#good morning mister seokjin

[hobaworld7]

Hello again! You've mentioned to feel free to send requests, so here i am)

I kinda feel like mine would be a little lame. But i am a fan of a good old angsty-argument-with-good-ending trope. Maybe if you have inspiration for that, you could've come up with something

❤️

BTS Reactions Hyung Line - An argument with your boyfriend

Pairing : seokjin x reader / yoongi x reader / namjoon x reader / hoseok x reader

Genre : angsty argument with a good ending

Warning : Yoongi's kinda an asshole, some fluff, mention of d3@th of a parent, cursing, morphine used, work accident.

Summary : You have an argument with your boyfriend, but you can stay mad at him, either can't he stay mad at you.

Disclaimer : BTS doesn't belong to me okayyy.

A/N : I had so much fun writing this, please do not hesitate to send request!! The maknae will come too soon!

ENJOY ARMY. @rainypainting

____

SEOKJIN

Your boyfriend was on tour with his member. You were living alone in his apartment for three weeks now. You loved being alone, sleeping in his bed and everything. But you still missed him a lot. You were video-chatting every night, falling asleep on the phone.

Until the day you hurt yourself at work and had to go to the emergency room. You were climbing a ladder and loose balance, broking your phone in the accident. You hurt your ankle pretty bad since it took all the shook of your fall. Since it was late in the day when it happen, they had to keep you in observation for the night before doing a cast in the morning. It was the day Jin was supposed to come home but you were on high pain medication so you fell asleep at 8pm, not worrying about anything, completely high on morphine.

You woke up when you heard your name being scream.

-Where is Y/N?? Tell me where she is!!

You mumble something.

-Babe, i'm here.

Still half asleep.

-Mister please calm down, who are you?

-I'm SeokJin, her boyfriend! Her work called me to tell me she has an accident, where is she?

-She is in the room 403, but please stay calm, she is on morphine and probably asleep by now.

The door opens and the light hurt your eyes. You groaned and pull the comforter over your face.

-Hmmmm, close the door please.

He closes the door and hurry to be by your side.

-Babe are you okay? What happened?

-I just fell down a ladder and broke my phone. Just hurt my ankle a bit. Nothing much.

-You should've call me! I would've come to be with you. I was worried when you didn't call me and then your work call since i'm your emergency contact. Babe I was so worried.

He gently hugged you.

-Show me your ankle, is it bad?

-No, not bad at-

He removed the comforter from your legs. Your ankle was swollen and dark red with some blue because of the bone you broke in your foot.

-BABE! IT LOOKS SO BAD! You broke your feet and say that you hurt yourself a bit?! Are you in pain? Babe its blue!

-The doctor says it is normal, they'll put it in a caste tomorrow morning.

-Y/N please be careful in the future. I was worried to death.

He push you on the side of the bed so he can cuddle with you. Careful to not hurt your broken feet, he put one of his arms around your shoulder and hold your waist with the other one.

-I'm not leaving you.

-But your tour-

-It's done anyways, i'll take a week or two off to be with you.

YOONGI

Your boyfriend just started his career in the music industry. You were barely seeing him. He was working two part time job and training every time he had a free minute. You love him so much, you truly does but damn it was hard on your relationship. You were always staying silent, encouraging as much as you can. Making some meals for him and his members but today, today he made a big mistake and you couldn't forgive him just yet.

It was the one year memorial for your mother. She die last year from cancer when you started dating Yoongi. He never met her but he knows how important she was for you and that dinner was too.

You were waiting outside of your childhood home, freezing during this early November night. You called Yoongi three times already. He was supposed to be here an hour ago. You decided to close your cellphone and just talk to him when you get home.

The night went great. It was very emotional but it was good to see all your family and friends together, celebrating the amazing women that was your mom. Your dad drop you off at your apartment and thanked you. You hugged him and went into your building apartment. Once you were in front of your apartment door you could hear some cheers and loud noises. Yoongi was on the couch with Hoseok and Jimin. He turn his face towards you when he heard the door and when he saw that dress he realized he fucked up. He closes his phone and completely forgot about the memorial.

-Jimin, Hoseok. Out. Now. Yoongi will call you later. Thank you.

You sounded angry and it kinda scared his friend so in less than a minute they were out of the door. You took off your high heels and without caring about the noise it would made, throw them by the door.

-Why Yoongi? Just why? I only ask you one thing! To be by my side on the one night I need you! I always support you, and tolerate all your nights away. Why?

-I'm sorry Y/N. We had a big day and I wanted to relax-

He fucked up once again.

-Yoongi! I needed you tonight. I really needed you by my side.

The tears were running down your cheeks.

-Please, could you pay attention to me for once? Could you, please, love me for once? And support me? I fucking hate you Yoongi!

He was angry. Why were you thinking that he didn't care about you? He was working and training so hard because he wanted to give you the best futur possible. He was doing it for you and him.

-If you hate me that much, why the fuck are you still hear Y/N!? Leave if you hate me. I guess we weren't meant to be!

You drop your bag and go to the bedroom, slamming the door behind you. You spent the night crying in your bed, hugging his pillow. You know that your reaction was because your feelings were hurt. You were so scared to get out of the bedroom and see that Yoongi left.

It was around 7am when you got out of bed. Your face was all puffy and you were wearing his shirt, his hoodie and his short. Yesterday you were really angry, but sleeping without him by your side was hard so you wear his clothes to help you. The apartment was still dark because the curtains were all close. You walk to the couch to see Yoongi deeply sleeping, hugging a pillow, like it was you he was hugging. You took the pillow and gently throw it on the floor. Yoongi mumble something, but stayed asleep. You decided to lay on him, your eyes still teary. He suddenly wake up when he felt your presence on him. His arms went around your shaking body and he hugged you like you were a fragile piece of paper in a thunderstorm. He wasn't about to let you go away from him.

-I'm sorry Y/N. Tell me what I can do. Forgive me my love please.

He kissed your forehead and stroke your back. You start crying again, mumbling some incomprehensible sentences.

-Yoongi, I love you. I'm sorry.

He kissed again and again your face and hug you tightly.

-Don't be, please, it's my fault. I love you so freacking much Y/N.

NAMJOON

You started dating Namjoon a few weeks ago. You knew him since high school but since he became a superstar early in his life, you lost contact. You met again two months ago during an high school reunion and realize you both used to have feeling for each other. As times passed, you realize you were still in love with him. His caring personality, his goofy laugh and just every part he is. He was working hard as a leader of a group and a solo artist and you were busy with your study. Exam week was coming for your med school and you were spending as much time as you could studying.

It was a sunny Sunday morning, you drank your coffee and started studying. Your cellphone was on do not disturb and you forget to tell your boyfriend. But he knows you were studying and you were so concentrate in your books to bother. The day passed and then the night too. You barely eaten or left your desk until you heard someone knocking hard at your door.

-Yeah! Wait! I'm coming!!

You put on a hoodie and went open the door, just to see an angry Namjoon.

-Babe, you oka-

-Why didn't you answer my text? I was so worried Y/N! I texted you all day! I was trying to contact you between my dance and singing lessons. I couldn't focus properly because I was scared something happen to you.

You look at the time and the thousand texto you receive in the last 12 hours. Okay, he had every rights to be worried. You really fucked up. You put your hands on his cheeks and kiss his lips.

-I'm sorry babe.. I was studying and didn't saw the time passing. I should've text you.

-Please, communicate with me next time. I need to know what you are doing when you don't answer in a long time because I get worried something happened to you. And I can't focus when I am worried for you my love.

-I'm sorry Namjoonie, won't happen again.

He hug you and stroke your hair for a bit.

-I guess you didn't eat a lot today? So what about a break and we can watch a movie and order some food?

-Sounds amazing Namjoonie.

HOSEOK

You always danced. Since you were almost three years old you were taking dance class. Now you were a reputed dancer in the Asian industry. You have your own dance studio and the wait list is more then a year long. But last month, you hurt your leg pretty badly. You tore one of your ligament in your right leg. You did a lot of physio and took some pain meds. It was getting better but you missed dance so much. It was getting pretty bad on your mental health.

Your boyfriend knew it and he was trying to distract you and take care of you as much as he could. In the past month, you didn't leave your apartment. You were miserable. You missed dance so much.

One night, when Hoseok was away, you decided to go to your studio to start practicing dance again.

__

You were laying on the floor. Your knee was hurting a lot even after just one dance. But you wanted to get better rapidly so you got up again, ignoring the pain and start dancing again. You moan in pain when the door open to let a Hoseok worried enter.

-Babe, what are you doing, you shouldn't be dancing for another month.

-I wanna get back soon. I have to practice so my knee heal!

Your movement were jerky. Your body was shaking because of the pain in your leg. You fall on the floor after a failed attempt of a dance move. Hoseok runs toward you and held your body near him. You were exhausted and in pain.

-Y/N. You can't do that again. You can't dance. I know dance is all you love but please, you need to take care of your body. You need to rest.

-I can't- I can't stop dancing Hoseokkie. Dance is all I know, all I love. I need it to escape my thoughts, to gain money. I need dance to live.

-I understand babe, but you are sabotaging yourself right now and I can't accept that. I can't tolerate you, hurting yourself.

You stand up, with difficulty.

-No you don't understand Hoseok! I can't rest for another month. I can't feel your worried look every time i get up of bed or every time i start exercise to get better. Leave, leave if you can't support me!

-Y/N, I'll never leave you okay, but right now you can't continue like this!

He approached you and put his arms around your waist. You leg was hurting so much. You buried your face in his neck. He put his arm on your back and get down to put his arms around the back of your knee. He lift you up like a princess and get you out of the studio.

-I love you Y/N, and I'll always be there for you. But right now, you need to rest a bit okay? I'm not leaving your side for an entire month if I need to make sure you stay in bed and heal your leg.

________

Masterlist is here if you want to read more of my imagines!

Maknae line (In writing)

THANKYOU ARMY

[hsfiwoqjdidihwwj]

Hmm, good to KNOW. Jimin, your hyung didn't say anything it that sense ha ha... ahm, do you maybe want to go eat something and this LADY that said a complete LIE to you can join us and explain her joke. I don't accept no as an answer from the both of you. And now you even to confess my love?? WOW, just wow -.- - 🎅 Jin

do not listen to dictators , jimin. just bc they are the oldest and tall and have 60 cm shoulders doesnt mean u have to listen to the

I WOULD REALLY LOVE TO GO EAT but i gotta eat breakfast now fjhsdkhf

[ahundredtimesover]

The Light of Dead Stars (12.1) | KSJ

Pairing: Seokjin x (f.) Reader; side Seokjin x (f.) OC; side Reader x Namjoon

Genre/Tags: arranged marriage, fake romance, boss/workmate aus; angst, drama, fluff, smut; slow burn

Chapter Warnings: Foul language; alcohol consumption; suggestive themes, non-explicity sex (18+)

Chapter Word count: 9.5k

A/N: Part 12.2 will be posted on 05 Sept., 11AM KST. I had to cut it in half because it was too long so savor this chill first part. I projected here because I've been missing travelling so that's all these 2 lovebirds will do! 💕

Series Masterlist | Muse Moodboard | Setting Moodboard

Status: Complete

Series summary:  Your unconventional arranged marriage with your company’s President, Kim Seokjin, is necessary, practical, and simple - both your families benefit, and he minds his own business and so do you. But when a slip-up causes his parents to believe that you and he are in love, you have no choice but to pretend you are, especially with the trip to France for his brother’s wedding coming up. When you get back to Seoul, things start to change, and Seokjin is faced with the most difficult decision he has to make.  

Jin presses a soft kiss on your forehead, then your nose, then your lips, lingering there to nudge you awake. “Good morning, love. I made us breakfast,” he whispers in your ear.

You stretch then open your eyes, blinking repeatedly to try to get used to the brightness from outside. You usually wake up much earlier than this, when the sun’s just barely risen and isn’t as blinding as it is right now, then head to a cafe most mornings for your coffee fill, but not today.

After your fight with your husband last night - which saw you finally expressing your frustration at him and him, finally opening up about his pains and worries - you made up and well, made each other come multiple times until the wee hours of the morning. All the stress and tension from the past weeks have deprived you of each other, and you just wanted to feel close, to feel loved, to feel safe in each other’s arms again. 

Between tangled limbs and sweaty bodies, you convinced Jin that he needed to regroup, so he decided to take the day off with you just to be together, knowing that you help him feel like himself again. He knows there’s still much to make up for with you, and making you breakfast always does the trick.

“This is my thing,” you say, turning to him as he picks up the tray from the desk and places it over your lap. 

Your smile brightens as you eye the spread - salmon eggs benedict on croissant loaf, dried fruit and nuts, cheese, and chocolate-covered strawberries, as well as juice and coffee. 

“You went all out today, huh?” You smirk at him as he takes his tray and sits across from you. “This looks delicious, love. I’m starving from last night.”

“You couldn’t keep your hands off me, that’s why.” 

“Excuse me, mister. You were the one with the wandering hands. Every time I was dozing off, you wanted another go.”

His ears turn red as you remind him of last night and how he just found ways to keep touching you, kissing you, grinding against you. 

“Couldn’t help it. It’s been a while and I missed you. You liked it, though,” he smirks this time.

“Hmm, I did!” You wink, as you take a bite of your dish, which obviously tastes amazing. “Is that why you wanted us to take a leave today? To get some rest after last night?”

“Well, I thought of taking a day off so we could sleep in and spend time together after the weeks we had. And then I decided to make it a worthwhile night,” he chuckles. “And I still feel a bit bad for all the things I said and I wanted to make you something you like. You were reminiscing about France and the things we ate, so I whipped up something to remind you of that.”

“Aww, you’re sweet to me again,” you tease. “I missed being spoiled.”

“Shut up, you hate it,” he rolls his eyes.

“Yeah, I do,” you chuckle. “But seriously, do you have anything in mind today?”

“I was watching TV while cooking and saw this news clip about Namhae; I haven’t been there and it looks nice,” he says. “It’s a long drive but it’s got great views, and I could fish and golf and you could read your books? I just feel like I need to be away from here first, you know? I need to strategize and plan my next steps and I can’t do it here. Maybe if I get things back on track, my parents will speak to me again.”

“Of course, love,” you smile, knowing that deep down, it’s what he really wants. “We can spend the weekend there and do our usual things like go to markets and eat and just explore. And you do your other rich boy hobbies and stuff.”

He pinches your leg at your teasing but is happy that you’re joining him. He does need the time to unwind and plan but he also definitely wants to spend it with you. 

And so after cleaning up, you make the 4-hour drive to Namhae in Gyeonsang where you take the wheel so he could just look at the views and let his mind wander wherever it needs to go. You tell him that you could both talk about work any time, so randomly during the trip, he brings something up and runs it by you.

It’s peaceful. Both of you hum to the soft music of your playlist, wind against your hair when it’s cool enough to open the windows. He’d take your hand sometimes, caress it, then give it a kiss. 

You arrive at your destination in the late afternoon and drive through the little streets to find a cozy restaurant. After your early dinner, you check in your place that overlooks the ocean, and then spend the rest of the evening just talking and cuddling on the balcony as you gaze at the starry sky. 

