenle grumbled, "I'm still not over how he and Wooyoung taped Jisung to the flagpole last year."

Jisung scowled. "I thought we agreed to never bring that up again."

“Do you think they’ll finally calm the fuck down this year?” Jaemin wondered, looking wistful.

You took a sip of your coke and shook your head. “Doubt it. They’re not the hateful eight for a reason.”

The mood at the table turned tense, until Jaemin frowned at his french fries, before sighing and clapping his hands together dramatically. “I would like to hear,” He mused, “About the nuance that theatre gives the cinematic masterpiece that is Shrek when converted into musical form.”

Donghyuck beamed. “Oh, it’s amazing. You see…”

If it was difficult to get Donghyuck to stop talking in general, it was impossible when it was about theater.

The conversation continued on until the bell rang, and the eight of you had to go your separate ways. Jaemin and Jeno had the same class, so they both walked together down a relatively calm hallway. Jaemin looked both ways, before finally lowering his voice.

“So, you’re going to see Mr. Park today?”

Jeno nodded, looking down at his shoes. “He said he wanted to give me an assignment. Says there’s something big going on.”

Jaemin’s eyes lit up with curiosity. “Did he say what kind of something?”

Jeno shook his head, pouting slightly. “I’ll let you know tomorrow.”

Once school was out, Jeno was getting ready to get onto the subway once again, this time heading towards Midtown. It was only day one and, as Jeno had predicted, Mr. Washington probably was out to get him, because he’d swamped the class with homework.

As he left the school, he spotted you in the parking lot, leaning against your car door, texting someone. He glanced at his phone. He still had plenty of time, he figured. He walked over to you, and when you looked up, you smiled.

“Hey!” Your voice had that signature tone of enthusiasm to it, and Jeno smiled back immediately.

“Hello,” He sing-songed. “So, I was thinking… are you free on Friday night?”

You looked somewhere above his head, furrowing your eyebrows before you perked up again and nodded. “Yep! Why?”

“I’m free after nine. Maybe then I could come over to your house? So I can finally get you to stop harassing me about Blade Runner.”

You grinned, pumping your fists enthusiastically. “Hell yes,” You answered, “Do you want me to get like, some frozen pizzas or something?”

“Pizza sounds good,” He said. “Who are you even waiting for?”

You made a face that made it seem as if you’d just gotten a whiff of rotten milk. “Well—”

Your response was interrupted when the school doors slammed open, and eight figures poured out, carrying themselves with confidence Jeno both envied and despised. He frowned, trying not to react at their loud whooping and laughing. The Hateful Eight.

“Oh.” Jeno averted his gaze, meeting your eyes again.

“Yeah. If you don’t hear from me later it’s because I jumped out of my truck because I don’t wanna work with—”

“Well, hello, gorgeous!” San’s voice filled the parking lot, and Jeno took a deep breath. Your mouth stretched into a tight-lipped smile at the unwanted ‘compliment’.

“Hey, San.” Your friendly passive aggressive tone almost made Jeno smile. “I’ve been waiting here for like, fifteen minutes. You could have just given me your number and asked me to send you pictures of my notes, you know.”

He shrugged, turning his body so that his back was turned to Jeno. “Sorry, babe. Coach wanted to talk to us about the upcoming season. When he gets going, it’s hard to get him to stop. And besides, where’s the fun in just asking for pictures when I could come here, talk to you, and take the pictures myself?”

You didn’t respond, but rather pulled out your backpack and began digging through it. When you pulled out your notebook, you handed it to San, who flashed a wink at you. You barely held back a gag.

“Thanks, Y/N. I’ll just be a minute.”

He walked over to the hood of your truck, and just as you were about to continue your conversation, two figures slung their arms around both of Jeno’s shoulders, causing him to flinch.

Out of the fifteen soccer players on the team, San and his best friends—seven of them, to be precise—were the worst. The others were pretty nice. But right now, seeing two of those seven surround your best friend made you uneasy.

Wooyoung was loud. He was also a temperamental brat. His dad owned three used car dealerships over in Brooklyn, so naturally, he thought he owned the entire world. He wasn’t someone who would get too physical in fights, like San, or Jongho, or Yeosang. But when he was angry, he could easily get you to jump into the stratosphere by yelling at you once. Over the years, he’d made several teaching assistants and substitute teachers cry, only getting let off with a slap on the wrist every time.

Yunho was terrifying for completely different reasons. He was friendly, but a little too friendly to the people he wanted to control. He could read people like books and could easily manipulate whoever he wanted. But he wasn’t afraid of getting physical either, especially not when he was built like a goddamn Power Rangers Megazord.

All in all, they definitely weren't anyone you wanted near you, near your friends. Especially considering how much they had it out for your friends.

"Hey, buddy," Yunho said, looking down at Jeno with a wide smile. "How was summer vacation?"

Jeno gnawed on the side of his cheek as he considered his answer. "Um, it was okay." He looked at you to catch your eyes darting between San, Yunho and Wooyoung, like you were analyzing the situation. "I kinda stayed in and played video games most of the t—"

"Cool, cool," Yunho answered, carding his free hand through his bleach blond hair. "What about you, Woo?"

"Oh, dude, it was so cool," He bragged, "I went to Brazil for like, a month. I went clubbing with Instagram models and shit, it was wild."

You stared at him as he patted Jeno on the back rather aggressively. "Where did you go? Have you ever even left New York?"

You knew the answer. Only a few times when the debate team went to compete in different states. Jeno spoke up again. "Well, yeah a few t—"

"Doubt it," Yunho scoffed. He craned his head back. "San, you done yet?"

"Almost!" San answered. Yunho turned to face you, and for some reason his smile seemed genuinely kind. “What about you, Y/N?”

You never understood why it was that the soccer team hated your entire friend group, but seemed to tolerate you. It made no sense.

So you shrugged. “Not a lot, I guess. Did my summer reading. Hung out with my friends.” You flashed a reassuring smile at Jeno. “Right, Jen?”

Immediately, he relaxed a little bit. “Yeah.”

San appeared from behind Yunho, Jeno and Wooyoung. “Thanks, Y/N. I owe you one.”

You waved your hand, wanting them to get rid of them quickly. “Don’t mention it. But next time, just text me for my notes. I have to get to work, so…”

“Oh! My bad,” He answered with fake remorse, before unlocking his phone and handing it over to you. “Here. For next time.”

You stifled a deep sigh, punching in the numbers hesitantly. “Just for homework, got it?”

San took his phone back, holding a hand over his heart and raised his head. “On a gentleman's honor,” He declared, and you bit back a laugh. Jeno looked like he was going to hurl.

“San!” The team captain—Hongjoong—called from a few feet away, “Are you guys done yet or what?”

“Coming!” San yelled back.

“Alright, we’ll let you go,” Wooyoung said, patting Jeno on the back again, a bit too harsh for comfort. “Bye, Y/N! See you around.”

The three of them stalked off, leaving you and a very frazzled Jeno. “Dicks,” You muttered once they were out of earshot. “You good?”

Jeno shook his head, waving his hand dismissively. “I’ll be fine.”

You tilted your head, frowning. “Jeno—”

“I gotta go,” He said quickly. “I’ll see you later?”

You nodded, offering a lopsided smile. “Yeah. Be careful!”

Jeno offered a deep bow, fluttering his eyelashes. “On a gentleman’s honor,” He sighed, adding a very bad British accent to it. You burst out laughing, eyes squeezing shut.

You didn’t catch the way Jeno’s shoulders relaxed at the sound.

I want you to know now

Baby, it could go down

I don’t wanna talk about it

Baby, let’s just go now

The train ride into Midtown didn’t take too long. He spent it digging through his backpack for his Park Industries lanyard, listening to music and thinking about you.

When you talk right to me

You gon’ have to do me

Every time you think you’re leaving

You running back to me

You’d met Jeno when you were six. Truth be told, he didn’t really remember. For him it was like you weren’t there at one point and by the time you were, you were thicker than thieves. It was a difficult time for him. He had just lost both of his parents, and was moving in with his Aunt Sunny and his Uncle Jinki, who were barely out of college at the time. He’d had to move to a new school and basically restart his entire life. You were the first sense of stability in his life for months.

Your mom lived next to his aunt and uncle. So naturally, you went to the same school and went on the same bus. And somewhere along the way, you two clicked. You’d introduced him to Renjun, Jaemin and Donghyuck. You were there to comfort him whenever he got pushed off the slide by San or Wooyoung.

He was there for you when your stepdad and stepbrother moved in when you were nine and you weren’t sure how to deal with it. He was there when your mom died when you were thirteen. He’d introduced you and your friends to Mark, Chenle and Jisung.

And you were there when his Uncle Jinki got killed when he was fifteen. And because fate had an especially cruel sense of irony, it had happened on a Tuesday. You didn’t know, but at the time, he had just gotten his powers. Your comfort and words unknowingly had a secondary effect: he made the decision to use them for good, and… well. The rest was history.

Can we just talk? Can we just talk?

Talk about where we're goin'

Before we get lost, lend me your thoughts

Can't get what we want without knowin'

Just like when he met you, he didn’t recall an exact moment where he realized he’d fallen in love with you. He knew there was a world where he loved you, but wasn’t in love with you. And he knew that there was a world here he’d fallen in love with you—he was living in that world now. He realized he was living in that world maybe when he was sixteen, and had been stuck in it ever since.

You were it for him. He’d had crushes before. But never something like this, where he was so aware of your presence around him. It wasn’t the way he was hyper aware of someone like San, or like Yunho or Jongho. It wasn’t out of anxiety or fear, where a shift in mood activated his fight or flight. He was aware of you in a way that only people who truly know each other do, where he could pick up on subtle changes in your behavior, but not out of fear. Rather, out of a desire to take care of you and to not have you worry about anything.

I've never felt like this before

I apologize if I'm movin' too far

Can we just talk? Can we just talk?

Figure out where we're goin'...

As the train rolled into the station that was a fifteen minute walk from Park Tower, Jeno put away his headphones and took a deep breath.

The “Jeno Tingle” as his Aunt Sunny called it—Jeno hated the term—had taken him a few years to gain control of. And while he could never truly turn it off, he could at least tune it out enough to be more at ease. The only time he did so was at school or when he was studying, just because he wanted to feel normal, and because being aware of everything going on around him really messed with his concentration.

Jaemin didn’t understand. “If I was able to tell whenever Seonghwa was behind me because he wanted to scare me into doing his chemistry homework, I’d never turn that shit off,” He’d said once. But truthfully, Jeno didn’t really care. Because while yes, he was still slightly scared of the “hateful eight”, he knew damn well that if things got to be too much, he could kick their asses if he wanted to.

It was his friends he worried about. He couldn’t be around them 24/7. You, not so much. He knew you knew how to fight. Even worse, he knew that San had the hots for you so you were off limits to the rest of them, be it bullying or flirting. But for everyone else… Well. He couldn’t hover over them like some guardian angel.

Now that the “Jeno Tingle” was on, it allowed him to sense everyone within a certain range around him. He could zero in on certain sounds with ease, and his reflexes became heightened. Halfway on his walk up Park Avenue, he jumped away from a chihuahua on its leash a second before it started barking at him.

When he entered the first floor lobby of the Park Building, he scoured the crowd of employees and visitors until he landed on one familiar face.

He'd met Doyoung about a year after his dad started dating your mom. Things between your parents were starting to get serious, and Doyoung was four years older than you were. When they moved into your house, Doyoung as your new stepbrother became the de facto chaperone and babysitter. If you wanted to go to the mall with Jeno, he had to take you. Every time you dragged Jeno to the movies, Doyoung had to go also.

To an extent, it wasn't that bad. Doyoung was cool, and he was smart—he was the one who got Jeno interested in computers and chemistry. He graduated high school at 16, and finished his bachelor's degree at 19. He'd also interned at Park Industries, and secured a job there almost immediately after college.

To an extent, he was the whole reason Mr. Park knew who he was, because of one incident. It was relatively soon after he started the whole vigilante thing. Jeno, still figuring out how to maneuver on the webs that shot out of his wrists, had accidentally crashed into your backyard late at night, when only Doyoung was awake. He was standing in the back door while he was waiting for his dog to finish peeing.

Initially, the older boy had freaked out, thinking that it was a burglar or something. When he yelled out that his dad was a cop and was asleep in the house, Jeno panicked, and pulled off his mask, holding up his hands.

“Woah, woahwoahwoah! Doyoung! It’s me, it’s me!”

Doyoung’s eyes had widened to the size of saucers, paying no mind to the dog as it sauntered up to Jeno, before turning onto its back in a request for belly rubs.

"You're the spider guy everyone's been talking about!?"

"Spider man," Jeno had answered, voice cracking as he dusted himself off. He cringed at the sound of his voice. "...and yes."

Of course, his cover was blown, and he'd begged Doyoung not to tell anyone, especially not you. And while Doyoung had promised not to tell you, it didn't stop him from telling his boss.

