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jebewonmorelike · 5 months

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✰⋆⁺ Steal Your Heart ⁺⋆✰

*ੈ Part Three: The Lovers ♡ Kim Jiwoong

♡ Steal Your Heart Masterlist

♡ Read this Introductory Post and the Masterlist for details!

♡ Read Part One and Part Two (Gyuvin) Here!

˚☽˚｡⋆ Steal Your Heart: An Interactive Fanfiction Game

... Collect Points to Determine Your Love Interest and Special Ending!!

⁺⋆✰ wc: 7k (i'm sorry but i love this chapter sm. it took so long and has a lot of different choices so it's not that long if you just pick one choice lol. pls enjoy!)

⁺⋆✰ reader-insert pronouns: none used; n/a -- reader is the 10th member of AU ZB1, but the group is referred to only as an "idol" group. no mentions or descriptions of gender of reader.

⁺⋆✰ chapter warnings: crime (reader was wrongfully convicted of a crime), swearing, depictions of alcohol/bar scene, suggestion of a drinking problem, pretty vague descriptions of making out (only the beginning of chapter), mild violence, angst, the choice *waack* towards the end contains a small suggestive joke... and lots of really funny and insane shenanigans! all ages welcome; pg-13+ themes.

⁺⋆✰ summary: for series summary click here. gyuvin and (y/n) are now fully awakened to their powers in the metaverse, confronting their company's president head-on as the fate of au!zb1 lies in their hands. what will happen when their group member jiwoong, the textbook definition of a washed-up idol, enters the mix? inspired by the jrpg persona 5.

⁺⋆✰ please download the scoresheet for the game here!

・゜゜ . . * ✧･ﾟ・ ✧･ﾟ: ・゜゜・��

Welcome back, Player! Get your scoresheet ready-- we're about to embark on the third part of our game. Are you ready to see how your Chapter Choice from Part Two plays out? Were you happy with your Chapter Choice from Part One?

Remember to tally your points! Let's jump right into it then and meet our Lovers arcana for the first time...

The rim of the shot glass touching his lips feels like a warm embrace to Kim Jiwoong. It’s comforting. Familiar. The hard liquor that pours down his throat again and again is just an added bonus.

Jiwoong had always enjoyed his fair share of alcohol, but during this past year he’d consumed far more than what was fair. Jiwoong shrugs it off now like he does each time. Life isn’t fair. The world isn’t fair. Why should he be?

So he takes another shot. And another. And another... Until he loses count. But if Jiwoong could be honest with himself for once, he’d concede he had no intention of keeping count from the start.

When he finds his lips eventually attached to another pair, he’s not surprised. Just disappointed. A deep, self-loathing ache that he silences by shoving his tongue further down the indiscernible stranger’s throat. And then he’s not so disappointed anymore.

Jiwoong suddenly notices a distinct absence of noise, pulling back to realize he’s transported outside. His right hand caresses the exterior brick of the bar, his other hand is wraps around the belly-chain adorned waist of a blonde person. He can’t really make out any features of their face, but he doesn’t really care to.

He’s pulled in again, lips meeting the impossibly glossy ones he’s been exploring for who knows how long. Cars zip by the alleyway, but Jiwoong is tucked safely out of view thanks to the darkness of the earliest hours of the morning. And also a giant dumpster.

Fitting, Jiwoong thinks.

“I can’t believe you,” a voice echoes down the alleyway from the street, catching Jiwoong’s attention.

Let's find out the effects of your Chapter Choice for Part Two, Player! To refresh your memory, Choice 1 was to Get Food while Choice 2 was to Go To Karaoke.

⁺⋆✰ If You Chose “GET FOOD”:

“You ate ALL of my bao buns,” Gyuvin complains with a pout. “I didn’t even get to have one!”

You shrug. “You snooze, you lose.”

“You stuffed all three in your mouth as soon as the plate hit the table,” your best friend replies, kicking the cement of the sidewalk as you stroll down the dimly lit street.

“Sorry,” you mumble in apology. “I was just really hungry. I hadn’t eaten since before probation work this morning.”

Gyuvin’s eyes widen at this before his brow furrows sadly. “You really know how to make me feel bad, don’t you?”

“I wasn’t trying to—.”

“Should I pack you a lunch from now on? Hm?” He interrupts, hands flying about dramatically. “That’s too long for you to go without eating, especially under the hot sun.”

You raise an eyebrow at him. “Am I speaking to the right Binnie? Did you switch brains Freaky Friday style or something?”

“I’ll have you know I worry about you just as much as Hanbinnie hyung does,” Gyuvin retorts, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “I just suppress the urge to nag you better. I know you won’t listen anyway.”

“see, hat’s why you’re my best friend,” you conclude with a smile. “You let me f*ck up even when it kills you to watch.”

“Do you do the same for me?” He asks, looking up at the night sky.

“Every time I let you wear down another reporter,” you answer honestly, “it’s another dagger to the heart. You know how much I wish they cared. But I care about you more.”

“Did we become pine trees overnight? The sap’s been just pouring out of us lately,” Gyuvin jokes, rolling his eyes. “I was actually thinking yesterday that maybe you were right about that. Maybe I should just give it up like everyone else already has.”

“But today?” You prompt knowingly.

“Today I’ve realized that even if I’m the only one trapped in your corner forever” he replies with a laugh, “I don’t want out. And I don’t think I ever will.”

“You know, you have really resembled a pine tree lately now that I think of it,” you observe with a smile. “You’re already so tall, I guess the needles and the branches didn’t look that out of place.”

“Can you believe they let two trees into a restaurant?”

“As long as they’re buying something,” you say with a shrug.

Gyuvin hums, blinking at you. “But you’ll sing with me soon, right? I really miss it.”

After a moment, you nod. “Yeah. I miss it, too. I guess I’m just... not quite there yet.”

“That’s okay,” Gyuvin says, nudging you with his elbow as you continue down the street. “Whenever you’re ready. Take all the time you need.”

You probably have more to explain to Gyuvin-- the feelings you’ve felt over the past year are more complicated than could possibly be understood by someone who hasn't experienced them for themselves. But Gyuvin doesn’t ask for an explanation.

He just let’s you f*ck up... even when it kills him to watch.

“When I do sing again,” you say, moonlight illuminating your eyes. “I really want it to be with you.”

“I'd like that.”

Your bond has grown stronger with Gyuvin. +1 Gyuvin Point. Please add +1 Gyuvin Point to your score sheet.

・゜゜ . . * ✧･ﾟ・ ✧･ﾟ: ・゜゜・．

⁺⋆✰ If You Chose “GO TO KARAOKE”:

“You haven’t been able to use your voice for an entire year and the first song you choose to sing is Ring Ding Dong?” Gyuvin asks, his voice dripping with judgment.

“Hey, cool it with the disrespect on a literal classic,” you reply with a huff. “Besides, you said you needed a distraction. I thought singing something a little silly would help!”

“Ugh,” Gyuvin sighs dramatically. “I guess it did, yeah. You knew all the words and everything. You didn’t even need to look at the screen!”

You shrug, smirking up at him. “What can I say? I’ve still got it.”

“I know you meant that as a joke, but it’s true,” he replies, shoving his hands in his pockets. “I can’t tell you how happy it made me to sing with you again. I want to keep singing with you for as long as possible.”

“You’ve been such a sap the past twenty-four hours,” you tease, knocking into him gently with your hip. “Seriously, I missed singing with you, too. To be honest, I was really scared to sing again. When I lost my voice, I’d make deals at night with the universe: everything I have in exchange for the ability to sing again. Still, I worried that if I ever was able to sing again, would it feel the way it used to? Would it hurt even more to have my voice back and still be unwelcome in my own group? But... Singing with you tonight was easy. You’ve made everything easier for me this year. I guess this is my sh*tty, impromptu attempt at thanking you.”

Gyuvin blinks back at you, eyes wide and doe-like. “F*ck. And you think I’m the one being too sentimental?”

“Okay, I take it back,” you reply quickly, rolling your eyes.

“NO TAKE BACKS!” Gyuvin shouts at the exact same time, a cheesy grin on his face fading to a soft smile. “You don’t need to thank me. You just need to keep being my best friend.”

You nod. “I think I can arrange that.”

“Also,” he starts to add, hesitating for a moment before ultimately deciding to continue for better or for worse. “I bet there’s a bunch of people who would love to hear you sing again.”

You press your lips together awkwardly. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that.”

“Why not? You really don’t think you still have fans?” Gyuvin asks with a frown.

You remember the small group of four or five teenagers standing outside of Total Control with protest signs yesterday. “Honestly, I wouldn’t wish being my fan on anyone.”

“I think they’d be really hurt to hear you say that,” Gyuvin replies, shaking his head like he always does when he thinks you’re being impossible. “It hurts me to hear you say it. I am your biggest fan, after all.”

You smile at the charming sincerity of your goofball best friend. “It must be hard to be around your favorite idol all the time.”

“You have no idea,” Gyuvin agrees with a laugh. He looks up at the sky, avoiding your gaze-- his cheeks noticeably pink in the lamplight. “But I’m happy to suffer for as long as you let me.”

Your bond with Gyuvin has grown stronger. +2 Gyuvin Points. Please add +2 Gyuvin Points to your score sheet.

・゜゜ . . * ✧･ﾟ・ ✧･ﾟ: ・゜゜・．

All Continue Reading Below

“Quick, take a picture of me!” Gyuvin suddenly exclaims, running towards the empty crosswalk and striking the least casual, casual pose you’ve ever seen. “I need some new pictures for the grid.”

You snort in disbelief as Gyuvin poses in the warm lights outside a bar. “Can’t believe you just said that.”

“Zeroses are getting bored of my selfies, I think,” he says with a shrug. You humor him, taking your phone out of your pocket and snapping a couple pictures before he adjusts his pose slightly and signals at you to continue. “I saw a lot of comments asking for full-body pictures on my last post.”

“Can’t say I blame them,” you reply with a smirk, snapping some more photos of your annoying, handsome, and also annoyingly-handsome friend.

✧ New Wallpaper Unlocked: Gyuvin Hit the Griddy ✧

Jiwoong, through his boozy, delusional fog, isn’t really processing anything he’s hearing. Instead, he takes these disembodied voices chattering about taking pictures in his general proximity outside a bar at night to mean the thing they usually mean: the paparazzi has tracked him down yet again.

“F*ck,” he mumbles, prying himself off of the stranger he’s still entangled with. “How do they always find me? It’s like the company personally hires them to ruin my reputation...”

“What?” A feminine voice asks confusedly beside him. “What are you talking about?”

“You should run,” he answers, running a hand through his long black hair. He’s been growing it out for about six months-- ever since the day the company broke it to him that he was too old to re-debut after ZeroBaseOne’s contract expired. That maybe somewhere down the line, there’d be hope for Yujin and Gunwook, but never for him. He’d known that all along. But it didn’t make hearing the truth any easier. “You don’t wanna appear in a headline next to me.”

“A headline?” The feminine voice asks again as Jiwoong inches closer to the end of the alley. “What do you mean? Are you, like, famous or something?”

“For the sake of my own ego, I’m gonna pretend you didn’t say that,” Jiwoong replies with a sigh. He peers around the corner, expecting to find several men dressed in dark clothing-- camera flashes blinding him as he attempts to make a break for it.

But that’s not what he finds.

Instead, there’s just two figures-- slightly hazy through Jiwoong’s eyes as they stroll slowly down the illuminated sidewalk. He squints, attempting to steady his vision until the figures finally come into focus...

Much to Jiwoong’s surprise, it’s you and Gyuvin.

Gyuvin jogs back over to you, grabbing your phone from your hand and looking through the pictures. “Zeroses know exactly what they want. And they’re not afraid to let us know either.”

“No, they are not,” you agree with a laugh, recalling the time Zeroses once petitioned on Twitter for you all to ‘Show More Arm’ in the Crush music video. The acronym ‘SMA’ trended for a week straight. The company was not amused and ended up putting you all in militaristic long sleeve shirts, pants, and vests in retaliation.

“Oh my god,” a feminine voice suddenly exclaims behind you. “That’s (Y/N) from ZeroBaseOne!"

You and Gyuvin freeze in place, turning around slowly to assess the situation. It’s a pretty blonde girl, lipgloss smeared all over her mouth as a handsome man stares wide-eyed at you beside her.

“Oh, hyung?” Gyuvin calls as you both realize you’re being graced with the rare presence of your group member Kim Jiwoong in the flesh. You haven’t seen him in awhile. He sleeps all day and spends all night at any club that’ll still let him in.

He looks much worse than you remember.

“Wait, you know ZeroBaseOne? Oh my god! You--... you thought paparazzi were going to take pictures of you... And you know ZeroBaseOne... That means...” You watch in fascination as the stranger puts two and two together.

Jiwoong turns to quiet his prior makeout partner, the lines of her face still going in and out of focus. He can tell, however, that her jaw is hung open in elated shock... Or maybe...

“EW! I was making out with some washed-up, has-been idol!?” She shouts in absolute horror, throwing her arms down in despair. “Last week I made out with some weird guy that busks in front of his tteokbokki stand and now THIS? I need to quit drinking.”

“Did she just say she made out with Kim Taerae!?” Gyuvin exclaims; Jiwoong jumping as he realizes you’re both now standing right in front of him. The taller boy’s brow is furrowed in confusion. “I hate to break it to you, but you’ve actually made out with two washed-up, has-been idols. If you’re ever interested in tripling your winnings...”

You punch Gyuvin in the arm, to which he mumbles, “Sorry. Blah, blah: game; blah, blah: player.”

Looking at Jiwoong up close, your awkward smile wavers. He’s clearly sh*t-faced, which comes as no surprise to you and it wouldn’t to anyone else who knows him either. He looks distressed and the dark circles under his eyes are unmistakable. Jiwoong leaves you no choice but to worry about him.

“Y-you...” Jiwoong suddenly begins to stammer, left hand kneading his opposite forearm anxiously as his gaze weighs you down. “You were talking to each other. You were... talking.”

Your head snaps to look at Gyuvin, meeting his panicked eyes instantly. It takes only a moment for you to wordlessly reach the same page. And that page reads: Lie like hell.

“What? What do you mean, hyung?” Gyuvin asks as you type something into your phone. “I was talking and you were using your screenreader. Right, (Y/N)?”

You nod emphatically, your screenreader vocalizing, “Are you okay, Woongie? You look really tired! I think maybe you’ve had too much to drink. How about we take you home and get you to bed?”

The silence that follows is deafening before Jiwoong finally whispers, “Really, (Y/N)?”

The expression on his face is painfully ambiguous. You can’t tell if he’s about to laugh, flip you off, cry, or throw up.

“Gaslighting me? I’d expect that from Binnie, but not from you,” he spits, looking down at the ground. When he looks back up, his eyes are darker than before. “You know, I’ve treated you really well this past year considering you f*cked up my whole f*cking life. Taking advantage of my problem isn’t exactly a nice way to repay me.”

You blink back at him, surprised, but not by his harshness. “Your... problem?”

“Guys,” Gyuvin attempts in vain to interrupt.

“Yeah, my...” Jiwoong starts to echo, but he stops when he realizes what he’s accidentally admitted.

“Guys, there’s--...” Gyuvin tries again to no avail. He seemingly gives up with an agitated sigh.

“I’ve never heard you call it that before,” you reply calmly.

Jiwoong gulps, clearly overwhelmed as he tries to change the subject. “Y-y--... You are talking! You--... you were lying to me and... you...”

“I know. I’m sorry for lying, Jiwoongie,” you apologize sincerely as the rustle of Gyuvin gnawing his nails enters the soundscape. “And I’m sorry for saying what I said. Can we talk about it more at home, do you think? Maybe where there aren’t sensitive ears listening.”

Only now does Jiwoong remember the presence of the stranger who’d he’d been swapping saliva with just minutes before. “Oh, f*ck.”

“Oh f*ck is right,” Gyuvin says, tips of his fingers still in his mouth. “Nobody ever listens to me.”

“Uh, okay, I can fix this!” Jiwoong exclaims, a reassurance that is probably more for himself than for you. He turns to the girl beside him, who is very clearly wishing she never left her house tonight. “W-what do you want? In exchange for... not talking about any of this ever?”

“My dignity back,” she answers with a sigh.

Jiwoong grimaces. “Oh, um... I guess I was talking about something more... tangible than that.”

“Yeah, I figured,” she replies with a nod. “Well then, I guess a million won will suffice.”

Gyuvin bursts into laughter. “A million won!? You said it yourself: we’re washed-up, has-been idols. I saw Jiwoong hyung buy that shirt from the Target clearance rack last month.”

Jiwoong pulls out his phone with a dejected sigh. “What’s your Naver Pay?”

“WannaOne5Everxoxo,” she answers happily.

Gyuvin nods satisfactorily. “Gotta respect such good taste at least. You know, our group was formed through a survival show too! Maybe you’d like our--.”

“Not interested,” she declines firmly before a suggestion has even been made. “Yay, it went through! Oh... It’s only 500,000 won.”

Jiwoong laughs awkwardly. “Yeah, it’s--... It’s everything I have.”

You can tell he means it. Shaking your head in absolute disbelief at what you’re about to do, you unlock your phone and open Naver Pay.

“Oh!” The girl gasps as her phone pings. She looks at the notification, finding the rest of the 1,000,000 won transferred to her account. She nods politely at you. “Thanks.”

Jiwoong meets your gaze sheepishly, lips pressed together in awkward shame. “Yeah. Thanks.”

“Have a good night, I guess,” the girl calls over her shoulder as she walks back through the door to the bar. “Losers.”

Her absence makes way for a painfully uncomfortable silence, which Gyuvin breaks by suggesting you find your way back to your car.

“Good idea,” you agree, starting to walk in the direction you’d come from. When you realize only one pair of footsteps is following you, you turn around to figure out what the issue is. Because nothing can ever be easy, you find Jiwoong leaning against a telephone pole-- dead asleep while still standing upright.

“You’ve got to be f*cking kidding me,” you huff, marching back over to Jiwoong and smacking his arm repeatedly. “Wake up!”

“Mm,” Jiwoong groans, his head falling onto your shoulder.

“We could just... leave him here,” Gyuvin suggests softly and you can’t deny how appealing that plan sounds. But another headline about Jiwoong’s nightly escapades would only create more problems for all of you in the long run.

Throwing one of Jiwoong’s arms around your shoulders, you pull some of his weight onto your frame. Gyuvin rushes to the other side of your sleeping group member and, together, you trudge your way down the street. Eventually, you find yourselves in front of the Total Control building— which means your car is at least somewhat nearby.

“How much further?” Gyuvin asks, breathing heavily as you pull out your phone.

You use your right thumb to search for Naver Maps, knowing you’d placed a pin on the map where you’d parked as you always did. You laboredly type N, then A, then V, the app appearing in the suggested bar below. You stretch your thumb to reach the icon, pressing down on the screen when suddenly...

"BACK SO SOON?"

Your finger slips.

“Oh for f*ck’s sake,” you grumble as the ground begins to shake around you.

"YOU ARE NOW EXITING THE REAL WORLD. ENJOY YOUR TIME IN THE METAVERSE AND STAY SAFE."

A red haze overtakes the atmosphere as the Metaverse settles into place, the glow of the Total Control Music castle nearly blinding in the darkness. You cough lightly, looking at the ground in embarrassment.

“Huh. I didn't notice all that butter on your fingers,” Gyuvin taunts as Jiwoong starts to stir between you.

“Not another word,” you threaten, trying desperately to get a better grip on your phone. “Can you hold him for a second so I can get us out of here?”

Just as Gyuvin wraps his right arm tighter around Jiwoong, the previously unconscious man abruptly comes to. He looks around, noticing the different surroundings of the Metaverse.

“Weird dream,” he says, rubbing his eyes. “I’ve really gotta stop mixing liquors.”

“Yes! Yes, yes, exactly,” you reply, tapping on the MetaNav app when you realize that it hasn’t responded to your vocal command to leave like it usually does. “This is all a dream, Jiwoongie.”

“And you should really stop drinking altogether at this point,” Gyuvin adds with a huff.

“Now let’s get out of here,” you say again, waiting for the voice of the MetaNav app to respond. You’re met with silence. “Oh, this is not good.”

“It’s—… It’s not letting us leave?” Gyuvin asks, eyes wide with panic.

“What’s not letting us leave?” Jiwoong asks, growing more and more alert. “Where are we? And why is there a gigantic castle where the company building's supposed to be?"

“Doesn’t matter,” you respond sternly, both you and Gyuvin taking turns frantically tapping the MetaNav app in vain. “You’re dreaming, remember?”

“Hey, (Y/N)?” Jiwoong asks again, the slightest hint of fear now present in his voice. “What are those?”

“I dunno, it’s your subconscious,” you respond hurriedly— far too distracted with your current dilemma to properly pay attention to him.

“Kind of looks like big, moving hunks of metal,” Jiwoong continues. “And there’s, like, black fog coming out of them?”

“Sounds really scary, hyung,” Gyuvin takes a turn replying to him. “I would totally unpack some things in therapy as soon as possible if I were you.”

“And there’s something behind them,” Jiwoong observes, confusion in his voice. “Wait… Is that President Kim?”

Your eyes meet Gyuvin’s and then dart towards the castle doors, but your attention comes too late. President Kim is grinning evilly at Jiwoong, seemingly delighted by his presence as he taps his fingers together.

“COME FORWARD AND GREET YOUR KING,” a shadow guard bellows. You and Gyuvin stand your ground, but Jiwoong starts to climb the steps.

“Jiwoong-ah, don’t,” you hiss at him, but he doesn’t listen. Why would he? You’d just told him this was all a dream.

“President Kim?” Jiwoong asks, head tilting to the side. “What’s going on? Why’re you dressed like... that? This is literally the weirdest dream I’ve ever had.”

The “king” nods, smiling eerily. “I assure you, Jiwoong-sshi… This is no dream.”

Jiwoong’s breath hitches in his throat. He’s silent as President Kim takes a few steps forward.

“This is really bad,” Gyuvin whispers, looking to you for your next move. “I could try that ice thing again? Maybe we could try to do some more damage this time.”

You start to nod, but a familiar voice rings through your head. Do I really have to remind you of this again? Just stand still, my friend. And make sure your pet Gyuvin doesn’t misbehave, Arsène commands.

“Wait,” you warn, grabbing Gyuvin’s raised hand and forcing it back to his side. “I think we should just see what happens first.”

“What!?” Gyuvin replies with furrowed brow. “He’s gonna get himself-- and then us-- killed.”

“Just watch.”

“Kim Jiwoong-sshi, can you even see straight right now? Aigoo, you create such problems for me,” President Kim continues as Jiwoong stands still in shock. “No matter how many times I call the paparazzi on you, you never learn your lesson! Dispatch has photographed you in so many compromising situations that they won’t even respond to my requests anymore. You’re so predictably sleazy that even the paparazzi are bored of you!”

Jiwoong’s hands shake lightly at his sides. “I think I want to wake up now.”

“Can’t even tell when he’s awake or asleep! How did this happen to you, Jiwoong-sshi? Did it cut that deeply to hear the truth? To hear what everyone, including yourself, already knew? That you’re no longer valuable in this industry? That your prime has come and gone and anything salvageable went to sh*t with your group member’s scandal?” President Kim ruthlessly berates. Gyuvin squirms next to you and you keep squeezing his hand to hold him back. “You wanted some control back, didn’t you? You decided to let no one’s scandal ruin you but your own.”

You can only see the side of Jiwoong’s face, but the shade of sickly white he has turned is hard to ignore. His skin is clammy and his lips are parted in horror. He’s starting to claw at his arms, like his skin is crawling.

Like it’s happening to him.

“You used to be sought after in a club. But now they all know better-- don’t they, Jiwoong-sshi? You’re desperate now. If I knew you’d play the part so well, I would’ve framed you instead of (Y/N)-sshi that night,” President Kim continues with a malicious smile.

“What?” Jiwoong exhales, growing more and more unsteady. “You--... Framed!?”

“And now, Jiwoong-sshi, you’re nothing more than a wh*re on the street,” President Kim twists the knife until it's poking at his heart. “Nothing more than a pathetic, penniless... drunk.”

“I AM NOT!” Jiwoong screams, falling to his knees in agony. Gyuvin gasps next to you as his hyung writhes in pain on the steps of the palace. “F*CK, make it stop-- MAKE IT STOP!”

Hey there, handsome. I'm Carmen; seductress of legend. I've never had a vessel as gorgeous as you! I could just eat you right up. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?

“No, no, no, I don’t want to die,” Jiwoong rambles deliriously as a disembodied, feminine voice echoes through his head.

“It's--... It's happening to him, isn't it?” Gyuvin asks, face scrunched in confusion. "Could it happen to all of us?"

You’re not gonna die, my love. Not if I have anything to say about it! It’s you and me forever from now on, so let’s lure some villains right into our irresistible trap...

A mask forms around Jiwoong’s face, a feline shape melding to his delicate skin. You throw a hand over Gyuvin’s eyes as Jiwoong rips it off, an anguished scream ricocheting off the palace doors. As a new mask forms and hovers in front of Jiwoong’s healed face, you grab Gyuvin and pull him up the steps.

New Confidant Unlocked: Lovers *ੈ Kim Jiwoong

Jiwoong pants heavily from the torment he’s just fought through. You wait patiently for him to regain his focus until he finally lifts his head, a deadly smirk on his lips.

I guess you're right about me. I hope you can relish it while you’re rotting in hell. ‧ ₊ ✫ ˚・

Jiwoong’s hands open at his sides, balls of hot, orange fire forming in his palms. He throws them wildly at President Kim, one burning a giant hole in his red, velvet robe.

New Skill Unlocked: Homme Fatale ⋆☀︎｡

President Kim stomps his foot in anger, a lightning bolt aiming right for Jiwoong’s head.

You run up behind him, blowing a gust of wind from your hands towards President Kim and tackling Jiwoong to the ground. You both narrowly avoid the lightning bolt as your wind power knocks President Kim backwards. Jiwoong’s wide eyes meet yours through his mask-- yours and Gyuvin’s now having formed across your eyes as well. “The fire thing is really f*cking cool, Woongie.”

“Thanks,” he says with a soft smile as Gyuvin shoots a wave of icicles towards the shadow guards. “So is the wind thing.”

“I know,” you reply as you sit up, offering Jiwoong your hand. Clambering to your feet, the three of you continue to attack the shadow guards with your elemental powers as President Kim stomps his foot for another lightning bolt. It lands between you and Gyuvin, but he pulls you out of its reach in the nick of time.

As President Kim begins to retreat through the doors of the castle, your team starts to back down the steps as well. You notice that President Kim has left behind a shoe and your eyes widen when a familiar-looking man rushes out of the castle quickly to retrieve it.

“Manager Sang?” Jiwoong asks as you realize why this man looks so familiar to you.

The man looks up, shoe in hand-- his eyes glow red, but his expression is ambiguous. This is, in fact, your manager; the only one who stuck around after the fallout. What’s he doing here?

Manager Sang retreats back into the castle without hesitation, leaving you alone with no one but the shadow guards. They look angry, per usual.

“Do you think the app will let us leave--.” Gyuvin doesn’t even get to finish his sentence before the voice of the MetaNav app booms:

"THANKS FOR BEARING WITH US WHILE WE EXPERIENCED SOME TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES. NAVIGATING YOU BACK TO THE REAL WORLD NOW. CIAO."

“Ciao?” Gyuvin repeats with a huff as the red haze of the Metaverse fades away around you. “Who does she think she is? Abandons us in the Metaverse and all she has to say for her robot-self is ‘ciao’?”

You glance at Jiwoong, whose complexion has paled once again. “Jiwoong-ah? How are you holding up?”

“I--... I think I’m gonna be sick,” Jiwoong replies, his face turning green before he doubles over and throws up all over the sidewalk. You and Gyuvin let out pained sighs as Jiwoong wipes his arm across his mouth and stands back up. He’s woozy and you grab his arm to keep him upright. “Can we please go home now?”

“C’mon, hyung,” Gyuvin replies, grabbing his other arm-- both of you helping him a bit further down the street as you finally spot your license plate. You grin at Gyuvin sheepishly. “Seriously? We were, like, fifty feet away from your car this whole time?”

“Sssssh, ssh, ssh, ssh, ssh,” you coo, opening the door to the back seat and helping Jiwoong inside. He curls uo on the leather interior, closing his eyes and snoring lightly within seconds. “You know, he’s actually quite cute like this.”

“Like what? Unconscious?” Gyuvin asks with a snort, throwing open the passenger door and climbing inside. You run around to the driver’s side and start the car. “I guess he is pretty cute when he’s not single-handedly destroying his own life and reputation.”

“And when he’s not blaming me for it either,” you add, pulling out from the curb and driving down the street in the direction of your dorm building. “What are we gonna do about him?”

“I have no idea,” Gyuvin answers, sinking into his seat. “We don’t even understand what we’re dealing with. And now we’ve gotta add a whole new person that doesn’t even really like us to the mix?”

You’re driving five miles under the speed limit like you always do after getting your license back, which gives you extra time to realize the street you’re on. To your right is Taerae’s tteokbokki stand, which he’s sitting in front of on the sidewalk while strumming his guitar. On the left, there’s just one building with its lights on: Hanbin’s dance studio.

“Can we make a quick stop? I’m really craving...”

Mini-Decision: Are you craving a snack or a waack?

If you chose "a snack", read below:

“You understand me on a cosmic level,” Gyuvin says with a smile as you pull up to the curb beside Taerae’s tteokbokki stand. Gyuvin glances towards the back of your car where Jiwoong is currently out cold-- his head lolling off of the seat. “He’ll be fine here, right?”

“Eh, he’s slept in worse places,” you answer, opening the car door as Gyuvin follows suit. The sound of Taerae’s hypnotic voice and an accompanying guitar melody fill the air as you make your way towards him. You both stand in front of Taerae, his eyes closed as he finishes the song. After a brief round of applause, you pull a 1,000 won bill from your pocket and throw it in the cup next to him.

“That was my coffee,” he says with a frown, fishing the soaking wet bill out of his drink. You smile at him apologetically, looking down at your feet in embarrassment.

“You should be grateful, hyung,” Gyuvin defends, sticking his hands in his pockets. “It’s not like anyone else is giving you money. You know, I did just hear that you had some fun last week though...”

“What do you guys want?” Taerae asks, rolling his eyes. “Are you here to get back at me for helping Ricky yesterday, or?”

You tilt your head to each side as if you’re considering it before finally pointing to Taerae’s tteokbokki stand. You pat your stomach and bat your eyelashes cutely until he gets the hint.

“Ugh, you’re really gonna make me work?” Taerae asks, already standing up and walking towards his stand. “What can I get for you?”

“Spicy, spicy,” Gyuvin answers quickly, shifting on his feet excitedly. Taerae packs him a hefty portion of the spiciest tteokbokki and then packs another hefty portion of cheesy rosè rice cakes all the way on the end. You grin up at him.

“I know you,” Taerae says, the corner of his mouth turning up in a reluctant smile. “I know what you like.”

“What do we owe you, hyung?” Gyuvin asks, starting to take out his wallet as Taerae hands the plastic bag of food to you.

The older boy looks at the 1,000 won bill on the counter next to him, then at you. “It’s on me,” he sighs, shaking his head. “And I'm sorry about the other day, (Y/N). Enjoy.”

Your bond with Taerae has strengthened. +1 Taerae Point. Please add +1 Taerae Point to your score sheet.

・゜゜ . . * ✧･ﾟ・ ✧･ﾟ: ・゜゜・．

If you chose "a waack", read below:

“I’m sorry, what did you just say?” Gyuvin asks, suddenly incredibly flustered. “A waack? Is that some sort of euphemism, or--.”

“You’re disgusting,” you reply, pulling up to the curb on the left side of the street next to Hanbin’s dance studio. You turn off the car, throw open your door and step outside-- making your way to the studio entrance. Gyuvin follows you, slamming the passenger door behind him.

“I was just kidding, by the way,” Gyuvin asks as your hand wraps around the door handle. “I knew you meant you wanted to watch Hanbin... waack.”