You end the night hovered over Jin, rocking against him and making him feel good, telling him over and over again how great he feels, wanting nothing more than to relieve his stress and know you’ll love him in whatever way you need him to.

Your husband goes fishing at dawn the next day and makes sashimi out of his catch, which you eat along with the takeout food he bought on the way back. You go to the rice fields later in the morning and find a restaurant for lunch, then spend the afternoon lazing at the beach, reminiscing about your time in the French Riviera where he tells you that his throat dried up upon seeing you in your bathing suit that first time. You watch the sunset from one of the many areas with a view later on, and then find a place with the best abalone you’ve ever had.

While in the hot tub that second night, he details his upcoming trips, running through his plans and objectives with you. 

As was advised by his siblings, he’ll meet with some of the Board members and shareholders to strengthen relationships and regain their trust. He’s also looking to revive one of his product ideas that you’ll be helping him develop. He’ll make the trip to wherever he needs to, and whatever his plans are, he’ll share them during the executive committee meeting on Monday. He needs to let people know he’s present, and you need to show them that you’re standing by his side through it all. 

Seeing the vigor in his voice gives you hope, and you feel that slowly, Jin is finding himself again; slowly, he’s realizing that he isn’t at all alone in moving forward.

You both go to the temple the next morning and he spends the rest of it golfing while you stay at a seaside cafe to read a book, taking time to self-reflect and think of how this trip has helped you as well, regaining strength yourself so you could be what your husband needs. 

It’s kind of amazing, you think. Trials like this usually spell the end for other couples, but every time you think of Jin, not an inch of you feels regret or helplessness. When you think of your husband, all you feel is love and hope, the light during the darkest nights. You’re glad you get to be his moon this time.

There’s that smile and vigor you greet him with when you meet up for lunch some time after. A few final stops later, you drive back to Seoul, exhausted but missing the comforts of home even if you were gone for just a while. 

You’re greeted with Mrs. Kang’s grilled ribs and tofu stew, and it’s all you need to feel refreshed again. You spend that evening cuddled under the sheets, safe in your husband’s warm embrace, the same way he feels against your touch. 

“Do you like me again?” He asks smugly as he hovers over you, his arms taut as he supports himself, his lips tracing your jaw as he awaits your response.

“Yes,” you moan as he nibbles your ear. “Thanks for apologizing to Mrs. Kang this time about our fight. I feel like her heart breaks every time that happens, like we’re her own kids and stuff.”

“You make it seem like we fight all the time. ___, we only fought twice,” he pouts. 

“I know, that’s why she gets scared every time we do. Because we don’t do that,” you chuckle. “I guess we’re past the honeymoon phase now, huh? We reached the point of not being able to stand each other.”

“Hey, we fight for a day. Or like, hours!”

“Yeah, but I couldn’t stand you the whole week,” you shrug.

He gasps and almost removes himself from you, and you groan because you were just about to get in the mood.

“You’re so dramatic,” you roll your eyes.

“Only for you. I get embarrassed otherwise.”

You smile at him before pulling him down for a hug, taking in his woody scent and feeling the smoothness of his skin. It’s kind of scary to think that if things didn’t turn out the way they did, you wouldn’t have this; you wouldn’t have him. 

“Do you ever think about how life just takes the craziest turns and those turns sometimes end up bringing people together like this?” You wonder out loud as you comb your fingers through his hair. “Like, my dad worked as just the building security but ended up saving your grandmother’s life, and so when my family needed help, they offered me as tribute to their supposed bachelor grandson and now you’re here - insatiably in love with me.”

“That started really great and then just fizzled. You could do better at narrating our love story than that, ___,” he says, and you can’t help your giggle. 

“What! I really was tribute and you really were supposedly single!”

“But you’re also insatiably in love with me, let’s be honest here,” he faces you now.

His eyes are deep and dark and hypnotizing, but maybe not as much as his lips are. It’s insane that you get to call this beautiful specimen, who’s all things charming and playful and flawed and brilliant and incredibly loving, your husband.

“I am,” you smile. “And I thank the stars every night for that.”

Jin enters the conference room 15 minutes before the executive committee meeting is scheduled to start. He would do this as his chance to check on the directors and ask them how their weekend was - a way to nurture relationships, his father had told him. It’s been weeks since the last time he did given all that’s happened, and he’s met with genuine smiles and stories of what they did the last few days. 

You enter the room and his smile brightens. He looks so much better and lighter, like he was able to pull from inside of him that drive to continue working, one which withered away for a bit. He just needed time, he’d told you this morning in the car; he just needed to be reminded of what he’ll lose if he doesn’t get himself together. And he doesn’t know what would scare him more than losing you.

He starts the meeting and engages each presenter with their reports, something he also used to do but fell short of doing recently. 

As expected, the company’s numbers haven’t been great; not terrible, but definitely needs a lot of work. Brand perception has been low, too, and Jin knows that’s on him. Market engagement skyrocketed but for the wrong reasons, and it was a tense moment for a while when it was brought up, but it’s what he uses as a segue to say that he’ll be taking various trips in the next couple of weeks to regain trust and reestablish the company and himself. He says he’ll mention developing a new product, which is really one of his ideas from before that he didn’t get back to.

“Why not develop it already?” Their PR director asks. “You and Mrs. Kim and her team can work on it together to have something more than an idea to present to the Board and the shareholders, maybe meet with new distributors in the conferences you’ll attend. I know it seems trivial to them but it’ll show that the work doesn’t stop, and well, having your wife there might also be good. To, uh…” she trails, looking away.

“Show that those rumors aren’t true, of course,” Jin finishes for her, catching you off guard because it’s the first time he addressed the issue directly. “___ and I work well together and they’ll see that. Maybe they’ll see how in love she is with me, too.”

Laughter echoes in the room, as Jin only occasionally engages in jokes and teasing, but never directly at you. He’s definitely being bold, and you fake gag at him before laughing along.

“Please observe him the next time I speak; you’ll see who’s head over heels for who,” you counter, but eventually apologize for that unprofessional back and forth with your husband in front of the executives.

“Ah, not a problem at all. We need all the laughter we can get at times like this,” someone pipes in. “I’m just glad everything is okay.”

You smile at her and continue with the meeting, presenting your report with ease, and you notice a few of them glance at your husband and then giggle after. You pitch in a few ideas to add to the new product, and you get the consensus to focus on this first.

“You’re embarrassing,” you mumble as you and Jin both walk out the room and decide on the spot to have lunch out. “I was so caught off guard! But isn’t that you overcompensating? You’re rarely ever sweet to me.”

“___, they know how I look every time you report or even show up in the room,” he says. “I’ve been heart eyes for you for months. That wasn’t me overcompensating.”

You smile sweetly at his admission, kissing his nose right as the elevator doors open where a few employees witness the intimate moment and giggle themselves. You bow and let them in, apologizing for what they saw.

“Imagine if they looked at me while you were presenting and I looked bored,” he chuckles. “That would’ve been so embarrassing for you.”

“Yeah, do that and you’re sleeping in the guest room,” you warn. 

He laughs and takes your hand as you both walk out the elevator. He takes advantage of the few people in the lobby to whisper to you. “Seriously though, you’re so good when you present. And you looked so hot earlier, I almost got a boner.”

You gasp as he chuckles, enjoying how he's making you feel flustered. “Kim Seokjin! You’re gonna be the death of me!”

**

Aside from meetings you need to attend, you spend most of your week in the food lab, working with a team to develop the new product.

Creating the perfect recipe for fish cake crackers is not easy, despite the simplicity of its core ingredient. Jin always insisted that it’s distinct from the classic and well-loved fish crackers - there’s a certain tastiness and depth of flavor of the former that he wants so badly to capture. There was a time when he had it every single day and so the taste lives in him, he said once, and you understand him; that’s how you feel about your mother’s vegetable mandu, too.

You and your team add to the research and try the variations that Jin had experimented on before. There’s already a working recipe that you just have to improve on, so coming up with the proposal for its production in a week isn’t entirely impossible. Still, it doesn’t mean it’s not pressure-packed and stressful.

You and Jin eat different types of fish cake all week, from family-run restaurants to those being sold by street-side vendors. It’s fun, working and discovering more about food in this way. You always said that Jin is inspiring like this, even more now when he has something to prove. 

Back home, you talk about it some more and bounce off ideas - not just with the product but his meetings, too. You plan the trips you’ll accompany him to, and thinking about all the places you’ll go to in a matter of weeks is already tiring you. The schedule is tight and it’s not something you’re used to. 

Since becoming director, your regular trips are always in the Southeast Asia office in Singapore. Occasionally, there’s the Food Expo in another Asian city, but that’s really it. Your work is behind-the-scenes, in the lab. You breathe food in there and you love it. You’re not made for the busy, jet setting life of your husband who sometimes takes helicopters for a lunch meeting in Tokyo.

“It’s gonna be fine, love,” he comforts you that Saturday before your late evening flight to Dubai. “There’s lots to do there. And you already know we’re gonna eat the best food and I’m gonna give you a massage every night.”

There’s a business summit where he’ll be meeting important people and he wants you by his side. But there’s also a food expo happening in the complex across the street and you say that’s where you’ll spend most of your time.

“And what if there’s nothing to amuse me when you have another event to attend?” You cross your arms. 

“Then you take Yoongi with you and go shopping,” Jin hums, earning him a groan from the man in question from the passenger seat.

“He’ll hate you,” you reply, as if he isn’t there.

“Nah. Just say you’ll take him to where there’s booze or jewelry and he’ll be sold; he’ll buy Dara something from there for sure and then he’ll be happy.”

“Can those two just get together? They’ve been skirting around each other for months,” you giggle, completely ignoring the fact that he’s in the car with you. Even Mr. Lim can’t hold his laughter. 

“Yoongi is just taking his time since he wants to be sure and doesn't wanna get hurt. My best friend’s a softie deep inside, you know?”

“Wow, he’s finally upgraded to best friend?” You tease. “Since when?”

“Since I lost myself back there and he didn’t let me slide further down,” Jin responds. “You know he attended a meeting on my behalf because I wasn’t prepared and he was?” 

“You should promote him,” you suggest.

“He doesn’t want to accept it, says it’s easier to take orders from me because he can disobey them if he thinks they’re shit.”

“Makes a lot of sense. Yoongi is a keeper, though. Gotta tell my best friend,” you quip. 

“You two are insufferable sometimes,” the man groans again. “I can’t believe I have to babysit you both during all these trips.”

“It’s gonna be so fun, Yoongs! We’ll behave, we promise,” you wink, as you exit the car. 

“You better or else I’ll quit,” he says, unable to hide the smile that creeps up his face. 

Dubai is a lot warmer than you expected, but even though you’re tempted to stay indoors during the day, there’s just so much to explore that you can’t help but wander around the city.

When you arrived last Sunday morning, you checked in your hotel and then had lunch with one of the Board members based there. It was less tense than you expected, and he merely asked how sales are going and other general updates. You barely spoke and it was fine; the food was good and you were enjoying analyzing the tastes by yourself. You spent the afternoon eating and shopping, and though he didn’t know, you saw Yoongi eye a necklace that had a “D” pendant, and you gushed internally at the smile he had.

The next day, you joined your husband in the business summit and watched him meet and converse with other wealthy people, introducing you and making sure you didn’t feel too bored. You still felt it, though, that’s why you skipped it the next day and went to the food expo across the street with Yoongi. You did it again the next day, and you enjoyed just eating and making notes, so that evening, you nursed a stomach ache while Jin simultaneously laughed and cuddled with you until you fell asleep. 

It’s your last day today and Jin is off to another meeting while you pack up for your mid-afternoon flight to London. He calls to say that you’ll have lunch at this spot recommended by the cab driver he met, so you meet him and Yoongi there before heading to the airport.

“I’m already exhausted and it’s just our first city,” you pout at him while waiting in the lounge to board. “How do you do this?”

Dressed in his immaculate suit, your husband smiles at you adoringly and places his tablet on the table. “Well, I just keep working so when I get to the hotel, I pass out, and I always end up sleeping well and feeling rejuvenated the next day.”

“That sounds lonely.”

“It was,” he chuckles. “I mean, I’d work out or swim or sometimes head to the hotel bar to drink but that’s also to tire myself out. It’s not so fun when you’re not with me.”

“I tire you out, too,” you smirk, earning you a playful shake of his head.

“You do; it’s my favorite type of physical activity.”

You gush internally. 

Thinking about the long-haul flights and busy days makes you tired. You’re used to the kind of work that’s a lot more stable in a sense that there’s a routine you follow, a fixed plan for the week that you’re faithful to, and so on trips like this where you’re rushing out the airport to a meeting and where your body clock gets completely messed up, you’re a lot more needy and clingy than usual, something you just realized.

Jin makes you feel stable in a lot of ways. He makes you feel calm and safe, too. He’s so used to this life that being on-the-go is his default - constantly moving, constantly thinking. You haven’t been in the lab for days and the work mode version of you isn’t fully functioning when you aren’t there. 

And so you yearn for him, a lot more than usual. You cling to him at night and search for him in the morning, your hands wandering around his naked body, prompting him to pull you into the shower where you touch him some more because you know you’re gonna have to let him go again for the day. You take photos of every single dish you eat without him and then spend the entire dinner and your joint bath at night talking about it.

“I like it when you’re clingy,” he says, taking your hand as you start to board.

“I was just thinking about how much I wanna smack myself for being exactly that! It’s like… who am I? Why am I like this? Don’t take me on trips anymore, Jin. I become so… needy.”

“Now you’re being dramatic,” he chuckles. “I actually like this version of you. It’s very affirming. Plus, we get to be the super good-looking power couple!”

“Love, the super good-looking part is like, 75-25. You carry the weight there,” you correct him. 

“More like, 85-15,” he responds.

You smack his arm and glare at him, and he finds you too adorable so he kisses your forehead. “You’re the 85, love.”

“Now you’re just mocking me,” you frown.

“I’m kidding! We’re both 100, what are you talking about! You’re literally the sexiest person I know!”

You merely groan as you enter the plane and settle in your seat. 

Later in the evening some time after your inflight dinner, you receive a slice of cheesecake with “100” written in icing. You glance at a sleeping Jin and laugh to yourself. 

He’s insufferable sometimes, but you can’t imagine another version of life without him.

London welcomes you with a drizzle. It’s a cuddle weather but you’re spending it in the Europe head office of Kim Foods, Inc., where Jin introduces you to the staff and asks you to sit in the meeting all throughout the morning.

There’s a team lunch that gets you excited, and while Jin goes to another meeting at a nearby hotel, you make yourself comfortable in his room to get work done this time. You're so engrossed in reading the reports and watching your team’s demonstrations that you don’t notice Jin coming in to respond to emails and sign documents. 

“Ready for a night out?” He leans against the small desk where you are.

“Since when do we do nights out?” You arch an eyebrow. 

“Every once in a while,” he shrugs. “But it’s London. Let’s go to my favorite pub. I’ll let you be big spoon tonight, just drink with me.”

“Wow, what a bribe,” you chuckle. It’s not his favorite since he likes hugging you more, but you like hugging him from behind, too, and he rarely indulges you. “So tempting. I’m sold.”

So you both drag Yoongi again to end the evening, teasing him about Dara the entire night, but he merely flips you off and doesn’t respond much. 