That had been almost three years ago now. The rest was history, and after that Jeno didn’t have to run around in bright red sweatpants and dollar store swimming goggles. Now, he had a nanotech suit that allowed him to activate protocols of the suit through voice commands using something top-secret Mr. Park called D.R.E.A.M technology. Direct Response Engaged As Machine—yeah, Jeno didn’t get it either.

Doyoung offered Jeno a smile as he escorted Jeno past security, showing them his employee clearance pass. "Hey. How have you been?"

Jeno shrugged, recounting his day in minor detail as he was led into an elevator labeled authorized personnel only.

This elevator only went up to the 35th floor, seeing as everything past that was only cleared for a certain list of people approved by Mr. Park and his security team, and everything past the 90th floor were Mr. Park's private living quarters.

Now, as Doyoung led him to another elevator to head up to the 85th floor, which was always where Jeno got to meet with Mr. Park—which wasn't often, maybe once or twice a year—he wondered where he would be if he hadn’t surprised Doyoung that night. He would probably still be using those ugly red sweatpants as part of his disguise.

"How's Y/N?" Doyoung asked.

"Oh, she seems okay. That guy who hates me keeps coming onto her though. He's a huge douchebag."

Doyoung frowned. "He's not harassing her, is he? Because if he is—"

"He just won't stop flirting, even though she clearly isn't interested," Jeno said bitterly, "He isn't physical or anything. Trust me, it wouldn't end well for him if he was."

Doyoung wasn't quite sure how to respond to the younger boy's dark tone. He looked down, clearing his throat awkwardly.

“So… how’s the apartment?” Jeno asked. Doyoung perked up instantly.

“Oh, now that Taeyong’s moved in and did his interior design thing, it looks great. He’s really done a great job at it.”

“When am I gonna meet this guy? He sounds cool.”

“He’s really cool,” Doyoung hummed, cheeks heating up. “Things are getting really serious.”

Jeno smiled at how flustered Doyoung, who was normally so level headed and calm, became at the mention of his boyfriend.

“You guys sound like a really good couple,” He said. Doyoung chuckled, waving his hand. “Oh, well—”

The elevator dinged, and Doyoung sighed. “I’ll tell you later. C’mon.”

The hallway it opened up to was lined with pictures of the company's history, starting from pictures of black and white of people in vintage clothing, to pictures in sepia tones to finally pictures of the current CEO at locations around the world: Chanyeol Park.

Jeno walked behind Doyoung as he led him down the hallway, before stopping in front of a door, and a friendly looking man in a suit.

Junmyeon was a part of Chanyeol’s Security and Intelligence team, and often sat in on these meetings with Jeno. The chain of contact also included him. If Jeno couldn’t contact Doyoung (which rarely happened), he’d contact Junmyeon. And if he couldn’t contact either of them, or it was an emergency, only then could he contact Chanyeol. So far, that had only happened once.

"Hey, Junmyeon," Doyoung said, "Mr. Park's 4:30 is here."

Junmyeon nodded, before smiling at Jeno and giving him a wave. "Hey, kid."

Jeno offered an awkward grin. "Hi, Mr. Kim."

Junmyeon rolled his eyes sarcastically. "Kid, you're making me feel ancient. I've told you a million times, just call me Junmyeon."

Jeno shuffled awkwardly, before nodding at the older man, watching as he pressed a button on his earpiece. "Hey, Yeol. Jeno's here."

The muffled response was barely heard, but Jeno automatically understood what Mr. Park said. Junmyeon turned to open the door, and let the pair inside. The “office”—if it could even be called that—opened up to more of a lounge, than anything. A wall of glass overlooked the Manhattan skyline, but Jeno knew that from the outside it looked only like a wall, due to camouflage technology developed by Mr. Park himself. As Doyoung and Junmyeon stayed back, closer to the door, Jeno took a few steps toward the man in question.

Chanyeol was standing a few feet in front of the glass window, working on a holographic model of a new piece of tech. His face was turned downward in a concentrated frown. He barely spared the teenager a glance as he said fondly, “Hey, kid.”

Jeno was used to this. Chanyeol wasn’t cold per se, but he wasn’t warm at all. He knew that Chanyeol cared about him, even if he didn’t really show it in a conventional way. Chanyeol was a very… eccentric man, so he had his own way of saying and doing things.

“Hi, Mr. Park. Um… you wanted to talk to me?”

“Yep! Needed some help from the friendly neighborhood Spiderman… A little birdie told me about something going on in Queens.”

“Queens?” Jeno asked, gripping the straps of his backpack. “You mean, other than the usual stuff?”

“Other than the usual stuff,” Chanyeol repeated, nodding. With a wave of his hand, the hologram disappeared, and another one appeared in its place. This time, instead of a 3D model, a few pictures and another, smaller 3D model appeared. Chanyeol turned to face him, frown deepening. He pointed at the model—a long, shiny oval-shaped purple stone. It reminded Jeno of an amethyst, but instead of turning white at the base, it turned to an iridescent jade tone. “You know what this is, right?”

Jeno nodded, remembering seeing the rocks all over the news when he was a kid. “That’s… that’s a Chitauri stone. From the invasion a few years back.”

Chanyeol nodded, standing up straight. “These stones have the potential to power weapons with no need to recharge, or change them out. They’re an infinite, extremely strong power source, Jeno, and in the wrong hands can be very dangerous.”

Jeno took a deep breath, feeling his stomach sink slowly. Chanyeol sighed. “Cleanup of the city after the invasion was long, and difficult, and obviously the government and the company weren’t able to get everything. It caused a black market to pop up. Now, the NYPD has been investigating it for years, but they have their limits… that’s where you come in.”

“M-me, Mr. Park?”

Chanyeol gave him a crooked, reassuring smile. He pointed at one of the pictures, which was of a man who most likely didn’t know he was photographed. He was walking somewhere, face looking angry and stern.

“You don’t know who this is, right?”

Jeno shook his head, and Chanyeol turned his head to nod at Junmyeon. “You’re up, tough guy.”

Junmyeon huffed, before walking up to Jeno. He put his hand on Jeno’s shoulder as if he could tell that he was growing anxious.

“Jeno, that’s Henry Duke. From what we understand on the intel team, he’s one of the cornerstones of the alien tech black market. He’s one of the top dogs. From what we understand, he likes to be present for all major negotiations that his group makes. A source of ours told us that there’s going to be a negotiation on Friday night not too far away from LaGuardia. We want you to go out there and just get a feel of what’s going on.”

“Just watch them, right?” Jeno looked at Junmyeon, who patted his back reassuringly. “Just watch. Don’t engage unless you absolutely have to.”

“You can do that, right?” Chanyeol said quietly, crossing his arms. “Because if not, then it’s totally—”

“Yeah, of course I can! Friday—shit, Friday. At what time are they supposed to be meeting up?”

Junmyeon furrowed his eyebrows, before answering, “Around eight or nine.”

Jeno bit his lip, thinking about the promise he’d made to you. It would just have to wait, he supposed. Chanyeol rarely asked anything this big of him.

“Alright,” Jeno agreed, “I’ll do it.”

Chanyeol grinned, clapping his hands together.

“Perfect.”

They discussed logistics briefly after. Doyoung would be on call with Jeno, his custom made suit allowing them to communicate, letting Doyoung see everything Jeno was seeing via a video feed coming from the ultra thin lenses placed in the white eye sockets of the mask. Doyoung would then report to Junmyeon, who would report to Chanyeol, who would probably report to the FBI. Jeno was only to engage if absolutely necessary.

After that, he set out on patrol. He usually found some discreet place to hide his backpack, and then went all over Queens looking for trouble, quite literally. Around five thirty, he stopped a robbery in Murray Hill. Then, around seven, he stopped a man from stealing a woman’s purse in Elmhurst. Nothing too much.

Around eight, he finally headed home, this time dressed normally, using the train and not web fluid. He walked home, tired, knowing that he’d immediately have to do that cursed AP calc homework. When he got home, he opened his backpack pocket to look for his keys, rummaging between his notebooks and other things.

Shuffling through his stuff, he furrowed his eyebrows as he couldn’t find them. Thinking back, he remembered this morning, when he’d left in a rush… and had very obviously left his keys on his desk.

“Shit,” He muttered to himself. He rubbed his eyes tiredly, remembering that Aunt Sunny had said she’d be working overtime tonight. He could very easily sneak in through his window, but he was pretty sure he’d locked it the night before, and it was too early. People’s lights were still on—anyone could see him if they just looked up, and then he would be screwed.

Huffing and zipping his backpack up, he marched up to your house, before ringing the doorbell. He shifted his weight back and forth, from his heels to the balls of his feet, until the door opened up. A familiar man with a face just like Doyoung's, but older, with graying hair and arms scarred and muscled from years of working on the police force stood in the doorway.

“Jeno?” Your dad offered him a warm smile. “Hey, kiddo, what’s up?”

“Hi, Mr. Kim,” Jeno said, smiling back. He shifted nervously. “I, um… I left my keys in my room this morning, and my aunt’s working late, so… could I… maybe wait here? Y/N’s home, right?”

The man nodded. “Of course, of course. Come in!”

Your dad had always been super friendly, even from the day Jeno had first met him. You'd told Jeno once that he was the only real father figure you'd ever had. Once everything settled after him and your mom got married, you started calling him dad altogether. And since you and Jeno were practically glued at the hip, he got along with your dad almost as well as you did.

“Okay.” Jeno stepped in and set down his backpack at the base of the coat rack next to the door, as he’d done a million times before. Jeno stepped into the living room, and sat down on the couch. He folded his hands in his lap and looked up at your dad.

"I think Y/N's in the shower, but she should be done soon. You can just wait here if you want… have you eaten anything yet?”

“Uh, I had a granola bar on the train, but that’s it.”

“We have some leftover pasta here, if you want—”

“Thanks, Mr. Kim, really! I’m fine.”

Your dad nodded, sitting down on his recliner. “So, have you started your college list, yet? Y/N said you wanted to stay here in New York.”

Jeno nodded, pushing some hair out of his face. “Well, yeah. It would make things a lot easier, I think. I might want to apply to NYU, but I think I’ll just go to community college, or something.”

Your dad shook his head. “You’re a pretty smart kid, Jeno. I think you could get into Columbia if you set out to. Plus, Chanyeol Park doesn’t give out internships to anybody. That’s your secret weapon.”

Jeno smiled. “Well, you’ve got a point.”

Your dad gave him a friendly punch on the shoulder. “Come on, trying won’t hurt!” Your dad made a face, and then rubbed his knuckles. “Have you been working out? Those muscles weren’t there the last time I did that.”

Jeno laughed, trying to think of an excuse. “Oh, a little bit? The house needed some fixing up over the summer, and I wanted to help Aunt Sunny, so…”

“Jeno?”

He turned immediately, eyes landing on you at the base of the staircase. You’d changed into an old t-shirt and pajama pants. Your hair was slightly damp. “What are you doing here?” You asked, with a curious smile.

His shoulders slumped, and he grinned sheepishly. “Terrible Tuesday strikes again. I forgot my keys.”

You grimaced. “Brutal, dude. You wanna come up?” Your eyes moved to your dad. “Or am I interrupting guy time?”

“Oh, definitely,” Jeno answered, playing along. He took a cocky tone as he rested his hands on the back of his neck. “Your dad was just telling me about how much the NYPD needs me.”

You stifled a laugh. You dad seemed to be holding back a laugh too. "Hey, you're joking, but if you keep working out like that, and if by some impossible chance, the college thing doesn't work out… We might just be able to catch Spiderman if we finally got some brain cells on the force."

"Ugh, dad," You groaned, unaware of Jeno's gut twisting, "Not again."

"Yeah, Mr. Kim," Jeno said, scratching the back of his head, "He's not that bad."

Your dad shook his head. "Look, I don't hate the guy. In all honesty, crime rates have dropped since he started doing his thing. But he thinks he's above the law, and his methods can be a bit… unorthodox sometimes. He’s been undermining us for years and his tech is state of the art. Makes me wonder about what we should do to modernize the force."

Jeno looked downward, wondering what would happen if your dad knew the truth.

"Well, I guess we may just never find out. Jeno'd make a horrible cop. He couldn't hurt a fly if you paid him a million dollars."

But you came to the rescue as you grabbed his backpack, and soon enough he was up the stairs with you, heading into your bedroom, laughing to yourselves when you heard your dad jokingly call out, "Fifteen inch distance, you two! Door stays open!"

He sat on your desk chair while you lay on your bed, limbs splaying out.

"So you left your keys."

Jeno groaned. "Don't remind me. I was in such a rush to leave, that I… I forgot. I'm so stupid."

You rolled your eyes, rolling over onto your stomach to look at him. "You're not stupid, Jen. You made an honest mistake because you were in a hurry."

Standing up, you walked over to him and leaned against the desk. "Seriously, Jeno. What's gotten into you, lately? You freak out about every little thing. It's starting to worry me."

Jeno shook his head. "I don't know," He admitted. "I think I'm just scared about how after this year, everything changes. Renjun’s headed upstate. Jaemin’s going to Boston. You want to go to LA. I think Hyuck and I are the only ones who want to stay here. I just… I don't want things to change."

