TEASER WORD COUNT — 850

FULL FIC WORD COUNT — estimated 15K-20K (currently at 7K)

RELEASE DATE — TBA

ADDITIONAL NOTE(S) — A decent amount of world-building is in this one folks, Sunoo and MC are both Communication Majors, but MC is a year ahead and a year older. MC is very protective of Sunoo as much as she is smitten.

AUTHOR'S NOTE — just wanted to see a man in a constant state of annoyed distress from being held hostage so frequently it's like part of his routine now with a strong and unhinged female superhero MC coming to his rescue every time who is very much in love with him <3

me with literally every fic I write: omg guys I’m so excited for this one! 🥰

TAGLIST — send an ask or reply to this post if you want to be part of the taglist! Those on the permanent taglist don’t need to.

“Well if it isn't my favorite superhero, Dollar Store Zeus.”

And there, stood in the heart of the currently iced area of Myeongdong, is Seoul’s frigid villain, Frostbite decked in his own mechanical suit that you were sure he had stolen from a neighboring hero agency. 

You have to admit, his suit looked just as cool as yours; metal coated in an inky black that shone with the luminescent ice-blue glow coming from the decals, but no matter how cool it looked, you knew it wasn’t as developed as yours. From the slightly bulky build of his own power-suit, you suspected it wasn’t based on the nano technology HIVE had decided to implement on every hero that worked under the agency.

Frostbite’s voice, no doubt disguised under the use of his own supersuit’s voice changing feature, immediately had your metaphorical hackles raising, “It’s Shockstreak, dickhead.” The irritation you normally felt around him increased ten-fold when he settled on calling you the worst alternatives of your hero alias.

The supervillain merely shrugged, dismissing your annoyance.

“Y/N.” Came Jisung’s stern reminder, tone similar to what a disappointed parent would sound like to which you again, ignored.

“I think this,” Frostbite held out his arms to brandish what he was up to before you arrived at the scene, “is my best work so far. I was going to make a giant snow globe, but that would waste so much time.” He said in feigned exasperation, “guess I have to settle with this.”

Having no time for the obvious and piss-poor stalling, you tensed your stance, bending at the knees slightly, “don’t you have anything else better to do than reenact Elsa’s ‘Let It Go’?” You sneered, “whatever, I’m going to fry the shit out of you, popsicle.”

“Ah-ah, you sure you want to do that?”

“Anything to shut you up for good.”

“Uh… Shockstreak? Whatever you’re thinking, don’t.”

You balk at that. You knew Jisung hated Frostbite as much as you did, so why the hell was he stopping you now of all times? “what? Why not? The opportunity is right there why the fu—“ the words immediately died on the tip of your tongue the moment you refocused on the villain. 

He wasn’t alone.

“Just like old times, huh, bumblebee?” Another cackle from him had you gritting your teeth in irritation when his captive yelped as they were brought forward, only for them to be pulled back with Frostbite wrapping a hand around their throat, “remember when we first met? Didn’t it go something like this?”

Oh you remember the very first encounter with Frostbite as clear as day.

If things went a little differently, you could have considered it as a fond memory you’d like to revisit to your heart’s content from how much it had impacted you and your life as a hero. The fateful meeting between Shockstreak and Frostbite was impactful to you, yes, but it was impactful for all of the wrong reasons.

The moment Frostbite had launched a barrage of the sharpest icicles you had ever seen towards you with no prior warning, you had promptly placed him high on your shit-list—number 1: Frostbite.

Usually, you would give anyone the benefit of doubt. Yes you were a hero who vowed to save the city and its citizens against threats like him, but you had morals, you wanted to be sure that what you were about to do would be justified. Though the minutes you and Jisung had used up for assessing whether the new appearance of a super-powered human (Frostbite) was a hero or a villain was a definite waste when he froze a portion of your university’s courtyard and found a hostage.

And that hostage turned out to be your roommate, Kim Sunoo, who was already running late for his last lecture of the day.

So yes, Frostbite taking the top spot on your shit-list was well deserved and if it weren’t for your morals, you would have had him buried six feet under ages ago for putting your the love of your life in danger.

It was a core memory of some sort. You really considered it as one, ignoring that the experience wasn’t at all positive, it did kind of shape who you were as a person, more importantly, as a hero; someone who would absolutely go through lengths to keep those who you kept close to your heart safe from any threat.

It just so happens that Sunoo resides in the deepest part of your heart—he practically lived in there and of-fucking-course you’d put your life on the line if it was guaranteed that he wont be in harm’s way. You would always make sure of it. You didn’t care if the general public thought you were insane for labeling the new addition to the supervillains your archnemesis from the very first encounter.

ADDITIONAL NOTE(S) — Jungwon is a kind of a geek, MC is on the quiet side this time (really, poor thing is so shy) and gets flustered easily, Jungwon's 'love language' is teasing, brief time-skip at one point.

AUTHOR'S NOTE — well, this took longer than I originally had expected 💀 I know a few of you were really excited for this and I really do apologize for taking so long! Without further ado, here's a long and fluffy fic for all you Wonie lovers out there <3

For as long as Jungwon could remember, superheroic abilities only existed in the comic books he and his older sister would get up to flipping through as soon they grew bored of having to focus on any academic reading required.

It’s a little tradition he and his older sister, Jiwon, had come up with when she, with little Jungwon in tow as he clutched the hem of her sweater, ventured into the deeper and more secluded part of the library. To him, it felt like he was on his own adventure, going against his parents' wishes in favor of trudging into unknown territory, faced with shelves upon shelves of what was predominantly Marvel and D.C comics where time wasn’t particularly kind to what was once the pristine conditions of each issue. 

But Jungwon never paid much mind to the weathered appearance.

As a kid, it only added to the appeal as he eagerly accepted a Spider-Man issue Jiwon handed to him, his eyes wide and full of wonder as he followed suit, sitting across his sister when she had sat against the shelf and opened her copy of an Iron Man issue with gleaming eyes, mirroring his own.

Since that particular encounter, the Yang siblings made it their mission to free their Saturday schedule by doing their chores in a much faster and efficient way. Jungwon, more or less, complained at the additional effort he had to put in (emphasizing his exasperation by pouting, which only puffed up his cheeks and for her to coo at), but Jiwon was patient enough to listen to her little brother’s objections and successfully calmed his growing impatience by the promise of asking their grandmother to give them a slight increase in allowance for ice cream after their weekly trip to the local library.

Jungwon was still in a sour mood even after the bargain. Nonetheless, he still does his chores, albeit his reluctance was ever present in every sweep of the broom, but he still does his part and finished his share of household chores just before their grandmother called the siblings for a well deserved lunch.

Their newfound vigor doesn’t go unnoticed.

In fact, it raised the eyebrows of not only their grandmother, but their parents too. It also raised a slew of silent questions from Mr. and Mrs. Yang as they watched their children go about their set weekend chores. Both Jiwon and Jungwon were both hardworking in their own ways, that’s a known fact and both parents were extremely proud of their children—their absolute pride and joy—so the curiosity quickly faded as they both thought the siblings deserved time for themselves anyway.

They were good children. They deserved to have their fun every once in a while and so Jiwon and Jungwon pretty much made “reading superhero comics until our brains rot” a permanent fixture in their lives. It had gone to the point where they both started looking into buying their own copies to start on each of their respective collections.

Little Jungwon wouldn’t say he was obsessed with having superpowers of his own, but he thought having some sort of ability would probably come in handy if it meant that it would make his life easier.

(He was quite dramatic as a child; very imaginative too).

He dreamt of having a handful of superpowers, one of them being super-speed as that would definitely aid him in completing his own set of tasks which included homework and household chores. The ability to fly came into mind once he found himself watching a flock of birds flying from his bedroom window while in the middle of doing his homework, but then he thought how teleporting would probably be more convenient.

As often as he would find himself imagining all the possibilities if superpowers existed in this world, Jungwon knew those would have to remain in his dreams where anything was possible.

Well, that was until he turned eleven.

On the morning of Jungwon's eleventh birthday, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. 

It was a typical cold, February morning and perhaps Jungwon did wake up earlier than usual due to the chilly weather; still, nothing seemed out of place. It could be that he was anticipating another surprise from either Jiwon or his grandmother which made him feel a tad restless—Jiwon held the most birthday surprises—and that could be the reason why he was on edge when he left his bedroom; eyes still heavy with sleep and hair messed up from tossing and turning.

He was right in expecting his older sister to surprise him.

Jungwon had been waiting for Jiwon to strike since last night—it was his last thought too before he dozed off—and yet, she still managed to elicit a scream from the moment he stepped out of the bathroom after freshening up and that ended up in Jungwon pouting the entire time they ate breakfast as Jiwon and their grandmother doted on him. His sulking was short lived however, because he immediately cheered up when a cupcake with a tiny lit up candle was presented to him, his older sister singing a very off-key version of the birthday song while their grandmother laughed heartily, eyes brimmed with overflowing fondness she had for her grandchildren.

And the cool Monday morning was a happy affair after that, the joy following the siblings towards the designated bus-stop to wait for the next one to take them to school. It wasn’t due for another fifteen minutes, so Jiwon thought of entertaining themselves by choosing a color and to see how many vehicles of said chosen color will pass by them until the next bus comes. Since it was Jungwon’s birthday, he got to choose first; he picked silver while Jiwon picked red.

When he noted down his fifth vehicle, that’s when he heard it.

Jungwon’s gonna freak when he finds out I got him the first two volumes of My Hero Academia.

He turned to Jiwon, surprise etched all over his face and touched at the fact she remembered what he wanted,  “you got me the first two volumes of MHA for my birthday?”

She froze, slowly turning to look at Jungwon and mirrored his expression, “how did you know I got you that?”

“I heard you say that you did,” Jungwon said as if it was the most obvious answer because he did, in fact, hear her. It was her voice, there was no mistaking it. After all, he grew up listening to Jiwon’s voice every single day since he became aware of it and it would be literally impossible if she were to claim it was someone else when it was only them at the bus-stop.

“So did you?” Jungwon asked, slightly bouncing in his seat as an excited smile bunched up his cheeks, “did you get me the manga?”

“How…” Jiwon can’t help but roll her eyes at how earnest Jungwon looked, “okay fine. I did get them.” Then she knit her eyebrows together because how on earth did her baby brother figure it out? Sure he was observant for his age (maybe a bit too observant), but Jiwon thought she and their grandmother did a good job on hiding it from him. Not once did she even move this gift from its hiding place either. “But how did you know?”

This time, it was Jungwon who rolled his eyes. If this was his older sister acting, she’s doing a damn good job at acting clueless. Maybe she should become an actress. “I heard you say it, Jiwon, I told you.”

“I literally didn’t say anything!” Was Jiwon’s indignant reply.

“Yes you did! You said ‘Jungwon’s gonna freak when he finds out I got him the first two volumes of My Hero Academia’.” Jungwon even made it a point to try and imitate his sister’s pitch to annoy her even more, but Jiwon was too shocked to even react, only managing a strangled sound coming from her throat. “I heard it loud and clear!”

What the fuck… he said that word for word too!

Jungwon gasped, scandalized at the cussing—scandalized by his twelve year old sister cussing, “Jiwon! You said the F word! Mom, Dad and grandma told us not to say that!”

What the hell! Can he read my mind? There’s no way he can!

Jungwon’s eyes narrowed at Jiwon appearing as if she was on the verge of a mental breakdown, “how can you talk with your mouth not moving?”

Jiwon held her face in both of her hands and sighed heavily. It kind of reminded Jungwon of their mom when she was particularly stressed or frustrated by something from work. Sometimes it was both. “It’s because I wasn’t, you brat.”

Jungwon, if by any chance you do hear my thoughts, we’re going to Lotte World later. They told me it was a surprise. Mom, Dad and Grandma are picking us up after school. They’re getting off early from work.

“We’re going to Lotte World later?! And Mom and Dad are leaving work early?!” Safe to say, Jungwon was absolutely elated by the prospect of their parents getting off early to take them to an amusement park. “Okay but really, how are you talking without moving your mouth? That’s so weird…” His face scrunched up.

Not as weird as you reading my mind, Jungwon-ah.

Jungwon doesn’t even get to rebuke her statement with Jiwon already opening her mouth to say, “Jungwon, don’t freak out, but you can read minds now… I think.” Say ‘Jungwonie’s stupid’ and I’ll buy you ice cream for a week.

“You’re not tricking me this time, noona, even if it’s for ice cream.” 

Worth a shot. Jiwon shrugged. You do know I’m talking to you through my thoughts, right? See? She gestured vaguely to herself, my mouth isn’t moving at all.

And that’s when the realization dawned on him.

Jungwon’s face falls entirely, “I can read minds now?”

Jiwon slowly slid closer until their thighs touched and patted him gently on the back. “Yeah, I guess you can.” Looks like you’ve got yourself a superpower.

He giggled. It is true, but it’s still weird that it is and it surprised him that he’s taking this well. “How can I save the day with mind-reading?”

I dunno, but you’ll figure out!

“Okay you can stop with that now. You already proved to me that I can read minds.” Jungwon wondered if this could work on animals too. “Do you think this is an unconscious thing? Like, can I turn it off ‘cause I don’t really want to hear multiple people’s minds going off in class.”

Jiwon shrugged, “I didn’t gain mind-reading powers when I turned 11. You’ll have to find it out on your own.” Jungwon sighed through his nose. Isn’t he too young to have an ability like this? And he’s certain there aren’t even books out there that would help. There’s a chance that he could be the only one in the world who manifested such an ability right at this very moment.

