pairing: Johnny x reader, Jaehyun x reader, Yuta x reader, honestly pretty much every NCT member x reader at some point
summary: You have a boring job at the beach for the summer, but one day your life is spiced up after meeting a handsome lifeguard named Johnny and all of his friends.
a/n: it was supposed to be called "sand, salt, and secrets", but my dumb brain switched it to tears before I noticed so the title makes it sound little more angsty than it actually is
summary: you and your friend go to the beach party that Johnny and Jaehyun invited you to
featured in this chapter: JAEHYUN, JOHNNY, Yuta, Doyoung, Haechan, Taeyong
warnings: language, suggestive content (16+/semi-nsfw), alcohol (underage), marijuana (underage/possibly illegal), mentions of throwing up
word count: 4.2k
“Apparently you get bratty when you’re high.”
Ch. 3
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When you told Karina that you had gotten the two of you invited to a party, you nearly had to clap your hands over your ears to protect yourself from her reaction. “Y/N, I TOLD you he was into you!” she shrieks, jumping up and down in her excitement. Having foreseen such an outburst from your friend, you had opted to wait and tell her until the two of you were both back at the apartment you had rented for the summer, far away from the prying eyes and ears of Johnny and Jaehyun. You cringe a little. “I’m sure it’s so much that he’s into me as it is he’s trying to apologize for nearly drowning me,” you explain, but you turn around and smile at yourself nonetheless.
By the time you had gotten back to the apartment and told Karina the news, it was already 6pm, the two of you having had an early dinner at a local diner. Johnny had told you to come over at 8, so you and Karina set about showering and getting ready, trying to wrangle your tangled beach hair into a more presentable look. Karina was going all out with her look tonight, wearing a bright attention-seeking green ribbed top and tight denim shorts to go with it. She was busy brushing a deep smokey look onto her eyelids when you stepped out of your room to reveal your outfit to her: a white milkmaid tank top with a black-and-white checked skirt embroidered with little white daisies. Not nearly as extra as Karina’s outfit, but just as cute.
“Oh. My. God.” Karina gasps, pressing a hand to her chest in exaggerated shock. “You look so fucking adorable. I could just squish your little cheeks. Give me a spin!” she instructs. You give her a shy smile and do a full 360 degrees so she can see the entire outfit. “Your ass looks SO GOOD!” Karina screams.
“Um, yeah, I guess,” you mutter, rubbing a hand on the back of your neck. Karina frowns at the lack of confidence in your reaction. Suddenly, a lightbulb look flashes across her face.
“I know just what you need,” she grins. She turns around to rummage through a plastic bag sitting on the kitchen counter before pulling out a large bottle with a pink and yellow wrapping on. “TIME FOR A SHOT!” she yells. You smack a hand across your forehead.
“Karina, you know we have to drive to the party right? We can’t drink beforehand, and we definitely can’t get hammered once we’re there otherwise we won’t be able to get back,” you groan in exasperation.
“Oh, honey. I’ll drive. This shot is for you! You clearly need some help when it comes to men. What’s better than a little liquid courage,” she winks at me, grabbing a shot glass from a cabinet and pouring me a drink before I can try and argue again. She hands the glass to me, and I give it a little sniff.
“C’mon. Raspberry-lemonade vodka? You know I don’t have a good relationship with this stuff,” you groan, remembering the last encounter you had with the drink. Hint: it had involved a long night sitting on the floor of a bathroom.
“Meh. Hold your nose,” Karina suggests, going back to putting on makeup.
Taking a deep breath and pinching your nose shut to dull the test, you pick up the shot glass and throw the vodka to the back of your throat. You wince as you let go of your nose too early and all the flavor comes rushing into your move.
“God, this stuff tastes like rubbing alcohol. I thought we agreed to just get tequila from now on,” you frown, slamming the glass back down on the counter.
Karina whirls back around to me. “Okay, good,” she smiles brightly. “Now let’s try this again. Y/N, your ass looks AMAZING!”
You can’t help but smile at your friend’s repeated attempts to bolster your confidence. This time, instead of shyly mumbling, you whirl around and strike a pose, landing your hand on your hip. “I know, right?” you proclaim with exaggerated swagger, flipping your hair over a shoulder.
Karina jumps up and down, clapping her hands together. “Now THAT’S more like it! Okay, let’s get a move on, it’s almost 8!” Karina grabs her keys off of the hook by the door, and together the two of you make your way down the stairs to her car.
By the time you pull up to the address that Johnny had given you, it’s 8:15 and people had clearly already been partying for hours. The small beach house (more of a shack, really) nestled next to the dunes has blasting music pouring out of the closed windows, and people are regularly traveling in and out of the back door towards what looked like a bonfire on the beach. Karina nearly drags you by the arm to the front door in excitement, pushing it open and leading the two of you inside without knocking (“it’s not a knock-on-the-door kind of party,” she declares).
Once inside, you catelogue your surroundings. There seems to be a healthy balance of both men and women there, almost all of them around your age, although you spot a few guys who look to be in their early 30s standing in a corner together and drinking (you decide they’re probably older lifeguards). On your left is a living room where the couches have been pushed to the side to make a makeshift dance floor where many people are already grinding and making out with each other. To your right is a set of stairs leading to a second level that you assume you’re not permitted on, and straight ahead is the kitchen, where you can see beers and bottles of liquor litter the kitchen table and counter. Of course, that’s directly where Karina takes the two of you.
Never one to really make a good drink, you allow Karina to pour some liquids in a cup, not really paying attention to what she’s doing. When she turns to hand the plastic cup to you, swirl the brown liquid around suspiciously and ask, “How many shots are in here?”
“Three,” Karina grins mischievously, turning around to start making a drink for herself.