Your expression turned sad as he continued. "Everyone is expecting great things from me. You're smart, Jeno. You can get into an Ivy. Or, you have a Park internship, you'll be fine. What if I don't want things to be fine? What if I want them to just stay the same?"

You stayed silent for a few moments, trying to think of what to say. Jeno was relatively level headed for someone your age, but even he had moments of doubt and panic. It made moments like these difficult. You sighed before grabbing him by the hand. Wordlessly, you tugged him over to the bed, sitting him down and leaning your head on his shoulder. He could feel the dampness in your hair seeping slowly into his shirt.

"I guess I understand what you mean," You mumbled, trying to reason with him, "But come on. You wouldn't really want everything to stay the same. You can't tell me you want to keep getting AP calc homework. And I definitely doubt that you'd want to have your ass kicked by San for the rest of your life."

Jeno looked at the floor. "You're right. But you know that's not what I mean—"

"I know," You huffed, "I'm just saying. Change… it's inevitable. The longer you fight it, the harder it is."

Jeno nodded. "This sucks."

"It does," You agreed, taking his hand in yours. "But at least we have each other's backs, y'know?"

Something of a smile appeared on his face. You were so close to him, leaning on him, stroking his knuckles with your thumb. He hoped you couldn't hear his heart pounding in his chest.

"We really do, huh?" His voice turned quiet, with a bit of a sleepy lull to it. He allowed his head to rest on yours. "You're so comfortable. Can I like, use you as a pillow for the rest of my life?"

You giggled. "I'll consider it on two conditions."

"Oh, you'll consider. How generous of you."

"Yes, I'll consider. Now, do you wanna hear my terms or not?"

Jeno raised an eyebrow. "Go ahead," He said, before putting on his best Marlon Brando voice, "Make me an offer I can't refuse."

Snorting, you lifted your head off of his. "Okay. One, you finish your calculus homework here before Sunny gets home."

He pursed his lips. "Okay, I could probably do that. What's the other one?"

"Let me drive you to school for the rest of the year."

Jeno stared at you, and you nodded, eyes wide. "Trust me, Jen. You wouldn't need to wake up so early! And plus, you can't text the guy manning the subway asking him to give you five minutes because you need to find your keys."

Jeno gnawed on the inside of his cheek. You did have a point, and to be honest, he could probably refrain from putting his feet up on your dashboard.

"Deal."

You grinned. "Awesome," You answered, before nodding towards his backpack. "Now get to work, Einstein."

The rest of the week wasn't that bad. Yes, you were absolutely batshit insane about your truck in the morning, but he soon realized he didn't really mind. Not when it allowed you both to spend some twenty extra minutes together in the mornings, and they were spent joking around and listening to your extremely varied playlist.

On the other hand, he was saddled with more and more homework, greater and greater expectations. The looming threat of Friday's mission rolled around, and it made Jeno feel like time was passing much too slowly but also way too quickly. There was so much on his mind. He had chemistry with you on Thursdays in the afternoon, which also meant that San was there. Which also meant that sometimes, his heightened senses would pick up on San dropping a tacky pick up line which made Jeno want to punch him in the jaw.

Finally, finally, Friday afternoon rolled around. As he bid you goodbye and promised to see you later, he tried to ignore the feeling in his stomach. The feeling that something was about to go very, very wrong. He went out on patrol, ready for Doyoung to set up the call and tell him where he needed to go. It didn’t help that there wasn’t a lot for him to do that day. Crime had seemed to slow down altogether.

When the time finally came, and the sun was beginning to set, Doyoung rang in at about 7, telling him the location. An old warehouse near LaGuardia airport, hidden from prying eyes. Jeno made his way to the place, avoiding security cameras Doyoung warned him about, and found a place to hide. There was a hole in the warehouse roof, which allowed him to peer right into the building without being seen. It was about thirty feet from the ground.

“Why is it always old, abandoned warehouses?” Jeno grumbled. He heard Doyoung laugh quietly.

“Beats me,” Doyoung sighed.

And so they waited. Jeno wondered vaguely if you were still working. He wasn’t sure. They made time talking quietly, until a black SUV rolled into the warehouse. “Woah, Doyoung,” He murmured, “Hold up.”

Jeno leaned forward, but quickly realized he probably wouldn’t be able to hear what was being said. “D.R.E.A.M, activate Heightened Intelligence Protocol.”

Activating Heightened Intelligence Protocol.

The protocol allowed Jeno to use the lenses over his eyes to zoom in on specific targets, as well as use a microphone embedded in the suit to pick up audio from far away and feed it directly into his ears.

He watched as three figures got out of the car, a fourth remaining in the driver’s seat. The trio stood in front of the car, and Jeno recognized the man in the middle as the man Junmyeon had been talking about.

“Alright, there’s Henry Duke,” He said, “The one in the middle.”

“Got it,” Doyoung replied, sounding satisfied. “Now all we have to do is wait for the other party.”

“Did Junmyeon’s sources say anything about who it would be?”

“No. They weren’t able to find that out. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”

Jeno’s eyes never left the man. “Do you think it’s something international?”

Doyoung sighed. “I’m not sure. If it is international, then you need to be even more careful.”

“Got it. I think—Wait, here they come.”

A second vehicle, this one another black SUV, rolled up not too far away from the first car. The lights turned off and the engine sputtered to a stop, and four men stepped out of the vehicle.

Jeno’s stomach dropped, and of its own accord, his mouth let loose a quiet, “What the fuck,” as he registered the person leading them.

“What?” Doyoung asked, before realizing what—who—he was looking at. “...Is that my dad?”

“I think it is,” Jeno whispered, fingertips suddenly numb. Who was he kidding? They both knew who it was.

“So,” One of the men next to your dad said, “You show us yours, we’ll show you ours?”

Henry Duke clapped his hands together with an impish grin. “I suppose. Reagan, get the case.”

One of the two men standing beside him started off toward the trunk of the car. “It caught me off guard when I heard that the force wanted to purchase these. Almost made me wonder if this was your attempt at a sting operation.”

“What made you change your mind?” Your dad asked. Jeno swallowed at how cold he sounded. This wasn’t your dad, and it didn’t seem like Officer Kim either. This was someone Jeno had never met before.

“Honestly, Kim?” Duke raised an eyebrow, shrugging. “It was you. Your cooperativeness and willing to feed us information, as well as your… insurance agreement. And besides, you made a very interesting point when you said that the Avengers Initiative and Park’s alum Spiderman is ruining the way the law operates around here. That type of bitterness… hard to fake.”

Your dad huffed. “We’re fucking tired of it.”

The man leaning against the car your dad had stepped out of scoffed. “If this helps us catch the little asshole, then so be it.”

Jeno frowned. “I’m not little—”

“Jeno, shut up!” Doyoung snapped.

“—Alright, then.” The man holding the briefcase—Reagan—clicked it open, as if it were a prize reveal on The Price is Right. Five guns, all modified to hold glowing Chitauri stones were placed carefully together side by side.

“You know the basics. No radiation. Keep it away from security scanners and x-rays. They will blow up. And second of all, these are at half the price, along with the promise from the chief of police that my business won’t be touched, and will only be distributed to officers in on the operation and have agreed to turn off their body cameras when they decide to use these weapons. Should this not be a sting operation, we’ll be back here to negotiate.”

Jeno leaned forward, watching anxiously.

“Yes, sir,” Your dad answered, nodding. “We have the money here.”

“Hand it over, then.”

That was when Jeno made his mistake. He leaned forward too much, and proceeded to fall right through the hole, bringing down some scraps of the roof with him. As he tumbled through the air, the zoom on his lenses caused him to grow dizzy as he had no idea what he was looking at. He caught himself before he could fall, clumsily commanding D.R.E.A.M to go back to turn off the current protocol. His vision returned to normal, and he swung up onto a rafter holding the warehouse up.

“So, we have company.” Duke didn’t sound as amused as he had before. His face turned into a sneer. “Get him.”

In less than a second, before Jeno could say anything, five guns were pointed directly at him. He managed to swing away before any bullets could hit him.

“Jeno, get out of there now,” Doyoung ordered.

“What about the guns?” Jeno asked, swinging to another rafter. “They know I’m here, I might as well get them before I go—”

“No! Jeno, listen to what I’m telling you. You’ve done more than enough, and you need to let it g—”

Your dad aimed, and a bullet fired right at Jeno’s chest. For a second, he forgot that the chest area of the suit was lined with bulletproof material. While it didn’t shoot into his chest, it ricocheted right off him, and since he was in motion, it somehow caused the bullet to bounce back in the direction in which it came.

The wind was knocked out of Jeno, but it was nothing compared to watching the bullet land in the middle of your father’s chest. On the other line, he heard Doyoung yell, followed by the sound of something falling. And then, as he made his way back towards the hole he’d fallen out of, he couldn’t rip his eyes away from the body as it crumpled to the ground.

The others around him scrambled to get back into their respective cars. Jeno was back on the roof now, trying not to hyperventilate. “I’m sorry,” He gasped, “Do—Doyoung, I-I’m sorry, I didn’t want to—”

“Jeno, you need to get out of there, now,” Doyoung said, voice raspy. “GO!”

So he did, and Doyoung cut off the call once he was out of the vicinity. Jeno didn’t blame him. He swung across buildings, feeling numb as he looked for the apartment complex roof where he’d decided to hide his backpack.

When he finally did, he changed in a hurry, before slumping against the wall and forcing himself to take deep breaths.

Doyoung’s dad—your dad—was dead. And it was all his fault.

He cried on the way down the staircase. He cried on his way to the subway. The entire time, he ignored people’s stares. Suddenly everything was too loud, and if he met someone in the eyes he’d just about break down in the middle of the station.

As he got onto the train, Jeno thought about all of the things your dad had done for you, and for Jeno. All the times he'd taken you both to Coney Island in the summer when you were younger. The year Pokemon Go came out he took the both of you driving around in his car so you and Jeno could catch as many Pokemon as you could.

He’d formally adopted you when you were thirteen. You were his daughter in nearly every sense of the word, regardless of blood. And now he was dead, because of a stupid mistake that Jeno had made.

What would you say if you knew? He didn’t want to know. Checking the time on his phone, he saw he’d gotten a message from you just three minutes ago.

[8:36 PM]

y/n: lemme know when ur outside!! :)

“Fuck,” He murmured, wiping his eyes. He knew he needed to stop crying before he got to your house, and he had about ten minutes before he got to his stop, and then another five minute walk to the neighborhood. He focused on taking deep breaths and taking long swigs from his water bottle in the meantime, trying to tune out the sound of other people talking and the sound of the train on the rails.

The walk was the longest five minute walk he’d ever taken. The flashing lights of convenience stores did nothing to calm him down. As the stores in his peripheral vision began transitioning into suburban homes, he felt his heart speed up again. The constant movement as he walked meant he missed his phone vibrating in his backpack as you rang his number.

After what seemed like an eternity, two familiar houses came into his line of vision, and his shoulders slumped as he spotted you on your porch, looking small and teary, curled up into a little ball. In one hand, you were clutching your phone.

His stomach twisted as he put on a confused tone, even though he knew damn well that you knew. “...Y/N?”

You stood up, running to him and burying yourself into his chest, crumpling into his arms. You would have fell over if Jeno hadn’t held both of you up.

“Jeno,” You sobbed, “You’re n-not go-onna believe it.”

He brought a hand up to caress your hair, holding back tears of his own as he asked a question he already knew the answer to.

“Y/N, what happened?”

taglist: @decembermoonskz @itsapapisongo @lenaluvs @crescentjen

#kwritersworldnet #nct angst #nct x reader #jeno x reader #jeno angst #jeno fluff #nct au #jeno au #kpop scenarios #kpop angst #kpop imagines #nct dream x reader #lee jeno x reader #my writing

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kdramaxoxo · 3 years

Note

Can you recommend romcom kdramas to me. If possible historical ones

I can definitely recommend rom coms, but I don’t watch a lot of historical k-dramas so hopefully someone else reading this can help you out more than me :)

Great Rom Com K-Dramas:

Shopping King Louie: Ridiculously fun and lighthearted romp following a spoiled and useless chaebol with amnesia who is being taken care of by a country bumpkin in the city. Very low stakes, super adorable couple, and as many tropes as you can fit in your bag, this one is one of my favorites to recommend.

Fight for My Way: I love this drama! The couple is one of my OTPs and it’s really funny and a mostly lighthearted story of a group of friends. It’s down to earth and adorable - I’ve never had anyone complain about this one!

Live Up To Your Name (historical rom com): A fun drama about a historical doctor who ends up traveling to the future and meets a modern doctor. I love this couple and the show is great, though I personally do not like medical stuff. The good news is if you are like me, you can fast forward all of the procedures and you will not miss any of the plot. Soft couple alert.

Extraordinary You: ok, this isn’t a traditional rom com because of it’s fantasy elements but it’s super funny and totally creative. If you haven’t watched this, you should! I mean first off: Dan Oh is amazing. Secondly, sweet sweet HARU soft beta boy. Thirdly…just all of it.

