꩜ synopsis ───── keeping a relationship secret as a promise is usually easy but hard especially when your man looks extremely good with blonde hair.
masterlist 𖥨᩠ׄ݁ zhao yufan x f!reader — fwb!james, blonde james, down bad reader, drinking involved, mild swearing, tension, teasing, slight arguing, some humorous moments, might be seen as suggestive, kissing / making out, if typos are here – ignore them
( people in my taglist, although it is not highly suggestive, please don't read if uncomfortable though nothing here is taken out of boundaries or anything more than kissing and is written through mood & feeling. thank you cuties ! )
you like to say yours and james' patience runs strong during friend group events, knowing that you'll eventually see each other right after but you didn't know that seeing him enter with a whole new look will lead to your patience loosening.
the moment him and his friends entered with their usual grand enterance, you remained still-faced until you met his stare, and you swore the calm persona you carried through broke apart.
you almost talked your thoughts out loud, your words came to a halt mid conversation with your friend, that when you tried to regain consciousness, your words began to stutter.
"having a hard time?" your friend joked, laughing at your stutter. you forced out a laugh with a shake of your head, "i think it's the alcohol." you muttered, scratching at your neck.
"right." she replied with a nod, suspicion running through.
"i'm so fucked." you groaned, leaning your head back against the refrigerator. your whole body heaved a deep sigh, the grip on your cup becoming loose.
the thought of james and all of a sudden ran through your head, the composure that you usually have became undone and he had only walked through the door.
this wasn't the person who you thought you were.
"are you okay?"
you snapped back into your thoughts, eyes flashing wide open as you felt a hand grip onto your shoulder, "you almost fell there, let's take a break on drinking, yeah?" your friend rushed hurriedly, grabbing the cup from your hand and placing it back onto the counter.
"no i'm fine i just – i drank too fast, ill go back to the couch." you smiled innocently, like you weren't just stress sweating a minute ago. "okay but if this happens again, we're dipping out of here."
"i'm fine." you reached out of her grip, fixing your hair as you made your way towards the couch.
you stepped in slowly, trying to avoid contact with everyone — specifically james. you felt your heart pounding, as you walked to one of the empty spots on the couches and by mind you sat next to james without intent, but just because it's a habit.
you sighed, running your hands down your bare thighs from nerves, feeling the warmth of james right beside you.
james noticed the small movement, raising an eyebrow at your impulsive breathing and your hands slowly rubbing up and down your legs like you tried to hide your nerves with comfort.
"you okay?" he leaned down, whispering against your ear, eyeing the people beside him.
"yeah im okay," you replied quietly. you looked over towards him, scanning his face. james met your gaze, staring deeply into you, "then why are you nervous?" he teased, a smile coming across his face.
your eyebrows furrowed, "i'm not nervous."
james saw the flutter in your eyes, the breaking in your voice, your voice getting quieter as the sentence progressed. he already knew the reasoning behind all your actions.
he hummed, "i believe you." he leaned back on the couch, shamelessly letting an arm rest behind you.
you shut your eyes, your arms coming to a cross, your heart only beating faster and faster. you already knew this night wasn't going to last the way you anticipated.
you sat beside james the whole time, easing off with conversations between you and your own friends, zoning out into spaces, anything to try to get james off of your mind.
james did the same thing — like usual; made conversations with his own friends, but his arm still rested behind you like it was a normal friendship action to do. good thing nobody questioned about it.
you really thought your composure regained itself with the distractions, with the ignorance of his arm behind you — though his hand got closer to closer to your shoulder as time went on and you never noticed until you felt the warmth of his hand on your shoulder, his fingers grabbing around the blade of it.
nobody noticed it – most likely too immersed in the different topics that were thrown around the room, but you sure did. your breath hitched mid conversation with your friend, the same stuttering happening all over again.
james smirked to himself, feeling the glow of your skin get hotter by his gesture, but he continued on with his conversations, despite the tension only getting deeper internally.
you tried laughing it off, giggling at whatever your friend had just said, regardless if it was humorous or not, you just needed to distract yourself harder.
but his hand dragged down the sole of your shoulder, reaching down to your elbow, then raising it back up to your blade, resting it there once again.
you bit your lip, letting out a deep breath, as you removed your gaze from your friend.
her voice came to a stop, as you snapped your head towards her, nervous that she may have caught on. "are you okay?" she titled her head.
"yeah?" you replied, confused.
"oh you just looked away from me randomly, i thought something happened again." her lips slanted, worry written all over her face.
you looked at her dumbfounded, not sure if she was being sarcastic or if she was completely oblivious to the hand that was currently rubbing up and down on your arm.
"are you drunk?" you questioned.
"no?" she furrowed her eyebrows, "why would you think that?"
you looked at her up and down, "just - just continue. i'm listening."
"i'll just talk to you later." she rolled your eyes, "or i'll talk to someone else that won't look away from me mid conversation." she huffed out a breath, crossing her arms in the meantime.
you looked over to james, watching the way he scrolled on his phone. "what the fuck are you doing?" you leaned in closer, yelling out quietly.
he met your gaze, "i'm on my phone." he replied blankly, "what are you accusing me of?"
"look at where your hand is and tell me what i'm accusing you of?"
"i'm touching my girl?"
you closed your eyes, "look where we are. if someone sees this you're fucked."
"i don't think they know regardless." he looked around the room, "they're all drunk. also, your friend didn't even catch it. i could make out with you right now and nobody would know."
you rolled your eyes, smiling hard, blush seeping through your cheeks, "don't talk to me like that, you're already doing this."
he chuckled, "i can talk to you however i want cause i know you wouldn't mind."
your tongue met the inside of your cheek, scanning his face once again. you felt your breath becoming rapid, your stare getting lost into his face, words coming blank to your mind.
"i'm going back to the kitchen." your voice came out soft, shaking your head away from any thoughts getting further the more you looked at him.
he smiled, "i'll be waiting for you"
"please don't be." you joked, rushingly getting up from your seat, making your way over the ruckus on the floor.
james watched you as you walked away, both of his arms coming to the top of the couch.
you let a hand run down your forearm, letting out another deep breath that was held in for a long time. you swore that you were going to be out of oxygen as the night approached, he was making you feral by this point.
and he knew.
you arrive to the kitchen, immediately resting your hands on the counter as the breeze from the semi opened window right above the sink settled in, causing you to squint your eyes at the air.
you ran a hand through your hair, letting it sit for a bit before running it through completely, your mind completely bombarded.
his looks remained unchanged in your mind, he has always looked good but never this good to the point you felt feelings you never felt before.
you were always patient, always composed to everyone, nobody knew about your relationships simply because you knew how to handle one privately — but now, you fell like a whole different person.
he knew what he was doing, he knew how you felt and he just wanted to see how far you could go.
you heard shuffling come from behind you, soft footsteps approaching behind you. you looked up at the reflection of the window and your lips immediately came to a smirk, dipping your head back down to stare down at the marble.
he stared at the back of your head the whole time, now resting his back against the counter beside you as he now stared at your side profile.
he dipped his hands in the pockets of his sweats, "you're acting different than usual." he finally broke the silence, lowly.
"you know what you're doing james," you huffed out a breath, raising your head up to look over at him, "i know what you're doing." you added on.
"what am i doing?" he raised an eyebrow. "don't act stupid cause you never do this in front of people." you replied back in an argumentative tone.
"don't get messy with me." he replied sternly, watching your change in demeanor, "i don't like when you start arguing with me."
you remove your hands off the counter, moving closer to him before coming to a stop right in front of him.
his hands stayed flat against the counter, looking at you up and down, watching you carefully. his mind fought the urge to bring his hands towards you, but he wanted to see where you'd take this.
you brought your hands onto his lower stomach, gliding it up until it landed onto his collarbone, meeting his gaze.
he watched you deeply, "don't start this."
you smiled, "you started this." you titled your head, bringing obvious tease onto the scene.
his heart fluttered, letting out a breathy chuckle. he finally brought his hands onto your waist, bringing you in closer until both of your chests glued together, "but i don't like when you do it."
you pouted sarcastically, your hands sliding up to his cheeks, bringing his face closer.
he immediately looked down to your lips, then back to your eyes. he chuckled once again, with a shake of his head, rising his head up a bit, "you're fucking crazy."
"how am i crazy?" you smiled. he licked his lips, heaving a breath, "you're doing this to me knowing that there's people out there."
you hummed, "now you know how i feel." you nodded slowly, "but you're only saying that because you know i won."
"won wh –"
you brought his face back down, planting a quick, lingering kiss onto his lips. you pulled back smiling, and he chased to meet your lips again, but your head retracted back before he could.
"don't get ahead of yourself, maybe someone's watching." you laughed, sliding his hands off of you. you turned on your heels, now leaving him to sulk in the kitchen.
he tried to reach out for your arm, but your legs were faster than him. he placed both of his hands back onto the counter, throwing his head back with a small smile.
you made your way back to the living room , scanning the scene; everyone got worse, multiple cups stacked onto the table, some of them sleeping on the floor — it was a mess.
you stopped in your tracks when you felt a sudden spark reappear in your stomach as your eyes gazed over the spot you and james sat in prior, now empty, yearning for your name.
your mind replayed the moment that happened seconds ago, the shift in tension, the closeness, his stare, his presence — the confidence you had before, is now gone.
you moved forward into the room, grabbing your car keys off of the coffee table.
"where are you going?" one of the boys asked, sitting up straight like you leaving was the end of the world. "home?" you squinted your eyes.
they groaned, "it's only like ten pm though."
"yeah and i'm going home." you rolled your eyes, brushing your top, getting ready to head to the enterance.
"no you're not." you heard a voice call out, the room falling silent. you turned around, only to meet james standing right by the couch.
oh's, flooded around the room, some of them trying to hold in their laughter at the sudden remark from james after being quiet for so long.
"he's serious too." one of his friends added intently, too engaged in the sudden change of tension.
you rolled your eyes once more, "i'm going home."
"why?" james questioned.
your mind froze, searching for an excuse, "i'm tired and i have a cat to feed." you turned back around, ready to head out.
"no don't go home!" one of your friends picked herself up from the couch, running straight to your arms, indulging you into a tight hug, "you can't go.." she mumbled into the crook of your neck, the cup in her hand only getting deeper and deeper into your stomach at that point.
"you're so fucking drunk." you patted her back, laughing while trying to pull back but she only emerged forward after every movement, pain now striking in, "your cup..." you said softly, panic scattering your body.
everyone rised up from the couch as they saw your expression shift to panic, trying to remove her from the scene.
"i told you to hold her down, she's so drunk." one of the other girls yelled out to the guy that sat beside her. "she left me!" he yelled back.
you opened your eyes, catching james in the corner of your eye, standing there almost like he was admiring the scene. "you going to help or what dude?" you yelled out loud.
"your girl is calling for you bro." one of his friends teased, patting his shoulder as he dragged the girl back onto the couch.
you stare wide eyed between the two of them, your eyebrows furrowing as your chest heaved up and down, "what the fuck is wrong with you." you yelled out, grabbing your stomach in the process.
"this is why im leaving, all of you guys are a mess." you turned on your heels but instead of rushing to the enternace you settled yourself into the bathroom that was down the hall.
you weren't even in pain anymore, it was more fury than anything. you knew the relationship was secretive but you had just gotten hurt and he had stood there in awe the whole time.
it got to you when you realized his own friends cared more about you than him and it genuinely upsetted you and that almost made him become fully erased from your mind – just like what happened in the kitchen scene.
you planted your car keys onto the counter, flatting the top of your hair down, fixing the flyaways as it got progressively messier when they tried removing your friend.
"what the hell bro?" you whispered to yourself, trying to fix anything that had gotten ruin physically.
the door suddenly opened, leading your movements to a halt.
"listen –" the sudden entry started.
you groaned deeply, "there's no listen. get out." you faced toward the door, peaking through the creek of the opened door, "please leave me alone." you whined when you realized who it was.
he didn't listen, instead he opened the door further, making you push away from it, leaving no room to push him away any farther.
"i know you're mad at me." he whispered, closing the door behind him. "of course i'm mad at you, you didn't even protect me."
"i didn't know what to do. and you know how she is, she's crazy." his tone remained calm, the lack of anger laced in his voice,
"still, it was a whole glass cup and you stood there." you sighed in disbelief.
"realistically, everyone was already up to help you –"
"but i wanted you to help me." you cut him off, slightly harsh.
he sighed, fingers running through his hair.
just by that moment, you felt the anger flush away within a second, your eyes beaming into him, erasing your thoughts completely.
you sighed back — not from disbelief of the situation this time, but more so from the same feeling you had felt earlier when he entered.
the new look, the way his whole persona changed just by a small detail. it almost made you not want to argue anymore – the feeling fuming its way back into you once again,
"i don't like how you're acting today." you crossed your arms, "you never, ever do this during a group hangout. it's like you dyed your hair and knew how i was going to act."
"or maybe you put a spell on me." you added on.
he laughed, stepping closer to you, "that's exactly it. i just know you so well."
"is this really the day you want us to expose – our whatever we have – to everyone in this house right now?"
"well that depends on how obvious you make it."
you rolled your eyes, arms coming down to your side in defeat, "you made it more obvious than me."
"i just wanted to show you some love." he mumbled, stepping even more closer, watching you with a look that made your heart beat fast.
"stop," your lips forming into a slight pout that eventually turned into a smile.
he chuckled, not even bothering with a reply as he brought a hand to your waist and the other one on your chin, bringing your face closer to his.
you looked in between his lips and his stare, sweat bawling up on the palm of your hands, your nervous system getting intense, the heat now running through your body.
your brought your hands up to the back of his neck, unintentionally bringing his face even closer to your own, lips only inches away from being touched.
"i knew you weren't going to stay angry at me." he mumbled, his breath fanning your lips. "shut up." you whispered, as you were the one who finally closed the distance.
his lips immediately took charge, the hand that was on your chin fell down to the other side of your waist, pulling you in even closer.
it was the usual soft kiss he always gave you, the passionate one that went on for hours and never got too intense — the one that screamed the patience you had for each other, never rushing the moment.
he titled his head, bring you in deeper into the kiss. your hands glided to his chest, soft breathing filling up the room.
the sound of chatter, the sound of bottles clinking, the sound of the hum from the tv fell into the back of your mind as it remained on james, feeding into the moment.
it seemed like the same way for him as he slowly controlled the kiss more intensely; his hand moving to the sole of your back, rubbing up and down, as the other reached the back of your thigh.
you caught onto the signal as your legs wrapped around his waist. he guided you onto the counter in a swift motion, both of his hands landing back onto your waist as you sat down on the edge of the marble.
your arms wrapped around his neck, shoving him deeper into the kiss to the point where he was hovering over you on top of the counter, the back of your head almost meeting the backsplash on the wall.
he broke away from the kiss, his breath still heavy on you, "you trying to make me sit up here with you or something?" he chuckled with humor, but the heat on his face, the slight purse of his lips didn't make you find the comment funny, only wanting more.
"not my intention." you replied blankly, eyes scanning back down to his lips, as you brought him back with no hurry.
"damn." he mumbled to himself against your lips, your lips now becoming more intense — the mood now feeling more like love than anything else.
"yo james what the fuck are you doing in there?" a muffled voice was heard from behind the door, alongside with some harsh knocks, the loud noise forcefully making you two break the kiss.
"dude." he whispered, "this is dangerous love." he shook his head, his head falling to the crook of your neck.
"you better go otherwise we're gonna expose ourselves." you managed to let out, despite the fact that your face was flushed and the flyaways that were once up were now stuck to your forehead.
"at this point, i don't even care." he met your gaze, "hide in the shower, i'll leave first."
"yeah go help the drunk one out there otherwise she'll shove a cup into you too."
he shook his head with laughter, "i love you." he planted a kiss onto your cheek, before sliding off of you.
you watched him intently, "also keep the blonde it looks nice – really nice on you." you smiled, kicking your feet that hung off the counter, watching him clean himself off.
"wait did you just say i love you?"
ness ˎˊ˗ YOO JAMES WORK!! who cheered cause i did. the blonde hair got a hold on me for awhile and i was down to write something for him... i can't write anymore help me
꩜ synopsis ───── keeping a relationship secret as a promise is usually easy but hard especially when your man looks extremely good with blonde hair.
masterlist 𖥨᩠ׄ݁ zhao yufan x f!reader — fwb!james, blonde james, down bad reader, drinking involved, mild swearing, tension, teasing, slight arguing, some humorous moments, might be seen as suggestive, kissing / making out, if typos are here – ignore them
( people in my taglist, although it is not highly suggestive, please don't read if uncomfortable though nothing here is taken out of boundaries or anything more than kissing and is written through mood & feeling. thank you cuties ! )
you like to say yours and james' patience runs strong during friend group events, knowing that you'll eventually see each other right after but you didn't know that seeing him enter with a whole new look will lead to your patience loosening.
the moment him and his friends entered with their usual grand enterance, you remained still-faced until you met his stare, and you swore the calm persona you carried through broke apart.
you almost talked your thoughts out loud, your words came to a halt mid conversation with your friend, that when you tried to regain consciousness, your words began to stutter.
"having a hard time?" your friend joked, laughing at your stutter. you forced out a laugh with a shake of your head, "i think it's the alcohol." you muttered, scratching at your neck.
"right." she replied with a nod, suspicion running through.
"i'm so fucked." you groaned, leaning your head back against the refrigerator. your whole body heaved a deep sigh, the grip on your cup becoming loose.
the thought of james and all of a sudden ran through your head, the composure that you usually have became undone and he had only walked through the door.
this wasn't the person who you thought you were.
"are you okay?"
you snapped back into your thoughts, eyes flashing wide open as you felt a hand grip onto your shoulder, "you almost fell there, let's take a break on drinking, yeah?" your friend rushed hurriedly, grabbing the cup from your hand and placing it back onto the counter.
"no i'm fine i just – i drank too fast, ill go back to the couch." you smiled innocently, like you weren't just stress sweating a minute ago. "okay but if this happens again, we're dipping out of here."
"i'm fine." you reached out of her grip, fixing your hair as you made your way towards the couch.
you stepped in slowly, trying to avoid contact with everyone — specifically james. you felt your heart pounding, as you walked to one of the empty spots on the couches and by mind you sat next to james without intent, but just because it's a habit.
you sighed, running your hands down your bare thighs from nerves, feeling the warmth of james right beside you.
james noticed the small movement, raising an eyebrow at your impulsive breathing and your hands slowly rubbing up and down your legs like you tried to hide your nerves with comfort.
"you okay?" he leaned down, whispering against your ear, eyeing the people beside him.
"yeah im okay," you replied quietly. you looked over towards him, scanning his face. james met your gaze, staring deeply into you, "then why are you nervous?" he teased, a smile coming across his face.
your eyebrows furrowed, "i'm not nervous."
james saw the flutter in your eyes, the breaking in your voice, your voice getting quieter as the sentence progressed. he already knew the reasoning behind all your actions.
he hummed, "i believe you." he leaned back on the couch, shamelessly letting an arm rest behind you.
you shut your eyes, your arms coming to a cross, your heart only beating faster and faster. you already knew this night wasn't going to last the way you anticipated.
you sat beside james the whole time, easing off with conversations between you and your own friends, zoning out into spaces, anything to try to get james off of your mind.
james did the same thing — like usual; made conversations with his own friends, but his arm still rested behind you like it was a normal friendship action to do. good thing nobody questioned about it.
you really thought your composure regained itself with the distractions, with the ignorance of his arm behind you — though his hand got closer to closer to your shoulder as time went on and you never noticed until you felt the warmth of his hand on your shoulder, his fingers grabbing around the blade of it.
nobody noticed it – most likely too immersed in the different topics that were thrown around the room, but you sure did. your breath hitched mid conversation with your friend, the same stuttering happening all over again.
james smirked to himself, feeling the glow of your skin get hotter by his gesture, but he continued on with his conversations, despite the tension only getting deeper internally.
you tried laughing it off, giggling at whatever your friend had just said, regardless if it was humorous or not, you just needed to distract yourself harder.
but his hand dragged down the sole of your shoulder, reaching down to your elbow, then raising it back up to your blade, resting it there once again.
you bit your lip, letting out a deep breath, as you removed your gaze from your friend.
her voice came to a stop, as you snapped your head towards her, nervous that she may have caught on. "are you okay?" she titled her head.
"yeah?" you replied, confused.
"oh you just looked away from me randomly, i thought something happened again." her lips slanted, worry written all over her face.
you looked at her dumbfounded, not sure if she was being sarcastic or if she was completely oblivious to the hand that was currently rubbing up and down on your arm.
"are you drunk?" you questioned.
"no?" she furrowed her eyebrows, "why would you think that?"
you looked at her up and down, "just - just continue. i'm listening."
