YOOO AM BACK

[shadexxxx]

The audible cuts after like, three seconds of dialogue is INFURIATING. He’s not afraid to TELL us they’ve been talking, but that content is Not For Us To See. So whatever man just forget about it.

[californiaispurple]

still one of my favorite etho comments <3

[soxcietyy]

Racer

Yuuta x Brat Fem Reader 18+

COMPLETE

˚₊‧꒰𓆩 ♱ 𓆪꒱ ‧₊˚ forbidden love, brat, 5 year age gap. Illegal activity’s.

Description: Your father Geto went on a business trip for a while. Leaving you with your uncle Gojo who isn’t the most trustworthy person to be left with. One day your uncle decided to drag you along to an illegal car meet. Where you bump into your new babysitter for the day.

What happens when a brat like you falls for a guy 5 years older than you? One that you know your father or uncle would not approve of?

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

[lexsssu]

Ok but like what if the Hunter Association decides that they wanna do like a super soldier program by having S rankers mate and produce children with a much higher likelihood of also turning out to be S ranks

Alpha!Jinwoo was never the showy type and preferred to keep his personal life private, including maintaining the privacy of his family. Especially that of his mate and only pup at the time, Yeonjin.

So,when the association tries to urge him to mate with fellow S-ranker Cha Hae-in for the good of the country, his shadows flare out in response to the audacity of what they were asking from him.

"No."

That is the only response he allows them to receive from him before he slips out of headquarters, much to their dismay. He is not a chained animal for them to control and experiment with as they see fit.

He KNOWS that they know he was mated and already had a son, but even that isn't enough to deter them from trying to push their little experiment into fruition.

It makes him sick.

It makes him seethe.

Jinwoo mates with you that night with a rarely seen ferocity and animalistic fervor that has you crying out until even speaking becomes an ordeal and practically dripping rivulets of his potent seed.

During the next S-rank hunter meeting not too long after, he throws a pack of positive pregnancy tests upon the table, uncaring of how uncouth he may come off as he stares the chairman down. He is deaf to Cha Hae-in's gasp behind him, unable to give a single flying fuck about a woman who was hoping to tie him down with the association's influence.

[ozzgin]

Your monster roommate keeps to himself. He's not very talkative, and thus you don't know much about him. Everything you have comes from mere deduction; for example, you suspect he might be into journaling, as he always carries a small notebook and frequently scribbles in it.

Monster roommate is, unbeknownst to you, a rather famous comic artist, particularly popular among fellow creatures and critters. His best-selling series so far involves a human protagonist who resides in the monster realm and has one too many flirty encounters with the local beasts.

Monster roommate has, of course, used you as his main and only inspiration. His protagonist is pretty much you. No change whatsoever. He originally intended it as a joke, taking notes about your behavior, your habits, your appearance, and inserting them into his character. He was going to confess his mischief and show you the result, and you'd both laugh about it.

Except, well, it really took off. He expected you to be likeable to the readers, of course, but not to this extent. Within days he'd woken up to hundreds of questions, requests, gifts, fan work. Other monsters had started their own spinoffs involving you. He stared in terror at the newly created tag for erotic content of the human protagonist.

Today, his worst nightmare has become reality: someone snapped a photo of you and posted it on social media. Looks just like the comic protagonist, they marveled in their caption. Everyone agreed. Everyone wanted to know where this was taken.

You find your roommate panting outside your door, pale and feverish. Something happened, he blurts out, we must move out.

He can't let anyone else learn about you. You're supposed to be his human!

[doremichann]

HER

yuuta okkotsu x f!reader

summary: You and Yuuta raising your daughter throughout the years

words: 5.07k

author’s notes: Seriously, Gege should have made Yuuta a girl dad. Many of the scenes are highly inspired by the K-drama When Life Gives You Tangerines. I highly recommend listening to ZVC's verse during the song ‘her’ while reading this fic.

two weeks

“She’s so small,” Yuuta muttered to you. You were looking down at your newborn daughter, who was sleeping soundly in her cot. The maids tried to urge you to let them bathe her instead, saying you should be resting, but you couldn’t stand being away from Toru for even a few minutes.

You giggled, admiring her scrunched-up face. “She’s a bit wrinkly, isn’t she?”

Despite your daughter’s small stature, her appetite was no joke, although Yuuta was sure all babies were like that. It must be boring, having nothing else to do other than sleeping and eating.

Unbeknownst to Toru, her parents made sure she was protected from curses to the highest degree. It wasn’t particularly hard since Yuuta was in line to be the leader of the Gojo clan. When you came back home from giving birth, he arranged for a few guards to patrol the wing where you resided. Of course, since he was unofficially the strongest sorcerer, no one dared to attack his wife and child.

You also put in your efforts, using your cursed energy to enchant talismans to ward off cursed spirits. You stuck them everywhere, to the point that Panda thought the appearance of the bottom of your baby’s cot being plastered with every talisman known to mankind was very macabre, especially when compared to the pastel pink walls and decorations of the nursery.

Toru suddenly sneezed, causing you to laugh. “Even her sneezes are too cute.”

Your husband gazed at her softly, gently brushing her sparse hair before letting his finger rest in her palm. As if by instinct, Toru grasped it with her pudgy hand, five little fingers wrapped around his.

“Sometimes, I think I made a mistake in naming her after Gojo-sensei,” he quietly confessed. “I want Toru to live happily for the longest time.”

“And she will. After all, she has you as her father,” you smiled, holding your hand to his cheek. The scar across his forehead had healed over, a constant reminder of what it took to defeat Sukuna. “I promise.”

You then sealed it in the form of a gentle kiss that was somehow still as time-stopping as your first kiss all those years ago when you and Yuuta were still teenage sorcerers, just trying to survive.

five months

“Her dinner should be on the counter, and the instructions for her milk is right next to the steriliser,” your husband told the trio. “Her bedtime is in an hour and a half. Toru-chan instantly falls asleep after a lullaby, but don’t sing one of those cursed clan ones. She hates those.”

He turned to you, briefly admiring how beautiful you looked in the black dress he bought for you. No one would have guessed that you had given birth just five months ago. “I think that’s all.”

You laughed softly. “Babe, you forgot one other thing.”

Yuuta tilted his head, a bit confused. “Which one?”

“The baby.”

Sure enough, your husband was still cradling your daughter in his arms. Her curious dark blue eyes were fixed on Yuuta’s tie. Nine months in your womb, and somehow, Toru came out looking like a female version of Yuuta, from her inky black hair to her round blue eyes. Due to her lack of hair, she had hair, it just grew very slowly, people often mistook her for a boy, which led your husband to buy all sorts of ribbons, hats and hairbands. Right now, he had dressed her in a white onesie with a matching wool cap with bunny ears.

“Shake. Takana.”

“She’s a princess!” Yuuta refuted. You weren’t sure how he figured that out from just two words. He held Toru out for Toge to see. “Look at how cute she is. How could you ever think she’s a boy?”

“It’s an honest mistake, bean sprout.” Maki teased him, taking Toru out of his hands. She scanned the baby as if wondering what size polearm suited her. “How much can this little tyke do anyways? Can she sprint yet?”

“She’s only five months old!” Yuuta was getting more anxious about leaving Toru behind with them. Sure, he trusted them with his life, but when it came to childcare, he rightfully had his doubts. “The most she can do is sit up and roll over.”

“Like the dogs in obedience school?” Panda, who was perched on Maki’s shoulder, unhelpfully chimed in. “I watched a video about it the other day, so you can definitely trust us Yuuta.”

The cursed corpse’s dog comment made your husband lose all faith in them. “Maybe Fushiguro-kun isn’t busy.”

three years

“What’s with your husband?” Maki asked you when Yuuta was checking his phone over and over again during their meeting earlier.

“It’s Toru-chan’s first day at preschool today.”

“She’s old enough already? I could have sworn she was still learning how to walk.”

“Time just flies by when you’re raising kids,” you said, remembering how Yuuta cried when Toru called him Daddy for the first time. Now, she is going to preschool and making friends. You called out to your husband, “Toru’s otou-chan, the school would have called us if anything went wrong.”

“No, it’s just that- earlier, all the other little girls clung to their dads, but Toru-chan,” he suddenly squatted down, hugging his knees. His broad shoulders made him look like a white ball. “She just walked inside the classroom. She didn’t even look back. Like a boss.”

Toge offered his condolences, clapping Yuuta’s shoulder. “Takana.”

“She’s probably just excited to make new friends,” you comforted him. “I was the same way. I remember bringing one of my stuffed dolls as a friend on my first day.”

“Speaking of dolls,” Maki looked around. “Have any of you seen Panda anywhere?”

“Panda-kun? He was at our house this morning,” you answered.

Yuuta nodded along before saying, “he was playing with Toru-chan before…”

The four of you froze, realising where the cursed corpse could be right now.

“You don’t think…”

You and your husband rushed to your car. Yuuta basically stepped on the gas pedal to reach Toru’s preschool faster, where you stumbled into Panda’s election as the mascot of the Sunshine class.

six years

Luckily, little Toru’s hair started growing out, and at six years old, she had long, silky black locks that were currently tied up into pigtails by you. She was buzzing with energy as she impatiently waited for Yuuta to finish tying her laces. Her elementary school was having a sports day today, and Toru was specially chosen to represent her class in the 100 metre race.

“Daddy, hurry up!”

“I’m almost done.” Yuuta made sure her laces were double-knotted. He didn’t want a repeat of Toru falling flat on her face again, just because she was too shy to ask a teacher to tie her laces back. “Toru-chan, are you ready?”

Your daughter grinned as bright as the sun. “I think I can get first place!”

“First?” He had no doubt she was capable of beating the rest, but she was also too impatient. “You don’t have to get first. Whatever you get, you can always run back to me.”

Yuuta checked her over, brushing the dust off her gym uniform. Her bangs were tucked under her pink sweatband.

“Okay, let’s practice first. When the teacher says go, that’s when you run.” Yuuta pointed out the red track fields to Toru, where her teacher waved to them. “On my mark. Three, two, one-”

“GO!” Toru excitedly screeched, about to run off when her father stopped her.

“No! Not like that!” He knew she would do that. “You run when you hear go. Let’s try it again. Three, two, one-”

“GO!” 

Yuuta’s advice practically bounced off Toru’s ears as she eagerly sprinted to her friends, eager to join in. He, exasperated, watched as his little princess started chatting with them.

“Oh, what am I going to do with that little thing?”

sixteen years

“Dad, you’re impossible!”

“Toru-chan!”

You barely even got to look at her before Toru, now a second-year at Tokyo Jujutsu High School, sprinted to her room and slammed the shoji door shut. Your husband looked like he wanted to run after her, but he decided not to, taking a seat across from you where you were sorting through some documents.

“What happened?” you asked him while pouring green tea into a mug before offering it to him.

Yuuta gratefully took the mug, thanking you. “I may… have interfered with her mission again.”

“Yuuta-”

“I know.” He groaned. “It’s just-”

“I understand.” It was hard seeing your daughter as a sorceress, even though it was certainly safer than it used to be when you and your husband were her age. “Even so, no one’s going to take her seriously if you keep coming to her rescue. She’s not a Semi-Grade 1 for nothing.”

Yuuta kept quiet. It was easier back when Toru was starting out last year, since first years weren’t permitted to do solo missions, a rule you established just after your daughter was born.

“I’ll talk to her,” you said, standing up from the table, “but you have to promise you’re not going to mess with her assignments again.”

Yuuta looked up, smiling at you. “I promise. I don’t like it when our princess is mad at me.”

“She also doesn’t like being mad at you,” you told him before leaving the room. You made your way to Toru’s room and knocked on the door.

“Toru, it’s Mom.”

“Go away!” yelled Toru, her voice muffled.

“Baby, I just want to talk.”

The room was silent for a moment before you heard the sound of shuffling feet. Your daughter slid the shoji door open, letting you inside before sliding it shut. The pastel pink walls were gone in favour of the light cream paint Toru had chosen last year. Posters of popular idol groups plastered the walls, though her stuffed animals were still lined up on her bed.

Toru flopped down on her bed, inviting you to sit down next to her. “Mom, can’t you tell Dad to back off? People think I’m a joke.”

“Honey, they don’t think that-”

“Yes, they do!” She interrupted you. “I’m the only one with a babysitter, while Uncle Megumi’s son gets to do solo missions and he’s fourteen!”

You were sure that Hinata wasn’t allowed to do that, but then again, Megumi was primarily raised by Gojo so it would make sense that the latter’s unorthodox teaching methods were subconsciously passed on to him. 

“Dad just doesn’t believe in me,” said Toru while hugging a pink rabbit doll to her chest.

“Don’t say that,” you patted her head, making her look up to you. “It’s just that, you’re his little girl.”

Toru whispered, “I’m not so little anymore.”

“His mind knows that,” you held a hand over the left side of your side, “but his heart doesn’t know it. Even the idea of you being in danger hurts him so much that it causes him to act irrationally, so please understand that this isn’t easy for him.”

Toru’s dark blue eyes, which reminded you so much of your husband’s, softened. “Fine, but only if he stops hovering so much!”

You made your husband compromise by having him wait outside the high school with you, where Toru had her assignment. Your vivacious daughter made Yuuta promise that he would only come in if she sent a distress signal.

Twenty minutes passed by, and Toru came out with curse blood trickling down her face, and all of the hostages were rescued.

She had a wide smile while holding up a peace sign. “I exorcised the cursed spirit!”

You celebrated her success by having a barbeque party with all of your old schoolmates. However, the biggest surprise came a few weeks later when you and your family came home to a teenage boy waiting in front of your house with a bouquet of flowers. 

You recognised him as one of the hostages that Toru had rescued. He was a tall and handsome young man who blushed at the sight of her. You laughed lightly, realising why he was here, while Yuuta just squinted at him.

“H-Hajimemashite, my name is S-Sakura Takeda,” he stammered before pushing the bouquet towards Toru. “Thank you for rescuing my friends and I!”

Although she was shocked by his gesture, your daughter gratefully accepted the flowers, her cheeks as flushed as his, much to your husband’s dismay. 

Takeda nervously bowed deeply again to you and Yuuta, especially when your husband stared him down with unblinking eyes, as if the boy was Getou Suguru reincarnated.

“O-once again, thank you for saving us!”

He was about to leave when suddenly-

“Sakura-san!” Toru called out. “My favourite flowers are cosmoses, so just get me those next time!”

Yuuta’s jaw dropped while you pushed him into the house, not wanting him to intrude on their moment.

“Anata, I need to be there!” Your husband tried to leave, but you blocked his path. “Why would that boy-”

“Obviously, he likes her!” Your answer only added to his misery. “Our daughter is more popular than you think. He’s hardly the first boy who likes her.”

“Wait, there’s more?”

“Yeah. Why do you think Hinata-kun’s always training?” Only Yuuta wouldn’t notice Megumi’s son’s feelings for his own daughter.

“I thought he was like Megumi!”

“The boy wants to be strong enough to protect Toru-chan.” Granted, you only knew about it because Megumi’s wife told you during tea time.

“W-wait a second!” Yuuta was panicking harder than when he had to go up against Sukuna. “I’m not ready for this! Toru-chan’s still a baby!”

“You got engaged when you were ten!”

“That was a completely different situation!”

twenty-two years

Toru hurriedly unlocked the door to her boyfriend’s apartment while balancing a birthday cake in one hand and keys in the other.

“Takeda, sorry I’m late! I got dispatched on an urgent assignment-” She fell silent when she saw his mother instead. She immediately bowed down to her, but the older woman ignored her, instead choosing to walk up to her son.

“It’s bad enough that you invited her, but did you really have to give her a key?” She confronted him.

Takeda, uncomfortable, replied, “Mother, I invited Toru since it’s my birthday. Can’t I celebrate with my girlfriend?”

His mother glared pointedly at Toru, not bothering to hide her displeasure. Although the couple have been dating for a few years now, his mother never approved of her, always hoping that Takeda would end up being with a normal girl.

“Don’t just stand there!” She snapped, shoving a rice paddle into the sorceress’s hands. “I know that you’re some sort of heiress, but in our family, women do the housework here.”

Toru went to work with the rice bowls, even when she felt small under her gaze.

A few minutes later, they were having dinner. Takeda sat with his mother on one side while Toru sat alone on the other side. The atmosphere was very awkward with no one saying much.

“Um, Mrs Sakura, Takeda-kun always raves about how good of a cook you are!” Toru spoke up. “Like the mackerel. It’s so delicious that I can eat three portions in one sitting!”

“Our family values portion control. We’re not wealthy like your family, and can just eat whatever we want all the time,” Mrs Sakura coldly replied. She put her chopsticks down on the table. “Okkotsu-san, do your parents know you frequent a bachelor’s apartment?”

“Mother, why do you have to phrase it like that?” Takeda tried to defend her. “I told you I’m not dating Toru just for the fun of it. We’re hoping to get married-”

“Stop it before I get angry.” She sharply interrupted. “You’re my pride and joy, and right now, my pride is damaged.”

Okkotsu Toru, who had exorcised countless spirits, saved multiple lives, had never felt so worthless in her life.

“Is your family really that religious? Is that why they are always so self-righteous?” Toru angrily ranted after they were done with dinner. Takeda was following her, holding an umbrella over her head as it rained. With tears in her eyes, she turned around to face him. “I come from a family of sorcerers. I can’t change that, but why does she always make me feel like I’m stupid for not being ashamed of it?”

“So what if I’m not good at housework? Are you any good at cooking and cleaning?”

Takeda admitted, “I’m bad at those things.”

Toru furiously tried to wipe her tears away.

“I hate feeling like this. I feel like a foolish jester just dancing around for a queen who’s never going to like her. Do you even have any idea what that feels like?” Her words became barbed-wired, even though they were for her first love. The first boy who ever gave her flowers. “You can either be a good son or a good husband. You have to choose. If you can’t even do that, don’t even think of asking me to marry you.”

“Toru, I can’t just- who would be able to pick one over the other?” Toru was the first and only girl Takeda ever loved, but how can he go against his mother? “It’s an impossible choice-”

“My dad did it,” She cut him off. “He chose my mom over the clan.”

When she was eighteen, Toru found out the real reason why she was an only child. You nearly died giving birth to her, and Yuuta promised never to have a second child. He never wanted to put you through that pain ever again.

The elders of the Gojo clan weren’t happy to hear that. They tried to urge him to try for a son, a viable heir. When that didn’t work, they tried to convince Yuuta to take a few concubines, and that was when he put his foot down. Either they stop with their nonsense, or he would leave them, dissolving the Gojo clan.

They should have known that Okkotsu Yuuta would always choose you.

“I’m only telling you this once,” Toru took a deep breath over her sobs. “I will not marry your mother’s son.”

twenty-four years

Toru checked her phone again while her parents sat beside her. They had been waiting for over an hour for the Sakura family to discuss her and Takeda’s upcoming wedding.

“His father had a late shift,” she tried to excuse her future father-in-law, although she knew that he had gone back home hours ago, “and the traffic in Tokyo is really bad at this time.”

“Your mom and I are busy too.” Your husband even had an assignment in Okinawa last night, and just went back home this morning. Yet, you managed to show up on time. “They should have told us if they were going to be late.”

Toru bit her lip. She muttered to herself, sending a text to her fiance. “Where is he?”

Fortunately, Takeda entered the private room soon after, with his parents in tow. He apologised to his future in-laws for the wait. You pretended not to notice his parents not bowing back to you and Yuuta.

When the food was laid out on the table, your heart ached at the sight of your daughter serving food for everyone else first, leaving only scraps for herself. You knew that she learned this from you, back when Yuuta wasn’t the clan head yet, and you often had to put your own head down.

While Takeda’s father boasted about his son’s achievements, even though he knew that Toru earned more than his son, you quietly gave your bowl of seafood broth to your daughter, and quietly took her bowl of scraps for yourself.

“Look at how your daughter served you,” Mrs Sakura criticised, not realising that you had switched the bowls. “Maybe it’s because she’s been raised in a wealthy clan, but that’s not how our family does it. How is she going to manage our household when she can’t even ladle soup?”

You held your tongue at the blatant disrespect of your daughter. When you were young, you would have exploded right then and there, but you matured since then, and knew that her future was at stake.

Yuuta fidgeted with his sleeve. “Well, regarding the household, as a working woman, it would be hard for Toru-”

“That’s why I asked her to stop being a sorcerer after the marriage.” Mrs Sakura innocently revealed, as if she had done nothing wrong. She turned to your daughter. “Didn’t you tell them?”

“Mother, I told you-”

“Was I asking you?” Mrs Sakura sighed. “My son is a lawyer. He earns more than enough to support her. Unlike some people, he didn’t have any connections.”

“Our daughter is a sorcerer because of her own merit.”

You wanted to say that. You hated seeing her like this.

“Ah, you haven’t served us the miso soup yet.” Mr Sakura thrusted an empty bowl towards Toru. “Give me some.”

Mrs Sakura added two more bowls. “You might as well get started.”

You have never seen Toru scramble for anything, much less for the opportunity to ladle soup.

“Usually, only daughters are good at this sort of thing, but Toru’s different.” Mrs Sakura’s sweet tone didn’t fool you. Why was she acting like this? “It looks like I have my work cut out for me. She needs to learn to be a proper woman before I can introduce her to the extended family.”

What exactly did she mean by a proper woman? Toru loved her son faithfully without any doubts. Why wasn’t she happy that her son was loved in such a way? You barely noticed Yuuta sending a look towards Takeda before you stood up.

“Let me.” You said to Toru, taking the ladle away from her.

“Okaa-san-”

“Just sit down.” You told her, taking over.

Mrs Sakura took the chance. “Your mother does everything for you so you don’t know anything. Isn’t that right, Toru?”

Your daughter meekly nodded, not daring to look up. She didn’t want to know how you and Yuuta looked.

“I couldn’t teach her,” you interrupted, bringing the attention of the whole table towards you. “She was too precious, and too dear.”

You looked Mrs Sakura straight in the eye for the first time. “So, I chose not to teach her.”

You finished ladling the miso soup into the first bowl. It was chock full of tofu and seaweed, and instead of handing it towards Mr Sakura, you served it to your daughter.

In the car, after you were finally done with the horrendous lunch, you finally let everything go.

“She always acts like the boss at home, so why couldn’t she say anything around them?” You fumed.

“Why did you do that?” Your husband asked you. “You couldn’t stand it?”

“Our Toru has parents,” you dabbed your napkin at your eyes. “She has a family!”

“So you wanted that woman to know that?”

You turned to Yuuta. “You sure held yourself back. I thought you were going to unleash Rika and demand that they call off the engagement!”

“I wanted to, countless times. I was holding back so much,” he sighed. Just like you, he couldn’t stand seeing his daughter acting so small. “But Toru-chan loves him. If I force her, it would just hurt her. It’s not because she’s any less than him.”

You sobbed. You didn’t want to know what Toru’s future would be like in that family. “I can endure anything for her, but seeing her like that… it just destroys me.”

The second time you met Mrs Sakura was after the dress fitting. You were sitting across from her in the cafe while Toru was waiting for Takeda outside. It had been a few weeks since the lunch, and you were worried that your outburst had caused Toru some backlash.

“I know that Toru isn’t very gentle or soft-spoken,” you started saying. There were some times you were convinced that she was like Gojo, even though she had never known him. “But when she loves someone, she loves deeply-”

“Mrs Okkotsu, may I say something to you?” She rudely cut you off. “You see, I always prefer being frank and honest. I admit that your daughter and my son do love each other, but honestly, I’m just not fond of her.”

“What?”