Run On: I loved this sweet and soft k-drama about an athlete and a translator. It might not technically fall into rom/com because it has some serious moments in it, but I laughed a lot and fell in love with almost all of the characters (not the dad obvi!). It’s a must watch in my opinion... #kangtaeoh

Into The Ring: This is technically a rom com, but it’s also a workplace kdrama so if you don’t like that feature in a k-drama you might not like it. Into the Ring features my favorite couple of the season (spring 2020)! Taking place in a local government office, everything about this show was my jam. The main couple is very realistic, and the girl is totally in charge while the boy is just heart eyes for her.

Her Private Life: Park Min Young really knows how to pick dramas. I loved this one about a museum curator who is secretly a fangirl obsessed with an idol. It’s fun and fluffy but does have a very mild childhood trauma thing with his mother but I mean, 99% of dramas like this do? If you like this one, Touch Your Heart and Why Secretary Kim are by the same person and have similar vibes.

Crash Landing On You: This drama might be a bit more melo than rom com... A South Korean celebrity accidentally ends up in North Korea for k-drama reasons and is helped by a soft hearted soldier and his crew. It’s one of those totally ridiculous plot lines that makes a K-drama a k-drama - You know, the ones with chaebols and all sorts of tropes, and a lot of plot that ignores reality. Still, the couple is adorable and the found family is amazing.

Why Secretary Kim / What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim: I was prepared to hate this drama’s premise: Boss in love with secretary. YUCK. BUT they turned all of the tropes on their heads and this show was a joy to watch! There’s a bit of kdrama childhood trauma but overall it’s a very easy watch with great chemistry (some people even though it was boring because they get together and a bunch of episodes are just them happy together which I personally loved)

Touch Your Heart: A sweet, silly and very mild rom com about a serious boss and his hallyu star secretary. This show was an obvious response to the chemistry that Lee Dong Wook and Yoo In Na had in Goblin so it was nice to see them together again. Yoo In Na is such a fun person to watch!

The Best Hit / Hit The Top: A famous 90′s boyband dude travels into the future and meets up with his family and friends in this really cute drama featuring Yoon Shi Yoon. I LOVE Yoon Shi Yoon in pretty much everything but this role was made for him - he is hilarious. It’s a slice of life but features the k-pop music industry so the setting is unique.

The Secret Life Of My Secretary: A CEO chaebol loses his ability to recognize faces and needs his secretary to help him navigate his new reality. The two mains are the most adorable dummies and the side characters are awesome! You’ll laugh a LOT at all of the dorks and I plan on rewatching this soon just to chill and enjoy.

Ho Goo’s Love / Fool’s Love: This is an underrated drama! An adorable naive puppy-like boy falls in love with a strong female athlete who has an unwanted pregnancy. This drama deals with sexual harassment, LGBT stuff (!!!), and rape. BUT it also handles the story in a really light-hearted and sweet way that’ll get you hooked. The scenes with Ho Goo and the baby are everything. Must Watch.

Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo: A K-drama fandom favorite! Adorable college romance about a female weightlifter and a super hot swimmer dude. I mean she’s hot too. Anyways, two cuties!

Oh My Ghostess: A shy withdrawn girl working at a restaurant possessed by a sassy ghost. Do I need to go on? There is a little bit of sad but for the most part it’s super fun.

Coffee Prince: A classic drama with the gender bending trope. A girl disguises herself as a boy to get a job and confusion and love ensues. OMG I love anything that even has a hint of “gay” and if you do too, you’ll love this!

Because This Is My First Life: I absolutely love this drama about a total sweetheart who gets married in order to have a place to live. A lot of the story is also about her close friends (one of which: Soo-ji, is one of my favorite ladies ever!) It’s funny, heartfelt, and has a very interesting relationship dynamic. I’d say it’s in my top 10 dramas, except that the lead is a creep IRL so I actually will not watch anything is he cast in (I did not know when I watched this drama and dangit I really really love it).

Also, a mutual just posted that Mr. Queen is a rom com. It looks hilarious and really well made, but I didn’t watch it ;-)

#my first list featuring run on!#kdrama #kdrama recommendations #i love a list #rom coms #ask #answer

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shellyb04 · 4 years

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After watching kdramas on the streaming services I had, I kept seeing recommendations for weightlifting fairy, Kim Bok Joo. So I found Viki. Where I have been trapped, falling in love with a new show after new show ever since.

Shows and my ratings are below the cut.

Weightlifting Fairy, Kim Bok Joo Kim Bok Joo is a weightlifter who is finally realizing there’s more to life than just sports. This features crushes, sweet sweet boys, wholesome ladies, and fluffiness. 10/10 This was SO GOOD! IT still gives me the happiest of feels to even think about it. I just fell head first into this drama. If I had one, teeny tiny nitpick, it would be that I think the 2nd lead is a bit wooden in his acting. I could never get a good read on him. Marriage not dating Fake dating-Plastic surgeon wants his mom off his back and to stay single. He falls into real feelings. 10/10 I straight up love this one. There's drama (the hair pulling in the mall made me shout with happiness). I love fake relationship dramas and that is what this is, until it's not. I just seriously adore this one. Princess Hours AU History, Girl finds out she’s engaged to crown prince in an arranged marriage. She marries him and DRAMA ensues. 3/10 I liked parts of this one a lot, but I just felt like it dragged way too long and kept repeating itself. Plus the 2nd leads Mom was horrible and I felt no pity for her ever. The kiss in the middle between the leads was extra good though.

Goblin First supernatural kdrama. An immortal can only die when his “bride” comes along to pull the sword from his chest. He meets his bride and the Grim Reaper moves in with him. 9/10 It took me a bit to get use to this one as it was my first supernatural drama. I had to look up some history for it, which I love doing so that was cool. Once I was in though, the main couple HAD ME! The Grim Reaper was also fantastic and I wanted more of his friendship with the leads. Super big BROMANCE in this one. I liked all the supporting cast members as well and the last few episodes had me legitimately sobbing.

What's Wrong With secretary Kim Secretary Kim is the perfect secretary until she quits and her boss will do anything to keep her (cause he loves her, but shh, don’t tell him that.) 10/10 The chemistry is on fire, the leads are amazing and I like the secondary and tertiary stories that are going on all around. This just lit me up from within. The only problem was I felt like the reveal of the flashback plot took a bit too long toward the end.

Full House (2004 version) Girls house is accidentally sold to famous actor. Contract marriage ensues. MORE FAKE DATING!! 9/10 I'm a SUCKER for fake married, so they had an easy lead. (Also a sucker for couples who fight to cover their feelings so add another check mark there) Once again, it took me a few eps to get into it, but once I did, the Main Couple were my jam. Fighting to cover feelings is something that I understand and these characters do it in spades. The family dynamic made me super happy as well. My only complaint is I HATE HATE HATE the female leads “best friends.”

Fated to Love You Accidental pregnancy becomes marriage of convenience becomes so much more. 7/10 While a bunch of the side plots in this are super cringey, I bump it massive points for the middle to the end of the show. Now do I think some of the stupidity went on a bit too long? Yes. Just tell the woman you bought her painting and why! Could have cut most of an episode out. But the scenes with the Main Character talking to the baby…just ugh!!! And when I realized he had taken the baby furniture into his room….and eating cake with the baby!! I was a mess for a few of those eps. Also the main guys laugh freaked me out. But be prepared to CRY in a few places.

All I want for Love is You Follows a couple who go to school together and she follows him to medical school (even though she is scared of blood). She’s a dumb jock, he’s a smart sweetie and both are crushing on each other, but hiding it. (He had REASONS, but bleh) 9.5/10 I love almost everything about this Cdrama except the last episode. They cram months and years of stuff into like 5 seconds. We don't have time to process that the lead character may be dead before oops nope he's back. Now kiss and run off camera…what?? But everything leading up to that episode was so good. The horrible were horrible, but ultimately slightly redeemable. The main guys stole my heart. It was everything, (just wish the last ep stuck the landing)

1% of Anything Girl saves an old man, not knowing who he is. The old man without her knowing makes her a condition of his will. His grandson has to marry her to inherit. 9/10 Fake RELATIONSHIPS GIVE ME LIFE! But seriously this one is pretty sweet, once again it does bog down in a couple of places, but overall, super sweet experience

Oh My Venus Girl who was super hot in high school gains weight and then gets dumped by her bf (of like 15 years). She decides to lose weight. Her trainer and she fall for each other in the process. 7/10-the Main relationship was great once it got going, but I struggled with the family/company drama. I got slightly annoyed at the very end of the show when she was bigger again because of her pregnancy and the man wasn't cool with it.

Fight My Way Four best friends (2 girls, 2 boys) live in a apartment block. Main leads are stuck in dead in jobs, missing out on their dreams. But not for long. Also they realize they are stupid in love with each other along the way. 10/10 A bit of a slower start, but after the like second episode I was in love with it. I wish the girl's plot had been moved a bit faster earlier on, but overall, SO SO GOOD. Although the ex-girlfriend in this one serves little purpose.

The World Owes Me a First Love CDrama, Mobile gaming company CEO and his first employee fall in love while dealing with a new dungeon release for their game. 8/10 Perfectly lovely story with sweet people. I was pleasantly diverted

Love in the Moonlight Historical Drama-Woman poses as man for plot reasons and accidentally becomes a eunich in the palace. The Crown Prince falls for her anyway. 8/10 Apparently I really struggle with the historical dramas. I liked most of this one, until the end when it got bogged down in its own plot.

Coffee Prince Girl poses as a guy to get a job. The boss is super confused, but falling in love anyway. 9/10 A ton of sweet moments with some fake relationship and gender misunderstandings. I really liked this one over all. The moment that the main guy kisses the main girl (thinking she's a guy) is one of my favorite moments. Also a later kissing scene is in my top five favorite kdrama kisses.

You're Beautiful Once again, Girl poses as boy, this time as her twin brother, to help him get into a kpop group. And while there...falls for one of the members. The boys do figure it out fairly quickly and decide to help her. 6/10 Okay, but nothing special. The main girl is good, but probably good she never played the brother. But that was part of what made it weird. We heard about the brother for the whole series, but we never saw any personality from him, just sort of heard about it. And the 2nd female was super evil!

Drunken to love you My first Taiwanese drama. Leads get drunk and married. They stay that way for the plot. 8/10 Stupid in all the best way. It did drag a bit and the introduction of the character Daniel felt super forced. Seriously just super campy and I loved it.

Master Devil Do Not Kiss Me Season 1 Cdrama. Poor girl moves into rich house and Rich boy falls for her (with mother rooting for it all) 1/10 The dubbing was bad, the music was bad, the acting was atrocious and I barely made it though and could not do the second season.

My Princess 9/10 Normal girl finds out she's the Princess of Korea. Love the main couple. A few confusing plot bits in the middle and the two politicians add very little to the story. Ending was a bit confusing, is she still the princess or not? Mask 7/10 Woman is forced to take the place of her doppelganger and falls in love with her new husband. melodrama Main couple is too precious for words. Their romance is wonderful. The 2nd leads (and villain couple) are delicious. The sister is layered and understandable while the man takes moustache twirling to a new meaning. Suspicious Partner 10/10 Law student accused of murdering exbf, works with Prosecutor who loses his job over her case. They fall in love and solve murders. Also Super Adorable and ridiculously attractive. A few slow moments made up for by some really intense ones. Could have probably been tightened up into fewer eps, but all bad points made up for by supporting office characters (Investigator Bang and the CEO are the BESTEST) Bromance!

And that’s what I’ve seen so far. Currently watching Touch your heart. Will let you know how it goes!

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oneofthemillionarmy · 4 years

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The Impossible Order | Ch. 1

Summary line: Mr. Min is a stoic boss who will never outwardly show appreciation for you. Not until you’re gone does he recognize how much you do. And what you do matters to him.

ceo!Yoongi | best.friend!Hoseok | romance, fluff, angst, and stuff

Loosely inspired by Secretary Kim and this third bullet point of the prompt list

Your brisk walk will only take you so far in these heels that you’ve been in for half the day now. It’s time I replace these heel cushions. You think to yourself as you wince every other step you take.

Mr. Min’s meeting with the Princess of Bhutan, your most high-profile client the company, is starting in 15 minutes. And he is always ten minutes early. Which means you have to already be there. Documents displayed, projector and presentation ready, steaming coffee in hand. Normally you’re already there 20 minutes early, however today, the copy machine was jammed, and someone didn’t refill copy paper. Really? Of all days…

You burst through the meeting room doors with a pretty wide swing. You quickly put everything down and got to work on turning on the projector and getting the presentation ready. Damn it. This computer is supposed to be on sleep, not completely off. You groan when you turn on the computer and see the updating circle spinning.

While it updates, you walk over to the documents to display it the way Mr. Min wants it. All pages there.

Damn.

Due to the jammed copy machine, the first three papers had a little ink smudge on the bottom left corner. You rush to the computer to see that it had finished updating and the home login screen is waiting for you. You type in the login password and groan at the login circle entering the account. The moment the desktop showed, you rush to open the USB file and print out the first three pages again. Now, it is just the matter of grabbing the paper from copier.

