𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐚 𝐠𝐮𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 — 𝐯. 𝐡𝐮𝐠𝐨
𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬 ; you didn’t know how to label your relationship with hugo; sometimes he’s in love with you, sometimes he’s in love with his blank books, and sometimes he’s in love with loki. so you do what all smart people in a situationship do: you watch a youtube video.
𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 ; fem!reader, swearing, situationship, hugo is awkward as hell, otoya giving bad relationship advice, hugoloki mentions, loki and charles cameos, KARASU CAMEO, miscommunication (resolved at the end i promiseee), reader trying to be nonchalant, hugo loves reader so much, idiots in love, mixed signals, use of (y/n) — i’m so sorry guys i tried to keep it at a minimum😔
𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 ; how to lose a guy in 10 days directed by donald petrie
𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫’𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞 ; oml y’all REALLY wanted this one on my last post…and i shall deliver, trust. i just HAD to include a few hugoloki sneaks in there, y’all know that those two are my hyperfixation right now. and CHARLES SPOTTED! guys he and shidou are literally my spirit animals i love them sm.
thank you to @cursed-carmine for the lovely dividers!
@liahinn6 @fallowmeadow @raniabnj @neeeooon @matchamochiluvu @fanfic-consumer77 @natsukisnightowl @hanakos-safe-corner14
the first time you realized hugo might not be what he seemed was about a month ago.
of course, when you say “what he seemed to be”, you meant his utter lack of interest in you disguised as a crush. why he bothered to even put up the persona in the first place, you didn’t know, but this guy certainly did not truly love you.
you were at a restaurant, the first to arrive among your friends to celebrate the end of finals week. coincidentally, hugo just so happened to be celebrating another successful practice with his teammates of the french u20 team.
everyone in the restaurant was staring; it wasn’t every day that you see celebrities just casually sitting in the same restaurants at you. julian loki, charles chevalier, and vivian hugo? it was a miracle.
your waiter just so happened to seat you at the table next to theirs while you waited for your friends to arrive. hugo hadn’t noticed you at first; loki was talking to him about something, and he looked incredibly invested—his chin on his hand and maintaining eye contact. he didn’t even bother with his food.
…hugo was never like that with you. when you spoke to him, he was also “reading” some stupid book that you had learned really had no words inside.
not wanting to be creepy, you simply just played on your phone while waiting for your friends. but you weren’t deaf; you still heard their conversation. loki talked about a movie he watched recently, while hugo popped in with the occasional comment or opinion.
it was clear that he was listening.
you felt a sinking feeling in your stomach as you continued to listen to their conversation, the lump in your throat not quite leaving when you took a few sips of water.
“oh my gosh, so sorry we’re late! everyone lives on campus except for you, so we all picked each other up and walked here. sorry you had to wait here for so long!”
finally, your ears perked up at the sound of your friend’s voice. but you were already so defeated that you couldn’t even voice your complaints about their tardiness. “yeah, okay. let’s just order now.”
the moment you spoke, you felt another pair of eyes snap towards you. loki’s talking in the background stopped, and another pair of eyes joined. then another. then another, until eleven pairs of eyes were just staring at you.
your friends all took seats next to and in front of you. “hasn’t the weather been crazy humid recently? i heard there’s going to be rainstorms for days, and…hey, don’t you feel like someone’s staring at us?”
your friends all turned their heads to hugo’s table, and a few of his teammates looked away with shameful rosy cheeks. “oh, hi hugo.” you managed, suddenly fidgeting with your fingers.
“how long have you been here?” he asked. a petite blonde boy behind him, who you recognized as charles chevalier, looked a bit too interested in your conversation.
“um, maybe ten minutes…” you mumbled, averting your gaze away. “it doesn’t matter. i don’t care.”
“oh, so you’re hugo?” your friend piped up. “i think she’s mentioned you a few times before. you play soccer, right? so i’m guessing this is your team.”
you were never more thankful for someone to interrupt your conversation. hugo side eyed her. “you talk too much.” he then turned around and finally began to take a few notes of his food.
the members of his team that didn’t stop staring earlier continued with their food as well, although loki now had a teasing smile on his face. all except for charles, who waved at you with a dopey grin.
“rude,” your friend muttered, grabbing her menu furiously. “i don’t get what you see in that guy. he’s not bad looking, but not nearly hot enough to act like such an ass. plus, i’m jealous of his lashes.”
