imagine li's getting jealous over non!mc reader
warnings:(unedited) mc is referred to as she/her as well as partner/miss hunter/pipsqueak+meimei while reader is y/n or they/them. be warned that xav + caleb get a little possessive while zayne just sulks.... hopefully i did them justice? i quite like it at least hehe ofc raf + sylus pt coming later this tired me outtt but i hope u enjoy leave thoughts/any ideas i <3 reading thru them maybe it'll help spark more inspo lolol :p
tags: @xylov @asakiyu @xsammijoanneex @noxus123 @cordidy @nm4565natty
(tagging some who showed interest in more parts/asked to be tagged in prior part. pls lmk if you'd like to be add/removed ! :p)
something was missing.
xavier had felt it recently- like something was slowly slipping through his fingers before he realized he should try to grasp at it to no avail.
it was like a stray thought circling through the back of his mind, orbiting to the forefront every so often when he was by his lonesome, but quickly being shoved to the side in favor of other things (or, people), notably aiding his partner in whatever she might have needed.
that "something missing" would be placed on the backburner, neglected with the intention of returning to it later in order to find out what exactly was nagging at him.
but hours turned to days, and days into weeks before he finally realized what it was.
it happened in one of the training rooms.
xavier and his partner had just finished up for the day, getting ready to change with the lively idea of hotpot with the others floating around. she said she wouldn't take long, scurrying off towards the showers for a quick rinse and change of clothes.
xavier had finished before her, mind wandering as he waited for her to finish when he caught a glimpse of something.
out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a familiar star charm dangling off of a shoulder bag.
snapping out of his little daze, he saw you from a tall window, zipping your bag closed, taking slow steps down the sidewalk. he watched as you glanced at your phone, smiled, and continued on your way, eyes trailing your form as you disappeared further into a small crowd.
something clicked for him at the sight of you.
when was the last time he'd spoken to you?
suddenly curious, he pulled out his phone, finger tapping the messenger app and your contact.
it had been over two months since you'd last messaged him.
that's strange.
he wonders how he didn't notice it sooner.
after all, he had grown somewhat used to your messages, either checking in, telling him to eat well at various meal times, or just sharing something interesting or notable that happened during your day.
looking back at the messages now, he notices something.
you were the one who always initiated the conversations, the one that kept them going. most of his replies were simply sticker reactions or short apologies for seeing the message late.
he hadn't ever replied to the last message you had sent to him.
"have a great day today xavier! maybe if you're free after work, we could get some hotpot together? itll be my treat since you've been working so hard recently!"
his mind starts racing, staring at the message and wondering if he should say something now, anything, when his thoughts are interrupted by a voice.
"hey partner, are you ready to go?"
he feels himself lightly nudged, clicking the power button of his phone off in response before tucking it into his pocket.
"huh?"
"sorry for taking awhile, i was trying to find out how many of us were going!"
"how about inviting y/n?"
the words slip from his lips before he even thinks.
the girl infront of him doesn't flinch.
"actually, its funny you mention them! i caught them as i left the showers, and did mention it, but they told me they had plans already, and said maybe next time."
"when was the last time they accepted one of your invites?"
she takes a moment to think, humming as she tries to recall.
"actually, it feels like its been forever. maybe a month or two? i wonder if they're alright..."
something is wrong.
before he can mull it over too deeply, her voice sounds again as she checks her phone.
"oh, lets get going! we're going to be late for our reservation!"
despite the light laughs and enthusiastic chatter from his partner, xavier is a million miles away that evening.
. . .
xavier decides the best course of action is to trail after you.
its been a couple of days, and he can't quite shake the thought that something must be wrong, something must have happened, and he steels his resolve to find out what it may be.
he couldn't quite place why the thought of you handling something alone bothered him so much, but he felt a sense of duty to be there for you, whatever the case may be.
he finishes his work early as usual, lounging at his desk to send his partner a message to not wait up for him before shutting off his phone and shifting his eyes towards you.
he catches you just leaving, allowing a good distance between the two of you before leaving himself to follow you.
xavier is especially alert down the path that you take to wherever you're headed, focused on any energy fluctuations as he keeps his eye on you, though surprisingly, he finds nothing out of the ordinary.
its only then that he begins to recognize this particular path, but continues after you.