As soon as you open the PowerPoint file, you start walking to the entrance but see the shadow of your boss behind the frosted glass. You nearly trip, from physical instincts over conscious recognition, to grab his coffee on the table and straighten up the moment he walks in.

Ever the dramatic and yet so stoic, Mr. Min makes a double door entrance into the meeting and first sees you, standing straight with a gentle smile on your face and coffee in hand. Luckily, of all things going wrong, his coffee is still steaming.

As he walks towards you, he notices the presentation file is up, but not in slideshow mode. His documents are displayed well, but the left side seems to have less papers than the right.

“Good morning, Mr. Min. The copy machine was jammed this morning, so I’m printing out the first three pages again, so they still look clean and crisp.” You say as you hand him his coffee. Without looking at you, he grabs his coffee and takes his sip while he stands there and look over to the empty space where the documents are missing. He grunts in acknowledgement.

You nod your head and go on your way to the copier. Your gentle smile slowly fades each step you take away from him.

~•~

“Well, since we agree with the current stage of the design, we will move forward with creating the final product. It will take 2 weeks to finish the final product. It will take 3 days to assemble the parts, but the special silver and ceramic piece takes a week and a half to mold and take shape.” Mr. Min explains.

The client looks over the design on the paper in front of her and smiles, “I’m looking forward to coming back and seeing the results. My mother’s Silver Jubilee is coming up the night of. I hope everything works out the way your designer envisions.” The client nods over at Seokjin, the designer of the jewelry.

“I assure you; I will be following this Jubilee project very closely. I will be supervising every step.” Seokjin smiles.

“Good.” She gets up as does everyone else in the room. Mr. Min and Seokjin both outstretch their arm to kiss the hand of the princess before she leaves. After the princess and her entourage leave the room, Seokjin and Mr. Min finally relax their movements. Seokjin helps you by gathering his documents and handing it to you before stuffing his hands in his pockets and walk to Mr. Min, “Hey Yoongi, I’m meeting Namjoon for lunch at Sushi Palace. Want to join?”

“Yeah, sure,” Mr. Min turns to you with his finger up, “Y/N, what time is our afternoon meeting?”

“2:15pm, sir.” You reply, phone in hand, ready to show him his schedule.

“Mm. Push it to 2:45.”

“Yes, sir.”

Seokjin smiles at you before leaving the room with Mr. Min. You let out a breath of relief and type into the team chat who have a meeting with Mr. Min. Meeting has been pushed to 2:45pm. You instantly see a lot of relieved reactions and hearts. You chuckle before gathering the remnant documents of the meeting that just took place and turning off the presentation.

That gives you more time for lunch too.

~•~

“So, how ‘bout it, Yoongs?” Seokjin claps the back of his friend after he swallows his sushi, “The Princess of Bhutan? Hand-delivering an invitation to the Queen’s Silver Jubilee. That’s about as subtle as a princess can be in showing interest.”

“A princess? Wow, but you’re so stoic.” Namjoon comments. Yoongi just side glances him as he takes a sip of his tea.

“Thanks for that. But regardless, I’m not interested.” Yoongi thinks about the invitation still in his inside coat pocket. Right after the meeting, as Yoongi and Seokjin left the company’s front doors, the princess was waiting by her car standing right outside the curb. It was shocking for Yoongi, but he always maintains a cool composure wherever. He graciously thanked the princess and helped her into her car.

“Why not? She’s pretty, sophisticated, filial, wise, and kind. She’s got everything, really.” Seokjin checks off as if he imagines her as his ideal woman.

“If I could transfer the invitation, I would. Then you can take her.” Yoongi remarks, putting down his tea to take up the chopsticks for another sushi.

“Don’t need to. I’m already going. As the designer of the Queen’s Jubilee present from her daughter, I already get an invite. But mine was delivered through mail.” Seokjin reminding Yoongi about the hand-delivered invite from the princess.

“She only invited me. She didn’t even request that I escort her anyway. You guys think too much.” Yoongi shrugs off Namjoon’s arm around his shoulder. Namjoon puts it back anyway, “But you have to understand the implications. She really wants you there. Imagine the night of the celebration, she will be hunting you down in that ballroom.”

Yoongi’s phone rings and he takes it out of his pocket to look at the caller ID, you. Saved by the bell.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Mr. Min. Sorry to disturb you, but I needed to remind you that it is already 2:00pm. Before you meet with the JP team, you and Seokjin have to look over the previous meeting highlights.” Without another word, he hangs up and grabs his coat from the chair.

“Let’s go, Seokjin.” Yoongi leaves without another word and Seokjin pats Namjoon’s shoulder before he leaves, “This one’s on you, thanks!”

“Next one is on Yoongi!” Namjoon shouts back to the disappearing figures.

~•~

“So, the princess actually decided she likes the tourmaline and topaz rather than the peach jade and emerald. And she’s also chosen the engraving on the titanium plating.” Seokjin relays the decisions made with the princess to the JP team.

“Ok. So, the production time will take a little longer. We’re recently in high demand of tourmaline, so we’re running out of supply. We’re down to 300 ct. If it weren’t for the heavy amounts for the projects we have, we’d normally do fine. Our supplier will give us the turnaround time by tomorrow.”

“Do we have enough to get started on this project though? We can pause the other tourmaline projects for two weeks?” Mr. Min inquires.

“We do, but if we pause the other projects, it may be more than two weeks. The fastest turnaround time our supplier normally gives us is a month for 500 ct of tourmaline.”

“Any other high-profile clients we’re currently working with who is using tourmaline for their product?”

“Four others. We’re working with the artist Kim Taehyung. He is having his newest art unveiling at the end of this month and he’s working with Jimin to have him create the jeweled frame for his piece. Your father is currently requesting something made for your parent’s anniversary next month. Beyoncé will be meeting with us next week to go over her pieces she’s wearing for the Met Gala coming up the end of next month. And I believe Yoo Jae Suk just reached out to us for a Running Man anniversary gift he’s giving to his coworkers. In his initial inquiry, he’s already thought of using tourmaline. The anniversary is the beginning of next month.”

Mr. Min curses below his breath. Kim Taehyung not only is a high-profile, as well as elusive artist, he’s also a close friend of his other designer, and friend, Jimin. He can talk to his dad about changing tourmaline into something else for the anniversary gift. Yoo Jae Suk only initially reached out. He can have Seokjin create some other designs, no tourmaline required, and maybe some of them can spark Yoo Jae Suk’s interest. Beyoncé and Kim Taehyung are probably the two who will have a harder time going over this issue with.

“Y/N,” You look up from your computer as you’re typing the meeting minutes, “We need a few more ethically-sourced tourmaline suppliers. Reach out to 10 of them and see how much tourmaline we can get by a week and a half. I need their answers by 4pm.”

“Yes, Mr. Min.”

“Ok. For now, let’s move forward with Jubilee for now. It’s the one with the most time constraint. You said 300 ct. How much is required to make the Jubilee?”

“275 ct. We’ll have just enough.”

“Ok. Move forward. We’ll cut it close, but we can do this. Pause the production of our current stock products that deal with tourmaline for now. They will have to be backordered until the end of next month. Y/N, speak with marketing and PR and get me their decision on how to appease our other tourmaline customers for now I need that by 4pm as well.”

“Yes, Mr. Min.”

You glance at your watch. Sigh…it’s 3:35. You quickly pull up the chat box for you and the PR and marketing team.

~•~

At the end of the meeting, you rushed to get the list of ethical suppliers from the sourcing team. You got the list and quickly drafted the inquiry for the suppliers. Depending on the time zones of different suppliers, you had to call, fax, email, and any other way you can to get a hold of the suppliers and make sure to get their attention so they can reply to you before 4pm your time. You messaged both PR and marketing about the current tourmaline crisis. The marketing director and PR manager will have a meeting right now and give you their final decision by 3:55pm as well.

You let out of breath of frustration as Mr. Min messaged you, telling you to get him another cup of coffee. You’re on the phone with another supplier.

It’s 3:54pm now. Marketing and PR haven’t messaged you back and 7 suppliers have given you their answer so far. All 7 suppliers can only provide less than 100 ct for now. Well, that’s why they’re not the main supplier for tourmaline.

As you leave the kitchen, you get fax from the 10th supplier on the list. They can deliver 200 ct! And by next week. Score.

You smile at the good news and grab the fax to look over their quote. A little high, but it is worth it during this time.

Marketing finally messaged you back. 3:57pm.

~•~

You knock on the door to Mr. Min’s office and you hear his faint words to grant you entrance.

You walk in with good news and steaming coffee, “8 suppliers replied back so far. Hestia Sourcing is the only one with the more than 200 ct to deliver by next week. Everyone else is less than 100 ct. PR has indicated that staying quiet about the tourmaline crisis to our customers is vital, but for right now, marketing is promoting the sourcing suppliers and material and we maintain the angle of ethical sourcing. For anyone who is ordering tourmaline at this time, we’ll let them know there’s currently a backorder on them, and as a complimentary gift for their patience on tourmaline, they will receive 50% off on their next purchase as well as the VIP customer gift we send out for our company anniversary coming up in September.”

He takes the coffee from you, “What happened to the remaining two suppliers? I wanted to know about all ten of them.” You press down the bubbling fire within you, “Those remaining suppliers are in Peru and it’s currently 2am…as ethical sources, they’re likely letting their employees sleep.” You reminded him. He only grunts.

“Can you contact Jimin? Let him know of the current crisis and we might need to change tourmaline into zultanite. Check in with Beyoncé’s designer. See if tourmaline can switch out tourmaline and give alexandrite instead. Have the designer contact Beyoncé’s assistant as well to sell the alexandrite. I’ll have dinner with my father and mother tonight. I’ll find a chance to speak to my father about the tourmaline. And before Yoo Jae Suk meets with Seokjin, we’ll have Seokjin create some other pieces without tourmaline.”

“Yes, Mr. Min.”

“And, Y/N?”

“Yes, Mr. Min?”

“Another, please.” Yoongi raised his cup to you again. You do your best to hide your large intake of breath before smiling to take the cup. If he finished the cup so quick and wants another after 4pm, you shouldn’t be expecting to get off work until past 9pm tonight.

“What time is your dinner with your parents?” You asked, hinting that he shouldn’t leave so late tonight.

“7pm. I’ll leave here at 6:45pm. For the Peruvian tourmaline suppliers, contact them when they open. I want an answer tonight before we move any further with Hestia Sourcing.” Peruvian suppliers open at 9am…yup, my job’s not over until after 11pm…

“Yes, Mr. Min.”

~•~

You sigh in relief as you finally close the door to your home and take off your heels. You lean against the wall to rub your feet for a minute before moving to the living room to drop everything and lay down.

You stayed past 9pm in the office to draft the letters to Beyoncé’s assistant and edited the draft the PR manager sent you regarding the letter of apology to give to tourmaline customers. You’ve already spoken with Jimin about the Kim Taehyung frame. Mr. Min wants you to contact the suppliers, but you can do that in the comfort of your own home.

Your dog comes over to lick your hand and bark at you. You lazily turn over to smile and pet your dog.

“Hi, Yeontan. Did you keep home secure today?” He yips at you and his fluffy butt twitches in excitement to see you home, “Did I leave enough food in your meal container?” Yip.

You lift your head to glance up to his meal bowl. It’s connected to a dog food storage that is timed to release a certain amount of food at his designated lunch and dinner times. Empty.

“Oh, baby, I’m so sorry.” You roll off the couch and walk over to refill it right now. Yeontan follows your steps, excited to think of the food he’s expecting.

As you pour his food, you’re reminded that you haven’t eaten dinner either. He immediately chows down to the overdue-released food. You open the fridge to see it well-stocked, but it all takes time to cook. Right now, you just want to lay down. You groan and rest your head on the door of the fridge. At the same time, the doorbell rings.

You go to turn on the security camera to see who’s at the door. You see a familiar head way too close to the camera, smiling at you in the way that will show his dimples. You chuckle before pressing the unlock button for your guest to come in.

“Y/N!” Hoseok greets you and lifts his bag to show you the food delivery.

“Life saver!” You cry, reaching out towards him. He opens his arms for a hug, but you reach out for the food and grabs it instead.

“Oh, wow. Fine. I see how it is. Your food is more important than your best friend. I see how it is. I thought we were like this, Y/N.” He locks his middle and index fingers together and curls them to show his meaning.

“Right now, yeah. Sorry, bruh.” You quickly move to the living room to sit down and open the bag to bring the food out.

“Damn.” He clutches his heart in dramatic pain, “And to think, how much I cherish our friendship. I went to get you your favorite food before it closed. You left work hella late; it would have closed a whole hour before you got out. Just imagine. Me. In the pouring rain. Personally, pounding the restaurant doors late at night. Now, hand-delivering the food to you. And I can’t even get a hug.”

“Oh my God. Chill out. It’s not even raining,” you laugh, “And knowing you, you just ordered delivery for yourself and left me some.”

