A Colour I’ll Never Know

a colour i’ll never know

pairing: badboy!heeseung x librarian!musician!reader

summary: The world isn't always in black and white. And who better to teach you that than a bad boy in leather?

warnings: cursing, mentions of food, y/n gets followed by some creepy drunk guys towards the end.

word count: 5,993.

note: the way this is both the fastest i've ever written something and also the longest thing i've ever written... lol bad boy heeseung the things u do to me. i made a playlist here of all the pieces mentioned in the fic if you want to listen to them!!

happy valentine's day!!

For the most part, you enjoyed working at the library. It was quiet (which did wonders for the many headaches you got from staying up too late), the pay was pretty decent, and you were surrounded by books all day.

Some might’ve thought it to be too lonely, considering the fact that the only people you interacted with were frazzled college students who were too busy doing last minute studying to initiate small talk, and Mrs. Johnson, the head librarian, but you never minded. A set of underdeveloped social skills always tended to make you feel awkward when you interacted with people you didn’t know, and you found working in a place so quiet and undisturbed felt much more natural, as opposed to working as a barista in a coffee shop that never died down.

It made you uncomfortable just thinking about it. You had no idea how Lia did it every day.

So yes. The library was quiet, and peaceful, and boring, and just how you liked it.

Especially now, seeing as it was a Monday morning, and most of the people that usually came in were probably too busy nursing awful hangovers to even get out of bed.

You sighed contentedly as you placed Macbeth back on the shelf, Schubert’s Impromptu No. 3 playing softly from your headphones. Even though returning books to proper places on shelves was often boring and rather tedious, it felt relaxing after the hectic weekend you’d had, trying to catch up on the assignment your music professor had given you.

You always did hate theory-

“-hello? Anyone home up there?” Your right earphone had been abruptly pulled out and the music replaced by the sound you hated possibly more than anything.

Someone was trying to get your attention, and evidently they chose to do it in the most obnoxious way possible.

You inhaled deeply, bade farewell to Mansfield Park as you placed it on the shelf, and turned to see who dared to approach you, only to stop short.

Because there was no way Lee Heeseung was standing in front of you right now.

Lee Heeseung, who was never seen in anything but dark colours, had more piercings than you could count, an arm full of tattoos, and drove a motorcycle.

Lee Heeseung, who you had never seen anywhere near the library before.

Lee Heeseung, who apparently was standing in front of you, and who looked you up and down with a raised brow.

You cleared your throat, hoping the shock didn’t show on your face. “Yes? Can I help you with something?”

A slow smirk made itself at home on his face. “You’d already know the answer to that if you weren’t listening to music on the job, sweetheart.” He shook his head in mock disappointment, clicking his tongue.

You narrowed your eyes. “What I do on the job is none of your business. And it’s not like it’s against the rules anyway.”

Heeseung’s eyebrows raised. “Well well well, who knew little Miss Librarian had some fire in her.” He leaned in, getting much too close for comfort. “What music has you getting so defensive, hm?”

Without even asking, Heeseung picked up the earbud that was hanging down limply and lifted it close enough to hear what was playing. By now Schubert’s piece had ended, and Bruch’s second movement from Violin Concerto No. 1 was playing softly.

He scoffed and rolled his eyes upon hearing the music. “Classical, how boring and stereotypical.”

“Oh really?” You snatched your earbud back. “A bit bold of you to be judging a book by its cover, don’t you think Mr Badboy Wannabe?”

Watching Heeseung’s overly confident front start to crumble gave you some kind of twisted satisfaction.

You stood up straighter, gripping on the handle of the book trolley. “Now, do you actually need help with something? Or can I go back to my job and boring music?”

Heeseung seemed to be debating with himself on whether it was worth it to ask you for something, but before he could (most likely) come up with some kind of ridiculous excuse for no longer needing help, someone suddenly came up behind him, clapping a hand onto his shoulder.

“Hey man, you find the book yet?”

Jay Park. The only child of a very well off CEO, culinary arts major, and Lee Heeseung’s best friend.

Heeseung frowned. “No. I’ve looked everywhere for it, but I guess they don’t have it.”

“Damn, that’s too ba-“

“What book is it?” You interrupted. “Maybe I could help you find it.”

