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just-jordie-things · 2 months

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we weren’t just friends - okkotsu yuuta

word count: 11.9k warnings: heavy second base action (no tops, dry humping) but no smut, swearing, drinking but it’s legal summary: their friends think that if there’s tension between new roomates (y/n) and yuuta, then they should just act on it. more info: college!au, aged up characters, roommate!au, childhood friends, unrequited(?) love

part one: “face it, you want it, you crave it” ___

Having Yuuta as a roommate was never all that weird for (y/n). Things sort of just worked out that way, and honestly she was so relieved that she didn’t have to scramble to find a stranger to split the rent with- or face homelessness- that she hadn’t really given it much thought until a few days after he’d moved all of his things in and had settled into their now shared space.

On paper, he was the perfect candidate after all. They’d been friends for years, having known each other since childhood it was easy to trust him in her space. He already spent so much time in her dorm when she still lived on campus that having him in her living space didn’t seem like it’d be that much different anyways. Not to mention she knew him to be tidy and a pretty good cook, so as long as he was able to supply half the rent every month, she was content.

The day he’d moved in she’d been so happy that she’d hardly focused at all on helping him unpack. Most of her time was spent dancing around to the moving playlist she’d made, and she insisted they jam out while they- he- unpacked his things in the empty room adjacent to hers. When she wasn’t dancing, she was rambling on about how delighted she was that he agreed to move in with her. Looking back it was probably a little much, but Yuuta wasn’t overwhelmed by her excitement in the slightest.

As soon as she’d mentioned being on the hunt for a roommate he hadn’t thought twice about offering himself. They both just so happened to decide to move off campus to find cheaper, and steadier housing. The market wasn’t all that great so living alone wouldn’t have been possible even if either of them had interest in the roach infested studios in the area. Even the two bedroom apartment they shared was rather tiny, the living space and kitchen was essentially all one room, and there was only one bathroom, but they made it work. It was still more affordable than living on campus, and that’s all they cared about.

For the first two weeks it had been fun, even. It felt like a sleepover with their best friend, but every night. They spent most nights in cozy pajamas curled up on the couch sharing their favorite movies and swapping snacks. (y/n) couldn’t believe how lucky she was to have him, and she was happy to tell him so every chance she got.

Yuuta couldn’t believe how lucky he was to get to spend all his free time with her. No longer did he have to coordinate around both of their schedules in order to have quality time with his favorite person. If she had to study for the evening and couldn’t hang out, he’d happily sit on her bed scrolling on his phone or reading. When their friends were free they’d come over unannounced, because either (y/n) or Yuuta were bound to be around to hang out with.

It was just so easy, it almost felt like a dream. The beginning of having their own space as young adults to do with as they please.

Yuuta bought a fish tank for their living room, a whole ten gallon aquarium for a pretty betta fish that (y/n) helped him pick out. They spoiled it with plants and cool rocks for decoration. They took turns feeding him every three days, and regularly sat in front of his tank to admire him. If one of them weren’t present, the other would spam their phone with photos and videos of it swimming around, doing next to nothing, with captions full of hearts and emojis to swoon for their pet.

(y/n) spent her freedom a little differently.

At first it was decorating her new room with a maximalist aesthetic. Posters, tapestries, string lights, and any strange pretty thing she’d taken a liking to covered her walls so thick that most of it began to overlap. It could be overstimulating to some- as Maki had remarked when she first visited the place- but she loved it that way. It took her a full three days to collage a whole wall full of her favorite photos. Ones from childhood, some from grade school, most from her most recent experiences and adventures through college. If she were to pull out her phone and snap a photo to make a proper memory of the day, it was likely getting printed out the next day and taped up to the wall. Soon, those too began to pile up and overlap, but again, she loved it that way. Even Yuuta began to take pictures for her, printing them out when he found the time and sticking them to the fridge to surprise her.

Once the project that was her room had been tackled and she was satisfied with the home she’d made for herself, her desire for freedom took the form of heavy drinking. It might have been concerning, Yuuta certainly panicked a little bit when he’d come home from a late study group session and find her dancing around the kitchen with her favorite handle in her clutch and the belting of her favorite song echoing in the small space. Eventually her time of drinking alone proved to be just a phase, one too many hangovers having taught her a lesson on time and place for drinking hard alcohol straight. But he did come to learn that she was quite comfortable as a social drinker. So if the Zen’in twins and Toge were coming over, it wasn’t odd to find a drink in her hand. At least she started taking his advice and ending the night with a full glass of water and an ibuprofen.

All in all, living together hadn’t been too strange of a milestone for them. It was fun, it was easy, and they really couldn’t have asked for more out of a roommate. Being best friends was an added perk that just made it all the more smooth.

Until recently. ___

“I’m tellin’ you,”

(y/n) huffed as she pulled the straw from her mouth as she spoke. A signature vodka cranberry mixed to perfection after months of honing the skill of a perfect pour. Her movements are a little delayed and awkward as she leaned back into the kitchen counter, her elbows coming to rest on it to hold herself up as she leaned her head back dramatically. Maki, who had only been semi listening to the girl’s ranting, remained silent as she raised a brow at the display.

“I think he’s doin’ it on purpose” (y/n) finished with a mumble.

It was difficult to hear her over the game of mariokart that Yuuta and Toge were currently playing in the living room- they got quite competitive when it came to that game in particular- but Maki caught enough of it to understand where she was going.

She looked over at her sister with only mild interest in her expression. Mai touched her fingertips to her mouth as she chuckled to herself, finding the situation far more amusing than Maki.

The situation began as simple as this: In order to save time in the mornings when both (y/n) and Yuuta had class, they’d been working on a bathroom schedule in order to optimize their time. For example, (y/n) had started doing her hair and makeup at a mirror in her room, where she’d sit on the floor and go through her skin care routine, and any other beautification and styling she’d felt inclined to for the day. That helped a lot with cutting back on hogging the shared bathroom.

Yuuta’s idea of helping to cut back on time, is to go back to his room directly after a shower to dry his hair and get dressed for the day. It was a great idea in theory, and would definitely save an extra five to ten minutes.

However twice now (y/n) had run into him in the short hall from the bathroom to his room. She shouldn’t have been so flustered. Realistically, she wasn’t seeing anything she hadn’t seen before. There had been plenty of times she’d seen him without a shirt. In the backyard of the home she’d grown up in they’d often set up a sprinkler to run through. In high school they’d gotten their volunteer hours in through lifeguarding together. In their freshman year of college they’d gone to just about every frat party, bonfire, and beach day that was thrown, just to be able to say they had taken on the party scene in their younger years. Seeing Yuuta shirtless was nothing new.

But twice now she’d practically run into him, with nothing but a towel held around his waist, damp hair sticking to his forehead and falling around his eyes, pale skin still littered with droplets of water, and had he started working out-?

Even thinking about it now she felt her face heating up. She shouldn’t have committed that image to memory- but it happened twice already so it couldn’t have been more than her mind staying sharp, right?

“If he’s doing it on purpose,” Mai’s voice had (y/n) snapping her head up as she crash landed back in reality. Her blush was obvious to the twins, but she hoped to play it off as the alcohol in her system.

Certainly not the thoughts that had started littering her mind, thoughts that you just don’t have about a best friend and roommate.

“Then why don’t you just do something about it?” Mai finished with a small smile on her face that suggests she has quite a few ideas in mind on how she could fix this problem.

(y/n’s) eyes widen, and she brings her drink back to her lips to ease her racing heart and spiraling thoughts.

“Like what?” She mumbles, as if there was a chance the guys could possibly hear their conversation.

Nothing could compete with the sound effect of a blue shell incoming, and Toge’s defeated screeches.

Maki scoffs before laughing, finally finding entertainment in this whole ordeal (y/n) had gotten herself so worked up about. The last ten minutes of their girl talk in the kitchen had been for nothing, it seemed, if she wasn’t going to act on her obvious infatuation.

“Just bone?” She suggests with a small laugh.

(y/n) swears her eyes were going to bulge right out of their sockets, and what was meant to be a small sip of her drink turned into a gulp as she sucked a little too harshly on her straw.

“Maki,” Mai hisses, smacking her sister’s arm, before turning back to (y/n). “She’s not wrong though, that would definitely solve everything”

“I can’t do that!” (y/n) squeaks. “I just- it’ll pass, it’s just a little crush, right? That’s normal, right?”

She looks between the twins for confirmation, validation in her silly feelings that were bound to pass with time. Mai winces. Maki rolls her eyes. This wasn’t looking promising. But perhaps they were just too eager to set up their friends and see some drama to unfold, so (y/n) decides that their advice might be a bit on the biased side.

“Just test the waters a little first,” Maki suggests, shooting Mai a look as she tries to telepathically tell her to reel it in. “Dip your toes in a little. No harm in that, right?”

“You live together, how have you not experimented a little already?” Mai mumbles, her brows furrowing together as her eyes glaze over, as though trying to process how it could be possible. The calculations simply weren’t adding up.

(y/n) gnaws on the inside of her cheek, and her fingers begin to tap on her glass.

“I guess…” She says, but her uncertainty is obvious. “Well… how much is a little?”

The twins burst into laughter, and they’re looking at each other like there’s an inside joke she’s not in on, and (y/n) pouts at them for teasing her in their silent twin way. This wasn’t the first time, she should be used to feeling like an odd man out when it came to hanging out with these two, but they were her last hope for guidance, so she took what she could.

For now, she determined that Maki and Mai weren’t going to be of much help as they snickered and muttered to one another. (y/n) couldn’t make out what they were saying exactly, but she gathered enough to realize they were slights against her, and she had enough of the bordering-on-friendly fire.

“I’m playing mariokart” She huffs, strutting out of the kitchen space and across the floor to the living room. In this small apartment it was an open floor so the couch was only ten feet away, but it was far enough that she couldn’t hear their laughter anymore, and for now that was enough.

Yuuta and Toge were sitting on the sofa, both heavily concentrating on the competitive game. Their wrists are flicking the switch controllers with precise movements as they steer, but when it comes to using items and drifting, their fingers are smashing buttons viciously. As she rounds the sofa she eyes the screen, seeing that the pair are battling it out for first place, with Yuuta currently claiming the spot.

That is, until (y/n) plops onto the cushioned armrest right beside him, and he glances up at her out of habit. The two seconds that he takes to smile up at her- even though she’s watching the screen- is all Toge needs to creep up Yuuta’s character and throw a green shell directly at his kart.

The remote tingles in his hands with a familiar vibration, his character having taken a hit. Yuuta’s head swivels back to the screen, as he desperately tries to make a comeback, but two other characters have already passed him, and now he’s in fourth place.

“What the hell!?” He groans as he realizes his demise is inevitable. It was the third lap of the game, and Toge’s Yoshi was about to cross the finish line. “That was so uncool!”

Toge’s cackling to himself, proud of his sneaky attack. He had a feeling it would work, all he needed was the perfect distraction. And nothing distracted Yuuta like (y/n).

As Yoshi crosses the finish line, Yuuta drops his controller to his lap with a defeated huff. He leans back into the sofa, head hitting the cushion as he glares at the screen displaying Yoshi’s victory dance, before he turns to (y/n), who gives him a sympathetic smile, before offering her drink to him.

“That was a dirty move,” She sides with him- typical, Toge rolls his eyes at the two of them, which goes unnoticed- “You’ll get him next time”

Yuuta takes the glass from her hand, sipping from the straw experimentally. There had been a period of time where her drinks were so strong he was about ready to cut her off from alcohol altogether. When a perfect mixture of vodka and cranberry juice hits his tongue, he’s pleasantly surprised that it’s not too bitter. His eyes light up at her before he swallows. She giggles at the obvious reaction.

“Yeah yeah” She mutters before he could even say anything. He didn’t have to for her to understand exactly what he was thinking.

Yuuta chuckles at her, before scooting over on the sofa, closer to Toge, so that there was some space for her to sit next to him.

“You want in?” He asks, holding his controller out to her.

She squeezes awkwardly into the small space, her legs still hanging over the armrest, and her back almost completely pressed into his side. Toge had shifted completely to one side of the couch, giving Yuuta more than enough space to also move so that (y/n) could sit properly. But neither of them seem to notice the blonde boy’s silent offer. Or, if they did, they didn’t pay any mind to it.

(y/n) takes the controller with a grin and a nod, and Toge starts up the next round. Yuuta had chosen Rosalina as his character, a favorite between them that they often fought over so much she was usually off limits when the two of them played.

Despite having a delayed start because Yuuta had finished the last race somewhere in the middle of the lineup, (y/n) makes a good comeback for the both of them. He cheers for her, leaning forward in his seat again as though he were still focused on the game for his own win. (y/n) remained in a relaxed position slumped back against him, her fingers moving with swift ease over the controller.

She giggled at the way Yuuta was on the edge of his seat, literally, sipping down the rest of her drink as he watched her play. He threw out advice when she picked up items, and winced for her when she took a hit.

“Use that! Throw it! Throw it at-!”

“Yuuta you’re being a backseat driver” (y/n) said calmly, keeping the red shell in her inventory despite his demands.

Toge barks out a laugh, still coasting in first place without much competition from the computers. But (y/n) was quickly gaining on him, drifting and gliding past the other spots with ease, and Yuuta began to realize her strategy. With a knowing grin on his face he leans back into the couch again, and puts his faith in her abilities.

She kicked his ass most of the time when they played one on one anyways.

Soon enough she was in second place and Yoshi was in sight. Yuuta’s hand happily tapped at her shoulder, giddy with his excitement. Toge had gone eerily silent as he put all of his focus in remaining in first. But his efforts were wasted, without an item to defend himself, (y/n) was able to take him out with one blow, stealing first place for herself and crossing the finish line on the final lap shortly after.

She raised her arms victoriously, but even more excited than her was Yuuta, who bragged in Toge’s face before wrapping his arms around his roommate and congratulating her on her win. She laughed, her head falling back on his shoulder as she laughed at his antics.

He beamed at her, and even though it was silly, there was no doubt in her mind that his pride in her was anything but authentic. Yuuta was just like that. He celebrated even the most minor of conquests.

Toge tossed the controller onto the coffee table with a string of curses muttered under his breath.

“Good timing,” Maki calls, dangling her keys in her hand and catching their attention. “Are you crashing here or are you leaving with us?”

(y/n) lifts her head up from Yuuta’s shoulder, peeking over the back of the couch at the twins who suddenly had their shoes on. She gives them a pout.

“Leaving so soon?”

“We’ve been here for eight hours” Mai giggles.

“It’s one in the morning you maniac” Maki rolls her eyes.

“You could just spend the night,” (y/n) offers, her features brightening up at the idea. “Sleepover-!”

“No,” Maki shakes her head firmly, despite Mai’s excited expression at the idea. “We have class in the morning, we’ll do it another time, okay?”

(y/n) nods, satisfied with that answer.

Toge shuffles off the couch, giving a bitter congratulations to the winning pair of mariokart, although he made it clear to Yuuta that he only won because (y/n) took over.

They bid their friends goodbye, promising to meet up again at some point soon, knowing fully well they wouldn’t make a plan, and someone was bound to show up on their doorstep without invitation tomorrow or the next day.

And then it was just (y/n) and Yuuta.

She was still tucked under his arm, he was still drinking the remnants of the drink she’d made for herself but had conveniently forgotten about so he could have the last of it.

“Are you going to bed, too?” She asks him, and he chuckles at her desire for staying up late.

They’d always been opposites in that aspect.

(y/n) was a night owl through and through, whether party mode was on or not. She was most productive when the sun went down. It wasn’t odd to find her studying or doing chores at odd hours of the night. He’d actually had to tell her she couldn’t vacuum in the middle of the night, claiming she was going to make their neighbors complain. But it was a treat for him to wake up and find the apartment spotless and organized.

Meanwhile Yuuta was an early to rise kind of guy. He had a decent morning routine for himself that involved an alarm going off at eight in the morning every morning, and it wasn’t often he broke that routine. He’d be up for a few hours before (y/n) would drag herself out of bed and into the kitchen for breakfast- which was usually waiting for her on the counter.

“It is the middle of the night now,” He tells her, before checking his phone. “Actually it’s not technically night anymore, it’s Friday morning”

(y/n) frowned at him. He chuckles again.

“Fine, fine” (y/n) starts to sit up, but doesn’t go too far. She pulls her legs onto the cushion beneath her, and then turns to face him properly.

For some reason when she looks up at him again, she’s brought back to her conversation with the Zen’in twins, and she can’t help but wonder what they would have advised her to do if she’d stuck around for the rest of their conversation. She wondered if Yuuta had ever experienced this dilemma, or if she was the only one creating the tension in the apartment. She wondered if he even felt it.

“Som’thin’ on your mind?” Yuuta asks after a few beats of silence pass. His eyebrows furrow in the slightest, and (y/n’s) expression eases into something calmer. She must’ve been thinking too hard, she supposes.

“Not really, just had a weird talk with Maki and Mai” She tries to brush it off as not a big enough deal worth talking about, but for some reason, this seems to catch his interest.

“Oh yeah?” He muses curiously. “Don’t tell me they want to move in-”

“No!” (y/n) let out a burst of laughter as she shook her head. “Where did that come from? Where would they even stay?” She asks, gesturing to the small space around them. Yuuta laughs with her, shrugging his shoulders.

“My thoughts exactly,” He agrees quietly, as though they were keeping it a secret just between them. “But everyone hangs out here all the time, I don’t want them getting any ideas,” He says, half seriously. “This is our sweet deal,”

Yuuta laughs again, but this time when she laughs along with him it’s soft, almost unsure. Her heart flutters in her chest at the sentiment he shares for having this place with her. Even after all this time, she feels relief in waves of warmth when he voices his happiness here.

“What is it then?” He asks. He leans back into the couch cushion, but keeps his eyes on hers. She tilts her head and hums in question. “Your weird talk,” He reminds her, “What was it about?”

“Oh,” (y/n) drops her gaze from his, her face warming up at the idea of admitting to him what they’d been talking about.

I’ve just been thinking about you shirtless a lot lately, and sometimes I can’t sleep over it just doesn’t seem to be an appropriate thing to say to a long time best friend who she now lives with.

“They were just asking questions about what it’s like to live together” She settles on a half lie. They had been curious about the living situation. She didn’t necessarily have to disclose that Mai found it unthinkable that they were able to share a living space and not tear each other’s clothes off… right?

“For us to live together?” Yuuta raises a brow. (y/n) tucks her hands into her lap and nods.

She tries to get comfortable leaning her back against the arm rest, but everytime his gaze falls on her, it feels heavier than usual, and she struggles to sit still. Her hands fiddle in her lap, she squirms in her seat, and she can only hold his eye contact for a minute at a time. Did he always look at her like that? She wondered when she dared to meet those deep blue irises again. Was it the few drinks he’d had that made them look darker? Or was she seeing things?

“Why was that so interesting?” He asks. “I mean, it’s been six months,”

Again, her heart flutters at the thought of him knowing exactly how long they’d been living together. Or maybe she was being stupid and he was just keeping track of the rent.

“What’s so interesting about now?”

(y/n) shrugs, a small smile on her face that she can’t help. “I don’t know”

But he sees through the statement, especially with that smile on her face that tells him there was more she wasn’t telling him. Curiosity gets the best of him, and he raises a brow at her.

“Well,” He ponders, “What were they so curious about?”

(y/n) drags her bottom lip between her teeth as she narrows her eyes at him, proving that she could read him well, too, and she could tell that he was trying to pry even though she’d been repeatedly dismissing the subject.

“Nosy tonight,” She scolds him as she kicks her legs out to throw them over his, stretching the sore muscles from sitting on her feet for too long. “Were you eavesdropping, Okkotsu?”

“No,” He lets out a small laugh. “Though now I wish I had been, since you’re being unusually cryptic about it”

“Unusual?” She repeats the word in a drawl, tilting her head and pretending to think it over. “I wouldn’t say unusual,” She argues softly. “I don’t tell you everything”

“Yes you do” Yuuta replies matter of factly, his expression doesn’t even flicker. (y/n) blinks at him.

“No…”

“Oh yeah? Tell me something you haven’t told me then” He challenges, his lips curling into a smile.

She huffs, and quickly tries to rack her brain for something she’d kept from him. Secrets and embarrassing moments fly through her train of thought as she tries to latch onto a memory that she was sure she hadn’t shared with him.

Her eyes light up as she finally remembers something she’s sure he didn’t know.

“Oh!” She leans forward with eager anticipation to prove him wrong. “Remember my first boyfriend? In middle school?”

Yuuta raised a brow, but nodded in confirmation.

“On our first date, he took me out-”

“Mhm,” Yuuta hums, recalling the details of that date without much thought at all. “Bowling” He said calmly.

“Right,” (y/n) chuckles, flustering a bit that he already seemed to remember the event as easily as she had. “Well, at the end of the date, when we were waiting outside for his mom to pick us up, he’d asked if he could kiss me while we were alone, before she got there,” Her words are a little slurred, which she was quick to mentally blame on the few drinks she’d had. “But I told him n-”

“- you told him no because you ate chili fries while you were bowling and you didn’t want him to taste it and then he kissed you anyways and you slapped him on instinct and he was a little whiner about it and said you did taste like chili fries and you smacked him again” Yuuta filled in the rest of the story, his head rested back against the cushion again, as though he was bored just from retelling it.

(y/n) blinked, her lips parting into an ‘o’ shape as she realized maybe he did know everything about her already. Should it have been obvious to her from his confidence on that matter? Probably. Did she still feel a determination to find something, anything, that he didn’t know? Definitely.

At her lack of response, Yuuta rolled his head to the side, a lazy smirk tugging on his lips when he regarded her soft surprise. Her eyes narrow in the slightest at him, playful mockery of his know-it-all attitude.

“Well, then,” (y/n) scoffed as she took on a refreshed attitude when it came to rubbing in his face that she knew something he didn’t. “I suppose you already knew that the twins were curious about how you and I seem to manage living together without some kind of netflix-romcom-level sexual tension”

The teasing tone in her voice and eager gleam in her eye seem to disappear as soon as the words come out and she realizes what she’s just said. In slow motion, and as her face falls into one of regret, she realizes two things.

One, that by addressing the sexual tension, whether it existed or not, it instantly thickened in the air. All at once she’s aware of it. Suddenly the weight of her legs in his lap is so heavy she feels a desire to curl up into him completely. Yuuta has one arm draped over the back of the couch cushions in her direction, his hand hangs loosely just in front of her shoulder. If she were to lean forward in the slightest movement, his fingers would graze her sweater. His other hand lays on her knee, and sporadically he taps his index finger against it. Sometimes she thinks he’s playing a familiar beat that’s been stuck in his head, too, but then he pauses and she loses track of figuring out what song that is. Even her breathing is suddenly manual, and she’s afraid if she sucks in a breath too sharp, he’ll question it. So she takes slow, shallow breaths, barely filling her lungs with oxygen. Was that why she was getting so dizzy?

Two, now that she’s admitted what her and the twins had been talking about earlier, (y/n) fears that she’ll have to confess that the reason they were talking about the sexual tension was because she’d created the sexual tension- and yet she had gone to them to blame him for it.

Yuuta blinks, his brows furrowing at first, as though to process the information, but he just as quickly relaxed his face and pursed his lips, giving her a small nod.

(y/n) doesn’t dare utter a word. Instinct claws up her throat and begs her to take it back, make a joke and apologize to smooth it over and hopefully they’d never mention it again. The words die before she can utter them. She remains frozen beside him, focused on his every microexpression, hoping to figure out what he was thinking before he voiced it.

“I see,” He says, a small smile gracing his features that has her relaxing just a little bit.

Yuuta can feel her weight shifting as she sinks further into the couch cushion. He could sense her nerves from a mile away, so he spoke carefully, hoping not to spook her into retreating early.

Comfortingly, his hand smooths over her knee, long fingers grazing her thigh from the short caress.

“I don’t think I would’ve guessed that,” He admits with a chuckle through his nose. His eyes flicker over to hers, watching her closely. Her cheeks are pink, and her gaze shifts between his eyes at a faster rate than usual. She’s still anxious. “But I can’t say I’m surprised”

Her lips twitch with a curious emotion Yuuta can’t read as well as before. Her brows pinch and then relax. She’s reading him, he thinks. His mind is a little hazy from the few drinks he’s had, so he might be seeing things that aren’t there, but he’s equally intrigued by the conversation.

“You don’t think it’s weird?” She asks. Her voice is quiet, but he doesn’t mistake it for uncertainty. In fact, he can tell just how genuinely interested she is in obtaining his thoughts. Just as he is, she’s on the edge of her seat, and only pushing further to see where this new line of thought would lead them both. “Living together, I mean” She clarifies, unnecessarily.

The pad of his finger taps against her knee, once, and then twice. His lips purse and she watches the movement with her breath hitched in her throat. The room was getting hot from the thickening tension that she’d created. It was almost uncomfortable, her body screamed for her to get up from this couch, pull herself from where she was half draped over his lap and put as much distance between them while she still could. She was approaching a line between them that she’d never even tiptoed across before, and she wasn’t sure what lied on the other side, but god, she was just dying to find out.

“Weird? Not in the slightest” Yuuta murmurs honestly. She can tell from the way his eyes lock onto hers that he does mean it, and relief flooded her. Before it came back in the form of excitement, and now her skin was buzzing everywhere that their bodies were touching.

“You’re not just saying that?” She double checks, leaning forward off of the arm rest to study him up close.

They were already close enough, but there was a quiet desire in the back of her mind longing to push closer, until she could make out the individual swirls of blue in his irises. Her lips curve into a soft, lovely smile as she admires him, and Yuuta fights the way his own breath chokes up in his throat.

“You really don’t think it’s weird we’ve never…” She trails off, her head shaking in a small movement, just enough to make a few stray hairs fall into her eyes. “I dunno, like, even kissed or anything?”

His eyes grow rounder at the question, widening just a little bit, but enough for her to notice. She knew such a blunt question would make him nervous, Yuuta always grew nervous at any sort of romantic prospect. He’d been that way since they were kids. If he had a crush on someone it was obvious, but as soon as (y/n) would press about it, he’d get red in the face and begin to stutter. It had always been cute, if not a little silly. But now it had her curious as to why. They’d been friends for so long, and even now that they were older, it was like his initial response to such questioning would make him shut down.

‘You could bring girls here, you know,’ She’d told him once, shortly after they’d settled into the apartment. ‘I could even leave for the night. Stay with the twins, or somethin. That way it’s not weird’

He’d laughed, and given her a puzzled look, like the mere idea was ridiculous, like he didn’t even understand what she was suggesting. The pink in his cheeks told her he knew fully well what she was saying. She’d returned the confused look at the time. ‘Don’t you want to bring girls here?’ She’d asked point blank.

‘N-no, well, maybe,’ His response was immediate but he had no clue what he was saying. ‘I just haven’t thought about it’ He’d said instead.

She’d teased him for it, but dropped the subject. It might’ve been entertaining to watch him squirm, but she didn’t want to make him uncomfortable. So she’d simply reminded him that it was alright with her. Followed by, ‘I mean, you wouldn’t mind if I brought someone here, would you?’

He’d stared at her for a minute, his answer not as instantaneous as the last. His heart lurched to his throat, or perhaps it had been bile, and he found himself biting down on his tongue to keep from speaking too quickly. His expression hadn’t flickered even for a moment, remaining neutral as she stared at him, awaiting his response.

Yuuta hadn’t said a word. He simply shook his head, and then left the conversation completely by returning to his studies, hoping that giving his attention back to his textbook would drop the topic. It had worked, she’d moved on right away, and it hadn’t been brought up since.

Neither one of them had brought a visitor to the apartment, besides their friends who frequented regularly. There were no dates, no lovers, no visitors of the night snuck in, or even mentioned. Pondering it now, Yuuta supposes there were very few things she didn’t tell him. Then again, he didn’t exactly have an interest in knowing those things. In fact, the mere idea of it had bile rising in his throat.

Yuuta arched a brow at her, silently questioning her train of thought. Since that conversation early on in their roommate-ship, (y/n) rarely brought up this sort of topic. Occasionally she had a date, but nothing seemed to last longer than a couple of weeks, and she didn’t talk much about those events in detail. Always beginning with a simple ‘I have a date tonight’ and later followed up with ‘it didn’t work out’ and a shrug as she’d cozy up to him on this very sofa. Yuuta never met any of the people she’d go out with. (y/n) never offered him to. They left it that way, unspoken, and simple.

Well, it wasn’t all that simple at all. The nights she’d spend out of the house on these mystery dates Yuuta found himself sitting frozen and staring off into space, letting time lapse slowly as he waited for her return. A part of him hoped no one ever lingered at the door, so he wouldn’t have to see who it was she spent her time with, who it was that was her type.

But another part of him, the part that he tried to bury deep down, longed to look one of these men in the eyes, just once. He wouldn’t even say anything, he was sure he wouldn’t need to. If he could get one good look at them, he was sure he could make it clear just how undeserving of her time they were. Because at the end of the day, she had him, and she had him in every way that mattered. Since they were children, he’d been there, showing her what true love really looked like, felt like. He was there for every important event and milestone. He was here now, sharing a living space with her. And he’d be there for everything that came next. Because he cared about her. Because he loved her.

And when she had him the way that she did, wrapped around a perfectly manicured finger, how could anyone else be remotely deserving of her?

The gears in Yuuta’s mind are operating as fast as they can, spinning and whirring as he tries to decipher where exactly she’s going with this. But the alcohol in his system has him under a haze, and he realizes he has yet to give her an answer to her question.

He clears his throat, and his lips twitch into an amused smile as he locks eyes with her.

“Is kissing the true evaluation of roommates?” He asks, a teasing lilt to his voice that has her blushing and rolling her eyes at him.

A chuckle rumbles from his chest as the back of her hand smacks into his shoulder, the action soft, as though she were trying to be gentle with him, as though he were fragile, even with his broad shoulders and lean muscle built into his body.

He can’t help but tease again, for the sole purpose of seeing her continue to fluster before him. The idea of making her forget how to behave around him after all this time has his heart skipping a beat, and a mischievous glint flashes in his eyes.

“What exactly are the Zen’ins feeding you, hm?” He asks, and she struggles to look him in the eye now.

“I wasn’t trying to suggest- they just- they got in my head…” She huffs defeatedly, her bottom lip sticking outwards in a small pout. Yuuta’s eyes catch the plump pink skin, and they linger there for a moment longer than they should’ve before meeting her gaze again. Her eyes have noticeably widened, proving he’d been caught, but he doesn’t feel as much anxiety about it as he should have.

“So what,” He speaks curiously. “Are you asking me to kiss you?”

A small laugh escapes her, a tinkly little sound that is exhaled with the breath she’d been holding. Yuuta’s lips quirk upwards at the nervous response, his excitement getting the best of him the longer he watches her shift her gaze and fluster. Why this had been on her mind, he didn’t quite understand, but in their current predicament, he didn’t care too much to peel it back layer by layer.