“Hey, that’s not true. I ordered a whole thing for you. But I did eat my own stuff first,” he took his shoes off before coming over to sit next to you, “I had that ordered at 7. When did you leave work? Probably past 9.”

“Yeah, I literally just got back.” You lifted some of your food in your chopsticks and fed him a piece of your food.

“Mmm. Nom, nom, nom.” he chews annoyingly in your ear.

“Ew, get away from me.” He laughs and hugs your waist halfway as he leans back into the couch while you’re still hunched over your food, pushing him away from your ear.

“How’s your day?” You ask, focused on your food.

“Pretty good. We’re working on the last section of the dance right now. I had to replace one of the girls, Anna, with Christie since Anna just sprained her ankle.” You made an o face before grabbing your next piece to feed him, “How long till Anna is ok?”

“Three weeks. Past the performance, for sure. Poor thing was crying while she watched us practice on the sidelines.”

“She’s only a sophomore, she’ll be fine.”

“Heartless. Do you know in my occupation, each performance is a portfolio piece? And recruiters start scouting in her year.”

“She’s in a prestigious dance college. This is not the only performance this year, nor is it the biggest.”

“Each one counts.”

“Okay.” You shrug. He lifts himself up to give you a longer hug from behind, “How’s your day?”

“Long. Obviously. We’re working with a Princess from Bhutan and all other projects are pushed aside. We just hope to have enough material and time to get everything done. And that’s just the jewelry business. Tomorrow, my boss is tackling real estate and technology issues. And lemme tell you, every hour, I’ve been putting out fires with issues with them. By tomorrow, the storm will have passed and I’m only delivering results. Unless more issues come up tomorrow.”

“Gotcha…” He trails off into his own thoughts. You recognize the silence and turn around, “What’s up?”

“Well…I kind of needed your help.”

“With what?

“So, you helped me compose and engineer the song for the spring showcase…but our director wants us going for a different vibe. Something a little gentler. ‘Like a spring fairy dancing in the wind’, he says,” Hoseok scoffs, “So I was hoping you can help rearrange it.”

“Mmm…” You slowly chew on your last piece of dinner.

“But you sound like you’re pretty busy. I’ll check with our music producers to see if they can do anything instead.”

“Mmm,” You pat his knee and got up, gesturing him to come with you, “Come here.” You both walk into your room to your office desk. You have an L-shaped desk. One side for actual work, the other for your music production. You sit on the office chair and swivel to the music side while Hoseok sat at the corner of the bed behind you, leaning his elbows on his knees.

“So, remember when you first recruited me for this, I had five songs done, but we ultimately went with the one you chose. I actually saved the other four. Listen to the third one. I think the whole ‘spring fairy in the wind’ thing can kind of go with the vibe of this song.” You hand him the headphones and presses play. You laugh, watching his reactions as he bobs his head to the song and has really animated facial expressions.

“This might be what we’re looking for. Can I grab all four? I’ll run them by our director tomorrow. See if he’ll go for it. It’s really good so hopefully he doesn’t want to change anything.” You nod as you copy all four files into a USB and hand it to him but holds back when he tried to reach for it.

“What do I get in return?”

“You got dinner.”

“This is already an after-dinner request. You need to give me something else.”

“What kind of friendship do you think we have? Always exchanging favors. Is this relationship we have conditional?” He gasps. You sigh, “Guilt tripper.” You hand him the USB.

“Only ‘cause it’s you. And generally, I’m good at it. And if we were conditional, you’d have to give me something for the dinner.”

“Yeah…eh.” You shrug and get up, but he grabs your waist and tackles you on the bed to tickle you.

“I get to tickle you!” He roars with maniacal laughter. While he tickles you, Yeontan runs into the room and jumps on Hoseok to get in on the action and do his best to defend you.

You laugh with him as you two calm down, both petting Yeontan in-between you two laying down on your bed.

“If you ever quit your company, I can get a good word for you to be a music producer for us; it’s what you originally studied for anyway.”

“Honestly, it’s fun. But I’m not gonna lie, I think I was made for problem solving, putting out fires like I do at work. It’s fun too. It’s just overwhelming sometimes. And my boss is the kind of guy to see that if you can handle the tasks he has you juggle; and if you can, he adds more onto your plate and see when you break. That’s super frustrating. And disrespectful. The guy will never acknowledge a job well done. He just moves to the next task.” You vent as you stare at your ceiling.

“Yeah. If your boss doesn’t appreciate you, you can find another job that can do the same thing but with a more appreciative boss.”

“Yeah but think of my salary. I’m working at the number one of the top 10 companies in the country; one of the top 50 in the world. Despite how unappreciative and overwhelming he is, and the number of tasks I can handle matches my salary. Anywhere else I go, I promise you, I’m just wasted talent with a lower salary. It’s not worth it.” Yeontan sneezes, cutting you off.

You and Hoseok lift your head to look at your little pup.

“Yeontan-ie, are you getting sick?” Hoseok says, using a baby voice. You smile at his voice and leans down to kiss Yeontan on the head, “He actually hasn’t been feeling too well. It’s my fault, I’ve forgot to refill his food storage lately. I think he’s malnourished.”

“You gonna take him to the vet?”

“I don’t have the time lately. In the next 2 months, I don’t expect to take any personal time off with so many things going on right now at work.”

“I’ll take him.”

“No, it’s ok. I’ll take him after everything calms down.”

“Your boss is damn near a slave driver. You haven’t taken any personal time off in almost a year, and you expect to do so after? No. Plus Yeontan is sick. There’s no waiting for that. I got this. Give me his vet contact information.”

“And here I thought, you were done doing favors for me.” You grinned. Hoseok picked up Yeontan and sat up to give you a forehead kiss, “You’re an idiot, Y/N.”

You smiled at him before looking at the clock behind him to see that it’s already 11:05.

“Oh crap. I gotta call Peru.” You dash off to the living room to grab your phone that you left there. Hoseok is left there, petting Yeontan and speaking to him in a baby voice, “Your mommy is an idiot, huh?” Hoseok smiles at Yeontan. But even Yeontan can see the shadows behind the sunshine.

Next chapter

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minorin-fanfictions · 3 years

Text

Eternal Love part 2 - Kim Taehyung Oneshot

Pairing : Taehyung x reader

Few years later

Your P.O.V

My feet were running as fast they could while my hair stuck to my forehead thanks to my sweat glands being active like never before. The traffic jam on the main road had me thanking heavens for making my last brain cell a little smarter than the rest because the decision to not take a cab today made me feel like an intellectual.

'Emphasis on feel like' Dammit little voice.

I look like a burnt waffle trying to catch her flight back home but I'll be late for the interview if i try to fix the mess i am right now-

'Correction : Always a mess'

That darn inner voice isn't helping one bit. I am sure i look like a ticking time bomb which will explode if it does not shut up-

'Why can't you be early for once [Y/N]? Like really?'

My inner voice has the audacity to mock me when my medulla oblongata is already forgetting to carry out my breathing properly!?

I do agree that having a movie marathon till midnight with your bestfriend isn't really the best decision, especially, if you have to wake up early but still! The inner me was supposed to be on my side-

Holy Mother! This car did not just zap past me. The world could have lost an entire generation of me. In the hustle and bustle going all around town i could only pray that i lived longer.

Soon, I reached the large building that held my hope of getting a job. Not like i didn't have any but the CEO of the company, I worked in, had a brain of a cricket. Only ever knew how to degrade my hard work.

'Can't believe a dwarf could get you riled up' my inner voice mused.

I can't believe it either. But look on the bright side. I have new and better opportunities here. I wonder how the boss over here is. My train of thoughts came screeching to a stop, ending my ramblings, when I bumped into a tall and well built figure. I stumbled back and rubbed my forehead.

"I am sorry, are you okay?" A deep husky voice questioned. My eyes shot up as I registered his appearance.

Same voice? Check

Same Gucci style? Check

Same boxy smile? Check

Same face? Check

Same face but hotter? Check

An utter heartthrob? Check

If my medulla oblongata was neglecting my need to breathe earlier, then right now it surely isn't regulating my heartbeat.

'Talk about messed up functioning' my inner voice provoked.

"I was in hurry," he explained, "by the way, I am Kim Taehyung."

Same name? Check .... Is the universe kidding me right now?

"I am a good boy," he chuckled , probably to put me at ease, "and also the CEO of this company."

Same good boy? Check .... Am I a joke to this world?

'Atleast, you aren't the only one running late' little voice brought me out of my thoughts.

"Ah it's completely fine, I am [Y/F/N], here for an interview." I mentally patted myself for not stuttering while my mind worked overtime to comprehend the situation.

Taehyung: "Interview to be my secretary it is Ms. [L/N]. Let me escort you to the room, I am heading there myself to conduct it."

Nodding my head i followed him ... but... wait a second. If he takes the interview then I am done for. I can't. But I have to.

My frustration grew with each step we took towards the room. The past was coming back to me yet seeing 'him' made me relieved. He seemed happy and healthy, i wonder if my Tae would be too.

Surprisingly, the time went quick and smoothly. And shocking enough, i got the job, in the first 7 seconds of the interview, without speaking much.

'Only because this Kim kept rejecting all the other candidates, in the first 7 seconds, not letting them speak much.'

I-

Well-

Whatever! I need to meet Taeh- Mr. Kim in his office like he asked me to.

Author P.O.V

Y/N walked towards his office feeling exhilarated about her new job and finally being free from the dungeon she worked at. But she couldn't deny the nervousness running through her body at the thought of meeting him. Again. The world is twisted surely. Making her question her sanity at this point.

Y/N gently knocked on the door either out of politeness or because of her numb senses, she was unsure.

"Come in" a deep voice responded. Upon entering she was met with a pair of keen eyes that seemed to have been waiting for her arrival. "I thought you got lost on your way here," a soft smile danced across his lips once he as he saw his newly appointed secretary nervously laugh.

"I just wanted to brief out your responsibilities before you started working so that you don't feel lost on your first day."

'Definitely not because I told the staff helper to let me guide you since i wanted to talk to you again,' Taehyung thought to himself.

"Make sure to handle office schedules, coordinate meetings and visits, organise files, answer phone calls.."

'And take care of me'

[Y/N] did her best to not be distracted by the way her CEO's fluffy hair bounced as he nodded guiding her while she continuously hummed to inform her presence.

"Also, uh, Ms. [L/N], I- I'll be looking forward to work with you."

'Yes, that sounds professional, good job Taehyung.'

The words shouldn't have caused the sudden rush of adrenaline nor should it have made her feel tickled by butterflies. But they did. The words made her feel content.

Her ears burned, "Me too, Mr. Kim."

'Yes of course, look forward to see yourself whipped for him,' her inner voice was back at it.

Maybe it was the constant eye contact he maintained or the way she felt blood rush to her cheeks that caused her to look down but it surely resulted in her missing the soft smile that spread across his features, feeling warm and content himself.

Once she exited the room with a polite bow, an ethereal sensation bloomed in their hearts while the red string tightened its grip on them so that they were linked to their 'sole' mates.

Part1

#drabbles #my fic #oneshots #reader insert #romance #prompts #scenarios #short story #taehyung #taehyungxreader #btsv #btstaehyung #taehyungimagine #taehyungoneshot #taehyungoneshottumblr #KimTaehyung #soulmateau #soulmates #ceo

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ceo-of-choco-bibi · 4 years

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More Chocotemp HCs

-Bibi smells like strawberry and candies. Flowers, sometimes. Irl, a lot of graphite and paint. Also coffee.

-Tempest smells like honey and gunpowder. Stardust, if that was a real thing (probably is in Lucid Adventure). Irl, like soap and deodorant. Bathes a lot.

-I associate Tempest with stars and galaxies a lot, and angels if you couldn’t tell. Headcanon in some AUs that Tempest, Soup and sometimes Secretary Kim are related in Holy Bloodline, perhaps cousins.

-Bibi channels negative emotions into anger. He doesn't cry, or show vulnerability in front of others but instead turns it all into rage. Tempest or Soup do something foolish on the battlefield? Scared to his wits end and converts it all into anger and yells at them. Someone close to him dies? The anger's already there, but it's fueled by his sadness too. Gets targeted by the enemy again, being the "weak spot" of the team? Stubborn to a fault, refuses to cave in, survives on his will and anger. It's all masked over one umbrella emotion of anger, so most don't know how he actually feels. Only Tempest and MSM can accurately understand his feelings, Soup and Coco later on after spending more time with him.

-Tempest will listen to anything that sounds good. As long as it's a bop, he can vibe to it. He listens to a lot of Cavetown and Ricky Montgomery, but also things like Skillet and Get Scared. He's especially interested in western songs, because western literature is his major. He always takes a look at the lyrics too, and analyses them lightly. He’s good at memorisation but doesn’t sing aloud, even when alone. Only does it in front of others, ironically. Enjoys singing with BIbi.

-Tempest doesn't smile often. It’s just not natural to him. His default face looks stern and most people don’t try to approach him because of that. He’s also quite hostile to strangers and protective of the other guild members. Smiling is tiring.

