#nct comedy

“No, widen your stance!”

“I’ve told you, you should stand at a 90 degree angle to the target!”

“What are you doing? You are not Hephaestus at work! Straighten your spine, you fool.”

It was never easy to be at Camp Half-Blood, but when you were the instructor instead of the pupil, it was even more difficult. You knew that not everyone can be a skilled archer like yourself - for instance, the kids of Aphrodite had never been one for archery -, but at least they should seem like they were trying. They should listen to you instead of going after their own heads or daydreaming about their crush in a different cabin. You were their instructor, for gods and goddesses’ sake!

Yangyang, one of the Hermes kids, let out a frustrated huff after another completely missed attempt, and instead of aiming at the target, he put one hand on his hip while holding the bow in the other, ready to throw it to the ground.

“Yangyang, you better not-”

As soon as he heard your authoritative voice and noticed your deadly glare, he pulled his lips into a (faked) innocent, boyish smile. That boy was one for tricks and smooth talking, but you never gave in to such behaviour. You were the daughter of Ares, the god of war after all. You didn’t come here to be messed with - you were determined to teach everyone how to do archery even if they were a seemingly hopeless case. Like Mark Lee who - despite being the son of Apollo, so supposedly excelling at archery - could not aim further from the target each and every time. At least, he was trying though. Even after yet again falling for Yuta’s trick (thinking that he got apple juice from the son of Dionysus, not actual alcohol), being hungover yet again, he was here, making the effort to aim at the target (even though his arrows flew everywhere like a firework).

“I was just imagining myself in a fight. I didn’t actually want to act on my intrusive thoughts,” Yangyang reasoned with a grin, and you just shook your head.

“I must warn you that we will have field archery soon, so if you can’t bring yourself to do target archery now, that will be even harder. As in, the target won’t be in a straight line like now.”

“Yes, I might stand a chance then,” Mark chirped gleefully. “I can’t bring myself to shoot in a straight line, but with field archery, I might have some luck,” he added beamingly, and you respected his optimism even though archery scarcely had anything to do with luck.

Either way, you walked up and down the archery field, correcting postures and suggesting to change bows, taking your job very seriously. After basically saving the world with a few other demigods, you decided to stay at the camp instead of leaving and trying to head for college because you knew that this camp needed some heavy training if there was ever another mission to accomplish.

Even though you were certain you could take on the world yet again, the more trained campers there were, the merrier. Besides, you couldn’t be everywhere all at once - last time you might not have been able to go and come back from the Underworld if Johnny, Kun and the others hadn’t protected the camp from a flock of monsters unleashed from the Underworld. Hades and Zeus had a beef yet again, and of course you had to be the ones to suffer the consequences.

Though it was not only you who decided to stay instead of going to college after finishing school…

“Oh, look who we have here!” The mellifluous voice of Aphrodite’s son reached your ears as you turned around even before he could signal his presence. Your hearing was good, and he didn’t exactly have the lightest steps - unlike yours, you were like a shadow, trained to be invisible and go around silently.

“Ten…” You gritted through your teeth even before you came face-to-face with his grinning face. This boy had too much confidence for someone who walked around half-naked (most of the time) and missed being shot (sadly all the time) when he decided to visit your archery classes. It seemed to be his favourite pastime activity these days.

“Don’t I look dashing today?” He inquired proudly as he swirled around in his robe. Because the damn boy wore a bathrobe, except that he didn’t bother to tie it in the front, so his whole chest was out on full display - much to the entertainment of some girls in your class.

“I would appreciate it if you didn’t decide to march into my class aka march straight into the archery field all the time,” you mentioned, completely ignoring his question, as you pointed around. Ten literally walked to the centre of the field where you were supposed to say your instructions about the next exercise. If he had walked out just a few minutes earlier, someone might have shot him. Mark Lee probably would have.

“I’m sooooorry,” he pouted, but anyone could tell that it was fake acting on his part. No one did fake acting better than the Aphrodite kids. “I love you, Miss Instructor, and I just can’t bear not seeing you even for a day,” he winked at you, and you acted as if you gagged at him.

Just because you had saved the world together once, it didn’t mean that you were anything more than comrades at best. Even though you couldn’t deny that he had been there when you almost had a nervous breakdown because you had doubted your skills… Damn it, why did he have to see you at your worst?

“If you don’t want me to shoot you straight through your heart, I advise you to leave,” you warned him through gritted teeth, but as expected, he turned the tables.

