Where Can I Read This?? The Links Don’t Work 😭

━━ DON'T DATE MY BROTHER ✦ MASTERLIST

PAIRING. idol! nishimura riki x sister's best friend! reader(reader uses she/they pronouns)

SYNOPSIS. Being Park Jimin's younger sister comes with pros and cons. Cons, Park Y/N will never experience a true day of peace in her life. Pros, they were able to became friend's with other idol's sisters, and even though they became friends because of their brothers, they stayed friends because they all fit together, like pieces of a puzzle. Only thing? Don't fall for anyone's brother. Easy enough, until Y/N exposes her two year crush on Nishimura Konon's brother, Nishimura Riki. Not just to Konon though, half the world.

GENRE. idol x non idol, best friend's brother, idol's sibling, social media au

WARNINGS. strong language, drama, sexual jokes/references, idol au, mentions of mental health, fighting, idol beef, homosexuality, over protective brothers and sisters, this is not in anyway an accurate representation of idols or their family. jimin is kinda a asshole for a major part of this fic

FEATURING. enhypen, park jimin, jeon jungkook, and kim taehyung of bts, bahng hannah, lee olivia, chwe sofia , nishimura konon, huening lea, huening bahiyyih of kep1er, aisha samba(oc) jeon jaemin(oc), other idols mentioned in passing.

STATUS. ONGOING.

NOTES. this in no way shape or form is an accurate representation of the idols or others in the smau. chapter names are subjected to change! this was such a fun idea and i really wanted to post it so yay!!

PROFILES. friends by choice, sisters by association .

CHAPTERS. EXTENDED SYNOPSIS.

1. GOLDFISH YOONGI IS ALIVE

2. jimin is just really busy.

3. drumroll y/n

4. kim taehyung is more of a brother then you are right now.(happy thanks for adopting me day.)

5. close one(why the fuck do you hate me when you're all i have now?)

6. my dad >>>>

7. fuck you jimin.

8. please forgive me

9. starry-eyed y/n

10. good thing the only thing we share is a last name.(do that make me a bad person?)

11. i wanna do better(you didn’t wanna hurt me?)

TAGLISTS. ddmb taglist. @a-era @ijustmetyouandthisiscrazy @oddeonu @bigtoewinwin @szniki @meiiiwa @doggolovesblog @artstaeh @nomniki @tzyuki @lcv3lies @nikilvr @wonieleles @seosracha @ivyxily @zeesondiary @lunaflvms @alderiasamantha @ethereallov3 @afiaaaa19 @lil-iva perm taglist. @jangwonie @strwberrydinosaur @luv4vernon

---

caught in my web ! - sjy

spiderman!jake x best friend!reader

wc ~6k

cw fluff!! swearing, one cum joke LOL, jake is a big nervous dork and reader is a little dumb lmaoo, i think that’s all!

an i wrote this and posted it on my sideblog for a different fandom but i thought it was cute so i wanted to redo it for jake a post it here too :>

—🕷️🕸️🕷️—

when he first discovered that such a simple and seemingly harmless spider bite had such irreversible effects on him, jake, to put it bluntly, was petrified.

even from the moment the spider bit him, for all he knew he could soon be literally petrified by the way the bite was making his arm feel weird already, and though he can’t say he’s necessarily well versed in arachnids, that was not a spider he’d ever seen before.

he knew most likely it was just paranoia, but his brain was swirling with worst case scenarios.

nonetheless, it was very late at night and a college student such as himself did not have the money nor the means for an emergency room visit, so he decided to attempt to sleep it off, and if it seemed to be worse in the morning he’d see what he could do.

well, maybe that’s an oversimplification of events.

he’d called you, practically hyperventilating and saying his goodbyes, scaring you shitless as well for a good minute before you’d finally pried out of him what had happened.

luckily, entomology was something you were actually studying, and you had enough knowledge of various spiders and the effects of certain venom that when you arrived at his apartment (for his own peace of mind and yours) you were able to calm him enough to the point that planning his own funeral was no longer at the forefront of his mind.

with the strange spider safely captured in a small jar (as afraid as he was, he couldn’t bring himself to kill it) he felt a little better even just from your calming presence.

(“jake, why did you put a piece of cheese in there?” “i wanted to be hospitable.” “..cheese.” “i don’t know what spiders eat!”)

you spent the night on his couch that night as well (he hadn’t asked, but you knew if you left he might start typing up a will) so you were able to keep an eye on him.

the next morning jake wakes up feeling fine, albeit a bit groggy. he flops out of bed, and he rubs the sleep from his eyes as he wanders across the hall to the bathroom.

grabbing his glasses and sliding them on, he looks down at the spot on his arm that he’d been scratching at to check it’s status.

but its.. blurry?

he blinks a few times to focus his vision, but nothing changes.

its not until his hand pushes his glasses up to rub at his face and he gets a view without a lens that he realizes that its actually his glasses that are the issue. he moves them out of the way, and to his shock he can see completely clearly without them.

he lifts them up to sit on his head, looking at himself in the mirror, absolutely dumbfounded.

“what.. the fuck?”

“jake?”

he jumps, banging his knee on the counter.

“jesus! sorry,” you chuckle, hands up. “not a spider!”

“har har,” jake mocks, massaging his leg, a cute pout on his face.

you step into the bathroom, reaching up to adjust his glasses that had fallen from the crown of his head to the tip of his nose. he squints, rubbing at his temple.

“you.. okay?” you venture, watching him blink hard a few times.

“yeah! uh-“ more blinks, eyes wide- “i’m good.” a fake smile. its your turn to squint, not quite believing him.

you see him instinctively clenching his fist, shaking out his arm a little. you grab it and drag him forward a little to examine the splotch on his forearm.

“mm.” you hum. you brush your fingers along the bump, making a shiver roll up jake’s spine. he watches you over the rim of his glasses.

“its a little red, but it looks okay. i don’t think it was poisonous.”

“great! uh- cool, that’s good news,” jake bumbles, an awkward smile on his face.

he stares at you.

you stare at him.

your face is blurry.

he adjusts his glasses.

“right..”

he gulps.

“well. i have a lecture soon, so i should get going.” you give his arm a little pat and release it from your fingers. he nods, scratching at it absentmindedly again.

“still on for movie night later?”

jake answers without thinking through it.

“of course.” shit.

you grin at him. “great.” shit shit shit.

but the twinkle in your eyes and the way your fingers ruffle through his messy hair makes his heart flutter less with anxiety and more with something.. warmer.

you turn and round the hallway corner and jake lets out a tense breath he didn’t know he was holding. he knocks into a small table from his lack of clear sight as he follows you, and swiftly blames it on lack of sleep when you quirk a brow at him.

a minute later you’ve gathered your things from the living room, the bottled spider included to take to your class to be studied, and give him a wave as you walk out his front door.

“see you tonight, spider man.”

jake takes off his glasses once the door is closed behind you, sighing heavily and rubbing a hand down the side of his face. he swipes his thumb across his forearm, your touch lingering in his mind.

“spider man.” he scoffs, but he can’t help the fond smile that turns up his lips.

—🕷️🕸️🕷️—

“where are your glasses?”

“i got contacts.” jake lies through his teeth.

“today?” you question incredulously.

“… yeah.”

you clearly don’t believe him, if the way your brow furrows is anything to go by. you’d seen him just a few hours ago.

“is it because i always call you a nerd? you know i mean that affectionately, right?” jake hears the hint of guilt in your voice and panics.

“no! yeah i uh, i do- i just-“ he trails off. he isn’t sure where else to go with this. you catch the awkwardness, watching as he scratches the back of his neck, and decide to let it go before he starts sweating.

“well, if you can’t see the screen don’t ask me what happened,” you joke, lightening the mood to jake’s relief. you set down the snacks you brought and plop down on the couch, propping your feet on the coffee table, remote in hand.

jake relaxes in his spot next to you, ripping open a bag of chips. “you’d probably be asleep even if i did.” you roll your eyes and smack his arm. jake lets out a laugh.

fourty five minutes later, jake does have to ask a question about the movie you’re watching (but not because he couldn’t see, he’s just been daydreaming for most of it.)

and lo and behold, you are asleep, so he’s left to wonder.

jake starts to reach for his soda on the table in front of him, but you, wrapped around his right arm and sleeping comfortably, tighten your grip when you feel him start to move.

he moves just the left side of his body forward, ever so slowly, wiggling his fingers as he strains to grab his drink without disturbing you.

but suddenly, something knocks into the can, denting the side and sending it falling over with a tinny clank against the wood. liquid spills from the opening and dribbles over the side and onto the floor.

“how the-“

“shhh,”

he freezes, looking down at you. you pull him back again, nuzzling your face into his shoulder. your cheek presses up against his sleeve, smushing up your face and jakes’s heart almost explodes. he reaches up gently, pushing a tuft of hair away from your face, and you hum happily.

jake thinks for a second that maybe a stain on his carpet is worth it if he can stay like this forever.

something stuck to his wrist catches his attention.

its a strand of web.

jake yelps before he can catch himself, frantically flicking his arm to detach it and startles you fully awake in the process. you let out a similar yelp in practically the same octave as his was, jumping up and clutching tighter onto his bicep.

“what!! what happened?” you squeak.

he doesn’t answer, just continues his task of brushing off every square inch of his body to rid himself of any potential dangers. when he deems himself safe, he looks over at you, and is met with crossed arms and a disgruntled look.

“sorry! sorry,” jake huffs apologetically. he clears his throat, his face flushing red from embarrassment as he explains, “spider web.”

you chuckle incredulously, rubbing your eyes and letting out a yawn. “spider web,” you giggle through a playful smirk. you stand, stretching your limbs, and hobble in the direction the bathroom.

“try not to die out here without me, alright?” you quip as turn the corner.

jake groans. he gets up himself to grab a towel from the kitchen, coming back to crouch down and sop up the mess still dripping from the table.

he picks up the can and tries to set it back on the table top, but it sticks to his hand. even when he uncurls all five fingers from it, its still stuck snugly to his palm. he uses his other hand to grab it and pry it away, and it detaches with a sticky snap, leaving multiple strands of web connecting his skin to the tin.

“jesus christ,” he gripes, watching the web strands flutter under his breath.

“oh, there really was a spider web,” it’s jake’s turn to startle, jumping a bit as he sees you crouched down right beside him, observing the wiggly webs.

jake gives you an indignant look, one that reads ‘did you think i was lying?’

“honestly i just though you were being paranoid.” jake rolls his eyes, nudging you with his shoulder.

“sorry! not my fault you’re a scaredy cat!”

“i am not!” he defends, pressing the towel further down into the carpet plush.

you glide your fingers up the back of jake’s neck in a gentle tickle, and right on cue he lets out a little ‘eek!’, slapping your hand away. he pushes you softly and you giggle, falling back from your crouched stance on your toes and onto your butt. you hug your legs, resting your chin on your knee as you watch him continue to dry up the mess.

“they probably just like you. i know i do.” you drop a little hint at the end. he never seems to catch on.

“they can like me all they want, just far away from me please.” he grumbles, taking the can to the kitchen to toss it in the trash.

“spiders are friends!~” he hears you sing from the other room.

he drops the can into the bin, hoping this is the last of his spider related worries.

—🕷️🕸️🕷️—

jake never thought he would ever be friends with spiders. let alone be one.

it took him a while to realize that the spider bite had caused him more trouble than just a slight fear of the nooks and crannies of his apartment. much more trouble.

he discovered that it was him creating the webs he was finding around when he dropped his pen once while writing out some notes for a class, and when he tried to grab it before it hit the ground, he’d caught it with a collection of web strands that shot out of his wrist instead.

he discovered how strong his webs were when he tripped on the staircase while running late one day, spurting out a web that stuck to the wall and caught him, and tugged him upright before he hit the ground.

and he discovered how useful this strange new talent could be outside your apartment.

“so, any news about that spider? you brought it in to study it, right?” jake asks as nonchalantly as he possibly can, walking down the concrete steps beside you.

“oh, actually yes! we think it might be a-“

suddenly a hooded figure runs by, snatching your backpack from right off your shoulders, and sprinting down the sidewalk through a dense crowd of pedestrians.

the stranger nearly knocked you to the ground with the push-and-shove of stealing your belongings. jake caught you, steadied you on your feet, and booked it after him without even thinking twice, leaving your confused cries to stop behind him.

his speed and reflexes seemed to be heightened as he caught up in a few seconds flat, and in a fraction of that time he had a web wrapped around the strap of your bag, pulling it directly into his chest to wrap his arms around, and a leg out to sweep the thief’s legs straight out from under him, sending him face first into the pavement.

jake stands motionless for a second, energy rushing through his veins, and waits for his brain to process what had just happened. when it does, it feels like he’d just returned to his own body from somewhere completely different.

you caught up to jake after a moment, heaving heavily from your tired lungs. your eyes widen at the scene in front of you; a completely unscathed jake and a nearly unconscious criminal bleeding from the nose below.

“how did-“ you struggle for a full breath. “how did you do that?”

“uhm- adrenaline, i think?” honestly, jake isn’t quite sure how he did this either.

“jake, you could have gotten hurt!” you scold him, trying your best to sound steady and serious, but by the way your hands tremble it tells him you were more worried for his safety than anything else.

“i wasn’t gonna stand there and do nothing,” he says like its the most obvious thing in the world. he settles your bag back on your shoulders, looping your arms through the straps for you and adjusting the fabric of your sleeves. your eyes gloss over and you’re gnawing at your lip like you’re trying your best not to cry.

“your laptop is expensive. we can’t have you lose that,” he jokes, attempting to lighten the mood.

you let out a trembling laugh, and yank him in to hug him with a full crushing force. “you’re such an idiot,” you whine, and he returns the hug with a chuckle of his own.

jake isn’t sure how he did this or what exactly is going on, but what he is sure about is that whatever is happening to him, using it to protect you will always be his first priority.

—🕸️🕷️🕸️—

the idea to become a “hero” of sorts struck jake one day like a bolt of lightning.

the notion sounds absolutely crazy, jake knows that, but the circumstances have fallen directly into his lap, and he knows that if he has the ability, the real ability to protect people, he should take it.

he practices his web slinging in private, and he’s gotten quite good at it; he now can do it on command instead of at random, and can control it when he needs to.

(and yes, he’s made all of the jokes, even if he’s the only person around to laugh. he can shoot sticky white goo from his wrists, did you expect him not to be a little silly with it?)

he practices his dexterity in the air out in an old alley that no one has any reason to frequent. in doing so, his muscles have bulked up significantly, and he was flustered beyond belief when you of all people were the one the pointed it out.

he told himself that if he was going to be this new face of justice, he should protect his identity and keep it separate from his personal life. he didn’t want anyone he knew and loved getting involved; if someone got hurt because of him he wouldn’t be able to bare it.

so he made a few suit prototypes from old clothes and acrylic paint. he may not be the craftiest, but he made do, and he learned some sewing basics in the process, though you really wouldn’t be able to tell. (in the end he commissioned someone to make one for him anyway, for the sake of quality.)

the last thing he really needed came to him after he’d successfully helped a woman with an issue involving a man following her down the street late one night. after making sure the woman was safe enough to leave, he attaches his web to a fire escape and is about to swing away.

“what do i call you?” she yells out from below him as he hangs from the rail.

he thinks for a second. web boy? no, that’s dumb. arachnid kid? a little silly, he likes that it rhymes, but it still doesn’t feel right.

and then it hits him.

“spiderman.”

he swings away, and within the next few weeks, ‘spiderman’ is everything that people are talking about.

you included.

“have you seen him?” you ask him excitedly, rocking back and forth on your heels as you both stand in line at your favorite ice cream shop. “he’s so cool!”

he chuckles a little. “i’ve heard of him.” a blush creeps up on his face he hopes you don’t see, but you’re too excited to even notice. “cool, huh?”

“so cool!” you thank the worker for your milkshakes and leave the small shop, the bell above the door jingling as you step outside. “i want to talk to him so bad, i bet he’s so interesting, and he’s probably so cute under the mask,” you daydream out loud as you walk down the sidewalk.

jake coughs a bit in surprise. “what makes you think that?”

“don’t be jealous,” you poke, a smirk on your face. “just a hunch.”

in a split second you’re suddenly yanked to the edge of the sidewalk by jake as you’re about to step onto the crosswalk. before you can comprehend why, someone comes barreling through on a bicycle, shouting a faint ‘sorry!’ as they whiz by, the wind fluttering your hair. your milkshake slips from your fingers, a small gasp leaving your lips, and jake grabs it before it can splatter across the ground, placing it back in your hand for you.

“you okay?” he asks, brushing off your jacket. you don’t answer, still staring off in the direction the bike went in shock. as soon as everything catches up to you, you look at him, eyes wide. “that was insane! when did you get such crazy reflexes?”

“what do you mean?” jake sweats a little. “didn’t you hear him coming?”

you shake your head. “no that’s not it, you did that so fast, and my drink-“

“i think- i think you were just caught off guard,” he excuses, ushering you forward to keep walking.

“so um. you were talking about spiderman?”

—🕷️🕸️🕷️—

and talk about spiderman you did.

specifically, you talk about how you would love to meet him, to speak to him.

so, who would jake be to keep that from you when he is the one you want to meet?

well unfortunately, it wasn’t his choice.

(how was he supposed to go about that? knock on your door and say “hello random citizen, i’m spiderman! your best friend jake who i totally don’t know and definitely am not the same person as said you wanted to talk to me”?)

no, in reality, it was a total accident.

he finds himself crash landing onto the roof of your apartment building after a particularly brutal fight he’d gotten himself tied up in, his fatigue and pain not letting him swing any longer to make it all the way back home. he groans loudly, cradling his leg in his arms as he lays on the cold roof in the fetal position.

“spiderman??”

fuck. he knows that voice.

he lifts his head up in the direction it came from, seeing your head pop up over the ledge of the building. before he can say anything, you scramble up from the fire escape and run over to his side.

‘great,’ jake thinks. this is the second worst byproduct of you having a top floor apartment. (he still remembers how sore he was after having to help you drag your mattress up several flights of stairs when you moved in.)

“are you okay?”

“i’m fine, i’m good, i just-“ he attempts to stand on his own, but groans again, and crumples under his own weight. its your turn to catch him before he falls.

“oh god, um, i can help! just- here-“ you sling his arm around your shoulder and huddle into his side, and you help him hobble to the edge. he clambers down the fire escape, using his webs to keep him relatively stable, and fumbles through the window and onto the floor of your apartment. he hits the floor with a thud and a moan.

“sorry! um, i’ll get my first aid kit! i’ll be back!”

you leave and come back in a blind hurry, making quick work of rolling up the torn part of his suit to get a clear enough view of the gash in his leg to start your process. it hurts at first, a lot actually, but the pain subsides not long after. maybe because its you doing it, and he trusts you more than anyone, but he feels so much love and care in your movements.

he lets you focus in quiet for a while before he finally decides to say something.

“for someone who studies bugs and not medicine, you’re pretty good at that.”

you raise your eyebrows at him, wrapping a bandage around his calf. “how do you know i study bugs?”

shit. “just a hunch.”

you glance at him, not convinced.

“the pinned butterflies on your wall.”

“ah,” you say, nodding.

whew.

“maybe i just like butterflies.”

“that could be it too.” he chuckles under the mask. “i mean they’re pretty. like you. so it makes sense.”

you blush, a smile tugging at your lips. “smooth.”

“thanks, i know,” jake drawls, leaning to suavely rest on his elbow next to him, and hits his head on a table. “ow.” you both laugh.

when you finally get him patched up, he thanks you (he almost leans in for a hug on accident, but settles for a firm handshake instead) and climbs over the windowsill in preparation to take his leave.

“hey, can i ask you something?”

jake’s heart pounds. “sure.”

“can you.. come back sometime?” you twist your fingers nervously as you ask, avoiding his eyes. “i always wanted to talk to you but, this wasn’t really.. under the best circumstances, i guess.”

jake’s brain doesnt know if he should say yes, but his heart knows he could never say no to you, spiderman or otherwise.

“of course.” your smile makes it worth it.

he slings a web up onto a bar of the fire escape and flings himself out.

“wait!”

he turns back, glancing back down at you leaning out the windowsill, the chilled wind fluttering your hair.

“i don’t just like butterflies. i like spiders, too.”

jake grins.

“i didn’t used to like spiders. but i think they’re growing on me.”

and with that, he swings away.

—🕸️🕷️🕸️—

despite his better judgement, jake does come back. more than once.

he knows he shouldn’t appear as spiderman in front of you more than he needs to, but it just makes you so happy, it was physically impossible for him not to when he knows he’s the reason for your smile every time.

he sits with you now on the roof of your apartment, the same place you found him the first time, and the same place you two always meet now.

“-and that’s the story of how i met my best friend jake.” you finish your story, face flushed from laughing, and he’s forever grateful you can’t see his face under his mask. if he’s being honest (having lived through that torture with you) you actually told it way less embarrassing than he remembers it being. whether you perceive it less humiliating than he does or if you’re just gracious enough not to go into detail with strangers he’s not sure, but he’s thankful nonetheless.

“seems like you really care about him.”

“jake?” you ask, leaning back to rest on the heels of your hands. “well, yeah. he’s my favorite person in the whole world. don’t you feel that way about your best friend, too?”

jake feels his face heat up. “yeah, um. you pretty much took the words right out of my mouth.”

“yeah? tell me about them. what’s their name?”

