#got7 e2l au
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Welcome to the official post of the 2023 Ghib li collab! This year is much smaller but no fear! All the stories are just as good. :)
And without further ado, here is the masterlist ^^
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@flurrys-creativity
-Title: Above the clouds
-Genre: Romance, S2L
-Pairing: Boo Seungkwan x Reader
-Fandom: Seventeen
-Movie: The wind rises
-Warnings: tbd but definitely including an earthquake
Summary: Ever since he was a little boy Seungkwan loved the sky. After being encouraged by his late teacher, he moves to the big city hoping to become a pilot one day. Though after getting hurt during an earthquake when he saved you his dream vanishes into thin air. Ready to give up and move back home, Seungkwan didn't expect to meet you again - and he didn't expect for you to be the reason he didn't give up on his dream.
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@tamburins
-Title: TBA
-Genre: romance, forest fantasy au, werewolf au (kinda), mid smut
-Pairing: jaebeom x reader
-Fandom: Got7
-Movie: Princess Mononoke
-Warnings: mentions of blood, mentions of gunshots, animal hunting, sexual themes
-Summary: After much consideration, Jaebeom decides he is ready to welcome you into his den.
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@daesukiii
-Title: Flower blossoms and Spilt Coffee
-Genre: fluff, one sided e2l, light angst
-Pairing: Lee Know x Reader
-Fandom: Stray Kids
-Movie: Kiki's Delivery Service
-Warnings: none
-Summary: A witch has moved into town, and you don't know how to feel about it. He's exceedingly nice, but he's opened a plant store and sells all manner of them, even flowers. Your own little flower shop will soon go out of business, especially since he's somehow situated right across from you.
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@sanjoongie
- Title: Love will find you when you're not looking
- Genre: romance, angst, smut, love triangle
- Pairing: San x Nari (OC) x Seonghwa
- Fandom: Ateez
- Movie: My Neighbor Totoro
- Warnings: mentions of illness, heartbreak, cheating!
- Summary: moving into the countryside had two purposes: one, to put Seonghwa in a state-of-the-art facility to see if there's a chance he might survive this illness, and two, so that you could enjoy your life while being without Seonghwa. What you never pegged was how magical the forest was surrounding your new home and finding comfort within it.
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@ani-untitled
-Title: Very (Very) Far From Home
-Genre: romance, fake dating, angst, drama, fantasy
--Pairing: Chenle x Lucy (OC), Chenle x Jisung (platonic)
-Fandom: NCT
-Movie: Howl's Moving Castle
-Warnings: none
-Summary: When an unfortunate encounter transports Lucy to a foreign country, she discovers that she has suddenly been embued with magic that she has absolutely no control over. Searching for a way to rid herself of her new powers, Lucy finds herself at the mercy of a mischievous and wealthy noble by the name of Zhong Chenle and his talented yet clumsy wizard friend Park Jisung. In return for their assistance in getting rid of her powers AND getting back home, Chenle approaches her with a question...
"Lucy Marshall, would you go out with me?"
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WIP List Tag Game
Tagged by the lovely @proudahgase-got7
Tagging: @toikiii @defwoodz @limjaeseven @aura-mp3 @star-lemonade @sanjoongie @moccahobi @yutasthetic @wordycerty @strayed-quokka @pastelracha @leelysian @baekhyyun @dokyeomblr
I think some of you already posted their wip list.. so ignore the tag if you already did 🙏🙈
I got like two lists and both are long.. 😅 have fun and feel free to ask about them 🙏🥰
Game (Truth or Dare with Youngjae)
Turner (Taehyung as the new W. Turner)
Villain (Cruella de Vil but Wooyoung ooooor Hongjoong)
Brian (What am I? Young K)
Poison (vampire ateez)
Touchdown (hybrid college au JK)
Spy (spy x family johnny)
Pirate (pirate ateez)
Freeze (mafia stray kids)
Drunk (changkyun being not "that" drunk)
Poly (cleopatra pwp au with svt)
Lurking (assassin au with jinyoung)
Android (namjoon being an android in love)
Metanoia (fantasy au with pyromaniac yoongi)
Woozi (asylum au based on scenes from ruby mv)
Mirmirlidi (mark x reader x johnny humour)
Lachrymose (Mark as Rocket Racoon)
Wabi-sabi (taehyung hybrid au)
Orphic (jin merfolk au)
Speak (namjoon idol au)
Lawyer (kibum is a sassy lawyer)
Doctor (johnny as a doctor)
Apaixonar (jackson chaebol au)
Sciamachy (hoseok secret agent au)
Gentle (yeosang being a gentle criminal)
Found (found family with bts)
Alien (extraterrestrial idol contacts reseacher reader)
Dépaysement (hybrid apocalyptic au with San)
Kvanity (bucket list event)
Brute (bm being a soft brute)
Desideratum (bang chan idol au)
Cheetah (cheetah hybrid needs dog hybrid as an anxiety helper)
Fox (jimin hybrid au)
Now we come to my random ass ideas that are always based on a single picture...
Starting upper left:
Merfolk!Taehyung innocently drowning human reader
Pwp emperor concubine/servant dynamic
Upper middle:
Based on the movie rock of ages the scenes with the songs "wanted dead or alive" + "i wanna know what love is"
Upper right:
Big Hero 6 au with yunho as tadashi and wooyoung as hiro...
Spy academy e2l with seonghwa
Lower left:
Pwp emperor!minghao concubine/servant dynamic
Pilot academy e2l joshua
Demon contract au with wonwoo
Gang Au with jun
Arranged marriage king!joshua
Fae!prince!jeonghan
Alice in wonderland with jun
Sherlock holmes/detective au with joshua
Beauty and the beast joshua
Cinderella au with svt
Knight dokyeom getting annoyed with royal reader
Lower right:
Bartender jaebeom or neighbour jaebeom during laundry day pwp
Mafia au with jinyoung
Bad boy jinyoung
Romeo and juliet au with jinyoung
Pilot academy e2l jackson
Exes2lovers drunk worried jinyoung
Once again feel free to send in asks to any of those ideas/wips. I have for all of them sooo much trivia stuff and many scene ideas and I would gladly share them! To hype you up and hype me up and get like super excited about it and basically immediately sit down and write it 😅
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HOLIC - 35 | jb x reader
pairing: Im Jaebum x Reader
genre: enemies to lovers au | roommate au
warnings: literally straight to smut (UNPROTECTED SEX, PLEASE PRACTICE IT SAFELY) (the time is here)
words: 4.8k
disclaimer: i do not own the gif, please let me know if it belongs to you, so i can give proper credit
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Jaebum could not—would not—pull away from you, his kisses burning with a fire so passionate, you thought you could see the windows of his car steam up. You couldn’t even remember how the two of you had left the gas station or how you got back into the car – to be honest, you couldn’t remember anything that didn’t involve his body pressed against yours as he pulled you onto his lap on the backseat of the car – but you weren’t worried about the sudden memory loss in the slightest. You couldn’t care less about any of the things you’d forget just as long as you’d still remembered his touch.
Sighing heavily when his lips moved down your jawline – as he wished for nothing more than to leave a trail of kisses all over your body, so he could trace it with his lips each time he found himself in the same exact position he was in now – you lifted his shirt, your cold hands brushing against his abdomen until you heard him hiss against your neck.
“I don’t want to do this in the car,” Jaebum managed to say but he still wouldn’t pull away from you, pressing kisses to your neck after each word, “it’s too crowded here. Not to mention…” he paused once you pressed against him harder, the feeling of his lips on the soft skin of your neck slowly driving you mad. Jaebum took notice of that, gripping your hips tighter. “Not to mention, it’s not special at all.”
“I only—God,” you sighed, unable to finish your sentence as he sucked on the skin on the nape of your neck, grazing his teeth against the pale purple mark he’d left there before smoothing it over with his tongue. “I only need you for it to feel special. I don’t care where we are.”
“Fuck,” he breathed, returning his mouth to yours in a sloppy kiss as he allowed you to pull his shirt over his head – only breaking the kiss for the briefest possible time – and then sliding his hands under your blouse, exploring the skin of your back.
He had told you how much he enjoyed coaxing admissions of your feelings out of you, but he failed to realize just how big of an effect they’d have on him when you were right there on his lap, anticipating his touch just as much as he was anticipating yours. You knew you were shivering under his fingertips and you knew he could feel it, but Jaebum was too focused on the feeling of your own--cold--hands, caressing the smooth skin of his abdomen, to find any time to tease you.
He cherished in the feeling of your body, bringing his hands up your back, your warm skin seemingly melting into him – it was already unbelievably warm in the car but the atmosphere only seemed to be getting hotter – until he reached the clasp of your bra and sighed into the kiss as soon as he undid it, more of your skin now available for him to touch, to feel.
“I don’t understand why your hands are so cold,” he whispered, the contradicting sensations of your warm body and your cold palms – as your hands had come to rest on his chest, your fingertips tapping gently against the flesh there, right where his heart was – drawing him in even more. You were truly full of wonders and he was dying to explore them all. “Do you want me to warm you up?”
“Yes,” you spoke shakily, aware of the fact that you were allowing him to control the situation completely but not bothering to care because he was suddenly pulling your blouse over your head, his need to touch you—all of you—too great.
There were far too many layers between you still and when you felt him gently slide his hands over the strain marks your bra had left on your ribcage until he could feel the soft skin of your breasts, you exhaled into his mouth, bringing your hips over his clothed bulge to remind him about all the clothes you were yet to discard.
For all of your impatience, however, Jaebum had enough patience to match. He was in no hurry as he squeezed and toyed with your breasts, his touch tender but just forceful enough to make sure you remembered him when he was no longer touching you. Finally, when your cold hands gripped his shoulders and you ground your hips into his harder, he gave in and slid the straps of your bra down your shoulders, tossing it into the growing pile of your clothes on the floor of his car.
“I know we’ve done this before,” he spoke quietly, breaking the kiss so he could look at you and remind himself that this was really happening. He had to use his hands and rely on touching to take you—and this moment—in, however, because the darkness inside of the vehicle made it impossible for him to make out your features. “But it still feels like it’s the first time I’m touching you. I mean, really touching you.”
“We were drunk the first time,” you reminded him – although both of you knew that drinking had nothing to do with this – as you brought your hand through your hair, trying to get it out of your face.
“That’s right,” he nodded, suddenly pushing you onto the backseat and crawling over you, one of his thighs between yours. “I must have blacked out then because there’s no way I can ever forget what your skin feels like.”
He kissed down your neck and collarbones as he spoke, not mentioning all that was already obvious – the first time you’d slept with each other, you had just met. And no matter how attracted you felt to each other, no matter how good it had felt in that moment, simply nothing compared to all those same emotions – those same touches and whimpers – when they were shared between two people who realized they had lived their whole lives with only half of their hearts in their chests. And now they’d just discovered the other half.
Jaebum was still taking his time just like he had before as his hands explored your body, his pulse racing just like yours was each time his fingertips moved lower until they were dancing on the waistband of your jeans. You were starting to think he genuinely wanted you dead, each one of his touches so delightfully blissful and yet so torturous.
“You’ll kill me,” you whined, bucking your hips up for more friction, only to have Jaebum pull away from you slightly so he could shake his head.
“No, baby,” he disagreed, the pet name further fueling the fire inside of your stomach. Finally, you felt him undo your jeans and lift you off the seat slightly so he could slide them down your legs, his fingertips following the material and causing goosebumps to rise on your skin. “You’ll kill me.”
You closed your eyes, losing yourself in all the different sensations you were feeling, but Jaebum stopped moving as soon as he lost eye contact with you.
“I need you to look at me,” he said, his voice almost pleading. You opened your eyes just as he hooked his fingers around the waistband of your panties. “I don’t understand how I’ve managed to stay away from you for so long. You’re so beautiful.”
Your eyes had barely started to adjust to the poor lighting in the car and yet, Jaebum didn’t need to be able to see you clearly to know how beautiful you were. He worked on memorizing every crevice, every dimple and every line of your body with his fingers, and every single inch of your skin took his breath away.
There were so many things he wanted to do to you – the tight space in the back of his car made nearly all of them impossible – even if he knew he’d already done them once before. It was all so different now but not in a way that surprised you. Quite the contrary: you held onto each other, your hearts beating the same rhythm whenever your chests touched after Jaebum leaned down to kiss you – never able to pull his lips away from yours for longer than a moment – and it felt as if this was exactly the way it was supposed to be. Like the first time you’ve been together was merely a test run in comparison to the intense desire you could feel in the car right now.
You couldn’t take any more of this teasing, however. Having Jaebum so close – but not where you needed him the most – was truly starting to feel painful.
“Jaebum,” you whispered, your hands finding their way around his neck. When he raised his eyes to meet yours, you were suddenly glad he was holding you or you were sure you’d have dropped dead. The passion and lust hiding behind his dark gaze made you swallow thickly to hide the moan at the back of your throat. “I need you.”
“I’m all yours, you know that,” he spoke, bringing his tongue over his lips and then leaning down to kiss you when he saw your eyes follow the movement of his tongue. “Tell me what you want me to do, baby.”
“Stop with the teasing, please,” you asked, your breath hot against his, “and touch me. Actually touch me.”
He cursed quietly – your request almost making his hands shake in excitement – as he shifted his weight onto one arm, hovering over you. He used his other hand to slide it across your ribcage until he reached your hips. Kissing you again – his tongue already had no problem finding its’ way inside of your mouth – he lowered himself onto your body, one of his thighs resting by your side while his other one spread your legs apart, his hips brushing against yours in the process.
The feeling of his clothed length pushing against your core – however gently – suddenly made you arch your back off the seat, desperately seeking more friction. Aware of how much you needed him, Jaebum finally moved his hand in between you, brushing his fingertips across your opening, his touch featherlight. He stopped kissing you, needing to see your face when he pushed one finger against your clit harder. Your eyes closed immediately, a soft gasp escaping you. The sound pleased him but it wasn’t enough.
“Look at me,” he demanded again in a voice flaming with desire. Just as soon as you forced yourself to open your eyes, the sight of him above you nearly shutting your mind down, he started to rub his fingers against your clit faster, feeling how wet you were and almost losing it himself.
A surprised moan passed your lips, your hands holding onto his forearms as Jaebum leaned down, his lips sucking on the spots of your neck he had yet to touch, while he continued to circle his thumb against your clit, rough for just a moment or two, and then slow and gentle again.
“F-fuck,” you groaned softly, your voice right by his ear. The constant change of pace literally kept you at the edge of the seat but Jaebum made sure to keep your body in place.
He was fairly certain it wasn’t possible at this point, and yet, the sound of your heavy breaths only seemed to make him harder. Restraining himself was starting to get difficult but he loved having you squirm underneath him too much to do anything about it. You needed more of him, though, and bucked your hips up into his to signalize it because you weren’t sure if you could trust your voice to form an actual sentence.
“Jaebum,” you moaned when you felt him bite gently into your shoulder, the stinging feeling only amplifying the pleasure he was giving you by continuously rubbing circles on your clit.
The sound of his name on your lips – that he already loved so much, but nearly combusted right then and there once he heard how needy it sounded now – was what finally broke him. Pressing another lingering kiss on your neck – and shuddering at the whine that passed your lips and sent sparks of electricity right to his already rock-hard length – he pulled his fingers away from you, and brought them to his mouth instead.
Whimpering at the loss of contact, you suddenly feared you were going to suffocate as you watched him, his eyes never leaving yours while he sucked on his ring and middle fingers before giving you a teasing smirk – and a kiss to make up for it – and then, after bringing his fingers against your entrance one more time, he finally slid two of them inside of you, your walls immediately clenching around them as you threw your head back with an exasperated moan.
“Fuck, please,” you couldn’t recognize your own voice as Jaebum returned his lips to your body – finding a spot between your collarbones that he couldn’t resist marking – and sped up the movement of his fingers, sliding them in and out of you, his saliva and your own wetness making the motion easy and effortless.
“You’re so tight,” he whispered, his fingers moving at a pace that kept getting faster with each sound of pleasure that passed your lips. “I need to stretch you out or I won’t last ten seconds inside of you.”
“Jaebum,” you sighed, your nails digging into his arms as he caressed your inner walls with his fingers, alternating between circling motions and curling his fingers inside of you based on how loud you were. “Don’t stop.”
“Hmm, then don’t hold back for me,” he warned. “I need to hear you.”
Even though you were already following his every command without much resistance, Jaebum still wanted you to stop biting your lip and let him know how good he was making you feel, so, speeding up the movement of his fingers inside of you, he used his other hand to squeeze one of your breasts, leaning his head down so he could circle his tongue around your nipple and finally feel your whole body respond to him. Your back arched off the backseat, eager to feel more of him, and your hands slid up from his arms to his neck until he was the one shivering from your touch.
“God,” you were having trouble catching your breath, the ministrations of his fingers inside of you as he varied between rubbing your walls in fast circles and thrusting in and out of you, had created a knot in your stomach and you could feel it tightening, your release approaching. “You—oh, fuck. Fuck.”
He took one of your nipples into his mouth, twirling his tongue around it before pressing wet kisses all around your chest – the feeling so overwhelming you didn’t even feel yourself drag your nails down his arms until you heard him hiss loudly, his fingers suddenly slamming into you much faster.
“J-Jae—shit, I’m—” you couldn’t get the words out fast enough because you suddenly felt him push his thumb against your clit, rubbing it just as hard as his fingers were moving inside of you, and within a moment, you were calling out his name followed by a line of curse words as your body convulsed, your orgasm completely taking control of you.
“That’s it,” he whispered gently, fingering you through your high, the sight of you so caught up in your pleasure almost tipping him over the edge as well. Curling his fingers against your walls to prolong your orgasm, he heard you scream out as your hands grabbed his wrist, and suddenly, the constraints of his tight jeans against his hard length didn’t matter to him as much as the sight of you in so much pleasure did. “That’s my good girl. Fuck, you have no idea how divine you look right now.”
Your breathing may have slowed another few moments later but your pulse certainly did not, his words only igniting the fires all over you instead of putting them down. You never knew you could still want someone so much when they were already right there, next to you.
“So beautiful,” Jaebum complimented again once he saw you open your eyes, your chest rising and falling rapidly as you tried to recover. He brought his fingers back to his mouth, tasting you on his lips and sighing in delight. “Fuck, you taste so sweet but I’m so fucking close to exploding. I need to feel you around me.”
“Fuck me,” you spoke, your hands reaching for his belt. You knew neither of you could wait anymore as Jaebum didn’t protest and allowed you to unzip his jeans.
“I don’t have a condom,” he said and then watched you shake your head.
“I’m on the pill,” you told him. “We’re good.”
He cursed, helping you drag his jeans down his thighs along with his boxers. Already having waited – and teased – long enough, he sighed in relief as soon as his length was finally free from the confines of his pants, but groaned the very next second when he felt you bring your fingers over his sensitive tip.
“Please don’t,” he pleaded breathlessly, the feeling of your hand sliding down his length too much for him to handle. “I’m so hard, it feels like I’ll die if I’m not inside of you the next second.”
“Fuck, Jaebum, please,” you guided him to your entrance.
As your mutual impatient yearning mixed with the heavy air in the car, Jaebum replaced your hand around his length, the very tip of it resting on your clit for just a moment as he leaned down to connect your lips in a messy, open-mouthed kiss and then, finally, slid his length down to your entrance before slowly slipping it inside of you.
Both of you broke the kiss, moaning simultaneously at the feeling of him stretching you out as he pushed himself into you to the brim, stopping then to wait until you adjusted. Your walls clenched all around him and, even though he wasn’t moving, Jaebum was afraid he was going to come just from the feeling of your warm walls wrapped snugly around him alone.
The sound of both of your heavy breaths filled up the entire space inside of the car even though the trees, the empty road all around you, and the lights from the gas station relatively far away, were all completely clueless about what was happening inside of this recklessly parked vehicle.
“Tell me,” Jaebum asked, his voice small and broken as it took every ounce of strength for him not to start thrusting into you. “Tell me when I can move.”
One deep breath later, right when he felt you clench around him, you nodded weakly, whispering, “move.”
Kissing you after getting the permission, he pulled almost completely out of you before slamming back in – the rough action making you break the kiss, crying out at the feeling, your heat still sensitive from your previous orgasm. Jaebum watched you as you threw your head back when he thrusted into you again, his length reaching deep inside of you and stretching you out each time he pulled out only to push himself back into you again.
“Fuck,” he grunted, your moans – and the way you kept looking at him through hooded eyes – encouraging him to roll his hips into yours a little faster. “You take me so fucking well. Shit, I’m not going to last long.”
“Jaebum,” the sound of your constrained voice as you struggled to speak properly with his hips slamming into yours, accompanied by the feeling of your hands sliding down his back, made him realize yet again just how much he’d needed you this whole time. He couldn’t grasp the strength of his self-control sometimes – you were always so close and yet he’d never made a move.
Pushing his upper body off of the backseat by leaning on his hands on either side of you, he shifted his body, the new angle allowing him to hit spots even deeper inside of you, a deep groan rumbling from his chest when he felt your walls pull him in.
“Oh, fuck,” you were gradually getting louder as you focused on the feeling of his length massaging your walls each time he thrusted into you. Jaebun watched you struggle to breathe with his lips parted and his tongue between his molars and you swore the sight of him like this wasn’t just sinful. It was also most definitely illegal. “I need you to go faster.”
“Yeah?” he was more than happy to oblige, his hair sticking to his forehead with sweat as he moved his hips into yours faster, slamming in an out of you until both of you were breathless and the car filled with the undeniable scent of sex. “Tell me how what you’re feeling.”
“Good,” you choked out, one of his hands coming to rest on your hips, pushing you into the backseat of his car as he fucked into you, the entire car seemingly starting to shake from the force of his hips. “S-so fucking good. I feel you so deep inside, I—fuck!”
“Hmm,” he hummed in approval, loving it when you couldn’t finish your sentences because he’d managed to hit a particularly sweet spot inside of you. “You’re so good to me, baby. Such a—fuck—such a good girl for me.”
If his hips weren’t going to do it for you, you were certain it was going to be the sound of his voice – a dangerous mix between growling and sighing – that sent you over the edge.
“Jaebum, oh God,” you gasped for air as the same knot reappeared in your stomach right when the tip of his length hit your g-spot again. “Right there—r-right fucking there.”
“I got you,” he breathed, reading your expressions so he could angle his hips the right way, making sure he was bringing you closer to the edge with each rapid snap of his hips into yours. He didn’t want your skin to bruise from him being too rough but, as you dug your nails into his back harder and moaned so much louder each time he sped up, he realized that neither of you cared about any bruises, after all. “God, you’re so fucking hot like this. I love having you under me.”
“Fuck, I’m close,” your words came out in a desperate moan and you weren’t sure if he even understood what you were saying but Jaebum no longer needed your words to tell him what to do.
He could tell how close you were based on the way your walls kept tightening around him, bringing his own orgasm closer much faster than he would have liked. He could tell how good you were feeling from the way you didn’t know what to do with your hands – scratching his back one second, holding tightly onto his bicep the next, and then pulling the hair at the nape of his neck later – and he knew it wouldn’t take long before you were coming again.
“Let me see you come one more time,” he asked, his voice pure sex. “Please, baby. Come for me again.”
One of his hands was suddenly on your clit again, rubbing hard, fast circles as he continued to thrust his length in and out of you, his movements messy and no longer as coordinated because he was starting to lose himself in the feeling, too. He’d have loved to savor your expression but the feeling of your walls squeezing his bare length was too overwhelming for him to stay focused on one thing for too long. He’d already learned that your body was full of wonders but now he realized that exploring them all – instead of losing himself in the feeling of you wrapped tightly around his length – required some sort of superhuman strength and he already wasn’t sure if he’d ever manage to get enough of this.
“Jaebum—” you gasped, the ministrations on your clit paired with the feeling of his length hitting your g-spot head-on more than a few times in a row were enough for the knot inside of your stomach to tighten again as you felt his hips bring you – or, honestly, straight up toss you – over the edge.
He held you down, pinning your body into the backseat and groaning loudly at the sound of your moans as you came, your warmth squeezing every bit of his length, making him shudder each time he thrusted into you, pressure building up rapidly in the pit of his stomach.
“Shit, just like that,” he praised in a groggy voice, pulling his length completely out of you and then slamming it back into you harshly as he chased his own high. “I’m right there with you. Fuck, I’m going to—”
“F-fuck, please,” you breathed, still recovering from your orgasm, every bit of your body overly sensitive as Jaebum’s hips slammed into yours at an almost brutal pace, his eyes squeezed shut, his voice husky each time he cursed. “Come inside of me. O-oh, fuck.”
He was the one following your orders this time as he leaned against the side of the backseat for support – a string of curses mixed with your name leaving his lips – and pushed his hips into yours in one last merciless thrust, spilling himself inside of you with a loud groan.
His hips had stilled and you watched him, completely lost in heavenly bliss, his breaths loud and heavy. He had closed his eyes as he exhaled through clenched teeth, leaning down until your chests were pressed against each other because he could no longer trust his arms to support his weight.
“Fuck, baby,” Jaebum exhaled after a moment, staying still inside of you for another second to avoid staining the seat and to finally recover. You didn’t mind the closeness one bit and were actually glad to feel his rapid heartbeat right against your own chest. “I… I fucking—”
He didn’t need to finish his sentence for you to understand.
“I know,” you said hoarsely, your throat sore from how loud he’d gotten you to scream.
He leaned down to kiss you, taking his time to caress your tongue with his, never getting quite enough of your taste. You responded to his kisses, your mouths moving with no synchronization whatsoever, each kiss sloppier than the one before. Your hands traced the damp skin of neck and shoulders as he finally slid his length out of you. Cold settled on your core where he used to be and Jaebum groaned into the kiss, the loss of contact setting the edges of his nerves on fire.
“I’m going insane,” he told you, pulling back to finally take a look at you and the state you were in. His mouth dried at the sight immediately and he could already tell that this view – your naked body sprawled out on the backseat of his car, your eyes glittering and face still flushed from your high – was never going to leave his mind. “You’re something else.”
“You need to stop saying things like that,” you told him quietly, your words slurred, the exhaustion of the day and the activities you’ve just participated in catching up to you, “you’re not giving anyone else a chance.”
“Why would you even worry about anyone else?” he asked, his eyes glistening playfully as he pressed another kiss to your lips and then sat up on the backseat, helping you up as well.
“It’s not fair if I’m only thinking about you the entire time,” you said, watching him smile before kissing you again and then leaning down to gather your clothes from the floor of his car.
“It wouldn’t be fair if you weren’t doing that,” Jaebum disagreed, passing you your underwear with a grin. “Wear this again for me sometime, by the way—what is this, lace? You look painfully stunning in it. And I already can’t get you out of my head. Ever. So, you know what? I’m going to go ahead and consider it fair if you have the same problem.”
You shook your head at him, suddenly flustered as you took your bra and panties from him. You didn’t even feel yourself cover your face – your hair sticking to the sweat that had formed on your forehead and cheeks – as you took a deep breath, until Jaebum pulled your palms away.
“Don’t do that,” he said.
“I must look like a mess,” you insisted
“No,” he disagreed right away, his eyes scanning each millimeter of your face with utter adoration. He pressed another kiss to your already swollen lips before telling you, “you look beautiful. Actually, I’d prefer it if this was exactly what you looked like all the time but, uh, we are in my car in a sort of public place.”
All of a sudden, you were laughing at the near absurdity of all of this. “Fuck, we are. We’re truly shit at controlling ourselves when we’re in public, aren’t we?”
“We did pretty good for those first few months since we moved in,” he said. “Maybe now it’s time we let loose.”
He gave you a quick wink as he said the last part, standing up as much as the ceiling of the car allowed him and pulling his jeans and boxers over his legs. You watched him dress up instead of dressing up yourself and only realized that when he caught you staring.
Clearing your throat, you pulled your bra straps up your arms and looked at the clock on the dashboard of his car. “Do you think the motel will still take us in? We had told them we’d be there before eleven and it’s already past midnight.”
“Well, if they won’t,” Jaebum paused, helping you clasp your bra in a gesture that was almost natural – as if you’d helped each other dress up after sex a million times before – and then giving you a suggestive smile, “I don’t really mind staying on the backseat of my car with you the whole night.”
chapter directory
#got7#got7 smut#smut#kpop smut#got7 reactions#got7 imagines#got7 scenarios#got7 fanfiction#fanfiction#fanfic#got7 fanfic#got7 au#got7 x reader#roommate au#enemies to lovers au#got7 e2l au#got7 enemies to lovers au#got7 roommate au#honestly not even gonna risk tagging this with anything jaebum-related
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farmer boy, i love you
– Pairing: Taehyung x Reader
– Genre: farming!au, lowkey e2l, smut, humor & tons of nagging
– Word count: 35k
– Summary: Needing change in your life you decided it would be a brilliant idea to move to your uncle’s small farm, helping him and your cousin Jimin with the daily work. What you didn’t plan was to fall in love with your beautiful yet very annoying neighbour Taehyung, who seemed to make it his personal mission to tease you every chance he got. And what you expected even less was that he seemed to like you too.
– Warnings: includes smut, alcohol and mentions death of a father
– A/N: this is a rewritten edition of a fic i already posted before when i was still writing for got7 but i loved it too much to let it go <3
– Disclaimer: This is not proofread because I was too lazy, so you might find a few mistakes!
Walking the long but yet very pretty way towards the small village that, from today on, was supposed to be your new home you felt a bit indifferent. While you were convinced that it was time for you to start a new chapter of your life you still couldn’t help but feel anxious about taking such a big step.
Moving to the farm that belonged to your uncle seemed like such a great idea when he first offered the plan he had to you – the place held such special memories and as a child you always wanted nothing more than to live there, working on the farm, supporting your uncle and his son, your super annoying yet lovely cousin Jimin.
Now that the idea wasn’t an idea anymore but your reality you were scared and not so sure anymore that this was the right step, yet your second thoughts didn’t matter anymore, it was already too late for you.
The big city you grew up had nothing to offer you anymore – so now, you wanted, or better said needed a cut in your life.
There was nothing you used to love more than sneaking out with your cousin at night, secretly meeting up with your friends, going for a swim in the small lake right next to your house. You wouldn't trade those memories for nothing, cherishing each and every one of them. So, you concluded that this town was the best option you had.
It had been such a long time since you visited, you actually felt a bit nostalgic when you arrived in the center of the town. The residents liked to call the marketplace at the beginning of the town „the heart“ of the city.
Ever since your last visit many years ago nothing seemed different. Basically, it was a round and rather big circle, surrounded by a small café that has been there all your life, right next to it the library that was owned by the Jeon family, the parents of Jimin's closest friend, Jungkook. You couldn't help but smile as you remembered how you used to hide in the library, reading the same few books over and over again.
Opposite of the library was the old restaurant – every single rather important event was celebrated in that specific restaurant, no matter if it were birthdays, anniversaries, New Year's Eve or whatever other occasion there was.
It was so popular not only because of the delicious food they offered but also because it was literally the only restaurant around. Your uncle and your neighbors, the Kims, were providing them with the food they needed, so you usually always got food for free which lead to you and Jimin spending a lot of time at the restaurant, no matter how often your uncle insisted he could cook dinner for you – in hindsight you felt kind of bad for him because the two of you constantly turned down his meals.
And last, but certainly not least, there was the little pub that you never actually were allowed to spend time in since you used to be too young. The Mins, the owners of the place, were very strict about that. None of you and your friends were ever allowed to be inside the pub as long as you were minors – even their son Yoongi rarely ever saw it from the inside, probably because the adults didn’t want the children around after work was done.
As you stood in the middle of the marketplace you couldn't help but smile as the last sunrays of this warm late summer day were falling right onto the pub, making it look a bit more beautiful than it actually was. The paint on the outside was splintered and the sign that simply said ‘The Mins’ Pub’ was slowly falling apart – somehow all of this gave it a certain charm though.
The vibe of the village always made you feel comfortable. There were about 150 people living here if you had to guess and the next supermarket was a twenty-five minute drive away but the people seemed so happy, not worrying about a lot of things.
You decided that a short stop in the pub before you’d go home to your uncle’s house wouldn’t hurt anyone. After all, you were way too curious to finally see the magical place from inside.
As you carefully entered the door you felt cheerful – it looked exactly like you always imagined it to be. Most of the furniture was made out of old wood, the bar was long and it was the first thing one would notice as they came in since it was on the opposite wall of the entrance.
Your smile was wide when you spotted the one man you hoped to find standing behind the bar. Of course, Yoongi was the bartender by now, it was always his plan to work here, to him it seemed to be the coolest thing ever to be a bartender, especially in his own bar – and turns out, he was right, he looked extremely cool behind the bar, washing glasses while chatting with villagers.
For a second you studied him, he looked dangerously handsome. Certainly a lot taller than the last time you had interacted with him and his face seemed more mature, a defined jawline but the same round cheeks, his hair long and falling in his face, making him look almost evil for a seocnd. If it wasn’t for gummy smile you would have had to look twice to be sure it was the same Min Yoongi you spent so much time with as a child.
The expression on his face as he recognized you, the young lady from out of town, was priceless – his whole relaxed and cool facade vanished immediately as he stared at you with his eyes wide open, a questioning glance as he saw you. He was caught off guard, his slightly opened mouth giving him away.
“Just the man I hoped to find. Yoongi, you look good,” you playfully flirted as you walked towards the bar, “I’d like to have one beer please.”
Within seconds he was walking away from his place behind the bar to come and embrace you in a tight hug before mustering you, shortly studying your face to make sure you were really the person he thought you were.
“(Y/N), live and in color? I thought you forgot about us,” he joked, the surprise of you in his bar very pleasant to him.
A joyful laugh came out of your mouth as he walked back behind the bar, opening both, you and himself, a beer.
“You could’ve called, you know? No need to surprise me like this. My old heart can’t take those kinds of surprises anymore,” he sounded lighthearted, just like you remembered him.
Immediately you felt ten times lighter, clicking with people you haven’t seen in a long time was one of the purest and most magical feelings in existence and you were more than relieved to see that you and Yoongi were equally as excited to be reunited after such a long time. Not getting along with your old friends, especially him, was one of the many fears you had about moving here.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t assume Jimin actually kept quiet about me coming back,” you admitted.
“How long has it been since we saw each other?” he asked as he was leaning against the bar, his whole attention on his former best friend, still having an obviously hard time to believe that you were actually sitting in front of him right then and there.
Before you could give him an answer someone else started to answer for you from behind you and you immediately recognized his orotund voice, “Six long years,” your cousin said while he and another familiar face walked up to you.
Jimin pulled you into an even deeper hug than Yoongi did and you felt home within seconds. Jungkook was right beside him, of course, where else would he be than next to Jimin? The two of them still were inseparable and it was almost heartwarming to see how little has changed.
“How did you manage to not say anything?” Jungkook scoffed in shock before looking at you, “It’s good to see you again, (y/n). I can’t believe Jimin didn’t tell us.”
You were almost amazed to see how much he grew, his chin could easily rest on your head by now, something that you would’ve never thought could happen. Jungkook has always been the youngest and smallest kid back then and now he was the tallest in the room.
“I wasn’t sure if she’d actually come. Didn’t want to get your hopes up, Jungkook,” he teased his friend, still nagging about the crush he had on you when you were literally five years old.
Jungkook rolled his eyes at his comment before bringing his attention back to you and Yoongi, sitting down on the stool beside yours.
“So, how long are you going to stay?” Yoongi asked.
For the first time, you actually had to say the truth out loud, making it feel much more real.
“I’m not planning to leave again,” you sounded more confident than you expected, the nice encounter with your old friends almost making you feel like all of your previous worries were groundless.
There was a moment of silence, both of them not knowing what to say – it almost seemed like you broke them.
“You know, I never saw you speechless until now,” Jimin chuckled amused.
“You mean –”, Jungkook started to form a sentence but dropped it, not knowing how to continue.
“You’re moving here?” Yoongi asked, wrinkles on his forehead as his brows narrowed in confusion.
As you slowly nodded his concentrated expression vanished and changed into a grin. “You’re actually moving here,” he repeated breathlessly, more to himself than to you, slowly nodding to himself as if he had to progress the new information.
“Welcome home then, (y/n). I think this is a reason to celebrate,” he smiled while pouring shots into a few glasses in front of him.
Time went by fast and you had fun learning about what happened in the last six years. It didn’t sound like a lot has changed though, they were still as close and as fun to be around as you rememberd.
Every time you looked at them it hit you how fast time flew by, it felt like a just few months ago all of you were playing hide and seek in the middle of the night while your parents had no idea you sneaked out.
A few hours and way too many shots later, you and Jimin walked home, the night sky was breathtakingly clear and full of stars – a sight you simply would never see in your hometown, all the city lights drowing them out. You forgot how special it felt to walk under millions of stars.
No matter how much fun you had in the bar, walking home with Jimin was your favorite part of today, you definitely missed him the most.
He told you a bit about how Hoseok and Namjoon were thinking about taking over the old restaurant because the owners are getting too old to manage everything and about Jungkook and Seokjin being into the same girl, without knowing that Namjoon was already dating her in secret – it was nice that he filled you in with everything you missed, so you could start right where you left.
As you arrived at home your uncle was sitting in the rocking chair on the porch in front of the old farmhouse.
“Uncle Minwoo,“ you almost shouted out as you saw him, jogging over to where he was sitting. Minwoo always was your favorite uncle and you were his favorite niece, much to the dislike of your siblings.
“(Y/n),” he laughed as you hugged him, “you smell like you had a good time in the pub.”
“We actually have a small surprise for you,” Jimin seemed excited as he told you to follow him.
He lead you to the old little cottage that has been on the farm for as long as you were able to think – back in the days it was mainly used for storing tools and electronics that shouldn’t be exposed to the rain. Confusion coming over you, your uncle handed you a key and you opened the small cottage. Stepping inside, you couldn’t believe your eyes.
“Welcome home,“ your uncle chuckled as you observed the room in front of you. A small kitchen, a couch and a TV in the living room, a bed on the other side of the room. They painted the walls white and decorated a bit – it might have been something small but enough to touch you deeply.