“We can talk more about this when we get home.” She said, getting on her feet as she dusted off her skirt and Jungwon followed suit when he spotted the bus coming. “For now, maybe you can find out which one of your classmates has a crush on you.”

Jungwon snorted, gently pushing Jiwon by the shoulder. “Whatever.”

In the end, Jungwon found out who exactly had a crush on him. Three people to be exact and as much as he was flattered by the new found knowledge, it was kind of odd hearing them gush about him in their heads while they did their best in keeping their faces as neutral as possible. 

(It was kind of funny though, now that Jungwon had the time to think about it; Funny in a way that their thoughts were so damn loud when their outer appearance was the complete opposite—stoic, shy and reserved. Perhaps having this ability would come in handy when Jungwon had to deal with liars).

A hand waving in front of his face brought him back to the present. 

“Jungwonie, you okay there?”

Jungwon blinked and looked up to see Jiwon regarding him with slight concern. He shook his head and promptly got up from the couch. “Sorry, I was just thinking.” He peered down at his sister who seemed displeased at the vague answer.

“You already do a lot of that these days. Can’t you give your brain a break at least once?”

Christ, when did this guy become taller than me? Their height difference wasn’t even that great, yet Jiwon can’t help but to complain every time she was reminded of her younger brother’s growth spurt. 

She immediately glared at him once spotting the smirk. Don’t even answer that, you brat.

Jungwon complied, shrugging as he picked up his backpack.

It was way too early to be subjected to his sister’s wrath anyway and he’d prefer arriving at school in one piece. “Yeah well, keeping my brain occupied helps with the mind-reading thing so…” He trailed off while adjusting the straps. Even if he pretty much had a solid grasp on controlling his new found ability he gained exactly seven years before, Jungwon thought he still needed to keep it in check. One slip up could overwhelm him and he does not want that to happen ever again.

Jiwon snickered, “is this your way of telling me you’re overthinking?” Jungwon’s bland expression told her it wasn’t, making her grin. “Anyways, here.” She pulled out something wrapped in brown paper from her bag and handed it over to him. “I’d ask you to guess what it is, but I know you already used your freaky mind-reading shit on me.”

It’s volume 32 and 33 of My Hero Academia.

“Grandma would smack you if she heard you cuss.” Jungwon snickered, flipping the wrapped gift in mid interest and completely ignoring her bristling, “and it’s volume 32 and 33 of My Hero Academia.”

Jiwon’s expression quickly morphed into disbelief. “God, I hate it when you do that. It’s really hard to surprise you at this point. Mom and Dad think you’re so hard to please now too.” She whined.

“Sorry,” he said, not at all sounding the least bit apologetic. A small grin pulled at his lips too, earning a scoff of disbelief in response, “I really can’t help it sometimes.”

Jiwon parrots what he said in a mocking manner and Jungwon snorts as he unwrapped the two new volumes to add to his ever growing collection of MHA manga. “You say that every year on your birthday.” She grumbles, “happy birthday, by the way. Ugh you’re 18 now too! You make me feel so old.”

He let out a good-natured laugh, “you’re only two years older than me though?”

“I’m turning 20 this year, Jungwon. I think I can say I feel old now that I’m nearing my twenties.” Jiwon started ushering him out of the living area hurriedly, “now let’s go, birthday boy, I gotta take you to school. Consider me giving you a ride part two of your birthday gift.”

“Wow, lucky me.” Jungwon said drily, letting himself be pushed out of his own home. “Don’t you have classes too?”

After saying their goodbyes to both their grandma and their recent addition, a rescued Bichon they named Maeumi, Jiwon pulled out her car keys from one of her bag’s pockets, “my classes aren’t until later,” Jiwon reassures him. It’s one perk being in college. You can build your own schedule for your own convinience, “so I have plenty of time to fuck around before then.”

Tap tap.

Jungwon blinked once, twice, three times before he huffed at Jiwon’s amusement, “do you always have to do that?”

“Of course,” she tapped the middle of his forehead twice again with her index finger just to prove a point, “who else will remind you to not overuse your superpower?”

If someone asked Jungwon about his peculiar fixation on anything superhero related, he could say in confidence that he wasn’t as obsessed compared to how he was in his younger days.

He wasn’t as obsessed, yes, but did that mean he completely turned his back on the one thing that brought him and his older sister closer? Of course not, and the keywords here are “Jungwon wasn’t as obsessed”; it doesn't entirely mean he wouldn’t pick up a comic book ever again. His fixation dwindled throughout the years of spontaneous growing pains that came with puberty and his obsession had been demoted to a healthy interest, so Jungwon liked to think that he wasn’t the same starry-eyed boy that viewed Spider-Man as a god during his childhood.

His current interest in the manga his sister had gotten him doesn’t count, obviously. Nevermind that he started collecting an appropriate amount of figurines along with the thirty something volumes of the mentioned manga. Afterall, it was completely normal for a teenage boy like him to have some sort of interest other than Taekwondo and while he was thankful that his parents had kind of forced him to partake in the martial art to improve on his socializing, sometimes he needed another outlet to unwind; some sort of hobby to keep him grounded and not succumb to the pressures of being in his junior year of highschool.

A light smack on the back of his head launched Jungwon out of his bubble of concentration, letting out a surprised sound that got caught in his throat in the process. Jungwon hissed and quickly grabbed the nearest thing to use as a bookmark—a ball-point pen—for the meantime, before looking up to glower at the early morning perpetrator, rubbing the same spot he was hit.

“Happy 18th birthday, loser.” Jungwon immediately rolled his eyes when he saw the shit-eating grin spread on Wonyoung’s lips from his visible annoyance of being interrupted. “I see you’ve already started the day with your nerdy book.” Wonyoung unceremoniously plopped onto her desk which was on said birthday boy’s right-hand side.

“Very funny,” came Jungwon’s bland reply as he picked up the ‘nerdy book’ (which was volume 32 of the MHA series, thank you very much) again to continue. “Is that how we treat the birthday boy? And here I expected my best friend to play nice for once.” He paused from his reading to look at the girl expectantly with an arched eyebrow.

She mirrored his claim with an all too sweet smile, “eat shit, Yang.” and she placed a box of chocolate onto Jungwon’s desk. The two broke into peals of laughter as he said his thanks.

“By the way, class representatives are required to attend a StuCo meeting later.” Wonyoung said through her mouthful of chocolate.

Jungwon paused in his chewing, eyebrows knitting together, “what for?”

Wonyoung shrugged and looked elsewhere, “Not really sure either. I’ll wait for you to finish cleaning up the classroom.”

If he says ‘no’, I’m gonna physically drag him out of this damn classroom myself. We planned this birthday dinner for so long. We’re not taking ‘no’ for an answer.

The corners of Jungwon’s lips twitched and hid the growing smile behind the manga in his hands, swallowing the chocolate. “Alright, if you say so.”

“Great! I mean… great.” And if Wonyoung’s sigh of relief was far too obvious than she intended it to come out, Jungwon doesn’t mention it.

Thank God. Sunoo would have chewed my ear off if his efforts of getting a reservation were for nothing.

Even if he did consider Jang Wonyoung as his best friend, Jungwon never really made it a point to tell her about the whole ‘oh, I can read people’s minds by the way’ thing.

He never found a need nor a reason to let her, or any of his friends, be informed on the matter; and knowing some of them, they’d probably use his ability as some kind of party trick to amuse a new face, or an exploit to earn cheap bet money from an equally cheap thrill of a guessing game. He can already feel the upcoming Riki-induced-headache from the thought of asking an unaware stranger to think of something for Jungwon to guess.

On the other hand, it’s not like Jungwon lived a double life as a superhero.

He was just a boy who had somehow woken up being capable of reading minds. It didn’t really make his life any different; other than the fact that he can hear an array of voices entangling with his own inner subconscious from time to time. Still, his life was pretty normal. He had no desire to dramatize it either and he would prefer to live a structured and stress-free life too. Really, there was no point when he already had full control of his capabilities.

Though, there were a few rare instances where Jungwon’s attention was not all there—a very very rare feat, mind you—which ultimately led him to forgetting that none of his friends were informed of his clairvoyance. Suspicions were thrown his way whenever these slip-ups happen; he already expected it, but Jungwon always made sure to be one-step ahead of everyone and chalked it up to him just having ‘good intuition’.

It was enough from the looks of it, because they didn’t question him further and they knew he spoke the truth and nothing but the truth. He really wasn’t one to joke around. That was more of Riki’s job and Jungwon considered himself as the moral compass of his friend group; the one who would usually pull everyone back before they even get the chance to think of something that would regrettably get them into trouble.

Someone has to be, especially when most of them screamed trouble.

(There was one time where Sunoo made an off-handed comment about him probably having ESP. Jungwon had to apologize profusely when the latter fell victim to his spit-take).

Out of all the things he had learned throughout the experience of having a glorified sixth sense, lying was the one skill he had a little difficulty getting a grasp on.

Can it even be considered as a skill? It comes natural to everyone, doesn’t it? Maybe with the exception of himself, considering Jungwon never felt the need to falsify any detrimental information to save his own ass. He’s as honest as they come, and prior to gaining his ability,  he knew fully well that he was shit at lying. He couldn’t lie even if it was the last remaining solution to save humanity from any outside threat. Consequently, having a new  responsibility to mind, might as well learn the art of deception; anything to keep his secret safe.

Jungwon was subjected to more birthday greetings right after that initial morning run-in with Wonyoung, then he powered his way through an embarrassing moment where their teacher for second period had everyone sing happy birthday to him, all thanks to his best friend announcing that it was indeed Jungwon’s ‘special day’. While he was extremely grateful that his classmates had collectively said their warm greetings (even if most of them were prompted by his friends and teachers), he really wasn’t sure if he’ll be able to survive another barrage of ‘happy birthdays’ once he leaves the classroom for lunch.

And boy was he right in assuming there would be a long line of people that wanted to greet him.

Maybe that was a little bit of an exaggeration on his part, but there were still indeed some people he was fairly acquainted with that actively sought Jungwon out just for that, and all he could do was smile and express his gratitude with a soft-spoken ‘thank you’.

In the middle of all that cacophony, he may or may not have let his ‘mind barriers’ open briefly to (accidentally) hear some thoughts. Most of them were, again, internally fawning about how pretty, cute and handsome he was—your typical musings when it comes to admiring someone, really, and it was still strange that he could find out just who exactly harbored a crush on him just by doing so.

Jungwon was still flattered by the compliments though, if the light blush kissing the apples of his cheeks were anything to go by.

* * *

Yang Jungwon… man, even his name is so cute.

The boy in question immediately looks up from his manga in quiet surprise, eyes roaming around the currently silent classroom where most of his classmates were still working on the activity their teacher for the last period assigned to keep them busy; and it’s clear that Jungwon had no problems completing everything in a short amount of time.

And it seemed that he wasn’t the only one who had more time to fool around before the bell rings.

It’s not often that Jungwon lets his control over his own ability slip, but when he does, he comes across a multitude of mindscapes that were unique to its beholder and he’s seen and heard quite the variety of thoughts; the human mind is truly amazing, Jungwon would muse.

No mind is the same. That’s his number one takeaway from reading more minds than he could count; just like how his clairvoyance wasn’t limited to only voices, sometimes when he tries hard enough, Jungwon can see into someone’s mind. More often than not, the times where he does dive into a person’s mindscape, it was more or less accidental. It’s still lost to him on what actually triggers the ‘deep-dive’ aspect of his ability, but he supposed it only happens when he honed every ounce of his focus on an individual. That was always the common denominator.

Back to the situation at hand, Jungwon swore he recognizes that voice. He wasn’t entirely sure if the person he thought of was the same one who just spoke in their mind and so he kept alert; eyes still scanning the classroom’s expanse until the voice from moments prior pierced through his mind again.

It’s been two years. When do I plan on actually talking to him? Is this what I get for being the ‘quiet and reserved’ one in the class? Man, fuck this. Maybe I can tell him happy birthday again? We’re cleaning partners today anyway.

Jungwon suppressed a smile, using a hand to cover the lower half of his mouth as he held back the giggles fighting to escape his lips.

Oh he knew that voice, granted it wasn’t often that it was heard because 1.) you were definitely known to be the quiet and reserved one in the class. It’s basically your brand. 2.) You barely spoke, only speaking when spoken to and as embarrassing as it was to admit, it kind of played into the fact that Jungwon barely paid that much attention to anyone who wasn’t part of his circle and 3.) he hadn’t the chance to take a peek into your mind either; again, please refer to number 2.

His manga laid forgotten on the top of his desk now, in favor of observing his current object of interest who was currently gazing out of the window, cheek resting on the palm of your hand and he can’t help but to think that the sight before him looked it belonged from your typical shoujo anime; with you sitting right beside the window as the afternoon sun shone on your figure. It kind of made you look like you were a main character.

A tiny smirk tugged at the corners of Jungwon’s lips as he thought to mirror your pose.

You were quite something, now that he had some time to further assess you, who took the whole mysterious girl trope and ran with it for the years he’s been aware of your presence. Jungwon thought that you were indeed the stereotypical shy, quiet and reserved girl who no one really paid attention to, but still aware of because the whole image interested anyone who was curious to what made someone like you tick and he was indeed curious.

As quiet as you were now, your mind was a different story and that intrigued him the most.

You were very loud in your head, a stark juxtapose to how you were in real life. Jungwon could probably equate the tumultuous train of thought to some muted category of overthinking, if it weren’t for the fact that your thought process was nowhere near close to that. What he heard did not go on the same spectrum overthinking belonged at all, not when the voice took a dreamy lilt as it echoed in his head.

What if I confessed to him?

