—heart fluttering.
pairing: hwang hyunjin x reader, ft. lee chaeryeong x kim seungmin
genre: fluff, humor, college au, established relationship, slice of life
word count: 4.5k
summary: who would’ve thought that an unattended romance book on your coffee table would lead to a whole argument with your friends about the technicalities of pinning someone up against the wall. good thing your boyfriend was eager to help you reenact such a controversial scene and—not really—prove your point.
a/n: well hello there, it’s been a while hehe. i’m just here to post this story for my mother hen @taikapavunvarsi’s birthday, as i’ve been doing every single year now. couldn’t lose the tradition. i fucked up the time zones for this post and you’re probably sleeping rn, but i still hope you had the greatest of days and got lots of love from your loved ones, you deserve nothing but the best things in life ♡ i also hope that you enjoy this little one shot i wrote for you. i haven’t written at all in like two months so forgive my rustiness. anyway, you said you wanted ‘booktok boyfriend challenge’ and maybe reversed, and also after some digging on my end (aka going all the way up on our chat 💀) i realised that you said ‘the watercolors’ when you sent that video to me, so the watercolors you get. and also it’s not really a tiktok challenge they’re doing in this piece bc i kinda twisted it as always lol but i hope you still like it<3
and well, since i wrote this for the watercolor couple, i thought fuck it i’m posting it here. if anyone else reads it, i hope you all enjoy~
“That’s impossible” Seungmin’s final statement earned a side eye from you, which was nothing compared to the way Chae whipped her head in his direction—just like that, letting him know she was taking full offense in his confident words.
“No, it’s not?!” Chaeryeong beat you to it, just as you were opening your mouth to let out the exact same words.
“Babe, I’m telling you, it’s not possible”.
“Yes, it is!” You backed your friend up this time.
Given the intensity each of your statements carried, any outsider would think you were discussing a life or death situation. Especially after the over dramatic roll of eyes Seungmin gave you after contradicting him.
In reality, what got the three of you so heated up was whether a specific paragraph from the book Cherry was currently reading—and which you had already read and lent it to her in the first place—was actually possible or not.
“Give me the book,” Seungmin asked his girlfriend, holding his palm open for her to comply. Once she did, he traced his index finger under the words as he read them out loud: “He shoved her up against the wall, his height towering over her, and then with one hand pinning both of her wrists above her head”.
“What’s so unrealistic about it?” You wondered when he finished with a rather amused scoff.
“So, he pushes her against the wall, then he towers over her, meaning he’s like, extremely close to her, and then with one hand he grabs both her wrists and pulls them up over her head?”
“I don’t get you…” Chaeryeong frowned, visibly trying to understand her boyfriend’s point.
“Wouldn’t her arms be stiff when he pulls them both up at the same time?” He pointed out. “There wouldn’t be space for him to pull them up, since he needs to hold them together, probably in the middle, and then pull them up. He either should’ve done that before coming closer to her or should’ve used both hands so they could go up from her sides and not from the middle”.
You and Chaeryeong stayed silent, exchanging troubled looks as you simultaneously tried to picture the point he was making and to come up with different ways for the narration to work out.
Truth be told, you didn’t really care that much about the physical technicalities when it came to romance books. As long as you could picture what the writer was trying to portray, even if it wasn’t exactly what they had in mind, you were okay with it.
As long as the words in it made you feel something, you could look past a couple of mistakes.
Seungmin, on the other hand, who had only read that one page when Cherry left the book unattended to go to the restroom a few minutes ago, could not look past the ‘poor’—as he had so dismissively called it—wording of that particular paragraph.
“It doesn’t say that they’re extremely close, though?” You argued. “Maybe there is enough space for him to do that”.
“There isn’t” he was fast to reply.
“How would you know that?” Chaeryeong frowned.
“When us guys shove someone against the wall we instinctively corner them right away, that’s the whole point. You don’t just push them and stand there like an idiot before doing anything else”.
“Oof, speaking from experience now?” You taunted him, laughing proudly when you got flipped off right away. “Maybe this one guy did just stand there for a bit and therefore there was enough space between them”.
Chaeryeong nodded rapidly, strongly agreeing with you before Seungmin shook his head in disagreement.
“It literally says he was towering over her”.
“And the meaning of that is up for interpretation,” his girlfriend argued back once again.
“What’s up for interpretation?” Hyunjin asked, entering the living room holding a big bowl of popcorn, after having excused himself to go make himself a quick snack earlier.
“The paragraph from a book” you answered him.
