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𖢥 ────── spiderman!jake texts .✦ ˎˊ˗ fluff, crack, ft. sunghoon aka guy in the chair hehe, jake is extremely down bad, based off of tangled up with you!jakeyn
°˖➴ .ᐟ ── a little something as an apology for being absent on here :') reread some of tangled up with you recently and started missing spidey jakey hehe so here's this! i promise i'll start being more active soon,,,i'm currently in the midst of writing two fics ;) anyways enjoy & take care <333
────── idk how smau writers do it this took me forever, i have mad respect for yall LMAO :')
!! synopsis: you don't need help. ever. then you fail a class and get stuck with jake sim the campus fuckboy, and your new tutor. he's cocky. he's in your space. and you're about to learn that fuckboy's tutor best.
!! warnings: smut (mdni), dom jake, sub/bratty reader, oral, fingering, pet names, dirty talk, spanking, piv, unprotected sex (dont!), praising, semi public
!! wc: 9.5k
!! a/n: pics of jake always awake something in me, sry this took forever i debated hard on the flow of this story so sorry if it feels rushed, ENJOY!
The red F on your midterm was actually offensive.
Not because you'd worked hard. You hadn't. You'd skimmed the readings, showed up to class hungover twice, and submitted a study guide you'd filled out while watching a movie. The F was fair, the problem was it bruised your ego.
Professor Lee didn't even wait for the rest of the class to leave. She caught you at the door, hand on your arm, voice low enough that only you could hear.
"A word." You followed her to her desk, she held up your exam."38 percent." she said.
"I know, I'll study harder."
"You've been skating by on charm and curve points, and now the curve can't save you." She slid a piece of paper across the desk. "Peer tutoring. Mandatory. Twice a week until your average is above a C."
You picked up the paper. One name written in blue ink.
Jake Sim.
"Jake Sim?" you said.
"He's the best tutor I have. Top of the class last semester. Top of the class now.
You knew Jake Sim. Well, you didn't know him. You knew of him. Everyone did. The guy who showed up to every party with a new girl and left with whoever he wanted. The guy who never raised his voice but always got the last word. The guy who'd held a door open for you once and looked at you like he was already bored.
"He's a fuckboy," you said not thinking she heard.
Professor Lee didn't blink. "He's also the only reason six people are passing this class right now. You start Monday. His schedule is at the bottom."
You walked out of that office with your 38 percent and a new low.
Karina and Giselle were waiting for you outside, perched on a bench, phones in hand, looking like they'd been there for hours.
"Your face says disaster," Karina said.
"I have a tutor."
"Okay?"
"Jake Sim."
Giselle's head snapped up. "Jake Sim?"
"Unfortunately."
Karina burst out laughing. "The Jake Sim?"
"Yes."
"The one who went through three sororities in one semester?"
"Yes."
"The one who corrected Sunghoon's drink order at a party and then made out with his date an hour later?"
"Karina." you screamed.
"I'm just saying!" She was grinning now. "Damn. Not Jake."
"I know."
"But also..." Giselle tilted her head. "Damn. Jake is kinda hot."
"I don't care if he's hot. He's a walking red flag with good bone structure."
"And he's your tutor." Karina wiped a tear from her eye. "This is the best thing that's ever happened to me."
"I'm going to fail."
You sat down between them and put your head in your hands. "He's going to be insufferable. You know he's going to be insufferable. He's going to sit there with that stupid smirk and explain basic statistics like I'm a child and I'm going to have to pretend I don't want to throw my textbook at his head."
"Or," Giselle said, "you could just let him be hot and enjoy the view."
"I'm not going to enjoy anything."
"You've never even talked to him."
"I don't need to talk to him to know I hate him."
Karina patted your back. "That's the spirit."
Jake was mid-bite into his sandwich when Sunghoon kicked his foot under the table.
"You got assigned a tutoring student?"
Jake chewed. Swallowed. "Yeah."
"Who?"
"Does it matter?"
Jay leaned forward. "It matters cause we are nosy."
Heeseung was already scrolling through his phone. "Professor Lee's class? She sent out the list this morning."
Jake took another bite. He'd seen the name. He'd read it twice. He'd spent maybe longer than necessary staring at it.
He knew who you were. Everyone did. The girl who walked into parties like she owned them. The girl who never asked for help. The girl who'd looked at him just once across a crowded room, and then looked away like he wasn't worth a second glance.
"You're being weird," Jungwon said from the end of the table.
"I'm not being weird."
"You're not talking. That's weird for you."
Jake set his sandwich down. "It's Y/N."
Silence.
Then Sunghoon choked on his drink.
"The one who told Professor Kim to his face that his lecture was boring?"
"That's her."
Jay whistled. "She needs a tutor? I thought she had everything figured out."
"Apparently not."
Jungwon shrugged. "She's going to hate it."
"She's going to hate me."
"Probably."
Jake thought about that. Thought about your face the one time you'd looked at him. You hadn't smiled. Hadn't blushed. Hadn't done any of the things girls usually did when they looked at him.
You'd just looked. And then you'd walked away.
"I don't know," Heeseung said slowly. "She's hot. Like, really hot. Independent. People come to her for help. This might be interesting."
"Interesting how?" Jake asked.
"I don't know. Just... interesting. She's not going to fall all over you like everyone else does."
Jake picked up his sandwich. "I'm not trying to make her fall all over me."
"Sure you're not."
"I'm just tutoring her. That's it."
Sunghoon snorted. "Famous last words."
Jake didn't respond. But he couldn't stop thinking about your name on that paper.
Y/N.
He wondered if you'd text him first or if he'd have to reach out.
He wondered if you'd show up on Monday with that same look on your face like you had nothing to prove to anyone.
He wondered what it would take to make you look at him twice.
Three days before your first session, Karina dragged you to a party.
"I need to get out," she said.
"You need to get out. I need to study."
"No babes you need to drink."
The party was at some guy's house you didn't catch the name to and you didn't care. The music was too loud, the cups were sticky, and within twenty minutes, you'd lost Karina to the dance floor and Giselle to a guy who looked like he played club sports.
You were on your third drink when you saw him.
Jake.
He was on a couch in the corner, and there was a girl in his lap.
Not sitting next to him. Not leaning against him. Fully in his lap, her legs draped over his thigh, her lips hovering near his ear. His hand was on her waist. He wasn't kissing her but it was clearly heading there.
You recognized the girl. Wonyoung. She was in your psych class. She'd spent the entire semester batting her eyelashes at every guy within a ten foot radius.
Of course it was Wonyoung.
You looked away. Drank. Looked back.
His hand had moved lower.
"Ew," you said to no one.
Karina appeared at your elbow. "What?"
"Jake Sim. With the one and only."
Karina followed your gaze. "Oh. Yeah. That's Wonyoung. She's been trying to get his attention for weeks."
"He's letting her."
"That's what he does." Karina shrugged. "He's always like that. A different girl every week. Sometimes every night. It's his whole thing."
"His whole thing is gross."
"His whole thing is effective. Look at her. She's practically melting."
You took another drink. "I have to let him teach me statistics."
"Poor you."
"I'm serious. How am I supposed to sit across from someone who acts like that?"
"You could try not staring at him."
"Shut up."
Karina grabbed your hand. "Come on. You're too sober. We're dancing."
She pulled you onto the floor. The music shifted something with a bass you could feel in your chest. You let yourself move. Let yourself forget about the F and the tutoring and the way Jake's hand had looked on Wonyoung's waist.
A guy found you. Tall. Dark hair. Cute in a forgettable way. He smiled at you and you smiled back because why not, and then his hands were on your hips and you were dancing with him.
It was fine. It was nothing.
But across the room, someone was watching.
"She's here," Sunghoon said.
Jake didn't have to ask who. He'd seen you the second you walked in. The way the room shifted when you entered. The way people looked at you like you were the main character and they were just extras.
"Yeah," Jake said. "I saw her."
Wonyoung was still in his lap. He'd forgotten she was there until she shifted and pressed closer. He should focus on her. She was pretty. She was interested. She was easy.
But his eyes kept finding you.
You were dancing with some guy now. Some random guy who'd probably never talked to you before tonight. His hands were on your hips. You were laughing at something he said.
"Why is she dancing with him?" Jake asked.
Sunghoon looked. "Because she's at a party? Because he asked? Why do you care?"
"I don't."
"You're staring."
"I'm observing."
"Heeseung called it." Jay appeared on Jake's other side. "He said you'd be interested."
"I'm not interested."
"You've looked at her twelve times in the last ten minutes."
Jake pulled his eyes away. Wonyoung was looking at him expectantly. He'd missed something she'd said.
"Sorry," he said. "What?"
"I asked if you wanted to go somewhere quieter."
The implication was clear. A month ago, he would have said yes. A week ago, he would have said yes. But tonight, for some reason, the word stuck in his throat.
"I have an early class," he said.
Wonyoung's face flickered. "Oh."
She didn't look convinced, but she got off his lap. Walked away without looking back.
Sunghoon raised his eyebrows. "You just let her go."
"She's not going anywhere."
"She's going to find someone else."
"Good for her."
Jake stood up. He needed water. Or air. Or something that wasn't watching you dance with someone else.
He pushed through the crowd toward the back of the house. The hallway was quieter. The bathroom door was cracked open, light spilling out.
He was about to walk past when you stepped out.
You nearly collided with his chest.
"Oh-" You looked up. Your eyes were glassy. You were tipsy. Maybe more than tipsy. "You."
"Me."
"I was just thinking about you."
"Good things?"
"I was thinking about how much I don't want to see you on Monday."
Jake leaned against the wall. Arms crossed. Calm. "That's funny. I was thinking about how much I'm looking forward to it."
"You're lying."
"I don't lie."
"Everyone lies."
"Not me." He tilted his head. "You're drunk."
"I'm tipsy. There's a difference."
"You're going to be hungover on Monday."
"I'm going to be fine on Monday."
"We'll see."
You stepped closer. Pointed a finger at his chest. "You're my teacher now. That's so weird."
"I'm your tutor. Not your teacher."
"Same thing."
"Different thing."
"You're correcting me already?" Your eyes narrowed. "We haven't even started."
"I'm just preparing you."
"For what?"
"For me."
You stared at him. He stared back.
"I hate you," you said.
Jake smiled. Slow. "Monday. Library. Third floor. Seven o'clock. Don't be late."
"I'm never late."
"You were late to Professor Kim's lecture three times last semester."
Your mouth opened. Closed. "How do you know that?"
"I pay attention."
You blinked at him. Then you shook your head and pushed past him, stumbling slightly on your way back to the party.
Jake watched you go.
He was definitely looking forward to Monday.
You showed up at 6:58 because you weren't going to give him the satisfaction of being late.
The library was mostly empty on a Monday night. Third floor was silent except for the hum of the vending machine and the squeak of your shoes on the floor.
Jake was already there. Of course he was.
He was sitting at a table near the window, laptop open, textbook out, pens lined up perfectly. He looked up when you approached.
"You're early," he said.
"I'm on time."
He gestured to the chair across from him. "Sit down."
You sat. Dropped your bag on the floor. Crossed your arms.
"So." He closed his laptop. "Show me your exam."
"No."
"I can help you by explaining why you failed."
Your jaw tightened. "I didn't fail. I got a 38. That's not technically failing. That's... adjacent to failing."
"38 is failing."
"It's a soft fail."
"There's no such thing."
"There is if I say there is."
Jake leaned back in his chair. Studied you. "You're going to be difficult, aren't you?"
"I'm not difficult. I'm particular."
"Same thing, different font."
You almost smiled. Almost. "Fine." You pulled the exam out of your bag and slid it across the table. "There. Happy?"
He picked it up. Read it. Didn't react. "Okay," he said. "Here's the problem. You don't know how to study."
"I know how to study."
"You know how to memorize things the night before and hope for the best. That's not studying."
"It's worked so far."
"Has it?" He held up the exam. "Because this looks like your luck ran out."
You opened your mouth. Closed it.
"Here's how this is going to work," he said. "You're going to stop pretending you're too good for this. I'm going to stop pretending you're not smart. And we're both going to get through this without killing each other."
"That last part isn't guaranteed."
He almost smiled. "Deal."
He stood up. Walked to the whiteboard the library kept in the corner. Picked up a marker.
"Come here."
You didn't move.
"I'm not going to bite." He looked over his shoulder. "Unless you want me to."
"Enough with the games Sim."
"Then come here so I can actually teach you something."
You stood up. Walked to the whiteboard. Stood as far away from him as possible while still being able to see.
He drew a curve. Labeled it. Started explaining. And he was good at it.
Not condescending. Not slow. Just clear. He asked questions and waited for answers. He didn't fill the silence when you were thinking. He let you struggle until you got it.
A hour in, you understood p-values.
"This shouldn't make sense."
"But it does."
He capped the marker. "Same time Wednesday."
"Yeah."
"Try not to be so angry next time."
"I'm not angry. You grabbed your bag. Walked toward the stairs.
"Hey," he called. You turned.
Jake was leaning against the whiteboard, arms crossed. "You're not stupid. You just don't like being bad at things. There's a difference."
"That's like the second time you've said that."
"Because you keep needing to hear it."
You left. But you thought about it the whole walk home.
The sessions blurred together. Two weeks. Four sessions. Then six.
You stopped fighting it somewhere around session three. Not because you'd given up but because you'd started to actually get it. The material made sense when Jake explained it. He had a way of breaking things down that didn't make you feel like an idiot.
He was still cocky. Still insufferable. Still looked at you like he knew something you didn't.
But you weren't snapping at him anymore. You were learning.
"You're different," Karina said one day at lunch.
"I'm not different."
"You smiled at your phone. Three times. In a row."
"I was looking at memes."
"You were texting Jake."
"I was texting Jake about homework." You threw a fry at her.
Giselle watched the exchange with amusement. "She's not wrong. You've been in a good mood lately."
"I'm in a normal mood."
"You failed a midterm and you're being tutored by a fuckboy. You should be miserable."
"Maybe I've accepted my fate."
You were mid-bite into your sandwich when a shadow fell over the table.
"Hey."
You looked up. Jake was standing there. Holding your jacket.
The jacket you'd left at his apartment two days ago after a session that ran late. The jacket you'd completely forgotten about until this exact moment.
"You left this," he said. "You keep leaving things at my place."
"I don't do it on purpose."
"Sure you don't."
He set the jacket on the table. His fingers brushed yours. Too long to be accidental.
Everyone was watching. Not just Karina and Giselle, who had both gone completely still. But the tables around you. The people walking past. The girl at the fountain who'd been trying to get Jake's attention for weeks.
Wonyoung. She was standing near your table, coffee in hand, eyes locked on you. On the jacket. On the way Jake was looking at you.
"Thanks," you said, pulling the jacket toward you.
"See you Thursday," Jake said. He walked away.
The second he was out of earshot, Karina slammed her hands on the table and screamed.
"What the fuck was that!?"
"Nothing."
"That was not nothing. That was something. He brought you your jacket. He remembered your jacket. He came to find you to give you your jacket."
"He's polite."
"He's not polite. He's a fuckboy. Fuckboys don't return jackets. They keep them as trophies."
Giselle was staring at you. "You've been to his apartment."
"For tutoring."
"You're lying."
"I'm not"
"Y/N." Karina grabbed your wrist. "Look at me. Are you sleeping with him?"
"No!"
"Are you going to sleep with him?"
"I don't- I haven't- I don't know."
Karina and Giselle exchanged a look.
"Oh my God," Giselle whispered. "She likes him."
"I don't like him."
"You like him."
"I tolerate him."
Across the courtyard, Wonyoung was still watching.
She found you after class two days later.
You were walking across campus, earbuds in, not paying attention, when a hand grabbed your arm.
You spun around. Wonyoung.
"What the hell?" you said, pulling your arm back.
"Sorry." She didn't look sorry. "I need to talk to you."
"About?"
"Jake."
You sighed. "I don't have time for this."
"It'll take two minutes."
You looked at her. She was smaller than you remembered. Prettier, too, in a polished, intentional way. Her nails were done. Her hair was curled. She looked like she'd stepped out of a magazine.
"Fine," you said. "Talk."
"What's going on with you and Jake?"
"Nothing."
"He brought you your jacket."
"He's my tutor. He was being nice."
Wonyoung's eyes narrowed. "Jake isn't nice."
"Then why do you want him so badly?"
The question caught her off guard. Her composure cracked, just slightly.
"I've been trying to get his attention for months," she said. "Months. And he's never looked at me the way he looks at you."
You didn't know what to say to that.
"I'm not trying to be mean," Wonyoung continued. "I just want to know. Are you together? Is that a thing?"
"We're not together."
"But you want to be."
"I didn't say that."
"You didn't have to."
She stepped back. Crossed her arms. "Fine. Whatever. Just... don't waste him. If you're not serious about him, let him go."
"I don't think Jake Sim is the kind of guy you need to protect."
"Maybe not." Wonyoung turned to walk away. Then stopped. "But you're not the only one who sees something in him."
She left.
You stood there for a long moment.
Then you pulled out your phone.
You: Some girl just cornered me about you.
Jake: Which one?
You: Wonyoung.
Jake: Ah.
You: That's all you have to say?
Jake: She's harmless.
You: She wants you.
Jake: A lot of people want me.
You: Cocky.
Jake: Honest.
You: Same thing.
Jake: Different font.
You almost smiled.
Jake: See you Thursday.
You: See you Thursday.
You brought it up during your next session.
Not on purpose. It just slipped out.
"So Wonyoung," you said, not looking up from your notebook.
Jake didn't look up either. "What about her?"
"You two have history?"
"Define history."
"I saw her at that party cuddled up with you."
He paused. Then set his pen down. "That was before we started tutoring."
"So?"
"So, nothing. She was there. I was there. It didn't mean anything."
"It looked like it meant something."
Jake leaned back in his chair. Studied you. "Are you jealous?"
"I'm not jealous."
"Your face is red." Jake smiled. Slow. "You're jealous."
"I'm not jealous. I'm... curious."
"About my romantic history?"
"About whether you're going to keep doing that while you're supposed to be tutoring me."
"Would it bother you if I did?"
You looked at him. Really looked."Yes," you said.
The word hung in the air.
Jake didn't smile. Didn't tease. He just looked at you, and something shifted in his expression. Something softer.
"Good," he said.
"Good?"
"Good that it would bother you." He picked up his pen. "It would bother me too. If it were the other way around."
You didn't know what to say to that. So you looked back down at your notebook and pretended to study.
But you could feel him watching you. And for the first time, you didn't hate it.
It happened after a late session.
You'd been studying for three hours. Your brain was fried. Your eyes were tired. And Jake had been looking at you all night like you were something he wanted to eat.
"You're staring," you said.
"I'm thinking."
"About what?"
"About how you bite your lip when you're concentrating."
Your pen stopped moving.
"Don't," you said.
"Don't what?"
"Don't say things like that."
"Why not?"
"Because we're supposed to be studying."
"We've been studying for three hours. Take a break."
"I don't need a break."
"You do." He stood up. Walked around the table. Leaned against it, right next to your chair. "You've been tensing your shoulders for the last hour. You haven't blinked in thirty seconds. You need a break."
"I need to pass this class."
"You will. But tonight you need to relax."
You looked up at him. He was close. Too close.
"And how do you suggest I do that?"
Jake's hand came up to your face. Slow. Deliberate. His thumb brushed your lower lip. "Let me," he said.
"Why?"
"Because I want to."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only one you need."
You should have said no. You should have packed your bag and walked out and gone home and thought about this in the morning. Instead, you kissed him.
It wasn't soft. It wasn't tentative. It was hungry and frustrated and tasted like every argument you'd been having for weeks. His hands were in your hair. Your hands were on his chest. He pulled you up from the chair and pressed you against the table.
"There she is," he murmured against your mouth.
"Shut up."
"Make me."
You kissed him harder.
He laughed. Then his hands were under your shirt and your hands were in his hair and you had never wanted anyone the way you wanted him right now.
"Bedroom," he said.
"Yeah."
He took your hand.
His bedroom was dark. The sheets were rumpled. It smelled like him, clean, with something underneath that you couldn't name. He pushed the door closed and turned to look at you.
"Last chance," he said.
"For what?"
"To change your mind."
"I'm not going to change my mind."
He kissed you again. Slower this time. His hands slid under your shirt, palms flat against your ribs, thumbs brushing the underside of your bra. You gasped against his mouth.
"Tell me what you want," he said.
"I want you to stop talking."
"That's not how this works." He pulled back. Looked at you. His eyes were dark. Serious. "I need to hear you say it."
"Say what?"
"Say you want this. Say you want me. Not because you're stressed. Not because of the tutoring. Because you've been thinking about this as much as I have."
Your heart was pounding.
"How do you know I've been thinking about it?"
"Because you're here. Because you kissed me first. Because you're looking at me right now like you want to climb inside my skin." He tilted his head. "Am I wrong?"
You grabbed his shirt and pulled him close.
"I want you," you said against his mouth. "I've wanted you since the party. Since the first session. Since you said good girl like it meant something."
"It meant something."
"Then show me."
He took his time. Unhurried. Every touch deliberate. Every kiss slower than the last. You tried to rush him. You grabbed at his belt, tugged at his shirt, tried to flip him over. He caught your wrists. Held them above your head.
"Not yet," he said. Voice low. Firm.
"Jake-"
"I've been waiting for this." His lips brushed your ear. "I'm not going to rush. You're not going to rush. You're going to take what I give you. Understood?"
You glared at him. "You're not the boss of me."
"Tonight I am."
"That's cute."
He squeezed your wrists. Not hard. Just enough. "You want to test me? Go ahead. But you're not going to win."
"You're insufferable."
"You keep saying that."
"Because it's true."
He smiled. Then he released your wrists and his mouth was on your neck, your collarbone, lower. He kissed down your stomach, your hips, your thighs. He took his time there too, mouthing at the sensitive skin, breathing hot against you.
"You're so tense," he murmured.
"I'm not tense."
"You're shaking."
"I'm cold."
"You're not cold."
He looked up at you. Held your gaze. Then he lowered his mouth where you wanted him most.
You gasped. Your hands flew to his hair.
"That's it," he said against you. "Hold on."
He worked you slowly, deliberately, watching your face the whole time. Every time you got close, he pulled back. Every time you whined, he smiled.
"Please," you finally said.
"Please what?"
"Please don't stop."
"Good girl."
He didn't stop.
His mouth was everywhere tongue flat against you, then pointed, then circling exactly where you needed him most. He groaned against your skin like he was the one getting pleased, like tasting you was his reward, not yours. His hands pinned your hips down when you tried to squirm away, holding you open for him, taking his time. He wasn't in a rush. He wanted to watch you fall apart.
When you came, you came hard, back arching off the bed, his name falling out of your mouth like a prayer. He didn't let you recover. He kissed up your body, slow and lazy, like he had all the time in the world.
You reached for him, pulled him up, tried to flip him onto his back.
He didn't move.
"Not yet," he said.
"Jake-"
"You think we're done?" He pressed his forehead to yours. His breath was hot. His voice was low. "We're just getting started."
"Then what are you waiting for?"
He smiled. Slow. Dangerous.
"Pop quiz."
You blinked. "What?"
He pulled back. Sat up on his knees. Looked down at you spread out beneath him flushed, wet, still shaking from your orgasm.
"You've been learning a lot in our sessions," he said. "But I want to make sure you're paying attention."
"To statistics?"
"To me."
He reached for his belt. Unbuckled it slowly. Pulled it free from the loops.
"This is a different kind of lesson," he said. "But the rules are the same. I ask a question. You answer. If you get it right, you get rewarded."
"And if I get it wrong?"
He folded the belt in half. Tapped it against his palm.
"You get punished."
You moaned, your stomach flipped. Heat pooled low in your belly.
"What kind of questions?"
"We'll start easy." He leaned down, kissed your neck, bit softly at your collarbone. "What's the formula for a confidence interval?"
"You're joking."
"I never joke about education."
You stared at him. He stared back. His eyes were dark. Serious. Waiting.
"Sample mean," you said slowly, "plus or minus the critical value times the standard error."
"Good job."
He kissed you. Deep. Rewarding. His hand slid between your legs, fingers finding you already wet, already ready.
"That's one," he said against your mouth. "Want another?"
"Yes."
"Then pay attention."
He flipped you onto your stomach. Pulled your hips up. The belt was still in his hand.
"What's a Type I error?" he asked.
"False positive," you said quickly. "Rejecting a true null hypothesis."
"Good."
He pushed into you from behind. No warning. No slow build. Just full, deep, stretching you open. You cried out, fingers gripping the sheets.
"Jake- fuck"
"That's one point." He pulled out almost all the way. Held there. "What's a Type II error?"
You couldn't think. Couldn't breathe. He was barely inside you, just the tip, and you could feel yourself clenching around nothing.
"Jake, please-"
"Wrong answer."
The belt came down on your ass. Not hard enough to bruise. Hard enough to sting. You gasped.
"Type II error," he said calmly. "False negative. Failing to reject a false null hypothesis." He pushed back in, slow, torturous. "Try again."
"Type II-" You couldn't focus. He was moving now, shallow thrusts, not enough. "Type II is false negative-"
"Full sentence."
"Type II error is failing to reject- fuck- failing to reject a false null hypothesis."
"Good fucking girl."
He snapped his hips forward. Hard. Deep. You moaned into the pillow.
"You want another question?"
"Yes Jakey please"
"What's the difference between a one-tailed and a two-tailed test?"
You knew this. But he was fucking you now, really fucking you, and every thrust pushed the answer further out of your brain.
"A one-tailed-" He hit a spot that made your vision white out. "A one-tailed tests in one direction- two-tailed tests both-"
"Both what?"
"Both directions-"
"And when do you use each?"
"I don't- fuck, Jake- I can't-"
The belt came down again. Harder this time.
"Incorrect," he said. His voice was colder now. Disappointed. "You're not even trying."
"I am trying-"
"You're distracted." He pulled out. Flipped you onto your back. Stared down at you. "You're so fucked out you can't even answer basic questions."
Your face burned. From the sex. From the shame. From the way he was looking at you.
"I'm sorry," you whispered.
"Sorry isn't good enough."
He grabbed your chin. Forced you to look at him.
"You wanted this. You wanted me. Now you're going to take what I give you and you're going to earn it."
"Yes Jake"
"Shut up."
He pushed back inside you. Harder than before. Faster. His hand closed around your throat not squeezing, just holding, just reminding you who was in charge.
"I've been patient," he said, fucking you with each word. "I've been nice. I've let you be bratty and difficult and act like you're too good for this. But right now? Right now you're just a girl on her back, taking my cock because she can't handle a few simple questions."
Your eyes watered. From the sting. From the heat. From the way his words were making you feel things you didn't want to name.
"Say it," he said.
"Say what-"
"Say you're mine. Right now. In this bed. You're fucking mine."
"Mmm I'm yours-"
"Louder."
"I'm yours Jake, all yours."
He kissed you. Bruising. Claiming. His hand moved from your throat to your hair, pulling, tilting your head back.
"One more question," he said. "Get it right and I'll let you cum."
"Okay-"
"What's the probability that I'm going to stop until you've cum at least three more times?"
You blinked at him.
"That's not a real question-"
"Wrong answer."
He pulled out. Flipped you over again. Pulled your hips up and drove back in, one hand fisted in your hair, the other gripping your hip hard enough to leave marks.
You came without warning. Without permission. Your body just broke, clenching around him, sobbing into the pillow.
He didn't stop.
"That's one," he said. "Two more to go."
"Jake- I can't-"
"You can. And you fucking will slut."
He fucked you through it. Through the oversensitivity, through the tears, through the way your arms gave out and your face pressed into the mattress.
When you came again, it was on his command. His voice in your ear. And your body obeyed.
"You're learning," he said.
He pulled out. Rolled you onto your back one last time. Stared down at you all wrecked, crying, completely undone.
"One more," he said.
"Fuck I can't-"
"You can."
He pushed back inside you. Slow this time. Gentle. His thumb found your clit and circled softly, coaxing, not demanding.
"Look at me," he said.
You looked at him.
His face was different now. Softer. His eyes were dark but not cold. He pulled you on top of him while watching you like you were something precious.
"Cum for me," he said quietly. "One more time. Nice and slow."
You came apart rolling your hips, letting it wash over you. He followed right after, buried deep, forehead pressed to yours.
Neither of you moved.
His hand came up to your face. Wiped your tears.
"You did good," he said.
"I hate you."
"No, you don't."
"No," you agreed. "I don't."
He pulled out. Pulled you against his chest. Wrapped his arms around you.
"Same time tomorrow?" he asked.
"For tutoring?"
"For whatever you want."
You laughed. It came out weak.
"Yeah," you said. "Same time tomorrow."
After that first night, something shifted.
Not dramatically. Not with words or labels or awkward conversations. It just happened. Slowly. Naturally.
Tutoring sessions still happened. Twice a week, sometimes three times. Jake still explained statistics with that infuriating calm, and you still rolled your eyes and snapped at him when he got too cocky. But now, when the session ended, you didn't leave right away.
The first time you stayed, it was because you were tired. Really tired. You'd been up late studying for a different exam, and when Jake finished explaining p-values for the third time, you put your head down on the table and didn't pick it back up.
"You can't sleep here," he said.
"I'm not sleeping. I'm resting my eyes."
"You're snoring."
"I don't snore."
"You're snoring right now."
You lifted your head just enough to glare at him. He was smiling with a shine to his eyes.
"Come on," he said. "The couch is more comfortable."
That was the first night you fell asleep on his couch. He threw a blanket over you and sat on the floor next to you, grading papers by the light of his laptop. When you woke up at 2 AM, he was asleep sitting up, head tilted back, mouth slightly open.
You should have gone home.
You didn't.
You pulled him down onto the couch next to you, and he wrapped an arm around you without waking up, and you fell back asleep to the sound of his heartbeat.
After that, it became a thing.
Some nights you slept together the real kind, the messy kind, the kind that left you breathless and sore and smiling into the dark. Other nights you just watched movies. He liked action. You liked horror. You compromised on thrillers and spent most of the time arguing about the plot.
He made you popcorn on the stove, not the microwave, because he was "not a savage." You made fun of him for it. Then you ate three servings.
You never talked about what you were.
Not once.
You were tutoring. You were sleeping together. You were cuddling on his couch at 1 AM, his fingers tracing patterns on your arm, your head on his chest.
But you weren't together.
Or maybe you were. Neither of you said it.
Karina asked. Of course she did.
"So," she said one day at lunch, "are you guys like... together together?"
"I don't know."
"How do you not know?"
"Because we haven't talked about it."
"You've slept together multiple times."
"I'm aware."
"You cuddle?"
"...Yes."
"You text him good morning?"
"That's private."
"That's a yes." Karina leaned back. "You're together. You just haven't admitted it yet."
"We're not not together."
"What does that even mean?"
"It means I don't know what it means."
Giselle snorted. "That's the most non answer I've ever heard."
But they weren't wrong. Something had changed. You felt it every time Jake looked at you. Every time his hand found yours under the table. Every time he said good night like he meant stay.
You just didn't know how to name it.
Neither did he.
Jake's friends noticed before he did.
Or maybe they noticed first. He'd been different lately. Softer. He laughed more. He checked his phone more. He left parties early without explanation.
"You're whipped," Sunghoon said.
"I'm not whipped."
"You left Jay's party at 10 PM because she texted you."
"I was tired."
"You've never been tired at parties."
Jake didn't have an answer for that.
They were at their usual table on campus, halfway through lunch. Jay was picking at his food. Heeseung was scrolling on his phone.
"So," Jay said, "are you going to ask her out or what?"
"We're already... doing things."
"Doing things isn't dating."
"We watch movies."
"That's not dating either."
"We sleep together."
Jay raised his eyebrows. "Okay, that's closer. But still not dating."
Jake ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know what we are."
"Then ask her."
"It's not that simple."
"Why not?"
Because he was scared. Because he'd never done this before. Because every time he looked at you, he felt something he couldn't name, and naming it made it real, and real meant he could lose it.
"Because," he said.
"Great reason."
Heeseung looked up from his phone. "You like her."
"I know I like her."
"Then do something about it."
Jake was quiet for a moment. Then he stood up.
"Where are you going?" Sunghoon asked.
"To find her. She has class in twenty minutes. I'm going to walk with her."
Jay cheered. "That's adorable."
"Shut up."
"You're blushing."
"I'm not blushing."
Jake flipped him off and walked away.
Behind him, he heard Sunghoon say, "Told you. Whipped."
He didn't turn around.
You were sitting on a bench near the science building, Karina on one side and Giselle on the other, when the topic of Jake came up.
It always came up lately.
"So," Karina said, kicking your foot, "have you guys talked about it yet?"
"Talked about what?"
"About what you are."
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because I don't know what to say."
Giselle leaned in. "You could start with 'I like you.'"
"I don't even know if he wants that."
Karina stared at you. "Are you serious?"
"What?"
"He cuddles you. He makes you popcorn. He walked you home in the rain last week. He looks at you like you hung the moon."
"He looks at everyone like that."
"He absolutely does not. I've seen him look at other girls. He looks at them like he's deciding what to order for dinner. He looks at you like he's already eaten and he's still hungry."
Giselle nodded. "She's right. He's down bad."
"He's not down bad."
"He texted you good morning every day for two weeks."
You laughed. "You guys are insane."
"We're realistic. You're the one who's in denial."
"Fine. Maybe I like him."
"Maybe?"
"Okay. I like him."
"And?" Karina prompted.
"And... I don't know what to do about it."
"You could start by not hiding it."
"I'm not hiding it."
"You literally just whispered 'I like him' like it was a secret."
"It's not a secret."
"Then say it louder."
"I like him," you said, normal volume.
"Louder."
"I like him!"
"And?"
"I like Jake Sim!."
"And?"
"And I want him to be my boyfriend!."
The words echoed across the courtyard.
You froze.
Because standing ten feet away, right at the edge of the path, was Jake.
He had his hands in his pockets. His head was tilted. And he was smiling.
"Is that so?" he asked.
Your face went red. Karina and Giselle dissolved into giggles behind you.
"Jake-" you started.
"I like you too, by the way." He walked closer. Stopped in front of you. "And I want to be your boyfriend."
"You heard that?"
"Everyone heard that."
You looked around. A few people were staring. Someone was openly filming.
"Oh my God."
"Yeah." Jake was still smiling. "So. Boyfriend?"
"Shut up."
"Is that a yes?"
"It's a shut up."
"I'll take that as a yes."
He leaned down and kissed you. Right there. In front of everyone. Karina whooped. Giselle clapped.
When he pulled back, your face was somehow even redder.
"I hate you," you said.
"No, you don't."
"You're right," you agreed.
"Good. Now walk me to class."
"You walk me to class."
He laughed. Took your hand. Pulled you up from the bench.
"See you later," he said to Karina and Giselle.
You didn't look back. Jake's hand was warm in yours.
"So," he said. "Boyfriend."
"Don't push it."
"Too late. I'm pushing it."
"You're insufferable."
"Your insufferable boyfriend."
You stopped walking. Looked at him.
"My boyfriend," you said.
"Yeah."
"Like, officially?"
"Like officially."
You kissed him again. Quick. Soft.
"Wow that was easy hmm okay," you said.
"Okay?"
"Okay, boyfriend."
He grinned.
"Now walk me to class," you said.
"Yes, ma'am."
He didn't let go of your hand the whole way.
You were exhausted.
Not because you hadn't slept. You had. But you'd slept with Jake, which meant you'd stayed up late talking, then not talking, then talking again. By the time you actually fell asleep, it was almost 3 AM.
Now you were in Professor Lee's lecture, and your eyelids were winning the war.
You rested your head on your hand. Blinked. Blinked again.
Your eyes closed.
"You're falling asleep," a voice whispered.
Jake. He was sitting next to you. He'd started sitting next to you in every class you shared, which was three. He said it was "strategic." You said it was "clingy."
"I'm not falling asleep," you murmured. "I'm resting my eyes."Your head slipped off your hand. You caught yourself just before it hit the desk.
Jake laughed quietly.
"Go away," you mumbled.
"No."
"Then let me sleep."
"You can't sleep in class."
"Watch me."
You put your head down on the desk. Your eyes closed. The professor's voice faded into background noise.
You were almost there. Almost asleep.
Then you felt it.
Jake's hand on your thigh.
You didn't move. Didn't react. Maybe he was just...
His hand slid higher. Your eyes opened.
"Jake," you whispered.
"Shh."
"What are you doing?"
"Keeping you awake."
"This isn't keeping me awake."
His fingers found the button of your jeans. Your breath caught.
"Stop," you whispered.
"Do you want me to stop?"
You didn't answer. He took that as a no.
Jake's fingers worked the button of your jeans open. Slow. Deliberate. Like he had all the time in the world.
You should have stopped him.
You were in class. In the third row. Professor Lee was ten feet away, droning on about statistical significance. There were people on either side of you. People behind you. People who could look up at any moment and see exactly what was happening.
You should have stopped him.
You didn't.
His hand slipped inside your jeans. Past the waistband of your underwear. His fingers were warm, fingertips rough against your skin, and he moved with the confidence of someone who already knew exactly where to touch.
"You're wet," he murmured, so quiet only you could hear.
"Jake."
"You've been thinking about this?"
"No."
"Liar."
His finger circled your clit. Once. Twice. You bit your lip to keep from making a sound.
"Look at me," he said.
You turned your head. His eyes were dark. Focused. That stupid smirk was gone, replaced by something hungrier.
"Don't make a sound," he said.
"I won't."
He slid a finger inside you.
Your hand flew to your mouth. You pressed your knuckles against your lips, breathing hard through your nose. The professor kept talking. No one looked back. No one knew.
Except Jake.
He added a second finger. Curled them. Hit a spot that made your vision blur.
"Jake," you breathed.
"Shh."
"Someone's going to see."
"Then you'd better be quiet love."
He pumped his fingers slowly, deliberately, watching your face the whole time. His thumb pressed against your clit with every thrust. You were gripping the edge of the desk so hard your knuckles were white.
"So tight," he murmured. "You're going to cum already?"
"No."
"You're close. I can feel it."
"You can't-"
"I can feel everything." He leaned closer. His lips brushed your ear. "I can feel how much you want this. How much you want me. You're dripping down my fingers princess."
Your face burned. Your body burned. Everything burned.
"Please," you whispered.
"Please what?"
"Please don't stop."
He didn't.
His fingers moved faster. Harder. His thumb pressed down. You were shaking, legs trembling under the desk, teeth sinking into your knuckle to muffle the sounds.
"That's it," he whispered. "Cum for me. Right here. In class. With everyone watching."
It ripped through you, sudden and violent, your back arching, your eyes squeezing shut. You bit down so hard on your hand you left marks. Jake's fingers kept moving, working you through it, prolonging it until you were nothing but static.
When you finally opened your eyes, he was smiling.
"I hate you."
"You just came on my fingers in the middle of class."You're going to thank me later."
He pulled his hand out of your jeans. Slowly. Deliberately. And then still watching you he brought his fingers to his mouth and licked them clean.
One by one.
His eyes never left yours. You forgot how to breathe.
"Jake," you said. Your voice came out strangled.
"Yeah?"
"We need to leave."
"Class isn't over."
"I don't care."
"You don't?"
"No."
You stood up. Grabbed your bag. Your legs were still shaking. Jake watched you with that infuriating calm, like he knew exactly what was coming next.
"Y/N," he said.
"Get up Jake."
"Where are we going?"
"Bathroom. Janitor's closet. Your car. I don't care. Get up."
He stood. Sling his bag over his shoulder. His hand found the small of your back as you walked toward the door. Professor Lee didn't even look up.
The second you were in the hallway, you grabbed his wrist and pulled him toward the stairwell.
"Impatient," he said.
"Shut up."
"You dragged me out of class."
"Shut up."
"You must really want-"
You pushed him against the wall of the stairwell and kissed him. Hard. His hands went to your waist. Yours went to his belt.
"Someone could come in," he said against your mouth.
"Then you'd better be quiet."
He laughed. "Learning from me?"
"You started it in class."
"I was keeping you awake."
"You think you're funny," you said while dropping to your knees.
Jake's breath hitched.
"Oh," he said.
"Yeah. Oh."
Your hands found his belt. Unbuckled it. Pulled it open. His jeans came next, then his boxers, and he was already hard, already leaking, already looking down at you like he couldn't believe this was happening.
"You've been thinking about this," you said.
"Every day."
"Every session?"
"Every single one."
You wrapped your hand around him. Stroked once. Twice. He groaned, head falling back against the wall.
"Shh," you said. "Be quiet."
"You be quiet."
"I'm not the one who's going to make noise."
"You're about to be."
You leaned forward. Took him in your mouth.
His hand flew to your hair. Not pushing. Just holding. Just feeling.
You started slow. Teasing. Tongue flat against the underside, then pointed, then circling the tip. He tasted like salt and soap and something else you couldn't name.
"Jesus," he breathed.
You pulled off. Looked up at him.
"If I can be quiet during class," you said, "you can be quiet in a stairwell."
"That's different-"
His grip tightened in your hair. "You're evil," he said.
"You like it."
"I hate it."
"No, you don't."
You took him again. Deeper this time. He groaned, low and rough, and you felt it in your chest.
You set a rhythm. Slow. Deliberate. Every time he got close to the edge, you pulled back. Let him cool down. Started again.
He was a mess in your hands. Leaning against the wall, head back, jaw slack, breathing in short, sharp gasps.
"You're killing me," he whispered.
You took him deeper. Swallowed around him. His hips jerked.
"Fuck-"
A door opened above you.
Footsteps. Echoing down the stairs.
Someone was coming.
Jake's eyes flew open. He reached for your shoulders, tried to pull you off.
"Stop," he whispered. "Someone's-"
You didn't stop.
"Y/N-"
You looked up at him. Didn't let go. Didn't slow down.