“Mmhm,” you dismiss wordlessly, pulling open the door and stepping inside. You were glad that Hanbin had founded a fairly successful dance studio in the months after ZB1's downfall. You were not as glad that Hanbin stayed there day and night, like he was hiding from you. From all of you. He made you dinner several times during the week, but you felt like it was out of guilt. Guilt that he'd quickly rebuilt at least some semblance of a career when the majority of you had yet to do so.

You’re greeted by the sound of c*nty, slayful music-- the image of Hanbin freestyling reflecting back at you off the giant wall mirror. He’s so into the beat that he doesn’t notice you until the song stops.

“Oh, hey kids!” Hanbin greets, lowering the volume of the studio speakers as he runs over to you. “What brings you here so late, my loves? Is everything okay?”

Typical for Hanbin's first instinct to be to worry about you. And to his credit, you and Gyuvin often required a lot of worrying.

“Uh, we were on our way home and (Y/N) wanted to visit you actually,” Gyuvin explains, placing his giant hand on top of your head playfully.

“Is that so?” Hanbin asks, grinning at you. “Were you, maybe, looking to do a little dancing...?”

You hadn’t danced in a really long time. There was no way you could keep up with Hanbin, or Gyuvin for that matter. Maybe it’s because it’s almost 2 A.M. and you’ve fought shadow guards and an evil version of your company’s CEO twice in eight hours, but neither of those things matter to you at this moment.

You want to dance. And you want to dance right now.

You nod at Hanbin, a soft smile lighting up your face. Gyuvin tilts your head up to look at him with the hand that’s still wrapped around it.

“Really?” He asks, eyes wide in shock. “You wanna dance?”

You nod again, turning back towards Hanbin. You can tell he’s trying really, really hard not to get emotional-- absolutely beaming from ear to ear with pride.

“Then let’s dance, baby.”

Your bond with Hanbin has grown stronger. +1 Hanbin Point. Please add +1 Hanbin point to your score sheet.

・゜゜ . . * ✧･ﾟ・ ✧･ﾟ: ・゜゜・．

Your alarm stirs you awake gently. You stretch your arms over your head— glad that you had the day off from probation work after the absolute chaos of the day prior. Your eyes flutter open peacefully, when:

“AAAAAAAGH!” You scream at the sight of Hao’s face floating inches above yours. It’s clear he had been planning to scare you, but, for some reason, he screams in shock, too.

Hao pulls back, staring at you with wide eyes. “You just… You just f*cking screamed!”

Godd*mnit. Could anything just be easy for once?

Hao was the last person you needed finding out about this new secret. Everything said in the dorms entered Hao’s ears and was reported back to the company immediately. Not to mention he’d become your personal demon this past year; tormenting you, ridiculing you, punishing you for ruining his career.

You weren’t really sure why he was so upset, considering he was the one that had been positioned for a promising solo debut in the coming months. The one that President Kim had thrown all of his money and resources behind when the group’s future went haywire-- hanging the rest of you out to dry.

You frown as you remember something that President Kim said in the castle the other day: “Now I have to pretend to put all my efforts into that Hao kid…”

‘Pretend’. Interesting choice of words.

“Um, hello?” Hao asks, flicking you on the forehead hard with his finger. “You can’t just play dumb like that. I heard you!”

“Then why did you ask if you already knew the f*cking answer?” You counter as your rub your forehead, your anger getting the best of you.

“Oh my god,” Hao says quietly, blinking at you with parted lips. He stares at you like this for so long that you almost think he’s about to say something nice. He instead concludes, “You’ve been faking it this whole time.”

“WHAT!?” You shout indignantly. No, no, no. There's no way Hao was going to twist this into another opportunity to dig your grave that much deeper. “That’s not true, Hao. I—… I got it back on Monday! I don’t know how it happened, but I—.”

“When President Kim hears about this,” Hao says with a malicious grin, “you’re getting kicked out of here for good.”

Hao walks toward your bedroom door feverishly, excited for another chance to make you as miserable as he is. If he only knew you already were— that hurting your friends so deeply was a fate worse than death to you. That you’d do anything to change what happened.

But you can’t. And you can’t let Hao spill the beans on this either.

So, you take a deep breath, muster all of your courage and call:

Mini-Decision: Should you yell "HaoHao!" or "B*tch!"?

If you chose "HaoHao!", read below:

“HaoHao!”

You bite your lip softly; cheeks heating at the cringiness of using your old nickname for him. It’s disgustingly affectionate— something you and Hao haven’t felt towards each other in over a year.

Still, desperate times call for even more desperate measures.

Hao freezes in his tracks, turning back to face you in slow motion. His face is flushed from embarrassment. At least you got his attention.

“Don’t—… Don’t call me that,” he says annoyedly, hand reaching to scratch the back of his neck.

“Please,” you basically beg. You know it’s what he wants to hear. “Please, don’t tell anyone about this.”

Hao swallows uncomfortably; blinking rapidly as he stares at anything but you. “I—… Why shouldn’t I?”

“I’ll do anything, Hao. Anything you want, no questions asked,” you surrender.

Your bond with Hao has grown stronger. +1 Hao Point. Please add +1 Hao Point to your scoresheet.

・゜゜ . . * ✧･ﾟ・ ✧･ﾟ: ・゜゜・．

If you chose "B*tch!", read below:

“B*TCH!”

You probably could’ve chosen your words better, but at the very least it gets Hao’s attention. He freezes in the doorway; turning around slowly before meeting your gaze— eyes fierce and jaw set.

“I beg your motherf*cking pardon?”

You swallow hard. “I meant, I’ll be your b*tch.”

“I—… I don’t think that made me any less confused,” Hao replies after a moment; the tips of his ears turning red.

“I’ll do whatever you want; whenever you want, Hao. Cleaning, cooking, running errands— whatever you want me to do. Just so long as you don’t tell anyone about my voice.”

“And you think that’s something I want?” Hao asks rhetorically, one eyebrow raised.

“I do, actually,” you challenge; matching his energy. “I think, rather than outright telling on me, you’d find it more fulfilling in that freezing cold heart of yours to be able to hold this over my head for the rest of my life… Am I wrong?”

Your bond has grown stronger with Hao. +0 Hao Points.

・゜゜ . . * ✧･ﾟ・ ✧･ﾟ: ・゜゜・．

All Continue Reading Below

“You—… I—… But—… Ugh, fine,” Hao agrees after a bunch of protestful stuttering; arms folding across his chest in annoyance. “I’ll make sure to give you a very long list of things I want you to do. Every day. For the rest of forever. And don’t think I won’t be trying to find a loophole out of this. If a bus comes, consider yourself already thrown under it.”

“Thanks, Hao,” you say with a nod. “I get the gist.”

He huffs in reply, turning on his heel and walking out of your bedroom. You sigh with cautious relief. You’re safe for now, but you know all too well that this temporary allyship with Hao is unreliable at best.

A message lights up your phone on your bedside table:

You’re holding a basket full of Hao’s freshly washed laundry in one arm and balancing an empty bowl of sundaeguk in the other when a practically rabid Jiwoong rushes through the front door and falls to his knees in front of you.

“I’ll do it,” Jiwoong begs, grabbing your right leg and clinging on in desperation. “Whatever it is that I have to do to join the Phantom Thieves... I’ll do it.”

“What in god’s green earth are the Phantom Thieves?” You ask, trying to kick him off you.

You and Gyuvin stare at him for a moment before Gyuvin awkwardly clears his throat. “(Y/N), can I see you over there for a second?”

Your eyes follow the direction that Gyuvin’s finger is pointing, glancing at the corner of the hallway less than four feet away. Shrugging, you walk over with Gyuvin, who immediately pulls you into an unnecessary, two-person huddle.

“What are the Phantom Thieves?” You repeat annoyedly.

“Jiwoong came to the company today, loudly begging for answers so I had to calm him down a bit,” Gyuvin explains. “He was asking what happened and where we were and if we’re superheroes and all these questions I don’t really have the answers to. Then, I saw a flier on the bulletin board for the new semi-professional production of Phantom of the Opera that President Kim is in and a poster for President Kim’s first hit single ‘Sexy, Magic, Love Thief’ on the wall in front of me.”

“I’ll never get over that title, by the way,” you muse.

“It’s so 2000s,” Gyuvin agrees, his voice growing louder. “So, to get Jiwoong to shut up, I said we were the... Phantom Thieves. And that we’re on a very secret mission to expose Total Control Music and take back our lives.”

“And now,” you draw a conclusion, “he wants in. Well, has he considered that he’s not exactly a trustworthy friend to us? What gives him the right to suddenly care about the company’s wrongdoings? Or you? Or me?”

“Okay, listen,” your tall, hyperactive friend says, no longer even attempting to whisper. “I don’t really want this old, washed-up loser slowing us down, but he does have that awesome fireball-shooting power.”

“I completely agree,” you say, patting him on the shoulder. “But maybe you could lower your voice just a b--.”

“I KNEW YOU WOULD AGREE,” Gyuvin basically shouts. “Jiwoong hyung might not be cool or respectable or funny or useful, but... Since we've got the upper hand, I say we make a deal with him and take him for everything he’s worth!”

“Hey, just so you guys know, I can hear everything you’re saying,” Jiwoong interjects, which earns him a harsh ‘SSSH!’ from both of you. He nods and reattaches his gaze to the floor.

“Fine,” you agree with a sigh. "Leave this to me. And don’t say anything stupid.”

Gyuvin nods at you, a smirk splayed on his lips. “You can count on your right-hand man, Team Leader. Oh, I also told him that you’re the Team Leader!”

With a satisfied smile, you hop back over to Jiwoong, who meets your gaze as you land in front of him again.

“Okay, if you guys are gonna ask for money, you know I don’t have any...” Jiwoong attempts to reason. “I already owe you a ton of money anyway that we all know I’m never actually going to be able to repay you.”

“You don’t owe me anything,” you respond with a sigh. Jiwoong looks up at you, endlessly grateful and soul-crushingly ashamed. “Besides, we don’t want money.”

“We don’t?” Gyuvin asks stupidly. You kick his shin. “OW! What the f--... Um... I mean, ow, what the f*ck, hyung!? I'm so hurt! I can’t believe you think we’d want to take your money. Thought we were friends...”

“Mmhm,” Jiwoong mumbles, devoid of amusement.

You clap your hands loudly to regather their attention. “After our team meeting, we have decided that we will reluctantly let you in after you pay a hefty price. And that hefty price for entry into the Phantom Leaves--.”

“Thieves,” Gyuvin corrects quietly, bracing for impact.

“WHATEVER!” You concede, folding your arms across your chest exasperatedly. “The final price for entry into the Phantom Thieves is...”

⁺⋆✰ Chapter Choice ✰⋆⁺

It's up to you, Player. Will the price be...

CHOICE 1: Lots of Aegyo

CHOICE 2: A Kiss...

12 notes · View notes

cinnajun · 10 months

Text

ᵕ̈ ೫˚∗: zb1 when they get jealous

a/n: this is my istj waiting room activity

notes: yujin is not included due to his age, jiwoong’s is set in the real world (aka he’s an idol), did not proofread

wc | 4.2k

jiwoong

i don’t think jiwoong gets jealous often

it’s just not his first thought when it comes to certain things LOL

but, depending on the situation, he absolutely will get jealous, but not in the way most people do

many people digest jealousy/envy as a big emotion but i don’t think it’s very big for jiwoong

and he knows that his jealousy isn’t something you should have to deal with but he doesn’t want to deal with it either so he’ll do his best to get rid of the issue without you knowing, which means making up creative ways to squash the situation

they all incorporate wherever you are

so let’s say you’re at the mall, you’re waiting for him to get out of a store, and a guy walks up to you and starts chatting you up

jiwoong will walk up to you and smile at whatever guy is flirting with you, acting completely fine

and then he’ll dip down and whisper something into your ear, and it’s usually something super unserious

“there’s a 50% sale at the ice cream shop and you get a fun cup for free”

you’re gone, he’s happy, and whatever guy was chatting you up is completely out of the picture

things are different when it comes to his members though

he always knew you liked kids and was well aware that you often volunteered to help out with kids, and he knew that you tutored high school students throughout university

nevertheless, jiwoong never thought han yujin would be his worst enemy

JIWOONG IS NORMALLY the most patient person you know—he can sit with you in a shop for an hour, watching you debate over two different mugs to buy without voicing one complaint. However, for some reason, watching you cook Yujin’s lunch is the worst thing he’s ever had to experience.

You had insisted on it after finding out he was planning on going to school after how long they’d been promoting, saying that it would be hard for him to go to school without anyone to cook him lunch. Jiwoong insisted that Hanbin probably would’ve, but you brushed him off, saying it wouldn’t take you long.

An hour and a half later, he was still sitting there, watching you cut watermelon into flowers. It was nearly 8 o’clock, and the movie you were going to was due to start at 8:45—meaning you had to leave soon.

“Are you almost done?” he asked, putting his down on the counter. You scoffed, putting the lid onto the last section of Yujin’s lunch box.

“What’s up with you?” you asked, beginning to wrap it up. “You’ve asked three times in the last hour.”

“I’m jealous that you’re spending more time fussing over Yujin’s lunch than hanging out with your boyfriend, whom you haven’t seen in a long time.”

“You’re jealous over Yujin?” you asked, exasperated, turning around and putting your hands on your hips. “He’s your kid too! You should help out! What father is jealous of their own child?”

zhang hao

there are 2 men in zb1 that don’t get jealous literally ever and hao is one of them

literally how could he be jealous when he’s zhang hao

most of the time, actually, you’re the one getting jealous (which makes sense, because he’s zhang hao)

and he always mocks you for it, which you hate

he’ll say something like “aw, do you think they’re going to steal me away from you?” and you have to resist the urge to punch him in the stomach

so when he actually gets jealous it is sooooo much fun for you

you milk it to no end. it is an opportunity you CANNOT waste

most of the time, it happens at his fancy violinist events, where you meet other people who are just as talented and impressive as him (and sometimes, they’re pretty attractive, too)

when he’s jealous, he sticks to your side and gets a little bit mean, especially towards whoever he’s jealous of

gets super touchy too

has a hand around your waist and drags you around with him just to make sure everyone gets the big picture

one day, he notices you and hanbin have been hanging out a lot all of a sudden, and it makes him really, really jealous

mostly because he can’t do his little flaunt routine, because he’s flaunted you to him enough

and then you realize he’s jealous that you and hanbin have been spending a lot of time together planning his birthday party

so obviously you capitalize on it immediately

it backfires on you

HAO WASN’T TRYING to be dramatic, but when he swung the door to Hanbin’s apartment open, having dug the spare key out from under the mat, he couldn’t help but march in like a soldier going to war.

You and Hanbin were sitting at his dining table, both of your laptops open. You had a cup of tea on the table, too, in a mug Hao knew he’d gifted Hanbin for his birthday a couple of years back.

“You let him make you tea?” he exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air like he was in some sort of drama. Both you and Hanbin stared at him in a mix of shock and confusion, wondering what in the world had caused him to barge in like that. Sure, you were beginning to pick up the fact that he was jealous of your business meetings with his best friend, but you weren’t exactly aware of how far you’d let it progress.

“Well, I made the tea—”

“You know where he keeps his tea?” he cut you off, staring at you while tapping his foot on the ground. “I am sick of this. How am I being left out by my partner and my best friend? What did I do to deserve this?”

“I think you’re getting the wrong idea,” Hanbin said, slowly closing his laptop. “We aren’t hanging out, per se, so we aren’t exactly leaving you out.”

“Then why have you spent hours upon hours together over the past week?”

You placed a hand over your mouth, trying to stop from laughing. “Hao, please be serious. What’s next week?”

His cheeks turned bright red, and you wished you could’ve got his big outburst on video.

hanbin

i am a believer that hanbin get sooo jealous (have you seen him glare at people's interaction with hao LOL)

he’s like the nicest guy on earth so there has to be one negative emotion that he feels

and it’s quite literally only over his loved ones, nothing else

will get jealous if people spend too much time with hao

will get even more jealous if people steal your attention away from him

he doesn’t even get jealous over things he should be getting jealous over, it’s things he hallucinates

“that guy stared at you a little too weirdly…”

“he was just our waiter?”

“still he was too friendly…i got bad vibes”

when hanbin gets jealous, though, it’s not very serious and never causes a problem between you two

he might hold your hand a little tighter or not be very fond of leaving you alone, but otherwise it’s not an issue

there are instances where his jealousy can get serious, and most of the time it’s pretty warranted (and this is when hanbin leans towards protective)

you’ll be watching one of his performances among a bunch of his peers and someone will get a little too touchy with you

and dancers are very hot so he might get a little insecure too

he will stomp over to you, sweaty and tired, and drag you away without saying a word to whoever was chatting you up

other than that his jealousy is kind of cute

hanbin doesn’t view any of the boys as enemies but sometimes matthew can be super cute

and while he considers matthew one of his best friends sometimes he forgets that matthew is just like that and isn’t trying to woo you

matthew, however, is well versed in the art that is hanbinism and is immune to it

YOU KNOW HANBIN like the back of your hand. He’s sweet, pretty, and enjoys being around the people he loves. And, you know for a fact Matthew is one of the people he loves. Nevertheless, when he skips up to you two with a white rose he picked, Taerae in tow, you can practically see a vein pop out of Hanbin’s head.

“Look at how pretty this is!” he smiled, and you nodded, agreeing with him. “Taerae and I found a bush of them, and I figured I’d pick one to give to you.”

You hear Hanbin scoff, and, feeling panic rush up your throat, you turn to him with horror flowing through you. The look in his eyes is dangerous, and a sort of shallow smile appears on his face—you don’t like it one bit. You turn back to Matthew, who seems completely unphased, and instead keeps talking.

“Here,” he said, holding it out to Hanbin. He stares at it, raising his eyebrows in confusion.

“I thought you were giving it to [First]?”

“Huh? That would be weird,” Matthew replies, tilting his head. You hear Taerae begin to laugh, likely at Hanbin, and you have to hold back a little chuckle as well. “Wouldn’t you be the one to give a rose to them? Anyway, here you go.”

Hanbin, dumbfounded, takes the rose from Matthew’s hand, and he and Taerae disappear off into the distance.

matthew

matthew is #2 of men in zb1 who don’t get jealous often

literally doesn’t have the brain capacity for it

he’s like a universal friend, and universal friends don’t get jealous of anybody, nor do they distrust their significant others

a more appropriate word to use would be uncomfortable

at least that’s what matthew says when he gets jealous LOL

he genuinely doesn’t think he feels jealous because he doesn’t have any worry that whoever is talking to you is going to “steal” you away from him, but he certainly doesn’t appreciate anybody hardcore flirting with you

he can handle a “you’re so pretty” or an “i love your outfit” but if someone is persisting and he can tell you’re uncomfortable (both factors have to be present, or he’ll just let you handle it yourself) he will do his best to shut it down

but in the matthew way

so he walks over to you with a big smile on his face and starts talking to you like he normally would

“hey, babe, i lost you for a second”

whoever’s talking to you literally can’t keep going because of how nice matthew is

“oh, who’s this? it’s nice to meet you! i’m [first]’s boyfriend, matthew”

they’re gone within 2 minutes and matthew is feeling successful

he’ll probably give you a kiss on the cheek afterwards just to hammer home his point

he will, however, admit that he gets jealous of the other members lol

it’s mostly because he considers them his friends, though, so the idea that you’d be into one of them is scary to him

as a result, he gets a little wary when he stumbles upon you chatting with jiwoong at a party

BEFORE MATTHEW LEFT to go get a drink, you were sitting on the couch, playing a game on your phone. He planned to tell you that you could leave after he finished the drink, but when he returned, Jiwoong was sitting across from you, speaking with you.

The smile on your face was genuine, and you seemed overjoyed that you weren’t bored anymore. And, subconsciously, Matthew took it as you being happy that Jiwoong was talking to you, and not because you were glad you wouldn’t have to drag Matthew away from his friends anymore (which was the truth).

He sat back down next to you, sitting on the edge of the seat and putting his cup down on the coffee table. You smiled at him, and Jiwoong said his hellos, to which Matthew replied less than enthusiastically.

“We were just chatting about the new art exhibit that opened up at the museum. You know, the one we went to last week?”

“Yeah, I remember,” he said, taking a long sip of the drink. You raised an eyebrow, finally picking up that Matthew was feeling a bit jealous. “You planning on going again, or something?”

“Nope,” Jiwoong cut in, leaning back in his chair. “Actually, [First] was just talking about how much she enjoyed going with you, as you seemed to like it a lot. She said your eyes were sparkling the entire time.”

Matthew shut up quick after that, and you didn’t mention it ever again.

taerae

taerae’s jealousy is silent

you won’t know he’s jealous until well after the event has occurred

he might bring it up in passing weeks later and you’re absolutely dumbfounded

mostly because you had no clue

“you were jealous?”

“yeah, he kept staring at your lips and was getting super touchy with you. how would i not be jealous?”

you think about the interaction for hours afterward, you skim through all the memories, and you cannot figure out where he conveyed he was jealous

he’s so good at masking any negative emotion that when you manage to notice his jealousy it’s almost a little bit scary

you’ll be talking with someone, it doesn’t matter who, and you’ll look over at him for a second and notice this weird look in his eyes

and then you’ll be hyperaware of how everything he says has this sharp edge to it

little jabs that neither you or whoever you’re talking to would be able to pick up unless they were actively looking for hostility

lowkey it’s kind of attractive LOL

taerae’s usually the picture of “kind” so seeing him go into a lockdown mode is a bit fun for you, even if it’s barely noticeable

after the event that made him jealous he’s super touchy with you which is also fun for you

because taerae gives gooood hugs and is comfortable to lay on

so, long story short, if he’s ever jealous of the boys you don’t know until afterward

sometimes even weeks after the fact

and obviously when you were fawning over zhang hao after his violin recital, which taerae had taken you to, you weren’t exactly aware of the way he was staring at hao

WHEN TAERAE GRABS your hand about a minute into your drive, lacing all of your fingers together and pulling your hand onto his lap, your jaw drops. You turn to look at him with shock on your face, trying to find the words to say. “No way,” you gasped, putting your other hand over your mouth.

He looks over at you for a brief second, confused as to why you’re suddenly making such a big deal that he was holding your hand. “What? I don’t understand.”

“You were jealous? Of Hao?” you exclaimed, letting your hand drop from your mouth. “Why? I mean, he did well, did he not? Was I too complimentary? Do I need to reel it back next time?”

“What? No, you were just being nice. Where did you get the idea I was jealous?”

“You say that, but in a month and a half, you’re going to be like, ‘You know what made me super jealous?’ and then you’re going to drop three bombs on me,” you replied. “And this is going to be included. So, just say it now, so we can get it over with.”

Taerae blinked a couple of times, tightening his grip on your hand. “Okay, maybe I was a little jealous—”

You wrenched your hand away from his, clapping excitedly. “Oh, I’m a genius! I have a degree in Taeraeology now, seriously.”

“What in the world is Taeraeology?”

ricky

when ricky gets jealous it’s like not a competition

he just shuts the situation down

i mean he’s so tall and so gorgeous that anybody who tries anything with you is immediately so intimidated the moment he does anything, he barely even has to talk

he literally has a neck tattoo like that’s terrifying

as a result he does not have the time to get seriously jealous because anyone who’s flirting with you is sprinting away the moment they lay eyes on him approaching you

most of the time people don’t even try anything anyway because they see you with him before you’re separated

for the few that are willing to stand up to ricky, it’s pretty funny for you to watch

“[first], who’s this?” and you watch the competitor cartoon-gulp right in front of you

they maybe last about 15 seconds before they bid you goodbye out of pure intimidation like good for you ricky

if it’s one of the days where he looks incredibly cute and soft (you know what i’m talking about) things tend to go south because ricky is awkward and his strong suit is rbf

at which point you end up having to be the one to be like “okay, me and my boyfriend are going to head out now!” LOL

among the jebis the only one ricky is going to get jealous of is gyuvin and that’s because they’re the same age and very close

he knows gyuvin will never make a move on you but that doesn’t stop him from getting jealous when gyuvin is taking up too much of your attention

and he’ll straight up tell him to fuck off too LOL

riyangis i get you

GYUVIN LOOKS LIKE he’s about to burst into laughter as Ricky stands next to you, arms crossed and eyes narrowed. He never takes Ricky’s jealousy seriously, which you understand why, given the fact that they’re best friends, and he has absolutely no interest in you whatsoever.

“You should go home now,” Ricky insists, motioning towards the front door. “I think we’ve hung out for long enough today.”

It was partially your fault for introducing a topic Ricky wasn’t versed in, but Gyuvin was the only other person you knew had watched the show you were watching, and you were itching to talk about it with somebody who understood. But, you’d pushed it too far, and he’d gotten a bit upset that you were focusing on Gyuvin when he had barged into your date.

“Aw, but [First] is my friend, too.”

“And, if we were both drowning, she’d choose me over you. What’s your point?”

Gyuvin burst into laughter, clutching his stomach as he wobbled towards the door. You held back your laughter as best you could, nearly losing it as Gyuvin struggled to put on the pair of bright yellow Crocs he decided to wear when he walked over. He opened the door and slammed it shut, yet you could still hear him laughing outside.

Then, you couldn’t hold it back anymore. You laughed so hard that you also had to hold your stomach, and Ricky marched away from you, ignoring the halfassed apologies that fell from your lips.

gyuvin

gyuvin isn’t usually a jealous guy but he can get jealous, as opposed to hao and matthew who virtually never get jealous

when he gets jealous though it’s somewhat upsetting

it usually means something happened that wounded his pride or made him feel insecure, which you don’t enjoy obviously

so 99.9% of the time, if gyuvin is jealous, it’s because one of the members did something to/with you that he wasn’t super okay with

it’s never anything minute, like one of them liking an instagram post or something stupid, rather something happening under his nose

he loves and respects them a lot so the idea that they did something with his s/o without him knowing makes him super duper unhappy

and then he’ll start to think that there’s something they have that he didn’t, so he gets a bit insecure, too

but he absolutely will convince himself it’s not a big deal so then he’s just in an extra bad mood for the rest of the day

you usually have to squeeze whatever’s wrong out of him and, when you manage to, you feel really bad

because usually whatever happened to upset him was something you thought you’d addressed with him and/or thought he knew about

like ricky, he gets most jealous over things that happen between you and ricky

because you’re all close in age and gyuvin and ricky spend all of their time together, you’re obviously friends with him too

and, in ricky’s seasonal instagram wrap up post, he notices a selfie of you two in what he thinks was a hangout you had together without him knowing based on the background

it ruins his day so fast :( but you make sure to patch up the misunderstanding

GYUVIN HATES THE WAY HE FEELS as he gears up to speak, twiddling his thumbs while you sit across from him at the table, a frown painting your face. He doesn’t like it when you look sad, and he doesn’t like feeling this way or addressing that he feels it. So, when the time comes where he has to talk about it, it eats him up from the inside out.

“Did you hang out with Ricky? Without me?”

You immediately furrow your eyebrows, as if you’re confused. “Not that I know of? I barely even text Ricky outside of the group chat the three of us have. Where’d you get that idea?”

Embarrassed, Gyuvin decides to pull up the post, turning his phone to face you. You take it from his hands, bringing it closer to your face so that you can get a better look at it. Then, recognition floods your features, and your frown turns into a smile. “That was when we roadtripped to the beach. Not pictured here are you and Taerae, who were getting us coffee.”

Gyuvin snatches the phone back, feeling even more embarrassed. He zooms in on the background parts, ignoring you and Ricky, quickly realizing that the filter Ricky put on the picture made the water look much bluer than it actually had been, leading him to believe you’d gone on your own separate beach trip. Feeling the blood rush to his cheeks, Gyuvin smiled crookedly.

“My bad.”

gunwook

i actually struggled with this

on one hand i don’t think gunwook would get jealous easily

he’s a very reasonable boyfriend and has quite literally never wronged you

on the other hand i do think he would get jealous somewhat frequently

in the same way as taerae, it’s very quiet jealousy, but you will literally never know with him

he won’t ever bring it up after it happens and will just. move on

he also might get a little snarky with whoever approached you afterwards, but never when you’re around, so you are none the wiser

if you find out gunwook got jealous, you are finding out from other people, which you think is absolutely insane

one day you’ll be like cordially chatting with gyuvin and he’ll bring up this one time gunwook got super mega jealous over one of your guy friends and how it haunted him for months and you’re like ??? what

gyuvin is like you DIDN’T know? and then you learn about every single time gunwook has gotten jealous and then told him + yujin + ricky about it

apparently it was so obvious to the boys that hanbin literally asked him about it

you’re flabbergasted

so then you approach gunwook like “wtf is this?” and he’s like

“oh yeah”

what do you mean OH YEAH?

you’re actually so shocked

gunwook isn’t the type to get jealous of the boys though like that just straight up won’t happen

doesn’t matter who you’re talking to, how much time you spend with them, etc

he knows they’d never pull something with you ever so you could literally go on a remote vacation to the amazon rainforest with NO cell service with like hanbin and he wouldn’t give a shit

TAERAE WAS BUSY, which meant you’d dragged Hanbin along with you to go shopping for Christmas presents for the boys. You’d been dating Gunwook long enough that you felt like it was a good way to show gratitude for them, and Hanbin agreed to take you to the mall to get the gifts.

Of course, you couldn’t take Gunwook, because you were planning on buying a good chunk of his gift, too, which meant you hadn’t told him where you were going. So, when he called, you were somewhat apprehensive to pick up.

Hanbin, on the other hand, looked terrified.

“Can I come over? I’m bored,” he asked, and you held back the urge to laugh as you stared at Hanbin, who looked like he’d seen a ghost.

“I’m Christmas-present shopping with Hanbin, actually. Sorry.”

Hanbin’s jaw dropped, likely at the fact that you just came right out with it, but you weren’t worried in the slightest. “Oh, okay. That’s cool. Have fun. Tell Hanbin I said hello.”

“Love you.”

“Love you too. Bye.”

He hung up, and Hanbin’s jaw dropped farther. “He just…doesn’t care? Like at all?”

You gave him an inquisitive look, as if you didn’t understand what he was implying. “Is he supposed to?"

thank you for reading !

tags: @happysmileybee

#cinna.zb1 #zb1 x reader #zerobaseone x reader #zb1 scenarios #zb1 reactions #zb1 fluff #zb1 angst #zb1 headcanons #jiwoong x reader #zhang hao x reader #hanbin x reader #sung hanbin x reader #seok matthew x reader #taerae x reader #ricky x reader #gyuvin x reader #gunwook x reader #req

2K notes · View notes

starvity · 8 months

Note

heyy! you can totally ignore this is ur not comfy but i’m sick (and delusional) rn so how would zb1 react to reader having a nose bleed when they’re hiding their sickness 🫶

anyways i love all your work so farrr <33

— ☆ zb1 reacting to you getting a nose bleed

gn!reader x zb1 (ot9)

genre: slight angst, fluff // warnings: BLOOD obviously, arguments/yelling, tears uhuh. reader is sick and tired...

author’s note: get well soon anon :(( i am once again writing angst today what is happening!!! thank you for requesting though hehe and let me call jebewon real quick and tell them to take care of you!!! (★ω★)/ [requested♡]

ੈ✩‧₊˚ jiwoong

he would totally panic but only internally. in reality, he will try to act composed to take care of you and your nose bleed. will get you some tissues and a warm towel to wipe the blood stains off your nose. once he made sure the nose bleed had stopped, his panic mode will comeback and he's going to ask you thousands of questions!! if you tell him that it's not the first time that it has happened this week he will obviously lecture you and force you to cuddle with him until you get better. "didn't i tell you to stay in bed?" jiwoong asks. "i'm just going to open the door, calm down." you chuckle, trying to get behind your boyfriend who was standing in front of the door, blocking it. a sudden smile breaks the serious look on his face. he lifts you up and throws you on the bed. "i'll be your legs for this week so stay here, will you?"

