#Hyunjin stealing a bite at the end is so funny | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

pinkestwrites · 5 years ago

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A Wolf For Christmas

Jinyoung wolf AU

Jinyoung is used to funny smells. As a werewolf, it's common for him to pick up on strong scents throughout the day. But this—this is overpowering. It surrounds him, leaving him no room to breathe anything else. He has to leave his spot in the back aisle and see just what is producing this harassing smell. He frowns, realizing it's a little girl. The child is squatting in the kid's area of his section of the store, reading the Little Red Riding Hood all by herself.

"Are you supposed to be alone?" he questions, trying to be firm but not scare her.

The little girl looks guilty as she stares up at him. "No," she sighs in defeat. "Please don't call my mom!" she shouts at him, pouting extra hard to help her case.

Jinyoung smiles to himself. Any other day and he would have caved. This was the book section of the store and he was definitely adamant about children needing to read more, but that scent was driving him crazy. It's not coming from her, just lingering around her, so he has to meet the parents of whoever this kid is.

"Sorry," he tells her, extending his hand out to help her to her feet. "You can't just wander around alone."

She takes his hand, but sends him a glare. He admired how adorably fierce she was. "Don't look so gloomy," he counters. "if your mom allows it, you can stay here." Her face lights up at his words and she practically drags him in the correct direction.

Jinyoung should have expected to be brought to women's clothing. At least once every few hours someone loses their child from not paying attention. While the department store wasn't known for much, they did have a large selection of trendy clothes they were known for carrying.

Upon entering the section, he hears his shift manager scolding someone in the distance. "Mom!" the little girl shouts as she drops Jinyoung's hand. His eyes widen when he realizes it's her mom who's being scolded. Jaebum, looks annoyed, but leaves without saying another word.

The smell stops him in his tracks. It's sweet, but not sickly so. It's soft and teasing, even at full force. He's drawn back to reality when the little girl is pointing at him, dragging her mother his way.

"I'm so sorry," the mother immediately apologizes. "I only had my back to her for a second!"

He shakes his head—both to clear his mind and dismiss her apology. "It's fine," he gets out, voice shaking. "I know how sneaky little ones sometimes get."

She snorts. "Sometimes?"

Jinyoung lets out a nervous laugh, not sure how to follow. His eyes instead take in her form, it's then he notices she's dressed in the required uniform. "You work here?"

She nods, "Women's wear."

It all makes sense then. While working, of course she would easily lose her kid. He wants to question further, but if Jaebum had no problem with her bringing her kid to work, he wouldn't question it.

For now, his mind is telling him to get away. He still had to finish his shift, it wouldn't go well if he continued to linger around in this scent. Distracted didn't quite cover how he felt. He gives her a little nod before turning on his heel.

"Wait!"

Startled by her sudden shout, he whips around.

"You forgot this book," she tells him, pulling the book out her daughter's hand, despite the fight she put up. Just from that action alone he knew the little girl would not be visiting him again.

He puts up a hand to stop her. "She can keep it," he tells her.

The mother shakes her head, and bits her lip, hesitating. "I can't afford it."

Jinyoung solemnly nods. "It's on me."

** "Go on break," Jaebum barks at him as he's passing through. Jinyoung sighs, Jaebum's ever the cold leader, but he doesn't need to be told twice.

Grabbing his lunch from the staff lounge, he heads outside to find a quiet spot to eat. He doesn't get very far when he catches that scent again. He hates how his eyes snap to the direction of the mother and daughter from earlier with such ease. Figuring he can't escape, he might as well join them.

"Hello again," he greets them as he plops down on the bench opposite them.

"Hi!" the daughter easily greets him, but the mom, rightfully so, looks at him suspiciously. After, he assumed, she'd determined he was okay, she says hello back.

He sees they are eating as well, though the daughter still seems absorbed in the book. "Enjoying your book?" he questions.

The mother blushes and can't quite look him in the eye. "Thank you for that," she admits. "and yes, she's obsessed with this story."

"Nothing wrong with that." The wolf in him even feels proud.

She stopped mid-motion to give him a look that says 'what’s wrong with you'. "It's too morbid for her age."

Jinyoung shoots her a skeptical look back. "Morbid? Little Red Riding Hood gets saved in the end."

The mother just shakes her head like it's a lost cause trying to further talk to him. "But it talks about the wolf eating everyone."

Jinyoung rolls his eyes now. It's s child's book, not like they go into detail. "Should I have given her The Three Little Pigs instead?" he sarcastically replies.

Despite having just taken a bite the mom says, "Yes!" and nods ever vigorously.

Finally it's the daughter's turn to voice her opinion. "Mom, you're so boring."

** As he's waiting for the start of his shift, Jinyoung brightens at the sight of Hyunjin and Hyemi walking in (the mother and daughter, he totally asked for their names at lunch yesterday). Hyemi is talking a mile a minute and he's proud to hear she's still on the subject of wolves. Hyunjin just rolls her eyes and puts a finger to her lip. Hyemi pouts and closes her mouth, but once she spots him, she instantly waves in his direction. Just as he's returning the gesture, Hyunjin sees him as well and nods.

Jaebum walks in a few minutes before the start of the hour and clears his throat, catching every employee's attention. "As you all know," he starts, pointing to a giant tree in the back of the room. "This time of year we host our annual Staff Secret Santa. I've randomly placed everyone's name on the tree, please pick one and only one. If you get yourself, just put it back and grab another." He explains as a low buzz erupts around the room. "I trust that I don't have to babysit you on this, right? Grab one and let's go to work." He finishes as he exits the staff break room.

Jinyoung groans, he hears the feeling is mutual as he glances over to Hyunjin. Hyemi is jumping up and down, excited at the word Santa, but clearly Hyunjin is not. "Mom, what's a Secret Santa?" she eagerly questions.

"Shh, I'll explain later," Hyunjin replies as she slips in line to grab her pick.

Jinyoung slips in behind her and Hyemi grins back at him.

"Excited?" he teases, clearly Hyemi seems like she'll burst any minute from excitement.

"Please don't encourage her," Hyunjin scolds.

Jinyoung can't help himself. "Your daughter's right, you are boring."

Hyunjin's jaw drops open. Before she can retaliate, Jinyoung points ahead. "Your turn." She huffs as Hyemi giggles and grabs a name before she can.

"Who's—" Hyunjin is quick to cover her mouth. "It's a secret," she grits out.

Jinyoung ignores them and picks one as well. His eyes light up and he can't believe his luck. He got Hyunjin. He secretly grins to himself, about to pocket his pick when Hyunjin steals it out of his hand.

"Oh thank god you got me," she tells him, crumbling up the little piece of paper with her name on it. He's about to question her when she continues. "Please do not buy me anything. We don't celebrate Christmas." Having said what she needed to, she turns on her heel and heads off in the direction of her department.

** Jinyoung can feel his wolf flaring up at his anger. Since Hyunjin had snapped at him, he'd been uncontrollably angry. Jaebum even sensed it and told him to take a five minute break to cool off. Of course, the break didn't help.

Honestly, he's not sure why he's so mad. Was it because she ordered him not to? That seemed a little silly, but he didn't want to let it go. Hyunjin and her daughter were very interesting to him, he was certain it would be fun shopping for them. He decides right then and there to ignore her request.

Just as he's pondering what would be a good gift, he picks up Hyunjin's scent heading his way. He feels a little bummed when he sees it's just Hyemi. She looks guilty as she makes her way to him.

"Hello," Jinyoung puts on his best smile and greets her anyway.

Hyemi mumbles a hello back and awkwardly stands with him. For someone who's always so bubbly, Jinyoung knows something is wrong with her.

"You OK?" he questions, squatting down to her eye level.

Hyemi doesn't say anything, just throws herself at him for a hug. Jinyoung is surprised by the action but slowly returns it. Hyemi beams up at him as she pulls away.

"Mom's mad at me. She said I should leave you alone."

Ah, the weird behavior makes sense. Hyunjin must have scolded her. He feels a sting of hurt at the fact that she'd ordered her daughter to do such a thing. Jinyoung had never done anything to warrant such a reaction. "I'm sure she's not mad at you, she's just trying to protect you," he reasons.

She glares at the bookcase in front of them and he can't help the laugh that escapes him. "It's not funny!" she huffs at him.

He puts up his hands in surrender. "Sorry." He gets serious as he tells her, "Tell your mom, I said you and her are not a bother, OK?"

Hyemi smiles at his words and runs off back to tell her mom the good news.

** Hyemi took his word seriously and immediately came back after telling her mom. Jinyoung smiled and told her to read whatever she liked. Of course she went straight for The Little Red Riding Hood again.

"Do you like wolves?" she questioned as she turned a page.

Jinyoung had to fight back the grin. He cleared his throat to answer seriously. "Yes, I do."

Hyemi's head snapped up at his words and she shut the book in front of her. "They're so pretty. And fast. And scary. And I want one!"

He smiled fondly at her words. Scary, but still wanted one as a pet? She was certainly braver than most people.

"I wish there were more wolf books," she commented, looking gloomily down at the book in her lap.

Jinyoung understood that. Their selection wasn't the best, just filled with the classics or what was currently popular. Even their children's section was lacking. An idea hits him then. "Would you like to hear a story?"

Her whole being lights up at his suggestion. "Yes!"

"OK," he tells her as he takes a seat down on the floor beside her. "There once was a beautiful little girl, just like you," he taps her nose and she giggles, already enthralled by his story. "She lived in the countryside with her mother and sister. The little girl's health was very bad and she was sick. One day she discovers a wild wolf boy living in the woods surrounding her home."

Suddenly Hyemi frowns. "Hey, I've seen that movie!"

He gets flustered at being caught. Of course she would have seen a movie like that. He stares at her little angry face, trying to think of something else.

"So you like werewolves too?" he questioned.

"Any wolf!" she eagerly replied.

"OK, I know just the story."

** "There was a little werewolf boy—" he caught himself before blurting out his own name. "Nyeongie. Nyeongie lived in the forest with his mother and father. Every day he would run around and play with all the other animals in the woods. They were his only friends since he didn't know anyone else.

One day it was time for him to return home for dinner, but he got lost. Despite being very good at smelling, he couldn't pick up the scent of his home. Instead he stumbled upon some humans. Scared, he tried to run from them and hurt his leg."

"Poor baby," Hyemi interrupted, which made him smile.

"It was OK though, these humans didn't hurt him. It turned out they were werewolves just like him. And they had two sons. The younger one was Bummie. And the other one, Lark."

"Lark?" Hyemi questioned.

"They wanted to give him a unique name."

"Ah! OK! Finish!"

"They took him in for a few days as his leg healed. Werewolves heal very quick, you know?" She nodded at his question. "Once he was all better, they helped him return home. What waited for him was not what he expected. Both his parents had been murdered. Lark and Bummie's parents helped him properly bury his family, but he was devastated. Now he had no one."

