the stealer

THE BOYZ

[06.28 PM] - new [04:52 PM] - younghoon [12:42 AM] - kevin red lights - kevin [07:17 PM] - eric [00:09 AM] - kevin

ONF

come over [part 1 | part 2 | part 3] - j-us

NCT

[09:57 AM] - jaemin try again - jaemin “you don’t have to say anything” - jeno “now we’re even” - taeyong

VICTON

[01:31 AM] - seungwoo [12:39 PM] - seungsik

ONEWE

i know - cya

DAY6

“i like  y o u!” - youngk

GOLDEN CHILD

[10:24 AM] - y

STRAY KIDS

There weren’t a lot of people in this class, at least not as many as you’d see in others, but it was enough to be less likely for the teacher to notice that you two weren’t even trying to pay attention at this point and were just looking at each other and talking in whispers so that at least you wouldn’t disturb the people around you who somehow were still focused on the lesson.

—”Do you wanna leave and maybe go get some breakfast?” —Jaemin’s offer surprised you. It wasn’t that he had never skipped class or offered to do so with you, but it was always before the class even started, not quite past the middle of it.

—”Right now?” —Jaemin nodded.— “The teacher will notice!” —He shook his head and you giggled again seeing how confident he was about the idea. You were still a little scared of maybe the teacher seeing you two leave and saying something in front of anyone, calling you two out on your irresponsibility. 

And so, you and Jaemin started carefully picking up your stuff as to not make a lot of noise with the sounds of the pens clashing against each other inside your pencil case, the sound of your backpacks being unzipped so you could put everything back in, and then zipping it again. With no one to block your escape route, you two walked out the class with hurried steps and once the door had been closed -peeking inside one last time and finding the teacher so engrossed in what he was writing in the blackboard that he didn’t even see anything-, you two let out a sigh a relief and then shared a short laugh.

this is a little something for anyone who’s having a hard time!! don’t blame yourself for what’s happening or what you’re feeling. you did nothing wrong and you deserve better. when you feel like running away, take all the time you need to heal, but remember that there will always be someone who cares for you deeply and who loves you, even if you don’t even know just how much. if anyone ever needs someone to talk to or vent, i’m here !! have a great day and i love you!!

word count: 1526

Giwook could just look at you in silence as you wiped your eyes, even though that didn’t stop the tears. He didn’t know what to do, or if there was even anything he could do. But you were probably feeling as powerless. He knew you didn’t want to make eye contact with him, that you were already too embarrassed crying in front of him and showing him your face directly wouldn’t do much good to how overwhelmed you felt. 

—”Do you think…” —You started, catching his attention, even though you always had it.— “... that I’m a bad person for wanting to run away from this?” —

But just then, lightning illuminated the dimly-lit living room before everything went black, that obviously including the TV. Both you and Hyunjae stood still, not making a single move as you processed what just happened. After a few seconds that you didn’t keep count of, the loud thunder was heard and it brought you two out of your shock.

—”SERIOUSLY!?” —You both yelled in unison at the now empty screen that you couldn’t even really see in the now pitch dark room.

Letting out a deep sigh, you reached for your phone and turned on the flashlight before aiming it at Hyunjae, who flinched and squinted his eyes.

—”Don’t aim it at my face!” —You laughed and apologised, because you didn’t really mean to blind him but just make sure that he was still there and didn’t disappear in the darkness, as supernatural and probably unlikely to happen as that would be.

You left it on the couch with the screen facing the soft cushion so that the flashlight would act similar to a lamp and illuminate more around you two. Hyunjae started to think about what you could do to pass time as you waited for the power to come back only to be interrupted by one more lightning painting the room white for a second and making him flinch again. You giggled at his reaction. Was he scared of thunderstorms?

Before you could tease him and only a couple of seconds after the lightning happened, the thunder was heard so loudly that you thought you had almost felt the ground under your feet vibrate for a second, but you assumed it had been your imagination. Could storms even do that? It was so loud, that you guessed the lightning had striked near your place. You weren’t worried about that because you were in the comfort and protection of your home, but the sound had taken you back and made you not really want to tease Hyunjae anymore.

He seemed to notice the change of expression on your face and obviously heard how your giggle was cut short by the sudden shock. And usually, his first reaction would have been the same one you had a second ago; which was to tease you. But knowing you were feeling a slight fear similar to his, he instead reached to your waist, wrapping one arm around it and pulling you closer to him so he could cuddle you. 