You were sure you could stay here forever, it was cute and welcoming, like a real home. Not a thousand words could describe how much you appreciated them for putting in so much effort, just to make you feel comfortable.
As you thanked both, Jimin and your uncle, the three of you talked for a bit longer, the excitement taking over before your uncle advised you that it would be better to catch some sleep – work wouldn’t wait for you and you had to be thankful for any second of sleep you could get.
Waking up the next morning, you immediately regretted the alcohol you had the night before. Your phone said it was currently six in the morning and while being woken up by the sound of chicken and cows was way more relaxing than your usual alarm clock you still would have preferred to just sleep in.
Walking outside a few minutes later you inspected the farm – it was a giant property with two big houses on it. Half of the farm belonged to your uncle, he took care of the animals and artisan goods, the other half belonged to the Kims, in charge of the crop harvest
Starting the day with feeding the chickens and collecting eggs was one of the easier tasks you had to face today since it almost didn’t require any kind of skill. While you were picking up another egg you flinced as you heard someone scream at you from behind.
“Hey! Put the eggs back! Who in the world steals eggs these days?” the deep voice belonged to a man but before you could turn around to find out who was screaming at you, he held your wrists behind your back, not giving you any space to move.
Your attempt to free yourself was almost embarrassing, it was clear that you had no chance against whoever decided to disturb you.
Turning your head around to scream at the stranger you muted as soon you met his eyes – the words you wanted to scream wouldn’t come out as you looked into the familiar face of his, your brain working hard as you realized who he was.
His thick eyebrows were furrowed, his dark eyes were piercing you, filled with a mixture of anger and annoyance – he was still staring at you and waiting for an explanation.
“Kim–“ your voice died and you fastly cleared your throat, “Kim Taehyung?”
His annoyed expression changed into a confused one as you called him by his name. You couldn’t believe he was accusing you of stealing eggs.
“Let go of me!” you demanded but Taehyung wasn’t planning to listen to you, not trusting you.
“Who are you?”, he asked harshly, “You’re not from here. How do you know my name?”
The grip on your wrists became tighter and actually started to hurt a bit.
“I’m (Y/N). Minwoo’s niece,” you replied just as harsh as he asked you, “Didn’t Mrs. Kim teach you any manners?”
He let you go and you immediately grabbed your own wrist just so he couldn’t grab them again. A small pout formed on your lip as you looked at them, trying not to let him see that it actually hurt.
“What are you doing here?” he asked you, voice cold.
Now you were facing him and you had to stop for a second to take in his beauty. As he was holding you, you didn’t really manage to study his face since you were too busy trying to free yourself but now you started realizing how handsome he became.
It's not like he was ugly before, you and him just never clicked and that’s why you never gave his face any kind of attention.
Taehyung wasn’t a bad guy, you knew that because Yoongi repeatedly assured you that he was actually a very loving person once you get to know him.
Personally, you just never really got the chance to, since he definitely wasn’t interested in anything that had to do with you. Not in a mean way though, he just didn’t seem to care about the girls in town, especially not the one who always came over the summer break and then left again.
Glowering at you, he was waiting for an answer. You, on the other hand, didn’t dare to look him into his eyes, instead your eyes were studying the rest of his face. His features were sharper and manlier now, his brows thick but he still had the same wrinkles around his eyes.
For a second you wanted to look at his lips but you stopped yourself, not wanting him to get wrong ideas.
“What are you doing here?” you asked in retund instead of giving an answer, “Didn’t you always say you wanted to leave this place?”
He rolled his eyes as you avoided his question.
“I asked first,“ he insisted, making it hard for you not to chuckle at the very immature conversation you were having.
“I am working here. Don’t you have some vegetables to take care of?” you asked coldly asked before turning your back to him.
“You better get used to my face, if you scare me like this one more time I might have a heart attack,” you added as your attention was back to feeding the chickens.
But instead of leaving Taehyun was walking to stand right beside you, “You’re working here? Why would you do that?” he asked. It never was a secret that he wanted to leave this town, he used to talk about it a lot back then already and, even though he still was here, apparently, he still wanted to leave.
“I’m supporting my family,” you shrugged, not looking at him. You really didn’t want to be cold to him but you were tired and you knew how Taehyung was, he didn’t mean to be rude, he had a soft nature, everyone could see that once they got to see his warm smile but sometimes he was a bit rough.
You could see him shake his head in confusion as you were continuing with your work, “Okay, you go milk those cows and churn that butter if this is what fulfills you, (y/n). I’ll go back to work,“ he pointed at the field of tomatoes on the other side of the farm your families shared and left you alone again.
Walking over to the cows, you couldn't help but wonder why he still was here. He was a very clever guy, he could easily go and leave this town to study and open a business or whatever it was he wanted to do. Glancing over to him one more time, you tried to divert your attention to milking the cows.
The field of tomatoes he was currently working on was not too far away but luckily still far enough to give you a bit of privacy. He seemed to be very invested in picking the best tomatoes he could find, a concentrated glance on his face. And you really should try to concentrate too, since you haven’t milked a cow in years.
And you failed miserably. To your desperation, no one was around when you went looking for Jimin or your uncle to help you. Trotting back to the cows you sat down on a small stool in front of one them, giving it another try.
You groaned at the cow, laying your head back and closing your eyes in frustration. It was only your first day and you knew practice makes perfect but you wanted to cry.
“Just give me your stupid milk, please,” you mumbled while taking a deep breath, your eyes still closed.
“Are you sure this is the right job for you? If you can’t even milk Bertha maybe you should reconsider,“ Taehyung’s voice startled you, making you jump a bit. The grin on his face clearly was teasing, full of satisfaction because you were struggling, “Do you need help?”
“Please,“ you didn’t care about the triumphing grin on his face, you were more than willing to take his offer. Any kind of help was good. And in the end, you didn’t dislike Kim Taehyung, you just weren’t close to him.
He nodded before telling you to wait for a second as he walked towards the little shed. Coming out again he held a strange looking machine in his hand while attaching it to the cow’s udder.
“We haven't milked them by hand for years,” he explained to you as he took your wrist once again, this time more careful though, and slightly pulled you towards the cow’s udder, right next to him.
“Watch closely, I’ll show you once and if you can’t follow, you’re on your own,” his words sounded harsh but you didn’t take them that way. The fact that Yoongi was his best friend was something you two had in common and if he wanted you to give Taehyung a chance you would do that. For Yoongi, but also for yourself.
After all, Taehyung was your neighbor and, in addition, he was a handsome man, you wouldn’t mind being able to look at his face whenever you wanted at all.
You saw the way he acts around the guys and you saw that he indeed had a very soft heart, maybe he just had a hard time showing it.
“Hey! Are you even watching?” he asked annoyed while glancing at you, “I know how to do this, I am not the one that has to learn. I’m being nice here, don’t waste my time.”
You chuckled a bit at him losing his temper so easily. “Yes, Taehyung, I’m watching," you said grinning, “Wasting your time was not a task on my list today.”
After he rolled his eyes at you you could swear you saw a small smile on his face while he started to milk the cow, explaining to you what he was doing step by step.
You tried to concentrate on how exactly he does it, what movements his hands made and so on but you kept on finding yourself thinking about how good his hands looked – what in the world was wrong with you? It's not like you've never seen an attractive man before so you had no clue why your hormones were playing a game with you.
After you started to try milking the cows yourself you felt more than relieved that you actually managed to do it right. Letting out a small ‘thank god’ under your breath you realized that Taehyung still stood right beside you, watching your every move.
“You know, you can go back to the toma–” you started to say before he interrupted you in the same moment.
“Just a tip for you,“ he said, not sounding cold for the first time, “Don’t dress up for farm work. You’ll ruin your clothes. You can still wear cute outfits after you’re finished here. But while working just wear something old,“ he said as he was just about to turn around before you had to take the chance to annoy him one last time for now.
“You think my outfit is cute?” the grin on your face was wide and you were way too amused.
As a response his eyes squinted together in regret, knowing that you’ll probably never stop teasing him about it.
“Please don't,“ was all he could whisper frustrated under his breath.
“What a softie you are,“ you playfully poked his upper arm, “Didn’t know you had that in you.”
He let out yet another sigh, sounding almost whiny but the smile on the corner of his mouth came out nonetheless, “Are you always this awful?“
“Dear diary,“ you said in a nagging tone, “Today Kim Taehyung complimented my–”
Before you could end your sentence he was covering your mouth, shaking his head in disbelief slowly, “I’ll go back to work, (y/n). Don’t forget to churn the butter. The wooden pitcher we use for it is in the shed,“ and with that, he walked back to his side of the farm again.
Just a second before he arrived he glanced over to you again, screaming so that you would hear him, “I didn’t compliment you okay? Don't let it get to your head.“
Waving at him from the shed, you nodded your head. “Sure. Talk to you later! Your outfit looks cute too by the way”, you screamed back.
Maybe working next to Taehyung wasn’t so bad after all, if he was always such an easy target to provocate you'd at least have your fun.
When Jimin came into the shed with the tools to take over a few hours later, you were busy churning the butter, cursing under your breath.
Sweat was dripping all over your forehead and it was seriously tiring, every single muscle of your arm hurt, including some muscles you didn’t even know you had. You weren’t sure if you could manage to do that on a daily base. At least you wouldn’t have to worry about a gym membership anymore.
Your cousin stared at you confused, a sly grin in the corner of his mouth, “What exactly are you doing?“
“I’m churning the goddamn butter. Why is it so hard?” you complained while looking up to him. He was holding two beers in his hands, handing one over to you before starting to laugh at your action.
“Why would you use that old thing for that? We have a machine that churns it for us,“ he laughed, “I don’t know why we even still have that old thing.”
“Fucking Kim Taehyung,“ you cursed under your breath, leaving Jimin even more confused.
“You met him?” he asked while sitting down in the hay beside you.
“I did," you hissed, “He was the one who told me to do it this way.”
Jimin’s smile grew wide as he tried to contain his laughter, “I didn’t know he could be so evil.”
He almost sounded satisfied that you were getting fooled by him, “He likes you if he teases you.”
“Well, that’s not a very nice way of showing it,“ you took a big sip of the beer, knowing that you probably deserved it for all the teasing earlier, before continuing, “You didn’t tell me he became so handsome though.”
Jimin’s eyes widened immediately as you confessed and you could tell he was trying not to spit out his drink out of shock. He fastly swallowed, “You have a crush on our Tae?���
You shook your head scoffing, lightly kicking his leg, “A crush? How old are we? I just think he’s very attractive. But he was pretty rude though.”
Jimin pressed his lips together in a thin line, looking into the sky, „His father died two years ago. He had a hard time. But he opens up sooner or later, just be patient with him – I promise, he is one of the most kind and caring people in this town.“
You gulped at the news, “What a sad loss, Mr. Kim was such a ray of sunshine, always ready to help if help was needed.”
Jimin nodded, “He was. Olli was only six years old when his father died. But dad took a lot of care of them since then.”
There was a short silence. You still remembered little Olli, Taehyung’s younger brother. The last time you saw him he was barely two years old.
“I can’t believe he’s your type though. I thought I really wanted to set you up with Jungkook,“ Jimin broke the silence before you could think about it any longer, almost offended.
You laughed at him. He was close to Taehyung, you knew that, but he always wanted you to date Jungkook, only for the purpose of having him as an official family member.
“That won’t happen,”, you broke it to him, much to his disappointment.
A deep sigh came from him, “Well if you want Taehyung so bad, come to the pub with us. I bet he’ll be there too tonight. We are meeting at eight. What do you say?”
“I don’t want him, I simply said that he is good looking,” you desperately hoped he wouldn’t tease you all the time about this from now on, already starting to slowly regret that you even brought it up in the first place. And as much as you would like to go out to the pub with the others you had a date with your bathtub that you wouldn’t want to miss for anything else tonight.
“I’ll pass though. I’ll come next time,“ you promised, standing up and walking towards your door.
“I can’t wait to tell Yoongi that you and Taehyung are going to become a couple. How exciting!” he yelled after you in his typical teasing voice, making you laugh out in frustration. Sharing your opinion on Taehyung’s look with your cousin probably wasn't the best idea.
It fastly got dark outside and you were lighting the candles in your bathroom, the bathtub slowly filling up with hot water.
Exactly what your muscles needed after churning the butter all afternoon. Putting a bit of milk in the bathtub, you wondered if you had some honey in the farmhouse by any chance. As you wrapped the first towel you could find around your body, you wanted to hush over to your uncle’s house to check. But what stopped you from your plans was a shadow you saw walking past your window, making you freeze until someone rang your door.
Opening it, no one else than Taehyung was standing in front of it, his work clothes traded into sweatpants and an oversized hoodie, a basket in his hand and his eyes fixed on your exposed legs.
The towel you were wearing luckily covered all of your breast and bottom but that was about it. And, as if it couldn't get worse, it also had a lot of fairies on it – it used to be your favorite towel when you were about five years old. Still, you didn’t need Taehyung to see you wearing it.
“Taehyung?“ you asked him, unsure why he was visiting but he was still looking at the exposed parts of your body, not doing a good job at hiding the fact that he got distracted by your legs. You barely noticed though because your thoughts wandered to this morning. “How dare you not telling me that we have a machine for the butter? Are you crazy?”
“My arms hurt so much,“ you added in a complaining tone, too tired to fight him so you decided to whine instead.
Coming back to reality, he laughed at you, his eyes now looking at your face, “You seriously did it all by yourself?” – he was lucky the wrinkles around his eyes were so cute whenever he laughed, otherwise you would have killed him right there, “You must be pretty strong then.”
“What do you want?” you asked him annoyed before you saw his eyes wandering down to your legs once again.
Not missing out on the opportunity to nag him, you chuckled, “Do you like my outfit?” as you struck a small pose, you had to be careful not to expose any parts he shouldn’t see.
Rolling his eyes he handed over the basket, “Seriously, you’re so annoying.”
You grinned, thinking it’s quite funny how easy it was to annoy him, “But you still think I’m cute, so it doesn’t matter.”
There definitely was a smile hidden on his lips that he tried to hide at all cost, but you could see it reaching his eyes, “This is for you. My mum put your favorites in it. Tomatoes, cherries, peaches, blueberries. She asked me to bring it to you,“ the man said, trying to sound as uninterested and unbothered as possible.
“That–“ you started to gather your words, feeling very touched about the little gift but a bit confused as to why Taehyung brought it to you, “That’s so nice of her. I’ll come over tomorrow and thank her.”
He immediately focused on you again, “No, it's fine. I’ll tell her. She’s kind of sick at the moment, she needs to rest, Olli is not even letting me go near her because he doesn’t want anyone else to get sick, so I doubt he would let you come over.”
You mustered him suspiciously but decided to leave him be, you surely teased him enough for today and didn’t want him to actually dislike you.
“Alright, Tae. Thank you,“ you gave him a soft smile as you were about to close the door.
“Wait,” he stopped you before you closed the door and you waited for him to say something, “Are you planning to go to the pub later?“ – if you didn’t expect him to ask one thing than it was this one. Why did he care suddenly?
“I don’t think so. Churning that butter has really worn me out, you know?” you said, laughing lightly, “And my bathtub is already waiting for me.”
“Oh alright. That’s cool. See you soon, I guess,“ he said before awkwardly giving you a small smile and leaving again. What a strange yet interesting guy he was.
Something about him made you look forward to your future on the farm. But before you could let it get to your head, you were interrupted by a text from no one else than Yoongi.
[Yoongi, 22:29]
Glad to hear you're getting yourself a man! Taehyung and (y/n), how sweet.
You let out a small laugh before finally meeting your only date for tonight: Your bathtub. Though you had to admit that the handsome face from next door was coming to your mind every now and then.
After a week you slowly got used to the daily work on the farm, your body was finally starting to react differently, your arms weren’t getting as sore anymore and waking up early was bothering you less and less.
It was a sunny Saturday which meant you had to gather all of the goods your uncle wanted to sell on the market the next morning. Picking out the best eggs, milk, wool and cheese was pretty boring, especially since Jimin left early because he was going on a date tonight with some random girl you never heard about before. But since you wanted him to be happy, and also because his teasing about Taehyung was slowly but surely making you go insane, you told him it would be okay if he let you work alone today.
It took you about an hour until you were finally done with carrying all of the boxes into your uncle’s car as you saw Mrs. Kim, Taehyung’s mother, and decided to help her quickly carrying her own boxes filled with pretty fruits and vegetables.
His mother was a beautiful and lovely lady, always has been. Her black hair was long and even though there were a few grey strands in it by now she still looked as young as ever.
“Mrs. Kim, let me help you,“ you shouted while jogging over to her, “Where’s Taehyung? Letting his mother carry all the heavy boxes of fruits and vegetables alone is not a nice thing to do,” you disapproved, one box already in your hands.
She let out a laugh and you were reminded of how warm her laughter was, it sounded like the giggle of a small child.
“It’s fine, I told him to rest for today. He always works so much,” she let out a worried sigh, “I’m very thankful, I know helping me on the farm was not what he wanted to do with his life but he does it for me.”
You never really thought about it that way before – that might explain why he was still here despite always hating the small village he was born and grew up in, it was probably hard for him to leave his family behind after losing his father.
While carrying a box full of blueberries you ate a handful, not able to hold back. The Kim’s blueberries have always been your favorites, none of the ones back at home could compare to the juicy fruits you'd get here.
“You still love blueberries, I see,” She hummed joyfully as she was carrying the last box to the car.
“I am obsessed with them,” you answered, “Oh how rude of me – I still wanted to thank you for the little basket full of fruits you send to me. I was in heaven, your peaches were even better than I remembered.”
Mrs. Kim looked at you in confusion for a second before getting a grip of the situation, the confusion vanishing while a different kind of expression came to her face, unable for you to read at first.
“So he can actually be charming,“ she mumbled to herself with an almost mischievous smirk and within seconds you knew exactly what she was talking about. That little shit.
Scoffing, you wondered why Taehyung wouldn't just admit that the little basket was a present from him, not from his mother – who would do something so sweet without wanting to let the other person know? But then, on the other hand, you didn’t understand Taehyung at all.
“Mum,” you heard his voice yell out while he walking out of the door to their house.
When he saw you he froze for a second, “Oh, hey, (y/n),“ he said with a slight and not really convincing smile, it almost seemed forced.
You nodded towards him, ready to go back to work and leave them alone, as his little brother came running outside, chasing after Taehyung.
“Tete,” he let out a scream as he tried to jump on his back. He was surprisingly tall for an eight-year-old, almost managing to get to Taehyung’s shoulders if he jumped high enough, “Can I come with you? Please?”
Before he could answer, Olli’s attention shifted somewhere else. Or better said, onto someone else. To be precise, you caught his attention, the girl standing in front of his mother and brother, a stranger he’s never seen before.
“Who are you?” he asked curiously, studying you exactly, “Are you Minwoo’s niece?”
You kneeled down to be at an eye to eye level with him, shaking his hand, “Yes, that’s me. I’m (y/n). It's nice to meet you.”
He had a big grin on his face, “Hi, I’m Olli,“ after introducing himself to you he turned around to his big brother, “Did you make the basket for her?”
Taehyung shushed him within a second, giving him a warning glance before trying to cover up his story, “Yes, I did it because mum asked me to.”
She let out a sarcastic laugh, making fun of her son, “Sure. It was totally me asking you to do that.”
A heavy sigh fell from Taehyung’s mouth before shaking his head in disbelief, “Where is your cousin? He promised he’d help me picking up our new couch.”
“Oh, I am afraid he forgot. He’s on a date right now,“ you informed him.
Taehyung let out a heavy sigh, rubbing his temple, not believing that Jimin completely forgot about him. Now even more frustrated, he started mumbling, “It’s always the same with this guy.”
“I’ll help you,“ you volunteered determined, not even bothering to ask him first, knowing he’d say no anyway, “I’m done with work for today and I don’t mind coming along.”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll go alone,“ he insisted, clearly mad at your cousin before walking over to his car. Not caring you decided to follow him, hoping that he’d be nice to Jimin if you helped him instead, even though you had little hope.
“Stop being so stubborn,“ you said to him as you opened the door and sat down inside the car, “Just accept my help.”
And much to your surprise, he did accept it, not bothering to start another discussion with you. Maybe he was just too tired of the constant bickering going on between the two of you.
As the two of you drove out of town the sky looked like it was painted in golden colors, the sun slowly setting but the air was still warm, brushing the arm you held out of the open window.
“Where are we even going?” you asked the obviously bothered boy beside you.
“It’s not far away, the dude I’m buying the couch from lives like twenty minutes away,“ he answered, his eyes glued to the street, „You really didn’t have to come. I could’ve easily done it alone.”
Slowly but surely, you were starting to get mad at Taehyung. You couldn’t tell why his constant attitude was getting to you but it did. Of course, he didn't have to like you and honestly, maybe you did go a bit too far with the teasing but after all, you were neighbors, co-workers and also shared the same group of friends. Being nice to each other was the least you could do – especially when you knew that he wasn’t like that at all towards other people. You’ve seen him interact with his little brother and his mother and his friends, he was a warm and loving person, laughing and joking whenever he could. He just wouldn’t open up towards you.
„Dude, you’re the worst. Can you keep quiet for once and accept help? Stop being so rude all the time, being nice every now and then won’t hurt you, you know? You can take your bad mood out on Jimin later.” you snapped at him, not even intended to sound so mean but it just happened – you just wanted him to at least accept you.
He peaked at you, his eyes grew wide in shock at your rant. Even though your voice was still low he clearly heard the frustration in it, “What do you mean? I am being nice all the time. I told you that you shouldn’t wear your good clothes to work in. That was a piece of nice advice I gave you for example.”
You scoffed at him not knowing if he was being serious, “You also attacked me because you thought I was stealing chicken and made me churn butter.”
He chuckled amused as you brought the churning up, “I still can’t believe you did that.”
“My arms still hurt. You’re an asshole,“ you rolled your eyes, not in the mood to put up with Taehyung being, well, himself, when you were just being nice, “If that is your interpretation of being nice I’m beyond sorry for your future girlfriend.”
“Hey, now you’re the one being mean,“ he acted offended and honestly, a bit confused, not knowing why the two of you were fighting. You weren't even mad at him, you just felt fed up, craving at least peace between the two of you.
“Well, maybe you just need a taste of your own medicine,“ you shrugged, calming down a bit as the discussion started to shift to a more playful mood than a serious one.
But before you or Taehyung could fuel the fire and add anything into the it, you let out a small scream as he was turning right with full speed, making you feel like you were about to crash, holding onto the seatbelt for dear life.
“For fucks sake, where did you learn how to drive? Do you not know that you’re supposed to slow down before turning?” you asked him, gasping for air.
“If this is already scaring you, I’ll give you the nice advice to not drive with Yoongi,” he laughed out loud as he parked his car in front of a big house, “Ready to use the strength in your arms built up from churning butter?”
It took you about twenty minutes to carry all the parts of the couch from the third floor to the trailer attached on Taehyung’s car. When you were done it was beginning to get dark outside and the weather was cooling down, making you shiver a bit.
All done, you sat back inside Taehyung’s car as he was securing the trailer so you could drive back home safely – or at least as safe as a ride with him could be.
“If you’re cold there’s a blanket on the backseat, I'll get it for you,“ he yelled from outside before coming getting inside the car, a blanket in his hand, “See how nice I am? So caring, not wanting you to freeze to death.”
You shook your head amused, „What a gentleman you are.”
The drive home was more peaceful, no discussions this time. You looked outside, seeing a big and bright star in the sky, pointing to it excited.
“I can’t get over how beautiful the starry night sky is here. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it,“ you mumbled, almost sounding dreamy, eyes glued to the sky. It wasn’t even completely dark outside yet, but the first stars were already sparkling brightly.
“Isn’t it the same in your hometown?” he asked a bit perplexed as he looked over to you, wondering how you could be so excited about some stupid stars.
“Not at all. The big city lights drown them. You can barely see some, and if you can, they are not as bright as here.”
“I suppose living here isn’t all bad.”, he shrugged after thinking about it for a few seconds, his glance wavering to the sky every few seconds.
You hummed in agreement, “Except for this terrible guy living next to me I quite enjoy my time here.”
He chuckled, enjoying the little game you two were playing, „Must be really hard to live right next to such an attractive young man. I bet you have a hard time.”
Laughing, you were impressed at his wittiness, “Don’t think too highly of yourself.”
Before you could let him answer your favorite song suddenly started playing in the radio, making you turn up the volume instantly, “You need to shut up now. This is my all-time favorite song.”
But of course, Taehyung didn't shut up. Much more like him, he did the opposite, trying to sing along as loud as he could just to ruin the song for you – and he had way too much fun doing it.
“I didn’t know you could sing,“ you said, giving him an approving look.
A smirk formed on his lips, “I'm a man full of surprises.”
The rest of the drive the two of you were singing along to the radio loudly, having genuine fun together for the first time since you arrived. It was nice to see him loosen up a bit, even though it was only a small step.
Driving up to the farm, you already saw Jimin sitting on the porch. He immediately stood up, walking over to the car, already apologizing without you really arriving yet, “I’m so so sorry mate. I completely forgot. I owe you a beer next time we go out.”
Taehyung chuckled as he turned the engine off, “Doesn’t seem like his date had a happy ending, considering he’s home already.”
“Good for me,“ you shrugged, “I’m way too tired to carry the whole couch inside anyway.”
You were the first to get out of the car, making Jimin narrow his eyebrows in confusion.
“What are you doing in Taehyung’s car?” he asked suspiciously.
“I’m doing your fucking job,“ you shot him a mean glance.
As you were walking towards your home you were stopped by Taehyung holding your arm, making you turn around.
“Thank you, I suppose,“ he said, pressing his lips together, obviously feeling awkward, “Just trying to be nice.”
You gave him a genuine smile, “No problem. Sleep well.”
“You too, (y/n).”
Waking up you were almost shocked to see the weather. Yesterday the sun was still shining while today it was pouring like you never saw before. The sky was dark and grey and your whole farm seemed quite sad, making you wish you could just stay in bed all day, just being lazy, reading, eating and maybe fantasizing about a certain someone.
Checking your phone you saw a text from Jimin: it’s going to storm today, you have to make sure all the animals are in the barn and safe, please. i’m getting food for tonight. see you later, favorite cousin.
You immediately threw on a thick cardigan and brushed your teeth, hurrying to get things done before the weather got even worse. Looking in the mirror you scoffed for a second at your sad reflection – your hair was in a very messy bun and your under-eye circles were almost black. But there was no time to pity yourself right now, you could do that after work.
After you fed and, of course, petted the chickens and made sure that all the windows were closed tightly you ran over to the barn where the cows and goats were in. Your clothes were completely drenched even though the way between the barns was very short, the heavy rain was so strong that there was no way you could’ve stayed dry.
Entering the barn your eyebrows narrowed as you saw that the light was on and the food for the cows was already laid out.
“Uncle Minwoo?” you screamed loudly, the rain was so loud that otherwise, no one would hear you.
“Oh thank god, there you are,“ the owner of the voice was coming out of the little shed you kept your tools in, throwing one of the milking machines over to you. You barely had time to catch it because Taehyung was throwing it without caring if you’d catch it or not.
“What are you doing here?” you asked him skeptically as you sat down to the cow next to the one he was currently milking.
He glanced at you with an annoyed expression on his face - but only until he saw how wet you were from the rain. Right then, he bursted out into laughter, “Why are you not wearing a raincoat for fucks sake?” he asked you, enjoying the sight in front of him a little too much.
“I don’t even own one,“ you admitted a bit hesitant while shrugging, knowing he’d make even more fun of you.
And of course, he did.
“How can you not own a raincoat? Seriously, (y/n), you’re something else. Who on earth doesn’t own a raincoat?” he shook his head in disbelief, still laughing.
You simply pressed your lips together, coming back to your actual question, “But why are you here? Certainly not because you wanted to help me.”
“Hey, maybe I’m not as bad as you think and just wanted to be friendly for once?” he said, acting offended, “Since you’re always complaining.”
“Yeah, I doubt that,“ you answered.
Suddenly you heard a loud thunder outside, making you jump - you usually were not afraid of thunder but the sudden loud noise startled you for a second. What really scared you though was the reaction of two of your cows, immediately after they heard the thunder they let out the deepest and loudest sounds you’ve ever heard of them. They sounded terrified.
Taehyung immediately jumped up from his stool and walked over to Bertha, the small brown cow, petting her face.
“Shhhh, it's okay,“ he tried calming her down before looking over to you, “I’m always here when it storms. Bertha and Marnie are deadly afraid of the thunder, so I accompany them. It calms them down.”
For a second you thought he was fooling you but before you could say something another loud thunder was heard followed by loud sounds of the cows once again. God, you weren't sure if you ever could get used to the sounds they made.
“Wait,“ you interrupted confused as you saw Taehyung pet Bertha once again, giving her a small kiss on the side of her face, “You’re serious?”
He looked at you with a grin, “Of course I am. Go, pet Marnie a bit. She loves getting pets right under his chin, she’s such a lovely cow.”
You did as he said but not really trusting him yet.
“I didn’t know he had feelings, Marnie, did you?” you asked the cow sarcastically.
Taehyung chuckled, shaking his head, “I only have feelings Marnie and Bertha.”
Bertha was walking away from him to the hay he just put down for them to lie down for a bit, something you barely ever saw them doing,
“When I first looked into Bertha’s big brown eyes I fell in love,” he stated lovingly, petting some of the other cows while Bertha was still lying down, „Her eyes are just too pure.“
“That’s adorable,” you had to admit, “Didn’t expect that from you.”
“Are you aware that just because I’m telling you you’re stupid because you don’t own a raincoat or work on a farm with a goddamn Gucci shirt doesn't mean I'm an asshole? That’s my way of helping,” he said confidently, “You just seem to not know exactly what to do, so I’m trying to help.”
„You're still being mean while doing it,“ you insisted, not giving in.
“Whatever,“ he walked over to Bertha, who was resting on the ground, lying down next to her, “Just go inside and relax, I’ll take care of the cows.”
“No way,“ you sat down next to him, “I’ll not leave you alone with my cows. I don’t trust you.”
Of course, that was only an excuse to spend some time with the pretty boy from next door but he didn't need to know – his ego was big enough already. Both of you were now starting to relax slowly, leaning against Bertha, petting her every now and then.
“So, farmer girl, how do you like it here?” he asked you after a few seconds of silence, seeming to be actually interested in you for once.
“It’s nice,“ you shrugged as he was peaking over at you, “I like the fact that I finally am allowed to go into the pub the most.”
“I remember when we first were allowed to go in, it was like Harry Potter seeing Hogwarts for the first time,“ he remembered laughing, “and now we’re the ones that get drunk in there while the younger kids are jealous they can’t.”
“Some things never change, right?“ your eyes darted to Taehyung, who had his eyes closed and seemed to be truly relaxed in your presence for the first time since you arrived. He was using his arm as a pillow, a smile on his lips - for once a genuine smile, not the usual teasing one he gave you. The rain was pouring so hard onto the roof of the barn it sounded like applause. You couldn’t help but smile to yourself, exhaling a breathy scoff through your nose, not believing that he actually had a soft side.
“What's so funny?“ he asked curiously, still with closed eyes.
“I just love the sound of heavy rain,” you lied, also getting into a comfortable position and closing your eyes.
Your neighbour let out a hum, agreeing with you before yawning, “Me too. It’s cozy.”
Your eyelids started to feel heavy, you didn’t have much sleep last night and your body was shivering a bit because of your wet clothes. Taehyung was snoring lightly beside you within a few minutes and before you knew it you were asleep too. You wouldn’t have expected the barn to be such a comfortable place to sleep in.
The sound of someone calling your name, you couldn't quite identify who it belonged to yet, woke you up. As you were slowly starting to realize where you were, you were just as perplexed as Taehyung, who was still beside you, seeming to just have woken up too, according to his dreamy gaze.
“Did we fall asleep?” he asked you, yawning and stretching his arms from his body.
As you looked up, Jimin was standing in front of both of you, confusion was written all over his face, “What the hell are you two doing in here? How do I keep finding you two together?”
Taehyung shrugged, sitting up as you were doing the same, “What does it look like? We obviously fell asleep.”
“Okay but why were you here together in the first place?” he asked, a smirk on his lips, “Did you make out in front of the cows? They are too young to be exposed to such wild and unholy behavior.”
Chuckling at his remark, you rubbed your eyes a bit, “Don't be noisy, please. I’m having a headache.”
“You two are just too cute,“ he teased a bit before telling you the reason he was looking for you in the first place, “Dinner’s ready. We’re having some meat with different salads and corn. Feel free to join us Tae, your mum and Olli are there too.”
“I don’t know,“ he replied, a little unsure, “I still wanted to meet up with Namjoon and Hoseok later.”
Jimin narrowed his eyebrows, “Why didn’t you ask me to join, you jerk?”
Taehyung laughed at Jimin, standing up, surprisingly offering you a hand to help you get up from the ground, “I’ll eat dinner with you and then you can come with me, alright?“ he proposed to Jimin.
Your cousin agreed happily and the three of you walked over to the big house Minwoo and Jimin lived in.
“Did you find her?” your uncle screamed from the kitchen as he heard the door open.
“Yes, I’m here,“ you shouted back as you took off your shoes.
Walking over to them, Mrs. Kim was surprised to see her son, “Oh, Tae. How lovely that you’re here,“ she smiled as cute as always, “Where have you been?”
Both, Taehyung and you felt a bit awkward telling them where exactly Jimin found them, not wanting anyone to get a wrong idea. But, of course, your annoying cousin was faster.
“They were sleeping in the barn together,“ he smirked as he told your family, enjoying every minute of it, “You two seem to get along better by now.”
Taehyung rolled his eyes, “We were literally just taking care of the cows.”
You nodded, “It’s not like we met to take a nap in the barn.”
Uncle Minwoo and Mrs. Kim both giggled a bit at the bickering between their families, “Stop teasing them. They are already flustered,“ she said lightheartedly.
Everyone sat down on the table as your uncle brought the food to the table. It smelled like you were sitting in a restaurant and you could feel your mouth watering as you saw the food.
“Thank you for letting us eat with you,“ Taehyung said in a polite manner.
“Oh, Tae!” Minwoo exclaimed joyfully, “You’re always welcome. We’re like family.”
He nodded thankful as all of you started eating. The food was truly delicious and the conversation was nice, all of you participating in it, talking about current events and life on the farm.
You weren't sure if it was because your families were there but Taehyung was unusually nice to you, not even nagging you once. He passed you the salt when you asked him to and he even asked you about your job back at home.
It was a nice evening and you cherished it, knowing that it probably was a once in a lifetime experience to have a normal, peaceful conversation with Taehyung in the same room as you.
About an hour later you started walking from the big house to the small hut and even if it only took a minute or two Taehyung walked right beside you, not leaving your side.
Maybe he truly wasn't as bad as you made him out to be – the two of you might have had some difficulties but thinking about it now he seemed to open up to you more and more. As both of you stood in front of your door, you fiddled with your hands, not knowing how to react to being all alone with him.
“Don’t let Jimin drink too much tonight. I need him to be fit tomorrow. It’s my day off,“ you joked.
“I promise to stop him if he drinks too much,“ he smiled brightly, the wrinkles around his eyes showing slightly, “I’ll see you around?”
A scoff escaped your lips before you could hold it back, “Considering the fact that you can look inside my living room from your window I think so yes.”
And with that, he started walking towards his house but even after he was gone you still couldn't stop smiling.
The few next weeks were pretty unspectacular, working on the farm was part of your everyday life by now and your work was a routine, knowing every small step of it.
But still, today you woke up with a smile plastered on your face – it’s not like anyone besides Jimin and Minwoo, maybe Yoongi, would know it’s your birthday today but you still loved your special day.
It didn't matter that no one would know, you were quite happy that to everyone else this day would be just another day. You, on the other hand, had tons of self-care plans for tonight.
The first thing you did that morning was checking your phone, happy to see that your friends from home – or more like what used to be home to you – thought of you and send you very nice birthday greetings full of love, telling you that they missed you. In no time you got up and dressed to go over to the main house.
“So, what do you want to do today?” Jimin asked you as you had breakfast with him and your uncle. Despite you telling them that they shouldn't worry about you, they still made you some scrambled eggs and cut a lot of the vegetables from the Kim’s farm, Jimin even managed to go to the heart of the city to buy some buns for all of you.
Stretching yourself, tiredness still washing over you, you thought about his question. “I actually don’t know, I thought I'd just do some sheet masks later and watch Netflix,” you said shrugging before eating a piece of cucumber, “Why? Any ideas?”
“Why don’t you invite your friends over, (y/n)?” your uncle suggested but you’d rather not. The problem with inviting people over is you can’t leave early since they are literally at your own place and you'd never kick them out, not wanting to be unfriendly.
“No way, I don’t even think most people know about my birthday. I’ll stay lowkey about it,“ you denied your uncle's request, just wanting to have a nice night on the couch after you took a long bath – an ideal night for you.
“Why don't we have a movie night?” you suggested to your two family members but they didn’t seem to show much support to your idea.
Uncle Minwoo immediately stopped you, “I’m not letting you stay at home with your old uncle and cousin on your birthday.”
“I’d love that though. We hadn’t had a movie night in a long time,“ you pouted, hoping to convince your uncle despite knowing you had no chance against him.
“Jimin, take her to the pub, alright?” he instructed his son who was currently not listening to the conversation and instead was texting someone.
“Sure,“ he agreed with his father before looking up from his phone, “I’ll take you to the pub later, (y/n). No discussion.”
So a few hours later you found yourself in your small bathroom, putting on a real full face make-up for the first time ever since you moved here, you almost forgot how pretty you could be.
Jimin said to make sure that you looked your best since a lot of other people would be there, including the girl he ‘sometimes takes out’, as he liked to call it.
Even though you were still not fully in the mood, you started to warm up to the idea of going out as you got ready. In the end, you knew it wouldn't hurt to doll yourself up and go out every now and then – and maybe, just maybe, Taehyung would be there too.
Jimin picked you up from your place at around eight in the evening, the sky already pitch-black.
“Hey birthday kid,“ he said lovingly, “I didn't know you could look this lovely. Trying to impress a certain boy?”
