#tag x reader

[  meet me at 12. ]

Thinking back on it, you often wondered if you truly did hate your middle school years, if your memories were reliable enough to judge your true feelings at the time. As distant as it felt, the constant pain in your chest that came with the memories never left you. 

A perduring reminder of the loneliness that surrounded you during those dark days. You liked to believe that all those dark feelings brought you to him, looking for a place to find refuge you found him. At the time it barely seemed significant, but as days went by the time you would spend in that space under the tunnel would grow, and slowly the strange boy would become your strange friend.

When you had nowhere to run to, nowhere to let out all your tears, you would let your feet lead you to the only place you knew. Knowing he would be there brought you a sense of comfort, even in the silence of his presence when you were still unfamiliar to each other, all you needed was that unspoken promise of his company.

As time passed you could feel your relationship concretizing itself. A box of tissues placed in your space, the spot you always sat, across from him in that spot you shared. Once you thanked him, you realized how curious you had been about him, asking him all sorts of questions, building up your odd connection. With Yeom Taegyun, you felt understood in numerous ways, words you couldn’t express, feelings you couldn’t decipher, they all found their sense in his refuge. 

[  i need to see you. ]

Once you found him it suddenly felt like nothing could go wrong again, you had each other for the good times and the bad, so you never felt as low as you did all those years ago, before him. The spot remained the same throughout the years despite your ever-changing lifestyles, you kept that as a timeless spot. 

In fact, time would stop at times under that abandoned tunnel, shared moments unspoken of outside of the darkness of your spot. Secrets of lips connecting, feelings unveiling, truths spoken, a deeper love blossomed beyond your control. He had a way of making you feel like your heart was safe in his care, like he had harboured all the love he had in his chest just for you to lose yourself in it. Loving him felt like the most natural thing, knowing that you would love through success and defeat, you never wanted to let go of what you had.

You tried your best to dream and let your hopes take over, but those moments were shared in secret for a reason, nothing ever came easily for you. Despite your similarities, your differences held a stronger weight far beyond your control. 

At first it came in quiet warnings whispered into his ears, people surrounding him telling him to distance himself from you knowing it wouldn’t end in your favor, but neither of you took them seriously at the time. Being young, you believed you were the masters of your own faiths, and social class and upbringing were just details. 

Soon enough you came to learn you had no power when it came to the things you truly wanted, as you got older he would grow farther from your reach. The fact was you didn’t choose the families you were born into, he went to international instituts while you had to settle with local schools, his future was bright while yours was uncertain. Still he tried to show you that none of it mattered to him, that he would fight to keep what you had.

Sadly, no matter how hard you tried to fight it, his face, stature, attire, it would all remind you of the warning you had heard once upon a time. You couldn’t hold onto the illusion as tightly as you once did.

[  one last time. ]

You distanced yourself from him, the comfort you once found in his presence had become a melancholic feeling. Whenever you had thoughts of him, sensing that emptiness in the space he would usually fill up, it was never hard to find him. Fingers hovering over your keyboard as you tried to find the words, even without typing them out he would find you first. 

At the time you loved that he made it so easy, but now you were left with a bottle with words left unsaid. This time he would be leaving for good, and all the moments you had shared would become passing memories. Once again you wanted to ignore the reality of things, act like you would be fine, hope that it wouldn’t pain you as much, but you couldn’t make the same mistakes you did. 

When you first heard the news you had to hide your disappointment, it was good news for him, you wanted to be happy for him. You could feel his eyes on you analysing your reaction, you could see in his eyes he was searching for any sign from you, a clear signal screaming “don’t go”, but you couldn’t give it to him. 

This time you would be the one to send the text, he knew where to find you and you knew he would come. Knowing it could be the last time you would see each other brought back the awkwardness of your middle school days. Time felt like an absurd concept under that tunnel, standing side by side in complete silence never felt more comforting.

“You’re leaving on Monday right?” You turned over to him filling the quiet space with a soft echo, he nodded with a tight lipped smile, his gaze trailed off following the train tracks that lead out the dark shelter. 

