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#the two of them spend their nights stargazing together
dearwysteria · 1 year
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I think I really like these colors
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livlaughloveluke · 3 months
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𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐲- 𝐥.𝐜 🐡
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daughter of hypnos! reader x luke castellan 💤
headcannons in which luke is dating the sleepiest girl around💘
“and i know you’ve been having nightmares lately, and i’m sorry i fall asleep first” -faye webster
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he totally calls you “sleepy.” 
it started off when he was a dumb teen, just him being an idiot and teasing everyone. but i mean, the name wasn’t exactly incorrect. and so it stuck, carrying along as you grew into a young adult and began dating !
he’s such a sweetheart when it comes to you. while he gently yells at the campers for their lack of effort, he would never even think about raising his voice when speaking to you. even if you skipped training because you “needed to rest.” (you had slept a full ten hours before)
but when you did show up for archery or sword fighting, he’s over the moon, showering you with praise.
“that was amazing!” 
“you did so good today, sleepy.”
(you shot two arrows and then dipped)
nightly stargazing!! 
you and luke spend hours laying on top the grassy hill, staring above at the twinkling stars. you pointed out all the constellations, and luke would point to a star and say it was yours.
“thats our star, babe.”
“luke that’s part of the orion.”
he would sneak into your cabin on his restless nights, and you would comb your fingers through his hair to send him into a deep sleep. and you made sure all he had sweet dreams instead of his haunting nightmares.
reading him stories all the time ! 
he hates reading, since all of the words get scrambled and it hurts his brain to put the letters back together. but when chiron adjusts the temperature so it would rain and water the strawberry fields, there wasn’t many indoor activities to do. so, you let him pick a book you could read together on those rainy days.
after a week visit to your home, you brought back your record player and some of your favorite vinyls, and luke was absolutely fascinated. he never really listened to music before, so hearing such majestic sounds was a new experience. now every time you travel back into the world, he requests a new album. he’ll listen to it on repeat until you’ve acquired a different record.
you would share abstract stories about monsters, greek heros, and other intriguing topics to the campers around the bonfire, while luke stared with hearts in his eyes. he like to think that one day, hundreds of years from now, a camper would be reciting a story about you and him. the daughter of hypnos and the son of hermes, two children who were the closest depiction of soulmates ever known. 
secret weekly sleepovers in cabin 15 were a necessity ! 
he always showed up with a bouquet of wildflowers, and one small yellow daisy for each of your siblings.
all of your brothers and sisters loved him, constantly dragging him into family board game night.
similar to stargazing, watching for clouds !
when you had free time, you were constantly laying in the dry fields and staring up above at the clouds, trying to picture them as objects.
“it’s a cowboy hat!”
“that’s clearly a toad in a sailboat.”
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mellowsaturns · 1 year
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starry nights
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JOEL MILLER X READER
summary: late at night in the middle of nowhere, you and joel talk about the past… and the future
warnings: soft!joel my beloved, fluff, tiny bit of angst, heart to heart talk, idiots in love, mutual pining, friends to lovers, slight mentions of violence and loss 
wc: 1.3k
— — —
It’s Joel’s turn to keep watch when a low gentle voice brings him out of his concentration.
“Joel,” it whispers ever so softly. “Joel. Joooel.”
Turning his head, he meets your eyes from below.
“Why are you still up?” he gruffs.
You shrug your shoulders. “Can’t sleep.”
He pokes at the dwindling fire. “We have a long day tomorrow.”
“I know,” you sigh. Snuggling out of your sleeping bag, you pivot your way over and sit next to him. “I think I’m just excited that we’re almost at our destination,” you say as you lean your back against the rockbed. The past three months have been rough—so much loss that you didn’t know how much more you could take.
Closing your eyes and tilting your head back, you take a deep breath in to savour the moment of peace and quiet before opening it back up again. “Hey,” you whisper while nudging Joel's arm. “Look at that.”
He follows your trail of sight and when his eyes adjust to the light, he couldn’t help but exhale in incredulity.
Because deep in the mountains, miles away from the nearest human civilization, a cluster of stars are shimmering above the two of you against the night sky.
The both of you admire it for a moment before you speak. “When was the last time you ever saw something so beautiful?” you ask breathlessly, turning your head over to him.
Joel doesn’t answer, just simply looks at you and you see that glint in his eyes again—a look you can’t decipher but never ask him about.
Ignoring it, you continue, “You know, this is actually kind of romantic.”
Joel’s forever thankful you don’t have some kind of super sonic hearing. Because the rate at which his heart’s beating was truly embarrassing.
Clearing his throat, he asks, “You ever been stargazing before? Like… on a date?”
You laugh, “God, no. No one ever did anything that romantic for me. How about you? I bet you were a real ladies man.”
He lets out a low chuckle thinking about the old days. “I was not.”
You snort. “Why don’t I believe you?”
“Well, that’s the honest truth. Never really paid attention to them.”
“Oh, so you were the hard-to-get type, huh?” you tease.
From the small ember of light, you see a flush of pink creeping over his cheeks and you smile in triumph. It’s hard to get Joel flustered and you take in the moment to revel in that small victory.
Maybe it was the serene surroundings and the rare moment of safety but there’s a calm and comfortableness between the two of you—almost like the world wasn’t in ruins and you were on some camping trip pre-outbreak having a chat hours before dawn.
“I’m just teasing,” you say. “But do you think I would’ve had a chance?”
He perks up at your comment. “What?”
You can’t deny the fact that you had a crush on him. Have carried this feeling ever since Tommy first introduced you to the group. And that feeling has only gotten stronger ever since you embarked on this journey with him.
You bite your bottom lip nervously. “I mean…” you gulp, “If we met before the outbreak… Do you think you would have looked my way?”
Joel freezes. Completely freezes in his spot.
Reading his expression your heart races in panic. “I—I don’t know why I asked you that,” you stammer. “Jesus—I must be out of my goddamn mind,” you mumble, looking down in embarrassment. “It’s probably the lack of oxygen up here. My brain isn’t working. I’m sorr—”
“Yes,” he blurts out.
You snap your head up. “What?”
Swallowing a nervous breath, he admits, “I… We… Of course I would’ve.” A pause. Then, “I already do.”
“Really?” you whisper with that same glint in your eyes.
After spending years working together, he’s surprised you haven’t caught on yet. He’s not the best at expressing his feelings and tries to lock it up, but it slips sometimes—more times than he liked, because in spite of everything, his heart’s defenceless with you.
He had so many things he wanted to say. Like if he had met you then, he would’ve been the happiest guy on fucking earth. That he’d bring you your favourite flowers and take you out on unprompted dates—like seeing the stars in the back of his pickup truck. Afterwards, he’d take you home and shower you with his love—if you’d let him.
And Sarah would have loved you too.
It sort of pains his heart to think about the Joel from another lifetime ago. But if the conditions were a little better and the two of you weren’t trekking in the wilderness day and night, he’d still want to do the same, if you’d give him the chance too.
But he’s unable to get the right words out. After years of rough survival, he isn’t exactly the best at this romance thing anymore.
So he just nods slowly, hoping you’ll understand what he’s trying to say.
Your attempt at stifling your grin fails. Even though Joel never elaborates on his comment—borderline confession—you wrap it around your heart because nothing more needs to be said.
Something shifts in the cold mountain air and your heart beats with joy.
But at the same time, your heart aches at the memories of the past.
“Do you think the world could ever go back to how it was before?” you wonder.
The question falls silent between the two of you.
In truth, Joel doesn’t know if the world was ever going to get better.
But in that moment, for the first time in many years, it’s different from all the other times you asked. Because for a split second, there’s a lingering feeling of hope between the two of you—at Ellie who’s sleeping a few feet away, whom the both of you care for greatly, more than the two of you would like to admit.
Once everything goes according to plan, maybe he’d actually be able to do all the things he wanted to do with you. He’d have to make up for all the years missed, but it would be easy, Joel thinks, because there wouldn’t be a need to constantly look over his shoulders anymore.
“It could,” he says curtly.
You smile at him. At his optimism. So different from the Joel you met years ago. He was always hard-headed. Always a pragmatist. But ever since the three of you left Boston, his heart’s gotten softer and you see flashes of the version of Joel that Tommy always talks about. It doesn't help your heart at all.
“The first thing I’d do is retire,” you announce, stretching your legs dramatically. You were sick of being a smuggler.
Joel lets out a tired laugh, no doubt thinking the same thing. “... I’d want an old farmhouse, some land… a ranch. I would raise sheep.”
You chuckle at his words. “Ah. Like a true Texan.”
Maybe there was something waiting for you in Wyoming. Maybe the two, perhaps three, of you could live that sought after idyllic life together.
That dream was still days away but you don’t deny the good feeling brewing in your chest. All that loss and violence must have been for something, right?
“You should get some sleep,” Joel says, pulling you out of your little reverie.
“Already told you, I’m not tired,” you reply, but minutes later, you’re fast asleep on Joel’s shoulder.
He looks at you fondly, then back up at the flickering sky and wonders if a shooting star had passed by earlier unbeknownst to him and heard all his desires.
Pressing a gentle kiss on top of your head, he goes back to guard duty, a little more Joel Miller than before.
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amaranthineghost · 5 months
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| MATCHING PAJAMA PANTS AND LATE NIGHTS ( lando norris. ) |
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ꕥ pairing: lando x reader
ꕥ summary: how lando spends the holiday season with his girlfriend.
ꕥ authors note: didn't know what type of christmas imagine to write tor lando so I just decided to do this <3 also I'm impatiently waiting for the mini vegas helmet of his I ordered (I'm just a teenage girl <3)
ꕥ warnings: suggestive words
THE HOLIDAYS WITH LANDO NORRIS consisted of a few must-do things. ever since he started dating her, there were things he had to do with every celebration, christmas being no exception.
MATCHING PAJAMAS AND LATE NIGHTS ON SNOWY ROADS
a good portion of the season was spent in the warmth of his mclaren, driving through snowstorms with the heat blasting and whatever music their hearts desired. they'd yell the lyrics at the top of their lungs, breaking into laughter with every voice crack and anytime they'd forget a word. lying on the hood of his car to stargaze on the outskirts of the city where light pollution hadn't yet touched the sky. all in their matching pajama pants.
if he didn't have as much money as he did, he'd surely have spent it all on matching sets for the two of them to wear all throughout the holiday season.
he adored the matching sets they wore together, smiles gracing his face as he stared at her lovingly as she wore the patterned pajamas he'd picked out. there was something so heart-warming to see her wearing the same thing he did.
he loved laying around the house in each other's presence, words unspoken would be exchanged through actions such as simply lifting the sherpa blanket one was under to invite the other into the comfort of their warmth, wrapping themselves in each other's arms or slipping into the same hoodie as she laid on his chest. they'd lay on their couch by the apartment window, watching the snow fall through the spot on the window they wiped with their hands.
decorating the christmas tree with ornaments passed down from generations, telling fond stories with each trinket and heirloom in their possession. it inevitably brought them closer to share such a peace of life and tradition with each other that they'd honor closely. he'd tell her stories of his childhood where he'd place various decorations on the tree, watching her inspect them in her hands. they'd been passed down from his parents to him to share with his love, though they'd visit his parents for a portion of the holidays.
ynusername
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ynusername I love the winter weather because I've got my love to keep me warm
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oscarpiastri made me third wheel, but didn't even tag me.
ynusername we kind of forgot you were there
oscarpiastri yeah. I know.
user not them forgetting about poor oscar in the backseat 😭
landonorris he's fine
SKIING AND SNOWBALL FIGHTS
trips to various snowy countries and vast mountains were inevitable, despite lando traveling quite often for his career. he'd love ski trips before and even more so with her involved. he'd help her gear up, teaching her the way to do it without falling on her face so she'd be able to keep up with him. starting out, he'd rush to her every fall, cooing at even the slightest bruise forming, kissing it with his cold lips. but as she improved, she could find him bent over laughing, hand on his stomach before he'd trek his way to give her a helping hand.
late nights after skiing turned to snowball fights in the dark between the group that shared the cabin. lando often brushed off his girlfriend's attempts to give him a jacket, claiming he'd be fine. he'd end up getting sick and she'd be the one to take care of him.
landonorris
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landonorris ouch ☹️
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ynusername I won the snowball fight
landonorris you only won because you nearly gave me a concussion
oscarpiastri she nearly did us a favour there
user why does lando never wear a coat 😭
ynusername I've been asking the same thing
user bro is just built different
lilymhe why is yn on the ground ?
landonorris I tackled her 😊
user BBYE NOR PQNDO ADMITTINT HE TAKXLED HIS GITRIENR 💀
ynusername the spelling goes crazy
BAKING AND BOARD GAMES
double dates were a frequent go-to thing between the couple and their friends, alex and lily. it was a good time for the couples to hang out and catch up from the chaos from the season. mostly organized by their girlfriends who simply wanted to spend more time together, and the boys being dragged along, mostly alex. lando was the one who had clung to his girlfriends arm, begging him to let her go, and it was only fair to make alex go with too.
they'd frequent christmas markets, with lando spending an unnecessary amount of money on anything his girlfriend pleased because he loved to spoil her, despite the comments of others saying she was using him for it. he'd gladly let her though.
they'd walk with mugs of hot chocolate steaming out of the cup with whipped cream and peppermint sticks. she'd laugh at her boyfriend for the whipped cream on his upper lip, lily joining in when alex had gotten the same style of white mustache. she'd withhold the napkins from his grasp, enjoying the sight before her as lando tried to reach around her back where she'd hide them in her palm. he'd gotten so close to her face, he'd smudge the cream across her lips too.
"that's what you get!" he'd exclaim to her before laughing it off and wiping away the remnants that smeared across her face with the swipe of his thumb. he'd suck off the sweet, watching how her eyes dilated and her throat move as she gulped.
he leaned in close to her ear, whispering to her so the other couple wouldn't hear, "I bet you'd taste sweeter." he'd pull away to watch her face malfunction, as she'd open her mouth but words failed to form as her face became red and flush. she'd end up just shoving him by the shoulder, pushing the napkins into his hands.
landonorris
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landonorris she does NOT mess around when it comes to monopoly
tagged—ynusername, alexalbon, and lilymhe
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user STOP THE DOUBLE DATE
user I know right 😭😭😭 I'm so painfully single
alexalbon yn is on board game ban
ynusername ☹️
alexalbon you bit me
ynusername I'm just a teenage girl
alexalbon you're 22
ynusername don't remind me
user not alex and yn bickering like siblings 😭😭😭
user right?! like the duo we never knew we needed
ynusername he's too ugly to be my brother
alexalbon you'd be adopted.
ynusername 😧
user no one asking what they even made like I wanna know
oscarpiastri something burnt probably
landonorris you weren't even there though
ynusername it was definitely burnt though and all lan's fault.
user yn calling him lan 🥺
ICE SKATING AND CANDLE-LIT READS
rinks set up around london would be occupied by the group of couples who'd find themselves falling over laughing as they tripped over the ice. they'd fail to keep their balance as they skated around the ice. he'd be bent over tying her skates as she watched from over his shoulder, carmen and george and alex and lily as the couples gripped each other for dear life. she'd break out into a toothy smile, exciting looking back at her boyfriend as he'd finish lacing her skates, watching her breath exhale from her nose, the pink across her face from the chilling cold.
she'd stumble on her feet at the unfamiliar feeling of walking across the ground to the gate that'd lead then onto the ice, taking the intial step with her boyfriend not far behind. his gloves hands firmly placed on her hips, making her stomach flutter even though she'd felt his hands on her numerous times before.
they'd fall countless times, racking up the number of bruises on their body that lando would later kiss it better as she laid in bed. candles lit as the only light in the room as she read. she knew it was bad for the eyes, but it was a one time thing—not.
he'd lift the cloth that covered her body, kissing every mark that ruined her even skin, which proved to be majorly distracting to her reading—his plan all along as she'd engross herself between the pages of whatever novel she'd held. moving his warm breath across her skin, from her arms to her waist and hips to the sides of her thighs where her breathing got particularly shallow. he'd groan when she tried to push him away, though he knew not in disinterest.
ynusername
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ynusername
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user THE SNOOPY SHEETS
user id like to think lando sleeps peacefully in her girly bed.
ynusername he does
landonorris I can't believe you just told them that
ynusername I'd post the proof
landonorris YOU HAVE PROOF?
lilymhe post it
ynusername for my queen, yes
landonorris NO
user YN BLACKMAILING LANDO IS CRAZY
user I aspire to be like them
they'd end up at his family's house for the rest of the christmas holidays, spending times in front of the fireplace with boards games at their feet—shed play over lando's shoulder despite being on ban.
eventually she'd shove him from his place and take over—he just couldn't do it like her.
"what the hell?"
"lan, you suck, just let me play!"
"you're banned from playing!"
"ok and?"
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llamagoddessofficial · 4 months
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Ok but how would farmtale sans propose??? And how would he act as a boyfriend???? My mind is burning with thoughts of this man and its just iyfitdiydoyfhof
eeeeeeeeexcellentt. The farm boy. give him to meeee
I think a good summary of boyfriend farmer is if a sitcom husband was competent and empathetic. He acts like a big silly dopey guy around you, tripping over himself when you smile. You're his favourite person, and it's obvious to anyone who sees him. He thinks you're the catch of the century - he won't admit it, but he always considered you out of his league.
Every time he tries to be serious, he remembers he's dating you, this is real, you actually like him as much as he likes you. Then he gets fluttery and silly all over again.
The first person he told that you were dating was his favourite goose. THEN he told Papyrus.
It takes a while to get him comfortable enough to commit, you'd have to already be pretty close beforehand to become a couple. So the only real difference in your interactions will be that he's now got an excuse to be as physically affectionate as he wants. He still acts like you're best friends, except you can't escape him now, he'll constantly be carrying or cuddling you. You signed up for this.
Matching straw hats
He also enjoys finally having a pass to constantly bother you - before, he used to have to think of boring things like reasons to show up at your door. He was running out of movies to pretend he wanted to watch. Now he can just teleport in. Why? Boyfriend. That's why.