. . .
imagine xavier's surprise as he watches your steps pick up, right towards the entrance to philo. he hears the little bell jingle as you slip through the door.
since when have you been into flowers? were you just picking up a gift for someone? perhaps....
the thought seizes once he sees jeremiah enter his view from the back. he watches as the florist smiles at the sight of you, stepping closer to you and taking your hand in his before pulling it towards him, bending down slightly to plant a soft kiss on the back of it.
xavier feels something dark twist inside of him at the scene, heart suddenly so heavy he fears his chest might burst, especially at the sight of your flustered smile from the gesture.
why were you so lively with jeremiah? were you close? he wonders how you met him in the first place.
he doesn't know why the way you smile at jeremiah irks him, why the pink carnation he offers you makes him scoff, why your pleased reaction makes his heart feel like its being squeezed till it might burst, or why he wishes he could stop jeremiah when he moves to fix a lock of your hair behind your ear.
as much as he would like to barge in and interrupt the two of you, whisking you away to who knows where, the look in your eyes stops him, if just barely.
he hasn't seen your eyes that bright in so long, and he's frustrated at himself for not missing the sight sooner.
too pent up with emotions to think straight and not wanting to watch the scene for another second, he finds himself teleporting to a no-hunt zone.
surely, taking care of some wanderers will help him blow off some steam.
and when he was done, he would come up with a way to approach you properly the next time he saw you.
doctor zayne li is known for being observant. other than being part of his job, its simply something he picked up from an early age, and a habit he could never shake. naturally, he can tell when something new occurs, or somethings changed.
change especially since, as a man of routine, anything that disrupts that is immediately noticeable to him.
so when you stopped visiting him for lunch, and your overall drop-ins almost suddenly stopping out of nowhere, he noticed.
he noticed, and yet, he didn't say anything.
he didn't message you, he didn't seek you out, he didn't think much of it overall.
but maybe he should have.
perhaps you've grown busier, he reasoned. your job did keep you occupied, and though you messaged him less and less, you usually gave a rundown of your schedule and how work was treating you.
aside from this, a certain miss hunter had seemed to fill in that gap you'd left from the lack of your visits, so he decided to brush it off, to not pay it much mind. he was sure you'd fall back into your normal routine sometime, so he didn't worry.
though, no one could truly fill the gap you'd unknowingly left behind.
you and her were not one in the same, after all.
he recognizes this, and yet...
"zayne?"
he blinks back to the present, eyeing his white rice.
"you spaced out. everything alright up there, doctor?" she teased, a tinge of concern laced between her words.
"everything is fine," zayne answer simply, plucking a clump of rice with his chopsticks before raising it to his lips.
"where were we?"
he munches on the rice, allowing her to rattle on about work, a recent mission, any issues she'd encountered, and he sits there, content with her presence.
and yet, you remain in the crevices of his mind.
. . .
a couple of days later, he receives a message.
"sorry doctor, i wont be able to make it to lunch today T_T dont miss me too much, okay~"
he responds as soon as he sees it.
"dont worry about it. there's always another lunch."
his phone pings again.
"omg... you miss me already, i can tell!"
"dont get ahead of yourself, miss."
he sends a snowman sticker and turns off his phone, returning it to his pocket. since he'll be eating alone, he decides to pick up a few boards from the front to look over in the meantime.
but when he opens the door to his office about to make his way down, he sees an familiar face chatting with yvonne.
you.
his heart skips a beat at the sight, unexpected yet pleasant all the same. your hair is done in a hairstyle he hasn't seen before, and he takes note of a small container wrapped in a cloth within your hold.
had you really come to see him today? maybe he could ask you where you've been, what's been taking up your time...
the thought is interrupted by a cheery voice, causing both you and yvonne's heads to turn towards the source.