“I really tried, but I just don’t like her.” Mrs Sakura confessed. “If she wasn’t a shaman, maybe I would have accepted, but you see, our family has been blessed for generations. How could I let her in our family when she brings bad fortune? What kind of mother would I be if I let my son make the wrong choice?”

She grasped your hands, not caring that you were shaking and that your eyes were brimming with tears. It was as if she enjoyed unnerving you like this.

“You know that our children aren’t a right match for each other, so Mrs Okkotsu, let’s work together to call off the wedding.” She smiled to herself before sipping her tea. “I’ve been waiting a long time to say that. Now, it feels like a boulder has been lifted off my shoulders.”

“Do you know where you’re putting that boulder?” You finally said. You had decided. You weren’t going to let your princess get married into that family. “On your son’s heart.”

When you got back home, your daughter confronted you for your silent behaviour.

“Takeda-kun was about to lose his mind in there.”

“So let him.” You said.

“What?”

“Are you really that fond of him? It’s not like he passed the bar exam.”

“Then, what about me?” Toru asked. “Do you think I’m a fool for loving him? Mom, you think I’m less than him, don’t you?”

You vehemently refuted her claim. “No! I’d never think that!”

“Then why do you never say anything to his mother?” She yelled.

“So that she won’t be cold to you!” You yelled back. “I held myself back so that she won’t take it out on you! Why on earth would you be less than him? That’s just a load of crap!”

After a second of silence, Toru asked you, “Why? Did she say anything to you?”

You winced. You couldn’t tell her that woman was determined to scorn her forever. “How can I act on my temper when you’re joining their family?”

Toru sighed loudly before saying outloud, “Just go ahead and lose your temper!”

Your heart hurts worse than ever. You did everything you could to protect her from curses, but you forgot that heartbreak was inevitable. “Toru, please, get your act together. I can’t decide for you. Just know that even a small wound on your heart turns into a deep scar for your father and me.”

A week later, Toru called to inform you that she called off the wedding. While you and Yuuta were elated at the fact that she didn’t have to suffer with in-laws like that, your hearts broke at the end of your daughter’s first love story.

twenty-five years

Toru yawned as the sun was rising. Her dad has asked her for her assistance in a mission. Of course, she knew he was using it as an excuse to spend time with her. Even at his age, a Grade 1 curse was nothing to him, but it was nice to work with him sometimes.

Her dad walked over to her, carrying a tray with two hot chocolate drinks. It was something they always did as a little girl. Drinking hot chocolate together. There wasn’t any particular reason why.

Toru watched as the sky became brighter and the city started waking up. 

“How are you doing?” Yuuta asked her.

Toru knew what he was really asking her. “It’s been a year, Dad. I’m fine.”

He sighed. “I’m your father. Do you think I don’t know when my little girl is hurting?”

“I’m not so little anymore.”

“In my heart, you still are.” He answered. “One of the few things I’ve learned over the years is that you never really stop raising your children. I knew you would break off the engagement. Even if you don’t end up married, it’s fine. You can always come back to us.”

With the sun shining behind him, Toru started seeing him in a different light. Every time she walked the tightrope, he was always below her, always letting her know that he would catch her.

“Why would you say I wouldn’t get married?” She started whining. “I’ll get married someday. My future husband will be a super handsome guy.”

Yuuta chuckled. “Okay, my bad.”

He had no idea that a month later, Toru and Fushiguro Hinata would reconnect over childhood memories and start dating a few weeks later.

twenty-seven years

Toru anxiously tapped her high-heeled foot as she and Yuuta waited outside the hall. Her makeup was immaculate and her wedding dress was a brilliant white with a lace train trailing after her.

“Dad, you absolutely cannot cry, got it?” She frantically told him. “You know what? It would be better if I just don’t look at you through the whole ceremony. This makeup took almost three hours! I can’t ruin it-”

“Toru-chan?”

“Nani? W-what is it?” The normally confident Toru was nervous as hell. In a few minutes, she will be marrying Fushiguro Hinata.

“You can do this, right?” Yuuta sincerely asked her. “Because if you can’t, just run back to us. Don’t worry about the clans or anything like that. Just run!”

For a moment, Toru froze. Her dad told her that all the time, and he always meant it, even now. 

She immediately burst into tears, bawling loudly. “Otou-chan, you’re so annoying!”

“If Hinata ever messes up, just leave him-”

“Stop it!” Toru sobbed. “Why would you make me cry now!”

You had the shock of your life when you saw your daughter crying while walking down the aisle. You smacked your husband’s shoulder when he sat down after giving her away to Hinata.

Yuuta really tried to keep his cool. He had promised Toru after all, but when they were pronounced husband and wife, your husband couldn't hold his tears back anymore.

His little princess had become someone’s queen now, and yet, Toru would forever remain his little girl in his heart.

[tiredsnakebites]

Chapter 12: Celebration and Reflection

March 25th, 2013 (Narrated by Kim “KkOma” Jeong-gyun) taglist: @nothankyew , @cokokiss, @poetsinnyc

I woke up at 5am in the morning with my phone vibrating in my pants pocket. Groaning under my breath, I clumsily pulled my phone out and turned my phone off. Letting a deep sigh out I realized I was on the beanbag in the corner (Su-hyeon’s personal study corner) with my papers neatly arranged next to me and a heavy blanket draped over me. After placing my phone on top of my papers, I rubbed the crusts in the corner of my eyes slowly away as I blinked a few times to get used to morning light pouring into the room. Once my eyes could focus on my surroundings, I looked over at the couch area and found my kids scattered around but sleeping peacefully. Eon-young was sleeping on the floor, hugging a heart shaped pillow against his chest without a blanket, Gwang-jin was sleeping curled up next to Jeong-hyeon who was wrapped a giant fuzzy blanket around himself, Sang-hyeok has turned into his fox form and was sleep on the other bean bag with one of Su-hyeon’s old hoodie on top of him. While the boys were sleeping on the floor and bean bag, Su-hyeon was peacefully sleeping on the couch with her hair in her sleep bonnet, eye mask under her eyes and horns glowing faintly.

Seeing them all sleeping peacefully and soundly after a D-day made me smile a bit as I stretched my arms and back. Five days ago we won our spot for 2013 Spring Champions in a clean 2-0 against team Incredible Miracle. The management and higher ups were absolutely pleased with our performance and results, especially with Su-hyeon’s as she was our “trump card” or “greatest mistake”. I still don’t like that people are doubting her but I've been trying to see things in a positive light. If others are still doubting her it means they won’t expect her to absolutely menace in the jungle and we will absolutely abuse their ignorance against them. Also during the qualifier match, I have found out that our quiet and sometimes snarky Sang-hyeok is absolutely adrenaline junky. I can still clearly remember the moment, after a risky double kill in the river his eyes flashed brightly and he had a full body shiver as his LeBlanc recalled to the base. 

“You good Hyeokie?” Su-hyeon asked softly as she stole the enemy's top jungle and rotated to gank the top for Eon-young.

“I wanna do that again…”

“Huh?”

“I wanna kill everyone on sight”

The room fell into silence before Su-hyeon crackled with laughter as she punched her best friend’s shoulder while others chuckled at the slowly blushing midlaner.

“Look at you! So you do have appetite for souls~”

“Shut up”

“Never”

I couldn’t help myself but chuckle softly behind them as I quickly wrote down “monitor for risky aggressive plays, signs of adrenaline rush” under Sang-hyeok’s name as everyone settled back and focused on the game once more. It's a strange feeling really, seeing them actually playing against an official team and fighting for their spot in the S-tier tournament. I will be honest, I was very emotional when the Nexus exploded and the Victory screen popped up. The kids jumped up from their chairs and yelled out as they celebrated their victory. Gwang-jin was shaking Jeong-hyeon as the wolf boy teared up and the older boy patted his head softly, meanwhile Eon-young hid his face behind his hands as his shoulder trembled slightly and as for Sang-hyeok and Su-hyeon. Su-hyeon was trying and failing to hide her tears as she kept repeating “we did it Sang-ah, we gonna play in the main stage” like a broken record, not long after Sang-hyeok pulled her into a tight hug. Gumiho boy rocked them side to side as he held her tightly against himself and gently whispered “yeah, we did it, together just like we promised” to her as Su-hyeon closed her eyes and balled her hands into his jersey, the bold “Faker” on his back crumpling under her grip. 

I’m used to seeing them hug as Sang-hyeok uses physical touch to communicate with her and Su-hyeon is pretty physically affectionate. But there was something different about this hug, they looked like they didn’t wanna let the other go. Sang-hyeok seems to bury his face deeper into the crock of her neck and Su-hyeon seems to tighten her hold on him. The moment felt more intimate and heavy than the past interactions I saw, truthfully I felt like I was intruding on a personal moment. Lucky for me and unfortunate for them as the rest of the team dogpile on them, breaking their moment. Su-hyeon let out a surprise laugh, Sang-hyeok telling Piglet he isn’t his tissue paper.

“Cmon oppa! don’t stay there like a lonely log” Su-hyeon called out to me, effectively snapping me back into reality. Looking at my team, my deranged and feral kids, I quickly wiped my eyes and joined the group hug and squeezed them tight as possible.

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When we announced our second roster will be participating in the Spring Championship, the netizens were shell shocked by our success over Incredible Miracle and that’s what the marketing department apparently was hoping for. And when the numbers of interest in the team start coming- the good, the bad and everything between. The reaction from the marketing department was something else. They genuinely looked like kids who got what they wanted for Christmas and more as they rushed round, waving their papers around. 

“Look at this! The Internet in our roster is sky rocketing!” 

“Oh my god! The sponsors are gonna be pleased with this” 

“We really should thank Jeong-gyun-oppa for this~ if he hasn't been so aggressive about recruiting the Yong girl, we probably won’t hit this kind of numbers” when a young intern said that with a grin on her face, everyone looked at me as I was passing by the office to get to coach Choi’s (cCarter, previously known as L.i.E.S) office and I never felt more put in a place before that. Standing up against higher ups for Su-hyeon felt like child’s play compared to having a whole department look at me like an appetizer. Before I could embrace myself by stumbling over my words I felt warm hands on my shoulders.

“Sorry guys- this guy has a meeting with me and coach Choi” a deep but friendly voice rang out as my mysterious savior started pushing me to the coaches' office. Once we were farther away from the marketing department office, I turned around and came face to face with ....a man I never met or seen before. He was tall with sharp features, he also had tall fox ears and twin tails. My confusion must have been clear as the sky in my face as the man let a light chuckle out holding his hand for a handshake.

“the name is Kang Dong-hoon, I’m a old friend of Byoung-hoon…he asked me if I wanted join him for lunch when I told him I was around the area”

“Kang Dong-hoon?... .as in the head coach Hirai of Incredible Miracle?”

“Bingo”

The man- Hirai gave me a fanged grin as I shook his hand slowly. It felt wrong to be so friendly with a coach from a team that my team absolutely crushed a day ago. But I told myself that I should get used to this kind of interaction with others if I wanted to get far as a coach in this cutthroat industry. I quickly let Hirai’s hand go and cleared my throat as coach Choi’s office door swung open and the man of the hour walked out holding his jacket with his ears flat and rubbing his neck. A habit I have learned was one of his telltale signs of stress, and honestly I understand why he has been stressed out lately. After the first complete result of my team came in, the higher ups decided to pull him out of our main team and make him our head coach and my kids had some mixed feelings about the foxman. Eon-young and Jeong-hyeon understood and accepted Choi as our head coach without trouble, Sang-hyeok and Su-hyeon were a little susceptible to foxman- specially Su-hyeon who claimed that coach Choi doesn’t look like the trust-worthy type because he’s questionable taste in tie patterns. As for Gwang-jin, well let’s just say he’s getting his ego stroked by coach Choi and immediately gets it crushed by me……

“Piglet, that was a great poke onto Janna!” Coach Choi said during our first post-scrim review with the foxman. The wolf-boy smugly grinned as his tail wagged happily meanwhile Eon-young raised his brow, Jeong-hyeon rubbed his temple, Sang-hyeok quietly side-eyed the wolf-boy and Su-hyeon openly rolled her eyes. 

“It may have been an excellent opportunity for kill if you hadn't died right after engaging on her…Su-hyeon and Jeong-hyeon pinged you multiple times to fall back after seeing the enemy jungle pathing down” I said rubbing the bridge my nose as I forwarded the vod to the moment the enemy jungles who was playing as Rengar jumped on Gwang-jin and insta killed him. Gwang-jin to his credit, winced as his ears flattened back and his tail stopped wagging while others tried hiding their smirks and smiles behind their drinks as coach Choi let out a deep sigh and crossed something off his paper. Later that evening, after the kids decided to grab some dessert for dinner. Coach Choi cornered me in the kitchen as I started the preparation for homemade hotpot I promised the kids. As I put on the pink apron Su-hyeon bought for me (she told me it was a joke gift and told me that I don’t have to wear but I don’t care about colour if the apron doing its job), I saw coach Choi in the corner of my eyes stop a few steps away from me. Once I tied the strings tightly at my back and pushed my sleeve back, I pulled out our biggest two pods and filled them up with water. As the uncomfortable silence continued on, the fox man cleared his throat soft before he spoke.

“Jeong-gyun-ah…don’t you think you are being a little too harsh on them? positive encouragement is best way to mold young players-“

“Hyung respectfully no, I've been living with them for a month and half at this point and I learned that Piglet needs a tough love. That boy has an ego that is the size of this whole country and if you don’t be straight with him, he will feed after a bad play.” I flatly said and glanced at the older man with a blank face as I placed the pods on the stove. He held my stare for a solid second before letting a small startled laugh as he patted me on the back, making me stare at the old man in surprise.

“You changed a lot in a short amount of time, you actually sound like a proper coach now. If you keep this up, you might take my spot as head coach” coach Choi said with a smirk as he walked over to the fridge and opened it with a thoughtful hum.

“So, what else are we using for the hotpot?”

“You are actually staying for dinner?” I asked before I could stop myself. 

“What? I thought you wanted me bond with the kids” he asked with a small grin as he looked at me.

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I must have spaced out like usual as I took a deep breath when I felt myself getting shaken. Glancing to my left I saw Su-hyeon looking wide awake with a big grin on her face and kneeling next to me, her tail wagging widely and horns glowing in excitement.

“It’s time to get ready for Everland oppa!” The young Yong girl said in her song-sing voice as she tugged on my arm, making me chuckle under my breath and shake my head at her.

“I really can’t tell you anything huh?” I questioned her as I let her pull me up from the bean bag. She slowly rocked on her heels as I cracked my back, muttering about not wanting to make sleeping on a bean bag habit. 

“Cmon oppa- did you really expect me to be mature about going to Everland AND going to a barbecue place?”

“Yes, because you are the most mature one in this team”

“HEY I AM MATURE!” We turned back and saw a sleepy wolf boy pouting hard at us, Su-hyeon let out a loud laugh as I simply shook my head but smiled nonetheless. Because of Gwang-jin's sudden yell, others slowly started waking up. Eon-young smacked the pouting boy with his heart shape pillow and scolded him for yelling like a child, Jeong-hyeon crawled out his blanket cocoon grumpily about tapping the wolf boy’s mouth shut, Sang-hyeok has returned to his human form and was brushing his teeth with his hair sticking out like hedgehog quills and arms slightly covered with a black patch of fur. 

Soon after we all start getting ready to leave. Eon-young helped Gwang-jin to shave properly, Jeong-hyeon asked if anyone saw his glasses (he placed them on his head moments ago), Sang-hyeok shaved the fur on his arms while Su-hyeon brushed his tails and I braided her hair into twin braids. After a solid one hour we were ready to head out, everyone wearing warm but light clothing except Gwang-jin wearing his team jacket even though we told him it might get cold. Like usual he didn’t listen to us at all as he stubbornly headed out first, calling for a shotgun. Once we made sure that we turned everything off, we headed out too. As I walked out first, I saw Gwang-jin stumping around the van with his arms crossed and ears flattened against his head.

“What took you guys so long?! We're gonna have to wait around for ages if we don’t leave soon!”

“Just say that you are cold, stubborn idiot” Su-hyeon said as she threw a long scarf and portable hand warmer at him, Gwang-jin who had gotten used to her strange habit throwing things caught both the scarf and warmer with a pout on his face as he put the scarf around his neck and placed the warmer in his pocket. Once I unlocked the van, everyone quickly got in and took their seats.

“Well, ready?” I asked with a smile as I buckled my seatbelt and turned the engine on.

“YES COACH” everyone yelled as I pulled the van out of the parking lot and headed to our destination.

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(Narrated by The Author)

Later that day….

The celebration dinner after a long day at Everland was probably loud enough to disturb the neighborhood and other patrons, but Kkoma couldn't bring himself to care. Kkoma took his team to Everland like he promised and let them run wild like toddlers high on sugar. It was refreshing to see them act like normal teenagers instead of rookies that just won their spot in one of the biggest tournaments of the year. As for the dinner the management had authorized and planned it out for them, they even made a reservation at a nice restaurant, not their usual convenience store runs or Kkoma’s usual cooking experiments.

Two hours after coming back to Seoul, the team were crammed into a booth at a Korean barbecue place, the table covered with more meat than five teenagers and one coach could reasonably eat. Su-hyeon had immediately claimed the seat next to the grill, declaring herself "head grillmaster" while Sang-hyeok quietly sat beside her, automatically falling into their usual positions. Jeong-hyeon and Eon-young sat next to each other, falling into a calm conversation while Gwang-jin was busy looking at the dessert even though they hadn't even started eating.

"To qualify for play-offs!" Jeong-hyeon raised his glass of cola.

"To not embarrass ourselves!" Gwang-jin added.

"To actually get to compete!" Eon-young said.

"To finally prove we're not just some experimental second team!" Su-hyeon declared, her glass raised high enough that a bit of soda sloshed over the rim.

They clinked glasses with enough enthusiasm to nearly break them, and KkOma watched his team laugh and celebrate and realized with startling clarity that these five weird, talented, occasionally infuriating teenagers had become something special, a family. Something he never thought he would experience, even when Su-hyeon’s mom Miss Choi joked about him turning into Mother Hen when Eon-young caught a small cold and called her for advice.

"Speech time!" Su-hyeon announced suddenly, pointing at KkOma with her chopsticks. "Oppa has to give a speech!"

"I don't- "

"SPEECH! SPEECH! SPEECH!" The chant started with Su-hyeon and was immediately picked up by the others. KkOma sighed like ever suffering father of rowdy children as he stood up despite the lack of space and cleared his throat as he held his soda can up. 

"Fine, fine. You five...when we started this team, I wasn't sure it would work. Putting together three rookies and two semi professionals with no professional experience seemed insane. And in hine-sight it was insane. But you made it work- you learned, you grew, you fought for each other." He paused, looking at each one of his players with a small smile. "I'm proud of you, all of you. No matter what happens in Spring, remember that you earned this."

Once he was done with his speech, Su-hyeon was wiping at her eyes with her hoodie sleeve and Sang-hyeok patted her on the back.

"Oppa…. you can't make me cry in a barbecue restaurant. That's against the rules!"

"There are no rules against it though," Sang-hyeok said softly, with his own eyes looking a bit brighter than usual.

"Well it should be!"

The celebration continued late into the evening, filled with laughter, terrible jokes, and increasingly ridiculous predictions about their Spring matches. By the time they returned to the team house, it was past midnight and everyone was exhausted in the best possible way.

KkOma watched them scatter to their rooms, already mentally preparing for tomorrow's practice schedule. They had qualified, yes, but the real work was just beginning. The Spring Championship would be brutal, facing teams with far more experience and established reputations. But watching Su-hyeon and Sang-hyeok linger in the common room, both too keyed up to sleep, he felt confident they could handle it as he headed to his own room.

Su-hyeon flopped onto the couch with a contented sigh, her tail curling around her legs. The adrenaline from the day of riding rollercoaster after rollercoaster was finally wearing off, leaving her pleasantly exhausted. Sang-hyeok settled beside her more carefully, his tails swished contentedly behind him.

"Can you believe it?" she asked, looking up at the ceiling. "We're really going to compete in the Spring Champions. Against like, actual famous teams."

"Honestly…It still doesn’t feel real yet," Sang-hyeok admitted. His voice was soft in the quiet of the late night, almost contemplative. "A year ago, we were just playing solo queue for fun."

"And now we're professionals, well sort of. We're still in school…." Su-hyeon rolled her head to look at him. "Are you nervous? About Spring?"

"Terrified," he said honestly, as he looked at the blank TV screen. "We'll be facing players who have been doing this for years. Teams with real infrastructure and coaching staff."

"We have oppa and coach Choi."

"Two coaches versus entire organizations."

"Yeah, but we have something they don't." Su-hyeon sat up properly, tucking her legs under her and wrapping her tail around her waist. "We have us. Like- actually us. We're not five random players thrown together. We actually care about each other."

Sang-hyeok's expression softened, his ears tilting forward attentively. "That's true."

"Plus, you're literally a genius at this game. Like, scary good and I'm an amazing jungler with impeccable judgment."

"Your judgment is questionable at best."

"Rude! But accurate." She grinned at him as she punched his shoulder softly as a joke. "See, this is why we work. You keep me honest."

They fell into comfortable silence, the kind that only came from years of friendship. Outside, Seoul hummed with late-night activity but inside the team house, everything felt peaceful. Suspended in this moment between achieving one dream and facing the reality of what came next.

"Su-hyeon," Sang-hyeok said quietly, breaking the silence. "Can I ask you something?"

"Always."

He hesitated, his tails going still in that way that meant he was carefully considering his words. "What do you want? From all of this, I mean. The pro gaming thing."

Su-hyeon closed her eyes and hummed softly under her breath, considering. "That's a big question for midnight."

"Sorry, I just... with Spring coming up, and everything getting more serious, I've been thinking about the future a lot."

"Me too actually." She pulled her braid over her shoulder, fidgeting with the end. "I think... I want to prove that we belong here. That we're not just lucky rookies. I want to show everyone that we can compete at the highest level and i wanna prove that I belong here as much as others"

"And after that?"

"After that?" She laughed softly. "I don't know. Keep competing? Try to win Worlds? Make my mom proud? Make my dad proud?" The mention of her father brought the usual ache, but it was gentler now, wrapped in fondness rather than sharp grief that squeezed her young heart. "He always said I could do anything I set my mind to. I think he'd be proud that I chose something this hard."

Sang-hyeok's expression had become very soft. "He would be. He'd be incredibly proud."

"What about you?" Su-hyeon asked, turning the question back on him. "What do you want?"

He was quiet for a long moment, his gaze fixed on something she couldn't see. When he finally spoke, his voice was barely above a whisper. "I want to be good enough that you don't regret choosing to play with me instead of following your dad’s footsteps."

Su-hyeon’s eyes blinked open, completely caught off guard. "What? Sang-ah, why would I ever regret that?"

"Because you're talented enough to play with anyone and do anything you want. Any team would be lucky to have you as their jungler. But you're here, with me and I..." He trailed off, his ears flattening slightly. "I want to be worthy of that choice. Especially when your dad prepared everything for you to get into either “SKY" universities”

"Okay– first of all, that's ridiculous." Su-hyeon straightened up and fully turned to him so she could face him fully. "Second of all, I didn't choose to play with you because you are my best friends or whatever. I chose this because we promised to be together and we're good together- like our synergy is insane. As for universities, i can do that alongside gaming if i want to"

"I know, but- "

"No buts. Listen to me." She waited until he met her eyes, noting how the late-night lighting made his hair look like it was glowing and how his expression was open in a way it rarely was around others. "You're one of the best players I've ever seen. Not just mechanically, but the way you think about the game. You see things other people don't. And yeah, we have good synergy, but that's because we trust each other completely. Not because I'm doing you some favor by playing with you."

