#also the way Everyone says minho's name differently was starting to gate on me

[donutcats]

an issue I have with xo kitty is that they only really half commit to the whole 'set in korea' thing, like tell me why they're announcing dae's full name as dae kim. like. how hard is it to call him kim daeheon at a talent show set in korea. yuri han... young moon... why are we doing firstname lastname? hello?

[snwscript]

pivot point || hyunjin.

pairing: guard!hyunjin x princess!reader.

genre: historic au, strangers to lovers au.

themes: fluff + a bit of angst i guess??

word count: 7.6k

summary: when the task of picking the newest royal guard comes to you, the princess, it isn’t difficult to choose. one applicant, with charming looks and an interesting hobby, catches your eye and attention. maybe he might find himself shooting arrows into something other than targets?

tw: this contains a female lead, and terms such as princess. also, some things might not be fully accurate to how things worked in historical times, but i really tried to research as much as I could.

a/n: i miss him w blonde hair but whateva it’s fine (〃ノ∇ノ) also prince minho is not minho from skz !!!! oh and if a word is underlined, it’s a song you can listen to to feel more in the fic :]

masterlist.

As you were the princess of one of the most well-know palaces, a lot of weight was put on your shoulders. The thought of being next in line to the throne, along with the absolutely tiring schoolwork and boring schedules always filled your head as you waited for the next day to roll around.

It sometimes felt like you were forced into that life. But your head always perked up when you were asked first about a decision.

“Y/N, darling.” Your mother called your name as she sat at the dinner table.

“Yes Mother?” Making your way to the dining room from the living room, you rested your arms on the chair in front of your mom. You looked at her, eyebrows furrowing as you questioned her sudden ask of your presence.

She started with a sigh and you could tell she was stressed, her hand sparkling with accessories holding close to her head. Her eyes looked up from the papers in her other hand and to you. “Oh, there you are. I need your help with something.”

Your ears perked up as you looked away from her shining decorations and nodded. “Okay, what is it?” You leaned in to look at the paper that was in her hand. It had different names written on it, next to them were their skills.

But when did Mom get the time to do this?

“Well, we’re trying to get a new royal guard since one had to step out due to a finding of their criminal record, remember?” She queried, looking up at you from the paper.

Whipping away from your thoughts, you nodded. “Yeah, I do. But why so sudden? I’m pretty sure we don’t have to get a new guard.. we had enough already.” You said with a soft sigh. Your palace had originally had more than ten guards but due to the hardships the job gave, they had resigned. Now you only had five

“Y/N,” your mother stopped you, “we’ve talked about this. You know that your coronation is coming and when that day comes, you know how the crime rate will be.” There she goes again, talking about your coronation. “I would hate to have you suffer like your grandfather on his crowning.”

Her statement was blunt but it made sense to you. You made a small frown and nodded. “Yes Mother.” You took the papers out of her hand and made your way out of the dining room.

Your mom could tell you were upset about the conversation so in a small cheer she said, “I love you.”

“Love you too.” Your response short as you walked out of the dining room and back to your room.

On your way, your friendly chef Felix smiled at you, walking past saying, “Good morning, Your Highness.” You did a small head bow, but deeply wondered why he was being so formal. He wasn’t that much older than you, and he normally talked to you on friendly terms. Shaking the thought away, you continued back to your room.

But just like with Felix, whenever you would see one of the kind workers throughout the palace on the way to your room, they would always greet you with polite nonsense like: “Good day, Your Highness,” “Hello, Your Highness,” and “Wonderful weather we’re having, Your Highness!” It only broke you when you saw your older brother Seungmin reply, “Hey, Your Highness.” It was still in his joking tone but it was so chilling that you had to get out of there.

You ran out of the palace as a whole and decided to chill by the pool.

Sighing to yourself, you looked at the pool and tried to calm yourself. You were deeply confused why they had all responded like that. You weren’t even close to becoming the queen. You had thought it was all too much for you, like all of a sudden you were an adult. But it didn’t feel like it.

“What’s wrong, your Highness?” Chan said after seeing your distressed manner as you sat on the steps.

“Oh god, not you too Chan!” You buried your face in your hands.

He laughed heartily and soon went to sit down next to you. “Sorry, it was Seungmin. He asked me to say that to you since I was in debt to him for a while.” Looking over to you, Chan saw your sad expression.

He didn’t say anything for a while, his thoughts calculating as he thought of what to say to you. “You know, I probably have no say in this but the whole crowning doesn’t seem too bad.”

Your head whipped around to him. Confusion furrowing your eyebrows caused you to respond, “How can you say that? Everyone’s been treating me like I’m the Queen already..”

Chan laughed a bit, but not as happy as his last. It contained remorse for you. “Well I can tell you as a royal guard that they’re only doing this to get you ready for another year.” His statement softened to a whisper and covered his mouth near the more important end of his sentence.

Letting out a chuckle of unbelief, you crossed your arms. “How could they- Never mind that.” You stopped yourself before sighing and then looking at Chan. “Thanks for telling me, Chan. I swear, you’re one of the only guards I can trust.” You said jokingly, a soft smile making its way onto your lips.

A smile creeped up on his face too, showing his pure pleasure in seeing you smile again. “No problem, your Highness.” Chan finally said with a fake bow.

“Oh, stop it.” You slapped his shoulder in an attempt to get him to stop embarrassing you any further.

Chan laughed again, his serotonin boosting laugh making you laugh with him. With another smile and a two-finger salute, he said, “Alright, duty calls. See you later, Y/N!” He dashed off and started to make his way back into the palace.

“Ok, bye!” But by the time you responded, he was already gone.

He had always been so good to you. Always doing his best to make you feel better. Still, he had no real idea what you truly felt.

...

After a while of laying on your bed while reading a book, you looked at your nightstand. Those terrible papers seemed to look right back at you. With a sigh, you decided to take the time to look at the papers your mother had given to you that morning.

The candidates were.. okay. Your mind was still frazzled from the day’s events and soon after 15 minutes of looking, you came to the last page. You had skimmed over his credentials but when you came across his hobbies, you found yourself leaning into the paper.

Hobbies: reading, singing, & archery.

A-Archery? Were you reading it right? No matter how many times you read it, it still read the same thing. You had heard about it before, when your mother and father had left to go to a match with friends from another kingdom. It had always made you wonder what it was like, and seeing a candidate with that as a hobby made you feel inclined to approve his submission.

No photos or further reading needed, you put a check next to his name and went to put it in your parents’ room.

On your way back to yours, you were stopped by Seungmin. He leaned against the wall, arms crossed and his right leg crossed over the other. You shrugged, wordlessly saying, “What do you want?”

“Was that the guard slip?” He soon asked, a chuckle coming with the end of his question.

With a nod you replied, “Yep. Hopefully Mom doesn’t scold me for who I chose.” You continued to walk to bed with the words, “It was the archer, by the way,” leaving your lips. You had known Seungmin had seen the papers before they were given to you, so of course he had asked.

Seungmin’s small giggle turned into a happy laugh, but you couldn’t tell what for. A wave of relief came upon you as he called, “You’re so predictable. I knew you’d pick that one!”

You walked to your room that night to your older brother’s laughs echoing in the main hall.

It had been about two weeks since you had made the final mark on those papers but fortunately, your mother hadn’t said anything about it. Today was the day you were going to greet what seemed in your mind as the kind archer fellow. You were somewhat nervous, for reasons you knew.

As you got ready in your room to finally meet the archer, a soft sigh escaped you. Was it the right choice? Sure, knowing how to do archery was unique but you barely looked at any more of his credentials, so it made it hard to truly know him. You chose to shake the thought off for now and make your way to the front of the palace.

...

“I can’t wait to see who you chose!” Your mother said with happiness in her tone, hands clasped in excitement. She looked over to you, and was concerned as to why you were so quiet. “Something the matter?” She asked.

Your single head shake was enough for a response and your eyes kept looking out for the carriage the guard would come in. If you had to be honest, you just wanted to see what this guy looked like.

And just as you would have it, the clopping of the carriage came along the cobblestone. You felt your heart race as you heard the gates open for his arrival. And there he was, walking up to your family politely with his hands behind his back.

His appearance though, was much more ethereal. Eyes of a dark brown color and long hair that you didn’t see often, all while wearing a soft smile. His clothes were both sleek and looked comfortable. You could tell you were staring for too long so you decided to get your eyes off him with a small head bow. In response, he did the same.

“It’s nice to meet you. I hope I can serve you well.” He said, his soft voice causing you to look up with a kind smile.

Your father held out a hand for the boy to shake and replied, “Of course. We’re happy to have you..?” His reply became more of a prompt for his name.

“Ah, Hyunjin. Hwang Hyunjin.” He replied happily as he took your father’s hand and shook it. His soft smile had become an eager one, as if he was really excited for his new job. The boy who was apparently named Hyunjin looked from your father to you and did a small head bow to you. “Nice to meet you, Princess. Hopefully we can be friends.” His expression softened. “And hopefully I can serve you well.” He continued, his eyes crinkling as his smile widened.

“Of course, same to you.” You replied, voice soft after being out of focus. From the start, you knew that he was kind but the fact he even acknowledged you kindly made you smile.

Your mother broke up your kind exchange by cutting in, “Well now that introductions are over, we can get you inside and talk a bit more. It’s a bit humid out here.” A posh laugh came with her statement as Hyunjin mouthed “Of course” and you all went into the palace.

After two of your other guards opened the palaces’ doors, you could hear a gasp come from Hyunjin. He soon exclaimed, “Wow.. this place is huge..,” voice drifting at the end of his sentence. He seemed like an excited puppy, eager to look more around the place. To get his attention, you let out in a small whisper, “Excuse me, it’s this way!”

He turned around and covered his mouth, obviously embarrassed. “Sorry!” His voice low in a whisper to match yours.

You and Hyunjin soon caught up with your family in the drawing room, both acting like you had been there instead of staying behind in the great hall. Almost on queue, your father turned to you with a smile. “Ah yes, now that we’re here, we can talk more on the agreement.” Your father’s tone was soft but still had the power of a king.

“Yes, Your Highness.” Hyunjin said, eyes burning with confidence.

Your mother smiled. “Then let’s get to it!” She said, taking out some more papers, probably for him to sign.

...

Though it took what felt like a few hours, Hyunjin was ready to take the oath. What you noticed during the long talk and signing was that he was very active. Your mom mumbled a few things he had done to get to where he was now, including training for a year and a half at a camp. It seemed like he desperately wanted to get away from his normal life and land a better job at the palace, though it was harder than most. It made you wonder..

Your thoughts were taken to a pause as your father said, “Alright, now that you’re done signing, you can take the oath.”

Hyunjin nodded as his smiling face was replaced with a serious one. When you looked down at his hands, you saw his left closed in a tight fist. It soon loosened as he rose his right hand like your father told him to not long after.

“Repeat after me,” your father said firmly, his right hand raised as well, “I, Hwang Hyunjin, do swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the Royal Family, their heirs and successors, according to law.”

He soon repeated before taking a deep breath, “I, Hwang Hyunjin, do swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the Royal Family, their heirs and successors, according to law.” His hard expression soon softened when he earned an accepting nod from the king.

“And now, you’re officially a part of the royal guard.” Your father cheered, a raised curve you knew was a smile coming to his face. Though he didn’t show it much, you could always tell the difference between his capitalist smile and his genuine one. Hyunjin seemed to know too, as he brought him in for a hug.

“Wow, thank you so much for this opportunity!” He let go and then shook the king’s hand. “I promise I won’t let you down.” He said in a voice filled with gratitude. The king let out a hearty laugh at Hyunjin’s peppy attitude and nodded.

“Happy to know you’re excited.” He soon said. Your mother’s mouth turned into a smile, soon turning to you with a brighter one. The pleasant feeling in the room made you smile back.

Hyunjin looked to you and remarked with an assuring smile, “I’ll protect you for real, now.” His statement made you burst laughing, still more calm than your normal laugh as to not expose yourself. “I know you’ll do well, Hyunjin.” You replied.

“Thank you, princess.”

You woke up the next morning to the sun coming through the window. Surprisingly, none of the maids or butlers was there to escort you out of your room. Making your way down the stairs and then the long hallway, you started to make your way to the kitchen to start to make breakfast yourself.

You usually weren’t allowed to when your parents weren’t around because they entrusted the chefs to cook every meal. Though you didn’t mind them cooking for you, you always like to cook by yourself. Unfortunately, the kind chef Felix walked in as you took out some flour.

“Ah, your Highness.” He did a small head bow with his bright smile. His formal behavior made you a bit uncomfortable. “Good morning.”

You still mustered a smile. “Good morning, Felix. It’s good to see you.” Your statement was true despite you knowing he would be making breakfast for you.

“Y/N, don’t worry. I’ll let you make breakfast for yourself. You always look so eager when you see me cooking anyway.” Felix let out in a chuckle. His laughter brought a happier smile to your face.

“Thank you, Felix.” You replied while bringing him in for a hug. He happily hugged you back, his warm hug made you smile.

You decide to ask him, “Hey, why do you keep calling me “Your Highness”? Have we drifted?” Your tone was soft, and Felix responded with a shaking of his head.

“No, of course not Y/N! It’s just.. the king and queen have been wanting to prepare you for the life you’re going to have in a couple years. So I’ve been listening to their wishes. But don’t worry,” Felix let go of you and held you by your shoulders, looking at you with caring eyes, “we’re still friends.” His bright smile reached his eyes.

“Well that’s good! I got a little worried.” You replied with a laugh.

After clearing up the situation, you started to make your breakfast, every now and then having Felix help you. Who would’ve known that making french toast and fluffy eggs would be harder than you thought?

...

The happy feeling you had soon drifted with your parents came back home. You had prepared yourself for this, but you really hadn’t wanted to.

As they walked in, they appeared with your “destined prince,” as your mom called him when you were a kid. You made eye contact with him immediately as a rush of a hurt came through you.

Prince Minho of the Cha family, the future husband of your dreams. (but was he?)

It wasn’t like you hated Minho, he was fine. Charming looks, a great personality. He even loved animals and had 2 dogs of his own. You just weren’t ready yet. But though you wanted to, you couldn’t tell him. If you had known sooner that the marriage decision had been made when you were kids, you would’ve declined already.

Minho walked up to you with a soft smile. “My darling Y/N. I haven’t seen you in ages.” You smiled shyly at his pet name. “You still look as cute as ever.” His eyes stared into yours longingly.

“It’s good to see you too, Minho.” You took his hands and nodded. Still, you couldn’t shake the sorry feeling in your chest. It felt like you were playing with him.