“But you’ve already done that. Eros has nothing on you.”

There were a few murmurs hearing that, and a group of girls blinked at the two of you in confusion. Even though there had been rumours about you two having developed romantic feelings towards each other during the mission, they had died down a few days after your return. However, ever since peace settled into the camp again, the rumours had grown stronger again, and Ten was definitely not helping the situation with his ever so frequent (and very much unannounced) visits during your classes.

“Besides, I don’t think everyone despises my presence as much as you do,” he added smugly as he winked in a few, shushing girls’ direction. They shrieked excitedly at the gesture, acting like stupid teenagers in those stupid teen movies you had seen on TV before you realised that they were a load of trash. Well, they were teenagers after all.

“Shut up, Ten!” You rolled your eyes, and you were ready to push him off the field when he looked back at you, his lips slowly curling upwards, curling seductively, and you knew it, you could feel what was about to come. “If you dare to say ‘make me’, I’ll shove you off right now,” you added before he could open his mouth, but that just fuelled his fire even more.

“Looks like someone knows me too well.”

“Looks like someone chatted way too much on our way to literal Hell.”

“Well, I can’t deny that I had a good time.”

“Well, I didn’t,” you bantered with him because you could not let him win this one. You were the daughter of Ares, you didn’t just lose to a guy with the IQ of a fish.

Ten was about to open his mouth, but Johnny showed up in his usual training clothes, and you knew that it signalled the end of your class because the campers were supposed to have his lesson after yours. Yangyang was overjoyed at the arrival of the son of Artemis while Mark Lee whimpered that he wanted to try some more to see if he could have any luck today.

“Bye bye, Miss Instructor!” Ten waved at you as he was scurrying away, and you couldn’t help but exchange a glance with Johnny.

“He leaves only when the class is over, that dumbass.”

“Not gonna lie, he’s trying hard to get your attention,” Johnny pointed out, bemused, and you couldn’t help but realise that there had not been any rumours about Ten being with girls since you had returned to the camp together. Flirting with girls? Yes, he was still doing that, but he was the son of Aphrodite, it came with his blood, but being with girls and seen kissing girls like he had been before your mission… you had not yet heard such rumours. Maybe that’s why everyone believed that you were actually together.

You shrugged though, trying not to think of the way he looked at you, the way he held your hand and squeezed it and the way he had promised you that everything would be alright when your plan had almost fallen through during your mission.

Back then, you had just escaped the Underworld together with Ten only to get to know from Persephone that Hades was currently outside, doing god knows what. Meanwhile, storms were raging, tsunamis flooded cities, drought dried out lands of crops, and ultimately, people were suffering and dying as a consequence. That’s what you had always hated about the gods and goddesses: no matter what, they could never find peace, and whenever they stirred up trouble, it affected humans in the human world. Innocent humans, women, men, children, parents, sisters, brothers… All because these so-called mighty immortals could not control their feelings.

Your best chance afterwards had been to visit Hermes because he always knew where to find someone. At least, he knew where to start finding him. However, instead of a direct answer, Hermes had told you that his roadways had been distributed due to the turbulence in weather, so he couldn’t have helped you. Instead, he had directed you to Anemoi, the wind gods, because they might be able to lend you their compass to tell you the direction of Hades. For that, you had to travel to the Tower of the Winds in Athens, and on your way, you had not only lost precious time but also hope.

With Hades’ rage, many monsters from the Underworld had emerged, and you had to constantly battle through them as they had started popping up out of nowhere. You had been hurt, sleep-deprived and very, very tired of this whole thing by this point, no wonder you had not been in the best mood while you had been walking towards the Tower of the Winds (and to do that, you had to go there after closing hours and turn off the security cameras around, so ultimately breaking the law here and there), and Ten had picked up on it.

“Are you going to stay silent for the rest of the mission?” The boy had asked, breaking the silence that had been stretched between you two ever since the son of Aphrodite had realised that you would not react to his words, let alone snap at him for his stupidest ideas.

You had continued walking forward sulkily, not in the mood for small talk, but he had grabbed your wrist, making you turn towards him. Your immediate reaction had been to fight back, but he had seemed to expect that, hence he had yanked your other hand away before you could peel his fingers off.

“Hey, I know you’re mad, but it’s going to be alright. We’ll put an end to this soon, I can feel it.”