He abruptly stopped his story when Hyemi burst into tears.

"I didn't mean to make you cry." He tried consoling her. It wasn't working so he pulled her into his lap to rub her back. This worked and she quickly stopped sobbing. "All better?" he asked. "I have to finish my story, it's not all sad," he teased.

"OK," Hyemi said as she wiped one last tear away.

"He thought he had no one," Jinyoung clarified this time. "But in reality he had made really good friends with Lark and Bummie. Without any hesitation, Lark and Bummie's parents took him in and accepted him as their own son."

Hyemi comments a mile a minute, but he doesn't hear it. Instead his brain locks in on the scent heading his way. He makes eye contact with Hyunjin once she's in sight and, boy, does she look unhappy.

"Hello?" Hyemi waves a tiny hand in his face to catch his attention.

"Huh?" he questions, focusing back on her. He'd completely missed everything she'd said.

"I said—"

"Wait," he cuts her off. "Your mother doesn't look too happy."

Hyemi freezes at his words and guiltily waves at Hyunjin. "Gotta go," she tells him as she runs off.

He shakes his head, but a smile appears on his face and he gets off the floor. Never was there a dull moment with those two.

"Should you be telling her your own story?"

Jinyoung almost jumped out of his skin. He didn't know how Jaebum managed to sneak up on him like that. He glares at the manager as he calms his heart.

"It's fine. She'll never know that it's real."

** "Mom's mad at me again."

Jinyoung grins. He has a feeling it's because she keeps sneaking off to him, begging to hear more about Nyeongie. It's actually quite therapeutic telling her his life story. He didn't realize how lonely he felt only talking with Jaebum and Mark.

"She's not mad at you, she just worries a lot about you. You gotta be a good girl and listen to everything she says, OK?"

Hyemi nods, "OK!" she pauses, quietly thinking to herself. "I wish dad would help mommy. I hate him!"

Jinyoung is intrigued by this new piece of information. He didn't realize she had a dad. Of course she had one, but this was the first time he was hearing about him. "You don't mean that," he defends.

"I do!" she doesn't budge.

"He's doing his best."

Hyemi gives him the coldest look he's ever seen a little kid give. "Mom says something happened and he can't be with us but I just think he doesn't love us." With her last words, she stands up and runs off.

Jinyoung feels bad, he hit a sore spot without meaning to.

Jaebum's legs come into view and he stops staring after Hyemi to look up at him.

"You're get weirder and weirder by the day," Jaebum tells him.

He rolls his eyes, "You just have bad timing."

"Sure, lover boy," Jaebum teases and pats him on the head. "Go on break," he orders and leaves him still sitting there.

** At break, despite seeing Hyunjin is still visibly upset at him, he plops down at the table again. "Hey," he greets and gets out his lunch.

Hyunjin is eating her lunch as well, but Hyemi is adorably crawling around on all fours, howling at the sky. She barks at Jinyoung in what he assumes is a greeting. He waves before turning back to Hyunjin, there's a faint trace of pink lining her cheeks and he can't help but think it's cute that she's letting Hyemi be.

Hyunjin grabs his attention when she lets out a sigh. "Look," she starts, finally meeting his eyes. "I'm sorry about snapping at you earlier," she admits. "I do mean what I said though."

Jinyoung nods at her explanation, trying to play it cool. "Rules are rules though."

Her eyes narrow at him now. "We can just pretend, yeah?"

"No. At least let me get her a gift instead?"

Hyunjin looks conflicted at this, but she stays firm. "No," she answers. "I know it seems absurd, but money's tight right now and I just don't want her expecting gifts from now on."

The guilty look on his face crushes his heart. "Then you should let me, I'll give her something every year."

Hyunjin gives him a look that says he can't be serious. He hopes the look he's giving back says he is. Because he would.

With a shake of her head, she finally breaks eye contact and crosses her arms to rest her head on. Tiredly, she silently continues to watch Hyemi run around. Jinyoung gets the hint and drops the subject.

He's just taken his last bite, when Hyunjin turns to him. "I hope you don't think I'm a bad mother for not wanting to celebrate Christmas."

He's surprised she's addressing him and is not quite sure how to respond. "No, of course not." he finally gets out. "Just confused is all."

"I want to, you know?" she turns back to looking at Hyemi. "She deserves it, she's the world's sweetest girl."

That he would agree with, she was all smiles and sunshine all the time. "I don't mean to intrude, but she mentioned her dad," he stops cold when he sees Hyunjin's shocked reaction.

Her eyes suddenly get teary, but Hyunjin blinks them away before they can form. "He's not in the picture. I was waiting for her to get older to explain to her. I think she's still too young to understand."

Jinyoung nods.

"Someone at school told her that her father abandoned her the other day." Her eyes got teary again as she looked over at Hyemi. "Why do people have to be so cruel?"

Jinyoung doesn't get the chance to reply as Hyemi runs over. She's out of breath, but even he knows she's ready to eat. Hyunjin is quick to get out food for her and Hyemi silently eats beside Jinyoung, only looking back and forth between them. Deciding it's OK to speak, Hyemi starts telling them what she was doing.

Jinyoung got so engrossed in listening and replying to Hyemi that when he glanced over at Hyunjin, he realized she fell asleep. He grins to himself, thinking how cute she looked when Hyemi also noticed. She looked shocked and opened her mouth to wake her but Jinyoung put his index finger up to his lips. "Your mom's really tired, we should let her rest for a few minutes, OK?" Hyemi eagerly nods at this and smiles at him as she continues eating.

Jinyoung takes this moment to unapologetically observe Hyunjin. Without a scowl on her face, he notices she's actually quite pretty. Some of her hair had fallen across her face, and he stops himself, arm already stretched out to move it out of the way. Hyemi is giving him a weird look as well and he flushes. Way to look like a creeper, he scolds himself. Awkwardly, he coughs and glances at his watch. Realizing it's time to go, he lets out a sigh and reaches out to wake Hyunjin.

"Hey sleeping beauty, time to go back to work."

** As he's clocking in the next day, Hyemi comes bounding over, a blushing Hyunjin following loosely behind. Hyemi instantly gives him a single cookie in a ziplock bag.

"We made cookies!" she tells him, proudly displaying her work for him to see. "This is for you."

"Cookies?" he questions, taking the bag in his hand. "But this is only one?"

Hyunjin gives Hyemi a look but explains, "I told her to bring you more, but she wanted to eat most of them. Sorry."

He grins, feeling weirdly special even with only one cookie. "Thank you," he tells the both of them. "Even if it's only one, I'll still enjoy it."

The first person he notices is Mark. Mark's standing off to the side of the room, grinning at him. He rolls his eyes in return, positive that he was going to hear a teasing from the other male once work was over, but he didn't care. Now when he notices all the weird looks from the rest of the staff, that's when he gets a bit shy.

He tucks the cookie safely away in his pocket, deciding to eat it once he got to his section.

** After giving him the cookie, he's sure Hyemi will pop by like she normally does. So when she doesn't, he gets a little concerned. He figures Hyunjin made her stay put, as already this morning might have been too much. What he doesn't expect is to see Mark stalking after Hyemi and her running right at him. She clamps onto his right leg as she hides behind him.

"Save me!" she shouts at him, ducking behind him as Mark comes to a stop.

Mark scowls at him as he points at Hyemi. "Tell your girlfriend's kid to give that back! You know Jaebum is gonna kill me if he sees her with it."

He's shocked, only registering the word 'girlfriend'. "What?"

"Mark, what are you doing over here?" Jaebum scares the both of them in his usual fashion, appearing without notice. Honestly, it doesn't surprise him why Jaebum had instantly been promoted to manager when all three of them were hired at the same time. As the leader of the pack, he was too good at everything.

"Going back to work," Mark says, turning on his heel.

Jaebum just shakes his head, ignores Hyemi's odd position and keeps going. Seeing the coast is clear, Hyemi runs off as well.

It makes sense when she returns a few minutes later. Hyunjin is holding Hyemi's hand and she has the biggest pout on her face. In her other arm is a little grey wolf, he'd missed the first time she was over here. Hyunjin must be mistaken, thinking he was the one to give it to her.

"But mom—" Hyemi starts to object, only to receive a warning look from Hyunjin. "OK," she deflates as she hands the wolf over to Jinyoung.

He accepts, now understanding what Mark was talking about. Great with kids, he was put in charge of the toy section.

"Boy, I'm popular today," he tells the little wolf as he heads over to return the guy to his rightful place.

Jinyoung has just put the last book in its spot when he stands, finding Jaebum hovering by the checkout desk. In his hand is a little pink backpack and he can't help but give a questioning look.

"Hyunjin left this behind earlier, I figured you'd be the most appropriate person to give it to."

Jinyoung takes it, but opens his mouth to decline. No matter what they thought, he didn't even know where the two lived, what was he supposed to do with it? Jaebum beats him to the question and materializes a post-it note, address scribbled on it. "You can return it," he orders.

"OK," he gives in and slings the little pink bag over his shoulder. He gives his section one last look over before heading off on his mission.

The apartment on the post-it note isn't that far from the store. There's a broken security gate that he goes right through and his inner wolf begins to flare up as it appears extremely unsafe for two women to be living there alone. He tells himself to relax, he was sure Hyunjin wouldn't like him trying to exert any dominance over her. Despite the run down appearance of the place, majority of the windows have a string of Christmas lights hanging in the front window or some kind of other decoration, it gives him hope that it's not so bad after all. He knows he's reached her place when everything is plain as if it were not holiday season.

He rings the bell and hopes Hyunjin is glad to see him.

"Hyemi!" he hears Hyunjin shout from somewhere in the apartment. He understands why, when Hyemi pops the door open. A breathless Hyunjin pulls her out of the way a second later. "Oh," she comments when she sees it's just Jinyoung standing at the door. "Thank god it's just you."

"Here," he quickly hands over the bag. "Jaebum sent me to return it."

Hyunjin looks even more relieved at his offering. "Oh my god, thank you! You're a lifesaver, I was going to have to go get it in a few minutes."

"Well invite the boy in if you're so thankful," Jinyoung flushes at the response, he's sure it's not meant in the way he's thinking, but his inner wolf isn't thinking very nicely.

"Mom," Hyunjin groans. "He probably has to go, we shouldn't bother him."

"Actually," he tries to fight the grin at the pleading look Hyunjin starts to give him. "I was just going to go home and eat dinner all alone."

"It's a crime for someone to eat alone!" her mother declares. "Come on in," she tells him as she appears at the door and ushers Hyunjin out of the way.

"Thank you," he tells her mother, noticing that one of her arms was in a sling.

Jinyoung feels a bit guilty at the embarrassed look that Hyunjin begins to spot, but it's not like he planned to do this for the rest of his life. He was curious and one night would satisfy that curiosity.

