The Min Bun Will Be Missed!

The Min bun will be missed!

May 27, 2022

Today will forever be known as the first day we lay our eyes upon the Yoongi Sprout….

This was so cute!!!😀

Creepayyyyyy!

The legend of CreepHwa lives on

Dedication (part 1)

Pairing: Ten Lee x fem/afab!reader

Genre: idol au, slow-ish burn, acquaintances to friends to lovers, major fluff, eventual and abundant smut

Tags: incredibly self-indulgent; Ten is obsessed with Y/N (respectfully, with signs of flourishing mental health); NCT and WayV exist and Ten is in them; college party; alcohol; Y/N's friends are named after aespa members cuz I'm lazy; with guest stars Johnny, Jaehyun, Mark, and Haechan

Summary: Y/N is a creative writing student at a university in a major city. Ten is an idol from one of the most famous k-pop groups in the world. Can I make it anymore obvious?

Word Count: 7.9k

Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

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The vibrations from the booming bass of the music pulsated inside your chest, mingling with your heartbeat. You and your roommate, Karina, had pushed back all of the dining room furniture to create a makeshift dance floor. It wasn’t terribly often that the two of you entertained party guests, but it definitely wasn’t the first time either. You were both fourth-year college students in the area, and the home belonged to Karina’s father. Her father was quite wealthy, and not only that but he loved to spoil his daughter. So when you and Karina had decided to move out on your own while completing your studies, he made sure his daughter and her best friend were both well taken care of. 

The house wasn’t huge, but the main level had an incredibly open floor plan, so it was perfect for converting into a nightclub on a budget. The kitchen was transformed into a bar, the living room a lounge area. There were speakers set up to surround the dining area, which is where you found yourself now, letting your favorite party mix shake through you at top volume while you waited for people to arrive.

Karina was still upstairs getting ready. She didn’t typically take this long, but this time was different because her childhood friend, Jeong Yuno, more affectionately known as Jaehyun, would be attending. When she’d told you his name, you’d shrugged noncommittally, which didn’t seem to be the reaction she was expecting, although you had no idea as to why. You’d met plenty of her friends before. Why should this time be any different?

Your look was simple. You’d styled your hair in the quickest way you knew how while also managing to make it appear deceptively glamorous. Your make-up was simple, too, just some eyeliner, mascara, and lip gloss. Spritzing perfume on your neck and wrists, you nodded at yourself with approval in the mirror before you’d returned to your bedroom to get dressed.

Tight blue jeans covered your legs, accentuating your ass and calves, and you wore your favorite classic black top tucked into them. The look was completed by a pair of black converse. 

It wasn’t much, and it didn’t take long, but you felt good.

One of your conditions for agreeing to this party was that, as per usual, Karina act as the primary host of the event, and you be allowed to act as one of the crowd. However, one of Karina’s responding conditions was that you help out in the kitchen when liquor needed to be restocked from the stash the two of you kept in the basement. After accepting each other’s conditions, you shook on it, and Karina hopped in the shower.

It’d been a couple of hours since then, and people were meant to be arriving shortly.

As if summoned by your very thoughts, the doorbell rang. Your stomach turned with anxiety at the prospect of having to welcome them in Karina’s stead while she finished getting ready, but she saved you from such a terrible fate, rushing down the stairs as she applied her final layer of lip gloss and shouted, “I got it!” Tucking her lip gloss into the back pocket of her pants, she swung the door open, offering a vibrant greeting to your first guests. From what you could hear, it was Jaehyun and whoever he’d chosen to bring along that had arrived.

The sound of their overly chipper voices ringing from the foyer was your cue to get a drink, and you escaped to the kitchen, pouring yourself a vodka tonic. In general, you tended to prefer sweet drinks because you couldn’t stand the taste of alcohol, but there was something refreshing about vodka and tonic, something that allowed you to believe maybe what you were consuming was actually good for you. The denial, self-aware as it was, brought you a sense of comfort.

After several generous sips, the excited greetings died down in the other room, multiple sets of footsteps now travelling in your direction. You still weren’t quite ready to socialize, especially with new people, so you tipped your red solo cup back and drained it, tossing it in the waste bin under the sink, then started for the hallway in hopes of making it back to the dinette-turned-dancefloor before running into Karina’s guest of honor and his cohorts.

Unfortunately, you weren’t quite quick enough, bumping directly into one of said cohorts when you rounded the corner out of the kitchen. The stranger immediately caught you by the shoulders to help you keep your balance. Their hands were steady and strong. 

“Oh shit, I’m so sorry—”

“No, no, please, I wasn’t paying enough attention, it’s totally my…” Your words trailed off, your mind gone blank as you lifted your gaze to look at the man that you’d just collided with. A blush blazed across your cheeks, the heat of it spreading throughout your entire body, your bone marrow simmering.