“I didn’t-” (y/n) starts to shake her head, but her uncertainty overcomes her and she tries to switch gears. “I don’t know… I guess they made me sort of… curious” She admits bashfully. Her eyes focus on her fiddling hands in her lap before turning the question onto him. “Is that weird?” Her voice is quiet again. “Have you ever… I dunno… thought about it?”

The hand that he had resting before her shoulder reached out then, fingertips barely grazing along the soft material of her cable knit sweater. His gaze followed the motion as his fingers twitched and moved further on their own accord, stopping at the hem of the neckline, just before skin could touch skin. He looks back at her, surprised to find her attention locked on him again.

All of the fucking time, his brain is so loud it almost overpowers the heartbeat pouding in his ears. I don’t think I’ve ever truly stopped thinking about you.

“I suppose you’ve got me thinking about it now” Is what he says, quiet and smooth, although the blush on his cheeks betrays him and makes him appear a little softer than he was going for. (y/n’s) lips twitch into a smile nonetheless, relieved again that he hadn’t made a fool out of her for admitting such a thing.

When she leans closer to him, his fingers finally graze against the side of her neck, and he wastes no time in sliding his large hand around the nape of her neck, not quite pulling her any closer than she’d already brought herself, but the presence of his hand is firm, making sure she won’t distance herself too soon.

“Do you want to?” She asks, her eyes lighting up with an excitement he’d sparked as soon as he’d validated her curiosities. Her voice holds the silly eagerness of a girl much younger than she is. A schoolgirl with a crush, Yuuta thinks to himself as he eyes her bright eyes and slowly growing grin.

The hand on her knee flexes with anticipation, giving her leg a slight squeeze. He wants to say all the right things, he wants to do all the right things, because jesus christ this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and Yuuta could not afford to waste even a second of it. He wanted to commit it all to memory, her soft voice, the smell of her perfume, the curve of her lips, the stars in her eyes- there was so much of her to take in, and not nearly enough time for him to adore it all properly. With hooded eyes he studied every feature as best he could, wishing he could slow down time, or even freeze it altogether.

“Yeah,” He mumbles, and the word drawls out of his mouth in a long sigh as his eyes move between hers and her lips with a longing she’d never seen on him before.

If she didn’t know any better, (y/n) might have thought that look was desperation.

“Yeah, I want to,” He repeats a little louder, and he moves closer to her then, invading her space and clouding all of her senses with him.

His eyes, dark from how blown out his pupils had grown, his low almost raspy voice, the lingering remains of his musky cologne, the way his tongue barely poked out of his mouth to wet his lips- her heartbeat was racing, and her hand trembled as she reached out to place it against his collarbone. Her touch was feather light, almost experimental despite having touched him on plenty of occasions before, just never quite like this.

Her long lashes flickered quickly as she too struggled with where to look. When their gaze caught in passing, Yuuta gave the back of her neck a gentle squeeze, silently instructing her to hold his stare.

“You’re sure?” He asks softly, and she almost laughs at how thoughtful the question is. How thoughtful he is. But she doesn’t. Instead, she gives him a sweet smile and a shrug of her shoulders.

“It’s just a kiss, right?” She murmurs, blissfully unaware of just how worked up Yuuta’s gotten himself over the prospect of just a kiss.

He doesn’t wait for further confirmation. He simply draws her closer by the back of her neck. Her eyes flutter shut and she tilts her chin forward in the most miniscule of movements, and yet he can read her anticipation with ease.

Her breath hitches in her throat, and Yuuta’s closing the rest of the distance as his lips touch hers.

For half a second they’re both frozen, paralyzed by the sudden fear that there was no taking this back, there was no going back from this. (y/n’s) blood ran cold in that brief moment, worried that Yuuta also realized this was a grave mistake.

But then his mouth moves over hers. His warm lips catch hers with a soft yet determined kiss, and she gives into every temptation that consumes her.

Her hand presses into his chest a little harder, before her fingers are curling into the soft cotton of his tee shirt. Her other hand falls against his shoulder when he tugs her closer in a moment of thoughtless desire. Yuuta pulls her by her knee, sliding her closer until her legs drape completely across his, the curve of her ass flush with his thigh. As soon as he does it he panics again that he’s made a mistake and taken this experiment of a kiss too far, but she responds so eagerly, with a quiet hum against his mouth and her hand curling around his neck as she deepens their kiss.

For a kiss on a whim between friends, (y/n) kisses him with the fervor of a woman starved, and Yuuta internally struggles on where the boundary between them currently lies. His hand twitches on her thigh, squeezing the plush of her leg and aching to move, to explore the rest of her warm and inviting body, to touch her everywhere he could reach. He has to hold her a little tighter just to fight the urge.

(y/n) is less worried about taking strides across the gray area of a boundary between them. The hand on his neck slides into his hair, scratching at his scalp before her fingers tangle into the dark tresses. She gives it a small tug, and his lips part against hers as he gasps, before chuckling quietly at her curiosity. He feels her smile against him before she’s pressing closer again. Her tongue darts over his swollen bottom lip, and she gives him no time to react to the hot and wet sensation before she’s capturing his lips again.

Yuuta wasn’t sure what he should’ve predicted when they’d drunkenly admitted to sharing a curiosity for kissing one another, but he hadn’t expected this. Her hands have a tight hold on him, on his shirt and in his hair, and her sweet, cranberry flavored lips feel relentless as she slots them into his again and again. He supposes he’s treating this little experiment the same, meeting each of her kisses with the same amount of heated excitement. He tries not to think about when he’s supposed to stop, when he’s supposed to pull away and say ‘well that answers that. Goodnight!’. So for now he pretends that moment won’t come.

On the other hand, (y/n) knows she should stop. She knows she should pull away from his addictive lips and release her shackles from him before she gets carried away.

But she’s already too far gone, isn’t she?

Shakily, she releases his shirt, and her hand blindly maps across his shoulder, then down his arm. Her touch is light but the tips of her fingers burn across his skin. His muscles are taut, and she wonders if he’s flexing to be impressive or if he’s filled with so much anticipation he’s fighting the urge to go further. When her hand reaches his it stills, and she presses her palm into the back of his hand where it lies on her leg.

A shudder escapes her and she pants softly into his mouth, breaking their kiss as she grabs his hand a little tighter, and moves it.

Yuuta breaks away instantly, wide eyes meeting hers and an apology on the tip of his tongue. But before she can pull his hand away from her, he realizes she’s holding it to place it somewhere else, not to pull it away.

She blinks her eyes open lazily as she sits up further, curving one of her legs across his lap, setting her knee down beside his hip. Yuuta follows her movements in a daze, his hooded eyes flitting across her body as he watches her straddle his lap and settle back into him carefully. She’s slow, agonizingly slow, giving him ample time to halt her, to say the word that he was done and his curiosity had been satiated.

He doesn’t.

Her hand pushes his again, guiding it up to her waist, and then down over her hip.

“This okay?” She mumbles, and his gaze moves from where she’s still lowering his hand. He tilts his head back as he looks up at her, and the look in his eyes has her melting right in his lap. Her free hand spreads out over his chest, fingers stretching as far as she can reach to feel as much of his heated skin through his tee shirt as she could.

He looks at her with his pupils so blown they almost eat up every last splash of blue in his irises. His lips are swollen and parted as he takes in quiet, heavy breaths. He nods at her lazily, drunkenly, and she wonders if it’s from the alcohol or from her.

When she pushes his hand under her ass, she doesn’t have to guide him any further. He squeezes into the supple flesh right away. She giggles quietly before his other hand is pulling her into him again and smashing her lips against his.

They’re much closer now, it had taken little to no effort for him to pull her into his chest, and their hips collided at the sudden movement.

All she thinks about as she tangles her hands in his hair and parts her lips for his tongue to lazily explore her mouth are those couple of times she’s caught him in a towel fresh out of the shower. How she’d scurried into her room and tried to ease her mind of the dark thoughts he’d made blossom. She thinks about how there hadn’t been anything to quite satisfy those thoughts. Ignoring them did nothing, acting on them in the safety of her room and her hand down her panties made them worse, and even now she feels tortured by the image, making her ache for more, more, more. Nothing was quite enough.

His teeth sink into her bottom lip and she whimpers, her brows pinching as her hips stutter against her will. She feels as though she should apologize for grinding on him so shamelessly, she could feel what this makeout session was doing to him after all, but he doesn’t seem to want an apology. His hands grip her hips and he pulls her down again, dragging her slowly over the growing hardness in his pants with a low groan.

The guttural sound reverberating from his chest only spurs her on, and she complies with the rhythm he sets on her hips, slow and painful. Their kiss breaks as she lets out a few soft pants, but she never fully catches her breath as she grinds into him.

She can’t help but peek her eyes open at him, falling in love with the way his eyes are screwed shut and his lips are parted as small moans fall from his mouth. The sight makes something spark send a jolt of pleasure down her tummy and to her core. She knew she should’ve given him a quick peck of the lips and called it a night, because she’s not sure she could muster the strength to stop where she so desperately wanted this to go.

As though annoyed that she’d stopped kissing him for too long, Yuuta pulls her in again, his hand curling around the back of her neck as his lips plant hot kisses down her throat. A high pitched gasp escapes her as his mouth drags along her skin between each kiss, and her hands are curled into his long hair again. Her hips stutter in their pace, but he has no issue with grabbing them tighter and guiding them back through his favorite rhythm.

His mouth lingers at what little of her collarbones are exposed, leaving wetter kisses there as he appreciates them as fully as he could, before traveling up the side of her neck. His teeth barely graze the sensitive skin, and he’s dying to mark up every inch of her, but he restrains himself from doing so, instead compromising for lingering nips and gentle sucks against her skin.

“So fucking beautiful,” He praises in a husky murmur, biting down on a particularly sensitive spot just under her jaw. He’s rewarded with a sudden rut of her hips and a pretty little moan as she angles her head further back to expose more of her neck to him. He soothes the spot with a painfully slow drag of his tongue before kissing it sweetly. “So perfect, so perfect f’me”

The praise sends her into a dizzy spell so strong she’s not sure she’s still on earth with him. This must be another universe, maybe heaven, maybe a dream. Her fingers fall from his hair, tugging at the collar of his shirt with an irritated whine.

When she tugs a few more times and he doesn’t get the hint, she throws her hands against his chest defeatedly.

“Yuu” She whines, and the sound of his name has his dick twitching in his pants, which he’s certain she could feel. His face flushes with embarrassment, but she just as quickly grinds into him with a roll of her hips.

He hums questioningly against the side of her neck, before tilting his head and kissing his way to the other side to give it attention too. She sighs, half irritated, half pleasured, as he sweeps her hair to the other shoulder with one brush of his hand. (y/n) continues to paw at his shirt, bunching up as much material at his shoulders as she could, her desperate attempts were weak, barely exposing the skin of his abdomen. When he still didn’t comply with her unspoken desire, she opted to reach for the skin that she could get her hands on.

Yuuta’s abs tensed and he shuddered as her fingers ghosted over the exposed skin. At first she barely trailed her fingertips over the muscle, but watching him twitch and shiver had her eager to slide her hands up his stomach, eagerly mapping their way up his chest, and pushing the rest of his shirt upwards on their mission.

His face is completely red as he watches her heavy gaze admiring his body. He wants to laugh and remind her that she’s seen him without a shirt many times before now, and he’s never seen her look at him like this, but her eyes are darkened with lust and his voice is stuck in his throat, so he doesn’t say anything.

Instead, when the hem of his tee shirt is bunched up at his chest, he leans forward off the couch cushion, and takes his hands off of her hips so he could grab his shirt from the back, lifting it over his head in one quick yank. (y/n) watches with her lip between her teeth as his hair falls back in his face, and he’s left shirtless before her.

The idea of slowing this down now is far from either of their minds. She hums with appreciation as her hands smooth along his collarbones, fingers drawing loopy shapes into his skin as they travel down his chest, slowly exploring the skin she’d been fantasizing about for weeks now. His blush runs down his neck and stops just short of his collarbones, and (y/n) admires every inch of it.

Eventually her stare is too intense and Yuuta begins to stir, wrapping his hands around her hips once more to pull her against his chest before his lips meet hers. It’s a slow kiss at first, and her tongue brushes over his in a way that almost feels sweet. He could still taste the vodka and cranberry juice in her mouth, and he swears it's enough to get him buzzed. But as his hands climbed her hips and dipped below the hem of her sweater, she picked up her pace, and he could feel quick puffs of air from her nse hitting his cheek.

She’s getting worked up again, and he’s eager to see just how far he could push her before she gives in completely.

He pulls her in close enough that her hands dart back into his hair, gripping at the back of his head tight enough that he couldn’t tear his lips from hers if he wanted to. Not that he’d want to, with how drunkenly she’s sucking at his lower lip and whimpering into his mouth with every roll of her hips.

Learning she’s so vocal when she’s turned on was a mistake on Yuuta’s part. Because now all he longed to do was find all the right things that made her tick and do it more. Every strained whine and whimper was music to his ears, wordless praise that he was doing something right, and he’d be damned before he found every spot that had her making those sweet noises for him.

Calloused hands roam over her abdomen, feeling it dip as she inhales sharply, and smirking against her mouth when he reaches higher, skimming the hem of her bra.

Unlike him, she wastes no time at all. Leaning back from their kiss abruptly, and grabbing her oversized sweater from the bottom and pulling it over her head with great urgency. Yuuta’s eyes fall to her chest instantly, wide and eager as they take in the simple red bra and how pretty the color makes her tits look. The thin lace on the edges complimenting the swell of her chest so beautifully he hopes he commits this image to memory.

Now it’s her turn to fluster and blush while he unabashedly stares. And she could tease him, remind him that he’s seen her in a bikini, that this was the same amount of skin he’s been gifted to see before, but she finds herself growing bashful under his heavy gaze. She can feel the way his eyes take a mental picture of her before he finally leans forward to enjoy the exposed skin further.

“Fuck,” He mumbles, lips brushing over her clavicle before kissing downwards, between the valley of her breasts. “You really are s’fucking beautiful, y’know that?” His words are slurred as his hands roam up her sides and hesitate just before reaching her chest. “Can I touch you, pretty girl?”

The praise and pet name swirl in her mind in a sweet haze that gets her high. She gives a soft mhm and a nod of her head before his hands gently cup over her chest, squeezing with a surprising softness into the warm flesh. Yuuta continues to kiss along the exposed skin he could reach, her collarbones, the swell of her tits, her shoulders, his lips dragged over every inch, making sure to disperse his attention diligently.

“So beautiful,” He sings praises between each kiss, noticing the way it has her squirming in his lap. “So perfect, every part of you”

He grabs her hands by the wrists, pulling them up to his shoulders, until her fingers twitch and reach for his hair again. Her hips roll over his with a quiet moan. He lifts his head at the noise, a lazy smirk on his lips as he gazes up at her. She furrows her brows at him as she moves her hips again, trying to get more friction between them.

His hands squeeze her tits simultaneously, before his left thumb drags over the thin material covering them, finding her hardened nipple with ease and rolling over it teasingly.

“Yuuta,” She sighs, tilting her head at him as her gaze drags slowly down his body, the desire in her eyes obvious.

It made the room thick with sexual tension, and they both only grew hotter in temperature the longer this was dragged out. When her eyes met his again it was undeniable what she was thinking. Her every want and desire was clear solely from her eyes focused on his, and how her fingers tightened in his hair, pulling him close to her face, but not quite kissing him.

His hands slid up her chest, fingertips prodding at the lacy cups of her bra until it gave way and he could slide his hands over the soft skin beneath. Her bottom lip quivers with what she wants to say next.

“Yuu, I-”

A sharp rap of a fist against their door has them jolting back to reality with a harsh swivel of both heads turning towards the sound. Without thought Yuuta’s hands fall to her waist and he pulls her into him, instinctively covering her barely exposed body if someone was to let themselves into the apartment. But the door doesn’t move, and the knocking persists.

“What the- it’s two in the morning,” (y/n) mumbles with a brow furrowed in confusion. “Who could-?”

The pair lock eyes as realization floods over them at the same time. Oh.

“Shit” Yuuta curses, and (y/n) quickly scurries off of his lap as she begins searching for their discarded articles of clothing.

Yuuta’s faster, tossing her a shirt and pulling one on for himself as he gets up off the couch and quickly heads for the door. He glances down at his pants with a wince, trying to adjust the obvious hard on, but to no use. He tugs as far as he can at the hem of his sweater to cover it. It’s a half decent job, and as he approaches the door he hopes it’s enough to hide it. He gives (y/n) a quick look to make sure she was decent.

She’s still sitting on the couch, her head peeking over the cushions curiously as he goes to open the door. Her hair is a mess, and her cheeks are flushed, both obvious giveaways to what she’s been up to for the last fifteen minutes. Yuuta’s sure he doesn’t look any better, and his hands rush to his head to smooth his hair down before he finally grabs the door knob and swings it open.

“What?” He greets Toge with more annoyance than usual, and the blonde on the other side of the door raises a brow at the tone.

Lavender eyes sweep over Yuuta’s flushed face and messy hair. He points into the apartment, vaguely towards the living room. Yuuta steps aside, letting his friend in for whatever it was he’d forgotten.

Toge gives (y/n) a friendly smile and waves as he strides into the living room. She returns the smile with weak lips.

Their visitor grabs a hoodie off of the arm chair to the left of the couch, something neither (y/n) or Yuuta had noticed left behind. He shrugs it on and stuffs his hands into the cozy fleece-lined pocket with a satisfied smile before waving goodbye to (y/n) and walking out of the room just as quickly.

“Sorry I didn’t notice it sooner,” Yuuta says sheepishly as Toge passes. “I could’ve brought it to you tomorrow”

Toge waves a dismissive hand, before twirling his finger around and shrugging. He must’ve still been in the area, Yuuta realizes.

He’s about to step out the door and leave without a catch, but he hesitates just as he steps over the threshold, his eyes doing a double take as he notes the dark green cable knit sweater Yuuta’s wearing.

His eyes linger on the article of clothing, brows pinching with familiarity, before he lifts his gaze to Yuuta’s, who’s also suddenly aware of the shirt he was wearing.

Before he can stop himself, Yuuta’s head is swiveling to where (y/n) was still watching them both from the couch. She’s sporting a tee shirt too loose on her frame to be hers. Toge follows Yuuta’s gaze, his eyes widening with realization.

“Anyways!” Yuuta clears his throat as he turns back to Toge with a grin so forced his cheeks hurt. “I’ll see you later?”

Toge opens his mouth, a grin of his own forming and a small laugh coming from his throat, but before anything could be said, Yuuta was ushering him through the rest of the doorway, already trying to shut the door in his face.

“Yeah, later, goodnight, Toge!”

The door closes a little harsher than he meant it to, the frame shaking as the latch clicks into place. Yuuta locks it just as quickly, before groaning and hitting his head against the wood. It felt like his heart was beating in his throat. He worried he might throw up from the anxiety coursing through his veins.

“That was close,” (y/n) says quietly, just loud enough for him to hear.

He’s too anxious to look at her. He squeezes his eyes shut and stays put against the door. Distantly, he remembers his dick is still hard.

He can hear (y/n) stirring, getting up from the couch and padding closer to him. She pauses just before she reaches him.

“Do you think he noticed the shirts?” She asks quietly.

Yuuta sighs, finally lifting his head from the door only to throw it back and stare at the ceiling. He doesn’t want to see how worried he’s sure his expression looks. He doesn’t want her to get the wrong idea about the regret pooling in his stomach.

“Probably” He admits in a quiet groan.

(y/n) shuts her eyes as she winces, covering her face with her hands.

The tension in the room is no longer due to sexual desire overtaking their inhibitions. It was awkward. Painfully awkward.

“I feel so stupid,” She mumbles into her hands.

Yuuta’s head snaps towards her, taking in the shame in her body language. His heart sinks towards his stomach. Had they made a massive mistake? (y/n) drags her hands down her face before looking up at him, her brows drawn together with a knot of worry between them. Had he made a massive mistake?

“I am so- I’m so sorry,” She tells him weakly. “I shouldn’t have- that was- I was-”

She can’t even finish a thought, much less an explanation on how ridiculously impulsive and embarrassing that was. Her face is growing pale and she feels sick to her stomach. She couldn’t believe she’d just ruined one of the greatest friendships she’s ever had over a silly conversation with the Zen’in twins about a silly crush. She couldn’t believe she’d just ruined the perfect living situation with the perfect roommate over a crush that probably would've gone away on it’s own had she just handled it maturely.

“It’s okay-” He starts to say, trying to find the right way to explain to her that he wasn’t upset in the slightest about what happened between them. He’d only been embarrassed about practically getting caught. He knew their friends well, and he was sure that Toge wasn’t the only one to notice the swap of shirts. Surely Maki and Mai had already been given an earful about the whole ordeal.

Before he can say anything else, (y/n’s) cutting him off.

“I should go to bed,” Her voice is too soft to overpower his, but he shuts up as soon as she speaks. “I’m… I’m really sorry, Yuuta,”

His eyebrows furrow as he takes in her sad, apologetic eyes. She really meant it. She really felt guilt over what had happened. His stomach twists with disturbance, and fear.

“Please forgive me, I… I hope you can forget about… that”

Forget? No…

But she’s turning away from him, running her hands through her hair in a stressful manner as she quickly darts for her room. Yuuta’s left standing at their door, wide eyed and open mouthed in his shock.

Did that all really just happen?

His palm comes up to cover his mouth, the realization settling into his bones and making his blood run cold.

God, it did, it really did.

He’s slow as he puts the switch remotes back on the console to charge, before turning off all the lights and going to his own room. He unzips his pants and kicks them off somewhere in his room before crawling into bed, not bothering to change into something proper to sleep in, or take off the sweater he’d accidentally stolen. He lays on his back, eyes focused on the blank ceiling of his bedroom as he replays it all over and over in his mind.

(y/n) also sits awake in her bedroom. But she’s far from frozen. She repeatedly kicks the covers off herself before tugging them back on, undecided on if she was hot or cold. She’d abandoned her pants and laid awake in Yuuta’s tee shirt, the scent of his cologne and something else that was distinctly him still clinging to the fabric. Tears welled in her eyes as she curled in on herself, hugging her pillow to her chest in a desperate attempt to seek comfort.

Neither one of them gets much sleep. ___

xoxo ~ jordie

927 notes · View notes

ew-selfish-art · 10 months

Text

Dp x Dc AU: Tim doesn’t rest, not even in Death.

It’s a heart attack that gets him, well, that and the insane amount of fear toxin flooding his system. He was dead for a full three minutes before he watches (how was he watching?) his eldest brother get his heart going again and get his unconscious body to the cave. Alfred gets him onto bat-life support and Leslie looks gravely at his family after she’s done her best to heal him. They decide to keep trying, they don’t want to believe he’s gone.

Tim watches in fury. He’s more useful than this, he’s not just going to die and let the family mourn him! Tim sets to work trying to understand what’s happened to him and he realizes he must be a ghost. Therefore, if he wants to understand ghosts he needs to go where ghosts are, and thankfully he just read a JLD doc saying to avoid Amity Park at all costs.

It’s takes him a second to get used to flying at full speed, but he finds himself surrounded by strange people in a strange town and… he notices himself becoming more visible. He’s able to interact with more and more objects, he even picked up a pencil! Poltergeist is a step forward in his plan, Tim accepts this change of pace.

Then Tim meets Danny, a normal human kid who looks like he could be brought into the manor and given a cape, who looks straight at him.

“Wait, who are you? You didn’t die in Amity did you?”

“No, I died in Gotham. I came here to understand how I’m a ghost and how I can get back to my dying body. I just need a few answers.” Tim explains, and notices that his voice isn’t his own, like it’s a different language entirely that comes out.

“Well, uh, I dunno about going back to your body but it’s not safe for you to be here. The GIW are looking for lost souls like you that people won’t notice go missing. So get back to your family and find peace. Im sorry but that’s really the best advice I have.” Danny answers.

Tim begs him for answers on the GIW. Begs him for any answers at all. Danny shrugs him off each time, tell him that he’s just a ghost and he needs to move on before he gets hurt or becomes a problem.

Tim decides if he’s a problem, he’ll probably get more answers.

Soon enough, he’s stepping into the end of a battle where Phantom is getting Skulker into a thermos, and demands answers, and if not answers help.

They brawl, and Tim’s training as Red Robin gets him farther than a lot of ghosts. And then, when he knows he’s beat and he’s about to share thermos space with the robot jackass (who he can interrogate and then build his own robot) Tim realizes something.

“You’re still alive, aren’t you? You’re Danny, black hair and blue eyes.” Tim says and suddenly Phantom is as still as the dead despite the accusation.

“How the fuck- dude. Okay, you know what? Fine. Lets go talk, you’re clearly not giving up and I need you to never say that shit out loud ever again.”

Because blackmail works in life for Tim, blackmail also apparently works in death.

He’s given all of the info they have on the GIW, he’s introduced to ghost technology and how it works with ectoplasm. He’s told about the portal (although they refuse to sneak him into the house to see it- he can handle a few lasers, ugh) and he’s told about the general sequence of events in Danny’s life/death.

And then Tim is suddenly back in his body in Gotham.

The family found a way to bring him back and he’s 100% alive, no longer ghostly, but he retained all his memories.

“We have a war against the government to start” are not the first words his family expected to hear from Tim post death.

#dcxdp #dpxdc #dc x dp #dp x dc #dc crossover #dp crossover #danny phantom #Tim drake #ehehehe #long post #Tim’s obsession is answers if that isn’t obvious #danny does not anticipate Tim’s ghost disappearing to mean that Batman comes to his town #and the JL suddenly lobbying the government to overturn the acts as they violate a shit ton of other laws #Tim eventually makes it back to amity as a human and Danny is like *WHAT*#they get coffee and Tim explains to danny that he’s scrubbed all the GIW files and is about to take down his parents #he wants Danny’s blessing to go after the portal and danny is blushing so fucking hard but agrees that his parent have been out of line #for like way too long #Tim and danny become friends because they’re just two restless souls who have shit to do and not even death can stop them

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su-inverted-au · 7 months

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Chapter 4 - Scene 1 << Prev | First | Next >> Do not repost! Please reblog instead. Scene info and more below! VVV

HI! So this is going to be a bit of a montage/speedrun of the rest of the story, or at least what scenes I wanted to include the most. There's a lot in between I'm gonna be skipping for the sake of time and my wrist. It will all culminate in a grand finale that I'm excited to share with you all.

Each scene will have a brief explanation and maybe some bonus info about the story and AU, but for the most part it's up to reader interpretation. I'll be answering asks about it if they come.

The comic really stalled on this chapter, and specifically this scene. The big hiatus hit right before a reveal I wanted to do and it frustrated me to no end that I wasn't able to keep going.

Scene 1: How chapter 4 was going to continue was that Steven would jump into the fray and attack Centipeedle, drawing her attention. When Centi tries to attack back, Steven's gem powers would activate and draw out a shield! But not Rose Quartz's, it would be very different.

This would lead into Pearl managing to poof and bubble Centi and Greg appearing, finally having caught up to Steven. The adults would go off to talk about what's going on with Steven while he tries to figure out how he managed to activate his gem powers.

And that's where chapter 4 would end!

The next scenes won't be framed by any particular chapter, but they will be in chronological order. Stay tuned for scene 2, coming soon.

#su au #su inverted au #steven universe au #steven universe #su inverted #su comic

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ourdawnishotterthanourday · 10 months

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Don't Tell The Boss — CEO Jeon Wonwoo

✧ The First Chapter — Part of the SEVENTEEN World Series

You were off limits. Seungcheol had made that absolutely clear from the very start. Wonwoo knew that, the other CEOs did and even you were aware of that fact. But when Wonwoo is tasked to fill in for Seungcheol during his monthly legal consult, he certainly didn’t think that you’d be there, his best friend’s sister, the one person he wasn’t allowed to get close to. Then why did he suddenly find himself asking you out? And why did you say yes?

✧ Genre: CEO au; SMUT [18+]**, fluff, angst, slow-burn, best friend’s sister, family drama **I've decided to post the smut as a separate post - you can find it here or at the end of the chapter – can be read as a stand alone, but it will make more sense if you read the chapter first!! ♥ Pairing: lawyer!reader x CEO!Jeon Wonwoo ✧ Word count: 29k+ (AND 2.1k smut) ✦ Warnings: mentions of alcohol, swearing, slightly suggestive, a very angry Cheol, one physical altercation, arguments arguments arguments, reader shares the same last name as Cheol, extremely overprotective brother, heartbreak, time skips (let me know if I missed any!) ✎ Notes: 1) I recommend to read the prologue before you read this chapter – you might miss some crucial info otherwise 2) the story is written from the perspective of Wonwoo AND reader 3) the chapter contains some snippets that will likely come back in the other CEOs chapters ♕ Shout out: thank you to @fugaciousserendipity for your input and proofreading :D and thanks @outromoni for the banner!

“Sir? Managing CEO Choi is on line two,” Wonwoo’s secretary, Park Hajoon, called from the door to his office. Almost immediately, a puzzling frown made its way onto Wonwoo’s face. As far as he knew, Sungcheol was on a business trip in Japan and he always let his secretary manage his business while he was away. This included any form of social interactions with the other 12 CEOs. According to him, he “needed to focus and didn’t want anything to distract him”, so it would have to be important if he decided to call during a trip. What could be so urgent that he had to break his own rule?

“Thanks, Hajoon. Close the door please.” Wonwoo watched as his secretary nodded and shut the door per his request, followed by him lazily running a hand through his dark brown locks. It took him a few seconds to move from his position, mainly because he needed to mentally prepare himself for what was about to come. Though he didn’t really want to admit it, this phone call made Wonwoo a little nervous. What could Seungcheol want from him specifically? Did he forget something? Did he do something to damage the company name? What the hell was it?

Deciding that keeping his friend waiting would probably only make things worse, he eventually forced himself to reach for the phone. “Hyung?” his deep voice sounded through the large office.

“Wonwoo, glad that I could reach you! I don’t have a lot of time, but I was hoping that you could do me a favor,” Seungcheol spoke up, his voice void of any anger or disappointment. Wonwoo released a small sigh of relief at that, already feeling the nerves that had crept into his body start to settle down. Literally no one – but really no one, wanted to be on the receiving end of Seungcheol’s wrath. Luckily for Wonwoo, today was not the day and he intended on keeping it that way.

“Uh, sure? What is it that you need?” He seriously hoped that it wasn’t anything that involved him having to sacrifice a lot of his precious time, because as CEO of SEVENTEEN Gaming, he already had more than enough things to worry about, especially now that the new game he’d been working on was close to being released. But, that ship sailed as soon as he heard the words come out of the managing CEO’s mouth.