“There’s no need for tha-“

“Oh sweet!” Jay handed you a small piece of paper. “It’s this one.”

You unfolded it, raising a brown once you read the title.

“Let me guess, you don’t have it?” Heeseung’s cocksure attitude was back and more infuriating than before. “Or are you just not a fan, sweetheart?”

“Making assumptions again, are we?” You stepped closer to him, so close your noses were almost touching. The way he didn’t even flinch, but very obviously glanced down at your lips told you everything you needed to know about him.

But instead of closing the distance like you were sure he was expecting you to do, you leaned your head back a bit and reached up between your faces, grasping the spine of a book and pulling it out. “Enjoy, sweetheart.”

You shoved the book into his chest and turned around, not bothering to glance back as you put your other earbud in, and pushed the trolley down the aisle and into the next one.

To say Heeseung was stunned as he watched you walk away would have been the understatement of the century. But as he looked down at the book in his hands, Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus, he knew one thing for sure.

He had to get to know you.

The next time Heeseung went to the library, he had the pleasure of seeing you again, only this time you weren’t working.

The table you were sitting at was next to the window, with golden sun rays shining through, giving the perfect natural lighting. As he got closer he could see that you had one of your headphones in, the other lying limp along your chest, and your phone lying on the table upward allowed him to see that you were once again listening to classical music. Specifically Dvorak’s Violin Concerto in A Minor.

“Do you listen to anything but that boring music?”

You didn’t even bother looking up from your book. “I know you didn’t just call Dvorak boring.”

“You’re right, I called his music boring.”

You glanced up at him, unimpressed. “Is there a reason you’re talking to me? Or do you just enjoy annoying people?”

Heeseung gasped dramatically, lifting a hand to place over his heart and groaning like he’d been shot. “You wound me, sweetheart.”

You closed the book with a sigh. It was clear you wouldn’t be getting any studying done with him here. “Are you ever going to stop calling me sweetheart?”

“Not like I have anything else to call you.” Heeseung pulled out the chair across from you and made himself at home on it.

“Of course. Not like I have a name or anything.”

He tipped his chair back and propped his feet up on the table. “Not one that you’ve given me.”

You reached across and shoved his feet down, biting back a laugh at the way he momentarily flailed before catching himself. “You should know better than to contaminate the library like that.”

“‘Contaminate’?” He looked at you incredulously. “What am I, some kind of virus?”

You shrugged and started stacking up your books. “Who knows. You might have some kind of badboy cooties that I don’t know about.”

“I thought we left cooties back in first grade.”

“Of course you did.”

“I’m Heeseung by the way.”

You stared at him blankly. “I know.”

Heeseung smirked, his lip ring glinting in the sunlight. “So you’ve heard of me?”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” You rolled your eyes. “Is there anyone on campus who hasn’t heard of you?”

“I see my reputation precedes me.” As much as you hated to admit it, the way he leaned back in the chair, arms crossed and legs spread, was kind of attractive.

He raised a brow at you.

Really attractive.

You stood up with a sigh and picked up your stack of books. “To say the least. Now if you’ll excuse me, I would actually like to get some studying done.”

Heeseung felt a small sense of disappointment as he watched you walk away again. “So no name?” He called out rather loudly, ignoring all the dirty looks and shushing.

You glanced back with a smile. “You’ll just have to earn it, sweetheart.”

“I can’t believe you said that to him.”

You continued reshelving books but spared a glance at Lia. “Why?”

“Um, because it’s Lee Heeseung? Hello? The dude is scary as hell.”

“Really?” You walked out of the aisle and went to the desk with Lia following you not far behind. “I guess the tattoos and piercings can be considered kind of intimidating. Or more so the piercings since I haven’t seen any of his tattoos yet. I swear it could be a 100 degrees and he’d still wear that stupid leather jacket.”

Lia grabbed a random book that was sitting on the desk and started paging through it. “Sounds like someone is a little upset that she hasn’t gotten to see the Harms yet.”

You turned to her with a frown. “The what?”

“Harms. Heeseung arms."

“Heeseung arms. Harms.” You stared at her for a moment before shaking your head. “You spend too much time on Twitter, you know that?”

“Yes yes, I know. It’s a fatal flaw, a red flag, whatever. As I was saying though, I think it’s really-“

“And how’s the prettiest librarian to ever walk to earth doing today?”