You’d never seen someone so confusing. His face was pretty, so pretty you could hardly believe he was real. His features were soft and sharp all at once. His hair, pure black, was a good length, just hitting the back of his neck, although not shaggy or unkempt, and his layered bangs framed his face perfectly, the part in his hair just shy of center. You had the immediate and delirious urge to run your fingers through it. 

And if that bit of him wasn’t confusing enough, the rest of him was so much worse. His neck was long and pronounced, almost feminine if not for the obvious Adam's apple protruding from it. His shoulders were broad but not intimidating. His chest and arms were prominent in the fitted t-shirt he wore, and you could tell he was in good shape. With how lean he was, you figured he must be a swimmer or member of track and field at your university. Your mind couldn’t even conceive of the idea that he was a world-renowned dancer. 

It was like an updated version of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears.” After knowing so many men who were too much of this, not enough of that, you’d discovered one that was just right. 

His lips, pink and petal-like and bow-shaped, spread into a smile — god, what a smile — and he chuckled lightly, yanking you out of your stupor, which had happened in the space of a single breath, the passage of time seeming to have slowed as you took him in. You were suddenly hyper aware of his hands, still gently holding your arms. You fought not to shiver. 

“Let’s just agree to share the blame on this one, yeah?” 

You laughed and nodded awkwardly, embarrassed at both your clumsiness and your gawking but doing your best not to show it. You needed to get out of there, to prevent any further humiliation on your part, and as if sensing this, your urge to flee, the beautiful man promptly released you from his grasp, allowing you to make your way through the small crowd in the doorway. A quick glance informed you that there were four other men present, each one of them also incredibly handsome, though none quite so handsome as the one you’d managed to carelessly barrel into. There was an itch in the back of your mind, a feeling that you recognized one or two of them, but you weren’t sure from where. And you certainly didn’t have the wherewithal to figure it out in that moment.

The warmth of your embarrassment merged with the warmth from the buzz of your first drink as you brushed past the small company of men currently smirking at you. Finding your favorite spot on the floor, some cheesy Dua Lipa song playing, you started to move, shaking off whatever it was that had just happened to you. As the minutes passed, the room filled with the rest of the party guests until you were surrounded by bodies, on the dancefloor, in the kitchen, in the living room. The party was an absolute smash. 

You moved around a bit, harmlessly flirting here and there, visiting with the few people from university you actually considered close enough acquaintances to warrant conversation, pouring yourself a couple more drinks, just enough to maintain your buzz without losing your sense. Throughout all of this, though, you noticed him, the beautiful man you’d crashed into. You couldn’t help but to notice him, his entire being demanded it of you.

He seemed to be everywhere that you were, always talking to someone, usually one of his comrades who’d witnessed your run-in earlier but sometimes others, people who always looked so thrilled to be in his presence. Still, in spite of this, they couldn’t quite capture his full attention. You knew this because he kept sparing glances at you each time you looked at him, even if he was in the middle of speaking, his train of thought clearly much more capable of navigating multiple tracks at once than yours was.

It became grounding for you to seek his eyes out in the crowd, a security blanket amidst the social anxiety. The dance floor acted as your unspoken home base, where you could always find him if you somehow misplaced one another, you somewhere in the middle, feeling the rhythm of the music, swaying your hips to it, and him standing at the edge, leaning against the wall and watching you. Complete strangers, the two of you, yet sharing in some strange psychological sanctuary together. You wondered if he would ever acknowledge it and approach you.

But at some point, he disappeared, and you couldn’t even find him out on the floor. Disappointment hollowed you out like an ice cream scoop to your insides. Which was just silly because, again, you were complete strangers. You knew absolutely nothing about him. 

Nothing except the perfect silhouette of his profile in the dim party lighting. Nothing except the sound of his laugh, floating over the din of the crowd whenever one of his friends said something especially funny. Nothing except the vibrance of his sweet smile, the quiet power in his posture, the slight upturn of his nose, the way his eyes shone with something open yet intimate when he gazed at you, like a secret only you were privy to. 

Maybe you knew everything you needed to.

Karina touched your shoulder, startling you where you stood in the kitchen, pretending to listen to some guy from your weekly chem lab tell a story about a minor celebrity he’d met a few weeks ago, which you truly couldn’t have cared less about. “Hey, Y/N, would you mind running down to the basement to get a fresh bottle of tequila? The people demand more shots!”

You shoved her shoulder playfully as you walked toward the door leading to the basement. “Anything for you, my liege,” you called back theatrically, your best friend’s pealing giggles echoing after you as you descended the stairs. Swinging around the banister at the bottom, humming to yourself, you made a beeline for the fridge that held the extra supply of liquor for just such occasions as these. 

When you opened the refrigerator, light poured out, illuminating the space, and you nearly jumped out of your skin as you realized you weren’t alone. On the other side of the room, sitting on the tattered old love seat, mindlessly scrolling through his phone, was your handsome stranger. He seemed to discover your presence at the same time as you discovered his, though he was significantly less alarmed than you were, probably because it was much more reasonable to expect someone to eventually join you in the basement than to expect someone might already be waiting for you in it, all alone, in the dark.