Personality of a clingy barn cat who only likes you.
He still flirts the same way, constantly bringing you back nice things from the farm, food that's as fresh as possible. He wants you to get used to eating their food. After all, soon enough you'll be living with him, right?
He's an ass smacker. He can't help it. He's used to patting animals affectionately to get them to move along, and the habit of patting things he cares about has passed on to you. If you hear him coming up behind you, there's a nine out of ten chance he's about to go in for a smack.
EXTRA self conscious about how he smells now that you're spending even more time together. Kiss him even when he's mucky, he'll appreciate it.
Now that he's your boyfriend, he can be your permanent insect removal service without you feeling guilty. Just give him one smooch as payment! Or a lil' somethin' else, if you catch his drift.
(TWO smooches)
As for proposals? He'd probably propose under the stars. He'd wait for the perfect clear night, when there's a meteor shower, then set up a stargazing spot for the both of you with food and a blanket and fairy lights. It might take a while for him to find the perfect night but it's worth it.
So if you ever catch him looking suspiciously long at nighttime weather schedules, you know why.
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malfoyscoffee · 8 months
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birthday cakes ౨ৎ draco malfoy
♡ draco malfoy x transfer!slytherin!reader ᝰ fluff, slight angst ☆ reader has neglectful parents, use of y/n
a.n.: this is my first fic for this account, so it's not my best work.
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6:02 pm
“Finally, in a few hours, our lovely Y/N will be 16!” Pansy clapped her hands together in delight, excited for your birthday.
“Oh Pansy, it's not that serious.” You shrug while picking at your food.
You were a transfer student from Drumstrang, so this was indeed the first birthday you would spend at Hogwarts.
The moment you were placed into Slytherin, Draco approached you and befriended you into his group of friends. Ever since, you have grown closer with all of them.
Mattheo puts his fork down, “But Y/N, this is your first time celebrating your birthday with us!”
“He’s right,” Theodore started, “we should stay up till midnight since we don't have class tomorrow anyway.”
You looked up at your friends, knowing they wanted to cheer you up.
It was this morning when you received your monthly letter from your parents. They wrote that you should study harder to keep up your—currently perfect—grades, along with how they were going on another business trip to America.
They wrote about everything but your birthday.
This was nothing new, after all, they were always busy during your previous birthdays.
Blaise joined in, “If it makes you feel any better, we all had our gifts bought last month because someone,” he looked over at Pansy, “wanted to start gift shopping early.”
You turned to Pansy who simply grinned, “Oh, come on, you didn't have to spoil the surprise, Blaise!”
Pansy playfully slapped Blaise’s shoulder while you, Mattheo, and Theodore laughed.
The laughter died down and you spoke, “By the way, where's Draco?”
Draco Malfoy, your best friend. You would consider him the closest person to you in all of Hogwarts.
You haven't seen the blond a lot this week, mostly during classes. After classes ended, instead of him hanging out with you, he would leave the common room and not come back all night.
Two days ago, he returned late at night to the common room, passing by your group of friends while his dark robes were covered in some white powder. You asked what was wrong as he bee-lined towards the stairs, but he muttered something with a frustrated face; you haven't had a chance to talk to him since.
All the talk about your birthday made you start to feel excited, but you wanted Draco to be around too. But seeing how he has been the past week, you were starting to doubt he remembered your birthday.
You were too busy in thought to see the four of your friends sending eye signals to each other, each of them caught off-guard to give you an excuse.
Unlike Blaise exposing everyone’s early gift preparation, this was something that needed to be covered up.
Theodore cleared his throat first, “I think he's practicing more Quidditch. You know, since the season is starting soon.”
Mattheo added on, his food long forgotten, “You know how serious he is with beating every house, especially Gryffindor.”
“Oh,” you nodded your head “that reminds me, I'll see my first Hogwarts Quidditch match soon!” Your mood was suddenly lifted, thinking back to your old school’s Quidditch games. You always loved Quidditch and attended every game since you were a first-year at Drumstrang.
The moment you started to ramble to your friends about your favorite sport, you didn't hear the sighs of relief at your table.
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11:50 pm
Pansy and Blaise were walking with you back to the common room. You just spent a few hours stargazing with them by the Black Lake.
Mattheo and Theodore said something about having to practice Quidditch with Draco too, which you didn't want to hold them back for. They made sure to tell you that they would meet the three of you back before midnight before they hurried off.
“We’re going to the Three Broomsticks tomorrow?”
“Of course, we’re going to have a birthday dinner. We always celebrate our birthdays there.”
You smiled, grateful to have wonderful friends. “It's not even my birthday yet, but thank you both for preparing so much. You guys know already, but I didn't celebrate my birthday during my childhood.”
Pansy and Blaise look at you with sadness, knowing about your life with your busy parents. It was a post-party hangout at Draco’s dorm when you opened up to all of them, partially because you were drunk, but also because you knew you could trust all five of them.
“Y/N, we’re your family too. We will always celebrate your day with you, so don't think too much about your parents.” You smiled at Blaise, grateful for his words.
The three of you finally reached the Slytherin common room. Although it was late, there were many students sprawled out of the room, hanging out with each other.
“Should we go check up on Draco?” Pansy asked, staring at her watch.
“Wouldn’t he be asleep?” You asked confused.
You assumed that since he was busy with Quidditch, he forgot about your birthday. The thought of him forgetting your birthday made you grow a bit sad, but you didn't want to make it a big deal.
Blaise started walking to the stairs, “He doesn't sleep early, come on.”
Pansy followed quickly behind Blaise, leaving you a little confused.
“Y/N!” Pansy yelled from the top of the stairs, “Let’s go!”
You grew confused but followed after your friends, walking up the stairs to Draco’s room.
“Pansy? Blaise? Where did you guys go?” You reached the top and did not see your friends.
You approached Draco’s dorm, knocking on the door.
“Draco? Are you in here?” You pushed the knob, stepping inside the dark room. You took two steps before there was a loud sound next to you, like something popping.
12:00am
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY Y/N!”
The lights turned on and you looked around, Draco’s dorm decorated for your birthday. Green balloon letters were written ‘HAPPY 16TH BIRTHDAY’ and confetti was thrown all over the floor. There was also a stash of gifts in the corner of his room, definitely the one Pansy made them buy in advance.
You were immediately hugged by Pansy, “It’s midnight! The start of your big day!”
Blaise, Theodore, and Mattheo chuckled before all saying happy birthday to you.
You had never smiled so hard, feeling so grateful for all of your friends.
“What happened to Quidditch practice today?” You ask Theodore and Mattheo, assuming they must have decorated Draco’s room. However, it may have been the messy arrangement of the balloon letters that gave it away. 
Mattheo looked at you with wide eyes, “That was a lie. Sorry, we tried to have you distracted to prepare this.”
You let out a laugh, “It’s okay, wait a minute, then what about Draco’s practices?”
The group felt silent, not before looking behind you at the currently opened door “If your practices were a lie, then was Draco’s-”
“Happy Birthday, Y/N” A voice interrupted your own.
You turned your body to the door, and a smiling Draco entered the room. Looking at his hands, he held a green cake with a single lit candle on top. It spelled out ‘Happy Birthday Y/N’ in frosting.
“Draco? What is this?”
“Well, snake's out of the bag,” Draco said standing in front of you.
Pansy went to stand beside you first, “But before, let’s sing first!”
The others agreed and started to sing you a happy birthday, Mattheo’s off-pitch voice making you laugh the whole time. When they finished you smiled, closing your eyes to make to make a wish before blowing out the candle.
“Yay!” Mattheo screamed excitedly, jumping up and down.
“Let’s go down to the common room to eat!” Theodore suggested, leaving the room to race Mattheo.
The rest of you four laughed, following them quickly.
“So,” you started, “did Draco have practice this week?” You sat down on the couch as your friends surrounded you.
Draco grinned, “You’ve caught me. I made your cake myself.” Your eyes widened in surprise as he put the cake down for Pansy to cut it.
“You thought Pansy reminding us a month in advance to buy gifts was insane? Draco spent the entire week learning how to bake a cake for your birthday.”
Draco took a seat next to you on the couch, hiding behind you as Blaise and Mattheo teased him further.
“Is that true?” You asked Draco, who shrugged his shoulders as if it was nothing.
“Have the first slice, Y/N” Pansy passed you a slice on a plate that she somehow prepared while you were too shocked.
“Come on, tell us if it’s bad!” Mattheo said from the couch across from you, earning a smack in the head from Blaise.
You took a bite and it seemed like the cake was baked by a professional. You savored the taste and smiled, “It's delicious!”
That was all it took for Mattheo and Theodore to beg Pansy for slices, while Blaise was busy helping her cut the cake.
“Thank you, Draco, I didn't know.” He put his arm around your shoulder, leaning closer to you.
“I’m happy you love it, and that the cake didn't taste bad.” You laughed as you kept eating the cake.
“Y/N,” Blaise said, all your friends now settled down with cake slices except Draco, “You don’t understand. Not only did he learn how to bake that cake, he asked all of us to taste test it each time..”
A realization hit your eyes, “Is that why you were all sick a few days ago? It was his previous cakes?”
All your friends laughed as Draco hid his face in your neck embarrassed.
“At least it tastes wonderful now.” Mattheo munched on his cake slice with a smile, “Draco, you need to bake all of us birthday cakes now.”
Draco shook his head, before looking at you.
“Only for Y/N’s birthdays.”
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minastras · 1 year
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dear stranger, do you remember me too? // sunghoon
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When you were sixteen, you betrayed Park Sunghoon. Or he betrayed you. Whichever it was, you knew two things for sure: 1) kids were cruel, and 2) you would spend the rest of your life trying to make up your mind. Well, until you saw him again. It was a strange feeling, meeting him in the flesh even though his ghost had been haunting you for three years.
at a glance: childhood friends to strangers to lovers, reformed bad boy! sunghoon, university au, pure angst (i received High Level Clearance from @end-hyphen to put him through the wringer sorry), ft. hyung line
words: 12.3k
warnings: swearing, mild mentions of blood, sexual harassment, and fights (nothing serious), alcohol and cigarette use
——————————
For as long as you could remember, Park Sunghoon had been the centre of your solar system, the axis around which your universe revolved. You’d known him since the day you were born. You lived on the same street, four houses apart, and as the only two kids in the area you naturally bonded instantly with each other. He was your best friend, your confidant, your partner in crime.
As soon as you both were no taller than his coffee table, you spent nearly every day together at the playground behind your street, running through the neighbourhood blowing bubbles and chasing butterflies.
“Do you think we could both fit on the same swing?” You could still hear your voice, light and flowery back then, asking.
“Let’s find out,” his equally childish voice rang back, before he yanked you into his lap and struggled to get enough leverage with his feet to push you both off the ground.
That ended with you tumbling out of the swing and onto the tarmac just by the playground, scraping your knee. You both must’ve been only five years old then, but you didn’t cry, instead stubbornly getting to your feet and ignoring the blood trickling down your calf until you were back in the privacy of your living room.
He had carried you home on his back, even though you could walk just fine, and sat you down on the sofa while he cleaned your broken skin with a tissue.
“You can cry if you want,” he had said simply, in that innocent manner only kids have.
You were with him all the way through kindergarten to middle school to high school. Neither of you had many friends; you were both quiet and shy and somewhat rough around the edges. But that didn’t matter, because you had each other.
As you grew from toddlers to precocious children to teenagers, you continued spending nearly every day together. When you weren’t glued to each other’s sides in school, he was spending the night at your house after class, or you were playing video games in his room on weekends.
You always looked forward to Fridays. Sunghoon finished school an hour after you did and he would wait for you in an empty classroom. Afterwards you would take the bus into town and waste away the rest of the afternoon at the movies or in the arcade. You’d buy fried chicken for dinner and eat in your room, and he would spend the night. In the summertime, you’d climb up to the roof and stargaze and eventually fall asleep beside him, only to be rudely awakened by middle-of-the-night summer showers.
You had never known anything else but you and Sunghoon against the world.
——————————
When you were sixteen, things began to change.
“Do you want to do something special tonight?” Sunghoon asked. You were hanging out in your bedroom, him lying on your bed and you sitting on a bean bag on the floor, listening to music and studying.
“Like what?”
He grinned excitedly and handed you his phone.  “Jeongmin invited me to join him and his friends. He asked me to bring you, too.”
You read the brief text exchange and frowned. “Jeongmin? As in, iljin and leader of that gang of dickheads, Jeongmin?”
“He’s actually nicer than he seems, you know,” Sunghoon told you. “He said he wants us all to hang out.”
You gave him his phone back, incredulous. “Hoon, the four of them beat up Ahn Jinho so badly last month that he’s still in hospital. You can’t seriously be considering taking him up on his offer. He’s going to drag us out into a park and kill us.”
“I think he just wants to show us how to have fun. You know, live a little. Why else would he invite two nerd loners like us?” he asked.
“Because we’re weak, lonely, and easy to take advantage of?” you pointed out. When he didn’t respond, you sighed. “Do you really want to go?”
“I do.”
“Fine.”
He shook his head rapidly. “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”
“And let you get killed all by yourself? No thanks. We die together.”
——————————
You knew it was a mistake the second the conversation ended, but, as you said, you weren’t very well going to let Sunghoon go alone. And he was adamant, longing for friends, and desperate for an adventure. He clung to your arm as you walked from your house to the abandoned car park, thanking you repeatedly the entire journey.
Regret set in almost instantly. For you, anyway. Sunghoon seemed to be having a blast.
Jeongmin was already there waiting for you, with a case of cheap alcohol in his hand and his three lackeys in tow. You sat in the car park watching as Sunghoon drank and smoked with them, pretending to enjoy himself even though you knew he despised the taste of both of those things.
Jeongmin respected your assertion that you wouldn’t smoke (a shocker), but continued pushing you to drink the entire night. You fidgeted under his leering gaze, only growing more anxious as the minutes ticked by and he kept trying to ply you with alcohol, kept sitting closer and closer to you, kept returning his hand to your thigh no matter how many times you shifted away. Sunghoon didn’t stop him.
At the end of the night, you dragged Sunghoon back to your house and managed to get him up to your room without waking up your dad. He was wasted and reeked of smoke, incredibly lucky that his parents would just assume he’d spent the night at yours like always. You dumped him on your bed, aired out his clothes, and mixed honey and lemon juice into a glass of warm water for him to try and stop his cough.
“Did you have fun?” he asked, already changed into some of his sleeping clothes he kept in your room. His words were slurred and his cheeks were red, but he was coherent enough. “God, my throat feels like shit.”
“Because you smoked half a pack in one sitting like you were cosplaying as a forty-five year old weathered truck driver. Drink your honey lemon water,” you ordered, opening your bedroom windows so the cigarette smoke wouldn’t linger. “And no, I did not.”
He pouted but complied. “They’re not that bad.”
You took the empty glass from his hands and pulled the blankets up over him, touching his forehead. His skin was warm and flushed from the alcohol. “We’ll agree to disagree,” you said, heading downstairs to wash the glass.
“Lie down with me,” he whined the second you came back, somehow having managed to tuck himself into your bed like a sushi roll.
You switched off the lights and climbed into bed beside him, close but not touching. “I really don’t think you should be mixing with them, Hoon. They’re bad news,” you said quietly.
He’d fallen asleep before you ever got the chance to finish your sentence.
——————————
Over the next few weeks, Sunghoon started going out on more of these ‘adventures’. You stopped tagging along, but he still relied on you to shelter him in your room so his parents wouldn’t find out where he was disappearing to. And you continued to keep your phone right by your pillow while you slept so you could go bring him home if and when he called you.
He kept smoking around Jeongmin and his friends, even though he hated it and it made his throat itchy. You had started doing your own grocery shopping so your dad wouldn’t notice how fast the lemons and honey ran out nowadays.
When you and him were together, he acted exactly the same. He was still sweet, thoughtful, and just a little bit snarky. He still stuck to you in school, still waited for you every Friday afternoon, and still followed you to whichever new restaurant you wanted to try out on the weekends. He still lit up with a smile when you came by to his figure skating practice to cheer him on, much to the chagrin of his coach.
But whenever he went out to get wasted with Jeongmin and his gang and you had to go pick him up, you caught glimpses of the person he was becoming. He was picking fights and losing his temper at the smallest things, aggressive and hot-headed and dripping in machismo. No longer charmingly sarcastic with a gentle side, now he was just mean.
As soon as you two were back in your room, however, that all melted away. He would cuddle up to you, apologise, and thank you for always bringing him home no matter how ungodly the hour. If he woke up before you, he would tidy your room as a way to return the favour and leave a snack on your bedside table.
The snack was always accompanied by a yellow post-it note which he took from your desk (you didn’t even use those, but you kept them around specifically for him) with a dumb doodle or lots of hearts or both.
You weren’t happy about this development, but you didn’t do anything to stop it. It was his life, not yours. And you weren’t really in the business of speaking up about things that bothered you anyway. You kept your head down and your mouth shut, and stayed out of Jeongmin’s way.
Until one fateful Tuesday, about two months after the first invitation.
Sunghoon rarely talked to you about his newfound friends; he knew you didn’t approve of them and he didn’t want to upset you. This particular piece of news, though, was just too exciting to keep from you. After all, you were his best friend. He wanted you to be a part of his new life.
“Guess what the guys and I are doing on Sunday,” he said. You nodded for him to continue, somewhat distracted by the cinnamon rolls you were baking together in his kitchen, not entirely sure when ‘the guys’ had become a thing. “Jeongmin’s cousin is in town, and he has a fancy new car. We’re gonna hotwire it, drive it down to the cliff, and set it on fire.”
You stopped dead in your tracks, your jaw dropping open. “What? Sunghoon, that’s too dangerous.”
“That’s why we’ll do it at the cliff. There’s nothing around there that could burn down,” he explained, like that made it okay.
If it weren’t for his completely serious tone and expression, you would have thought he was joking. You set down the mixing bowl you were holding. “No, you could get hurt,” you said, adding, “And what if you get caught? That’s grand larceny and arson.”
“The guy’s an asshole anyway,” he said nonchalantly, not listening to you.
