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yellow sticker — seungmin x reader ; established relationship & happens in the universe of ‘cops and robbers’ (1.5k words)
kim seungmin, resident fuckboy turned soft boy, is on a mission to quit smoking
this was a request by @.notmyblogsblog and i loved it too much not to write it. i hope this is how u pictured it :) btw posting again bc it didn’t show up in the tags the first time
There’s a certain tone in Kim Seungmin’s voice that tells you he wants your attention. It’s partly whiny. Almost annoyed—though, only because he refuses to believe other things weigh heavier in gravity over him in your life.
“Babyyyy.” The drawl in his ‘y’s. The exasperation of his sigh. All very clear tells for the boy.
He hasn’t moved to interrupt you yet, hasn’t moved to block your line of vision and whatever the fuck picture you wanted to take, but you see him enough through your peripheral vision to see the pout of his expression.
You can only laugh. “I told you it’d be boring if you came with me, and you did anyway.”
“Is it such a crime to want to spend time with the girl I like? Besides, I like watching you. Passion looks very sexy on you.”
Well. You’d be lying if you said there was nothing you felt inside from that.
“Shut up.” You swallow, though you can sense relentless teasing from him with the way you set your camera on the desk behind you to try and avert his gaze from your heat-stricken cheeks. “Don’t you have to go now?”
He looks like he doesn’t want to. “I… do. Yeah.”
“With the boys, right?”
Seungmin and his friends have this thing where they meet at specifically set times. You’d jokingly called it the Fuckboy Assembly, but stopped since the boy had expressed his distaste for the word “fuckboy”. He didn’t like the connotations anymore, didn’t feel like he deserved you if he kept at his ways before he’d met you.
And while he couldn’t get rid of his ties with that title fully, especially not from strangers who liked labelling him, he at least didn’t want it to come from you.
“Yeah.” There’s that surge of dejection in his voice.
You keep your eyes on him, the way his eyes look downcast on his phone to check for the time before looking back at you. He looks like he wants to say something. You start to feel guilt at your lack of attention to him whilst you’d practiced your shots.
“How about… you come over to my dorm later and I cook us dinner? You know, after you hangout with your friends? …If you want.”
The way he perks his head up is cute, and more so when his lips pull into a smile.
Seungmin looks at you like he needed that response, as if making sure you actually want to spend time with him too. He tries to sound suave with his response but all you hear is a giggle he fails to mask. “Okay.”
“Okay.”
Then there’s a soft love tap on your cheek before he kisses it. “I’ll see you later?”
You hum. “Just knock four times so I know it’s you.”
“I’ll make up every excuse to get to you faster. I’m starting to get sick of the boys’ faces anyways.” You laugh. “See you later!”
–
“Earth to Seungmin?”
The younger boy perks up like he’s just realized what trance he had been in. “What?”
“What’s that on your jacket?” Hyunjin sounds like he’s on the verge of laughter, and the way Seungmin tilts his head down to look at it makes him look cute.
There, in the midst of his scruffed up bad boy image and the leather jacket he’s wearing is an uncharacteristic bright yellow star, just where his heart is.
All the boys lean close enough to notice the little sticker.
“(Name) gave it to me for not smoking for a week.” There is a soft smile on his lips at the memory of your eyes—the way you’d looked at him after he’d confessed he’d been a week clean of cigarettes. “Says it’s for my health. Plus, she doesn’t like the smell so I’m quitting.”
“Well, shit. He really has gone soft.”
There’s loud wolf whistles and tossing and turning coming from every direction, but it all just falls deaf on his ears. He doesn’t even care to be teased anymore, doesn’t find the reason to be defensive. All he really cares about is making you happy—only cares about the smile on your face if he’s clean for another week, and another week, and a month, and a year.
“He was probably with her earlier too. That’s why you were so late, hmmm, Seungminnie?”
“So what if I was?”
