#all of the teezers will be here too dw

[chimivx]

gimme gimme gimme 3 -> mingi x fem!reader -> nice for what

wc: 8.4k warnings: 18+, sexual content and alcohol consumption in every part, infidelity themes... if i missed anything please let me know! posted: 1/19/25 12:22 pm est.

masterlist ~ <- previous part - next part ->

“I’m deadass, look at this,” Yuna said from the end of the blue sofa, extending her wrist over Aurora’s lap. Mouth popping open, no words to be spoken, Aurora takes her hand and lifts it higher, bringing the diamonds closer to her face.

“How much was it?” Aurora mumbled, glancing at Yuna and her natural chocolate waves flowing down her back. “Did he tell you? I guess he didn’t, right? That’s not a thing.” Shouts flooded out of the doorway of the gameroom, all of the boys but one holed up in there, crinkling cans and busting each other's asses over the simplest of losses.

Yuna shook her head blinking her round eyes toward both of you, though you weren’t paying attention. “He didn’t, but Ryujin and I tried to look it up, ‘cause it’s an Olivietta, and it must be custom or something, because we can’t find it anywhere, but all of Olivietta’s shit like this is like five thousand dollars.” 

Aurora’s jaw dropped further than before, her entire being in shock. “You’re lying,” she whispered, her voice still audible over the music playing. Yuna, proud as ever, smiled and shook her head. Your best friend whirled herself around to look at you, Yuna’s hand still in hers, but you were focused on your phone, typing away, a mile a minute. “Are you seeing this, Tor? Jongho bought her this.” You hummed in response, not lifting your eyes from your screen. “For an end of year gift.”

“It’s so pretty,” you muttered, hitting send on a message, missing the way your friends' faces fell before they turned back to speak to one another.

“What have you guys been doing, you’ve got three days on us now, how’s the beach?” Yuna’s smile met her eyes, her and Aurora sitting backward on the couch, falling into a conversation that seemed to exclude you. 

It didn’t matter, you were busy.

For three days this number hasn’t left you alone. The messages came in at random, at random times, there wasn’t a strategy to the way this person moved making it increasingly impossible to figure out who they could be, where they could be, and what their motive was. For three days you’ve ignored Jongseob, whether it be at the beach while him and his friends hung out with yours, sat close by, drank with them- You ignored him.

He did very little to get your attention much to your surprise, he didn’t act like he did if he were within the walls of ATZ. You did have more freedom around the frat, around your own sorority, without Mingi, that is. Oftentimes Jongseob nagged you when he wasn’t around, and ultimately while lying on a beach beside him, he didn’t have the means to get under your skin. At least not while your boyfriend lounged next you, knowing that little leech would swoop in if he left you alone.

But, that could be why he’s texting you like this. Secretively. So he could talk to you around the boyfriend, like one of his messages had said.

If it was him. The person wouldn’t give it up.

[you]: but you still won’t give me a name.

You’ve gotten sneaky. The day after the notification settings were changed, you added a name to the contact, one that would go unnoticed by Mingi if he were to glance over while you were texting. It would protect you from anyone questioning actually, you felt like a proper genius.

[ITZ]: its more fun this way

[ITZ]: wyd right now

[you]: sitting around with my girls. 

[ITZ]: oooooh. which girls

[ITZ]: told them abt me yet?

[you]: why the fuck would i tell anyone about you???

“Hwa!” 

Both Yuna and Aurora cheered aloud, their voices echoing up into the stretch of a ceiling pulling you away from your screen. He was tipping sideways, Seonghwa was, with a bottle in his hand. Baggy jeans hung low on his hips and the cropped t-shirt he wore exposed a strip of golden skin above the Calvin Klein strap around his waist. Drunk, eyes glazed over, a silly smile on his perfectly full lips, your friends gushed over him to make him blush, and he did.

Cheeks going pink, he squatted down in front of the table in the center of the couches, wobbling as he did, and he poured liquor into stray shot glasses littering the wooden table top. His hair laid naturally over his head, messy, wavy, longer than ever. Dragging his slender, knobby fingers through it, as if to flash you all a delicious look of his face, he gave you all a lazy smile. 

“How are the games?” Yuna asked, animating her voice to make him laugh. She leaned forward over her lap, and Seonghwa beamed.

Slapping his hands to the table, he said, “So much fun.”

She tossed her hair around as she spoke. “Enjoy them,” she grinned.

“Thank you,” Seonghwa’s cheeks grew squishy as his smile deepened.

“No, Hwa,” Aurora cooed, holding up one of the shot glasses, “Thank you.”

The three of them took their shots together, Seonghwa and Aurora watching one another as they did. He stood after smacking the glass onto the table and left her with a wink, Yuna gasping the moment he was out of earshot. 

She jumped in her place, grabbing onto Aurora any way she could. “You know what I constantly think about?”

You leaned forward and grabbed the glass Seonghwa poured for you.

Aurora groaned with a grin, tipping her head backward, letting Yuna shake her around. “Please, don’t.”

“Actually, it’s what I think about whenever I see you two interact,” she said, lowering her voice, bringing her nose close to Aurora’s cheek. Your best friend gave her a look. “You guys lowkey have chemistry, Ror.”

You pressed the glass to your lips and took your shot.

“It’ll never happen again,” Aurora widened her eyes, “We’ve said it. We’re friends. Besides, I'm with Wooyoung.” 

Sliding the empty glass onto the table, you reached for another that Seonghwa had filled. All the glasses on the table got filled actually, the boy was entirely too drunk he couldn’t put together who was sitting around here and who wasn’t. 

“With Wooyoung,” you mumbled with a smirk, knocking the shot back. That was awfully rich. Words such as those hadn’t been spoken… ever. Placing the glass down you glanced to your right and found them both looking at you, their eyes unreadable. 

Yuna slid her hand over Aurora’s, taking her attention back. “Where’s Soul?” she asked with a tilt of her head, nonchalant, calm, collected. Like she didn’t know.

“Ah,” Aurora sighed, “He’s upstairs, in his room. He needed a minute, he’ll be back down though, he was excited you guys were coming.”

Soul went up to his bedroom when you all came back from the beach. He and Aurora spent a lot of time sitting on the sand, many feet away from the group, whispering to one another. They weren’t whispering, they were talking, but it felt like whispering, like they were keeping something a secret. Wooyoung didn’t care, just like he didn’t care that first beach day, letting the two of them spend that kind of time together.

The twenty year old went up to his room, and he didn’t come back.

“Is he okay?” Yuna flipped her brows over.

“Totally, sometimes he just-”

“Then let’s go get him,” you said, pushing yourself off of the couch. Aurora let go of Yuna and turned toward you, both of her hands planting to the cushions beneath her as she looked up at you with worry in her eyes.

“No, he’ll come back when-”

“If you go get him certainly he’ll come down, right?” you questioned, throwing a hand toward Aurora. Shifting your eyes over to Yuna, she reacted as every other being had when you shoved them in the middle of this situation. Unmoving. She watched you with a discomfort bleeding onto her perfect complexion. 

“I mean, yeah,” Aurora breathed. “But, he’ll come down when he’s ready, Tor, leave him alone.”

You propped a hand on your hip. “I don’t understand.”

Her brows screwed up above her eyes, squishing into the center of her forehead. “Tori, he literally said he wanted to sleep. It’s been four days of us going, going, going- let him rest. What don’t you understand?”

Amidst her words you tipped your head backward and groaned. “The babying, the way you treat him,” you shook your hands about to emphasize what she’d just said to you, “I mean, we all see it.”

She froze. For a few seconds, her face wiped of all feeling, her body straightened out, and she didn’t move an inch. Then, she looked at Yuna, only turning her head to find her staring down at her lap, her nimble fingers twisting the bracelet around on her wrist. When she looked back up at you her eyes felt like daggers.

She grit her teeth. “I can’t believe you right now.”

Leaping from the couch, barely catching herself on her feet as she fumbled over Yuna without a care if she bumped into her or not, she stormed off, straight into the gameroom where the guys were still shouting, laughing, and having fun. In minutes you knew she’d be shouting, laughing, and having fun, too. 

Flopping back down on the cushions, you exchanged a look with Yuna and rolled your eyes. She scooted closer to you.

“I’m not supposed to know anything, am I?” she asked.

Letting your eyes shift down to the gorgeous bracelet she wore around her dainty wrist, you took a breath. “No,” you grumbled.

She studied you. Her lashes fluttered as she took you in, and grabbed onto your hand. “Come on,” she said, tugging you off the couch. Pulling you out of the living room and into the kitchen. Passing by the doorway to the game room, the noise amplifying, you caught a glimpse of Aurora beneath Wooyoung’s arm, her head on his shoulder.

Yuna posted you up at the island counter and slid shot glasses toward you, four of them.

“What are we doing?” you asked, watching her search for a bottle she was happy with.

“What we’d do at ATZ to forget about shit,” she smiled as she spun around, vodka in hand.

“More shots,” you said, and she gleamed, screwing the top off the liquor. Moving back to your side, wanting to crawl under your arm in true Yuna fashion, the stage five clinger, she filled all of the glasses.

“Duh,” she said in response to you, then lifted a glass for you to take. “Here.”

It burned, but it went down easily. Just as the second one did.

“Hell yeah!” Yuna cheered, filling the glasses up again. “You know, I was thinking about Isla.”

Sliding your phone out of your pocket, you shot her a look. “What? Why? I was thinking about her the other day, too.”

Taking a shot, Yuna shrugged, popping her brows. “Just how things happen for a reason, I guess.”

Laying your phone on the counter you swiped open to your messages and found one waiting for you. You took a shot and opened the thread. “You mean her not being here, don’t you.” Picking up the second glass at the same time she did, you looked at one another, paused a second, then clinked them together. 

“It wouldn’t be good,” Yuna muttered, taking the shot as fast as she could, making a face as it burned through her. 

The thought of her not coming, not being here with everyone else almost hurt as much as thinking about Mingi being here without Yunho. Though Isla not being here was a good thing, and much better for her, it was another major difference, another point on the list telling you what’s changed, and what is not the same.

“She belongs where she is,” Yuna said, refilling the glasses again. Waiting for you to pick one up, to clink them together again, she whispered, “Everything happens for a reason.” Flashing you a smile, her words echoed in your ears. Even as she turned away from you to take her last shot, it took you a couple seconds to follow suit, to let the liquor push you further into a state you weren’t sure you should be in at the moment.

Blurry, wobbly, lighter, like you could start laughing and never stop.

Before you know it, whether it’d been ten minutes or an hour, you weren’t sure, you and Yuna ventured into the gameroom with the rest of the party. Just as gone as you, you and Yuna attempted the pool sticks, missing every single hit that Mingi or Jongho tried to school you on. Laughter rang in the room, hanging in the air above everyone, even Wooyoung and Aurora who’d taken up space together on a leather chair in one of the corners lost in one another. The only time they’d come up for air or give attention to anyone else is if their name was thrown out with a sarcastic insult, or a comment made by someone else just as drunk.

Jongho let his hands live on Yuna’s waist all night, the two still within those months of ooey gooey goodness, testing waters, figuring each other out. They seemed to be going about it the right way, unlike the pair in the corner, a traditionalness about them. No one expected anything less from Jongho, that’s why his bracelet didn’t come as much of a surprise to you. The boy was classy, he went about relationships with a purpose, playing the long game that wasn’t much of a game at all.

Soul came back at some point, you didn’t even realize his blonde head was in the room until you brushed by him to get to Mingi’s side. The boy stood by Seonghwa, following his lead, shadowing him, asking him questions, letting him tell him what to do when it came to the game. He gave you a sideways smile as you passed him, one you tried your hardest to return. 

“Hi,” Mingi said to you as you bumped into his shoulder. Looking down at you through his glasses, a thin rimmed pair you adored, he settled his smile and watched you wrap yourself around his arm. “Thought you forgot I was here. Having fun with Yuna?”

“You thought I forgot you were here?” you asked, raising a brow. Stepping back from him, one hand holding onto his bicep, you looked him up and down and scoffed. His shirt quite literally stuck to him, everything beneath it entirely visible. Tucked into his jeans that laid low on his hips, his form was on display, for you, for everyone else. The slight arch in his back as he stood, the broad stretch of his wide shoulders, how could you not want to drink up every bit of him?

Mingi tipped his chin backward. “Tori,” he said with every care in the world, with caution. 

“Mingi,” you sang back, closing the space between your bodies, letting one of your hands sweep over his torso. Shaking his head his smirk grew as you whined. “Why? It’s been three days.” He was content watching you. You pulled at his shirt, you tried to kiss his jaw but had to settle for his collarbone, you threw yourself against him. “Please?” He blinked, and you groaned. “Please, please, please.”

“I dunno,” he said. “Have you kept your promise?”

“I did,” you said, hushed and rushed, keeping your eyes locked on his that grew darker by the second. “I really did.”

“You’re so drunk,” he mumbled.

You tapped a hand to his chest, your brows furrowing. “So are you.”

He cracked a laugh. “I am.”

“Then let’s go,” you whined, bouncing on your knees. “Please, I miss you, I need you.”

Something washed over him. It looked like shock, yet excitement, but ultimately looked like complete shock.

“You do?” he asked, and you rolled your eyes.

“Of course I do, Mingi, I haven’t had you in three days, I miss you,” you whispered.

The magic words apparently. In no time, with his hands on you, he ushered you out of the room, bid his friends goodnight, hurried you up two flights of stairs and nudged you into your bedroom so he could close the door behind you. His hands slid around your neck in an instant, his large frame pushing you backward towards the bed, stopping just before you could fall onto it. Rising to your tiptoes you brushed your lips over his before parting them for a kiss, one so deep you could feel it in your chest.

He seemed to take his time, reveling in this moment, one you haven’t shared in a period of time too long for either of you. He’d withheld it, kept it from you, it’s not like you didn’t try, how could you not when you crawled into bed beside him every night? Lips working against your own, his tongue slipping between them gently, ever so slightly, like he’d scare you away, he took his hands down your body, over your hips, letting a soft groan spill into your mouth. 

“You’re so hot,” he whispered, undressing you faster than he let himself kiss you. Designer pants to the floor, he unhooked the half corset top you struggled to get into and threw it behind him, taking his hands to your shoulders to push you backward onto the mattress.