On any other given night, you probably would’ve smacked Karina and made her take the drink back before making a weaker version for yourself, but you can’t deny that she was right earlier in saying that you needed a little more courage. Shrugging to yourself, you tilt the cup back and chug half of the drink before coming up for air. “WOOO GIRL!” Karina shouts before tilting her own drink back. While she’s chugging, a man with bleached white hair who appeared to be about my height walks up to us, or more specifically, up to Karina.
“Hi,” he says quietly, grinning at her and Karina locks eyes with him, sputtering. Clearly she’s as taken with him as he is with her.
“Um... I’m going to go find Johnny,” you mutter, winking at Karina.
“Oh, I think he’s outside by the fire,” the mystery man offers up helpfully. You nod in thanks to him and refill your drink before heading out the screen door in the back.
Out on the beach, you see the flames of a bonfire flickering, ten or so figures huddled around it for warmth despite the heat still clinging to the air from earlier in the day. As you make your way towards the group, you don’t see Johnny, but you do manage to identify the other lifeguard that you met earlier today: Jaehyun. Once you’re close enough to the fire that you’re sure Johnny isn’t with the group, you’re about to turn around when you hear someone call out your name.
“Y/N!” Jaehyun lifts a hand in your direction. “Come join us!”
You hesitate, but the 3 or so shots that you’ve had in the past hour are starting to settle warmly in your stomach and you find your feet carrying you closer to the lifeguard. “Hey everyone, this is Y/N,” Jaehyun announces, scooting over on the makeshift log-bench to make room for you. As you sit down, he goes around in a circle, introducing you to everyone. When he reaches the last person, a man sitting with silver hair on the other side of you, the stranger starts to lean against you, nestling his head onto your shoulder.
“Um, sorry. Haechan gets touchy when he’s high,” Jaehyun chuckles.
“I think you mean to say that Haechan is always touchy,” says a man sitting across the fire from you who’s name you think is Doyoung.
At the mention of being high, you sniff the air suspiciously. You’re not sure how you didn’t notice it, but the heavy tang of weed is definitely filling the air around the bonfire. You turn to Jaehyun, shifting Haechan off of your shoulder in discomfort. You notice that his eyes are rimmed with red and that he has a joint hanging in his hand off to the side. “Aren’t you a lifeguard? Like, aren’t you supposed to follow the law?” you ask incredulously.
“Jesus, we’re not the police. Smoking a bit isn’t gonna hurt anyone,” says another man, the one that Jaehyun introduced as Jeno.
“Wait, you’re all lifeguards?” you ask. Everyone in the circle nods.
“And you’re all high right now?” More nods.
“You know, I think Johnny was right. You do need to loosen up a little bit,” Jaehyun raises an eyebrow at you, suddenly offering me the joint in his hand.
“Oh, I-uh. I’ve never...” you trail off. Some college student you are. Never been in a relationship and never been high?!
Jaehyun just smiles and grabs your hand, pinching your fingers around the joint. “Just breathe in and hold it,” he instructs. You stare down at your hand, fully aware that now everyone in the circle has their eyes on you. Doing as ordered, you bring the joint to your lips and inhale. But just as quickly as you breathe in, you feel your lungs contracting as you cough smoke out. Everyone around you titters with laughter, and Jaehyun takes it back, passing it around the circle.
“Try again,” Jaehyun smiles gently, handing the joint back to you.
By your third time around, you practically felt like a pro, and you could feel your head begin to fade into relaxation. You throw back another huge swig of your drink, now leaning into Haechan as he had into you earlier.
“Oh my god, yay!!” Haechan shouts, leaning his head down on top of yours. “Another cuddly pothead!”
A good half hour passes by, filled with Jeno strumming a guitar that he seemingly pulled out of thin air, playing with Haechan’s soft silver hair, and exchanging dirty jokes with a man named Yuta who is sitting on the other side of Jeno.
Losing feeling in your butt from the hard log you’re sitting on, you stand up to stretch your legs. But before you manage to sit back down again, Haechan has managed to spread himself out across both of your seats, giggling madly. You move to push Haechan out of the way, but Jaehyun’s voice stops you in your tracks.
“Don’t bother. Once he’s laid down, there’s no getting him back up.”
You smack your forehead. “Well then where am I supposed to sit,” you whine, stamping your foot in the sand.
“Whoa,” Jaehyun says, pulling his hands up in surrender. “Apparently you get bratty when you’re high.”
You feel a warmth spread across your cheeks at the insinuation. Jaehyun chuckles at your embarrassment. “You can sit in the sand,” he suggests gesturing at the space between his legs. You raise an eyebrow at him, but you feel too sluggish to protest and crouch down to sit in front of him. The moment your ass hits the sand, Jaehyun turns to make an announcement to the rest of the group.
“We’re gonna try something different now.”
He reaches up behind his ear and retrieves a fresh joint from where he had tucked it. With a flick of his thumb, a lighter sparks to life, igniting the end of the joint before he brings it to his lips and sucks in hard. You’re watching all of this happen when, suddenly, you feel Jaehyun’s hand wraps around your chin to tilt your head back, cold rings digging into your skin.
You find yourself staring upside down into Jaehyun’s face, his mouth inches away from yours, Spider-Man kiss style.
“Open your mouth,” says Yuta from your left. Your eyes turn to meet his in surprise, but you do as he says. Jaehyun brings his lips down to meet yours. The second your mouths collide, you feel him blow the warm smoke into your mouth, although you try to ignore the sensation of his tongue running across your upper lip.
You hold the smoke in your mouth for a few seconds. Or rather, you’re forced to hold the smoke in as Jaehyun keeps your face aligned with his. He finally pulls away, allowing you to exhale, although this time you managed to do it without coughing. Ordinarily, you would have been blushing horrendously with the closeness you just experienced, but you actually find yourself leaning backwards into Jaehyun, your head resting against his abdomen.