“well, maybe she’s into the tall and nonchalant guys. probably thinks that she can fix them or something. right?” your other friend patted her back. a chorus of “yeah” and “you’re right” echoed across your table.
you felt heat rush to your face. “shut up, you guys. let’s just order.”
you avoided any more glances at hugo throughout the night.
the second time you realized hugo might not be what he seemed was two weeks ago.
you were about to make breakfast, still groggy from sleep, until suddenly the doorbell rang. you opened the door to see hugo standing outside with a bag.
“it’s for you.” he said immediately. you rubbed your eyes.
“what happened to hi? hello? how are you?” you asked, voice raspy. “but thank you.” you had no idea what was in there, but if hugo went out of his way to deliver to you, the you should probably be grateful.
you looked inside of the bag, finding about a dozen eclairs inside. “dude, seriously? that’s so nice of you. wow, thanks.” hugo loved eclairs; you knew that. he was always stuffing his face with them at bakeries.
he reached inside his pocket, pulling out that damn book again. how the fuck does a book even fit into a pocket anyway? he skimmed a few pages of nothing.
“yeah. i was at a bakery with loki and we bought too many eclairs.” he glanced at his book again. “did i wake you?”
at the mention of loki’s name, your mind went into overdrive. oh, so you were just an afterthought. okay. loki was who hugo was really thinking about.
“no, i woke up a bit ago. i was about to make breakfast, but i guess i don’t have to anymore. thanks. so um, you hang out with loki a lot.” you didn’t want to be obvious.
“yeah, we’re pretty close, i suppose.” he ran a hand through his hair. “we’ve known each other for years now. it’s hard to imagine a life without him.”
“oh. that’s nice. um, oh, i, uh, just remembered that i have to get ready to meet my friend later. i’ll see you later, hugo. thanks for the eclairs.” without waiting for a response, you shut the door.
third time’s the charm—-which is why you didn’t bother to wait for another loki incident and do something.
computer perched in your lap, you scrolled on youtube, through hundreds of videos on relationship advice, breakup advice, and finally, situationship advice.
finally, you stumbled across a promising video.
“how to lose a guy in 10 days - tips that actually work (SPEAKING FROM EXPERIENCE)”
on the thumbnail was a man with narrow green eyes, white hair with a single green strand of hair, and a fairly good looking appearance. the words “10 ways to lose a guy” surrounded him on the thumbnail. he looked like a video essay youtuber.
you tapped on the video. “are you in a situationship? a failing relationship? are you with someone you don’t want to be with? someone you’ve lost your spark with ages ago?” spoken with a thick japanese accent began to play. yes, no, sort of, sort of.
“then you’ve come to the perfect video. i have had multiple girlfriends and situationships, and here are a list of 10 things they did that made me lose interest the fastest. so here are 10 ways to make a guy lose interest the quickest–how to lose a guy in 10 days.”
but that was good. if he’s had a lot of relationships before, then that meant that he knew exactly how to end one, or what ended one. “my name is otoya eita, please like and subscribe to my youtube channel, follow my tiktok and instagram, and ring the bell for notifications so you never miss a video.”
“method number one: ignore them. absence makes the heart grow fond, but ignorance makes the heart grow cold.” that was some god awful poetry. “when they speak, just reply with ‘hmm’ or ‘mhm’ or ‘yeah’ or ‘sure’ or any sort of one word response that shuts down any more opportunity for conversation. that’ll give them blue balls for sure.”
now that you thought about it, you were always the one doing the talking whenever you both conversed. hugo always replied with one word answers, which was why you were left so disappointed all the time.
say what you want about this jackass otoya, but he knew romance.
suddenly, your phone rang. you checked the caller idea, and you were met with hugo’s contact. holy shit–maybe hugo’s right; fate is real. but this was the perfect opportunity to put what you just learned to use. you picked up his call.
“hey. are you free this week?” hugo asked. your mind raced to think of a good one word answer. yep? dunno? probably? no? yes?
“not sure.” you chose. shit! that wasn’t even one word! but you didn’t add ‘why’ at the end, meaning that it’s implied that you didn’t care about his motives. nice going.
“oh. practice isn’t as strict this week cause we’ve been doing so well this month. we can hang out if you have some free time.”
“right.” and you’re probably sad that you won’t be able to see your man loki as much, you thought. were you coming off strong enough? you actually had basically no plans this entire month and would love to hang out with him, but nonchalance.
“alright. if you have an opening in your schedule, then tell me. b–”
you hung up without warning. you swallowed the lump in your throat; was it always this hard to talk so little? did hugo really hate you so much that he could do this to you regularly? he was willing to read a blank ass book over talk to you.
but he definitely sounded a bit discouraged at the end there.