Falling over top of you his lips took to your neck, one of his hands hooking beneath your jaw to keep it lifted for him to mark your skin as he pleased. With a whine you pulled your knees back, wrapping your legs around his waist, somehow wiggling your hands between your bodies to work at his jeans, pushing them off of him with your feet. Teeth pressing into your neck, he reached a hand backward to grab onto his form fitting shirt, but you were quick to snatch his wrist away. Pulling back to look down at you and smirk, eyes glassy and hooded, you smirked up at him.

“Shirt and glasses,” you said breathlessly, “Stay on.”

“Mm,” he hummed, brushing his lips over your skin, taking his teeth to your earlobe, giving it a harsh tug to make you squirm. “You like them, huh?”

“Yes,” you sighed, sliding your arms around his back, fingers gripping onto the fabric of his shirt, pulling it tighter around his chest. “So sexy.”

“You want me when you’re drinking,” he whispered, trailing kisses down your jaw to your chin. Slipping a hand down your body, his fingers dancing over your belly, making you giggle, he slipped only his middle finger between your legs, teasing your clit before he pushed it into you. He smiled while you gasped. “So sensitive, baby, you need me that bad?” He pulled out his finger and watched as disappointment clouded over you. “You little slut. What, you can’t wait this long?” He pushed two of his fingers into you and relished in how you sang for him, how tight you squeezed him.

“Move,” you managed to choke out, eyes squeezed shut, head thrown backward into the sheets. Wiggling your hips for any friction, Mingi let out a single laugh and lowered his body weight over top of you.

“Sit fucking still, Torilynn,” he spat. Shifting over top of you, his other hand moving back to your neck, fingers gripping the sides, he pushed down and smiled as you whined. “Listen for once, and do as you’re fucking told.”

Heat coursed through you, rushed through your veins. You were trapped beneath him, and for the first time in a long time, you couldn’t think about anything else. You couldn’t move, couldn’t even try to move, and it brought you right to the edge. Mingi hadn’t even moved his fingers, hadn’t teased you anymore, and you clenched around him like he’s had you up here for hours.

Panting, chest heaving, you looked up at him and his glare through his frames, one mixed with frustration, pleasure, and all the more satisfied. Jaw clenched, he studied you, brows pointed, angry eyes focused. Scissoring his fingers within you, feeling you tremble, watching your face screw up and your moans grow louder, he pumped into you twice, brushed his thumb over your clit at the same time, and just as he felt the muscles in your stomach tighten, he stopped.

He stopped.

He pushed himself off of the bed and staggered backward a few times, dragging a hand through his hair, pushing it off of his dewey forehead. Sitting up to your elbows in disbelief, eyes wide, you took him in and shook your head, catching your breath. He was hard, he wanted you, he needed you, but he stopped.

“Wh- What?” you stammered. There weren’t any words you could throw together to make any sense. “Mingi,” you whispered, “I was gonna…”

Eyes dragging down your body, your spread legs, he palmed himself and tilted his head. Looking up at you, he narrowed his eyes and asked, “You sure you were about to?”

Your body stripped itself of its heat, your blood running ice cold. He could read it all over your face no matter if you tried to hide it from him or not. He knew what you did.

He knew you faked it.

That’s why it’s taken him three days to accept you.

“Mingi,” you breathed, sitting up. He snickered to himself and stepped toward you. “Babe, I just-”

His hands took to your shoulders again. Cutting you off with no time to explain yourself, he spread your knees with his own and held you like he did before, one hand beneath your jaw, the other between your legs. 

“Shut up, Tori,” he growled, and pushed into you without warning, the stretch equally delicious as it was uncomfortable. He gave you little time to adjust, but your body knew him, even as he pistoled into you, having to hold you down because he pushed you away with every thrust. “I don’t know what the fuck is going on with you,” he seethed behind his teeth, pressing his nose to your cheek. Clinging to him, useless beneath him, all you could do was thank god there was still music playing downstairs. “Don’t you ever fucking lie to me again.”

It happened twice.

And you both knew it happened twice because he pulled out every trick, every stunt to ensure you weren’t lying, or pretending. 

He kept you on your back, his eyes locked in on yours, not stopping until you were shaking, legs trembling, body tensing, nearly screaming for him. After the first, seeing stars, you weren’t quite sure he’d be able to pull out another, but oh, sweet Jesus, did he surprise you.

You couldn’t shower on your own, couldn’t stand without his help, that’s just how much he wrecked you. Even now, laying over the white blankets neatly made like they weren’t thrown to the floor last night, you were sore, you could still feel him folding you in half. 

He wandered the bedroom, back and forth from suitcases to drawers to the bathroom. The smell of his cologne hung in the air, a comfort to you and your subconscious, though unanswered questions sat between the two of you, taunting you, nagging you. With his hair styled backward off of his face, he opted for contacts tonight instead of his glasses, all of his sharp, striking features on display. Dark denim baggy jeans and a loose fitted button down hung off of his frame and little golden accessories accented his wrists, his lobes, his neck.

Stunning, you wanted to tell him, but he hadn’t spoken a word to you since he helped you shower last night.

Everyone would be meeting at a bar tonight, the rest of your friends arriving shortly, more people to deal with. To slip up around. Cheers was supposed to be fun, it had a pretty good reputation, and they were the only ones on that street that didn’t kick anybody out, no matter what went down.

“You should get dressed,” Mingi muttered, breaking the silence. Sitting up to your elbows you gave him a look and he met it for only a second. “What are you thinking about?” 

“You.” A sigh fell out of you without meaning to. 

Straightening up his mess, pushing drawers shut, folding clothes he tried on but decided not to wear, his face was stone cold. “What, did I fix you last night?”

Sitting up completely, your hips roaring with soreness, you pouted after he shot you a glare. “Mingi,” you whispered, face softening.

“Did I do something right finally?” he asked, slipping into a pair of custom sneakers Vernon gifted to him when he got his first brand deal. “You’ve got, like, brand new buttons to push or something, Tori?”

Moving on the bed, closer to the edge toward him, you shook your head. “Mingi, listen, I-”

“Nah,” he said definitively, looking at you. Adjusting the sleeves of his shirt, he pulled his lips together. “You don’t have to explain yourself, Tor. Don’t need you to try to prove other things you’ve been faking with me.”

“Mingi,” you said for the third time, moving onto your knees, barely matching his height, but he didn’t wait around to hear what you had to say. If you had anything to say. He had known since you’d done it, and he didn’t say anything about it. Worse, you didn’t say anything about it. And now, you didn’t even have the chance to.

Falling backward, landing on the duvet with a humph, you reached for your phone and swiped it open. Retreating to your messages, you took a breath, hesitating your thumb over the green app, then decided to bite the bullet and just do it.

[you]: you’re a guy right?

[ITZ]: texting me first now what a surprise

[you]: answer the question.

[ITZ]: yes i’m a guy

[you]: can i ask you something guy related

[ITZ]: sure

[you]: before i do… will you tell me who you are

[ITZ]: still can’t figure it out?

[you]: ugh whatever.

[ITZ]: whts going on? trouble in paradise?

[you]: i guess so.

[ITZ]: ask me.

[you]: have you ever had a girl fake it before?

[ITZ]: fake it? as in like an orgasm?

[you]: yeah…

[ITZ]: that would make me feel like utter dog shit, tori.

[you]: of course it would

[ITZ]: tori, are you faking it with the boyfriend?

[you]: you don’t need to know that.

[ITZ]: tell me :)

[you]: once. recently.

[ITZ]: did he suck or what

[ITZ]: what was it

[you]: no, he didn’t. he’s always good i just…

[you]: it was me. i didn’t feel right

[ITZ]: you didn’t want to have sex with him that night? did you feel pressured to do so?

[you]: omg no, never, it’s not like that

[ITZ]: okay good.

[ITZ]: wdym u didnt feel right

[you]: i don’t know but i wanna figure it out

[ITZ]: what else bothers you?

[you]: everything.

[ITZ]: yeah i can sense that.

Sighing, sucking in a deep breath, letting it out within another sigh, you waited patiently for him to say anything else. Gulping, you started typing, and you couldn’t stop.

[you]: i just wish she could be here with yunho. i know she’s happy now, and i know yunho sucks, but we had it so good for so long. everything has changed and everybody was able to move on, but i can’t. i don’t want to. ryujin and yeosang have left, isla’s gone, i have a big ass job to do, half of these motherfuckers destroyed aurora, but also destroyed me. i was on the outside of it all, and does anyone care that i was blindsided too????!

Minutes pass. Long, ticking minutes.

And then, a reply. One that sends a glimmer through your chest.

[ITZ]: i care, tori. that’s not fair to you.

[ITZ]: you can tell me more, to get it off your chest.

There was nothing left to say. At least for now.

Locking your phone you tossed it aside and sat up, eyeing your suitcases. Feeling oddly lighter, like spewing out those words got rid of them within your brain, you leapt to your feet and got yourself ready to party at Cheers.

“Isla landed!” Ryujin shouted over the music and people chatter, crashing in between you and Yuna where you sat at the bar. Showing off her phone screen and the messages from her best friend, a selfie was sent from across the country, both Isla and Vernon in hoodies and sunglasses throwing up a middle finger for the camera. “She’s good, no one worry.”

Laughing with Yuna, watching Ryujin tap away at her screen to send a message back, she opened the camera and threw an arm around your shoulder, pulling you closer. Yuna laid her head over her shoulder, all three of your heads fitting in the frame. Pouting your lips, Ryujin winked, and Yuna smiled.

“You were the only one worried, Ryujin,” Yuna said, watching her send the picture. The eldest of you all shot her a glare, one that didn’t pack much of a punch.

“You need another drink,” she sneered sarcastically, stepping up onto the ledge beneath the bar to lean over it. Waving the bartender down, she ordered three drinks and jumped onto her feet. “When that comes, find me.” And her and her shaggy hair was gone in a flash, disappearing into the crowd packing the dance floor. 

Air hot and sweaty, the energy in the place riled everyone up the moment the door was pulled open. Walking here, the six of you, Jongho and Yuna were already waiting inside, the crowds growing tenfold after your first round of drinks, and it only seemed to grow as the night wore on. Ryujin and her girlfriend, Jeongyeon, showed face after an hour, the two of them staying in a hotel nearby. Showing up half drunk, Ryujin squeezed you all like she hadn’t seen you a few days ago, Jeongyeon, sober, watching over her from behind where she wobbled off to.

“Is she okay?” Yuna asked you, turning back to the bar after she vanished.

With a frown, you shook your head. “She misses Isla. Her last semester was hell for her.”

“Seems like it was hell for a lot of us,” Yuna said. Gaping at her and her side eye, you fell into a groan and rolled your head backward. “Tori, you already know what I’m going to say, ‘cause I know Ror has already tried.” The bartender slid drinks in front of you. Grabbing onto it you sucked it down, half listening to Yuna. “She tells me you’re worrying her.”

“Who?” you snapped, eyebrows plummeting above your fresh lashes.

Yuna rolled her eyes. “Aurora,” she breathed.

“I’m worrying her,” you laughed, “Hysterical. She can come say that to my face, why is she talking to you about me?”

“Because you aren’t talking to her about you.” The way she looked at you made you feel funny. “She doesn’t know what to do.”

Tilting your head after a gulp of your drink, you twirled on the stool toward the dance floor and propped an elbow up on the bar. “Seems no one does.”

Yuna scoffed. “See, and then you say shit like that, like you don’t have anyone looking out for you.”

“Who is?” you said, glaring at her. 

Her glossed lips popped open. “We’re all trying, Tori.”

Laughing, you sipped from your glass. “Funny, doesn’t feel like it.”

The song on the speakers swiftly changed into one that’s been blared within the walls of the fraternity, and possibly many others, half of the dance floor threw their hands in the air with a shout. People of all ages filled the space, but your generation reigned majority.

Yuna stared you down, giving you time and the chance to backtrack on what you’ve said, because even you know it isn’t true. They’ve all tried, it’s you.

“I’m gonna go dance and give this to Rio,” she said with all of the patience in the world. Jumping from the stool, adjusting her mini skirt, she tried to smile at you, reaching for the glass on the bar behind you. “We’ll listen to you. You know we will. No matter what it is. She will listen to you. After what they put her through, put us through… Don’t do this.”

She walked off, her and her beautiful waves and stretch of toned legs accented by her chunky platform sandals. 

Damn, where’d she get those.

You’d ask her later when she wasn’t pissed at you, maybe after she’s forgotten what she just said to you.

Sipping your fruity drink you let your gaze fall on the crowd, kids like you dancing too close to one another, drinking the night away, singing along to the music. That should be you. It could be you. Everyone had a dance partner though, and you knew yours was in a corner with his friends somewhere. Last time you saw him he was wedged between Seonghwa and Wooyoung, the three of them waiting for Yeosang to step in the building.

Your phone buzzed in the baby purse slung over your shoulder, enough room in there for the block, a tube of lipgloss, and your credit card. Digging it out reluctantly, the song changed and another roar rolled throughout the room making you smile. Just as you tapped on your screen, your eyes locked with another’s, he and his friends shoved into a booth on the other side of the room, the three of them with a few others who were new to ATZ last year.

He simply watched you, eyes not prying.

You opened the message.

[ITZ]: having fun?

Looking up at Jongseob, only after meeting his eyes for the second time did his smile grow. You spun around to face the bar.

[you]: so it’s you then. you’re here. you know i’m here. it’s you.

[ITZ]: figured it out?

[ITZ]: come get me then

That electricity shot through you. The excited one, the one that felt like it shouldn’t do this, but ultimately needed to do this. Slipping your phone back into your bag, you swapped it for the gloss and laid it on thick. Zipping your purse shut, you stepped off the stool and started across the floor, pushing through people, throwing your perfectly flipped hair over your shoulder. His gaze followed you the entire time, soft eyes locked on yours, dropping lower to admire the curve of your hips and how the dress you wore hugged you in all the right places.

You wore it to entice your boyfriend, but, this would do.

Warm blonde hair and smooth honey colored skin smiled up at you, moving over on the bench to make some room for you to sit. Heart pounding in your chest, you could smell him, the right amount of musk mixed with anxiety. Normally you’d be putting him in his place, telling him off, yelling at him to leave you alone. In the halls of ATZ, in dark corners of that house, you’d done it many times, as had Mingi, and eventually Jongseob did leave you alone.