Sang-hyeok's tails had started swishing again, a gentle rhythm that suggested he was processing her words. "You really think that?"

"I know that. Everyone on the team knows that. Oppa knows that. You're the only one who seems to doubt it."

"I just don't want to let you down."

"You won't." The certainty in her voice surprised Sang-hyeok as he stared into her eyes, noticing that she has a new mole on top of her brow and there's the faintest black spot under her eyes. "Even if we lose every single game in Spring, which we won't– you wouldn't be letting me down. We're in this together, remember? Team."

"Team," he echoed, and something in his expression shifted. He looked like he wanted to say something else, something important but after a moment he just smiled softly. "Thank you. For always knowing what to say."

"I don't always know what to say. I just say things and hope they work out."

"They usually do."

Su-hyeon leaned back against the couch, suddenly aware of how close they were sitting. Close enough that she could count the individual strands of white in his ears, close enough to see the exact pattern of his tails as they swished contentedly.

"Can I tell you something?" she asked, the late hour and emotional exhaustion loosening her usual filters. "Something I haven't really told anyone else?"

"Always," he said, echoing her earlier response.

"I'm scared too. About Spring, about everything getting more serious and competitive. What if we're not good enough? What if this was just beginner's luck and we crash and burn against real teams?" She said honestly as she looked up at the wooden ceiling and fiddled with the hem of her tee shirt, one of her father’s old university tee shirts. "What if I'm not good enough?"

Sang-hyeok's response was immediate and firm as he took her hand in his hand and squeezed it softly, surprising the Yong girl. "You are good enough. More than good enough. Su-hyeon-ah, you're one of the most naturally talented players I've ever seen. Your game sense is incredible, your mechanics are clean, and you have this ability to find opportunities that shouldn't exist."

"You have to say that because you're my best friend."

"I'm saying it because it's true." He shifted slightly closer, and she could feel the warmth radiating from him. "Do you know what the other teams will see when they scout us? They'll see a jungler who can turn losing games into wins through pure creativity and aggression. They'll see someone who makes plays that look impossible until you pull them off."

".....you do know that you are actively feeding my ego, right?"

"I'm describing what I see every time we play together."

Su-hyeon felt heat creeping into her cheeks and her horns glow brightly as she looked away from the Guhimo boy who was staring at her intently. "Well, when you put it like that... I'm pretty awesome."

"You are."

"And you're pretty awesome too. Even if you don't believe it sometimes."

They sat in comfortable silence for a moment, closer than they usually sat, wrapped in the quiet intimacy of late-night conversations and shared vulnerability. Su-hyeon found herself studying his profile, the gentle slope of his nose, the way his ears twitched slightly when he was thinking, the barely visible freckles across his pale cheeks that you only noticed if you were really looking. He looked handsome even with his choppy haircut, she realized. Not in an obvious way, but in a gentle, understated way that grew on you over time. How had she never noticed before?

"Su-hyeon?" Sang-hyeok's voice pulled her from her thoughts.

"Yeah?"

"Promise me something?"

"Depends on what it is."

A small smile tugged at his lips. "Fair. Promise me that no matter what happens in Spring, whether we win or lose, whether we're successful or not... .we'll still be friends right?"

"Of course we will. Why wouldn't we be?"

"Sometimes success changes people. Or failure does. I just..." He looked down at their joint hands, his voice going quieter. "You're my best friend. I don't want to lose that, no matter what happens with the team."

Su-hyeon's heart did something complicated in her chest. "Sang-hyeok-ah, look at me."

He did, and she was struck again by how open his expression was, how vulnerable he looked in this moment.

"You're not losing me. Not because of League, not because of success or failure, not because of anything. You're stuck with me forever, remember? We've been friends since we were kids, and we're going to be friends when we're old and grumpy- arguing about whose jungle pathing was better back in our day." She reached out and poked his shoulder for emphasis. "You're my person. That doesn't change."

His expression did something complicated – relief and happiness and something else she couldn't quite identify, all mixed together. "Your person?"

"Yeah. You know, like... my person. The one I tell everything to. The one who gets my weird 3 AM texts about jungle timers. The one who willingly listens to me ramble about weird calculus theories and be a nerd about dead people"

"You definitely need the help."

"Okay, rude, but also fair." She grinned at him. "My point is, you're my person and I'm your person. Team for life, remember?"

"Team for life," he agreed softly, and there was something in his voice that made the words sound like more than just a promise about League of Legends.

They sat together for a while longer, talking about everything and nothing, their upcoming match schedule, speculation about which teams they'd face first, memories of their journey from solo queue players to professional gamers. The conversation drifted naturally, punctuated by comfortable silences and shared laughter. Eventually, exhaustion caught up with them both.

"We should sleep," Su-hyeon said, though she made no move to get up. "Oppa’s going to have us back to practice tomorrow."

"Probably," Sang-hyeok agreed, also not moving.

"I'm serious. We need actual sleep."

"I know."

Neither of them moved for another few minutes, content to stay in this moment, this quiet space between one chapter ending and another beginning. Finally, Su-hyeon forced herself to stand up and let his hand go, stretching with a yawn that showed off her fangs and split tongue.

"Okay, for real this time. Bed. Sleep. Recovery so we can dominate Spring."

Sang-hyeok stood too, and they walked together down the hallway toward their rooms. At the split where his room was in one direction and hers in another, they paused.

"Thanks for the talk," Su-hyeon said. "I needed it. The honesty and stuff, it been a while since we had a chance to have a conversation"

"Me too." He hesitated, then added, "And Su-hyeon? About being your person?"

"Yeah?"

"You're my person too. Just... wanted to make sure you knew that."

Something warm and bright bloomed in her chest. "Of course I know that, dummy. Who else would put up with your 7 AM calculus questions?"

He laughed softly. "Good night, Susu."

"Night, Sang-ah."

She headed to her room, and it wasn't until she was lying in bed, replaying the conversation in her mind, that she realized how much weight had been behind some of his words. The way he'd said "you're my person too" - like it meant more than just friendship. The way he'd looked at her when she promised they'd always be friends  like he was memorizing the moment. For a second, she wondered if maybe she does have feelings for him and the need for his attention was a sign of something. Before her mind wandered too deeply, she let out a deep sigh as she rubbed her face and closed her eyes. As she turned around to get comfortable on her bed, her phone buzzed in her sweatpants pocket. Grumbling under her breath, she pulled her phone out and flipped it open.

MOUNTAIN_GOD (Sang-hyeok): Thank you for tonight. For everything, really. I'm glad we're doing this together. RIVER_GOD (Su-hyeon): me too. spring is gonna be AMAZING RIVER_GOD (Su-hyeon): because we're amazing MOUNTAIN_GOD (Sang-hyeok): Mostly because you're amazing. I'm just along for the ride. RIVER_GOD (Su-hyeon): STOP THAT RIVER_GOD (Su-hyeon): we're BOTH amazing RIVER_GOD (Su-hyeon): now sleep before i come over there and physically force you to rest MOUNTAIN_GOD (Sang-hyeok): Threatening violence. Very professional. RIVER_GOD (Su-hyeon): I'm a dragon and shaman. It's what we do RIVER_GOD (Su-hyeon): also you love it~

There was a longer pause before his next message.

MOUNTAIN_GOD (Sang-hyeok): I do. Good night, Su-hyeon. Sleep well.

She stared at that message for a longer moment than necessary, trying to figure out why it made her heart do that complicated thing again. But exhaustion was pulling at her, and tomorrow would bring new challenges, new practice routine and new steps toward their Spring  Championship debut. So Su-hyeon flipped her phone close and set it aside on her nightstance and closed her eyes, a smile on her face. They'd qualified. They were going to compete against the best teams in Korea. And she was going to do it with her best friend by her side. The future felt bright and full of possibilities, even if she still hadn't quite figured out why Sang-hyeok kept looking at her like she was the most important person in his world and why she kept wanting him to continue to look at her and her only.

to be continue...

Hallo hallo everyone!!! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! We are officially done with Act Two/ Characters development part of the book, for next act it will focus on how the team and kkoma gonna be navigating being young team in main stage, the pressure of being in public eyes, glimpses into Su-hyeon’s slowly growing awareness of her own feelings towards and more world building if you guys interested in! I really appreciate that you guys been enjoying my fanfic and the world I’m trying to build and show!!! Thank you so much and see you guys in the next chapter!!!!

[patientno7]

my humor 2016

[patientno7]

happy 3 year anniversary of wheeze man

[rubinaito-inactive]

Finally, the original has crossed my dash.

[lavena]

@strangezeroz welcome to tumblr where the app decides when you can be gifted with the sight of og memes, you cannot look for these yourself via the search engine, you won’t find them, you have to wait to be gifted them

[miss-nerd-alert]

For those of you who might be new here, Tumblr has no algorithm, legendary memes are brought to your dash by mutuals like pet cats bringing you dead birds.

[lokissweater]

pretty flower

{frat boy!yuta okkotsu x nerdy f!reader}

summary: yuta okkotsu is the most popular guy to ever exist on your college campus— president of his frat, throws the biggest parties nearly every week, and is absolutely obsessed and in love with you, his nerdy cutie girlfriend who knows so much about everything and funnily smartens up his dumb frat boy brain, the two of you having been together for a year now and absolutely smitten every moment you spend together. and while the both of you are happy, the rest of your college campus isn't— specifically yuta's crowd, as they can't seem to accept he's no longer the man whore sleaze they once knew, opting to creating non-stop gossip about the two of you and yuta's supposed infidelity, absolutely scaring the shit out of him as he tries to get rid of the rumor before it reaches you.

warnings: MDNI. afab!reader, cursing, pet names, angst w/ comfort, FLUFFFF yuta LAUUVS YOUU, mentions of alcohol and drinking, lovesick yuta, sexual themes, SMUUUUTTT, p in v sex, unprotected sex (wrap it y'all), yuta talks you through it MEOOOWWW, missionary, riding, mentions of cheating, dirty talk, inexperienced shy cutie reader, praising, mentions of reader having ‘pink cheeks’ is only to amplify and over-exaggerate feelings of embarrassment, shyness, and everything in between, and not to be taken literally! this is a work of fiction, and you can imagine many things for yourself :)

word count: 23.3k (TEEHEEE—)

authors note: ALLL HAAAILLL FRAT BOY!YUTA I LOOVEEE HIMMMM i need him like i need water i am OBSESSEEEDDD!! i hope you guys love the ficcc ahhh !!! <3333 she was such a TREAT to write and i hope y'all are equally obsessed with sir yu like i am !!! I LOVE YOUUUU ALL SO SO MUCH MWAHHHH !!! <333

if you would like to know the origin story of this au, you can read it here! but it can also be read without it :)

yuta okkotsu was a changed man because of you, and his life was entirely different now than it was almost a year ago.

“oh yu! look at this one!”

yuta looked up from the other side of the jellyfish tank, lifting his submerged hand from the lukewarm water and walking over to you, careful not to trickle any residual droplets from his fingertips onto the floor below.

“what flower?” he smiled, bending over a bit to see what you were excitedly pointing at.

“it’s a baby...” you spoke softly, your hand slowly delving deeper into the tank and inching closer to the specimen, your index finger out.

“oh that’s right…” he murmured, his tone matching the quiet serenity of the exhibit as a whole, inching closer to you and gently bending down to rest his chin on your shoulder.

“what kind of jellies are these again?”

“moon jellyfish!” you turned your head and smiled at him, pecking the side of his forehead. “their sting isn’t strong enough to penetrate the skin… that’s why it’s safe to pet them.”

he hummed, eyes watching you caress the little baby jellyfish softly with your finger, the rest of them fluttering and pumping about around your wrist as you giggled, the sensation of their soft tentacles tickling you.

“they’re cute!” he smiled contently, lifting his head from your shoulder to then dive his nose into your neck, you laughing and squirming at the feeling.

“do you know any other facts about them baby?” he muffled against your skin.

you simmered down and thought for a moment, your hand moving from the baby jelly over to a bigger one and running your fingers over the top of its head— the smooth slimy texture fascinating to you as yuta picked his head up to stand upright.

“whenever they’re short on food, they can shrink down in size and save their energy that way.” you lifted your arm, little droplets of water sliding down your skin and tattering down quietly to the surface below, your hand drawing back to grip the edge of the tank and looking sweetly at yuta. “so it’s less demand for food and things.”

he stared at you warmly, a literal lovesick stupid smile on his face as he listened to you continue on with your little list of facts about the moon jellies, his ears basically perked up and alert as they drank in everything that you had to tell him— it being that way ever since your pretty timid self came to one of his frat parties two years ago.

and yuta loved to hear you talk about your interests and the smarty things you knew, that still unchanging and him in absolute wonder every moment he spent with you at how much information your little mind held, and he felt like his idiot num nut brain was funnily smarter now solely due to you.

because yuta before you was an absolute dick, and every time he thought about his former lifestyle he cringed at the stark difference— throwing rowdy parties each night as the president of his frat, playing beer pong for the hell of it, and getting shit faced with not an ounce of regret in his system, him sleeping with anyone he wanted and desired, and never even having to lift a finger in efforts at it either until he met you.

but yuta was ashamed.

so incredibly ashamed of his awful habits, and thanking his rotten luck that you gave him another fucking chance after blowing his first meeting with you, him working hard for an entire year straight just to get you to look at him the same way you looked at your friends, and to get you to trust him and win you over despite his awful reputation.

you changed him… wholeheartedly and for the better, his reputation no longer of a sleazy good for nothing piece of shit who whored around, but of just yuta okkotsu— president of his frat, still the most popular guy to ever fucking exist and throwing massive parties every week… but of also a guy who loved his girlfriend, a girl that took him off the market with just her presence alone, and a girl he was lucky enough to have by his side despite everything.

but though yuta’s new reputation was flourishing and grand, it didn’t mean his old one just— eradicated and didn’t follow him everywhere he went.

everywhere you went.

because it did, and he knew of the whisperings of his past every time he walked you to your lectures in the halls… how he had slept with so and so that one time, or how he did this that other time, and he was utterly remorseful over the fact that you had to hear those things too, knowing he wouldn’t like it in the slightest if it was the other way around no matter how many times you reassured him that it didn’t bother you.

and it’s precisely because of his old reputation that he was terrified of you thinking he was using you in anyway shape or form... that you were just another body count to him and that the minute he got you in bed with him he was going to leave— that particular gossip following him everywhere relentlessly and him feeling fucking sick over the thought of you hearing and believing it.

“can all jellyfish do that?” he asked, lifting a hand and mindlessly playing with a strand of your hair. “shrink in size?”

you shook your head. “not all! but a few others can too… moon jellies are just the best at it.”

he nodded, a content smile still on his face as he hiked up the straps of your purse over his shoulders, holding it for you and gladly doing so while you enjoyed yourself looking through the different informational panels of the exhibit— the aquarium being one of yours and yuta’s favorite places to go whenever you went out together on dates, the number of times you’d both been there literally irrelevant as it was deemed your designated special spot for the two of you, yuta often taking you there after classes, or randomly throughout the day to spend time with you and love on you-- doing it all amongst the fishies, jellyfish and penguins that you both had come to recognize and name.

“you having fun flower?” he asked, swinging an arm around your shoulders as you began walking out of the jellyfish exhibit. “you hungry at all? we could eat really fast before seeing buddy if you want.”

you smiled.

buddy was the penguin you and yuta decided to take ‘ownership’ of and was the sole reason why the two of you visited the aquarium so much to begin with— to see the chubby and puffy little penguin that was noticeably friendlier and more interactive than the rest of the flock, and you liked to think that buddy recognized you too every time you guys peered at him through the glass walls— your boyfriend always saying that the little furry thing was a part of his frat and second in command.

“oh let’s see buddy now!” you quickly interlaced your fingers with his hand that was around your shoulders, slightly nudging yuta in the direction of the penguin exhibit. “i don’t wanna keep him waiting.”

“heh, okay!” yuta’s cheerful breathtaking smile made the heat quickly rise to your cheeks. “and that’s very true… he’ll get grumpy like last time.”

you laughed. “i’m pretty sure that was because the staff was a little late on giving him food…”

“mmm— don’t think so!” you passed through the entrance of the exhibit and turned left, other families and kids staring intently at the different penguin habitats and nurseries as you walked by, majority of the enclosures housing from baby penguins to those who were just learning to grow and take independence. “it’s because he missed us flower.”

you both reached the primary habitat that contained a handful of adult penguins waddling about and jumping from big rock boulders, an ample sized body of ocean water in front that allowed them to go for a swim or splash their little wings if they wished, you and yuta approaching the front and eyes immediately scanning for buddy.

“do you see him..?” yuta spoke softly, his eyelids squinting over the rocks.

“nuh uh…” you shook your head, peering around and eyeing every penguin in attempts at spotting buddy in particular.

“oh! there! over there!” you speedily pointed to the far left, buddy on his chubby tummy on top of one of the highest boulders in the sanctuary, soaking in the cold icy temperatures of the habitat while taking a nap like a respectable little king, his body softly moving up and down in even breaths.

“really?! where?” yuta stepped closer to the glass wall, his gaze desperately scanning for buddy and shoulders slumping when he still couldn’t spot him. “oh no baby i think i need fucking glasses—”

you giggled, tilting his chin more to the left and pointing to the sleeping bird. “there silly… he’s taking a nap on his belly.”

“oh i see him!” his charming face broke out into a smile. “aw man we came at a bad time then flower… he might think we ditched him for the day and be mad at us next time we come back.”

you faltered and visibly frowned at the thought, yuta picking up on it and quickly fixing his demeanor.

“oh— but it’s okay! it’s fine!” he delicately patted the top of your head. “i’m sure he’ll forgive us… and maybe he’ll wake up before we leave?”

“hopefully…” you sighed softly through your nose, a little grin growing on your lips. “what if i just— start tapping on the glass to wake him up?”

yuta laughed and shook his head. “baby that’s something i would do don’t do that.” 

he brought you in by the arm around your shoulders and squeezed you lovingly into his chest.

“you’re hanging out with me too much…”

“well duh.” you giggled. “is this your way of saying you wanna cut back?—”

“oh what the!?—” his eyes whipped in your direction, frantically shaking his head side to side. “i’d actually rather give up my dumb frat position than do that flower.”

you gasped then, jaw running slack.

“yu it’s not dumb, and don’t gamble with things like that for me either… you work really hard for the status you have and i would hate to be the reason it goes away.”

that was the main concern you had when you first started dating yuta, and shamefully still a concern now actually… because throughout the year yuta spent trying to win you over and prove to you that he wasn’t a player, hot headed and awful anymore, something that you were so incredibly touched over and impressed about and so fucking happy that he did without you even having to ask— the worry of you being the cause of his depleting reputation because of your status never went away regardless, and it quickly bubbled up in your mind as soon as you saw the disgruntled reactions of his crowd.

and you normally wouldn’t care about things like that, the rumors and gossip that took no time at all to surface easily thrown to the back of your head because of yuta… for he was everything you’d ever wanted and more as he continued to shower you in that same amount of love, affection, and attention that he gave you when you first had met.

yuta's kind reassurance of the rumors and for you to pay them no mind wasn’t entirely necessary to you either, due to the fact that you adored his silly jokes and flamboyant frat boy behavior so much and loved him so much that you simply just didn’t need it.

at first.

until you started noticing that yuta never… initiated things with you past kissing or making out throughout your first year together.

but it’s not like you ever did either— your frustratingly timid and shy personality never allowed you to even utter a peep of suggestion about it no matter how much you wanted to take things further, though intimate things like that weren’t a deal breaker nor was it of great importance to you anyways, as just spending time with him was more than enough and all you wanted and needed… except—

you’d seen the way yuta was with girls before you.

so why was it so easy for him to be intimate with them and not with— you? 

and they never needed to ask either…

“flower?”

“huh?” you jumped slightly, your eyes shooting up and meeting a concerned faced yuta. 

“you okay?” he blinked. “did you… hear what i said?”

“oh! i’m sorry yu i didn’t…” you peered up at him shyly with pinky cheeks, your bashful look spurring his little heart on as he gave you a smile and quickly pecked your forehead.

“that’s okay! i just said you’d never be the reason for something like that baby…” he smoothed a hand down the back of your hair, mind a little preoccupied by how silky it felt. “and i don’t care if it goes away either. also buddy’s awake.”

you perked up, eyes immediately darting to his former sleeping place and seeing him now fluttering his furry wings, gradually stretching and moving his little limbs before hopping down from his rock and waddling, both you and yuta funnily gushing and waving your arms around to try and catch the birds attention, yet undoubtedly looking absolutely insane to the rest of the guests around you as you both hopped and flailed around.

“buddy!” yuta whisper-yelled. “hey! look look!”

you giggled as he jumped up and down then with floundering arms, his car keys that were hooked through his belt loop jingling with every hop along with the charms on your purse, your hand flying to your mouth then to stifle your laughter once you noticed the odd stares parents were shooting at him as they passed by, their gawking children clinging to their coats and sleeves.

“yu!” you spoke in between hiccups of laughter. “i think— you’re scaring the kids—”

“oh!—” he froze, hands still up in the air as he looked side to side over his shoulders, a sheepish smile creeping on his face once he realized that he was in fact eliciting bewildered glances and judgmental stares, his arms coming down immediately after as he peeked over at you with blushing cheeks.

“oh man...” he laughed, completely fucking embarrassed and scratching the back of his neck. “how much of a stupid idiot did i just look right now…”

you quickly shook your head and giggled some more, standing up on your tippy toes to plant a sweet kiss to his rosy cheek.

“i was doing the same thing yu it’s okay!” you cutely smiled, your eyes switching back to the habitat in front of you, pointing. “it got buddy’s attention though!”

the chubby bird excitedly flapped its wings before trodding over to where the both of you stood, you gushing and cooing as he hopped over pebbles and moved through other stubby penguins just to get where the two of you stood behind the barrier, the penguin tilting its little head to and fro in curiosity as he peered at you both.

“hey little man!” yuta grinned, bending down a bit and placing his palm flat on the glass, you doing the same as you leaned closer to get a better look at the bird. “you okay?”

you sent a tiny wave to the penguin, him flapping out his wings again in return and waddling even closer to the glass, you softly gasping and head snapping up to your boyfriend.

“i think—” your wide eyes shifted back to buddy. “i think he does recognize us…”

“that’s what i’ve been saying flower!” yuta laughed boyishly, swinging an arm over to place a hand on your waist, giving it an affectionate squeeze. “i know i’m a dummy dumb but never about buddy.”

you snorted and gently nudged his side with your shoulder. “you’re not a dummy dumb baby don’t be silly.”

“kay!” yuta funnily cheesed, leaning down to press a quick peck to your cheek before turning his attention back to buddy, the penguin oddly now excessively fluttering its wings and puffing up its chest over your interaction, honking and squawking more than usual as it waddled over to your side now instead of yuta’s.

“wha—” your boyfriend gawked, eyes narrowing at buddy. “what i can’t kiss my girlfriend? why not?”

buddy honked again and hopped in place on its little feet, yuta’s eyes only growing further into slits.

“what?” you giggled. “what’s wro— mpf!”

he cupped your cheeks and mushed your lips with his, buddy letting out a loud string of honks and squawking through the other side of the glass as yuta basically tongued you down, your cheeks instantly heating up at the random raunchy display of public affection.

he came off your lips with a smack and looked to the penguin again, his eyes then widening at the distressed state buddy was presumably in, jaw hanging open and frantic gaze switching to yours.

“buddy wants my girlfriend…” 

“huh?!” you laughed. “yu he’s—”

“you think i’m gonna let you in my frat now little man?” yuta let your face go and threw his hands up. “you were my second in command!”