"i'll just talk to you later." she rolled your eyes, "or i'll talk to someone else that won't look away from me mid conversation." she huffed out a breath, crossing her arms in the meantime.
you looked over to james, watching the way he scrolled on his phone. "what the fuck are you doing?" you leaned in closer, yelling out quietly.
he met your gaze, "i'm on my phone." he replied blankly, "what are you accusing me of?"
"look at where your hand is and tell me what i'm accusing you of?"
"i'm touching my girl?"
you closed your eyes, "look where we are. if someone sees this you're fucked."
"i don't think they know regardless." he looked around the room, "they're all drunk. also, your friend didn't even catch it. i could make out with you right now and nobody would know."
you rolled your eyes, smiling hard, blush seeping through your cheeks, "don't talk to me like that, you're already doing this."
he chuckled, "i can talk to you however i want cause i know you wouldn't mind."
your tongue met the inside of your cheek, scanning his face once again. you felt your breath becoming rapid, your stare getting lost into his face, words coming blank to your mind.
"i'm going back to the kitchen." your voice came out soft, shaking your head away from any thoughts getting further the more you looked at him.
he smiled, "i'll be waiting for you"
"please don't be." you joked, rushingly getting up from your seat, making your way over the ruckus on the floor.
james watched you as you walked away, both of his arms coming to the top of the couch.
you let a hand run down your forearm, letting out another deep breath that was held in for a long time. you swore that you were going to be out of oxygen as the night approached, he was making you feral by this point.
and he knew.
you arrive to the kitchen, immediately resting your hands on the counter as the breeze from the semi opened window right above the sink settled in, causing you to squint your eyes at the air.
you ran a hand through your hair, letting it sit for a bit before running it through completely, your mind completely bombarded.
his looks remained unchanged in your mind, he has always looked good but never this good to the point you felt feelings you never felt before.
you were always patient, always composed to everyone, nobody knew about your relationships simply because you knew how to handle one privately — but now, you fell like a whole different person.
he knew what he was doing, he knew how you felt and he just wanted to see how far you could go.
you heard shuffling come from behind you, soft footsteps approaching behind you. you looked up at the reflection of the window and your lips immediately came to a smirk, dipping your head back down to stare down at the marble.
he stared at the back of your head the whole time, now resting his back against the counter beside you as he now stared at your side profile.
he dipped his hands in the pockets of his sweats, "you're acting different than usual." he finally broke the silence, lowly.
"you know what you're doing james," you huffed out a breath, raising your head up to look over at him, "i know what you're doing." you added on.
"what am i doing?" he raised an eyebrow. "don't act stupid cause you never do this in front of people." you replied back in an argumentative tone.
"don't get messy with me." he replied sternly, watching your change in demeanor, "i don't like when you start arguing with me."
you remove your hands off the counter, moving closer to him before coming to a stop right in front of him.
his hands stayed flat against the counter, looking at you up and down, watching you carefully. his mind fought the urge to bring his hands towards you, but he wanted to see where you'd take this.
you brought your hands onto his lower stomach, gliding it up until it landed onto his collarbone, meeting his gaze.
he watched you deeply, "don't start this."
you smiled, "you started this." you titled your head, bringing obvious tease onto the scene.
his heart fluttered, letting out a breathy chuckle. he finally brought his hands onto your waist, bringing you in closer until both of your chests glued together, "but i don't like when you do it."
you pouted sarcastically, your hands sliding up to his cheeks, bringing his face closer.
he immediately looked down to your lips, then back to your eyes. he chuckled once again, with a shake of his head, rising his head up a bit, "you're fucking crazy."
"how am i crazy?" you smiled. he licked his lips, heaving a breath, "you're doing this to me knowing that there's people out there."
you hummed, "now you know how i feel." you nodded slowly, "but you're only saying that because you know i won."
"won wh –"
you brought his face back down, planting a quick, lingering kiss onto his lips. you pulled back smiling, and he chased to meet your lips again, but your head retracted back before he could.
"don't get ahead of yourself, maybe someone's watching." you laughed, sliding his hands off of you. you turned on your heels, now leaving him to sulk in the kitchen.
he tried to reach out for your arm, but your legs were faster than him. he placed both of his hands back onto the counter, throwing his head back with a small smile.
you made your way back to the living room , scanning the scene; everyone got worse, multiple cups stacked onto the table, some of them sleeping on the floor — it was a mess.
you stopped in your tracks when you felt a sudden spark reappear in your stomach as your eyes gazed over the spot you and james sat in prior, now empty, yearning for your name.
your mind replayed the moment that happened seconds ago, the shift in tension, the closeness, his stare, his presence — the confidence you had before, is now gone.
you moved forward into the room, grabbing your car keys off of the coffee table.
"where are you going?" one of the boys asked, sitting up straight like you leaving was the end of the world. "home?" you squinted your eyes.
they groaned, "it's only like ten pm though."
"yeah and i'm going home." you rolled your eyes, brushing your top, getting ready to head to the enterance.
"no you're not." you heard a voice call out, the room falling silent. you turned around, only to meet james standing right by the couch.
oh's, flooded around the room, some of them trying to hold in their laughter at the sudden remark from james after being quiet for so long.
"he's serious too." one of his friends added intently, too engaged in the sudden change of tension.
you rolled your eyes once more, "i'm going home."
"why?" james questioned.
your mind froze, searching for an excuse, "i'm tired and i have a cat to feed." you turned back around, ready to head out.
"no don't go home!" one of your friends picked herself up from the couch, running straight to your arms, indulging you into a tight hug, "you can't go.." she mumbled into the crook of your neck, the cup in her hand only getting deeper and deeper into your stomach at that point.
"you're so fucking drunk." you patted her back, laughing while trying to pull back but she only emerged forward after every movement, pain now striking in, "your cup..." you said softly, panic scattering your body.
everyone rised up from the couch as they saw your expression shift to panic, trying to remove her from the scene.
"i told you to hold her down, she's so drunk." one of the other girls yelled out to the guy that sat beside her. "she left me!" he yelled back.
you opened your eyes, catching james in the corner of your eye, standing there almost like he was admiring the scene. "you going to help or what dude?" you yelled out loud.
"your girl is calling for you bro." one of his friends teased, patting his shoulder as he dragged the girl back onto the couch.
you stare wide eyed between the two of them, your eyebrows furrowing as your chest heaved up and down, "what the fuck is wrong with you." you yelled out, grabbing your stomach in the process.
"this is why im leaving, all of you guys are a mess." you turned on your heels but instead of rushing to the enternace you settled yourself into the bathroom that was down the hall.
you weren't even in pain anymore, it was more fury than anything. you knew the relationship was secretive but you had just gotten hurt and he had stood there in awe the whole time.
it got to you when you realized his own friends cared more about you than him and it genuinely upsetted you and that almost made him become fully erased from your mind – just like what happened in the kitchen scene.
you planted your car keys onto the counter, flatting the top of your hair down, fixing the flyaways as it got progressively messier when they tried removing your friend.
"what the hell bro?" you whispered to yourself, trying to fix anything that had gotten ruin physically.
the door suddenly opened, leading your movements to a halt.
"listen –" the sudden entry started.
you groaned deeply, "there's no listen. get out." you faced toward the door, peaking through the creek of the opened door, "please leave me alone." you whined when you realized who it was.
he didn't listen, instead he opened the door further, making you push away from it, leaving no room to push him away any farther.
"i know you're mad at me." he whispered, closing the door behind him. "of course i'm mad at you, you didn't even protect me."
"i didn't know what to do. and you know how she is, she's crazy." his tone remained calm, the lack of anger laced in his voice,
"still, it was a whole glass cup and you stood there." you sighed in disbelief.
"realistically, everyone was already up to help you –"
"but i wanted you to help me." you cut him off, slightly harsh.
he sighed, fingers running through his hair.
just by that moment, you felt the anger flush away within a second, your eyes beaming into him, erasing your thoughts completely.
you sighed back — not from disbelief of the situation this time, but more so from the same feeling you had felt earlier when he entered.
the new look, the way his whole persona changed just by a small detail. it almost made you not want to argue anymore – the feeling fuming its way back into you once again,
"i don't like how you're acting today." you crossed your arms, "you never, ever do this during a group hangout. it's like you dyed your hair and knew how i was going to act."
"or maybe you put a spell on me." you added on.
he laughed, stepping closer to you, "that's exactly it. i just know you so well."
"is this really the day you want us to expose – our whatever we have – to everyone in this house right now?"
"well that depends on how obvious you make it."
you rolled your eyes, arms coming down to your side in defeat, "you made it more obvious than me."
"i just wanted to show you some love." he mumbled, stepping even more closer, watching you with a look that made your heart beat fast.
"stop," your lips forming into a slight pout that eventually turned into a smile.
he chuckled, not even bothering with a reply as he brought a hand to your waist and the other one on your chin, bringing your face closer to his.
you looked in between his lips and his stare, sweat bawling up on the palm of your hands, your nervous system getting intense, the heat now running through your body.
your brought your hands up to the back of his neck, unintentionally bringing his face even closer to your own, lips only inches away from being touched.
"i knew you weren't going to stay angry at me." he mumbled, his breath fanning your lips. "shut up." you whispered, as you were the one who finally closed the distance.
his lips immediately took charge, the hand that was on your chin fell down to the other side of your waist, pulling you in even closer.
it was the usual soft kiss he always gave you, the passionate one that went on for hours and never got too intense — the one that screamed the patience you had for each other, never rushing the moment.
he titled his head, bring you in deeper into the kiss. your hands glided to his chest, soft breathing filling up the room.
the sound of chatter, the sound of bottles clinking, the sound of the hum from the tv fell into the back of your mind as it remained on james, feeding into the moment.
it seemed like the same way for him as he slowly controlled the kiss more intensely; his hand moving to the sole of your back, rubbing up and down, as the other reached the back of your thigh.
you caught onto the signal as your legs wrapped around his waist. he guided you onto the counter in a swift motion, both of his hands landing back onto your waist as you sat down on the edge of the marble.
your arms wrapped around his neck, shoving him deeper into the kiss to the point where he was hovering over you on top of the counter, the back of your head almost meeting the backsplash on the wall.
he broke away from the kiss, his breath still heavy on you, "you trying to make me sit up here with you or something?" he chuckled with humor, but the heat on his face, the slight purse of his lips didn't make you find the comment funny, only wanting more.
"not my intention." you replied blankly, eyes scanning back down to his lips, as you brought him back with no hurry.
"damn." he mumbled to himself against your lips, your lips now becoming more intense — the mood now feeling more like love than anything else.
"yo james what the fuck are you doing in there?" a muffled voice was heard from behind the door, alongside with some harsh knocks, the loud noise forcefully making you two break the kiss.
"dude." he whispered, "this is dangerous love." he shook his head, his head falling to the crook of your neck.
"you better go otherwise we're gonna expose ourselves." you managed to let out, despite the fact that your face was flushed and the flyaways that were once up were now stuck to your forehead.
"at this point, i don't even care." he met your gaze, "hide in the shower, i'll leave first."
"yeah go help the drunk one out there otherwise she'll shove a cup into you too."
he shook his head with laughter, "i love you." he planted a kiss onto your cheek, before sliding off of you.
you watched him intently, "also keep the blonde it looks nice – really nice on you." you smiled, kicking your feet that hung off the counter, watching him clean himself off.
"wait did you just say i love you?"
ness ˎˊ˗ YOO JAMES WORK!! who cheered cause i did. the blonde hair got a hold on me for awhile and i was down to write something for him... i can't write anymore help me
꩜ synopsis ───── keeping a relationship secret as a promise is usually easy but hard especially when your man looks extremely good with blonde hair.
masterlist 𖥨᩠ׄ݁ zhao yufan x f!reader — fwb!james, blonde james, down bad reader, drinking involved, mild swearing, tension, teasing, slight arguing, some humorous moments, might be seen as suggestive, kissing / making out, if typos are here – ignore them
( people in my taglist, although it is not highly suggestive, please don't read if uncomfortable though nothing here is taken out of boundaries or anything more than kissing and is written through mood & feeling. thank you cuties ! )
you like to say yours and james' patience runs strong during friend group events, knowing that you'll eventually see each other right after but you didn't know that seeing him enter with a whole new look will lead to your patience loosening.
the moment him and his friends entered with their usual grand enterance, you remained still-faced until you met his stare, and you swore the calm persona you carried through broke apart.
you almost talked your thoughts out loud, your words came to a halt mid conversation with your friend, that when you tried to regain consciousness, your words began to stutter.
"having a hard time?" your friend joked, laughing at your stutter. you forced out a laugh with a shake of your head, "i think it's the alcohol." you muttered, scratching at your neck.
"right." she replied with a nod, suspicion running through.
"i'm so fucked." you groaned, leaning your head back against the refrigerator. your whole body heaved a deep sigh, the grip on your cup becoming loose.
the thought of james and all of a sudden ran through your head, the composure that you usually have became undone and he had only walked through the door.
this wasn't the person who you thought you were.
"are you okay?"
you snapped back into your thoughts, eyes flashing wide open as you felt a hand grip onto your shoulder, "you almost fell there, let's take a break on drinking, yeah?" your friend rushed hurriedly, grabbing the cup from your hand and placing it back onto the counter.
"no i'm fine i just – i drank too fast, ill go back to the couch." you smiled innocently, like you weren't just stress sweating a minute ago. "okay but if this happens again, we're dipping out of here."
"i'm fine." you reached out of her grip, fixing your hair as you made your way towards the couch.
you stepped in slowly, trying to avoid contact with everyone — specifically james. you felt your heart pounding, as you walked to one of the empty spots on the couches and by mind you sat next to james without intent, but just because it's a habit.
you sighed, running your hands down your bare thighs from nerves, feeling the warmth of james right beside you.
james noticed the small movement, raising an eyebrow at your impulsive breathing and your hands slowly rubbing up and down your legs like you tried to hide your nerves with comfort.
"you okay?" he leaned down, whispering against your ear, eyeing the people beside him.
"yeah im okay," you replied quietly. you looked over towards him, scanning his face. james met your gaze, staring deeply into you, "then why are you nervous?" he teased, a smile coming across his face.
your eyebrows furrowed, "i'm not nervous."
james saw the flutter in your eyes, the breaking in your voice, your voice getting quieter as the sentence progressed. he already knew the reasoning behind all your actions.
he hummed, "i believe you." he leaned back on the couch, shamelessly letting an arm rest behind you.
you shut your eyes, your arms coming to a cross, your heart only beating faster and faster. you already knew this night wasn't going to last the way you anticipated.
you sat beside james the whole time, easing off with conversations between you and your own friends, zoning out into spaces, anything to try to get james off of your mind.
james did the same thing — like usual; made conversations with his own friends, but his arm still rested behind you like it was a normal friendship action to do. good thing nobody questioned about it.
you really thought your composure regained itself with the distractions, with the ignorance of his arm behind you — though his hand got closer to closer to your shoulder as time went on and you never noticed until you felt the warmth of his hand on your shoulder, his fingers grabbing around the blade of it.
nobody noticed it – most likely too immersed in the different topics that were thrown around the room, but you sure did. your breath hitched mid conversation with your friend, the same stuttering happening all over again.
james smirked to himself, feeling the glow of your skin get hotter by his gesture, but he continued on with his conversations, despite the tension only getting deeper internally.
you tried laughing it off, giggling at whatever your friend had just said, regardless if it was humorous or not, you just needed to distract yourself harder.
but his hand dragged down the sole of your shoulder, reaching down to your elbow, then raising it back up to your blade, resting it there once again.
you bit your lip, letting out a deep breath, as you removed your gaze from your friend.
her voice came to a stop, as you snapped your head towards her, nervous that she may have caught on. "are you okay?" she titled her head.
"yeah?" you replied, confused.
"oh you just looked away from me randomly, i thought something happened again." her lips slanted, worry written all over her face.
you looked at her dumbfounded, not sure if she was being sarcastic or if she was completely oblivious to the hand that was currently rubbing up and down on your arm.
"are you drunk?" you questioned.
"no?" she furrowed her eyebrows, "why would you think that?"
you looked at her up and down, "just - just continue. i'm listening."
"i'll just talk to you later." she rolled your eyes, "or i'll talk to someone else that won't look away from me mid conversation." she huffed out a breath, crossing her arms in the meantime.
you looked over to james, watching the way he scrolled on his phone. "what the fuck are you doing?" you leaned in closer, yelling out quietly.
he met your gaze, "i'm on my phone." he replied blankly, "what are you accusing me of?"
"look at where your hand is and tell me what i'm accusing you of?"
"i'm touching my girl?"
you closed your eyes, "look where we are. if someone sees this you're fucked."
"i don't think they know regardless." he looked around the room, "they're all drunk. also, your friend didn't even catch it. i could make out with you right now and nobody would know."
you rolled your eyes, smiling hard, blush seeping through your cheeks, "don't talk to me like that, you're already doing this."
he chuckled, "i can talk to you however i want cause i know you wouldn't mind."
your tongue met the inside of your cheek, scanning his face once again. you felt your breath becoming rapid, your stare getting lost into his face, words coming blank to your mind.
"i'm going back to the kitchen." your voice came out soft, shaking your head away from any thoughts getting further the more you looked at him.
he smiled, "i'll be waiting for you"
"please don't be." you joked, rushingly getting up from your seat, making your way over the ruckus on the floor.
james watched you as you walked away, both of his arms coming to the top of the couch.
you let a hand run down your forearm, letting out another deep breath that was held in for a long time. you swore that you were going to be out of oxygen as the night approached, he was making you feral by this point.
and he knew.
you arrive to the kitchen, immediately resting your hands on the counter as the breeze from the semi opened window right above the sink settled in, causing you to squint your eyes at the air.
you ran a hand through your hair, letting it sit for a bit before running it through completely, your mind completely bombarded.
his looks remained unchanged in your mind, he has always looked good but never this good to the point you felt feelings you never felt before.
you were always patient, always composed to everyone, nobody knew about your relationships simply because you knew how to handle one privately — but now, you fell like a whole different person.
he knew what he was doing, he knew how you felt and he just wanted to see how far you could go.
you heard shuffling come from behind you, soft footsteps approaching behind you. you looked up at the reflection of the window and your lips immediately came to a smirk, dipping your head back down to stare down at the marble.
he stared at the back of your head the whole time, now resting his back against the counter beside you as he now stared at your side profile.
he dipped his hands in the pockets of his sweats, "you're acting different than usual." he finally broke the silence, lowly.
"you know what you're doing james," you huffed out a breath, raising your head up to look over at him, "i know what you're doing." you added on.
"what am i doing?" he raised an eyebrow. "don't act stupid cause you never do this in front of people." you replied back in an argumentative tone.
"don't get messy with me." he replied sternly, watching your change in demeanor, "i don't like when you start arguing with me."
you remove your hands off the counter, moving closer to him before coming to a stop right in front of him.
his hands stayed flat against the counter, looking at you up and down, watching you carefully. his mind fought the urge to bring his hands towards you, but he wanted to see where you'd take this.
you brought your hands onto his lower stomach, gliding it up until it landed onto his collarbone, meeting his gaze.
he watched you deeply, "don't start this."
you smiled, "you started this." you titled your head, bringing obvious tease onto the scene.
his heart fluttered, letting out a breathy chuckle. he finally brought his hands onto your waist, bringing you in closer until both of your chests glued together, "but i don't like when you do it."
you pouted sarcastically, your hands sliding up to his cheeks, bringing his face closer.
he immediately looked down to your lips, then back to your eyes. he chuckled once again, with a shake of his head, rising his head up a bit, "you're fucking crazy."
"how am i crazy?" you smiled. he licked his lips, heaving a breath, "you're doing this to me knowing that there's people out there."
you hummed, "now you know how i feel." you nodded slowly, "but you're only saying that because you know i won."
"won wh –"
you brought his face back down, planting a quick, lingering kiss onto his lips. you pulled back smiling, and he chased to meet your lips again, but your head retracted back before he could.
"don't get ahead of yourself, maybe someone's watching." you laughed, sliding his hands off of you. you turned on your heels, now leaving him to sulk in the kitchen.
he tried to reach out for your arm, but your legs were faster than him. he placed both of his hands back onto the counter, throwing his head back with a small smile.
you made your way back to the living room , scanning the scene; everyone got worse, multiple cups stacked onto the table, some of them sleeping on the floor — it was a mess.
you stopped in your tracks when you felt a sudden spark reappear in your stomach as your eyes gazed over the spot you and james sat in prior, now empty, yearning for your name.
your mind replayed the moment that happened seconds ago, the shift in tension, the closeness, his stare, his presence — the confidence you had before, is now gone.
you moved forward into the room, grabbing your car keys off of the coffee table.
"where are you going?" one of the boys asked, sitting up straight like you leaving was the end of the world. "home?" you squinted your eyes.
they groaned, "it's only like ten pm though."