Your heart rate and breathing were slowly returning to normal as you gaped at him and said, “You lost?” 

He was smiling at you again, as if he was delighted to see you, which was unfair because you were trying to be irritated at him for frightening you. “What? Oh no, I just needed some air.” 

“So you decided to get it in a stuffy basement?” You cocked an eyebrow at him, tone dripping with sarcasm. 

“Hey, I didn’t say I needed the air to be fresh,” he shot back, his wit impressively quick.

You rolled your eyes. “Sure, I mean what’s all the fuss about fresh air, right? Breathing in air that’s mostly dust builds character.” 

He scoffed, masking his amusement with you, “Well, what about you then? What was so important you were willing to compromise your precious respiratory system by coming down here for it?”

Biting back a smile, you reached your hand into the open fridge, deliberately slow, and pulled out the bottle of Pueblo. “The powers that be, also known as my roommate, charged me with procuring this potion to pacify our esteemed guests.”

“Ahhh, I see.” He nodded in fond understanding. “And do you plan on partaking in this potion?” 

“Oh god, no!” You cringed, mind suddenly flooded with memories of past exploits fueled by tequila, memories from your freshman year, an exciting but reckless and at times regrettable period in your life. “Believe me, the last thing anyone needs is me getting drunk on tequila.”

His eyebrows hit his hairline. “And why is that?”

You scratched the back of your neck bashfully. “Uh, let’s just say that, when I drink tequila, I tend to make some questionable, arguably bad choices.”

“Define bad.” He was leaning forward, conspiratorially, as if he’d asked you to reveal the secrets of the universe.

“No, I don’t think I will,” you rebuffed plainly, no longer restraining your smile as it transformed into a smug grin, reveling in the opportunity to tease him.

His elbow was planted on the arm of the love seat now, chin sitting in his open palm as he gazed at you with something you couldn’t quite place, something that made your insides squirm. Sighing, he simply said, “Fair enough.” But his tone didn’t match his words. He wasn’t admitting defeat at your declining to elaborate, rather he was claiming a different kind of victory altogether, the specifics of which were a mystery to you.

Clearing your throat, the air in the room suddenly stifling, charged with electricity, you thought it best to make your escape and rejoin the party.  “Well, try not to deprive the other guests of your delightful company for too long, okay?”

You turned to climb back up the stairs but the man’s voice stopped you. “I’m Ten, by the way.”

Why was your heart racing? All he’d said was his own name. You swallowed thickly. “My name is Y/N,” you offered, barely more than a whisper.

“Pretty.” Just like you, he thought.

He was still smiling at you as you fled from him for the second time that evening. You scurried back into the kitchen and handed Karina the tequila, still reeling from the interaction you’d just had as she poured a round of shots for your guests. But before you could say anything to her about it, your best friend was bringing a separate matter to your attention. “Y/N, have you seen Ning? I invited her tonight, and she said she was gonna come, but I haven’t seen her yet. I’m worried about her, you know?” Your heart sank. Yes, you did know because you were worried, too. 

One of your closest friends from university, Ningning, had recently experienced an especially rough break-up. A couple of weeks ago, she’d walked in on her boyfriend of almost three years with another woman in their bed. After immediately throwing him out, she had called you and Karina to come over and sit with her as she broke down and cried. You’d held her in your arms, smoothing her hair and wiping her tears as Karina forced her to sip water and take deep breaths until the shooting pain in her heart settled into a dull, throbbing ache. 

Naturally, she’d been struggling to adjust to her new normal, her sleep schedule in shambles, GPA suffering, appetite nearly nonexistent. You’d both been doing all you could to try and help, reminding her to eat, hyping her up by telling her how beautiful she looked every chance you got, even going so far as doing assignments for her in the classes you shared. You loved her, and you knew she’d do the same if you were in her place. 

Hell, you had been in her place, your last break-up tragic in its own right. Karina had been your saving grace then, so you saw it as your responsibility to pay that forward with Ningning now. “I haven’t seen her, Kay, but I’ll see if I can track her down. Leave it to me, all right? You just focus on having fun.” You took her hand for a moment, squeezing it reassuringly, and she sighed, weary but accepting as you began your search, moving through the house and surveying each room in hopes of finding your friend.

It didn’t take you long. You asked yourself where you would’ve ended up if you’d gotten stuck at a party like this while still struggling with your break-up, and the answer brought you right to her, sitting on the big armchair in the corner of the living room where you and Karina usually sat up your Christmas tree each year, clinging desperately to a throw pillow like some sort of life line, knees tucked up to her chest as she watched the flurry of people around her with wide eyes. She looked so lost. You had to save her. 