Throwing him a glare that was about to end his life you were ready to hit your cousin if he wouldn’t stop mentioning your attraction towards your neighbor. You prayed he didn’t tell Tae about it, his ego was big enough and you didn’t know if you could survive if he’d become even cockier. Taehyung knew how handsome he was and that he could probably get just any girl if he wanted already so you didn't want to give him the satisfaction.
“I’ll kill you if you don’t shut your mouth,“ you threatened him even though you knew that nothing could stop Jimin's teasing ever.
Arriving at the Pub, you couldn’t help but grin like an idiot – all of your friends were waiting inside, a whole booth decorated just for you. Yoongi was the first to welcome you, hugging you tightly. “Happy Birthday, princess,“ he almost whispered into your ear before the other people were waiting for their turn to congratulate you.
Hoseok and Namjoon were there, including Namjoon’s girlfriend, that you hadn’t met before. Jungkook, of course, was there too and even gifted you some sunflower. “Those are my favorite!” you told him excited, to which he replied that he still remembered.
Jimin introduced you to his almost-girlfriend and she seemed to be a nice girl, a bit smaller than him, with cute glasses, short hair and a nose ring that she pulled off like no one else could.
And last but not least Kim Taehyung was standing in front of you, trying to look cold and unbothered like always, but his eyes were sparkling a bit, giving away that he wasn't as cool as he wanted to be.
“You’re here!” you gasped, genuinely excited to see him, “I feel honored.”
He shook his head joyful. “Don’t let it get to your head. Happy birthday, farmer girl,“ for the first time ever Taehyung hugged you, and you hated to admit that it felt quite comforting – the hug didn’t feel awkward or forced at all, he even had his hand on your head, right in your hair.
Yoongi and Jimin, who were standing behind Taehyung, were inspecting the hug you shared, drawing hearts with their fingers in the air for only you to see as you turned red.
“(Y/n), we got a present for you! Come on, sit down,” Hoseok happily singsang from the table and Taehyung let you go, way too early for your liking, but you weren’t complaining – you appreciated what you got this far.
As you sat down beside Yoongi, Taehyung sat right next to you, pretty close since you were sitting on a small bank with five people.
The booth was decorated with a paper chain that spelled “Happy Birthday”, a few presents were waiting for you on the table, right next to many glasses and several bottles of alcohol.
“This one is from me, Hoseok and Seokjin,“ Namjoon said excited, handing you a present.
Opening it you couldn’t help but pout at their heartwarming idea: They gifted you a framed picture the four of you when you were little, you were maybe around three to four years old.
„God, we were so small,“ you chuckled, studying the picture.
Hoseok smiled wholeheartedly, “There’s a little wheel on the side that you have to move,“ he explained and so you did – as you turned the little wheel more pictures of your friends and you appeared, all of them from different years.
“I love it,“ you smiled at them, “I'll find a special place to display it, I promise.”
“Open our’s next,“ Yoongi said, an untrustworthy smirk on his face. “It’s from me and Jimin.”
Just because you knew the two of you too well, you didn’t trust them at all.
“I bet it’ll get also a very, very special place at your home,“ Jimin assured you and you just knew at that point they probably got you something very stupid.
And they did – you let out a deep breath, shaking your head in disbelief.
“Thanks, I really needed that,“ you said sarcastically as you hold the box of the vibrator they gifted you in your hand.
Both of the boys bursted out into laughter, making you sigh.
„You think you're so funny, don't you? How old are you? Fourteen?“ you snipped both of their foreheads but still, a chuckle managed to slip out. Not really because you thought the present was funny but more because the boys were so amused by their own idea.
“We know the nights get lonely here,“ Jimin said, still laughing like a teenager, “Much fun with it. Just call Taehyung if you need any help with it.”
“Yeah, no, thanks, I think I can handle that on my own,“ you quickly responded before anyone else could join their nagging, “I really need a shot now. Otherwise, I won't be able to deal with you.”
Yoongi immediately poured a round of shots for everyone, “To our little (y/n).”
All of your friends clinked glasses and downed the shot. Within a few hours, one shot became quite a few, too many to count them. Jimin and his girl were making out heavily in the corner of the pub – much to your disgust. While you were happy for your cousin you still could imagine better things than seeing your family member's tongue in someone's mouth.
Yoongi, you, Seokjin, Namjoon and Taehyung were currently playing a card drinking game that you not only never heard of before but was also killing you at a fast pace.
“(Y/n), your turn,“ Taehyung glanced at you, raising his eyebrow – his cheeks were red and the sloppy smile on his face gave away that he also was at least a bit intoxicated by now, “Red or black?”
That was the whole point of the game, basically the only rule. You had to say a color and if the card didn’t have the color you had to take a shot. Seokjin said it was the best game to get really drunk really fast, and boy, he was right.
“Red”, you answered or to be exact, mumbled since you had a hard time pronouncing your words clearly by now.
And, of course, luck wasn’t on your side - as Taehyung turned around the card it showed black. “Tae~“ you let out a whine as he laughed, “I literally cannot drink this shot or else I’ll throw up.”
Your head was turning and your stomach felt warm and tingly, a part of you suddenly felt playful and giggly, which was pretty unusual for you. Looking at Taehyung you felt something deep down in your stomach – the way his rather long and curly hair fell into his face and his tanned skin was glowing was a beautiful sight. God, you really wanted to blame it on the booze but deep down you were aware that you were just fooling yourself.
“You’re no fun,“ he almost whined before taking the shot, “I’ll take it for you since it’s your birthday.”
“Oh, what a gentleman you are,“ you nudged him.
“Just trying to get drunk,“ he shrugged laughing before downing the shot as if it was nothing.
Your glance waved over to Jungkook, who was e the drunkest, his eyes slowly closing. “Jungkook!” you poked his upper arm, not sure if you should laugh or be concerned, “Are you passing out?”
“Hmm?” he responded, trying to open his eyes but failing, “Oh no. I’m just taking a nap.”
You peeked to Taehyung beside you, questioning him what to do, “Are you going to babysit him?”
He scoffed, “That isn’t my problem to deal with.”
About two hours later you decided that it was time to go home, having to admit that you did have fun despite wanting to stay home at first. You thanked everyone and grabbed your bag.
“What about you?” you asked Taehyung who was sitting on his phone, texting someone with his eyebrows furrowed, “You’re staying?”
His eyes met yours as he looked up from his phone, “No, I’m walking you home. Give me a second.”
You decided to wait outside, in need of some fresh air to sober you up.
Slowly, you started to walk towards your home, knowing Taehyung would be able to catch up in no time. And he did, of course.
“Oh!” he looked at you with wide eyes as he arrived by your side, before opening his bag, looking for something, “It’s your birthday!”
“No shit, Sherlock,“ you responded unimpressed at his sudden realization, walking through the little city at night, still not used to how beautiful the stars were here, „You just got that now?“
“No, wait. I actually got you something,“ the boy mumbled and you thought you heard wrong for a second. At least until Taehyung handed you a box, a rather big one.
“Are you serious?” you asked surprised, suddenly feeling shy. This morning you were convinced he didn’t even know it was your birthday but now he was standing in front of you, with a present that was neatly wrapped in yellow wrapping paper.
“Don’t make a big deal out of it, please,“ he chuckled as you two walked through the dark night, only a few lanterns on your way home, “Just open it. It felt wrong not to get you anything. I mean, we’re neighbors now, and also co-workers.”
Your arm nudged him, playfully asking, “Maybe even friends?”
His laugh seemed to be even louder and happier when he’s drunk, “Says who? You wish!” before immediately adding, “I’m kidding, I’m kidding. Maybe even that. Now open it. Let’s sit down.“
Your neighbor gestured at the bank on the side of the way, a few steps away.
He took out his phone to turn on the flashlight so you could see, sitting dangerously close to you. “Why didn’t you give it to me earlier?” you asked him curiously.
“You know, I gotta keep my cool reputation in front of them,“ he joked.
“Ah, can’t let them know that you have a crush on me?” you blurted out, trying to flirt, knowing you would never say those things if it wasn’t for all the shots you drank earlier.
“You’re a pain in the ass,“ he mocked you a bit, “Will you please just open it now? There are a few smaller things.”
As you ripped open the wrapping paper you let out a laugh, impressed by his first present, “A raincoat? I could’ve seen that one coming.”
“I still can’t believe you don’t own one. Look underneath, there’s also a shirt you can use for work so you won’t ruin your good clothes,“ he said, almost proud of his idea and it was adorable.
The shirt was grey and oversized - and also, there was a picture printed onto it. Taehyung let out another laugh, covering his mouth with his hand to stop him from laughing harder, before you could see what was on it.
As he shined his flashlight on the picture you were not only extremely amused but also very amazed that he did that for you, even though he obviously was trying to be funny, you genuinely liked it – the picture was a selfie of Taehyung, giving a thumbs up, right next to his favorite being on this earth, Bertha. Underneath the picture the sentence ‘(Y/n), you can do it. I hope.’ was written in big letters.
“You’re seriously the worst,“ you joined his laughter, wondering how in the hell he got this idea. The atmosphere was almost friendly – a new step for the two of you. Not that you didn’t like him before, you just thought that he didn’t like you back.
“I think you’ll look quite good in it, (y/n),“ he smiled proudly, definitely satisfied with himself.
“You’re such a flirt,“ you said sarcastically.
The last gift in the box really got to you though - it immediately brought back a lot of memories, cherished ones, of your childhood. An overwhelming rush of sentiment came over you as you couldn't believe your eyes.
“Tae, I–” you were looking for the right words to say but none came to your head, “Is it what I think it is?”
“If you think it’s your old music box that played Somewhere Over The Rainbow over and over again, then it is, yes,“ he replied, playing it cool as if it wasn't a big thing.
You totally forgot about it until now, back in the day you always used to play it before going to bed, falling asleep immediately to the soothing sound of it – back then it didn't matter where you were: you wouldn't fall asleep without the petite woodbox playing your favorite song.
“Where did you even get this?“ you asked him, gulping.
“Oh, Minwoo gave it to me to calm the cows on thunder days,“ he said amused.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,“ you chuckled, still inspecting the music box. It seemed to be even prettier than you remembered it.
“Do you like it?” he asked, turning towards you, “I know how obsessed you were with it as a child so I thought you’d like to have it back. The cows didn’t like it anyway.”
Your eyes met his, not knowing what to say. He was so cool about it when to you, this might be one of the most meaningful presents you've gotten in a long time. The fact that he even remembered how in love you were with this music box and how thoughtful of him it was to give it back to you. Slowly you put the box down, still feeling a bit overwhelmed. It was probably stupid, for him it was just a simple present and you were overreacting, right? But still, it was so much more than you would’ve expected. Especially from him
“I love it,“ you assured him, the wrinkles around his eyes deeper than you’ve ever seen them before. “Thank you so much.”
Before he could say something to ruin the moment you wrapped your arms around his neck and buried your face in his collar. It took him a few moments to realize what was happening, a hug was something he didn’t expect at all, but it did feel nice. His arms carefully found your waist and hugged you back.
You could see how red his cheeks were as your hug ended but for once you decided to not tease him, not wanting to ruin a genuinely nice moment. The two of you didn’t have those very often.
“Shall we go home?” Taehyung asked softly as he stood up, waiting for you to join him.
The two of you were walking for a while, way slower than usual. It might be the alcohol in your veins or simply the secret desire to spend some more time together, alone and outside of the farm.
“Be honest,“ you started carelessly, it almost sounded like you were singing it, “You do think I’m cute.”
Looking up to Taehyung you saw that he was smiling and didn’t seem to care about your teasing anymore.
“I do think you’re cute. That doesn’t make you less any annoying though,“ he replied, his tone almost playful. As you were walking your shoulders were lightly brushing every now and then, a rush of excitement going through your body every single time.
“Now you be honest. You were totally checking me out when you saw me on the day you moved here,“ he countered, the conversation light.
You let out a small scoff, “I maybe would have if I hadn’t been to busy trying to free myself from your grip since you thought I was stealing your chicken,“ you snapped at him and Taehyung let out a laugh at that memory. Even though it wasn’t long ago it felt like years, considering how much your relationship developed since then.
“Your turn. You would’ve gone home sooner but you were waiting to walk me home,“ the vibe Taehyung gave you told you it was okay to dig a bit deeper.
“Now you’re just being overconfident, (y/n),“ he laughed and you thought about how his laugh is so different than his mum’s. His mother's laugh was light and charming while his laugh was deep and full of joy, almost bold and loud.
“If you say I’m wrong you’re lying,“ you insisted while looking up to the beautiful night sky, not letting loose. Even though you were a bit cold you didn’t really care, you could walk and talk for a few more hours without complaining.
“I never said you’re wrong,“ he answered quietly, now more soft and serious, “But don’t let it get to your head, I know my mum would kill me if she heard that you had to walk home alone.”
“You’re so in love with me dude, how gross,“ you joked, not able to stop your usual nagging.
By now it seemed like that was Taehyung’s and your’s thing somehow. It was an open secret that there was something between the two of you, whatever that was. Maybe, you and Taehyung were still denying it but your friends weren't completely wrong when they talked about your relationship to each other.
“I really don’t know if I wanna shove you off this bridge or kiss your annoying ass,“ he stated shamelessly, trying to sound annoyed but his mood was just as good as yours and the cheeky flirting was something he missed over the last years.
It’s been too long since he met someone he liked so much that he didn’t have to care about what he said. Spending time with you made him feel careless. The night air and the sky that was full of stars just loosened up the mood even more.
Even though your heart was beating faster at his comment you tried to remain cool – he said it so casually as if the topic of kissing you was something completely normal to him, making you realize that maybe Taehyungand you were indeed becoming something more than friends.
“Oh, can I pick?”, you grinned at him.
“No,“ he answered easily while pushing you towards the edge of the bridge you were currently walking on, making you gasp a bit, while trying to balance yourself so you wouldn’t fall over the low wooden railing.
What exactly was he doing? Just in the right moment, he held you, his arm around your waist, being a bit too close to you which was making your heart beat insanely fast. As you looked at him your eyes were opened wide, the shock written all over your face.
Taehyung still was holding you close, giving you the brightest smile ever, his expression full of joy, “Did you really think that I’d let you fall?”
“Yes!“ you almost shouted out of shock, a hundred percent sure that he’d actually do something like that, “If anyone in this town would then it would be you.”
He acted a bit offended, as he pulled your body a bit closer to his again, your intestines feeling all over the place. Half of your body was still bent over the bridge as Taehyungs hold was the only support that stopped you from falling right into the water. His face came near yours and at this moment you wanted nothing more than to feel his lips on yours.
“Well, if you think that lowly of me,“ he started, before pausing his sentence, you could swear that you could feel his breath tingling on your lips and see his eyes wandering down to look at your them – but before anything else could happen you started losing balance as Taehyung let go of your body, making you fall right into the lake behind you.
Of course, he’d do something like that. You should've guessed that.
As you came up again you were drenched. The water was at least still warm enough to not make you shiver while climbing up to the bridge again. Taehyung was laughing wholeheartedly, his one hand once again covering his mouth, while holding his other hand out for you so he could help you.
You immediately took his offer, taking a tight grip on his hand before getting your revenge – within seconds Taehyung forcefully joined you in the water, his eyes popping out when you completely caught him off guard.
“I should’ve seen that coming,“ he admitted, now also completely wet but still amused, “I deserved that.”
The two of you were chuckling, no one of you seemed to want to get out of the water for now.
“Remember the one time we were having a contest here about who can stay underwater the longest when we were children?” you asked him thinking back to older days, one of the few memories you had with him.
He nodded while walking towards you, leaning his back against the bridge. His body was close to yours, his face facing yours, “I remember you and Jimin being afraid because you thought I fainted because I let my body swim on the surface with my head under the water still.”
Hitting his chest, you squinted your eyes, “You were the worst, seriously! Why would you do this to me? I was so afraid.”
His arm found your hip, resting lazily on it - you wondered if he’d also do that if he was completely sober, “To make good memories.”
“Well, that’s also about our only memory because you always avoided me when we were younger,“ you stated, a bit salty.
His laughter sounded different this time, if you didn’t know better you’d almost say there was some kind of admiration in it. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,“ he apologized, putting his hands up in the air, still laughing before looking at you once again – it’s like you completely forgot about being in the water now in the middle of the night.
“Wanna know a secret?” he asked you, whispering as if you had to be careful to not get caught.
“Always,“ you answered eager as your eyes widened in excitement.
“I avoided you because I had the biggest crush on you and Yoongi always said girls suck and if anyone of us ever kissed a girl they’d be kicked out of the gang,“ he admitted, smiling back at the memory.
“Okay, but Yoongi was literally my first kiss,“ you confessed to him, “I think he knew exactly why he told you that.”
Now it was Taehyung who was in shock, not you. “You’re kidding me,“ he sounded offended, “I can’t believe he’d play me like this because of some chick.”
“Hello? I’m right here,“ you scoffed, shaking your head amused.
“Oh, I bet you’d rather be where Yoongi is, huh?” he stared you down for a second before breaking character and starting to laugh, “But seriously, he never even told me. He knew I’d fight him about it.”
“It must be hard to always be as dramatic as you are,“ you scoffed, as you got out of the water again, starting to shiver a bit, “Let’s go home, I’m cold.”
He got out of the water too and you tried hard not to stare at his chest that was completely showing through his white shirt.
“You should have put on a jacket,“ he shrugged, acting as if it's your fault that you were completely drenched and cold.
“You little shit,“ you countered as the two of you were walking towards your home, “I’m only cold because you pushed me into the lake.”
“I had fun tonight,“ you admitted to him as you were standing in front of your door once again, “You’re not awful.”
“Thank you?”, he laughed unsure before he continued, “You’re also not awful, (y/n).”
“I mean, you were not the nicest in the beginning, I thought you hated me. But now, I think you tolerate me,“ you said, a winning smile on your face.
“Believe it or not, I think you’re pretty cool,” he mirrored your smile, nodding.
“I’ll let my diary know about that,” you assured him.
He just stood there for a second, looking at you. Both of you didn’t want to part, enjoying time with each other but you didn’t want things to get awkward.
“I’m sorry I pushed you into the water,“ he mentioned, laughing while apologizing.
You rolled your eyes at his half-assed apology, “Yeah sure. You better make up for that.”
He nodded, “I will. I promise. Good night, (y/n).“
Suddenly you felt him hugging you, not expecting it once again. Three hugs in one day were something you didn’t expect at all when you woke up this morning.
“Sleep well,“ you told him as you closed the door behind you, removing your make up, changing into comfortable clothes and letting yourself fall into your bed, falling asleep with a smile on your lips. You were definitely making progress.
A few days after your birthday and the situation with Taehyung, it was about time to talk to someone about your confusing feelings. Yoongi was the first person that came to your mind, definitely not wanting to talk to Jimin about it.
As the two of you were sitting outside on your porch, drinking a beer and enjoying the sunset slowly going down, you decided to tell him about what happened after you and Taehyung left on your birthday.
“He gifted you your old music box?” he asked confused, almost shocked, “That’s so much better than the vibrator we gifted you, dammit.”
You let out a laugh, “Anything is better than that.”
“Well, apparently you won’t be needing it any time soon if you and Taehyung continue to fall in love at that pace,“ your best friend gave you a small wink.
“Yoongi,“ you let out a pout, “I really don’t know what I should do. He was about to kiss me by the lake but instead, he let me fall into the water.”
He was trying his hardest to contain his laughter as you told the story but he couldn’t help it, “You really think he’s the one you want? I bet not even Jungkook would behave that awkward.”
Chuckling, you shrugged, “I guess I just like a challenge.”
Yoongi nodded, “He definitely is one. Bare with him, it’s been some time. His last girlfriend and him broke up quite some time ago.”
When Yoongi mentioned the word gilfriend you felt curiosity awakening inside of you, “What was she like?”
Taking a sip of his beer, he glanced at you, a bit pitiful, “Are you sure you wanna do this to yourself?”
“I’m just curious,“ you assured him, „No hard feelings.“
Before Yoongi could start telling you about her you were disturbed by your cousin, who just finished his work, a beer in his hand as he sat down on the free chair on your table, „What are you talking about?”
“My hopeless crush,“ you said, laughing.
“What else,“ he shrugged, unimpressed, “You could still date Jungkook, you know.”
You shook your head before turning back to Yoongi, “So, tell me about her, I can’t imagine him with a girl at all.”
“Are we talking about Elly?” Jimin asked confused, trying to catch up with your conversation.
“Yes,” Yoongi said, trying to start once again before getting interrupted by Jimin, also once again.
“She wasn’t shit, (y/n). Don’t worry about her. I never liked her. They weren’t even really a couple.”
Yoongi rolled his eyes, “She wasn’t all bad, Jimin. She was actually quite nice at the beginning. She’s from the town next to ours, the granddaughter of the owner of the library – we were friends with her back then when she still visited every weekend. I guess she was into Tae from the first second and he was, well, frustrated. So they became friends with benefits. Nothing too serious at first.”
“(Y/n), I really don’t get why you’d wanna know. You’ll just hurt yourself,“ your cousin seemed to worry, clearly disagreeing with your curiosity.
“They broke up so I won’t be hurt, I just can’t imagine him in a relationship at all. I need some information for research,“ you argued.
“He was a good boyfriend, I guess,“ Jimin thought about it, taking a big gulp of his beer, “Like he visited her often and made sure to bring her to every event or birthday. But one of them would always start a fight and it got so annoying over time. Every time he brought her I was afraid to say anything to him because if I only said one wrong word she’d start to discuss with him.”
Yoongi now interrupted him, “Well, it wasn’t only her who started fights, to be fair. Taehyung often enough started one too, whenever he was in a bad mood he’d always find a reason to fight.”
A scoff came out of your mouth, “I already thought he’d be one to pick fights, to be honest.”
“Speaking of the devil,“ Yoongi nodded towards the house of the Kim’s and as you turned around you saw Taehyung jogging over to you. He seemed to be in a good mood, a smile on his lips, something rather unusual.
“Why are you having a nice evening and no one cared to call me?” he asked as he arrived in front of you, holding up a big plate with many different pieces of cakes on it, “I brought cake.”
Jimin immediately took the plate and set it down in front of him as Taehyung sat down on the free seat on the bench beside you.
“We were just talking shit about you,“ Jimin started, getting up to get some forks from inside.
“Why? What did I do?” he asked, already sounding offended, ready to defend himself without knowing what even seemed to be the problem.
“I just told them about how you let me fall into the lake,“ you huffed, salty, not letting it go easily.
“Why would you do that?” he asked in a whiny tone, “Aren’t they teasing us enough already?”
“I don’t care about that. I still can’t believe you’ve done that. I could’ve caught a cold.”
He now crossed his arms in front of his chest, “You didn’t though, right? I brought you cake as an apology, just to find you hanging out with our friends, without me?”
Yoongi let out a laugh at your constant bickering, “Young love must be so nice.”
“Be quiet,“ you gave him a warning glance before you turned back to the real enemy here, “You think cake can just fix the trust I lost in you?”
He let out a laugh, “You’re being overdramatic.”
Actually, you couldn’t care less that he let you fall into the lake. It was just fun to pick fights with him, “You’re being an asshole.”
He scoffed before continuing your discussion in a mocking voice, “Wanted me to kiss you so bad that you can’t get over the fact that I didn’t?”
You let out a small gasp, not expecting his comeback. Yoongi and Jimin were both trying no to laugh watching the two of you fight.
“If you think that, you’re truly delusional,“ you stated, even though everyone here knew he was right, “The only reason I didn’t kill you right then was because I was so relieved you didn’t kiss me.”
He snorted, not ready to give up yet, “Sure, just keep on telling it to yourself until you start to believe it.”
And this is how you spent the rest of the evening. Three of your closest friends, cake, one or two or maybe even more beers, a beautiful pink sunset and most important - in the place you loved to call your home.
“(Y/n), give me a hand, please,“ your neighbor screamed from the other side of the farm, struggling to put up the pavilion that was supposed to cover the tables from the weather.
It was a warm autumn day but you knew that it could basically start to pour any second. Quickly you jogged over to Taehyung, leaving Jimin alone with the other preparations for the big harvest festival that was held once a year on the farm. It was a tradition you used to love as a child and you were more than happy to participate again this year.
As you walked over you couldn’t help but notice how mesmerizing he looked once again. There was sweat dripping down his face while he gave you a light and exhausted chuckle, holding up one side of the pavilion with his rather strong arms. The white shirt and grey sweatpants he was wearing might as well be the death of you. Oh god, you definitely hated being attracted to him.
“What’s up, Kim?” you asked, desperately trying to sound as unbothered as possible.
He, on the other hand, continued to smile, shaking his head, “Can you please hold up the other side over there?” he asked, pointing to it, “I’ll do the rest.”
You went over and held up the other side, having to stand on your tiptoes. “Are you excited for tonight?” you asked him, desperate to make conversation with him. Even though by now Taehyung was being very nice to you, you were still always trying to make him like you. Even though Jimin and Yoongi assured you he likes you quite a lot by now you still wanted him to admit to it. His attention was your favorite thing at the moment, you couldn’t get enough of it.
He shrugged while concentrating on a screw he was currently trying to get in, “Not really. It’s not gonna be different than any other year.”
“I’m here now so it is gonna be different than before,” you said, making him look up from his work for a second, his eyes finding yours.
“So, you’re going to make the harvest festival interesting again?” you saw the smirk on his face before continuing, “Don’t get up my hopes.”
“Share a bottle of liquor with me and I bet we’ll have a lot of fun,” you stated boldly, immediately embarrassed at your way too obvious flirting. At this point, you were sure that he was very aware of your obvious crush on him. He was many things. Rude, annoying, sometimes even a bit mean but delusional wasn’t one of them.
“Are you flirting with me, (y/n)?” he asked almost a bit teasingly.
“I am,” you said, trying to sound confident but you were pretty sure your now deep red cheeks were giving you away.
He seemed to be amused and he shook his head in what seemed to be joy.
“Not bad,” was all he said, shrugging before his full attention was back on building the pavilion.
You looked around the big farm as Taehyung was working. It looked beautiful, there were a lot of tables with benches, all of them had some flowers and candles on top of them, you could only imagine how cute it would look as soon as the sky was dark and all the candles were lit.
Jimin was currently preparing some baskets filled with eggs, milk, some wool, all different kinds of fruits and vegetables and even some feathers you picked up from the pond where the ducks stayed as a lucky charm – your uncle and Taehyung’s mother would sell them later on, the people always loved those little baskets.
Taehyung’s mother was inside, preparing food for the night. She was overdoing herself, cooking four different kinds of soups, baking too many loaves of bread for the visitors to eat, she even has been baking all kind of cakes since yesterday night.
“Your mum is an angel,” you mumbled more to yourself than to him but Taehyung still heard you, laughing a bit.
“She just really loves the harvest festival. But yes, I agree, she really is,” he answered without looking at you, “There’s gonna be plenty of leftovers tomorrow, I’ll bring you some if you want.”
You nodded even though he didn’t see, “I’d love that.”
“Hey, (y/n)!” Gus, the owner of the restaurant, came up to you. He drove up here in his truck, the whole back of it filled with different meals that he contributed for tonight, “Where should I put the fish and meat?”
Taehyung told you that you could leave and help Gus for now so you showed him where the food was being served. There was a long in the middle of the farm, where Gus’ and Mrs. Kim’s food was going to be sold later on. It was opposite to the little dancefloor your uncle built earlier, he even got a pretty good sound system for the night. You already anticipated seeing all of the older people dance later, it was always very cute to see them be happy. All the tables to sit on were placed in between the dancefloor and the food.
As you were helping Gus’ to carry the food you saw Yoongi and his parents coming up to you.
“Hey cutie,” your best friend greeted you as he put down the three beer crates he was casually caring like they didn’t weigh anything, “How are things going?”
“I’m really excited for tonight,” you cheered with a wide smile on your lips, “My last harvest festival was years ago, I still had to go to bed at eight o’clock at that time.”
He let out a laugh, “Oh, that’s when the fun is just starting.”
You only managed to finish all the work an hour before the first people came to the festival. Within no time the whole farm was filled with people as the sun was slowly going down.
You didn’t expect so many people to actually show up. Not only the whole village was attending tonight’s fest but a lot of them also brought their family from out of town, a lot of faces you’ve never seen before.
It luckily didn’t rain yet and you were hoping it would stay that way for the rest of the night. The sky was dark now and all the candles were lit, making the atmosphere cozy. People were eating, drinking and enjoying themselves, some even danced to the 80′s music that was playing already.
You were sitting on the side of a table, just looking around and appreciating everything as a few of your friends came up to you.
“Don’t you wanna eat something?” Jungkook asked you, nodding towards the table with the food, “We were just about to grab something, join us.”
“Let’s also grab a drink or two,” your cousin, who clearly already had more than just a drink or two, his bright pink cheeks exposing him, shouted as he came up behind Jungkook, Yoongi and Yoongi’s girlfriend.
Your mouth watered as you saw, and especially smelled, the food that was offered. Now you were very thankful that you didn’t have the time to eat all day. All the food looked amazing and you didn’t even know where to start. Hoseok and Namjoon both went for the meat but you wanted to start with something more light for now, looking at all the soups Mrs. Kim made.
“Try mum’s Italian wedding soup, it’s the best,” you flinched lightly as Taehyung came up behind you out of nowhere, his arm casually resting on your shoulder.
You tried to play it cool in front of your friends but inside you were all tense, just because of Tae being so close to you.
“I’ll have that then,” you agreed, telling his mother who was handing out food tonight. Both you and Taehyung offered her to help out earlier but she insisted that you should just enjoy the evening.
“Of course, my darling,” she poured some of the soup into a big cup, giving you and her son a wide smile, “You two look just adorable together.”
You felt yourself blushing but you were pretty sure that no one would notice in the dark.
“Right? We’ve been telling them the whole time,” Hoseok joined, excitement in his eyes, agreeing with his friends’ mother. You heard a deep, frustrated groan from Taehyung.
“Guys,” he squinted his eyes at both of them with a warning glance but he still was resting his arm on you, not even thinking about removing it, “Can you mind your own business? Just for once?”
Yoongi chuckled at the two of you, knowing exactly that you were trying your hardest to keep your cool, “You know they won’t leave you alone until something happens.”
He was right. But you weren’t sure if and when things would happen. And what those things even would be. When it came to Taehyung you felt more clueless than ever before. Not even your math class in senior year seemed that confusing.
“Yeah, because no one in this town knows how to respect the boundaries of other people,” Taehyung bitterly said through gritted teeth, slightly annoyed but everyone just let out a laugh, not taking him seriously, thinking it’s funny that he gets so worked up over some simple teasing.
“I’m sorry (y/n),” Mrs. Kim turned towards you, apologizing, but you could still see a little amused smile on her lips, “I hope I didn’t make you feel uncomfortable.”
“Oh, don’t worry. I don’t mind at all,” you assured her, “Don’t apologize.”
“I’ll go and get us something to drink,” Yoongi offered after he got some food, his lips already pressed against his girlfriend’s neck again before turning to you, “Save us a seat.”
You waited for the rest to get something to eat and wondered what was suddenly going on with Taehyung, he wasn’t leaving your side at all which was pretty unusual for him. Last week he was still too afraid to give you a birthday present in front of the boys and now he was suddenly even touching you in front of everyone?
“I’m sorry,” he whispered for only you to hear as all of you were looking for a table to sit on. On the way, he let go of you but still was walking right next to you. Not that you minded, you enjoyed the sudden attention he was giving you, you just had to get used to it.
“What for?” you asked him, shrugging lightly, “I don’t care if the guys tease us. They think we’re into each other, they won’t stop anyway.”
“Well, they aren’t so dumb after all, huh?” he still whispered to you, chuckling a bit as he turned around to the others, pointing to a free table, “Let’s sit down over there.”
This little shit was flirting with you.
The soup was amazing. The alcohol was pouring. The atmosphere was loud and filled with banter and laughter. Yoongi and his girl were making out in front of everyone in no time, literally being all over each other. Hoseok, Jungkook and Jimin were screaming along to ‘Come on Eileen’ playing in the background, doing those stupid fortnite dances to the old music, constantly motivating each other to do stupid moves and having the time of their lives. Namjoon was talking to his girlfriend, the majority of your friends still had no idea that they were actually dating and you wondered how they managed to keep it a secret in such a small town like this.
You were just laughing every now and then, enjoying everyone’s presence - an evening like this was exactly what you needed, full of friends and possibilities to make amazing memories.
Looking back at the fact that in the beginning, you were so afraid to start a new life here was ridiculous by now – this was your home, you were doing the thing you love with people you wouldn’t trade for anything. Not in a hundred years would you have thought that you’d find your happiness in this small town.
You carefully dared to look over to Taehyung, hoping he wouldn’t catch you staring – you felt tingly, it might be the wine or the butterflies in your stomach but you felt so much comfort and happiness that you wanted to explode.
The way he was laughing was making you go insane – you got lost in the wrinkles around his eyes and his side profile that seemed to be the most perfect thing you’ve ever seen. It was so nice and rare to see him letting go, being completely relaxed and warm. The longer you looked at him the more you craved something deep down in your stomach.
It felt like you were in a movie, the world around you blurred and slowing down while all you could concentrate on was the guy next to you: The guy, that used to be so cold to you and opened up step by step, going from thinking you were stealing chickens to flirting with you in front of everyone.
You secretly hoped that the two of you were figuring out the future of your relationship rather sooner than later, slowly growing impatient. It was obvious to anyone who’d spent only five minutes around you: There was an undeniable tension, a chemistry that both of you felt.
Still staring at him while everyone was laughing and talking he stole a glance from you, seeing that your attention was already completely on him. His features softened as soon as his eyes met yours and the big laughter on his face turned into a small but impactful smile - immediately you felt a rush of confidence running through your veins, your heart beating faster. You hated how you were literally melting for him but you knew exactly that you couldn’t fight it so you might as well let him in.
His eyes were still locked with yours, no one daring to break eye contact. You wondered how this moment could feel so intimate when there were literally 200 people gathered around you – it felt like you were all alone, everyone else was busy cracking jokes while the two of you were busy falling in love. Or at least that was what it felt like.
He gave you a small nod before sitting a bit closer to you, your thighs now touching. “Stop flirting with me. I might just break my cool character and blush,” he joked, making you chuckle before the two of you brought your attention back to your friends who were currently cheering for Jungkook and Jimin, both trying to down their beer faster than the other one.
You shook your head, letting out a laugh at them being messy. Taehyung’s hand sneakily rested on your lower back and you hoped it would stay there for a while.
Jimin finished first and laughed at Jungkook, who was still drinking, “Oh, I can’t believe you thought you could win against me. I’m the king when it comes to drinking,” he bragged.
Yoongi, who was for once breaking free from his girlfriend, shook his head at Jimin, “You’re overconfident. Taehyung, finish him.”
Taehyung let out a groan, “Don’t make me do this.”
“Let’s go Taehyungie, I bet I can beat you easily,” Jimin challenged him, knowing exactly how to provoke his friend.
“Dude, don’t do this to yourself, you’ll lose,” Hoseok yelled, “No one can beat Taehyung, you should know better than that.”
“I trained. And Taehyung didn’t show off his skills in a long time, I think you’re underestimating me,” he insisted, opening another bottle of beer and putting it down in front of Tae.
“Jimin, take it easy. It’s your fourth beer in what? Twenty minutes?” you interrupted, “I don’t wanna clean up all alone tomorrow because you are dying.”
“It’s harvest festival (y/n),” he whined while opening another bottle of wine for you, pouring something into your glass, “You gotta start learning how we do it here.”
Taehyung shook his head, letting out another deep sigh, “You have no chance against me,” he held up his beer and waited for Jimin to do the same.
Jimin had a satisfied smile on his lips, ready to give it his all, “I’m going to fight for your title.”
Taehyung let out a laugh, “That’s cute. Much luck trying.”
All of you were counting down from three and the guys started chugging down the beer like it was a life or death situation. It was stupid and childish but all of you were enjoying it, rooting for Tehyung. If all of your friends could agree on one thing then it would be that Jimin needs to be taken down back to earth every now and then.
You looked at him, your mouth slightly open. One thing you definitely didn’t know about Taehyung was how fast he could drink. He always seemed like the most reasonable and mature guy so you were kind of taken by surprise to see how he downed the bottle in the matter of a few seconds.
“Ha!” he let out, laughing as he put his bottle down, “You’re a fool, dude.”
Jimin let out a laugh, shrugging, “Never thought I had a chance, just wanted you to drink a bit. Who’s the fool now?”
“I didn’t know you could drink like that,” you turned to Taehyung.
“This guy used to get so wasted every weekend, he just acts all pure in front of you,” Namjoon exposed his friend, laughing.
You raised your eyebrow at Taehyung, “Oh, let’s see who can handle more then, shall we?”
Taehyung’s eyes widened surprised, not expecting you to challenge him when it comes to drinking, “You might regret that.”
“I don’t mind regretting a thing or two,” you poured the two of you some shots.
“That’s the spirit,” Jimin cheered, opening another bottle of beer.
Taehyung and you were clinking glasses, “To Bertha!” he mentioned his favorite before both of you downed the shots, making a grimace as the bitter liquor went down your throat.
“That shit tastes horrible,” you stated, making him laugh.
“No one said getting drunk is easy,” he countered before immediately pouring you another shot, “But you wanted this. We can stop if you can’t take it, you know.”
“Definitely not,” you scoffed raising your eyebrow at him and holding up the shot glass, “It’s going to be a long, long night.”
“Oh, don’t promise what you can’t keep,” he flirted amused, laughing at you before getting ready to down the next shot, “To you and me.”
Nodding, you gave him a smile, “Whatever that might mean.”
You didn’t know what was faster: The time flying by or your alcohol level rising. It was around midnight now and the night just started. All of you were still drinking eagerly, sharing stupid stories and daring each other to do even more stupid things. The music was loud and the older people were dancing like there’s no tomorrow while you were still sitting at the table, playing cards and taking videos and photos of each other.
Some other girls around your age joined your group, you didn’t know them but the rest did. It was a nice group of people overall.
You still were watching the elders dance, smiling to yourself as your uncle and Taehyung’s mum were dancing with each other, seemingly having the best time.