You end up a tiny bit drunk, but not enough to forget that Jin is the little spoon tonight, and so you pepper kisses on his back and fall asleep with his woody scent invading your senses. 

The next work day is pretty much the same. You spend the weekend meeting a few shareholders and Board members in hotels and in their homes, barely having alone time with Jin that isn’t in the shower or on the bed. You go to the office again on Monday and it’s later in the evening when he says that you’ll be flying back to Seoul a few days earlier than planned to attend the Fellowship Dinner that his father called for with the affiliates. 

It was supposed to be next week when you’re both back, and you have a feeling that his father had moved it to align it with your trip so you both wouldn’t be there. Jin was informed on such a short notice, and he made the decision to hold his last meeting in the evening so you could both make it to a red eye, non-stop flight to Seoul in time for the dinner the next day.

You’re tired and sleep much of the flight, and the few times you glance at your husband, he’s awake and on his tablet. You only talk during meal times, and he’s preoccupied once more when you land and rush back home to dress up for the event.

“You’ll be fine. Just take it easy, okay? But don’t expect too much,” you tell him as you near the hotel. 

He squeezes your hand that’s enveloped in his, and he gives you that sad, almost dejected look that you wish you could do more to help melt away. But you also know there isn’t much you can do. 

Of course you know why he’s been so jittery and detached again; of course you know why it’s so important for both of you to be here. His parents still haven’t reached out or responded even if he’s sent several work-related emails as well as text messages informing them of your trips. It’s merely silence on their end. You hope it just means they’re not yet ready or even that they’re still mad or hurt. You suppose that’s better than them being indifferent; that’s something difficult to get over.

Dressed in an immaculate black suit, Jin looks handsome like he always does. He kisses your forehead before you both head out the car, making sure he gets to tell you that you look great in your blush tea-length dress and that he wishes he had more time to ogle you instead of worrying about tonight.

It’s the first big event since the scandal, and you could tell the initial hesitation and tense look of the guests as you both greet them. You tighten your grip on Jin’s hand, as if to tell him that he just has to ride through it. One good conversation is all he needs, and people will soon warm up to him.

He finds it in one of the affiliates who approaches both of you. You know him to be blunt, but he surprises you tonight with his tact and engaging conversation that doesn’t skirt around the issue. You’re thankful for that, as it lets Jin breathe a little. 

Both of you laugh, hold hands, and toast your flutes of champagne, and you could only hope that this comfort that you’re showing, that you’re letting others witness as they peek into your little world, will show them that things are okay, that you’re both in this together, and that the scandal didn’t ruin your relationship. Hopefully it will imply that it wasn’t true, and maybe they’d see that you were merely victims of some ploy and did their best to not make a big deal out of things. 

Jin spots his parents with his siblings and you both head to where they are. You see his elders’ faces fall as you approach them, and your heart sinks at the sight. They obviously look disappointed that you’re here.

“Oh, we didn’t think you’d make it,” his father says dryly, looking at his drink. 

“We took the earliest flight after I learned the Dinner was moved,” Jin responds, trying to act unaffected by the passiveness. “I think it’s important for me—for us—to be here and show a strong front.”

“Show?” His father scoffs. “Are we looking at the real thing or another one of your cover ups?”

You see your husband’s jaw clench so hard, you’re afraid it’ll break. He’s trying his best to keep his composure and you’re amazed at how he’s able to recover quickly. 

“There’s nothing to cover up this time, Father,” is all he says. 

“So, hyung, since you’re here, can you be the one to address the guests?” Taehyung asks, to the visible disappointment of their father.

“Yes, that would be great. Thank you, Taehyung.”

Your parents walk away without any word, and Jin’s siblings offer sympathetic looks. 

“Just give them more time,” Sejeong advises. “You know how they are - they take things so personally sometimes because they have such high expectations of us. But they can’t resist us, either. They’ll come around, okay?”

“It’s been weeks and that’s the most he’s said to me since he stormed out of our house,” Jin shares.

“At least he acknowledged you,” she sighs. “But I’ll talk to them again, okay? Things have died down a bit but they’re still pretty upset. We got the scandal off the internet and they managed to not have the news reach our grandparents. Just keep doing what you’re doing while we hold the fort out here. Our parents will give in, eventually.”

Jin nods, thanks his siblings again, and orders all of you to head to your seats. The program begins with him welcoming everyone, charming them with his witty remarks that has the guests giggling and reacting. He has that ability to make people feel at ease in such a formal setting, and you’re glad that he at least hasn’t lost that part of him. 

He continues with sharing a bit about the past week, the trends in the food industry, the increasing rise of South Korean soft power and global interest in its culture, and what the company is doing to continuously capitalize on that. You’re amazed with how he’s subtly saying that he’s doing a lot, while also acknowledging the efforts of all the people responsible for it.

You always knew he was good at these things. It’s one of the reasons why he stands out - he has an amazing grasp of the work and his people and the market. And he knows how to communicate it well in a way that makes you believe him, that makes you want to trust him, and given everything that’s happened, that means a lot.

He’s given a loud round of applause, and you squeeze his hand under the table when he returns to your side. You know that the guests’ warm reception of him will at least uplift his spirits despite his parents’ indifference.

The dinner proceeds without a hitch. It’s really just a time to acknowledge the other companies and socialize, and the latter is what you do individually and together. 

You’re exhausted by the time you get back home, and after getting ready for bed, you’re laying down and finally getting a breather after that tense evening. 

Jin is quiet but you know his mind is racing. You want to know what he’s thinking but you doubt he’d tell you unless he’s close to losing it again. He promised you, after your fight, that he’ll do his best to resolve the things that bother him in a healthy way, but when it gets too hard or he doesn’t know what to do, he’ll talk to you. And you trust him that he will. He doesn’t want to lose himself in his fears anymore, he’d told you.

Tonight, it seems like he can manage, but he tells you, in his own ways, that things are difficult and he needs you.

“___? Can you hug me tonight, please?”

“Of course,” you say, shifting so his back would face you, and you wrap your arms around him with your fingers intertwined with his. 

“I love you. Thank you for being with me,” he utters.

The words are simple, but you know they hold more meaning than you’d ever understand, so  you offer him as much comfort and affirmation as you can.

You pepper his shoulder with kisses until you reach his ears. Tenderly, you whisper, “I love you, Jin. And I told you, I’m never leaving your side.”

You both decide to finish the week in Seoul to get through other meetings and important matters before you continue your work trips. You host Jin’s siblings for lunch that Saturday and then your friends for dinner since you’ll both be gone for a few weeks. 

It’s early on Sunday when you fly out to San Francisco where you’ll stay for a week. As President, Jin regularly visits the country offices of the company’s branches, and just like London, this is the first time you’re visiting the North America office. 

It’s late in the afternoon when you arrive, and he immediately takes you to Fisherman’s Wharf for your mandatory seafood fill and then to a strip for your second dinner and then ice cream for dessert. You buy Yoongi, who opted to go straight to the hotel to sleep, a meal and then spend the evening watching TV shows because you’re so full and jet lag sucks. 

You wake up the next morning with Jin dressing up for work, and you’re definitely awake enough to watch him fix his tie and put on his suit.

He sees you from the mirror and smirks. “I thought you were sleepy.”

“I am. I’m exhausted. I finally dozed off at like, 4AM or something.”

“___, it’s 7AM. Go back to sleep.”

“I have to go to work.”

“It’s late in the evening in Seoul,” he points out. 

“But we’re not in Seoul,” you counter.

“Yeah, but what can you accomplish when you’re not fully functioning, hmm? Come on,” he says, sitting on the edge of the bed and tucking a strand of hair behind your ear. “I ordered for your room service to arrive in 2 hours so sleep until then. I asked Yoongi to stay behind and go with you to the office once you’re ready. We’re meeting another Board member in the evening so you need to get some rest. I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Fine,” you hum, feeling his soft lips against yours that you just want to melt into.

But he ends it too soon and he chuckles when you pout at him. 

“Getting needy again, I see. Rest, that’s an order from your boss. Your husband will make sure you’ll have a good night tonight, okay?”

He’s a tease and a naughty man sometimes and you hate him.

“I hate you. Now I’ll keep thinking about that.”

“Good. I’ll go now, Mrs. Kim. Duty calls.”

You groan as you tuck yourself under the covers again and easily fall asleep. You wake up in time for breakfast, and you gush at the bouquet made of truffle chocolates that Jin had bought for you. 

He’s a charmer and irresistible and now you can’t wait to be with him tonight. 

You’re welcomed warmly by the staff when you arrive close to lunch time, and after having a meal and bonding with them after, you join one of their meetings and get some work done before you and Jin head to a fancy restaurant for that dinner with one of the Board members. 

It’s an enjoyable meal, as her wife is a fashion designer, so you talk about Hoseok and his work at the fashion magazine in Japan, and it turns out that they’ve met at fashion shows a few times; you even video call him to inform him.

You head back to the hotel right after despite your husband’s insistence to have another round of dessert, promising your own treat if you indulged him. You do, and he does make good with what he said - you come 3 times without doing much, and you’re rewarded further with a back massage and a very comfortable slumber. 

The week passes by in roughly the same way, just in different variations. Jin goes to meetings and takes conference calls while you work in his designated room. You join him when you’re needed to provide updates about the new products you’re developing, and you even provide information about the marketing plans and sales figures that you really just get from speaking with Jimin. 

But every night, you have dinner with a new person, and then Jin takes you to a cafe or a park to talk about it, and though all you want is to have a hot bath or lay in bed, you listen and give him support, knowing it’s what he needs more than anything.

You finally get a bit of a break during the weekend, as you and Jin drag Yoongi once more to a Napa Valley wine tour during the day and then a cruise down the bay to watch the sunset. You explore more of the city on Sunday and then thankfully get enough rest for your mid-morning flight to Lima the next day.

The city is gorgeous and you immediately feel disappointed that you aren’t here for leisure because you definitely want to spend more time here to get to know the city. But you’re only here for a few days. There’s a conference that Jin was invited to as a panelist; it fortunately aligns with the Street Food Expo that you’ve always wanted to attend.

So while he’s doing what company presidents do, you’re off on your own to eat, analyze the dishes, and make notes to keep you inspired. Jin asked you to be more familiar with the South American food culture and cuisine, after all, in hopes that you could learn about the market and see how your different worlds could fuse together in some way. 

You could say you have the most fun role in the company, as you’re pretty much tasked to eat, even if you need to be extra careful after that bacterial infection you had not long ago. On that first day, your husband makes sure you remember how bad you felt when you got sick, just so you wouldn’t go overboard and overeat and be careless about what you consume. 

You meet him and Yoongi at a nearby park and buy them your favorites for dinner while you merely watch, knowing you can’t take any more. Jin is basically unable to speak as he won’t stop eating himself, and you’re tempted to bite his adorable cheeks but you know that Yoongi will scold you if you try. 

You explore the city on your own the next day, finding eateries and kiosks to add to your long list of places that serve food you want to eat again, something you show Jin that night to his amusement. You join him in the summit the next morning for his panel speaking duties, and you go around the city once more to spend time for yourself that you didn’t realize you also needed.

On your final night, Jin takes you to a fancy restaurant and you both walk around the city and take in what you can - the scent of street food, the buzz from the tourists, and the energy of the street performers. 

It’s almost surreal, being able to experience this with him, as you get to discover new places and new food while being able to appreciate more what he does - the burdens of pressure, the demand for excellence, the need to constantly deliver, and the tiny room for error he’s afforded.

He’s that charismatic leader when he’s out there. But in your room when it’s just the two of you, he’s an absolute sweetheart half the time and a menace during the other half. 

You don’t know which bits of him you like the most, though when you spend the evening scouring through aisles at a sex toy shop but then make love with lit candles and rose petals in the bathtub as his surprise, you realize you don’t have to pick a favorite. He’s truly everything you never expected you’d ever want, and you love all parts of him equally.

You head to Brazil the next day. The only distributor of Kim Foods in South America is in Rio, so your 2.5 days in the city is focused on meeting them and discussing new deals. You float the idea of your new products, though, and you end up discussing the new food items popping up on their side of the world, and you appreciate the fact that you’re gaining so much during this trip. You’re excited to get back home and run ideas with your teams, especially as you give the research unit assignments on what to look into to help with your recipes. 

By the time you settle on your business class seat on the way to Toronto during your last day, you start to doze off. 

“Careful with the snoring, love. It’s a full flight,” he nudges you.

“Now I’m scared to sleep,” you pout. 

He smiles at you tenderly. “I’m sorry I’m dragging you around. I just realized that you might not be used to all the odd-hour flying and stuff.”

“I’m not used to flying, period,” you correct. “But it’s been fun, I’m not gonna lie. It’s like an excursion trip. I know we do that for the food development team around South Korea and some Asian countries but I’m thinking of having them go to other continents, too. Even the research unit. We could do collaborations or product lines depending on what we could fuse with.”

He smiles satisfyingly at you, thankful that you don't hate him yet for all that he’s putting you through just because he doesn’t think he could survive these trips on his own. He’s been on edge lately, needing to be at his best all the time and being more present to get the trust of people back, whether they’ve heard about the scandal or not. He wants things moving, and he wants them moving fast. 

And while he’s been busy throughout the trips, too, he’s glad that there’s you next to him - every morning when he wakes up and every night before he falls asleep.

“Great idea. You should work on those proposals,” he smiles. “Also, I love hearing you talk work and food to me, but I expect full written reports when we get back, okay?”

Your glare could cut through glass if you wanted. “Jin?”

“Hmm?” 

“Can I unmarry you?”

The mansion of the Ahn family in Bayview Ridge, which isn’t far from downtown Toronto, is stunning.

It’s French-inspired, reminiscent of the Kims’ holiday chateau in Mountaroux, and the home’s traditional and classic yet modern design is quite breathtaking. It’s unfortunate that due to a health concern, Jin’s grandparents are unable to attend tonight’s event - the 80th birthday of the Ahn patriarch, who also happens to be the elder Mr. Kim’s childhood friend. It’s an important celebration that's hard to miss, so he sent your husband to attend on his behalf instead. 

It’s why you’re here, dressed in an emerald green lace dress, next to your husband who’s in a simple ivory ensemble. In hindsight, you suppose it’s a good thing it’s both of you and not his grandparents; you can’t risk the scandal being brought up.

You join Jin as he goes around, greeting people you’ve never heard of before, and neither has he. Well, most of them. 

The Ahns are ecstatic to see him, though, even more to meet you. They know your father, too, as the man who saved the elder Mrs. Kim’s life, and it’s heartwarming to hear their gratitude that they still feel towards your family. Somehow, though, it reminds you of how you and Jin started - an offering of gratitude, a debt to be paid.

But if months ago, the thought would’ve sunk your heart, today, you’re just in quiet disbelief at how the universe works sometimes, and then you smile. Because if at the end of it, you get to be with a man you never thought you’d love as much as you do, then it was all worth it. 

The night flies by fast. There’s so much interior and exterior ground to explore in the 3-hectare property, so you and Jin go off on your own and eat and drink as you go. You excuse yourselves early and, taking Yoongi, you all go to a bar after to drink some more and prepare for the long week ahead.