"yeah and i'm going home." you rolled your eyes, brushing your top, getting ready to head to the enterance.
"no you're not." you heard a voice call out, the room falling silent. you turned around, only to meet james standing right by the couch.
oh's, flooded around the room, some of them trying to hold in their laughter at the sudden remark from james after being quiet for so long.
"he's serious too." one of his friends added intently, too engaged in the sudden change of tension.
you rolled your eyes once more, "i'm going home."
"why?" james questioned.
your mind froze, searching for an excuse, "i'm tired and i have a cat to feed." you turned back around, ready to head out.
"no don't go home!" one of your friends picked herself up from the couch, running straight to your arms, indulging you into a tight hug, "you can't go.." she mumbled into the crook of your neck, the cup in her hand only getting deeper and deeper into your stomach at that point.
"you're so fucking drunk." you patted her back, laughing while trying to pull back but she only emerged forward after every movement, pain now striking in, "your cup..." you said softly, panic scattering your body.
everyone rised up from the couch as they saw your expression shift to panic, trying to remove her from the scene.
"i told you to hold her down, she's so drunk." one of the other girls yelled out to the guy that sat beside her. "she left me!" he yelled back.
you opened your eyes, catching james in the corner of your eye, standing there almost like he was admiring the scene. "you going to help or what dude?" you yelled out loud.
"your girl is calling for you bro." one of his friends teased, patting his shoulder as he dragged the girl back onto the couch.
you stare wide eyed between the two of them, your eyebrows furrowing as your chest heaved up and down, "what the fuck is wrong with you." you yelled out, grabbing your stomach in the process.
"this is why im leaving, all of you guys are a mess." you turned on your heels but instead of rushing to the enternace you settled yourself into the bathroom that was down the hall.
you weren't even in pain anymore, it was more fury than anything. you knew the relationship was secretive but you had just gotten hurt and he had stood there in awe the whole time.
it got to you when you realized his own friends cared more about you than him and it genuinely upsetted you and that almost made him become fully erased from your mind – just like what happened in the kitchen scene.
you planted your car keys onto the counter, flatting the top of your hair down, fixing the flyaways as it got progressively messier when they tried removing your friend.
"what the hell bro?" you whispered to yourself, trying to fix anything that had gotten ruin physically.
the door suddenly opened, leading your movements to a halt.
"listen –" the sudden entry started.
you groaned deeply, "there's no listen. get out." you faced toward the door, peaking through the creek of the opened door, "please leave me alone." you whined when you realized who it was.
he didn't listen, instead he opened the door further, making you push away from it, leaving no room to push him away any farther.
"i know you're mad at me." he whispered, closing the door behind him. "of course i'm mad at you, you didn't even protect me."
"i didn't know what to do. and you know how she is, she's crazy." his tone remained calm, the lack of anger laced in his voice,
"still, it was a whole glass cup and you stood there." you sighed in disbelief.
"realistically, everyone was already up to help you –"
"but i wanted you to help me." you cut him off, slightly harsh.
he sighed, fingers running through his hair.
just by that moment, you felt the anger flush away within a second, your eyes beaming into him, erasing your thoughts completely.
you sighed back — not from disbelief of the situation this time, but more so from the same feeling you had felt earlier when he entered.
the new look, the way his whole persona changed just by a small detail. it almost made you not want to argue anymore – the feeling fuming its way back into you once again,
"i don't like how you're acting today." you crossed your arms, "you never, ever do this during a group hangout. it's like you dyed your hair and knew how i was going to act."
"or maybe you put a spell on me." you added on.
he laughed, stepping closer to you, "that's exactly it. i just know you so well."
"is this really the day you want us to expose – our whatever we have – to everyone in this house right now?"
"well that depends on how obvious you make it."
you rolled your eyes, arms coming down to your side in defeat, "you made it more obvious than me."
"i just wanted to show you some love." he mumbled, stepping even more closer, watching you with a look that made your heart beat fast.
"stop," your lips forming into a slight pout that eventually turned into a smile.
he chuckled, not even bothering with a reply as he brought a hand to your waist and the other one on your chin, bringing your face closer to his.
you looked in between his lips and his stare, sweat bawling up on the palm of your hands, your nervous system getting intense, the heat now running through your body.
your brought your hands up to the back of his neck, unintentionally bringing his face even closer to your own, lips only inches away from being touched.
"i knew you weren't going to stay angry at me." he mumbled, his breath fanning your lips. "shut up." you whispered, as you were the one who finally closed the distance.
his lips immediately took charge, the hand that was on your chin fell down to the other side of your waist, pulling you in even closer.
it was the usual soft kiss he always gave you, the passionate one that went on for hours and never got too intense — the one that screamed the patience you had for each other, never rushing the moment.
he titled his head, bring you in deeper into the kiss. your hands glided to his chest, soft breathing filling up the room.
the sound of chatter, the sound of bottles clinking, the sound of the hum from the tv fell into the back of your mind as it remained on james, feeding into the moment.
it seemed like the same way for him as he slowly controlled the kiss more intensely; his hand moving to the sole of your back, rubbing up and down, as the other reached the back of your thigh.
you caught onto the signal as your legs wrapped around his waist. he guided you onto the counter in a swift motion, both of his hands landing back onto your waist as you sat down on the edge of the marble.
your arms wrapped around his neck, shoving him deeper into the kiss to the point where he was hovering over you on top of the counter, the back of your head almost meeting the backsplash on the wall.
he broke away from the kiss, his breath still heavy on you, "you trying to make me sit up here with you or something?" he chuckled with humor, but the heat on his face, the slight purse of his lips didn't make you find the comment funny, only wanting more.
"not my intention." you replied blankly, eyes scanning back down to his lips, as you brought him back with no hurry.
"damn." he mumbled to himself against your lips, your lips now becoming more intense — the mood now feeling more like love than anything else.
"yo james what the fuck are you doing in there?" a muffled voice was heard from behind the door, alongside with some harsh knocks, the loud noise forcefully making you two break the kiss.
"dude." he whispered, "this is dangerous love." he shook his head, his head falling to the crook of your neck.
"you better go otherwise we're gonna expose ourselves." you managed to let out, despite the fact that your face was flushed and the flyaways that were once up were now stuck to your forehead.
"at this point, i don't even care." he met your gaze, "hide in the shower, i'll leave first."
"yeah go help the drunk one out there otherwise she'll shove a cup into you too."
he shook his head with laughter, "i love you." he planted a kiss onto your cheek, before sliding off of you.
you watched him intently, "also keep the blonde it looks nice – really nice on you." you smiled, kicking your feet that hung off the counter, watching him clean himself off.
"wait did you just say i love you?"
ness ˎˊ˗ YOO JAMES WORK!! who cheered cause i did. the blonde hair got a hold on me for awhile and i was down to write something for him... i can't write anymore help me
꩜ synopsis ───── keeping a relationship secret as a promise is usually easy but hard especially when your man looks extremely good with blonde hair.
masterlist 𖥨᩠ׄ݁ zhao yufan x f!reader — fwb!james, blonde james, down bad reader, drinking involved, mild swearing, tension, teasing, slight arguing, some humorous moments, might be seen as suggestive, kissing / making out, if typos are here – ignore them
( people in my taglist, although it is not highly suggestive, please don't read if uncomfortable though nothing here is taken out of boundaries or anything more than kissing and is written through mood & feeling. thank you cuties ! )
you like to say yours and james' patience runs strong during friend group events, knowing that you'll eventually see each other right after but you didn't know that seeing him enter with a whole new look will lead to your patience loosening.
the moment him and his friends entered with their usual grand enterance, you remained still-faced until you met his stare, and you swore the calm persona you carried through broke apart.
you almost talked your thoughts out loud, your words came to a halt mid conversation with your friend, that when you tried to regain consciousness, your words began to stutter.
"having a hard time?" your friend joked, laughing at your stutter. you forced out a laugh with a shake of your head, "i think it's the alcohol." you muttered, scratching at your neck.
"right." she replied with a nod, suspicion running through.
"i'm so fucked." you groaned, leaning your head back against the refrigerator. your whole body heaved a deep sigh, the grip on your cup becoming loose.
the thought of james and all of a sudden ran through your head, the composure that you usually have became undone and he had only walked through the door.
this wasn't the person who you thought you were.
"are you okay?"
you snapped back into your thoughts, eyes flashing wide open as you felt a hand grip onto your shoulder, "you almost fell there, let's take a break on drinking, yeah?" your friend rushed hurriedly, grabbing the cup from your hand and placing it back onto the counter.
"no i'm fine i just – i drank too fast, ill go back to the couch." you smiled innocently, like you weren't just stress sweating a minute ago. "okay but if this happens again, we're dipping out of here."
"i'm fine." you reached out of her grip, fixing your hair as you made your way towards the couch.
you stepped in slowly, trying to avoid contact with everyone — specifically james. you felt your heart pounding, as you walked to one of the empty spots on the couches and by mind you sat next to james without intent, but just because it's a habit.
you sighed, running your hands down your bare thighs from nerves, feeling the warmth of james right beside you.
james noticed the small movement, raising an eyebrow at your impulsive breathing and your hands slowly rubbing up and down your legs like you tried to hide your nerves with comfort.
"you okay?" he leaned down, whispering against your ear, eyeing the people beside him.
"yeah im okay," you replied quietly. you looked over towards him, scanning his face. james met your gaze, staring deeply into you, "then why are you nervous?" he teased, a smile coming across his face.
your eyebrows furrowed, "i'm not nervous."
james saw the flutter in your eyes, the breaking in your voice, your voice getting quieter as the sentence progressed. he already knew the reasoning behind all your actions.
he hummed, "i believe you." he leaned back on the couch, shamelessly letting an arm rest behind you.
you shut your eyes, your arms coming to a cross, your heart only beating faster and faster. you already knew this night wasn't going to last the way you anticipated.
you sat beside james the whole time, easing off with conversations between you and your own friends, zoning out into spaces, anything to try to get james off of your mind.
james did the same thing — like usual; made conversations with his own friends, but his arm still rested behind you like it was a normal friendship action to do. good thing nobody questioned about it.
you really thought your composure regained itself with the distractions, with the ignorance of his arm behind you — though his hand got closer to closer to your shoulder as time went on and you never noticed until you felt the warmth of his hand on your shoulder, his fingers grabbing around the blade of it.
nobody noticed it – most likely too immersed in the different topics that were thrown around the room, but you sure did. your breath hitched mid conversation with your friend, the same stuttering happening all over again.
james smirked to himself, feeling the glow of your skin get hotter by his gesture, but he continued on with his conversations, despite the tension only getting deeper internally.
you tried laughing it off, giggling at whatever your friend had just said, regardless if it was humorous or not, you just needed to distract yourself harder.
but his hand dragged down the sole of your shoulder, reaching down to your elbow, then raising it back up to your blade, resting it there once again.
you bit your lip, letting out a deep breath, as you removed your gaze from your friend.
her voice came to a stop, as you snapped your head towards her, nervous that she may have caught on. "are you okay?" she titled her head.
"yeah?" you replied, confused.
"oh you just looked away from me randomly, i thought something happened again." her lips slanted, worry written all over her face.
you looked at her dumbfounded, not sure if she was being sarcastic or if she was completely oblivious to the hand that was currently rubbing up and down on your arm.
"are you drunk?" you questioned.
"no?" she furrowed her eyebrows, "why would you think that?"
you looked at her up and down, "just - just continue. i'm listening."
"i'll just talk to you later." she rolled your eyes, "or i'll talk to someone else that won't look away from me mid conversation." she huffed out a breath, crossing her arms in the meantime.
you looked over to james, watching the way he scrolled on his phone. "what the fuck are you doing?" you leaned in closer, yelling out quietly.
he met your gaze, "i'm on my phone." he replied blankly, "what are you accusing me of?"
"look at where your hand is and tell me what i'm accusing you of?"
"i'm touching my girl?"
you closed your eyes, "look where we are. if someone sees this you're fucked."
"i don't think they know regardless." he looked around the room, "they're all drunk. also, your friend didn't even catch it. i could make out with you right now and nobody would know."
you rolled your eyes, smiling hard, blush seeping through your cheeks, "don't talk to me like that, you're already doing this."
he chuckled, "i can talk to you however i want cause i know you wouldn't mind."
your tongue met the inside of your cheek, scanning his face once again. you felt your breath becoming rapid, your stare getting lost into his face, words coming blank to your mind.
"i'm going back to the kitchen." your voice came out soft, shaking your head away from any thoughts getting further the more you looked at him.
he smiled, "i'll be waiting for you"
"please don't be." you joked, rushingly getting up from your seat, making your way over the ruckus on the floor.
james watched you as you walked away, both of his arms coming to the top of the couch.
you let a hand run down your forearm, letting out another deep breath that was held in for a long time. you swore that you were going to be out of oxygen as the night approached, he was making you feral by this point.
and he knew.
you arrive to the kitchen, immediately resting your hands on the counter as the breeze from the semi opened window right above the sink settled in, causing you to squint your eyes at the air.
you ran a hand through your hair, letting it sit for a bit before running it through completely, your mind completely bombarded.
his looks remained unchanged in your mind, he has always looked good but never this good to the point you felt feelings you never felt before.
you were always patient, always composed to everyone, nobody knew about your relationships simply because you knew how to handle one privately — but now, you fell like a whole different person.
he knew what he was doing, he knew how you felt and he just wanted to see how far you could go.
you heard shuffling come from behind you, soft footsteps approaching behind you. you looked up at the reflection of the window and your lips immediately came to a smirk, dipping your head back down to stare down at the marble.
he stared at the back of your head the whole time, now resting his back against the counter beside you as he now stared at your side profile.
he dipped his hands in the pockets of his sweats, "you're acting different than usual." he finally broke the silence, lowly.
"you know what you're doing james," you huffed out a breath, raising your head up to look over at him, "i know what you're doing." you added on.
"what am i doing?" he raised an eyebrow. "don't act stupid cause you never do this in front of people." you replied back in an argumentative tone.
"don't get messy with me." he replied sternly, watching your change in demeanor, "i don't like when you start arguing with me."
you remove your hands off the counter, moving closer to him before coming to a stop right in front of him.
his hands stayed flat against the counter, looking at you up and down, watching you carefully. his mind fought the urge to bring his hands towards you, but he wanted to see where you'd take this.
you brought your hands onto his lower stomach, gliding it up until it landed onto his collarbone, meeting his gaze.
he watched you deeply, "don't start this."
you smiled, "you started this." you titled your head, bringing obvious tease onto the scene.
his heart fluttered, letting out a breathy chuckle. he finally brought his hands onto your waist, bringing you in closer until both of your chests glued together, "but i don't like when you do it."
you pouted sarcastically, your hands sliding up to his cheeks, bringing his face closer.
he immediately looked down to your lips, then back to your eyes. he chuckled once again, with a shake of his head, rising his head up a bit, "you're fucking crazy."
"how am i crazy?" you smiled. he licked his lips, heaving a breath, "you're doing this to me knowing that there's people out there."
you hummed, "now you know how i feel." you nodded slowly, "but you're only saying that because you know i won."
"won wh –"
you brought his face back down, planting a quick, lingering kiss onto his lips. you pulled back smiling, and he chased to meet your lips again, but your head retracted back before he could.
"don't get ahead of yourself, maybe someone's watching." you laughed, sliding his hands off of you. you turned on your heels, now leaving him to sulk in the kitchen.
he tried to reach out for your arm, but your legs were faster than him. he placed both of his hands back onto the counter, throwing his head back with a small smile.
you made your way back to the living room , scanning the scene; everyone got worse, multiple cups stacked onto the table, some of them sleeping on the floor — it was a mess.
you stopped in your tracks when you felt a sudden spark reappear in your stomach as your eyes gazed over the spot you and james sat in prior, now empty, yearning for your name.
your mind replayed the moment that happened seconds ago, the shift in tension, the closeness, his stare, his presence — the confidence you had before, is now gone.
you moved forward into the room, grabbing your car keys off of the coffee table.
"where are you going?" one of the boys asked, sitting up straight like you leaving was the end of the world. "home?" you squinted your eyes.
they groaned, "it's only like ten pm though."
"yeah and i'm going home." you rolled your eyes, brushing your top, getting ready to head to the enterance.
"no you're not." you heard a voice call out, the room falling silent. you turned around, only to meet james standing right by the couch.
oh's, flooded around the room, some of them trying to hold in their laughter at the sudden remark from james after being quiet for so long.
"he's serious too." one of his friends added intently, too engaged in the sudden change of tension.
you rolled your eyes once more, "i'm going home."
"why?" james questioned.
your mind froze, searching for an excuse, "i'm tired and i have a cat to feed." you turned back around, ready to head out.
"no don't go home!" one of your friends picked herself up from the couch, running straight to your arms, indulging you into a tight hug, "you can't go.." she mumbled into the crook of your neck, the cup in her hand only getting deeper and deeper into your stomach at that point.
"you're so fucking drunk." you patted her back, laughing while trying to pull back but she only emerged forward after every movement, pain now striking in, "your cup..." you said softly, panic scattering your body.
everyone rised up from the couch as they saw your expression shift to panic, trying to remove her from the scene.
"i told you to hold her down, she's so drunk." one of the other girls yelled out to the guy that sat beside her. "she left me!" he yelled back.
you opened your eyes, catching james in the corner of your eye, standing there almost like he was admiring the scene. "you going to help or what dude?" you yelled out loud.
"your girl is calling for you bro." one of his friends teased, patting his shoulder as he dragged the girl back onto the couch.
you stare wide eyed between the two of them, your eyebrows furrowing as your chest heaved up and down, "what the fuck is wrong with you." you yelled out, grabbing your stomach in the process.
"this is why im leaving, all of you guys are a mess." you turned on your heels but instead of rushing to the enternace you settled yourself into the bathroom that was down the hall.
you weren't even in pain anymore, it was more fury than anything. you knew the relationship was secretive but you had just gotten hurt and he had stood there in awe the whole time.
it got to you when you realized his own friends cared more about you than him and it genuinely upsetted you and that almost made him become fully erased from your mind – just like what happened in the kitchen scene.
you planted your car keys onto the counter, flatting the top of your hair down, fixing the flyaways as it got progressively messier when they tried removing your friend.
"what the hell bro?" you whispered to yourself, trying to fix anything that had gotten ruin physically.
the door suddenly opened, leading your movements to a halt.
"listen –" the sudden entry started.
you groaned deeply, "there's no listen. get out." you faced toward the door, peaking through the creek of the opened door, "please leave me alone." you whined when you realized who it was.
he didn't listen, instead he opened the door further, making you push away from it, leaving no room to push him away any farther.
"i know you're mad at me." he whispered, closing the door behind him. "of course i'm mad at you, you didn't even protect me."
"i didn't know what to do. and you know how she is, she's crazy." his tone remained calm, the lack of anger laced in his voice,
"still, it was a whole glass cup and you stood there." you sighed in disbelief.
"realistically, everyone was already up to help you –"
"but i wanted you to help me." you cut him off, slightly harsh.
he sighed, fingers running through his hair.
just by that moment, you felt the anger flush away within a second, your eyes beaming into him, erasing your thoughts completely.
you sighed back — not from disbelief of the situation this time, but more so from the same feeling you had felt earlier when he entered.
the new look, the way his whole persona changed just by a small detail. it almost made you not want to argue anymore – the feeling fuming its way back into you once again,
"i don't like how you're acting today." you crossed your arms, "you never, ever do this during a group hangout. it's like you dyed your hair and knew how i was going to act."
"or maybe you put a spell on me." you added on.
he laughed, stepping closer to you, "that's exactly it. i just know you so well."
"is this really the day you want us to expose – our whatever we have – to everyone in this house right now?"
"well that depends on how obvious you make it."
you rolled your eyes, arms coming down to your side in defeat, "you made it more obvious than me."
"i just wanted to show you some love." he mumbled, stepping even more closer, watching you with a look that made your heart beat fast.
"stop," your lips forming into a slight pout that eventually turned into a smile.
he chuckled, not even bothering with a reply as he brought a hand to your waist and the other one on your chin, bringing your face closer to his.
you looked in between his lips and his stare, sweat bawling up on the palm of your hands, your nervous system getting intense, the heat now running through your body.
your brought your hands up to the back of his neck, unintentionally bringing his face even closer to your own, lips only inches away from being touched.