Approaching her slowly, like she might get spooked and run off, you knelt down in front of her, a gentle hand landing lightly on her calf. “Ning?” She started, her eyes snapping to meet yours, her bottom lip trembling at the sight of you. The relief that came with your presence made her want to break down, but she knew she couldn’t in front of all your guests. “Hey, talk to me. How’re you doing?”

She let out a ragged breath. “Not great.”

“What do you need from me? How can I help?” you asked sincerely, ready to go to the ends of the earth if it would somehow help her smile again.

“I don’t know, Y/N. I just feel so… unattractive. In every way. I hate that there are so many people here to look at me without really seeing me, hate seeing them all effortlessly interacting with each other, finding interest in each other, hate watching all the public displays of affection. I’m lonely, but the thought of initiating a conversation with anyone here besides you or Kay in order to fix that makes me feel sick. I grew so dependent on him that I don’t even know how to connect with anyone on my own anymore, and I’m so scared of being rejected, or worse, being accepted only to be betrayed again.” 

The familiarity of the feeling behind her words struck a chord in you. “Hey, you made connections just fine before him, right? I’m living proof. It’s just gonna take time for you to figure out how again. You’ll get there. But for now, for this particular moment, what can I do to help? Do you want me to take you home?” Her brow creased as she considered your words, still a little too lost in her own mind to find her way forward. You could work with that. A smirk forming on your face, you pulled on her ankles, bringing her bent legs down in front of you, sliding your hands up and over her knees, creeping over her thighs toward the edge of her skirt. “Or do you want me to… take you home?” 

She blushed furiously. “Y/N, stop, people are staring!” But despite her protest, she smiled, and soon enough, the two of you dissolved into a fit of giggles. 

Unbeknownst to you, Ten had climbed out of the basement shortly after you, just missing you in the kitchen as you’d walked off to find Ningning, coming across his friends laughing it up at Karina’s childhood stories about Jaehyun instead. 

“No fucking way—” Haechan’s piercing voice filled up the whole space, holding its own against the soundwaves pouring in from the amps in the dining room. 

“I’m serious, Hyuck! Just before the song with his big solo in it, I turned to Yuno and told him a joke that made him laugh so hard he peed himself and ran off stage crying.” The other three boys, amused at their friend’s past misfortune, clapped their hands like well-rehearsed seals as Jaehyun scrubbed his hand over his face, his ears gone scarlet with embarrassment. “Oh, but it gets even better. The following Monday, when we were watching the tape from the choir concert in our music class, he got so flustered during the part of the video where he had his accident that he ended up peeing himself again.”

Ten joined Mark where he sat on the counter, adjacent to the counter housing the sink which Johnny, Jaehyun, and Haechan were currently leaning against. Karina was standing in the center of the kitchenette facing all of them as she recalled Jaehyun’s tragic tale.

“I’m honestly amazed he didn’t give up on singing altogether,” she concluded.

Clearing his throat, Jaehyun shot playful daggers at his childhood friend. “Why don’t we change the subject to something less mortifying for me?”

Mark jumped in, tapping Ten’s shoulder as his feet swung where they hung off the edge of the counter, “Like where you’ve been for the past half hour!”

“Yeah, I can’t believe you ditched us, dude.” Haechan was pouting at Ten, but Ten had grown impervious to the younger man’s methods, simply rolling his eyes in response.

Shrugging, he said, “I just needed some personal space, so I went down to the basement for a bit. That’s all.”

“Ah, then you must’ve bumped into Y/N again!” Karina turned her teasing on Ten now, referencing his run-in with you when the group of men had first arrived. 

But Ten just smiled softly at the mention of you. “Actually, I did bump into her. We had a nice little chat. Where’d she run off to?”

“She went looking for a friend of ours.” Karina whipped her head around, looking from room to room. She had a fairly good vantage point from the middle of the kitchen, able to act as a responsible host and keep an eye out for any funny business. Soon enough, she spotted you where you’d discovered Ningning. “There she is!” She pointed you out to Ten, but the others tracked the gesture as well and happened to look at you just as you were getting handsy with the heartbroken girl in front of you. 

Haechan, ever incapable of thinking before he speaks, especially when he’s been drinking, rubbed his eyes dramatically and blurted, “Whoa, what is happening there? Am I drunker than I realize or are they about to go at it?”

Johnny smacked the back of his younger friend’s head before turning to their host. “Sorry, we can’t take him anywhere—”

“Hey,” Haechan complained, “don’t act like you weren’t thinking the exact same thing, man.”

“Yes, but only you were dumb enough to actually say it, Hyuck.” Mark sighed, hanging his head in his hands.

Karina chuckled at the exchange. “Guys, it’s fine, really. But it’s nothing. They’re just friends. Ningning, the one in the armchair? She went through a cataclysmically bad break-up recently, and Y/N is simply trying to make her feel better.”

“Make her feel better by fucking her?”