ੈ✩‧₊˚ hao

very confused when you were casually talking on the couch and he notices the blood dripping from your nose. probably like :O for a few seconds before you kindly ask him to get you some tissues. trips and bumps into furniture a few times on his way to the bathroom because he's confused and panicked. however, when you tell him you've been kinda sick but you were hiding it from him, prepare yourself to get yelled at lmao. of course, not to the point to make you cry but i see him just screaming some incoherent sentences (definitely curses in chinese under his breath lol) about how you need to take your health seriously. in the end, he will softly kiss you and make a promise to never hide anything from the other again :]

ੈ✩‧₊˚ hanbin

leader mode activated!!!! as soon as he noticed your nose was bleeding, he tells you not to panic as he gets a tissue from his bag. he softly places it on your face and explains to you what's happening. you might think he's the calmest one but his eyes can't lie!! he's looking at you with such a concerned face when you tell him your health hasn't been the best lately. you chuckle, letting him know that he doesn't need to worry. he sighs and takes your hands in his, asking you to please tell him when you're sick so he can help you with chores, work, etc. throughout the week, when you get up to cook, clean or even go out instead of resting, he will call your name sternly and point to the bed with a small nod, indicating you to go lie down before he does it himself.

ੈ✩‧₊˚ matthew

super confused n°2. when he notices you rushing to the bathroom from your desk, he doesn't really question it. but when he goes to wash his hands and sees the blood-stained tissues in the trashcan, he knew something wasn't right. matthew comes up from behind you, who was super focused writing on your laptop, and wraps his arms around your torso. he starts pressing some kisses along your jawline, suggesting you to take a break. when you don't seem to move at his words, he turns your chair around and cups your cheeks with his hands. upon seeing the tired look on your face, he asks if you've been sick lately. when you tell him you were but didn't want to tell him, he takes you in his arms and carries you to the bed. you end up talking a bit (mainly matthew ranting about how much he loves you and how you should take care of yourself) before falling asleep.

ੈ✩‧₊˚ taerae

takes it extremely seriously. your nose starts bleeding again and you sigh, grabbing another tissue. the box was almost empty with the amount of times it had happened this week. you reassure taerae that you were used to it as his eyes widen. he cannot believe you've been hiding the fact that you were sick from him and worse, that you lied; saying you were fine whenever he asked you how you were doing. i wouldn't even be surprised if a small argument occured because i feel like taerae would base his relationships on trust and you hiding something from him will definitely hurt him a little. probably gives you the silent treatment for 3 hours (cause he's just dramatic like that) before coming back to your shared room to check up on you. when he discovers that you still haven't taken a break he throws a blanket on your face and drags you to the bed (on the floor, if he has to). wouldn't talk for a good 20 minutes before sighing and telling you to never hide anything from him again. he also apologizes for the small fight and kisses your face over and over again <3

ੈ✩‧₊˚ ricky

like every friday, ricky was taking you on a date. you had fallen sick at the beginning of the week and you kinda wish you could’ve staid home today. but since it was the only day you two could really hang out, you didn't want to cancel your plans. you were sitting on the bed, waiting for ricky who takes forever to get ready. your head starts spinning so you briefly close your eyes in hope that the feeling will go away. you hear him softly call your name, asking your opinion on which tie would suit him better. and you know how they get nose bleeds when they see someone attractive in anime? well today, ricky thought that it could also happen in real life. he starts to laugh, saying how your body can't handle his charm, in a teasing voice. when you tell him it's because you've been sick though, his smile drops immediately. he can't really hide the embarrassing blush on his ears as he apologizes for this bad "joke" (he was completely serious). "then let's stay inside today, yeah?" he suggests, opening his arms for a hug.

ੈ✩‧₊˚ gyuvin

another dramatic one omg... i also see him being kinda terrified of blood so he will probably throw you some tissues from a distance, his face turned away from you and his eyes shut. you can't help but laugh at his behaviour while he screams that it's not something to joke about and that he will call his mom to drop you off at the hospital. "i've just been feeling kinda sick, don't worry about it", you confess but he suddenly grabs your face, shaking it slightly "why didn't you tell me!?", he screams. gyuvin abruptly stops his action, his face growing dark again when he thinks about the possibility of another nose bleed happening from shaking you like this. later, you end up watching a movie together, finally allowing yourself to rest. you can't help but giggle every 5 minutes when you turn your head just to see gyuvin staring at you with big eyes "are you REALLY sure you're okay??". please kiss him and tell him you're alright for the nth time today because my man is STRESSED.

ੈ✩‧₊˚ gunwook

see, gunwook is super attentive so i don't think it would be so easy to hide the fact that you were sick. you noticed how he would check up on you more often, and how he would offer to do the chores for you (even though he would always whine when he had to do them). when you kept telling him that you were alright, he tried to appear less concerned but so many questions were still running at the back of his mind. his assumptions were finally revealed to be true as a drop of blood lands on your sheet while you were studying together. you try to hide your face from him, quickly grabbing a tissue to clean the blood. "let me see." he cups your cheeks, obliging you to look at him. you had never seen him so serious and if you were being honest, the unusual frown on his face was scaring you a little. you spoke first, admitting that you've been sick and apologizing for not letting him know. gunwook shushes you with a peck on your forehead as he sees your eyes water. you spend the entire night talking about your concerns, holding and comforting each other. <3

ੈ✩‧₊˚ yujin

doesn't really make it a big deal. or at least that's how it looks like. yujin has been observing how hard you've working and how you would look a bit more tired than usual. you would reply late to his texts, ignore his calls because you were "sleeping", tell him that you can't meet up because you're busy...again... he was once again having trouble falling asleep tonight as many thoughts were clouding his mind. he had even asked his mom and his friends about how to bring the subject up with you. looking at the time on the clock, he gets up and decides to walk to your house, not knowing if you would even be awake to let him in. you open the door, a tissue stuffed into your nostril and awkwardly greet yujin. he stares at you blankly before letting himself in and closing the door behind him. without a word, he hugs you "you're stupid", his voice sounds weak. you apologize, rubbing his back as you hear his sobs, he must have been so worried to see you like this. "promise me to never overwork yourself again when you're sick", he pulls away and dries his tears. "i promise", you murmurs and interlocks pinkies.

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iwillneverforgiveyousunghanbin · 2 months

Text

bully⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

friday, kim taerae— select choir

⋆˙⟡ zbully1 smut series masterlist! hanbin, jiwoong, hao, matthew, and taerae included. game day (group) chapter here. all 7 endings here.

⋆˙⟡ wc: 2.7k

⋆˙⟡ reader: just one gn!reader version for this (no pronouns are used at all to describe reader; reader is describe as having a "pretty" mouth but no gendered or femme language)

⋆˙⟡ series summary: five bullies. six days. it's gonna be a hell of a week, babe. stay hydrated.

⋆˙⟡ friday summary: it's the end of the most bizarre week of your life. last year, you would've been overjoyed to spend time in select choir with your friend kim taerae. but that all went down the drain after hanbin recruited him into his group of incessant jerks... and he's desperate to officially be one of the guys.

⋆˙⟡ warnings: explicit smut. 18+. minors do not interact. please read specific smut warnings under the cut! swearing. angst. slight dub-con. bullying. the lore for taerae is so SAD. i'll make sure his ending is happy, i promise. also we've got a ft. hanbin chapter but just in digital form.

⋆˙⟡ bully scale: ★★★★★ (5.0)

(idk the bully scale is subjective but like imagine your best friend saying this shit about you WHY IS HE DOING THAT OMG jk i know why and soon you will too)

EXPLICIT SMUT 18+ WARNINGS: oral, (taerae receiving), throat fucking (reader receiving), brief handjob and heavy petting (taerae receiving), cumming without warning in mouth, filming of sexual act, voyeur!hanbin, slight dubcon but like for both of them kind of idk you'll see but it's slight, bullying, the usual.

friday.

you should be elated that this week is nearly over. and you are. mostly, anyway.

but there was an indescribable thrill to all this that you couldn’t seem to shake. all that talk of ravens yesterday had got you thinking...

why did you dislike ravens in the first place?

thinking. crying. haphazardly finishing all of your assignments due friday that you’d procrastinated the whole week. urgent texts to and from mina after her ✨jiwoong oppa✨ stood her up for their date.

one thing was for certain: you desperately need sleep.

that’s why you’re currently falling asleep sitting up, hard-back music folder open in your hands as professor yoo works with the bass section. the lowest notes of “requiem” are soft and soothing and, for you at this sleep-deprived moment, very dangerous.

luckily a sharp elbow to the shoulder jolts the drowsiness right out of you.

you look to your left to find kim taerae giving you one of the most judgmental glares you’ve ever earned in your life.

you would expect nothing less from him.

at one time a judgmental glare from taerae was the equivalent of a hug. you returned the gesture happily. and also threw in some hugs whenever he’d let you. he squirmed a bit, but the big smile that would grow on his face made it all worth it.

but there’s no warmth behind his eyes now. just a sharp elbow pointed at you, threatening to strike again if you didn’t shape up quick enough.

“you’re gonna get yourself in trouble,” he warns with a frown.

you roll your eyes. “why do you care?”

“because, unfortunately, some people still think we’re friends,” he says, making thin lines with his pencil on a page of his sheet music. “and i don’t want to suffer the social consequences of your embarrassing actions.”

“mm,” you agree wordlessly. “guess i should’ve thought of that myself.”

he doesn’t respond for a few moments, eyes focused on his sheet music until an audible sigh comes from his direction. “why are you so tired anyway? s’not like you.”

“for all you know, it could be,” you retort with a huff. “maybe i’m a real night owl now. maybe i’m out partying or smoking or... something.”

taerae snorts. “jiwoong hyung was not lying about those tragic acting skills.”

“oh, fuck off,” you reply.

his eyes widen. and then promptly squint with suspicion. “since when did you swear like that?”

you frown, trying to discern what he could mean. hadn’t you always been this uninhibited with your tongue?

the answer was no. you hadn’t. and this new speech pattern of yours had a very specific origin: monday afternoon. you exhale a chuckle. maybe you had yet to realize the full extent of how this week has changed you.

and how your desire to change back continues to dwindle.

you just shrug, returning your focus to your music. you feel taerae’s eyes on you as you track your vocal section’s part in “requiem”.

you and taerae had purposefully chosen seats next to each other in choir last year so that you could goof off together during every possible free moment. it was also convenient for your parents, who always wanted to get pictures of you two together during concerts ever since high school.

now you wish you went to different universities altogether.

ironically, you might’ve had a better chance of remaining friends if you’d had distance. but you and taerae disagreed quite adamantly at the time.

halfway through your two-hour rehearsal, you’re allowed a fifteen minute break to grab water and stretch your legs. you always wander off down the empty storage hallway, where your favorite vending machine is hidden in plain sight— the one with the oreos and cheez-its and bugles in it.

pulling out your debit card, you insert the chip into the machine and punch in the number for the snack of your choosing. you watch happily as it falls down from it’s spiral prison into the dispenser below. you start to bend down when a hand reaches in before you and grabs your snack.

“hey, what the—…” you trail off as you come face to face with a cavernous dimple. “give it back. now.”

“you’re so touchy today,” taerae condemns with a click of his tongue. he holds your snack high above his head, dangling it in a challenge. “seriously, what’s gotten into you this week?”

“oh, you know exactly what,” you huff, reaching for the snack in vain.

taerae laughs. “i guess a better question would be: what hasn’t gotten into you this week?”

“you’re so fucking funny,” you snap, fingers finally closing around the wrapper as you yank it down.

taerae’s brow is raised in surprise, not really caring about the repossession of the snack. “seriously, i’m not used to you swearing like that. i’m not sure if i like it.”

“i assumed there was nothing you liked about me anymore,” you retort, tearing open your snack and shoveling the processed glory down your throat.

“that’s not true,” he replies, hand suddenly reaching to your face. he brushes his thumb across your bottom lip, a crumb transferring from you to him. he brings his thumb to his own lips and tastes it. “i still like your pretty mouth.”

when you finally manage to pick your jaw up off the ground, you shake your head. “i know you don’t think of me like that.”

“uh...” taerae mumbles awkwardly, glancing at the row of shelves behind you. “sure, i do.”

“oh yeah? how about mina’s pool party two years ago? when we—.”

“OH, actually you—,” he interjects urgently, glaring at you to shut up. normally you would. but after this week, you no longer feel bound to quiet compliance. “you don’t need to—.”

“—were playing spin the bottle and it landed on me and you threw up in the pool because you were so disgusted by the mere thought of kissing me—”

his lips crash onto yours, hand cupping your cheek. it’s a demanding, yet tentative kiss and you’re even more confused when it ends.

you take a step backward, folding your arms across your chest.

“can you just—...” taerae grabs your arm and pulls you closer to him, glancing again at the row of shelves behind you. “yes, that’s perfect.”

“what’s perfect?” you ask with a frown, starting to grow immune to strange behavior after the week you’ve had.

“oh, um.... you,” taerae answers after a moment with a smirk. “you were always so perfect, (y/n). perfect grades. perfect manners. perfect body. i used to jump at the chance to sleep over when your mom would let me. you used to beg her until she finally said yes, because she knew you'd never misbehave. remember, honey?"

eyes wide at the dark shift in his tone, you nod slowly.

“you were so innocent... you slept shirtless, for fuck's sake. peacefully dreaming, while i pretended to be asleep on the floor,” he continues, brushing his thumb across your cheek. “hoping i wouldn't wake you up if i just lifted the covers to get a peek."

when you thought the worst of your pain this week was over…

“tae,” you breathe, eyes watering— pleading for this not to be true. it couldn’t be. at least... not in the vulgar way he was describing it. "you don't mean that."

at the sound of your despair, there's a momentary flash in his eyes. regret. you still know him like the back of your hand.

“why are you doing this?” you ask, hands flying to cup either side of his face. he flinches, trying his best not to look you in the eye again. trying not to let you see. “you don’t have to be my friend anymore if you really don’t want to. but i don’t know why you want to be like them when you’re miles better than they’ll ever—.”

“alright, that’s enough.”

the muffled, tinny voice comes out of nowhere. you look around your immediate surroundings, trying to discern where it came from.

“c’mon, you were doing so well,” the voice rings again. “you said you had this under control, bud. was i wrong to put my trust in you?”

“no, hyung,” taerae answers, shaking his head. “i—… i can do it.”

“hanbinnie?” you ask and then cough awkwardly to cover up the fact you just called your arch nemesis so affectionately. yesterday must’ve gotten to you more than you know. “i mean, hanbin-ah! what the actual hell is going on?”

“no need to worry about it, sweetheart,” hanbin’s voice dismisses again. taerae’s eyes dart towards the shelves behind you once more. you follow his gaze— jaw dropping when you see two camera lenses staring back at you.

“what—...” you fumble, shaking your head in disbelief as you look at the back of taerae’s phone— propped up with a black music folder. “you’re recording this!?”

“afraid so,” hanbin answers for taerae. “i didn’t really think he could follow through without some supervision. don’t mind me though. unless you just can’t help yourself...”

while at the beginning of this week a situation as perverted and bizarre as this would’ve had your whole nervous system shutting down, you’re still standing tall. present in this strange moment. you smirk.

“aw, tae,” you coo mockingly, turning to your former friend. “how sentimental of you...”

a brow arches in confusion back at you. “what are you––?”

“of course you’d wanna capture such a special moment on camera,” you continue with a patronizing nod. “it’s not every day that you lose your virginity.”

“HEY THAT’S—…” taerae starts to yell at you for sharing this embarrassing personal detail that you’re sure he never disclosed to hanbin. “that’s… that’s not true.”

“oh come on, it’s nothing to be ashamed of,” you twist the metaphorical knife as hanbin stifles a laugh. “i’d be happy to help you out with that, since i was the one who had to listen to you whine for four years about how you were still. a. fucking—”

two fingers are down your throat in an instant. you gag, trying to step backwards, but taerae’s hand finds the back of your head— holding you in place. he removes his fingers slowly, pupils dilating when you whimper in fear.

“i’ve decided i don’t like the swearing,” he says, a sickening hint of sweetness in his tone. any upperhand you had is now gone as he traces your lips with his thumb. “such a pretty mouth. those filthy words shouldn’t be coming out of it.”

“y-you don’t get to decide that,” you stammer unconvincingly.

“so that’s what you really want, then?” he asks, sticking his thumb further into your mouth. you suck obediently. “you wanna have a filthy mouth?”

you nod, his thumb still pressed against your tongue— cheeks hollowed out as taerae bites his lip hungrily.

“then you can have it,” he says before removing his thumb from your mouth and pressing down on your neck and shoulder— forcing you to your knees in front of him. you guess joining the soccer team had really improved his strength. “just remember it’s what you said you wanted.”

taerae unbuttons his jeans, pulling the zipper down. he freezes, clearly unsure of what to do next. maybe this is your opportunity to wiggle your way out of this. if only your curiosity wasn’t equally as strong.

“we––... i have to audition after this,” you protest weakly. “when break’s over, i have to audition for the solo i’ve been prepping for so i want to keep my voice warm right now and—.”

“ah, that’s right. i did forget about that,” he affirms, looking up at the ceiling in thought before smirking back down at you. “but i think i can help keep it pretty warm, actually.”

your attempt to level with taerae only seems to encourage him as he pulls down his jeans and boxer-briefs. you inhale sharply as his hard cock comes to eye-level, so close you can really examine it. though it’s slightly smaller than hanbin’s, it’s thicker and you need to know immediately how it feels in your hand.

“whoah, you—,” taerae stumbles, eyes wide as you take him eagerly in your hand. he stares at you, lips parted as you start to pump him. “holy shit.”

“you’re sure you wanna do this?” you ask, pausing your motion to make eye contact with him. you can tell he doesn’t want you to stop, but there’s conflict lingering there that he just can’t seem to hide.

taerae clears his throat, shaking his head as he resumes his tough guy act. eyes cold once more, he shrugs. “a hole’s a hole.”

after a year of judgmental berating from your former best friend, it was almost comforting to know that he was capable of being even meaner than he already was. it meant that, for whatever reason, he usually didn’t want to be any meaner to you.

he takes both of your hands in one of his, keeping you from using them as his other hand finds the back of your neck again— guiding your face towards his cock. taerae doesn’t need to give much guidance though. you’re aching to get a taste and the way your lips sink down around him nearly knocks the wind out of him.

back pressed against the side of the vending machine, his thumb presses into your cheek— feeling himself inside of your pretty mouth. you swirl your tongue around his tip, causing him to moan softly.

there’s a little bit of rustling coming from where taerae’s phone is propped up on the shelf. you wonder if hanbin’s enjoying this. if he’s touching himself— wishing he was throat deep in you instead.

“c’mon, bud. is (y/n) running this show or are you?” hanbin asks, tone laden with frustration.

“i—... i am,” taerae asserts, grip tightening across the back of your neck.

he starts to thrust gently into your mouth, an action that you’re not so familiar with. it rattles you a bit— loss of control after feeling like you were gaining it back.

“this is what you asked for, baby,” he reminds you, shallow thrusts starting to venture a bit deeper. “remember? you said you wanted a filthy mouth. so i’m gonna make a mess of it.”

you find the right rhythm to breathe through the thrusts. the tip of his cock is dangerously close to entering your throat, sending another wave of anxiety through you. but it’s not for long.

your eyes meet taerae’s and, though he’s the one putting you in that danger, you suddenly feel very safe. you let out a sigh, the vibration causing him to mewl. he scratches at your neck affectionately, putting pressure against it to feel himself inside you as he fucks your throat.

“see, keeping that throat nice and warm,” taerae coos as his breathing gets heavier— and his moaning gets louder. “take me so well, i—.”

“shut the fuck up, dude,” hanbin scolds, his own breath growing labored. “do you wanna get caught before you can win the—?”

before hanbin can finish his thought, you feel a warm, sticky liquid begin to pour down your throat. you pull off of taerae, sputtering and coughing as you try to swallow it down. wiping your mouth, you look up at taerae who is looking at you like he wants to dive straight into the han river and never return.

“for fucks sake, are you actually a virgin or something?” hanbin asks angrily. “is that really all you can last for? and, jesus, you’ve gotta warn someone before you do that.”

your throat is starting to burn and you’d love to be able to say something, anything, but the rasp that comes out isn’t pleasant-feeling. you rub at your throat with your now-free hands as taerae’s expression just turns more horrified.

“did i... did i hurt you? fuck, i didn’t mean to—,” taerae starts to babble uselessly until hanbin claps loudly.

“good work, team!” he says as he finishes his round of applause. “mvp definitely goes to me, for coming up with this idea in the first place. i’ll see the campus activities secretary at the big game tomorrow, right?”

“mm,” is all you can croak out. you wish it sounded angrier.

“and i’ll see you at practice tonight, man. i—,” hanbin cuts himself off with a confused look. “wait, where did he go?”

you face forward, expecting to see taerae standing next to the vending machine but... hanbin’s right. he’s vanished.

“that kid’s a piece of work,” hanbin says, shaking his head. “you think he’d be more grateful after i took him under my wing and made him popular. i even got him a spot on the soccer team after a lot of private coaching. i mean, he’s benched for life, but still!”

you’re a saint among men, is what you wish you could say. instead, you just roll your eyes.

“just take his phone and give it back to him in class, will you?” hanbin asks as you stand up and make your way toward the shelves. “and drink some hot tea for that throat, okay? throw some honey in it and you’ll be good as new for tomorrow, i promise.”

you sigh. and you nod. and you pick up taerae’s phone and end the video call.

and you go back to choir and sit in your black music chair and wait for taerae to come back, but he doesn’t. and when it’s time to audition for the solo you’ve been preparing for, you stay seated and quiet.

seated and quiet.

like you’ve been for so long.

and when practice ends and the choir room is empty and you remain seated and quiet in your black music chair and tears begin to well up in your eyes, you don’t cry.

you smile.

you stand up.

you shout (briefly, so as not to disturb anyone in neighboring classrooms).

at some point or another, you forgot how to do these things. or you were made to feel like you couldn’t or shouldn’t.

but that’s who you really are.

who you were always meant to be.

not a juliet. not a violin. not a goalie. not a bird. not a pretty mouth.

you.

you pick up your bag off the floor (and taerae’s) and throw them both over your shoulder, making a beeline toward the door.

absolutely, hanbinnie, you think. you’ll see me at the big game.

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ivrousae · 9 months

Text

📲 DING! You just got a text from - ZEROBASEONE. (OT9)

☆ Asking your boyfriend for a hug

Warnings : kinda angst(?) mentions of food on jiwoong and yujin’s

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angelmatthew · 5 months

Text

₊˚.༄ ginger tea - sung hanbin

this is very self indulgent because i was sick last week too :(( i can never keep sickfics short and sweet because i'm a sucker for whump, this is very soft whump though ! my writing's still a bit rusty but it's getting better (i hope). also, i'm still not sure about the layout for my posts so i'm trying out different things, i'll stick to one layout eventually!

🖇️request

↬hanbin x gn!reader ↬2054 words ↬fluff, soft angst, one shot ↬tw: mentions of vomit, a little bit whumpy, not proofread

your muscles were aching, your head pounding like a bass drum and you could barely breathe with your stuffy nose. you had to be in class in an hour but getting out of bed was a daunting mission.

you rolled over, clinging to the warmth of your bed, hoping a few more minutes might work a magic fix. and, before you knew it, you were out like a light.

you’re woken up two hours later by the sound of your phone ringing.

"hey, where are you sweetheart?" you picked up the phone without even checking the caller. once you recognize the familiar voice, you immediately snap into a sitting position, rubbing the sleep from your eyes.

"oh my god, bin, i’m so sorry i overslept," you confess. you hear background chatter and figure hanbin is already at the coffee shop for your study date. he promised to help you with your finals, despite his busy schedule.

hanbin's voice carries genuine concern. "it’s okay, your voice sounds tired, are you feeling alright?"

“i’m okay," you hesitantly admit, "just feeling a bit under the weather. i'm so sorry for making you wait."

you downplay your ailment, though you can never fully deceive hanbin; his perceptive nature sees through your attempt to minimize the situation. the guilt starts settles in.

"It’s alright, i'm coming over," he reassures you with his signature comforting tone. there's not a single trace of annoyance in his voice, even though he's been patiently waiting for you for the past thirty minutes.

"no! it's okay. I know you're busy, and you made time for me to help with studying, and—" you start to babble, but hanbin interrupts with a soft chuckle.

"my schedule's never too packed for you. plus, it gives me an excuse to escape practice." he speaks in that sing-songy voice you adore, prompting a genuine smile from you.

"well, in that case, i'm glad i could rescue you from the clutches of boredom."

he laughs, "exactly. I’m bringing some medication, tea and cuddles."

true to his word, a few minutes later, there's a gentle knock on your door. you’re greeted with a bear hug and whisker dimples.

“how are you feeling beautiful ?” you can't help but grimace at the pet name, your hair's a mess, you’re pretty sure there’s a toothpaste stain on your sweatshirt, and the fever's turned you into a bit of a sweat machine.

"i look awful," you grumble, stealing a quick glance at your reflection in the small corridor mirror. hanbin's eyebrows furrow, he's quick to interrupt your self-critique.

"you always look beautiful to me," he adds, a reassuring smile accompanying his words. he then, presses his palm against your forehead, seamlessly slipping into concerned-mom-mode. his eyes pop wide, and his lips pull a total 'o' move – the classic hanbin surprise face.

"you're burning up!" he exclaims, guiding you to the couch with a gentle urgency, concerned that standing might tire you out even more. your dizziness was palpable; even reaching the front door felt like a monumental effort.

"did you eat something since this morning?" hanbin questions while putting the grocery bags on the kitchen island, his focus shifting to the small pharmacy bag.

"no, i felt too nauseous," you admit, your voice laced with a hint of shame.

he pauses, worry etched across his features, but he swiftly transforms it into a warm beam, the last thing he wants is to make you feel bad. "no worries, love. let's get you cozy first,"

he disappears into your room, returning with a fluffy blanket and a pile of cushions. he arranges the cushions, making sure they cradle you just right. the blanket, soft and inviting, is draped over you, and he tucks its edges gently, creating a cozy nest.

you can't help but admire his simple yet caring gestures. there's a warmth in his eyes, a quiet assurance that makes you feel secure.

"better?" he asks, his eyes searching yours for any sign of discomfort.

“yes, thanks bin, you're an angel” you grab his hand, trying to convey your appreciation as best as you can — can’t risk a kiss in your current state. hanbin takes your hand in his, and kisses each of your knuckles softly, you feel like your heart might explode. in moments like these, you wonder how you got this lucky.

“no need to thank me, now, you need to take your medication…" he makes his way to the kitchen and rummages through the grocery bags, revealing an array of medicine.

he hands you a cup of water along with a few pills and another cup filled with a suspiciously white liquid. "i know it looks like a lot, but the pharmacist promised it should work wonders,"

you nod reluctantly, eyeing the medicine-filled cup. you take a sip of the chalky liquid, the taste makes your face scrunch up in immediate disgust.

"ugh, it's gross," you whine, hanbin chuckles at your distaste.

"you did it! now, the water to wash away the icky aftertaste," he hands you the water with an encouraging smile. "bottoms up!”

you manage a small grin, appreciating his encouragement, and with a final gulp, you conquer the medicine ordeal.

"now, about the nausea, how about a little snack, you can’t take more medicine on an empty stomach" hanbin suggests, you manage a weak nod, grateful for his attention. as he heads back to the kitchen, you can't shake the lingering discomfort; the idea of ingesting any food makes you feel even more nauseous but you don’t want to discourage your boyfriend.

he returns with a plate of crackers and slices of apple, “you don’t have to finish it all,” he hands you the fork with an encouraging nod then turns on the TV and puts on your comfort show, in the hopes that having distraction will make it easier for your stomach to handle the meal.

hanbin watches you eat with a mix of hope and concern, his eyes searching for signs of improvement. after a few bites, your stomach rumbles, and you reluctantly set down your fork. he doesn't want to force you to eat but on the other hand that the lack of nutrition might make you feel worse.

"just one more bite, okay?" hanbin insists, his voice soft. instead of waiting for your response, he picks up a piece of apple and brings it to your lips, offering it with a reassuring smile. "small bites. we'll take it slow."

you take a deep breath before taking another miniscule bite, but as hanbin's hopeful gaze meets yours, the nausea suddenly intensifies. without warning, you get up abruptly, rushing to the bathroom as your stomach rebels. your boyfriend follows, concern etched on his face. you wish he didn’t but he holds your hair gently as you vomit, the sound echoing in the small space.

“i'm so sorry," each retch is accompanied by a twinge of shame, intensified by the fact that fever has left you a bit delirious. you can't help but shed a few tears. yet, through it all, hanbin remains unwaveringly calm and gentle, rubbing your back soothingly.

"shh, it's okay” he repeats, his voice a steady anchor in the storm. he stays by your side, offering comfort as you navigate through this less-than-pleasant moment. as you finish, he helps you rinse your mouth, his touch gentle against the fatigue and fever.

guiding you back to the living room, he reassures, "take your time," and tucks you under the blanket. "if you're not up for eating, we can try again later."

you stare at his expression, he looks even more concerned than before, and you're not sure why but an odd inclination to cry takes hold. maybe it's because hanbin is right here, taking care of you, even handling the less glamorous parts without seeming annoyed or bothered in the slighest. your thoughts became a muddled blend of exhaustion, an overwhelming swell of gratitude, and an uneasy undercurrent of guilt,

as you struggled to fend off the fever-induced haze in your mind, you hadn't noticed hanbin quietly settling beside you, extending a glass of water. "small sips,"

you accept the glass, your body still tense from the earlier ordeal. "i'm sorry," you repeat while trying to supress the sob that threatens to escape your lips.

"hey, don't be sorry," he says, wiping away a tear with a tenderness that melts the tension, his thumb gently caressing your cheek. "i'm the one who made you eat when you didn't feel like it. we'll take it one step at a time, okay?" his soothing voice intensifies your emotions, and you find yourself shedding a few more tears, feeling extra awful with your scratchy throat and stuffy nose.

being the empath that he is, hanbin seems on the brink of tears himself, but he doesn't succumb. instead, he gently rubs your back and strokes your hair, humming your favorite songs in an attempt to help you calm down.

"think you need some sleep," he whispers after a few minutes. you nod weakly, and he helps you shift into a more comfortable position, fluffing the pillows and adjusting the blankets.

"anything hurting?" he asks while tucking you in, his fingers gently ensuring the edges of the blankets cocoon you snugly.

"my whole body is aching," you murmur, the exhaustion evident in your voice. moments later, hanbin returns from the kitched with warm heat packs, their comforting weight carefully arranged on your body. as he tends to you, the furrow on his brow and his careful, deliberate movements betray the emotional toll it takes on him to witness you in discomfort. he refrains from asking more questions, not wanting to exhaust you or burden you; he still feels a bit guilty from the ealier nausea ordeal.

before he even gets the chance to check on you again, you've already drifted off to sleep. when you slowly open your eyes two hours later, hanbin is still hovering over you, changing the wet cloth on your forehead with a fresh, cool one.

"hey sleepyhead, feeling better?" he asks, gently stroking your cheek. you nod slowly, his cool hand soothing your warm face.

now that your mind is clearer and the fever has gone down, you feel the shame settle in — you've never been this vulnerable in front of hanbin, you know he doesn't mind taking care of you but you feel sorry nonetheless.

"thank you again, for taking care of me, i was a complete mess earlier," you shyly blurt out.

"it's what i'm here for my love," in response, he graces you with that infectious smile, reminiscent of fluffy clouds and blooming spring flowers.

hanbin leaves your side momentarily but returns with a steaming mug of ginger tea, its comforting aroma filling the room.

"here, this might help you feel even better," he says, handing you the mug. the warmth of the tea and his comforting presence start to chase away the stiffness in your body.

hanbin settles down beside you, wrapping his arms around you in a gentle embrace.

"You know," he starts with a mischievous glint in his eye, "you owe me. i've been exposed to your germs," you chuckle and hanbin's relieved to see you laugh.

"i don't mind as long as I get to cuddle you like this," you say, sinking deeper into the embrace.