"i knew you weren't going to stay angry at me." he mumbled, his breath fanning your lips. "shut up." you whispered, as you were the one who finally closed the distance.
his lips immediately took charge, the hand that was on your chin fell down to the other side of your waist, pulling you in even closer.
it was the usual soft kiss he always gave you, the passionate one that went on for hours and never got too intense — the one that screamed the patience you had for each other, never rushing the moment.
he titled his head, bring you in deeper into the kiss. your hands glided to his chest, soft breathing filling up the room.
the sound of chatter, the sound of bottles clinking, the sound of the hum from the tv fell into the back of your mind as it remained on james, feeding into the moment.
it seemed like the same way for him as he slowly controlled the kiss more intensely; his hand moving to the sole of your back, rubbing up and down, as the other reached the back of your thigh.
you caught onto the signal as your legs wrapped around his waist. he guided you onto the counter in a swift motion, both of his hands landing back onto your waist as you sat down on the edge of the marble.
your arms wrapped around his neck, shoving him deeper into the kiss to the point where he was hovering over you on top of the counter, the back of your head almost meeting the backsplash on the wall.
he broke away from the kiss, his breath still heavy on you, "you trying to make me sit up here with you or something?" he chuckled with humor, but the heat on his face, the slight purse of his lips didn't make you find the comment funny, only wanting more.
"not my intention." you replied blankly, eyes scanning back down to his lips, as you brought him back with no hurry.
"damn." he mumbled to himself against your lips, your lips now becoming more intense — the mood now feeling more like love than anything else.
"yo james what the fuck are you doing in there?" a muffled voice was heard from behind the door, alongside with some harsh knocks, the loud noise forcefully making you two break the kiss.
"dude." he whispered, "this is dangerous love." he shook his head, his head falling to the crook of your neck.
"you better go otherwise we're gonna expose ourselves." you managed to let out, despite the fact that your face was flushed and the flyaways that were once up were now stuck to your forehead.
"at this point, i don't even care." he met your gaze, "hide in the shower, i'll leave first."
"yeah go help the drunk one out there otherwise she'll shove a cup into you too."
he shook his head with laughter, "i love you." he planted a kiss onto your cheek, before sliding off of you.
you watched him intently, "also keep the blonde it looks nice – really nice on you." you smiled, kicking your feet that hung off the counter, watching him clean himself off.
"wait did you just say i love you?"
ness ˎˊ˗ YOO JAMES WORK!! who cheered cause i did. the blonde hair got a hold on me for awhile and i was down to write something for him... i can't write anymore help me
꩜ synopsis ───── keeping a relationship secret as a promise is usually easy but hard especially when your man looks extremely good with blonde hair.
masterlist 𖥨᩠ׄ݁ zhao yufan x f!reader — fwb!james, blonde james, down bad reader, drinking involved, mild swearing, tension, teasing, slight arguing, some humorous moments, might be seen as suggestive, kissing / making out, if typos are here – ignore them
( people in my taglist, although it is not highly suggestive, please don't read if uncomfortable though nothing here is taken out of boundaries or anything more than kissing and is written through mood & feeling. thank you cuties ! )
you like to say yours and james' patience runs strong during friend group events, knowing that you'll eventually see each other right after but you didn't know that seeing him enter with a whole new look will lead to your patience loosening.
the moment him and his friends entered with their usual grand enterance, you remained still-faced until you met his stare, and you swore the calm persona you carried through broke apart.
you almost talked your thoughts out loud, your words came to a halt mid conversation with your friend, that when you tried to regain consciousness, your words began to stutter.
"having a hard time?" your friend joked, laughing at your stutter. you forced out a laugh with a shake of your head, "i think it's the alcohol." you muttered, scratching at your neck.
"right." she replied with a nod, suspicion running through.
"i'm so fucked." you groaned, leaning your head back against the refrigerator. your whole body heaved a deep sigh, the grip on your cup becoming loose.
the thought of james and all of a sudden ran through your head, the composure that you usually have became undone and he had only walked through the door.
this wasn't the person who you thought you were.
"are you okay?"
you snapped back into your thoughts, eyes flashing wide open as you felt a hand grip onto your shoulder, "you almost fell there, let's take a break on drinking, yeah?" your friend rushed hurriedly, grabbing the cup from your hand and placing it back onto the counter.
"no i'm fine i just – i drank too fast, ill go back to the couch." you smiled innocently, like you weren't just stress sweating a minute ago. "okay but if this happens again, we're dipping out of here."
"i'm fine." you reached out of her grip, fixing your hair as you made your way towards the couch.
you stepped in slowly, trying to avoid contact with everyone — specifically james. you felt your heart pounding, as you walked to one of the empty spots on the couches and by mind you sat next to james without intent, but just because it's a habit.
you sighed, running your hands down your bare thighs from nerves, feeling the warmth of james right beside you.
james noticed the small movement, raising an eyebrow at your impulsive breathing and your hands slowly rubbing up and down your legs like you tried to hide your nerves with comfort.
"you okay?" he leaned down, whispering against your ear, eyeing the people beside him.
"yeah im okay," you replied quietly. you looked over towards him, scanning his face. james met your gaze, staring deeply into you, "then why are you nervous?" he teased, a smile coming across his face.
your eyebrows furrowed, "i'm not nervous."
james saw the flutter in your eyes, the breaking in your voice, your voice getting quieter as the sentence progressed. he already knew the reasoning behind all your actions.
he hummed, "i believe you." he leaned back on the couch, shamelessly letting an arm rest behind you.
you shut your eyes, your arms coming to a cross, your heart only beating faster and faster. you already knew this night wasn't going to last the way you anticipated.
you sat beside james the whole time, easing off with conversations between you and your own friends, zoning out into spaces, anything to try to get james off of your mind.
james did the same thing — like usual; made conversations with his own friends, but his arm still rested behind you like it was a normal friendship action to do. good thing nobody questioned about it.
you really thought your composure regained itself with the distractions, with the ignorance of his arm behind you — though his hand got closer to closer to your shoulder as time went on and you never noticed until you felt the warmth of his hand on your shoulder, his fingers grabbing around the blade of it.
nobody noticed it – most likely too immersed in the different topics that were thrown around the room, but you sure did. your breath hitched mid conversation with your friend, the same stuttering happening all over again.
james smirked to himself, feeling the glow of your skin get hotter by his gesture, but he continued on with his conversations, despite the tension only getting deeper internally.
you tried laughing it off, giggling at whatever your friend had just said, regardless if it was humorous or not, you just needed to distract yourself harder.
but his hand dragged down the sole of your shoulder, reaching down to your elbow, then raising it back up to your blade, resting it there once again.
you bit your lip, letting out a deep breath, as you removed your gaze from your friend.
her voice came to a stop, as you snapped your head towards her, nervous that she may have caught on. "are you okay?" she titled her head.
"yeah?" you replied, confused.
"oh you just looked away from me randomly, i thought something happened again." her lips slanted, worry written all over her face.
you looked at her dumbfounded, not sure if she was being sarcastic or if she was completely oblivious to the hand that was currently rubbing up and down on your arm.
"are you drunk?" you questioned.
"no?" she furrowed her eyebrows, "why would you think that?"
you looked at her up and down, "just - just continue. i'm listening."
"i'll just talk to you later." she rolled your eyes, "or i'll talk to someone else that won't look away from me mid conversation." she huffed out a breath, crossing her arms in the meantime.
you looked over to james, watching the way he scrolled on his phone. "what the fuck are you doing?" you leaned in closer, yelling out quietly.
he met your gaze, "i'm on my phone." he replied blankly, "what are you accusing me of?"
"look at where your hand is and tell me what i'm accusing you of?"
"i'm touching my girl?"
you closed your eyes, "look where we are. if someone sees this you're fucked."
"i don't think they know regardless." he looked around the room, "they're all drunk. also, your friend didn't even catch it. i could make out with you right now and nobody would know."
you rolled your eyes, smiling hard, blush seeping through your cheeks, "don't talk to me like that, you're already doing this."
he chuckled, "i can talk to you however i want cause i know you wouldn't mind."
your tongue met the inside of your cheek, scanning his face once again. you felt your breath becoming rapid, your stare getting lost into his face, words coming blank to your mind.
"i'm going back to the kitchen." your voice came out soft, shaking your head away from any thoughts getting further the more you looked at him.
he smiled, "i'll be waiting for you"
"please don't be." you joked, rushingly getting up from your seat, making your way over the ruckus on the floor.
james watched you as you walked away, both of his arms coming to the top of the couch.
you let a hand run down your forearm, letting out another deep breath that was held in for a long time. you swore that you were going to be out of oxygen as the night approached, he was making you feral by this point.
and he knew.
you arrive to the kitchen, immediately resting your hands on the counter as the breeze from the semi opened window right above the sink settled in, causing you to squint your eyes at the air.
you ran a hand through your hair, letting it sit for a bit before running it through completely, your mind completely bombarded.
his looks remained unchanged in your mind, he has always looked good but never this good to the point you felt feelings you never felt before.
you were always patient, always composed to everyone, nobody knew about your relationships simply because you knew how to handle one privately — but now, you fell like a whole different person.
he knew what he was doing, he knew how you felt and he just wanted to see how far you could go.
you heard shuffling come from behind you, soft footsteps approaching behind you. you looked up at the reflection of the window and your lips immediately came to a smirk, dipping your head back down to stare down at the marble.
he stared at the back of your head the whole time, now resting his back against the counter beside you as he now stared at your side profile.
he dipped his hands in the pockets of his sweats, "you're acting different than usual." he finally broke the silence, lowly.
"you know what you're doing james," you huffed out a breath, raising your head up to look over at him, "i know what you're doing." you added on.
"what am i doing?" he raised an eyebrow. "don't act stupid cause you never do this in front of people." you replied back in an argumentative tone.
"don't get messy with me." he replied sternly, watching your change in demeanor, "i don't like when you start arguing with me."
you remove your hands off the counter, moving closer to him before coming to a stop right in front of him.
his hands stayed flat against the counter, looking at you up and down, watching you carefully. his mind fought the urge to bring his hands towards you, but he wanted to see where you'd take this.
you brought your hands onto his lower stomach, gliding it up until it landed onto his collarbone, meeting his gaze.
he watched you deeply, "don't start this."
you smiled, "you started this." you titled your head, bringing obvious tease onto the scene.
his heart fluttered, letting out a breathy chuckle. he finally brought his hands onto your waist, bringing you in closer until both of your chests glued together, "but i don't like when you do it."
you pouted sarcastically, your hands sliding up to his cheeks, bringing his face closer.
he immediately looked down to your lips, then back to your eyes. he chuckled once again, with a shake of his head, rising his head up a bit, "you're fucking crazy."
"how am i crazy?" you smiled. he licked his lips, heaving a breath, "you're doing this to me knowing that there's people out there."
you hummed, "now you know how i feel." you nodded slowly, "but you're only saying that because you know i won."
"won wh –"
you brought his face back down, planting a quick, lingering kiss onto his lips. you pulled back smiling, and he chased to meet your lips again, but your head retracted back before he could.
"don't get ahead of yourself, maybe someone's watching." you laughed, sliding his hands off of you. you turned on your heels, now leaving him to sulk in the kitchen.
he tried to reach out for your arm, but your legs were faster than him. he placed both of his hands back onto the counter, throwing his head back with a small smile.
you made your way back to the living room , scanning the scene; everyone got worse, multiple cups stacked onto the table, some of them sleeping on the floor — it was a mess.
you stopped in your tracks when you felt a sudden spark reappear in your stomach as your eyes gazed over the spot you and james sat in prior, now empty, yearning for your name.
your mind replayed the moment that happened seconds ago, the shift in tension, the closeness, his stare, his presence — the confidence you had before, is now gone.
you moved forward into the room, grabbing your car keys off of the coffee table.
"where are you going?" one of the boys asked, sitting up straight like you leaving was the end of the world. "home?" you squinted your eyes.
they groaned, "it's only like ten pm though."
"yeah and i'm going home." you rolled your eyes, brushing your top, getting ready to head to the enterance.
"no you're not." you heard a voice call out, the room falling silent. you turned around, only to meet james standing right by the couch.
oh's, flooded around the room, some of them trying to hold in their laughter at the sudden remark from james after being quiet for so long.
"he's serious too." one of his friends added intently, too engaged in the sudden change of tension.
you rolled your eyes once more, "i'm going home."
"why?" james questioned.
your mind froze, searching for an excuse, "i'm tired and i have a cat to feed." you turned back around, ready to head out.
"no don't go home!" one of your friends picked herself up from the couch, running straight to your arms, indulging you into a tight hug, "you can't go.." she mumbled into the crook of your neck, the cup in her hand only getting deeper and deeper into your stomach at that point.
"you're so fucking drunk." you patted her back, laughing while trying to pull back but she only emerged forward after every movement, pain now striking in, "your cup..." you said softly, panic scattering your body.
everyone rised up from the couch as they saw your expression shift to panic, trying to remove her from the scene.
"i told you to hold her down, she's so drunk." one of the other girls yelled out to the guy that sat beside her. "she left me!" he yelled back.
you opened your eyes, catching james in the corner of your eye, standing there almost like he was admiring the scene. "you going to help or what dude?" you yelled out loud.
"your girl is calling for you bro." one of his friends teased, patting his shoulder as he dragged the girl back onto the couch.
you stare wide eyed between the two of them, your eyebrows furrowing as your chest heaved up and down, "what the fuck is wrong with you." you yelled out, grabbing your stomach in the process.
"this is why im leaving, all of you guys are a mess." you turned on your heels but instead of rushing to the enternace you settled yourself into the bathroom that was down the hall.
you weren't even in pain anymore, it was more fury than anything. you knew the relationship was secretive but you had just gotten hurt and he had stood there in awe the whole time.
it got to you when you realized his own friends cared more about you than him and it genuinely upsetted you and that almost made him become fully erased from your mind – just like what happened in the kitchen scene.
you planted your car keys onto the counter, flatting the top of your hair down, fixing the flyaways as it got progressively messier when they tried removing your friend.
"what the hell bro?" you whispered to yourself, trying to fix anything that had gotten ruin physically.
the door suddenly opened, leading your movements to a halt.
"listen –" the sudden entry started.
you groaned deeply, "there's no listen. get out." you faced toward the door, peaking through the creek of the opened door, "please leave me alone." you whined when you realized who it was.
he didn't listen, instead he opened the door further, making you push away from it, leaving no room to push him away any farther.
"i know you're mad at me." he whispered, closing the door behind him. "of course i'm mad at you, you didn't even protect me."
"i didn't know what to do. and you know how she is, she's crazy." his tone remained calm, the lack of anger laced in his voice,
"still, it was a whole glass cup and you stood there." you sighed in disbelief.
"realistically, everyone was already up to help you –"
"but i wanted you to help me." you cut him off, slightly harsh.
he sighed, fingers running through his hair.
just by that moment, you felt the anger flush away within a second, your eyes beaming into him, erasing your thoughts completely.
you sighed back — not from disbelief of the situation this time, but more so from the same feeling you had felt earlier when he entered.
the new look, the way his whole persona changed just by a small detail. it almost made you not want to argue anymore – the feeling fuming its way back into you once again,
"i don't like how you're acting today." you crossed your arms, "you never, ever do this during a group hangout. it's like you dyed your hair and knew how i was going to act."
"or maybe you put a spell on me." you added on.
he laughed, stepping closer to you, "that's exactly it. i just know you so well."
"is this really the day you want us to expose – our whatever we have – to everyone in this house right now?"
"well that depends on how obvious you make it."
you rolled your eyes, arms coming down to your side in defeat, "you made it more obvious than me."
"i just wanted to show you some love." he mumbled, stepping even more closer, watching you with a look that made your heart beat fast.
"stop," your lips forming into a slight pout that eventually turned into a smile.
he chuckled, not even bothering with a reply as he brought a hand to your waist and the other one on your chin, bringing your face closer to his.
you looked in between his lips and his stare, sweat bawling up on the palm of your hands, your nervous system getting intense, the heat now running through your body.
your brought your hands up to the back of his neck, unintentionally bringing his face even closer to your own, lips only inches away from being touched.
"i knew you weren't going to stay angry at me." he mumbled, his breath fanning your lips. "shut up." you whispered, as you were the one who finally closed the distance.
his lips immediately took charge, the hand that was on your chin fell down to the other side of your waist, pulling you in even closer.
it was the usual soft kiss he always gave you, the passionate one that went on for hours and never got too intense — the one that screamed the patience you had for each other, never rushing the moment.
he titled his head, bring you in deeper into the kiss. your hands glided to his chest, soft breathing filling up the room.
the sound of chatter, the sound of bottles clinking, the sound of the hum from the tv fell into the back of your mind as it remained on james, feeding into the moment.
it seemed like the same way for him as he slowly controlled the kiss more intensely; his hand moving to the sole of your back, rubbing up and down, as the other reached the back of your thigh.
you caught onto the signal as your legs wrapped around his waist. he guided you onto the counter in a swift motion, both of his hands landing back onto your waist as you sat down on the edge of the marble.
your arms wrapped around his neck, shoving him deeper into the kiss to the point where he was hovering over you on top of the counter, the back of your head almost meeting the backsplash on the wall.
he broke away from the kiss, his breath still heavy on you, "you trying to make me sit up here with you or something?" he chuckled with humor, but the heat on his face, the slight purse of his lips didn't make you find the comment funny, only wanting more.
"not my intention." you replied blankly, eyes scanning back down to his lips, as you brought him back with no hurry.
"damn." he mumbled to himself against your lips, your lips now becoming more intense — the mood now feeling more like love than anything else.
"yo james what the fuck are you doing in there?" a muffled voice was heard from behind the door, alongside with some harsh knocks, the loud noise forcefully making you two break the kiss.
"dude." he whispered, "this is dangerous love." he shook his head, his head falling to the crook of your neck.
"you better go otherwise we're gonna expose ourselves." you managed to let out, despite the fact that your face was flushed and the flyaways that were once up were now stuck to your forehead.
"at this point, i don't even care." he met your gaze, "hide in the shower, i'll leave first."
"yeah go help the drunk one out there otherwise she'll shove a cup into you too."
he shook his head with laughter, "i love you." he planted a kiss onto your cheek, before sliding off of you.
you watched him intently, "also keep the blonde it looks nice – really nice on you." you smiled, kicking your feet that hung off the counter, watching him clean himself off.
"wait did you just say i love you?"
ness ˎˊ˗ YOO JAMES WORK!! who cheered cause i did. the blonde hair got a hold on me for awhile and i was down to write something for him... i can't write anymore help me
꩜ synopsis ───── keeping a relationship secret as a promise is usually easy but hard especially when your man looks extremely good with blonde hair.
masterlist 𖥨᩠ׄ݁ zhao yufan x f!reader — fwb!james, blonde james, down bad reader, drinking involved, mild swearing, tension, teasing, slight arguing, some humorous moments, might be seen as suggestive, kissing / making out, if typos are here – ignore them
( people in my taglist, although it is not highly suggestive, please don't read if uncomfortable though nothing here is taken out of boundaries or anything more than kissing and is written through mood & feeling. thank you cuties ! )
you like to say yours and james' patience runs strong during friend group events, knowing that you'll eventually see each other right after but you didn't know that seeing him enter with a whole new look will lead to your patience loosening.
the moment him and his friends entered with their usual grand enterance, you remained still-faced until you met his stare, and you swore the calm persona you carried through broke apart.
you almost talked your thoughts out loud, your words came to a halt mid conversation with your friend, that when you tried to regain consciousness, your words began to stutter.
"having a hard time?" your friend joked, laughing at your stutter. you forced out a laugh with a shake of your head, "i think it's the alcohol." you muttered, scratching at your neck.
"right." she replied with a nod, suspicion running through.
"i'm so fucked." you groaned, leaning your head back against the refrigerator. your whole body heaved a deep sigh, the grip on your cup becoming loose.
the thought of james and all of a sudden ran through your head, the composure that you usually have became undone and he had only walked through the door.
this wasn't the person who you thought you were.
"are you okay?"
you snapped back into your thoughts, eyes flashing wide open as you felt a hand grip onto your shoulder, "you almost fell there, let's take a break on drinking, yeah?" your friend rushed hurriedly, grabbing the cup from your hand and placing it back onto the counter.
"no i'm fine i just – i drank too fast, ill go back to the couch." you smiled innocently, like you weren't just stress sweating a minute ago. "okay but if this happens again, we're dipping out of here."
"i'm fine." you reached out of her grip, fixing your hair as you made your way towards the couch.
you stepped in slowly, trying to avoid contact with everyone — specifically james. you felt your heart pounding, as you walked to one of the empty spots on the couches and by mind you sat next to james without intent, but just because it's a habit.
you sighed, running your hands down your bare thighs from nerves, feeling the warmth of james right beside you.
james noticed the small movement, raising an eyebrow at your impulsive breathing and your hands slowly rubbing up and down your legs like you tried to hide your nerves with comfort.
"you okay?" he leaned down, whispering against your ear, eyeing the people beside him.