“That doesn’t make it legal, Hoon. Or safe. I’m serious. You can’t do that.”
He folded his arms across his chest, scowling. “You’re just jealous,” he said.
“I don’t want you to go to jail,” you corrected.
“No, you’re jealous I finally have friends other than you. Like, cool, normal, friends,” he snapped, angrier than you’d ever seen him.
Never in your life had he raised his voice at you. You pretty much never fought, aside from short bouts of time when one of you was upset for one reason or another, but you always smoothed things over through calm, measured conversations. Not arguments like this.
You paused, stepping away from the counter, from him. “Is that what this is about? I’m not good enough for you?” you asked, your voice soft.
He had never once indicated he was unhappy with your friendship, with your relaxed hangouts in each other’s houses and comfortable outings to cinemas and restaurants and bookstores. But clearly he wanted something else: to be cool, normal, and have friends that weren’t shy recluses.
You trusted him. He was your whole world, and you’d always assumed you were his too.
“That’s not what I meant,” he said, pulling back his words as you turned to leave. He followed you, pleading, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.”
“I’m going home,” you stated firmly, rushing out of his house and slamming the front door shut behind you.
——————————
By Sunday evening, you cracked. You had been avoiding Sunghoon for the last two days, and both of your families had noticed. You couldn’t stop thinking about that night, if he would be caught, if he was going to be okay. There was no way you’d be able to talk to his parents without him finding out unless he was out at figure skating training, so you confided in your dad. And he called Sunghoon’s mom right then and there.
“You did the right thing, Y/N. I’m proud of you,” your dad said after he hung up, patting your head.
“It doesn’t feel like I did,” you mumbled, your insides twisting and twisting away.
“I know, honey.” Your dad rubbed your shoulders comfortingly, before offering, “Do you want to go out for ice cream? Take your mind off it? I can call off work.”
You clung to him for a few more seconds, then let go. “I just want to be alone for a while, if that’s okay,” you said, retreating to your bedroom while your dad left for his night shift at the plant.
You weren’t sure how long you lay in your bed staring at the ceiling in complete silence, numbed by guilt, before your bedroom door swung open and Sunghoon barged into your room. In your state, you hadn’t even heard him enter your house. You scrambled to your feet.
“Did you fucking snitch on me?”
He was in all black, with a graphic t-shirt over a long sleeved polo, ripped jeans, and boots. With his hair styled and jewellery on, he must’ve been ready to leave the house, because that was how he normally dressed to meet Jeongmin and his gang.
“Hoon-”
“I told you that in confidence,” he snapped, shutting your bedroom door. His eyes, narrowed in hatred, glowered at you. You walked over to him and reached for his hand, but he slapped you away, recoiling at your touch like you were a hot stove. “How could you do this to me?”
“I was worried about you,” you said, your tone begging, mollifying. You rarely saw him this angry, and never had that anger been directed at you.
“Bullshit. My parents just screamed at me for two hours. Jeongmin’s gonna be pissed at me,” he fumed. “You weren’t fucking worried about me. You didn’t want me to be doing things without you.”
You dug your nails into your palms, trying to stop yourself from crying. It seemed to work, for a while, anyway. “Is that how you see me? As a needy pest who won’t let you go?” you asked, each word a chore to get out, your eyes already stinging. Not from his words, but from the sheer contempt in his expression.
Had he really spent the last sixteen years so desperate to get rid of you, like you were a persistent barnacle on a ship that refused to leave? Did he hate you that much? How had you never known?
He took a step towards you. His eyes were cold, his jaw was clenched, and you couldn’t even recognise him. You stepped back cautiously.
“Oh, like you’re some perfect angel,” he spat through gritted teeth. 
“I’m not. I just don’t want you to throw away your future. I-”
“You know what your problem is?” he shouted, cutting you off. He took yet another step forward, and you again stepped back. The backs of your knees hit your bed frame. “You’re a hypocrite. You hold everyone to such a high moral standard that no one is ever good enough for you. Not me, and not yourself. That’s why you fucking hate yourself so much.”
You couldn’t speak. Your heart was firmly lodged in your throat. For several agonising seconds, the only things you could hear were his furious breathing and your own heartbeat pounding in your ears.
“I think you should go home,” you finally said after a long pause. Your voice was shaking as you held back tears. “We can talk about this when you’ve calmed down-”
“Don’t fucking tell me to calm down!”
Sunghoon raised his hand to push back his fringe, but you didn’t know that. Because when his hand came up, you flinched. 
He lowered his hand immediately, only then noticing that he’d backed you into a corner. Instead of shock or anger or hurt, there was nothing but pure, unadulterated fear in your eyes.
“Did you think I was going to hit you?” he whispered, stepping back.
You squeezed your eyes shut and turned away, walking to your open window and resting your hands on the windowsill. “Please leave,” you said simply, fighting to keep your voice stable as tears began to roll down your face, not looking at him.
He stood and waited for a minute, watching you. You could feel his gaze. But when you refused to turn back around, he sighed and left. You heard your bedroom door close, and then your front door a few seconds later, and then it was so, so quiet.
——————————
You and Sunghoon avoided each other like the plague after that fight, although that torture hadn’t lasted long. Within two weeks, he’d withdrawn from school and vanished. His parents told you he’d gone to a boarding school in a different town, but they didn’t say where or why.
You never saw him again.
Being in your hometown for those last two years of high school was difficult for you. Having to live just down the road from his family home, constantly surrounded by all of your old haunts, made it hard for you to get him out of your head.
After high school you’d gone to a small university to do your first year with a conditional offer from your dream school in your back pocket. You needed time to save up money, and you were hoping to secure a scholarship with your first year grades.
You’d been lucky enough to make a new friend, Heeseung. Like you, he was only in that university temporarily to work his way into a scholarship. Your relationship was initially one of convenience and comfort — neither of you were particularly keen on mixing with the other students you never planned to see again after your first year — but you quickly became genuine friends.
You kept each other motivated, and both managed to secure transfers before your second year started. In fact, you’d done so well that your then-university had begged you to stay, offering you scholarship after scholarship and full fee remissions. But you both turned them down. You had loftier ambitions.
Once you moved away to university, things got better. Of course, the vestiges remained. You still had Sunghoon’s Spotify playlists in your account, your shared arcade membership card in your wallet, and some of his socks mixed in with your own. Before you fought he’d borrowed your favourite pair of red shrimp socks, and now you were never going to get them back.
But you didn’t think about him nearly as often as you used to. He was no longer a ghost living in your head, but a will-o’-the-wisp that occasionally caught your eye when you saw something that reminded you of him.
And now you and Heeseung were standing in the foyer of your new dorm with nothing from your past but a small suitcase each, in the university you’d been chasing your entire lives, ready to start your second year. 
“We made it,” Heeseung whispered to you, still not fully comprehending it all. You were really here.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been this nervous in my life,” you whispered back.
“Me too. If we weren’t roommates I’d be shitting bricks by now.”
The school had been gracious enough to allow you and Heeseung to live together in a small apartment within the music students’ dorm, since you were pretty sure at least one of you would have gone bonkers if you were separated. You would be sharing the floor with another similar apartment housing three students who would meet you in the foyer to help you move in.
Right on time, one of them (you presumed) came bounding down the stairs excitedly. He broke into a broad smile the second he saw your suitcases, his originally stern-looking features softening instantly as he did.
“Are you the transfers? Nice to meet you! I’m Jay. We spoke on the phone.”
You spoke up first when it became clear Heeseung was far too anxious to talk. “Hi! I’m Y/N, and this is Heeseung. Nice to meet you too.”
“Welcome aboard,” Jay said, easily picking up your suitcase before you could object. Heeseung fumbled for his own. “My roommates are just finishing getting your apartment ready. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Shouldn’t that be the school’s job?” you asked, following him up the stairs.
“This place can be a bit of a circus, believe it or not,” Jay remarked, making you and Heeseung exchange glances. When you reached the fifth floor, not a single hair on his head was out of place even though your bag was heavy as fuck.
“Thank you,” you said.
“No problem. That’s us over there,” he said, pointing to the first door on the level, “and this is you guys.”
The apartment was modestly-sized and simple, but clean and otherwise perfect. Jay introduced you to his first roommate Jake, who was sitting at the kitchen counter when you arrived.
“Thanks for setting all of this up for us. It must’ve been a lot of work,” Heeseung said, finally speaking after you elbowed him in the side (be normal, man). “You’ve been so helpful.”
“It’s nothing. Jay and I both transferred here last semester too, so we know how hard it can be,” Jake said kindly, waving away your gratitude. “Our other roommate did the same for us back then.”
“Speaking of which, Hoon! Come out here and meet the new students!” Jay called.
A third voice came floating from down the corridor. “Coming!”
When the aforementioned roommate emerged from the corridor, your heart stopped. Your blood turned to lead in your veins. Your ears began ringing, the sound so loud it washed away almost everything else.
You could barely hear Jake as he said, “Hoon, these are our new neighbours, Heeseung and Y/N. Guys, this is-”
“Sunghoon,” you finished. His name came out of your mouth, but it didn’t sound like your voice. Your hands were numb.
“Y/N,” Sunghoon said, at the exact same time.
Although he was taller now, with a broader frame, a sharper jaw, and a deeper voice, it was still him. He was frozen in shock, looking right at you, unblinking. He had on a white t-shirt that read ‘rise above’ that he’d had since the first year of high school — you bought it for him for his fifteenth birthday. It had been massively oversized on his thin body back then, but now he filled it out nicely.
Right there, as you stood in the kitchen of your new apartment, all the guilt and heartbreak and mourning that you thought you had left behind in the child that died three years ago came rushing back to you, squeezing the air from your lungs.
And in that moment you were reminded yet again of the lesson you had spent the last three years of your life learning day after day after day: movies lied.
The real heartbreak was never the big fight. It was every time after when the other person crossed your mind in idle thoughts or memories, every time you saw or heard something that reminded you of them, every time you pulled up their contact on your phone and read the distant timestamp of your final conversation.
It was every belonging of theirs they left behind in your childhood bedroom, and everything you owned that had been a gift from them. It was every food you ever ate together and every song you ever listened to together and every place you ever went to together.
It was every time they reached out from beyond the grave and touched some part of your life and you had to lose them all over again.
You looked at him, and he looked at you. His eyes hadn’t changed at all. You were sixteen once more: standing in his kitchen making cinnamon rolls, locking your bedroom door behind him after the last time you spoke because you were scared he would return, desperately running away from him in the school halls.
He glanced down at your hands, your fingers laced together to hide the fact that they were shaking. You had a habit of doing that when you were nervous. Around your left wrist was a silver bracelet, one that he’d gotten you on a whim six years ago. You still had it. And you still wore it. And it was you.
Jay smiled cheerily, oblivious. “Do you guys know each other?”
——————————
Your first week of your second year was amazing. You were finally at your dream university in your dream major, with a full-ride scholarship under your belt and your best friend right by your side. It was everything you and Heeseung had worked so hard for.
The building you lived in was a dorm just for music scholars, a small, close-knit group of under thirty students. Most of them, like Jay and Jake, also bled money.
But your experience was somewhat soured by one thing: Park Sunghoon. He was everywhere.
Of course, that was to be expected. It was a small cohort, the only new friends you’d made so far were his roommates, and you were literally neighbours.
After the day you’d moved in, neither of you had spoken a word to each other. You ran into him constantly, and you were always going to classes and grabbing lunch together, but you’d never talked to him directly. He was just always there.
On Thursday, as the five of you left a lecture together, Sunghoon politely excused himself. “I won’t join you guys for lunch today. I need to pick up something from the shops.”
So you found yourself sitting in the food court with Heeseung, Jay, and Jake. When the conversation naturally fizzled out, it was only quiet for a few seconds before Jay clapped his hands together and asked, “Okay, I’ll bite. What’s the deal with you and Sunghoon?”
You looked at Heeseung for guidance. On that first night, you’d already told him everything. He shrugged.
“Uh- well. We grew up together, and when we were sixteen we had a falling out,” you answered cautiously.
“Then you lost touch?” Jake frowned.
“You could say that,” you said, reaching for Heeseung’s hand under the table and adding, “I think Sunghoon should probably be the one to tell you the rest, though. When he’s ready.”
——————————
At Heeseung’s insistence (listen, you’re clearly still hurting over this, and it would be good for you to talk to him, at least), you bullied yourself into texting Sunghoon at the end of your first week. With trembling hands, you asked him if he would meet you in the botanical gardens on Sunday. He replied almost instantly: what time?
Waiting for him on a park bench, chronically early as you always were, you were bouncing your leg so much that the entire bench was shaking. The last time you’d spoken to him was over three years ago, when you’d pleaded with him to get out of your room.
You had drawn up an agreement with Heeseung that morning: if things went south, you would send him an S.O.S. message so he could come by and pretend to whisk you away to tend to an Urgent Apartment Matter. You even programmed your phone to text him automatically if you pressed your power button five times in a row. He called you ‘insufferably paranoid’, which you took as a compliment.
Sunghoon was a minute late, and, by the looks of it, just as anxious as you were.
“Hey.”
“Hi.”
He sat down next to you, a polite distance away. It was almost like how you used to sit in your neighbourhood park late at night after you’d aged out of the playground, eating convenience store ramen together until a concerned stranger or annoyed police officer told you to go home.
You both looked around for a while before you couldn’t take it anymore and bit the bullet. “How have you been?” you asked, stilted.
“Good. I’ve been good.” He cleared his throat and rubbed his sweaty palms on his jeans, nodding at nothing. “What about you?”
“Good.” You paused too, searching your brain for something to say.
“I went to military school,” he blurted out, knowing you were too polite to ask him directly. “Um- for the last two years of high school. That’s why I disappeared.”
Military school? So the rumours floating around the town had been right.
“Madam Choi kept asking me about you,” you told him after a while. Madam Choi was the sweet, grandmotherly owner of the convenience store on the corner of your street who always asked how you were doing and chastised you for eating too many snacks even though your unhealthy diets kept her shop afloat. It was the only topic you could think of that wasn’t too painful to bring up.
Sunghoon laughed at that, a sound you hadn’t heard for years. He loosened up, and you did too. Your awkwardness gradually began melting away as he told you about Jay and Jake, about his time at military school, and about all the cool spots in the city you should check out. You told him about Heeseung, your previous university, and how you didn’t know how to navigate your new university’s portal because it was designed to frustrate.
Conspicuously, neither of you brought up the past. Reminiscing was off the table, an arrangement implicitly reached between you two at some point during the conversation. Even when you finally worked up the courage to ask what you’d been wanting to ask for the last three years, you still couldn’t bring yourself anywhere close to acknowledging what happened.
“Are you still mad at me?” you asked.
Sunghoon didn’t hesitate for even a second, which made you smile. “No.”
As he continued talking, however, it became clear that he was considering every word he said before he said it. He was careful, deliberate, holding back.
“I’ve grown up since then,” he said slowly. “I haven’t been mad for a long time. Actually, I wanted to thank you for doing what you did. I could have been sitting in jail by now.” He clasped his hands together and turned to you. “Are you still mad at me?”
You were equally as assured and quick with your own response. “No. I was never mad at you.”
“You should’ve been,” he joked. “I caused you so much trouble, always waking you up in the middle of the night and crashing in your room.”
You laughed and shook your head. “I’m happy things worked out for you, Hoon. And that you got into university despite everything that happened,” you said.
“Thanks,” he smiled. Although the rest of him looked older and more mature, his smile remained the same.
“If I’d done those things I never would’ve gotten a second chance,” you mused, more to yourself than to him, but he heard it anyway.
Instantly, his mood soured.
“Okay, so did you rat on me to protect me and my future? Or because you were jealous? Because that sounds like jealousy,” he snapped.
Shit. You reached for your phone and pressed the home button five times. But he wasn’t wrong.
Yes, you had been worried about him as you’d said back then, but you were also jealous. Not of his new friends, but of his life. His parents were rich, and he had two of them. If he had gone out that night and been caught, there was a non-zero chance that he could have gotten off with a slap on the wrist.
His parents had the money to ship him off to a private military school for two whole years at the drop of a hat, and he’d been able to come straight to your dream university. If you had joined him and Jeongmin that night, you would’ve been locked up without question.
“You ruined my life,” Sunghoon hissed, his eyes now dark and his body tense. “Do you know that?”
“You ruined your own life when you were planning to commit arson and didn’t listen to me when I told you to stop,” you countered.
He set his jaw and turned away with a scoff. “I can’t believe you.”
In the distance, you saw Heeseung jogging over to you. He must’ve been hiding in another part of the park, waiting. You weren’t the only insufferably paranoid one, it seemed.
“This isn’t how I wanted today to go, Hoon,” you sighed.
“Don’t call me that,” he spat, standing up.
“Y/N!” Heeseung shouted as he reached the bench. His face fell the moment he saw the look in your eyes. “There is an Urgent Apartment Matter. We must tend to it right away,” he stuttered, grabbing your hand and yanking you to your feet before Sunghoon even had the time to blink.
The two of you ran.
——————————
You and Sunghoon had swiftly gone right back to ignoring each other, which was pretty impressive considering you were almost always together. Jay and Jake seemed annoyingly hell-bent on taking you and Heeseung under their wing — as fellow transfers themselves, they wanted to help you acclimatise — and Sunghoon didn’t have any other friends. So he was constantly with you in classes, at parties, or hanging out in your goddamn apartment.
He spent more time staring at you than he would have liked to admit. In between gaps in conversations, or when you were distracted by one of Jay’s dissertation-length speeches about some inane topic or stupid fact, he got the chance to really look at you for the first time in years. Every time he did he felt a strange ache in his chest. You were like an actor he already knew playing a character he’d never seen before.
“Dude, why would you even say that? You called them a hypocrite?” Jake chastised, when Sunghoon finally revealed the details behind your falling out in high school a few days after Sunday.
“I just can’t imagine you as that kind of guy,” Jay said, stunned. He was still trying to picture Park Sunghoon, the would-be arsonist. 