The board meeting is set in 3 days. Given the scandal, which a few of the older Board members directly messaged Jin about with regards to their disappointment, there’s much pressure to ease their worries and show to them that under his leadership, they can weather such storms and move forward. Despite having met some of them already these past weeks, it’s the less forgiving ones he has to assure. 

Taehyung and the 2 senior directors will be arriving tomorrow afternoon, and so the days leading up to the meeting will just be more meetings, which is why you wanted your husband to let loose a little and get some laughs in before he stresses himself out again.

The next morning, you wake up next to an empty bed. You could hear your husband’s voice from outside your room; perhaps he’s already working in the large desk situated in the nook by the living area. You walk out and look around the large suite where you’ll be staying in the next few days and indeed, you find him typing away on his laptop and speaking with someone on the phone. 

You call room service and ask if any orders have been made, and when you’re told that there haven’t been any, you make the order yourself. While waiting, you take the time to retrieve his suits from his suitcase and arrange for them to be steamed in time for the Board meeting. You fix some of his clothes and yours, and by the time you finish, the doorbell is ringing and food is served.

You place the cup of coffee on Jin’s desk and kiss his cheek, and his face softens at the feel of your lips, and he wishes for nothing more than this phone call to end. Setting the dining table for your meal, you turn to him and instruct him to eat, and your furrowed brows do the trick, as he hangs up and heads over to you for a kiss on your lips.

“Which department?” You ask, knowing it’s his senior director clarifying some things in the Board and business review reports. 

“Not yours,” he assures. “Production. Some numbers didn’t make sense but it’s all good now.”

“Good. The reports I submit are always good. I was never asked for some clarifications,” you brag. 

“They are, I think. They’re always the longest so I usually just browse through them.”

You smack his arm in annoyance. “Are you serious! I work my ass off on those reports and you don’t even read them?!”

“I do! I mean, thoroughly after the meeting. As long as Director Oh approves it, then I know you’ve met her standards, which are pretty much as good as mine. The Board just rarely asks about how we develop the products; they like knowing how they sell. So they rarely have questions about your department; you don’t spend as much, either.”

“Ugh, all my hard work for nothing,” you angrily eat your breakfast. 

“Hey! I read them! I just don’t absorb them as much. Director Oh usually answers product development questions since—”

“Since she actually reads my reports,” you interject. 

“You’re cute when you’re angry,” he merely chuckles, but he stands up to hug you when you’re still pouting, and when he whispers that he just knows your reports are good because your performance ratings have always been highly satisfactory, you start to smile. 

He returns to his desk after breakfast, and you look out to the pretty view of the city from your hotel window, prompting him to turn to you.

“Why don’t you go out? The weather’s pretty nice for a walk. I heard they have daily markets; you can check them out,” he says.

“Hmm, I’ll probably just walk around a bit and then head back. I don’t really want to explore without you. I’ve been doing that and I end up eating everything by myself.”

He walks over to you, wraps his arms around your waist, and settles his head on the crook of your neck. Soft kisses pepper your face, and he mumbles he’s sorry for leaving you on your own.

“Nothing to be sorry for. We’re on a work trip, Jin. We’re not here for leisure. Spending evenings going around is fine,” you say. 

“Yeah, but it’s your first time going to these cities. It just sucks that you can’t go around as you like,” he sighs.

“We can go back. I have my favorites, and a few more places I want to visit.”

“Okay, we’ll go to them, then,” he says, smiling into the kiss on your lips he gives. “Good thing you’re married to the President.”

You go around a few blocks from your hotel and grab some coffee and pastries from a strip of cafes you pass by. You get back to your suite to find Yoongi already in the living room, working on some documents while Jin prepares his presentation. You stay in your room and work in peace, until you hear familiar voices some time in the late afternoon.

Taehyung and the two senior directors arrive straight from the airport. You all go to the hotel restaurant for dinner and then head back to your suite where they start with their discussions for the Board meeting in 2 days. You join in for a while, and it’s during a quick break when you’re preparing some iced drinks in the kitchen that you get to catch up with Taehyung.

“How were your parents after the Fellowship Dinner,” you ask, as you glance at your husband sharing his presentation with Director Oh. “I doubt they expected us to be there.”

“Yeah. Sejeong and I think that Father planned it,” he sighs. “But our parents haven’t mentioned hyung, nor any of your trips. We always bring you both up and Mother at least asks when you two are returning, but our old man doesn’t. He’s just so stubborn.”

“I know it’s a silly question but… why are they still so angry? It’s as if Jin had done a crime or caused the company to go bankrupt.”

Taehyung looks at his older brother fondly, as if recalling their years of growing up together. 

“My parents never had a problem with him,” Taehyung shares. “All 3 of us are pretty intelligent but I wanted to become an actor and Sejeong wanted to become a lawyer. Hyung was the one who followed everything they wanted without complaints, and he really enjoyed it, you know? Like, you could tell he likes it. He genuinely loves food. He likes leading, managing people; challenges excite him and he always gets through them. That’s how my parents are. And that’s how they raised him. He took after them, basically. And so that’s why I think they’re as affected as they are - it hit them at their core, like they failed as parents because they realized their perfect child isn’t actually so perfect.”

“But that’s not fair to Jin. I mean, in the grander scheme of things, it’s not that bad, and Sejeong’s strategies worked. It’s hurting him so much that they don’t seem to care about him.”

“They do. They’re just having a hard time accepting that their son is human,” Taehyung offers. “After his ex left, he got back on his feet quickly and they thought that was him being him, you know? Sadness for a while, dust it off, then get back on his feet. But he was just detaching himself from his emotions all that time and then Seri happened. And they just can’t accept that he needed that - that care, that warm body, that relief from his responsibilities. Add the fake romance and deceit on top of that - which I admitted was my idea - and they’re just hurt and angry and being stubborn. They’re having a hard time processing.”

“Yeah, but he needs them. For all the times that Jin was the perfect son, this is the time when they need to be his parents,” you huff, feeling the anger build up again, one that you try hard to keep at bay. “He’s… he’s trying his best, and I just feel like all his work won’t matter much unless they forgive him.”

“They will, eventually,” Taehyung comforts. “When, I’m not sure. So, uh, can you keep holding the fort until then? I don’t want this to be the thing that completely breaks him.”

You nod, thinking that’s at least something you can do.

Some time later, you’re finally in bed with Jin. He turns to you and asks, “were you talking with my brother about my parents?”

There’s softness in his voice, almost like fear, and this breaks your heart, too.

“I was, and it’s still the same. He says that he still believes that they’ll eventually speak with you. You’re still their son, Jin. They won’t be able to resist you,” you say.

“Isn’t it that it hurts the most when the pain comes from the person you least expect? That you trust would never let you down?” He responds. He knows you know. “I got my second chance with you, ___. Maybe I’m not that lucky.”

“It wasn’t because of luck, Jin. It was because of trust. And despite everything, I know your parents still trust you. Thinking otherwise is just you giving up that things will be okay again. You have to believe that they will,” you urge him. 

“Maybe, but it’s also taking away from who I am. I’ve been working hard for their forgiveness, for their acceptance, not anymore because I like what I’m doing,” he sighs, the reality hitting him this morning after you left the suite. “Maybe I just have to accept that things won’t be the same again. They haven’t disowned me so that’s good. But I can’t expect the same respect as before. I can’t expect the same love.”

You want nothing more than to take his pain away, to feel it yourself so he won’t have to. Or even just to take a bit of it so he doesn’t feel too burdened by everything. You hug him tightly to let him know all that you feel, and he sighs in your hold, as if telling you that for tonight, this is all he needs.

“Then let me love you until it’s enough,” you tell him. “Let me love you until it’s all that you need.”

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[justanotherstarlightmonger]

Helsinki Chapter 4: The brat next door.

Helsinki syndrome is a term sometimes used incorrectly in place of Stockholm syndrome. It’s use in literature is often ironic and deliberate and literally means when a captive refuses to cooperate with their captor.

Summary: A war of wits does have some rules too. But if one party refuses to acknowledge the sacred rule of leaving family out of it, the other must retaliate stronger to quell any such advances for the future… Or at least that’s what Min Yoongi told himself when he abducted Kim Namjoon’s younger sister. That was before he realized that this elaborate game of chess didn’t have just two players and before he had promised Namjoon he’d keep her safe, But also before he realized that one month was enough to leave his whole life in chaos.

Genre: MAFIA AU, slight yandere themes, smut, a happy sprinkling of fluff/comfort, and a truckload of ANGST.

WARNINGS: Kidnapping, abuse (Namjoon gets slapped), OC is (still) miserable, mentions of starving, dry heaving.

Pairing: Main pairing: Mafia!MIN YOONGI X READER

Others include: Collegeboyfriend!Hosoek x reader + Mafia!Taehyung x reader + Kidnapper!Seokjin x reader.

Word count: 2k words

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Taglist: @rosquilleta @parkdatjimin @gaeguuliii @sugasbultornebae17 @minniesvenus @bebejungkook @themochiverse @darkafterhours13

.

It had been a good 5 hours since he left you in your room. He hadn’t heard a peep, which was saying something since his room was right next to yours. Even Mrs. Fen said that the door was locked from the inside and it had been silent inside the room when she had knocked about an hour ago.

“Mister Min, dinner is ready. Would you like to have it served in your room?” Mrs Fen stuck her head into the room.

“Yes, please.” Yoongi grunted, looking up from his laptop for a split second, “Has she opened her door?”

“No sir.” the woman’s tone was sad.

“Well, tell her there’s food to be had, if she wants to. If she doesn’t, well...” he shrugged, “I’m not responsible for her dietary requirements.”

Mrs. Fen bowed her head and retreated out of the room.

Not much later, Yoongi paused his work because the housekeeper had knocked on your door again. He cocked his head to listen closer.

.

Meanwhile inside the room, you had been sitting against the base of the bed, knees pulled against your chest in a protective pose, staring at the door you had locked hours ago. You weren’t sure why you had locked it, when Yoongi had locked it from the outside, but when some time ago, someone had rattled the handle, and a feminine voice had drifted in, politely asking you to open up, you were glad you had.

What shocked you the most was that the woman had sounded completely normal. As if she was addressing a member of the family and not a girl who was being held here against her will. Was this a recurring thing that happened with the annoying psychopath that had brought you here?

`

“Miss?” Mrs. Fen asked, ever polite.

No answer.

Yoongi frowned slightly. Why hadn’t she asked him to come down to dinner?

“Mr. Min asked me to let you know that dinner is ready. Would you like to come down to eat?”

You, of course, never answered.

“Of course, I could bring it up to you too.” The kind woman persisted.

Yoongi smirked. She wouldn’t get a reply, he was sure of it.

.

Early morning dawned to you curled up in a fetal position on the impossibly soft rug, tears dried on your face.

You regained consciousness, drowsily rubbing your eyes out of habit. But you froze in panic as the ache of the uncomfortable position you had spent the night in, set into your bones. It wasn’t a nightmare.

But that meant... You scrambled to your feet and rushed to the window. A wide expanse of garden greeted you. You were in shanghai alright.

You had actually been kidnapped by the mafia overlord. The ridiculously luxurious interior of the room you were “imprisoned” in was enough to point that out.

`

Defeated, your shoulder slumped as the familiar wave of sorrow took you under.

Tears leaked out of your eyes and you screamed in frustration, punching the wall closest to you, injuring your knuckles in the process.

Yoongi jolted awake at the ungodly early hour, to the unexpected thud the wall near his bed had just emitted.

“What the fuck?” he mumbled, trying to make sense of the situation.

And then, he remembered the brat he had somehow gotten stuck with, that was in the next room. He got off the bed, rolling his eyes and slapped a hand against the wall.

The answering thud was about as loud as yours had been, and shocked you into silence. Had someone actually answered?

Who else had he trapped in here?

You were unlocking the door before you even registered what you were doing, and peeked out into the hallway, to the next room over to the right, from where you had heard signs of human interaction.

“H-hello?” your voice was faint and hoarse from disuse and crying.

Your burning sense of righteousness overtook within a second and you remembered what Namjoon had always told you. “Always help those who can’t help themselves.”

Yoongi couldn’t believe this. All the politeness in the world from Mrs. Fen couldn’t get you out, but a slam into the wall had done it?

His heart thudded as he made his way over to the door.

`

The footfalls you heard were suspiciously heavy. The owner could be sleepy, you calmed yourself. To be fair, you had scared them quite early. Maybe they were just getting up? But your heart kept racing, and your mouth started watering as if you were going to throw up. You groaned and rushed back into your room, slamming and locking the door shut behind you, just as you heard the door to the next room open.

You ran to the bathroom as fast as you could, kneeling next to the toilet, and dry heaving a couple of times.

Namjoon’s advice would have to wait until you got a slightly stronger stomach.

`

Yoongi stared into the empty hallway, frown painted on his face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sound of the slap that your father had bestowed on Namjoon’s cheek resonated across the heavy silence in the living room. 

Your mom, who was already in distress, hair standing out in all the wrong places from her usual tidy ponytail, started crying again because of her precious son. 

“How dare you lose her? WAS SHE A TOY NAMJOON?” Your father screamed, losing his mind in his own right. 

“Abuji...” Namjoon began.

“Don’t even start boy!” your father spat. “Just tell me how soon you’ll bring her back, because that’s when you’re allowed back into this house.”

Namjoon lowered his head in shame. This reaction was warranted, he deserved it. But the fact that his mother was practically sobbing into a handkerchief and his father was barely holding back the tears and hurt in his tone tore his heart. It was his fault, he knew it well enough, but he was also as distressed as they were.

Though they had every right to be mad, he wanted his family to stick together. Maybe he wanted that reassurance that even though things had gone wrong, big time, they’d end up fine. But that reassurance never came. He met the hurt, tearful gazes of his parents and lowered his head, silently making his way towards the door.

Before leaving, he turned back and swore, “The next time I stand here, I’ll have y/n with me.”

“You better.” his father’s voice cracked as he finally let the sorrow take him over, lowering himself onto the couch next to his wife, placing an arm that gave as much comfort as it took around her shoulders.

Namjoon left, the hurt and betrayal finally breaking out of his eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The admirable thing about Mrs. Fen was that she was steadfast in her attempts to bring you out of your locked room. Yoongi didn’t have the heart to tell her that all it’d take was for her to go to the next room over and slam the wall a couple of times. 

“I’ll be back in the evening, feel free to mention to her that I’m gone. Maybe that’ll give you a chance to finally see her pretty face.” he teased the elderly housekeeper.

“Mr. Min, she probably hasn’t even had water since she got here. She’ll die like this.” the older woman had concern evident in her wonderful, soft features. 

Something stirred inside Yoongi. He didn’t want you to die. What was the point of a dead hostage? Your brother would break all hell loose behind him if you died. After all, the bullet had only maimed Taehyung.

He tilted his head to the side, biting the inside of his cheek. Fuck it. “If she doesn’t open the door when you go to call her for lunch, use the master key and unlock the door yourself. She might be a guest, but she’s taking too much of our hospitality for granted.”

Mrs. Fen nodded, glad she finally had permission to do the very thing she had been itching to do since yesterday.

The thorns in your throat reminded you that you had, indeed, not had a drink of water since Yoongi had unceremoniously ushered you out of that shop. In fact the last thing you remembered eating was that wonderful slice of cake Hoseok had abandoned.