"yeah im okay," you replied quietly. you looked over towards him, scanning his face. james met your gaze, staring deeply into you, "then why are you nervous?" he teased, a smile coming across his face.
your eyebrows furrowed, "i'm not nervous."
james saw the flutter in your eyes, the breaking in your voice, your voice getting quieter as the sentence progressed. he already knew the reasoning behind all your actions.
he hummed, "i believe you." he leaned back on the couch, shamelessly letting an arm rest behind you.
you shut your eyes, your arms coming to a cross, your heart only beating faster and faster. you already knew this night wasn't going to last the way you anticipated.
you sat beside james the whole time, easing off with conversations between you and your own friends, zoning out into spaces, anything to try to get james off of your mind.
james did the same thing — like usual; made conversations with his own friends, but his arm still rested behind you like it was a normal friendship action to do. good thing nobody questioned about it.
you really thought your composure regained itself with the distractions, with the ignorance of his arm behind you — though his hand got closer to closer to your shoulder as time went on and you never noticed until you felt the warmth of his hand on your shoulder, his fingers grabbing around the blade of it.
nobody noticed it – most likely too immersed in the different topics that were thrown around the room, but you sure did. your breath hitched mid conversation with your friend, the same stuttering happening all over again.
james smirked to himself, feeling the glow of your skin get hotter by his gesture, but he continued on with his conversations, despite the tension only getting deeper internally.
you tried laughing it off, giggling at whatever your friend had just said, regardless if it was humorous or not, you just needed to distract yourself harder.
but his hand dragged down the sole of your shoulder, reaching down to your elbow, then raising it back up to your blade, resting it there once again.
you bit your lip, letting out a deep breath, as you removed your gaze from your friend.
her voice came to a stop, as you snapped your head towards her, nervous that she may have caught on. "are you okay?" she titled her head.
"yeah?" you replied, confused.
"oh you just looked away from me randomly, i thought something happened again." her lips slanted, worry written all over her face.
you looked at her dumbfounded, not sure if she was being sarcastic or if she was completely oblivious to the hand that was currently rubbing up and down on your arm.
"are you drunk?" you questioned.
"no?" she furrowed her eyebrows, "why would you think that?"
you looked at her up and down, "just - just continue. i'm listening."
"i'll just talk to you later." she rolled your eyes, "or i'll talk to someone else that won't look away from me mid conversation." she huffed out a breath, crossing her arms in the meantime.
you looked over to james, watching the way he scrolled on his phone. "what the fuck are you doing?" you leaned in closer, yelling out quietly.
he met your gaze, "i'm on my phone." he replied blankly, "what are you accusing me of?"
"look at where your hand is and tell me what i'm accusing you of?"
"i'm touching my girl?"
you closed your eyes, "look where we are. if someone sees this you're fucked."
"i don't think they know regardless." he looked around the room, "they're all drunk. also, your friend didn't even catch it. i could make out with you right now and nobody would know."
you rolled your eyes, smiling hard, blush seeping through your cheeks, "don't talk to me like that, you're already doing this."
he chuckled, "i can talk to you however i want cause i know you wouldn't mind."
your tongue met the inside of your cheek, scanning his face once again. you felt your breath becoming rapid, your stare getting lost into his face, words coming blank to your mind.
"i'm going back to the kitchen." your voice came out soft, shaking your head away from any thoughts getting further the more you looked at him.
he smiled, "i'll be waiting for you"
"please don't be." you joked, rushingly getting up from your seat, making your way over the ruckus on the floor.
james watched you as you walked away, both of his arms coming to the top of the couch.
you let a hand run down your forearm, letting out another deep breath that was held in for a long time. you swore that you were going to be out of oxygen as the night approached, he was making you feral by this point.
and he knew.
you arrive to the kitchen, immediately resting your hands on the counter as the breeze from the semi opened window right above the sink settled in, causing you to squint your eyes at the air.
you ran a hand through your hair, letting it sit for a bit before running it through completely, your mind completely bombarded.
his looks remained unchanged in your mind, he has always looked good but never this good to the point you felt feelings you never felt before.
you were always patient, always composed to everyone, nobody knew about your relationships simply because you knew how to handle one privately — but now, you fell like a whole different person.
he knew what he was doing, he knew how you felt and he just wanted to see how far you could go.
you heard shuffling come from behind you, soft footsteps approaching behind you. you looked up at the reflection of the window and your lips immediately came to a smirk, dipping your head back down to stare down at the marble.
he stared at the back of your head the whole time, now resting his back against the counter beside you as he now stared at your side profile.
he dipped his hands in the pockets of his sweats, "you're acting different than usual." he finally broke the silence, lowly.
"you know what you're doing james," you huffed out a breath, raising your head up to look over at him, "i know what you're doing." you added on.
"what am i doing?" he raised an eyebrow. "don't act stupid cause you never do this in front of people." you replied back in an argumentative tone.
"don't get messy with me." he replied sternly, watching your change in demeanor, "i don't like when you start arguing with me."
you remove your hands off the counter, moving closer to him before coming to a stop right in front of him.
his hands stayed flat against the counter, looking at you up and down, watching you carefully. his mind fought the urge to bring his hands towards you, but he wanted to see where you'd take this.
you brought your hands onto his lower stomach, gliding it up until it landed onto his collarbone, meeting his gaze.
he watched you deeply, "don't start this."
you smiled, "you started this." you titled your head, bringing obvious tease onto the scene.
his heart fluttered, letting out a breathy chuckle. he finally brought his hands onto your waist, bringing you in closer until both of your chests glued together, "but i don't like when you do it."
you pouted sarcastically, your hands sliding up to his cheeks, bringing his face closer.
he immediately looked down to your lips, then back to your eyes. he chuckled once again, with a shake of his head, rising his head up a bit, "you're fucking crazy."
"how am i crazy?" you smiled. he licked his lips, heaving a breath, "you're doing this to me knowing that there's people out there."
you hummed, "now you know how i feel." you nodded slowly, "but you're only saying that because you know i won."
"won wh –"
you brought his face back down, planting a quick, lingering kiss onto his lips. you pulled back smiling, and he chased to meet your lips again, but your head retracted back before he could.
"don't get ahead of yourself, maybe someone's watching." you laughed, sliding his hands off of you. you turned on your heels, now leaving him to sulk in the kitchen.
he tried to reach out for your arm, but your legs were faster than him. he placed both of his hands back onto the counter, throwing his head back with a small smile.
you made your way back to the living room , scanning the scene; everyone got worse, multiple cups stacked onto the table, some of them sleeping on the floor — it was a mess.
you stopped in your tracks when you felt a sudden spark reappear in your stomach as your eyes gazed over the spot you and james sat in prior, now empty, yearning for your name.
your mind replayed the moment that happened seconds ago, the shift in tension, the closeness, his stare, his presence — the confidence you had before, is now gone.
you moved forward into the room, grabbing your car keys off of the coffee table.
"where are you going?" one of the boys asked, sitting up straight like you leaving was the end of the world. "home?" you squinted your eyes.
they groaned, "it's only like ten pm though."
"yeah and i'm going home." you rolled your eyes, brushing your top, getting ready to head to the enterance.
"no you're not." you heard a voice call out, the room falling silent. you turned around, only to meet james standing right by the couch.
oh's, flooded around the room, some of them trying to hold in their laughter at the sudden remark from james after being quiet for so long.
"he's serious too." one of his friends added intently, too engaged in the sudden change of tension.
you rolled your eyes once more, "i'm going home."
"why?" james questioned.
your mind froze, searching for an excuse, "i'm tired and i have a cat to feed." you turned back around, ready to head out.
"no don't go home!" one of your friends picked herself up from the couch, running straight to your arms, indulging you into a tight hug, "you can't go.." she mumbled into the crook of your neck, the cup in her hand only getting deeper and deeper into your stomach at that point.
"you're so fucking drunk." you patted her back, laughing while trying to pull back but she only emerged forward after every movement, pain now striking in, "your cup..." you said softly, panic scattering your body.
everyone rised up from the couch as they saw your expression shift to panic, trying to remove her from the scene.
"i told you to hold her down, she's so drunk." one of the other girls yelled out to the guy that sat beside her. "she left me!" he yelled back.
you opened your eyes, catching james in the corner of your eye, standing there almost like he was admiring the scene. "you going to help or what dude?" you yelled out loud.
"your girl is calling for you bro." one of his friends teased, patting his shoulder as he dragged the girl back onto the couch.
you stare wide eyed between the two of them, your eyebrows furrowing as your chest heaved up and down, "what the fuck is wrong with you." you yelled out, grabbing your stomach in the process.
"this is why im leaving, all of you guys are a mess." you turned on your heels but instead of rushing to the enternace you settled yourself into the bathroom that was down the hall.
you weren't even in pain anymore, it was more fury than anything. you knew the relationship was secretive but you had just gotten hurt and he had stood there in awe the whole time.
it got to you when you realized his own friends cared more about you than him and it genuinely upsetted you and that almost made him become fully erased from your mind – just like what happened in the kitchen scene.
you planted your car keys onto the counter, flatting the top of your hair down, fixing the flyaways as it got progressively messier when they tried removing your friend.
"what the hell bro?" you whispered to yourself, trying to fix anything that had gotten ruin physically.
the door suddenly opened, leading your movements to a halt.
"listen –" the sudden entry started.
you groaned deeply, "there's no listen. get out." you faced toward the door, peaking through the creek of the opened door, "please leave me alone." you whined when you realized who it was.
he didn't listen, instead he opened the door further, making you push away from it, leaving no room to push him away any farther.
"i know you're mad at me." he whispered, closing the door behind him. "of course i'm mad at you, you didn't even protect me."
"i didn't know what to do. and you know how she is, she's crazy." his tone remained calm, the lack of anger laced in his voice,
"still, it was a whole glass cup and you stood there." you sighed in disbelief.
"realistically, everyone was already up to help you –"
"but i wanted you to help me." you cut him off, slightly harsh.
he sighed, fingers running through his hair.
just by that moment, you felt the anger flush away within a second, your eyes beaming into him, erasing your thoughts completely.
you sighed back — not from disbelief of the situation this time, but more so from the same feeling you had felt earlier when he entered.
the new look, the way his whole persona changed just by a small detail. it almost made you not want to argue anymore – the feeling fuming its way back into you once again,
"i don't like how you're acting today." you crossed your arms, "you never, ever do this during a group hangout. it's like you dyed your hair and knew how i was going to act."
"or maybe you put a spell on me." you added on.
he laughed, stepping closer to you, "that's exactly it. i just know you so well."
"is this really the day you want us to expose – our whatever we have – to everyone in this house right now?"
"well that depends on how obvious you make it."
you rolled your eyes, arms coming down to your side in defeat, "you made it more obvious than me."
"i just wanted to show you some love." he mumbled, stepping even more closer, watching you with a look that made your heart beat fast.
"stop," your lips forming into a slight pout that eventually turned into a smile.
he chuckled, not even bothering with a reply as he brought a hand to your waist and the other one on your chin, bringing your face closer to his.
you looked in between his lips and his stare, sweat bawling up on the palm of your hands, your nervous system getting intense, the heat now running through your body.
your brought your hands up to the back of his neck, unintentionally bringing his face even closer to your own, lips only inches away from being touched.
"i knew you weren't going to stay angry at me." he mumbled, his breath fanning your lips. "shut up." you whispered, as you were the one who finally closed the distance.
his lips immediately took charge, the hand that was on your chin fell down to the other side of your waist, pulling you in even closer.
it was the usual soft kiss he always gave you, the passionate one that went on for hours and never got too intense — the one that screamed the patience you had for each other, never rushing the moment.
he titled his head, bring you in deeper into the kiss. your hands glided to his chest, soft breathing filling up the room.
the sound of chatter, the sound of bottles clinking, the sound of the hum from the tv fell into the back of your mind as it remained on james, feeding into the moment.
it seemed like the same way for him as he slowly controlled the kiss more intensely; his hand moving to the sole of your back, rubbing up and down, as the other reached the back of your thigh.
you caught onto the signal as your legs wrapped around his waist. he guided you onto the counter in a swift motion, both of his hands landing back onto your waist as you sat down on the edge of the marble.
your arms wrapped around his neck, shoving him deeper into the kiss to the point where he was hovering over you on top of the counter, the back of your head almost meeting the backsplash on the wall.
he broke away from the kiss, his breath still heavy on you, "you trying to make me sit up here with you or something?" he chuckled with humor, but the heat on his face, the slight purse of his lips didn't make you find the comment funny, only wanting more.
"not my intention." you replied blankly, eyes scanning back down to his lips, as you brought him back with no hurry.
"damn." he mumbled to himself against your lips, your lips now becoming more intense — the mood now feeling more like love than anything else.
"yo james what the fuck are you doing in there?" a muffled voice was heard from behind the door, alongside with some harsh knocks, the loud noise forcefully making you two break the kiss.
"dude." he whispered, "this is dangerous love." he shook his head, his head falling to the crook of your neck.
"you better go otherwise we're gonna expose ourselves." you managed to let out, despite the fact that your face was flushed and the flyaways that were once up were now stuck to your forehead.
"at this point, i don't even care." he met your gaze, "hide in the shower, i'll leave first."
"yeah go help the drunk one out there otherwise she'll shove a cup into you too."
he shook his head with laughter, "i love you." he planted a kiss onto your cheek, before sliding off of you.
you watched him intently, "also keep the blonde it looks nice – really nice on you." you smiled, kicking your feet that hung off the counter, watching him clean himself off.
"wait did you just say i love you?"
ness ˎˊ˗ YOO JAMES WORK!! who cheered cause i did. the blonde hair got a hold on me for awhile and i was down to write something for him... i can't write anymore help me
꩜ synopsis ───── keeping a relationship secret as a promise is usually easy but hard especially when your man looks extremely good with blonde hair.
masterlist 𖥨᩠ׄ݁ zhao yufan x f!reader — fwb!james, blonde james, down bad reader, drinking involved, mild swearing, tension, teasing, slight arguing, some humorous moments, might be seen as suggestive, kissing / making out, if typos are here – ignore them
( people in my taglist, although it is not highly suggestive, please don't read if uncomfortable though nothing here is taken out of boundaries or anything more than kissing and is written through mood & feeling. thank you cuties ! )
you like to say yours and james' patience runs strong during friend group events, knowing that you'll eventually see each other right after but you didn't know that seeing him enter with a whole new look will lead to your patience loosening.
the moment him and his friends entered with their usual grand enterance, you remained still-faced until you met his stare, and you swore the calm persona you carried through broke apart.
you almost talked your thoughts out loud, your words came to a halt mid conversation with your friend, that when you tried to regain consciousness, your words began to stutter.
"having a hard time?" your friend joked, laughing at your stutter. you forced out a laugh with a shake of your head, "i think it's the alcohol." you muttered, scratching at your neck.
"right." she replied with a nod, suspicion running through.
"i'm so fucked." you groaned, leaning your head back against the refrigerator. your whole body heaved a deep sigh, the grip on your cup becoming loose.
the thought of james and all of a sudden ran through your head, the composure that you usually have became undone and he had only walked through the door.
this wasn't the person who you thought you were.
"are you okay?"
you snapped back into your thoughts, eyes flashing wide open as you felt a hand grip onto your shoulder, "you almost fell there, let's take a break on drinking, yeah?" your friend rushed hurriedly, grabbing the cup from your hand and placing it back onto the counter.
"no i'm fine i just – i drank too fast, ill go back to the couch." you smiled innocently, like you weren't just stress sweating a minute ago. "okay but if this happens again, we're dipping out of here."
"i'm fine." you reached out of her grip, fixing your hair as you made your way towards the couch.
you stepped in slowly, trying to avoid contact with everyone — specifically james. you felt your heart pounding, as you walked to one of the empty spots on the couches and by mind you sat next to james without intent, but just because it's a habit.
you sighed, running your hands down your bare thighs from nerves, feeling the warmth of james right beside you.
james noticed the small movement, raising an eyebrow at your impulsive breathing and your hands slowly rubbing up and down your legs like you tried to hide your nerves with comfort.
"you okay?" he leaned down, whispering against your ear, eyeing the people beside him.
"yeah im okay," you replied quietly. you looked over towards him, scanning his face. james met your gaze, staring deeply into you, "then why are you nervous?" he teased, a smile coming across his face.
your eyebrows furrowed, "i'm not nervous."
james saw the flutter in your eyes, the breaking in your voice, your voice getting quieter as the sentence progressed. he already knew the reasoning behind all your actions.
he hummed, "i believe you." he leaned back on the couch, shamelessly letting an arm rest behind you.
you shut your eyes, your arms coming to a cross, your heart only beating faster and faster. you already knew this night wasn't going to last the way you anticipated.
you sat beside james the whole time, easing off with conversations between you and your own friends, zoning out into spaces, anything to try to get james off of your mind.
james did the same thing — like usual; made conversations with his own friends, but his arm still rested behind you like it was a normal friendship action to do. good thing nobody questioned about it.
you really thought your composure regained itself with the distractions, with the ignorance of his arm behind you — though his hand got closer to closer to your shoulder as time went on and you never noticed until you felt the warmth of his hand on your shoulder, his fingers grabbing around the blade of it.
nobody noticed it – most likely too immersed in the different topics that were thrown around the room, but you sure did. your breath hitched mid conversation with your friend, the same stuttering happening all over again.
james smirked to himself, feeling the glow of your skin get hotter by his gesture, but he continued on with his conversations, despite the tension only getting deeper internally.
you tried laughing it off, giggling at whatever your friend had just said, regardless if it was humorous or not, you just needed to distract yourself harder.
but his hand dragged down the sole of your shoulder, reaching down to your elbow, then raising it back up to your blade, resting it there once again.
you bit your lip, letting out a deep breath, as you removed your gaze from your friend.
her voice came to a stop, as you snapped your head towards her, nervous that she may have caught on. "are you okay?" she titled her head.
"yeah?" you replied, confused.
"oh you just looked away from me randomly, i thought something happened again." her lips slanted, worry written all over her face.
you looked at her dumbfounded, not sure if she was being sarcastic or if she was completely oblivious to the hand that was currently rubbing up and down on your arm.
"are you drunk?" you questioned.
"no?" she furrowed her eyebrows, "why would you think that?"
you looked at her up and down, "just - just continue. i'm listening."
"i'll just talk to you later." she rolled your eyes, "or i'll talk to someone else that won't look away from me mid conversation." she huffed out a breath, crossing her arms in the meantime.
you looked over to james, watching the way he scrolled on his phone. "what the fuck are you doing?" you leaned in closer, yelling out quietly.
he met your gaze, "i'm on my phone." he replied blankly, "what are you accusing me of?"
"look at where your hand is and tell me what i'm accusing you of?"
"i'm touching my girl?"
you closed your eyes, "look where we are. if someone sees this you're fucked."
"i don't think they know regardless." he looked around the room, "they're all drunk. also, your friend didn't even catch it. i could make out with you right now and nobody would know."
you rolled your eyes, smiling hard, blush seeping through your cheeks, "don't talk to me like that, you're already doing this."
he chuckled, "i can talk to you however i want cause i know you wouldn't mind."
your tongue met the inside of your cheek, scanning his face once again. you felt your breath becoming rapid, your stare getting lost into his face, words coming blank to your mind.
"i'm going back to the kitchen." your voice came out soft, shaking your head away from any thoughts getting further the more you looked at him.
he smiled, "i'll be waiting for you"
"please don't be." you joked, rushingly getting up from your seat, making your way over the ruckus on the floor.
james watched you as you walked away, both of his arms coming to the top of the couch.
you let a hand run down your forearm, letting out another deep breath that was held in for a long time. you swore that you were going to be out of oxygen as the night approached, he was making you feral by this point.
and he knew.
you arrive to the kitchen, immediately resting your hands on the counter as the breeze from the semi opened window right above the sink settled in, causing you to squint your eyes at the air.
you ran a hand through your hair, letting it sit for a bit before running it through completely, your mind completely bombarded.
his looks remained unchanged in your mind, he has always looked good but never this good to the point you felt feelings you never felt before.
you were always patient, always composed to everyone, nobody knew about your relationships simply because you knew how to handle one privately — but now, you fell like a whole different person.
he knew what he was doing, he knew how you felt and he just wanted to see how far you could go.
you heard shuffling come from behind you, soft footsteps approaching behind you. you looked up at the reflection of the window and your lips immediately came to a smirk, dipping your head back down to stare down at the marble.
he stared at the back of your head the whole time, now resting his back against the counter beside you as he now stared at your side profile.
he dipped his hands in the pockets of his sweats, "you're acting different than usual." he finally broke the silence, lowly.
"you know what you're doing james," you huffed out a breath, raising your head up to look over at him, "i know what you're doing." you added on.
"what am i doing?" he raised an eyebrow. "don't act stupid cause you never do this in front of people." you replied back in an argumentative tone.