His face was going through all kinds of emotions. Fear and pleasure and something darker, something hungrier. He was frozen, torn between pushing you away and holding you there.
The footsteps got closer.
Jake clamped a hand over his own mouth.
You smiled around him.
The footsteps passed. A door opened. Closed.
Silence.
Jake pulled you off by your hair. Not hard. Just enough.
"You didn't stop," he said.
"And?"
His eyes were black. His chest was heaving.
"You're going to regret that," he said.
"No, I'm not."
He grabbed you by the jaw and pressed you against the wall, back to concrete, his body flush against your chest.
"You think you're in control," he said into your ear.
"I know I am."
"You're not."
His hand fisted in your hair. Tilted your head back.
"Open," he said.
You opened your mouth.
He pushed inside. Not gentle. Not slow. Rough and deep and exactly what you'd been waiting for.
"You wanted to play," he said, thrusting into your mouth. "Now you're going to finish what you started."
His hand held you in place. His hips snapped forward. He fucked your mouth like he'd been holding back the whole time and he had finally snapped.
You gagged. Tears pricked your eyes. You didn't pull away.
"That's it," he groaned. "That's my girl."
He was messy. Sloppy. Spit dripped down your chin. He didn't care. Neither did you.
"I'm close," he said. "You're going to take all of it like a champ right?"
You looked up at him. Nodded as best you could.
He came with a choked sound, buried deep in your throat, and you swallowed everything. Didn't miss a drop.
He pulled out. Stepped back to admire you.
You wiped your mouth with the back of your hand. Looked up at him.
He was wrecked. Hair a mess. Chest still heaving. Looking at you like you'd just ruined him for anyone else.
"Good girl," he said, voice hoarse.
You stood up. Fixed your clothes. Fixed his.
"We're going to be late for class," you said.
"I don't care."
"You should care. You're a tutor."
"I'm your tutor." He kissed you. Soft this time. Almost sweet. He took your hand. Led you back toward the door.
"Same time tomorrow?" he asked.
"Same stairwell?"
"Same stairwell."
You laughed. Pushed the door open.
The hallway was empty.
No one knew what had just happened.
That was the best part, it was yours and Jakes dirty secret.
Parties weren't your thing anymore. Or maybe they were, but you'd rather be on Jake's couch, wrapped in his hoodie, his fingers tracing lazy patterns on your skin while some terrible action movie played in the background.
But Jake had asked.
"Come with me," he'd said, tugging on the sleeve of his black button down. The one that made your brain short-circuit.
"Why?"
"Because I want to show you off."
"You want to show me off?"
"Yeah." He said it like it was obvious. "You're hot. I'm hot. We're hot together. People should know."
So now you were here.
The music was loud enough to feel in your teeth, and the lights were low enough that you could pretend no one was staring.
But they were staring.
Because you walked in with Jake's hand on your lower back, his fingers pressed into the curve of your waist, and everyone noticed.
That's Jake's girl.
Damn, they look good together.
You danced with Jake. You drank something sweet that he handed you. You met his friends properly met them, not just the passing introductions from before.
"I'm going to grab a drink. You want one?"
"Yeah. Same thing."
"Be right back."
He disappeared into the crowd.
That's when she found you.
"You think you're so special."
You turned. Wonyoung.
She was standing a few feet away, drink in hand, eyes sharp. She looked good she always looked good but there was something brittle about her tonight. Something desperate.
"Wonyoung," you said.
"Don't say my name like you know me."
"I don't know you. That's the point."
She stepped closer. "You think you've won."
"I'm not playing a game."
She stepped closer. Close enough that you could smell her perfume. "He's going to get bored of you," she said. "He gets bored of everyone. You're not special. You're just the one who said no first. That's all this is. A challenge. Once he wins, he'll move on."
"You already tried that line."
"Because it's true."
"It's not."
"How do you know?"
You tilted your head. "Because I'm here. And you're not."
Her face twisted. "You're such a bitch."
"And you're obsessed with my boyfriend. Which one's worse?"
"You're not even-"
"I'm not even what? His girlfriend?" You smiled. "I am. He asked. I said yes. Sorry you had to find out like this."
Wonyoung's face went red. Then white. Then red again.
"You're lying." She looked like she wanted to throw her drink in your face. You almost wished she would. At least then you'd have an excuse.
But before she could move, a hand landed on your waist. Jake.
"I leave for five minutes," he said, voice calm, "and you're already causing trouble."
"I'm not causing anything. She started it."
Jake looked at Wonyoung. His expression didn't change, but something behind his eyes went cold.
"Wonyoung," he said. "We've talked about this."
"Have we?" She laughed. "You've been ignoring me for weeks. You don't return my texts. You don't even look at me anymore."
"Because I have nothing to say to you."
"You had plenty to say before."
"That was before." He stepped closer to you. His hand stayed on your waist. "Before her."
Wonyoung's eyes flicked to you. Filled with something ugly.
"I'm going to say this once," Jake said. "Stay away from her. Stay away from me. If I hear about you coming near her again, talking to her, texting her, even looking at her I'm going to make sure everyone knows exactly what you've been doing."
"You wouldn't."
"Try me."
Wonyoung stared at him. Then at you. Then back at him.
"I loved you," she whispered.
"No." Jake shook his head. "You wanted to win me. There's a difference."
She didn't respond instead she turned and walked away.
Jake's hand was still on your waist. "You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, she's not worth my energy."
He watched your face for a long moment. Looking for cracks. Finding none. You let the silence stretch. Let your heartbeat slow. Then you looked up at him.
"I've been meaning to tell you something."
"I got a 95 on the test."
Jake blinked. "What?"
"The exam. The one you've been tutoring me for. 95 percent."
"You're lying."
"I'm not."
"Show me."
You pulled out your phone. Opened the grade portal. Turned the screen toward him.
95. Right there. Jake stared at it. Then at you. Then back at the screen.
"You did that," he said.
"We did that."
"No." He shook his head. "You did that. I just explained things. You did the work."
"Jake-"
"95 percent." He was smiling now. The one that made your chest ache. "That's my girl."
Your face went warm. "Don't."
"My girl with the 95."
"Jake."
"My girl who's going to pass the class with flying colors because she's smarter than she gives herself credit for."
"Okay, okayyyy"
"My girl."
He kissed you.
Not hard. Not desperate. Soft. Slow. Like he was memorizing the shape of your mouth. When he pulled back, his forehead rested against yours.
"I'm proud of you," he said. "Like, really proud."
"I know."
"Like, I'm going to tell everyone how proud I am."
"Please don't."
"Too late. I'm already texting Sunghoon."
"Jake!"
He was already typing. Grinning. You laughed. Hit his chest. He caught your hand and held it.
"Same time tomorrow?"
You looked at him. The cocky tutor who'd gotten under your skin. The guy who remembered your coffee order and mopped on Mondays and looked at you like you were the only person in the room.
A car accident has turned your life upside down, leaving you with a knee and ankle that ache like they belong to someone three times your age. Navigating college with these setbacks is hard enough, but when your overprotective dad insists you take an internship with the men’s hockey team, you’re thrust back into the world you’ve spent years avoiding. The rink represents everything you’ve lost, and then there’s Heeseung, the captain whom you somehow cannot stop thinking about.
💿 SOUNDTRACK 〢🖇 SERIES MASTERLIST 〢⛸️ PART ONE TWO
wc pt 3 ୭ ˚. ᵎᵎ 31,334
ᵎ!ᵎ WARNINGS ──── GRAPHIC CONTENT! car accident, PTSD, chronic pain & disability, depression, Y/N is very, very frustrated and kinda angry at the world for a second, overprotective/controlling dad & brother, sports injuries, alcohol, mild drunkenness, hurt/comfort, panic attack, mentions of zombies, mentions of dying by said mentioned zombies, smooching (each other, not the zombies!!), mentions of party drugs
# TAGS ──── SLOW-BURN friends-to-lovers, coach's daughter x hockey captain, mutual pining, very much bed-sharing, and a lot of napping, Y/N is a napper, they very obviously have crushes on each other, angst with happy ending
❝ AN ❞ ──── This somehow was really hard to finish for me. I've been plagued with writer's block for part 3, so it took me an eternity. I am so sorry, I hope ya all still enjoy the ending! Thank you so much for all of the love in the previous parts, I can't tell you all how much I appreciate it (੭ ;´ ⌂ `;)੭♡ I am really sorry if the formatting is off, tumblr is an idiot sometimes .
all feedback and reblogs are welcome ⭑.ᐟ
Sunlight slanted through the half-drawn blinds of your office, casting golden stripes across the cluttered desk and the worn leather sofa where you curled up. Your legs were tucked beneath you, crutches propped against the armrest, and a half-forgotten throw blanket was loosely draped over your lap.
The air inside was stuffy and warm, but you didn’t mind; it would get cold soon enough.
Heeseung sat hunched at your desk, his laptop screen glowing a sharp blue against his focused face. His fingers danced across the keyboard and mouse in precise, rhythmic patterns, while his head bobbed slightly to a beat only he could fully hear.
You watched him push his hair back every few seconds, the dark strands messily falling into his eyes.
His free foot tapped an irregular rhythm against the desk leg, and the faint crease between his brows deepened from time to time.
You hadn't touched your phone in ages.
You didn’t know how much time had passed since you stopped cutting the video Heeseung, Sunghoon, and you had filmed today. Minutes were ticking by as you drank in his figure: the subtle flex of his forearm when he dragged an audio clip, the way his eyes narrowed at the screen, the quiet hum he let out under his breath when a melody sounded the way he wanted it to. He looked so alive like this, so him; passionate, meticulous, a little frustrated but undeterred.
You could watch him forever, lost in the simple wonder of it.
He paused suddenly, fingers hovering over the trackpad. His head tilted up, like he had sensed the weight of your gaze, and after a beat, he tugged his headphones down around his neck and gave you a small smile. The music cut off abruptly, leaving a comfortable quiet in its wake. "What's up? You've been staring at me for a while now."
Heat prickled your cheeks as your eyes met, but you didn't look away. Instead, you propped your chin on your knee, the blanket slipping a little further down. "Just watching you."
His smile faltered into something flustered, while his eyes widened a fraction, and a faint pink flush crept up his neck under the collar of his hoodie. He rubbed the back of it, glancing at his screen before meeting your eyes again. "Me? Why?"
You shrugged."Just because."
He blinked, then huffed a soft, disbelieving laugh, his ears now tinged red. "You're weird." But there was no edge to it, only fondness.
He spun his chair fully toward you, the laptop still open on the desk. "Do you want to listen?"
You answered with a hum, nodding. "Yeah. Please."
Heeseung stood up smoothly, scooping up the laptop under one arm, and padded over to the sofa. The cushions dipped as he dropped down next to you, close enough that his thigh pressed warm against yours through your sweats. He balanced the laptop on his knees, angling the screen so you could see the chaotic waveform pulsing across his program.
"Alright," he murmured, his voice low. "It’s a rough cut. Be gentle, it's still messy."
He handed you one of his headphones, the cable being so short that you had to lean towards him. You shifted closer, letting your head drop onto his shoulder. His warmth seeped through the thin fabric of his hoodie, steady and comforting, as his body went still for half a second before relaxing into the contact.
He hummed and hit play. You recognised Jay's voice, speaking over a string instrument. A haunting melody snaked through it all, his chopped vocals echoing in a way that sent goosebumps racing down your arms.
You leaned in closer without thinking, eyes fixed on the screen.
"I really like it," you said when it faded out, your awe genuine. “I really love your voice, Hee. Who was the other person singing?"
Heeseung's eyes darted from you back to the screen, his fingers already tweaking a slider. “Jungwon.”
You hummed and adjusted your head a bit, so your temple was resting against his collarbone. “I didn’t know he was singing as well.”
Heeseung laughed a bit. “He isn’t, but I usually leave him no choice. I‘ve put years of money into his training at coin karaoke. At one point our parents even gifted us one of those karaoke machines for at home so we would stop spending all our pocket money.”
“He’s really good,” your voice was quiet, not wanting to disturb him as he replayed one part at the end again.
He nodded and rested his head against yours before he spoke up again after a few seconds. “Yeah, he is. I was trying to get him into producing, but he is not really into it. He’s focusing on ice hockey, and apparently has no time to do anything else.”
“Oh?” You raised your head a bit, looking up at his face. “He’s also playing hockey?”
“Well,” Heeseung hummed and replayed a short part of the track, pushing up one button a bit more. “Did you have much choice with your brother and your dad being so into the sport?”
You let your head sink back to his shoulder, averting your gaze from his hands for a second. You didn’t have much choice.
You didn’t want the choice; you wanted what they had, wanted to be like them. And you were, for most of your life, you were.
Hockey being the thing you lived for, burning with passion for the thrill of the game, the cold wind biting your cheeks, the feeling of flying over the ice.
“Not much,” you answered after a long moment. “But I think I didn’t need a choice. My dad wanted to make me figure skate, but I wanted to play hockey. And I loved it.”
You felt him exhale slowly, his shoulders dropping under your head. Heeseung hummed and turned slightly, his chin touching your forehead before you felt the soft press of his lips against the skin there. “When you’ve recovered, let's try going back onto the ice. I’m sure you’d love to skate a bit.”
You took a long, deep breath, holding it in your chest for a few seconds before closing your eyes and shaking your head slightly.
“No,” your eyes wandered to his hands, and you reached forward, gently interlacing his fingers with yours before squeezing slightly. “I don’t want to go back onto the ice. At least with skates on. I don’t want to do that only to never be able to properly do it.”
He nodded against your head, and hummed a quiet ‘okay’, before his free hand went back to his track, the other one stayed intertwined with yours, his thumb gently rubbing over the back of your hand.
You closed your eyes for a second, curling closer into him. You had thought about returning to the ice plenty of times, of trying out your old skates, just to…try.
It wouldn’t be the same, it would never be, you knew that.
And you knew that it would hurt.
The thought of it working out, of you being able to keep your balance for more than a few strides, only for everything to…stop working.
The thought of you failing and falling was scaring you.
The pain of getting a taste of what you once had, only for it to stay unobtainable.
You knew it was unrealistic, that even after this surgery you’d probably struggle with something easy like walking, if you even could go back to doing that without assistance.
The thought made your stomach turn.
“What do you think of this?” Heeseung's voice ripped you out of your thoughts, his hand gently squeezing yours.
“Hm?” You blinked your eyes open, the laptop slowly coming back into focus.
“Do you think this sounds a bit busy?” He asked again, replaying the part he had been working on.
You tilted your head slightly, your breath ghosting his neck as you concentrated on the song “I feel like the drums are a bit loud? I really like the part where your voice multiples?”
His throat vibrated as he hummed in agreement, his fingers getting to work before he replayed the section. He nodded in approval and turned his head to kiss your forehead again. “Thank you, Y/N.”
You shook your head slightly and chuckled. “Will I get more kisses if I give unsolicited advice?”
A grin split his face, quick and boyish, before he pressed another one to your scalp and let go of your hand. “As many as you want.”
“Mhm, I don't think you’d get far with your song, Hee,” you said, nuzzling against his throat.
Heeseung hummed, and snapped the laptop shut, pushing it onto the coffee table, careful not to jostle you too much. He shifted back against the sofa, stretching out a little, and guided you with him until you were lying more fully along his side, then easing you up so your head rested on his chest. You just let him do his thing, moving along without protest.
His heartbeat thudded steadily under your ear while one of his arms wrapped comfortably around your shoulders, holding you closely. Warmth bloomed deep in your chest, spreading slowly and sweetly. You curled tighter into him, your hand searching for his.
The office fell into comfortable silence, sunlight shifting across the golden floor, his fingers playing with the dark strands of your hair.
He combed his fingers through it with almost ridiculous care, carefully detangling a curl that had caught against the seam of his hoodie.
“You curled it today,” he said quietly. A loose strand wound around his finger as he examined it, the curl springing back when he let go. “It looks really pretty like this.”
You felt your face heat, even though he couldn’t see it from this angle. “You think so?”
„Mhm,“ he hummed and gently grazed along your scalp as his fingers continued their lazy path through your hair. “I like it when you dress pretty or do your makeup. I love it even more when you get ready for bed and are barefaced in my bed to watch another compilation of those stupid cat videos.”
A quiet laugh slipped out of you, while you melted into the soft fabric of his hoodie. One of your hands slid around his waist, fingers resting lightly at his side, feeling the slow rise and fall of his breathing. Each gentle tug and twirl of your curls sent your muscles looser, your eyes growing heavier with every pass of his hand. You‘ve always been a person who needed a lot of sleep, but since the surgery, it has gotten so much worse. You felt like a toddler sometimes. Heeseung chucked lowly while his fingertips traced soothing lines of your scalp and nape. „Are you going to fall asleep on me again?“
You nodded and murmured a quiet ‚yeah‘, his heart beat increasing for a second under your ear before steadily thumping again.
„Do you want me to drive you home?“ His voice was soft and gentle, just like his fingers.
„No, I wanna stay here,“ you shook your head and adjusted your body against his, trying to soak in as much of his warmth as possible.
He chuckled again, but moved his arm slightly to have a better hold when a firm knock sounded on the door.
You groaned and sat up, having locked your door earlier to stop intruders, like Beomgyu who loved coming in without knocking, meant you had to unlock it again.
Heeseung sat up behind you, already standing up to let whoever was in front of your door inside, only to freeze when your father's voice came from the other side. „Y/N are you there?“
Heeseung turned around, his eyes large in shock. You blinked at him before almost frantically trying to fix your hair, even though you were pretty sure there was nothing to fix.
„Yeah, Dad! One second!“
„Open the door!“, you hissed at Heeseung.
„But isn’t it weird that I am here? In your locked office?“ He turned around to the door.
„No! Open it! He’s gonna get mad and suspicious!“ You retorted, gesturing to the door.
„Does he know I was at your house?“ Heeseung whispered, his face pale.
„No? Yes? I don’t know?“
„Y/N everything all right?“ Your father's voice interrupted the two of you, causing Heeseung to turn around and unlock the door, revealing your father standing just in front of him.
„Hi Coach,“ Heeseung said almost awkwardly.
„Heeseung.“ Your father raised one eyebrow, his eyes flickering from Heeseung to you and back. „What are you doing here?“
„I-uhm-I-“, Heeseung said helplessly, looking to you for help.
You swallowed, forcing a casual smile and hoping your face didn’t betray how fast your heart was still thumping. „We were working on uni stuff together,“ you said and did your best to shrug nonchalantly. It wasn’t fully a lie; you did do some things for your classes, at least for a bit.
Heeseung nodded so sharply it bordered on comedy. “Yes, sir. Just… just working.”
Your dad’s gaze lingered on him for a second, curious. “Right. Well.”
The older man took a few steps into your office. „I am about to drive to your grandma's house to help her with her TV, and was wondering if you would like to come along,“ he said, inspecting the wall you took the liberty of decorating. His eyes drifted over the posters and the pictures before snapping back to you. „She made it rather clear that she wanted to see you, to be sure you’re healing well. She made samgyetang for you.“
You nodded once, pursing your lips. Your grandmother was as stoic and demanding as your father, and usually, an invitation to her house didn’t come with the option to say no if you didn’t want to receive multiple phone calls from her.
„Okay,“ your eyes flickered to Heeseung, who was still awkwardly standing next to the door. „Give me like five minutes to pack up, and I’ll come outside.“
Your father gave you a court nod and turned around to address Heeseung directly again. „If I‘m late to training, start warming up.“
Heeseung blinked at him before rapidly nodding. „Yes, coach.“
With a clap to his shoulder, the older man left the room, and Heeseung let go of the door.
The second it clicked, you collapsed back against the cushions. Heeseung turned around and rubbed both hands over his face, groaning muffled. “He knows. Your dad definitely knows.”
You glanced at him, biting back a nervous laugh. “We‘ve done nothing wrong. We are both fully dressed, and for all he knew, we were never cuddling on my sofa.”
Heeseung peeked through his fingers, the corner of his mouth twitching despite the flush. “He‘s gonna kill me if he figures out that we did.” With a few steps, he crossed the room. You tilted your head up the second his hand hesitantly drifted toward your hair, gently smoothing it down.
You leaned into the touch, closing your eyes. „Do you really think he would?“
His fingers moved lower, carefully tracing over your cheek. „He would. And if not your dad, I think your brother will.“
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The car hummed along the streets, the sun warm on your skin even through the tinted windows. You closed your eyes, just resting them for a bit, before you had to spend the whole evening eating and letting your grandma fuss over you.
Your father was weirdly quiet next to you, not even humming along to his favourite song when it was played on the radio, when he usually sang every word. You cracked one eye open and noticed how his hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles turned white.
With a deep breath, you opened your eyes and sat up the same moment he opened his mouth.
“You and Heeseung,” he said, voice low and even, eyes still on the road. “Are you two close?”
Your stomach dropped, but you nodded slowly despite the heat creeping up your neck. “Yeah,” you hummed, your fingers twisting into your jacket. “He’s been helping with filming and coordinating stuff. Today we’ve planned on what and how I should film things next week at the game, since you know, it’s not a home one.” Tentatively, you added: “So yeah, we’ve... hung out a few times.”
The car grew silent again, heavy and full of tension. Your father exhaled long through his nose, but he didn’t say anything; he just kept on driving.
You opened your mouth once, twice, before closing it again and staring out the window, not knowing what to say.
Minutes dragged on before he spoke up again, his tone measured but edged sharp underneath.
“You’re supposed to be focusing on your health right now. Not be at the rink every damn day filming stuff with Heeseung.”
You blinked in confusion as you processed what he just said. “But…it’s part of my job, Dad? The job you wanted me to have, that you claimed would be good for me? So I would get out of the house and find friends, but now I’m not supposed to do that?”
He shot you a sideways glance, brow furrowed deep, frustration cracking through the calm. “I wanted you to have something to do. A distraction while you heal. Not someone enabling you to go to a hockey game after you’ve just had a panic attack.”
“Enabling? Heeseung was the one who got me through the last one. Dad, I called him, and he came running. He left his bag in the library when he heard how bad it was. You think he would be the one enabling me to go?” You huffed in annoyance and disbelief and crossed your arms in front of your chest, turning back to face the road. “He and I have talked about what to do; he even texted one of the players asking if they have a spare room I could escape to, Dad. If there is someone taking care of me right now, it is Heeseung!”
Your fathers jaw tightened visibly, his hands flexing on the wheel as he accelerated through a green light. “That’s exactly my point. You haven’t gone to a game for years at this point. You know how loud games are; you know where the media sits. What if a player slams into the boards right next to you? What if it sets off an episode? Heeseung can’t help you. Lord help him if he jumps off the ice for a girl, even if it is you, he won’t be captain any longer. Neither he nor I can help you if something happens.”
You laughed sharply, bitterly. “ You don’t even know how to help me if I have a panic attack, Dad! You get that deer-in-headlights look, call Soobin or Mom or someone else. Don’t even pretend you would help me; I know you wouldn’t. And I dare you to kill off your star player, your golden Heeseung, the son of the person who literally funds the program. I don’t think he will be the one in trouble, Dad. And just so you know, I already talked with mom, and she will come along. And I don’t know what makes you believe Heeseung would be the only one to jump to help me. Soobin, Yeonjun and Beomgyu would do the same.”
The car swerved faintly into the next lane, your father looking furious.
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“Heeseung.”
Heeseung looked up from his shoes at the sound of your father's voice.
He had been furious all evening long.
When the players wondered what was going on, even Soobin seemed lost as to what could have happened.
Funnily enough, Heeseung had a good idea as to why CC had been making them suffer on the ice today.
“Come to my office before going home. We have to talk,” your father was standing in the door to the changing room, his eyes locked onto Heeseung.
“I-”, he swallowed before nodding. “Yes, Coach, I’ll be there in a second.”
The older man nodded and turned around without another word.
“What did you do, Hyung?” Jay asked, his face set in worry as he pulled his t-shirt down.
“He caught me and Y/N in her office,” Heeseung mumbled, his face heating up.
“Fuck,” his friend breathed out. “Were you making out?”
“I-What? No! No, we weren’t,” his heart dropped while he stuttered out his answer, his eyes flickering towards Soobin and Yeonjun, who were very obviously listening. “I–we were just like on her sofa. Nothing happened. We haven’t kissed or anything. I swear nothing happened. But the room was…locked.”
Soobin looked between the two of them for a long second, his hands stilling over his towel. If Heeseung's heart wasn’t pulsing in his throat, it would have been fun to see how half of his friends' face was covered by a hot pink towel, and the other had his dark hair standing off his head in every direction, but the expression on Soobin's face made it very clear that there was nothing to laugh about right now. He had gone still in a way that was almost worse than if he had started yelling. The whole cabin grew silent, the only sounds coming from the few players showering and the Zamboni outside refreshing the ice.
“Are you being serious about her, Heeseung?” He asked finally, his gaze fixed on Heeseung now.
Heeseung’s face heated immediately.
He knew that this conversation would come; he also knew that the one with your father was going to come, he just wished it wasn’t in front of the whole team.
“Yes,” he said, voice a little rough but steady enough. “I am.”
He took a breath and kept going, even though it made his ears burn. “I really like her,” he admitted. “And I’m not trying to rush anything. We’re taking it slow. I would never want to hurt her.”
That made the room go even quieter.
Heeseung could feel Jay staring at him like he was trying to decide whether to be impressed or alarmed, and he was fairly sure Yeonjun was ready to stop Soobin from attacking Heeseung, his stance changing within seconds. But Soobin just kept looking at him.
“Do you know how hard it would be?” Soobin asked after a moment, his tone calmer now but still serious. “Being with her?”
Heeseung didn’t hesitate.
“Yes,” he said immediately. “I do. I know her disabilities affect everything, not just her day-to-day life, but mine too if we’re together. I know there will be things we have to plan around. I know it won’t always be easy.”
Soobin studied him closely.
Heeseung swallowed and kept his eyes on him. “That doesn’t bother me. I would do whatever I can to help her. To accommodate her. That’s not something I dislike. It’s just part of caring about her.”
For a moment, Soobin didn’t say anything.
Then he sighed, long and tired, and leaned back slightly in his chair. “Okay,” he said, quieter now. “Whatever my dad is going to say to you, take it with a grain of salt.”
Heeseung blinked. “What?”
Soobin’s mouth twisted faintly. “He’s probably going to tell you to stay away from her, or act like this is somehow your fault. ”
Heeseung went a little more still.
Soobin kept going, his voice dropping just enough to make it clear he was being sincere. “So if he does that, tell my sister or me, and we will deal with my dad. It’s a thing between him and her and not him and you, understood? You’re a player, one of his students, and he is not to pull personal affairs into this. You don’t need to get dragged into whatever this is.”
Heeseung nodded slowly, absorbing that while trying not to look too relieved.
“Okay,” he said after a beat. “Thank you.”
Soobin gave him a short nod, then glanced at Jay like he expected some sort of reaction. Jay just stared back, looking deeply shaken, and then lifted one shoulder in a helpless shrug, as if to say, well, this is insane, but not my circus.
And with that, he got up and headed toward the coach’s office.
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The door to the office was already open, and Heeseung had barely stepped inside before he could feel the mood in the room.
The coach didn’t even ask him to sit down.
“You need to stay away from Y/N,” he said immediately.
Heeseung stared at him, caught off guard by how blunt it was. “Coach Choi–”
“I’m serious.” The older man’s voice was clipped, controlled. “You need to focus on your game right now. I do not want you distracted. Not by her, not by whatever this is, and absolutely not by dating my daughter.”
Heeseung straightened immediately, keeping his expression respectful, trying to swallowing down his anger and surprise at that. “Coach, I’m not sure what you mean. I don’t think my performance on the ice would change because of her. Nothing is going on between us. We’re just friends.”
For a second, the coach only stared at him.
Then his expression sharpened, disbelief flashing into irritation. “Do you think I’m stupid?”
Heeseung blinked. “Sir–”
“Of course something is going on,” the coach snapped. “I didn’t miss the way you look at her, and I certainly didn’t miss the way she looks at you.”
Heeseung’s face warmed, but he didn’t interrupt him, knowing that if he did, his Coach would explode.
The older man leaned back, jaw tight. “I want it to stop. Whatever this is, I want it over.”
Heeseung frowned slightly. “With respect, sir, I don’t understand–”
“You do understand,” the coach cut in. “Y/N is fragile. Mentally, physically, all of it. You’ve seen it yourself. You’ve seen how easily she can get triggered, how hard it is when something throws her off, how much she has to manage just to get through a day without the world beating her down.”
His tone had changed now, still stern but unmistakably personal. This was not just about hockey to him. That much was obvious.
“She needs stability,” he went on. “She needs a safe environment to heal in. She does not need complications. She does not need emotional entanglements, making everything harder. And I am telling you right now, dating is not helping.”
Heeseung held his gaze, feeling a strange mix of frustration and unease.
It wasn’t that the coach’s concern for you was fake. If anything, it was the opposite. He sounded like he genuinely believed he was protecting you, even if the way he was doing it was suffocating.
Your father kept going. “You’re a good kid, Heeseung. But I need you to understand this clearly. I am trying to keep her safe.”
Heeseung swallowed once, then answered carefully. “I understand that you care about her.”
The coach’s eyes narrowed slightly, but he said nothing.
Heeseung continued, trying to stay respectful while his thoughts raced in his head. He felt like screaming at the man for trying to command him around, for trying to command you around. “I care about her too. And I’m not trying to make things harder for her.”
Your father looked at him for a long moment, his expression unreadable.
Then he gave a short, hard nod, like the conversation was over, whether Heeseung liked it or not. “Then keep your distance.”
And that was that.
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Heeseung pushed out of the building with his jaw tight and his hands shoved deep into his pockets. Jay and Jake were already waiting by Jay’s car, both of them looking up the second they saw him.
Jay straightened first. “Well?”
Jake tipped his head. “Yeah, what did he say?”
Heeseung let out a breath, dragging a hand through his hair before stopping beside them. “He told me to stay away from her.”
Both of them went still.
Jay’s brows pulled together. “Just like that?”
Heeseung gave a short, humourless laugh. “Pretty much.”
Jake made a face. “What a surprise.”
Heeseung leaned back against the car for a second, staring out at the lot. “I tried to tell him nothing was going on. I said we were friends and that I didn’t think it would affect my performance.”
“And?” Jay asked.
“He said, ‘Do you think I’m stupid?’” Heeseung exhaled through his nose. “Then he said, of course, something was going on because he’d noticed the way I look at her and the way she looks at me.”
Jake snorted. “Well, he’s not wrong.”
Heeseung shot him a look. “That is not helping.”
Jake only shrugged, looking far too entertained for Heeseung's liking.
“He said Y/N is fragile,” he went on, quieter now. “Mentally and physically. That she needs a safe environment to heal in and that dating isn’t helping.”
Jay’s expression darkened while Jake crossed his arms. “That’s insane. The only thing you’ve done was help her. She relies on you enough to call you when she’s panicking and he claims you aren’t helping?”
Heeseung didn’t answer right away. He just stared down at the pavement, the whole conversation still sitting heavy in his chest.
“I get that he cares about her,” he said eventually. “I do. But the way he said it made it sound like he thinks he gets to decide everything for her.”
Jay and Jake exchanged a look.
Then Jay exhaled slowly, leaning an elbow on the top of the car. “So what now?”
“Not exactly,” Heeseung said. “More like made it very clear he wants this to stop.”
Jay went quiet for a second before saying, “Well, that’s not happening.”
That got a small, tired laugh out of Heeseung, though it didn’t reach his eyes.
Jake pointed at him like he was making a serious vow. “If he tries to pull anything, you tell us. Or Y/N. Or literally anyone, but keep it to yourself. We’ll deal with it.”
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Heeseung was drifting off, his limbs heavy in the thick duvet when his phone buzzed. He groaned and barely cracked one eye open before reaching for it. It was rare for him to get calls this late, so it was probably important.
He answered with a rough, sleepy sound. “Yeah?”
There was a pause, then your voice came through the speaker, soft and tired. “Hi.”
He let out a long breath and rolled onto his back, rubbing a hand over his face. „It’s late.”
“I know. I–” you said quickly, then sighed. “Sorry. I just wanted to apologise for what my dad did.”
That pulled him awake a little more. He swore Jay and Jake into silence, not wanting you to hear a single thing about what your dad said. It would matter anyway; he would not let his coach come between the two of you. Heeseung frowned at the ceiling. “How do you know about that?”
“From Soobin,” you said. “I don’t know what he said but I am sure he wasn’t nice. So I wanted to apologize that I pulled you into this mess.”
He made a quiet noise of disbelief and sat up a little more, suddenly less sleepy than before. “Y/N-.”
“I’ll deal with him. I promise, Hee,” you interrupted him, sounding exhausted.
Heeseung took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes. “It’s fine, Y/N. There isn’t much to deal with. I think he’s just being a tad overprotective.”
You were silent for a second, and he heard the rustle of your bedding in the background. “Can you tell me what he said?”
He hummed and told you in a low voice exactly what the coach had said.
When he finished, there was silence for a second.
“I just don’t get it,” you muttered. “Why does he think I’m so fragile all the time? I’ve been through way worse than whatever a heartbreak could ever do to me. I know he thinks he’s protecting me, but it’s so annoying.” You let out a tired breath. “I like spending time with you. A lot. And now it feels like he wants to rip even that away from me.”
Heeseung was quiet for a second before answering, his voice low and gentle, hoping it could help ease your mind a bit. “I know.”
You huffed. “I know he means well. That’s the worst part. It’s coming from worry, and I get that. I do. It’s just…” You trailed off, then muttered, “Ugh. He’s just plain stupid sometimes.”
He gave you a small, sleepy laugh.
Then, after a beat, you said, a little more softly, “I wish you were here.”
His eyes closed for a second at that. “Yeah?” he murmured.
“Yeah,” you said.
He gave a sleepy, disbelieving laugh. “We saw each other a few hours ago.”
“I know,” you said, and he could hear the pout in your voice even if he couldn’t see it. It made him smile despite himself. “I still sleep better when you’re there.”
That did it.
His expression softened all at once, the kind of melting softness he only ever got like this with you. “That’s unfair,” he murmured, already reaching for his blanket with his free hand. “Now I want to come get you.”
“No,” you said immediately, and he could hear the grin hiding behind your exhaustion. “Let’s not pour oil into the fire.”
He huffed a quiet laugh through his nose and settled back against the pillow. “Fine.”
After a short pause he offered something different, “I can stay on the line until you fall asleep? Maybe that helps?”
You made a noise that was half amused, half sceptical. “You’d be asleep before I even got tired.”
“I would not.”
“You absolutely would.”
“I’m awake enough.”
“Mm-hm.”
He could hear the smile in your voice now, and it made his own eyes feel heavier in the best way. “Just let me stay,” he said, softer. “I don’t mind.”
That seemed to quiet you for a moment.
Then, very gently, you said, “Okay.”
Neither of you said much after that. Just small bits of breathing, the faint rustle of blankets on your end, and the occasional sleepy murmur from him when he almost drifted off. He was trying to listen for your breathing evening out, but at some point, he must have fallen asleep first, because the next thing he knew, morning had crept in and his phone was still in his hand.
⋆꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆ ₊꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆
Your heart was hammering in your chest. The first fans had slowly trickled into the arena, and you could hear the faint music playing outside.
You wanted to come.
God, you really wanted to.
It was the first official game of the season, the first one since you’ve officially become the social media manager of the team. You had prepared the music, parts of the show that were gonna happen in the breaks, had plans for content to post and most importantly, wanted to watch them play.
You haven’t watched a full game of hockey in years.
For good reasons.
Which was also why almost everyone was against your decision to actually attend the game. You knew they meant well, but it irked you somehow.
Poor Y/N is scared of loud sounds, so she shouldn’t come to watch the game and get triggered. You recently had been, right? So just sit this one out.
Maybe you would, maybe they were right, but there was nothing left to try.
Soobin and your father had been the ones who had protested the loudest. If it wasn’t for your mother and, funnily enough, your grandmother, who deemed your progress to be acceptable but demanded that you invite your family to dinner on the weekend, they wouldn’t have let you come.
A knock rattled the door, sharp but gentle, and before you could call out, it cracked open. Heeseung slipped in, already in full gear: pads bulked under his jersey, helmet tucked under one arm, his stick slung casually over his shoulder. His hair was damp from warm-ups.
"Y/N." He crossed the room in three strides, dropping his stick against the wall to pull you into a hug.
His arms wrapped securely around your shoulders, while his chin rested atop your head. You melted into it instantly, your face pressing to the familiar scent of him. It was kind of weird to hug him while he was wearing all the protection gear, the bulky plastic hard under your touch.
After a beat, he slightly pulled back, and his gloved hand came up, tilting your chin gently with two fingers, searching your face with quiet intensity. "How are you?"
You wanted to seem strong, to tell him that you were feeling good, that you were excited to watch him and the others play, but the words stuck in your throat. Instead, you just leaned into his palm, pressing your lips together tightly, your eyes flicking away as your throat thickened.
Heeseung hummed low, understanding without you saying a word, his thumb brushing your jaw softly. "Hey. It's fine if you're not feeling it. No one's gonna think it‘s weird if you can‘t. Someone else can film the walkout and get the pictures for Instagram."
"No," you said quickly, adamant, shaking your head even as your voice came out smaller than you meant. "I want to. I need to be there."
You needed to prove to your dad and your brother that you could do this, prove it to yourself.
He held your gaze a beat longer, then nodded, giving in with a soft smile that crinkled his eyes. "Okay. Then we're good." He pulled you closer again, arms wrapping full now, and pressed a lingering kiss to your forehead. His lips were warm and soft against your skin. You sighed into it, the tension in your shoulders easing a fraction as you swayed together side to side for a slow second, his bulked frame enveloping you like a shield.
„I‘m actually here to get you, because we are going to start with the walkout soon, and you might prepare your cameras,“ he mumbled against your hair.
You closed your eyes and took a deep breath. „Okay, let’s go.“
⋆꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆ ₊꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆
Heeseung's skates dug deep into the ice with every stride, the cold burn in his thighs turning to fire as he sped over the blue line for what felt like the hundredth time.
Yonsei played like maniacs today.
They were good, they‘ve always been good, but with the new recruits this season, it was as if his team had not even a sliver of a chance.
He backchecked the puck, lifting his stick at centre ice to break up a pass, snarling under his breath as the whistle blew, signalling a foul.
"Fuck," he muttered, ripping off his helmet strap to wipe sweat from his eyes, while frustration started to bubble up in his stomach.
His eyes shifted to the bench area, searching for your face, checking if you were doing alright. It was almost funny.
He didn’t really care about how he had to go to the penalty box, about how one of the younger players got a puck to the face a few minutes ago, but every time someone slammed into the boards or sticks clashed, his heart jumped a beat. But whenever your gazes met through the glass, you would always flash him a grin or a thumbs-up.
Pride swelled up in his chest, even as he begrudgingly stepped off the ice into the penalty box, silently praying that the power play Yonsei was now in would not mean they would get a goal past Beomgyu.
Two minutes after he jumped back onto the ice together with the rest of the first line.
They were behind.
By only one goal, but that was enough.
They had to get their shit together.
Heeseung had to get his shit together.
But even at the end of the third period, they still were one goal behind. They had so many good opportunities and so many good shots, but the new Yonsei goalie was incredible. He stopped every single one of them.
The final three minutes were a desperate 6-on-5, with one of the visitors sitting in the penalty box. They were in a power play; this had to work.
Heeseung dug the puck free, stickhandling it through skates and passing it to Jay, who finally got their sixth goal. The arena erupted into cheers, and Heesung rammed into Jay, hugging his friend in laughter. A few seconds later, the game was back on again.
They still had 25 seconds left.
Heeseung pounced on the puck the second it dropped and somehow made it through the defence line to score a goal just seconds before the final whistle rang through the arena.
He wheeled toward centre ice, pumping his fist into the air, but his eyes snapped straight to you. You were on your feet, beaming at him. Without hesitation, he tapped his chest and pointed to you and the phone that was undoubtedly recording him right now.
In the heat of the adrenaline-fueled moment, he forgot who was sitting next to you, knowing very well what the gesture meant.
His coach's head snapped towards you and then back to him, his eyes narrowing, zeroing on the gesture. Heeseung's stomach dropped like a stone mid-celebration, his heart seizing for one endless second.
He was dead.
Done.
He didn’t have time to spiral over what he had just done, what had been displayed to the whole arena thanks to the jumbotron because Yeonjun barreled into him with full speed, slamming him into the boards with a howling tackle, the rest of his teammates piling on in the scrum.
"Goal, baby!" Yeonjun roared, his helmet clunking his.
Heeseung laughed breathlessly in the dogpile, but his eyes darted back one last time.
⋆꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆ ₊꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆
You stood beside your parents near the edge of the rink, waiting for the players to file out after the game. Neither of your them had said much since the game had ended, your father's facial expression conveying what he was thinking without the need for many words.
You took a deep breath and nodded, trying to ignore the feeling of despair that welled up within you whenever you thought about what was to come the second there was a bit of privacy.
Heeseung hadn’t answered your text, but had seemingly read it, or just knew not to come from the changing rooms by himself. Jake, Eujioo and Jay trickled into the arena, followed by Heeseung, who seemed just as uncomfortable as you felt.
But before either of you could said anything, a voice coming from behind interrupted the tense silence. “Wonbin!”
You swivelled around, as good as you could on your two crutches. The man standing in front of you looked like an older version of Heeseung. He was tall, maybe even taller than his son, had the same eyes, the same nose, the same lips.