“I need you to take over my monthly legal consultation meeting with the Kang Group tomorrow.” With some effort, Wonwoo suppressed a groan that threatened to come out and tried to play it off by clearing his throat rather loudly.

Seungcheol, who knew Wonwoo pretty much like the back of his hand, was quick to add a bit more information to his request. “I know you don’t like this official stuff, but I wouldn’t have asked if it wasn’t absolutely necessary. I need a few more days in Japan to secure this business deal and we could really benefit from taking on this new client. I promise, it won’t be too much work. Haewon will set everything up and send you a checklist with things you’ll need to discuss, so you won’t have to worry about a single thing.”

Song Haewon had been Seungcheol’s executive secretary for many years and Wonwoo had no doubt that she would arrange the whole thing from start to finish. That wasn’t the problem. No, Wonwoo just didn’t want to bother with all this legal crap and waste two hours of his time on something he wasn’t an expert in. Wasn’t that what a legal team was for anyway?

“But why me, Hyung? You could have literally asked anyone else. What about Seungkwan? He’s great at these types of meetings. Or what about Chan, Mingyu or Jeonghan Hyung?” he suggested as he took off his black-rimmed glasses with one hand, the other reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration.

These were the CEOs that knew quite a bit about legislation and did not shy away from dressing up into a suit and arguing with a bunch of officials, so Wonwoo just didn’t understand why Seungcheol was so adamant about it being him who would take over this meeting for him.

“Because I trust you the most with this, so I need you to be there, not anyone else. Just do this for me, please? I’ll owe you one.” Seungcheol was nearly begging by now. It wasn’t often that Seungcheol was this desperate, and if Wonwoo didn’t feel so pressured at that moment, he probably would have laughed at the absurdity of this whole situation.

“Fine, I’ll do it. Just send Hajoon the info and make sure that I don’t make a fool out of myself. But seriously, you owe me one, Hyung,” Wonwoo sighed, not in the mood to drag this on any longer than necessary. Besides, the fact that Seungcheol would be indebted to him after this didn’t sound too bad.

“Thank you, thank you. I’ll definitely owe you one. You’ll get all the relevant info within the next ten minutes. Just contact Haewon if you need any further info. I need to leave for another meeting now. You’re the best, Wonwoo!”

Before Wonwoo even had a chance to respond, Seungcheol had already ended the call, leaving a stunned Wonwoo sitting there in his comfy office chair. What had he just agreed to? And who was he even meeting? Seungcheol never let anyone take over these meetings, so it had to be some very important people.

The thing that probably stuck with Wonwoo the most was the fact that Seungcheol apparently trusted him the most with this. While it was nice to know that his friend valued him so much, it also confused him. It wasn’t like any of the other CEOs would try to purposely mess up the meeting. What did Wonwoo have that they didn’t? No matter how long and hard he thought about it, he couldn’t seem to understand the logic behind Seungcheol’s reasoning.

“Ah whatever, forget it,” he mumbled as he once again reached for the phone, pressing down on a button that he used way too often. “Hajoon, what’s next on my agenda?”

True to his words, Seungcheol had Haewon send over the necessary documents for tomorrow morning’s meeting. Wonwoo nearly wanted to call Seungcheol to back out last-minute when he was finally in the comfort of his own home, going over the meeting notes. So, to prevent him from disturbing Seungcheol on his trip and risking pissing him off by canceling, he called Mingyu instead, Flavor Factory SEVENTEEN’s CEO and also his closest friend.

Whenever Wonwoo was in doubt or about to take a big risk, he would search out Mingyu to ask for his opinion, and the younger CEO was always more than happy to help out his friend. The two of them had been in the same business for many years and even before that, they had already been extremely close, so Wonwoo was pretty confident to say that he trusted Mingyu with his life. Today was no different.

“Just do it, Hyung. I’m sure it won’t be that bad. Everything has already been laid out, so all you need to do is recite everything. And even if it is bad, Seungcheol Hyung will owe you one anyway, which is a big thing! Oh, and I’ll treat you to drinks. How does that sound?” As expected, Mingyu successfully managed to erase any doubts from Wonwoo’s mind and reminded him that he would get something out of it too.

“I guess that doesn’t sound too bad. I just don’t wanna mess it up, that’s all” Wonwoo groaned, throwing his head back to look at the high, white ceiling of his home office. “Thanks, dude…for the support, you know?”

“Anytime! Just let me know how it goes, yeah? I’m heading back into the kitchen. Dessert is about to be served,” the chef chuckled and only now, Wonwoo actually noticed the noise coming from the background, the sound of pots and pans clanging suddenly very audible. He’d no doubt been in the middle of cooking for guests and had taken some time to talk to his friend. Wonwoo could only smile at that. No matter how busy Mingyu was, he would always try to make time for the people he cared about.

“I will. Good luck with those desserts,” he managed to get in right before Mingyu started yelling at someone. This was followed by a quick goodbye to Wonwoo and then the call ended, leaving him alone with his thoughts once again. “Well, let’s do this,” he whispered to himself and grabbed the sheets of paper he’d need tomorrow.

Wonwoo wasn’t really a fan of wearing suits. Although he was a CEO, he usually chose casual clothes over chic. Jeonghan, being the fashion icon that he was, had already offered his services on numerous occasions in an attempt to get Wonwoo to dress up, but to no avail. Unless it was for a meeting or an important social event, Wonwoo liked to stick to his casual attire. Similarly, at SEVENTEEN Gaming, he encouraged people to work in their most comfortable outfit, even if that meant showing up to work in a track suit or pajamas. Wonwoo didn’t really care, as long as everyone did what was expected of them.

Well, he did have to implement some restrictions. One of the company’s now-previous interns apparently thought that it was funny to show up in nothing except for his swimming shorts, which had resulted in a number of complaints from his staff, so from then on, he allowed his employees to be comfortable, but not in a way that would make others uncomfortable (i.e., being naked or nearly naked). So far, it had worked out great, because his employees appreciated the lack of a strict dress code and it made sure that the work environment was pleasant and rather informal.

For this reason, Wonwoo felt a little uncomfortable as he entered headquarters. It was an enormous building and the difference between SEVENTEEN Gaming and SEVENTEEN World’s HQ was huge. There were numerous bodyguards spread around the lobby, nearly everyone was dressed in a suit or something equivalent and the vibe was way more official and formal than at his HQ. Wonwoo was happy that he never really had a reason to visit the main building, apart from the yearly shareholder’s meeting that always took place there, but that was pretty much it. Everything else was usually done through Zoom meetings and he liked it that way.

“Mr. Jeon!” Haewon, who’d been waiting for him in the lobby, immediately approached Wonwoo when she caught sight of him entering the busy lobby. The four bodyguards that were guarding the main entrance, politely bowed to him as he made his way towards the chirpy secretary.

“Haewon,” he nodded, after which he slightly adjusted the tie that suddenly felt uncomfortably tight around his neck. He was definitely going to swap this outfit for a more comfortable one as soon as that meeting was over.

“Please follow me, Sir. The meeting will start in fifteen minutes,” she told him while motioning for him to follow her. Despite her being rather short and in heels, she sure knew how to walk fast. He nearly even tripped over his own feet as he tried to match her pace, but was luckily able to catch himself just before he could hit the ground. After he quickly confirmed that no one had seen his near mishap (because that would have been embarrassing), he picked up the pace and joined Haewon at the elevators, where several SEVENTEEN World employees politely bowed to him.

Although Wonwoo had been a CEO for many years, the way people treated him still felt odd to him. Sure, he ran a successful business, but he was only human. There was no need for them to bow to him and there was certainly no need to take the next elevator just because he was in their presence. Obviously, he knew that this was a common way to show respect, but he deemed it unnecessary, which is why he always made sure to let every new employee at SEVENTEEN Gaming know that they didn’t need to be so formal with him. He was their boss, but he was also part of the team, just like everyone else.

“I already set everything up for you, Sir. There’s water over here, but if you’d like to request some other refreshments, just press the button to your right,” Haewon explained as she pointed one of the white buttons on the panel right from Wonwoo.

“Thank you, Haewon. I think I’ll be fine,” Wonwoo nodded and watched as Seungcheol’s secretary left the room before shifting his eyes to the checklist that he’d placed in front of him. Now, it was officially time for the nerves to settle back into his body. He was currently in a large fancy meeting room on the 30th floor with a large rectangular table in the middle and chairs placed around it, and a set of large windows functioning as walls. The layout of it all made the whole thing even more official in Wonwoo’s opinion.

As he was going over Seungcheol’s notes and stressing out about what could possibly go wrong, he barely even registered the sound of the door opening, completely in his own world. At least, that was until he heard the sound of an all-too-familiar voice.

“Wonwoo?”

—

You watched with an amused smile as the CEO came back to reality and shot up from his chair at the sound of your voice. The shock was evident on his face and you had an inkling that Seungcheol had left out some crucial information.

“Y/N? What are you doing here? You’re the one I’m meeting from the Kang Group?” He was clearly confused, his eyes going over your form and taking you all in, as if he needed to confirm that it was actually you.

“Yes, but I guess my brother wasn’t very specific, huh? I want to say that I’m surprised, but I’m really not,” you chuckled, not being able to stop yourself from admiring the man standing in front of you.

It had been a good three years since you last saw each other, at SEVENTEEN World’s 5-year anniversary party, which was probably one of the only few occasions where you got to interact with your brother’s friends. And even then, Seungcheol had tried to whisk you away any time you were getting a little too close for his liking. You’d told him many times that you were a grown ass woman and that you could make your own decisions, but he was stubborn.

As far as you could tell, Wonwoo hadn’t changed much at all. His hair had grown a bit longer and he looked more mature, but he was still the tall and handsome man with a smile that always made you feel some type of way. Okay, you might have always had a little crush on him, but it wasn’t like you had ever dared to act on it anyway. Seungcheol would have nipped that in the butt before it could have even taken off.

“No, he was pretty vague about it, and now I know why. You look good,” he blurted out, his eyes slightly widening at the realization of what he’d just said.

“Thank you. I-uh…” You felt your cheeks heat up as you stumbled over your words. Who knew that a simple compliment could affect you that much? “So do you,” you mumbled shyly. And since when were you ever shy around men? It was like you’d lost all your ability to function within the span of five minutes.

You had to eventually remind yourself that you were here to represent your company, not to flirt with your brother’s best friend. Right, your brother, the one who’d set this whole thing up because he trusted you and Wonwoo to handle his business with him being away for a few days. You couldn't afford to let yourself get distracted.

To break the awkward silence, you carefully cleared your throat before daring to speak up again. “Um, let’s start, shall we? We have a lot of things to go over.”

Wonwoo was quick to agree, holding out a seat for you so that you could sit down before taking a seat himself. Luckily, after the initial awkwardness, the two of you quickly switched to business mode and went over the list of points that needed to be discussed. And much to your surprise, you discovered that Wonwoo was a natural at it.

Though Seungcheol had told you that his friend wasn’t too fond of these types of meetings and didn't know a whole lot about legal matters, he was attentively listening to your every word. At first, you thought that he was simply feigning interest, but when he started to pitch some rather good ideas about halfway through the meeting, you were convinced that he was somewhat enjoying it.

You found yourself more drawn to him the further the meeting went on, sneaking the occasional glance at him when he was busy noting something down or adjusting his glasses to read something. It went completely against your moral code, but you couldn’t stop yourself. The man was already attractive, but to see him in action as CEO made him ten times more charming, especially with the little pout that appeared on his lips whenever he was focusing. And the dark blue suit, which fit him just right, didn’t leave much to the imagination either. You just prayed that you weren’t too obvious about it, because you didn’t want to seem like a love-struck high-school girl who couldn’t keep her emotions under control in front of a good-looking guy.

Little did you know that Wonwoo was going through his own internal struggles. The moment he laid his eyes on you, he knew that he was officially fucked. He’d always kept his distance because he respected Seungcheol enough not to get involved with his sister, but now that he got to be alone with you, he couldn’t resist taking full advantage of the situation. He knew that it was wrong and he probably should have listened to the voice in his head that was telling him to get his shit together, but how could he not when you looked so good?

It all made sense that Seungcheol had been so vague about the whole thing, and why he never let anyone else be involved in these meetings. Everyone knew that you worked for the Kang Group, but none of the CEOs were aware that you were the one managing Seungcheol’s legal consultations. But as the meeting progressed, he started to understand why you’d been put in charge. You weren’t just a pretty face, but you were smart, confident in your skills and not afraid to point out any deficiencies.

He found himself clinging onto your every word. It was probably the most time he’d ever spent with you, and though he was scared to admit it, he loved every second of it. Being with you, albeit in an official setting, made him feel something that he hadn’t experienced in a long time. He couldn’t pinpoint what it was exactly, but he knew that he didn’t want it to end with this.

That’s how the two of you ended up where you were right now, with Wonwoo confidently blocking your way to the exit after you’d given him your business card and prepared to take your leave. Giving him your business card had been your attempt to give him a way to contact you. If you’d given him your personal number, that would have been anything but professional, but this was appropriate in your eyes – and you hoped that he would actually use it, even if it was only for business purposes. You didn’t really care. All you knew is that you wanted to see Wonwoo again, regardless of the consequences. And you hoped that this was his attempt to do the same.

Though you appeared calm as your eyebrows raised in confusion, your heart was actually beating a hundred miles per hour while you waited for Wonwoo to explain himself. What if it was all in your head and he just wanted to ask you a business-related question? After all, that’s what you’d come here for in the first place.

You were convinced that was the case up until the moment he uttered the words Do you want to go on a date with me?. For just a moment, your body froze on the spot, your brain short circuiting as you tried to figure out that what you’d heard was not actually a figment of your imagination.

The man standing in front of you, who’d been so determined just a few seconds ago, suddenly became aware of what he’d done and his cheeks flushed a bright pink, something which you found quite endearing despite your state of shock. Your bet was that anyone walking past the see-through office would definitely wonder about what had caused the CEO to blush like that.

Realizing that you’d probably stayed silent much longer than socially accepted when being asked out, you managed to overcome the initial shock and blinked furiously as you tried to form an answer. But before you could even open your mouth, Wonwoo had already beat you to it.

“Shit, I’m sorry. That was so unprofessional. I’m sorry, ugh,” he frowned, slapping his right hand against his forehead.

“No, don’t be sorry. I was…uh, just a little surprised?” you squeaked, mentally cursing yourself for sounding so insecure.

“I should be sorry. You’re my best friend’s sister and here I am, trying to take advantage of that during a professional meeting.” Wonwoo then began pacing up and down, your eyes following his every move.

“Forget about this meeting or my brother for now. Please.” You stepped forward and placed your hand on his arm to stop him from moving, your eyes meeting once again. “Do you want to take me on a date or not?”

It took him a few seconds to respond, so you could only assume that he was having an internal conflict with himself with the way his expression hardened. You could only hold your breath as you awaited his response.

“Yes, I do,” he finally answered, his expression softening as he slowly nodded.

“Good, then we’re on the same page. You know how to contact me.“ You pointed to the business card that was still in his hand. “Until next time then, Mr. Jeon,” you grinned, suddenly having found your confidence again. That was the moment you decided that it was time to go, leaving a stunned Wonwoo behind.

Oh yeah, he was definitely screwed.

Mingyu nearly choked on his drink as soon as the words had left his best friend’s mouth. “Hyung, you did what now?!” Wonwoo, who wasn’t trying to attract any attention, quickly shushed the boisterous man beside him.

“Yah! Can you be any louder? I’m not trying to become a headline.” Wonwoo adjusted the black cap that covered some of his face, hoping that no one was paying much attention to the two of them. The bar they were at was nearly empty, so it was pretty unlikely that anyone would be able to overhear what they were talking about. But then again, he didn’t want to take any risks. “I don’t know what came over me, okay? Fuck, I just couldn’t let her leave without shooting my shot.”

“Damn, I can’t believe you actually had the guts to ask her out. And she said yes?! If Seungcheol Hyung ever finds out about this, all hell is going to break loose.” Mingyu shook his head before taking another swig of his whiskey.

“Don’t remind me please. The plan is for him to never find out. I might as well sign my own death certificate if that happens,” Wonwoo sighed, his fingers fumbling with the rim of his own whiskey glass. The thought absolutely terrified him, but still here he was, risking it all for a woman he wasn’t supposed to be involved with.

“You know I won’t tell anyone. Just be careful, yeah? And you better tell me everything. This one is definitely going down in the books,” Mingyu smirked, giving his friend a playful wink. “When is it gonna happen anyway?”

“I know, thanks for having my back as always. It’s happening this Sunday. Shit, I haven’t done this in forever. What if I mess it up?” A frustrated groan left Wonwoo’s mouth, which was followed by him gulping down his drink in an effort to calm his nerves.

It had been years since Wonwoo had last gone on a date. Compared to Mingyu, who was dating on and off here and there, Wonwoo was the total opposite. He’d been so engrossed in his work for the past few years that he’d completely neglected his love life, neither having had the time for it nor interested in it. Well, until you had stepped into that meeting.

“Just show her the real you and it will be fine.” Mingyu watched in amusement at the way his friend was stressing over something as simple as a date. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this worked up,” he snorted, giving the older man a playful punch in the shoulder, which earned him a scowl in return.

“How can I not be? It’s our best friend’s sister we’re talking about. Seriously, what the fuck was I thinking? I need you to talk some sense into me.” Wonwoo shook his head as his mind went over all the possible worst-case scenarios, in particular the one where Seungcheol would slowly kill him if he were to find out.

“No, what you need is another drink.” Mingyu motioned for the bartender to bring them another order of whiskey. “Now, stop freaking out and tell me your game plan,” he grinned.

“He didn’t try anything weird, did he?” your brother asked as the two of you were having dinner at one of his favorite restaurants. Your mind had been so preoccupied with you and Wonwoo’s upcoming date that you almost forgot about the dinner you were supposed to have with Seungcheol the day before. The thought of having to face your brother was enough to burst your happy bubble.

“Define weird?” you smirked, which earned a sigh from the older man.

“Y/N.”

“I’m just asking,” you shrugged. “But no, Cheol. Nothing weird.” As you took a bite of your food, you could just feel his eyes on your form. This was confirmed when you looked up, only to be met with such an intense stare that made you want to hide under your non-existent covers. “What?” you mumbled, your mouth still full of food.

“Are you sure he didn’t try to flirt with you?” For a second, you thought that he knew about your date with Wonwoo and was just testing to see if you’d actually lie to him. You felt the panic start to rise inside you and your only response at that moment was to nearly choke on the food in your mouth.

In an attempt to save yourself from further embarrassment – because you were sure that you’d already attracted the attention of the other dinner guests with your coughing, you reached for your water to get rid of the itch in your throat. “Y/N, answer the question,” Seungcheol frowned, his tone indicating that he wasn’t playing around.

“Yes, Cheol. I’m sure. He was professional and we handled things just fine as you saw. Now, can we please change the topic? I feel like I’m being interrogated and I don’t appreciate it.” And I will have to keep lying to you if you ask me any more of those questions. You were usually a very bad liar and if this continued any longer, Seungcheol would definitely start suspecting that something was wrong. That’s why you hoped that the topic regarding the other CEO could be dropped.

Besides, the mention of Wonwoo only made you feel giddy at the prospect of your date with him. Wonwoo had texted you on your work phone almost immediately after you’d left SEVENTEEN World HQ, and you’d eagerly shared your personal contact with him so that the two of you could discuss the date in more detail. He didn’t want to let on much, but he said to dress casual (which didn’t surprise you at all with what you’d heard about him), and that he would pick you up.

You absolutely didn’t want these thoughts roaming inside your head with Seungcheol keeping such a close eye on you. Part of you felt guilty doing this behind your brother's back, but then there was also the part of you that wanted to live life to the fullest and take a little risk here and there. And apparently, Wonwoo had similar feelings, or he wouldn’t have asked you out so brazenly.

“Y/N. You’re not even listening to a word I’m saying.” Seungcheol sounded annoyed and you realized you’d let your mind wander a little too far.

“No, I’m listening. Your business trip, dinner with the CEO of Yamazato. Continue,” you motioned, glad that you’d at least managed to catch a few of the things your brother had been rambling about. If this thing with Wonwoo was going to go anywhere, you’d definitely have to work on your poker face in front of your brother.

The day of your date, Wonwoo picked you up just like he said he would. You had to admit that the closer to the date you got, the more you started to doubt the whole thing, especially after the dinner you had with Seungcheol.

What if agreeing to this was a mistake after all? It wasn’t like you could risk going to any of your dear friends for advice either. You trusted them well enough with your secrets, but this one was different. Just one little slip up and the reputations of your brother, Wonwoo, and even you could be at stake if anyone outside your circle got wind of this. And the thought of having to bear the guilt of being the reason for such a scandal was enough to keep your mouth shut and suffer in silence instead.

But surprisingly, all of those fears vanished as soon as you spotted Wonwoo leaning against the passenger door of his black SUV when you exited your apartment building. Just the sight of him was enough to convince you that this was, in fact, not a mistake.

He was in full disguise, with a black cap hiding his hair, a pair of sunglasses covering his eyes and a mask in place to prevent anyone from recognizing him. The rest of his attire consisted of a brown leather jacket with a white t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans, finished with a pair of white sneakers – the casual fit a stark contrast from the dark blue suit he’d worn during your last meeting together.

You had also taken the necessary precaution, with the hood of your oversized beige hoodie and a mask similar to Wonwoo’s covering most of your hair and face. Despite your brother being the celebrity in the family, the public knew your face too, and you had no doubt that reporters would jump at the chance to air your dirty laundry too if they caught you out with a ‘mysterious man’.

“So, this is what you look like when you’re not playing the role of CEO?” you asked as you approached him, a grin plastered onto your face despite Wonwoo not being able to see it.

“To be honest, this is what I look like ninety-nine percent of the time. The suit is only for special occasions, but even then I practically have to force myself to wear it. Not a big fan as you can probably tell,” he chuckled, the vibrations of his deep voice sending shivers through your body.

“Noted. I won’t get too attached to the suit then. Can’t say I’m disappointed with this look anyway,” you teased, earning another chuckle from the man in front of you before he pushed himself away from the passenger door to hold it open for you.

“You ready for this?” he asked, and you guessed that he was giving you the chance to back out while you still could. But there was no way you’d go back now.

“Yeah, let’s go” you breathed, accepting his hand as you climbed into the car.

—

Wonwoo ended up taking you to his favorite arcade, which he’d made sure to reserve ahead of time so that the two of you could enjoy your date in private. When he’d initially suggested it to Mingyu, his friend had immediately approved of the idea and convinced him that it was a perfect date activity. However, on the ride there, with you sitting beside him and still not having a clue about where he was taking you, Wonwoo suddenly wasn’t sure if he’d made the right choice for a first date, especially since he didn’t know if you were into games like that.

He luckily didn’t have to worry for long, because as soon as he led you inside the building, he could see that he’d made the right decision with the way your eyes lit up.

“An arcade? Oh, wow! I haven’t been to one of these in ages. This is amazing. Thank you!” Your automatic response was to wrap one of your arms around Wonwoo’s arm as you looked around in amazement, catching the CEO by surprise – not that he was complaining. He was happy that you already felt this comfortable with him.

That’s what gave him the little bit of courage he needed to reach out and grab your hand with his free one. You froze for a moment, your eyes drifting down to your hand that was now engulfed in Wonwoo’s much warmer one. Fearing that he’d misread your gesture, he slowly started to pull his hand away in an effort to make it less awkward. But you were quick to tighten your grip on his hand and raised your head to look into his eyes.

“It’s okay,” you mumbled softly, causing Wonwoo’s heart to go into overdrive. You were seriously going to be the death of him. “Now please, can we play some games?”

The awkward tension was already forgotten, now replaced by a feeling of excitement at the thought of spending the next few hours together.

“Come on, let me show you my favorite game,” Wonwoo grinned, already in the process of pulling you in the direction of the air hockey tables.

It didn’t take long for the two of you to start fully enjoying your date. Your disguises had been discarded in the process, allowing you to read each other’s facial expressions freely without the threat of being discovered hanging over your heads.

Something Wonwoo discovered as you played the numerous games that were available in the arcade, was that you were just as competitive as he was. Originally, when the two of you started the first game of air hockey, he’d intended to go easy on you and maybe let you win a few times.

That was until he realized that he started to struggle with scoring points, whereas you were very much in the lead. This resulted in you teasing him about what kind of gamer CEO he was if he couldn’t even win from an amateur. So, for the next few games, Wonwoo decided to just throw the chivalry aside and treated you as he would any other opponent, which, in all honesty, made it that much more fun for the both of you.

You spent a good few hours trying out the large variety of games, while occasionally taking a break for snacks and drinks. And it also gave the two of you the opportunity to get to know each other better. You found out about Wonwoo’s love for cats, and how he adopted two of them through Vernon’s cat rescue center about three years ago: Shiro and Saja. He also shared the fact that he couldn’t cook to save his life. You nearly couldn’t stop laughing when he told you about the time he’d almost burned down the kitchen while trying to make a simple sandwich with the help of Mingyu.

Many times, Mingyu had tried to teach him, but Wonwoo somehow still managed to either ruin or burn something every single time, much to his best friend’s dismay. It was safe to say that he’d been banned from any of Mingyu’s kitchens, both for his own sake and that of others. So, Wonwoo had come to terms with the fact that he was just not made for cooking and he was totally fine with that.

In return, you shared some of your own stories and things that kept you busy. Among other things, Wonwoo learned that you were very passionate about your job (which he had sort of guessed already), had a cat of your own – Bom, and that you had a fear of deep and open waters. This was the result of a near-drowning experience you had as a child, where you’d fallen out of a moving boat and had to be rescued by your parents. Wonwoo made a mental note to never mention the idea of a cruise to you.

Neither of you wanted the date to end, but Wonwoo also knew that he had a bunch of work waiting back home. Hajoon had made sure that he’d have enough to fill a whole evening, and he couldn’t afford to ignore it since he had an important meeting tomorrow – one where he and his team were supposed to go over the finances for the new game they had been working on for months.

But, it was pretty obvious that this date would not just be a one-time thing. After he’d dropped you off at home, Wonwoo promised that he’d text or call you for a follow-up date as soon as his schedule would allow it.

When he’d made sure that you’d safely entered your building, a smile started to form behind his mask as he drove further and further away from your home, still not quite believing that the date had gone so well. And though it should have concerned him, the fact that you were his best friend’s sister did not even cross his mind once.

It took about a week of you anxiously waiting for Wonwoo to ask you out on another date. Ever since your first date had come to an end, you hadn’t heard from him again. Not a text, not a call, nothing. At first, you assumed it was because he was busy. He was a CEO after all. But then your mind started to wonder after about three days of radio silence. Had he suddenly changed his mind about dating you? And even if he had – which you could have totally understood, he could have at least let you know instead of leaving you in the dark. Not knowing was driving you absolutely insane and you hated yourself for being so affected by a man you’d only had one date with.

On Sunday night, exactly one week after your date, he finally called you while you were cuddling on the couch with Bom. You hadn’t been expecting it, so you assumed it was either your brother or work who’d be calling so late.

“Wonwoo?” You quickly sat yourself up, much to your cat’s annoyance, who was quick to leap from your lap onto the ground to find another one of his cozy spots.

“Y/N. I’m so sorry I didn’t call sooner. I know it’s not a good excuse, but this week was crazy,” Wonwoo’s apologetic voice sounded through the speaker of your phone.

You shook your head, even though you knew that he couldn’t see you. “It’s okay, Wonwoo. You’re a CEO and CEOs are busy. I get that.”

“Good. I just didn’t want you to think that I was backing out of this,” he sighed, sounding somewhat relieved that you weren’t cussing him out.

“Don’t worry, I wasn’t.” Lie. But he didn’t need to know that. At least your mind was put at ease now that he’d confirmed that he still wanted to continue this with you.

“Okay, so about that date..,” he started, after which the two of you fell into a comfortable conversation about your next meetup.

The next time you saw Wonwoo was only two days after the late-night phone call. The plan was to have a private dinner at a Japanese restaurant. However, per your request, your date started with him giving you a tour of SEVENTEEN Gaming. You were genuinely interested in the work he did and you were trying to understand what it was that his company did exactly. Sure, you’d heard stories from Seungcheol and read some things online here and there, but it was much better to hear it from the actual source.

When you realized that he was going to give you a tour with all his employees still in the building, you started to question whether this was a good idea. Because people meant eyes on the two of you, and eyes on the two of you meant that people were going to talk…to other people, who could potentially tell your brother. Just the thought already made you want to crawl in a hole.

Wonwoo was quick to assure you that his employees knew how to be discreet and were expected to keep whatever or whoever they saw to themselves, which included you apparently. Although he was a pretty laid-back CEO, Wonwoo didn’t like gossip and he wasn’t afraid to use his power as CEO to put his employees in their place if needed. You still had your doubts, but you decided to trust him on this. As long as word didn’t get to your brother, you were fine with almost anything.

“Wow, so you really manage all of those things? That sounds insane,” you gawked, completely in awe as your eyes darted across the chart displayed on the large screen in front of you. Wonwoo could only chuckle at your adorable reaction.

“It’s not like I manage all of those by myself. I have many people helping me. Here.” he pointed at the top of the chart, where his picture was located. “I’m mainly involved in the development of new games, as well as some administrative stuff and marketing. Technically, I’m involved in a little bit of everything and I give my input here and there, but I trust my employees to deliver good results without me having to look over their shoulder the whole time.”

You slowly nodded, taking it all in. Wonwoo then moved his hand to the left part of the chart when he was sure that you’d processed it all. “These people manage the gaming centers that are located in South Korea, but also those abroad.” He moved his hand again, this time to the right side of the chart. “And this group of people manages the eSports tournaments that we organize on a yearly basis. They collaborate a lot with SEVENTEEN TV since we also air them on national TV, but you probably knew that already,” he said, to which you hummed in acknowledgment.

Of course, how could you not know about that? Every year around October, people from all around the country and other parts of the world would flood into the city for SEVENTEEN Gaming’s legendary eSports tournament. The promotion for the event was huge and from what Seungcheol had told you, there were usually hundreds of teams fighting for a spot at the top. In other words, the competition was insane. It totally made sense though, especially when there was a prize of 150 million won on the line.

One of your favorite things about the tour was probably the VR cave, where you got a sneak peek of the game that was set to release next month. You were truly impressed with what Wonwoo had accomplished in such a short span of time. It also made you wonder how the other CEOs were managing their large businesses. Maybe someday you’d be able to get a tour from each of them – that is, if you could convince your brother first.

On your third date, Wonwoo took you stargazing after you’d had a pretty rough day at work. He remembered you sharing with him that you liked looking at the stars because they calmed you down, so he felt that it was the perfect idea for a date night. Mingyu had even offered to provide the food for a little picnic. Now, who in their right mind would refuse that?