“Aren’t they cute?” Tae turned to you with a grin, his hand resting right above your knee, slightly squeezing it. You could tell the alcohol had its impact on him because he was getting more touchy by minute, his eyes sparkling.
You nodded, feeling a bit nostalgic seeing them together. They always have been close, both of them lost their significant others early and were left with their children and a whole farm to manage. “It’s nice that they’re having fun. I wish they’d take a break more often.”
Taehyung hummed in agreement, his thumb caressing your leg, “I’m happy Mum has Minwoo. They are always there for each other and talk shit about me and Jimin,” he joked, his eyes still glued to his mother.
He was clearly adoring their little dance while you were adoring him.
“He’s really grateful you’re here.”, you didn’t expect Taehyung to be so serious, a new side of him showing.
“I like being here. Wouldn’t go back,” you told him as you put your hand on top of his, appreciating the moment.
His eyes met yours, not thinking you’d hold his hand in front of everyone, even though no one could see, “You do? I didn’t think you’d fit in or like it here at first if I am honest.”
You let out a laugh, “Yeah, I know. You were very vocal about that if you don’t remember our first encounter as I came back.”
He joined your laughter, giving you an apologetic pout, “I’m sorry. I was being a bit rough, wasn’t I?”
You nodded, “Didn’t expect anything else though. You never opened up towards me when we were younger,” you explained to him in a soft voice, you didn’t want to hurt him with your words.
“I just wondered why you’d move here. I thought it was stupid. What does this little town offer you?” he asked curiously, his eyes glued back to your family.
“This, for example,” you gestured to them, “It’s very heartwarming here. You might not realize because you’ve always been here but this town is full of love.”
Taehyung narrowed his eyebrows a bit, “I bet the actual reason you like it so much here is this cute neighbor of yours.”
You scoffed at his confidence, “Oh, you mean that Taehyung guy? No, he’s just too busy loving himself, I doubt he could ever make time to let someone else in.”
He opened his mouth a bit, acting shocked, “Didn’t you hear?”, he asked you, turning his body to you now to completely face you, “Everyone says he’s a total sucker for you.”
Playing along, you slightly brushed your knees against his, “I don’t think so,” you let out a sigh, “Last week he had the perfect chance to kiss me but instead he threw me into the lake.”
He grinned, not expecting you being so witty. “I’m sure he was just nervous and regrets it very much.”
“I wonder what your sources are. They don’t seem very trustworthy. You know that guy, he has a heart made of stone.”
“Don’t let him fool you,” he came closer to whisper in your ear, “He’s actually a soft man inside.”
“(Y/n)!” your cousin screamed over to you, clearly drunk, ruining your little moment with Taehyung, “Let's go, dance with your favorite cousin.”
You sighed heavily, knowing that refusing won’t work even though you didn’t want the playful banter with Taehyung to end. So a few seconds later you found yourself on the dance floor, jamming to the old classics with your favorite human in town. Taehyung and Yoongi might be close, but no one would beat your family.
The two of you danced around like crazy, exaggerating every move, having fun without any worries for a few songs.
That was until you saw Jimin looking over to the rest of your group, his eyebrows narrowing, a mixture of confusion and anger in his eyes - his jaw clenched as he was glaring somewhere. You followed his gaze to see Taehyung talking to a girl you didn’t know. You didn’t think anything of it at first, he didn’t seem very close to her, maybe even a bit uncomfortable.
“That little shit,” your cousin raised his voice, looking at you, “He better doesn’t do anything stupid.”
You threw him a questioning look, no idea what was going on, “What do you mean? They’re just talking.”
He shook his head, “That’s Elly. Elly and Taehyung are never just talking.“
His ex. What did this mean to you? You didn’t feel jealous somehow. The evening was fine, Taehyung was clearly giving all of his attention to you, the two of you weren’t dating, you didn’t even kiss yet. Of course, you hoped that this would change sooner or later, your feelings for him were undeniable at this point and part of you thought that they weren’t one-sided.
Before you said anything, Jimin was losing his temper, “He can’t treat you like this, (y/n). I’m going to talk to him.”
You laughed at his clearly drunken state, shaking your head, “No no, I can manage my relationships alone, don’t worry.”
He tried to look you in the eyes, failing slightly. You were pretty sure that if you’d ask him to touch his nose right now, he’d miss it by miles.
“Why, of all people, Taehyung? He’s too cold for you. I love this dude but I don’t want you to go through a hard time because of him,” he pouted, suddenly wanting to discuss your love life with you.
You knew you shouldn’t laugh, Jimin was being sincere and caring about you right now but his state was so fucked up that you couldn’t help it, “Let’s get you some water.”
Letting out a heavy sigh because you ignored him, he followed you to the Mins’ table where they were selling drinks.
They immediately let out a laugh, “Oh, Jimin,” Yoongi’s mother said amused at his clearly fucked-up state.
“Can we have a water, please?” you asked her as you held Jimin, wishing he’d stay still.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” he tried to convince you, “I could do a cartwheel without a problem.”
“Please don’t,” you laughed at his confidence, giving him the cup of water and thanking Yoongi’s mother, “Should we go back to the table?”
He nodded and you walked over to your group of friends, handing Jimin over to Jungkook. Looking around you saw that Taehyung was missing. Just as his ex-girlfriend.
Of course, you couldn’t know if they left together. Maybe Taehyung just went home without saying goodbye. Checking your phone to see if he maybe texted you just disappointed you even more. You hated that you suddenly felt so vulnerable. The evening was so much fun up to this point, the fact that such a tiny thing could ruin your mood completely made you feel foolish.
Not daring to ask Yoongi if he knew where he went or if they left together, knowing he’d try to comfort you, making you feel even worse, you said your goodbyes to your friends, claiming you were tired and needed some sleep.
Walking over to your home luckily was only taking you a minute, considering that the harvest festival was held on your farm. The worst thing about all this was that you didn’t know how to feel. Technically, you had no reason to be mad or jealous, Taehyung and you never did anything more than flirting.
On the other hand though, you liked him, so of course, it hurt you that he was probably enjoying himself with his ex-girlfriend right now. Your head hurt from all the alcohol and overthinking. You wished he would at least have said goodbye to you. Maybe, after all, he wasn’t into you as much as you thought. Today would’ve been his chance to make a move otherwise.
Opening your door you almost got scared to death. Your heartbeat was going crazy fast and you were even more confused than before. Just as you accepted the fact that Taehyung left the party with his ex-girlfriend, he was sitting on your sofa, playing games on his phones, waiting for no one else than you.
“What are you doing here? How did you even get in?” you almost screamed, still shocked by the thought that someone broke into your house at first.
He laughed, simply stating, “I know where your spare key is.”
You shook your head in disbelief, “But what are you doing here? Why are you just sitting on my sofa?”
“I wanted to leave the party. But I still wanted to spend time with you.”
“What about Elly?” you blurted out, your eyes immediately widening after you asked, realizing that he and you never talked about her.
He looked at you in shock, “W-What?” you never head him stutter before, “What about her? How do you know?”, the confusion on his face vanished a bit, sighing heavy, “Yoongi told you about her, right?”
You nodded, “It just came up once in a conversation we were having. And when I saw you with her I just assumed you left with her.”
He laughed, looking at you like you were crazy, “Why would I do that?”
You shrugged, not having an answer to his question. “What do I know? Maybe you missed her.”
“You’re crazy if you think I’d waste your time like that. And my time also,” he said softly, “Forget about her. She came up to me as soon as you left, trying to talk so I left.”
You nodded, understanding what was going on now, “So, you decided to break into my house?”
“Oh, I can leave if you want me to.“
“That’s not what I said,” you rolled your eyes. Suddenly, there was a pause. Neither of you were saying anything and you felt unsure of how to continue.
“Shouldn’t we clean outside a bit already?” you asked Taehyung, trying to break the silence so you’d get out of this overwhelming situation.
Taehyung, on the other hand, seemed to be very relaxed, he almost felt at home on your sofa. He stood up, coming closer and closer to you, “It can wait until tomorrow.”
When he stopped, he was right in front of you, your feet were almost touching and if someone would push you at this moment, you surely would land on top of him, which actually sounded pretty nice to you. You nodded, trying to sneakily take a deep breath to calm down, you had no idea why you were so nervous. He’s by far not the first guy you kissed but he might be the one kiss you anticipated the most.
His hand slowly ran up your arm, then down again, giving you goosebumps all over your skin, his gentleness making you fall for him even more. His hand found yours and you looked into his eyes, wanting to drown in them as your stomach felt like it was tied in knots.
A small smile formed on Taehyung’s lips as you locked eyes, not able to have a single clear thought. By now you were sure that tonight would be the night you’d finally have him where you wanted him. All for yourself.
Coming nearer, you felt his upper body almost touching yours, his head was leaning in and you saw him slowly closing his eyes as his free hand found your hip, bringing you even closer to him.
The moment before the actual kiss was already breathtaking enough. The mixed smell of his cologne and the alcohol the two of you drank earlier was making you feel dense. The touch of his hand was already burning but as his nose brushed yours slightly, a rush of adrenaline was sent through your whole body, making your stomach turn and you suddenly felt hot in places you didn’t know he had an impact on until now. It was rather quiet, the only sound you could hear was the muffled music from outside, but you couldn’t figure out what song was playing, only feeling the bass of it. Your heart was beating so fast, you hoped he couldn’t hear it.
But all those little and unimportant things around you vanished as soon as you felt his soft lips, pressed onto yours with the perfect amount pressure. The kiss developed from something shy and soft into the projection of what both of you had been craving secretly for so long in no time. No one dared to break the kiss, not wanting it to be over.
His hand wandered all over your body, from your hip to your waist, to your arms, to your neck, right back down to your lower back until he held onto your thighs.
“Jump,” he mumbled hectic, his voice deeper than usual, between your kisses, not wanting to stop.
“Are you sure?” you asked him carefully.
He chuckled into your kiss, “Never been more sure.”
So you did as he told you and jumped up, your legs now crossed around his hips as he held you up like it was nothing, deepening the kiss once again, your tongue playing with his. Being with him like this was more exciting than you ever could’ve imagined.
Your hand found the nape of his neck, burying itself in his soft hair, as he was carrying you to the sofa he was sitting on just a few minutes ago.
So there you were, on top of Kim Taehyung, straddling his muscular thighs, feeling a heat in your core that you haven’t felt in such a long time but missed so much. The way his hands were exploring your body while his lips were busy kissing every single spot on your jaw and your neck was making you feel like you were going insane, leaving you wanting every single part of him.
A small, rather quiet groan came out of your mouth as he pulled you closer to him, not able to suppress what you were feeling any second longer. He chuckled once more, clearly satisfied with the feelings he was giving you, before giving his attention to your lips again.
His one hand was now on your neck, supporting every movement between the two of you, as his other hand was resting on your hip, slowly making you rock back and forth on him, the tension in both of your pants growing.
Slowly, his hand started to wander under your shirt, to a place where you needed him desperately. He was caressing the skin under your shirt carefully, teasing while taking his time. You wanted nothing more than for him to move them upwards towards your breasts, giving you more and more.
His lips were doing its magic on your neck again, kissing and nibbling on a soft spot under your ear as his hand slowly wandered up until his thumb finally found your nipple under your lace bra, the contact making you flinch a bit because of the intense feeling.
He let out a deep groan, sending shivers down your body and an undeniable friction in your underwear grew, making you rock your hips into him once more.
You started to wonder if you were prepared for what was about to happen, the two of you were just starting and you already felt like a mess, wanting him so much more. But he took his time, enjoying every single second of you on top of him.
His hand was now kneading your breast, the pressure just exactly right as he brushed your nipple every now and then, already knowing its effect on you. Every time he touched your bud lightly you couldn’t help but moan.
You let out a small whine as your breast lost contact with his hand, not wanting him to stop. But as you realized that he was only stopping to pull up your shirt you were more than willing to give him what he wanted. Within seconds you were not only shirtless but also braless, as Taehyung was throwing your bra away to the floor.
He studied what you looked like, wanting to never forget this moment. Leaning back on the couch you saw a satisfied smirk on his lips as his hand found your nipple again. He now was looking right into your eyes and you held eye contact with him, trying not to break it as you got wetter every time his thumb was caressing your nipple.
He enjoyed watching you trying to contain yourself for sure. The smirk on his lip was growing now and his glance was filled with a mixture of lust, adoration and mostly, anticipation of what was going to happen next.
You put your hand on his shoulder to support yourself as you started to dry-hump him, letting out a moan, a louder one this time, as you felt his erection under you.
“Shit,” he moaned, breaking eye contact and throwing his head back, his eyes closed as he bit his lip.
All of a sudden he stopped you from your actions, holding your hips down with both of his hand as he looked at you, frustration all over his face, “(Y/n), are you sure about this? I don’t think I’ll be able to stop once we started.”
Your heart skipped a beat, appreciating his question but you immediately gave him another kiss, this time a bit softer, kissing him deeply, before whispering into his ears. “Don’t you dare to stop now, Taehyung.”
You could hear his chuckle, his breath on your neck giving you goosebumps. “Thank god,” he said before lifting you up without warning you, making you scream a bit, afraid he’d let you fall.
“Be careful, you scared me to death,” you laughed as you were being carried towards your bedroom.
“You think I’d let you fall?” he said amused, shaking his head in disbelief.
“Wouldn’t be the first time,” you countered, making him laugh as he arrived in your bedroom, letting you down on top of your bed - now you were under him, lying down as he was still sitting on his knees, taking in the view of your naked upper body right in front of him, for him only.
You did the same - and what a beautiful view it was. He was hovering over you, your legs between his as he was pulling his top over his head, throwing it away before unbuckling his belt as you were running your hand over his toned chest.
Not long until both of you were only left in your underwear. Taehyung slowly removed your pants, before coming back up to you, supporting himself on his elbows as he gave you a deep kiss, adding tongue and caressing your cheek before looking at you. You couldn’t help but smile.
Taehyung gave you a small smile back, his eyes soft, “I love that smile.”
Before you could think about his compliment, one that he never gave you before, before you could get flustered or say anything back he suddenly changed the game completely, fastly pulling your underwear to the side and sliding one finger inside of you while his thumb was rubbing circles against your clit.
Taken aback by his sudden actions, you let out a loud moan, almost a scream, making Taehyungg smirk a bit before his lips wandered down to your neck once again, taking his time with you as he pumped his finger in and out in just the right rhythm. You moved your hip into his movements as his lips kissed down to your chest, his free hand holding your breast while his mouth teasingly played with your nipple, licking it and twirling his tongue around it, making you a moaning mess already.
Your hand was lightly stroking his dick through his boxers, leaving you wanting more. God, the things you wanted him to do with you were unholy.
The way he glanced at you as he was kissing his way down to your core looked like living art. Your whole body wanted him so bad, just the thought of where his mouth would travel to next or how it would feel when you’d finally feel him inside of you was making you go insane. Never before have you wanted something as much and at the same time hoped he’d take his time before.
Arriving at his destination he let out a moan, definitely being into all of this a bit too much too. He started to slowly kiss your inner thighs, holding your legs up a bit, teasing every part around where you wanted him the most.
“Stop teasing,” you whined, wanting him so much more than you currently had.
He chuckled against your core, the warm air making you flinch, “I thought that’s our thing,” before licking along your wet folds and then adding another finger, his tongue giving all its attention to your clit.
The pace in that he was going down on you was making your knees feel weak. He looked so handsome, his forehead in wrinkles as he was concentrating on pleasing you completely, moans vibrating against you.
It didn’t take long for the two of you until you were having sex, the two of you completely concentrating on the sensational feeling for the next moments.
After you finished you laid down on your stomach, not able to really move, as Taehyung let himself fall right next to you, giving your nose a small peck. He was not only out of breath but also still in trance of what had just happened, “I didn’t expect this,” he breathed, calming down from his orgasm.
You giggled a bit, “What? Us having sex?”
The smile he gave you made your heart race like crazy, his messy hair falling into his eyes, “I’m not complaining though.”
For a second you were lying there, letting Taehyung catch his breath and calming down. You felt your legs shaking from the intercourse you just had.
“Feel my legs,” you ordered chuckling, his hand on your thigh in a second as he felt how much you were shaking.
“Glad you liked it,” he laughed before getting up, “I’ll get you a towel, be right back.”
As you were waiting for him to come back you realized what had just happened. After all the flirting and teasing Taehyung and you actually ended up in your bed. The thought made you dizzy, but it could also be from the alcohol you drank. It seemed too good to be true.
Cleaning you up, you suddenly heard a laugh as he grabbed your ass, “I may or may not have left some marks. I’m sorry.”
You turned you head back, squinting your eyes at him, “You’re lucky no one else sees that part of me. The others would tease me to death about that.”
Slowly, he climbed back up to lay next to you, both of you on your stomach, his hand caressing your side, “Apparently they have a bet going on about when we’re going to end up together.”
“I’m not even surprised. Sounds like them,” you closed your eyes, enjoying Taehyung’s affection, “This feels nice.”
He hummed in agreement before giving you a small kiss, his forehead resting next to yours, “I could stay like this forever.”
“Then stay,” you offered, still not opening your eyes. Taehyung was getting a blanket, throwing it over both of you so you wouldn’t freeze, “Don’t leave. Stay here.”
“You want me to?” he asked, his hand now playing with your hair, “Alright, I’ll stay then. Sleep a bit, it’s late and you’re drunk.”
“I will, just give me one more kiss, okay?” you asked him, feeling yourself getting more tired by any passing second.
He chuckled as he came closer to your face once again, holding your face in his hands as he softly pressed his lips onto yours one more time, your naked bodies touching. “Good night, (y/n).”
Falling asleep, everything seemed too good to be true. Taehyung beside you, his scent in your nose as you slowly drifted to sleep in his arms.
As you woke up he was gone. First, you thought you had dreamed about yesterday's events but after a few seconds, you realized that it wasn’t a dream. You got drunk, you had sex, you fell asleep next to him. And now, he was gone.
Standing up, you wrapped your blanket around your naked body, looking for the man that you spend the night with but he was nowhere to be seen.
Well, maybe it was too good to be true.
It’s been five days. Five days since you shared your bed with Taehyung. Five days and your goddamn sheets still smelled like him – or maybe you were hallucinating at this point, wanting just something that reminds you of him around you.
The two of you talked to each other casually when you met on the farm. You said hello and talked about the weather. Shared awkward smiles. And that was about it. It’s not like he was cold to you or anything, he seemed to feel just as helpless and awkward about your drunk night together as you. As much as you loved the night and what happened, you definitely hated the aftermath.
Talking to Yoongi about it didn’t help, sadly. While you appreciate that he always listens to you and is ready to give you advice at any given time, you still had hoped that he’d suggest something else than to give him a bit of time.
The current tension between you was even worse than the sexual tension between you before. You didn’t care if you and Taehyung wouldn’t end up as a couple, of course, you’d like that very much and still hoped that things were going into that direction, but the two of you developed too much to just destroy the nice friendship you built because of feelings getting in the way.
So you decided to visit him that afternoon, feeling anxious as you were walking up the front porch of your neighbors. You barely remember how their house looked like from the inside since it’s been so long since you been inside. The front door stood open and you knocked against it, not wanting to be rude.
“Mrs. Kim?” you called for her as you slowly stepped inside, looking if you could find her but there was no sign of her being home.
Walking up the stairs, you tried to remember which room belonged to Taehyung until you were distracted by something odd and unexpected – suddenly your ears were filled with a beautiful but rather sad piano melody coming from the room on the back of the corridor.
Curious, your feet walked towards the source of the sound, your heart suddenly felt heavy, the sad melody immediately managed to impact your mood, making you feel blue. A part of you wanted to turn around and leave Taehyung alone, just like he probably wanted you to – if you figured out one thing about him over the last few months than it was the fact that this man was a complicated person, hard to read and even harder to talk to, but you decided to accept that. There were only two options: Either you’d work it out with him or you wouldn’t.
You stood in the open door, looking at the back of the man your heart wanted so bad, sitting in front of a big, wooden piano – for a second you couldn’t even believe that he was able to play such a heart touching piece of art, sitting in his room all alone. What a waste it was for him to play all alone, with no one around to hear. It made your heart sting for a second, at this point you liked him too much to go back. Just looking at him being at peace was making you crave to be the woman beside him. After all, he was Kim Taehyung, the one man that managed to surprise you over and over again.
As quiet as possible you walked into the tidy and light room, not wanting to give him a heart attack by creeping up on him but also not wanting him to stop playing. It was a beautiful sight, the way his hands were gliding on the big instrument so smooth and without thinking. You couldn’t see his face yet but you were already swooning over how beautiful he looked.
He looked over his shoulders as you cleared your throat, continuing to play even without paying attention to the keys, giving you an unreadable smile. You sat down on his bed that was placed right beside the piano as he stopped playing.
“Didn’t expect you to come visit me if I am honest,“ Taehyung admitted, almost sounding shy. He seemed to be a bit uncomfortable, knowing exactly that he finally had to face the night you shared a few days ago.
“Well, I didn’t expect you to be able to play the piano so skillfully but yet, here you are, doing exactly that,“ you countered in a soft tone, not wanting him to feel like you were mad at him, “That sounded beautiful.”
He chuckled and you were happy to see him relax a bit, “You think so? It was rather depressing, wasn't it?”
“Matching your mood?” you dared to ask him carefully, trying to address the whole situation somehow.
He stood up from his chair and walked over to you, sitting down next to you on his bed, “It’s my dad’s birthday today. He taught me the song I just played.”
His voice was full of love while talking about his father but you could hear the hidden sadness behind it. You didn’t know about that and suddenly, you felt guilt rushing over you. While you were wondering why he didn't try to solve the obvious problem between you and him he had something way harder to deal with. Looking up at you, he forced a small smile, “Mum and Olli are visiting his grave but I didn’t feel like going.”
Trying to give him any kind of comfort you nodded, pressing your lips into a thin line. You were surprised that he was opening up to you but as sad as the situation was, it was relieving you that he finally talked to someone about it. According to Jimin and Yoongi he tried to avoid this topic as much as he could.
“Why did you stay here?” you asked him, trying to keep the conversation going and show him your support. What you didn’t want was overwhelm him with questions, so you slowly started to see how comfortable he was around you.
He shrugged, looking up at the ceiling, “It’s such a sad place. I feel like we shouldn’t be sad on his birthday, if that makes sense. We should eat his favorite food and drink a beer and stay up too long, playing guitar on the porch. Mum and Dad always sneaked out at night on his birthday, taking drunk walks. They thought I didn’t notice but they were always coming back, laughing loudly. I miss celebrating his birthdays. But it’s hard to be happy on his birthday without him here.”
He laid down on his bed, his head right next to where you were currently sitting. You studied his face, his eyes still glued to the ceiling, not daring to look at you, the woman he hurt by leaving her after having sex with her. The sun outside was setting, leaving Taehyung’s whole room in a golden light, his tan skin was glowing and his light-brown hair shimmering.
While he seemed to be sad on the outside you could see that talking about the memories he made with his father was making him feel lighter. It was nice seeing him talking about his dad - they always have been very close, you still could recall that.
“I still remember him so vividly. He always gifted me self-made jam before I left the city and no other jam, literally not a single one at home was comparable to his,“ you shared your memory with Taehyung, looking out of the big window in his room, admiring the sun, “He has a beautiful soul.”
When you came over you wouldn't have expected to talk to Taehyung about his father but you knew that everything else, every problem and unsolved question, between the two of you could wait for now.
“I wish I was more like him,“ his voice was nothing more than a mumble, almost inaudible. The sudden craving to hold him came over you, to comfort him in your arms, to kiss him until he felt better. But you held back, as long as you didn’t talk about the obvious.
“What do you mean?” you asked him, daring to lay down beside him – luckily, he didn’t seem to mind. The two of you didn’t touch or cuddled, you just were lying there, on his bed, having a serious and meaningful conversation.
“He was so kind and positive. He told my mother different reasons why he loved her every night. Even after a long day of work he still took his time and practiced the piano with me every night and then brought Olli to bed, reading him a good night story or playing him songs on the guitar until he fell asleep. He taught me so much but still, I could never be so full of love like he used to be.”
“You think too low of yourself, Tae,“ you said determined, meaning it, “I don’t think you see how much your mother appreciates everything you do for her. She knows that you didn’t plan out your life like this but you’re staying here for her. And Olli looks up to you so much, you could do nothing to let him down.”
He shrugged, looking at you for a second, “I don’t feel like that’s enough.”
Feeling heartbroken about hearing him talk so bad about himself, your hand found his in between the two of you, linking it with yours, now it was you who didn't dare to look into his eyes, “Look at us then.”
“What do you mean?” he asked you, confused.
“Since I moved here you gave me so much joy and helped me everywhere you could. You have no idea how much I appreciate all the things you’ve done for me since I came here, complicated tensions between us or not,“ you meant every word.
He scoffed lightly, “I attacked you on your first day, made you churn butter and let you fall into the lake in the middle of the night on your birthday.”
You couldn’t help but laugh a bit at his words, “Well, yes. And I could still kill you for all of those things. But,“ you started, turning your body towards him to look into his eyes, “You also helped me calm the cows during the storm. You gave me the most meaningful birthday present I could’ve thought of. You brought me a basket full of my favorite fruits even though you still deny that you did-”
He let out a soft chuckle before interrupting you, “That wasn’t me,“ he insisted once again with a grin on his face.
“Sure, Kim,“ you rolled your eyes at him picking up this discussion again, “You might think you’re being cold but you’re not at all.”
Now he turned to face you too, both of you lying on the side, looking in each other’s eyes. His brows narrowed as he tried to say something to you, the expression in his eyes seemed to be hurt, maybe even guilty.
A heavy sigh came from his lips before he closed his eyes, “I just left you. That morning. I just got up and left.”
Those words made you freeze. After all, you came here to talk about exactly that but it seemed so wrong right now, “We don’t have to talk abou-”
“I just left,“ he repeated, seeming disappointed with himself, “I never just left someone after having sex with them. There were people that meant way less to me and I still stayed the morning after. I am being a complete asshole to you all the time and still, you don’t hate me. You’re here, trying to make sure I’m okay.”
Keeping quiet was the only thing you could do at that moment. Taehyungs words seemed harsh but the tone in his voice sounded guilty. Even if you wanted to, you couldn’t say anything – you had no idea what Taehyung was trying to say.
“Tae,“ you finally started after a few seconds, his full attention on you, “This day is hard enough for you already. We don’t have to talk about that right now. I’m not mad at you.”
“You should be though. I know, I am pretty amazing but not even such a godlike man like me shouldn’t treat you like this,“ he joked but both of you knew it was his way of comprehending because he didn’t know how to handle the conversation you were about to have since he always struggled to talk about his feelings, especially sober.
“Why did you leave then?” you asked him the one question you asked yourself over and over again. There could have been millions of options in your mind. Maybe, he regretted it and it was just a drunk mistake. Maybe, the feelings you thought he had for you were just sexually. Maybe, he simply had to go and do something early in the morning. So many maybes that have gone through your head without any idea if any of those maybe’s were right.
“I don’t know. I wish I didn’t,“ he bit his lip nervously, not looking into your eyes anymore, afraid to see your reaction, “Maybe I’m afraid.”
“Afraid of what?” you asked, not sure if you actually wanted to know the answer. You felt many emotions when it came to him. You felt happiness, joy, hope, possibly love. On other days you felt powerless, insecure and confused. What you never felt was being afraid. Pretty sure, you actually felt safe around him.
“I’m not as flawless and strong as I constantly try to convince you I am,“ he sighed, pressing his lips into a straight line, “I couldn’t stand to hurt you because of my own problems. But I still did.”
Slowly you nodded as your heart was sinking deeper and deeper in your stomach, “You’ve got to talk to me. What are you thinking about?”
Taehyung hated this probably even more than you did. He was good in so many things – he was a good friend, a better brother and the best son. He was an amazing cook and apparently, an amazing piano player. He could flirt like no tomorrow and crack jokes around his friends that would make everyone laugh. He could drink a lot and he could make your heart beat faster.
There were countless things he was able to be and to do without any problem. But when it came to talking about his feelings and showing his vulnerable side he failed. You knew that just as good as everyone else but if he wouldn’t talk, you couldn’t continue to work on your relationship.
“I–“ he started but stopped, looking at you sternly while clenching his jaw a bit. His eyebrows furrowed and his expression looked almost pained, trying to find the right words, “I think that I loved the night with you. I did, really. But maybe, it was a bit thoughtless of us.”
“So, what you’re trying to say is that you regret it,“ you stated, trying to just get this conversation over with, hoping he couldn’t see or hear that you felt like he just put a knife in your stomach.
„God, no,“ his answer bursted out of him like a bullet before he started mumbling to himself, „I am truly terrible at this.“
You gave him a few seconds to gather his thoughts even though the silence was deafening. This wasn't how you expected to spend your first time in Taehyung's bed at all.
„I like you, (y/n),“ he then spoke, determined, „Obviously I do. And I think you like me too, or at least I hope you do. But we were drunk and desperate when we had sex and I wanted it to be special.“
You couldn't help but pout at his helpless confession, adoring him even more than before. Within seconds all of your doubts vanished – as long as Taehyung liked you too you would find a way to work everything out. Trying not to let your overflowing happiness show, you gave him a small smirk, „You thought about us having sex?“
Luckily, his body relaxed too, an annoyed smile appearing on his handsome face, „All the time,“ he scrunched his nose, his arm wrapping itself around your waist.
„So, what you're saying is that you ignored me for days because you didn't like the way it happened?“ you asked him, coming back to the actual topic.
Frowning, he sighed, „When you put it like this it sounds stupid.“
„Because it is,“ you insisted, squinting your eyes at him, „I thought you avoided me because you hated me or something like that.“
„I'm so sorry,“ he apologized again, his face coming closer to yours, „Apparently, I'm very bad at this.“
„So, what are we doing now?“ you asked him, feeling a bit anxious even though Taehyung just told you that he liked you too, so you had nothing to worry about.
„First, I want to kiss you if you're fine with that,“ his fingers were drawing little patterns on your waist, „and then I'd like us to become something serious.“
Nodding, you did as he asked and gave him a kiss, his soft lips feeling just as good, if not better, as you remembered them. You felt something like butterflies in your stomach and you thought that Taehyung would probably make fun of you if he knew how jolly he made you feel.
Breaking from the kiss, the most handsome man you've ever seen stared you down for a second, not saying anything.
„We should celebrate,“ he suddenly suggested.
„What do you have in mind?“ you asked him curiously, not once escaping his gaze.
„Let me take you out to dinner,“ his voice was sweet as honey and you were sure you never heard him talk in such a soft tone – it might be the rest of guilt he still felt towards you or the fact that now you officially knew about each other's feelings but you could get used to it. You wanted to get used to it.
„Right now?“ you asked him, wondering if it would be okay considering it was his father's birthday.
„I don't wanna wait a second longer,“ he smirked at his own cheesiness, getting out of his bed to get ready to go.
You joined him, „Stop being so loving. God, where did my cynical Taehyung go?“
Rolling his eyes, he chuckled as he wrapped his arm around your waist, walking down the hallway with you. „This changes nothing,“ he gestured between the two of you, „You're still terribly annoying even if we're together now.“
„I could get used to the sound of that,“ you scrunched your nose as your eyes met before you repeated his words, „We're together now.“
Even though he tried to hide it, he was just as excited about the label as you were. You could feel it in the way he touched you and the sparkle in his eyes gave him away.
A few minutes later you were sitting outside of the restaurant in the heart of your city, the marketplace was pretty quiet as it slowly got dark outside, a candle lit on your table.
The owner of the restaurant greeted you, raising his eyebrow and smirking as he saw the two of you together. „Oh, what a nice sight to see the two of you here together. Is this a date by any chance?“
You let Taehyung answer, not knowing if he was okay with telling people yet.
„It's still a secret so you have to keep quiet, please,“ he answered with a proud smile on his lips and you could swear his chest was sticking out a bit.
„What a pretty couple,“ he sang as he went back inside, giving you a bit of time to read the menu and decide on what to eat.
Even though it was almost autumn it was still warm outside – you loved those kind of late summer evenings. Without even having a single sip of alcohol you felt almost tipsy, the man opposite of you making you feel all light and smitten.
„This is the downside of living in such a small town,“ Taehyung started, his skin glowing in the candlelight, „We have zero privacy.“
„I don't mind,“ you shrugged, „They're going to find out sooner or later. It's the charm of towns like ours.“
„I just would like to take you out on a date every now and then without one of the guys crashing it because they see us,“ he explained, „But you're right, it's not as bad here as I make it out to be.“
He took your hand that was resting on the table, caressing it with his thumb. Every touch you two shared make you shiver in anticipation for more. Even though you already knew you were head over heels for him you felt yourself falling deeper every time you touched.
Time went by way too fast for your liking and before you knew it you two had your dinner, your dessert and even some drinks afterwards. The atmosphere was light, both of you enjoying each other's company after not talking for some days.
„I don't want this night to end just yet,“ you pouted. Before you dared to take his hands you glanced around to see if Jimin was anywhere to be seen, not wanting him to disturb your peace.
Your new boyfriend, still a weird thought to call him that, nodded, „I can stay if you want to.“
Before you could say anything he fastly added, „I don't have to though. It's your decision. I can leave too.“
You gave him a weird glance, „You're acting like this would be a first for us.“
Not saying anything he almost froze in front of you, fidgeting with his hands, staring at your door. For a few seconds you mustered him, waiting if he'd say something but nothing came out of his mouth, which was pretty unusual for him.
„Oh god, you're nervous!“ your grin was a mile wide and you clapped your hands amused, „Kim Taehyung is nervous because of me. I can't wait to tell my diary about this.“
Frustration was written all over his face as he closed his eyes as if he couldn't believe himself. „Your diary must be full of my name,“ he mumbled under his breath before looking at you again, the satisfied smile on your face provoking him, „Stop making fun of me.“
As you were searching for your keys in your back he hugged you from behind, pressing a kiss against your hair, “Let’s drink some beer and watch a movie.”
Nodding, you stole a quick kiss from his lips and opened the door, letting the both of you in.
“I’m going to get a blanket,” you informed him, “Get some beers, I’ll meet you in the couch in a minute.
„What do you wanna watch?“ he asked you a few moments later, one leg bent while the other one was spread out on your sofa, his arm spread on the back of it, just waiting for you to join him.
The sight of him comfortably sitting on your sofa gave you the most domestic feeling you've felt in a long time – he seemed to look even better than before somehow.
„Let's watch an animal documentation,“ you responded, sitting down next to him. The blanket you brought from your bedroom spread over the two of you, you dared to cuddle yourself up to him and he seemed to enjoy it as much as you, giving your head a quick kiss, your face resting on his chest.
„You're weird,“ he muttered, „Let's watch a horror movie instead.“
Giving him an unimpressed glance, you sighed, „How cliche.“
You could feel his chuckle going through his chest, „At least it would give me a reason to stay for the night.“
Rolling your eyes, you looked up at him, his glance already on you, „Why? Because you're too afraid of horror movies? Because I am certainly not.“
„I have such a brave girlfriend,“ he acknowledged in a sarcastic tone while opening two beers, handing you one, „Here's to us, babe.“
Clinking your bottles, you took a sip of your beer, „So, you're a babe kind of guy? Wouldn't have thought that.“
„I can call you asshole if you prefer that,“ he said seriously before starting to laugh at his own joke once again.
And with that, the rest of the evening was just as perfect as the first part. It was just you, Taehyung, some beers and Netflix. Every now and then you shared kisses, sometimes those kisses were a bit more passionate and longer, turning into full make-out sessions before Taehyung started to whine because he missed the plot of the movie you were watching.
“God, I’m so happy,” he told you softly as you were slowly falling asleep in his arms, relaxing completely under his touch, “I wanted this for so long.”
You and Taehyung managed to keep your relationship a secret for about two weeks. It took you only two short weeks to decide that it didn’t make any sense to keep it from them. Not only were both of you pretty sure that the relationship between you was serious but also, like always, none of your friends stopped their teasing, making it difficult to stay hidden because their eyes were always on you.
“We have to tell them,” your boyfriend looked at you, “It’s a miracle they didn’t find out yet.”
You chuckled, wrapping your legs around his, “I guess you’re right. But they are going to be so nosey about it. I hate it already.”
It was a late summer Saturday evening, probably one of the lasts warm days for this year and Yoongi decided to gather your friends and your family together for one last barbecue.
Walking outside, you linked your arm with Taehyung’s, something you’ve never done before in front of other people. A part of you almost felt nervous to let the rest know.
“You’re ready?” he asked you, giving you a small wink as you walked towards the big table next to the barbecue grill. Your families were already sitting down on the big table while Yoongi and Hoseok were struggling to get the barbecue grill to work. It was a beautiful evening, the sun was still high but was about to sink, the warm summer breeze felt refreshing and the big table in the garden was full of drinks and food, from meat to salads to bread to vegetables. Yoongi’s parents were there too, currently mixing some cocktails.
Jimin was the first to spot the two of you walking out of your cottage, giving you a confused glance, his eyebrows narrowed. He stopped telling the other a story he was in the middle of, wondering about the sudden skinship. Immediately, everyone turned their heads to where he was looking, wondering what made Jimin speechless.
As you arrived you said nothing, waiting for anyone to say something.
Yoongi looked at you with a big grin on his face. “What is that supposed to mean?” he asked, pointing onto your linked arms.
“You are fucking with us, aren’t you?”, your cousin asked suspiciously, “Ha Ha. Very funny.”
“No, for once I’m serious,” you replied, amused because he didn’t believe you, “Are you really surprised?”
Mrs. Kim and your uncle looked at each other, a smile on their faces.
“Taehyung, are you serious? You can’t trick your old mother like this, don’t make me excited for something that isn’t true.”
Taehyung chuckled at his mother, nodding, “Don’t worry, mum. I’d never lie to you.”
Jimin still didn’t seem to believe you, “If you’re not kidding you gotta kiss,” he insisted with a sly smirk, thinking that he exposed you now.
You looked at Tae, giving him a questioning glance, not knowing if he’d be comfortable kissing you in front of everyone. But he didn’t seem to care and just shook his head amused before he came closer to give you a short, but still very adorable, kiss on your lips, his arm now around your waist, before turning to Jimin, who looked like he was about to faint.