“I’ll miss this–”

“You can say you don’t want me to go, you know?” His eyes found yours, he knew he was right, but he also knew you wouldn’t admit it. With a light scoff you turned your gaze away from him, you wanted to try to be reasonable for him, but he could read right through you. 

“It’s not that simple.” You couldn’t help but wonder as you forced the words out your throat if that wasn’t just an excuse, if it really wasn’t just as simple as that.

“It is.” His voice brought your eyes back up to his, a soft furrow in your brows as you stared at him searching for your words.

“Let’s not do this. You’re leaving in two days, it will be a good thing for you.” Now it was his eyebrows scrunching in return, a wave of disbelief washing across his face as he let out a short laugh. 

“There’s a lot of things that are good for me doesn’t mean I have to do them.” He gave you a soft smile, knowing you couldn’t avoid it as easily. No matter how you looked at it, he had no intentions of not having you in his life.

All the moments you spent away from him telling yourself you weren’t good enough for him, all lead up to this moment, where you had to decide if that was truly what you wanted. His insistent questions, the hopeful glimmer in his eyes, he needed true confirmation that you didn’t actually want this unnecessary space you had built up. 

“Besides you’ve been so good to me.” You could feel the slight tingling in your eyes as tears welled up, the feeling of his hand brushing against your cheek as he cupped your face brought a sense of relief. You let your eyes shut close, taking in the warmth of his touch.

“I really don’t want you to go Tae.” Through your tears your eyes fluttered open, looking up at him with an apologetic frown. Saying the words out loud seemed like such a selfish thing before, but now it just felt honest.

Jongwoo (426 words)

Jongwoo was worried. Very worried. At first, he was happy to see you so focused on your studies, the upcoming exam was a tough one, so he tried to give you space to focus on studying. But now, a week later, there was a growing concern in him, because each day, you seemed to wake up earlier, come to bed later, and eat less and less. The bags under your eyes grew larger and larger. Jongwoo didn’t want to disturb you, he knew how much school meant to you, but he couldn’t stand by any longer, you needed to eat and rest. 

Jongwoo went out and bought your favorite food, snacks, and drinks. He hoped that your favorite things would be enough to steal you away from your notes and studying for an hour or two. He returned home and prepared all the food and everything in the living room, putting on your favorite show. He then walked over to the room where you were sitting, nose-deep in the same book he had seen all week. 

“Hey, babe, darling, time for dinner,” Jongwoo walked over to where you were sitting, leaning down and whispering in your ear. “I’ll eat later, I need to finish this chapter,” Jongwoo frowned, not happy with your response. Jongwoo dragged your chair backward, away from the desk in front of you. You put the book down in shock at his action, glaring at him. “I’m sorry, but you’ve barely been eating this week, or sleeping, I’m worried and I want you to eat, it will help you study better if you actually eat and sleep,” You stopped glaring at him, finally feeling the exhaustion all over your body and the hunger slowly creeping in. 

“A break might actually be good,” Jongwoo smiled, feeling relief as you agreed to eat and rest. He held your hand as the two of you walked over to the living room. You felt like crying seeing so many of your favorite things prepared, Jongwoo knew exactly what you needed at a time like this. The two of you sat down on the couch, your stomach rumbling with anticipation of finally being fed, Jongwoo started the series, and you began eating. 

A while later, once you were done eating, the two of you were lying on the couch, cuddling, and before you knew it, you were falling asleep. “Thank you for everything, Woo, you’re the best,” Jongwoo leaned down, leaving a kiss on the crown of your head, happy that he could take care of his partner. 

Jay (560 words)

Jay wouldn’t notice at first, he would be so busy with his own stuff that it would take him a few days until he starts to notice your absence. Not eating breakfast together, not messaging him about eating lunch, or eating dinner together. Then he would start to notice that your side of the bed always seemed untouched in the morning like you never came to bed. So he decided to stay awake one night and wait for you, the clock kept ticking on but you never came. That’s when Jay began feeling worried, how long had it been since you slept? How much have you been eating? How long did it take him to notice? 