Wonwoo also remembered that night as the night that he got to kiss you for the first time.

—

“It’s so pretty. Thank you for remembering and taking me here,” you said, your eyes never faltering from the stars above you. The two of you had filled up your empty stomachs with Mingyu’s delicious food creations and a complimentary champagne that left you with a satisfying buzz.

“How could I forget?” Wonwoo was sitting right beside you on the picnic blanket, your legs and arms touching as you both observed the little balls of light lighting up the dark sky.

He thought you looked so beautiful, even with the dark circles underneath your eyes and the baggy outfit you’d quickly thrown on when Wonwoo showed up at your doorstep without a warning. Everything about you was just so intoxicating, and as the days went on, he found himself thinking of you more and more, always looking forward to the next time he’d get to see you.

Without Wonwoo realizing it, you were no longer looking at the stars. Instead, your eyes were now focused on the CEO sitting beside you, his mind definitely somewhere else.

A nudge to his side eventually snapped him out of his daze, which was followed by the sound of your angelic giggles. His eyes instantly sought out yours to let you know that you had his full attention.

“You’re supposed to look at the stars, you know?” Your voice was soft and Wonwoo hummed in response, a smile playing at the corner of his lips at the fact that you’d caught him zoning out.

“I think I found something better,” he teased. You just rolled your eyes before giving him a playful push, trying to fight the smile that was threatening to appear.

“You're so cheesy, you know that?”

“Maybe, but it's working. Yo-” His breathing hitched as you suddenly reached up to carefully push his glasses, which had slid down a little, back up his nose.

“What?” you asked, looking up at him with big curious eyes. You really had no idea what kind of effect you had on him when you did small things like that.

“Just you. This. I feel lucky to be here with you.” Now it was your turn to feel flustered – your cheeks heating up at the way Wonwoo was looking at you, his eyes not once straying from yours.

“Wonwoo…” His name left your lips in a mumble, which caused his focus to shift to your lips for just a brief moment. But it was enough for him to want to be even closer to you.

“Can I?” Wonwoo's voice had gone down to a whisper, his eyes darting back and forth between your lips and eyes. You quickly nodded, seeming to want it just as much as he did.

That was all the confirmation he needed before leaning forward to touch his lips to your soft ones, covered in a thin layer of lip balm. Your lips met him halfway, just as eager to get close to him. Wonwoo nearly wanted to sigh in relief when your lips finally collided, because it was something he’d been wanting to do ever since he’d gone on that first date with you. He had no idea how he’d managed to control himself for so long, but he was glad he’d held out until now.

Your lips were addicting. That much he knew already from those few seconds he’d been kissing you. But when you turned your body slightly to clutch onto the brown leather jacket that he was wearing, Wonwoo lost every ounce of self-control he had. His right arm slid around your waist and he tugged you into him without a warning, eliciting a little moan from you that had Wonwoo groan into your mouth.

It didn’t take long before he had you situated in his lap, and the next thing he knew, your tongue was licking across his bottom lip – he was all too willing to accept. Wonwoo didn’t care about anything else at this moment. Not even the fear of being caught out in the open could pull him away from you right now. He was completely hooked on the taste of your strawberry lip balm, the brush of your nose against his skin and the way one of your hands had found its way into his hair, giving him goosebumps from the way you were softly tugging on it.

But much too soon for Wonwoo’s liking, you pulled away. His lips quickly chased after yours, not wanting the euphoric high to end. At the sound of your laughter, he was eventually pulled back to reality, his eyes slowly fluttering open.

“I gotta breathe, Wonwoo.“ The man in question almost groaned out loud at the sight of your swollen lips, feeling a sense of pride that he’d been the cause of that. Not anyone else.

“Breathing is overrated,” he huffed, hands coming to a rest on your waist while his fingers played with the hem of your hoodie.

“Not if you want to kiss me again.” A grin formed on Wonwoo’s face at the sound of your words.

“You’re gonna let me do it again?”

“Is that even a question?” you said, a grin of your own now adorning your face before you leaned in to connect your lips once again.

Yeah, Wonwoo could get used to this.

—

On your fourth date, the two of you were nearly caught by your brother, who decided that a Wednesday night was the right time to stop by your apartment…unannounced. You and Wonwoo had just finished the takeout you’d ordered and were in the middle of a movie when the sound of your doorbell startled the two of you. That caused you to nearly knock the popcorn bowl out of Wonwoo’s hands.

—

“Ah, shit, I’m sorry,” you cursed, quickly apologizing to Wonwoo as you scrambled off the couch and sprinted towards your intercom system. Your face paled at the sight that greeted you on the small screen. “Oh fuck! You need to hide, like now!”

“Hide? What are you talking about?” Wonwoo questioned, now coming closer to see what got you so fired up all of a sudden.

“It’s my goddamn brother. I don’t even know why he’s here, but you need to hide if you want the both of us to come out of this alive,” you whined, placing your hands onto Wonwoo’s back and pushing him in the direction of your bedroom.

That seemed to switch the gears in Wonwoo’s head, the confusion immediately replaced with pure fear. All this time he’d been so stuck in this happy bubble with you that he completely forgot about the danger that was your brother, his best friend.

“Wait, shit. My phone!” Wonwoo quickly changed his direction and rushed over to the couch, where he snatched his phone and any other traces of his presence.

Meanwhile, you’d buzzed your brother in just because you couldn’t exactly leave him standing there. He’d already rang the bell twice and you knew that he was going to start calling you to ask about your whereabouts if you didn’t open the door. You couldn’t exactly lie to him and pretend that you weren’t home, especially when you were such a bad liar.

“Why are you still here? Wonwoo, I’m not even kidding, he’s gonna be here any minute!” You felt like you were officially going to lose your mind.

“Are you sure I didn’t leave anything? Just check t-” Wonwoo started, but he was quickly cut off by you as you grabbed a hold of his wrist and started to drag him towards your bedroom. This wasn’t exactly how you wanted to show him your bedroom, but this was an emergency.

“Forget about your things. If my brother catches you here, we’re going to have bigger problems. Just put your phone on silent and hide in my closet. I’ll try to get rid of him,” you said, pushing him into your walk-in closet. That was the exact moment the doorbell rang, indicating that your brother had made it to your front door. “Not a sound.”

After that, you quickly closed the door and rushed out the room, making sure to close your bedroom door too before you made your way towards your front door. Your heart rate was out of control and you hoped that you could at least keep your facial expressions under control while facing your brother.

“Cheol! What are you doing here?” He was still dressed in a suit, so you guessed that he’d just gotten off work and went straight to your place.

“Can’t I just visit my little sister?” he asked, stepping forward to enter your apartment.

“You could have at least called,” you grumbled, even though you were freaking out on the inside. The plan was to get rid of him, not for him to invite himself into your apartment. “Cheol, do you mind? I was in the middle of something.”

“In the middle of what exactly? Do you have a guest?” You noticed his eyes scan the room for a few seconds before something on the floor caught his attention. “Are these men’s shoes? Are you dating someone?” he questioned, his eyes narrowing as they focused back on you.

How could you have forgotten about the damn shoes?

“Yah, that’s none of your business. I’m a grown ass woman. Now, can you please just go?” You were begging, already fed up with the fact that Seungcheol had shown up without notifying you.

“Don’t you think I should meet this guest of yours? Seems pretty serious if you’re even inviting him over.” This man really did not understand boundaries when it came to your personal life.

“No, Cheol. You’re not meeting anyone tonight. You’re my brother, not my babysitter.” You crossed your arms, trying to come off as intimidating as possible. Then again, it was your brother you were talking about. There was no way he’d ever feel intimidated by you.

“Fine, I’ll go. Let me at least meet the guy sometime. I just want to know if he’s good enough for you,” Seungcheol responded, but you’d already had enough and were in the middle of pushing him out your front door.

“Goodnight, Cheol.” As soon as he was out the door, you simply shut the door in his face, not even feeling guilty in the slightest. “That’s what he gets for showing up without a warning,” you mumbled.

Still, you felt a little paranoid, so to make sure that he’d really left, you peeked through the peephole before deeming the coast clear.

“Okay, he’s gone!” you called, taking that moment to lean your back against the wall as you tried to recover from that nerve-wracking moment. You were truly thankful that Seungcheol hadn’t recognized Wonwoo’s shoes and you were glad that the coats were hidden behind a door. Your brother definitely would have made the connection if he’d spotted his best friend’s brown leather jacket. The same goes for his car, which you’d told him to park in your underground garage in case someone would spot it.

Wonwoo appeared a few seconds later and you immediately let yourself collapse into his arms, the severity of the whole situation suddenly weighing down on you all at once.

“That was scary as hell,” Wonwoo sighed, his hands gently rubbing your back to calm you down. “Do you think he knows?”

Leaning back slightly to look up at him, you shook your head. “No, I don’t think so. We were lucky this time, but I don’t ever want to do that again.”

“Fuck no. I’d like to keep my sanity,” he chuckled and despite the situation, you also managed to crack a smile at that.

“Oh, and just so you know,” you started, pointing towards the dreaded shoes that had almost given him away, “you might want to burn your shoes after tonight.”

—

It was about a week after that incident that Wonwoo first saw Seungcheol again. Every three months, each of the CEOs was supposed to submit a quarterly report to ensure total transparency towards the public as well as each other. And as managing CEO of SEVENTEEN World, Seungcheol took this matter very seriously.

Wonwoo was technically supposed to have submitted it a few days ago, but he’d gotten distracted and asked for a few days of extension. Truth was, he’d been spending more time with you and he’d totally forgotten about it. It was only when Hajoon had sent him the usual reminder, he realized that he would never make the deadline in time.

It was unlike Wonwoo to miss a deadline and so it came as no surprise that Seungcheol himself had insisted on coming to pick up the report in person. Wonwoo had no doubt that his friend was curious and wanted to know what was going on with him – that was just the kind of friend Seungcheol was, always checking up on his friends, no matter how busy he was. And really, Wonwoo was happy to have a friend like him. But right now was just not the right time, especially when the reason he missed the deadline was no one other than his dear sister.

“Is everything okay with you?” Seungcheol asked as soon as Wonwoo had closed the front door behind the CEO. The younger man mentally cringed at the question, knowing that it was practically unavoidable with Seungcheol being the nosy person he was.

“I'm fine, Hyung. If it's about the report, it just kinda slipped my mind with everything else I have going on.”

“Are you sure? I'm used to Seungkwan asking for an extension because we all know that he's doing too much for his own good, but this is the first time you've ever asked for one. You can tell me if there's something going on or if there's anything I can do…,” Seungcheol offered as they made their way into the living room.

“It's nothing serious. I've just been busy with other things, nothing to worry about.” Seungcheol nodded, his eyes scanning over Wonwoo's form for a few seconds.

“If you say so. By the way, I never really said it to you personally, but thanks again for stepping in for me the other day. I know it must have come as a surprise to see my sister there, but I didn’t want to scare you off.” Wonwoo could only nod at his friend’s words, too afraid that he would give himself away if he opened his mouth. Luckily for him, Seungcheol wasn’t bothered by Wonwoo’s lack of response and continued.

“But I’m glad everything went well. I knew that I could trust you with this. If I’d sent Mingyu or Jeonghan, who knows what they would have tried with Y/N. We both know that they flirt without even trying. With you, I at least knew that I didn’t have to worry about that.” The older man grabbed onto his shoulder and squeezed down gently before offering Wonwoo a grin.

“R-Right,” Wonwoo stuttered as a sinking feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. Some friend he was. The man trusted him with his sister and what did he do? Go behind his back and date her. And worst of all? Despite the guilt he felt or the consequences that came with dating you, Wonwoo had absolutely no intention of staying away from you.

“Wonwoo? The report?” Seungcheol’s voice snapped him right out of his thoughts.

“The report, yes! I’ll grab it for you. Just make yourself at home, Hyung.”

On the way to his home office, Wonwoo shook his head at himself for nearly losing his shit at the mention of you. If he didn’t want to end up in a coffin, he’d have to find a way to maintain his composure. Because there would come a time when he would have to face you in a setting where Seungcheol, with his hawke-eye vision, would also be present.

As Wonwoo returned with the report, Seungcheol was in the middle of admiring a large glass showcase that was filled with the many prizes Wonwoo had acquired over the years. This included the trophies he’d won himself by participating in gaming tournaments – even before he started his business, as well as the large number of awards he and his team at SEVENTEEN Gaming had managed to collect from prestigious game award shows and conferences such as the Game Developers Conference and The Games Industry Awards. Wonwoo was proud of everything he’d accomplished so far and he wasn’t planning on slowing down anytime soon.

“Hyung? The report,” Wonwoo’s voice echoed through the room, catching the attention of the other CEO. He accepted it without another word and leafed through it for a couple of seconds before nodding.

“Looks good. I have to get going though. Haewon is on my case since I’m already kinda late for a lunch meeting, but I will make sure to read through it before the end of the day.” He patted Wonwoo’s back as the two of them made their way back to the front door. That was until Seungcheol suddenly stopped in his tracks, his gaze pointed at one of the two small tables that decorated the entrance hall.

“Hyung?” Wonwoo’s own eyes shifted to the small table, curious as to what could have caught his friend’s attention. His eyes finally stopped on a piece of jewelry, a silver bracelet – your bracelet to be exact.

—

“Surprise!” your smiling face greeted Wonwoo after he’d opened the front door. Your hands were full of bags and he was quick to take them off you after pressing a soft kiss to your lips.

“What’s the occasion?” While you were busy taking off your coat and shoes, he curiously peeked inside the bags to find a bunch of vegetables, noodles and spices.

“Well, since you released that game you’ve been working on so hard, I thought I’d celebrate with you and let you finally taste my cooking,” you smiled and crouched down to greet the curious cats that had gathered at your feet. “Because we both know that you’ll just eat ramen or end up ordering takeout instead.”

Wonwoo laughed at that, his heart warming at the fact that you already knew him so well. After the release event, the other CEOs had congratulated him with his achievement and Mingyu had even offered to have dinner together, but Wonwoo had refused. Usually, after a big release, he just liked to be in the comfort of his own home with a good book or one of his games, and a simple meal to fill up his stomach. You just happened to be the exception to his rule.

And so you ended up cooking for Wonwoo in the huge-ass kitchen that he never even used. You didn’t let Wonwoo help you at all – which was probably for the best, but he watched in amazement as you prepared all the ingredients while switching your attention between the two cats that had taken a liking to you, and himself. At some point, you’d taken off your bracelet so that you could mix all the ingredients with your hands and Wonwoo had placed it onto a small side table to keep it safe.

Though Wonwoo would never tell Mingyu, your japchae was probably better than the chef’s version of the dish. It was honestly one of the best meals he’d ever had and as a CEO who was often invited to dinner parties, he’d eaten quite a number of delicious meals prepared by some of the world’s top chefs. He made sure to let you know exactly that by kissing you senseless after he’d helped you clean up the dishes, and you were more than happy to accept his offer.

But unfortunately for the two of you, you got called away for work before it could go anywhere and left in a hurry, completely forgetting about the bracelet. That’s why Wonwoo moved it to the table in the entrance hall, with the intention to return it to you as soon as possible.

—

“You know…Y/N has one exactly like this,” Seungcheol pointed at it and Wonwoo could already see his life flash right before his eyes. Was this it? Was this already the end of your story and possibly his life?

“R-Really? That’s such a coincidence!” Wonwoo exclaimed nervously, his mind going over the possible scenarios that would justify the bracelet being at his place without giving away his secret.

“It really is. Only a few of those were made.” The neutral look on Seungcheol’s face was suddenly replaced by a frown. “I gave it to her when she became a lawyer, and had it personalized even.” Fuck, there was no way he could let Seungcheol examine the piece up close.

“Don’t worry, Hyung. I had a…uh, a date the other night and she forgot this.” A date, really? That’s all he could come up with?

The other CEO raised his eyebrows at Wonwoo’s confession. “A date? Didn’t know you were back in the game.”

“Mingyu set it up for me, thought I’d try it for once.” Wonwoo made a mental note to let Mingyu in on his lie, because Seungcheol would definitely want to bring this up at a later point in time.

“Good, because for a second, I thought I might have to kill you,” Seungcheol grinned, even though his eyes were telling a different story. Something about his mood had definitely changed and it sent chills down Wonwoo’s spine. “Anyway, I’ll see you at the next meetup.” After giving Wonwoo another pat on the shoulder, Seungcheol put his shoes back on and left the house after a quick goodbye, leaving behind a relieved but confused Wonwoo.

Later that night, he met up with you at your place to give you back the bracelet you’d forgotten a few nights ago and he made sure to inform you about what had transpired with your brother.

“What do you mean my brother saw this bracelet at your place?” You were on full alert now, the work you were doing on your laptop completely forgotten.

“I forgot that it was there and I didn’t think about it, I’m sorry.” Wonwoo, on the other hand, was distracted by your cat that was now comfortably snuggled in his arms. You bit your lip anxiously, not understanding how he could bring it up so nonchalantly.

“He fucking knows, there’s no other way,” you eventually said, beginning to pace up and down your living room.

“Do you think I’d be standing here if he knew?” You stopped your pacing to look at the man that was petting your cute little ball of fur.

“You have a point, but still. He had this made specifically for me, engravings and all. There’s no way he doesn’t know,” you shook your head, not convinced at all. You knew your brother and he certainly wasn’t a fool.

“He didn’t get to see it up close though. I lied and said that it belonged to a date I had.”

“Really? That was what you decided to go with?” you snorted and Wonwoo cringed at how bad that sounded.

“I know, it’s not good. But…he seemed fine when he left.” He decided that it was best to leave out the mood switch and the part where Seungcheol had basically threatened him. You were already stressed about the whole thing, so Wonwoo didn’t want to be the reason to add to that.

“Are you sure about that?”

“Yes, I’m pretty sure. Let’s just not worry about it and do something fun, hmm?” Wonwoo suggested and let Bom jump out of his arms.

You sighed, throwing your head back briefly as you tried to calm yourself down. “I have more work to do, Wonwoo.” The man apparently didn’t care, because he simply wrapped his arm around your waist and playfully trailed his lips across your jaw before placing a soft kiss onto your cheek.

“There’s always more work to do. Just relax with me. I didn’t come here to see you work,” he teased, his hands moving to squeeze your sides.

“Fine,” you rolled your eyes, not finding it in you to say no to him with the way he was trying to persuade you. “You choose the show. I’ll get the wine.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” the CEO responded, a smile tugging at his lips as he watched you make your way into the kitchen.

In the month that followed, you and Wonwoo continued to go on dates in secret whenever time allowed for it. The more time you spent with the CEO, the more you realized how much you liked the man. No, scratch that, you’d already fallen for him. Hard. And you only hoped that he felt the same. Well, with the way he was spoiling you with gifts and spending nearly all his free moments with you, you guessed that he felt the same way about you.

Despite how well things were going between the two of you, it didn’t take away the fact that dating in secret was tough and exhausting. On top of hiding it from your brother, you also needed to hide it from the public, which meant that the only dates you could truly enjoy in peace were the ones at home or those where the space was rented out for just the two of you.

You were aware that Mingyu knew about you and Wonwoo, which made you slightly envious of their friendship. It would have been nice if you had someone to share your secret with. But every time you thought of finally sharing your dating life with your close friends, that little voice in your head returned and convinced you that it would be catastrophic if anyone in your circle were to accidentally leak something to the press or your brother. It just wasn’t worth it.

That didn’t mean, however, that they didn’t notice a positive change in you. And you may have had to lie and say that it was because you were killing it at work – which wasn’t a lie, but that was beside the point.

Similarly, Wonwoo had told you that his friends had mentioned during the monthly get-together that they noticed a change in him too, though they weren’t sure what it was. Of course, Seungcheol took that opportunity to bring up the ‘date’ that Mingyu had set up for him and naturally, everyone wanted to know about the woman that got Wonwoo to put himself out there again.

And boy, was he glad that he hadn’t forgotten to tell Mingyu about the lie he’d told their older friend. Because the chef was quick to jump to his best friend’s aid and spewed enough bullshit about the mysterious woman to keep the others satisfied for a while.

Speaking of changes in behavior, your brother had been checking in on you way more than you were used to. Normally, you saw him once or twice a month – one of those times being the consultation that had become part of your routine and the other usually dinner at one of your favorite restaurants. However, in the span of just three weeks, Seungcheol had suddenly become much more involved in your life – much to your annoyance.

He now called you at least twice a week to ask if you wanted to meet up for dinner or drinks, and never failed to ask about your plans, in particular who you were meeting with. As if that was any of his business.

When you’d finally gotten sick of his new-found hobby, you asked him what his problem was. His response? He had more freetime and wanted to spend that time on family, meaning you. You immediately called his bullshit, even though you didn’t explicitly tell him that.

Thinking back on it, you were reminded of just a few weeks ago, when he’d suddenly showed up at your place without as much as a warning. At that time, he thought that you were dating someone because of the men’s shoes near your front door, so you assumed that this was his way of ‘investigating’ in the most subtle way. Obviously he wasn’t as slick as he thought he was.

You had also voiced your concerns to Wonwoo, and he admitted that he too had noticed some changes in his friend. For one, Seungcheol had suddenly shown up at the SEVENTEEN Gaming HQ a week after the monthly get-together. Of course, there was nothing wrong with visiting a fellow CEO, but what made it strange was that Seungcheol never stopped by without informing Hajoon or himself about it beforehand.

He’d claimed that he wanted to visit each HQ on a more regular basis to be more involved, which was strange in itself. Seungcheol was already as involved as he could be, and with more than enough work on his plate, Wonwoo couldn’t understand why he would want to add a bunch of random visits to that.

To confirm that he wasn’t going crazy and Seungcheol wasn’t just keeping tabs on him because he suspected something between you and him, Wonwoo checked in with Mingyu and several of the CEOs to inquire whether Seungcheol had paid them a visit too. Much to Wonwoo’s relief, the managing CEO had visited Mingyu and Soonyoung’s HQ the day before, and Jisoo and Minghao’s HQ the day after his visit to SEVENTEEN Gaming – also without so much as a notice.

In Wonwoo’s eyes, that was one less thing to worry about, especially since he had other things that demanded his attention. You didn’t know it yet, but for the past week, he’d been planning a surprise for you with Mingyu’s help.The two of you had been dating for about two months now and he wanted to do something special for you. Though you would probably tell him that he was already doing more than enough for you. It was true, but Wonwoo wanted to do this. He was utterly obsessed with you, in the most positive sense of the word. After all those years he’d spent single and too focused on his work, he now had someone that he could shower with all his pent-up love.

Chic, was the only word that came to mind when you spotted the car that came to pick you up on a balmy Saturday evening. All Wonwoo had told you was that he was taking you out and for you to dress fancy, whatever that meant. If you had to go by Wonwoo’s definition of fancy, it was probably okay to show up in a nice pair of jeans and a simple sweater. But you were glad that you’d gone for a more appropriate choice after seeing the driver, who was dressed in a black suit, exit the car.

Said man quickly rushed over to the other side upon your arrival and held the door open for you after greeting you with a small bow. You returned the gesture and slightly lifted the skirt of your ankle-length dress before you got yourself seated in the expensive vehicle.

During the twenty minute ride, your mind started to go over all the possibilities that would require you to dress up like this – especially seeing as Wonwoo liked to keep things casual. You just didn’t understand why he would force himself into a situation that would potentially make him feel uncomfortable. But it did get you all the more excited and thrilled the closer you got to your final destination.

When you’d reached your stop, the driver, who’s name was James, escorted you out of the car and into the large restaurant that was probably one of the best-rated restaurants in Seoul: Flavory Factory SEVENTEEN. You’d visited a couple of times with your brother and you had to admit that the food was absolutely delicious, so you definitely understood the hype. And you also understood why Wonwoo had asked you to dress up. Showing up to a Michelin star restaurant in a casual outfit would have been inappropriate and would guarantee a bunch of bizarre looks from both employees and other dinner guests.

James left you alone when you’d reached the entrance hall and motioned for you to continue your way to the large set of doors. There, you were greeted by a friendly-looking woman who no doubt worked at the restaurant.

“Right this way, Ms. Choi,” she smiled, opening the two doors that led to the dining area. No matter how many you’d come here, you were still amazed at the layout of the whole place. The ceilings were high and completely made out of glass, offering an incredible view of the sky, both during the day and at night – undoubtedly your favorite part about the restaurant. You were so focused on the stars that were now visible through the see-through ceiling, that you didn’t even notice the man that was observing your every move, completely mesmerized by your beauty.

“Wow, you look so stunning right now,” Wonwoo spoke, his voice slightly breathy at the sight of you. Your eyes settled on him almost immediately at the sound of his smooth but deep voice.

“W-Wonwoo?” you stuttered, eyes slightly widening at the sight that greeted you. The CEO who hated dressing up, had forced himself into a dark gray suit that looked so good on him that it made your heart skip a beat as you took it all in. “What’s all this? Why are you dressed in a suit?”

The man simply chuckled and reached out to grab your hands, pulling you closer to him in the process. “I thought I’d surprise you for once. What do you think?”

“You look handsome, but you always do,” you grinned. “Weren’t you the one who said you hated suits though?”

“Like I said, I can be persuaded for a special occasion or in this case, a special someone,” he mumbled, letting go of one of your hands to cup your cheek, the warmth of his palm causing your entire body to warm up.

“I see,” you hummed, moving your free hand to the black tie that had been neatly tied. “Can’t say that I’m not excited to see you in a suit.”

Wonwoo smirked, inching his face slightly closer so that his lips were nearly touching yours. “Don’t get used to it,” he whispered before stealing a kiss from you.

“A woman can dream,” you pouted, but let him pull you towards the table that had been set up for you anyway. Like the gentleman he was, he pulled out your chair and helped you sit down before taking his own seat. This was immediately followed by a waiter appearing at the table to offer the both of you some refreshments, followed by a short explanation of the menu, after which he left the two of you alone.

“So, how much convincing did it take you to let Mingyu close down his restaurant just for the two of us?”

Wonwoo smiled and shook his head as he reached across the table to grasp your hand gently. “None. It was actually his idea to host us here. He would have thrown a fit if I’d booked any other place.”

“Right, I forgot how much he supports all of this,” you giggled, remembering how the other CEO had once told you that he was you and Wonwoo’s number one fan. At this point, he was literally the only fan since no one else was supposed to know about it. Either way, you were happy that he was so supportive and willing to keep this whole thing a secret from everyone else. “I’m glad he suggested it though. The food is always amazing here.”

Wonwoo nodded in agreement. “And a plus is that his staff are discreet, so we don’t have to worry about toning it down for the sake of the public,” he added.

And that was true. You were able to enjoy the evening without having to think about your image. As the hours passed, the restaurant staff kept bringing delicious foods, up to the point where you'd lost count of how many different courses you'd already eaten. You felt bad for thinking it, but you were glad when they finally brought out the last dish, the dessert. If you continued eating more, you were pretty sure that your stomach would burst with the way your dress was already getting tighter and more uncomfortable against your body.

That said, you made sure to remember to thank Mingyu for putting all of this together at a later time.

“That was so delicious! But if I eat anything more, you're going to have to pick me up from the floor,” you laughed, using your napkin to wipe your mouth.

The man in front of you grinned boldly. “I'd gladly pick you up though.”

“Such a gentleman you are,” you responded, your lips forming into a smile.

“I’d like to think I am,” Wonwoo smirked and took that moment to get up from his seat, holding his hand out for you to take. Wondering what could be next, you accepted his hand and shuffled out of your seat to join him.

The nice thing about the restaurant was that there was a section that had been transformed into a little garden with lots of greenery, flowers and a small pond that housed several species of fish – perfect for a stroll after the dinner you’d just had.

“There is one more thing,” Wonwoo started when you’d stopped in front of the pond. You lifted your head in surprise, wondering what else he could have planned after the amazing night you had.

“What's that?”

“Well…” Wonwoo grabbed your other hand and pulled you closer to him. “I wanted to make tonight special for a reason. We’ve been dating for a while now, and I know that I’m not the best at expressing my feelings in words, but I want you to know that I’m so in love with you. Fuck, you have no idea what you do to me. I can’t stop thinking about you and I can’t wait to see you every time we’re apart.” He then chuckled while shaking his head. “ Hell, I lie to my friends about this whole thing and I don’t even feel bad about it if it means I get to have you just a little longer.”

“Wonwoo,” you whispered, your stomach filling with butterflies at his revelation. How lucky you felt to have this man all for yourself. And to hear him tell you that he felt the same way only amplified the love you felt for him.

“Be mine, please?” He was looking at you expectantly, almost as if he was afraid that you’d say no. Your lips slowly morphed into a big smile.

“I’d love that,” you nodded happily, moving your arms to wrap around his neck instead. Not giving him any time to respond, you pressed yourself flush against him and captured his lips into a kiss. He was more than happy to oblige, his own arms wrapping around your waist to keep you close in his own way – not like you would want to move away from any of this.

You were vaguely aware that you were having a makeout session in the middle of the restaurant, Mingyu’s staff in the front row seat, but you honestly couldn’t care less. It felt so good to know that Wonwoo had done all of this just to ask you to be his girlfriend. That on top of the fact that he’d put on a whole damn suit for you was already enough to score a bunch of brownie points with you.

“You ready to get out of here?” Wonwoo asked when you’d pulled away, his breathing slightly unstable as he tried to recover from the intense kiss you’d shared. Though the way he’d phrased the question was quite harmless, the way his eyes darkened and his hand had lowered to your ass just seconds ago informed you that he had some intentions that were far from innocent.

“Mine or yours?” you responded as your fingers played with the hairs on the back of his neck. That got Wonwoo into gear, one of his hands quickly reaching for yours before you’d even realized that he was no longer hugging your form.

“Whatever is closer,” he answered, already in the process of tugging you back to your table, where you’d left your clutch. A string of giggles escaped from your lips at the way he was rushing, your heel-covered feet trying to catch up with his speed.

The sound of a door slamming open startled the both of you and you turned your head slightly to identify the source of the commotion. What you found instantly sucked all the joy right out of your body. There, in the flesh, was no one other than your brother.

All three of you were frozen in shock, Wonwoo and yourself obviously for different reasons than your brother. The latter seemed to be in pure shock, his eyes scanning over the two of you for a few seconds before his expression morphed into one that could only be described as pure anger.

“What. The. Fuck. is going on here?” Seungcheol seethed, his eyes darting back and forth between you and Wonwoo.

“Hyung.”

“Cheol,” you spoke at the same time, quickly pulling your hand from Wonwoo’s grasp when you realized that you hadn’t let go of each other yet. Your head was spinning and you felt like you wanted to be sick, your stomach twisting uncomfortably at the situation you were currently in. This wasn’t how your brother was supposed to find out. How did he even know to come here?

“I asked. What the fuck is going on here?!”