Your mother interrupted your soft exchange with a clearing of her throat. “Alright, lovebirds, let’s get moving to the ballroom. You two,” she said pointing at you and Minho, “need to practice dancing together.”

Minho smiled at your parents and then at you. “Don’t worry. I won’t step on your feet.” You chuckled at his joke and made your way to the ballroom.

...

When you got there, you saw Hyunjin from the other side of the ballroom standing against the wall with his hands behind his back. He smiled to you as a soft greeting and you smiled back as a reply.

“Hyunjin,” your mother called to him, “do you mind turning on the gramophone and putting on the record for me?”

The smiling guard nodded, “Of course, your Highness.” He walked over to the gramophone that was on the coffee table and put in the record. After glancing at you and Minho for a second, he went back to the wall he was at before.

The music from the gramophone was somber, a soft piano piece. You had heard it many times when you were younger. It brought back memories and a soft smile to your face.

You slowly waltzed with Minho, hands interlocked. Minho kept eye contact with you, his eyes sparkling happily. You traveled along the room with him, careful with each step as the music flowed. The song came to an end as Minho took your hand and kissed it.

“You danced wonderfully, Y/N.” He said with a soft tone.

Your smile toward Minho was sincere, you nodded happily. “Thank you, Minho. You didn’t do half bad either.” You joked.

He let out a little chuckle and linked arms with you. Making eye contact with your mother, he asked, “Do you mind if I have lunch with her, my lady?”

“No, of course not,” she shook her head with a smile, “I don’t mind at all. We wanted you to have lunch together, anyways.”

“Thank you.” Minho looked at you once again and started to walk out of the ballroom.

You looked back to Hyunjin who stood there with a smile you couldn’t quite place. You gave him a quick beam, making him nod to cheer you up. Before you could mouth “thank you”, Minho walked out of the door with his princely smile and you.

“I don’t get you sometimes.” Seungmin shook his head at you, arms crossed.

“What do you mean?” You replied innocently. Clearly, judging by the look on your brother’s face, he was talking about your boring lunch with Minho.

Seungmin sighed; it was full of annoyance. “You know exactly what I mean!”

You still pretended to be curious as to what he meant so you shrugged.

“Why did you come from lunch with Minho so.. normal? Usually when people have a meeting with someone they really like, they can’t think of anything else but that person. But you.. you seem fine! Almost too fine.” He put a hand on your shoulder. “Do you really not feel that way for him?” He finally asked.

You looked up into Seungmin’s eyes. You couldn’t find it in yourself to lie to him. “I-I’m just not ready yet.” You replied, your voice soft. “I thought you knew that.”

“I do know. I’m not mad at you, I just don’t get you. This is a big opportunity and Mom’s gonna be upset with you, I’m just telling you now.” Your older brother replied.

“I know she is.. Minho’s a good guy, it’s just I don’t think I could marry him, or anyone for that matter. Not right now, anyway.”

Seungmin let out a sigh again. He was done nudging an answer out if you. “Alright, just don’t be so indecisive for too long. It’s all in your hands.” He began to walk out of the room but stopped himself. “Remember that you have to talk with Mom at 3, okay?” His smile was soft as he continued to walk.

You watched him walk out of the room, leaving you at the table. You grunted softly and put your hands over your eyes. I need to get some fresh air.. your thoughts festered.

...

Again, you found yourself outside by the pool as a way to calm down. You had understood what Seungmin meant and that he was just looking out for you, but you couldn’t stop thinking about it..

“Do you really not feel that way for him?”

You tried to shake off the feeling by continuing to look into the pool and soon threw water towards your face. When you went for another splash to wake yourself up, you heard someone walk up to where you sat and soon the voice that belonged to it:

“I hate to be interrupting something but are you okay, Your Highness?” It was Hyunjin. You looked up at him with your chlorine drenched face and smiled.

“Yeah, I’m fine! No need to worry!” You replied with a small laugh. “Just trying to calm my nerves..” Looking up at him again, you saw his hand holding out a handkerchief.

Hyunjin smiled. “Here. I think you need it.” He chuckled.

You were surprised at his kindness and took the handkerchief, a soft smile coming to your face. “Thank you.” Taking his hand to get up, you met eyes with him. Something about seeing him so close made you feel kind of nervous, even though you weren’t the one with the new job. Still, he made you feel comfortable. Hyunjin was doing his job as a guard right.

Hyunjin tried to break the silence. “So, care to explain what you’re doing out here?” He asked curiously.

“Well,” you started, “I usually come here to calm myself down. Seeing the water settles me.”

“Oh, I see..” He didn’t want to pry on what could have been messing with your emotions and decided to try and keep conversation. “Whenever I get stressed, I like to go out and shoot some arrows. It feels good to just shoot without the worry of doing wrong.”

You looked at him, your eyebrows furrowed, as you asked, “So then, what do you do? Do you just.. shoot?”

Hyunjin laughed at your question, his smile reaching his eyes. “Yeah, pretty much! Of course, still with the skills I’ve learned. I just try not to be fancy with it.”

“Okay.. I think I get it.” You replied to him, your voice drifting in volume. “Do you mind showing me some of the “fancy work,” mayhaps?” You looked up at him with a small smirk.

“If the Princess allows it.” Hyunjin replied; your nodding seemed to be a yes. “Alright then, let’s go to the fields. The King let me set up some materials over there.”

After walking to the fields, your eyes widened when you saw the archery setting. Bows and arrows on their own table, targets set at different ranges. It was like you had heard of before from Chan. You were excited to see how it really looked in person; seeing archery was different than hearing about it.

Hyunjin bent down to pick up one of the bows and an arrow from the table. He looked back at you and smiled. “I’ll shoot to the second nearest one so you can see it.” His voice lifted near the end of his sentence and his smile matched his happy tone. As he adjusted his form, he took a deep breath. He lifted the bow and arrow and closed his right eye, trying to get the best shot. You watched his smile turn into a serious straight face as he got a confident glint in his eye. Hyunjin soon released the arrow and watched it hit the target he had been aiming for.

“Wait a second,” you said, looking at the target, “you got it straight in the middle!”

He nodded and held the bow in his hands. “It’s like I told you! I still use the skills I’ve learned.” Hyunjin smiled at you again and handed you the bow.

“What is it? Why are you giving me-“ He stopped your question and put an arrow in your free hand.

“Don’t worry, I’m just gonna help you.” His voice was soft as he adjusted your hand placement and your angle. You ignored the hot feeling in your cheeks, but you were thankful for his help.

“Okay,” Hyunjin continued, “now close your right eye, since that’s the hand you’ll be shooting with.” You listened to his words and closed your eye. “Now just hold back your right arm. Only shoot when you’re ready.” You strengthened your grip and almost forgot that Hyunjin was there. Straightening your gaze like he had done before, you finally let go of the arrow. Your eyes closed immediately as you did.

Your worries wavered away as you heard Hyunjin’s laugh. “You did good for your first try! Come on, open your eyes and look. I promise you actually got a hit on the target.” As you opened your eyes, you saw the target with the arrow on the third ring. You looked at him and smiled.

“It’s okay, Princess,” he chuckled, “The third ring is good enough.”

“Thank you, Hyunjin.” You replied. His laugh made you laugh along with him. “I’m surprised that you even wanted to show me! So thank you very much for the lesson.”

He shook his hands around in a sporadic manner. “Don’t worry, it’s not a problem.”

You could tell that he really was happy to teach you and that his smile was genuine. A rush of shock ran over you as you realized how late it was. “Oh no... I totally forgot that I had to meet with my mom today.” Your eyes were sorry as you said, “Please forgive me for leaving so suddenly, I have a meeting and I can’t stay too long. I’m really sorry, Hyunjin.” You did a head bow as an apology.

“Please don’t bow to me, Princess Y/N! If you need to leave, it’s okay. Feel free to go! I-I wouldn’t want to keep you any longer.” Hyunjin’s words were a jumble, he couldn’t figure out what he wanted to say to you. Especially after your politeness towards him.

You giggled a bit at his flustered behavior. “Alright, see you later! Thanks again for the archery lesson!”

Hyunjin watched as you dashed off into the distance, probably going to the castle. There was a pleasant feeling in his chest. He was glad that he could have a good time with even a Princess. But he couldn’t figure out what it was about you that made him smile so much to himself... was it your attitude? Your kindness? Maybe he was thinking too much about it.

“Oh hey Hyunjin!” A familiar voice greeted him. Hyunjin turned around and saw Chan standing there with his bright smile. “What are you doing out here? Doing some archery?” Chan referred to the setup in front of them.

“Yeah! I even got to give Princess Y/N a small lesson. With her permission, of course.” Hyunjin replied.

Chan was intrigued as his mouth formed a small ‘o’. “Oh, I see. That’s good, I’m glad she’s trying new things.” He smiled again.

Hyunjin nodded happily. He glanced to the table that had the bows and arrows on them and noticed there were only two bows instead of the three that were there before. “Oh, I guess she accidentally took one of the bows with her. She was kind of in a rush.”

“That makes sense. She doesn’t like to make the Queen upset over simple things like being late.” Chan patted Hyunjin’s shoulder. “Don’t worry too much, she’ll probably be able to give it to you later.”

“Yeah..” He started to walk with Chan back into the castle.

“Hey,” Chan said quickly, “Do you think I could learn some archery skills from you, too? I can teach you how to handle and fight with a sword in exchange.”

Hyunjin chuckled. “Sure, I’ve been needing to get better at that, anyway.”

...

You had met with your mother that day to talk about the harvest festival taking place in a few days. It was the pride of your kingdom; the small amount of time that most ‘regulars’ could come into the castle to join in games, music, and dancing. You looked across the table at your mother with confusion in your brows when she told you that you were going to be greeting people for most of the festival.

“What? What do you mean? That’s what you and Father usually do.” You retorted.

Your mother sighed. “Yes, I know. It’s different but it’s okay! Instead of us, it’ll be you and Minho. That’s why you two are doing the ending dance instead of your father and I. And then you can take the prized crown alongside Minho.”

You found her smile too pleasant. It made you feel betrayed that she would tell you so early, as if she knew you would’ve tried to leave. “But.. why didn’t you tell me earlier? I’m still just a young princess, you know.”

“Don’t play that game with me. Why else would I have you practice with Minho beforehand? Be reasonable and stop arguing with your mother.” She said plainly.

“Fine, I guess I have to do it.” Her tone made you feel overpowered, like whatever you would’ve said wouldn’t have mattered anyway. “Thank you for telling me, Mother. I hope I can greet everyone well.”

She laid a hand on your cheek and smiled at you. “That’s my girl. I’m going to pick out the best dress and accessories for you, I promise. You’ll wear the crown greatly.”

“Thank you,” you told her again before you left. All you wanted to do is get to your room, the one place you could let your emotions out. At this point, you didn’t want to go to the harvest festival at all. You jumped on the bed at stayed there for a few hours.

You hadn’t wanted to do much around the castle the next few days. Your mother and father had decided to let you do what you wanted to do; to be by yourself. Your father came to you yesterday to reassure you that you could do it, just for one night.

Though you didn’t respond at all, you remember him talking about sudden threats that had come around every harvest festival. All he wanted was for you to be safe, and he knew that throwing you into it was not the best decision. Your father just knew in his heart that you would do well, like he and your mother did.

You decided to get up after two sluggish days. You looked outside of the window and then at the clock. “I guess I’ll have to really do it tomorrow.” You mumbled.

Maybe, just maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.

...

As you sat at the mirror getting ready for the festival, you practiced your smile. You even tried different ones to change it up and give your face a rest. One of your designers laughed.

“What are you doing, Princess Y/N? You look so funny.” She said, still chuckling.

You looked back to her and retorted, “I’m practicing my smile for the festival. Father says not to look too dull.”

“Well trust me,” she laughed, “the king will be surprised and probably pleased.” You shared a smile with her but she quickly faced your head towards the mirror. “Now face forward. I need to finish your makeup in 30 minutes.”

Before you knew it, you were walking down the spiraling staircase to the main floor. You felt stiff due to the makeup and extravagant light red dress, but you had to admit that you looked good. When you got down, you saw Minho standing there in his tuxedo. It was a nice red with white accents. The red matched your own.

You smiled as you came to him, deciding to be as nice as you could to him that day. “You look so nice today. Your courters dressed you well.” You remarked.

“Thank you, Y/N. You look splendid.” Minho replied as he went for a kiss on your hand, as he usually did.

“Let’s get going, okay? The gates open in a few minutes!”

He beamed at your enthusiasm and took a tight hold on your hand. “Of course.”

...

For the past two hours at the harvest festival, you had been stuck greeting every single person who had stepped through the door. You were glad to see all of your citizens but while all of them moved on from the line and had fun, you were still stuck at the door. And to make matters worse, Minho held onto your hand like it was life or death.

All of a sudden, the music playing from the ballroom stopped. You remembered it from before.

“Now, we’ll stop the dancing for a few minutes to have a special couple dance together.” Your father’s voice was clear from the ballroom.

Minho looked at you. “I guess that’s us.” He walked with you, hand in hand, to the ballroom.

“And it’s not just any couple. It’s our very own junior fiancés!” Your mother added as you and Minho walked in. All of the citizens clapped and cheered for you, yet only you were surprised by the term ‘fiancé’.

Soon, you and Minho were the center of attention. All of everyone’s eyes were on you two. Minho tried to assure you that everything would be okay with his eyes, as if he could tell that you were worried.

You must’ve spaced out; the music started playing again. A smile came back to you as you remembered the song. You waltzed with him like you had practiced before, moving your way across the floor. Minho’s glimmering eyes showed a deep effect of love towards you. You tried your best to ignore how close he was until the end of the song.

The citizens clapped for your shared dance. You smiled, you must’ve done it well. “Guess we didn’t do too bad, huh?” You said quietly.

Minho placed a hand on your cheek and surprised you and everyone else in the ballroom; he kissed the other one. You didn’t know why he would’ve done it so passionately, it wasn’t like how you had practiced. Your feelings were unsure.

What’s going on? Is this okay? Why do I feel like this?

You pulled away after a few seconds of thinking. Backing away, you ran out with a small mumble, “I’m sorry.”

Your hands were clammy. You felt like you hadn’t drank water in days. The butterflies in your stomach seemed to only get worse. You needed to get out of there. No, you needed to get anywhere but there. Your thoughts were a giant mess as you thought of where to go. Thinking of leaving the castle was already a no, but where else could you-

“Ah!” You let out after bumping into a familiar figure in the main hall.