“hey, whoa” jake lifts his hands in defense. “ask me about my favorite ninja turtle all day, but i can’t be giving out my best friend’s identity. why do you think i wear the mask?”

you laugh, nodding in understanding. “okay, okay, fair.”

a comfortable silence falls for a moment, and jake watches you gaze at the stars above the city lights.

“you remind me of him, you know.”

“huh?” jake snaps back into the present.

“jake. you guys seem really similar, honestly. same mannerisms, same cologne-“ you know the smell of his cologne? “you say things sometimes that i definitely think he would say. same favorite ninja turtle, too.”

he never really realized you paid this much attention to him. his heart flutters.

“ehh, i don’t know. guy sounds like a total nerd.”

you snort out a laugh. “oh he is,” ouch?? “but he’s my nerd. i love him just how he is. i wouldn’t change a single thing about him.”

“.. you love him?”

another silence. this one a little more.. tense.

“i love all my friends, but jake is.. different.”

“different how?”

“i’m not in love with my other friends.”

jake’s brain nearly short circuits right then and there. how he gets a single comprehensible sentence out of his mouth after that is honestly beyond him. but he’s not jake right now, he’s spiderman.

“i’m in love with my best friend too.”

“really?” you look at him, a sense of hope in your eyes, like you just found the only other person in the world in the same position as you. if you only knew.

“this,” he motions to his suit, and in turn the whole act of being spiderman at all. “its for them. i help everyone i can, of course, but,” he seems to be lost in thought for a second, drumming his fingers on his knee. “like you said, they’re different. i’d do anything for them. anything at all.”

you tilt your head at him. “wow, who knew a superhero could be so sappy.”

“yeah, yeah,” he waves his hand dismissively. “my bad, gotta protect my stone cold image.” you huff out a laugh.

“have you told them?”

“no.”

“why?”

“same reason as you, i’m guessing.”

“fear?”

“fear.”

a knowing look is passed between you.

“my best friend doesn’t actually know i’m spiderman.”

“wait really?” you ask, surprised. “why not?”

“how am i supposed to tell them that? ‘hey by the way i’m risking my life every day for you!’ that seems like a horrible conversation.”

you chuckle. “yeah, i get that. i suppose its similar to the reason you haven’t confessed. the fear of rejection is present either way.”

“exactly,” he sighs.

after a second, a light bulb seems to come on above your head. “hey, i’ve got an idea. you tell your best friend you’re spiderman, and i’ll tell my best friend i’m in love with him.”

“that’s a terrible idea,” jake admits through a chuckle.

“is it?” you feign indignant. “if they love us, they’ll accept us, right?”

jake thinks it over for a second, his heart racing so fast he hopes you can’t hear it.

“okay. deal.”

you grin. “perfect.”

how the hell is he gonna do that?

“jake should actually be on his way, i’ll call him to make sure.”

shit. shit. he forgot about movie night.

you pull out your phone, tapping quickly to find his contact and press your phone to your ear. jake panics, pulling his phone from his suit just as it starts to ring, and presses end as soon as he can reach the button.

you give him a puzzled look, and he huffs nervously. “sorry, scam calls.” he shoves his phone into his suit before you can see it.

“hm. it went straight to voicemail. that’s odd,” you muse, glancing at the ‘call ended’ screen.

“maybe he’s driving. yknow, gotta stay safe,” he bumbles, nerves flooding his system as he stands up and dusts off the back of his legs. “hey listen, its been great, but i just remembered i have to go-“

“wait, wait!” you jump up as well, grabbing onto his gloved hand. “can you stay for just a minute? i think jake would really love to meet you!”

“i really uh- its- its important- i should-“

“it’ll just be a second! i promise! don’t move!” you plead. you give his hand a squeeze, and before jake can stop you, you hop down the fire escape and scurry back into your apartment.

—🕷️🕸️🕷️—

jake is fucked. absolutely fucked.

as soon as he sees you disappear into your apartment to wait for, well, him, he slings himself down to an alley to ‘jake’ himself up.

luckily, he has spare clothes stored across the city in case of emergencies like this. he stuffs his hand through a hole in the bricks of an abandoned building and pulls out a backpack, and as quickly as he possibly can, he pulls his clothes on over his suit, shoves his mask in and zips it up. he ruffles his messy hair in an attempt to seem a more presentable type of messy, and sprints out into the street.

now trekking up the stairs toward your apartment door, he thinks there wasn’t even really a logical reason to do this. he could have just told you right then that it was him, but something inside him told him that wasn’t the right time or place.

stopping in front of your door, he prepares himself, catching his breath before he knocks.

you swing it open immediately, a huge smile on your face.

“jake! i have something to show- why are you so sweaty?”

“i uh- i was running late so i ran.” he fumbles for an excuse. he walks in and is about to kick off his shoes when you grab his arm, dragging him across the living room to your window.

“come with me first! i have something to show you!” you say, brimming with excitement.

“hold on- i need to-“

“hurry!” you squeal, and hop out the window to climb the ladder. jake internally groans, following after you.

he grabs the rungs and hoists himself up behind you. “can i tell you something first?” he calls upwards. “its important!”

“this is important too! he has to be somewhere!”

oh, so now you listen to that information.

when his head pops up above the ladder to see the expanse of the rooftop, you’re already looking around, confused.

“where did he-“

“why are we up here?”

“i’m looking for someone! he said he would stay for a second,” you whine.

he never actually agreed to that, but he’ll let it slide.

you grip the barrier of the roof and pull yourself up to stand on the ledge, putting your arms out to steady yourself as you survey the area.

“what are you doing!” jake shouts, running up to you and grabbing your waist to prevent you from falling. “you have terrible balance!”

“relax, i’m fine. maybe if i fall he’ll come back to swoop in and save me.”

and as if the universe took that as some sort of sick challenge, a huge gust of wind blows through, knocking your balance off. you tilt forward with a strained yelp, flailing your arms. jake tries to grip your belt loops but they slip from his fingers, and he lets out an exasperated yell.

bracing yourself for a horrendous fall, you let out a scream, squeezing your eyes shut.

but it never comes.

you’re suspended in the air, but there’s no rushing air, no sinking feeling in your gut, everything just.. stopped.

you pop an eye open, met with the rough red texture of the brick in front of you. you follow your arm that’s outstretched above you upward, expecting somehow to see jake’s grip wrapped around your wrist, but instead you see a bracelet of weaved white. you lock eyes with him, a terribly worried expression on his face, the same white around your wrist attached to the underside of his.

for the first time, it all clicks together.

the webs in his apartment. the way they have the same voice, same habits. the way the spider on the suit is jake’s favorite color. his change in demeanor these past few weeks. jake having a limp from the same leg spiderman had injured around the same time.

it all finally makes sense.

“you-.. you’re-..”

“surprise,” jake whispers, a small, guilty smile on his face.

“can you. pull me up, please?” you tremble.

“oh! yeah, sorry.” jake brings you in with ease, grabbing firmly onto your body until you’re sat on your knees on the safety of the roof. you lunge forward, trapping jake in a bone crushing hug. he feels that you’re still shaking, and wraps himself around you with equal fervor, holding your head to his shoulder and stroking your hair to soothe you.

how could you have been so stupid? so clueless? you had every single piece of the puzzle, yet you were so blind to the placements.

it hits you then, that you had confessed to him without knowing it.

jake pulls you back and holds onto your shoulders, scanning you for any injuries. “are you okay?”

when he locks eyes with you, he sees how flustered you look, the blush on your face, and he has to bite back a smile.

“well, this is a little awkward,” he chuckles.

“you’re such an idiot,” you scoff, a common phrase nowadays it seems, but he hears no real weight in your words.

“i should have known. no ones favorite ninja turtle is leonardo except yours.”

“don’t bring my boy into this.”

“why didn’t you tell me?”

“well i think spiderman already explained that,” he says with a shit eating grin.

you roll your eyes. “yeah, he told me quite a bit, actually. some pretty gushy stuff.” jake whines nervously, scratching the back of his neck.

“big mouth on that guy, huh.”

“jake.”

“hm?”

“i have something to tell you.”

he smiles shyly. “yeah?”

you grab jake by the zipper of his jacket, pulling you together to connect your lips in a kiss. his hands immediately find your waist to pull you closer, practically falling on top of him. he tilts his head to kiss you deeper. you sigh happily in tandem.

after a second your hands find the sides of his face and you pull away, giggling at how you both can’t stop smiling and its making it hard to continue.

“i love you.”

“i love you, too.”

you run your thumb across his bottom lip, admiring the contours of his face and how his goofy grin and lidded eyes are so full of warmth.

“don’t you have something to confess to me, too?”

“i still don’t like spiders.”

“jake!” you push him back by the chest and he laughs, wrapping his arms completely around your torso.

he wiggles his fingers up your spine in a crawling motion, making you shiver and swat him away in a fit of giggles. he leans in close to your ear, and whispers-

“i’m spiderman.”

---

𝐄𝐍𝐇𝐘𝐏𝐄𝐍 𝐒𝐌𝐀𝐔 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 (𝟏/𝟐)

the list of the smaus i've read and liked so far!

completed ✔️ - discontinued/on hold ❌ personal favourites 💎 - ongoing 🟩 - smut/nsfw 🔞

note: any smau that hasn’t been updated in over a year will be considered discontinued.

en- sunghoon and maknae line smau recs click HERE!

txt smau recs click HERE!

sorry for the tags!

links are under the cut!

hyung line/multiple

𓆩♡𓆪 « confident » ✔️ 💎💎💎 🔞 by @bambisgirl

SYNOPSIS. after graduating high-school and having a major glow-up over summer, you became more confident in yourself and got the title of the most popular girl at decelis university in your first week of freshman year. you instantly dethroned all of the sophomore girls, on top of being so pretty, kind, smart and sexy… girl you have it all. yet you’re still the same kind, naïve and funny y/n that can’t refuse anyone coming her way. after all, you know what they say… confidence makes a girl sexy but kindness is key!

𓆩♡𓆪 « no nut november » ✔️ 🔞 by @jayflrt

SUMMARY ▸ four men suppressing their carnal instincts for thirty days doesn’t sound plausible, but it’s no nut november, so victory is crucial. yet, there’s only one obstacle keeping lee heeseung, park jongseong, sim jaeyun, and park sunghoon from their prize: you. game on, boys.

𓆩♡𓆪 « to do: find a boyfriend » 🟩 by @seokgyuu

being single for three and a half years all of your friends are tired of your constant whining. while your girlfriends want you to just get laid, your boy-friends, on the other hand, just think you should pick one of them to date. ignoring them all, you instead decide to try out a dating app to find your match.

𓆩♡𓆪 « r u online? » ❌ (on hold) 💎 by @hoonvrs

SYNOPSIS seems like there’s a small problem between the four best friends when they each find themselves crushing on the same girl. now it’s left up to you to decide who’s your endgame.

𓆩♡𓆪 « zoom » ❌ 💎 🔞 by @enhas-bestie

SYNOPSIS: In which Y/N has a zoom meeting and it turns out that her TA! is incredibly hot. Things escalate. Chaos ensures.

lee heeseung

𓆩♡𓆪 « buy one, take me » ✔️ by @heeracha

synopsis: with his best friend asking him for help because said best friend was scared he wasn't "boyfriend material" enough, heeseung looks for flower shops for his best friend's girlfriend. thankfully, jake knows someone from the university who has an aunt that owns a flower shop, you. now, heeseung messages you and shyly, but shamelessly asks if he can get any promos or discounts to which you shamelessly answered him, "buy one, take me". heeseung doesn't pass on this, of course. after all, you are pretty damn cute.

𓆩♡𓆪 « you, me and the moon » ✔️ by @heeracha

synopsis: lee heeseung is a famous frat boy who is known to be mysterious since he would always stay at the corner to observe people passing by but he does not like the fact that his eyes would linger a little longer on you than he likes to admit because who the fuck is he kidding? you're way too good for him.

𓆩♡𓆪 « so sick ! » ✔️ 💎💎💎 by @yeonjunszn

summary: when your boyfriend of almost eight years cheats on you your senior year of university, you decide that you’re done with anything and everything to do with love. that is, until you meet a guy who sings love songs for a living.

𓆩♡𓆪 « hands on you » ✔️ 💎 💎 by @thatfeelinwhenyou

IN WHICH; I-LAND 2 happened and you debuted first place as the leader of LUMIÈRE. Having been told that your group is involved in a lore crossover with ENHYPEN, you navigate work, friendship, and love while trying to make it in an industry filled with animosity and condemnation. When life throws you lemons, you gotta make lemonades chuck it right back!

𓆩♡𓆪 « the revenge pact » ✔️ by @boyfhee

synopsis: lee heeseung is the handsome yet good for nothing mysterious boy living a floor below you, who dropped out of college and is living quite a lavish life. when you get fired from your job, ending up struggling to make your ends meet and failing to pay the rent, heeseung offers you rather an eccentric proposal : pay the rent or be his girlfriend.

𓆩♡𓆪 « sugar daddy » ✔️ 💎 by @jayflrt

SUMMARY ▸ in which heeseung accidentally becomes your sugar daddy, but funding a sugar baby is hard when you’re a broke college student.

𓆩♡𓆪 « a stoner's guide to starbucks » ✔️ 💎 by @jayflrt

SUMMARY ▸ in which you work at the starbucks where heeseung is a regular at (and considered a public enemy). also he only goes when he’s stoned off his ass.

𓆩♡𓆪 « poison » ✔️ 🔞 by @onlyjaeyun

synopsis: new city, new people, a new life. after finally getting the chance to live your dreams, you're ready to close old chapters, only for a certain someone who's always been off limits to open again...

𓆩♡𓆪 « verboten » ✔️ 🔞 by @heesbaby

SYNOPSIS; a bad stroke of luck saw lee heeseung, your dads coworker, moving into your small apartment until he found his feet again. emotionally unavailable and a workaholic, you were going to try your absolute hardest to make him loosen up. even if it meant breaking a few of the house rules he'd set out.

𓆩♡𓆪 « anonymous » ✔️ 🔞 by @heesbaby

synopsis: heeseung had been your biggest supporter for months under the pseudonym ethan, sending you money in return for content and interactions. he stuck around, spending half his paycheck just for your attention, until the delusions of your work convinced him you were his.

𓆩♡𓆪 « a little dramatic » 🟩 by @heeliopheelia

yn: knock knock

heeseung: who's there?

yn: your annoying best friend

heeseung: your annoying best friend who?

yn: your annoying best friend who has to do a kissing scene in the school play but she's never been kissed before and needs you to teach her how to do it so that she doesn't make a fool out of herself in front of her crush

...in other words heeseung's down bad, yn is an idiot in denial and riki gives everyone a headache.

𓆩♡𓆪« trainees » 🟩 💎 by @hoonvrs

SYNOPSIS heeseung wasn’t known as ‘the ace’ for nothing, constantly ranking number one after every monthly evaluation. then suddenly a new name takentakes over first place — baek ‘Rin’, and heeseung doesn’t take lightly to competition.

𓆩♡𓆪 « fancam » ❌ 💎💎 by @bambisgirl

SYNOPSIS. you’re a rookie camerawoman for kpop music shows and you’re designed to film lee heeseung’s focused fancams for this enhypen comeback. you know he’s just an idol but… you spent $500 on a 4k mirrorless full frame 12.1 mp camera just to catch a better glimpse of him.

𓆩♡𓆪 « reality check » ❌ 💎💎 by @yunverse

SYNOPSIS › Shocked by the sudden revelations, yn realizes that she has been pulled into another world belonging to her favourite reverse-harem novel as the female lead’s best friend. Content with her new life, she excitedly watches from the sidelines knowing every single encounter in the novel would be unravelling right in front of her. However, as time goes on, she slowly comes to the horrifying realization that the characters she seemingly idolized are not who they seem to be.

𓆩♡𓆪 « nevertheless, (ft. park jay) » ❌ by @postalenha

SYNOPSIS, after a horrendous break up, you met a guy at a bar. you two instantly clicked and got close the whole night, so close that the two of you almost kissed. but you ran off, and planned to never see him again. but what will happen if one day, a commotion started at your university; girls going crazy over the new handsome guy in fashion design. and there you see the man standing with a butterfly tattoo on his nape. the same man from the bar, looking for you.

park jongseong

𓆩♡𓆪 « adore you » ✔️ 💎💎 by @enzenwriting

Summary: Debuting as BE:LIFT Lab’s next solo artist, you reunite with your best friend Jungwon in Enhypen! With the groups’ quick fondness towards you, a certain member is sure he adores you extra with brotherly and senior care! But what if Jay finds that this doting is unlike his feeling towards his younger members because he definitely does not want to kiss Yang Jungwon like he does to you?!

𓆩♡𓆪 « reparations » ✔️ (short smau) 💎 by @jayflrt

SUMMARY ▸ in which jay is a dog.

𓆩♡𓆪 « deuce! » ✔️ 💎💎 by @jaeminvore

summary: one may ask, what would happen if you put a prodigy and a hard worker in one room? Absolute chaos. Jay and Y/N absolutely hated each other’s guts. Having been rivals from middle school until present, it’s a cruel twist of fate that they ended up going to the same university years later. To make matters even worse, both have been selected as captains for the men’s and women’s volleyball team respectively.

The coaches, the managers—hell, both teams knew they had to put an end to this ridiculous beef as they were slowly tarnishing the esteemed reputation of both teams, but the question is: how?

𓆩♡𓆪 « strictly business » ✔️ 🔞 💎 by @onlyjaeyun

synopsis: two people, two different stories, two different hearts, one capital city. a story in which a young secretary from a small town manages to bring a new breath of fresh air into the life of seoul's most famous and untouchable ceo.

𓆩♡𓆪 « more than this » ✔️ 🔞 by @heesbaby

in a society where hybrid's were still made to feel like nothing, you wanted to show jay how much more he was worth

𓆩♡𓆪 « are you blackmailing me? » ✔️ by @liliansun

Synopsis: Jay has his eyes on you, but you couldn’t care less. When he finally musters up the courage to speak to you, you ask him about his friend instead. In attempts to salvage his chance, he agrees to help you if you help him in return.

𓆩♡𓆪 « 21st century girl » ✔️ 💎 by @hoonvrs

SYNOPSIS where jay 'claims’ he has a girlfriend but none of his friends believe him because how are you a girl in the 21st century and don't have any social media, right? and if you and jay continue to let them think your relationship is fake for entertainment purposes, nobody has to know.

𓆩♡𓆪 « yours forever in 786 » 🟩 🔞 by @jayflrt

SUMMARY ▸ after being blackmailed into accepting an assignment, jay park, a young private detective, is thrown back into college. this time, though, he’s at an ivy league and tasked to follow you to uncover what dark secrets your old money family is hiding. in doing this, jay must fraternize with your inner circle by joining a secret society called the "order of kryptos.” what he doesn’t realize is that the deeper he gets into his mission, the more he starts to lose himself.

𓆩♡𓆪 « knock me down » ❌ 💎 by @nekkodiaries

SUMMARY: park jay lives life as a hot-headed gamer by day and.. well.. still a hot-headed gamer by night— except he secretly goes by the name killstrike. after losing a pubg duo match, he finds himself trash-talking his teammate notursniper, who happens to be the mysterious classmate he's been admiring for over a year and more.

𓆩♡𓆪 « friendzoned » ❌ by @szniki

summary! - nishimura yn has been pining for her best friend jay park since 7th grade, but she’s well aware that jay will continue to be oblivious and had accepted that she’s stuck in the friendzone, that is until she befriends a foreign exchange student from australia and jay can’t help but feel jealous over how quick yn and her new friend are bonding

𓆩♡𓆪 « can i call you tonight? » ❌ by @heesbaby

yn needs money. that’s the only reason she keeps agreeing to babysit jay’s son each week. nothing was ever going to blossom out of it, not with jay - a workaholic 6 years older than her. she keeps telling herself that every time his smile lingers a little too long on his lips, but each time she dials his number into her phone, he picks up before the second ring.

𓆩♡𓆪 « nevertheless, (ft. lee heeseung) » ❌ by @postalenha

SYNOPSIS, after a horrendous break up, you met a guy at a bar. you two instantly clicked and got close the whole night, so close that the two of you almost kissed. but you ran off, and planned to never see him again. but what will happen if one day, a commotion started at your university; girls going crazy over the new handsome guy in fashion design. and there you see the man standing with a butterfly tattoo on his nape. the same man from the bar, looking for you.

sim jaeyun

𓆩♡𓆪 « the world's a little blurry » ✔️ by @0x1lovebot

synopsis: having feelings for someone who’s in a relationship is already so hard to deal with. so imagine jake’s struggle when the taken girl that he’s had feelings for for years comes to him for help in physics. will he actually move on or will the lines start to blur between tutoring and romance?

𓆩♡𓆪 « doctors orders » ✔️ 💎💎 🔞 by @heesbaby

synopsis. jake was a little concerned by how often you were sat in his waiting room, but he couldn't deny how he searched his appointment list each morning hoping to see your name

𓆩♡𓆪 « after hours » ✔️ 💎 🔞 by @heesbaby

SYNOPSIS; jake sim, bassist of AFTERHOURS and all round terrible guy, so deep in his self absorbed world where everything went his way and everyone fell at his feet. he hardly noticed you moving in next door until he caught a glimpse of you in the hallway. completely uninterested in your neighbour, you did you best to ignore his advances. that was until you found yourself humming along to the songs he practiced every night.

𓆩♡𓆪 « hype boy » ✔️ 💎 💎 🔞 by @onlyjaeyun

synopsis: after years of hiding himself in the responsibility of raising his youngest brother, jaeyun finally finds himself falling head over heels for the sweet college student from next door...