“baby he’s a penguin what are you on about—”

“yeah a penguin that wants my girlfriend.” he mumbled, crossing his arms and bitterly looking off to the side. “i feel betrayed.”

you giggled, cheeks buzzing and pink as you reached up and patted the top of his head.

“c’mon yu let’s go it’s okay.” you interlaced your fingers with his and gently tugged him with you. “let’s go get something to eat—”

yuta pointed to buddy as you pulled him away.

“you’re out of the frat.”

“yuta!”

“what?!”

a total of ten more minutes was spent of you trying to drag him out of the exhibit and him still picking a fight— yuta in utter disbelief that buddy backstabbed him and wanted the same woman he did, him sulking and muttering the entire way to the sandwich shop to pick up lunch, you laughing at his silly behavior as you led him through the aquarium corridors and pathways to go to the flower exhibit, that being yours and yuta’s usual munching spot ever since you first came to the aquarium at the start of your relationship.

and although visiting the aquarium was something you both always did— specifically on a weekly basis and multiple times throughout it… the two of you loved it, especially yuta, for he was content in doing absolutely anything with you just so long as you were having fun and happy and with him, your regular endeavors of touching jellyfish, seeing buddy (even though he was currently on probation), and buying lunch at the usual deli spot next to the aquarium was something he loved and floored over just like you did, a thing he looked forward to everyday and unabashedly texted you constantly to see if you were up for another trip to your little usual spot.

but that’s precisely how yuta neglected to see how he was unawarely making you second guess yourself— your needs, because due to the fact that he was the happiest man alive by just your presence alone and didn’t need anything else, he failed to catch your disappointed frowns or taken aback blinking eyes when he rejected your shy little advances at a little something more than just a smoochie smooch, advances that were so humiliatingly tiny and fleeting that you never blamed him for missing them in the first place, and only blamed yourself for not being more obvious, frustrated for being upset over something like intimacy when it shouldn’t be on your mind as much as it was.

“did you want the same thing baby?” yuta asked, speaking over his shoulder with a little smile as you stood behind him. “or something different?”

“the same thing is fine!” you sweetly replied. “oh! but can i do curly fries with it instead of chips? if that’s okay?”

yuta laughed at your apprehensiveness, placing a hand on the back of your head and bringing you in to press a kiss to your forehead, fingers carding gently through your hair after.

“you don’t have to ask like that flower you know that.” he grinned, his hand moving from your hair to the side of your face, thumb softly caressing your pretty cheek. “whatever you need is always okay.”

you blushed, lips pursing shyly to the side as you nodded and thanked him gratefully, yuta shining another kind smile your way before dropping his hand and stepping forward to the cash register to order and pay— two delicious and stuffed deli sandwiches with chosen sides ready at the pick up counter within minutes.

the bag of food crinkled underneath yuta’s arm as he held it up against his chest, the other extending an offering hand out for you that you quickly took in response, the both of you leaving the deli shop and blissfully walking the familiar path towards the flower exhibit like muscle memory.

“let me have my bag yu, i feel bad that you’re carrying all of that yourself…” you spoke worriedly, arm already lifting for the strap on his shoulder.

“i’m alright!” he chirped, shoulder purposely moving away from your trying grasp as you passed through the entrance of the greenhouse— the complex fumigated with lovely mixtures of different floral scents that filled your nostrils as you walked through. “don’t worry flower it’s fine.”

you quirked a brow, a defiant hand reaching out for your bag anyways but it only met with yuta jerking his shoulder away from you again.

“yu!” you laughed, both hands now reaching out repeatedly and him playfully dodging every attempt you made, cute boyish snickers slipping past his lips as he moved quickly to avoid your grabbing fingers. “please you’ve been carrying it all day let me help you—”

yuta swiveled away from you and turned, him walking backwards as your purse jingled on the other side of him and unreachable from where you stood.

“nope!” he shook his head side to side. “but thank you baby! you’re sweet.”

you shot him a lighthearted glare.

“i’ll leave you for buddy if you don’t give me my purse—”

his jaw dramatically dropped and you giggled, a scoff leaving his open mouth as his eyes narrowed.

“now he’s done it.” you both stopped at your usual spot— a pretty little emerald green bench that sat underneath various potted voluminous flowers, hanging from the ceiling from chains and providing cooling shade from the slight sunny warmth of the greenhouse. “he’s gone behind my back and wooed you.”

you laughed, taking a seat with him as he set the bag of food in between the two of you.

“he ‘wooed’ me ever since we first met him silly.” you teased, reaching inside the bag and pulling out yuta’s sandwich, unraveling it from it’s wrapping for him before carefully passing it over. “he’s a cutie.”

he pouted, taking his food and setting it down on his lap. “and you don’t think i am?”

your cheeks heated at the cute face he was making, grabbing your own sandwich and unfolding the wrapping.

“buddy’s not president of a frat.” yuta spoke through a mouthful of his deli. “buddy didn’t try to win you over for a year straight. i did.”

you giggled, resting your head on his shoulder as you plopped a curly fry in your mouth.

“that’s very true.” you hummed. “but buddy did try to share his lunch with me that one time, remember? his fishy?”

yuta swallowed, looking down at you then and smiling fondly.

“you’re right he did.” he craned his neck and took the curly fry you were offering for him in between his teeth, chewing after. “i can’t compete with that can i?”

“nuh uh.” you grinned. “sorry yu! maybe if you give me a fish of your own i’ll reconsider hehe.”

he laughed loudly and kissed the top of your head.

“i can do that!” he spoke smugly. “shit i’ll give you five fish instead of just one. i bet buddy can’t do that.”

you giggled again and lifted your head up from his shoulder, carefully grabbing your deli and taking a bite out of it, plopping another curly fry into your mouth after to chew simultaneously.

“deal!” you chirped. “i’ll be waiting for my five fishies then.”

“but do i get something in return?” he smiled brightly, the suggestive tone in his voice making your face heat up and your heart simmer up with hope, you gnawing on the inside of your cheek as you tried to fucking calm yourself and not jump to conclusions.

“like what?” you asked, ever so cutely tilting your head to the side that it made yuta’s cheeks heat up.

“likeeee…” he looked up in giddy thought. “like you—”

a blaring ring cut through the tranquil atmosphere of the greenhouse, yuta dropping his sandwich on his lap and huffing as he dug through his pockets for his phone, him pulling it out and checking the caller i.d. before rolling his eyes and setting his sandwich down on the open bench space next to him, standing.

“i’m sorry baby it’s one of the guys…” he sighed, slight agitation in his chest as he diverted his attention to your pretty face. “i’m just gonna check what he wants really quick… is that okay?”

you frantically nodded and waved him off. “yes! yes yu that’s totally okay don’t worry! take your time.”

he gave you a soft smile, leaning down and pressing a kiss to your cheek, stepping away.

“i’ll be back!” he called over his shoulder as he walked, quickly answering the call after and pressing the phone to his ear, striding a short distance away from you.

“what man?” 

you laughed at his grumbling as you heard it from afar, you already used to him frequently taking calls from the boys in his frat about upcoming events, expenses and member behaviors— not minding one single bit every time he had to step away for a moment to take care of issues, because you knew and wholeheartedly understood that his role was the most prestigious and demanding responsibility in his life at the moment, your heart warming at how apologetic he was each time he was forced to take a call… and you more worried about him and how stressed out he must be about having to basically babysit and watch over 35 different men and take care of their fuck ups.

“oh my god…” you heard him mumble, taking a bite out of your sandwich as you curiously listened in on the call. “why would he do that?”

your brows slightly furrowed in concern, a little anxious as you watched the way he rubbed a hand over his forehead exhaustedly.

“this is the second time he’s done this and i’m gonna get marked for his stupid shit again.”

marked?

you’d heard yuta use that phrase before… but the logistics of it you still didn’t really get nor remember clearly from what he had told you previously, the only thing you could really recall was that he’d already been marked once in the past.

he heavily sighed.

“no… no— tell him he’s banned from leaving the frat until i get there later tonight i’m serious. he can’t leave.”

yuta slowly started making his way back over to you, his eyes to the ground as he held the phone up against his ear.

“alright… thanks for calling. make an announcement to the rest of the boys that i’m holding a meeting when i get there please.”

you heard him bid his final goodbye’s before hanging up the phone, him stuffing it back in his pocket and lifting his other hand, scratching the back of his neck in irritating thought as you watched him come over, wide eyed.

“what happened?” you asked softly, gaze following him closely as he slumped down next to you on the bench with crossed arms, his brows pinched together.

“hm?” his eyes flickered to yours. “oh nothing flower… the VP just called me about some frat stuff.”

he made it seem like it was nothing, but the bouncing of his knee and the way he used his index finger to pick at the skin around the nail of his thumb… told you otherwise.

“yu…”

“yeah?”

you reached over and untangled his crossed arms, gently taking the hand he was picking at in yours to stop him from doing it, an anxious expression on your face.

“what does marked mean? and who’s banned from leaving the frat?”

an amused smile slowly spread across his lips, his grip on your hand tightening earnestly.

“you being nosy baby?” 

you blushed.

“sorry!” you blurted. “i didn’t mean to… you just looked really upset so i got worried.”

he shook his head, bringing your interlocked hands up to kiss the back of yours.

“i’m just teasing flower it’s okay.” he spoke quietly, a weird far-off look to his eyes as he stared down at your hands, the gnawing feeling in your chest only growing the longer he sat there without saying anything to you— a pinch between his brows.

“what’s wrong?” you tenderly squeezed his hand. “are the guys okay?”

“they’re being baboons.” he heavily exhaled, annoyed. “do you remember toma?”

“toma?” you tilted your head. “the one who started a fight with that other frat?”

“yeah, him.” he picked a curly fry from the food on your lap and took a bite. “he went back to their house with a few other guys and threw bricks at their windows.”

you gasped.

“and they lit off a firework inside.”

a hand flew over your mouth, your eyes blown fucking wide as yuta continued to irritably shove curly fries in his mouth.

“and the fucked up part is, is that i’m gonna be the one that eats shit from it by administration.” he continued, swallowing and bitterly shaking his head. “i really shouldn’t have let toma off easy from last time…”

“but why would you get in trouble yu?” you asked. “you didn’t do anything it was toma.”

he looked at you a little sadly, but more stressed out than anything.

“because i’m president baby…” he let go of your hand and picked up his sandwich. “i’m responsible for whatever they do and go down with them if they mess up. that’s what being marked means.”

you frowned, feeling totally annoyed at toma for being such a selfish stupid idiot for what he did, but feeling more agitated over the fact that yuta always seemed to get the short end of the stick when it came to their mishaps just because he was president, when all he’s ever actually done for the frat is keep them out of trouble and amicably successful, it’s level of popularity and recognition one the previous president failed at as yuta had thousands of applications each year with new brothers trying to enroll.

“toma’s a freshman so… i get it, but—” he took a small bite of his sandwich and spoke through a mouthful. “he’s fucking stupid.”

you giggled softly, leaning back on the bench and crossing your arms before speaking.

“what’s gonna happen with you and administration?” 

“depends on how much that other frat complains.” he swallowed. “it’s destruction of property and basically almost killing someone with that firework… so i could be expelled. and toma.”

you froze, your head whipping in his direction and you baffled at the way yuta continued to chow down on his sandwich like he didn’t just say something like that.

“are you kidding me?” you breathed out. “expulsion?”

“that or i lose my position.” 

and yuta still didn’t show any signs of fear or anger as he stole more curly fries from your lap… but you on the other hand… were freaking the fuck out.

“yu oh my god—” you placed an exasperated hand over your forehead, chest ragged as you thought of all of the things yuta could lose when he worked so fucking hard to get them throughout his entire college career. 

“there— there has to be some kind of appeal we can do maybe— maybe if we get the rest of your guys to back you up it could be just toma getting expelled or—”

yuta slowed his chewing and looked your way, an expression of endearment crossing his face over how much you cared about him and his life, a little laugh escaping past his lips.

“it’s okay flower… don’t worry.” he reached up and placed a flat hand on top of your head. “i’m on good terms with administration so they won’t do anything like that.”

“how do you know though?” you murmured, eyes falling to your lap. “toma committed a crime yuta. i don’t think they’ll let you guys off that easy.”

his hand slid from your head down to cup under your jaw, gently lifting your face to look at him.

“i’ll handle it… okay?” he pushed softly. “don’t stress yourself over my frat stuff baby it’s not good for you.”

he leaned and placed a cute peck to your lips, letting your jaw go after and smiling at the blush on your cheeks.

“the most they’ll do is put us both on social probation or give us a warning… but either way i’m personally putting toma on social probation for being a fucking airhead.”

“social probation?” you softly spoke. “what’s that?”

yuta felt a sense of pride for himself every time you asked him about specifics on frat boy terms or rules, it being the only thing that he could really teach you and help you learn as he was a dummy dumb and didn’t know much about anything else, a complete contrast from your smarts and knowledge that he loved to drink up any time you told him special facts, or explained to him things he didn’t get (and would sometimes pretend he did when he actually didn’t to save himself the embarrassment…).

so whenever the opportunity came up of your sweet shy voice asking him about his fraternity? he was absolutely floored.

“we basically can’t host parties or events for some time.” he explained. “i try my best to never land our frat in social probation because it fucks up our relevancy… we basically go dead for a bit and other frats or sororities forget about us until we host the next event.”

“what?!— that’s bad tooo!” you whined, a hand flying over your forehead again as your brain tried to come up with ways to avoid this in addition to the potential expulsion, yuta only laughing and wrapping a hand around your lifted wrist.

“baby no— it’s okay!” he spoke between giggles, lowering your arm. “its really not that bad… i want social probation.”

“why the hell would you want that?” you pouted.

“because i get to spend more time with you.” he grinned, a big and shiny one too as he quickly smooched your cute cheek and leaned back on the bench, shoving the rest of his sandwich in his mouth. “i won’t have to spend time organizing parties or events and instead hang out with you flower.”

your heart fluttered on fucking overdrive in your chest, you shyly looking away then and mirroring him by leaning back on the bench, a silly smile on your face.

“more time to visit buddy too?”

“no.” he spoke firmly, and you giggled. “i put buddy on social probation we can’t go see him.”

you giggled some more with a hand over your mouth, yuta looking at you with hearts in his eyes as his ears greedily swallowed down your precious laughter to commit to memory, him reminded once again of how much of a sweetheart you were— but also of how easy it was for a man like him to lose you entirely because of his social stance and the people that he was surrounded with.

and at the thought of that, yuta subconsciously reached over and wrapped his arms around your waist, slowly pulling you snug and flush against his body as his insecurities overtook his thoughts for a moment.

“yu?” you snaked your arms around his neck and embraced him back, your brows furrowing. “are you okay? what’s wrong?”

“i’m fine.” he replied simply, but his hold on you only tightened.

you frowned. 

“are you finally worried about what administration’s gonna do?”

he snorted and shook his head against your shoulder. 

“fuck no.” he pulled back just enough to plant a kiss on your forehead. “i don’t care what they do flower… and you shouldn’t either okay?”

he was worried about driving you away.

and it wasn’t too often when his mind drifted to the thought, but it happened often enough that it sometimes kept him up at night on particularly bad days, and especially when he happened to catch another rumor about either of you that made him hope with everything he had that you didn’t end up catching it too.

but you always did. and you kept it to yourself that you did.

but funnily enough, it was like you and yuta were sitting pretty on a see saw and the stupid metal thing switched positions to you being the one at the top instead of him— you now lost in your thoughts as he remained grounded and okay, driving you home at the end of the day after your aquarium date with your hands folded tightly over your lap, silent as the quiet murmur of his car radio filled the air.

maybe if you just— sort of made a move now… yuta would get the hint? and maybe something intimate would finally happen? … maybe?

you anxiously gnawed at your bottom lip and stared out the window, swallowing down your nerves as you tried to come up with a way to instill something steamier between the two of you for the time being, and a way that wasn’t out of your comfort zone either as you were too pathetically shy to try something obvious.

but you knew that either way… you had to just— attempt it.

“oh! your parents aren’t home baby.”

you snapped out of your thoughts and looked up, your parents car sure enough not in the driveway as yuta pulled in, your heart hammering in your rib cage as you took that as a definitive sign to initiate something with him in the best way you knew how.

“do you wanna…” you pursed your lips. “do you wanna come in? for a little bit?”

he unknowingly beamed and nodded. “yeah! i do flower.”

you let out a nervous breath and nodded, hands shakily opening the passenger side door and you both stepping out of the car, shutting them behind you before beginning to walk up the path to your front door, you getting your keys out to unlock it and pushing it open once you did.

yuta had been to your house plenty of times before already, but your parents were always home.

this is the first time he was over where they weren’t.

“do you want something to drink?” you asked sweetly, him walking over and plopping down on your living room couch. “like… like soda? or beer? i think my dad just bought a pack—”

“oh no it’s okay!” he patted the spot next to him. “just sit with me baby.”

butterflies swarmed in your stomach as you nodded, nervously walking to the couch then and sitting down next to him.

“do you have a lot of homework for tonight?” yuta gently placed an arm around your shoulders. “i won’t stay too long if you do so you can do it.”

you quickly shook your head.

“no! no i don’t have any. you can stay as long as you want.”

he grinned.

“sweet!”

his handsome face sent another wave of nerves and need through your body as you breathed in deeply through your nose, your hands going cold over how anxious you were.

“tomorrow we should—”

you grabbed his face and brought him down, shoving your lips to his and cutting him off as his eyes blew wide, his cheeks immediately growing a bright shade of red while you kissed him in such a way that you’ve never ever done before, yuta’s palms quickly clamming up as he tried to simmer down the nasty thoughts that flew through his mind then.

why did he always have to be such a whore?

your hands slid down and around his neck before he even had time to think, his flying to your waist as smooching wet noises from your moving lips only fueled the fire and had him breathing erratically, knowing he was so fucking fucked if he didn’t put an end to this now.

“flower—”

you muffled his attempt with your god sent kisses, the way you were so aggressive with it shooting blood straight to his cock and causing him to completely miss the way you pulled him on top of you down on the couch, your pretty plush thighs around his waist making him choke against your mouth and force himself off of you without another second.

“w—what?” you drew your hands back against your chest, fearing that you did something wrong as he stared down at you with swollen lips and a heaving chest, his back upright.

“i—” he wiped his wet mouth with the back of his hand, shaking his head and trying to look at anything but the sight of you under him and the way your legs were spread around him.

“nothing! heh!” he laughed nervously, bashfully scratching the back of his neck as he moved away and created distance between you both, failing at catching the hurt flashing through your eyes.

you felt like you did something wrong.

“s—sorry if i squished you or—”

“no!” he blurted. “no you didn’t. it’s okay.”

then what?

you shyly tried to lean in again to continue, when yuta suddenly sprang up from the couch and stepped back, the abruptness of it making you flinch and stare at him wide eyed.

yuta needed to take a breather now before he ended up stripping you naked and— and hurting you…

but unaware of the fact that he already did.

“i’m gonna—” he struggled. “i’m gonna call one of the guys.”

what?

“i’ll be outside.”

“yu—”

he hastily walked to the front door and opened it before he stepped out, quickly closing it behind him and cutting you off, leaving you dumbfounded as you slowly sat up in silence and thinking you had done something wrong… you were sure of it.

horrifying embarrassment flooded your entire being then as you tried to blink back tears, feeling like a total loser and awful that you didn’t know how to properly initiate anything with him, you growing a little sick over the fleeting reminder of his past rendezvous and other girls doing it so successfully… that you were ashamed of yourself for being unable to do something as simple as fucking make out with him.

you quickly wiped the little tears that managed to slip from your eyes and stood, unsure if you even wanted to see him now because of your pathetic mess up, your desperate gaze searching around the kitchen for something to do to take your mind off of it as you walked over, your line of sight landing on the small pile of dishes left by your parents and you immediately going towards the sink— turning the faucet on.

a couple of more minutes passed before you eventually heard the front door open and click shut, your heart rate fucking escalating and feeling mortified again as footsteps came up from behind you, your eyes literally gorilla glued down to the dishes you were washing.

“the boys are killing each other right now.” yuta sighed, leaning against the counter next to you with his arms crossed. “the VP told me they’re divided in half trying to see if they should kill toma or not.”

you laughed softly, rinsing off a small glass cup under the running warm water and thankful that your hair was blocking your view of him.

“i thought they would all want to kill him for what he did.” you spoke.

“most of them do!” he slid closer. “but some of them think it’s funny… and the others are losing it over landing in social probation.”

you hummed, setting each rinsed off dish carefully on the rack next to you as you went.

“what about toma? do you know if he regrets—”

you stiffened at the feeling of yuta taking your hair in between his fingers and gently pulling back, brushing it behind your ear as you finally made eye contact with him, yuta shooting you a breathtaking smile— one that was so fucking contagious that you couldn’t help but reciprocate.

“sorry baby… i didn’t mean to cut you off.” he leaned back and crossed his arms again. “i couldn’t see you.”

you shook your head, standing on your tippy toes and pressing a sweet kiss to his cheek.

“no it’s okay!”

yuta had the power of having anyone and anything on their knees and at his feet with simply just a look of his godly face, and whether he knew it or not you weren’t sure of— only that the population of anyone and anything included you as well, for the minute he smiled at you in the way that he always did, you forgot entirely the shame and embarrassment you were shitting yourself over from the events prior.

though yuta did know…. he’d always known. but he stopped giving a fuck about it from the moment he met you— the only person he wanted by his side and the only opinion he cared about and strove to please, completely disregarding anyone else and putting you first above anything in his life, including his fraternity, him never listening when you fought him about it and told him he shouldn’t do that, because he felt as if he definitely should.

always and without fail.

“i feel bad keeping you here though if they’re having a full blown melt down over there...” you smiled sheepishly. “you should be there with them yu.”

he pouted.

“but what if i said i didn’t want to?” he quipped, tilting his head. “hm?”

you shot him a look, and he sighed, shoulders dropping.

“i know…” he took a step towards you and swung his arms around your shoulders from behind, mushing his cheek against the side of your head as you continued to wash dishes. “the VP was literally crying on the fucking phone and i couldn’t hear him well over the yelling in the back.”

you laughed, picturing the silly vision of a bunch of frat boys arguing and fighting over not being able to throw parties or go to events for a while, it probably seeming like the end of the world for them if they’re not able to interact with other sorority girls, and living instead on what felt like a dead deserted island devoid of alcohol and beer pong until yuta came to be the saving grace and lift their violations.

drying your hands on a nearby kitchen towel, you turned around in yuta’s hold and gave him a cute smile.

“go baby.” you pushed softly. “they need their papa.”

he playfully rolled his eyes.

“they’re full grown men and yet i still have to teach some of them how to do their laundry.”

you quirked a brow.

“didn’t i show you how to do that?”

“…no.”

you burst out laughing again at the embarrassed and flushed look on his face, his eyes darting away from yours and looking off to the side.

you craned your neck to kiss the tip of his pink nose and grinned, his gaze shifting back to you with a slow smile spreading across his lips.

“i’ll see you tomorrow.” you spoke gently. “and keep me updated on what happens when you get there okay?”

“mkay.” he loosened his hold on you and stepped a bit back, you affectionately squeezing his side as he did. “i’ll call you tonight if i make it out alive.”

you giggled, nodding as he released you entirely and began walking over to your front door, you following closely behind and opening it for him once you both got there.

“bye flower!” he leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to your lips. “i love you.”

you shyly smiled and leaned against the side of the door as he stepped out. 

“i love you too yuuuu.”

he stopped and turned his head to look at you from over his shoulder, sheepishly pursing his lips.

