Smashing the Six (NCT)

the short stop (M) jeno x reader

pairing: jeno (nct) + you (reader)

you: to be editor in chief of the campus newspaper next year, you need a big story. you set your eyes on neonet - the school's infamous and equally dangerous social media app where classmates get exposed for their misdeeds on the regular, but you have to decide just how far you're willing to go to get the promotion you've always wanted.

him: with a slew of offers and scholarships to join some of the country's most elite universities, jeno chose nctu for its rigorous engineering program, but also its renowned social scene. a freshman and new to the area, jeno is an outcast and treated like an unwanted visitor from the start. then he meets you and in one night, his luck changes.

warnings: mild language; alcohol use; explicit sexual content

a/n: this is part one of my smashing the six series; check my masterlist for other parts; happy reading!

Controlled chaos, you thought fondly when you arrived on the third floor of the east building - the home of NCT University's school newspaper.

The clock was ticking and the deadlines were looming, as they did every weekend. Whoever thought NCTU's newspaper should be a weekly issue rather than monthly was clearly insane.

But to be fair, it was hard competing with neonet. Which was the school's personal social media app run by an anonymous group of students that always had the dirt on everyone.

Thus far, you had escaped their watchful eyes unscathed, but mostly because you didn't rock the boat or make waves where they were concerned. As a junior, your goal was to finish your journalism degree with flying colors. And what you needed more than anything was to spend your senior year as the editor-in-chief of the paper.

Kim Doyoung was the only thing standing in your way.

Upon delivering your finalized story for the next issue to Doyoung, the current editor in chief, you made the mistake of once again asking who he planned to promote to editor next year in his place.

It was no secret to everyone on the floor that you were vying for the job.

Doyoung was in a bit of a mood, courtesy of the deadlines, and this led to nearly ten minutes of contentious conversation.

Your favorite kind.

"Listen, if you want to be editor next year, you need a big story. Something new. Something... controversial." The way he said that last word had an unmistakable bite to it.

You had been moving begrudgingly toward the door, bristling with frustration at another battle lost. For two years, you'd been working your ass off for this damned paper. The fact you still had to claw your way to the editor's chair, having lost almost all of your dignity in the process, made you scowl.

No one had broken as many stories as you. None of the other wannabe journalists had dug around and unearthed as many scandals as you. The promotion should have been a given. You were indisputably the most qualified.

Pivoting around, you forced a smile and asked, "Any juicy hints, boss?"

"None for you," Doyoung said curtly.

It wasn't that he disliked you - though that was certainly the impression he was going for - Doyoung just wanted you to be up to the task and wanted to push you to be your best. Just as his predecessor had done before him. It was more or less a tradition at this point.

If only you knew that Doyoung got on your last goddamn nerve because he had already chosen you to replace him. Scratch that. It would probably make you despise him more.