You sighed deeply and looked up at Heeseung. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen Mrs. Johnson since yesterday.”

“So feisty for no reason, sweetheart.”

“Please,” you rolled your eyes. “You haven’t seen feisty yet.”

“Oh really? Maybe you’d like to show me sometime.”

Lia looked back and forth between the two of you. “You two look like you need some alone time, so I’m just gonna head out. See you later Y/- ” At your sharp look she cut herself off. “Right. Yeah. See you later.”

Once Lia had left, you turned to Heeseung. “May I help you?”

He grinned flirtatiously. “Just here to return a book.”

You sat down on the chair as he placed it on the counter. “About time. I was beginning to think you lost it.”

“I didn’t think you were the type to judge slow readers, sweetheart.”

“I’m not,” You scanned the book back into the system. “But I am one to judge people who wait until the day after the due date to return something.”

He shrugged nonchalantly. “What can I say? When I read something I really like to make sure I absorb it.”

You stood up with the book he returned, as well as a few others, and started towards the aisles that they belonged in. “Yeah, you would.”

Heeseung followed you, apparently not getting the hint that you were done talking to him. “So when can I take you out?”

“That depends.” You placed Jane Eyre back in her rightful spot. “Do you mean take me out as in you’re planning an assassination, or take me out on a date?”

“A date of course.”

You turned to him with the sweetest smile you could muster. “Never.”

He followed you to the next aisle as well. “You can’t mean that, sweetheart.”

“Can’t I?”

“But how could you go through life without knowing what it’s like to go on a date with the one and only Lee Heeseung?”

You snorted. “I think I’ll live.”

“Not even one, teeny, tiny date?”

You turned to look at him for a moment, considering. He really knew how to do the puppy-dog eyes well.

Finally, you sighed. “Fine. If you can find out my name all by yourself, I’ll go out with you.”

“Wait really-“

“But that means no asking your friends, my friends, or any of our professors. Deal?” You held out your hand, and Heeseung took it without hesitation.

“Deal.”

Seeing Heeseung somewhere besides the library felt odd. It was almost like you’d forgotten that he existed outside of the building.

And yet as you saw him walking towards you while you were sitting in the courtyard waiting for Lia, you could feel an odd mix of dread and excitement in the pit of your stomach.

For once, Heeseung wasn’t wearing his trademark leather jacket, and despite the fact that it was the beginning of February and cold as fuck, he was wearing a short sleeved shirt. Which meant that you could see his ink covered firearms and biceps.

A voice in your head that sounded suspiciously like Lia was chanting Harms, Harms, Harms.

You were never going to forgive her for planting that seed in your thoughts.

“How’s my sweetheart doing today?”

You desperately hoped that he hadn’t caught you checking him out. “Well I was doing great until about two seconds ago when some crazy guy wearing short sleeves in winter started talking to me.”

Heeseung sat down on the bench beside you. “What can I say? Gotta find some way to woo you into going out with me.”

“Giving up on my name so soon?”

“I wouldn’t say giving up, more so….showing off what could be yours if you just tell me what it is yourself.”

You couldn’t stop yourself from laughing. “And you thought that getting frostbite would be the best way to do it?”

“I mean…” Heeseung scooted closer and lifted his arm, placing it on the top of the bench behind you. “I could’ve just stripped down in the library, but somehow I didn’t think you’d be as appreciative of that as Mrs. Johnson would.”

You rolled your eyes. “Congratulations, you finally made a smart decision.” The wind started to pick up, and you could see Heeseung start to shiver ever so slightly. “Though not really considering you’re practically freezing to death. Where’s your jacket?”

You weren’t sure if it was the cold weather, but you could’ve sworn that he was blushing. “I uh, I kind of left it at my apartment.”

“Of course you did,” you muttered, standing up. “Come on Frosty, let’s go some place warm before it gets so cold your heart freezes.”

“That’s impossible as long as you’re around sweetheart.”

You didn’t bother to reply as you pulled out your phone and texted Lia, asking to reschedule your study date, to which she enthusiastically agreed.

You were already several steps away when you realized that Heeseung wasn’t following you. Looking back you saw him still sitting on the bench, watching you go with an unreadable expression on his face.