But it was evident he still didn’t give a fuck.

“Well,” you said, breathlessly, “Here I am.”

Sitting backward, head resting on the cushion behind him, his smile grew. “Here you are,” he repeated, his voice deep, gravelly, so unique, one that took you by surprise each time you heard it. “Didn’t think I’d ever get to sit next to you again, Tori.” The way his gaze traveled about your face, it warmed your cheeks, you were lucky it was too dim for him to notice. “What brings you over here?”

Glancing at Jiung and Intak, both boys looking out at the dance floor but so obviously listening in, you smiled at Jongseob. You were playing the secret game.

“How long have you been here?” you asked.

“As long as you,” he nodded once, keeping his chin tipped up in the same way Mingi would. Cocky. An attempt to seem bigger than he was, older. “Having a good time?”

“Totes,” you said, narrowing your eyes. “Where are you guys staying?”

“A few houses down from you, actually,” he said, his lips settling into a smirk.

“Interesting,” you said just above a whisper. Jongseob bobbed his head, his eyes dropping lower for a few seconds. You’re reminded of the M necklace you’ve been wearing. “We’ll have to have you guys come by one of these nights, how long are you staying?”

“As long as we want, my parents own the house,” he said, popping his tongue out his lips to wet them. He didn’t miss how you watched. “We’d love to party. Our boy has VIP access, we’re very curious.”

Soul.

“Mm, he does, doesn’t he,” you said, tone going flat as you glanced down to the table and the boys across from you still acting as if they weren’t paying attention. Jongseob reached a hand underneath the table, his fingers grazing your knee for a moment, forcing your focus back over to him.

“That bothers you,” he said, brows lowering over his golden brown eyes. You kept your faces to yourself. “If you want, we’ll take him back,” he shrugged. “He’s spent summers at this house with us before, it’s not like it’s a big deal. If he’s bothering you, just tell him. He’ll disappear before you know he’s gone.”

It was that easy. Just literally say the words, and the weird, annoying thing between your best friend and Soul, gone.

“Won’t that upset him?” you asked, voice going quiet. “If I say that to him, that seems kind of mean.”

Jongseob twisted his brows, then he laughed. “It’s not that deep, Tori, he’s infiltrating your vacation.”

You looked at your lap, at Jongseobs hand on the cushion of the booth, inches from your thigh. “I dunno, Aurora gets worried about him.” Intak’s head turned at the mention of her name. “She like… watches over him, or something, I don’t know, I don’t get it.”

He shared a look with his friends, his smile growing into one that stirred your stomach. “How adorable,” he sighed, facing you, “Funny how Soul was the one to get in there, right? After what he did? It’s like she’s got Stockholm Syndrome or something.”

That was a funny way to think about it.

For all of them.

Even more funny how she could drop Yunho in a second, someone who didn’t have the in, but someone who tried to look out for her. Sure, he hurt her in other ways, but he didn’t want to ruin her life. Wooyoung, Soul, hell, even Seonghwa… She held the three of them as close as she could, in the obvious, most Aurora way possible.

Was she even happy about that?

Was she doing this on purpose?

Or, was he fucking with you.

“What do you want with me, Jongseob?” you asked. Jiung broke his neck to look at you, him and Intak in utmost shock.

The twenty year old lowered his brows, but his smile refused to fade away. “Heavy question, Tori.”

“Answer it,” you said through grit teeth. He deflected like the messages earlier in the day.

“Honestly, or in a way that your boyfriend wouldn’t want to kill me if he overheard?”

Clenching your jaw, you twisted to face him, and said, “Honestly.”

“I want you everywhere,” he said without hesitation. Looking you up and down, he huffed. “Naked, preferably. I’d make a mess out of you, and I want that lip gloss leftover on my dick when I’m finished with you.” He never broke eye contact, but he didn’t miss the way you pressed your legs together. “You think I haven’t ever thought about how you’d look bent over every surface in every room I’ve seen you in?” The way his eyes narrowed, the way he stifled his laughter, it spurred you on. He leaned into you, inches between your bodies. “You think I’ve never heard what you sound like when he’s fucking you? I live in that house with him, Tori.”

Gulping, you took a breath to ease your racing heart, but nothing would calm it.

“I like this game,” he said, smug as ever. “We’ve never played this before. Why do you ask?”

“Just curious,” you whispered. “I think I need another drink.” 

Sliding from the booth, he gave you a wink before you ventured back over to the bar, posting up beside a being that appeared to stretch taller than your boyfriend. Bumping into his shoulder on accident, you adjusted your purse and shot him a smile, just as he gave one to you. Focusing back on the bar, both of you, at once you snapped your necks to gawk at one another.

“Tori.”

“Yunho.” Scrambling for something to say after ordering another drink from the woman behind the bar, you shook your head and asked, “What are you doing here?”

He looked everywhere but directly at you. “Uh, I’m with Yeosang and Keni, we, uh, just got here. Like, ten minutes ago.”

“Right,” you said, glancing around for the other two, Yeosang and his girlfriend, but they must’ve been in the corner with everyone else. Somewhere Yunho was most definitely not welcome. Just standing next to him felt wrong, even if it happened by accident. “Uh, how have you been?” you asked, unsure of how to continue on talking to him. This bartender was taking her sweet, sweet time.

“I’ve been alright,” he said with a shrug of his broad shoulders, but his tone told you he has not been alright. “You?” he asked, hitting with the subtlest of side eyes.

You answered him reluctantly. “I’ve… been alright.”

He laughed, you couldn’t hear it, but you could see it in his shoulders. “You too, huh?”

“What do you mean?” Looking up at him, he looked back, his dusty colored hair overgrown over his eyes, his ears. Grabbing the beer from in front of him, the bartender having slid his and yours down at the same time, he sipped it and shrugged.

“Doesn’t feel good, does it?”

You sipped your drink, feeling your stomach lurch.

Yunho sighed, sitting down on a stool, shrinking down to your height. “Makes you feel like… utter dog shit,” he mumbled, giving you a glance before he drank from his beer.

Utter dog shit.

that would make me feel like utter dog shit, tori.

Looking over your shoulder to Jongseob and his friends, not one of them paid any attention to you, they talked amongst themselves, shoved over the table like a bunch of high schoolers keeping a secret. Without thinking, you sat down next to him. In the tipsy blurriness it was easy to forget things for the time being, like you could rewind the months, go back to when he was still one of your best friends and he hadn’t broken your sister's heart. 

There never was a proper goodbye with Yunho, proper closure. A part of you didn’t need it, your loyalty was to Aurora, to Mingi, and Yunho had hurt them both. As one of your friends, he hurt you too. After that night though, when Aurora spilled it all to him, and Mina dished shit back, the respect you held for this adorable human being had been sucked out of you.

“I never got to say anything to you,” you said gently, making him look at you, his eyes on alert. “You were a real jackass, you know that?”

He sighed. “Yes, I know that. I have to live with that.”

“She loved you.”

He shook his head, letting it hang. “I loved her.”

“No, you didn’t,” you snapped.

He whipped his head toward you. “Yes, I did. Don’t tell me how I felt. I know what I did was fucked, but that didn’t mean I didn’t love her.”

Sipping your drink, you rolled your shoulders backward to try to sit taller than him. “How’s Mina?”

The laugh he cracked told you plenty. “There’s no Mina.”

“No?”

“No,” he sneered, cringing. “Do you know how bad I regret letting it get that far? There never should’ve been a Mina, I should’ve been honest with Rory from the start, but I know you know how hard that is to do.”

“How hard what is, Yo?” you asked, voice hushed.

“Please, Tor, you’re dating my best friend,” he said. “You and I were friends for a long time, too. You learn about people. You and I, we’re the same, we don’t speak, and then things go to shit.”

“Like, if you say something, they won’t get it. Or, they’ll take it and run with it, turning it into something it never was.”

Yunho shrugged. “Not really, but also… yes.” He tapped his glass with a single finger. “Rory, she was getting over Wooyoung, if I said anything back then, I’d be the jackass, and she wouldn’t be about it. I’d ruin whatever we had before it even started.”

“Weren’t you involved with Mina then?”

He pursed his lips and shook his head. “No, Rory had me first.”

“Damn,” you breathed, and he gave you a look.

“Damn,” he repeated, smiling with you. He looked down at his beer, took a breath, then blinked over at you. “How’s Mingi?”

Those words falling from his lips drove a knife straight into your heart. 

Starting with a hesitance, you barely got two words out before something flashed in his eyes. “He’s, uh… He’s good. We’re good.”

He tilted his head. “Is he,” he muttered, looking at you like he knew something. “That’s good,” he tried to smile, grabbing onto his beer, taking a swig.

You could tell him how Mingi and Wooyoung have grown closer, how the four of you were turning into a proper foursome- if you’d ever allow it. You could tell him that Mingi says Wooyoung is a good friend, that the two talk more than they ever have, that they share things with one another, things that Mingi and Yunho would share with each other. You could rub it in, that his spot was being filled, that he was being replaced with each passing second, but you couldn’t.

Because you knew at the end of the day, no matter who’s shit went where, that Mingi would choose Yunho.

He could come back to him after months, years, asking him to hide a fucking body, and Mingi would, without question. 

“I know things have gone wrong,” Yunho said, nodding. “I know I’ve done things that are so messed up.” He turned to face you, his knees nearly bumping into your own. “But, I still care, Tori.” Your blood ran cold, like it had the night before. “What we all had, it’s not just something I can forget, or pretend like it didn’t happen.”

Sucking in a deep breath, you turned to face the bar and resisted the urge to ask him if he was the one you were texting, which sounded absolutely ridiculous when you said it to yourself. You had his goddamn number, why would it be him?

“How long have you been here?” you asked, sipping your now empty drink. “In Haos?”

“We came down right after you guys,” he said, and you froze. “Me, Yeosang and Keni. San and Hongjoong are staying with us, but they won’t be here till tomorrow. Guess I shouldn’t be surprised you didn’t know that?” You shook your head. “Right, who would wanna keep tabs on me anymore,” he muttered with a laugh.

“Tori?”

The voice from behind you sent a chill down your spine, and you know it happened to the boy beside you as well. Spinning around in time with him, both wide eyed and nervous, you faced Aurora who couldn’t bring herself to even look at Yunho. She stood before you in strappy sandals and a dress that almost matched the one you wore.

“Ror,” you forced from your lips, giving Yunho one last glance before you abandoned him at the bar. The look on his face as he stared at her pained you. Taking your hands to her shoulders you walked her backwards onto the dance floor, hoping to get lost in the midst of the crowd to explain yourself before she caught Wooyoung’s ear.

“Why were you talking to him?” she asked you, pulling her hands over her middle.

Digging your fingers into her shoulders, you shook your head fast. “I found him by total accident, Aurora, I didn’t mean to end up there.”

“You could’ve walked away,” she said. She was the face of patience, no emotion other than calm coming out of her.

“I know,” you breathed, taking your hands down her arms. “I just… had to get my Yunho closure.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Why do you need Yunho closure? No one else has Yunho closure.”

“I guess… I dunno,” you said, fumbling over your words, “Maybe it wasn’t closure, I just… I could’ve walked away.” 

“That was weird,” she said.

Dropping your hands, taking all but a step backward, you questioned, “But, was it?”

“What does that mean?” she asked, confusion washing over her. The way she looked at you, the same way Yuna looked at you earlier, like they didn’t know you. 

Pressing your hands to your cheeks, you clenched your jaw and shook your head. “I don’t know… Aurora, I don’t… I don’t know.” 

She moved around as tipsy dancers bumped into her back. Holding out a hand, she gripped one of your wrists. “That’s okay,” she said. “Should we go talk to Mingi?”

Mingi.

“No,” you answered fast, making her brows raise. “I mean, not yet,” you corrected, “I’ll talk to him later, can we just dance, Tor and Ror, come on.” Tugging at her hands, trying to spin her around, you got nothing but half a smile from her.

“I don’t… No,” she said, shaking her head, pulling her hands away from you. “I need a minute after… After that,” she mumbled, gesturing toward the bar, toward Yunho, where you were just sitting with him. “I’ll tell Ryujin you wanna dance, she’ll come out here, so will Seonghwa.”

She left you in the middle of the dance floor, weaving herself through the crowd to get back to your friends, probably doing shots in the corner, talking about who knows what. In your purse, your phone went off.

Pressing your lips together, ignoring the lump in your throat, you opened up the message and felt a tear slide down your cheek.

[ITZ]: do what feels right, pretty girl

read it on ao3 | talk to me | my masterlist

you do not have permission to copy or translate my works without my consent.

[chimivx]

gimme gimme gimme 2 -> mingi x fem!reader -> nice for what

wc: 6.7k warnings: 18+, sexual content and alcohol consumption in every part, infidelity themes... if i missed anything please let me know! posted: 1/12/25 8;54 pm est.

masterlist ~ <- previous part - next part ->

Standing three stories tall and taking up more space on the property than the ATZ house, your residence for the next month gagged everyone but yourself when you arrived, when you stepped inside. Noses pointed in the air as they all got out of the cars, gawking up at the house sprinkled in tiny hints of daylight as the sun rose from the beach behind it, you reveled in the compliments, in the praises of what a good job you had done picking it out, making sure everyone would be happy for the next thirty days.

It was a house your parents dreamed of their entire lives but had never been able to make happen, all of their beach house money going to your sister and the dreams she was chasing across the country, auditioning for movie after movie, show after show. At least they handed you enough to make this month happen, and then some. Your father was a sucker. As much as their attention was on your sister and her dreams, your father made up for it in cash, depositing wild amounts of it into your accounts monthly. This vacation had been mentioned once and within minutes of clinking martini glasses with him, a large deposit hit your savings and you booked this house that everyone fell in love with upon one glance. 

An open floor plan on the first floor, a generous kitchen, a cozy living room adjacent to a gaming space, full of old arcade games, a ping pong table, air hockey and more. Everything lightly colored screamed you’re at the beach! and it brought pure joy. The almost white wood of the floor, the pastel blue of the furniture, the pale finishes of the furniture, the make up was stunning, chic, and fed your soul more than you thought it would.

