Pushover | yang jeongin x reader
click for my masterlist ⇾ pairing: yang jeongin (I.N.) x f.reader
⇾ genre: school au, tooth rotting fluff, friends to lovers
⇾ warnings: fake kidnapping au, cursing, themes of bullying, getting lost etc.
⇾ summary: you're in love with your bff, I mean - who could not love Jeongin, right? and it seems like everyone else thinks you two are together...
⇾ word count: 13.4k (oof)
⇾ a/n: I originally wanted to post this on jeongin's bday but I felt like I would combust if I had this in my docs any longer lol. hope you enjoy and feel free to critique or comment, I really appreciate it.
- happy early jeongin day 💞🦊
You sighed as you plucked the straw into the juice carton. Jeongin was supposed to be here ten minutes ago. You wondered if anything happened...he would usually text you when he was running late.
***
“Give it back!” Jeongin yelled as the boy held up his phone in the air.
“Now should I?” he mocked. “What do you think Sanghoon? Should I give little Jeonginnie his phone back?” the perpetrator asked one of his friends. “He's such a pushover,” they cackled.
“Fucking give it back you asshole!” Jeongin screamed, a scary look on his face.
The boy’s expression hardened as he growled: “The fuck did you just say, Yang?!”
All of a sudden, while Jeongin was distracted by the boy holding his phone, Sanghoon delivered a swift and merciless kick into his back.
“Ugh,” he groaned as he fell to the ground, biting his lip in pain. The two bullies just stood above him and laughed with sick pleasure.
“Hyunwoo, I think a teacher is heading our way…” Sanghoon whispered to his friend.
“Shit, let's scram.”
He turned around and faced the heaving boy on the ground. “This isn't over you loser.”
Jeongin waited a couple of minutes before he pulled himself up with a groan. “Such assholes,” he muttered under his breath. “What the fuck did I do to them?” He wondered.
Shit. He was supposed to meet (y/n) in the cafeteria.
He picked up his phone from the ground, wincing at the broken screen. How will he explain that?
He was bombarded with messages and a missed call from you. He quickly tapped your icon, initiating the most likely scary phone call with his best friend.
“Hey (y/n), I'm sorry. I'll be right there.”
Quiet. But he knew this wasn't over. Just calm before the storm.
“Where the hell are you, Jeongin? We were supposed to meet in the cafeteria twenty minutes ago!” you shouted through the phone.
“Look, I got caught up in something. Sorry. I'll buy you ice cream after school, ok?” he tried to plead.
“Ok, sure but are you ok? You sound hurt... Did anything happen?”
“I'm fine, meet you in a few.”
And with that, he hung up.
***
“Hi Innie,” you hugged the approaching boy, not noticing how he winced when your hands made contact with his back. “Why were you late? Is everything ok?” you asked, concern lacing your tone.
He plopped himself in the seat right next to yours with an exhausted sigh. “Yeah, I'm fine, just had some stuff to do and my phone screen is cracked,” he muttered.
You noticed he looked completely devastated and unwilling to talk about what plagued him at the moment so you decided to drop it. You'll just make sure to look after him a bit more and let him know that you're always there for him and that he can come talk to you any time.
“What do you want?” you asked, shuffling through your backpack to find your wallet.
“Just a tuna sandwich please,” he muttered looking up at you.
“Sure thing, be right back,” you smiled, walking to the counter and buying two sandwiches.
When you came back, you noticed that Jeongin was sitting in the exact same spot, looking like he hadn't moved an inch.
“Yo, how about we go to the cinema? I'll pay,” you suggested. If you were lucky, this could distract him from whatever worried him at the moment and it would be the perfect excuse to spend time with your wonderful best friend you may or may not have a crush on. *cough cough*
His ears perked at the idea of doing something fun after school. “Ok now I’m listening,” he grinned.
Your heart swelled at the sound of his laughter filling your ears. He was truly a great friend to you and you didn't like seeing him down.
“But since I'm cashing in on this, I get to choose the movie,” you beamed while stuffing your face with the food.
“You shouldn't talk with a full mouth!” Jeongin pretended to say in a stern voice. In reality, he was cooing at your cute puffy cheeks which a the moment looked like they belonged to a hamster.
“You're so cute when you eat,” he gushed, squeezing your cheeks.
“H-hey man, not cool,” you swatted his hands away, hoping he didn't notice you blushing like a tomato.
“So what movie do you want to see?” he asked scrolling through the cinema's website.
“Hmmm,”
To be quite honest, you had no clue. At this point, you thought anything would do. The boy swiftly typed something on his phone before swiftly putting it back in his back pocket and looking at you.
Jeongin's eyes held a wicked glint as he propelled himself out of his seat and headed towards the entrance of the cafeteria. “You should get your ass going. I reserved us some tickets and the movie starts in half an hour,” an evil grin decorated his face.
“You can't be serious you little rascal!” you snapped. “I was supposed to choose the movie.”
“Don't worry (n/n), I'm sure you'll enjoy it.” If you could trust that shit-eating grin of his, you were in for a ride.
He dragged you to the bus stop without a single word, refusing to tell you which movie you were going to watch.
After the ten-minute bus ride, you finally entered the movie theater and went to stand in line.
“Come on Innie! Just tell me, you know I don't like surprises,” you begged but Jeongin didn't even budge. “You'll see in a moment (n/n). You're going to love it.”
Oh no. That mischievous smile was back and it scared you.
***
“Hello, we have a reservation under this number,” he put his phone displaying the number on the counter.
“Just a moment please, is it the reservation under the account spearbfanboy_mightyfox?” the sales guy asked slightly perplexed.
You had to muffle your laughter as Jeongin's face reddened in embarrassment.
“Y-yeah,” was all he managed to say before paying as fast as he can and sprinting away.
“Mighty fox? Seriously?” you roared when you were out of earshot from any other people.
“Shut up! It's my brother’s account,” he grumbled, humiliation still evident in his tone.
You frowned at the sight of him. Not wanting to just awkwardly stand there, you pulled him to the popcorn stand.
To your dismay, Jeongin ended up paying for the tickets so you were gonna make sure to at least pay for the snacks.
“Now behold! You can choose any of these exquisite kernels filled with a quality aroma to provide you a tasty experience and tickle your taste buds fancy,” you hollered, pointing at the popcorn machine.
“Oh eat dirt (y/n). It's just 15 times reheated popcorn that's probably been sitting here since last week.” he groaned.
“Oi shut up you prude! I'm just offering you popcorn.”
“You know it's gonna be you who'll eat ninety percent of it, right?” he teased but at the sight of your moping face, he quickly added: “I'm just kidding (y/n). Let's get some of those exquisite kernels.”
***
The both of you briskly walked down the corridor, popcorn in your hand, while Jeongin carried the sodas. You were so lost in thought, wondering which movie Jeongin planned for you to see, that you didn't notice a group of guys walking in front of you until you bumped straight into a firm chest.
“Woah, careful there, doll,” the boy caught you just in time. “You should watch where you are going . . . (y/n)?” he asked, his expression morphing into one of shock.
“Hyunwoo,” you drawled after steading yourself on your feet, taking a tentative step back. “Now who are you with?” he asked, looking in the direction of your best friend.
“Ahh, with Jeongin of course. He always seems to cling around you, looking like a, dare I say, lost puppy if you're not around.”
“Shut your trap you son of a biscuit. It was me who actually asked him to come, thank you very much. Now come on Jeongin, we have a movie to see,” you dragged the boy away while trying not to roll your eyes.
You made your way to hall number three. Luckily, it was not for away and you managed not to spill too much popcorn during the crash.
Although you were able to protect most of it, hugging the container as you made contact with Hyunwoo, you could still see a small trail on the floor. Wincing, you mentally apologized to the people who would have to later clean up your mess.
“How do you even know him?” you whispered to the boy next to you as the door of the hall came closer and closer until you were walking up the steps to find your seats.
