now playing: fantasy by Mariah Carey
word count: 2.6K
not proofread !! + english is not my first language, I apologize for any possible mistake.
previous chapter ≪ ★ ≫ next chapter
Fourth tip: dress nicely to impress him + play with your hair
After the conversation I had with Maya, I wasn’t sure about continuing with the Wiki thing, seeing that it was taking me nowhere near where I wanted with Maki. Moreover, if I kept doing it, I think the new place I was about to visit was my world of doom and desperation. But as someone who believes in the forces of the universe, I interpreted the signs, and they were all telling me to keep doing what I was doing. The sign came on a random Friday, exactly one week before Harua’s and Taki’s birthday party.
“Nicho, I think you and Euijoo should come too,” I suggested, examining a shirt, just to look at the graphic and see a big clown on the back of it.
“If you want, clearly. You’re also Taki’s friends after all.” I put back whatever hideous piece of clothing I had between my hands.
Reo replied excitedly immediately: “She’s right, it would be so fun! There are going to be many people anyway, two more won’t bother at all”.
“Why ‘many people’? I thought it was going to be only Taki’s close friends. Nicholas turned to me and raised an eyebrow.
“We’re celebrating two people, Taki and one of his friends,” I explained, and kept looking at shirts, finding nothing that could fit Taki’s style.
“You don’t know him. He’s someone who comes to university with us.”
Taki’s party was not Taki’s only anymore. A few days before, when I had to leave my friends during lunch because my mother surprised me by coming to Tokyo, Yuma and Maki discussed the idea of a joint party with Maya and Sota. Both friend groups agreed that it was a good idea, since Harua and Taky were friends and their birthdays were close to each other. That’s why, while Maya, Sota, and Jo, who I discovered were one of Yuma’s closest friends, were buying decorations in a shop near Wang shelter, Reo, Nicholas, and I were at the mall to buy Taki’s gifts.
Reo interrupted our conversation: “Anyway, what should we buy him?” he asked, looking around too. “I don’t know what you think about it, but this shop doesn’t really seem like a place where he would be buying things”.
He looked at a pair of horrendous trousers covered in sequins that reflected the shop’s light too brightly.
“I have a list with different ideas,” I took it out of my pocket. “We have some suggestions by Kei, Maya, Eujioo, and some ideas from your grandmother - I said, pointing at Nicholas - and by myself. We just have to search in different places and pick the best ones,” I shrugged.
“What’s up with you and your obsession with lists?” he joked, referring undoubtedly to the Wikihow list.
“She probably has a list of songs she has to add to each one of her playlists,” Nicho added, lightly elbowing Reo.
“Are you done, or should I leave you here while I go to complete our task for today?” I rolled my eyes, exaggerating it to underline how annoying they were being.
“Do you have a list of shops we have to visit too?” Reo was wheezing while trying to hold back his laugh, while Nicholas didn’t give a fuck and started laughing pretty loudly.
“Okay, you’re not done, but I am”. And with that, I turned my back to them and started walking towards the exit of the shop, quickly followed by the two, who were still giggling.
We already had tons of bags in our hands, full of both Taki’s gifts and things Reo and Nicholas bought for themselves, when we stumbled across a shop window displaying some mannequins with very cool outfits.
“You wanna try something?” I nodded, “It’s not really your style tho” Nicho came next to me and looked between the mannequins and me.
“I know, but I want to try something different.” I turned to call Reo, who was on the phone with Maya to decide on a color for balloons, “And I had an idea you two might like".
We entered the shop, and immediately heard Maria by Justin Bieber playing from the speakers. Right behind them was a boy arguing with one of his colleagues in English.
“So, I had this idea…” I started, just to be quickly cut off by Reo.
“Can Nicholas and I create an outfit for the most gorgeous woman who stayed with us the whole day?” I laughed and messed up his hair.
“That’s what I was about to ask you, dummy!” I gave him a light flick on his forehead. “But can you create something a bit different from my usual style? Something cooler, maybe even a bit more feminine. Something that would make me attractive?” I kindly requested, feeling heat creeping up my spine.
“And why so? Is there something you’re not telling us?” Nicholas raised an eyebrow, but when he saw me denying with my head, he just accepted. “Okay… we’ll do it. But it’ll be really hard to create something that will make you more attractive than you already are”.
“Is everything fine?” Reo asked, concerned, after seeing the look of uncertainty I gave to the whole shop while Nicho was already choosing different clothes.
“Yes, why wouldn’t it be?” I shook my head and smiled reassuringly at him.
“It just seems like something you wouldn’t suggest unless you had something specific you were aiming at,” he shrugged, still suspicious as Nicholas was before.
“Don’t worry too much. I just wanted a change. Now go, or Nicho is going to make the whole thing by himself”.
They made me try tons of clothes before settling on something that seemed to suit me. It was either “I don’t like how it falls around the waist, it doesn’t enhance it” by too involved Nicholas or a “Those pants would be hideous on anyone with an ass, why do they look so weird in the croach area?” by a serious Reo and I was a doll in their hands, changing myself up evertyime they found something unsettling in the chosen fit.
When they finally agreed on something, they synchronized themselves, saying, “This is perfect!” But then they saw my face, and the way I was adjusting the sleeves of my shirt. They saw the way I turned to look at every side of myself and probably the way my shoulders dropped after seeing myself at 360°.
“But are you sure you’re feeling comfortable in it?” Nicho asked, leaning against the frame of the changing room entrance.