-Bibi learns sign language for Tempest. Sometimes they communicate like: Bibi: *signs something* Tempest: *replies verbally* It’s really odd for others to see. Also quite funny. You can hear the conversation they’re having but only from Tempest’s replies. They only do this if Tempest doesn’t have his hearing aids.

-They chill with each other at the dorms. Bibi can play the ukelele and Tempest likes to lie on his legs while they sit on the bed. They sing together while jamming to tunes.

-Tempest WILL write poems and songs for Bibi. He’s a hopeless romantic. Bibi WILL draw Tempest in his school projects. He is also a hopeless romantic. They secretly base assignments and graded things with the other being their muse.

-Bibi can do makeup, and he likes using Tempest as his test subject.

Thank you for coming to my TEDtalk they’re very important to me and I love them. I love you too I hope you’re having a great day :)

#choco bibi #chocotemp #hcs? on my page? more likely than u think #tempest (hclw)#I LOVE THEM THEY DESERVE LOVE I WILL HUG THEM I LVOE

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later-alter · 4 years

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Dulu sih sebelum social distancing, coping mechanism saya banyak. Ketemu teman, atau ngopi sendirian, intinya menghabiskan banyak waktu diluar dan baru akan pulang ketika sudah merasa lebih baik. Tapi berhubung social distancing kayak gini, saya enggak tahu bagaimana menenangkan diri sendiri. Jadi saya mencoba menghabiskan waktu dengan nonton.

Seorang rizka tidak pernah bisa nonton dalam durasi lama, tiba-tiba menghabiskan belasan episode drama korea dalam waktu dua hari untuk percobaan pertama. Waw. Terdengar seperti hal yang membanggakan di tengah penatnya berlama-lama social distancing ini.

Lalu siang tadi, menemukan sebuah drama judulnya fight my way. Sebenarnya gak sengaja aja ketemunya waktu baca review dan kayaknya ceritanya ringan, berhubung saya baru selesai jam setengah 4 dini hari tadi nonton itaewon class (kalian harus nonton!!!) jadi saya butuh drama yang ringan dan gak triggering. Jadi ketemu tuh drama fight my way. Tapi di tengah episode 1, gak dilanjut lagi karena... Kenapa ya? oh saya keinget tentang drama whats wrong with secretary kim. Kata temen ini drama ringan dan lucu. Tipikal romance comedy. Yasudah saya coba aja. Dan ternyata memang menyenangkan tapi banyak cheesy nya karena ya sesuai genrenya yang romance gitu dan emang lagi saya mau nonton yang ringan yaudah gak masalah~

Ternyata gak salah menonton ini dikala hidup lagi merasa pahit dan penat. Tingkah konyol mereka yang gak perlu buat saya mikir, menikmati senyum park seojoon yang dingin dan gengsi tapi manis. Lumayan buat mendistraksi dark clouds yang buat sebal.

Kalau lagi baik-baik aja, saya gak mau nonton drama atau film ginian. Tidur pasti. Ini gak tidur sama sekali, you know what? I'm insane.

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grootpoepjeplasjehoofd · 4 years

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Our outfit grew rapidly and we moved again from Berlin-Pankow to a bigger building on the Rolandufer in the center of East Berlin. I was soon promoted as deputy in the newly founded foreign intelligence service to Gustav Szinda, a man with many decades of experience in covert operations in Spain and elsewhere for Soviet intelligence.

Unfortunately, neither Szinda nor I had much idea of where to start against a West German service that had emerged, practically unscathed, from the collapse of the Nazi Reich. Leading intelligence figures who had served Hitler were now working for their new masters in a small, mystery shrouded Bavarian village called Pullach. We had to look it up on the map when its name first started appearing in the press. This was an unknown world to us and seemed quite beyond our reach, although with time, we would become very familiar indeed with its workings.

I initially came across the name of General Reinhard Gehlen, the first leader of West German intelligence, in a headline in the London Daily Express that read HITLER’S GENERAL SPIES AGAIN - FOR DOLLARS. The byline was that of Sefton Delmer, a journalist known for his connections with British intelligence; during the war he had been in charge of the British counterintelligence radio station Soldatensender Calais. Delmer’s report caused a furor. It revealed not only that the Nazi intelligence old boy network remained intact, but that the new espionage services in the Federal Republic contained numerous former SS men and military intelligence experts who had operated under Hitler in France and elsewhere. Gehlen himself had been head of the Nazis’ military espionage unit against the Red Army. Through the Gehlen Service, as it came to be known, the Americans, who were giving the orders in West Germany’s intelligence sphere pretty much as the Russians were in the Eastern bloc, had access to the old Nazi connections.

There were also rumors about the role of General George S. Patton, Jr., who was said to be extending his protection to certain high-ranking German officers. Worriedly, I realized that the postwar goal of a Europe at unified peace was no longer tenable. The muzzles had been loaded on both sides. The peace won at such sacrifice now appeared very fragile. Europe was divided, and the fault line ran right through Germany.

West Germany’s chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, threw in his lot with the American “policy of strength” and the strategy of rolling back communism professed by John Foster Dulles, whose brother, Allen, was the chief of the U.S. intelligence service, the Central Intelligence Agency. Soviet power had pushed west at the end of the war; now Washington was prepared to summon up all the political, intelligence, economic, and, if necessary, even military strength of the United States and its allies to counterattack. Gehlen recognized the opportunity the new clash provided for him to exert a direct influence on policy. He met with Adenauer before the West Germans took over his intelligence service from the CIA and was given extraordinary powers and support. That included the control of files against domestic political enemies, including Social Democrats who were in parliamentary opposition to the Christian Democratic government. In the West German armed forces and its state bureaucracy, loyal servants of the Third Reich once again held top positions, and former Nazi officers ran Gehlen’s organization.

The name of Hans Globke, one of Adenauer’s closest advisers and ultimately a secretary of state in the chancellors office, became a synonym for this kind of infiltration. A former high-ranking official in Hitler’s Interior Ministry, Globke had been the author of an authoritative commentary on the Nuremberg racial laws that legitimized violent discrimination and eventually led to the Nazis’ Final Solution. Globke would serve as Adenauer’s state secretary for ten years.

In this frantic atmosphere, Berlin in the 1950s succeeded Vienna as the heart of espionage operations in Europe. As many as eighty secret service agencies with their various branches and front organizations were operating in the city. In the Americans’ and Russians’ covert offices, masquerading as everything from plumbing companies and jam exporters to academic and research bureaus, sat whole groups of case officers recruiting and running their respective agents who could easily travel between the sectors of Berlin and the two halves of Germany in the days before the Wall dividing the city and the nation was erected in 1961.

It was also before the West German economic miracle began, and therefore was a time of shortages and economic desperation. Offers of food or advancement lured people into spying. But while the West Germans could resort more easily to financial offers, we were still operating on a shoestring and had to pursue a more ideological approach. Many of our moles in West Germany, particularly in politics and industry, were not Communists but worked with us because they wanted to overcome the division of Germany and believed the policies of the Western Allies were only reinforcing it. We lost some of these later when the Wall went up and presented them with the symbol of a divided Germany literally set in concrete.

The minutiae of setting up the brand-new espionage service took up most of my time. My attention was focused on the West, and I worked hard to familiarize myself with the political shifts in the United States and Western Europe and to keep up with the development of their postwar intelligence services.

We had to acquire new sources in the political, military, economic, and scientific and technical centers on the other side. This was easier said than done, since the security requirements in our own apparatus imposed by the Soviets were extremely strict. Thousands of recommended candidates had to be screened in order to come up with a handful who were acceptable. Those with Western relatives were ruled out, as were most who had spent the war years as refugees or prisoners of war in the West. Contrary to rumors that still persist, we did not knowingly employ former Nazis inside our apparat and regarded ourselves as morally superior in this regard to the West Germans.

We had access to some of the Nazi files on party membership in the Third Reich, which we would use to persuade those in the West who had suppressed their past collaboration with the Nazis to cooperate with us. Many others volunteered to work with us, claiming that they regarded it as a kind of moral reparation for the harm they had done in the past. That was looking at it kindly. The real reason was more likely that they wanted to insure themselves and their new careers in the West against unwelcome revelations from our side at a later date. In German, we called this Ruckversicherung, literally a kind of “backward insurance” for the past. Through the West German Communist Party we inherited the services of a politician in the Free Democratic Party named Lothar Weihrauch (who later served in West Germany’s Ministry for Common German Affairs) who supplied a great deal of political information until we discovered that he had committed war crimes when he held a high position during the German occupation of Poland. We then cut him off. We also recruited another former Nazi, an ex-storm trooper code-named Moritz, who was helpful during our political battle against the European Defense Community (which was finally blocked by the nationalism of the French rather than anything our intelligence service did to discredit the project).

The past was a powerful weapon among the spy services, and both sides were unashamed to use blackmail. Just as we sought to bring down politicians or senior figures hostile to us by revealing their Nazi complicity, the West Berlin Committee of Free Jurists, an anti-Communist organization made up of lawyers who had fled the East, produced their own booklet of Eastern functionaries who had managed to conceal Nazi Party membership. But since almost all of our senior intelligence officers and the political elite had been in exile or in the underground during the Third Reich, we in the East won that particular propaganda battle hands down.

Some Nazis tried to make the switch to our side by hiding their past. Soon after I started work, a junior member of the staff came to me in a great state of embarrassment to say that he had noticed a man working in the interrogation department who bore the telltale SS tattoo on his arm. Interrogation was the roughest department within the ministry, and I would not have liked to be exposed to some of the thugs who worked there. I could well imagine how someone who had a taste for such work from the previous regime might have felt at home there. We removed him quietly from the post.

The blackmail that went on was a dirty and compromising game and was played by both sides. Some former Nazis in the West offered their services to us out of a kind o f contrition, others for money, or to prevent their unmasking as former collaborators with the Nazi regime. The Soviets had more blackmail opportunities because they held the captured Nazi files, and they took in such people as the former SS-man Heinz Felfe, who had held the rank of Obersturmfuhrer in the Nazi intelligence organization, the Reich Security Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt), and had found postwar employment with the Gehlen Service. Felfe became a Soviet double agent, betraying all the main achievements of the West German service to Moscow and doing damage on a scale accomplished only by such double agents as Kim Philby, George Blake, and Aldrich Ames.

Markus Wolf, Memoirs of a Spymaster

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jinniesxlamp · 4 years

Text

Goodbye, Hello - Chapter 7

LIST OF CHAPTERS –> Masterlist

The week went by agonizingly fast, although it were better days than what you have been dealing with lately. Visiting Myunghwa helped a lot with resolving unecessary thoughts and feelings you had against yourself, remembering what she had taught you to master best—tranquility, almost losing your very own touch of it.

Ever since Myunghwa passed away, the stillness you had within started to slip from your fingers, without notice; your arrogance was starting to surface, impatience, sarcasm and insensitivity towards the people around you. You took the chance to meditate with your remaining days in Jeju, taking the advice from Chairman Byeon, preparing yourself to return as a better person, a better boss and not a dismantled one.

Today was going to be different, you thought to yourself. Your heart raced from the nervousness you felt, anticipating what you had to face since the huge scandal you had caused days prior. All those people you hurt and shamed, not to mention the poor boy you must have traumatized. Not only that....Lee Jooheon, the memory was vague during that drunked night, but you remembered the significant parts of it. Just as you were ready to face the day with a new perspective, a little bit of bad luck always had to squeeze itself in.

A heavy sigh escaped your lips, dreading to deal with this early morning misfortune causing a growing traffic jam in the middle of Gangnam. Moving your flat-tired car to the curb made you quadruple think, afraid it might cause another problem, but you delivered anyway. Immediately reaching for your phone, you called for a towing service which arrived sooner than you thought.

It was grueling seeing your watch tick almost five times faster than normal, knowing you had called for a compulsory 9:30 am meeting with the entire production team of Champion Trainee. What felt like three minutes was actually already thirty as the time yielded 9:15 am. Your car was already queued to be fixed, but you still had to wait.

9:15 turned to 9:30, then 10:27, 11:49 then 01:51.

Soojin had called several times for an update, apologizing and explaining to the crew and staff on your behalf regarding the four and a half hour wait. Luckily it was a Saturday, most of the people had no other schedules planned and continued to wait.

Yoongi’s POV

Secretary Soojin with the help of Daehan, one of the producers came in to the meeting room from time to time, apologizing and explaining the situation to everyone regarding the delay. Y/N had something important to attend to, as they were saying. Most people didn’t mind, but I did. I had another schedule at 2:30 for a commercial shoot with the rest of my members in one of the studios upstairs. Manager Hobeom had already called multiple times, asking for updates, wanting to know if I will be able to make it on time which I already knew I wasn’t.

“Mianhae, hyung. We’re still waiting. I don’t think I’ll be done on time.” I took a deep breath, eyeing my watch.

“Kwenchana, we already talked to the director. You need to attend to that meeting. We’ll take care of the situation here. You might have to stay a little bit later though, for the shoot I mean.”