“My turn!” Yuta claims excitedly, gesturing between you and the joint still smoldering in Jaehyun’s hand. Between the shock of bright red hair and his wide eyes, you giggle at Yuta, imagining him as a mad scientist. Yuta frowns at you and snatches the joint from Jaehyun. “I have to do everything around here myself,” he grumbles, taking a long drag and leaning over Haechan to close the distance between the two of you. Yuta is just as bold as Jaehyun, grabbing the back of your head to bring your mouths together, not even trying to hide the fact that he was trying to kiss you as he blew the smoke into your mouth.
You’re so absorbed in the feeling of Yuta cradling the back of your head that you don’t hear Johnny approaching until he speaks up, saying, “Oh, hey, Y/N! I see you’ve met everyone!”
You quickly pull away from Yuta, the man groaning at your sudden disappearance, and turn to face Johnny. You’re not sure why, but you feel embarrassed that Johnny caught you kissing Yuta, despite the fact that you were just doing so in front of eight other people you didn’t even know before a couple hours ago.
“And I see they’ve already corrupted you,” Johnny frowns, eyes trailing from the smoke falling out of your mouth to the hand the Jaehyun had tangled into your hair during your exchange with Yuta. “C’mon you guys, I told you that my new friend was the innocent type,” Johnny groans, shaking his head.
“You told them WHAT?” you squeak, bringing your hands up to your cheeks.
Jaehyun grins lazily down at you. “What? Are you trying to convince us that you give off ‘mature’ and ‘experienced’ vibes?” he asks. You push off of him, huffing angrily.
“You don’t know me,” you say, attempting to stand up, but between your now-finished drink and all of the weed you had consumed, you find your head spinning at the effort to remain on your feet. You’re about to keel over, into the fire no less, when Johnny leaps over the log benches and catches you at the last second before you turn into a crispy hot dog.
He clutches you tightly to his chest, dragging you away from the fire. “I think that’s the second time I’ve saved your life in two days, if we’re keeping score here,” Johnny says. His joking speech doesn’t match the grim line that his mouth has been set in to. But neither you nor any of the men around the fire seem to notice the immediate danger that you were in, all of you bursting with giggles at your inability to remain standing.
“Dammit, Jaehyun!” Johnny whirls around, keeping a hand clamped down firmly onto my arm in case I fall again. “I told you to be nice to her! Not flirt with her and get her high!” he shouts. “Whatever, man,” Jaehyun grins, sending a wink my way. Johnny huffs and turns, dragging me back towards the house.
“Bye, baby Y/N!” Yuta shouts after you. You giggle and turn around, sending a wave back towards the fire. Johnny yanks on your wrist again, sending you tumbling into your back.
“You know, I was having fun back there. You didn’t need to swoop and stop me,” you grumble, stumbling along behind him.
“Yeah, well, once those guys get going they don’t know how to stop themselves,” Johnny mumbles, pulling you in through the back door of the house and back into the kitchen. He opens the fridge and pulls out an empty pitcher. “Dammit, we’re out of water. There’s probably some in the bathroom. I’ll be right back,” Johnny says. He plants his hands on both of your shoulders, forcing you to look him in the eye. “Don’t. Move.”
“Sir, yes, sir,” you giggle, giving him a mock salute. Of course, the second that Johnny turns his back on you, turn to the counter next to you and pour yourself a shot of vodka. Okay, two shots. You shiver as you feel the taste run down the back of your throat, but it gives you the motivation you needed to run into the living room/dance floor area you had noticed when you initially walked into the house.
You spy Karina in the corner dancing with the white haired man from earlier and make your way over to the two of them. “KARINA!” you screech, crashing into her and sending the man tumbling backwards. “HI!” she screams in response. “OH, Y/N, THIS IS TAEYONG,” she turns to the man behind her, as though suddenly remembering her manners. “HI!” you shout brightly in his face before turning back to your friend. “KARINA I GOT HIGH FOR THE FIRST TIME!”
Shock crosses Karina’s face at your sudden boldness. “SEEEEE? I TOLD YOU THAT PREGAME SHOUT WOULD GIVE YOU COURAGE!” she shrieks. You see her eyes go over your shoulder a split second before you feel a warm hand on your elbow. You turn around, getting ready to yell at Johnny to go pester someone else, but you notice it’s not Johnny that’s grabbed you, but Jaehyun.
“OH MY GOD, Y/N! YOU DIDN’T TELL ME THAT THERE ARE TWO HOT LIFEGUARDS THAT ARE INTO YOU!” Karina yells. Even in your inebriated state, you feel yourself blush at the words, knowing that Jaehyun most definitely heard her say that. Jaehyun just shoots her a small smile, his pink eyes now shot through with red. Before you can say good-bye to Karina, Jaehyun pulls you into the center of the living room where the crowd of people is the thickest. You quickly find yourself being shoved into Jaehyun’s chest by the people dancing behind you.
Jaehyun grabs your hand and twirls you around, holding you tight against him as the two of you begin to dance, so in-sync that it’s as though you were one person bouncing to the beat of the music. Before long, you find yourself leaning your head back to rest on Jaehyun’s shoulder, his hot breath fanning your stretched neck. “Can I kiss you?” he mutters in your ear, sending shivers down your spine. “You didn’t bother asking before,” you shoot back, still relaxed against his body.
Jaehyun takes that as a yes, pressing his lips to the sensitive skin below your ear. You feel his teeth begin to nibble on the spot, alternating with his tongue licking at the area to sooth it. You involuntarily let out a soft moan at the sensation, and although it was too loud in the room for anyone else to hear it, you can tell that Jaehyun most certainly did by his fingers digging into your hips, dragging you even closer to him. Before long, you feel Jaehyun hardening against your back while he works on your neck. You reach up to grasp the back of his head, grabbing at the short on the nape of his neck.
“Fuck,” he gasps, suddenly pulling away. “I need another drink.”
You nod your head in agreement. “Can you make me something?”