“can i just stay—”

“no!” you laughed, extending an arm and gently nudging him away by the shoulder. “go silly…. your frat’s gonna end up in flames if you don’t.”

yuta chuckled, knowing you were funnily actually correct and not over exaggerating in the slightest, the two of you well aware that his fraternity brothers had the tendency to be a bunch of reckless morons if he wasn’t there to guide them or make sure they weren’t stepping over the line.

and sometimes… (almost always though), he wished he could stop everyone in his damn college campus from stepping over the line like he could with his frat guys, their ridiculous and ludicrous rumors about his relationship with you never failing to set him off and make him anxious that you’ll worry your precious mind over it and believe them.

yuta tried to keep you away from that as much as he possibly could.

anytime you both took strolls throughout campus, or decided to visit that nice little student run bakery that you loved so much every morning, if he ever saw someone— anyone that was in his circle, that he knew for a fact had insinuated those rumors, or if they simply just had a nasty fucking attitude and he didn’t want you to get caught in the middle of it, he would gently steer you the other way with a hand around your shoulders and a loving little smile on his face, shielding you from a world of undeserving popularity, dishonesty, and calculated disingenuous foolery that only served to benefit the wrong people.

and yet still… all of that was his world after all.

and yuta couldn’t shield you from everything.

“who? yuta okkotsu?”

your ears perked up, gaze flickering from your notebook up to the two girls that sat in front of you during your afternoon lecture, pencil stilling in your hand.

“yeah him! the one that got with layla a while back.”

layla?

you pursed your lips in distaste, sighing a little through your nose and shifting your attention back to your notes, feeling a little silly for being bitter over a girl yuta got with before you.

but he got with her nonetheless… something he still hadn’t done with you.

“oh to be her…” one of them sadly sighed. “i would give anything to get dicked down by him.”

your jaw silently dropped, not knowing whether you should be bothered by that statement or laugh.

“i heard he has a girlfriend now though.” the other spoke.

“hah?! who?”

“dunno.” she shrugged. “someone told me it’s some nerdy girl that’s in the same year as him. she’s really easy to miss.”

you internally rolled your eyes and lightly pushed your notebook to the side, deciding to divert your attention towards your laptop screen instead.

“you’re fucking joking right?”

“nope!”

“that’s such a waste.” she expressed. “why would he be with that when he could be with layla? everybody wants layla shit— even i want layla sometimes.”

“you’re such a bitch!” her other friend cackled and smacked her arm. “but no yeah… i give it a year max. i heard he doesn’t whore around anymore, but considering how long he chased after me for a quick fuck? there’s no way he’s suddenly just— a saint.”

“do you regret rejecting him?” 

“yes oh my god— i was trying to be mysterious and different but he ended up just fucking someone else that same night—”

you hadn’t noticed how hard you were gripping your pencil until a cramping pain shot through your knuckles, you instantly relaxing and setting it softly off to the side.

“fuck! you know what?” one of them jumped up excitedly. “i actually heard he’s still seeing layla!”

the other gasped. “you’re lying!”

“no i’m not i swear!” she snatched her phone from the desk and frantically typed away. “ricky— you know ricky? he said one of layla’s close friends spilled that they talk so much and meet up sometimes to fuck—”

“stooop his poor girlfriend! oh my god someone needs to tell her—”

you slammed your laptop shut and stood, you never one to skip out on lectures or leave early but not giving a single fuck at the moment as you packed up, physically unable to hear anything else and feeling straight up nauseous at everything they were saying, drowning out the rest of their rambling as you swung your bag over your shoulder and pushed your chair in, walking out of class and leaving your lecture hall as a whole.

they’re just rumors.

they’re just two bitches with nothing better to do and were weirdly obsessed with your boyfriend's personal business.

yuta would never do that to you…

but was he— was he that obsessed with layla before you? and did he seriously fuck around with every girl he could possibly get his hands on?

so what was so different about you? his actual girlfriend?

“flower?”

you stiffened, eyes snapping up from the floor and landing on a surprised looking yuta, waiting for you by your class like he always did.

“you’re out of class already?” he tapped on his phone to wake it up. “it doesn’t end for another thirty minutes i was gonna go get my car from the parking lot to get you—”

you hated yourself for feeling like he was the last person you wanted to see… but you just couldn’t help it.

“i left.”

your simple quiet reply took him a bit off guard.

“you left?” he tilted his head. “but you never leave class early… are you feeling a little rebellious today baby?”

he smiled big and expected a pretty giggle from you at his teasing then— but he got nothing.

your face was still stoic, and with a small pinch in between your brows.

“mhm.”

his smile wavered.

“o—okay…” he put his phone back in his pocket. “well— the boys are organizing for our fundraising event… and i— i was gonna ask if you could help me with our booth banner and decorations baby? everything we made looks like chicken scratch and you have pretty handwriting…”

your heart clenched so fucking hard in your chest, wanting to say yes with everything in you, but the annoying stupid gossip from earlier soliciting bitter jealousy in your mind that unfortunately overpowered everything else.

“i’m sorry yu…” you mumbled, eyes looking away. “i don’t feel that great today so i’m just gonna go home. i’ll help tomorrow though if that’s alright.”

“oh— you don’t feel good?” yuta frowned, stepping closer. “what’s wrong?”

yuta caught the way you took a step back, and he blinked.

“i just feel nauseous is all.” you weakly smiled. “i’m gonna go home for the day and hopefully feel better in the morning.”

you felt nauseous?

“what did you eat today? let me take you to get some meds—” 

he tried to place a soothing hand on your back, but the way you moved away from him again set off a thousand blaring alarms in his head.

“i—it’s okay!” you stammered, hugging yourself and starting to walk in the opposite direction towards the parking lot. “i’m just gonna head home yu i’ll text you—”

“flower wait—”

yuta quickly caught your hand, his eyes flooded in absolute worry and confusion as he looked at you.

you were never like this with him.

and— and any time you were sick you always wanted to be with him to let him take care of you.

“what yu?” you mumbled, your sad gaze finally dragging up to look at him in the eyes.

“baby what’s wrong?” he asked softly. “i feel like it’s something else.”

you bit down on the inside of your cheek.

“i just feel nauseous.”

“well then come to my frat okay? you can— you can take a nap in my room and i think i have some nausea meds somewhere—”

his grip on your hand tightened a little.

“or maybe we can take a walk somewhere and that’ll help? like at the aquarium? we can visit buddy—”

yuta’s frantic blubbering to try to get you to stay with him sent a shooting pang of guilt through your chest, it breaking you from that weird and awful headspace you were in as your eyes softened.

you shamefully realized then that it really wasn’t fair you were treating him like this… especially because he quite literally didn’t do anything at all— you feeling silly and awful that you rejected his advances and were off with him when all he was trying to do was help you feel better.

the rumors and gossip was something that was completely out of his control… and you shouldn’t punish him for that.

you took a small step forward then, giving him a tiny hesitant smile.

“we can… go to your frat yu.”

he perked up.

“yeah?” 

“yeah.”

you timidly reached up and softly slid your arms around his neck, yuta immediately responding by pulling your body snug against his with a squeeze, relieved that you agreed to come home with him and that you were letting him touch you again— pecking the side of your head before letting go and gently leading you to his car.

but the tight feeling in his chest didn’t go away.

it was nagging at him, and annoyingly so as he tried to dumb down his stupid insecurities and not overthink on the drive to his frat house, trying to settle himself with the reasoning you had told him and trying not to think about the way you kept dodging his hands, that you were just a little sick is all…

so then— why had you looked so upset?

and yuta’s turmoil only grew once he started to juggle the possibility of it being not something you felt, but something you heard.

a rumor.

“a woman! yuta brought a woman!”

“it’s y/n idiot.” yuta shot back to one of his frat brothers, sending you a playful eye roll as he closed the door behind you upon arrival.

“oh it is! hiii yyy/nnnn!” a different one spoke up, a handful of them huddled over a large table in the dining room with a sheet of white poster paper laying in the middle.

“hiii.” you shyly spoke, a sweet polite smile on your face that yuta swooned over as he placed an arm around your shoulders, leading you to the table.

“what the—” yuta’s eyes squinted over the poster paper as you slapped a hand over your mouth, stifling a laugh and your eyes darting over how horrid the layout design of the banner was for their fundraising event, your boyfriend not exaggerating in the slightest when he said it looked like chicken scratch.

men.

“how did you guys manage to make it worse?!” yuta exclaimed, loudly laughing as he leaned over the table and pointed at specific weird smudges and drawings. “i was only gone for an hour!”

you giggled and leaned over with him, some of the boys making room for you so you could properly take a peek at their so-called vigorous work, your amused eyes gazing over the messily painted bold black lettering and the odd random drawings of smiley faces and money.

yuta burst out laughing again.

“who the fuck drew this?!” he pointed to a specific drawing of a weirdly shaped stick man holding a tray of cookies, the smile on its face so cartoonishly huge and toothy that you had to bite down hard on your bottom lip to prevent yourself from laughing, not wanting to offend whoever it was that drew it.

“it was toma!” someone from the crowd spoke up.

“toma?!” yuta shook his head incredulously, scanning the faces of his brothers until they landed on an annoyingly familiar pair of eyes— the culprit hiding behind a few other guys and snickering.

“what?!” toma whined, stepping through the boys and crossing his arms. “i was trying to help out.”

this was the first time you’d properly seen toma up close (and meeting him altogether actually), you not particularly accustomed to him yet like the other guys since he was a freshman, him having just come in for the year and you not really knowing much about him besides from the stories yuta’s told you, your recollections of the shit he’s done and said making it obvious that toma was rowdy and reckless in nature.

“with that?” yuta laughed again. “why’s the mouth bigger than its own head?”

“because he’s happy.” toma shrugged, a playful little curl to his lips. “he’s just so jolly to be selling cookies at a fundraiser, and i wanted to show off my rare artistic talent for the frat!”

“oh yeah? that’s what you wanted?” yuta leaned his weight on the side of his hip. “draw me some cute pictures on a piece of paper then, i’ll put them on the fridge for you and your probation buttheads to see.”

several brothers snickered while toma slumped, a distressed look on his face.

“yuta please i helped out so you’d lift my probation!” he exclaimed, freezing and cowering under your boyfriends sudden glare. “…maybe?”

in regards to toma’s outbreak, administration ended up just giving yuta and his entire frat a warning upon him meeting with them last week, leaving it ultimately up to him to decide what he wanted to do with toma and the pack he led to the other frat house, and yuta keeping true to his word to you, put them all on a three month social probation with no fucks given.

“are you nuts?” yuta chuckled. “you’re looking for parole with a drawing like that?”

“your girlfriend likes it! look she’s laughing!” all eyes shot to you and you froze, your giggles instantly halting and a hand flying over your mouth.

“sorry! i don’t—”

yuta shot him another menacing glare, deadlier than the last one as he picked up a marker from the table and chucked it at toma, it landing right smack on his forehead and clattering to the ground, the rest of the boys boastfully laughing.

“i’ll tell yuta to make your probation four months if you don’t get out of my face right now.” the vice president spoke up, moving through the crowd until he reached the front. 

yuta shrugged. “oh i was already gonna do that.”

“no! why?!” toma threw his hands up in desperation. “for what reason?! because of a drawing?!”

“it’s the only poster paper we have toma.” your boyfriend grumbled. 

“and you’re not even supposed to be down here around the fundraising shit.” the vice president spat. “you’re supposed to be upstairs with the rest of your—”

“i came down ‘cause i was thirsty!—”

“you drew on the poster paper!—”

“yu.” you murmured through their continuous bickering and yelling— tugging on his shirt to try and get his attention, his eyes flickering to yours and head quickly coming down to listen.

“what happened baby?” his grip on your shoulder tightened a little. “is it your nausea?”

“oh! no i’m okay now!” you smiled. “i can do your guys’ fundraiser poster still, i’ll just flip it over to the blank side and work there.”

“aw flower that’s okay! not when you’re feeling a little sick...” he looked at you fondly, a kind half grin on his lips as he placed a flat palm on top of your head.

“no honestly i’m alright!” you quickly shook your head and looked towards the poster and the rest of the boys, them still fighting and blaming each other over nonsense that had to do with social probations, the ruined poster, and sorority girls— wanting to ease them a little in anyway you possibly could, as well as mentally make up for the stupid white lie you had told him earlier.

yuta’s hand slid from your head back down to your shoulder, apprehensive.

“are you— are you sure?” his eyes shifted to the poster. “i feel bad making you do the work i’m supposed to be doing…”

“you’re not making me do anything silly.” you reassured with a small laugh. “i wanna help yu… its really okay. honestly.”

a gradual beaming smile spread across his face then, the hand on your shoulder pulling you in and yuta pressing a big fat kiss to the side of your head, enamored by everything that you were as he leaned back and nodded gratefully, letting you go.

“thank you flower—”

“okkotsu these beasts are out of control.”

the vice president struggled through the moving pushy crowd to reach the both of you, looking so utterly pissed off and overwhelmed as he elbowed and shoved to get face to face with yuta, a tad bit out of breath.

“they’re freaking out over toma’s fuck up and now they somehow think the fundraiser’s fucked up and i actually do think we fucked up—”

“hey— it’s okay! relax.” yuta placed a hand on his shoulder. “why do you think that? we’re not—”

“because the posters fucked.” he huffed out, trying to even his breathing. “so then we look like the biggest shitheads at the fundraiser by default and everyone’s gonna buy the sorority girls cookies instead of ours so then we’re gonna be broke and we can’t throw parties without money— why are you laughing.”

yuta covered his mouth and shook his head.

“i’m not— sorry—”

“this is serious man my god!” he slapped yuta’s hand off his shoulder and glared. “they’re about to brawl over toma’s stupid drawing i can’t control them and you’re laughing?!”

his gaze quickly shifted to you.

“y/n he’s awful dear god help me—”

“alright okay— i’ll deal with them don’t worry.” your boyfriend looked at him pointedly. “you do that too much.”

“what, give a shit? my bad sir honestly my effing mistake—”

you giggled and yuta laughed at his sarcasm, lightheartedly shoving his shoulder.

“go to bed man you’ve been dealing with this all day.” he sent him a sympathetic smile. “y/n offered to do our poster and i’m gonna help so we’ll be done by morning—”

surprise crossed the vice president’s face, his eyes flickering to yours once more.

“actually?” 

you nodded with a smile.

“oh thank god—” the color seemed to return to his face, him placing a hand on his chest and feeling relief wash over him as he looked at you, reciprocating your smile. “thank you y/n. seriously.”

“mhm! no problemmm.” you responded kindly. “but rest please. you’ll make yourself sick if you keep stressing like this…”

you’d lost count how many times you’d seen the vice president lose his shit over anything that had to do with the frat, it evidently obvious how much he cared for the boys and the fraternity despite his humorous verbal abuse— him being possibly the only brother in yuta’s frat that you respected and trusted out of anyone else in there, and often went to him whenever you had questions about their upcoming events or things in relation if yuta wasn’t available.

“alright.” the vice president sent you both a small smile before turning around to face the rowdy men-filled crowd, raising his hands up.

“okay away from the table! everybody leave and go to bed we have a fundraiser tomorrow! cabinet will deal with it just away— toma what the fuck are you still doing down here?!”

“i have to talk to yuta!” he whined. “you were hogging him the entire time.”

the crowd began to disperse as toma made his way forward.

“he’s not gonna lift your probation stupid.”

“i know!” he spat. “it’s about something else.”

yuta quirked a brow.

“something else?” 

there was a devilish glint to his eyes, and yuta internally rolled his, turning to the vice president.

“it’s okay.” he placed a gentle palm on your lower back and softly ushered you forward. “can you show y/n where the materials are for the poster please? i’ll be there in a minute.”

the vice president nodded and smiled politely at you, beckoning you over to the table where the ruined poster lay, markers and paint brushes and little cups of paint scattered about in disarray as you approached.

yuta’s attention shifted to toma, crossing his arms.

“what is it? you alright?”

“are you cheating on your girlfriend?”

yuta froze, brows immediately pinching together.

“what?”

toma shrugged. “are you? it’s what i’ve been hearing.”

“hearing?” he stepped closer. “from who?”

“dunno. like— almost everyone. too much to say.”

yuta’s heart dropped.

who the fuck was saying that?

“no you moron i’m not.” he snapped. “but… if you can figure out who’s spreading it… i’ll— consider lifting your probation.”

toma lit up.

“will you?!”

“i said consider.”

yuta’s face was blank and cold, wanting to quickly put an end to the conversation as it was making him fucking queasy, nodding his head up towards the stairs.

had you heard this rumor?

“go up before the VP chews you out.”

“good idea!” toma flashed him a goofy thumbs up and scrambled away to his designated room, yuta shaking his head as he walked over to you and the vice president, his eyes cast down to the ground in pensive thought.

why couldn’t people just leave you and him alone?

“—and we literally only have blue, yellow, red, and green like the most rancid colors—”

“oh that’s okay!” you laughed. “they’re primary colors i can mix to make new ones if i need to.”

“great!” the VP smiled. “i’m going to bed.”

“go man.” yuta chuckled, patting a friendly hand to his back. “thank you again.”

he nodded and began making his way to the staircase, hopping up the steps. 

“i’ll set up in the morning for the fundraiser and handle the guys!” yuta loudly mentioned. “will you just check attendance for me please?”

“yeah!” the vice president called out from down the hall, his voice gradually fading with each step until he was out of earshot, leaving just the two of you in the middle of the huge dim living room.

you looked to the poster and grabbed the ends then, flipping it over to the clean blank side and picking up a nearby spare pencil to begin sketching.

“i was thinking of writing your fraternity's name in calligraphy up here—” you pointed to a spot a little above center. “and then ‘cookie sale’ down here? do you like that?”

“sounds great flower!” yuta smiled big. “what’s calligraphy?”

you giggled, picking up a ruler and drawing a faint straight line across to make sure you weren’t going crooked as you went. 

“it’s kind of like cursive but just a bit chunkier.” you explained softly, starting to sketch out the loopy lettering. “it looks really pretty on projects and advertisements.”

yuta hummed, peering over your shoulder from behind you as you worked.

“and then i was thinking of drawing little cookies floating around? and stars? or maybe—”

“you know i love you right?”

you stopped, shifting your body slightly in his direction to reveal an anxious looking yuta, worry splattered all over his face as he waited for your response.

was… he okay?—

“of course i d—”

“and you know i’d never do anything to hurt you right?”

you fully turned your body around now to properly face him, your eyes filled with concern as you put your pencil down.

“i do baby…” you softly replied. “are you okay? what’s wrong?”

yuta sighed through his nose and shook his head, placing his hands at the edge of the table on either sides of you, his head slumping down to gently rest against your forehead.

“nothing.” he muttered. “i just— think.”

“you just think?” you lifted your arms and slid them around his shoulders, giving him a little comforting squeeze. “about what… hm?”

“you.”

he was always thinking of you.

every morning, every evening, every night.

there wasn’t ever a time that yuta wasn’t thinking of you— of how you were, if you were feeling okay and if you’d gotten enough to eat in the morning… if you still loved him.

because unfortunately, there also wasn’t ever a time that yuta wasn’t thinking about the different ways he could lose you, since his past always seemed to come back to haunt him and damage the only good fucking thing remaining in his life, fearfully living on the edge and awfully insecure despite his reputation, one that was programmed for him to be thoughtless and careless and something he actually was once before.

but yuta wasn’t that person anymore.

except it still wasn’t enough.

“really?” a blush rose to your cheeks with a cheeky smile, you leaning back the tiniest bit. “and what about me yu?”

the corner of his lip quirked up— his face a little tired, but soft.

“how smart you are.” he spoke quietly. “and pretty. with pretty handwriting.”

you giggled, the sound filling yuta’s chest with warmth and the crinkles by your eyes making him stupidly swoon, bringing you in closer by the waist and pressing a delicate kiss to the tip of your nose.

“please tell me you know that.”

your brows furrowed a bit.

he’d never been this— serious with you before and stating things that were already the obvious, the way he clutched tighter at your waist and the sunken defeated expression he wore, was something that indefinitely alarmed you as your eyes quickly scoured over his features. 

“yuta.”

his eyes flickered up to yours.

“yeah flower?”

“what’s wrong.” you pushed gently, your hands slipping down from his shoulders to cup his cheeks. “why are you telling me this?”

“because i need to.” his head slowly tilted, cheek leaning into your touch. “i need you to know.”

“but i do know.” you shook your head. “you’re telling me things i’ve known since we became friends yuta…”

he still didn’t look alleviated in the slightest by your words, and you frowned.

“remember earlier when you asked me what was wrong? after i’d left class early?”

he silently nodded against your hands.

“the way you felt then about wanting to know is how i feel now.” you explained. “i can tell when you’re thinking too much about something baby…”

he sighed deeply through his nose and his eyes fluttered shut.

he didn’t want to bombard you with his insecurities or make you feel like it was your job to pull him from those agitating depth full thoughts… and he didn’t want to make you feel responsible for any of it either.

it was all just— him.

and everybody on campus who didn’t know how to shut the fuck up too, for it made his overthinking worse.

“i’m scared i’m gonna mess up.” he admitted, laughing humorlessly. “and ruin what we’ve built.”

“huh?” your eyes slightly narrowed. “why do you say that?… you won’t—”

“the rumors flower…” he mumbled, head lifting from your hands. “everyone’s apparently waiting for me to fuck up just because they like who i used to be better.”

your eyes softened, palms coming down to rest flat against his chest as you listened.

“i hate that they can’t accept i’m with you… and i hate that i let them bother me so much.” 

his hands and arms lifted from your waist to wrap around your head instead, caging you into his embrace. 

“i hate that they talk about you.” he whispered in your hair. “i hate that i can’t do anything about it.”

everyone on this stupid freaking campus could drag yuta through the dirt and say he was a loser and a sleaze, that he was an awful human being and deserved to rot in the deepest pits of hell— as he wouldn’t mind any of it in the slightest if it meant sparring you completely.

if he could, if you’d let him… he would drop it all for you.

“you’re not gonna mess up anything...” you breathed out a soft laugh as you pulled back, your fingers coming up to card and caress through his soft raven strands. “and if you do, that’s okay! we’ll just fix it baby.”

the scent of his citrusy cologne wafted through your nostrils, the smell one of the most comforting things in your fucking life as you sunk your nose further into the fabric of his clothing then.

“i’m sure there’ll be moments when i mess up too.” you murmured against him, gently. “but we’ll deal with it together… so you shouldn’t let what anyone says about anything affect you so much okay?”

you leaned back again and gave his head a little pat.

“you look so stressed and i don’t like it.”

he chuckled softly and picked his head up, eyes peering down at you for a moment and staring before he lifted his head completely, his posture a little straighter as he nodded.

“i’m sorry.” he sheepishly smiled. “i just get in my head sometimes.”

you smiled back warmly, shaking your head and understanding to the fucking max where he’s coming from, for you were silently in the same exact position right at this moment and yet too cowardly to seek reassurance like he was rightfully doing.