Yoongi left soon after. You heard footsteps cross your door and you heard the door next to yours open and close. Then it was silent for a while. Presently the door opened again and you heard the same footsteps cross in front of your door again. So it wasn’t another prisoner then, you concluded.

But to be fair, you were free to step out too. It was you who had locked the door from the inside, as the kind voice who came to talk to you every meal time reminded you.

You missed Hoseok so bad. His calm voice, and loud laughs. The way he was  so very confident in the future he saw with you and how much he loved you. Would he be missing you like you were missing him? How many times had he called you by now? Would he call Namjoon and ask him about you? A persistent dull ache pounded in your heart, but maybe you were too dehydrated for your body to waste fluids making tears, because none came. Or maybe you had no tears left to cry. 

That’s when you heard much lighter footfalls approaching your door. Sure enough, they stopped in front of your door. 

“Ms. Kim?” the now familiar feminine voice called you once again. You had to hand it to her, she was resilient. You didn’t bother to answer. “Mr. Min has left. He’s gone sweetie. Please come out and atleast have a drink of water. You’ll die of dehydration like this.”

He had left?

Where did he go? 

Had he left you here? To live out the rest of your miserable life while he raged hell on your family back home??

Mrs. Fen was contemplating getting the master key but then the knob rattled a little and the lock clicked open. With wide eyes she watched as the door swung open and a very disheveled young lady emerged.

Your heart thudded and you forced yourself back on your feet, your body sore and aching in protest of any movement. You stumbled and fell onto the door frame, the strong jolt to the structure alarming the lady on the other side. This was the best sign of life you’d shown her since you had isolated yourself. But she wasn’t sure if that was an improvement, because that thud might well have been something you chucked at the door in anger, if you were anything like Min Yoongi.

You were probably looking like something fresh out of a horror film. Your eyes were swollen and red, your complexion pale as a ghost and your lips chapped and torn. Your hair was greasy and unkempt and your dress was far from presentable. But you were alive, and able to stand, albeit holding onto the door, and that was all Mrs. Fen could ask for. After all, anything else, she could handle.

“Where did he go?” you croaked.

What was a motherly figure like her doing working under the devil Min Yoongi? you wondered, but allowed her to take your hand so as to stabilize you as you waddled out of the room.

Making your way down the stairs at a snail’s pace, you looked around at the modern architecture of the house. It was well lit and spacious. You didn’t know why you had been envisioning some victorian era mansion with a specific torture chamber, when the man was filthy rich enough to have a private jet at his disposal to fly unsuspecting victims out of the country on no prior notice. 

“Let me get something in your system and then you can ask me all the questions you want.” she said sternly.

[youarejesting]

Sly like a... ? Part 2

[Master list] [Sly Master List] Beta: n/a (at the moment) Rating: All Pairing: Hybrid!BTS x FailedHybrid!Reader Genre: Hybrid au, fluff, action, adventure, angst, drama, slice of life. Some marked chapters will contain mature/smut scenes, BUT they will not have plot in those scenes and are 100% skippable without losing your place in the story. Words: 2.1k

Summary: Human’s strive to be better, faster and stronger looking to animal DNA. Thus Hybrids are born. As the rise for designer and Pedigree Hybrids increase, so do the failed attempts. There is one species scientists are unsuccessful in creating, but, folklore says they have been here all along, hiding and blending in with the humans for many millennia. How clever they are.

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It was your dream to convert a large warehouse on the outskirts of town into a home and education center for Hybrids. Somewhere they could learn to be self-sufficient. You would have professors and volunteers, teaching and fundraising, all for the day you could buy another warehouse on the other side of town. You wanted it to become the norm that these Hybrid facilities would build and grow in every city. Allowing the Hybrids to become an independent race no longer looked down upon by society.

You were on the last day of your heat and craving something savory. As it was late your best option was the convenience store that was always open late.

Things were falling into place as you received an email earlier that day confirming that all the items you had requested were acquired. That meant school books, equipment, and more. You were also granted the first loan for the Hybrids, a loan you would receive every term. The board wanted no less than five and no more than ten participants for an adequate examination of results.

You assumed for the program to be officially approved, you would have to show successful results from Hybrids with different backgrounds during this trial. That meant different ages and different upbringings. Wondering if it was worth visiting the adoption agency or perhaps a Hybrid store, it wouldn’t hurt for more variables.

Shaken from your thoughts by a shadowed figure rustling through the garbage, in a dark alley between the antiques and postal office. Your ears picked up the sound easily, feet scuffing to a halt on the pavement catching the Hybrid’s attention. Their eyes searched the dark for any sign of threat before falling upon you, a deep growl resonating on the wind. It was best to not get involved with stray Hybrids, they tended to be more violent. This is what you were doing the program for, to stop Hybrids from ending up homeless and on the streets. To prove that they aren’t dangerous and are capable of learning.

Struck by an idea, if you could get a Hybrid from the street to join the trial program, you could prove they weren’t violent and show that given the opportunity they could all learn and grow into members of society.

“Can I buy you dinner?” You called out, voice cracking from the cold. Your breath puffed out like smoke visible between you both. The night brought you more energy, it made you feel alive.

Cars passed, their headlights illuminating the entire alleyway and reflecting in his eyes a blood-red. He stalked forward, his body moving gracefully but you could see he was hurt, his shirt ripped and there was a strong scent of blood in the breeze. That was a downside to having heightened senses. You tried to control the disgusted look on your face, “I will pay and there is nothing else to it, just sit and have dinner with me, so I don’t look like a woman in her mid to late twenties eating alone at a convenience store”

He looked you up and down, it was then you noticed his features, he was a feline, not a common house cat. No, he was a big predator.

“Do I look like some charity case? Some pathetic creature who needs help from a human?” His words rumbled from his chest in a growl. You wanted to correct him that you weren’t exactly human yourself but decided against it. Stuck somewhere between Hybrid and human you didn’t fit in either category.

“What’s it to you? My reason is my reason, just take the free meal. Hell! Exploit me for a free meal, anything you want, go crazy.” You shrugged, trying desperately to charm him. He seemed to contemplate his choices for a moment before turning to walk away. You scrambled for your wallet and grabbed out twenty dollars, holding it out to him.

“Wait! At least take this; if you don’t want to eat with me, get something warm, and here is my card if ever you need help.”

He eyed the money but didn’t move to take it. Hoping he wouldn’t rip your arm off, you grabbed his hand. You knew it was risky. His fingers were cold, but you didn’t want to linger and make him mad, quickly placing the money on his palm with your business card.

“Have a good night, mister,” He nodded confused about the whole encounter, before shoving his hands in his pockets and leaving. It seemed even if you tried your best, it wouldn’t be enough to persuade him. He was too defensive, the best you could hope for was that he would stay safe in the cold.

What trials and tribulations must you go through to have these Hybrids trust and confide in you? Hopefully, it wouldn’t be this hard to get through to the group of Hybrids you were soon to obtain.

This was going to be a rather difficult experiment and you weren’t sure if it was going to go well but you hoped with every fiber of your being that you would see this through for the sake of the Hybrids.

That night you dreamed about the group of participants being hostile and unresponsive to the program, it did little to soothe your nerves the next morning. When you received an email about the new house. Jimin would have the key and would meet you outside later that day with the other Hybrids. No matter who they were, you were going to make sure they were achieving the best result they could.

The government had registered two Hybrids in your name, their files attached to the confirmation email. The two participants were so contrasting, Hoseok was a deer Hybrid, from a small farming family. The other was a Lion Hybrid by the name of Namjoon. He was from New Zealand and had participated in another government program regarding genius Hybrids.

Altogether, there were four: Namjoon the genius, Hoseok the country bumpkin, Taehyung, and Jimin. You decided to look for possible participants within the Hybrid store, and rehoming center. That would give you a wide variety of variables for the experiment; each would have a different background and would require different tools to help them.

You started at the nearest Hybrid shop. There were several rooms each with an observation window, a photo card, and a brief description of the Hybrid sitting, reading or playing video games inside. It was such a small space, how could they live in these tiny rooms every day until someone adopted them. Reading their descriptions by the windows you analyzed each of them, your attention caught by one playing video games. He had dark ears that stuck out from his dark hair. He seemed fun and you thought it would be easy to connect with him.

Hello, My name is Jungkook, I am twenty-three and I am a fully vaccinated Melanistic Jaguar.

You didn’t bother reading the rest, thinking you would like to learn about him properly, “Sir, I would like to adopt this Hybrid,” You declared, whilst walking towards the counter to begin the paperwork. Once everything was signed the young Jaguar boy was led from his small room. He looked nervous holding a small store backpack filled with all his essential items.

On the drive to the next location, you were the one doing most of the talking, receiving quiet one-word answers and small fidgets. He seemed excited when you finally parked the car, you guessed he was eager to see his new home.

However, as you walked towards the menacing rehoming center, he grew quieter and quieter, slowing to a stop before the entrance. Looking at his feet crying profusely, you realized how this must look. He must have thought he had done something wrong, how could he think you would buy him and rehome him on the same day.

“Jungkook, I am not abandoning you, I am picking up a brother for you to play with.” It took a few moments to console the young man. Wiping his tears and giving him a few pats on the head careful of his ears.

Deciding anyone younger than Jungkook would be too much to handle. “You have to help me find a big brother, someone you think will be really nice and that you like to play with, what do you think? Can you do that for me?”

Jungkook nodded, sniffing and wiping his eyes on his sleeve. “Okay, I can do that,”

The inside of the rehoming center smelt like disinfectant, you explained you were looking for another Hybrid and were led to a large room. There were Hybrids of all ages all playing and entertaining themselves with different activities.

It was overwhelming even for you, so you grasped Jungkook’s hand and encouraged him to look around, “Hey, what about ping pong?” You grinned at Jungkook who smiled playing a few rounds with you, the two of you giggling.

“Have I told you I am the ping pong master,” an older Hybrid grinned, he had a striped tail. You handed over the paddle and stood near Jungkook. “Do you want to play a game?”

Jungkook nodded, was this boy unable to say no. Either way, the two were getting along quickly, the older Hybrid was very playful and funny, even as he lost you were holding your sides from the laughter and Jungkook seemed to grow really comfortable with him.

Talking to one of the volunteers she explained that Seokjin was a raccoon hybrid and the oldest in the center. She explained that he often took the younger hybrids under his wing. It was an easy decision to adopt him. While you were filling out the paperwork, Jungkook was telling you all about his match with Seokjin.

“And I got the winning shot,” He grinned, swinging his arm like he was hitting an invisible ping pong ball.

“He seems really fun, would he make a good big brother?” It was cute how he nodded wholeheartedly. “Jungkook why don’t you go tell him that he is coming home with us?”

He grew embarrassed again, his dark ears twitching but followed the volunteer nonetheless. You were quick to finish up the last of the paperwork before the two came back laughing volunteer in tow.

“Unbelie-Bubble” Seokjin said before squeaking in laughter. He had all of his things and like Jungkook was nervous, but he showed it through talking.

You felt good with your selection, there was a Hybrid for every walk of life and socio-economic background. This would be perfect for the trial. They all seemed like lovely young Hybrids and you could already see them forming friendships.

It was on your way out that you saw a familiar face struggling against Hybrid control. “This is your last time, you know what happens to strays.”

“Wait!” You shouted, everyone in the lobby froze turning to look at you, the cold room felt quite warm with all of the attention “He is mine”

They froze looking between you and the hybrid before letting him go curiously. The injured Hybrid staggered over to you, knowing this was his best chance at survival, “why didn’t you tell them my name?” you asked him curiously but he kept his head down.

“This white tiger Hybrid is yours?” The handler spoke in disbelief, practically accusing you of lying. “why is he not microchipped, or registered in our system?”

“I was supposed to register him last week when I got him but I had been busy with work, I would like to properly register him under my name today,” You didn’t break under this man's pressure, you could notice the more he held eye contact the more he seemed to falter himself. “so that you will stop taking him in when he is harmlessly walking the streets”

The man opened his mouth to argue but you blinked up at him, watching him lower his hand.

“I am so sorry miss, we didn't mean to cause you trouble?” It wasn’t exactly odd behavior, you often found your arguments nullifying this way. You liked to think that your self-confident stare was what made people give in.

“Miss we have just noticed some suspicious activity in your account it says you have adopted four Hybrids today,” The woman behind the desk said, “We are legally required to ask your intentions or we can detain the Hybrids from you”

Almost questioning her, you remembered the government was placing two Hybrids in your name; they would be arriving today as well. With a smile you removed a folder from your bag, “I have a grant from the government.” You said brandishing the signed document, “I will be placing these Hybrids in my care”

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Tags:  @simplymemyself @lolsiiike (please make sure you have tagging setting on so you get notified when the story updates)

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[xjoonchildx]

guilty | knj x reader | final chapter: is something burning?

summary: as the man at the top, kim namjoon has almost everything he wants. almost. could a familiar face from the past change his future?

pairing: namjoon x reader

genre: mafia AU, pining, SMUT WARNINGS APPLY in this chapter sorry i’m yelling stressed!joon, sweaty!joon, sober!joon all make an appearance

rating: 18+

word count: 7.9K

notes: okay, so i stressed a bit about this chapter.  i got really in my head over it, but i hope it ends in a way that’s satisfying to all of you guys.  i’ve heard from some of the most amazing readers about this story -- i appreciate you all so much and i’d love to hear from you about how you feel about the ending.

special love to the best beta hands down periodt amen @hobi-gif​​, the lady who inspired it all with her adorable brand of namjoon thirst @sahmfanficbts​​, and three people who mean the world to me point blank period @ladyartemesia​​ @ppersonna​​ @taetaewonderland​​

this fic is a continuation of the Guarded Series but can be read as a standalone piece.

Chapter 01 | 02 | 03 | Epilogue

*************************

There’s this thing that happens when you’re getting over a cold.

Slowly -- as your breathing returns to normal -- you can taste again.  Your head clears and your senses come back to life and you savor everything you eat like it’s the best thing you’ve ever had.  Your appetite returns.  

And all at once, you are starving.

That’s what it’s like after Namjoon touches you.

All he had to do was cup your face in one large, warm hand and it feels like your entire body has been jump-started.  Like parts of you that have been dormant for years are now awake, nerve endings exposed and aching.  Like all the tiny pieces of you that have been scattered and lost for so long are now found and fitting back together.

For the first time in a long time you remember what it feels like to want.

It’s not like you didn’t know you cared for Namjoon.  You knew it deep down in the way you took pride in providing for his needs.  You knew it in the way it made you feel to see appreciation reflected back in his dark eyes.

But you didn’t understand how much you wanted him until that night in his office.  

In those few charged moments, Namjoon made you feel more desired with his gaze than other men have with their hands.  You let down your guard and allowed yourself to imagine what it would be like to touch him, to be touched by him. You let yourself embrace the fantasy of being his in every way.

And then it was over.

Whatever spell he was under was broken and whatever existed in the air between you evaporated.  The hunger in his eyes turned into remorse and you’d left his office on trembling legs, reeling from the whiplash of it all.

Today, you stare out at the window across from your desk, unable to suppress the hurt that grips your chest.  You can barely concentrate on the numbers on the sheet in front of you, mind replaying the events in that office.  