“Of course, baby Y/N,” he smirks at his own use of the name that Yuta had called out earlier. You just roll your eyes as he pushes through the crowd to make his way back to the kitchen to get refreshments. Without Jaehyun there to support your tired body, you feel like you’re about to collapse, so you, too, push your way through the dancing mass of people and manage to find one of the couches that had been pushed to the side to make room. Flopping down on the couch face first, you can feel yourself drifting off when you hear a loud male voice call out your name.
“What?!!” you groan, pushing yourself up on your elbows. Johnny’s tall figure comes into view, carrying the pitcher of fresh water that he had set off to find for you. “I want to go to sleep,” you frown, flopping back down onto the sofa. “Oh, no you don’t,” Johnny says, placing the pitcher down and grasping underneath your arms to sit you up. “There’s way too many people here. You can sleep at home. Where’s your ride?”
You throw your hand in the direction of the corner where you left Karina and Taeyong, who are now busy shoving their tongues down each other’s throats. “She’s definitely not driving tonight,” Johnny frowns. “I saw her playing a drinking game with Lucas earlier, and I’m pretty sure she won, which says a lot about how much she’s had.”
You begin to teeter again, placing your head against Johnny’s shoulder and closing your eyes. “Come on,” he sighs. “You can sleep in my room. I’ll crash on the couch once everyone leaves.”
He throws an arm around your shoulders, guiding you towards the stairs before you hear Jaehyun shouts behind you, “Y/N, don’t you want your drink?”
You perk up at the prospect of more alcohol, and twist out of Johnny’s grasp to face Jaehyun, a grin on your face. “NO, Jaehyun,” Johnny yells over the music, moving to grab your shoulder again. “She’s going to sleep. She’s completely crossed, thanks to you, and I’m pretty sure she’d puke her guts out if she had one more sip.”
At even the slight mention of vomiting, you feel your stomach begin to roil, but you still grab for Jaehyun’s hand. “Don’t yell at him,” you snap at Johnny. “JaeJae’s been nice to me tonight.”
Jaehyun grins and climbs a few steps towards your spot on the staircase. “JaeJae? You’ve got to be kidding me,” Johnny groans, mostly to himself. He grabs Jaehyun’s hand out of yours and shoves it off, sending the other man stumbling back down the stairs he had just come up. “You’re wasted Jae. Go dance with someone else. I’m not letting you take advantage of our new friend,” Johnny says, turning to continue pulling you up the stairs.
“Oh, like you’re not gonna try and fuck her yourself?” Jaehyun calls back, but he turns away to go downstairs nevertheless. Johnny’s face turns red, although out of anger or embarrassment, you’re not sure. He turns to you and says in an assuredly calm voice, “I would never take advantage of you.”
“Whatever,” you groan, slumping against the wall. “I could care less about the little rivalry you have. Right now, I just want to go to sleep.”
Johnny nods in understanding and leads you down a hallway at the top of the stairs lined with doors. Reaching the last door on the left, he pulls it open to reveal a cramped bedroom with walls covered in posters, although you’re unable to notice any details about the room before you find yourself falling onto the sheets of his unmade bed. “Goodnight, Y/N,” Johnny turns to let you sleep in peace, but you grab his hand before he can go too far. “Stay with me,” you whine. “I don’t like sleeping in an empty bed.”
You can’t quite seem him in the dark, but you can almost feel Johnny roll his eyes. “So what do you normally do at night?” he asks. “I pile my stuffed animals around me,” you mumble, your face pressed into the pillow, too crossed to be embarrassed by what you just admitted.
“And you got mad at me for calling you innocent?” Johnny asks incredulously. “Seems pretty accurate to me.
“Whatever, please just stay with me? Please please please please-”
“God, you’re bratty when you’re high,” Johnny huffs. You feel the bed dip behind you as Johnny lays down next to you.
You feel yourself begin to drift off, but you manage to giggle and say, “Jaehyun said the same thing.”
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a/n: these keep getting longer so, you're welcome I guess? please like if you enjoyed so I know to keep writing ! <3<3<3
summary: After yesterday's accident, you head back to the beach, but you're scared to go in the water. Luckily, Johnny is there.
word count: 3.1 k
"I’m here for you. You’re safe with me."
Ch. 2
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When Karina tries to convince you to go to the beach the following morning, you’re more than a little skeptical. After yesterday’s incident, you aren’t exactly eager to take your chances in the water again, regardless of whether there is a strong current like last time. “Come ooonnnn, Y/N,” Karina whines, tugging on your arm as you sit at the dining table trying to enjoy your morning coffee. “You don’t even have to go in the water with me, I just don't want to go to the beach alone.” She makes a frowny face and puppy eyes at you, causing you to sigh and roll your eyes.
“Plus,” Karina pauses, smirking. “Maybe the hot lifeguard will be there again today. I’m telling you, it wasn’t just my imagination yesterday. I think he was into you,” she giggles.
“Oh, shut up Karina,” you groan. “He was just doing his job. I would hardly call it flirting when he was literally saving me from drowning.”
“So you’re telling me that you weren’t attracted to him? At all?” she raises an eyebrow.
You stare into your coffee.
“Okay, fine I’ll come.”
---
30 minutes and a half gallon of sunscreen later, you and Karina are making your way down the path cutting through the sand dunes. Today, you opted for your favorite green-and-white checked bandeau bikini, and had conveniently left your board at the condo so you wouldn’t have to hear Karina tease you for not wanting to go in the water.
As you crest the top of the top, Karina let out a soft gasp at the view. The beach today was perfect. Only a few umbrellas were scattered here and there, leaving the vast majority of the sand unoccupied and blissfully quiet. There’s a gentle breeze coming off of the water ensuring that sunbathing beach-goers wouldn’t be sticky with sweat, and the ocean itself is a deep blue and the calmest that you had seen it all summer. “Oh, this is perfect!” Karina squeals with delight. “Can you imagine if our day off had been gross and stormy? Now you can actually go in the water without worrying about it pulling you under again!” she nudges an elbow into your side in a teasing manner.