Hyemi on the other hand is super excited to see him. She runs right up and hugs him.

"Jinyoung, right?" Hyunjin's mother asks as she leads him into their kitchen. Hyunjin just silently set off to prepare a plate for him.

"Yes," he politely responds, pleasantly surprised that she knew his name.

"It's nice to finally meet the young man that my girls won't stop talking about."

Jinyoung had been in a great mood all day. It was finally his day off, which he felt a bit sad over at first. He hadn't realized how much he looked forward to work, he was sure a certain woman and her daughter were the cause of this, but he wasn't completely bummed.

Tonight was the annual staff holiday party. Last year he'd spent majority of the party idly wandering with Mark and Jaebum, but this year he was hoping for a change. He knew not to get his hopes up, he could feel it in his soul that Hyunjin was more than likely going to skip given her situation.

Jinyoung was thankful for Hyunjin's mom. Getting answers from Hyunjin was like pulling teeth, but her mother was the opposite. For such a closed off person, he wondered how Hyunjin had gotten that way. Her mother had no problems opening their life up to him. Her mother explained that she'd tore her shoulder at work and was fired from her own job, putting a huge weight on Hyunjin to deal with everything alone.

Suddenly the world went silent to him and he caught onto that lovely scent. Being surrounded by her and her scent last night muffled his brain because she'd been the only thing on his mind all day. He knew this was not normal, but he just went with it.

Hyunjin instantly spotted him and made her way over. He couldn't help but notice the fact that Hyunjin was in a dress, a very tight dress that did nothing to hide her figure. "Oh thank god you're here," she broke his attention. She blushed when she belatedly noticed Mark and Jaebum standing with him. "H-hello," she shyly greets him.

"You know Jaebum and Mark, right?" he sends them a look, hoping they'd disappear.

"Yes!" Hyunjin nervously brushed away a strand of hair that fell out of place. "I'm sorry Hyemi was bothering you the other day," she tells Mark.

Mark just shrugs it off. "It's OK, she's not that bad to be around." He yelps, startled when Jaebum grabbed him by the elbow. "Excuse us," Jaebum tells Hyunjin and steers a complaining Mark away.

Hyunjin finally turns back to Jinyoung, guilty look on her face. "I made your friends leave, sorry."

Jinyoung snorts, "No worries, they're boring anyway."

Hyunjin looks annoyed now. "That's only because you now know all my secrets!"

A grin spreads across his face at her words. They were true, Hyunjin's mom had definitely overshared. He didn't mind though, he shared just as much, only leaving out his one obvious secret.

"Honestly, I hate Christmas," she sighs, looking around at all the decoration hung around their tiny break room.

Jinyoung's shocked at her confession. "No one hates Christmas," he states.

"Well I do."

Suddenly, Jinyoung wants to make it his mission to change her opinion.

** Instead of lazying around watching whatever random movie he could find online, Jinyoung received a frantic call earlier in the day. Hyunjin was at her first job—he didn't even realize she had another job, no wonder she was falling asleep at random—and couldn't get off in time to pick up Hyemi. Jinyoung knew to trust his wolf instinct when it told him to force his number on her, telling her to call if she ever needed anything.

He stands out in the sea of moms in their leggings and t-shirts. He's got on a button up top and some dress slacks, which looking back, he knows is a silly choice to wear. Why am I dressing up for a kid? he scolds himself. But it's too late now, Hyemi's class gets out in two minutes and he would never make it to his apartment and back before then.

He also notices he's the only male and much younger than most. Even Hyunjin seems younger than most. He guessed she was a few years older than him, but it only leaves him wondering how old she really was. To think she already had a kid and was taking care of it on her own made him feel so useless. Most days it was a struggle for him just to get to work on time.

As soon as kids start pouring out of the room, he immediately looks for Hyemi. She's one of the last few and she frantically searches for her mom. When her eyes land on him, she lights up and runs right at him. "Jinyoung!" she yells as she throws herself at him. The impact almost knocks him over, but he quickly rights himself.

"Hello to you too," he laughs as she crushes him in a hug.

"Where's mom?" she questions as she looks behind him, like she'd missed Hyunjin.

"She's at work, she asked me to come get you. Is that OK?" he asks when he sees her get sad. It's brief before she's smiling again. "OK!" she answers.

By now, the two have caught the attention of the rest of the class. Jinyoung scans the class wondering which one told her she was abandoned by her dad, scowling at them all for good measure. "Do you want to say goodbye to your friends before we go?"

Hyemi doesn't spare anyone a second glance and starts tugging on his hand. "Nope."

He's relieved when she waves at a couple of girls in another class a few doors down.

** Jinyoung tightly holds her hand anytime they come to a crosswalk and makes sure he's the closest to the street as they walk. It's all so stressful to him and it's only been a few minutes.

"Can we get ice cream?" Hyemi breaks his concentration.

He glances up at where she's pointing and sees a man selling ice cream cones at the park across the street from them.

"Sure."

The man is scooping out their ice cream when Jinyoung's phone rings and he's surprised to see it's Hyunjin.

"Hello?" he answers as he watches Hyemi delicately take her cone.

"Where are you?" Hyunjin immediately questions. "It's already fifteen after and it only takes about five minutes to walk—"

"Stop. Take a deep breath," Jinyoung interrupts. When she complies, he continues. "We stopped at the park for ice cream."

"Ice cream? Jinyoung I told you I don't like spoiling her."

Jinyoung gasps, "since when is ice cream spoiling her?"

"Jinyoung," Hyunjin warns.

"OK, I promise no more after this. I'll take her straight home now."

"Can we play in the park after this?" Hyemi's little voice asks from beside him.

"Tell her I said no," Hyunjin answers through the phone.

Jinyoung stares down at her hopeful face and he hates to be the bearer of bad news.

"Only a few minutes wouldn't hurt, would it?" he asks instead. "Besides, your mom's shoulder is pretty bad. Maybe you should have someone else watch Hyemi while it's hurt."

Hyunjin lets out a sigh at this. "You know I know no one else."

"See, a break for one day won't kill anything will it?"

Hyunjin takes a deep breath, he can tell she's trying not to snap at him. "Fine. But you let her get hurt and I'll hurt you, got it?"

"Yes ma'am."

"OK, I'll check up on you again."

"Got it!" he tells her, hanging up before she can change her mind. He gives Hyemi the OK and she takes off.

"Wolves live here!" she yells, ice cream dripping all over as she runs off into the trees.

Jinyoung laughs, watching her eat and search around as he eats his own cone.

** After Hyemi tired herself out, Jinyoung proceeded to carry her home. When he showed up at his apartment he cursed himself, he'd forgotten to take her home. It felt so natural bringing her to his own place that he didn't even think twice about it.

Mark and Jaebum sat on the couch as he entered the living room. He raised a finger to his lips to quiet them. In return they gave him questioning looks, seeing Hyemi passed out on his shoulder. He gently laid her down on the empty couch so not to wake her and motioned for them to follow him into the kitchen.

"Is there something you need to tell us," Mark starts. "Like when did you suddenly become a dad?"

Jinyoung shoots him a glare. "Hyunjin needed someone to watch her."

"So you brought her here." Jaebum answers for him.

"I forgot to take her back home, OK?" he puts his hands up in defeat. "Hyunjin's mother normally watches her but her arm's in a sling."

Mark and Jaebum share looks of concern.

"You're not going to be having her over all the time are you?" Jaebum questions, looking horrified at the thought.

"Of course not," Mark answers for him. "He'll have to move out because we don't have enough room for a family here."

Jinyoung sends Mark a nasty glare. The thought didn't seem that bad, but it wasn't like that with Hyunjin. He wasn't sure what they were yet honestly.

Suddenly he remembers an advertisement at the park. It had been awhile since the three did anything and they were having a light show at the park later in the night. Since Christmas was right around the corner, the show was Christmas themed and Jinyoung thought it would be a fun idea to see it.

"Hey, you guys doing anything later?" he asks to change the subject.

"I'm going to the movies with Jackson," Mark looks sheepish.

"Youngjae wants me to look over one of his assignments," Jaebum also turns him down.

Jinyoung huffs, crossing his arms in disappointment. "You two never have time for me anymore."

Jaebum waves over to the couch. "Take them."

Jinyoung knows he's already in trouble, he doubts Hyunjin would be up for it. He stands there and ponders the thought for a moment. It wouldn't hurt to try since he had his heart so set on seeing the silly little light show.

"I'll see," he tells them and rushes off to his bedroom.

Phone already in his hand, he calls up Hyunjin, nervous for some reason. When she answers he almost loses all nerve.

"Before you yell at me, Hyemi's OK."

"I wasn't going to yell at you." Hyunjin sighs into the phone. "I trust you. Plus I thought it over and you're right. Maybe a little treat now and then isn't so bad."

He grins, feeling like a puppy that just got rewarded for doing a good job.

He lets out a nervous laugh. "Speaking of that, there's this little light show in the park, would you be interested in seeing it? I figured me and Hyemi could meet up with you and the three of us could see it."

The line goes silent. "Hello?" he asks, thinking the call dropped.

"Sounds good, I gotta go!" she hurriedly replies before hanging up on him.

Relief courses through him.

** The light show isn't as silly as he thought it would be. It was actually well thought out and fun. Clearly Hyemi enjoyed herself but Hyunjin was different. She remained blank faced throughout the show, he knew because he kept glancing over, trying to gauge her reaction to everything.

"That was fun," she finally breaks the silence after the last song played. "We haven't done anything like this since she was a little kid."

"Really?"

"Yeah, since—" she glances down at Hyemi and gives Jinyoung a knowing look. Since Hyemi's father left, Jinyoung fills in the gap.

"Glad I could bring some fun back into your life then," Jinyoung teases, hoping to lift the mood.

"Mom, that was awesome," Hyemi interjects, continuing on about the show and all her favorite parts.

"Don't tell me," Hyunjin stops her and pats Jinyoung on the back. "Tell him."

"OK!" Hyemi yells out before turning to crush Jinyoung's leg in a hug.

Hyunjin laughs at the gesture, shaking her head in a fond sort of way.

"Thanks Jinyoung," Hyemi whispers out. "Oh, there's our house," she shouts out, noticing the little apartment complex just down the street.

"Yep," Hyunjin replies. "You have to get ready for bed as soon as we're there."

Hyemi lets out a groan, but doesn't say more. Jinyoung finds it odd that she's actually quiet. Only as they're walking through the complex to the apartment does she decide to speak up.

"Mom?" she questions, turning to look up at Hyunjin. "Why can't Jinyoung be my dad?"

The question stops Hyunjin in her tracks. "Go inside now," she orders once she opens the door for Hyemi. As Hyemi disappears through the door, Hyunjin slams it shut behind the girl and turns to Jinyoung.

Jinyoung suddenly feels awkward. Hyunjin's reaction isn't a good one, he can already tell he won't like what she's about to say.