"even when I'm all sweaty?"

"you did it for me, i don't see why i wouldn't do it for you," you say, your tone light but filled with genuine affection.

hanbin seems a bit taken aback by your response. even though he spends his time taking care of the people around him, accepting the same level of care from others has always been a bit challenging for him. it's as if he fears it might compromise his dependable attitude. however, ever since you started dating, he's been gradually getting used to the idea and the same goes for you — taking care of each other even in the messiest moments felt more natural.

"you've got yourself a deal. just promise you won't judge the sweaty, sickly version of me too harshly."

you playfully roll your eyes, "bring it on, i'm ready for it warts and all,"

with a smirk, he leans in, planting a gentle kiss on your forehead. "i'll hold you to that."

#ꔫ˚｡angel ˚｡ꔫ writes #sung hanbin x reader #sung hanbin #fluff #zb1 #kim jiwoong #park gunwook #zb1 drabbbles #zb1 imagines #kim gyuvin #zb1 x reader #seok matthew #kpop imagines #whump #sickfic #sung hanbin fluff #zerobaseone #light angst #hurt/comfort

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zbase1 · 9 months

Text

most to least likely to get jealous easily

most

zhang hao

hanbin

gyuvin

taerae

ricky

jiwoong

matthew

least

explanations below the cut !!

zhang hao

— uh oh

— i genuinely think zhang hao would get jealous very easily

— and boy is he scary when he is jealous

— like he wouldn't even try to hide or tone down his expressions

— have you guys seen that clip of zhang hao's reaction when he saw gyuvin cuddling hanbin lmfao

— and the one where he gets up and manually separates jiwoong and taerae's hands

— bro was MAD

— overall zhang hao strikes me as a pretty possessive person and he is not afraid to proactively show it

— your sweater would get stuck on a doorknob while you were walking by and hanbin, who happened to be nearby, offers to detangle you

— hao sees the entire interaction and he is practically fuming

— storms up to you guys and immediately moves hanbin's hand away from your sweater

— "thanks hanbin, but i can take care of it from here"

— gets super touchy and doesn't let go of your hand for the next 30 minutes

— "hao, i'm not going anywhere, don't worry. also my hand is getting numb...."

— "oH sorry"

hanbin

—hanbin also strikes me as being quite possessive

— remember that one clip where zhang hao is touching taerae's leg and hanbin was in the back, watching it all unfold with a scary look on his face

— but then when taerae looks behind him to check for hanbin's expression, hanbin suddenly smiles like nothing happened

— so the main difference between zhang hao and hanbin is that hanbin actually tones down his emotions he is feeling at the time

— when he sees zhang hao showing you pictures on his phone while standing a little too close to you for his liking, hanbin sees literal red

— when you bring it up to him later,

— "is everything alright hanbin? i saw you glaring at me a while ago when i was with hao"

— "yes. everything is just fine. "

— he would feign a reassuring smile (a scarily believing one too)

— due to his leader position, hanbin has the tendency to be a control freak sometimes, and that translates over to your relationship with him as well

— but remember in that one video hanbin he said he resolves his anger easily

— so i think hanbin would quickly get over himself and acknowledge that there was no need for jealousy

— he eventually apologizes to you for acting this way

gyuvin

— i think gyuvin would get jealous quite easily since he is still quite young and needs more time to process this intense emotion

— gyuvin feels a twinge of jealously whenever he sees you laughing at ricky's jokes

— he would get insecure and start comparing himself to others :(

— tries to brush off his jealousy with humor

— "bitches be obsessed with y/n ⁉️ it's me i'm bitches ‼️🔥"

— "gyu, what's wrong?"

— "okay be honest y/n do you think ricky is funnier than me"

— reassuring gyuvin was really simple: just hug him

— gyuvin forgives you so quickly and wraps you in a big hug

taerae

— he is so gentle-natured and soft-hearted

— so i think taerae's heart would break a little when he overhears you asking matthew for advice about what shoes to pair with your outfit

— he is your boyfriend, NOT matthew!!! was his sense of style so awful you didn't wanna ask him for his opinion?

— lowkey gets offended but would never say that out loud

— instead he just becomes really really quiet

— taerae knows it's petty but he gives you the silent treatment and feels guilty about it the whole time

— taerae isn't trying to hurt you, but he just wants space and time for himself to think things through before he says anything he regrets

— comes out of hibernation after 24 hours and talks it through with you honestly

— "y/n i'm so sorry for ignoring you, i just wasn't being right in the head at the time and i let my emotions get the best of me"

ricky

— moderately gets jealous from time to time

— doesn't act like his usual self and sighs a lot out of frustration

— in my perspective, ricky is not usually touchy with loved ones, especially not in public

— but ricky starts acting more clingy than usual when he is jealous, which makes you ask him if everything was okay

— he admits to you that he didn't like it when you paid more attention to gyuvin's dog than him when you guys went over to gyuvin's the other day

— "ricky, you're jealous of..... eumpappa?" 💀

— "NO WHAT. well..... maybe a little. BUT i just wanted your attention :("

jiwoong

— i think jiwoong wouldn't really get jealous that often due to the life experiences and wisdom he already has (he is only 24 i accidentally made him sound ancient)

— being an actor, jiwoong definitely knows about having to kiss other actors while filming a romance drama,

— all while some actors are in their own actual relationships

— they know to set aside personal life for professionalism

— so i feel like jiwoong would understand and know how to separate the two

— knows that your relationsbip with him is valuable and you aren't trying to leave him when you spend alone time with the other boys

— honestly i can see jiwoong giving advice to the other boys who get jealous more often

— "taerae, i really think y/n just happened to ask matthew about the shoes because you had your airpods in and your head in a book. and no one wants to be interrupted when they're listening to music and reading."

matthew

— my boy matthew is so chill (it's the canadian in him)

— he almost never gets jealous

— except for maybe when you mention your childhood crush on nick from zootopia for some reason??? 💀

— matthew legit doesn't bat an eye when you tell him you're going to the grocery store to buy some ingredients for taerae's birthday cake

— "i wanna come along y/n!!! i know exactly what taerae would like."

— it's so sweet how matthew fully trusts you and the other zb1 boys

— if anything, matthew usually ENCOURAGES you to hang out with his friends

— smiley boy isn't worried at all

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haesunflower · 4 months

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soulmates unfortunately series [the prologue]

⋆⋆ ˚｡⋆⋆ ˚｡⋆⋆ ˚｡⋆⋆ ˚｡⋆⋆ ˚｡⋆୨♡୧⋆ ˚｡⋆⋆ ˚｡⋆⋆ ˚｡⋆⋆ ˚｡⋆⋆ ˚｡⋆⋆

genre: romance/fluff with adult themes pairings: reader x park gunwook, reader x kim taerae, reader x seok matthew, reader x shen ricky. word count: 3.2k warnings: drinking, character death, nsfw mention (no actual smut), underage puppy love, and other adult themes. rating is 16+.

ABOUT. here's the thing about soulmates, once you meet the one that is meant for you, you start to age. the biological clock starts to tick, and you are no longer a fresh faced 20 year old. years go by, and next thing you know it, you've grown old and wrinkly – right next to the love of your life. y/n hated this concept.

y/n has had many soulmates in her lifetime. chapter zero explores the soulmates that came before she stopped believing in the concept entirely.

⋆୨♡୧ series masterlist/about the series. ⋆୨♡୧

You used to believe in the concept of soulmates.

It could be a beautiful thing, really. In theory, you build your entire future with this person, remaining young until you meet the one that is meant for you. In this world, your biological clock remains frozen – physical and mental aging included.

Life doesn’t start unless you have your other half along with you. Your soulmate.

Growing up, you hear and experience multiple love stories around you. You are taught to look forward to this life changing moment, watching out for the tell-tale signs of your other half. Your chest tightens around them, pulling you closer, drawing you in. Others say it’s as if the universe is physically trying to draw you closer together. But you liken it more to a ‘gut feeling’; There’s no other way to describe it, you just know.

That’s how you felt about Park Gunwook – the first boy you ever came to love. The first soulmate.

PARK GUNWOOK. TWELVE YEARS OLD. YEAR 1920.

Gunwook lived in the same farm town as you, and everyone knew him.

He was the favorite son in his family. He wasn’t the eldest – but he was reliable even from a very young age. He ran errands for the neighbors often and was kind to all the children and elderly. If anyone needed some help with carrying hay bale, starting a fire, or cleaning out the barn, Park Gunwook was the go-to, in which he happily carried out his duties with a large smile on his face.

You first met on a sunny day when you had trouble with your farmwork chores. You were struggling to wrangle the pigs back to their pen, tripping over the mud, and eventually falling into a large puddle.

He must have been watching over from a far, as the next thing you know an, arm is outstretched to you. “Need some help, Y/N?”

You look up to see Gunwook, and you take his hand so he can hoist you up from the mud puddle.

“You know my name?” you ask innocently. Gunwook was fifteen at the time, and you, only twelve.

“Silly girl, of course I know you.” he says as he fixes the bangs on your forehead, temporarily disheveled by the fall. At that moment, you felt it. The undeniable tug at your chest, drawing you to him. You had a feeling he was your soulmate, and your cheeks warmed at the thought.

You reckon he felt the same. For as the years went by, he stayed as a close friend to you.

When you reached fifteen years old, marrying age, he started to see you more often.

He would ask you to join him as he saddled up the horses by the stable, and you’d ask him to accompany you as you picked flowers by the meadow. You often talked about your dreams of seeing the world, leaving this small town and meeting new people. You dreamt of seeing all sorts of buildings, appreciating all kinds of art, trying new food, and experiencing new music. He always listened to you in awe, smiling at how passionate you become when talking about your dreams. He knows it’s your favorite thing to talk about.

Gunwook on the other hand, spoke about inheriting the farm land from his father. He excitedly spoke about starting a little bed and breakfast inn where he could increase tourism in the area, allowing other folk to come experience the beauty of farm life. He once showed you the blueprint sketches he had of his proposed business venture, and with a gummy smile on his face, pointed to a house right by the meadow where your favorite flowers resided, “and here’s where we would live” he said. his cheeks were flushed red, nervous to see your reaction.

It was beautiful. He had promised to build it for you, confirming that he too, felt the same about you. That the both of you were meant to be together.

“I know you’ve always wanted to get out of here. So I’ll save up for it, and we can both go on a large adventure someday” he reassures you.

But you pictured the little farmhouse by the meadow where the two of you would live, running the bed and breakfast, and caring for the horses, pigs, and sheep. You suddenly didn’t mind having this quaint little life at all.

“It’s perfect, Gunwook. I love it.” You reassured him too.

Sadly, these were the last words you shared with him. The wedding never happened, the house was never built, and you were unable to experience being loved by Gunwook like you were meant to.

Gunwook died the next morning, at the age of 18 years old. He was helping out the local lumberjack with a project in the forest, and fell victim to a horrible accident. The townspeople and your family spared you of the gory details, so you never got the full story of how he passed away.

All you remember from that day was waking up and immediately feeling an emptiness in your heart. The tug at your chest was gone, a confirmation that he was dead. You cried.

You wondered if the universe was giving you a sign, an out from the farm town life that you dreamed of leaving. And you couldn’t help but think: what a sick, twisted, way to communicate, universe.

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You tried to continue living life as you once knew it. But everything in this small town reminded you of Gunwook. You’d often visit the meadow where your forever house with him was meant to stand, journalling or speaking to the wind – hoping Gunwook would hear you.

Your family let you grieve for two whole years, allowing the pain to fully wash over you so that you can learn to move on. Gunwook was your soulmate, everyone knew that. And at that time, the concept of having more than one soulmate was unheard of. You had already lost yours, and there was no way the universe would have another one for you.

You weren’t exactly a widow, so you would have to live life as an unmarried woman – which was difficult in that day and age. This is why your father and mother brought up the prospect of arranged marriage, even if it’s just for the sake of living comfortably. You agreed.

KIM TAERAE. SEVENTEEN YEARS OLD. YEAR 1925.

You came to know Kim Taerae at seventeen years old, when your father was sorting out marriage candidates. He had visited a local psychic who had given a shortlist of all the eligible bachelors in the area who would be the perfect match for you – insisting that ‘your soulmate would be one of the names on the list’.

You would have called her a quack if the list didn’t include a certain Kim Taerae, a young gentleman three years older, who had a voice of an angel. You officially met at a chaperoned luncheon, with both your parents and his. He was soft, kind hearted, and had a gentle nature to him.

You met several times after that before your families settled the marriage agreements. You didn’t mind marrying Taerae, in fact, you were scared to admit that he might actually be your soulmate too after all. You felt it during your first few meetings without your parents, the familiar pull at your chest. Eventually soothed by his singing and soft hums he would whisper into your hair.

“Do you think we could be soulmates, Y/N?” he asked you one evening, you were both sitting on the porch of your family home with the stars as your audience. While he strongly believed you were his soulmate, you had a hard time. You weren’t sure if the universe allowed such a thing.

“I don’t know, Taerae. I wonder if the universe is kind enough to gift you as my soulmate” you truly meant your words. He knew about your trauma with losing Gunwook, and would often accompany you as you visited his grave. He’s been patient with you, and was content with spending the rest of his life loving you, even if you weren’t soulmates. You felt the same way.

That year, Taerae turned 21 years old. He was a year older, no longer frozen at 20. Likewise, you turned 18 years old. He got his blood tested to ensure the aging wasn’t a placebo effect, that there was indeed biological change.

Everyone celebrated Taerae’s aging, the confirmation that the both of you were truly soulmates. You couldn’t believe it at first, but considered it as the universe’s way of saying ‘sorry’ for the loss of your first one.

Taerae was excited to build a future with you. He even bought a house for the two of you at the capital of the country, and you were both eager to experience city life as a married couple. But that day never came. He died from a tragic car accident, a drunk driver crashed into his vehicle when he was on his way to see you.

You woke up that day feeling like you were stuck in a recurring nighmare. You were drenched in sweat, and let out the most gut-wrenching scream of grief. You despised how this was all too familiar to you, the loss of the comforting tug at your chest. Taerae was dead, and you wailed for him.

The car company gave you a free vehicle as part of the grievance. As if a free car would cure the immense grief and anger you had been feeling. To make matters worse, the community mocked you with a new nickname: soulmate killer. Because the mere idea of being your soulmate was an automatic death sentence.

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You hated the universe. You were angry at its seeming generosity, rather cruelty of losing two soulmates at only 18 years old.

After Taerae died, your family felt anguish for you. They had immense sympathy, and let you do whatever you wanted to do. You spent another two years grieving Taerae. Though you mostly stayed at home, staring into empty space. You still visited the meadow, this time with a guitar in hand to strum familiar melodies as you thought about the two men you loved. You felt that it was only fair to Taerae that way – if you had grieved him the same way you grieved Gunwook.

It took you years before you could even feel like yourself again.

In 1930, you would have been 23 years old. But you still look, act, and feel like a 20 year old. As if the universe was mocking your unfortunate situation. As if aging was a reward and a privilege you receive after meeting the love of your life. As if the universe was blissfully unaware that you have been ripped away from the opportunity thanks to its cruelty.

You revisited your journal entries from when you were fifteen, talking about your big dream of seeing the world. You felt cursed, and you were determined to make the most of the seemingly short life you would have. After all, if your soulmates kept dying on you – who is to say that you aren’t next?

So you took your free car, and set off on a road trip. And that’s when you met Seok Matthew, a man who sadly, understood you a little too well.

SEOK MATTHEW. TWENTY YEARS OLD. 1930.

Matthew’s soulmate also died in a car accident earlier that year. His chosen method of grieving was to travel the world – discovering new places and meeting all sorts of people. That’s how the two of you met, line dancing somewhere in the south america.

Matthew wasn’t your soulmate, you knew that for sure. But you spent the next five years traveling the world together, making love in cities he took you, and living life as reckless twenty somethings. With him, you were finally able to live out your dream.

As you lay naked in the arms of Matthew in a hotel somewhere in Paris, he asked you “what if one day, one of us meets our soulmate?”. You adjust yourself to see him more clearly, fingers softly running through his hair. The thought has crossed your mind before, more for Matthew’s sake than your own.

“It’s been five years Matt, I highly doubt I’m going to meet anyone else. But you might.” you try to foster a small smile, reassuring him he could still have a chance. Matthew has only lost one soulmate, while you’ve lost two.

“No, I’d never leave you.” He sits up, a large pout on his face. His stubbornness amuses you.

“That’s what you say now, sweetie.” you laugh as you kiss his pout away. "and you know it's probably for the best, people in my hometown call me soulmate killer, you know?" you try to play it off as a joke.

"soulmate killer? that's cruel. it's not your fault y/n. you know that right?" Matthew's brows are furrowed. You smile as you hold his face, releasing the tension in his forehead by massaging his eyebrows with your thumbs.

That night, he promised to stay in your life no matter what.

But this promise turned hazy when on one of your trips to South Asia, he met the actual love of his life. You didn’t protest when he came back to your dingy hotel, head down and in tears. You didn’t argue as you watched him pack his bags, for a trip that you weren’t going to be part of. And you didn’t push him away when he asked to kiss you one last time before he left. You let him go, and you sobbed out of loneliness.

Kudos to Matthew, he did keep his promise. He sent letters every few months to your PO Box, but you didn’t have the heart to open all of it. Last you’ve heard, they had baby number one on the way – and that was your last straw. You changed PO Box addresses shortly after that, unbeknownst to Matthew, who still sent you letters every year until his eventual death.

This was the first man in your life to have a happy ending. He died of old age, with 3 children and 10 grandchildren.

Something changed in the five years you spent with Matthew. More than falling in love with a person who wasn’t your soulmate, you fell in love with the world. You could never, ever imagine yourself going back to the domesticated life at home. The years after Matthew turned you into a cynic, and you didn’t believe in love anymore either.

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PRESENT DAY. 2023.

“Got anything that’ll get me drunk in the next ten minutes?”

You plopped down on the bar stool, haphazardly placing your purse next to you. The bartender is eyeing you strangely, as if in disbelief that you’re even inside their establishment.

You sigh and pull out your identification card, a laminated piece of junk that tells you how old you really are. Scratch that, how old you are meant to be. He picks up the card and raises it up next to your face, comparing the woman in the picture to your face. It reminds you that you need to get it renewed…again. After all, the last time you updated your photo was sometime in the 80s. True enough, your ID card reflects a version of you with big hair and large colorful earrings. You don’t blame him for wanting to double check, contrasting the all black ensemble you have currently.

“Listen pal, I just buried my daughter today. I would appreciate it if you could get on with it”. You might not blame him, but you are impatient.

He slides your ID card back and pours you a whiskey on the rocks. “Sorry for your loss ma’am” he solemnly extends his condolences as he places your drink in front of you. You pick it up, raising it and nodding a “thank you” before taking a large gulp. It burns.

You outlived your daughter. And you wonder if you’ve been going about life in all the wrong ways. Atop the alcohol display at the bar is a small TV, flashing a report about a young woman named Somi who was murdered and found dead at her home – leaving her husband a widower. The news station flashed a photo of the blonde couple, sharing that they had just gotten married a week ago. She was beautiful. A shame.

As the news report slowly drowns you, your mind confronts you with the memories of your past soulmates and lovers.

PARK GUNWOOK. The soulmate you never got the chance to fully love, and died in the year 1923.

KIM TAERAE. The soulmate who was your second chance at life, and passed away in 1928.

SEOK MATTHEW. Who helped you live out your dreams from 1930 to 1935.

KIM JIWOONG. A man you married in the year 1940, who died from alcohol poisioning that same year.

ZHANG HAO. The one who gave you your daughter in 1952, but unfortunately fell victim to a house fire.

SUNG HANBIN. The husband that raised your daughter like his very own. But experienced a very fatal heart attack on the day of your daughter’s wedding in 1973.

Of course, there were others – flings and boytoys along the way. None of which were worth reminiscing about, except maybe for Kim Gyuvin.

At that moment, a tall man enters the bar and decides to take a seat next to you. His presence effectively drew you out from the thoughts circling your brain. Other than the fact that he too, is dressed in all black – you feel a deeper sense of similarity. Like kindred spirits, you recognize broken souls like yours. You order two more rounds of the whiskey the bartender gave you.

“I heard about your late wife in the news, I’m sorry for your loss.” You feign sympathy and slide the glass to the man next to you.

He looks taken aback at first, but accepts your offer. Now facing you, he raises his drink to you. You do the same. He’s strikingly handsome, with platinum hair and dark eyebrows. You also don’t miss that he’s dressed in Yves Saint Laurent from head to toe. He takes a peek at your ID card still laying on the table, making sure to catch your name.

“Next one’s on me, Y/N” he says, taking another swig at his whiskey, finishing his glass. He calls on the bartender, and buys an entire bottle for the two of you. The bartender returns his credit card, with the name ‘Shen Quanrui’ engraved.

“Thank you Quanrui, that’s very generous of you.”

He puts on a small smile, almost no one calls him by his legal name. “You can call me Ricky” he says as he pours into your glass.

“Alright Ricky. Here’s to life.” you raise up. It feels inappropriate to be clinking glasses on the day you buried your daughter, but you figured you could make an exemption. Ricky too, seemed to be going through the same thing with his late wife.

“To life.” he responds, tapping his glass against yours.

Just two broken souls who had lost someone important in their lives, drinking to fill the hollowness. You almost don’t feel the familiar bloom in your chest, tugging at your entire being like a magnet trying to find its other half. And if you do feel it, you pretend it’s the whiskey burning its place in your heart.

RICKY SHEN. TWENTY YEARS OLD. 2023. The man who you assume to be your next soulmate.

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07yujin · 2 months

Text

that cute! bus boy ⋆｡𖦹★ han yujin

synopsis - finding school boring until you see this mysterious yet cute looking boy in your usual bus to school. you weren’t usually like this but he has an aura that just makes you want to know more about him.

genre - sm!au, written, hs!au, fluff, drama, comedy(?) & angst (?)

pairing - student!hanyujin & fem-student!reader

faceclaim - hyein of nwjns

featuring - gunwook of zb1, danielle of nwjns, woonhak & jaehyun of bnd, yunjin & eunchae of lssrfm & more to come !

warnings - mainly cursing, kys/kms jokes, might mention of sensitive topics & will give warnings on chapters !

status - hiatus !

taglist - open ! (send an ask or comment on this post) ; @blbbblll @rikimylove @egoistars @junnysbae @astrae4

note : since this is a yujin ff, i better not see any grown ass adults here <3!

➽───────────────❥

📁 to the power of friendship ! . . . ˃̵ᴗ˂̵﹒��﹑

📁 yujin’s personal therapist(s). . . ˃̵ᴗ˂̵﹒✶﹑

📁 our alpha side ig . . . ˃̵ᴗ˂̵﹒✶﹑

01 who this 😍

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foreverbase1 · 3 days

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Ƭ៩♬ƦᖱƦ០ᖰ ❣ ZEROBASEONE

❥𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: popular!bullies!ZEROBASEONE x bullied!fem!reader (not really tho)

❥𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 5.0k

❥𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: High School AU, slight Fluff, mainly Angst, Reader comes back as a bad bitch tho

❥𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: Bullying, name calling (slut, whore, etc), members are complete assholes, Reader calls them names back (doggy, etc), swearing, physical bullying (hair pulling, tripping, kicking the back of Reader's knees lightly), mentions of blood

❥𝐒𝐨𝐧𝐠: Teardrop by Alex Porat

❥𝐅𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: bullies!ZB1, IVE's Leeseo & ILLIT's Minju

❥𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬: Reader is consistently the target of bullying by ZEROBASEONE, a group of very popular boys of her school who typically get away with anything they do to her.

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝, 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬! <𝟑

Decided to try smth a little bit different, so the lyrics aren't really the focus here!

"𝙏𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙬 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙞𝙣 𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣, 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨"

You sat at the front of your class, writing away into your notebook as the teacher continued the lecture. You had a determined and focused look in your eye, but a tiny smirk was placed onto your lips that were coated in a shiny pink lipgloss.

You could feel the eyes of 9 people staring at the back of your head, but they weren't hurtful or mean gazes, they were more obedient? Concerned? Maybe a little scared? Either way, you liked it. Now don't get it twisted, you aren't a nasty person in any way, every other student could agree on that, you were one of the most helpful and kind students in the entire school.

After the bell had signalled the end of the class and the teacher had packed their things up and left. You heard footsteps approach your desk as you were putting away your school supplies, your eyes looked up slowly, staring at the 9 boys that stood in front of your desk. They were the popular boys of your school. Emphasis on 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦. Who were they? They were ZEROBASEONE, a popular self-formed group of friends at your school, consisting of 9 boys; Kim Jiwoong, Zhang Hao, Sung Hanbin, Seok Matthew, Kim Taerae, Shen Quanrui, Kim Gyuvin, Park Gunwook and Han Yujin.

They were popular simply due to the fact every student at your school had a crush on them, mainly cause of their looks and talent, and also wealth. These 9 boys were rich and originally had the school backing them, they would perform at every dance tournament your school held and at school festivals, they were the school's pride.

Now? Now they simply obeyed you, cause you were the first of their victims to stand up against them, fight back and bite them where it hurt. And also cause you had very damning evidence that could ruin each of their futures in the music industry.

"Y/N...." Hanbin was the first of his friends to speak up, your eyes looking at him and a small smile graced your lips. "Hm?" You hummed, but before any more words could escape from his lips, two more figures joined you. It was your best friends, Minju and Leeseo.

"Y/N, hurry! The cafeteria is gonna run out of strawberry milk if we don't get going" Minju pulled on your arm. "Sure, let's get going" You smile up at them, sending a knowing smirk towards the 9 boys in front of you. Exiting the classroom with your two best friends, all 3 of you giggled to yourselves.

Now you might be very confused. So, let me explain, and get prepared, cause this is a long one!

"𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝙢𝙮 𝙬𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢, 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙚, 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙚"

Originally, your dynamic was never like this. It was the exact opposite. You used to be the least popular student in the entire school, mainly cause of ZB1's influence on the school and its students. Everyone turned a blind eye when they would call you names, teased you until you cried, hide your supplies so you'd have to run around the entire school building looking for it and they never once dared to rat them out to the faculty. But neither could you, at least, at that time.

The only two people by your side were Leeseo and Minju, they were the only reason you didn't just transfer schools and move on with your life, they were also the reason your entire dynamic changed and they were also the only two that didn't give a flying fuck about ZB1's influence. But they also listened to you, choosing to not turn to the school faculty about the bullying, even if it pained them to see you go through it.

But let's start at the beginning; Elementary school. You used to be best friends with Kim Taerae, the two of you being extremely close. This was up until high school, where you met Leeseo and Minju, and where Taerae met the other ZB1 members. You two drifted apart and lost contact, but at least you still had Minju and Leeseo.

And then everything changed when you and the rest of ZB1 had been put into the same class, thankfully Minju and Leeseo were in it too, so you weren't completely alone. But this was where the bullying began. It was all for a dumb reason too.

By this point, ZB1 had become popular throughout your entire school. You couldn't deny, you were also a fan of them at first. But when Gunwook came up to your desk one day and asked you out on a date, you couldn't help but feel a little self conscious. After all, you could hear his friends snickers in the back of the class and with the smile he wore on his face and his status in the school, the first thought you got was that this was all a joke. A dumb prank to toy with your feelings.

"Sorry Gunwook, i don't think i can" You smiled apologetically at him, you tried to let him down easy, but when the snickers from his friends abruptly stopped and his smile had disappeared and been replaced with a glare within his eyes, you couldn't help but feel your heart drop into your stomach, he shrugged. "Whatever, it's not like you're all that anyway" He said, walking away towards his friends and leaving you stunned. From that day on it got worse.

Gyuvin, Gunwook and Yujin were the main ones from the group that teased you. They shared most of your classes and would tease you whenever they could; At your desk, at your locker, even doing it while the lecture is on going. And it would always resort with you getting into trouble.

You sat in your English class, unfortunately for you, your seat was right in front of Gyuvin, Gunwook and Yujin's seats. Allowing easy access to you. "Pst, Y/N!" Gyuvin whispered, getting light shoves and giggles from Gunwook and Yujin. "Where'd you get your hairband from? It looks cheap" He said, causing you to reach your hand up and fix your hairband. It didn't hurt much, he always targeted your accessories.

Gunwook was the next one to take his approach. "Y/N?" He whispered your name, you hated the fact that your ears tuned in whenever they talked, knowing it'd just result in you being hurt. "I heard you write notes about Hanbin in your notebook, is that true?" He smirked, and with a little maneuvering of his body, he'd peek at the front of you face. "She's blushing, it's true!" He giggled between Gyuvin and Yujin.

You weren't actually blushing because of what he said, it was mainly out of embarrassment. Because the students seated around you were giving you odd looks, as they had overheard what they were saying. You just wanted to melt away, right then and there. But it all got worse when it was finally Yujin's turn. "Y/N" He said, leaning over his desk a bit.

"I heard you still have to sleep with a night light, is it true?" He giggled, it was nothing more than immature, elementary school level teasing. But the glare you sent him was enough of a reaction to feed into them. "She totally does" Gunwook snickered, causing you to turn around. "Can you shut up?" You bit back, but unlike them, you weren't so lucky. "Miss L/N, wanna repeat what you just said?" The teacher said, overhearing what you had said.

Now everyone's eyes were on you and the three boys had gotten what they wanted. You blushed out of embarrassment, fidgeting in your chair. "No, sorry sir" You said, staring directly down, and with a scoff from your teacher, the lesson resumed. Your eyes filled with tears that threatened to fall, you didn't like this, but you had to deal with it. Once class was over, you collected your things and bolted out the door, hoping to find refuge in Minju and Leeseo.

"What assholes" Minju glared at the boys of ZB1 from across the cafeteria. "It's been like this for the past 3 months since you rejected Gunwook, why don't we just go to the principal?" Leeseo said, thinking rationally. She rubbed your back as you ate the small sandwich in your hand. You shook your head in response to her words. "It wouldn't matter, the school adores them, including the principal. They would just dismiss it and if they find out i reported them, it'll get worse" You sniffled, voice quiet.

The bell would soon ring, signalling it was time for your Math class. Probably your most dreaded class of all. Not because you sucked at Maths, it was because Zhang Hao and Shen Quanrui had that class with you. And they were by far the worst of your bullies. Unlike Gyuvin, Gunwook and Yujin with their teasing and tint jabs at you, Zhang Hao and Quanrui threw actual insults at you. They'd call you any name they could think of; Slut, Whore, Dumbass, Loser. You name it, they'd say it.

Sighing, you got up and hugged your friends goodbye. Walking out of the cafeteria with Zhang Hao and Shen Quanrui close behind you.

In your Maths class, you once again had the misfortune of having your desk be placed right in front of Zhang Hao and Quanrui's seats. Once again, allowing easy access to you. As the teacher taught the class about different equations and whatever else she needed to teach the class that day.

And this was when Zhang Hao and Shen Quanrui would start their typical antics. "Hey Y/N?" Quanrui whispered, Zhang Hao snickering beside him already. You tried to drown him out, trying to ignore him, but you also knew that'd make it worse. "Hey, slut" He said again, this time dropping his teasing tone. You breathed in, before slowly turning around. "What's the answer to this one?" He held up his notebook, pointing to one of the equations written down that he couldn't be bothered to figure out himself. "I don't know" You mumbled, and Zhang Hao scoffed. "What are you? A fucking moron?" Him and Quanrui snickering to themselves, the teacher looked over at the noise and instead of targeting the two boys who were clearly making the most noise, her eyes landed on you and your figure being turned towards them.

"Miss L/N, can you answer this one for us?" She raised her voice, causing you to turn around and face the front of the class. You looked around quickly, everyone's eyes once again on you. "Umm, is it....96?" You said, your voice was quiet. The teacher sighed, shaking her head and the class giggled. "Pay attention next time" She scolded you and you nodded, sniffling a little as tears filled your eyes again. "Great job dumbass" Hao said, him and Quanrui snickering to themselves.