Instead of giving in to her harassment and making it worse, you opt to ignore Karina’s jesting and start to trudge through the sand towards the lifeguard stand where Johnny was set up yesterday. As you get closer, you realize with dismay that instead of a lean dark-haired man, there’s a bronzed woman with wavy blond hair sitting atop the stand. “Maybe our day off was his day off too?” Karina questions as she walks up next to you, hand shielding the sun from her eyes as she glances up.
“Maybe,” you shrug, and turn to lay out your towel in the sand about 50 yards away from the lifeguard. “I’m going to sit a read for a little bit,” you announce to Karina.
“Okay!” she replies brightly. “I’m probably going to go for a swim!”
You simply nod your head and sprawl out on your towel, grabbing your latest beat-up bodice-ripper from your beach bag. You’re not quite sure where your obsession with explicit romantic novels came from. You had always enjoyed fantasy in middle school and then young adult romance in high school, but once you reached college you found that the only thing satisfying your literary appetite was the more spicy novels that you would buy for a few bucks at a grocery store or an airport. Maybe it was because you had never had sex before. Or the fact that you had never been in a relationship. Or even on a date. At 20 years old, you’re pretty sure that you’re the only almost-college-junior who had never had any sort of romance in her life, but as long as you had your books, you were okay with that. Whenever you felt lonely, you’d buy a new novel and just imagine yourself as the main character, it was almost as good actually being with someone. Almost.
You shake the cloud of thoughts away from your mind, realizing that you are in your head more than paying attention to the book you were trying to read. But when you try to focus again, you just find yourself dozing off once more, so you decide to call it a day and settle on nap time. Flipping over onto your stomach to get more comfortable, you toss the paperback to the side, close your eyes, and gently drift off.
---
You're abruptly brought out of your deep nap by the sound of a male voice a couple of feet away.
“‘Are you sure you’re ready for this?’ Dmitri questioned Natasha, although the lustful gleam in his eyes said that she needed to be ready for him regardless.’” says the deep voice.
You brush the sand out of your eyes and squint up in confusion, the sun blocking your view of who was speaking.
“‘Dmitri’s hand trailed gently down Natasha’s stomach, delighting in the way that she shivered in pleasure. His manhood was already pressed against her wet mound, ready to take her the moment she said the word.’”
You sit bolt upright. Your book. The person was reading your book out loud. You know, the one with the “spicy” scenes, that definitely isn’t meant to be read aloud to you by some mysterious person on the beach?
“What the hell?!” you shriek, leaping up and yanking the novel out of the man’s hands. He giggles mischievously. “You didn’t really strike me as the person to read those kinds of books, Y/N.”
You slowly peer up, meeting the dark chocolate eyes of a face you, unfortunately, recognized. “Hi Johnny,” you manage to squeak out, simultaneously shoving the book into the depths of your bag and silently promising yourself to never read one of those books in public again.
The lifeguard grins at you and slicks a hand back in his hair, giving you the impression of an Asian Zac Efron from Bay Watch. “You know, with all of the screaming and flailing you did in the water yesterday, I didn’t think you seemed like a mature enough person to be reading a sex book,” he laughs.
“It’s not a sex book,” you huff. “It’s a periodical romance novel that happens to have some sex scenes in it. And besides, you don’t even know me.”
“No, I suppose I don’t,” he mutters. The two of you stand there in awkward silence for a moment before you manage to ask, “Shouldn’t you be, uh, you know. Saving lives?”
“Oh, my shift doesn’t start for a little bit. I just decided to come a little early for a swim,” Johnny responds. Silence falls again. What the hell does he want you to say to that? Why are so fucking useless at talking to hot guys?
“So....” he begins again. “How’s your knee doing?”
“Oh,” you shift, bending down to poke at the bandage. “I think it’s doing okay? At least it doesn’t hurt anymore, but I haven’t taken off the bandage since yesterday.”
“You should take it off and go in the ocean. Salt water is great for cleaning out wounds.”
“Oh, um. I’m not sure about that. I guess I got pretty shaken up by yesterday and I’m not quite sure if....” you trail off, unsure if you really wanted to admit to him that you were scared to go in the ocean again. Johnny just chuckles at your hesitation and says, “Ah, don’t worry about it. I’ll be in the water with you, nothing will happen! Or did you forget I’m a lifeguard?” He points at the white cross on his red shorts that are leaving little to the imagination.
You clear your throat and sigh. “Sure, why not?”
Before you can bend over to peel the bandage off your leg, Johnny kneels in the sand in front of you and gently takes it off for you. You hiss at the stinging sensation of the air and sea spray hitting your suddenly exposed cut. Johnny suddenly grabs your thigh and twists your leg so that he could view your injury better, an innocent movement that leaves you red in the face and short of breath.
“Yeah, it seems to be doing fine. It might sting a little to get into the water, but only for a few seconds,” he explains, releasing your leg and glancing up at you from his spot on the ground. His close proximity makes you suddenly thankful that you had decided to shave your legs, among other things, the day before. “Y/N?” he questions, noticing the tinge on your cheeks and the vacant expression on your face.
“Huh?” you snap back to reality. “RIGHT! Let’s go in!” you exclaim a little too loudly, dashing towards the water and eager to leave that embarrassing moment behind. You see Karina floating a hundred yards down, having been pulled over by the current, and give her a wave.
As the frigid water reaches your knees, you feel it lap up onto your cut. Johnny is right, the seawater stings momentarily, but it quickly feels cleansing against the wound. “You okay?” you hear Johnny ask as he splashes up next to you. You quickly nod and force yourself to go farther out, although once it reaches your waist and the waves grow taller, you begin to hesitate and doubt the swimming skills that you were so confident in yesterday.