Just stepping inside filled you with ease. A calmness washing over you, almost like the atmosphere had reached into your head and turned everything off.

Two bedrooms on the second floor, one for Seonghwa and the other for Soul, were positioned on either end of the house with a bar space between them, low hanging dim lit chandeliers living over the bar and the lounge chairs strategically placed throughout it. Three bedrooms were on the third floor, the space primarily for them alone, tightly spaced together. Wooyoung and Aurora took the one on the far end of the hall while you and Mingi took the one closest to the stairs and farthest from their room. The one in between stayed empty, and for good reason.

The boys brought in your luggage for you, carrying it up the stairs while you and Aurora wandered around the home in awe. What was beautiful and perfectly on brand for you was completely new to her, a detail you never let go untouched, unnoticed. She got to experience these things with you, with her sisters in ITZ. Her family didn’t take vacations every summer, they didn’t visit places like Haos or stay in homes like this one. She was lucky to even be able to go to Nasara. It’s why you didn’t mind letting her stay here without chipping in, though you knew she’d be throwing down her credit card as much as she possibly could when you’d go out.

Before she ventured to bed she hugged you, one long and tight, with a billion whispered thank you’s before the two of you never spoke of it again. It wasn’t something she dwelled on, it was something that made her clam up, so you allowed her to mention it once, and didn’t beg her for more.

Joining Mingi upstairs, following him up with the last of your bags after wandering around a while longer with everyone, buzzing about what a month you were going to have, you watched Aurora follow Soul into his room, Wooyoung not thinking twice about it. He simply followed you and Mingi up to the third floor, bidding you goodnight before disappearing behind his door. Seonghwa didn’t even spare an extra glance toward the scene, making you wonder if he noticed, or if he hadn’t any clue at all. He hadn’t been around for the moment at the party, where you let everyone know that the three of them were sleeping together. 

You’d discuss tomorrow.

Or, you wouldn’t… And would let the situation go on without tampering with it again.

Shutting the door to your room, pressing your back up against it, you watched Mingi push the luggage into a corner and get himself ready for bed, flopping onto the king sized mattress with a groan, rolling onto his back, extending an arm out at his side for you to fall into.

Raising a brow, you stayed where you were at the door. “What did Wooyoung want to talk to you about?”

Mingi tilted his head and sighed. “Yunho.”

Eyes bugging out of your head you hurried for the bed and leapt onto it, falling into his open arm. He smiled, holding you close. “What about Yunho? Aurora? You?”

“Everything in general,” he said. “He was just checking in. He really is a good friend.”

That was something you should be doing with your own boyfriend. That was something you should be doing with everybody actually, but you couldn’t stomach it.

“Right,” you whispered, eyes falling to the white bedspread beneath you and Mingi’s outstretched legs nearly reaching the edge of the mattress. “He is, I guess.”

“You guess?” 

Giving him a look and a shrug, you said, “I haven’t really talked to him, he’s preoccupied.”

Lowering his brows, he gave you a smile. “Right,” he breathed through a laugh. “He definitely doesn’t have time for anything else outside of his relationship, ‘cause he’s the type of guy to do that.” Scoffing, you pushed yourself off of him and rolled off the bed onto your feet. “Tor, come back,” he groaned.

“No,” you said, starting for the bathroom on the other side of the bedroom. “I need to get ready for bed. Go to sleep.”

Pulling off his glasses, laying his phone on the bed beside him, Mingi watched you until the door was shut. Inside, you flicked on the light and rested your elbows on the edge of the porcelain of the sink. Rubbing your fingers over your eyes, colors appearing as you vigorously brushed over your lashes, you dropped your hands, staring at yourself in the mirror. Sleepy hooded eyes stared back.

You moved to the bags Mingi had laid over the shelves on the wall, just below a long bay window who’s curtains were drawn for the time being. Tomorrow morning you’d pull them open and let the sunshine in, but for now they stayed closed. The neighbors didn’t need a show.

Pulling out a bottle of micellar water, cotton pads, various face washes, everything you needed to brush your teeth, and face masks, you moved through your routine swiftly, letting the muscle memory take over and your active brain take a rest. It was something you were typically good at, not letting the little shit get to you, linger with you. In moments like this one, moments just for you, when you were alone, it came easy. No show or act to uphold, no one to perform for, no need to be on.

Somehow it made everything much heavier.

Every little thing grew tenfold- has been growing tenfold. All the tiny moments of saying the wrong thing, letting your feelings get the best of you, not thinking before you spoke on something. It all haunted you, stood over your shoulder, clung to your back, gum on the bottom of your shoe you couldn’t get rid of.

You made it to your moisturizer before you realized you were crying, tears welling up and blurring your vision until you couldn’t see yourself in the mirror any longer. 

Aurora was here, in the house, you could go find her, talk to her.

Mingi laid right outside in bed, you could go to him, talk to him.

But, none of it made sense.

If you couldn’t even put into words what you were feeling, how was anyone else supposed to help? Or even understand?

Wiping beneath your eyes, steadying your breath before you let out a cry that Mingi could hear, you calmed yourself. The last thing you needed was him questioning you.

From the counter beside the sink your phone vibrated. Grabbing it with a sniffle and an internal groan, you unlocked it with a few taps and craned your neck to take a peek. Knowing who was awake at this hour, you weren’t looking forward to this.

[Unknown Number]: u in haos

Scrunching your nose, your entire face scrunching with it, you picked up your phone and typed back.

[you]: who the hell is this

They answered back instantly.

[Unknown Number]: dont worry abt it

[Unknown Number]: little birdie told me u were here. so am i

[you]: how’d you get my number. who are you.

[Unknown Number]: u will find out soon enough tori

[Unknown Number]: see u soon ;)

[you]: tell me who u are or i’m blocking this number, fucking creep

[Unknown Number]: hm no i dont think u would do that

[Unknown Number]: ur curiosity overwhelms u

[Unknown Number]: i always see it in ur eyes

[Unknown Number]: the what if

[you]: maximum fucking creep, ur blocked, bye

[Unknown Number]: but then how will i talk to u around the boyfriend

What the fuck?! You typed back, then deleted it. You typed again, then deleted it. You couldn’t do anything but stare at the screen, and you did, for many minutes, rereading the conversation.

Leaving the bathroom, locking your phone, you found Mingi absolutely knocked out, tucked onto his side of the bed. The lights were out, leaving you to shuffle through the darkness, changing into something you didn’t wear to the airport. Rolling onto the bed beside him, ample space between the two of you, you watched him sleep for a second. The rise and fall of his chest, the way his body laid completely still, a bit tense beneath the covers, the white sheets. He wasn’t asleep. When he slept he sprawled himself out over the mattress, his large frame taking up most of the space. He’d breathe heavily, and he’d be completely relaxed.

Tempted to reach over and turn him over, have him hold you while you moved beneath the covers, you decided to leave him be. You did snap at him before you left him here. In fact, you’d been snapping at him all day, aside from the half hour spent at his house. 

He was over it. At least for today. And you didn’t blame him.

Settling yourself over the pillows, laying backward, stretching out your legs under the softest sheets you’ve ever slept in, you took a deep breath and let your eyes close.

Tomorrow would be better.

The house was alive, because of course the fuck it was. Rolling over to an empty bed, tossed back sheets, you reached for your phone and tapped the screen.

2:55 pm.

Strange of Mingi to not wake you up when he did. Usually there’d be a kiss, or a head scratch, or he’d lay you out and take you half asleep knowing that you’d take him later whenever it pleased you. He left without any of it, not that it surprised you after how the two of you fell asleep last night. Countless times you woke up, tossing and turning without one of his arms wrapped around you to soothe you back to sleep. Even opening your eyes to you half wrapped around him had you retreating back to your side of the bed.

It took you back to the weeks you spent with him and his family over winter break, when Aurora was wrapped around two of them, you barely had your one on you.

You’d turned into one of those couples who seemed to tolerate one another, the honeymoon phase coming to a plummeting end faster than you’d expected it to.

Music thumped from the first floor. Voices carried up the stairwells and in through the cracks on the door, shouts from the boys and laughter from Aurora, someone’s deep voice trying to sing along to the words dancing between the steady beat. Seonghwa, without a doubt.

Kicking the sheets off you roll over the edge of the bed and catch yourself on your feet. Stepping about the room reluctantly, stripping yourself of the clothes you wore to bed, you rifled through a suitcase and pulled out a black bikini, one Mingi approved of last summer. He approved so hard you couldn’t wear it around him if you were with other people, and not because he didn’t want others to see you in it.

He should be up here to help you into it, maybe fall back into the sheets with you to pull it off of you, then help you back into it if he didn’t make a mess in it first. Like he made a mess in you yesterday. One you couldn’t reciprocate.

Biting down on your bottom lip to keep tears from slipping down your cheeks, you hurried to the bathroom, fixed your chestnut layers into a ponytail and washed your face. Glass hits the floor downstairs as you wash away bubbles and twist off the water.

“If everyone is drunk, I swear to God,” you muttered with a groan. Dabbing your face dry, you inspect your appearance, decide on no make up, twist your earrings around in your ears, and take yourself downstairs.

Bare foot, trying not to race down the stairs, the music called to you, pulled you in, like it would in the frat house. The music went on, drinks were handed out, and problems were forgotten. As much as it sucked to be the last one up, the last one to the party, a drink or three wouldn’t hurt. If anything, it would help.

Isla would slap you across the face if she were here.

Passing by closed bedroom doors and the untouched bar on the second floor, you contemplated taking a shot from a liquor bottle on a shelf, but kept moving. Sunshine leaked through the windows, you needed to be on a beach. The song changed to another you’ve heard before, one of the guys had on their party playlist. You didn’t have the sets memorized, the songs came out shuffled, but each one brought back such vivid memories it nearly cured everything you’d been feeling.

That was until you descended down the last flight of stairs and found the kitchen a mess, Seonghwa cooking something on the stove, opened empty cans littering every surface, Mingi leaning across a counter with a dopey smile on his face, Aurora straddling Wooyoung’s lap at the kitchen table, and Soul bouncing around with a broken bottle in his hand throwing away glass. Every boy was shirtless, except for Soul, and like you, everyone was ready for the beach.

“There she is,” Mingi cheered, the first to catch a glimpse of you. Turning around completely, flashing you his bare, sculpted chest, he met you halfway, throwing an arm around your shoulder as he pressed a kiss to the top of your head. 

“You didn’t wake me up,” you said, looking up at him.

Giving you a lazy smile he said, “You were out, and tired. We’re on vacation, why would I want to wake you up?”

“So we could spend time together,” you almost whispered, and his smile faltered. 

Pulling you into his chest, skin on skin, so he could kiss you for real, he took his hands to your cheeks and brushed his thumbs along your bottom lashes. “Okay,” he breathed. “From now on I’ll wake you up. No matter what.” His lips met the center of your forehead, and just before he let go of you, Aurora shouted for you.

“My turn,” she teased, leaning backward onto the kitchen table, her elbows on the edge. She almost matched you, except her bathing suit was a deep purple and almost hooked over her hips where yours lived as low as possible, something Mingi took note of before you walked away from him. One of his fingers hooked into the strap, snapping it against your tan skin with a smirk as you shot him a look over your shoulder. “Hi, Tor!”

“Hi Ror,” you said, sparing a glance at Wooyoung clearly several drinks deep with how he ogled Aurora and had his own fingers twisted around the ties on her hips. “I need to catch up,” you sighed, looking around for a bottle, or a shot glass, or anything. 

“Shots, let’s do ‘em,” Aurora said, attempting to slide off of Wooyoung’s lap. His arms wrapped around her waist faster than she could move, his devilish smile peeking out as the chair pushed further beneath the table forcing their bodies together.

“No, no, no,” he mumbled to her, drinking up her giggles. Grabbing onto her, hands pressed to her any which way he could have them, he laid sloppy kisses on her cheek and down her jaw, mumbling things to her amidst her giggles that you couldn’t make out.

Turning from them with an eye roll you bump into Soul, bright eyed and half smiling where he stood offering you a bottle of Soju and a little crystal shot glass. Adorable, really. Tousled, frizzy blonde hair that desperately needed to be cut, dark, shining eyes, pouty pink lips. Any moment caught face to face with him put everything into perspective, you got it. You understood why. Without even trying he most likely could have you on your knees, it didn’t take a genius to figure out why Aurora was doing what she was doing. 

He didn’t say a word, he wasn’t much of a chatter, only when provoked, or drunk, or if he was on Aurora’s hip like a toddler, or a shadow behind Wooyoung. Taking the shot glass from him, his soft fingers brushing over your own, his smile deepened as he looked down to the glass and filled it to the brim. Watching him, this kid who got wrapped up in the shitstorm that was your junior year, this boy who brought her pain and now resided in her sheets, though he was cute, you couldn’t help but wonder how Aurora allowed herself to get so deep in it with him.

Even Seonghwa. Standing at the stove, bouncing between counters, sleek black hair sweeping his shoulders and framing his cheekbones, slender, toned golden frame on display. He played his own game with her, for his own gain, his own reputation.

As did the man currently beneath her.

And she forgave them all. Treated them as normally as she did you and Mingi.

Soul waited patiently, stepping back some to give you space to knock back the glass, which you did, and fast, holding it out for another pour. With a snicker he obliged, filling the crystal with juice.

“Thanks,” you whispered.

Soul smiled at you, his cheeks rounding beneath his black eyes. “Course,” he said quietly, just over the music for you to hear. His gaze lingered a moment longer, then he was off, listening to Seonghwa’s orders for him to help him cook, or clean, or whatever the eldest wanted him to do.

The rim of the glass hit your lips as your eyes slid over to Mingi, tall, broad, bare chested Mingi, lingering nearby Seonghwa, chatting with him, though his eyes were on you. All over you. His overgrown blonde hair and melty dark roots taunted you. His glassesless face, structure on display, it called out for you. Wider than Seonghwa, he had more muscle on his bones, more definition in his chest, his torso, down to his fucking ankles. Skin soft, so smooth you could feel it running over your fingertips just by looking at him, you knocked back the shot and contemplated pulling him upstairs.