Just as quickly as class started, it ended as well. And now it was time for your final class of the day, History class. With Hanbin, Jiwoong, Matthew and Taerae. This was by far your worst class of them all, cause while Gyuvin, Gunwook and Yujin teased you, Zhang Hao and Quanrui called you the meanest insults they could think of. Hanbin, Jiwoong and Matthew were much worse and would resort to physical contact with you.

Thankfully, Leeseo shared this class with you and your seat was with hers. But again, Matthew, Hanbin and Jiwoong's seats were right behind yours. And during this class, was when you finally had enough and reached your breaking point.

"See Y/N, this is where....." Leeseo's voice carried on as you listened to her help you with a certain part you were stuck on, you giggled. "Thanks SeoSeo" you thanked her, earning a smile from your best friend. As class continued, it was actually peaceful, so far the last 4 members of Zerobullyone hadn't bothered you yet. Keyword being yet.

The teacher would leave the class, another faculty member requesting their aid in something. And this was when it all went downhill. You got up to collect some paper from the back of the class, and with a few shared glances between the boys, Matthew got up and followed you.

While you were minding your business, humming to yourself as you picked up a few pieces of paper, Matthew stepped behind you, pulling your hair. Hard. You hissed, your hand quickly reaching behind you to rub over the spot he had just pulled on. "Sorry, my hand got caught" He smirked, giving you a side eye as he got some paper and returned to his seat, earning high fives from Jiwoong and Hanbin.

You breathed in, calming yourself. But next up to make your life a living hell was Hanbin. As you went to turn around and return to your seat, Hanbin walked right behind you, and raising his leg quickly, he kicked the back of your knee. Causing you to buckle and bang your knees against the wall in front of you. You bit your lip to stop yourself from letting out a cry of pain, standing up and wobbling back over to your desk without a second glance back at Hanbin.

But unfortunately for you, you still had one more demon to face. Kim Jiwoong. As you neared your desk, he stuck his leg out, causing you to trip and let out a loud yelp, followed by a loud crash. "Y/N, you okay?!" Leeseo yelled, but before she could get up the teacher walked back in. All eyes we're once again on you. "Y/N, what are you doing on the floor?" The teacher asked, watching as you sat up, letting out a small whimper before reaching up to your head.

Your fingers grazed a spot on your forehead where your head had hit the desk, and with a gasp from a student, everyone's eyes widened. "She's bleeding!" One student shouted, at their words you had pulled your hand back down in front of you, analyzing the crimson red that stained your fingers. "Y/N, are you okay?" The teacher kneeled down and helped you up, you began letting the tears fall, sobbing as you shook your head. "Miss, I'll take her to the nurse" Taerae stood up, a smile on his face.

Leeseo glared at him, her eyes turning to Matthew, Hanbin and Jiwoong behind as the three of them tried holding in their laughter. "Great idea, Taerae. Tha-" "Actually, I'll take her" She cut off the teacher, standing up and earning glares from the 4 boys, she continued. "I finished all my work and i'm sure it'd be better if someone who actually 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 went with her. I'm her friend after all and i'm sure Taerae hasn't finished all his work." She finished, a smirk on her face as she stared at Taerae.

"Well, okay. Thank you Leeseo." The teacher said, handing you off into the comfort of your best friend's arms as you left the class. "Crybaby" Taerae muttered to you as you both left. You didn't know why you had to go through his, all because you rejected their friend? It wasn't your fault, you thought it was them trying to mess with you.

"Thank you" You sniffled, thanking the nurse as she patched up your head and called your parents. "SeoSeo, i think i'm gonna move schools" Her eyes widened, and the girl shook her head. "You can't be serious, if you do that, they'll know they won". You looked down, twiddling your fingers. " I know, but, it hurts and i can't take too much more, SeoSeo." She sighs, when you got like this she knew there wasn't much she could do to change your mind.

Leeseo waited with you until your parents arrived and picked you up, before returning to class. Entering back into the classroom, she felt the glares of the 4 boys return to her. The teacher nowhere to be seen. "Just had to get in the way" Hanbin mumbled, and this was when Leeseo snapped. "What are you four, mentally deranged or something? Did your parents drop you when you were kids? You caused Y/N's head to bleed and that's all you have to say? All cause of what, cause she rejected your fragile friend and hurt his fucking feelings? Grow the fuck up." She growled at them, malice in her tone as she collected her things and left once the bell had signalled the end of the school day.

"𝙊𝙣𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙄'𝙢 𝙜𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙖 𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙚𝙚 𝙢𝙚 𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙠. 𝙊𝙣𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙙 𝙧𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙚𝙠, 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙡𝙡, 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙥𝙪𝙩 𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝"

A month had passed since the incident that day and you had refused to go to school, you only let your parents know half of what was going on and it was all they needed to let you stay at home. After school finished, Leeseo and Minju would visit you and help you catch up on all the lessons you missed. Without them, you didn't know how long you could've handled the bullying when it first started.

Two weeks before summer break arrived, Leeseo and Minju had managed to convince you not to go through with the school transfer, instead offering another solution; 𝙍𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙚.

At first you were a bit cautious, cause you could go into big trouble and the 9 of the ZB1 members were basically untouchable. Well, not entirely. "Since you haven't been at school, they've chosen new targets each time. If me and Leeseo record every incident, they can't turn it down whatsoever." Minju sat up, showing you both two small special cameras and microphones.

"I'm.....not gonna ask where you got those from" Leeseo giggled, as she fixed your hair for you. "What do you say Y/N? I'm down for it if you are" She said, looking at you. Your eyes looked between your two friends and then back at yourself in the mirror. You didn't really want to get on their level, but when there's no one else to turn to, then you have to bite back. Right?. "Let's do it"

And just like that, your mission to ruin ZEROBASEONE's members was initiated. Just as Minju and Leeseo had said, they recorded each incident of the members bullying other students and would then send the recordings to you, where you'd then edit it together into one large video file. This would continue on until summer break rolled around, and you were sure you had everything you needed.

With the video created and ready for whenever you needed it, you decided to move onto the secret phase of your mission. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧. So all of summer break you learned how to do makeup, doll yourself up. You weren't ugly by any means, and this wasn't like a Disney movie where taking your glasses off suddenly made you prettier, but your school's popularity thrived off of visuals. And if it's visuals they wanted, you'd give it to them.

Just as quickly as summer break started, it had ended. On the day of the student's return, you texted Leeseo and Minju to meet you in class and not pick you up, as you had a surprise. They agreed, trusting you. And now here you stood, in front of the school gates, earning glances and whispers from other students around you.

You walked through the halls of the school, greeting each student and teacher that passed. Your hair was nice and neat, curled well. A hairband sat prettily atop your head, your lips shining with pink lipgloss, your cheeks holding a bit of blush and a smile gracing your lips. It was like they were seeing a whole new person, and technically they were.

Standing outside your classroom door, you texted Leeseo and Minju one last time, before opening the classroom door and stepping inside, the sound of the heeled shoes you had purchased during summer clicking against the floor as you stepped inside and shut the door behind you. Everyone was quiet, all eyes on you. Including the ZB1 members. Leeseo and Minju's mouths were open in shock, but a tiny hint of a smirk was hidden within it too.

"Good morning" You said, eyes scanning the classroom. A chorus of slow and quiet good mornings were given back, everyone beginning to whisper amongst each other. This was going all according to plan, just like you hoped. Instead of taking the route to your desk in order to avoid the ZB1 members, you took the route where you had to pass by them instead.

As you walked past, the members quickly sprung into action, with Hanbin pulling on your bag and causing it to drop some of your school supplies. You stood still, everyone's eyes now on you. But you weren't scared, no, quite the opposite. As the members tried to snicker to one another, you turned towards Hanbin and stepped closer. "Pick it up" You said, causing everyone to gasp. "W-what?" Hanbin said back, staring down at you.

You scoffed, grabbing his tie and yanking him down a bit to your eye level, everyone's eyes widened in shock including Hanbin and the rest of the ZB1 members. "I said, Pick. It. Up. Doggy." Each word that left your mouth was laced with venom, and Hanbin swallowed hard. Looking around, he quickly bent down and began picking up your supplies and handing it back to you. "Thank you" You smiled at him.

And now, you may be confused. We went through what each member did to bully you and get to you right? All except Taerae. That was cause Taerae never resorted to teasing, physical bullying or calling you the lowest of insults. Instead he held something much harmful; Your secrets from your now broken friendship.

Determined to make up for the embarrassment you caused Hanbin, Taerae chuckled. "Y/N, remember when you used to have a massive crush on me?" He said, now this was getting juicy, at least for the onlookers. Stopping in your tracks again, you turned towards Taerae and his friends. "Taerae, remember when you peed yourself in the middle of class? Cause i sure do" You bit back, and that caused a chorus of laughter to erupt in the classroom, Taerae shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

Finally reaching your friends, you greeted them with hugs and a smile. But you weren't done, not until you got back at each member.

Your next targets were Gyuvin, Gunwook and Yujin. But they were easy, after all, it wasn't hard getting them to shut up. Your first class of the day was Sports class and luckily for you, the teacher that usually taught the Male students was absent, so both groups would merge this one time.

The teacher decided to play dodgeball, thinking it'd be fun to see how it'd go. Of course, the girls were losing badly. Because most of the time, your group did everything but the actual class during Sports class. But you were determined to use this class to get back at Gyuvin, Gunwook and Yujin. And that you would.

When the teacher was distracted, you used this opportunity to exact your revenge. You threw the ball as hard as possible, hitting Gyuvin right in the genitals and causing him to collapse to the floor in pain. "What happened?" The teacher said after her attention was put back on the class at the sound of the commotion, everyone was silent staring at you.

"Sorry, i accidentally threw the ball a little too hard." You giggled, approaching Gyuvin and offering your hand. He hesitated, but took it anyway. "Don't leave yourself so open next time, duckling" You whispered to him, before returning to your side of the field with a smirk on your face.

Gyuvin had to sit out due to the pain he was feeling and this left two people left to take care of. Gunwook and Yujin. You nodded towards Leeseo, who on cue, began distracting the teacher. "Hey, miss, i was thinking...." She began the distraction as you targeted your next bully; Yujin. Picking up the ball, when Yujin was distracted with dodging two other students attempts at eliminating him, you threw the ball at him, once again with all your strength, hitting him right in the stomach and toppling him over.

The teacher paused, blowing the whistle and signalling that Yujin was out. "Sorry, i guess i don't know my own strength." You giggled as you watched Yujin glare at you, leaving the field. One more to go.

With the last signal to Minju, the girl would start her distraction on the teacher. "Hey, i think i heard......" You drowned out her voice and focused on Gunwook, you two stared at each other, you knew that he had caught onto what you were doing. He wasn't stupid after all, but the poor boy had no idea what you had coming for him.

When you managed to tag Leeseo back into the game, she threw a ball right at Gunwook, who spent his time dodging it. This allowed you to set yourself up, and before the boy could recover, you hurled the ball right at his face. Hard. Gasps erupted the entire sports hall, and the teacher had to stop the class in order to attend to the whimpering boy on the floor holding his nose.

"Gunwook, are you okay?" You said, faking innocence and pretending to actually care. The boy glared up at you, and just as you were enjoying the payback you were giving them, the class ended. But that isn't where it stops, you still had 4 boys left to get revenge on.

Your next targets were Zhang Hao and Shen Quanrui. Math class would be fun this time around. The lesson went normally for the first part, you just waited for the two boys to try and get their egos fulfilled by targeting you. "Y/N" Zhang Hao's voice filled your ears, now the fun part.

Turning towards Zhang Hao, you smiled at him. "What is it?" You said, catching him off guard a bit. But he recovered quickly, holding up his notebook. "What's the answer to this one?" He pointed to the question, you looked at it before looking back at him.

"Why? Can't figure it out yourself? Don't tell me...." You covered your mouth to stop yourself from laughing too loud. "Zhang Hao's actually an idiot" You said loudly, of course, on purpose. The teacher cleared her throat, catching your attention. "Miss, i think Zhang Hao needs help, he can't even figure out what 5 + 5 is. He's asking me for the answer" You explained to her, causing Hao to glare at you from where he sat, giggles filled the classroom as the teacher nodded her head.

"I see, Zhang Hao, i'm quite shocked cause you're usually at the top of this class." She said, and while they were distracted by the teacher, you quickly exchanged yours and Quanrui's notebooks before you spoke up again. "And miss, i think Quanrui is confused too, cause he doodled on his notebook". Quanrui looked down at his (yours) notebook, and just like you had said, the entire pages were filled with doodles.

"I'm disappointed with you two, pay attention, cause i'm only going over it once" The teacher took her place at the front of the class, determined to help Zhang Hao and Quanrui despite them not actually needing help. "Better luck next time, morons" You snickered, facing the front of the class with a smirk as you felt them stare at the back of your head.

Now it was time for your last two targets; Kim Jiwoong and Seok Matthew. But, you weren't gonna humiliate them in front of everyone else, instead you'll let them fear that you would. What better way to break the two cockiest members egos? Make them live in paranoia.

"SeoSeo, Ju, i need you to do something for me" You told the two girls as you sat in the cafeteria. It was time for the final phase of your plan. You were going to ruin ZEROBASEONE.

After lunchtime had finished, you waited in an empty classroom until Leeseo and Minju arrived. When the doors slammed open and the two girls ran in with a group of 9 boys behind them, you knew it was time. Clicking play on the laptop you had set up, the video you had put together played on the monitor. It showcased each bullying event that each member did to a poor student, making sure to blur out the students faces for their privacy.

"Checkmate" You said, smirking as you stared at the stunned expressions on each member's face. After the video ended, you, Leeseo and Minju listened contently to each member beg you not to release the video. It was cute, in a way. You had them wrapped around your finger and begging at your feet. You had ruined them in a day, how easy was that. The 9 men that made your life hell for days on end, cracked in one day.

"Okay, we won't. Under one condition." You said, stepping forward with your arms crossed over your chest. Eyes all on you. "Do as we say." You spoke each word slowly, making sure they heard you.

And that is how we come to the present day. Your revenge worked perfectly, you made all 9 members crack in the span of a day and held a video that could ruin their careers if they so much as tried to step out of line. You smiled to yourself as you stared at yourself in the school bathroom mirror. It was cruel, and sure, you felt bad about it. You had stooped to their level, but as you looked at yourself, you couldn't help but feel content.

You had gotten revenge on the 9 boys that caused you so much pain and hurt, the 9 boys that made you want to run away and hide from the world, the 9 boys who hurt the fragile girl that was still deep inside you. But you avenged her, you protected her. You protected 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧. And now you no longer had to worry or live in fear of them anymore.

𝘊𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘱 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦

"𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙮 𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙧𝙤𝙥 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪."

𝐈 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝 <𝟑 𝐈 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈'𝐦 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝!

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starrzhao · 11 months

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zb1 as the soulmate tropes | scenarios

soulmates. the concept of being bound to someone by some sort of invisible string. a deep bond and connection formed between a pair that’s just simply meant to be. love may come unexpectedly, arriving through fate’s mysterious ways. so here are scenarios where fate pulls its strings and brings those meant to be, together. here are little scenarios of the members of zb1 as the different soulmate tropes with a little twist added to each one.

genre fluff, tiny bit of angst

pairings zb1 members x gn!reader

warnings small descriptions of physical pain (?) if anything else needs to be added, please inform me !

⭒ kim jiwoong — matching tattoos

everyone is born with a tattoo located on either side of their neck. each pair of soulmates have their own unique symbol, with each one owning a part it, having them meet to combine and complete their respective symbol. for example one may have a crescent moon and the other may have scattered stars, as they meet one another, they’re tattoos will glow and the moment of their first kiss, their symbols would combine and become one image, the crescent moon in the starry sky. It was a wonderful idea to think of sharing a symbol with your other half however it was quite difficult for you to search for your soulmate as yours was a mere dot. what symbol could possibly complete a dot? on the first day of your new job, you bump into the ceo of the company at the elevator who just so happens to have a comma tattooed on the right side of his neck, beaming at the same time as yours.

⭒ zhang hao — soulmate in every lifetime

It was a saying that you’re tied onto the same person in this universe through every single life you’d live through. a lot of people believed it was fake but you, on the other hand, definitely knew it was true as you lived your whole life or every life, still possessing your memories from every past lifetime, knowing it’s always intertwined with the same person, zhang hao. It was both a blessing and a curse for you, knowing you’d cross paths with the same man you’ll always love every time but you were tired of having to repeat the cycle over and over again, having to start from zero as strangers, then to lovers or even sometimes just ending as the best of friends, every single time knowing you kept your memories with him through every lifetime while he, like every other person, starts anew, clueless as they navigate through their journey, having to reintroduce and reinvent yourself as you meet him at every new beginning. however as you are once again reborn in a new world, this time hoping to live carefree and on the down low with no ambition after going through almost every career in the past anyways, you decide to move to a small city, where you meet zhang hao once again, not surprised again. however, this time you two don’t need to start from zero again as he unexpectedly reveals he’s been going through the same thing as you. and for once, you can finally confide in one another without having to restart the timeline or open a new story. just being there with each other. anytime, anywhere as long as it was with him, you just knew you’d be okay whatever your life had in store for you.

⭒ sung hanbin — color soulmate

everyone starts their lives, black and white. often, people would find their soulmate early. usually it would be in their teenage years as usually your soulmate would be nearby. you were at the ripe age of twenty-two, still counting your days for how long you’d have to live in a dull, colorless world as everyone else around you seemed to have found their soulmate. you get close to someone online who also happens to share the same situation as you, hanbin. he becomes your best friend as time passes, and you talk to him daily. your wish in this life wasn’t even to meet your soulmate anymore but to just meet hanbin in real life even just once. after three years of being long-distance friends, hanbin flies to your country as an effort to surprise you on your birthday. as you finished up your shift at the cafe you were working at, when you heard the doorbell ring and you look at who was at the front door, you were surprised at what you saw. It was not just only because you finally met your best friend, but because colors began to fill your sight as the world around you finally came to life as you met eye-to-eye

⭒ kim taerae — that sweet melody in your head

it was a rare phenomenon to be able to hear the voice of your soulmate in your head, and you were lucky to be a part of the small population who have experienced such a thing. You’ve heard the voice of your soulmate singing ever since you were little. His voice was soothing and mellow, his singing accompanying you through your daily life, almost like he was your own personal record player. You are an aspiring music producer, specializing in playing the piano and violin and your biggest dream was to one day, meet and accompany your soulmate for a performance. On the first week, you were given a challenge to complete pair assignment, where you had to arrange an original piece with someone in your class. You ended up being paired up with the student named taerae who was the only one left with no pair along with you, and who unfortunately had a sore throat within the duration of four days given to you to complete the project, had a sore throat, making it quite challenging to come up with the song. However, he was able to guide you along the way and assured you through the process that whatever the outcome would be he’d be able to pull it off so you decided to trust the process and give taerae a chance. As the day of the performance arrived, you were wary over the outcome, knowing that you were only going to be hearing taerae’s voice for the first time that day. The moment he held that mic and sang his heart out to the instrumental you created, you felt an unexpected, strange but beautiful sensation as his voice rang through your head as you watched him perform.

⭒ seok matthew — conversing through dreams

talking to your soulmate in your dream was quite a funny experience. It was like having talks with yourself in your head in the middle of the night. In your dreams, you and your soulmate would sit down and talk somewhere, envisioning places like the park, the cafe. It was your dreams and all in your head anyways so it was easy to manipulate. At some point, you believed the whole dream soulmate thing was just a random thing people made up to feel better as it felt like you had absolutely no clue to the whereabouts of your so-called other half. Perhaps you just made that man up in your head, right? however one day, you were proven wrong when you finally meet a young man who had the same exact face as the man in your dreams at the wedding of your close friend. your worlds stopped for a moment and he introduces himself as matthew seok, the man you’ve been talking to in your dreams throughout the years.

⭒ shen quanrui / ricky — timer soulmates

each and everyone are born with a timer marked on their wrist and it held a different meaning for every pair of soulmates. for your parents, their timer started the day they first met. as for your friend, gyuvin the timer stopped counting when he held hands with his soulmate. what a strange timer to begin with. everyone else has their timer stop around their teenage years. and it just so happens that only two people in your class who had their timer still counting was you and the annoying arrogant boy who you despised, ricky. you were surprised to find his timer was still counting as boy had a reputation of being the playboy and heartthrob which you thought would guarantee an easier way for him to find the love of his life when he’s flirted with a countless number of people. It was embarrassing to be the only ones who didn’t find their soulmates so in order to not feel put of place and have enough of all the teasing, you both agree to fake date and pretend to be soulmates despite absolutely not wanting to be associated with one another. as you and ricky fake your relationship and you get to know ricky as time passed, you find yourself slowly falling for him as you find a new side but you kick that away, thinking you weren’t the ones fated to be anyways. At the night of your prom, your timer stopped and you were confused wondering who was the mysterious soulmate that you met. you assumed it was one of the boys you’ve met that night but you realized you didn’t feel any sparks around any of them. you notice ricky was off when you told him so as you tried to approach him about his sudden change of mood, a fight breaks out and ricky later reveals that his timer stopped a few days ago and it was at the moment he had realized he catched feelings for you.

⭒ kim gyuvin — the first sentence they say gets engraved to your arm

it was your first day at your new school, you certainly tried your best to make sure you were presentable and tried to make sure not a single embarrassing thing would happen especially on your first day. however as you walked through the corridors, trying to find your way to your first class, you clash with a boy skating through the hallways. just then, you see the word ‘kachow’ engraved into your arm and the words ‘what the hell’ engraved onto the arm of the boy who bumped into you. after the little incident and meeting your soulmate in a humiliating way, you avoid him the whole day. the word was too visible on your arm and it opened many questions from the people around you as to what happened, leaving you embarrassed for the impression you unfortunately had for your first day. as the day passed, gyuvin approaches you and apologizes wishing to start again and introduce himself properly, hoping to get to know you, looking forward to see why fate brought you two together, seriously.

⭒ park gunwook — shared emotions

you wished that you could finally talk to your soulmate, curious over why he felt happy and sad at random moments. your mood would be affected by his mood and your would affect his and you felt sorry for what he would go through especially when you would be crying over a movie. you had absolutely no idea who your soulmate could be and it was nearly impossible to find him through feeling his emotions alone. your best friend, gunwook was the only one who knew about this. he was your childhood friend and knew you like the back of your hand. you secretly held a crush on a boy in your class, ricky, hoping he’d be your soulmate. taking some moments as sharing the same emotion like just laughing at the same time. when you mustered up the courage to confess, ricky then reveals he had already found his soulmate and..it wasn’t you. you were left heartbroken and when you go visit your best friend to tell him about what happened, he cries with you, not knowing why, saying he also felt a sharp pain in his heart as well. then the realization hits you, why were you so heartbroken over the other boy, hoping he’d be yours when it turns out it’s just been the boy you knew your whole life and how could you not notice how it was just simply the boy in front of you, crying like you are.

⭒ han yujin — shared physical sensations

it was difficult to get through different times in your life knowing you could always feel what your soulmate was feeling. you would feel the burning fever if he was sick, the pain on your hip for no reason or a sharp pain in your ankle which you assumed would be from tripping down the stairs. getting by was hard feeling every single physical pain and sensation your soulmate had to go through, and you felt bad for him too. you decided to audition for a spot in your highschool football team, hoping to rekindle your love for the sport on your senior year . as you played through a game, you and another boy went head to head, seeing a fierce fight. as you decided to switch with your teammate to be a goal keeper for the last round, you and the boy got more tense as he heads to score through you. as he kicks the ball at the goal from afar, hoping it lands, it ends up landing on your head, making you faint and yujin fainting as well, leaving everyone around confused. when you wake up in the clinic, next to the boy from earlier, he finally introduces himself as yujin and he apologizes for what happened earlier. you question why he fainted and he says he has no idea, and thinks maybe it was because of his soulmate. the realization hits the both of you, and soon you both felt your hearts skip a beat at the same time.

a/n hey hi hello! haven’t posted in awhile so here are some scenarios I wrote up a long time ago. I am contemplating if I should write these as oneshots (maybe just short ones around 1-2k words each) , becuase I rlove the prompts for hao, ricky and hanbin hehe if you’re interested in any of these, please tell me! lmk what u guys think :]]

taglist @leagreenly @kpoprhia @dimplewonie @shanb1n @wtfhyuck @mikaymee (kindly send an ask/dm if you’d like to be added or removed)

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matthyeu · 11 months

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why they can't be with you ― ot9.

pairing ⇢ ot9!zb1 x gn!reader

genre ⇢ angst, heavy angst

warnings ⇢ mentions of food/eating in jiwoong’s

word count ⇢ 3k (about 0.3-0.35k per member)

synopsis ⇢ as much as the boys love you, they know they cannot have you.

ع˖⁺𖤐ミ KIM JIWOONG - your circumstances were not favorable.

the two of you met at a wedding. you were both at the age where people around you began getting married, so it wasn’t surprising when jiwoong found himself with yet another invitation to a wedding. of course, he had to attend. who didn’t attend their friends’ weddings?

it was one of the best choices of his life, for it was where he met you, a friend from the other side of the wedding.

he had seen you first at the ceremony, sitting beside you as the seating arrangement had told him. it seemed they wanted to integrate both sides instead of separating them. that way, it would have been less awkward getting to know people to make the whole experience more comfortable.

and they were right. sitting next to you had let him know more about you, even if you didn’t speak. the way you cried for your friend and stood to clap showed how kind you were. you were someone he wanted to get close to in a sea of people he did not know.

you two hit it off like old friends at the reception, sharing life stories about what you knew about the newlyweds. you talked for what seemed like eons, only pausing momentarily to eat your food. jiwoong knew you two had hit it off perfectly, and he wanted to get to know you more outside of the wedding setting.

alas, he found out that was not possible during your dance. “oh how i wish i could stay here for longer,” you briskly murmured.

“hm?” he asked as he held onto your waist.

“i’m not from here,” you admitted, “i flew out here for my friend’s wedding and i ought to be going back home soon. thank you for making this day wonderful though, jiwoong. i was very afraid of being in a foreign country where i didn’t know anyone. you made my stay very enjoyable.”

there was nothing he could do but accept it was not meant to be. “it was my pleasure.”

ع˖⁺𖤐ミ ZHANG HAO - you both could not commit to it.

although you loved each other dearly, there were some things that were never meant to work out.

the first time such feelings were unveiled was upon your university graduation. so many people throughout the years had confessed their feelings to him and been rejected, but you felt if you never tried, you would have regretted it for the rest of your life.

the circumstance was a surprise to both of you. hao never thought he would actually utter anything other than a rejection. he was far too focused on other things to be caught up in a relationship, but you were the only one he could actually see himself with.

“let’s wait it out until we are both more free for each other.”

he didn’t anticipate the waiting to be long, a couple weeks or maybe even a few months at most. however, it had been about seven months since. hao had been busy, but so have you. you hadn’t texted him wondering about what he mentioned during your graduation.

after thinking about it more, he began to see less for the two of you in the future. he was far too busy to make time for you, so why would he give the worst of himself to you? he didn’t want to show you that part of him, the part that didn’t have time for you. when accepting your confession, he only wanted to give you his best.

so that’s why he called you to explain himself, exactly why he knew it wouldn’t work out between you two.

“i’m glad you told me. admittedly, i don’t haven’t the time to think about this much either, but you made great points. if we want to love each other, we should wait until we have the time to do so. i can’t commit either, so i think this is for the better.”

“i’m glad you understand.”

“thanks for being a wonderful-almost boyfriend.”

“same goes to you.”

ع˖⁺𖤐ミ SUNG HANBIN - he wanted to see his friend happy.

when you approached hanbin, he really thought it would be his chance. he had been in love with you for times he could not even count, and this could have been the time where he found out you felt the same way. well, he was wrong.

“hanbin, could you…help me get with your friend?”

oh it was what he feared would happen. his friend had spoken about you countless times before, proclaiming their interest in you, not knowing that he felt the same way about you. though, for the sake of the friend, hanbin continued to listen. sometimes he did feel bad that he wished everything would be more in his favor, but now that he knew they were not, he could not refuse your request.

“sure, i can do that.”

after all, why ruin his friend’s happiness just because the one he liked didn’t like him back?

it was a series of long weeks for hanbin, all of them filled with assisting you and his friend in realizing the two of you reciprocated the same feelings. many planned “random” run-ins. many nights of coaching you about the things his friend liked. many conversations to his friend where he dropped your name.

and when he received that text from you, a picture of you and his friend enjoying a picnic at the local park, he knew he had accomplished what he started. however, he didn’t have the energy to even respond to your text to congratulate the two of you on your relationship.

although he was happy for both you and his friend, there would always be a knot in his heart, a knot screaming “what if.”

what if you had been interested in him instead of his friend.

what if he had said no.

what if he wasn’t as nice as he was to feel obligated to help his friend out.

ع˖⁺𖤐ミ SEOK MATTHEW - he had always been in the friendzone.

matthew’s love for you started long before he knew what love was, when you first became friends in preschool, vowing to marry each other when you two grew up because of how compatible the two of you were.

of course, it was just a proclamation from preschoolers who talked way too much for how small mouths were. it was something most people wouldn’t remember. after all, the first few years were often blocked out by the brain, many barely even able to remember their first friend, their first partner in crime.

not matthew though. because you had been around him all his life, he could never forget the small things you did. he noticed far too much for a young boy who had a short attention span. he didn’t understand why he remembered all of it too well until he understood he had always been in love with you.

you, however, did not seem to remember anything from that time, let alone the silly pact you made. matthew never brought it up though since if it wasn’t that important for you to remember, it was probably not something serious. he was probably not as serious to you as you were to him. he knew you only ever saw him as a friend.

even then, somehow he thought your perspective would be different.

“hey look, it’s us when we were in preschool,” you commented upon entering his home, picking up the framed picture from the living room table that was littered with several pictures.

“yeah, we just clicked then and always have been together since.”

“remember when we made that pact to marry each other when we grew older?” you pondered.

his heart dropped. so you did remember? it was important to you?

he only nodded his head in response.

“we were such dumb kids then. you can’t just marry someone because they’re like you. it would be so weird dating someone you’ve known all your life, not to mention marrying them.”

oh. so that’s why you remembered such a silly pact. because that’s what it was to you: silly and nothing more.

he dryly laughed. “yeah, what dumb kids.”

ع˖⁺𖤐ミ KIM TAERAE - he could only love from afar.

you knew nothing about kim taerae, but he knew a lot about you. he knew your favorite color, the color almost all your belongings were. he knew the foods you liked and didn’t like from the way you would pick some off your plate and devour others. he knew your small habits.

this wasn’t to say taerae was weirdly obsessed with you. this was to say that he found a lot of interest in you, someone who always found your way wound up in his life. it seemed everywhere he went, you were there.

somewhere along the way, he developed some sort of feelings for you. it felt silly for him to say he was in love with you, a random person that had wandered into the background of his life. it was true though. there was something about you that lured him in. you just seemed like someone who would be fun to be around. he used to think there could be some way for him to muster up the courage to talk to you.

however, he quickly found out it was impossible, at least in the way he originally intended.

you already had someone else to be that person he hoped he could be in his head. he had seen the other man come up to you on several occasions during the times you found yourself in his line of view.

and eventually that man was entering that line of view with you, hand in hand. your eyes seemed to shine brighter when you looked at him.

sometimes taerae thought about if he hadn’t just been a faraway admirer. maybe the one you were currently seeing used to be like him, someone who found you admirable because you waltzed into their life like nothing. maybe that could have been him. however, he was a coward, so it could never be him.

ع˖⁺𖤐ミ SHEN QUANRUI (RICKY) - you saw him as your little brother.

ricky had known your brother since the 3rd grade, so he became a frequent visitor at your home. he especially loved it when you were at home, his friend’s older sibling of four years.

he loved it when you would pause your homework to head downstairs whenever you heard the two of them come through the door. he loved it when you would walk with them to places when your parents were wary of two young boys walking alone. he loved it when you drove them around places immediately after getting your license, laughing and sharing all the wonderful memories

and somewhere along the way, he began to love you.

which was why it was hard for him when you started to attend university far away from your hometown. it meant that he would only see you a couple times a year, when you would come home for holidays or for summer.

that was why this time, now that he was an adult, he really wanted to show you how much he had really grown over the years, how he wasn’t the elementary school student you once knew.

it was the holiday season, so he found himself at your house more, both hanging out with your brother and waiting for you to come home.

at the click of the door opening, his ears knew it was you. even as your brother called out to him, nothing could stop him from rushing down the stairs to see you, a smile forming across your face once you noticed him.