“Yeah, you look beautiful, but it almost seems like you want to bury yourself 30 meters under the ground,” Reo added, concerned, but with that sprinkle of irony that he uses when the mood goes down a bit.
Although I was actually uncomfortable, I didn’t want to make them feel bad after all the effort they put into the activity, and I lied: “I’m fine, really. Thank you for this". I smiled brightly at both of them, giving my back to the mirror.
“Why don’t you keep it on for today?” he suggested. “You know, to get used to wearing something like that in public. I know for sure Mina cleans up all of the clothes by herself before making people try them on, and she hadn’t put these out yet. We had to search through so many boxes, you have no idea.” he pretended to be wiping away sweat from his forehead. “Anyway, you can wear them comfortably without feeling the itching need to wash them all up before wearing them. Ok?”
I nodded, and he went to the counter with Reo while I waited for them in the changing room.
I swear, if this doesn’t work, I’m going to burn the list, sue WikiHow, and transfer to another planet, very far from the earth.
I walked uncomfortably for the rest of the time. My sleeves were covering part of my arms the wrong way, my shoes kept pooking my ankles, and all the jewelry I was wearing kept dangling in an annoying way. Thankfully, it was a pretty cheap thrift shop, and Mina gave us a special friend discount when she saw Nicholas again. She was the same age as Reo, working part-time while still attending school, and I saw the way my younger friends and hers were looking at each other with hearts coming out of their eyes. To make everything worse, we were full of shopping bags: Taki’s gifts were safe in my hands, some of them ready to be wrapped up, while some already were; Nicholas, as the young entrepreneur he was, had bought many new clothes for himself, for Euijoo, for his grandmother, and even for my brother, without any reason. He just loved spoiling people without a reason, and according to his bank account, he could do it. Reo was holding clothes bought for himself, but mainly clothes bought by Maya, and those needed to be picked up from different stores.
“Are we done?” I asked, exhausted by the day, knowing damn well that I had to go to the grocery store before heading home.
“Yeah, but before going away, I have to go to the restroom.” Nicholas searched for a sign indicating the right direction. “Shǎguā, can you wait with Reo until I come back?” I nodded, and he left us alone.
We were chatting, relaxed about how school was going and about a new anime he started watching, when I squinched my eyes and looked behind Reo. I saw Maki and Yuma holding some bags too, small ones and not as many as we were, and they started walking to us when they noticed me waving at them. They greeted us with a simple hello and a bow to Reo.
“Hi guys! This is Reo, one of my closest friends.” I introduced him who stayed silent. My sweet and shy Reo.
“Nice to meet you!” Maki said excitedly, smiling brightly as always, “Cool outfit, Y/N!”
“Thanks! We were here to buy Taki’s gifts with another friend of ours, and I fell in love with these,” I explained, pointing at the multiple bags now left on the floor and touching my shirt. I was such a liar for this man. I hated how I felt in this outfit more than anything.
“We were buying gifts for Harua too” Yuma showed me what was inside one of the bags and I saw a few blind boxes of Hachipupus.
“I’m not gonna lie, we are hoping he doesn’t already have the ones in the boxes, because our bank account is not fragile, but we’re not even millionaires and this things cost a lot” Maki intervened, sighing and exageratted his crossed fingers.
“No way! We love hachipupus too.” I clapped my hands.
Reo finally said something: “They’re so cute, aren’t they?” he looked at me and then at the other two.
They kept showing us some gifts, and we showed them some of the ones we bought. But, while we were doing it, someone came rushing towards us and almost knocked me down. Thankfully, Maki was near enough to not let me fall down completely, but nothing could save me from getting the man’s coffee on my clothes.
He apologized with a quick: “Oh, sorry, sorry. I’m in a rush, sorry” before running away again. I just sighed and laughed, accepting my fate.
“Well, now I only need some white cream, and I’m an enjoyable coffee order,” I joked, already feeling the warmth passing through the clothes. “Y/N! Oh my…” Reo quickly grabbed some tissues from his bag while Maki was already untying the flannel shirt he had tied low on his hips.
He handed it to me, but I simply refused, murmuring a small ‘thanks anyway’. I looked at Reo and signaled him to come with me to the bathroom, where Nicholas went.
“Well, it was nice meeting you guys,” we said as we picked up our shopping bags, ready to go. “But we were already leaving, and with this little problem, I think I’ll need to stop somewhere else before the car,” I joked.
I’ve never been more embarrassed in my life than when Maki actually gave me advice to avoid getting my clothes permanently stained with coffee: “You have to rinse the stain with cold water or dab it to remove excess coffee, then soak the cloth in hot water overnight, and add two cups of vinegar to the water. Tomorrow you have to rinse in cold water, to remove any residue,” he also mimicked all the things I had to do with his hands. “It should come out perfectly fine. A little trick my granny taught me,” he winked and gave a thumbs up.
I thanked profusely, and we left, just as Reo said: “See you at the party, guys!”
When we were out of their sight and hearing, my friend elbowed me.
“You have a crush on him,” he teased.
“No, I don’t,” I answered, already knowing who he was talking about.
“I didn’t even say who.” he stopped in front of me, just a few meters away from the restroom door.
“Fine, I do. The guy I followed on WikiHow is him. But don’t tell anybody: not Nicho, not the curb, nobody” I took his right hand, already lifting his pinky finger “Only Maya knows because I told her after a shitty day, but I don’t want the others to know, since I’m starting to give up on this” I forced him to pinky promise with me just a second before Nicho came to us.
“Sorry, guys, I met a friend of mine,” he looked between us, and then fixed his gaze on my clothes, “What happened?”