𓆩♡𓆪 « maybe we could be together » ✔️ 💎💎 by @jaeminvore

summary: in which Y/N has already accepted the fact that she will never be anything more than a best friend to Jake. She’s fine. She’s kept it all together for so long. However, Sunoo is a force to reckon with and he will do anything in his power to get Jake and Y/N together—Oh, and not to mention Sunoo really hates Jake’s current girlfriend, much to the annoyance of Y/N.

𓆩♡𓆪 « nights with you » ✔️ by @nvertheless

sypnosis — jake sim couldn’t sleep at night. with the stress of school taking over him he wasn’t able to fall asleep anymore.. until he gets recommend a nightly lofi channel to fall asleep to and it works really well for him.. not knowing your the owner of that nightly lofi channel.. and u possibly have the biggest crush on jake..

𓆩♡𓆪 « cigarettes » ✔️ 💎 💎 by @hoonvrs

SYNOPSIS where university student jake develops a little crush on the girl he sees with a cigarette between her lips in the smoking area and decides he needs to impress her. how else would he do that except calling his smoker friend to teach him how to smoke ( spoiler: it doesn’t go so well. )

𓆩♡𓆪 « boomerang » ✔️ 💎 by @amakumos

SYNOPSIS: you and jake sim have always been academic rivals. it was always you against him for top of the class, and jake is sure that you two were made to hate each other. a couple years later when you debut and become an idol, you find yourself talking to him again - but it’s in a group chat with other aussie idols, and perhaps you realise that he isn’t that insufferable.

𓆩♡𓆪 « equation for disaster » ✔️ 💎 by @amakumos

SYNOPSIS — much to you and your boyfriend jake’s delight, there’s going to be a math championship for idols now. with both of you hellbent on winning, you two decide to be rivals again for just a little while. may the best star-crossed hater win. (the sequel to boomerang.)

𓆩♡𓆪 « collie duty » ✔️ by @filmbyjy

SYNOPSIS > being the new CEO to the ‘Sim Corp’ was hard and stressful. jake didn’t have much time to spend with layla and so he decides to get a dogsitter, you. though, you were originally already his secretary. how will dog sitting bring you two closer?

𓆩♡𓆪 « one note » 🟩 by @filmbyjy

SYNOPSIS > When you turned 18, you heard your best friend’s favourite song. Turns out, it was just one of the various signs to finding your soulmate. However, you couldn’t bring this up to jake. Not when he was in a happy relationship with your other best friend! Would you choose heartbreak or sacrifice your happiness for the sake of keeping the friendship

𓆩♡𓆪 « consequences of a one night stand » ✔️ 💎 🔞 by @luvyeni

( synopsis ). in which after a drunken hookup , y/n y/ln and are jake left with some heavy consequences and now they have to come to terms with it.

𓆩♡𓆪 « all about you » ✔️ by @heeliopheelia

synopsis: finding it harder and harder to keep your feelings hidden from one of your best friends, with each day you become more restless. with the confession constantly resting on the tip of your tongue, you wonder how much longer you’ll be able to keep your sweet secret to yourself. little did you know, the exact same question has been haunting jake’s mind, keeping him just as unsettled as you.

𓆩♡𓆪 « cat & dog » ❌ by @yeongwonie

SYNOPSIS a year after his notorious 10 months ending fairy, jake is confident that the occasional jokes and furry allegations have subsided. he's wrong, unfortunately, and no amount of teasing from his members could've prepared him for his ult—you—seeing the video.

𓆩♡𓆪 « lucid dream » ❌ 💎 by @yyunari

SYNOPSIS  . many might recognize y/n as one of the most beloved and rounded 4th generation idols. being in aespa brought her a lot of popularity and made her really well known, especially for her talents and bubbly personality. when y/n becomes a music bank mc along with enhypen’s sunghoon, what will happen when she meets her old high school crush from back in australia?

𓆩♡𓆪 « cupid's cure » ❌ by @amakumos

synopsis. as the new admins of cupid’s corner, gunwook and eunchae make it their mission to get back some of the couples that jungwon’s girlfriend had unintentionally broken up. one of the couples on their list are you and jake sim, also known as the self proclaimed “rizzler of oz”. you haven’t talked to jake since the breakup — because one, you don’t think you’re quite over him yet, and two, you have zero reason to speak to him! that is, until eunchae works her “magic” — she decides to post a confession (apparently coming from jake himself), saying that he still loves you.

𓆩♡𓆪 « pinky promise » ❌ by @sunboki

THE LAST SUMMER you spent with Jake Sim was the beginning of a disaster and it all began with a pinky promise. You left Australia a few days before high school to become a trainee under BigHit Entertainment, sending you far away from home, from Jake. Well, you didn’t know it back then, but Jake had also come to Korea as a trainee a year later, and fate worked its magic when you’re both selected as KBS MC’s together. The pinky promise in question? A promise to be together till the end.

note: sunghoon and maknae line smaus will be on another post! tumblr being a bitch and doesn't let me add more links :(

---

AHHHHHHH!!!! this is EVERYTHING and a little more!

best part — 西村力.

© wonria — in which nishimura riki makes the decision to start attending university amidst his busy schedule, and soon realizes that it was the best decision he’d ever made, all thanks to you.

pairing idol!riki x fem!reader genre strangers to friends to lovers, fluff, angst, crack word count 11.2K warnings profanity, violence, arguments, riki loves the bee movie, mentions of underage drinking (not riki!!), slowwwburn

note this is a long one guys 😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨 anyways first work on tumblr!!! reblogs are sososo appreciated (:

00. DAMN YOU, YANG JUNGWON.

For the first time in Nishimura Riki’s eighteen years of life, he’d missed school. He didn’t know he was capable of feeling such strong feelings towards a place he barely ever entered, but here he was, scrolling through college vlogs with a frown downturning his lips.

FOMO was a disease, and Riki had most definitely caught it.

He envied how the students had so much fun in a place as horrific as school, and finally understood why his members had constantly wished to re-live their school days.

He had been cooped up in his room—binging college videos— for so long that none of his members had seen him the entire day. Jungwon was the first to notice his sudden disappearance, knocking on Riki’s door. When he didn’t answer, Jungwon had let himself in, his face wearing a confused expression after seeing Riki’s state.

He had been on his couch, with a bag of chips to his left and his knees up to his chin, hypnotized by the video playing on the television. Jungwon followed his line of vision, disbelief painting his face upon realizing what was going on.

“Riki,” Jungwon spoke, snapping the eighteen year old out of his trance. He turned his head towards him, letting him continue. “What have you been doing?” His question came out in a small chuckle, still dumbfounded by what he had just seen.

Riki sighed. “I want to go to school.” He took the remote of his television, pausing the Korea University Festival Vlog he had been playing. Jungwon’s eyes widened. “All of a sudden? I thought you hated school.”

“You know, I thought I did too! I probably still do,” Riki paused. “I just, want to experience it, but you and I both know that’s impossible.” He referred to the psychotic nature of their fans, ENGENE, who would definitely perform the unthinkable once they got their hands on the college Riki would attend, if he were to attend.

“Why don’t you ask the company?” Jungwon proposed, his voice optimistic, as opposed to Riki’s replying deadpan expression. “Are you going deaf, or did you just miss the part where I said that would be impossible?”

“You won’t know that until you ask,” Jungwon refuted, still positive as ever. “Who knows? The company might say yes, and they’d make sure of your safety if they do.”

“When have they ever insured our safety?”

“…Touché, but still!” Jungwon was insistent in pushing this crazy idea, for reasons he couldn’t even understand. “C’mon, Riki, there’s no harm in asking. It could be fun! You could make friends,” Jungwon nudged his shoulder, eye brows rising and falling repeatedly, “maybe you could fall for someone—”

“That’s enough, Jungwon,” Riki cut off his member’s delusions, following up with a scowl. “I’m not going to ask, this whole college thing will probably blow over in a few days, so please, let it go.”

Jungwon sighed, accepting his defeat. Riki was a stubborn guy, so once he speaks out on something, there was no changing his mind no matter what. “Well, I can’t force you to ask, so I’ll let you be,” the twenty year old kept a small smile on his face, making his way out the room. “Don’t sleep too late,” he joked as he shut the door, not waiting around to witness Riki’s eyes roll in response.

Riki knew himself better than anyone. Of course he would, there’s nobody who’s been around to know him well enough than himself. Despite knowing this, he couldn’t help but wonder if Jungwon could be right. What if he did ask his company to let him attend university? What if they said yes? What if it was actually everything he’d been admiring through a screen?

Safe to say, the boy was conflicted, for the first time in a long time. Damn you, Yang Jungwon.

“So what if, hypothetically, I were to ask you if I could start attending university, and I would be, hypothetically, really desperate,” Riki started rambling to his manager, Min, who was looking back at him blankly. “If this were the case, hypothetically, how would you respond?” He was not slick at all, Min knew exactly what he was doing.

“So, you want to attend college?”

“This is hypothetical, Min,” Riki whined, “just answer the question, please.”

“Well,” Min decided to play along with his “hypothetical” scenario, “I don’t see the problem in going to college, except for the fact that your safety may not always be guaranteed, and that your schedule might keep you from attending a lot of the time.”

“So I can go?”

“I’ll bring it up at the next meeting.” At this point, Riki knew that Min was answering non-hypothetically, but it didn’t bother him, especially after finding out that he had a shot at attending university. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” He squealed, rubbing his hands together excitedly. Min shook his head, chuckling from Riki’s endearing reaction. “Of course,” he finished, leaving Riki alone with his thoughts.

He wasn’t planning to get so enthusiastic about the situation, but his heart managed to overpower his actions way more than his brain could, and he was hyped up in a way words couldn’t express. Maybe this would be fun, just like Jungwon had told him.

01. HYPEN PEOPLE..?

“What the hell is an ENHYPEN?” The name sounded so bizarre, it made you laugh. Your best friend, Nora, stared back at you, shaking her head with a deadpanned frown on her face. “Are you seriously telling me you don’t know the ENHYPEN?”

You shook your head. Pop culture was never your thing, you focused more on the fashion world. So when Nora started freaking out over a new student that was apart of a K-Pop group you couldn’t even repeat because of how odd it sounded, you could only stare blankly. “Why is an idol attending university so important? I don’t get it,” You asked. You furrowed a quizzical brow.

Nora sighed. “This is like, if Adriana Lima joined your yoga class,” she explained, mentioning names you would recognize. “This is a huge, huge deal!” It was then where you realized that this idol guy was probably super popular, and that classes tomorrow are going to be an utter disaster.

You couldn’t have been more correct. Walking onto campus, cameras were flashing like crazy, and hundreds of people were crowded outside the university’s entrance. Your eyes widened. “No way this many people are bunched up on a Monday for an idol,” you were in shock. Nora nodded, an I told you so smirk curling her lips. “Are you kidding?! This guy is one of the most recognized dancers in K-pop!”

“I would think he’d be a little older if he were that recognizable,” you argued. “I bet if you put him in front of an elder, they’d be puzzled.”

Nora shook her head. “His group is crazy viral. Did you know they’re the global ambassadors of PRADA right now?” She knew that would get you.

“Oh. Woah.”

“Yeah, woah,” Nora finished, parting ways with you to head to her classes, “See you later, girl.”

“Yeah.. see you.” Now you were interested in this idol. How could someone not only represent one of the most iconic brands in fashion, but also be an insanely-talented performer? It was intriguing, you wondered if you’d ever see him on campus one day.

Think about it: the chances of this guy being in your year, in your classes? Very low.

What you learned after today, was that even if the odds are low, they are never zero.

Your first class of the day was more packed than usual. You managed to find a seat in the back, where, thankfully, nobody was. You always preferred having your space during class, which was why you almost always went to the back seats for lectures.

The door of the lecture hall opened, revealing a tall guy with a presence so strong, the hall went silent. His outfit was well-styled, you thought. The black jacket he wore with baggy pants of the same color, layered with a grey hoodie under, along with hair that almost looks like it was done professionally.

You were impressed, you guessed he must’ve been majoring in fashion like you were. If that were the case, though, why had you never seen him before?

“Listen up everybody!” Your professor, Mr. Kang, gathered everyone’s attention. “As you all may know, we do have a new student here on campus. I ask you to be mature, and not act un-orderly near them.” He referred to the guy next to him, who, although stood six feet in the air, looked very small at the moment. So he was new.

“Moving on, take out your notes from the last lecture…”

The new guy quickly walked to the back of the room with his bag. Unfortunately, there weren’t that many free seats in the back like usual, the only free spot next to you. He sighed before sitting beside you, being careful not to disturb you.

He took glances at you from time to time, taking in your appearance. You didn’t do much with your outfit, putting on a tube top with baggy jeans and a jacket, but you made it look good. You were pretty.

A voice took him interrupted his staring.

“Prada,” the voice gasped quietly, their eyes trained on the logo sewed into his backpack. Your eyes were wide, it was then you realized who you were sitting next to.

“You represent them, right?” You continued, eyes moving to look at the guy beside you. “I— Yes?” The question was so sudden, it caught poor Riki off-guard. You took notice of this right away, going on quickly to apologize. “Ah, I’m so sorry!” you whispered, “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s okay,” Riki panicked, shaking his head. “You’re with those K-pop guys, right?” You started, voicing your thoughts aloud. “The.. Hypen people!”

“…Hypen people?” Riki chuckled, he’d never heard that before. “Wait no— there was something before it, hold on..” You stuttered, mentally cursing yourself for not keeping this to yourself.

“ENHYPEN?” Riki helped you out, and you sigh in relief. “That’s the one! And you’re the dancer guy my friend was talking about, right?”

“I’m Ni-ki, but you can call me Riki.” He holds out his hand, and you shake it, going on to reply with your name. “I take it you don’t know much about K-pop,” Riki asked, and you nodded.

“I only found out you existed yesterday, I’m not that in-tune with all of that business.” That was humbling on Riki’s end. You scratched your neck sheepishly. “That’s alright,” he responded, “I can fix that.”

“Can you, now?” You smirked at his confidence.

“Watch me, [Name].”

02. A FIRST DAY TO REMEMBER

You and Riki were not paying attention at all.

Normally, you’d be able to focus during classes, since studying was therapeutic for you. However, with your new seat mate in the picture, and his newfound determination to teach you about the world of K-pop, there was no way you could even think to participate in the lecture.

“Wait, so, let me get this straight, you debuted from a survival show? What kind of dystopian bullshit is that?” Riki chuckled at your surprise, although he knew you were completely right. “Yeah, it was not fun, but it was totally worth the hard times.”

You shook your head in disbelief, unable to fathom how someone could endure such hardship and almost trauma at such a young age. Come on, he did all of that at fourteen years old? You almost broke out into applause.

“Anyways!” Riki whispered, quiet enough to hide his voice from the ears of the professor, but just loud enough for you to hear him. “I should show you some of the music now.”

“How would you play music right now?”

“Headphones, obviously.”

“You know those are forbidden in here, right?”

“WHAT?!” A loud whisper from Riki had you covering his mouth in haste, a small gasp leaving your lips at the volume of his voice. “God, Riki, not so loud!”

“I’m sorry, but how are headphones forbidden? They help me focus!” You shook your head, replying, “Professor Kang believes that they are a distraction, and are unnecessary during lectures, hence the big No Headphones! sign towards the door.”

“Aw, man,” he grumbled, his lips forming a small frown. “I’ll show you once classes are over, then” he quickly got over it, continuing, “Would the library be fine?”

You shot him a deadpan look.

“Yeah, it felt stupid after I said it, nevermind.” He scratched the nape of his neck, a sheepish smile on his face. “We could go to your house!”

“Riki!” You gasped. It was far too early in your friendship to invite him to your house; you just met the guy. “I’m out of ideas! I’m not good at making friends with normal people!” His frantic whispers made you hysterical, cracking you up at the back of the lecture hall. “Riki, we could just go to a café or something.”

“Too public.”

“A convenience store?”

“I think that might be worse than a café.”

“An alleyway? I don’t know!”

“Woah, I didn’t know you were a troublemaker, Miss [Name].”

“What do you do during the day?” You spoke in frustration, your hand running itself through your hair. “Do you just perform all day and sleep?”

“Well, I’m mostly at the company building, practicing and whatnot, but I— Wait!” His eyes widened in realization, “The company building! I can take you there!”

“Oh, no way, Riki,” You waved your hands at him, quick to disagree. “That’s too grand for a hangout!”

“Are you kidding? It’s the perfect place to hang out!” He laid his head on the table in front of him, turning to face you with a pleading look. “Just trust me, [Name], people hang out with their friends there all the time!” That was a lie, barely anybody hung out with friends at the company unless they were both idols under the company, but you didn’t need to know that just yet.

“Alright, fine,” you sighed. “But if I get caught going in with you and I get attacked, I will never speak to you again.”

“Aye, Aye, Captain!” Riki’s head sprung from the table, imitating a soldier salute to you right after. You chuckled lightly.

Then the professor dismissed the lesson soon after, “Perfect timing,” Riki smirked. “Let’s get going, friend!”

“If I run away right now, you’d probably catch me right away, right?”

“That was a lot of rights, but yes, I would catch you.”

You rolled your eyes before walking out of the hall with Riki, his shoulders purposely bumping yours every once in a while.

“This song is everything, Riki!” You were in shock. Matter of fact, shock might be an understatement for what you were feeling at the moment. Never in your life did you think you’d be listening to a K-pop song, and loving it, at that. “It’s my favorite track on the album,” He smiled, glad that you enjoyed Brought the Heat Back just as much as he did.

“I see why,” you nodded. “Also, the styling is insane, who styled these outfits?”

“I’m not sure, to be honest. Probably our stylists.”

“Oh, wow.” Everything about that song, from the stages to the music video to the song itself, was simply incredible. “Who is that?” You pointed to the member that was currently in the center of the choreography formation, small beauty marks decorating his face as he sung his part.

“That’s Sunghoon, why—”

“Wrong. That’s the love of my life.” You kept rewinding the performance video, going back five seconds to replay Sunghoon’s part again and again. “He has such pretty moles!”

“Hey, I have moles, too!”

“But are you Sunghoon?”

“….You’re mean.” You chuckled at his sudden sulking, ruffling his styled hair. “I’m just kidding, you big baby.” You took time to search his face for the moles he had mentioned just a moment ago, immediately noticing a small one under his lips. “Your moles suit you, too, I guess.”

“You guess? That won’t do, I’m kicking you out.” He shook his head, immediately going to pick you up from the couch you were currently sprawled on in his practice room. “Wait, Riki, put me down!” You laughed as he started walking towards the door, trying to literally kick you out.

“You take it back!”

“Fine! Your moles are decent-looking! Please put me down!” You were eventually able to push yourself off of him, meeting gazes with him as the two of you laughed your asses off.

“AHH, WOMAN!” The door suddenly sprung open, revealing a stunned ENHYPEN before Jungwon slammed the door right away. Your laughter quickly ceased, and you looked to Riki, who was looking back at you with a confused expression on his face.

“Were those your—”

“Yeah.”

A knock on the door came, the voice of Jungwon following along with it. “Can we come in?”

Riki looked you for confirmation, and you just shrugged. Who were you to deny them access into their own practice room, anyway? He walked to the door of the practice room, letting his members in as you started gathering your stuff from the couch.

From the corner of your eye, you saw the members of ENHYPEN coming in one by one, and, God, you almost passed out watching Sunghoon walk in. “I can see you, [Name],” Riki mumbled suddenly from beside you, going to help you with your stuff. “Fuck! You scared me!” You paused for a moment to clench your chest with your hand.

“So when did you suddenly decide that you were leaving?”

“Since the moment your members came and looked all intimidating.”

“And by members, you mean Sunghoon?”

“That’s not the point.”

Riki shook his head with a chuckle, still going to see you out of the building nonetheless. “I had fun, [Name]. This was a first day of college to remember, for sure.”

You smiled, waving to him as you began walking away. “Bye, Riki!”

He stood there, watching you walk away until physically could not see you anymore. He sighed, a small grin on his lips as he turned to go back to the practice room, not expecting to see Jungwon waiting behind him.

“Fucking Hell!”

“A first day to remember, huh?” He smirked, his hand going to Riki’s shoulder. “You’re telling us every single detail when we get upstairs, you know that?”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” He rolled his eyes playfully, as he had not one negative bone in his body, especially not after today.

Perhaps the small bit of negativity he had within had come from you having to leave so soon.

03. SWEETS

“Holy shit.. Holy shit!” Nora exclamations only increased the more you told her about yesterday’s situation. “So, let me get this straight, not only did you meet the Nishimura Riki, but you made friends with him, went out with him, and met his members?! When’s the marriage?”

“I’m gonna ignore that last part,” Your face scrunched up in a small disgust. Of course, you enjoyed Riki’s company, and he was pretty funny, but after all, you did meet him yesterday; dating him was out of the question. “Was that his full name you said just now?”

“He never told you?”

“It never came up.”

“Wow,” Nora exhaled, disbelief etched into her features. “I can’t believe yesterday happened. Are you two going out again soon?”

You shook your head. “I truly doubt it. He wasn’t in class today, so I’m guessing he’s busy today.”

Nora sighed, “Ah, that makes sense. Can’t expect a guy like him to be here every day.”

Her words had you thinking all of a sudden. You made sure to keep yourself a proper distance from Riki so that you wouldn’t get attached. After all, he wouldn’t always be free, and getting clingy would only drive the two of you apart. Noted.

“Wanna have lunch at the local café today? I miss my croffles,” Nora asked, not forgetting to shoot you a pair of puppy eyes. “I’m not saying yes because of the puppy eyes, never do those again.”