In one look he could see into your head, he knew your thoughts as if they were his own, and he smirked, one so small not even Seonghwa could see it. But you could.

He shook his head, then he winked. Pushing off the counter with his backside he purposefully slid his hands over his middle and dipped the tips of his fingers beneath the band of his suit. Chin tipping back, he looked down at you, leaving nothing but a centimeter of space between you after he swaggered your way. Without looking at it he took the shot glass from your hand and slid it onto the table behind you. In one fluid motion he placed a finger beneath your chin and lifted you by the jaw, his own head tilting ever so slightly, dipping down the same, his warm breath dancing over your skin, his scent alone enchanting you, creating a space just for you.

Rising to your tiptoes to catch his lips with your own, he retreated backward with a click of his tongue. “Mm,” he hummed, voice low, deep in his chest. “You’ve got to wait.”

Lips pouting, you whispered a harsh, “Why?”

Mingi went unmoved. “Because I said so.”

He took his hand back and walked away, taking his eyes from you faster than you’d have liked.

Your stomach took a tumble.

This was not the time for him to play this game.

The baiting game, the ignore, deflect, have control game.

“Beach?” Aurora asked, throwing an arm as best as she could around your shoulders. Inches shorter than you, she stood on her tiptoes and held onto you with a smile.

Glancing over the other she wasn’t clinging to, you found Wooyoung beside Soul, the two whispering. Well, rather, Wooyoung whispered to Soul while the boy wrinkled his brow and tried to keep up with what he was saying.

“Beach,” you answered her with a nod, looking over at her and her happy face.

“Let’s go before the guys,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “Get some peace before they come and get loud, and play their music, and wanna play games…”

Some peace.

“Sure,” you shrugged, letting your eyes wander around the kitchen. Seonghwa and Wooyoung were picking at the plates of food, Soul bustled around like Wooyoung had sent him on a mission to straighten the place up, and Mingi stared at you. His hardened gaze flickered between you and Aurora, actually, and he was thinking.

He was thinking things you couldn’t figure out.

A piece of you hoped he didn’t feel out of place here. Without Yunho.

The tilt of your head and softening of your eyes alerted him that you put it together, his thoughts surrounding the fact that you were here with Aurora, you were here with Mingi, but Yunho wasn’t here with Aurora. With Mingi. Breaking his gaze, he focused elsewhere, not keen on wanting to talk about it, or think about it for much longer.

If last October had gone to plan, the way you and Mingi hoped, the way Mingi dished about to you, this trip may have looked a bit different, would’ve had different people residing in these walls. Less people. 

“Let’s go, Ror,” you mumbled, and she smiled.

“Let’s go.”

“Oh my god, he’s nuts,” Mingi muttered from behind you on the same towel you lounged on.

Everyone had eyes on Seonghwa in the clear blue water, diving into waves, jumping over them, hanging around a couple of guys who seemed to be around your age. He was good at that, making fast friends, charming strangers, beguiling them all. It came natural to him, and it seemed to amplify the moment Hongjoong stepped down from his presidency at ATZ and appointed Seonghwa to fill the position. 

It took him a week to accept, way longer than it took Aurora to snatch hers up and write your name down on the sheet beside Vice President. Seonghwa moved like his normal self. Calculated. He thought over every possible outcome, every possible situation that could arise, the shit show that Hongjoong was leaving behind for him to take over, for him to handle. That’s ultimately why he kept him close by. On the shortest of leashes. He made Hongjoong his Vice President, and he kept him in his pocket. He gave him all the freedom in the world however, on one condition.

“He’s finally not worried about shit,” Wooyoung said from your right, laying on his own towel, tanned legs stretched out in front of him, elbows propping him up where he laid. Sunglasses were perched on the edge of his nose, a pair of Cartier shades he bought himself recently. You can remember that phone call with Aurora, she was all teary eyed because she couldn’t afford to buy him anything he’d actually want to wear. 

Mingi laughed to agree with him. “Right,” he huffed. “A month of nothing, he’s gonna either lose his mind, or lose track of time.”

“I hope it’s time,” Wooyoung muttered, looking behind him up the stretch of sand toward the dunes where bars and lounges lived, luring tourists and beach goers in. “I want him to not think about anything that has to do with Nasara.”

You squinted at him, sitting up from where you laid. Tucking your legs in, crossing them beneath you, you asked, “Have you thought about his offer anymore?”

Wooyoung whipped his head toward you and scoffed, Cartier glasses sliding further down his curved nose. “To come back? Fuck that.”

“How come?” you asked. Mingi leaned forward and wrapped his arms around you from behind, sliding closer so he could press his chest to your back.

“The whole thing is screwed up,” Wooyoung shook his head, looking backward at the bar once more. “I don’t wanna be a part of something capable of that.”

“Capable of what?” you asked, egging him on. 

He looked at you with only his eyes. “Ruining lives.”

Mingi tried to nestle his head into your neck, the warmth of his body pairing with the warmth of the sun, all of it becoming too much. Shrugging, making him move, you smiled back at him and asked, “Get me a drink?” 

The corners of his lips perked up as he retreated off of you. “Sure,” he said gently, and took himself toward the bar Wooyoung kept watching.

Gaze following Mingi, you watched him step up onto the wooden ledge beneath the palm leafed covered awning and place a hand to Souls shoulder, giving him a little shake. The boy whirled around, sitting beside Aurora, the two rubbing elbows where they chatted, where they whispered. Your boyfriend smiled at him, said something to the both of them, and ordered you a drink.

“You don’t wanna be with them?” you asked Wooyoung. He didn’t give you any more of his attention, instead he focused on Seonghwa trekking up the sand, hair pushed back from his face. His suit clung to his thighs, outlining every muscle.

“Who?” Wooyoung asked, reaching over for a towel to hand to the eldest. “How was it?” he asked Seonghwa, giving him just as big a smile as he appeared with. 

Shaking the towel open he dried his hair first, pushing it backward before throwing the towel around his shoulders. “So good, you guys gotta get in there. It’s so warm, you don’t even have to wait to jump in.”

Wooyoung sat up completely and moved backward to give him a place to sit. “I will, Ro wants to go with me, I’ll wait for her.” 

Seonghwa sat and folded his legs, using the towel around his shoulders to dry his face and the rest of his arms. “Good shit,” he muttered without meeting his eyes. “Where’s she at?”

“At the bar,” you said quickly, and Seonghwa looked up at you. “With Soul.” Wooyoung looked at you. You looked at him. “You don’t want to go up there?” He raised a brow and tore off his sunglasses, tossing them in the space between him and Seonghwa.

“No,” he said, and you screwed your brows in confusion. “I’m not drinking again until later.”

“But they’re up there,” you said, throwing a hand in that direction. “Without you.”

Seonghwa glanced between the two of you, towel out of hand, completely dumbfounded.

Wooyoung maintained face, barely moving as he said, “And that matters, why?”

“One drink for Torilynn,” Mingi half sang as he rejoined you where you sat. You all looked up at him, two of you frustrated and one of you terribly confused. Your boyfriend took you all in and handed your drink over slowly. “What’d I miss?”

Ignoring him, you took the drink with the little umbrella poking out the top and whipped your head to glare at Wooyoung. “She went to his room last night.” Seonghwa pulled his lips in a line and averted his focus to the ocean, probably wishing he’d taken a bit longer to come back.

Wooyoung’s eyes narrowed in a way that sent a chill down your spine. “And then she came to ours ten minutes later.”

Sipping your drink, you shook your head. “Damn twenty year olds.”

His eyes widened. “You think they-”

“What do you mean by that?” Seonghwa asked. Wooyoung turned to him with a sigh, sending a glare your way shortly after.

“I mean-”

Mingi placed a hand on your shoulder. “Tori.” Sharing a look with him, one that nauseated you, you sipped your drink and took a breath. Blinking a few times you turned to Seonghwa.

“Who’d you hang with at the party?” you asked him, but it did nothing to cure the burning need to know in his dark eyes.

He glanced at Wooyoung, now leaning back on an elbow swiping through his phone, then back at you. “Yeosang,” he shrugged. “Him and H. Mostly H, actually, now that I think about it. He wasn’t sure what he was going to get into there, he was nervous. I hung with him to make sure he’d be okay.”

Mingi smiled. “You’re so good, Hwa.” His president returned the smile. Groaning internally, your eyes rolled outwardly. Mingi leaned in to kiss your cheek, lingering close by, watching you suck the liquor up through the straw. “Listen,” he said quietly, just for you. “You keep your mouth shut and I’ll let you do anything you want to do to me later.” The drink paused in your straw, and he snickered. “I know you can do it, baby, you can be such a good girl for me.” You looked at him, pulling the straw from your mouth. “Can you?”

“Get me in the water!” Aurora shouted, both her and Soul hurrying from the bar, kicking sand about. Rounding the group, she fell into Wooyoung’s lap, taking him by surprise in a fit of giggles, happy giggles. Throwing her arms around his shoulders she straddled his lap and laid him out on the towel, half of him in the sand. Soul, with a smile, waited patiently beside Seonghwa, the two laughing at the couple, then sharing something amongst themselves.

Lost in disgusting kisses, like they weren’t surrounded by their friends, on a crowded beach, you curled your lip and looked around to see if anyone else was as disturbed by the scene.

They weren’t.

“I’m gonna throw you in there,” Wooyoung said, muffled by her lips. 

Aurora giggled again. “No you will not.”

“I am so sandy,” he said, hooking his hands under her thighs. “You are getting thrown in,” he laughed, jumping up to his feet. Aurora clung to him tighter with a shriek, throwing her head backward with a wicked smile for help, for assistance. Her eyes met yours twice.

“Help,” she breathed. All you could do was watch.

“No one’s helping, Ro, you did this to yourself,” Wooyoung laughed along with her, Seonghwa and Soul too, all three of them gleaming. He flew down the sand, the other two following right behind. Without even knowing if they hit the waves, if he threw her in or not, you turned back to Mingi who hadn’t moved an inch. You were the only thing he paid attention to, even amongst the chaos.

Taking a hand to your cheek he danced the back of his fingers over your skin, then he reached into his pocket and pulled out two phones, handing one over to you. “Here,” he said softly, eyes never leaving yours, “That’s blowing up.”

Tearing your gaze off of him you took to your phone, tapping the screen, swiping it open. Three messages stowed away in your inbox. One from your father, the other two from that phone number that sent you all of those messages last night. You’d get back to your dad later, when you had a free minute. The unknown number totally wasn't the excuse you were using to not talk to him.

You held your drink out for Mingi to take, and he did, standing up to move over to the towel beside you. He picked up Wooyoung's Cartier glasses and pushed them back on his head.

[Unknown Number]: hope the beach is fun

[Unknown Number]: u look hot

[you]: stop texting me. you creep ass motherfucker

“Who’s that?” Mingi asked, sipping from your drink. Giving him a look, his brows were furrowed. “You look mad at the world.”

“My sister,” slipped through your teeth with all the ease in the world, so much so it scared you, but once he heard the words his face softened.

“Makes sense,” he nodded, “Tell her I said hi. You guys haven’t spoken in a while, this is weird.”

Staring at the screen, waiting for another message to come through, you cursed this stranger for not having their read receipts on. Your message lived on Delivered. “Yeah, I guess this is weird,” you mumbled, locking the screen. 

“Are you feeling any better?” he asked quietly, dropping his chin. Glancing at the sand, at the water and your friends splashing about, Aurora on Wooyoung’s shoulders, Soul on Seonghwa’s, you shrugged.

“Totally,” you said, and a sarcastic laugh fell out of him. “What?” you whined, giving him a look.

Mingi shook his head and sipped from your glass. It took him a second to speak, to form any words, all he could do was stare at you in disbelief that you were still lying to him. And then he said it. 

“I can’t believe you’re still lying to me.”

“Mingi,” you sighed with a slouch of your shoulders.

He shot you a half smile and handed back your drink, one now half empty. “I opened a tab.” With a slight squint to his eyes, he said, “I’m gonna go hang out with them, okay?”

Sighing louder, you grabbed onto your phone, you gripped the glass, and you leapt to your feet, tossing your ponytail over your shoulder. “Enjoy, I’m gonna go do a shot.” His demeanor fell, his eyes going extremely soft. “Just don’t,” you said just above a whisper. “Go have fun.”

“Do you want me to come with?” he asked from the sand, glued to you as you started toward the bar.

You looked back over your shoulder to him and his traveling eyes. “Not if you have to ask,” you said with a smile, leaving him where he sat.

Bodies filled the bar, leaning over the tropical styled counter, lounging in cushioned swings hanging from the ceiling, surrounding tables, everyone in bathing suits and sandals, or completely barefoot. Party music poured out of the speakers, a beat unknown to you but recognized by a few who chose to dance between tables, or down on the sand. People of all ages minded their own, kept to themselves or the people they came with. Not a soul paid attention to you as you approached the edge, sliding onto a stool with your now empty glass.

“What can I get you?” the girl in the bikini behind the bar asked as she basically danced up to you. Long caramel hair swept over her shoulders down to the middle of her back. The hot pink of her suit complimented her mocha toned skin, leaving you to wonder if it was natural or if she spent ample time in the sun.

“Whatever this was,” you said with a small smile, pushing the glass toward her. With one look at it she knew, snatching the glass away to fetch you a fresh drink.

Spinning on the stool, twisting to face the water, letting the ocean breeze brush over your skin, chilling the burn you’d been starting to feel from the sun, you took a deep breath and released it with a slow close of your eyes. All that was to be heard, the bar music, the people within it, and the crashing of the waves. No friends shouting, no boyfriend in your ear, no worries.

Peace.

Until your phone vibrated in your lap.

With a groan you opened it up.

[Unknown Number]: such a way with words miss tori

[Unknown Number]: lets be nice to each other

[you]: not like this, no. i’m going to block you.

[Unknown Number]: u would have done it yesterday if u were serious abt it

[Unknown Number]: tell me

[Unknown Number]: what keeps u from pressing that button

Damn. 

[you]: who are you.

[Unknown Number]: see i knew it

[Unknown Number]: ur curiosity overwhelms u

[you]: you tell me who you are, and then i block you.

[Unknown Number]: u’ll figure it out soon enough

[Unknown Number]: i promise ;)

Opening the contact, you clicked around on the settings and turned off the notifications. You also turned off your own read receipts. You also double checked that your location wasn’t shared with every single contact in your phone.