"don't get messy with me." he replied sternly, watching your change in demeanor, "i don't like when you start arguing with me."
you remove your hands off the counter, moving closer to him before coming to a stop right in front of him.
his hands stayed flat against the counter, looking at you up and down, watching you carefully. his mind fought the urge to bring his hands towards you, but he wanted to see where you'd take this.
you brought your hands onto his lower stomach, gliding it up until it landed onto his collarbone, meeting his gaze.
he watched you deeply, "don't start this."
you smiled, "you started this." you titled your head, bringing obvious tease onto the scene.
his heart fluttered, letting out a breathy chuckle. he finally brought his hands onto your waist, bringing you in closer until both of your chests glued together, "but i don't like when you do it."
you pouted sarcastically, your hands sliding up to his cheeks, bringing his face closer.
he immediately looked down to your lips, then back to your eyes. he chuckled once again, with a shake of his head, rising his head up a bit, "you're fucking crazy."
"how am i crazy?" you smiled. he licked his lips, heaving a breath, "you're doing this to me knowing that there's people out there."
you hummed, "now you know how i feel." you nodded slowly, "but you're only saying that because you know i won."
"won wh –"
you brought his face back down, planting a quick, lingering kiss onto his lips. you pulled back smiling, and he chased to meet your lips again, but your head retracted back before he could.
"don't get ahead of yourself, maybe someone's watching." you laughed, sliding his hands off of you. you turned on your heels, now leaving him to sulk in the kitchen.
he tried to reach out for your arm, but your legs were faster than him. he placed both of his hands back onto the counter, throwing his head back with a small smile.
you made your way back to the living room , scanning the scene; everyone got worse, multiple cups stacked onto the table, some of them sleeping on the floor — it was a mess.
you stopped in your tracks when you felt a sudden spark reappear in your stomach as your eyes gazed over the spot you and james sat in prior, now empty, yearning for your name.
your mind replayed the moment that happened seconds ago, the shift in tension, the closeness, his stare, his presence — the confidence you had before, is now gone.
you moved forward into the room, grabbing your car keys off of the coffee table.
"where are you going?" one of the boys asked, sitting up straight like you leaving was the end of the world. "home?" you squinted your eyes.
they groaned, "it's only like ten pm though."
"yeah and i'm going home." you rolled your eyes, brushing your top, getting ready to head to the enterance.
"no you're not." you heard a voice call out, the room falling silent. you turned around, only to meet james standing right by the couch.
oh's, flooded around the room, some of them trying to hold in their laughter at the sudden remark from james after being quiet for so long.
"he's serious too." one of his friends added intently, too engaged in the sudden change of tension.
you rolled your eyes once more, "i'm going home."
"why?" james questioned.
your mind froze, searching for an excuse, "i'm tired and i have a cat to feed." you turned back around, ready to head out.
"no don't go home!" one of your friends picked herself up from the couch, running straight to your arms, indulging you into a tight hug, "you can't go.." she mumbled into the crook of your neck, the cup in her hand only getting deeper and deeper into your stomach at that point.
"you're so fucking drunk." you patted her back, laughing while trying to pull back but she only emerged forward after every movement, pain now striking in, "your cup..." you said softly, panic scattering your body.
everyone rised up from the couch as they saw your expression shift to panic, trying to remove her from the scene.
"i told you to hold her down, she's so drunk." one of the other girls yelled out to the guy that sat beside her. "she left me!" he yelled back.
you opened your eyes, catching james in the corner of your eye, standing there almost like he was admiring the scene. "you going to help or what dude?" you yelled out loud.
"your girl is calling for you bro." one of his friends teased, patting his shoulder as he dragged the girl back onto the couch.
you stare wide eyed between the two of them, your eyebrows furrowing as your chest heaved up and down, "what the fuck is wrong with you." you yelled out, grabbing your stomach in the process.
"this is why im leaving, all of you guys are a mess." you turned on your heels but instead of rushing to the enternace you settled yourself into the bathroom that was down the hall.
you weren't even in pain anymore, it was more fury than anything. you knew the relationship was secretive but you had just gotten hurt and he had stood there in awe the whole time.
it got to you when you realized his own friends cared more about you than him and it genuinely upsetted you and that almost made him become fully erased from your mind – just like what happened in the kitchen scene.
you planted your car keys onto the counter, flatting the top of your hair down, fixing the flyaways as it got progressively messier when they tried removing your friend.
"what the hell bro?" you whispered to yourself, trying to fix anything that had gotten ruin physically.
the door suddenly opened, leading your movements to a halt.
"listen –" the sudden entry started.
you groaned deeply, "there's no listen. get out." you faced toward the door, peaking through the creek of the opened door, "please leave me alone." you whined when you realized who it was.
he didn't listen, instead he opened the door further, making you push away from it, leaving no room to push him away any farther.
"i know you're mad at me." he whispered, closing the door behind him. "of course i'm mad at you, you didn't even protect me."
"i didn't know what to do. and you know how she is, she's crazy." his tone remained calm, the lack of anger laced in his voice,
"still, it was a whole glass cup and you stood there." you sighed in disbelief.
"realistically, everyone was already up to help you –"
"but i wanted you to help me." you cut him off, slightly harsh.
he sighed, fingers running through his hair.
just by that moment, you felt the anger flush away within a second, your eyes beaming into him, erasing your thoughts completely.
you sighed back — not from disbelief of the situation this time, but more so from the same feeling you had felt earlier when he entered.
the new look, the way his whole persona changed just by a small detail. it almost made you not want to argue anymore – the feeling fuming its way back into you once again,
"i don't like how you're acting today." you crossed your arms, "you never, ever do this during a group hangout. it's like you dyed your hair and knew how i was going to act."
"or maybe you put a spell on me." you added on.
he laughed, stepping closer to you, "that's exactly it. i just know you so well."
"is this really the day you want us to expose – our whatever we have – to everyone in this house right now?"
"well that depends on how obvious you make it."
you rolled your eyes, arms coming down to your side in defeat, "you made it more obvious than me."
"i just wanted to show you some love." he mumbled, stepping even more closer, watching you with a look that made your heart beat fast.
"stop," your lips forming into a slight pout that eventually turned into a smile.
he chuckled, not even bothering with a reply as he brought a hand to your waist and the other one on your chin, bringing your face closer to his.
you looked in between his lips and his stare, sweat bawling up on the palm of your hands, your nervous system getting intense, the heat now running through your body.
your brought your hands up to the back of his neck, unintentionally bringing his face even closer to your own, lips only inches away from being touched.
"i knew you weren't going to stay angry at me." he mumbled, his breath fanning your lips. "shut up." you whispered, as you were the one who finally closed the distance.
his lips immediately took charge, the hand that was on your chin fell down to the other side of your waist, pulling you in even closer.
it was the usual soft kiss he always gave you, the passionate one that went on for hours and never got too intense — the one that screamed the patience you had for each other, never rushing the moment.
he titled his head, bring you in deeper into the kiss. your hands glided to his chest, soft breathing filling up the room.
the sound of chatter, the sound of bottles clinking, the sound of the hum from the tv fell into the back of your mind as it remained on james, feeding into the moment.
it seemed like the same way for him as he slowly controlled the kiss more intensely; his hand moving to the sole of your back, rubbing up and down, as the other reached the back of your thigh.
you caught onto the signal as your legs wrapped around his waist. he guided you onto the counter in a swift motion, both of his hands landing back onto your waist as you sat down on the edge of the marble.
your arms wrapped around his neck, shoving him deeper into the kiss to the point where he was hovering over you on top of the counter, the back of your head almost meeting the backsplash on the wall.
he broke away from the kiss, his breath still heavy on you, "you trying to make me sit up here with you or something?" he chuckled with humor, but the heat on his face, the slight purse of his lips didn't make you find the comment funny, only wanting more.
"not my intention." you replied blankly, eyes scanning back down to his lips, as you brought him back with no hurry.
"damn." he mumbled to himself against your lips, your lips now becoming more intense — the mood now feeling more like love than anything else.
"yo james what the fuck are you doing in there?" a muffled voice was heard from behind the door, alongside with some harsh knocks, the loud noise forcefully making you two break the kiss.
"dude." he whispered, "this is dangerous love." he shook his head, his head falling to the crook of your neck.
"you better go otherwise we're gonna expose ourselves." you managed to let out, despite the fact that your face was flushed and the flyaways that were once up were now stuck to your forehead.
"at this point, i don't even care." he met your gaze, "hide in the shower, i'll leave first."
"yeah go help the drunk one out there otherwise she'll shove a cup into you too."
he shook his head with laughter, "i love you." he planted a kiss onto your cheek, before sliding off of you.
you watched him intently, "also keep the blonde it looks nice – really nice on you." you smiled, kicking your feet that hung off the counter, watching him clean himself off.
"wait did you just say i love you?"
ness ˎˊ˗ YOO JAMES WORK!! who cheered cause i did. the blonde hair got a hold on me for awhile and i was down to write something for him... i can't write anymore help me
꩜ synopsis ───── keeping a relationship secret as a promise is usually easy but hard especially when your man looks extremely good with blonde hair.
masterlist 𖥨᩠ׄ݁ zhao yufan x f!reader — fwb!james, blonde james, down bad reader, drinking involved, mild swearing, tension, teasing, slight arguing, some humorous moments, might be seen as suggestive, kissing / making out, if typos are here – ignore them
( people in my taglist, although it is not highly suggestive, please don't read if uncomfortable though nothing here is taken out of boundaries or anything more than kissing and is written through mood & feeling. thank you cuties ! )
you like to say yours and james' patience runs strong during friend group events, knowing that you'll eventually see each other right after but you didn't know that seeing him enter with a whole new look will lead to your patience loosening.
the moment him and his friends entered with their usual grand enterance, you remained still-faced until you met his stare, and you swore the calm persona you carried through broke apart.
you almost talked your thoughts out loud, your words came to a halt mid conversation with your friend, that when you tried to regain consciousness, your words began to stutter.
"having a hard time?" your friend joked, laughing at your stutter. you forced out a laugh with a shake of your head, "i think it's the alcohol." you muttered, scratching at your neck.
"right." she replied with a nod, suspicion running through.
"i'm so fucked." you groaned, leaning your head back against the refrigerator. your whole body heaved a deep sigh, the grip on your cup becoming loose.
the thought of james and all of a sudden ran through your head, the composure that you usually have became undone and he had only walked through the door.
this wasn't the person who you thought you were.
"are you okay?"
you snapped back into your thoughts, eyes flashing wide open as you felt a hand grip onto your shoulder, "you almost fell there, let's take a break on drinking, yeah?" your friend rushed hurriedly, grabbing the cup from your hand and placing it back onto the counter.
"no i'm fine i just – i drank too fast, ill go back to the couch." you smiled innocently, like you weren't just stress sweating a minute ago. "okay but if this happens again, we're dipping out of here."
"i'm fine." you reached out of her grip, fixing your hair as you made your way towards the couch.
you stepped in slowly, trying to avoid contact with everyone — specifically james. you felt your heart pounding, as you walked to one of the empty spots on the couches and by mind you sat next to james without intent, but just because it's a habit.
you sighed, running your hands down your bare thighs from nerves, feeling the warmth of james right beside you.
james noticed the small movement, raising an eyebrow at your impulsive breathing and your hands slowly rubbing up and down your legs like you tried to hide your nerves with comfort.
"you okay?" he leaned down, whispering against your ear, eyeing the people beside him.
"yeah im okay," you replied quietly. you looked over towards him, scanning his face. james met your gaze, staring deeply into you, "then why are you nervous?" he teased, a smile coming across his face.
your eyebrows furrowed, "i'm not nervous."
james saw the flutter in your eyes, the breaking in your voice, your voice getting quieter as the sentence progressed. he already knew the reasoning behind all your actions.
he hummed, "i believe you." he leaned back on the couch, shamelessly letting an arm rest behind you.
you shut your eyes, your arms coming to a cross, your heart only beating faster and faster. you already knew this night wasn't going to last the way you anticipated.
you sat beside james the whole time, easing off with conversations between you and your own friends, zoning out into spaces, anything to try to get james off of your mind.
james did the same thing — like usual; made conversations with his own friends, but his arm still rested behind you like it was a normal friendship action to do. good thing nobody questioned about it.
you really thought your composure regained itself with the distractions, with the ignorance of his arm behind you — though his hand got closer to closer to your shoulder as time went on and you never noticed until you felt the warmth of his hand on your shoulder, his fingers grabbing around the blade of it.
nobody noticed it – most likely too immersed in the different topics that were thrown around the room, but you sure did. your breath hitched mid conversation with your friend, the same stuttering happening all over again.
james smirked to himself, feeling the glow of your skin get hotter by his gesture, but he continued on with his conversations, despite the tension only getting deeper internally.
you tried laughing it off, giggling at whatever your friend had just said, regardless if it was humorous or not, you just needed to distract yourself harder.
but his hand dragged down the sole of your shoulder, reaching down to your elbow, then raising it back up to your blade, resting it there once again.
you bit your lip, letting out a deep breath, as you removed your gaze from your friend.
her voice came to a stop, as you snapped your head towards her, nervous that she may have caught on. "are you okay?" she titled her head.
"yeah?" you replied, confused.
"oh you just looked away from me randomly, i thought something happened again." her lips slanted, worry written all over her face.
you looked at her dumbfounded, not sure if she was being sarcastic or if she was completely oblivious to the hand that was currently rubbing up and down on your arm.
"are you drunk?" you questioned.
"no?" she furrowed her eyebrows, "why would you think that?"
you looked at her up and down, "just - just continue. i'm listening."
"i'll just talk to you later." she rolled your eyes, "or i'll talk to someone else that won't look away from me mid conversation." she huffed out a breath, crossing her arms in the meantime.
you looked over to james, watching the way he scrolled on his phone. "what the fuck are you doing?" you leaned in closer, yelling out quietly.
he met your gaze, "i'm on my phone." he replied blankly, "what are you accusing me of?"
"look at where your hand is and tell me what i'm accusing you of?"
"i'm touching my girl?"
you closed your eyes, "look where we are. if someone sees this you're fucked."
"i don't think they know regardless." he looked around the room, "they're all drunk. also, your friend didn't even catch it. i could make out with you right now and nobody would know."
you rolled your eyes, smiling hard, blush seeping through your cheeks, "don't talk to me like that, you're already doing this."
he chuckled, "i can talk to you however i want cause i know you wouldn't mind."
your tongue met the inside of your cheek, scanning his face once again. you felt your breath becoming rapid, your stare getting lost into his face, words coming blank to your mind.
"i'm going back to the kitchen." your voice came out soft, shaking your head away from any thoughts getting further the more you looked at him.
he smiled, "i'll be waiting for you"
"please don't be." you joked, rushingly getting up from your seat, making your way over the ruckus on the floor.
james watched you as you walked away, both of his arms coming to the top of the couch.
you let a hand run down your forearm, letting out another deep breath that was held in for a long time. you swore that you were going to be out of oxygen as the night approached, he was making you feral by this point.
and he knew.
you arrive to the kitchen, immediately resting your hands on the counter as the breeze from the semi opened window right above the sink settled in, causing you to squint your eyes at the air.
you ran a hand through your hair, letting it sit for a bit before running it through completely, your mind completely bombarded.
his looks remained unchanged in your mind, he has always looked good but never this good to the point you felt feelings you never felt before.
you were always patient, always composed to everyone, nobody knew about your relationships simply because you knew how to handle one privately — but now, you fell like a whole different person.
he knew what he was doing, he knew how you felt and he just wanted to see how far you could go.
you heard shuffling come from behind you, soft footsteps approaching behind you. you looked up at the reflection of the window and your lips immediately came to a smirk, dipping your head back down to stare down at the marble.
he stared at the back of your head the whole time, now resting his back against the counter beside you as he now stared at your side profile.
he dipped his hands in the pockets of his sweats, "you're acting different than usual." he finally broke the silence, lowly.
"you know what you're doing james," you huffed out a breath, raising your head up to look over at him, "i know what you're doing." you added on.
"what am i doing?" he raised an eyebrow. "don't act stupid cause you never do this in front of people." you replied back in an argumentative tone.
"don't get messy with me." he replied sternly, watching your change in demeanor, "i don't like when you start arguing with me."
you remove your hands off the counter, moving closer to him before coming to a stop right in front of him.
his hands stayed flat against the counter, looking at you up and down, watching you carefully. his mind fought the urge to bring his hands towards you, but he wanted to see where you'd take this.
you brought your hands onto his lower stomach, gliding it up until it landed onto his collarbone, meeting his gaze.
he watched you deeply, "don't start this."
you smiled, "you started this." you titled your head, bringing obvious tease onto the scene.
his heart fluttered, letting out a breathy chuckle. he finally brought his hands onto your waist, bringing you in closer until both of your chests glued together, "but i don't like when you do it."
you pouted sarcastically, your hands sliding up to his cheeks, bringing his face closer.
he immediately looked down to your lips, then back to your eyes. he chuckled once again, with a shake of his head, rising his head up a bit, "you're fucking crazy."
"how am i crazy?" you smiled. he licked his lips, heaving a breath, "you're doing this to me knowing that there's people out there."
you hummed, "now you know how i feel." you nodded slowly, "but you're only saying that because you know i won."
"won wh –"
you brought his face back down, planting a quick, lingering kiss onto his lips. you pulled back smiling, and he chased to meet your lips again, but your head retracted back before he could.
"don't get ahead of yourself, maybe someone's watching." you laughed, sliding his hands off of you. you turned on your heels, now leaving him to sulk in the kitchen.
he tried to reach out for your arm, but your legs were faster than him. he placed both of his hands back onto the counter, throwing his head back with a small smile.
you made your way back to the living room , scanning the scene; everyone got worse, multiple cups stacked onto the table, some of them sleeping on the floor — it was a mess.
you stopped in your tracks when you felt a sudden spark reappear in your stomach as your eyes gazed over the spot you and james sat in prior, now empty, yearning for your name.
your mind replayed the moment that happened seconds ago, the shift in tension, the closeness, his stare, his presence — the confidence you had before, is now gone.
you moved forward into the room, grabbing your car keys off of the coffee table.
"where are you going?" one of the boys asked, sitting up straight like you leaving was the end of the world. "home?" you squinted your eyes.
they groaned, "it's only like ten pm though."
"yeah and i'm going home." you rolled your eyes, brushing your top, getting ready to head to the enterance.
"no you're not." you heard a voice call out, the room falling silent. you turned around, only to meet james standing right by the couch.
oh's, flooded around the room, some of them trying to hold in their laughter at the sudden remark from james after being quiet for so long.
"he's serious too." one of his friends added intently, too engaged in the sudden change of tension.
you rolled your eyes once more, "i'm going home."
"why?" james questioned.
your mind froze, searching for an excuse, "i'm tired and i have a cat to feed." you turned back around, ready to head out.
"no don't go home!" one of your friends picked herself up from the couch, running straight to your arms, indulging you into a tight hug, "you can't go.." she mumbled into the crook of your neck, the cup in her hand only getting deeper and deeper into your stomach at that point.
"you're so fucking drunk." you patted her back, laughing while trying to pull back but she only emerged forward after every movement, pain now striking in, "your cup..." you said softly, panic scattering your body.
everyone rised up from the couch as they saw your expression shift to panic, trying to remove her from the scene.
"i told you to hold her down, she's so drunk." one of the other girls yelled out to the guy that sat beside her. "she left me!" he yelled back.
you opened your eyes, catching james in the corner of your eye, standing there almost like he was admiring the scene. "you going to help or what dude?" you yelled out loud.
"your girl is calling for you bro." one of his friends teased, patting his shoulder as he dragged the girl back onto the couch.
you stare wide eyed between the two of them, your eyebrows furrowing as your chest heaved up and down, "what the fuck is wrong with you." you yelled out, grabbing your stomach in the process.
"this is why im leaving, all of you guys are a mess." you turned on your heels but instead of rushing to the enternace you settled yourself into the bathroom that was down the hall.
you weren't even in pain anymore, it was more fury than anything. you knew the relationship was secretive but you had just gotten hurt and he had stood there in awe the whole time.
it got to you when you realized his own friends cared more about you than him and it genuinely upsetted you and that almost made him become fully erased from your mind – just like what happened in the kitchen scene.
you planted your car keys onto the counter, flatting the top of your hair down, fixing the flyaways as it got progressively messier when they tried removing your friend.
"what the hell bro?" you whispered to yourself, trying to fix anything that had gotten ruin physically.
the door suddenly opened, leading your movements to a halt.
"listen –" the sudden entry started.
you groaned deeply, "there's no listen. get out." you faced toward the door, peaking through the creek of the opened door, "please leave me alone." you whined when you realized who it was.
he didn't listen, instead he opened the door further, making you push away from it, leaving no room to push him away any farther.
"i know you're mad at me." he whispered, closing the door behind him. "of course i'm mad at you, you didn't even protect me."
"i didn't know what to do. and you know how she is, she's crazy." his tone remained calm, the lack of anger laced in his voice,
"still, it was a whole glass cup and you stood there." you sighed in disbelief.