A few seconds later, you just walked in with no words, the only thing let out being a deep sigh that perfectly transmitted the exhaustion you were feeling at that moment while letting yourself fall on top of his bed, face down and hidden in the comforter.

—”Welcome back?” —He said, even though it sounded more like a question due to his confusion at the state you were in, especially after you just responded with a groan.— “Let me guess; it’s about your exams.” —This time you replied with an exaggerated, dramatic sob, and he couldn’t help but chuckle, patting his lap and whispering to you to come to him.

Hearing that, you slowly got up from the bed and approached him before sitting on his lap. You sighed (a shorter, more discreet deep exhale this time) before resting your head on his shoulder.

—”It’s mostly that I’m tired. Whoever decided we should have classes both in the morning and in the evening has a spot reserved for them in hell.” —Once again, Chanhee laughed, covering his mouth with one hand before letting that same hand softly fall down till it touched your cheek, softly caressing it as you spoke up again.— “The second exam went well. It was online so it gave us our grade right after and I got a really good grade.” —

—”And the first one?” —

—”Let’s just hope the professor has mercy and a very good day before marking that one.” —This time you couldn’t help but join Chanhee in letting out a short laugh. It was true that it didn’t go well, but it also didn’t go as horrible as you could make it seem, but Chanhee knew that at that moment you were very tired and that was the brightest you could be about it. You’d cheer up as soon as you could get a little rest, and he would be there to help you bring back the positivity and the hope in yourself and your success.

—”Well, we’ll see! The second one went well right? At least that was a good way to end the day!” —He felt you nod, and he could also tell that his words had managed to draw a small smile on your face. He moved his hand from your cheek to your thigh and tapped it a couple times.— “Let’s order something for dinner now! Are you hungry?” —You nodded again and then got up from his lap, letting him finally see your smile face to face.

You looked at Younghoon for a little more than a second out of reflex and pure curiosity but never stopped walking towards your own apartment, which was right next to his. Stopping in front of the door, you opened your bag to take out your keys, and from the start you found it weird how you didn’t hear the jiggle of your keys clashing with your keychains inside the bag as you put your hand in it and rummaged through a little bit. Fearing what the situation was, you gulped and froze in the spot. After a couple seconds, you turned your head back ever so slightly, just enough to strain to see Younghoon looking at you before you quickly turned back to look at your door again, pleading effortlessly in your head that it would open magically on its own. 

Needless to say, that didn’t happen after all. Clutching your phone in your hand as you turned around, you thought of who you could ask to keep you company until your roommate got home in a couple hours. However, you couldn’t come up with anyone, since all of your friends were still in class. Taking a deep breath and exhaling it rapidly, you lifted your head and finally made eye contact with Younghoon. You were sure he could tell you were embarrassed, as he had just been a witness of how you forgot your keys and were locked out of your apartment. It was a little pathetic, actually, especially considering how much you (as well as any regular student) can’t think of anything other than going home and resting when you get out of your last class of the day.

—”Did you lock yourself out, too?” —He asked, and you were quickly snapped out of your little crisis where your head was filling with voices assuming how silly you must have looked in this situation to Younghoon, your cute neighbour who went to your same uni and who you had the tiniest crush on, or so you wanted to make yourself believe.

Repeating after your own thoughts, why would Younghoon be sitting outside of his apartment instead of going in like any regular student would want to do to finally get some rest after class? You let out a sigh of relief at the realisation that you two were on the same page, and he took it as a clear answer to his question, letting out a chuckle at it.

—”Do you want to go somewhere in the meantime? Until our roommates get home.” —You were surprised at his offer, but you almost immediately started feeling excited. He smiled at you and you returned the expression somewhat more shyly before responding.

—”Sure! I know a café nearby that’s really good, do you wanna go?” —You asked, not really trying to hide your growing excitement. He got up and grabbed his backpack, putting it back on and nodding before you two initiated a casual conversation. And you couldn’t help but feel so happy for having the chance to interact with him, since you two had your own group of friends and even though you shared some classes, you never really talked as much as you two would like to.

—”I don’t know? Me, apparently?” —He responded, at this point not even defending himself and accepting just how clumsy of him that was. You giggled and then looked at your sleeping bag that, still closed, you had taken out and laid on the ground while Kevin had been panicking and thinking of how to tell you about his big mistake.