You decided to ignore that for now. “Are you coming or was it your plan all along to get hypothermia?”

“That depends,” Heeseung stood up and jogged the few paces over. “If I do get hypothermia, will you nurse me back to health?”

“Aww,” You patted his cheek with your mitten-clad hand. “Not a chance.”

The cafe you took Heeseung to was one you visited often, seeing as it wasn't far from your apartment. As you stepped into the warm building filled with the bittersweet aroma of coffee and sweet cream, you almost felt like you were home.

“Huh,” He looked around, admiring all the duck themed decorations. “I didn’t take you as the kind of person who liked cutsey cafes.”

You side-eyed him. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”

He turned to look at you head on. “I hope I can have the opportunity to learn, then.”

Had his eyes always had those little specks of gold in them?

You cleared your throat and looked away. “Right, um. Do you want anything to eat or drink? My treat.”

The look of pure joy on Heeseung’s face as he picked out a pastry struck something deep within you.

Maybe he’s not so bad after all…

“I must say I’m rather disappointed, Y/N.” Mr. Scott, your music teacher, shook his head. “Haven’t you practiced anything I taught you last week?”

“Yes, of course I have. It’s just-“

“No. No more excuses. Play it again.”

You’d never been the biggest fan of Mozart, and as you were forced to play Sonata in C for the third time that afternoon, you knew your hatred was starting to show through your playing.

This time you didn’t even get the whole way through it before Mr. Scott was stopping you.

“Look Y/N, I don’t know what your problem is, but you need to fix it. I know you can play better than this. I don’t want to feel like I’m listening to a robot playing, I need to hear your emotion. Learn the piece so you know it like the back of your hand, and then put some emotion into it. Think about what story you want to tell with it. Don’t come to me until you think you can do that, otherwise we’ll be wasting both of our time.”

You watched Mr. Scott walk out of the music room from your place at the piano. When he was out of sight you let out a deep breath.

As much as you wanted to pretend you didn’t care, getting scolded by people, especially your music teacher, always left you feeling sensitive and exposed. It wasn’t like you wanted to play with the piece with no emotion, you just couldn’t seem to find the pulse, which frustrated you to no end.

“Well that guy sounds like a real asshole.”

Heeseung was the last person you had expected to see here, but if the past few weeks had taught you anything when it comes to him, it was to expect the unexpected.

You narrowed your eyes at him. “How long were you standing out there?”

“Oh, long enough.” He said vaguely, walking further into the room to stand beside the piano. “Really though, it sounded great. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

You huffed. “Yes he does, he was right about everything. It may have sounded perfect technically, but musically it was like a dying fish.”

“Huh,” Heeseung started looking through the music you had stacked on the side of the piano. “I honestly couldn’t tell the difference.”

“Trust me, if I was playing something I actually enjoyed, you’d be able to tell.”

“Oh really? Play me one of your favourite pieces then.”

You stared at him for a moment.

“Fine.”

Taking a deep breath, you placed your fingers on the cold, solid keys. The music that floated through the room felt intimately familiar. You used to play it so much each note felt like a part of you.

The silence after you played the final chord felt almost deafening.

“What’s it called?” Heeseung asked quietly.

“Romance in F minor, Opus 5. It’s one of my favorites from Tchaikovsky.”

He huffed and sat down on the bench beside you. “Didn’t sound very romantic.”

You frowned. “It didn’t?”

“Nah. Isn’t romance supposed to be all sappy and in love? Shouldn’t it have been something happy and bouncy sounding?”

You rolled your eyes. “That’s only one aspect of romance. There’s more than one layer to things like that. This piece does sound romantic, it’s just supposed to be showing the more depressing and dark side of romance. The doubts, the fears, the ‘what if’s’.”

Heeseung tilted his head. “I never thought about it that way. I guess not everything is set in black and white.”

“Exactly. That’s why you cant just listen to what’s being played, but how it’s being played.”

“I just hear music.”

“See? That’s the problem. You can’t just hear the music, you have to hear it.”

Heeseung blinked. “You just said the exact same thing.”