“Who do you think you are just dating my cousin without asking me for permission?” he yelled angrily, getting ready to fight Taehyung.
You, Yoongi and Hoseok started to laugh out loud as Jimin started to chase after Taehyung.
Sitting down on the table right next to Yoongi’s seat he pinched your cheeks lightly, “Congratulations, finally trapped him, huh?”
You nodded, “Was about time. I was slowly going insane.”
“In a more peaceful minute, you need to tell me all about how it happened, alright?” your best friend said with a satisfied smile on his lips, “And don’t forget me now that you’re in love.”
“How could I ever?” you promised, laughing as Taehyung came back to the table, out of breath from running away from Jimin.
“Your cousin is crazy, (y/n),” he breathed heavily, shaking his head, “Maybe I have to reconsider becoming part of your family.”
“Well, too late now,“ you shrugged as Jimin joined the table again too, a goofy smile on his face as he turned to you.
“So, I assume I can’t try to set you up with Jungkook anymore, right?” he joked, sitting back down on his chair and opening two cans of beer, one for himself and the other one for you.
„You better watch your mouth,“ your boyfriend warned Jimin, giving him a warning glance.
A few hours later, the sky was pitch-black by now and the stars sparkling, you noticed that Taehyung was gone for quite some time now and decided to go check up on him - you saw him going to the barn earlier.
As you walked over to Taehyung he already noticed you but didn’t look at you yet. Instead, you only saw his back as he was busy giving Bertha some kisses.
“Oh no, don’t worry, Bertha,“ he talked to her, “You’re still my favorite cow, just don’t tell (y/n).”
You rolled your eyes, scoffing, “You’re trying to make me jealous?”
He turned around, acting as if he didn’t realize you coming on, “Oh no, (y/n),“ his voice was mocking, “You shouldn’t have seen this, I can explain, I promise.”
Laughing at his own joke, he came over to you and put his arm around your shoulder, pulling you closer to him. Trying to give you a kiss, you freed yourself from his grip, giving him the cold shoulder.
“No, go and kiss Bertha, if you love her so much,“ you huffed and held your chin up high, trying to stay serious but Taehyung wasn’t having it. Within seconds his arms were wrapped around you once again, now tighter than before so you couldn’t escape if you wanted.
Pulling you into a hug, he locked his eyes with you, a joyful smile on his still so beautiful lips, “You’re so annoying.”
Scoffing, you avoided his eyes, still playing hard to get, „I thought we're over the whole 'you're annoying me' phase.“
„Actually, each time I told you that you're annoying I fell in love with you a bit more,“ your boyfriend confessed, still hugging you tightly before smirking, „But you still were a pain in the ass.“
You gave him a quick and small kiss before resting your forehead against his, “I want to spend the rest of my life annoying you.”
He let out a small laugh, his eyes closed. “Oh, that’s good,“ suddenly he picked you up, giving you no other chance as to hold onto him, your legs around his waist as he was holding you up, his arms tightly around your waist, “Because I want to spend the rest of my annoying life with you.”
#bts#taehyung#taehyung imagine#taehyung scenario#taehyung smut#taehyung au#jungkook#jimin#namjoon#hoseok#yoongi#seokjin#bts imagines#taehyung x reader#taehyung fanfic
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The Trial Period - Prologue
Summary: When the perfect studio space comes up, you leap at the chance to take it. Except, so has Park Jinyoung, someone you have hated for the past three years. Given three months to share the space before deciding who will claim it, can you push Jinyoung out by the end of your trial period, or will you find that the tactics you both use leads to something unexpected?
Pairing: Park Jinyoung x female reader
Genre: romance / suggestive / enemies to lovers au
Warnings: (overall storyline) heavily suggestive/bordering smut content, light cursing now and then. This part: none.
A/N: This series came together from an idea I had and a prompt for Idea Starters (will be shared in part 5). Whilst I know I’ve written a lot of E2L with Jinyoung, this is a story where I pushed through my usual boundaries with mature content. I hope you enjoy it!
Word count: 511
Prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
You scanned the walls up to the high ceiling in delight, imagining what your personal touch on the place would do to the empty studio space. It had the right amount of natural lighting and was so spacious that you would be able to spread out your workstation for once.
You grinned. There was no way you wouldn’t sign the lease today.
“It’s perfect,” you told Mr Morris, the building owner, smiling brightly and reaching into your bag to produce a pen and necessary paperwork. “I’d like to sign up for the lease.”
“Oh, really? That’s great—one second!” he suddenly said when he glanced down at the phone he held, his eyes widening. “Oh, uh, that’s unexpected.”
“What is?”
“The space has just been leased,” he mentioned as his eyebrows knitted together.
“What?! But you said I was the first one to look at it,” you replied, growing frantic as your envisions for the studio started to crumble. Lurching forward, you shook your head. “I’m extremely interested. Can’t you ignore the application and accept mine? I’ll fill it in right now and give you the deposit today!”
“I’ve already submitted my deposit to the agency,” a new, familiar voice, said and you glanced up in horror, blinking several times in hopes to dislodge the person before you.
Park Jinyoung walked into the studio and glanced around. “I’m sorry. I didn’t have the time to be patient and view the place first. I looked into the building blueprints and deciphered that—”
“Why is it always you?!”
Glancing at your outburst and then at Jinyoung’s arrival, Mr Morris scratched his head before grinning. “Wait. You both know one another?”
“Unfortunately,” Jinyoung answered politely, as you seethed and refused to look in his direction.
“We live in the same apartment block,” you admitted, and the older man nodded.
“Well, how about this? A trial period. You both take the space.”
“What?!” you cried with Jinyoung in unison, but Mr Morris merely held up a hand to stop any disputes.
“For three months, you share the studio. Of course, I’ll give you both a discounted rate. There’s more than enough room in here for two businesses to flourish. Then at the end of the three months, I’m sure you’ll decide between yourselves if you can make it work or one of you chooses another space.”
“What if neither of us bends?” Jinyoung enquired, glaring at you before smiling politely at the owner. “What happens then?”
He chuckled. “I’m sure you young folk will be able to sort it between yourselves. So, are you both keen?”
“I need to have this space,” you answered, shooting Jinyoung a distasteful look. He jutted his jaw and rolled his eyes.
“There’s plenty of other vacant buildings, Y/N.”
“I don’t care. I’m staking my claim here.”
Jinyoung folded his arms across his chest, looking at you and then back at the owner. “Three months? Deal. I’ll ensure I’m the one taking over after then.”
You scowled at Jinyoung, not stepping down from the challenge. “We’ll see about that.”
_________________
Part 1
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the sweetest thing (M) | myg
➛pairing: Min Yoongi x reader
➛genre: florist!Yoongi, baker!Reader, florist AU, baker AU, enemies to lovers, humor, smut.
➛word count: 4799
➛rating: M
➛warnings: not too many, this is pretty sweet & soft. Heavy petting, cursing, making out, neck kissing, biting/marking, icing used in a dirty manner, implied sex, mild dirty talk, bad puns, witty banter.
➛summary: Min Yoongi was sure you moved in next door to his floral shop just to ruin him and his business. But when he needs your help, he realizes that it’s much sweeter working together then apart.
➛notes: Hehehe. My sweet little angel bb Paril requested some florist shop Yoongi E2L with baker reader, and I just had to oblige. I love writing Yoongi, he truly just is perfect for me to channel sass and sarcasm and a bit of sweetness. Thank you for commissioning me @serensama (and the kind bank of @quinnkook), I hope you enjoy this and that it’s what you were looking for! I love you tons and I’m proud to be your soulmate. 🖤
➛song: People - AGUST D for the sweet fluff & Poison - GOT7 for the dirty dirty.
“She’s doing this on purpose.”
“No she isn’t, hyung. That doesn’t make sense.” Namjoon picks up a rose, twirling it in inspection. “Does she even know you exist?”
Yoongi scoffs then, eyes darting from the arrangement in front of him to glare at Namjoon. “Of course she knows I exist. Our shops share a wall.”
Instead of replying, Namjoon rolls his eyes before refocusing, carefully watching the stem as his hand slides the knife down it to remove any thorns. Yoongi accepts his silence as defeat, puffing his chest. “So, like I was saying - she’s doing this on purpose, and she’s going to bleed me dry.”
The door swings open then, Hoseok and Jungkook both moving to the workstations with arms full of supplies, the latter’s eyes wide as he picks up on the conversation.
“Wait! Are you talking about Y/N noona?”
“Yes, and how she’s killing business-”
“Isn’t she just the coolest?!” Jungkook interrupts, beaming over at Yoongi. “Have you seen the designs for her flower cookies? And how she’s selling twelve of them in a pack and calling them ‘coo-quets’? Get it? Like instead of-”
“Bouquets, yes Jungkook, I get the pun.” Yoongi mutters dryly, setting the finished arrangement in it’s vase and sliding it to the side. Hoseok is laughing, so hard in fact that he misses Yoongi picking up a roll of tape until it beams him in the head.
“Hey! What was that for!” rubbing his crown, he glares at the florist before reluctantly picking up the tape, fixing the customer label to the side of the vase before moving it over to the fridge. “Don’t be violent with me just because you have the hots for the pretty baker next door.”
Yoongi sputters, hand slapping the top of the table. “I do not have the hots for-”
“Yeah yeah, we know, you definitely aren’t into Y/N, at all,” Namjoon deadpans, reaching into the box for his next rose to dethorn. “You don’t find her attractive, you didn’t stalk her and pretend to be a customer just so you could see inside her business, absolutely nothing to see here.”
“Your sarcasm is noted and also not appreciated,” Yoongi sniffs, before turning away from the taller man all together. “All I’m saying is, ever since she moved into that building, she’s caused issues. And now this is how she decides to promote for the Spring Blossom festival? It feels like an attack.”
“But hyung, it’s called the ‘Spring Blossom Festival’, I think leaning towards flowers would be kind of an obvious choice, right?” Jungkook prompts, head tilting in naive innocence.
Yoongi sighs heavily, head dropping to his chest, and wonders not for the first time why he thought hiring his friends to work with him was a good idea.
Maybe Jungkook had a point; maybe they all did. But that wasn’t enough to convince Yoongi that your motives were all sincere in nature. He was telling the truth when he said that ever since you had moved in next door, things had gone haywire for his small, locally loved floral shop.
He had only been in the space for about a year, but the street it was on had picked up in popularity with a new pub and restaurant concept on the corner, and a local farmers market moving in on the weekends. Quickly, his little business grew, people coming to him when seeking unique arrangements that were both beautiful and affordable. As demand increased, so did the need to hire more hands, and his friends had been enthusiastic to join his payroll.
For the most part, things had been smooth sailing.Training the others had been relatively easy, and what shortcomings they had, he was able to find a new strength they each brought to the business. He was comfortable, thriving, going to bed with a full belly and fat wallet, and it’s all he could ask for.
Until you.
Yoongi didn’t even see you until after you had already bought and renovated the building next door, the sign for your bakery going up and accenting the coral pink of the painted brick perfectly. He had thought it was cute; how bright and cheery your shop looked, how you were always dressed in flattering sundresses and heels, despite spending your days in a kitchen baking. He walked past your place daily to get to his own, and had found himself curious about what you were like, how good your food was, how successful you’d be.
He figured the aesthetic alone would bring in some customers, if not the increased foot traffic the farmers market brought in, and he wasn’t wrong. Your soft opening had gone well, a small line forming outside the building to Yoongi’s amusement. Word of mouth worked like a charm in your neighborhood, and a steady flow of regulars would greet him on his trek into work each morning at sunrise as they awaited their breakfast pastry and hot cup of coffee.
While this was great for you, it wasn’t so good for him. Your customers would always line up in the direction where they would block his window, meaning people walking by couldn’t get a glimpse at the creations he had displayed in the windows. Not to mention the littering - flurries of light brown napkins with your logo stamped in the middle usually lining the street in front of the shops, seemingly taunting him.
And then, the festival came. The Spring Blossom Festival, to be exact.
It was clever, he’d admit that much. The word play of ‘cookie’ and ‘bouquet’, the different color options of the edible flowers painstakingly drawn onto perfectly baked sugar cookies. You had really put thought and effort into the design, and he wasn’t surprised that it seemed to be a hit, dominating the first several days of the festival.
But that didn’t mean he liked it.
He watched helplessly as his sales dipped, as customers that would’ve wanted the real thing instead switched it up for prettily decorated consumable flowers, all cooing and preening over the treats in their matching boxes.
Yoongi had to retaliate. What else was there for him to do?
After watching you hang neon pink flyers up around the street, he had made some as well, deciding he’d place them conveniently directly over your own. Matching the paper to yours had been Namjoon's suggestion, and Yoongi had thought it was genius. That seemed to bring in a few more customers, but the lull still remained, his till and bank account making it painfully apparent.
It had been Jungkook's idea to photo bomb some of your promotional pictures when he spotted you posing in front of the shop, pristine desserts in hand and a floral dress on to match. Yoongi had shook his head but ultimately agreed, handing him one of his best designed bouquets and nudging him towards your bakery. Trying to make it look natural, he strolled back and forth in the background, making sure the flowers in his hand were always towards the camera, that he looked as if he was enjoying the festival as a patron. After about the fifth pass through, the boxy lipped young man taking your pictures had scowled, shouting after him to get out of the way. You had laughed, invited Jungkook to talk with you, even posted one of the pictures with him in it on your Instagram like it hadn’t phased you at all.
Now, here he was with only two more days left of the festival - a time that he should be making double - and with nothing more to show for it. Pre-made and custom bouquets lined the shop windows, hoping to entice anyone passing by, but most remained untouched and without a home to go to.
He was desperate.
"Why don't you just go talk to her?" Hoseok interjects, an eyebrow raised. "Maybe you can explain what's happening, see if she'd be willing to help out or team up or something."
Scoffing loudly, Yoongi kicks at the ground. "Team up? You think I want to team up with her? This is a serious business I run here, you know."
Hoseok gives Namjoon a passing glance over the blonde's head, not that he notices, too stuck inside his thoughts. It's Jungkook's loud voice that breaks the silence once more.
"Y/N noona is really nice, you know. And her cookies are so yummy, I bet she would love to help us!"
"You've tried her cookies, Jungkook?!" Yoongi’s voice raises, incredulous. "This is a sudden yet inevitable betrayal, you know. It really be your own friends."
"Seriously, Yoongi. You think she's cute anyway. Might as well go over under the pretense of business and at least see if you can score her number." Namjoon deadpanned, dropping his knife and making sure to show him every ounce of pleading desperation on his face.
Yoongi ponders for a beat or two, pretending to mull it over all the while recognizing that it couldn't hurt anything to go chat with his new neighbor, introduce himself. Who knows, maybe there was a deal to be made?
You thought he was so cute, the grumpy little florist next door.
His mouth was perpetually in a pout, bottom lip upturned enough that it made him look like he was always inspecting, always exasperated. His eyes were sharp, but not in a judgmental way - more like in the way where you knew nothing went past his scrutinizing gaze, and they were offset by the soft white blonde of his hair, in the refined silver hoops that lined his ears.
Your neighbor Yoongi was a walking contradiction, and you couldn’t help but to be charmed by him.
You had heard rumors about him, heard people's worries of you moving into the building next to his very popular floral shop, but you didn't pay them any mind. You had yet to meet someone that you couldn't make a friend, and if he was impervious to your charms, he definitely wouldn't be able to deny your best coworker, Taehyung, and his infectious personality.
But despite your attempts, you always seemed to miss him, unable to properly introduce yourself when he bustled by during the morning rush, or when you were cleaning up shop. It didn't stop you from observing, from watching the way he eyed your building, the way he'd upturn his lip at the line forming outside the door at daybreak.
He seemed so easily ruffled, so annoyed but in this endearing way, and you couldn't help but want to get to know him, to see if you could get him to open up.
Especially once he started his attempts at sabotage.
They had been subtle at first - the flyer trick something you wouldn't have noticed if it hadn't been for Jin, who made sure to check and replace any torn advertisements at the end of each day. The designs had looked so similar that you didn't even double take until the elder had pointed out the word change, how the name of Yoongi's business adorned the top of the page. Jin's eyes were ablaze, but you had just laughed, instructing him to leave the ones he found alone.
But it made you more curious, further intrigued by your flower selling neighbor who took such lengths to garner business, and you couldn't help but want to see what he did next.
It had been Taehyung that grumbled about some tall dark haired boy ruining all your promotional shots, though he had smirked the whole time he showed you the images you ended up with. You recognized that he was a worker at the florist next door almost immediately, the immaculate arrangement he carried carefully in his hands striking your intuition further.
Finally, Taehyung had shouted at him, and you called the boy over to introduce himself despite his red cheeks and ducking gaze. You learned his name was Jungkook and that he was indeed a coworker and friend of Yoongi’s, and that he was just trying to help, though he wouldn't go into much more detail after that. You had chatted with him briefly, offering him a cookie for his troubles, and promised him that you weren’t mad about his attempts at photobombing.
And you were telling the truth - you really couldn't be annoyed at these attempts to thwart your advertising, instead laughing at each new picture, making sure you picked one where the bouquet was clearly visible behind you as you held an open box of 'coo-quets'.
It isn't hatred, you don't think, that drives your neighbor to do this, but you aren't quite sure where to go from here. He still hadn't introduced himself, and with how busy things were during the festival, you hadn't found the time to do the same either, working long hours to keep afloat with your orders and walk-ins. You wanted to ask him why he was so annoyed with you, what he had against your little bakery, but you told yourself there would be time for that later when the heat died down.
Not to mention, Taehyung had been chomping at the bit for an excuse to go introduce himself.
"Y/N," he whined, dragging the last syllable of your name out into an obnoxious tune. "I just want to go make friends! Why won't you let me?"
"Because someone needs to run the register for these customers, Tae. Jin and I are elbow deep in cookie dough, and Jimin can't run both sides of the counter himself."
The tall man sulks, bottom lip jutting out as his caramel hair flops into his face. "You have a point, I guess. But once the festival is done, I'm going to go introduce myself and invite them over for coffee."
You smile at him then, eyeing him from the corner of your vision as your hands continue to delicately trace colored icing on the cookies in front of you. "That sounds like a deal, Tae."
"Oh! Me too though!" Jimin shouts, turning from the counter to glance into the kitchen of your shop. Normally you'd have the doors to the kitchen closed, but with the day about to start, it made it easier to prop them open while you ran back and forth between the two stations. "I want to go say hi too. They look like really cool guys!"
I'd have to agree, you thought to yourself, picturing the sharp eyed man in your mind, but you stay silent.
To say you were startled when you heard a knock at the back door would be an understatement, even more so when you saw who it was - Yoongi, the pouting florist, blonde hair flopped into his face. He was wearing a fluffy white sweater, a dark green apron tied around his neck and waist, and his sleeves pushed up to his elbows, like he had been prepping for hours - much like you.
With a single look, you shooed the other men out of the kitchen to the front, opening the door to your guest.
"Well hey! You must be Yoongi, I'm-"
"Y/N."
"Oh, I didn't know you knew who I was!" you smile warmly, gesturing for him to step into the kitchen.
"Well, I had seen you move in, of course. Plus, Jungkook hasn't shut up since he met you," he mutters, shaking his hair out of his face as he took several steps inside. "He's like a stray cat, you know. Once you feed him, he's your friend for life."
That made you laugh, a hand rising to cover your mouth, and you couldn’t help the smirk that follows. "Well, he was too cute not to feed. Is that why you're here? Are you another stray who would like to be fed?"
Yoongi’s cheeks flush then, a dusty red that you think would look perfect in the petals of a rose, and you promise yourself to try to recreate it in frosting later.
“Ha, that’s funny,” he clears his throat, hand coming to rub at the back of his neck. “Actually, I was coming to talk to you to see if we could make an arrangement, you know - as one business owner to another.”
“Is that so?” you raise a brow, hands resting at your hips. “And what kind of deal would that be?”
You're surprised at how honest Yoongi is when he explains his situation, lays his hardships bare before you right there in the stuffy heat of your kitchen. He does manage to at least look a little embarrassed when he admits what he did in order to ramp up business, and you can’t stop your heart from softening as he finishes his request, wringing his hands as he looks at you expectantly.
“So, what you’re saying is - you want to work together, make something that the festival goers will love but will help both of our shops - is that right?”
He stands tall then, shoulders rolling back as his gaze pierces through your own. “That’s right. Think of it as a ‘I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine’ type of deal.”
“Is this another cat analogy?”
Yoongi groans, and you giggle at the roll of his eyes.
“I already regret this.”
Stepping closer, you peer up at the florist, watching the way his eyes widen at your proximity. “No, you don’t. And technically I think I’m doing all the scratching here, but that’s okay. I think we could make a good team, Min Yoongi.”
The event is crowded, more so than Yoongi could have ever imagined.
The tables he and you had placed in front of both buildings were stuffed with goods, the heads of your coworkers ducking back inside each entrance to refill them when they got low. Customers were milling about; some taking in the offerings, others lining up in wait to purchase, and the sheer number of people had Yoongi grinning widely.
It was your idea, of course - to offer up a half dozen flowers with a half dozen of cookies, the perfect set. That isn’t to say Yoongi didn’t help; the concept of decorating the tables and dressing formally to stand out being his own, as well as offering to match the flowers and cookies to each other. The red roses and pair set cookies were flying off the shelves fast, but so were the purple calla lilies and pink tulips, which made him smile.
You had been more enthusiastic with the plan, gladly altering the designs of your ‘coo-quets’ to match, and it was clearly a smash hit. Yoongi thought back to how easily it had been to talk to you, to be honest, to spill his guts - how quickly you were willing to help, how natural it had been to form a plan, to laugh with you, and he felt his heart squeeze painfully in his chest.
Yoongi was thrilled with the sales and popularity, of course, but found himself distracted despite the success. He was happy to see his employees grinning and getting along with your own, glad to see the till fill knowing that he’d be able to pay everyone on time, but more than anything, he was ecstatic to see you smile, to see you shine in the sunset pink summer dress that was brushing the tops of your knees.
He himself had donned some light grey dress pants with a white button down, the sleeves carefully rolled to expose his forearms, jacket long forgotten in the heat of the outdoors. You had beamed at him when he first arrived, nodding approvingly at his attire, and he couldn’t help the pride that swelled in his heart at your approval.
And now as the day wore on, every time his elbow knocked into yours, your bodies stepping and swaying as you worked, Yoongi felt a heat build; a sizzling lick of electricity that was sparking between the two of you that he couldn’t ignore.
“You know,” he leans in, mouth inches from your ear as you grin widely at a customer. “I think we do make a pretty good team, Y/N.”
He relishes in the way your skin warms, in the way he watches your cheeks blush so prettily at his words, and feels hopefulness tighten his chest.
“We do, Min Yoongi, especially now that you aren’t actively trying to ruin me.” You grit between frozen teeth, your smile unwavering until the patron is out of hearing range.
“Hey, I didn’t try to ruin anything-”
“Okay, how about ‘mildly inconvenience’ then?”
Chuckling, he raises an arm to rub at the back of his neck, and you follow the lines in his arm as he does so, watching the rippling of muscles beneath the cuff of his rolled up sleeve with interest.
“I guess that’s fair.”
It was amazing how well things turned out, how fast the day had blown by. Jin had slaved away in the kitchen making sure that there were enough baked goods for everyone, Jimin and Taehyung teaming up with Jungkook and Hoseok from the florist shop to run items back and forth and greet customers.
But it was Yoongi who had stolen the air from your lungs and any sense you had left rattling in your head.
You could see now why his business had flourished before you arrived, why the customers continued to return to him when they needed their next arrangement. He was such a good and intent listener, his eyes sharp and focused on whomever was speaking to him. Even in the case of the event, where the flowers were pre-arranged, he still listened, shook and held the hand of each buyer as they spoke, fawning over his flowers.
It was evident he was passionate about his business, which made the fact that he had been willing to do whatever it took - including partnering up with you - even more admirable.
The sun was going down by the time things seemed to slow, your hands aching from the intricate icing work and feet throbbing from running around in heels. It seemed that everyone had satisfied smiles of hard work etched on their faces, and pleasant adoration inflated your gut at the sight, especially when you landed on Yoongi.
The edges of his mouth had finally relaxed, his eyes creasing into half moons more and more as he laughed, stress leaving his body. It was a beautiful sight, if you could admit such a thing.
When the final customer waved goodbye, heading down to the main street for the firework finale of the festival, you left the giddy boys out front to begin cleaning, bones aching at the prospect of all the dishes that needed to be done, but not wanting to drag out the pain any longer than necessary.
“Need some help?” Yoongi was posed in the doorway, arm pressing against the jam, one leg crossed over the other, as if it was normal for him to be effortlessly handsome in sweaty bakery kitchens.
“That would be great,” you smirk, tilting your head. “I wash, you dry?”
And so that’s how you find yourself alone with Yoongi, sweat dotting his hairline as he gives you side glances and small talk over drying mixing bowls. You talk about everything and nothing, conversation flowing freely, and you feel drunk on his proximity, on the way he talks with his hands, the way his voice pitches when he laughs. His white button down is transparent in the spots where water had hit, and even the hint of a peak of his skin made you feel a bit dizzy.
“Thank you for helping me with all of this, by the way. It would have taken hours to do by myself.”
“It’s no big deal. Plus, I’m sure one of those guys out there would’ve came back if you batted your lashes,” he leers, nodding to indicate the young men of both businesses that were currently playing around out front. “Especially Jungkook. He’s been all ‘Y/N noona this, Y/N noona that’ ever since he met you.”
Handing him a dish, you look up at him through your lashes, blinking coquettishly. “Well, can you blame him? I mean, just look at me. All this and I can cook? I’m the full package.”
You were joking; a teasing lilt to your voice as you refocused on the task at hand, but you could feel the intensity of his stare heating you thoroughly, forcing you to meet his eyes once more.
“You really are,” he murmurs, voice low but clear, tongue darting out to wet his lips. “You’re funny and talented and so smart that it’s kind of intimidating,” he looks back at the pot in his hand, drying it thoroughly before setting it aside. “But you’re also kind hearted, and willing to listen and help those in need, even when you barely know them.”
He turns then, stepping closer until his breath is fanning across your cheek, his arms caging you to the sink as you turn to face him fully.
“Not to mention, you’re more beautiful than any flower I’ve ever seen.”
Dropping your head to stifle the giggles, you hear him wince loudly.
“That was pretty cheesy, huh?”
Nodding, you meet his eyes once more. “It was, but I have a few baking puns that will make you cringe.”
“Hit me with one.”
Raising on your toes, you lean into him, tentatively placing a palm on his chest. “Is that a baguette in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?”
His shoulders start shaking before he lets out a loud laugh, smile widening to show his teeth in a way that made your heart flip. Catching his breath, he sighs, leaning to rest his forehead against yours.
“Hmm, I don’t know. Wanna find out?”
Kissing Min Yoongi was a whirlwind, a focused intensity pressed in a powerful dance of his mouth on yours. Your lips answered in kind effortlessly, needing no prompting to follow his lead, to pull his bottom lip between your teeth. Electricity sparks at the base of your skull with each touch of his pout, each lick of his tongue into your mouth, and you feel your knees threaten to give out as he cradles your jaw in his hand, holding you in place.
You aren’t sure when your hands had tangled in his hair, or when he had lifted you to straddle his waist, but you found yourself moving, his body twisting to place you on the cool metal surface of your work space. Hissing as the chill bit into your bare legs, you seek the warmth of his mouth harder, legs wrapping around his form to tug him closer to you, to grind your center against him.
He’s hard, impossibly hard, and he’s whispering all the things he wants to do to you in the shell of your ear, promising all the things he’ll make you feel with his tongue, his cock. You pull him back to your mouth, kissing him deeper, gasping when he dips his finger in the open icing container on the table, dragging it from the edge of your lips down to your chest.
He trails down your throat, sucking and nipping a marked path to your collarbone, licking the frosting off as he goes - as if it was the sweetest thing - until he reaches your breasts, cupping them. As you pant out groans of his name, you can’t help but think you’re glad that it’s Yoongi who’s hiking your dress up around your waist, that he is the first man to help you defile your quaint bakery’s kitchen, filling it with moans.
It isn’t until you stumble out just shy of an hour later hand in hand with Yoongi, smelling of sex with mussed hair and lips swollen, that you remember your coworkers - and that little window that shows the spacious floor plan of said kitchen.
Taehyung is shaking his head, tsking quietly with his arm draped around Jungkook. “Shame on you, Y/N. Poor Kookie here was just trying to bring the tables inside to be helpful, and instead he got traumatized.”
Namjoon scoffs then, rolling his eyes. “I didn’t realize ‘getting a boner’ was now considered trauma.”
“Hey!” Jungkook yells, eyes darting between you and Yoongi. “You said you wouldn’t tell!”
Cheeks flushing, you stifle a giggle once more, looking over to the blonde man whose fingers were still intertwined tightly with your own. Instead of embarrassment, or concern, you just feel a giddy flush of joy as you lean into him.
Yoongi sighs, exasperated, free palm rising to rub at the back of his neck. “Remind me again why I don’t fire them?”
“Because you love them. And, they work for cheap.”
Chuckling, he turns towards you, leaning in to press his forehead against yours. “I always knew I liked you.”
#yoongi x reader#min yoongi x reader#yoongi smut#yoongi scenario#bts smut#bts scenario#bangtanarmynet#btsbookclub#btswriterscollective#btswriterscorner#ksmutclub#florist!AU#florist!yoongi#min yoongi#bts#bts fanfic#yoongi fanfic#baker!reader#my writing#the always relatable min yoongi#serensama#fic: the sweetest thing#fic: tst
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500 followers special
thank you for 500!
f — fluff ; a — angst ; m — smut
TXT
✿ — soobin
6:39 p.m. — soulmate au — m
✿ — yeonjun
3:14 p.m. — figure skater au — f
✿ — beomgyu
3:56 a.m. — werewolf au — a ; f
✿ — taehyun
11:11 p.m. — merman au — f
✿ — hueningkai
7:12 a.m. — hybrid au, est. relationship au — f
BTS
✿ — namjoon
10:59 p.m. — bodyguard au — m
✿ — yoongi
6:18 p.m. — domestic au — f
5:58 a.m. — slice of life au — f ; m
✿ — taehyung
7:42 p.m. — arranged marriage au — a
9:45 p.m. — best friends au — m
ATEEZ
✿ — seonghwa
12:13 p.m. — werewolf au, e2l au — a ; f ; m
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2:28 a.m. — est. relationship au — f ; a
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9:20 a.m. — est. relationship au — f
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1:59 a.m. — est. relationship au — a ; f
3:35 p.m. — bodyguard au — m
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10:27 p.m. — best friends to lovers au — f ; a
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4:01 a.m. — best friends to lovers au — m ; f
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1:23 p.m. — est. relationship au — f ; m
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3:08 p.m. — school au — m ; f
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11:59 p.m. — mafia au — m ; f ; a
STRAY KIDS
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4:38 p.m. — camp counselor au — f ; a
2:29 p.m. — bookstore au — f
✿ — minho
8:34 a.m. — soulmate au — a
✿ — hyunjin
8:12 p.m. — dancer au — m
GOT7
✿ — mark
11:42 p.m. — arranged marriage au — m
11:47 a.m. — vlogger au — f
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Friends to lovers really is superior! Do you like college aus? In my mind I'm always writing a seokmin college au f2l fic . Like you said the jealousy and the fear and tension makes it all so heartouching 🙈 My favourite is also when the boy is pining after the friend for a long time and she goes through some relationships in the meantime ahh the pain 💔 Do you having any college au pining head canons in your mind? It can be about football boyfriend seungcheol too 👉🏼👈🏼 And I hope you enjoy the hp books! I read them when I was very young and after that I didn't reread, but I read a lot of hp fanfiction! So I'm still in touch with the universe that way. And besides bts and svt do u like any other kpop bgs? - 🌴
I LOVEEE COLLEGE AUS!! I never yearn to be in school, but something hits different in fanfiction loll. It's a way for me to picture my current life but with ✨ romance ✨It's like reimagining the real world with a rosy lens
Seokmin f2l college AU?!?!?! You should totally write it !! I would loveee to read it. The world needs more Seokmin stories !! If not, we respect your decision to keep these fantasies to yourself aha. It'd be nice to share though !! Even if you want to send me your ideas in the inbox, I'd be soo happy to hear them
Oh my gosh the long-term yearning?! My heart is weak and fragile. The thought of that one-sided pining hurts me soo much. You have taste !! The kind that would break my heart into pieces aha. If you're looking for some svt fics like that, I would recommend Choco's Soonyoung fic, Wish !! Also this Seokmin fic, Fireflies ! It's a royalty e2l story, but in the reverse where Seokmin is the one to be put in an arranged marriage. I've re-read them multiple times, and they've become some of my favorites !! Choco is definitely my favorite seventeen writer :') I hope you like them if you check them out !
I always seek angsty stories, but my friends think I'm a masochist. Why would I purposely want to make myself hurt?? They don't get it ! They don't see the vision ! They don't know the gratification of a happy ending after going through all those emotional hurdles ! Some may say I need to seek help but that's a discussion for another time
Don't even get me started on football boyfriend Cheol :-(( It's probably so cliche, but I imagine he's the campus heartthrob. Everyone's in love with him, mc included. Of course she is ! He's probably her senior by one year, and she thinks he'd never look her way or give her the time of day. But then they're paired up to work on a group project :-( or maybe he's seeking extra tutoring because he's falling behind which is threatening his football scholarship. She probably sits on the bleachers, waiting for him to finish practice. She does homework or read books to keep her busy, but then she never notices when Cheol is smiling her way and the captain is yelling at him to get his head in the game !! And when mc gets bored, Cheol misses the times her sparkly eyes wander out to the field to watch him playyy
At the end, he's always running to the sidelines, super sweaty (and very hot), so he can apologize for taking so long. He'd rush back to the shower room and come back without drying his hair klsdjkas (BRAINROT!!). He's so sweet, and he's such a gentleman. He'd probably carry her backpack and her textbooks as they walk back to his car so they can study at his place :( He'd always have the biggest smile on his face because he thinks she's precious !!! I'm about to burst into tears, I love him soo much
They'd be a cute, first love kind of couple. Mc would convince herself hundreds and hundreds of times that he's not into her. It started out as a business arrangement. She'd tutor him and he'd buy her meals (turned dates). He also has so many girls lusting after him, he could probably date anyoneee, but it's always been her !!! Okay sorry I swear I'll be quiet now
Harry Potter really does stick with us, even after all these years!! It's soo magical !!
I do stan other groups !!! I like ateez, txt, nct, monsta x, got7, the boyz. I'm also hugeee fans of bands like day6 and the rose!! Oh yeah, Miss Cara also has huge brainrot for Lim Jaebeom of got7 and she was wondering if the palm tree emoji has anything to do with him ahah (because that's the symbol for his clothing brand company!!). What about you ?!! Any other groups that you stan??
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tag game !
tagged by the lovely linh @latetaektalk ,, thank u soso much! this was so fun omg
tagging: @allurain @koushiningg @dreamystuffers @jinpanman @dulce-pjm @suhdays @pjmsdior @bangtans-peaceful-piegon @sugacouture
1. what fandoms have you written for (but do not currently)?
um i didn't rly write for any fandoms when i was younger, but i knew my 12yo self was probably conjuring harry potter headcanons in my head D:
2. what fandoms are you currently writing for?
for now, and for a long time, i've been writing for bts. i've like always been a multi from the moment i got into kpop but i've never actually fleshed out any of the wips i had for any other groups LMFAO. honorable mentions are got7, skz, haikyuu yup
3. how long have you been writing?
a longggg time, i think. i enjoyed writing fiction as a kid a lot. most of it would be like off-brand spy kids/harry potter/hunger games type beat stuff. and it was awful. but i was literally like 9 so cut me some slackLKSDFJSLKDjf
4. on which platforms do you post your stories?
primarily tumblr and i only recently made an ao3 acc. the only fic i have on there is a tae drabble that's already posted on here LOL. i think it's 'resolutely, yours.' but i don't even remember bye. i remember i drafted drivers license on there but i literally forgot to post it so it's probably gone HAHA.
5. what is your favourite genre to write?
e2l even though i have no e2l fics on this blog i think
6. are you a pantser or a planner?
i used to never plan my fics, like at all. but then i was so unsatisfied with the flow of things and like idk lack of clarity. drivers license was the first time i actually sat down and planned out an entire fic as i was writing it. it rly does make things easier when u have an idea of what u want. and then just having the idea can help you possibly expand on it and get even better ideas off of it. the events of drivers license and the order it was all written in changed like 20394803 times. but yeah, does that make sense... LMFAO
7. one shot or multi-chapter?
one shots because i can never fucking get myself to finish a series. i love reading them tho
8. what is the perfect chapter length in your opinion?
no clue. i love long stories and slow burn tho, it's just so satisfying and $wag when it's well-written and the characters are well-written too.
9. what is your longest published story? is it complete?
the fic i'm about to post is nearing 20k, and it might even surpass that which will end up being the longest story on this blog. insane! drivers license is around 10k i think, and then if u combine the wnrs couple's fics it's like 15k? im too lazy to look tbh SRy
10. which story did you enjoy working on the most?
oh drivers license for sure! i don't think i've ever immersed myself and put so much effort into a story before. it was truly an amazing experience, and i just know that i'll probably never be able to write anything like that fic ever again. it's rly one of a kind for me.
11. favourite request you've have written and why (if any?)
most of the requests i had on this blog got taken down bc they were so bad. i'm not sure if the yoongi superhero!au is still up on here, but i'd choose that one since i really had to branch out of my writing style for it. regardless of it being like barely 2k.
12. are there reoccurring themes in your stories?
miscommunication, so much banter, i used to see this a lot but i would take it out but... head bonking ??LSKDFJHAHA, my side characters being dumbasses and then my main characters being even bigger dumbasses (oc probably being the biggest dumbass)
13. current number of wips?
during the course of writing the current fic i plan on posting this week, i created like 5 wips and they all hit 5k, and then i straight up abandoned them. and then the endless idea bank google doc. so if i count the wips i for sure want to finish by like this year or summer... like 3 or 4.