“Cheol, please calm down. It’s not-”

“Don’t fucking tell me to calm down, Y/N.” He then turned his attention to Wonwoo, his eyes shooting daggers at the man beside you. “You got some nerve,” he snorted, taking a few steps closer to the two of you. “You lied to my face about that bracelet, Wonwoo. I trusted you. I fucking trusted you and you go behind my back to mess with my sister? I can’t believe this.”

“Hyung…Shit, I’m sorry. I never meant for it to be like this,” Wonwoo responded, clenching his fists in frustration.

“Were you ever going to tell me, hmm?”

“Cheol,” you spoke carefully in the hope that he wouldn’t get even more angry. “It just happened okay? And we’re sorry for not telling you. But please, can’t you just let it go?”

“Let it go? My best friend and my own sister betrayed me and you want me to fucking let it go? No. Tell me, how long?”

“It’s not like that, Hyung. I swear. Can’t we just talk it out like adults?“ Wonwoo pleaded, but the older man was not having it.

“How. Long?” Seungcheol was now right in Wonwoo’s face and grabbing onto the blazer that he was wearing. Your brother was pissed and you seriously feared the worst for your boyfriend. The man beside you sighed in defeat, knowing that his friend wasn’t going to drop it before he got an answer.

“Two months,” Wonwoo mumbled softly, but it was loud enough for Seungcheol to hear. Your brother could only scoff, his jaw clenching while you held your breath.

“Cheol, please let go of him,” you finally begged, wanting Seungcheol as far away as possible from Wonwoo before he did something he would regret.

“Still defending him, huh?” Seungcheol laughed, but his laugh was void of joy. Still, he released Wonwoo’s blazer and patted him on the chest before turning his back to his friend. “You know, I think it’s funny because that was right around the time that you were supposed to take over that meeting for me.”

The next thing you know, Seuncheol turned around and delivered a blow straight to Wonwoo’s cheek, his glasses knocked off his face in the process. Your brother had moved so fast that it was already over before you realized what had happened.

“Cheol!” you shrieked, grabbing onto your boyfriend, who staggered a little bit due to the impact of the hit. “What the hell is wrong with you?!” You glared at your brother, who was just standing there with a frown on his face.

“I guess I deserved that,” the younger CEO gasped, holding onto the cheek that had taken the blow.

“No you didn’t. That was so uncalled for,” you grumbled, bending down to retrieve his poor glasses from the floor. “Are you okay?” you asked softly when you carefully placed them back onto his nose, momentarily forgetting about Seungcheol as you examined his cheek.

“I’m fine, don’t worry.” Another door slam is what pulled your attention away from the man in front of you, only to notice that your brother had left the room. Although things between you were bad, you were glad that he’d decided to leave before it could escalate even more. You would deal with him later and just focus on taking care of Wonwoo for now.

“It doesn’t look fine. It’s already bruising. We need to get ice on this.” You quickly called out for one of the staff members, who’d no doubt witnessed the whole thing. How embarrassing.

“I’m sorry. This is not how I wanted this night to end. He’s never going to forgive me for this. I’m fucked.” A desperate sigh left his lips after that, his eyes shifting to the floor in front of him.

You quickly shook your head as you accepted an ice pack from the woman who had escorted you to your table. “Don’t apologize. It’s not your fault, Wonwoo. I don’t know how the hell he knew we were here, but he should have minded his business. Hold this.”

Wonwoo did exactly that and watched as you hurried over to your purse, digging into it until you’d found what you were looking for.

“I’m going to call Mingyu. He should know about this too,” you announced while scrolling through your contacts to look for his phone number. Wonwoo didn’t protest, and even if he would have, you probably would have called Mingyu anyway. The two of you needed all the support you could get right now, and it just so happened that Mingyu was the only one that you could fall back on.

Fortunately, it only took about fifteen minutes before Mingyu burst through the doors. From the looks of it, he’d quickly rushed from home to check on the both of you.

Upon seeing Wonwoo with an ice pack pressed against his cheek, the chef rushed over and demanded an in-detail report of what had gone down.

“Dude, you’re fucked,” was the first thing that came out of the CEOs mouth when you’d finished telling him the full story.

“Yah Mingyu! Not helping?” you scolded the big giant, which earned you a goofy grin in return.

“But it’s true. I ruined it for everyone just because I was being selfish,” Wonwoo agreed.

“Okay, it probably won’t be that bad. Hyung will come around eventually.”

“Did you miss the part where he punched me in the fucking face?”

“No, but you’re still alive! That’s something, right?” You just rolled your eyes, not understanding how he could still joke around at a time like this. Wonwoo, however, seemed to think that it was somewhat funny judging from the laughter that erupted from the man. After that came immediate regret in the form of a groan that got you out of your seat.

“Stop playing around before you hurt yourself even more,” you grimaced, forcing Wonwoo’s ice pack hand back against his cheek. When you were satisfied, you collected your purse and grabbed your phone once again to arrange a ride for yourself.

Wonwoo, who noticed that you’d opened the taxi app, was quick to latch his free hand onto your wrist to prevent you from leaving. “Wait, where are you going?”

“I need to deal with Seungcheol.”

“Just be careful, yeah?”

“Don’t worry. I can handle myself,” you smiled, gently squeezing his hand before turning your attention to the other man. “Mingyu, please m-”

“I’ll take good care of him, don’t worry!” he assured you, that goofy smile adorning his face once again.

After making sure that Wonwoo would be fine in Mingyu’s care, you collected all your things and made your way out of the restaurant and towards the car that had just arrived for you.

Although you wanted to stay with Wonwoo, you felt like you had no choice but to deal with this, because there was no way you were going to let your brother get away with the shit he pulled tonight.

The drive to Seungcheol’s place was way too short for your liking, mainly because you were dreading the whole thing. Every fight the two of you had ever had always ended in the two of you screaming at each other – because you were both stubborn and reactive, so why would it be any different tonight? If anything, you just wanted to make it clear to him that he needed to mind his own damn business and focus on that instead of trying to control your life.

After thanking the driver for his service, you slowly made your way to the main door of the apartment complex.

Going over the list of names, you finally pressed the one that had your brother’s name on it. The sound of the doorbell pierced the silence while you anxiously waited for any sign of your brother.

“Cheol, I know you’re there. Open the door, ” you spoke into the intercom, knowing that your brother would be able to hear you. He had to be there, you were sure of it. When Seungcheol was angry, he usually liked to blow off steam in the comfort of his own home without a bunch of eyes on him. That's how you knew to come here. But it seemed like your brother was being stubborn – so were you though.

You pressed the bell once again, and again and again, until the familiar buzzing sound echoed through the air, which was followed by the door finally opening after a few minutes of trying.

With annoyance running through your system, you made your way up to the top floor, eager to give your brother a piece of your mind.

The front door was slightly open when you arrived, so you took the liberty to let yourself inside the apartment and took off your heels. Your attention was drawn to some commotion coming from the left, so you sensed that your brother was in his home office doing god knows what.

Your thoughts were confirmed when you opened the door just in time to see Seungcheol slam his hands down onto his desk before snatching a glass filled with what you assumed was whiskey off it.

“Yah, Choi Seungcheol! What the hell is wrong with you?” He looked up at the sound of your voice, his frown deepening even more at the sight of you.

After taking a big gulp of his whiskey, he said, “Really? That’s the first thing you say after lying to me?”

“You need to apologize to Wonwoo! I can't believe you actually had the audacity to punch him. And for what?!” you exclaimed, crossing your arms over your chest.

Your brother only shrugged and leaned back against the table as he faced you. “He got what he deserved.” You were in shock at the way he went about this so nonchalantly, as if he hadn't just almost knocked down one of his closest friends.

“He’s your friend! Instead of being immature and resorting to violence, we could have talked it out like adults,” you snapped.

“Then explain to me why I had to find out through a fucking private investigator that the two of you were sneaking around behind my back,” Seungcheol spat, his eyes blazing with fire. You, on the other hand, were in complete disbelief at what you'd just heard. He did what now?

“You hired a private investigator to spy on us?! Are you serious?” You actually hoped that you'd simply misheard, because if what you'd heard was true, you feared that you didn't really know your brother as well as you thought you did.

“You think I wanted to do it like this? Would you have told me if I’d straight up asked you? Hmm?” Your brother looked at you expectantly, but you were completely speechless, your mouth opening and closing, but no words came out.

“That’s what I thought,” he huffed and turned back around to grab the whiskey glass.

“You’re out of your mind if you think that’s an okay thing to do. You went too far this time, Cheol.” You shook your head as you continued. “I have tolerated a lot of your shit over the years, but this…I'm done with you trying to control me.”

“Maybe if you'd told me the truth from the start, it wouldn't have ended like this,” Seungcheol retorted. You could only scoff, refraining yourself from rolling your eyes at his words. He knew god damn well that he would have tried anything in his power to stop you from seeing Wonwoo had he known from the start.

“Oh, please cut the crap. What's so wrong with me and Wonwoo being together? He treats me well and actually cares about me, probably more than anyone I've ever dated. Why can't you accept that?”

“It's not even about that! You two went behind my back and lied to my face for weeks…weeks, Y/N!”

“So what? We only did that because you're a fucking control freak! It doesn't give you the right to violate our privacy. If you can't even acknowledge that what you did was wrong, then how do you expect me to ever forgive you?” Your brother slammed his glass down at the words that left your mouth, the sound of the glass hitting the desk slightly startling you.

“Y/N,” he chuckled bitterly. “You forgiving me? How about you apologize to me first for the shit you pulled?”

“Hell no. I don’t regret anything.” Part of you probably felt a little bit guilty, but with how angry you were at that moment, there was no way you were going to apologize to Seungcheol…not when he was acting like an entitled bastard.

“Fine, whatever. As long as you understand that you and Wonwoo are over.” Your arms dropped to your sides in response, your fists clenching in frustration at your brother’s absurd demand. The fact that he had the guts to say that to you made you want to cry and laugh at the same time, because just who did he think he was to make that decision for you?

“You can't be for real, right? After all this you're still trying to tell me what to do? Get it through your thick skull that I'm not your damn puppet. I'm a grown ass woman and I can manage my own relationships just fine without your controlling ass.”

“Watch it, Y/N. I’m still your brother,” he sneered, obviously not liking the way you were speaking to him. No matter how bad your fights got, there had always been some type of mutual respect between the two of you – not this time though. No, this time, you wanted him to know that he was dead wrong and foul for violating your and Wonwoo’s privacy.

Whatever respect you had for him had vanished the moment he revealed the involvement of that private investigator. It also made you wonder what details of your personal life had been shared with your brother? Just the thought already made you feel sick and uncomfortable.

“Or what, Cheol? You're gonna hit me too? Seriously, go fuck yourself!” You were about ready to leave, knowing that there was no reasoning with him in this state and at this point, you didn’t even want to.

In an attempt to stop you from leaving, Seungcheol reached forward to grab onto your wrist, but you just ripped it away. “Don’t! And don’t contact me either. I can’t fucking stand you right now.”

You were on the verge of a breakdown, but you managed to compose yourself just long enough to give your brother a final glare before storming out of his home office, ignoring the way he was calling after you.

All you wanted after that nightmare was Wonwoo. You needed him, because he was the only person who could truly understand what you were going through right now – you were in this together after all. Mingyu had let you know through a text that he’d dropped his friend off at home, so that’s how you ended up in another taxi, this time on your way to Wonwoo’s place to tell him all about what had gone down with your brother.

“I’m not going tonight.”

“Hyung, come on! Everyone is looking forward to seeing you,” Mingyu pleaded as he stepped inside his best friend’s home.

“I know one person who isn’t,” Wonwoo retorted, not even waiting for the chef to take off his shoes before he started making his way towards the living room.

Mingyu, however, was quick to follow behind him. “So what? Does that mean you have to skip everyone else too?”

“It’s too soon, Mingyu.” He remembered the night that you got back from your conversation with Seungcheol all too well. The moment he’d let you inside his house, you broke down crying in his arms. This was followed by you telling him everything that had been said between the two of you. To say that Wonwoo was shocked would have been an understatement. Never did he think that his best friend would go so far as to hire a PI to find out the truth. He had expected the screaming, the cussing and even the blow to his face, but this is the thing that had caught him off guard. Wonwoo didn’t know how to feel about it, because he understood where Seungcheol was coming from, but then again, the whole revelation made him want to avoid the managing CEO even more.

On top of that, Wonwoo had also been distancing himself from you ever since you left his place that day, mainly because he felt terrible. He couldn’t help but blame himself for the whole argument between you and your brother, and he felt like being in your presence would only make everything worse for everyone.

Of course he hadn’t told you how he felt, because you would definitely reassure him that he shouldn’t feel responsible for anything, which is why Wonwoo did what he thought was best: keep his feelings to himself and distance himself – at least until he figured out what to do.

“You can’t avoid each other forever. We all work together, so you’ll have to face him eventually. Better to just rip that bandaid off.”

Wonwoo sighed at that statement. “I know that, but how the hell am I going to hide this?” He turned around and pointed at his cheek, which was now a blue-greenish color after a week had passed. “And I’m not really looking forward to adding another bruise to the collection.”

“Just wear a mask and play it off as a cold. Or…how about you tell everyone what’s going on?” Mingyu suggested, but Wonwoo was quick to shake his head.

“No way. I’m not involving anyone in this drama when I don’t even know how to deal with it myself.”

“If you don’t show up, the others are definitely going to start asking questions. Do you want that instead?”

A frustrated groan left Wonwoo’s lips at that, the truth of Mingyu’s words sinking in. He had a point. Seungcheol wasn’t the only nosy one out of their group – mainly Seungkwan and Jeonghan, who had a tendency to snoop around for juicy stories. It wasn’t in the way that Seungcheol was in everyone’s business, but it was bad enough for Wonwoo to admit his defeat. Besides, it wasn’t like not showing up was going to make the whole thing go away.

“Fine, I’ll go. Happy?”

“Very,” the other CEO grinned. “ Now go get ready. We leave in ten,” he announced before plopping himself down onto the couch.

“I’m gonna regret this,” Wonwoo mumbled to himself as he made his way towards the stairs.

Forty-five minutes later, the CEO pair found themselves seated around Seungkwan’s large dining table with the rest of their friends, minus the managing CEO. Wonwoo hated to admit it, but he was relieved that Seungcheol was slightly delayed, because it gave him time to mentally prepare himself. The goal was to not create a scene with the other CEOs present, so he counted on Mingyu to help with that. As long as Wonwoo didn’t have to sit next to Seungcheol, there was a chance that he’d make it through this get-together without another fist in his face.

Unfortunately, that worry-free moment was short-lived when he showed up ten minutes later. Wonwoo, who had been joking around with Mingyu, Chan and Jeonghan, felt himself tense up at his sudden presence. It was weird…seeing him in this type of setting when it was only a week ago that Seungcheol had caught him with you. It made Wonwoo wonder if he even wanted to be here, because he sure as hell didn’t.

Without intending to, Wonwoo’s eyes met Seungcheol’s eyes for just a brief moment, but it was long enough for Wonwoo to feel the anger radiating through the CEO’s eyes. The smile that had adorned Seungcheol’s face only seconds ago vanished almost immediately as he spotted the man who’d betrayed his trust.

Wonwoo felt his breath hitch in his throat in response, anxiety slowly seeping into his body as he tried to keep his composure. Mingyu, being the good friend he was, probably sensed his friend’s distress and placed a comforting hand on Wonwoo’s shoulder, as if telling him that it would all be fine.

Wonwoo was glad that dinner was pretty uneventful, apart from the occasional glances that Seungcheol kept throwing his way – which he tried to ignore as best as he could. It did help that the older man was seated far away from Wonwoo, all the way at the end of the large oval table. However, that all changed when Jun and Vernon suggested that they should play some games.

They moved to Seungkwan’s lounge room, where they opted for a game of cards with a couple of drinks. Wonwoo tried to have fun and focus on the game and his friends, but it was hard when the man sitting across from him kept staring right into his soul every few minutes or so. And sadly enough, Wonwoo wasn’t the only one who noticed the tension in the room.

“Okay, something is going on here,” Seungkwan finally stated, peaking everyone’s interest. Wonwoo, however, almost whined in frustration.

“You’re right. Something weird is going on,” Minghao agreed.

“And why does Seungcheol Hyung look like he wants to kill someone?” Chan questioned at the sight of Seungcheol’s murderous facial expression.

“Maybe because I do,” the man in question answered in a low voice, his eyes flashing to Wonwoo. There we go.

“Wow, what the hell is that? What’s going on?” Jisoo asked, no doubt referring to the look Seungcheol had directed at Wonwoo.

“Why don’t you ask the gaming pro over there,” Seungcheol spoke and motioned to Wonwoo, who cringed at all the attention he was suddenly getting. This is exactly what he had been afraid of. If only he hadn’t let Mingyu convince him to come.

“Hyung, let’s not do this here, yeah?” Mingyu interfered in an attempt to defuse the situation.

“You’re not any better, Mingyu. Trying to cover his ass and supporting the whole thing behind my back.”

“Are we being pranked? Because this is not really happening now, is it?” Jihoon asked, looking profoundly confused.

“Oh, I wish it was,” Wonwoo mumbled from behind his mask before he switched his attention to Seungcheol. “Hyung, can we please not do this right now? Let’s not involve everyone.”

The man just laughed and stood up from his seat. “Why not? Afraid that everyone is going to see you in a different light when they hear the truth?”

“Hyung, come on,” Mingyu tried to persuade his Hyung before it was too late. But, Seungcheol was not in the mood to listen to the chef, not when he was all worked up.

“No, Mingyu. Don’t even try to stop me. I think everyone deserves to know that Wonwoo over there,” he pointed at Wonwoo, “went behind my back to date my sister and he thought he could get away with it.”

“Excuse me?! Your sister Y/N?” Seokmin’s eyes were wide open in shock, his eyes shifting to Wonwoo instantly. He wasn’t alone, because very soon, the other ten CEOs were also staring at him, some with their mouths open after hearing that mind-boggling news.

“Nah, that can’t be right. Wonwoo Hyung and Y/N? Never,” Seungkwan shook his head as if he refused to believe that piece of information.

“I’m speechless,” Vernon said after a few seconds of silence. Jeonghan, who was sitting right beside Wonwoo, playfully hit the man’s shoulder and chuckled in an attempt to lighten the mood.

“Yah, Wonwoo. They’re joking, right? You didn’t actually make a move on Y/N?” Wonwoo didn’t have anything to say to that, mainly because it was obviously clear to everyone by now that it was, in fact, not a joke but very much true. He just wanted to disappear and pretend like it had all never happened.

“Wait wait wait! Don’t tell me you and his sister actually…you know…?” Seungkwan asked nervously, his eyes flicking between the two friends that were in the center of the dispute.

“He’s too chicken to open his mouth now with all of you here, but he sure was okay with sneaking around with her for two months. Oh, and mind you, he lied to you too,” Seungcheol butted in.

“Cut him some slack, Hyung. He’s already miserable enough because of the whole thing. You punching him in the face was punishment enough,” Mingyu huffed, coming to Wonwoo’s defense once again.

A gasp sounded from Chan. “What?! Is that why you’re wearing the mask? Because Hyung beat the shit out of you?” That was immediately followed by a smack on the head plus a scolding from Jihoon. “Sorry,” he mumbled.

“Shit, Cheol. You hit him? Are you out of your mind?” Jisoo frowned, obviously not amused with the man’s actions.

“Hell yes I did and he deserved it. My own sister won’t even talk to me because she’d rather defend this backstabber!” At that, Wonwoo stood up from his seat. He was not having it this time, especially because it was you he was talking about now.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Hyung. The reason she’s not talking to you is because you hired a fucking PI to dig into our lives instead of coming to us like a normal person would have! Who the hell does that?!”

Silence dominated the room after yet another revelation that left the other CEOs too stunned to speak. No one had expected their monthly night of fun to turn into a reality TV drama.

“I gave you two plenty of chances to tell me, but you left me with no other choice.”

“That’s bullshit, Hyung. There were more than enough alternatives to choose from,” Wonwoo scowled.

“Alright, I think it’s time to put a stop to this. We’re all friends, there’s no need to be getting this worked up,” Soonyoung finally stepped in between the two CEOs, but Seungcheol was quick to go around him and got in Wonwoo’s face before anyone could stop him.

“Hyung, don’t!” Mingyu called out, already making a move to pull the two of them apart.

“No! I need to make this clear first,” Seungcheol snapped, shaking off Mingyu’s hand from his shoulder. Truth was, Wonwoo had no idea what he was getting himself into. For all he knew, he’d be leaving Seungkwan’s house with another bruise.

“I’m telling you Wonwoo, if you want this to work out between us, you better break it off with Y/N. I’m serious, it’s SEVENTEEN World or Y/N, your choice. Choose wisely,” was the final thing that came out of Seungcheol’s mouth before he swiftly turned around and stormed out of the room, leaving behind a room full of CEOs with a bunch of burning questions.

After their managing CEO had left the house, Wonwoo was literally bombarded with questions, up to the point where Mingyu was forced to chair the ‘Q&A’ to prevent total chaos – because what else to expect from a room full of men?

Despite the severity of it all, Wonwoo wanted to be transparent with his friends and explain to them why he’d done what he did. Sure, some were slightly offended that he hadn’t trusted them, but most of them were just shocked that it was Wonwoo, the CEO who didn’t like to date, who had managed to capture your attention.

And of course, once all the serious questions were over and done with, the teasing comments started, initiated by no one other than Yoon Jeonghan and Hong Jisoo, SEVENTEEN World’s infamous instigators. The poor CEO endured it all, but he couldn’t deny that he enjoyed it a little bit.

Yet, all of this didn’t take away the fact that Wonwoo had to make a difficult decision – and he didn’t know if he was going to like the outcome.

Ever since you left Wonwoo’s place that day, you hadn’t heard from him again. That was now two weeks ago. At first, you guessed that he probably needed some time to think things through, which was completely understandable. That’s why you’d kept your attempts to reach him to a minimum, with the occasional call or text message.

But then a week passed, and you still hadn’t heard anything from his side. It was just like the time you’d been waiting for him to initiate a second date and it drove you insane.

In the week that followed, when you felt like you’d given him enough time to sort things out, you probably called him about a dozen times and left him numerous text messages, but all to no avail.

From an outsider’s point of view, it must have seemed excessive and perhaps slightly bordering on stalker behavior, but you were slowly growing more and more restless as the days passed.

You just couldn’t help it. Wonwoo occupied your mind 24/7 and it frustrated you that he’d removed himself from you so easily, especially when he’d made it pretty clear to you that he was in love with you – you couldn’t just forget about that little fact.

All of this had just come at such an unfortunate time. Why did your brother have to show up when he did? He just had to ruin what would have been the best day of your life, because that was what he knew to do best. Thinking about it was enough to get you fired up again.

Speaking of the devil that was your brother, you’d been vehemently ignoring him ever since you’d stormed out of his apartment. In his attempts to contact you, he’d texted and called you, but you’d simply blocked his number in response.

You should have known that he wouldn’t give up that easily, which is why it didn’t come as a surprise when he came knocking at your door one night – for obvious reasons, you refused to open the door and let him ring your doorbell for about fifteen minutes before he gave up and left.

To make sure you could avoid him completely, you’d even gone as far as to arrange a replacement for your monthly legal consultation, because you didn’t think you’d be able to keep it together if you had to face him, not even for the sake of business. Maybe that would finally make your brother realize that he really fucked up this time.

Currently, you were holding your phone to your ear, anxiously waiting for the recipient to pick up.

“Thank you for calling SEVENTEEN Gaming. This is Park Hajoon speaking, what can I do for you?” Wonwoo’s secretary spoke through the phone.

“Hajoon, hi! It’s uh, Y/N. I was wondering if Wonwoo is available.” You felt completely embarrassed that you had actually called his office in the hope of speaking to him during your lunch break, but you were desperate at this point.

“Oh, hello Ms. Choi. I-I’m sorry, but I’m afraid he’s busy right now. I can leave a message for you?” the secretary offered, but you simply sighed in defeat.

“Just let him know that I called. That’s all, thank you,” you thanked her, the disappointment already beginning to settle in.

Of course, because what were you thinking? If he was really avoiding you then he obviously would have told his secretary to tell you that he was busy if you were to call.

While trying to finish your lunch, your eyes fell on your phone once again. What if…

Before your mind could catch up and prevent you from doing anything stupid, you unlocked your phone and searched for that one person in your contact list – possibly the only person who’d know how to help you reach Wonwoo.

“Y/N? I’m kinda busy right now,” Mingyu’s surprised voice sounded, the background noise immediately giving away that he was in a packed kitchen.

You were quick to jump in, afraid that he might hang up before you got the chance to ask him. “Mingyu, please. I need to talk to him. It’s been two weeks!”

“I know, I know. But he won’t even talk to me about it though, so I don’t know if I can help you.” You almost felt like crying at this point. If he didn’t confide in his best friend, then how were you going to get through to him?

“I just need one chance to see him. Isn’t there anywhere he goes often?” It was silent for a moment, and you were afraid that Mingyu had hung up the call. But when you checked the screen, you were relieved to see that he was still there.

“Well, I guess you could try the arcade? You know, the one you went to on your first date? He usually goes there to relieve stress, but I’m not sure he’ll be there, Y/N.” The arcade! How could you have forgotten about that place?

“No, that’s perfect. Thanks, Mingyu!” you thanked the CEO and said your goodbye before ending the call. Tonight, you were going to pay a visit to the arcade and hopefully see Wonwoo there.

With your newfound determination, you made your way to the arcade when your workday had come to an end. As you entered the building for the second time, you immediately noticed the change in vibe from the last time you’d been here.

On your first date, the place had been completely deserted since Wonwoo had reserved the whole space for the two of you, but it was the complete opposite now. The whole hall was filled with people, both young and old, all having fun trying out the various games – it was Friday night, so that was to be expected.

You were starting to lose hope after spending two hours there, still no sign of the SEVENTEEN Gaming CEO. Even after making a few rounds and checking out the individuals wearing face masks and caps, you had to come to the conclusion that Wonwoo wasn’t here…and probably wouldn’t be tonight. After the third hour, you finally disposed of your empty cup and collected your things so that you could make your way home.

—

Wonwoo slammed his car door shut and locked it with the click of a button before he adjusted his disguise. For a second, he thought of going home to play some games instead, but he reminded himself that he’d just finished a tiring day full of meetings with stakeholders and needed something to relax him, something to distract him – mainly from you.

He was painfully aware that you’d been trying to get a hold of him and he felt like a complete dick for going radio silent, but Wonwoo wasn’t good with these types of situations. He had no doubt that you hated him right now. All you wanted was to talk and here he was, ignoring the woman he’d confessed his love to not too long ago.

Wonwoo wanted to work this whole thing out, but he didn’t have the slightest clue where to start. The only scenarios he could come up with ended with both of you in pain and he wasn’t ready to face any of that yet. Distracting himself with games was the only thing that gave him some sort of comfort right now. Not even Mingyu, who’d offered his help already more than once.

The CEO was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn’t notice the figure that was about to exit the building just as he wanted to enter, causing the two to bump into each other.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled, not even looking at the person that had bumped into him.

“Wonwoo?” Fuck. That voice. “Is it really you?” His eyes were automatically drawn to the woman standing in front of him, which confirmed to him that it was no one other than you he’d bumped into.

“Y/N,” he breathed, his body heating up at the dread that suddenly took over his body upon seeing you so unexpectedly.

“Why have you been avoiding me?” Your tone was stern, but he inferred from your sullen eyes that you were more sad than angry.

“Come with me,” he said, reaching down to take your hand in his to tug you in the direction of his car. If you were going to do this, he didn’t want to be anywhere near the public.

“Where are we going?” you finally asked when Wonwoo motioned for you to buckle up.

“Somewhere private,” was the only thing that Wonwoo said. For the rest of the minutes that Wonwoo spent driving, no words were spoken. He didn’t really know what you were thinking, but in his case, he wasn't sure what to say to you, not after ignoring all your calls.

He finally stopped at the spot where he’d taken you to stargaze before, knowing that you could probably have a conversation there without the risk of anyone catching you.

“So, are you going to tell me what’s been happening these past two weeks?” you asked impatiently, now standing right in front of him and way too close for Wonwoo’s liking. You smelled so good, too good even. Any closer and he’d completely forget about the serious talk you were supposed to have.

“Y/N…”

“Wait! Let me at least see your face while we do this,” you pouted, your hands reaching up to unhook the mask from behind his ears. “There,” you whispered, your hands coming to a rest on his shoulders as you looked at him with expectant eyes. Shit, Wonwoo really didn’t want to do this.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about how to have this conversation with you,” he started, reaching for his shoulders to lower your hands in an attempt to minimize any sort of physical contact with you. “To be honest, I didn’t expect to see you tonight.”

Your hopeful expression dropped and was replaced by a frown at his action. “I don’t like where this is going,” you responded, your eyes narrowing.

“I’m sorry. All I’ve been doing is avoid you because I’m too scared to deal with this situation.” Wonwoo shook his head and ran one of his hands through his hair. “You deserve so much better.”

“I admit, it’s frustrating when you don’t talk to me,” you sighed. “But, I want to be with you. I’m not joking when I saw that I’ve never felt this way about anyone. I lo-”

“Don’t. Don’t say it,” Wonwoo quickly interrupted you, knowing that whatever you were going to say next would make this even harder.

“Why not? Don’t you feel the same?” you asked softly, reaching forward to grab his hand but Wonwoo was quick to prevent it.

“It doesn’t matter how we feel, because this is bigger than us. I have to choose,” he grimaced, feeling a slight tightening of his chest at the words that came out of his mouth.

“And you’re not choosing me? It’s my brother who’s making you choose, right?” you chuckled bitterly, your fists clenched into fists.

“I don’t want this either, but I have to think of my company, my employees and the whole of SEVENTEEN World. If I can’t fix this with your brother, we’re putting other people at risk.”

“I know…I’m just being selfish. It shouldn’t have to be a choice though. Seungcheol is being an ass and he knows it. He’s still trying to control my life even when we’re not on speaking terms.”

You were trying to be strong, but you couldn’t stop the few tears that fell from your eyes, staining your cheeks with the salty liquid. This was followed by the sound of your sniffing and some more tears, until you were full-on sobbing.

Wonwoo absolutely hated being the reason that you were crying. He didn’t mean to upset you, but he had to rip the bandaid off before he chickened out.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry” he mumbled over and over again, not being able to refrain himself from wrapping you in his embrace at the sight of your crying form.

“It’s n-not fair,” you gasped, burying yourself into Wonwoo’s leather jacket while you had him in a tight squeeze.

“I know,” he agreed, making the mistake of looking down at the exact moment you lifted your head to look at him. Even with your eyes all red and your cheeks wet with tears, Wonwoo still thought that you were the most beautiful woman he’d ever laid eyes on. God, how much he would miss this.