You opened the sleeping bag and observed it in silence for a few seconds. It looked big enough… If you squeezed together, you both should be able to fit in, right? You felt a sudden heat spreading on your face and even if it made you somewhat shy, you brought up your idea.

—”We could share mine… If we both can fit in it, that is.” —Kevin looked somewhat surprised at your suggestion, but then again what other alternative was there? Did he really think you would just tell him to just sleep on the ground like it was nothing and not care?

Then, he nodded and got closer to you, or to your sleeping bag actually. He waited next to it, probably for you to get in first. You did just that and then Kevin carefully laid down next to you, your bodies laid on your sides facing each other and chests pressed together in an attempt to manage to close the sleeping bag. When you heard the sound of the zipper going up, not stopping until it reached the top and it still allowed you to lay comfortably (even though you still had to be facing Kevin, but not as tightly-pressed together), you let out a sigh of relief.

—”Looks like you won’t be freezing to death tonight.” —You joked, and Kevin chuckled before wrapping his arms around your torso and pulling you as close to him as you had been seconds ago. 

He didn’t even need to hear your voice to know how excited you were, although he did get to hear it after he had replied to the first 7 messages of you just saying his name repeatedly to get his attention. In a voice message, you told him your older brother Sangyeon had just left the house to go to the gym. He wouldn’t be back for over an hour, so you two had a perfect chance to use his ps4 and start playing the new videogame that you two had been looking forward to buying for so long. Usually, since the console was in your brother’s bedroom, you wouldn’t be able to play whenever you wanted, and especially not with Eric, since you two tended to get loud when you were excited and laughed really hard at pretty much anything, and after a while it’d end up bothering your brother while he was doing his own thing.

As he made his way to your house, you kept sending him messages of how excited you were, reminding him of just how long you had been waiting for that moment, telling him to hurry up so that they wouldn’t waste any time they could be spending to play, but immediately after telling him to be careful and actually not hurry too much and to look at both sides before crossing the road, because sometimes he didn’t do it while claiming ‘there are no cars coming right now’. 

“OPEN UP” he texted quickly once he was a couple steps away from your house. You read the text immediately and when he stopped in front of the door, he could hear your steps running towards the other side of it before opening it, a big smile on your face.

—”Hurry, come in! I already prepared everything! I even got us some snacks!” —Grabbing his free hand that wasn’t holding his phone with your own that wasn’t holding yours, you two walked back inside your home and you closed the door behind you. Eric laughed once more at your excitement, feeling your happiness add up to his that he was already feeling.

The slow sound of the piano from the song you were listening to through your earphones and the sight of Kevin’s gentle eyes as the two of you made eye contact almost immediately made you tear up, so you blinked repeatedly in order to try and keep the tears in. He seemed to quickly take notice of the new glimmer in your eyes, so similar yet so different to the way your eyes would shine when you two laughed until your stomachs hurt, when you talked about the things you loved or the people you loved. 

As he stepped closer to you and you felt a tear slide down your cheek, you looked away and bit your lower lip to stop it from shaking. You heard Kevin sigh, but you didn’t look at him.

—”What happened?” —He asked, his voice no louder than a whisper, and you were going to lower the sound of your music to make sure you wouldn’t miss whatever he said, but you didn’t. You didn’t want to move at all.

You just wanted to be in his arms, and as if he had read your mind behind the silence you gave him, he took off your earphones himself and placed them on the desk next to your phone before grabbed your hands and pulled you up from the chair you were sitting in and took the last few steps to your bed. Before he could make any gestures to let you know what he wanted, you sat near the centre of the bed, and Kevin carefully laid down next to you. You let yourself fall and your back hit the soft mattress, and then Kevin turned and finally wrapped his arms around you as you had needed so much.

—”It’s just… A horrible day, today.” —You said. The room felt a little too empty without the music that had been filling your ears seconds ago, but it was a little more bearable if he was next to you.

You had closed your eyes but opened then when you felt Kevin’s breath on your face followed by the soft touch of his lips on your forehead. You took a deep breath that came out as shaky as it had come in. You didn’t even fight the tears anymore, nor did you stop him from brushing each of them away with his thumbs. He let you cry it all out that way instead of through your words. He didn’t ask more details if you weren’t willing to give them to him, for whatever reason it could be. But he was there for you and he always made sure you knew. And you did, you knew. And you were so grateful. You hoped when you felt a little bit stronger again you could properly thank him.