“Umm, I just used to have one extracurricular with him,” he lied, not wanting you to know, that said boy was the exact reason for his torment.”
“Oh, ok. He was quite rude though. Although I guess that's not surprising for such a snake,” you mumbled as you sat down. The lights were still on so you used that time to mute your phone to avoid disruption (and possible embarrassment).
“And how do you know him?” he shot you a sideways glance.
“He's just some dipshit I went to middle school with. He confessed his love for me when we were thirteen and I thought I would die from embarrassment when he approached me and asked me out on a date,” you held imaginary air-quotes at the word love. “But he was a notorious bully so I turned him down immediately,” you grinned. “I think his ego took a bit of a blow after that cause he started behaving even worse.”
As the both of you made yourselves comfortable in the cushion, you remembered a crucial thing. Rather a piece of information…what were you even seeing?
Seeing you stare confused at the blank screen as if the name of the movie was gonna just suddenly appear, Jeongin chuckled lowly before bending down to your ear and whispering “We're about to see IT.”
Just as he expected, you let out a not-so-quiet shriek. The couple in front of you gave you a nasty look and you just flashed them an apologetic smile.
“Jeongin!” you whisper-shouted, “you know I can't stand horror. Why in the name of the devil did you think it would be a good idea to book tickets for IT?” you inquired, a bewildered look still evident on your face.
“Oh come on (y/n), I know kids from elementary who watched this film and said they weren't scared. Think of it as more of a comedy than a horror,” he suggested. “And I heard Finn Wolfhard looks especially cute in here,” he winked.
“Oh shut up, no need to bring up my middle school crush for the sake of your entertainment,” you groaned angrily, unwanted middle school memories being brought back to life from the dark depths of your mind.
“But look Jeongin, you don't understand. I'm really scared of horror movies. I don't mind reading them but while actually seeing everything played out with all the creepy music and whatnot, I get really jumpy..” you warned.
“Oh, I'm so sorry (y/n). I didn't realize it was such a problem, I honestly thought you were kinda joking. If you want, we can leave and get some ice cream. I was supposed to treat you anyway…”
“No, it's okay Innie. It's just…” you trailed on, not knowing how to properly word the next sentence. “Can I like... hold your hand or something when it gets scary? It calms me a lot.”
Jeongin couldn't help but blush at your request, sudden warmth filling his chest.
“Of course you can. I can even put my shoulder around you and hold you during the jump scares if that's okay with you.” he proposed, hoping he didn't overdo it or something.
“Yeah, I think I'd like that,” you murmured, shuffling in your seat and pressing your body a bit closer to his. Your soft blush going unnoticed by him.
You were super jumpy during the whole movie, but you couldn't deny your heart swelling during all the scary parts. Jeongin hadn't gone back on his word. During every jump scare, he would tighten his hold on you while caressing your palm with his own every so often.
As he absentmindedly rubbed soothing circles on your arm, you couldn't help but feel a pang of pain in your heart. You kind of wished he was holding you like that as something more than just a best friend. You cherished your friendship, you really did. But some time ago you noticed that the line between friends and lovers that you mentally drew inside your head was becoming more and more blurred.
You looked up at the boy sitting next to you. He was currently laughing at a joke Richie *Trashmouth* Tozier just made. He really had an incredible laugh.
You quickly redirected your gaze to the screen before he'd notice you staring. No, you couldn't let him know that you liked him. You had lots of things on your bucket list, like finally getting that damn haircut that your split ends really needed, but ruining a perfectly good friendship was not one of them.
The rest of the movie was pretty uneventful, other than you almost pissing your pants during some parts, and that resulting in Jeongin letting out a melodic chuckle. “If I knew taking you to the movies to watch a horror was all it took to make you so flustered, I would have done it much earlier,” he rasped in your ear.
“Oh come on Jeongin. Do you really enjoy seeing me in pain so much?” you questioned, disbelief evident in your tone.
“Come on (y/n), you know I don't mean it like that. It's just that you are usually so headstrong and outspoken, it's kinda cute to see you like this,” he rubbed the back of his head. “O-oh, sorry. That came out kind of weird. Let me rephrase that. It's just nice to be the one to comfort you for a change,” he mumbled under his breath.
To say you were shocked would be an understatement of the century. He found YOU cute? Well, that was new but it made butterflies flutter in your stomach. “It's ok Jeongin,” you comforted the boy, “but I expect some ice cream after that,” you wiggled your eyebrows and smiled at the prospect of the sweet treat. “Yeah, sure. I promised it to you today anyway so I'm not about to back down.” he chided.
***
You departed from the movie theater, walking down the street to find an ice cream parlor of a cafe that offered the icy treat. An old-looking place caught your attention. “Look Innie, how about that place?” you pointed to the retro-inspired establishment. “Sure thing. Let's go check it out to make sure they have ice cream.”
You made your way into the entrance, the little bell ringing and announcing your arrival to the older-looking lady behind the counter. “Welcome! Is there something I can do for you?”
“Hello, we were curious if you by any chance sell ice cream,” Jeongin answered, looking around in amazement.
You couldn't help but look around too. The place had a wonderful homey feel to it. “Well, you two are lucky today. I just happen to have some ice cream left,” she declared, leading you to the back of the place where you saw a small ice cream freezer. “Unfortunately, I only have a few flavors left. I hope they will be to your liking.”
You looked at the selection you guys had. There was some mint and chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, and lemon.
“Ooh, I think we'll be fine. We both like mint and choco,” you excitedly pointed at yourself and Jeongin. “Yeah, we'll take two mint and chocolate sundaes with whipped cream,” he smiled politely, taking out his wallet from his back pocket.
“Thanks Inn. Next ice cream is on me.” you grinned at your friend. “No problem (n/n). I promised it after all,” he replied. “And you're the only one that doesn't think mint ice cream tastes like toothpaste,” he reminded with a chuckle.
“Ahh, right. I'm the only one you can have ice cream with without having a hard time or being judged,” you teased. “Don't forget that this also applies vice versa,” he wiggled his eyebrows.
“Yeah, I know. We only have each other,” you mock wept, drying your nonexistent tears.
“Ooh, it's been a while since I've seen such a lovely couple,” the lady behind the counter gave you a wide smile. “You guys are so sweet, I hope you stay together for a long time. Usually, I deal with arrogant pairs that do nothing but argue and bring each other down. It's truly refreshing to see young people get along these days,” she excitedly explained.
You and Jeongin were stunned, not knowing what to say. The lady beamed at your evident shyness and took it as another sign you two were a happy couple. You unanimously decided to not deny it, not wanting to disappoint her so you gave her a hopefully gleaming smile, making your way to the counter. Jeongin pulled out his card to make the transaction and then lead you to a table for two near the window.
For some reason, your mind couldn't stop drifting to the image of Jeongin putting his card on the terminal - there was just something that made the prospect of guys paying with credit cards extremely hot. He seemed much more mature, just by whipping out the slick piece of plastic. You were not sure what spurred this whole idea but you decided to pay by card too when you invited him for a treat. Who knows? Maybe Jeongin will find you just as attractive as you found him and he'd ask you out...
“Soo,” he broke the silence (and your ridiculous inner monologue), hoping to make the awkward tension go away, “how did you like the movie?” he chuckled, an evil glint in his eyes.
“Don't pretend you don't know you meanie,” you hit his arm with a pout, “I was scared shitless,” you admitted. “Oooh, feels nice to hear you admit it on your own.” “Oi shut up Mighty fox,” you groaned.
Your bickering was cut short as the owner brought you your sundaes. “Here you go,” she smiled, “hope you enjoy.” “Thanks, ma’am,” Jeongin, politely as ever, thanked her with a smile. “Thank you,” you also said. “Oh no worries,” she gushed, “enjoy your date.”
You looked up at your friend as you both quietly devoured the minty treat.