“You and your optimism…” You had tsked snarkily, your mood not at all lifted by his supposedly motivational words.

“I know you feel like the weight of the world is on you, and I know you think that I can’t compare to you which is, in a way, actually true because you can kick ass better than anyone at Camp Half-Blood,” he had started again, and hearing that, your lips had curled upwards just a bit. Only a bit. Ten wasn’t one to flatter anyone but himself, so his compliment had meant a lot to you.”But let me share that burden with you, just for the duration of this mission. You can go back to hating me afterwards, but let me help whenever I can.”

“I don’t hate you,” you had blurted out, your voice coming out raspy after not speaking up for so long. Hearing that, the boy’s eyebrows had elevated, and his lips had started to curl into a smile, but before he could have continued, you had added: “I just find you annoying.”

“I prefer annoyingly handsome, but I’ll let it slide this time,” he had joked, and you couldn’t have found the will in you to go against him, not this time.

When he had let his features become solemn again, he had just stared at you for a few seconds, and you had this jarring feeling stirring up something inside your heart. You weren’t one to let anyone close to you, but spending so much time together while hopefully saving the world had undeniably brought you two closer and he had seen you in so many ugly and vulnerable situations (such as meeting your father on the way to Hermes, and having to hear from him that you had been nothing but a nuisance in his eyes because someone who was focused on battle all the time shouldn’t have made the mistake of having a child like you, a girl on top of that even though he had had many love affairs during his lifetime), seen you sleeping with your hands balled into fists, your knife by your side, seen you cry when some monsters from the Underworld had attacked a child, and you couldn’t have saved her… So yeah, the list was long by that time.

“If anyone can do it, it’s you. It will be alright, I promise,” he had told you, and this time, it had seemed convincing. You had felt yourself soften a bit, and may it have been because of your less alarmed body language or the solemnity of the situation, but the boy had squeezed your hand and you had let it, you had let him do so.

For once, you had wanted someone to hold you like that, so you wouldn’t need to be the one to always keep yourself together, and no matter how much you would have wanted to deny it, it had been him. The one you had supposedly found annoying and bratty and self-centered before this very mission.

“Hey! Are you okay? You had been zoning out a bit,” Johnny’s familiar voice brought you back to reality, and you shook your head in an attempt to shake off the remaining parts of the flashback. You swore you could have felt the ghost of Ten’s touch on your fingers though.

“Yeah, sure, whatever. I still find him annoying,” you clarified as a belated point to your previous conversation, and let Johnny smirk to himself all he wanted, you headed to your own cabin.

A voice in your head gawked at you though, repeating the same word over and over again: liar, liar, liar…

Maybe one day, you will be brave enough to confront your feelings instead of denying them, but that day was not today.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed reading the fic! Personally, I really enjoyed writing it as I love the setting and also sassy Ten is just iconic haha

As always, you can let me know what you thought through asks/DMs/reblogs.

If you want to read more stories of mine, let it be for NCT or for other bands/artists, consider signing up for my taglist here.

Glancing up, Jaemin looked at the television, watching Jisung’s character run across an abandoned field towards a large warehouse. “I don’t think I want to play anything right now, Jisung…” Another sigh left his lips as his thumb ran over the phone screen.

Jisung groaned and raised a brow. “Are you thinking about that girl? Is she coming back over?” 

Jaemin shrugged and decided to pocket his phone. “Maybe...sometime.”

Scoffing, Jisung’s brow still raised, he grunted as he fought a zombie in the game before speaking again. “What do you mean maybe? You didn’t like her? You had your hands all over her at breakfast. She’s the first girl I’ve seen you bring home, and then bring to breakfast. She seemed to like you.” 

Did she? Well, of course there was an attraction. The night before was evidence of that. A smirk on Jaemin’s lips as he replayed the night in his head, before looking at Jisung with another shrug. “Yeah, I like her...she’s great. Smart, beautiful, funny, but there are rules, Jisung. You’ll understand when you are older.” 

“Hyung...I’m an adult. Why do you treat me like I’m a baby, your baby? You make me want to find my own place.”

Jaemin’s mouth drops open at Jisung’s words. “You will not find your own place, what the hell are you talking about?  I know you aren’t a baby...I’m just protecting you. Haechan sure isn’t doing a good job of that.” 

Jisung smirks a bit, thinking about Haechan’s antics. By this point, it had become amusing. “I don’t mind it...it’s kind of funny. I’m not oblivious to things, and I’ve been on dates.”