“s’okay!” your hands slid from his hair down to his chest, standing on your tippy toes to give him a tiny peck on the lips. “don’t be sorry.”

yuta couldn’t control the rumors or what people had to say about the both of you.

but what he could control, were his actions and his words to you… and it was almost like he wanted to prove a point to every single dickhead on campus and make them see, believe and comprehend that you weren’t just a toy for him to disgustingly use and have a simple fling with, deciding in that moment to prioritize your happiness and satisfaction above all else.

he needed you to know that he wasn’t using you.

so he created distance.

and although it wasn’t distance that was detrimental or cruel to you or your relationship, it was enough of a distance that you noticed right away while helping out at his fraternity’s fundraiser the next day— you offering to assist the vice president in keeping track of the total number of cookie sales and stock, refilling the stands and glass casings whenever it was needed while yuta dealt with the boys, him networking with other frat guys from several different universities as well and charming them with his usual second nature charisma, anyone who spoke to him succumbing up to it so much that they’d be swayed enough to buy packs and packs of cookies.

you’d even witnessed stampeding crowds of sorority girls and staff buy dozens of batches simply because yuta kindly flashed them a handsome smile and an enthusiastic hello, you sat at the booth blinking in dumbfounded amazement as the vice president worked the register and cashed in wads of dollar bills, the shelves cleaning themselves out quicker than you thought.

but every time you tried to talk to yuta or give him a kiss… it was almost hurried from him— interlocked fingers that were fleeting and only lasted a couple seconds, yuta squeezing your hand with a grin before letting go and walking a different direction without even letting you get a word in, or embraces that were too short and fucking weird, him sort of treating you like a best friend instead of his girlfriend as he barely pecked your forehead or cheeks or literally anywhere that wasn’t your lips.

you tried to tell yourself that he was just busy and probably had a lot on his mind, understanding completely that he had responsibilities to attend to for the day and feeling irritated at yourself for being a bit upset.

though you couldn’t help but wonder why this time it felt so… different.

because usually, even when yuta had things to do for the frat or events to cater to, he never once let you off on your own for too long, and he always showered you with affection and kisses that made your cheeks heat up and heart palpate into literal oblivion that you’d have to cup a hand over his mouth to get him to simmer down, a bashful silly sorry from him muffling against your palm in return.

and you realized then just how attached to your boyfriend you actually were… and way more than you initially thought.

you missed him.

the vice president glanced at you from over his shoulder and smiled, chuckling a bit as he finished up tending to the latest customer and closing the register.

“you okay?” he waved to someone in the crowd on the other side of the booth before turning back to you. “you look bothered. is it too hot?”

“oh! no i’m okay! thank you.” you shook your head, smiling politely.

he smirked.

“you miss yuta?”

your cheeks went pink and he burst out laughing, reaching to type a few things on the register’s touch screen.

“us selling cookies is one of our biggest fundraisers, and its where we make most of our money for the year so— yuta’s usually all over the place during it.”

you listened intently, nodding along as he breathed out tiredly through his nose and walked a bit away from the booth, sitting down on the chair next to yours.

“i don’t know how i’m gonna do this by myself next year man…” he mumbled with closed eyelids, tiredly crossing his arms. “yuta’s like a machine. i don’t know how he handles the guys and the frat and whatever else in between without crashing out like me.”

a sense of pride for your man bubbled up in your chest then, it always nice to hear the vice president or anyone for that matter speak highly of yuta and his abilities, the work he’d put into the fraternity for the majority of his college life so insane and admirable, that there was no doubt in your mind he’d leave behind a blueprint and had set the standards fucking high for the next presidents to come.

“are you applying to be president for next year?” you asked.

he snorted.

“fuck no. i could never fill yuta’s shoes.”

he peeked an eye open and you gave him a look, him laughing in response.

“what?”

“i’ve seen you handle the frat so well all of the time what are you on?”

“four cans of energy drinks.” he muttered. “and cookies from the batch of burnt scraps.”

you giggled, leaning back against the chair and looking on ahead— yuta in the middle of the grassy field surrounded by girls, members from other fraternities, and anything alike as you watched him converse and be silly with them all, a sweet smile on his face that you wished you could see up close for a bit, since he hadn’t stopped by the booth at all for the majority of the day and was instead working the field to bring in customers.

“i think you’re the most qualified out of anyone to take over yuta’s position next year.” you spoke gently. “so i hope you do apply.”

“i yell at the boys too much… yuta knows a good in between when needed.” his head lulled tiredly to the side. “and i don’t know if i’m gonna be able to handle the rejection if he says no.”

your jaw hung open, a bewildered look on your face.

“why would he say no? if anything it’s already yours—”

his head snapped in your direction.

“is it? how do you know? did he tell you? i feel like you’d know tell me right now—”

“tell you what?”

you straightened up upon hearing the familiar voice of your man and looked, a big smile stretching across your face once you saw yuta standing there on the other side of the booth, a cute half grin on his lips as he leaned against the table with palms on the surface.

“yu!”

“hi flower!” he beamed. “you okay?”

“uh huh!” you stood up, stepping closer to the table and leaning against it, mirroring him. “are you…?”

“i am!” he nodded, walking around the table and swinging an arm around your shoulders. “i’m exhausted though i don’t wanna talk to any more people i can’t do it.”

you giggled, little butterflies fluttering in your tummy at finally having him next to you and his attention for the time being.

“i feel like a walking corpse.” the vice president huffed out. “we can pack up early? we hit our goal in the afternoon i think we should send the boys back to the frat to set up for the after party.”

“sounds good!” yuta smiled, turning his head down to you. “you’re still going right? to the party?”

“mhm!” you nodded. “i just need to go home and get ready… do you need help setting up for it?”

“oh no flower that’s alright!” he squeezed your shoulder lovingly. “you’ve already done so much for me… just go get ready baby and call me so i can pick you up okay?”

“kay!” you cheesed, leaning up to give him a kiss when yuta suddenly turned his head to the side, your lips landing on his cheek instead.

what—

you pulled back, trying to keep a neutral expression on your face as you took a step forward and out of his arm around your shoulders, a growing ache in your chest over the fact that he’d been doing this all day.

did it look like you were going in for cheek kisses? or kisses that were anywhere but his mouth? it wasn’t— obvious?

maybe… maybe it was just you. 

maybe you were messing up again.

“thanks for making the poster by the way and helping out y/n.” the vice president mentioned, snapping you from your thoughts. “it looks so freaking good i don’t think we’ve ever had a banner look that great.”

you smiled brightly and nodded. “it’s okayyy! i hope i helped you guys out a little bit.”

“flower you did more than a little bit.” yuta laughed. “we sold so many cookies because i heard there was a pretty girl by the register… heh.”

a wave of heat rose to your cheeks and you playfully rolled your eyes, waving him off as you stepped away from the canopy tent.

“call me please when you’re ready!” yuta called out to you, you turning your body a bit and showing him a cute thumbs up before facing forward again, him and the vice president watching you walk across the busy field and towards the campus parking lot.

the vice president spoke up after a few seconds of silence.

“is it true?”

yuta’s gaze switched to his.

“what is?”

“that you’re cheating on y/n with layla.”

his face dropped, brows furrowing as yuta moved his body to look at him properly.

“you’ve heard the rumors too?”

he nodded.

“where?”

“everywhere.” the vice president responded plainly. “i hear them in class, out of class, in the student lounge, when i go take a piss—”

“from— from who?”

the borderline frantic desperation in yuta’s tone made the vice presidents gaze flicker to his, eyeing his solemn eagerness to know information that he regrettably couldn’t give concretely, but also eyeing his body language and expression to see if yuta was indeed guilty, or just a victim to annoying gossip once more.

except this time around… it was cruel. 

“it’s from multiple people that i don’t really know.” he sighed. “i just hear it floating around.”

yuta groaned and ran both hands down his face in exasperation, bitterly shaking his head while his mind ran rampant for the thousandth fucking time over the rumor of his supposed infidelity.

“so is it true?” the vice president repeated.

“no.” yuta spoke firmly, harshly. “no i would never do something like that to her. ever.”

there was another moment of silence.

“alright.” the vice president leaned back in his chair, his eyes tiredly closing again. “because it’d be a shame if you were… she’s a nice girl.”

“i know she is…” yuta mumbled, sluggishly walking over to the seat next to him and plopping down on it. “i’ve been trying to figure out who’s spreading that rumor but it’s fucking everywhere that i can’t figure it out. even toma asked me about it.”

the vice president snorted. “toma?”

“yeah.” yuta put his elbows down on his knees and leaned forward, an arm coming up to rest his cheek against the heel of his palm. “i told him if he could figure out who was doing it i’d consider lifting his probation.”

“huh?!”

yuta looked at him apologetically.

“i know… i hope it’s okay with you.” he dropped his arm and gazed on ahead. “i was only gonna lift a month off, and that’s even if he can find out who.”

“toma’s gonna stop at nothing to figure out who just because of that.” the vice president laughed. “it’s alright man... i’d do the same if i were you.”

yuta solemnly nodded.

“i’m scared of what she’s heard. i don’t want her to get hurt by any of it.”

“have you talked to her about it?”

he shook his head. “kind of… only generally but not specifically about the cheating rumor—”

“wha—” the vice president gawked. “that’s the one thing you should be talking to her about yuta she’s gonna hear it eventually—”

“but that’s the thing if— if she hasn’t yet i want it to stay that way…” he mumbled, head hanging low. “so i can try and get rid of it before it upsets her.”

“i don’t know if that thought process is a good idea or not.” the vice president spoke warily. “it kind of looks like you’re trying to cover up the fact that you are cheating—”

“i’m not—”

“then do something about it.”

the vice president stood up, arms raising up over his head to stretch and loosen up his tired limbs, them falling limp at his sides after. “talk to layla directly at the party tonight and find out if it’s her or not, then go from there.”

yuta’s brows pinched.

why the fuck didn’t he think of that sooner?

“i’ll ask around for you too.” the vice president swiped his backpack from the grass and shrugged it on, taking his jacket then from the back of the chair and tossing it lazily over his shoulder.

“but your best bet is toma.”

and the vice president was right.

because the minute yuta picked your stunning self up for the party later that day, utterly obsessed with the way you dolled up and him trying to take it all in for himself, his phone wouldn’t stop fucking buzzing inside the pocket of his pants and breaking his looney trance— him having to literally rip his eyes away from you and begrudgingly shove his hand around for his phone until he found it.

“who is it?” you laughed softly, buckling your seatbelt once you got in the car and reaching up to pull down his sun visor, sliding open the small vanity mirror and readjusting your hair a little.

yuta nearly drooled.

“oh! uh—”

he snapped his head down to see message after message pile in from toma, all of which were back to back and without a freaking break as they nearly blew up his phone, the nonstop vibration against his palm irritating him as he unlocked his device and went to toma’s contact.

toma: yo

toma: prez

toma: hello

toma: answer me right now

“it’s just toma.” he shook his head, thumbs prepping to type a response.

toma: HELLO

toma: YUTA

toma: ARE YOU IGNORING ME

toma: I BRING NEWS ABOUT YOUR CHEATING SCANDAL!

his eyes widened.

toma: LIFT MY PROBATION

yuta: say that again and i’m extending it

yuta: what did you find?

toma: wouldn’t you like to know ;)

toma: bet your girlfriend sure would!

toma: let me stay at the frat for the party and i’ll tell you

yuta: five months

toma: NO OKAY FUCK IM SORRY

toma: seriously though come to the house before i leave and i’ll tell you

toma: it’s too much to type and i’m lazy

“is he okay?” you asked kindly, sliding the mirror shut and closing the sun visor, turning your head to look at him.

“yeah he’s fine baby.” he looked up and smiled, leaning across the console to press a sweet kiss on your cheek, settling back in his seat and shifting the gear into reverse to pull out of your driveway. “you have everything?”

why wasn’t he kissing your mouth?

“mhm!” you nodded. “how many people did you guys invite?”

“it was an open invite.” he pushed the gear to drive and accelerated down your street back to his fraternity.

you scoffed in amazement.

“open invite?”

usually the parties yuta threw with his frat brothers were of select invite only, ones that consisted of anyone with any type of popularity alongside whoever they decided to bring also of status, you realizing that you were probably the only one there who didn’t have anything to their name in comparison to the others.

but with the invite now extending to absolutely anyone? and his parties already to begin with rowdy and insane?

you expected yuta’s frat house to turn into a shit show.

“what?” he laughed, turning his steering wheel to the left. “it’s a lot of people isn’t it?”

“you’re gonna have half of the student body in your house.”

he laughed again and shot you an apologetic look, him continuing to drive through the familiar avenues and paths that led up to his fraternity, when you quickly noticed the streets looked a bit more packed than usual— almost every single curb lined up with mass amounts of vehicles that were parked damn near back to back with no room left to even get out, you spotting small portions of dressed up crowds walking down the sidewalk the closer you got to his frat, already being peppy and noisy as they cackled and carried down packs of alcohol in their arms.

yuta had invited nearly the entire student body on purpose.

to find out who it was that was spreading that piece of shit rumor about his infidelity.

your boyfriend pulled into the driveway, your ears already picking up on the booming bass of the music inside as yuta flashed his lights at people who were in the way, him slowly inching through to get in the open garage as your eyes wildly scoured over the amount of students crossing the lawn or surrounding his car, empty red solo cups and trash littering the grass out front when the party had literally just started an hour ago.

there were so many people, more than you had ever seen at his previous parties.

yuta lifted an arm and pressed the small garage remote that was hooked above on his sun visor, the wide door loudly sliding shut in response as he drove in a little further before cutting off the ignition, him pulling his keys out and hooking the carabiner through one of his belt loops.

“you okay baby?” he smiled kindly, lifting his head to look at you and setting a hand down on his steering wheel. “i’m sorry about all the people… i know its a lot.”

you shook your head and gave him a cute grin, actively pushing down the fuzzy nerves that started to push up your throat for the sake of not being a burden, you not wanting to be annoying in the slightest about the crowds and just let yuta have fun, with this being his last fundraising after party and all.

“don’t be sorry yu its okay.” you reached across the console and took his hand, interlacing your fingers together. “you guys deserve to unwind like this after today right?”

he beamed and nodded, his grip tightening and eyes flickering down to your pretty little dress that made him swallow and quickly divert his gaze away, lips pursing to the side with pinky cheeks as he tried to get his head straight and remind himself over and over of the distance, of not playing into everybody’s stupid beliefs and hurting you.

but it was so fucking hard to when you were just so gorgeous to him, fondness creeping up in his chest then as he randomly thought of the night he first saw you at that one party he hosted a year ago— just as pretty if not more.

yuta was so unbelievably glad that you had rejected him then, for it woke his entire self up to the possibilities and beauty of actual genuine love rather than just quick fucks, the normalcy of meaningless hook ups something he had shamefully grown accustomed and desensitized to since high school.

your rejection had woken him up to you.

“yuta..?”

he blinked, eyes snapping back to you.

“yeah! yes flower?”

you giggled softly. “i asked if you wanted to go inside? i’m sure everyone’s been wanting to see you…”

he simply shrugged and brought your hand up to his lips, kissing the back of it.

“but i wanna see you.”

you snorted. “you are seeing me silly… you see me everyday! hehe.”

and yet it wasn’t nearly enough. it was never enough.

yuta reached across the console with his unoccupied hand and ran his thumb over your precious cheek, his touch delicate as he silently looked at you with a little glimmer in his eye, taking in the sight of you before retracting his arm and smiling.

“stick to me the entire night please.” he squeezed your hand. “if at any point you get tired or a little nervous baby just let me know. we’ll go up to my room and call it, okay?”

your heart fluttered at how considerate and sweet he was, you nodding in response.

“mkay!”

you had never seen the frat look so full and feel so humid in your fucking life, you gripping tightly onto yuta’s hand as he led you through sweaty drunk bodies and narrow hallways, keeping close to him and trying to ignore the curious confused stares you got that eyed you both as you passed, shyly switching your gaze or turning your head altogether to evade it.

the stares weren’t anything new to you, as practically with every event or party yuta threw you received them without fail, the act a given at this point as no one seemed to ever remember your face or what you looked like no matter how long you had been around yuta already, you actually preferring it that way as it allowed you to be on campus without any weird instances from random individuals asking about your relationship with him.

yuta periodically looked over his shoulder at you to make sure you were still there and okay, his head turning back ahead and scanning every single fucking face he saw in the hopes of recognizing the vice president, or better yet— toma, him desperate to find him and get as much information as he possibly could to put an end to that horrific rumor before it got to you.

“okkotsu! heeey man! how’s it going?—”

you’d lost count of how many people had come up to your boyfriend to greet him or pat him on the shoulders, you next to him through it all and not minding one bit as you kept your fingers interlocked with his— your other hand clutching at his bicep while he mingled and charmingly laughed with his crowd, some even greeting you as you surprisedly reciprocated and shyly replied back, each time yuta caressing your knuckles reassuringly with his thumb— encouraging you, a kind look to his face that eased your nerves like nothing else ever did.

“you still doing okay flower?!” he yelled over the thumping music, pulling you to a little corner by the kitchen and leading you to stand against the wall, him shielding you from the crowd as he turned his back and faced you. “you feeling tired?!”

you shook your head no and sweetly grinned at him. “i’m good yu!”

he smiled and nodded, setting a hand on top of your head and giving it a gentle rub, careful of not messing with your prettily styled hair too much.

“you want anything to drink?!” he looked up and craned his neck around the wall to scope out the kitchen. “i bought a pack of sunny d and had one of the boys put it in the fridge for you!—”

“yo! okkotsu!”

yuta snapped his head over his shoulder, your own eyes peering around your man’s frame to see one of his frat brothers standing just a few feet away, pointing out into the crowd behind him with his thumb.

“toma’s still here! he’s looking for you!”

your brow quirked a little at the way yuta instantaneously straightened up and turned out a little more, wondering why toma’s presence elicited that reaction from him as his hand went from your head down along your arm, his thumb reaching your fingertips and lightly grazing over them.

“where is he?!” he asked over the music.

“out front on the porch! he’s getting ready to leave!”

yuta raised his other palm and thanked him before quickly turning back to you.

“i’m gonna go see what he wants okay flower?” he hurriedly kissed your forehead, you a bit perplexed at his urgency as you hesitantly nodded along.

“let me look for the VP really quick so you won’t be alone—”

“no yu its okay!” you let out a breathy laugh and shook your head. “go baby ill just wait here until you get back.”

he held your gaze for a moment, apprehensive.

“i— i don’t know flower!” he looked over his shoulder again, angling his body around and sweeping the crowd with anxious little eyes, turning back around to you. “i don’t wanna leave you by yourself i’d rather have someone with you—”

“yu.” you pushed gently. “it’s fine. i won’t move from here ill be in the kitchen waiting for you… okay? go baby go see what toma wants.”

yuta’s pupils were swimming in worry as he stared, feet planted on the floor and hesitant to move as he thought about the millions of things people could say or do to you while he was gone, him gnawing at the bottom of his lip as he continued to anxiously caress over your fingertips.

“o—okay—”

“okkotsu here!—”

both of your heads snapped to the right and saw the vice president, his face flushed red and goofy like as he extended a beer bottle out to yuta.

“why are you empty handed—”

“oh thank god!” yuta breathed out, taking the bottle from his awaiting hand and pulling him in with an arm for a heavy pat on the back, the VP drunkenly quirking a brow and blinking.

“what i do—”

“can you stay with y/n for like— ten minutes?” he quickly ushered. “i just gotta talk to toma really quick!”

“toma?!” the vice president spat. “the fucks he still doing here he’s supposed to be out of the house—”

“he will be once i talk to him!” your boyfriend replied by his ear. “but can you please just be with y/n for a few? I don’t wanna leave her by herself!”

the vice presidents gaze switched to where you were standing then, seemingly just noticing that you were there as his eyes lit up and he nodded, a friendly big smile growing on his face that you responded with a bashful timid one of your own.

“okay great! thanks man!—”

yuta took a few steps towards you and wrapped his arms around your waist, pulling you in snug and craning down a bit to rest the side of his head against yours.

“i’ll be back okay?” he spoke in your ear.

“o—okay but— you really didn’t have to get the VP to babysit me—”

“no i know baby i’m sorry.” he ran a soothing palm down your back. “but i worry...”

he peeled away from you and pouted. “but just hang tight alright? stick to him.”

you sighed a little through your nose and nodded, you going on your tippy toes then with puckering lips to give him an obvious goodbye smooch, when yuta turned his head again and made your kiss land on his cheek instead.

it looked like he had rejected you.

and yuta failed to see the hurt flash across your face once more as he stepped off to the side and turned, slipping his way through the crowd and basically get swallowed whole by the mass of it, you quickly losing sight of him as your shoulders drooped a little in disappointment.

what were you doing that was so wrong? usually yuta never went more than literally thirty minutes without a kiss from you… but so far he had broken his own record and went the entire day.

what was so wrong with you?

“y/n! do you want a sunny d?”

you jumped a little and turned, seeing the vice president in the kitchen now rummaging through the fridge, a small singular giggle slipping past your lips as you watched him struggle to even get his arms through, him shoving hoards of beer cans and alcohol packs off to the sides just to get his hands in the back.

“i’m pretty sure— fuck— one of the guys put a pack in for you—”

you walked over and carefully crouched down next to him by the fridge, peeking your head in and trying to spot the familiar orange liquidy bottles, more giggles tumbling out as you realized that the sunny d pack was quite literally right in front of the vice presidents face— front and center amongst the mountains of alcohol and trash.

“wait— hehe— i think—” you pointed through your little snickers. “i think it’s right there— oh!”

your arms shot out and you quickly grabbed onto his shoulders just as he was swaying off a little too much to the side, stabilizing him as he cackled and shook his head, his own hands fumbling for the edges of the fridge and gripping them.

“sorry! sorry i’m drinking my sorrows away so i’m drunk also here—”

he loopily pushed a bottle of sunny d in your arms, you scrambling slightly to retrieve it before it dropped to the ground from your hands, the both of you standing from your crouched position.

“thank you.” you smiled sweetly, your brows furrowing a little then. “why are you drinking your sorrows away?”

“because yuta’s graduating and i’m gonna have to deal with this shit on my own.” he swiped an open beer bottle from a nearby counter and took a swig. “he told me just before the party that i’m— hic!— president for next year—”

you gasped, eyes blowing fucking wide as you slapped a hand over your mouth in shock.

“oh my god!” you grinned. “congratulations! you should be so proud!—”

“i should be dead.” he muttered, dramatically drooping his upper body over the kitchen island and sulking. “i’m a dead man. after the fundraiser toma ran around the house naked which then turned into everyone running around the house naked and i couldn’t get anybody to put their fucking clothes on—”

“you—”

“i’ve never seen so many dicks in my life i didn’t even want to see any of their dicks—”

“hold on—”

“whatever happened to asking first? to consent?— OH GOD!—”

the VP sprang off the counter, spun in your direction and grabbed at your shoulders, you stiffening with big eyes as he shook you.

“you’re graduating too! what am i gonna do without you and your calligraphy?! the— the banners?!” his gaze darted over your face as he looked at you crazed and in a state of utter psychosis. “i don’t know any girls! just you by default! i’m gonna have to do bake sales with toma’s stupid fucking stick figures—”

you’d given up in trying to bring the vice president down from his erratic panicked high, deciding the best thing to do then was to just keep your mouth shut and let him ramble on his drunken worries and fears as he shook you, you laughing through it and lightly patting him on the back in comfort, knowing that deep down the VP was elated to have been granted a position so prestigious and accomplishing as you’d heard him wish on it ever since you’d met him, his emotional meltdown just a given and something that came with accepting a position as demanding as yuta’s.

he would be filling shoes that were seemingly impossible to do so in the first place… but you were more than sure that he was the one man that was actually more than qualified for it out of the flock.

and you’d wondered then as the vice president continued to shake you, if yuta had successfully sought out what toma wanted and if he was making his way back over to you sometime soon…

he wished.

“i need names toma names!”