"ah, there you are!"
doctor greyson.
zayne's brows furrow at the scene, watching his fellow doctor makes his way towards you, casual, friendly, and the way a smile stretches across your face at the sight of him.
he watches the way you offer the wrapped box to the doctor and feels his heart clench.
what was he meant to be doing again?
whatever it was could wait. right now, zayne wanted to trap himself in his office and occupy his time with checking his patient charts.
. . .
he's just passing by, zayne reasons with himself.
today was a nice day, and given that miss hunter was out on a mission, he decided to get a bit of fresh air before busying himself with more work.
despite this being the idea, he still finds himself reading a research article on protocore syndrome on what's supposed to be a short break.
he would argue it wasn't technically work when you'd jested once about him being a workaholic that even read research on his breaks. you would laugh, telling him how admirable it was the way he spent his time.
the thought of you makes him momentarily pause his reading.
his mind often drifted back towards you these days, it seemed.
he picks up where he left off, just about to round a corner when he hears that familiar laughter.
that airy laughter of yours that would float through the air when he used any of his dry humor lines around you, or made an expression you found particularly amusing as a result of something you had said.
he almost instinctually follows that sound when he hears another familiar voice.
"hey, don't laugh at me!"
"i'm not, its just—"
"you are! it totally wasn't my fault, you know," the male voice huffs, crossing his arms over his chest.
"i mean... you were holding food. did you expect the raccoon to ask before taking?"
he groans, burying his face into his hands. your giggles ring out once more.
zayne watches the exchange, taking note of the closeness in which you two are sitting on the bench, the two pairs of chopsticks sticking out from one container settled between the two of you. he notes the way greyson looks at you, his attention completely captured by you, animated and lively, drawing out your amusement easily.
moreover, he notices the way you lean into him slightly, the way your eyes are bright and centered on him like he's the only one in existence, the way your fingers twitch when his hand gets just a little too close to yours, the way your expression is something joyous, open, honest and oh-so lively.
zayne can't recall a time where you wore that same expression when you were with him.
something swirls inside of him, something unpleasant and cold. his chest feels heavy, he feels out of place, and he feels like he's intruding on something sacred.
is this how you felt before?
he can't fathom the thought.
in hopes to escape these feelings, he turns back the way that he came, article rolled up and clutched tightly in one hand, your laughs fading with every step that he takes, the weight on his chest growing heavier and heavier the further he gets from you.
he doesn't know why he feels the way that he does, he only knows that he doesn't like it.
he doesn't like seeing you with greyson.
and as he makes it to his office, clicking open the door before disappearing behind it, only one thought clouds his mind:
perhaps he should have reached out to you first.
you were avoiding him.
it was the only thing caleb had managed to come up with, and yet, he couldn't find a reason, not really.
he liked to pride himself on his intelligence, on reading people (or maybe it was just his pipsqueak that he was so accustomed to reading, used to every micro expression and microaggression that was thrown at him and pinpointing the cause easily). he'd wracked his brain, going through every possible scenario, and couldn't come up with one possible reason that would warrant you avoiding him.
normally, you would send little texts throughout the day, simple goodmorning's to sleep well's, little pictures from any outings or maybe a new recipe you'd decided to try out.
he'd always make sure to respond, often seeing the images a little later but always at least reacting with his familiar apple stickers.
though, thinking about it now, you messaged less and less these days. he actually wasn't sure off the top of his head when the last time was that you sent him a photo of anything.
huh.
now that he thinks about it, hasn't it been awhile since he's seen you? the last time he can remember wasn't anything too recent, maybe a couple of months ago, but its a haze in his head, distinctly remembering his pipsqueak that night.
wasn't someone else there too?
he shakes his head, deciding not to think to hard.
maybe he would invite you out to eat with him sometime. he knows you like his cooking, and since you're close with them both, surely you'd accept, reconnect, and everything would be better.
. . .
you'd left his message on read.
you never left messages on read.
he remembers once when you offhandedly mentioned that when you do, you feel bad, always at least reacting to the message to make sure the recipient knows you're not deliberately ignoring them and that you did, indeed, see the message.
he reasons that this is what happened.
so instead, he decides to give you a call. that should be simple enough, right?
it rings once.
twice.
three times.
...
voicemail.
he groans.
seriously, what did he do?
maybe you were just busy.