Jaemin sits up and moves close to Jisung on the couch. “Spill...when. Are you being safe? Do you need your condoms back? If you are going to be sexually active, I need you to be careful. You can’t have a kid this young…” 

Groaning loudly, Jisung puts the controller in his lap, rolling his eyes. “I’m not telling you any of that. I’m fine, Hyung...but you need to text Y/N. You obviously want to. I’d like to see her around here again. You smiled more this morning than you have in a long time, it was kinda cool.” 

“I will...3 days. For luck....”

Jisung shakes his head at Jaemin's logic and scoffs going back to his game.

Day Two

Jeno had watched Jaemin mope around the house the entire day. It was a chore day, and he was almost positive he had done at least half of Jaemin’s shit, because he couldn’t get him to stop looking at his phone. He wasn’t an idiot, he knew what Jaemin was doing, or rather what he wasn’t doing. 

A broom in hand as he swept the kitchen, Jaemin paused and took his phone out of his jeans one more time to look at it.

That was it. Jeno threw down his towel and sighed. “Fucking text her. Don’t tell me you are doing the stupid 3 day rule.” 

Jaemin jumped at his friend’s outburst, sliding the phone back into his pocket, going back to sweeping. “It’s not stupid. It’s logical and for luck. You can’t rush into things, Jeno.”

Scoffing, Jeno picked up his towel and sprayed more cleaner on the counter, before scraping at something that was either eggs or a bodily fluid. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know which one. “The hell you can’t...someone else besides Haechan needs to get laid in this house. He’s driving me crazy, and now you are.”

“I’m cleaning...I’m not doing anything to drive anyone crazy.”

Jeno scoffed at Jaemin’s words and raised a brow, meeting his eyes. “Did you clean out the fridge?”

Jaemin shook his head no and then sighed. “No, but I was going to…”

Jeno deadpanned at his friend and threw up his hands. “When would you have time? Between sweeping the same spot 14 times or checking your phone 50 other times?” 

“One more full day, and I’ll text her.” Jaemin tried to help Jeno make sense of his logic. The number three was his favorite number, it had always been lucky for him. He wanted luck on his side when it came to you.

“Or I’ll text her for you, and tell her to get her ass over here and fuck some sense into you.” 

Jaemin’s cheeks flush red, and he scoffs. “This is why you are single, Jeno...always romantic. You know just the right words to say. I don’t want to just fuck her...don’t you get that?”

Jeno mocks Jaemin, muttering after him, before he suggests he wants more with this girl. “You had one night with her, and you know you want more than that?” 

Swallowing hard, Jaemin checks his phone, feeling it buzz and seeing it was a message from Mark. Sighing, he ignores it and puts it back in his pocket, before avoiding Jeno’s eyes. “Yeah...I don’t know, it felt completely different. I can’t stop thinking about her.”

Jeno watches his best friend, a bit shocked by his reaction. “Damn...alright well. I, well, from what we got to see of her, and learn about her, I like her. She’s cool.” 

Jaemin can’t help but grin a bit, getting a bit of approval from Jeno. Lifting his gaze, he looks at his friend and shrugs. “Yeah? She is, isn't she? I think I’m gonna take her to that coffee shop I found last year, the one that Mark keeps wanting the name of.”

He was careful not to say the name out loud. This shop was perfect, the coffee was always good, and there was never an overwhelming amount of people there. Jaemin wanted to keep it that way, but if Mark, or god forbid Haechan, found out about it, they would taint the experience. 

“Seriously? Fuck, you are whipped…”

Jaemin laughs and scratches the back of his neck at Jeno’s accusation. “Nah...just hopeful I guess.” 

Day Three

He just had to wait 1 more hour to make it a full 3 days, and he could finally text you. It was torture, and the rest of the roommates were feeling the tension. Mark stared at Jaemin’s leg as it bounced. He had been doing that for the past hour, and Mark was ready to either tie his leg down or throw Jaemin into the pool to cool him off. “It's close enough, Jaemin.”

Looking up to meet Mark’s eyes, Jaemin shakes his head no to his friend's statement. “Nope, 3 days on the dot. Not a minute before…”

Mark runs a hand over his face, and moves to sit next to Jaemin, pushing his leg down to stop it bouncing. 

Grunting, Jaemin looks at Mark’s hand as it grips his knee with a bit of force. “Ouch?”