“But is it a yes?”

“I, too, really want some croffles right now.”

“Woohoo!” Nora clapped her hands softly, skipping out of campus with her arm linked with yours.

The two of you suddenly stopped at the entrance. “What’s with all the cameras?” Nora’s head tilted in confusion, her brows furrowed. “I wish I knew,” you replied, looking at the camera crew that stood outside the café. “Are they shooting a commercial or something?”

One of the directors suddenly made eye contact with you, and signaled for you to go inside. You were hesitant, but still walked in with Nora.

The café was you and your best friend’s personal favorite. Not only was their coffee top-tier, but their specialty, croffles, or croissant-waffles, were unbelievably tasty.

Yet, when you met gazes with the seven members of ENHYPEN behind the counter instead of the usual baristas, all you wanted to do in that moment was run out of the building. However, there was no backing out of this, and you proceeded to the counter to order.

A member who you remembered to be Sunoo was taking your orders, and he was super sweet. You were shocked when you heard it was his first time working a part-time job, he was a natural. You didn’t think he’d recognized you yet, since he was surprisingly calm in front of you, and you prayed to the heavens that he wouldn’t notice.

However, the lingering gaze of Riki had caught your attention, and it made you incredibly nervous. The second yours and Nora’s orders were paid for, the two of you quickly went to find a table.

Nora didn’t spare a second. “Hello, what was that?!” She whispered, hoping the members wouldn’t hear her, and you shrugged. “Why are they suddenly working at a café? I thought they were singers!”

Nora shook her head, “They’re probably filming for En O’ Clock.”

“…En-O-What now?”

“Oh, God,” Your best friend chuckled, “It’s their variety show that they have. It’s basically just them playing games or doing random challenges to keep fans entertained while they prepare their next album.”

“Oh wow.” You didn’t know what to say. You knew being an idol was a handful, but you didn’t know that this much work and planning was put into everything they did.”

Nora suddenly tensed, her expression stiffened as her eyes darted behind you, catching you by surprise. “Nora, why are you—”

“Fancy seeing you here, sweets,” an arm suddenly wraps around your shoulder, the seat next to you being occupied by none other than Nishimura Riki.

“Wow, petname basis already, Nishimura? Don’t you think you’re moving a bit quick?” You play along with his sudden flirting, a smirk on your lips.

“I’m a man of haste,” he fires back with a wink, catching you, and Nora, by great surprise. You exchanged looks of surprise, amusing the guy beside you. “Anyways, where did you learn my full name? ‘Cause I never told it to you.”

“I think you forget you’re world-famous, Riki.”

“Me? World-famous?” He gasps, a dramatic hand on his heart, “I’m all but a mere barista!” You punch his shoulder playfully, and he laughs in response. “And you must be Nora, right?” He turns to Nora, his hand out for her to shake it.

“That’s me,” she chuckled awkwardly, shaking Riki’s hand. “Nice to meet you, Ni-ki.”

“Please, we’re friends now! Call me Riki.”

“Oh! Well, alright!” Nora’s dry responses were, though a bit painful to watch, extremely funny. You let out a small giggle, covering your mouth with your hand. “I think your food is ready, I’ll be back!” Riki got up from his seat, going over to the counter to pick up your orders.

“So, sweets?”

“Shut up.”

“Since when has he been calling you with petnames?” Any time Nora would hear about you and Riki, she’d always get super giddy, living her fangirl dreams through your interactions with him. “Since right now!” You whispered, “I had no idea he was this bold!”

“You better used to it, he’s an insane flirt.”

“Oh, lord.”

“Who orders this many croffles for themselves?” Riki suddenly chimed in from behind you, again. “Oh, my god!” You flinched at his voice, snapping your neck to look at him. “You get scared really easily, Miss [Name]. You should get that checked out.” You rolled your eyes as you helped him set the food on the table. “Anyways, I’m guessing you have a crazy sweet tooth.”

“Is that why you keep calling me sweets?”

“Well, yes. I also just want to,” he smiled, “but that’s a big part of it. I mean, come on— five croffles? Are they that good?”

“Are you kidding? They’re delicious, try some!” You took a knife from the table, cutting the croffle into a small piece before picking it up with a fork, passing it to Riki. He took a bite, and his eyes widened.

“Right?”

“Please invite me the next time you and Nora come here.”

“I thought cafés were too public?”

“I’d risk it all for these croffles, holy shit!” He quickly sat down, turning to you. “Can I eat one of your croffles?”

“Sure, whatever.” Riki smiled, cutting up a croffle from your plate, eating the pieces with the fork you’d given him. “Riki, you kind of took my fork.” He realized that you had been staring at him eat, and he quickly apologized, handing you your fork back and running to grab another one.

“He gave you his fork?” Nora gasped.

“It was my fork first.”

“And then he ate from it, and now you’re eating from it.”

“Nora, please.” Your best friend chuckled, shaking her head as Riki came back. “How’d you get back so quick?” Nora asked, a quizzical expression on her face. “As I said, I’m a man of haste.”

Conversation had flourished as the three of you ate together. Eventually, you’d ended up sharing the majority of your croffles with Riki, and you knew you weren’t going to hear the end of it from Nora, kind of similar to how Riki was going to be bombarded with questions by his members after the shoot was over.

Everything felt so natural, so peaceful, Riki had completely forgotten he was filming, and he didn’t care at all. There was no place he’d rather be at that moment than here, at the table with you and Nora, hanging out together.

“Riki, we have more customers!” Jay yelled from behind the counter, making the boy look back with a sad expression. “Okay I have to go now,” he sighed. “I’m going to leave my phone here with you guys, open the case!”

“Riki, what?”

“Bye!” He sprinted away, catching you and Nora by surprise. You chuckled with her, going over to take the case off his phone. You were met with a small piece of paper inside the case. You quickly unwrapped the note, reading what it said.

010XXXXX, text me ;) — nrk

ps: make a group chat with nora in it, we need to all hang out together again!!!!

“What does it say?” Nora walked over to you, looking over your shoulder to read the note. “Oh my god, Oh my god!”

You looked back at the counter, immediately meeting gazes with Riki. “Idiot,” you mouthed, to which he replied with a small chuckle. What a guy, Nishimura Riki.

03 1/2. THE GROUP CHAT

the three musketeers

opened 12:09AM

you: alright who came up with this name

riki: isn’t it cute?????

you: no

riki: oof.. tough crowd 😓

nora: LMAO

riki: everyone CHILL it’s not bully riki hour

nora: i fear it actually is.. 12:09 is bully riki hour

riki: YOU TOO??? i thought we were friends nora <\33

nora: i am loyal to [name] and [name] only 🫡

you: heh

riki: i gagged..🤢 nora get well soon

you: gagged your ass 😂😂😂 im her fr

-> 12:10AM — riki left the conversation.

nora: I CANT

-> 12:10AM — nora has added riki to the conversation.

riki: why

nora: because

riki: i understand

you: ???????anyways nora are we on for a movie marathon in two weeks

nora: OH MY GOD YES I’VE BEEN WAITING LETS DO IT

you: OKAY YES

riki: would you like to come riki? WHAT, ME? OF COURSE!!!

you: 😅😅😅whoops

riki: nono stand on that

riki: i’m pulling up to your house with a stink bomb

you: GOD NO IM SORRY RIKI PLSPSLSPSLS COME TO MOVIE NIGHT IN TWO WEEKS

riki: wow thanks!! ☺️☺️

nora: bro’s a master manipulator

riki: QUIET.

04. A LITTLE WHITE LIE

“You were so right, Jungwon!” Riki chuckled on the living room couch as Jungwon shook his head with a smile, taking in his younger member’s endearing acts. “These past few months have been so fun; I can’t believe I barely attended school in the past!”

“School is a good experience, believe it or not,” Jungwon shrugged, and Riki nodded in agreement. “So, tell me more about your little friend group. I know you’ve been talking to them nonstop.”

“Oh, yes! [Name] and Nora! They’re so funny, and they always…” The boy had been ranting without realizing, and Jungwon couldn’t help but laugh. It was cute hearing about the time you and him nearly burnt down Nora’s apartment trying to make your own croffles, and the time he had beat you and Nora in an intense round of Dress to Impress during what was supposed to be their movie marathon. He loved hearing all about it.

The truth was: Riki hadn’t been as lively lately. Before he started going to college, he’d been gloomier than usual, barely leaving his room and sleeping whenever he got the chance. Jungwon had proposed the idea to Riki so that maybe, just maybe, he would get that boost of energy he’d been needing for so long.

He was happy to see that Riki was having a good time at university, and almost felt indebted to you and Nora for reigniting back that spark of his that’d been dying out.

“They’re good friends, [Name] and Nora?”

“The best of friends.” Riki smiled, suddenly turning to his phone when it lit up with a notification from the three musketeers group chat. “Is that them?” Jungwon pointed to the phone, and Riki nodded. He watched as he texted with his friends, almost shocked at how immersed he was in the conversation.

“I’ll let you be.” Jungwon left Riki in the living room, walking back to his room.

the three musketeers

-> opened 8:38PM

nora: ALERT ALERT JAE HUANG IS THROWING A PARTY ON SATURDAY ‼️‼️

riki: who???😅😅

you: oh gosh

nora: jae huang is probably the most ICONIC party thrower on campus

nora: like seriously guys those parties are crazy fun

you: i’m not a big party person tho 😕😕

riki: sounds fun😈😈 i’m in

you: what.

nora: riki. you’re an eighteen year old in one of kpops biggest boybands

riki: i wouldn’t say biggest..😟 more ‘on the rise’

you: YOU CANT ATTEND THE PARTY😭😭

riki: WHY NOT

nora: i think you underestimate jae huangs parties… way too many ppl attend those and you’d be recognized right away

you: and how would it look if we brought you to a college party and paparazzi caught whiff of it

riki: guys seriously i’ll be fine😭 i already asked the guys and they’re fine with it as long as i don’t drink

nora: they agreed that easy??

riki: yes!! so there’s nothing to worry about!!! i’ll be there

you: ginger ale all night. maybe fanta if you want something strong.

riki: got it 🫡🫡 im more of a sprite guy though

you: gingerale and sprite

riki: does this mean you’re coming?????

you: somebody needs to babysit you🤷‍♀️

riki: … i’m gonna ignore that and just assume you’re coming bc u want to have fun!

nora: this is going to be a blast AHHH [NAME] LETS GO SHOPPING

you: i cant wait🫤🫤

Riki actually hadn’t asked the guys to go to the party, knowing the obvious answer would be no and maybe “Are you crazy?!” But he was determined to attend, he just had to lie a little.

A little white lie never hurt anybody, right?

“Holy fuck, is that Ni-Ki from ENHYPEN?!”

“No way…”

“Whatever, let’s drink!”

You had no clue who Jae Huang was, but he threw a mean party. Music blasted through the entire house, all the laughter and screams nearly overpowering the speakers.

“Something tells me that this house does not have ginger-ale,” Riki gulped.

You nodded nervously. “Tell me about it.”

It took about five seconds for Nora to get lost in the swarm of people in the house, her shiny dress immediately disappearing from your line of sight. “Oh, God,” you shook your head, and Riki laughed.

“The one and only Nishimura Riki!” A loud voice suddenly came from behind the two of you, the voice being none other than Jae Huang himself. You and Riki made eye contact for a brief moment, you shrugging before Riki went to greet Jae. “I hear you’re quite the party-thrower around campus,” he chuckled awkwardly, dabbing Jae up. “Ah, it’s nothing too big, just a small gathering.”

You mumbled to yourself, “a small gathering?” You shook your head immediately.

“This is a lively gathering,” Riki nodded, taking in the scene. “Who is this you came with?” Jae looked over to you, and your eyes widened in surprise. At the mention of your name, Riki's eyes lit up, immediately pulling you over to introduce you. "Oh, this is [Name]!" Jae grabbed your hand, kissing it as he introduced himself. “I’m Jae, nice to meet you, [Name].” You were quick to flush at the gesture, cheeks a deep red from the sudden action. “Mhm! Nice to meet you!” You failed to notice Riki’s small frown from beside you.

“Mind if I steal Ni-Ki for a moment?” You immediately nodded, letting Jae take Riki, his face quickly forming into a look of panic. He looked to you as Jae started pulling him away.

“No, I can’t!” He mouthed.

“I’m sorry!” You mouthed back, a pang of guilt suddenly hitting you. And it was almost as if it had been waiting for you, because as soon as you turned around, a glass bottle of beer stood in front of you, almost begging to be drunk.

You contemplated for a moment, was it a good decision? After all, you had to babysit, and someone had to be sober enough to call the cab (and it wasn’t going to be Nora).

“Ah,” you shrugged your shoulders, “One bottle won’t hurt.”

You should have stuck to babysitting.

“Want a drink?” Jae pushed a red cup of something that smelled so foreign it made Riki’s face scrunch in disgust. “You got soda, by chance?”

“I got you,” Jae took a can of sprite from the refrigerator, tossing it to the younger boy. “Ah, thanks.”

Riki was uncomfortable. Sitting on a couch with Jae and his friends, watching as they engaged in meaningless conversation. Seriously, what was so fun about knowing each other’s toe sizes?

The topic suddenly switched into something more serious, and it took everything in Riki not to sprint off that couch.

“You see that girl?” Jae pointed out one of the girls outside, dancing to the music that’s playing. “She’s hot!” Riki felt himself sinking into the couch as Jae’s friends laughed; this was not his crowd.

“Ugh, I need a girlfriend,” One guy said.

“Same, too bad everyone’s ugly,” Another guy replied.

“Hey, what about the girl you came with, Ni-Ki?” Jae turned to the boy, his arm around his shoulder. “What was her name, [Name]? She’d be fun to play with.” Riki was almost dumbfounded at Jae’s words, disgusted at his train of thought. Is that all those guys see in women? People to play with? No way.

“[Name] isn’t a toy, Jae. Calm yourself.” Riki took the older’s arm off of him, inching away from him on the couch. It didn’t do much, as Jae only came closer. “Are you kidding man?”

“One night with her, and I’d be a happy man.” That was it. A crowd suddenly gathered around the two once Riki’d thrown a nasty punch at Jae’s face, going at him with everything he had. “Don’t fucking talk about her like that!”

It didn’t take long before the majority of the house was deserted, everybody bunched together near the entrance, and naturally, you followed the crowd.

“A fight? With who?”

“Apparently it’s the singer guy!”

“Ni-Ki from ENHYPEN?! Shut up!” If you were drunk before, those words definitely sobered you up. Blood drained from your face as you began pushing through the crowd. You needed to get to Riki, and get him out of that party now.

When you got to the front of the crowd, your eyes widened. Jae and Riki were going at it, and they were both bloody in the face.

“Shit, is the famous one winning?”

“I don’t know, man. Jae’s got him good.”

“Eh, I think it’s a tie. Jae’s about to pass out, but dancer dude is perfectly stable.”

“He should’ve known not to drink so much before getting into a fight.”

“Who cares? This is crazy!”

You shook your head, running to Riki. “Riki!” you yelled from behind, and he quickly turned around. “[Name]?” Jae took this as the perfect time to take a swing at Riki’s face, landing a strong punch on his nose. “Fuck!” He turned back to Jae, sent one last impact to his cheek, and thankfully, he tapped out, flying to the couch.

“God damnit! I had my money on him!”

You stomped over to him, grabbing his wrist. “What the hell is your issue?!” Riki remained stoic, shaking your hand off. “It’s nothing, let’s go.”

“You think you can just walk away from this, Ni-Ki?! With that fucking whore?!”

“Hey, watch your mouth, asshole!”

“Riki, let’s go!” You had to drag him out the house before he went another round with Jae. You closed the door, leaving just you and him on the front porch. “What was that, Riki?! Why would you get into a fight with him?!”

“He’s a dick, that’s why!” He hissed. “He deserved everything that hit him!”

“God, Riki, do you realize how serious this is?! The public’s going to find about this, and you’re going to be in huge trouble—”

“I don’t care, [Name]! He said some fucked up things, and he got what he deserved, and that’s it!”

“I doubt it was that serious, Riki. Control your temper, for fuck’s sake!”

Riki laughed, shaking his head. Anger was obvious on his face, steam nearly shooting from his ears. “You should be glad I punched that asshole! This whole thing started because he thought it would be a good idea to start talking shit about you!”

“What?” You stopped, brows suddenly furrowing. “[Name], Jae said some really bad things, and it got me upset.” Normally, you’d hear him out, and apologize for lashing out, but with the current tension in the air, and the gallons of alcohol in your system, the only thing you could do was keep yelling.

“Who asked you to defend me?! I could have handled that myself!” You shouted, running a hand through your hair in frustration. “Give me a break, [Name]! With the way you were looking at him, I guarantee he could’ve sweet-talked himself out of trouble!” Your eyes widened. “What do you mean ‘the way I looked at him’?”

“You looked you wanted to eat his face off the second he kissed your hand!”

“What does that have to do with anything? I don’t like him like that, Riki!”

“It sure looks like you do!” He started walking off the porch, and you quickly followed behind him. “What is this about, Riki? Seriously, talk to me!”

“No, [Name]! I’m done trying to explain myself to you. It’s not like it’s working out anyway; You keep defending fuckass Jae, anyway!”

Tears were filling your eyes, the intensity of the argument getting to you. “I’m not defending him, I’m looking out for you!”

“You aren’t! You’re completely ignoring the fact that I did all of this to protect you, and instead coming at my throat for beating up your precious boy.” He turned to you with a scowl, almost disgusted by your presence. Riki sighed, “Have fun with him, [Name], I give up. I’m leaving.” He walked away, and you let him.

You quickly called Nora, and left with her in a cab soon after. Your head was pounding with everything going on, and it didn’t help that you were insanely tipsy.

Getting to your apartment, you immediately broke down into tears, sliding down your door with your face in your hands.

After tonight, you had no clue what was going to happen. And what you were sure of, was that you were dreading classes tomorrow.

05. SUE ME, HEESEUNG!

“It’s one in the morning, where have you been— What the fuck happened to your face?” Jungwon gasped at the sight of Riki’s face, bruised and bleeding. “I really don’t want to talk about it, I’ve had enough for one night.”

“Yeah, had enough doing what? Why the hell are you all beat up?!”

“Jungwon, please! Give me a break!” Riki suddenly lashed out, the events of earlier leaving him in a hostile position. “I shouldn’t have listened to you, I knew this wouldn’t work out!”

“Hey, no,” Jungwon scowled. “You don’t get to be angry right now. You show up in the middle of the night bleeding from your head with a black eye, and decide to blow up at me? The fuck did I do?! Do you know how much trouble you could be in if anyone saw you like that?!”

Riki held his head in frustration, his anger numbing the pain of all the bruises on his face. “I don’t care about what the public sees, Jungwon! I couldn’t care less!” He held his index finger up, pointing it in Jungwon’s face. “You want to know what you did, Jungwon? You convinced me to go to college, to make friends, to fall in love with someone, and I did! I fell in love with an asshole!”

Jungwon gasped. “Riki…is it [Name]—”

“Don’t even mention her name near me. I’m over it.” The boy shook his head, stomping towards his room with a huff. “Riki, we aren’t done discussing this!”

“No, I think we are, because I am!” He slammed the door, making Jungwon inch back at the noise. Even so, he wouldn’t give up, because this was how Riki was. He would hide all his feelings, and explode if he was pushed too far.

Normally, Jungwon would let Riki figure it out on his own, but right now, he could tell that he needed to be comforted. He slowly walked to his door, knocking on it.

Riki’s voice broke. “Jungwon—”

“You don’t have to tell me anything, just let me in.” Hesitantly, he opened the door, tears running down his cheeks as he sniffled softly. “I fought for her, literally. I fought for her, Jungwon, and she didn’t even care! She just blew up at me, some shit about my image; she didn’t even notice!” Jungwon patted the boy’s back as he fell to the floor, his sniffles shifting into loud sobs.

He’d never seen Riki cry this hard in his life, and it was heartbreaking. “I’m so sorry, Riki.” Jungwon sighed, his chest aching as he watched the boy beside him almost yell out in agony.

Hiatus. Riki had been put on hiatus.

It didn’t take long before the news spread all over the internet, and BELIFT was quick to handle the rumors, both confirming them and announcing that Riki would be put on hiatus until he could “control himself.”

Not only that, the poor guy was grounded.

After the rest of his members and his manager had found out about what had happened, they’d become livid. Not only had he gone to a college party, with alcoholic drinks, without their knowledge, he’d also decided to throw a few punches at the obnoxious host, who could not keep his mouth shut after the incident. After a long discussion with the members (Riki not included), they’d decided that letting Riki go outside with all these rumors was not a good idea.

And so, he was put on house arrest, grounded, punished. His phone was confiscated, he was suspended from his college campus, so even if he tried to escape, he couldn’t go to school and try anything, and his manager managed to take his shoes, all of them, so that he couldn’t go outside unless he was willing to walk out barefoot.

It seemed that he had it bad, but little did he know, you had it worse.

“[Name]! Over here!”

“How did you manage to enchant Nishimura Riki, [Name]?!”

“She isn’t even all that..”

“Bro, Ni-Ki couldn’t come up to me instead? I’m literally his type!”

Straight up torture. You had no clue how Riki did it. How he dealt with press and their snoopy selves like it was nothing, like it wasn’t so, so fucking annoying. Nora had her arm around your shoulder, guiding you to your classes as you could barely squeeze your way through the formed crowds on campus.