Heeseung’s father extended his hand towards your father, who seemed just as shaken as you were. „Manseok! What a surprise to see you here.“
„Oh yes,“ the other smiled, his smile resembling one you had come to love in the last couple of weeks, „I was around the area and thought it would be nice to see my son play once in a while, and I must say your boys had me on my toes, Wonbin.“
Your father gave him a tight smile and nodded. „Yes, they sure did. But they did a good job.“
„That they did,“ Heeseung's father smiled even broader, and he turned towards you, extending his hand in your direction this time, only to quickly drop it when he realized that you couldn’t take it, your arms in your crutches. „You must be Y/N! I have to say I have heard a lot about you already, and my son wasn’t lying, you really are as beautiful as he claimed you to be.“
Your whole brain stopped.
No, your full body went into fight or flight mode, your face heating so fast you were sure it had to be visible.
Did Lee Manseok, a NHL legend, Heeseung’s father, just say you were beautiful? Did he just say that Heeseung had talked about you in front of him?
Before you could even think of an appropriate answer, Heeseung interrupted you. „Dad?“
His father swivelled around, opening his arms. „Heeseung! My son!“
He engulfed him a hug, while Heeseung caught your eyes mouthing a ‚what the fuck‘ before pulling back. „What are you doing here?“
„My boy,“ the older man said as he put his arm around Heeseung's shoulder. „I wanted to watch you play for a bit. See if coach Choi is still keeping you all on track.“
„Ah, well, yeah,“ Heeseung coughed, and his ears grew redder and redder by the second.
“Jay! Jake! Boys! Congratulations on your win!“ His father already focused on the rest of the group, calling them over, while he seemed to have difficulties grasping the situation, looking at you helplessly. His father hugged the newcomers, then clapped a hand lightly on Heeseung’s shoulder. “Proud of you, son. You did well.”
Heeseung gave a small, awkward smile, clearly trying to figure out whether this was about to get better or worse while his dad looked far too pleased with himself as he went on, glancing once more at you with unmistakable interest. „I’m glad he finally has something else to be focused on besides hockey. I was starting to worry he didn’t even enjoy college. You seem to be making a good impact on my son, Y/N.“
You nearly died on the spot.
Your face went so hot you were convinced everyone could see it, and you could feel the sheer panic rippling underneath your skin as you tried to keep your expression from completely collapsing.
Beside you, Heeseung looked equally stunned, though his panic was a lot more visible now that his father had basically announced his own support in front of half the room.
Your dad stayed perfectly polite, which somehow made everything worse.
And Heeseung, sweet, mortified, very doomed Heeseung, just stood there looking like he was hoping the floor would open up and swallow him whole.
Then his father turned toward your dad with a pleasant smile that somehow felt sharper than it looked. “Your daughter is lovely,” he said, with the kind of smooth politeness that left no room for argument. “I’ve heard and seen a lot to know that you must be so proud of her. Overcoming such a tragic accident and still having so much fun.”
You had to focus on controlling every muscle in your face to not laugh out loud at what he said. Your dad’s expression barely moved, but you could tell he wasn’t happy. He stayed courteous, though, because of course he did. Heeseung’s father was one of the major donors funding the program, and everyone in the room knew it.
„I am very proud of her and of my boys,“ his eyes flickered towards Heeseung. „Even though there have been some mistakes that could have been avoided, if some had played with their head and not their emotions.“
„Oh, Wonbin,“ a melodic laugh came from the NHL star. „We’ve all been there, haven’t we? And none of your players initiated any fights, so nothing happened, right? Actually, I was thinking about stealing your players and letting them wind down in one of our bars. You’re staying the night, right?“
While your father drifted off into conversation with the other man, discussing logistics for a spontaneous outing in one of the sports bars in the city, Heeseung leaned down toward you, careful and quiet, like he was trying not to draw anyone’s attention. “Is your dad very mad?” he asked, his voice low enough that only you could hear.
You let out a breathy little laugh, unable to help it. “Yeah,” you whispered back. “Yeah, he is.”
The answer should have made things worse, but somehow the look on his face only made you smile more.
He looked so concerned, so earnest, like he was ready to take the blame for something that was very clearly spiralling far beyond his control. You nudged your shoulder lightly against his arm, trying to reassure him.
“You don’t have anything to worry about,” you said softly. “I’ll deal with it.”
His expression shifted then, the tension in his face easing a little, but he still looked at you like he wasn’t entirely convinced you should have to.
You wished, achingly, that you didn’t still need the crutches. Wished you could just reach out and take his hand, squeeze it once, feel his fingers close around yours in return. Instead, you just stood there, close enough to feel his warmth, close enough to share the breathless little pause between you.
He looked at you like he could feel exactly how much you wanted to touch him, too, and his hand hesitantly came up to your lower back.
⋆꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆ ₊꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆
The moment the conversation finally broke apart, the whole group started drifting toward the player bus. Heeseung stayed close enough that you could still feel his hand on your back. You caught Soobin's eyes flickering between your father and the two of you, mouthing a ‘what the fuck’. The only answer you had to that was a shrug.
Before you could separate yourself from the group, Beomgyu had jumped out of the bus, slinging an arm around your shoulder, not quite gentle but very careful, pulling you against his side. “Captain I’mma have to steal Y/N to sit with me in the back so we can speak about how brilliantly I’ve played and she can show me what she filmed.”
“I-yes-okay,” Heeseung nodded, and the warmth of his hand disappeared from your back.
“Beomgyu, I can’t–”
“Nope.”
Before you could argue, he had already helped guide you forward and into the bus, practically ushering you up with the others. It was absurdly fast, a little chaotic, and somehow very Beomgyu. You laughed despite yourself as he made sure you were settled properly before dropping into the seat beside you, a few rows behind Heeseung.
The bus rumbled to life not long after, and for a second, all you could do was sit there and try to catch your breath.
Beomgyu leaned an elbow on the back of his seat and turned toward you with an immediate, concerned look. “Okay,” he said. “How are we doing?”
You let out a tired sound that was halfway between a laugh and a sigh. “I’m good. Overwhelmed. Tired?”
His brows lifted. “Fair. Do you know what the fuck is happening right now?”
You glanced forward briefly, then dropped your voice. “Heeseung’s dad just casually walked up to my father and acted like he’d known me forever. He told my dad I was beautiful and then talked like he was proud of me and somehow also vaguely threatening. I think I might still be processing.”
Beomgyu stared at you for a beat, then let out a low, disbelieving laugh. “What the fuck?”
You covered your face for a second. “Exactly.”
Before Beomgyu could ask anything else, Jake leaned back over the seat in front of you.
“Didn’t he tell you?” he asked, adjusting his cap.
You lowered your hands and frowned at him. “What do you mean?”
Jake looked far too pleased with himself. “Jay and I may have talked about you when we visited our apartment.”
You stared at him.
He shrugged like this was completely normal. “In his dad’s eyes, you’re basically already his daughter-in-law.”
Your brain stalled so hard it almost hurt.
“Okay, what?” you said, not even sure you had formed the sentence properly.
Jake grinned wider, absolutely unbothered by the fact that he had just detonated your entire nervous system. “Yeah. You know, he’s been bugging Heeseung bout how he should be enjoying college and should party and date, and I kinda told him that you and Hee are dating. And we might have also mentioned that your father isn’t the biggest fan of that.”
You slowly turned to look at him.
Jake, still grinning, lifted both brows. “What? It made sense at the time.”
Beomgyu made a noise somewhere between a laugh and a groan beside you, clearly trying not to fall apart from the sheer absurdity of it all.
“First of all, Jake,” you said, blinking at him. “Heeseung and I aren’t dating and secon–”
Jake snorted before you had even finished your sentence. “Right,” he said, clearly not buying it. “You and Heeseung aren’t even dating.”
“We are not.”
“Eah,” Jake said, dragging the word out with theatrical pity. “It’s painful to watch.”
You stared at him, scandalised. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means you should just get going already,” he said, like this was the most obvious solution in the world.
Your face heated instantly. “We are taking it slow, okay?”
Jake lifted one eyebrow, looking at Heeseung at the front. “Slow,” he repeated. Then he glanced at you, deadpan. “So there’s no toothbrush at our place? No skincare because apparently Heeseung has been influenced by you to buy the same stuff?”
You spluttered. “That is not–it’s not like that.”
Jake held up a hand before you could finish. “No, no, don’t worry. I’m sure it’s all very innocent and normal and completely not what it looks like.”
You stared at him, mortified and defensive all at once. “We’re just–”
“Insufferable?” he supplied.
You gaped at him. “I was going to say, friends.”
Jake gave you a long look, then let out a sigh. “You two are insufferable,” he said. “Even if you haven’t made it official, it kind of is.”
That shut you up for half a second.
Was it?
Was it official that you and Heeseung had something going on that was definitely dancing along the line between friendship and relationship?
You sighed and buried your face in one hand for a second before looking between Jake and Beomgyu, who both seemed far too entertained by your suffering.
“Okay,” you muttered, half mortified and half defeated. “Then what am I supposed to be doing now?”
Jake didn’t even pretend to think about it. He spread his hands and leaned back.
“Let me work my magic,” he said.
⋆꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆ ₊꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆
The bar was loud and crowded, with the team taking at least half of the room. Luckily, Heeseung's dad was friends with the owner, meaning he made space for twenty-six bulky hockey players and some of their friends and staff to celebrate the first win of the season.
You were tucked into a booth near the bar, sitting next to Heeseung, having your leg resting on his. Your father had been busy talking to his dad and a few of his friends.
You should have been paying attention to the conversation happening around you, but it was difficult when Heeseung kept making himself impossible to ignore.
He had his hands on your cast, brushing over your knee whenever he took a sip of his beer, and every time you looked up, he was already looking at you too, lips curved in a small smile.
You narrowed your eyes at him. “Are you drunk?”
He let out a quiet laugh and shook his head. “From half a beer? No,” he said, still looking at you with that same soft, starry expression. “I just really like seeing you like this.”
You blinked at him. “Like what?”
“So into it,” he said simply. “You just got all intense and serious, and it is honestly kind of adorable.”
Your face heated immediately. “That is not adorable.”
“It is to me.”
You looked away, suddenly very interested in your drink. For a brief second, the two of you just sat there in the noise, neither saying anything. The conversation around you kept going, chairs scraping, glasses clinking, Jay laughing at something Yeonjun said on the other side of the booth, but in between the two of you, there was this tiny, suspended silence that felt almost intimate.
Then you huffed and finally gave in to the thing you had clearly been holding in.
“Honestly, though, some of our players were messing up way too much tonight,” you said, leaning into him a bit more. “That one turnover in the second period was painful. I was sitting there like, are you serious right now? It was like they were unable to communicate with each other, even though you’ve done so much of that weird team building stuff.”
Heeseung’s mouth twitched, and then he laughed softly, like he had been waiting for you to let that out. “I noticed,” he said, his tone warm and amused. “Mostly because your face was doing a lot of talking for you.”
Your eyes narrowed. “My face was not doing a lot of talking.”
“It absolutely was.”
You pouted at him, crossing your arms. “It was not that bad.”
He hummed, a very clear, very mocking sound. “Yeah, of course.”
You gave him a flat look, but before you could think of a smart reply, he reached up and tucked a loose strand of hair back behind your ear. His fingers brushed your cheek on the way there, and then lingered, his hand staying just a second too long at the side of your face.
The touch stole the rest of your answer.
You swallowed, suddenly aware of how close he was, how softly he was looking at you, how the noise of the bar seemed to fade around the edge of the booth whenever he got like this.
“Still,” he said, voice quieter now, “you were very invested for someone pretending not to care.”
“I do care,” you muttered, your eyes flickering to his mouth for a second.
“I know,” he said, and the way he said it made your stomach flip in the most annoying way.
He looked at you with a small smile and, without even seeming to think about it, let his hand settle on your thigh beneath the table. His thumb started moving, rubbing slow little circles over the spot just above your knee. The motion made your whole body ease without warning.
You looked at him, a little startled.
He noticed instantly. “Too much?”
You shook your head quickly. “No. It’s just… nice.”
Something in his face softened at that, almost too much to look at directly. “Yeah?” he asked quietly. “You were limping a little earlier.”
Your lips parted, surprised that he had even noticed. “You saw that?”
“Of course I did.”
The answer was so immediate and so matter-of-fact that it almost made your chest ache. You looked away first this time, your cheeks warming again.
⋆꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆ ₊꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆
By the time Jake stumbled over, he was already looking a bit glossy-eyed.
“Move,” he said, not waiting for you to actually do so.
He slipped into the narrow space beside you and immediately crowded in close enough that you were pressed right back against Heeseung, who had to shift his arm around you to keep you balanced as Jake practically folded himself into the space in front of you.
His head dropped onto your shoulder with a dramatic sigh. “I need pity.”
You laughed, already half expecting nonsense. “Why?”
He reached for your hand like it was the most natural thing in the world and turned it over in his, making a show of settling it onto his head.
“Go on,” he said. “Pet me.”
You looked at Heeseung first, just to see his reaction, and he was already smiling, shoulders shaking a little with quiet laughter. Jake noticed the look and immediately clicked his tongue.
“I had a disaster of an evening,” he announced. “The most gorgeous girl in one of my classes just told me she’s dropping it and retaking it next semester, so now I have no one to daydream about anymore.”
Heeseung let out a short breath of disbelief before shaking his head. “Poor Jake,” he said, voice dripping with mock sympathy.
Jake lifted his head just enough to glare at him. “Fuck off,” he muttered. Then he pointed at you without any real heat. “If it had been Y/N, you’d be the same. Imagine having to longingly stare at her all day in class because there is no way you could just talk to her because you don’t know her. You wouldn’t be in her office, cuddling all the time. Or watching whatever show you’re watching now and using it as a reason to have your little sleepovers. You’d also be miserable.”
Heeseung coughed into his hand, looking away for a second, and you felt your face burning as Jake, completely unbothered, nudged your hand.
“Come on,” he said, much softer now but still shameless. “Scratch my head. Your nails are nice.”
You sighed, shaking your head, but your fingers were already moving through his hair. Jake immediately melted, letting out a satisfied little sound and tipping more of his weight into you.
“There,” he murmured. “That’s what I needed.”
You shifted a little in your seat, trying to adjust your leg a bit, and Heeseung’s hand at your side tightened immediately, steadying you without even thinking about it.
Jake noticed, of course, he did.
“Aha,” he said, sitting up faster than you thought would be good for him. “See? That right there. That is not normal. You’re just moving at a snail pace, Y/N.”
“Jake,” Heeseung said again, sharper this time, while you stifled a laugh.
But Jake was already leaning back with a very satisfied expression, clearly pleased with himself. “I’m just saying. Your pink toothbrush is ruining our bathroom, Y/N. If you want me to leave it there, do something.”
You buried your face in your hand for a second, laughing, while Heeseung let out a helpless breath.
“Okay,” he said, voice tight with embarrassment and amusement, while his hand reached from your back to the hand that was still petting over Jake's head, intertwining your fingers in a rather awkward pose, “that’s enough. Go bother Jay.”
Jake stared at him. “Rude.”
“Go,” Heeseung repeated.
Jake sighed but stumbled off, muttering about how he was the only honest person in the room.
For a second, both of you were quiet before you broke into giggles, and Heeseung leaned back in the booth, pulling you with him. “Sorry about him,” he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. “He’s just being… Jake.”
You let out a small laugh, the heat in your face finally beginning to settle. “It’s no worries. He has warned me he has a plan. I just…didn’t know this was his plan.”
Heeseung glanced down at you, then back up, before he sighed again. “What was this plan supposed to be?”
You shrugged and laughed again as you watched Jake enthusiastically taking another shot together with Beomguy. “Making you jealous by making me scratch his head?”
Heeseung's chuckle vibrated through you. “Right, as if that’s not something he makes you do on a regular basis since you've gotten your nails done.”
“Hee,” you turned around, grinning at him. “Let Jake be delusional.”
His gaze dropped briefly from your eyes to your lips and back, the corners of his mouth twitching as if he was trying to suppress the stupid grin on his face.
⋆꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆ ₊꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆
You were hot and a little dizzy.
Music was blasting through various speakers spread through the whole house, laughter and singing coming from everywhere, the sound of bottles clinking, feet pounding across the floor, and someone yelling about a beer pong win making everything even louder. The whole house felt alive, buzzing with heat and alcohol and movement.
You couldn’t tell how long you’ve been here, or how much you had drunk, but you loved it. You loved being here, being part of this stupid Halloween party that would be the most normal thing to anyone else here but was one of the best things that happened to you in a while now.
A laugh bubbled out of you, almost involuntary, but Beomgyu, who was standing next to you, one of his arms wrapped around your waist to help keep you balanced, didn’t seem to mind. He had found you not long after you, Yeji, Lia, Ryujin and Chaeryeong arrived, and from the second he did, he decided it was his personal mission to make sure your cup was never empty. Every time you looked down, there was somehow more in it. Every time you protested, he grinned and shoved it back into your hand.
You should have been more careful.
You knew that.
You knew you didn’t have the tolerance to keep up with other people your age, especially college students who drank every weekend. But the drinks were cold and sweet and easy, and the whole night felt so impossibly good that you didn’t really want to stop.
You wanted to feel it.
The music. The lights. The fact that you had walked here on your own. The warmth in your limbs. The way the room seemed to tilt just a little when you laughed too hard.
So when Beomgyu handed you another shot, and then another and another, you took them.
“Look at you,” Beomgyu sang, squeezing your waist. “You’re having a great time.”
“I am having a great time,” you said, and the way the words came out slightly slurred only made you giggle harder.
“I know,” he said smugly. “I’m helping.”
“You’re enabling.”
“I prefer the term supporting.”
You shoved him lightly, but not hard enough to knock the grin off his face. He just laughed and leaned in to say something else in your ear, and you could hear the smile in his voice even before you understood the words.
The thing was, you really did feel good.
The cast on your leg was annoying, sure, and your balance still wasn’t perfect, but the whole evening had already given you this strange, glowing sense of victory.
You had walked in here without crutches.
You had even danced a little, or at least swayed in a way that could probably be counted as dancing if the audience was kind.
You felt proud of yourself.
You felt impossible.
Like maybe you could just be normal for a while, just show up and be fine and laugh too loudly and drink too much and not have to think about what your leg looked like or how people might be watching or how complicated your body still was.
For a little while, that version of you felt real.
The beer pong table was crowded, noisy, and chaotic. You ended up on one side of it with strangers cheering and people shouting over the music. At some point, someone handed you another drink. Or maybe you took it from Beomgyu. It was getting hard to remember who was putting what in your hand anymore.
The whole room spun just slightly whenever you turned too fast, but it never felt unpleasant.
At one point, Beomgyu looked at you with that slightly wicked grin of his and said, “You’re definitely getting drunk.”
“I am not,” you said immediately, then burst out laughing.
“Yes, you are.”
“No, I’m not.”
He lifted his brows. “Denail is a river in Egypt, Y/N!”
That made you laugh harder, and you had to grip the edge of the table for balance.
The truth was, you were getting drunk.
You just didn’t care.
Not really.
That was why you were here, right? Why did you lie to your dad about staying over at Ryujins and having a slow Halloween evening? Why did you leave your phone at her place, so whenever he looked up your location, he wouldn’t know where you actually were?
⋆꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆ ₊꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆
The whole hockey team had gone all out, dressed as Greek gods, draped in gold-trimmed togas, laurel crowns and a lot of naked skin. You had made fun of Soobin when you first saw his costume, what your sober brain, however, did not think about was that Heeseung was also part of the hockey team, meaning he would be dressed as a Greek god.
You were on your way to the kitchen to find Yeji, but instead of spotting her somewhere within the crowd, you saw Heeseung.
The white fabric of his toga clung to his chest and arms in ways that made your mouth go inexplicably dry. His dark hair was tousled just right, and the light caught his face just right when he laughed at something Jake said.
He looked unfairly, devastatingly hot.
You couldn't stop staring, heat creeping up your neck.
You didn't even realise you had started moving toward him until you were right there, bumping into him with a wobbly grin. He turned at the motion, his eyes locking onto yours instantly, and his face split into that familiar, warm grin.
"Hee!" The name burst out of you brighter than you meant, your excitement spilling over as you reached him, one hand landing on his arm for balance. Up close, he smelled like cologne mixed with beer, and god, the toga dipped just low enough to show the defined cut of his collarbone.
Your gaze flicked over him shamelessly, your heart thudding harder.
He laughed softly, his hand coming up to steady you by the elbow, firm but gentle. "Hey, careful there."
Your cheeks burned, but the alcohol made you bold, words tumbling out before you could overthink them. "You look hot."
His eyes widened a fraction, genuine surprise flashing across his face before it melted into a flustered, deep laugh, his head tipping back a little, the sound warm and rumbling over the music. Heeseungs free hand rose to smooth over your hair in that gentle, familiar way he had, fingers threading through your curls to tuck a loose strand behind your ear. "Yeah? You look hot too."
His touch was warm, thumb brushing feather-light along your cheekbone. Then he tilted your chin up softly with two fingers, searching your face with a mix of amusement and growing concern, while you wrapped your arms around his waist. "How much did you have to drink?"
You squeezed your eyes shut tight, the world spinning faster behind your lids for a dizzying second, then popped them open with exaggerated seriousness, trying to focus on him through the haze. "A bit?"
He laughed again, louder this time, shaking his head like you were the most entertaining thing he had seen all night. "A bit. Define 'a bit,' exactly."
You waved a hand vaguely in the air, your grin turning sloppy and unfiltered. "Whatever Gyu gives me."
Heeseung's face did a full comedic shift, eyes going wide, mouth dropping open in disbelief. "Oh, my god." He shook his head and gently tilted your head side to side, his brows pulling together almost immediately. “And you’re not using your crutches?”
You beamed up at him. “Isn’t that awesome?” You slurred proudly.
Something flickered across his face. Surprise, maybe. Or concern. Maybe both.
“You didn’t tell me,” he said, his thumb caressing your cheek softly, stopping just above your lips.
You blinked at him, then giggled, because in your head it was obvious. “I didn’t wanna jinx it! I’ve been walking at home, but I didn’t wanna try it in public until I was more confident. And look!” You swayed the two of you a little to demonstrate just how well you were walking. “I’m walking.”
Heeseung’s hand came around your waist, steadying you against him.
“Just… be careful, okay?” he said, softer now.
You leaned a little closer because you liked the way he looked at you when he worried. “I promise. Look, I’m a vampire now.” You spread your hands with exaggerated drama. “I’m unstoppable.”
He snorted, and the corner of his mouth finally curved. “Yeah? Even vampires need to be careful.”
You were about to argue, but your name was called loud enough for you to hear over the noise in the kitchen. You swivelled around to see Beomgyu standing in front of you. “Heeseung, you have found Y/N!”
Heeseung chuckled and shook his head. “She found me, Guy. How much did the two of you drink?”
“Ah,” Bemoguy waved dismissively before peeling his captain's hands from your waist, wanting to pull you away, but Heeseung's grip only tightened at that. “A bit of this and that and more of this and we have to go back to the beer pong table because they’re almost done, Y/N!”
You laughed and nodded, wanting to follow him, taking his hand, but Heeseung tilted his head to the side once. “Hmh, I think Y/N should stay here and drink some water, Beomgyu.”
“Boo hoo”, your friend said, adjusting his crown a bit. “You’re boring, Heeseung. Let us have fun!”
“I am,” Heeseung said evenly, “after I’ve seen Y/N drink water.”
You made a small whiny sound in protest, and that seemed to do it, because his expression softened for a second before he turned fully toward you.
He cupped your face in both hands, thumbs resting lightly near your cheeks. “You’re very drunk,” he said, looking directly into your eyes, a little bit stern in the gentlest way possible. “I want to make sure you sober up at least a little.”
Jake stepped in with far too much enthusiasm before you could oppose Heeseung’s idea. “Beomgyu, I’ll play with you.”
Beomgyu’s face lit up, and his arms let go of yours. “Oh, perfect.”
Heeseung lifted his head just enough to mouth a quick ‘thank you’ over yours, and you caught it even before you fully processed what was happening.
You whined again. “I wanted to play.”
“I know,” he said, already guiding you gently deeper into the kitchen. “You can play later. Right now, you need water.”
Heeseung helped you up onto the counter like it was the most natural thing in the world, setting down his cup next to you before he reached for a clean glass, filled it with tap water, and handed it to you.
You took it with a dramatic sigh, still grumbling under your breath.
He stayed close in front of you, one hand braced lightly against the counter near your hip, watching to make sure you actually drank.
“So,” he said quietly, eyes soft, “how has your dad been?”
You let out a small breath and leaned back like you were about to settle against the cabinets behind you, only to misjudge the distance by a bit. Before you could bump into anything, Heeseung’s hands shot forward, steadying you at once.
You gave him a sheepish look. “Okay, rude. I was fine.”
His brows lifted, clearly unconvinced, but he didn’t let go right away. “You were about one second away from falling into the kitchen.”
You huffed a laugh. “Maybe I wanted to do that.”
He took a deep breath and chuckled, pulling you a bit towards the edge of the counter, your cast hitting the front of it with a dull thump.
“I’ve been avoiding being home when he is,” you admitted after a beat, your tone quieter now.
Heeseung’s face changed immediately. Not alarmed, exactly, but concerned in that deep, careful way he got when he was trying not to let his worry show.
You noticed it and smiled a little, trying to smooth it over before it could grow bigger than it already was. “It’s fine,” you said, reaching up to cup his face. “Really.”
Your fingers brushed his cheek, warm and familiar, and for a second, you thought he might lean into it. You certainly wanted him to.
But he gently caught your wrist before you could pull him closer.
“Drink more first,” he said, voice low but firm.
You narrowed your eyes at him. “You’re being annoying.”
“I’m being responsible.”
“That’s the same thing.”
Before he could answer, one of his friends came up beside you, cutting into the moment just enough to make both of you glance over. Heeseung turned to talk to him, only half distracted, while you took the opportunity to snatch his cup from the counter.
You took a big sip and immediately regretted it.
It was beer.
You stared down at the cup in betrayal, then scowled at it. Heeseung noticed almost instantly and let out a quiet laugh over the conversation he was having, clearly catching the whole thing out of the corner of his eye.
You looked up at him indignantly, still holding the cup. “Why would you let me do that?”
Heeseung’s mouth curved, amused now. “You looked very determined.”
“That was a trap.”
“It was not.”
“It absolutely was.”
You glared at the beer one more time, then at him.
Trying your best to look innocent, you tilted your head up at him. “Can I have another piña colada now? I had water.”
He let out a tired little sigh, but smiled at you. “No, Y/N. Let’s take a break.”
You pouted immediately. "That is mean.”
He just hummed and raised an eyebrow, but before either of you could say anything else, a cup appeared in your vision.
“Here,” said Jeongin, who you recognised as one of the swimmers from earlier. He held out his drink toward you with a lazy grin. “Take a sip if you want to chase the beer taste.”
You blinked at him, then at the drink, then back at him before deciding that this was, in fact, an excellent idea. You took a careful sip and immediately felt the awful beer taste fade into something much more tolerable.
Heeseung looked over at Jeongin with an expression that was equal parts annoyed and amused. “Really?”
Jeongin just shrugged, completely unbothered. “I’m not gonna stop a lady from enjoying her evening.”
You handed the cup back with a satisfied little hum.
⋆꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆ ₊꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆
Somehow, more and more of the swimmers appeared in the kitchen, crowding the room a bit more as they all joined in the conversation. You had rested your head against Heeseung's shoulder a while back.
The room kept moving, the music kept pounding in your head, and you started to lose track of conversations halfway through them.
You became aware of your body in pieces.
The weight of your legs.
The painful throbbing in your foot and calf.
The very urgent fact that you needed the bathroom.
Badly.
“Hey, Hee,” you mumbled against him.
His attention immediately shifted towards you. “Yeah?”
“I’ll go look for a toilet and come back, don’t move, okay?” Your arms felt heavy as you pushed yourself from the sticky counter, the stupid cape of your costume getting caught up in between your legs for a second before Heeseung reached down and straightened it out again.
“Do you want me to come with you?” His hands reluctantly let go of your waist as you started moving towards the door.
You shook your head, only to regret the movement a second later. “No, it’s fine. Maybe I’ll find Yeji, I wanna ask when she wants to leave.”
“Why?” His voice sounded alarmed. “Do you want to leave?”
You shook your head again, bracing yourself on his arms when you tilted a bit too far to the left. “No, I just wanna check in on her. I’ll be fine. Stay here.”
“Are you sure?” Heeseung asked, showing no signs of actually letting you go alone.
You hummed. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
He reluctantly let go of your waist. “Okay. I’ll wait here.”
You nodded and made your way out of the kitchen. By the time you found the hallway, the room behind you was spinning just enough to make you regret drinking as much as you had.
The floor seemed farther away than it should have been.
The walls leaned slightly when you walked.
You made it through the hallway with a careful, clumsy determination, one hand braced against the wall, when the buzz in your head tipped too far to one side.
You found the bathroom door.
Locked.
You groaned softly and leaned your forehead against the frame for a second, pressing your lips together. Of course.
You waited.
And then, after what felt like forever, the door opened to reveal your older brother.
The second he saw you, his expression changed.
“Y/N. You okay?” he asked.
You blinked at him, then gave a very serious nod that probably did not look nearly as serious as you intended. “I need to pee.”
He stared for a second, then snorted and stepped aside. “Go. I’ll wait.”
The bathroom was bright in an unpleasant way. You took your time with the door, the lock, getting your dress and the stockings as well as your hip brace out of the way before sitting down on the toilet seat. Once you were finally done, you opened the tap and splashed some water on your wrists, trying to get your head to settle.
When you came back out, Soobin was still there, leaning against the wall with his arms folded.
He looked at you for one second and immediately said, “You need water.”
You squinted at him. “I just had water. I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not.”
“I’m very fine.”
He gave you a look so flat it would have been rude if it hadn’t been completely accurate. “You are absolutely not very fine.”
You made a face, but your body was too soft and too floaty to put up any real resistance. Soobin took your hand and guided you to the sink, where he turned the tap on and held out his palm under the stream.
You frowned. “What are you doing?”
“Making you drink water.”
“I don’t want to drink water.”
“Too bad.”
He filled his cupped hand and held it up to you like he was dealing with a particularly stubborn toddler. You stared at it for a second, then sighed dramatically and leaned forward to drink from his hand, because apparently that was where your life was now.
“It’s wet,” you mumbled when you were done.
“Yes,” he said, deadpan. “That’s usually what water is.”
You made a weak face at him, and he just waited until you drank a little more before finally letting you go. The whole thing was humiliating in the gentlest possible way, and you hated that he was right, and also that you were too drunk to care properly.
When you turned away from the sink, the room gave a slow, disorienting tilt.
Soobin’s hand shot out instantly, steadying you by the elbow. “Easy. Be careful, you’ve not even been walking for a week. I don’t want to explain why we're at the hospital to Dad after you fall and hurt yourself.”
You huffed out a breath and pouted at him. “I’m walking perfectly fine, see?”
He gave you a long look. “Barely.”
“Rude.”
“You’re drunk.”
“Maybe a little.”
“A little?”
You made a face, but before you could think of a comeback, the bathroom door opened again, and the hallway noise spilt in.
And then he was there.
Heeseung.
You looked up at him a little too slowly, your brain catching up with your eyes. He stopped in the doorway when he saw you, gaze flicking immediately from your face to the hand Soobin still had near your elbow.
And then back to you.
“There you are,” he said, voice gentler than usual.
You smiled at him. “Hi.”
“You okay?”
You nodded, then swayed a little and immediately felt Soobin tense.
“I am perfectly fine,” you slurred.
Soobin snorted beside you. “She needed water.”
Heeseung’s mouth twitched like he wanted to laugh and worry at the same time, which would have been funny if your head weren’t so fuzzy. He stepped closer and dumped out his cup, filling it with water before handing it to you.
“Have some more,” he said quietly.
You blinked at him, then obeyed.
Soobin groaned next to you. “Why did she fight me when I tried to make her drink water, but takes it without complaints from you, Heeseung?”
Heeseung chuckled, his gaze flickering up to Soobin. “I have no idea, I’m just glad she’s drinking water. I have no idea how much Beomgyu and she have had.”
You set the cup down and swiped over your chin, where some of the water that escaped the cup was dripping down. “Just a bit.”
“A bit of everything, you mean?” Heeseung asked, raising his eyebrows.
You just shrugged. “Yes?”
“Oh my god,” Soobin laughed in disbelief. “Beomgyu is fucked up. If she just had half of that, she had definitely had too much.”
“I know,” Heeseung said, taking one of the napkins from the sink, reaching for your face, and carefully wiping your chin.
“My makeup,” you whined and tried to escape his gentle grip, only to wince when you put your weight onto your injured foot.
“Mhm,” Heeseung hummed. “I'm saving your makeup, Y/N.”
You tried to look up at Soobin, hoping he could help you. You were sure Heeseung was just smearing the blood drip that came from your lips away, destroying your vampire get-up.
But Soobin just dropped his hand casually, stepping back. "Do you wanna come to the others? We’re upstairs."
Heeseung slid an arm around your shoulders, pulling you gently into his side after he had deemed your makeup good enough. "Sure."
The three of you weaved back into the crowd, as Soobin led you upstairs to a sagging sofa in the corner where Yeonjun lounged with Yunjin and two baseball players.
You dropped onto the cushions between Heeseung and Soobin, your leg stretched out carefully over their laps.
“Y/N! Heeseung!” Yeonjun’s face lit up when you sat down. “Do you want a drink?”
He held out two strawberry soju bottles, but before you could reach for it, Heeseung had already shaken his head. “Nah, we're good, thanks, Yeonjun.”
You pouted, crossing your arms. "I’m not. I can still drink."
"No," Soobin and Heeseung said in unison.
Yeonjun smirked, completely unrepentant, shrugging, taking a sip from his cup.
The group fell into easy chatter after that.
You sank deeper into the cushions, your head lolling heavy onto Heeseung's shoulder, your cheek pressed right to the warm, bare strip of skin where his toga gaped open at the collarbone. The world spun lazily behind your closed eyes, a slow carousel of bass thumps and muffled shouts.
Heeseungs arm stayed draped casually behind you, but his fingers... god, his fingers. They traced lazy, feather-light patterns along your exposed arm first, his nails grazing your skin in tingling drags that made you hum low in your throat, a soft sound of pure contentment vibrating against his shoulder. The touch drifted lower sometimes, brushing the edge of your thigh where the red dress had ridden up, sending shivers chasing up your spine despite the room's sticky heat. Then up again, toying with a loose curl of your hair, twirling it slowly around his knuckle before combing through with his fingertips. Your Body went boneless, fully resting against him, every muscle melting into the solid line of his frame.
Your eyelids grew heavier with every pass of his fingers, drooping like they were lined with lead.
You hummed, not bothering to lift your head or open your eyes.
"M'completely okay," you slurred softly, a sleepy smile tugging your lips despite the spin. "World's just... turning."
He chuckled quietly, the vibration rumbling through his chest into yours, his fingers never stopping their soothing trail, now combing slowly through your hair properly, his nails grazing your scalp. "Yeah, I figured. You drank a lot."
You nodded, or tried to, mostly just nuzzling deeper into him.
“Because Beomguy made me,” you mumbled, suddenly remembering you promised Beonguy to play beer pong with him.
Pushing yourself up from the sofa with sudden determination, you ignored the way your legs were wobbling under the sudden weight and the room that tilted to the side.
Heeseung's head snapped up immediately, his arm shooting out to stabilise you, one hand firm on your waist, the other catching your elbow as he rose halfway with you. "Whoa, easy."
"I'm gonna find Gyu," you blurted, already tring to step forward. “I promised him we would play beer pong!”.
Soobin half-rose too, his hand outstretched like he was about to grab your arm. "Wait, Y/N–no, you're–"
Heeseung was faster, shifting between you two, his grip on your waist tightening protective as he shot Soobin a quick, calm look over his shoulder. "I've got her. No worries, Hyung.”
His tone was light but firm, brooking no argument, arm already guiding you steady as you leaned into him.
Soobin hesitated, mouth opening then closing. ⋆꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆ ₊꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆
There was no chance for you to find Beomgyu in the mess the party had turned into. After a while, you ended up back in the kitchen, Heeseung making you drink another cup of water before drowning one himself.
Your hands fisted lightly in the draped fabric of his toga, right over his chest, where you could feel the steady thump of his heart picking up under your palms. God, he looked unreal up close, the tousled dark hair framing his face, the white fabric dipping low enough to show the sharp cut of his collarbone, sweat from the party making his skin glisten faintly.
"You look so hot," you breathed again, the words spilling out unfiltered, your grin wobbly but genuine, voice thick with drunken awe. "Like... stupid hot."
Heeseung laughed, low and rough, a little strained at the edges, but his free hand came up anyway. "Still on that, huh?" he teased, voice dropping softer, his thumb brushin along your arm in a way that made your skin tingle. His gaze roamed your face openly now, taking in the red-smeared lipstick, the fake fangs peeking from your parted lips, the flush high on your cheeks. "You're not so bad yourself, Dracula."
Emboldened by the look, by the way he was holding you, you pulled him closer, bodies flush in the cramped kitchen corner..
"I wanna kiss you."
The confession hung there, your breath ghosting his skin as you tilted your chin up, eyes locked on his mouth. "Right now. Really bad."
His breath hitched audibly, his laugh turning into something deeper, more ragged, his eyes darkening as they dropped to your lips, watching them part slightly. For a heartbeat, you thought he might give in, the air between you thickening with want. But then he shook his head slowly and deliberately, even as his body betrayed him, leaning in just a fraction closer.
"No," he murmured, the word soft but firm, laced with regret. His hand slid up from your elbow to cup your jaw gently, thumb tracing the curve of it. "You're drunk, baby. We can't."
The refusal landed like a soft punch, genuine upset blooming in your chest. Your face crumpled into a pout without thinking, your eyes stinging a little as you pulled back just enough to search his face.
"Why not?" you whispered, your voice small and slurred. "I know you want to kiss me too."
It wasn't a question.
You knew he did.
The way he had been looking at you all night, the way he was touching you all night, the way your body ached for it.
"You do, right? Tell me."
Heeseung's expression softened instantly. He laughed again, not mockingly, but warm, tender, like you were the most precious thing in the room. His hands moved then, both of them cradling your face fully. His big palms cupping your cheeks with infinite care, thumbs stroking in soothing drags along your cheekbones. He tilted your head up gently, his forehead dipping to brush yours, noses nudging in the space between you, his breath warm against your lips.
He was close enough to taste if you leaned forward.
"Yeah," he breathed, voice gravelly and honest, eyes locked on yours with raw intensity. "I do. Fuck, Y/N. I want to kiss you so bad it hurts. Have for weeks. Every time you're near me like this..." His thumbs traced lower, feather-light over your jaw, then back up, sending shivers chasing down your spine. "But not when you're this drunk. Not when you can barely walk straight. I want you sober. I want you to remember every second."
Your pout deepened, but the upset ebbed under his touch. He was right, you were drunk, maybe too drunk to comprehend everything that was happening around you, but you wanted this. You wanted him.
With a huff, you pulled back just enough to plant your feet with drunken determination to prove him wrong. "I can walk straight. Watch." You took one wobbly step away from him, but pain burst up from your ankle, and the room tilted hard enough to make stars burst behind your eyes.
Heeseung's brow arched sceptically, amused, one arm shooting out to catch you before you could topple over, pulling you right back into his chest with effortless strength. "Yeah? That's straight?"
You collapsed against him with a sheepish whine, face buried in his shoulder. "Okay, fine. My foot hurts. That's why. Not 'cause I'm that drunk."
He chuckled softly, his hands caressing the back of your head, smoothing down your hair. "Sure it is. Blame the foot all you want." He pressed a kiss against your head. "Tomorrow. Sober Y/N gets the kiss. Deal?"
You nodded against him and sighed. “Deal,"
You could have stayed like that forever, drunk and dizzy and wrapped in him, but the moment broke when a voice cut through the room, loud and breathless. “Heeseung. There you are.”
Jay appeared in the doorway looking alarmed. His eyes flicked from Heeseung to you and then back again.
“What’s wrong?” Heeseung asked immediately.
Jay looked back towards the hallway, jaw tight. “Yeonhee," he said, swallowing once. “She got drugged. The ambulance is here.”
Your breath got stuck in your throat, and Heeseung’s face changed at once, all softness snapping into alert focus. “What?”
“Sunghoon’s freaking out,” Jay said, voice clipped with urgency.
Heeseung was already moving, but not without you.
His hand found your waist again, careful and automatic, and he glanced down at you with a quick check of your face. “Can you come with me?”
You nodded, still a little dazed, the edges of the room fuzzy and bright. “Yeah.”
He kept you close as the three of you moved toward the front, Jay leading the way through the growing knot of people near the door. By the time you got outside, the ambulance lights were already flashing across the driveway, bright and harsh against the dark.
The moment they hit your eyes, your whole body went rigid.
The world, already soft and unsteady from the alcohol, seemed to lurch sideways. The lights burned too sharply across your vision, and your focus slipped instantly, your stomach turning in a way that had nothing to do with the alcohol.
You tried to focus on something simple, anything simple, but the lights kept strobing across your vision, and the driveway seemed to tilt under your feet.
You needed to stop moving.
You knew that much.
If you kept walking, it was only going to get worse.
You tried to ground yourself, tried to plant your feet and tell your body to settle, but the combination of the alcohol, the lights, and the sudden wrongness in your chest made it hard to hold onto anything.
Your grip tightened on Heeseungs sleeve.
You wanted to tell him to stop, to just stop for a second, because if you could get away from the lights, if you could stand still and breathe, maybe you could pull yourself back before it swallowed you.
Instead, all you managed was a shaky breath and a hard blink against the blur creeping in at the edges of your vision, accompanied by a low buzzing in your ears.
You hated how fast it was happening.
Hated that you could feel yourself sliding even though you were trying so hard not to.
And worst of all, you could tell you were already reaching the point where you needed him to understand without you being able to say much at all.