Mark sighs and pats his leg, before letting go. “Just...keep it still. You are driving me insane.”

Renjun laughs, watching his friends. He was a bit annoyed by Jaemin, but he wasn’t going to tell him how to date anyone. If he wanted to wait 3 days, so be it. He didn’t think a girl would be happy waiting 3 days, but it wasn’t his ass on the line. 

Jaemin glances towards the laugh, and raises a brow to Renjun, who shrugs. “Hey, I’m on your side. I told them to back off. I might not get it, but you do you. You think she’ll answer you after waiting around for 3 days? She could have gone bar hopping again.” 

He felt a knot form in his stomach at Renjun’s words. He knew he hadn’t meant it in a cruel way, but his friend did have a way about not thinking things through. Glaring at first, Jaemin lowers his eyes and shakes his head. “I think she will answer...and she wasn’t bar hopping to begin with. She was out getting a drink to wind down...apparently not something she even does often. Including going home with someone...so fuck you.” 

Renjun scoffs and puts up his hands. “I didn’t mean it like that, sorry. I’m just saying 3 days is a long time in the grand scheme of things. Jeno would have lost his mind by hour 4 of day 1.”

Jaemin laughs a bit as he looks at the time on his phone wishing it would move faster. 

Jeno looks up to Renjun, from sitting on the floor next to Jisung, his attention drug away from their game. “Hey...true. Maybe, I should start bar hopping. Too much testerone in his house...it drives me crazy. I need to get laid. Jisung, let’s go out tomorrow.” 

Jaemin sighs and runs his hand over his face as Jeno invites Jisung out to a bar. “No. Go by yourself, especially if you are going to pick up a girl. I don’t need Jisung getting roofied.”

Jisung had been staring at Jeno, considering the offer, but it would be awkward to be stuck there by himself once Jeno had found someone. “I have plans tomorrow anyway.” 

Mark perked up at that revelation, and tilted his head, “Oh? With who?”

Jaemin, too, was listening with full attention to Jisung. The sudden attention of the room causing Jisung’s cheeks to flush. “I was going to go to the park for that concert. A friend called, and asked if I wanted to go with her. I told her yes.” 

“Her?!” Jeno put down his controller and stared at Jisung, before looking around the room. “Jisung is going to get laid, when I am sitting around this house...fuck this. Later…”

The others watch as Jeno suddenly stands up and starts towards his room. 

Jaemin raises a brow and turns on the couch. “Where are you going?”

Jeno sighs and mutters, “Out!” as his door slams, leaving the others shaking their heads.

Mark groans and glances at the clock, before speaking again. “I hope he gets laid. He’s annoying the hell out of me. Man’s so wound up I dread showering after him.” 

Jisung wrinkles his nose and shakes his head, only imagining what Mark was talking about, before turning his attention back to his game.

Jaemin purses his lips and finally looks at his phone again, seeing the time. “Shit...oh. Fuck...it’s time” 

Renjun jumps to Jaemin’s sudden change in tone. Eyes widening, he turns and watches intently. “Do it, text her. You said on the dot for luck.”

“We didn’t fuck, they texted me at three am and five am, calling me a bum and a poopyhead? They’re actually so immature. How you’re at such a prestigious university I’ll never understand. Perhaps you paid your way in? Fucked the dean of admissions?” he turns to you, quirking his eyebrow.

You give him a smirk, “Darling, you don’t need to worry about how eventful my sex life is. If I were you I’d worry about yours.” you poke, knowing full well Doyoung prioritises his studies over relationships. It is something you admire but you would never tell him that, god no, you would never give him the satisfaction.

“Should I be envious that your grades resemble your sex life? Full of Ds?” he snaps back, and you purse your lips to stop a snort, as you reach down to pull your laptop out of your bag and hide your face.

Before the lecture starts you reach your hand over Jaehyun to grab Doyoung’s coffee once more, finishing it with a quick gulp before smiling sweetly and dropping it into the bin beside you at the end of the row.

“That was uncalled for.” Doyoung’s jaw tenses and he glares at you. If eyes could kill, you would be dead ten times over by now. Nothing new though, you’ve grown immune to his stare considering how many times you’ve fallen victim to it. Annoying Doyoung is the highlight of your day—no, week— and has become part of your routine.