“Not like that,” you rolled your eyes. “You have to listen to what it’s saying. Like the first movement of Wienawski’s Violin Concerto Number 2. If you just listen to it it’ll sound like yet another boring classical piece. But if you listen to it and really hear it, you’ll hear the emotion, the words, the story it’s trying to tell.”

“And what do you hear when you listen to it?” Heeseung’s voice was soft.

You thought about it for a moment. “I hear anger. I hear a weakness that’s trying to make itself strong, and a disappointment wishing it could be content and being frustrated that it isn’t. But most of all I hear an underlying but deep-set pain.”

“Wow,” he breathed. “You really hear all that?”

You started messing with a string from your hoodie. “Yeah. It’s-It’s weird, I know.”

“No!” You’d never seen Heeseung’s eyes wider. “It’s not weird at all. I think it’s amazing how you can hear it and just….know.” He rubbed the back of his neck and let out a small, humorless laugh. “I wish I could do that. I guess I’m just too dumb.”

You placed your hand on top of his hesitantly. “Don’t say that. You’re never too dumb to understand something, it just takes time.”

“You think?” He turned his hand over and laced your fingers together.

“Yeah, yeah I do.”

“Thanks Y/N.”

Your mouth fell open in shock. “Wha- How did you-“

“I told you I was out there long enough.” Heeseung grinned. “So how does Friday at 6:00 sound?”

“No. Absolutely not.”

“Come on, Y/N! I promise I’m a safe driver and I’ll even go extra slow for you!”

You crossed your arms and looked Heeseung dead in the eyes. “I don’t care if you’re going five miles an hour, there is no way on God’s green earth that I am getting on that death trap.”

Heeseung stepped closer and grasped your arms gently. “Y/N, I know I don’t have the greatest reputation, but I would never do something reckless when I’m responsible for someone else’s life. Especially yours.” His eyes were wide and imploring. “Please, sweetheart?”

You sighed, dropping your arms. “Those bambi eyes should really be illegal.”

You held your hand out for a helmet, and Heeseung’s grin almost made it worth it.

Almost because by the time you got to your destination and took off the helmet, your hair looked like a bird’s nest.

Heeseung clapped a hand over his mouth, presumably to stop himself from laughing.

You glared at him. “I hate you and your stupid bike.”

“It’s not that bad…” He cleared his throat and busied himself with getting some things out of the side pouch on his motorcycle. “Really. I think you look cute.”

You took the blanket out of his arms so he had a free hand to carry the other things. “And I think you’re a liar.”

“Think whatever you want sweetheart, still doesn’t change the fact that you look adorable even with messy hair.” Heeseung closed the bag and motioned for you to follow him.

“What are we even doing, anyway?” You asked, cheeks burning. “You didn’t bring me all the way up here just to turn me into a skin suit, did you?”

Heeseung looked over his shoulder with a teasing smirk. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

“Yes?” You frowned. “Why do you think I asked.”

“Look,” Heeseung had stopped abruptly, just staring ahead. “isn’t it beautiful?”

You stepped around him and suddenly felt breathless. You had admittedly been rather suspicious of Heeseung when he took you out of the city and up a large hill, but now, as you were looking out and could see all the buildings and lights sparkling with the sun setting in the background, you were left speechless.

Eventually you were broken out of your trance by Heeseung’s voice. “Here, you can spread the blanket out here.”

You did as instructed and sat down next to him, letting out a laugh when you saw what he had in the grocery bag.

“Juice boxes and lunchables, huh?”

“Of course, only the finest of dining for my lady.” Your eyebrows raised at the endearment, but for once you decided not to comment on it. “Just wait til you see what I have for dessert.”

You picked up a Capri-Sun and pulled the straw off, sticking it into the premarked hole. “That better not have been a dick joke.”

Heeseung choked on the cracker he had just taken a bite out of. “Wow, okay.” His voice was scratchy. “You really don’t pull any punches, do you?”

You shrugged, picking up your own cracker. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

After finishing your food and drinks as well as desert (turns out it wasn’t a dick joke, but he had also brought fruit snacks), the two of you laid back on the blanket and looked at the sky. The sun had fully set several minutes ago and the stars seemed to shine brighter than you’d ever seen before.

“Oh, before I forget,” Heeseung pulled out his phone and messed with it for a moment before the beginning notes of Myaskovsky’s Cello Sonata No. 2 started playing from it softly.