Hyunjin caught you. “Careful there, princess. You remember what the King and Queen said, hm?” He said, keeping your eye contact. “You should be in the ballroom.” Leaning over your shoulder to whisper those few words.

“I know. It’s just..” Steps could be heard down the hall along with your mother’s calls for you. You glanced back to him. Your thoughts ran dry, and you did the only thing you thought to do. “Kiss me.”

“Princess Y/N-“

“I said kiss me.” You didn’t know where the straightforwardness was coming from but what would happen was unexpected.

Hyunjin leaned in for a kiss on your lips and closed his eyes. You had enjoyed it as you both moved swiftly into the room next to you. He had held onto your head tightly as he continued to kiss you.

When you both let go, you smiled. You couldn’t help but giggle a bit. “You’re a good kisser, Guard Hwang.”

“There’s no need to call me that, Princess Y/N.” He shook his head with a smile, still a little shocked that he kissed the princess in the first place. “But I have a question.”

You looked at him with curious eyes. “What is it?” You asked.

“Why did you come sprinting down there? And I understand that it might be hard to talk about.” Hyunjin replied softly.

“Well, you remember the prince I was dancing with that day, correct?” Hyunjin nodded at your question. “Basically we did the same dance at the festival today. But Minho changed things up and kissed me on the cheek. I didn’t know what to do, I was just confused..” Your voice fell to a quieter level.

Hyunjin patted your back and sat you down on the bed in the room. “Don’t worry about him, it’s okay. He should’ve known that you wouldn’t have liked it as much as he would’ve.”

You shared a pleasant smile with Hyunjin as he continued to pat your back. You were glad that someone was there to uplift you.

The lovely feeling in the room soon disappeared when yells of “intruder” and “thief” came upon Hyunjin’s and your ears from outside the room. You looked at him worried but he shook his head.

“Stay here, okay? I’m still supposed to be on post.” Hyunjin stated.

As Hyunjin walked out of the room and down the hall, he kept a serious face. His eyes glanced around as if he could feel someone else’s presence was there. He slowly got the bow — one of the secondary ones from your small lesson — off of him and slowed his pace.

“You guys are very bad at hiding.” He mumbled. He easily could see one of the culprits hiding behind a pillar in a mirror right across. Without any hesitation, he lifted the bow and strengthened his grip on the arrow and shot for the mirror instead.

The man screamed and jumped out of the way. He started to shake on the floor. Hyunjin sighed as he walked up to the man and held him by his collar. “I’m sorry sir. I don’t care what sob story you give me, duty calls. I have to take you to the King for intruding.” He flipped the man over and stood up with him, soon grabbing his wrists from behind and placing them over each other.

“Let’s go.” Hyunjin’s tone made the guilty culprit start walking with his head down.

“You do know that it’s not just me, right?” said the man.

“Well of course. There’s never just one.” Hyunjin replied quickly.

The man sighed as if he was immediately sorry. “I’m very sorry for what might happen to the kingdom after all of this.”

“There’s no need to apologize to me,” Hyunjin said to the man, “that’s something you need to take up with the King and Queen. Just know that it’s likely that you’ll go to jail for this.”

The man was surprised at how nonchalant Hyunjin was. “Thank you for not being too rough with me.”

“Just doing my job, sir.” Hyunjin said with a small chuckle.

After a few minutes, the intruder and Hyunjin made it to the King in the ballroom. “Here, Your Highness. I’ve caught one of the intruders.”

“Thank you, Guard Hwang. I appreciate it.” The King smiled as he took the culprit to some policemen that were called to the scene. “Here’s one of them!” He called to them.

Hyunjin looked around the ballroom, recognizing the faces he had seen at his post. The citizens murmured worriedly all around. But he could tell that someone was missing.

“Your Highness,” Hyunjin called, “do you mind if I check outside? That culprit over there told me that there’s more than just him.” The king nodded. “Of course, just take another guard with you.” He motioned towards Chan. “Guard Bang, go with Guard Hwang to check outside. If there’s more intruders, just call for more.”

“Yes, Sir.” Chan grabbed his sword and shield in hand. “Alright let’s get going, Hyunjin.”

Hyunjin nodded and the two went out of the castle, soon being met with the slowly setting sky. They looked all around the perimeter of the castle after deciding to split up but after they found nothing, they threw away the plan and searched together.

“Do you think anyone’s actually out here?” Hyunjin whispered to Chan softly.

Chan shrugged at his question. He wasn’t quite sure what could come from searching or not. “Usually there’s more than one when it comes to castle takeovers, so probably. But it’s hard to see with only the moon enlightening us. So try not to worry. The King won’t kill you if no one’s out here.” He tried to lighten up the mood with a chuckle.

“Okay..” Hyunjin mumbled. For a while, only the crunching of the grass under their boots could be heard. They paid close attention to their surroundings.

“S-stop right there!” A voice shouted from behind them, their voice breaking near the end of their scream. Hyunjin and Chan turned around to see the person who owned the voice: Prince Minho with a sword held in front of him. “What are you guards doing out here?”

Chan held his sword in a tight hand. “We should be asking you the same question.”

“I just wanted to get some fresh air. It was a bit congested in there.” Minho’s light laugh had a nod to something else. He had kept one hand behind his back.

“Are you sure about that?” Hyunjin spoke up. “There’s something more to what you’re saying.” His eyes stayed close to the prince’s hidden hand.

“Your Highness,” Chan started, “may I ask you to lower your sword?”

Minho’s face tightened. He didn’t expect this. “O-of course. Of course I can.” His voice shook slightly; he was terrified. He knew they knew. But still, he didn’t lay down his sword. He couldn’t. “Actually.. no. Shouldn’t you be a bit more respectful to your future king? I can do as I please.”

When Minho turned around to leave, Chan pushed his weight onto him and tried to hold him down. “Hyunjin, here!” He held out what the prince had been hiding: the crown. “Go and return it! I’ll take care of this guy.”

“Okay!” Hyunjin ran off and dashed through the castle. He held to a pause when he saw you standing there in the hall. “Princess Y/N.. I think this is yours.”

You held the crown tightly and smiled. “Thank you so much, Hyunjin. I really appreciate it.” You wanted to thank him but the confidence from before came back to you. “Hey, do you have time to dance with a princess such as myself?”

“Well, I think so. I do have to do my job as a guard and stay at my post.” He chuckled. “But of course, Princess.”

You smiled softly and took his hand to lead him into the room you were both in before. “I know the perfect song.” You soon put in the song that gave you pleasure into the gramophone.

Hyunjin took your hand gently and began to waltz with you. His smile was soft on his face as it reached his eyes. The strings in the music led you across the room. You hadn’t wanted your final dance any other way. The song calmed along with your dancing near the end.

“I feel like I’m going to cause you trouble, Princess Y/N.” Hyunjin said, his hand was tenderly clasped with yours.

“I would count it as good trouble, my archer.” You softly replied as you kissed his cheek. As Hyunjin put the crown atop your head, you both laughed. The two of you waltzed in the room for the rest of the night, the sun’s final colors setting behind you through the window.

[minhomas-tmr]

The Lies I Tell Myself - Chapter 4

The plane ride was short but too much turbulence if anyone wanted Minho’s true opinion. Also the landing was terrible…

Bad flying or not, Thomas slept through it all, hair fluffed up cutely as he leaned on his side. Unknown to him, Minho at some point lifted the armrest between their seats, so Thomas ended up curled against Minho instead.

Seeing more than one person smiling as they passed them, had him soak up the misunderstanding since an actual relationship with Thomas would probably never happen. It was good to know however, that they were convincible enough to pass as a couple.

Minho understood where they were coming from though. Thomas hardly slept these days between homework and his family meeting Minho—so Thomas being adorable and snuggling in to get comfortable?

God help him, he had it bad. — “Ugh, how could you not tell me they were passing snacks, huh?”

“Shut your whining and grab the baggage would you?” Minho suppressed an eye-roll. “When we get to the hotel, I’ll call room service, okay?”

“Is that allowed?” Thomas asked as they followed signs for the exit.

“Yeah it’s all paid for. The to-be-family rich or something?”

“Hefty trust fund,” Thomas muttered unhappily. “It was a requirement for her,”

“Oh. Wow.”

“Yeah, I know right?”

“No, I mean the car they sent to pick us up,” Minho pointed to the BMW with Thomas’ name on the plaque their driver was holding. “You sure she dislikes you?”

“She’s bragging.” Thomas insisted. “I’m only here because mom wanted me to be remember? Uhh…what are you doing?”

“Surely you know the concept of opening a door for someone else?” Minho couldn’t suppress the eye roll this time and gently pushed Thomas in when he just stood by it. As the driver started the car, he leaned in to peck Thomas softly on the cheek and thread his fingers through Thomas’.

He pretended not to notice his fake boyfriend’s face turn tomato-red. — “Not bad…” Thomas walked into their suite. “He must be really rich or something, if everyone’s rooms look like this…” When he turned to Minho, he was greeted with an annoyed look. “What??”

“You’re being ridiculous. She took sides sure but maybe, dunno maybe she’s trying to buy your love? Rich or no, only visiting family would get this royal treatment,”

“Maybe the fiancée suggested it?” Thomas offered.

“Quite possibly,” Minho smiled and weirdly that made Thomas relax, but there sure didn’t last, “Looks like we’ll have to order room service when we get back. I’ve laid out your clothes here by the way…”

Thomas grabbed the clothes and dashed to the washroom to change into his blazer outfit. He was acting like an idiot right now, but he would act 100% more idiotic if he had to watch Minho change.

By the time he was done, Minho was ready. Was there anything he didn’t look good in? Minho gave him a quick once over, “You look exactly like I thought you would,” he smirked.

“Fuckable?” Thomas blushed.

“Decent, clean and polite more like,” his flatmate approached him, casually fixing Thomas’ hair and he let it go on until he grew suspicious that Minho was teasing him now.

“If you want to touch me so much, you don’t have to only do it here remember? I’m your boyfriend. Or even…we don’t have to go to the brunch right? We can just stay in and get room service...”

“Now what kind of boyfriend would I be if I gave into all your demands?”

Thomas turned to him, “A good one!”

“You’re lucky you’re white and cute, Thomas.”

“Hey!”

“I’m kidding, you’re precious,” Minho pecked Thomas on his lips sweetly and turned around before he realized what he just did. Composing his face, Minho turned back around to Thomas staring at him wide eyed.

“Test run?” Thomas offered timidly.

Minho took it with both hands and ran with it. “Already feels natural doesn’t it?”

“Yeah,”

“Yeah.” Minho echoed. Shit.

“You look too fuckable for a welcome brunch,” Thomas swiftly changed subjects to a moderately safer one.

“Devour-a-ble would you say?” Minho’s sass was back.

“You’re lucky you’re hot! Because your jokes are seriously terrible.” Thomas eyed Minho’s lips, debated giving him a peck to continue the joke but he wasn’t that brave.

Or rather he was afraid he might not stop. “Which reminds me,” he said out loud, “brunch is tame. Maybe hold hands but no kissing?”

“Why? Forgot your lessons already? You want a refresher?” Minho teased.

“Unfortunately we don’t have the time…” Thomas sighed, “That would have been wayy more fun than having to see Teresa and the poor bastard marrying her. I don’t know if I should congratulate him or apologize,”

“Would kissing you shut you up?”

“Try it,” the words were out of his mouth before he even registered it. Minho had a calculative look in his eyes but turned away in the end, mumbling something about a watch.

Thomas mentally facepalmed. — Minho really did look devour-able and Thomas should have protested the outfit when he had the chance.

He couldn’t hide his smugness though, when as soon as he stepped out the car, Minho held his hand as they walked into the back gate of the venue, decorated in soft hues.

“So what’s the game plan?”

“Umm let’s see…Say hi to Teresa, make sure my mom does not talk to you, and get out right after we eat?”

“Wow Thomas. I didn’t know you were so keen on the promise of room service? Don’t know if they have flight snacks on the menu,” Minho laughed as Thomas pushed him away playfully. “And why keep me away from your mom? I’m great with people!”

“I know,” Thomas grumbled, threading his fingers with Minho’s absently. “That’s the problem. Everyone you meet manages to fall in love with you. My mom can’t fall victim to you too.”

“You’re making me sound like a serial killer,” Minho joked, “You fell victim too then?”

“I’m your boyfriend aren’t I?” Thomas rolled his eyes. They were still a little away from the crowd of guests.

Technically they didn’t have to put on their act yet, so when Minho paused for that millisecond, Thomas realized what he’d said. For once, he did a great job at convincingly pretending obliviousness. — People were looking at them. A lot. Thomas starting to feel self-conscious, leaned closer to Minho and gripped his hand tighter.

Though it didn’t show on his face, Minho bent down to whisper in Thomas’s ear, sounding worried, “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know,” Thomas admitted softly.

Minho tilted his head up slightly caressing his cheek. “I’m here. I won’t leave you,” He had no idea how much those words meant to Thomas, the significance of them, the difference it made. He relaxed...he was safe.

Minho threaded their fingers once more and Thomas walked in with more confidence, pointing to people he knew and titbits about them.

But the one person he didn’t get an opportunity to point out, was suddenly in front of him. Thomas’ smile slipped and Minho picked on it immediately.

“Thomas.” Gally completely ignored Minho and something about that irked him but he’d be cordial.

“Gally.”

“You know when I heard you were bringing a boyfriend, I was a little disappointed. I thought we could mend things, you know? But knowing you...you move fast don’t you?”

Thomas saw the malicious glint in his eye, before he turned to Minho, “be careful about this one..the next pretty thing and he’s gone,”

“Is that so?” Minho replied mildly. “And who are you? Thomas never mentioned you. Friends of the groom? Speaking of..I’d like to meet him. Do you know where we can find him?”

“Uhh..”

Gally was thrown off and Thomas suppressed his smile. Minho could definitely be intimidating on first meet. He exuded confidence and admittedly Thomas had a different reaction to most, but it was there alright!

“Hm. I guess we can find him ourselves..Gully is it? Nice to meet you Gully,” he smiled, then turned to Thomas. — ‘Wait here, don’t talk to anybody’ was what Thomas had said, but seriously it wasn’t his fault that there were only two other asians apart from him, and both were from the Groom’s party.

Minho wasn’t even sure why Thomas had abandoned him and didn’t have much time to ponder before he was joined by a boy with curly brown hair and a perfectly round face.

“Hi there,” he frowned, “I don’t know you. Bride or Groom’s side?”