“Kwenchana. Are the members okay? I can probably leave for awhile and come back down here later so we can do the group shoots, in that way they don’t have to stay late with me.”

“We thought about that earlier, but then again it’s too time constricting and a hassle. The whole production crew and your members already said they would wait. Just finish your meeting.”

“Oh. Arasseo” again, I sighed, starting to recognize the displeasure I was beginning to feel regarding all this.

If she had something else she needed to do prior, why schedule the meeting at that time only to delay it for four hours?

Finally she had arrived, again, apologizing for the (unreasonable) delay and started her part of the meeting right away, stealing another two hours of my time. When it had ended, goodbyes and thank yous were said. I saw her call the boy she had tormented last week into a room for a reason I did not have time to waste on.

I hurried upstairs to the commercial shoot, apologizing to the staff, crew and my members for the two hour delay which they shrugged off easy. The shoot began right away, along with my throbbing headache.

Y/N’s POV

At the end of the meeting, I decided to make the first approach in correcting the grave mistakes I have made last week. The boy whom I shamed in front of everyone came to me shaking next to Soojin.

“I’m sorry for how I acted last week. I have no excuse to validate my unprofessional and not to mention unreasonable actions. Joesonghabnida, I hope it’s not too late for your forgiveness.” I bowed, disregarding pride and prejudice as I delivered my apology gently and not passively.

I could sense the look of surprise on the poor boy’s face, unable to compose a reaction right away. But eventually he smiled kindly, relieving the heaviness in my heart.

“Kwenchana, gwangjangnim. Thank you for considering me worthy of your apology. I admire your humility. Thank you”

I am astounded with the weight that encounter took off of me seeing how that young boy walked out of the office in a much more dignified manner. A consoling smile crept across my semi-weary face.

“Geureom, shall we call it a day?” I turned to Soojin whose eyes blinked in heavy confusion.

“Ne?”

Clearing my throat, I gave her an amused smile as I repeated myself.

“I said, let’s go home. It’s the weekend after all. You should be spending time with your husband.”

“A-ah....dae!”

I studied her figure as she bowed to me politely, gently grabbing her hands and held it with mine, rubbing her knuckles with my thumb.

“Jal ji naesseo?” Her eyes softened, disregarding the formality between the both of us.

“Jinjja...Eonnie, I should be the one asking you that. Aigoo”

“Mianhae, Soojinah. Eonnie hasn’t checked on you for awhile”

“Eonnie, I’m doing well. Actually... I think I might even be pregnant” my eyes widened as I pulled back, just enough to see her entirely, biting her lip in excitement

“J-jinjja?!? Omo!!! Ottoke” I panicked, covering my mouth, not wanting to be loud.

“Ya, you need to go home! Get some rest and eat more, aigoo, your shirt is too loose--ottoke--I should buy you vitamins--have you gone to your doctor--is Youngjae taking care of you???”

It was never ending; the storm of emotions, pleasant ones at least, were hard to conceal.

“Dae, dae. Everything is in order and yes, Youngjae has been pampering me more than ever since I told him.”

“Geureom, now it’s time for you to go home. I’ll have the company driver drop you off, no ifs, no buts!”

“Ahhh jamkkanman! Let me just take this upstairs to Director Kang, he needs this by today.”

“What is it?” Reaching out my hand towards her, I asked for the folder she almost didn’t want to give.

“It’s the script you approved for the Innis Free commercial they’re shooting on Monday with Song Hye Kyo.” She continued, allowing me to check the contents of the envelope.

“Arasseo, I’ll take care of it”

“Ani, it’s okay. It’ll only take ten minutes to drop it off.”

“Ani, kwenchana, I haven’t seen Director Kang in awhile. I’d like to say hi, we are good friends after all”

Finally, she gave in, letting go of the duty, permitting me to deliver it to Director Kang personally.

Your two-floor walk wasn’t too bad considering you took the stairs, adding an extra cardio exercise to your day. Plus, your phone ringing three times before you stepped inside the studio room where Director Kang was working. The last phone call ended just in time for you to spot him standing on one corner, his back faced against you. The excitement you felt was indescribable, waiting to see a good friend of yours after almost a year. You could hear his soothing, yet very manly voice as you drew closer. Apparently, he was having a casual conversation with several bodies who were seated in front of him, covered by the equipment.

“Ehem. Annyeonghaseyo, PDnim”

You sounded, folding your lips, waiting for Director Kang to turn.

However, the knot of excitement brewing in your stomach wasn’t meant for him—his body shift revealed the perfect view of three handsome faces, ones which were covered by the speakers and cameras earlier. Their eyes, same as yours, were startled, poignant and unsure.

“Ya!!! Jeongmal, wah. Is this really you, Y/N?”

“A-ah d-dae” you giggled nervously, ungluing your eyes from the sight that had greeted you with memories of the past.

“Wah, jinjja, how long has it been? You’re one of the big fishes now. It’s almost impossible to meet you personally in and outside work”

“You’re overly exaggerating, I came to see you didn’t I? I even brought your script for you” you responded casually, handing him the folder which he took a peek at.

“Did it pass your standards, gwanjangnim?” Director Kang asked teasingly.

“Geureomyo~ you’re a hard one to say no to” you said friskily.

“Ah, before you leave, let me introduce you to a few people. I’m sure you’ll bump heads in this industry soon.”

Again, the attention that was spared for earlier had been redirected, although this time, the air had gotten more natural than dense.

“Yeoreobun, I’d like to introduce you to a good friend of mine, we interned together back in the days, this is Y/N.

—Y/N, I’m almost sure you know who they are but I’d personally like to introduce them to you. 방탄소년단 members, Kim Namjoon, Kim Seokjin and Jung Hoseok”

Namjoon’s POV

We sat quietly, listening to the exchange of words between Director Kang and Y/N. The Y/N who we haven’t heard from or seen in a long time. Hoseok and Jin-hyung kept still, though I could sense the tinge of awkwardness from them. Who is there to blame? This was too much of an unexpected encounter, none of us saw it coming. Minutes later the stilted aura began to subside, right before Director Kang introduced us to each other. The three of us looked at her warmly, like a silent “have you been well” from our end, she did the same. Before we even had the chance to exchange greetings, Director Kang excused himself, attending to one of the staff who needed clarification at the other end of the room.

“Have you been well?” She asked.

“Oh” Hoseok answered, nodding his head as he smiled subtly.

“How long has it been? Three? Four?” Jin-hyung, now making an effort to keep the conversation going approached rather gently, unlike his usual loud greeting. It was a happy one though.

“Five, actually” a weak but tender smile slipped from her lips.

I kept a steady eye on her, her tiny face and flowy dress, the firmness in her tone when she spoke, the way she carried herself. She looked different, but she felt the same. The same Y/N we loved and cared for in the past.

“It’s nice seeing you, Namjoonssi” startled, I shook my head, eyes blinking nervously which I managed to control right away.

“Likewise, Y/N” I muttered back, bowing my head slightly for formality, though unecessary.

“Where have you been all these years?” Hobi asked.

“Just here really. I went back to school since the um— since the incident”

“Ah. I see, I see” Hobi, again, replied while Jin-hyung and myself continued to nod our heads.

Jin-hyung attempted to ask another question which was interrupted out of the blue by a groaning, irritated voice.

“Jin-hyung, did you bring your headache pill?” A moaning Yoongi entered from the corner, rubbing his forehead roughly with his right hand. He didn’t notice Y/N’s presence until he turned his back on us, facing towards her. His face sourer at the sight. No greetings were heard from the both of them. Y/N stood awkwardly, almost looking like she wanted to initiate a wholesome conversation, however Yoongi was the complete opposite—purposely refusing to spare her a glance, looking in all other directions but hers. We waited gruesomely for Jin-hyung to come back with the pill.

“Yeogi” Jin-hyung handed him two pills, passing him a bottle of water with it.

“Kwenchana? How many more do you have to do?” Asked Jin-hyung.

“Seven more.” Yoongi answered dully.

“Seven?! Ya, you don’t look so good. Sit down for awhile”

They were referring to the number of scenes Yoongi still had to finish. A moment of silence occurred as we watched him gulp half a bottle of water, wiping the remnants off his lips.

“If I had started on time, I wouldn’t have to deal with all this.” He spat using his words, putting no effort in hiding his vexation.

“Ya, ya. Hajima, it’ll only worsen your headache.” Jin-hyung tried to ease him, before the situation escalated, attempting to massage Yoongi’s tensed shoulders. However, it didn’t stop him. Of course...when did anything ever when he was mad? A sardonic grunt he let out.

“Ani. I’m not going to have all these people wait for my personal reasons. Isn’t it a mockery for professionals to cause delays so they can attend to other affairs?”

I noticed Y/N’s eyes drooping. It was obviously directed towards her, Yoongi made sure she knew that.

“I—” again, with a disgusting tone, indirectly addressing what he had to say

“—personally can’t stand people who waste my time. Especially when they didn’t deserve it in the first place.” With that said, he left.

It was hard not to catch the frustration drawn across Jin-hyung’s handsome face. Hoseok sighed, head turning left and right.

“Mian, Y/N. He hasn’t been sleeping well these past days” said Jin-hyung, shifting his attention to Y/N who was forcing a smile despite the awkwardness. She waited for Director Kang to return then left.

Sometime after her departure, a well-built man in a black suit hurriedly ran towards where we were, hunched back as he struggled to catch his breath. Upon regaining composure, he introduced himself as Mr. Park Il Sung, head of the security department and right away explained the sudden situation.

“Joesonghabnida, I didn’t mean to startle you. We were told that gwangjangnim was last seen in this studio. Do you, by chance, know where she had gone?”

Director Kang looked at him with dewy-eyes before responding.

“Ah, Y/N? D-dae, she just left a little while ago”

“What’s going on?” before the conversation resumed, Yoongi happened to arrive, perhaps to grab a bottle of water from the food station nearby.

“Gabjagi...wae?” Inquired director Kang towards the security personnel.

“Her vehicle has been hit and run in the parking lot. We wanted to let her know ahead of time.”

Y/N’s POV

“Ani, kwenchana. I sent the company driver elsewhere. Please don’t worry about the matter. I’ll manage to get home safely. Kamsahambnida, Mr. Park” I sighed, trying to relax myself as I ended the three minute call.

I had just been told that my vehicle, which was just returned from the shop after my morning incident, was hit and run at the parking lot. The security personnel had already arranged for it to be investigated and repaired, although they insisted I was brought home by the company driver who I sent to bring Soojin home.

“Grae, this maybe an opportunity for me to experience an old life of mine” I whispered to myself, walking towards the bus stop which I had not been to in years.

The dinner table was unusually quiet tonight with merely the sound of slurped soup and chopstick clanking heard instead of voices. Everyone was just...hungry after a restless day. They were all quick to tidy up. Maknaes were first to leave the kitchen of course, Jungkook and Taehyung going back to their game dens, Jimin watching a movie by the living room. Namjoon had not left the dinning room table, fiddling with his phone with a cup of hot tea sitting in front of him. Hoseok took a seat across him, easing his body from doing the dishes. And of course, Jin taking out an entire case of beer from the fridge. Hence, the drinking began.

“How’s your headache?” Asked Seokjin with a sour face, slumping his third can onto the marble.

“Better that it was” responded Yoongi almost emotionless.

“Geundae..earlier” Hoseok, with his head tilted sideways, apparently had something he wanted to discuss but could not deliver through. But the silence eventually unfolded the topic. They all knew what he was pertaining to.

Yoongi cleared his throat, drawing all eyes on him.

“What?” As always, dodging the subject with his indifference.

“Ya! Hajima. Do you really think we’re that naive? Stop acting like you don’t know, we’ve lived together for years. We know just about every layer of skin you have” snarled the eldest, annoyed at the dumb-play of his dongsaeng.

“Geurotchi! Aigo! How could you be so harsh to her?” Hoseok’s face drew all sorts of expressions all over it as he protested. Namjoon only watched.

Yoongi could neither disagree or agree to how they had reacted, remembering the inhumane things he had said to you earlier. Had he known that a flat tire was the cause of your delay, he would not have said the things he did. Also, overhearing Mr. Park’s conversation with you over the phone regarding your hit-and-ran vehicle did not aid his guilt.

“I believe she deserves an apology, hyung” spoke Namjoon neutrally, remaining considerate to both parties.

At this point, they had already ganged up on him, rubbing his fault directly on his face. Barely giving him a chance to speak.

“Ara, ara—“ responded Min Yoongi in defeat. Clearing his throat, avoiding any eye contact.

“—I’ll apologize when I see her tomorrow” he said quietly.

All of a sudden, he felt three wide-eyed glares cornering him. This was just frustrating.

“You do know you won’t be on the show for a week, right?”

Yoongi eyed Namjoon dumbfounded. No response, whatsoever.

This gave him away. He forgot.

“Tsk, jinjja—” huffed Jin sarcastically, not sure how to react to his oblivion.

“—Ya, Min Yoongi....we’re scheduled for Japan next week”

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