jeong yoonchae! x fem reader! x hong eunchae!
You ask your best friend Narin to secretly leave gifts on Eunchae’s locker the school’s star cheerleader. You start getting sweet thank you letters in return and assume they’re from Eunchae… only to discover Narin misheard you and placed every gift on Yoonchae’s locker instead, the cheer captain.
You had been in love with Hong Eunchae for exactly four months, twelve days, and according to the stopwatch app you definitely did not have open right now sixteen hours.
It started innocently enough. She flipped into your life during the first pep rally of senior year, ponytail whipping like a comet tail, smile bright enough to power the entire gymnasium. You were in the bleachers holding a bag of chips you forgot to eat because Hong Eunchae had just landed a perfect back tuck and waved right in your direction, she was actually waving at the mascot…
From that day forward you became a professional creep. You knew her schedule better than your own. You knew she liked strawberry milk, that she doodled little stars on the corners of her notebooks, that she laughed with her whole body when something was really funny. What you did not know was how to speak to her without turning into a human tomato.
That’s where Narin came in.
Narin your best friend since kindergarten, chaos in human form, and the only person who knew about your hopeless crush found you one afternoon hiding behind the vending machine, staring at team from approximately thirty meters away.
“Y/N,” she said, popping her gum loud enough to make you jump, “this is getting sad. You’re basically a wildlife documentary narrator at this point. ‘Here we see the rare cheerleading team in their natural habitat…’”
“Shut up,” you hissed, face burning. “I’m working on it.”
“You’ve been ‘working on it’ since September. Operation Speak To Her has failed. Time for Operation Secret Admirer.”
“Gifts. Anonymous. Locker. Boom. She falls mysteriously in love with the poetic soul who leaves her cute things. Then you reveal yourself at the perfect moment and live happily ever after. It’s foolproof.”
It was not foolproof. It was insane. But you were desperate, and desperate people do desperate things.
“Would you deliver it, to Eunchae?”
So every morning for the next two months, you handed Narin a small gift wrapped in pastel paper, a strawberry lollipop with a note that said “Hope your day is as sweet as you are - Locker 314”, a tiny succulent in a painted pot “Something small to grow with you”, a mixtape USB labeled “Songs that remind me of your smile” , Stuffed toys, even a scarf, and every afternoon, like clockwork, a letter appeared in your locker 314.
The first one was folded into a perfect little heart.
Thank you for the lollipop. I smiled so big the whole squad asked what happened. Whoever you are… you made my day. ♡
Your knees actually buckled. You read it seventeen times in the hallway.
That succulent is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. I named him Sprout. He sits on my windowsill now. You have good taste, stranger.
The playlist? I’ve had it on repeat. Track 4 made me tear up on the bus. How do you know me so well already?
They were sweet, thoughtful, funny in the margins with little doodles tiny stars, just like Eunchae drew. Your heart grew three sizes every day. You started writing longer notes back, pouring your soul into them. You told her about your fear of college applications, how you secretly loved cheesy romcoms, how you once cried because a pigeon looked sad.
And she wrote back. Every time.
Two months in, you were gone. Completely, hopelessly in love with Hong Eunchae.
You had never actually spoken to her, but that was fine. This was better. This was romantic.
And then Narin ruined everything.
It was a Thursday. You were walking to the cafeteria together, you clutching the lavender scarf that matches what you gave to Euncahe, because winter was coming but you’d noticed Eunchae always forgot hers.
“Oh, by the way,” Narin said casually, “Jeong Yoonchae’s locker got moved to the east wing now. Some boys prank flooded the main hall lockers. Took me forever to find the new one this morning.”
“What do you mean ‘Jeong Yoonchae’s locker got moved’?” you asked carefully.
Narin blinked. “Uh, because of the flood? I just said—”
“Her locker was always in the east wing.”
“No? It was always in the main hall. Right between the trophy case and the water fountain. Jeong Yoonchae. Captain of the cheer squad. The one you stare at like a lovesick puppy every single practice.”
Your stomach dropped through the floor.
Narin frowned. “Jeong Yoonchae? Your crush, silly. The captain? Tall, gorgeous, cute, terrifyingly competent? The one you always watch when she’s running drills—”
“NO!” Your voice cracked. “My crush is Hong Eunchae. The flyer. The one who does the flips. The one with the ponytail and the stars on her notebooks—”
“I swear I thought you said Yoonchae.”
“I said Eunchae! Hong Eunchae!”
“They sound the same when you mumble! You always mumble when you’re embarrassed!”
You were going to die. Right there in the cafeteria line. Spontaneous combustion.
All this time… the notes… the playlist responses… Sprout the succulent…
You’re in love with Yoonchae, Not Eunchae.
