˚꒰🎀⤾ EVENT SUMMARY your longtime crush, nishimura riki suddenly comes to you after one of your club meetings asking, pleading, for you to set him up with your best friend, jiwoo. the devil on your shoulder is telling you to sabotage this possible romantic relationship, while the angel is telling you to be happy for your guy obsessed best friend, even if she'll dispose of him next week. *slow updates*
˚꒰🧸⤾ PAIRING basketball player!nishimura riki x fem!reader
˚꒰🦢⤾ GENRE smau + writing, unrequited love, non-idol au, highschool au, sports au, classmates to friends to lovers, popular/nerd trope, fluff, angst, crackfic
˚꒰🍡⤾ FEAUTURING enhypen, stayc, nmixx, + other idols
˚꒰🕯️⤾ STATUS ongoing . . .
˚꒰🍰⤾ STARTED MARCH 18th, 2024
˚꒰💌⤾ COMPLETED . . .
˚꒰🍪⤾ TAGLIST open! <3
000. PROFILES ! YN PROTECTION SQUAD | THE HOMIES
001. tutoring who? (1k)
002. me when i lie.
003. so embarrassing... (722)
004. we should kill him, right?
005. incoming facetime from my lilypad🪷 and hoshi reincarnated🐯 (863)
006. niki is an idiot.
007. chat, am i cooked?
008. making progress... (726) + updated
009. about jiwoo. (1.6k)
010. mental breakdown #90210
011. loading . . .
012. loading . . .
013. loading . . .
more chapters soon !!
a/n: please, ignore the dates on the tweets, lol. it's big gaps inbetween them but i will reference in the chapters what day and time it is if needed. 🫂 please, continue to support me on my love story of riki nishimura <3
SYNOPSIS what your idol life would be like dating ni-ki :)
WARNINGS slightly suggestive but nothing sexual considering he's still a minor as am i, a bit of angst, talks of insecurities, mainly fluff :)
PAIRING nishimura riki x gender neutral!reader
REQUESTED nope
WC 3.3k
`⌁ ◜ FIRST MEETING ◞
You first met at GDA (Golden Disc Awards). Your group was on a constant uprise since the moment you debuted. Everyone in the KPOP industry knew your group, it'd be impossible not to after being featured on the cover of multiple magazines, constantly being front row at fashion shows, as well as being the face of countless brands.
Niki knew of your group but never really had the time or interest to look more into it until your performance.
He was truly mesmerized by you when you popped on the big screen for your mini solo. Your visual, and your voice, enchanted him like no other. His lips would slightly part while his unwavering gaze softened whenever you appeared even if it was for just a split second.
And once the dance break started an unknowing smile would appear on his face. although barely noticeable, it still surprised his members as they're so used to him remaining stoic throughout performances.
Your performance ended much quicker than he'd like, he felt as if he was stuck in this euphoric like state watching you move and having it end so abruptly covered him in unmistakable dread. Still he didn't hesitate to stand up from his seat and give applause with everyone else once the lights dimmed.
Once everyone cleared the stage and the announcers were back to keep the crowd entertained, niki's eyes darted amongst the rows of seats where other idols resided, patiently waiting to see you again.
Niki watched as your group got closer, bowing to your higher-ups and smiling while waving to your close friends. He along with his members stood up to reciprocate your bows. Niki's eyes laser-focused on yours hoping you'd make eye-contact with him, which you did.
It was only for a split second but in that moment he felt his heart skip a beat, your warm smile along with your shimmering eyes made him feel like he was walking on air. He could feel the breath leave his lungs as you passed by him, it's as if your gaze casted a spell on him making his legs stiff and feet glued to the ground.
He didn't even realize that everyone around him sat back in their seats and had averted their attention back to the stage. Well, not until Jake pulled him down by his wrist.
"something catch your eye?" "or more so, someone?"
His members teasing him completely flew in one ear and out the other, he wanted to just drown out all of his surroundings and focus on you but he knew how certain fans could get and instead decided on training his eyes back to where they should be.