Minho was a bit taken aback by the directness at first, but shrugged, “Boyfriend of Bride’s side I suppose,”

“You suppose? And who is this boyfriend of yours?”

“Thomas Editton,” Minho smiled cheerfully. “I’m Minho by the way,”

“Chuck. So Thomas?”

“Yeah, he’s an awkward yet surprisingly charming individual.”

The boy was downright frowning now.“I don’t know about the charming part…”

“Oh so you know him?” Minho whispered conspiratorially. “We kind of started dating by the second week of college, so any embarrassing stories you can spare? He has so much ammo on me because my friends insist on sharing every fail in my life, and I sort of need some, see?”

“I see,” The chubby boy seemed to be warming up to him and Minho looked into his soft brown eyes, feeling a famil—oh shit. Of all the people to spot him first, it had to be one of Thomas’ relatives.

“Well he has a terrible sense of fashion?”

“Oh boy am I well aware,” Minho looked around for his ‘boyfriend’ and seemed to spot Thomas the same time he did Minho. A quick look at Minho’s current talking companion and Thomas’ shoulders relaxed.

“What was that about?”

“Wants me suppressing my serial killer instincts,” Minho said without thinking.

“An inside joke I assume?”

“An inside one, yeah,” Minho laughed, but his eyes softened as he watched Thomas make his way towards them. “He’s something special that one…”

Chuck eyed Minho, “You really do know him, huh?” Minho pursed his lips, not sure what to say. “Well, as disaapointed I was at Thomas keeping you a secret for so long, I’m happy for you guys. Just be patient with him, okay?”

“Every day’s a struggle,” Minho joked, but Chuck didn’t seem to be teasing, so he quietened down.

“Thomas..he’s been through a lot, see. Teresa never believed him which is why that stain is here,” Chuck muttered darkly, “I guess I don’t have to tell you, cause you already know about the cheating and blaming and the..that.”

Apparently it was so bad, Chuck didn’t even want to say the word. From the titbits of what Thomas shared and his jumpiness, Minho gathered Gally must have been abusive in some way. He felt terrible for all the times he’d been impatient with Thomas’ intimacy issues.

“Honestly I didn’t think Thomas would ever get over it. I didn’t think he’d be able to trust anyone so soon…So thank you,” Chuck smiled softly. Minho didn’t know what to say so he just smiled back.

Minho stayed chatting with Chuck until a middle-aged woman joined them. Minho didn’t know what to make of this, but the look on Chuck’s face made him suspicious.

“You must be Minho I suppose. So what’s your major again?”

Minho was a bit taken aback by the swift jump in topic but he replied, “Yes, ma’am. I’m majoring in Kinesiology, specifically sports related. I’m…a part of the Varsity Track team but also taking a Minor in Art History,”

“Must be a struggle to balance so many things at once. College. Parties.” Okay definitely some scrutinizing happening.

“It was a challenge at first, yes. A lot of trial and error,” Minho smiled sheepishly, “but Thomas has been a huge part of why I found my balance…”

“Interesting…” the woman hummed and before she could get another word out, Thomas appeared it seemed out of nowhere.

“Mother!”

Minho froze. Oh shit. Luckily Mrs. Editton and Chuck were now focusing on Thomas, so he had a moment to adjust his expression.

“I-I guess you’ve met Minho then,”

“Seeing as you were going to take forever to do so, I thought to take the initiative,” she smiled. Minho couldn’t decipher if it was said in good faith, but it was definitely a tense one. Thomas fidgeted, inching towards Minho until it practically looked like he was hiding behind him.

“Are you surprised though,” Minho pitched in, wanting to save his pretend-boyfriend, “In his own words, Thomas is an awkward butterfly,” Minho commented dryly.

“It’s still a turtle, Minho!” Thomas rolled his eyes at him.

“But turtles are so plain. Butterflies are pretty. Wouldn’t you rather be pretty?” Minho said with fondness. Thomas had no right being this cute.

“I-uh..” Thomas stuttered, “I’m getting a drink—“

Minho snagged Thomas’ current wine glass. “Yes, thank you for getting me one,” he smirked as Thomas looked like he was two seconds from fleeing, consequences be damned. “Shall we?”

Thomas grabbed Minho and practically dragged him away.

“Good news is, Chuck survived my deadly charm—“ Thomas rolled his eyes, “—bad news is, you’re mom knows because of the way you were acting.”

“Yeah, yeah, so I’m not the smoothest cat in this game,”

“No. You’re a turtle.”

“What about butterflies? I thought turtles were ugly?” God help him, Thomas was actually pouting.

“You’re the one that wanted to be a turtle so bad,” Minho shrugged, leading him to the bar. “Oh good! Open bar,”

“Well now I can explore other options too, right? Should I get a beer?”

“You hated the beers, threw them out remember? Try the rum. No, no you peasant. The golden rum.”

“Mount Gay? You’re not as funny as you think, Minho.”

“Gay used to mean happy,” Minho shook his head, faking disappointment, “Besides, its expensive. Get it with coke though. You’re a lightweight.”

“When did you get so observant?” Thomas frowned but ordered Minho’s recommendation anyways. Minho avoided his stare, looking around the spacious lawn of the golf-course they were at.

“I think I found the groom,” he held Thomas by the elbow to a short freckled man with a polite smile.

“We didn’t talk about drinks,” Thomas insisted.

“Hush,”

“I—“

“Hi. I’m Aris,” A man wearing a hat that’s sign said: ‘Groom-To-Be’ In Case U Weren’t Sure’ walked up to them. “You must be Thomas and Meen-ho. Did I get that right?” he asked Thomas’ very real boyfriend.

“Good attempt! More like Min..like minutes. And Ho..like Christmas I guess,” Minho dimpled as Aris smiled widely. “Thank you for the suite the way. It’s quite generous.”

“Oh please!” Aris waved it aside, “You’re visiting family and immediate cousins. I do truly appreciate having you here, Thomas. I’ve heard so much.”

“Congratulations on getting married. Well..about to,” Thomas stated awkwardly. “Knowing Teresa there’s a running theme?”

“Yeah. ‘Expensive looking’,” Aris laughed at some inside joke they weren’t privy to. “Teal and white with ‘hints of blue’” he imitated Teresa so well, Thomas laughed.

“Sounds like Teresa,” Thomas shook his head. “Did she show you her album?”

“What album?” Aris looked intrigued.

“You don’t know?” Thomas turned to Minho including him into the conversation so he wouldn’t feel left out. “Teresa’s been building her ideal wedding since she was a ten I think. I didn’t get it personally…but I thought she’d at least use *some* of it for her actual wedding?”

“Ohh that album. No that’s more of portfolio…I’m surprised she didn’t tell you. Teresa’s a wedding planner.”

“Oh.” There was an awkward pause and Thomas looked at Minho to save him.

“The venue’s gorgeous!” was the best thing Minho could come up with. It didn’t help.

“We’re not actually that close…she’s closer to my ex. That’s who she probably told,” Thomas hunched his shoulders inward and Minho reached for his hand, squeezing it in assurance; it gave him a boost, “Well, same town so it’s expected right?”

Aris gave them a calculated look, smile dropping a little. “So you’re Gally’s ex.” Aris looked across the lawn, “Best not tell her about the room then…”

“Yeah,” Thomas said softly. He knew it, he ju—

“I’m sorry. About what happened between you two. I’ve tried, but she’s too close to him, she doesn’t see it. I apologize on her behalf,” he offered. Thomas was shocked.

“I like you, man!” Minho slapped Aris on the shoulder, grinning.

“Oh thank God, approval means sooo much to me! “You won’t believe how many people mentioned I’m shorter than her—like I don’t have eyes!” Aris was laughing now.

“I hear you dude. I may be the Varsity Captain but everyone needs that.”

“You’re a Captain? Urgh didn’t need to know that. If I saw a picture of you before, I would have said no because you’re upstaging everyone here!”

“Thanks for saying that,” Minho smirked, “Assurance is always good,”

“Doubtful my ass! He knows he’s hot,” Thomas interjected.

Minho slid an arm around Thomas’ waist and leaned in to kiss his cheek. He kept doing that—he kept being so sweet and it was muddling Thomas’ head.

Was it real? Was anything they did real? Did it matter? He had Minho here with him, right? Minho was his boyfriend right now, so he was allowed to do boyfriend things. Making up his mind, Thomas leaned against Minho’s front, grabbed his hand and zoned out of the conversation.

Minho would cover for him. — “Are you serious?” Minho’s disbelief broke Thomas out of his daze. He looked up at his boyfriend, then followed his line of sight, his own jaw dropping.

“What—“

“You try telling Teresa, dressing up like a fairy at the welcome brunch is a bad idea,” Aris didn’t even turn around, “She’s lucky I love her.”

Thomas snorted, he couldn’t help it. “You’re good for her,” he mentioned, when Aris turned towards him inquiringly.

Aris nodded and then a mischievous glint appeared and Thomas sensed trouble, “So when are you two getting married?”

“Wha—“ Thomas was speechless. Were they that good? At pulling this off? Why would—

“Hey, I mean bringing your boyfriend to any type of family gathering, but a wedding especially. I mean. That’s serious.”

Thomas felt faint.

“Woah, woah slow down,” Minho cut in. “Do you know how long it took Thomas to even decide to bring me along? He made three pros and cons lists! Three.”

“The first one was messy, I could barely read my own writing. So it doesn’t count,” Thomas pouted. This actually happened. He had after all freaked out after telling his mom he had a date.

“That’s because you’re writing is like chicken scratch,” Minho rolled his eyes. “Hey where’s your drink?”

“I forgot it somewhere. And no.” Thomas pointed to Aris. He held up his index finger. “Education first. Parents, second,” he pointed to Minho. “Family chemistry, third. Then fourth, marriage. Right babe?” Thomas looked up at Minho who opened his mouth but no words came out.

Aris looked between them and snickered. “Maybe ease off on the drinks, okay Thomas?”

“I think he’s tired from our trip,” Minho found his voice again. He smiled apologetically as Thomas nodded along. “Is it okay if we leave early?”

“Yeah, no worries.” Aris waved him off with a grin, “Just be there tomorrow.”

“I went through a painful process of getting us outfits for your events, trust me we won’t miss it,” Minho assured him, leading Thomas away. Thomas was clingy all through the car ride but the moment they stepped into the elevator he sighed.

“Thank God!! It was so boring. Two times she could have approached us and instead re-routed!”

“Rerouted..really, Thomas? What are you, a directions app?” Minho said as the elevator dinged, signalling their floor.

“You know what I mean!! And did you hear what he said? That if he’d seen a picture of you, he would have said no.”

“It was a joke,” Minho shook his head, swiping the key card.

“No. He stressed Minho. She protested me coming…” Thomas sighed. “What am I even doing here?”

“Showing off. That’s what you’re doing here.” Thomas glanced at him just in time to see Minho take off his jacket, walking towards him. “You’re here to show that the past is the past. That it hasn’t slowed you down.”

Thomas’ heart was hammering against his ribcage, Minho was so close. Decently close, not crowding close but his back was against the door and he had a crush on this guy, he was allowed to feel..whatever.

“You’ve upgraded.” Minho continued. “That you’re happy. You are, aren’t you? At college. With me?” Thomas gave a small nod, still not looking directly at Minho. “Shall we order your precious airplane snack cravings now?”

“I’m never living that down, am I?” Thomas sighed.

“What kind of a boyfriend would I be to just let it go,” Minho laughed.

“A GOOD one!!!”

— A/N: Hullo Lovelies!! Happy Happy New Year!! This chapter has been on my mind for forever and I’m glad I was able to finally complete it. it became a 3,500+ monster, so I’m stopping this chapter here for now, but moooore shenanigans ahead!! Like hmm..sharing a bed?

[dibidibifiction]

Criminal In My Mind: Chapter 8

Warning: foul language

Pairings: Choi Minho x Reader; Kim Jonghyun x Kim Kibum (side) Word count: 1.7k

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction made for personal entertainment of readers. The writer does not ever intend to offend her readers nor does she aim to spread false information about anyone as to pay any disrespect to the real-life persons whom the characters are based on. She also does not claim ownership to any of the images that are being used.

masterlist Chapter 7

MINHO

I can’t believe he’s still alive. I thought I saw him die. I was there when the building collapsed.

It was Min Hyunjae. It had to be him. I wasn’t mistaken. I’m not crazy. It was him who I saw on campus wearing a hood over his head. And now he’s here? What is he planning to do?

I was fine telling anyone about my childhood. However, what happened between age fifteen and seventeen is a mystery that everyone who knows me never knew came about.

It was the night of my fifteenth birthday at the orphanage and I had just blown out my candle. Bedtime arrived but I was still hoping for my wish to come true. Before I knew it, there was a knock on the window of my bedroom. Turns out it was my big brother, fulfilling his promise that he’d get me out of there. As history confirms, he was successful in doing so, and my wish came true. 

He was already part of the syndicate when he signed me in. I had no idea what it was for, but, at the time, I’d rather go anywhere but back to the orphanage. 

A few months later, new kids are all gathered up in a room to be taught how exactly to do the job. We were also trained to fight. And there, I met Min Hyunjae.

Hyunjae was my only friend. We were inseparable. Both of us were forced to be there and lure girls our age into that dingy old warehouse, where they would be kept captive in barrels and only the universe knows what was next for them. Hyunjae and I stuck together in doing the job. We would go to high school events and club parties to meet with innocent high school girls. We would be punished together every time we failed.

I still remember the night when Hyung brought a specific girl to the building who was quite younger than the ones we usually take in. It didn’t even look like she was a teenager then. Days had gone by when he decided that he couldn’t take it anymore. He told me his plan to call the authorities and escape together with Hyunjae. I was sure it had something to do with the girl, but he never told me what would happen to her if we didn’t go through with the plan. We just knew it was time. 

The night came when we finally put an end to everything. The building was surrounded by police cars. While Hyung was about to get Hyunjae and I was supposed to run to the exits, I decided on a different plan to save the girl. While I was running towards the exit gate with her hand in mine, I heard Hyunjae call out my name, weeping. 

“Hyung is gone,” he cried. As it seemed, my brother was drilled to death for being caught that he was the one who called the cops. Before we even anticipated it, a man grabbed Hyunjae from behind and took him back inside the warehouse. I had no choice but to run before other guys came for me too, dragging the girl with me. 

I successfully took her away from the building and made sure she got to the police’s hands safely. However, my job wasn’t done yet. When I was about to go back for Hyunjae, an explosion rang my ears deaf. Despite it, I still ran into the burning building. I tried to hold onto hope and look for him when a policeman grabbed me, got me under control, and took me into a police car. In that police car was her. 