“Ugh,” he groaned, “mint and chocolate ice cream is the best.”
You couldn't help but laugh in agreement. “Trust me. I feel you,” was your reply. “I always get my ass grilled for loving it.”
It was indeed the truth. All your other friends thought that it tastes like toothpaste and they wouldn't let any opportunity slip by to tease the shit out of you. It was yet another thing that almost made you think that the two of you were meant to be. That it was perhaps fate pulling you together...
***
The both of you were laying on his bed, completing your respective assignments in silence. You've been typing your essay for about two hours straight and it was slowly starting to take a toll on you.
“Innieee,” you whined at the boy next to you, shutting your laptop for good. “Let's take a break.”
He looked up at you with a grunt, closing his laptop too; “Sure thing (n/n), what do you want to do though?” he inquired, setting his gaze on you.
“I don't know… how about we just play some music or something?” you offered with a questioning smile.
“Okay,” he reached for his pocket, taking out his phone. “I'll just shuffle play something,” he shrugged.
Suddenly, the melody of My House cut through the air and you couldn't help but get up and start dancing (although quite horribly) to the song.
“It's all right,” you screeched the familiar lyrics and continued dancing your ass off. Blame it on all the caffeine, you thought.
But you didn't expect what happened next though. Jeongin got up and started dancing too. Except it seemed like he knew the choreography, you could deduct as he expertly rolled his hips to the beat, even thrusting up a bit more and exaggerating the movements.
It seemed that he vigorously did that to amuse you, but you couldn't help but blush and look down, at the display of your best friend dancing so sensually. No (y/n), you thought. This is not the time for thoughts like this. You had to get yourself together.
“Where did you learn how to dance like that?” you settled on asking him the first thing on your mind. “Like what?” he asked, confusion looming over his features.
“Like-like that you know…” you gesticulated in his general direction. “Ohh,” he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, “Chan hyung actually taught me the choreo,” he winked after the song came to its end.
“Well, it was definitely very… interesting,” you muttered, red staining your cheeks.
***
You sighed angrily as you tried to stuff just one more t-shirt into your already full backpack. You were going on a weekend school trip to the neighboring town. To be honest, you weren't that excited to begin with, and the thought of sharing a room with some random girls you didn't talk to didn't exactly help the case.
At least you could look forward to the bus ride since you were sitting with Jeongin. Your thoughts drifted to all the stuff you could do on your way there: you were in charge of bringing snacks while Jeongin just downloaded something off of Netflix for you guys to enjoy. Your contemplation was cut short as you remembered, that you literally haven't finished packing nor have you eaten and you had about half an hour to do so.
You quickly shoved the remaining stuff in your bag, hoping you haven't forgotten anything crucial, and ran to the kitchen. You scarfed down the quick sandwich you made and rushed out of the door, probably leaving something you would need behind.
And you were right. As you stood next to Jeongin in front of the school, waiting for the damn bus to arrive, you realized you forgot something of utmost importance. Your fucking jacket. You couldn't believe you left the number one thing on your list back home.
‘This really sucks,’ you thought bitterly, bracing against the cold morning wind in nothing but your short sleeve tee. Jeongin must have noticed you were trembling so he gave you a questioning glance: “Are you cold?”
“Yeah no shit,” you muttered. “Um, where's your jacket?” he asked, perplexed. Now, this was the hard part - making it sound like you weren't a complete moron for forgetting your damn jacket on a school trip.
“You see...I was kind of in a hurry this morning so it seems like I left it on my chair…”
Well, it couldn't get dumber than that. You opted for not looking him in the eye, instead opting for staring at the bird shit on the pavement. It actually formed quite interesting patterns, you deduced.
It wasn't until you heard shuffling right next to you, that you decided to look up. To your surprise, Jeongin was currently peeling off his layers (like an onion🧅) in the chilly weather.
“Why the hell are you stripping?” you gave him a weird look. “Why do you think, idiot? You're gonna freeze to death.” you weren't exactly paying attention, but who could honestly blame you. While he was struggling to pull off his hoodie, his biceps flexed underneath the t-shirt he wore.
Well looks like someone's been working out lately.
After he finally managed to pull it off, he was about to throw it over you but was met with an awestruck expression. “You'll catch flies,” was all he said to you, a cheeky smirk on his face. You quickly broke out of your trance, cheeks heating up in embarrassment as he held up the fuzzy piece of clothing in your face.
“What are you waiting for?”
“It's just, are you sure? Won't you be cold with just that windbreaker? I really appreciate it bu-” “Come on (y/n), just take it...or I'll put it on you myself,” he laughed at your immediate reaction.
“Oh shut up,” you muttered before pulling on the hoodie. The material engulfed you as a warm and soft blanket on your couch would.
It smelled nice.
***
The bus ride was pretty uneventful for the most part. You guys just watched whatever he had downloaded on Netflix the previous night and laughed. The scenery you could see from the window slowly changed from the city to a more rural landscape.
After about an hour, you guys decided to take a break from watching and played some games. At around eleven am you found yourself getting a bit sleepy. You didn't even realize it but you were slowly starting to drift off on Jeongin's shoulder.
The boy could only blush at you lulling yourself to sleep on him, drowned in his oversized hoodie. He looked down on you with a fond smile gracing his lips. You looked so peaceful, adorable even. At this point, he knew he was off the deep end. He was truly in love with you and he had to confess. At least before someone would try to take a shot…
Past noon, the bus came to a screeching halt, signaling you have arrived at the planned destination. At the disturbance, you didn't wake up but snuggled closer into Jeongin.
“(n/n), we're here,” he shook you, trying to wake you up calmly. Looks like you didn't have your proper beauty sleep cause you slept like a rock.
After finally managing to shake you awake, whispered a quick: “get up sleepyhead. We've arrived…”
You let out a squeak at being forcefully pulled out of slumber but quickly covering it up with a yawn so you'd avoid weird stares from your schoolmates.
“How long was I out?” you sleepily mumbled, stretching your limbs. “About an hour,”
He avoided your gaze, instead opting for looking out the window and dissecting the scenery.
“Oh, right,” you remembered, pulling off the hoodie you borrowed, “here you go, thanks for lending-” “Keep it!”
“Huh?”
“I said keep it (y/n). It's still cold outside and you'd freeze.”
“B-but what about you? You'll be cold then, it's your sweatshirt!” your feeble protest fell on deaf ears as he just stuffed it back on you.
“Are you sure you'll be fine?”
“Yeah. I'm sure I will.”
***
“Look guys, I know you really want to be next to each other but is there a chance I could sleep elsewhere?” you motioned to all the other beds, “I'm scared of heights and I toss around a lot in my sleep...and I've already almost fallen off a bunk bed many times so I just don't want to break my spine if ya feel me…”
“Oh come on (y/n),” a girl named Minah (also sadly one of your roommates for the night) argued. “Stop overreacting. The rail will catch your fall. It's not our fault you don't have any friends to share a room with.”
“Yeah! We want to sleep next to each other and since you're the only one out of our friend group, you'll have to sleep upstairs.”
You sensed it was no use arguing with these three. You could already feel tears of frustration well up in your eyes, so you settled on giving them a glare before stomping out of the cabin. You were all supposed to meet in front of the main building in ten minutes anyway. You dejectedly sat down on the stairs and waited for the arrival of everybody else.
“Hi (y/n),” Jisung waved as he made his way through the tall grass and sat down next to you. “Hello,” you quickly wiped off your tears, hoping he didn't see. You and Jisung briefly knew each other. You guys weren't exactly friends, but you worked on a few projects together and always greeted each other in the hall. You enjoyed his company, that's for sure.
“So where's Jeongin?” he asked curiously, not expecting the two of you to be separated.
“I'm not sure, he should be there any moment. It's not like I can share a room with him anyways,” you snickered. “Oooh, what do you mean by that?” he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. You couldn't help but let out a snicker.