“ricky!” you exclaimed, holding your arms out for a hug.

as he pulled away, there were so many things he wanted to say, but something suddenly stopped all of it from coming out.

“honey, where do you want me to put these things?” an unknown voice asked as they entered the home, “oh who’s this?”

ricky looked at the newcomer and then back at you. was this…?

“oh he’s one of my brother’s friends. we’ve known each other for so long that he’s basically also my brother,” you explained before turning back to him, “ricky, this is my fiance.”

ع˖⁺𖤐ミ KIM GYUVIN - he realized too late.

“i have something embarrassing to admit.”

he turned his head to you. it was late at night at your house. you both had built a blanket fort while you watched movies. though, the movies eventually got boring, so you two opted for talking with the tv as background noise.

he raised an eyebrow. he wondered what this “embarrassing” thing was. typically he associated you and “embarrassing” as something cute as he always found your declared embarrassing moments to be some of your cutest. it was what he had come to find out as he began to take more interest in you as more than a friend.

“i used to have a crush on you.”

his ears immediately perked up upon hearing both the words “crushed” and “used to” in the same sentence. what?

“huh?”

you gasped. “oh, you really didn’t know. i tried to make it obvious, but it was about a year ago. i really tried to give you hints. i thought you were ignoring me because you weren’t interested, but i guess you never noticed them anyway.”

he thought back to the year prior, trying to remember any moments that stuck out to him. that’s when he realized it all. the way the vending machine would always give you an extra drink. the way you would always sit closer to him if anyone sat on your other side, even if there was perfectly enough space. the way you laughed at his jokes that weren’t really jokes. how could he not see it all then?

“you really used to?” he asked for confirmation.

you nodded but made sure to wave your hand to dismiss the idea. “that was a year ago. i got over you when i realized you probably didn’t like me back. i hope that doesn’t make things weird between us.”

oh but it did. it made everything weird for him. if he had seen everything you were doing, he could have had you with him. now, however, it was too late for that. you had already moved on while he was stuck on you.

ع˖⁺𖤐ミ PARK GUNWOOK - he thought you deserved better.

gunwook knows when you love someone so much, you know what they deserve, and sometimes, you have to own up that you are not what they deserve.

not in a way that meant he was too good for you. no, in a way that you were too good for him. you were able to give him everything he ever desired when loving someone, but he always felt he could never return the favor. everything you did seemed to be too good, too good for him to even try to do the same for you.

whenever he did, he continuously thought about how you deserved someone who could actually do these things casually, someone who didn’t have to worry about returning your kindness because they already did that on their own. it was never a chore for him to do nice things for you, but it was the fact that they didn’t come naturally for him that bothered him.

you effortlessly knew everything to make him better. you never had to try with your actions because you were the kind of person who understood him enough to know the ways to comfort him.

yet he knew nothing about you, at least nothing he could do to love you in the same way you loved him. he thought too much about it. the intrusive thoughts soon overtook him until the pain was unbearable.

you deserved the best, and the best was not with him.

it was why he called you out of your home one evening to explain everything to you. he wanted to you find your own person who could treat you in the way a relationship should be, two-sided.

“if you care so much about me in this way, doesn’t that mean you do care enough?” you asked once he finished his spiel about not being good enough for you.

no. that did not mean it. if he continued on like this, he would only hurt you more. this was the only thing he could do to actually care for you. he needed to let you go.

ع˖⁺𖤐ミ HAN YUJIN - you both were too young to understand love

“i like you.”

yujin thought it would be easy like that, telling the person he liked how he felt, the feelings that had been bothering him for the past months. he wasn’t even sure really what they meant, but it had been his friend to clarify for him.

“you’re in love.” but what really was love? he didn’t know.

“no you don’t.”

and it seemed you didn’t know either.

embarrassed, yujin didn’t know what to say after your flat-out rejection. it was the end of the school day when he told you, both of you being put on cleaning duty that day. he hadn’t expected his confession to be while sweeping the classroom, but his friend had urged him to tell you as soon as possible. now he was regretting ever following such advice.

“what?” it was all he could say to express his confusion.

you paused your sweeping, leaning forward onto the broom for support as you explained yourself. “yujin, how can you be so sure that’s how you feel. love is so ambiguous. we’re only 16. there’s a whole life ahead of us for those types of romantic endeavors. your first experience shouldn’t be wasted on me, someone who doesn’t even know what love is. i don’t even know if i feel that way about you. i just don’t know anything. i just think you’re mistaking it for something else. we’re in this age where we want to explore, but i don’t think this is what’s best, whether it’s what you want or not.”

your words were moving, and it really had him thinking. was this love? did he feel love for you? when he could barely answer the questions in his own head, he knew you were right. you both were both too young for these matters, so why bother with it. he should just focus on the high school experience with you as his friend.

only future him could see what he had back then truly was love, but he was too young to understand what that feeling in his chest was.

#🐨 ― matthyeu #zerobaseone #zb1 #zb1 x reader #zerobaseone x reader #zb1 drabbles #zerobaseone imagines #zerobaseone scenarios #kim jiwoong #zhang hao #sung hanbin #seok matthew #kim taerae #shen ricky #kim gyuvin #park gunwook #han yujin #angst

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cinnajun · 9 months

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ᵕ̈ ೫˚∗: arguments with zb1

a/n: omg i posted before midnight this is a big win

notes: yujin is not included due to his age!

wc | 1.9k

jiwoong

the best way i can describe an argument with jiwoong is “mature”

you guys don’t argue often at all so when you do there’s usually a good reason for you to be arguing

perhaps it has to do with your living situation, or you’re not taking an issue jiwoong talked to you about as seriously as he wants you to be, or you feel like he’s spending too much time away from you

whatever it is, your argument will last max 3 days

day one is reserved for sulking, and you might end up staying the night at a friend’s house while jiwoong sits with hao and hanbin and tries to work through what he’s feeling

day two is for thinking—both of you think through things rationally and take mental notes on what you did wrong and what you think was on the other person

then, day three is for talking it out. you’ll decide on a place to meet that isn’t home, and you’ll work through everything while not getting upset or saying something unwarranted.

then, afterward, you’ll go home together and do something light and fun to cheer the both of you up

things go back to normal within four days, and you don’t think about the issue ever again

zhang hao

fights with hao are not fun

hot take but i think he’s the type of person to ghost you when you make him too upset

so whatever you’re fighting over, be it the dishes or something he said, once he gets angry enough he will just walk out and not talk to you for a while

depending on how upset he is it can be anywhere from less than a day to three or four days with no contact between the two of you

so yeah this is kind of a red flag but you don’t fight literally ever so it doesn’t happen enough for it to be a big issue

and his reasoning for ghosting you is that he doesn’t want to say something he doesn’t mean and/or can’t come back from

hao knows he’s the type of person to just say something wildly untrue when he’s mad and his worst fear is doing that to you

he returns from his mental retreat so apologetically, even if you end up thinking you were more in the wrong

will bring you an apology gift (usually it’s flowers or some sort of sweet treat) and always has some big long speech prepared

you also apologize if you feel it’s warranted (which is almost every time)

things will go back to normal in max two weeks

hanbin

fights with hanbin are big and emotional

like super emotional

this man is so in love with you that you being the source of any negative emotions is really hard for him to stomach

and it’s likely that, for the course of your entire relationship, you’ll fight maybe once or twice at most

so the fight you have is big and possibly the result of a lot of pent-up emotions that built up over a long period of time

you’re the one to walk out, and he’s full-blown sobbing by the time that happens

he feels miserable for the next couple of days

you two don’t ghost each other but it’s minimal contact and you can barely look at one another without crying lol

hanbin will probably end up staying elsewhere and you’ll stay home, drowning your sorrows in ice cream while you cry on the phone with your friends

when you’re both sound enough to work it out, you two just kinda cry apologies at each other

when the time comes for you to actually talk it out, it’s pretty easy and you’re left wondering what exactly the fight was over in the first place

hanbin will kiss every single part of you after the wound is patched up

and then he’s attached to you for the next couple of days lol

things go back to normal in maybe three-ish weeks? like that’s when he stops being super clingy and you go back to regularly scheduled programming

matthew

fights with matthew are small

he seems like the type of guy to be able to talk out big issues without it blowing out of proportion

so any larger problems the two of you are like … worked out via controlled and calm conversation

then you will have a blowout argument over you losing one of the sweatshirts you took without asking (your mom took it to the dry cleaners and didn’t tell you)

your arguments are petty and it’s a lot of really fake words thrown back and forth

so it’s not like one of you is being unnecessarily mean to the other, it’s from both of you

you don’t talk for a couple of days (also mutual) and then your mom’s dry cleaning shows up with the sweatshirt in tow

you send him a picture of it with some tear stains on it and he’s like … are you crying

then he’ll show up at your house not even thinking about the sweatshirt, just the fact that he doesn’t like it when you cry

will do anything to get you to stop crying

apologizes 18 times and puts on the tear-stained sweatshirt while going “wow, it’s so clean!” in hopes that you’ll at least laugh

after he fixes the crying situation you apologize too and suddenly it’s like it never happened

things go back to normal in a week

taerae

fights with taerae are quiet

tbh i just think his anger/sadness/any negative emotion is quiet

there’s no yelling, no crying, no insults, no nothing

the argument itself will be a bunch of isolated statements paired with scoffs, rubbing your tumbles, and feeling exasperated

neither of you leaves to cool off, and you just sit in different rooms after the fact

the next day might be a bit awkward and taerae will be somewhat cold towards you (and it would be a lie to say you don’t reciprocate the same exact energy)

but at some point during the day, while you’re sulking and laying down in bed, taerae will come in and lay down next to you

starts off by saying sorry and then you talk things out while just … laying there

he’s neither the type of person to take all the blame nor the type of person to shove all the blame onto you

like you could be entirely at fault but he will distribute responsibility equally between the two of you

he’s just the type of guy who really does not like arguing so he will do whatever he can to fix it quickly

after you’re done talking you’ll go on a long drive together

it’s aimless and quiet, but he holds your hand the whole time :)

things go back to normal within 3 days

ricky

i think fights with ricky are turbulent

you never really know the direction they’re going to go in you know

you don’t necessarily fight often but it’s not like you never fight, either

i think it’s a healthy amount of bickering

somewhat like an old couple LOL

if you have a big argument, though, it’s pretty much the least fun you’ve ever had in your whole entire life

ricky isn’t the type of guy to yell and cry but he’s the type of guy to give you a look that makes you feel like crying

i also think he’d struggle to take everything you’re saying seriously so he might laugh in exasperation from time to time

which obviously makes you angrier

i think if you end up crying, though, ricky will have like a crazy moment of clarity where he’s like … oh shit

cue some crazy introspection

you’ll run off somewhere else in the house and he’ll just sit on the couch and think

he’s practically taking notes on the entire thing, and studying what he thinks was the most out-of-pocket for him to say and what he needs to apologize for

after he’s gathered his thoughts he’ll seek you out and ask if you’re okay sitting down and talking with him

and he will wait however long he needs to if you say no

he essentially says everything he feels necessary, ends it off with an apology and kisses your hand

then it’s over

things go back to normal within the day

gyuvin

you bicker with gyuvin a lot and 99.9% of the time it’s silly and super unserious

that’s the type of couple you are yk

so your fights are born out of your little, unserious arguments actually going a little bit too far, and they last soooo long

and most of it happens in front of your friends which isn’t nice either

it starts out very small, with little jabs at one another

keeps amping up for the rest of the night, and once you both leave whatever hangout you were at, all your friends are like … they’re gonna fight guys get ready

they’re right

you argue the entire way home and when he drops you off he doesn’t even give you a good night kiss, which makes things even worse

you continue arguing over text and into the next few days all while acting like everything is fine

meanwhile, you’re texting your friends (separately) like can you believe that he just said that? can you believe he’s pulling this shit?

finally they lock you two in a room and tell you to figure it out because your arguing is annoying

you will painstakingly be like “okay maybe i went too far” and he essentially does the exact same thing

and then he apologizes for not giving you a good night kiss that one time and everything is fine

things go back to normal in like 2 weeks but just keep in mind for the entire 2 weeks you were just being passive-aggressive with each other

gunwook

arguments with gunwook are born out of stress and aren’t really arguments

he’s a busy guy who’s doing a lot of things and sometimes he bites off more than he can chew

which isn’t nice because he refuses to be like “hey i might have to lay off boyfriend duties for a couple of days so i can work through all these commitments i made without thinking” because he thinks he’ll be a bad boyfriend because of it

essentially you’re not even aware he’s getting upset with you until the stress bubbles over one day

he accidentally tells you to leave him alone and let him work which makes you sad :(

but you do because you pretty much understand that he’s overwhelmed

but you’re still upset so you don’t just forgive him and move on because … idk … if he talked to you it wouldn’t have happened in the first place

is this petty … kind of yes but if you want things to change you need to put your foot down!!!

so you spend the next two or three days missing your boyfriend a miserable amount before he texts you saying “can we talk”

of course you can

you practically sprint to his house

and you talk!! and he apologizes for being mean to you while promising it won’t happen again

and gunwook learns from his actions so it really doesn’t happen again

things go back to normal in 3-4 days

thank you for reading !

tags: @happysmileybee @wtfhyuck

#cinna.txt #zb1 x reader #zerobaseone x reader #zb1 scenarios #zb1 reactions #zb1 headcanons #zb1 fluff #zb1 angst #jiwoong x reader #zhang hao x reader #hanbin x reader #sung hanbin x reader #seok matthew x reader #taerae x reader #ricky x reader #gyuvin x reader #gunwook x reader #req

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yourstruleejn · 11 months

Text

six days of us

six days of a love story. from its beginning to its end.

⋆

pairing // kim taerae x fem! reader; other characters mentioned are hanbin and kim chaehyun on the readers side, and junhyeon and matthew on taerae’s!

genre // fluff & angst; university student! au; he fell first, she fell harder-ish; it’s based on six selected day6 songs!

word count // 14.5 k

tw // not too sure, insecurities in one’s own feelings but if there are any more lmk!

playlist // here (i recommend listening in order but i can't really tell you what to do so! have fun!)

author’s note // i‘m back!! so sorry it took so long but i genuinely loved writing this! it was so much fun, i tried to keep it kind of realistic but it’s been a while since my last relationship so i’m not too sure i succeeded lol! anyways i hope you enjoy reading and that it was worth the wait!

!!! reminder !!! everything i write about on here is entirely fictional and in no way am i saying this is how the people mentioned would act in real life! it’s all just pretend! ♡

How come when the skies turn grey, heavy clouds like curtains keeping out the light, we forget the vivid of the blue, the warmth of sun? How come when the winter months set in and the trees stand bare, we forget the rustle of the leaves as the summer wind hums the tune to July? How come when a person enters our lives, we cannot imagine our life not knowing them? But how come, once the same person leaves, everything reminds us of them, like a ghost coming back to haunt us, to remind us of what could have been?

1. hi hello

The smell of coffee, polite smiles, and the morning rush. It was usually around May when you noticed that the hot chocolates turned into iced americanos. An established tradition for your co-workers and you, was to buy the drink for the first customer who ordered it iced. A welcome to summer, a deed to make someone smile. Of course, the lot of you usually ended up giving out more than one free drink, not only because of miscommunications, but mostly because it seemed like the right thing to do. Thus, you and the other employees were more grateful than ever that your boss was as lenient as he was, usually laughing it off, and popping an ice cube in his steaming hot cappuccino as a gesture. Nevertheless, he was sure to give a stern warning (or a friendly reminder, as he liked to call them) to not give out any more free iced drinks once the first week of May had passed. You usually just smiled at your phone as the yearly text made all of your phones whistle in unison.

The first Friday of May was here and with it you had hoped a comfortably busy day at work. The weather was embracing the light mood of the university students running around near campus, and you were convinced more than one of them would crave an iced beverage of some sort.

You had been cleaning the espresso machine, making sure everything was bound to run smoothly for your next order, when the serenity of the afternoon made itself known to you: No customers were queuing for their orders, the inside-tables of the small coffee shop were empty, the ones outside just as unoccupied, which was due to the unexpectedly harsh sun, who warmed the cement for the first time, radiating it back towards the already heating air. It was to be expected, the parasols were still packed away in the storage room in the back of the shop. Sighing you rested your head on top your hands looking through the opened front as the quiet outside world was conquered by the sunrays of early May. You could feel the cool of the counter spread onto the palms of your hands, as the dooming boredom of your uneventful work afternoon towered over you.

Very quiet, you thought.

Too quiet, you complained silently.

And it was unusual that nobody was here. In the two years you had worked at the café, the only times nobody had come in was in the midst of summer, and even then, there had usually been at least one person at a time. So, this was very odd. If Chaehyun had been here, she would have told you to not question God’s gift of a minute of peace and quiet. However, this wasn’t a minute, it had been minutes. Plural. On top of everything you enjoyed working as a barista, even if it was stressful at times, at least there was always something to do. Well, apparently almost always.

At the beginning of your shift, your boss had asked you if you would be fine alone for a few hours today, you had agreed reluctantly, as it could have very well gone wrong, but now you were glad that you had not insisted on anyone else coming in. You knew Hanbin was busy with dance practice, and that Chaehyun had been excited all week for a date she was going on today. Having one of them come in unexpectedly and then do nothing all afternoon, would have been not only a waste of their time but also of your boss’ money. So, you supposed, it was fitting for this particular Friday to be slowest day ever. Even though it meant boredom for you. Oh my god, this was going to be a long afternoon.

Time was passing three times as slow as it usually did. In the past 15 minutes you had been sure three times, that it was time you started the closing duties, only to realize that merely a handful of minutes had passed. You had grown so impatient with today, that you considered turning the time forwards, so that you could close early ‘on accident’ and go home. Of course, as an amazing employee you would never do anything like this ever, but it sure crossed your head once or twice (or three times actually). Sighing at the clock once more, you retreated back to your position with your head resting on the counter as you wait for the seconds to creep by.

Immersed by the ticking of the time and so busy tapping the rhythm of the melody stuck in your head that you didn’t notice someone approaching the shop, until the bell announced his entry.

“Hi,” a rather low voice greeted as you scrambled into your usual upright position behind the counter.

“Hello!” You smiled at the young man in front of you. He must have been around your age, maybe a little bit older, but that was judging by his voice. His appearance was sweet and youthful, his smile bright, his hair a little messy, but just the right amount. Charming. He was the kind of boy that would star in a Taylor Swift music video. Classic friends-to-lovers. You had to suppress a small giggle at the thought of it.

In the moments between his greeting, your greeting and the Taylor Swift fantasies, your brain still found the time to wonder what his order would be (it worked fast like that). Maybe something classic like an iced americano? Or something unexpected like a strawberry latte? You had been so bored, alone the thought of making a drink excited you beyond reason.

“What can I get you today?” you asked with a practiced, but this time more genuine than not, smile on your face.

“Oh,” He looked a little lost, you noticed only now, fidgeting with his hands in front of him, “I was just going to ask whether or not it was okay for me to set up for busking in front of the café?” He turned around, pointing to the small open area in front of the unoccupied seats.

It was a nice spot for busking, the shade from the trees making it cool enough to perform in the summertime as well. Your eyes darted to the guitar bag slung across his shoulder, lips caught between his teeth as he expectantly waited for your answer.

“Oh. So, you don’t want a drink, huh?” You really tried to suppress the disappointment, but judging from the look on his face, you weren’t doing a good job. Well at least you would soon have some sort of entertainment. And who knows, maybe he was so good, he’d bring in some customers.

“Do I have to buy a drink to be allowed to busk?” His eyebrows shot up, his expression changing from sweet to curious.

“What? Oh, no that’s okay. You can go ahead.” You smiled at him, nodding to the small square in front of the café.

He smiled slightly, determined to satisfy your need to prepare a drink for him, “Actually, I could use a little bit of a refreshment.”

Matching his expression, your face now showcased a bright smile as you handed him the menu. You weren’t sure if he could tell how grateful you were to finally be able to do something other than stand around and check the time, but you tried to show it to him by whipping back and forth slightly, stealing glances at him as he decided. You waited patiently as he studied the menu, tongue poking out between his teeth. He was cute, in a clueless kind of way.

Some time passed, but nothing compared to the amount you had been standing around until your saviour in the form of a busker came into the café.

Finally, he lifted his head, adjusted his guitar, slung over his shoulder, and cleared his throat, “Actually, could I maybe get a bottle of water?”

You were about to cry. A whole menu full of drinks ranging from coffees to mochas to fruit teas and smoothies, and this man wants a bottle of water? You were sure he could see the disappointment written on your face once again as he looked up from the small piece of paper in his hands.

A somewhat apologetic smile rested on his lips; he knew what he did.

“Water?” you asked again, just to be sure. Just so that you didn’t misunderstand and accidentally got the man a water instead of the strawberry matcha latte he just ordered.

“Uhm… I-Is that not possible?” A nervous smile was present on his features. On any other day, you probably would have noticed that the boy in front of you was quite literally a nervous wreck; Not only would he be busking in a new area for the first time, but his friends had also convinced him to go ask the cute barista if it was okay to play in front of her café, although he knew it was more than okay and even encouraged by the owner. Still, he did it out of curtsey, and not to finally have a reason to talk to the girl. He had had several pep-talks from his friends, as well as his mother (although she didn’t know what the peptalking was for), just to stumble over his word when ordering a water? Taerae, you really can do better.

“Water is free.” That interrupted his mental face palm as you smiled politely and pointed to the jug to your right. It was filled with fresh orange and lemon slices as well as mint to give the water a little something. Usually, the taste of the fruit would not be that strong as it would get refilled and emptied quite quickly, but today it had been standing around for a while, so you were sure it would actually taste a bit like the citrus and herbs floating inside of it. You supposed the boy would be in for a treat.

“That’s nice.” That’s nice?

“Do you need a cup for it to take it outside?” As you were speaking, you already turned around, grabbing one of the paper cups and a pen ready to write his name on it. You realized it was unnecessary to do this for a mere cup of water, but in all honesty, you were just as intrigued by the man in front of you, as you had been disappointed by the lack of creative drink-ordering; You wanted to know the name of the man that gave you hope just to take it all away from you again.

“What’s your name?” you smiled innocently, already setting the pen down to write as you looked at the man through your lashes.

“Oh. Uhm Taerae.”

You chuckled, “Okay, Oh-Uhm-Taerae,” you handed him the cup, “Enjoy your water!” you winked at him, smiling as he filled it up.

Taerae was a blushing mess. How was he supposed to perform in front of the café now? And also, why would he have ordered water? Of all things, he could have ordered, he asked for water. Wow. For a moment Taerae wondered if it was more embarrassing to play in front of here now, or to just leave and never set foot into this part of the city ever again.

Taking a sip of his water he set down his guitar and finally let out a dramatic sigh, he didn’t realize needed to leave his body right this second. There was not much to his busking set up, just him and his guitar, a stool, and a small speaker. Taerae used to have a booklet with all of his favourite songs, but he knew them by heart now, so no need to hide behind the notes. Matthew always said he would hide his face behind the pages, and when he first performed without it there had been twice as many people, not because he was better, but because people could see his smile. Taerae wasn’t so sure that that was the reason.

Today he seemingly would be playing for an audience of two. Himself and you. You who had been watching his ever move during his set up, as you were wiping down the already clean tables. If he hadn’t been so nervous, he would probably say this was his favourite way to meet new people. In fact, he had met almost all of his best friends through music; be it busking or the choir at his high school, or even just bonding over their favourite artists, music had always brought people into Taerae’s life. So Junhyeon’s theory to just go and ask if it was okay to play in front of the café as to finally talk to you, should have been fool proof. Count on Taerae to mess it up though. He debated whether or not he should text the group chat and ask for some moral support and customers for the café, but ultimately decided against getting teased to death by his favourite tormentors.

The sun was getting lower and lower as Taerae procrastinated starting to play. He could feel as the anticipation radiated off of you. You had settled back behind the counter, still watching him as he pretend to tune his guitar for the nth time. Taerae couldn’t hold eye contact with you for longer than an accidental moment, if had been able to, he would have seen the amused smile on your face as you sipped on a glass of water yourself. Taerae had his ‘Oh-Uhm-Taerae’ titled cup sat on the ground beside him. He had blushed even more when he had realized how you had teased him and was sure you’d get along great with Junhyeon once he introduced the two of you. If he got to ever introduce to his friends.

He was sure by now you could tell he was stalling, so with one last look around the area, and one last sip of his wonderful water, he strummed his guitar.

Music attracted people like honey did flies. Over the years you learned that whenever busking was held in front of the café, the customers would float through the doors, order drinks, and relax to the live music. But as the first notes of Taerae’s singing reached your ears, you wished that nobody would come to distract you from his voice. For the first time today, you wanted nothing but be left alone with the boy and listen, maybe sway through the small room a bit. But sure enough, the first song wasn’t even over, the sun hadn’t even retreated further towards the horizon, its light still bright and strong, not yet soft, and golden, when the first couple came strolling by, and after a short moment of weighing their options, the woman sat down outside, her attention undivided on Taerae, as the man came inside to order their drinks. You sighed softly as your focus on Taerae shifted to the coffee machine, it sound muffling his voice as you grinded coffee ground after coffee ground. Out of the corner of your eye, you could already see the next person enter the shop, still half looking at the performer outside. Now, it would be busier than usual, you were sure. You smiled softly, be careful what you wish for.

Taerae was happy he could bring you some business. He was also happy that your very distracting eyes didn’t linger on him quite as intensely as they did during his first song. It had been a successful busking for him even after his first struggles. The sky had eventually turned darker and darker, and the air had gone crisp with the last goodbyes of what once was winter. With more and more people leaving it was time for him as well to wrap up. At one point there had been so many people, it was almost impossible for Taerae to see the front of the store, making it difficult for him to confirm that you were still watching, paying attention to him. The awkward interaction out of his mind, he was happy to catch you look at him during any free moment of your now busy work afternoon/evening.

When Taerae started to pack up, the café was already closed. He hadn’t seen you leave, but there had been so many people around, he easily could have missed you. Besides, there was always a chance of a back entrance or something of the like. On the one hand, it was nice that he now could relax and not worry about embarrassing himself again in front of you, on the other he really wanted to know what you thought of his songs; Whether or not you liked them, if it was okay if he came back and played again, if he could take you out to dinner. The usual after busking questions really.

Zipping up his guitar, Taerae got ready to leave. He could still feel the guitar strings giving way and embedding themselves under his fingertips, that’s how he knew it had been a good session. It was quiet now that he had stopped playing, no spectators left but the first cicadas welcoming the night-time. Taerae would have just left if it hadn’t been for jingle of keys followed by a soft “Wait a moment” that caught his attention.

He turned and sure enough there you were, bag slung over your shoulder, hair tied out of your face, revealing a smile and gleaming eyes.

“Hi,” you smiled.

“Hello,” Taerae reciprocated.

You handed him the takeaway cup you were carrying, adorned with a neat ‘Oh-Uhm-Taerae’. You smiled as he raised his eyebrows at the nickname, his own heart swelling at your chuckle.

“It’s tea,” You explained, “I figured you could use some after singing all afternoon.”

He nodded, bringing the beverage to his lips. The stark contrast of the cool May night and the heat of the tea made him realize how his body had cooled down, “Thank you. It’s nice.” There he goes again with his nice. He rolled his eyes at himself.

“Well, that’s good! I can make more than water, you know?” you smiled, “Anyways, thank you for today, you brought in more customers than any other busker has thus far. In the name of my boss and his business, I wanted to invite you back to play again. Preferably Tuesdays, Thursdays, or Fridays in the afternoons. That’s when I work.”

Taerae should have acted cool and said something like, I’ll see if I can make it, or I will if my schedule allows it, but instead he just laughed and nodded ‘okay’. He didn’t trust his own voice right now; it would probably give away his excitement.

“Good,” You smiled satisfied, “Then I’ll see Tuesday, Oh-Uhm-Taerae.” You turned to walk away.

“Just Taerae is fine!” He was not going to have his crush call him Oh-Uhm-Taerae.

If he had been any smarter, he would have just said ‘Taerae’. In fact, if he had been smarter, he would have not stuttered saying his name in the first place. But Taerae was Taerae, and you were you.

So, turning around, but not stopping your walking backwards, you smile mischievously, “Alright then, Just-Taerae, see you Tuesday!” you could see his mouth opening and closing in retaliation, but before he could say anything more, with a slightly louder voice you said, “I’m just Y/N, by the way.”

Taerae watched as you waked away, smiling to himself, sipping on his tea, skipping on the way home. He had now been officially introduced to ‘Just-Y/N.’

2. i like you

Another Thursday, another busking event for Taerae in front of the café. It had become somewhat of a tradition for him to play at least once a week when you were working. After each time you’d come out with a cup of tea, which had evolved to iced as May progressed into June and with that spring into summer, and the chill of the nights was more welcomed as a contrast to the hot daytime. Sometimes the two of you didn’t talk much, or hang out, be it due to university or other plans, but most of the time you’d spend the better part of the night walking around, trying new food spots, or just talking and hanging out in front of the café, munching on the left-over pastries of the day. Either way, Taerae was glad to see you at least once a week, and thus the two of you went from strangers to close friends.

This Thursday in particular you had something planned, as you had let him know beforehand. Taerae was excited, a little bit nervous even, it was unusual for you to plan something, normally having Taerae decide what the two of you would eat and do. He was very good at reading people, and he’d usually figure something out that fit with both of your moods.

But not today apparently, today you had decided, and Taerae had no idea what it was so, yes, he was a tad bit nervous.

The daylight stretched until well after 8 p.m. and with the café closing at 7.30 p.m., Taerae made sure to get his guitar and busking stuff home before you were done finishing up at the café. He had been so careful with planning his schedule, that he now arrived back at the square a little early, you were still working, getting drinks to customers, preparing the last slices of cake in the soft pink take-away boxes, smiling at children, laughing at unfunny jokes customers made. He was in awe of you. How could a person be so dedicated to their part-time job? And it was not only at work that you were diligent, more than once had Taerae spent and afternoon studying with you in either your or his universities’ library. The focus you were able to uphold was something Taerae was almost jealous of. He was jealous of you because you still could concentrate, even if he was around, something he struggled with whenever you were in sight. He had also been jealous of whatever you were focusing on. What in the world could be so important for you to focus on, when he was right there next to you. When he was your… friend?

It frustrated Taerae to no end that he did not have the same effect on you, as you had on him.

Sure enough, after another few minutes of waiting the familiar jingle of keys rushed Taerae out of his head, back down to earth. Back down to real you, not head you. He liked both versions equally, so he wasn’t complaining.

You grinned at him as you made your way towards the boy, “Hi.”

“Hello,” he greeted with suspicion. The expression on your face was foreign, but it really couldn’t mean anything good for Taerae, as it reminded him too much of Junhyeon’s scheming face, you were scheming. In Taerae’s head there were only two options; Either you were planning some intricate prank with his friend, or you were planning something sweet, far from a prank, and Taerae would spontaneously confess in a waterfall of words and your newfound, yet very precious friendship, would suffer from it.

“Why do you look so anxious?” there was a somewhat nervous smile on your lips, eyebrows scrunched up in worry as you handed Taerae his post-performance-beverage.

Taerae shook his head, “I’m not. I just don’t want to get murdered by you. So, before we go, I just wanted to remind you that my voice is a gift to the world, and if you are planning on un-aliving me today, that you’d be taking it away from the whole world and everybody would be mad at you.”

You looked at him, a half scoff, half laugh escaping your lips.

