secret - ethan payne
requested: yes - “Could you write #2 with Ethan?”
prompt: 2. “they didn’t just find out, they already knew!”
summary: ethan and you decided to keep your relationship secret for a while, but what happens when people notice how close the two of you actually are?
wordcount: 942
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you knew all seven boys. all seven boys knew you. however, what six of them didn’t know, is that one of their best friends was dating you.
and that’s because you wanted to keep it hidden. just for a little while, until the two of you were sure about your feelings and ready to tell everyone.
so now, pulling up to their shared house, you know what you need to do: act normal. be kind, but not too kind. and pretend like he’s just one of your friends.
‘i’m here’, you text ethan, and get out of your car.
a minute passes as you wait in front of the door. you bite your nails, checking your phone again. you breathe out softly when you notice ethan’s typing. ‘on my way angel’.
you can hear ethan’s muffled voice yell out “she’s here!” and footsteps approaching the door. once it’s opened, ethan looks you up and down and gives you a grin, which you return. “you look stunning as always,” ethan whispers in your ear as the two of you embrace for a second.
you can feel a blush creeping up on your cheeks and let out a giggle, pushing him away slowly. he looks behind him, and closes the door, joining you on the porch for your usual quick make out session.
he makes his way from your lips to your neck and you mumble “ethan, they’ll notice you’ve gone missing in a second. we need to stop.”
he sighs and lets go of you, nodding at you understandingly. “let’s get inside then, shall we?”
you follow him inside and are met with the other boys in the living room. they all greet you kindly whilst ethan offers to get you some water from the kitchen.
“so what have you been up to? seeing any boys?” simon asks you, wiggling his eyebrows up and down. you roll your eyes at him. “nope, my love life is practically nonexistent.”
“you’re not lying to us, are you?” simon continues, and your cheeks redden. what are they on about? “no? i’m literally never around boys except you guys! stop acting like my dad you’re freaking me out,” you laugh it off awkwardly.
“alright then, so that means you sucked a hickey in your own neck?” jj smirks and points towards the place just below your jawline. your eyes widen and you quickly grab your phone and open the camera to see that there is indeed a huge bruise in your neck.
“i- uh-“ you stutter and get cut off by jj “so who did it?” your mind wanders to ethan who just sucked on your neck outside a few minutes ago.
as if on cue, he walks into the living room with your glass of water, silence filling the room. “here you go,” he hands you the glass with a soft smile and sits down next to you. you open your mouth to say something but close it instead. you look at ethan, feeling the heat of the other boys’ eyes on the two of you. ethan, oblivious to the current situation, looks up from his phone for a second to meet your eye, looks away, and back up again, clearly confused.
“what’s going on?” he breaks eye contact with you and looks around the room to the other boys.
“we were just asking her how she got that hickey,” tobi grins.
with your eyes still on ethan, you see his facial expression change from confusion to realisation.
instead of giving them an answer, he plays along. “you have a hickey? where’d you get it?”
“i- ethan- i don’t-“ you try, but he doesn’t give in. “no no no, tell us, c’mon, we’re your best friends! you don’t have to hide anything from us.” you sigh.
finally you decide to tell the truth. well, without mentioning a name. “okay fine. i give in. there’s this guy i have been seeing for a few months now. i didn’t want to tell you all about him because i wasn’t ready. i wasn’t sure where it was going at first but what i do know now is that i really, really like him. i hope he feels the same way but i’m not sure. hence why i didn’t tell-“
“you really like me?” ethan interrupts your little speech and your eyes widen before you meet his gaze. you notice a glisten in his eyes you hadn’t seen there before. the other boys gasp at the confession and you chuckle, looking down at your lap.
“of course i do ethan. i have for so long, i just thought that maybe you only wanted a no strings attached relationship. which i’m fine with, by the way, it’s just-“
“will you be my girlfriend?”
your breath catches in your throat as you see the boys on the edge of their seats, waiting for your answer in anticipation.
your smile widens as you nod, “i’d love to.”
“finally!” “it really took you guys this long!” “oh my god it actually happened!” you hear from around you as you wrap ethan in a tight hug.
you pull away in confusion, letting their words sink in. “they didn’t just find out, they already knew!”
“of course we did. the tension between the two of you has always been quite obvious, really. oh and we also saw you and ethan making out in the parking lot the other day,” simon explains quickly, making you laugh.
“we’re really no good at keeping secrets, huh?” ethan smiles at you.
“i guess it’s only good that we don’t have to keep it a secret anymore then,” you smile back.