“i tried!” toma flailed his arms out. “i swear to god i tried! but how do you think it looks when i try to come up to layla’s posse and chat them up?! they chewed me out every time i tried!”

he had a point…

“the only info i could get was that it’s her minions who are spreading the rumor.”

yuta’s gaze moved to his, arms crossed as the two of them stood in the middle of the front porch, the area thankfully deserted as the majority of students were inside.

he suspiciously eyed him. “how do you know that?”

“i stood outside the girl’s restroom by the east wing for an hour.” toma replied plainly. “god knows what the hell they were doing in there but— some of her friends were talking nonstop about it.”

yuta snorted, a palm cupping over his mouth as he thought about how much of an idiot creep toma must’ve looked standing outside of the girl's restroom like that.

he had initially planned to confront layla directly, but learning now that it may have not even been her that was at fault, made him feel a little bad and apprehensive about accusing her out of nowhere inside…

he dropped his hand and nodded. “and— and what about layla? is she spreading anything?”

toma shrugged. “dunno. didn’t get that far because i got yelled at.”

yuta laughed and shook his head, raising an arm to pat a heavy hand on toma’s shoulder in gratitude.

“alright, thanks man.” he smiled. “i’ll lift a month off your probation.”

“a month?!” toma gawked. “i thought you said the whole thing!”

“you barely gave me anything idiot.” yuta bent down and picked up his beer bottle from the ground. “you’re lucky i’m even lifting time off otherwise i would’ve added—”

“NO!” toma screamed in absolute terror, hands latching out to desperately clutch at his shirt. “i’m sorry thank you mister president...”

“okay.” he chuckled boyishly. “now go before the VP sees you—”

“i love you mister president—”

“go.”

“say hi to your pretty girl for me—”

“five months probation—”

“NO!”

you’d lost track of how long it had been since yuta left, as you were too preoccupied babysitting the VP— trying to keep him from blacking out and stay on his two feet as he swayed about the kitchen, blubbering about his position next year and then randomly switching from time to time to some girly he had a crush on in his economics class, your heart warming every time he spoke about her cutesy smile, but most of all genuinely worried about him as he almost nearly tipped over one of the keg stands in trying to perform a cartwheel in the middle of the kitchen.

if yuta saw the way that he was when he was supposed to be looking out for you… you figured your boyfriend wouldn’t be to happy with it— the biggest fear you’ve had yet quickly brewing in your chest over the vice president getting his up-and-coming position revoked.

“hey! let’s drink some water yeah?”

the VP whipped his head up, him funnily crouched in a corner and hugging his knees to his chest.

“is this what its like?”

you tilted your head as you opened the fridge, your eyes frantically scouring for a bottle of water and grabbing it once you spotted one, closing it back up and walking over to his sniffling self.

“what is?” you softly asked as you crouched to his level, uncapping the water bottle and offering it out to him.

“to have a girl give a shit about you?”

you giggled, shaking your head side to side as you watched him gratefully take the drink from your hands, chugging it down.

“just talk to her… i’m sure she’d love to go out with you!” you tried to reason. “you never know unless you just— try.”

his puffed out cheeks made you laugh again as he swallowed. “y/n you don’t get it i’m a loser she could never look my way—”

you playfully rolled your eyes. “you’re vice president of a frat. next year president. if that doesn’t get her i don’t know what will.”

he miserably shook his head and hung it.

“the difference is i’m ugly. yuta’s handsome. my boy has no trouble at all—”

“you’re not ugly—”

“layla! have you spoken to yuta tonight at all?”

you stilled, your face falling a bit as you kept your eyes on the VP, him still too drunk and teary to realize there were people in the kitchen now, you grateful that the both of you were out of sight in a tiny little corner so you could take a listen without them noticing.

“no.” she heavily sighed. “i haven’t seen him much at all actually… shame.”

you heard shuffling and the clinking of glass as you eavesdropped, praying that the vice president didn’t blabber out anything else and spoil your cover.

“i did.” a different voice spoke. “he’s with his girlfriend that’s why.”

you heard an exaggerated gasp from somewhere else.

“you saw her? what’d she look like?!”

“i couldn’t really see she was a bit far… but she is here with him.”

“geez, i’m surprised he’d even bring her around after just being with you layla. that’s embarrassing.”

your heart dropped.

“that’s their business not mine.” another spoke, you recognizing it to be layla’s voice again. “if he wants to humiliate her like that, that’s on him.”

… what?

the vice president stirred, about to open his big fat mouth when you sprung out and muffled him, his dazed little eyes confusedly looking at you.

“you’re so lucky though layla!” one gushed. “no one has been able to sleep with him lately except you.”

maybe… maybe the reason why yuta never initiated anything with you, the reason why he evaded your kisses and flat out treated you sometimes like you weren’t his literal girlfriend—

was because he was getting his fill somewhere else.

and somehow through your mental storm, the vice president realized that there were people in the kitchen now, but not just any people… but exactly who and what they were talking about, his own eyes blowing wide in panic.

the girls continued to chat as your hand slid away from the VP’s mouth, your gaze casted downward as you made an attempt to stand, when his hand suddenly shot out and grabbed yours.

“y/n—” he fought with everything in him to push down the alcohol for two fucking seconds and get his head straight. “where are you going—”

“i’m just gonna go find yuta… okay?”

your voice sounded it’s usual sweet and collected, but it was your body language that completely gave it away to him that you were not okay in the slightest.

“wait— just stay for a bit don’t— don’t listen—”

“stay here i’ll be back.” you mumbled, shaking his hand off and standing upright. “don’t try to stand please you’ll fall.”

“sweetheart whatever you heard it’s not true alright? you know that yuta would never—”

your mind wasn’t even registering what the vice president was saying at this point, you feeling your heart actively shattering in your chest as you made your way through the kitchen, passing by the group of girls and guessing that the one in the middle was layla— stunning and breathtaking and everything you’d expect yuta to hook up with and choose over you.

they didn’t even spare you a glance as you walked past them and out of the kitchen, weaving your way through the waves of sweaty people as you tried to spot yuta— you having no idea where he was and just going by the piece of information you had learned earlier of toma being out on the front porch, hoping that he somehow was still there as you squeezed through bodies, the air still humid and suffocating and it for some reason making your chest ache even more.

you wrongfully felt like you had to prove a point… like you were just as capable of being the embodiment of someone like layla that earned a rightful spot at being yuta’s girlfriend, something he not once ever made you question and yet— you shamefully succumbing up to the beliefs of his crowd no matter how many times you told yourself it wouldn’t happen.

you could only take so much… and the thought of losing yuta shook you like nothing else.

it made you desperate.

just as you practically shoved your way out of the main area to get to the front door, you spotted yuta— sitting on a short random stool by the entrance with a half drunken beer bottle in hand, cheerfully conversing with a few of his brothers with that same charismatic smile and attitude that swooned millions, you swallowing the lump in your throat as you hugged yourself and slowly walked over.

“yu..?”

your familiar quiet voice made him stop talking and snap his head in your direction, him straightening up as he sent you a kind smile.

as soon as he went back inside after speaking to toma, yuta got caught up with a few of his frat members in regards to details about upcoming events, kicking himself over the fact that he didn’t realize how long he was actually gone for as he noticed how upset you looked right now, wondering where the hell the VP was.

“hi pretty flower!” he grinned, faltering when you didn’t smile back at all.

“can we—” you stammered. “um—”

yuta extended an offering hand out, you hesitating for a moment before you decided to just take it, him gently pulling you in to stand in between his legs and moving that same hand to cup over the back of your thigh.

you hated that his touch sort of… stung.

“sorry baby i couldn’t hear you.” he gently spoke, looking up at you with such sweet eyes that it nearly made you want to forget what you’d heard in the kitchen. “what’s wrong? i’m sorry i was gone for so long i got caught up with some of the guys.”

“n—no its okay.” you weakly smiled, and his brows furrowed at that, his hand beginning to caress over the back of your thigh.

had something happened while he was away?

“i need to um… talk to you in your room upstairs.” you shyly pursed your lips to the side. “if that’s okay…”

oh!

he reached up and took your chin in between his thumb and pointer finger, bringing your face down to plant a little kiss to your cheek.

“it’s always okay flower.” he beamed, standing and taking your hand in his as he took a swig of his beer. “you wanna retire for the night?”

not exactly.

but you nodded, him then immediately bidding some of his brothers goodbye while he tugged on your hand and led you upstairs, your head facing the ground and anxious as you both walked through the hallways of the frat house and away from the noise, eventually arriving at yuta’s door as you chewed the shit out of your bottom lip, him pushing down his lever door handle and opening it.

“you feeling a little tired?” he asked gently, closing the door behind him as you both stepped inside, facing you after. “we can call it a nigh—”

you fisted yuta’s shirt and yanked him down, cutting him off with your mouth on his as his eyes flew open, your raunchy little kisses feeling awfully familiar to that one night he was over and almost stripped you naked over them, already catching himself getting dangerously close to that again as he squeezed his eyes shut and gripped at your delicious waist.

stop stop stop—

but he couldn’t bring himself to put an end to it as he deepened the kiss, your heart fluttering at that as you led him to his bed through your sloppy make out, moving about until the back of his legs hit the edge of his mattress and he plopped down, you instantly climbing onto his lap and straddling him.

yuta felt like he was about to die over the overwhelming feeling of you perched pretty on his lap, or the way the straps of your tiny dress loosened and fell erotically over your bare shoulders— revealing a little more cleavage to him that took everything he had not to flip you on the bed and stuff his face in there.

he had to stop this… he needed to stop this to avoid losing you like everybody wanted him to, like everybody expected him to.

at the feeling of you taking his hand from your waist and sliding it down your godly body to cup your ass, yuta’s eyes snapped open and he forced his lips off yours, the both of you staring at each other in alarm with heaving breaths.

“wh— what yu?” you spoke breathlessly, you dazedly leaning in again to continue smooching when he literally dodged your lips and moved his head back, like— like you were just some random that tried to kiss him.

that was your final straw.

you sat there frozen and heartbroken as he shakily grabbed your hips and carefully sat you down on the bed next to him, him standing and wincing at the feeling of his hard dick being choked out by his jeans as he tried to block out the sight of you on his lap like that.

“man i’m so tired heh!” he began. “i’m gonna go take a quick shower—”

the sound of you suddenly sobbing made him whip his head down to you, his face utterly falling once he saw your trembling shoulders-- crying into your hands as broken hiccups and whimpers filled the air.

holy shit.

“baby? baby what’s wrong—” he quickly bent down and cupped your cheeks, his heart dropping to his ass when you practically ripped his hands off you through your tears, sniffling as you scooched back on his bed to get away from him.

oh god.

had you— had you heard the rumor?

“oh my god.” he breathed out. “you heard didn’t you? the— the rumor about layla—”

you sobbed harder at the mention of her name, and yuta’s fingers flew to dig inside the strands of his hair.

“flower i swear to god—” his chest grew erratic as he was one hundred percent convinced you were about to end things with him. “with everything i have that it’s not true—”

he dropped his arms and desperately dug around the pockets of his jeans, pulling out his phone once he found it.

“here!” he shakily unlocked it and tossed it on the bed in front of you. “here baby here please take it there’s nothing in there that—”

but you only slowly shook your head and continued to cry in your little hands, yuta feeling like he was about to lose it.

“no?” he breathed out. “why not? why—”

he frantically shoved his hands in his jeans again and pulled out his car keys, tossing it out in front of you as well as his wallet and anything else he could find in there that he thought would somehow help you believe him.

“here my— my keys are there and— and my wallet please look at them and please don’t cry—”

yuta reached out again for you, his trembling hands just barely cupping over your upper arms when you tore yourself away from him again, each time you did that making it feel like his skin was on fucking fire, burning and blistering and stinging with every hiccup that slipped past your lips.

he’d done what he was terrified of doing all this time.

he’d fucked things up with you.

“baby please don’t break up with me—” his voice cracked as he spoke, him sinking down on his knees with arms over the bed. “please i don’t know— i don’t know if i can take that i—”

“why don’t you want me?”

he froze, the little quiver in your voice absolutely shattering his heart.

“what?—”

“you never— you never touch me you never initiate anything with me—”

“flower—”

“you don’t even fucking kiss me anymore yuta…” you sobbed, wiping at your flooding tears as you sniffled. “and then— i’m in the kitchen with the VP and layla is in there talking about how you sleep with her and—”

he stood, grabbed your upper arms and held you still over your squirming and nudging to push him away, keeping you in place with wild eyes as he forced you to look at him.

“i would never in a million fucking years cheat on you y/n.” he seriously pushed. “never. everything that her and her friends are saying is fake i even— i even got toma to spy on them so i could figure it out—”

“you still don’t get it!” you sobbed. “the issue is you’ve never wanted me like you’ve wanted layla—”

“what the fuck?” he spoke incredulously. “baby i’ve never wanted that girl—”

“then why don’t you ever do anything with me?! or— or want me—”

you realized then how silly you sounded, embarrassment quickly washing over your system as you looked down and diverted your gaze with pinky cheeks, quieting down with your sniffles.

yuta’s eyes softened then, the dots clicking in his stupid pea sized brain over what you meant, the ache in his chest only growing in mass at the realization that whatever idiotic fucking plan he had about not hurting you, about enlisting distance and avoiding being affectionate with you to prove a point to everybody else, was utterly and entirely wrong.

of course it was wrong… how could he ever think that it wasn’t? how could he ever think that you’d respond positively to it or— or be okay with it?

if you ever did what he had done, he would absolutely die inside— hating himself for letting the speculations of others get in the way of his relationship with you.

his hands slowly slid up from your arms to your cheeks— gently cupping them and wiping your tears with his thumbs as you trembled.

“you have no idea how badly i’ve wanted to do things with you—”

“you’re lying!—”

“no!” he lowered his hands and wrapped you up tight in his arms, stuffing his nose into your neck. “i want you baby i want you so bad i go fucking nuts—”

how could he have neglected his girl and her precious little needs for this long..?

you continued to sniffle and shake in his arms, trying to steady your breathing as he then leisurely let you go, you too preoccupied in your thoughts of regret and ashamed at yourself for being a brat, that you failed to notice the way yuta was unbuckling his belt until you heard the tiny metal clasp clang, his face still in your neck.

“m’sorry pretty flower…” he murmured, your teary eyes widening at him slowly tugging and sliding his belt through the loops of his jeans. “i haven’t been taking care of you have i..?”

“yu—yuta—”

he planted a knee on the bed and crawled on, his upper body coming onto you and giving you no choice but to go down with him— you softly landing on your back and frozen in place with a palpating heart, him in between your thighs.

“i’ve never wanted to fuck a girl so bad in my life.” he hotly breathed out in your neck. “since we met baby…”

he picked his head up and casted his gaze down, placing his palms on either sides of your plushy thighs and sliding up your dress, further and further until it pooled around your waist and revealed your god forsaken pinky panties— see through and showing him your pretty glistening lips that made him suck in a breath and groan.

“i don’t give a shit about layla.” yuta hooked an index finger in the underside of your panties and pulled it to the side, taking a pervy peek at your pussy in the flesh. “i don’t give a shit about this stupid frat or anyone but you.”

butterflies swarmed wildly in your tummy as you watched him pop open the button of his jeans with his other hand, tugging it a little down along with his boxers until his cock literally jumped out, your words caught in your throat as you drank in the sight of him giving it a slow yummy pump, his tip already leaky and red.

“i’ve been ignoring my pretty girl and not fucking her like she deserves…” he murmured, the sudden feeling of his tip running up and down your gaping cunt making you squeak, you quickly gnawing on your bottom lip after and trying so hard to bite back your moans out of embarrassment, but it nearly impossible with the way he kept teasingly rubbing his dick over your swollen clit over and over.

“i’m sorry flower—” he positioned himself. “but i’m too impatient to take off anything else okay?”

you blinked up at him, yuta looking directly at you and fucking possessed by your gorgeous face and your gorgeous body and your gorgeous pussy, his chest heaving as he tried his best not to just throw you around and shove his cock inside.

“o—okay—”

he lined his dick up with your hole. “and m’not using a condom.”

your walls clenched at him saying that, him hovering over you as he took your wrists and set both of your hands on his shoulders before moving an arm down, pulling your panties out to the side even more.

“mkay?”

he absolutely refused to use a condom— another obvious factor that set you apart from his previous hookups, something your silly little mind shouldn’t have even compared yourself to in the first place.

why fucking would he if he’d decided the moment he saw you he would never let you go? never let you out of his sight?

you frantically nodded, your hands clutching at his shoulders then as you eagerly opened your legs a little wider for him, yuta losing it at that and shooting you a wild horny grin.

“good job baby…”

he placed both hands on your soft hips and slowly eased himself in your slippery little cunt, you immediately gasping at the sudden yummy unfamiliar stretch and tightening your grip on his shirt, a whimper escaping your throat as you attempted to loosen your hole and let him in.

“i know flower i know—”

yuta was aware that he had to go easy and gentle with you, that you (thankfully) weren’t used to cock in general… but he nonetheless found that he had to physically restrain his hips from pistoning inside you and making you cry on his dick, something he’d thought about for what felt like ages now.

your little moans and mewls spurred him on as he carefully pumped inside you, his head thrown back with a wide-open mouth and closed eyelids, practically drooling as he got off to the sound of your squelching pussy sucking him in, the mattress rocking underneath you both.

“you— you okay baby?” he lulled his head down to look at you, struggling to even keep his eyes open as he kneaded at your hips and fucked you.

“mhm!” you nodded, your sultry sparkling eyes peering up at him so sweetly that he nearly busted inside of you. “but— mm!— yu—”

“what happened baby..?”

“wanna— wanna go on top—”

yuta swore he saw the heavens then, the grip he had on your hips tightening as he held your gaze with desperate eyes, unbelieving of the privilege he was about to experience as he without another word pulled out and flipped you both over, you letting out a tiny squeal mixed giggle as he excitedly settled beneath you.

“tell me how okay?” you softly spoke, and he quickly nodded, placing a sweaty palm on your torso and carefully guiding your hole to his tip again, you holding the base of his cock as you tried to contribute and line it up, yuta assisting you by stretching your panties to the side out of the way with his free hand.

“just— sink down on it pretty flower—” he panted, you listening and slowly letting your pussy engulf his puffy tip again.

“like— like this?—”

yuta licked his lips and nodded, him unable to fucking speak as his hands found yours and interlaced them, his heart pounding and head reeling in euphoria as you started gradually lifting your hips and submerging him inside of you— your cute little self whining and bouncing so cute on it.

“gooood baby good.” he heaved. “just— god just like that please—”

your pace quickened and his jaw dropped, you absolutely lost in the feeling of him stuffing you so full as you felt his warm cum already leaking outside of your hole— sticky skin slapping together and yuta’s moaning and groaning only growing louder by the second.

“am i— hic!— am i doing okay?”

“jesus more than okay—” he took you by surprise and snapped his hips up, your tits nearly spilling over your dress at the force as he started thrusting into you at a rapid pace, you crying out as you tightened your interlocked hands and squeezed your eyes shut over the pleasure, already feeling your orgasm itching itself into your system and tickling at your swollen clit.

"f— fuuuck yu—" you gasped, your pretty moans going directly in his ears making him fucking shudder and mess up the rhythm he had going for a split second, never in his life hearing something so sugary and sacred.

"m'so fuuuull—"

"yeah?" yuta wildly smiled as he pounded, loving that he was the one that got to stuff you full of his cock and snatch you up before any other stupid man got to, your red plump lips and pinky cheeks that read nothing but an expression of being fucked out spurring him on so much that he nearly choked, wanting to be the absolute only one that ever got to see you this way.

"you're being so fuckin good for me baby—"

never in yuta okkotsu’s career of being a former man whore did he ever cum this quickly into sex.

but the sight of you pretty and angelic on his cock, bouncing through his pounding and whimpering your little heart out while he watched you literally squirt over his dick as you finished, his head struggling to register that he was finally fucking you full on his bed after all this time—

was the perfect explanation as to why he broke his own record.

yuta let go of your hands and lunged himself at you, wrapping his arms around your torso and yanking you down to lay on top of him, the cage he had around you locked tight as he shoved his nose into your hair and drilled his hips up to fuck you faster, your eyes rolling to the back of your head at his ruthless speed.

“m’gonna cum.” he choked out. “o—okay?”

“fuck! yes yes yes—”

“inside.”

“yes yu please please!—”

at the sound of you begging for him he released, shooting his heavy stringy load through your gummy hot walls as he loudly groaned into your neck, both of you gasping and heaving for air as he stilled his hips and let his balls completely drain inside, him holding you like his life utterly depended on it.

eventually yuta slightly loosened his hold and moved you up a little to slide his dick out, the air steamy and humid as you both panted and swallowed— trying to catch your breaths and come down from the blissful horny mess the two of you just participated in.

yuta slid a hand up to hold the back of your head, him turning his to press tiny little kisses to the side of your forehead, waiting and basking in the tender moment you just shared before speaking.

“i’m sorry i haven’t been paying attention to you flower…” he spoke gently. “i let what the rumors were saying get into my head and i—”

he struggled for a bit, you carefully pulling back to look at him properly and pouting over the guilty expression on his face.

“i wanted everybody to stop saying and thinking that i was just using you for a fuck.” he mumbled. “and i was trying to prove it to you too so… i thought it was best if i stayed away like a fucking idiot.”

you giggled softly and pressed a sweet kiss to his cheek, him blushing at that.

“you’re so silly yu...” you kindly smiled. “you’ve never needed to prove anything to me. ever… you know that.”

“i know but— everyone was saying so much shit and i got scared that it’d make you upset and it did—”

“yuta i’m dating you not them.” you gently emphasized, your hand coming up to card through his raven locks. “i couldn’t care less about what they have to say… but if you start letting it get into your head like that yu, its gonna bleed onto us and affect us. okay?”

he solemnly nodded, eyes looking up at you in shame.

“so don’t let it.” a gorgeous smile grew on your lips then. “i’ve always believed in you yuta… i don’t need anybody else’s two cents to know that, much less if they’re saying the awful things they’re saying now. they’re stinky for that.”

yuta laughed and gave you a kiss, wholeheartedly agreeing.

"i love you pretty girl."

and he believed in you.

from the moment he met you in his kitchen, from the moment your shy pretty voice rejected him in the sweetest way possible, from the moment he started working his ass off to win you over for a solid year straight— yuta believed in you.

in the both of you— in what you could purely grow and create despite the two of you being born and raised on complete opposites of the social wheel, defying the idiotic supposed laws of society and finding love in the most unlikely circumstances.

the chances of life bringing you together was one in a million, and yuta was grateful to have landed in it despite everything, for he couldn’t imagine a life where he wasn’t your man and took you on frequent trips to the aquarium, visiting a silly little penguin who wanted his girl just as much as he did, and eating lunch with you in the loveliest of flower gardens that withheld the nickname he had for you so fittingly.

his reputation upon graduating was no longer of a sleazy good for nothing piece of shit who whored around, but of yuta okkotsu— president of his frat who reigned for three years straight, the most popular guy to ever fucking exist, the only one who ever managed to throw massive parties every week…

but of also a guy who simply loved his girlfriend.

taglist!! <33 (THANK YOU THANK YOU!):

@softbun0 @the-lazyyy-artist @cheeyah @ag-zio @luvvmae @blue-musingss @as1yasss @oporotheca @aqkermxan @cookey-lock @startwithrecords @mayacheiko @ackermanrage @pocoom @nervousshinnie @beekaboi @vickylovesochako @iloveoldermenn @uhnosav @jvpit3rr @monchxriella @slr3v @kissesazula @hqnge @featheryvee @allurearia @haokanie @wwwbriworld @aksqui @dee-writes-anime @floruilaa @skittleluverr @qwicksilver @getosangels @childesblanket @almostdelightfuldragon @spidergirlnr1 @naammiii @evelynxxo @hiithess @sophiejiro @l1v1ngzomb1e @aronkiepronkie @tori8760 @bbatzvil @jameinfrau @eva-616 @kokoiinuts @when-worlds-end @typicalkhani

[kurooangel]

❥ itoshi rin is the biggest cock blocker when it comes to you and his brother. — part one / two

୨୧ ONE !

both of you are in the cinema watching some random, shitty movie so you could finally get some piece away from his family during your stay in japan.

he’s caressing your hair while you kiss his neck, hand palming his bulge in the secluded corner of the room. “wanna suck it”

“nasty woman” he snorts, tilting his head back, “you’ll settle for using just your hand, ‘kay?”

but all your plans are ruined when you feel someone sitting down next to you — sweetie rin. he has a bucket of popcorns, and you pull away from his older brother with a shy smile, “oh, hi rin”

he greets you back by offering you popcorns with a soft smile, but when rin approaches the bucket to sae, he’s smart enough to pull it away before his brother snaps. he’s a composed man, so he asks with his usual flat tone, even if you can hear a flicker of pure fury “what are you doing here?”