"I'm sorry for that," Hyunjin instantly blurts out.

"It's fine, I don't mind." Jinyoung shrugs. It was just a curious question, he understood that.

"No, it's not." Hyunjin crosses her arms in defense. "I knew her hanging around you so much was a bad idea."

"What?" Jinyoung scoffs, feeling offended. He'd been nothing but nice to that little girl.

"You're a good guy, I know," she pauses thinking over the right words. "But it's not right. She's too young to understand relationships so I want to end this before she gets anymore attached to you."

Jinyoung is so floored, he's lost all words.

"Thank you for tonight. For everything, really. I'll make sure she doesn't bother you anymore."

** If Jaebum or Mark passed by to check up on him one more time—Jinyoung was sure he was going to lose it. After Hyunjin told him off, he had went straight home and hadn't left his room for anything. Since then, they'd been tiptoeing around him, probably well aware of how pissed he was.

He understood what Hyunjin had meant. Hyemi has already lost one father figure, Hyunjin was just trying to protect her child from another heartbreak. What really got to him was the fact that Hyunjin assumed he was just the same. Had he not proved he wasn't even remotely like that?

Just as another pang of hurt coursed through him, Mark came into view. He hoped he was sending Mark the deadliest look he could muster. It must have worked, seeing the look on Jinyoung's face, Mark immediately spun on his heel and headed back to his own section.

Jaebum, too, also came into view, but he didn't run off like Mark. "Stop looking like you're about to kill everyone," Jaebum scolded as he leaned up against the register. "You're scaring off customers."

Jinyoung scoffed, there hadn't been a single person through. There was no one to scare off.

"Are you mute, suddenly?" Jaebum asks seriously this time.

Jinyoung shakes his head in answer which Jaebum rolls his eyes to.

"Just don't bite anyone's head off, OK?" He leaves without hearing Jinyoung's answer.

He can't make any promises, especially when he can now hear Hyemi's voice off in the distance. Mark's talking to her and he suddenly feels his wolf flaring up again. Break seems like a good idea now.

And it works, being out in the cool air calms him down. He picked a spot where he normally doesn't rest at so he knows he's safe.

Safe until he catches wind of Hyunjin's scent, she pops out of the doors right beside him, Hyemi in toe, chattering about some wolf thing like normal. His wolf, bruised but not beaten, begs for him to go confront the woman. He can't though, it would only result in him spitting out something he didn't mean.

"Jinyoung!" Hyemi announces once she spots him. Like usual, he softens and returns her wave.

"Come on," Hyunjin grabs Hyemi's hand in her own and drags her away.

"But mom, why can't we sit with him?" he hears the child ask.

"I told you, you can't bother him anymore."

"But mom," Hyemi whines again.

Jinyoung's not sure what yet, but he wants to do something just to spite Hyunjin.

** Jinyoung knows just what to do when he spots Hyemi talking to Mark again. She was excited, rapidly talking about wolves as usual. The only difference is the little wolf doll clutched in her arms. She's hugging it to herself and he knows he has to get it. Before closing time, he sneaks over to Mark's section and picks up the little doll.

"What are you doing?" Jaebum questions when he sees Jinyoung in line.

"Purchasing an item," Jinyoung snarkily replies.

Jaebum glares at him. "What are you doing with that?"

Jiyoung doesn't reply. It's obvious who he's buying it for.

"Considering Hyunjin has been telling Hyemi to stop bothering you for the last two days, I don't think that's appropriate right now."

He continues to ignore Jaebum as it's finally his turn in line. The girl behind the register is clearly nervous at the fact that the store manager is watching her like a hawk.

"Are you going to let me pay or should I move to another isle?" He snaps at the girl. When she looks frightened, he feels bad. But doesn't she know, the customer is always right.

She finally comes to her senses and rings up the doll. He hands her the money and snatches the bag from her hand, still ignoring Jaebum the whole time.

It's only when he's outside that Jaebum stops him. "Will you please just talk to me?"

His hurt wolf tells him not to say a word but it's Jaebum. No matter how angry he is, Jaebum has always been a good brother to him. Never guiding him wrong. He's shaking, just thinking of what happened, but he tells him anyway.

"She told me that she didn't want me to hurt Hyemi just like her ex."

Jaebum hums out in understanding. "To hurt her."

Jinyoung hadn't even thought of it that way. His wolf suddenly feels relieved. She must have felt something to be scared.

Before his wolf starts running around in circles of joy, Jaebum manages to kill his mood again.

"Maybe you should give her some space, I don't think pressing the point is a good idea right now."

He knows he's right, but Jinyoung sneers at him.

"I'm just saying, I'm sure she'll come around."

Jinyoung sighs, Hyunjin's really stubborn. "I don't think so."

** Despite feeling like there's no hope to fix their relationship, Jinyoung wraps the little wolf doll. It proves to be more difficult than he thought, but he manages to make it turn out pretty decent. It doesn't look professional, but it's not horrible either.

He's nervous as he goes into work that night. His stomach does a flip when he doesn't see Hyunjin before his shift. He dejectedly carries it with him back to his section. Knowing Hyemi, he's sure he'll hear her pestering Mark and give it to her then. When he doesn't hear her, he gets a little panicked.

He throws open the door to Jaebum's office after his shift is over. Worry written all over his face, he doesn't have time to feel sorry for bursting in.

"You better have a damn good reason for that," Jaebum barks at him as he gets up to pick up the pieces of paper Jinyoung scattered all over the floor.

"I do," he at least has the decency to help pick up the papers as well. "Did Hyunjin not come into work?"

Jaebum rolls his eyes and makes a noise of disapproval.

"She called out for the day, didn't say why."

Jinyoung sighs in disappointment, he was hoping to give it to her before he lost all courage.

"I told you to give her some space," Jaebum scolds.

Jinyoung doesn't want to listen to his advice, but he agrees. He knew she'd be back tomorrow and he'd just try again then.

Until she doesn't show up the next day. This alarms Jinyoung. Jaebum has no answer, only says she sounded distressed so he couldn't deny her. He asked for a reason why, knowing Jinyoung would want to know, but she wouldn't explain. Jinyoung's heart drops to the pit of his stomach, knowing how much responsibility weighed on her shoulders, he knew it had to be something major.

It's probably not the best idea, but he decides to drop by and see if everything is OK anyway.

It's not, Hyunjin answers the door in tears, a look of hope on her face. When she sees it's just him, she burst into tears. Too grief stricken to reply, she almost shuts the door in his face. Her mom stops her, once she realizes it's him at the door.

"Honey, go sit down," she orders.

"Is everything OK?" he tries to calmly ask. He feels dumb as hell for showing up now. Not to mention, his wolf is going crazy wanting to comfort her. It breaks his heart seeing Hyunjin so broken.

Hyunjin's mom takes a deep breath and shakes her head, she finally tears up as well. "Hyemi's missing," her voice shakes.

If he didn't know any better, he'd thought the word had stopped around him. He doesn't say anymore, just turns and runs out of the complex.

** Jinyoung barely made it to an alley to strip off his clothes before the transformation took over. He knew this was bad, it was rare that he couldn't control his wolf. The sight of Hyunjin broken, and the thought of Hyemi lost and all alone, put him over the edge.

As a wolf, he had to take several deep breaths to calm himself. The last thing he needed to do was to go on a murderous rampage and get himself in trouble. Instead, he hoped to use his heightened senses to his advantage.

He scoops his clothes in his mouth before peeking out at the street around him. It's empty, much to his fortune. He takes off up the street to try and figure out where Hyemi might have gone.

Starting at the apartment proves to be a good idea. He catches her scent out on the sidewalk in front. It's faint, but it's just enough. He follows it to the park where the three of them watched the light show. Still following the scent, it leads him right to the small patch of trees in the middle of the park.

In the line of trees, Jinyoung easily spots Hyemi curled up into a ball on the floor. She appears to be asleep, but her head perks up at the sight of him. "Wolf," she squeals and starts to stand.

He knew now was not the time to be thinking like this, but he had to admit, she had more balls than adults three times her age.

Before she runs over to him, he disappears back out of her sight. Maybe one day in the future he would let her pet him, but now was not the time. Hyunjin was worried sick over her, his only thoughts were to bring Hyemi home. He circled around to the opposite end of the trees and shifted back to his human form to get dressed.

Fully dressed, he peeked out around the tree he stood behind. Hyemi was still standing in place, looking after the way he ran off. She's clearly dejected. He steps out of the trees now. "Hyemi?" he sternly calls out.

The sudden calling of her name startles her. She whips around, eyes wide as saucers and greets him. "Jinyoung!" she yells out as she runs over to him.

He lifts her up into his arms, glad that she’s safe. She's freezing though, with only her mandatory school uniform to keep her warm.

"Have you been here the whole time?" he questions, frowning at her.

"I'm sorry," she says instead and buries her head in his shoulder.

He softens at the action and starts back to her home.

Hyunjin lets out a gasping sob when she opens the door. Her mom runs over and also bursts into tears. The two of them stand there, crushing both Hyemi and Jinyoung in a hug as they cry. When they calm down, Hyunjin's mom takes Hyemi from him and leaves the two to speak in private.

Hyunjin immediately grabs him into another hug, Jinyoung knows it's to say thanks as she can hardly speak. But she lets him go and clears her throat. "Thank you," she gets out as she wipes away her tears. "I don't know how you found her, but thank you."

He opens his mouth to reply, but is stunned to silence when instead she stands on her tiptoes to kiss him right on the cheek.

"Even though I don't want you to, you're always coming to my rescue."

** Jinyoung knew he should feel happy—Hyunjin kissed him! Only on the cheek, but it was still better than nothing. He didn't understand why he felt like shit. Maybe because despite such an amazing moment, that still didn't change anything. Hyunjin returned to work like nothing had happened, keeping Hyemi at bay as well. For now, it seemed his days were doomed to being miserable at work and then locking himself up in his room once he got home.

Leaning on the cash register, he knew it wasn't good to keep staring at the spot Hyemi used to sit and read, it would only make him more depressed, but he couldn't get himself to stop.

Someone clearing his throat, brought him back to reality. He opened his mouth to greet the customer, but he quickly realized it was Jaebum. "Oh, what do you want?" he snipped, returning to his previous position.

Jaebum sighed. "Why don't you just tell her she's your mate and get it over with. This—"

Jinyoung's whole world spun at the word mate. "What?" he interrupted.

"What do you mean 'what', you know what a mate is."

"No—I mean—" he couldn't think straight, so he took a deep breath. "How do you know Hyunjin's my mate?"

Jaebum gave him a look that read 'are you stupid?'.

"I'm being serious," he responded.

Jaebum sighed. "Enticing smell, only thing you can focus on, life suddenly revolves around her?"

"Oh," Jinyoung dumbly answered.