“Someone ran into me and decided his coffee was so good he had to share it with me,” I explained, “I’m changing again into my clothes, but you can go. I have to go and get groceries before going home”.
They weren’t sure about leaving me alone, but I reassured them that it was fine, and I was going to call a taxi if I needed a ride home.
In the end, they reluctantly left, waving and telling me to call if I needed anything and text when I got home.
Changing into my old clothes was total freedom after a day when I only felt uncomfortable. He complimented me, and don’t get me wrong, a win is a win, but I was starting to wonder if I did the right things. I couldn’t recognize myself anymore around him, and following that stupid list only gave me flour everywhere in my kitchen, a trip to the infermatory, the sense of being a failure and second-hand clothes (which weren’t really a problem) and second-hand embaressement. I even forgot the stupid second half of the damn tip. I was changing myself too much for a guy I didn’t even know that well, and that was too out of character.
When I realized that I’ve ignored the most important advice: ‘be yourself’, I came to the conclusion that if I had to change for him, he wasn’t the right one; finally accepting what all my friends and Miss Wang told me all along.
When I got home that same day, arms full of bags and wallet emptied, I left all the groceries on the kitchen counter, ice cream probably already melting, and ran to my room. I reached my bed and quickly got the list out of my pillow cover. And I’ll admit it, the whole scene was a bit dramatic, but understand me, I was done with that shit: I tore the list to shreds and whispered a “Fuck you, WikiHow”, before quickly returning to the kitchen to put ice cream in the freezer.
YAY thank you for the tag zanna! what sucks is that most of my biases have left their groups (in this year ALONE) 😭 that is NOT stopping me from adding them though!!
in order: vernon, dk (svt - ults), martin (cortis), keeho (p1h), hueningkai (txt), maki (&team), hongjoong, yunho (ateez), heeseung (ex-enha), ricky (ex-zb1, and2ble), mark lee (ex-nct, soloist)
tagging @yumangel @parkersroses @realmofclouds @reisdoll and any others who want to join!!
in order!! taki (&team), ni-ki (enhypen), sakuya (nct wish), mark & haechan (nct), k (&team), anton (riize), soobin (txt), fuma (&team), soul (p1harmony)
tags: @fumaid @ikigaijo @solairemelo @odetolune @okamitenshi @kvegawari @yumanohime @7yataki + anyone who wants to join !!
in order - yuma (&team), nicholas (&team), riku (nct wish), sungchan anton (riize), giselle (aespa), jay (enhypen), hyein (njz), liz (ive), keonho (cortis)
female idols included because i genuinely couldn't think of 9 different boy groups..... LOL
tags : @fumaid @n1conekoz @iluvujo @misuse-ohh @wanyangii @kvegawari @hwadulce no pressure~ anyone else that wants to join!!!
prompt #12 "i don't usually believe in love at first sight, but i'm willing to make an exception for you."
notes: i just had this random thought of this man with a baby and so this fic came out. enjoy.
• you can find my prompt list here
pairing: jo x reader ft. a cute baby
tags/warnings: flirty jo (yes that's a warning)
wc: 2,9k
it was supposed to be easy.
"yeah, of course, no problem!" you had told your best friend a week ago when she asked if you could babysit her son for the weekend.
you had said it with confidence. enthusiasm, even. babies were easy to handle, right? just change a few diapers, feed some bottles, play with them until it's time to sleep and repeat it all over again the next day. easy job.
but now, only half day into your babysitting adventure, you were questioning every single life choice that got you to this exact moment.
"come on, baby... just stop, i beg you." you pleaded softly, trying to soothe the crying one year old in your arms.
he answered with a loud, offended cry right against your ear instead. you squeezed your eyes shut, already feeling a big headache coming in.
the sun shone bright enough to warm up the soft breeze and accentuate the smell of fresh grass in the park. families and groups of teenagers were gathered under the trees, celebrating birthdays or simply enjoying the beautiful afternoon, while kids played in the swings and slides.
everyone seemed to be enjoying their weekend on their own way. everyone but you. you were two more cries away from starting crying with the baby.
you had already checked everything. diaper, bottle, nap... nothing seemed to work. not even the toys his mom had assured you always worked perfectly to calm him down.
adjusting the diaper bag on your shoulder, you continued pacing through the park as you bounced the kid up and down, hoping that he would eventually get distracted by a flying butterfly or some kid running by.
"your mom told me you were easy to handle, you know..." you sighed deeply. the simple gesture seemed to infuriate the tiny human even more. he started kicking his legs, trying to get free from your grasp in between his hysterical sobbing.
"hey, now you're choosing violence!?" you found yourself struggling to keep him in place in your arms. since when were one year olds so strong?
the baby gave up after fighting you for a few seconds, burying his face against your shoulder and wailing dramatically. another exhausted sigh left your lips. "how you don't get tired?" you were actually starting to worry about his lungs' health. and the possibility of getting banned from the park at this point. some people were making faces in your direction, as if you had willingly chosen to spend your saturday getting publicly bullied by a toddler.
having tried all the options to calm him down, you finally reached for the last weapon. you pulled out his pacifier from the bag, holding it in the air in hope it would somehow hypnotize him.