Namjoon should never have touched you.  

He should never have roused the parts of you that had been long forgotten between doctors visits and pharmacy runs.  He should never have made you feel things no other man ever has or probably ever will.

And he should have never let you believe, even for one second, that he could care for you the way you do for him.

He should have just left you alone.

*********************

No one ever tells you that when you devote your life to caring for someone else’s needs, yours end up falling by the wayside.  That who you are ends up diminished somehow, buried underneath the weight of responsibility and worry.

Jinjoo finds you sitting in the chair next to your mother’s bed, staring at one lock of hair threaded through your fingers.  You’re frowning at the split ends you’ve not had a chance to tend to, the ones you hide by keeping your hair pulled back.

She sweeps into the room, carrying a bowl of kimchi.

“It’s Saturday. The sun is shining and you should go out.  Maybe to the salon, hmm?”

You glance up just as she’s placing the food on a tray at the foot of your mother’s bed.  She smiles to soften the blow of her observation and you can’t bring yourself to be annoyed at her well-meaning meddling.  It’s nice to be fussed over for a change.

“I can’t even remember the last time I went to the salon,” you admit, eyes locking on an unsightly chip in your nail polish.  “I usually end up cutting it myself.”

“Well, that won’t do,” Jinjoo scolds, hands on hips.  “Today I want you to go out and do something just for you.  Go and get the works.  You’re far too young to be stuck in this house all the time.”

You consider her offer for a moment.  Here in the quiet of your mother’s room it’s far too easy to let your mind wander back to the encounter with Namjoon.  Far too easy to dwell on the ache that surfaces every time you remember.

“Go on, Ttal.”

You turn in the direction of your mother’s voice and find her stirring from her nap.  She places one soft hand over yours and squeezes.  “She’s right.  Go take some time away.  I’ll be fine here with Jinjoo.”

“See?” Jinjoo waves a hand to shoo you out of the chair. You stand and she immediately takes your place in the seat.  “Your mother agrees.  Now go.  And buy something pretty to wear while you’re at it.”

You look from her to your mother and see both women wearing matching expressions of encouragement.  

You decide they’re right.

So you spend the rest of your day pampering yourself and shopping and definitely not thinking about Kim Namjoon.  

You don’t think about him when you read the book he recommended to you once at the salon, you don’t think about him when you stop for a bite at his favorite Tteokbokki stand and you definitely don’t think about him when you buy a new sweater that makes you feel beautiful.

You definitely don’t think about him at all.

*****************************

NAMJOON

Kim Namjoon’s father was a pig.

A glutton of the worst kind, he hoarded money and guns and drugs and because no one ever tried to stop him.  He used and abused everything and everyone just because he could.

Namjoon hated to watch the sadistic games his father played with people.  He hated that the man seemed to direct the worst of his cruelty at the women in his life.  

Namjoon’s own sister left everything behind to escape his violence and abuse and somehow his father was even more vicious with the women he bedded and discarded at random.  He dangled things like money and security and love in front of them like bait, only to yank it all away on a whim.

That’s why Namjoon has worked so hard his entire life to prove to others -- to prove to himself -- that he’s better than the piece of shit who raised him.  

That’s why the look on your face in his office that night cut so deep.

That look pierced straight through the lust and the scotch clouding his judgement and forced him to step back and see the situation for what it was. It made him feel sick to think he might have made you feel like his help came with conditions.  That he’d done what he had expecting you to give yourself to him in return.  

He couldn’t allow you to think he’d use his money to try and buy you.  That’s something his father would have done.

And Kim Namjoon is not his fucking father.

So this morning he finds himself walking towards your desk, determined to make it right.  You don’t register his approach as you work quietly and Namjoon has a quick moment to take you in.

There’s something different about you.

Namjoon can’t put his finger on it, but when he gets close enough for you to notice his presence and you glance up at him from under those long lashes, you look changed somehow.

Rested. Radiant.

The second you register that it’s him though, the look on your face changes.  You stand up from your chair, expression shuttered, tone formal.

“Mister Kim,” you murmur.  “How can I help you this morning?”

“Please sit,” Namjoon starts quietly.  “I, uh --” He digs his nails into his palm, annoyed with the hesitation in his delivery.  Spit it out, you moron.

“-- I owe you an apology.”

Your lips part in surprise before you close your mouth, sinking slowly back into your chair.  

Namjoon rubs one hand across the back of his neck, stealing a sideways glance at Seokjin’s office door.  It remains closed and he’s glad for it.  The last thing he’d want is an audience for this embarrassing exchange.

“The other night I was --” he clears his throat awkwardly.  Loaded. Horny. Stupid.  

He eventually lands on a less damning adjective.  “-- not entirely appropriate with you.”

You blink back but keep quiet so Namjoon keeps talking.

“I shouldn’t have acted that way,” he acknowledges weakly.  “That’s not normally how I treat my employees.  And I’m sorry.”

Spots of color appear in your cheeks.

“Well as your employee, I admit it wasn’t appropriate for me to just turn up in your office without notice, either,” you reply quietly.  “I think I was just shocked by your generosity. It’s a lot of money, and I --”

“-- Don’t think anything of it,” Namjoon interjects quickly.  “You’ve saved me that amount and more with your audits.  It only made sense to repay you for your efforts.”

It’s the wrong thing to say, and Namjoon knows it immediately.  It’s not the truth -- not by a mile -- and judging by the look that passes over your face, it’s definitely not what you wanted to hear.

“Mister Kim.”

“Yes?” Namjoon replies, only to realize that you are now looking past him and that he’s not the only one answering.

He turns slowly to find Seokjin standing behind him, wearing an expression halfway between curiosity and scrutiny.  Namjoon’s nails dig back into his palms, leaving tiny indents in the skin.

“Good morning,” you continue, turning your attention fully to Seokjin.  Seokjin looks between you and Namjoon before answering.

“Good morning to you, too,” he says slowly.

“If you’re ready to go over the new audits, I have more information to cover with you,” you say, pointing at the papers riddled with notes on your desk.  Namjoon stands there like an idiot, watching the two of you interact like he’s not even there.

“Sure,” Seokjin agrees, eyes darting back to Namjoon.  “Let’s go ahead and get into the numbers.”

“Great,” you say with a smile, standing to organize your papers into a folder.  

You look back at Namjoon like he’s an afterthought and the realization stings.  “If that was all you needed, I’ve got some work to handle now.”

The nails in his palm are this close to drawing blood.  

He cuts his eyes at Seokjin who immediately looks away.

“Certainly,” he says under his breath.  “Let me not keep you.”

You turn your back on him to head into Seokjin’s office.

***********************

Namjoon stares out at the setting sun from his office window.

He’s spent the last few days hiding out in here, avoiding everything and everyone.  Yoongi, Hoseok, Seokjin -- his phone keeps lighting up with calls he won’t answer.  His already black mood darkens every time his mind replays the seemingly endless string of disastrous exchanges with you.

He still can’t figure out how he’s managed to fuck things up so royally.

He still can’t figure out why he didn’t just tell you the truth about the money and about Jinjoo. He should have just admitted outright that for once he wanted to be the one taking care of you, not the other way around.  He should have just admitted that you mean something to him.

That’s the real reason why things are so screwed up right now.

It would be so simple if this was just about sex.  It would be so simple if Namjoon could just get you into bed and get you out of his system.  But you’re not Mina or Yejin or any of the others.  

You’re not like any woman he’s ever known.

Namjoon leans back into his chair just as his cell phone lights again and he grabs it just long enough to reject the call before tossing it back onto his desk.  He rubs his fingers across his mouth and watches the sun fall behind the nearby skyscrapers.

You deserve so much more than he is capable of giving you.

You deserve happiness and security and certainty.  What you don’t deserve is to be toyed with by a man who doesn’t know what his future looks like.  A man who’s still so damaged by his own upbringing that he worries he’ll never be capable of being a decent husband and father.

Truthfully, Namjoon doesn’t know which scenario scares him more.  

The one where he tries -- and fails -- to give you the things you need, or the one where he drifts through the rest of his life anchored to no one and nothing.

The sound of an incoming text interrupts his maudlin thoughts.

Namjoon reaches for his phone and sighs as he reads the waiting message.

reservations at doore yoo, 8 PM [ 6:32 PM ]

join me [ 6:32 PM ]

it’s been too long [ 6:33 PM ]

***********************

“Mister Kim.”

The Maitre’d at Doore Yoo bows in Namjoon’s direction, flashing a wide smile. “A pleasure to have you back.”

“Thank you Sungho,” Namjoon murmurs, scanning the crowded dining room.  “Is she waiting for me?”

“She is,” Sungho confirms.

Namjoon follows him past the tables packed with patrons to the exclusive dining area hidden away in the back.  This is his regular table, inside his regular private room -- but when Sungho slides the door open, Namjoon stops short and nearly tells the man he’s made a mistake.

The young woman waiting for him inside is unrecognizable.

From the back, Namjoon can see that her dark hair has been swept into a careful updo, shoulders and skin bared in a delicate spaghetti-strap top.  But that can’t be right.

Because she would never --

“Jaegyueo.”

Namjoon’s sister lifts her chin and smiles as he steps around the table.  

He catches himself staring, momentarily thrown by the sight in front of him.  It’s the first time in his life he can recall seeing his sister wearing something that doesn’t cover the jagged scar that crosses her collarbone.  The scar that she’s spent a lifetime hiding, ashamed of the way it made her look and feel.  At once, the realization hits him -- the hundreds of different ways she’s changed, big and small since falling in love with Hoseok.  

Every last one of them for the better.

“Amsaja, you look -- ” Namjoon pauses to brush a kiss across her cheek, “ -- wonderful.”

She flushes.

“Thank you. Now sit,” she orders kindly, reaching for her wine glass.  “For a minute there I thought you might not show.”

Namjoon exhales, sinking into his seat.  

“For a minute there, I almost didn’t,” he admits.  “It’s been a shitty week.”

His sister says nothing, smiling like a sphinx as a server appears to offer Namjoon his own drink.  

“Club soda on ice,” Namjoon orders quietly.  “Thanks.”

Her poker face slips then, one eyebrow lifting in surprise at seeing him forgo his usual scotch.  She sips her wine thoughtfully before speaking.

“Talk to me, Namjoon.”

“There’s little to talk about,” he deflects irritably, staring past her to the art on the walls.  

“Hoseok says you’ve barely left your office.  Won’t take his calls.”

Namjoon grits his teeth, hackles raising immediately.

“Tell Hoseok he should work on his pillow talk,” he says sharply, and the second the words leave his mouth he regrets them.  Namjoon sees the change in his sister’s demeanor, watches her eyes sharpen from across the table.  

“Forgive me,” he apologizes quickly.  “That was uncalled for.  I’m fucking things up left and right these days, it seems.”

His sister stares back at him.  Namjoon knows that face, knows she’s now opted to abandon her charm offensive for a more direct approach.  He knows it’s exactly what he deserves for being an asshole.

“That’s my understanding, yes,” she says tightly.  “As smart as you are, you seem to be doing some very stupid shit lately.”

Namjoon scratches the back of his neck, cheeks warming at her rebuke.

“You’re right,” he admits.  “But I’m going to need you to be more specific about which stupid shit you want to talk about tonight.”

“Don’t be dense,” his sister scolds.  “Clearly, you’re tied up in knots over your assistant.  Oh, I’m sorry -- I mean former assistant.”

Namjoon’s defeated sigh hangs in the air for a moment.

“Is that what Hoseok says?”

“That’s what everyone says,” his sister fires back.  “You think you’re such a mystery but I assure you, you’re actually quite transparent.  Sending her away to work for Seokjin? Hiring a private nurse?  Good grief, Namjoon.  Real subtle.”

Shit, he wishes he had a scotch right now.

“What do you want me to say?”

“I want you to explain to me why you’re playing this stupid game of push and pull with this woman.  If you care about her, do something about it instead of lashing out at everyone around you because you’re angry with yourself.”

“She’s not --” Namjoon falters as he searches for a proper explanation, “-- she has a complicated life right now.  I’m just trying to help her the only way I know how.”

His sister leans back in her chair, wine glass tipped in his direction.

“You know what I think?  I think you like her too much and I think that’s freaking you out.  And I think you’re going to miss out on a good thing because you won’t get your head out of your ass.”

Namjoon stares back at his sister.

“I think you might be right,” he concedes, after a heavy silence.  

“Namjoon, I’ve seen the way she looks at you,” his sister says quietly.  “Whatever you’re feeling, she’s feeling it too.”

He knows that’s true. It’s been damned near impossible not to feel the charged air between you, impossible not to share passing looks and fleeting touches while working in such close quarters.  When he looks at you he knows instinctively that you feel the same pull.  It’s only made his precarious position that much harder.

“I just --” he shakes his head as he tries to justify his inaction, “-- I have no idea what I’m offering her.  I don’t know what I’m capable of giving her.  Beyond money, of course.”

His sister laughs.  

Namjoon waits for her to collect herself, ears warm with embarrassment.  He resists the childish impulse to kick her under the table.

“Is that funny to you?”

“Hilarious, actually,” she teases.  “You have no idea what you have to offer her?  You’re one of the most powerful men in this city, Namjoon.  There’s nothing you couldn’t offer her.”

The server arrives with dumplings and sets them in the middle of the table, and his sister reaches for one.

“If she’s this important to you, I know there’s nothing you wouldn’t do for her,” she continues.  “Stop overthinking this. You’re a good man.  Everything else is icing on the cake.”

“I haven’t acted like a good man lately,” he confesses, shaking his head.  “She came to my office a few nights ago and I acted like a drunk, groping asshole.  Like father, like son.”

His sister sets her wine glass down, hard.

“You’re nothing like our father, Namjoon,” she says, eyes flashing with anger.  “Quit telling yourself you don’t deserve happiness out of some misguided, misplaced guilt.  And whatever happened in that office can be fixed.  If you want to fix it.”

Namjoon watches the bubbles in his club soda surface and break.  He does want to fix it.  He wants to figure out a way to stop fucking everything up where you’re concerned.

“I do,” he admits.

“Have you apologized?”

“Awkwardly. Not sure that it helped my case.”

“Then I think you need to offer her the one thing that’s more valuable than your money, Jaegyueo.”

Namjoon lifts an eyebrow at his sister.

“What’s that?”

She plucks a dumpling off the plate with her chopsticks and points it at him.

“Give her your time.”

****************************

YOU

It’s freezing tonight.

You wrap your arms around yourself and brace against the biting wind as you approach your family home.  You’re dead on your feet, worn after a long day at the office -- and for the thousandth time since her arrival you silently give thanks for Jinjoo.  

Knowing your mother is taken care of while you’re gone and coming back to a clean home and warm meals has eased your burdens immeasurably.  

Of course, it’s all really thanks to Kim Namjoon -- but that’s something you’re not allowing your mind to dwell on right now.  You’ve worked hard over the past few days to push any thought of that man back to the furthest recesses of your mind.  

You’re peeling out of your scarf and coat in the foyer when a laugh echoes down the long hallway.  It’s the sound of your mother’s laugh -- clear in a way you haven’t heard in a very long time -- and it’s definitely not coming from her room.

“Eomma?” you call out as you walk towards the sound.  A peal of Jinjoo’s laughter rings out next and you smile, following it.