“To be honest, I'd share a room with anyone if that meant I could ditch my roommates,” you sighed exasperatedly. “What's the problem? Are they that bad?” he asked worriedly. “Kind of. They're all friends and wanted to sleep on the same level with me having the top bunk. That wouldn't be a problem if I wasn't super scared of heights. I asked them nicely if I could have the lower bunk or pretty much any other spot but they just blew me off.”
“Wow. That sounds really shitty, not gonna lie. Do you want me to talk to them?” he offered sincerely.
“Naah. What could you do against three stubborn bitches?”
“I don't know, maybe my dominating and manly aura would scare them away, you never know,”
You burst out into laughter at his silly antics. “Yeah sure thing man, they'd be shaking in their boots,” you chortled.
“Heey,” he sounded almost offended, “I've got abs you know!”
You almost choked at that, falling into yet another fit of giggles. “You wanna see?” he asked, hand already going to the hem of his shirt. Your hand shot out and pressed against his that was resting on his stomach. You were about to retort something else but your bickering was interrupted by something.
Well, more like someone.
“Hi (n/n), Jisung,” Jeongin waved as he inched closer to you guys. He eventually took a seat on your other side before giving you a confused glance.
“Hi Jeongin, what took you so long?” you inquired, smiling at him sweetly. He could feel his heart skip a beat at your lovely smile.
“Sorry, I was just busy unpacking all my shit,” he dismissed with a soft wave of his hand. “Are you ok though? You look like you cried...”
There he was. That sweet and worrying Jeongin you knew that always put you first. You smiled fondly and replied, “It's nothing. Jisung over here was just convincing me that he has abs.”
“Hey!” he weakly protested but got the hint and didn't say anything. Jeongin just raised a brow at that but didn't ask anymore which was good. You didn't want him worried more than he was.
Slowly, all the other students rolled in and you were just waiting now for the teachers to arrive.
***
“Ok, so you will work in pairs and complete the handout,” ms. Kang yelled as she tried to overpower the extensive chatter with her feeble voice. “Each pair will get a map, compass, and a stopwatch,” she looked at the time. “It's three o'clock now and you are expected to come back to camp before seven.”
She pointed to the clear plastic boxes that contained all the necessary items to complete this pseudo quest. “Chop, chop! Get into pairs and grab all the things you need. The starting point it that big oak tree,” she pointed to a large tree behind the cabins, “don't do anything stupid.”
With that, she sat down on the stairs you just recently occupied and likely prepared for the hours of waiting she'd have to endure.
“So… we're partners, right?” Jeongin asked with that lopsided grin of his that made your legs weak. “Well duh. I thought that much was obvious,” you grinned right back at him. “Come on, let's get the supplies and do this, it can't be so hard. And I'd like to be back before dark,” you muttered, taking the map and handout from one of the boxes while he took out the compass and stopwatch.
“I second that,” he groaned, “you only have my hoodie so you'd probably get too cold if we stayed past six.”
“What are the questions?” he asked as he started to maneuver the compass in his hand, visibly not knowing how to use one.
“Nothing much,” you headed, along with all the other students, towards that big oak tree, marking the start of the new journey. (Start Line pun totally intended, hit me up if you got it ;)
“Just some random ass questions like the history of some tree, a castle ruin, and things like that. There will probably be some signs with all that information if we just follow the map.”
You licked your dry lips as you walked into the forest together. In the corner of your eye, you saw Jeongin struggling with the compass.
“Having some trouble there buddy?” you laughed as you looked at him helplessly staring at it. He was kind of embarrassed that he didn't know how to use a compass. “Don't worry, I have no clue how to use a compass either.”
You both just laughed at that as you followed the group of loud boys about twenty yards ahead. They were snickering loudly and overall making a ruckus.
The six of you - you, Jeongin, Jungwon, Jacob, Sungho, and Jihoon - as they introduced themselves later made your way through the thick forest in hopes of completing the assignment together. None of you in fact knew how to use a compass and Jungwon was the only one capable of somewhat reading a map.
“I think it's that way but honestly, no promises. Without the compass, it's quite hard to tell which way to go.”
You felt kinda bad for the poor boy, all of you were pretty much relying on him for completing the task. He graciously offered that he could try to lead the team, but it was obvious that he wasn't exactly confident in his map-reading skills.
“There should be a small chapel ahead, if we don't see it in like fifteen minutes, we're pretty much screwed,” he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly as he tried to navigate through the branches.
“Ok, thanks for your help Jungwon,” you smiled at the boy, “even if we don't complete this, it's still not your fault. The rest of us can't even look at a map without getting dizzy so thanks a lot.”
“No problem princess, I'd do it time and time again just to see you smile like that again.”
Jeongin practically growled at the nickname and pressed himself a little bit closer to you, trying to establish dominance. To an outsider, this whole thing would look really funny but in all honesty, you were glad that he did that.
Jungwon seemed like a nice guy, but calling you princess after barely speaking to each other did make you a bit uncomfortable. Not to mention you were alone with him and just a couple of guys in the dark forest.
Wait.
Dark?
You looked around to notice the sun setting down. The sight would be beautiful under different circumstances. You were scared of the dark.
The boy next to you must have noticed your worry as he whispered in your ear. “You ok (y/n)?” “Yeah, I'm just afraid of the dark. I was hoping we'd make it back before sunset but I guess I was wrong,” you said bitterly, clinging closer to him.
“It's ok, we should be back soon,” he gave you an encouraging smile as you guys continued navigating through the unforgiving forest.
After walking around for what felt like hours, Jungwon halted his steps and dejectedly ran his hand through his hair, “I'm really sorry guys, we should have been there a long time ago. I'm not sure we can continue like this.”
Jeongin pulled out his phone and gave a dejected sigh. “What's the problem Inn?” you asked, confused at what has upset him.
“There's no signal,” he grumbled, “not that I'm particularly surprised or anything.”
“Let's just sit down and rest for a while, we've been walking for hours.”
“I second that,” Jacob muttered, “ It feels like we're just going deeper and deeper into the forest. We should probably focus on getting back to the camp. I'm afraid we'll maybe even have to make a fire and stay overnight.”
A series of groans were heard as you guys realized the gravity of your situation. Jeongin started rubbing soothing circles on your back.
“So can anyone here make a fire?”
Sungho went ahead and picked up some branches he could find in the area and started preparing.
“Is this spot ok?” he asked, motioning to a small flattened area scattered with twigs and dry leaves.
“I think it's good - there is enough space around it so we can just chill around and spend the night.”
With that affirmation, the boy started rubbing the branches against each other in hopes of lighting a spark.
You subconsciously scooted closer to Jeongin, in hopes of you guys sharing some body heat. Yeah, totally just that…
Sungho has finally managed to make a small fire after minutes of trying. He wiped the beads of sweat off his forehead and slumped to the ground with a grunt.
“Aaah, finally,” he grumbled, “I was starting to think that I wouldn't be able to do it.”
“Thanks a lot, Sungho,” you chided happily as you moved closer to the now blazing fire to warm your hands.
“Seems like all the years of boy scouts finally paid off.”
“Let's tell some spooky stories,” Jacob suggested as you guys all sat around the red source of warmth.
“Yeah, It's getting kind of boring,” Jungwon looked straight at you. You were kinda uncomfortable with the unwanted attention he was giving you so you redirected your gaze to the center of your circle and stared into the illuminating light.
***
Approximately thirty minutes have passed. The six of you sat around the makeshift campfire and told each other scary stories, joked around, and talked about what to do tomorrow. You zoned out for a moment, occupying yourself with fumbling with the hem of your hoodie. Jeongin's actually but that wasn't important. It was starting to get really cold and by the looks of it, the guys noticed it too.
“We should probably figure out the sleeping arrangements.”
“What is there to figure out?” Jeongin let out a laugh, “this is not a horror movie, do you want to keep watch or something?”