"How could you not know, we used to talk all the time about mates as a kid."

Jinyoung frowned. "Yeah, but I gave up that hope for us a long time ago."

Jaebum chuckled at this. "It never happens when you want it to. Besides, do you know how long ago I would have fired her if not for you?"

"What?" Jinyoung glares at him over those words.

"Since you obviously don't know, she can't keep bringing her kid to work. If one of the region managers catches her, we're both done."

Jinyoung calms down at this. "Thank you."

"No need, just tell her and get it over with," Jaebum orders and pats him on the shoulder as he leaves.

The fact that Hyunjin is his mate is all he can think of for the rest of his shift.

And when he sees her, struggling to carry a sleepy Hyemi out of the store after work, he goes to her rescue without thinking twice.

** Jinyoung's stomach flips the next day when he runs into her before work. She's all alone for once, Hyemi nowhere in sight. He decides to gather all his courage and speak to her.

"Hey," he greets.

"Hello," Hyunjin shyly greets back, not quite able to meet his eyes. Suddenly something dawns on her and she grabs his shoulder. "Oh, can I get your opinion on something?"

"Sure," he doesn't hesitate.

"OK," Hyunjin nods and tightens her hold on him as she drags him to the store's jewelry department. His brows furrow in worry, wondering why she would be taking him there, but he silently follows.

Hyunjin stops at a glass counter and peers down, pointing at a little gold necklace with a wolf pendant.

"What do you think?"

He looks down, confused why she's asking his opinion about it.

"It's cute?" he offers.

"I thought so too," she nods, taking his answer seriously.

When she notices the confused look on his face, she answers, "It's for Hyemi. I'm getting her a Christmas present after all."

The look of shock on his face must say it all.

"I know," Hyunjin puts her hands up in defeat. "It's a miracle, right?" He laughs, but doesn't answer. "Actually, it's because of you."

"Me?"

"Yeah, you spoil her without any hesitation and I want to do that as well." she looks at him softly, a hint of adoration in her eyes. "I guess you can say you influenced me."

He feels warm all over and figures, just maybe, there was still hope for them.

** The department store is closed for Christmas day. In usual tradition, Jinyoung, along with Jaebum and Mark get up bright and early to go back to Jaebum's parent's house. They spend most of the day catching his mom up, she's always so happy to see the three of them and be filled in on their lives.

"What has my little Jinyoung so distracted?" he hears Jaebum's mom ask.

"Hm?" he questions, finally zoning in on the conversation. It's after dinner and they are just sitting around the table, casually talking about life, but he wasn't listening. He was thinking about Hyunjin and Hyemi, of course, and missed what they were talking about completely.

"Jinyoung found his mate," Mark blurts out.

Jinyoung glares at Mark. He was hoping to get by without having to actually talk about her. Although not completely over, it was disappointing.

"Tell me all about her," of course his mom demands.

"Well... there's not much to say," he nervously answers. It was true, Hyunjin and him hadn't gone anywhere in their relationship.

Jaebum's mom reaches across the table and swats him on the arm. "You should have invited her over."

From the look of concern that washes over her features, Jinyoung's sure he must look miserable.

"You haven't told her, have you?" she immediately catches on.

He swallows the lump in his throat, not sure why he suddenly wants to cry. "Not yet."

Jaebum's mom gets to her feet and comes around the table to hug him. She lets out a defeated sigh, but makes him stand. "What?" he questions before she silences him.

"Go get her, you're basically not here anyway!"

He makes a noise of objection, but everyone is giving him looks that says to go.

"Don't worry, we've already had dinner. It's fine," his mom encourages.

He feels guilty, but grabs his coat anyway. He doesn't need to be told twice. If anything he would just dump all his feelings on Hyunjin and leave it up to her to decide.

** Before heading straight to Hyunjin's, Jinyoung made sure to drop by and grab his gift for Hyemi. He feels a little silly for not getting Hyunjin something, but he's certain she'd probably chew his head off if he did actually get her a gift. The thought makes him feel better as he heads to her apartment.

At her apartment, Hyemi answers the door. There's no Hyunjin to scold, just Hyunjin's mom. Hyunjin's mom is surprised to see him, but ushers him in quickly.

"What are you doing here?" she asks, showing him into their living room.

"What's that?" Hyemi busters out, only concerned with the gift in his hand.

Jinyoung grins down at the little girl and hands it to her. "Actually, it's for you."

Hyemi takes the gift and instantly starts to rip it.

"Wait!" both him and Hyunjin's mom stop her.

"Why?" she angrily shouts back.

Hyunjin's mom beats him to answering. "Wait for your mom to get home before you open it, silly. Don't you think she's want to see?"

"Right!" Hyemi caves, disappointment all over her face.

Hyunjin's mom turns to him now. She gives him a confused look. "She said she was heading to your place, had something to talk with you about."

His heart wants to burst out of his chest, she wanted to talk to him by her own choice?

"I was just there, I didn't see her," he answers instead.

"Must have just missed her."

Jinyoung nods at this and points at the door. "I'm going to go see if I can catch her."

Hyunjin's mom nods and waves him off, more concerned with Hyemi, who's taken their distraction as a chance to try and 'accidentally' open her gift.

"Put that under the tree and don't touch it," is the last thing he hears before he's off running out the door.

He makes it to his apartment in a few minutes, panting and probably looking a mess. He takes a second to fix himself, he'd hate to look awful when he finally confessed his feelings to Hyunjin. Once he was confident in himself, he heads to his apartment.

The smell of Hyunjin hits him as he gets to his hallway. She's leaned up against his apartment door, looking bored out of her mind.

"Hey," he greets, breaking her concentration.

"Hey," she squeaks, looking nervous now that they're face to face.

"What are you doing here?" he asks.

"Um," Hyunjin stumbled, suddenly wide eyed like she had no idea either. "This!" she exclaimed, pulling out a gold watch.

He gives her a confused look.

"You dropped it at my place the night you found Hyemi," she softened. "I noticed it was broken and had it repaired for you."

He carefully takes the watch in his hand, expecting it and seeing that it looked perfectly as he remembered. He hadn't even noticed it was missing. Running his hand over the face of it, he instantly puts it back on, feeling completely touched that she went out of her way to get it fixed for him.

"Thank you," he tells her.

"No, thank you," she tells him back. "I can't say it enough."

He smiles, shaking off her gratitude. "No need, I'd do anything for you."

He's not sure if she says anything else, he's only able to hear his wolf going crazy. Kiss her, you fool, it chants. So he does. He leans right in and kisses her.

He hears a squeal of excitement and quickly breaks off the kiss. Scowling, he sees it's Mark and Jaebum. They're standing at the other end of the hall, gawking at him like they've just witnessed a miracle. "Hey, how about we go..." Jaebum trails off feeling the awkward tension. "Let's just go anywhere else, OK?" he orders Mark, taking the older boy by the arm.

"Wait," Hyunjin stops them. "I was just leaving actually."

She gives Jinyoung a shy look before rushing past him.

Jinyoung lets out the biggest sigh. Now how is he supposed to calm down his wolf?

** Jinyoung was feeling very satisfied the next day. He went into work confident, after having finally made a move. It felt even better when him and Hyunjin began texting throughout the day. He was just replying back to her latest text when the scent of her hit him. Looking up from his phone, she shyly waved at him as she walked over.

"Hey," she greeted, as she casually leaned on his register. "I'm on break," she offered.

"Oh?" he feigns surprise, making sure to tease her. "Glad I'm your first thought."

She rolls her eyes, but the smile doesn't fall off her face. "I wanted to tell you something face to face."

Sensing she wasn't in the joking mood, Jinyoung gets serious as well. "OK."

Hyunjin takes a deep breath and avoids his eyes, instead choosing to focus on his hands which she takes one in her own. "This morning, I got a raise."

"That's great, isn't it?"

"Yeah, you know I can definitely use the pay raise."

"But?" he questions.

"Well, now I can afford to quit this job."

His heart sinks hearing this. He looked forward to seeing her everyday and now she was going to leave?

"My mom got the OK to stop wearing her sling and she starts therapy, so she can't really watch Hyemi anymore. It's all really working out for the better, you know?" She doesn't say it, but he can read it in her eyes. It's all working out, except for him.

"So when do you quit?"

"Today."

Disappointment hits him like a wall and he can't hold back the frown that crosses his face.

"I mean it's not like we won't see each other again, right?" she looks hopefully at him.

In his usual perfect timing, Jaebum pops up. "You, breaks over," he tells Hyunjin and practically barks at him, "Jinyoung, go on break."

Jinyoung lets out a sigh as Hyunjin nods a goodbye to him and leaves back to her station. With Jaebum nowhere in sight, Jinyoung decides to run after Hyunjin. He wasn't quite finished with their conversation.

"You're right, there's no reason we shouldn't see each other again."

Hyunjin brightens up at his words and shyly smiles at him. "Right."

"How about tomorrow? After I get off work? Do you think your mom can watch Hyemi for just a little bit?"

She doesn't even hesitate. "Yeah, of course!"

"Great. It's a date."

"A date," Hyunjin agrees.

They've reached her section and Jinyoung knows he should probably go. No use getting her in trouble on her last day, but his feet won't move. They stay planted, letting him stare into her eyes.

And just as he leans over to kiss Hyunjin, Jaebum walks by. He doesn't stop, just leaves them with his words.

"Employees aren't allowed to kiss during work hours."

** Jinyoung wished that when he got to retell the story of his first date with his mate that it would be amazing. Something for people to envy. Something that was not a disaster. It's like his brain wouldn't calm down and think, it refused to let him act like a normal human. He knocked his drink over onto, not just him, but Hyunjin as well. Then when he tried to help clean it up, he knocked over hers as well. The embarrassment didn't stop there, of course. He stood to go to the men's room and ran right into a waiter, creating an even bigger scene.

After all the commotion, luckily Hyunjin was OK with leaving. He was so upset with himself, he couldn't bring himself to talk with her on the walk home. It was awkward and silent, only Hyunjin glancing at him in concern. When her apartment came into view, he was never more happy to see it.

Hyunjin stopped at her door and turned to him. "Don't be so hard on yourself, OK?" she told him, trying to look him in the eye.

"You don't have to sugar coat it, I know I ruined it." He finally answered, looking sadly down at her.

Hyunjin laughed. "Honestly it was cute. You're always so perfect, it was nice seeing you normal for once."

Her confession made his face heat up. "What?"

"Oh, come on," she rolled her eyes at him. "You walk around dressed very neatly, and you're perfect at everything. You're unreal sometimes."

He scoffed at this. "No, I'm very normal."

"It's part of your charm, don't take it as an insult. I don't care what you say, I still enjoyed myself."

Jinyoung clucked his tongue at this. "There's no way you could."

Hyunjin let out a sigh and said no more, just pulled him in for a hug.