The cheer captain. The girl everyone admire. The one who ran practices like a military operation and still managed to look unfairly beautiful doing it. The one you definitely stared at every practice, but only because well because she was right there! Leading everything! It was professional observation!
Okay, fine. Maybe you had noticed how her eyes crinkled when she laughed at her teammates. Maybe you had memorized the way her hair fell over one shoulder when she was focused. Maybe you had, on multiple occasions, forgotten how to breathe when she walked past.
“I’ve been flirting with the cheer captain for two months,” you whispered in horror. “I told her I cried over a pigeon.”
Narin wheezed. “This is the funniest thing that’s ever happened to anyone.”
“I’m going to transfer schools. I’m going to move to Antarctica.”
But you didn’t transfer schools.
Because the next day, there was another note in your locker.
This one was different. Longer. Written on pale green paper that smelled faintly of vanilla.
I think I figured it out.
I’ve been trying to guess who you are for weeks. At first I thought it was someone from the squad playing a prank, but the notes got too personal. Too kind. Too… you.
I kept thinking, who watches practice every day from the bleachers? Who makes playlists that feel like they see right through me?
And then yesterday my locker moved, and I overheard someone say something about “Eunchae’s locker” and it clicked.
You meant Hong Eunchae, didn’t you?
I’m not mad. I’m… flattered. And a little heartbroken, honestly. Because I really, really like you. Whoever you are.
If I got this wrong, ignore this note and I’ll pretend it never happened.
But if I’m right… meet me after practice today? East wing, by the vending machines. I’ll be the idiot holding a strawberry milk.
Then you screamed into your backpack.
Narin found you twenty minutes later sitting on the bathroom floor.
“So?” she asked, barely containing her glee. “What did the captain say?”
You shoved the note at her.
She read it. Her eyes went wide.
“Y/N. She likes you back. She likes you. This is the best day of my life.”
“I can’t go,” you whimpered. “I can’t face her. I sent her a scarf. I told her I think pigeons have feelings. What will I tell her? I like your personality but I imagine you’re Eunchae?”
“And she named your succulent gift. She knows the mix match, but still wants to meet you! She’s obsessed with you. Go!”
Practice ended at 5:15. You hovered near the east wing vending machines from 4:58, heart trying to escape your ribcage.
At 5:17, Jeong Yoonchae appeared.
She was still in her practice clothes and oversized squad hoodie, hair in a messy bun, holding two cartons of strawberry milk. She looked nervous.
The cure terrifying cheer captain was nervous.
She spotted you and smiled small, shy, nothing like the confident grin she wore on the mat.
“Hi,” she said softly. “Y/N, right?”
You nodded, incapable of speech.
She handed you a strawberry milk. “I, um… I brought this. For you. Since you always leave them for me. Or… for Eunchae. But still.”
Your brain short circuited.
“I’m sorry,” you blurted. “My friend misheard the name and I didn’t know and I thought it was Eunchae writing back but it was you and I told you about the pigeon and—”
She laughed. It was the same full body laugh you’d heard from the bleachers a hundred times, and it was even better up close.
“I liked the pigeon story,” she said. “It was cute.”
You hid your face in your hands.
“Hey,” she said gently, stepping closer. “I meant what I wrote. I’m not upset. I’m… really happy it was you.”
You peeked through your fingers. “Why?”
She shrugged, cheeks pink. “Because you’re sweet. And funny. And you notice things. Like how I forget my scarf, and you sit in the bleachers every practice even though you pretend you’re just waiting for your friend.”
She grinned. “I notice things too.”
Silence stretched. Comfortable, terrifying silence.
“So,” she said finally, rocking on her heels. “Since all your gifts technically went to me… does that mean I get to keep the scarf?”
You laughed actually laughed, loud and embarrassing.
“Yes. You can keep the scarf.”
“Cool.” She bit her lip. “And… maybe I could take you out? Coffee? To thank you properly. For two months of the best gifts anyone’s ever given me.”
Your heart exploded into glitter.
“Like… a date?” you asked, voice barely above a whisper.
“Yeah,” she said, smiling so wide her eyes turned into crescents. “Like a date.”
Later, Narin demanded a word by word.
“So the mix up worked out?” she asked, grinning like a maniac.
“You’re the worst best friend in history,” you told her.
“And yet you’re welcome.”
Because sometimes the wrong locker leads you exactly where you were meant to be.
And sometimes the cheer captain likes your weird pigeon stories.
And sometimes miraculously the girl you’ve been staring at for months has been staring right back.
A/N: oh my! this is my first yoonchae fic! been living in my drafts for almost 2 months now, it’s fluff of course! that’s the only genre i will write for her. i hope you guys like it!