Throughout the evening his eyes would drift back to the back of your head, being ever so pleased when you'd slightly tilt your head enough so he could see your smile. It was obvious he had taken a liking to you, so with the help of his hyungs during the commercial break they pushed him over to your direction.
He smoothed out his blazer before standing up straighter and making his way towards you. One of your members noticed him coming before you did, nudging you discreetly before tilting their head in his direction with raised eyebrows.
You looked over to find him making his way over, his eyes pointed at you only, making you freeze momentarily before standing out of your seat.
"Hi."
"Hi."
`⌁ ◜ FRIENDS BUT CRUSHING ◞
— it's not obvious just in passing but to his members and yours it's extremely evident of his unrelenting crush on you.
— he's very attentive to you. if you're ever on a variety show together he'll do his best to keep a respectful distance but his attention will barely stray away from you.
— a small smile will creep up on his face as he watches you tell a funny story with such excitement. his eyes will follow you across the room as you hit one of the hosts across the head with one of those giant red hammers. and he'll cover his face with a shy grin when you're forced to do aegyo, laughing as he finds you so adorable while you're cringing at your own overbearing forced cuteness.
— he likes to do dance practices together. teaching you their new choreography step by step. laughing at your demise whenever you trip over your own feet or freeze in the middle of the choreo.
— he actually enjoys whenever you mess up, it gives him an excuse to get closer to you and 'fix' your mistakes.
— he'll come up behind you, towering over you as he moves your arms and hands along with his. he'll lean in, whispering in your ear with one of his arms around your waist.. "make sure to keep your core firm." while resting his hand over your abdomen.
— he'll suddenly detach himself with a teasing smirk, feeling accomplished at making you flustered. "alright, ready to redo it again?" he'll ask as if he didn't make the largest swarm of butterflies thrash around throughout your body.
— he'll follow close by you. he'll either hover over your shoulder to see what you're doing on your phone, or just linger by to be around you. but most of the time it's done unintentionally because of how naturally drawn to you he is.
— throws away inkigayo sandwiches. if he ever overhears an idol saying they're gonna give you one of those sandwiches, he's very quick to interfere. it's petty, yes and a bit toxic of him to block his peers from interacting with you but he just doesn't want to have to compete for your attention, especially if it's with another male.
— buys you small trinkets. he'll off-handedly give you a keychain with pochacco on it and say it reminded him of you. he's always quick to avert his gaze during these small moments, shoving his hands in his jacket pocket while anxiously waiting for your response.
— he'll always bite back a smile at your excited rambles as you talk about how you were "just thinking about sanrio" before attaching the keychain to your bookbag.
— anytime he sees you flaunting around his gifts in public or a new dispatch photo showing you wearing it he'll feel a sense of pride swell in his chest. he's even watched clips of your lives where you'll read out a question asking "where'd you get that cute bracelet?" watching with pure adoration as you fidget with the bracelet before one of your soft shy smiles appears on your face. "my friend gave it to me :)."
— practices your choreography. during late hours into the day after he's done all of the practice for his group's choreo, he'll stay back and practice yours.
— he'll deny any and all teasing if one of his members catches him humming your groups song, specifically your chorus while softly mimicking your movements during his regular day to day.
— he'll even surprise you during one of your bi-weekly dance practices together. getting flustered and hiding his face at your loud claps and boisterous cheers as he finishes off the dance perfectly.
— sends you tik toks. sometimes it's core videos of you and he'll attach a laughing emoji or a comment saying "ur so weird", other times it'll be a cute video of your assigned animal doing something goofy and he'll send it saying "you."
— there has been a handful of times where he'll randomly stumble across an edit of yours. he never scrolls pass them, always watching them in full and maybe even a few times again before silently saving them into a private folder on his tik tok saves, never to see the light of day or anyone else's eyes.
— truly doesn't realize how down bad he is until he's up at 2am, smiling with a toothy grin and lightly laughing at an edit of you to twice's 'look at me'. "so cute..." he'd murmur before scrolling up and quickly back down to watch the edit again and again and again...