I still remember the last words I said to her. I looked into her teary eyes and said, “Be safe, okay?” 

After a minute or two, I found an opportunity to run for it. 

I ran all night. I didn’t stop. I didn’t know how long I was running and how far I had come. Eventually, my legs started to tremble and I began to feel light-headed. While I was already trudging, a car hit me from behind, causing my internal bleeding and first life gone. The lady who was driving is now my mother.

. . .

“Here we are.”

I shake myself calm and collected as Y/n rings the doorbell of her parents’ house. I can already hear people jabbering from inside.

A tiny woman with wrinkled but flawless skin answers the door. I now know where Y/n got her cute height. “Oh, darling, it’s so good to see you!” She reaches out her arms to Y/n and gives her a kiss on the cheek.”

“Happy birthday, Mother,” Y/n smiles widely. “Oh, this is Choi Minho. He kindly drove with me all the way here because I was carrying a bag full of old clothes and a box of your heavy vases,” she laughs sarcastically.

“Oh, right, the box,” I just remember. “I’ll be right-”

“No, no, no,” Y/n’s mom insists. “Come on in. We’ll get that box later. Let me take this.” She takes the cake from my hands. “It’s very nice to meet you, Minho,” she looks up to me and smiles.”

“Pleasure is mine,” I smile back at her.

We’re now walking into the house, making our way across the living room, and stepping out to the garden. I watch the place from side to side, full of decorations. Balloons, banners, and not to mention, flowers in strings hung all over the walls besides already having various kinds planted along the grass. 

I’d say this is probably too much for a fifty-fifth birthday but it’s just light and elegant to look at. 

“Wow, this party is no joke,” I say to Y/n in full amazement. 

“Why, thank you for that wonderful compliment! I worked my ass off for this,” a light brown-haired man in a cerulean blue suit appears in front of us.

“Oppa!” Y/n calls out and throws the guy a huge hug. 

‘Oppa’? Who the fuck is this guy? Why do her friends all have to be guys? And why do they have to be so good-looking? Hmm, well, at least I’m way taller than him.

“I’ll leave you kids alone,” Y/n’s mom turns away from us to entertain her other guests.

Wait. I remember him. He was with Y/n and Kibum at the café the morning after she got drunk. I almost didn’t recognize him up close. Back then he had hair that was black and longer.

“Oppa, this is Minho,” she introduces me after their exchange of sweet laughter. “Minho, this is Kim Jonghyun. He’s one of our best friends from college and now Kibum’s fiancé.”

Oh. I process that for a moment. “Oh, hi!” I now show a genuine smile. “Congratulations.”

“Thanks, man! Come with me, let’s get something to drink.”

I look to Y/n, asking with my eyes if it’s okay to leave her for a bit. 

“Go ahead,” she mouths as Jonghyun is already pulling me with him towards the bar.

As we walk across the garden, here comes Kibum, whose hair is now darker and longer to the top of his ears.

“Look who’s here! If it isn’t Choi Minho,” he sounds like he had a lot to drink already. “Hey, babe,” he kisses Jonghyun on the lips, then turns to me.

“Hey, Kibum! Having fun, huh?”

“You bet. The drinks are amazing!” he shouts despite our close distance. “I’ll catch you guys later.” He waves flirtatiously at Jonghyun and makes his way to Y/n. Before I know it, they disappear into the crowd.

“Great party. It’s sweet of you to do this for Y/n’s mom,” I give Jonghyun my praise.

“Thanks. Professor by day, party planner by night.”

“Nice. What do you teach?”

“I teach Music and Song Writing at the state university,” he informs me. “I hear you’re an artist yourself. What do you study?”

“I major in Photography. I wouldn’t call myself an artist yet. I just started going to school a year ago.”

“That’s great. You should be proud,” he pats me on the shoulder.

I thought I was done being amazed by Y/n, but it’s no wonder why many people love her, who are just as warm as her.

Jonghyun and I continue to exchange topics about arts and music when a tall man, taller than me, with graying hair and a drink in his hand approaches us. 

“I hope I’m not interrupting.”

“Hello,” Jonghyun bows to him, greeting him formally.

“Thanks for the party, Jonghyun. These cocktails are great!”

“Not at all, Dr. L/n,” Jonghyun says. “Let me introduce you to my and Y/n’s friend, Choi Minho.” He then looks at me, “Y/n’s father is a surgeon.”

“A pleasure to meet you, doctor,” I shake the man’s hand, trying to decide whether to be delighted or intimidated.”

“I’ve heard a lot about you, Minho. Y/n calls us almost everyday and you’re all she talks about.”

I can feel my face flush. 

. . .

Time passes by slowly, only because I haven’t seen Y/n in a minute. I have to say, her parents are not as bad as she told me while we were in the car. Now that I’ve met them, I can’t imagine them as being strict and suffocating as she described. 

Y/n’s father just told me a funny story of how, one night, she came home drunk during her college days, she burst everything out to them. About how unhappy she was that they wouldn’t accept her for who she is. To this day, she doesn’t remember it and they’re trying to keep it that way. 

With a drink in my hand, I’m now just admiring her from afar talking to her parents and other guests. I really did make a good choice of helping her carry that big heavy box. Now, I just think, damn, she’s far more stunning than how I was imagining when I didn’t get to be with her in the last couple of weeks. I thought looking after her through her window is already enough, but now, I can’t help but want more of her. I’m more than happy and esteemed to enter her world and hopefully, eventually, I’ll be a part of it.

Chapter 9   

[dalamjisung]

a cliche for when you need one ❁ lee minho

genre: fluffiest fluff out there

word count: 3650

pairing: reader x lee minho

description: everyone needs a cliche in their life. Is that true?

Books were your life; and not to say that in a ‘quirky’ or ‘nerdy’ way, but in the most literal sense of all– books were your life. Your dad owned an independent book shop right under you guys’ apartment, and that was the only source of financial income you guys had. So yes. Books really were your life. It also didn’t help that you worked there every day after school and every afternoon on the weekends. The Literary Corner was never closed. 

To say you grew to love books was wrong; it felt more like it was engrained on your DNA. There was no way you could’ve come out not liking to read, and even if you did, you wouldn’t have much of a choice. Your dad didn’t have enough money to hire someone to work the store while he was gone, so he pretty much relied on you– not that you minded, of course. To work at the store meant that you had enough time to do your homework, and sit on the bay window, in between Fiction U-Z and Non-Fiction A-D. That was your favorite spot, especially in between the times of 4PM and 6PM, when the sun is low enough to shine that golden light it produces after a long, tiring day, warming to the heart, but carrying no actual heat at all. 

It was just one of those days; perfect weather, perfect feeling, perfect everything. You walk out through the gates of school feeling relieved– you couldn’t wait to sit on your window and read your brand new edition of if on a winter’s night a traveler. Italo Calvino was one of your favorite authors, and the sun that shone bright as you walked home would be the perfect company for a great read. You were excited to get home, chatting away with you best friend, Kim Seungmin. As weird as it sounds, you both met at the store, when he came in to buy the mandatory books for you advanced literature class, and that’s when you found out that he was a student in your school. Better yet, that you were in the same literature class.

“Did you see who’s getting transferred to our class?” Seungmin asks. “Professor Jeon said that he didn’t enroll to take them, but the principal thought that the other class was too easy for him…”

“I didn’t hear about any of this!” You gasp. “Who could it be? We didn’t really get new students this semester.”

“Rumor says it is one of the trouble boys,” He wiggles his brows and laughs. “Maybe one of them is secretly smart.”

“Pff,” You snort. “What a cliche.”

Laughing, you guys forget about the subject altogether. It was good that your school was starting to demand more from its students, but you really hoped it wasn’t the case Seungmin was talking about. You never had an encounter with one of those boys, and even though you hear plenty about them, you never cared enough to pay attention. The truth was that literature class was your favorite– one of the few things you were able to excel at school,– and you didn’t want someone who didn’t really care about it running it for you. 

“I have to go,” You point to the store. “But I’ll see you at school. And don’t forget that we have our scheduled movie night after my shift tomorrow!”

“How could I forget, Y/N?” He laughs and waves. “We have it every week.”

“Yeah, yeah,” You chuckle. “See you later!”

You take it all in as soon as you’re inside; the smell of books–your personal favorite– surrounded the place as if it owned it. Your dad ran past you, kissing your forehead and bidding you goodbye, as he was probably late for another date with his mysterious girlfriend. You smiled, shouting a ‘good luck!’ into the air as you watched him run with a bouquet of flowers. You walk behind the counter, already listing your daily tasks as you drop your bag on the floor. 

#1: Restock the best-sellers at the main door.

You walk to the table where a few books were missing and count them in your head, memorizing their names and authors, treating each one as a different person. You go to the back room and star collecting the necessary items. Enjoying while the store is empty and silent, you put some music on, allowing your earphones to drown the world outside into nothingness. 

#2: Put the disorganized books back into their place.

#3: Dust the shelves.

Humming, you were quick to get the job done. This was something that you did everyday, with the utmost care in the world. You liked getting home and doing your tasks; the repetitive actions turning into a natural de-stressor. 

#4: Count the cashier.

#5: Water the plants.

#6: Check stock.

And for your favorite part:

#7: Help Ms. Lee with her weekly search for a new book.

For the past five years Ms. Lee has come to the store in search of new books. They could be newly published classics or newly written contemporaries, she’d buy them all. She would come in and look at the book that you’d have in hand; I have a grandson, you see, she’d chuckle. A handsome boy, around your age, and he loves to read. What could you recommend, dear? 

For the past five years, you’ve been reserving two copies of the same books; one for you, and for Ms. Lee’s grandson. You started to adore the boy even without meeting him. As Ms. Lee would tell you what he said about the novels, you noticed you started having book debates with this boy through his grandmother, and you completely adored it, so you’ve started patiently waiting for her to enter the store, with the reserved book and a glass of water. 

As the door dings, you smile from where you’re crouching down behind the counter. You were working on a delivery package of three books and you were looking for boxes. 

“Good evening, Ms. Lee!” You say, smiling as you get up. Your smile was quick to shatter, though, noticing that the tall figure in front of you wasn’t the adorable old lady you were expecting. Well, it wasn’t a lady at all. “Oh?”

His mouth is covered with a black mask and he is wearing a beanie. His brows go up in surprise, probably from you popping up out of nowhere. You signal him to wait and walk to the front door, peeking outside in search of your customary client. Nothing. 

“Hm, excuse me?” You hear from the inside of the store. “Are you Y/N?”

You halt. How did this stranger know your name? You mind starts racing; your dad was occupied with his girlfriend and would take too long to come help if anything were to happen, same with Seungmin, and you were alone with this stranger who apparently knows who you are-

“I’m Ms. Lee’s grandson,” He chuckles. “She told me to look for you.”

Before registering what he said, your mind goes crazy. “Oh my, is she okay? Did anything happen?”

“She’s fine,” He says, and you notice he’s smiling because of his eyes; they were smiling too. “She’s just tired, so she sent me instead. I hope that’s okay?”

This is when it downs on you; this is the boy you’ve been admiring for the past five years. He was finally here. In person. Talking to you.

“Y-yes, of course!” You chuckle awkwardly. “… nice to meet you?”

“Yes,” He says pulling down his mask and he was indeed smiling. “Nice to meet you.”

“So,” You clear your throat. “What can I help you with?”

“Oh, yeah!” He digs inside his backpack and pulls out a sheet of paper. One that you were surprised to find out you knew too well. “I hope it’s not too much trouble, but I need those books.”

“Wait,” You frown. “You go to the school near the shopping mall? Just a few blocks away from here?”

“… yeah,” He frowns too. “How do you know?”

“I go there too,” You say, and your heart is beating rapidly. “I’m actually in this class.”

“Oh, how do you like it?” He asks leaning on the counter. His eyes are innocent and curious, just like a cat. “I’m being forced to switch, so I’m a little scared.”

“Don’t be,” You laugh ducking to pass under the counter and walk to the shelves where you knew those books laid. “It’s really fun. You clearly like reading, so I don’t think you’ll have any problem.”

“That’s good to hear.” He chuckles from behind you as he watched you struggle with a high shelf. “Let me help you.”

And you can just feel the warmth of his body as he stepped closer and grabbed the copy of harmless person to you by Choi. This collection of short stories was really dear to you, and you were happy to be able to discuss it in class. 

“I’ve read this before,” He mumbles. “It’s really good.”

“It really is,” You nod, and as you both fell in a rhythm, the comfortable silence accompanied. After a while, all books were pilled in the counter. “Finally done.”

“These are too many.” He groans, hiding his face in his hands. 

“I’m pretty sure you’ve read two thirds of these already,” You mumble, scanning all of the items. 

“How do you know?” His voice seems genuinely surprised.

“Because I have too,” You chuckle. You eyes travel to the copy of if on a winter’s night a traveler and you extend it to him. “Although I am pretty sure this one is new to you.”

“It is,” He checks the back. “I like some of his other works, though. The way he switches his style of writing even new book is amazing.”

“I know, right?” You squeal, a little to excited.

“How much for this one too?” He asks with a wide smile. So genuine, you think. 

“A present.” You say, blushing. “Consider it a present from me. See you tomorrow?”

“Definitely!” He grabs the bags. “Thank you Y/N!”

“No problem!”

And it’s only when he’s gone that you remember.

I didn’t even ask his name.

———————————

For the next day of school, you don’t wake up late. You wash your face for the first time forever and you take your time brushing your hair. It’d be stupid not to, now that you knew Ms. Lee’s grandson was in your class. 

“What are you doing?” You dad asks from the door, squinting his eyes. “Since when do you get all pretty to go to school?”

“I look the same, dad,” You laugh and somewhere in your mind you are sure you’ve read that conversation in a book. The character would later get ignored by her crush in school and bla bla bla. Just the thought of such cliche is funny to you, making you chuckle. “Come on, let’s eat.”

Every time you sat down to have breakfast, you thanked the lord for your dad’s girlfriend. She was an angel on Earth; always coming by to visit and check-up on you two, always making sure there was plenty of cooked meals in the house, since neither you or your dad were reliable enough to cook, always inviting you to come over and stay with them when your dad slept over and you were alone in the house. After your mom died, it took a while for you two to get back on your feet, but she helped. She was there first as a friend, and then as something more. You loved her for it. 