"realistically, everyone was already up to help you –"
"but i wanted you to help me." you cut him off, slightly harsh.
he sighed, fingers running through his hair.
just by that moment, you felt the anger flush away within a second, your eyes beaming into him, erasing your thoughts completely.
you sighed back — not from disbelief of the situation this time, but more so from the same feeling you had felt earlier when he entered.
the new look, the way his whole persona changed just by a small detail. it almost made you not want to argue anymore – the feeling fuming its way back into you once again,
"i don't like how you're acting today." you crossed your arms, "you never, ever do this during a group hangout. it's like you dyed your hair and knew how i was going to act."
"or maybe you put a spell on me." you added on.
he laughed, stepping closer to you, "that's exactly it. i just know you so well."
"is this really the day you want us to expose – our whatever we have – to everyone in this house right now?"
"well that depends on how obvious you make it."
you rolled your eyes, arms coming down to your side in defeat, "you made it more obvious than me."
"i just wanted to show you some love." he mumbled, stepping even more closer, watching you with a look that made your heart beat fast.
"stop," your lips forming into a slight pout that eventually turned into a smile.
he chuckled, not even bothering with a reply as he brought a hand to your waist and the other one on your chin, bringing your face closer to his.
you looked in between his lips and his stare, sweat bawling up on the palm of your hands, your nervous system getting intense, the heat now running through your body.
your brought your hands up to the back of his neck, unintentionally bringing his face even closer to your own, lips only inches away from being touched.
"i knew you weren't going to stay angry at me." he mumbled, his breath fanning your lips. "shut up." you whispered, as you were the one who finally closed the distance.
his lips immediately took charge, the hand that was on your chin fell down to the other side of your waist, pulling you in even closer.
it was the usual soft kiss he always gave you, the passionate one that went on for hours and never got too intense — the one that screamed the patience you had for each other, never rushing the moment.
he titled his head, bring you in deeper into the kiss. your hands glided to his chest, soft breathing filling up the room.
the sound of chatter, the sound of bottles clinking, the sound of the hum from the tv fell into the back of your mind as it remained on james, feeding into the moment.
it seemed like the same way for him as he slowly controlled the kiss more intensely; his hand moving to the sole of your back, rubbing up and down, as the other reached the back of your thigh.
you caught onto the signal as your legs wrapped around his waist. he guided you onto the counter in a swift motion, both of his hands landing back onto your waist as you sat down on the edge of the marble.
your arms wrapped around his neck, shoving him deeper into the kiss to the point where he was hovering over you on top of the counter, the back of your head almost meeting the backsplash on the wall.
he broke away from the kiss, his breath still heavy on you, "you trying to make me sit up here with you or something?" he chuckled with humor, but the heat on his face, the slight purse of his lips didn't make you find the comment funny, only wanting more.
"not my intention." you replied blankly, eyes scanning back down to his lips, as you brought him back with no hurry.
"damn." he mumbled to himself against your lips, your lips now becoming more intense — the mood now feeling more like love than anything else.
"yo james what the fuck are you doing in there?" a muffled voice was heard from behind the door, alongside with some harsh knocks, the loud noise forcefully making you two break the kiss.
"dude." he whispered, "this is dangerous love." he shook his head, his head falling to the crook of your neck.
"you better go otherwise we're gonna expose ourselves." you managed to let out, despite the fact that your face was flushed and the flyaways that were once up were now stuck to your forehead.
"at this point, i don't even care." he met your gaze, "hide in the shower, i'll leave first."
"yeah go help the drunk one out there otherwise she'll shove a cup into you too."
he shook his head with laughter, "i love you." he planted a kiss onto your cheek, before sliding off of you.
you watched him intently, "also keep the blonde it looks nice – really nice on you." you smiled, kicking your feet that hung off the counter, watching him clean himself off.
"wait did you just say i love you?"
ness ˎˊ˗ YOO JAMES WORK!! who cheered cause i did. the blonde hair got a hold on me for awhile and i was down to write something for him... i can't write anymore help me
꩜ synopsis ───── keeping a relationship secret as a promise is usually easy but hard especially when your man looks extremely good with blonde hair.
masterlist 𖥨᩠ׄ݁ zhao yufan x f!reader — fwb!james, blonde james, down bad reader, drinking involved, mild swearing, tension, teasing, slight arguing, some humorous moments, might be seen as suggestive, kissing / making out, if typos are here – ignore them
( people in my taglist, although it is not highly suggestive, please don't read if uncomfortable though nothing here is taken out of boundaries or anything more than kissing and is written through mood & feeling. thank you cuties ! )
you like to say yours and james' patience runs strong during friend group events, knowing that you'll eventually see each other right after but you didn't know that seeing him enter with a whole new look will lead to your patience loosening.
the moment him and his friends entered with their usual grand enterance, you remained still-faced until you met his stare, and you swore the calm persona you carried through broke apart.
you almost talked your thoughts out loud, your words came to a halt mid conversation with your friend, that when you tried to regain consciousness, your words began to stutter.
"having a hard time?" your friend joked, laughing at your stutter. you forced out a laugh with a shake of your head, "i think it's the alcohol." you muttered, scratching at your neck.
"right." she replied with a nod, suspicion running through.
"i'm so fucked." you groaned, leaning your head back against the refrigerator. your whole body heaved a deep sigh, the grip on your cup becoming loose.
the thought of james and all of a sudden ran through your head, the composure that you usually have became undone and he had only walked through the door.
this wasn't the person who you thought you were.
"are you okay?"
you snapped back into your thoughts, eyes flashing wide open as you felt a hand grip onto your shoulder, "you almost fell there, let's take a break on drinking, yeah?" your friend rushed hurriedly, grabbing the cup from your hand and placing it back onto the counter.
"no i'm fine i just – i drank too fast, ill go back to the couch." you smiled innocently, like you weren't just stress sweating a minute ago. "okay but if this happens again, we're dipping out of here."
"i'm fine." you reached out of her grip, fixing your hair as you made your way towards the couch.
you stepped in slowly, trying to avoid contact with everyone — specifically james. you felt your heart pounding, as you walked to one of the empty spots on the couches and by mind you sat next to james without intent, but just because it's a habit.
you sighed, running your hands down your bare thighs from nerves, feeling the warmth of james right beside you.
james noticed the small movement, raising an eyebrow at your impulsive breathing and your hands slowly rubbing up and down your legs like you tried to hide your nerves with comfort.
"you okay?" he leaned down, whispering against your ear, eyeing the people beside him.
"yeah im okay," you replied quietly. you looked over towards him, scanning his face. james met your gaze, staring deeply into you, "then why are you nervous?" he teased, a smile coming across his face.
your eyebrows furrowed, "i'm not nervous."
james saw the flutter in your eyes, the breaking in your voice, your voice getting quieter as the sentence progressed. he already knew the reasoning behind all your actions.
he hummed, "i believe you." he leaned back on the couch, shamelessly letting an arm rest behind you.
you shut your eyes, your arms coming to a cross, your heart only beating faster and faster. you already knew this night wasn't going to last the way you anticipated.
you sat beside james the whole time, easing off with conversations between you and your own friends, zoning out into spaces, anything to try to get james off of your mind.
james did the same thing — like usual; made conversations with his own friends, but his arm still rested behind you like it was a normal friendship action to do. good thing nobody questioned about it.
you really thought your composure regained itself with the distractions, with the ignorance of his arm behind you — though his hand got closer to closer to your shoulder as time went on and you never noticed until you felt the warmth of his hand on your shoulder, his fingers grabbing around the blade of it.
nobody noticed it – most likely too immersed in the different topics that were thrown around the room, but you sure did. your breath hitched mid conversation with your friend, the same stuttering happening all over again.
james smirked to himself, feeling the glow of your skin get hotter by his gesture, but he continued on with his conversations, despite the tension only getting deeper internally.
you tried laughing it off, giggling at whatever your friend had just said, regardless if it was humorous or not, you just needed to distract yourself harder.
but his hand dragged down the sole of your shoulder, reaching down to your elbow, then raising it back up to your blade, resting it there once again.
you bit your lip, letting out a deep breath, as you removed your gaze from your friend.
her voice came to a stop, as you snapped your head towards her, nervous that she may have caught on. "are you okay?" she titled her head.
"yeah?" you replied, confused.
"oh you just looked away from me randomly, i thought something happened again." her lips slanted, worry written all over her face.
you looked at her dumbfounded, not sure if she was being sarcastic or if she was completely oblivious to the hand that was currently rubbing up and down on your arm.
"are you drunk?" you questioned.
"no?" she furrowed her eyebrows, "why would you think that?"
you looked at her up and down, "just - just continue. i'm listening."
"i'll just talk to you later." she rolled your eyes, "or i'll talk to someone else that won't look away from me mid conversation." she huffed out a breath, crossing her arms in the meantime.
you looked over to james, watching the way he scrolled on his phone. "what the fuck are you doing?" you leaned in closer, yelling out quietly.
he met your gaze, "i'm on my phone." he replied blankly, "what are you accusing me of?"
"look at where your hand is and tell me what i'm accusing you of?"
"i'm touching my girl?"
you closed your eyes, "look where we are. if someone sees this you're fucked."
"i don't think they know regardless." he looked around the room, "they're all drunk. also, your friend didn't even catch it. i could make out with you right now and nobody would know."
you rolled your eyes, smiling hard, blush seeping through your cheeks, "don't talk to me like that, you're already doing this."
he chuckled, "i can talk to you however i want cause i know you wouldn't mind."
your tongue met the inside of your cheek, scanning his face once again. you felt your breath becoming rapid, your stare getting lost into his face, words coming blank to your mind.
"i'm going back to the kitchen." your voice came out soft, shaking your head away from any thoughts getting further the more you looked at him.
he smiled, "i'll be waiting for you"
"please don't be." you joked, rushingly getting up from your seat, making your way over the ruckus on the floor.
james watched you as you walked away, both of his arms coming to the top of the couch.
you let a hand run down your forearm, letting out another deep breath that was held in for a long time. you swore that you were going to be out of oxygen as the night approached, he was making you feral by this point.
and he knew.
you arrive to the kitchen, immediately resting your hands on the counter as the breeze from the semi opened window right above the sink settled in, causing you to squint your eyes at the air.
you ran a hand through your hair, letting it sit for a bit before running it through completely, your mind completely bombarded.
his looks remained unchanged in your mind, he has always looked good but never this good to the point you felt feelings you never felt before.
you were always patient, always composed to everyone, nobody knew about your relationships simply because you knew how to handle one privately — but now, you fell like a whole different person.
he knew what he was doing, he knew how you felt and he just wanted to see how far you could go.
you heard shuffling come from behind you, soft footsteps approaching behind you. you looked up at the reflection of the window and your lips immediately came to a smirk, dipping your head back down to stare down at the marble.
he stared at the back of your head the whole time, now resting his back against the counter beside you as he now stared at your side profile.
he dipped his hands in the pockets of his sweats, "you're acting different than usual." he finally broke the silence, lowly.
"you know what you're doing james," you huffed out a breath, raising your head up to look over at him, "i know what you're doing." you added on.
"what am i doing?" he raised an eyebrow. "don't act stupid cause you never do this in front of people." you replied back in an argumentative tone.
"don't get messy with me." he replied sternly, watching your change in demeanor, "i don't like when you start arguing with me."
you remove your hands off the counter, moving closer to him before coming to a stop right in front of him.
his hands stayed flat against the counter, looking at you up and down, watching you carefully. his mind fought the urge to bring his hands towards you, but he wanted to see where you'd take this.
you brought your hands onto his lower stomach, gliding it up until it landed onto his collarbone, meeting his gaze.
he watched you deeply, "don't start this."
you smiled, "you started this." you titled your head, bringing obvious tease onto the scene.
his heart fluttered, letting out a breathy chuckle. he finally brought his hands onto your waist, bringing you in closer until both of your chests glued together, "but i don't like when you do it."
you pouted sarcastically, your hands sliding up to his cheeks, bringing his face closer.
he immediately looked down to your lips, then back to your eyes. he chuckled once again, with a shake of his head, rising his head up a bit, "you're fucking crazy."
"how am i crazy?" you smiled. he licked his lips, heaving a breath, "you're doing this to me knowing that there's people out there."
you hummed, "now you know how i feel." you nodded slowly, "but you're only saying that because you know i won."
"won wh –"
you brought his face back down, planting a quick, lingering kiss onto his lips. you pulled back smiling, and he chased to meet your lips again, but your head retracted back before he could.
"don't get ahead of yourself, maybe someone's watching." you laughed, sliding his hands off of you. you turned on your heels, now leaving him to sulk in the kitchen.
he tried to reach out for your arm, but your legs were faster than him. he placed both of his hands back onto the counter, throwing his head back with a small smile.
you made your way back to the living room , scanning the scene; everyone got worse, multiple cups stacked onto the table, some of them sleeping on the floor — it was a mess.
you stopped in your tracks when you felt a sudden spark reappear in your stomach as your eyes gazed over the spot you and james sat in prior, now empty, yearning for your name.
your mind replayed the moment that happened seconds ago, the shift in tension, the closeness, his stare, his presence — the confidence you had before, is now gone.
you moved forward into the room, grabbing your car keys off of the coffee table.
"where are you going?" one of the boys asked, sitting up straight like you leaving was the end of the world. "home?" you squinted your eyes.
they groaned, "it's only like ten pm though."
"yeah and i'm going home." you rolled your eyes, brushing your top, getting ready to head to the enterance.
"no you're not." you heard a voice call out, the room falling silent. you turned around, only to meet james standing right by the couch.
oh's, flooded around the room, some of them trying to hold in their laughter at the sudden remark from james after being quiet for so long.
"he's serious too." one of his friends added intently, too engaged in the sudden change of tension.
you rolled your eyes once more, "i'm going home."
"why?" james questioned.
your mind froze, searching for an excuse, "i'm tired and i have a cat to feed." you turned back around, ready to head out.
"no don't go home!" one of your friends picked herself up from the couch, running straight to your arms, indulging you into a tight hug, "you can't go.." she mumbled into the crook of your neck, the cup in her hand only getting deeper and deeper into your stomach at that point.
"you're so fucking drunk." you patted her back, laughing while trying to pull back but she only emerged forward after every movement, pain now striking in, "your cup..." you said softly, panic scattering your body.
everyone rised up from the couch as they saw your expression shift to panic, trying to remove her from the scene.
"i told you to hold her down, she's so drunk." one of the other girls yelled out to the guy that sat beside her. "she left me!" he yelled back.
you opened your eyes, catching james in the corner of your eye, standing there almost like he was admiring the scene. "you going to help or what dude?" you yelled out loud.
"your girl is calling for you bro." one of his friends teased, patting his shoulder as he dragged the girl back onto the couch.
you stare wide eyed between the two of them, your eyebrows furrowing as your chest heaved up and down, "what the fuck is wrong with you." you yelled out, grabbing your stomach in the process.
"this is why im leaving, all of you guys are a mess." you turned on your heels but instead of rushing to the enternace you settled yourself into the bathroom that was down the hall.
you weren't even in pain anymore, it was more fury than anything. you knew the relationship was secretive but you had just gotten hurt and he had stood there in awe the whole time.
it got to you when you realized his own friends cared more about you than him and it genuinely upsetted you and that almost made him become fully erased from your mind – just like what happened in the kitchen scene.
you planted your car keys onto the counter, flatting the top of your hair down, fixing the flyaways as it got progressively messier when they tried removing your friend.
"what the hell bro?" you whispered to yourself, trying to fix anything that had gotten ruin physically.
the door suddenly opened, leading your movements to a halt.
"listen –" the sudden entry started.
you groaned deeply, "there's no listen. get out." you faced toward the door, peaking through the creek of the opened door, "please leave me alone." you whined when you realized who it was.
he didn't listen, instead he opened the door further, making you push away from it, leaving no room to push him away any farther.
"i know you're mad at me." he whispered, closing the door behind him. "of course i'm mad at you, you didn't even protect me."
"i didn't know what to do. and you know how she is, she's crazy." his tone remained calm, the lack of anger laced in his voice,
"still, it was a whole glass cup and you stood there." you sighed in disbelief.
"realistically, everyone was already up to help you –"
"but i wanted you to help me." you cut him off, slightly harsh.
he sighed, fingers running through his hair.
just by that moment, you felt the anger flush away within a second, your eyes beaming into him, erasing your thoughts completely.
you sighed back — not from disbelief of the situation this time, but more so from the same feeling you had felt earlier when he entered.
the new look, the way his whole persona changed just by a small detail. it almost made you not want to argue anymore – the feeling fuming its way back into you once again,
"i don't like how you're acting today." you crossed your arms, "you never, ever do this during a group hangout. it's like you dyed your hair and knew how i was going to act."
"or maybe you put a spell on me." you added on.
he laughed, stepping closer to you, "that's exactly it. i just know you so well."
"is this really the day you want us to expose – our whatever we have – to everyone in this house right now?"
"well that depends on how obvious you make it."
you rolled your eyes, arms coming down to your side in defeat, "you made it more obvious than me."
"i just wanted to show you some love." he mumbled, stepping even more closer, watching you with a look that made your heart beat fast.
"stop," your lips forming into a slight pout that eventually turned into a smile.
he chuckled, not even bothering with a reply as he brought a hand to your waist and the other one on your chin, bringing your face closer to his.
you looked in between his lips and his stare, sweat bawling up on the palm of your hands, your nervous system getting intense, the heat now running through your body.
your brought your hands up to the back of his neck, unintentionally bringing his face even closer to your own, lips only inches away from being touched.
"i knew you weren't going to stay angry at me." he mumbled, his breath fanning your lips. "shut up." you whispered, as you were the one who finally closed the distance.
his lips immediately took charge, the hand that was on your chin fell down to the other side of your waist, pulling you in even closer.
it was the usual soft kiss he always gave you, the passionate one that went on for hours and never got too intense — the one that screamed the patience you had for each other, never rushing the moment.
he titled his head, bring you in deeper into the kiss. your hands glided to his chest, soft breathing filling up the room.
the sound of chatter, the sound of bottles clinking, the sound of the hum from the tv fell into the back of your mind as it remained on james, feeding into the moment.
it seemed like the same way for him as he slowly controlled the kiss more intensely; his hand moving to the sole of your back, rubbing up and down, as the other reached the back of your thigh.
you caught onto the signal as your legs wrapped around his waist. he guided you onto the counter in a swift motion, both of his hands landing back onto your waist as you sat down on the edge of the marble.
your arms wrapped around his neck, shoving him deeper into the kiss to the point where he was hovering over you on top of the counter, the back of your head almost meeting the backsplash on the wall.
he broke away from the kiss, his breath still heavy on you, "you trying to make me sit up here with you or something?" he chuckled with humor, but the heat on his face, the slight purse of his lips didn't make you find the comment funny, only wanting more.
"not my intention." you replied blankly, eyes scanning back down to his lips, as you brought him back with no hurry.
"damn." he mumbled to himself against your lips, your lips now becoming more intense — the mood now feeling more like love than anything else.
"yo james what the fuck are you doing in there?" a muffled voice was heard from behind the door, alongside with some harsh knocks, the loud noise forcefully making you two break the kiss.
"dude." he whispered, "this is dangerous love." he shook his head, his head falling to the crook of your neck.
"you better go otherwise we're gonna expose ourselves." you managed to let out, despite the fact that your face was flushed and the flyaways that were once up were now stuck to your forehead.
"at this point, i don't even care." he met your gaze, "hide in the shower, i'll leave first."
"yeah go help the drunk one out there otherwise she'll shove a cup into you too."
he shook his head with laughter, "i love you." he planted a kiss onto your cheek, before sliding off of you.
you watched him intently, "also keep the blonde it looks nice – really nice on you." you smiled, kicking your feet that hung off the counter, watching him clean himself off.
"wait did you just say i love you?"
ness ˎˊ˗ YOO JAMES WORK!! who cheered cause i did. the blonde hair got a hold on me for awhile and i was down to write something for him... i can't write anymore help me
synopsis ───── when a simple encounter leads to a deep, meaningful one but it only ends up leaving martin searching for you more and more, only to repeat history.
masterlist 𖥨᩠ׄ݁ martin x f!reader — slice of life, deep conversations, strangers to ?, portrays a sensitive topic, comfort, drabble / lowkey rushed
"you're not cold?"
a voice struck you out of your thought, the hands that were shoved into your pockets clinched onto the fabric on the inside. you looked up at the voice, your chest heaving down in relief when you realized it's someone slightly familiar – not familiar enough to say a name.
you shook your head, "i'm never cold."
he heaved out a chuckle, the wind only getting aggressive, the chambers of the street lights shaking from the pressure of the wind. "you're wearing a thin long sleeve with jeans, no coat, and you're telling me you're not cold?" he looked up and down in a humorous manner.
your lips titled a bit, staring up at him, intrigued, "what are you going to do? hand me your coat?"
he stared at you like his entire focus went into you at that right moment, the corner of his lips mimicking your half smile. you only tilted your head, waiting for a response, as your smile only got bigger.