Jungwon’s eyebrows raised in interest. So you do have a crush on him. It was already a given; you did mention that his name was cute.

Shaking your head, you let out a dejected sigh through your nose as you turned away from the window to peer at the open notebook resting idly on your desk.

Nah, that’s too soon. Besides, he barely knows who I am.

While that was true, he was relieved at the fact that you respected his boundaries because if that were to happen, Jungwon wouldn’t really know what to do if you did pour your heart out to him.

He watched you turn to look out of the window again, gazing at the sky for a brief moment before you breathed out a heavy sigh, folding both of your arms to rest your head on top of them.

Might as well be single for life. It’s probably my destiny to be alone if it takes me almost three fucking years to grow a pair and talk to Jungwon. Your inner voice this time took a defeated turn as you buried your face deeper into the comfort of your arms. At least let me experience what it would be like to confess to your crush. Sulky. That was one way to describe how you sounded right now.

Then, he felt the all too familiar pull of being brought into someone’s mindscape that he ended up closing his eyes and clenching his jaw from the initial uncomfortable feeling. Even if Jungwon knew it would eventually fade, he still can’t get used to it.

It didn’t stop from there either. Entering someone’s head always affected his senses in a way where Jungwon had concluded that the phantom feeling of ice-cold water washing over his skin, or even a jolt of electricity running through his veins were a few examples of a person’s way of greeting his presence every time he did trudge into the depths of their mind. The difference ranged from person to person and Jungwon had also chalked all of this up to being some type of prognosis that would give him an idea of what he would expect to see once he gets a clear view of the mindscape he’s in.

The two examples given obviously meant that he wasn’t at all welcome to take even just a tiny peek, so he had already expected to go through something similar when it came to you. Sure you held Jungwon on some type of pedestal, but that clearly became a catalyst of your slight aversion to simply talking to him and really, he wouldn’t hold it against you if your mind greeted him in the most unpleasant ways.

With all that to expect, he was, however, proven wrong when he entered your mindscape.

For one, it was not the sharp pain from being electrocuted that extended its welcome. The barriers your mind had set up parted easily and he immediately felt warm all over, as if he was being engulfed by a hug from an old friend who was beyond ecstatic to meet him again. It’s strange, Jungwon thinks, this doesn’t happen often and knowing the two of you hadn’t really spoken much to each other, he alluded that this ‘warmth’ may have something to do with what you’re thinking right now.

And it’s one thing he got right.

Upon opening his eyes, he was greeted by the sight of the same classroom. This time, it’s like everything before him was bathed in some type of lovely camera filter (something akin to rose-tinted glasses or however the saying goes) that made the whole scene a lot more romantic than what the room looked like on a day-to-day basis. Perhaps there was a reason why it appeared so, when his eyes took in the two individuals standing in the middle of the otherwise empty classroom.

“Jungwon… thank you for coming to meet me here.”

Huh, it’s me and Y/N. Jungwon sits on one of the desks, curious as to what you could possibly be daydreaming about at this moment.

It’s quite strange watching a version of himself smile down at you, “your note did say to meet you here once our classmates left.” and the Jungwon of your mindscape lifted the said note with a quirk of his eyebrow, making the real Jungwon snort from his perch. 

Is this how you saw him? You weren’t too far off, if he was being honest. Though he definitely wasn’t as charming as you made him out to be as he grimaced when Jungwon’s daydream variant graces you with a coy smile; an expression he wasn’t all too estranged to, yet it was a tad disconcerting to witness it etched on his face as a spectator.

I don’t actually smile like that… do I?

“So?” Jungwon prompted with an eyebrow raise and it’s almost laughable how flustered you seem to get as he rested his hip against the desk. To think quiet and stoic L/N Y/N was so easy to embarrass. It was rather adorable, tilting his head as he observes you fumble with your words while under his clone’s stare. “Why are we here? Do you have something to tell me?”

“I do actually,” you mumble and he assumed it was loud enough to hear when Jungwon of your mindscape’s smile stretched wider as he pockets the note you gave him. The action flustered you even more, now avoiding looking into his eyes completely and instead gazed down at your fiddling fingers.

Jungwon rolled his eyes when the other Jungwon’s posture straightened, a light sense of smugness lighting up his features. “Yeah? Let’s hear it then.”

“I like you.”

“Yo, earth to Jungwon?”

Just like that, he was  immediately pulled out from your daydream.

The change in scenery was so abrupt, in fact, that it sent him lurching forward as if a wave of motion sickness had hit him full-force. It was only thanks to his fast reflexes that he managed to steady himself by placing both palms onto his desk to prevent him from hitting the desk first because that would have been difficult to explain, especially if you were dealing with someone like Riki; always so curious, always wanting to be up everyone’s business so he wouldn’t feel left out and Jungwon would rather give up his growing MHA merch and manga collection than to tell the sophomore what he was up to.

Though Riki doesn’t appear to be fazed by Jungwon and the minor glitching he went through. If anything, the sophomore was more interested in what he was staring at and that immediately pulled a shit-eating grin from him, nudging Jungwon playfully as he made a series of sounds that tried to goad him.

He immediately shuts up when the older nudged him back hard enough in the ribs to make it hurt, completely disregarding the kicked-puppy look pulling on the taller boy’s face as Jungwon sends him away so he could help you clean up the almost empty classroom.

Contrary to how you were in your mind, you really did keep up the shy and reserved facade, bowing and smiling politely when you met eyes the moment everyone else, but the two of you, left the classroom for them to attend their respective club meetings. You didn’t talk either and somehow, there had been a silent agreement where you would sweep, Jungwon would wipe the white board clean which left the both of you to arrange down the desks and chairs together.

Then again, this was the usual routine when it came to maintaining the classroom’s cleanliness. There really was no need to exchange a few words since the cleaning system had already been ingrained into anyone who had been a student of the school for a significant amount of time; and since Jungwon had a vague idea of how you are when it came to socializing, he’d rather not force you to talk to him when it was clear that you were still apprehensive of the thought.

Needless to say, tidying up went on without a hitch and the silence that surrounded you both was comforting in a way; it was the type of silence that filled in the spaces in between the two of you that the need to talk wasn’t at all necessary. In all honesty, he was expecting it to be a little awkward; what with you and your bashful nature, though he can tell that you were starting to ease up around him when the restless thoughts and worries that went a mile a minute through your mind were replaced by short light-hearted musings this time around.

Although you never really made any attempt, your thoughts were more than enough for Jungwon to get to know you a little bit. You were awkward, shy and timid for the most part, but man did you have a very colorful imagination and he had a really hard time trying to tone down the cheesing. The amount of times that he had to hide his giggles with fake coughs was getting so ridiculous that you started to look at him weird, worry dancing in your eyes to which Jungwon promptly waved off in lieu of a verbal confirmation to let you know that he was okay.

As strange as it was to hear you fawning over him in your head, Jungwon thought it was a tad endearing. He sensed nothing but genuine admiration too and he wondered how he had never picked up on your pining during the three year he’s been with you, always in the same class. In addition to that, he was rather impressed that you kept your feelings from him for this long.

Moments later, Jungwon scanned the classroom one last time to check if you both had missed anything in particular before calling your attention. That caused you to straighten up from fixing your belongings, slowly turning to look over your shoulder with your eyebrows slightly raised in silent question.

A tiny grin found its home on Jungwon’s lips, “great work today, Y/N.”

Your lips part in a silent ‘oh’ as you slowly nod in response, returning the gesture with a bashful curl of your lips as you tuck a hair behind your ear. “Yeah, you too, Jungwon.” He notes that you were soft-spoken too; voice reminding him what clouds would probably feel like: soft and airy and so unlike the brazen version of your inner subconscious. It was pleasing to the ears, really, quite different from the myriad of voices he heard on the daily and pleased he was by your reply, turning to fix his own belongings, satisfied with the brief interaction.

Just before Jungwon could take the first step out of the classroom, he felt a light tug on his blazer, “Jungwon?”

He didn’t waste any time to twist his torso, enough so that he could face you. “Yes? What is it?”

“Um, happy birthday—here, hold out your hand,” you inquire softly, “please.” You added it as an afterthought when you thought you sounded too demanding and Jungwon was quick to oblige, mostly to quell your nerves. Then something wrapped in pastel blue was placed on his outstretched palm and as Jungwon peered at you closely, the state you were in right now reminded him of what you looked like confessing in your daydream: fiddling fingers, head bowed slightly to avoid eye-contact.

In spite of your apparent hesitance, Jungwon doesn’t bother to suppress his smile at the thoughtfulness, gently closing his fingers around the book-sized gift as he flipped it once, then twice to get a feel of what it may be. “You got me a gift? You shouldn’t have.”

You wanted a hole to swallow you whole. Great going, Y/N! What if he thinks you’re some weirdo?

It took a lot for him to not burst into laughter right then and there. You really do worry a lot.

You’ve never felt this nervous in your life. Ever, and that’s saying something because while it was quite normal for you to feel uneasy when it came to socializing with someone you weren’t particularly familiar with, this was by far the most anxious you’ve ever been; in front of the boy you’ve harbored feelings for, no less and you just hoped that you won’t end up embarrassing yourself.

“Thank you, Y/N.”

In the next second that followed after hearing your name fall from his lips, you threw caution to the wind and chanced to peer at him through your lashes, only for your lips to part slightly in awe at the peculiar sight.

The sweetest of smiles graced Yang Jungwon’s equally sweet looking face while gazing down at your gift. That alone was enough to send your heart soaring at how devastatingly adorable he looked right at this very moment and the warm rays of the late afternoon sun only added to the breathtaking view of Jungwon.

He is so pretty.

For a short moment, it's as though you’ve forgotten to zip your mouth shut. Really, you thought the comment somehow bypassed the barrier that was there to keep yourself from spilling anything that would cost you your dignity because you found yourself gazing at Jungwon head-on and some traitorous voice in your mind said, he’s smiling because of you, you know? And while that could be the truth, you still felt like the face you were making right at this very second gave away your feelings that were supposed to be locked up.

But Jungwon didn’t say anything that alluded to him figuring you out. On the contrary, he appeared elated by the surprise, even if he hadn’t even opened it yet and that was enough to alleviate your anxiety as you beamed at him and responded with a soft, “you’re welcome.”

* * *

Dinner with his friends was quite the loud affair.

Regardless of the ruckus caused by mostly his friends, Jungwon still enjoyed the surprise. He was grateful that they made time to celebrate his birthday even if they had their own responsibilities that needed attending to. His friends obviously had fun throughout the entire time they huddled the two joined tables, shouting over each other as Sunoo took charge with grilling the meat.

“You can sit down and relax,” the senior started as he flipped the last of the thinly sliced pork belly sizzling on the grill. “We’d rather not have the birthday boy char our precious meat.”

And the scream that left Sunoo after Jungwon pinched his side was one of the highlights of the night; probably many of the quaint barbecue place’s patrons considering Sunoo’s screams were known to be loud, almost ear-piercing too.

As much as Jungwon wanted to enjoy the little ‘surprise’ party, his mind can’t help but wonder off towards his earlier interaction with you. True that it wasn’t really all that special as you were more bashful than the image of you painted in his head, but the way you looked and spoke to him left such an impression that it was the only thing that was occupying him throughout dinner; that, and the neatly wrapped gift from you that sat idly in the confines of his schoolbag.

Jungwon didn’t waste any moment as he stepped into his bedroom (making sure Maeumi got in safely with him too). His bag ended up being flung onto his desk chair right after he had fished the pastel blue wrapped gift from its depths and made a bee-line towards his bed to which he had unceremoniously jumped on, Maeumi quickly following in his foot-steps.

Why he was being gentle with unwrapping it, he didn’t really know, but he continued to be as careful as he could by peeling the tape, letting out a small cry of success when no visible harm was done to the wrapper and hurriedly slipped it from the hard material of the gift.

He didn’t even try to mask his surprise and elation at what he was currently holding. An artbook he desperately wanted for as long as it has been available to purchase for the public stared right back at him and he wasted no time unwrapping the plastic protecting before opening it.

What he saw in a white envelope with his name on it and seeing you did put a lot of effort into gifting him something when you clearly didn’t need to, he owes it to you to read through the letter before he could even think of flipping through the artbook, no matter how excited he was.

Jungwon,

First of all, happy birthday! I hope you had a nice time celebrating since turning 18 is quite the big deal for most people. You might be wondering, ‘why did L/N Y/N give me an artbook of all things’? I could go the poetic way and say that it reminded me of you, because it did, and while that does hold some truth, I’d rather be honest than put up a front. I accidentally ordered two copies of the artbook and really had no idea what to do with it. My friends aren’t into MHA as much as I am, so giving it to one of them was already scratched off the list before the thought came into mind.

But then I remembered seeing you read some volumes of the manga in class and during lunch a few times before and thought that maybe you were also a fan of the series, so I decided to give you the second copy since I assumed you’d probably like it. If not, well, still, keep it. It’s a gift after all, and even if you may not like it, the fact that you still kept it is enough for me!

— Y/N ♡

Oh he’s definitely keeping it, he already knew where he’s placing it too. How can he not when other than the manga Jiwon had given him earlier in the day, this artbook from the manga author himself was high on his wishlist? Jungwon wasn’t sure if he should be calling this a miracle even if his racing heart told him that it should be. This was the same artbook he had been eyeing for months, but luck wasn’t really on his side since every time he tried to scour the internet for the nth time to check if there was at least one online store, he was only left to be disappointed when big, bold and red letters that said ‘SOLD OUT’ mocked his every failed attempt on getting his hands on one.

To think you of all people had another copy. This was like fate at work and Jungwon doesn’t know what to think of that. First, he had heard you calling out his name from the depths of your mind, he got to swim in too and now you’ve given him the artbook he wanted? 