“C’mon,” Johnny laughs, wading farther out, ducking his head under the water and reappearing even further into the ocean than you were planning on going today. Seeing the slight fear in your eyes, Johnny pauses and stands up once again. “See? It’s not that deep!”
The water only came up to Johnny’s chest, although you assumed that with the height difference it would probably be even deeper for you. “I-I’m not too sure. I think I’m gonna back in,” you stutter out, swallowing nervously as your feet begin to move you backwards towards the safety of the shore. Johnny frowns. “Come on, Y/N. You can’t be scared of the ocean for the rest of your life. What are you going to do, never go swimming again?”
You shrug, bringing your hands up to your arms and hugging yourself.
Sensing your pervading hesitance, Johnny holds out a hand towards you, his long fingers wiggling, motioning you to come join him. “I’m here for you. You’re safe with me,” he says gently. Almost against your own will, you feel your body drag itself deeper, towards Johnny. By the time you reach his waiting hand and grasp it with your own, the water is up to your neck. But the sensation of Johnny’s warm hand wrapped around your own is a momentary distraction from the fact that you have to bounce on your toes to keep your head above the waves. “See?” Johnny says. “It’s not that bad.”
He gives you a warm smile that you attempt to return with your own before you feel something hard shift in the sand beneath your feet. You shriek, releasing Johnny’s hand and bringing your legs up to push yourself into a doggy paddle. “I-I stepped on something!” you gasp, explaining yourself to the incredulous look on Johnny’s face. “I’m not a fan of not being able to see what’s beneath me!”
He just laughs and turns around so that he’s facing away from you. “Hop on,” he says, gesturing at his back. “I-are you sure?” you ask, questioning whether it would be too weird to ride the back of a near stranger in the water. “I mean, if you want to tread water for the rest of the time we’re out here, be my guest,” he twists around, raising an eyebrow. You take a deep breath, a grasp onto his shoulders, nearly slipping off because of the sunscreen on his skin. “Don’t be shy,” he chuckles, reaching behind himself to grasp the underside of your knees and wrap your legs around him. For the second time that day, you find yourself red-faced with embarrassment. You had never, never been this physically close with a guy before. Unless you count that night at a frat party freshman year where you danced and made out with a random guy you never saw again. And you tend to not count that instance in your mind, considering you were about seven drinks into the evening.
But now you had somehow found yourself clinging to the back of some lifeguard, your stomach flush with his muscled back. You had a brief flash of second-hand deja vu as you recall that awkward scene in Twilight where Bella is riding Edwards back as he jumps through a forest.
“Comfy?” Johnny calls out, pulling you from your thoughts. He jumps a little, shifting you higher onto his back so that you’re forced to sling your arms around your neck so that you don’t lose balance and fall off. “Surprisingly, yes,” you respond, and you find yourself giggling. The two of you stay in comfortable silence for a couple of minutes, bobbing up and down with the waves, just relaxing and enjoying the sunshine. Off in the distance, you see the bump of a larger wave beginning to form, heading in your direction.
“Johnny,” you start, patting his shoulder and pointing in the direction of the wave rolling towards you. He nods in response, indicating that he sees it.“Let me go, I want to go back in before we get walloped by that,” you say, beginning to unlatch yourself from his back. You feel his grip on your legs tightening, refusing to let you go.
“No, you’ll be fine. We’ll dive under it together,” he says, pushing the two of you even farther out.
“No, Johnny. I’m being serious. I don’t feel comfortable,” you whine, trying to push off of him again but he still holds on to you.
“Remember what I said? You can’t be scared of the ocean forever.”
The wave rolls closer. If you don’t start swimming now, it’ll definitely crash on you. You struggle against his grip a little harder.
“Don’t you trust me?” Johnny asks, chuckling, clearly not understanding just how scared you are. The wave is now only a few seconds away.
“NO! NO I DON’T! I DON’T EVEN KNOW YOU!” you shout in distress. As the wave crests over you, you find yourself clinging to Johnny even tighter rather than pushing him away, knowing that struggling now would only make it worse for the both of you.
At the last second, you take a deep breath and tuck your face into the space between Johnny’s neck and shoulder as he stretches his arms out in front of him to dive the both of you into the middle of the wave. Five seconds later, the two of you reemerge from the water, Johnny shaking water out of his hair and laughing, and you sputtering for breath and splashing back towards the shore. “See? I told you that you’d be fine...” Johnny’s bright smile and tone trail off as he catches the glimpse of anger on your face.
“I told you I didn’t feel safe,” you seethe through your teeth. “The next time someone tells you to let them go, let them go.”
With those words, you spin away from him in a huff and quickly swim your way back to shore. By the time you can stand again and begin to pull yourself out of the water, your head is truly spinning with anger. Who the hell is he to force you to do something like that?! You said you weren’t ready and he didn’t listen to you! Worst of all, he expected you to trust him! What, because he let you ride his back and took care of your cut for you?
You’re simmering so deeply in his anger that you don’t notice that you’re about to collide with someone until you’ve bounced off their chest and both of you have fallen, asses in the sand. You hiss sharply as sand sticks to the raw skin on your knee. “I’m so sorry, are you okay?” asks the person you knocked over. It’s another lifeguard, a man perhaps a couple inches shorter than Johnny with light brown hair and sparkling brown eyes.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m the one who should be sorry, I wasn’t paying attention,” you grumble, turning your attention back towards your stinging knee while the lifeguard stands up again.
“Y/N!” you hear someone shout from the water behind you. Splashing sounds follow as they get out of the ocean and Johnny rounds the corner into your vision. “What happened?” he asks, eyeing the sand in your wound.
“Do you know each other?” the other lifeguard raises his eyebrows, reaching a hand down to help me out of the sand. “Yeah,” Johnny responds. “I saved her life yesterday.”