"if that's what you want me to do," he laughed.
you chuckled, "are you usually this generous to strangers?"
you watched as he made his way fully towards you onto the bench, sliding right beside you but keeping a respectful distance.
"only for the ones i like," he said confidently, removing his coat from his own body, placing it onto your shoulders, letting you adjust it to your liking.
you played with the collar of the coat, "you just met me and you're already expressing your feelings?" you looked over at him, only to see the way he stared at you – not in a weird way, but in a way of showing adoration deep down.
"i technically didn't just meet you, ive seen you around quite a bit. here actually." he looks around the atmosphere, finally looking over at you.
"and you never spoke to me?" you rolled your eyes playfully, causing martin to laugh, "i am now, aren't i?"
"i could've made a friend instead of sitting here every night staring at nothing." you muttered out, while shaking your head with obvious meaning behind it.
he looked at you in agape like he almost caught on, "you come here every night?" martin blinked harshly, his brain flashing through moments of himself but he quickly shut them down.
he caught the way your sleeve rode down a bit, catching a print of ink lines attached to your wrist. he didn't want to stare, he thought he looked at it too fast but he knew it wasn't something to look past on.
"what?" you broke the short silence, catching him looking in between you and something else you couldn't quite understand what he was hinting to.
he extends a finger out, pointing to something so obvious as you reach your arm to flatten out your hair, only to expose the ink even more, which answers martin's questions quickly.
"how long have you had that?" he let the finger down, now watching your face contour in surprise, the movement of your hand coming to a stop, as you slowly brought your arm down, finding out your sleeve had rode down to expose the hidden.
oh, you mumbled, grazing your fingers over it like you haven't done it yourself. his smile halted as he noticed your reaction, the shock onto your face seeped into a worrying expression; there was no slight smile, no chuckle, no blinks that screamed appreciation – just blank.
martin sits up straight, "is it something bad? i'm sorry if – "
you quickly cut off him, "no. it's not anything bad, it's just i've had it for so long and nobody ever notices." you look over at him, "i mean i actually like how you pointed it out."
he flashes a smile of relief, "it looked cool so i thought i'd bring it up" he mutters, while scratching the back of his neck in slight embarrassment, "well i don't even know if it's supposed to be considered cool."
you chuckled, shoving yourself deeper onto the bench, grabbing onto the sleeves of his jacket that was around you.
he looked over, scanning your face, "what does it mean though?" he leans over, pushing himself closer towards you yet still remaining a respectful distance.
you pursed your lips, "it just reflects on my past." you mumbled out quietly. "you don't want to talk about it?" he leans his back, back against the bench once again, sensing a change in your comfort.
"i mean, i don't usually tell strangers my business but … i already trust you enough." it was your turn to look over at him, scanning his face, as you found a sense of hope in him.
martin felt a wave of heat rush across his face, breaking eye contact with you as he wavered off the heat, "tell me about it."
"i feel like i was always emotionally unstable even coming from a supportive background – like i always just let things get ahead of me." your gaze dropped down from him. "i always compared myself to others, i always gave up on my hobbies because i was jealous of how others were catering themselves."
"what did you like to do?"
"i loved to paint – a lot, since i was ten – but i just gave it up because i didn't like how i would mess up a simple line while others around me could do it with ease."
martin clicked his tongue, "you gave up something you loved just because someone could do something you weren't confident on? you can't do that." his eyes drooped down, shaking his head, "sometimes, some things need practice and even though it was a skill, a hobby, you've had for so long, not everyone is going to be a hundred percent perfect at it."
you nodded, "i tried my best to be perfect."
"not everyone is perfect, not everyone's passion is going to be perfect."
you bite your lip, shifting yourself closer to him now, thighs almost connecting as a result. "i just wanted to be perfect." you whispered towards the end, dropping your head down onto his shoulder, "it's not even just that either, i just never see the good in me."
martin quickly wrapped an arm around your neck, bringing you closer to his side, as his other arm wrapped around your waist. "you are perfect, you have good in you and i'm sure people have tried to tell you."
"i just struggled so much, i gave up on myself and everything around me. that's why i come here every night just to waste time. it's all useless."
you turned your head for your cheek to be plastered onto his shoulder, "i just want to stop coming here every night while everyone's asleep just because i don't feel feel a hundred percent mentally."
"i can see that you're healing – and i don't even know you. just talk it out, you're only going to get stronger."
you sniffled, "i am healing." you repeated, "i think you're healing me. i'm not the watery eyed girl everyone refers me as whenever i talk about myself."
martin smiled, "good." he grabbed your wrist, rubbing circles on it, "i want to be the one there for you at all times."
"you should know this tattoo symbolizes healing, and you're doing exactly what it means." he added on, giving a quick glance at your lips; not with intention, only to see if his words meant something.
you smiled up at him, feigning the weight in your heart, "i think moving away to a better place would help me. but i don't want to lose you."
you bring your head up from his shoulder, yet you still leaned close to him, "promise me you'll show up here every night after this. i want to heal together."
"you forcing me to sneak out every night?" martin replied jokingly but with sarcasm laced behind it – because he knew he was going to come here regardless, just to watch you heal, to watch you becoming the better version of yourself just like how the tattoo intended.
you raised your eyebrows, "i mean you did say you liked me."
he pursed his lips, "i can't admit my feelings just yet." he brought you in closer, wrapping himself around you into a hug, "yes i promise i'll show up here every night."
but martin spent constant nights waiting for you to appear, spending hours sitting on the exact same bench he always found you on, just for you not to show up that one night.
he swore you would've left a trace, a note even exposing your identity just cause you trusted him. but it was just the cold bench he sat on a year ago when he struggled the same way you spent your struggles and nobody came to heal him.
when someone heals, they move on from sitting in cold, dark, quiet nights, and move onto the better – thats the whole point of healing but martin found himself repeating his history, instead he was just thinking about you and when you'd showed up; but he figured he healed you.
for now, he can only call you as the girl with the tattoo – he used to know. though he wishes every night you will show up, he's just thankful that you're doing you now. but where are you for him?
ness ˎˊ˗ i've been on a writers block for a minute. the long fic i mentioned like three works ago, im not even half way done, its been untouched ever since & i've been in a lngshot writing drought so please if you guys have requests please send them my way – though im not going to be 100% certain i'll fulfill it but ill try my best !!!
synopsis ───── when a simple encounter leads to a deep, meaningful one but it only ends up leaving martin searching for you more and more, only to repeat history.
masterlist 𖥨᩠ׄ݁ martin x f!reader — slice of life, deep conversations, strangers to ?, portrays a sensitive topic, comfort, drabble / lowkey rushed
"you're not cold?"
a voice struck you out of your thought, the hands that were shoved into your pockets clinched onto the fabric on the inside. you looked up at the voice, your chest heaving down in relief when you realized it's someone slightly familiar – not familiar enough to say a name.
you shook your head, "i'm never cold."
he heaved out a chuckle, the wind only getting aggressive, the chambers of the street lights shaking from the pressure of the wind. "you're wearing a thin long sleeve with jeans, no coat, and you're telling me you're not cold?" he looked up and down in a humorous manner.
your lips titled a bit, staring up at him, intrigued, "what are you going to do? hand me your coat?"
he stared at you like his entire focus went into you at that right moment, the corner of his lips mimicking your half smile. you only tilted your head, waiting for a response, as your smile only got bigger.
"if that's what you want me to do," he laughed.
you chuckled, "are you usually this generous to strangers?"
you watched as he made his way fully towards you onto the bench, sliding right beside you but keeping a respectful distance.
"only for the ones i like," he said confidently, removing his coat from his own body, placing it onto your shoulders, letting you adjust it to your liking.
you played with the collar of the coat, "you just met me and you're already expressing your feelings?" you looked over at him, only to see the way he stared at you – not in a weird way, but in a way of showing adoration deep down.
"i technically didn't just meet you, ive seen you around quite a bit. here actually." he looks around the atmosphere, finally looking over at you.
"and you never spoke to me?" you rolled your eyes playfully, causing martin to laugh, "i am now, aren't i?"
"i could've made a friend instead of sitting here every night staring at nothing." you muttered out, while shaking your head with obvious meaning behind it.
he looked at you in agape like he almost caught on, "you come here every night?" martin blinked harshly, his brain flashing through moments of himself but he quickly shut them down.
he caught the way your sleeve rode down a bit, catching a print of ink lines attached to your wrist. he didn't want to stare, he thought he looked at it too fast but he knew it wasn't something to look past on.
"what?" you broke the short silence, catching him looking in between you and something else you couldn't quite understand what he was hinting to.
he extends a finger out, pointing to something so obvious as you reach your arm to flatten out your hair, only to expose the ink even more, which answers martin's questions quickly.
"how long have you had that?" he let the finger down, now watching your face contour in surprise, the movement of your hand coming to a stop, as you slowly brought your arm down, finding out your sleeve had rode down to expose the hidden.
oh, you mumbled, grazing your fingers over it like you haven't done it yourself. his smile halted as he noticed your reaction, the shock onto your face seeped into a worrying expression; there was no slight smile, no chuckle, no blinks that screamed appreciation – just blank.
martin sits up straight, "is it something bad? i'm sorry if – "
you quickly cut off him, "no. it's not anything bad, it's just i've had it for so long and nobody ever notices." you look over at him, "i mean i actually like how you pointed it out."
he flashes a smile of relief, "it looked cool so i thought i'd bring it up" he mutters, while scratching the back of his neck in slight embarrassment, "well i don't even know if it's supposed to be considered cool."
you chuckled, shoving yourself deeper onto the bench, grabbing onto the sleeves of his jacket that was around you.
he looked over, scanning your face, "what does it mean though?" he leans over, pushing himself closer towards you yet still remaining a respectful distance.
you pursed your lips, "it just reflects on my past." you mumbled out quietly. "you don't want to talk about it?" he leans his back, back against the bench once again, sensing a change in your comfort.
"i mean, i don't usually tell strangers my business but … i already trust you enough." it was your turn to look over at him, scanning his face, as you found a sense of hope in him.
martin felt a wave of heat rush across his face, breaking eye contact with you as he wavered off the heat, "tell me about it."
"i feel like i was always emotionally unstable even coming from a supportive background – like i always just let things get ahead of me." your gaze dropped down from him. "i always compared myself to others, i always gave up on my hobbies because i was jealous of how others were catering themselves."
"what did you like to do?"
"i loved to paint – a lot, since i was ten – but i just gave it up because i didn't like how i would mess up a simple line while others around me could do it with ease."
martin clicked his tongue, "you gave up something you loved just because someone could do something you weren't confident on? you can't do that." his eyes drooped down, shaking his head, "sometimes, some things need practice and even though it was a skill, a hobby, you've had for so long, not everyone is going to be a hundred percent perfect at it."
you nodded, "i tried my best to be perfect."
"not everyone is perfect, not everyone's passion is going to be perfect."
you bite your lip, shifting yourself closer to him now, thighs almost connecting as a result. "i just wanted to be perfect." you whispered towards the end, dropping your head down onto his shoulder, "it's not even just that either, i just never see the good in me."
martin quickly wrapped an arm around your neck, bringing you closer to his side, as his other arm wrapped around your waist. "you are perfect, you have good in you and i'm sure people have tried to tell you."
"i just struggled so much, i gave up on myself and everything around me. that's why i come here every night just to waste time. it's all useless."
you turned your head for your cheek to be plastered onto his shoulder, "i just want to stop coming here every night while everyone's asleep just because i don't feel feel a hundred percent mentally."
"i can see that you're healing – and i don't even know you. just talk it out, you're only going to get stronger."
you sniffled, "i am healing." you repeated, "i think you're healing me. i'm not the watery eyed girl everyone refers me as whenever i talk about myself."
martin smiled, "good." he grabbed your wrist, rubbing circles on it, "i want to be the one there for you at all times."
"you should know this tattoo symbolizes healing, and you're doing exactly what it means." he added on, giving a quick glance at your lips; not with intention, only to see if his words meant something.
you smiled up at him, feigning the weight in your heart, "i think moving away to a better place would help me. but i don't want to lose you."
you bring your head up from his shoulder, yet you still leaned close to him, "promise me you'll show up here every night after this. i want to heal together."
"you forcing me to sneak out every night?" martin replied jokingly but with sarcasm laced behind it – because he knew he was going to come here regardless, just to watch you heal, to watch you becoming the better version of yourself just like how the tattoo intended.
you raised your eyebrows, "i mean you did say you liked me."
he pursed his lips, "i can't admit my feelings just yet." he brought you in closer, wrapping himself around you into a hug, "yes i promise i'll show up here every night."
but martin spent constant nights waiting for you to appear, spending hours sitting on the exact same bench he always found you on, just for you not to show up that one night.
he swore you would've left a trace, a note even exposing your identity just cause you trusted him. but it was just the cold bench he sat on a year ago when he struggled the same way you spent your struggles and nobody came to heal him.
when someone heals, they move on from sitting in cold, dark, quiet nights, and move onto the better – thats the whole point of healing but martin found himself repeating his history, instead he was just thinking about you and when you'd showed up; but he figured he healed you.
for now, he can only call you as the girl with the tattoo – he used to know. though he wishes every night you will show up, he's just thankful that you're doing you now. but where are you for him?
ness ˎˊ˗ i've been on a writers block for a minute. the long fic i mentioned like three works ago, im not even half way done, its been untouched ever since & i've been in a lngshot writing drought so please if you guys have requests please send them my way – though im not going to be 100% certain i'll fulfill it but ill try my best !!!
synopsis ───── when a simple encounter leads to a deep, meaningful one but it only ends up leaving martin searching for you more and more, only to repeat history.
masterlist 𖥨᩠ׄ݁ martin x f!reader — slice of life, deep conversations, strangers to ?, portrays a sensitive topic, comfort, drabble / lowkey rushed
"you're not cold?"
a voice struck you out of your thought, the hands that were shoved into your pockets clinched onto the fabric on the inside. you looked up at the voice, your chest heaving down in relief when you realized it's someone slightly familiar – not familiar enough to say a name.
you shook your head, "i'm never cold."
he heaved out a chuckle, the wind only getting aggressive, the chambers of the street lights shaking from the pressure of the wind. "you're wearing a thin long sleeve with jeans, no coat, and you're telling me you're not cold?" he looked up and down in a humorous manner.
your lips titled a bit, staring up at him, intrigued, "what are you going to do? hand me your coat?"
he stared at you like his entire focus went into you at that right moment, the corner of his lips mimicking your half smile. you only tilted your head, waiting for a response, as your smile only got bigger.
"if that's what you want me to do," he laughed.
you chuckled, "are you usually this generous to strangers?"
you watched as he made his way fully towards you onto the bench, sliding right beside you but keeping a respectful distance.
"only for the ones i like," he said confidently, removing his coat from his own body, placing it onto your shoulders, letting you adjust it to your liking.
you played with the collar of the coat, "you just met me and you're already expressing your feelings?" you looked over at him, only to see the way he stared at you – not in a weird way, but in a way of showing adoration deep down.
"i technically didn't just meet you, ive seen you around quite a bit. here actually." he looks around the atmosphere, finally looking over at you.
"and you never spoke to me?" you rolled your eyes playfully, causing martin to laugh, "i am now, aren't i?"
"i could've made a friend instead of sitting here every night staring at nothing." you muttered out, while shaking your head with obvious meaning behind it.
he looked at you in agape like he almost caught on, "you come here every night?" martin blinked harshly, his brain flashing through moments of himself but he quickly shut them down.
he caught the way your sleeve rode down a bit, catching a print of ink lines attached to your wrist. he didn't want to stare, he thought he looked at it too fast but he knew it wasn't something to look past on.
"what?" you broke the short silence, catching him looking in between you and something else you couldn't quite understand what he was hinting to.
he extends a finger out, pointing to something so obvious as you reach your arm to flatten out your hair, only to expose the ink even more, which answers martin's questions quickly.
"how long have you had that?" he let the finger down, now watching your face contour in surprise, the movement of your hand coming to a stop, as you slowly brought your arm down, finding out your sleeve had rode down to expose the hidden.
oh, you mumbled, grazing your fingers over it like you haven't done it yourself. his smile halted as he noticed your reaction, the shock onto your face seeped into a worrying expression; there was no slight smile, no chuckle, no blinks that screamed appreciation – just blank.
martin sits up straight, "is it something bad? i'm sorry if – "
you quickly cut off him, "no. it's not anything bad, it's just i've had it for so long and nobody ever notices." you look over at him, "i mean i actually like how you pointed it out."
he flashes a smile of relief, "it looked cool so i thought i'd bring it up" he mutters, while scratching the back of his neck in slight embarrassment, "well i don't even know if it's supposed to be considered cool."
you chuckled, shoving yourself deeper onto the bench, grabbing onto the sleeves of his jacket that was around you.
he looked over, scanning your face, "what does it mean though?" he leans over, pushing himself closer towards you yet still remaining a respectful distance.
you pursed your lips, "it just reflects on my past." you mumbled out quietly. "you don't want to talk about it?" he leans his back, back against the bench once again, sensing a change in your comfort.
"i mean, i don't usually tell strangers my business but … i already trust you enough." it was your turn to look over at him, scanning his face, as you found a sense of hope in him.
martin felt a wave of heat rush across his face, breaking eye contact with you as he wavered off the heat, "tell me about it."
"i feel like i was always emotionally unstable even coming from a supportive background – like i always just let things get ahead of me." your gaze dropped down from him. "i always compared myself to others, i always gave up on my hobbies because i was jealous of how others were catering themselves."
"what did you like to do?"
"i loved to paint – a lot, since i was ten – but i just gave it up because i didn't like how i would mess up a simple line while others around me could do it with ease."
martin clicked his tongue, "you gave up something you loved just because someone could do something you weren't confident on? you can't do that." his eyes drooped down, shaking his head, "sometimes, some things need practice and even though it was a skill, a hobby, you've had for so long, not everyone is going to be a hundred percent perfect at it."
you nodded, "i tried my best to be perfect."
"not everyone is perfect, not everyone's passion is going to be perfect."
you bite your lip, shifting yourself closer to him now, thighs almost connecting as a result. "i just wanted to be perfect." you whispered towards the end, dropping your head down onto his shoulder, "it's not even just that either, i just never see the good in me."
martin quickly wrapped an arm around your neck, bringing you closer to his side, as his other arm wrapped around your waist. "you are perfect, you have good in you and i'm sure people have tried to tell you."
"i just struggled so much, i gave up on myself and everything around me. that's why i come here every night just to waste time. it's all useless."
you turned your head for your cheek to be plastered onto his shoulder, "i just want to stop coming here every night while everyone's asleep just because i don't feel feel a hundred percent mentally."
"i can see that you're healing – and i don't even know you. just talk it out, you're only going to get stronger."
you sniffled, "i am healing." you repeated, "i think you're healing me. i'm not the watery eyed girl everyone refers me as whenever i talk about myself."
martin smiled, "good." he grabbed your wrist, rubbing circles on it, "i want to be the one there for you at all times."
"you should know this tattoo symbolizes healing, and you're doing exactly what it means." he added on, giving a quick glance at your lips; not with intention, only to see if his words meant something.
you smiled up at him, feigning the weight in your heart, "i think moving away to a better place would help me. but i don't want to lose you."
you bring your head up from his shoulder, yet you still leaned close to him, "promise me you'll show up here every night after this. i want to heal together."
"you forcing me to sneak out every night?" martin replied jokingly but with sarcasm laced behind it – because he knew he was going to come here regardless, just to watch you heal, to watch you becoming the better version of yourself just like how the tattoo intended.
you raised your eyebrows, "i mean you did say you liked me."
he pursed his lips, "i can't admit my feelings just yet." he brought you in closer, wrapping himself around you into a hug, "yes i promise i'll show up here every night."
but martin spent constant nights waiting for you to appear, spending hours sitting on the exact same bench he always found you on, just for you not to show up that one night.
he swore you would've left a trace, a note even exposing your identity just cause you trusted him. but it was just the cold bench he sat on a year ago when he struggled the same way you spent your struggles and nobody came to heal him.
when someone heals, they move on from sitting in cold, dark, quiet nights, and move onto the better – thats the whole point of healing but martin found himself repeating his history, instead he was just thinking about you and when you'd showed up; but he figured he healed you.
for now, he can only call you as the girl with the tattoo – he used to know. though he wishes every night you will show up, he's just thankful that you're doing you now. but where are you for him?
ness ˎˊ˗ i've been on a writers block for a minute. the long fic i mentioned like three works ago, im not even half way done, its been untouched ever since & i've been in a lngshot writing drought so please if you guys have requests please send them my way – though im not going to be 100% certain i'll fulfill it but ill try my best !!!