Even though apparently this person was already in Haos, they said so themselves last night.

They were right, whoever it was, you weren’t going to block them. Who in their right mind would block somebody like this without knowing who it was? Without knowing their motive? You’d dig deeper. You’d figure out who they were, and if it ended in disappointment, that was that, but if it happened to uncover something deeper, that was worth it. What if it had to do with Aurora? Her dad? What if it involved Mingi, or one of your other friends? It could be associated with Isla, if she was in trouble and you did nothing to help her, you’d never forgive yourself.

Swiping back into the messages, there was one unread.

[Unknown Number]: u know who i am tori.

Gulping, you spun back to face the bar, your fresh drink sitting in front of you all pretty on display, fresh fruit in the glass, tiny umbrella poked into the pineapple. Grabbing onto it, you guzzled it down quickly, barely giving yourself a chance to breathe. You locked your phone completely, deciding to message again later. Or tomorrow. Or if they texted again.

Resting an elbow on the bar, placing your chin within it, you took another long, much needed deep breath. You should tell Aurora about this person, or Mingi. Somebody other than you should know, just in case. Scanning around the bar, taking everything in, the beach paradise you’d be spending a month in, some sort of excitement shot through you. A type of electricity you hadn’t felt in weeks. Maybe even months. That number, that person, was your secret. You didn’t have to tell anyone.

People bustled by, people shouted while they danced, the world moved around you, and it suddenly didn’t seem so awful. No one would know. No one will know.

A smile crept onto your face, one you couldn’t swallow down. Grabbing your glass, you spun on the stool and jumped off of it, starting for the sand.

“Tori!” 

You froze on the ledge. A boy called out your name.

Turning toward the bar, your stomach dropped to your knees, and your cheeks surely flushed of all color. 

Across the bar, the entire thing a giant square, three familiar heads of hair greeted you. Two with smiles, and one with a look that sickened you.

Or fueled the excitement within you.

You weren’t sure.

Intak, Jiung, and Jongseob. 

His dirty blonde hair and bare shoulders should not have your heart pounding between your lungs, he should bring nothing but disgust, and shame, and regret, and more disgust. His friends waved, but he stared. He stared at more than he should before that shit eating smirk showed off his dimples.

little birdie told me u were here. so am i

hope the beach is fun

u know who i am tori.

Well, this should be fun.

read it on ao3 | talk to me | my masterlist

you do not have permission to copy or translate my works without my consent.

[chimivx]

gimme gimme gimme -> mingi x fem!reader -> nice for what

Friends have graduated, board positions have changed, relationships are brand new and ever changing, but you and Mingi… You don’t change. Which to some should be a comfort, peace of mind knowing your partner is right by your side, always there for you especially in your times of need… You can’t figure out why you don’t feel the same.

wc: 8.4k warnings: 18+, sexual content and alcohol consumption in every part, infidelity themes... if i missed anything please let me know! posted: 12/8/24 3;50 pm est.

masterlist ~ next part ->

june.

Disgusted.

Betrayed.

No, disrespected.

No. God, what was it?

Arms folding over your denim strapless crop top, you abruptly faced the round table covered in an embroidered dark blue cloth. K.Y. was stitched along the edges lined with a lighter blue silk. Other tablecloths had Dr. Kang in their silk, or Nasara University Graduate. Outside, beneath a massive white tent fit for a royal wedding, the warm summer air blew through the crowd of people on the dance floor in the center of it all, and over the heads stuck in white wooden chairs at their tables, like you, too… something… to dance.

Too annoyed.

No, that was a weak argument.

Too… frustrated to get up and frolic around your friends smiling and laughing, the group having the best time celebrating their graduate, Yeosang.

Everyone was in attendance. Aurora and Wooyoung, Seonghwa, Soul, your boyfriend Mingi, Yuna, Ryujin, and all other faces from ATZ and ITZ alike. Ones Yeosang approved of. Hongjoong was here, hiding behind Jongho somewhere no doubt, if the upcoming Nasara Junior wasn’t clinging onto Yuna. San spun around the floor in circles making his rounds beneath the tent ensuring at least three people were contenders to take home, and somewhere along the back of the crowds, sticking close to some of the newer ATZ boys, was Yunho.

The boy tried to hide, tried to stay low on the radar, but Aurora sniffed him out. She had tabs on him at all times, every minute, every hour, she knew where he was. That boundary she set in place with him back in October, it still stood true, and he hadn’t broken it. He would speak to her only when she spoke to him, but even then each moment was few and far between. It didn’t stop his lovesick eyes from latching to her while Wooyoung twirled her in his arms, attempting to leech any of the feeling dripping off of the couple that still wasn’t officially a couple.

Disgusted.

Now it felt appropriate to use. 

Their bond, one clearly meant to be whether they were a couple or not, had started to fill you with frustration at some point, a type of anger you couldn’t place as anger until winter break rolled around. Vacationing with Mingi and his family for two weeks you kept up with Aurora and her life, staying as close to her as you possibly could while on the other side of the country on an island off the coast of Paix. As her best friend, and her yours, she sent you daily updates of her life and her lovelife. She and Wooyoung weren’t dating, but they were hooking up, they were going on dates, they did all things couples do. Clearly in the honeymoon phase, the way she’d smile through the phone while she spoke about him sparked your many questions as to why they won’t just pull the trigger and make it official.

She had the same response each time. A smack of her lips against her teeth, a measly shrug, and a mumble of, “I dunno.”

To make matters worse, it seemed Wooyoung had the same reaction as well. Half a shrug and a funny face, it’d been Mingi confirmed, the boy you slept next to for two weeks straight in a bed fit for four, sometimes with him all the way on the other end snoring away at some point in the night while you laid awake and listened to Aurora’s whispers of her newfound, exceptional, most amazing, beautifully soul tied, passionate, hot and heavy romance she and Wooyoung had discovered.

She never described it that way, that’s just how it sounded to you in your head.

Most nights during that vacation you’d hung up the phone and glanced to your right at the stretch of a boy snoozing away half naked beneath the sheets. Blonde tipped hair with melty chocolate roots, he was always gorgeous, but it sparked a different feeling within you those two weeks and the months to follow. 

All the way to today.

Tonight.

Dressed similarly to you, by your request, a denim style button down and black pants strapped to his rail thin waist with a belt, Mingi sat backward in a chair beside you. His ring adorned hands rested on his thighs, tapping to the beat of the song that flooded the air beneath the tent. His head bobbed along too, the blonde brushing his forehead where he had it parted to the side, pushed back onto his head. Gazing out at the dance floor, at his friends chanting along to the song that’d play within the walls of the fraternity, he unconsciously released a sigh, one you couldn’t hear, but feel.

“Just go dance if you want to,” you spat without giving him a look. Leaning forward you rested your elbows on the soft cotton of the tablecloth and reached for your glass of champagne. You weren’t sure how many you’ve had so far.

Mingi turned his chin toward you, an eyebrow raised in pure question, his eyes reading the same. “Hm?” he hummed, leaning toward you. Watching you knock back the rest of your flute, he held out a hand to take it, but you slammed it to the table instead. “Do you wa-”

“Oh my god,” you groaned, tipping your chin backward, eyes squeezing shut. “I said go dance if you want to!”

The bass of the music tickled your skin as the sound in the speakers shifted into that of a rapper that the crowd approved of. It was slower, the rhythm sultry and smooth, a familiar sound your body had been conditioned to know. You didn’t even want to look at him, you knew what face he’d be wearing. He’s had you on your back many times to this song.

“Tori,” Mingi said with no strong voice inflictions detected. Looking at him, a grimace on your face, the softest smile on his, you felt your heart twinge. “I was only asking if you wanted another drink.”

“Oh,” you breathed. Flickering your eyes around, at him, at the table, at your empty glass, you said, “Yeah, sure, I guess.”

He took your glass and hurried off with nothing more than the small smile he wore.

Behind his large frame that blocked half of the dance floor from your sight, removing his presence meant unveiling another frustration. Or, rather just one, the same one, Aurora and her lovelife, but it’d been doubled and shoved back into your face.

Dancing, eyes half closed, heavy as she twirled and spun and let the music move her about, she no longer stood within Wooyoung’s arms, but instead anothers. Wooyoung remained by her side, singing, dancing, but he didn’t hold her. He watched her. Shaggy blonde hair, baggy black clothes, pale creamy skin, big black eyes. He wore a smile, Soul did, while his arms hung around her waist, his hands toying with the swishy black fabric of the sundress every so often when her moves would allow it. 

Over the course of that vacation you took with Mingi, when Aurora would spend time with Wooyoung, there was one day for every two spent with him that Soul would tag along. That Soul would be involved. That Soul was coming with. That Soul would nudge against her cheek with his own, pushing her out of the Facetime frame, shirtless with messy hair and a dopey smile. Within seconds of him taking over a call you’d be forced to stare at Wooyoung’s ceiling as the phone dropped to his bed and the three of them bickered over nothing, laughed, then bickered some more until Aurora would pick the phone up and bid you goodnight.

It wasn’t something they shared with everyone else, but you knew. It took her some time to tell you, to admit it, but she said the words at ATZ’s New Years Eve party. Drunk, lounging on the leather couches while the boys played through the annual pong championship they created themselves, she whispered the words when Soul swung by to refill her cup for her.

“Have you ever had a threesome before?”

With a shake of your head she set off and spewed every little detail of her winter break adventures, most of which you already knew of. They weren’t dating, her and Wooyoung, but there was an unspoken thing between them that meant they belonged to one another. Kind of like how you and Mingi started out. Aurora and Wooyoung weren’t together, for whatever reason the two of them only know, but you supposed it left some wiggle room, some grey area open for them to be able to pull Soul into the bedroom with them.

So much time between the three of them was spent at Wooyoungs in Delo. Weekends, sneaky nights after group dinners, after ATZ parties for the remainder of the year. The three of them were hooked. They were experts at keeping it on the downlow most times in public, but they were insufferable.

Disgusted.

At first you couldn’t pinpoint why. That anger, that frustration that soon settled into rage as the months flew by to graduation where you all came together to support Yeosang and Ryujin as they crossed the stage in Iloa at the Lions Stadium in the gorgeous May sunshine. Isla and Vernon came to the ceremony and dinner afterwards, reconnecting with faces they hadn’t seen in a while. Neither of them were able to come to the party to everyone's dismay, the team was traveling south this week for games, the Lions princess getting some much needed tropical time, or so she’s mentioned a trillion times with a thousand devil emoji’s. 

After a media blow up of Isla, her name and her life, she’d been finally able to wriggle free of some imaginary restraints put over her, and she was living her life for her. The way she’d always intended. Sober for two and a half months now, she kept the group chat updated with each passing week, she’d begun paving her own path in the sports world, trying to build and create her own empire of women like herself that have struggled with addiction, self-discipline, empowering them to take control of their lives and their futures. 

Her follower count has breached a million, growing every single day. Without the help of her brother. Without the help of Vernon, her boyfriend, the two finally together after years of pretending there wasn’t anything between them. Isla was happy, finally, and she deserved it. 

But, you missed her. 

Now with Aurora mixed up between two boys who were the greatest sex of her life-

“Even Yunho?”

“Y-yes, even him. Shut up.”

Aurora had two boys. Yuna had Jongho, the two in a talking-hook up phase that’d slowly been turning into a let’s dress up and go out to dinner phase as of late. Ryujin, freshly graduated, met a girl at her internship at the end of the semester, in May. It hasn’t even been a month and the two were already looking at apartments in Iloa together. 

Everyone had brand new exciting things happening for them, happening to them, and it filled you with a cold dread that, now that it was June, had turned into resentment for every single one of them. Even the sweet boy who brought you a sparkling champagne glass filled to the brim with bubbles. With a smile he popped it into your outstretched hand and manicured fingers. His eyes, deep brown, filled with a pureness he’s had since day one, since the moment you two exchanged names on the front lawn of ATZ, heads tipping back in identical shrieks gathering attention all because you shared a last name. 

He was your one and only, the love of your life. He matched you, mirrored you in every single way, shape and form. He’s seen every side of you, Mingi has, and he’s never judged you for any of them. Hungover and grumpy, he’s been there to take care of you. Silly, a bout of the zoomies, he’s there to laugh with you and catch you when you crash. Overwhelmed, feeling as though you can’t work anything out, figure anything out, especially since taking the Vice President position your best friend offered you, Mingi’s been there to talk things out with, to create plans, and sort through work. 

He’s that cheesy shit authors publish… Your sun, your moon and all your stars. You didn’t believe it until you met him, until he caught you every single time you fell and aided you back to your feet. His friends will joke that he’s down bad, and a simp, but he didn’t give two shits. He loved you, and you loved him.

You loved him undeniably so that it gutted you to even admit to yourself that you wanted more.

You craved more.

You yearned for something fresh, something new, something to give you that rush, the feeling of the chase. Going on year three with Mingi, you knew everything. You’ve learned everything. The two of you have pretty much tried everything too. 

For three years you’ve been able to tell him every thought that flowed through your head, from how pretty the moon looked to how fucked up it was that your parents missed parents weekend again for the second year in a row because of your younger sister. How the hell were you supposed to articulate to him, the biggest softie in ATZ, that nothing about your relationship excited you anymore? 

“What’s the matter, Tor?” he asked you, sitting on the edge of his seat facing you. Watching your glossy lips sip the bubbles and look out toward the dance floor, he sighed, but this time you could hear it. “You’ve been on edge since yesterday, and it’s two weeks too early, so… Is there anything I can do for you?” 

“No,” you said, swishing your glass before downing another gulp. Lifting the glass toward him you flashed him a sarcastic smile. “But thanks for the reminder I’ll get my period on vacation.” 

“Is it that?” He shoved his hands between his thighs, his eyebrows furrowed above his sappy eyes. This is what Mingi liked to do. Analyze you. Pick you apart. Solve the problem. In the past, without this nagging living beneath your skin, you’d appreciated it and looked forward to it, knowing he was there to lean on, to give all your problems to. Now, it made you want to smash your champagne flute onto the ground. “All of us going to Haos? We’ve been packed, we’re good. I have our plane tickets, we know what’s going down, we’re going to be okay.”