“method two: be seen with another guy. don’t make it obvious that you’re dating or something, but being close to them tells the person you’re avoiding that there’s someone else you like more. especially someone they know.”
“...yer kidding. are ya actually fallin’ for this shit? yer watching a video by otoya.” karasu, who wore his translation earbuds in full glory, looked at you in utter horror. he was a soccer player from abroad for pxg.
“you know him?” you asked, also placing your own earbuds in.
“know him? i roomed with this guy for months.” karasu shook his head. “he’s a manwhore through and through. has more exes than i can count on my fingers and toes.”
“and that’s all i need to know for him to be trustworthy.” you grinned. “cmon, just hang out with me for a day, that’s all i need. i’ll pay for everything.”
“i ain’t gonna let someone who earns way less money than me pay. but aint’cha goin’ a bit too far? i’ve met him before; pretty sure he’s just blunt.” karasu raised an eyebrow. you shook your head.
“that’s not the problem. i think he’s gay but scared to come out of the closet cause of me. that’s terrible of me to do.” you sighed. karasu choked, beginning to cackle.
“ya think he’s gay for loki? actually, i doubt yer far off. but damn, ya really went in on it, huh?” karasu gave you a high-five. “fine. i’m in on this.”
you both walked to the bakery that hugo and loki had gone to a few weeks ago, talking about your days and general life on the way. karasu was genuinely friendly, which made it easy to talk to him.
and made it easy to grab people’s attention.
“hey, isn’t that karasu?” loki asked. “and (y/n)’s with him too.”
hugo’s head snapped back when he heard your name. you were laughing and smiling with another guy? he wasn’t jealous. just surprised. just so surprised that his insides felt like they were burning.
“ooh, it’s been a while since i’ve seen him! hey loki, we really haven’t seen him in practice recently! we gotta reconnect with him sometime!” charles exclaimed joyfully. “hugo, we’ve gotta introduce him to you! he’s a super cool midfielder and a super cool person!’
“yes, you do.” hugo said flatly. “he’s a midfielder too? i bet none of his strikers can score a goal with his passes.”
loki stared at him blankly. charles broke out into laughter, “ooh, hugo’s jealous.” he gestured at you. “are you gonna go all ceo 6’4 alpha and yank her away and say ‘she’s mine’?” he pulled his phone out, ready to record.
“no. you’ve been on tiktok too much lately.” hugo didn’t tear his eyes away from you. karasu noticed, and he nudged you.
“yer plan’s workin’. he looks like he’s gonna kill me.” he mumbled. you linked your arm through his.
“hi karasu!” you heard an unfamiliar, childlike voice behind you. you saw who you remembered to be charles chevalier, and behind him was hugo and loki.
“sup, charles. this is my friend, (y/n).” karasu gestured towards you.
friends don’t stand so closely. hugo thought. “yeah, i know!” charles nodded. “hi (y/n)! hugo talks about you a lot!”
“that’s true. hello, i’m julian loki. i believe we haven’t properly met yet, but i’ve heard of you often.” loki stuck out his hand, and you shook it.
karasu gave you an “i-told-you-so” look, and you responded with a glare. who knows what hugo said about you? maybe he was complaining. “how ‘bout this? charles, loki, i need to talk to ya both about some tactics. hugo, ya can talk to her?”
you were ready to punch him. karasu looked at you and shrugged. “alright, sure!” charles took both loki and karasu’s hands before you could object, and you were left standing with hugo.
“you seemed awfully close with that karasu guy.” hugo began. your eyes darted the other way.
“yeah.” one-word responses. one-word responses.
“have you been busy recently?”
“yet you have the time to spend with him.” hugo glanced at karasu. “…are you avoiding me?”
shit. your face began to turn scarlet, but you hoped hugo wouldn’t notice. “n-no.” goddamnit, why’d you stutter at the worst time?
he narrowed his eyes. “you—“
“HUGOOO! LUNCH BREAK IS OVER SOON!” charles yelled across the bakery, waving his entire arm. he garnered a few glares from other customers.
“this isn’t over.” he stated, turning back and leaving.
you approached karasu again. “is he always like this? charles?” your mind raced to the grinning boy.
“ya mean he sticks his nose everywhere? yep. but he’s fifteen, so ya should give him a break.” your jaw dropped.
“fifteen? okay, that changes everything. never mind then. i’ll let him live. god, that guy’s a baby…” you groaned.
at least karasu bought you some donuts.
day two: sort of success.
