Light a Flame

"We pretend like we don't know although we know
We're falling for each other
We already know losing control"
Light a Flame - Seventeen

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He couldn't tell exactly what had changed with her over time.

But something did change.

Her touch was warmer, her kisses were hungrier and she was needier than ever.

All of his friends advised them that this "friends with benefits" thing was never good to actual friends... One of them would eventually grow attached and the other would freak out, ending things and damaging the friendship forever.

But Hoshi knew better.

They would never do that... Because "Marie and Hoshi" was something unbreakable.

But could that be the reason behind her change?

Was she growing attached?

If he was going to be honest, which he wasn't prepared at all to be, he'd admit that he too grew quite attached. Their friendship started because they met at the gym, and she was talking to a girl he wanted to sleep with, so he thought that bonding with her would lead him to the girl's bed... Soon, he found out they (Marie and him) were in two classes together and that she was roommates with that girl's best friend.

As time passed, they started seeing each other out of the gym or classes, turning acquaintance into friendship... He decided, rather quickly, he liked her a lot. Besides being nice and fun to be with, she never judged him or his fraternity. She actually became quite their "only female member"; they all protected, helped and treated her as if she was one of them.

Soonyoung never got to sleep with that other girl – the one that made them become friends, mostly because Marie told him she had a boyfriend... And he was no asshole. A fuckboy? Maybe. But not a dickhead. He valued love too much to destroy a relationship just because he found a girl hot. There were hotter girls, anyway.

Hot and single girls ready to have a good time with him.

He just never expected Marie would end up being one of them, especially because of her insecurity towards her body and the fact that she never slept around... Truth be told, he was her only "non-boyfriend-ish" fuck.

As their bound tightened and blossomed, he discovered sides of her she hardly showed to other people. She placed such blind trust on him, letting him witness her moments of vulnerability, of pain, of anger, of happiness, of pride, and now of lust. She told him her deepest secrets, she sought his advice when she had problems to solve... Marie really made him part of her life, like no other girl ever did. And maybe that's why they became friends with benefits.

It didn't matter, honestly, because Hoshi was happy with that new type of relationship.

As to prove his content, he heard Marie's voice at the hall alongside with Wonwoo and Jun. His heart picked up its beat while he strode off to meet her, arriving when she was putting on her tiger themed slippers – one they bought together to purposely match.

"You came." He smiled.

"Jun and Wonwoo promised to teach me some videogame stuff so I don't look like a weirdo at NCT's party." She approached him, wrapping her arms around his waist. "What are you up to?"

"I was making some snacks. Why videogames?" He scrunched his face. Marie always found that too adorable, the way his eyes would almost close and his mouth would form a little pout, and also how non-techno-invested he was.