“Bro—”

“No, Hyuck,” Karina broke in, impressively patient, “not by fucking her. Y/N does like girls—and boys, for that matter—but she’s not actually interested in sleeping with Ning. She’s just reminding her what it’s like to be seen as sexy by someone besides her ex. Y/N has this talent for making someone feel like they’re the only other person that exists, you know? Like she can see inside your mind, see all your worries and woes, and draw them from you like venom from a snake bite just by saying the right words, by smiling in a certain way. Believe me, she’s worked her magic on me more times than I can count, and it’s… something.”

As she said this, Haechan, Mark, Jaehyun, and Johnny watched you with renewed interest while you got up off the floor, encouraging Ningning to make room for you on the seat of the armchair with her. She did so gladly, and you rewarded her by wrapping her in your arms, allowing her to lean on your shoulder, your hand reaching up to run your fingers through her hair. The small audience you’d unknowingly gained the attention of couldn’t tell what you were saying, but they could see you start speaking to her, could tell that, whatever spell you were casting, it was slowly bringing her out of the despair which had possessed her up to this point of the evening. A smile found its way to her face and, in turn, to all of theirs.

Meanwhile, Ten’s blood was boiling. Karina had just explained that you and Ningning were only friends, nothing more, and he understood that, yet his blood was boiling at the sight of you touching her so intimately, so thoughtfully. He wasn’t an idiot. He knew it was because he wished it were him being graced by your touch. He knew it was because he wanted you. But he’d never felt this way before, not over anyone, let alone a stranger he’d met mere hours prior. What was going on with him?

He tried isolating his desire, distinguishing it from his envy. He tried to focus on it as he watched you. He was used to the feeling of wanting someone. He’d wanted plenty of people, and had succeeded in having most of them, too. But it was never like this. The last time he remembered wanting something this badly was when he decided to become a dancer. 

Yet, at the same time, he felt so completely unworthy of you, which was also foreign to him. It made his head spin, a strange concoction of confusion, rage, and longing churning in his heart. 

Maybe he’d had too much to drink. Maybe he just needed to fuck. Either way, he needed to do something about whatever he was experiencing, or he was going to lose his mind.

In the living room, you continued to comfort Ningning. “You are super hot, though, Ning. I hope you know that. You could have anyone here if you wanted to.”

She gave you an incredulous look. “Okay, that statement is already ludicrous, but when you consider the fact that five of the most famous dudes in the entire world just happen to be at this party, it’s even worse, you lying liar.”

Your brain short-circuited. “Wait, what? What are you talking about, Ning?”

Her jaw dropped. “Are you kidding? Y/N, do you seriously not know who any of those guys are?” Sweeping her hand through the air, she gestured toward the five men currently keeping your best friend company in the kitchen, the incredulity in her eyes now doubled. 

You shook your head calmly, but your heart rate was starting to pick up with the direction this conversation was taking. “Who are they?”

“They’re from NCT!” she practically shrieked. When you offered no reaction, she groaned in frustration. “Y/N, they’re a k-pop group. A really well known one at that. You honestly had no idea?” 

You’d never really been much into k-pop aside from the couple of songs that had managed to make it onto mainstream radio (although you did like them), so no, you truly hadn’t had any idea that the childhood friend your housemate had invited, as well as his friends who’d tagged along, were “famous.” 

It made sense to you now why Karina had signified to all the people she’d invited that this party was meant to be completely offline, even going so far as to make guests surrender their cellphones to her custody when they entered your home. She’d claimed it was because you all needed to stop investing so much in your online identities and learn to live in the moment, to actually enjoy all your experiences first hand instead of focusing on how they might be perceived by others. No one had questioned it because Karina was notorious for throwing great parties, and they didn’t want to miss out.

You really wished you’d been paying more attention when people had initially begun to arrive, though, because you were sure they must have been ready to strangle Karina for preventing them from being able to document this particular experience and share it on social media. 

But now, as you glanced up and locked eyes with Ten, your handsome stranger, you suddenly felt deeply embarrassed at your behavior. You couldn’t believe how you’d spoken to him, knowing the kind of people he probably had to deal with all the time. He must’ve thought you were an idiot, and hey, you couldn’t quite find it in yourself to blame him if that were the case.

Clearing your throat awkwardly, you turned your attention back to Ningning. “Okay, so, I need to go over there and apologize to one of them because I’m a fucking dumbass.” Her face twisted with shock at your admission. What could Y/N, of all people, have possibly done to upset one of them? “Are you gonna be all right if I leave you alone for a bit?”

“Oh no,” Ningning answered, “there’s no way I’m missing this. I’m coming with you.”

You gawked at her, affronted. Who knew all it took to break her out of her shell and distract her from her own misery was your public humiliation? She laughed–somewhat maniacally–and stood, taking you by the hand and dragging you toward the kitchen as you groaned in defeat. You tripped over your feet clumsily, your friend practically having thrown you into the proverbial lion’s den, all five men’s eyes on you immediately. “Uhhh, h-hi,” you stuttered, awkwardly waving at the spectators of your mortifying display.