The whistles don’t stop, and certainly also not the playful shoving. Flits of moments like this with his friends are stupid, but it’s also endearing.
“Who was it that said she wasn’t even their type anyway?”
“Shut up. I lied, okay? I like her. A lot.” Seungmin shoves them back. “So stop fucking smoking in front of me because I plan on getting another sticker next week.”
“There’s just no hope for him anymore.” Changbin laughs.
“Yeah. I feel like I know everything about her, and I haven’t even met her yet.” Felix adds.
“Oh, none of you are meeting her. Absolutely not.”
“What the fuck? Why not?”
–
There’s four knocks on your door just when the clock hits 7pm, and you fumble to open the door while trying not to burn the dinner you’re cooking.
“You’re early.” You say sternly, pointing your ladle at him—almost accusing.
“I missed you, so I ditched them.”
Seungmin has no trouble admitting he’s attached. He likes being around you, even when you aren’t paying any attention to him. He likes the way you curl your lips when you concentrate, the way your eyes narrow at your viewfinder, the way you hold a smile to yourself when you take a shot you like.
He likes it even when you scold him for the smallest things.
“‘M not finished cooking dinner yet.” He sets his shoes aside, just by your shoe rack, before he moves towards the direction of the kitchen where you’d returned to after opening the door for him.
“Need any help?”
“I’d rather not burn my dorm down.”
Seungmin can’t quite see your face when you have your back turned towards him, but he can already picture the laugh-laced smile on your face.
He moves over to wrap his arms around your waist, chin rested on your shoulder as he gets himself comfortable. Your face feels ticklish to the strands of his hair, but you don’t make a move to push him away. “Missed you.”
“It’s only been 3 hours since we saw each other. You’re so dramatic.”
He hums. “How did your pictures turn up?”
Seungmin doesn’t miss the way your eyes lighten up at the question. “I got a really good shot. I think I’m gonna add it to my portfolio.”
“Yeah?” He asks, fingers toying with the ends of your shirt. “Can I see them later?”
“Really?” You pause your concentration to look at the boy, freezing from your stirring even. His head turns to the side so he can look at you better, and damn, what a sight he’s subjected to. Seungmin can’t help but coo at how adorable you look. Your eyes are little wide with something akin to childlike wonder and your smile is so genuine, and fuck, he is so in love.
“Of course.” He coos softly. You’re eye-to-eye, and it’s almost intimidating the honesty you see in his. Seungmin loves lying, considers it his pastime even, but not to you. He’s always honest with you.
“Okay.” You whisper more to yourself, turning your attention back on your cooking. He doesn’t miss the chance to pepper kisses from your ear down to your neck.
His lips feel soft against your skin.
You can’t help but drift back to when you’d first met him.
If you’d told yourself then about the compromising position you were in now, you wouldn’t have believed it true. But fuck, you’re thankful to yourself for giving him a chance, and you’re thankful to him for holding true to his words.
Here he is, bare with vulnerability and honesty, and so quiet and kind behind you, quitting the things he never thought he’d be able to just because you didn’t like them.
You know you care about Seungmin. And while maybe you aren’t in love quite just yet, you know you’re already on the way. The feelings you have for him is different than the ones you’ve felt before. Falling in love with Seungmin feels contradictingly safe. It doesn’t feel as scary as you thought, because he made it so easy for you to feel happy and secure.
There is comfort in the slowness of your relationship, in how he didn’t pressure you to feel as much as he did.
“What are you thinking about?”
“You.”
“Among other boys?”
You laugh at the familiarity of the words. You’d thrown them at him just a few months ago. “Just you, and about how much I like you.”
“Well.” He smiles. “If it makes you feel any better, I really like you too.”
You feel yourself smile back at him, even bigger than before, and Seungmin feels his heart nearly burst at the sight.
“Go set the table. Dinner’s almost ready.”
“Whatever you need, baby.”
Yeah, definitely in the process of falling in love.