He doesn't know what the world will have in store for him next, but what he does know is that he should thank you as soon as he gets the chance to.

Tomorrow couldn’t come fast enough. He spent all night coming up with what he should say, taking your bashful nature into consideration too because he was not going to risk possibly intimidating you if he somehow came off strong from expressing his gratitude.

And Jungwon thought he did well on that, if the bright smile was anything to go by as you said “you’re welcome” for the second time with the same softness laced in your voice.

A week after Jungwon had taken it upon himself to—what he would like to call it—investigate, he had come to a final conclusion.

You, L/N Y/N, liked to daydream. A lot; and that was no exaggeration on his part. It’s simply what he observed from the week-long investigation. It’s not like there was anyone who’d disagree, not when Jungwon was the only one who could see—could hear what the average human couldn’t.

More often than not, getting lost in the depths of your mind was definitely one of your favorite past times when you couldn’t find anything else to invest your utmost attention to (one could even consider it a hobby from how often you get lost in your own musings) and through that, Jungwon might have been entertained by the slew of scenarios you were able to visualize. 

It’s like your mind recorded everything that resonated with the idea of romance—the idea of what romance was to you. While some are more cliché than others—then again, aren't rom-coms built on them too?—there were times where you picked one of the many clichés from a metaphorical box to pick apart whatever media you’d taken inspiration from and put it back together again, but it wouldn’t be quite the same. Either there would be a new piece present, or there were one… two… maybe even four pieces missing; other than the technicalities, you still recreated those clichés to brandish something new every time he’d willingly took the plunge to explore in the deep corners of your pretty little head.

Other than yourself, he, Yang Jungwon, was a recurring character in your daydreams and that was more than enough to tell him that most of your thoughts did revolve around him.

It was also obvious that you were quite the imaginative one; still as loud as the first time he got to take a peek into your mind and it reflected how colorful it was too. Everything in your mind was just so vivid that there was a point in time where Jungwon wondered if you had any creative outlet that would do all your vivacious daydreaming some justice.

There must be something, right? You might be some version of an open book to Jungwon, an open dream journal perhaps, but your thoughts alone could only do so much and so in order to find out more about you, he’s going to have to get you to talk to him… like actually talk to him; living and breathing Yang Jungwon and not the Yang Jungwon you’ve curated in your head.

He hadn’t a clue just why he was so dead-set on getting to know you better. One would think that finding out that someone had a version of you living in their mind rent-free would certainly be an ick. Jungwon knew he should be feeling some type of reluctance, now that he was aware of how much you possibly adored him, yet he still was rather curious, intrigued even.

Just how could you think so highly of him when the longest conversation you had was when you gave him a gift?

“Dude, what's with the whole thing staring at Y/N?”

Jungwon almost jumped out of his skin from Riki’s sudden appearance, “I’m not staring. I’m observing.” He clarified and then paused, eyebrows knitted together as he looked at the sophomore, “what are you doing here?”

Fighting against the urge to smack the smug grin from Riki’s face was no easy feat, mainly because the opportunity was right there. Though to Riki’s unknown relief, Jungwon remained lucid enough to not act on his bordering on violent urges as he really wasn’t in the mood to set a bad example for anyone else who had already viewed him as ‘the one who could do nothing wrong’.

Jungwon’s frown deepened, while Riki’s grin widened in tandem, “it looks like you are staring at her to me.” Riki teased, playfully poking the dimple that appeared when the object of his teasing pursed his lips, no doubt annoyed. “Does Jungwonie have a crush? The quiet ones are your type, eh?” The younger one poked his cheek again, “eh?”

“I don’t.” He ignored Riki crying out in pain when he had pinched his side in retaliation. “Don’t be stupid—and even if I do, how is that any of your business?”

“Okay wow, someone’s being touching today. How mean.” The younger pouted, then immediately ducked to dodge Jungwon’s attempted smack.

He sighed, “just… tell me what you’re doing here.”

“It’s lunchtime, airhead. You were taking too long.”

Jungwon peered at his watch, “it’s only been 5 minutes since the bell rang.”

“Too long for me.” Riki whined. “Are you coming or not? I’m hungry.”

The older of the two rolled his eyes, chair emitting a screech from pushing it back, “alright, let’s go.”

* * *

You must be dreaming, you were sure of it.

“Erm… hi?” you trailed off, swallowing your mouthful as you looked up at the looming presence that stood on the other side of your desk, a tad startled by the appearance as you gently put your pair of chopsticks down.

The classroom was devoid of its usual crowd, which was expected anyway since your classmates and friends preferred having lunch in the school cafeteria where they were free to be as loud as they wanted. It was always a rather rambunctious affair and there were times where you just needed a break from it all—some time for yourself while you enjoyed a hearty meal before subjecting your brain to absorb the information that you won’t probably even remember once the semester came to its end.

Somehow, the universe was set to listen to the niggling thought in the back of your mind about wanting some time for yourself that earlier this morning, your mother had insisted on bringing the packed lunch she had generously prepared for you, and who were you to say no? It wasn’t often she’d go out of her way to cook two separate meals in one sitting. She was a busy woman herself and if the world was trying to tell you something, might as well listen to whatever vague sign it presented, especially when you had an inkling that it was going to benefit you, one way or another.

And what joy that the universe was also capable of taking your true heart’s desire into account alongside it, gracing you with Yang Jungwon’s presence, holding up what seemed to be a sandwich pack and a carton of apple juice.

Oh my god… it’s Jungwon. What is he doing here? Do I look okay? What if I have something in my teeth—

Simply put, the traitorous thing called your brain immediately came up with every worst case scenario that could screw all of this up. Be that as it may, it didn’t shake off the hope that some kind of positive, outside force chose to be on your side for once in your meager life. Should you hail it as Lady Luck somehow taking pity on your God-knows-how-long pining? 

Whatever or whoever decided that entangling your destined path with Jungwon’s was a stellar idea, they could have at least given you a warning.

Gratitude was always granted to those who only had pure intentions with their services, but you weren’t too sure if this whole predicament fell onto the same scale of benevolence. Not when Jungwon left you feeling a multitude of things on the daily and most notable of them all was how one eyeful from him—from those gleaming, cat-like eyes—could instantly render you a flustered and painfully shy mess. It’s like some kind of deity was messing with you.

And frankly, you were feeling less and less grateful the longer you had to sit there, feeling as if you were about to explode from how hot to the touch your face was.

“Ah, sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.” 

Then, you were lulled back to reality; eyes blinking a few times as you dared to actually look at his face this time, only for it to appear to you that Jungwon seemed rather pleased when he finally had gotten your attention, letting out a light chuckle at your timidness.

He’s not making fun of me, is he? 

“Don’t worry, I’m here with only good intentions.” And the reassuring smile he gave you immediately got you thinking that your assumption might have been a teeny-tiny bit off; a common theme that was always present, now that you thought about it (you really had to work on that). Besides, you knew that he wasn't that kind of person. Then again, it was kind of his fault that all rationalization just straight up left your brain.

He’s still smiling, not minding that you didn’t answer right away, “I just wanted to know if I could eat lunch with you?”

You froze.

What.

Jungwon, again, didn’t even pause for you to give him an answer. If anything, he was amused by the lack of reply and instead went on to place his lunch down on the available space your desk had—you made some space in haste once you realized what he was trying to do—and took it upon himself to grab and pull the chair in front until the backrest touched the edge of your desk.

“So…” Jungwon trailed off as he rested his chin on his arms resting on top of the backrest, tilting his head. It really took everything in you to not melt into goo. For one thing, this is the closest you have been to him that it was certain you were invading his personal space (not that he looked like he minded from what you can tell) so it completely caught you off-guard when his foot nudged yours under the table—and he looked so cute that it kind of made your heart ache a little bit.

“What’s for lunch?”

The hold you had on hope was almost bruising, to say the least, probably having it in a chokehold too as you prayed that you did not look like a fucking idiot, gawking at the abruptness of it all. Well, it was an assumption that you might’ve been so, because Jungwon’s smile widened a fraction as you hesitantly picked up your chopsticks to tell him exactly what your mother had packed, using the utensil to point at them too.

“It looks really good.” He said and you could see his nostrils flare slightly, taking in the sight of your lunch before giving you a brief glance. Your breath hitched and immediately looked elsewhere. 

Unbeknownst to you, he smirked, watching your subtle panic.

“Thank you. My mother cooked it.” Why would you talk about Mom? Get a grip, Y/N!

Jungwon giggled at your apparent regret from word-vomiting, “oh relax, Y/N. It’s just me.”

“It’s just me,” he says. Yeah, that’s exactly the problem why I’m going insane. 

“Let’s just eat, yeah?” Jungwon suggested, fingers curling around the plastic-wrapped sandwich. “Who knows? Maybe you’ll become less shy after.” He teased with an arched eyebrow.

Your face was burning at this point, fumbling to get a proper grip on your chopsticks. I’m actually going to die.

With another smile that was lethal to your poor heart—you fear that you actually might die—Jungwon added, “let’s eat well,” before he took a bite, taking that as your own cue to eat.

This all gave you a sense of deja vu.

Much like the time where you were both assigned to clean the classroom together, the silence wasn’t as awkward, though you can’t help but feel so when he was literally only a table away. A table, smack-dab in between you both, acting as some type of barrier. In complete contrast to yourself, it seemed that the close proximity wasn’t bothering him in the slightest. If anything, he was completely at ease scrolling through his phone as he chewed; and every once in a while, you’d feel his foot nudge yours, but you knew that was more of his subconscious acting upon it.

Still, the small action caused butterflies to flutter about in your belly, struggling to keep a straight face that you resorted to peering down at your lunch as you tried your hardest to fight off the smile that threatened to break through your facade.

It was absolutely absurd really.

The thought of an action that small was enough to have you going haywire was admittedly laughable, now that you had time to process just how ridiculous you were being. If a simple nudge to the foot had you acting like this, who knows how great of an effect it might have on you if fate was kind enough to merge yours and Jungwon’s path that you ended up having your fingers intertwined as you walked side-by-side.

Hearing a chuckle after having that train of thought caused you to stiffen.

You didn’t say that out loud, did you?

“I can feel your eyes on me, Y/N.” Jungwon didn’t even look up from his phone when he spoke, holding a half-eaten sandwich in his other hand. “What’s worrying you this time, hm?” 

You didn’t even realize you were staring right at him until your vision refocused, only for your eyes to widen at the smug grin that tugged on the corners of his lips.

“I wasn’t worrying!” You denied with frantic waves of your hands as if it’d hypnotize him into thinking that, no, you were not staring at him as you imagined how soft his hands could be. “I was just… wondering why you’re eating lunch with me,” you winced at how rude that might have come off, “no offense.”

But Jungwon doesn’t seem to take your sudden defensiveness to heart, if anything, he seemed curious and answered you with his own question of, “why are you alone eating lunch in our classroom?”

You blinked, letting the tips of your chopsticks push slightly against your lower lip, “I wanted to be alone for a bit.”

“Oh…” he trailed off, now appearing sheepish as he placed his sandwich on top of its plastic wrap. Jungwon did kind of barge into your space with all of this, so he never really thought about the possibility of you wanting to be alone. Of course you’d need some time for yourself every so often, now he felt guilty for pushing this whole thing onto you.

“Do you want me to leave then?” He asked gently, picking up his carton of juice to drink.

You shook your head as an answer, and then added, “I didn’t say that. it's just…” How do I say this without sounding pathetic? “I don’t know… and don’t take this the wrong way but, it’s kind of strange that you suddenly want to eat lunch with me.” Your voice took on a quieter tone, unsure as you sighed and placed your chopsticks down.

It was all of a sudden, wasn’t it? Abrupt as it was, you’d be lying if you went on and said that you weren’t the least bit elated by the surprising turn of events. Having a simple conversation would have sufficed, yet you really had no room to complain—not when you’re having lunch with your crush, of all people.

It took you almost three years to simply talk to him, so you’d obviously take this as a chance to do so.

“I mean, we’re friends, aren’t we?”

Tilting your head, you eyes him with a questioning gaze, “we are? Since when?”

Jungwon shrugged, “you gave me a gift, something that I really wanted when you didn’t have to and I think that’s enough for me to consider you as something more than an acquaintance.” You weren’t sure, but you felt he meant something else by that statement. But that could have just been your delusional side talking. Not really the first time it happened. “But if it makes you uncomfortable, I can back off a bit.”

“No, it’s okay really. You just took me by surprise and I—um—I like how things are now I just—please be patient with me? I think it’s quite telling that I’m not good with the whole socializing thing, sorry.”

“There’s no need to be sorry, it’s alright.” Jungwon reassured you. “I mean, I already knew what to expect since you are on the shy side and I think I came off stronger than expected.”

“A little, yeah.” you giggled, “if it makes you feel better, my friends did the same, so I guess ‘coming off strong’ was needed when you’re dealing with someone like me.”

“I don’t really mind. You’re not the first shy person I’ve met.” He explains, a smile curling around the straw in his mouth, ”then again, they weren’t as interesting as you.”

“What do you mean by that?”

He settled on giving you an enigmatic smile as an initial answer, cat-like eyes gleaming underneath the warmth of the afternoon sun as if he knew something you didn’t. Whatever it was, you just hoped it wasn’t something as embarrassing as your crush on him.

“You eat pretty slow, did you know?” Good on him for diverting the topic because what he said prior almost had your heart burst out from your chest and the fact that there was some kind of looming mischief behind those kind looking eyes was a bit too much to handle today. “We only have 20 minutes left before the bell rings, Y/N.”