One of them, the biggest and arguably most intimidating of the bunch, showed you mercy, reaching a hand out to steady you. “Hi, Y/N!” He must have registered your surprise at his having known your name because he quickly added, “Sorry, didn’t mean to spook you, your roomie was just telling us all about you right before you came over here.”

You shot subtle daggers at said roommate. “Was she now?” She just smiled smugly at you, clearly happy with herself. Shaking it off and resolving that your best friend could be properly dealt with later, you righted yourself and sought out the person you’d actually been intending to speak with. He was already looking at you when you locked in on him, his gaze intense as ever, hot enough to brand you. Was he doing it on purpose or did it come naturally? You had to figure it was the latter since the former would imply he had some sort of intentions where you were concerned, a concept you weren’t foolish enough to entertain for even a moment.

“Hey you,” he greeted, beating you to the punch. “Change your mind about the tequila?”

His callback to your earlier conversation made you smile, an embarrassingly shy laugh bubbling out of you and into the open air, the sound buzzing inside Ten’s brain, the most pleasant warmth spreading throughout his chest in response. “Not a chance,” you replied cheekily. 

“Shame,” he countered, smirking at you brazenly.

Everyone else was glancing between the two of you with varying levels of intrigue, Johnny wearing a knowing look, Karina and Ningning communicating with each other telepathically, and the other three men stuck on how cute you looked when you blushed. Neither you nor Ten detected any of this, too swept up in your third direct interaction of the evening, too engrossed by the genesis occurring inside you.

The moment was finally broken when a male voice cut through the silence, belonging to another of Ten’s friends, “So are you gonna introduce us or what, dude?” 

Ten glared at him but sighed in resignation, not willing to endure one of the younger man’s world famous tantrums right now. His voice deliberately monotone, he gestured lackadaisically and said, “Y/N, this is Haechan.” Haechan, you repeated internally, memorizing the information. He was obviously the youngest based on the way the others regarded him. The boy offered you a blinding smile, waving his hand emphatically. Ten snorted, adding, “Don’t worry, he grows on you.”

“Hey,” Haechan huffed, crossing his arms indignantly. It was absolutely adorable.

Ignoring him, Ten quickly moved on. “And this is Jaehyun. I’m sure Karina mentioned him to you.”

You grinned at Jaehyun, excited to have some advanced knowledge. “Is it okay if I call you Yuno like Kay does?”

He returned your grin and chuckled, the sound deep and rich, filled with bass. He both appeared and sounded like a prince from a storybook, and you would probably be more susceptible to his charms if you weren’t already so taken by Ten. “Sure, angel. You can call me whatever you feel like.”

Ten had never really felt like murdering Jaehyun before, usually reserving those kinds of urges for the likes of Haechan, but it took everything in him not to snap at that moment. He seriously needed to get his emotions or whatever the hell was happening with him in check.

“Wait, wait, then I want her to call me Hyuck instead of Haechan!” the adorable boy whined, his big brown eyes imploring you.

Before any of the other men had a chance to chastise him, you responded, “I can do that! It’s nice to meet you, Hyuck.”

The tallest one rolled his eyes and groaned. “Please, don’t encourage him. We’ll never hear the end of it.” You found it amusing how much they all behaved like brothers. It was clear they must have known each other for quite a long time, probably about as long as you and Karina had known each other if their heated yet ultimately playful exchanges were anything to go by. “I’m Johnny, by the way.” 

“And last but not least,” Ten interjected, “this is Mark.” He reached out and pinched the other man’s cheek, cooing at him lovingly.

Mark shoved Ten’s hand away. “Come on, man, not in front of the pretty girls!” His friends all just laughed at his distress, and he shook his head, exasperated. Cheeks flushed, he reached a polite hand out to shake yours. “It’s an honor to meet you, Y/N. And who’s your friend?”

Ningning squeaked from where she stood a few feet behind you, having assumed the handsome men would simply look right through her. Her reaction brought you to the decision that Mark was definitely your favorite of Ten’s friends so far. You smiled and pulled Ningning closer to you, wrapping your arm around her shoulders to bolster her. “This is Ningning!” She gave them a small wave but avoided eye contact like her life depended on it, looking absolutely anywhere in the kitchen other than at any of the men currently observing her.

“Not to throw Karina under the bus or anything, but when she pointed Y/N out to us, she also explained that Y/N was trying to cheer you up. She said you went through a pretty rough break-up recently,” Mark admitted, his voice tender. Ningning gasped quietly, meeting his sincere gaze. “I was really sorry to hear that.”

Johnny nodded solemnly. “So was I.”

“We all were,” Jaehyun assured her.