You felt Heeseung move in front of you, felt the shift of his body as he tried to block the lights from your view, but it was already too late.
You tried to focus on him anyway.
His face was right there, close enough that you should have been able to lock onto it.
You swallowed, trying to tell yourself it was fine, that you were fine, that you just needed to breathe and the lights would stop.
The motion around you had become strangely distant, like everything was happening a few steps away from your own body.
One moment, you were still trying to fight the panic, and the next, you realised Heeseung had moved you somewhere quieter. The flashing lights were gone. The harsh brightness had fallen away. You were being guided down, carefully and with surprising steadiness, until your legs folded and you found yourself sitting on the floor.
The coolness of it helped a little.
So did the dark.
Heeseung crouched in front of you, his voice low and even. It took a moment for the ringing in your ears to fade enough that his words started to make sense again, but once they did, you felt yourself loosen by a fraction.
Your shoulders were still tight, your pulse still too fast, but the worst of the sharp, dizzy terror had started to fade. When you finally looked up, Heeseung was watching you carefully, face soft with concern.
“Is Yeonhee okay?” you asked first, voice small and rough.
Heeseung nodded right away. “I think so,” he said gently. “Sunghoon’s with her. She’s not alone.”
You let out a shaky breath and nodded weakly, but the motion made your head feel heavy, so you dropped it against your knees for a second instead. It wasn’t graceful, and when you shifted a little, a jolt of pain burst through your ankle, and a small whine slipped out of your mouth.
Heeseung noticed immediately. Of course he did.
“Hey,” he said quietly. “Do you want to go home?”
You blinked at the floor, still trying to collect yourself. “My phone’s at Yejis,” you murmured. “And I have no idea where she is.”
Heeseung was silent for half a beat, then his tone softened even more.
“I want to bring you home,” he said. “To my place. Just so I can make sure you’re okay.”
That made something in your chest ease at once.
You looked up at him then, and the relief on your face was probably obvious because he softened in response almost immediately.
You nodded.
“Come on,” he murmured, voice low and coaxing, one hand sliding down to lace his fingers with yours while the other stayed at your waist. “Let’s get your jacket.”
You nodded, but the motion felt slow and fuzzy, like your brain had to think through syrup just to process his words.
Heeseung guided you back through the crowd toward the entryway where you’d left your coat, moving carefully so you didn’t get jostled too hard. The noise of the party pressed in from every direction, but it felt distant now, muffled and warped, like you were hearing it from underwater. His hand stayed warm around yours the whole time, steadying you whenever the room tilted a bit.
He found your black puffer jacket crumpled over a chair and shook it out before helping you into it. You were clumsy with the sleeves, your fingers not quite listening properly.
“There,” he said softly, guiding your arms into the right position, before pulling the zipper up.
You let him do it, blinking too slowly, trying to focus on his face and failing every so often when the dizziness rolled back through you.
The jacket felt good, though.
Heavy and warm.
Safe.
“Better?” he asked.
You made a small noise that was supposed to be a yes, but it came out more like a tired hum.
⋆꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆ ₊꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆
The walk back to his dorm was slow, almost painfully so. He matched your pace without comment, deliberately keeping it easy for you, one arm hovering near you whenever the pavement dipped or your steps wobbled.
“Can we–” You stopped and swallowed, trying to gather the words. “Can we take a quick break? My foot really hurts. I just need to sit for a second.”
His expression changed instantly.
He looked down at you, then at the damp ground nearby, and visibly rejected the idea of letting you sit on the cold pavement. “Or,” he said carefully, “I could just give you a piggyback ride.”
You blinked at him, the suggestion taking a second to reach you. “You want me on your back?”
“I want you off your foot,” he said. “That ground is cold.”
You stared at him for a moment. You’ve had enough time to sober up at least a bit, though the world was still a bit wobbly around the edges, to know that he was probably right. If you didn’t want to end up with a bladder infection, sitting on the floor was not an option. “Okay.”
He crouched in front of you, and you climbed on with more effort than you would’ve liked, arms looping around his neck and your bad leg angled awkwardly so it wouldn’t take too much pressure.
He slowly, carefully straightened up again, adjusting his grip under your thighs, and kept going.
You pressed your cheek against his shoulder, your mouth opening up, talking before your brain could stop it. “You’re really strong.”
He laughed under his breath, but you could hear the warmth in it. Your body was still buzzing oddly. For a second, you wished you hadn’t drunk that much, you had drunk nothing at all, so you could take something to ease the pain pulsing in your leg.
It wasn’t unbearable yet, but close to getting there.
Every beat of your heart seemed to pulse ten times as strongly in your ankle and calf. You closed your eyes and tried breathing against the pain, tried to ignore it, but it was no use.
“Mmm,” you murmured after a minute, your voice sounding slurred even to your own ears. “It hurts.”
He went a little quieter at that. “I know.”
You tucked your face closer into his neck, breathing in the faint, clean scent of him and the trace of party air still on his skin. “You smell so good,” you whispered, more because your brain had latched onto the thought than because you meant to say it out loud.
He gave a startled little laugh. “You’re ridiculous.”
You didn’t answer right away, just kept breathing deeply, trying to stop thinking about the pain, but even while Heeseung was carrying you, the world did not stop turning. For a second, you wished you could touch the floor, just to see if it was the movement of his steps or your head that made everything feel like you were on a boat within rogue waters. “Beomgyu got me so drunk.”
He huffed a quiet laugh, rubbing your arm through the jacket. “I tried to stop you.”
“Not hard enough,” you mumbled, very unimpressed.
“I literally kept taking drinks out of your hand. You were very insistent on drinking even more.”
You made a small sound and nuzzled closer. “You should have been more insistent on taking away my drinks. The world is turning.”
He continued walking at that same careful pace, your weight settled against his back, and your breathing slowly evened out as the night grew quieter around you. The movement was soothing in a way you hadn’t expected, the steady rhythm of his steps and the warmth of his shoulder against your cheek making your eyelids feel heavier and heavier.
At some point, your grip around his neck loosened a little.
Your head tilted more fully against him, the world around you softening into a blur of streetlights and dark campus paths. His shoulder was warm and solid under your face, and before you really meant to, you started to drift.
He just adjusted his hold a little, making sure you stayed comfortable as your body went heavier against him.
A minute later, you stirred and mumbled, your voice muffled against his shoulder. “Sorry.”
He glanced back slightly, enough that you could feel the movement more than see it. “For what?”
“For the panic attack,” you said, the words coming slow and thick. “And for you having to deal with me.”
Heeseung went quiet for a second, and then he shook his head once, gently and definitely.
“It’s no problem,” he said.
The answer came so easily that it made your chest ache in the softest way.
You frowned a little, still not quite awake enough to argue. “Still… annoying.”
He let out a quiet laugh, the sound low and warm under you. “You are not annoying.”
You made a tiny noise of disagreement, but it came out sleepy and weak, and your cheek settled back against his shoulder before you could really push the point.
He shifted you slightly higher on his back, careful with your bad leg, and kept walking.
“It’s really fine,” he said again, softer this time. “You don’t have to apologise to me.”
That was the last thing you clearly heard before your thoughts started to drift again, the comfort of his voice and the steady motion of his steps pulling you gently under.
⋆꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆ ₊꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆
Heeseung punched in the pin to his apartment with one hand, adjusting you with the other against his back. You had grown silent a while ago, and he wasn’t sure if you had fallen asleep or if you just didn’t feel like talking.
He had learned that whenever you weren’t feeling well, you weren’t talking much, tensing up whenever you did. But right now, your body was lax against his, your front slumped against his as you were still breathing against his neck.
He shuffled his sneakers off and carried you into his room, the dim light of the street lamps outside helping him avoid bumping into any furniture on the way there.
Shifting his grip around your thighs, he carefully lowered you onto his bed.
“I’m so tired,” you mumbled, crossing your arms over your face. “I don’t wanna move anymore.”
He sat down next to you, catching his breath and massaging his thighs for a second, as he looked at you sprawled out on his sheets. “You’re going to have to move a little,” he said gently. “Don’t you want to get out of that dress? It looks tight. You’ll hate sleeping in it.”
You pouted up at him, eyes big and glassy. “But it’s so comfy here.”
He rolled his eyes, but the fondness was impossible to hide. “You still have your hip brace on as well, Y/N,” he reminded you. “If I let you knock out like this, you’ll complain all day tomorrow. Come on, I’ll help. Just a bit.”
You huffed, but after a moment, you pushed yourself up, swaying slightly as you did. The short trip home and the litre of water he and Soobin had convinced you to drink had done a bit at sobering you up, but you still seemed pretty out of it.
“Can you open the dress?” You asked, your arms moving towards the brace on your foot, before you unceremoniously ripped open the velcro strips to pull your foot out of the plastic shell and let it drop to the floor. Heeseung winced at the sound; his downstairs neighbours were surely not amused about the two of you being this loud at four am.
He still stepped closer, one hand instinctively coming up to steady you by your cheek, thumb brushing over your skin. “Alright,” he said quietly. “Can you turn around for me?”
You nodded and did as he asked, presenting your back to him.
He eased the zipper down slowly, careful not to tug too hard. As the fabric loosened and slipped, more of your back came into view. His eyes caught on the scars and the faint bluish bruises blooming along your skin from physio, and for a second, his hands stilled.
“Do you want to ice your foot? Or your side?” He asked, helping you guide the dress over your head.
You hummed and shook your head. “No, I want to sleep.”
Heeseung laughed lowly before his gaze dropped to your hip, where your brace was still digging into the soft flesh on your side.
He hesitated for half a heartbeat before touching the strap.
It was surprisingly snug around your hip and lower side, the material tight under his fingers. He moved slowly, very slowly, undoing the fastening with the kind of care that made his own pulse thud in his ears. The room felt quiet, the only sounds were the faint rustle of fabric and your slow breathing.
When the brace loosened, the skin underneath was warm and tender-looking, marked by the roughened texture and dull dents that came from something being worn too long. Heeseung’s fingers paused there, hovering just over the edge of it.
“It’s ugly, isn’t it?” Your voice was rough, and he saw you swallow. For a second, he was afraid you would have to throw up before your words reached his brain.
His chest tightened when they did, and he forced himself to move again. “It’s not ugly,” he said, his voice low but firm. “It looks a bit uncomfortable, yes, but not ugly.”
You let out a sarcastic little huff. “Sure.”
“I’m serious,” he insisted, carefully unwinding one of the straps. “Your scars don’t make you ugly, Y/N.”
The strap came free, and when his fingers brushed over the bare skin of your hip, he felt the slight unevenness there. The texture caught under his fingertips for a second, and his hand stilled again.
He had the absurd, immediate urge to smooth it away somehow.
To erase every mark. Every bruise. Every rough line. Every ugly thing that had ever made you look at yourself like you had to apologise for existing in your own body.
He eased the brace fully off with careful hands and set it aside before he hesitantly put his hands to your hip, the skin warm against his palm.
You leaned into his touch, your back resting against his chest. “I hate the way they look. Sometimes I can’t look at myself in the mirror without being disgusted.”
Heeseung had to close his eyes for a second, trying to stop them from burning the way they were right now. He didn’t know what to say to that, what he had to say so you would believe him, what to say to change your mind.
“You don’t have to like how they look,” he said quietly, his fingers slowly caressing your hip. “You don’t have to pretend that you do. But I need you to hear me when I say this: they do not make you disgusting. They do not make you less beautiful. And they definitely do not make me see you any differently.”
Your shoulders shifted against his chest, and he took that as a sign to keep going. He kept his voice soft. “You’ve been through something brutal. Your body is healing. Of course, it looks different. Of course, it feels strange. That doesn’t mean it’s wrong.”
You looked away, jaw tightening, and he could tell you were fighting the urge to dismiss him.
He wrapped his arms around your waist, resting his chin against your shoulder. “I know it’s hard,” he murmured. “And I know it probably feels impossible to hear this right now. But when I look at you, I don’t see something ugly. I see you. I see the person I care about who is tired and hurting and still so, so pretty.”
You swallowed, and for a second, the only sound in the room was the quiet of the apartment and the faint hum of the night outside.
Then you gave a weak little laugh that didn’t sound amused at all. “I wish you were lying, that would make it so much easier for me.”
He let out a soft breath through his nose, almost a laugh. “No, it wouldn’t, and that’s okay.”
That made you glance up at him, just slightly.
He smiled, small and tired and honest. “I just mean it.”
His thumb brushed once over your hip, gentle enough that it barely moved the skin. “And if you can’t look at yourself, then that’s okay. You don’t have to force yourself. You can borrow my eyes for a while and see how gorgeous you are to me, scars or no scars.”
You nodded in tiny movements, your hand coming up to his, before pulling it from your skin and intertwining your hands.
Heeseung moved his head to the side, kissing your forehead, lingering there for a second before pulling back. “Come on,” he whispered. “Let’s get you into bed.”
You nodded faintly, letting him help you sit down on his bed before he turned around to get you one of his T-shirts and soft shorts. When he turned back, you were already halfway to flopping back onto the bed again, only stopped by his quick step forward.
“Hey, hey,” he laughed, catching your shoulder. “Not yet. Shirt first.”
You whined under your breath, but obediently sat up and lifted your arms, so he could tuck the shirt over your head. The second it was on and decently covering you, you immediately dropped back onto the mattress with a dramatic groan.
“The light is so bright,” you complained, throwing an arm over your face. “I don’t wanna move anymore.”
He glanced at your face, the white streaky makeup and the red lipstick he had tried to savour at the party were still smeared on your face. His hand reached forward, and he smeared the lipstick even more, a red streak now on your cheek. “You still have to get your makeup off and brush your teeth, Y/N.”
“I’ll do it tomorrow,” you mumbled against his fingers.
He let his finger stay where they were for a second, pulling your chin down a bit and opening your mouth before shaking his head.
“Hold on,” he muttered fondly.
He disappeared into the bathroom and returned with a pack of makeup wipes. You peeked at him from under your arm, eyes squinting. “What’re you doing?”
“Saving you from waking up with raccoon eyes.” He sat on the edge of the bed and gently nudged your arm aside. “Close your eyes.”
You obeyed, your face going soft as you relaxed into the pillow. He peeled a wipe from the packet and brought it to your cheek, moving slowly and carefully. The moment the cool, damp cloth touched your skin, you sighed and leaned into his hand, pressing your face against his palm.
“Feels nice,” you mumbled, a little sing-song, the words blurring at the edges.
He huffed out a quiet laugh. “Yeah?”
You hummed something under your breath as he worked, thumbs and fingers framing your jaw while he wiped away the makeup as gently as he could. He took his time around your eyes, making sure not to tug too hard, his touch so light it was barely there. You kept pushing your face into his hand, like a cat seeking more contact, and every small, sleepy noise you made went straight to his chest.
“There,” he said softly when he was done, tossing the used wipe into the bin. “All clean.”
You cracked one eye open. “Thank you,” you murmured and watched him toss the wipe into his trash can.
“No worries,” he said, giving you a small smile. “Do you want water?”
You frowned. “You already made me drink like a lake.”
He gave you a look. “I’m actively trying to avoid you waking up with a hangover, idiot.”
“You’re calling me an idiot?”
“Yes.”
You stared at him for a second, then flung one arm over your eyes. “You’re annoying.”
“And yet,” he said, mixing one of his electrolytes into a water bottle, “you keep me around.”
“Maybe I am an idiot then,” you joked and sat up again, swaying a bit to the side before catching yourself.
“A drunk idiot,” Heeseung said, passing you the bottle. “Bottoms up, Dracula.”
You took a deep breath and hummed before drowning the bottle almost in one go. If he weren’t as worried about it coming back up again, together with whatever you had eaten and drunk today, he would have been impressed.
You smacked your lips onto each other before closing the bottle. “I gotta pee.”
“Okay, let's go,” he offered you a hand.
⋆꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆ ₊꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆
When you finally crawled back into bed, after peeing, brushing your teeth, and surprisingly washing your face and finishing your usual skin care routine, you just shuffled closer until you were pressed against his side, your head finding its place on his chest.
“I feel so sleepy,” you murmured, words slurring as you nuzzled deeper into him.
“Then close your eyes and sleep,” he said quietly, resting his chin lightly on top of your head. He let his hand drift up and down your arm in slow, soothing strokes, feeling the goosebumps rise under his fingertips.
After a few minutes, your breathing began to even out. He thought you had fallen asleep, only to startle when you suddenly spoke again.
“Do you really mean it?” you asked, your voice small.
“About what?”
You hesitated, then lifted one hand a few inches off his chest in a vague motion toward yourself.
“All of it.”
Heeseung’s expression softened in a way that was almost painful.
“Every bit of it,” he said. “You’re still you. Scars, bruises, braces, all of it. None of that changes how I see you.”
You grew silent again, your fingers tightening and relaxing in his shirt.
“Don’t leave.”
He kissed the top of your head. “I’m not going anywhere.”
And he meant it.
He stayed right there with you, one hand in your hair and the other resting warm over your hip, until your breathing finally deepened and the apartment went quiet around the two of you.
⋆꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆ ₊꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆
Heeseung felt you move before he was fully awake.
The mattress shifted under your weight, and his eyes cracked open just enough to catch the shape of you sitting up beside him, one hand already reaching instinctively toward the bedside as if you were still in your own room. Then you froze.
He blinked through sleep, his voice rough when he asked, “What’s up?”
You didn’t turn fully toward him. “Go back to sleep.”
He made a small sound of agreement, too sleepy to argue, and let his eyes close again.
A soft, pained sound escaped you, and Hee cracked his eye open again to check what was going on.
You were trying so hard to be quiet. He could tell it in the careful way you moved, the soft scrape of the sheets as you scooted toward the edge of the bed. He watched the moment you set your feet down, watched your eyes flutter close, and your face scrunch up in pain.
You paused before leaning forward, trying to stand up, and almost falling forward. Your weight barely left the bed before your leg gave out under you, and you caught yourself on the mattress with a sharp hiss through your teeth.
He was sitting up before he had fully decided to, his arms moving forward in a futile attempt to catch you before you fell, only to let his arms drop when you sat down on the edge of the bed again. You looked down at your foot like it had betrayed you, your face already tightening in pain and frustration.
“Hey,” he said immediately, fully awake now, his voice low and alert. “Hey, don’t move.”
You just shook your head.
“It’s fine,” you muttered.
“It does not look fine.”
You gave him a tired glare that had no real force behind it. “I just need to pee.”
That almost made him smile, but he was too worried about the fact that you were unable to stand on your own right now. He shifted closer, hand lifting toward you.
“Okay,” he said gently. “Then let me help you.”
You opened your mouth, probably to protest on principle, but the moment you tried to straighten again, your face pinched with pain, and the protest died there.
“Fuck”, you let out a slow breath and leaned into him with a quiet, frustrated little sound.
He carefully eased you upright, keeping most of your weight off the injured foot. You clutched at his shirt, and he tightened his hold just enough to keep you steady.
“Can you put any weight on it at all?” he asked once he had you in a standing position, most of your body leaned into him.
You shook your head, jaw clenched. “Not really.”
“Okay,” he shrugged, as if this wasn’t something to worry about, as if this was just a typical morning. It probably was for you at some point. “Do you want me to carry you?”
Your immediate expression answered for you before your mouth did.
“Don’t look at me like that,” he said. “You can barely stand.”
“I can stand.”
You tried to prove it on instinct and immediately winced again when you shifted your weight.
He raised a brow.
You glared at him. “Shut up.”
He almost laughed this time. “That sounded like a no.”
You muttered something under your breath that he chose not to challenge, because he already had a pretty good feeling you were somewhere between embarrassed and stubborn enough to refuse if he pressed too hard.
So he leaned in, kissed your forehead once, and said, “I’m carrying you.”
You looked like you wanted to argue for the sake of arguing, but then your shoulders sagged, and you gave in with a miserable sigh. “Fine.”
He slid closer, one arm under your back, the other under your knees. He was honestly surprised at how well his arms were cooperating after having carried you to his dorms for almost half an hour yesterday. You made a quiet sound and instinctively curled closer to him, one hand braced lightly against his shoulder.
He held you like that for the short walk to the bathroom.
And as much as you probably hated it, you let him.
He set you down on the closed toilet lid and made his way to the kitchen to get something to eat and your painkillers. After a few minutes, he had warmed up the last bowl of instant rice he found in their pantry and put everything in his room before making it back to the bathroom.
It was quiet for a while, just the running tap, the soft scrape of the sink, the sound of the toothbrush against the cup coming from behind the closed door.
He was staring at the framed jersey hanging in the hallway, his eyes tracing over the letters, when your voice startled you into moving.
“I’m done.”
Heeseung hummed and carefully opened the door, taking in your figure sitting on the closed toilet seat.
Your face was washed clean, your hair a little damp at the edges, and your eyes looked tired in a way that went deeper than sleep.
He didn’t say anything right away.
He just stepped closer and bent to lift you without warning.
You made a tiny startled sound, but the second he had you in his arms, you buried your face against his neck and clung to him. He carried you back to the bed and sat down with you still pressed against him.
When he tried to set you down, your arms tightened around his neck, and he realised you were crying. Small tremors shook your body, pressed against his.
His chest tightened, but he didn’t say anything about it. He just settled more comfortably against the headboard and let you stay exactly where you were, one arm wrapped around you while the other moved slowly through your hair.
After a minute, he quietly told you, “I brought something to eat. And your painkillers.”
You pulled your face out of his neck then, sniffling a little as you rested your forehead against his shoulder instead. Your voice came out rough and small when you answered.
“Thank you.”
He pressed a kiss to your hair. “You don’t have to thank me for this.”
You shook your head weakly, still tucked into him. “I do.”
Heeseung could feel the tears building in your voice before you said the rest.
“I feel so shitty,” you murmured. “I’m sorry. I’m such a burden.”
Heeseung went still for half a second. He felt a pang in his chest at the words, at how wrecked
you sounded saying them.
“You are not a burden,” he said, low and certain.
You gave a shaky breath that almost became a laugh, but didn’t. “I probably ruined your evening.”
He frowned a little. “You didn’t ruin anything.”
“I did,” you insisted, though weaker now. “You were supposed to be there for Sunghoon, and then I got drunk and had a panic attack and–”
He cut in gently, thumb brushing over your hairline. “And I was here because you needed me.”
That seemed to catch you off guard, because you went quiet for a moment.
He kept his voice calm. “You do not have to apologise for having a hard night. You do not have to apologise for being in pain. And you definitely do not have to apologise for me choosing to stay.”
Your breathing stuttered once, then steadied a little against his shoulder.
He looked down at you carefully, trying to catch your eyes without pushing too hard. “I can care about Sunghoon and care about you at the same time. Those things do not cancel each other out.”
You swallowed, looking small in his lap, your hands fisted lightly in his shirt. A tear slipped down your cheek, and he wiped it away with his thumb.
“I’m serious,” he said. “I wanted to be there with you.”
Your eyes stayed on his for a beat, wet and red-rimmed. Then your face crumpled a little more, and you leaned back into him again, hiding in his shoulder as more tears made their way into his t-shirt.
He stayed still while you cried, one hand moving in slow strokes through your hair, the other resting firmly at your back. He knew there was nothing that would make you feel better, no words to ease the pain away.
After a while, he stretched his arm towards his bedside table and nudged the bowl toward you a little and murmured, “Eat a few bites, okay?”
You made a weak protesting noise, but he could feel the tiny nod you gave anyway.
“Good,” he said softly. “Then we’ll take the medicine and go back to sleep, Y/N. Maybe that will help a bit.”
That got the faintest, most tired little huff out of you.
He offered you a spoon, and you took it without protest, chewing the plain rice, while he ate one himself. The rice had grown cold already, but neither of you cared.
When you swallowed and leaned back into his chest again, your voice came out soft.
“How are Sunghoon and his girlfriend?”
Heeseung gave a small breath through his nose, the corner of his mouth twitching. “His
girlfriend?”
You lifted your head a little, looking at him with your eyebrows scrunched together. “Yeah?”
He shook his head and reached forward with his finger, drying the last streaks of tears from your cheeks, ignoring the puffiness around your eyes. “Yeonhee is Sunghoon’s roommate, not his girlfriend.”
That made you pause, then blink at him in confusion. “Oh.”
“Yeah,” he said, gently amused. “They are still in the hospital, but she woke up, and Sunghoon said she is shaken but okay. Or as okay as someone can be after being drugged.”
Your face changed at that, a pout forming on your lips as you adjusted yourself in his lap. “She has to be feeling awful. I don’t even want to imagine getting drugged; it must be so scary.”
Heeseung took a deep breath but nodded. “Jay, Jake and I kinda convinced her to come,” he muttered quietly. “Or, well, we invited her. I feel really bad about it now if I’m honest.”
He hadn’t had much time to think about it, but he felt genuinely awful for even asking her to come. Sunghoon had texted updates into their group chat, letting them know how she was doing and blaming himself, when he definitely wasn’t the one at fault; it was all four of them.
You shifted before he could pull too far into that thought, moving so you could cradle his face in both hands.
The touch startled him a little, not because it was unwelcome, but because it was so direct.
“There is nothing to feel guilty for,” you told him softly. “No one could have known she’d get drugged.”
Heeseung held your gaze for a second, and something in his chest loosened just a little.
You were right, of course. He knew that.
But knowing it and feeling it were different things.
Your fingers brushed lightly over his cheeks, and he leaned into them before he could stop himself.
“Seriously,” you murmured, smiling faintly. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
He let out a slow breath. “I know. I still feel bad about it.”
“Mhm,” you hummed and kept your hands on his face for another moment before letting them fall back to his shoulders, your eyes not leaving his, and he immediately reached for you again, his hands wrapping around your wrist.
The two stayed like this for a while, just staring at each other, letting the silence sit between them.
“Are you feeling hungover?” he asked, his voice just above a whisper.
You made a small face, almost offended. “No.”
He arched a brow, amused. “No?”
“No,” you repeated, a little firmer this time. “You basically pumped a gallon of water into me.”
That pulled a quiet laugh out of him, low and warm. He tilted his head.
“Right,” he said. “Because you were very cooperative about that.”
You huffed, though there was no real bite in it. “I was drunk.”
“Very drunk,” he corrected, his voice still quiet.
You looked away, suddenly very interested in the blanket. “Whatever. At least I had fun.”
That made him go soft all over again.
He liked looking at you like this.
Not in a way that made him restless or hungry, though that was there too sometimes, but in a way that made his chest ache with how much he cared. He could spend an hour just watching your expressions change and still feel like he hadn’t taken enough of you in.
Heeseung found himself studying every little thing: the shape of your mouth, the tired softness around your eyes, the small blush on your cheeks.
His gaze drifted over your face again, slower this time, almost reverent.
You looked beautiful when you were annoyed, beautiful when you were sleepy, beautiful when you were trying not to smile and failing. But right now, with your shoulders loose and your eyes on him, there was something almost unbearably tender about you.
He leaned in until his forehead rested against yours, the space between you shrinking down to almost nothing.
“You really did have fun,” he murmured, mostly to himself.
You gave a faint hum, your eyes searching his face like you were trying to catch what he was thinking.
He smiled a little, then let his thumb move over your cheek in a slow, absent stroke. He couldn’t help it.
“You were cute when you were drunk,” he said, voice low and fond.
Your face screwed up instantly in protest, even though he could tell you didn’t really mean it.
“You were.”
You made a tiny, frustrated sound, but he caught the way your mouth kept trying to smile.
And because he was still looking at you, really looking, he saw the exact second your annoyance melted back into something shy and pleased.
He had to suppress a grin at that and let his hands slide a little higher on your back, holding you closer.
He thought, not for the first time, that it was impossible how you could look this gentle and still be so strong. How someone could hold that much pain and still laugh the way you did. How someone could look at him like he was the best thing that happened to them.
His thumb traced once along your jaw.
“Looking at you,” he said quietly, “is kind of unfair.”
You blinked up at him, confused. “Why?”
He smiled, a little helplessly. “Because you keep making it hard to think about anything else.”
That earned him a look that was equal parts shy and accusing, and he could tell you wanted to respond with something biting but stayed silent.
So instead, you just stayed there, looking back at him.
And Heeseung, still gazing at your face with all the softness he had, leaned in and kissed you.
Your breath caught, just a little, before you melted into it with a soft little sound against his mouth that made his whole body go warm all at once.
The kiss was gentle at first, careful and almost shy. It was awkward for about half a second, just enough for you both to pause and breathe out a tiny laugh against each other’s mouths, but then Heeseung’s hand settled more firmly at your waist, and you shifted closer on instinct.
You adjusted, hissing softly when your hip bumped into him, and Heeseung pulled back immediately, brows knitting in concern. “Sorry, sorry.”
“No,” you whispered, already shaking your head, your hand finding his shoulder to keep him from moving away completely. “Just–wait.”
He stopped instantly.
You shifted your legs a little, trying to find a position that didn’t make your hips or ankle complain.
Once you were settled properly against him, you kissed him again.
This time it was smoother.
Softer.
Less hesitant.
His thumb traced a small circle against your side, and you sighed into him, not breaking the kiss, the sound went straight through him.
It was slow and warm and sweet in a way that made his chest feel full. Not rushed. Not desperate. Just comfortable, like the two of you had both been waiting for this, and neither of you wanted to waste it.
When you pulled back, it was only just enough for air, your forehead still hovering close to his.
Heeseung’s hand stayed at your hip, thumb moving in slow circles there as he looked at you like he was still a little stunned by the fact that this was happening at all.
You were breathing a little unevenly, eyes heavy and warm and fixed on him.
He couldn’t help the small, helpless smile that spread across his face. And then, because neither of you seemed capable of saying anything sensible yet, he kissed you again.
When he pulled back, it was only far enough to rest his forehead against yours again.
“You really were adorable,” he said, voice low and amused.
You let out a tiny, helpless whine and buried your face in his shoulder again, but he could feel the smile you were trying to hide.
He kissed your hair once and held you close, still grinning.
⋆꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆ ₊꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆
Heeseung woke up from the insistent ringing of his phone. You were curled against his chest, your leg lying on top of his thigh, the cooling pack you had put onto your ankle now resting on his bed sheets. The condensation on it had seeped into his bedsheet, darkening the fabric around it.
Without opening his eyes, he felt for his phone, accepting the call.
“Hello?”
“Heeseung.” Your dad's voice came from the speaker, tight and angry. “Is Y/N with you?”
He ripped both of his eyes open, blinking against the sunlight that was coming from the window.
“Yeah?” He cursed himself for letting his answer sound like a question. “I mean, yes, yes, she’s here.”
Heeseung felt you tense.
“Bring her home. Now.”
“I–okay? Yes, of course,” Heeseung swallowed hard and watched you sit up, staring at him with your eyes wide open.
Your dad hung up without saying another word, and the two of you just stared at each other for a second before hurrying out of bed.
⋆꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆ ₊꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆
Your dad was waiting in the hallway.
You had taken the double dose of painkiller, hoping they would work well enough so you could hide your limp from him, just before you climbed into Heeseung's car.
It wasn’t working as well as you hoped, but your father was apparently too angry to even notice that.
“Where were you?” he asked sharply.
You blinked at him, a bit startled. “Dad, I–”
“Don’t start,” he cut you off, before you could even start talking. “You lied to us, disappeared to a party, stayed over at some boy’s place, didn’t tell anyone where you were, and now one of the girls there has been drugged.” He kept going, voice rising with every word. “Do you understand how sick with worry we were? Your mother and I thought something had happened to you. We thought you might be hurt, or worse, and then we find out you were with Heeseung all night.”
Your mother stood a little behind him, tense and quiet, but your father looked like he had been holding himself together by pure force all morning and had run out of patience the second you walked in.
The mention of Heeseung made your throat tighten.
Heeseung himself had gone still beside you, but your dad didn’t seem to care that he was there at all. He barely even looked at him, his focus locked fully on you, like you were the only person in the room.
Your face burned. “I’m not a child.”
“You are acting like one. You never listen,” he said coldly. “Not about your injuries, not about your limits, not about anything. You always think you know better, and every time, you prove that you don’t.”
Your face went hot with shock, but he didn’t stop.
“Look at what this has gotten you,” he said, voice clipped and sharp. “Sneaking out, staying over at some boy’s place, lying to your family..”
You stared at him, stunned into silence for a second.
“You want to know what the problem is?” he went on. “You keep acting like you can handle more than you can. You push, you ignore everyone who tries to help you, and then something goes wrong, and suddenly everyone else is supposed to clean it up.”
“That’s not–”
“It is,” he cut in. “You risked your health just for that? An evening out? I’m sure you drank alcohol as well, compromising your health even more.”
His words landed hard enough to make your stomach turn.
“I was fine,” you said, but your voice was already shaking.
“You were careless,” he snapped back. “That’s what you were. Careless, stubborn, and impossible to reach.”
The silence that followed was worse than the shouting. You could feel your pulse start to hammer, anger flaring hot and immediate under the hurt.
“I was with people I trusted. Nothing bad happened to me,” you said, your voice rising in spite of yourself.
He let out a harsh, disbelieving laugh. “Nothing bad happened to you because we were lucky.”
You stared at him, stunned.
“Lucky,” he repeated, more bitter now. “Do you have any idea how much has already been sacrificed for you? How much has this family given up? How many times have your mother and I rearranged everything just so you could keep going? Just for you to risk it all going to Jackson Wang’s party?”
You felt the room tilt a little.
“Dad–”
“No, listen to me.” His voice was louder now. “I am the one who has had to take care of everything when things go wrong. I am the one who has had to hold this family together. I am the one who has had to step in, again and again, when you had to get another surgery because you didn’t give your body time to heal, because you didn’t listen to what I said.”
Your face went rigid.
“That is not fair,” you said, the words coming out thin and shaking.
“It is true,” he snapped back. “We have done everything for you. Everything. And this is how you repay that? By breaking our trust?”
The hurt in your chest was so sharp it almost made you dizzy.
You could feel your eyes filling, but you were too angry and too humiliated to let yourself cry yet.
“I didn’t ‘repay’ anything,” you said, voice trembling now. “I went to a party. I stayed at Heeseung’s because I felt safe with him, Dad. We were there when Yeonhee got taken to the hospital, and we both felt awful because of it. Do you think I would have wanted to come home and deal with your anger at having fun for once after that?”
“Of course I would have been angry, but at least I would have known you are safe, Y/N!”
“I was safe, Dad! I just wanted to be normal for one night, and I know you would have talked me out of it,” you adjusted your stance a bit, shifting your weight to the side, and your dad's eyes flickered to your cast and back to your face, before his expression hardened even more.
“Normal,” he echoed, with enough disdain that it made the word sound insulting. “You think this is normal? Y/N you will never be normal again.”
“I–,” your voice broke in your throat, and your eyes started burning.
His jaw tightened so hard you could see the muscle jump. “No matter what you will do in the future, Y/N, your normal will always be different from our normal, but you don’t seem to understand that. You will have to sacrifice some things for your health, to be able to even have the chance to make these choices.” He took a deep breath and continued, his voice dangerously controlled now. “We’ve sacrificed so much for you; you do not get to take that for granted. You do not get to disappear, stay over at some boy’s house, and expect us not to be furious when we have no idea where you are, especially after a night like that.”
Something inside you broke at his words, your heart squeezing together so tightly your whole chest burned. “I wasn’t even alone. I was with people who cared about me.”
“And yet you still lied to us.”
“I lied to you because I hate being at home, okay? I hate not having a social life, I hate missing out on things you got the chance to live through, I hate that I have to live like I am living,”
The words burst out of you before you could stop them, raw and angry. “I hate that you were the one who got out of that car with a few scratches and bruises. I hate, Dad, I hate that my life ended while I had so much to see, to do. I had so many dreams, and suddenly I can’t do anything anymore. And now you’re here pretending to know better than my doctors, better than those who helped me get back to the state I am in right now. I hate that I sometimes think that it should have been you, that you should have gone through what I am going through. Maybe you could understand why I have to lie to you, just to feel good for one evening. But I love you, and I don’t want that for you, and yet you make me feel like a burden, like something that should be pitied.”
The silence that followed was awful.
Your dad stared at you like he didn’t know whether to be more offended or more hurt.
You stood there shaking, tears burning down your cheeks. Instead of defending himself or telling you that he wasn’t thinking you were a burden, he looked at you with that same rigid, disappointed expression and said, “Then you know exactly why you shouldn’t have gone out then.”
That was the final blow.
You turned away before anyone could utter another word. Your face was crumpling, your whole body trembling with a mix of anger, hurt, and sheer exhaustion.
Heeseung said your name softly behind you, but you couldn’t bear to turn around.
Not with your father still standing there.
Not with that look on his face.
So you just wiped at your face with the back of your hand, and walked straight back out the door.
Heeseung followed you immediately, but you shook your head hard enough that he stopped.
“Drive home,” you said, voice breaking. “Please. I can’t do this right now.”
He looked like he wanted to argue, but one look at your face must have been enough.
He nodded, stunned and worried and quiet.
And you left before anyone could stop you, stepping back into the cold morning with tears in your eyes and your heart feeling like it had been split clean open.
⋆꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆ ₊꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆
You made it to the bus stop with your face still wet and your breathing uneven, not caring about how you might look to anyone around you.
Getting on the bus was harder than you expected it to be, even the smallest amount of weight made pain bloom in your leg strong enough to make you nauseous.
You pressed your lips onto each other and dropped into the nearest free seat, ignoring the grandma who got up so you could take her priority seat.
The bus started driving, but you didn’t even notice the movement, just staring at your cast, doing your best to suppress the tears that didn’t seem to stop rolling down your face.
It had not gotten better.
Not even a little.
That was the worst part.
Everyone had been worried. The doctors, the medical staff, your family, even the people around you, who were trying not to make it obvious. No one seemed to understand why it still was not healing properly, why it kept lingering like this, why you could not just seem to get past it.
So you had done what you always did when you ran out of better options.
You had lied.
You told everyone you were fine. You pretended the painkillers were enough. You acted like it was manageable if you just kept moving and did not think about it too much. And for a while, you had almost managed to convince yourself, too.
Almost.
You just wanted to be normal, to live your life. You knew that going to the party wasn’t a good idea, that drinking was even a worse one, but you also knew that you might not have many opportunities to be remotely normal in the near future.
You hated that your dad was right, that they had sacrificed so much for you, that they would have to continue to do so, just because your body was incapable of healing.
By the time you found yourself in front of your brother’s apartment, you had run out of tears to
cry.
You did not remember walking there, passing the ice cream shop, the small cafe Soobin, which you had gone to a million times, or the barber with the horrible advertisements. You just knew that somehow you had ended up there, in the place that still felt safest when everything else had become too much.
You let yourself in.
The apartment was quiet when you stepped inside. You barely had time to register the living room before Soobin appeared in the middle of it, seemingly startled to see you.
For one second, you just stared at each other.
Then your whole body gave out in the worst possible way.
You stumbled forward without meaning to, still wearing one shoe because you had not even thought to take it off, and crashed into him hard enough that he had to catch you. The second you were in his arms, all the fight drained out of you at once.
You broke.
The tears came fast and ugly, hot and uncontrollable, and you could not hold any of it back anymore. Not the hurt, not the exhaustion, not the fury that had been sitting under your skin since the argument, not the humiliation of being here like this, not the aching, constant pain in your foot that you had been pretending was not ruining everything.
Soobin’s arms tightened around you immediately.
“Y/N?” he said, shocked and worried, but you could barely hear him over the sound of your own breathing.
You shook in his grip, face pressed somewhere against his shoulder as you cried hard enough to make your chest hurt.
Soobin shuffled you toward the sofa with slow, careful steps, one arm still wrapped around you. He kept asking what happened, what was wrong, if you were in pain, but every time you tried to answer, the words broke apart under the force of another sob.
You pressed one hand over your mouth, trying to breathe through it, but it only made your shoulders shake harder.
Soobin sat you down gently and crouched in front of you, his face tense with worry. “Hey,” he said softly, “slow down. It’s okay. You’re okay. You’re safe. You’re in my living room.”
You tried.
You really did.
“Can you tell me five things you see in the room right now?”
You realised belatedly that he was thinking you were having a panic attack, trying to calm you down like he did when you had an episode.
And that made everything even worse.
You tried to push him away, to pull your hands from his, but his grip tightened around your fingers.
“I’m not–” a sob interrupted you, and you had to lean forward to catch your breath.
“Try, just try,” he said, his voice wavering for a second, before he caught himself. “I can start if you want to? I see the horrible graphic T-shirt I bought a few years ago at that vintage store and an empty water bottle–”
“I’m not having an episode,” you got out in between gaps, wiping your cheeks before pressing the heel of your palms into your eyes.
The noise must have carried, because when you opened your eyes again a few seconds later, Yeonjun and Beomgyu both appeared in the hallway, hair messy and expressions immediately shifting the second they saw you.
“Oh,” Beomgyu said quietly, his voice losing all its usual teasing. “What happened?”
Yeonjun was already crossing the room, his gaze flicking from your face to Soobin’s tense expression. “Y/N?”
You tried again to speak, wiping at your cheeks with shaking fingers, but you couldn’t get anywhere near a sentence.
Beomgyu looked at Soobin, then back at you, and the three of them sat down around you, keeping their distance as if they were unsure if you could be touched right now.
You were still trying to get your breathing under control when Soobin spoke again, lower this time. “Did something happen with Heeseung?”
That was the question that cracked the last of your ability to hold anything in.
“No–” you choked out, then had to stop because the sound turned into another sob. “Dad–He said–”
Soobin’s expression tightened, and he moved a little closer. “Take your time.”
You shook your head helplessly. “I can’t–I can’t say it right.”
“That’s okay,” Yeonjun said gently from the side, his voice so soft it almost made you cry harder. “Just try to calm down first, maybe it will work then.”
You gasped and nodded, wiping your face.
Beomgyu had gone quiet now, his usual energy gone completely, and he stood by the couch with his arms folded tightly like he was trying not to look too angry before he even knew what had happened.