"look. you like this, don't you?" you shook your hand softly, making the beads attached to the pacifier chain clink. the sound seemed to catch his attention. a hopeful feeling finally bloomed in your chest.
the baby's little fingers reached for the pacifier. you smiled. it's over, you thought to yourself as he took it to his mouth. "thank god..." you closed your eyes in relief when the silence finally enveloped you.
he sucked on the pacifier for exactly three seconds, before suddenly throwing it away with an immense force that had it bouncing and rolling several meters away in the grass.
you could only stare in pure shock when it finally landed with a soft thud in front of a bench. the baby immediately started crying again, louder than before if that was possible.
"i swear to god, i'm not babysitting ever again."
you prepared yourself for the next mission the universe had for you that day: picking the pacifier up without dropping the baby, the diaper bag or your own self in the process.
but before you could even kneel down, a long hand extended towards it. your eyes followed the arm up to the man who was casually holding it between two fingers. then he sat his book on the side to take his water bottle instead. you had to physically force your mouth to remain closed as you watched him casually use some of his water to clean the pacifier.
"here." the man held it out to you with a small, kind smile. you froze in place before taking it. because god. oh god.
you were not prepared to face the most beautiful man you had probably seen in your life. not while you were in the middle of a baby crisis, covered in drool, dirt and who knows what other substances.
his features were sharp, you noticed that in the defined line of his jaw and eyebrows. but his dark hair falling on his forehead and the way his eyes sparkled behind his glasses were enough to make him look like a literal angel. his pale skin looked so soft that it made it possible for you to get a glimpse of redness forming behind his ears.
"thank you." you managed to whisper.
"you're welcome." the man nodded politely. putting his bottle back on the bench, he glanced at the baby in your arms, who was once again rejecting the pacifier while tears streamed down his little face.
"for god's sake..." you groaned loudly, forgetting for a moment that this handsome man was sitting in front of you. "uh, can i sit down?"
"of course." he moved his book to the side to give you space on the bench. "is he your son?"
"hell, no." your face heated up when you realized how aggressive you sounded. "i mean... he's my best friend's baby. she's busy this weekend so i'm babysitting." you laughed nervously.
the stranger stared at you, brows slightly frowned. amazing. you were making such an amazing first impression. but then he laughed, the sound deep and low enough to make your stomach flip. "i thought he was yours. he's really cute."
"oh, no, no... no babies for me for now." wait. was he implying that you were cute!?
"i'm jo, by the way." you looked up at him again. at that damn smile that made his eyes wrinkle in the most beautiful way and your heart feel like it was going to explode inside your chest.
you introduced yourself and he repeated your name slowly, like he was testing how it sounded in his tongue. unfortunately for you, it sounded better than anything you had ever heard. "that's a pretty name."
"oh." out of all the answers your brain could have thought of, you only managed to let out that small oh. jo's grin widened enough to let you know he found your reaction adorable.
"you're welcome." he said after your reaction. was he teasing you now!? and why was it actually working? could you possibly embarrass yourself more? "oh, hello little one."
jo's voice snapped you out of your thoughts. "who are you-" your voice died in your throat as you looked down at your now empty lap.
the baby was gone.
the baby was climbing his lap instead.
during the ten seconds you were having a complete internal crisis over jo's presence, the little guy managed to shift positions without you even noticing. you were so lost on his smile that you didn't even hear how quiet everything had suddenly gone.
what wasn't quiet was your heartbeat ringing in your ears. it was loud and fast. how could it not be? with the cutest scene known in history happening right in front of you?
the baby had settled down comfortably on jo's lap, tiny fingers grabbing a fistful of his shirt to steady himself. you let out a sound that was somewhere between a scoff and a laugh. "there's no way he just did... that."
jo looked down at the infant with a warm smile, hands embracing him securely against his chest. the baby looked up at him, red teary eyes staring at his face in awe and, to your surprise, silence. he had literally gone silent, after hours of screaming and sobbing, in the arms of a literal stranger. "i think i've been chosen."
"oh he's a little traitor..." you shook your head in disbelief. jo casually wiped the tears stains from the baby's face, making him let out a small happy giggle and making your heart do another little flip. despite how tall and strong he looked even while sitting down, his touch was so soft and careful with the baby.
"do you have his pacifier?" you nodded and handed it to him. he shook it gently in front of the baby, just like you had done earlier before it was sent flying across the whole park. this time, the baby willingly opened his mouth, accepting the pacifier from jo's hand with a contented expression.
"you have to be kidding me!" you gasped in offense. at this point you didn't know if you were getting offended by the baby's betrayal or by how damn good jo looked with him. it was so... natural that it was driving you crazy. "have you handled babies before?"
"no." he chuckled, the baby's eyes now starting to drop thanks to the pacifier, the gentle bounce of jo's leg and how warm his chest probably felt. you were kinda jealous of the baby's position, you couldn't lie. "this is the first one i ever hold."
"it's so unfair." you crossed your arms, almost pouting like you were the little kid in the scene now.
"what's unfair?" jo raised an eyebrow at you while patting the baby's back to sleep.
"the fact that i've been bullied by a toddler for one hour straight and now he casually fell asleep on the lap of a man who looks like a literal disney prince?"
jo's hand stopped its movements. his head snapped up so fast he had to readjust his glasses. "like a what?"
"a disney pri-" your eyes widened. they widened so much you thought they would fall out of their place. your cheeks had never gotten as red as they did in that moment.
his lips switched. he was clearly trying not to smile, but he was failing. even the pink in his ears had gotten stronger. at least you weren't the only one getting affected...