“Well you never know what could happen,” Jihoon said with a serious tone, “I think it would be better if someone always stayed awake.”
“Look, I don't know what game you guys are playing but me and (y/n) are going to sleep. We'll need all the strength we can get tomorrow and I plan to rest up properly,” he dusted his pants as he got up, giving you his hand to help you up.
You gladly took it, unfolding your arms from the previous position and shivering as a gust of chilly wind hit you.
“Yeah, I also don't think that will be necessary. We should rest properly for tomorrow,” you said softly.
“Not fair,” Jacob pouted, “you get to sleep next to (y/n) and be warm. What about us?”
“I think we should take turns and sleep next to her. You know - to preserve body heat.”
You stared at Jungwon with wide eyes, not understanding if he was joking.
Jeongin put his arm protectively around you, shooting him a dirty look, “You must be out of your fucking mind dude. Piss off.”
“Don't be like that,” Jungwon smirked, “we just don't want to freeze to death. Try being considerate for once.”
Jeongin really didn't want to fight but it was starting to look like an argument was growing inevitable. Before he could snap back though, you were already standing up for yourself.
“I'm not some sort of heating pillow you can just freely pass around. If you're that cold, just sleep next to each other or something.”
Jeongin almost whistled at your quick comeback, the rest of the guys also looking quite surprised at how quickly you snapped back.
The both of you found a small clearing, a few feet away from the fireplace, and decided it was your spot. You each grabbed a few handfuls of leaves and spread them around, trying to make your bed for the night as comfortable as you could.
After deeming your night-space good enough, you laid down and scooted to the side, making space for your friend.
“C'mere Innie,” you yawned cutely, your eyelids slowly starting to close. It has been indeed a long night for you guys.
Jeongin hummed in agreement, trying not to coo at your cute drowsy state. He slowly leaned down, leaving a modest distance between the two of you, not wanting to make you uncomfortable after the previous encounter.
“Don't worry, you are not making me uncomfortable in any way shape or form,” muttered with your eyes closed. “I know you are not like those lame-ass bastards, you can come a bit closer if you want, I don't want you sleeping on the hard ground.”
After hearing your assurance, he didn't hesitate to pull you closer to him, enveloping you in a bear hug.
You felt your eyelids slowly close as the fatigue slowly crept up on you. Your lips managed to form a soft smile against his bicep as you surrendered to the slumber.
***
You awoke at dawn with your head still curled in Jeongin's embrace. You slowly wiggled yourself out of his hold and stretched your numb limbs with a soft yawn. Looking around, you spotted the four boys a few yards away peacefully sleeping. You definitely preferred them sleeping rather than being douches. The fire had obviously died out during the night and you felt the chilly wind attack your body that was outside of Jeongin's warm bear hug.
You blushed at the prospect of you actually sleeping next to him. Even worse, you were practically one with his toned chest for the whole night. He looked really peaceful. Just laying next to you and snoring softly. The memories of him standing up for you the night before suddenly flooding your mind. He was such a great friend - obviously - but after yesterday, you were sure that he was some sort of a guardian angel sent down to earth. Oh, how you couldn't wait to get out of the forest and get back. You'd have to invite him for mint and chocolate ice cream right after.
Oh right.
Forest.
You were still trapped in the forest and had to find your way back to camp. The teacher was probably gonna bite your head off but you'd rather face the wrath of the whole school cabinet than stay here with those losers. You slowly shook the sleeping boy next to you.
“Jeongin, wake up.” The boy groaned as he stirred from the clutches of sleep, “It's morning already, we should try to head back soon.”
With that, the boy's eyes shot open as he simply stared up at you for a moment before composing himself and getting up. You really hoped that he didn't notice your cheeks turn scarlet, his cute bead-head not exactly helping your case. You awkwardly coughed and turned around, redirecting your gaze to the other sleeping boys.
“Can't we just leave them here and scram?” you asked with a hint of bitterness in your tone. Jeongin had to stifle a laugh at your antics, “yeah, they'd definitely deserve it.”
After a couple of minutes, the rest of the douchebags™ slowly started to get up, one by one.
“Morning doll,” Jungwon rasped drowsily, giving you a cocky smirk. “Oh shut it,” Jeongin growled, giving him a death glare. You never realized it, but he could be quite scary when angry.
“C'mon guys. We should head back, the teacher is probably really pissed.”
“Yeah, I agree. It should be easier to find our way back now.”
“Does anyone know where the map is?” “Yeah, I have it,” Jungwon waved the piece of paper in front of you.
***
After two hours of walking through the thick trees and evading sharp branches (not to mention Jungwon's suggestive stares), you finally managed to get to a place you all recognized.
“Look, this is one of the first signs we passed yesterday,” you beamed excitedly, pointing at the piece of wood sticking from the ground. You weren't sure at first, but after seeing the little bird’s nest on the branch of a nearby tree, you were positive.
“Yeah, I think I recognize it too,” Jeongin muttered, more to himself. “I think the cabins are that way.”
The moment he uttered those words, you grabbed his hand, letting his bigger palm enfulg your smaller one as you made a dash for the direction of your cabins.
You ran past the big oak tree, finding yourself on the plane of tall grass. There were multiple police cars and the blasting sirens were slowly starting to give you a headache. There were about five police officers running from place to place.
“Do you think this is all for us?” Jungwon whispered in your ear as he morphed behind you all of a sudden with the other three boys right behind him.
He gave you quite the scare as you shrieked at the presence behind you. This apparently alerted all the people around you as your teacher came running to you guys with a gleeful scream.
“Oh my god! You're ok! I was so scared...why didn't you come back yesterday?” she enveloped you in a hug, almost tackling you to the ground in the process. Her hands roamed all over you, taking your cheeks in her palms as she slowly examined you for any visible injuries.
After she determined there were none, she released a thankful sigh and went to check on everyone else. She gradually grabbed all of your guys' faces and checked before finally turning around to the impatient police officer.
“Yes sir, this is all of them. One girl and five boys.”
He nodded in approval before motioning to the main building. “We will have to question you all, preferably right away if you don't mind…”
As you walked down the path, you noticed all the students peeking from the cabins. They were probably ordered to stay inside to prevent further chaos. The officer led you to the little game room which was rearranged for the purpose it was supposed to serve. You could see all the games and beanbags shove to the farthest corner. There were four people seated around the table filled with mounts of papers and folders. Three of them wore standard police uniforms while one was in plain clothing, sporting some sleek slacks and a white button-down with the sleeves rolled up.
Said man turned around to face you and gazed at the officer that brought you here questioningly.
“That's all of them, Mr. Lee. They came back running from the forest about ten minutes ago. Probably got lost yesterday or something. We brought them in for questioning to get it all on paper.”
He nodded in understanding and ran his hand through his locks.
After he appeared to come to term with whatever haunted him, he extended his palm to you. You confusedly stared at his hand before remembering that you wanted this whole escapade to finish as soon as possible so you could go straight to bed.
Top bunk or not.
You shook his hand as he introduced himself, “Hello, my name is Lee Minho and I'm a detective. I'll speak with each of you one by one to make sure everything adds up. I'd like to ask you to be honest with me so that we can wrap it up as soon as possible, ok?”
You all wordlessly nodded as he motioned to you, “(y/n), am I right?” he looked into his folder to double-check before flashing you a beautiful smile showing off his white pearls.
“Ok, so you will go first if that's not a problem. Smith, could you please take the others outside.
***
Mr. Lee patiently listened as you explained everything prior to you getting lost in the forest. “So if I understand correctly, that Jeongin guy is a friend of yours, right?”
“Yeah, we're best friends. We paired up for the assignment but since we both didn't know how to use a compass nor a map, we kind of teamed up with the other four since they were also kind of lost.”
“So you didn't know any of the four personally before this?”
“No, I just saw them around since they go to the same school.”
“Ok, so you guys realized you were lost. Then what?”