Soobin reached for a tissue and handed it to you. “Start wherever you can.”
You took it with shaking fingers, pressed it to your face, and tried again.
This time, the words came out between sobs, broken and messy and angry all at once.
He had yelled at you.
He had said you were careless.
He had said you always thought you knew better.
He had said you were a liability, a burden the whole family had sacrificed itself for.
And when you said that part out loud, your voice cracked so badly you had to stop and bend forward again.
Soobin closed his eyes for a brief second, and the hurt on his face made your stomach twist all over again.
You wiped at your cheeks with the back of your hand, suddenly mortified. “I’m sorry,” you whispered. “For coming here. For being a burden. For making you worry.”
His eyes opened again immediately, and the expression in them softened at once.
“Don’t say that,” he said quietly.
You looked down at your lap, still shaking a little. “But he’s right, Soobin. That’s the worst part, he is right.”
“No,” he said, firmer now, but not unkind. “You are not a burden.”
That made your throat burn.
He dragged a hand down his face, staring at the floor for a second.
“I understand you,” he said slowly. “And I understand him, too, even if he had no right to speak to you like that. If I were him, I would also be worried sick, Y/N. If I hadn't known you were with Heeseung yesterday, I would have moved earth and heaven to find you. It was stupid to leave your phone at Yeji’s place, yes.”
You gave a tiny, miserable nod. You knew he was right.
“I just want to be normal,” you admitted, voice small and raw. “Yesterday felt so good. It felt easy. I felt like–” You stopped, swallowed, then laughed once without humour. “Like a person.”
Soobin’s face softened in a way that made your chest ache.
“There isn’t one normal,” he said gently. “Everyone is different. Everyone has different things to worry about.”
You sniffled, still staring at the tissue in your hands.
“Yours is just a little bigger,” he said, trying to make the words sound light without making them less true. “That’s all. It doesn’t mean less. It just means you have to be careful.”
You let out a shaky breath, but your mouth twisted as if you wanted to argue.
And then your expression changed.
Something in you went very still.
Soobin noticed it. “What?” he asked, instantly alert.
You stared at the floor for a second, then let out a breath that sounded almost like a laugh, except there was nothing funny in it at all.
“It doesn’t matter anyway,” you said quietly.
Soobin frowned. “What do you mean?”
You looked up at him then and just said it, said what you didn’t dare to think about. “My doctor thinks I’ll probably have to amputate.”
The entire room fell into a stunned, heavy silence.
Even the air seemed to stop.
You laughed once, sharply and brokenly, because the alternative was crying again, and you were so exhausted from that already.
“So it doesn‘t matter,” you said, voice cracking on the words. “I can’t be careful if it’s broken beyond repair.”
Soobin’s face had gone tight with shock, his eyes staring at you almost as if he wasn’t seeing, just looking.
Yeonjun had closed his, pressing his lips onto each other.
Beomgyu was the only one who moved, his mouth parting like he was about to say something, then nothing came out at all before tears finally spilt over. He put a hand over his mouth as if that would somehow stop it.
Your own chest hurt just looking at him.
“Don’t,” you whispered immediately, wiping at your face again. “There’s no reason to cry.”
Beomgyu shook his head, tears running down his cheeks now whether you wanted them to or not. Yeonjun was staring at you like he had gone completely still inside, one hand braced on the back of the couch, eyes glassy and shocked. Soobin just sitting there, staring, as if he was too stunned to do anything else.
“How long?” Beomgyu’s voice came out rough and small. “How long have you known, Y/N?”
You looked at him for a second, then down at your hands.
“A bit more than three weeks.”
That made Beomgyu let out a broken, disbelieving sound through his tears. “Three weeks?”
You nodded, already hating the shame creeping up your neck. “I didn’t want to tell anyone until I knew for sure.”
Yeonjun’s face crumpled a little more.
You swallowed hard. “I’ve been taking more painkillers,” you admitted, almost in a whisper now, “just so I could keep walking. So I could at least pretend for a bit that it got better, that the surgery helped this time.”
Beomgyu gave a wet, incredulous laugh, half sob and half disbelief. “Was that why you were so gone at movie night?”
You winced at that, heat flooding your face. Then you gave the smallest nod.
He just stared at you for a second after that, tears still falling, like he didn’t know whether to be angry or heartbroken or both.
Soobin still hadn’t said anything. He had turned his face slightly away, silent tears running down his cheeks, hands clenched so tightly in his lap that his knuckles had gone pale.
The first thing he said, his voice thick and careful, wasn't what you expected him to say. “Does Heeseung know?”
The question made your stomach twist.
You looked down immediately and shook your head. “No,” then you added in a rush, “And please don’t tell him.”
Soobin’s head lifted at that. His eyes were red, but his expression sharpened into immediate concern. “Why not?”
You swallowed hard. “Because I don’t want to scare him away.”
Beomgyu made a small, disbelieving sound. “Y/N.”
Your face burned. You kept staring at your hands. “I’m serious.”
Soobin’s voice came out quieter than before. “He wouldn’t leave.”
You shook your head once, too quickly. “You don’t know that.”
Soobin leaned forward a little, searching your face, tears still running down his face. “Has he ever done anything to make you think he’d be uncomfortable with your disability?”
You hesitated.
Then you shook your head no.
“No,” you said, even though the answer came out smaller than you wanted. “He hasn’t.”
“Then why would you think that?” he asked, his voice a whisper.
You let out a shaky breath and looked away. “Because people do. They realise how hard it is to live with me, how many accommodations they have to go through, and they leave, Soob.”
Nobody answered that right away.
But Soobin’s voice came back after a second, steadier now. “He’s not going to be scared off.”
You gave him a tired, wet-eyed look.
Soobin just held your gaze and repeated it as he needed you to hear it clearly. “Heeseung is not going to run.”
You stared down at your hands for a long moment, trying to find something to say, but it was like your brain was empty
“What am I supposed to do now?” You asked, your voice small and quiet, swallowing hard. “I can’t go home. Dad would kill me.” Your voice cracked on the last word, and you shook your head, wiping at your face again. “And I can’t even look at him right now.”
Soobin’s expression tightened immediately. He looked like he wanted to go straight to your parents' apartment and yell at your father himself, but he stayed where he was.
“You’re not going home tonight,” he said firmly. “You’re staying here,” he continued. “All right?”
Beomgyu nodded right away, tears still drying on his cheeks. “Yeah. Obviously.”
Yeonjun’s voice came softer, but it was just as sure. “You can stay as long as you need.”
That should have helped more than it did, but your chest still felt tight with everything you had just said out loud. You didn’t want to be a problem here, too. You didn’t want to keep being the thing everyone had to rearrange their evening around.
Soobin seemed to read that on your face, because his own softened immediately.
“Listen to me,” he said, leaning forward a little. “You do not have to figure out everything tonight. You’ve had enough.”
You let out a shaky breath.
He glanced at the others, then back at you. “We’ll help you with whatever comes next. But right now, you are not going anywhere except the couch or maybe my room, and we’ll watch one of your movies and eat as much junk food as we can find, okay?”
⋆꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆ ₊꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆
You blinked slowly, disoriented at first, then noticed the weight of the blanket over you, the familiar smell of detergent and Soobin’s room.
You were lying in his bed, another person lying next to you, their weight causing the mattress to sink in a bit on your side.
You moved carefully, blinking at the light in the room.
“Hey,” the other person said quietly. “You’re awake.”
You recognised Heeseung's voice and looked at him blankly for a second, still foggy with sleep.
“Why are you here?” you asked, voice rough.
His expression softened instantly.
“Soobin called me,” he said. “He knows you keep your meds at my place, and he wanted me here in case you needed anything. I also got your phone from Yeji’s place.”
You blinked, the answer taking a second to settle.
Then your face crumpled faster than you could stop it, and your tears came back, embarrassing and hot and immediate, and before you could stop yourself, you were sitting up and wrapping your arms around him. He caught you without hesitation, his arms closing around you in an instant, warm and sure.
“I’m sorry,” you whispered into his shoulder, the words breaking apart as soon as they left you. “I’m sorry. I’m such a burden. I’m sorry you had to see all that. I’m sorry that you have to come just because I’m a crybaby.”
He went still for a second, then shifted closer, careful and gentle, until his forehead rested against yours.
“Hey,” he murmured, his voice low and steady. “It’s fine.”
You shook your head weakly, squeezing your eyes shut.
“It’s not,” you whispered. “I made everything worse.”
His hand came up to your cheek again, thumb brushing away a tear as it fell.
“No,” he said softly. “You didn’t.”
You opened your eyes again and looked at him through the blur of your tears.
He didn’t move away.
He just kept his forehead against yours, his breath warm and calm, and repeated it as he needed you to hear it properly.
“You’re fine.”
You carefully shook your head, moving away slightly, not able to look him in the eyes. “I’m…I’m not fine, Heeseung?”
His expression shifted at once. “What do you mean?”
You swallowed hard, suddenly wishing you had found a gentler way to say this, a better point in time as well. “My doctor thinks I might have to amputate.”
The silence after that was brutal.
He didn’t pull away. He just went still, his eyes widening for the briefest second before something softer and more pained moved into his face. A tear slipped down his cheek before he could stop it.
You reacted on instinct, lifting your hand to wipe it away. “No pity,” you whispered, even though your own voice wobbled. “You promised you wouldn’t pity me.”
He shook his head once, looking at you like he was trying very hard to keep his own emotions in check for your sake. “It’s not pity,” he said quietly, his voice wavering. “I just… I hate that this is happening to you.”
Your chest tightened, and because you couldn’t quite bear the weight of the feeling, you let out a mall, breathless laugh. “Well,” you muttered, trying to lighten the mood, “ remember when you said I’m not broken? I’m pretty sure something in me is, and it’s my ankle.”
That got a shaky laugh out of him, too, and for a second, the room felt a little less heavy.
He leaned in and kissed you.
It was soft and careful, his lips gently moving against yours, while his hands were cradling your face as if you were something fragile. When he pulled back, his forehead settled against yours again.
“Nothing about you is broken,” he said, his voice low and steady. “Nothing. Not you, not your body. Even if you need an amputation. Even if you get a prosthesis.“
A tiny smile made its way onto his face. “And if you’re going to be a cyborg,” he adds, “you better put my jersey number on it.”
You stared at him for one stunned second before a laugh escaped you.
⋆꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆ ₊꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆
Two weeks later Heeseung was leaving the arena after extra drills when your dad stopped him near the tunnel, catching him off guard.
For a split second, he thought something had gone wrong again, that he had done something wrong again.
“Can I talk to you?” his coach asked.
Heeseung nodded, a little wary but calm. “Of course.”
Your father looked like he was choosing his words carefully, and that alone told Heeseung this was not going to be simple. A week or two ago, he probably would have gone into the conversation ready to defend himself. Now it was different.
He understood more than he had before.
He understood what it meant to be scared for someone who could get hurt so easily. He understood why your father was so protective, even if he didn’t agree with the way it had come out before. And he had seen enough of your bad days now to know that the fear was not imaginary.
He had felt it himself, too.
The day your foot suddenly gave out in the middle of the afternoon had nearly scared the life out of him. One second, you had been standing there, talking to him like normal, and the next, you had gone tense and still, face draining of colour as the pain hit all at once. He still remembered the way his stomach had dropped when he saw it happen.
And the worst part was watching you wake up in his arms later that night, the first thing your hand reached for being your painkillers.
He had wanted to hate that. Wanted to tell you to stop being so used to hurting, to stop treating pain like it was just another thing to work around.
But he knew better than to make your body about his feelings.
You knew what you needed. You knew what was too much. He trusted you on that.
“I was unfair to you,” your father said after a beat.
Heeseung blinked, surprised enough that it took him a second to search for an answer.
Your father exhaled, looking tired in a way that made him seem older than usual. “I am worried about my daughter,” he admitted. “That is not something I can really turn off.”
Heeseung’s expression softened. “I get it,” he said. “I really do.”
Your father looked at him for a moment longer, as if checking whether he meant that.
He did.
The older man hesitated before speaking again. “Could you ask Y/N to talk to me?” he said finally. “I want to apologise to her. I want to tell her that she is right, that I have no right to be as controlling as I was. I want to tell her that I miss her, that I love her.”
Heeseung looked at him for a second, caught between surprise and a cautious kind of hope. He could tell it wasn’t easy for him to say that.
So he gave his coach a small, polite smile. “I can ask her,” he said. “But I can’t promise anything.”
Your father nodded once, accepting that without argument. “That is fair.”
⋆꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆ ₊꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆
Heeseung let himself into the apartment as quietly as he could, shutting the door carefully so as not to wake anyone up. He hadn’t gone home immediately after talking to your dad; he had sat in his car in the rink's parking lot for an hour, thinking about what to do, his mind looping around the conversation with your father, trying to decide whether it had meant anything real or whether it was only a moment of guilt that would fade by the morning. If it was worth telling you about it.
He kicked off his shoes by the door, shrugged off his jacket, and hung it up with a tired sigh.
You were asleep in his bed, curled on your side beneath the blanket with your face turned toward the pillow. Your clothes and braces were set in a careful little pile beside the bed, and you were wearing one of his hoodies, the sleeves swallowing your hands. The sight of you there made something in his chest go painfully soft.
He stared at you for a long moment, just taking it in. You looked peaceful. Small, almost, in a way that made him want to protect you from everything, even the world itself.
Even his own thoughts.
He sat down on the edge of the bed and leaned over, pressing a gentle kiss to your forehead.
You stirred almost immediately, blinking awake with a small, sleepy sound. Your eyes opened halfway, unfocused and heavy with sleep.
“What time is it?” you mumbled.
He smiled, brushing a thumb over your cheek. “Almost one. Go back to sleep.”
You hummed, the sound low and content, and shifted just enough to turn your back toward him again. It was such a simple thing, but it made him smile all over again.
He stayed there for another second, looking at you, before heading to get ready for bed.
When he came back, you were still curled into the mattress, so he slipped into bed beside you, careful not to jostle you too much but you stirred anyway, half waking at the movement, settling when he pulled the blanket up and draped an arm around you.
For a while, neither of you said anything.
Your breathing slowly evened out again, but Heeseung stayed awake a little longer, one hand resting lightly against your hair. He stroked it back from your face in slow, absent motions before opening his mouth. “Your dad talked to me today.”
You made a small, unimpressed noise from where you were tucked against him. He could practically hear the expression on your face without seeing it.
“He asked if he could talk to you,” Heeseung added softly. “He said he wants to apologise properly. He seemed worried.”
You huffed, eyes still closed. “Mm. He could’ve shown that worry to me when I was still talking to him.”
There was no real surprise in your voice, only exhaustion.
Heeseung’s hand kept moving through your hair, slower now. “I know.”
You were quiet for a long moment after that.
“Do you think I will never want to speak to him again?”
He took his time answering. “Will you?”
You went silent again before you spoke again; your voice was quieter. “No.”
He didn’t say anything right away, only kept petting your hair, letting you take your time.
You sighed through your nose and shifted closer, your forehead brushing lightly against his shoulder. “I can’t,” you admitted, sounding irritated by the fact as much as by the situation itself. “I still have to tell my parents about the amputation. And arrange things.” You swallowed. “I… I’ll need my dad for that.”
Heeseung’s heart squeezed a little at how plainly you said it, like you were annoyed that reality had made itself impossible to avoid. Like needing him felt like a compromise you hadn’t wanted to make.
He knew you were being practical even though you hated it.
“I know,” he said gently.
Your eyes opened a little then, just enough for you to look up at him from where you were tucked against his side. He smiled at you, small and warm, and brushed his thumb over your temple. “That doesn’t mean you have to forgive him right away.”
You let out a quiet breath. “I’m not planning to.”
“I know that too.”
That finally earned him the faintest look of exasperation. “You know a lot.”
“Only the important things.”
You rolled your eyes, but the corner of your mouth twitched despite yourself. It was such a small shift, but he felt it instantly, like a tiny door opening again.
He leaned down and kissed your forehead once more, then again, slower, just because he could.
“I think your dad is trying,” he said, voice soft against the dark. “It doesn’t fix anything. But it’s something.
You were quiet for a moment, then muttered, “He should’ve tried sooner.”
“He should have.”
You let out a breath that sounded almost like surrender.
“I’m still mad,” you said.
“I’d be disappointed if you weren’t.”
That made you huff a small laugh into his shirt. “You would?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
He kissed the top of your head. “Because you’re allowed to be.”
You went still at that. Not in the tense way from before, but in a more relaxed, calm kind of still.
He felt it in the way your fingers loosened against the blanket, in the way your body melted another inch into his side.
After a while, your voice came again, much softer this time. “You’re too nice to me.”
He smiled into your hair. “No, I’m not.”
“You are.”
“I’m just honest.”
You made a sceptical noise, but it lacked any real force. Then, after a pause, you asked, “Did he seem bad?”
“Your dad?”
You nodded once.
He thought about the conversation carefully before answering. “He seemed worried,” he said.
“And tired. And like he didn’t know how to fix anything.”
That made you hum, thoughtful in a reluctant sort of way.
He kept stroking your hair, slow and repetitive. “He asked if he could talk to you,” he repeated.
“That’s all. He didn’t push.”
You were quiet for another long moment, and he thought you might have fallen back asleep. But then you shifted just enough to tuck yourself more completely into him, one arm sliding across his chest.
Heeseung smiled and tightened his hold a little, careful of you, careful in the way love had made him careful lately. It was never about fragility, not really. It was about attention. About learning the shape of you, the limits of you, the moments when you needed softness more than words.
And tonight, you needed this.
So he gave it to you in the only way he knew how: by staying, by listening, by petting your hair until your breathing slowed again.
After a while, he felt your hand move against his shirt, fingers finding the fabric as if to anchor yourself there. He bent his head and kissed your hair.
“You know,” he murmured, “you look really cute in my hoodie.”
You made a sleepy sound that might’ve been a protest if you were more awake. “Shut up.”
He smiled, kissing your forehead again. “No.”
That got a little real laugh out of you, muffled and soft, and he felt absurdly pleased with himself for it.
⋆꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆ ₊꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆
Heeseung had gone into the evening thinking he would actually watch the movie.
That lasted maybe ten minutes.
The cafe on campus was dim and cozy, the projector throwing colors across the wall while people settled into mismatched chairs and the floor with cups balanced in their hands.
Heeseung kept meaning to look at the screen.
He really did.
Instead, every time you shifted closer, he found himself pressing a kiss into your hair. Then another, right near your temple. Then one against the side of your head when you tipped it toward him. He could hear your little laugh each time, warm and fond and just a little bit teasing.
“You’re missing the movie,” you muttered, not even trying to sound serious.
He smiled against your hair. “I’m not missing it. I’m multitasking.”
“You’re not multitasking. You’re distracting yourself.”
“That sounds like a skill issue on my part.”
You snorted, and he felt the vibration of your laugh through your shoulder where you were pressed against him. He lowered his cup with one hand and kissed the side of your head again, lingering longer this time because he could.
You made an exaggerated noise of protest. “You’re horrible.”
“I know,” he said easily, and kissed you once more, softer. “I’m also very good at this.”
“At kissing me during movies?”
“At choosing you over the movie.”
You turned your head just enough to look up at him. “What’s gotten into you today?”
He blinked. “What?”
“You’re being weirdly affectionate.”
He gave you a deadpan look. “Weirdly affectionate?”
“Yeah.” You lifted your brows. “You keep kissing my hair like you’re trying to make up for something. So what have you done, Lee Heeseung?”
He laughed under his breath and didn’t pretend to be innocent. He just looked at you, really looked at you, and felt something in his chest loosen with the force of how much he liked this, liked you here, liked you warm against his side, liked that you were healthy enough now to sit through a movie and tease him about ignoring it.
“I’m just happy,” he said quietly.
You went still.
He hadn’t meant for it to sound so plain, but once the words were out, he didn’t want to take them back. They were true in a way that felt bigger than he could easily contain.
“I’m happy you’re here,” he said, voice low so it would stay between you. “I’m happy you feel fine tonight. I’m happy you got rid of the cast. I’m happy I met you.”
The last part came out a little rougher than he expected, and he looked away for a second, suddenly self-conscious.
But you didn’t let him hide.
Instead, you turned fully toward him, setting your cup carefully aside before lifting both hands to his face. Your fingers were warm against his cheeks, your thumbs resting just under his eyes.
He barely had time to inhale before you leaned in and kissed him.
His whole body went still for a beat, then melted right into it. He kissed you back automatically, slow and full of a kind of awe he had no interest in disguising. When you pulled back just enough to speak, your forehead nearly touched his.
“I love you too, Heeseung,” you murmured.
For a second, he thought the entire room might disappear.
Not because anything changed around you, the movie was still playing, someone laughed behind the two of you, but because the world suddenly felt very small and very bright, all at once.
He stared at you, stunned in the best possible way.
Then his mouth curled into a soft, helpless smile, and he kissed you again before he could say anything that would ruin the moment.
It was a better answer anyway.
This time, when he pulled back, he rested his forehead against yours and let out a quiet breath that felt like relief and joy and disbelief all tangled together.
“I love you so much it hurts, Y/N,” he said finally.
You smiled at him, small and happy and real, and he pressed one more kiss to your lips before letting you curl back into his side.
The movie kept going. He still didn’t watch most of it.
⋆꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆ ₊꙳❅*°⋆❆.ೃ࿔*:・*❆
Heeseung was a little surprised when you asked him to drive you home the next day, but he agreed right away.
He could tell from your voice that this wasn’t a casual favour.
“You’re sure?” he asked.
You nodded. “Yeah. I’ve decided to talk to my dad and get this straight.”
That made him glance at you more carefully.
“I have to start dealing with everything,” you said. “The surgery, pushing my exams, figuring out who’s going to handle the PR stuff.” You looked out the window for a second before adding, “The first stop is dealing with my dad.”
Heeseung nodded once. “Okay.”
You gave him a look that was grateful, almost nervous, and then went quiet for most of the drive.
When he pulled up in front of your apartment complex, he thought that was it. But you didn’t let go of his hand.
Instead, you made him drive into the parking lot, and when he parked, you still didn’t release him.
Your fingers stayed wrapped around his, warm and steady, as though you were borrowing his nerves as much as his support.
“Come upstairs with me,” you said.
He blinked, then nodded.
The two of you rode the elevator and walked down the hallway together, your hands never separating. Heeseung could feel the tension in your grip. When you unlocked the door, he took one look at your face and knew that beneath the calm, you were bracing yourself.
You stepped inside first, and he followed.
The apartment was dim, the light low within the living room and spilling softly into the hallway. For
a second, the whole space felt suspended, like anything could break the peace right now.
Then you took a breath, turned, and pulled him gently further inside.
Heeseung barely had time to take in the room before your parents noticed the two of you standing in the doorway. They were on the sofa, and both of them got up in surprise.
You didn’t let them speak.
“Mom, Dad,” you said, your voice steady despite the way your hand trembled against his, “this is Heeseung. My boyfriend.”
Heeseung’s stomach flipped at the word, though he barely had time to process it before you kept going.
“And there is something I have to tell you. I’m having to get my foot amputated. I’ve known for a while now, since a few weeks after the surgery, actually.”
The silence that followed was immediate and devastating.
Heeseung’s mind went almost blank with the shock of hearing you say it so plainly, so directly, in front of them. He had known this was coming, but hearing it spoken out loud in that room made it feel impossibly real again.
You didn’t stop.
“I know this is hard to hear, but there is nothing to change. I’ve already made my decision,” you said, your voice still controlled, though he could hear the strain under it now.
Your mother had gone pale. Your father looked like he had been struck by lightning. Neither of them seemed able to speak at first.
You kept your gaze on them anyway.
“I’ve been thinking about staying with Grandma for the healing process,” you went on. “Because I’m over whatever this is here. I’m over being treated like I’m stupid, and if nothing changes until the surgery, I will make that happen.”
That was when your mother’s face crumpled.
Your father looked stunned in a different way, like he was trying to force the words into something he could understand and failing. Heeseung stood there, still holding your hand, feeling very aware of himself and also completely unsure what he was supposed to do with his other hand, his posture, his face.
You looked tired, but you didn’t back down.
There was a long, awful silence.
Then your mother started crying.
Your father did too, though more quietly, tears running over his face.
Heeseung’s chest tightened. He knew this must be harder on them than it had been on him. They were your parents; they had been there for every setback, for every try, for every failure.
Heeseung didn’t even want to imagine the pain they were feeling right now.
Before he could decide whether to step back or speak, your mother moved first.
She crossed the room in a hurry and hugged you tightly, crying against your shoulder. “Oh, Y/N. My baby. My poor, poor baby.”
You stood there for a second, stiff with surprise more than resistance, then your face softened, and you patted her back.
“It’s fine, Mom,” you said, your voice gentler now. “It’s fine.”
Heeseung watched the whole thing with a strange heaviness in his chest, not because it was wrong, but because it was so much. So much pain had been sitting in this family for so long that it was finally spilling out all at once.
Then your mother pulled back, she wiped at her face, and turned to him.
He straightened instinctively.
She stepped forward and hugged him too, brief but sincere, and Heeseung went a little awkward and stiff for half a second before carefully returning the gesture. Her hands were trembling a little.
“Thank you for being there for Y/N,” she said, her voice thick and heavy. “It is so nice to see you again.”
His throat tightened at that.
“It’s okay,” he said softly. “Of course.”
He looked at you then, really looked, and saw how tired you were, even now. How much strength it had taken to walk in here and say all of that out loud. How tightly you were still holding onto his hand, even after everything had been said.
He squeezed your fingers once, small and steady.
You gave him the faintest look back, and in that second, he understood that you had not brought him here just to witness the conversation. You had brought him because you needed someone beside you while you said the hardest thing you had ever had to say.
And he was glad, painfully glad, that it was him.
Thank you so much for reading!
Lots of Love,
Patty
jake is too conscious about the thing sitting on his nose but all for wrong reason. afab reader x roommate!jake ! fluff ! silly ! reader is older than jake ! late night giggling type shit !
ꈍᴗꈍ
"What are you looking at?"
Jake flinched at the piercing coldness of your voice, followed by an annoyed huff. He immediately pushed his glasses back up his nose, the same pair that had been resting on the sink counter for almost an hour now, and stammered “u-uhm, nothing...” You gave him a weird look and shoved his shoulder lightly so you could stand beside him in front of the mirror. Jake quickly realized he was hogging most of the space and scooted behind you. “Sorry… you must’ve been waiting for a while.”
“Fuck I was,” you muttered, lips trembling slightly as you carefully removed your lashes. You reached up to grab your cleanser, which was usually kept in the shared cabinet. The contrast between your basic skincare products and Jake’s shaving stuff almost made you smile—if only you hadn’t just had the shittiest day a few hours ago. Jake was mumbling something behind you, which only irritated you more. Why did he always talk under his breath like you would eat him alive if he spoke clearly? Matter of fact at this point, you actually might.
“Jake do you have a problem?” Your irritated tone made him shake his head quickly. Then he slipped out of the shared bathroom in a hurry.
When you and Jake first met at Sunghoon’s sister’s birthday party, you barely remembered the guy with thick glasses who was strangely popular among yeji's friends and grandmas. He was also well known among Sunghoon’s cousins for being an absolute failure in his dating life. Not that you were paying attention to how a hot guy like him could fail at every date. Nope nada. You were there as sunghoon's long-distance friend, so you knew better than to make some random younger guy uncomfortable by blatantly staring at him.
The next time you met Jake was during apartment hunting in Seoul. The entire mess of him becoming your roommate was caused by a very avoidable mistake that your broker had somehow failed to prevent. And so you ended up stuck with the awkward third year guy who spent the first entire month trying his best to avoid crossing paths with you. Jake wasn’t a bad roommate, except for his obsession with spending more time in the bathroom than you, and his half girlfriend (half the time they were fighting, the other half she was fucking another guy behind his back) who loved crashing at your place.
Well, that had been months ago, and now Jake’s relationship with you was somehow more confusing than the entire syllabus for your master’s degree. Honestly besides the skyrocketing inflation rate in your country, the only thing constantly messing with your brain was: What the fuck was Jake Sim up to? As previously established, Jake already spent an absurd amount of time inside the bathroom. But recently he developed an even weirder habit—standing in front of the mirror and staring at his own reflection so intensely it looked like he was trying to summon a variety of Bloody Mary.
I mean yeah, his face is practically a work of art, but you needed your sweet time in front of the mirror too.
You licked the remaining Cheetos crumbs off your fingers after finishing your second packet, a random episode of Doraemon playing on the huge tv in the shared living room between your bedroom and Jake’s. Your eyes barely paid attention to the round blue robot on screen. Instead they drifted toward Jake, who was currently struggling to drag a heavy carton across the floor. Probably filled with those astrophysics books he recently ordered. You paused mid lick when you noticed the bandages wrapped around his knuckles. A tiny groan slipped from his throat the moment he applied too much pressure to one of his fingers.
You straightened a little.
“Jake do you need help?”
At the sound of your voice Jake froze for half a second before hurriedly dragging the entire carton closer to his room “no y/n! thanks for asking!”
What the hell? You rolled your eyes so hard it almost hurt, a string of creative curses immediately leaving your mouth. It was fucking frustrating okay? You were tired of pretending Jake’s blatant avoidance, awkwardness, and ridiculous nervousness around you didn’t affect you, especially after the two of you may or may not have gone on multiple dates once he admitted he and his ex were no longer in contact. And now he was acting like this again. It made you want to grab your own head and smash it straight into the tv screen.
Jake was definitely hiding something from you, and it pissed you off more than you wanted to admit. Because otherwise, why would Jake, a scholarship student who was already more than financially stable thanks to his mom’s real estate business, suddenly start doing part time jobs out of nowhere? Was his half girlfriend back again? And was he seriously saving money to buy her an engagement ring behind your back?
Yeah yeah. Maybe you were older and maybe a little old fashioned too. But you couldn’t help the way your chest tightened whenever Jake smiled at you or giggled at your stupid daily rants. The corners of his mouth always curled in this ridiculously soft way that somehow made him look even more handsome than he already was. Honey tanned skin and those stupid thick framed glasses. He was so fucking adorable that, at the end of the day, you genuinely hated yourself for thinking maybe you weren’t important enough for him to share his problems with.
Especially when he’d spent months listening to yours.
Well he did at least, until the start of this month. Not entirely Jake’s fault though. You had been drowning in graduation prep while simultaneously dodging your parents’ daily “bring your boyfriend home” phone calls like bullets. Jake had been busy with college too and somehow both of you had slowly lost track of each other’s schedules without even realizing it. Jake wasn’t your boyfriend. Hell, you didn’t even know if he wanted to be your boyfriend.
Truthfully, every date you had with Jake always ended the same way. Two of you sitting shoulder to shoulder by the riverside, hands tightly intertwined while Jake’s fishing equipment rested beside him completely untouched and not a single fish in sight.
Or sprawled across the apartment floor late at night, you desperately trying to keep up with his impossibly soft kisses against your lips, your shoulder blades, your wrists, lower and lower across your chest—stopstopstopstop.
Nothing could make you pause thinking about him without genuinely feeling like a blood vessel might burst inside your forehead.
And the worst part was how every kiss always ended so abruptly. Jake would pull away first, mumbling quiet apologies under his breath while fixing your messy hair, smoothing the wrinkles out of your blouse, wiping the corner of your lips clean if any trace of smudged lipbalm remained. Almost, as if he felt guilty for touching you. And every single time, it left you even more frantic, confused, and painfully in love with him. You seriously couldn’t understand what his problem was. Why did he always look so apologetic after kissing you?
Unless—Oh my god. That had to be it.
Maybe you were just a horrible kisser.
You suddenly sat upright in shock, both hands flying toward your mouth, completely forgetting about the metal tumbler you had been holding moments earlier. It slipped from your grip and clattered loudly against the dirty bus floor. The grandma sitting beside you looked mildly offended, while a high school couple nearby watched you with genuine concern as the tumbler rolled to a stop near their shoes.
Could this day get any worse?
*beep beep beep*
Familiar sound of the apartment door unlocking snapped Jake out of his thoughts. He immediately fumbled with his phone, nearly dropping it in the process, and by the time you stepped inside, he had already flipped the device face down and practically slammed it onto the kitchen counter.
“Uhhh… hi,” he greeted awkwardly and gestured towards the stove “ramen…?”
Oh Jake’s sweet-sweet voice welcoming you after a long day of your professors trying their absolute best to convince everyone that doing a master’s degree was basically self sacrifice disguised as academics. You missed him so fucking much that your stomach grumbled before you could even answer his question. “Oh, uhm…” You bit your lip, far too exhausted to even hide your embarrassment, and simply nodded.
Jake smiled painfully warm again before turning back toward the stove to stir the ramen simmering inside the pot. Your chest tightened. You had to talk to him and end this suffering tonight.
After freshening up and finishing your skincare routine, minus the ten minute argument you just had with your own reflection about how to bring up the topic without sounding completely insane, you finally stepped out of your room.
“Jake…? Do you need help?” you called out after noticing the clattering of utensils from the kitchen had suddenly stopped. You peeked your head out first. The stove was still on and the pot of ramen sat untouched, steam curling into the air while the smell filled the entire dining area. But Jake was nowhere in sight. You slowly walked over, near the counter to check on the ramen, and that was when your eyes landed on Jake’s phone lying beside the stove, the screen still glowing faintly.
You swallowed hard and glanced around the apartment as your heart raced. Don't do it y/n! It's a breach of privacy!
But eventually temptation won and you grabbed his phone. Your brows immediately furrowed when you realized his notes app was open.
“What the hell…” you whispered under your breath, unsure what you were even supposed to be looking at.
Goal: $8000
Saved: $3700
You blinked in confusion. The sound of the bathroom door shutting snapped you out of your thoughts, panic instantly rushing through your body.
“Y/n?”Jake’s voice made you look up, but you couldn’t even bother hiding the absolutely catastrophic invasion of privacy you just committed. Instead you tightened your grip around his phone and asked flatly
“Are you back with Madeline?”
Jake frowned for a second. “Wha—no….why?” Then his eyes dropped to your hand, which was still clutching his phone tightly like it was the only thing keeping you upright. He quickly walked toward you “why is my pho—”
“Jake please, just....be honest with me” your shaky voice only seemed to make Jake more nervous and confused than he already was.
“I am being honest,” he said softly. “Why would I lie to you…?”
You didn’t know what to believe anymore. The phone slipped from your grip and clattered on the floor. “Then why are you saving up so much money?” you asked, your voice cracking “Is it not….to buy her an engagement ring…?”
There it is. You actually fucking said it. Congratulations. The award for being the most insecure and insufferable roommate alive officially goes to Y/n Y/l/n. Jake blinked rapidly.
“No—it’s not for that. What’s wrong…?”
Still visibly nervous, he quickly turned off the stove before grabbing your hands carefully in his. The warmth of his palms against yours only made everything worse. Why did he always have to be so sweet?
“I don’t know, it’s just—” you started, already feeling embarrassed. “You’ve been hiding things from me. You suddenly started working part time jobs, you have injuries on your fingers that you refuse to explain, we barely talk anymore, and I—” Your breathing hitched “I can’t stop overthinking okay? Are you buying an apartment to move in with her or something? I’m sorry if I make you uncomfortable to stay with. I knew us going on dates was stupid…”
Once again everything always circled back to your stupid dating situation. You hated it. Because whatever existed between you and Jake shouldn’t have been measured by something as small as missed dates or awkward silences. You guys were just messing around anyway. At least that’s what it probably was for him. But for you? For you it was painfully serious.
“I’m sorry,” you whispered weakly “I-I don’t really know how to explain this without sounding insecure.”
Before you could even finish Jake pulled you into a bone crushing hug.
“hey…” he murmured quietly against your hair. “It’s my fault too. I should’ve been clearer with you from the beginning…”
What?
“I am indeed saving money,” he admitted after pulling away slightly, “but it’s not because I got back with Madeline or anything.”
You noticed the way he shifted his weight from one foot to another repeatedly—a habit he always had whenever he got extremely nervous. Then he finally looked up at you properly, very much determined and exhaled a long breath.
“It’s for my LASIK surgery.”
Pause. Huh?
you stared at him stupidly “why—why do you need LASIK surgery? Are you like…going blind?”
The moment the words left your mouth, your eyes widened in horror. There was absolutely no way you just said that out loud. You slapped a hand over your mouth immediately and shook your head frantically “I’m sorry!”
Even though the air around both of you was still painfully tense, Jake suddenly broke into laughter. His shoulders shook as he threw his head back slightly “Oh my god y/n no—I’m not going blind!”
Ugh.
Why can't the ground just open up and swallow you as whole.
“Don’t fucking laugh, idiot!” you snapped mortified “do you know how worried I was? I genuinely thought I did something wrong and you were avoiding me because of it!” You smacked his shoulder in irritation before brushing past him toward the living room, desperately trying to distract yourself with Doraemon before you embarrassed yourself any further. But Jake caught your wrist mid motion and with one gentle tug, he pulled you right back against his chest.
“That’s because both of us were busy,” he said softly. “That’s not really what you were worried about… right?”
There he caught you again.
You were so annoyed at him for figuring you out so easily, and at the same time, you were even more annoyed at yourself for being this weak when it came to Jake.
“Why—why are you always so controlled around me?” you mumbled frustratedly “like…why don’t you ever lose yourself—no that’s not what I mean.” You groaned, already feeling humiliation crawl up your spine. “Uhm… why do you never just…go all in?” You somehow managed to get the entire sentence out despite knowing damn well that later tonight the final stage of embarrassment was going to hit you like a truck in the form of insomnia and self inflicted frustration.
Jake stayed quiet for a few seconds, visibly trying to organize his thoughts.
“Ugh! you’re so fucking stupid!” Your whine barely finished before you grabbed his shirt and pressed your lips against his.
To Jake it genuinely felt like you were inhaling every coherent thought left inside his head just by kissing him. His arms moved instinctively around your waist, pulling you closer until your chest pressed against his. The sudden contact made a tiny gasp slip from your lips right into the kiss. Jake let out a shaky breath then, gently cupping your cheeks, he broke the kiss.
“Mmfm—no Y/n, wait.”
Between the loud pounding of your heartbeat and his, you could hear how hard Jake was breathing, like he was seconds away from an asthma attack. Your gaze swept shyly across his face, taking in all the tiny details you swore you wanted permanently etched into your veins. His slightly messy hair, thin sheen of sweat above his brows and his glasses sitting crooked and fogged up from the kiss.
“See…” Jake mumbled, biting his lip nervously. “This is what I’m talking about.” Confused you blinked at him “what’s the problem?”
“This right here,” he whispered softly while adjusting his glasses again, only for you to suddenly feel a sharp tug near your forehead. “Ow…” you whispered and realized a few strands of your hair had gotten tangled in the hinge of his glasses.
“I wanna get LASIK because I want to kiss you properly baby, without this damn thing bothering us,” he admitted before burying his face into the space between your shoulder and neck. Oh my god what?
Ignoring the emotional trainwreck currently happening inside your chest, you slowly lifted your hand to run your fingers through Jake’s hair “Jake…is this—is this seriously why you’re saving money?” Still too shy to properly look at you, Jake nodded against your skin “I want everything to be perfect for you,” he mumbled, his voice muffling on your skin. A huge grin slowly spread across your face.
“Stupid,” you laughed softly. “Jake I promise they’re not that much of a bother like my brain literally shuts off whenever I’m kissing y—”
“No, Y/n, you don’t understand,” Jake suddenly cut you off, pulling back just enough to grab your cheeks again. “That one time I tried kissing you goodnight and my glasses kept bumping into your cheeks and I couldn’t do it properly. And during movie nights, whenever I try resting my head on your shoulder, they won’t stay on my nose bridge. Also, do you remember how stupid I looked in those photobooth pictures—”
At some point your tiny giggles fully dissolved into loud laughter. Jake stopped mid rant and stared at you in betrayal.
“Y/n” he pouted “you’re laughing.”
You immediately covered your mouth with one hand and turned away, trying not to make him feel worse than he already did. But he was just so unbelievably cute and endearing. You genuinely couldn’t help it. “Oh my god I’m sorry!” you wheezed between laughs only for another fit of laughter to escape the moment you looked back at Jake’s expression. He looked ready to legally change his identity and disappear forever.
You grabbed Jake’s face with both hands, his glasses squished against your palms. “There,” you jutted out your lower lip “sooo devastating, we can literally never kiss again.”
Jake let out the most miserable groan imaginable, “you’re making fun of me.”
You rolled your eyes “I’m making fun of the fact that you were fully prepared to spend your entire life savings on some stupid surgery for an even stupider reason.”
“It’s a very valid reason Y/n!” he protested immediately, grabbing your wrists trying to make you understand the grave seriousness of this crisis. “They literally ruin the moment!”
“No they don’t!” you laughed again “and if they bother you that much, then just take them off!” The moment you tried reaching for his glasses again, Jake quickly intertwined his fingers with yours and gently lowered your hands.
“No,” he mumbled stubbornly.
“No?”
Jake shook his head before finally admitting “If I take them off… I-I can’t see your face clearly.” Your chest swelled under the intensity of his gaze. “And I wanna see your face,” he continued, avoiding your eyes now. “Every time I kiss you, hug you or cuddle with you.”
He was genuinely going to kill you one day. Because how could this idiot possibly think his glasses were something undesirable when they were one of the first things that made Jake feel like…Jake? The way he constantly pushed them back up whenever he got shy, when his eyes looked bigger behind the lenses whenever he got emotional—just like earlier or the way they fogged up every single time you kissed him longer than five seconds. How could he not realize those tiny things were the exact reasons you adored him so much? Too bad for him though. You were here now and Jake Sim was absolutely not wasting thousands of dollars on surgery because his glasses slightly inconvenienced his kissing technique.