“Guess what?” you lean over the desk and beckon Doyoung to lean over and meet you in the middle. He stares at you blankly, refusing to move, and you roll your eyes, “Your face was uncalled for.” you grin, once more, before returning to your seat and focusing your attention on the start of the lecture.

“For fucks sake, the stubble in my armpits keeps stabbing me. It's so uncomfortable!” you rub at them, hoping to soothe the skin. Johnny laughs and Doyoung rolls his eyes. “I don’t think that’s information we needed to know.”

“Your face isn’t information we needed to know.” you bite back, sticking your tongue out at him,  watching his jaw tense and teeth grinding.

“You know, if you keep grinding your teeth like that, you’re gonna flatten them all. You’re gonna look like an old man with no teeth at the age of 25!” you snort, pointing your finger at him.

“I wouldn’t grind them if you didn’t stress me out so much!” he scoffs.

“I wouldn’t stress you out if you didn’t stress me out!” you immediately return. Johnny is laughing at you both for the entire duration of this conversation and inwardly you congratulate yourself for providing such brilliant entertainment.

“What the fuck do I do?” he asks as you three reach the McDonald’s, “You exist.” you deadpan, ignoring him as you walk past him to get into line. He rolls his eyes for about the twentieth time today and doesn’t respond. Doyoung decides it’s better to ignore you back.

“Johnny, Dongyoung, what do you guys want?” you ask.

“Umm, cheeseburger, fries, strawberry milkshake,” Johnny responds, followed by silence. You look expectantly at Doyoung.

“Hey? You big bum, what do you want?” you ask Doyoung, poking his side. He falters for a second, “Uh, Chicken nuggets, Large.”

You nod and turn to order, “But why?” you look back at him, confused, “Why are you ordering me food?”

This time it’s you who rolls their eyes, “Are you rejecting free food? Okay, I see how it is.”

“No, I’m not! Just wondering...” you ignore and order, telling them to sit down as you wait for your food. Once you return with the food you sit down, drinking your hot chocolate and munching on some chips.

“Yo, have you guys watched the new Pokémon movie yet?” Johnny asks. You shake your head.

“It’s probably gonna be shit. People go for the Pokémon, not the plot.” Doyoung pokes. “The plot is the Pokémon you dumbass,” you respond.

“Regardless of the plot or the Pokémon let’s go watch it!” Johnny suggests excitedly. Reluctantly you all make your way to the cinema, buying a large popcorn to share, and get your tickets for the movie.

“Hey, Doyoung?”

“What?”

“You’re an expired waffle.” The room may be dark, but you don’t need light to know that Doyoung was rolling his eyes.

“You’re a useless paperclip.” he retorts and at this, you gasp “Kim Dongyoung how fucking dare you.”

He smirks and feigns innocence, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

You narrow your eyes at him and give his wrist a light slap, “You know exactly what I’m talking about! I used that insult and you said it was dumb and now you’re using it!”

Doyoung slaps your wrist back, “A dumb insult for a dumb person eh?” your mouth is wide open. You’re astounded that he dares give you this attitude, so you do what any normal person does— you grab a handful of popcorn and drop it down his shirt.

This, of course, causes Doyoung to yell and a little girl to stand up from her seat, turn around and say, “Excuse me can you please be quiet?” Doyoung grabs at your hand, still hovering over his shirt and you both politely apologise. Johnny is cracking up, as expected, and Doyoung is boiling with anger. You can practically see the steam tumbling out of his ears and the scowl across his face is clear in the light from the screen.

“You’re helping me get it off!” still with your hand in his grasp he stands up, pulling you along with him, and some popcorn falling to the floor with a crackle.

“What the fuck am I meant to do?” you whisper but he pays you no attention and urges you to walk down the stairs.  The audible crunch of the stray popcorn under your feet after every step makes you wince and Doyoung’s grip on your wrist remains tight. Reluctantly you follow him out of the theatre doors.

“You’re such a fucking child! Now I have popcorn stuck in my boxers, Y/N, my BOXERS!” he frantically pulls on his shirt, trying to rid himself of the small kernels.

“You seem more of a briefs guy to me...” you respond with a cheeky smile, attempting to keep the mood light-hearted.

“You’re going to pay for this!”

“Hey, I bought you McDonald's, didn’t I?”

“That doesn’t give you a free pass to shove popcorn down my shirt! What is it with you, seriously!” his irritation only heightens with your responses, allowing for some harsh words to fall from his mouth.