“I don’t know what happened, what the guy said or did, and I’m sure Y/N and Karina have told you this more than enough, but it will get better,” Haechan began, his wilier side giving way to something more genuine, something that told you there was more to him than most people probably gave him credit for. “Everything might feel shitty now, but there will come a time when the way you’re feeling now is nothing but a memory. You won’t be able to believe you ever wasted so much energy on that loser. You’ll smile more easily and laugh more freely. And it’ll be sooner than you think. I promise.” You were stunned to hear those words come from the youngest. You hoped he was just wise beyond his years and not speaking from personal experience, the thought of someone having broken the boy’s heart absolutely unacceptable to you.

Their kindness had managed to break the ice, thawing Ningning’s nerves. You heard her sniffle from where she stood still pressed against your side. “Thank you,” she said quietly, silence falling over your small company. 

“Hey, why don’t we play a game,” Johnny suggested, attempting to lighten the mood. “20 questions?” The rest of you either nodded or hummed your assent, more than ready to reignite the party. “Mark, why don’t you go first?”

The starry eyed boy’s mouth fell open in shock as he sputtered, “Uh, o-okay, I… I’m thinking of a person—”

“Justin Bieber.” Haechan cut him off, an impressively smug look on his face.

“Aw, come on!” Mark whined, hopping off the counter in a huff.

The boys began to bicker, Johnny attempting to mediate while Jaehyun, Karina, and Ningning looked on and laughed. You were endeared by the display, taking Mark’s now empty place on the counter and observing fondly as Johnny eventually managed to calm things back down and get Mark to pick a new subject for the others to guess, one that wasn’t quite so obvious. But just as he was about to begin, Ten pulled your attention away from the others, bumping his shoulder gently against yours and nodding toward Ningning.

“Is she doing okay?” he asked, his voice soft, eyes glimmering with genuine concern.

You sighed wearily, offering him a small yet reassuring smile as you gazed at your friend, watching her have real fun for the first time in weeks. “She’s… getting there. I’d say she’s about as okay as anyone can expect her to be at this point, you know? She thought she’d found her person. She had this whole vision of their future together, the life they would make, and that’s gone now. She’s mourning that, learning to live with the nostalgia for what might have been. It’s a haunting feeling.”

Ten’s eyebrows furrowed, the concern in his eyes magnifying. “You sound like you have some experience.”

“Unfortunately.” Your gaze fell to your hands, now nervously fidgeting with a loose thread on the side seam of your jeans. 

“So you believed you’d found the one?” 

You laughed, but there was no humor in it. “I did.” You wondered if Ten could see it, could see just how foolish and ashamed you felt at the thought of the person you once believed to be your perfect match.

“And what about now? Do you still believe you could? Do you still believe in soulmates?”

Your breath stopped, your racing thoughts skidding to an almost violent halt. You hadn’t been prepared for that question. You were so used to people asking you what happened, so used to recounting your own misery just to be met with empty platitudes or pity. This was the first time anyone had asked you anything like this, had been more interested in the state of your mind than they were in the gory details of what had devastated it. 

You stopped fidgeting and looked up at Ten, whose eyes were still trained on you, shining with a sensitivity you didn’t think most people were even capable of. 

For the first time, you considered it. You considered the condition of your faith in love after the trials you had faced. And once you did, you began to speak out loud thoughts that you were only just now conceiving. “I don’t know if I’d say I believe in soulmates. At least, not in the traditional sense. But I do believe that, at some point in each of our lives, we will meet the person, out of everyone we’re destined to encounter, who is best suited for us as a partner, as a lover. And it’s up to us to see it. A lot of people probably miss out on their greatest chance at true love because they’re too afraid of getting it wrong and ending up with a broken heart. It’s hard not to be afraid, though, especially when you actually have gotten it wrong before.”

Ten nodded perceptively. “So you’re afraid?”

“I mean, yeah, of course I am,” you admitted. “There’s a lot of people in the world, many of them incredibly magnetic and beautiful. How are you supposed to know which one is the one for you?”

He looked down at the counter where your hands had subconsciously moved closer to one another, your pinkies nearly touching, and smiled to himself. “You’ll know.”

Your eyes closed as you let his words soak through you. He sounded so sincere that it actually made you wonder if he could be right, if maybe there was still hope for you. You wanted to thank him, but weren’t sure how, which suddenly reminded you of why you’d walked over here with Ningning in the first place. Clearing your throat, you met his eyes and said, “I wanted to apologize to you.”

“For what?” he asked, confused.

“For how I spoke to you earlier. I… I didn’t know who you were. Ningning explained it to me, and I just… I didn’t want you to think I was some sort of crazed fan following you around.” You chewed your lip, once again too distracted by your own nerves to notice Ten tracking the movement with his eyes, practically hypnotized.

“You didn’t know who I was? At all?” he probed. You shook your head, and he gave you his brightest smile yet, butterflies stirring inside you at the sight. “So, this whole time, you’ve just been interacting with me as Ten, normal dude at a college party?”