Often, Sunghoon found himself staring not when Jay was rambling or Jake was telling you a joke, but specifically when you were with Heeseung. There was something about the way you two interacted that made his heart sting. You were comfortable with him, and he with you.
You knew he liked to sit on the inside of restaurant booths facing the door, and he knew your Subway order by heart. You kept track of the stock of his favourite drinks in your fridge, and he always had a spare charger in his bag for all the times you forgot to bring your own. You were so in tune with each other that you would tell when the other wanted to go home without needing to ask and built effortlessly on each other’s jokes. You even kind of talked the same.
“And then you said it again? Are you serious?” Jay groaned in frustration when he heard the park story. Everyone had noticed the considerable shift in mood between you and Sunghoon since Sunday, but no one had dared to mention it.
“They’re trying so hard with you, man. Why would you do that?” Jake sighed.
Sunghoon pulled hard at his hair, equally frustrated, and flopped face down on the sofa. “I don’t know! It just came out.”
There was a substantial part of him that kmew it was because he was scared he hadn’t changed. That he was still the kind of person who called their best friend a hypocrite and accused them of being jealous when they tried to protect him. That you could see that, and that Jay and Jake would realise it soon too.
The other day at the juice bar Heeseung bought you a warm honey lemon tea. When he ordered it, you and Sunghoon immediately looked at each other before turning away. Windows open to air out the stench of cigarette smoke. Your secret stash of lemons and honey. Yellow post-it notes on your bedside table. All the hours you spent taking care of him, even as he spiralled out of control.
You hadn’t even asked for it; Heeseung somehow knew you had a sore throat that day without you telling him. Apparently he could hear it in your voice, which was (according to him) slightly scratchy and hoarse. Sunghoon couldn’t hear a thing, though. You sounded the exact same to him.
It was clear that Heeseung was familiar with the person you were now, that he knew you, and he knew how to be your best friend. That was a skill that Sunghoon had lost years ago, and clearly he didn’t quite know you anymore.
At the park you hadn’t cried once, although he was sure the sixteen-year-old you would have. Perhaps you just cried less now. Perhaps you’d given up on him and no longer expected anything else from him but to be disappointed.
“You need to apologise to them,” Jake scolded.
“They won’t forgive me,” Sunghoon mumbled into the sofa fabric.
Jay threw a pillow at him. “No offence, Hoon, but from what you’ve told us I think you’re a pretty shit judge of character.”
——————————
You had the apartment to yourself that Thursday night because Heeseung had rented a studio to practise after-hours and wouldn’t be back till sunrise. Someone knocked on your door. When you didn’t answer it immediately, a painfully familiar voice rang out from the other side.
“It’s me.”
Dread was not an emotion you’d ever associated with Sunghoon, but it was all you felt when you opened the door for him. When you were kids he never waited for you to do so; he always just let himself in. You sat down at the kitchen counter together, side by side.
“Since when do you watch Queer Eye?” he asked, noticing your laptop screen.
“Heeseung introduced me to it,” you said, pushing a glass of water across the counter to him. His face darkened at the name, but you chose to ignore it. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
Sunghoon bit his lip. “I wanted to say I’m sorry,” he started, wooden. While he’d seemed guarded and on edge on Sunday, now he seemed scared. “For what I said to you. And for- for everything.”
You sat rigidly on the bar stool, self-conscious, not knowing what to say.
“I had a lot of time to think over the last three years, and I realised I was insecure. I was so desperate to be seen as ‘cool’ and Jeongmin knew that. You were right; he was preying on me because he could tell how much I wanted to be a part of his world. You saw right through me because you knew- you know me better than anyone. So I lashed out at you.
“I tried so hard to put that part of my life behind me — I never told Jay or Jake about it, even — and when you came back I panicked. It was a reminder of all the fucked up things I did and the person I used to be. I didn’t want to have to deal with it, and I took it out on you again.
“I’m sorry. And thank you. For always being there for me to pick up the pieces. I never deserved that sort of kindness.”
He watched you nervously, waiting for a response. You reached for the rubber band around your wrist and snapped it. It didn’t hurt, but it helped to distract you. He glanced down at your hand, recognising another of your old habits.
“Stop doing that,” he chided, his eyes watering. At that moment, he sounded just like he used to when you were younger. You remembered him saying those exact words in that exact tone. Of all the things he had said, that was what made you want to cry.
“I missed you so much,” you finally admitted after a long pause, inhaling shakily. “I felt like I ruined our friendship. I never stopped wondering if I made the right decision, I- I thought I’d lost you forever.”
He wrapped his arms around you, hugging you tight. His hugs were just comforting as they had been when you were growing up. He was much stronger than you remembered, although perhaps you should have expected that. He’d changed his cologne since.
“You have nothing to feel guilty about,” he told you, stroking your hair gently. When you separated his eyes were shining with tears. He laughed, sniffling, holding your face in his hands.
“Can we be friends again?” you whispered.
“I’d like that,” he said, letting you go and hesitating for a few seconds before he next spoke. “Do you know what motivated me to change when I was in military school?”
“What?” You hugged him one last time before unconsciously reaching for your rubber band. Catching this, he raised an eyebrow and glanced pointedly at your wrist. You stopped, feeling scolded.
“The last time we talked back in high school, you thought I was going to hit you,” he began carefully. He took a deep breath, suddenly unable to look you in the eye now. “Seeing how scared you were, the fear on your face, I- I never wanted to make anyone feel like that again. Especially not you. I’m sorry.”
He’d started crying. He hardly ever cried when you were kids. You wiped away his tears with your shirt sleeve.
“Don’t be a stranger, okay?” he begged, clutching onto you with a vice grip. Between you and him he had always been the calm one, but now he was shaking and you could feel it.
You squeezed his hand. “I won’t.”
——————————
Something in you was repaired that day.
You were telling the truth when you said you had never stopped feeling guilty about what you did. Not being able to speak to Sunghoon after, not even knowing where he was or what he was doing, it had wrecked you.
For years you’d lived with the thought that the only person you’d ever trusted had always secretly resented you. Maybe everyone did — maybe you were a pest, a hypocrite, a loser. It made it hard for you to form new connections. Heeseung had chipped away at your defences for months before you felt safe enough to call him your friend.
But now you were sitting on the floor of Sunghoon’s living room, sharing a vodka Sprite with Heeseung while you watched the others play Mario Kart, and everything was fine.
You hadn’t spent too much time with Sunghoon alone, although the five of you were constantly together. Jake had even joked about blocking off the fifth floor from the other scholars and just leaving both of your front doors open to form one big apartment for the five of you. Functionally, it wouldn’t be that different from how you were already living.
“I’m hungry,” Heeseung piped up, pouting and nudging you. “Go buy me some chips?”
“Why can’t you go?” you asked.
“My head hurts,” he whined. If he was dehydrated, the smallest drop of alcohol could give him splitting headaches. “Don’t kick a man while he’s down.”
Before you could retort, Sunghoon handed him his Switch controller. “Hee, you play. I’ll go with them,” he offered.
“Thanks, man. Use my rewards card,” Heeseung said, handing you his wallet instead of just taking the rewards card out and passing that to you.
You used to joke that you could so easily max out all of his credit cards if you wanted to, but he swiftly pointed out that you also had a habit of giving him your entire wallet when he asked to borrow money or your transport card.
“I still can’t believe we've been in this city for just over a month and you already have six rewards cards,” you laughed, putting on your shoes.
As you and Sunghoon were walking out the door, Heeseung was still shouting, “Think of the points, dude! The points!”
The convenience store was just across the road from your dorm building, which was, as its name suggested, pretty convenient. Not as good for your heart health and nutrition, but whatever. It was drizzling slightly, but not enough for either of you to have bothered with an umbrella.
“Heeseung is so obsessed with collecting rewards points,” you joked, fiddling with his rewards card.
Sunghoon chuckled. “Is he always like that?”
You nodded. “Since I met him. You like him, though, right?”
“Yeah, I do. He’s fun,” he said. He wasn’t lying; he did actually like Heeseung. But he would be lying if he said your closeness to him didn’t bother him at all. Sunghoon didn’t want to think too much about the possible implications of his jealousy.
“I’m glad. I really like Jay and Jake, too,” you told him, pushing open the convenience store door. “I’ll go get Deungie’s chips, because he likes some weird obscure flavours.”
“I’ll get the normal stuff for everyone else,” Sunghoon said, asking, “the usual for you, yeah?”
You thought of the convenience store in your hometown, of Madam Choi, of your regular weekend sleepovers back in school. Rehearsed and practised, you two were in and out of the store in under two minutes. What did that say about either of you, that you were so skilled at buying snacks that you worked together like a well-oiled machine?
The drizzle was marginally heavier when you left. It was a short walk, but Sunghoon took off his white baseball cap and fixed it atop your head anyway.
“Thanks, Hoon,” you smiled. You never bothered fighting him when he did things like that for you; you hadn’t as a kid and you still didn’t now. He wouldn’t do it unless he wanted to, and he wasn’t the type to accept your refusals of help.
But it felt different years later, and you couldn’t quite put your finger on it.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked, amused.
You quickly averted your gaze, not having noticed you’d been looking at him. “It’s just weird to have you back,” you said.
You’d had this conversation with him at least a dozen times over the last month. It still hadn’t quite sunk in yet that he was back in your life and you were back in his. That you hadn’t destroyed the life of your best friend by being a hypocrite.
Since then, you’d spent a lot of time thinking about the person you used to be: full of self-loathing and insecurity and fear that you would eventually ruin every relationship you had. Heeseung had been slightly hurt that you hadn’t told him about Sunghoon when it all happened. You admitted to him that you were scared he would think of you as a bad person.
Sunghoon smiled. “Is it a good weird or a bad weird?”
“It’s a good weird. I missed this,” you answered, holding up the bag of snacks in your hand. As was your usual routine, you carried the snacks and he carried the drinks, having immediately fallen into step.
He playfully bumped into you as you walked, though not nearly hard enough to knock you off balance. “I missed you,” he said, before reaching for his keys.
The conversation was the same, but the butterflies in your stomach were definitely a new development.
——————————
Since you reconnected, Sunghoon hadn’t been able to stop thinking about you.
“Dude, are you jealous of Heeseung?” Jay asked him one night, out of the blue, after you and Heeseung left their apartment to head back to your own. Well, it wasn’t entirely out of the blue; even he couldn’t deny that.
“Can’t I be jealous of my ex-best friend’s new best friend?” Sunghoon replied, already defensive.
“That’s not why you’re jealous, though, is it?” Jay pressed. “You’re posturing around him and you can’t stop looking at Y/N.”
“Shut up.” He was right, and deep down Sunghoon knew it.
He was never going to be your best friend again, and he wasn’t trying to be. Neither of you were the same people you had been three years ago, and you were different enough that if you met now, you probably wouldn’t have been close. You both had new friends, people who suited your current selves better.
He wanted to be something else.
“You need to tone down the staring, man. It’s getting a little too obvious,” Jake said. “Even Heeseung mentioned it to me the other day.”
Sunghoon swore under his breath. “He did?” Heeseung, of all people, noticing — had he mentioned it to you?
“For what it’s worth, I’m pretty sure they’re just friends,” Jay added, trying to be comforting.
Sunghoon sighed and finished his drink. It was a gin and tonic which he’d made so strong that it was basically straight gin with a drizzle of tonic water. He winced.
“I know, but they do everything together,” he mumbled, just barely self-aware enough to realise he was whining. “That used to be me.”
“They’re happy, you’re happy, and you guys are friends again. Isn't that what you wanted? Why focus on the past when you could be focusing on right now?” Jake asked.
“Because they trusted me for sixteen years and I basically told them I’d secretly hated them the whole time,” Sunghoon said, his voice rising. “I ruined them, and I’ll never forgive myself for that.”
Jay scowled and crossed his arms, kicking Sunghoon’s foot with his own. “You didn’t ruin anyone. They’re fine. You’re not the only thing that’s ever happened to them, and if you keep thinking like that you’ll never fully repair your relationship.”
Sunghoon stared at his empty glass. He needed another drink.
——————————
“It’s been two months since we moved here,” Heeseung told you randomly one day. You were at a ramen bar for dinner with him and Sunghoon to celebrate getting through the first half of the semester. Also, you were all out of food at home and neither of you were in the mood to cook.
“Has it?” You checked the date on your phone. Sure enough, he was right. You hadn’t even realised.
“It doesn’t feel like it,” Sunghoon said. You’d started looking at Sunghoon differently.
Firstly, he looked different. He towered over his former self, his shoulders were much wider than you recalled, and he’d lost some fat on his face, making his cheeks and jaw more angular. He wore his black hair longer than he used to and he didn’t have nearly as many dark colours in his wardrobe.
He’d always been good-looking, but you had never really recognised that before. Now, though, it was always on your mind. Now, when he smiled at you or fixed your hair after he put his cap on your head or leaned over you to plug in his laptop in lecture theatres, you got nervous.
His gestures had always made you feel warm and comfortable, but now they were also starting to make you feel shy. You’d never been particularly touchy with him even as kids — you shared beds with a wall of pillows in between you two — but now you couldn’t even bear the thought of holding onto his sleeve in a crowd so you wouldn’t get separated.
“Oi.” Heeseung kicked you hard under the table and pointed at your nearly empty bowl. “Earth to Y/N. Are you done?”
They were both staring at you. How long had you been zoning out?
“What? Yeah, I’m done. Did you say something?” you asked.
Heeseung laughed and pressed his index finger to the top of your head, pretending to push you down like a button, which he always did when he was making fun of you. He definitely knew what you’d been lost in thought about (do you know how much Sunghoon stares at you nowadays? I think he hates me).
“Heeseung said he’s meeting Jay and Jake at the studio,” Sunghoon filled you in, much more helpful. “So we can go home, or if you want we can walk around some more.” He sounded expectant, like he was hoping you’d agree to the latter. You did.
——————————
Once you saw Heeseung off at the bus stop, Sunghoon brought you to a run-down building four streets away from the ramen bar. In the hip, fashionable district of the city, amidst the trendy shops and cafés, the mould and peeling paint and water damage of the building made it stick out like a blister. 
You looked at the building, and then at him, and then back at the building. “Is this an assassination attempt?” you asked.
“Trust me,” he said, pushing the rusty steel door open with his foot.
“That’s not an answer. And your refusal to touch the door with your hands doesn’t exactly inspire trust,” you laughed, but you followed him with no hesitation.
It felt almost like when you used to go exploring the outskirts of your hometown by yourselves, far too late at night for kids your age. But this time, you didn’t have any snacks with you, nor games to keep yourselves occupied.
Sunghoon made a face at you and ushered you inside. “Shut up. I’m the city native here.”
“You’ve only been here a year longer than me,” you pointed out, looking around. The building wasn’t so much a building as it was a stairwell. Stuffy, dark, and dingy, it made you feel suffocated. “I’m going to die here,” you declared, sighing in resignation.
He rolled his eyes. “Oh my god. It’s not even that bad.”
As if on cue, the door slammed shut behind you, the sound echoing ominously in the tight space. What little light that had been coming in from the street lamps outside disappeared, except for a sliver of amber forcing its way through a gap in the door frame. He cursed under his breath.
“Hoon,” you called, desperately trying to spot him in the darkness, the rising panic clear in your words. “I swear, if I die tonight I’ll never stop haunting you.”
His reply came immediately, calm and measured, reassuring. “I’m right here. Give me your hand.”
You turned around at the sound of his voice and reached out blindly in front of you, hitting his shoulder. He found your hand and took it in his, the feeling of his palm against yours somehow soothing and stressful at the same time.
“You’re still scared of the dark?” he asked, joking, trying to ease your fear.
He used to scold you all the time for always sleeping with your light on, but no matter how many articles he sent you about why sleeping in the dark was important for healthy melatonin production, you never listened. Whenever he slept over in your room, he used an eye mask.
“Shut up, please.” Your voice was quiet and unconvincing; actually, you wanted nothing more than for him to keep talking. You couldn’t see anything, and all you had to ground you was his voice and his hand in yours. 
He squeezed your hand, softening his tone. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realise it would be this dark. It’s worth it, I promise.”
He led you up three flights of stairs by the hand and walked face first into what you assumed to be a locked door. “Ow. Motherfucker.”
You cackled at that.
The room (if you could call it that, since it was barely bigger than a cupboard) was lit with a single filament light bulb hanging from the ceiling. Aside from a couple of cardboard boxes, some pillows, and a bean bag, it was empty.
“That’s your old bean bag. The one you had in your room,” you said, recognising the green fabric immediately. You tensed when he brushed past you to shut the door to the room (supply cupboard?), but you tried your best to ignore it.
“Yeah, I brought it with me. I get homesick sometimes, so it helps,” he told you, sitting down on the small pile of pillows. You took the bean bag.
“It smells worse than I remembered,” you said, patting it. He pushed you in retaliation, laughing at you when you lost your balance.
“I have snacks and drinks in this box, and comics and books in that one,” he explained. “I wanted to get a mini-fridge in here but there isn’t an outlet.”
This was exactly how you used to spend your weekends when you didn’t have to study: snacks, drinks, and reading. Except now he handed you a can of hard seltzer instead of his yoghurt drinks of yore. 
“Is this legal? Does the building owner know you’re here?” you asked, somewhat sceptical. But you opened the can anyway and took a sip. It was warm, but not unpleasant.
“Of course. I’m a law abiding citizen.”
“You just jaywalked about ten minutes ago.”
“I’m generally a law abiding citizen.” He dug around in the box some more and produced a can of sangria (you despised sangria), gesturing to the room. “What do you think? Pretty cool, right?”
“Very,” you nodded, making yourself comfortable in the bean bag. You felt like you were in high school again, although you didn’t recall your spine hurting nearly as much then. Perhaps you were getting old. You needed proper back support now.
He kicked off his shoes. “Fuck off,” he laughed.
“I wasn’t being sarcastic!” you yelled, before you noticed- “My red shrimp socks!”
“Oh, right.” He glanced down at his feet and started casually taking the socks off. “Do you want them back?”
You gagged. “Not right now, dumbo!”
He used to be able to detect your sarcasm perfectly, always reading your tone with no margin of error, although it was probably unfair to expect him to still be able to after so many years.