14. three things you have noticed about your own writing?
i feel like i repeat stuff a lot throughout all my stories LOL,, it irks me so bad. i think i relate to all my ocs in at least one way or another.
15. a quote you like from a published story
alrighty this is a lil snippet from 'drivers license':
this is from the second letter oc wrote to jk:
"The same delusional daydreamer hopes that one day we can talk and laugh like old pals. Like nothing ever changed between us. I hope you achieve your dreams that you always thought seem too far-fetched, yet in the back of my mind I always knew you could easily grasp. I hope someday you can live a life of lesser worries and insecurities, because you rarely had any to start off with. I always hoped the world for you, because you deserve it. And despite everything, I still believe you do."
this paragraph seems pretty simple but i think it did the best job of like describing oc's emotions and realization of things,, its kinda cliche tew yas love that
16. a quote from an unpublished story
alr this is from the e2l jimin series that is going to take me forever to write bc the outline for it is SO LONG
“Would it kill you to at least show up with a shirt on?“ You sneer, patting your forehead with the back of your hand due to the sweltering sun. The event hasn’t even started yet and you can already feel your hair sticking to the back of your neck.
Crossing his arms, he scoffs, his biceps bulging out as his arms bend. Not like you were staring at them. “Sorry couldn’t hear you, too busy boosting the school’s morale.”
17. space for you to say something to your readers
i feel like i don't show enough appreciation to my readers and mutual on this blog. i have met so many lovely people and have gotten so much support, i hope u all know that it does NOT go unnoticed. i always tend to go back and reread all the comments and asks that i get on my stories bc it rly does make my heart soar. it makes my day!!! thank u all for sticking with me thru all my 3am shitposts and inconsistent writing schedule LOL,, you all have my whole heart and some more <3
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Directory
Just a disclaimer: These stories are not mine in any way, I just reblog.
(... This is very much just so I don’t lose what I want to read)
This is the directory in which you’ll find scenarios/series by member, different genre and AU.
Most of these are rated M, please read the warnings on the ff.
BTS
Namjoon
Seokjin
Yoongi
Hoseok
Jimin
Taehyung
Jungkook
GOT7
JB
Mark
Jackson
Jinyoung
Youngjae
Bambam
Yugyeom
VIXX
Leo
Ken
EXO
Chanyeol
Kyungsoo
Sehun
SEVENTEEN
Seungcheol
Wonwoo
Mingyu
Vernon
OTHERS
AOMG Jay Park
AOMG Simon Dominic
DPR Christian Yu
WINNER Mino
NCT Taeyong
BY GENRE
Angst
Smut
Fluff
SFW
BY AU
Artist!AU
Athlete!AU
Badboy!AU
Bartender!AU
Boxer!AU
Camboy!AU
CEO!AU
Christmas!AU
College!AU
Dancer!AU
Demon!AU
Devil!AU
Doctor!AU
Domestic!AU
E2L!AU
F2L!AU
Fakedating!AU
Fantasy!AU
Farmer!AU
Fratboy!AU
Fuckboy!AU
FWB!AU
Gang!AU
Greekgod!AU
Hogwarts!AU
Highschool!AU
Hybrid!AU
Idol!AU
Mafia!AU
Marriage!AU
Musician!AU
Neighbor!AU
Pornstar!AU
Pregnancy!AU
Racer!AU
Roommate!AU
Royalty!AU
S2L!AU
Santa!AU
Schoolpres!AU
Sexworker!AU
Singledad!AU
Singlemom!AU
Sliceoflife!AU
Soulmate!AU
Sugardaddy!AU
Tattooartist!AU
Teacher!AU
Vampire!AU
Waiter!AU
Work!AU
ilovethis
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i play ( JACKSON WANG ) from ( GOT7 ) and i am looking for ( M/F, M/M, M/NB - ALL OF THE ABOVE ! ) with ( ANYONE ). i’m looking for the following ( AU, EXES, MUTUAL PINING, F2L, E2L... ETC. BONUS POINTS IF THERE’S ANGST ) plot. this plot will be for ( PSL ONLY ). this plot ( WILL ) be chemistry based, ( MAY ) contain mature themes and will be ( PARA AND HEADCANON MIX ). feel free to message at ( SPICEDARIES ON GH/CHAT ! )
#band rp#bandom rp#band rpg#bandom rpg#band rp plots#m x f#m x m#m x nb#au#exes#angst#psl#chemistry based#mature theme#both para & hc#chats#kpop band rp
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HOLIC - 43 | jb x reader
pairing: Im Jaebum x Reader
genre: enemies to lovers au | roommate au
warnings: fluff with a hint of angst
words: 3.8k
prev / next
It had gotten quite cold already, so you found yourself dressing in layers as you prepared for work the next day. You would later blame it all on your hangover, but you were already out of the door when you realized that the middle layer – the black hoodie you’d grabbed while still only half-wake – was none other than Jaebum’s hoodie that you’d worn once before already.
Thankfully, Eva was on sick leave so you weren’t likely to get scolded for violating the dress code again. Instead, you would, perhaps, manage to endure this day easier because, although washed and then worn by you, the hoodie still smelled undeniably of Jaebum’s cologne.
It was Tuesday today which meant that you were going to have to deal with high college students and rowdy middle-schoolers the whole day – just like any other day, really; except customers seemed especially vicious on Tuesdays – and, on top of all of that, Jiho was going to be at your gallery today, too. At this point, you weren’t really sure why he was still coming; surely, he’s already had every meeting possible in regards to his works getting exhibited here. You were almost convinced he was still here purely to make your life more miserable than it already was.
As always, you’d hoped to avoid him, and, as always, you failed when he waved you over almost as soon as you stepped inside of the gallery.
“There’s something I’d like you to do with me,” Jiho told you before you even took your coat off. He looked more excited than usual and you couldn’t help but find it suspicious. “It’s not really an event that’s specified in the contract but—well, I’m going up to the balcony to take some test pictures – those woods behind the building look fantastic – and I thought it’d be great if you came with me.”
“Is that going to count as progress towards getting my name more well-known?” you asked—and made him laugh—because you were absolutely not going to hang out with him just for the fun of it.
“Sure, yeah,” he nodded. “You don’t really photograph people, do you? You’re more of a nature photographer.”
“I guess so,” you shrugged. You have experimented with photographing people back in university and discovered that you preferred unmoving targets. Of course, that was before Jackson provided you with the opportunity to photograph his and Jaebum’s working session at the recording studio and you ended up falling in love with the end-result of that photoshoot. “But I’m open to anything in the future.”
“That is great!” Jiho said, moving to a side and pointing his hand towards the stairs. “This type of open-minded artists is precisely what our gallery needs. Let’s go.”
“Uh, I can’t leave the floor—”
“I already checked in with the other girls,” Jiho said, nodding his head towards one of your co-workers that was busy supervising an abandoned child – after the crayon fiasco, all of you were forced to double-task as nannies – and then smiled. “It’s completely fine for you to leave for a little bit.”
“Hmm,” you didn’t think it was fair to leave your workplace as soon as you arrived but, at the same time, you’d have gladly taken any excuse to do something other than deal with potential clients. You could feel guilty later. “Alright, fine. Can I ask you why you’re still here, though? I-I mean—”
Jiho laughed before you could explain. “I figured you’d ask that. I’m really only here to do a test run on something that might become a photoshoot location later. I’m still not convinced it’s the perfect spot, that’s why I drove over here today.”
“And, I assume you don’t need a model for that test run because I’m definitely not substituting for one,” you said, trying to stop your mind from conjuring up the memory of the first time you’d posed in front of his camera. “Oh, and I’m also assuming, you managed to get the key to the balcony because, in all of the time that I’ve worked here, I’ve never seen a single person go up there. Honestly, I thought that door was actually just a decoration.”
He was smiling as if he wanted to laugh again – clearly, your assumptions amused him to no end. At least one of you was having a good time here.
“I got the key from the administrator,” he explained. “He’s surprisingly kind if you bring him coffee with a bagel. No one likes to start working at seven.”
“Ah, so you bribed him.”
“That’s one way to put it,” he replied. “And as for the model, no. I don’t need one for a test run. I’m just checking the view, really – that’s why I thought I’d bring you with me. You’re already used to nature photography. Maybe both of us can learn something new today.”
The two of you had reached the top floor of the gallery and you stopped while you waited for him to unlock the sturdy door of the balcony. Clearly, no one had been there in a while because the lock refused to give.
“Do you always put so much work into your photoshoots?” you asked as you watched him wrestle with the door. “I figured, you would just find a model, find a spot, do it, and that’s it. I didn’t realize test runs were involved.”
“There’s no textbook photoshoot,” he replied, grunting as he finally managed to turn the key and get the door to open. “Ah, here we go. What was I—oh, right, well, everyone does photoshoots differently. Sometimes mine are spontaneous, too. But this one’s a big deal so I want it to be perfect and that’s why I can’t just show up to a random spot and start taking pictures. I need to make sure the view is going to be cooperating.”
As soon as you walked past the old doors and entered the balcony, overlooking the vast woods behind the gallery – the dark green pine trees looked beautiful when circled by yellow and crimson leaves of the oaks and maples around them; you’d forgotten how much you loved fall time – you knew that he wouldn’t be searching for long. It was very unrealistic that this spot wouldn’t pass Jiho’s overly complicated test. It was breathtakingly beautiful here.
“I’ve seen this balcony hundreds of times when I was driving to work,” you spoke, your voice quiet, “but I never imagined just how beautiful the woods would look from up here.”
Jiho was smiling as he nodded and put his camera case on the marble floor.
“I figured you’d like this,” he said. “And, actually, I have to thank you. I’d thought my models would have to dress up in something that matched the colors of the leaves – you know, to fit the whole mood of the fall – but I realize that’s ridiculous. The pictures will look amazing if they’re dressed in black. Like you are.”
You looked down at your outfit instinctively. “Oh. Well. Yeah. I guess that will focus the attention on the background more.”
“Exactly,” he said, pulling his camera out and approaching the railing where you stood. “Interesting perfume, by the way.”
You turned to him – surprised by the unexpected comment – and realized with a jolt of your stomach that he must have been referring to Jaebum’s cologne. You hadn’t realized the scent was so obvious – in fact, for the most part, you could barely smell it unless you sniffed the hoodie itself.
“Oh, it’s—”
“Ah, shit,” Jiho swore suddenly, frowning at his camera. “Can you hold on for a moment? I left my back-up battery in the staff room. The camera’s dead.”
“Sure—”
“I’ll be right back,” he said and then tossed you the keys of the balcony, “watch these.”
You caught them right before they hit the ground and barely managed to nod again before he was out of the door, leaving you on the balcony all by yourself.
Admittedly, it was rather chilly here but the view made the goosebumps creeping up your spine worth it. You hadn’t brought your camera with you today so you had to make do with your phone as you snapped a few shots, wanting to capture at least some part of the beauty in front of you.
Your hands moved almost automatically; as soon as you finished taking the pictures, you found yourself editing them on one of the many photo editing apps you had on your phone while you waited for Jiho to come back. He really took his time, and, once he finally returned – completely out of breath – you were already sniffling and could barely feel your hands.
“I’m so sorry,” Jiho wheezed out. “I didn’t mean to freeze you to death, I swear. It just turns out that the key to the staff room? Yeah, the administrator has that and he’s not as nice when you don’t have any more coffee. It took me forever to find—okay, whatever. Let’s do this before you freeze a limb off.”
“It’s fine,” you said, “my fingers are already numb. It can’t get much worse.”
He chuckled, still breathing heavily. “Sorry. The view’s great, though, I hope you don’t regret waiting up here.”
Surprisingly, you didn’t regret anything about today yet – not even the fact that Jiho was the one who had brought you up here – and you mustered up a smile as you shook your head, “no. The view is great. Thank you for asking me to come here with you.”
“Oh,” Jiho seemed to be just as surprised by the gentle tone of your voice as you were. He smiled back nevertheless. “Well, it’s no problem. Let’s do this fast, though. Hot chocolate is on me after this.”
You’d have rather gotten your frozen fingers amputated than admitted that this Tuesday might have been one of the most enjoyable Tuesdays of your whole life. The freezing air on the balcony made you and Jiho bond – even if you did cringe at the word – as you both jumped around, trying to keep warm while he took pictures from every possible angle. He even came this close to actually dangling himself off the edge of the railing once.
On top of all of that, even sharing plastic cups of vending-machine hot chocolate in the staff room later – although it tasted like nothing due to your stuffed nose – was unexpectedly fun. The two of you ended up splashing your drinks everywhere as your hands shook uncontrollably from the cold. However, despite almost reaching a conclusion that Jiho wasn’t really the evil incarnate, you still longed to return home and forget about having to work with him.
Jaebum – currently unemployed and only bound by the contract he’d signed with an entertainment agency last week – was cooking dinner when you got home – bless his heart. Your wish of forgetting all about Jiho came true almost immediately after you came in through the door and Jaebum gave you a wave from the kitchen – the knife in his hand not looking threatening at all.
“I have fantastic news!” he gasped the next second, the eagerness in his voice showing you that he’d been anticipating your return home. You simply couldn’t think back on your day with Jiho when you heard Jaebum’s excited tone. “My management team called today and they wanted to arrange a meeting about “Don’t Touch Me.” It-it’ll be re-released as an official single later.”
“Right, you’ve told me that,” you said slowly, urging him to go on as you undressed in the hallway, overjoyed to feel the warmth of your slippers as opposed to the cold hard soles of your sneakers.
“Yes, exactly, I already knew that,” Jaebum continued as you hung your coat on the hanger and heard something land on the floor with a harsh clink. “So I said no to the meeting.”
“Oh? But maybe they had something else to tell you,” you said, leaning down to pick up the ring of keys that had just fallen out of your coat pocket. You’d completely forgotten to give the keys of the balcony to the administrator when you left the gallery today.
“You’re absolutely right, they did. I’ll actually have to seem them again. But,” he said, pausing when you entered the kitchen and took your usual spot by the island, tossing the balcony keys next to his cutting board and hoping you wouldn’t forget to bring them back tomorrow, “only if I need to find someone to design the artwork for the cover of the single. Both the digital and the physical copy.”
You were busy half-listening to him and half-undressing-and-smelling-what-he-was-cooking, so you were confused. “What? So, you don’t need anyone to design you that?”
“No, I do,” he said, looking at you with a big grin. “I just don’t need to look for that person because, I’m hoping, she’s sitting right across from me.”
“She’s—wait, me?” you raised your eyebrows. “You want me to design the artwork for your single? Jaebum—”
“Of course, I do,” he confirmed. “You’re the only photographer I know—”
“Jackson.”
“—and—oh. Yeah, well, him, too, but anyway,” Jaebum waved his hand around dismissively – not the one he was holding the knife with, thankfully. “I want you to do it. And you might be the only one who’s able to do it, actually.”
He’d already hinted at getting your help when filming a music video for his single but you’d kind of assumed he was joking. Clearly, he wasn’t.
“Why?”
He gave you a look. “You know why. It’s either you or Mark and, no offense to him, but the pictures he takes look like they’ve been done with a flip-phone.”
You smiled at that but shook your head nevertheless. “I’m flattered you thought of me—”
“Good. I was hoping you’d be.”
“—but shouldn’t you get a… I don’t know, a professional to do this?” you asked. “As in, someone who’s done this before?”
“You’re a professional,” he simply said.
“I—but I’ve never done this before,” you insisted.
“And neither have I,” he shrugged. “I mean, we’re doing this together, right? You working on your exhibition and me working on this – and by “this,” I don’t mean this stew. Oh, by the way, is garlic okay with you? Because I already added it. Anyway—we’re in this together. I’ll be your model, you’ll be my photographer. I don’t really see how any of us might end up at a disadvantage.”
“Maybe not now,” you continued to disagree, too insecure to let him down. “But you’ll see it when you end up being disappointed by the end result. I mean, this is your debut single – it will represent you for the rest of your life. The cover for it should be—”
“You really don’t have high hopes for me improving as a musician, do you?” he asked, turning towards the oven.
“I-I—no. I didn’t mean it like that,” you back-tracked, clearing your throat. “I just don’t want you to do this because you feel like you have to.”
Jaebum stopped stirring the pot and turned back around to face you. “Hey, uh, are you free tomorrow?”
You frowned at the sudden change of topic. “W-What? Why?”
“I’ll be making an appointment with an ear doctor for you,” he said, “because, clearly, you’ve got selective hearing and that’s got to be a problem,” he chuckled when you blinked your eyes, still confused. “I’ve told you several times that I want you to do this. I’m not asking you because I feel like I have to. I happen to believe your talent and I’d very much like it if you used it to help a brother out.”
This got you to laugh and Jaebum, beyond proud of himself now, turned back towards the pot.
“So, what do you say?” he asked after a moment, his hopeful gaze leaving the boiling water and landing on your face. “We’ll discuss the pay later.”
This surprised you. “Oh, I’ll get paid?”
“Ah, I knew I should have started with the money first.”
“No, I’m obviously kidding,” you shook your head, laughing again. “You’re giving me an opportunity to advance my career in a surprising new direction. It should be me paying you.”
“That is good though, right? It should help you with the whole getting-your-name-out-there thing, too, yeah?”
You swallowed the lump that had suddenly formed in your throat. “Uh, yeah.”
“So, we’re doing this?”
Exhaling deeply, you looked around the room one more time – for no reason other than to win yourself some time to calm down from the sudden mention of your work with Jiho – and then nodded finally.
“Okay,” you decided. “Fine. But tell me if you hate the pictures, okay? Don’t go soft on me just because we’re—well, you know.”
“Deal,” Jaebum replied, smiling. “I’ll shred you to pieces if I hate the pictures.”
“Alright. No pressure on me at all.”
He laughed. “You’ll do great. There’s no way I’d ever hate your work. Just let me know when you’re free, yeah? We’ll find some place to take the pictures, it doesn’t have to be anything fancy.”
As though you were in a movie, the ring of the keys to the gallery’s balcony – that you’d thrown on the island when you got back – suddenly caught the rays of the setting sun. The blinding sparkle caught your eye, forcing you to squint and feel a metaphorical lightbulb pop up above your head.
“Hey,” you started slowly. “What if I told you I already have an idea where we could take the pictures?”
You took Jaebum to your gallery as soon as the two of you were done with dinner. Just as you’d expected, he loved the view from the balcony as much as you did when you first saw it this morning. However, the woods looked even better at night when the edges of the trees were illuminated by the streetlights and the stars in the clear sky above.
“Wow,” Jaebum exhaled – his breath manifesting into a cloud of smoke due to the cold air outside – clearly impressed. “Have you taken pictures here before?”
“Ah, no,” you looked down. You’d hoped you wouldn’t have to talk about how you discovered this spot. “I’ve actually never been up here before until recently. You’re the first model I’ve brought here.”
He turned to you with an amused expression. “I’m honored. History is being made here tonight.”
“Yeah, about that,” you started as you turned your camera on with nervous fingers, “you remember that I don’t usually take pictures of people, right?”
“Not a problem. I’ve been told I can do a mad impression of a tree.”
You laughed, checking the settings. “I’m just saying, don’t raise your expectations.”
“I don’t really understand your apprehension,” he admitted then. You raised your eyes to meet his. “I mean, the photos you took at Jackson’s studio were brilliant. You said so yourself.”
You looked down again, your face suddenly so warm, you were surprised steam wasn’t rising from it. You hadn’t meant to compliment yourself as a photographer when you’d called those pictures “brilliant.”
“It’s because of you,” you said. “Not because of me.”
“Alright, whatever,” Jaebum rolled his eyes – even if you could barely see it in the darkness of the night – and then rubbed his hands against his thighs, clearly cold. “I’ll turn my magic on again, so let’s do this. Or, if we wait any longer, you won’t be taking pictures of people after all, because I’ll turn into your friendly neighborhood snowman.”
He kept joking around the entire night, making you laugh each time, and you’d have been lying if you said you didn’t love every moment of tonight to death. Seeing his face light up when he successfully made you laugh was almost better than whatever he’d just said.
By the end of the night, you’d dedicated yourself to laughing at anything and everything that came out of his mouth just so he would keep looking like a child on Christmas day. And, when you looked at him through the screen of your camera, that was precisely what Jaebum looked like. He didn’t have a smile on his face – he didn’t think he should have been smiling on the cover of the single – but, even despite putting his best model face on, his eyes still glittered as if the biggest bag of candy awaited him behind the lens of the camera.
As expected from a spot like this, you could feel the magic Jaebum had mentioned with every press of the shutter. The stars in the sky above you two wanted to steal the show but even they faded into a blurry background when you focused the camera on Jaebum’s profile as he gazed out at the woods.
For the briefest of moments, you had regretted not trying to take pictures of him right there in your kitchen when he was cooking. For one, it would have been warmer to have your photoshoot there. But, most importantly, he’d have still looked other-wordly while dancing around the three different pots on your stove.
But then the moment passed when you saw the way the dim lighting, coming through the door of the balcony, played with his features, accentuating his bone structure and highlighting the dreamy look in his eyes. And then, as you took picture after picture – not even double-checking if you had set your settings right – you realized that it wasn’t the light playing with him at all. It was the other way around.
Just like the first time you’d photographed him, Jaebum was – without realizing it himself – controlling all of his surroundings until they responded to his every move. He’d lift his head and, all of a sudden, you’d see three falling stars in the sky. He would look down and the wind in the trees would suddenly cease blowing, the harmonious, comforting silence working as the background of the picture. He would turn to look at you and all breath would escape you, making your head spin.
You watched him try to get comfortable in front of the camera and zoomed in on his face with shaky hands. You pressed the button dozens of times in a row, aware that you were getting blurry shots but not caring because you knew he looked flawless anyway.
You felt his eyes search for yours through the lens, your camera not enough to shield you from the warmth of his gaze.
You watched him watch you, the cold air around you doing nothing to the fires in your chest.
Your camera did its work perfectly even despite the cold air around you, but, all throughout the night, you couldn’t focus on the device in your hands at all. You were busy taking pictures of Jaebum with your mind, your heart, and the deepest parts of your soul instead.
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HOLIC - 40 | jb x reader
pairing: Im Jaebum x Reader
genre: enemies to lovers au | roommate au
warnings: angst
words: 5.2k
disclaimer: i do not own the gif, please let me know if it belongs to you, so i can give proper credit
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The leisurely contract did entail a couple of rules – that Jiho was kind enough to point out before you added your signature – such as not attending any public events with anyone other than him during the “PR process” as he’d dramatically called it. To be fair, you didn’t understand that part – if making a name for yourself meant causing unnecessary rumors, then wouldn’t this whole process go much faster if you were seen with not one, but multiple people at photography events? But this was probably where the loyalty – mentioned in the contract a couple of dozen times – came in. They’d probably be okay if you went out with some of the other staff members from the gallery as long as they weren’t complete outsiders.
In the end, the few rules weren’t enough for you to call the police instead of signing the contract, and, another moment later, Jiho was already ordering champagne -- which you refused even if a few glasses would have surely helped you get through the rest of your day.
Your head hurt when you left the restaurant and returned to your own gallery to get back to work. You always dreaded the end of lunch break – it was probably natural for humans to hate having to go back to work – but this time, as you tip-toed on the edge of a new life, going back to work—returning to your old routine—was something you welcomed and even looked forward to.
Avoiding a group of children on tour with their teacher, you popped into the staff room for a moment to grab your electronics and take your jacket off, and then replied to Jaebum’s text that was inquiring about your plans tonight. You had none. You just wanted to sleep until you were miraculously hosting your exhibition while Jaebum’s album played in the background and all was well.
Deep inside, though, you were hoping Jaebum was going to say something that would make you forget your wish to hibernate for the rest of your life. He wanted to say something like that, too – and if he’d known how you were feeling, he would have – but he had a different obligation now; an obligation that he apologized for – because he couldn’t invite you with him, – but an obligation nonetheless.
The agency he’d just signed with had invited him and Jackson out for dinner and celebratory drinks later. Even if you wanted to, you couldn’t have asked him not to go there. This dinner was probably as important as the first meeting itself; Jaebum was given even more chances to impress his new employers. It was good. It would make sure that his road towards success wasn’t just a sandy path, but rather a solid highway that was able to endure any storm and hurricane that might threaten it.
With a heavy sigh, you turned around to return to work but not before checking in with your friends. It was unfair of you to rely on Jaebum so much, anyway, so, to avoid truly locking yourself up in your room for the foreseeable future, you were going to need someone to keep you company and, perhaps, tell you if the decision you’d made—the contract you’ve signed—was a mistake or not.
You’d texted your friends’ groupchat, looking for company but, as always, May – the youngest – was the only one who was free to get drunk on a Tuesday night. And, as if she had some magical telepathic powers, she immediately offered her listening services. Although, to be fair, the number of crying emojis you’d used when texting her might have been a huge hint.
Smiling at May’s eager approval to meet up tonight, you took a mental note to be a better friend to your friends – you suddenly weren’t sure if they were so independent that they just never needed your help, or if you just weren’t there for them, – and headed back out into the gallery, ready to spend the rest of the day focusing on crowds of children, high university students, and snobby customers. Somehow, all of that still put you in a better mood than the lunch you’ve had with Jiho earlier.
For the first time since Jaebum introduced you to Mark, you managed to show up to his bar when he wasn’t working. You shot him a quick text while you waited for May to show up and learned that he was going to work today, after all, but his shift wouldn’t start until nine. That left you plenty of time to get drunk before he got here.
Somehow, even though you knew Mark much shorter than you knew the rest of your friends, he had become one of the most reliable people in your life – but, then again, perhaps, being reliable was one of the traits every bartender had to have. Still aware of Jaebum’s strong reaction about your and Mark’s friendship back in the day – even if Jaebum did change his mind later on – you weren’t brave enough to openly address the bartender as your friend but, in spite of everything, he still felt like one.
“Hey, I’m here!” May’s rushed voice was suddenly by your ear as your friend leaned in for a quick hug and sat down on the stool next to yours. “I might have just escaped a serial killer on my way over here.”
You never knew with May – she tended to exaggerate – but your eyes still widened in surprise. “What do you mean?”
“I called a cab,” she began to explain after making eye contact with the bartender-on-duty and earning a nod from him, “and the driver turned out to be the creepiest man I’ve ever seen. I swear, he’s Freddy Krueger’s long-lost brother. Even looked a little like him. He asked me when I was going to go home and if he should pick me up as if that’s something that normal taxi drivers do.”
“Shit, I hope he’s not waiting for you outside of the bar.”
“No, no, I waited until he drove away,” May said, still breathing heavily. She looked like she’d sprinted over here. “Otherwise, I would have called the police.”
“You need to get a license,” you reprimanded her for the umpteenth time.
“I do,” she admitted like she always did. “But, then again, what would I do with it? I’d only use it to drive to class and back.”
“Hey, I only use mine to drive to work,” you replied. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“Yeah, but, hey, speaking of driving,” May smiled and then was forced to pause when the bartender came over to take your orders and make you your drinks. “You’ve got yourself a chauffeur for a boyfriend. That’s cute.”
“He’s not my chauffeur,” you shook your head, having nothing against the particular occupation and yet feeling as if calling Jaebum your chauffeur was offensive. You didn’t really pay him for his services—although…—so it sounded like you were using him.
“I want to ask how the roadtrip went,” she stopped to take a sip of her martini. Her love for gin was unrivaled. “But, since we’re drinking tonight, I guess, it didn’t go that well.”
You sighed, toying with the slice of lemon on the side of your cocktail glass. “No, it went well. Really well, actually. It’s… it’s what happened after that’s forcing me to turn to alcohol.”
“Did you fight again?”
“No. But that’s in the future, I’m sure.”
And then you told her about everything that happened after you opened the door of that damn gallery – a true devil’s lair protected by the remarkably pleasant administrators – starting from the surprise you felt when you saw that Jiho was the one who’d made sure you got the interview, and finishing with the meeting you’ve had to endure earlier today.
Of course, as you spoke, you ended up having to take detours from the main story and introduce May to Jiho – since, by a weird coincidence, she wasn’t aware of what had gone down between you two – but you felt like you’ve lost twenty kilograms of weight off your shoulders when you finished talking.
May listened patiently, not moving at all – aside from tipping her head back to finish her drink in one big gulp as soon as you wrapped the story up.
“That’s one big load of information,” she admitted, her head bursting with so many new facts. “That was extremely unlucky. I’m sorry. Did a black cat cross your road every morning for the past week?”
You scoffed. “No. That’s what I get for daring to consider myself blessed to get that interview with the gallery in the first place. There’s no such thing as—”
“No, that was blessed,” May said. “Even if it’s Jiho who sought you out. I mean… I don’t know. I don’t like the guy, either. Anyone who doesn’t mind the negative image of themselves in the media is suspicious to me but maybe getting some exposure won’t be that bad.”
“But unlike him, I do care about my image,” you continued pointlessly.
The contract was signed, there wasn’t really a way to back out now. And yet you kept on talking as if hoping to hear comforting words. As if hoping to hear May tell you that you hadn’t just made the biggest mistake of your life.
“I get that,” she said. “It’s why you’ve hesitated before signing the contract, isn’t it? Because this sounds ideal. I know I’m supposed to become an architect after I graduate but, hell, if I got an offer like that, I’d agree to switch to photography.”
You have her a sarcastic look. “Want to trade places?”
May scoffed. “As if you’d ever allow that.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You didn’t really agree to do this for yourself,” she concluded. “You mostly agreed for Jaebum.”
“What?” you frowned, feigning confusion even though your heart had picked up speed, catching on faster than your mind did. “I don’t understand—”
“You understand very well,” she cut you off with a shake of her head. “I can see right through you, you know.”
You knew. Of course, you knew. Even strangers would have been able to tell what you were feeling but May was one of your closest friends – not to mention, she was the kind of person that would have been able to crack the toughest spine of the most complicated book. If she was the one who’d moved in with Jaebum, she’d have gotten him to open up in just a few days, guaranteed.
“You signed the contract because he signed his,” May concluded. “Isn’t that right?”
“Well…” you looked away, swallowing. “It may have encouraged me. But I’m not doing this for him. I’m doing this for myself.”
“No, but you mean photography,” she said. “You’re doing photography for yourself. You’re thinking of hosting an exhibition for yourself. But you’re agreeing to work with Jiho for Jaebum. Because this isn’t something that you’d do. You’re going to have to pretend to be Jiho’s friend, his colleague, and whatever the hell the media assumes you are – and pretending to be someone you’re not is not something you’d do voluntarily. You’re just not good at that.”
“Thanks,” you said dryly.
May gave you a kind smile in return. “You’re good at being yourself, sweetheart.”
Somehow, even though she was younger than you, the endearing term softened your heart. It also made you feel like you were the younger one but that wasn’t a new feeling. If you caught May at the right moment – that is, a glass of martini in hand and a suffering friend by her side – she was wise beyond her years.
“Everything is going so well for him,” you couldn’t help but say, the words pouring out of your chest faster than you could learn how to stop them. They sounded stupid when said aloud and yet you still said them because that was what you were feeling and feelings didn’t always make sense. “I don’t want him to feel like he’s leaving me behind when he starts to make it and I’m still stuck in the same place.”
May nodded – that was what she’d suspected all along – and, after ordering another round of drinks – even if you were still only halfway done with yours – she placed a reassuring arm around your shoulders, leaning over the bartop to be closer to you.
“There will be other opportunities in the future if you’d prefer to wait,” she said softly. “You’re talented.”
“Yeah, but there are lots of talented people,” you replied. “I’m nothing special.”
“You—”
“Oh, May, it’s your job to call me special,” you interrupted before she could say anything, “you’re my friend.”
May retreated, smiling playfully. “I wasn’t going to call you special.”
“Oh,” you looked at her, surprise and embarrassed anger mixing in your blood. “Well, you should have. That’s the nice thing to do.”
“Yeah, but you wouldn’t be listening to me if I’d come here to tell you nice things,” she pointed out.
She was right but you still sighed, “I’m not sure I prefer the cold hard truth right now, to be honest.”
“You’re just going to have to deal with it,” she decided and then proceeded to tell you all that you needed to hear and more, “your own attitude towards this is exactly what’s the problem. You don’t think you’re special and that’s why you’re agreeing to do this. You need to sit down, convince yourself that you’re the most extraordinary person in this whole world and any gallery would be lucky to have you. You don’t have to do it this way. And then, once you’ve managed to convince yourself, you can drop Jiho, forget all about him and his half-assed attempts to get you both popularity, and go home to make love to your singer boyfriend.”
You shuddered, giving her the most disgusted expression you could muster even though your chest was full of nothing but gratitude.
“I was going to say you should be a motivational speaker,” you said, the first traces of a smile appearing on your face, “but I’m afraid you just made me cringe into the next year.”
“Come on, I’m serious,” May continued but she was beginning to smile, too. “Have a little more faith in yourself. I know it’s easier said than done but if you’re not going to work on your confidence, then you might as well just go through with this whole ordeal. Maybe having your first exhibition – under whatever circumstances – will open your eyes so you can see how wonderful of an artist you are.”
Her words got you to quit playing with the sad slice of lemon on your drink and finish the cocktail inside of the glass instead.
“I thought you weren’t going to be nice and would hit me with the cold truth,” you told your friend then.
“I am hitting you with the cold truth,” May replied. “You’re a good person and a great photographer. Do whatever it takes to prove that to yourself.”
She was right, of course. Before you proved your worth to everyone else, you needed to prove it to yourself. You’ve helped Jaebum out of his seemingly bottomless pit of insecurities about his music, but you were drowning in a similar pit yourself. You weren’t alone, though. You had your friends who were there to throw you a rope in case the deep water of your anxiety threatened to swallow you whole and, if you’d just told Jaebum about this, you knew he’d be here for you, too.
But he had so much going on already. He’d just released his first song. Just signed his first contract. Just went to his first formal dinner with his new employers. He was already riding on the highway to his future while you hitchhiked, hoping that a passing car would pick you up and help you follow after him. You didn’t like this way – you didn’t want to depend on anyone on your way to your dreams – but, right now, this seemed to be the only way to get to your destination at the same time as Jaebum got to his. Not years – or, worse, decades – later.
You’d just have to find a way to believe in yourself while you tore out a few pieces of your soul to be able to follow Jiho around without killing him on sight.
“Will you have my back if everything backfires and all that I’ve worked for explodes in my face?” you asked May then.
“No,” she replied, “because I don’t want to get burnt, too.”
You rolled your eyes just as the bartender brought you a new round of drinks. “A true friend you are.”
“I will visit you in the hospital, though,” May promised. “I’ll bring flowers.”
You laughed. For the first time since you’ve left the house today, you genuinely laughed. And you were suddenly overwhelmed with affection for your friend because, for the first time since that visit to the gallery, now you felt like you weren’t committing a huge, horrible crime. Perhaps you just needed to talk to someone and, having May listen to you and reassure you in the most realistic words she could manage to find, worked as a medicine of sorts.
You still felt a thick heaviness inside of your chest – you didn’t need just anyone to talk to; really, you needed Jaebum – but it didn’t feel so suffocating anymore. Maybe, as long as your mind remained on this moment, you’d survive this.
“You look like you’re going to start crying,” May observed, breaking you out of your thoughts. “Should I be worried about something else?”
“No,” you shook your head, inhaling deeply and then giving her a smile. “I’m just glad you’re here. Tell me how school is going. Fewer asshole professors this semester, I hope?”
“Oh, boy,” May rolled her eyes before finishing her cocktail and breaking into a story about her day-to-day life, never once abandoning her sense of humor as she complained about her deadlines.
You listened, nodding along and smiling whenever it was appropriate, because listening to her talk wasn’t just a wonderful distraction. It was also something you truly wanted to do.
A couple of hours later, both you and May were already preparing to head out but then you saw Mark arrive. Deciding to stay back for a few moments to help him get started on his shift – he asked you to, claiming that the biggest bartender superstition was that, if no one ordered a drink within ten minutes of the start of their shift, the night wasn’t going to go well – you waved May goodbye and then walked her out to wait for the cab with her so the creepy driver from before wouldn’t show up again.
Once you went back inside, however, Mark was already pouring a drink for someone else.
“Looks like you don’t need me, after all,” you joked, sitting down in your old spot.
“No, but it looks like you need me,” he countered. “How long have you been here?”
“A few hours. Why?”
“You don’t look drunk in the slightest,” he said. “The only people who stay at a bar for this long and don’t get drunk are either psychopaths or people who are suffering from something that’s way beyond the superficial level. I’d say you’re sane enough, so which kind of existential crisis are we dealing with tonight?”
“Bartender sociology 101, huh?” you teased but after Mark showed no signs of playing along – he genuinely wanted to know what was going on with you – you ended up having to find a way to tell him all that you’ve just told May.
Except, Mark was Jaebum’s friend. You felt bad telling his friend about Jiho before you told him, but you’ve stumbled into a situation where the opposite wasn’t possible, considering that you didn’t have enough courage to run away from the bar and find Jaebum right this moment, and Mark obviously wasn’t going to let you leave unless you told him what was up first.
“I don’t want to make you uncomfortable,” you admitted, still hesitant. “Because I haven’t talked to Jaebum about it.”
“I’m a bartender,” Mark said. “No one keeps secrets as well as I do.”
“No, of course, but—”
“Are you pregnant?”
You paused. “No.”
“Then we have no problem with you telling me first,” he shrugged. “Especially if it’s a loaded conversation that you’re not prepared to have with him yet.”
“It is,” you confirmed. “A-and, actually, maybe you could help me find a way to tell him about this.”
Mark wasn’t sure he would – apparently, he struggled with talking to Jaebum as much as you did sometimes – but he allowed you to open up anyway. He did have to ask you to pause for a moment while he poured drinks for the other customers, but, other than that, he listened to the story of your trip to Jiho’s gallery with great interest. A concerned expression remained on his face all throughout your monologue.
Once you’d finished, you expected Mark to give you a lecture – the look on his face was indecipherable by the time you mentioned signing the contract – but, instead, he just sighed, finished wiping the bartop, and leaned on it on his elbows.