...or maybe something happened to you?
he doesn't want to entertain the thought. hes sure you're fine, you can handle yourself.
...but—
he shakes the thought from his head.
surely, you would've reached out to him.
a pause.
he decides he'll give it till the end of the day.
. . .
later, he's scrolling on moments, having received a notification that his meimei posted something. he comments something teasing, smiling to himself and scrolling to the next post only to freeze.
it was from you.
from just two hours ago.
the same time he tried to call you.
...
caleb would have to take drastic measures.
if you were avoiding him for whatever reason, maybe he would have to pay a visit in order to find out just what it was that he did.
. . .
you're startled from your seat on the sofa by a knock on your door.
you raise a brow, thinking over the possibilities.
you weren't expecting a package for another couple of weeks, you hadn't invited anyone over, and you hadn't placed any delivery orders today (at least not yet, though you had been mulling it over, craving something from that one restaurant that you just didn't quite feel like venturing out to yourself).
you sit up, thinking of any possible person that would be at your door.
when another set of knocks ring out again, you begrudgingly rise from your spot, muttering a "coming," as you walk towards the door.
you neglect peeking through the peephole, figuring whoever it was, you would deal with them relatively quickly.
you swing the door open to reveal the last person you thought might drop by your apartment.
"hey hey, little apple," he all-too casually greets, leaning against the doorframe, a boyish grin taking over his features.
your shock at seeing caleb at your door renders you speechless, and before you can find any words to respond with, he's already pushing his way into your apartment as if he owns the place.
"hmm, not intrudin' on anything, am i?" he asks, walking around the living space before he's peeking around other nearby rooms, almost inspecting them as if he's searching for something.
you shut the door, turning around and trailing towards him, tilting your head at his puppy-like grin.
"caleb wha— why—"
"thought you were in trouble," he shrugs, lifting his hands up and stretching them behind his head, eyes locking on you.
"why else would you not answer my texts?" his voice comes out nonchalant, but his eyes take on a dark look.
shit.
surely he wasn't upset at you for that, was he?
you thought he wouldn't even notice you not texting him anymore, with his attention always elsewhere. as a matter of fact, you figured he'd be grateful your daily messages gradually died out into nothing.
its not like he seemed all that interested in what you had to say, anyway, if his responses were anything to go by.
"i—"
"didn't answer my call either," he says, hands falling to his sides as he takes a step towards you.
"your phone isn't busted, is it, little apple?"
his voice takes on a lower tone, and he takes another step towards you. you instinctively take one back.
"n-no, its just—"
"just what?" another step.
"because if i didn't know any better..."
he's right before you, arms outstretching and hands hitting the wall behind you. he's so close you can feel his warm breath tickling your ear.
"i'd say you were avoidin' me."
you can feel his eyes on you, and you can't help but avert your gaze from his intense stare.
"caleb..."
"so, what is it? what's the problem?"
you huff out a breath.
"you're impossible," you pout.
he chuckles, almost sounding amused.
"yeah? go on."
you sigh.
"i didn't even think you'd notice when i stopped texting" and it seemed like you didn't until just recently you want to add, but bite your tongue. you're honestly surprised he noticed at all.
his brow furrows.
"why wouldn't i?"
"really, caleb?"
his eyes suddenly take on that kicked-puppy look, and you tear your gaze away.
"'m not avoiding you," you mumble, ears hot.
"liar."
"well—!"
your heads both turn at the sound of your phone dinging in your hand.
"so you do receive messages," he teases, eyes trailing towards the lit screen.
"whos it from?"
"does it matter?"
"yeah, it does," he says, tone underlying with finality, his hand moving to pin your wrist to the wall.
"caleb—"
he grasps your other wrist easily when you try to wriggle free, clutching onto your phone tighter.
"let me go—"
"nuh-uh~" he sing-songs. you don't know how he manages to have that look in his eye when his voice holds such a teasing lilt to it.