“Come home with me,” Sunghoon said suddenly, still looking at his (your) socks. You looked at him, puzzled. “After the semester ends. We should go visit our families,” he added.
You thought for a minute and agreed. “I think my dad misses you.”
“My parents miss you too.” He leant back against the wall behind him, closed his eyes, and rested his head on your shoulder, declaring, “I’m tired.”
The room was so dark and small and quiet. His black hair tickled your neck, even though you could tell he was trying not to move around too much. You prayed he couldn’t hear how fast your heart rate had become. He’d always been a sleepy drinker, and you’d all been drinking pretty liberally during dinner earlier.
You tried to relax, as much as you could with his body pressed against yours, and closed your eyes too. So you didn’t see him reach for your hand until you felt his touch directly. He took your hand and pulled it into his lap, interlocking his fingers with yours and fiddling with your silver bracelet. You froze, your breathing shallow and your muscles tense.
“This is from that old charity shop behind the fruit store,” he mumbled, running the pad of his thumb over your knuckles. You could feel the vibrations of his throat against your shoulder as he spoke. “I bought it for you.”
“Hoon,” you said softly, your eyes now wide open. He hummed in response, still playing with your hand. “What are you doing?”
His reply was a non-answer. “I miss home.”
Tentatively, you lifted your hand to his head, stroking his hair in what you hoped would be a comforting gesture. He stayed quiet. His closeness was simultaneously the most nerve-wracking and most comforting thing. In all your life, you couldn’t ever recall sitting like this with him.
“Are you okay? Do you want to talk?” you asked, pulling your hand away, worried now.
He grabbed it and returned it to his hair, moving even closer to you. “That feels nice,” he sighed. His breath was warm against your neck, while the tip of his nose was cold. It made you shiver. “I’m fine. I just haven’t been home in a while.”
You felt terrible for never really having thought about what his two years in military school, being ripped away from his family at such short notice, must’ve been like. As far as you were aware he didn’t get to visit his family until he graduated, and you only knew that because you spent your own high school graduation period locked up in your house to avoid running into him.
Against your best efforts, the guilt came rushing back. You closed your eyes again and continued playing with Sunghoon’s hair, just how he liked it.
——————————
Two weeks later, you still didn’t know what to make of that night. You told Heeseung everything and asked him if you were going insane.
“Do you like him?” Heeseung asked as you two got ready to leave the house. You were going out to get drinks with the others.
“I don’t know,” you groaned, yanking the windows shut much harder than you had intended. He jumped at the sound, and you winced. “Sorry. I hate this, man.”
“Do you want my opinion?” he asked.
“It depends on what it is.”
He snorted. “I think you do like him and you don’t want to admit it. Why is that?”
You rushed to put on your shoes as he waited for you. “I just- what if this fucks up our friendship a second time? There’s too much history between us, right?”
“Well, your heart doesn’t seem to think so,” he said, opening the front door. The neighbouring front door opened too, at the exact same time, and out stepped Sunghoon. He broke into a wide smile the second he saw you.
Heeseung lowered his head and said quietly, “Clearly, he doesn’t think so, either.”
——————————
You were far too nervous to drink even after the forty minute journey to the bar. Heeseung’s words hadn’t left your head for even a second, and he could definitely tell from the way he kept grinning at you.
“Are you sure you don’t want any?” Heeseung asked for the third time, offering you his glass. You had the same taste in drinks, so you usually shared.
“I don’t feel like drinking tonight,” you said, again for the third time.
“Guess who else isn’t drinking tonight,” he teased, way too loud, nodding to Sunghoon and his glass of water. That didn’t even make sense.
“Shut up,” you hissed. Heeseung giggled, already tipsy, and leaned on you. Sunghoon caught your eye from across the table and smiled. If he’d heard what the other man said, he showed no indication of it. You smiled back.
Jake returned to the table, tapping Heeseung on the shoulder.
“I can’t do it anymore. It’s your turn,” Jake sighed, exasperated, collapsing into his seat. He’d been on wingman duty for Jay, and (apparently, because you’d never been unlucky enough to witness it yourself) Jay was a terrible flirt.
Heeseung picked up his glass, downed what was left in it in one gulp, and set it back down on the table with a loud thump. “Alright, here I go,” he declared. You watched him carefully as he walked over to the bar, but he didn’t seem too drunk yet. He’d be fine.
At the booth behind where Jay was, however, you saw someone else who made your blood run cold.
“Hoon, don’t turn around, but Jeongmin is here,” you began. Jeongmin was staring intensely at you. Sunghoon sat up straight in alarm. Maybe you looked familiar to him and he was trying to place you. 
Jake, ever the quick thinker, said, “You guys should leave. I’ll stay and let Jay and Hee know what happened.” Sunghoon was still frozen.
“Thanks, Jake. Pass these to Heeseung for me.” You fished your keys (Heeseung hadn’t brought his own) out of your pocket to toss them to Jake, grabbed Sunghoon by the arm, and dragged him out of the bar.
“Aren’t you sober? Why don’t your legs work?” you grunted, trying to shake him to attention and pull him down the street at the same time. A passing car revving its engine snapped him out of it, whatever it was.
“Fuck, yeah. Sorry,” Sunghoon mumbled. Before you could even ask him if he was okay, what you’d been trying so hard to avoid happened.
“Park Sunghoon.”
You could pick out Jeongmin’s voice anywhere. It was low, rough, and sharp. He somehow looked identical to how he looked back in high school, if only slightly thinner and more tired.
“You. You called the cops on us that night,” Jeongmin hissed. jabbing an accusatory finger at Sunghoon.
“I didn’t,” Sunghoon stated calmly, but you could tell he was on edge. He subtly pushed you behind him.
“Yeah, right. On the one night we get busted the new kid just happens to not show up,” Jeongmin scoffed, taking a step towards you. 
Sunghoon held up his hands. “Look, man, I don’t want to fight. I didn’t call the cops on you.”
Jeongmin squared his shoulders and punched him hard in the jaw without warning. The silver ring he was wearing drew a deep red gash across Sunghoon’s cheek.
As if on auto-pilot, like it was second nature to him, Sunghoon immediately returned the blow with a punch of his own before you even had the time to think. You gasped, Jeongmin’s nose cracked, and Sunghoon took advantage of the distraction to kick him hard in the knee, knocking him to the ground.
Then he grabbed your hand and ran.
——————————
The walk back to the dorm was silent. Sunghoon’s lips were pressed tightly together, his eyebrows were furrowed, and his fists were clenched like he was trying not to cry. You remembered the days when you, not him, were usually the one who needed comforting.
It reassured you to some degree, though, that he wouldn’t hide his sadness from you like he used to. You reached for his hand the second you were out of Jeongmin’s line of sight and threaded your fingers between his. His knuckles were bruised.
Wordlessly, he handed you his keys and you unlocked his front door.
“Do you have a first aid kit?” you asked.
“Under the kitchen sink,” he said flatly, sitting down on the sofa.
You pulled it out from the back corner of the kitchen cabinet with great difficulty, joined him on the sofa, and started cleaning the cut on his jaw. He winced when the alcohol swab made contact with his skin.
“Sorry. I’m almost done,” you promised, tossing the swab aside and covering the cut up. It took all of twenty seconds. “Do you want to talk?”
Sunghoon closed his eyes and sighed, dropping his head. “I shouldn’t have hit him. I thought I was past that behaviour. I don’t-”
He stopped talking. You put your hand over his and waited. His bottom lip started to quiver as he held back tears.
“I don’t want to be that person again,” he sobbed, and the sound broke your heart.
Through the school grapevine you heard about fights with kids of neighbouring schools, breaking and entering, the like. But even now, so many years later, you didn’t fully know what he did with Jeongmin and his gang. You never asked, and he never volunteered that information.
He was crying. “I let my parents down. Every time I see them I just remember how angry they were at me. I’m a terrible son. Nothing I do will ever be able to erase that I humiliated them, I failed them, I brought shame to the whole family, I-”
You pulled him into a hug, feeling how his body trembled as he fought to speak.
“You’re not a terrible son, Hoon,” you whispered, as he sobbed into your hair.
He shook his head and pushed you away. “I shouldn’t have hit him. I think I broke his nose,” he repeated, almost frantic in his insistence. It wasn’t a state you’d seen him in before.
“But he hit you first,” you noted.
Finally, at your childish response, he cracked a small smile. “Weren’t you always the one who said violence was never the answer?” he laughed. His eyes were still glistening with tears, but at least he’d calmed down.
“Usually it isn’t, but I don’t subscribe to universal codes of human conduct anymore,” you told him. “Do you?”
He paused for a bit, staring at you, unable to find the words to reply. You smiled, swiped the tears on his cheeks away with a gentle hand, and got up to put away the first aid kit. It was late, and you were both tired.
“I love you,” Sunghoon said over his shoulder, his voice still thick with emotion. He said that often nowadays, although it wasn’t something he did previously. Neither of you ever felt the need to declare that when you were younger; it was a given.
“I love you too, Hoon,” you replied, still busy trying to make room in the cluttered space under his kitchen sink for the kit.
All the traces of his crying vanished when he next spoke. “No, I’m in love with you.”
You dropped the package of sponges in your hands. Your mind went blank.
There was something about the phrase ‘in love’ that you had never really understood. It implied love was all consuming, like a physical swallowing whole of your being. You felt love for others, but you’d never felt it so much that you were in the state of love.
Until you heard it from him. And then you realised you were already there.
“Say something. Please,” he begged, panicked by your silence.
“Hoon-”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that,” he mumbled, cutting you off, leaning back against the sofa with a hand over his eyes.
Sunghoon was not an interrupter. In all the years you’d known him, the only time he’d ever interrupted you was during your big final fight in your bedroom, when you’d snitched on him.
You left the first aid kit on the floor and sat down next to him. He didn’t move. You tapped the back of his hand to get him to look at you. Reluctantly, he did, but only through the gaps between his fingers.
“I’m in love with you too,” you admitted.
He was speechless at hearing his words echoed back to him, frozen for a good ten seconds before his gaze flickered down to your lips.
“Can I?” he asked, his voice quiet.
You nodded, and he kissed you. He placed one hand on the back of your neck to pull you closer while his other hand, bruised knuckles and all, grabbed one of your own. He laced your fingers together tightly, like he never wanted to let you go.
Your free hand ghosted over the line of his jaw, past the bandage you’d just put on his face and down his neck to his chest, warm and solid. He shivered under your touch.
“I love you, Hoon,” you breathed when you separated.
He gave you one last quick kiss on the tip of your nose. “I’ll never get tired of hearing that,” he whispered giddily, brushing his thumb across your bottom lip.
For the first few weeks after you reconnected, both of you had tried to return to what you once were. But it quickly became clear that that was never going to happen. Even after you had paved over the road, underneath the new asphalt the old potholes were still there, and nothing you did would ever fully correct them.
You had to look forward. Sunghoon was never going to be your best friend again, not like before. You would never get back your old relationship, full of childlike innocence and void of conflict. But that was okay. You were here, and he was here, and that was enough.
“Then I’ll keep saying it. I love you, I love you, I love you,” you repeated, leaning into his side and laying your head on his shoulder.
“I love you too. So much,” he said, putting his arm around you and letting you tuck your head into the crook of his neck. “You have no idea.”
He was tired of running and hiding from who he used to be, and going on the defensive and lashing out every time he was confronted with his past. He was done torturing his sixteen-year-old self.
You and him had something new. It wasn’t better, it wasn’t more. It was just different. You had your whole lives in front of you — an endless stretch of even, untouched, fresh road — waiting for you, and it would be stupid to focus on what lay behind you. You still had so much left to explore together.
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thanks for reading <3
-minastras
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houseofoddballs · 4 months
Text
OK, wow, a lot of you really wanted to go for the "good" ending, right? Well, I'm sorry, but there was no good ending. Enjoy my little oddballs! Final word count is about 2,400 words!
Tw: aggression, angst, emotional hurt, vulgarity, physical abuse? Tell me If there are more to add!
This wasn't working. You stood inside your bathroom, propped against the sink as you stared into your own eyes. They just looked so sad now, so hollow. You could remember Simon cupping your cheek as he stared into your eyes under starlight and murmured against your lips how much he loved seeing them light up around him.
What you wouldn't give to have that again. Staring up at the stars with Simon, his fingers brushing through your hair. You missed the soft mumbled apologies whenever he would catch a snag, and the way he focused on you more than any silly constellation.
"Why stars?" You had asked him, on probably the third date where he took you stargazing with either a picnic or just some takeout. I mean, this was Simon after all. Deep, brooding, knew all of the vital organs and arteries on the human body, etc. He didn’t exactly seem like the soft stargazing type, especially with as clumsy as he was at romance.
You were met with a gruff grunt and a shrug at the time. But later, once you two had eaten and were just laying back together, hand in hand, he answered your question. "'S because no matter where I'm deployed, I know I'm always lookin' up at the same sky as you."
You were snapped back to reality by a sharp rap at your door and the voice of a Scottsman who you had began to secretly loathe. "Aye, lass, ya' mind bringin' up the wheely bin? Ghost said he would take the trash out if ya do." A soft sigh was leaving your lips before you could even process his words, turning away from the reflection of your despondent hollow eyes.
Snow crunched under your feet as you trekked out of the garrage to fetch the trash bin from its place next to the mailbox. Cold seeped through the thin layers of your clothing, a frigid therapy to clear your mind and remind you that you were alive. It was uncomfortable, but in the most comfortable and enveloping sort of way. Like a hug that lasts a bit too long from someone who you know just wants to help.
Hugs. You missed those.
Your eyes flicked up to the night sky, moving between the stars like a pachinko ball bouncing off of celestial pegs. Maybe this was it. Maybe it was time to put yourself first for a change. The very thought made your stomach twist and churn with guilt, but you were far beyond guilt at this point. It wasn't healthy for you to spend afternoons sitting on your floor with you back pressed against the door so you could just listen to Soap and Simon talk without intruding on their time. It wasn't healthy for you to make yourself dissappear just to please an overgrown child. It wasn't healthy for you to beat yourself up over standing up for yourself and what you needed.
So, this was it. You had to be done. Simon had been given more than enough chances to put you first, and he hadn't taken any of them. Simon had simply stayed off to the side complacently as Johnny pushed you further and further away. So beit then.
Soap won.
You didn't bother packing most of your stuff knowing that it would only make it harder to leave, and if you let yourself think about it too much then you were going to stay trapped, haunting their broken relationship. No.
Your favorite clothes, toiletries, and other things went into your suitcase as you finally decided to free yourself. With every item you packed, it felt like another link was cut from the chain that was wrapped around your neck, trapping you here. And yet, there is terror that comes with freedom. You canceled your phone plan that night and waited until Ghost and Johnny went to bed to make your move.
Guttural grunts and lewd moans were your signal to move, rolling your eyes as you left a single sheet of paper folded neatly on your bed. Neither of them hardly ever came to check on you, so you reckoned that you had at least a week before even Simon noticed your absence. Unless, of course, Johnny noticed your car missing. But, even if he did, it didn't matter. This was it.
"Goodby, Simon. I loved you."
And then you were gone. Tossing your suitcase in the back and driving off into the night. The stars were, and always would be, a painful reminder of Simon. But they say that time heals all wounds. You would just have to test that.
no. No. NO. NO!
Simon's hands trembled as they clutched the small piece of paper from you pillows, eyes tracing over and reading each line until he couldn’t make out the words through the tears welling in his eyes.
Gone. You were gone.
His angel, his sweet, his world, his everything. As much as he tried to fool himself into asking why, he knew the answer.
Simon loved you desperately. After everything that had happened to him, his father, losing his family, being buried alive, being hung by his ribs, all of it; after all of it was when he had met you, and Ghost felt truly alive in a manner he had never felt before.
There were quite a few differences between feeling alive in the heat of battle and feeling alive with someone you love, and yet, both of them made Ghost acutely aware of his pounding heart, both of them made Ghost's stomach twist up in knots, both of them brought blood to Ghost's face.
And Ghost wouldn't have had it any other way. Ghost had spent so long being Ghost, that he was starting to forget who Simon was. But you changed that. A simple holiday with Price, that was all it took for him to meet and fall so ridiculously in love with you that he walked around base with a dopy grin under his Skull balaclava at the thought of you texting him.
As Simon numbly sat on the edge of your bed, clutching so tight to the paper that he was afraid it might shred, your entire relationship flashed before his eyes.
Your first date, your first hug, your first kiss, your first time, When he told you his real name, the first time he took off his mask in front of you, the first time he broke down to you. How could he have been such an idiot?
Simon tired to think back on His and Johnny's relationship in a similar way, but it just wasn't the same. They had been great friends in the task force already, so when they were both captured together, of course that was when things had to change.
Sure, he had fallen for Johnny's kind words and beautiful eyes when they were tied together and bleeding on the cold concrete. Ghost should have known better!! But when the stubborn Scottsman confessed so sweetly so that he wouldn't die with any regrets, well, it was hard not to feel touched.
But they just weren't compatible.
Johnny was loud, immature, selfish, didn't think very far ahead, and he was just so clingy. And, yet the thought of leaving him made Simon's heart ache whenever he thought about it. Johnny didn't treat him like he was in love, but Ghost was sure that Soap loved him in his own way.
But it wasn't worth this. He tried calling you, searching for you, emailing you for the queen's sake! But he found nothing. You had been so isolated that you didn't really have any friends that Simon knew of. He was just lost.
He should have taken the ache of being honest with John over this overwhelmingly hollow torment in his chest. When you left, you took hardly anything, but you took everything from Simon.
The world became colorless, music lost it's rhythm, food lost it's taste, life lost its luster. And Johnny? Well, he became a lot harder to tolerate.
"Did ya hear their makin' a new-" "Not now Johnny." It was like he didn't care. Didn't care that you were gone, didn't care how badly Simon was hurting. "Is this about the lass again? Look, I'm sorry Si, but it's not your fault she didn't care enought-"
"Shut up." Soap looked at Ghost in shock for a moment, a brow quirking up. "What?" "You heard me." Now Johnny's brows were furrowing, his lips setting into that stairght line that meant he was about to win.