Your walk to school was more peaceful than usual; you had your earphones in, humming the same song you were before, back in the store when Ms. Lee’s grandson came in. You smile, unconscious of the fondness of the memory. A tap on your shoulder is enough to drag you out of the music induced trance you were.

“Hey,” You hear someone say– him say. “Going to school?”

“Hey!” You say excitedly, smiling wide. You put your earphone on your backpack, sure that you won’t need them now that you had company. “Yeah, why don’t you walk with me?”

“Sure,” He smiles. “My name is Minho, by the way. Lee Minho.”

Now that you knew this information, you chuckle. You’ve definitely heard of him before. Heartbreaker. Player. Lazy. All adjectives used to describe this one boy that now rambled on and on about the first three chapters of Italo Clavino’s book, and how the usage of the second person narrator was a fantastic choice to involve the reader into the plot. You nod, not actually listening to him, but knowing what he’s saying anyways, because you’d say the same things. When it came to books, you two always agreed.

“Are you even listening?” He laughs, poking you with his elbow. 

“Of course,” You blush a little. “Second person voice and all; great choice.”

“I was talking about coffee,” He says with wide eyes and a playful smile on his face. “Wow. You really weren’t listening!”

“What?” You panic. “I’m sorry! What about coffee?”

“Wanna grab some after school?” He says, straightening his back and clearing his throat. “I know a great place nearby the bookshop.”

“I wish I could,” You say and for the first time you cursed the moment in which you’d have to go straight to the store. “But I take over the store after school, everyday… my dad needs to do some things, so I try to help him out.”

“Oh I see,” His eyes lower to the ground and he kicks a pebble. “What if I brought the coffee to you? I can buy some and stay with you in the shop– I could even help out!”

“Really?” You say, impressed. Your mind travels to a parallel world, in which you and Minho work at the store together, laughing and talking about book all evening. And when the golden hour washes the place, you two sit at the bay window, and everything is just calm and beautiful and golden. “I’d love that, thank you.”

“Great!” He says excitedly. “It’s a date then.”

And the rest of the walk goes by peacefully quiet. Just you two and the early birds chirping. Today was bound to be good– you could feel it.

Classes came and went, lunch too, and it was time for your final class of the day– advanced literature. You were excited because of the new vibe that would wash over the room today, Minho being a new factor into the dynamics of the place. You were all there except him, but he makes it seconds before the teacher, and sits way in the back, ignoring all the swooning girls that waved at him. You chuckle, but it doesn’t escape you the fact that he ignored you too. 

During class, he doesn’t say a thing, and you would be lying if you said you weren’t disappointed. You thought he’d be different. What is wrong with me?, you think, rubbing your eyes. That’s such a cliche thing to think. You force your attention back to the teacher, and you remember absolutely nothing from the lesson except the moment that the bell rang. It made you jump from your seat and you heard someone snickering. You turn to Seungmin and see him holding his laugh in.

“Idiot,” You mumble, holding your laugh too. He get’s up but you hold him by the hand. “Oh, wait up really quick, I need to talk to someone.”

You turn around and see Minho looking at you. You smile and start walking to him.

“Minho,” You call, but he speed walks past you, his shoulder bumping into your and making you lose your balance for a second. Seungmin is quick enough to push you forward, stoping you from falling on your ass.

“What was that?” Seungmin asks as you two walk out the school. “Lee Minho. You know him?”

“Yeah,” You mumble. “We walked to school together and he was pretty nice. Maybe I said something to offend him?”

“I doubt it,” Your friend says and that was it about it. You two talked about anything and everything, but Lee Minho. You felt confused, and a little hurt; your fantasies shattering to the ground as you walked home. 

You barely noticed the bookshop showing up in your line of vision, and you definitely didn’t see the boy sitting down on the curb, with two cups of coffee in hand. 

“Y/N,” Seungmin says, stopping in his tracks. “Is that Lee Minho?”

Your head whips around and your eyes adjust to the image really quick. He wasn’t in his school uniform anymore; his hair was hidden under a beanie again and the glasses were back. He looked cold, breath coming out in small puffs, and jacket seeming to flimsy to handle the weather. 

“Yeah, that’s him…” You say, starting to walk to where he was. “I’ll see you later?”

“Call me right after this is done,” He says winking at you. “I wanna know everything.”

“Just… no.” You laugh as he whines. “Go home, Minnie. I’ll talk to you later.”

“You know what?” Seungmin says with a smile that you’ve known to cause trouble. “I don’t think I’ll be able to make it to movie night tonight… oh too bad, don’t rush him have fun bye!”

And before you could complain he runs away laughing like a maniac. Shaking you head your best friend’s antics, you go to where the root of your confusion was, trembling from the cold.

“Why are you outside?” You chuckle, feeling slightly awkward. “The place is open.” “I thought that if I was inside you wouldn’t be able to see me,” He sniffs. “And you would’ve thought I bailed on you. Which I didn’t.”

You were speechless at this point. “This makes no sense,” You say, brows raise. “I hope you know that.”

“I had a feeling you’d say that,” He laughs. “Let’s go inside and talk, yeah?”

Shaking your head, you walk in first, dropping your bag at the counter. 

“Give me five minutes,” You say, walking to the back where the stairs to your place were. “I just need to change real quick.”

Uniform discarded, and sweatshirt and jeans replacing them, you walk down, putting your hair up and making your daily mental list. 

“Okay,” You say, grabbing the coffee he got for you. “Thanks. Let’s talk after I finish the tasks? They take around thirty minutes…”

He shakes his head. “I want to help.” And that was it.

He checks the inventory while you reorganized the books. He dusted the shelves as you counted the cashier. You water the plants together, and it’s low-key adorable. Once you are done, twenty minutes later, the coffee is cold and the weather is unforgiving. There is no golden sun illuminating the store, and there is no peacefulness in the bay window. There is only rain and thunder, but Minho still insists in sitting and watching the water pour down from the skies. 

“I love rainy days,” He sighs. “They are perfect for reading.”

“I hate it,” You chuckle. “I don’t like thunders.”

“Are you scared?” He teases you, and open his arms wide. “You don’t have to be when I’m here. I can protect you.”

“Says the guy that almost pushed me to the ground today!” You gasp, laughing. You didn’t take it to heart, really; you were sure he had an explanation, but if he could tease, so could you. 

“What?” He shouts, looking actually surprised. “When?”

“After class, but it’s okay, I didn’t fall.”

“No, it’s not okay,” He says making a face. “Are you alright? I’m so sorry, it was an accident.” And you just let your head fall to the side in a sign of confusion. “But I called your name…”

“I had my music on,” He chuckles, clearly embarrassed. “As soon as the class finished I put them on. I was on a hurry to get home, change, and buy the coffee before you got home. I wanted to get here first.”

“Oh,” You say, face blushing and smile wide. “Well, this is definitely a surprise.”

“I’m also sorry about kind of ignoring you in class, I guess,” He mumbles looking to his coffee. “I just… I get a lot of shit in school. My friends and I, I mean, and I just didn’t want people to bother you too, if they saw you talking to me and all…”

“Oh my gosh, Minho,” You whine loudly, laughing right after. “That is such a cliche!”

He smiles. “I can be a cliche,” He says leaning forward, just a few centimeters from your face. “Whenever you need one.”

You squint your eyes, and quickly kiss his cheek. “I don’t know when I’ll need one,” You say watching him gasp with your bold move. “But sure.”

“I’m in love,” He says dramatically, and you squeal.

“SO CHEESY!” You shout, laughing and stomping your foot on where both of you sat. “Look, look! I have the chills, that was so bad!”

“There is so much more from where that came from,” He laughs, pulling you by the ankles, making you slide close to him. He kisses your forehead and you cannot stop laughing. “I read a lot, you know?”

“Oh my god,” You hide your face on his chest. “Stop. I need to breath.”

And that was how the afternoon went by. Minho would keep blurting out romance novels cliches and you’d laugh and run away from him, as he chased you with open arms, ready for when you decided to run to him. 

He was right, after all. Everyone needs a cliche once in a while… and he was yours. 

[jaebaebie]

Why Us? Why Now? Why Ever?

In a post apocalyptic world where walkers took over the living, Era realised that she was different from every one else. Wanting to uncover the reasons to her differences, she embarked on a journey to the West where she met a few Strays,, including a man named Hwang Hyun Jin who, just like her, was cold, hot headed, and full of distrust. She thought they would never get along, but what happens when the two cold hearts start to melt?

STRAY KIDS ZOMBIE AU // WUWNWE MASTERLIST 

Chapter 6 ~ “Run Run Run Run..”

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To say I was disgusted was an understatement. His voice echoed in my head, repeating it more than necessary and making my stomach turn into a nervous knot. He spoke to me as if he knew me, the familiarity in his eyes easily noticeable. But I didn’t know who he was. If I had met him in the past I would’ve easily recognised him simply because his face was just too hard to forget.

We carried on with our hunt once the three uninvited guests were out of our sight. Levi and I entered one of the smaller stores, separated from the rest as they explored another store nearby.

“What was that about?” He asked me, looking through a cabinet of medications. The pharmacy store we were in was surprisingly stocked with a decent amount of medical supplies,, including antibiotics and ibuprofen which tend to come in handy.

I shrugged my shoulders as he passed me a box of pills. Stuffing it into my bag, I replied, “I don’t know. I’ve never met him before.”

I’ve only heard stories about the Right Arm from one of my previous camps,, the one who threw me to a hoard of walkers. Horrifying stories that emphasised how inhumane and evil they were. Despite having the number advantage earlier on, I still felt intimidated by the smaller group.

Levi opened his jaw to say something, only for him to shut it when Minho’s shouts from outside startled us.

We raised our brows, confused as to what the commotion was about. Minho was out on the pavement, both his hands in his hair as he glared at the end of the street,, fuming in anger.

I stepped out of the store, following his gaze. He was staring at our army van driving off. All five of us were here, there was no one who could’ve possibly taken it.

“The assholes stole our fucking ride!” Minho cursed, ruffling his hair in frustration.

While Minho explained to the others, my focus remained on the army van which had made a U-turn at the end of the road, driving back in the direction towards us.  The thieves were coming back for us...?

All my hope was thrown out of the window when my eyes landed on the same man in the passenger seat. His lips curled into a smirk as his eyes playfully narrowed on me. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion as they drove past us, the sound of the cars motor roaring in my ears. Hawkeye gave me a wave, bidding me goodbye as a rifle peeked out from the back window of a car.

“Get down!”

Before I could react to the repeating cracks of the gun being fired, I was knocked off of my feet and sent crashing into the shelves behind me. I cursed, feeling an ache spread on my lower back as I tried to catch my breath. When I opened my eyes, I met Hyunjin’s brown ones and he immediately dragged me behind the counter, barely avoiding a bullet to my leg.

Shot were being rained upon us, shattering the glass windows of the shop which sent glass shards dropping on us. Hyunjin buried me into his chest, shielding me from the flying shards as I covered my ears, hoping the block the immense volume of the gun shots.

It lasted for a long minute before the sounds of shots were finally silenced. Hyunjin pulled away, sending a short look towards my direction before he jumped out of our hiding. He sprinted back onto the road, holding his gun out as he prepared to shoot. But the army van had already gone too far, leaving us in a shaken and panicked state.

Hyunjin groaned in frustration, watching as the van drove away. Once I had calmed down enough, I straightened myself out, checking on everyone.

“Is everyone okay?” I asked, sighing in relief when I saw Han and Minho emerge from the back of a run down truck with a thumbs up.

“Well, that was fun.” Levi remarked, coming up from behind me. His face had a few, small cuts,, probably from the flying glass shards.

“Hyunjin, you’re bleeding.” Han pointed towards Hyunjin’s side, just below his rib cage, revealing a torn part of his shirt and the patch of red that seeped through it.

“It’s nothing. The bullet just skimmed it.” Hyun Jin replies, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly,

“Their aim was just as bad as Era’s reflexes.”

I bit my lower lip, giving him an apologetic and worried look. He got hurt pushing me out of the way because I was stuck in a trance, unable to react quick enough. But of course, Hyunjin wouldn’t be Hyunjin if he didn’t respond with his classic eye roll.

The multiplied groans of walkers filled our ears, snapping us out of our little conversation. Sounds attracted walkers out of their hiding no matter what time of the day it was. And the gun shots that were fired just minutes before were surely and effectively very loud. If their shots didn’t kill us, then the large hoard of walkers would.

“Run Run Run Run..” Han repeated as our legs took off into a sprint. The walkers snarled, following immediately judging by the thundering footsteps behind us.

Han grabbed my hand, forcing me to match my pace (nananananana na na na nana) with his much faster one and we slipped past the gates into an alley just before Hyunjin and Minho slammed it shut.

The cyclone gates rattled as the walkers rammed against it, slipping their arms through the small holes and clawing at Minho, Han and Hyunjin who tried their best to keep it shut. It wasn’t long until five walkers accumulated into many more, causing the three guys at the gate to struggle holding them back.

The walkers at the gate weren’t our only problem as more appeared from the corner of the alley we were in.

I dodged one with the help of Minho’s warning, driving my dagger through it without any hesitation. Levi did the same, shooting any of the walkers that ran towards us.

The guys were straining to keep the gate closed, their shoes dragging along the rough cemented floor. The walkers managed to create a small opening in between the gates, one of their heads popping through and snapping towards Hyunjin.

I raised my gun, panicked. I hadn’t shot a gun in months and Hyunjin’s head was just too close along my aim for my comfort. The walker managed to squeeze half of its body through, flailing its arms around.

Just as it managed to grab Hyunjin’s arm, I pulled the trigger unknowingly, only realising that I had finally taken a shot when I felt my arms buzzing from the recoil. It went directly through its head, causing the walker to go limp and allowing the three to close the gap.

“You guys have to go! We’ll hold them back for as long as we can!” Hyunjin yelled amidst the chaotic moans and screeches of the walkers.

My eyes widened, “Are you crazy? Hell no! That’s insane!” I exclaimed back, shooting another shot just beside Minho’s face as a walker’s teeth came into view.

“Now’s not the time to be nice, Era! Clear the way for us and fucking go! We’ll be right behind you!”

My jaw dropped, finding his idea unbelievable. We had a better chance fighting the walkers as five than three. My eyes met with Han’s and I was reminded of his promise. How they’ll protect me. How they’ll put their lives before others. This was what he meant, and I was just not used to it. Han broke our eye contact as he turned to Levi, “Take her with you. We’ll follow after.”

Levi nodded, grabbing my arm as he began pulling me with him. I stared at the three guys apologetically, shooting one last shot at the gate before Levi and I took off running deeper into the alley.