“Jake…” you murmured softly, biting your lip before looking up at him properly. “You don’t need to change anything.”
Jake immediately opened his mouth to argue “but Y/n, what if—”
“I love you,” you cut him off firmly “and I genuinely could not care less about some damn glasses.”
Jake stared at you looking like a kicked out puppy “but they get in the way,” he mumbled weakly.
“You know what else gets in the way?” you shot back instantly “your giant fucking head whenever you try stealing my ramen.”
Jake gasped in pure offense “my head is not giant!”
“It absolutely is.” you laughed, poking the bridge of his nose gently.
“You’re literally lying to my face right now.” Jake looked like he wanted to argue more, but the second you smiled at him, all the offense immediately disappeared from his expression. God he looked so helplessly in love. You softened instantly.
“Jake,” you bit your lips “You have no idea how stupidly in love with you I am.” His breath caught and before he could say anything else, you lifted your index finger to his lips to shush him gently, then leaned forward and kissed him again. This time Jake relaxed completely beneath the soft peck and when his glasses bumped against your cheek a second later you only smiled harder into the kiss.
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᧔♡᧓ grumpy riki! x sunshine reader! y/n ignoring riki so much, confused riki, surprise birthday party, mention of insecurities, a tiny bit suggestive, comfort
eight. next.
notes : miu here ! im back yall 🥳 so sorry for the little inactivity but i was suffering so bad but IM BACK, hope you guys liked this chapter. only one chapter left before the end of "don’t make me beg" 🥲 (if you didn’t get tag in the taglist, it’s mostly because i couldn’t find your username!)
y/n just wants to finish her pokémon card collection. Jake just wants quick money... even if it means scamming someone on twitter. what starts as a failed scam after she exposes him in seconds turns into late-night dms, constant teasing, and something neither of them expected.
warnings: attempted scam (not taken seriously), lots of cursing, 2am arguments over pokémon cards, Jake being a little embarrassing, zero communication skills, kys joke
song rec: love for you - loveli lori
the airport was louder than she expected.
people rushing everywhere, luggage wheels scraping against the floor, voices echoing through the terminal.
y/n adjusted the strap of her bag, looking down at her phone again.
no new message.
of course he wasn’t here.
she didn’t even know why she expected him to be.
jake : where are u
y/n : near arrivals
jake : got it
y/n : you’re really annoying i think i’m lost
jake : look up then
slowly, she lifts her head.
and there he is.
leaning against the railing with his hands in his pockets like he hadn’t just nearly stopped her heart.
jake.
real.
not a profile picture.
not a late-night text.
not typing bubbles on a screen.
for a second, neither of them moved.
jake looked exactly how she imagined.
which somehow made it worse.
because now she had to deal with the fact that he was actually real.
and smiling, a nervous smile, but still.
y/n : u liar !
jake looks down at his phone, then back at her.
jake : surprise..
y/n laughed before she could stop herself.
jake pushed himself off the railing and walked toward her.
until he was standing right in front of her.
“hi,” he said.
y/n blinked. “you’re taller than I thought.”
jake stared at her for a second before laughing softly.
“that’s the first thing you say to me?”
“you said look up,” she defended.
“that’s crazy.”
“you’re still ugly by the way.”
“there she is.”
part 8 part 9
a/n: hey it’s the end! i don’t know if i like tell me what you think in the comments:)
You know I got a soft spot- the attending of your ER has a known reputation for being a grump but for some reason not with you
✚- doctor!heeseung x nurse!reader - part of the only exception series - slow burn - angst - comfort - fluff - wc: ~10.8k (whoops)
warnings- depictions of hospitals + medical settings (may be inaccurate at times) - mentions of needles - mentions of blood - reader gets very overworked + burnt out - profanities used (everyone act shocked) - fainting - kissing - not proofread
notes!! greetings everyone, ive had this in my drafts for a while so decided to tweak it so it could fit the series im doing. i did try to make it somewhat realistic however thats kinda hard given im not a nurse. if i reused the same words millions of times, no i didnt. im not used to writing such long fics, if you read and enjoy please leave me feedback, like or reblog!!
Being a nurse wasn’t easy.
But then again no one ever claimed that it was. Sure at times it could be incredibly rewarding, seeing patients making a full recovery. The feeling was incomparable.
But there was also the lows. They always seemed to hit rock bottom. Your first time losing someone, even making a small mistake weighed down on you like a burden.
You didn’t know why’d you chosen to become one, probably because you thought it’d give you some sense of fulfilment.
Now, here you were sat at the nurses station during another gruelling night shift.
You were supposed to just be reviewing some charting, updating them if needed. But that’s when you noticed something off, multiple of dosages listed didn’t make sense.
You turn to Jia, another one of the nurses, “Who’s the attending on call tonight??”
“Dr Lee. Why??”
“Can you come just check something with me before I bother him. I’m not in the mood for one of his lectures, they’re too calm to even be considered a lecture.”
Jia scoots her chair over to the computer to see what you’re talking about, “See these doses they don’t seem correct right??”
She nods, “Yeah definitely not…especially that dose, way too high for a kid. Want me to page Dr Lee??”
“Why don’t you just call him Heeseung, that is his name you know?? And yeah page him…if someone gives those doses it could be catastrophic.”
Jia rolls her eyes playfully, “Your the only one who’s allowed to call him Heeseung and you know that.”
“Am not!!” You counter, although you know it’s partially true. He’d always had a soft spot for you.
“He literally adores you!! You get that soft, approachable look while we get daggers for glares!!”
You start ‘hitting’ Jia with some loose papers, providing some joy in the bleak hospital setting.
By the time Heeseung arrives you’re already too far gone. It’s not until he clears his throat that you diverge from your play attack on Jia and notice him. “So the nurses around here like to abuse each other for fun??”
You and Jia give him a flustered look, clearly caught off guard by his sudden appearance, “No not at all!!”
He doesn’t push any further, “Why did i get paged?? How can i be of assistance to you??”
You turn the computer screen towards him, “I was reviewing some patient charts when I spotted some unusual doses had been entered which could be a potential danger. I just wanted to triple check with you first.”
He glances over the charts, his black-rimmed glasses sit perfectly on the bridge of his nose, “Youre right. These dosages don’t make sense…I’ll make sure to check by all the patients and reiterate to staff the importance accurately entering chart information. Helps lower your workload a little bit.”
As he’s about to walk off you suddenly remember something, “Heeseung??”
He turns back to face you. “Erm this chart in particular. Unless I’ve forgot basic calculations couldn’t this dosage for a child potentially be fatal??”
He takes another look at it before his expression turns concerned, “What room is that?!” His tone urgent.
“305.” There’s no time for him to explain or elaborate.
He rushes off in the direction of room 305. This cannot be good.
🩹
A few hours later you’re sat in the break room, counting down the seconds until your shift is over.
You’re spread across three chairs trying to at least catch some rest. Whilst one of the other nurses, Mina, is having a fight with the coffee machine after its 5th breakdown in the space of a week.
“I swear if you do not turn on right now and give me the shittiest yet also best coffee of my life im going to quit.”
“Mina, it’s an inanimate object. It’s not going to start talking or responding to your requests when you try to intimidate it!!” You say running a hand through your hair frustratedly while sliding further down the chair.
“You never know!! Maybe the CEO has like a camera in here and he can activate the coffee machine at his wish. But right now it seems more like he just wants to torture his nurses!!”
Jia sighs, “I hope no doctors walk in here now. They’d probably page psych to give you an evaluation for onset psychosis and possible schizophrenia.”
“That’s what this job does. It turns you into a zombie on the verge of insanity at the end of every shift,” you say with a shake of your head .
“Speaking of the doctors i hope none of them try to infiltrate our break room,” Mina says returning from the coffee machine with nothing but a drained expression.
“I know right!!” Jia adds on, “As if half of them don’t have fancy on call rooms. This is nurse territory!!”
As if on cue, Heeseung enters. “Is Y/N in here??”
Immediately, you stand up and straighten out your wrinkled scrubs, “Yep im right here. Anything i can do for you?!”
“Come talk to me outside please.” His voice is monotonous, you can’t tell whether you’re about to get scolded or praised.
As you walk out you turn to glance at Jia and Mina. Jia gives you a thumbs up, hoping for at least some good news. Meanwhile Mina starts acting like she’s praying for you as though you’re about to be sent to the depths of hell.
Once two of you are outside Heeseung turns to face you, “Nice catch there today.”
“Oh…thanks, what actually happened after you disappeared to go check on the kid??”
“Thankfully, i got there in time. No one had been around to do meds by then so she was fine. All the dosages should’ve been altered,” he says you can tell he’s pissed off deep down though. Pissed off that his staff would be so careless and reckless.
“That’s good then…” you pause for a second debating whether to say the next part or not. “Was there a correlation between the charts and any members of staff or??”
You knew most people here weren’t down for conspiracy talk here, especially not Heeseung. No one needed a rumour disrupting them when they were trying to save a life.
He shakes his head, “No so i presuming it was a glitch in the system or something.”
“Either that or some of the doctors here are more incompetent than they’d like to admit…” you blurt out before you can stop yourself.
Heeseung smirks, “And what exactly do you mean by that Y/N??”
“Well…um,” you try to think of a way to make what you were about to say nice. “I think some of the doctors here have a superiority complex. They think they’re so much more qualified and intelligent than the nurses because they went to med school.”
That’s when you remember who you’re talking to, “No offence though…”
Heeseung stifles a chuckle, something other personnel at the hospital rarely see, “None taken. I’ll make sure to have a word with them to remind them to respect the people who keep this place from running into the ground.”
His pager buzzes loudly in his pocket, “I have to go.”
You nod understandingly, here any wasted second could be fatal. Heeseung rushes off now back to his usual, serious self nothing like the man who almost laughed when you started to berate his staff.
You emerge from the corridor with a smug, victorious smirk on your face. “What did you do??” Mina asks her eyebrow raised.
“He said ‘nice work’ and when i went on a rant about the idiot doctors he almost let out a laugh,” you plop yourself down onto the seat in between Jia and Mina.
Jia almost spits out her drink mid sip, “Am I hearing this correctly?? You made THE doctor lee crack a small laugh?? As in the one who’s known for being a miser to anyone else other than you??”
Mina gives you a proud look, “Look at our girl go. Revolutionising this hell hole by making all these grumps partially less grumpy!!”
“Yeah Mina flattery will get you everywhere. You should try it…or maybe just trying being nice for once.”
“Hey I am nice!! But only to the people here who i can tolerate…here that seems to only be you guys…”
🩹
Another day, another shift, another 20 patients.
The nights always passed in a blur. Not tonight though. Tonight was making sure it was memorable. That it wouldn’t leave anyone’s mind for months.
It started as peaceful as you could get in a hospital. Intake for new patients, basic checks on the ones who’d been here a while, the simple stuff.
That was until 10:09pm.
The red phone rang aloud, the one only used for severe emergencies with multiple casualties. Mina answers it in her most professional, practiced voice.
Everyone else waits in a tense silence for Mina to deliver the news, it’s always something devastating. “Listen up people!!” All the staff gather around waiting for her brief.
“There was a car accident on the nearby highway. Huge pileup of cars. Patients will be split between us and another hospital. If we are overcrowded go by a triage system. Most critical equals seen first!!”
Immediately, the department falls into a controlled chaos. You can hear Heeseung barking commands at interns and residents, his voice demanding authority.
“Where do you need me??” You ask Mina. “Go with Dr Lee or Heeseung or whatever i should call him. If you’re the only one he can handle on a normal day…I dread to think what he’d be like with anyone else in a situation like this.”
You nod and rush over to Heeseung, “Mina assigned me to you so just tell me when and where you need me.”
“We’re gonna be in trauma room 3. We take whoever they bring to us and we make it work, got it??”
“Got it.”
Hours pass like minutes as you work your way through masses of patients. Normally on nights like this it was difficult to even remember a patient's name after you’d transferred them to the necessary unit but today one stuck out like a sore thumb.
Hana. She was a young girl no older than 7 who you only saw for what seemed like a brief moment in this hectic night yet she still stuck to you. Her injuries weren’t severe in comparison to the many others tonight but the sound of her cries kept ringing in your ears, almost haunting you.
When the disorder of the department finally begins to settle you tear off your, now bloody, gown and toss it into the nearest clinical waste bin.
“Heeseung?? I need to go check up on something, if anyone asks where I am, could you cover for me??”
Usually Heeseung would say no. He didn’t like to break rules or policy which you were sort of doing. But tonight for you he was willing to make an exception, especially when he had a presumption for where you’d be heading. “Sure, I’ve got you.”
“Thanks…” you murmur before rushing off in the direction of the pediatric department.
Inside, the walls are lined with colourful, cheerful illustrations made to help the children feel at ease. But you know there’s one certain girl who won’t be feeling that way. Not with tonight’s events.
You walk over to the nurses station, “Um excuse me, did a young girl called Hana get transferred up here?? It would’ve been around an hour ago now.”
One of the nurses starts typing on the computer, probably to find Hana’s records before nodding, “Yep we’ve got her, poor thing was in that crash. Someone send you up to check on her or is it down to personal concern.”
You pause for a moment debating whether to tell the truth or not.
Seeing your hesitation the nurse speaks up again, “If it’s the second one nobody’s gonna like snitch on you or anything. We all get worried about these little ones at some point.”
“Yeah, just worried…” you murmur finally giving in. “Only saw her for about 20 minutes in the ER before she got sent up here but that image of her terrified, little face is literally just burnt into my mind. And as far as I’m aware her parents are still in surgery…it felt right to check up on her.”
The nurse lowers her voice so only you can hear, “Room 212. Just be cautious, she might be sleeping so try not to startle her.”
You give her a grateful, understanding nod before heading straight for room 212.
Surprisingly, it’s a private one. She hasn’t just been dumped onto a ward with a bunch of screaming, sick kids. But then again you guess that privacy is sort of a guarantee when you’ve just been traumatised by a car accident.
The room is dark on the inside yet you can still make out her tiny frame curled up on the much larger hospital bed. At first, you think she actually might be asleep. That her adrenalines finally crashed, that her small body can’t take it any longer. But then you see those green, fearful eyes peek out from beneath the blanket to meet yours. She holds the contact for a few seconds before pulling the blanket up to cover her face again.
You push open the door to her room, careful not to disturb anyone in the neighbouring room. “Hi Hana,” your voice is as gentle as it can be.
“You remember me?? I’m the nurse from earlier on.” You don’t expect a response. After all, trauma had a funny way of messing with people’s memories, especially kids.
Once you realise she definitely will not be engaging in any form of conversation you instead decide to settle down in the chair beside her bed. You’d learnt it back in nursing school in a session about providing comfort to patients: “if a patient doesn’t want to talk, provide a steady, comforting presence instead.”
So that’s exactly what you would do.
You allow for the silence to stretch for a few moments before trying an attempt at conversation again. “Do you like any cartoons Hana??”
Silence again. You think that she’s not going to answer, but then you hear her tiny, trembling voice. “Bluey…”
One word but that was better than none. “Bluey huh??”
She gives a small nod, her curls bouncing slightly.
You know some people would argue against what you’re going to do, some people who’d say it’s against some protocol. But at that moment ‘protocol’ doesn’t matter to you. What matters is the child in front of you. Besides seeing her so vulnerable, so broken and so alone you can’t help but just want to comfort her. Make her happy again.
“Would you wanna watch bluey?? Does that sound good Hana??”
She shakes her head and sniffles, such a small sound yet with such a heartbreaking effect. “The TV, it no have bluey.”
You lower your voice to a conspiratorial whisper, “Well the TV might not have Bluey…but I have my phone and I’m pretty sure that will.”
Her vacant eyes seem to brighten up a bit at that, “I wanna watch.”
You reach into the pocket of your scrubs and pull out your phone, hoping to find this cartoon on some streaming service. Luckily, you do. Just as you’re about to hand over the phone to her so she can watch in the bed Hana suddenly shakes her head.
Your expression immediately grows concerned again, “You don’t wanna watch your cartoon anymore?? What’s wrong Hana??”
“Nuh uh…I still wanna watch.”
At first you're confused, she’s shaking her head but she still wants to watch?? Then she points to the chair where you’re resting and everything clicks into place.
“Can we watch together?? Like me and mama do at home together??” Her voice is so small, so trusting. It makes your heart ache.
“You wanna watch with me?? On the chair??”
She nods.
Every professional part of you is telling you to say no, there were other ways to comfort patients without crossing such a boundary. But then again every other part of you was focused on the distressed child before you.
Eventually, the professional side caves completely.
Before you know it you're reaching out your arms and delicately lifting Hana to sit down on the chair beside you. “Is this better now hmmm??”
She nods approvingly and leans her head against your side. As the cartoon starts playing you can visibly see the previous tension in Hana’s face melting away as she begins to forget about the accident and bring her attention to the cartoon.
You could swear that as it progresses you see the occasional tug at the corner of her lips. At some moments you even hear a small giggle slip from her mouth. The sound is youthful which makes you happier but also reminds you of the situation, of what this poor little girl has been through.
After about three episodes, you see Hana’s eyes starting to droop, gradually becoming heavier and heavier with sleep. “You getting sleepy Hana??”
Her mouth opens into a small ‘O’ shape as she lets out an exhausted yawn. Her tiny fists come up to rub her eyes. You take that as your yes.
You go to lift her back into the hospital bed but Hana only tightens her grip around your arm before shaking her head with as much defiance as a girl her age can have. “Cuddle.”
Not even a moment later she’s somehow managed to wriggle her way onto your lap, her entire body weight draped over the top of you. Safe to say you were officially trapped.
With no other choice left you wrap your arms around her small frame, “Okay…okay cuddle.”
At first she seems reluctant, like sleep will take her away from the one thing she knows is constant in this ever changing time, you. She was too scared to sleep out of the fear of losing you.
“I’m not going anywhere,” you murmur against her hair.
Gently, you start rocking her. Although the chair isn’t exactly suitably equipped for this sort of situation you could make it work. Backwards and forwards. You repeat the motion over and over and over.
The combination of the rocking with the rhythmic beat of your heart, the warmth of your body. It seems to lull her into a state of relaxation.
Still not fully asleep but closer than before.
That’s when you remember it, a song that your mother used to sing long ago back when you were a child who was unable to sleep. Much like Hana right now.
You start humming the tune under your breath, sure you may be a little off pitch but it’s not exactly like Hana would care.
Within minutes, her defences have weakened. You can tell she’s fighting to keep her eyes open, still fending off sleep.
It only takes a few more seconds for her to surrender.
Her eyes close fully and her leads lolls slightly forward until she's using your shoulder as a pillow.
You don’t bother to move.
You can’t leave her. Not tonight anyways.
🩹
You don’t realise how long you’ve been sitting there until the first signs of dawn begin to seep through the curtain. The orange glow of the rising sun illuminates the once dim and dull hospital room.
Looking down you see Hana, her face peaceful in sleep. Somehow her small hands have latched onto a fistful of your scrubs. She’s not willing to let go of you anytime soon.
Attentively, you brush a stray strand of hair away from her forehead.
You’re so focused on her you don’t hear the sound of the door being pushed open. You don’t notice the sudden extra presence within the room.
It’s not until he speaks that you finally divert your attention. “Your shift ended hours ago Y/N.”
You look up to see Heeseung standing before you. His hair is messy, probably from pushing it back so many times in frustration at the interns yet otherwise he looks rather composed. Especially for a man who’s shift is nearing the fifteen hour mark.
“So did yours…” your voice is barely above a whisper, careful not to wake Hana.
“I had extra charting to catch up on from the accident. You however…you seem to have a bit more of a unique situation going on over here.”
“I don’t need you to reprimand me right now.”
Heeseung shakes his head, “I had no intention of doing so.”
“Then why else are you up here??”
“Her parents are out of surgery. They should both make a full recovery.” He pauses for a second before adding, “Go home Y/N. Go rest. You’ve done as much for this little girl as possible.”
You gesture to Hana’s hand which is tightly clutched around your scrubs. “Unfortunately I don’t think she’s willing to let me go.”
“Y/N I’m serious. You should’ve been home hours ago.”
“So should you. Besides, I don't want to leave her alone. She’s a terrified child.”
Heeseung closes the distance between the two of you, “Give her to me then. That way she won’t be alone. And before you try to argue with me, I’m off tonight you aren’t. I can rest later but having a nurse dead on her feet during shift isn’t ideal.”
“But she’ll wake-“
He cuts you off. “We know if we won’t try. Also if she does I can get her back to sleep…I’m better with kids than most people would assume.”
You start to give in. After all, Heeseung was right, he always seemed to be. You needed to sleep more than he did. Eventually, you reluctantly agree.
“Good. Now just hand her over to me.”
Carefully, you transfer Hana into Heeseung's arms making sure she is fully secure before finally letting go of her for the first time in hours. She stirs slightly at first when she realises your scrub top has escaped her grasp but almost instantly settles down once she realises that Heeseung’s stethoscope is far superior to hold.
Your arms ache from being in a fixed position for such a great length of time. But seeing Hana’s tranquil state makes it all seem worth it.
“Go home Y/N.”
You nod and begin to slowly walk towards the door.
A beat.
Then, “You’re a great nurse Y/N. Just stop overworking yourself, that’s how mistakes happen.”
🩹
After that interaction, something changes. Nothing big or significant, just the smaller things.
You find yourself feeling Heeseung’s presence more. Noticing the way he seems to be watching you from afar amongst the crowded ER. How he’s always there even when you don’t realise it.
Around a week later, you, Jia and Mina are inhabiting the break room again. “We all look like shit.” Mina says suddenly.
“Have you ever tried to be like positive or optimistic for a day in your life?? Jia asks whilst rolling her eyes.
“What is there to be positive about on the night shift? It’s all just filled with impending doom and despair.”
You burst out laughing at that. “Mina i get you hate nights especially when you lack the ever so vital coffee but you could at least try to be a bit more joyous.”
Mina shoots a glare at you and then another at the still broken coffee machine. “Surely this hospital has a big enough budget to hire a maintenance guy to repair the god damn coffee machine.”
“She was pushing the age of being antique anyway. I'm surprised she lasted so long.”
You lean in closer to the other two and lower your tone of voice as though you guys aren’t the only ones in this room. “Who’s willing to place bets on the fact that one of the interns broke it.”
“I’d give it ten bucks…” Mina pauses before speaking again. “I would bet more but ten bucks is all I’d risk at the moment.”
Jia lets out a small pft sound. “As if!! Those are the exact same interns who walk around as if they own the place with their branded matcha. Like seriously the only type of coffee that could get me through this shift is a hard, pure shot of espresso.”
Mina sighs, “And don’t even get me started on all their fresh, new scrubs which come in a million different colours. I have about 2 sets of scrubs which get washed probably once every week. That’s if they’re lucky.”
You give Mina’s scrubs a small, playful expression before pulling back with a false look of disgust on your face. “Yeah we can tell Mina.”
Just as Mina’s about to swat your arm, there’s a knock on the door.
That was unusual for the break room. Normally the other nurses would just barge in without a care for whatever may have been occurring inside. It was a strange occurrence for someone to be polite enough to knock before entering.
“Come in,” you say, your voice weary of whomever may be about to enter.
In walks Heeseung carrying a rather large brown paper bag in his hand. When you see it’s him rather than some intern or resident who would probably just harass you, the three of you let out a collective sigh of relief.
“Oh?!” Heeseung’s eyebrow raises. “This isn’t the usual greeting I get, especially when I’m invading the sacred break room. Am I actually getting a positive perception for once??”
“Kind of. People always just sorta don’t knock before coming in usually. So we all made the presumption that it’d be some annoying intern,” Jia replies.
“Also you have what looks like food and or a drink. Which could be seen as a truce or a peace offering.” Mina adds on.
Heeseung nods understandingly and pulls out a tray from the bag with four large cups on it. “Coffee,” he announces quietly.
Mina’s eyes light up as she practically sprints over to grab the warmest cup. She takes a sip and lets out a small, contented noise. “I swear to god Dr Lee or Heeseung or whatever the hell is appropriate right now, I could actually kiss you.”
“I’d rather you didn’t,” he says whilst looking around, partially puzzled at Mina’s sudden affection towards him.
You let out a genuine giggle and shake your head, “I believe that Mina may have been speaking metaphorically, Heeseung.”
He nods slowly. That would certainly make more sense than Mina, who usually barely tolerated him, now abruptly wanting to kiss him purely over coffee.
Jia gives Heeseung an incredulous look, “Why did you bring us these?? How do we know that they haven’t been tampered with??”
Mina’s expression falls immediately, as though the coffee is actually in fact poisoned. “Holy shit. You’re right Jia, what if they’re tainted?? I shouldn’t have been tempted by coffee so damn easily.”
“Well I would never even consider doing such a thing but if it calms your nerves it was a gesture out of kindness. You nurses are the reason this hospital doesn’t collapse and you don’t get enough credit for it in the first place…but now you don’t even get a coffee machine. So I thought I'd try to give back.”
Hearing that the coffee truly hasn’t been tampered with, Mina picks hers back up before starting to drink it again. She chugs it so quickly any random person would think that cup of coffee was the last liquid left on earth.
You reach down to grab a cup and as though in sync so does Heeseung. Your fingers lightly brush against each other. The contact isn’t much but it’s there, it sends a spark through you. Almost like there’s a connection between the two of you.
Quickly, you shake that thought away. The two of you were coworkers and he was just trying to be nice. That was all there was…right??
“Thanks…” you murmur, suddenly feeling rather flustered at the idea of you two being something more.
Heeseung gives you something that’s halfway between a smile and smirk, “No problem. Now if you’d excuse me I’m going to distribute these properly among all the nurses.”
As he exits Mina sinks back down into her chair, the coffee still strongly in hold. She looks at you dawning a thoughtful expression on her face. “You know what Y/N. Maybe you were right after all. Maybe heeseung isn’t a complete grump.”
🩹
Monday is harder than usual. Sure Mondays were always worse than the other days but today felt different…like things just weren’t going your way.
But by 9pm you could already tell that today was wrong.
The first patient you had seen presented with what could only be described as average symptoms. Like he had possibly a common cold, nothing more. Nope. Five minutes later he was in respiratory distress. Luckily, you caught onto it early and he would make a full recovery, but nobody wanted to be that shaken up so early into a shift.
Then there was the family. Normally you could deal with families and their kids well but god these people were stupid. You’d stressed to them multiple times the importance of the fact their son receives treatment, they still decided to walk out.
Now here you were sat with Mrs Chen. She’s an elderly woman with what is simply put as traditional views.
Just as you’re about to wrap the tourniquet around her arm in an attempt to take her blood, she suddenly speaks up. “Sweetheart i mean no offence when i say this but are you sure you’re qualified to do this?? You look incredibly young.”
You put on the most polite smile that you can manage right now, “Mrs Chen I can assure you that I have all the necessary qualifications required. If I didn’t then I wouldn’t be working here.”
She nods seemingly accepting your answer and allowing you to wrap the tourniquet around her arm. “Actually-“
“Mrs Chen, I cannot leave this tourniquet around your arm for too long without risking cutting off your circulation. So would you prefer that i stop and go to fetch another member of staff instead??”
“…Yes please my dear.”
You pull the tourniquet so it sits looser on her arm and rip your gloves off throwing them into the nearest bin. “Someone should be with you in a moment.”
You walk out of the room and head for the nurses station. “Mina could you do those bloods for the woman in room 111 for me??”
Mina looks slightly confused at first but eventually agrees, giving a small nod. “Could I ask why you aren’t doing them??”
“She thinks I don’t look experienced enough. That I’m too young.”
“Ohhh…wait, are you trying to imply that I look old?!”
“Maybe,” you say with a casual shrug before walking off.
Tears sting in your eyes but you can’t cry. Not here in the middle of the ER, not now. You move towards what’s known as the ‘spare’ supply room.
Now although theoretically it was just a normal supply room compared to the other one it was more out of bounds, so people tended to not venture over there as much unless they really needed extra supplies. Therefore making it the perfect place for a breakdown.
That statement comes from experience.
You push the door open and once inside slide down against it. Your back provides a solid weight against the door as though to prevent anyone from coming in. You know that if they really wanted to they would.
The tears hit you hard, the culmination of many bad days all finally being exposed. It felt stupid, crying like this over work but then again this was just part of the job. How draining it was, the emotional exhaustion- they were just things you had to accept when deciding to become a nurse.
As the hot stream of water continues to flow down your face there’s a knock on the door. That same knock that was on the break room door a few days ago.
Heeseung.
“What??” You try to keep your voice steady but a small crack gives you away.
“It’s me Y/N.” His voice is gentler than normal, “Can I come in??”
For a moment you debate pushing him away, telling him to leave, that you don’t need his support. Right now you do.
You scoot away from the door before letting out a small, “Fine.” You try to wipe your eyes, to regain some composure despite the fact it’s already too late. Heeseung heard that crack in your voice, probably your sniffles while he was waiting outside as well. He knows you’re not okay.
At first, he doesn’t say anything. He simply just sits down beside you aiming to comfort you without words. When the tears finally begin to subside that’s when he chooses to speak, “Bad day??”
Somehow you manage to let out a huff of a laugh, “Calling it a bad day is being gracious.”
“That’s fair.” He pauses for a second giving you a considerate glance before starting again, “So then…shit day more fitting??”
A watery smile tugs at the corner of your mouth, “Incredibly shit day.”
He pulls down a pack of cotton wool from one of the stock shelves and hands a piece over to you. “Here, I know it's not ideal but at least it’s something to dry your eyes with.”
You take it appreciatively, giving your under eyes a gentle dab to wipe away any evidence of your previous tears.
The two of you sit in a comfortable silence for what feels like ages but is probably only a few minutes before you finally bring yourself to talking. “Don’t you have better things to be doing right now. You know, like attending to patients??”
“If anyone seriously needed me they’d come and find me. Besides, who else is gonna check up on the nurses if not for me.”
“Yeah because you are soooo notorious for doing that,” you exaggerate.
He shakes his head and places a hand over his chest fiening mock offence. “Well maybe I don’t but I’m checking up on you right now.”
“Thats because I’m your favourite.”
“Sure.”
“You aren’t denying it??”
“Maybe it’s the truth.”
His pager goes off and he almost immediately snaps straight back into professional mode, not concerned friend mode.
“I need to go…”
“It’s fine…go save more lives.”
He gives you a big smile, probably the first genuine thing you’ve seen from him. “Will do.”
🩹
Wednesday was a long day. Although consistently working 12+ hours everyday would to most already be considered long enough, today was dragging.
Time passed agonisingly slow and by the time 11pm rolled around both you and your body seemed to be completely drained.
You were just doing some charting, playing it safe whilst you didn’t feel your greatest. That’s when an intern comes rushing over to you, “Excuse me, are you a nurse??”
It’s rather tempting to say no. Fabricate some lie that you just decided to wear a nurses ID badge and scrubs because you felt like it, just because you wanted a laugh. You can’t do that though, you have to at least attempt to be amiable.
“Yep. What gave it away??” You say sarcastically.
The intern doesn’t seem to understand sarcasm so gives you a bewildered look, “Your badge, your-“
Your voice cuts him off, “I was being sarcastic.”
“Ohhh right…um anyways could you come help me with this patient??”
You nod and quickly stand up. It’s too quick.
Before you can even fully process what’s happened your mind begins to fade. Your body starts to fall and you hear a sharp THUD sound as everything goes black.
The first thing you hear as you start to finally come to is the sound of interns scrambling, their voices obviously nervous as they speak.
That’s when you hear that voice. The one you could probably still recognise even when you grow old. Heeseung. Of course he was here. “Did anybody even try to catch her?! You didn’t think to break her fall or possibly soften the landing?!”
Oh god he is furious.
It wasn’t unknown to you that Heeseung would often lose his temper at the interns when they did something idiotic but hearing it in person felt different. You didn’t know whether he was always this enraged or whether it was down to this specific situation but one thing was clear and that’s the fact he’s pissed.
“Is she responsive?? Has anyone bothered to check her airway??” Heeseung demands a response from the interns.
You hear some of them mumble weak excuses, about how the situation overwhelmed them and they forgot the basics. God was this seriously the next generation of doctors?!
Your eyes open partially but even a glimpse at the light sends your head spiralling with pain causing you to involuntarily let out a small, pained squeak.
“I know Y/N. I know,” Heeseung tries to soothe after hearing your distress.
You eventually manage to squint your eyes open letting you take in the scene before you. Heeseung is stood beside you whilst a group of interns are huddled in the corner. They’re still trying to take notes but it’s clear that they were heavily reprimanded.
The nurse side of you is telling you to lie back, be a good patient but your body seems to have a mind of its own. You start to force yourself up- something you definitely were not supposed to do so soon after passing out.
A strong, firm hand pushes you back down against the uncomfortable hospital bed. “Y/N don’t. You know sitting up is not a good idea right now,” Heeseung tries to reason with you.
“Yeah I know…”
At that moment Jia bursts into the room, “What the hell is going on in here?!”
She starts moving towards you before noticing the crowd of interns lurking in the corner. “All of you out now!! This isn’t some sort of spectacle!!”
They all quickly shuffle out after that until the room fully clears out apart from Heeseung and herself.
“What happened?!”
You try to speak but Heeseung beats you to it, “Some intern asked for her help with something, she stood up and then passed out.”
“Do we know why??”
“Can you two stop talking about me like I’m not here?!” You snap but quieten down shortly after. You don’t mean to snap at them but frustration got the better of you.
“We don’t know why Y/N fainted so I’m ordering some tests.”
“Ughhh,” you groan. “Would it not be better to use these resources on you know like…patients who actually need them??”
“You fainted so now you’re a patient as well.” Jia states.
“Jia could you please run a full blood work up. Just so we can see if anything jumps out…if not we’ll order more tests.”
You shake your head in refusal, “I am not getting any blood taken from me. The needle freaks me out.”
Heeseung gives you a look of disbelief, “You’re a nurse and you’re scared of needles?!”
“I’m not scared. I just simply find blood tests unpleasant,” you try to argue.
“She’s scared of them. In fact, only saying scared is generous. She’s like petrified.” Jia butts in.
“Jia, you're supposed to defend me!!”
“I’ll hold your hand then,” Heeseung says.
“Hahaha you are absolutely hilarious.” You think he’s just being sarcastic or maybe mocking you for your fear.
“I wasn’t kidding. Jia can draw your blood whilst I hold your hand. As long as it means you won’t be refusing medical treatment I’m up for it.”
You end up reluctantly agreeing, “Fine.”
As Jia begins to prepare the equipment a sudden wave of hesitation hits you. “Jia, are you like 100% sure you wanna do this to me. We are best friends after all…I wouldn’t want it to influence you at all.”
Heeseung takes your hand into his, the grip surprisingly warm. You thought his hands would be cold and devoid of warmth, similar to his personality on certain occasions. Or maybe it just depended on the person. You were supposedly his favourite after all.
The tourniquet wraps around your arm, the feeling is tight and uncomfortable. “This is the worst part,” Heeseung murmurs, his hand beginning to rub gently over your knuckles.”
“Ugh this is so stupid. That’s normally my job to say that…but here I am now being the victim instead.”
“Youre the patient,” Jia corrects.
As Jia advances the needle into your arm your face scrunches up in discomfort. Although, admittedly the feeling isn’t as awful as you had anticipated.
“…Wait, that actually wasn’t as bad as I thought.”
Hearing you don’t need comforted anymore, Heeseung abruptly pulls his hand away from yours.
“We had informed you that it wouldn’t be bad but you know…”
Heeseung switches back in doctor mode acting like he wasn’t just a big softie who offered to hold your hand when he heard you were scared of something. But then again that could’ve just been because he wanted the test over and done with.
“I’ll have these run to the lab and leave Jia as your company for now.”
🩹
The results come quicker than you had expected.
Jia had left around ten minutes ago, and understandably so, to go and attend to some ‘other patients.’ You still weren’t used to being referred to as that.
Heeseung walks in holding a tablet. “Damn that was quick…” you mumble.
“Told them its priority. Well it always is when it’s a member of hospital staff.”
“So what’s the result?? Anything that could be a reason behind my random fainting??” You ask although you aren’t entirely sure whether to be curious or not. There’s always the possibility it could be something bad.
He hands the tablet over to you so you can take a look for yourself, “Low blood sugar is probably the most likely one. Can you remember the last time that you ate before you passed out??”
“Maybe a little more than a few hours beforehand…” Now it was all starting to make sense.
Heeseung lets out an exasperated sigh, “You need to take better care of yourself Y/N. You do so much for others yet so little for yourself.”
You couldn’t argue with that, it was the truth after all. However in this career it seemed almost impossible to do so. You’d start with one patient, then get roped into helping another, it was like a cycle. A cycle that repeated again and again and again. And by the time that was over hours had passed leaving no time for a break.
“I know…but it’s hard to get anytime to myself.”
Heeseung gives you a sympathetic nod, “I get it Y/N…with a job like this. I’m not trying to blame you, all I’m trying to emphasize is, how are you supposed to care for others when you aren’t at 100% yourself?”
He’s got a point.
“Anyways you’re taking a few days off so you can get the rest and recovery that you need.” It’s not a request.
“Seriously??”
He nods, “Doctors orders…and also hospital standards. We’ll manage to survive without you.”
You flash him a weak smile, “Survive but not thrive.”
Heeseung shakes his head, “Everyone will definitely be a little bit more miserable, you bring the positivity up…especially in Mina. And you’ve got all of us to support you, so you can always just give us a call if you need anything.”
“Could someone call me an uber or taxi or something?? I don’t think driving right now would be a wise decision.”
“Mhm, ill pay for it and walk you out when it gets here.”
“You don’t have to-“
“I want to.”
You nod slowly, “I don’t wanna be a bother but I don’t exactly fancy leaving my car here overnight…”
“I can take it back,” he offers straight away. “I can drop it off after my shift, is there anywhere specific where I should park it??”
“There’s an underground parking bit but you need a code to get in…it’s 5918. I trust that you won’t be trying to break into my apartment anytime soon.”
He chuckles, the sound low and warm. “How did you discover my secret plan?! But in all seriousness it’s safe with me.”
A few minutes later, you’re in the locker room trying to retrieve all your belongings before the uber arrives. It’s then that you realise you forgot to bring your coat which isn’t exactly ideal with the bipolar nature of the weather which means that it’s now freezing outside.
You turn to Heeseung who’s leant against the locker beside yours. He says this is ‘protocol’ but you aren’t too sure of that.
“Do you think I’ll be too cold outside without a jacket??”
“Take mine.” It sounds more like a demand rather than an offer.
Heeseung opens up his locker which is on the opposite side of the room and pulls out a hoodie. “I know it’s not a coat but it should keep you relatively warm.”
You nod and take it gratefully, “Thank you.”
You pull it on, although it does hang off your much smaller frame you can’t deny how cozy it is. It smells so distinctly him , a mix of hand sanitizer and that perfume he always wears.
“Come on I’ll walk you out before the uber arrives…only if you want me to of course.”
“Yeah I don’t really fancy being dizzy again, then passing out, then being left on the ground.”
Heeseung winces, “I’m still in disbelief that there were so many people around yet they just left you to fall and hit the floor. They could’ve at least caught you…I thought that was just basic human decency but evidently not.”
“Uh huh, I heard you giving the interns a hard time over that whilst I was still half unconscious.”
As the two of you walk out side by side, Heeseung turns to you, dawning a smirk across his face, “You can’t deny that they didn’t deserve it though.”
“Maybe they did…” The interns did have an infamous history of being arrogant at times. “But maybe they didn’t.”
By the time you’re outside the uber is already parked, you hope that you hadn’t made the driver wait for ages.
“Message me when you get home, call me if you need anything whilst you're off.” You open your mouth to speak but Heeseung starts again, “And I mean anything, even if you think it’s stupid…just don’t hesitate.”
“Jeez you sound like my parents right now. Anyways if you were mid emergency you wouldn’t abandon that to check that I’m home.”
“I’d see eventually. Or just page me or something, just let me know that you got home safely. Got it??”
“Got it.”
🩹
The first day at home is harder than you’d thought it would be.
You’re so used to the dynamic, ever changing environment of the hospital that now the peace and quiet of your apartment feels mundane. It bores you.
You try to occupy yourself by watching TV, reading, even doomscrolling- stuff you would’ve found entertaining at one point in your life. But it’s no use at this moment.
The entire nature of it feels so wrong. Lazing around instead of being productive. Eating takeout from a box rather than anticipating whether your patient is about to code or not.
Not to mention the fact that you’d practically been living in the hoodie Heeseung had given you. The baggy fit made it incredibly comfortable to lounge around in and the scent reminded you of him, which reminded you of the hospital…that put you somewhat at ease.
When the second day comes around you know trying to find a hobby to pass time is pointless. So you resort to staring up at the cracked, peeling apartment ceiling. Obviously, the upstairs neighbours have no grace—when do they ever— it seems like they must be having a game of who can make the loudest noise with the amount of thumps you’re hearing.
That’s when you hear that oh so familiar knock on your door.
You push yourself off the bed and move into the living room just in time to hear Heeseung’s voice come from the other side. “Y/N are you there?! Could you let me in??”
You let out a small hum before talking, “Could you please be quieter…I’d prefer not to get a noise complaint from some rather annoying neighbours.”
He quietens down as the door unlocks with a click.
There stands Heeseung. He’s wearing sweatpants and a loose fitting t-shirt, he looks so casual, so much more approachable like this. But then again you hadn’t ever seen him out of his hospital issued scrubs and attire. He’s holding a bag in his hand which looks quite filled with god knows what.
“You doing okay??” He asks as he enters.
“Do you want the truth or what you’re going to want to hear??”
“The truth.”
You flop onto the couch with a sigh, “Well for some reason I feel even more drained at home than I do at work. Guess I’m so used to being busy that my brain doesn’t know how to switch off anymore.”