Something about Soap? He was impossible to argue with. He would argue in circles to the point where it didn't matter which side he was on as long as he won, which was incredibly frustrating to say the least and made any arguments completely pointless because he would win in the end out of sheer exasperation. It was just easier that way. But not this time.
"Shut. Up." "Look, ya' ken nae go blamin' me for the way she left! She-" Simon was up in an instant, a hand around Soaps throat, effectively shutting him up and pinning him to the wall. Johnny reached up and clawed at his wrist as Simon squeezed just a bit too tight, he could feel Johnny's windpipe being crushed into itself. But he didn't care. Not right now.
"You absolute fuckin' nubty. You just don't get it, do you? Well, seargant, let me spell it out for you, you dense fuck." Simon's eyes were burning, but this wasn't Simon anymore. He could almost feel his balaclava over his face as he glowered down at Soap, eyes filled with disdain and mallace. This was Ghost, someone who hadn't been out to play in years, despite the name sticking around.
Soap winced as Ghost tightened his grip even further, a snarl meeting his lips as he spoke. "She was MINE. And I was hers. We'll use a pie for the sake of your small. Fucking. Brain." Each venomous word was punctuated with a twitch of Ghost's hand, a lingering desire to just squeeze all of the life out of Soap right here and now.
He could see Soaps eyes rolling back as dark spots were inevitably clouding them. That was no good. He had to be awake for what Simon had to say. Ghost loosened his grip just enough to allow Soap the bare minimum of blood and oxygen before delivering a harsh slap across his face with his free hand.
"Ah ah ah sausage, stay with me. So, the pie. She goes and gets a third of the pie because I'm in the military and she doesn't get to see my beautiful mug very often. Then, she hears that I'm coming home for good. She gets all of that delicious pie. Ya' followin' me Johnny?" A strangled nodd. Good. Ghost didn't care about the strangled noises leaving soap or the way that tears pricked his eyes.
"Good boy Johnny. So, she thinks she's getting all of this pie that I am. And then, I come back toting your arse along like some fucking new pet. Well, now she thinks she only gets half of the pie. But she still agrees because she was a fucking angel." Ghost's voice was cold again, filled with the same gruffness that the military had imparted into him.
Ghost hadn't been out in ages. It felt good. Ghost could feel Soaps pulse under his fingers, feel his lifeblood. It was intoxicating. He loved that look of pure terror, missed people looking at him like the monster he was.
"Except, instead of half of the pie, she's still only getting a third, because SOMEONE is a greedy fucking pig. Wonder who that is, Johnny?" Ghost cocked his head to the side as he dug his nails into the flesh of Johnny's neck, reveling in the way that he winced.
"And then what happens? This little piggy goes and takes even more of the fuckin pie. You just keep taking and taking and TAKING until all that was left was fucking crumbs. Do you get it now? You fucking muppet."
Soap nodded furiously as he gripped Ghost's wrist, trying desperately to pull him off. But it wasn't Ghost's fault Johnny hadn't been working out as much. Five years ago he would have at least been able to put up a fight. This was just pathetic to Ghost.
"And so, she lapped at your fucking crumbs like the good girl she was, because she fucking loved me. Do you love me Johnny?" Ghost cut off Soaps nodding with a glare. "I know your cock does, but that's not what I'm asking. Do YOU love me? Because I don't think you do. I think you love having someone complacent to you. You love thinking you have complete control and having everything bend to your fucking whim."
Ghost pulled away finally, letting Soap crumple to the ground coughing and clutching his neck. Ghost just shook his head and made his way to the door, grabbing the keys to his jeep off the rack and his familiar skull balaclava as he did so.
"Pick yourself up. Shits about to change, and I'm done letting you walk all over me. You better hope I find my girl again, or you better be gone when I come back. Your choice Johnny."
It wasn't good, wasn't healthy by any means, but everyone had a breaking point.
And you? What did you do? You lived. Love was definitely off of the table, but you managed to find a place to stay with a nice landlord who helped you find a job in your new small town. A nice older gentleman with sandy chops and a fatherly disposition. He became your best friend. Romance was dead to you at this point, but he was just so gentlemanly and sweet.
Little did you know that Price had forbid Simon and Johnny from your life after what you told him. He was protecting you in more ways than you knew from both the devil you knew and the devil you thought you knew. Simon was ravenous, like a rabbid dog desperately trying to get to you. But Price wasn't going to let him hurt you anymore.
And he didn't.
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strawb3rrystar · 8 months
Text
Rooftop Dates.
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♡ - Which turtle would go on a rooftop date with you?
Word count: 500
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2012! Donnie, Who takes you stargazing.
"I guess, I didn't pick the right night for stargazing." Donnie sighs, as there was a small number of stars you could see.
"Well, New York isn't exactly the best place to stargaze." You shrug "We should take a trip to the countryside to see some real good stars."
"Yeah, you're right." He responds, wrapping his arms around your shoulders.
"You know... I don't think it matters. Just as long as we're together," You lean into him.
His cheeks heat up from your comment "Yeah! That's right! We don't need some stupid stars for it to be a good date."
You chuckle, pecking his lips "You're adorable, Donnie."
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Bayverse! Raph, Who loves to city watch with you.
"You're clinging onto me for dear life, sweet cheeks," Raph mentions, grinning a little.
"Well, when you asked me if I wanted to go on a date with you, this wasn't what I had in mind." You reply.
"Do you not like looking at New York at night?" He asks.
"Not when I'm fifty feet off the ground, Rapheal!"
"Oh please. You aren't fifty feet off the ground... I'd say, barely twenty feet." He pats your back. "But, we can get down if you want."
"Yes, please..." You mumble, quite embarrassed of your fear of heights.
"What was that?" He grins, smugly.
"You heard me, Raph." You huff.
"Yeah, I wanna hear you say it again." He squeezes your waist, playfully.
"Nuh-uh, no way." You shake your head.
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Rise! Mikey, Who thinks rooftop picnics are the best.
"It's beautiful out tonight." You say, taking a deep breath with your arms outstretched.
"I know." Mikey grins, laying out the picnic blanket. "Perfect weather, a good view of the city, and fresh pizza. Nothing could ruin this night."
You smile, sitting down beside him. "Thanks for doing this, 'Angelo. I know I've been super busy and haven't had the time to hang out. So I hope you're not too upset."
"No problem. I understand that studying is important, that's why I brought you up here." He replies.
"Hm? Why?" You question.
"So, that it's just the two of us. No distractions around."Mikey answers, just for the sound of a police siren to go off.
"Mostly no distractions." He corrects himself, causing you to giggle.
You wrap your arms around him, tightly. "You're the best boyfriend ever, Michelangelo."
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MM! Leo, Who wants to spend everyday together.
"What are we doing up here, Leon?" You ask, sitting on the ledge beside him.
"I just thought that we could hangout without my brothers around." He replies, taking your hand in his.
"Aww, but they're sweethearts." You place your free hand on your chest.
"You don't live with them, Love." He grumbles.
"Did you just call me love?" You question.
"Maybe...? It just slipped out, okay! I don't even know why I sai-" You shut him up with a kiss.
"Calm down, Leo." You kissed his cheek "I liked it."
"You did...? He mumbles, feeling like he could explode out of joy.
"Yes, of course." You wrap your arms around him and he immediately hugs you back. "I love spending time with you. Being with you... No, I just love you, Leonardo. All of you."
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Star's notes -> I watched Mutant Mayhem the other day. It was incredible!
(Requests are open!)
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Taglist -> N/A | Join the taglist
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promptful · 1 year
Text
Best Friends to Lovers Things:
big boi.
WARNINGS: Mentioned death.
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Seeing them in a different way after a long time apart. 
Lingering looks.
Bed sharing, but only platonically. (Regretfully). 
Inside jokes. 
Late night [texts] 
Smiles that hurt. 
Always being each other’s +1 to any event. 
Forced proximity, that wouldn’t be such a problem if things weren’t changing between the two of you. 
Home cooked meals, made special by the other. 
Walking each other home from work. 
Falling asleep on the couch, intertwined. 
Fake-dating; either because you have to, (friends, family, a wedding, job) or because you two made an agreement when you were younger to get married. 
Having to vet the other’s SOs. 
Soft touches. A brush on the shoulder, across the waist, through the hair. 
Everyone knowing that, oh, it’s those two. 
People asking where’s the other if only one is present. 
Minted keys to each other’s apartment. 
^ (Bonus if it’s the only copy). 
Sleepovers because you're sick and they don’t want to leave.
Their parents always asking how you’re doing, and yours asking about them. 
Bets on your relationship. 
That kind of laughter that ends up like squeaking because you can’t hold it in anymore. 
Confessing your love in the worst ways. (In the middle of an argument, while in danger, in a drunken stupor, simply because you’re tired.) 
Using them as a seat, because that’s what you’re used to. 
Slow dancing. Totally platonic. 
Prom with one another. 
Spending sad anniversaries on the couch with buckets of chocolate, their arms curled around your shoulders. 
They only trust you with their problems. 
And you only have them to cry on. 
“Goodnight” and “Goodmorning” texts. 
“Did you get home safe?” texts. 
“If anything ever happens to you, call me.” 
Self-sacrificing behavior because neither of you can live without the other. 
Chiding the other while patching them up, inches away from their lips. 
When they throw themselves into danger, you’re there to pull them out. 
“Can’t sleep, come over?” 
Movie marathons. 
Hiding each other whenever you’re not supposed to be in their room, giggling.
“I can’t imagine being with anyone but you.” 
Petty jealousy. 
“Where are you?” 
Always sitting by each other in [school]. 
Fixing each other’s clothing; ESPECIALLY tying their ties, fingers brushing against their sternum. 
“I’ve wanted this forever.” 
Them being the only person who notices the small changes you make to either your appearance or house. 
Emergency contacts. 
Sleep-deprived nights because the other’s in the hospital. 
Platonic love proclamations, until they're not. 
An accidental kiss to the cheek that leaves both of you stunned. 
“I can’t keep going without telling you how I feel.” 
That awkward phase after you start dating where everything is new and you really don’t want to mess it up. 
“It’s just me.” 
The whole exaggeration about their dating. (E;g, we’ve been dating since I’ve known them.) 
“I didn’t know you loved me.” “I didn’t know you loved me.” 
Semi-protective behavior. 
Knuckle kisses that get progressively longer. 
Dreams shared in the darkness.
Working together—which means no productivity, basically. 
Playful arguments. 
Being able to resolve actual arguments because they both value the friendship too much.
“Take the bed.” “Not without you.” 
Stargazing, your head on their shoulder. 
Being there when things go bad with each other’s families. 
The “do you want to talk?” with pinched eyebrows. 
Knowing the exact shade of each other’s eyes from memory. 
Coffee trips in the middle of the day. 
Dropped off lunches. 
Random midnight snack runs. 
Nighttime road trips. 
A shared music taste and a bass that rocks the car, windows down. 
“Don’t replace me… please. I can’t lose you, too.” 
Straight-faced covering for them, even while they sneak out the backdoor behind you. 
Mutual shenanigans despite the consequences of said shenanigans. 
“Hey, what if we—” “No.” 
That first kiss that’s a tentative touch, then turns into a fervorous kiss, hands on shoulders, jaws, cheeks, squeezing their sides. 
Wanting to take their relationship slow. 
Each milestone meaning more than the last. 
Soft singing to put one another to sleep—perhaps a song that they’ve sang since childhood. 
Being ready to drop everything to go help them no matter what. 
Smiling when thinking about them [and being called out on it]. 
Objects that you have to get for them.
Board Game competition. 
Zipping up their dress, or tying their tie and fixing their cufflinks. 
Secret languages. 
“What are we?” “What do you want us to be?” 
Standing in front of them on the [train]. 
Memories that you can’t forget. 
Growing old with one another. 
Kids who they can’t decide which looks like who. 
The most outlandish anniversaries you can think of. 
“Happy That Time We Almost Died For the Second Time!” 
Communicating through simple expressions. 
And finally, the ability to trust utmost in one another. 
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Text
Perfect Match - Yae Miko & Lynette x Male!Hybrid!Reader
A/N: This is the start of a new fluff series, which will feature all the animal/yokai/adepti/hybrid girls and a reader of the same species - Kokomi included. If Fem!Readers will be interested, I might do a bit for the hybrid men. Enjoy! CW: Male!Reader, reader is the same species as the character, mentions of kids, might contain lore inaccuracies.
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Having someone who can understand her and relate to her way of being is such an immense joy for Miko. Kitsune are nowhere near as numerous as they were back in the day, so having a handsome, charming and attractive one as her husband is a true blessing. 
As a fellow fox envoy, you have more than the necessary knowledge on fur care, so she'll gladly use your skills. Gentle brushes through her tails not only help keep them in pristine condition, but also feel wonderful. Nothing compares to your ear massages, however. When she lies in your arms and your hands scratch at them lightly, she just melts away, quietly mumbling about her day. 
If Miko feels more cuddly than usual, she will have no problem with asking you for some fox cuddles. Fox bodies are a great deal better for cuddles, with the fluffy fur and flexible, small bodies. There's no better thing than curling up on the beanbag in your bedroom on cold days. It adjusts so perfectly to your little, furry bodies, and retains warmth very well. If she's in the mood for scritches, you will be able to tell as she always lies down on the couch, belly up and ready for affection. 
Since you molt too, the ever-present hair is not as much of an annoyance for you. It also helps in diffusing the responsibility for stray hairs in food. Both of you have pink fur, so how will you prove it’s hers? 
Not transforming into her other form recklessly granted her one big advantage - anonymity. Even if she is a fox of rather refined taste, who said that simple and silly pleasures don't interest her? The rumors of two small foxes zooming around and playing in the woods under the cover of night always bring a smile to her face. Her mind still can't understand just why and how sprinting around and tackling each other is so fun. And when you’ve had enough fun, you can either go back home or find one of your well-furnished hiding spots and spend the night there, curled into each other without a care in the world.
Affection towards you comes naturally to her, obviously, but your Kitsune blood pokes at the more foxy part of her mind. When you’re alone, no matter the form, Miko has a tendency to nibble on you. It can be your shoulder, your lip, ear or finger. Her teeth are very sharp, true, but her gentleness removes any risk of harm to you. Just this simple and natural (for Kitsune) act tends to get some nice reactions out of you with how openly she admits it. The small, barely visible teeth marks look so good on your skin, so why should she hold herself back?
When the exhaustion from your secret zoomies kicks in, Miko will gladly have you climb up on the roof of your residence and stargaze. A single blanket and your hand in hers improves on the experience, changing it from grim and lonely to comforting and familiar. Four hundred years is a lot of time, but one day, both of you will roam the skies as Kitsune Ascendants, together, for as long as the universe itself exists. Miko never stops the dreamy sigh from escaping her lips while considering the future you two have before you. Perhaps, with enough time, you will even become genuine fox deities. 
For now, however, using life for all it's worth seems like a sound plan. Whenever a particular gust of boredom hits you, Miko will coax you into participating in her schemes. Her favorite type of activity is creating problems in the shrine - especially those of the "What would happen if Lady Guuji saw this?!" variety. As the shrine maidens would struggle to solve the conundrum, you and Miko would wait in your fox forms, hidden in some dark nook of the shrine, listening and waiting for the right moment. When it eventually comes, you would emerge from the hiding spot and turn back into human forms behind a corner, and approach the maiden seemingly out of nowhere. The looks of terror on their faces are sure to stick in her mind for weeks, if not months to come. 
Of course, turning into inanimate objects is also a possibility, but is a lot more risky. Since there's no mobility to be had, an escape in case of someone trying to use the item for its intended purpose, oblivious to the fact that it's actually you and Miko playing a prank would require a shift back to human form, which in turn would reveal Miko's fairly childish sense of humor. The only people she can fool recklessly are the maids, but they've learned by now that, in a Kitsune's home, nothing is as it seems. Pranking you is out of the question since you can easily pick up her scent, though it doesn't mean that she won't try to mask it with perfume or cook distractingly delicious food. Beware!
Occasionally, when you wrap your tails around each other and love for the other fills you to the absolute limit, you might just experience shared dreams. Your adventures are very varied in activities and locations, but all have just one thing in common - you.
Having and raising kids, especially as many as you were gifted with, is an enormous task, but as most things in life, does not go without its benefits. They are cute, amusingly chaotic and so lovely. They way they stalk finches and other birds, their irises expanding before pouncing and failing to catch it never fails to make her chuckle. Their play fights look concerning, but Miko knows better than to break them up. A few bruises and scratches never killed anyone. No matter what they do or what form they take, they are always eight balls of pure, chaotic Kitsune energy. 
Even if their stamina for spreading entropy is baffling, it's not infinite. They will drag themselves home eventually, dirty, exhausted, but absolutely happy - as children in that state usually are. After a big meal and a thorough bath, the kids will turn into their animal forms and snuggle up to you and Miko, thus forming a big pile of fur, ears, tails and snouts. It's extremely cozy, warm and relaxing, but the sheer amount of Kitsune makes it hard to crawl out of it in the morning. That said, getting a bigger beanbag is a good idea - who said those eight are the last kids Miko wants? 
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It’s such a refreshment, to have someone who perfectly fits her needs. The chemistry between the two of you is natural, as in a world of noisy humans, feline blood guarantees at least a little quiet. 
Sure, she loves her brothers, but even they tend to be louder than she can take. Moving to your house was a notable step up in Lynette’s overall living comfort. Your movements, as silent and graceful as hers, never disturb her sleep nor catch her attention. Although for a child of The House that would be concerning, she never once caught you lying or acting even slightly suspicious.
Speaking of silence, most onlookers would never guess that you’re a couple if they were to examine your average day. Very few words are exchanged between you - your tails and ears, as well as subtle facial expressions, can signal almost everything. The right gaze into your eyes can get her exactly where she wants to be - be that an outing to a cafe, a cuddle session or an intimate moment - without the need to utter a single word. Frequently, your house is filled with nothing but the silent ticking of the clock. 