It didn’t take long for everybody to know what happened. After all, gossip spread fast at your university, and with an idol added to the mix, best believe people were filled in from the moment that party concluded.

And with gossip comes rumors. Lots of ‘em.

“I heard that she was two-timing Ni-Ki and Jae Huang!”

“No way! That little whore!” soft giggles came from the halls as students stared at you with Nora.

“You think she knows ENHYPEN?”

“Oh my god, I actually need Jake’s number, let’s ask!”

As if you’d been possessed, and Jesus had taken the wheel, you turned on your heel, running out of campus, through the whispering crowds, through the paparazzi, leaving Nora dumbstruck in the halls.

“Huh? [Name]!” By the time she had gone to chase after you, your figure was nowhere to be found, disguised amidst the tons of people outside. “Fucking hell.”

Clips of the ambush on you spread like wildfire on the internet, ENGENES scrambling to figure out who it was that “sabotaged their Ni-ki’s image.” You could only sit in your apartment in complete silence, only the sound of your sniffles being heard in the room.

Of all people that this could have happened to, why you? What was it about you that Riki found so interesting that he just had to talk to you?

You thought back to the argument you had with him, your face scrunching up in confusion.

“What does that have to do with anything? I don’t like him like that, Riki!”

“Well, it sure looks like you do!”

You thought the entire situation was uncalled for, especially this part. Why was he so concerned about whether or not you liked Jae Huang? If he really knew you, he would know that you’ve never once showed interest in the guy.

For fuck’s sake, it’d be more believable if you suddenly said you had a crush on Riki!

His name gave you migraines, both of them. You couldn’t believe what you had gotten yourself into, what he had got you into.

Never again. Like, ever.

The only entertainment Riki had was the television screen in his room, which, thankfully, had cable on it. Unfortunately, however, he only had two channels: Cinemax, and SBS News.

It was nine o’ clock at night, but he wasn’t tired yet. The boy was convinced he’d already seen all the movies on the movie channel at least thrice, and was so bored he decided to turn on the only other channel he had. He switches to the news channel with a sigh.

“…Olympian An Se-Young wins gold at the badminton competition, Oh! And breaking news, K-Pop fans have found out the identity of the girl who has seemingly put ENHYPEN’s Ni-Ki on an indefinite hiatus, saying that her name is [Full Name]. According to popular belief, she had…”

The television proceeded to show videos of you being bombarded by paparazzi on campus, calling you names, yelling questions at you, along with the clip of you running home shortly after. Riki couldn’t believe what he was hearing, and felt powerless.

Hearing what they called you, seeing your information all over his TV screen, it made him sick to his stomach. And knowing that he was the one who caused this made him feel terrible. He knew that he wasn’t able to leave the dorms since his shoes were confiscated, and even if he were to leave, chances are you wouldn’t even open your door for him.

He could only bring his knees up to his chin, sighing as he continued to watch. It was painful to see you so distraught; he hadn’t seen you like this before. It stung even more when another video played, this time a video of her apartment door, painted with messages that read Stay away from Ni-Ki! and Whore! in bright red marker.

He swore that he would learn to control his temper after the party, but looking at the video, he couldn’t stay at the dorms any longer.

Of course, he couldn’t go to your place. With everything going on, there was no way in hell you would open the door for him, but he knew someone who might.

He’d packed a luggage filled with at least a week’s worth of clothing, and waltzed into Heeseung’s empty room, picking up the first pair of slippers he came across.

“What the hell? Where are you going?” Walking out to the living room, he met gazes with said Heeseung, who was boiling ramen for himself.

“I’m leaving.” Riki responded nonchalantly, walking over to the kitchen counter to take a face covering. “Um, no, you’re not. You can’t leave.” Heeseung argued, shaking his head.

“Well, I have to go! Sue me, Heeseung!” He grabbed the face covering, and grabbed his luggage, and stormed out the dorm, making sure to take the stairs so the other members wouldn’t catch him in the elevator.

He walked for a good hour and a half, paying no mind to the weird stares he got by civilians. After long, he arrived to the apartment building, ringing up a random apartment with the excuse that he had a delivery so that he’d be let in.

He stopped at the door, a small sigh leaving his lips. What if she didn’t let him in? What would he tell the guys? Where would he stay then?

He shook his head, hesitating before knocking on the door. Surprisingly, it didn’t take long before the door opened, revealing a stunned Nora in front of him.

“What the fuck?”

06. RIKI AND NORA’S GRAND SCHEME

“Nora, hi..” Riki chuckled nervously, gulping at Nora’s stern expression. “No,” her hand went to close the door, but Riki quickly stopped the door before it could go completely shut. “Nora, please,” he begged, “I have nowhere to go.”

“You can’t go home? You know, where you actually live?”

“The thing is.. I ran away.”

“…Then go back?”

“I was grounded.”

Silence filled the hall for a good two seconds before Nora burst out into laughter. “At your big age! You got grounded! This is so funny!” She slapped her knee, and Riki could only roll his eyes. “Well, now you understand my situation, so can I please crash here for a couple of days?”

Her hand went to her chin, rubbing it as if she were pondering. “On one condition.”

“What?”

“You tell me what really happened between you and [Name].” Riki tensed at the mention of your name, and Nora was quick to notice. “Jesus.”

“She hasn’t told you?” Riki questioned, and she shook her head. “All I know is that you punched someone, I don’t know why, though. She also hasn’t told me why you two are disagreeing right now.”

“It’s a long story,” Riki looks a her with a small sigh, “I can tell you if I come in.” Nora rolls her eyes, “Fine, but you will leave no details out.”

“…Oh my.” She was rendered speechless, her only reaction being a small gasp. “So, you like her? Like, like-like her?”

Riki nodded. “Yes, I like-like her.” He was still coming to terms with the fact that he’d fallen for you.

He had realized during the movie marathon a few weeks back that he’d felt something for you, but only let himself accept it after the party.

FLASHBACK — A FEW WEEKS AGO…

“Oh my god, that outfit is horrendous, Riki!” You and Nora broke out into tears, the giggles leaving your mouth making Riki sulk. The three of you had been playing a random dress-up game you found online, and what you noticed was that, despite Riki’s impeccable fashion sense in real life, he did not know how to style himself in games.

“Oh, come on, guys! It’s not even that bad!” Riki whined, still pressing buttons to get his character to pose on the runway. “Are you kidding?” Nora started, “The full fur combo? Rookie mistake!”

“Hey, I’m a PRADA ambassador! It’s abstract!” Not even his brand deals could save him from yours and Nora’s teasing, as you continue to laugh out loud because of his outfit. “I quit!” He put his phone down on your couch, kicking his feet. “We should be watching movies right now, not bullying me!”

You shook your head, endeared by the boy in front of you. “Okay fine, you big baby.” You ran your hand through his hair, ruffling it with a laugh, and Riki found himself awestruck by you.

Was it the way you laughed, or how safe he felt under your touch, or how pretty you looked with your Snorlax onesie and your hair tied? He wasn’t sure, but he felt a warm feeling spread throughout his chest, and up his neck, heating up the entire area.

He suddenly leaned into your touch, moving his head to your shoulder as he grabbed the remote, “I vote for The Bee Movie!”

“No!” You and Nora shouted in unison, and he could only laugh.

TIME SKIP — PRESENT TIME…

“Lord, I hated that movie,” Nora shook her head at Riki’s taste in films, and, like always, he laughed again. “You don’t get it like I do!”

“Anyways..” He started again, his tone going serious, “the real reason why I came here was to ask you for help. With [Name].” Nora tilted her head, puzzled, and Riki continued.

“I saw everything that was happening to her on the news, and I was so worried. I felt terrible for causing her so much trouble, but I couldn’t apologize since I didn’t have my phone.”

“They really grounded you, huh?”

“I’m being serious, Nora!” Nora nodded with a small chuckle, signaling for him to continue. “So I was thinking that you’d help me apologize to her… in person.” Nora’s expression stiffened, in deep thought.

“I don’t know, Riki..” She sighed. “She won’t even fully open up to me— no offense, but if she won’t talk to me, there’s no way she’ll talk to you.”

Riki’s head hung low, his prior optimism slowly deteriorating. “I wish I could help you, Ki, I’m serious. I just don’t know if I can.”

He sat quietly for a moment, before speaking again. “Do you really think I’m that much of a lost cause?”

“She was really hurt that night, Riki. She’s still hurting, maybe worse than before.” Nora turned to him, a sudden glint of determination in her eyes. “I can’t say for sure if she’ll forgive you, but I’m willing to try for you.” Riki’s eyes lit up, and she smiled.

“You’ve become such an important person in her life; I truly haven’t seen her so upbeat until she met you, and I never want her to lose that momentum she has right now, so if you’re the one who can bring her back, then I’ll try my best to get you to her.”

Riki was beaming, immediately pulling Nora into a tight hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” His smile was uncontainable, you could practically hear that grin when he spoke.

“Okay, Riki— You’re choking me. Riki!”

The plan was simple: Nora would ask you to hang out, and hopefully, you’d say yes, but instead of meeting up with her, Riki would show up in her place and save their friendship.

It was so easy, yet Riki still managed to screw it up. How?

ynnnnnieeeeee

-> coversation opened at 3:12PM

nora: [nameeeee] 😕 how r u doing

you: i’m as good as a girl being harassed by the public can be!!! not very good

nora: im so sorry babe :// this whole thing sucks

you: yeahhh but what can i do

you: i made the decision to associate myself with a popular guy 😂😂😂😂 regretting it heavy rn

nora: cmon [name] dont say that

nora: you know he is ur best friend,, you can’t just let him go so easy

you: WRONG! he WAS my best friend before he decided that he knew what was best for me

nora: [name]😕😕😕 how abt i take ur mind off things for a bit

you: ????

nora: your fav beach, 5pm today😉😉 you know u want to

you: ugh you know me so well😭😭 i didn’t even know i told u that

nora: what can i say 🤷‍♀️ anyways SEE U THERE!

you: see ya :))

big rik

-> conversation opened at 3:17PM

nora: [two screenshots] she lowk hates you rn but riki and nora’s grand scheme is a GO!!!

riki: HELL YES (FUCKKK😭💔💔)!!! she liked the beach idea right 😎😎😎

nora: dude she loved it so bad how did u even think of that

riki: she mentioned it to me a few weeks back and she was super passionate about it 🥹🥹 it was so cute

nora: ewwww loverboy im vomitting

riki: yeah bc i gagged ur ass

nora: …..

riki: THOUGHT SO!!!

Five in the afternoon was slowly approaching, and Riki made sure to get there before you, leaving the house at roughly 4:30 to beat you there.

Unfortunately for him, he’d made it at the same time as you, but you hadn’t seen him yet, even though he’d seen you.

You looked tired, your eyes bloodshot red, your feet practically dragging along the concrete as you walked, it was heartbreaking.

As if it couldn’t get worse, you’d been bumped into by a group of guys on the same sidewalk as you. Just as you were about to enter the beach, you were stopped by three guys, both of them oddly familiar. Then, you recognized them as Jae Huang’s friends, the same Jae Huang who’d—

“Well, if it isn’t Korea University’s top whore!” One of the guys laughed, the rest following along. “Wait until Jae hears about this— God, you look terrible!” You looked down, trying to walk past them, but one of them quickly pushed you back, causing you to stumbled backwards.

“C’mon, babe,” one of the guys started, “you don’t want to hang with us? Don’t be like that.” You nearly gagged, the sight of the three guys making you sick. Why did this have to happen to you?

“Please, can I just go—”

“You’re so annoying!” Another guy grabbed you by the wrist, yanking you away from the beach as you tried your hardest to wriggle your hand out of his grip. That was— until you were set free.

“That’s enough, you three.” You turned, shocked at the familiar voice. “Riki?”

“Aw, look! It’s prince charming coming to save you once again!” the three guys laughed, but Riki remained still. “Let her go,” he demanded, but they didn’t budge, keeping you in their grip.

“Not so fast, buddy. She’s ours.”

“In what world? Utopia?” Riki chuckled bitterly, shaking his head. “That Jae Huang really doesn’t learn,” he walked up to the guy holding your wrist, and harshly pulled his hand away, catching him by surprise. “What the fu—”

“Now, I want you to send Jae a small message for me, can you do that?” He had the man held by the collar, frightening the other two. They’d been there to see Jae’s ass get beat by Riki, so they knew not to get physical with him.

“You tell Huang to stay the fuck away from [Name], or I’ll make sure he never shows his face again.” He let go of the guy’s collar, and the three ran off, scared shitless.

He was quick to turn to you, eyes widening when he noticed you walking away from him. “[Name]! Wait up, please!” He gently placed his hand on your shoulders, stopping you in your tracks. “Please, just let me explain everything.”

“Where’s Nora?!”

“What? She’s at the house!”

“‘The house?’ What, are you two roommates or something?”

“What? No! Only for a little while until I’m ungrounded— That’s not the point, [Name]!” He sighed, the nerves nearly eating him alive. “I’m about to say a lot, so make sure you’re listening.”

“Wha—”

“I’m sorry, [Name]. Really fucking sorry.” He sighed. “When I was at the party, Jae had said some weird stuff about you, and it pissed me off, and I punched him. I didn’t know that the situation would escalate, and I really should have thought about how this would hurt you before I did anything. Now you’re being assaulted in public, being ridiculed for no reason online, and it’s all my fault. [Name], I feel terrible.”

“Riki—”

“No, [Name], let me finish.” You stopped so he could continue. “I’d understand if you still didn’t want to talk to me, but I just want you to know that you’re so important to me, and despite everything that’s happened, these past few months have been the best months in my life, all thanks to you. I truly do care for you, and I hate to see you hurting, so please, keep your head up, if not for me, then for Nora. Don’t let the public get to you— they like to break you down until you can’t get up, but I know you, and I know that you’re strong, and you’re better than all of them. I know you’ll be able to bounce back,” he chuckled, “you always do. Just never lose that pretty smile of yours, hmm?”

When he was met with silence, he nodded softly, turning on his heel to walk away when suddenly, you grabbed his wrist, engulfing him into the embrace he’d missed so much. He immediately wrapped his arms around you.

“Riki, I-I’m so sorry,” you sniffled, sobs getting louder the longer you stayed in Riki’s embrace. “You have nothing to apologize for, you could never hurt me.” He smiled, and you felt yourself mesmerized by the light in his grin. You nodded, slowly pulling away.

He held his hand out in front of you. “So, do you still want to go to the beach? It’s still light out.” You grabbed his hand, replying, “I’d love that.”

And the two of you walked down to the beach.

“You know, if my members find me, they might never let me outside again.”

“You’re an idiot, Nishimura.”

“Only for you, Sweets.”

07. BEST PART — FINALE.

“Nora, I’m out of clothes!” Riki paced around the living room, pointing to his luggage that now carried nothing but perfume and accessories. “I think that means that you need to go home now, Riki,” she replied, a small chuckle leaving her lips at his distress.

“You love seeing me suffer, don’t you?”

“It brightens my day.”

“Ugh!” Riki groans, running his hands through his hair. “How am I supposed to go home?! I’m going to get my ass beat!” Nora sighs, shaking her head. “Riki, you just need to go there and give them a damn-good apology! You obviously can’t stay here much longer.”

“Are you sure you don’t have any oversized clothes in your closet for me?”

“You’ve left me with no choice.”

“She kicked me out, [Name]! Like actually, kicked me out with her foot!” You laughed from the other side of the phone line, dumbfounded. “Now why would she do that?” Your tone was teasing, but Riki didn’t pick it up because of how badly he was panicking. “I don’t know! She wants me to go home, even though I’m going to get grounded again! Can you believe it?!”

“Okay, Riki, don’t freak out…” You spoke cautiously, “…but you know how you made me share my location with you?”

“Yes…it’s a safety precaution, why?”

“I don’t think you know this, but when I shared my location with you, it also shares your location with me.”

“Okay…what’s wrong with that?”

“Well, I may have shared your exact location to your manager, and he may or may not be coming to pick you up right now, please don’t kill me!”

“WHAT?!— Oh my god, I see his car!” You can hear panting over the phone, and can only assume that Riki is currently trying to outrun his manager’s van. “He’s right there, oh my gosh! This is it! My last words: “I died a warrior!””

“Ni-Ki, get in the car!” The last things you heard before the line got cut off were the sounds of Riki’s frantic shouts, along with the honking of his manager’s car. “Idiot,” You laughed to yourself, knowing full well that he was going to be just fine.

“You’re lucky you’re you, or else you’d be dead right now,” Riki pouted, shoving another croffle in his mouth, “Wow, these croffles are good!”

“Are you sure nobody saw you get the food from the café earlier? And nobody saw you come into my building? You’re still on hiatus, so I don’t know if you’re even allowed outside right now.” You spoke worriedly, but Riki was quick to shake his head. “First off, I posted a lengthy apology note on Weverse, and the ENGENES seem to be receiving it well, so I think I’m good! Also, I made sure to be very stealthy walking into the café.”

“So, about three ENGENES walked up to you?”

“Close, but two ENGENES.” You burst into laughter, wiping the tears from your eyes as you held your stomach. Somehow, Riki always knew how to make you laugh.

Matter of fact, he always knew how to make you happy, Riki made you happy. He watched you in admiration.

“Okay, movie time!” Riki announced, running to the couch to choose the movie. “We’re watching The Bee Movie again, by the way.”

“No more of The Bee Movie, please!”

“But, don’t you like jazz?”

“Riki!”

Eventually, the two of you had settled on How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, a rom-com classic, and were nearly finished the film. You had snuggled onto Riki’s chest (he pulled you there), and you didn’t object. You weren’t one for physical touch, yet you felt safe when you were near Riki.

“How do the actors not fall for each other?” You spoke your thoughts aloud, and Riki only hummed. “I’m not sure,” he replied. “Maybe they just aren’t made for each other.”

“But look at what Matthew McConaughey says about his experience on set with Kate Hudson! They seem so close— how did they not fall in love with each other?”

Riki shrugged, pulling you closer. “Maybe he didn’t feel that spark you feel when you’re in love. You know— when your heart beats out of your chest whenever you’re near someone, when you find yourself wanting to spend time with them all the time, wanting to spend the rest of your life with them, when you miss them the moment they leave you, and when your hands get all sweaty and clammy whenever you’re next to them. Maybe Matthew McConaughey just didn’t feel that with Kate Hudson.”

“Wow, Riki,” you chuckled. “You’re like, a love expert. Who’s the lucky girl?” He smiled, this was it, this was when he was going to say it.

“None other than the girl in my arms right now.” Your eyes widened, heat spreading from your chest to your cheeks. You sit up right away. “Me?!”

“Yeah, you,” Riki grinned from ear to ear, and you felt yourself slowly melting away. “When I first started thinking about attending university, I had my doubts, but when I met you, they all disappeared into thin air. You’re undeniably charming, and that spark I was talking about— I feel all of it when I’m with you, because I love you, [Name]. A lot.”

“Riki, I-” Your voice breaks, sobs threatening to escape after Riki’s confession. “I love you, too. A lot.” He chuckled, wiping your tears with his thumb. His expression softened, and slowly, he leaned in, “May I?”

When you nod, he connects your lips in a gentle kiss, cupping your face while you feel him smile against your mouth. The two of you pull away, and your cheeks are nearly about to burst with how wide your smile is.

“Will you be my girlfriend, [Name]?”

“Yes, I will, Riki.” He cheers and brings you back to his chest, leaning the two of you back on the couch. You laugh softly. “Now I feel like we’re in a movie, a rom-com of our own,” you start, watching the credits of the movie you had on roll.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Riki wishes he would stop smiling so much, but he truly can’t help it, he just loves you so much.

“It feels surreal, doesn’t it? The fact that we’re dating?” You nod in response, “if our life were a movie, I think this would be the best part.”

Riki shakes his head. “If our life were a movie, you’d be the best part.”

You giggle. “Always the biggest flirt, Nishimura.”

“You know you love it, Sweets.”

“Yeah, maybe I do.”

THE END.

taglist @sakiimeo @tinytan-gerine @riksboo @yangjungwonnie @heartheejake @lanapaz @heartsforjw @yourmyst4r @riksaes @yasssposts @catecita @onementally-unstabel-kid @forever-atiny @jxkluvr @sol3chu @istglevi-gotmesimping @moonpri @annoyingbitch83 @bee-the-loser (bold couldn’t be tagged!)

---

A SUCKER FOR THE TASTE ✦— 𝐋.𝐇𝐒

▹ PAIRING — experienced husband heeseung x virgin f. reader

▹ GENRE — smut, fluff, newlyweds au

▹ SYNOPSIS — As teens, you were the uncanny duo that fell in love at first sight. Some odd years later, and you’re now a newlywed couple, spending your first night together in a fit of nerves as you navigate sex and other new feelings…

▹ WARNINGS — KINKTOBER SPECIAL, basically just pussy drunk!husband!heeseung making you squirt for hours on the night of your honeymoon, marriage themes (duh), mentions of food, dom and sub dynamics, kissing with tongue, overstimulation kink (reader cums multiple times), oral sex (f. receiving), fingering, petnames (baby, angel, pretty, sweetie), that’s all

▹ WORD COUNT: 3.3k — DAY 1

YOU AND HEESEUNG were like Romeo and Juliet; two people from totally different walks of life, and honestly, no one ever would’ve guessed you two’d end up falling for each other.

Sometimes, it’s hard to tell any time had passed between the first moment you met Heeseung with a hickey on his neck in the lunch hall to now as you sit before him on a king sized bed, ring fingers clad with beautiful bands to match as you stared into each others eyes, speaking a love song of unspoken words.