Was saying my name really necessary? Does he want me to go crazy?

Jungwon masked his snort with a cough.

You arched an eyebrow, pausing mid way from picking up a rolled egg omelet, “is this your way of saying you want a bite?” Now it was you he didn’t let him answer as you swiftly pulled out another pair of chopsticks.

He gave you a dubious look when you handed them over, “why do you have an extra pair of chopsticks?” Despite the questioning, he still took them from you.

“It’s not what you think,” you started before he could even think of possibly teasing you from being extra prepared. “My friends have a bad habit of picking my food with their bare hands,” you shuddered, “so I made it a point to bring an extra pair.”

“Ah. Remind me not to do that next time then.”

“There’s—there’s a next time?”

“Only if you want to.”

You let yourself chuckle at the persistence, “okay. So are you going to help me finish all of this before the bell rings or not?”

(If there was one thing that you’ve learned from talking to Yang Jungwon, he’s a mischievous little shit and you meant that in the most affectionate way possible. He loved to tease and you’d suspected it to be his love-language upon seeing that he’s also like that when it came to his friends).

In all honesty, it surprised Jungwon that friendship with you was relatively easy.

It didn’t mean you’ve suddenly gotten over your natural timidness from befriending him, but in the sense that you made it easy for him to get to know you better which in turn made the progress of your friendship significantly faster then he initially predicted. Jungwon supposed that your shared love for the MHA franchise was the starting catalyst of the fast-growing bond between the two of you, but other than the mutual fixation on the anime slash manga, you did have a handful of similar traits.

It’s beyond him why it took you both such a long time to meet on the same plane too. Not that he was blaming you or your apprehensiveness for halting what could have blossomed all those years ago; Jungwon would and could never, and he was also partially to be blamed for the delay as well, because if it wasn’t for him honing his focus on that voice that called out to him during that fated, quiet afternoon, he would have never felt so curious to the point of wanting to get to know you better.

Since the day Jungwon took initiative to join you for lunch in the classroom, it became a regular thing that by the fifth time it happened, you two had joined heads (prompted by Jungwon) to come up with a viable schedule so you both could have days where you could eat with your friends too.

(“You do know that we can all eat together at the cafeteria.” You pointed out as you watched Jungwon knit his eyebrows as he stared down at his phone. He huffed, the air causing his fringe to fly up briefly as he gave you a quick glance. “Why are we brainstorming a lunch schedule?”

The boy focused on his phone again, “have you ever thought that maybe I want to be alone with you too?” You also learned that Jungwon was as straight-forward as they come; sugarcoating wasn’t part of his vocabulary and he always said what was on his mind to avoid any misunderstandings. 

“How does every Tuesday and Thursday sound?” Judging by the tone, he really was set on continuing the now dubbed tradition of sharing each of your packed lunch between you both.

The only thing you could do at the moment was pinch the bridge of your nose in hopes of toning down the warmth that had started to creep up your neck, while Jungwon had gone on and set a reminder for those two particular days. “Yeah… yeah okay. Tuesdays and Thursdays work just fine.”

“Perfect.”

You would have put up a fight, argued that the whole set-up wasn’t at all necessary and that you were content with having to ‘share’ his time with your respective friend groups. But when Jungwon had set his mind onto something, most of the time, it was difficult to talk him out of it, not when he’s as stubborn as a boulder that was impossible to move and you can tell how dead-set he was on it becoming a thing between you two.

Nevertheless, your inner subconscious was squealing in delight at the prospect of having him to yourself for an hour, twice a week at most and you liked to believe that perhaps your newfound friend felt something similar from witnessing his adamance on the matter.

Well, there’s no harm in hoping).

Other than the set lunch plans, Jungwon had also made it a point to seek you out whenever school activities and/or assignments required to complete them. It was already an automatic response this time around that anyone who had the mind to test out their luck and ask Jungwon promptly gave up once realizing the new development between you and their dependable class representative. 

Wonyoung had even expressed her wonder as she shot Jungwon a look when he loomed behind you in the middle of pulling out what you needed for the activity. She was only given a shrug as an answer as he leaned low enough for you to tell him your suggestions, and Wonyoung’s eyebrows raised significantly when catching the soft smile that brightened Jungwon’s face while listening to you ramble.

While you do have a handful of friends yourself that you can ask to be partners with, you can’t help but to feel like you’re burdening them, being an unwanted liability no matter how many times they reassure you that no, you weren’t a burden, that it wasn’t a crime to ask help when you needed it. When it came to Jungwon, however, the worries were always so quick to fade away, leaving no traces as if they hadn’t materialized in the first place. He was known for quickly adapting into situations where one would normally stumble at the very first attempt of getting ahold of themselves, and you were no exception to Jungwon’s inborn skill.

To you and from what you had observed throughout the weeks you had the pleasure of being a part of his orbit, it’s like Jungwon just knew what to say whenever you were on the verge of succumbing to your anxiety; always knew what you needed to hear during those days where you weren’t really feeling like yourself and there was no doubt that you thought it was quite amazing, like he was attuned to how your inner workings functioned.

Curiosity had you bringing it up during your one of many ‘Jungwon and Y/N only’ lunch sessions. You didn’t mean to pry, but as much as you were amazed by his possible sixth sense when it came to you, it was a tad odd that Jungwon just knew.

He settled on answering with a tentative, “good intuition, I guess?” as he picked a piece of chicken from your lunch box, popping it straight into his awaiting mouth. “Well, that and you’ve always been easy to read to me.” Which wasn’t really that far from the actual truth, considering he can read you—that he can read your mind, to be more specific and he’s beyond relieved that you immediately bought his explanation, asking no further questions as you used your chopsticks to pick up a rice ball from his lunch box with a pleased hum.

“Am I really?” You asked through your mouthful, “guess what I’m feeling right now then.”

Wow, his grandmother’s cooking is really good.

And without missing a second to show-off whenever he could, he quickly answered, “you really like my grandmother’s cooking. You always do that little dance when eating something good.” He grinned coyly at your momentary awe, “also, don’t talk when your mouth’s full.”

Face twisting at being scolded for the habit you’ve been trying to fix, you clicked your tongue, “fine. Maybe I am that easy to read.” You grumbled, snatching your carton of mango juice. “Or you can just read minds.”

It took a lot for Jungwon not to falter at the spot-on claim as he masked the millisecond surprise (thankfully without you noticing) with a scoff, “don’t be ridiculous, Y/N.” Then he reached over to flick your nose, causing you to yelp and kick at his foot in revenge with a soft string of curses.

On the topic of his clairvoyance that now extended to you, your daydreaming hasn’t been as frequent as it was back when your interactions with one another leaned on the more tentative side of things, nor has he been hearing much from your mind either that it kind of worried him. 

He wasn’t starting to lose his ability, was he?

The answer was no; his ability was 100% intact. His assumption was quickly proven false once he tried testing it on Wonyoung with the knowledge that she tended to overthink at times, being someone who was overly worried about her future and all and hearing the barrage of frustrations was enough as confirmation.

Listening to you internally ramble on and on about him in your pretty little head was what started this whole friendship after all and Jungwon considered it to be a normal thing he dealt with on a daily basis that the sudden decrease of your frequent internal monologuing was jarring, to say the least. It was a feat he had grown used to overtime and now that he was so used to your brain going miles a minute, he might as well condition himself again with the longer bouts of silence this time around.

After some more deliberate thinking, Jungwon had come up with the conclusion that the absence of your restless thoughts was the result of your ever growing bond. It made sense considering the two of you were friends, close friends from the amount of time you had started spending together that Jungwon had to reassure Sunoo, his senior, that he wasn’t replacing him or any of his friends for that matter. 

It’s possible that the need for conjuring scenarios between you and him had waned over the duration of your budding friendship, now that simply striking up conversation with Jungwon was easier for you now. You were still a little timid, sure, but you were gradually getting out of your shell; now being able to hold eye-contact with him for more than five seconds and he was proud of the development, to say the least.

He was pulled back from his own thoughts when he felt a tapping sensation on the middle of his forehead.

“Won?” Jungwon’s eyes refocused to find you standing in front of his desk, the hand that you used to tap his skin retracting to hold onto the strap of your backpack, concern written all over your face. “You okay?”

Oh, were classes already over for the day?

“Yeah…” Jungwon trails off, “yeah I’m okay. Was just thinking, sorry.” He promptly pushed out of his chair to gather his belongings once he realized it was only him and you in the classroom.

“Well, that can’t be good.” He found you grinning slyly, once his head snapped to give you a withering look, the very same one he‘s given Riki plenty of times. You get a pass this time. It wasn’t often that your playful side came out to—well… play. “What were you thinking about?” It came out as an innocent enough sounding question, though Jungwon knew better and he liked the challenge.

He kissed his teeth. Two can play at that game.

Jungwon hiked up his backpack on one shoulder, stood at his full height and smirked, “You.”

You blinked once, twice, three times before you burst into laughter, “haha, very funny, Yang.” Very funny. I might actually faint right now. You tried to sound dismissive, waving him off as your laughs diminished to nervous bouts of giggles, yet Jungwon still managed to catch how your voice wavered upon turning your back to him. “C’mon you promised me ice cream and I’m getting that free ice cream.” With that, you shuffled out of the room, leaving him behind.

Jungwon barked out a short laugh as he jogged to catch up, “what? You don’t think about me sometimes?”

“No.” You denied.

“Bet you're thinking about me right now.” He teased on further, matching your steps.

You immediately quickened your pace, not wanting him to see just how flustered you’re becoming because of his incessant teasing. “No I’m not. My head is empty. Nothing is in there.”

“I don’t think so,” Jungwon didn’t relent, however, and his hand swiftly shot out to grab onto one of your backpack’s straps, pulling on it to slow you down. “You must’ve at least thought about me once.”

Seeing that struggling against the newly branded nuisance (affectionate) to your life was obviously futile in regards to his physical advantage over yours, you let out the heaviest sighs and allowed him to walk with you side-by-side.

An irritated huff flew past your lips once the two of you stepped out of school property, “trust me, Jungwon, if some version of you that lived inside my head, you’d be the first person I’d tell.”

He tugged onto the strap again, “I’ll hold onto you on that.”

He doubted that you'd tell him of your daydreaming habit, not when you yourself felt embarrassed by the absurd amount of times you had pictured yourself with him in a romantic setting in your mindscape. There was no need to anyway, since Jungwon was already aware of your peculiar hobby.

Problem is, how could he tell you he knew that some version of him did live in your head without you freaking out?

***

Jiwon was looking at him weirdly and Jungwon didn’t know why.

Judging by the numerous faces his older sister had made during the past hour of them both studying in the living room, he’d assumed that Jiwon was trying her damndest to figure him out, even if she looked like she’d been dragged to and from hell, one of the effects of experiencing a busy week of college.

Having enough of his sister’s eyes burning holes into him, Jungwon sighed and placed his pen down to comb his fingers through his hair. “Can I help you?”

“You seem happier recently.”

Now it was his turn to look at her weirdly for the equally weird conversation starter “...am I not allowed to be happy..?”

“Okay one,” Jiwon held up her index finger to emphasize, “I never said that. Two, it’s a girl isn’t it.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement as Jiwon gave him a wide-eyed look, daring him to deny her assumptions.

“How did you even get that from just looking at my face?”

“Maybe I’m an empath and I forgot to tell you?”

Jungwon squinted, “are you?”

“Of course not.”

“I hate you.”

“No you don’t.” No, he doesn’t. She was his sister and it was impossible to hate his literal partner in crime. “But I am your older sister. I just know shit and I know you.” she clarified. “So, you and… girl.”

“For all you know, it could be a boy,” one look from Jiwon had Jungwon stop from whatever smart-assery he was about to spew out. “But yes… girl.”

Satisfied, Jiwon lets out a pleased hum at the thought that she didn’t have to resort to extreme measures (e.g: selling all of Jungwon’s hard earned figurines and manga. She’s promptly met with a hard glare coming from the boy himself. Crap, she forgot he could read minds).

However, Jiwon didn't let it bother her too much and spoke, “tell me about her.” 

Jungwon did so without further question.

She learned your name, listened with rapt attention when told of how the first meeting went and ended up having half of her torso resting on top of the coffee table, assignments long forgotten as she, once again, listened attentively to every word that flew past Jungwon’s lips. This time, he was rambling on about what had transpired before the two of you took a detour to get the free ice cream he promised you.

It’s until he went on a tangent about how adorable you looked when you were having a dilemma on which flavor of ice cream should you get; eyebrows knit together paired with the slight pout pulling on your lips were the few tell-tales that you were taking this very seriously. In the end, Jungwon couldn’t help but laugh when you settled for plain old vanilla and chocolate, grumbling at how the complex sounding flavors did nothing but overwhelm you.

“Sounds like you have a crush.” Jiwon concluded once she was sure her brother was done with his babbling. “I gotta admit, I thought you were emotionally repressed or something ‘cause this is the first time I’ve heard you talking about someone so fondly.” and she was just as fond of the idea, “it’s kinda gross.” Very fond.

The last string of words didn’t get a chance to register in Jungwon’s brain when ‘you have a crush’ started running around up there in circles; took a while for him to respond too, after he using up all his sweet time opening and closing his mouth repeatedly from the initial shock Jiwon had given him with her ‘hypothesis’.

“A crush—I don’t think… me? I have a crush on her?”

Jiwon arched an eyebrow. Wow, he looks absolutely pathetic.

Jungwon felt a vein pulse on his temple, “shut it.”

She squinted, “don’t you?”