“Yeah, that’s the long and short of it, I suppose,” you answered. 

Ten gave you an incredulous look. “Why would you ever apologize for treating me like a normal person?”

You shrugged awkwardly, unsure of how to handle yourself in Ten’s presence for about the millionth time that evening. “I don’t know. I just felt like I could have offended you in some way, and I never wanted that.”

He chuckled again, a sound you were beginning to grow quite fond of, and leaned closer to you, his breath tickling the skin of your neck. “What did you want then?”

You nearly choked, a blush blazing up your neck and across your cheeks. “I-I don’t know—“

“You say that a lot.”

You narrowed your eyes. “Well, there’s a lot I don’t know.”

“I find that hard to believe,” he said plainly, still smiling, driving you crazy.

Just as you were about to give him a piece of your mind, Haechan’s voice cut through and broke the illusion that you and Ten were alone rather than surrounded by a house full of people. “Y/N, it’s your turn.”

You’d forgotten about the game of 20 questions entirely. And as you were dragged back to reality, all at once, your mind began trying to process all that occurred in the last ten minutes.

It terrified you how easy it had felt to talk to Ten, how thoughtful and kind he seemed, how clever he was. The last time you’d felt even a fraction of the attraction you were feeling now, you’d ended up like Ningning. What should make you feel warm and fuzzy now filled you with a sense of dread, a wave of nausea passing over you. You’d been telling Ten the truth when you said you were afraid, now more than ever. 

Stepping down from your perch on the counter, you avoided eye contact with the man who seemed too good to be true as you addressed the small group, “Um, I actually think I might call it a night and turn in. I’m… I’m feeling pretty tired all of the sudden and kind of sick to my stomach, so I think I should get some rest.”

Karina immediately knew that something was off but also knew better than to question you. “Here, let me get you some water before you go.” She rushed to the cabinet, grabbing a glass and then moving to the sink, brushing Jaehyun aside so she could reach the faucet. 

You accepted the glass from her and offered a quiet thank you before taking a quick sip, the cool liquid running down your throat already beginning to soothe you. You could feel the eyes of all the men standing in the kitchen with you. “It was nice to meet all of you. Please, enjoy the rest of your night and get home safe, okay?”

“We will, Y/N. I hope you feel better,” Mark replied, giving you the most intense puppy dog eyes you’d ever seen.

“We all do,” Johnny interjected, Jaehyun and Haechan nodding in solidarity. “And it was nice to meet you, too.” 

You smiled shyly at each of them, then moved toward Ningning, wrapping her in a tight hug. “Have a good night, Ning. Text me when you get home, okay?” You pulled back and wagged your finger at her dramatically, making her giggle.

“Okay, mom,” she retorted, rolling her eyes. You scoffed and placed a smacking kiss on her cheek before turning back to the others and waving goodbye.

You had barely begun to walk out of the kitchen when Ten’s voice made you freeze in place, much like it had in the basement earlier that evening. “Sleep well, Y/N.” You turned to face him again and gathered the strength to meet his gaze. You were worried you’d find annoyance, disappointment, maybe even anger in his eyes, but they were still as soft as before, oh so soft. It confounded you completely. 

Clutching the glass of water in your hand for dear life, you heaved a sigh. “Good night, Ten.” And then you tucked tail and ran, bobbing and weaving through the throngs of people in the living room to get to the stairs that led up to your bedroom in record time. You closed the door, setting your water on the nightstand next to your bed, and flung yourself onto your duvet. 

Downstairs, still in the kitchen, Haechan gave Ten a pointed look and said, “Well, you fumbled that.”

The other three men groaned in unison, “Shut up, Hyuck.” 

The party didn’t last too much longer after that, and you were still awake by the time everyone had left, totally restless, your mind unable to quiet itself enough to let you rest. It only got worse when you heard Karina coming up the stairs to go to bed for the night. She wasn’t alone, and with a heavy heart, you realized that you recognized the other voice as they made their way to her room. It was Ten.

You convinced yourself that it didn’t matter, that you didn’t care, but your hands were shaking as you grabbed your airpods from your nightstand and placed them in your ears to not only drown out the sound of their laughter but also your own treacherous thoughts. Eventually, you finally fell asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bonus:

A/N: And that's the first part, folks! I have several parts written, so you can expect the second part sooner rather than later. I hope you liked it! Let me know what you think of it so far :)

Poor Sandu Shengshou has no idea what to do with this new information 🤷🏻‍♀️🤔

Wei Wuxian: Lan Zhan is good at everything. There must be something he is terrible at.

Jiang Cheng: He's probably a bad kisser.

Wei Wuxian: No, he's good at that too.

Jiang Cheng: Excuse me?!

"One time Wei Wuxian came over here. All he did was lie seductively on the piano and drink wine. I don't really like that guy but I admire his lifestyle."

- a yunmeng citizen (probably)