Haos. Your fabulous beach vacation you were taking for a month with a select few beneath this tent. A select few you have ample problems with. One sided problems. At the beginning of May it was decided you’d vacation in Haos with your friends, stay there for thirty days, all of you in one house just big enough for six of you. The beach town lured Nasara students in, so the rest of your friend group would be headed down there to stay close by but thankfully not in the same house. You were set up to be surrounded by more of the same.

The same fun people, the same drunken memories made, hanging onto the same safe, secure Mingi like you have been for years. 

“Of course we’re gonna be okay,” you mumbled, sipping your drink.

He smiled, all teeth. “We will be, I promise you.” 

Assuming he solved it, he cracked the code, Mingi redirected his attention to the dance floor and his friends, Aurora now back in Wooyoung's arms, hanging onto his front and his black t-shirt. The three of them matched, Ror, Wooyoung, and Soul.

Gross.

You took a peek at Mingi and his threads.

Damn it.

Hands latched onto your back, acrylic fingernails grabbing onto your shoulders, pink glossy lips coming close to your ear. “Um, Jongho bought me something.”

Glancing over your shoulder at Yuna’s wide, bright eyes, you tried to smile. “What’d he get you?”

She shrugged, flipping her chocolate hair over her shoulder as she took the seat beside you. “No idea,” she laughed, scooting her chair closer to you. “He said he’ll give it to me when we’re in Haos.” Her eyes scanned over the table and the empty glasses over it. “Lost my drink,” she muttered.

“Here comes Jongho,” you breathed, eyeing the massive boy as he left the dance floor, his black hair fluffed and pushed over his forehead and sharp eyes. “I’m sure he’ll get you another one.” Mingi held out a hand for his brother to slap, then looked over at you, the two of you sharing a few seconds before you twisted to face Yuna who melted into her boy's arms when he wrapped them around her shoulders.

“You guys are leaving tonight, right?” Yuna asked, a big ass smile on her face. Jongho looked between you and Mingi before he pressed a few kisses to her cheesy cheeks.

Swallowing your cringe, wanting to reach out and rip them apart, you nodded and pushed your hair behind your back to show off more skin and the M around your neck on a gold chain. Your boyfriend sipped his drink and smiled at his friends. He didn’t look at you like you wanted him to.

“We’ll be on a plane in a few hours,” he said. 

Yuna glanced to the dance floor, then to you. “Those three are going with you, right?” With a roll of your eyes, knowing which three she was talking about, you nodded again. “What goes on? Aren’t Wooyoung and Ror together? What’s the deal with Soul?”

One measly glance toward the trio grinding on one another like they weren’t surrounded by all of Yeosang’s friends and family, you turned to Yuna and said, “They fuck.”

Mingi sprung forward in his seat, his hands slapping to the table as his eyes shot open. “What!?” Both Yuna and Jongho’s jaws flew open, the pair clutching one another like you shot their mother. 

Sipping your champagne, you averted your gaze and laughed to yourself. “Oops.” You wouldn’t have said it if you weren’t tipsy or annoyed beyond belief. They were making it too obvious anyway, anyone with eyes who looked at them right now would be able to tell they knew each other too well. Looking their way, your stomach churned. They were headed toward their table, your table. “Well, shit.”

Wooyoung, with Aurora behind him, the two hand in hand with Soul on their heels, snuck around chairs and people alike, still rocking along to the music. Circling around the table, Aurora singing along to the song with the blonde boy behind her, Wooyoung eyed each and every one of you, his once happy eyes now struck with curiosity. Aurora flopped down into a chair across from you, not sparing you a glance as she leaned toward Soul who sat beside her sideways to face her, his elbow finding its way onto the table. Like they had a secret to share, endless whispers to exchange, the two spoke a mile a minute, Aurora’s hands flying like they did when she was drinking.

“Everybody okay?” Wooyoung spoke slowly at first, still standing beside his not-girlfriend who reached out to toy with Souls necklace hanging over his shirt. Yuna watched her sister, Jongho stared at Soul, Mingi didn’t know where to look. Wooyoung took them all in, then focused on you, hoping you’d give him an answer as to why everyone seemed like they were trying to work out who would go where in their heads. 

Jongho stood up straight, let go of his girlfriend, and stepped over to Wooyoung’s side holding out a hand for him to take. Hesitating at first, brows plummeting under his waves, he placed his hand in Jongho's and let him shake it. 

“Jongho!” Yuna exclaimed, bouncing in her seat, acquiring Aurora and Souls attention. 

Jongho took his hand back and shrugged toward her. “Can’t help it,” he said, then floated by her side to kiss her cheek. “Going to get you another drink.”

“What happened?” Aurora asked.

Wooyoung glanced at her and nodded. “Yeah,” he said, sitting down in his chair. “What happened?” Yuna, looking between the three of them, lips parted while her mind worked, she couldn’t give them an answer. 

“They’re mad we’re leaving tonight and they have to wait a few days,” you said, getting a look from Mingi. You didn’t like how it felt, so you gave one back to him. He nearly snapped his neck focusing back on the table in front of him.

“Ohhh-kay,” Aurora sang, observing how Mingi moved, asking you a question with her eyes when they met yours. Ignoring her, you focused on the rest of your champagne.

Soul pushed his chair back abruptly, jumping to his feet. “Who needs a drink?”

“Not you,” Wooyoung said, voice stern as he looked up at the boy.

Yuna, now leaning onto the table, still studying the trio, was quick to ask, “Why not?”

Both Wooyoung and Soul shot her a look, the timing impeccable it almost made you laugh.

“Because,” Wooyoung said matter-of-factly, “He’s had his tongue down San’s throat twice, if he has anymore to drink he’s gonna end up going home with him.” Turning to speak to Aurora, Yuna’s question pulled him back quicker than the previous one.

“Jealous?”

“What?” His eyes narrowed. Yuna started to laugh, Wooyoung did not know what to do. “What did you just say to me?”

Aurora threw an arm over one of his, pushing him backward in his chair. “Leave it,” she muttered as if she were talking to a dog. Squinting across the table, watching the way he calmed down in an instant, the way he looked at her, listened to her, seemed to adore her, you couldn’t help the way your lip curled. “God damn, I wanna be on a beach!” 

Soul, who had flopped back down beside her, let out a laugh, his being leaning toward hers. “A beach!” he mimicked, laughing with her. Wooyoung’s expression went unchanged, even as he watched the two fall into one another, their giggles sounding over the music playing throughout the tent.

“What the fuck,” Yuna said under her breath with a slight widening of her eyes, looking at you.

Pressing your lips together, you popped your brows and sighed. “Tell me about it.” 

“Do you wanna tell me now?”

Mingi unlocked his front door, pushing the finished white wood open for you to step inside first. Heels clicking on the tile of the foyer, you make yourself at home, dropping your little purse on one of the end tables by the couches a few steps into the house, into the living room. Leaning over one of the leather backed sofas you pulled off your heels and dropped them into his outstretched hands, Mingi having locked the door behind him, following behind you with an attentiveness that irked your very soul.

“I said I’m fine,” you breathed, keeping your voice low. Just down one of the halls that wrapped around the back of the house, behind the kitchen, behind the living room, was his parents bedroom. 

Up the stairs that you both teetered towards was his space, two bedrooms and a living room that mirrored the one on the first floor, but it’d been flipped by Mingi and his older brother when they were growing up. Full of things for school, exercise equipment, gaming systems, couches and bean bag chairs, Mingi and his brother made it theirs, their parents allowing them to have a space to call their own.

“And I’m saying, I don’t believe you,” Mingi whispered, placing a hand on your back to guide you up the stairs you wavered back and forth on. You tried to look over your shoulder but he placed his hand there instead, turning you back around. “Go, into my room,” he said, voice growing stern.

“Don’t get like that,” you grumbled, reaching the top of the stairs and the open floor waiting for you. To your left was the door to this brother's bedroom that had been vacant for a few years now that he was moved out and half married. “I’m tired, I’m drunk, I’m-”

“You’re not drunk, Tor,” Mingi said, wrapping his arm around your waist, tugging you along the floor to his door at the other end of the second floor. A breath tumbled from your lips as your feet stumbled over each other. “You’re just tipsy enough to say too much.” He pushed open his door, not caring how it swung into the wall behind it.

“To say too much?” Your brows screwed together. Starting for his bed you tugged at the zipper on your pants, the silky black hugging your hips perfectly.

Mingi dropped your shoes on the floor by his door that he shut with a slam and smirked. “Yeah, too much. You think if Rora and Wooyoung wanted everyone to know they were hooking up with Soul that they’d say it themselves?” Shimmying out of your pants, tossing them aside, you pout your lips. “That’s their business,” he said, tossing his shirt over his hamper next to a tall chestnut dresser. “And that’s your best friend.”

Reaching up your back to attempt to take off your strapless top, you couldn’t reach the zipper. Mingi, after undoing his belt and zipper, his jeans hanging off his hips, he loosed a sigh and turned you around by your shoulders. Dragging his fingers over your skin gently, chills ran down your spine. With the zipper in one hand and your shoulder in the other, he tugged it down and let your top fall to the floor, wasting no time, smoothing his hand down your bare back.

“You looked so good tonight,” he whispered, his hands traveling back up, a smile dancing on his lips as he watched the little bumps over your skin rise at his touch. Taking your hair in his hands, his long fingers dancing through the strands, making sure none was left on your cheeks, he laid it over one shoulder and pressed his chest against your skin, the heat making you shiver. “My pretty girl,” his warm breath fanned over your neck, his lips inches from the skin, brushing over your ear first before they pressed to the valley beneath your jaw.

“We have to get on a plane,” you sighed, eyes fluttering shut as his hands smoothed down your front, over your chest, greedy as ever. He didn’t listen, lost in his own actions, lips pulling at your skin, sucking further and further down your neck, your collar bone, his hands groping, fingers pinching to make you yelp. “Mingi.” His name came out of you in a whisper, something soft, like a plea for more instead of a demand to stop.

His tongue slipped from his lips, a heavy fat stripe pressing into your skin from your collar bone to behind your ear where his teeth latched onto your lobe, nipping at it, his lips wrapping around the three different sized diamonds he had bought for you.

“We have twenty minutes,” he mumbled. Wrapping his hands around your arms he lifted a knee and tapped it against the back of one of yours, knocking your balance out from under you. Laughing to himself while you gasped and fell forward onto his mattress, he pressed a hand between your shoulder blades to keep you down while he lifted your knees one by one onto his bed. Bending over you, his lips came close to your ear and he whispered, “Do you want it?”

“Yes,” came out of you all too fast. If he didn’t put you into such a compromised position, if he wasn’t pinning you down to his bed, if he hadn’t hooked a finger under the lace of the thong you wore and pulled it to the side after snapping it against your skin once, you might’ve told him no simply because you were still ticked off from the party.

But then his jeans hit the floor, the sound of his belt smacking the wood echoing off his dark walls, and a warmth erupted within you. The sound, his hands, his voice, you were down in seconds, ready for him in seconds. Back arching as he dropped to his knees and slid his tongue between your legs, the muscle tweaking your clit, teasing you, a laugh falling from him as he felt you writhe beneath him. Clamping your mouth shut, jaw clenched, every sound, every moan, every whine, you withheld them from him, keeping them within your chest.

Smoothing a hand over the curve of your ass as he stood, letting his fingers trail up your back to your neck, he threaded his fingers through your hair and turned your head, forcing you to look back at him. “You’re such a liar, Tori,” he said, pushing his hips into yours, his length slipping along your center, another shiver running through you. “Something is up,” he whispered, taking a hand between your bodies, lifting one knee onto his bed beside one of yours, “And if you think I can’t tell…” his voice trailed off as he slipped inside of you, your hips pushing backward like clockwork, muscle memory, your body knowing what it wanted. “Fuck,” he grumbled, taking his time to fill you entirely.

Arching further into the bed, chest to his mattress, ass pressing into his hips, against his hips, you blinked fluttering lashes up at him and smiled. He was big, yes. The way his muscles rippled as he pulled out to push back into you was hot, yes. Mingi had the ability to lock you in, render you submissive with a single look, yes. He could make you feel so good, so fast, unlike anyone ever has. He knew your tricks, he knew your triggers, he knew your body like it was his own. Countless nights were spent here in his bed, or back at ATZ in his room, learning you. He could make you cum on his fingers in minutes, and on his dick even quicker.

His body curled around you, caging you in, trapping you beneath him. Normally you’d both hate to be in one spot too long, you both craved more, you always did, but in a moment like this, one spot and his filthy mouth was enough.

For a moment, amongst the lust, the heat coming off of both of you, the fuzziness beginning to cloud your brain as he held you down and used you like a toy, you start to think that maybe you’re okay. Maybe this thing with Mingi will subside and leave you alone. If this month in Haos would be spent like this, the two of you on each other like sex crazed animals, maybe things would get better.

You and Mingi were the It couple when it came to your group of friends. It had always been you and Mingi, everyone adored the two of you, everyone knew you came as a pair, everyone could see the way you were with one another, comfortable, full of love, unafraid of how people would adore the sexiness that clouded your aura’s whenever you were together. Sometimes it felt like the bedroom door was always open, but you didn’t care, and neither did Mingi.

That’s how this month in Haos was supposed to go. You wanted the teasing, you wanted the noise complaints, you wanted to get caught locking lips and riding thighs late at night in a hot tub or the pool, plenty of spring breaks had been full of moments like those, but now, the attention would be elsewhere.

And you had yourself to blame.

Because you were tipsy enough to talk too much.

Mingi slipped a hand between your legs, his fingers swirling that sweet spot in circles, a whine involuntarily escaping you. He slid in and out of you so deliciously your toes were curling, but that feeling wasn’t building within you. That feeling he could so easily conjure, it couldn’t find you, and it spooked you. 

This hasn’t ever happened before.

You could speak up, you could say something. You could melt into him, ask him to flip over, tell him to do something else, but you couldn’t, you almost didn’t want to, and that killed you.

One thought of the vacation and your vibe was ruined.

“Fuck, I’m gonna cum,” he groaned, teeth biting into your shoulder. After a sigh he growled, “How the fuck are you not close, Torilynn.”