“I… don’t know? I mean, I know for sure that Y/N has a crush on me.” Why the fuck was he blushing? He already knew that. “But me? Having a crush on her? That’s…” He ended up trailing off in uncertainty, not really knowing what to add and not really knowing how to rebut whatever Jiwon was throwing at him.

“My brother in christ, have you heard yourself, Jungwon? You’re telling me, I sat here for more than an hour, listening to you going on a tangent and spilling every obscure detail you remember of Y/N’s, only for you to tell me you don’t like the girl?”

“Yeah..?” 

Jiwon hurled an eraser and it hit him right in the middle of his forehead.

“Ow?!”

“You’re an idiot actually.” The hand that threw the eraser was now back at her side. “You like her, Jungwon. Usually you would actively avoid getting close to anyone you knew that liked you so you wouldn’t give them any false hope. Yet somehow, Y/N, the daydreamer, is an exception to that?”

“But Y/N’s different. She’s my friend.”

“She only became your friend because your nosey ass decided to take a deep dive into her brain, which, let me remind you, is full of fake scenarios of you and her! You don’t find that a little strange?”

“What? She has an active imagination! And it’s entertaining hearing her ramble in her head!”

“Again, are you hearing yourself?”

Okay so maybe, he did find you cute.

He’s allowed to find his friend adorable without having any other reason except that he just finds your smile cute, especially when it was him behind it. It’s not that big of a deal, was it? So what if he thought you looked extra endearing whenever the two of you were engaged in a passionate discussion of who your favorite characters were in the My Hero Academia franchise? Watching you gradually get worked up everytime he rebuts your explanations has a little something fluttering about in his chest too.

Who knew that shy and quiet you had so much to say?

Not only that, but Jungwon liked to spend his free time with you. The weekly library visits with his sister have been replaced with weekly cafe visits with you, now that Jiwon has her own life and friends, so that definitely gave him more time to hang out with you in a non-school setting. To him, it was always a treat to see you waiting for him at the meeting point, watching a smile light up your face as you waved in greeting before Jungwon makes his way over to you with a matching smile of his own. 

“Oh for fuck’s sake—Jungwon!”

“Huh?” He quickly recovers from his stupor, “what?”

“’What’, he says. You were smiling like some lovesick fool. You like Y/N.” He didn't even get a say as Jiwon continued to prove her point of his alleged ‘crush’ on you. “I know you Jungwon, and I know for a fact that you have a hard time connecting with some people, but with Y/N, It was different, right?”

“Yeah, but—“

“Yeah, it was different, and not only that, but you were willing to be friends with someone who already had feelings for you. Weren’t you the one who told me that pursuing someone who already likes you wasn’t as fun? Not to mention it made you feel awkward befriending them, yet Y/N somehow gets a pass.” Jungwon didn’t really know what to say to that and so Jiwon, smug as she was, continued on with her spiel, much to his chagrin. “I think that’s enough evidence that you don’t only intend on being a close friend of hers.”

“I don’t have any other intentions besides being her friend.” He grumbled.

“So you’re leading her on then? You said it yourself she really likes you, yet here you are.” She makes a vague gesture. Then Jiwon’s face quickly twisted into anger, “I swear to god, Yang Jungwon, even if I don’t know Y/N all that much, I am willing to disown you if that was the case.”

“No! I’m not leading her on! How could you think that, Jiwon?” It kinda stung that his own sister would wrongfully accuse him of such a possibility… Then again, he could now see why she had come to that conclusion. 

However, Jungwon never intended on leading Y/N on. That never crossed his mind at all. He really did want to get to know you better. “I like having her around! I like her—huh…” he blinks, furrowing his eyebrows, “I like her.” 

“Took you exactly 20 minutes to realize it, wow.” Jiwon mused as she peered down at her watch,  “How come it’s always me, making you realize shit. First the mind-reading thing and now you liking someone.”

Is that why Jungwon always looked forward to Tuesdays and Thursdays? The days where lunch was spent with only you in the comfort of their classroom? He’s got to admit, spending lunch with you and and only you always left him feeling at ease, always soothed by your soft and airy voice as you tell him the tidbits of your day-to-day life and some anecdotes that you would recall as you pick your food; and more often than not, he found himself gravitating to you more and more.

And the more he thought about all of the times you spent together, the more it made sense. Jungwon never really understood it at first, but as he recalled the constant persistence of his own inner subconscious seeking you out was more than enough for him to accept that what you felt for him wasn't completely one-sided.

There was something there, stirring in the depths of his chest the more his mind lingered on you and how much you adored him, even if you tried your very best to hide what you really felt.

Other than Jiwon, ever the perceptive one, his friends too were quick to pick up on the new development. In hindsight, the budding friendship wasn’t meant to be kept a secret anyway, nor did he think it was that big of a deal to retell every single detail of what has been brewing between Jungwon and yourself. Furthermore, it’s not like the two of you were hiding it from everyone; they were free to gawk at the unexpected pair and he didn’t need to spell it out for them. His friends each had a pair of perfectly functioning eyeballs, didn’t they?

That doesn’t stop them from pestering Jungwon for more details, however, and as displeased as he was with the idea of having to rehash everything he had told his sister, he had let Wonyoung, Riki and Sunoo drag him to the StuCo office for the long awaited discussion.

“So…” Wonyoung took her time to pop her bubblegum before continuing, “you like them quiet.” Much like Jiwon’s approach to starting the conversation from before, that too came out as a statement.

“That’s what I said!” Was Riki’s helpful input.

Jungown gave him a pointed look, “again, why are you here? Don’t you have a club meeting?”

“This looked more important so I skipped it.”

“I’m not even surprised,” huffed Sunoo, “so, Y/N. When did that happen?”

“Around… 3 months ago? A week after my birthday?”

Sunoo’s eyebrows raised in awe, “a week after turning 18… interesting.”

Riki nodded in a solemn fashion, “cuffing before senior year starts. Understandable.”

“Shut up, Riki.”

“I think he meant how and why,” Wonyoung corrects, ignoring whatever that side conversation was about. “But yeah, how in the world did that happen?”

“Remember when you guys took me out to dinner for my birthday?” The ‘guys’ who were present all voiced their confirmations, all leaning closer in unison. “Well, before that, Y/N and I were assigned to clean the classroom that day. Then she gave me a gift which I really liked.”

“Oh! Was it that artbook on your desk?” Riki asked, shaking in his seat with glee. “I heard it was hard to get a copy.”

He nodded, “yeah, that one,” it was definitely one of the best gifts he’d ever received, otherwise he wouldn’t have made it a routine tk flip through the thing at any given opportunity to admire the artwork. “And I don’t know, I thought she was pretty interesting… always getting lost in that pretty”— he completely ignored the varying levels of surprise each of his friends showcased as he went on —”little head of hers—I was curious.”

Can’t really say I was literally inside of her pretty little head, now can I?

Riki then got this thoughtful look on his face as he pinched his chin, “they did say curiosity killed the cat.”

“But satisfaction brought it back and I’m pretty satisfied with where we are right now.” Jungwon then gave him a look, “what was with that analogy anyway?”

The youngest shrugged, “wanted to sound smart.” He told him before shoving a handful of M&M’s into his mouth. He gets a withering look in return. “Also, what do you mean by ‘being satisfied’? You don’t plan on asking her out or something?”

He pursed his lips, contemplating Riki’s question, “I… haven’t really thought about it yet.” After all, it was only recently that Jungwon had his eyes pried open to the fact that he may harbor not-so-platonic feelings for you. He didn’t feel rushed to ask you out right off the bat either. He knew how skittish you could get and the least he could do was to sort of ease you into it; maybe subtly show you that your pining wasn’t exactly unrequited, preferably with small, calculated gestures that would get his point across.

Jungwon wasn’t all too sure. He really hadn’t thought that far and he obviously wasn’t expecting anything romantic to culminate from his attempt at friendship. To think all of this stemmed from his own curiosity.

“You like her enough to consider that though, don’t you?” Wonyoung questioned further.

“I guess so—“ He was cut off by a series of knocks on one of the doors before it slid open.

“Ooh~ speak of the angel, and she shall appear.” Came Riki’s hushed teasing the moment you had poked your head through the small opening you created.

Sunoo beside him snorted as Wonyoung lightly smacked him on the back of his head.

Eyes wide, you looked around before your gaze settled on the very boy you were looking for, “Jungwon, hey.” A mix of a bright and sweet smile curled on your lips when he lifted an awkward hand in greeting, which was a little strange since he always took the opportunity to grind your gears a little bit with his teasing.

Now that you strayed your gaze away from the guy who always left your heart in shambles (in a good way, of course), your lips formed into a small “o” shape at the sight of Jungwon’s friends who all appeared expectant of something.

Suddenly feeling embarrassed, you gave all of them a wobbly smile and shrunk slightly underneath their curious stares. “Hello. I wasn’t interrupting anything, was I?”

“Oh, not at all!” Sunoo waved off, “were you waiting on Jungwon?”

You nodded in response, fidgeting with your fingers, “yes. Well, he was actually waiting for me since I had a club meeting, but I got a text that if he wasn’t outside waiting, I should come here. Obviously he wasn't outside waiting for me so I—” Your eyes widened slightly before you tensed, “sorry for rambling.”

Wonyoung flashed a good-natured smile, “you weren’t. We didn’t know Jungwon had plans after class, so we kinda dragged him here for a… discussion—don’t worry about it.”

“Yeah, we didn’t mean to steal Jungwonie from his girl. We’ll ask you next time—ow!” 

“Thank you, Riki.” Jungwon gritted out, hand returning to his side. “Very considerate of you.” It was a struggle getting all of that out, trying not to sound like he wanted a black hole to materialize right then and there to escape the situation. “Would you mind waiting for me outside? I won’t be long.”

You gave a little shake of your head and he could tell that you were trying your very best to not let Riki’s unwarranted comment get to you, “I don’t mind. We’re still going to that cafe I told you about, right?”

Jungwon cracked a smile, “of course, wouldn’t miss it for the world. I’ll be with you in a bit, okay?”

You know how in romance-centric movies where a character would have their own moment of piecing everything together until everything made sense to them? 

Yeah, Jungwon was experiencing that right now.

You smiled at him plenty of times before. Hell, he was one of the reasons why it graced your features on a frequent basis, so it wasn’t too far-fetched for Jungwon to believe that most of them were caused by him alone. He’s seen you smile, grin and laugh countless times, but the way you were smiling at him right at this moment caused his heart to stutter until he felt it thudding against his chest, as if it was about to burst out any second.

Sweet. Jungwon always labeled your smiles sweet and to anyone else, it probably wasn’t all that special. Yet looking at you right at this very moment, the way you were poised at the door, how your eyes glittered under the warm afternoon rays of the sun—Jungwon wanted to be the first to bare witness to this and if possible, he wanted to be the sole reason why this particular smile of yours existed.

He swallowed thickly when you let out the softest of laughs that twinkled like windchimes in his ears, before regaining your usual bashful mien, the wide grin that stretched your lips shrunk to a more demure curl, “okay. Take your time.” Then you pulled yourself out of the room, gently sliding the door closed.

One by one, minus Jungwon, all craned their necks to gaze at the shell-shocked boy with matching knowing looks as he fumbled with his backpack.

“Well,” Sunoo started with an all-too smug expression as his foxy eyes squinted slightly by his grin, “you’re fucked.”

It takes Jungwon exactly five seconds to recover from what you’ve put him through before he spoke, voice calm and leveled, “not really,” he started as he looped each of his arms through the straps of his backpack. “An inside source told me this isn’t at all one-sided. I think I’ll be fine.”

With a wry grin, he said his goodbyes and headed straight for the door, ignoring the three pairs of eyes that burned with curiosity trailing after him.

With superpowers came a few set-backs that would ensure no one would think of ever overusing them to the point it’ll become detrimental to one’s body.

At least that’s what Jungwon knew of as he’s seen that exact concept many times from one fictional character who broke his bones often from overusing the strength he was gifted.

When it came to his own clairvoyance though, he wasn’t too sure if he had any setbacks that would rival Deku’s broken bones. It was a passive ability, which meant he didn’t find the need to focus all that much to guarantee its effect, but instead, he had to concentrate hard enough to suppress it, to not let the array of entangling of voices distract him. 

“Jungwon..?”

Jungwon didn’t even take a second to look up, not when it was you calling out to him; though he quickly realized it was a bad idea when a brief pulse of nausea went through him from the abrupt action. He didn’t even get to mask his wince as he did so and the concern plastered on your face was already warranted as he tried his best to flash you a smile, a tiny grin that he hoped was enough to placate whatever was starting to brew in that head of yours.

Still, your obvious worry for him failed to subside, noting how your eyes appeared to look rounder, having some semblance to a pair of puppy eyes paired with  how you chewed on your lower lip, one of your nervous tics, at the pitiful sight of him. “You don’t look too good.”

And it was true. Even Jungwon knew himself that he didn’t exude his usual gait that radiated confidence, nor did he look his best (paler than normal complexion; dark bags underneath his eyes) and he had to stifle a chuckle when you winced at your own words. “Are you okay?”

His grin dimmed, just a tad that it wouldn’t worry you too much, “yeah, ‘just didn’t get much sleep last night.”

Though, it was obvious that you didn’t believe him—not one bit, when a pout pulled at your lips. It seems he wasn’t the only one who was good at reading people. You have gotten good at it over time. “You sure?” 

“I’m sure.”

Lies, lies, lies.

Jungwon wasn’t okay, he felt like absolute shit. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to hold out until class was dismissed. Lying was the last thing he’d want to resort to doing, but if it meant that it’ll stop you from worrying, then so be it.