“You’re fine with waiting til marriage?” You remember asking him a few weeks after you first started dating as teens, “you won’t think I’m a prude for wanting to keep things traditional?…”

“Of course not, sweetie,” you remember him answering while cupping your face in his hands, “a girl like you is worth the wait—” He whispered in between kissing your lips, “—and so much more…”

Since that moment, you and Heeseung have stuck to your guns, not even so much as showering together to keep your purity intact until the right moment…

… That fateful day when you’d say “I do” and he the same, right before venturing off into the sunset on angel’s wings to explore another country together.

Another life, might I add, as a married couple on your extravagant honeymoon…

Everything was so magical in your head, too… but regardless of that, Heeseung was too big of a fucking dork to let himself be romantic for once.

Just an hour ago, he had told the hotel receptionist “you too” after she congratulated you both on getting married—

“Grrrrrrrrr,” he pouted, scrunching his nose at you.

“Did you just… growl at me!?”

“Yes, and I’ll do it again if you keep resisting,” Heeseung threatened playfully, pointing an accusing finger at your frame now.

Sighing, you raised your hands beside your head as a sign of compliance, parting your lips slightly as you held your head back for him.

“Alright, don't move this time, alright? We can do this!” He ordered more passionately this time, cradling a single grape between his fingers before angling his wrist backwards and launching it towards your mouth.

“Oh my gosh, I finally caught it!” You shouted with excitement, words coming out a bit slurred as you bit down into the sweet fruit, “Tastes like victory,” you continued, making Heeseung grace you with his thundering ovation.

“Brava!” He began to cheer, but the rest of his sentence was interrupted by his own burp, which only elicited a fit of embarrassed giggles from the both of you…

Two empty glasses of wine sat on the hotel nightstand beside the bed you were currently sat on, and if it wasn't obvious enough, y'all were already starting to experience the giddy effects of the alcohol dancing in your systems.

“So,” you smiled, a laugh still present in your throat as you fed him a white grape from the bowl between you two, “we're the couple that eats pie in place of dinner now?”

“Sure... but not just any pie,” Heeseung corrected, leaning closer to your ear as he whispered, “blueeeberry pieeee.”

You're not sure if it was the wine or the honeymoon high, but you can't help yourself from laughing out loud at Heeseung's behavior in this moment—

“You’re a legend for always vibing with my horrible sense of humor, y’know that?” Your husband remarked while tilting his head at you endearingly.

“Your humor is definitely one-of-a-kind, but I wouldn't want you to change a thing about it,” you returned tenderly, right before feeding him a fork-full of blueberry pie from the dish between you two, feeling your heart swell as he smiled into the bite.

The kind of smile you’d have a hard time getting out of your mind later—

“Thanks, babe,” he said, a bit of dark blue jam resting in the corner of his mouth now as his eyes sparkled with what you could bet was pure flattery.

You always liked it whenever you managed to get Heeseung all flustered before you, considering how he was usually the one to make you a blushing mess with only his words.

“You've uh...” you stammer slightly, “you've got a little something on your lip there...”

“Really?”

“Yea, just... let me get it for you real quick,” you continue, licking the pad of your thumb before leaning forward to dab at the jam on his mouth.

That's when you noticed his lips curving into a subtle smirk as he whispered in a low voice, “You got it, baby?”

“Y-yea,” you stuttered again, feeling your face heat up at his words, and if you didn't look so hot to him right now, he would've pinched your cheeks—

“Whoops,” Heeseung gasped facetiously, pouting at the streak of blueberry jam he very intentionally just smeared on your lower lip, “must be the wine making me so clumsy today...”

Your eye almost twitched at the sight of him licking his finger clean, a rush of nerves swarming in your stomach now

“I-it's okay, Heeseung,” you said while lifting your thumb to your mouth, “I've got it...”

“No you don't,” he chuckled at your shy demeanor, right before closing the space between you two, taking your face in his hand and kissing you.

And yes, you saw this coming, but it took you a few seconds to fully close your eyes, letting them flutter shut as you both sighed at the taste of each other, almost as if the contact relaxed you…

The kiss was slow at first, with you and him simply breathing against each other’s mouths as his velvety lips moved against yours.

But that pace didn't last long once Heeseung broke from the kiss to move the bowl of grapes and pie out of the way, a few of the glossy green ovals hitting the ground with light thuds as his right hand found the small of your back, pulling you even closer to him.

The kiss grew more intense from there as both your heads were tilting into each other, wet smacks filling the room now as his tongue prodded against yours with every passing second.

“God, you taste so sweet,” Heeseung groaned, desperately clinging to your waist which only made you moan in response.

You and Heeseung had made out countless times in the past, but you could tell something was different this time... you never felt this worked up with him before, and you knew it wasn’t just gonna end with a kiss—

“Can’t wait to taste other parts of you, too, baby…” he hummed, kissing along your neck while pinning your delicate wrists above your head.

And that’s when you felt it…

The twitch between your legs and the heat rushing throughout your entire body…

You were wearing a plaid pajama skirt and white top that matched Heeseung’s plaid sweatpants and long sleeved shirt, as you simply expected to only eat some dessert, discuss the rest of your honeymoon plans, and head straight to sleep right after.

Now though, you knew you wouldn't be able to get much rest with your emotions like this… at least not comfortably, that is…

You’re between his lap at first until he guides you onto your back, kissing down your neck, between your breasts, and down your stomach as he lifts your top, stopping at the waist band of your skirt given the way your body tensed up suddenly.

“Is everything alright?” He asked softly, glancing back up at you with a swollen look to his pouty lips, given all the kissing they had just done.

You knew what was happening right now..

Heeseung was doing exactly what you had asked him to do, and as much as your body craved it, your mind kept fighting it for some reason…

FLASHBACK —

“Just… don’t make it too… formal, okay?”

“Formal?” Heeseung repeated with a slight chuckle as you sat beside each other on the plane that morning.

“Well, yea… I just don’t want to make a big deal out of it—”

“But it is a big deal, baby,” he cut you off by placing his hand over yours. “We’ve been waiting a long time for this, y’know?… Not just to have sex but—” he leaned closer to you as he whispered this in your ear, “—to make each other feel good… in all kinds of ways…”

His breath tickled your ear in that moment… similarly to how his lips were tickling you now as you laid before him on the mattress, his head hovering over the space between your thighs.

“We don’t have to go any further until you’re ready, love—”

“I’m ready, Heeseung,” you said while nodding, but he waited to continue, knowing in his heart that there was still something you needed to get off your chest.

He backed away, pulling your shirt back over your stomach and sitting on the bed normally now.

“Heeseung,” you said again, drawing his sparkly doe eyes back to you.

“I’m listening, love,” is all he replied with, offering you a warm smile, “what’s on your mind?”

What’s in the way? You internally asked yourself right after, knowing deep down that you had no reason to feel so nervous with him right now…

Heeseung had never alienated you because of your inexperience with sex before, and was always very understanding of your moral and sexual boundaries.

But now, things were different; you were a married couple, and one of the many perks of that was being able to explore each others body in a comfortable way…

Turns out though, it was all just your own insecurities clouding your judgment, and you hated that you couldn’t shake the nerves bubbling in your stomach…

“It’s just that,” you started nervously, fidgeting with your manicured nails, “I… I’ve never done anything like this before.”

“Yeah, I know,” your husband nodded sarcastically, trying his best to resist the urge to kiss you again—

“And…well, you have a lot more experience than me with this kind of thing,” you continued, lowering your head.

“So what?”

“What if I don’t meet your expectations?…”

“Expectations? What do you mean, ____?”

“Well, you’ve been with a lot of other girls and what if I’m not as good as them? What if you don’t like sex with me?…”

Heeseung’s heart would’ve otherwise dropped at your words, but instead, he smiled softly, taking your chin in his hand and lifting your head towards him. “You’re nothing like those girls I was with in the past, ____, and that’s my favorite part about you,”

You looked into his eyes as he continued, “I’ll be happy with whatever happens tonight. You wanna know why? Because I did it with you, and I love you with my everything, princess…”

“I love you too, Heeseung,” you replied meekly, flashing him a soft smile as he kissed your cheek.

“No expectations tonight, then… okay, baby? I just wanna please you,” he whispered, slowly guiding your body back down against the mattress with a secure hand. “I wanna make you feel so good,” he continued, placing another kiss to the center of your lips. 

Heeseung started by letting his plush lips wander all over your body again, lifting your shirt up once more to leave open-mouthed kisses all over your stomach.

“You're so beautiful,” he murmured with warm breath against your skin, caressing your inner thighs with his hands until you naturally craned them open, inviting him to your pulsing core.

Your breath hitched once you felt his nose burry between your clothed folds, but your little sounds only excited him even further, and he wasted no time in removing your panties completely now.

“Heeseung,” you whined, watching him through half-lidded eyes as he spat on your cunt, toying with the moisture there using his middle and index finger.

“Just relax for me, angel,” your husband cooed with a soothing tone, and you're not sure if it was the alcohol or the petname he just called you in his bedroom voice, but your head was starting to feel very dizzy.

And if you weren't so horny, you would've felt bashful in front of him like this... half-naked, and trembling when he's hardly even touched you yet.

The coldness of his wedding band against the warm flesh of your thigh sent shivers down your spine, and he wasted no time in inviting his fingers into your sopping hole, one at a time until your walls practically sucked him in.

He then started to leave kitten licks against your sensitive bud, complimenting the pace by pumping his wrist towards your pelvis with his digits still exploring the gummy walls of your cunt.

Admittedly, you had tried fingering yourself in the past, but it never felt as good as the way Heeseung worked wonders inside you right now, but you still needed something...

Something to hold onto… something to grab, and Heeseung could immediately tell once your nails started weakly nipping at the bed sheets, your pussy throbbing more and more—

“Hee,” you moaned, feeling his fingers curl deeper and deeper inside your tight cunt, “need to touch you so bad...”

“Yea? Wanna hold my hand, pretty?”

All you can manage to do is nod desperately, making him chuckle slightly at your neediness.

“If you hold my hands, I need you to promise to keep your legs open for me on your own... can you do that for me, love?”

“Y-yes,” you stammered, and with that, Heeseung got to work on licking your slick from his fingers before finding your hands in his.

But your core was already missing the stimulation, making your hips rise up and down as if thin air would provide enough friction to ease your craving.

And that's when he licked his first stripe up the center of your pussy, and you're sure your eyes rolled to the back of your head at the sensation.

It didn't take long for the pleasure to escalate from there, either.

His lips wrapped around your clit and sucked you in like a starved out man. His tongue was applying pressure in all the best ways before sinking into your hole, filling you up just enough to have you arching your back on the bed.

You felt your first orgasm wash over you, but you knew your husband had no intention of stopping so soon.

You were mewling beneath him at the overstimulation, thankful that he at least slowed down the pace of his tongue, even though he was still very earnestly slurping at your juices…

“Could eat this pussy for hours, princess… you’re just too delicious…” he groaned, and you felt the bed shaking from the way he was rutting his crotch against the mattress, furrowing his eyebrows as his kept eating you out.

“Come on baby, let me hear you,” Heeseung practically begged, his tone sounding so hoarse, so drunk as the vibrations from his voice only tantalized you even further, “tell me how good it feels...”

“F-feels s-so fucking good, baby,” you moaned, words coming out in fragments given how cloudy your brain was becoming, and you're pretty sure you had your second or third orgasm shortly after as your hands squeezed his, so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

His tongue was licking between your folds so well, the textured muscle making your skin tingle all over but in the best way imaginable.

Heeseung didn't plan on any of this to happening, which is why it felt so good in the first place. It was natural, raw, and so so messy…

Your own cum was dripping all over his chin and lips, and he was loving every single second of it.

He was obsessed with it. The way your clit throbbed against his lips, the way you squirted your juices all over his face, the way your thighs squirmed while struggling to stay open, and your angelically desperate cries of pleasure as he drew out orgasm after orgasm after orgasm.

He wished he could watch your face contort with need as he fucked you with his face and tongue, but he couldn't look back up at you no matter how hard he tried… He had to keep his face buried between you…

Your strength eventually gave out and your grip released his hands that soon found one of your tits, gripping the mound of flesh in a way that only drew you even further over the edge.

Your hips had even developed a mind of their own, humping against his face like a bunny in heat as he whispered filthy nothings against your cunt, as well as sweet somethings that you'd hear for the next hour or two that Heesueng spent with his pointy nose brushing against your clit.

“You're so fucking wet for me, angel...”

“Love it when you come all over my face.”

“Pull my hair, baby... harder than that...”

“So so beautiful, and just for me.”

“Keep those pretty thighs open just like that, baby…”

“You taste so fucking divine...”

“Please don't tell me to stop... just one more, baby... I know you've got it in you...”

He found just as much enjoyment being between your thighs as you did in having him there, making you cream on his tongue again and again until you finally hiccuped the words, “N-no more, Hee... p-please, I can't t-take anymore...”

But your begging only made Heeseung even greedier, letting his fingers find your clit where he applied enough pressure and stimulation to break that last orgasm out of you, leaving you a shaking mess as he kissed you down, harder than a bullet in his own pants from getting to see you like this so many times and for so long in just one evening.

A series of shaky whimpers filled the room now as your husband crawled back over you, kissing you with his swollen lips while caressing the side of your fucked-out face. “You did so good for me, baby... especially on your first night...”

“Th-thank you,” you said with a weak chuckle, still feeling your orgasms fresh in your hips and thighs as he kept soothing you with his touch, your breath shaky in your chest after hours of coming undone with him…

That's when he moved over to lay beside you, and your eyes almost immediately caught sight of the thick bulge resting behind his pants, and you couldn't help but feel a little bad now given how he didn’t get much action the whole time.

“Do you want me to...” you started timidly, moving your hand to touch him up til he stopped you.

“Not tonight... we can have fun with that tomorrow,” Heeseung smiled, making you giggle again as he changed his position to make the bulge less noticeable, “for now though, let's focus on getting you cleaned up... sound good?”

“Better than good,” you replied tenderly, kissing him on the cheek before he got up from the bed and headed toward the hotel bathroom where he planned to run you a nice warm bath.

“Wait!” Your husband called out suddenly, just as he caught you trying to get out of the bed on your own.

Running over, a confused look remained on your face as he picked you up from the mattress bridal style, carrying you to the bathroom.

“I didn't forget how to walk, Heeseung,” you giggled, keeping your hands secure at his shoulder as he cradled you into the tub.

“I know,” he laughed, helping you get your top off and over your head as the water ran in the background, “I just didn't want my precious wife accidentally stepping on any of those grapes I dropped earlier...”

It went without saying that Heeseung had always been a loser, but he was your loser, and that fact alone was the bandaid that covered up every preconceived notion of him you ever created in the back of your mind…

You didn’t see him the way other people saw him… as the former man whore, troublemaker, or hopeless goof from high school, ‘destined’ to never change…

You saw him as the adorable nerd who accepted you for the things you saw as flaws… as the guy who still wore character themed PJ’s every once in a while that you now get to call “Hubby,” “lovey,” and “mine…”

⋆♱✮ Huge thanks to everyone who read this little fic of mine, which actually concludes DAY 1 of my Kinktober Event !! If you're interested in reading more works like this, feel free to check out my main enhypen masterlist or my kinktober masterlist by clicking one of these links !!

⋆♱✮ PERMANANT TAGLIST:

@squoxle, @nishiimuranights, @ashgonedash

@yourmomscuntis2tighy, @wonbinisbabygurl

@watamotee33, @addictedtohobi, @ot7sevenlvr

⋆♱✮ KINKTOBER TAGLIST:

@pasteltheghost16 @fawnpeaks @melonvrs

@mheretoreadff @skzfelixlove @inishij

@yaorzu-blog @andromedawillburyyou @ramyeonzprincess

@zaihypen @simjaeyunns @gardenwonnies @hynier

@idontknowhowtomakeusernames @enhymeowz @minhosimthings

---

how to not fall in love

summary: you’ve been in love with heeseung for as long as you can remember, but to him, you’ve always just been the best friend—reliable, familiar, safe. so when you hear him say he doesn’t see you that way, you decide it’s time to stop. stop caring, stop hoping. but ignoring someone you’ve loved for years is harder than it sounds… especially when he starts acting like he doesn’t want you to stop.

genre: fluff | best friends to lovers

characters: best friend!heeseungx f!reader

words: 7.6k

warnings: none i think!

a/n: and here is my first enha fic!!!! <3<3 and yes heeseung is my bias

You don’t even remember when it started.

Maybe it was the first time Heeseung flashed you that ridiculously charming smile on your very first day of kindergarten—doe eyes, dimpled cheeks, and a shy little wave like he was offering you his entire heart with just a look.

Or maybe it was that time in middle school when he forgot there was a major history exam and you stayed up until 2 a.m. making color-coded flashcards for him, highlighters smudged on your fingers and worry tugging at your chest. He showed up the next morning at your door, hair a mess, holding a bag of greasy Chinese takeout and two cans of your favorite peach soda.

"Have I ever told you how much I love you?" he said, in that effortless, playful way of his, ruffling your hair like you were some helpful little puppy.

You laughed, but your heart did a triple somersault.

Love. He said it like it was casual.

Not knowing it felt like a confession to you.

Truth is, it only got worse from there.

Your unrequited love? It grew legs and started running wild.

You became that friend. The one in the front row of every basketball game, waving a glittery sign that said "LEE HEESEUNG" like your life depended on it. The one who always brought him coffee after his late-night study sessions, who memorized the snacks he liked at the convenience store, who texted him good luck before every presentation even though he always forgot yours.

And Heeseung would flash that same boyish grin—the one that made your knees a little weak—and casually sling an arm around your shoulders.

“Man, I don’t know who I am without you,” he’d say, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

And you? You’d fall just a little harder.

Just a little. But it added up.

You didn’t mean for it to. You tried to keep your heart in check. But all those little things—the inside jokes, the shoulder bumps in the hallway, the way he said your name—slowly stitched themselves into something deeper. Something messier. Something real.

Heeseung never treated you like you were just anyone. That was the cruel part.

Like that time you got lost at one of his away games. You’d shown up early, too excited, only to realize you had no idea where to go. The school was huge, the gym impossible to find, and every hallway looked the same.

And then—there he was.

Heeseung, panting, scanning the sea of people until his eyes landed on you.

“There you are,” he breathed out, like he hadn’t just run halfway across campus. His brows furrowed like he was worried, and before you could say anything, he grabbed your wrist.

“C’mon,” he murmured, pulling you through the crowd like you were something precious he needed to protect. He didn’t let go—not even when the noise got louder or people jostled you. Somewhere along the way, he slid your bag off your shoulder and carried it himself.

He only let go once you were seated, right in the front row.

“There,” he said, still a little breathless. “Gotcha here safe and sound.”

Then he jogged off, leaving your heart pounding, your bag heavy in your lap, and a quiet kind of warmth blooming in your chest.

You found out later that he’d skipped the team’s pre-game drills just to look for you. As team captain, he was supposed to be rallying the others—but instead, he was making sure you weren’t lost.

Coach made him run three extra laps.

“I’m sorry,” you told him, guilt curling in your stomach.

Heeseung just laughed, brushing his damp hair back and flashing you that familiar grin. “It’s okay. I kinda liked looking for you.”

Moments like that—where he made you feel like the center of the universe—those were the hardest.

Because deep down, you always knew he didn’t see you the way you saw him.

The final straw came a few weeks later.

You’d been waiting by the bleachers again, holding his jacket like you always did, when you overheard Jake teasing him.

“She’s here again. You two are practically glued together. You sure you’re not… boinking?”

Heeseung laughed. “Boinking?”

Your heart fluttered. Just a little.

Then he said it. With zero hesitation.

“She’s cute. A great friend. But I don’t see her that way.”

Friend.

The word echoed in your head like a slap.

And just like that, something inside you snapped.

The next morning, you opened your journal, flipped to a blank page, and wrote in bold, all-caps letters:

HOW TO NOT FALL IN LOVE (feat. Lee Heeseung)

Goal: Stop giving a damn about Lee Heeseung. Duration: One month.

And for the first time in forever, you meant it.

Really, really meant it.

—

The next day at school, you walked through the gates with an air of fake confidence and a heart wrapped in duct tape. This was it. Day one. 

No more overshooting your texts to Heeseung. No more waiting by the court with his water bottle. No more volunteering to help him with homework he didn’t even remember to start. He was perfectly capable of surviving without you.

Probably.

But the moment you saw him in the courtyard, laughing at something Jake said, your heart betrayed you.

Your hand lifted in an automatic wave before you even realized what you were doing. And—ugh—was that a smile forming?

You gasped like you'd caught yourself mid-crime and yanked your hand back down with enough force to nearly dislocate your shoulder. You spun around so fast your bag almost knocked over a freshman. You tried to act cool, casually pretending the ground was the most fascinating thing you'd ever seen.

Behind you, Heeseung paused, confused. He blinked. Tilted his head. Squinted at your retreating back like he was trying to solve a very strange math equation.

But then he shrugged it off. Probably nothing.

Probably.

Too bad he didn’t know this was just the beginning of the end.

—-

“This little tough girl act,” Sunghoon said with a smirk, reaching into your popcorn bucket like he had every right. “How long do you think it’s going to last?”

You narrowed your eyes at him, pulling the bucket closer. “Keep your hands out of my popcorn, you menace.”

Out on the court, Heeseung was practicing, all focused determination and smooth movements. You were trying—not entirely successfully—not to watch him. You’d even worn sunglasses. Indoors. As if they could protect your heart.