“We checked for any signal. Found none. It was already getting pretty dark so they decided that it was best to just make a fire and stay the night in order to avoid getting lost further.”
Minho slowly nodded before looking at you with a face you couldn't read.
“So how did the sleeping arrangements exactly work? Since you're a girl and there were five guys...they didn't try anything r-right?”
You could see he was getting quite flustered and let out a chuckle. He was actually quite cute.
Wait. What? He was the detective for fucks sake…
“No, nothing that bad happened…”
“But something did, right?”
“Yeah, I don't want them to get into too much trouble for this but it would be nice if you could just give them a warning so this doesn't happen to any other girl,” you muttered.
“Well, that will depend on what they did.”
“So when we were about to go to sleep, one of them made an unnecessary comment. He told Jeongin that it was unfair that I would sleep next to him… suggested that they take turns sleeping next to me to preserve body heat or some shit.”
Minho lifted an eyebrow, not pleased by what the boys said.
“I told him off right away and Jeongin told him to piss off so nothing actually happened. I'm just honestly afraid of what would happen if he wasn't there. I probably wouldn't have the guts to say that then.”
He nodded in understanding, pushing his glasses back to the bridge of his nose.
“I'll definitely have a word with them for that. I'll probably also have to notify the school about that and let them decide what to do about it.”
You slowly got up from your seat, dusting your pants, “thank you, Mr. Lee. Am I free to go now?”
“Yes you are, it would be best if you went back to your room and rested.”
You cringed internally at the prospect of your roommates but smiled nonetheless. You didn't want to make the poor man's job any more difficult.
***
It was about two hours later that you were sitting on the steps waiting for Jeongin to finish the questioning so you could just hang out. Your roommates were still as bitchy as ever, immediately asking you about Jungwon, who you learned was a major heartthrob.
You tsked internally. If only they knew what a dipshit he was.
***
“Hey (n/n),” he grinned as he plopped down next to you.
“How did it go? Did he grill your ass?”
“No, he didn't but he sure gave those bastards a lesson. You should have heard him...he was furious. He told them he could get all their asses expelled if the one who did it didn't confess.”
“Woah… that's a lot.”
“Stop pitying them,” Jeongin laughed, “they definitely deserved it.”
***
It was the next day that you (courtesy of Jisung) found out why the three girls were giving you the cold shoulder.
“She was infuriated,” he explained while stuffing his mouth full of rice, “the guys who shared a room with Jeongin had food poisoning so they were on bed rest and didn't exactly pay attention but those girls definitely knew something was up when you didn't return and didn't tell anyone.”
“Oh… are they ok?”
He looked at you questioningly.
“The two guys you said had food poisoning.” “Aaah, after all that happened you still worry about other people,” he chuckled.
“That's (y/n) for you,” Jeongin chimed from behind.
“To answer your question...yes. They're ok. Their parents came for them yesterday evening so Jeongin has the whole cabin to himself.”
***
For the rest of the day, you just wandered around the camp, making sure not to stray too far. You picked some flowers and just relaxed in the shade. At around 8 pm, you decided to head back. There was no use in avoiding them any further.
You knocked on the door, waiting for someone to let you in. After what felt like ages, Minah finally opened the door.
“What do you want?”
“Bitch, I live here,” you deadpanned. Was she seriously asking you, what you wanted? A tolerable roommate, that's what you wanted…
She begrudgingly stepped aside and let you in. She didn't however manage to conceal the scoff she let out.
With all that happened, you completely forgot that you didn't even have a proper spot to sit since they obviously took all the ground-level beds and left you the top bunk. You reluctantly decided that you'll worry about that later. You grabbed your toiletries and your towel and headed for the washroom.
***
You came back to your cabin and heard snoring noises. It seemed like the three were already sleeping. At least they had the decency to leave the door unlocked. You slowly slipped in, letting the darkness of the room engulf you.
On your way to the bed, you managed to trip over someone's makeup bag and stub your toe.
Damn. Who would have thought that some foundation and lip gloss was that dangerous…
You slowly climbed up the ladder, wincing at the creaking noise. You hoped it was strong enough to hold you up and not collapse under you.
After this horrific journey, you hit the sack and called it a day.
Except you couldn't sleep at all.
The fact that you were so high up wasn't exactly pleasant and the lack of a proper rail didn't exactly help the case. You tossed and turned for hours before you remembered something.
You carefully climbed down, sliding on your all-purpose slides, and made a beeline for the door. You had enough of a mind to grab your phone on your way out for it to purpose as a flashlight.
You creeped out of the cabin like stealthy™ and slowly inched your way closer to your friends'. When you finally managed to get to (you hope) his door, you knocked softly. As expected, he didn't answer right away, he was always quite the heavy sleeper. Hence - you knocked again, hoping to wake him without alerting the whole camp.
After roughly a minute, you heard shuffling and heavy footsteps heading to the door. A sleepy Jeongin peered confused before his eyes flashed in recognition. He stepped aside and let you in before giving you a questioning glance.
“Look, I'm really sorry for waking you up...it's just I couldn't s-sleep,” you muttered as you peered at him through your lashes.
He felt a pang in his heart as he took in your obviously distressed state. “It's ok (n/n). Please tell me what happened.”
“Sooo, let's say my roommates left me only the top bunk without a rail…” you trailed.
“And you couldn't sleep since you're scared of heights?” you nodded as he caught your drift immediately.
“It's fine, you can stay here if you want.”
You blushed at that but agreed right away. Anything but falling off that damned bunk bed. You already moved to one of the other beds but Jeongin caught your hand. The two of you just stared at each other for a hot minute before he finally recomposed himself and let go of your hand. He awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck before rasping, “I wouldn't sleep there...San spilled his milk ramen concoction all over the bed.”
Oh.
So what was he exactly proposing?
He must have noticed the confusion written all over your face as he fumbled with the explanation, “like, you can sleep on my bed if you want. If it's not a problem with you...oh and I showered so you don't have to worry.”
You giggled at that and that and that visibly put Jeongin at ease. “I don't mind if you don't.”
Your assurance was all he needed as he slipped under the covers and patted the spot next to him. You were blushing tomato™ as you slid in next to him. You were nervous but all the tension disappeared when he pulled you into a warm embrace just like he did in the forest. Your head rested against his firm chest and you soon fell asleep to the melody of his heartbeat. Jeongin followed right after you.
***
The next morning you were both awakened by the loud banging on the door. Jeongin shot up from his position and looked around confused. He groggily got out of bed and shouted a ‘coming’ before whispering to you, “quick, hide.”
You would be lying if you said that his raspy morning voice didn't do things to you. You rolled out of bed like the graceful caterpillar you are and hid under the bed.
“Dude what's taking you so long?” you had to cover your ears from the incoming loud boom of Jisung's voice.
Apparently, Jeongin was unimpressed too.
“Ugh, man. Stop shouting please.”
“Oh sorry,” he apologized gleefully before continuing in his scream fest.
“Come on though. Breakfast will be ready soon, come to the canteen at n-”
Jeongin just slammed the door in his face. “Agh. Why does he have to be so loud?” he masked more so himself than you.
“You can come out now.”
You tried to wiggle out of the small crevice, but to your absolute embarrassment, you realized you were stuck. You looked up at Jeongin and pouted as you struggled to free yourself. He let out a melodic chuckle at seeing you struggle and bent down to the bed.
“You see (y/n)...I have no clue how you could get stuck under a bed. This is so not like you,” he wondered while gripping the bed frame and lifting it up, finally setting you free.
You groaned and rolled from under the bed, sighing in relief. “Honestly Jeongin, I have no idea. But I do agree that it's not like me...so not like me that in fact, no one should know about this or they'll start thinking I'm a different person.”
“You suuuureee?” he laughed but after that warning glare you gave him, he deduced that he wouldn't wanna anger you.