"you know," he started after some seconds, voice low and a little less confident than before. "i don't usually believe in love at first sight, but i'm willing to make an exception for you."
you froze. your brain stopped working immediately. even your lungs forgot how to breathe properly. "oh..." and there you were again, with your brilliant response.
jo broke the silence with a nervous laugh. he looked down at his lap and scratched the back of his neck with his free hand, which let you see that his skin there was also getting red. "i thought that sounded cooler in my mind."
"oh my god." you muttered, covering your flushed cheeks with your hands. "you didn't just say that... you couldn't- oh god..." you weren't able to form a coherent thought at the moment.
he laughed, the sound shaky and strained with embarrassment. "did it work at least?" he hopefully looked up.
you peeked at him through your fingers and he was red all over, biting his lip nervously. could he possibly get more adorable? you didn't think that was possible. you nodded a bit, letting out a small giggle of amusement. "yeah. better than my disney prince comment."
relief flashed quickly over his face, followed by a loud laugh at your comment. "it wasn’t that bad, come on." then he looked down with a small frown. "oh..."
you followed his gaze and your eyes widened for a second time. the baby, now deeply asleep on his chest, had started drooling over him. over his shirt which didn't look particularly cheap. "oh no... oh god, i'm so sorry!"
you quickly moved your hands to the wet patch on the fabric. but you couldn't even reach it because he caught your wrists on his hand, grip gentle but firm. "you're gonna wake him up." he lowered his voice.
"but the shirt-"
"it's fine. it's just a shirt." he assured you with that kind smile you still couldn't get used to even after twenty minutes. "he's sleeping. don't stress him." his hand started caressing the baby's back again when he shifted a bit on his sleep, easily making him relax again.
you bit your lip and nodded. he was right. it was better to let him sleep after all the crying he had. you tried to move back, but he was still gripping your wrists without noticing. your breath caught. his hand felt warm against your skin, fingers long enough to make your wrists look small in comparasion.
he finally let out a breathy sound when he realized what he was doing. he released your hands so fast like they had suddenly burnt him. "i'm sorry." he cleared his throat, looking away.
you smiled as nervously as him, swallowing a breath you didn't know you were holding. "it's fine." but your skin felt cold now that his hands weren't around it, and you surely didn't like that.
the next thing you knew is he was moving the baby from his lap, carefully putting him back in your arms. "he should get back to his babysitter."
you accepted the sleeping boy happily, holding him against you like the precious little thing he was. "thank you..." for some seconds you simply stared at each other, and there was something in his eyes that made you blush hard. it felt like he was admiring you instead of just looking. like he liked the sight of you holding the baby more that he would admit out loud. you cleared your throat this time. "um... i should probably go, before he wakes up again."
"oh..." the disappointment was clear in his voice, but he quickly smiled it off. "of course, you're right."
but for some reason, you couldn't move. he seemed to be having the exact same problem as you. you saw his fingers tapping against his book, probably debating his next words. you were faster than him this time.
"can i get your number?" you tried really hard to ignore the warmth spreading in your face.
he blinked a few times and then nodded in silence. he took his phone out and you did the same. his fingers brushed slightly against yours when you exchanged the devices. you don't know if you imagined it, but you even saw his hands trembling a bit while he typed his number on your screen. this man was going to give you a heart attack, for sure.
when you finally stood up from the bench, baby sleeping peacefully in your arms and diaper bag back on your shoulder, you found yourself smiling. and he was smiling just as brightly as you. "well..."
you didn't finish your words before he was standing up as well, hands casually coming to adjust the bag hanging off your shoulder. "i'll text you." he muttered near your ear, knocking off any little air supply you had left in your lungs.
you looked up at him. actually looked up, because just like you had guessed, he was as tall as the trees around you. "yeah. me too."
"yeah." he repeated. taking a step back, he nodded slightly in your direction. "be careful on your way home."
"i will." you nodded back.
when you finally turned to leave, you gently waved the baby's hand as a "goodbye" sign. he giggled under his breath as he returned the wave and muttered a small "bye", then sitting back on the bench.
with one last glance over your shoulder, you finally started walking away. the baby was now calm and peaceful, but you felt like your legs would give up before you could even reach the park exit.
once you finally made it to the street, your phone buzzed in your pocket. you carefully adjusted the baby in your arm before taking the phone out with the other.
you opened the notification. a new message. in fact, a photo.
confused, you pressed download. the image of one of the baby's toys popped up in your screen, followed by another text: "i think your little traitor left this behind."
you froze so hard you instantly stopped walking.
but it wasn't the lost toy what made you stop.
it was the way he had saved his contact on your phone.
"your disney prince :)"
you stared at it to make sure you weren't hallucinating. then a small smile cracked through your lips, followed by a laugh that made the baby whine in his sleep before you turned your voice down again.
you suddenly felt like a teenager in love, giggling and bouncing on your feet over a simple contact name. "guess we'll have to meet again sooner than expected..." you texted back.
"seems like it."
his response was immediate, and you could almost imagine his smile while typing it. with a big sigh you put your phone back in your pocket and resumed your walk back home, trying to reduce the number of heartbeats per minute you were feeling in your chest.
maybe this whole babysitting thing wasn't as bad as you initially had thought.
not proofread !! + english is not my first language, I apologize for any possible mistake.
previous chapter ≪ ★ ≫ next chapter
Third tip: get to know his friends + making eye contact
I stayed at home for a couple of days, skipping my shift at the shelter too. I just wanted to rest as much as I could before having to face all the embarrassing comments on what happened, as if it were somehow my fault. I still don’t understand who truly threw that ball at my face and why the whole team was so eager to help me after being with them only for a week.