You round the corner to the living room and your mouth drops open when you spot your mother, fully dressed for the first time in ages, sitting on the formal couch.  Jinjoo is seated next to her, both women smiling and laughing at --

Oh God.

Namjoon stands from his seat on the opposite couch when your eyes meet his.  His cheeks are pinked from the cold, hair tousled from the wind, and he looks so handsome that for a moment you forget how to think.  

“Welcome home,” he says, dimples emerging from his slow, careful smile.

You stare back at him, rooted to the spot.  Your face warms when you realize that every single eye in the room is trained on you, awaiting your next move.

“Do you -- ” Namjoon clears his throat, “ -- do you think I could have a minute of your time?”

“What are you doing here?” you say, blowing right past his question.

Jinjoo makes a disapproving sound under her breath.

“Ttal,” your mother interjects with a tone that borders very close to warning, “Mister Kim came by to talk to you.  He kept the two of us company until you came home.”

You turn to look at her and -- is she wearing lipstick?

“Yes,” Namjoon adds quickly, turning the warmth of his smile back to your mother and Jinjoo. “And they’ve been wonderful company. Thank you, ladies.”

The two of them titter like schoolgirls enjoying the attention of the most popular boy in school while you just stare.

And stare.

“Ttal?”

Your mother’s voice breaks through your mental fog.  You look back at her and Jinjoo and both women appear to be holding their breath, awaiting your response.  Jinjoo’s eyes are pleading when they meet yours, silently begging you to play nice.

You turn back to Namjoon slowly.

“One minute.”

“Great,” he breathes, shoving a hand through his hair.

“Not here.”

The words come out more sharply than you’d intended and your mother’s eyes go wide. Jinjoo sighs.

“What I mean to say,” you start again, delivery clumsy, “Is that we should probably step outside.”

“Of course,” Namjoon agrees.

You will your leaden legs and feet to cooperate as you turn to leave, grabbing your coat from the foyer closet on the way.  You slip it on and lead Namjoon out to the front porch, immediately wincing at the bitter cold that greets you.  

The door clicks shut and you burrow deep into your coat, turning to face him.  You force yourself to ignore the warmth that blossoms in your chest when his mouth curves into a soft smile.

“Your mother seems to be doing well tonight,” Namjoon notes. “I’m glad to see it.”

It’s not fair.  It’s not fair that he can just show up here on a whim -- looking like that, talking like that.  

Charming everyone in his path.  

“Namjoon, I’m going to ask again.  What are you doing here?”

The smile on his face falls and he looks skyward, exhaling a puff of steam into the cold night air.

”I’m here to come clean,” he confesses quietly.  “Thought I might do this new thing where I try not to act like an idiot around you.”

“Oh,” you breathe, stomach fluttering wildly in response.

A lock of his hair falls over his eye when he looks back down and you smother the urge to brush it back, hands balling into fists in your pockets.

“Thought I might do this new thing where I just tell you the truth.”

You’ve tried so hard these past few days to be angry with him, to use your hurt feelings like a wall around your heart.  But you can’t anymore.  He looks down at you with those huge, dark eyes and your grudge falls apart.

“I care about you,” he admits.  “I’ve been stumbling over my own feet for weeks because I didn’t know how to approach you about it. And then that night in the office,” he trails off, looking pained.  “That is not how I intended to treat you.”

A gust of wind blows through and you curl into yourself, teeth chattering.  Namjoon pulls off his coat and drapes it over your shoulders.  

“Please don’t,” you protest weakly.  “You’ll freeze.”

“I won’t,” he promises, stepping closer.  

You wrap the wool tight around your body, enjoying the way his lingering heat and scent wrap around you at the same time.  Your heart is beating so wildly you can hear your pulse in your ears.

“Namjoon,” you whisper. “You must know I feel the same way.”

He reaches one hand up to stroke his fingers across your cheek.

“I was really hoping you’d say that.”

He’s so close now that all it would take is the slightest tip of your chin, the most incremental change in angle to press your mouth to his. But he doesn’t close the small distance between you.  His gaze shifts to the street and you follow it, only now realizing a black sedan has been idling outside your house this entire time.  

Your cheeks flame hot at the thought of his driver witnessing this exchange.

“I want a chance to do this the right way,” he murmurs.  “Can I have it?”

You nod, waiting for your mouth to catch up to your brain.  “Of course.”

He smiles wide then, the kind of smile you haven’t seen on him in a long time and once again you’re struck by how handsome he is.  He narrows his eyes playfully when he realizes you are staring.

“Let’s get you inside before you get sick.”

You nod, pulling off his coat and watching as he shrugs back into it. He grabs for your hand, fingers brushing against yours just as you reach for the door.

“Good night, Namjoon,” you say softly.  

He squeezes your cold fingers with his.

“Good night.”

***************************

Namjoon sends his driver for you.

You shift uncomfortably in the backseat of the sleek car, avoiding Chun’s gaze in the reflection of the rearview mirror.  Up until now, you knew him only as the voice on the other end of the line when you’d arranged for Namjoon’s rides.

Now you’re matching a face with a voice -- and so is he.

You try not to dwell on how this must look after the scene outside your home just a few nights ago.  Especially now that he’s been tasked with taking you to Namjoon’s penthouse.

It’s embarrassing, certainly -- but even this pales in comparison to what you’d had to endure before leaving the house.  

When your mother had asked you to come see her and casually inquired about the last time you’d shaved your legs.  When Jinjoo had made a point of letting you know that she was planning on staying all night long just as you were walking out the door.

That was definitely the most embarrassing part.

That’s why you feel a knot in your stomach as the security guard in Namjoon’s building escorts you personally up to the very top floor -- the one accessible only by keycard.  That’s why you find yourself holding your breath right until the very moment Namjoon opens the door.

Then you let go of that breath.

“Thank you, Jaejin,” he greets, bowing in the man’s direction.  He turns his attention to you and the knot in your stomach explodes into butterflies.

“Thanks for coming,” he says with a careful smile.  

As if you had any choice in the matter.  You kick your brain into gear and remind yourself to stop staring and smile back as the door shuts behind you.  

He takes your coat and you take him in.

It’s the most casual you’ve ever seen him look, barefoot in jeans and a button-down shirt rolled to the elbows.  He looks fresh from a shower, skin glistening and golden.  The scent of him --- clean and male and intoxicating -- wafts over you.

Followed by a far less enticing one.

“Namjoon,” your nose wrinkles at the acrid smell,  “Is something burning?”

“Something was burning,” he admits sheepishly. “But it’s not anymore.  And you -- “ he pauses to let his gaze rake over you, “ -- you look incredible.”

Heat creeps up your neck and into your face, making you feel just a touch too warm in your brand new sweater.  

“Thank you,” you reply, accepting his compliment with a shy smile. “So do you.”

He looks at you for a long moment, and you clear your throat, feeling uncomfortable with the admiration in his eyes.

“Can I offer you a glass of wine?”

“Yes, please,” you breathe the words through a nervous laugh. “That sounds great, actually.”  You hope it’s not obvious that you’re jumping at the chance to take the edge off of your jitters.

Namjoon leaves you standing in his grand living room as he heads to the kitchen to pour the wine.  You’ve always known he was a wealthy man -- but knowing that in the abstract and seeing it firsthand are two different things entirely.  You take in the massive wall-to-wall windows and gleaming marble floors and custom-made art pieces with silent awe.

Namjoon interrupts your gawking when he returns with your wine.

“So about dinner,” he starts with a chuckle. “It’s on the way.  I attempted to cook something, but as you already know that didn’t quite work out.  Not surprising, seeing as I’ve never cooked in this kitchen before.”

Your brows shoot up in surprise.  “Never?”

“Never,” he says with a smile.  “I’ve never brought anyone to this apartment, either.”

His smile vanishes then, a more serious look taking its place.  You swallow thickly as you let the implication of that statement wash over you.

“No one?”

“No one,” he confirms quietly.

Your lips part with surprise and Namjoon looks away, like he’s admitted too much -- and you stand there spinning your wheels, searching for something to say.

The sound of the door chime is a well-timed and welcome interruption.

Namjoon heads to the door to accept the food and you realize the same security guard who escorted you up here is making the delivery.  It makes sense, of course, that only a trusted few could get this close to Namjoon’s private space.

“Are you expecting more people?” you tease with a smile when the guard wheels in a cart weighted down with enough food to feed an army.  

Relief washes over you when Namjoon smiles back. The strange moment that passed between you before is forgotten.

“I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I got one of everything.”

Pleasant smells emanating from the carefully-packed containers fill the apartment, pushing away the burnt one still lingering from the food that’s been relegated to the trash.

“Just so you know,” you laugh, “I like all of it.”  

****************************

The centerpiece of Namjoon’s outrageously opulent great room is the fireplace.  

Your fingers wrap tight around the stem of your wine glass as you stare into the flames and contemplate how this night will end.

You know how you want it to end.  

You know the dozens of debauched fantasies you’ve entertained about Namjoon -- the myriad ways he’s had you in your mind.  But there’s no way for you to know what his intentions are, how he expects this night to end.

That’s why you’re strung tight as a bow as you hear him clearing plates and cleaning up in the kitchen.  The sounds eventually slow and then stop.  And you wait.

You don’t hear him approach.  

You come out of your thoughts and look away from the flames and he’s just there, standing in front of the couch wearing an expression you can’t read.  The wine starts to wobble inside your glass, set in motion by your unsteady hands.

“Here,” he says quietly, reaching for it. “Let me.”

He takes the glass and places it on the coffee table, sinking into the space next to you.

“You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,” he murmurs.  “I don’t think I’ve ever told you that.”

He leans in and reaches out to thread his hands into your hair.

“Namjoon,” you whisper weakly, pulse leaping in response.  

His eyes seem to darken at the sound of his name. His fingers slip out of your hair and under your jaw, tipping your chin up and compelling you to meet his gaze.  

“I told you I was going to do this the right way,” he murmurs, “And I meant it.  After that night in my office, I promised myself I was never going to put you in that position again.”

Your tongue slips out to wet your lips involuntarily, as if the action could take the place of the words you want so badly to say.  

But Namjoon makes no move, fingers firm under your jaw.

“Tell me what you want,” he coaxes gently. “If you want this -- if you want me, tell me.”

“Kiss me.”

The words come out in a rush, laced with such desperation they sound like a plea, not an order.  A smile tugs the corner of Namjoon’s mouth and he nods.

Carefully, deliberately, he sinks his mouth onto yours.

You sigh against the press of his lips as the pads of his fingers stroke the side of your face.  For a moment you can’t think; can’t process a thing beyond the spice on his tongue from the Buldak or how impossibly soft his lips feel against yours.  

He kisses you until you can’t breathe -- and just a moment beyond that -- until you are forced to pull away, chest heaving.

“I’ve been wanting to do that all night,” he admits, panting.

“I’ve been wanting you to do that since we were kids,” you confess, emboldened.

He leans close again, eyes half-lidded, lips grazing yours.

“Well, we’re not kids anymore.”

*********************

NAMJOON

Namjoon has to force himself not to totally fucking devour you.

You are finally in his hands and the urge to unleash months of wait and want on you is so strong he has to take a physical step back.

You look up at him from where you sit on his bed -- hair mussed from his fingers, lips swollen from his kisses -- and he hesitates, unsure of his next move.

“If you’re thinking you don’t want to -- “ you start.  

Namjoon cuts you off with a strangled laugh.

“Trust me, that’s not what I’m thinking,” he vows, shoving a hand through his hair.  “It’s like I’ve wanted you so bad for so long I don’t even know where to start.”

Your eyes soften as you gaze at him.

Namjoon holds his breath as he watches you slip out of your sweater and then out of your jeans.  You lie back against his sheets, eyes holding steady contact with his.

“Start anywhere,” you breathe quietly.  “Start everywhere.  Just start.  Please.”

Fuck, you are going to be his undoing.

It takes him an irritatingly long time to work the buttons of his shirt open on account of his thick, clumsy fingers.  He finally manages to get out of it and his jeans follow right behind.

“You’re the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen,” you murmur as he slides into the bed next to you.  His fingers rake over the soft skin of your stomach and you jerk under his fingertips, body reacting immediately to his touch. “I don’t think I’ve ever told you that.”

Namjoon smiles when you use his own words against him.  

He dips his head into the crook of your neck, inhaling deeply -- savoring the soft, sweet smell of your skin.  He mouths at your pulse point, feeling it race in response when his fingers trail lower to tease the delicate band of your panties.

“I figured out where I want to start,” he murmurs, sucking gently at the hollow of your collarbone.  

He feels your deep intake of breath when he slips one hand into the satin, grazing against your mound.  He shifts lower, allowing one finger to dip into your center, groaning at the wetness he finds waiting for him there.

“So responsive, Jagiya,” he praises softly.  “So beautiful.”

You make a needy sound, hips lifting off the bed as you chase the pressure of his fingers.  He turns to capture your lips again with his own, simultaneously working two fingers into the tight space between your thighs.

“Namjoon,” you sigh brokenly, “F-feels so good.”

“I can do better,” he promises.  “Turn over for me.”

He waits for you to comply, body shifting in the bed.  Once you are face down, he climbs over you, dipping his mouth to the shell of your ear, biting gently on the soft skin.  You shiver underneath him, moaning softly.

Slowly, he kisses a line down the back of your neck, hands stopping just long enough to undo the clasp to your bra.  He slips it off of you, reaching under you to tease at your nipples with his fingertips.  He chuckles low with satisfaction when you twitch under his fingertips.

He continues his descent, dropping kisses along the soft line of your back.  His hands reach your panties and he pulls them off, mouth sucking gently at the base of your spine.

“Namjoon,” you gasp, the sound of your plea is muffled as you press your face into the sheets. “Touch me.”

He sinks one long finger into you then, savoring the tight pull of your heat as his tongue flicks out to taste you.  Your hips jerk off the bed and he uses both strong hands to urge your legs further apart.

“Relax for me,” he soothes, mouth closing over your wet center.  

He pushes a second finger into you and you shudder at the fullness, back arching.  The movement angles your cunt even closer and Namjoon seizes the opportunity, tongue firm as he swipes it against you.

He can tell how badly you want this.  He can feel it in the way your thighs tremble while he’s working you with his fingers and tongue.  He can hear it in the way you whimper when he nips gently at you with his teeth.

“Namjoon,” the tilt to your voice makes it sound like you are on the verge of tears.  “Please -- I c-can’t -- ”  Your thought evaporates into thin air when he groans directly into your center, curling his fingers deep against the spot inside of you that draws a sharp gasp.

“Yes, you can,” he murmurs his encouragement as you buck against his grip.  “Come for me, Jagiya.”

He looks up just long enough to see your fingers twisted into the sheets, face buried deep into the pillow as you fall apart in his hands.  You make the prettiest sounds as you succumb.  Somewhere in the midst of your frantic whispering he hears his name and the sound goes straight to his cock, making the ache there almost impossible to ignore.  

He ignores it anyway -- pushing the feeling aside to ride out the tremors with you, relishing the taste of your release on his tongue.  He praises you, savors you, keeps you anchored to his mouth until your hips drop flush to the bed with exhaustion.