—”Today was a horrible day.” —He repeated, and you nodded slightly.— “But hopefully, tomorrow will be better.” —

Your opened your mouth to respond, but he interrupted you before you could even say anything.

—”We will make tomorrow a better day, together.” —You stayed in silent for long enough for him to believe you just wouldn’t answer, but you threw back a question, so softly it was almost like you were asking it to yourself.

—”But what if it’s not better?” —You cleared your throat before speaking again, a little louder than before.— “What if tomorrow is as bad as today?” —

As Kevin’s face got closer to yours, you instinctively closed your eyes and reciprocated the short kiss he placed on your lips.

—”Then I’ll be here with you. You will not be alone through it. And you know it.” —And you knew it, yet hearing his words made the tears fall again.

—”I know.” —His hold around your body tightened slightly before he pulled you even closer to him, and you buried your face in his chest. You felt the vibrations of it as he spoke again, along with the beating of his heart. You slowly relaxed as the room started falling silent again and one of Kevin’s hands moved up to thread his fingers through your hair.

—”I’m here.” —He whispered, the gentle sound of voice lulling you to sleep. 

You were greeted with that pretty smile as soon as he saw you at the door and you tried to keep calm as you approached the counter. You were gonna do it today. You weren’t gonna let this add up to the list of quite a few failed attempts to pretty much admitting that you liked him by asking him out, too afraid of him not feeling the same way. 

Too deep in your own thoughts and self-encouragement in your head to push you to finally say the words you had been practicing for this moment, he spoke up, seemingly confused over your silence since you didn’t even say hi to him.

—”(Y/N)? Is everything okay?” —He asked, and while you remained silent on the outside, it was starting to get chaotic inside your head. ‘Come on, (Y/N)! Tell him now! The sooner you let it out, the better!’ you kept yelling to yourself internally.

—”I’m okay! I’m sorry.” —You said, and gave him a little awkward smile that he returned more naturally.

—”Do you wanna get your favorite? I’ve been practicing it and I think it tastes even better than usual now!” —The fact that he already knew your favorite drink wasn’t just thanks to your regular visits but also to how actually you two already had each other’s phone numbers and texted a little bit once in a while when you didn’t go to the café.

—”Oh, I’d love that!” —You were excited to try it, but at the same time disappointed because you were feeling your already short-lasting courage slip away. Well, you had his phone number. Maybe you could ask him over text. Yes, that’d make it less scary! After all, if he didn’t say yes, you wouldn’t have to hear the rejection and see his reaction face to face.

You paid for the drink that he quickly started to prepare and sharing one last friendly smile, you turned around and started walking towards one of the empty tables besides the big windows. You were holding in a sigh of disappointment before Sungyoon called your name to stop you, making you turn around on instinct to look at him.

His cheeks were slightly flushed and he pursed his lips for a second before finally speaking up, his words leaving you shocked.

—”Would you like to go on a date with me?” —

Your silence prolonged for a little bit more than you wanted to, your body not reacting to your own order’s of quickly saying an excited yes.

—”I… I would love to!” —You finally said, and Sungyoon finally smiled, letting out the shy feeling overwhelming his heart in a soft chuckle. 

—”Great, my shift is over in 30 minutes, so if you don’t have anything to do we could go somewhere together.” —He said. Although it was so sudden, you didn’t actually have any plans, so you quickly accepted.— “Okay then, I’ll bring your drink to your table as soon as it’s done.” —You nodded and then walked to said table. 

Once again it got loud inside your head, but this time you were celebrating your mutual feelings and excited for what was to come.

—"Don't laugh..." —You whined once again, but then you let out a weak giggle. You were too tired to truly care about Seungwoo laughing at the situation. You just wanted to sleep but your allergies weren't letting you rest, sneezing up to 3 times in a row every few seconds and the itch on your nose and throat bothering you greatly. Oh, allergies were so much fun.

—"I'm sorry~" —He whispered in return, and you could hear the smile in his gentle voice. Carefully making him let go of you, you got up from the bed and decided to go to the bathroom to wash up your face, as if that would help with allergies. Still, you did it. At least it'd help cool down your heated face from all the sneezing and from the warmth of Seungwoo's body pressed against yours. Summer was just around the corner but you could never pass up on sleeping all close to him.

Once you were done and got back on the bed, Seungwoo inmediately went back to the same position you two were in before you got up, but facing you this time.