You looked at him curiously, and he avoided eye contact with you, though you could see his cheeks starting to turn pink. “What brought this on?”

“I, uh. I’ve been listening to classical music lately. I wanted to see what it was you were talking about, with the story telling and emotions and all that.”

“Really?” You couldn’t hide the shock in your voice.

He finally turned to look at you, “Yeah. This one is my favorite so far.”

“Why?”

“I…I like how delicate it sounds. Even though later on it turns into something grand and majestic, there’s still an underlying thread of fragility that sounds like it could break any second. It’s,” he swallowed, almost nervous. “It’s vulnerable.”

You smiled, turning on your side and snuggling close to him. “I couldn’t have said it better myself.” You looked up, finding Orion’s Belt. “It almost reminds me of the night sky. Even though it’s bigger than we could ever imagine, it still has this delicacy that makes it feel like we could almost reach up and put the stars right into our hands.”

Heeseung’s left hand started to run through your hair, while the other lifted your hand that was resting against his stomach to his lips for a soft kiss on the back of it. “I think I’ve already got a star in my hands.”

It had been about two weeks since your first (and so far only) date with Heeseung, and to say you had become smitten with him would be an understatement. When he dropped you off at the front door of your apartment he had given you a sweet kiss on your cheek and a piece of paper with his number on it, and left with a quiet “Sweet dreams, Y/N.” whispered between you.

Unfortunately, even though you texted each other every day along with the occasional call, you hadn’t been able to see him much since then. With him being more busy than usual with classes (finding out he was studying psychology was quite the surprise) and you picking up extra shifts at the library, finding time to actually seemed to be impossible at the moment.

At least until the night before Valentine’s Day.

It had already been a long day, seeing as what felt like every student in the surrounding colleges and high schools decided to do their last minute studying today. You had been at the library since noon, and you were just starting the walk home now, at 10:30.

You had just crossed the street, still several blocks from home, when the uncomfortable feeling of being watched started to settle over you. You looked over your shoulder as discreetly as possible, and sure enough. There were three men, probably not much older than yourself, most likely drunk with the way they were walking, and definitely following you.

You started to walk a bit faster and pulled out your phone. Your hands were shaking as you went into your recent calls and tapped Lia’s name. Even if she would never let you live this down, you could put up with a lifetime of teasing if it meant you got home safe.

As soon as you heard her pick up the phone you started talking. “Hey baby! I just left the library, where do you wanna meet up?”

“Y/N?”

That was definitely not Lia’s voice.

“H-Heeseung?” You pulled your phone away from your ear and looked at the contact name. Sure enough the name, Heeseungie <3 was staring back at you “Oh, hey, uh, sorry about that.I meant to call Lia because there’s these guys following me and I think they’re drunk but that doesn’t really make it any better and I just thought that maybe if I pretended that I was calling my boyfriend they’d leave me alone but I…I don’t really think it’s working. I don’t know.” You tried to make your voice as quiet as possible.

“What? Where are you?”

You glanced behind you. They were still there. “A few blocks from the library. I think they’re getting closer.”

“Are there any stores around that are open?”

“Yeah, there’s a 24-hour convenience store a little bit up ahead.”

“Okay, good.” Heeseung sounded relieved. “Just wait in there, I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“Wait what? Heeseung, no. It-It’s fine I can just wait in there until they leave or something. You don’t need to get up or anything I can-“

“Sweetheart.”

You swallowed. “Yes?”

“Wait in there. I’ll get there as soon as possible.” His tone left no room for argument. “What store is it?”

“Okay…” Even if you didn’t want to admit it, you were relieved. “It’s CU.”

“Alright. Just hold tight, I’ll see you soon.” You could hear rustling on the other side of the line. “Do you want to stay on the phone with me until I get there?”

You rolled your eyes as you pulled the door open. ”I’m not a baby, Heeseung.”

“I never said you were, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t allowed to be scared.” His breathing started to pick up, almost like he was running. “I’m almost there.”

“Okay,” You made your way to the aisle with chips and pretended like you were trying to pick one. “You can hang up if you want.”

“I never want to hang up on you sweetheart,” You could practically see his flirty grin. “Did they follow you into the store?”