When I went back to Tokyo Geidai on Monday, I felt better about everything. That morning, I woke up with all the negative thoughts that had piled up in the previous days, caused by the constant overthinking about the whole Maki situation, when I realized everything I was doing wasn’t going to get me any results. Then I remember what Sota told me as I was helping him out during practice: ‘Yolo anyway’; and somehow the sky became less cold-toned, the sun wasn’t shining in a blinding way anymore, and the suffocating air I felt stepping out of my house was substituted by a delicate breeze. I filled my lungs with fresh air. I wasn’t happy, but neither sad, I was just breathing fully, feeling light and grounded by the gentle weather of the day. I tried giving the day a chance, without blasting my ‘Cold winter breakup songs’ playlist. Beabadoobe, thank you for saving my morning today.
Since the weather stayed nice throughout the whole morning, Sota, Maya, and I decided to have our lunches outside, under one of the trees in the garden behind the building.
“Taki warned me that he wasn’t coming today, he had a cooking contest with one of his group mates,” Maya answered when Sota asked her why our friend wasn’t with us.
“Girls, his birthday is next week” Sota chewed his eggs between words, “we seriously have to start preparing something.” We all started thinking about it and brainstorming ideas.
“I think my brother would be willing to leave us a room in his studio if we don’t do anything too big, chaotic, or destructive,” I suggested, rubbing my eyes as the sun was, once again, too bright. “Maya, can we switch places? I forgot my sunglasses, and this sun is absolutely blinding me.”
She just nodded and started moving her things. Both Sota and her waved at someone behind me, but I was too busy moving and didn’t notice it.
When I sat down after blinking multiple times to clear my eyes, I finally looked up and saw right in front of me, but with a few meters between us, Yuma and Harua, setting down their picnic blanket: an atrociously cute pastel purple piece of cloth covered in vibrant orange strawberries. Why were strawberries orange? I strained my eyes to be sure I was seeing it right, and when nothing changed, I came to the conclusion that those were surely orange strawberries.
My friends kept talking about Taki’s birthday when I remembered the next point on my list: ‘get to know his friends’. I mean, technically, I knew some of his mates on the basketball team, but they didn’t seem to be closer to him than they were with me, so I figured they weren’t really close friends. However, I often saw him with Harua and Yuma, and why shouldn’t I try with them? They already kind of know me because of previous encounters, so it wouldn’t be too weird if I tried to be friends with them.
They were talking to each other, probably waiting for someone as they took out all of their food, but still hadn’t taken a bite of anything. I tried to make eye contact with them, just to make them notice me so I could wave as a greeting, but they were both giving me their side profiles. It would’ve been useful if I had my sketchbook, as they had beautiful features, but I didn’t, and I had to catch their attention. I wasn’t sure about how to actually approach them, but I hoped they remembered me, even a little. Then Maki arrived. His head low, gaze fixed on his phone, he walked up to his friends, slouching and let himself fall on his tummy, right on the picnic blanket. Yuma gave him a pretty loud slap on the ass. From afar, I saw him scowling, probably whining to Harua and Yuma, who were trying to make him sit down without occupying half of the blanket. He sat down and started looking for his food. I kept my eyes focused on him, and I felt a small smile creeping on my face as he started inhaling his food, feeling the same cuteness aggression I feel towards Reo whenever he eats. But actually, it also felt different. His broad figure, unusually small because of the distance, was framed between Sota and Maya.
Then, something flashed before my eyes: make eye contact, the other half of the tip. I saw it exactly how I wrote it in my diary as the daily entry: messy and half in blue and half red because I ran out of blue ink. And I really tried to follow the advice, but simply couldn’t. He lifted his head for the first time since arriving in the garden, and we looked at each other for five mere seconds before he decided to end me with a dimpled smile. I immediately felt something annoying in my eye and cursed: “Fuck, I have a lash in my eye”. Then I pretended I didn’t see him and looked away. Luck was never on my side tho, because I was still burning with embarrassment for all our previous encounters when I caught him getting up and coming to us with my peripheral vision. Maya noticed it, and when she saw me getting ready to stand up and run away, she grabbed my arm and made my torso fall between her crossed legs, while signaling Sota to anchor my feet.
“If I’m interrupting a ritual, I can come back later,” he said as he stood next to my shoes, abandoned on the grass.
“Nah, it’s all fine. What do you need?” Sota took on the role of speaker for our group.
“Well, first of all, I wanted to know if Y/N is feeling better,” I just nodded and avoided his eyes like the plague. “And I wanted to talk to you about Taki’s party.”
Maya signaled him to sit down, and I had the possibility to finally free my ankles from Sota’s grip.
“What about it?” I asked, trying to stay normal for a damn second of my life since I’ve met this guy. But before he could start explaining, my phone started buzzing, and my mom’s name popped up on the screen. I sighed: “I’m sorry, I have to take this.” I quickly grabbed my things and stepped into my shoes messily.
“Mama, hi!” she never called during the last couple of days because of work. “Everything is fine, Fuma exaggerated as always. You don’t have to worry,” I explained as a soft smile tugged my lips, amused and endeared by how much my mom and my brother were similar to each other.
“I’m glad to hear that, baby,” I could hear the excitement radiating from the phone. “I called for another reason… where are you now?”
“I’m almost at the gate of the university. Why?” I was confused and started to look around. There was only one reason why my mother would ask me something like that.
“Amazing, can you wait in front of the big tree in the middle of the entrance and turn your face to the gate?”