“The one you lent Cherry?” He asked, leaning against the doorframe as he shoved a handful of popcorn into his mouth.
You couldn’t help but smile at the sight of him, for a moment there forgetting you were in the middle of an argument. “Yes. There’s this one line that Seungmin swears is not possible”.
“It’s not, though” Seungmin argued once more, and you knew right then he was now only trying to provoke you and his girlfriend.
The glare you threw his way must’ve been one of a kind, for it had Hyunjin chuckling in a heartbeat.
“I thought you guys were fighting for real from the bits and pieces I heard from the kitchen”.
“Oh, we’re close to” Cherry folded her arms over her chest.
It was funny to think this was what your Friday nights had come to after a year of you dating Hyunjin, and of Cherry dating Seungmin.
With you and Chaeryeong being best friends and also roommates, and the same being Hyunjin and Seungmin’s situation, it was inevitable for the four of you to stick together among your larger group of friends. It was unspoken, even.
Since you and Seungmin were done earlier with your last class on Fridays, you would head over to the dance practice room together, where Chaeryeong and Hyunjin would be, as always, mastering their respective routines. You would wait for them to finish, catch up a bit in the meantime, and then all four of you would head over to either your or their dorm, and just hang out there if you didn’t have any particular couple activities planned out with your respective partners. Usually, it was yours, so you wouldn’t bother Changbin if he happened to be at their place—you had already been called out one too many times for making him fifth wheel.
Today, it was no different.
It was supposed to be a peaceful evening, just chatting in the living room all four of you until it was time for Chae and Seungmin to leave, since they were going to the movies later that night. Although, to be fair, no evening could ever be completely peaceful when both your dramatic boyfriend and her tsundere one were together.
Maybe if Chaeryeong hadn’t left your book on the coffee table the night before, you could’ve accomplished an almost peaceful one, because then Seungmin wouldn’t have caught a glance of it after she left his side and he found himself looking for another eye-catching sight around your place, and maybe then he wouldn’t have read that infamous line that got the three of you arguing like your lives depended on it.
Hyunjin would probably have agreed with Seungmin, had he been in the room with you when all hell broke loose. Their experience pinning people against a wall was probably over half of yours—which was nonexistent—after all. But, he wasn’t there for it. So, your eyes lit up when you looked at him and an idea came to your mind.
Watching him place the bowl of popcorn on the coffee table as he munched on another handful of them, you stood up before he could take a seat next to you like he intended.
“Jinnie, come here” you called him, having him follow you to the wall next to the sofa where you had been sitting. When he was in front of you and his rather confused eyes were silently asking you what you wanted, you said: “Pin me up against the wall”.
And maybe you should’ve known better than to make such a request to him all of a sudden, because next thing you knew, confusion was replaced by lust in the way he looked at you, and his hands on both sides of your hips were pulling you closer to him.
“Here in front of our friends?” He mumbled, smiling against your lips and sending shivers down your spine.
Sadly, he didn’t get to steal a kiss from your mouth like he was dying to. Not because of the giggle that had just escaped it—as you couldn’t help but get shy even after all the times you had kissed in front of your friends and vice versa—but because of the pillow Seungmin didn’t hesitate to throw at his head as soon as he realised what was about to go down in front of them.
“Boo, you hoe!” he called your boyfriend out.
Hyunjin threw his head lightly back, biting his lip as he tried to conceal the amused—yet frustrated—smile already parting his lips. Still, he didn’t hesitate to grab the pillow from off the floor and throw it right back to Minnie.
“So,” Hyunjin began after successfully hitting his friend, pulling you closer to him again. “Do I pin you up against the wall or not?”
“Yes, but not like that” Chaeryeong answered for you, causing a laugh to escape your lips.
“Wait, but don’t tell him how, we’re trying to prove a point here” you reminded them, looking for confirmation from both of them before your eyes went back to your boyfriend. “Just, pin me up against the wall”.
“Like, forcefully or…”
“Um…” you hesitated.
“It does say ‘shove’ against the wall here, so yeah, forcefully” Seungmin said.
“And then pull her hands above her head” Cherry added.
“What the hell are you guys on about?” He frowned, not really knowing whether he should be worried or not.
“Just do it” you laughed.
“Okay, so…” his uncertain eyes fixed on yours, looking for consent to push you against the wall.
With a silent nod, you let him know to go for it. And so, his hands went up to your ribcage, missing your breasts by an inch, and he pushed you to the wall. It wasn’t hard enough to hurt you, but just enough for a thud to be heard at the impact.
Before you could process whether you had liked it or not, he was already grabbing your hands and pulling them up above your head.