***
A couple of hours later, you were all boarding the school bus, prepared to head back home. Ms. Kang looked like she aged a few years during this trip which made you feel sorry for her. The whole forest escapade™ spread like wildfire and you had already heard at least three alternate versions of what presumably happened.
In the end, it wasn't really that scandalous, you guys just got lost in the forest. Your inability to properly orientate outside of the city became your biggest downfall. You checked for some online map reading courses the moment you were free from the questioning but sadly found nothing for people over ten years old.
A sneeze from Jeongin made you lose your current train of thought as you turned around to him.
“Netflix movies?” he asked so cutely you couldn't resist.
Netflix movies it is.
***
“Ugh, we're finally here,” you groaned while stretching your tense muscles. You turned around to face Jeongin and gave him a lopsided smile, “do you wanna get some food?”
“Um sure...but like right now?”
“Hmm yeah.”
“O-ok, so you don't want to go back to your place and leave our stuff there,” he hauled out your guy's duffel bags from the compartment under the bus.
“Thanks, but I was thinking we could go now...I'm kind of starving,” you said sheepishly. As if on cue, your stomach grumbled loud enough for Jeongin and a few other people to hear.
He laughed as you hung your head low in embarrassment. You just wanted to get some food for Pikachu’s sake.
“Oh come on… don't worry. We can go get some food right away,” he cooed as he checked on his phone for the nearest restaurant slash fast food.
“So there's this chicken place like ten minutes away. It has really good reviews.”
“Sure thing. Lead the way mighty fox,” you teased, grabbing his arm and pulling him in the supposed direction of heaven (also known as food establishments).
You turned to this really narrow street where Jeongin decided it would be best to carry two bags at once.
“Gimme that,” he grabbed your bag and slung it over his other shoulder.
“Oh come on Inn, just give me the bag. I can carry it myself,” your feeble protest fell on deaf ears so you just accepted it with grace and a small ‘thank you’.
***
“Did I ever tell you that I love you?” you groaned while stuffing your face with the delicious chicken bites dipped in barbecue sauce.
“You actually didn't,” the boy laughed, amused at your eating habits.
He ordered himself a burger which he for some reason was able to eat normally without spilling it all over the place. (a skill you were gonna have to ask him about later)
“Well I love you,” you chortled before almost choking on a fry.
“Woah there, you ok?” he patted your back multiple times in hopes of you getting the pesky piece of potato out of your throat.
“Thanks,” you coughed a couple more times before finally managing to swallow it, “I just can't help it when around food, you know?” you pouted at him.
“Y-yeah, I definitely figured,” he took a sip from his strawberry milkshake to mask the blush spreading on his face. “Do you want to hang out after this?”
“Sure, we can go to my place,” you smiled, “I'll just call my parents.”
You hung up and Jeongin went up to the register to pay. “Oh come on Jeongin, it's my turn to pay,” you groaned slightly annoyed.
“But you were supposed to pay for the next ice cream, not lunch,” he shot you a wink as he pulled out his credit card. ‘Oh no,’ you thought. The return of sexy credit card Jeongin was inevitable but you somehow thought it would take longer. You watched him completely entranced as he swiped the card on the terminal. It was just as captivating as the last time.
***
“No one's home,” you muttered while unlocking the front door, “we can just watch some Netflix or talk if you want.”
“Sure thing,” he grinned, already raiding your fridge for some goodies. You just stood there as he was picking out stuff for you guys to eat. It wasn't anything unusual but for some reason, the whole ordeal just looked so domestic and intimate. You mentally slapped yourself and composed yourself just in time for when Jeongin turned around with a grin. He fished out some ice cream and orange juice for you guys to enjoy while watching and his eyes shone brightly like he had whole galaxies captured in there.
You shook your head, hoping to get these thoughts out of your mind. ’Shut up (y/n), this is not the time,’ you thought.
The both of you settled onto the couch. Jeongin draped the fluffy pink comforter over your feet and brought the remote, turning the tv on. He clicked on the black and red logo, choosing your account, and looked through the recommended stuff.
You both settled on a rom-com let it play for the evening. You tried your best not to stare at him but it was proving to be harder and harder with each passing moment. When you thought you wouldn't be able to stand it anymore, the movie finally finished. Jeongin packed up his stuff before heading out the door.
“Bye (y/n), thanks for letting me stay,” he beamed with his hand on the doorknob. “No worries, are you sure you don't want me to walk with you to the station?”
“I'm positive. It's already dark outside.”
***
You sighed, grabbing the used bowls from the coffee table and sticking them in the dishwasher. You had lots of fun today but you still felt kind of under the weather after your friend left. You grabbed your plushie and made a jump for your bed, not anticipating the loud creak the frame let out. You cringed at the noise, it was very unpleasant.
You checked your messages and to your utter annoyance realized, you had a math assignment due tomorrow. You placed the sheets of paper on your desk and rummaged for the calculator you were going to need. You finally found it in your closet (no clue how it got there lol) and sighed in relief.
The assignment was on fraction multiplication. You had no clue why this was so important it warranted you having to repeat the material. You had briefly done it in middle school and definitely thought that it was enough.
It took you over two hours to complete it.
***
You were walking down the hallway, about to meet Jeongin in front of the big tree by your school. He texted you right after class, asking if you could meet up with him at your usual spot, claiming it to be very urgent. You hoped everything was ok. He was usually never this desperate over text.
***
Jeongin was almost shaking with how nervous he felt. He was about to possibly ruin your great friendship with his lousy confession, but he couldn't help it anymore. He harbored his feelings for you for about a year now and if he wouldn't get it out of his system soon, he would burst.
You were a great person (the reason he became friends with you in the first place) but after that, he noticed that there was more to you than your headstrong outspoken self. You were always kind to him, helping him out and looking after him but the recent events deepened his feelings for you even more. The vulnerability you showed him in the cinema and in the forest made him want to cherish and protect you from possible asshats like Jungwon.
“Protect you.” That was in his eyes the biggest problem. He wasn't sure if he was good enough for you. Strong enough to protect you. Yeah no, he was a weakling. A pushover. He would never be the one for you, he bitterly thought.
But he still had to tell you, it felt wrong to look at you like he did without telling you. He had to bite the bullet and take responsibility for his feelings. Hopefully, this would not ruin your friendship and you two could still go to the cinema or eat ice cream in weird cafes.
He drowned in his self-conscious thoughts for a while longer before checking his phone for any updates. There were none, the last message from you still being that you'll be there in a few… Strange, he thought. You sent that over ten minutes ago.
Something was not right, that was blatantly obvious but the boy couldn't wrap his finger around it. Why weren't you here yet? It usually took less than five minutes for you to come down to your meeting spot but something must have sidetracked you. Or maybe someone...
He didn't like where this was going. He pinched the bridge of his nose on his handsome face in exasperation. It would probably be best to just call you instead of mulling over it so he unlocked his phone, about to give you a call but he received a text.
For a moment there, he thought it would be you, telling him that everything was alright. That you just got caught up with a teacher and you were on your way. However, that was not the case.
As he read the message, dread filled him up like a bowl of rice would on an early morning. It was an unknown number.
‘We got your girl Yang. If you want her back, come to the warehouse at 3 pm sharp. Don't call the cops or you'll be sorry…’
His blood ran cold.
No. This could not be happening. He could tell it was Hyunwoo from the way he called him but that fact almost scared him more.
This was bad. He had to save you. There was no saying, what would that bastard do to you. From the corner of his eyes, he could see one of his goons watching him, likely making sure he doesn't call for help.
Shit.
He brainstormed for a moment, hoping some brilliant idea would strike like lightning but that never occurred.
He weighed out his options, calling for help was definitely off the table with him being watched. It seemed like there was no other way...he had to go there alone.
***
You whimpered in fear as you were roughly sat down in a chair. You were gagged by an old piece of cloth and your hands were bound together by a zip tie. You had no clue what was going on or why you were here in the first place. You were supposed to meet Jeongin, not get kidnapped.