"I'll make it up to you," he promised, finally hugging her back.

But he doesn't get the chance, he spends the next month over at Hyunjin's house helping out in any way he can. It's fun, never a dull moment in their household, but he would kill for some alone time with her. He mopes around at work and if he has to hear Jaebum complain about him one more time—he might just flip out.

Luckily none of that is necessary. Hyunjin suggests they do something one night, and he feels like his prayers have been answered.

** Hyunjin suggested they stay in for their next date, which he couldn't agree with more. He invited her over, making sure to throw out both Mark and Jaebum. Last thing he needed was those two hovering around, making him more nervous than he already was. The beauty about having a movie night was there was for sure no way for him to screw it up. All they had to do was watch a movie, talk, eat. Simple things.

Hyunjin sat curled up on the couch as he went in the kitchen to get them drinks. "Do you know Hyemi is still talking about wolves?" Hyunjin brings up. When he returns from the kitchen, he sees why. The TV is muted, but there is a rerun of A Werewolf Boy playing on screen. He thinks fondly back on how he tried to tell her the plot of it and got caught.

"Maybe she's destined to be a wolf's mate," he casually responded. His eyes widened when he realized he'd slipped up. Luckily, Hyunjin didn't take it seriously, instead smiled at the idea.

"That would be so cute and romantic. Having a soulmate seems nice."

He cocks a brow at this, surprised she'd actually said that.

"Not that I want to be someone's soulmate, you know?" she clarifies, suddenly speaking very fast. "I have you, I don't need a soulmate." Now she looks scared. "Not that we aren't soulmates, I think we match very well."

He puts his hand on her thigh to calm her down. "I didn't realize you believed in werewolves," he skirts around the topic of soulmates, already knowing the truth.

"I'm not saying they're real, but you never know. The world is too much a mystery for me to rule anything out."

His heart fluttered at her answer. Fate sure did have a funny way of working. How amazing was it that his mate not only thought his kind was a possibility, she was open for such an idea too. His wolf stirred, telling him to just tell her everything. No delay. Now or never.

But her phone rang, Hyemi's face appeared on the screen and he wanted to cry. So much for his perfect opportunity.

** Jinyoung really had to thank Hyunjin's mom. She'd nagged Hyunjin to take a break so much, they'd actually had a few more dates. All like their second date. Nights in, where he couldn't mess up. And he had to hand it to himself, he was getting less and less nervous around her.

Especially tonight where more than anything he wanted to pounce on her. His wolf was going crazy. He had Hyunjin tucked warmly by his side, the two opting for snuggling rather than a movie like usual. When he showed up at her door to walk with her to his place, he realized she was just too tired for anything else. Happy just to have her alone, he would have agreed to anything really.

She threw her leg over his and tried to snuggle even further into his side, like that was possible. "You're really warm," she commented as she let out a sigh of relaxation.

"Oh?" he feigned ignorance. He was on fire. Every part of him wanted to just push her back and take her right then. But he couldn't. He'd promised himself he wouldn't make a move until he told her the truth. He hated himself for agreeing to such a condition, but he knew it was right. It was better to get it out before progressing any further.

"Yeah, I like it," she commented. "You remind me of a dog."

He broke out into a laugh. "What?" he questioned, sitting up to look at her. That comment was out of left field.

"I'm so sorry," she nervously covered her mouth. "I didn't mean that. It's just that as a kid, I had a pet dog and he was always like a little heater."

He dropped the smile off his face, this was the moment he was waiting for!

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to compare you to a dog!" Hyunjin blurted out, taking his serious look for offense.

"It's fine, I don't care," he told her, taking her hands into his own. "I have to tell you something."

A nervous look crossed Hyunjin's face. "Is everything OK?" she questioned.

"Yeah, of course," he smiled at her. She smiled back, friendly, encouraging him to continue then.

"Remember how I said maybe Hyemi was a wolf's mate?"

"Yeah," she let out a laugh.

"Well, it's not Hyemi. It's you."

Hyunjin cocked her head in confusion. "What?"

"It's you. You're the wolf mate. You're my mate."

He let the words hang in the air, waiting for them to register with Hyunjin. For her to laugh it off or call him crazy.

"So you mean you're a werewolf?"

"Yes," he quietly answered.

Hyunjin nodded. "That explains a lot."

"Um," he looked thoroughly confused now. "What?"

"Well, it's winter and you never wear a jacket. Somehow you miraculously found Hyemi when she went missing," she answered seriously. "I said you were unreal and I meant it."

"Oh," he was stunned that she caught onto so much.

"Plus Hyemi told me that little story you told her about Nyeongie. That's you, isn't it?"

He felt his face heat up. Honestly he should have known better. With how obsessed Hyemi was over wolves, he should have expected her to share the story with Hyunjin.

"It doesn't change how I feel for you."

The words surprise him and before he can reply, Hyunjin leans in and kisses him. It's more aggressive than he's used to, like she wants to show him just how much she feels. He falls back onto the bed, not breaking the kiss and accepts it all eagerly. When her hands travel farther down his body then she's ever allowed, he knows it's a sign.

Jinyoung breaks the kiss, taking a moment to stare into her face. She's beautiful, more beautiful than anyone he's ever known. She was strong and independent and probably everything he could ask for in a mate. He wondered how he'd gotten so lucky.

"Can I make love to you?" he's nervous, not quite sure if he'll be good enough, but he wants to try. The fire in him has been burning for so long, he's ready to put it out now. And when she answers a quiet of course, he loses it.

He flips their position so he's hovering over her, hands going to her waist to remove her shirt, but she sits up and, much to his dismay, helps him remove it herself. He wanted to put in all the work, but she's in a hurry. Once shed of her own, he's quick to strip off his clothes, her hands greedily helping him in the progress.

Free of no barrier, she wraps her arms around his neck, pulling him in to another kiss. Jinyoung can't help the laugh that bubbles out. "Slow down, hm?" he questions. "There's no need to rush."

Hyunjin lets out a sigh. "I know," her voice comes out low, strained. "I just want you so badly."

Her anticipation gives him courage. He drops his face into the crook of her neck, her smell even more enticing than usual. He's too embarrassed to tell her he can't hurry, his brain too fuzzy with her to quickly process his next moves. Even his wolf is disappointed in him. It's chanting for him to get it on already, but Hyunjin's worth more than that to him.

He grabs her by the hips and she wraps her legs around him as he lowers them both back down to the bed. He kisses her, this time slow and gentle, like their kisses usually go. While normally he can barely move his hands, too much in fear of going too far, this time he explores. He starts at her neck and travels down the line of her body, only stopping at her hips when she lets out a whimper.

"Feel good?" he grins.

"Yes," she sighs out. She moans when he slips his hand in between her legs. "Better," she breathes out when he starts to slowly circle her clit. "Much better."

He chuckles, but doesn't stop. Just takes in the image of her face flushed, eyes closed, enjoying his lazy hand movements. By now his dick is hard and dying to be in her, but he tries to remain calm. Her before himself, he reminds. When she moans, he quickens the pace, ready to get her to her peak. She rolls her hips in sync with him and lets out a cry when she finally reaches her orgasm.

"Ready for me?" he asks, still wanting to be sure.

"I've been ready," she replies and he loses it.

He presses into her, hissing as he glides in with ease. She was right, she was beyond wet and ready. He goes in deeper. He imagined she'd felt good, but not this much. He can't think of anything, just the need to fill her up as he thrusts in and out. He lets out a groan when he finally cums as well.

Hyunjin pulls him in for a kiss before he collapses on top of her. "I love you," he blurts out without thinking, still breathless and panting on top of her.

He tenses, wondering if she heard him or maybe fallen asleep because she doesn't answer right away like he expects. Much to his own relief, he feels her smile.

"Good because I love you too."

#got7fanfic #got7 fanfic #jinyoung fanfic #got7 jinyoung fanfic #kpop fanfic #park jinyoung fanfic #got7 fic #jinyoung fic #park jinyoung fic

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ahgastae · 6 years ago

Text

O Holy Nightlight

Felix x Reader

Enemies to Lovers/Fluff

Word Count - 1.9k

Quick A/N: this ended up being...a bit longer than i intended lol. srry abt that

“Look, I get that you go all out with Christmas decorations, but I can see your flashing lights through the blinds on my bedroom window and they’ve kept me awake the past few days…”

I groan, tossing and turning in my bed in a vain attempt to get comfortable. No matter which way I turn, how many pillows and blankets I use to cover my face, the blinding lights outside my window still manage to invade my closed eyes. Throwing off my comforter with an irritated sigh, I sit up, glaring through the glass of my window at the offending sight. Next door, my lovely neighbor’s holiday decorations still dance, sparkle, and shine, well into the late hours of the night.

I have no problem with showing a little Christmas spirit, but around the clock 24/7 is a little much, especially when said ‘spirit’ is constantly blaring right outside my window. For the first few nights, I tried to put up with it, thinking maybe he would realize how much electricity he’s wasting, or that acting as the neighborhood nightlight isn’t necessarily a good thing, but it’s been four days now, and I’m just about at the end of my leash. So I do what any sane person would do.

I slip on my hoodie, step out into the hallway, and immediately start banging on my roommate’s door to get him to deal with the problem.

“Y/N...?” Hyunjin slurs tiredly, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “What are you doing up this late?”

“Jinnie, I need you to go tell the neighbor to turn their lights off.”

Hyunjin blinks at me, “...Why?”

“Because they’re really bright and I can’t sleep!” I cross my arms, trying to keep my frustration down. Four days without a solid night’s sleep is really starting to weigh on me, but I don’t want to take it out on Hyunjin.

“No, I mean...” He pauses, a small yawn interrupting his words. “I mean, why can’t you do it?”

“Because he’s your friend! Now go tell Felix to turn his stupid lights off before I cut the power to his house!” I point at the front door to emphasize my empty threat, and Hyunjin sighs heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

“If I do that, will you let me go back to sleep in peace?” I nod eagerly, and Hyunjin sighs again before trudging towards the front door. As soon as I hear it close, I race back into my room, hopping on my bed, and watching the window with bated breath. Sure enough, Hyunjin comes through, and minutes later, the flashing lights are no more. I sigh in relief, flopping down on my bed, and curling up for a wonderful, dreamless night of sleep.

The next morning, I feel unbelievably refreshed. Refreshed and, admittedly, incredibly surprised. I honestly didn’t think Felix would give in so easily. Knowing him, I thought he definitely would have put up more of a fight. Maybe it’s because Hyunjin asked, instead of me.

Lee Felix and I don’t exactly have the best track record. When I first moved in with Hyunjin, I didn’t think much of the red haired boy next door. He was cute, and I recognized him from our college campus, but I was much more focused on getting settled in my new home than flirting with the neighbor. Unfortunately, maybe flirting would have been helpful, considering one day I came home to find a mysterious intruder raiding our fridge, and immediately started attacking them with my umbrella. That ‘intruder’ turned out to be Lee Felix, our next door neighbor and one of Hyunjin’s closest friends. I’ll admit, not my best first impression.