We did as we were told, shooting any walker that came along our way to make sure that the guys we left behind would have a clear path to run into. Once they let go of the gates, they would have no time to deal with other walkers in their path because they had a whole lot of other hungry corpses running after them.

I didn’t look back, making sure I didn’t lose sight of Levi and also because I didn’t want to see a deserted alley without the three we had just left behind for our own sakes.

Like I said, this world made you selfish.

So unbelievably selfish.

Just as we thought we cleared the path enough, Levi turned at a corner, immediately sliding into a stop with the sound of his shoes dragging onto the floor.

“Holyy Shit—“

[theonlysoph]

SKZ Reaction to Meeting You for the First Time

Request: “So this one might be a little harder and/or longer. Pick your favorite group to write about right now and write your favorite 'first meeting' interaction with each of them. Make it fun for yourself~ “

Note: I’m so sorry this took so long !!  I’m trying to write more but there’s so much going on and I’m working more than ever. Please be patient if you want to request :) Also I added Woojin as a bonus cuz a bitch is still hurting hehe

Masterlist        Request

~~~~~

Chan

You had been invited out with some friends to celebrate one of their birthdays. You walked around saying hello to everyone and occasionally being pressured to take a drink or shot, not that you would say no anyways. Tonight was about celebrating! You continued making your rounds until you came across someone who didn’t look familiar. 

“Hi I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Y/N,” you smiled. 

Chan reached his hand out while responding, “I definitely would have remembered if I did.”

After introducing yourselves, you flirted back and forth a little more equally attracted to each other. There was no denying that Chan was an easy person to talk to. But it wasn’t long before a friend pulled you away to go drink with her instead. You gave a quick sorry and silently prayed that you would get to talk to Chan again soon. 

You met again later in the night when both of you were at the height of your drunkness. Some mutual friends suggested that you all play truth or drink. When it became Chan’s turn he was asked who the prettiest person in the room was. Without hesitation your name fell out of his mouth.  

Minho

JYP announced that they wanted to put together a stage to showcase the company’s overall talent in idols. You had been asked to choreograph a couple dance with none other than Lee Know from Stray Kids. You had admired the boy’s talent and only ever heard good things about him from other staff. Even knowing that didn’t relax your nerves when you walked into the practice room. Minho was already there shuffling through his phone’s playlist for the song that the company had sent him.

“Um hi,” you properly greated Minho. Your group hadn’t met Stray Kids yet and you wanted to leave a good first impression.

“Oh you must be Y/N from (group’s name),” a smile graced Minho’s face once he got a better look at you. “And the main dancer I’m assuming.” You nodded. “Great! Let’s get started?”

The two of you danced and choreographed for the rest of the day, and pretty far into the night. During your breaks you talked a little and got to know each other. You told yourself it was so that the two of you would have great chemistry when the showcase finally came around, but you also knew that wasn’t the whole truth.    

Changbin

Your leader politely knocked on the door to one of your senior idols so that you could introduce yourselves as a new group. You were about to lose it because you were going to meet Stray Kids, and most importantly Changbin. He had been your bias since their first show, something about his swagger on stage made you head over heels. You held onto one of your group members, realizing that you were finally going to be in the same room as the group you loved so much. 

From the moment you stepped in the room you tried so hard to keep from staring too long at any of the boys, but your eyes still managed to land on Changbin over and over. When your group finished introducing yourselves, Chan being a dad mentioned that a few of the members were actually really excited to meet your group. Minho lightly pushed Changbin with a snicker which earned him a glare from the younger. Your leader seeing this laughed and replied that you were a huge Stray Kids fan as well.

“Hopefully we’ll be seeing more of each other,” Chan smiled. Right as he said this you and Changbin made eye contact for the first time since entering the room.

Hyunjin

You and a friend made the long drive to go to the boy’s fan sign and concert. With enough confidence for the both of you, your friend went first. Trailing behind, you made your way down the line greeting each boy and telling them how much they meant to you in the few minutes you had with each of them. At the very end sat Hyunjin. 

“Hi,” he softly smiled. You could feel your heart almost stop when his eyes landed on you. 

“Hi you’re group means so much to me and I never thought I would get the chance to meet you and there’s so much I want to say but Korean isn’t my first language but I’m so so happy to finally meet my ultimate bias.” Of all the possible reactions you could have had you didn’t expect to word vomit and make a fool of yourself. You turned red with blush, and looked down, not able to face Hyunjin after what you just did.

What happened next was just as much as a shock. Hyunjin took your hands in his and encouraged you to look at him.  

“Thank you for the kind words. If I knew I was going to meet an angel today I would have prepared something more for you.”

Jisung

You were beyond late for your flight back to the US, and trying so hard not to completely lose it in the line for security. There were only a few more people in front of you then you could sprint to your gate and catch your flight. Easy. Right as you were about to go up to the teller he signalled someone else to his little podium. There were 8 boys who looked around your age and a few other older looking people, all presenting their passports and walking over to security. You were livid.

Fast forward, you had spent the better part of an hour trying to find an affordable flight home, with no luck. You could have just been on time, but if those damn people didn’t cut in front you wouldn’t have missed your flight. You tried speaking to one of the attendants at the desk explaining again that you couldn’t afford the next plane out, when you heard a familiar voice. Speak of the devils.

“I don’t mean to listen but weren’t you in line at security?” You gave Jisung a blank stare, that probably came off really bitchy. “I just wanted to offer to buy your ticket since I’m guessing we made you miss it.”

Felix

Felix walked into the dog cafe and quietly checked to see if his regular table was available. He was a little disappointed to see that it was being occupied by a pretty girl he had never seen before. You were busy playing with a few of the puppies that you didn’t notice the handsome boy looking your way. Deciding it was better not to bother you, Felix instead sought out the golden retriever that he had grown so fond of.

Hours passed for each of you without acknowledging the other’s existence. Every now and then you may have shared a glance, and you both found the other attractive. It wasn’t enough for either of you to do anything more than smile. But luckily that didn’t last long.

All it took was for one of the puppies to grab and run off with your purse. Luckily Felix was able to catch her before she could begin teething and ripping your bag. You apologized, though you weren't exactly sure for what, and graciously took back your belonging.   

In the end it was Felix who took the risk in asking your name and where you were from. You both left the cafe that day smiling, and looking forward to the next time you would meet.   

Seungmin

Your friends had been bothering you to try dating more. It wasn’t that you were opposed to it, you just didn’t see a point in putting so much effort into someone who turned out undeserving. But finally had enough you agreed to ONE blind date set up by your friends. 

The day came and you could not have been more annoyed. No part of you wanted to go on this date but you made a promise and you weren’t a horrible person (though it did cross your mind to stand your date up). Despite your sour mood you got dressed up in a cute little outfit and went. You waited at a nearby park your friends told you to wait at. The only other information they had given you was a name, but how could they expect you to know who Seungmin was?

Only a few minutes had passed before you heard someone call your name. You turned around and saw a puppy-dog looking boy making his way to you, with a huge smile on his face. “Hi Y/N, I’m Seungmin! (Your friend’s name) set us up today.” You greeted him with a smile. 

Jeongin

You had always been at the top of your class, and being the new student it wasn’t very easy for you to make real friends. You didn’t mind too much, soon you would be at university and things would be different. In the meantime, you were just trying to graduate and fly under everyone’s radar. 

After class one day one of your teachers asked if they could talk to you. They explained that they had a student who was really struggling, and since you were doing so well, they wanted to know if you would be willing to tutor. You masked your grief with a smile and said yes. The teacher introduces you to Jeongin, and you two quickly exchanged numbers. 

“Thank you again for doing this,” Jeongin said. “It’s just hard to keep up with everything when I have to work all the time. But I promise I won’t waste your time.” 

You guys made plans for your first tutor session then went on your way. You went home curious about Jeongin, you didn’t even know he went to your school. So you looked him up hoping to find his instagram or something. When Stray Kids pop up you fell in a deep rabbit hole but one thing was for sure, Jeongin was the cutest member.

Bonus: Woojin

Woojin had gone to the beach in hopes of clearing his mind. So much had begun to take a toll on his metal health in the past few months. He was bursting at the seams and thought it was best if he could run away, even just for a little bit. He didn’t expect to run into someone else who looked just as lost as he did. 

You sat down on a bench not too far from Woojin, though you didn’t really register his presence at the otherwise empty beach. But the longer you sat out staring at the crashing waves didn’t help at all. It was nice and relaxing, but your thoughts were a war zone making you tear up. There were just too many thoughts in your head to really pay attention to what was happening in the real world in front of you.

A voice startled you saying, “I hope you make it through whatever is eating at you.” It took you a second to realize that it was the same man that was sitting a few feet away. He held a small flower in his outstretched hand and waited for you to take it. 

[kachuwritings]

A Night to Remember

a/n: It is finally here; my Stray Kids Halloween special,,,5 days too late. I’m sorry, real life got in the way, I procrastinated like mate, stop procrastinating and I underestimated the amount of work this would cost me. With that being said, I worked my ass off for this special and i hope you all like it since I put my blood, sweat and tears into this. <3

word count (all 9 parts): 11.5k

main part: 1.8k+

summary: A story in which Stray Kids take you to a Halloween-themed amusement park on the night of October 31st and there’s different kinds of attractions you can go on. This is a 9 part series with this here being the main part and one part for each member. In the end, click on the attraction you want to go on and get your date with a surprise member.

=> moodboard credit to the lovely @marriael who made it specially for this series.💖

It was definitely a Halloween spent differently this year. No trick or treating, no giving out candy, no dressing up or Halloween parties since this time your friends decided to take you out on a trip to a Halloween-themed amusement park on the spooky night of October 31st. Claiming they wanted to make the first Halloween they get to spend with you special and a night to remember, whatever that was supposed to mean. Literally the only information they gave you regarding this trip was that it’s going to be at night and they had promised it to get spooky but the latter just sounded like an empty threat to you. After all, you knew your friends, and they were bigger cowards than you, yourself, especially the one whose looks resembled a squirrel.

Apart from squirrel boy there was also a sneaky one who seemed to be attached to squirrel boy in your group of friends, an overly enthusiastic yet sleep-deprived leader, an ethereal, gorgeous angel you still weren’t sure was actually human, then this small bean who claimed to be dark and intimidating, though everyone could see he was actually quite the opposite of it, his freckled best friend with the voice of a demon, an innocent-looking boy who could roast you better than any BBQ ever would, and not to forget the braces-wearing baby. And now, tell me again you weren’t at least a little bit worried about what’s going to happen tonight. They could’ve at least provided you with the name of the amusement park or its location but as soon as you asked, Chan only replied to you in a suggestive whisper, saying it was a secret.

What had you gotten yourself into?

Hyunjin texted you this morning to be at their dorm at 6pm, so you still had enough time for the one-hour long drive, and now that you were standing in front of their door, you already felt the excitement bubbling inside of you. Sure, you’ve been to amusement parks before but never at night and on top of that on Halloween. You had sworn to yourself to kick the butt of whoever was going to scare you, no exceptions made.

Not long after you knocked on the door, footsteps could’ve been heard from inside the room, approaching the door. A tall boy with messy black hair revealed himself after opening the door to let you in. He looked classy and fashionable even in a simple black and white striped sweatshirt and grey sweatpants. His hair seemed to still be somewhat wet since you could see little droplets of water glistening among the mess of black strands.

“Good evening, Hyunjinnie.” You smiled, lifting your hand up to ruffle through his messy and still slightly wet hair, making the boy giggle.

He reciprocated your smile and greeted you as well, following you into the living room of their dorm, after you disposed of your shoes next to the door, where you then plopped down comfortably to wait for them to get ready.

While you made yourself comfortable and fetched your phone out of your bag, Hyunjin disappeared into the kitchen just to appear next to you seconds later again with a glass and a bottle of water, which he both placed on the coffee table right in front of you, before heading in the direction of their rooms and the bathroom, getting ready himself, or so you assumed.

“You guys are worse than girls getting ready for prom. We’re going to a Halloween-themed amusement park and not a catwalk…or wait, are you now telling me you’ve played me and we’re heading somewhere completely different?” You rambled on as they finally showed up in the living room, all styled and ready to leave.

“First of all, hey!! We’re not worse than girls,” Changbin pouted.

“Exactly. And no, don’t worry. We’re taking you to that amusement park for sure.” Though something about Minho’s smirk while saying that made you worry after all.

The drive to that ominous location where the amusement park was supposed to be located at turned out to be funnier than expected and it actually calmed your nerves down a lot, almost to a point where you laughed about yourself for thinking those eight dorks would really try to scar you for life. You were all listening to the whole I am YOU album, which they had just dropped around a week ago and jamming along to all the songs. Jeongin was a smiley baby as always and screamed the song lyrics together with Jisung while Felix sang everyone’s part in his deep voice with Changbin, Hyunjin and Seungmin trying to imitate him. Minho looked at them in amusement, though with a raised eyebrow and then gave you a look that equalled an eye-roll, to what you grinned back at him. Sure, it was loud inside the van but it was also a blast and everyone seemed to get more than hyped for an unforgettable night.

Finally, the van that Chan was driving came to halt and you looked out of the window to discover that you actually headed to an amusement park, its name already visible from afar due to the huge, ascending neon sign on top.

Scream Shadow Land, it read.

‘Sounds promising,’ you thought with a hint of sarcasm.

Chan, who had already climbed out of the van from the driver’s seat, shooed everyone out and guided you to the entrance. The big neon sign gave the surroundings a light orange glow which made you think of pumpkin soup, or maybe it was all the pumpkins standing around as decoration that suddenly made you feel hungry.

After Mr. Bang was so nice to pay for everyone’s entrance tickets, you entered the big park and came to an abrupt halt after walking through the gates. The park looked huge and there were so many attractions, you didn’t even know which one to go on first.

“It's beautiful, right?” Chan suddenly appeared next to you.

“Yes, it's mind-blowing. Thank you for taking me here.” You replied in awe.

The park was lit up by all the attractions and streetlamps, there were even glowing pumpkins standing around. It wasn't packed but there were definitely quite some people who wanted to spend their Halloween night the same way as you planned to.

“You need to keep an eye open, y/n, sometimes they try to scare you and suddenly jump out from a dark corner in a creepy costume.” Jisung advised you with a grin.

“And if you're not careful, they'll kidnap you and bring you to their dungeons.” Minho chimed in from the other side next to you.

“Guys, are you trying to scare me now because you’ve realized this amusement park is rather beautiful than scary?”