Flashback
You were at your locker putting your books away and humming a familiar tune. The hallway was eerie and quiet. You were nervous but also slightly excited. Why did he want to talk to you so suddenly?
All of a sudden, you felt a hand cover your mouth with a cloth. You tried to scream and kick whoever your attacker was but before you even managed to land a hit, you had passed out.
The person dragged your limp body through the empty hall and headed towards the back exit that was never used. Another person joined from the outside and they each took hold of your limbs and carried you through the empty park to the small warehouse behind the school.
It was a shabby old building that looked like it was going to fall apart at any moment. It was dark and spacious, void of anything other than the big table and a few chairs all the way in the back. The attackers placed your flaccid form on one of the chairs, tying your hands together and your ankles to the legs of the chair with some scratchy ropes. They topped it off by placing some duct tape over your mouth for extra measure.
After that, one of them pulled out their phone from their pocket and typed a message.
“Do you think he will really come for her?”
“Yeah, he definitely will. She's his only friend and he follows her anywhere he goes.”
“If you say so…”
The phone rang, echoing in the big empty room and also waking you up.
“Any updates?”
“Yeah, he seems really pissed but didn't call anyone so far…”
“Great, is he on his way?”
“He's heading in the direction of the warehouse, I’d say he'll be there in ten minutes.”
“Ok, keep me updated.”
The boy shuffled his phone back into his pocket before turning around in your direction after hearing the muffled noises.
“Are you finally awake (y/n)?” he drawled, stepping closer to the chair you were bound to.
“HmMmhh-” you tried to scream, only for it to come out as a muffle through the tape on your mouth.
“Not talking back now, I see.”
No shit, you thought. Of course you were scared, they basically kidnapped you. The fact that you knew them didn't do anything to ease your nerves.
“Don't be scared. Little Jeonginnie is gonna come and save you, right?”
A chorus of laughter could be heard from the other boy, Sanghoon, who was sitting on the floor.
Take it off, you tried to say but it came out more like whining than a threat. But it seems like the boy understood because his hand reached out to your mouth, catching hold of the tape and ripping it off in one fluid motion.
“Ugh,” you groaned at the sting it left behind. Couldn't that idiot be at least a bit more gentle?
“What the fuck are playing, Hyunwoo? Release me right this second!”
The boy only snickered at your request, turning to glare at you.
“Sorry but no can do.”
“What do you even want from me you monster?” you asked perplexed.
“I don't want anything from you,” he said slowly. “We just want to give your friend a little scare.”
“What?!” you yelled in disbelief. “You're doing all of this just to scare Jeongin? Why would you even do that? What did he do to you?”
“He didn't do anything. He just annoys me...it annoys me how weak he always is, trailing after you like a duckling would after its mother.”
“You are really messed up. That's the whole reason for this? Did you do something like that to him before?”
“Never to this extent. But don't worry, we’ll just spook him a bit.”
That was nuts, you thought. Did they not realize that they would get in big trouble for this? You were gonna make sure to report them and get their asses expelled for good. Like...how could they even think of doing something like that, the fact that you knew them didn't mean that this was basically kidnapping.
“Look Hyunwoo, I have a proposal: release me right this second and I'll go along with your whole joke defense. You know you'll be in knee-deep when the school will find out…”
The two of them froze at that, seemingly not thinking so far ahead to realize, that their actions would have serious consequences. You almost rolled your eyes as their faces dawned in realization of what they have done, where they really that braindead?
“Y-y/n, you don't really think that this is us kidnapping you, right?”
“Of course I do you dipshit! You knocked me out, dragged me to this weird warehouse, and bound me to a chair. I'd say that seems a lot like planned abduction to me but go off,” you seethed.
You just stared at them, brow raised in confusion as you observed them slowly get nervous.
“(y/n)! Where are you? Are you ok?” a sudden boom echoed through the space as a sweaty Jeongin came running inside. He scanned the whole room before sighing in relief when his eyes spotted you in the corner, uninjured.”
“Thank god! I was so worried,” he sprinted to you, ignoring the two boys who just stood in shock as he whipped out his pocket knife and proceeded to cut off the ropes around your limbs.
“Don't worry, I'm fine Inn. Nothing's happened to me, see,” you flailed your arms around to prove you were indeed well and scratch-free.
He slowly lowered his hands and grabbed you bridal style, making you blush like a tomato, and pressed a soft kiss to your forehead before placing you gently on the table nearby like you were a fragile porcelain doll that had to be taken care of. A dangerous glint in his eyes appeared before he patted your head affectionately.
“I'm so glad. Now it's these two assholes that should be worried,” he snarled, finally turning around at the two guys behind this. They just stood there in shock, probably still unsure of what they even did.
“I'll make you pay!” he rasped, cracking his knuckles before slowly making his way to the two of them.
“H-hey, w-we can s-still talk t-this out, ok?” Sanghoon tried to plea as he took tentative steps back, scared by this new version of Jeongin that they have never witnessed. Hell, they even bullied him, called him weak and a pushover but no matter what they did, this Jeongin never appeared. They made a mistake with getting you caught up with this, they both thought.
Jeongin however didn't want to hear anything the two of them had to say. The moment they used you in this little game of theirs, that was when shit was about to go down. He could stand being made fun of and teased but he wasn't going to just stand by after what they did to you.
“I will,” punch, “make you,” punch, “pay,” punch, “for,” punch, “ever laying a finger on her!” punch.
He accented each word with a strong hit to either of them. However, he didn't stop even after the both of them started bleeding profusely, having probably broken noses, and he just continued to lay hit after hit.
Their whimpers and pleas of ‘enough’ were what broke you from your semi-trance, making you jump off the table and run up to him.
“Please Innie, this is enough,” you tried to reason with him, wrapping your arms around his torso to prevent him from hurting them anymore.
Your presence must have brought him back as he suddenly turned around to you, tears welling up in his eyes. He looked really guilty for what he had done, for not being able to control his emotions again.
“I-I'm really s-sorry (y/n),” he choked out a sob, turning around to look you in the eyes and hug you. “I really didn't mean to, I-I was just s-so angry for what they have done to you, please forgi-”
“Shhh,” you tried to calm him, returning the hug. “I'm not angry Inn, just wanted to make sure you won't injure them too much so you won't get in trouble,” you murmured, rubbing soothing circles on his back.
“You don't have to worry Innie, being strong isn't just about laying punches. You are one of the strongest people I know, always putting others before yourself and for that I admire you, I really do.”
He didn't know what to say, emotions tarting to overwhelm him all over again.
“And thank you for coming here to get me.”
“Of course, there's nothing I wouldn't do for you,” he chimed with a hint of a smile.
You blushed tomato-red, looking away just for Jeongin to laugh at your shyness.
“Does that mean... you l-like me?” you asked hopefully, peering at him from under your lashes.
“Yes, I like you. I like you a lot actually,” he smiled at you softly, his eyes shining like they held the whole galaxies in them. And you just wanted time to freeze, so you could look at them forever and count each and every star present.
“I know this may not be the best circumstance to ask but I just can't wait any longer,” he took a deep breath before looking you in the eyes, “will you go out with me?”
You could feel tears well up in your eyes, threatening to spill as you internally screamed before jumping at Jeongin. “Of course I will! There's nothing I'd want more.”
“Woah, calm down there, princess,” he chuckled as he caught you just in time, the use of the nickname not going unnoticed by you, making you blush for the n-th time today.
The two of you just stayed there, hugging each other like there was no tomorrow, afraid to let go of one another.
You were reminded that you were not alone when one of the beat up assholes™ started to cough really loudly, prompting you to do something.
“I say let's go report some trouble makers,” he grinned, enveloping your hand in his and dragging you to the exit, heading for the principal's office.
“Yeah, and maybe after we can go to the arcade or something,” you proposed cheerfully.
“Sounds great.”