“And nearly drowned me again today,” you scoff, scooping up some ocean water to clean out the cut.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I thought you were joking around. You know, sort of like a damsel in distress situation?”
“What part of ‘I’m being serious’ made you think that I was joking around?” you glare up at Johnny. The guard next to him g;ances between the two of you in confusion.
“Sorry, where are my manners?” Johnny sighs, slapping his forehead. “Jaehyun, this is Y/N. Y/N, Jaehyun. He’s one of my co-workers.”
“And your best friend,” Jaehyun protests, looking shocked that Johnny would forget to mention that.
“You have shit taste in friends,” you grumble, moving to walk away from the pair.
“Wait, Y/N,” Johnny exclaims, and you feel his hand wrap around your forearm. “I’m truly sorry. I would never want to hurt you. It’s literally in my job description. Let me make it up to you.”
You turn around in curiosity. “I’m listening.”
“We’re throwing a party tonight,” Johnny explains, gesturing between himself and Jaehyun. “You should come. You know, loosen up a bit.”
“For your information, I’m an incredibly relaxed person. I don’t need to ‘loosen up’,” you respond angrily, your hands clenched into fists at your side. Even Jaehyun raises his eyebrows at your response. You sigh. “Okay, fine. I can’t say that I wouldn’t enjoy going to a party. Can my friend come?” you ask, pointing off to Karina’s figure in the distant water.
Johnny immediately brightens up. “Yeah! Of course!” he responds enthusiastically. After giving you the information for the time and location of the party, you give the two men a small smile. “Alright, I’ll see you boys there.”
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a/n: Please like if you enjoyed it so I know whether to keep writing!
summary: You have a boring job at the beach for the summer, but one day your life is spiced up after meeting a handsome lifeguard named Johnny and all of his friends.
You never intended for the summer between your sophomore and junior years of college to be packed with hard work and stress. In fact, you thought that having a part-time job in a beach town would be quite the opposite. That it would be full of seasonal flings, sunburns, and plenty of time relaxing on the beach enjoying your sappy romance novels. Instead, your absolute bitch of a boss, Cindy, had you working 35 hours a week wiping tables and taking orders, sometimes even being a substitute bartender if it was a busy night. Luckily for you, your best friend Karina also decided to take the plunge into the world of summer waitressing with you, and the two of you had almost every shift together. But still, you would much rather be stretched out underneath the sun right now than punching your 100th order of the morning into the restaurant’s computer system. You sigh aloud at the thought of the salt water lapping at the shore, seagulls flapping around while the local surf rock station plays quietly on the radio in the sand next to you.
“Y/N!!” an obnoxious voice shouts, shaking you out of your seashore reverie. Your eyes refocus just in time to see Cindy storming towards you in anger, her eyes scrunched with a fury that only ever comes out when you’ve messed up. “You’ve been standing there for 2 minutes doing nothing,” she hisses through her teeth. “Pull yourself together. You only have a half hour left on your shift, and then you’re free to be as useless as you want.”
“Sorry,” you mumble under your breath, holding back a sarcastic retort to the last part of Cindy’s criticism. You punch the order into the system and sweep yourself back into the dining room to do rounds and check on the tables that you’ve already served food to.
---
True to her word, Cindy released you from hell 30 minutes later. As quickly as possible, you strip off your apron and change into one of your favorite blue bikinis in the employee bathroom, wanting to hit the beach as soon as possible. You find Karina waiting outside the restaurant in her white Jeep Wrangler, roof and doors removed for the warm summer weather. On the rare days when the two of you don’t share a shift, this is always your routine. Karina picks you up at the end of your 2 o’clock shift and drives the two of you to the beach where you spend the next four hours basking in the sun and body-boarding in the water.
Today is no different, and the two of you soon find yourselves spreading out your towels and slathering yourselves in sunscreen, preparing for an afternoon of the reason you truly came to the small beach town this summer: relaxing. After an hour or so of sunbathing and reading some rather spicy parts of your latest romance novel, you and Karina decide it’s time for a dip in the ocean. “Hey, Y/N, go check what the water temperature is so we can mentally prepare ourselves before turning into popsicles in the ocean,” Karina giggles, gesturing towards the nearest lifeguard stand. You nod in agreement and make your way over to the back of the tall white chair where information such as water temperature and high tide is usually posted. As you near the stand however, you notice that instead of temperatures and warnings, someone had written the words ‘Ask me!’ over the chalkboard.
You glance up at the lifeguard to try and catch their eye, but an umbrella has been propped sideways to block a northward wind, preventing you from being able to see the person sitting there. “Excuse me!” you shout, hand shielding your eyes from the sun as you make your way around to the front of the stand. “Is everything okay?” a gentle voice responds. The lifeguard, a rather lanky, handsome man with black hair brushing the top of his ears, leans over. “Everything’s fine,” you respond with a timid smile. “I was just wondering what the water temperature is?”
The man’s form visibly relaxes as he realizes that there was no emergency and you just wanted some information. “Oh! Yeah, the temperature is 67°,” the lifeguard responds.
“Okay, thank you!” you shout, turning away to walk back to where Karina was waiting.
“Wait! Are you planning on boarding at all?” he asks, forcing you to turn around. He glances over at Karina and the boogie boards lying on the sand next to her while she watches us.
“Um, yeah. Is that okay?” you respond, placing your hands on your hips.
“Of course, of course! You should just know that there’s some serious undertow and a pretty strong rip current in this area today. If you get pulled out just swim parallel to the beach to get back in or signal if you need help,” he smiles helpfully.
“Oh. Thanks, but I think I’ll be okay,” you nod. “I’ve been coming to this beach and boarding since I was a little kid.”