“I don’t think you’re doing anything that’s inherently wrong,” he spoke but the slight shake in his voice was a subtle indication that he didn’t think he should have been saying that. “It’s just a somewhat conflicting way to start off your career, but, look – at least, you’re not sleeping with anyone.”
“I’d never do that,” you shook your head. “I have my limits.”
“Well, see? Then I don’t think it’s that bad,” he said, pulling away. “You only have to show up at a few events and then you can host your exhibition. That’s what you’ve been working for and that’s what you will get to do.”
“Yes, but it’s Jiho I’m supposed to show up to those events with.”
Mark considered this.
“Don’t think of it like that,” he said after a moment. “I mean, you and him are both photographers, right? So, even if you weren’t going to go out with him in public, you would probably still run into him at some event sooner or later. And, since you know each other, chances are, he would come over to talk to you. You would have to be civil since you’re both in a public place. And maybe reporters would catch you two talking. Maybe one particularly shitty journalist would even snap a picture and write an article about a-a ‘budding love affair’ between two aspiring photographers. These type of things happen without your consent all the time.”
He had a good point that left you hesitating for so long, Mark ended up having to leave you alone for another moment so he could serve a new customer.
“This feels different, though,” you said once he was back, “because now I’m purposefully waiting for that shitty journalist to do just that.”
“It’s for the greater good,” Mark said. “Or, rather, for a greater future.”
You chewed on your lip. “You really think so?”
For the first time since you’ve finished your story, Mark was the one hesitating before replying. Your stomach sunk lower and lower with every second that passed before he spoke again.
“Not really,” he admitted finally, lifting his apologetic gaze from the floor to look at you, “but that’s not what you want to hear.”
“No, no, don’t tell me what I want to hear,” you asked as a typhoon of anxiety washed over your insides. “Tell me what you really think.”
“I think you should talk to Jaebum.”
You should have seen it coming.
“Yeah?” you asked awkwardly.
“Mmhmm,” Mark nodded. “Because I don’t think that this way of getting your name out there is bad in itself. The bad thing is you keeping this a secret from Jaebum. That makes this into a bigger deal than it really is.”
That was true. If things hadn’t escalated so badly – if you hadn’t reached a point where Jaebum seemed to hate Jiho with a burning passion – he might have even supported you through this. Perhaps he wouldn’t approve – he did showcase some relatively possessive tendencies, although they never bordered on the extreme – but he wouldn’t dismiss just the very thought of you doing this.
“He would never agree to it,” you decided miserably. “He’d never let me do it.”
Mark seemed surprised to hear this. “Does he control you?”
“W-well, no. Of course not,” you said, unsure how to explain what you meant. “I-I… I just—I care about him a lot and I don’t want to fight with him.”
“If this is something that’s going to start a fight,” he said, “then maybe there’s something wrong.”
You didn’t understand what he meant. “With… with us?”
Mark shrugged his shoulders. “You tell me.”
You looked down. Deep down, you knew what he meant. In any hypothetical situation, if there was something that one person wanted to keep from another, it was likely that this thing – this secret – involved the first person doing something that wasn’t right. Wasn’t appropriate. Something that would damage their relationship.
Your head was suddenly as heavy as your heart was.
“I can’t tell you anything,” you answered. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“You signed the contract, didn’t you?” Mark asked, his voice more sympathetic when he noticed how dull your normally bright eyes looked. “Just try to go through with it. Like Jiho had said, it’s a business relationship and you have the legal papers to prove that if you should ever need to.”
You looked up at him. “You mean… prove that to Jaebum?”
“I mean, if you’re not going to tell him, and you’re hoping that this will just pass quietly—”
“I’m not sure it will. We’re talking about the media, after all—”
“Oh, love, don’t get offended,” Mark shook his head, not letting you finish, “but I don’t know a single person who would be interested in news about photographers aside from other photographers. I couldn’t care less about who Tyler Mitchell is dating or what he does in his free time – I only care about the pictures of Beyonce that he took – but Jackson was here the other day, trying to get me interested in that photographer-related gossip because he’d met Mitchell while traveling and the guy was, apparently, holding hands with someone.”
You felt your own interest in this conversation increase tenfold at the mention of the photographer’s name but Mark was obviously not going to elaborate – he nearly yawned just as he was giving you the abbreviated version – so you just nodded instead.
“You have a point,” you said, suddenly feeling the first bits of relief. “News like that probably wouldn’t even reach Jaebum.”
The bartender narrowed his eyes, asking slowly, “are you considering not telling him at all?”
Honesty was painful now as you replied, “I don’t know.”
“Okay, good,” he said, his voice rushed as if he was afraid you’d continue talking before he finished. “Don’t tell me what you decide then. I’ve already gotten more involved than I’m comfortable. I can’t support your decision not to tell him because he’s one of my closest friends, but, at the same time, this isn’t my story to tell. I’ll be quiet about this but... I don’t think you should be.”
“Yeah, I understand,” you said, awkward now that you’ve realized you’ve stepped over the line. “I’m sorry I’m putting you in this position.”
“It’s fine, I don’t mind listening to you,” Mark said. “Sorry I couldn’t help you with much, though. I’m afraid this is something that you have to do on your own. If you find the right words to explain what you’re doing, Jaebum will understand. You just have to believe in yourself and stop looking like you’ve killed three people on your way home to talk to him. Have more confidence.”
“More confidence,” you repeated, almost scoffing. “That’s what I keep hearing.”
“It’s the truth,” he said. “Jaebum always talks about how talented you are. And he recognizes art, he’s not saying that just because he’s into you.”
Your heart banged against your ribcage, reminding you yet again about how much you cared about Jaebum. About how special it made you feel to know that he was talking about you to his friends.
“I hope you get to host your own exhibition,” Mark added before you could stand up and dial Jaebum’s phone number. “I really do.”
Hearing that meant a lot and you felt your lips stretch into a smile. “So, you don’t think I’m selling my soul to the devil by trying to get it this way?”
“No,” Mark laughed. “I just think you’re very dedicated since you’re willing to give up so much for your goal.”
You couldn’t help but find his words ambiguous. You feared to think of what else – aside from your dignity – you were unconsciously willing to give up for your ambition, but you didn’t ask him to explain what he’d meant. You didn’t dare.
“You know, it’s extremely refreshing to talk to someone who doesn’t immediately assume the worst of me,” you said instead.
“Who immediately assumes the worst of you?” Mark asked.
“Me.”
“Ah,” he nodded with a chuckle and then clocked a group of customers that had just arrived. “Hold on for just a moment.”
You nodded, using this time to check your phone. The screen was decorated with multiple texts from Jaebum – most of them seemed excited as he told you about the divine food that the agency dinner had served – but it also showed that it was nearly ten o’clock already. You hadn’t planned to stay here for this long; you still had to work tomorrow, not to mention the mess of thoughts inside of your mind you’d have to deal with even before your alarm rang the next morning.
“Thinking of leaving?” Mark asked when he returned and caught you putting your jacket on.
“Yeah,” you said. “I’ve stayed far longer than I should have. Thank you for listening to me and for being so open-minded. You’re a great person, Mark.”
He laughed, the comment clearly flustering him. “Must be the reason why I’m single.”
“Oh, you’re going to make a great partner for someone one day,” you said, your mind flashing back to him and Kiera. You were suddenly glad you weren’t drunk or you would have brought your friend up and you didn’t think you were in the right position to talk about them together. “Anyone would be lucky to have someone like you. It’s just me who’s stupid; apparently, I like my men complicated.
“Men?” Mark cocked an eyebrow.
You smiled at this. “You’re right. It’s just him.”
Mark stopped cleaning the glass he was holding to give you a serious look. “You like him a lot, don’t you?”
“I…”
You couldn’t finish the sentence and Mark was quick to notice that as a big smile spread from one of his ears to the other.
“What?” he asked, his tone teasing. “Is that not the right word anymore?”
“Oh, shut up,” you got up from your stool, looking down to avoid having him see your embarrassed face.
Mark laughed again, recalling the same exact words that Jaebum had said to him when he asked him the same thing.
“It’s okay,” he said, sending a mischievous wink your way when you looked at him again. “I happen to know that he feels the same way about you.”
chapter directory
#got7#got7 fanfiction#got7 fanfic#got7 reactions#got7 imagines#got7 scenarios#got7 angst#jaebum#holic#got7 au#got7 x reader#roommate au#enemies to lovers au#got7 enemies to lovers au#got7 roommate au#got7 e2l au#e2l#e2l au
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HOLIC - 36 | jb x reader
pairing: Im Jaebum x Reader
genre: enemies to lovers au | roommate au
warnings: fluff + some suggestive themes
words: 3.7k
disclaimer: i do not own the gif, please let me know if it belongs to you, so i can give proper credit
prev / next
It looked like most rooms at the motel were vacant when you arrived and the middle-aged clerk seemed almost excited to see you – even though it was obvious what you and Jaebum had gotten up to. Not even the remaining hour drive to the motel could erase the undeniable atmosphere of sex around the two of you; and it wasn’t like you were trying to hide it anyway, with Jaebum’s hand settling down on your waist as soon as you two stepped out of the car.
The lady at the front desk, after greeting you in an overly enthusiastic way, informed you that all rooms of the motel were designed the same way, so you could pick whichever one you wanted. All of them included a bathroom, a TV set, a mini-fridge, and two single beds. She sounded apologetic when she said that last part as if you’d turn around and leave, not even stopping to consider sleeping in separate beds.
“It’s alright, we know,” Jaebum said. “We’d called before to get a room reservation but were told not to worry about it.”
“That’s right, we don’t get many guests. It’s a small town,” the clerk told him, fishing a key off the hook on the wall next to her. “How many nights will you be staying with us?”
“Just this one,” he replied, releasing your waist when the lady passed him a form to sign. “We’ll be gone tomorrow.”
She nodded knowingly – although you weren’t sure what was there to know; but, then again, you and Jaebum probably weren’t the first couple that showed up here out of the blue, stayed for one night, and then disappeared in the morning – and then, after making sure your stay was documented and paid for, she finally passed you two the key to your room.
“Have a good night!” she said, her eyes shimmering in a way that suggested she knew you two would.
After thanking her and saying a quick goodbye, you and Jaebum retreated to the room. Contrary to what you’d expected from a motel that not a lot of people frequented, the room wasn’t awful at all. Just like advertised, it had two single beds separated by something that looked like a broken nightstand, a TV set – even if it must have been one of the few leftover relics from the early 90s in this room – a mini-fridge that buzzed so loudly, you thought you’d stumbled upon someone snoring when you’d first entered, and a tiny bathroom. The sight of the latter excited you the most.
“Will you be alright here?” you asked, throwing your phone on the bed closer to the bathroom, never having enjoyed sleeping next to a window – especially not when you were on the first floor – and turning to look at the only other person in the room. “I’m dying to take a shower.”
“Oh. Well, if you’re so concerned about my entertainment,” Jaebum, initially surprised that you were worried about leaving him alone for however long it’d take for you to finish your shower, was now smirking as he finished, “then you can just invite me to come with you.”
You gave him a blank look. “I have an important meeting tomorrow and it would certainly help if my legs could actually work.”
He laughed at that – obviously, taking it as a compliment – and then tried again, “I can be gentle.”
“Of all the things you’ve told me since we’ve met,” you replied, “that is the one I find the hardest to believe.”
“I can prove it.”
“Hmm,” you shook your head, merely blinking and then noticing that Jaebum had taken a step closer to you, his grinning face was now centimeters away from yours. “I’ll keep that in mind. Not tonight, though.”
He shrugged his shoulders, stepping away from you and plopping down on the bed next to the window with a deep sigh. “Fine. Your loss. Leave me here, bored and completely alone.”
His exaggerated dramaticism made you snicker. “There’s a TV. Knock yourself out.”
“I can turn your hot water off for more entertainment,” he teased.
“I know you can,” you said. “But I’m not playing games anymore. I’m strict now – you do that, I’ll kill you.”
“You’ll kill me anyway, one way or another,” he waved his hand dismissively. “I might as well have fun while I wait for you to do that.”
You shook your head again, throwing your shoes off by the door and finally heading for the bathroom. After inspecting it – the shower seemed decent enough and the drain didn’t look like it was going to swallow you whole as soon as you stepped into the booth, either – and then turning around to face the room one last time.
“Yell if you need me,” you told Jaebum.
“I need you!” he yelled immediately, earning a surprised – but amused nevertheless – look from you as you stopped halfway out of the bathroom.
“You’re in an unusually great mood,” you observed, smiling to yourself when you realized that this – happy – was your favorite version of him. “Stay that way until I come back.”
When you got out of the shower less than twenty minutes later, however, Jaebum was nearly asleep. Traces of his smile from before still lingered on his face, but his soft breaths indicated that, although still obviously happy, he was now more exhausted than anything else. You didn’t blame him. He’d endured a full day of work and then drove for more than six hours for you.
Smiling appreciatively, you hovered over his sleeping frame, considering leaning down and wiping the stray strands of hair from his forehead but not risking it in case that would wake him up. A second later, you jumped back because he suddenly opened his eyes anyway.
“You’re awake,” you pointed out the obvious. “I thought you’d fallen asleep.”
“No,” he replied in a husky voice and then yawned right after. “I need to shower, too.”
“Sorry,” you bit your lip. “You can go ahead.”
With a tired blink of his eyes, he sat up and reached for his phone – that he’d already placed on the nightstand in-between the two beds – and sighed after checking the time. Aware of his exhaustion, you offered him a smile.
“Need help with your shower?” you asked, earning a small chuckle from him.
“It’s alright. You should go to sleep,” he told you, climbing off the bed and stretching. “Busy day tomorrow.”
You nodded, inhaling deeply. For the majority of the day today, your mind was occupied with the trip here, but now that you’d actually made it into town, the nerves about the interview that awaited you tomorrow have started to poke at your mind, replacing the previous anxiety with slightly more prominent one. While the trip over here was stressful, it was still something that you could, more or less, plan out. The interview tomorrow, on the other hand, was completely out of your control.
“Nervous?” Jaebum asked, noticing the change in your expression. But he continued before you could reply, “don’t be. They will love you.”
“Normally, I’d say no and let my insecurities get the best of me,” you admitted, “but, God, I really hope you’re right.”
He smiled hearing this. “I am. You’ll see.”
“I probably won’t be able to sleep the whole night tonight, to be honest.”
“Well, if that’s the case,” Jaebum said, sitting down on the edge of his bed as you sat down on yours, “then wait until I come back from my shower and I can tell you a bedtime story. Something that will take your mind off of tomorrow.”
Another thing he was willing to do for you. Your stomach had suddenly clenched so hard, you could barely breathe.
“No,” you said softly. “You need to rest. You’ve already gone out of your way to—”
“I haven’t done anything you haven’t done for me,” he replied. “Although, I’m not doing this because I owe you. I’m a simple man – when I offer to do something, it’s because I genuinely want to do it.”
As your chest swelled with even more adoration, you shook your head.
“Stop being so nice to me,” you said. “Or I’ll start to think aliens had abducted you and replaced you with a very well-made copy.”
“When would they even do that?” Jaebum laughed. “I’ve been with you the whole day.”
“Well, I was just in the shower for half an hour, lots of things could have—”
Taking you completely off guard, he cut you off mid-sentence by reaching over and pressing his lips to yours in a gentle kiss. You could feel him smile into the kiss when he heard your breath hitch in surprise.
“Did that feel like me?” he asked after pulling away a moment later, his classic grin back on his face.
“Yeah,” you exhaled. “That felt like you alright.”
Chuckling again, Jaebum nodded his head in the direction of the bathroom, indicating that he was really going this time.
“Wait for me,” he reminded you, standing up.
“Hmm,” you nodded, mumbling under your breath so he wouldn’t hear (although you had a feeling that he still did), “wouldn’t be able to do anything other than that anyway.”
You lied down on your bed while you waited. The sound of the water running in the bathroom, just a few meters away from you, was soothing and, for a few quick moments, you actually thought you might end up falling asleep, after all. Just as you felt yourself sigh in content, however, the first hints of slumber fogging up your mind, you heard a gentle melody coming from the bathroom. You thought you’d imagined – or dreamt – it at first but when you opened your tired eyes, you could still hear it.
And, after sitting up and turning your head towards the bathroom door, you realized that this was Jaebum, singing in the shower.
With your heart bursting, you smiled to yourself and tried to listen better – harder – so you’d make out the words of the song but you didn’t seem to recognize the melody at all. Perhaps you just didn’t know the song or… perhaps this was an original piece that he’d created, maybe even the one he’d mentioned working on in the car on the way here.
Knowing very well that this was, technically, a form of eavesdropping, you still flipped onto your back so you could hear better but the running water inside of the bathroom made it difficult to discern the words. You couldn’t help but want desperately to ask him about this new song he was writing – if this was indeed a new song – but you knew he wouldn’t tell you much, not until he had the song all done and ready, which, based on previous experiences, could take ages.
Among the bits and pieces of separate words you’d managed to catch him sing, the only full phrase you were certain you heard was, “I want to be with you” but that was more than enough for you to understand that Jaebum had moved on from writing songs about his ex-girlfriend and was now working on a piece that was entirely different.
He’d told you once that he could never write songs about abstract concepts and instead preferred to write lyrics about his own personal experiences. He’d said he wrote the words that described the strongest emotion he was feeling at the given moment and you felt yourself smile at this memory. The sound of his voice behind the wall separating this room from the bathroom – and the words that passed his lips as he continued to sing – could have only meant that the strongest emotion he was feeling right now was not anger. Not anymore.
Holding your breath, you listened more and managed to overhear him curse silently every now and then – when he messed the melody up, most likely – which supported your hypothesis even more. Jaebum was right there, behind the wall, singing a new song that he had written himself.
And then the water stopped abruptly.
Gasping quietly, you turned to your side, your back facing the bathroom door, and closed your eyes. You’d very much prefer him thinking that you’d fallen asleep than have him catch you eavesdropping on him – in your defense, he was not being subtle about his singing at all; he had to suspect that the walls were thin.
Another moment later, you heard the door of the bathroom open. You still kept your eyes closed, your heart beating rapidly, the emotions caused by overhearing him sing still fresh in your mind.
You didn’t hear anything else for a good few minutes and debated opening your eyes so you could check what was it that he was doing without making any noise, but another second later, you were forced to find out what he was doing when he wrapped his arms – still dripping wet – around you, startling you.
“Shit, Jaebum!” you jumped up, turning your head as much as his body – now on the bed next to you, his damp skin soaking the sheets – allowed you to. “You’re wet—what are you doing?!”
“I thought you fell asleep,” he said, grinning mischievously. “So, I had to check.”
“Clearly, I’m awake!” you shot back – earning a very pleased look and a quick kiss on your cheek from him – but Jaebum was already standing up. “Did you suddenly forget how to use words?!”
“Using words is not nearly as much fun,” he said and instead of helping you find a proper response, your mind suddenly shut the function of your lungs completely off.
The sight of Jaebum standing in the dimly lit motel room in only his boxers, his hair falling on his face haphazardly as water dripped from the strands of his hair and landed on the smooth skin of his cheeks and chest, didn’t just make you do a double-take after you first laid your eyes on him. It made you battle your own mind so you could muster up enough strength to look away.
“Well,” you sat up on the bed, clearing your throat and feeling the sheets around you, “now my bed is wet because you can’t use a towel properly, either. Thank you.”
“Oh, hey look at that,” he said nonchalantly, reaching for his travel bag to find something to wear to bed, “looks like now you have to use my bed.”
You raised your eyebrows at this and shook your head, realizing that this might have been his plan all along. The previous exhaustion he had been feeling was seemingly gone now.
“You could have just told me you wanted to sleep with me instead of this,” you said, checking your shirt and shaking your head at the soaked material. “Now I’m considering sleeping here out of spite.”
“Oh, but you can’t. What if you catch a cold?” he asked, mock-concern evident on his face as soon as he pulled his shirt over his head, the material immediately clinging to the droplets of water still glistening everywhere on his skin.
“You are intolerable,” you told him matter-of-factly but Jaebum could see right through you. You weren’t nearly as annoyed as you were pretending to be.
“Come on,” he said, throwing the quilt that covered his bed to a side and patting the mattress. “Get in.”
“Not while you’re wet.”
“We can use body heat so I would dry faster.”
“I prefer sleeping in a dry bed,” you fought, resisting the pull of his eyes.
Jaebum enjoyed the challenge you were throwing at him, however, as he never ceased to smirk.
“After all that I’ve done for you,” he started and you were already able to guess where he was going to go with this, “after I’ve spent my precious time driving you over here and then making sure you really remembered this trip before you even got to the gallery,” he paused, reading your face as if to check if you understood which moment of your trip he was hinting at. You did. “And now you won’t even—”
“Okay, fine!” you stood up in a huff, took one step towards him and climbed into his bed instead, all while glaring at him as if he was making you participate in the most unpleasant activity of your life. “I knew you’d use that against me. It’s never “just a favor” with you. You always want something in return.”
He didn’t bother to deny any of that as he got into bed after you, throwing the quilt over your bodies and wrapping one arm – his skin still damp – over your body as he held you in a spooning position, nuzzling his head into your neck in an attempt to get more comfortable.
“I believe you promised me a story,” you reminded him, ignoring your suddenly accelerated heartbeat and the goosebumps that were woken up by the feeling of his breath on your neck, “and now I think you’ll have to keep talking until you’re completely dry and it no longer feels like I’m laying in a swamp.”
“In—in a swamp,” he chortled, the comparison amusing him. “Okay, alright, let me think of something to tell you. Something that would make you feel like you’re laying in a beautiful meadow full of daisies, since that’s what you’d prefer, yeah?”
“Jaebum, I’m in a very convenient position to kick you out of the bed,” you warned, bringing your foot over his shins to prove your point.
He laughed again, gently kissing your neck as an apology. “Okay, okay. Let me tell you about the time I left Mark to babysit my cats for me when we were back in college.”
And then he did. He got into explicit detail about the depth of the wounds his cats had inflicted on Mark and about how long it took him to convince Mark to come over again after that. Then, he told you about each cat he used to have individually, describing them so vividly, it was almost starting to feel like you’ve met his cats yourself.
He told you about how he had to give them away so he could get a job and stop worrying about leaving the poor animals home alone for the whole day every day. He told you about how his mom always cooked him food when he started his job at the radio station and how, whenever he opened the plastic containers she’d packed the food in, crowds of other producers would swarm to his studio to have a taste, too. He didn’t talk about his family much, focusing solely on his mother and, thus, answering the question he’d ducked out of answering in the car earlier today. He was indeed close to his mom.
By the time his throat got hoarse from all the talking, you had already turned to your other side and lied facing him instead. He had told you so much and, even though none of his stories involved the song you’d heard before, listening to his voice as he talked about his favorite moments from his life felt a little like hearing him sing and that was enough.
You weren’t sure when you began to feel drowsy and stopped focusing so much on the way his hair tickled your cheek or the way his minty breath washed off on your face every time he chuckled at the memory of the event he was telling you about.
Jaebum had succeeded in making you forget about the potentially life-changing interview you’d have to endure tomorrow because, as your mind floated between consciousness and slumber, you were thinking about something else entirely. In fact, the one thing that would not leave your mind was the realization that this didn’t feel that much different from home.
You were lying next to Jaebum here, too, his arms around you. You could hear his soft breaths, feel his heart beating against your chest, smell the soap on his skin. And when you opened your eyes, you could see that he was watching you, his gaze tender and full of vulnerability – your hand, sneaking up to rest on his chest, could have held the sharpest blade and he wouldn’t have cared. You could tell that this scared him, but not getting to hold you scared him even more.
As you thought back on all the times the two of you had wished to find yourselves in this exact position – hands and legs entangled together until one could no longer tell where your limbs ended and his began – you were even more inclined to believe that this here felt just like home. You’d spent so much time resisting the magnetic pull between your bodies until you finally gave in to it because fighting the inevitable was pointless. It just took you both some time to realize and accept this.
And now, even though your bodies were pressed close to one another, occupying only a tiny part in the corner of an otherwise enormous room – proof of how little physical life meant in comparison to all that was hidden in the universe – it felt like your souls, intertwined irreversibly, were so much bigger than this whole room. Bigger, even, than this world.
And just like Jaebum at the gas station hours before, you gasped quietly, a startling realization settling inside of your mind: his arms wrapped around you wasn’t just a reminder of an apartment somewhere far away from here. His embrace wasn’t just a mirror of all that had happened inside of his bedroom back at home.
Jaebum wasn’t just a piece of your home that you’d brought here with you.
He was your home.
“What is it?” he whispered, pulling away slightly, your gasp taking him by surprise.
“Nothing,” you replied breathlessly. “Thank you for telling me about all of that.”
“It’s okay,” he said, “are you tired?”
You nodded weakly. “I am. But I—”
“Sleep,” he told you, cutting you off before you could explain the epiphany you’d just had. “I’m here.”
He may not have heard the specific words from you – because you weren’t sure if it was possible to explain how a decidedly simple person, with nothing at all extraordinary about them, could ever discover what the true purpose of life was – but he felt them. He felt them in the tender touch of your fingertips on his chest. He felt them in your eyes when you thought he couldn’t feel you watching him. He felt them in your lips when you leaned in slowly, pressing a delicate kiss to his cheek.
Jaebum had figured out what the purpose of life was, too. It filled the otherwise empty space of the motel room, pulsating soundlessly all around you and him. It filled the vacant cavities of his chest, bringing life to his exhausted heart. It filled his mind, giving his thoughts and dreams the meaning they’d always lacked.
And, in truth, this purpose had never been hidden from him – it was right there in front of his face the whole time. He’d just been too stubborn to open his eyes and notice it.
But he saw it now. He held it in his arms, whispering a gentle “goodnight” and promising wordlessly to never let go.
chapter directory
#got7#fanfiction#got7 fanfiction#got7 reactions#got7 imagines#got7 scenarios#got7 fanfic#got7 jb#jaebum#got7 au#roommate au#e2l#e2l au#got7 x reader#got7 roommate au#got7 e2l au
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HOLIC - 39 | jb x reader
pairing: Im Jaebum x Reader
genre: enemies to lovers au | roommate au
warnings: angst
words: 3.5k
disclaimer: i do not own the gif, please let me know if it belongs to you, so i can give proper credit
prev / next
Tuesday came too soon. Although, to be fair, it could have been months or even years away, and it would have still come too soon. The only upside to what would otherwise shape out to be a gloomy day, was the fact that you and Jaebum had to leave the house at the same time, so both of you were in the bathroom together, pushing each other as you fought for a place by the sink. Normally, Jaebum only started to work in the afternoon – that’s why he’d never interrupted your morning routine before – but today he was heading out to Jackson’s studio before going to the meeting with the agency representatives that had contacted him.
So now, as Jaebum brushed his teeth and you applied mascara to your lashes, you watched the smile spread on your face in the reflection of the mirror because you realized that you truly enjoyed starting your morning like this. Especially when Jaebum attempted to explain the “prophecy” he’d had in his dream last night with a mouth full of toothpaste.
“You need to slow down,” you told him, bringing the mascara brush over your lashes one final time. “I can’t understand a word you’re saying.”
“I’m tehhing ‘uh—” he continued, pausing to spit the toothpaste out after he realized he was still speaking gibberish. He wiped his mouth and then repeated himself, “I’m telling you, that dream was good. It promises a bright future for us both. So, stop looking like you’re on your way to your funeral.”
“I—I don’t look like I’m on my way to my funeral,” you denied, startled by his observation.
“No, you do. I noticed your anxious expression as soon as I saw you this morning,” Jaebum insisted, rinsing his mouth out with water from the tap.
You put the cap back on the mascara and glanced at your reflection one more time. The crinkles on your forehead weren’t as prominent as they’d been last night – you were slowly coming to terms with seeing Jiho today – but the puffy bags under your eyes certainly were even despite the cold water you’d washed your face with in an attempt to look more awake.
“I’m just nervous,” you decided to admit finally. “Making decisions that will affect your future in a great way isn’t easy.”
Jaebum was washing his face but stopped as soon as you said this, turning to look at you but not lifting his head from the sink.
“Are you having doubts about this?” he asked.
The goosebumps that ran down your arms seemed to originate in your very core.
“N-no, not like that,” you said, aware that anything else you might add would turn out to be a lie because, no matter which way you looked at it, having doubts about this was precisely what you were doing. “I’m just nervous.”
That was as truthful as you could be without ruining both of your days and revealing the details of your potential exhibition to Jaebum. He seemed content with your response – as he sighed and turned the tap off before straightening up and turning to you – but somehow that just made you feel even guiltier.
Withholding information was, technically, still a form of lying.
“I’m nervous, too,” he said, his gentle words piercing your heart in ten different spots. “But we’re doing this together, right? You’re not alone. I’m here with you. Maybe not physically but my mind is always with you.”
He took your hand as he said this, intertwining his fingers with yours and this way holding the frayed bits of your soul together in his grip. It was incredibly unfair for Jaebum to be the only person able to calm you down by telling you that everything you were about to do wasn’t actually evil – it was just you, working towards your goal – because he was also the only person to whom you couldn’t explicitly reveal the real nature of today’s meeting.
“Right,” you said, holding his hand in yours tighter, your fingertips whispering the apologies on his palm. “Good luck today. Text me as soon as your meeting ends.”
“I will,” he nodded, pulling you in so he could wrap his arms around you for one last hug before the two of you left the peacefulness of your bathroom and headed out into the chaos outside. “You too, okay? If you put your signature on anything, I have to be the first person you tell.”
You inhaled shakily – Jaebum smelled like mint toothpaste and aftershave – and hugged him back. “There’s no one else I’d want to tell.”
Jiho was already waiting for you when you arrived at the restaurant you’d agreed on beforehand. He stood up when he saw you approach and you tried to refrain yourself from imagining what his face would look like if you just turned around right now. If you left like your heart was telling you to leave.
“Hi. It’s good to see you again,” he addressed you first. He did everything first, except sit down by the table – he waited until you did before returning to his seat opposite you. “How have you been?”
“Good,” you lied because that was what people did when asked this question. “And you?”
“Me too,” Jiho replied. “Would you like to order right away or should I ask for the menu?”
You glanced at him – purposefully not looking at him longer than it was necessary – and cleared your throat. “No, it’s alright. I’ll have whatever you’re having.”
You didn’t come here to eat but you put up with the overly pretentious way Jiho raised his hand, clicking his fingers and smiling at the waitress when she looked his way. She didn’t look as annoyed as she must have felt when she approached your table.
You waited until Jiho ordered your meals, and then waited until the waitress brought you your drinks before he thought that enough time had passed for the pleasantries and it was finally to talk business.
“So, I take it you’ve thought about our offer,” he said, talking on behalf of the whole gallery and thus reminding you what a big deal this was. You weren’t just dealing with a photographer whom you didn’t particularly like. You were dealing with a gallery at the very least, and your whole career at most.
“I have,” you said, trying to swallow the lump in your throat. “Do you have the terms and conditions on paper? Or is this agreement also based on trust?”
Jiho chuckled, shaking his head and revealing the briefcase that he’d leaned against the leg of the table. “No, there’s a contract. Unfortunately, matters like these can’t be handled based on trust. But I’ve already told you that a lot of trust is involved. We believe the artists we work with and we appreciate it if they believe us, too.”
You wondered if he sounded as official back when you’d met him at the gallery. Now he might as well have been in law school, only doing photography on the side.
“Right,” you watched him pull a few sheets of paper out of his briefacse. He looked them over and then passed them to you.
“As I’ve said,” he spoke then, “don’t think of this contract as a liability. It’s more of a formality or a… helpful way for us to keep track of the artists we work with. It’s more like you’re signing an attendance slip, really.”
You bit your lip as you read the legal terms you weren’t sure you recognized.
“There’s no expiration date,” you said, raising your head, “or so you’ve mentioned. But doesn’t that make the contract, well, void?”
“No. The date is not a legal necessity,” Jiho replied. “The expiration date is up for consideration. That means, as long as both parties – that is you and us, the gallery – are successfully cooperating and living up to the requirements listed in the contract, we can keep working together.”
“If there’s no date,” you continued, “then I’m allowed to leave whenever I want?”
“Well,” he chuckled, “we’re definitely not going to be holding you with us against your will if that’s what you mean. The only time that you can’t leave is if we’ve already received the photographs for your exhibition because that’s usually the final step in the organizational process and, obviously, if you suddenly pulled out, we’d suffer a great loss of profit—and talent, of course. That is—I think—the only rule regarding the dates that this contract entails.”
You’d finished reading the first page while he talked and paused before continuing. The amount of new information and the difficult words on paper were starting to make your head hurt.
“Okay, so that’s my side of the deal,” you said after considering his words for a minute. “What about you? I’m assuming you’re also able to put an end to the contract whenever you desire?”
“Yes, but the same exception applies to us,” Jiho said. “We can’t end the contract if your pictures have been approved and your exhibition at our gallery is already one step away.”
“But you can end it before then? If, for example, we reach an agreement about what sort of exhibition this will be, and you give me—I don’t know—a theme I must follow in my photographs, you’re allowed to end the contract while I’m in the middle of shooting the pictures?”
“Legally, yes,” he replied with a solemn expression and then glanced over at the page you’d begun to read. “But we always have our artists’ best interest at heart as long as they also have ours. We’re not looking to sabotage anything.”
You scoffed and then cleared your throat to hide the mocking sound. “So, it’s, once again, based on trust.”
“Basically, yes.”
You hummed in response – trying to hide your skepticism – and continued to read, all while hoping that Jaebum’s meeting was far less uncertain – and awkward – than yours.
The contract had listed all that Jiho had just told you and more but, even despite being eight and a half pages long – you were merely skimming by page three – it was truly more of an attendance slip like Jiho had said before. All they required of you, basically, was for your loyalty but that didn’t make you legally liable to only exhibit your works at Jiho’s gallery, so, technically, while you worked with them, you could also be working with other galleries as well. Although, you doubted if that would have showcased your unbreakable loyalty. Even with a contract that provided you with so much freedom, it was best not to test the limits of their generosity.
It was most definitely unbelievable how you’ve been offered a contract that was barely like an actual contract, and you weren’t sure if you should have felt lucky or not. The contract listed all that Jiho had mentioned the last time you’d seen him: one of the conditions for you to host your own exhibition was to make a name for yourself first; but the papers you’ve been given didn’t specify how long that’d take – you guessed you’d have to trust Jiho on that as well.
However, at the same time, the contract also listed all the benefits you’d get. An unlimited number of exhibitions if the “relationship between both parties remained successful” and as much exposure as it was possible with the funds of the gallery.
It looked like you wouldn’t have to do anything, just sit back and watch everything play out in front of your eyes, maybe follow a couple of orders and sip a few glasses of champagne at photography events.
“Before the exhibition,” you started slowly. Jiho stopped chewing – your meals had arrived when you were in the middle of page five – and looked at you. “The contract says I have to make a name for myself. You’ve mentioned that before, too.”
“Yes, well, it’s just an ominous way for us to tell you that exhibitions are, usually, more successful if they’re hosted by artists that are recognized in the business,” he explained again. “This is the part you’re still clinging to, I see. We’re not demanding you to turn into someone you’re not just to become more well known, you know. I already told you, all you’d have to do is just—”
“—attend a few events with you,” you finished for him. “Yeah. You did tell me.”
He sat back in his seat, wiping the corners of his mouth with a napkin. “Is that going to be such a huge problem? It’s not—well, it’s not dating. We’re just two business associates enjoying ourselves in a completely professional setting.”
You almost cringed when he mentioned dating – you’d hoped you would never have to talk to Jiho about dating ever again – but then shook your head instead.
“We’re two business associates, hoping that the media will assume we’re in a relationship,” you corrected him.
“Not necessarily,” Jiho disagreed. “What they assume is their problem. The contract says so, too—did you see? This… ah, PR stunt, if you will, never crosses any lines that the other party might be uncomfortable with. If you think a certain event I’m planning to take you to is inappropriate, you tell me, and we sit down to reach a compromise.”
It sounded easy and simple – he could explain it while dipping his toast into the sauce from his pasta – but your mind still worked overtime. You haven’t even touched your food.
“Our goal is to make an ambiguous appearance,” Jiho added after a moment.
Your frown deepened. He’d already explained this to you but now that you were about to really do this, you needed to know everything.
“What does that mean, specifically?” you asked.
“It means that we show up to these events but we make no attempts to explain the essence of our relationship to anyone,” he said, essentially repeating all that he’d already told you when you met him last weekend. “The less we talk, the more the media talks for us. The less we tell them, the more they want to talk to us. And the more they want to talk to us, the faster you make a name for yourself.”
“So, you’re saying we wouldn’t have to spend the entirety of the next year, attending various different phorography events?”
“God, no, definitely not the whole year,” Jiho shook his head, a smile appearing on his features. “I’d like to think I’m somewhat well-known by now to gather the attention that we need sooner than that. It’s just a few back-to-back events and you’re basically a household name already. Believe me, it won’t take long.”
You’d decided to stop questioning why it was you they were interested in – Jiho had already tried to convince you it’s because he saw potential in you – and, instead, you focused on the contract in front of you again.
A few events. That’s no more than a few weeks. Maybe a month. You could do it. You could stand next to Jiho and drown your dignity in champagne as you waited for the photography world to recognize you so you could have your exhibition. This seemed absolutely backwards to you – you still believed you were supposed to make a name for yourself by exhibiting your works instead of by being someone’s “business associate” – but this was what was going to bring you to your end goal.
You were still learning how this business worked. This side of it that you were exposed to was based largely on trust and, more and more it was starting to look as though you would have no choice but to trust that, by taking your hand and guiding you through the deep waters of the photography world, Jiho wasn’t going to drown you.
“I’ll give you some time to think,” he said after he’d finished his meal and you’d managed to swallow a few bites of yours, “and head to the bathroom for a quick second, alright?”
You nodded and then, as soon as he left, immediately considered standing up and leaving. Ghosting him in the middle of the meeting wouldn’t just be rude, it would also be the final point in your relationship with him. He’d never offer you to work together again. He’d never contact you again.
Maybe that was the right thing to do.