Jay walked out of the bedroom and over to the office, he found his beloved partner crying in front of the computer, with textbooks all over the desk and half the floor, tissues and papers laid crumbled up all over the place. His heart broke seeing the love of his life so sad. “Hey, it’s okay, wanna talk about what’s going on?” He walked over so he was standing beside your chair, you looked up at him and only cried harder. Needing the comfort of your boyfriend but not knowing how to ask for it. As soon as the crying increased, Jay leaned down and enveloped you in a loving hug. “It’s okay, shh, come on, let’s go and lay down on the bed,” 

Jay helped you stand up from the chair, your legs were wobbly and shaking both from exhaustion and the lack of food for the last couple of days. Jay wrapped an arm around your waist to help steady you in case your legs gave out, he walked you over to the bedroom, the mere sight of your bed only made you cry harder. Jay laid down beside you, still holding you tight, he knew that you needed the closeness right now. 

“I understand that you want to do your best when it comes to studying, it’s the same for me with singing, but you have to take care of yourself as well, you’re always on me making sure I eat and sleep enough, I’m sorry that I haven’t been as good at taking care of you, but please, no matter how stressed you are, you have to eat and sleep,” “I’m sorry, Jay, I’m just so stressed, I don’t think I’ll pass this exam, I keep reading and doing everything I can to understand this topic but I just, I just don’t. I don’t understand it, and if I don’t pass this exam, I’ll be kicked out of the program for next semester because I need to pass this one to continue,” Jay tried to soothe you as you began crying even harder, he gently caressed your hair as he kissed your forehead. 

“Hey, shhh, come on, you’re like the smartest person I know, I have heard you say this 100 times, that you don’t understand a topic and then you ace the exam, I believe the same thing will happen this time, but only if you rest and eat well, or that brain of yours is going to collapse, we’ll take a nap now and then when we wake up, you have to promise me that you’ll eat something, okay?” “I promise, thank you for caring about me, Jay,” 

Seongmin (317 words) 

Seongmin is attentive, he knows how you get around exam time so he makes sure to write down every date of your exams so that he is prepared to take care of you. He knows that once you have an exam, you will zero in on it, not being able to focus on anything else, barely sleeping, eating only snacks and bars, not showering, there will only be time for studying in your mind. 

To help you, Seongmin will the day before he knows your studying frenzy starts, go and buy a bunch of snacks and healthy bars as well as food that’s easy to eat one-handed, he will also prepare calming tea, and buy some extra calming bath salts. He will do his best to let you focus on studying while he fixes everything else, every other day he will prepare a bath for you, to make sure that you take a break from studying and get some rest, after the bath he knows that you will always be very tired, so you will actually go to bed and sleep for a few hours. You sometimes get annoyed with him as he comes in and out of the room where you are studying, but you also know that he’s just doing this because he loves you. 

Once the exams are over, you always try to make it up to him by cooking his favorite dinner or having a spa night where you both can take care of one another. Even if you try to persuade him to let you take care of him, he loves doing things for you, it’s part of his love language, acts of service, so it’s best to just let him do whatever he wants, he loves giving you princess treatment. He appreciates that you try to do the same for him but he feels happiest when he takes care of you. 

Tag (420 words)

Tag is a bit like Jay, he doesn’t notice immediately that something is up, he knows how it is to focus on something and lose track of everything else. He can get caught up in the studio just like you can get caught up in studying. It isn’t until he wakes up to quiet sniffles in the middle of the night, that he notices something is wrong. 

“Hey, baby, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?” He sat up and rubbed his eyes, trying to become a bit more conscious. You looked at him, surprised to see him awake, and then you quickly looked away, trying to wipe away your tears. And with a trembling voice, you answered, “It’s nothing, just a dream, don’t worry,” “Something is obviously wrong, you never wake up and cry like this, even if you’ve had a nightmare, so this has to be something bigger than just a dream,” Tag’s voice was calm yet stern, you knew he wouldn’t let this go, knew you too well, he knew that the only way to calm you down was to talk about whatever was causing you to cry. 