“Come on,” Sunghoon drawled. “Don’t pretend I didn’t see you freeze up this morning when he smiled at you like a puppy with a college degree.”

You exhaled sharply. “It was a momentary lapse in judgment.”

“Right. And I’m the Prime Minister of Canada.”

With a dramatic sigh, you leaned back against the bleachers. “I’m serious this time. One month. No more hopeless pining. No more letting him carry my bag like we’re a couple. No more doodling ‘Mr. and Mrs. Heeseung’ in the margins of my notebooks.”

“You still do that?”

“I–No.”

Sunghoon laughed under his breath.

You risked a glance at the court.

Mistake.

Heeseung dribbled the ball between his legs and sank a perfect shot, his lips tugging into that maddeningly confident smile, turning to you..

And, shamefully, you made a noise. A small, undignified sound that gave you away entirely.

Sunghoon gave you a long, knowing look. “You’re doomed.”

“I am not doomed,” you said, clutching your popcorn like a shield. “I’m just... recalibrating. This is emotional detox.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You’re detoxing the way someone digs a chocolate wrapper out of the trash.”

You groaned. “Why are you even here?”

“Free snacks. And the immense satisfaction of watching you pretend you’ve moved on.”

You stuffed a handful of popcorn in your mouth, avoiding his gaze. Because, regrettably, he wasn’t wrong.

And worse? You missed Heeseung. More than you cared to admit. Everything reminded you of him. A bouncing basketball. A laugh down the hallway. A lamppost that was, in your defense, approximately his height and general vibe.

This was going to be the longest month of your life.

—

Heeseung was starting to notice.

At first, it was little things. You stopped walking with him after class. You sat further away during lunch. You didn’t show up at practice with your usual energy, pretending to be absorbed in something else when he looked your way. It was subtle but to him, it felt like someone had lowered the volume on his favorite song.

He found himself scanning the bleachers more than usual, eyes flicking toward the spots where you usually sat, only to find them empty or occupied by someone else. You were still around, just... not with him.

Jake noticed first.

“You good?” he asked during water break, glancing at Heeseung who was frowning at his phone.

“Yeah,” Heeseung replied, not looking up. “I just... I don’t know. Have you talked to her lately?”

Jake raised a brow. “She was literally just at lunch.”

“She barely said a word to me.”

Jake took a long sip from his bottle. “Maybe she’s busy.”

Heeseung nodded, but it didn’t feel like busy. It felt like... distant. Like you were pulling away, and he didn’t know why.

He scrolled back through your messages. There weren’t any unread ones. Just a few recent texts from him that you’d responded to with short answers. No smiley faces. No exclamation marks. Just plain, flat replies.

And it bothered him more than he wanted to admit.

He was used to your messages being filled with too many emojis, random inside jokes, and links to memes you knew he’d find stupid but would laugh at anyway. You hadn’t even sent him your usual “good luck” before the last game.

Heeseung didn’t say anything out loud, but he could feel it—a little ache forming. Like something was shifting. Like something he’d taken for granted was slipping away.

And he didn’t know how to ask you why.

—

You were power-walking down the hallway like a woman on a mission—head high, steps brisk, thoughts screaming something along the lines of Do not look back. Do not turn around. You are ice. You are steel. You are—

“Hey!”

You nearly tripped over your own feet.

Heeseung.

You turned around slowly—casually, you hoped—and gave him what you prayed was a totally normal smile. Not awkward. Not panicked. Not like your internal monologue was screaming.

“Oh! Hi,” you said, like your voice hadn’t just jumped an octave.

He jogged the last few steps to reach you, a little out of breath, but still managing that soft, easy smile of his. “Didn’t see you after practice this week.”

“Oh,” you said quickly. “Yeah, I’ve just been… around. Super busy.”

“Busy?” he echoed, tilting his head slightly. “With?”

You blinked. “Uh, Yearbook Committee.”

His brows knit together. “I didn’t know you were in the Yearbook Committee.”

“I’m… new,” you added, voice trailing off as your brain gave up on its own excuse.

There was a beat of silence, but he didn’t push. Just nodded slowly, like he was trying to make sense of it all.

Then he smiled again—gentle, like always. “Well, I was just wondering if you were free to—”

“Oh no, sorry!” you cut in, way too fast. “I have to go walk Sunghoon.”

He blinked. “Walk... Sunghoon? The third year student from Algebra?”

“Yes,” you said, forcing a bright smile. “He’s full of energy. If I don’t walk him, he gets cranky. Like a puppy.”

He stared at you, clearly confused. His lips parted like he wanted to ask another question, but instead, he just... laughed. Not a mocking laugh—more like he didn’t quite know what else to do with this absurd turn of conversation.

“Okay. Well… I guess I’ll see you later then?”

“Yup! Later!” you squeaked, turning around so fast you nearly dropped your bag.

You could feel his gaze on you as you walked away—light, warm, lingering. Like he was trying to figure you out.

And you? You were trying not to look back. Trying not to feel how much you missed being around him. How much you wanted to stay.

Because the truth was: you missed him. You missed you with him.

But you’d started something. And for now, you had to stick to it.

Even if it sucked.

—

Heeseung swore something was off.

You weren’t gone, exactly. You still passed him in the hallways. Still laughed a little too loudly with Sunghoon and Jay at lunch. Still wore that bright-colored scarf he once said made you look like a strawberry popsicle.

But you weren’t with him.

Not the way you used to be.

He sat on the edge of the court after practice, towel around his neck, eyes scanning the bleachers again. He hated how natural the motion had become. How instinctive it was to search for you—even when he knew you wouldn’t be there.

Jake flopped down beside him, cracking open a sports drink. “You good?”

“Yeah,” Heeseung muttered.

“You don’t sound like it.”

Heeseung shrugged, chewing at the inside of his cheek. “Have you noticed... she’s been different?”

Jake raised a brow. “You mean how she’s not orbiting you like a lovesick planet anymore?”

Heeseung shot him a glare. “That’s not what I meant.”

Jake took a slow sip of his drink. “Isn’t it?”

Heeseung didn’t answer.

Because maybe it was what he meant.

Maybe he had gotten used to you being everywhere. At his games. At his side. Texting him about nothing and everything. Laughing at his dumb jokes. Holding out his bag like it belonged more to you than to him.

And now? Now the silence felt sharp. Uncomfortable.

He scrolled through his messages again. No new ones from you. The last conversation ended with your half-hearted “haha yeah” two days ago.

You didn’t even send him a good luck text before his test today. You always sent him one. Usually something stupid like “Don’t choke! But if you do, make it dramatic so you can retake it with pity points.” It used to make him laugh. It used to calm him down.

Today, he hadn’t laughed before the test.

And he hadn’t done all that well, either.

He sighed, tipping his head back against the wall of the gym.

He didn’t know what had changed. But something had.

And he was starting to think he really didn’t like it.

—

Heeseung wasn’t looking for you.

He absolutely, definitely, one hundred percent was not looking for you.

He just happened to glance over at the courtyard. That’s all.

And okay, maybe his eyes landed on you instantly—like a magnet snapping into place. You were standing with Sunghoon and Jay, your laugh bright and easy, head tipped back like you didn’t have a single worry in the world.

And then Sunghoon did it.

He leaned in and ruffled your hair.

Casual. Familiar.

Too familiar.

Heeseung’s stomach twisted.

He didn’t understand it at first. Not really. He just kept staring, a weird sort of tightness building in his chest, like something was pressing down on him. And then—just to make it worse—Sunghoon said something that made you laugh again. You reached out and lightly shoved his shoulder, still smiling, completely unaware of the storm brewing across the courtyard.

Jake noticed immediately.

“You’re staring again,” he said, biting into an apple with all the serenity of someone enjoying the drama but pretending not to.

“I’m not,” Heeseung muttered.

“Your eyes haven’t left her for five minutes.”

“I’m just… wondering what they’re talking about.”

Jake raised an eyebrow. “You mean, what she and Sunghoon are talking about?”

Heeseung said nothing.

Jake smirked. “Don’t worry. I’m sure they’re just planning their wedding. Probably picking out the cake flavor right now.”

“Shut up.”

Jake laughed. “So this is jealousy, huh?”

“It’s not jealousy.”

“Oh yeah, no, of course not. You're just glaring at Sunghoon like you’re mentally photoshopping him out of existence for completely unrelated reasons.”

Heeseung turned away, rubbing a hand over his face.

It wasn’t like he had a claim on you. You could hang out with whoever you wanted. Laugh at anyone’s jokes. Let anyone ruffle your hair.

So why did it feel like something in him was unraveling?

—

Heeseung wasn’t sure what was bothering him, but he knew something felt... off.

You were still around—at lunch, in the halls, in some of your shared classes—but somehow, you were always just out of reach. If he turned one way, you turned the other. If he called your name, someone else answered for you. It was subtle. Strategic.

And frustrating.

Now, walking alone down the hallway, books tucked under one arm, the other gripping his backpack strap, he found his thoughts drifting back to you. Again.

Jake wasn’t there to tease him for it today, off doing who-knows-what, so for once it was just Heeseung and the quiet, creeping ache of your absence.

And then he saw you.

You were halfway down the corridor, walking like you had somewhere to be, light on your feet as always. Maybe it was the way you moved like you had a secret no one else knew or maybe it was just that he hadn’t really seen you in days. Not properly. Not up close.

Before he could stop himself, his hand reached out, catching you gently by the wrist.

“Hey,” he said, smiling before he realized it.

You blinked up at him, startled. “Huh?”

“It’s been a while since I walked you home,” Heeseung said, tilting his head slightly, trying to sound casual. “Want to go together?”

You froze. Your mind scrambled for an excuse—any excuse.

But he was already one step ahead of you.

“You don’t have Debate. Or Yearbook Committee,” he added knowingly. “And I don’t have practice today.”

You exhaled sharply. Damn him for remembering your fake clubs.

“…Sure,” you murmured, defeated.

He smiled again and reached for your backpack, tugging the straps gently off your shoulders so he could carry it for you—like he always did. Like nothing had changed.

The two of you fell into step, walking side by side. Your arms brushed once. Then again. Each time, a jolt of electricity shot up your spine.

“So,” he said after a pause, glancing at you from the corner of his eye, “did you get an A?”

You blinked. “What?”

“The math test,” he clarified. “You were stressing about it for, like, a week. Mr. Kim probably handed it back by now. I’m assuming my smart girl did well?”

Your lips parted slightly.

He remembered?

A slow smile tugged at your lips. “First in class,” you announced proudly. “Take that, Jake Sim.”

Heeseung laughed, the sound warm and familiar. “Good. Someone’s got to put him in his place.”

Then, without warning, he reached over and ruffled your hair. “Proud of you.”

Your heart launched itself into your throat.

His fingers lingered a moment too long, just enough to make you dizzy before pulling away like nothing had happened. Like your world hadn’t just turned upside down.

Typical Heeseung.

You were just trying not to propose.

At the crosswalk, as the light turned red, he reached out again—this time gently guiding you by the elbow, pulling you closer to him.

“There was a bike coming,” he said, eyes on the road ahead.

You squinted. The bike was a speck in the distance. Miles away.

But his hand stayed there.

Just resting.

Light. Thoughtless. Careful.

You swallowed hard.

If he was going to keep doing things like this, you needed revenge. You needed balance. You needed him to second-guess everything the way you did.

So you stopped walking and tugged his arm slightly.

Heeseung turned, confused. “What’s wr—”

And then you stepped in.

Too close.

Your fingers reached up, brushing against the base of his neck as you adjusted the collar of his uniform. It was crooked—only slightly—but you took your time, smoothing the fabric with slow, deliberate movements.

Your knuckles grazed his skin.

He inhaled sharply.

His shoulders stiffened.

And suddenly, the effortlessly charming Lee Heeseung looked completely out of his depth. Like you were the one throwing him off balance now.

His gaze dropped—eyes flicking from your face, to your lips, then quickly back up again.

Heeseung swore he could hear his own heartbeat pounding in his ears.

You finished adjusting his collar and smiled up at him—soft, proud, just a little smug.

“There,” you murmured, patting it into place. “All fixed.”

He blinked.

Swallowed.

“…Thanks,” he managed, voice lower than usual, a little hoarse.

And then because apparently his brain had melted, he turned on his heel and walked ahead a little too quickly.

“Slow down!” you called after him with a grin. “Not all of us have basketball player legs, you know.”

He didn’t answer, but you could see the tips of his ears turning red.

—

The walk home with Heeseung did something to you.

Something bad.

You missed him more than you thought you would. Not in a soft, quiet way—but in a way that gnawed at your chest like a small, aggressive squirrel.

Everything reminded you of him. A fork. A book you’d never read. Even Jay’s left toe (don’t ask, you didn’t know why either). You couldn’t stop thinking about him—his laugh, the way his eyes sparkled when he was excited, the little way he tilted his head when he was listening.

You were, quite frankly, losing it.

Your Lee Heeseung withdrawals were at an all-time high.

Every time you saw him across the room or heard someone say his name, your heart did a thing and your brain spiraled like a bad romcom montage. You were whiny. Pathetically so.

Jay, ever the long-suffering saint, was reaching his limit.

You clung to his jacket sleeve dramatically, voice pitched high with despair. “I can’t do this, Jay. I miss him so much. Why is this so hard?”

Jay gave you a deadpan look that could only be described as emotionally done. With a sigh that came from the depths of his soul, he turned and made a beeline toward the shop’s earplug section.

“If you don’t just tell him how you feel,” he muttered, “I’m going to lose my entire mind.”

You chased after him, still attached to his sleeve like a ghost with commitment issues. “But I can’t! He doesn’t even like me like that!”

Jay stopped in front of the shelf, scanning the rows of earplugs like he was shopping for peace. “What if he does, huh?” he shot back, a little too fast. “This whole walk home story you just told me—it doesn’t sound like nothing.”

You froze. The words you’d overheard days ago came rushing back: She’s cute. A great friend. But I don’t see her that way.

The echo of it still stung.

You let go of Jay’s sleeve and crossed your arms, suddenly quiet. “I heard him, Jay,” you said softly. “He told Jake I was just a friend.”

Jay looked at you. Really looked at you.

And then he grinned.

“Are you laughing at me right now?” You smacked his arm, thoroughly offended.

“It’s just—” he choked back a laugh. “I could’ve sworn that guy was practically drooling over you.”

You scowled. “Well, clearly you’re wrong.”

Jay shook his head, dramatically dropping a pair of foam earplugs into the basket. “Okay, look. So what if he said that? Guys say dumb things all the time. Heeseung’s probably still catching up to his own feelings.”

You opened your mouth to argue, but nothing came out.

Jay raised an eyebrow. “Come on. You’re not the type to wait around forever. If you like him, say something. Stop pretending you don’t care.”

You groaned. “Fine, fine! I’ll think about it.”

“You’ve been thinking about it for three years,” Jay replied, clearly unimpressed.

You crossed your arms and pouted. “You don’t get a say.”

“Oh, but I do.” He popped the earplugs into his ears with a triumphant smirk.

“You’re the worst,” you muttered.

Jay tilted his head dramatically. “Sorry, what was that? Can’t hear you over the peace I bought for $2.99.”

—

That night, Heeseung lay flat on his back, staring at the ceiling like it held the answers to all of life’s biggest questions.

Unfortunately, it did not.

He shifted. Then again. Then once more for dramatic effect. The blanket felt too warm. The pillow was suddenly too flat. Everything was wrong.

But mostly? It was the thoughts. You.

The walk home played on a loop in his mind, like a scene from a movie he couldn’t turn off. He could still feel how close you’d stood to him, the way your arm brushed his, how your fingers had grazed his neck when you fixed his collar. The soft sound of your laughter still echoed in his ears. It was... cute.

Too cute.

Heeseung sighed and rolled onto his side, shoving his face into the pillow.

You had always been his best friend. His safe person. You were fun and loud and comfortably chaotic. You made everything feel easy. But lately, being around you hadn’t felt easy—it felt... intense. 

And ever since Jake had made that dumb “are you dating” comment, the idea had rooted itself in his brain like a stubborn weed. He tried to shake it, but it kept growing. Fast.

He used to think about you in a simple way—someone he could count on. Someone who’d be there with snacks and jokes and glittery signs with his name. But now?

Now he couldn’t stop thinking about the tiny flecks of color in your eyes. Or how your laugh made his chest feel tight. Or how you’d smiled up at him after fixing his collar like you had no idea he was short-circuiting.

He groaned again and rolled onto his stomach.

This was bad. He was in trouble.

—-

Across town, in a room filled with fluffy pillows and heartbreak, you were also wide awake.

Staring at the ceiling. Then the wall. Then your blanket. Then the ceiling again.

You sighed and ran your fingers over the threads of your comforter like they held answers the universe refused to give.

Everything reminded you of Heeseung. Your school notes. Your chipped nail polish. The way your lamp was slightly tilted—he was the one who’d knocked it over during your last movie night.

You squeezed your eyes shut.

Was this what pining felt like? Not just the longing or the ache—but the sheer, annoying presence of him in everything? Your brain had become a highlight reel of his smiles, his voice, his laugh. It was embarrassing.

Still… there was a part of you that wondered.

Maybe he felt it too.

You weren’t imagining it, right? The way he looked at you lately—like he was really seeing you. The way his fingers had lingered on your arm a little longer than necessary. The way he had remembered your test, remembered your nerves, and had been genuinely proud of you.

Your heart did a stupid, hopeful little flutter.

But the thought of confessing? Saying it out loud?

You rolled onto your side and buried your face in a pillow.

What if it changed everything? What if he didn’t feel the same? What if he looked at you like you were ridiculous—or worse, like you were just some girl with a dumb, one-sided crush?

Still.

What if he did feel something?

You both lay in your beds that night, across the city, wrapped in your own blankets and your own thoughts—completely unaware that the other was doing the exact same thing.

Thinking about you.

Thinking about him.

—

“Hey, look who it is!” Jake nudged Heeseung with his elbow, already grinning like a devil who’d spotted drama on the horizon.

You looked up, eyes widening as you spotted the two of them heading toward you. There was no time to escape. No possible exits. Just Heeseung, Jake, and a hallway suddenly way too small.

You and Heeseung locked eyes.

And just like that, the walk home replayed itself in your head. The brush of his hand against yours. The weight of your bag over his shoulder. The way he’d looked at you when you smiled at him. You swallowed.

“Uh… hey,” you said, lifting a small, awkward wave. Your voice came out two pitches too high, like someone had sat on the remote.

“Hey,” Heeseung replied, mirroring your stiffness with a half-hearted wave of his own. He was smiling, kind of, but it was tight—uncertain. His heart was pounding. His brain? Completely blank.

Jake, of course, was having the time of his life. “Wow,” he said cheerfully. “This is fun.”

“I—I have to go to the restroom!” you blurted, pointing wildly in the wrong direction before fleeing like a sitcom character mid-episode.

Heeseung stood there, watching you disappear around the corner, every nerve in his body buzzing. His legs felt like jelly. His chest? Tense. His thoughts? Loud.

By the time he stumbled into the locker room, he collapsed dramatically onto the floor like a man defeated.

“I think…” he muttered into the floor, “I might have feelings for her.”

Jake, already sprawled on the coach’s beanbag, didn’t even flinch. He was too busy chewing on a piece of licorice to care.

“Oh, welcome to the club,” he said, voice muffled. “I’ve been a member since the year you told her she looked pretty in green face paint during our third-grade Wicked play.”

Heeseung didn’t react. He just stood up and started pacing—back and forth, back and forth—like his thoughts might rearrange themselves if he walked hard enough.

“I—no, I really like her, Jake.”

Jake raised a hand lazily, like a talk show host mid-monologue. “Please. Continue. This is riveting.”

“I just... I don’t get it. I didn’t realize it before, but now? Now I can’t stop thinking about her. Everything reminds me of her. Like, she fixed my collar yesterday and I think I blacked out for a second.”

Jake popped another licorice into his mouth. “Gross. Cute. But gross.”

“I feel like,” Heeseung continued, running a hand through his hair, “when she’s around, everything just makes sense. And when she’s not? It’s like something’s missing. It’s stupid.”

“Cringe,” Jake said dramatically, slumping deeper into the beanbag. “Do all crushes feel this emotionally inconvenient? If so, I want out.”

Heeseung shot him a glare. “Are you ever helpful?”

“Emotionally? No,” Jake said with a straight face. “But I do hand out brutal honesty like candy.”

Heeseung groaned, flopping onto the bench next to him. “What if she doesn’t feel the same? What if I tell her and she— I don’t know—ghosts me?”

Jake rolled his eyes. “You’re being ridiculous. You’ve been losing your mind for days because she didn’t bring you water after practice. You have hands. Hydrate yourself.”

Heeseung let out a pained noise and buried his face in his hands.

“Just tell her,” Jake said with a shrug. “Worst case, she doesn’t feel the same. But I’m 99.7% sure she does.”

“Oh yeah?” Heeseung muttered into his palms. “And what if I look like an idiot?”

Jake leaned back, tossed a licorice stick in the air, and caught it with practiced ease. “Buddy, you already look like an idiot. Might as well make it romantic.”

Heeseung lifted his head just enough to glare at him.

Jake grinned. “Start simple. Tell her she’s cute. That’s it. It works. Trust me.”

Heeseung blinked. “That’s it? Just ‘you’re cute’?”

Jake nodded. “You’d be shocked how well that lands when you mean it.”

Heeseung stared at him, unconvinced. “You’ve said that to how many people?”

Jake smirked. “Doesn’t matter. It’s worked every time. I am very charming.”