The moment he had woken up earlier this morning, he was greeted by a niggling feeling at the back of his head. It was the reason why he got out of bed a little later than usual and he got matching looks of confusion from both Jiwon and their grandmother. Jungwon shrugged and came up with the excuse of sleeping later than he intended from the homework he was assigned to do. It wasn’t painful, wasn’t as painful or annoying as a headache or a dreaded migrain, but in a sense that there was this… pressure pushing at his temples and the dip where the lower part of his head and his neck connected.

By the looks of it, their grandmother believed his reason, not without scolding him and ended it with a reminder that sleeping late will do him more harm than good.

On the other hand, Jiwon saw right through him. The very same cat-like eyes that mirrored his own narrowed into slits and that action was enough to put the message across that his sister didn’t buy his bullshit.

In the end, Jiwon didn’t push him further for answers, but he did get a handful of pointed stares during breakfast when their grandmother wasn’t looking. That usually meant his sister would be waiting for him to talk to her about whatever that was about and if her patience wore thin, she'd just force it out of him—you know, the usual.

Taking a pill to alleviate the uncomfortable feeling seemed to be a viable option. A bottle of aspirin that sat idly on the bathroom counter prompted the idea and he wasted no time in downing one with generous amounts of water to wash it all down right after he had finished getting ready for school. Aspirin doesn’t take too long to kick in anyways, just twenty to thirty minutes and by the time he reaches school, It’ll probably be gone by then.

Oh how wrong he was.

The pressure digging into his head was still there an hour later as Jungwon stepped foot on school property and he was a little relieved that it wasn’t bad enough for him to consider turning on his heel to march straight back home, so he walked on, deciding to focus on something else entirely because all the pressure could just be in his head. It’s possible that it could be the residue of stress left behind from powering his way through his final exams and that was enough for him to stop thinking about it.

And it was definitely not because Jungwon has spotted you sitting on one of the benches. Could you be waiting for him? Maybe; you did beam at his approaching figure and immediately got onto your feet when he got closer, hiking up your bag higher as you said your greetings.

At least you and your chattering proved to be a good distraction, good enough that the dilemma he was facing was momentarily forgotten as you both weaved your way through the crowd to get to your classroom. 

“Alright, just… let me know if you need me.” You then gave him a pointed look, though the way he sees it, the face you were making honestly reminded him of a small puppy trying to be intimidating; like the one time his Maeumi stared him down for more treats. Devastatingly adorable.

Jungwon huffed in amusement at the thought, “yeah yeah, I’ll let you know if I’m dying.” 

You only grimaced at the bordering morbid answer before you skulked off to your seat.

See, he would have been happy to tell anyone that he wasn’t dying, wasn’t on the verge of keeling over, but holy shit. He felt like he was going to pass out if the voices resonating in his head didn’t quiet down right at this moment.

Fuck, he should have brought a few tablets of aspirin if he knew this whole thing—whatever it was—was going to get progressively worse as the day went on, or, you know, go home; but Jungwon was quite the stubborn one and he was well aware that that feat could be his downfall one day. He just wasn’t expecting that day to be today.

It took a lot to get where he was now; being able to grasp full control on his mind reading abilities to the point where he can only hear voices only when he wants to. As he’s said before, it was a passive ability and while it was, Jungwon still would like to have his own terms when it came to it and for some reason, his brain, or more specifically the ability his brain had decided to go against him and his wishes.

In retrospect, this is probably not the first time where he felt like his head was going to split open. 

Come to think of it, the earliest memory of something similar happening was when he was a week into being clairvoyant; same school setting, same pressure he felt that morning before it exploded into a head-splitting headache that he started crying during his English class because of how bad the pain was, how impossibly loud it was in his head.

It was apparent that the teacher in charge didn’t know what to do, didn’t know what it meant when little Jungwon had complained through the onslaught of his tears that it was too loud. They were entirely lost and made the ultimate decision to send him home, calling his grandmother to come pick him up from the clinic where Jungwon spent an hour whimpering and clutching his head as salty tears kept leaking out from his eyes.

He was in pain, yes, but present Jungwon knew he could handle it without bursting into tears this time around. Now if he could just sneak out of the classroom to rest on one of the school clinic’s beds… maybe it could help. It won’t be too hard to attempt his escape considering there was a week left until the semester ended, meaning the teacher’s wouldn’t mind too much as there wasn’t much to do anyways. He could text either his sister or grandmother of his situation too if it didn’t get any better.

Just as he was about to haul himself off his seat to do just that, however, a sharp pain pierced through his skull that had him clutching his head.

Unbeknownst to him, you’d kept watch the entire time. As much as he reassured you that he was fine, that nothing was going on, you didn’t believe him. To you, it was obvious that there was something wrong. It was palpable through his body language and no offense to Jungwon, but he didn’t look his best today. So soon as he curled into himself with a grimace, you quickly got off of your seat and rushed towards him.

“Christ, Jungwon,” you hissed, ignoring the few looks you were getting from your outburst as you tried to assess the situation. “What’s wrong? Tell me.”

“S’loud… really fucking loud.” he gritted out, hands sliding down to cup his ears. “Stop. make it stop… please.” Your eyes widened at that.

Loud? I don’t know how to tell him this but… No one has been talking that loud.

Whatever, you didn’t dare question his odd choice of words to describe why he looked like he was about to pass out as you scrambled to remove the headphones sitting around your neck to slide them over his ears. Might as well counteract whatever was bothering him with some music. You could only hope that your taste in music was decent enough to calm him down.

“C’mon, let’s get you out of here.” You told him. Well, it was more to yourself since he can’t really hear you, but when you went and boldly took his hand into yours, Jungwon was quick to pick up on your intention and you both left the classroom with you once again brushing off the multiple, curious stares you’ve gotten from your classmates.

The clinic was the best place you could think of. It was usually quiet anyways and it seemed that Jungwon was pleased by the choice as he dropped heavily onto the bed with a heavy sigh. At least your headphones were enough to drown out the mass of voices. The ache head dulled down to the same pressure as before as he took his time simply drowning in the sweet melody that sang into his ears.

On the other hand, you sat on the bed opposite to him, keeping a watchful eye to gauge him for any discomfort he might feel. This went on for a while, both of you sitting in absolute silence with you waiting for Jungwon to gather his bearings until it was he himself who removed the headphones.

“How are you feeling?”

“Better, I guess.” He sighed through his nose, smiling wryly as he lightly patted the pair of headphones that hung around his neck. “Thanks.”

“It’s no problem, but…” you ended up trailing, not knowing how to bring up your own curiosity about what he meant about… something being too loud for him to have this type of reaction. You had working ears and from what you heard in the classroom, no one was being too loud. There was a teacher present and your classmates knew how to respect them by keeping their voices on a decent decibel that wouldn’t be grating to the ears.

“Actually, nevermind. I’m just glad you’re okay, even if you did scare me a little.” You joked, laughing softly.

Besides, it’s none of my business anyway. Makes me curious though. What was that about?”

“No, I’m sensing a question there, Y/N, what is it?”

“Um, you don’t have to answer me if you don’t want to. I just found it a little…” weird?

“Weird?” Jungwon voiced out for you, snickering when surprise twisted your face. “I’ll answer anything you ask me.”

You can trust him on that. He might as well be honest now. Back then, letting someone know of his ability was the last thing on his mind. Jungwon thought it was for the best since he never really deemed it an important subject anyways. To him, it was like an extra something to live with and he learnt how to do so just fine with just his sister knowing.

However, if he wanted to pursue something beyond friendship with you, he was ready to lay himself bare and tell you all about the hidden ability he had. You trusted him, that was already a given and Jungwon knew he could trust you too, especially when it came to his mind reading tendencies. Also, he thought it was unfair that he has been aware of your crush on him without you knowing; might as well come clean now too. He just hoped you wouldn’t resent him because he was expecting for you to drown in your own embarrassment again.

Jungwon could only wish that you’d let him pull you out of there because there was nothing to be embarrassed about, he can assure you on that.

“When you said that it was too loud… what exactly did you mean by that?” Ah yes, the million dollar question. Though to be fair, he had thought of a bunch of other questions you could have asked that belonged on the same spectrum, but this one made a lot more sense when taking the current situation into consideration. “Because none of our classmates were being loud.”

Jungwon winced slightly. Yeah, he knew that and he couldn’t really fault you for thinking it was strange that he claimed that it was too loud.

“If I tell you, will you promise to let me explain first?”

“Yeah, of course.”

Here we go. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, “I can read minds, Y/N, and you can imagine how loud it was in my head, hearing all of our classmates' thoughts at once.”

“W—What? You… read minds… what?” Jungwon nodded solemnly at your broken sentence. “That’s impossible.”

He snickered, eyes now opened as he gave you a lop-sided smile, “it isn’t Y/N, I’m literally an example that it can be possible. I’m not sure if there are others like me though.”

“Prove it then. Prove that you can read minds.”

If you can, does that mean you know that I have feelings for you? That I like you and that you probably knew all this time?

“Yeah, I know that you like me Y/N, I’ve known since my 18th birthday.” Of course, Jungwon couldn’t resist teasing you just a little bit, “I also know that you daydream a lot and that I’m always present in them. And you say that you never thought about me.” He clicked his tongue.

Your face blanched. I crave death.

“It’s nothing to be embarrassed about, Y/N. If anything, I’m very flattered that you think so highly of me.” As reassuring Jungwon tried to sound, you can’t help but feel so. You thought you were doing a good job keeping what you felt for him buried, only to find out that he knew all this time? Gosh, all of that really had you considering moving to some remote location and changing your name while at it too.

“Please do not move and change your name. You’re gonna break my heart if you do that.”

At this point, you avoided all eye contact in favor of looking somewhere else to placate the growing need to burst into tears. It still didn’t stop you from saying something back. “Don’t. I’m very embarrassed right now and if you tease me one more time, I might actually cry.”

Jungwon couldn’t help but to laugh at the sight of you burying your face into the palms of your hands. It was cute, you were cute and maybe he did like teasing you just to see how flustered you can get. “Okay, I’ll stop teasing you, only if you look at me.”

With your face still hiding in your hand, you let out an exaggerated groan, “I don’t want to.”

“Pity, and here I thought you’d never say no to your crush.”

“Were you always this insufferable? I thought you felt like shit, why are you still teasing me when I specifically told you to quit it?” Well, at least that made you look at him, disregarding the fact that your whole demeanor screamed ‘someone please get me out of here’ or was it ‘I’m going to murder you’? Either way, you still looked absolutely adorable even if he could see murder in your eyes. Cute.

“You’re cute when you're mad, what can I say?”

You gave him a blank stare, “you’re insane.”

“Must be a side effect when you’re given mind reading powers.” Jungwon grinned, eyes twinkling in amusement when you made a weird noise. He guessed you were still reeling from the fact that he was psychic. “If it helps, I think your daydreams were pretty creative. Do you write fan-fiction during your free time?” He posed it as an innocent question, but you knew better to look right past the facade.

Sometimes you refused to believe this is who you were absolutely enamored with. He’s lucky you were willing to accept the little flaws he had; one of them being an absolute menace when he felt like it.

“I’m leaving. I asked Wonyoung to call your sister, by the way. She’s going to pick you up and take you home.” You explained as you got onto your feet.

“Wait what? You’re leaving me? Here?”

“Actually, you’re leaving me.” You corrected, “how are you feeling right now?”

He still felt some pressure pressing onto his head, so not good. “Like shit still, though this is not the first time I’ve felt like this, so I’ll be okay.” Jungwon grumbled as he massaged his temple, then peered up at you questioningly, “you do know we still need to talk, right?”

“I know. I don’t always run from things, you know?” Though the urge was still there, definitely, yet something in you told you to at least hear him out, and it’s not like Jungwon had rejected your feelings, nor did he appear like he was put off by them too. He did tell you that he was aware of it before you even started talking. “Look, I can drop by your place after class if you want.”

Jungwon’s grin was sharp and you apologized in your head for the person you will become once he opens his mouth. “Oh? What’s this? L/N Y/N taking initiative for once? You must really like me.”

You marched up to him to swat at his arm, huffing in satisfaction when he yelped on contact. Deserved. “Don’t push your luck, Yang. I can un-crush you if I want to.”

There’s another teasing smile curling at Jungwon’s lips as he soothed the spot of impact, “something tells me you won’t.”

“Stop reading my mind!” you whined, “that’s like… an invasion of privacy!” Your eyes then trailed over to your headphones still resting around his neck, “you can give those back to me later. Those can be connected by bluetooth so you’re free to use them if you want.”

Sweet. The sound quality was amazing. Jungwon briefly wondered if he’ll get more privileges if ‘the talk’ will go smoothly later. “So I’ll be seeing you at my place then? Promise?”

“Only if you promise to tell me everything about you being psychic.”

* * *

Jungwon was startled awake by a knock on his bedroom door.

With a groan, he sits up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he lets out a big yawn, “come in!”

It’s Jiwon. She poked head through the big enough gap of the door with a smug smile, “your girlfriend’s here.” She sang, snickering at the rising blush on his cheeks. “She’s in the living room playing with Maeumi. Turns out, she also couldn’t resist the fluffy thing. Right after introductions, she immediately dropped to her knees to play with him.”

Jungwon promptly smiled, completely forgetting how tired he felt at the thought of you getting along with his companion, “did she now? What time is it?”

“Quarter past 5. She just got here 5 minutes ago. Do you want me to send her in?”

“Yeah. We have some… things to talk about.”

That immediately caught her attention as she arched an eyebrow, grinning, “oh? What kind of things?”

He rolled his eyes. “None of your business. Now can you please tell her to come in?”