“We might,” Seungmin whispered into your ear, making you turn around hasily, slightly startled at him standing right behind you all of a sudden.

“Jesus, don't give me a heart-attack, Minnie.” You exclaimed while dramatically clutching your chest.

“I want to ride the roller coaster,” Jeongin whined from a few feet away from you.

“I'll pass,” Jisung gulped, getting reminded of that time they went to an amusement park during their reality show.

“C'mon guys, let's get going!” Chan announced, signalling the rest of you to finally get away from the entrance and start the adventure.

“Since we came here to surprise y/n, they can choose what ride they want to go on first and then we'll just see who'll go with them, okay?” Changbin suggested, giving you the opportunity to choose freely.

Now that made you nervous. Not the part that you could choose, that was awesome, but the part when he said that someone would join you then. Of course you silently hoped for a special someone but how big was the chance to pick exactly the one ride he wanted to go on, too? 1 in 8, so you had to choose wisely.

You were here with eight dorky but wonderful guys and you would've been lying if you said they didn’t make your heart beat faster. After all this time you had spent over at their dorms as their friend, you felt so close to each and everyone of them though there was this one member you had always felt a bit different around. You didn't want to admit it at first but over time you had to be true to yourself and give in to your growing crush on him. Whenever it was the two of you alone, you felt your heartbeat speed up and your hands getting shaky. When he touched you casually or brushed his hand against yours, a wave of electricity shot through your whole body, and someday, all of these signs became so painfully obvious that you had to admit it to yourself.

“Look at all those attractions! Which do you want to ride first?” Chan asked you, inspecting your profile from the side and unknowingly shaking you out of your little reverie.

You did look at them. But how on earth would you be able to choose. There were at least eight different attractions that piqued your interest.

There was a dark and huge building if you took the path to the far left, it was clad in spider webs and looked really spooky. In front stood a person dressed in a skeleton costume with a scythe and there was a pool with blood red water right next to the entrance from which green light and a lot of smoke came out. Next to it was a similar building but instead of an actual haunted house it looked more like a dark ride. It had drawn ghosts all over the façade and seemed inviting for a little spook. You weren't really sure which scared you more though. If you took the path right in front of you there was a huge carousel with three different floors first and right behind it you spotted two tall towers, one being a gyro tower and the other one a drop tower. Those attractions seemed more or less harmless and fun. Last but not least there was also a path to the right which led you to a roller coaster and a swing ride. If you followed the path even further it would lead you more into the centre of the park where the giant and cliché Ferris wheel was located, from which you could see all over the whole park and even more. You were beyond amazed by all these attractions.

“Which one do you choose?” Felix beamed his contagious smile at you, tearing you out of your thoughts.

“Uhh... I think, I choose…”

Roller Coaster | Haunted House | Drop Tower | Gyro Tower | Dark Ride | Ferris Wheel | Swing Ride | Carousel

“Oh really? I want to go there, too!!” A familiar voice sounded from next to you.

“Alright, let's pair up and meet here again in two hours!” And with that, everyone went their own ways in pairs.

[rkjei]

   WELCOME TO THE MGAS   //   episode five       . .       #4011  -  김진희.*  KIM JINHEE.     ━━━━━━       .   .   .     HATE MONSTER, 4MINUTE x EXO                   TEAM STYX.

this round, jei’s just full of mixed feelings.

on the one hand, there’s the bitter taste of failure.  it sinks into her bloodstream like a poison when she hears that they’re in the bottom for their performances this week, which means that someone is going home.  jei can only hope that it’s her, that none of the boys on her team have to suffer such a cruelty when they just want to follow their dreams.  this is their dream, it isn’t hers.  life though, is cruel - or maybe the judging panel is crueler.  how can they say that she has more talent than jeno does? how do they decide the tipping scale of who has more talent than another?

it’s frustrating, and terribly so, but jei can’t say anything at all.  the only reaction she has is a tight pull of a frown on her lips and the way her brows knit together when jeno says goodbye to them one last time.  if it was up to her, this wouldn’t be happening.  if it was up to her, she’d be the one running free and he’d be the one staying to try another week.  after all, that’s what jeno wants.  it seems that in this world, what you want isn’t what you get.  

so why does anyone do it? why make it a dream if all anyone does is get hurt on the path to victory? she seems to answer her own question, though - after all, jei’s never been one to take the easy path.  if she’s a fighter for the things she wants, it makes sense that others would be, too.  

for this, though? this isn’t a future jei has in mind, so it’s not something she wants to fight for.  for all of jei’s devotion to her teams and making sure they try and get to safe places just because she doesn’t want to hold them back, it wasn’t enough.  whether or not she wants this for herself, she still wants it for them.  and that’s why it hurts, indefinitely, to see jeno walking from the stage and even after as the new teams are announced and she’s expected to go through this all again for one more week.  hopefully, just one more.

and it’s on the other hand that there’s familiarity.

perhaps it’s a small reprieve, a little bit of mercy after two weeks of being thrown into the fires with people unknown.  this time, for the first time in the entire competition, she’s been given someone she at least had the pleasure of an acquaintanceship with, and also - another girl, which would have been enough to make her content in and of itself. being given both feels a bit suspicious, like icing too sweet on a cake but jei has learned to take her blessings while she can on this show.  

it’s only afterwards that jei realizes that it’s odd, considering she never really thought of anything on the mgas being a blessing in the first place.  then she remembers sungwoon, hyunjin, and everyone else on her previous teams.  oddly, jei thinks that maybe parts of the show weren’t so bad, after all.

THE WEEK BEGINS and jei starts to question her sanity.  the thought that any of this could have been a blessing is obviously a stretch, and it’s proven in the first few minutes with the boys alone.  this is by far the oddest team she’s ever been thrown into the fires with, and jei’s not sure she’ll be able to survive the first three days - let alone the week required to get to doomsday.  for all her initial relief that came with at least knowing someone on her team, it did not save her from the variables of those she did not.

in fact, jei’s fairly sure the only purely sane one is doyeon, though that’s not really a surprise.  after all, she’s female.

it all begins when they try to come up with team names, and that’s only just the start of jei’s suffering.  somehow, they got on the idea of greek myths, probably from moon bin - which is fine on its own, of course.  she actually enjoys mythology herself, as she had to study it in her courses for university, but when someone suggested team cerberus, it was the beginning of the end for her hopefully peaceful week.

after all, team cerberus was the birth of “ team woof”, which meant the birth of the boys barking in her face for a laugh on their own behalf.  every time it happens, jei somehow manages to find a camera and the look on her face is one that says give me death.  still, though, for all the joking aside, jei doesn’t say anything and allows them to have their fun.

fun with friends seems hard to come by in this competition, anyway.  and if the fun and games don’t hinder the progress of their team in the long run, jei isn’t the kind to put a stop to it.  but she is the kind of person who will look dead in the eyes every time someone tries to woof at her.  she’s absolutely certain that this is a big plan concocted by moon bin to torture her because he’s scared of her, but that’s another story for a different day.

eventually, though, they go in a not so different direction with styx as their team name.  not too different, of course, from cerberus who guards the gates of the damned but this is apparently a theme that they’re running with this week, considering the songs they’re mashing up are hate by 4minute and monster by exo.  thankfully, minho knows well enough how to mix songs on his own and make a mashup because otherwise they’d be left to search blindly on the internet for one.

THIS WEEK, jei is asked to help with choreography considering her first stage with dynamiq was a unique one.  this time though, she feels a little better about it - even though she considered the first stage a disaster because there was no one she could ask about skill levels and she only saw them doing well, at least this time there are a lot of strong dancers to be able to make suggestions if something doesn’t work or if it doesn’t match the skill of what they can do.  even the least skilled of the five of them is still on the average side.

the problem is the theme.  it’s nothing .. bad, not in the scope of the song and definitely not when it comes to the lengths of her creativity.  it’s mostly just a bad concept in jei’s eyes, who would have preferred to trek the path of a more horror - based concept instead of a creepy nightmare of a twisted love gone wrong.  there’s too many memories that surface with the idea of a toxic love, ones that she doesn’t really want to remember.

still, it’s what the team decided on, so she has to deliver.

which means more late nights.  especially since this time, there’s a lot more singing involved than the past two weeks - it comes with the territory, probably, considering the mashup.  there’s just a lot of singing, a lot of dancing, a lot of everything.  

it’s something that jei has come to expect, being tired.  but it’s more odd that she finds that no matter how late she comes in, the boys are still there doing their own practice.  they too, must find fault in themselves that jei can’t see. after all, working hard is one thing but destroying yourself to clutch at safety is another thing entirely.  thankfully, with a few days worth of convincing, she manages to get them to at least sleep in the corners of the practice room and to go home and shower once in awhile.  no matter how important this is to them, and how important it is to the team, it’s not worth them getting sick over.

even if all they do is woof when they see her.

.. except haknyeon.  he likes to say nyan.  at this point, it’s like she’s begging the cameras to kill her when she looks at them.

it’s still early in the week when jei is seen looking completely flabbergasted.  “ what is big dick energy.”  the words don’t sound like a question even if they should be since she has absolutely no idea what the phrase means.  they sound more like an accusation, mostly because jei feels like she should be offended.  after all, the male anatomy isn’t really even that strong if the way men react to it is generally anything to go by.

they’re sitting around at dinner when moon bin tells her that she has .. whatever big dick energy is, all the while making minho practically howl with laughter.  it makes her feel like she’s justified in feeling offended, because if it’s that funny certainly it’s not a compliment.  her eyes narrow as she waits for a response, but of course, she doesn’t really get one.  they’re too busy laughing amongst themselves, and jei simply sighs in defeat.

when will this week of hell be over? with all the jokes, she can barely even concentrate on her thoughts, or the things that linger in the back of her mind that haunt her when they go through their choreography together.

it’s only later that jei realizes that this is a good thing.  even if jei will end the week still unsure about whether or not they were complimenting her with whatever big dick energy really is.

DOOMSDAY comes and there’s something that sits on her chest.  whether it’s the thrill of the stage or the anxiety that will come later when the judges have to rate their performance, she’s not sure.  the first time they critiqued her performance, they said that there wasn’t enough skill to go around to pull it off.  this time, though, jei hopes they’ll say the opposite.  they’ve all worked hard this week, and all the skills are there.  

they just have to pull it off and prove it to them.  in spite of the random behaviour throughout the week, it’s .. a little odd, but jei thinks that they actually worked well together.  it can be seen in the quiet way she says woof before they leave the kt building for the final time before performing - maybe, just maybe, she cares about them a little after all.  even if the whoops from the boys are a little embarrassing, she’ll accept it if it means that it makes them happy.  if it helps them to relieve their stress even if by just a little.

perhaps sometimes a little comedy is good for the soul when you’re worrying about other things - like, competing against your own team, for example.  or competing against members of your past teams that you’ve grown to care for.  jei knows about this all too well, because she’s spent a lot of time lately thinking about how hyunjin is holding up, or how sungwoon has blamed himself like she did when she was a leader for dynamiq.  her feelings can’t get in the way though.  they can’t make her any less devoted to the team she has now.

competition is healthy, sometimes.  she’s just not sure if it’s healthy in this stifled environment.  jei thinks she’ll always hate the way the judges force a stage in the short timespan of just a week to decide whether or not the people on it are worthy of being kept around or not.

this time around, they’re team b so they don’t have to wait too long before it’s their turn to take the stage.

the first performance flies by though, and before jei can even think it seems, they’re the ones being led to perform.  “ as above, so below; we are team styx -”  the team introduction is one that was inspired by the horror aspect of their stage.  then it’s the personal introductions, one by one.  once upon a time, there was a point where jei thought the only thing important to know about her was just her number and her name.  sungwoon taught her differently, and this week, she offered a suggestion to go along with their team introduction for something more personal.  

to work on her own brand, if you will.  it’s a little embarrassing, but it’s worth a shot.  “ capturing your gaze so you can’t look away, i’m the medusa of team styx - #4011, kim jinhee.”

then, it’s time.  they take their places on the stage, jei kneeling on the floor and the lights going completely dark save for the spotlight on her and doyeon, whose head is laying in her lap.  she’s the one to start the song off, again - it needs to be a strong beginning, to prove that their stage isn’t one that the audience can look away from.  her fingers are brushing through doyeon’s long hair as she looks down at the girl “ sleeping” in her lap, and begins to sing along with the music.

your eyes are telling me liar liar liar, don’t lie to me i don’t wanna know anymore i don’t wanna know know know not anymore, no no no, it’s over

their stage is one that leads the audience into a nightmare - doyeon’s nightmare.  they pulled a lot of aspects from psychological horror and melded it with the concept of a toxic love, and funneled it into a dreamscape of the girl who faced an awful relationship and has trouble forming new ones, in spite of growing interest in those around her.  the only one that she can trust is her best friend, her “ saviour” in it all.

it’s made clear that the villain of this story is moon bin, his dancing aggravated and angry to go along with the words that he sings.  throughout the choreography, jei is by doyeon’s side or behind her, a memory and a belief that someone is always at your side when you need it most.

in her heart, jei knows this isn’t necessarily true, but it works for the choreography and their story, in any case.

her singing parts are always very distinct, and make an impact on the song as a whole, regardless of whether or not she has as many lines as doyeon and moon bin or not.  it’s done purposefully this way - her role may be in the background, but always there.  a reminder, that doyeon can be saved if she wants it.

i don’t wanna know all the same excuses everyday i don’t wanna do all the same arguments everyday it’s meaningless, i am tired

the choreography turns a little more wild after this.  introducing haknyeon and minho into the storyline as potential suitors, but doyeon’s fear getting the worst of her - that’s their part in this story.  through the movements, and the lyrics, it’s like they’re becoming new horror stories, similar to the one she had with moon bin - although far from true in the real world, it’s obvious on the stage.  he’s a malevolent presence in all of this, guiding the other boys to destroy her heart with no remorse.

but jei won’t have it.  after all, she’s the saviour.

by the end of the chorus and doyeon’s last line, she’s laying back down on the floor - a reminder that this is, again, just a dream no matter how nightmarish it may seem.  but with every creeping line that bin sings, her body twists, turns, contorts - that is, until jei stands between them.

your eyes are telling me i don’t wanna know know know not anymore, no no no, it’s over

bin can’t get closer to doyeon this time, because jei brings him to his knees.  not every nightmare has a perfect ending.  not everyone can be saved.  this time, though, doyeon lies still.  this time, there can be a happy ending when the stage goes dark.  jei just hopes that it’s enough to get them through to a safe spot.

but if anyone has to go home, it should be her.