“mom bought me a ticket too. she says i need to go outside besides soccer” he shrugs, taking a sip of his drink with his straw like a little kid. you rest your hand on sae’s biceps soothingly, before smiling sweetly to rin, “sure!! come with us anytime you want”

oh, now sae is about to kill you, too.

୨୧ TWO !

your lips are glued to sae’s, giggling every now and then as he pulls you even closer on his lap. big hands cupping your asscheeks as you kiss during a loooong time, your own hands tugging at his hair when he playfully bites your lower lip.

“so fucking beautiful” he growls against your lips, making you giggle softly. a blush covers your cheeks, your heartbeat is quite accelerated and your lips ache for his.

“do you know when i look prettier?” you tease, and he snorts. sae’s hands roam all over your body, playing with the edge of your shirt. he’s devouring your lips again, tongue finding yours and making it submit to his. he’s already lifting your shirt when rin comes into sae’s bedroom with an arched eyebrow.

“what are you doing here?” “hi rin!” both of you speak up at the same time while you quickly pull away from his lap, the tones of your voices completely opposites.

“[name], i can hear you laughing from my room, but my brother isn’t funny, so i wanted to check if you were laughing at him to join you”

you have to suppress a laugh, both because his words and sae’s face. “it’s okay, rinnie. if anytime i’m laughing at him, i’ll let you know” you smile amused, and he nods, completely oblivious to everything.

“i swear he has a damn radar or something— and what did you call him?” sae speaks when his younger brother leaves, pinching the bridge of his nose.

୨୧ THREE !

you’re both in the pool, his hands on your hips as you hug his neck. he looks handsome with the slight tan of his skin and the tiny red burnt covering his cheeks.

“you look so beautiful with your bangs down, i swear to god” you giggle, peppering his face with kisses. “i look ridiculous, babe” he sighs, not that he actually minds being pampered by you. you huff, almost ofended, “you don’t!” then a smirk appears on your face, and he arches an eyebrow. “y’know.. kinda makes me wet. i really like your cutie bangs”

he snorts, “everything about me makes you wet. you should already know that”, before kissing you gently. the kiss quickly escalates, his tongue seeking entry into your mouth, your thighs surrounding his hips beneath the water, his hands cupping your asscheeks — which he’s been wanting to do since he saw you in that cute bikini.

then suddenly a huge flamingo floatie hits you both with captain rin on it. “oops, sorry. i still don’t know how to control it”

sae and his hard dick are about to kill him, throw the floatie to the ocean so it gets lost, but there you are with an amused smile despite your flushed cheeks and the heat pooling in your low stomach, “can i try?”

rin smiles softly and nods, “sure”. sae huffs, not letting your hips go “baby—“, but you silence him with a kiss. “i’ll make up for it later, okay? pinky promise”

i loooove this little series but i don’t think i have more ideas to how rin could cock block sae :(

[whatmyclocktastelike]

bdubs

[mossyoyster]

same image

[swamp-chicken]

5 pixels of bdubs' new pants demanding etho's attention

[swamp-chicken]

!!!bdubs voice detected!!!

[rosesforshoto]

marked in your heart | masterlist

todoroki shouto x reader 𖥧 soulmate au

length: 65k (completed) 𖥧 ao3 link

Some believe that soulmates are destined partners, someone to nurture—to love. Others treat them as an unwanted anchor, a reminder that one can never escape fate.  So where did that leave you? As someone who avoids their soulmate altogether? As someone who fears their soulmate without having even met them? A chance saving from the hot-n-cold hero whose name has followed you since birth. Ideas of peace are challenged, past regrets resurface, and you learn that soulmates may tether you in ways more than a mere mark on your skin.

soulmate mark 𖥧 75% of the population is born with their soulmate’s name inscribed on their skin. The inscription’s hue changes upon first skin-to-skin contact with your soulmate. 

content 𖥧 fem pronouns/afab reader, soulmate marks, pro-heroes, villains, grief, angst, hurt/comfort, avoidance, fluff, pining, yearning, shouto’s kinda a flirt (or tries to be), shouto is mildly good at feelings, noodles, flowers, hospitals, books, reader is a bookstore owner, smut (optional to read)

warnings 𖥧 blood and injury, canon-typical violence, mentions of death, mentions of suicide (reader’s mother), mentions of mental illness, grief, avoidance, overthinking/spiraling thoughts

˖᯽ ݁˖· ─ chapters

1 ─ saving and soba

2 ─ heroes that live

3 ─ oasis of comfort

4 ─ upon a full moon

5 ─ time never stopped, until you came

6 ─ omniscience

7 ─ wherever you are

•ू♡ smut scene ─ takes place in ch7, optional to read

˖᯽ ݁˖· ─ ending author's notes

tag ─ #fic: marked in your heart

before you read: i'm aware that this shouto may not be the most nonchalant boy that we know and love. but i hope you come to like this version of yearning, desperate shouto as much as i do :) happy reading!

july 2025 ─ october 2025

header for chapters under the cut

[tiredsnakebites]

Chapter 11: How the Dragon Meet the Fox

7th June, 2008 (Narrated by The Author) taglist: @nothankyew , @cokokiss, @poetsinnyc

The Mapo District Elementary school ground was a careful study in controlled chaos. Children with scales played alongside children with feathers, a boy with ram horns shared the swing set with a girl sporting cat ears, and the teachers maintained a watchful presence to ensure that natural instincts didn't override playground manners. Twelve year old Lee Sang-hyeok sat alone under the cherry blossom tree at the edge of the playground, his four tails swaying slowly as he focused on his math homework. His inky black hair caught the spring sunlight, making him almost luminous, which was precisely the problem. Pure-blood Gumiho were rare, pure-blood Gumiho children were rarer still and rare things, in elementary school, were either coveted or drew curiosity and Sang-hyeok had learned quickly that he was the latter.

̩͙⊱༒︎ ⋆⁺｡˚⋆˙‧₊☽ ◯ ☾₊‧˙⋆˚｡⁺⋆ ༒︎⊰‿̩͙

Sang-hyeok learned this lesson on his first day of fourth grade in elementary school last year, when he walked through the gates of Mapo Elementary with his grandmother and father’s hand gripped tightly in his small hands as every single person stopped to stare at the Lee family. Everything was new to him after his mom left and he was so terrified by everything. Glancing around, Sang-hyeok gripped his father’s hand tighter and leaned forward his grandma as they stopped at the entrance of the school. Even though he tried being excited for new school, at that moment his fear and anxiety got the better of him as he let his father’s hand go and latched onto his grandma and buried his face into her silken hanbok’s skirt. His grandma chuckled kindly as she ran her fingers through his soft ink black hair and softly cooed as she cupped his soft chubby cheeks. Bending down to his height, his grandma wrapped his small hands in hers and rubbed the back of his hands in soothing motion.

"They're just curious, my little foxfire," his grandma said gently, her white nine tails moving in a soothing slow pattern as she gently kissed his forehead and fixed his bangs. "Give them time to adjust."

He wanted to believe his grandma because she never lied to him but Sang-hyeok was nine years old and every instinct he had was screaming that being stared at meant danger. As every kid walked past the small family they stared at the young Gumiho, his tails puffed up defensively and his amber eyes flashed in warning, making him look even more otherworldly. As he glared at others with a deep frown, a girl with cat ears whispered something to her friend who had a doe ears and both giggled as they ran into the school.

Sang-hyeok's ears flattened as he glanced down at his shoes as his father kneeled down and kissed his temple before pulling his older son into a tight hug. Sang-hyeok closed his eyes and hugged his father back, his hands balling into his father’s suit jacket as he let out a soft purr when his father nuzzled his forehead against his.

"Remember what we practiced," his dad said softly, still kneeling and still hugging him closely. "Deep breaths. Count your tails if you need to. You're going to be fine."

Sang-hyeok slowly let his dad go and copied his dad as he took a deep breath and slowly exhaled before counting his tails. One, two, three, all there and all accounted for and still too many to be normal. His grandma and his dad kissed his forehead before his homeroom teacher came out to pick him up, he waved back at them as he slowly walked inside the school. His grandma waved with both hands and slightly teary eyed, his father matched his wave with a proud smile. 

His homeroom teacher- Miss Sang, a kind woman with rabbit ears and bright smile, introduced him to the class with much enthusiasm as they walked into the classroom. "Everyone, this is Lee Sang-hyeok! He's our new friend! Let's make him feel welcome!"

Twenty-four pairs of eyes stared at him. Some are curious, some wary and some openly fascinated by his tails and strange eye colour. Silent fall over the classroom under a boy with bear ears and sleepy eyes pointed at his tails.

"Are those real?" a boy asked and that point the dam as others leaned over their desks, eager to ask the questions eating at them.

"Do you have cool abilities!?" another chimed in.

"Can you shoot blue fire?”

“Do you steal souls for energy?”

“Do you turn into a full fox during the full moon and red moon?”

Sang-hyeok's tails went very still before puffing up as he clenched at the bottom of his uniform top and his ears pinned back against his head. He said nothing, there was nothing to say. Yes, his tails were real. No, he doesn’t have abilities or at least, not yet- he needs to have all nine tails. No he can’t shoot blue fire, Gumiho has a fox-fire that is white and baby blue- only Yongs and shamans can produce blue-fire.  And no he can’t turn into a fox but how did you explain that to a classroom of six-year-olds who'd grown up on fairy tales about fox spirits stealing souls and shooting blue flames.

"Okay guys! That's enough questions," the teacher said firmly but not unkindly as she gently clapped her hands and locked down at her clipboard with a soft hum. "Okay Sang-hyeok-ah, you can sit... let's see, let’s see... oh! there's an empty seat next to Su-hyeon-ah."

She said with a smile as she pointed to a desk in the middle row. Sang-hyeok nodded his head silently as he made his way over, acutely aware of every whisper, every stare. The empty seat was next to a girl who wasn't staring at him. She was doodling in a notebook, her tail- long and serpentine with pearl-like sea glass green scales and foam coloured hair at the end was curled around the leg of her chair. She had mother-pearl coloured horns growing from her forehead and shoulder length ashen gray hair. Her horns looked small, seemingly just started to grow out. Ears pointing and half of her neck was covered with pearly green scales.Sea Yong, Sang-hyeok realized quickly as he sat down after hanging his backpack on the side of the table. Probably from an old lineage too, Yong was rare just like Gumiho, more welcomed but still equally feared by the elderly who still believed in the old tales and myths. He pulled his school supplies from his bag out as Miss Sang started handing out school work. Thanking his homeroom teacher, he picked his pencil up and tried keeping his tails tucked close to avoid taking up the dragon’s space. The girl glanced at him once and pushed her glasses up, then back to her notebook as she kept drawing straight patterns.

No staring, no whispers, no questions about whether he ate people or shot flames from his hands. Even though his grandma told him tales about Yong and Guhimo being rivals since the old days, it was the best interaction he'd had all day.

At lunch, Sang-hyeok found a quiet corner of the cafeteria as he was new to the school and still anxious about his new environment. His grandmother had packed his favorite foods, rice balls with ume filling and crushed salted seaweed, kimchi pancakes, sliced bananas and a small container of seasoned vegetables. Comfort food for an uncomfortable day. His ears swiveled constantly, tracking conversations and movements. Most of them weren’t about him anymore, which was a relief. Kids had short attention spans. Hopefully he will become yesterday’s news by the end of the school day.

“Is this seat taken?”

Sang-hyeok’s ears straightened as he slowly looked up. Standing in front of him was the girl from his class, holding a big lunch bag that looked like it was one of those bags that university professors loves with her head tilted in curiously and glasses that looked like it was little too big on her face, her horns and scales looked like they were glowing under the caffeine light.

“No,” he managed as he looked down at his lunch.

She sat down across from him without ceremony and pulled out a lunch box and an old thermos flask from her bag. “I’m Choi Su-hyeon. But everyone calls me Sunny because ‘Choi’ sounds too formal and Hyeon sounds like a boy's name.” She said flatly as she opened her lunchbox and looked at him over the rim of her glasses.

“Lee Sang-hyeok,” he said quietly, then because it felt necessary, he added “Everyone calls me… well, they used to call me Hyeokie or Sang-ya”

“Hmm…then I’ll call you Sang-ya, it has a good ring to it” She took a bite of her meat ball and Sang-hyeok caught a glimpse of twin fangs, it looked longer and sharper than his own. He hummed a soft response and went back to eating his lunch, slowly cutting his pancakes with his chopsticks. Strangely comfortable silence fell over them before Su-hyeon spoke again, “Your tails are really pretty by the way.”

Sang-hyeok blinked slowly as he looked at the strange girl in front of him who was calmly sipping from her thermos flask. Of all the things people had said about his tails today weird, scary, cool, unnatural no one had said they were pretty.

“Thank you,” he said, unsure what else to say.

“I bet they’re annoying in chairs though. Mine is.” She gestured to her tail with her chopsticks, which was indeed looking somewhat cramped curled around the chair leg. “I keep knocking things over at home. My mom says I’ll grow into my spatial awareness soon but I don’t think that’s how it works.”

“My grandma and dad say the same thing about my tails.”

“Oh that’s cool, that’s all your family members?”

“Uhm….i have a baby brother.” Sang-hyeok didn’t elaborate. The subject of his mom was still too raw, too complicated. She suddenly left three months ago. He and his dad and baby brother went to live with his grandma, his father’s mother, few elderly Gumiho who still lived in the city instead of moving to the countryside to live the rest of their long lives in peace and quiet.

Su-hyeon seemed to sense this wasn’t a topic to push. “I used to live with my eomma and appa. My eomma’s from Mongolia, she's a full-blooded Yong from a Yong clan with shaman roots. My appa human and he used to be a math professor at a big university.”

“Used to be?”

“He passed away a year ago. The glasses, lunch bag, box and thermos flask was his favorite ones to use” 

“OH-h uhm, I’m so sorry for your loss!”

Despite his clearly flustered and horrified expression, Su-hyeon giggled loudly as Sang-hyeok covered his reddening face with his hands in embarrassment. 

“It’s fine…appa was hurting because of his heart, eomma said that he isn’t hurting anymore and even though he isn’t physically here anymore, he will always be by my side” Su-hyeon explained calmly as if that's simple, hearing her confession or rather her explanation. Sang-hyeok slowly uncovered his face and looked at this strange girl in front of him. How can you be so calm when you talk about your late parents? Sang-hyeok himself feels like he might cry whenever his mother gets mentioned.

“You…..you’re a strange- I’m sorry if that came out wrong”

“That’s fine! I’m used to being strange. If you think about it, everyone in this room is the same age but we’re all so different and strange.” Su-hyeon’s eyes: slit-pupiled, sharp focused on him with sudden intensity. “Like you. You’re really quiet. Are you always quiet or is it a first-day thing?”

“I’m… usually quiet when it comes to new things.”

“That’s okay. I’m usually loud, so we balance out.” She said it like it was a fact as she picked her chopstick up and took a big bite from her vegetable, like she’d already decided they were going to be friends and Sang-hyeok’s input wasn’t required. He continues to stare at her as the dragon continues to eat her lunch and take a sip of tea or water from her flask. His tails did a small, uncertain wave as he also started eating his lunch again.

“Do you always do that when you’re thinking?” Su-hyeon asked softly as she nodded at his tails with her chin. “It’s like a mood indicator.”

“I don’t mean to…”

“It’s not bad! It’s just noticeable, like how my horns and scales glow when I’m feeling big emotions.” She pulled her button-up shirt collar down, where the scales on the side of her neck had a faint bioluminescence. “Seeee? I can’t control it yet. My mom says it’s a one of yong traits. Emotional regulation tied to physical manifestation.”

“My tails and eyes are the same.” Sang-hyeok said with the ghost of a smile on his face as he picked at his lunch. “I’m trying to learn to control them better. So people don’t… read me so easily.”

“Why? People should know how you’re feeling. Makes communication easier.”

“People stare.”

“Let them stare.” Su-hyeon’s tail thumped against her chair leg with emphasis as she clicked her tongue before sticking it out, showing a forked end. 

“They’re just jealous they don’t have cool tails and abilities.”

Sang-hyeok’s ears twitched forward despite himself. “You think nine tails is cool?”

“Are you kidding? It’s the coolest!. You’re like… a legend. An actual living legend.” She leaned forward conspiratorially with raised eyebrows and mischievous grin. “Can you really do magic?”

“No- well not yet. Some minor things, maybe, when I’m older. My grandma and dad can do more, since they have been alive for a long time.”

“What kind of minor things?”

“Um….fox-fire, illusions, charm abilities. My dad uses illusion to hide his tails, grandma sometimes reads people’s fortunes for them using fox-fire but I can’t do any of those until I manifest all my tails.”

“Illusions.” Su-hyeon’s eyes went wide. “That’s so cool! I can create mists, blue fire and breathe underwater.”

“You can breathe underwater?”

“Yeah! I haven't tried it in anything bigger than a pool, but my mom says when I’m older we’ll go to the ocean and I can practice more.” She bounced slightly in her seat. “Do you want to come?”

Sang-hyeok can only stare at her as she stared back at him. “We just met.”

“So? I like you. You’re interesting. Plus you’re not scared of me.”

“Why would I be scared of you?”

“Because sea dragons are dangerous.” She made a mock-scary face, fangs showing and forked tongue. “We control water and storms and can sink ships and stuff.”

“You’re nine.”

“I’m a nine-year-old sea dragon. Very dangerous, very scary and very strong.” She dropped the scary face and grinned brightly. “But seriously, a lot of kids think mutations like ours are scary. The mythic ones. Not like cat ears, rabbit ears, bull horns but the old ones. The ones from stories.”

“People think I’m going to eat their souls,” Sang-hyeok muttered quietly under his breath.

“That’s so rude. I bet your soul-eating days are way behind you.”

“I’ve never eaten anyone’s soul.”

“See? Way behind you. Like, negative years behind you.” Su-hyeon finished her drink and the last piece of veggie. “But that’s what I mean. People are weird about us. So we should be friends. Safety in numbers and all that.”

“Safety in… numbers?”

“Two legendary creatures are harder to bully than one. Basic math.” She packed her things away quickly and stood up for her chair. 

“Come on. Recess is starting. I want to show you a good climbing tree.”

“There’s a good climbing tree?”

“There’s an excellent climbing tree. But you have to know where it is, and also you have to not be afraid of heights.” She paused. 

“Are you afraid of heights?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never really climbed anything tall.”

“Then today’s your lucky day. Let’s go.”

She walked off, tail swishing confidently, not looking back to see if he’d follow. Sang-hyeok sat there for a moment, all three tails doing confused patterns. This girl- this loud, confident, slightly chaotic girl had just decided they were friends. Just like that. No negotiation, no careful feeling-out period, just immediate acceptance. It was the weirdest thing that had happened to him all day and It was also the best thing. He quickly packed his lunchbox and got up, running after her to catch up with her.

̩͙⊱༒︎ ⋆⁺｡˚⋆˙‧₊☽ ◯ ☾₊‧˙⋆˚｡⁺⋆ ༒︎⊰‿̩͙

“Hyeonkie~ are you daydreaming again?” A teasing voice called out and snapped Sang-hyeok out of his trance and into reality as he glanced to his side, catching his best friend dangling upside down from a branch of the tree using her legs and tail, still in her archery training gear. It had been three years since they met and became best friends, at first his grandma was weary about their friendship. Afraid of the old tales of Yong and Gumiho clashing over territories, power and wealth and driving each other into madness when they tried settling their differences. But Su-hyeok’s stubbornness won the older Gumiho over and she treats the young dragonling like her own flesh and blood. 

“No…I was just thinking about how we met,” he answered honestly as he watched her pull herself up before jumping off the branch, landing on her feet with grace and ease before she dropped down next to him. They have grown a lot since they met. Sang-hyeok has four tails now, has signs of magical abilities and is a little more confident in himself and a little taller than in the past. Su-hyeon has a little longer hair, longer tail and horns but she was still confident and loud. For academic wise, they have been doing pretty good. Su-hyeon who won the country's junior mathematics championship last year and is a star archer in their school archery club. Meanwhile, Sang-hyeok is part of the computer club and has been taking taekwondo classes. 

Su-hyeon hummed under her breath as she sat down next to him, pulling her finger tap off and flexing her fingers. Sang-hyeok fanned his tails out and two of them on her lap, while she does the same with her tail as they gotten used to each other's tails

“Are you still set on teaching me that game…what’s the name again?”

“I told you this morning- ugh it’s called StarCraft, I can’t believe you already forgot the name” Sang-hyeok said, closing his homework and leaned back against the tree with his hands folded on his lap, feeling the summer breeze against his ears as he closed his eyes and let out a long sigh.

“Look man, I've been busy with practice! You can’t blame me!” Su-hyeon whined as she leaned on his shoulder with her arms crossed over her chest and clicked her tongue and puffed out of mist. Opening his one eye, he glanced down at his best friend and carefully placed his head on top of her head.

“I’m glad that you sat down with me during the lunch”

“Even though I forgot the name of the game you are obsessed with?”

“Especially when you forget about things, so I can rub it in your face that you are slowly turning into those American Jock type- OWW!”

“That’s what you get for being mean”

The two friends glared at each other before breaking into a fit of laughter as Sang-hyeok rubbed the spot on his side where Su-hyeon poked him, Su-hyeon wiped away tears from her eyes as she laughed openly. Being full-blooded Gumiho is hard, people stare and point at you all the time, wherever you go but having intimating half Yong as your best friend has its benefits. 

to be continue...

HALLO EVERYONE!!! so sorry for taking so long to update!!!! finally my break started, so until school starts again, i will try update in reasonable times! for the next chapter, i was thinking one chapter of them having some bonding time before ACT 3 start!!! so please let me know if you want that or something else. that's all for now! hope you will enjoy this chapter!!!!!!

[redstonedust]

i will never stop people from hating a minecraft white boy (especially one who drives a tesla) but i do think its funny when i see hermitcraft fans hate grian for "being clique-y" or "ignoring the smaller hermits" . like. you mean the guy who starts server wide games every season? the guy who uploaded a 7 hour world tour? frankly for being one of the most popular guys on the server i think he does try to pull his weight sharing the love. unfortunately theres only so much you can do to try and lure an average grian subscriber into watching joe hills. thats like taking a mcdonalds loving 7 year old to a niche concept restaraunt that only serves meals in the shape of 1:1 scale models. actually this metaphor sucks if i was 7 i would love to eat an edible 1:1 scale pinball machine. i would love that now. post cancelled im organising a joe hills themed pop up café. everyone come with me. see my vision.