“Y/N,” he warned softly when you reached up to bring your face closer to his.

“Just one more kiss,” you begged, pressing your body even further against him. How was he supposed to say no to that?

“Fuck,” he whispered right before cupping your cheek and connecting your lips before he could regret it.

Wonwoo made sure to pour everything into that kiss, wanting you to know just how much he cared about you. It was both messy and hasty, with your tongues clashing together and your hands exploring each other’s bodies as if trying to remember everything about the other within the short time that you had. Because after tonight, you would both have to go back to reality – the one where you were no longer together.

You felt heartbroken. You felt sick. You felt miserable. Following your breakup with Wonwoo, every new day felt like a punishment, with you literally having to force yourself out of bed every morning. And every time you drove to work, you had to mentally prepare yourself for the letters plastered onto the SEVENTEEN Gaming HQ building that would be staring you in the face, mocking you and reminding you that you couldn’t have the one thing you truly wanted.

Even at work, the change in you was noticeable. For the first time in your time at the Kang Group, you were slacking, missing crucial deadlines and mixing up appointments, much to the surprise of your colleagues and your boss. One of your best qualities was your ability to completely separate your personal life from your work life, and you’d thought so too, which is why it frustrated you that this whole situation affected you so much.

It eventually got so bad that your boss had you take the next few weeks off from work, because you weren’t able to focus on anything other than feeling miserable.

You weren’t sure if being away from work was the solution to your problems. It only left you with more time to think and the more you thought about everything, the more you felt yourself begin to spiral down.

Your friends had tried to drag you out of the house on more than one occasion in an effort to cheer you up. They were aware that you’d gone through a breakup – because you’d told them that much, but they didn’t know who it was. You appreciated them for organizing various activities such as a spa day, a movie night and drinks at your favorite bar, but those distractions only lasted for a short time. Each time, after coming home to an empty apartment, you went right back to wallowing in self-pity.

The situation with Seungcheol hadn’t gotten any better either. He was still blocked and knocking at your door from time to time, but you couldn’t care less. Seeing his face would only make you mad and the end result would no doubt be another screaming match. Maybe one day you could forgive him, but not when everything was still so fresh.

You opted to spend most of your time alone, either sleeping or killing time watching shows with the occasional tub of ice cream. But despite trying to remain strong as the days passed, you were constantly reminded of how you and Wonwoo used to watch these types of shows together, which then unleashed another breakdown that resulted in you crying for hours.

You just wanted to stop feeling like this, mainly because it was unfamiliar and so unlike you to have a total meltdown over a man. If this continued any longer, you’d for sure lose your mind.

—

Wonwoo wasn’t doing that much better than you. He felt just as miserable, if not worse. But instead of taking time off from work, he focused all his attention on his business. Every free moment was spent on the next game release, all to keep him distracted from what he was actually feeling.

He was like a machine in the weeks that followed, showing up to work early, working on his to-do list and leaving when everyone had already left the building hours ago. It was clear to everyone that something was going on with the CEO that was normally so passionate about his work.

The enthusiasm with which Wonwoo generally went into meetings – especially the ones revolving around the creation process of new games – had been replaced by an indifferent attitude that his team and in particular, his personal secretary, Park Hajoon, didn’t know how to deal with. They obviously didn’t want to pry, but whatever it was, they hoped that he could deal with it and go back to the old one asap.

The next get-together was also skipped by Wonwoo, simply because he was not in the mood to pretend like everything was fine when it was clearly not. Being the good friends they were, everyone except Seungcheol, made sure to check in on him at least once.

Wonwoo assumed that they knew about what had gone down, especially because he looked like the life had been sucked out of him, but also the fact that Seungcheol was no longer giving the man dirty looks and actually managed to be cordial during their quarterly business meeting.

Mingyu, who’d watched his best friend beat himself up again and again over the past few weeks, finally had enough one day. If anyone was going to get Wonwoo out of his slump, it would be him.

“Hyung, you need to get out of your house tonight,” Mingyu started as soon as Wonwoo had answered the call.

“I think I’m just gonna stay in tonight. It’s late,” Wonwoo sighed, his gaze drifting to the large clock that was hanging on the wall. Technically, 9PM wasn’t that late, but the man couldn’t be bothered.

“You say that literally every time. You haven’t left the house for anything other than work for the past few weeks!”

“Exactly, because there’s no other reason to leave the house.”

“You can’t be this pessimistic for the rest of your life, Hyung. Come to my restaurant and I’ll cook for you. We can have some food and drinks,” the chef suggested.

Wonwoo, who’d only eaten two packs of ramen today, was tempted by the offer. But then again, it also meant that he had to leave the house and deal with Mingyu’s nagging. “I think I’ll pa-”

“No you’re not. I swear to god, Hyung. I know for a fact that you haven’t had a proper meal in days and I’m not having it. Go put on something decent and be here in 30.” This was not how he’d planned to spend the rest of the night.

“Mingyu, what about ‘I think I’m just going to stay in tonight’ don’t you understand?”

“I understood every word, but I just don’t give a shit and I’m not joking this time, Hyung. Get changed, get into your car and be here. If you’re not here in 30 minutes, I’m going to ask Minghao to lend me his bodyguards. I bet they’ll have no issue dragging you out of that house,” Mingyu threatened.

Upon hearing his best friend’s words, Wonwoo decided that it was in his best interest to take his words seriously, because Minghao would for sure have no problem with Mingyu using his bodyguards if it meant getting Wonwoo out the house. On top of that, he’d seen and met Minghao’s intimidating bodyguards – these guys were trained professionals, so he wasn’t about to risk them paying him a visit at home.

“I’ll be there, so you can stop with those threats,” Wonwoo spoke and released a deep sigh. He better not regret this like that one time he had a confrontation with Seungcheol in front of all their other friends.

“Wise choice, Hyung. Just look for Aecha when you get here. She’ll wait for you in the entrance hall and take you to me,” Mingyu explained, referring to the waitress that had also served you and him on your final date. “And don’t even think about ditching! Remember, the bo-”

“Yeah yeah, the bodyguards. Got it, Mingyu. I’m hanging up now,” Wonwoo announced and ended the call, not even bothering to wait for his friend’s response.

Wonwoo felt conflicted as he parked his car in front of Flavor Factory SEVENTEEN – the place wasn’t exactly triggering happy memories for him. The last time he was here, it had ended in a complete disaster. The date that was supposed to have ended with him taking you home and showing you how much he loved you, only left him with a bruised cheek and a broken heart instead.

But despite Wonwoo really not wanting to be here right now, he would try to push his feelings aside for tonight and enjoy spending some quality time with Mingyu. Ever since he’d broken things off with you, he’d been distancing himself from everyone, including Mingyu, the one person that had supported him through it all.

Whereas Wonwoo usually shared all his problems with the chef, he had refrained himself from doing so this time. The man had already been dragged into this whole mess because of Wonwoo’s selfishness, so he wasn’t about to bother Mingyu with his relationship issues, especially not when he was in the middle of preparing the launch of a new food item.

But he also realized that pushing his best friend away wasn’t going to solve anything. That’s why Wonwoo fought the urge to turn around and return home as he made his way inside – and again, the thought of being ambushed by three bodyguards really didn’t sound all that great.

Just as Mingyu had told him over the phone, Aecha was waiting for Wonwoo in the entrance hall.

“Aecha?” Wonwoo approached the waitress, who kindly greeted him and motioned for him to follow her. Instead of going through the restaurant, which was no doubt packed with all the cars outside, she took him through a hallway that was accessible to staff only.

“Make yourself comfortable, Sir. Mr. Kim will be with you shortly,” the woman spoke as she guided him into one of the restaurant’s private dining rooms. It was a little on the smaller side, so Wonwoo guessed that it was normally used for couples or groups up to four people.

“Thank you,” Wonwoo said to the waitress and watched her close the door behind herself. While waiting for the other CEO to show up, he admired some of the art that had been displayed in the room – some paintings and sculptures that probably cost a fortune.

The sound of the door opening just a few minutes later is what pulled Wonwoo’s attention away from the piece of Korean art that he’d been inspecting. And what awaited him was definitely not what he’d been expecting.

“Wonwoo? What are you doing here? I’m supposed to meet Mingyu here,” Seungcheol’s confused voice echoed through the small room after Aecha had closed the door once again, this time leaving him with an unexpected guest.

“Aish, god damn Mingyu,” Wonwoo mumbled, realizing that the two of them had been set up by the younger CEO. “I guess we fell for one of his tricks.”

Seungcheol scoffed at that, seemingly thinking it over before shaking his head and taking a seat at the dining table.

Wonwoo didn’t know how to feel about this situation. Both of them hadn’t had a one-on-one in a long time and they weren’t exactly on the best of terms, so why the hell did Mingyu think that it would be a good idea to put the two of them together…in a small room?

“You look like shit,” Seungcheol stated after observing Wonwoo for a few seconds.

I wonder why. “Thanks, I’m aware,” the man responded as he took a seat on the opposite side of the table.

The silence that followed was deadly, with both of the men not quite knowing what to say. None of them had prepared for this, so it felt awkward to be in such an intimate space together.

Were they going to just stare at each other this whole time? Or were they going to talk? And even if they did, were they going to fight again?

Also, where the hell was Mingyu? Had his plan really been to just drop them in a room and leave them to figure it out themselves?

Wonwoo's thoughts were interrupted by the door opening once again, this time revealing no one other than the culprit himself, Kim Mingyu.

“Hyungs! Glad you could make it. How do you like the surprise?” A smirk was plastered onto his face as he rolled in a cart full of delicious-looking foods.

“Really funny, Mingyu. I don't recall you telling me there would be another person joining us. I thought you wanted to discuss some important business,” Seungcheol responded, already looking quite annoyed.

Mingyu only shrugged as he began to move the food from the cart onto the table. “Sorry, Hyung. I know you wouldn't have shown up otherwise, so I had to think of something.”

“So much for quality time,” Wonwoo mumbled quietly, mentally cursing at himself for having left the house tonight.

“Stop being such a grump.” Mingyu nudged Wonwoo, who could only glare at the man that was now towering over him. That earned him an eye roll from the chef. “The two of you need to stop this act and make up already. It's driving everyone nuts! We don't want to see you fight or be miserable. What happened happened, and there's no turning back, only moving forward from here. That's why I tricked you into coming here tonight. And no, you're not leaving this room before you've eaten some food and made some progress.”

“Do we really not have a say in this?” Wonwoo asked, shifting his gaze from the food to Mingyu, who gave him a pointed look.

“No, you don’t. And this better not end in another fight either. Minghao’s bodyguards are on speed dial,” the chef warned. “Now, enjoy the food and fix this shit.” That was the last they heard from him before he left the room, leaving the two CEOs to deal with their problems.

“Well…” Seungcheol cleared his throat when it was just the two of them again. “I guess we better dig in, huh?”

Wonwoo nodded slowly as it started to sink in that he wouldn't be able to get out of this anytime soon. “I guess so,” he replied, his eyes scanning the various food items on the table.

Mingyu really had gone all out for the two of them – the man never came to play when it came to food. Among the variety of dishes was a rose spaghetti with shrimp, a big bowl of Jajangmyeon, a plate full of beef bulgogi, a bunch of freshly made banchan and many more things that honestly made Wonwoo’s mouth water.

His stomach growled involuntarily, as if his body was indicating that those two packs of ramen had certainly not been enough. He should have eaten more, yes, but in his state, it had been the last thing on his mind.

“Aren’t you going to take it?” Seungcheol asked, his voice cutting through the silence. Only then, Wonwoo noticed that he was holding out a plate with an assortment of the food that was on the table.

“Oh, yeah. Thanks, Hyung.” He was quick to take the plate, feeling a little surprised at the CEO’s gesture.

The two ate in silence for the next few minutes, the sound of chopsticks and spoons hitting the plates and bowls echoing through the room. But different from the uncomfortable silence that had dominated the room before, it was now a pleasant silence. In Wonwoo’s opinion, the arrival of the food was the main reason for that change.

“I’m sorry I punched you.” Seungcheol was the first to speak again, causing Wonwoo to freeze in his spot. Was he actually apologizing? He couldn’t believe that he was actually taking the first step, and he truly sounded like he was sorry.

“It’s…whatever. I would have punched me too,” Wonwoo finally said when he’d gotten over the initial shock.

“I admit, you were wrong for going behind my back, but still, it wasn’t okay of me to do that. I should have gone about it a different way and I guess I let my irrational side take over,” Seungcheol explained.

Wonwoo understood why Seungcheol had punched him when he did, because he couldn’t classify himself as innocent in all of this. He did break his trust and date you while knowing fully well that there would be consequences. So, despite the shit that his friend had pulled, Wonwoo felt like he needed to own up to his mistakes too.

“The same goes for the PI that I hired to spy on you and my sister,” Seungcheol continued. “I never meant to invade your privacy like that, but when I saw that bracelet…I was just so angry at the thought of you two together that I wasn’t thinking clearly and didn’t care what it took to confirm what I’d seen. But after seeing the effect it had on you and Y/N, I now realize that I went a little too far. So, I guess what I’m trying to say is I’m sorry,” the CEO sighed.

“I appreciate that, Hyung. I really do, thank you. And I guess I should also apologize to you for going behind your back. That was…really wrong of me. And I don’t have any good excuse for it either. We just clicked so well during that meeting that I threw all my morals aside at that moment. And then it only escalated from there with no way of going back. I never meant for anyone to get hurt,” Wonwoo shook his head. Just thinking back to the night you’d been crying your eyes out in his arms caused his chest to clench again.

“Oh you were dead wrong. I w-”

“Wait, Hyung. I’m not finished yet. I should have told you the truth from the start…”

“You shouldn’t have asked her out to begin with,” Seungcheol interrupted, a frown making its way onto his face.

Wonwoo slapped a hand against his forehead at that statement. Fair enough. “Right, I shouldn’t have, but I did. And then we got to know each other better and we developed feelings. I can’t lie and say that I’m fine, even after almost a month has passed. Hell, I’m sure neither of us are fine because we were both a mess the night we broke it off. But I just want you to know that I respect you and value you as a business partner, and of course as my friend.”

Seungcheol slowly nodded, taking in everything that Wonwoo had just told him. “So do I, and I never wanted for us to fight. I’m willing to put it behind us if you are too, not only for the sake of the company, but for both of our sakes too.” This was followed by Seungcheol extending his arm across the table.

Wonwoo let out a small laugh before shaking the hand in front of him. “Hell yes. All this awkwardness was killing me.”

“Same here. Man, guess we need to thank Mingyu after all,” the other man grinned before taking another bite from the food on his plate.

“I guess we do,” Wonwoo smiled, feeling somewhat happy that they’d been able to squash their beef.

It was slowly starting to feel like old times again, and although Wonwoo knew that it was going to take some time to move past the whole fiasco, he was glad that the tension between the two of them had settled after that long overdue talk.

Mingyu even came to check in on the two men after an hour or so, and upon discovering that they’d made up, he brought them his number one dessert on the house, just because he couldn’t believe that his plan had actually worked out. The man was so delighted that he even joined them for a couple of drinks before he had to run back to the kitchen to deal with his staff and guests.

When it was about time for the CEOs to start heading home, Wonwoo felt like there was something that he hadn’t yet been able to say, something that had been weighing him down ever since they had their talk. And if he didn’t say it now, he was afraid that he’d never get the chance to do so.

“Wait, before we leave I just want to say one last thing and I hope you’re not going to change your mind about tonight,” Wonwoo said when the two of them had gotten up from the table.

“This doesn’t sound like a good start,” Seungcheol chuckled as he adjusted his blue tie.

“I know, but I need to say this. Look, I know we’re trying to move past this, but I want to say again that I never meant to hurt anyone, especially Y/N.” At the mention of you, Seungcheol was suddenly on high alert, his lips pressing together into a thin line. “Even if we can’t be together, I want you to know that I’ll always have a special place in my heart for her. I never got to tell her because of everything that went down but I love her, Hyung. I love her in a way that I’ve never loved anyone else and I only want the best for her, even if that means it’ll eventually be with someone else.”

Wonwoo wasn’t sure if he’d made the right choice by telling his Hyung, but he did feel a huge sense of relief at getting that off his chest.

“I see,” Seungcheol nodded slowly, his gaze moving to the ground.

“I just needed you to know, that’s all, Hyung. Are we still good?” Wonwoo asked carefully, not knowing what was going on in his friend’s head right now.

“We are. I just need some time, that’s all,” he responded, meeting Wonwoo’s eyes once again. “I’ll see you later, yeah?” The younger man nodded and watched as Seungcheol made his exit.

Some time…Wonwoo could live with that, especially if it meant that he could have his friend back.

You don’t exactly remember how you’d ended up in this situation, but you were currently on your way to meet Mingyu at a cafe for what he called an ‘intervention’. The other night, he’d practically forced himself into your place with a bunch of delicious foods that you couldn’t say no to. And of course, he used your weakness against you and miraculously managed to convince you to join him for coffee at a low-key place to get you out of the house.

Another torturous week had passed without seeing Wonwoo and without talking to your brother – not that you minded the latter. This time, you’d even tried to pull yourself out of your slump on multiple occasions, but you somehow always ended up back on the couch with your tub of ice cream.

It did feel kind of weird to still be in contact with your ex-boyfriend's best friend. You were sure that if your brother knew about it, he’d flip a table – did you actually care about that? Not really. But despite the weirdness of the entire situation, you were truly glad that you had a friend like Mingyu. Aside from Wonwoo, he was the only one who understood what you were going through, so you appreciated his efforts to cheer you up.

Mingyu was waiting for you in front of the cafe, with his hood and mask up as expected. Fortunately, the place was practically empty when you two entered, which you guessed was a good thing since Mingyu was here with you. The last thing you needed was to be harassed by a bunch of paparazzi.

“Where should we sit?” you asked, scanning the cafe for a good spot that wouldn’t be too out in the open.

“How about in the back?” Mingyu suggested, quickly moving past you to lead the way. You were fine with anything, so you nodded, following him after greeting the staff members behind the counter.

“What the hell is he doing here?” you asked, your eyes widening at the figure that came into view when you neared the table in the back.

“Y/N, I know what this looks like, but trust me, there’s a reason for all of this,” Mingyu responded quickly. You should have known that he was up to no good.

“You better have a damn good reason, because I don’t remember this being part of the deal,” you grumbled, a frown making its way onto your face at the sight of your brother sitting at the small round table.

Seungcheol turned his attention to the chef, who was now looking more than a little nervous at the little scene that was unfolding in front of his eyes. “Mingyu! You didn’t tell her I was going to be here?”

Holding up his hands in defense, he said, “Don’t blame me! Do you really think she would have showed up if she knew you’d be there?”

“Yah! I’m right here!” you exclaimed, the frown on your face never faltering as you observed your brother. It had been a little over a month now since you’d last been in the same room with him. Being here confirmed that you had still not forgiven him for what he did. “I’m not talking to him.”

“Y/N, come on. Please, just sit down and listen. You don’t even have to talk if you don’t feel like it. I just need you to hear me first, and if that’s still not enough, you can leave. How does that sound?” Seungcheol pleaded, the desperation showing on his face. You were angry with him – very – but you guessed that it wouldn’t hurt to at least hear him out.

“Fine, I’ll listen. But at least let me get a coffee before we do this,” you sighed, your hands already reaching for the menu that was on the table.

“Already did. I ordered your favorite,” your brother said, to which you put the menu back down.

“Thanks, Cheol,” you mumbled, your eyes drifting over to the man that had orchestrated the whole thing.

“Alright, so then I’ll just let the two of you talk,” Mingyu announced from beside you.

“You’re leaving me with him?”

“Hey!” Seungcheol looked genuinely offended at your question.

“You’ll be fine, Y/N. Just give him a chance,” Mingyu smiled and gave you a thumbs up before leaving you with your brother.

One of the staff members was quick to bring you your drink order, which you were grateful for. It at least gave you something to keep your hands busy while listening to Seungcheol.

As Seungcheol sipped on his own drink, you took the opportunity to ask him the most obvious question. “Why am I here, Cheol? And did you really have to drag Mingyu into this?”

“He owed me, and besides, he was already in this anyway,” Your brother shrugged, causing you to scoff in response. Of course he would find a way. “Regarding you, I felt like we needed to talk about everything. I know I’m blocked, I got the hint.”

“Good,” you stated before bringing your cup of coffee to your lips.

“Look, I know I fucked up, okay? I shouldn’t have invaded your privacy and I definitely shouldn’t have resorted to violence. It was a dick move and I can own that. I’m sorry, Y/N. Truly.”

You put your cup down, looking him straight in the eyes. You needed to know if he was actually sorry and not just putting up an act just for the sake of making things right with you. “Are you actually sorry, Cheol?”

“I am! I really am. Not being able to see you for weeks and hearing that you can’t even stand to see my face really got to me. Especially when your colleague showed up to our usual meetings instead of you, I realized how much I hurt you with my actions. I should have come to you and talked to you about it, but I wasn’t thinking straight,” he shook his head.

“You can’t keep controlling everything in my life, Cheol. I’m not a child anymore and I am perfectly capable of making my own decisions. But you keep breathing down my neck for every little thing, which is, by the way, also one of the reasons I didn’t want you to find out about me dating anyone, friend or not. It can’t keep going on like this or you’ll lose me for good,” you spoke, hoping that the expression on your face was enough indication that you were dead serious about this.

“I know and trust me, I’ll try to be better.” You raised your eyebrows. “I mean, I’ll do better. It was never meant to go to this extent, I swear. Watching you ignore me and suffer on your own isn’t exactly something I’d envisioned. You’re my sister and I just want the best of the best for you. If that means backing off and letting you do your thing, then I’ll have to learn to let you go, he sighed.

A hum left your lips at that, your mind processing his words for a moment before you asked him another obvious follow-up question.

“And what about…Wonwoo?” You nearly choked on his name, the wound still a little too fresh.

“What about him?” your brother asked.

“Well, how are you two? Did you apologize to him?”

“I did, actually. We talked it out about a week ago after Mingyu forced us into a room together. Turns out that he’s pretty good at getting people to resolve conflicts, especially when food is involved,” he chuckled slightly before continuing. “Anyway, we both owned up to our own parts and we’re slowly getting back to what it used to be.”

You weren’t surprised to hear that Mingyu had been the one behind their reconciliation. In fact, you were quite certain that this would have dragged on for much longer had he not forced the two CEOs together. Whereas Seungcheol was stubborn, Wonwoo tended to avoid confrontations, both of which not exactly ideal qualities in times of conflict.

“That’s good, I guess,” you mumbled, feeling somewhat conflicted as you sipped on your coffee. On the one hand, you were glad that the two of them were on good terms again, but on the other hand, you envied your brother for being able to keep his friend while you were left with nothing but heartache.

“There’s actually another reason I asked you to come here.”

You immediately perked up at that, curious as to what else he could have wanted you here for. “Which is?”

What you didn’t expect was for your brother to start waving. Not at you, but at someone…behind you? Confused as to who he was waving, you turned around in your seat, only to nearly drop the coffee cup you were holding.

“W-Wonwoo?” you stuttered as your heart went into overdrive at seeing the man that had captured your heart walk over to your table. There was a cap on his head and a mask covering most of his face, but it was undeniably him – wearing that brown leather jacket that you loved so much.

The man himself seemed surprised at your presence too, his steps slightly faltering. “Hyung? What’s all this?”

“Take a seat.” Seungcheol motioned to the seat beside him. What the hell was the meaning of this? Why would he do this to you when he clearly knew that you were hurting?

Wonwoo hesitantly took a seat in the empty chair opposite from you, his eyes trained on your form. You were no different. No matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t look away from him, especially when he took off the face mask, revealing the pretty face that you’d gotten so used to. You were glad to see that his cheek had healed fine, but the bags under his eyes were pretty evident. Had he felt just as miserable as you this whole time?

The sound of a throat clearing is what finally got you to tear your gaze away from the CEO in front of you. Your brother was fidgeting in his seat, seemingly nervous about something.

“So, you’re probably wondering why the both of you are here.”

“Obviously,” you grumbled, crossing your arms over your chest while trying to push down the butterflies that had formed in your stomach.

“Right. Well, I had some more time to think, specifically about something Wonwoo said to me last week,” Seungcheol started, his eyes switching to the man sitting next to him. “A certain someone made me realize that I should accept the fact that I can’t control everything that happens. You can’t help who you like or love, and I guess that applies to the two of you too.”

Your breath hitched in your throat at his words. “Wait. What are you saying? What do you mean by that, Cheol?”

Your brother sighed in frustration, twisting his body slightly so that he could address the both of you clearly. “What I’m saying is that I’m not as opposed to the two of you being together anymore.”

“Hyung, are you serious? You would accept us dating?” Wonwoo asked, who, just like you, could not believe what he was hearing from his friend’s mouth.

“If what you said to me that night is still the truth, then yes. Like I told Y/N before, I only want the best for her and I guess I was scared that you wouldn’t be good enough for her, especially with lives as busy as ours. If I’m being honest, no one has ever been good enough in my opinion. But in this case, I was overdoing it a little bit because you were supposed to be my good friend.”

“A little?” you huffed, throwing a pointed look in his direction.

“Okay, a lot. Anyway, I will have to get used to the idea and it will probably take a while, but I’ve seen with my own two eyes what being apart did to the two of you. That’s why I’m giving you my blessing. Just, don’t make me regret it,” your brother said, looking between you and Wonwoo.

“So, I take it that kissing in front of you is a no-go then?” Wonwoo asked, a hint of a smirk on his face. You wanted to scream at the absurdity of this scene. Was Wonwoo actually teasing your brother about kissing you in front of him? – you seriously feared for his face again. Then again, the thought of kissing him after all this time also made your heart flutter.

“Don’t push it, Jeon. Remember that hit you took? That was me going easy on you,” Seungcheol joked, but you didn’t find it that funny.

“Cheol,” you warned.

“I know, I know,” he laughed, causing Wonwoo to crack a little smile too. “But I’m serious, if you hurt her, I’ll know where to find you,” Seungcheol threatened, his own smile faltering slightly.

“I wouldn’t dream of it, Hyung,” Wonwoo assured your overprotective brother.

“Okay, enough with the macho stuff. I would like to stay in the peaceful and forgiving bubble we were in up until a few seconds ago,” you begged, not wanting to risk ruining this dream-like moment. What universe had you landed in for your brother to change his mind? Who was this person that had managed to convince your brother? You would kiss them if you could.

Seungcheol looked at you, his own expression softening when he noticed your concerned one. “Don’t worry, Y/N. I’m not going to change my mind. I was just making sure that we’re on the same page.”

“You promise?”

“I promise,” Seungcheol smiled and for the first time this afternoon, you let yourself smile too. “By the way, does this mean I’m forgiven and you’ll finally unblock me?”

That question earned a shrug from you, followed by a smirk. “Hmm, I don’t know. Maybe? Maybe not? Guess you’ll have to find out at the next consultation.”

“I guess I can survive for another two days.”

“You don’t really have a choice, because I don’t think I’ll be available for the next two days anyway,” you stated, after which you dared to peek at Wonwoo, who you found already staring at you with the hint of a mischievous look on his face.

“What do y-aish.” Your brother’s expression morphed into one of disgust as his eyes darted from you to Wonwoo. “Just go. Or I might actually change my mind in the next few seconds.”

He didn’t need to tell you twice. The rest of your coffee now all forgotten, you nearly jumped up from your chair and reached for Wonwoo’s hand. The CEO was quick to put on his mask and tightened his grasp on your hand as he got up from the seat. You barely remembered to say goodbye to Seungcheol as you hurried out of the cafe, Wonwoo hot on your heels.

“Slow down. I’m not going to disappear, you know,” Wonwoo chuckled as you reached the parking lot.

“I already let you go once. You really think I’m going to waste time by taking it easy this time?” you questioned, taking that moment to let your eyes wander over him. Any work he’d been planning to do would have to wait, because there was no way you were going to leave his side for the next few days.

“You have a point. Mine or yours?” he asked, repeating the question you’d asked him too on the night of your last date.

“Yours. My place is a mess,” you replied, grimacing at the thought of having to clean up the aftermath of weeks of laziness.

“Can’t promise mine is much better, but I could care less.” Now, it was Wonwoo who took the lead, tugging on your hand as he led you to his car.

The drive to Wonwoo’s place was agonizing. You couldn’t keep your hands still, mainly because all you wanted was to touch the man sitting next to you. However, you weren’t about to cause an accident. You could wait. You’d been doing that for the past few weeks, so you could manage a few more minutes. Instead, you chose to observe him. He’d luckily taken off his mask, so there was nothing to obstruct your view.

It was crazy to think that up until today, you’d been a total mess. You’d felt completely lost for the last couple of weeks, not knowing if you’d ever go back to your old self. But now you were sitting in the car with the man you were still so in love with. Even after weeks of not seeing each other, he still managed to evoke the same reactions from you – butterflies in your stomach, your heart racing and your mind filled with nothing but him. Only this time, you wanted all of him and there was nothing or no one that would be able to come in between you this time.

You couldn’t help but grin at the way Wonwoo was gripping onto the steering wheel. Though he didn’t voice his thoughts, it was obvious that he was trying to hold himself together. Your mouth opened to tease him about it, but you refrained yourself from doing so. Teasing would undoubtedly lead to flirting and with the sexual tension hanging in the air, you had a feeling that Wonwoo would have no problem making a pit stop to have his way with you in the car. And although it seemed quite tempting, the risk was just too big. A scandal was not how you wanted to start off this second chance you’d been given.

“You coming?” Wonwoo asked, snapping you out of your thoughts. You noticed that he’d parked his car in his garage and had gotten out to open your side. A smile formed onto your face and you nodded, happily accepting the hand that he’d offered.

“I feel like we probably should have stopped at my place to get some clothes though,” you said as you followed behind Wonwoo, the front door closing soon after that.

“I don’t think you’ll be needing any clothes for what I have in mind,” he mumbled, caging you in between himself and the front door.

The sudden proximity caused goosebumps all over your body, your breath caught in your throat for a second as your eyes found his dark brown ones.

Then Wonwoo was suddenly kissing you before you could get a proper response out. His hands were on your sides in seconds, pressing you further against the door as his tongue slipped into your mouth. Your eyes had automatically closed at the feeling of his soft lips against your own, with your hands making their way to the collar of his leather jacket to pull him even closer. If this was what pure bliss felt like, you never wanted it to stop.

“I love you,” you mumbled in between kisses, not being able to keep it to yourself for another second. The last time you’d wanted to say it, he’d stopped you and you’d respected that. But now…it felt so good to finally be able to say it out loud, especially since there were no consequences this time.

Wonwoo detached himself from you at your proclamation, which was met with a whine of protest from your side at the loss of his lips. With a little chuckle leaving said lips, he leaned his forehead against yours.