“I’m serious, Y/N. I’m sharing my location with Junhyeon this entire evening.” Taerae crossed his arms in front of his chest, awaiting your reassurance that in fact you were not going to kill him.

“What makes you think Junhyeon isn’t in on the plan?” you smirked, while Taerae’s expression fell.

This joking manner was one of the only times Taerae could look at you without his heart combusting or his eyes diverting as soon as they met yours. And while you were laughing at your very lame retaliation, he had time to take you in. It was beyond Taerae how someone could make him so nervous yet so at peace at the same time.

“Come on now, Taerae” you smiled leading the way towards the metro station, “have a little faith in me, yea?”

If only you knew the amount of faith he had in you. So, of course, Taerae followed.

Laughing and joking the two of you discussed all the songs Taerae played today. Thus far he had not played your request, which, like every time after a performance, you let him know by complaining excessively.

The station way bustling with people going home from work, students finding their way to their after-school-studies, and people like you; Looking for activities to end the day on a relaxing note. Out of instinct Taerae placed his hand on your lower back, guiding you through the sea of people towards the train as you were rambling on about this week’s songs and the lack of your favourites (although any song sung by Taerae was your favourite, but not that he needed to know that just yet).

Whenever you and him were together, you had noticed that you forgot the rest of the world existed. Not necessarily in the way, how everything else goes blurry and your focus was solely on him, but rather that real life just slows down a little bit. Whenever you were with Taerae, everything else just seemed less important, far away.

He, however, seemed always grounded. Even when you were excitedly babbling on, Taerae simultaneously smiled and made sure you weren’t in anybody’s way, yet still matched your energy and made sure to react to you. You never understood how he could be so focused on the rest of the world as well. It was especially frustrating because you could either focus on him entirely, or not at all; for you with Taerae it was an all or nothing situation.

The train was more or less ripping at its seams when you got on. You always wondered how so many people could fit in such a confined space and not get squashed. You had hoped that due to the nice weather and the rather late hour, it would have been a little emptier, but no, clearly nothing beats the AC of a subway. The hopes of a seat after a long afternoon of work had been abandoned a long time ago, as you got pushed closer and closer towards Taerae.

In all honesty, the boy was panicking. He didn’t know where to put his hands, what to hold onto as to prevent the both of you from falling at each halt the train took. His only hope was for the crowds to thin once the next big transfer point arrived. But until then? He wasn’t sure how to keep standing upright and breathe properly, with you this close.

“Y/N?” Taerae whispered barely audible.

“Hm?” You looked up at him, waiting for him to continue.

But just as Taerae started to speak, you saw the man behind him stand up from his seat. In an effort to not notice how close Taerae had been, you had heard him grumbling to himself how packed the train was and that he could get off at the next station and walk the rest home, but that had been three stops ago. Now that he was actually getting up, you had to act fast. The man pushed past you and in a swift motion you pushed Taerae against the seat, making him sit down with a thump.

You smiled at him triumphantly as his big eyes looked back at you. The man getting up and you pushing Taerae had happened so swiftly that, Taerae hadn’t noticed he had grabbed a hold of your hand as to not lose balance. And you hadn’t either, smiling happily to yourself as you stood in front of Taerae, shielding him from the masses.

Taerae however, would not have you stand when you had been the one working almost all day. He pulled you towards him, getting up at the same time. To spectators it might’ve looked like a twirl, a spontaneous dance on the subway. Well, as a result, you were now sitting and Taerae was leaning over you, satisfied with the change of position.

For a moment there had been a smug grin on his face, but it was soon wiped away by a blush, as he noticed a group of students squealing next to you, whispering to each other and giggling. You too had looked away from Taerae in an attempt to hide your flushed cheeks. But Taerae noticed. And he smiled.

From this moment on, the train ride seemed to go on forever. The crowd thinned as your stop approached and soon only a handful of people were in your compartment. Taerae had sat down beside you, taking one of the high-school girls’ seat once they got up and left, but only after they had made sure Taerae did in fact sit down next to you and not anybody else. It was kind of sweet. Still, you couldn’t look any of them in the eye as they got off the train.

Finally, your stop arrived and in a swift motion you got up. Taerae was excited too, he still didn’t know where exactly you were going, but now he at least knew the broad area; The stop was a little towards the edge of the city, where parks and playgrounds dominated the cemented roads. It was a nice change of scenery, and Taerae welcomed it.

Coming up above ground, he noticed how quickly the sun had set, the sky only showing remnants of the bright day at its horizon. You had stopped a few paces in front of him, finding it hard to regain orientation somewhere you hadn’t been in such a long time.

“Where to first?” Taerae asked, curious as to where you could be going this late. You had let him know beforehand that there would not be a grand meal today, and that he should eat something in between busking and your… date?

“The convenience store.” You explained, once you saw the small corner store you used to visit as a kid, “To get ice cream, naturally.”

So, the two of you made your way towards the store and after a few minutes of weighing options and discussing preferences, Taerae and you had decided on green-tea ice cream, and a caramel flavoured one.

“Okay, ice cream secured,” you smiled at Taerae exiting the shop, “Now, Mr. Kim, I shall show you one of my favourite places of all time.”

“What an honour.” He smiled as he tagged along, catching up with you as you started in the direction of a small park.

It had been a little later than you had anticipated, making it a little harder for you to find the exact spot you were looking for. The trees were practically pitch black, and although there were a few lanterns lighting the way, they were too little and too far apart to actually help a great deal. The gravel crunched beneath your shoes as you snacked on the ice cream and made your way further into the green.

“There it is!”

As soon as the small wooden pavilion was in sight you tugged on Taerae’s sleeve to hurry. He had to admit, he wasn’t sure why you were this excited about a wooden structure in a park, at the other end of the city. He thought it was adorable, nonetheless. Coming up the small hill he saw that the pavilion overviewed a small pond, where this time strategically placed light illuminated the water surface.

“Nice, is it not?” you teased, smiling up at the boy. Reacting to things with a quick ‘Nice’ had become an inside joke between the two of you, well for you mostly; It was fun for you, but Taerae usually just rolled his eyes.

“It is.” He confirmed, “But why exactly are we here? I mean don’t get me wrong, I absolutely adore being squeezed together on a train for more than half an hour and then sitting in a park. I’m just wondering.”

“Careful, Taerae,” you narrowed your eyes at him, “I could still murder you and dump your body in the pond.”

He laughed., “No but seriously, what is this place?”

“I’m not sure. I just stumbled upon it one day during my first week of uni. It was strangely familiar and when I talked to my parents about it, they said we used to come here when I was a kid,” you shrugged, “It’s nothing super special but I just wanted to show you.”

Taerae smiled at you, and you smiled back. It was one of these quiet moments you shared. Your friendship thus far had been filled with laughter and music and teasing, but every once in a while, a quiet moment like this made it special. Until someone decided to break the quiet, of course.

“You should have told me; I would have brought my guitar. Properly serenated you.” He pouted.

“No more serenating, I’m growing sick of your voice Taerae, for real.” You mocked, laughing.

This only made Taerae pout more, pushing your shoulder slightly.

The sound of your laugh faded, and Taerae observed a shift in your manner. The look you gave him in that moment sent a shiver down his spine and for a moment he wondered whether or not you had been actually joking about murdering him or not. You looked so unsure and serious, Taerae had never seen you this way.

In your life, not many days had gone your way. You weren’t sure if there were going to be a lot in the future that would. But you really needed today to go your way. Needless to say, you were worried. Of course, there had been another reason you had brought Taerae here; It wasn’t simply because you wanted to show him one of your favourite places, it was a reason as well, but not the only one. But now that you had to put your plan into action, you worried. You had been scared of your body reacting this way just before this moment. Your throat had dried up and your hands were slightly shaking and your heart, oh dear, your heart was going as fast as ever. Maybe you should just cancel the original plan and just, come up with a plan B? Was this a good idea? Did you really need to do this now?

If anything, the troublesome journey here had only confirmed your plans for today. So yes, you really had to get it off your chest, you quite literally couldn’t keep it in anymore. From the moment you saw Taerae today, to you grabbing his hand and not letting go (as if that was on accident), from the highschoolers, and everyone else on the train, as well as in your co-workers and friends, seeing what was right in front of your eyes. You just really had to tell Taerae.

“Hey, actually, there’s another reason I brought you here,” you forced a reassuring smile onto your lips, as to not worry Taerae.

You were terribly failing at not worrying Taerae; As his mind raced through all his possible wrong doings so that he could predict what horrible thing you were going to say, he kept quiet and anxiously waited for you to continue.

“Well, I wanted to bring you here because, I mainly associate this place with incredibly happy memories and I just wanted that to be a good omen, I guess.” You were stalling. You knew that. Taerae probably knew that.

But Taerae also felt relief. It can’t be anything horrendous when you want this place to be a canvas for good memories right? No, right?

Taerae didn’t say anything. He watched your every move as you turned towards the dark that spread across the small body of water. He heard you let out a deep sigh.

This might go incredibly wrong. It might go amazingly right. Either way, you had to say it.

“Taerae,” you started finally turning to the boy, “There’s no going back after I say this, but just know that it’s okay if you don’t feel the same, I just need to tell you, okay?”

A small smile spread across his face. Oh my god. He knew where this was going. He definitely wanted it to go there. He nodded for you to continue. In the moments between his motion and you starting to speak he thought about how he had failed as a musician. He sang love songs as a passion, he had been singing them as a hobby for years, he studied music at university, he was pouring out his heart to anyone who would listen, confessing to you every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday afternoon through the one language he knew, the one language that felt safe to him. Yet, here you were, about to confess to the boy who had been singing to you for weeks-

“I like you. As more than a friend.” You offered him a nervous, crooked smile. The words leaving you lips much faster than you had anticipated.

“That’s such a relief.” He answered.

“Huh?” You looked almost scared, the blood draining from your face. Was this his way of rejecting you? No, he didn’t look apologetic at all, no pity in his eyes.

“That means all the love songs I’ve been performing have not been in vain.” He smiled taking a step towards you, brushing a stray strand of hair behind your ear, “I like you, Y/N. And I’ve been trying to hold it in, so you can’t even begin to imagine how happy I am that I can finally tell you.”

If it were possible for human eyes to form themselves into hearts, yours would have changed by now. Whatever this man triggered within you, made your heart overflow with feelings, “Thank god.” You answered, making both him and you laugh.

In your nerves and relief and happiness, you hadn’t realized how impossibly close he was by now, even closer than he had been on the subway. You could feel his breath on your face and the warmth of his hand on your cheek. One last smile spread across Taerae’s lips before he finally leaned in to connect your lips to his. You met him in the last millimetres, eager to finally kiss.

It wasn’t perfect by normal standards; The two of you laughed and smiled into each other. You were a little awkward with your limbs, and a little too out of breath to be still considered sexy. Still, it was perfect because it was just the two of you. It was perfect because it was Taerae. It was perfect because it was you. It was perfect because you liked him, and he liked you.

The night was calm and cool when you and Taerae first shared a kiss. The sun had set, and the stars were watching, as your friendship bloomed into love.

3. when you love someone

Summer had been long and lovely, and now Autumn was just around the corner; it was so close, you wouldn’t be surprised if all the leaves had changed colour once you got off this never-ending shift. Taerae’s eyes followed your body as it moved from table to table with full drinks and plates with pastries and then back to the counter with empty dishes and new orders. The memory of the quiet café on the day the two of you first met, was a picture unimaginable, as the small interior was now buzzing with customers. To think you had wished for more customers on that fateful afternoon, when now you hoped the swarm of people would just evaporate in front of your eyes. To describe this time of the year as hectic would be an understatement; Just before university started up again, the café turned into a spot for last goodbyes between parents and now young adults, as well as spot for catching up after the long summer months for friends, who had come to return to their studies.

Taerae had been waiting for quite some time, he was lucky enough to had spot a free table, right when he arrived to pick you up. He had also been lucky since he didn’t actually have to queue for his drink; Taerae, just like all the other significant others of the employees, got the boyfriend/girlfriend treatment; Their drink of choice waiting for them as soon as they entered. By now, you were sure he had finished his drink, even though you hadn’t finished work. You were supposed to get off half an hour ago, but with the floods of people coming through your doors, you couldn’t bring yourself to leave Chaehyun and Hanbin alone, feeling the responsibility as the longest and most experienced worker, as well as the burden of being a good friend heavy on your shoulders.

Not only that, but also your boss had spontaneously decided to go on vacation a week ago and had left you in charge. Although it had felt good to be entrusted with this responsibility, you had not anticipated the amount of work it would mean. You had worked almost every day, having to postpone meetups and get-togethers with not only friends and family, but with your boyfriend as well. The two of you had barely seen each other this week, and thus you wanted nothing more than to leave with Taerae and curl up on his couch just as you had planned, but apparently your customers had a different idea: Whenever you made your way over to his table, somebody asked for some special drink that only you knew how to make. Or the cash register decided to spontaneously combust. It was almost comical.

Every now and again yours and Taerae’s eyes met, and you mouthed an ‘I’m sorry’, to which he just shook his head, telling you it was okay.

In all frankness, Taerae didn’t mind waiting for you at the café.

He loved watching you. It was all the interaction he had with you for the longest time before he finally asked to busk in front of the café. He loved watching you so much that if he had to put down his three favourite things in the entire world, it would be making music, kissing you and watching you while you went on about your tasks.

There had always been something magical in the way Taerae perceived you; He had gotten to know you so well over the past three months you’ve dated, that he felt even if he was simply looking at you, he was experiencing something special, a unique feature to your relationship.

So, it was okay. He really didn’t mind waiting for you.

What he did mind though, was how stressed you seemed; How you always did everything for everyone, more than what they’d ask for, just in case they needed that little extra; How you clearly didn’t see when there was too much on your plate, and still space on someone else’s. Taerae knew that you tended to do everything by yourself, and didn’t want to worry anyone, but Taerae was worried about you. He wanted to be your resting place, to be helpful in some way.

So, when you had finally found a spare minute to come to his side, Taerae couldn’t wait to be of some comfort, to help make you feel a little better.

“Hi,” smiled softly at the man.

Instinctively Taerae’s hand snuck around your waist, pulling you closer for maximum body contact. You smiled as the familiar warmth spread inside your chest, making you instantly ease up a bit, feeling more at home on this busy day.

“Hello,” he greeted, smiling up at you.

You just smiled at each other for a moment, tanking up on some well needed calm and support, which only your boyfriend could offer. Soon enough however, your gaze was stolen away by a couple that had just joined the queue.

You sighed, “I’m not sure I’ll be able to leave before closing.”

“That’s okay. I’ll wait, I don’t mind. We can go to my apartment after.” Taerae hoped you would agree, but he knew it was unlikely.

Your eyes were fixed on the clouds outside darkening the sky, making it seem later than it was, “Hm… Maybe you should go now before it rains. I’ll come right after locking up.” You smiled at him, cocking your head to the side. A cute habit of yours, Taerae noted, but he could still see the tiredness in your eyes.

Pulling his eyes away from you towards the looming downpour, he was almost convinced. He hesitated because he just wanted to make sure you were okay and would get home as soon as possible as well.

“Okay. But make sure to hurry once you’re done, okay? And don’t get rained on.” Taerae said while slipping on his denim jacket.

You nodded confirming his words and promising to get home as soon as possible, “The rain will be done once I’m off, I promise.” You smiled.

“Okay, weather fairy, I’ll see you at home.”

He planted a kiss on your cheek and got ready to leave, the next occupant of the table already making his way towards the empty space.

It had in fact not stopped raining by the time you had cleaned the espresso machine and wiped down most of the tables. Hanbin and Chaehyun had left a few minutes ago, running towards the subway station, in the spare moments the rain had eased up a bit, leaving you to lock up alone. Now the rain was back to its full power, slamming onto the pavement, windows, cars, and soon you as well. You were afraid the small umbrella you found in the back of the locker room would not do much to keep you dry and warm on the short walk to Taerae’s apartment, but it had to be better than nothing.

The storm was just about to regain its entire might when you left the safety of your workplace. Turning the keys, you felt the cold wind hit your exhausted legs, sending shivers up your whole body, and sending more than a few leaves on their journey towards the ground prematurely. You cursed at yourself for thinking that late-summer-thunderstorms carried the warmth, that mid-summer-ones did. Struggling to keep the umbrella upright, you wrapped the bright blue zip-up sweater you had stolen from Taerae’s closet closer over your body. If there had been any more wind, you were sure would have been blown away.

In fact, you had been so busy trying to not take off, you barely noticed a figure hurrying in your direction.

An out of breath Taerae appeared in the far distance, his silhouette not only blurred by the rain, but also the impressive velocity of his figure running towards you. In Taerae’s hand you could make out another one of his hoodies and a definitely more sturdy-looking umbrella, more than big enough to fit the two of you.

His cheeks and nose were red, even more so due to the red fabric of the umbrella, but mainly because of the unexpected cool temperatures. Taerae hadn’t been home long when he had decided to come and get you once the café closed. A decision he now noted as more than smart, having witnessed you almost fly away like Mary Poppins.

He couldn’t help the smile as he pulled you towards himself, underneath the little shelter his umbrella offered “So, this is where my favourite sweatshirt has gone to.” He pointed towards the fabric currently keeping your body just a degree away from a shiver.

Unfortunately, you had been right about your umbrella being bad at its job, the sweatshirt now thoroughly soaked, “Sorry,” You smiled innocently, “But hey, at least it’s clean now.”

Taerae shook his head, granting you refuge and additional warmth underneath his arm as he wrapped it around your body, pulling you as close as he could, “You could have texted you know?” he whispered in your ear, barely audible over the rain continuously slamming onto the thin fabric above the two of you.

“I thought my equipment would suffice,” you confessed, although you knew your umbrella would have been unlikely to hold up to this kind of weather, “I’m sorry you had to come out to rescue me.”

“It’s what I’m here for, no? Serenating and rescuing.” Taerae smiled, his hair curling itself back to its natural state, “University student and professional busker by day, personal saviour and superhero of Y/N by night.”

You chuckled; he really was your hero.

Finally inside and in dry clothes, you let yourself fall onto Taerae’s couch. As soon as your body touched the soft fabric, the sleepiness started to set in. Between the bustle of work and the adventure of running through the rain with Taerae, your body had gone from low battery to out of it completely. The only thing missing right now was your boyfriend, who was making instant noodles and a cup of tea for the both of you, insisting that you had made enough beverages today to last a lifetime, and you couldn’t agree more.

The day had been so long, and just an hour ago you had wished for nothing more than for time to pass by more quickly, but now that you had actually had time to spend with Taerae, you willed the clock to slow down for a bit.

Now in the warmth of Taerae’s apartment, you didn’t mind the weather at all; The rain was still going, tapping onto the windows nonstop, and flooding the streets outside without doubt, but what did it matter to you now that you were able to rest with your favourite person in the entire world.

Speak of the devil; Taerae set down the bowl of instant noodles in front of, followed shortly by a glass of water and a cup tea.

“That looks so good, I could kiss you right now.” You smiled looking at food in front of you.

“Do it then.” Taerae turned his head towards you, expectantly waiting on the kiss you had promised.

You placed a quick peck onto the smiling boy and then started to slurp down your meal. It had been some time since Taerae had seen you so happy. It had been some time since Taerae had seen you, period. Not counting the café this afternoon, of course, but it really had been a while since the two of you had hung out alone like this. And Taerae would be lying if he said he hadn’t missed you. Just like you would be lying if you said you hadn’t been stressed out of your mind this past week. Just like you would be lying if you said you weren’t tired right now. Just like you would be lying if you said you hadn’t missed Taerae too.

“It was a really hard day today, huh?” Taerae’s voice was laced with worry, and it made you anxious. You didn’t want to worry him, there really wasn’t anything for him to worry about, he was helping as much as he could without worrying.

“It was okay,” you answered, a little too quiet for Taerae’s liking, “I’m just glad I won’t be in charge anymore next week.”

While Taerae believed that the majority of what you said was true, he wouldn’t have you downplaying your feelings like that. He sighed, “You don’t have to pretend with me, Y/N, you know? I’m here to help. I want to know when you’re stressed or feel bad or hurt.”

In the past few months that you and Taerae had been dating, it was made obvious on more than one occasion that your boyfriend’s love language was acts of service. Be it to drive you to your favourite bookstore, or to get you some medicine when you were sick. Taerae loved to just do things for you.

You smiled at your sweet boyfriend, your heart overflowing once again, “I know, it’s just… I can do this on my own. I don’t want to worry you.” You nodded to yourself, feeling a little exposed.

“I get that, but the thing is, you don’t have to,” Taerae took your hand in his, “That’s what it’s like when you love someone; I want to share the hurt and the burden and the stress. I want to do it for you, and I want you to do it for me,” his smile was faint, his eyebrows scrunched up slightly, “I’d rather worry with you, than worry for you.”

You weren’t sure what you had done to deserve someone like Taerae. Smiling you leaned into his side, resting your head into the crook of his neck, “Alright, I’m sorry.”

He kissed the top of your head as a response, triggering the warm and fuzzy feeling once again.

“Hey,” you whispered against his body, “I love you.”

Taerae hugged you tighter, engulfing you in all his warmth; the rain so loud against the window, the wind so strong, the building howled its tune, his words so soft they warmed you up from inside, “And I love you.”

4. so let’s love

Being in love was harder than you could have ever imagined. It was also simply more than what you could have ever thought it would be. It was more difficult, more intense, more complicated. But the more you felt it, the deeper, the stronger your feelings got for Taerae the more aware you got of your need for him.

Everything Taerae felt with you was new to him as well. In the past, Taerae had never had a problem figuring out how he felt, and he surely didn’t have any problems expressing his emotions. For Taerae, music had always been the easiest, most natural way to communicate. It was what brought him the most precious things in life: a purpose and you. But lately, it was difficult for him to encompass his love for you through actions or music. And he had a feeling he would struggle his entire life to put this into words.

The leaves had long turned brown, the weather had long switched from sunshine to frost, and Taerae had once more found his way home from a long day of classes, and an even longer week of not seeing you. Lately, he had felt something shift between the two of you, and he felt difficulty to raise the issue, to talk it out. He even felt difficulty to play it out, to sing it out, to just let his frustrations flow.

Of course, Taerae knew that couples fought. He knew it was normal for lovers to throw hurtful things at each other’s heads from time to time. He could list more than 10 songs that captured this exact feeling of defeat, when one hurts the person, they love the most. It was his hyperawareness of this fact, that made it all the more difficult to ignore the fact that you just did not fight.

It was not like the two of you would not have reason for conflict, but it always seemed like whenever the two of you were close to fighting, you shut down. Your passiveness got a hold of you, and you logged out of Taerae’s life until you were ready to forget about the reason you would have fought anyway. Whether or not you reflected and decided it wasn’t as big as a deal as it seemed at first, or if you just ignored the hurt, Taerae didn’t know.

What he did know however was, that this could not be healthy. Neither for you, nor for him. He refused to lose the love of his life over something such as the lack of fighting. All Taerae wanted was to love you. He wanted all that there is to a relationship, the love, the fights, the forgiving. He didn’t need perfect; he didn’t want perfect.

He was sure of his feelings for you, he had been for the longest time. Maybe he did love you more than you did him, but that didn’t even matter to Taerae. He was just worried, he’d lose you. He was so confident in his own love, he became insecure of yours.

So, on this day, on his way home from university, on his way to you, he thought about how maybe, he just wasn’t worth enough for you to fight with him. Maybe it wasn’t that you didn’t like to fight, maybe it was that he just wasn’t worth fighting with. And for the first time, these kinds of Taerae’s feelings made sense.

From the beginning of your relationship, you had been determined to give Taerae your whole heart. You wanted nothing more than to love the sweet boy to your heart’s full capacity. And the more you got to know him, the more your heart’s ability to do so grew. And with that your fear of losing him.

In your entire life, you had not really fought with anybody, ever. Of course, there had been disagreements and discussions, but most of the time you hadn’t deemed the topics worth fighting over. You had also had relationships before, none as serious as the one with Taerae, and they mostly ended amicably. Definitely nothing like any Olivia Rodrigo song. You intended to keep the number of break-ups you had had the same, although you knew realistically, the number of fights had to go up at some point, but thus far even disagreements with Taerae hadn’t proven annoying enough to fight over. All you wanted to do is love him.

You didn’t want to fight with him, or to worry him, or to hurt him. You just wanted to love Taerae.

So, on the day the temperatures had dropped as well as all the leaves, and Taerae used the spare keys you had given him to let himself into your apartment, to cook together, the last thing you had expected was to fight.

One look, out of the window and you saw the blanket of grey and white that threatened (or promised) to spill the first snow of the season. You had been waiting for Taerae to come home for some time now and had been working on some university assignments until the all too familiar jingle of keys announced his arrival. The first thing you heard right after the sound of the soft thump Taerae’s guitar case made when he set it down, was a sigh. And only then did you realize just how stressful the past month had been for the both of you. You and Taerae were both drowning in assignments and projects and that meant you spent the majority of your time in the library, as he did in the studio. It had been hard for you with work and university to find time to just be together, especially with a lot occupying both of your minds.

Communicating had never been your forte and you found it even harder to discuss your worries when the time you had together was so scarce. Taerae had been good at voicing his feelings and telling you when he was stressed but in the past days, he seemed a little closed off as well, so this sigh seemed to be a giveaway.

Still, worries aside a soft smile rested on your lips as he entered the kitchen, the table currently occupied by books and sheets of paper, your own little chaos ruling over the space.

“Looks intense,” Taerae chuckled as he made his way to you.

“It’s even worse than this looks in here,” you motioned with your finger to your head as you closed your laptop shut, standing up to hug your boyfriend hello.

Taerae kissed your cheek, taking in your scent. He noticed the hints of coffee scent in your hair, an indicator that you had worked the morning shift. He didn’t know you had worked today. You used to share your work schedule with him at the beginning of the week. Taerae knew you weren’t obligated to share your schedule with him, he wasn’t possessive like that, but just stopping to do so, irked him in some kind of way.

“You okay?” you asked as Taerae was staring off into space, and you grabbed a bottle of water.

“Yeah,” one look at you and he knew you didn’t believe a single word he just said, “it’s just the usual. Creative pressure and such.”

You cocked your head, the way you always did when processing things, thinking of what to say, “You sure that’s the only reason? You kind of seem a little off the past few days.”

He knew you didn’t mean it like an accusation. He knew that doing this, fighting, on grounds of you asking if there was anything else wrong was ridiculous. But Taerae also supposed it was as good a reason as any. Still, he didn’t mean the words to come out quite as harsh as they did.

“Yeah? You mean like how you don’t even tell me when you work these days anymore? Or what assignments you’re working on? Who you’re working on them with?”

One look and Taerae realized you were clearly taken aback by what he had said. Or how he had said it.

“I’m- I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you had to approve my schedule. I don’t mean to keep it secret Taerae, but I’m not talking about schedules or shifts, or even university. Something’s clearly bothering you.” Your brows were scrunched up and arms crossed.

Taerae scoffed silently, “Why…” he tried to gather the words in his head, to make them seem a little less ridiculous than they were, “Why won’t you fight with me?”

“Huh?” now you were taken aback. “Why won’t I fight with you? Maybe because there’s nothing to fight about?”

“Oh, come on, Y/N. I know you get annoyed when I stay in the studio for too long and don’t text you when I know you’re waiting for dinner plans or something. And I - I get annoyed when you just brush things off, but you always apologize even if there’s nothing to apologize for. Sometimes– Sometimes I just want to be annoyed with you and you should be annoyed with me as well for being annoyed.”

You frowned, what he said was true, even if you weren’t sure he was making sense 100%. In any case, these things just seemed inconsequential. Whenever stuff like that occurred you had been more worried than annoyed, sad maybe, but definitely not mad.

“What do you mean? I just don’t think these things are worth fighting over.”

Taerae closed his eyes, in the way he did when he couldn’t get the right chord combination, in the way he did to coordinate his thoughts, in the way he did just before letting go of a frustrated breath.

“See? This is what I mean. I just- It just feels like that to you I’m not worth fighting with.”

Now there was hurt on your face. Taerae didn’t mean to twist your words but it just, that is what it sounded like to him. This is what it felt like to him.

“I- That’s not what I said at all, Taerae,” Your tone had also changed. It was more straight forward, more matter-of-factly. Yet your eyes seemed desperate to just clarify this situation, so, you searched in his for some sort of doubt of his last statement, “You know that that’s not true, right?”

“I don’t know! It seems like it if I’m being honest,” his voice was just below a shout. Although it definitely didn’t seem angry, it was just as desperate as the look in your eyes. He tried to understand you, the way you tried to understand him, “It feels like whatever I do, whether it’s good or bad it doesn’t matter.”

“What? Of course, it matters. Taerae, you matter, so much!” You tried to hold the eye contact, but your emotions seemed to overflow, making it impossible to think and talk, but you tried anyways, “I am sorry, and don’t get me wrong, this is not me not wanting to fight right now, I’m just trying to understand- to make you understand; Never has anything you did not affected me. Be it negative or positive. I know we’ve talked about it but- you know I’m still learning, right? I just- I don’t want my feelings to be a bother to you. I don’t want me to be a reason for you to not do something. I just- I simply want to be a support for you. I don’t want you to have to worry about me and my feelings too, because I just- I so confidently want you. I just want to love you, Taerae.”

He looked at you, and you looked at him as you continued.

“Never did I mean to hurt you by not fighting with you. If you want to fight then okay, let’s fight. Let’s scream at each other and hurt each other, but I just- I just want to be able to love you through it all.”

You didn’t realize you had started to cry. And Taerae hadn’t realized how much it would hurt to see you cry. So, all he did was pull you close and engulf you in a hug.

“Okay. I’m sorry, too.” He was afraid of letting you go, as the thoughts raced through his head, as he tried to turn back time. He cursed himself for not realizing how much it sucked to fight. How much it sucked to hurt the person you love the most. “Okay, let’s love, okay?”

So, when the first snow began to fall, as it covered the rooftops and bare trees like sugar did pancakes, and a peacefulness settled after the first fight, you and Taerae decided to love each other, but also fight with each other, and cry and laugh with each other, and hurt and forgive each other. The both of you just prayed that you wouldn’t lose each other.

5. i loved you

An unexpectedly cold spring night put you in an incredibly uncomfortable position.

One would think that at the end of April the temperatures would somewhat rise above 10 degrees, but to your disappointment, they had even dropped below zero. You didn’t know what had come over the city to still be as freezing as it was, but you couldn’t help but think it was your heart that had conjured up the unexpected mid-spring-ice-age.

The temperature wasn’t the only thing that made it difficult for you to get out of bed. It was also a simple lack of anything warm in your life. So, on the morning of this especially chilly spring day, you rummaged through your closet to find one of your warmest sweaters, to try and keep your body from going into hypothermia on your way to your opening shift at the café. Trying to distract you from the shivering even inside your apartment, you thought about the workday ahead, and what spices you would throw into your free morning coffee, when your hand grazed over what felt like your warmest, snuggest sweater. Satisfied with the choice, you grabbed onto the thick fabric and pulled it out, but not without a few other items falling out of your closet in the process.

Cursing at your own messiness, you at first didn’t notice that the sweater you had pulled out, was in fact, not one of your own. You had even been so distracted by the mess that was now on your bedroom floor, that you pulled the sweater over your still with sleepiness marked head, and diligently threw the stray items into the closet, shutting the door before they could fall out once again.

Only when you caught a glimpse of your own reflection, did you realize what you had just slipped onto your body. Comforted by the familiarity of the striped sweater, but startled by the memories it brought back. The scent of its owner still hung heavy in its fibre. You stopped to look at yourself in such a familiar, yet strange item of clothing.

If anyone had told you two months ago that it’d feel strange to wear Taerae’s hoodie in April you would have thought it would have been because of the warm weather, and not because Taerae had broken up with you just a couple of weeks before.