— describes you as his ideal type. whenever asked about his ideal type or celebrity crush he'll always describe your physical features and characteristics and might even name a celebrity that has your type of likeness.
— a shy smile will be on his face while he avoids eye-contact with the interviewer, the only thing popping up in his head are fantasies of you. your hair, your eyes, your lips. all things niki's attracted to. while, most girls are excited to hear the list of attributes that they think align with their features, none of them will ever truly match up to you in his eyes.
— wants you to like him. if you describe your ideal type and it doesn't exactly align with who niki is, he'll get a bit sulky.
— he won't do much to change his appearance because he likes the way he looks, the most he'll do is add a bit more color into his wardrobe if that's something you're into. if you like a lot of jewelry, he'll add on a few more rings and bracelets. but other than that niki won't do much to change who he is, he'll just try to find a way to shift your romantic interest into more of who he is.
— if he sees you eyeing his necklaces or if you compliment his style in any way he'll genuinely be overjoyed. whatever jacket you liked on him, he'll start to wear it more. you liked his hair being part a certain way? he'll post a bed or mirror selca on weverse with his hair just to your liking. you liked his skull ring? you'll see it adorning his finger more often than any other piece of jewelry, it now being noticeable in nearly every photo he takes. if you weren't so oblivious you'd see him fishing for your attention more than anyone else and realize he likes you just as much as you like him.
— compliments that sound like scolding. the way he compliments you almost sounds like he's annoyed or angry with you.
— if you ever feel the slightest bit insecure of your appearance he's very quick to shut down any and all self-deprecating thoughts, and loudly. saying phrases like...
— "ya! what are you talking about? you'd pull it off so well."
— "shut up, you know you look good."
— is a relentless tease. he genuinely will never let up with his teasing but it's nearly unbearable when he's in the crushing stage. he'll laugh in your face and start mocking you if you stumble over your words, he'll find memes of you where you look unflattering and spam them to your inbox when he misses you but doesn't feel like saying it verbally. if you ever have a moment where you forget choreo on stage or your voice cracks he'll send the clip to you or mock you right in your face.
— if he ever feels like he might've gone too far with his taunts he'll dial it down a few notches and hold off on teasing you for a while.
— he likes seeing you annoyed at him because you always sport a cute pout on your face that makes his heart flutter. he never wants to push you pass your limits and have you actually become upset at his antics or distance yourself away from him.
— if anything he full on encourages you to tease him back. he believes you'll have a stronger bond with each other if you're comfortable enough to make certain jokes about each other together.
`⌁ ◜ CONFESSION ! ◞
— he's so nervous to ask you out. he really likes you, as a friend and as a romantic partner so he's extremely irritable throughout the entire process. he knows that this question could change your relationship for the better or for the worse and that just makes things so much more nerve-wracking.
— he planned on asking you out at one of your dance practices together. just you and him, no other choreographer, no other teammates to bug you both, just the two of you. alone. together.
— he's so much quieter throughout the practice, so you can tell he has something prodding at his mind. he's jumpier and has been repeatedly rubbing his palms on his sweatpants.
— after confronting him halfway through the practice niki will just blurt out his feelings for you in quick jumbled rambles. quietly asking after his tangent "will you- or do you maybe wanna go out with me?" all while fiddling with the long sleeves of his jacket.
— of course you said yes, which made him ecstatic. shy giggles and playful smiles were sent to each other throughout the rest of the practice before you finally decided to wrap up for the night.
— a small innocent hug to seal your departure away from each other made his heart nearly beat out of his chest and the butterflies in his stomach to reach down to his toes and to the base of his throat. he was barely successful at containing all of his excitement until he got back to the dorms.
— his hyungs already know what happened by the wide grin on his face and bounce in his step when he re-enters the dorm.
— niki had a date! and possibly a significant other :)
— it took quite some time for you to plan your date because of you misaligned schedules but after a few stressful days of running rampant and trying to figure out a proper time, the both of you decided on a nice movie night at his dorm.