“I have an exam in a couple of days and all the seniors and the teachers are saying that this is the hardest exam throughout the program, and usually 70% of the class fails this one, what if I fail? I’ve never failed an exam before but you know the last one we did? It was the worst score I’ve ever gotten, what if that was a sign? A sign that I won’t pass this one?” Tag put his hands on your shoulders, turning your body towards him, he looked deep into your eyes. “Take a deep breath for me, okay, on three… 1, 2, 3” You took a deep breath along with Tag, it calmed you down enough to halt the tears that had been streaming down your cheeks. “Alright, now, even if everything keeps saying that it’s the hardest exam or whatever, don’t listen to them, I think 70% fail because they stress too much, they stress more than actually studying, and that won’t help, so calm down, remember to breathe, and just study like you always do, as you said, you’ve never failed an exam before, because you’re good at studying,” 

He wiped away the last remaining tears on your cheeks before he leaned in and kissed you. “I love you, no matter how well you do in an exam, remember that you’re more than your grades,” 

Yedam (329 words)

Yedam likes to spend time with you, so he hates when exam season comes around because that means he is downgraded to second priority, and studying is bumped up to the highest priority. Yedam hates it. He wishes that exams would cease to exist, but who doesn’t? 

Yedam will try his best to do what he can to let you study because he does understand the importance of school to you, but he will also do everything he can to get some attention. Like coming in with snacks, cold water, tea, some ramyun, or tteokbokki every 20 minutes or so. And each time, he will ask for a kiss in return for the snack or drink, two if he brings both a drink and a snack. 

It is a bit distracting but you know that he does it with a kind heart, it isn’t easy going from getting almost all your attention all the time to getting barely any, so you understand him, and it’s nice to be taken care of. He’s always ready to come and give you a hug when it gets too stressful, and if you ever ask him to help you study with flashcards or anything of the sort, he will be there, doing his best, giving you a kiss each time you get a question right. 

You point at your usual order, and Minho nods. “I’ll just get that then.”

Since Minho is getting what you normally buy, you decide to get something different for once to mix things up a little. When you make it to the front of the line at the counter, you smile at Youngtaek, whose bright expression makes your heart flutter.

“The usual?” he asks.

“Yup.” You point up at the menu hanging above his head. “And a passionfruit green tea, please.”

“Coming right up.”

Making your way back to your table, you try to school your expression so Minho won’t tease you for it -- though you know it’s inevitable, really.

“So, which one of those baristas have you been flirting with for months without making a real move?”

Ah, there it is.

“My money is on the one you just talked to,” Minho continues, a sly smirk on his lips. “He’s been staring at you this whole time.”

Your eyes widen, but you keep your voice down. “What?! No he has not.”

Minho rolls his eyes. “Yeah, sure, like he’d stare while you’re looking. Smarten up, buttercup.”

“You’re such a little--”

Youngtaek calls out your name and order, cutting you off. You stand up and walk away from the table, but not without glaring at Minho.

“Thanks,” you mumble when you take the drinks. After those comments from Minho, you can’t seem to meet Youngtaek’s eyes, so you keep your head down.

For some unknown reason, Minho bursts into laughter as soon as you hand him his drink. You scrunch your nose at his weird behavior and look around, hoping he’s not disturbing any of the customers around.

“What’s wrong with you?”

Minho takes a second to wipe away (fake) tears of laughter. “Apparently,” he says, still breathless. “Someone named--” Making a show of it, he squints at the label on his drink. “--Youngtaek wants me to call him sometime.”

Your eyes widen, and you grab Minho’s wrist to pull his hand and the drink in it closer. In messy black marker, a number is written down, followed by Youngtaek’s name and, of course, “call me sometime ;)”.

Hastily, you twist in your seat to look at Youngtaek from across the café. He stands behind the counter, looking very, very confused.

Minho giggles and holds up his drink -- your usual order -- waving flirtatiously at Youngtaek, whose jaw drops. His cheeks and ears flare up an embarrassing pink, and, oh god, that was meant for you, wasn’t it?

Youngtaek’s coworker can’t stop laughing.

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