The lifeguard just shrugs and sits down, but you can feel his eyes on you and Karina as the two of you grab your boards and dive into the frigid waves. Unfortunately for you, the lifeguard was quite right about the strong currents, and you spent half of your time in the water struggling to not be dragged down the entire length of the beach. After about a half hour of unsuccessfully attempting to catch some waves, Karina sighs and starts to swim in. “Maybe tomorrow will be better conditions. Neither of us are working so we can be out here all day if you want,” she exclaims, always the optimist. “Ok,” you reply. “I’m going to stay out here a little longer and then head in. Do you mind taking my board?”
You un-velcro the strap from your wrist and push the board towards Karina for her to drag it onto the sand. As soon as you let go of the board, you begin to realize just how much you were relying on it to keep you afloat in the strong current, especially considering you aren’t in an area where you can touch the bottom. After just a couple of minutes of treading water, you decide to follow Karina’s idea and begin to swim towards the shore. Karina sees you making her way towards her, but she waves her hands and shouts, pointing to the ocean behind you. A quick glance tells you that there’s a massive wave just seconds away from crashing on your head. “Shit,” you curse, turning around and bracing yourself to be pommeled. Had you been farther out, you might have been given the chance to dive under the wave as it crested, but you were in the exact area that, when the wave finally arrived, the only thing you could do was take a deep breath and hope for the best.
As the wave crashes around you and catches you in it’s white waters, you tuck your knees into your chest, feeling yourself bounce around, your shins catching the sharp shells and rocks being thrown around you. After what feels like forever, you finally resurface, gasping for breath and a little red-faced from the embarrassment of wiping out, but still alive. And yet, something felt weird. As you catalogue your surroundings, you notice that you are farther from the shore than you were when you went under. Much farther. You try to plant your feet on the sand beneath you, but instead begin to sink below the surface. Having been tired out from fighting the waves for the past hour, you begin to panic, forgetting everything that the lifeguard had just told you about swimming out of rip currents.
In your own panicking and splashing around, you fail to notice someone swimming towards you. Someone wearing red swimming trunks with a bright orange buoy tied around their waist. When the lifeguard finally reaches you, he grabs your wrist to place your hand on the float, causing you to scream out in surprise, still not realizing that someone was there to save you.
“Shhh, shhhh calm down it’s okay,” the lifeguard says, reaching for your hand again. “I’m here to help, you’re gonna be okay.”
You try your hardest to hold in your tears as you grip onto the lifeguard’s buoy, but you feel like you can barely breath from the panic that you just experienced. You squeeze the orange plastic so tightly that your knuckles turn white, something that the lifeguard is quick to notice. “You’re going to be okay,” he once again reassures you. “What’s your name?” he asks in a soothing voice.
After a few deep gasps, you’re able to get out, “Y/N.”
The man smiles. “Hi, Y/N. I’m Johnny. I’m going to get you back to solid ground, okay? But I’m going to need you to stay calm for me, okay? Or else it’s going to be a lot harder for me.”
Unable to respond, you just rapidly shake your head, eager to have your feet touching the earth again. Johnny places one of his hands on the other side of the buoy, and uses his right arm to begin towing you back towards the shore. In no time, the water grows lighter as you and Johnny cut through the water, eventually reaching an area where you can once again stand. “Are you okay?” he asks, turning towards you with a worried sound to his voice. You once again nod, embarrassed to meet his eyes and not trusting your voice to be stable if you spoke.
Johnny gives you a once over, his eyes lingering on your knee. You follow his gaze and notice that during the wave, a shell must have gashed your leg open, and a steady flow of blood is now streaming through the cut on your knee. “Why don’t you come up to my stand and let me check that out?” Johnny asks, although it comes out as more of a command. “O-Okay,” you whisper. He places a steadying hand on your back and guides you up the sand to where Karina is waiting for you. “Oh. My. God,” Karina shrieks, seeing the injury on your leg. “She’ll be fine,” Johnny comments to her. “I just want to clean and bandage the cut to make sure that it doesn’t get infected.”
He guides you to sit down on a foldable chair at the base of the lifeguard stand while he climbs up to get a medical kit. “This might sting a bit,” Johnny apologizes in advance, opening the bag to pull out an alcohol wipe. “It’s okay, I can handle it,” you grimace.
“Just like you said you can handle the ocean?” Johnny asks, looking up with a small grin. “Sorry, too soon.”
“For your information,” you begin. “I would ordinarily be able to deal with that wave, no problem. I just wasn’t ready.”
“Mm-hm. I’m sure,” Johnny nods sarcastically.
“Hey,” you frown. “You don’t know me well enough to be making fun of me- HOLY SHIT THAT HURTS!”
You glance down to see Johnny dabbing at the wound on your leg with the cleansing cloth. “Sorry,” he grimaces. “I did try to warn you.”
Johnny goes to wipe at the cut again, another wave of pain rolling over you. You involuntarily reach out to squeeze the closest thing, which happens to be Johnny’s bare back as he’s bent over your knee. “Jesus, woman,” Johnny swears, pulling away as your nails dig into his skin in pain. Your hands shoot up to cover your mouth. “I’m so sorry!” you squeak. He sucks air in quickly through his teeth as he glances over his shoulder to look at the scratches you left on him. “I normally have to buy someone a few drinks before I get them to mark me like that,” he chuckles, turning his attention back to your leg, which he begins to cover with a bandage.
Your cheeks color a bright red at the suggestive comment, although luckily Johnny doesn’t glance up at that moment to see your embarrassment.
“There. All done,” Johnny says, gently patting your knee and standing up. “The next time I tell you to watch out for the rip, listen to me,” he orders, raising an eyebrow at me. “Yessir,” you say seriously, giving him a sarcastic little salute. Johnny’s grins. “I’ll see you around, Y/N.”
“See you around, Johnny,” you respond, slowly limping your way back to Karina.
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a/n: Please like if you enjoyed it so I know whether to keep writing!