— he's so displeased that he's unable to take you on a normal cute date because of dispatch and saesangs possibly ratting you guys out, but you're quick to reassure him and let him know you're happy to do anything with him, which relieves him quite a lot. ( he silently promises to you and himself that he'll take you on a real extravagant fancy date one day. )
`⌁ ◜ DATING STAGE ! ◞
— engenes have noticed an uptick in niki's mood. he seems happier, more playful, and more feral than he's usually been in recent activities.
— and it's all because of you!
— now that you're together, he can't go a day without speaking to you. on his breaks he'll spam your inbox non-stop until you reply. management had to confiscate your phone one time because it kept buzzing during an interview.
— his texts usually consisting of 'hey' 'imu' ' :D :D :D' '*photo attachment of two cats* us' 'tell ___ hyung/noona i said hi' 'i saw ur weverse post.' 'u look ugly today 😒' 'jk jk jk' 'pls don't kill me'
— bursts out laughing randomly. he does it a lot, especially on live and it's usually because he haphazardly remembered an inside joke between the two of you.
— secret touches. he loves to initiate small signs of affection in public. it gives him a bit of a thrill knowing there's so many cameras and people watching but none of them know what's happening between the two of you.
— he'll softly graze a hand on your back when moving past you on stage with other idols, winks at you when you make a split second of eye-contact, briefly caresses your hand with his when passing by each other backstage.
— he loves laughing at your flustered reaction after he does something bold. like when you were filming a tik tok together for your latest comeback.
— your group gathered together around the camera with enhypen on the other side, you and niki pushed to the far back.
— the whole time you couldn't focus on whatever your leader had been explaining enthusiastically to the camera because niki's hand that was resting on your lower-back had traveled down to your butt, ever so lightly patting it with a steady rhythm.
— you nearly forgot your lines when it became your turn to talk and had to focus on not stumbling over your lines. you could see the smirk on niki's face out of the corner of your eye but didn't say anything until the cameras were off and your managers were occupied.
— physical affection. if you're in his vicinity he needs to be touching you in some kind of way. he's not one to be physically affectionate in public or even around the members, but he'll still try to initiate some type of contact with you.
— in public spaces it'll be minuscule acts of affection, so small that no one would even blink an eye at you two. his knee barely leaning against yours as you sit next to each other, or his elbow just barely touching the skin of your arm when he stands next to you.
— when the two of you are around your members and no one else he's a bit more touchy. resting his head on top of yours, fiddling with your clothes, entangling his legs with yours when you're sat on the same couch, and maybe even a small kiss on the cheek if he's feeling bold enough.
— when the two of you are alone he can't keep his hands off of you. you two rarely ever get moments alone so when you do you make the most of it.
— he'll lay his entire body on top of you and stay there even if you plead with him to get off because you feel like you're being crushed. he'll just ignore your cries and nuzzle his head further into the crook of your neck. good luck trying to escape.
— is obsessed with the size difference between you two. loves to compare hand sizes, bending the tips of his fingers over the tops of yours. in dance practice he'll gaze at your smaller figure next to his in the big mirrors and just smile to himself.
— whenever you wear any article of clothing that is oversized it makes his heart melt, he'd much rather prefer you wear his clothing tho.
— he'll take off-guard pictures of you drowning in his clothes and just keep them for his eyes only. looking at the pics whenever he starts missing you.
— collects your photocards. he was hooked after being gifted a signed mini album from your leader where he just so happened to pull your photocard. he gave away all of the inclusions that didn't include you to his other members but kept whatever had your face on it.
— now the both of you exchange albums after every comeback and unbox them in-front of each other.
— truly getting excited when you pull each other's photocards and extremely sulky when you pull someone else's. ( i fully believe at some point he has snatched a sunoo photocard from your hands with his teeth. )
— self-care days. those rare days where you two cuddle up in matching pajamas in one or the other dorms with junk food surrounding you have created the best memories for the two of you.
— after long days constantly working with very limited bits of sleep, you two deserve to just spend time together, and the way you two do it is by doing nothing with each other.