“loki, i think she’s mad at me.”
“yeah, i think so too.” loki was seated at a fancy restaurant, waiting for the rest of his teammates at pxg to arrive. “she seemed pretty pissed at you at the bakery.”
“what the hell do i do? i don’t think i did anything wrong, did i?” hugo asked. loki raised an eyebrow; this was the first time he had ever heard hugo so emotional, and this was on call as well.
“chill. maybe she’s just going through a hard time right now.” loki glanced at the front door when he heard it click, wondering if it was his teammate.
“she just finished her finals, she’s still close with her friends, i’m pretty sure all of her family members are alive…it’s a me problem for sure. but what did—“
“hugo, i think i see her. like, right now. she’s seated a few tables away from me?” loki spoke all too quietly, not risking you hearing him.
“yeah. now some guy’s sitting across from her. she does not look comfortable.” he noted. “she’s shaking and she looks tired as hell.”
“damnit. what if that guys harassing her?” hugo spoke like rapid fire.
“i don’t know. it’s your girl. you can ask her.”
“if she’s not, then you shouldn’t be concerned about her in the first place.” loki rebutted. it came out more satisfying than he expected; he had been waiting to say this for a while now. “oh, she’s totally getting the ick.”
“just keep watching over her for me. i’ll be there in 10 minutes.”
“dude—no, you can’t just come here all of a sudden.” loki furrowed his eyebrows. “what are you thinking?”
“you said she’s getting the ick. there’s a rainstorm right now and she doesn’t have a car. you know what that means? if she leaves the restaurant, she’ll have to walk home.”
loki sighed. “alright. you do you.” he hung up the call, glancing at you once more.
“method three: go on a date with another guy. ladies, if you’re in a relationship, then this is considered cheating and gives you an automatic out. but if you’re in a situationship, then you have no loyalty towards them in the first place. just go and see if you like the person you’re on a date with.”
this was fucking terrible.
the guy in front of you reeked of axe body spray and hair gel. “and why yes, i believe that women’s rights are a lie.” he said, cutting into his steak. he was dressed like a businessman, but in reality, was an unemployed 29 year old man who still lived in his mother’s basement.
you sighed. “listen. this isn’t going to work. thank you for your time.” you tossed just enough money to pay for you meal and left.
“hey! come back, you bitch! i’m not done yet!”
you didn’t listen, walking out of the front door and being met with a rainstorm and thunder. that third tip definitely did not work. you sighed; hopefully the rain would end soon.
raindrops began to slide down your hair and face. you bit the inside of your cheek; it was freezing outside. your clothes were getting wet.
but then, the rain stopped.
“it’s not good to stand outside alone while it’s dark out, especially not when it’s raining.”
raindrops drummed against fabric as an umbrella was perched over you. “why are you here?” you asked, not bothering to meet hugo’s eyes. “are you stalking me or something?” you completely discarded your false nonchalance.
“not me. loki.” he took your hand, beginning to walk away. you slapped his hand away.
“oh, your boyfriend? how nice.” you spat, not exactly sarcastic.
hugo’s eyes widened. “what the hell are you talking about?” you looked at him with furrowed brows.
“hugo, you know it’s 2026, right? no one cares if you’re into guys. you don’t need to keep on talking to me or whatever. loki’s inside, right? so go talk to him instead.” you clenched your fists. you were pathetic, getting so mad over this.
but you really did like him.
“i don’t like loki. i never said i did.” hugo exasperated.
“you think you were destined to meet him.”
“i was destined to meet you too.”
your throat began to tighten. “you listen to him talk way more than you do with me. you’re always reading some stupid blank book when i talk.”
hugo groaned. “t-that’s…that’s because reading blank books organizes my thoughts, okay? i don’t want to say the wrong things around you. but considering how pissed you are, i guess that was useless.”
he breathed. “i don’t care about what i say to loki because it’s loki. he’s just my striker. when i’m reborn and given another destiny, he won’t matter anymore. he matters for this life. you matter for all of them. all of mine.”
this was the most emotional you’ve ever seen him.
then you noticed. his magenta hair had droplets of water tangled inside. his umbrella was too small to fit two people, yet you were comfortably safe from the rain. his clothes were rumpled, as if put on in a hurry.
drops of water slid down your cheeks. it wasn’t from the rain.
he wiped your tears away with his thumb, before bring your hand up to his lips and kissing each of your knuckles. “not loki. not anyone else. you. you’re my soulmate. no one else is.”
you shouldn’t have doubted him in the first place.