“Makes sense. That’s why I’m here.”
You look at him completely perplexed, “And why exactly is that??”
“To take care of you. I’ve got supplies in this bag, food, a weighted stuffed animal…my sister recommended it. I just thought you always take such good care of everyone else but no one ever does the same for you…”
He wasn’t wrong…but then again taking care of people was your job after all.
Heeseung pulls from the bag the ingredients for your favourite type of chicken noodle soup. “I heard from Mina that this was your favourite and I figured you could use something other than takeout.”
“How would you know about my takeout?? Are you spying on me, Dr Lee Heeseung??” Your tone is teasing.
“Nope simply made an inference from the takeout boxes sat on the kitchen counter. Besides, you need actual nutritious food.”
“Hmmm, I accept your offering of the chicken noodle soup.”
Not long after, you’re curled up in bed when that nostalgic aroma of your mothers classic chicken noodle soup starts to make its way towards you.
In walks Heeseung holding a steaming bowl filled to the brim with your favourite. “Here, it’s still piping hot just how you like it.”
The hot soup touches your lips immediately giving the comfort that you’d normally only have being back at home with your family.
“I see you’ve done your research. It’s perfect.”
“I’ll have to inform Mina of that, she was rather convinced that I’d mess it up. Also if you ever find yourself in the situation where you’ve done something wrong under no circumstances tell Mina or Jia. They give in rather easily when being interrogated.”
You shake your head dramatically, “Seriously?! Guess you’re my only accomplice whom I can trust now.”
He smirks, “Oh so I’ve been promoted to accomplice now.”
“…I suppose so. This chicken noodle soup counts as an act of loyalty.”
The bowl is fully emptied soon after. You’ve drained it dry to the point where there’s no evidence of the chicken noodle soup which previously it was overflowing with.
Heeseung takes the bowl from your hands and sets it down on the bedside table. “Anything else I can do for you??”
“Don’t you have a job to be getting to?? You know you have an ER to run??”
“I told them I’d be a bit late. Still got a little while until my shift starts anyways…so anything else you want??”
I mean you’d be yearning for someone to cuddle for a while now but that didn’t exactly seem appropriate to ask of someone who’s essentially your boss.
“Y/N?? You need anything??”
You shake your head, “Nope.”
“I know you’re lying.”
How could he read you so damn well?! It was so aggravating!!
“…it’s not exactly appropriate,” you mumble.
“What is it??”
You look down at your hand, twiddling your fingers together awkwardly. “Just a hug…” your voice is barely audible.
Without hesitation, Heeseung sits down beside you on the edge of the bed and pulls you into his arms. “When you said that I thought you meant something actually inappropriate,” he murmurs against your hair.
“Well I kinda think it is giving we’re coworkers…”
“We also aren’t in a professional setting so right now it could be argued that I’m simply comforting my friend.”
You look up at him, eyes hopeful. “Friends??”
“Friends,” he agrees.
🩹
Despite Heeseung’s original advice for you to stay off for a few days, you end up returning to the hospital on the third day.
After Heeseung’s care last night you feel suitably rested and recharged. Sure everyone’s still a bit weary due to the passing out incident but after hearing you’ve sufficiently rested their nerves seem to ease.
“Just don’t be fainting on any of our patients. Some of them come to us for heart attacks; they aren’t in need of another one.” Mina tells you just before your shift begins.
You roll your eyes playfully, “It was one time Mina. One time that everyone refuses to let go of.”
“In all fairness it was only like three days ago…that’s still rather recent. Oh also I’ve organised that you’ll be taking a rest break every couple of hours, so you can replenish your systems.”
You sigh, “You are literally like an overbearing sister Mina.”
“Hey I’m just trying to take precautions to ensure the best care for both my patients and my staff.”
You can’t help but giggle at how similar her and Heeseung sound right now.
“What this is no laughing matter Y/N!!”
“You just sound like a very certain someone right now…who’s name starts with a H.” You manage to say in between laughs.
Mina gasps, “Do you know how offensive that is to me?? I am nothing like that grump!!”
“Yeah…yeah. Anyways I’m gonna go tend to my first patient so sulk all you want.”
It’s room 111 again. This room only seemed slightly cursed by now.
You push open the door to reveal Mrs Chen lying on that bed again. “Mrs Chen, so we meet again!!” You're back to using the enthusiastic, professional voice again.
“Oh well hello again my dear!!”
You pump some hand sanitizer onto your hand before approaching her. “So what brings you back to the ER Mrs Chen??” Your tone is gentle yet probing.
“Well I don’t think it’s too much of a big deal but my arm occasionally feels a bit tingly. So my daughter brought me in but right now she’s outside signing some forms. She keeps saying it’s better to be safe rather than sorry but I feel as though I must bother you folks an awful lot.”
“It’s no trouble at all Mrs Chen…it’s our jobs after all.”
You pull out a blood pressure cuff, “Could I wrap this around your arm please?? It may feel a little tight or uncomfortable when it inflates but it shouldn’t hurt. It’s just to measure your blood pressure.”
She nods and holds out her arm allowing you to wrap it around. Given Mrs Chen’s reputation and her particular taste she’s being remarkably cooperative today.
As you secure it around her arm she starts speaking out of the blue. “My dear, who's that handsome doctor outside??”
Your eyes immediately fall on Heeseung but then again Mrs Chen probably finds anyone with a face handsome at her age. “Who do you mean Mrs Chen??”
She points directly at Heeseung, “Him. He’s very appealing to the eyes. Will he be paying me a visit anytime soon??”
The cuff starts to inflate around her arm. “That’s Dr Lee Heeseung, he’s the ER attending on night shifts so yes he probably will be paying us a visit pretty soon. Is that an issue Mrs Chen??”
“Well when I look like this, yes it is!! We must fix my appearance at once!!”
“Mrs Chen I can assure you that he’s seen people in far worse condition than you are right now. And in my opinion you look perfectly fine.”
You lean down to take off the cuff and she whispers. “Does he have a girlfriend??”
“Not that I’m aware of-“
The door opens with a slight creak sound and in walks heeseung, you could swear by now that he has a sixth sense to know when people are talking about him. “Mrs Chen you’re back so soon?? Did you really miss us all that much??”
“Well if I’m being honest I had no intention of returning!!” She defends herself, “It was my daughter. She is just a bit overly cautious at times.”
“Well I’m sure that as Y/N has already mentioned that it’s better you come and visit us just in case.”
You’re giving Heeseung a brief rundown on Mrs Chen’s condition when she speaks up again, “Have the two of you ever thought about dating?! Your visual chemistry is satisfying for my eyes.”
“Mrs Chen I don’t think…” you trail off.
“What I think Y/N was going to say is that it wouldn’t be very professional or appropriate if we dated…”
Mrs Chen gasps, “But you still aren’t saying no!!”
You both let out a sigh in unison. “Well I’m not denying that I would be open to going out with Y/N one time.” Heeseung says.
I’m sorry what?!
Your jaw drops agape. What the hell did he mean?!
“I’m simply just saying that now isn’t the correct time and place to discuss it.”
🩹
And that’s how you ended up on a date with Dr Lee Heeseung, the resident grump of the ER.
You both had the morning off so decided to settle for a small cafe spot just outside of the city. It was perfect- far enough away from the hospital to give you privacy from any possible prying eyes.
When you arrive he’s already sat inside the cafe waiting for you. If you knew one thing about Heeseung it was that he had the tendency to be early.
“This still feels so…” you murmur, taking a seat across from him.
“Weird, wrong??” He finishes your sentence for you. “Yeah I get it. Guess we’re just so used to hanging around in break rooms that anything slightly more formal feels strange.”
“…I still can’t believe that this is happening because of Mrs Chen of all people.”
Heeseung shrugs, “She just gave me a way to say what I’d been wanting to for a while now…what are you thinking of getting??”
“Pancakes.”
“You know you're very decisive when it comes to your food choices,” he says with a chuckle.
“God forbid a girl knows what she likes!!”
The two of you continue to talk whilst waiting for the food to be brought out. It feels nice to have this lighthearted moment outside of work, especially with someone like Heeseung.
“Do you think we’ve ever treated anyone from here who had like an allergic reaction or something??”
Heeseung almost spits out his drink at your random reference back to work, “I thought you were supposed to be the optimistic one?!”
“I’m being realistic. People could just eat something without realising they’re allergic to it.”
“Well to answer your question unless it was severe then nope. They’d be diverted to a smaller hospital that was closer by…i thought we agreed to keep this part of our lives separate from the work part??”
“Ughhh but it’s so difficult,” you whine. “Everything just reminds me of that place.”
The waitress places the pancakes down in front of you and Heeseung waits until she leaves to start speaking again. “Even these pancakes??”
You nod solemnly, “These give me flashbacks to the time that Jia spilt maple syrup all over the break room couch and it like absorbed so anytime anyone sat down it would just be sticky…”
His eyes widen, “That was you guys?!”
“It’s not like we did it on purpose!!”
“Didn’t an intern literally quit the program because of that?? Because everyone was blaming them for it??”
You look away innocently, “Possibly…”
By the time that your date is technically over you can only be described as a flustered mess. Your cheeks warm from emotion.
You try to split the cost of the food but Heeseung ends up paying for it all- of course he does.
As you’re walking out Heeseung stops to look down at you, “Do you wanna come back to my place for a bit or??”
You did but the universe had other plans. “…I can't, I have to go do some important family things.”
He gives you a small pout and those irresistible doe eyes in an attempt to sway your decision, “More important than me??”
“Do not give me that face Heeseung!! I can’t believe you’re trying to weaponise your cute little bambi eyes against me!!”
For a man known for his harsh nature at work he was shockingly adorable when he wanted to be.
“Hmmm you shouldn’t have expressed how much you liked them then. Now when ever you won’t do something for me work I’ll just whip these out then bam you’ll be whipped.”
“Hey!! I’m not the one who doesn’t do what you want!! That’s Mina…and those eyes would not work on her at all.”
He raises an eyebrow, “How could you be so sure of that??”
“Mina has like a heart of steel, it doesn't even soften for crying children…in fact that just worsens it….she also talks to inanimate objects nicer than she does to real people.”
“…Yeah Mina’s an interesting character,” Heeseung admits. “Well anyways i guess if you really can’t stay then you’ll just have to give me a parting gift.”
You pull his head down and press a small, delicate into his lips. “Was that satisfactory enough for you Dr Lee??”
He shakes his head, “Unfortunately not…i think ill need a few more. After all, I have been waiting a rather long time for this so you better make it worth the wait.”
You kiss him again and again and again, until your lips are slightly puffy from the work they’ve been putting in and your lip gloss has partially stained his lips. Seeing this you pull away with a small giggle.
“Why are you laughing at me??”
You reach up and wipe some of the gloss off his lips onto your finger, “Here.” Showing him your now pink, glossy finger Heeseung can’t help but chuckle as well.
“Guess you really proved it was worth the wait hmm??”
“Yep…but I have to go now.”
Heeseung nods understandingly, “Text me when you get home okay??”
“Will do!!” You shout whilst rushing off.
🩹
The two of you start ‘officially’ dating shortly after.
You keep it quiet, especially at work. Only a select few people know- that being Jia and Mina. It’s not like you’d be able to keep a secret from them anyway. But you do have them swear they will not tell anyone else in this building.
Jia takes her oath particularly seriously whilst Mina just jokes saying she ‘has no one else to tell in the hospital.’ She wasn’t wrong given that you and Jia were the only people she could actually tolerate.
At work there’s pretty much no change. During those hours you and Heeseung act indifferent towards each other. You keep professional boundaries. At most someone would just presume that you were just his favourite nurse, which they wouldn’t be wrong about.
However, outside everything changes. You spend most of your time where you aren’t working together. You even take a few ‘coincidental’ days off at the same time.
Nobody at the hospital bothers to question it though. For all they know you could just both be sick at the same time.
Dating someone who was essentially your superior at work wasn’t easy. But you made it work.
tags: @nikidikiy @heeunleash @hoonguin @wonscapes @woninlove @your-local-lune @jazzygirlengene @rikismists @rikischromehart @mingoonerr @evelynnroseeee @kristynaaah lmk if you wanna be added!!
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summary. nerdy sim jaeyun is sweating buckets when the baddie he's been crushing on sits in his lap on a two-hour road trip.
pairing. nerdy!jake x baddie!female reader
genre(s). oneshot, smut, big porn with a small plot
warnings. MDNI, jake is a professional yearner, jake is very shy and repressed (and a bit insecure), masturbation, pervert!jake, unprotected sex (pls don’t), subby switch!jake, top or bottom he's always a sub, reader is a bit mean, jake cries a lot and begs a lot, slight sunsunki if you squint, handjob, blowjob, nose-riding, jake eats her out as well, reverse cowgirl, cowgirl, missionary, BRO WHY IS IT NEVER-ENDING, but like it's messy, EDGING EDGING EDGINGGGG, reader calls him jaeyun, reader is jealous and possessive, implied aftercare, enhypen ensemble, hmm please let me know if i missed anything! not beta read we die like injang
word count. 14,807 words
note. oh boy! this used to be a veeeery old, 8k-word draft, my take on nerdy jake that i decided to polish and give life to. it is also a gift for my bestie and fellow jake's wife: dr. @twocupsofsuga 🫶🏼 congratulations on passing medschool! you're so smart mhm here's my lap dance for you 😏
Women make Sim Jaeyun nervous.
Especially someone as bold and confident like you.
There's something about the soft lilt of your voice that makes him feel ashamed to even speak in your presence. There's something about your enticing eyes that makes him stutter and stumble with his own words, his grammar-police persona flying out the window. There's something about the sure sway of your hips that makes him want to avert his gaze and look more all the same time; like something sinful he shouldn't want but crave for anyway.
You're the kind of woman that makes Sim Jaeyun nervous.
Park Jongseong's cousin from the States that always comes to visit for summer, with that bold show of your body that'll usually often get frowned upon in his neighbourhood, that honey tint of your skin that's far from the local society's beauty standard. You're upfront and so unapologetically you, something he admires and makes him overly conscious if his hair looks nice or not.
It's another summer and you're here again. You're always a welcome addition to their annual trip to Jay's beach house, a road trip that's usually joined by the other five plus you and him. But this year, Nishimura Riki had a last minute decision to cancel his flight to Japan and opted to spend the summer with them instead of with his family.
Which leaves all of you with no space for one person inside Jay's SUV.
"I call dibs on the rear seats," Heeseung says before anyone gets the chance to and disappears into the car. Riki opens his mouth, about to follow the eldest of the group, when Jungwon shoots him a sharp look and blocks his way with his hand.
"No, Riki. You're not getting a seat."
Riki's face morphs into horror. "What?! Am I excluded from this trip?"
"You cancelled your flight this morning. You were never included in the trip."
Seeing the look of hurt on his face, Sunoo actually takes pity on Riki. Peering inside, the blonde mumbles with a pout when he sees a small ice box sitting beside Heeseung. "Surely we can squeeze him into the rear seat, right…?"
"All of his six-feet-one ass? I'd like to see you try, Sunoo hyung." Jungwon shakes his head. He leans on the passenger door, already the assigned co-pilot of the car, in charge of Spotify playlist and Waze and moral support to his Jay hyung. "Either one of you sits in another's lap, or we can Uber Riki to the beach house."
Hearing that, Riki immediately throws his hands. "It's a two-hour drive, hyung, I might just be paying for the Uber's car loan! It's gonna be so expensive!"
"If you can afford cancelling your flight with no refunds, then I think you can afford an Uber to Sokcho."
Riki whips his head to his Sunoo and Jake hyung, jutting out his lips in a pout that's borderline pitiful. Jake mirrors his expression, not really having the power to go against Jungwon's verdict—as if anybody could. Jake pities him, really, but it's Yang Jungwon. There's a whole menace behind those cute dimples and boba eyes.
Beside him, Sunghoon lets out a long sigh. "Then one of us will have to sit in another's lap."
It's an option that has everybody darting their eyes around, afraid that any eye contact with Jungwon will make them become the sacrificial thighs for the two-hour road trip. They're all men packed with mass and muscles, a result of a gym routine that unexpectedly becomes a problem today. Each of them at least weighs one hundred-forty pounds. Jake's sure that if he was chosen, he'd lose his legs by the time they exit Seoul.
Just in time, a loud thud is heard from the car boot. You and Jay walk into the scene, just having finished loading all of their stuff into the car. Jake adjusts his glasses instinctively, unknowingly fixing his appearence when his eyes land on you.
You've abandoned your cardigan, now only wearing a yellow camisole top that only reaches your belly button and a pair of jeans shorts that ends at the bottom swell of your ass. Your outfit choice hides nothing about your figure—your perfect body that admittedly has always been on his mind.
Jake gulps and lets his eyes trail down to your legs. You're seriously one of the most beautiful and hottest girls he's ever seen, and unfortunately, he has a severe problem of having a crush on baddies who are completely out of his nerdy league. You're definitely one of them.
When he looks up, Jake almost faints when your gaze catches his eyes with an unreadable expression. He quickly averts his eyes, adjusting the thick black rims of his glasses that didn't need adjusting.
Did you notice him staring?
"Car seat problem?" Jay asks when he senses the tension among the boys, already foreseeing this issue the moment Riki told him that he was joining their road trip over the phone this morning. They hesitantly nod.
"So what's the solution?"
"Riki takes an Uber to Sokcho—"
"Which will cost him his tuition fees," Jay comments, ever the hyperbole-user.
"—Or someone has to sit in another's lap."
Judging from the expression on Jay's face, he, too, doesn't think it's a comfortable position to be sitting in on a two-hour road trip.
But apparently, someone thinks otherwise.
"Oh, then let's do that!" You pipe in, flashing them with your charming smile. "I don't mind doing it!"
There's an elephant silence that follows your statement. Upon seeing their gaped expression, your smile slowly dies down, unsure if you had said the right thing.
"…Or not."
"Or yes!" Riki interrupts, relief flooding his senses. His eyes lit up as he looks around at each one of his friends. "Guys, she's offered to sit in anyone's lap. We can do that, right?"
Jungwon narrows his eyes. "It's a two-hour drive."
Riki blinks nervously. "But noona wants it."
"Then let Y/N noona sit in your lap."
Now, there's a rosy blush blooming across Riki's cheeks. Jake frowns. Lucky bastard. "I-I mean—"
"Not him," you cut in, a small smile playing on your lips. Jake can feel the exact moment everyone holds their breath, as if the air pauses on its own accord and waits for the rest of your sentence. Either they're anticipating or dreading to be your exclusive seat in the car—he's not sure. He's certain that he's the former, but he's also certain you'd pick someone more your type—Sunghoon or Riki, who are loyal gym buddies that possess strong thighs for you to sit on—or even Heeseung who's abandoned his nap and is eavesdropping the conversation now.
He doesn't know why, but surely someone hot like you would pick someone just as hot, right? And hot in Sim Jaeyun's definition is someone who matches your confidence (not him), someone who has a good body and is not shy to show them (Jake thinks his body is nice, but he's also always wearing long-sleeves), or just anyone but him.
Jay pinches the bridge of his nose. "Then who?"
When your eyes meet Jake's, the brown-haired boy almost loses his breath.
A smile curves up your lips. Jake thinks he's hallucinating because there's no way you are smirking at him.
"With Jaeyun."
There's a ripple of gasps, disbelief and shock mixing with a hint of betrayal (no doubt from Riki). Jay's brow disappears behind his hair.
"Seriously, Y/N? You don't have to—Riki's rich enough to pay for the Uber."
Riki's protest is muffled when Jungwon pulls him into a chokehold and slaps a hand over his mouth. Jake wants to pity him, really, but this time he thinks he's the one who needs help because what do you mean? There's no way—
"I'm serious. Jaeyun-ah."
—Oh my fucking God. Jaeyun. Jaeyun. Who's Jaeyun? Who the fuck is Jaeyun?
Jake has a trouble hearing you over the loud roar of his blood, heart threatening to jump out of his throat. But he manages a small, airy, 'Hm?' when all eyes are on him.
You tilt your head slightly, eyes never letting go of his, holding him hostage in your gaze alone. This, paired with the way you call his government name—a name you prefer over Jake because 'it's cuter' (according to you, not him) when he first introduced himself to you four years ago, and Jake had let you because he could never say no to you—are the most perfect, never-before-seen formula to unravel the physics genius Sim Jaeyun.
Yeah. Jake is a goner. And will soon have a boner if no one stops you from picking him as today's sacrificial thighs.
"Can I sit with you, Jaeyunnie?"
Someone please say no. Someone please stop you. Someone please tell this Jaeyun to say no because—because why him? Is this some kind of a cliché ploy that popular girls do to play with men's feelings, especially a physics nerd like him? Because if it is, Jake hates to admit that he'd be a willing participant (even if it'd break his heart a little).
"Yes, sure," he squeaks, finally recognising that Jaeyun is his name. He's still trying to process that you chose him—not Sunghoon with his ridiculous broad shoulders, or Riki with his ridiculous long legs, or Heeseung with his ridiculous charm—but him, who's sweating buckets and dampening his armpits underneath his long-sleeved T-shirt. His glasses almost glide down his nose from how sticky it is.
"It's settled, then!" Sunoo claps once, already red and irritated from having to stand under the unforgiving sun for longer than necessary. "Jake hyung and Y/N will sit together. So I will be sitting with—"
"Me!"
"Me!"
Sunoo ignores Sunghoon and Riki, and walks straight to the rear seats. "With Heeseung hyung!"
Soon, there's shuffling and then everyone's already inside the car. Riki sits in the middle with a pout, a penalty for causing the minor disruption and losing rock-paper-scissors to Sunghoon and Jake. Sunghoon is happily humming to a song from the 80s, occassionally turning around to tease Sunoo who's been trying to join Heeseung in his mandatory road-trip nap. Jay and Jungwon have settled into their designated seats as the drivers of the day, already talking about the route they're taking and traffic condition. While Jake—well, he's preparing himself for the inevitable.
You're still standing by the door, overseeing the situation at hand, and Jake tries to ignore the way his cheeks burn under your weighted gaze.
"Can I sit now?" You softly ask. Jake hesitates a moment before nodding his head frantically.
"Y-Yes."
You, on the other hand, do not hesitate at all. Jake instinctively spreads his legs when you climb into the car, already aiming his lap as your throne for the next 120-minute of the ride. His senses heighten, overly aware of his friends' eyes watching his every move, and the soft scent of peach from your body wash that invades his nose when your weight finally settles on him.
In a split second, Jake goes from never daring to touch you to having you resting your ass comfortably on his clothed dick, thanks to a certain Japanese who's now queueing songs like he didn't just commit a fatal crime against his Aussie hyung.
His slightly longer thighs bracket your exposed ones in a hesitant cage, every point of your skin meeting his seems to burn through the fabric of his jeans. Your hair and neck are one breath away from his nose now, where he's inhaling lungfuls of peaches and creams and your vanilla-ish perfume, and Jake chooses to blink at the ceiling to avoid looking over your shoulders and possibly flashing himself with the swell of your chest under that thin camisole top. The already-cramped space feels even smaller, and Jake doesn't think he can breathe properly.
While at it, Jake hopes his prayers could break through the car roof and reach the heavens.
God, please have mercy on me and let my other head not have a brain of its own.
God answers him shortly in the form of you shifting around.
"You comfortable?" You ask innocently, adjusting yourself on his lap. Jake nearly inhales his tongue, feeling blood rush to his ears and south. A strangled noise escapes his throat instead.
"Mhm."
From the front, he can hear a snort coming from none other than Jay. "You sound constipated, dude."
'Try having a pretty girl sit on your dick then!', is what Jake wishes he could say to his friend, but he knows that this is more of a him-problem. Someone like Jay won't get flustered in this kind of situation—at least not as bad as he is, who doesn't even fucking know where to put his hands, hovering in the air like he's about to conduct a choral speaking.
So, Jake resorts to conveying his rage through the rearview mirror instead, hoping that his glare and frown are enough to make Jay feel bad. (They don't, Jay finds him cute instead).
Jungwon comes to save the day as he turns to the backseat. "Do you have everything with you?" All of them except Jake hum. He thinks he doesn't have his sanity anymore, but of course the younger boy pretends to ignore him.
Jungwon eyes each one of his friends, his gaze stopping longer at the sight of Jake gripping the leather seat, the white of his knuckles almost matching his face, and you smiling innocently at him. Jungwon badly wants to laugh.
Jake widens his eyes at Jungwon. Help me!
The younger boy gives him an indecipherable look before turning to face the front. "Alright. We're not turning back for you even if you forgot your PlayStation."
Jake wants to say that they might want to leave a certain Sim Jaeyun to save him from this misery, but all words are gone from his mind when the car starts forward with a sharp jolt. Your back meets his chest in a soft thud, punching air out of his lungs. Your ass pushes deeper into his lap and Jake nearly pierces the leather with his nails from how desperately hard he's gripping it.
"Oops, sorry!" Jay chimes from the driver seat, sounding far from sorry.
You straighten up and turn around, looking more sorry than your cousin. "You okay? Sorry about that, Jaeyunnie."
Oh, fuck. Please don't use that voice on him when he's one bump away from kissing your lips. You're so close it feels like you're breathing in the same air he exhales, so close he can see the faint, tiny freckles dusting your cheeks and the bridge of your nose.
"Yeah," he manages, voice hoarse like he's just swallowed a bucket of sand. "I'm okay."
There's a halt in your movement, like you're actually seeing him through the calm façade he's exuding. His breath catches when your eyes drop to his lips briefly, the bitten-red skin tingles under your heated gaze.
Then, after a moment, you smile at him so easily; as if the tension never existed, as if the pull was only one-sided.
"If you say so."
When he's met with your shiny hair again, Jake lets out a breath he unknowlingly held. Your voice fills up the space softly as you begin talking to Jungwon and Jay, all cheery and unrestrained while he's exerting mental training equivalent to physical labour of a building constructor to stop his dick from hardening every time you move.
He hears a snicker from his left and immediately meets with Riki's mischievous eyes. The younger boy mouths something that has Jake closing his eyes and leaning on the headrest in defeat.
'Don't get horny now, Jake hyung.'
Jake is worried that if it's not now, it'll be the next time Jay hits a bump.
Instead of a road bump, Jake's personal enemy turns out to be you.
Ten minutes in, everything is still going fine. Jake is still breathing, alive, and hasn't popped a boner that could traumatise you and get him banned from the car permanently. You also seem okay, still engrossed in a conversation with the cat-duo driving the car, talking about college and your winter trip to Japan.
For a moment, Jake selfishly thinks if his lap was that…sitable, seeing as you haven't shown any signs of discomfort yet. Or, to be fair, it has been barely ten minutes since they're en route, and though those minutes are enough to pull the others into a car nap, ten minutes feel like one round of orbit around the Sun when he has you sitting on his lap.
Jake can feel himself melt into the seat. Maybe this isn't so bad at all. Maybe he can make it to Sokcho without having to cut his dick off before anyone could see his hard-on. He just has to sit really quietly and will his mind to avoid teetering dangerous territory.
Yeap. Everything is fine.
Not until you decide to put your hands on his thighs.
Jake almost jolts at the contact, flexing his thighs instinctively when you place your perfectly manicured fingers on the surface of his jeans. It's a brief touch, one that can pass as accidental, but the lingering heat it leaves behind feels almost physical.
His eyes dart to the back of your head, trembling with nerves nearly frayed at the edges, gauging your reaction, and bites the bottom of his lips when you resume your conversation as if nothing happened. Or nothing really happened to you.
It's just a touch, for God's sake. Calm your dick down.
If a simple touch from you could unravel him this fast, what about other things? What if you hug him, or-or if you hold his hand, or—wait, is he wishing for other things to happen between you and him? (He does, but he knows that it won't happen.)
Jake gulps harshly and decides to enjoy the scenery instead. He stares hard out the window, so intense like he's memorising every species of the trees they pass by, mind lost in a whirlwind of horny thoughts clashing with rationality, when you do something again.
This time, it isn't an innocent touch on his thigh. It's an innocent move to hear Jungwon better. You lean forward, pushing your ass deeper into his lap simultaneously, offering your ear to Jungwon who seems to be sharing a secret about Jay. Jake's breath hitches and his hands almost come up to hold your waist, the friction sending heat through his body.
Fuck. He peels his eyes away from the window forcefully and follows down the dip of your spine to where your ass meets his crotch. Your position highlights the narrow of your waist and the width of your hips, all sinful curves that have him swallowing harder, something inside his pants threatening to stir alive. Jake closes his eyes.
Think of Jesus, Jake. Think of Layla. He absentmindedly fixes his glasses. Think of quantum physics. Think of—
"—Oh!" You squirm excitedly, round butt wiggling slightly against his cock. "Yes, I met her before!"
Jake hisses before he can stop himself, the sound serving like a knife cutting the conversation. You and Jungwon instantly turn to look at him, the latter wearing a mischievous expression when he sees the heat painting Jake's face red.
"Are you okay?" You prompt in concern, noticing how stiffly Jake is nodding at you.
"Y-Yeah. Good. I'm horgoony."
Freudian slip is gonna be the death of him.
Jay and Jungwon burst out laughing, catching the slip as fast as any dirty-minded man would. Jake's face turns a darker shade of red, avoiding your eyes whose brows now pinching in confusion.
"Horgoony?" You echo, pretty confident you have never heard of that strange word spoken before. Jake immediately shakes his head, panic creeping into his chest when Jungwon shows a sign of opening his mouth.
No! Do not let that orange cat speak! Jungwon only cares about his downfall!
"I feel horribly good! Yeah," Jake stammers, to hell with any logical reasoning. "Like, I feel good because we're on a road trip. But also kind of horrible because I get motion sickness sometimes."
Now that the string of the sentences has flowed out of his mouth, Jake thinks he is kind of making sense. Satisfaction blooms in his chest when you nod in understanding, because two conflicting emotions—feeling good and horrible—can exist simultaneously, right? Like the way he wants to push you from his lap and hide in the deepest part of the Sokcho forest forever but also craves to just grab your hips and pull you close and have his way with you—wait stop.
What a horrible, horny, nothing-good man you are, Sim Jaeyun.
"That does sound horrible." Jake snaps out of his thoughts when he registers your voice, nodding fervently to amplify the faux pity that he's just orchestrated.
You give him a sorry look, the one where it pulls the corners of your mouth down into a frown. Jake sighs in relief. You bought it. Thank God for his smart brain.
"Yeah. I think I'm just gonna take a nap," he adds, voice turning softer when you still look at him in concern. He feels a strange need to overexplain.
"Motion sickness happens because your eyes see one thing while your inner ears and muscles feel another. If I take a nap, it'll eliminate the visual stimuli that causes the conflict…" Jake trails off, catching himself before he could go on and on and on on why humans experience motion sickness, and possibly bore you to death. He shakes his head imperceptibly. "So—yeah. I should take a nap."
To his surprise, you only give him a warm smile. "I never knew that, Jaeyun. Then what's the correlation between motion sickness and playing your phone in a moving vehicle?"
Jake blinks behind his glasses, genuinely taken aback that you're actually listening instead of zoning out halfway through his rambling.
"Oh. Um." He clears his throat. "It's kind of the same concept. Your eyes are focused on something stationary—your phone—but your body still feels the movement of the car."
You hum softly, leaning back against him slightly, prompting him to continue. Jake immediately forgets how lungs work.
"S-So your brain gets confused because the signals don't match," he continues weakly. "Your eyes tell your brain you're sitting still, but your inner ears are like, 'No, we're moving.' It's like mixed signals, and our body doesn't like mixed signals."
His ears are warming up from how true the words are to the situation he's having with you.
"And right now you're seeing my stationary body while the car's moving," you continue with a subtle tilt of your mouth, "so you're nauseous and all dizzy now, right?"
Jake almost chokes to death. Did you know about his little problem? He blinks at you rapidly, hand itching to touch his glasses in a fit of nerves.
Oh my God. He's going to die. He's going to die and Jungwon will write 'Sim Jaeyun was a smart friend, died a horny man with a dick that never went down, a standing ovation to his contribution to Seoul National University' as his headstone epitaph. You know about it so Jake is going to die!
He stumbles with his own words. "I-I mean—It's actually—"
You give him a cheeky smile. "I'm just joking with you, Jaeyun. You're probably sick because you're having me on your lap like this."
You start digging into your front pocket, frowning when it's empty. Jake holds his breath when your hands move to your back pocket, looking for whatever it is that gets you so determined and his dick so excited whenever your finger brushes against his crotch. Jake is almost blue from not breathing.
He thinks this time he's really going to die.
"Found it!"
You offer your palm to him, where two mint candies sit idly on the soft surface. Jake's chest slowly feels lighter as air rushes in, no longer collapsing under the pressure of your searching hand accidentally brushing against him moments ago. He clears his throat.
You beam at him. "These will soothe your sickness, Jaeyunnie. Please take them."
Jake studies your face.
Do you know what you're doing to him? Was everything done on purpose, or are you really oblivious to everything?
He swallows and forces a nod, taking the candies from your palm, feeling a spark of electricity in his system when his fingers brush your skin.
"Thank you, Y/N."
You turn your back on him, resuming your conversation with Jungwon and Jay. All sweet and cotton candy, unaware of the turmoil he's going through. Jake stares at the candies in his hand, a mocking sign to his misery, and heaves out a quiet sigh. He glances at his wristwatch.
It feels like two world wars had happened but it's only been twenty minutes into the drive. An hour and forty minutes of horny torture remains for Sim Jaeyun to endure, and he's not sure if he's going to survive.
He slowly closes his eyes. Maybe sleep can help with horniness, too.
It does, but only for a moment, because Jake could swear he just blinked when you tap his shoulder a few times.
Jake blinks, half-groggy and half-alert. Did he have a wet dream of you and get hard in his unconsciousness? Is that why you woke him up?
But he's met with your apologetic face instead. "I'm sorry for waking you up," you whisper, trying not to wake other boys who are fast asleep. "But my back's sore. Can I lean on you for a moment?"
In a flash, all incoherent thoughts fly out the window. Guilt starts lodging in his chest as he realises—glancing at his watch—that you've been sitting straight for one hour. Before he knows it, Jake is already nodding at you, adjusting his seat to accommodate the new position.
"Y-Yes, you can."
God, he's such a loser. The word 'no' seems to disappear from his dictionary whenever you're around.
You reward him with an appreciative smile and waste no time to turn around and lean back softly on him. The moment your back touches his chest, Jake can feel his system kick start, a chemical reaction that he can never understand no matter how hard he studies Biology.
You physically relax into his chest. "This is so much better," you sigh, a dreamy smile on your face, resting your head in the crook of his neck. Then you tilt your head upwards to glance at him. "Is this okay for you?"
Jake hopes you can't feel how fast his heart is beating through the fabric of his shirt. The brown-haired boy nods wordlessly. "More than okay."
For a moment, you just stare at him, brilliant eyes holding his in a soft gaze. It's a silent minute full of everything unspoken, rendering him speechless and even more restless because no matter how smart he is, he could never decipher the meaning behind this look you're giving him. There's something you hide that he feels like he should know, like an open secret waiting for the right time for him to catch.
This time, Jake is even sure that you can hear his heartbeat.
Then, as if that moment never happened, you close your eyes and get comfortable.
"We should sleep, Jaeyun. Don't want you to get carsick again."
You nuzzle closer and Jake holds his breath, feeling the silky strands of your hair brushing against his jaw. His hands hover, not knowing where to land, though the pinch of your waist is where he wants to hold the most. Eventually, Jake settles on his thighs, watching the difference between his veiny hands and the smooth span of your thighs.
Is he still sleeping? Is he dreaming or are you really sleeping on his chest?
It seems that sitting in his lap really tired you out, because you're fast asleep in less than five minutes. The guilt in his chest amplifies at the sight of your closed eyes, breathing evening out as sleep overtakes your being. Jake bites his lips.
He's so shameless, napping to avoid getting turned on instead of caring for your being. He’s so horrible, worrying more about his hard-on than the fact that you’ve been uncomfortable for an hour. Jake wants to cry so bad.
Jake spends the rest of the ride watching you sleep. He fixes your hair when it falls over your face, tucking it behind your ear carefully, and then smiles to himself when he sees your pout. He blocks the sunlight with his hand when it's glaring on your skin through the window, not minding letting his hand redden from the harsh light. He instinctively holds your waist at a sharp turn, firm and secure, though he lets go just as fast as if it burns, afraid that it's not a touch you'd receive had you been conscious.
Other than the carnal desire he has suppressed for you, this road trip also makes him realise the depth of the feelings he actually harbours for you. He's so doomed. He's so doomed because in what universe would a hot, sweet, popular California girl like yourself, return back the feelings of a bland, studious, quiet Korean-Aussie boy like him?
In fictions. In another lifetime. But not in Sim Jaeyun's current universe right now.
However, the Sim Jaeyun in this universe also will never know peace.
Because just as he's getting comfortable with the you-watching routine that he just recently discovered, the road has another plan for him when Jay finally, and actually, hits a bump this time.
The first bump is a mild surprise. Jake gathers it's a small bump, one that Jay overlooks while getting excited over Bon Jovi playing on the rodeo. But the aftermath brings you settling deeper into him, pressing on him in a way that has his breath hitching. Jake holds your waist on instinct.
"Oh my God, I didn't see that," Jay mutters from the front.
Jake tries to steady his breath. That's…a shock. One that shatters the soft atmosphere he created while watching you, now replaced with the same tension he's been fighting the last hour.
Jake lets go of your waist when he assumes that it's just a one-time thing. But then the bump happens again, and instead of a solid, big one—it's shaky, like they're sliding through endless, tiny jagged rocks.
"Damn bro, this road needs fixing," Jay makes another commentary. He glances at the rearview mirror. "You good, Jake?"
Jake doesn't know what to answer. "I think I am," he mumbles, voice clipped.
Is it good that you're practically bouncing in his lap, adding more pressure with almost no interval for him to recover mentally? He thinks not. But Jay doesn't have to know that.
"We're almost there," Jungwon chimes in, navigating the map. There's a shakiness in his voice that comes from the vibration caused by the bumps. "Fifteen minutes at most. We found a shorter route just now and traffic was smooth."
Fifteen minutes.
Jake thinks he might actually die in fifteen minutes.
Another bump sends your body rocking against him softly, your sleeping face scrunching for a brief second before relaxing. His grip tightens.
Fuck.
If Jay doesn't stop the car and fix this damn road himself then he's definitely going to pop a boner soon.
Jake squeezes his eyes shut when another bump rattles through the car, and then again, and again, and again until Jake can barely separate one sensation from another anymore. Until he doesn't know where he starts and where you end anymore. You shift unconsciously, settling heavier against his chest before Jay hits another bump.
This time, Jake makes a mistake of looking down at you.
He didn't notice it before, too lost in his sappy, romantic feelings for you. But right now, it's actually so damn obvious that the angle from where he sits taller than you and you lean against him, he can easily see your cleavage past the neckline of your camisole.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
The road doesn't stop shaking beneath the tires, and so does his pulse as he watches your breasts bounce with every bump that comes their way. Jake averts his eyes, so stiff and so strained, but can't help letting his gaze drift back to watch the soft mounds shake.
This is bad. This is very, very bad, and Jake is nothing but a bad fucking pervert.
A particularly rough patch of road sends the entire car jolting. Your body bounces against him harder this time, more pressure and more friction that Jake almost whimpers. He tips his head back, gulping harshly as the line of his long neck glistens with a sheen of sweat.
Inside his jeans, he can feel his cock kick.
Oh, fuck—he's definitely hard now.
Oh my fucking God.
"This is the last one, promise!"
Jake doesn't even register Jay's words, or the way your head hits his jaw from impact, because his internal system is flooded with horny-filled panic. He can feel it: his dick twitching and getting semi-hard from the continuous stimulation from your bouncing. He doesn't even realise that he's now clawing at his own thighs, seeking strength that could neutralise his blooming lust, or that you are finally awake.
"Are we almost there?" You ask groggily, blissfully unaware of the raging boner forming under your ass. You sit up when the coastal view greets your blurry vision, mouth gaping in awe.
"Oh, wow!" You gasp, always excited to visit Sokcho no matter how many times you've been there. "It's beautiful as always!"
The road is smooth now, but Jake's final torture arrives in the form of you bouncing, excitedly and consciously, in his lap. You wiggle in enthusiasm, urging Jungwon to pass your phone that's been charging at the front to take some pictures and send it to the family groupchat.
"Jungwon, Jaeyun, look at those seagulls!"
Jake is seeing no seagulls. He's only seeing white hot, painful pleasure as you move in his lap, his brain dissolving into useless static. His fingers twitch, itching to grab your waist and force you to stay still, but you're so excited that he almost didn't have the heart to do it.
"Did you see that?" You lean to the window, and then shift happily when you spot kites in the sky. "We should do that too! Hey, Jay, do you think you can—"
Jake finally has had enough.
The restraint that he's been holding onto finally breaks like a taut wire getting cut. His hands snap to your waist, pulling you flush against his chest, hips almost bucking up from the delicious friction alone. His lips drop to the shell of your ears, hot, ragged breath brushing the sensitive skin as his voice lowers an octave.
"Y/N," Jake licks his dry lips, the tip of his tongue peeking through. He watches with dark eyes as the hair on your neck stands straight under his unforgiving proximity.
"Stop fucking moving."
And that's the moment you feel it.
A bulge, hard and rigid and big, poking your ass from where you rest in his lap.
Oh my fucking God.
Sim Jaeyun is hard.
You freeze, breath hitching.
Neither of you dare to move. Not even your excitement of being back to your uncle's beach house, or Jay's questioning look from where you cut your sentence, can bring you to move. No.
You couldn't, not when Jake's hard dick is nudging at you right now, so tangible and unmistakably his.