— painting each other's nails, wearing face masks, gossiping together, and cuddling up together under a mountain of blankets while a random variety show plays in the background.
— those are the times where he's the most affectionate. nudging his nose against yours as a silent plead for a kiss, and once he does get what he wants he'll be reluctant to let go. always going back for more and lingering longer than the last.
— supportive. whenever your group wins an award he's one of the first people to stand up while clapping, biting back the cheesiest grin while he watches your eyes gloss up in shock.
— he likes to promote your groups music, if you ever come out with a solo he'll slyly mention it by posting a list of songs he's been listening to, yours standing proudly at the top of the list.
all in all he truly loves you, and can't wait for the day you two reveal your relationship to the public and he no longer has to hide his overbearing adoration for you. <3
a/n: i yapped a lot in this so i had to shorten it down lol sorry. HTGTG CHAPTER THREE (and possibly 4) WILL BE POSTED TMMRW <3 !!
Weeks have gone by since you started tutoring Riki. To say you've started to like him more was a vast understatement. Once you dropped your "cold" act that lasted for a mere 3 sessions, You started to become accustomed to him.
Although you had gone many years without interacting with each other, it felt like the spark you had imagined between you two never left.
The both of you had grown comfortable with each other to the point you started to interact with each other outside of the usual library doors.
At first, it was embarrassing to have your name shouted at the other end of the hallway, however, it turned into a typical routine where instead of keeping your head down and speed-walking away from him to avoid lingering eyes, you'd wave back.
During these study sessions, you learned more and more about him. How he microwaves his strawberries, he has a dog named Bisco, he can play piano, and he has a large fear of bugs that you've sadly had to learn the hard way after he accidentally pushed you aside to run away from a nearby wasp.
Something else you learned about Niki was that his grades did not match up with his knowledge. Sure, he was inconsistent with his attendance and would rarely turn in classwork if any at all, but he was smart and an extremely fast learner.
It had gotten to the point where you'd just set a small bulk of his past-due assignments in front of him and study for your other classes until he finished.
The study sessions quickly turned into more of a hangout. Staying in the library together hours after completing whatever workload had stacked up over the week to share hushed laughter and talk about everything under the sun until the library had to close down for the night.
You'd even go as far as to call him your friend, and so would members of the Newspaper Club.
"You're in a rush." Lily offhandedly mentioned as she typed away on the school's computer. Her posture had straightened at the sound of you hastily packing away your belongings but her eyes refused to stray away from the screen.
"Hm? Oh, yeah. I'm supposed to meet up with Riki." you answered before slinging the book bag over your shoulder.
"To do what exactly? It's a Friday and I thought you only tutored him on Sundays." J suddenly butted in, a playful yet accusatory tone to her voice as she suddenly invested herself in the conversation.
"I don't know actually, he asked to meet me at the school gates when our session ended."
"Oh? Is he walking you home? That's pretty cute." Yoon commented, a teasing smile growing on her face. "I don't know why he would, I mean— he's never done it before. So, I don't see why he'd want to do it now." You replied with fake unconcern.
You were being honest when you said you didn't know why Riki had suddenly made this decision to meet you at the school gate, but if it was to start walking you home on a frequent basis, you're 100% sure your knees would give out.
"Did you guys need any more help before I head out?" You suddenly questioned, trying to shift focus away from your last comment.
"Nope, we got it from here. Only thing we have left to do anyway is restock the printer paper." J assured with a small smile before hoisting herself up to sit on a desk.
"Okay, I'll see you guys later then." You quickly replied as you made your way towards the exit,
Lily only hummed in response to your statement before saying "Have fun, don't get into any trouble."
A smile crept onto your face as you resisted the urge to roll your eyes at how much she sounded like a Mom sending her daughter off. "And text us when you make it back home!" Seeun responded, suddenly bordering out of the storage closet with a box filled to the brim with different bulks of paper.
"Okay, Moms, will do."