You found out right then that you did indeed like it. Maybe a little too much. Enough to only focus on his plump lips nearly touching yours, and, therefore, to miss the way he had used both hands to pin yours up.
“Told you!” Seungmin managed to break the sexual tension already taking over the two of you. “You need both hands for that”.
“Doesn’t mean you can’t use only one, though?” You argued, unconsciously resting your hands on Hyunjin’s chest.
“Oh, you wanted me to use only one?” He asked you, then looking at your friends. “I can do that”.
“Let’s see it,” Seungmin said, grabbing the bowl of popcorn and leaning back on the sofa.
“What are you, a judge?” Hyunjin scoffed.
“Oh, hush. Just do it”.
Rolling his eyes, he took a step away from you, so he could reenact the scene right from the start.
This time, however, instead of shoving you up against the wall right away, he grabbed your right wrist and then brought it up to your left one before he pulled them up above your head. It was only when your hands were about to reach the top of your head, that his free hand went up to your waist and he pushed you against the wall—almost as if he’d heard Seungmin’s previous argument—cornering you right away.
It was fair to say, whether he had just proved Seungmin’s point or not, you were enjoying this whole argument way too much.
“See?” Seungmin looked at Chaeryeong with a proud smirk.
“We haven’t seen the way the book describes it yet, though” she refused to give it up, reaching for the book on the coffee table and looking for the controversial paragraph.
“Is this really what our Friday nights have come to?” You asked in utter disbelief.
“I’m not really complaining” Hyunjin confessed—a breathy laugh escaping his mouth as he lovingly bumped your nose with his own.
“I mean, it could be possible,” Seungmin stood up, deliberately ignoring the PDA going on in front of him and walking over to you—watching the reenactment from the couch not being enough anymore. “But it’d be too inconvenient, like, if you’re that close and you hold both wr—”
“You are not shoving my girlfriend up against the wall” Hyunjin warned him when he tried to shove him aside in order to take his place, unconsciously grabbing your hand and pulling you to him.
Seungmin rolled his eyes. “I’m not, I’m just trying to make a point here”.
“Go make your point with Chaeryeong over there”.
“Hold on, I’m looking for the line” she absentmindedly replied as she scanned the page.
You snorted, leaning your head against your boyfriend’s shoulder. You didn’t know whether she was unaware or simply unfazed—either of them being just as funny to you.
“Okay, I got it,” Cherry announced, going up to you as well. “So, what you have to do is, shove her up against the wall,” she looked up to Hyunjin, waiting for him to do so—which he did, only gently this time, as the four of you seemed to be more into the technicality of it all rather than into the reenactment. “Tower over her,” she read, and that he did as well, making your heart race when he took it one step further by tilting your chin up with his fingers, so he could lean in to faintly touch your mouth with his lips.
“Keep it professional, dude” Seungmin called him out—justice being made for you when he was the one to get flipped off now by your boyfriend.
“And now,” Chaeryeong resumed. “With one hand, hold both of hers up”.
You knew Seungmin was right—as if the two previous tries hadn’t already been proof enough—when you saw your boyfriend hesitate, only then realising how close he had come to you by simply being told to tower over you.
Hyunjin knew something was off right away, having to take a few seconds to figure out how to pull your hands up in between the little to nonexistent space between your bodies.
In the end, the safest choice was to take a step back in order to do so, coming right back to tower over you as soon as he got your hands pinned to the wall. Just like that, proving that, although possible, it would turn out clumsy enough—not to say ‘inconvenient’, like Seungmin had claimed—to mess with the heat of the moment.
“Told you,” Seungmin smiled proudly once again. “Inconvenient”.
“Whatever” Chaeryeong shrugged, closing the book and carefully throwing it on the couch as she finally admitted defeat. “All I got from this is that you two share the same braincell. Luke clearly left enough space between them”.
“Luke,” he mockingly repeated the character’s name he had just learned. “Was clearly written by a woman who’s never pinned anyone against a wall”.
“And that’s why he’s way better than you two”.
You couldn’t help the throaty laugh that escaped your mouth at her bitter remark. While Seungmin’s jaw fell open, desperately looking for a clap back for that yet coming up with nothing, a quite offended Hyunjin nudged you, for your friend’s insult had involved him too and you were laughing.
Chaeryeong, on the other hand, was unable to hold back a laugh of her own at the sight of her baffled boyfriend—pulling the now pouty guy into a hug. “Okay, I’m sorry” she apologised with a peck to his lips, knowing she was forgiven when his hands rested on her waist and his thumbs drew small circles on it. “But, honestly, just read the damn book and you’ll get why we don’t really care about technicalities”.