The fabric felt now heavy on your shoulders, and you sensed an all too familiar weight drop a little heavier onto your chest. You had done your best to go back to the life you had known before, but in the past two weeks you had been semi successful in achieving that: More than once had your co-workers caught you staring off into space, your gaze unintentionally fixed upon any busker in front of the café, your eyes even fixated on the spot when nobody was playing. With a gentle tap to your shoulder, Hanbin had brought you back to your task of making espresso shots, a routine that felt almost too easy to get distracted from.

You were well aware that you had had a life before Taerae. You just didn’t know you would have one after Taerae. In all honesty, you had hoped you wouldn’t have.

The most tragic part was, Taerae just hadn’t given you the closure one would need after getting broken up with by the love of their lives. He hadn’t really given you any explanation at all. Nothing more than a lot off bullshit, and a just-because. It was easy for most people in your life to go from loving to hating him, but even with the lack of sympathy for your situation, you found it difficult.

You had tried to hate him, you had tried to resent him even, but nothing had proven effective enough to erase your love for him. Taerae had been engraved into your bones. And now he expected you to just move on?

In hindsight, you should have seen it coming. At least that’s what you told yourself, that’s what you told your friends who were asking why the two of you broke up. Coming up with more than absurd reason of why you should have known, when in reality you simply couldn’t have. Because even in hindsight, you never could have seen it coming.

So, on the evening of, when Taerae had told you things weren’t working for him anymore, his face straight and not showing any emotion, not showing his signature smile, or even a tear; On the evening of, when you had begged Taerae to just tell you what you had to change, what it was you had done wrong and that you would fix them, if only he’d stay; On the evening of, when even after you had cried and shouted, he just took his guitar case and left; On the evening of the break up, you hadn’t gotten an answer. And neither had you in the two weeks since.

In fact, you had not seen Taerae at all. Or heard from him, not even through friends or social media. You wondered if he was okay, if he really was as unbothered as he had seemed, even though it was unnatural for him to act the way he did. You had always deemed Taerae a gentle person, but the way he ended things, was just so unlike him. So, he had to be not okay as well, right?

The lack of answers made you do something you had never had to do before, which was speculate and wonder. Taerae had always worn his heart on his sleeve and expressed himself so diligently most of the time, if not through words, surely, he would have done so through music. So, speculating about how he must feel now, was something you had never had to do. But now you caught yourself wondering all the time. You wondered how many things he thought about before the thought of you popped into his head. You speculated what the songs he was composing these days sounded like. Were they about you?

Either way, there was no hiding from him. Not for you, not just yet.

His presence, the imprint he had left on you followed you everywhere you went. The grocery store, the library, the café. Everywhere the memories of Taerae loomed over you. You wanted to forget him, so much to the point you had seriously considered hypnosis, if that was thing. It was like you could not, not consider him. He was so engraved in your brain; he was so engraved in your everything. You weren’t sure how to erase him from your everything, you weren’t sur how to erase him from anything. You weren’t sure you actually wanted to.

Still, the hurt you had felt the first few days was overwhelming, you couldn’t eat or sleep or do anything much other than run on autopilot. It had become so bad, that some of the regular customers noticed. It was almost like all life had been sucked out of you, and in a sense it had been; A possible future life had been taken from you. A future you had hoped for ever since you had met Taerae. A future you now grieved.

So, now looking at yourself in the mirror, the striped sweater hanging from your body, keeping it warm, felt like a glimpse of what if. A glimpse of Taerae. A glimpse of the person you had been when you were with him. A person you could have been, but never would.

For a second you wondered again, Taerae well established in your mind. But in the end, it didn’t matter. There was no use wondering and retracing everything you did during the last few days of your relationship. There was no use, because you did everything you said you would: You had loved Taerae, you loved him still, with your heart’s full capacity. Over the months you had fought and made up and hurt each other and forgiven the hurt. But now none of it mattered, so you might as well try and forget, instead of dwell and grieve.

So, with a swift motion you stripped the sweater off your body, exposing yourself once more to cold of the spring morning that had even seeped through the walls of your apartment. The frost making itself known in the form of icy crystals on your window. You didn’t look for another sweater, you wanted to feel the cold.

You weren’t sure what you had done wrong. But still, you knew more than you didn’t. You knew there was nothing you could do. You knew you would hurt for some time still. You knew you would see Taerae in buskers, guitars, and iced tea. You knew you would hear him in Hi-Hellos and the jingle of keys. You knew you loved him, and you knew it’d be a long time before you stopped.

So, for now you’d try to forget.

6. you were beautiful

There was a hum in the air, a melody that made its way through the busy streets of the city. The warm weather had finally decided to stay, and it stuck to the cement like chewing gum, barely cooling down overnight.

Taerae had kept himself busy over the past month, not really wanting to slow down, but with graduation coming up, also not really being able to do so. For him there had barely been any time to just stroll around, or go to cafes with his friends, or to simply just think; These days Taerae still didn’t really knew how to function normally, how to function like he did before you. Of course, he still had to perform, write, and produce music for university, but he rarely went out to busk or did these things for joy like he used to. It was something outsiders could have never noticed; How Taerae did everything but nothing at the same time. Only the people close to him, could tell something was up. They knew of the break-up of course, but they could only guess why exactly it happened in the first place.

In any case, it was evident that Taerae had closed himself off. He didn’t really talk to any of his friends about it, and neither did his songs show any reflection of what he felt. They hadn’t become bad, they were just cliché. Some of his professors even pointed out the shift in his lyrical style. But there was nothing Taerae could do; he was both too busy and exhausted to deal with his feelings.

Walking around in the area by his apartment was one of the only times Taerae consciously searched for some down time, to sort out at least some of his thoughts. Of course, he was cautious not to stray too close to your workplace, more for his own sake than yours. As of now, Taerae wasn’t sure how his heart would react if he was to come face to face with you unexpectedly. Ever since he had decided to break it off with you, he had barely fathomed to hold a single thought about you. He simply couldn’t conjure up enough courage to deal with his own heart break. So, up until now, pushing everything away would have had to do the trick.

He wasn’t sure what exactly had ticked off his thought process to recall the day of the professor-student conversation. Maybe it was the undeniable sense of Deja-vu he felt when he spotted a young busker, surrounded by only a small group of people, who were all listening carefully to the boy’s song. Maybe it was the girl listening, who from the back looked exactly like the one he loved. It could have been either of these two or another altogether, but in any case, Taerae knew, that maybe it was time to face this inevitable heart ache, even if just for the duration of this walk.

At the beginning of each semester, music and music production majors are required to sit down with one of their supervising professors, to discuss projects for the upcoming term. Most of these conversations were easy going, and the projects subject to change, but the conversation at the start of the second semester senior year was one equally feared and anticipated.

The senior project for music and music production majors was basically the making of an entire album, with full creative freedom. Taerae had been more than excited to get started on it, in fact, he had been so eager that the songs for his album were ready for recording as soon as his supervising professor approved of them.

So, yes, Taerae was a tad bit nervous entering the professor’s office. But he was generally well-liked and so were his songs, so he was sure this meeting would go over smoothly, and he would have to do nothing more than to put in a reservation to one of the student recording studios and was good to go.

And that was the case, partly.

Everything was going well; the professor praised his compositions and skills as a lyricist. The way he had described Taerae as someone to get across any type of feeling, made Taerae’s chest swell with pride. It wasn’t until the last few minutes of the meeting, when Taerae was supposed to thank the professor in front of him and get straight to work, that everything was pushed out of his rightful trajectory.

Taerae was about to get up out of the chair he had been sitting in somewhat tensely, when the professor said something, that in hindsight, put as many things into perspective as it pushed out of it. At least for Taerae.

“This girl must be quite the experience for you as a song writer.”

“Excuse me?” Taerae had said then, distraught, and genuinely confused.

The professor had then proceeded to explain how certain people, certain experiences, determined the colours of the artists in any art form. And that you, were certainly one of these experiences that would influence Taerae a great deal, even once the next experience would come into his life.

Looking back now, Taerae wasn’t sure why he had taken what his professor said so to heart. He definitely didn’t think of you as an experience. He didn’t think of you as something temporary at all. He didn’t think that there was any more evolving for him to be done, Taerae would have been good writing songs about you for the rest of his life.

But was this how the world perceived you? As an experience? Did he, through his songs somehow reduce you to something less than what you were, something temporary, something to live through and then move on?

From this point on Taerae couldn’t help but spiral in his self-doubt. Doubt for his love for you, and doubt for his skill of song writing. Thinking back on statements his friends had made, like how they would also write songs as good as Taerae’s if they had a Y/N in their lives, only confirmed his insecurities in his own love for you. Taerae somehow had gotten way into his head about it.

In Taerae’s mind it wasn’t fair to you. It wasn’t fair to make you an experience in his life. It wasn’t fair, when all you did was give, when you read his every thought and tried so hard to be better and learned with the mistakes you made, learned to love Taerae even more.

Taerae remembered that you had said you wanted nothing more than to love Taerae for the rest of your life, that he was your person. And all Taerae had done was make you an experience.

Lost in thought, a sigh heavy on his lips, Taerae hadn’t noticed the young woman listening to the busker turn around. She hadn’t yet looked at him, instead she was gushing about the music to the friend who had just joined her. Had the other joined the young woman any earlier, Taerae would have known in an instant that it was in fact you: the pink hair of your best friend and co-worker a dead giveaway. The two of you a duo Taerae found difficulty in separating, even during the days of you dating.

Chaehyun was whispering something in your ear, which made you laugh a little louder than you had anticipated, a hand coming to cover your mouth as you snickered in slight embarrassment. More than once had Taerae witnessed an interaction similar to this one, and looking at you now, made his heart ache with longing.

But he understood that that was something he wouldn’t be able to see again. He knew that he couldn’t really love you the way you deserved to be loved, so he wouldn’t try.

In the past, Taerae had always felt he was good at expressing himself. You had always promised him to get better at things, to learn the love Taerae needed. Without missing a day, you had told him you loved him. Sometimes first thing in the morning, sometimes it was the last thing he heard when he fell asleep. You had always thought of Taerae first, he had been the most important thing in your life, and Taerae had been well aware of this fact, you had told him more than once. Yet you still didn’t put pressure on the young man, you waited patiently on him in every sense. Maybe Taerae hadn’t been so good at expressing his feelings, maybe you had been the one very aware of your own feelings along.

Watching you from afar, he wondered if you thought of him as much as he did of you. He wondered if everything the two of you had been, was something of the past to you, or if everything, if he, was still present in your life, if he still was something you had to consider, even if it was just to avoid him successfully.

The warm wind grazed over you, as it did Taerae, sending your hair flying in its direction. Your head turned towards the young man standing more than a few metres away from you, gaze fixed upon you. It took you some time to remember to not stretch out your arm and wave at him in greeting. It took you even longer to remember not to make your way towards the boy to greet him with a soft kiss on the cheek.

It also took some time for Taerae to not expect any of this from happening; looking at you now, you were a stranger he still loved.

But looking at him now, you realized he was a stranger you once loved. And thus, a small smile made its way onto your face as you turned away, interlocking your arms with your friend, and walking off into the direction of your workplace.

To Taerae it had always been interesting how people forgot, once it was over, once it was done. But Taerae would never forget what it was like to love you. He would never forget what it was like to be loved by you. How it was beautiful, how you were beautiful. Taerae would aways remember, he could simply never forget. Maybe someday, he would be fortunate enough to remind you again.

yay!! you made it to the end!! i hope that you were able to enjoy it despite the somewhat sad ending!! thank you again for reading and i’d love to hear your thoughts on it!! love youuuu

this piece was written by @yourstruleejn so please don’t post on any other platforms or translate into any other languages! thank u !!!

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iwillneverforgiveyousunghanbin · 2 months

Text

bully⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

thursday, sung hanbin— poetry ii

⋆˙⟡ zbully1 smut series masterlist! hanbin, jiwoong, hao, matthew, and taerae included. game day (group) chapter here. all 7 endings here.

⋆˙⟡ wc: 3.5k (it's a doozy but it's worth it i literally am so happy with this one)

⋆˙⟡ reader: femme afab (listed first, she/her are used) // gender neutral (alternate version listed second, no pronouns used at all to describe reader— scroll down)

⋆˙⟡ series summary: five bullies. six days. it's gonna be a hell of a week, babe. stay hydrated.

⋆˙⟡ thursday summary: thursday. good news: the week is almost over. bad news: you're stuck in poetry class with sung hanbin as your desk partner. it's weird. sometimes you play off each other so well, you're nearly blindsided by his sudden flipping of the switch. if only you could steal a glimpse at his journal.

⋆˙⟡ warnings: explicit smut. 18+. minors do not interact. please read specific smut warnings under the cut! swearing. angst. slight dub-con. bullying. very toxic softboi/popular soccer star hanbinnie. guys THE LORE. you very well may not survive til the end of the week but we're already on this journey together so let's see it through!!! smut in gn and fem versions are slightly different due to logistics/circumstance. also there's two parts i wrote in here that made me laugh way too hard okay bye. xx

⋆˙⟡ bully scale: ★★★★☆(4.5)

EXPLICIT SMUT 18+ WARNINGS: choking (reader receiving and safely executed lmao), chest groping/brief nipple play (reader receiving; reader is wearing a bra and hanbin refers to you as having 'tits'), heavy petting (reader and hanbin receiving), fingering (brief, reader receiving), erotic humiliation and degradation (towards reader; about looseness of pussy after this week/disappointing chest but not the size of it he's just being a dick am i making sense), slut and whore used to describe reader, one slap across the face (reader receiving), slight dub-con but we know how reader rolls now lol. hanbin is insanely toxic. enjoy.

˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　　 . ✦　

scribble. scribble. scribble.

the scratchings of your pencil in your poetry journal are growing increasingly violent. you don’t really care. you’d stayed up all night: tossing and turning and thinking and plotting.

“hey, uh... you okay?” hanbin asks, tapping you gently with the end of his pen. your pencil falls from your fingers as you’re jolted from your anxious thought spiral.

“huh?” you reply, blinking at the star of the soccer team. “oh, um. yeah. i’m okay.”

hanbin’s brow raises slightly at your answer as if it surprises him. “you sure?”

“yeah,” you reply as nonchalantly as possible. “why?”

you follow hanbin’s line of sight to the open page of your poetry journal. you’ve absentmindedly ripped a significant hole through several pages with your vortex of nervous scribbling.

you breathe an awkward laugh, closing your journal and putting your pencil down flat on your desk.

“you had a rough week,” hanbin says, grabbing his journal from his bag and placing it on his desk. you bite your cheeks to keep from grinning at the sight of your target. “or so i’ve heard.”

“i’m sure you have,” you mumble, glancing at the tile floor. “i’m sure everybody has.”

“they haven’t,” he replies definitively and you know he’s telling the truth. “i promise they haven’t.”

hanbin was a tricky one. the star of the soccer team and undoubtedly the most popular boy at your university, it comes as no surprise that he was also the makeshift ring leader of his stupid group of friends. keeping that spotlight also meant keeping up appearances. while your other bullies made their distaste for you known whenever possible, hanbin had a different preferred method of torture.

he liked to play nice. compliment your poems. share a laugh... reel you in.

until you were so close, you couldn’t escape. that’s when he’d flip the script on you.

like when he sent your poem about the boy you liked to the entire university’s mailing list last year. you’d insisted you didn’t feel comfortable sharing it with him. you recoiled with embarrassment at the thought of junseo, your senior lab partner, finding out. but he pushed. made you think you could trust him.

the next day, it was pinned to every bulletin board across campus next to a picture of you that hanbin had taken on your class trip to the national library. like some sort of sick calling card.

junseo sunbae-nim never muttered more than a word to you ever again.

so that’s how all this started. hanbin recruiting his three (and then four) asshole friends in a sudden and violent quest to become the bane of your existence.

sometimes you still can’t help but wonder if you’d done something to upset him. but you shake off that thought each time. you won’t let him get in your head again so easily.

you’ve about mustered the courage to give hanbin some snarky response when your professor’s chalk hatchings across the blackboard send a hush over the classroom.

“good afternoon, everyone,” professor choi greets happily, underlining today’s date on the board. “let’s jump right in today and start with our weekly journals. please share with your desk partner the poem that this week so far inspired you to write.”

your eyes fix on hanbin’s journal again, anticipation stirring as you think about the clues that could be hidden in his poem this week. could the answers you’re looking for really be inside that black, leather book?

“you should go fi—,” you start to suggest a bit too quietly before hanbin unknowingly cuts you off.

“do you wanna go first?” he asks brightly, smile lines illuminating his soft features. you know you shouldn’t indulge him, but you can never stop the corners of your lips from involuntarily turning up in response. no matter how much you hated him, his fairytale prince looks were undeniable.

“oh, uh,” you stammer, grabbing your journal and flipping it open to your entry from this week. you look at the poem you wrote, eyes scanning over the emotional stanzas as you bite your lip uneasily. “i dunno. i kind of got a bit too... personal this week.”

“oh, you know i don’t mind,” he replies calmly. “that’s what poetry is, right?”

“i’m well aware you don’t mind me spilling personal details to you,” you reply with a glare. “but i mind.”

“(y/n)-sshi,” professor choi’s voice suddenly rings over your shoulder. “let’s get reading, okay? time is limited.”

you swallow hard, looking down at your journal shamefully. “yes, professor-nim.”

“so what’s it called?” hanbin asks as professor choi makes her way back up to her desk, folding his arms across his chest and leaning back into his chair. “your poem?”

“the bird,” you answer softly. “it’s called the bird.”

he nods pensively before gesturing for you to start. you look back down at the page, fingers shaking as you try to hold your journal steady. clearing your throat, you recite:

“from her perch at the window, she will never be much. the vultures jeered at her as they circled above. then one flew down— with taloned-hand, he did touch. and a meek little finch turned into a dove. if a dove she can be, she will be it as such. til another vulture fell to his knees with a glove. parted her feathers and took her in his clutch. and from the fair bird, made a raven thereof. she needs to change back, so she tries to stay hush. but a third brash vulture throws her off with a shove. the reluctant truth is she’s filling with lust... and she’s growing quite scared of the bird she’ll become.”

you blink back tears as you close your journal and place it on your desk in front of you. maybe it’s your lack of sleep or the mentally and physically jarring week you’ve had, but reading your poem aloud had left you feeling quite vulnerable.

“that was beautiful, (y/n),” hanbin says suddenly, prying you from your regret. you turn to him, eyes wide as he nods thoughtfully. “i really appreciated the metaphor of the bird. the vultures are considered bad birds, but somehow they changed the subject from an unassuming bird into the more beautiful bird she seemed to want to be... but never thought she could.”

you stare at him as he glances up at the ceiling, those handsome smile lines crinkling his cheeks again.

“funny how things we could perceive as wrong or immoral can actually have a positive effect on us,” he muses with a chuckle. “but it’s only natural for the bird to question that change. she’s done more of that ‘bad’ thing and now she’s afraid it’s turned her into a raven. a bird that frightens her. or maybe a bird she can’t recognize anymore when she looks in the mirror.”

“it did,” you assert quietly. “it did change her.”

“but it sounds like she likes that change. at least part of her,” hanbin rebuts, meeting your gaze. “perhaps if she embraces that and sheds her own guilt— or molts, if you will— she’ll realize the raven is another distortion of her own making, just like the finch was. she’ll realize she is the dove and she always has been.”

your lips part as you gape at hanbin in awe. it was hard not to let your guard down with him when he always dissected your poems so intuitively like this. memories of intense public humiliation are the only thing that can keep you grounded.

“or,” he adds, a small smirk upturning the corner of his lips. “i guess she could also realize that ravens and vultures aren’t the bad birds she thinks they are. maybe she finds that, after all this worrying, she was meant to be a vulture, too.”

“under a minute left,” professor choi calls out from the front of the classroom.

shit. hanbin had talked so much about your poem that he barely had any time left to share his— the poem you desperately needed to be shared in the first place.

hanbin’s still rambling on about vultures, but you’re not paying any attention as a wave of panic rushes over you.

“you should share yours still,” you prompt a little too eagerly, cutting him off mid-sentence. trying your best to dial it back, you add, “i’m sure it’s very interesting, what with the big game on saturday and all.”

hanbin smiles, holding your gaze for a moment too long. it’s suspicious, but his eyes give nothing away.

“if it’s okay with you, i’d rather not share this week,” he says, throwing his journal back in his bag. “i got a little too... how did you put it? personal.”

you blink at him. “but—. but that’s what i said and you—.”

hanbin mutters something under his breath that you swear sounds like, “not like you’d listen to me anyway.”

but you must’ve misheard him.

your heart sinks, your plan crumbling to ashes before your eyes as professor choi launches into a lecture about wilfred owen’s 20th century use of assonance. hanbin had to have written something about what his friends had been up to. that’s why he used up so much time focusing on your poem.

your pencil moves across your paper, absentmindedly taking notes until you reach the only possible conclusion: you can’t give up. you’ll just have to amend the plan.

after class, you hurriedly gather your things and run out the door, pulling your phone out and typing vigorously as you make your way to the bathroom.

WHEN DOES THE BOYS’ SOCCER PRACTICE GO UNTIL TONIGHT!? mina: ??? NO QUESTIONS. JUST ANSWERS. mina: jiwoong oppa is picking me up at 7. so i assume about 6:30. THANK U BYE and... please be careful around him. mina: yeah, yeah, yeah i’ll use protection ily

totally not what you meant. and you’d hate to break it to her, but after his little stunt on monday, you’re not sure how fond her jiwoong oppa would be of that request.

6:30. practice would start soon, giving you plenty of time to slip into the boys’ locker room, read hanbin’s journal, and slip out undetected.

you catch a glimpse of yourself in the bathroom mirror.

a raven’s beady eyes stare back.

you kill some time in the library, waiting until practice is well underway before making your way across campus to the gymnasium. your heart is already pounding in your ears just thinking about the little heist you’re about to pull.

but your legs keep propelling you forward.

pulling open the building door, you step inside cautiously. the women’s badminton team is stretching in the atrium of the building, but there’s no sign of anyone else. you head right down the hallway, walking past the cardio fitness center and the weight-lifting gym until you’re in front of the boys’ locker room door.

you put an ear to it, hearing nothing but the whirring of a fan on the other side.

fuck it.

you pull open the door and step inside, white and grey tiled walls and rows of blue lockers surrounding you. your heart races as you look back at the door, wondering if it’s not too late to abandon your mission.

you shake your head. no. you need to find that journal.

with a steadying breath, you begin to walk through the first row of lockers. when you don’t spot hanbin’s bag, you proceed to the second row. and then the next. and then the next until you finally spot it.

tucked under the wooden bench running down the middle of the aisle is a familiar brown, leather messenger bag. you run to it, picking it up from the floor and setting it down on the bench. you unclasp the latch on the front of the bag and lift the flap, opening it up and reaching inside it.

your hand hits something... fluffy. you grab the fuzzy item and pull it out, squealing when you see that it’s a tiny, cream-colored hamster plush. it’s the cutest thing you’ve ever seen in your whole goddamn life.

and you are disappointed to find yourself thinking it bears a striking resemblance to its owner.

you stuff the little hamster back into the bag. as cute as he is, it’s not what you came here for. you gasp when you feel the cold leather-bound journal in your hand, pulling it out hurriedly and examining the cover.

you open the journal, flipping through the pages rashly until you locate an entry with today’s date at the top. it reads:

“if one is a vulture, it’s assumed they’re no good— despite all the research that they’re helpful to earth. does the finch know that if that vulture could, he’d hunt for a mirror and show her her worth? if that finch is a dove, there’d be something that would still keep her away from achieving true mirth. it’s the vultures, she’d cry before she understood: the vulture has always been a sign of rebirth. a dove, raven, vulture, or finch from the woods, the vultures will find her and double their search. but for someone who claims they feel misunderstood, it’s repulsive the lengths she would go to unearth... something that does not belong to that bird. seems the dove was a raven afterall.”

“pretty good, huh?” the sudden voice behind you makes you jump. “wrote it in, like, ten minutes after class. what can i say? i was inspired.”

you don’t turn around. your face is already on fire from how mortified you are. of course, you’d considered the possibility of being caught. but you hadn’t really realized the weight of that consequence until this moment.

“actually, i think it might be even better than the original,” he continues, footsteps echoing against the tiled floors as he draws nearer. “i mean, you really should’ve thought to flesh out those vulture characters a bit. and you didn’t even consider looking up the well-known symbolism behind them.”

a hot breath fans across the back of your neck, causing you to shiver as a hand wraps around the leather-bound journal and pries it from yours.

“i have to admit, i didn’t really think you had it in you,” he says with a chuckle, fingers suddenly hooking into your waistband and turning you around to face him. he’s in his red and white soccer uniform, skin glistening from the practice meet he should be at right now. “but just in case, i wanted to be prepared. write you something worth reading.”

“h-how did you know?” you stutter quietly. “that i—”

“well, you weren’t exactly subtle, now were you?” hanbin smiles but the light doesn’t reach his eyes. “‘you should read your poem, hanbin. i’m sure it’s exciting with the big game coming up’. like you give a fuck about my poetry.”

that last sentence reminds you of what you thought you’d heard him mumble in class today: not like you’d listen to me anyway.

what was that about?

“aw, don’t get sad now that your plan didn’t go your way,” hanbin coos, lifting his hand to caress your cheek. “i thought it was kind of cute. i can forgive you for stealing, right? you just wanted my attention so badly that you had to play a bit dirty.”

you shake your head quickly. “no, it’s not like that! i swear i wasn’t trying to get your attention, i just—”

“well then, jesus fucking christ, what do i have to do to—,” hanbin snaps before promptly cutting himself off. there’s something in his eyes you’ve never seen before: desperation.

a large hand wraps around your throat in an instant, shoving you up against a blue locker. the motion knocks the wind out of you and you find yourself gasping for air. your hand flies to remove his from around your neck, but he catches it in his free one and brings it gently back down to your side.

“i told you in class that if you needed help calling off the vultures, you should ask me while you still can,” hanbin rasps, rubbing his thumb up the left side of your throat. “but you weren’t listening, dove. the gulper got first bite. the rippers tore you apart...”

you breathe shallowly, glancing from side to side for some route of escape.

“but now the king has landed,” he says, tongue flitting across his teeth. “and he’s fucking starving.”

you blink at him, lips parted in stupid shock. “i—... i honestly had no idea you knew so much about vultures.”

“THAT’S WHAT YOU TOOK FROM THAT ARE YOU KID—,” he yells, finger pads digging in tighter to the skin of your neck. his gaze falls to your lips, supple and pretty even in fear. he trails down to your shirt, a button-up front that seems to entice him. “take it off.”

“b-but—.”

“take it the fuck off, (y/n). you should know by now how this goes,” hanbin snarls, grabbing your hand and bringing it to the trail of buttons. you start to fiddle with them, but you have some trouble under the pressure of his gaze. “can’t even undo a button? hm? too fucking stupid, dove?”

you find yourself nodding against all odds.

“need binnie to do it for you?” he coos, smile lines illuminating his face again.

you just nod. it seems to be what you do best.

hanbin unfastens the buttons one-handed and with ease. once your shirt is open, he undoes the center clasp of your bra and exposes your chest. then, he sighs with dramatic disappointment. “seriously? that’s it? got me all excited to see your tits and this is what you have to show?”

you look down at your incredibly normal and attractive chest. you’d never really doubted the allure of that part of your body before. should you have?

the humiliating comment causes a lump to form in your throat... and an embarrassingly intense ache to shoot through your heat.

he tugs the center hem of your shirt, pulling the fabric further off your shoulders. “it’s a good thing the other guys didn’t see them. they’re far more superficial than me. you should be grateful you found a guy who can look past the disappointment. ”

hanbin’s free hand gropes your chest, thumb rubbing circles around one nipple and then the next as you let out a soft whimper.

“mm, i heard that,” he breathes with a smirk. “even though you never hear me. probably didn’t even fucking clock the first line in that stupid poem. but i hear you, dove. so let me give you what you want. all you have to do is ask.”

you gulp, softly responding, “w-want you to... touch me.”

“yeah?” hanbin affirms, finger trailing down your stomach.

you nod again, this time more assuredly under the guise of his encouraging smile. that is, until a harsh slap stings your cheek.

“well that wasn’t a fucking question, was it?” hanbin hisses, rubbing soothing circles into your cheek with his thumb. “you’re in an advanced poetry class and you don’t even know how to form an interrogative sentence? just must be doodling all the time, huh? about all the boys who’ve made a mess of you this week? like the dumb little slut you are.”

hanbin’s free hand slips under your skirt, fingers brushing over your clothed core before pulling it out again. you gasp when you see his fingers already covered in your arousal.

his eyes darken as he reaches up your skirt again, tearing a hole right through your lace panties and stuffing two fingers inside of you immediately as you cry out.

“oh, dove, why would i wanna put my cock in here, hm? can already feel how much those other assholes have stretched you out,” hanbin says with another sigh of disappointment.

another bout of worry clouds your mind. was that true? was matthew right? you thought he was just being a misogynistic pig, but... had you really been physically tainted from the events of this week?

“so fucking lucky, dove,” hanbin whispers, removing his hand from your heat and taking one of yours. he brings it down the front of his athletic shorts and then wraps it around his impossibly hard length. you look up at him, wide-eyed. “where every other man would see damaged goods, i see prime real estate.”

“what—”

“gonna fuck you now, m’kay?” hanbin interjects, pulling his shorts down and exposing himself to you. you hadn’t really seen the other boys up close or at all like this. hanbin’s cock is pretty, long with just a few visible veins and a pink head that’s leaking a bit of pre-cum. it makes your mouth water. maybe you are a dumb slut.

maybe you like it like that.

or maybe it’s just hanbin’s large hand covering your throat, pressing at the sides tenderly that’s making you start to feel a bit high. he brings himself to your entrance, lining up the tip and coating it in your juices. he’s about to push himself inside of you, when he suddenly freezes.

“you want me to, right?” hanbin asks, tone suddenly much softer than it was before. his eyes are locked with yours, holding you there with him against the wall of lockers. “you want me inside you? just me. not those other guys? not junseo hyung-nim or—”

BEEEEEEEEEP. BRRANG. BRRANG. BRRANG. BEEEEEEEE....

a fire alarm rips through the locker room, loud and annoying as ever. you try to jump out of hanbin’s grasp, but his hands stay fixed around you.

“let me... let me go!” you assert, hitting his chest with your palm. the pressure on your neck that felt so good just a few moments ago is now filling you with fear, “are you trying to kill me or something!?”

his brow raises slightly, as if he only just noticed the alarm. his grip loosens and you take the opportunity to scramble away from him.

“of course i’m not,” he replies dejectedly, re-situating his shorts before huffing, “like you have a body worth going to jail for.”

“oh, shut up,” you retort, rolling your eyes as you race to re-button your shirt. “this is all YOUR fault. whatever’s going on this week, i know you’re behind it. you’ve run out of ideas to keep me small. but i’m not small. in fact, i’m a much bigger person than you are! so... i’m sorry for whatever i did that made you hate me so much in the first place. now, please, let’s get out of here.”

you start to run down the aisle of lockers towards the exit door, but a lack of footsteps behind you causes you to stop and turn back.

“come on,” you urge as hanbin continues to stand in place and stare at you, unmoving. it might be the most infuriating thing he’s done all day. “oh, fucking burn then.”

the tangible anger in your voice startles both of you. hanbin blinks quickly back at you, wide-eyed as if you’ve just slapped him across the face. whoever gave him the right to feel that way is sorely mistaken. you turn back around, throwing over your shoulder:

“are there birds worse than vultures?”

˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　　 . ✦　

gender neutral version below

EXPLICIT SMUT 18+ WARNINGS: choking (reader receiving and safely executed lmao), chest/abdomen groping (reader receiving; no anatomical descriptions or gender specific language), heavy petting (reader and hanbin receiving), finger penetration (brief, reader receiving), erotic humiliation and degradation (towards reader; regarding looseness of hole (non specific) from desperation and disappointing chest/abdomen region (not related to gender or anatomical gendered parts he's just being a dick to you i hope this makes sense)), slut and whore are also used but not in a gendered context, one slap across face (reader receiving), slight dub-con but we know how reader rolls now lol. hanbin is insanely toxic. enjoy.