"About time." Riki groaned out, loud enough for your approaching figure to hear as you made your way into eye view. "Oh, shut up," you said as he pushed himself off of the gates.
"I feel like I've been waiting for forever." He whines as he follows behind your figure. "Yeah, right. Couldn't have been waiting that long since it looks like you went home to drop off your backpack." You pointed out, silently relishing in the feeling of freedom as you got farther and farther away from school grounds.
"I didn't feel like carrying that thing around all day. Plus, it'll be easier to carry yours." He stated nonchalantly.
He reached over to slip your bag off of your shoulders before flinging it across his own, his delicate fingers brushing over your own as he did so. But just as quick as his touch arrived, it was just as quick to leave.
His simple actions shouldn't ruffle you like they do, yet it still happens. You know that when Riki does things like this he never has an underlying intention which makes it all the more pathetic when you feel your stomach brim with butterflies the moment you make skin-to-skin contact with him.
You cleared your throat before wrapping your arms around your stomach, a meek attempt at trying to calm the raging storm of feelings that was happening inside of you.
"So, why did you want to walk me home all of a sudden?" You asked, shifting your gaze around the growing shrubbery to avoid looking in his direction.
"Oh, right. I wanted to ask you something." He shyly uttered, his free hand that wasn't holding your bag made its way to the back of his neck, nervously rubbing it as he looked down at his sneakers.
You glanced in his direction to see that whatever was on his mind had been weighing in on him for a while. "Yeah, what's up?" you asked softly before shifting your gaze forward.
"Um, you're friends with Jiwoo, right?" he asked, out of the corner of your eye you could see him turn towards you. Trying to gauge your reaction and see what you'd say.
It took a moment for the question to fully translate in your mind as if he was speaking a foreign language you had never heard before. Once it did register in your head you couldn't help the shock that overtook your body, nearly making you stumble over your feet.
You opened your mouth to speak but no words came out, it was as if you were a fish out of water. Your mouth had suddenly gone dry and it felt as if you saw the fantasy of your TV romance crashing in front of your eyes. "Yeah, Jiwoo and I are really good friends." You finally managed to push out.
"Why do you ask?" You quickly follow up, your eyebrows unknowingly furrowing.
"I asked because I wanted to know if she was single." He replied, his tone went from nervousness to giddiness in a matter of seconds.
You couldn't turn towards him because you could hear the smile in his voice at the mere mention of her name. You were afraid that if you saw how he beamed at the thought of her that the butterflies that were swarming in your stomach just a few seconds earlier would escape onto the concrete in front of you.
"She's single," you affirmed with a stiff nod.
"Do you think you could set me up with her?" He immediately asked, a hopeful tone in his voice. Each word that came out of his mouth felt like a blow to the gut, killing off each butterfly one by one.
Your head shook 'no' before you could even form the words. "I-...I don't think I could."
"Oh, come on, please?" He suddenly pleaded, turning towards you once again. He wanted you to look at him, whether intentionally or not he knew that if you made eye contact with him you'd fall into his trap just like everyone else.
"Just get one of the basketball players to help. Or one of their cheerleader girlfriends." you tried to reason. "It's not the same," he muttered, tilting his head towards the sky, another whine threatening to come out of his mouth.
"Come on, you'd be the perfect wing-woman. you're good friends with her so it'd be easy and less weird when someone she barely knows tries to set her up with me," he argued, adding onto why he wanted you to set him up with her.
You bit your lip in contemplation. It felt like the obvious answer was 'NO!' but another part of you wanted to agree to set them up. You were happy with the relationship you and Riki had started to build together and you didn't want an elementary crush to get in the way of that.
There was always the lingering possibility that you and him were only ever meant to be friends and nothing more, and maybe, just maybe, Jiwoo was the one for him.
"What do I get out of this?" You quietly asked after the lingering silence.
"Anything you want. If you do this for me I promise I'll pay you back" He swiftly responded before stopping in his tracks, instinctively making you stop alongside him. "Please, just do this for me." He begged, his hands fidgeting with the rings on his fingers as he waited for your answer.