“If it’s so good they’ll probably make a movie of it, so I’ll just wait for that” he smiled cynically.
Chaeryeong rolled her eyes with a smile, only for it to be erased the next second when realisation hit her. “Wait, the movie!”
Seungmin’s face was quick to match her panicked one.
Being too immersed in the rather entertaining argument, neither of them had remembered the movie they had got tickets for earlier that week, and which they should’ve left for a while ago now.
“Shit, what time is it?” Seungmin asked, rushing to get his things.
“Eight thirty” Hyunjin let him know as he checked his phone.
“Fuck, we only have fifteen minutes”.
“Let’s go” Cherry hurried him up, putting on her shoes and grabbing her coat by the entrance.
“Coming” Seungmin announced from the couch, shoving his phone into his pocket and running to put on his shoes as well, as Chaeryeong held the door open while waiting for him. “Okay, see you guys later, bye!”
Chuckling over the entire situation after hearing them slam the door shut, and feeling the silence take over the room now that your friends were gone, you looked up to Hyunjin. Although the both of you were resting your backs against the wall now, as he had leaned on it in order to watch your friends rushing out of your place, he didn’t waste another second to corner you again—getting the perfect opportunity to tilt your chin up and to finally press his mouth to yours, like he had been dying to ever since you asked him to pin you up against the wall earlier that night.
Your arms wrapped around his neck, and his own snaked around your waist, pulling you so close to his body that you found yourself laughing breathily at the lack of oxygen you were getting after a few seconds.
“So those are the kind of books you’re always reading?” He smirked over your lips, slightly loosening his hold on you—just enough for you to catch your breath.
“God forbid a girl wants to read some heart fluttering stories” you couldn’t help but sound defensive, gently letting your palms slide down to his chest.
He chuckled, gently nuzzling your neck. “I’m not shaming you or anything, it’s just interesting”.
“What is?”
“That those kinds of things make your heart flutter”.
“Those kinds of things?” You asked.
“Pinning you up against the wall?” He cocked a teasing eyebrow.
“As if you didn’t know that already” you rolled your eyes, folding your arms over your chest.
“I didn’t” he chuckled, teasingly pinching your sides before he pulled you closer and kissed you once more.
Sure, he had pinned you up against the wall a couple of times—maybe more than a couple in the time you had been together—but never forcefully, or at least not enough to make the impact of your body against it to actually make a sound, like it had today.
He had only now discovered that you enjoyed it. And he was surely loving this newfound liking of yours.
“If you ever got pinned up against a wall like that, you’d get the hype” you defended yourself.
“Well, you could always show me” he shrugged, unable to hide the smirk that was already curving up his lips.
“Me?”
“Aren’t you my girlfriend? Who else would pin me up against a wall if not you?”
“The height difference won’t help, though”.
“I’ll cooperate” he promised, earning a light laugh from you. “You need to do the whole thing, though. I want my arms pinned above my head and all”.
“You’re delusional,” you laughed.
“For knowing what I want?” He said over dramatically.
“Ah, what did I get myself into” you amusedly lamented, but gave in regardless.
Letting go of each other and switching sides, being now him the one turning his back to the wall while you faced him, you couldn’t help but hesitate, just like he had done before pushing you for the first time.
Turned out, it was actually mind wrecking not knowing how much force to put into shoving the person you loved in order not to hurt them. Not like you could actually push him that hard if you wanted, but still.
“I’m waiting~” he teased you.
At that, knowing well enough he would tease you even harder if you took any longer, you just pushed him without a second thought—only to panic as soon as you heard his back hit the wall.
“Was that okay?” You asked him right away.
He dramatically clutched his chest. “My heart’s nearly beating out of my chest”.
“Oh, shut up” you rolled your eyes, deciding to just get it over with and grab both his wrists in order to pull them above his head.
Since you had already pushed him and there was enough space between the two of you, given that you forgot to corner him against the wall right after—you could almost hear Seungmin calling you an idiot—your stubbornness told you to only use one hand to do so.
Now, the problem was, that you forgot how big Hyunjin’s hands actually were, and therefore why it was so easy for him to grab both your wrists with only one of them—as opposed to you, who were already struggling with the task.
Hyunjin was enjoying it one hell of a lot, though. He couldn’t hold back a giggle as he watched you struggle for a few seconds to secure his wrists in your hand, and then he completely lost it when you finally managed to pull them up over his head, only for you not to be able to reach all the way up and just leave them hanging there midway.