In retrospect, you really were ready to accept the fact that your crush on Jungwon would never be reciprocated, otherwise you wouldn’t have started imploding on yourself the moment his older sister led you to the boy’s bedroom as you held Maeumi to your chest. Who knows, maybe the little furry thing would help in keeping things less… tense.

Jungwon’s room was cleaner than you’d expected. Sure, there was some clutter here and there but it wasn’t too overbearing; call it an organized mess if you will and besides, it’s not like your room was in an immaculate state so you didn’t linger on the details for too long. Instead, you trained your eyes onto the sole reason why you willingly forgone a late afternoon nap.

The only bed in the room was pushed up against one corner and there he was, lying flat on his back, head resting on a pillow with his forearm covering his eyes.

You snickered as quietly as you could, adjusting Maeumi in your hold while you lifted up your free hand to knock, “knock knock.” you sang as you pushed the door wider open so you could crouch. “I brought a peace offering.” and that piece offering immediately jumps from your hold in favor of barking at his owner, demanding to be picked up.

There’s a small grin playing at his lips before he lifted his forearm from his face, “my own dog?” His gaze momentarily strayed away from you to give his dog some well-deserved attention, hand reaching out to pat the fluffy thing on his head. “Can’t say I’m not pleased. You may enter.” His eyes returned to you kicking the door closed with an eye roll, taking careful steps as you shrugged off your backpack.

“No, it’s okay, you can lay down if you want.” You waved him off when he was about to sit up, “I figured you’d still feel out of it.” The backpack now laid to rest against the foot of Jungwon’s bed which left you to plop with little to no grace present on the plush rug.

You weren’t wrong. He still felt groggy as shit even if he has been awake for more than twenty minutes now and you don’t seem to mind, yet he still tried to sit up a little bit, grabbing another pillow to pile it up on top of the one he was already using.

“So…” you started, placing an arm on his bed for you to rest your chin on; your free hand monopolized by Maeumi, willingly, running your fingers through his soft fur as he laid onto his stomach by your knees with a content huff. “Tell me everything.” 

“Does that include how I found out you like me?”

You burrowed the lower part of your face deeper into the crook of your arm, eyes trailing off to the side. “... yeah that too.” He resisted the urge to pat your head.

And that he did, not leaving any detail out. Jungwon told you everything you needed (read: wanted) to know; from waking up on his eleventh birthday and finding out that he can read minds, how learning to control it wasn’t as easy as he made it out to be seven years later since he became clairvoyant and of course, as per request (well, on his insistence, really) how on one fated afternoon did he find out that the token “quiet one” has been crushing on him all this time.

“And you continued being friends with me even if you knew that my intentions weren’t really platonic,” you reiterated, eyebrows furrowing at the thought, “why?”

A hum fell from his lips, “why not?”

You let out a sigh, letting your cheek meet the smooth and soft surface of his bed, “I don’t know, wasn’t it weird for you to find out that I do… like you?”

“I’ll be honest, it did catch me off-guard, but I didn’t feel… weird about it, if that makes sense.” He admitted, eyeing you for a moment before shifting his head so that he was staring up at the ceiling in contemplation. “It did make me curious though, made me curious about you since we never really talked that much, yet here you are, harboring the biggest and fattest crush on me.” 

His eyes were on you now and for the first time since you’ve had the pleasure of being acquainted with Jungwon, you didn’t shy away from his gaze and instead, met him head on, not minding the steadily spreading warmth creeping up your neck and across your cheeks as you processed the later half of his response.

The thing is, he wasn’t exactly wrong with the whole crush thing. You were very much used to the knee-jerk reaction of your face heating up whenever the guy said anything of similar caliber that involved getting a rise out of you and more often than not, he came out victorious at every attempt. Unfortunately for you, that also included this moment right now.

“You know, if you’re gonna poke fun at the fact that I like you, I might as well leave.” you muttered, pressing your face flat against his bed for a second to relish the softness of it. A few seconds later, you settled on resting your chin onto your arm again, giving Jungwon a withering look.

He made a noise of somesort. A sound of protest maybe? Point is, he didn’t look too thrilled at the idea of you leaving. “I don’t want you to though, and you’re really cute when you’re sulky. I can’t help it.”

“Charming.” came your dry reply as you sighed, grunting when you got onto your feet. “But flattery isn’t enough to make me stay, Jungwon, especially when all I’m hearing is someone who isn’t taking all of this seriously.” There was no heat behind your words, but you did try to sound sharper than your usual soft and airy lilt to get a reaction out of him, standing up for an added dramatic flair.

Needless to say, it worked, if him scrambling to sit up with the unmistakable look of panic plastered across his face was enough of a reaction, you’d say you were pretty pleased that you had some sort of leverage against him… for once.

“Wait, don’t! I just—“ Jungwon cut himself off with a groan while his head fell forward, the hand that he wasn’t using to support himself raising to cradle his forehead. “This wasn’t the way I was supposed to ask you out.”

Your jaw promptly falls open at his admission.

What.

“What?” You repeated in spite of the fact that Jungwon could probably hear you say the exact same thing in your head.

He gave you a sheepish smile in response and shrugged, “well, I did plan on telling you about my quote-unquote superpower,” he cracked his own version of a bashful grin, petting the space he made for you on the bed, then as quick as it came, it melted into a smile; much like the same demure smile you had on as a default. “But obviously it didn’t go according to plan, as you’ve seen earlier.”

“That doesn’t happen too often, right? Whatever that was.”

Jungwon shook his head, taking his time to watch you settle onto the space while he settled on resting his back against the pillows, “no, it doesn’t. It did happen often when I was younger though, so I thought that was just because I didn’t have much control over it.”

“You did mention that, yes.” you hummed, shifting to lift one of your legs up to feel more comfortable perched on top of the soft surface. “Or else it would’ve been so inconvenient if you had to go through that daily.”

“Yep and I wouldn’t want to wish that upon anyone.” He cringed at the thought. It really was one of the most unpleasant sensations he had ever felt throughout his whole life and there was some hope in him that he wouldn’t have to go through that anymore if possible. But enough of that, you weren’t here to talk about the downsides of his ability, you were here to talk; talk about whatever this is between the two of you, now that the feeling was mutual.

“I figured. As much of a nuisance you are, I guess you still have some compassion in you.”

“Oh? Was that why you were going all moony-eyed at me whenever I wasn’t looking?”

“That’s one of my reasons, sure, and I’m gonna keep it at that.” 

“Good thing I can read minds then,” he teased before letting out a light-hearted sigh, “and I am being serious about this. I do want to try all of this with you. Believe me or not, I thought it was rather cute that whenever you weren’t entirely focusing on academics, I was always the first thing—well, person you’d think of.”

The fire you had earlier from Jungwon’s banter gradually fizzled until you were back to your timid disposition as you realized the gravity of the situation; sitting that close to him and in the comfort of his bedroom too. The boy himself doesn’t seem to be perturbed by the fact that there wasn’t as much space between you both now as he continued eyeing you with an emotion you couldn’t quite figure out, swimming in the depths of his dark eyes.

“And you still thought it wasn’t weird at all? Now that you’ve basically seen everything that goes on”— you made a show of tapping your temple —”up here?”

“Well, if I did find it weird, I wouldn’t have gone out of my way to befriend you, now would I? C’mon, I've seen everything and I’m still with you, aren’t I?”

“Still… if you do plan on rejecting me, I’d totally understand.”

“Y/N, I like you. Probably just as much as you like me.” Jungwon chuckled upon hearing your breath hitch right when he reached out to tuck a loose lock of hair behind your ear. “And not to sound dramatic, but I’d lose it if somehow some rando replaced that version of me prancing around in that pretty little head of yours like he owned the place.”

As hot as your face felt from all of that, you can’t help but laugh brokenly at the description because it was kind of true. “Wow, you really have a way with words, huh? You can’t expect me not to go insane after saying all that.”

“Not as insane as me growing attached to the little scenarios of us you thought of.” It’s beyond you how Jungwon could admit all of that as if he was just talking about something ordinary, like the weather for example. Though you supposed that was one of his charms, how he wasn't really afraid to speak his mind, always ready to face whatever consequence that waited for him. “I think my favorite one was of us having a picnic in the middle of a flower field. You looked really pretty in that white sundress.”

“Yeah, you are definitely insane, taking interest in me ‘cause of my chronic daydreaming.”

“Maybe, but you still like me, right?” he spoke quieter this time, leaning in close that your foreheads pressed against each other’s, “tell me you like me.”

It was more of a soft spoken demand than a request as you took in the tone he used; firm, yes, but it still held the same type of softness he uses with you in the syllables and who were you to deny him of a request? Now that it was clear to you that this wasn’t at all one-sided, that it wasn’t unrequited like you had made yourself believe in the uncertainties that plagued your mind when the nights became too quiet.

A verbal confirmation wasn’t at all necessary. Jungwon was already made aware of the feelings you harbored for him. Still, you humored him, but not in the way either of you were expecting.

He was closer than you needed him to be, so that made things easier for you, reaching out with one hand to cup his cheek, you angled your head and kissed him.

It was a simple press of the lips. Nothing too special considering your inexperience on the matter, but pressing your plump lips against his slightly chapped pair seemed to do it just fine for him; it was enough to have Jungwon unravel in your gentle grip, having to anchor himself to reality by cupping the back of your neck as he breathed out a pleased sigh at the sensation of your lips melding together.

You weren’t faring better on your end either. Quiet as you were while having Jungwon this close to you, relishing in the fact that you could possibly be the first one who has ever gotten so close to him like this.

“I like you,” is the first string of words you breathed out when both of you parted from each other, eyes closed as you took in deep breaths to calm yourself down. “I really like you, Jungwon.”

All of this felt so surreal. You never saw yourself as the type to kiss on the first date, nor were you the type to kiss before a date could even be planned, but kissing Jungwon before you could even talk about this being official felt so right—felt so natural and you really hoped he thought the same too. Though something told you he might. Going through what he had confessed earlier, he did kind of imply that your daydreams kind of pushed him to where you both are now.

The laugh Jungwon let out was airy, out of breath, but most of all, fond as he nuzzled his nose against your cheek before his lips replaced it, “I know.” He whispered, warm air grazing his skin before actually pressing a kiss there.

You snorted, letting him do as he pleased, “of course you do, Professor X.”

“If I can remember correctly,” he pulled away as he said this, “he has telepathy. I can only read minds, not talk through them.” He corrected, leaning in to kiss the corner of your mouth. “And I like you too, Y/N. Even if you daydream too much about me.”

God, he was too much for your poor, weak heart, yet you don’t even try to stop him as he went on to press feather-light kisses across your face. You might as well die right here and right now from how fast your heart was racing. “You’re never gonna let me live that down, aren’t you?”

“Can’t say I won’t, dreamer.” 

“You’re terrible, actually.” You don’t mean it and Jungwon knew that simply because you didn’t push him away even your annoyance was evident. He was far from being so too. He wasn’t really capable of being an actual asshole even if he tried. “The worst.”

“We both know that’s not true.” He grinned and you really couldn’t deny it either, so you kissed your teeth in lieu of an actual response, making him chuckle as he tilted your chin with a finger, “kiss me again?”

“Well, since you asked so nicely…” you murmured, stealing a quick glance at his lips before your eyes flickered to meet his half-lidded gaze.

“Ah. It seems that things are going well between you two.”

Both you and Jungwon pull away from each other to look over your shoulder to see the eldest Yang sibling poised against the doorframe with the door wide open, arms crossed with a huge, triumphant grin pulling at her lips. In contrast to you who felt like spiraling in embarrassment from being caught, Jungwon looked rather annoyed at the interruption, glaring over your shoulder as Jiwon went on ahead and lifted Maeumi up in her arms, still looking far too amused at the scene before her.

“Just what do you want now, Jiwon?”

“Now now, there’s no need to be catty, Jungwonie.” He huffed when hearing you giggle, “grandma was asking if Y/N would like to stay for dinner. We can take her home later.”

“I don’t know… I don’t want to impose.”

“I’m pretty sure you’ve done a lot more than impose, kissing my baby brother and all.” At least you now know where he had gotten his playful side. The sharp cat-like gaze that matched with her grin almost mirrored Jungwon’s that it was an almost uncanny resemblance. “Speaking of, he looks like he doesn’t want to let you go just yet.” Jiwon chuckled, “I’ll leave you both to it then. Just let me know if you want to, okay?”

“Bye, Jiwon.” Jungwon promptly answered and Jiwon cackled, leaving the both of you alone.

After a beat of silence, you eyed Jungwon with uncertainty, “are you sure you want me to stay?”

“I’d love for you to stay for dinner, yeah.” He pressed a tender kiss to the space in between your furrowed eyebrows, effectively smoothening it down. “You always overthink.”

“Good thing you’re there to remind me not to, huh?”

“Well, you can definitely rely on me to quiet down the ugly thoughts in your head,” He said with so much conviction that you wanted to believe him. “And leave all the pretty ones in there for me to look at. I always thought we’d be a pretty couple, you know?”

You laughed, shaking your head, “you’re absolutely ridiculous, but I’ll hold you onto that.”

You wanted to put your faith into him, really, and looking at how determined he was, there was no doubt that Jungwon would fulfill the role just fine; and so you did, pulling him in for another heartfelt press of your lips.

A/N: Congratulations! You’ve reached the end of this absurdly long one-shot! I’m telling you, I wasn’t expecting it to reach this long oopsies! But still, I’ve had a lot of fun writing it even if there were times it frustrated me to no end (most of the times it was just me not being able to put some of my thoughts into words properly as I wanted 🗿) if you see any mistakes no you don't <3

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