Ever since then, Felix has basically had it out for me. From putting lemon juice in my soda to plastic wrapping all the furniture in my bedroom, he’s made clear that he’s not letting go of the fact that I almost gave him a concussion for stealing some strawberry yogurt. This whole lights charade is just the next prank in his arsenal, I just know it.

I skip out of my bedroom, smiling gleefully when I find Hyunjin milling about in the kitchen, “Jinnie, you are a god!” He laughs when I tug him into my arms, showing my thanks by wrapping him in a giant bear hug.

“It wasn’t that big of a deal, Y/N,” He pats my head. “All I had to do was tell Felix that you were having trouble sleeping.” I freeze, suddenly pushing Hyunjin away, and staring him right in the eyes.

“You told him what?”

“Don’t be so paranoid,” Hyunjin just waves me off, going back to digging through the fridge for breakfast. “You really don’t give Felix enough credit.”

“Oh, I give him plenty of credit,” I object, starting to count Felix’s ‘accomplishments’ on my hand. “I give him credit for throwing paint on one of my nicest shirts. F feeding the essay that was worth seventy five percent of my grade to Kkami. For stealing the baby pictures from my room and posting them on Instagram. Oh!” Hyunjin cringes when I throw my arms up in growing irritation. “Lest we forget the time he hung my bra on the power line outside!”

“That one was pretty funny, wasn’t it?”

I shriek, whipping around to see Felix leaning against the doorway, amused look in his eyes and that damn arrogant smirk on his face.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

“Just wondering why you don’t have the balls to talk to me yourself,” Felix bites back, laughing when my eyes narrow into a glare.

“You insufferable-”

“Okay, you two! Enough!” Hyunjin cuts in, inserting himself between me and Felix. He fixes us each with a stern look, “You two are going to settle whatever it is going on between, and it happens today.”

“Mate, you said we were going to the skate park!”

“I lied.” Felix shuts his mouth, and crosses his arms with a pout.

“Jinnie, I love you, but you’re crazy if you think I’m willingly going to spend time around that asshole,” I roll my eyes, starting to walk away when Hyunjin grabs my arm.

“He’s going to take down the lights.”

“Bullshit, I’m not!”

Hyunjin’s eyes narrow at Felix’s outburst, “Yes, he is.” He looks back at me, wicked eyes betraying the sweet smile on his face. “And you’re going to spend the day helping him.”

“That’s not where those go.”

I stifle a groan, slowly turning to face Felix while holding what feels like the hundredth string of lights to come off his house, “Then where do they go?”

“In the blue tub because they’re blue,” He says this as if it’s supposed to be obvious, rolling his eyes and going back to playing around on his phone. I huff, dropping the lights, and stomping over to where he’s sitting in his garage. Felix barely has time to look up before I snatch his phone out of his hands. “Hey!”

“We’re supposed to be doing this together,” I remind him, and shove his phone into the front pocket of my sweatshirt. “Your phone stays with me until we’re done.”

“Bold of you to assume your pocket’s going to stop me from taking it.”

“Bold of you to assume I won’t karate chop you in the throat if you try,” I finish my threat, and Felix thankfully seems to get the message. He throws a fit about it, but stands up to help me detangle all the lights hanging from his house. I roll my eyes, “You know, neither of us would be here if you didn’t put up all this shit just to spite me.”

Felix scoffs, climbing up the ladder to yank down a string of purple icicles, “Don’t be so full of yourself. Not everything I do is because of you, princess.” I look away, fighting down the blush on my cheeks. He just used a stupid nickname, Y/N, get a hold of yourself. It’s not like he meant it as a good thing.

“If it’s really not to piss me off,” I grunt as I force another box of light closed, “then why do it?” Felix eyes me from atop the ladder, hesitation and something else I can’t decipher written across his face.

“Why should I tell you?”

“Oh, for fucks sake,” I mutter, shaking my head. “Forget it, you don’t have to. Just trying to make conversation...since we’re gonna be here for a while....” Felix goes uncharacteristically quiet, and, for a moment, I think he fell off the rungs onto the snowy driveway. I turn, expecting to be dialing an ambulance, only to gasp when I find Felix standing right behind me, conscious and well. “Holy shit, you ass! I thought something bad happened!” I clutch at my heart, shoving his shoulder in frustration, but he doesn’t budge. Felix’s eyes search mine, and my heart starts to race when I notice how close he really is.

“Why are you pretending you care?” His voice is deep and strained, and it takes my fuzzy mind a moment to process his question.

I swallow, trying to force down the butterflies in my stomach, “Are you messing with me again? I’m not in the mood for it, Lee, I just want to get this done.”

“Me messing with you? You’re the one standing here playing with my head!”

“Are you kidding me?!" I shout, throwing my hands up in exasperation. “Felix, all you’ve done since the day I met you is toy with me and my emotions! I’m sorry we got off on the wrong foot all those months ago. I tried to move past it and become friends, but you didn’t seem too interested in anything other than making my life hell!”

“What do you mean, ‘move past it’?! You acted like you hated me every time you saw me,” Felix says, anger bubbling just beneath the surface. “The only way I could get a reaction out of you was by pissing you off!”

I scoff, jabbing my index finger in Felix’s chest, “Do not tell me you’ve been doing all this shit just because I ignored you! I was embarrassed, Felix. I tried to beat up my new roommate’s cute best friend with a cat umbrella, how else am I supposed to react?!” Felix freezes, eyes widening as he stares down at me in shock. His mouth hangs open, but I’m far too into my rant to notice the sudden change in his demeanor. “Maybe, just maybe, Lee, if you actually tried talking to me instead of putting baking soda in my cereal-”

“Did you just call me cute?”

I stop abruptly, the frustrated words I had in mind immediately falling from my lips. My mind goes completely blank, realizing that I had, in fact, shared something I hadn’t meant to say. Especially not to Felix’s face.

“Um...” I retract my hand away from Felix’s chest, but he’s quick, and grabs it before I can pull it back to my side. His hold only tightens when I try to struggle, soft enough to not be painful, but just firm enough to keep me in place.

“Y/N, did you call me cute?” Felix repeats, warm brown eyes boring into mine. If he leans in just a little bit more, I’d be able to....I shake my head, ripping my hand away from his, and stepping back.

“....Maybe I said you were a little cute,” I begrudgingly admit through gritted teeth. “But don’t get too excited about it. It doesn’t mean anything.”

“Yes, it does,” Felix grins, closing the distance between us once more. He leans forward, close enough for me to count the individual freckles on his face, and smirks at the way my cheeks heat up when he whispers, “I think it means you like me, Y/N.”

I lick my lips, heart pounding when his eyes flit down to follow the movement, “And what if I do, Felix?”

“Then putting away these lights is gonna have to wait.”

#felix x reader #lee felix x reader #stray kids felix x reader #stray kids xmas!!

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hoodiehan · 6 years ago

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The Purge - Stray Kids Imagine (Part 1)

Synopsis: Once a year, the government commences the annual Purge. A night where all crimes, including murder, are considered legal for 12 hours. Many try to survive the night while others go out to make sure that people don't survive the night.

Genre: Thriller, angst

Pairing: Stray KidsxStray Kids

Word Count: 3.1k

Warnings: Death, violence, guns, murder, basically this is pretty horrific

Hyunjin stood next to his parents posed in the same old form; straight back posture, forced smile on his lips, and hands folded in front of his body. The cameras flashed in his face as his mom and dad waved politely smiling at all the new reporters and journalists as they ended the conference meeting about their plans for ending the purge. In the back of the room, he could see his best friend Changbin waiting for him to end the meeting so that the both of them could go get something to eat.

Hyunjin came from an anti-purger family meaning that every person that shared the same blood line as him were against the purge. They were against the idea of any crimes being allowed for 12 hours. The Purge wasn't just a night where people could go out and steal as much money as they wanted from a bank . No, it was a night where any murder was allowed. Where any torturous revenge and cruel intentions were to be legal for only 12 hours out of the entire year. Out of the 8,760 hours in one year, only 12 of them needed to make a drastic difference in the nation.

Hyunjin let out a sigh of relief once the security guards ushered him and his family off the stage signaling the end of the press conference. Finally, he could go out with Changbin. He hadn't eaten all day and was dying to get some meat in his stomach.

"Another successful meeting?" Changbin asked when Hyunjin approached him. Just like Hyunjin's family, Changbin was an anti-purger as well. He found no benefit in all the slaughters that occurred during the Purge and all the crimes that were committed. If anything, he thought that the aftermaths of the Purge were far worse than the actual Purge itself; hospitals that were overcrowded with victims from the night beforehand, the cleaning of the streets, all the family members grieving because of lost loved ones. Changbin despised the Purge with every fiber within him. He swore that he would never Purge and that he would do whatever he could to end it.

"I suppose," Hyunjin shrugged off his blazer and traded it for the bomber jacket that was offered by Changbin. "Another press conference is another step to the Purge ending."

"Soon enough, we won't have to live the through another Purge night again. Your parents seem to be close to their goal of ending the purge," Changbin remarked leading the way to his parked car.

"Yeah well, we can only hope that we don't have to live another 12 hours of fear again," Hyunjin said stepping into the passenger side of the car with Changbin sliding into the driver's seat.

"Speaking of which, are you ready for tonight?" Changin said referring to this year's annual purge.

"Of course. When am I not," Hyunjin let out a small sigh and gazed out the window staring at all the buildings that Changbin drove by.

It's just another year. Another 12 hours. Another night that he just has to survive.

Felix and Chan went through all of their duffle bags double checking their supplies.

Guns. Check.

Ammunition. Check.

Knives. Check.

Bandages. Check.

"Just a couple more hours. You ready for tonight, mate?" Chan asked clapping a hand on Felix's shoulder.

"Yeah. I'm ready. Another year, another 12 hours spent trying to save people," Felix said gazing at all the weapons that were laid out in front of the two.

Felix and Chan were boys that would never have the heart to kill someone. They much preferred to wound someone than the kill. The two boys were also anti-purgers. They despised the Purge with all their heart. But every year, when the 12 hours of legal crimes were commenced, both of them would go out to save anyone they saw and to protect any potential victims.

"Felix, listen," Chan said staring at the younger boy with sincerity. "I know that every year you say that you're down to do this. But you don't have to do this every year either. We can always skip this one year, or you can always just tap out of this entire thing now. I won't judge you, and I'll always try to protect you."

Felix smiled a little, appreciative of his older friend's caring nature. "Chan, don't worry. You tell me this every year too, y'know. We're in this together. If we don't go out tonight, then that's probably 10 lives lost that we could have saved. I want to do this."