"caleb, i'm not kidding—"
"yeah? neither am i."
despite his tone, you keep fighting to escape his grasp. you seriously can't think of any reasonable explanation for the way he's acting right now. was he just messing with you? surely he couldn't be that bored. and where was his precious meimei? why would he waste his time here with you when she was likely waiting for him?
your thought is cutoff by another ping from your phone.
caleb's hold tightens as he leans in to peek at the contact.
"hey, still up for tonight? i dont mind picking you up, like usual! /._./"
caleb feels his heart drop at the name he reads.
"ow, caleb, let go—"
in a fruitless effort to keep your privacy, you wriggle your hands again, dropping your phone to the floor and letting it clatter to the carpet below.
caleb's grip loosens but he doesn't completely let go.
"gideon? when did you meet?"
"that little banquet night a couple of months ago, remember?"
something clicks at your words. that hazy night where he was doting on her as per usual...
and you and gideon in the background.
something in him cracks, and he doesn't know why.
"since when were you two close?"
"it doesn't matter."
"it does."
you scoff lightly, looking away from him.
"i dont think it matters who i talk to or make friends with, why are you so concerned?"
"because, you—"
caleb stops himself.
why does he care so much? sure, he was hurt you were avoiding him, but this felt like a stab in the back and he couldn't quite place why.
"because...?"
caleb sighs.
"why were you avoiding me?" he tries again, softer this time, avoiding your eyes.
your eyes widen at the sudden change of attitude.
"its not your fault."
a half-truth.
'its not your fault that i let myself fall for you' was the actual truth, but to hell if you were actually going to tell him that.
you were starting to feel a little bad.
"i really didn't think you'd notice," you add.
something flickers in his eyes for a moment, but you barely catch it. instead, he meets your gaze, sunset eyes all puppy-like.
"i did. i do."
your heart clenches.
curse this man.
"i..." his gaze wavers for a moment before meeting you again.
"don't do that again." he decides on that, hands slipping from yours and pulling back, arms falling to his sides as he finally puts some distance between you two.
he looks like he wants to say something else. you look up at him expectantly, but when he finally opens his mouth, his own phone goes off.
he jumps at the sound but quickly fishes his phone from his pocket and answers.
you only catch half of the conversation.
"hm? oh, nothing much. don't worry about it."
"uh-huh, be there in time for dinner."
"trust your gege, yeah? ill be home soon."
your heart wilts with every word.
he's talking like you're not even here, like you're the one intruding in his space.
by the time he hangs up the phone, your heart is on the floor.
"i've gotta go," he says, making his way towards the door.
"okay," you reply simply.
he reaches for the doorknob, pausing before opening it.
"be safe tonight."
a pause.
"ill kick gideon's ass if somethin' goes wrong."
you breathe out a laugh.
"okay." he can hear the ghost of a grin painting your lips.
"ill see you," he says, opening the door before disappearing behind it.
you take a deep breath, finally feeling like you can breathe properly. you then reach over to retrieve your phone from its place on the carpet, typing out a message.
"actually, do you wanna come over before we go out?"
. . .
caleb has half a mind to turn right around, to demand more answers, to stay with you in your apartment, in your space, surrounded by you.
especially when the thought of gideon and you leaves a bitter taste on his tongue and even worse feeling in his chest.
he wants to, but the familiar call of his pipsqueak comes first. always.
that night at dinner, if she's able to tell that something seems off with him, she decides not to comment on it.
caleb's mind is on another planet, one where he's with you, figuring out what his feelings mean when it comes to the thought of you with his friend.
a/n: back from the dead bc the writing gods urged me to return to this ( soooo sorry for how long it took me to write another part i didnt realize how much i missed this idea :x ). i have been reminded of my ideas for this... full length fic/s/ is still a desire of mine for this "series" ig we can call it ? but this scenario was on the forefront of my brain so had to write it out... i thought it would be interesting since in other non-mc fics ive seen jealousy from li's but thought it would be different if it was towards their "best" friends :p xavier's part is so unbelievably long n thats bc i started writing smth that kind of lost the plot so im saving that for a future part. so whats there is actually the shortened vers w some tweaking. im afraid the others wont be as long but there will be opportunity to expand on this in the next part i wanna write (that follows this one at least) soooo pls look forward to it :x