Having never experienced real intimacy, Lynette longs for your touch. She likes her cuddles tight and warm. There is no need for a fireplace to comfort her when she can snuggle into your arms and rest on your chest. The heat radiating from you is addictive, just as the rhythmic beating of your heart and gentle breathing are. Your touch is precise and skilled, scratching and caressing just the right spots to make her drowsy just after a few moments. What’s even more wonderful is the simple fact that you are nocturnal as well, meaning that you will never judge or get upset over her sleeping most of the day. Napping is her favorite activity, and should you join her, feels like heaven. 
Night is when you truly feel at home. The delightful stillness of the capital encourages exploration of the streets, now free of the crowds and bothersome noise. For somebody as agile as you two, scaling the outer walls is no problem, so the highest tier tends to be your hangout spot. Thanks to the wonders of portable kettles, it’s quite easy to have tea in the moonlight with Lynette, along with delectable biscuits. The nightly chill helps cool down the beverage, and in your excellent company, time flies by at breakneck speed. Before long, the sun rises again, and the Court Of Fontaine awakes. It’s not as much of a problem as it is an annoyance.
Being in a similar body to her means you face the same problems as she does, as well as share a few preferences. Your lifelong enjoyment of fish dishes means your skill in cooking them is up to par. Even despite being able to cook various exquisite and complex meals, such as the renowned Squirrel Fish, Lynette tends to ask for mostly simple salmon sushi. The strong taste of the raw fish coupled with the gentle base of rice tickles her taste buds in all the right ways. 
When it comes to ear and tail hygiene, she prefers to do it herself, but the care you provide on demand is undeniably pleasant. Lynette would much rather groom yours, without much real thought behind the reason as to why. Perhaps interacting with your unique features eases the feeling of standing out from the crowd? 
Sometimes, instead of a standard kiss, she might bump your cheek or touch your nose with hers. It's a silly little gesture, one that she will do her best to keep under wraps. One morning, however, somnolent Lynette did just that while greeting you in her family home. Luck had it that Freminet was the only witness… What would be if Lyney saw it? She wouldn't hear the end of it for at least a week, that's certain. 
Lynette is no stranger to catnip. Her sense of smell is as developed as that of a cat, and the plant still activates her hormones all the same. The magician used it only on a handful of occasions, scared of both clouding her mind and her brothers finding out. Now that she lives with you, the threat of the latter is no more, and she can enjoy her narcotic with you in privacy. Though the sober Lynette is reserved, the high Lynette is an absolute cuddlebug with her purring matching the dishwasher in volume. The sleep afterwards remains one of the best things in life in her opinion. 
Just use it in moderation. Addiction to catnip is a real problem amongst the feline population, and she doesn't want either of you going down that path. 
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Thanks for reading!
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teyums · 1 year
Text
“I only want you.” | Neteyam Oneshot
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wc: 2.3k
pairing: neteyam x fem! na’vi reader
warnings: none, contains fluff
a/n: this is a one shot, meaning there will be no part 2
Summary: You had a painfully long day of helping the elders with their tasks, and all that’s getting you through is remembering you’ll meet Neteyam at your spot later. However, when you get there you find him with another girl and feel a piece of your heart break. He finds you, and reassures you that you’re the only one for him, sealing his promise with the proposal you’ve been waiting for.
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Today had been an excruciatingly long day. You spent majority of the sunlight helping with tasks bestowed upon you by the elders.
First, it was picking what seemed like a harvest’s worth of utumauti (canopy fruit) that would be used in a celebration for the war party’s successful raids. You agreed begrudgingly and trekked through the mossy forest, holding three baskets that were stacked into each other.
After spending hours hopping from branch to branch, at times to the highest point of the tree, you had finally gathered a sufficient amount to return to the village. You even surprised yourself with how many you had collected from the canopies, seeing as utumauti isn’t in season this time of year—hence why no one wanted to do the job in the first place and passed it onto you.
You wobbly trudged back into town, balancing one basket atop your head and holding the other two in your hands, they were painfully heavy. Once arriving at the elder’s quarters, you attempted to set them down as gently as possible, letting out a sigh of relief once realizing you could now take it easy.
But alas, you were foolish to think one task wouldn’t lead to another like always. It seemed like today was the day for every na’vi in an authoritative position to drop their responsibilities onto you.
Without even five minutes to take a breather, you were then tasked with repairing the splayed and broken strings upon the bows of the latest warriors who had returned. You stared down at the piles of splinted, battered wood that lay out in front of you, strings tangled into a jumbled mess. You tried your hardest to contain your agitated expression and keep the twitch of your eye at bay to avoid a scolding.
God, this was gonna hurt.
It took you over an hour just to detangle the strings, receiving specific instructions that forbade you from simply cutting them loose and replacing them all anew. Something about ‘respecting the great mother enough to not waste resources’. You spent another hour weaving new string into the bows that needed them. Looping the strings into the bow nocks over and over again proved to be an even more tedious effort than picking fruit.
By the time you finished, your fingers were terribly sore. Your cuticles were reddened and bruised, a few snags and hangnails forming in the delicate skin around them from dealing with rough wood.
You stacked the bows in a neater pile than you had found them, standing up and brushing the sawdust off your legs and loincloth. Finally, after hours of what seemed like endless work, you could now focus on what your day was really supposed to be about.
Him.
There had finally been a commonality in your schedules, so you and Neteyam had dedicated the entirety of today to spend with each other. Neteyam’s training had only picked up in frequency the last couple weeks, leaving less time for the two of you to spend together. This proved to be extremely hard on you guys, but especially you. You had been cursed with the love language of quality time and right now you were terribly missing the nights where the two of you would lay in each other’s arms, stargazing without a care of what tomorrow would bring.
You shooed the thought away, a small smile rendering on your lips as you reminded yourself that the hard work was done, and now the two of you could be together. Though you were bummed that your time would now be cut short, you relished in the fact that you would still be able to spend the evening with him, just like old times.
You skipped along the battered path that housed the ghosts of footsteps from your clan, trying to contain your squeals of excitement as you neared the spot Neteyam said he would be waiting at for you.
A small pond with bountiful vegetation surrounding the perimeter slowly came into view, as well as a head of long, black braids and a pair of strong shoulders that belonged to your lover.
You felt your shoulders relax for the first time today and started towards him. You used your hand to move a large anthurium leaf out of the way, your feet stopping dead in your tracks when you caught sight of someone next to him.
A girl.
Your mouth fell slightly agape at the scene in front of you, your brain rushing to make sense of things. She stood with her back to Neteyam, a bow in her hands and her arms stretched clumsily, feigning inexperience. You watched as he used his hand to tip her elbow upwards, helping her correct her form.
Okay, calm down. He’s just helping her. Right?
Neteyam was always known for being friendly, it being both his most admirable characteristic and biggest flaw. Because of his kindhearted, always eager to help like nature, it was hard for him to realize when someone had an ulterior motive to get close to him.
“Here,” he stepped closely behind her, both their gazes set down at the pond in front of them. “Straighten your back. You need a strong form.” His hand pushed against her mid-lower back to fix her posture, resulting in her arching it and repositioning her arms to shoot the bow the correct way. It was now excruciatingly obvious that she knew how to do this from the beginning. You felt your stomach flip.
There stood Neteyam, with his hands on another girl.
Your Neteyam.
“Like this?” She questioned innocently, in which Neteyam hummed as a response. He probably would’ve noticed how close the two of them were to each other, skin nearly touching; if he hadn’t been so focused on the fish darting around in the water below them
Maybe you were hallucinating, but you vaguely recall your heart plunging out of your chest and flopping around pitifully on the forest floor beneath you. You felt the painfully familiar feeling of your throat constricting, the burn of approaching tears following suit. Your face twisted like you had smelled something rotten and you turned away, not wanting to watch any more of this.
You had already figured he would have been a little bummed when you had to move the time of your date, but had he really been so upset that he couldn’t even wait for you? How long had this been going on before you found them and why the hell was he so close to her?
You backed away silently, wiping the tears you hadn’t noticed had fallen with the back of your hand and storming back to your hut.
Neteyam hadn’t been aware of your arrival, instead, his attention was set on the girl he now noticed had been faking.
“Ah,” He removed his hand as if her body burned and stepped back, putting a disrespectful amount of space between them. “It seems you do not need my help, after all.” He says, the unamused expression on his face matching the tone of his voice.
She smiled shyly and lowered her bow, tucking a braid behind her ear. “Fine, you caught me. I actually just wanted to spend time with you.”
“So we are done here, then. If you’ll excuse me, I’m expecting someone important.” He took a seat on the rock where he had previously been resting before the girl came up to ask him for help, resuming the sharpening of an unfinished project he had brought to keep busy.
“Didn’t you hear me?” Her head tilted curiously, not quite understanding his behavior. “I said I wanted to spend time with you, Neteyam.”
“I am not a fan of liars. Whatever it is you want, I cannot help you with.” He nearly interrupted her while continuing to shave the now forming spearhead. “You may go now.”
She scoffed, more out of embarrassment than annoyance. She stood there for a second more, his eyes snapping up to shoot her a pointing stare that had her turning on her heels and hastily exiting.
He sighed to himself and shook his head, silently cursing himself for even agreeing to assist her. He knew it was hard on you, having to listen to the girls of the clan rant and rave about who was soon to be your mate. He tried his best to avoid them, but there were times like this where they would take his kindness for granted, only to run back to their friends and exaggerate what really happened. He felt terrible now that he knew her main goal was only to have his hands on her for bragging rights.
He tore his attention away from his task, peering up at the sky and using a hand to shield his eyes from the blazing sun. It was almost eclipse, you had told him that you would be done by now. If anything, you should have already met up with him. He gathered his things, wondering if you had made a stop home first and decided he would meet you there instead.
___________
You laid in your hammock silently, back facing the entrance as you picked at a stray hemp string to distract yourself from the immense wave of sadness that refused to stop crashing over you. The wooden steps outside your hut groaned from supporting the weight of footsteps, and an involuntary sigh left your lips when your nostrils filled with the scent of mahogany and petrichor. Neteyam.
“My love?”
The tall na’vi stepped through the flaps of your tent, and you tucked your body into itself further, successfully giving off the impression that you weren’t interested in speaking. You figured if you closed your eyes you could play it off as stirring in your sleep.
It didn’t work.
He immediately became worried when catching site of you, wondering if you had fallen sick and that being the reason you hadn’t come to him. He was across the room and by your side in an instant, taking a seat next to you to see your eyes shut.
Neteyam was observant, more than others at that. He knew how your breathing slowed a few paces when you were truly asleep, how your lips would stay parted just the tiniest bit, or even how your nostrils would flare here and there depending on how deeply you inhaled. Something was wrong.
“My love, what is the matter?” It took everything in you not to lean into his touch when you felt his gentle fingers brush the hair from your face, his digits grazing over your skin before cupping your cheek.
“I do not want to talk about it, Neteyam.” Your eyes stayed closed, an effort to remain withdrawn from the conversation.
The use of his full name instantly ruled out any other option he had been thinking of. You were upset with him.
“No, you know we don’t do that. Come on,” his large hands delicately took hold of your small frame, bringing you into a sitting position. “Open.”
Your eyelids reluctantly peeled apart, amber eyes streaked with red veins and eyelashes dewy from prior tears. His eyebrows furrowed with worry at your puffy appearance, gaze softening once he saw why. You had been crying.
“Princess,” his voice was pained, hands coming up to cup your tear stained cheeks and caress them with his thumbs. “What happened? Why are you crying?”
Your lip quivered and you felt that painfully annoying sensation creeping back in. You opened your mouth to speak but the tightening of your throat stopped you before you could respond.
He continued. “I waited for you, but you did not come. Why?”
“I saw you,” You sniffed, dropping your gaze down at the netting below you instead of his eyes. “With her.”
He appeared confused at first, his mind jumping through hoops to try and figure out what you meant. Then, his head fell to the side a bit and a deep sigh of realization joined afterwards.
“[Y/n], that was nothing. I promise. I was waiting for you, then she found me and asked me to show her how to catch a fish.” He explained, his hands now on your shoulders.
“You think she doesn’t know how to catch a damn fish? She just wanted your attention.” You spat, hating the way your voice was cutting in and out.
“I know, I know. I wasn’t thinking straight, I was so excited to see you that I just helped her so she would leave. But as soon as I saw her true intentions I sent her away. It was nothing more than that, princess, I swear.” He took notice of you turning your head away from him and felt a pang in his chest. He hated seeing you like this, and it hurt even more knowing it was because of him.
“Do you believe me?” His voice was quiet and you finally peered up at him to see he looked just as hurt as you did. You nodded your head slightly, his tensed shoulders relaxing a bit the moment you did.
“Of course I believe you. But it still hurts.” A single tear fell onto your cheek and he was quick to clear it without a word, giving you time to express your feelings to him. “I cannot stand to hear the way they talk about you.”
He noticed your fingers starting to twiddle anxiously, taking both of your hands into his and holding them firmly. “But you know I am yours, only. I only want you. Those girls will never change that.”
“You don’t understand.” You shook your head and went to pull your hands away from him, but he tightened his hold. He was already one step ahead and knew how you preferred to run from conversations like this rather than have them.
“Please, help me understand.” His voice soft, warm yellow eyes pleading and seeing into the part of your soul no one else could.
“They laugh at me, when I tell them you are spoken for. They do not believe me,” You inhaled shakily, biting at the inside of your lip before continuing. “because we are not mated yet.” Your voice merely a whisper, like you were embarrassed to admit what had been ailing you.
“Oh, [Y/n]…” He pulled you into his chest and embraced you in his arms, placing a light kiss to the top of your head. He was so careful with you, it was as if he felt you would crumble to pieces.
You melted into his arms, you couldn’t help it even if you tried. He really was your safe place, and even if he had been the one to upset you, he made it known that you could always come to him no matter what. You felt him lean back and lightly pull you away.
“I had no idea you have been feeling this way. There is nothing I want more than to be with you for life, my love. I just didn’t want to rush you into it, in case you weren’t ready.” He smiled, his excitement written all over his face.
“Really?” Your eyes grew big, pupils leaking adoration and swelling in sync with your heart.
“Really.” He hummed.
The space between the two of you grew smaller as he fell in, your lashes kissing before your lips could. By the time your eyes fluttered to a close his lips were melded against yours, and with every second that passed you felt your doubts withering away— the passion from his embrace and his hands on your waist served as ample reassurance.
You broke for air, eyes dazed, bodies longing for more. “I’m sorry if I ruined our date, Nete…”
“Nonsense, you could never ruin anything.” He chuckled, pecking the tip of your nose. “Forget about that, just come with me.”
Before you could agree you were off the hammock and up on your feet, fingers laced as he led you out of your home.
“Where are we going?” You smiled.
“To tell my parents to begin preparations for our ceremony. I don’t want to spend another moment not mated with you.” He glanced down at you and gave your hand a squeeze, an elated grin overtaking his face to match yours.
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Likes + Reblogs are much appreciated, thank you for reading! 💗
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spontaneous dates with busy svt, their busy with work but will take time out of their day to spend it with you? If all of svt is a lot, maybe just the vocal unit? ⸜(*ˊᵕˋ*)⸝ ♡
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💕Who; Seventeen (individually) x gender-neutral reader 💕What; fluff headcanons 💕Wordcount; 1.4k 💕Warnings; none, I don't think
-2024 Masterlist-
Thank you for the suggestion, anon! I hope you like it! 💖
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Seungcheol Okay, everyone says it; sugar daddy Cheol. The man loves to spoil his partner and although he'll still get gifts delivered to you whenever he feels like it, it's not quite the same as taking you around stores in person to see which items make your eyes truly light up. And if it's clothing he's buying for you, you can bet your ass there's a fashion show involved with lots of Seungcheol taking photos of you on burst mode and cooing(or catcalling depending on the clothes).
Jeonghan Honestly, Jeonghan doesn't have the energy most of the time to do a lot. Don't get me wrong, he's definitely more than willing to do pretty much anything you want for bigger planned dates, but for the spontaneous ones, he'll always pick to just go somewhere private with you and relax. Sitting on the sofa with you, tucked up in each other's arms while you just enjoy one another's company with a movie or music on will always be his favourite dates.
Joshua This guy likes to try new things, especially crafts so he'll always have a list on his phone of classes and activities going on in your local area so that when there's time, even if it's pretty last minute, he has potential options. Sometimes you go paint pottery, other times you learn to cook something new and even one very memorable time, you tried glass blowing. Regardless of what activity it is, you both enjoy every second because it's together. And Joshua always treasures whatever item you two make.
Junhui Jun does have a lot of energy in general but when he's with you, he doesn't want to miss a second. So on these last-minute dates, he really likes to take you cloud gazing in the day or stargazing at night. It's always nice to just lay side by side on a blanket admiring the sky pressed side to side and feeling the other's presence. It's grounding and one of the only times he can genuinely remain still. He'll even do research about clouds/stars so that he can impress you with his knowledge and have you look at him with big eyes of awe and interest as he talks.
Soonyoung Picnics are cute af and Soonyoung is very aware of that. Whether they're outdoors in the sun, in the backseat of the car or even in a building somewhere, he loves to grab the blanket from the car and snacks and lead you somewhere new to explore and sit together. If there's more time, he'll convince you to make food together to take beforehand but you're both always plenty content with whatever snacks you can grab from the convenience store. Sometimes he'll take little activities like travel games or a little craft kit too if he has the chance to plan ahead a little, or if he sees one in the store while grabbing snacks.
Wonwoo It didn't start intentionally that when you both have the time to go on a date, you'll always go to the arcade. You would always start the dates wandering around aimlessly as you both try to think of something to do and inevitably spot an arcade, exchange a look and then rush inside giggling like a pair of children. So at some point, you two would without discussion navigate to the arcade and it sort of becomes a thing to compare them all. Wonwoo has it all written out on a notes app on his phone; which arcade has the best games, has snacks or food, toilets, and how busy they are at particular times. When you have more time for the dates, you'll even drive further away to check out the arcades there too.