“Yah, you said you’d cooperate!” You whined.
“I’m slouching, I’m slouching” he defended himself in between laughs as he did so.
However, hearing your laugh only made him laugh harder, to the point he gave up on slouching at all and ended up kneeling down instead, letting his face rest on your abdomen and holding onto the curve of your back as he looked for some kind of support.
“You’re so annoying” you half laughed, half whined again; trying to help him stand back up.
“You’re so cute,” he cooed.
Letting out one last throaty laugh and finally managing to catch his breath, he let you help him up, smiling lovingly when you cupped his face and wiped the tears of joy that had rolled down his cheeks.
“So, pinning you up against the wall is a no-go to make your heart flutter” you nodded your head.
“It did flutter though, but just because you’re too adorable and I love you” he admitted, and it was your heart the one to flutter at that.
“What can I do to truly make your heart go all mushy then?”
“Honestly?” He asked.
You nodded.
“I love it when you play with my hair”.
You smiled, as it was no news. He had been very vocal about it after the first time you played with his hair while you cuddled on his couch, even way before being a couple.
It was always nice to hear how much he actually loved it, though.
“I was thinking more of a book-ish thing to do…” you confessed.
“Book-ish?” He poked fun at you.
“Yeah, you know, cliché things characters in romance books do” you looked around as you tried to think of something. “Like when they grab your face and make you look at them when you’re not paying attention, like—”
Before you could finish your sentence, he was already grabbing your chin and making you look up at him.
“Like this?” He mumbled against your lips.
You felt your cheeks burn embarrassingly fast, having to look to the side in a poor attempt to play it cool—only to have him playfully make you look at him again.
“Hwang Hyunjin,” you warned him, unknowingly making his heart race at the sound of the lower register you had just used.
“Yes, baby?”
“You’re not supposed to make me flustered, I was about to make a move there”.
He laughed under his breath. “Let’s be honest now, if you were to do that right now, with us standing up, I’d probably just end up looking to the wall”.
Your jaw fell open in full offense. “If I grab your face and turn it in my direction, you’re supposed to look at me even if I’m shorter than you. It’s common courtesy”.
“You’re the one manhandling me, you’re supposed to make me look at you”.
“And that’s what—I give up” you held your hands up in defeat. “I could never be the man of this relationship”.
“Good,” he said, grabbing your waist and turning both of you around, so that he was once again the one cornering you against the wall and leaning down so close to you that you could feel your breathings mix. “Just leave the manhandling to me, hm?”
You bit your lip, in a hopeless attempt to conceal the smile already curving up your lips. He chuckled against your mouth, leaning in to press a slow, lingering kiss to it.
You would be a fool to turn down his offer.
“I want to make your heart flutter too, though” you pouted nevertheless.
“And you always do that without even trying”.
“I do?”
“Mhm…” he lovingly tucked a strand of hair behind your ear. “Like I said, when you play with my hair, or when you lean your head on my shoulder, also when you call me baby… when you use that lower tone of yours to talk to me, and when you doodle literally anything while we talk and then gift it to me…” his eyes softened at the memories. “Do I keep going?”
You softly shook your head no—your heart already feeling warm enough because of his words. “I believe that’s good en—”
“Oh, I love it when you wear my clothes!” He cut you off, eyes lighting up over the sudden train of thought. “Fuck, especially when you only wear one of my t-shirts to sleep and I get to admire your pretty thighs while you walk around my room”.
You chuckled at his last addition, feeling your cheeks burn all over again. “You’re getting a bit carried away now, aren’t you, baby?”
He bit his lip, remaining silent yet not finding it in him to feel the least bit embarrassed. You were all his after all, he was allowed to admire your beauty in all its splendor and gush about it all he wanted.
“I’ll make sure to do all that more often then” you quietly added with a smile, reaching up to sweetly catch his bottom lip in between yours.
“There are a few of my t-shirts in your closet, so how about doing that one now?” He proposed, temptingly brushing his lips against yours.
“If that’s what it takes to make your heart flutter…” you quietly taunted him.
He agreed with a small nod, pressing his lips to yours and teasingly grabbing a hold of your wrists. “I’ll make sure yours does too by pinning you up against your bedroom wall while we’re at it”.
😭😭💖💖💝💞💓💝❣️💞💓💝 you're the greatest. Thank you🫶🫶🫶
Minnie one-liners made it so much better i didn't know i needed his opinions about this lmao.
Watercolor my beloveds.
@taikapavunvarsi heheh you’re welcome 🥰🥰