She was definitely here, or she wouldn’t have asked me to do all these things. But I also didn’t want to ruin the surprise she organised for me, so I stayed quiet, swallowing the ‘You’re not slick’ I was about to let out.
“Are you there?” she asked again when she didn’t hear my answer.
“Yes, I am waiting here”. I looked to the gate and saw her black, combined hair neatly falling free on her neck, with a colorful little pink braid left by one of her kindergarten’s kids.
Before she was even able to see me, I started walking fast in her direction. When I got near enough that she could hear me, I called her out, and she immediately hugged me.
“Surprise!” she moved her open hands. “I thought about coming to visit my babies before the big festival back home”, she explained.
“I don’t have any more lessons until 4:00 PM,” I said, looking at my watch. “We have about three hours before I need to come back. Do you want to go somewhere?”
She looked at me with the ‘I need coffee’ look she always gives Dad first thing in the morning. I nodded to let her know I understood and started leading the way, while she kept the conversation alive.
I spilled it all out, Maki, and how we met on the first day, the list, the teasing from my friends, Fuma’s questions, all the bad impressions I probably gave to Maki, and the next tip I’m going to follow.
“These are not bad ideas at all!” She read the list I’ve always kept in my pocket for the last few weeks.
“Maybe you should just ask a bit of help from your friends,” she suggested, handing me back the list. “Your friend, the one who looks like a cat,” she snapped her fingers to try remembering his name.
“Sota or Nicholas?” Those two were the only ones that reminded me of cats, besides Yuma, who my mother didn’t know.
“Sota! Right, Sota,” she smiled, “He’s a charming boy, he will know how to approach people”.
She was so sure about it that the only thing I could do was listen to her. And now, I have to deal with him teasing me as always.
“Remember what I told you,” Sota whispered, “Keep the approach simple: smile, wave, and ask how he is. While he answers, look at his eyes and then wander on him searching for a topic you can hold a conversation on,” he listed, putting a finger down after each reminder. We were hiding behind a tree on the path to the entrance.
“Got it,” I said, looking ap at him. “Hey, why am I the one crouching down?” he looked down at me.
“Because you’re shorter than me. Now go,” he pushed me out of our hiding spot, and I reluctantly approached Yuma, who was with his back turned to my direction.
“Hey, Yuma-san!” I called him out when I got near enough to not need to shout.
“Y/N-san, how are you?” he turned to me, “Jo told me you had an accident last week”.
I was baffled. Since when are Yuma, the most popular and wanted guy in the whole university, and Jo, the most reserved person I’ve ever known, friends? It’s like putting Charli xcx and Lana del Rey one after another in the same playlist.
“It’s all fine now, nothing too serious,” I brushed it off. “And how are you? All quiet on the Western Front?” I kept eye contact while wishing the ground could swallow me. I heard Sota sighing in my earbud. ‘You are a lost cause,’ he gritted through clenched teeth.
“Yeah, all too quiet. Weirdly quiet,” he looked around, and I took my chance to scan him head to toe to see if I could catch a glimpse of something I could build a conversation on. Finding nothing, I went back to what he said.
“What do you mean, weirdly? If I can ask, clearly,” I smiled, accommodating.
“By now I’m usually surrounded by too many people to even breathe properly,” he smiled calmly, “But I’m glad it isn’t happening. I’m happy to talk to you, and sometimes it’s nice to have some time free from them”.
He barely had time to finish his sentence when tons of girls and boys came running to us. He was giving his back to them and didn’t notice immediately.
“Yuma-san, I think it’s time for you to run away,” I said, pointing behind him. As he saw them approaching us, he cursed under his breath: “I’m sorry, we can talk more later!” he rushed away.
I went back to Sota, completely discouraged. “You actually held the conversation pretty well after the ‘all quiet on the Western front’ thing,” he patted my back, “I’m giving you a seven out of ten. The conversation was too short to give you a higher grade”. We took off our earbuds.
“Do you know why everyone is always looking for him?” I finally asked after thinking about it many times.
“Yuma is a great dancer, and everyone wants to be paired with him for dance projects, and he was an idol before coming here”.
I swiftly turned my head towards him. “Don’t look at me like that. If you were into gossip just a little more, you would’ve known,” he flicked my forehead before turning my face to look in front of me.
He left me in front of my Math classroom, but I didn’t even try to follow the lesson. I was too busy thinking about how to approach my next aim: Harua.
“Now, how are you going to approach him?” Sota kept his voice low because he was standing in front of the journal club’s room.
“I’m going to pretend I’m confused about next month’s art exposition, and I’m asking him because I want to participate in it and he organises it”. He gave me a thumbs up.
“That’s amazing. Now go. I’ll be at the library catching up with my homework; you can find me there or call me if you need any help.” I nodded, and we parted ways.
I knocked hesitantly on the club’s door, but no one answered; even tho I couldn’t hear a single sound coming out from the room. I opened slightly and walked him when a guy I didn’t know signaled me to come in. They were all wearing headphones and doing their things on their computers or at the printers.
I saw Harua near a window in the corner, talking to someone on the phone and writing something down at the same time. He saw me and lifted a finger, asking for a second with a condescending smile. He ten abrutedly ended the call with rage painted all over his face, but quickly recovered as he grabbed a chair for me to sit on.
“Good evening, Y/N-san, what brings you here?” It seemed like he didn’t want to waste time.
“I heard you’re organizing an art exposition…” I scratched my neck.
“Yes, I am. Would you like to participate?” I nodded. “Fantastic, you can go to Mio-san and ask him everything,” he said before I could add anything further. “He’s going to help you fill out these forms and will answer all of your questions,” he handed me some documents, and I felt under pressure under his piercing gaze.