“I love you too. So fucking much,” he said before leaning in to plant a few more kissing onto your awaiting lips. “I can’t believe that I actually told your brother that before telling you.”

“You what? No actually, I don't care about that right now. I want to get to the part where we won’t need our clothes,” you pouted, growing more and more impatient and needier the longer you spent fully clothed.

The CEO in front of you smirked at your request, his hands moving down to squeeze your ass gently. “If that’s what my baby wants, then I better comply, huh?” God, this man was going to be the death of you.

Read the smut HERE or skip.

“So, how does it feel? Dating the boss’ sister?” Jeonghan teased, taking a seat on the couch next to the SEVENTEEN Gaming CEO.

Chan’s eyes lit up at the question. “Yeah, Hyung. Tell us,” he urged, drawing the attention of several of the others in the room.

Wonwoo wasn’t surprised that the news of you and him getting back together had already reached his friends. If he had to guess, Mingyu was most likely the one that had spilled the beans – there was no way Seungcheol would have told them. Plus, the fact that the chef was currently avoiding his best friend’s eyes was enough confirmation.

“It’s great. She’s everything I could have wanted.” A small smile made its way onto Wonwoo’s face at the thought of you. It had been three weeks since Seungcheol had given his blessing and the two of you had made it official once again – without exaggeration, the best three weeks of his life.

“Aiii, look at him all happy,” Jun exclaimed, which was followed by a bunch of giggles and screams from the men in the room.

Jisoo, who was sitting next to Jeonghan, nudged his friend. “I bet you he was thinking about some dirty stuff.”

Wonwoo immediately released an annoyed sigh at the playful comment. “I wasn’t.”

“It’s okay, Hyung. We don’t blame you,” Mingyu winked at him from the opposite side of the room.

As if it couldn’t get any worse, Seungkwan decided to open his big mouth. “Hyung! Your brother-in-law over here is having dirty thoughts about your sister!” he yelled to the managing CEO, who was currently getting some snacks from his kitchen. The other men in the room burst out laughing while Wonwoo genuinely feared for his life.

“Yah! Do you want to die?” Wonwoo hissed, hitting the man in question with a newspaper that he found on the small table beside the couch. He should have known that he would never live this down.

Fortunately, Seungcheol seemed completely clueless when he re-entered the room. “Did I miss anything?” Thank god for the big apartment.

“Nothing important,” Wonwoo said quickly before anyone else had the chance to tell him the truth.

“We were just talking about how Wonwoo managed to score your sister,” Minghao spoke, ignoring the glare that Wonwoo threw his way.

Jeonghan grinned before adding, “And to think I missed the chance to shoot my shot.”

“In your dreams,” Wonwoo and Seungcheol responded at the same time, the latter throwing a handful of popcorn at the fashionable CEO. That quickly wiped the grin from his face as he started to scold Seungcheol for nearly staining his designer outfit.

Jihoon rolled his eyes at the squabbling couple. “All jokes aside, we’re truly happy for you, man.”

“Hyung’s right. I can’t believe you went through all that shit and ended up getting your happy ending with Y/N,” Seokmin beamed.

“Well, I guess Mingyu deserves most of the credit.” Wonwoo pointed at the man.

“I can confirm. If anyone needs a matchmaker, conflict resolver or wingman, I’m your guy. You can contact my personal assistant for inquiries,” he declared, a smug look taking over his features.

“I think I’ll pass,” Jihoon mumbled.

“Me too,” Soonyoung agreed with a nod. The chef, who was seemingly offended at being flat out rejected, took that as an invitation to start bickering with his two Hyungs.

A buzzing sound in Wonwoo’s pocket got him to pull his phone out. It was a message from you.

A little sneak peek for tomorrow’s date night: [Image attached] Don’t we look cute? I got you one too! :D

He couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of you dressed in the Sherlock Holmes attire that you’d thrifted for the movie you were going to watch. Bom, Saja and Shiro were sitting beside you, all of them wearing little matching detective hats and capes. How you’d managed to put that on Saja and Shiro AND gotten them to sit still for a picture was a mystery to Wonwoo. He couldn’t wish for anything better.

“What’s up with that face?” the ever-observant Mingyu asked, quickly spotting the love-struck look on his best friend’s face.

Wonwoo simply shook his head, still not believing that the universe had blessed him with someone like you.

“Nothing. Just happy, that’s all.”

© All right reserved — ourdawnishotterthanourday // Please do not repost or edit any of my works without my permission!! If you see any of my works outside of this Tumblr, pls report it to me asap. Thank you in advance!

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fluentmoviequoter · 1 month

Text

Speed Limit 2525

Requested Here!

Pairing: Tim Bradford x fem!reader

Summary: When Tim Bradford goes head-to-head with a bomber, he finds himself on a bus carrying a bomb and you.

Warnings: spoilers for Speed (1994) (I think this qualifies as an AU/rewrite), angst, bombings, nightmares, death and fear of dying, teasing, fluff, a little make out scene at the end? basically every warning that applies to the movie and The Rookie. I also made up a story about "Reaper"

Word Count: 11.7k+ words

A/N: This isn't completely proofread, but I'll be back soon to check it. I hope you enjoy!🤍

Masterlist Directory | Tim Bradford Masterlist | Request Info/Fandom List

Shoot him.

Tim doesn’t feel the trigger depress, only the hot desert air beating against his face. Though the trigger doesn’t move, a bullet rips through the barrel and into Tim’s only surviving squad member. He yells to warn his teammate, but no sound comes out. The wind is loud in the desert, yet the sound of Tim’s friend falling against the sand seems to echo for miles.

“Bradford,” the injured soldier coughs. “Wrong target, Reaper.”

Tim’s chest is tight with guilt and anxiety when he wakes. The sheets are wrapped tightly around his legs, and his shallow breaths distract him from freeing himself. Before he has time to orient himself, Tim’s phone rings and snaps him out of his post-nightmare, adrenaline-fueled state as he reaches across the empty pillow to answer it.

“Bradford,” he says.

“Get to the station as soon as you can,” Sergeant Grey demands. “Your Metro captain has me calling everybody in. We’re sending patrol units out, too. It’s gonna be a long day, Tim.”

Tim forgets about the nightmare and the memory within as he rushes to get ready. Tim’s tunnel vision focuses on work, and everything else fades away. Middle-of-the-night calls aren’t unusual, especially for a Metro Sergeant like himself, but this many officers getting a wake-up call is. Whatever is happening is big, and it doesn’t sound to Tim like it will be over any time soon. He makes it to the station in record time, and his commander is directing the other Metro officers when he enters.

“We don’t have time,” she says suddenly. “I’m running this force from here. Sergeant Grey will fill you in on the way. Get to the target location and stick together. Bradford, you’re with Temple!”

Tim nods as Harry Temple walks to his side. Harry was one of Angela Lopez’s first patrol partners, but he decided Metro was a better fit when the time to move forward in his career came along. Like Tim, he was in the Army before becoming a police officer, and he and Tim have some shared experiences. Neither of them is overly eager to bond over them, however.

“Do you know what’s going on?” Tim asks Harry as he turns on the lights and sirens in the shop.

“All I heard was ‘elevator,’” Harry answers. “I’m assuming they’re more to this than that.”

“Listen up,” Sergeant Grey says over the radio. “This is your official brief. When we roll up to the scene, we go straight in. No time for questions after we exit these cars. Fifteen people are trapped on an express elevator. The owner of the building is also inside. A bomb took out the cables, and our bomber is demanding three million dollars, or he blows the emergency brake, too. Cell phone service is spotty in the building, so we can’t rely on that to track anyone or anything.”

“Cell phone service is nonexistent in the elevator. A defensive move against trade secrets,” someone adds.

“What’s our clock, Sergeant?” Harry radios.

“He gave one hour when he called, which leaves us with twenty-eight minutes.”

“The only thing that’ll stop the elevator is the basement, right?” Tim adds.

“The city plans to avoid that. They’re working to release the money.”

Tim stops the shop beside the curb at the front of the building. He leaves the lights on as he and Harry remove their weapons from the back and meet the rest of their tactical team in the lobby.

“We can’t just unload them,” an officer says.

“The bomber wired the elevator doors and the hatch to trigger the bomb. So, he’s crazy, but he ain’t stupid,” Wade explains as he enters.

“Harry volunteers to examine the device,” Tim interjects. “He was on the bomb squad in the Army.”

Harry turns to glare at Tim as he says, “Right. And since Bradford also has Army experience, he’d like to provide a second opinion.”

“Fine,” Wade says. “You two check it out. Hey! Where’s the nearest access panel?”

“32nd floor,” a nearby employee answers on his way out. “It’s in the hall by the storage closet.”

“Report only. We’re in a holding pattern until we get word from your Commander back at the station. Confirm building evac and keep your radios active.”

“What about the other elevators?” Harry asks the employee.

“In an emergency, all passenger cars go to the nearest floor and shut down,” he says.

Tim frowns and moves his gun to his side. “Looks like we’re walking up the stairs.”

Harry nods before sprinting up the stairs behind Tim. Tim outpaces him but waits at the access panel for Harry to arrive with his small tool kit. He begins removing the nuts from the metal cover while Tim watches the hallway. Harry gives Tim a signal and Tim lifts the metal sheet. Light filters into the elevator shaft as Tim crawls through the opening and moves to the top of the elevator, where the bomb rests.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is the L.A.P.D.,” Tim announces loudly. “There has been an elevator malfunction. Just relax and we’ll have you out of there as soon as possible.”

Harry looks up from the bomb and raises his hands in question.

“I didn’t lie,” Tim defends.

“I don’t recognize this work, Tim. Whoever our bomber is… he’s a pro and the work is solid,” Harry says.

“Bradford, Temple, hold position,” Wade radios. “We’re waiting to hear back from the bomber.”

Tim looks at his watch and muffles a curse. Their time is nearly out, and Tim continues to look at his watch rather than think about the lives in the metal death trap below his feet.

Harry sees the look in Tim’s eyes and decides to distract him. “Terrorist in a crowded room, five pounds of dynamite. He’s got a deadman’s stick. What do you do?”

“How close am I?” Tim asks, looking away from the elevator.

“Twenty feet.”

“Taser. He can’t let go with enough volts surging through him.”

“Alright, hot shot. Fifty feet?”

“Nice try.”

“Airport, then. Gunman with one hostage, using her for cover. He’s almost on a plane, you’re a hundred feet away.”

“Why is the hostage always a woman in these scenarios? Watch too many romcoms in the academy?”

“What do you do?” Harry repeats.

Tim kneels to examine the bomb once more and remembers his nightmare. Shoot him. He shakes his head before answering, “Shoot the hostage. Take her out of the equation, he can’t get to the plane, and I have a clear shot.”

“You are out of your mind, Bradford.”

“This is wrong,” Tim says suddenly. “He’s gonna blow it. How much do you think this elevator weighs?”

“Why? You wanna try to bench it?”

Tim doesn’t acknowledge the teasing as he adds, “We can do something about the hostages.”

“No shoot them, right?”

“Roof,” Tim reads as he points to a roof access sign. There’s a heavy-duty winch secured to the corner of the roof, and Tim runs to it as he says, “We don’t shoot them. Just take them out of the equation.”

Tim pulls the cable from the winch toward the elevator housing on the roof. He drops it in and watches it fall several feet before it catches.

“It’ll hold,” Tim tells Harry. “It’ll hold,” he repeats, quieter.

“Six minutes,” Harry alerts.

Tim throws his legs over the edge of the housing and lowers carefully onto the elevator cable. He hooks the winch hook to his tactical vest before moving down in the elevator shaft. Wade and the Metro team argue with the city council about releasing the money in the lobby, and no one has a clue that the shooter is listening to their radio frequencies. Without cell phones, they’re completely reliant on their radios to stay in touch with one another. Tim ignores his radio as he flips so he’s headfirst as he nears the trapped elevator.

“One more pop quiz,” Harry begins. “Psycho Sergeant Tim Bradford rigs an elevator to drop thirty stories. What do you do?”

Tim rolls his eyes before gesturing for Harry to hold the winch cable steady. A small pile of C4 waits beside his feet, but Tim ignores it as he secures the cable hook to the frame of the elevator.

“Why did I take this job?” Tim murmurs.

“Hey, a few more decades and you get a tiny pension and a free watch,” Harry answers.

“Hit the switch, Temple.”

Harry runs to the winch, hoping that the cables used to wash windows are strong enough to catch a free-falling elevator. He flips the switch, and the winch begins pulling in the cable. As the extra cable Tim pulled into the shaft begins unspooling, he moves up to the open access panel.

In the basement, a man missing a thumb presses a button on his handheld device. Instantaneously, a red light illuminates on the bomb. Tim sees it and throws himself through the access panel just before the bomb goes off. The passengers begin screaming, but the winch catches the falling elevator before it reaches the bottom of the shaft.

“What is happening, Bradford?” Wade asks, his concern evident over the radio.

“He’s early!” Harry yells as he returns from the roof.

“We have to get them out of the elevator. They can’t be lower than 28,” Tim exclaims.

When he and Harry meet the rest of their team on the 28th floor, they see that the elevator is stranded between floors. Only the floor is accessible from their current position, but there is no time to run up and down the stairs and look for the perfect access point. The elevator passengers lower to the floor and Tim and Harry pull people out one at a time. Tim pulls the last woman to safety seconds before the winch fails and the elevator plummets to the bottom of the shaft. After the sound of impact, Tim and Harry lean back against a wall and pant from the effort they exerted.

“Is your watch slow?” Tim asks.

“Nah. He jumped the gun,” Harry says with a shake of his head. “We had three minutes.”

“He blew more than the elevator. He blew his three million dollars. Why would he do that?”

“Maybe he decided it wasn’t worth it.”

Tim sits up as he declares, “He’s here.”

“He could have blown that thing from anywhere, Tim.”

“He knew we were doing something, that’s why he acted early. That means he’s close.”

“He’s not gonna corner himself in the building. The building we evacuated.” Harry leans his head back against the wall and thinks for a moment before he adds, “He’d want to be here, yes, but stay mobile… The elevators.”

“All of the passenger cars stopped, and we checked them.”

“Did we check the freight elevators?”

Tim’s eyes widen in realization as he and Harry push themselves to stand and run to the freight elevator doors. Once Tim pries the door open, he slides down the cable and lands on top of a car. Harry reluctantly follows and freezes when a noise echoes inside. Tim doesn’t notice Harry behind him as he prepares to enter the elevator. Before he can, a shotgun is fired between them, and Harry falls into the elevator. The man inside knocks him out with the butt of the shotgun, and Tim waits until the elevator moves up to drop in through the roof panel. As he lands, he looks up and sees a shotgun barrel in his face.

“I don’t suppose anybody would pay me three million dollars just for you,” the nine-fingered bomber muses.

He pulls the trigger, but the gun is empty. Tim removes his Glock from his side and demands the bomber lower the shotgun. He does so but opens his coat to reveal dynamite strapped to his chest and a deadman switch detonator in his hand.

“Hotshot,” the man begins. Tim’s jaw clenches as he realizes the man listened to their conversations over the radio, but he can’t say anything before the bomber says, “Terrorist holding a police hostage. He’s got enough dynamite to blow the building in half. What do you do?”

“Fifty cops are waiting for us in the basement,” Tim states.

“Standard flanking, I’m aware.” He presses a button on a device wired into the elevator controls. “So, maybe we’ll get off early.”

The elevator stops at a parking level, and Tim watches as the bomber pulls Harry toward the door. His eyes open slowly, and Tim keeps his eyes on Harry rather than the man pulling him.

“Well, end of the line, Bradford. This day has been a real disappointment, I don’t mind saying.”

“Why? Because you couldn’t kill everyone?” Tim asks.

“There will come a time, hotshot, when you will wish you’d never met me.”

“I’m already there.”

“Look! I have your partner, I’m in charge! I drop this stick and they clean us up with a sponge!”

“Go ahead!” Harry yells. “Drop the stick!” “Shut up!” Tim demands.

Harry looks at Tim and mouths, “Shoot the hostage.”

Shoot him. Wrong target, Reaper. Tim takes a deep breath and shifts his arms to shoot Harry in the leg. He collapses onto the floor, and the bomber steps back in shock before running into the garage. Tim steps over Harry to shoot behind the feeling suspect. As the man reaches the door, he looks over his shoulder to smile at Tim before he disappears. Tim can’t check on Harry as the garage explodes and the force pushes him back against the wall. As Tim collides with the concrete behind him, everything goes dark. And everything changes.

After Harry’s unplanned and involuntary retirement party, Tim nearly oversleeps. His alarm pulls him from a dreamless sleep, and he winces at the sound before turning it off. Before he showers, he decides to go for a quick run to clear his head. Once he’s dressed and ready for the day, he drives to his favorite café. It’s one of the only places in Los Angeles where you can get a decent cup of coffee and breakfast without being surrounded by millennials working on their screenplays. Tim nods at another regular, Vince, as he enters.

“Hey, Tim. You look awful,” Bob, the owner of the café, says.

“Thanks, Bob,” Tim grumbles.

“Pretty boy party too hard?” Vince asks Tim.

“I- I don’t remember that well.”

“Wake up alone?”

“Always do.”

“Must be nice,” Bob interjects. “The last time I partied like that I worked up married.”

Tim shakes his head as he accepts his order and walks out behind Vince. He sets his coffee on top of his truck as he retrieves his keys from his pocket. Vince’s bus starts behind Tim and pulls away from the curb. Tim turns to wave at Vince before unlocking his door.

After it crosses the first intersection, the bus explodes. Tim stumbles as he looks toward the source of the noise. He runs to the bus as it rolls to a stop and fights against the flames to help Vince, but it’s too late. As Tim lays his hands on his knees in shock, he notices an abandoned cell phone lying on the sidewalk behind him. It rings continuously, and Tim doesn’t hesitate before he answers the phone.

“What do you think, Bradford?” the bomber from last month asks. “You think if you and Harry find all the driver’s teeth they’ll give you another medal?”

“Where are you?” Tim demands.

“Twenty-second delay. I’m in the air duct when the garage blows. Did you think I wouldn’t come prepared? I spent two years on the elevator job. Two years. I invested myself in it. You couldn’t understand the commitment I have. A child, Tim, you’re a child. You ruin a man’s life’s work and then think you can walk away. You’ve got blinders on, but I got your attention now. Didn’t I, Tim?”

“Why didn’t you just come after me?”

“This is about money – 3.7 million. Not you and your ego. None of it had to happen, Tim, and I hope you realize that. How long do you think the driver’s wife and kids will wait before they get worried tonight?”

“When I find you, I will kill you,” Tim threatens.

“There’s a bomb on a bus, hotshot. Once the bus hits fifty miles an hour, the bomb is armed. If the bus drops below fifty, it blows up. What do you do?”

Tim doesn’t answer but looks around for any sign of the suspect.

“What do you do?” he repeats.

“I’d want to know what bus it was,” Tim answers. He’s accepted the challenge and knows that it has to end with a death: either his or the bomber’s.

“You think I’m going to tell you that, Tim?”

“Yes.”

“Very good.” The man sounds happy, and Tim presses a hand against a nearby wall to control his anger. “Now there are rules, Tim; we have to do this right. No one gets off the bus. One passenger leaves, I will detonate it. Now, if I don’t get my money by 11 a.m., there’s also a timer.”

Tim looks at his watch: 8:05 a.m. “I can’t pull that money in time-“

“Focus, Tim! Your concern is the bus. Don’t call, the radios are jammed. Number 2525, running downtown from Venice. At the corner of Lincoln and Pico…”

Tim drops the cell phone and runs to his car to follow the bus. The lives on that bus are in his hands, and he doesn’t plan to shoot any hostages today.

“Please stop! Sam!” you yell as you chase your bus.

You don’t want to ride the bus, but since your most recent speeding ticket, it is your only mode of transportation. In the few weeks since your license was suspended, you’ve gotten to know the driver, Sam, and some of the regular passengers. You hope that camaraderie is enough to convince Sam to stop for you. The brakes on the bus squeal as it stops, and the door opens.

“This look like a stop to you?” Sam asks.

“You are an amazing man, Sam,” you say as you walk onto the bus. “The men in books and songs have nothing on you.”

You swipe your bus card and take a seat before saying hello to Ortiz, a regular passenger. Comfortable in your seat, and glad that none of the passengers are in a talkative mood this early on a weekday, you relax and hope to get your car back soon.

Tim drives his truck in and out of traffic, onto the shoulder, and into the emergency lane as he tries to catch up with bus 2525. Other drivers honk their horns, flip him off, and yell insults through open windows, but Tim doesn’t notice or care. If he can stop the driver before it reaches 50, then the bomb will never activate. The only danger would be the man with the detonator.

You look up as Sam slows for a traffic jam.

“Can’t you just drive over them?” you ask with a smile.

“Is it always like this?” a man asks from the back of the bus. “It’s my first time here, and it took me three hours just to get out of the airport.”

“Yep,” you answer. “It’s usually worse.”

“That’s why I never drive,” the woman behind you interjects. “I’d never have a car in this city.”

“I have a car. I miss my car,” you lament.

“In the shop?” the tourist asks.

“Something like that. Sam, seriously, the bus is huge, just run them over,” you say again.

When Tim sees the bus has stopped because of a stalled car ahead, he sighs before he pulls onto the shoulder. He exits his truck and runs toward the bus, but the accident clears faster than he expected, and begins moving before he reaches the door. Hitting his fist against the side, Tim yells for the driver to stop.

“Can’t blame him for wanting to get on the bus,” you mutter as you watch him slap an open palm against the door.

“Get off the doors, man! Wait for the next one,” Sam yells before he speeds up.

Tim removes his badge from his pocket a moment too late. He continues chasing the bus, and you look down at your phone as the other passengers watch the unknown man run down the freeway.

Nearly half a mile from his truck and with no other option, Tim stops and waits at the edge of the road. He sees a speeding sports car approaching, and he moves into the middle of its lane and raises his badge.

“Stop!” Tim yells over the traffic.

The young man driving the car slams on his brakes to avoid hitting Tim. Several cars behind him blow their horns, and he raises to yell over the convertible’s windshield.

“What the-“

“L.A.P.D.,” Tim interrupts. “Get out of the car.”

“This is my car! It ain’t stolen and you have no right!” the driver argues.

Tim pulls his gun from its holster and says, “It’s stolen now. Move over.”

The man nods quickly before he jumps over the console and settles into the passenger seat. Tim sits behind the wheel and swerves into another lane as he ignores the owner’s pleas not to scratch the car. Tim drives the expensive, sporty convertible exactly as he had driven his truck, and the man in the passenger seat covers his eyes in fear for his car more than his life. As Tim steers the car beside the bus, he lays on the horn. Sam looks over and immediately recognizes him, and his eyes widen to prove it.

“I’m a cop!” Tim yells.

Sam lowers the window and raises his voice to ask, “What?”

“L-A-P-D!” Tim spells slowly. “There’s a bomb on your bus.”

“There’s a what?” Tim’s passenger exclaims.

“I can’t hear you,” Sam says.

“There’s a bomb on the bus!” Tim repeats.

Sam shakes his head, and Tim looks at the convertible’s speedometer. He’s over 50, so the bus must be, too.

“Drive!” Tim yells as he gestures for the bus to keep moving. “FIFTY! STAY ABOVE FIFTY!”

Sam nods rapidly and trembles a bit as he holds the speed steady. The commotion draws your attention, and you turn in your seat to watch the man who desperately needs a ride or is crazy.

“Call the Mid-Wilshire division station,” Tim says as he hands his phone to the man beside him. “Ask for Detective Angela Lopez.”

“Okay, okay.” The man speaks into the phone briefly before passing it back to Tim.

“Angela,” Tim says.

“Why are you calling me on your day off?” she asks. “Harry’s here, if you’re looking for him.”

“He’s alive.”

“Who?”

“The bomber! He’s back.”

“Harry!” Angela calls.

“Tim, did he hit the bus in Venice?” Harry asks as he approaches Angela’s desk.

“Temple,” Wade interrupts. “We just got a ransom demand from your dead terrorist. Says he rigged a city bus. Where’s Tim?”

“Where do you think?” Harry replies.

Tim ends the call and navigates around the back of the bus to drive alongside the door. Traffic is increasing with the morning rush, and he doesn’t want to risk getting stuck in another slowdown. He honks to get Sam’s attention, and gestures for him to open the door.

“Drive straight,” Tim directs him. “Stay in this lane.”

Sam agrees before Tim speeds up to get ahead of the bus. He opens the driver-side door and hits the brakes, so the bus rips the door off the car. Tim presses the accelerator again to catch up with the bus as he is yelled at by the owner of the car.

“Take the wheel!” Tim says.

Tim waits until the car’s owner moves back into the driver’s seat to jump into the open bus door and pull himself up the stairs.

When the bus rips the door off a convertible, you finally look up. The man driving the car beside the bus is attractive, but you’re a little concerned for his mental well-being. Sam seems willing to help him, and you don’t understand why. When he jumps from the car and onto the bus, you stand and grip the bar above your head. He locks eyes with you before holding up a police badge.

“Everyone, I’m Sergeant Tim Bradford, L.A.P.D. We’ve got a slight… situation on the bus,” he explains.

“Are you crazy?” you ask.

“Ma'am, if you’ll please sit down, we can deal with this in an orderly-“

“But what are you-“

“Ma’am.”

His tone and the look in his eyes convinces you, so you sit down as Tim walks toward the back of the bus and looks at the other passengers. You watch him move and wonder if he’s truly a cop or just insane.

“Just stay in your seats and remain quiet,” Tim says. “Then we’ll be able to defuse the, uh, the problem.”

A passenger you’ve spoken to before, Jay, leaps from his seat and points a gun at Tim.

“Jay!” you yell worriedly.

“Get away from me!” Jay demands.

Tim pulls his gun and matches Jay’s stance. Two women at the back of the bus scream, and you look between Tim and Jay from your seat.

“I don’t know you, I’m not here for you. Let’s not do this,” Tim says calmly.

“Stop the bus, Sam,” Jay calls.

“He can’t. Look, I’m going to put my gun away.” Tim holsters it slowly and raises his hands to show they’re empty. “I don’t care about what you did. It’s over. I’m not a cop right now. See? We’re just two guys on the bus.”

Tim tosses his badge to the floor beside your feet, and you look at it before raising your eyes to Jay again. You understand why he calmed down so quickly; Tim Bradford has a soothing voice, and his presence is assertive but caring. More importantly, you can relax now, because his badge looks real. Jay’s hands begin to lower, but your fellow passenger Ortiz jumps onto his back before Jay puts it away.

Tim rushes forward as Ortiz tries to pull the gun from Jay. A shot goes off, and everyone ducks before a second shot fires.

“Sam!” someone screams.

You turn toward the front of the bus before moving to help Sam. Tim disarms Jay with minimal effort while another woman joins your side.

“Move him,” you say.

“He’s bleeding,” the woman argues.

“We have to stop the bus!”

At your words, Tim spins quickly to face you.

“No!” he yells. “Stay above fifty.”

“Sam is wounded,” you begin.

“You slow down, and this bus will explode!”

Tim holds your eyes and nods slowly. He’s not kidding, you realize. Turning quickly, you look at the speedometer, which falls to 51. While Sam is still in the seat, you push your foot onto the gas pedal and watch the line rise above fifty.

Tim handcuffs Jay to one of the poles before he explains, “There is a bomb on this bus. If we slow down, it will blow. If anyone tries to get off, it will blow.”

The women on the bus surround Sam and help him get comfortable as they try to slow the bleeding. As they pull Sam from the driver’s seat, you slide into position and steer into another lane to keep the speed over 50.

“We’re only gonna make it through this if everyone stays calm, sits down, and listens to me,” Tim adds.

You don’t hear everything he says, with your complete focus on the road ahead and the speedometer on the dash. Your knuckles are white because of your grip on the wheel, and you don’t hear Tim approach behind you. He lays a hand on the headrest behind you and leans down.

“This is great. A bomb on wheels,” you muse sarcastically.

“Can you handle this bus, ma’am?” Tim asks.

“Yeah, yeah. It’s just like driving a big Toyota, right?”

“Can you handle it?”

“I’m fine. What’s the plan? Is there a plan?”

Tim nods and stands to his full height. He watches you take a deep breath before turning to the rest of the passengers.

“Everyone, I need your cell phones,” Tim announces.

“No way, man!” the tourist yells.

“There is a terrorist out there with a bomb, and I don’t need any of you live streaming or interfering with the radio signal he could be using to detonate a bomb. So, I will only say this one more time. Phones - and anything else with a cellular connection – now.”

The passengers nod and offer all of their cellular devices. Tim accepts an empty bag from a woman beside Sam and places everyone’s belongings inside. He returns to your side and removes his phone from his pocket.

“Do you have anyone you need to call?” Tim asks softly.

“No. I- I don’t want to think like that,” you answer.

“We don’t have to. Everything’s going to be okay. Just keep doing what you’re doing.”

You nod and Tim lays a kind hand on your shoulder to add, “But I need your phone.”

“Oh, yeah. It’s- uh- it’s in my back pocket. Right side.”

Tim’s hand brushes your lower back as he pulls the phone from your pocket. He apologizes, though you can’t imagine why. You’ve only known Tim Bradford for a few minutes, but his words mean something, and you can only hope he keeps the promises he’s making.

“You’re a cop, right?” you ask.

“That’s right. Metro Sergeant,” Tim says. “But you can call me Tim if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Uh, no. Thanks, and you can stop calling me ‘ma’am’ while we’re at it. I just- I should probably tell you that I’m taking the bus because my driver’s license was suspended.”

“What for?”

“Speeding.”

Tim shakes his head and hides his smile before calling the station again. He leans forward, but keeps his hand beside you, to look at the news chopper circling above the bus.

“Lopez, it’s me. I took phones from all the passengers. Where do we start?” Tim asks.

“Alright. Harry and Wade are with me,” Angela replies.

“Check the speedometer, Bradford,” Harry says. “Has it been messed with? Any wires or anything that don’t belong?”

“Sorry,” Tim whispers as he leans in front of you to check the dash area. “No, it’s clean.”

“Then it’s gotta be under the bus. Probably rigged to one of the axles.”

“I can’t get under the bus to check right now. The whole you stop, you die thing. Remember?”

Tim doesn’t sound like he’s kidding; in fact, he sounds grumpier than when he first boarded, but his comment makes you laugh. He pats the back of your seat before turning.

“Sergeant Bradford,” Sam calls weakly. Tim kneels beside him to listen, and Sam stutters, “There’s a- an access panel… in the fl-floor.”

“Hold on, Angela,” Tim says into the phone.

He unscrews the panel and pulls it aside. The asphalt moves quickly under the bus, and Tim looks around before handing his phone to a passenger. You look up in the mirror above you to watch Tim briefly before returning your attention to the road.