You lowered your head, scanning over the words written on the blindingly white sheets of paper in front of you. The contract was what dreams were made of – artists would kill for a deal like this – and physically pulling away from it was difficult. You’d prove your loyalty to Jaebum if you stood up and, most importantly, you wouldn’t step on your own morals – you could continue to believe that it was possible to make it as a photographer even without having strong connections.
But maybe it wasn’t.
Maybe becoming what you’ve always wanted to become required a few sacrifices along the way and, maybe making sacrifices meant grabbing that triggered moral compass inside of your chest, squeezing it tight, and then throwing it out because you were no longer going to follow it. Your heart wanted you to wait and see. But how were you supposed to know that waiting was really the right choice? You’ve waited around long enough already – no magic happened. No opportunities to prove yourself arose.
Jaebum was bold. It took him a long time, but he got here. He was so close to his goals, you could smell it. And if you didn’t walk alongside him on the road to success, you may end up being left behind while he got lost in the confusing – and yet more satisfying with each turn – maze of success. He’d grab his dream and shape it into reality that was still there, all his to touch and experience, when he woke up, while you continued to sleep.
You needed to be bold. If this was going to be the only way for you to get an exhibition, well, then maybe you were supposed to take it because God knew how long it’d be before you got an opportunity like this again. And it wasn’t like you’d have to sell your heart and soul to Jiho for it – you’d just have to appear with him at some public events, which was – as you further tried to justify to yourself – something that a lot of enterpreneurs did. They hung out together platonically but the simple picture of the two of them together brought them both money and recognition.
It wasn’t even about the money in your case; it was all about getting your work seen and recognized. And if that wasn’t possible to achieve without getting your name seen and recognized first, then so be it. You were a conformist at heart, so perhaps it was time you conformed to the rules of this new world, instead of sticking to the old rules you’ve lived by your whole life.
A change in life required a change in mind.
Being seen together in public with a photographer that’s steadily growing more and more popular wasn’t a crime. It was something that could shape the public’s perception of you a certain way – even if it’s in a way that you didn’t exactly approve of – but, as of right now, the public had no perception of you at all and that was hardly better.
Just as you bit your lip, your heart tearing itself into pieces, your phone buzzed inside of your handbag. The wheels in your mind stopped turning for just a second when you saw Jaebum’s name on the screen.
The exclamation points were so out of character for him that, for a moment, you thought Jackson had stolen his phone. But, at the end of the day, it didn’t matter who was the one that had typed the text – Jaebum had done it. He’d signed a contract with a recording agency.
Your entire chest pulsated with pride as you nearly teared up, excited to tell him how proud of him you were again. And then again because just once wasn’t enough. And then again because twice wasn’t enough, either.
You were so happy for him that, for the most blissful of moments, you completely forgot about the contract waiting for you and the owner of it that had just returned to your table.
When you raised your head, however, the decision was already made. It was the exclamation points in Jaebum’s text and the elation suddenly budding in your chest that had convinced you. You wanted to reply to Jaebum with enthusiasm that matched his. You wanted a double reason to celebrate.
“Alright,” you said, clenching your jaw as you waited for Jiho to sit back down opposite you. “Have you got a pen?”
“Yeah, of course,” Jiho pulled one out from the inner pocket of his outrageously expensive-looking jacket. He nodded in the direction of the contract as he passed the pen to you. “Are you going to sign it?”
You took it from him carefully so as not to touch his hand, the edges of your vision blurring as you lowered your head and responded through chapped lips, “yes.”
chapter directory
#got7#got7 fanfiction#got7 reactions#got7 imagines#got7 scenarios#got7 angst#kpop#fanfiction#got7 fanfic#jb#jaebum#got7 au#got7 x reader#roommate au#got7 roommate au#got7 e2l#e2l#enemies to lovers au#got7 e2l au#got7 enemies to lovers au
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HOLIC - 25 | jb x reader
pairing: Im Jaebum x Reader
genre: enemies to lovers au | roommate au
warnings: some domestic life with jaebum (and this is surprisingly long)
words: 7.2k
disclaimer: i do not own the gif, please let me know if it belongs to you, so i can give proper credit
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Your alarm clock had rung like it did every morning but, for some weird reason, this time, the sound was coming from the wrong direction – even your sleepy mind could fathom that. It took a lot of groaning and a lot of sporadic shuffling for you to realize that your phone was at the far edge of the bed, wrapped tightly in the blanket that you must have thrown off of yourself at night because you were too warm.
As you reached for it to turn it off, you ended up stumbling over someone’s leg and yelping in surprise before the events of last night returned to your mind within the next few moments. At first, all you could remember was that you’d fallen asleep very late. So late, in fact, that once the clock on your phone passed midnight, you started to fear to check the time because you knew you’d have to be up early tomorrow. Somehow, you just couldn’t bring yourself to get up and leave Jaebum’s room.
And, judging by the fact that you were sitting – dizzy and a little hazy – on his bed, apparently, you hadn’t bothered to leave at all in the end. Jaebum was laying on the other side of the bed, his eyelashes fluttering every now and then, his fingers tapping lightly against the pillow next to his face – he was awake. Undoubtedly so, because a second later, he opened his eyes.
For a good minute, the two of you just watched each other, your minds completely blank. You weren’t sure what you were expecting him to say – if anything – but you knew that no matter what he chose to say next, the fact still remained: you’d fallen asleep in his bed last night. Again.
“Uhh…” you were the one who opened your mouth first in the end. “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I was in here for so long, I fell asleep—”
Jaebum chuckled, the surprising sound cutting you off. He had closed his eyes again – you didn’t blame him, six in the morning was far too early to have your eyes opened – but the smirk on his lips remained.
“You just can’t leave my bed,” he said, his groggy morning voice laced with teasing, “even if I built yours.”
Suddenly glad that he wasn’t looking at you, you smiled and shook your head. It was too early to come up with a good comeback and, truth be told, you probably wouldn’t have had what to reply with either way. It was just refreshing to hear how completely unfazed by this he seemed to be.
Still grinning to yourself – and, consequently, not realizing that Jaebum had opened his eyes as soon as he heard you shuffle on the bed again – you gathered yourself to your feet and quietly tip-toed out of the room. Despite wanting to stay here longer – not even touching him, but sharing the space of his bed with him – you also had to get ready for work and no matter how appealing calling in sick sounded, you hadn’t done that when you felt unprepared to deal with Jiho, so that meant you weren’t going to do that now, either.
All was well in your apartment. You didn’t want to take it for granted or, worse, ruin it by overstaying your welcome in Jaebum’s room.
After a brisk shower and a quick breakfast, you located your purse and your car keys and prepared to head out, stopping for a moment outside of Jaebum’s bedroom. His door was open and you could see him sleeping in the exact same position that you’d left him in. He had the whole bed to himself now and he was still sleeping on the left side as if he’d left the right side vacant on purpose. As if he was waiting for you to sneak back in.
Inhaling sharply to hopefully ease the sudden surge of violent butterflies inside of your stomach, you turned around and, still smiling, exited your apartment.
Your slightly wet hair flowing in the cold wind outside didn’t worry you as much as it probably should have because the irresistible urge to chuckle every time you recalled bits of conversation that you’ve had with Jaebum last night was keeping you warm. You were sure that as long as you kept thinking about last night and hoping for many more nights like this in the future, you were going to survive the coldest winters with minimal heating needed.
At this point, there was no denying it: you had feelings for Jaebum. Strong ones, too. Frustrating, as well, because you weren’t sure what you were supposed to do with yourself. And confusing, on top of everything, because you didn’t know what Jaebum was feeling – you could have guessed but guessing meant raising your hopes.
Funnily enough, it’s been days since you and Jaebum had the fight that had opened your eyes – and your hearts, too – and you still haven’t properly discussed what either of you has said. On the one hand, that was good – now you knew you might have exhibited some Suji-like traits and you could work on that. There was no point talking about it when you and him seemed to be getting along much better now. But, on the other hand, you knew that he’d said many things that required explanations – you just weren’t sure how you were going to continue to live if the explanations you received didn’t live up to the expectations you’d grown to have.
You focused on actually doing your job today and it seemed to work this time – you didn’t get distracted – until, during your lunch break – which you deliberately took after two o’clock – you decided to listen to Jaebum’s radio show in hopes that he’d dare to finally play his own song but, of course, that didn’t happen.
Honestly, Jaebum would have probably texted you if he decided to play his song on air – or, at least, you hoped he would – but it wouldn’t have been surprising if he just played it without warning anyone, knowing how bashful he got whenever he had to speak about his music. It was admirable in an almost annoying way because, honestly, there was nothing he should have been embarrassed about. Unless it was about his immense talent, anyway.
You didn’t hear Jaebum’s song today but you did get to listen to his voice as he talked to his listeners and, somehow, that seemed to lift your mood even more. That was why, when Hyojin texted you to get some coffee after work – you and her used to host “productive” coffee sessions when you were both in college, where you’d get together to edit pictures (in your case) or toy around on Polyvore (in Hyojin’s) – you agreed without hesitation.
Although, normally, you felt like going home and not seeing anyone after you finished work, right now you were feeling just upbeat enough to interact with others. You were in the kind of mood where you wanted to go out and conquer the world but, at the same time, you wouldn’t have felt bad about not achieving much today because you knew that, at the end of the day, when you’d return home, Jaebum would be there.
Back in the day – a week ago, really – you used to dread going home because you knew you’d get into an argument with your roommate, but now, just the thought of getting to see him later tonight kept your spirits soaring the whole day. It was a nice change; you welcomed it with open arms.
Hyojin noticed your great mood almost immediately after you walked through the door of the café and saw her waving at your from the table at the back.
“You are glowing,” she declared, a smirk on her lips. “Dare I guess the reason why you’re looking so wonderful today?”
“No need, I can tell you myself,” you replied, giving her a quick hug hello and then sitting opposite her by the table. “I got a good night's sleep, tried a new—delicious—brand of cereal that I’d gotten on sale last week and ended up being pleasantly surprised by the taste, and there were no screaming crowds of children on tour at the gallery today. It’s been a… a decent day.”
“Hmm,” Hyojin was still smirking. “And that’s it?”
You shrugged your shoulders. “Yeah.”
“How’s the roommate?”
Of course she wasn’t going to let you play around and pretend Jaebum didn’t have any influence on your—almost uncharacteristically—good mood. You sighed, giving in.
“He’s great,” you replied, watching Hyojin’s smile spread. “We talked a lot last night. It was nice. Didn’t even feel real, to be honest.”
“How come?” she asked.
“I don’t know, we’ve only talked to each other – and I don’t mean those shallow conversations about who’s doing the grocery shopping; oh, speaking of, I have to get that done later. Remind me, will you? – after we’ve had some pretty big fights,” you replied, trying not to get too side-tracked. “So, this felt like slipping into some sort of a parallel universe where Jaebum and I were the kind of people who got together after work to talk about their day and eat pizza.”
“That doesn’t seem too far-fetched in this universe, either,” Hyojin replied. “You and him have hung out in the past, haven’t you?”
“Well, yeah, but that was only because we’ve—”
“No, no,” she cut you off, “the ‘because’ doesn’t matter. The fact matters and the fact is, you and him have enjoyed spending time with each other long before you began to do it purposefully. I can’t stand the sight of Jacob after we fight,” she continued, mentioning her boyfriend and grimacing at the memory of their latest argument. “We both need a lot of time to cool off and get back to our previous activities – and even then, we’re still wary of each other – so, in this case, you and Jaebum might be more mature than us when it comes to resolving your arguments.”
“Yeah, well, you know,” you said, “we’ve had a lot of practice.”
Hyojin laughed. “Maybe. But still.”
You didn’t reply – too busy getting your laptop out of your bag so you could actually start being productive – and Hyojin hesitated before continuing because she was afraid the question that she’d been itching to ask was going to provoke a negative reaction out of you. A moment later, she finally dared to clear her throat.
“You know… Kiera only briefed May and me on the fight that you’ve had with Jaebum,” she said slowly, gauging your reaction. Your face remained stoic. “And we’d assumed you had made up because you’re still living there and everything, and I was just curious… you don’t have to tell me how you resolved all of that if you don’t want to, though.”
“It’s, uh…” you looked around the café as if someone overhearing what you’d say next was a matter of national security. “It’s not really resolved. We just moved past it like we usually do. We both apologized this time, though, which, I think, is an improvement.”
“An improvement,” Hyojin repeated. “And towards what? What’s the end goal here?”
“Growth into adults, I’m hoping,” you said. “Adults who can live in each other’s space without it being a problem. Without fighting. Uh, without frequent fighting.”
Your friend smiled watching the nonchalant way you toyed with the napkin you’d picked up from the table. Hyojin was only giving you the benefit of the doubt because she wanted to hear you out – truth be told, she already knew all the answers to her questions.
“And that’s it?” she asked then, adamant to get you to admit your true intentions – even though she’d already seen right through you. “Because, you know, an improvement of friendship usually means—”
“There wasn’t a friendship,” you cut her off, putting the napkin down and sighing. “I—I know what you want to hear but I’m serious. There was nothing. Jaebum and I—we thought we kind of bonded through texts but we knew virtually nothing about each other when we moved in. I mean, wow, I didn’t even know he was a guy. What kind of friendship could we even talk about?”
“Well, people are not friends with a gender. They’re friends with a person.”
“No, of course,” you nodded, “I just mean—it’s an important part of his life and I knew nothing about it. Or his name, for example, which I also did not know and did not bother to ask. Honestly, when I look back at it, I’m kind of surprised you even let me go through with this. I could have moved in with a serial killer.”
“We did tell you that, though! But you—,” Hyojin said, reaching out to put her hand over yours, “—you were so convinced you were moving in with your new best friend, we didn’t even dare to intervene too much. Kiera was actually kind of jealous but she was willing to see how this played out.”
Out of your group of friends, you and Kiera were the closest – that wasn’t a secret to anyone – and yet you had no idea you were making her jealous by boasting about how excited you were to move in with your roommate. You’d known Kiera for so long, nothing was ever going to replace your bond with her, but you still felt awful for not realizing what she might have been feeling.
“If only Kiera knew that she had nothing to worry about,” Hyojin added, “because you didn’t end up moving in with your best friend. You might have moved in with your soulm—”
“Okay, no,” you cut her off mid-word, almost afraid that she’d jinx everything if she finished her sentence. “L-let’s not go there. What I was saying is that, I thought my future roommate and I had become friends – and we have, honestly – but then all of that flipped upside down when I found out that my roommate is actually the same guy I’d slept with the night before moving.”
“Oh, that’s right!” Hyojin released your hand because the waitress had approached your table, bringing you both the coffees that your friend had ordered before you got here. “I keep forgetting that part. Honestly, in my opinion, that just proves that you and him were meant to be. If you hadn’t met him that night at the bar, you would have still met him after you moved in. And if you hadn’t decided to blindly move in with someone, you’d have still slept with him. You see what I’m saying? You two are destined.”
Your face was suddenly warm and you tried to hide your clearly flustered state by taking a sip of your coffee.
“We’re trying to be friends,” you said after – the drink was too bitter, you couldn’t hide your traitor smile behind a cup until you put enough sugar inside of it, “all over again. It’s surprisingly difficult in real life.”
“I’m not one of the people who believe that boys and girls can’t be just platonic friends,” Hyojin said. “But I genuinely don’t think it should be this hard to be friends with someone. Maybe there was always something else there. From the first moment you saw each other.”
“Yeah. Anger.”
“No, not that,” she disagreed. “I mean, obviously, you’re both attracted to each other – otherwise you wouldn’t have slept together – but, maybe, after you both had enough time to realize how much stuff the two of you had in common, this little spark just… lit up. And, knowing how stubborn you are about certain things, I can assume that Jaebum is the same way, which means that this spark ignited a different kind of fire than it would for most people and this fire burned inside of you both. You argued instead of acting on your real feelings.”
“Hmm,” you hummed, permanently confused why Hyojin studied Fashion instead of choosing Psychology. You tried your coffee again and then continued, “alright. So be it. We’re working on putting that fire out now.”
“The spark will still be there, though. Maybe that spark was exactly the reason why you fought so much – you were so angry about not knowing what to do with it,” Hyojin hypothesized, smirking now. “Hopefully, this time, the fire will light up at the right moment and in the right way. And, hopefully, this time, you’ll know how to deal with it.”
You shook your head, trying to control the stupid grin that was threatening to spread across your face. Hyojin could read through your emotions, however – and not just because they were all clear in your eyes – and she had to admit, seeing you like this made her happy. Perhaps all of this fighting was worth it in the end – it meant that you and Jaebum had finally learned how much you meant to each other, platonically or not.
After you and Hyojin finally finished chit-chatting – and your first cups of coffee – you finally got your laptop out and actually began to work. At first, you didn’t feel comfortable enough to edit the pictures you took at Jackson’s studio while you were in such a public space – somehow, you felt like you could only look at the shots of Jaebum in a very private environment, and the back of a café didn’t cut it – but, eventually, after clearing your throat a hundred times in an attempt to fight your own awkwardness off, you dared to open the photographs on Photoshop.
Normally, you’d look at a picture and immediately know what you had to do – whether it’s lowering the saturation or adjusting the general coloring – but as soon as you saw the first picture that showed a part of Jaebum – the left side of him, to be exact, since that’s the hand he used to write something down on a notebook in his lap when you started to photograph – you were suddenly breathless and at a complete loss of direction.
The picture didn’t need editing. You couldn’t come up with a single thing to do to make it better. Jaebum looked natural, he made the background blur just by being in the shot, and, most importantly, he looked beautiful. For the first time in your life, you stared at a picture in disbelief – trying to decide if you loved every single thing about it because Jaebum was in it, or because you’d actually, finally taken a picture that was genuinely flawless in your eyes.
Suddenly, as you went through the other pictures, following Jaebum’s movements, you understood why Jiho chose to photograph people. It wasn’t just the dynamics that captured the eye – buildings that you loved to photograph so much never made your heart skip a beat when they accidentally glanced at the camera – it was the emotion behind it. You didn’t have to edit the pictures not just because you found every part of Jaebum too beautiful to alter, but also because he was the emotion inside of the picture that you’d looked for.
You’ve photographed the nature for years. The city skylines at night. The forests in winter. The grass after rain. And, all this time, you spent hours editing those pictures until they started to speak to you. Until they showed the emotion you’d been trying to capture.
And Jaebum did all of that – and more; God, he made you feel the emotions that you didn’t even realize were there when you looked at the pictures – by simply allowing you to photograph parts of him while he did what he loved to do the most – worked on his music. You had a feeling the end result would have been similar if you’d photographed other people too because, maybe, the reason why you were so overwhelmed with the lack of editing needed, was because you just weren’t used to photographing actual people. But, at the same time, there was something special about Jaebum specifically; there was something inside of those pictures that was exclusive to him only. You couldn’t name what it was, though.
“Are you actually doing something,” Hyojin said, interrupting your thoughts, “or just staring at your laptop screen? Because I’m almost done editing and I haven’t heard you click your mouse for the past thirty minutes.”
“Yeah, uh—” you cleared your throat again, closing the fifteenth picture of Jaebum that you had opened. “I’m working. There’s not much—not a lot of stuff for me to do. I’m kind of here to keep you company, at this point.”
“Oh. Well, that’s very nice of you,” she said, a hint of teasing in her voice. “Refill?”
You glanced at her over your laptop, noticing her empty cup of coffee.
“Actually—”
Your phone buzzed loudly against the glass table, startling you and cutting you off. You’d expected it to be a text but as you moved your laptop to a side to pick your phone up, it buzzed again, indicating a phone call.
Jaebum’s name greeted you on your screen.
“Sorry,” you said to Hyojin quickly. “It’s Jaebum.”
She just smiled widely in response and nodded her head, allowing you to take the call. You didn’t know why your hands started to shake when you saw the caller’s ID, but you barely managed to press “answer.”
“Yeah?” you spoke, trying to keep your voice neutral. Excitement; that was the reason for your hands seemingly starting to vibrate just like your phone had.
“Hey,” Jaebum greeted you, his voice affecting you the same way it always did – thank God you were sitting down. “Where are you?”
“At a café with Hyojin, we’ve been trying to get some work done,” you replied, glancing at your friend when you mentioned her name. “What’s up?”
“Oh, am I disturbing?” he asked and you almost considered pinching yourself to make sure this was really happening: you were on the phone with your roommate, having a civilized conversation after he’d clearly called you about something important but was willing to put it off because you might have been busy.
“No, not really,” you replied slowly. “I was—I wasn’t doing much, anyway. Procrastinating, I guess.”
By staring at pictures of you, you wanted to add but resisted.
“Okay,” he said and then stayed quiet for the next few moments, “I just got home a little while ago. I got the groceries, so don’t worry about that. Or about starving.”
You smiled despite yourself. “I was supposed to do that.”
“It’s okay. There’s, uh, something else you could help me do instead,” Jaebum said.
You were surprised—but intrigued, obviously—to hear this. “Yeah?”
“Yeah, uh, since we’re such mature household heads,” he said, “I’m going to need you to help me out with the laundry.”
If you weren’t so taken aback by this request, you would have laughed. Everything already seemed bizarre enough – since you still weren’t used to the fact that, apparently, you and Jaebum now called each other – and now you were genuinely planning to help your roommate do the laundry.
“We, um—the—I haven’t—alright. Yeah,” you stumbled around before finally deciding to just agree. You weren’t sure why you were fishing for an excuse anyway. “Right now?”
“Ideally, yeah,” Jaebum replied, his voice almost sheepish. You swore your heart was racing even before you noticed the needy undertones in his words. “But I don’t want you to bail on your friend because of me, so—”
“No, no,” you cut him off, feeling Hyojin’s eyes on you. She wasn’t even trying to hold back her teasing smile. “She won’t mind, I’m sure.”
“Great, then.”
“I should be home in ten minutes,” you said and then, after glancing out of the window, changed your mind, “fifteen maybe. It’s raining.”
“Alright,” Jaebum replied. “I’ll wait for you.”
Almost shivering, you hummed in response and then hung up the call, taking an extra moment to get yourself together before you dared to look up at Hyojin again. She enjoyed every single emotion that passed on your face.
“So, uh—”
“You have to run?” your friend guessed, thoroughly entertained by how easy it was for her to get you flustered. “A roommate emergency?”
“Actually, yes,” you replied. “He, um, asked for my assistance with the laundry.”
Hyojin raised her eyebrows before repeating it with a shit-eating grin, “the laundry.”
“Mmhm,” you nodded, closing your laptop. “Not sure how that’s going to go, either. Hopefully, we won’t end up drowning each other since we’ve never really done anything as domestic—I guess—as that before. Is it alright if I go?”
“Of course!” Hyojin said. “Go ahead. I’ll get another refill and then I’ll be off, too.”
“Really? I’m—”
“Oh, don’t you dare apologize.”
“Well, you’re smirking like you’re not being fully honest with me—”
She laughed. “Perceptive! Alright, I just didn’t know you and Jaebum were that far ahead in your friendship.”
You frowned and stopped packing your things to give her a confused look. “What do you mean?”
“Well, for one, he just called you instead of texting,” Hyojin explained. “And what’s more, he’s literally asking you to come home to help with laundry. Are you sure you’re not working on your life as an old, married couple instead?”
“Ha ha,” you replied dryly and swung your handbag over your shoulder. “I’m heading out and I feel less bad about leaving you here now because you will never stop teasing me.”
“That’s right, it is my duty as your friend and I’m set on serving it for as long as I live,” she replied, responding to your quick hug and then laughing after she heard you groan. “Bye. Have fun doing… laundry.”
“Bye, Hyojin.”
You realized you had to get used to being civil with Jaebum – well as civil as it was possible to get when he groaned, “finally” and then followed up with, “thank you for not changing your mind on me” right after you returned home – instead of getting surprised by every decent thing he said and did. He was a person and his previous determination to make your life hell had just been one of his charms; it wasn’t a part of his actual personality.
But, as you headed to the bathroom and watched him eye the washing machine suspiciously – how was it that, in over a month of living here, Jaebum hadn’t used it once? – you realized that you and him were about to reach a new level of bonding.
“I have plenty of clothes to last me over a month,” he explained, “and, back in my old apartment, there was a laundromat on the first floor with overly specific instructions on how to do everything. I mean, they even listed tips on how to get your clothes out of the machine properly.”
“Huh,” you mumbled, wondering what kind of apartment he’d lived in before. “I didn’t realize there was a wrong way to get clothes out of a washing machine.”
“Oh, you’d be surprised what the society expects from you.”
“Right. Well, we’ll do it my way,” you warned him. “And doing it my way means stuffing your clothes in the machine, putting the detergent and the fabric softener in there, and hoping for the best.”
Jaebum smiled, shrugging his shoulders. “That sounds better than buying new clothes every day.”
You snickered, turning around and heading for your own bedroom. You still didn’t own a closet and your clothes were very much still in many different boxes – one of which was now dedicated to the clothes you had to wash – but, somehow, you’ve gotten used to it and only when you and Jaebum stopped outside of your bedroom, eyeing the various t-shirts that were laying on your floor, did you realize that perhaps living out of boxes wasn’t entirely perfect.
“Alright,” you said, ignoring your messy floor. “Let me gather my stuff that needs washing and then we can separate our clothes by color, yeah?”
“Oh, yeah, sure,” Jaebum nodded and then, after you entered your room, you heard him chuckle. “It’s an achievement of sorts, isn’t it?”
“What is?” you asked, shooting him a quick, confused look.
“This,” Jaebum gestured at you and then waved his hand in the direction of the bathroom. “Us doing laundry together.”
You smiled – your face was suddenly very warm – and looked away from him. “Yeah. It’s nice to know that, at least, if we get into an argument about which fabric softener to use, it probably won’t be so bad that one of us will decide to move out.”
“Oh, don’t be so quick,” he warned, “I’m very particular about the way my clothes feel against my skin.”
“So, do you have a preferred brand?”
“No, I just use whatever and hope for the best,” he replied, smirking. “Kind of like you.”
“Okay. It’s great that you’re trusting me to teach you how to do this,” you told him, leaning down to pick up your clothes from a box nearby, “but now I’m starting to feel like we’re in a bit of a “blind leading the blind” situation.”
“Oh, come on,” Jaebum waved his hand dismissively. “You’ve done this before all by yourself without any instructions and overprotective girlfriends breathing down your neck. I trust you.”
You swallowed heavily at the sudden mention of Suji, pausing in hopes of finding what to say so you wouldn’t make this awkward and, consequently, making it awkward by not responding.
“She, uh… Did she never actually teach you how to do it yourself?” you asked slowly.
You weren’t expecting him to reply but he took a breath and then shook his head.
“No. She wasn’t in it to teach me,” he said. “She was in it to do it for me.”
“Right,” you said, feeling on edge whenever you had to talk about Suji – although you knew that you should have probably gotten used to it. She’d been a part of Jaebum’s life, conversations about her were almost inevitable. It was just so much easier to pretend she never existed. “Well, today is the day you learn. We’ll have to do laundry twice if you have a lot of clothes that aren’t black, since most of mine are and—”
“No, no, almost all of mine is black as well,” Jaebum replied, bringing out a basket – that you weren’t aware you owned – full of his clothes from where he’d left it in the hallway outside of his bedroom. “Do you think we can do it all in one go?”
“Yeah if you don’t mind washing your clothes with mine.”
He scoffed. “I think we’re close enough to wash our clothes together.”
You tried to hide your smile. “You think so? Sharing detergent is a big commitment.”
“I think we’re ready.”
Laughing – and then turning away from him as soon as you saw his smile widen in response – you brought your clothes over to the kitchen counter to double-check the tags and then instructed Jaebum to check if any of the clothes he needed washing actually needed dry-cleaning. You didn’t want the first time you did laundry with him to turn into a disaster after you’d accidentally ruin his favorite sweater or something.
Preparing to do laundry took a while and doing it took even longer – who could have thought Jaebum would find it so crucial to differentiate cotton from synthetic material vaguely resembling cotton – and, by the time you’d finally started the washing machine, it was already dark outside and both of you found yourselves eating the first things you saw in the kitchen for dinner as you waited for the machine to do its’ job.
“Sorry if I made you starve,” Jaebum mumbled, finishing his sandwich. “You should have gotten some food before we—”
“No, it’s fine. I wasn’t hungry when I got home,” you replied, giving him a reassuring smile. It was heartwarming to hear the concern in his voice but you had almost completely forgotten about any kind of food as soon as he called you, asking for your help even if it was help with something as minimal as laundry. The effect he had on you really shocked you sometimes. “The croissant I had for lunch was surprisingly filling.”
He laughed, shaking his head. “You shouldn’t eat croissants for lunch.”
“There’s not much else I can eat,” you shrugged your shoulders. “The gallery might be as modern as it gets, but it doesn’t offer any restaurant services yet.”
“You could pre-cook some food and bring it with you,” he said. “I do that when I know I won’t have time to go out for lunch. I-I could do that for you as well if you’d like.”
“You’d do that?” you asked quietly, your eyebrows rising.
“Sure, it’s not hard,” he replied, obviously trying to play it off. “I mean, I’d be cooking for myself anyway.”
“Thank you,” you said, watching him but only because his eyes weren’t on you. It was a weirdly intimate moment that neither of you was ready for and you could feel the electricity buzzing between you. Eye contact would have turned that electricity into fire in a heartbeat.
“No problem,” he said, his tone as light as always but you saw the shaky way he exhaled when he stood up to put his plate in the sink. “Oh, Jackson called today, by the way. He was asking about you.”
You perked up. “He was?”
“Yeah, he’s wondering about those pictures,” Jaebum explained, turning around to face you and leaning against the kitchen counter with his hips, his palms flat against the granite countertop on either side of him. “I told him to give you some time but he’s of the impatient kind, so don’t be surprised if he finds a way to get your phone number and calls you.”
“Oh,” you mumbled, bringing a napkin over your lips after you finished eating. This move also helped you cover up a smile that had appeared on your face when you remembered the pictures you’d taken. “I was actually working on the shots I took today.”
“Really? How are they?”
“They’re…” you started, hesitating momentarily, “they’re good. I’ll show them to you. But maybe not right now. I still need to, uh, get used to the pictures myself.”
“Oh, yeah, of course,” Jaebum nodded.
If anyone was going to understand your hesitation to show your art to others – it was going to be him because he was exactly the same way. Only, in your case, you needed more time to prepare to show him the pictures you’ve taken because you were afraid that your feelings for him would shine through every picture.
“Don’t let Jackson pressure you,” Jaebum added. “He’s excited – this was two of his worlds, photography and music, colliding – but he can wait until you’re ready.”
You nodded, still smiling, and looked down, thinking about your next words.
“He’s a good friend,” you finally said, talking slowly. “And he seems like a good person in general. He… doesn’t strike me as someone who’d lie just for the sake of maintaining a good relationship with someone.”
“He’s great,” Jaebum said, frowning lightly because he could not understand where you were going with this.
“Then why – if you don’t mind me asking – don’t you believe him when he says that your music is good?” you finished the question, noticing the way Jaebum’s eyes drifted away from yours as soon as the last word left your lips. “I mean, I’d get it if you wouldn’t believe me. I don’t have a musical background and I don’t know you that well but—”
“I believe you.”
“—he just—” you stopped suddenly. “Y-you do?”
Jaebum nodded. He took a deep breath and sat back down in his previous spot in front of you before continuing.
“I believe you and Jackson both,” he said. “At this point, it’s not that I think my music is bad. I think it could use some improvement but I’d like to believe that I’ll get there. I’ll reach a point where I’ll like everything -- or, at the very least, almost everything -- about the way it sounds. It’s just that I don’t know what to do with my music on top of everything. Playing it at my radio station – if we ignore how unfair that’d be for the other amateur singers – should be a step towards recognition, right? But what if it won’t be? What if I play it, and that’s where it ends? My career in music does not advance and this also brings an end to my inspiration. What if I won’t want to work on my music anymore because my first song will… flop?”
Hearing his concerns about this made your heart beat faster and your hands itch to touch him as reassuring words about how everything was going to be okay almost spilled from your lips.
“But what if it won’t flop?” you tried, your voice small as if you were afraid to say the wrong thing and have him close off again. There was a tiny gap in the protective wall inside of his chest leading right into his heart and you’d have done anything to keep it open. “What if you play it and that doesn’t become an end – it becomes a beginning?”
Jaebum considered this, nodding his head. Your approach was obviously a lot more optimistic than his and, once again, he found himself appreciating that you and him found ways to complete each other whenever you had different opinions about something. Jaebum was set on believing that he was going to fail – but he had you, right across from the kitchen counter, to tell him that not everything that seemed like an end was actually an end.
“I see people who want to become singers fade into the background,” he confessed and you lost yourself in the feelings that poured out of his chest through his words. “They send me countless songs. And then I play one of their songs on the radio. They send me a thank-you note. And then I don’t hear from them again. Anywhere. It doesn’t work out. Getting your song played on the radio does not guarantee you a career.”
“But is it a career that you want?” you asked. “Or is it being heard? Is it sharing your music with the world?”
“That’s the thing – I don’t know,” Jaebum admitted. “And I think it’d be awfully bold of me to say that I want all three.”
“I think it’d be ambitious,” you said. “And that is what I admired the most about you ever since I texted your ad all of those months ago.”
“I thought it was the cat I’d used as my profile picture.”
You laughed. “I admired that, too. But it’s your confidence about what you wanted in life that really pulled me in and even inspired me to be more certain about my own goals. At the end of the day, all you want to do is to create music. That’s your passion. Don’t let the fear of failure stop you from turning that passion into a living.”
Jaebum watched you for a moment before speaking again, “you’ve been a motivational speaker in your past life, haven’t you?”
You laughed again, shaking your head. “No. I’ve been a supportive friend. That’s what I’m trying to be in this life, too.”
It was—probably—very brave of you to call yourself his friend and you almost regretted it as soon as your eyes met his. Jaebum looked at you for a long while, this time, not saying anything and, thus, further fueling your regret.
“Thank you,” he finally spoke, his hand brushing lightly against yours on the counter between the two of you. “All of this means a lot to me.”
Hours later, you and Jaebum were crouched down on the floor of your bathroom, both of you watching the clock on the clothes dryer. You were leaning against the wall in the corner of the room, your eyes following digital numbers on the dryer in front of you while Jaebum rested against the wall next to you, his head halfway on your shoulder. It was already after midnight and, having had an early morning, both of you were too tired to care about how close the two of you were sitting to each other.
“Do you think it’ll take long for it to finish?” you asked, yawning for the sixth time in the past two minutes. “We should have moved into an apartment where the dryer actually showed how much time is left until the laundry’s done.”
Jaebum smiled – yawning a second later as well. “It probably always takes long, that’s why there’s no timer. You can go to sleep if you’re tired.”
“No,” you sighed, wanting to shake your head but stopping yourself before you did because you didn’t want to hit Jaebum who was leaning against you. “We still have to figure out the right way to get our clothes out of the dryer. To appease the society as one would.”
“Not sure if we’ll figure anything out if we both fall asleep while waiting for it to finish drying.”
“Sleeping on the bathroom floor,” you said. “Doesn’t sound so bad, to tell you the truth.”
Jaebum snickered quietly and then pulled away from your shoulder to give you a teasing look. “I’m sure sleeping in my bed is much more comfortable.”
You were sure he managed to catch the sight of your widening eyes before you looked away in embarrassment.
“Right,” you said, the sudden memory of falling asleep in Jaebum’s room last night – and the night before, after you’d confronted Suji – waking your mind right up. “Sorry I keep… falling asleep there.”
“I don’t blame you,” he smirked. “My bed is great. I guess I won that bet in the end, didn’t I?”
You scoffed. “No way. I would have built my bed faster if you hadn’t broken the frame.”
“Sure. But my bed is much more comfortable, so I’m the real winner,” he insisted.
“No, you’re not.”
“You wouldn’t have fallen asleep in my bed if it wasn’t more comfortable than yours.”
You didn’t say anything for a few moments before finally whispering, “I don’t think it’s about the bed.”
“No?” Jaebum asked, his eyes tracing the features of your face. You still weren’t looking at him so you didn’t notice the desperation hiding behind his gaze. You’ve just said something he’s been waiting to hear. He needed you to continue. “What’s it about, then?”
Too tired to filter your thoughts properly before you voiced them, you shook your head. You’ve already said enough. Now was not the time for pathetic confessions of love that may have not been reciprocated. No one deserved to get their hearts broken after midnight. It was the worst possible time.
“You know exactly what it’s about,” you chose to say.
Jaebum didn’t give in, “do I?”
“I think you do.”
“I’d like it if you said it.”
You laughed suddenly, your mind too tired to argue with him. “Get lost.”
It was so obvious what the two of you were talking about – you didn’t fall asleep in Jaebum’s bed because the bed was comfortable; you kept falling asleep there because he was there – and yet you were both too stubborn. You refused to voice the real reason why you found yourself in his bed and he refused to give up without hearing you say it out loud.
You were so close to something. So close, you could almost taste it on your lips after you nervously brought your tongue over them. You could almost feel it in the rapid beating of Jaebum’s heart when you moved your arm to find a more comfortable position and ended up positioning it right on his back.
You were so close but you weren’t there yet.
Jaebum responded to you with a tired chuckle and then, after slowly getting up from the floor, extended a hand for you. “Let’s go to sleep. We’ll get the clothes out tomorrow.”
“But they’ll be all wrinkled—”
“At least you’ll get a good night’s sleep,” he said, “so it won’t matter as much.”
You sighed, taking his hand and allowing him to help you stand up.
“So,” Jaebum said, his eyes glazed over with exhaustion, but his lips still curled into a teasing smirk. “My bed or yours?”
You pushed his shoulder, making him laugh again.
“Goodnight,” you said, walking past him towards your bedroom. Jaebum watched you go with the same smile still on his lips. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
chapter directory
#got7#got7 fanfiction#got7 jb#im jaebum#got7 jaebum#fanfiction#got7 reactions#got7 imagines#got7 scenarios#got7 au#got7 x reader#im jaebum fanfiction#jaebum fanfiction#im jaebum fanfic#jaebum fanfic#holic#got7 e2l au#e2l au#got7 roommate au#roommate au#got7 fluff#im jaebum fluff#jb#kpop#kpop fanfiction#kpop reactions#kpop imagines#kpop scenarios
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