“Do you have any common sense at all? We’re trying to watch a movie for god’s sake, and you’re just playing around like an immature child! Can you not be sensible for one fucking moment?” you furrow your eyebrows while listening to him berate you.

“Alright there, Mr Kim, maybe you wanna slow down for a second? Go clean yourself up and take a breath.” you try to be the sensible adult he doesn’t think you can be and hold back with further insults.

“Oh great, now I seem like the bad guy,” he says, giving up in trying to rid himself of the popcorn remains.

“Don’t worry, we know in this situation you’re the adult and I’m the child you get to lecture.” You cross your arms and squint at him, struggling to hold in your own irritation.

“Your passive-aggressiveness is really subtle you know!” you take a step closer and tilt your head with a sweet smile, “Well I learnt from the best!”.

His jaw tenses and your eyes quickly flit to it before returning to his, “Seriously, stop grinding your teeth— but you don’t need to take my advice! Who in their right mind would listen to an immature child, right?”

You try to walk past him to go back into the theatre but Doyoung lightly grasps your forearm. “I didn’t mean what I said...”

You turn to look back, faces only centimetres away but eyes filled with spite, “Yes, you did. In your eyes I’m nothing but an irritating child, but you’re right so it’s fine.” you yank your arm away and re-enter the theatre, returning to your seat.

“Everything okay?” Johnny asks.

“Yep. He just got really pissed.”

“Oh, because of the popcorn?” Johnny offers you a sympathetic smile.

“Because I’m apparently immature and dumb and can’t be sensible.” you scoff.

“I mean, you did chuck popcorn down his shirt...”

“And he’s slipped ice down the back of mine? It’s mutual. Or at least I thought it was.” you sigh, frustrated that the day had to turn sour so quickly for no good reason.

You and Johnny end the conversation there, even when Doyoung returns. The extent of any other conversations consisting of the occasional comment about the movie. The movie ends, and you take your time getting up, stretching your limbs and yawning.

“That was actually a decent movie.” Johnny expresses.

“Yeah, it was okay, but I feel like it was more plot twist than plot,” you joke, both boys chuckle and hum in agreement but you pay no attention to Doyoung.

“Let’s go get sushi?” Johnny suggests. You groan in response “I’m a broke bitch and I bought us all McDonald’s earlier! Only if you pay?” you give Johnny a sweet smile, but he responds with a look of pity, “Hoe, I’m broke too...”

After exchanging a knowing look for a few moments, you both turn to Doyoung with that same sweet smile, and he knows exactly what you want.

“Ugh fine, but there’s a cap on how much you can spend!” he groans and begins walking ahead while you and Johnny cheer together.

Johnny links his arms with yours as you follow Doyoung to the restaurant, the time filled with absentminded chatter.

“Alright fellas, I need to go to the toilet, don’t kill each other while I’m away!” both you and your frenemy roll your eyes and ignore him, continuing to eat your meals.

After about thirty seconds Doyoung breaks the silence, “I’m sorry about earlier.” and while you would love to snap back with something rude and witty, you swallow your anger and echo his short apology.

Johnny comes back and, although you still aren’t speaking, he can sense the tension has dissipated and is content with the progress. A few more jokes and beers later you all end up outside of the restaurant, Johnny insisting he’s fine even though he keeps mixing up his home address with a bar nearby and you send him home by taxi, opting for a train as you’re not sure your bank account could take another hit.

As you and Doyoung live relatively close you take the same train home and so are walking to the same train station.

“Uh, can we stop here for a second? I need to get some things.” he pauses outside of a convenience store and you give him a small nod. A few minutes later he remerges with a white carrier bag in his hands.

The pair of you continue walking, breathing in the cold air, and he pulls out an item from the carrier bag, grasping your hand and placing the item in your palm, before closing your fist and giving it a tight squeeze.

“Drink this tea before bed, it’ll make you sleepy, there’s no caffeine.” you chuckle quietly at his gesture and tuck it inside your backpack.

“Why did you get me this?”

“I didn’t want to wake up to your dumb messages calling me a poopyhead,” he complains of fake annoyance.

The corners of your lips turn up slightly and you utter a soft “Thank you,” but that’s all until you get to the train station and make your way onto the train.

The lights are bright compared to the dark sky presented behind the dusty window. A few people are scattered along the carriage, a man in formal wear, a few students, an older woman, and some young men.