“What’s your name?” he asks.

“Stephen. I’m a tourist,” Stephen introduces.

“Welcome to the City of Angels. Hold my phone, please. Tell my partner what I see.”

Stephen nods and raises the phone to his ear as Tim moves so he can see under the bus. He takes a deep breath; Tim knows a bit about bombs from his time in the Army, but it’s Harry’s expertise.

“Okay, there’s a bundle here,” Tim yells over the wind. “Pretty big.”

“There’s a pretty big bundle,” Stephen relays.

“Brass fittings. I think I can reach the circuit wire.”

“He can reach the circuit wire- No, don’t do that, Sergeant Bradford. It can be a decoy, he says. What else?”

“Hold on,” Tim murmurs before moving further underneath the bus. He sees the extent of the bomb and pulls himself back up to take the phone. “Angela, Harry, there’s enough C4 on this bus to take out everyone on the highway. There’s a wristwatch: gold band, cheap.”

You look back at Tim quickly before inhaling sharply. “Sergeant,” you call.

“What do you think, Harry?” Tim asks.

“Bradford!” you yell into the bus speaker.

Tim moves to your side and places a hand on the dash to lean forward. His face is right beside yours, and you wish you were nervous because of him and not the bomb underneath you.

“Everybody’s stopping,” you point out. “What do I do?”

“Get on the shoulder.”

“This is an exit!”

Tim flinches as you sideswipe several cars.

“Tim!”

“Off. Get off!” Tim yells.

You nearly miss the ramp and pull the wheel to the right to merge onto another road. Honking the horn and yelling for people to get out of the way, you take a deep breath. At least you’re off the freeway. Tim tells you to keep driving as he answers his phone again.

“Where?” he asks. “Got it.”

“Do I stay here?” you inquire.

“Yes. Just straight on this, they’re trying to clear the roads for us.”

“I’m never getting my license back, am I?” you grumble.

“The police commissioner will buy you a car if you ask,” Tim says quietly. “You’re doing well, okay? Don’t worry about anything else.”

You nod and return both hands to the wheel. Tim removes the flannel shirt he’s been wearing, leaving him in a white t-shirt, and drapes it over the back of your seat. Your eyes catch on his biceps before you chide yourself for getting distracted.

One of the phones in the bag rings, and Tim yells, “Who didn’t turn their phone off?”

No one is willing to admit their fault or doesn’t want to risk dealing with Tim’s wrath and ending up like Jay where he sits on the floor. Tim digs through the bag and pulls the ringing phone out. The number is one he recognizes, but he hesitates before answering.

“Taking their phones was smart,” the bomber says as the line connects. “2525… nice passengers, aren’t they? See, that’s the beauty of being in this day and age. I know everything about everyone on that bus. So, if you or your little girlfriend, or even the tourist from Kalamazoo try to double-cross me…”

“The bus explodes,” Tim interjects. “I’m aware.”

“What’s with the attitude, Tim? You’re seeing one of the prettiest places in the world, riding a bus for free… Oh, no, I know. Can’t shoot a hostage that makes that cold heart beat again, huh?”

“What do you want?”

“You know what I want! 3.7 million dollars. I get the money, and then we can both get what we want.”

“You don’t know what I want.”

“I know what you don’t want. Tell your girlfriend to keep her eyes on the road.”

The call ends and Tim raises the cell phone in his hands. “He knows who is on this bus.”

“How?” Ortiz asks.

“Your bus passes, your phones, both, maybe. Look, one of the conditions of our survival is that no one gets off the bus. If he knows who you are, then we are even more obligated to keep that promise.”

“You didn’t even try to get us off the bus!” Jay accuses.

“Because he would have blown it. I understand what you are feeling, but I need you to trust me, trust the L.A.P.D., and work with me on this.”

“Tim is this your team?” you ask over your shoulder.

A police car pulls into the lane in front of you as several more flank the sides of the bus. The road clears around them, but more news choppers are joining the airspace above you.

Tim nods and looks at you. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. What happens now, though?”

“My teammates are working on it. We’ve got gas and open road, so keep driving.”

“Is it- can I be okay and really nervous at the same time?”

“I’d be more concerned if you weren’t nervous.”

“You don’t look nervous.”

“My friend Angela says I never look anything; thinks I can’t show emotion because I can’t feel them.”

“Is it true?”

Tim looks at you and lowers to squat beside you. “No, it’s not.”

“How’s Sam?”

“The driver? He’s gonna be alright. Thanks to you.”

Someone calls for Tim, and he squeezes your shoulder reassuringly as he stands. You glance at him in the mirror as he returns to the access panel. A police helicopter drops to fly above you, and you wonder what the news stations and police officers know or think about the situation. The bus begins losing speed as you steer around a curve, and when you try to speed up again, you realize something is wrong.

Back at the station, Harry and Angela work with Wade and a bomb expert to search for a way to disarm the bomb and for their suspect. Harry has a description of the bomber, but there’s only so much they can learn about the bomb without seeing it.

“Sergeant Bradford!” you cry as you press the gas again.

“What?” Tim asks with wide eyes. You were calling him Tim, and your sudden change of formality and tone concern him.

“The gas pedal’s stuck.”

“What else can go wrong?” Tim asks under his breath. “Move your foot.”

You pull your foot from the pedal and steer as Tim presses his leg against yours to slam his foot down against the pedal. It doesn’t move, and the speedometer dips closer to fifty. Tim moves his hands to cover yours on the steering wheel and moves his leg between yours to try a new angle. You’re close to him, but the fear of dying keeps you from enjoying it in any way. He pushes the pedal again and his shoulders drop.

“There,” he announces as he steps back.

You take the wheel back and press the accelerator down again. The bus gains speed and you catch up to the police car before you.

“Lopez, talk to me,” Tim greets as he answers his phone again.

“You’ve got a hard left coming up,” Angela says. “Really hard.”

“Hard left up ahead,” Tim tells you.

“We’ll tip!” you argue.

“Who is that? Your driver?” Angela inquires.

“We’re not going to tip,” Tim says.

“Yes, we are!”

The curve in the road comes into view, and Tim suddenly agrees, “We’re going to tip.”

He leaves your side to move everyone onto the right side of the bus. The weight distribution keeps the bus from tipping, but as Tim helps you pull the wheel as hard as possible to make the turn, you forget why you were concerned. His presence is the only thing keeping you calm, and you wish he could just sit beside you the whole time.

“Angela, get those news crews off our tail!” he yells over the cheers of the passengers.

You look in the mirror beside you. The news crews must have arrived recently because you didn’t notice them before.

“On it. Harry’s working with the bomb squad. Keep it fifty,” Angela responds.

“Don’t try to make that a thing, Lopez,” Tim says before he ends the call.

“Hey, who’s doing this?” you ask Tim.

“The bomber? He’s just a guy who’s angry with me for foiling his last bombing attempt,” Tim explains.

“So, he’s trying again? Using you to get whatever it is he wants?”

“More or less.”

“What if you stop him again?”

“We do this again tomorrow. Until one of us dies trying.”

“That won’t work.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I’m not available to drive tomorrow.”

Tim nods but doesn’t reply before a flatbed truck merges into the lane beside the door. His Metro captain and two officers are on the back, and the driver blows the horn to get his attention. Tim opens the door and moves out of the door to talk to them. You can’t hear much but suspect that they want to get the hostages off the bus, which Tim already said was impossible. Your sudden and unbending trust in him should probably concern you, but you will do anything and everything he tells you, even if that means staying on a bus with a bomb on it.

“He called the station looking for you,” an officer announces.

“Why? He has my cell,” Tim says.

“Maybe it died.”

“Just give him my number again! And keep looking; find this guy so we can move these people.”

Tim steps onto the main platform again and closes the door.

“Are they going to help us?” the woman holding Sam’s head up asks.

“Sure, they will. They’re the police,” someone jokes.

Another phone rings in the bag, and Tim pulls your phone out this time. He hadn’t thought to turn yours off because he was concerned about you and wanted to make sure you could drive like the bus needed to be driven.

“Hello?” he answers.

“Tim, you know I trust you. But it looks to me like you’re trying to move passengers off the bus,” the bomber says.

“I need one as an act of faith,” Tim argues. “The driver has been shot.”

“You shot another hostage?”

“He’s dying! If you want your money, show a little charity.”

The line is quiet for a moment before the bomber says, “Fine. You can try to get the driver off. I have more people to kill. Tell your girlfriend behind the wheel not to slow down or he won’t get a chance to bleed out.”

“We’re getting the driver off,” Tim announces after returning your phone to the bag. “Just him for now.”

Ortiz moves out of the seat to help Tim move Sam to the door and onto the truck.

“Get as close as you can,” Tim says. “A little closer.”

The side of the bus hits the truck and swerves, and you rush to apologize.

“It’s okay.” Tim says your name, and you know that he means what he says. “Perfect! Hold it steady!”

You sigh as Tim walks past you again after getting Sam to safety, but then you see a woman walking toward the door. The officers on the truck reach out to help her, unaware of what will happen if she steps off the bus.

“No!” you yell.

“I have to,” she responds.

“No! Don’t get off! Stop!”

An explosion echoes through the bus as the steps fall out and go underneath the bus. The female passenger disappears after she falls with the debris, and you look away quickly as Tim falls forward trying to catch her.

“You’ve got to get those choppers out of here!” Tim yells to his captain. “He’s watching!”

The bus is silent as Tim stands up and waits beside you. With your eyes on the road, he doesn’t see the tear that leaks out. When the passengers start arguing behind you, your grip on the wheel tightens.

“Hey!” Tim calls as he turns to face them. They silence, and he moves his attention to you. “How are you doing?”

Tim steps forward, sees the tears covering your face, and squats with an arm behind you. “What can I do?”

His voice is softer than when he yelled at the men behind you, and you can’t lie to him.

“I thought that was the bomb. When I heard it… I thought everything was over. But then I saw her fall under the bus, and-“

“You’re glad you’re still alive,” Tim finishes.

“I’m so sorry. Does that make me a terrible person?”

“No. It doesn’t mean you don’t care. We’re still alive, and we’re all allowed to be thankful for that. The guy who put us here? He’s a terrible person. Don’t think that you’re a bad person. You’re not.”

“Tim,” you say before pointing to his Captain, who is waving for his attention.

“There’s a gap in the freeway. It’s big. We have to get these people off, Tim,” he says.

“You know I can’t, Captain.”

“Tim?” you ask as he walks past you. “What’d he say?”

“There’s a gap in the road,” Tim tells everyone.

“How big is a gap?” Ortiz asks.

“50 feet, a couple of miles ahead,” Tim says.

“Tim?” you repeat. “What if I shift down and just keep the engine revving?”

“He thought of that… Floor it.”

“What?”

“There’s an interchange, maybe there’s an incline. Just floor it.”

“Okay.”

“Everyone keep your heads down.”

The police car leading you falls off the side, but you continue driving toward the unfinished overpass. The needle on the speedometer nears 70, and Tim waits beside you. As you approach the end, Tim yells for everyone to hold on. He puts his arms around you and pulls your head down with his. You feel weightless for a moment, grounded only by his arms around you before the bus collides with the other side of the interchange. Looking up over Tim’s arm, you see more road ahead and press the gas again, so you don’t slow down.

Your forehead begins to burn and hurt, and you press your palm against your temple as the people behind you cheer. Tim checks on everyone before returning to your side, and he immediately realizes that you’re in pain. He moves your hand and presses the bottom of his shirt to your head. It’s stained with blood when he pulls his hand away, and you grimace at the idea of a wound on your head.

“Get off here!” Tim calls suddenly.

“Yes! Get off!”

You obey and soon enter the Los Angeles International Airport. Tim gives you directions to an emergency runway and explains that you can simply drive here. Without traffic or road closures, the only concern is staying above fifty.

Being in restricted air space is also a bonus, and you notice that the news helicopters are hovering at a distance. Tim seemed concerned about the presence of news cameras, so maybe the location will also keep the bomber from knowing exactly what is happening.

“Yeah?” Tim asks as he answers his phone.

“The airport. Well done. You had some close calls, but you did well, Tim,” the bomber says.

“What do you want?”

“My money. Help me get it before it’s too late, will you? The negotiators think I’m doing this for fun?”

“Are you not?”

“Oh, now you think you know me too?”

“I know you want money you didn’t earn. More than you deserve.”

“I did earn it! I got a medal, too, you know.”

“Let me off. If you want my help, I need to explain that you’re not bluffing. Just me.”

“Alright. But you have to come back. I can see everything; remember that.”

Tim ends the call and slides his phone back in his pocket.

“There’s a plan now?” you ask.

“Maybe. He’s letting me off,” Tim says.

“Hey, don’t forget about us,” you call as he steps off the bus and onto an SUV. “He’ll be back,” you promise the others.

While you circle the airport runways, Tim works with the other officers he told you about to find a way to disarm the bomb. Ortiz walks to your side and looks out at the airport.

“Ortiz?” you ask.

“He’s not coming back, I’m telling you,” he says.

“He didn’t have to get on in the first place. Hey, get behind the yellow line.”

Ortiz looks down and takes on short step back. “You let the cop up here.”

“What is that?” Stephen asks as he joins Ortiz.

“I have no idea,” you answer as you look at Tim standing on the back of a truck covered in machinery. It pulls over in front of you, and Tim lowers onto a cart attached to a winch, and you mutter, “I was right. He is insane.”

“How’d they get that so fast?” Stephen asks under his breath.

You focus more on driving in a straight line as Tim disappears under the front of the bus. He looks up at you just before he disappears, and you nod once. Knowing that he’s under the bus makes you more nervous to drive than you have been at any other point today. Driving in a straight line at the airport is more stressful because Tim is underneath a moving vehicle and touching a bomb. You know he has friends and colleagues who are helping him, but you feel more than a need to survive when you look at Sergeant Tim Bradford.

The winch on the truck releases suddenly, and the cable unfurls.

“Check and see if he came out the back!” you demand. “Can you see him?”

“He’s not back here!” Ortiz calls.

“Look under the bus! Back by the tires!”

“I don’t see him.”

The winch cable snaps and the back tire bounces over something. You press a hand over your mouth in shock, and Ortiz runs to the back access panel.

“Please tell me he’s alright!” you yell. “Do you see him?”

“I see him!” Ortiz responds. “He’s alright!”

You look back and forth between the empty runway and the back of the bus. Ortiz and Stephen pull Tim up onto the bus, and you can’t decide whether to be angry or relieved with him. Tim thanks Ortiz before walking to your side.

“How are you?” he asks.

“You scared me!” you accuse. You slap his vest to express your displeasure before hissing in pain. “What’s that smell?”

“Gas. We have a new leak.” “You caused a leak?”

“It was that or get run over. You can see the difficulty I had choosing.”

“Don’t try to be funny right now. I thought I killed you.”

“I’ll ask my captain to get a fuel truck.”

“Will it work?”

“I don’t know.”

“You’re not exactly comforting, you know that?”

“You just hit me and now you want comfort?”

You sigh and look at him again before saying, “Thank you, Tim.”

“Just doing my job… ma’am.”

Tim stays beside you while Harry and a S.W.A.T. team infiltrate the house listed on the bomber’s records. He was surprised by how quickly they found his identification, but now that they have the element of surprise, he hopes that this game is almost over.

When he gets another call, you can only see the anger in his eyes as he listens to the person on the other end. The bomber tells Tim that Harry and the S.W.A.T. team walked right into his trap. You watch him and can only wonder what is making him so mad. His life is in danger, but something is capable of pushing him even further, it seems.

“I’m going to rip your spine out. If you know as much as you think you do, you know I can,” Tim threatens lowly.

“Oh, I do, Reaper. That’s why you should do what you’re told. You and I both know you can’t do it without Harry and his ability to follow a cheap watch, anyway. Get me my money and it’s over. Otherwise, you, lumberjack-ie, and the others are dead. Got that?”

“Yeah,” Tim says after a moment. “Howie.”

The bomber hesitates at the mention of his real name but doesn’t let it stop him. Tim listens to Howard Payne’s demands before ending the call. Tim turns around and kicks where the stairs used to be before pulling against the handrail in his anger. You try to get his attention over his yelling, but it falls on deaf ears.

“Tim! Please!” you try again. “I can’t do this without you. Please.”

Tim slows his movements before gripping the rail beside you. His jaw is clenched as he looks at you, but your pleas soften his eyes.

“Please stay with me,” you whisper.

“We’re going to die,” he says.

“No. You got us this far, right?”

Tim leans against the dash beside you and looks at you. His shirt is still behind you. Lumberjack-ie. Your little girlfriend.

“Lumberjacks wear flannel, right?” Tim asks.

“Uh, yeah. As far as I know,” you answer. “Why?”

“He can see you.”

“What?”

“Keep looking straight ahead.”

You turn your face to the windshield and watch the runway as Tim examines the top of the bus. He sees the camera at the top of the windshield and shakes his head.

“He said, ‘your girlfriend behind the wheel’ and ‘lumberjack-ie’. I didn’t even realize. There’s a camera in your face. He can see the whole bus.”

“He can see me, but can he hear me?” you ask.

“Doesn’t seem like it.”

“Bus cameras can’t be very high-tech, Tim. Can’t your people get it on a loop or something?”

“You’re brilliant,” Tim murmurs before pushing himself off the dash and to his feet. “Guys, there’s a camera over my left shoulder. I need everyone to sit still. No big movements, no talking, just look concerned and sit still.”

He calls his captain and asks for someone to approach the news trucks at the fence to end the live broadcasts and use their equipment to make a video loop. His captain agrees and texts Tim with an update that the reporters are cooperating.

“Remember, stay relatively still. Just look scared,” Tim reminds everyone.

“That won’t be hard,” Ortiz grumbles.

Tim leans beside you while the video is being recorded. You drive in silence for a minute before noticing the blinking red light on the dash.

“Tim,” you whisper. “Look.”

“Cap, roll the tape. We need fuel,” Tim says into his phone.

“We only have a minute recorded. That won’t convince him, we need more footage” Wade argues.

“No time. Get these people off before this bus runs out of gas.”

“Fuel tanker is running behind. Driver said big rigs need radio signals, and they’re still jammed. Crazy not stupid, right?”

“Right.”

“Now what?” you ask Tim. “Are you tired of that question yet?”

“I’d like an answer to it,” he replies. “Get alongside this bus, okay?”

You nod and drive steadily alongside an LAX passenger bus. Tim’s team lays a wooden board between the bus doors and helps people cross to safety. You listen to Tim encourage the passengers across and are glad he was the cop who got on the bus today. The rear tire blows out suddenly, and you pull the steering wheel back to the middle and yell for Tim to come help.

Tim falls on his way back to the front of the bus, but when he reaches you, he moves his arms across you to pull the wheel.

“Use this to hold down the gas pedal,” he says.

You take the device from his hand and lower it into place. Tim steps back to tie the steering wheel to the floor of the bus, and you steer to keep the bus straight while he works. The moment it’s secure, he pulls you to your feet and tells you to get on the metal access panel.

“I can’t do this,” you argue.

Tim raises his hands to either side of your neck and brushes his thumbs along your skin as he promises, “Yes, you can. I’m right here with you.”

You swallow nervously and nod before sitting on your escape route, a thin piece of metal that Tim moved with no problem. Tim moves to lay over you, and he wraps an arm around your waist as you hide your face against his shoulder.

“I got you,” he promises once more.

The bus turns and the access panel cover falls out of the bottom. You clutch Tim tightly as the metal door slides across the runway and into a nearby patch of dirt. He sits up and watches the bus slow as it nears a plane but doesn’t let go of you. Just before the bomb detonates, Tim pulls you down again and lays over you to protect you from any debris. Sirens echo in the distance, and you wrap your arms around Tim’s back.

“Are you alright?” he asks again.

“No,” you answer, your first honest answer of the day. “Oh, I hate the airport.”

Tim moves to your side but keeps an arm around your shoulder as he looks into your eyes.

“You can’t get mushy on me. You can’t show emotion, remember?” you tease.

“I think I might be able to after all.”

“Relationships that start like this never last. It’s just the high-stress, adrenaline pumping, all that.”

“Oh, yeah? Well, maybe we can change that.”

“Uh, I think your friends are here.”

Tim looks up but doesn’t move as Angela and Wade exit a police car and run toward him.

“I was worried about you,” Angela says. “And here you are.”

“I’m sorry about Harry,” Tim offers. “I wish we could have changed it.”

“You good?” Wade asks. “’Cause I might be a nice guy and let you take the rest of the day off.”

“And stop worrying about what we could have done differently. You saved a lot of lives today, Timothy,” Angela adds.

“A day off sounds like a good deal,” you murmur.

Tim shakes his head before introducing you to Detective Angela Lopez and Sergeant Wade Grey. When he finally stands and sees the scrapes and gashes littering your skin, he forces you to let a paramedic treat you. Tim follows you to the ambulance but hangs back to talk to Angela. He’s lost a partner before, too, and knows what it’s like.

“I’m sorry for bringing everyone into this. Howard could have just come for me,” Tim concludes.

“I appreciate everything,” Angela responds. “But, you’re going to the hospital, too. Is that Chen?”

Tim turns quickly and sees Lucy running toward the police cruiser parked behind the ambulance.

“Sergeant Grey!” she yells. “We’ve got Payne on the line, and he wants to know when he’s getting his money. Whoa, Tim, are you alright?”

“He doesn’t know,” Tim says. “He doesn’t know the bus exploded.”

“Tell him thirty minutes,” Wade alerts all the nearby officers.

“Stay in the ambulance,” Tim tells you.

“But I-“

“Ma’am, stay in the ambulance.”

You nod and climb into the ambulance after refusing help from the paramedics. They continue bandaging a cut on your leg as Tim climbs in.

“I need to make a quick stop on the way to the hospital,” he tells the driver.

“Where?” she asks.

“The drop spot. Pershing Square.”

The driver reluctantly agrees, and you watch Tim as she drives. He demands you stay in the ambulance until he returns, and you agree but don’t mean it. You’ve been beside Tim for most of the morning, and you neither remember how to be away from him nor do you want to. You stand on the sidewalk beside the ambulance and watch people move around you. It’s another normal day for them, but your life will never be the same after today.

“Miss, you can’t stand here, you need to move back,” an older officer says as he grabs your shoulders.

“Oh, I’m waiting for Tim-“

“Tim Bradford, yes. He asked that I move you out of harm’s way.”

“But he told me to stay here.”

His hold on your shoulders tightens as he says, “And I’m telling you to move.”

“Payne is late,” Angela complains.

“He’s not late,” Tim says. “He’s never late.”

“Two hundred cops are watching that sculpture, plus a tracker in the bag. He hasn’t been here,” Wade explains.

“Turn on the tracker,” Tim requests.

“What for?”

“Just do it!”

Wade presses a button on the laptop before him, and the blinking light of the tracker travels across the screen.

“He’s got the money,” Angela says.

Tim runs out of their hiding spot and to the drop spot. He pushes the art installation over and kicks it when he sees the opening in the sidewalk beneath it. As he drops into the defunct subway system, he sees someone walking farther into the tunnel and pulls his gun.

“L.A.P.D. Freeze!” he yells.

The person stops, and he aims at their head before saying, “Pop quiz. Someone has a clear shot at your head. What do you do?... Turn around.”

“If you don’t do it, I’ll kill Tim Bradford,” Howard Payne threatens as he secures a vest covered in dynamite around your chest. “What are you going to do?”

“Wait- wait for him to come in and walk away. Then I listen to you,” you answer shakily.

“Perfect. Maybe you two can have your happily ever after all. You say one word that I don’t like and you’re both dead.”

Howard disappears down the subway, and you bite your bottom lip to refrain from crying or screaming for help. Tim may shoot you, no questions asked, but at least he will be safe. When you hear something crash above you and sunlight infiltrates the dark staircase before you, you take a deep breath and begin walking away.

Tim’s voice doesn’t carry the same comforting words or soothing lilt as in the bus, but you still recognize it and want to hear it as he yells at you.

“Turn around!” he demands.

You turn slowly and can see the moment Tim realizes he’s pointing his gun at you.

“I’m sorry,” you whisper.

The apology echoes off the concrete walls as Tim lowers his weapon. You don’t see or hear him, but you can feel the change when Howard appears behind you.

“Be prepared!” Howard says as he walks up the stairs behind you and raises the detonator, a deadman’s switch. “What are you gonna do, Tim? I don’t think you can shoot this hostage.”

“Let her go,” Tim demands as he points his gun at Howard.

“I don’t think I’m going to do that. Move the money,” he tells you.

You transfer the money from the L.A.P.D. bags and into Howard’s duffel bag as Tim yells at him to let you go.

“You don’t need her!” Tim adds.

“I will let go,” Howard threatens as he moves the detonator switch. “You don’t get it, Tim. Do you know what a bomb that doesn’t explode is? It’s the cheap, gold watch they gave me after I lost a finger and a life to my country.”

“You’re crazy.”

You push yourself against the wall as you listen to their exchange, but you keep your eyes on Tim rather than the bomb just below your chin. Howard demands you take his money and enter another part of the tunnel system and you know that you’re going to obey because he’ll kill Tim if you don’t. You tear your eyes from Tim and walk exactly where Howard leads you.

As you enter a crowded stop, Howard fires several shots into the concrete ceiling as you drop your head and cover your ears. The subway passengers waiting for the next train flee in terror as you try to get away from Howard. Tim can’t be far behind, but when you’re pushed into a subway car, you’re tempted to think that no help is coming. Howard handcuffs your hands around a pole before the subway lurches into motion.

At the back of the subway, Tim struggles to pry a set of doors open before he falls into the car. He moves strategically through the empty rows of seats with his mind on you and ending this game with Howard Payne once and for all.

The subway conductor reaches for his radio, and Howard forces the deadman switch into your hands and tells you to hold it. He turns his back on you and kills the conductor as you struggle to move away.

“Look, you won. You beat Tim, you beat everybody, you can just throw me off the train. I don’t care,” you plead.

“You see this stick? When you explode, the police will come there. But that’s not where I’ll be, so I get more time. I promise it won’t hurt,” Howard replies as he pulls the detonator away from you.

A series of dull thuds echoes, and Howard looks up quickly. He smiles, and it makes your stomach flip.

“Hey, Tim. Is that you?” he asks. “He’s so persistent. Wouldn’t be able to interest you in a bribe, would I, hotshot?”

Howard kneels and opens the duffel bag full of cash. You watch as a dye pack explodes in his face and paints his money purple. In his anger, he fires bullets into the roof, and you drop to the floor as Tim rolls out of the line of fire. Howard runs through a door, and you can only listen as he climbs onto the roof and begins struggling against Tim.

Howard has the deadman stick in his hand and can kill you by moving a centimeter to the left or right, but you’re more worried about Tim with every noise against the roof. You stay low on the pole you’re cuffed to, twisting your wrists and manipulating your fingers as you try to slip free. The struggle above you silences suddenly, and you watch the door nervously.

“Tim!” you call when he rushes in. “Tim. Where’s Payne?”

“Uh, he lost his head. Turn around,” Tim says.

You circle the pole, and Tim rips a wire free before loosening the straps of the vest.

“Let’s take this off,” he says before pulling the vest away from your chest.

“Tim, can you hear me?” someone asks through the driver’s radio. “This is Wade. Listen, the track isn’t finished.”

“What else can go wrong?” you murmur.

“Wade, I copy,” Tim radios.

“Do you copy? Try the emergency brake.”

“I copy!” Tim tries again before throwing the radio down.

He steps to the right and hits the emergency brake. After the train doesn’t even slow, he begins hitting other buttons, but nothing happens.

“None of this works!” he exclaims as he hits the control board.

He turns away from the useless machinery and returns to you. When he notices the handcuffs holding you in place, he slows.

“You can uncuff me and we can get off,” you say with an exaggerated nod.

“I don’t have a key,” Tim replies.

“You don’t have…”

You trail off and look at the handcuffs. If only you could slip your hands through them, you think. Tim begins pulling and kicking the pole as you try again to pull your hands through the metal cuffs. He pauses and lays a hand against your arm to look at how tight the cuffs are.

“Help me pull,” you grunt as you lean your weight back against the restraints.

“No, no,” Tim says quickly as he pulls you forward. “You’re just hurting yourself.”

You stand still and see a bead of blood running down your fingers. As you stare at it, Tim walks to a map on the wall. He remembers the nightmare again; a series of bad memories that end with him, “the Reaper,” standing alone in the desert before being rescued and awarded a medal. As he searches for a way to save you, Tim decides that he will never shoot the hostage again, and he won’t leave you behind, even if that means dying with you.

“Tim, please just go,” you beg.

“There’s a curve ahead. I can make it jump the track.”

“Tim! Sergeant Bradford!” Tim turns to you, and you repeat, “Get off this train. You can still jump. Tim, please. Please.”

Tim ignores you as he returns to the controls and increases the train’s speed. You slide your hands down the pole as you sit on the floor, and Tim walks silently to your side. He leans in beside you, and you raise your arms to wrap around his neck as you lean your head against his. He moves his arms around the pole to circle you and holds you tight as the train picks up speed.

“I’m sorry,” you whisper just before the lights go out.

The train car hits something and spins, but Tim tightens his arms around you. With every bump and move of the subway, you become more convinced that you’ll never get out of this position. Light enters the windows as you crash through something, and the car flips onto its side as it lands on asphalt. The impact loosens the pole, and you fall onto Tim, whose grip on you doesn’t waver for a second. As the car slides to a stop, you squeeze Tim and take a deep breath.

“You didn’t leave me,” you say before forcing yourself to open your eyes.

Tim cradles the back of your head before moving his hands to your back. You lean up gently and look into his eyes again.

“I told you to leave me!”

“I didn’t have anywhere to be just then. Rest of the day off and all,” Tim responds before pulling you down against him.

He kisses you, and you’re surprised that it is more than adrenaline. The kiss is more than a relief to be alive, and you want to feel Tim Bradford at your side every day for the rest of your life (which would have ended today if not for him). You move your hands to Tim’s short hair as you return his kiss. It’s relief, joy, love, and passion in a single touch. When Tim begins breathing heavily against you, you move up.

“I’ve heard relationships that start during intense situations like this never work,” Tim says.

“Oh,” you sigh. “Then I guess we’ll be the first.”

“Whatever you say, ma’am.”

Glass rains down on you as you kiss Tim again, and though your day went nothing like you thought it would, it’s now the best day of your life. Tim helps you stand as his team approaches the scene, and you stop him before you exit the car.

“You know if this was a movie, they’d make another one where the same thing happens again, right?” you say softly.

“We’re never taking public transportation again,” Tim states.

“Yeah. Hey, where is the truck you were driving this morning?”

Tim hesitates and tightens his arm around your waist before turning away to yell, “Chen! I need you to do something for me.”

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