He wasn’t scary, just extremely serious about this stuff. I felt a shiver down my spine, feeling guilty about making him waste time on me just because I wanted to get closer to him, just to get closer to Maki. Gosh, I’m a shitty person.
“Thank you so much, Harua-san. I will ask everything to Mio-san!” he smiled brightly and waved at me, before immediately calling someone with his phone, a frown adorning his usually sweet features.
After failing miserably with both of them, I felt like I didn’t want to have a conversation with anybody else for the rest of the day. That’s why I ignored all the text from my friends, planning to meet up somewhere after lessons, and went straight to the art club room.
I really hoped no one was there, but it seemed like that day wasn’t my day, and I had every right to play my cold winter breakup songs. Luckily, though, it was Jo. And even if we got pretty close since I became part of the club, he isn’t exactly talkative, and he has the ability to read the room.
“Bad day?” he asked with his soft tone after analysing my face. I nodded, really not in the mood for talking. He patted the chair next to him, signaling me to sit down while he kept painting. He was listening to music at a low volume, respectful of the other students using rooms near the art one. But as soon as I began painting too, ‘Freekn’ you’ started playing. I stared at him with eyes wide open until he noticed and turned to me, slightly tilting his head, confused at why I was looking at him like that.
“Is there something wrong?” he asked innocently. I think he was faking all of that innocent-looking image, but I didn’t have any proof other than the faint smirk I saw plastered on his face.
“No, nothing at all,” I stuttered, pretending I didn’t understand a single word of the song, when I understood everything way too perfectly. I turned back to my stuff.
After a while, he started packing his things. “I’m heading home, are you planning to go too? We can walk together for a while, maybe,” he suggested, not as shy as always.
“I think I’m going to stay here a bit more, if it’s not a problem,” he brushed it off with his hand. “But thank you for offering! And for everything. I’m sorry I haven’t been as talkative as usual, I just had a bad day”.
He bravely initiated physical contact by patting my shoulder lightly. Are my shoulders attractive or people just like patting them?
“Don’t worry, you don’t always have to be at 100%. And let me know if I can help you with anything!” he said, walking to the door and waving in my direction.
“I will!” I waved back as he left the room. Well, maybe I didn’t get to become friends with Yuma and Harua, but I surely discovered something new about Jo, something like his freakiness.
“Here you are! I knew I could find you there,” Maya laid herself next to me on the grass. She hated touching the ground with her clothes, thinking about how dirty they could get.
“Maya, your clothes are going to get dirty.” I sat up and grabbed her hands to make her sit like me, so that at least her top half could be safe.
“I don’t care, lay down again,” she shrugged her shoulders, and we both fell back flat on the ground. “Wifey, tell me what’s going on.”
She gave me her hand, and I started playing with her rings, something that calms me down and that she knew about.
“The list said I had to try and get close with his friends, so I asked Sota for help under my mom’s suggestion,” I started explaining. “But it didn’t go well. I didn’t have time to have a proper conversation with Yuma, and Harua didn’t have time to have a proper conversation with me. That stupid list isn’t functioning”.
“Maybe it’s because you are avoiding the most important tip: being yourself. It’s more than enough in your case, who wouldn’t fall in love with a sweetheart like you?” We both giggled.
“It’s not that easy,” I sighed, “he is just too good, and I’m not. He refused my brownies, he refused my help in math, and he saw how nervous I looked when I noticed how difficult those exercises were. He saw the accident during the basketball practice, and then I told him that he has imponent eyebrows and tried to bite him because he has the shape of a Dorito and I wanted to know how he tasted.”
I turned my head to Maya and saw her trying to hold back her laughter. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled, still trying to mask the fact that my embarrassment was funny for her.
“And I’m doing things I usually do. I mean, you know I love backing, helping, and talking with people, so I’m technically being myself. I’m just trying to be a bit cooler while being myself, but everything seems to be going in the wrong direction, always.” I explained.
“I could help you if you told me who he is,” she said as if she didn’t already know.
“You know who he is,” I gave her a side eye, “I’ll be really surprised if you didn’t notice how much of a mess I become when Maki is around.”
Both of us felt a light noise coming from the tree behind us, and we quickly looked at it. When we saw nothing, assuming it was a mix of bugs and wind, we laid back down once again. “Now it all makes sense. I won’t say anything to the others if you don’t want me to. But I want you to know that I’ll be there to help you anytime,” she smiled and smacked me a kiss on the cheek.
“Thank you, wifey”. We stood there for a while and, once again, my thoughts drifted to that fucking list. I started it, and I'm going to finish it, for scientific purposes. I was already looking like a crazy girl in his eyes, who cares if even the last tip doesn't work? I remembered only half of the tip: ‘dress nicely to impress him’ and immediately thought about my next helpers: Reo and Nicholas.
Yoooo can you please do &team dating an autistic reader I’m autistic and it would comfort me so much :)
Just please do some research before you write though or ask me if you have any questions cause there’s a lot of misinformation and finding information is confusing, and autism is a spectrum.
hii! tysm for the request but sadly i'm not familiar enough with this topic to write a fic without risking to offend someone / fall into stereotypes.
just like you said, internet is not the best place to get the proper information i'd need, and the last thing i want is to be disrespectful without meaning to.
i hope you can understand my position and you can eventually find the fic you're searching for 💞
turnnoffyourmind
yousharknotpass
dededos
andulkaphoto
origamiaround