Chan nodded, his gaze flickering between the younger boy and the plan that they had taped to the wall. The plan for the night that had told the two boys which areas they were going to focus on protecting, and what to do in case of an emergency.

Chan zipped up the duffle bags and made his way out of the room. "Alright well, come on. Let's go get something to eat before tonight. We can't be running around on empty stomachs now, can we?"

Seungmin was most definitely scared for tonight. He hated the Purge and every year he dreaded having to think "just survive the night". Seungmin sat in his dorm room, elbows resting upon his knees as he pondered all the possibilities and outcomes that could happen as a result of tonight. He could lose his friends, he could lose a family member, he could be another one of the body counts too. Anything was possible, and for him, it was hard to be optimistic during a time like this.

"Hey man, you want tamales or eggrolls?" Jisung asked walking into Seungmin's room holding bags of processed food in his hands.

Seungmin scrunched his eyebrows together. "Those are two foods that are on opposite sides of the food spectrum."

"Yeah well, it's all we got after Woojin ate all of the fried rice. And it's too late to go out now, unless you want me to die on the way home from the market," Jisung joked as he plopped down onto the seat next to Seungmin.

"Dude," Seungmin groaned, not laughing at Jisung's joke.

"What? It was funny. Come on, man. You always worry every year. But every year, we always walk out fine. We have the best security system in the whole building. Woojin's money didn't go to waste ya know," Jisung said waving the bag of egg rolls in the air for extra emphasis.

"You're right, you're right. I'm just still worried. What if we someone hacks into our system and gets into the apartment? What is someone comes banging on our door for help? What if-"

Jisung held a hand up in the air causing Seungmin to pause his speech.

"Those are very good 'what if's'. All of which are not going to happen. Lighten up, dude. It's gonna be alright! If not, then we have my guns to protect us," Jisung said standing up.

Seungmin's eyes widened. "What? You have guns?"

"Yeah," Jisung smirked. He rolled up his sleeves and flexed his arms. "These guns," Jisung poked his flexed biceps and nodded at the younger boy with a cocky expression on his face while sticking his tongue out of his mouth.

"Oh my god," Seungmin groaned, slapping a hand to his forehead. "That was... Disgusting. Get out of here."

Jisung laughed and skipped out of the room waving the bags of tamales and egg rolls in the air. "Dinner will be ready in twenty!"

Jeongin looked down at his watch and picked up his pace.

Oh no, he was going to be late for dinner. He wasn't going to make it home on time. His mom is going to be so mad at him if he doesn't-

Jeongin stopped and looked at his watch one more time. It was 6:59 pm. One more minute and then it would be time for the Purge.

Eyes widening, Jeongin wrapped his jacket closer around himself and picked up his pace. Soon enough, he was sprinting through the streets trying to make it home even though he knew that he wouldn't be able to make it home. His house was a good 15 minutes away, and he only had a mere couple of seconds left. Stopping, Jeongin scanned his settings trying to look for a hiding place. If he couldn't make it home, then he'd have to at least have to make do with where he was.

Jeongin's lip quivered as he realized the gravity of the situation. Tonight was the Purge and it was very plausible that tonight would be the last night that he lived.

Looking to his side, he noticed an apartment building that was open. Putting in all his energy and effort, he ran towards the building in hopes that there would be at least one family that would take him in for the night.

All of a sudden, the all too familiar sound of emergency broadcasting alarms blared throughout the city.

"This is not a test. This is your emergency broadcast system announcing the commencement of the Annual Purge sanctioned by the U.S. government.

Weapons of class 4 and lower have been authorized for use during the Purge. All other weapons are restricted. Government officials of ranking 10 have been granted immunity from the Purge and shall not be harmed.

Commencing at the siren, any and all crime, including murder, will be legal for 12 continuous hours. Police, fire, and emergency medical services will be unavailable until tomorrow morning until 7 a.m., when The Purge concludes.

Blessed be our New Founding Fathers and America, a nation reborn. May God be with you all."

It had begun.

Seungmin and Jisung were sat on their living room couch with the television on in front of them. The broadcast system announcing the start of the Purge had played on the tv a couple of minutes ago. Woojin was walking around the apartment double checking the locks and blockades on the windows, doors and any possible entryways.

Seungmin's leg constantly shook as he bounced it up and down in anticipation for the night. His nerves were getting the best of him, and no matter how positive he tried to think, he just couldn't.

Jisung looked to his side to see Seungmin nervously biting away at his nails and bouncing his leg. Calmly, he laid a soft hand on Seungmin's leg, immediately stilling it as Seungmin looked at Jisung with a wide gaze.

"It's going to be okay," Jisung said looking into Seungmin's eyes trying to calm him down. Slowly, Seungmin nodded and placed his hand in his lap turning his focus to the cartoon that was being played on the screen in front of them.

"Okay, boys, and that is the last lock-" Woojin said sliding the lock into place on the front door.

Both Seungmin and Jisung let out a small sigh of relief as they felt a sense of security falling over the two of them.

"We just have to stay here for a couple of hours, not let anyone in and-" Woojin was cut off by banging on the front door. All three boys jumped in surprise as they didn't expect anyone to come so soon. Muffled pleas were heard on the other side of the door as more fists were hit against the door.

Cautiously, Woojin crept towards the monitor screen that was placed next to the door way and viewed whoever was drawing all the attention to their apartment. Turning back to look at Jisung and Seungmin, he whispered, "It's a boy."

"What? A boy? Hyung, don't let him in. You never know," Jisung advised standing up to look at the monitor too.

"He's so young though. And it doesn't look like has anything on him," Woojin responded looking at the screen to observe him.

"Yeah, but during a night like this, you can never be too sure- wait. Isn't that... Yang Jeongin?" Jisung asked looking at Seungmin who was still sitting on the couch.

"What?" Seungmin asked. Getting up, he approached the monitor trying to confirm if it was him or not. Seungmin let out a gasp. "That is him."

"Jeongin? You know this boy?" Woojin asked furrowing his eyebrows.

"Yeah, I go to school with him. I'm in the same class as him," Seungmin answered still staring at the screen in shock. "What is he doing outside though? I thought he was smarter than that."

"Please let me in! He's right behind me!" Jeongin begged, pounding on the door.

"Hyung, we have to let him in. Please. He's good, I swear," Seungmin said turning to Woojin.

"No. We're not going to let anyone in," Woojin said after pausing for a moment.

"What? No! We have to! Jeongin wouldn't hurt anybody! He's the nicest kid in the grade!" Seungmin pleaded with Woojin. He didn't know what he would do if Jeongin died during the purge. Seungmin could save Jeongin, all he had to do was just let him in.

"No, we are not going to let him in. If we let him in, then we're all at risk of any potential killers outside. I have to protect to you all and that is final," Woojin stated firmly. He wasn't going to put all of their lives at risk for one boy.

"Woojin, hyung, please. He's my friend, my classmate! You have to believe me-"

Seungmin was cut off by the sound of the front door being opened and pants coming in through the doorway. Turning around, he saw Jisung hastily ushering Jeongin into the apartment, while shutting the door behind the younger boy.

"Jisung," Woojin gasped. "Why would you do that?" Woojin approached the young boy who had just entered the apartment and shoved him against the wall.

"Woojin! What are you doing?" Jisung exclaimed, watching his older friend pat Jeongin's arms and legs.

"We have to check him to see if he has any weapons on him. Because unlike you all, I don't trust him."

"I have nothing on me, I swear," Jeongin gasped trying to regain his breath.

"Then what's this?" Woojin slid his hand into the waistband of the younger boy's pants and pulled out a knife.

Jisung and Seungmin stepped back the pair when they saw Woojin take the knife out.

"That was to protect me. I swear," Jeongin said still pressed up against the wall.

"You expect us to believe that you came in here with this gigantic knife that you hid in your pockets with the only intention of protecting yourself?" Woojin cried out, his voice near a shout but not as close.

"Yes! I had no intention of using the knife, but I found it on the streets, and I was so scared. He was just chasing me, and I was just going to use the knife as a last resort. I-"

"Wait," Jisung said cutting off Jeongin. "Who is he?"

"What?" Jeongin asked, still fazed by the entire encounter.

"You said someone was chasing you? Who was it?" Seungmin questioned, clarifying for Jisung.

Jeongin nervously swallowed before answering.

"Lee Minho. It was Lee Minho who was after me."

It was near midnight when Hyunjin finally concluded that everyone in his household was asleep. His parents were asleep in their room according to the monitors that showed all activity in the house. And Changbin, who insisted on sleeping over this year claiming that he had a bad feeling about this year's Purge, was fast asleep on Hyunjin's bedroom floor.

Creeping past the sleeping Changbin that laid on his bedroom's carpeted floor, Hyunjin grabbed his items and made his way through the house, disarming the home security on his way out.

Hyunjin was a couple of steps away from the house when he heard something behind him.

"Hyunjin? Why are you out here? Get back inside!"

Hyunjin paused his gait, caught in the middle of his plan. Turning around, Hyunjin faced an awake and alert Changbin. Changbin constantly looked around the neighborhood in fear of purgers coming out and finding the two out on the streets. With a family like Hyunjin's, his back had a large target upon it. Any purger would kill Hyunjin in an instant to threaten his parents to end their Anti-Purge campaign.

"Changbin, go back inside. You don't want to be out here," Hyunjin warned backing away from his older friend.

"Me?" Changbin gasped astounded. "More like you need to be inside! Why did you even decide to go outside?" Changbin hissed stepping closer to Hyunjin trying to grab his arm so that he could drag the boy back inside.

Hyunjin aggressively shook Changbin's grip off his arm. "Changbin, get out of here, now, or else," Hyunjin urged, his tone darker sounding than usual. Changbin took a step back from the younger boy, unsure of how to react.

"Hyunjin, what are you doing? Why are you acting like this? What's going on-"

In a flash, Hyunjin seized a gun that was hid by his shirt, aimed it in between Changbin's eyes and pulled the trigger.

"I told you to go back inside or else," Hyunjin said lowly. He let out a small sigh as he stared down at the lifeless body that now laid on the ground.

"What a shame," Hyunjin mocked as he tucked the gun back into his belt. "You were a great a friend." But in fact, Hyunjin felt no remorse for Changbin at all. Maybe later he would feel a slight sense of guilt, but on a night like this, Hyunjin couldn't be held back. Although he came from a family of anti-purgers, Hyunjin couldn't stand any of them. And Hyunjin especially couldn't stand it when Changbin constantly insulted a night as special as the Purge.

The Purge was one of Hyunjin's favorite nights. It was like Halloween, but so much more spectacular. Every year, he would always sneak out of his home to go purge, and every year he always got away with it. This year, he would get away with it too. It was going to be a special year for him, especially with his first kill already happening so soon.

Hyunjin grabbed the black mask that he had stowed away in his backpack and slid it into place on his face. The night had just begun for him.

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