Jihoon This dude is always so busy that he worries he doesn't actually check in on you enough and make sure you're looking after yourself. So you can bet that his go-to for spontaneous dates is going to a restaurant. Sometimes a brand new one but you two have a few favourites that you're considered regulars at. He never tells you why he always suggests going to eat, of course, so as far as you're aware he's just hungry(which isn't entirely false) but really, it's so that he can look across the table and see you eating well and know that he's not failing in his job at looking after you as his partner.
Seokmin Seokmin loves photography, the guy takes photos at every chance he gets. A lot of people say he's not living in the moment by taking photos all the time but he does it for the sake of memories so that he has a way to look back on the pictures and remember the happy time. And the subject he wants to always remember the most? You. So of course, he'll make up for lost time apart by taking you somewhere pretty/cute/interesting he's noticed on his travels or heard about to take endless photos of you, and many of you together too but mostly you so that he can never forget the way you always smile at him with stars in your eyes.
Mingyu Okay, I didn't really want to do this because it's very much done with Gyu but cooking. He's a great cook and food is a great way to show love, so it makes sense. Plus it means that you can hang out at home with no pressure or unwanted eyes and just be together. Yes, he loves doing the cheesy things like putting his arms around you and his hands over yours to work together, or standing with his chest to your back and his chin on your shoulder. He always melts if you wrap around his back though, it makes him super giggly.
Minghao Minghao is a simple guy really, he just likes to be with you so he loves going on walks with you, hand in hand. Sometimes you're both silent for long stretches of time but it's not awkward in any way, it's calm, comfortable, and you're content. And others you both talk endlessly about everything and anything that comes to mind. Minghao loves that he feels that he can talk to you forever and never run out of words to say. But he also loves that you can remain quiet together and not feel like you need to fill the silence. He will also love taking you into cute stores/bakeries/cafes that you happen to pass to explore and get little treats.
Seungkwan Seungkwan himself is not the most confident driver at all but he's always happy to take you on drives. Though he loves it when you drive, loves watching you navigate the roads diligently while still remaining calm even when traffic picks up. But the drives for the spontaneous dates usually take advantage of all the quieter roads and even go out of town sometimes if you have enough time. There's never any destination in mind but stops are definitely okay too. Caraoke is a must, with both of you singing along enthusiastically to the carefully curated playlists Seungkwan makes for these drives, just for the two of you and filled with your favourite songs.
Vernon Dude loves movies and dissecting all the details and plot after. And he loves doing it with you the most. You didn't really care for discussing movies at first, just wanted to enjoy it in the moment but after Vernon got really animated the first few times, you started to get into it. And now it's kind of your thing together. You regularly go to the cinema when you can to see things on the big screen and then get a meal after where you'll talk it over for hours. But Vernon also loves curling up on the couch with you and watching a movie at home together.
Chan Chan likes to make any time together about the two of you. About being with you and experiencing you as best as he can. So he likes taking you to cute little places that are lesser known so remain quiet and peaceful enough to allow him to focus on you. Cafes and bakeries are his favourite places to go where you can sit down opposite each other at a little table with a drink or a light meal/ dessert and just talk and catch up. He can easily spend hours with you, just smiling across the table and listening to you talk about whatever and never get bored.
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If you have any ideas/suggestions of what I could write next, send an ask after checking this post where you can find the guidelines about what I will or will not write
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harrysfolklore · 1 year
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please you write beautiful, so I have to ask you to make a imagine of harry and the reader where she and he write together sweet nothing like taylor and joe, thanks 🥺
sweet nothing
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something lovey dovey for valentine’s day, i love you <3
MY PATREON | MASTERLIST
Your relationship was still a secret to the world.
They knew about you and Harry working together for his album, Harry's House, but they didn't know about the feelings that sparkled between the two of you, the shared kisses and intimate moments. They didn't know about your sweet nothings.
Sitting by the piano, with your writing journal and pen in hand, you reflected about you and Harry, about how last July you escaped from the busy life and the spotlights, and went away to your cottage in Wicklow, where you spend every second together, falling more and more for each other. You thought about how one night as you stargazed, he told you that your eyes reminded him of the tiny fireflies he used to watch growing up, and how you both promised that whenever life got overwhelming you'd always find home in each other.
I spy with my little tired eye Tiny as a firefly A pebble that we picked up last July Down deep inside your pocket We almost forgot it Does it ever miss Wicklow sometimes?
The words came to your mind smoothly as you scribbled them down in your journal, during the last few months, you've found out that writing about Harry was the easiest thing in the world.
You were in love, and your songs reflected it.
"Busy there?" his soft voice made you turn you head towards the door, he was leaning against the frame with a relaxed smile and a fond look on his eyes, you couldn't help but melt at the sight, everything about him radiated comfort.
"Just writing songs," you said as you made room for him next to you on the piano's bench, he kissed the side of your face tenderly once he sat next to you before speaking again, "Love songs about me?" his cheeky remark made you let out a breathy laugh, he was right.
"What makes you think you're any good of a muse, Styles?" you decided to tease him, even though he had been your only muse for the last few months, just as you have been his.
"Baby, I'm a great muse! Stevie Nicks said it herself!" his words made you laugh again and you moved your hands to brush away a loose curl from his forehead, taking the opportunity to press your lips to his for a moment. You could never get enough of the other, and you cherished these moments when it was just you and him wrapped up in your little love bubble.
"Remember that poem I wrote on our way home from Wicklow?" you said after a few minutes of silence, with your head against his shoulder, "I do, you never showed it to me tho." his voice was soft and quiet, as if he didn't want to break the tender ambiance around you.
On the way home I wrote a poem You say, "what a mind" This happens all the time
"It is about how I find safe heaven by your side whenever life gets hard" you let yourself be vulnerable, at the end of the day, Harry was the one who taught you that being vulnerable was part of being human.
And Harry could only look at you in pure love and adoration, he felt so lucky that he found someone so honest and real, someone he was willing to protect and take care of.
"You're my safe heaven too, baby. Nothing else matters if I get to come home to you and your sweet nothings" he confessed, every single one of his words touching every fiber of your heart.
You stayed like that for a while, your head against his shoulder and his hand softly caressing your back, scribbling lyrics on your journal and playing soft melodies in the piano. The world outside was full of pushing and shoving, but as long as you got each other you would be alright.
They said the end is comin' Everyone's up to somethin' I find myself runnin' home to your sweet nothings Outside, they're push and shovin' You're in the kitchen hummin' All that you ever wanted from me was sweet nothing
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sorceresssundries · 12 days
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The Stars of Simril
Pairing: Gale x Tav (gn)
Summary: Gale and Tav sit together on the night of Simril, stargazing and storytelling. SFW.
Find it on AO3
Word Count: 1.5k
A/N: This was all @alpydk's beautiful idea!! All I did was try and breathe a little life into it. I hope you like it.
'Simril was chiefly celebrated after dark, when the stars were visible across the sky. Celebrants located stars associated with their own births, or with their ancestors. Those without a lucky star could purchase star maps from merchants to help divine which belonged to them, based on when and where they were born. Cloudy weather was considered especially favorable on Simril, as finding one's star on an overcast sky was viewed as a blessing from Tymora. Simril was celebrated outside, with people trying to stay awake the entire night gathered around bonfires with plenty of music, food, and warm drinks.'
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Gale Dekarios sat atop an old, abandoned rooftop underneath an obscured night sky and thought of his mother. Back home in Waterdeep, the city would be alive with laughter and music, the streets would be filled with the chiming joy of children energised by the thrill of the nightlong festival of Simril. They would eat sweets, dance to music and no doubt be fast asleep in the arms of relieved parents before dawn broke. But, for a little while, bedtime was a burden for tomorrow and tonight was for finding stars and receiving blessings. 
Ever since Gale was a boy, he and his mother had their own cherished tradition. The stakes were simple but high - the first to spot a Dekarios star would earn a silver shard, to be cast into the harbour waters with a wish. Gale's mother had always assured him that wishes made under the family's lucky star on the night of Simril were destined to come true. Gale would win every year, and it was only now he was alone, he realised it was because she always let him. It pained Gale to think that, year after year, he had wished for new magic, power, or knowledge. All he wished for now was the warm familiarity of home.
From down here, the vast expanse of space appeared serene and tranquil. It was almost impossible to believe it held a symphony of life echoing through the planes. Perhaps, he pondered, there existed another soul on a distant world, beneath another clouded sky, gazing upward and thinking of their mother. He hoped so. It made him feel a little less alone.
“Care for some company?” Gale turned to see Tav at the top of the ladder, clutching a bottle of wine and two glasses. He should have known they would find his hiding spot. He supposed taking a blanket up to an abandoned rooftop in the wilderness wasn’t exactly subtle. He was glad Tav found him. 
“Only if it’s yours” he said with a smile, and turned his face back towards the sky.
“You’ve picked a poor night for stargazing” Tav placed themselves on the blanket next to him, and their familiar, comforting woodsy scent wrapped round him and reminded him of the giant bonfires which would send smoke up to the star-speckled Waterdhavian sky. 
“Ah, that is where you are wrong.” He looked at Tav with a glint of magic in the warmth of his eyes. “A cloudy sky is a good omen on the night of Simril. If you manage to find your star when the sky is overcast, you are granted a blessing from Tymora. The lady of luck herself.”
“Your star?” Tav laughed but was not surprised. If anyone was to have ownership of a star, it would be Gale. 
“Every resident of Waterdeep has a star associated with them. Chosen based on birth and ancestry. Mine is up there, somewhere.” His voice sounded wistful, and Tav knew he was aching for his home. They didn’t say anything, just joined him in his silence and waited for him to continue.
“Some years, the sky was so clear and stars so bright you could practically breathe them in. As a child, I would spend the whole evening with moon-filled eyes and lungs full of stardust. I would stay up all night and watch my star, thinking it belonged to me.” Tav thought they saw a shimmer in his eyes, but it was quickly blinked away. “How odd, to think of the naiveties we grow out of; to think there was a whole person fighting through sleep to hang his small childlike hopes on a star that was never his.”
Tav let the moment sit, and considered their own past. “I wish I had a star��� they whispered with soft longing.
“Well then, come on!" Gale rose to his feet, extending a hand to lift Tav up beside him. With a graceful sweep of his hand and a whispered incantation, he commanded the sky to transform, shedding its veil to reveal a pristine expanse of stars shimmering above them. Though they remained on their rooftop, it felt as though the heavens had opened up just to grant them a few hours of unobstructed wonder. Gale's voice was a soft murmur as he turned to Tav, excitement flashing in his eyes. "Let's find you a star."
“Isn’t this cheating?” Tav laughed “I thought part of the custom was to find your lucky star in spite of the clouds?’
“Let’s make our own luck shall we?”
Positioned behind Tav, Gale gently placed a hand on their waist, the warmth of his touch grounding them as they both gazed up at the celestial display. With his free hand, he began to trace a path among the twinkling lights, pointing out constellations that clustered together like families. He explained the stories behind them with the bright, clear confidence of someone who knew them by heart. He painted the night sky with the vibrant hues of mythology and wonder.
He spoke of Belnimbra's Belt, a constellation of five stars named for the legend of the first human female to have been turned into a swanmay. He recounted how she was relentlessly pursued by Lathander, God of the rising Dawn.
His hand swept across the Galleon Nebula, and his arm tightened around Tav’s waist as he spoke with soft reverie about how it is two million miles long and resembles a celestial ship forever destined to row itself across the sea of night. 
He told of the tragedy of Cassima, a maiden who was accused of evil witchcraft and burned at the stake. Selûne took pity on her, and transformed Cassima into a phoenix to rise in glory and join her in the heavens. Her star still flames bright in defiance of those who condemned her.
After he finished, he ran his hand along Tav’s bare arm and lifted their hand with his own to point out unmentioned stars.
“Pick one, and it’s yours” His voice was a delicate promise. “In hundreds of years time, lovestruck fools will tell your heroic story under a cloudy, Simril sky to enchant their beloved, and the other stars will flicker with envy.”
Tav blushed and nudged him playfully. “I’m no hero, wizard. Just a lost soul”. The sky, which to Gale was a memorised book of well-loved stories in a familiar language, was to Tav nothing more than a blank canvas of light and mirrors, blinking their own loneliness back at them. Tav knew as little of the stars as they did their own past.
“I don’t know anything about my birth or my ancestors, or even the stars. I wouldn’t know where to start.”
“Well, then it’s lucky you’re with an astronomical expert.” He pointed their entwined hands at a small, clear light a little way apart from the larger groups. The slightly brighter of two stars so close they almost looked like they were touching. 
“What about that one?” Gale was holding Tav so tightly now it could not be described as anything other than an embrace. Tav could feel the steady rise-and-fall of his chest against their back, and the rhythm of it calmed their dancing heart.
“I like that one, what’s it called?”
“Not all of them have a name yet, that one is unclaimed. A clean slate. All yours.” his thumb stroked Tav’s wrist as he brought their arm back down, and he wrapped himself around them fully. “Of course, you will have to be ok with sharing a little bit of the night sky” Tav thought they felt a soft kiss against their hair. “I picked the one right next to mine.”
Tav didn’t say anything, but Gale felt a warm tear fall against the skin of his arm. They stayed there for a while, stargazing, until the dull ache of tiredness started to crack through Gale’s illusion. Soon it would be the end of Simril, and the start of a new day. 
“I’m sorry you didn’t get your lucky blessing” said Tav as they descended the ladder. 
“That’s ok.” He offered with the warmth Tav’s company had re-ignited in him. “Who needs lady luck, when I have you looking out for me?” 
“Speaking of which!...” Tav said with excitement. “I found a whole collection of enchanted rings buried in the village, so you should be set for a while..” 
The two of them walked together back to camp, laughing and chatting with the ease of two people falling in love - their hands occasionally brushing against each other, mirroring two almost-touching stars which had just appeared, faint and winking, in the sky above them.
Back in Waterdeep, A tired Morena Dekarios stood at Deepwater harbour, looking up at the distant light of her son’s star. Not as bright as it had been, nor as bright as it would be. But still there, nonetheless - defiant and hopeful. She cast a silver shard into the moonlit water and wished that, somewhere, her son was safe and cared for.
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milkistay · 1 year
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STRAY KIDS as first dates
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pairing. skz x gn!reader
format. headcanons
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chan
- chan is so down to try new things with you - he wants to get to know you and what you like so he asks you to pick an activity that you're into - maybe it’s a pottery class, maybe it’s stargazing, maybe it’s ice skating - regardless, chan is there and ready to get a glimpse into your world - you show him your tips and tricks and he soaks it all up, grateful to be let into a hobby of yours that’s dear to you - when he watches you do something you like, he feels as if he understands you better - plus it’s just plain fun - after your date, without your knowledge, he continues doing the activity on his own, feeling like it brings him closer to you - he likes the way it makes him feel connected to you - and when you see him again, he shyly admits this and steals your heart
.
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minho
- cat cafe... - can you blame him? - he pays for your drinks and you spend the whole afternoon petting sweet cats and kittens while sipping on coffee or tea - secretly, there’s something so attractive about him being so good with cats - secretly, you melt his heart when you connect with one cat and smile so brightly at it and hold it in your arms - and if you’re allergic to cats or have some other reason why cats are a no, don’t worry! - there are plenty other themed cafes - dogs, raccoons, meerkats, you name it! - animals + you = happy minho
changbin
- he takes you shopping - he enjoys weaving in and out of stores just chatting with you and point out cute items - he also enjoys spoiling you like crazy - if you pick something out you like, he’s buying it for you - how can he not when your face lights up and you hug him so tightly as a thank you? - you’ve got him flushing pink - and you pick out some things for him too! - matching plushies, a fun pair of tinted glasses (you tell him he looks sexy in them and he’s speechless), a joke shirt - if you give him ANY sort of compliment (”you like nice,” “it suits you,” etc) he’s buying it - he’s obsessed with you...
hyunjin
- is it too self-explanatory to say art gallery date? - we all know hyunjin adores art galleries so he’d love to take you there for your first date - he shares all of his knowledge and wants to get to know the kind of art you like - he makes a mental note of all the pieces you like and already plans future dates and anniversary gifts - he’s such a romantic, he would love to share one of his favorite activities with one of his favorite people - OF COURSE he buys you flowers and a little gift from the gift shop - then he takes you to a cafe or a boba shop cause he really wants to just talk to you and get to know you - you have a fantastic time and your second and third dates are already scheduled by the time the first one is over
jisung
- movies with jisung! - maybe you go to the theater together to see a new movie - you share a bucket of popcorn and he holds your hand halfway through (he spent the first half working up the courage) - then after, you get ice cream and share all of your thoughts - or you spend the night in at either of your places - he subjects you to a horror movie and is equally pleased whether you find enjoyment in it or you curl up in his side out of fright - but you don’t even finish the movie - you start talking and find that you can’t stop - conversations flow between the two of your so easily - an instant connection
felix
- day at the park! - walking along the river and under the trees talking about your lives and your likes and dislikes - taking photos with the pretty flowers and blushing when he picks one and puts it behind your ear - maybe you even rent bikes and cruise around with the summer breeze in your faces - you slip into a nearby cafe for some drinks that you share - by the end of the day, you know virtually everything about each other - you watch the sunset on the grass and, though neither of you realize it, you begin to fall in love
seungmin
- karaoke bar - yes it’s to show off his talents - yes it’s to compete with you and tease you when he eventually wins - (unless you one up him and leave him astounded) - it’s low stakes fun and the perfect amount of chill that he craves - he gets to find out what kind of music you like and share his love for singing with you - you order food and drinks and spend hours just singing and laughing under the cheesy colored lights and disco ball - you’re in your own little world, just the two of you
jeongin
- he has one goal and that is to learn everything there is to know about you - if he’s considering you romantically, he needs to make sure you click - so he picks out a first date that is very conversation-heavy - dinner, coffee shop, picnic, whatever it may be - it honestly doesn’t really matter what you’re doing because you’re too wrapped up in your conversations to care - you two click alright - it’s almost impossible to stop talking - you get to know each other so incredibly well and it’s apparent to both of you that this relationship would work amazingly - you’re both confident you’re meant for each other
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