He almost had you, something sparked within you for a few seconds, but you couldn’t hold onto it for very long, so you decided to do something you’ve never once had to do with Mingi ever.

“I am, baby, I am,” you whispered, pushing a moan out of you that you knew would have him on the edge, “Don’ stop, Mingi, ‘hmygod.” Each thrust of his hips got sloppier and sloppier, his tongue pushed out of his mouth, lips latching to your neck as he pushed deeper and deeper inside of you. He was seconds away from pumping you full of his cum and you couldn’t be any further away.

So, you tightened every muscle, you squeezed him tight, threw your head backward, and you mimicked how you’d sound when you’d actually orgasm. You’ve never prayed a day in your life, but within these few seconds, amidst his husky grunts and groans, his whispers of how good you fucking felt, you prayed he was too pussydrunk to realize that you faked it. Pushing you further into the mattress, his body weight resting on top of you, he filled you like he does, the shortest strokes aiding in emptying him entirely, and then, after a minute of shared heavy breaths and long kisses, he pulled out and laid beside you.

“God, c’mere,” he whispered, wrapping his arms around you, pulling you into his side with ease like he would when your body was normally spent. “Kiss me, please.” And you did, letting him lead the way, every kiss soft and gentle. “I love you, Tori,” he whispered against your lips, “So much.”

Taking a hand to his cheek, toying with the ends of his blonde hair, you smiled into the kiss, willing away the guilt that greeted you in your gut. “Love you, too,” you whispered, curling a leg over his waist. “So much.”

Wooyoung had Aurora in his arms. Standing in line at security, you and Mingi a few steps ahead of them with Seonghwa in front of you, the couple that wasn’t a couple tried to occupy the same space as one another. Sharing whispers when her face wasn’t buried in his chest, Wooyoung would have his lips pressed to her forehead more than they spoke words. They were both in hoodies, his hoodies, and sweatpants. Her makeup was gone, they’d definitely showered, and Soul stood behind them with his nose in his phone. 

You’ve heard stories of how you and Mingi were with one another when the two of you started hooking up, when your relationship started. Only hearing the words, so caught up in the whirlwind of your own romance to realize how you were acting, you wondered if it looked anything like this. They couldn’t keep their hands off of each other, whether they were hooked around arms, waists, necks, or beneath the hem of a sweatshirt doing god knows what, the hands were almost worse than the kisses. On her forehead, on her cheek, pressed to his jaw, to his neck, to his lips if he looked down far enough for her to catch them. 

You should be happy for her. Her heart had been broken several times at the start of your junior year, and here she was, with everything she wanted, everything she deserved, and then some. It wasn’t a secret, even if their label confused everyone but themselves, he wasn’t afraid to love her outside of his bedroom walls. That’s what she deserved. Someone she could trust, someone who would put up with every rigid part of her, understand her flightiness and keep her on her feet. 

That might’ve been where Soul came in.

The bits and pieces you’ve heard from her, how it all worked, made it seem like Soul was something for them to play with, and vice versa. The boy going into his sophomore year fit right into your group of friends, you’ve all spent plenty of time getting to know him, he wasn’t one for relationships, for commitments. He wanted the fun, and who could blame him, he was twenty and about to start his second year of college, in no way was he planning on locking someone down, especially when he was trying to land a board position at ATZ his junior year.

He was in it for the fun, to get off without having to hunt and work for it, Aurora and Wooyoung handed it to him.

Moving forward in line, the six of you almost to the front, you met eyes with Seonghwa who glanced behind him checking in to make sure everyone was still there. He gave you a smile, his eyes crinkling under the strands of black hair that caressed his cheekbones. You wanted to know what went on in his head, all these months of watching Aurora and Wooyoung’s relationship blossom into what it is now, you longed to know how he felt about it.

Sure, the two of them put their shit to rest, Aurora and Seonghwa, having done so in front of nearly all of you. They were friends, strictly, that had been established in front of all of you.

Pulling your lips into a frown you wanted to physically shake the feeling off of you. Aurora had the eyes on her, since the start of your junior year. It wasn’t until all the shit blew over that you realized how it made you feel. Even after the fact, weeks, months later. You were there for her, you helped her through the transition of taking the president position, you even accepted when she asked you to be her vice president, and then, it was as if nothing had happened at all. Like no one remembered what any of you had gone through.

Yeji, expelled. Mina, pulled out of school by her own parents. Isla, kicked out of the sorority, gifted a lifelong struggle courtesy of Yeji herself. Yunho, shattering Aurora’s heart, ripping apart the tight knit group of four you adored being a part of. 

Parties were thrown, bans were lifted, life got easier.

Everyone moved on.

“Tor,” Mingi’s soft voice pulled you from your thoughts, his hand extended for you to take. Seonghwa was headed through the line, a group of men and women calling him forward to send him through security, checking thoroughly through everything. “We’re next.”

Slipping your hand into his, folding your fingers together, your grip fitting in his like it was made to be there, you took to his side and pressed yourself against him. ”Should I tell them I said something?”

Mingi glanced down at you, then back to the three waiting a few steps behind you. He gave someone a smile, whoever caught him checking on them, and said, “That you outed their little threesome?”

Clicking your tongue you shook his hand around. “Come on. It was so damn obvious.”

Pressing his lips together he softened his eyes. “Tor, I know I’m not smart, but… it wasn’t.”

“Ugh, whatever,” you groaned, slouching. “Least you have something new to tell Yunho to show him what he fumbled.” Mingi clenched his jaw, his eyes shooting upward and around the airport. “What?” you asked, giving his hand a squeeze.

He shook his head. “Haven’t spoken to him since classes ended.”

Right. 

Of course he fucking hasn’t.

He’s said that to you.

All you could do was sigh, but that wasn’t answer enough. “I’m sorry,” you whispered.

“For what?” he asked, looking down at you at his shoulder, a brow raised.

Shrugging, you used your other hand to gesture toward yourself, toward the day. “Everything,” you muttered, and smiled. 

Letting go of your hand he wrapped his arm around your waist and held you closer to him, smiling. “You’re tired, it’s okay,” he breathed, planting a kiss on your temple. “Sleep on the plane. When you wake up you’ll be on a beach.”

Taking a deep breath, you laid your head against him. “Thank fucking god.”

Sleep couldn’t find you. It wandered around you, teased you, reeled you in hook line and sinker, just to let you go with every tiny sound you’d probably be able to sleep through if your brain wasn’t full of bullshit you longed to be able to get rid of. Even with Mingi beside you, his eyes fluttering shut, eyelashes fanning his cheekbones the second his headphones were over his head, you couldn’t make it happen. He’d taken your hand at some point, his thumb dragging over the back letting you know he wasn’t completely asleep.

His blonde hair, shorter now that he’s gotten it cut, charmed you, as it normally would. His finger dragging over your skin, a little rough but all the more smooth, soothed you, as it normally would. His presence, his over-attentiveness, his need to keep you safe, taken care of, it overwhelmed you, when it normally wouldn’t.

Nauseated with yourself, with what you had just done to him, something you would never have to do, you were sick. You told each other everything, honesty was the glue that held the two of you together, he always said it himself, that the second that goes away is the moment your relationship is over. His own past haunted him just as yours did. His heart had been broken one too many times, the sweet faced gentle giant. Mingi craved loyalty, someone to look after, and someone to look after him, and he deserved it, more than anyone you knew. It’s been something you’ve been able to give him unconditionally all these years, and he’s been able to give the same back to you.

He’s never changed. He’s consistent. He’s too good.

“Hey,” a whisper pulled you from your circulating thoughts, the ones that haunted you when you were left alone for too long. Turning to your left, just over Mingi, Wooyoung was crouched over in the aisle. “Sorry.” He smiled and it tickled your skin. The boy oozed otherworldly beauty. “Ro’s asking for you.”

“Right now?” you asked, keeping your voice as low as his. People around you were either sleeping or trying to rest at this hour. Wooyoung nodded, his lips resting into something that triggered your fight or flight. “What does she want?”

“Won’t tell me,” he whispered. “Says she needs her sister.” His eyes narrowed but his face softened all at once. “Make sure she’s okay for me? Please?” His vulnerability with you is rare. With anyone other than Aurora his vulnerability was rare actually. One of the smartest in the group, an intelligent being with a knack for picking up on energies without even needing to meet the human being in person, he had the ability to hide his own, the ability to only show it when necessary, and it was powerful. His eyes pulled you from your seat, his words coercing you up without even realizing. The pied piper. A mastermind.

“I will,” you said as you passed by him, watching him slip over Mingi’s lap to take your seat. Your boyfriend opened his eyes when your hand slipped out of his. Sitting forward, he popped off his headphones and blinked up at you. “Going to talk to Aurora for a few,” you whispered, leaning over to kiss his forehead. “Go back to sleep.”

“No, actually, I need to talk to you, too,” Wooyoung said, a hand tapping Mingi’s shoulder to both you and your boyfriend's surprise. 

“Sure,” Mingi said, his deep gravelly voice full of sleep.

Stomach sinking past your knees, through the bottom of the plane, plummeting into whatever state, city, county, jurisdiction you flew over, you gulped and turned away to start down the aisle.

She knew.

They knew.

They found out you said something. 

There isn’t anything else this could be about, Aurora needed to talk to you, Wooyoung needed to talk to Mingi, they knew you opened your mouth and outed them.

With each step you willed your breath to remain steady. Like Wooyoung, you were somewhat of an expert at keeping your secrets at bay, not showing any truth unless you wanted to share it with the class. That’s why Mingi hadn’t been able to see anything, you wouldn’t let him. Approaching Aurora now, peeking over her row, her in the middle seat, Soul sitting by the window with his head on her shoulder, you swallowed every groan, every eye roll at the sight, and sat down beside her.

Gazing out the window at the night sky, slouched a bit where she sat, one leg pulled up on the seat, leaning into the boy who snoozed on her, his tangled earbuds in his ears, she looked at you with the smallest smile, placing a hand over yours when it grabbed onto the armrest. 

“Hi,” she spoke within a whisper.

“Hi,” you answered, both of you keeping your voices low.

Her smile deepened. “I could feel your doom and gloom from back here.”

An eye roll snuck out of you. “You could, or Wooyoung could.”

Her smile vanished. “What do you mean by that?”

“Nevermind,” you breathed, “I’m just tired, I think once we’re there I’m going to sleep for forever.”

“Tori,” she studied you, “What did you mean by that?”

Remnants of this past school year. You might’ve been the only one still stuck, but that didn’t mean everyone else wasn’t affected by what had happened. She’d been doing this since the day she was appointed her position, asking for reassurance, double checking that everyone was good, that everyone was telling her the truth. You couldn’t blame her, if anything you were doing the same thing, just not outwardly. Aurora told you everything, though last fall she wasn’t, you understood she did it with good reason. She took how it made you feel and actively applied it to your friendship, and all the other relationships she valued in her life. 

Now you know too much, but nevertheless, at the end of the day, you are grateful she trusted you with such delicate details.

Delicate details that now half the friend group knew about.

“He knows people,” you said, taking her hand in yours. “That’s all.” Her eyes flickered between yours, analyzing, like her brain scanned you for any signs of dishonesty. “You don’t have to do this with me, you know that.”

Focusing her attention forward, eyes dropping to her lap, she shook her head. “Sorry,” she whispered, then turned back to you. “I just wanted to check on you, I feel like you’ve been off. Like we haven’t talked about stuff in a while.”

Because you’re spending so much time with Wooyoung and Soul?

Because you’ve been frolicking around like nothing occurred these last two semesters?

Because you act as though life is fine, like it’s nothing to take seriously?

“Summer gets busy,” you said to her, squeezing her hand, “We know this. We go back to living at home, we have bigger responsibilities now, we’re both in relationships, it happens, Ror.” Funny, she was supposed to be the one comforting you right now. “We’ll have so much time to catch up on the beach.” She started to smile. “We can leave the boys behind, or we can RorTor them to death like we used to, whatever you want to do.”

“Yeah,” she nodded, then placed a hand over Soul’s bleach blonde hair, dragging her fingers through the strands. “As long as he’s good. Seonghwa said he’ll keep him on a short leash, but… I worry about him.”

Your internal eyes narrowed. Your internal lips pulled into a scowl. The face you wanted to make lived deep inside of you, every feature screwing up into a What the fuck? You didn’t get it. He was a twenty year old going into his sophomore year of college, if he couldn’t take care of himself at this point, if he couldn’t get a grip on himself at this point… You didn’t think Aurora needed the responsibility of looking after him.

Your side-dick will be fine, is what you wanted to say to her. The pet you and Wooyoung play with can take care of himself.

You didn’t get it. Wooyoung confidently left them behind, Soul draped over her like they were the ones dating. It placed something in your gut, in your chest, something you’ve only felt when your parents showered your sister and her achievements in glitter and gold, when they seemed to care about her more.

That couldn’t be it.

That wasn’t what this feeling was, sitting here watching Aurora stroke the boy’s hair with her something of a boyfriend sitting a few rows ahead of them. You weren’t envious of this. You were not jealous, you did not wish to have this in your life. You didn’t yearn for change, for something new, for something fresh, for something taboo. 

“I can see it, Tor,” she said, a smile sneaking onto her lips. “There’s something wrong.”

“Aurora,” you whispered, the steadiness in your voice scaring yourself, “I’m fine.”

She gulped, let her stare bleed into yours for a few seconds, then pointed her eyes down to Soul. “Okay.” It was all she said, all she had left to say.

If Mingi couldn’t see shit, there was no way in hell you’d allow Aurora to see shit.

You wished it wouldn’t happen, but you could visualize the walls already built around you growing thicker.

It was like you said, you were fine.

You would be fine.

A month with them, just them, everyone, would sort everything out, as if you were back at school with them, back in close proximity to one another. It wouldn’t cause problems, it would solve them.

You hoped.

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[chimivx]

gimme gimme gimme -> mingtor ~ 'smarteez on sand'

Friends have graduated, board positions have changed, relationships are brand new and ever changing, but you and Mingi… You don’t change. Which to some should be a comfort, peace of mind knowing your partner is right by your side, always there for you especially in your times of need… You can’t figure out why you don’t feel the same.

one: stuck.

two: who?!

three: cheers!

four:

five:

...

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