A stop in you hear a whisper in your ear,

“Actually, I do wear briefs but they’re all in the wash so I had to resort to boxers,” at first it startles you, not expecting the warm breath, but you smile and turn to look at him. Doyoung tries to suppress a smile and look straight ahead but as you continue to stare at him, laughing quietly, he can’t help but let a few noises escape. He then quickly buries his face in his hands and you both melt into a pile of giggles.

“I can still feel the popcorn scratching my chest,” he says in-between snorts, “You deserved it, to be honest,” you counter,

“You always say I deserved it!”

“That’s because you do!”

Your loud laughter gains the attention of the few people in the carriage and you begin shushing each other, it doesn’t make it any better, but you continue regardless.

A few seconds later Doyoung grabs at your hand and pulls you up, “Our stop!” dragging you along and he runs off the train. It takes you a few seconds to realise what’s happening but you’re already off the train, hearing the beeping signifying the doors are closing only moments before you leapt out. Doyoung stops suddenly and you crash into his side, unprepared for it.

“Woah there!” you grab onto his arm for stability, “I can’t believe we almost missed our stop,”

Doyoung laughs and starts walking towards the exit, “See, I’m so reliable. Unlike someone...”

You roll your eyes, “I almost got smushed by those doors, less reliable more lucky!”

He looks at you with fake offence, a hand on his chest in a mock upset, “You’re just rude that's what you are.”

“You’re just rude, that's what you are.” you imitate him with a high pitched voice, and he narrows his eyes at you before shoving your hand off his arm and speeding his walking up.

“Nooo! Doyoung! Don’t be mad!” he continues to walk away silently, and you speed up to match his tempo. You get to the crossing where you go separate ways, he continues without you and so you get his attention the only way you can.

“WE’LL TAKE THE HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN AND I CAN’T WAIT TO LOVE YOU ALL ALONE—” he runs after you and slams his hands over your mouth to stop your screeching, taking a few steps backwards due to the force of colliding. He lowers his hand slightly to your shoulder and places his other hand on your back to stop you both from falling.

You hold onto his jacket and laugh, and his head hangs low in shame, “I can’t believe you I really can’t. You’re insane, you know that right?” you continue to giggle and just nod in response. He shakes his head, but you can see the corners of his lips turning up, “I should’ve left you on that train when I had the chance.”

“Nooo,” you whine, “You can’t leave ME! I’m your BEST FRIEND!” he gives you a dirty look and you shift your attention to the other students passing by in a group, “Guys! I’m his best friend!” they just chuckle, and one yells “That’s nice!”

You turn back to Doyoung, who is groaning and embarrassed, “You’re not my best friend! We’re enemies, remember?” he widens his eyes and shakes his head at you, “That’s not what you were saying last night...” you trail off. He narrows his eyes again, “Last night you called me a poopy head and I told you to go to sleep...”

“Didn’t say I was your enemy though!”

“Didn’t say you were my best friend though!” he offers you another dirty look and you pout in response.

“Hey, Kim Dongyoung, don’t be mean!”

“I’m not! I’m—”

“BABY YOU A BAD GIRL WATCH YOUR MOUTH—” he pulls at your jacket to try and drag you home, “Shut up you’re gonna wake everyone up!”

You let him drag you, reluctantly, “No I won’t, I’m not even that loud!”

“We’ll take the highway to heaven,” you finish with a sulk.

“I swear to god you’re such a child!” he groans.

“Yeah, but I’m your child.” you retort and he looks at you in confusion,

“I’m not your dad?” you wink in response, knowing full well you’re not making any sense, and he lets go of your jacket, shoving you away, the playful atmosphere quickly being replaced by a cold one. You finally feel the cool breeze of the wind and there’s a bitter taste in your mouth.

“Why do you always do this Doyoung?” you’ve both stopped on the side of the road.

“Do what?” he asks, his expression showing irritation.

“We’re having fun messing about and then you get all cold and icy. Just like at the cinema.” you finally spill what’s been on your mind for a while now.

“I don’t! You put popcorn down my shirt, of course I was gonna react like that— if anything you took it too far!”

“That’s just how we play around is it not? You’ve done plenty of similar things. I honestly thought we were friends who joke around that they hate each other, but I guess not. I guess you really do hate me and you’re just not able to tolerate my bullshit anymore.” he furrows his eyebrows and opens his mouth to say something, but you don’t give him the chance.

“Goodbye, Doyoung.” you say before walking away, leaving him standing in the cold.