The brown-haired boy is still panting in your ear, shooting tingles through your system. His grip on your waist is almost bruising, like he's trying very, very hard to hold back from overstepping lines that shouldn't be overstepped.
You hadn't meant for this to happen. Sure, Jake is fun to tease. That boy is all broken words and nervous glances whenever you're in his proximity, and it can't be helped when he blushes prettily too.
You just can't stop yourself from seeking his attention in your own way, because aside from being a pretty boy, Jake is also such a sweetheart and so, so smart. And in an age where intellligence is a scarcity, you absolutely adore smart guys.
Especially the one who isn't condescending and is actually eager to help people like him.
So, really—you hadn't meant for this to happen. Offering to become the one without a seat is a decision you made when you consider yourself to be lighter than most of the guys, but offering to sit in Jake's lap is definitely a decision born from personal bias. You kind of knew what it would cause—seeing how stiff and awkward Jake had been—but you let it go halfway through when the soreness in your back outweighs your desire to tease.
Which has now brought you to this situation.
The car's still moving like nothing happened, and the boys are slowly stirring to life one by one. Everything is normal, except for the nails digging into your waist and the deep timbre in your ear.
You swallow harshly, not daring to move. Jake is so close, so close that you can feel every movement of his chest. You sit still in his hold, trying not to wince from how hard he's gripping your hips, and how hot you find the situation is.
His dick, despite no movement is being made, only hardens further. Jake gasps almost imperceptibly, almost matching the way your breath leaves your mouth when you notice, again, just how big he is.
Fuck. Fuck, that's so hot. Sim Jaeyun is so hot and you can feel yourself slowly getting turned on.
Without any warning, as if driven by an invisible force that urges to look at him, you finally turn around.
And Jake looks absolutely wrecked.
Beads of sweat dot on his forehead, the furrow of his eyebrows showing restraint and constraint. His lips are red from how hard he's biting them, and his previously clean, smooth glasses are now fogged up and hazy. His eyes, glazed over with tamed lust, lock into yours, half-lidded and dark.
A breath catches in your throat.
This is not the Jaeyun you know.
Or, more accurately, this is not the Jaeyun he usually shows.
This is another side of him, like seeing Jake wearing short-sleeves and showing his arms for the first time. Gone are his round, puppy eyes, now replaced with this narrowed, slit gaze that makes you shiver under his heated stare. He used to be so nervous around you, and you can feel that he's nervous now, too, but his pent-up sexual frustration seems to outweigh any rational daily-Jake thoughts.
This is still Sim Jaeyun. Just a different, never-before-seen side of Sim Jaeyun.
"Are we finally there?" Riki, the last one to awaken, stretches beside the two of you. You don't even notice that the car has pulled up into the driveway of Jay's ridiculously huge beach house from how piercing Jake's gaze is holding your eyes captive now.
Jake bites his lips, the fog in his head slowly clearing up now that the car has stopped. As if snapping out of a daze, he quickly maneuvers you into Riki's lap instead, showcasing his strength that he often hides. The latter yelps at the sudden weight and grabs your waist on instinct, before Jake darts out of the car without looking back.
"Sim Jaeyun! Bring your own fucking luggage!" Jay shouts from the car boot, but the brown-haired boy has already disappeared behind the door.
You sit, stunned in silence, still frozen and unable to speak. Not until Riki nudges at you, Heeseung and Sunoo impatiently asking the both of you to move so that they can get out.
"Are you okay, noona? Is hyung okay?"
You nod. You give the youngest a strained smile as you slowly move out of his lap and out of the car, careful not to start another war of hormones.
"We're okay."
The lie tastes bitter on your tongue.
Jake is avoiding you.
It's a foreseeable aftermath. It's inevitable. But it pains you regardless.
It gets to the point where he straight up refuses sitting next to you at dinner, which raises some eyebrows and teasing from the boys. But you know better.
He is deliberately avoiding you.
It frustrates you, really. Because every summer, it is your thing with Jake to sit in silence in the morning and read at the porch, enjoying the sunrise over wordless, comfortable silence. But now he purposely sleeps in, waking up later than usual, leaving you alone in the cold of dawn, your paperback copy of The Inheritance Games left untouched on your thighs.
At movie nights, he'll be the last one to join, just to see where you sit first to avoid being near you. He'll become extra quiet when you speak, acting like the floor is more interesting than your face, not even sparing you a glance.
And your patience is wearing thin. Almost thinner than the bikini you're wearing right now.
Fine. He can ignore you all he wants, act like he didn't just pop a boner after letting you sit in his lap. He can pretend like you never affected him, pretend like nothing happened, but one thing you know is that Jake could never betray his attraction for you.
So, be fucking it. You don't care if it's petty to pick the skimpiest bikini you own today, the one in hot pink that always contours the line of your cleavage, perfectly bunching up your tits and making them look rounder. The one that you know will drive Jake crazy from how bouncy your ass looks, basically confirmed when his eyes can't seem to stop trailing after you even after you dive into the pool.
You come to the surface with a gaping mouth, letting the water slide down the lines on your body, and make no show of hiding yourself from looking straight at Jake.
That coward has the nerves to look away after staring at you like a touch-deprived teenager.
"Is Sim Jaeyun single?"
The reason why you always agree to join the all-boys road trip is because it's not exactly all-boys. There are girls who live nearby. Girls you're acquainted with from how often you follow your cousin to his beach house every summer. Spoiled rich girls whose parents come from the same tax bracket as your and Jay's family.
And one of those girls is shamelessly checking Jake out now, hungry eyes drinking in the way his wet, long-sleeved shirt sticks to his torso, outlining the faint lines of his abdomen that he never shows. She's sitting on the edge of the pool, feet-dipping while you take a break from your swim.
You narrow your eyes, an ugly spark of jealousy blooming in your chest. You don't like the implication of the question, and you absolutely hate the way she's looking at him now.
"Don't even think about it."
Your neighbour only shrugs and continues her eye-fucking. "He's so my type. So nerdy, so smart. I wonder how he'll look like without the glasses?"
You will poke her eyes before she gets the chance to. "Use your own imagination," you hiss, almost bitter when you realise that you also have barely seen him without his glasses.
Jake has sensitive eyes that react badly to contact lenses, which explains his preference for thick glasses than going out without them. Even now, when everyone is fooling around Jay's enormous pool, his thick, black-rimmed glasses perch on the bridge of his tall nose—the nose you hope you can put into good use one day.
The girl only hums, half-listening to you. She sighs dreamily. "I can't believe that I have his number."
At this point, the jealousy has turned so ugly you're actually seeing green. Or red. Or whatever that Cortis song sounds like. "You have his number?"
She finally pays attention to you. "Yeap! I asked him yesterday. I don't know what I should say to start the conversation though," she pouts, glancing back at Jake who's now sitting on the side with Sunghoon, sipping on coconut water. "Should I ask him if I can join dinner at your house tonight?"
Jake gave his number to her?
You grit your teeth. The hurt has materialised into a knife, twisting in your chest in a sharp pain disguised in jealousy. So, while Jake's been avoiding you like a fucking plague, he's been spending his time giving away his number to any curious girl? He's been talking with other girls while leaving you with radio silence, one that you didn't deserve because it was him who popped that boner?!
You are the one who's supposed to ignore him—not the other way around!
What a fucking loser.
You can't stop the bitterness from leaking through your voice when you finally speak.
"It's me and Jay that you should ask—not Sim Jaeyun. And no, you cannot join dinner at my house tonight."
You leave her dumbfounded by the pool, seething in anger that the water on your skin could steam from the heat alone. You march to the slide doors, giving Jake and Sunghoon the nastiest side-eye you could ever give when the latter calls out to you, and slam the door behind.
Whatever. Or not whatever. Sim Jaeyun is a fucking pervert and a jerk and a coward, and stupidly hot while being so oblivious to how hot he actually is. Whatever! You don't care.
You don't care that he barely speaks a word to you. You don't care that he leaves any room you walk into. You don't care that he's flirting with other girls and giving away his number willingly when you had his on default for being Jay's younger cousin, and from Jay himself at that.
The corner of your eyes burn.
You wish you didn't care.
You're ignoring Jake.
Jake knows this the moment you no longer come to the porch to read. Instead, every morning is now spent in the garden with Jungwon, tending to Jay's mom's flowers. After, you'll brew some hibiscus tea that you pluck from the garden and share it with Sunoo and Riki.
And when he walks into the kitchen to get some food, you no longer meet his eyes, or save that apple that he knows you know he likes to eat for breakfast. You let Heeseung eat all of them! It's so—so unfair, because he likes apples and you know it!
It sends Jake to the end of a cliff. Why are you suddenly being like this?
His sanity is stretching thin as he tries to work his brain. Why the sudden change? Is it because of his silence? But he's just embarrassed to face you! Or—did you find out about it?
Genuine horror floods his mind when he thinks, oh no, you must've realised how disgusting he truly is. How dirty-minded and perverted he is, that every day he has to take cold showers three times a day whenever he catches a glimpse of you.
You in your sleepwear. You in your casual shirt. You in shorts.
You in bikini.
Jake has fallen out of any point of salvation, because God, could any man get this horny just from a mere look? In the back of his mind, he knows it's the image of you sitting in his lap that ignited the beginning of his undoing, but the continuous hard-on he gets whenever he's around you is definitely, entirely on him.
And Jake, oh so sweet Jake, doesn't dare touch himself to the thought of you. No. He'd rather leave his balls blue, take cold showers every morning, every evening, and every night, and let his dick go from standing tall like a national anthem was being played to becoming flaccid under the cold water without any action. He doesn't even have the guts to touch his own fucking dick, the guilt blocking him from doing anything to relieve himself.
So—did you find out about it? Because if you did, then Jake could understand the cold shoulders you're giving him.
But Jake is a mere man—maybe a bit perverted, and a bit too horny despite his image, so he couldn't stop himself from getting hard the moment he sees you walking into the living room in nothing but an oversized white tee that falls off your shoulder. He grabs the nearest cushion and places it on top of his crotch, blood already rushing south when he sees the strap of your black bra.
This is why he has to go to church sometimes; to balance everything out. Because Einstein never talked about the solution or formula to cure men's (Jake's) sexual desires that seem endless. And sexual desires that come from seeing a strap of a bra alone.
Whatever it is, Jake's soul has almost left his body, already tuning out of his surroundings. He doesn't even realise that Jay and Riki are wrestling for the TV remote, and accidentally sending said remote flying onto the floor just a few feet away from him.
He only comes to when you stand in front of him, back facing him, and bend over to pick up the remote.
You. Bend. Over. In. Front. Of. Him.
In a second, Jake has a full view of your ass. The shirt rides up slightly, revealing white shorts that stretches across the round flesh as you bend over to reach the remote and Jake feels like he's brought back to the car when he was fighting demons as you unintentionally ground his crotch with every movement.
His grip on the cushion tightens, head dizzy from the way you practically shove your butt in his face.
Jake releases a shaky exhale.
He can see the outline of your panties and wonders if it matches your black bra.
And he can see the outline of his doomed future if he stays in the living room any longer.
"Whose turn is it to pick the movie?" You casually ask, now straightening up as if you just didn't flash Jake with your perky ass.
"Jake hyung," Jungwon replies from the center of the long couch, carding his hand through Sunoo's silky hair, the blonde who's now laying down his head on his lap. "It's his turn."
Your face remains expressionless as you turn to the glasses boy. But instead of taking the remote from your hand, Jake stands up, avoiding eye contact and clutching the cushion tight over his crotch.
Then he flees the living room, leaving behind six confused men and one very angry, very upset girl.
Jake thinks he deserves a medal for surviving the living room.
Or perhaps an exorcism.
The moment his bedroom door clicks shut behind him, Jake drops the cushion onto the floor and drags both hands down his face with a groan. His glasses nearly fall off his nose in the process.
What the fuck is wrong with him?
He paces once across the room, then twice.
Outside, he can still hear the muffled sounds of the movie downstairs—Riki yelling dramatically at a character, Sunoo complaining about spoilers, Jay laughing too loudly. Normal sounds. Normal people.
Meanwhile Jake feels like he's one accidental glimpse of your shoulder away from committing a crime.
His eyes squeeze shut.
That white shirt.
The black bra strap.
The way you bent over in front of him so casually, completely unaware that Jake nearly ascended right there on Jay's living room couch.
"Fuck," he whispers weakly to himself.
Jake drops onto the edge of his bed, elbows on his knees.
Maybe he should take another cold shower. That would make four today.
"I should sleep," he mutters to himself, breath shaky. "S-Sleep can help with motion sickness and horniness."
With a newfound resolution, he turns off the lamp and settles under the blanket. His movement is stiff and awkward, overly aware of the tent straining his shorts. Once he pulls the blanket over his chest, Jake closes his eyes, forcing sleep into his system.
Only, the image of you swimming in your hot pink bikini flashes behind his eyelids.
"No, stop. Not that," he whispers, brows scrunching in protest. He shakes his head, as if physically removing the image away, and tries again.
This time, the image of you in his lap comes back, stripped down to heated skin and soft breaths, your body moving against his in ways that make his stomach twist.
His eyes fly open. The image is so clear and vivid, thanks to his photographic memory and insane imagination—the very thing that's been saving him in the academic department now serving as the tool that brings him to his downfall.
His cock twitches involuntarily.
"N-No," he pants, chest moving rapidly. He grips the edge of the blanket, knuckles turning white. "I—Stop—"
Then he remembers just now: you bent over, giving him a delicious access to his ass-shaped sufferings, and Jake almost whimpers from the flashback alone.
The room rises in temperature, the air conditioner doing nothing to tone down the feverish lust spreading through his body. Jake finally relents and discards the blanket, glasses all fogged up as he stares at the bulge under his shorts.
"I'm sorry," he whimpers, slipping off his shorts and boxers until they bunch up around his knees. "I'm so fucking sorry."
His cock springs free, standing tall in the dimness of his room. The tip glistens, already drooling with precum that shows no sign of stopping. With shaky hands, hesitance still edging around his lust, Jake finaly touches himself.
He has to bite down hard on his lips to muffle the sound threatening to escape. His hand stutters, the feeling of finally rubbing some relief after days of holding back comes crashing down on him. His head spins from how heavy his cock is in his hold, veins protuding like they're going to combust.
He slowly starts moving his hand, lathering up precum to ease the glide. His head tips back, a strangled sound catches behind his throat.
"Oh, God," his head spins, sparks of lust bursting at the tip of his fingers. "Oh, fuck—"
Through his hazy gaze of the blurry lenses, Jake tightens his grip slightly. A moan escapes his lips at the force, his cock only getting heavier in his hand. He plays with the mushroom tip of his dick, thumbing the slit and hissing when it sends pleasure up his spine.
"Ngh—" his eyes squeeze shut, brain putting up pieces of his memory of you. His body jerks when the rough pad of his thumb touches the underside of his cock, and as if on cue, the image of your jiggly breasts inside the car flashes behind his closed eyes.
"Fuck—Y/N," Jake sobs, picking up his pace. His wrist turns and flicks, biceps flexing hard at the speed he's going. Guilt starts accumulating inside his chest the more he thinks of you, of your voice, of your gaze, of your scent—but guilt isn't enough to stop Jake from chasing his own release.
"'So sorry," he chokes, letting go of his bottom lip, bitten-red and swollen. He imagines it was your hand instead of his, smaller and softer, with those manicured nails that he loves so much. How tiny your hand would look around his hard dick, trying to grip his length in its fully erect state.
Jake isn't inexpereinced. He's had his own fair share of sexcapades with a few people, and he's always been told that he's bigger than average. The big dick that he hides under his pants, further concealed by his nervous persona that only certain girls find cute.
But seeing his state right now, Jake thinks he's the furthest thing from cute.
He's pathetic.
Pathetic and gross and disgusting, feeling bad for jerking off to the thoughts of you but still unable to retract his hand and stop. The sound of his cries that he fails to hide fills up the space, and for the first time in days he's very glad that he won paper-rock-scissors during room assignment.
"Oh, Y/N, Y/N, Y/N," he chants, mouth gaping open when he can feel himself close. His wrist is already tired and numb from the relentless pace he's set, the slick sound of his sinful act matching the roar of his blood rushing in his ears.
"Please, please, 'm gonna cum," he sobs, tears prickling at the corner of his eyes. His hips lift off the mattress. "Please—"
"Do not fucking cum, Sim Jaeyun."
Jake's entire body locks up.
His wrist stills immediately, pleasure crashing into horror so fast it makes his stomach twist. For a second, he genuinely thinks his heart stops beating.
The room goes dead silent except for his ragged breathing.
Through fogged-up lenses and teary eyes, Jake stares at you standing by the door, unable to process the fact that you're actually here.
That you heard him.
That you saw him.
Oh my fucking God.
His hand jerks away from himself like he’s been burned, chest heaving violently as he scrambles to sit up straighter. The blanket tangles around his legs from how abruptly he moves.
"I—"
Nothing comes out.
Jake has never felt this level of humiliation before.
Not when he failed his chemistry olympiad in tenth grade. Not when he tripped in front of his entire lecture hall. Not even when Jungwon found his hidden Pokémon card collection at nineteen.
This is worse. So much worse.
Because it's you.
You, standing there in that oversized white shirt slipping off your shoulder again, eyes dark and unreadable as you look at him sprawled across the bed like something shameful.
Jake feels sick. His face burns so hot he thinks he might actually pass out.
"S-Sorry," he chokes out instinctively, because apologising is the only thing his brain knows how to do right now. "I didn't—I wasn't—I—"
His voice cracks miserably.
Jake is going to cry.
What should he even say in this situation? Sorry that you caught him jerking off to you? Sorry that he's such a nerd, such a loser that the only time he could talk smoothly with you was when he was defining what motion sickness was, but never had the courage to tell you how much he likes you and how much you affect me? Sorry that he's such a pervert that he thinks of you in positions way too inappropriate to be just friends?
The weight of his arousal sits heavy against his thigh, a testament to a newfound, lifelong embarrassment that he'll carry to his grave.
Jake squirms under your heated gaze, and quickly covers his crotch with his blanket when you slip into his bedroom wordlessly. The door clicks shut, the sound amplified by the heavy silence hanging in the air. His body tenses up.
Oh my God—he messed up, didn't he? Jake hangs his head low in shame, tears gathering along his lashlines.
"I'm sorry—I didn't mean to…"
His vision turns blurry. Fuck, you must hate him now.
"I-It's wrong—I know that—I'm sorry—ah!"
Jake looks up in surprise when your bold hand cups his erection. There's angry lines in your forehead, a sneer on your mouth, but the nasty look you're giving him does nothing to soothe down his arousal.
If anything, twisted as it is—it turns him on even more.
"Couldn't even look me in the eye downstairs," you begin, "but you here you are, jerking off to me like I wouldn't find out?"
The venom in your voice hurts him. You're being mean with your words, and it hurts his feelings but Jake couldn't care less. His mind is a messy jumbles of guilt and pleasure and shame, so all he does is cry and shake his head.
"I-I'm sorry, Y/N—"
"Are you really sorry?" you tighten your grip on his cock, one knee dipping into the mattress. "Your dick doesn't seem sorry though."
Jake wants to cry—oh, he's already crying. His hand curls into the sheets beneath him, unable to form coherent words when you start rocking the heel of your palm on his hard-on. The friction from the blanket and the pressure from your hand only spark electric pleasure through his system.
Within seconds, Jake is all hard again—even harder than before.
"Tell me, Jaeyunnie. Did all of this happen because I sat in your lap?"
Jake whimpers pathetically. You knew. Of course you knew. You're not only hot and pretty and kind, you're also smart like him, so in tune with your surroundings. You're a little mean right now, but it's okay because Jake believes that he deserves this after avoiding you without any explanation.
"Answer me, Sim Jaeyun."
"Yes," he croaks, shame burning his face red. His eyes screw shut. The admission sets his being on fire, skin flushed from embarrassment. "O-Oh, God, y-yes."
He cracks one eye open when you don't reply. Instead, he's met with your fiery gaze. The edges have softened with lust, like you're also affected by this, but you're good at keeping your control.
Unlike him, who's unraveling like a loose thread under your touch alone.
Jake almost whines when you retract your hand, but the sound is muffled with a gasp when you yank the blanket open. He instinctively closes his crotch area with his hands, but you're fast to slap his wrists away.
"I'm so pissed off, Jaeyun," you mutter, swinging your leg over his thighs so now you're straddling him. You fix him with your sharp eyes, hand finding his dick again.
"You've been acting like we're strangers and it hurts me so bad."
Jake's mouth hangs open as you gather his precum and start working your wrist around his cock. His brain barely registers your words, too lost in a cloud of lust, but when he finally processes it, he desperately shakes his head.
He wants to apologise again and again and again, because he is truly sorry—he didn't know how affected you were. How could he not, when you're always described as everything out of his league, but he's always described as everything that doesn't fit your type?
"I'm sorry, I was just—fuck—just ashamed—" he gasps, hips bucking into your touch. "Didn't mean to—t-to hurt y—ngh, Y/N, faster please."
You coo at him, feigning sympathy as you set a ruthless pace on his cock. Jake is big—something that isn't a surprise anymore since that day you sat in his lap—but the sheer size of him is enough to make your mouth water and your panties damp.
Damn these nerdy boys. Acting all shy and innocent when they have this monstrousity hiding behind those ugly glasses.
"Faster? You wanna cum, Jaeyunnie?" you tilt your head. Jake nods frantically. "I don't think you deserve it, though. Why not ask from those girls you gave your number to?"
Something sharp twists in his stomach. Jake's eyes fly open, almost cowering when you give him a distasteful look. He grabs your arms desperately and shakes his head.
"N-No! She asked me first—" you put more pressure and Jake damn near loses his mind. "—said she needs—help—w-with Physi—cs—"
You roll your eyes. It's that easy to fool him? Can't he see the way those girls fuck him with their eyes? Without waiting for his sentence to finish, you sink down and take him in your mouth.
"Oh, fuck!" Jake screams, accidentally thrusting up his hips. He bites his lips, glasses crooked on the bridge of his nose as you take him deeper, tracing the line of his veins with your sinful tongue. "Oh, Y/N—please."
You hum around his length, tongue swirling as you hollow your cheeks to deepen the suction. Jake nearly busts from that alone, mind melting into a puddle of your name, the wet heat of your mouth serving as a better pleasure than his own hand.
You start bobbing your head up and down, marveling in the way the weight of his dick sits on your tongue. He's so big that you're so close to choking, but you don't care. You need to remind Jake how stupid he's been acting and how stupid he is if he thinks that you were not just as attracted toward him.
Jake sobs into his hands, hips jerking with every touch of his tip hitting the back of your throat. His head is getting dizzier, he can feel the coil in his stomach getting tighter and he knows that anytime soon, he will come undone on your skillful tongue.
But just as he's about to reach that high, you let go of him with a pop.
"No!" Jake whines, tears sliding down his cheeks. You're so mean. "P-Please let me cum."
"Not yet, nerdy boy." You mutter, red lips slick with saliva and precum. Jake can only sob, dick throbbing in need and desperation.
This is the punishment he deserves for being a jerk. He knows that, but he can't seem to stop crying. God, he's so pathetic.
Then he feels movement on his thighs. He blinks through the foggy lenses and lets out a breathless moan when you lift up your shirt and shorts and discard them away, leaving you in nothing but a pair of bra and panties. His mouth starts salivating at the display of your beautiful body, and Jake swears he almost cums when he sees that you're indeed wearing black panties.
Oh, fuck. Fuckfuckfuck. Just as he imagined—God, you're so perfect he wants to kiss you.
But instead of a kiss, you push his at his chest instead. "Lie down."
And like the obedient puppy that he is, Jake follows your word, carefully descending his back onto the mattress. He's still sniffling from the previous denial, but now it's mixed with anticipation of what's to come when you hover above him.
You trace a gentle finger along the tall bridge of his nose, a barely-there touch that makes him shiver. With a slow tap on the tip of his nose, you finally speak.
"Did anyone ever ride your nose, Jaeyunnie?"
H-His nose?
Girls always compliment his nose, but he's never given it many thoughts as to why they did that. "N-No. Never."
There's a wicked smile on your face as you stand on your knees. Jake watches with a mouth gaping open as you make a show of shimmying down your panties, painfully and traitorously slowly that he almost rips it with his hand.
"Ah, what a shame," you sigh dreamily. "Guess I have to be the first one then."
Once your panties are out of the picture, Jake is instanly hit with a wave of your arousal. Your pussy glistens under the moonlight, soaked with slick and dripping with need. Jake inhales shakily, stopping himself from darting out his tongue to get a taste.
Fuck. He's sure he has actually died in the car and this is heaven because not even in his wildest dream did he get to have you like this.
Too lost in his reverie, Jake belatedly notices that you have removed his glasses. Despite your mean words and your mean actions, the caresses of your thumb on his cheeks are so gentle that he thinks he's hallucinating.
"You're so handsome, Jaeyun," you murmur. "But I bet you'll look better buried between my thighs."
You give him no time to recover from your crude words when you slowly move to straddle his head. Then, with a hand in his hair, you descend, letting the tip of his nose nudge at your clit.
And oh my fucking God—you smell so divine.
"Ah, Jaeyunnie," you moan, rocking your hips slowly to test the waters. "Your nose feels so good."
You sound even more divine. Jake's eyes roll to the back, savouring the way your sinful moans fall on his ears as you use his nose to get off. The bridge of his nose slides through your folds—wet and sticky and so sweet that he can't get enough of it.
Jake wraps his arms around your thighs to give you support, and another moan escapes your lips upon seeing his veiny arms around your supple skin. He stares at you through half-lidded eyes, groaning despite your cunt suffocating him, the vibration sending jolts of pleasure to your system.
"Ngh—Jaeyun—"
He can't breathe, and he can't hear properly from how hard you're clamping his head with your legs, but he can't deny that this is the best way to die. Being suffocated by your leaking pussy sounds like a dream death compared to dying in Jay's old SUV.
You keep your rhythm, rocking your hips back and forth, grinding your clit on his nose and dragging your folds on the tall bridge until the sharp tip of his nose catches at your hole. The grip you have in his hair hurts his scalp, but everything is worth the pain when Jake can watch you fall apart on his face, his own cock pulsing with a trembling need to cum.
"Ah—ah—Jaeyun oppa—"
Fuck. Fuck that sacred nickname.
The dynamics between you two often makes Jake forget the fact that he is indeed older than you. Coming from the States, it's uncommon for you to address people with such honorifics.
But right now, using that very honorific against him ignites something inside him; a carnal desire that's been thrumming low in his guts, waiting to be unleashed.
This time, Jake barely stops himself from stealing a taste. He darts out his tongue, prodding your hole with the tip, and hums in satisfaction when your stance falters slightly.
"Don't," you hiss, but there's no heat in it. Jake takes it as a sign to continue, licking more into your weeping cunt until your pace turns sloppy.
He doesn't care. You're probably gonna be so mad at him and punish him more, but whatever it is you have prepared can wait. Right now, Jake is having the best pussy of his life—barely breathing but still eating so, so fucking well.
"Jaeyun—stop—"
"No," Jake protests when you try to get up, pulling you down until the full weight of your body rests on his face.
Oh God, choking on pussy has never felt so good.
"Sim Jaeyun!" You squirm, feeling the stirring inside your belly getting wilder. Despite your weak attempts, your hips keeps grinding on his nose, showing no signs of stopping. You throw your head back.
You knew his nose would be the best thing to ride on, but hearing the slurps of your slick and his saliva—the sinful noises of him feasting on your cunt—makes you almost regret not letting him eat you out first.
"Ngh—Jaeyun—I'm close—"
Jake pulls your hips harder, letting you grind your clit on the tip of his nose as his tongue pushes into your hole mercilessly. You let out a high-pitched scream, muscles pulling tight at his ministrations. The double stimulations are fast pushing you over the edge.
Soon, white hot pleasure crashes into you, your vision turning black momentarily. It's so blurry and messy that you haven't realised that you've been screaming his name raw, hips unrelenting to chase the high. Jake swallows every drop of your sweet nectar, moaning into your spasming hole as he licks it clean.
Fuck. He's already desperate to have another round.
When you come down from your orgasm, hair matted to your forehead, you look down at him furiously.
"Let me go! I told you not to do it!" You attempt to sit up, but Jake doesn't let go, shaking his head with a pout. His nose and chin are drenched with your release, it's so sinful and filthy and you can't lie that you like seeing him so wrecked and fucked over like this.
"Can I have more? Please," he begs, kissing your inner thigh unhurriedly. He's already so addicted to the taste of you, Jake thinks he's gonna die if he doesn't have another fill. "I'll be so good to you, Y/N. Wanna eat you out so bad."
You grit your teeth, pushing away the temptation to save your pride. "No. Get up, Jaeyun."
But Jake is stubborn. He's so desperate to have more of you that he doesn't mind if he's leaving his own cock neglected and balls blue. "Please, I need it bad," he nudges at your pussy with his finger, pupils blown wide at the strings of sticky cum decorating your folds. "Fuck, please, Y/N, I want to eat you out."
"I said get up, Jaeyun."
"Y/N—"
"Jake."
The sharpness in your voice cuts through the haze instantly.
Jake stills immediately.
The desperation in his eyes flickers into something softer, more uncertain, like a scolded puppy finally realising he’s crossed a line. His grip on your thighs loosens at once, chest rising and falling hard beneath you.
The sound of his English name on your tongue feels foreign and almost painful, because it lacks the usual warmth and intimacy that your 'Jaeyun' usually holds. Yet, something inside him pulses harder, liking the change more than he'd like to admit.
“S-Sorry,” he whispers automatically, voice rough. “I just…”
He doesn’t even know how to explain it. How could he? That hearing you moan his name made him lose every coherent thought in his brain? That he’s spent days trying to stay away from you only to end up here, beneath you, completely ruined anyway?
You study him for a long moment before finally shifting off his face.
“Sit up.”
Jake obeys instantly.
The movement is clumsy and needy. His hair is a mess, lips swollen, face still flushed from lack of oxygen and desire. Without his glasses, his eyes look unbearably open like this—too honest, too vulnerable.
You cup his jaw gently, the touch losing its cruelty. Jake melts into it.
"There he is," you murmur softly, fixing his bangs that are obscuring his eyesight.
Jake can feel his heart stutter traitorously. This version of you—tender and sweet—a glimpse of the usual-you, is always more dangerous than any teasing.
Wordlessly, you tug at his shirt, and Jake obediently holds up his arms to let you peel away the fabric. Your eyes flick downward, amusement tugging at your lips.
"You know," you start, fingers trailing slowly down his sculpted chest, "for someone who acted terrified of touching me in the car…"
He groans softly, already embarrassed.
"…You were pretty damn desperate down there, Jaeyun."
His face burns hotter. Fine, he's just a touch-starved man, desperate for you in every way possible. But how could he not? Have you even looked at yourself?
"I-I can't help it…" His eyes drop to your lips. "You tasted so good."
A breathy chuckle escapes you, quiet and fond. But to Jake's ears, he's already hearing the wedding bells chime.
And suddenly the humiliation twisting in his chest eases into something warmer when you climb into his lap again, turning slowly until your back presses against his chest.
The exact same position. That fucking position in the car that has his mind on an endless frenzy that he thinks he was genuinely getting crazy.
Jake goes completely still beneath you.
“Oh,” you whisper, settling against him deliberately. “Now you’re quiet again?”
His hands hover uncertainly near your hips, like he still can’t believe he’s allowed to touch you.
“You’re mean,” he mumbles weakly against your shoulder. You laugh, one hand patting his hair as the other one aligning his neglected cock on your entrance.
"But I know you like it, Jaeyunnie."
At the same time you presses on the nickname, you sink onto his cock slowly, letting the bulbous head of his length spear you open.
The both of you moan simultaneously. Jake's hands find puchase on your waist, trying his best to stop from manhandling you to just fucking bounce on his dick and letting you adjust. You, on the other hand, let the stretch burn, your walls spasming to accommodate his length.
"S-So big," you stutter, taking him inch by inch. Jake drops his head on your shoulder, his own breathing ragged. "So—full—"
When he finally fits inside you to the brim, you let out a long, drawn-out moan. He fills you up so good that you can feel every vein against your walls, every pulse kissing your insides. It's a dizzying experience that prompts you to start moving your hips.
Jake’s fingers dig into your waist, trembling.
Not because he wants to stop you.
Because he’s trying so hard not to lose himself completely.
The position alone is enough to send him spiraling—your back against his chest, your body in his lap exactly like the car ride, except now there’s no seatbelt digging into his side, no boys teasing from the front seat, no restraint left between the two of you.
Just you and him.
And the devastating realisation that you wanted him too.
Jake lets out a broken sound against your shoulder when you move again, his forehead falling against your skin. His entire body feels feverish, overwhelmed by too much sensation and too many emotions crashing into him at once.
"Wasn't this what got you so hard, Jaeyunnie?" You pant between breathless moans. "Me in your lap, bouncing on your cock like this?"
"Ngh—" A strangled noise escapes his throat. Jake watches with bated breath as your hands find the clasp of your bra and finally let the two soft mounds free. Now, he badly wants you to turn around, eager to relive the scene of your bouncy breasts in Jay's car.
"Did you not—ah—crave this?"
You arch your back, pleasure tingling every nerves as his cock drags against your walls. Jake feels his dick throb inside your hole, the same position that ruined him now had him completely at your mercy.
"S-So tight," he whimpers, mouth falling open at the way you clench around his cock and roll your hips. "S-So fucking tight, Y/N, fuck."
Jake clings onto you desperately, bucking his hips to chase your movement. But you hold down a firm hand on his thigh, completely in charge.
"Don't," you warn, grinding down on him in a way that makes your ass ripple. "Or I'll get up and leave."
Jake freezes instantly.
The warning slices straight through him, sharp and effective. His hands tighten on your waist, but he forces his hips back against the mattress despite every instinct screaming at him to chase you harder.
“O-Okay,” he breathes quickly. “Okay. Sorry.”
God, he sounds wrecked.
You can feel the way his thighs tremble beneath yours, the strain in his breathing every time you move your hips slowly against him. Jake drops his forehead between your shoulder blades with a weak groan, like simply holding himself back is physically painful.
"I'm still mad at you," you murmur. You roll your hips again, faster this time, and Jake nearly whimpers into your shoulder. His jaw clenches so hard he might pop a vessel.
"Are you sure you're not the one—" you moan, your thighs burning from how fast you're exerting yourself. The wet sound of skin hitting skin starts getting louder the harder you slam down your hips. "The one who's being—mean?"
Jake sobs into your skin, half-regretting, half-dizzy. The tight heat of your cunt pulses and flutters around his dick and he genuinely feels horrible for only thinking using his other head now.
Even so, he still manages to apologise again. "I'm s-sorry—"
You clench around him on purpose. Jake digs his nails deeper. "Fuck—"
"Stop fucking apologising," you seethe, voice trembling as you feel your release getting near. "Delete her number or I'll sit in Sunghoon's lap when we get back to Seoul."
There's no bite in your threat. It's just a spur-of-the-moment kind of things, one that you say just to rile him up.
But Jake takes your words like a verdict. He snakes an arm around your waist, lips worshipping your skin in desperate, wet kisses.
"I'm sorry, Y/N, darling," he begs, tears clinging to his lashes. He bites his lips in an attempt to stop himself from moaning because he's so, so close. "I will block her. Fuck—I will delete her number. P-Please don't sit with S-Sunghoon—"
His speech is interrupted by a high-pitched whine. Jake hasn't come all night, he's nothing more than a thread waiting to snap. The moment you bounce harder and faster, the supple skin of your butt jiggling wilder, Jake can feel that he's about to come.
"Y/N—ah—p-puh—lease—" he whimpers, voice scratching at his throat. "'M close, 'm g-gonna cum—"
But he should've known that you're so, so mean.
The moment you lift off his cock, Jake genuinely sobs out loud, thrashing under you.
"No! No, please—" he chokes, hiding his crying face behind his hands, too shattered when his orgasm being denied again. "Please, no—I wanna cum, please."
You turn around and the sight of him—red-faced, wet cheeks, lips trembling—it softens your heart. You quickly pull his wrists and rest his hands on your hips, your own cupping his cheeks.
"I'm sorry, baby," you shush him, blowing kisses to the tip of his nose as you take him again. Jake whimpers quietly. "I'm so sorry—I'll let you cum this time, hm?"
Jake weakly nods, then lets out a soft moan at the familiar feeling of your walls enveloping him. You move again, already sore, but you no longer have it in you to torture your poor, poor Jaeyun. This time, you immediately begin with a fast pace, giving him a show of your tits bouncing with every thrust.
"Ah—fuck—Jaeyunnie—" you bite your lips, expression so erotic that it has the brown-haired boy drooling. "Glasses—like you better with glasses."
Jake is too dazed to register your words, so you pick the glasses on your own and put them on him. And there he is—your sweet, sweet boy, your Jaeyunnie that you adore so much, your Jaeyun that thinks it's bad for wanting you this much.
"S-So—handsome, Jaeyunnie," you roll your hips, chest arching into his face. "My nerdy boy, you're mine, hm?"
Jake physically cannot take it anymore. The sight of you on top of him, bouncing on his cock like your life depends on it, putting on his glasses and calling him yours—it's too much for Sim Jaeyun who's never been given this kind of attention and affection.
Especially from you.
His lips move, but you can barely hear him.
"Hm? What did you say?"
"I said I'm sorry, Y/N," his nails dig into your waist. "I'm so fucking sorry, please don't be mad at me."
Your brows furrow in confusion, but before you know it, Jake is already flipping you around, changing your position in one swift movement. You have half a second to gain your breath before the boy hovering over you pulls you closer by your ankles and throws your legs over his shoulders.
"I'm s-sorry," Jake stutters, slipping his dick back into your cunt and starts thrusting fast. "I-I can't hold it anymore."
Despite the showcase of his strength, Jake looks absolutely ruined. There's a flicker of guilt in his eyes, but from the pace he's railing you, you know that his lust ovverrides whatever little guilt he has.
Soon enough, the air smells so thickly of sex. The sound of his balls slapping your ass, accompanied by your high-pitched moans and his groans are the only one filling up the space, to the point that you're sure one of the boys must've heard you.
It's so hot and filthy that Jake's glasses are all fogged up again. His grip on your waist is now leaving bruises, but you don't care because all you can think of is Jake, Jake's big cock, Jake's stupid glasses and just Jake, Jake, Jake.
"F-f-f-fuck," he exhales shakily, splitting you open with his cock. "I-I'm so—close—"
You thrash around, fisting the sheets until it tears from the force of your nails. "Jaeyun—" you gasp when he keeps abusing that spot that has you seeing stars. "Oh, fuck—Jaeyun—harder—"
Jake leans forward, straining his arms on either side of your head. His glasses slide down his slick nose slightly when he bends down to capture your lips in his thick ones. You both moan into the kiss, finally getting the taste of each other, tongues already clashing for more.
Jake licks into your mouth, hips never faltering, and sucks on your bottom lip. You whimper, the sensation becoming too much until you're just breathing against his lips, all heat and teeth and saliva. Jake groans.
"I-I'm gonna—cum—" he gasps against your mouth, face scrunching in pleasure when you clench around him. "O-Oh my fucking God, Y/N, fuck—please let me cum inside."
His hands find your waist again, thrusting harder than before. His head drops to your shoulder as he begs, again and again.
"P-Please let me cum inside, please," he whimpers, voice needy and whiny. "Please—I'm gonna—I wanna—"
"Just cum," you moan when his teeth scrape against your skin. "Jae—Jaeyunnie—"
Jake groans. With last few, deliberate thrusts, he finally cums—a full-body orgasm that has him shuddering, his cock spurting out rope after thick rope of his release, painting your walls white.
You follow him just a second after, vision blurring for a moment as your second orgasm rips through your body. Your mouth falls open on a silent scream, eyes rolling back from how delicious your climax is.
Jake takes a long moment breathing into your ear, grinding his hips slowly before he's finally pulling out. He hisses as he drags out his cock, careful not to overstimulate you, and watches in awe as white fluid flowing out of your pulsing cunt.
"Oh my fucking God."
You breathe out a laugh, sounding breathless and disbelieving. Seeing Jake sitting still by your legs, you open your arms toward him.
"C'mere, Jaeyunnie. Let's cuddle for a moment before washing up—I'm too sore to walk."
Jake perks up at that. Gone is the hungry, lust-driven boy a few moments ago, now replaced with the shy, kicked puppy holding his tail between his legs.
"Cuddle?" he echoes, unsure. "Are you not mad at me?"
"I could never be mad at you for too long," you reply, giving him a reassuring smile.
It gives Jake a flicker of hope. He scoots closer, still cautious and observing, like approaching a scared animal.
"But I avoided you…"
You drop your arms and pretend to think, making a show of tapping your chin with a finger.
"You're right. You were mean for that. Why don't you carry me to the bathroom and clean me up so we can cuddle afterwards?"
Hearing that, Jake finally relaxes, his tight muscles loosening. With an eager smile, he scoops an arm under your knees and your back, and then lifts you up easily as if you weigh nothing.
"Your wish is my command, my princess."
The next morning, you receive knowing looks from the boys. There are lingering stares on your neck from where Jake was mauling your skin last night, but you have no problem showing them off.
Jake, on the other hand, is on the edge of another breakdown.
"So, Jake," Jay starts, already planning a mischievous teasing inside his head. "How did it feel like to get railed—"
"I did not get railed!" he squeaks, ears blushing red. "I-I was the one who railed her! Right, Y/N?"
There's a laugh bubbling inside your chest as you watch Jake squirm under the relentless teasing of his friends. It felt good to be the one in charge, but after that display of strength and the way he manhandled you last night?
You don't mind having him on top of you.
But the both of you know who's truly in charge.
And if you choose to sit in his lap again, this time grinding and shifting on purpose that he gets hard until the car reaches Seoul, nobody has to know that.