Heeseung groaned again. “I’m not you, Jake.”

Jake sighed dramatically. “Yeah, I know. Which is why this is a 50-50 shot for you. But hey—if you don’t end up with her, can I ask her out?”

Heeseung shot him a death glare.

“Just kidding,” Jake said quickly. Then he paused. “Mostly.”

—-

It all started during lunch.

Jake leaned across the table, eyes gleaming with evil genius energy. “Operation ‘Make Them Walk Home Together So They Finally Kiss or at Least Make Prolonged Eye Contact Without Panic’ is officially in motion.”

Jay blinked. “That's… a terrible name.”

Sunghoon took a bite of his sandwich. “I kinda love it.”

Jake waved a hand. “Name pending. Point is—we trap them. She thinks she’s walking with you two. He thinks he’s walking with me. And then? We disappear. Vanish. Leave them alone. Together. With no backup.”

Jay tilted his head. “And what? Hope the romantic tension forces a confession?”

Jake smirked. “Exactly.”

Sunghoon raised a brow. “This feels like emotional entrapment.”

“It is. And it’s working,” Jake said proudly. “Heeseung’s got it so bad he thought she had a thing for you.”

Sunghoon choked. “Me?”

Jay snorted into his drink. “You do ruffle her hair a lot.”

“Because she’s cute! Like a little puppy!” Sunghoon exclaimed, scandalized.

Jake shrugged. “Well, he’s spiraling. Yesterday he saw you hand her a pen and he went silent for ten whole seconds.”

Sunghoon blinked. “That’s... tragic.”

Jay leaned back in his chair, visibly entertained. “I’m in. For the record, not because I care, but her whining is starting to affect my appetite.”

“Same,” said Sunghoon. “We were on FaceTime for 2 hours and most of it was about Heeseung. I fell asleep after 10 minutes.”

Jake clapped his hands together. “Excellent. Gentlemen, you know your roles. Subtle distraction, coordinated exit, zero guilt.”

Jay raised a brow. “You’re enjoying this too much.”

“I’ve earned it,” Jake said, already standing. “He stole my last banana milk. This is revenge and service to the nation.”

—-

“Crap,” he muttered. “I forgot my earbuds in the music room.”

Jay snapped his fingers. “Oh shoot. Me too. I left my jacket in the library.”

You raised a brow. “You two always forget things at the same time.”

They both grinned. Suspiciously.

“It’s twin telepathy,” Jay said, winking.

“You’re not twins,” you deadpanned.

“We are in spirit,” Sunghoon added, already stepping backward toward the school building.

Before you could protest, they were both jogging away, waving casually.

“We’ll catch up!” Jay called over his shoulder.

“We swear!” Sunghoon added.

You stood there for a moment, blinking in confusion. “...Okay?”

Then you turned around.

And there he was.

Heeseung.

Standing a few feet away, also holding his bag, looking around like he had just been ditched by someone.

Your eyes met.

Both of you froze.

Heeseung blinked. “Wait… where’s Jake?”

“I... thought he was with you?”

He furrowed his brows. “He texted me like five minutes ago saying we’d walk home together.”

You glanced down at your phone, where a suspiciously vague message from Sunghoon read: “Don’t wait for us. You got this.”

Your stomach dropped.

You looked back up at Heeseung. His phone buzzed. He checked it, then looked at you with slowly widening eyes.

Jake’s message: “Have fun ;)”

There was a beat of silence.

You both stood there.

Just you.

And Heeseung.

And an entire empty sidewalk.

“Oh,” you said softly.

Heeseung scratched the back of his neck. “So... I guess we’re walking together.”

You gave a weak laugh. “Guess we are.”

Silence.

Then, at the exact same time:

“You don’t have to if—” “We can walk separately if—”

You both stopped.

Then laughed.

And for a moment, just a moment, the awkwardness melted. Heeseung smiled—not his usual big grin, but something softer. Warmer. Like he wasn’t so mad about being ditched.

“Let’s just walk,” he said. “Might as well.”

And even though your heart was pounding and you were still very much aware that your so-called friends had just shoved you into a live wire of unresolved tension...

You nodded.

“Yeah. Okay.”

So you walked.

Side by side.

You weren’t sure how Jay and Sunghoon managed to get you walking next to Heeseung but you were sure it had something to do with Heeseung’s ratty friend Jake.

Heeseung shuffled beside you, hands stuffed in his pockets, trying to ignore the weird tension in the air. You, on the other hand, kept your eyes fixed on the road ahead, trying to think of something to say, but nothing came out. It was funny how just a few days ago, this silence would’ve been comfortable—soft, even. But now it felt a little too loud. A little too full.

Suddenly, Heeseung’s foot caught on a small rock, and before he could stop it, he stumbled forward, arms flailing like one of those inflatable tube men outside a car dealership.

“Hee!” you yelped, half-laughing, half-panicked.

Heeseung straightened up, cheeks flushed, but laughing anyway. “Oh, so now you’re laughing at my near-death experience?”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry—are you okay?” you teased, though you made no effort to hide your giggles.

“Yeah,” he nodded, brushing imaginary dust off his knees. “Just bruised my pride, that’s all. I think the rock has a vendetta.”

The laughter between you settled, but the tension lingered like steam on a bathroom mirror. You shifted on your feet, exhaling softly. “Look, I’m sorry if I’ve been acting weird. I’ve just been… going through some stuff.”

Heeseung tilted his head, curiosity flickering in his eyes. “What kind of stuff?”

You shrugged. “It’s nothing.”

“Are you sure?” he nudged your shoulder gently. “You used to tell me everything. Even the time you cried because your goldfish ignored you for two days.”

“Nugget was emotionally manipulative,” you mumbled.

Heeseung grinned. “Still, I miss that. Not Nugget—just... when you talked to me.”

Your cheeks burned. You ducked your head. “It’s just... a little personal.”

Heeseung narrowed his eyes playfully. “Like, family personal? Friends personal? Or…” He leaned closer, lowering his voice like he was about to drop a bombshell. “Boy problems?”

You cleared your throat, refusing to meet his eyes. “I guess… the last one?”

He went still beside you.

“Oh…” he said, and his voice had that very specific tone guys get when they’re trying to sound neutral but are actually spiraling.

“So you’re going out with someone?”

“What?! No!” You waved your hands frantically. “I just… I don’t know. It’s stupid. I don’t really wanna talk about it.”

“Oh, come on. Please?” he stopped in his tracks, grabbing both your hands in his and squeezing them dramatically. “I won’t be able to sleep if I don’t know. Think of my well-being.”

You sighed, glancing away. “Fine. It’s just… I think I like someone, and I’m not sure how to tell him.”

Heeseung swore he felt his soul leave his body. You liked someone? Was it… Was it that no-good, pretty-boy Park Sunghoon? Heeseung should’ve stuck with ballet when he was five. Or maybe joined drama. Something, anything, to compete.

“Is it Sunghoon?” he asked before he could stop himself.

You blinked at him, then let out a laugh that was way too loud for the empty sidewalk. “Ew?! No!”

He looked utterly baffled. “What? You’ve been hanging out with him a lot lately, and he’s always ruffling your hair and whatever.”

“He’s just a friend, Hee,” you said gently. But when your eyes dropped to the pavement, something about it made his stomach twist.

A silence settled between you before Heeseung cleared his throat, voice a little hoarse. “Well… you should just tell him.”

You raised a brow. “Oh, should I?”

He nodded, trying to keep his tone even. “Yeah. You’re... pretty. Funny. Smart. If he doesn’t like you back, then he’s probably an idiot. Or stupid. Or a fool.” He paused. “Or all three. Simultaneously.”

You snorted. “Funny you’d say that.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing!” You waved it off. “What about you? What would you do if you liked someone?”

Heeseung hummed, pretending to think. “I’d probably always wanna hang out with them. Walk them home.”

You nodded. “Mhm.”

“Have them at all my basketball games. Cheering me on.”

“Right, you wouldn’t want your girlfriend missing those,” you mused.

He nodded solemnly. “Yeah. And it’d totally suck if she stopped showing up to practice too. Especially when the whole team’s used to seeing her in the bleachers... eating snacks loudly.”

“I see how that would suck,” you said, biting your lip to hide a grin.

“I’d also wanna protect her. From oncoming bikes. Sudden rainstorms. Teachers who give pop quizzes.”

You narrowed your eyes. “Protect her from quizzes? What is this, magical girlfriend armor?”

Heeseung smirked. “Exactly. I’d be her human shield.”

You rolled your eyes, but your heart was thudding in your chest.

“And in case she’s, I don’t know... absolute trash at directions?” he continued. “I’d wait for her. Walk her home. Walk her wherever she wanted to go. Be her personal GPS. And not even charge her.”

You muttered, “Wow. What a bargain.”

“I’d also probably carry her bag,” he added, like it was a casual afterthought—as if he wasn’t literally carrying yours right now.

You puffed your cheeks, trying to play it cool. “Okay, let’s move on to the next topic.”

“I kinda like this topic, though.”

“We get it. You’ll treat her like a princess,” you mumbled.

Heeseung laughed. “How are you not getting it?”

“Getting what?”

“Alright, fine. Let’s make it easier.” He took a deep breath and started counting on his fingers. “Who has never missed a single one of my basketball games?”

You squinted. “Uh... Jake?”

He facepalmed. “Someone not on the team.”

“Me?” you blinked. “I don’t under—”

“Who has no sense of direction?”

“Me?”

“And who always helps that person find their way?”

“You?”

He gave you a flat look. “So... do you catch my drift?”

You stared at him blankly. “No?”

He groaned. “Okay. Last question. Whose bag am I carrying right now?”

“…Mine?”

He smiled at you, exasperated and fond. “Exactly.”

Your heart pounded in your chest like it was trying to make a dramatic exit.

So, hesitantly, you whispered, “What are you saying?”

Heeseung let out a breath, dragging a hand through his hair. Then, like it physically hurt him to keep it in a second longer, he blurted, “For god’s sake, I’m telling you I’m in love with you.”

Your breath caught.

“I. Love. You,” he repeated, staring at you like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Oh.”

Heeseung groaned loudly, dragging his hands down his face. “Oh? That’s it? After all that?!”

“I—I mean—” You sputtered, brain rebooting. “I didn’t think—”

“God, you’re so dense,” he muttered, but the way he said it was so soft it made your knees weak.

You swallowed. “Say it again.”

He paused, then leaned in slightly, a small smile playing on his lips. “I love you.”

You grinned, cheeks on fire. “Good. Because the guy I like is you.”

Heeseung blinked. “Yeah. I know.”

Your jaw dropped. “Am I that obvious?”

“No, but I kinda figured when you started scowling after the third time I described how I’d treat my ‘potential girlfriend.’”

You let out a groan, covering your face. “Ugh.”

He laughed, slinging an arm over your shoulders like he’d been waiting years to do that. “It was cute. You’re cute.”

“You can’t blame me for overthinking when you—YOU!” You jabbed a finger at him. “You told Jake I was just a friend!”

Heeseung froze, eyes wide. “You heard that?!”

You nodded—hard. “Word for word. ‘She’s cute, a great friend, but I don’t see her that way.’ Ring any bells?”

He winced like he’d just been personally attacked by a ghost of his own idiocy. “Okay, wow. That sounded so much worse than I meant—”

“You think?” you snapped, crossing your arms tightly. “Do you know what it’s like to hear the person you’ve liked for years say something like that? To be standing there, holding your dumb varsity jacket like some lovesick intern, while you laugh at the idea of liking me?”

Heeseung opened his mouth, but you weren’t done.

“You don’t get to say you love me now and expect it to just erase that.”

His face dropped. For a moment, he looked completely lost for words—completely unlike the smug, charming boy who used to ruffle your hair and make your heart do gymnastics.

“I know,” he said finally, voice soft. “I know I messed that up. I thought... if I said it out loud, it’d make it less real. That if I kept calling you my best friend, I wouldn’t have to deal with how badly I wanted more.”

You blinked, arms slowly falling to your sides.

“I didn’t get it until you weren’t there,” he continued, gaze fixed on yours. “Until I looked for you everywhere and hated that you weren’t looking for me back. That you weren’t smiling at me like you used to. That you started smiling at Sunghoon instead—who, by the way, I totally thought you had a crush on, which sent me into a minor emotional spiral.”

You snorted before you could stop yourself. “You spiral?”

“I laid on the locker room floor for twenty-five minutes while Jake threw licorice at my face.”

That image alone almost broke your resolve.

Almost.

“I need you to know,” Heeseung said, his voice gentler now, “I was scared. But that doesn’t make it fair to you. And I don’t expect you to forget it overnight. But I meant what I said. I love you. Stupidly. Probably too much. And I’ll wait for you to believe that.”

You stared at him. And he stared back—like he didn’t mind if you took a second or an hour or a whole year to respond. As long as you were looking at him again.

Your heart beat so loud, you were almost sure he could hear it.

You swallowed. “Dropping the L-word before our first date is kinda crazy.”

Heeseung gave a sheepish smile, scratching the back of his neck. “Right. Sorry. I should’ve started with ‘like.’”

You looked down at the ground, then back up at him.

And smiled—softly, finally. “No. I like crazy.”

---

ADVANTAGES ☆

in which…

on jay’s live, fans point out a stuffed animal on his bed, one that seems to be the other piece to your notorious missing pair. as imaginary pieces start to connect for fans, the viewers beg for some kind of interaction. and though you and jay have never met before, why not use this situation to your advantage?

pairing – streamer!jay x fem!reader

genre – strangers to lovers, this is not fake dating (sorry guys), kind of forced proximity, streamer au, short smau (20 chapters), little angst mostly fluff

warnings – swearing, slut shaming, romance stuff, food/eating, kms/dying jokes, haters, warnings are stated in each chapter!

featuring – jay, jake, sunghoon, y/n (duh), hyeju, fans

disclaimer – i am not saying this is an accurate representation of these idols or trying to sexualize them at all. this just something i do for fun.

taglist – CLOSED, ty for being interested!

yenqa – hey guys! i love streamer aus and jay so here this is 🙏

status – FINISHED! 11/10/23-03/18/24, slow updates <3

perm taglist – @jwnghyuns @ja4hyvn @trsrina @redm4ri @badmuni @yeokii @enhastolemyheart @softpia @s00buwu @ox1-lovesick @boyfhee

PLEASE NO SPAM LIKING

profiles

001 – soulja boy

002 – like bluejay.

003 – OUR girlfriend

004 – 93 hour mewing streak

005 – losing hearing in my left eye

006 – The other woman 💔💔

007 – green hair – 1028 words

008 – me next

009 – who is pina colada.

010 – LIAR ALERT 🚨

011 – stupid question – 1019 words

012 – CASHMERE*****

013 – about that…

014 – until i met you

015 – i’m sorry that i couldn’t be your teenage dream. – 1829 words

016 – damage control 😜

017 – roode

018 – Get off my twitter.

019 – mhm.

020 – peace - 1145 words

021 – New look.

022 – happy birthday!

epilogue – just got married <3

extra : soulja boy finds love

yenqa © please do not copy, steal or translate.

---

oh sunghoon, the man you are <3

get better! | p. sunghoon

SMAU! synopsis -› in which your neighbor and popular twitch streamer park sunghoon breaks his arm, so he switches to vlog style content that matches up with your’s! now everyone’s curious why 1) you have a cute boy in your apartment, 2) sunghoon’s not on his grind anymore, and 3) when are you two going to date!?

pair -› twitch streamer!sunghoon x vlogger!reader

includes -› fluff, humor/comedy, romance!!

trope -› strangers/acquaintances to lovers

cw -› cursing, i am chronically online so my humor is broken, i also don't know how to navigate twitter so forgive the inconsistent times or details, more to be added!

a/n -› guys i literally have never written an smau before. HELP??? it's been in my drafts since 2022 and now i finally wanna make it, plsplspls tell me if i seem like im plagarizing and i'll share proof + explanations! I have not been on enha tumblr in years but ik there's trope overlaps here and there!! super excited doe

TAGLIST OPEN! (send an ask, dm, or comment on THIS post to be added!!) SLOW UPDATES!

PROFILES. |||

sesame road | y/n l/n, yang jungwon, kim sunoo, l. inka, t. amber

fortnite new szn in 2 dayz? | park sunghoon, lee heeseung, sim jaeyun, park jongseong, riki nishimura

HOONIEBEE IS LIVE.... "right arm brken :("

prologue: maeumi x 4 | new fortnight fortnite battle pass

nickname basis

fractured humerus or broken humor??

WITH Y/N RENT FREE JUST POSTED! meet my neighbor ig???

revenue is spiraling...

stan twit not ready

HOONIEBEE IS LIVE! join stream 4 special guest

user omgilovesunghoonandiwanttomarryhim

delululand

is he 5'11 and has insane biceps

YAP CITY NEW EP OUT NOW! hooniebee, w/ y/n, and red flags!

do not download bedwars

friends (relationship tba)

WITH Y/N RENT FREE JUST POSTED! my kitchen almost caught fire!

YAP CITY NEW EP OUT NOW! hooniebee, w/ y/n, burning questions + special guests

togetherness

top ten worst among us betrayals

she said buy a star i said bet

thanks for watching!

MEDIA SPECIALS

jam with won pt 3 | Yang Jungwon

snooze acoustic cover - lee heeseung | HEESEUNG

how to make THE BEST 20 minute alfredo | cooking mama jay park

playing plat in silver lobbies | niki, jake

© all rights are reserved to mygnolia 2024. republished, translated, and/or heavily referenced work will be reported and removed immediately.

---

WISHING THIS HAD A PART 2 😔

fuck buddies, park sunghoon x reader

↳ pairing: sunghoon x fembodied!reader

↳ word count: 5,5k

↳ summary: park sunghoon never meant to fall in love with his fuckbuddy, yet he did. ↳ a/n: oh my the ending is so rushed I’M SORRY …..

↳ warnings: smut! minors dni, choking, dom!sunghoon, sub!reader, curse words, names such as slut etc (lemme know if there’s more i should add)

Stupid, stupid Park Sunghoon. He was stupid for violating the first rule of being fuck buddies, he was stupid for even thinking for a split second he would be able to maintain a relationship with you, a relationship where the two of you were nothing more than friends with benefits. 

It was supposed to be simple, so why was Sunghoon struggling? All he had to do was follow one simple rule. No emotional attachment, one stupid rule, yet Sunghoon had trouble trying to find the will to even try following it. It was like his mind had already been made up the second you two agreed to become friends with benefits, almost like his mind was already set on the fact that he would not follow the only rule that came with being friends with benefits. Stupid fucking Park Sunghoon.

It wasn’t exactly like you made it easier for him either, even though you had no clue about the way he felt. If you knew the way his heart would skip a beat every time you snuggled closer to him after sex, resting your head on his bare chest; or the way he’d be impatiently waiting by his phone every Saturday night so he wouldn’t miss when you called, you’d definitely would not still be sleeping with him. Because of that one dumb rule, the one fuck buddy law Sunghoon had violated when he fell in love with you.

Lees verder

---

forgot how much i love this smau 💓

( 尤も ) NATURAL — riki nishimura ᯽

━━━━ It was natural to call you pretty, it was natural to approach you, it was natural to confess to you, and it was natural to like you. Sadly for Nishimura Riki, his liking for you was meant from afar. Riki had seen you at the volleyball court during the first day of hybe sport summer camp, since then— he developed a huge crush on you, word spread that a huge amount of people have.

━━━━ What happens when riki creates a plan trying to approach you in the most ‘natural’ way possible ..?

GENRE ➤ STRANGERS to LOVERS, fluff, summer camp au, social media au with a lot of writing

━━━ PAIRING ➤ riki nishimura x f!reader

WARNINGS ➤ profanity (cursing), my humor, kys jokes, tba! — JOONIE of ICHILLIN’ as YN

NOTE ➤ THIS IS ALL FICITIONAL, feel free to send ASKs to talk about this smau with me! i love answering them :) — this was inspired by the song, NATURAL by gsoul

STATUS ➤ completed! TAGLIST is CLOSED!

NOTICE ➤ please DO NOT spam like, it will shadowban me!

ʬʬ.HowToGetHerAttention.com ➤ SELECT?

PROFILES ! — WEH8VOLLEYBALLZ | BASKETBALLZ

━━━ ONE ➤ ʬʬ.SHESFAMOUS.com

━━━ TWO ➤ ʬʬ.WHOISTHAT.com

━━━ THREE ➤ ʬʬ.iHAVECOMPETITION.com

━━━ FOUR ➤ ʬʬ.STEALHERSHOES.com

━━━ FIVE ➤ ʬʬ.THANKYOURIKI.com

━━━ SIX ➤ ʬʬ.SUPPORTNUMBER5.com

━━━ SEVEN ➤ ʬʬ.SHEKNEWABOUTME.com

━━━ EIGHT ➤ ʬʬ.SLEEPWITH1EYEOPEN.com

━━━ NINE ➤ ʬʬ.SOME1ELSE?.com

━━━ TEN ➤ ʬʬ.GOFORHER.com

━━━ ELEVEN ➤ ʬʬ.iLIKERIKI.com

━━━ TWELVE ➤ ʬʬ.REI’S-SILLYPLAN.com

━━━ THIRTEEN ➤ ʬʬ.ISPYWHO?.com

━━━ FOURTEEN ➤ ʬʬ.FRIENDZONEDONLINE.com

━━━ FIFTEEN ➤ ʬʬ.ITFELTNATUAL.com COMPLETED!

✶ LATRII | 2O23. do not copy or plagiarize any of my work.

➤ NAVIGATION

---