You glanced at the entrance, feeling even more on edge when you spotted them loitering around it, probably also pretending to look at things. “Yeah.”

“Alright, I can see the store. See you in a second,”

You hung up without a word, putting your phone back into your bag and staring intently at the chips. Would Cheetos be an appropriate last meal?

“Hey baby.” Your head snapped to the end of the aisle, seeing Heeseung walking towards you. He was wearing a tight, short sleeved shirt once again, displaying his tattoos, but instead of the usual black jeans and boots, he was in a pair of dark grey sweatpants and black and white sneakers. Upon reaching you he wrapped his arms around your waist, hugging you from behind. “How’s my favorite girl?”

You leaned against him, placing your hands overtop of his and lacing your fingers together. “A lot better now that you’re here.”

“What’s this?” He gasped dramatically. “Y/N is actually happy to see me? I better mark this on the calendar.”

“Shut up,” you elbowed him gently. “I’m always happy to see you.”

Heeseung huffed. “Oh really? Tell that to the Y/N of last month.”

You looked up at him with a teasing smile. “You mean the Y/N that was being hit on relentlessly by the guy who had never spoken more than one word to her before? That Y/N?”

“…fair enough.”

You turned back to the chips. “Yeah I thought so.”

“You wanna get something and go back to my place? We could have a movie night or something.” His thumb started rubbing yours gently. “No funny business, I promise.”

“Yeah,” you breathed. “That sounds nice.”

You each picked out a few snacks and a drink, paying for them as quickly as possible and making your way to the entrance, where the three drinks were still waiting. Apparently they hadn’t gotten the hint.

Just as you were passing by them, the shortest of the three muttered something too quiet for you to hear, but it obviously wasn’t anything good seeing as Heeseung immediately let go of your hand and grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling him close to his face. “You wanna say that about my girlfriend again?”

You’d never seen him look this intimidating, even before you really got to know him. If you were being completely honest, it was kind of hot.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” He struggled against Heeseung’s hold while his friends watched with wide eyes.

Heeseung narrowed his eyes with a huff. “That’s what I thought.” He let him go and grabbed your hand again. “C’mon sweetheart, let’s go home.”

You were about a block away from the store when you finally decided to speak up. “So… girlfriend, huh?”

Even in the dim light from the street-lamps you could still see Heeseung start to blush. “Yeah, sorry about that.” He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly with his free hand. “I actually wanted to ask you when we had our date, but I thought it was too soon.”

You nodded. “Yeah. I can’t guarantee that I would’ve said yes, so it was probably for the best.”

“Right.” It was obvious he was at least somewhat disappointed. “Guess it’s a good thing I didn’t then.”

By now the two of you had reached Heeseung’s apartment building. He moved to unlock the front door, but you tightened your hold on his hand, pulling him back. “If you wanted to ask me now, though…”

“Now?” His eyebrows rose in surprise. “Wouldn’t you want it to be more, I don’t know, romantic?”

“Who said it’s not romantic? It’s the night before Valentine’s Day, you just saved me from a couple of drunk idiots, and you bought me snacks.” You shrugged. “Can’t get much more romantic than that.

“Alright,” Heeseung suddenly dropped to one knee, holding your free hand with both of his. “Y/N, sweetheart, would you allow me to have the honor and privilege of having you as my girlfriend, and letting me be your boyfriend?”

“Hmm,” you pretended to think about it. “I suppose I could.”

He stood back up with a grin, placing his hands on your cheeks and leaning in close. “Does that mean I get to kiss you now?”

“If I recall correctly, you’ve already kissed me.”

Heeseung rolled his eyes and leaned in even closer, your noses brushing together. It reminded you of the day you first talked to each other.

“Trust me sweetheart,” his lips brushed against yours. “When I kiss you for real, you’ll be able to tell.”

“Oh really? Prove it-“

Before you could even finish your sentence, his lips were on yours, and you could already feel yourself getting addicted to the way his soft lips moved against yours, contrasting with the cold metal of his lip piercing pressing against the corner of your mouth.

When you finally broke apart, you were both panting for air.

“If that’s what a real kiss is, you’ve been holding out on me.”

“Oh?” Heeseung pecked your lips once more. “Guess I’ll just have to make up for it then.”

You grinned. “I look forward to it.”