Then he kisses his way back up the line of your spine, dropping down at your side.  You look so deliciously sated and flushed when you turn over that Namjoon can’t help the slow smile that comes over him.

You kiss it right off.

You fit your body against his -- slick skin against slick skin -- and kiss Namjoon so hard it takes him by surprise.  Your hands dive into his hair, mouth desperate against his.

Namjoon chuckles under his breath at your newfound boldness, fingers reaching to tease at one pebbled nipple.  Your body jolts in response and you answer with a move of your own, one hand sliding across the hard plane of his stomach and into his boxers.  

Up until this very moment, he’s been able to ignore the insistent throbbing between his own legs.  But the moment your fingers wrap around him -- the moment you start to pump your hand gently over him -- it becomes his only thought.

“Shit,” he groans, breaking the kiss to inhale deeply,  “God, that feels good.”

You pull away to maneuver your body over his.  

Namjoon watches through hooded eyes as you pull his boxers down his legs and then turn your attention to his straining cock.  He takes his bottom lip between his teeth to contain the noise he makes when your mouth descends onto him.

The moments that follow are a test of the last shreds of Namjoon’s self-control.  

The wet warmth of your mouth surrounds him, tongue teasing at the sensitive places that make his hips jerk and his mouth drop open in surrender.  Your grip around his cock stays firm, mouth soft in contrast -- both sensations almost too much to bear at once.

He slips a hand in your hair to push back the strands that have fallen into your face and you release him with a pop, lips wet and swollen, eyes glassy and wide.  

He nearly comes right then and there.

“No more,” he croaks, voice hoarse with arousal.  “That’s all I can take.”

The smile you return is nothing short of victorious.  Namjoon rolls you onto your back in one fluid motion, more than ready to retake his position of control.   Your eyes are sparkling with laughter and he grins back.

“You like seeing me at your mercy, huh?” he teases, dropping kisses into the crook of your neck.  

“I do,” you admit, shuddering when he slips one hand back down to the apex of your thighs.  “It’s nice to be the one in charge for a change.”

Namjoon kisses you slowly then, taking himself in hand to slide the head of his stiff cock against the wetness spilling from your entrance.  He pulls up on his arms and looks down at you just to appreciate the way you look right now, hair splayed across his pillow and skin luminous against his sheets.  

“You’ve always been in charge, Jagiya,” he breathes, enjoying the way your cheeks pink in response.  “Just like you’re in charge right now. So tell me what you want.”

The humor disappears from your eyes then, replaced by something heady and dark.  

Namjoon sucks in a breath when your hand wraps back around his cock, guiding him back to your entrance.  He throbs with need under your fingertips, muscles locked tight with anticipation.

“This -- ” you murmur, tilting your hips up to take him in, “ -- is what I want.”  

Namjoon sinks down carefully then, slowly -- choking back a moan at the unbearably tight grip of your walls.  You gasp, nails digging into his back as he strokes to the hilt.  

“This is what you want?” he goads, feeling powerful now, drunk on the sight of you writhing beneath him. He pulls back and surges forward again, drawing a desperate moan from you.  “Like this?”

You wrap your legs around him, hands sliding down the slick skin of his back until your fingers are gripping his ass, urging him to move faster.

“Yes,” you manage on a shaky breath.  “Like that.  Over and over and over.”

Namjoon buries his smile against your breasts, tonguing at your nipples as his hips piston against you.  He nips at one with his teeth and you whine, back arching off the bed.  

“You’re made for me,” he groans, panting his praise in between deep strokes, “So tight and wet I can’t think.”

You hum your contentment into his mouth when you wrap your arms around his neck to pull him close for a kiss.  He slips one hand under your ass, dragging you deeper into his heavy strokes and you cry out.  

He’s always hated the echo in this place.  But hearing the sound of your voice calling his name echoing off the walls is an entirely different story.  It lights a fire inside of him -- making him move faster, harder -- desperate to hear it again.

“Namjoon -- “ your hands claw at his back as you cling to him.  “ -- I think, I think I’m going -- “

“You will,” he rasps, when you lose all hope of finishing that thought.

He sinks his thumb into his mouth before dragging it down to rub slow circles across your aching clit and you clamp down around him in response.  He chokes on his own moan, summoning just enough control to keep himself from exploding inside of you.

But then you start to unravel.

In those final moments, you feel hotter and wetter -- begging brokenly in his ear for some kind of relief.  Namjoon holds off until the tight grip of your cunt starts to pulse around him and then he gives in.  He comes so hard his vision darkens before it comes back.  

Then he collapses on top of you, panting and wrecked.

You press a kiss into his neck and rake your nails gently up and down his back.

**********************

Namjoon wakes up alone.

He should be used to the feeling by now, but after last night -- after you -- he can’t help but feel disappointed.  

He shoves a hand through his hair, slips into a pair of lounge pants and heads to the kitchen in search of coffee.

Then he stops in his tracks.

You are standing in front of the massive window in his living room, wearing nothing but one of his old t-shirts, holding a mug of coffee in one hand.  You sip it thoughtfully and look out over the city, seemingly unaware of his presence.

So Namjoon just stands there for a while, admiring your long legs and soft skin and the dark hair that spills down your back.  Admiring the way you make this place bearable just by existing in it.

“Thought you left me,” he says quietly, and you startle out of your reverie at the sound of his voice.

“I did leave you,” you feign a serious expression, nodding at your mug. “For this. Thought you’d understand.”

“That I do,” he laughs, padding across the room to join you at the window.  

He tucks a piece of your hair behind your ear and you smile up at him.

“What are you thinking about this morning?” Namjoon presses quietly. “What’s on your mind?”

You sip your coffee and look back out the window before answering.

“I was just thinking about the day I came to ask for you a job,” you confess.  “How afraid and alone I felt back then.”

Namjoon can still remember how he felt seeing you walk into his office after all those years.   It certainly wasn’t afraid or alone and his chest squeezes at your admission.

“And now?”

“Now I feel …” you trail off as you turn back to look up at him.  “... like everything’s going to be okay.”

He stares back at you, suddenly overwhelmed by how good this feels.  

By how good it feels to be needed by you.  

By how you in his shirt, in his apartment, in his life, makes total sense.  

By how it feels like you belong here.

With him.

“You’re right, Jagiya.  Everything is going to be okay,” Namjoon vows, pulling you into his chest and pressing a kiss into your hair.   “Because I’m going to make sure of it.”

**************************

GLOSSARY:

Gajog: Family

Eomma: Mother

Ttal: Daughter

Amsaja: Lioness

Jaegyueo: Jaguar

TAG LIST:

@prettyguardiansailormin​​​ @barbikatherine​ @55west81st​ @laabellaavitaa21​ @codeinebelle​ @jalexad​ @trynavibewhileicry​ @poohsaidhi​​ @eltrain80​​ @bluewhale52​​ @sahmfanficbts​​ @midnighttifa​​ @krystle1990​​ @thestrugglesofateenagedirtbag​​ @hauntedlilies​​ @kjooniesbabygirl​​ @unicorn5090​​ @parkjimin-persona​​ @kosicastairs​​ @julia-pacheco-blog​​ @veryuniquenamegoeshere​​ @katbonv​​ @sunkissed725​​ @yourdaydreamerfan​​

[cinnaminsvga]

🌸 social media au where y/n posts a fake boyfriend application on twitter as a dare but ends up seeking something real in the long run (aka how to fall in love the zillennial way) 🌸

A/N: RIP Jungkook... When will he catch a break, I wonder? Who is Hoseok to him anyway? Much to think about... Also I’m just gonna say this, but Jungkook is literally the most unreliable narrator I’ve ever had to write, so take that in mind when you read this. Enjoy! || W.C. 2K

prev // part 14 of ? // next masterlist here.

[updates every 6PM PST]

It takes another 10 minutes or so until the maintenance guy manages to rescue both Jungkook and Namjoon out of the elevator. Luckily, the elevator didn’t stop midway between floors so they didn’t have to crawl or climb out, so getting out is a quick and easy ordeal once the doors are opened. Jungkook breathes a sigh of relief, but that moment of calm is short-lived when he hears Namjoon clear his throat behind him.

“Umm… Jungkook-ssi, right?” Namjoon addresses him by his name for the first time. Jungkook jumps up in surprise, though he should have known that you would have ratted him out when you found out he was intentionally ignoring the taller boy.

“I… Yeah. And you’re Namjoon,” Jungkook doesn’t even bother tacking on the question mark at the end, too worn out mentally to bother pretending like he’d only suddenly realized. He rubs the back of his neck, thankful that he’s turned away from Namjoon so that he doesn’t see the flash of annoyance across his face.

Without another word, Jungkook begins climbing the last two flights of stairs to reach your shared apartment. He doesn’t turn to see if Namjoon follows, though he does hear the extra pair of footsteps close by.

When they file into your shared home, the awkward tension magnifies tenfold. While Namjoon and Jungkook had been gone, it seems that Hoseok has already made himself comfortable, laughing jovially at something you said as he helps you bring the last remaining pairs of cutlery to the table. Jungkook looks over at the new visitor from the corner of his eye and notices the way Hoseok has his gaze locked fervently on you as you fussed over everyone’s seating arrangements.

“Oh, Jungkook! Namjoon!” You shove Yoongi’s plate towards him the moment you hear the door open, sprinting over to the two of them. Your hair is in complete disarray, slightly frizzy in places even after you had painstakingly taken an hour this morning trying to look presentable. Even so, Jungkook can’t help the way his heart beats a little faster when you envelop him in a tight hug, as you’ve always looked cute to him no matter what. When he wraps his arms around you to return the embrace, he feels you lower your lips near his ears. “You’re in big fucking trouble, mister. We’re talking after all of this is over,” you whisper darkly. He gulps audibly when you separate, the smile on your face is eerily present.

Thankfully, you don’t hug Namjoon as well, though an apology is out of your mouth before Jungkook can distract you. “Namjoon, I’m so sorry again. I wish I had warned you about the elevator sooner,” you pout, but Namjoon is quick to waive your concerns.

“Hey, it’s not your fault. You didn’t know. All that matters is that we’re here now.” He smiles warmly, his dimples on full display. You clear your throat, staring wide-eyed at him, no doubt dumbstruck by his handsome features. Jungkook tries to relax the tick in his jaw, but to no avail. Instead, he marches past the two blushing fools, eager to get away.

Since your apartment is quite small, you set most of the food onto the coffee table, with everyone either sitting on the floor or on the couch. Jungkook is quick to take a seat next to you on the couch, but that also forces him to have Seokjin on his other side. The elder winks salaciously at him, which Jungkook pointedly ignores.

Namjoon and Hoseok take a tentative seat on the other side of the coffee table. Namjoon’s gangly legs make it difficult for him to fold himself in properly, so you offer to switch places with him instead, much to Jungkook’s dread. Namjoon glances at him for a moment before hesitantly accepting your offer, squishing himself on Jungkook’s right side on their small, sunken couch. He can feel rather than hear Seokjin’s attempts to mask his nefarious giggles.

You seat yourself beside Hoseok, who smiles widely back at you. “Sorry, I totally forgot to introduce myself. I’m Y/N! I’ve heard all about you from Namjoon.”

“Really? Well, I hope it’s only been good things,” he says. “To be honest, I don’t think I’d see you again after that time in––“

“I’m going to fucking start eating now!” Jungkook interrupts, stabbing his chopsticks into the mountain of pork that you had prepared. Somewhere in Busan, he’s sure his mother is cringing at his terrible manners.

For a moment, you seem startled by his sudden proclamation, but you’re quick to shake it off. “Alright everyone! Please dig in,” you say, clapping your hands with a large grin on your face. Jimin is the first to dive into the food, popping a piece of kimbap into his mouth and moaning loudly in satisfaction.

“Y/N, I don’t know what type of crack you put into your food, but MAN this is delicious,” he says, already piling up his plate with anything he can get his hands on. Yoongi is slightly more reserved when he takes a prawn and chews it softly, nodding in agreement with Jimin’s statement.

“Thank you for this meal, Y/N. You must have worked really hard,” Namjoon says, reaching over for some food as well. Jungkook watches as he nearly bumps the plate of ssam off the edge of the table. “Oh, whoops.”

Hoseok laughs loudly, the sudden noise surprising everyone around him. He doesn’t look all that embarrassed, however. “I’ll have to apologize for Joon in advance. He’s a bit of a clumsy guy.” He smiles kindly at Y/N. “You’re gonna have to get used to that eventually, I suppose.”

Jungkook notices the soft blush rising up your neck. His grip on his chopsticks tightens as he takes a particularly rough bite out of his food. “I, um, suppose I will,” you laugh shyly, rubbing the back of your neck while keeping your gaze off Namjoon. You accidentally make eye contact with Jungkook instead, who didn’t have enough time to erase the annoyance out of his expression. You flinch slightly, before softening your voice in that tone you use whenever Jungkook felt a little stressed out. “Jungkook? Are you okay? Is the meat too tough or something?”

Seokjin snorts beside him, nearly choking as he was in the middle of taking a big swig of water. Jungkook hates that he knows that the bastard is enjoying this way too much. Jungkook’s frustration is easy for anyone to see, with only you being left unaware as to why he was so agitated. Your cluelessness only adds to his bubbling anger. “Yeah, Jungkook. Are you alright? Bet you wished there were less people at the table, huh?”

Jungkook is quick to stomp on his foot, causing the prick to yelp in pain. He’s too busy pinching Seokjin in the tit that he misses the way Namjoon’s face falls, dejectedly looking at his food with a deep furrow in his brow.

“Oh? Are you becoming self-aware? Maybe you should take a page out of your book and leave before I kick you out myself,” you huff, scowling at Seokjin. You must have misinterpreted his little side comment, though Jungkook isn’t sure if he should be thankful for that or not. You turn to Taehyung, who has been mysteriously quiet this entire time. “And you. I know I said you could bring a friend over, but I didn’t expect you to bring this soggy testicle!”

Taehyung just shrugs, his attention focused on his phone. “What?” He doesn’t look up, his fingers furiously occupied with something else. “Oh, yeah. Sorry about that. Won’t do it again.” When he finishes his text, Seokjin’s phone dings soon right after. Jungkook’s eyes narrow suspiciously at the two, but neither of them seems to care.

You’re beginning to look flustered, mouth opening and closing as you figure out a way to salvage this mess of a dinner. If Jungkook had been slightly less preoccupied with his own swirling thoughts, he might have thought to comfort you or say something to alleviate the tension. Instead, he has his head bowed in shame, the bitter taste in his mouth unwilling to leave until the boy to his right decides to leave first.

“Anyway,” Yoongi clears his throat, causing Jimin to jump beside him. Normally, Yoongi never spoke all that often when they got together, usually content with eating and listening to the younger ones joke around. He isn’t looking at Jungkook, but he knows that Yoongi must have read his mind. He waves his chopsticks around vaguely at Namjoon. “You. You like woodworking, right?”

Startled from being directly addressed, Namjoon’s posture straightens slightly at the mention of his favorite activity. “Y-yes. It’s a bit of a side hobby that I do when I’m not busy with school or work. I’m… not very good. Just a novice, really.” He laughs, nervously propping his glasses up his nose until they’re nearly up to his forehead.

“Oh, hush! Namjoon is fantastic! I got him to make little wooden figurines to decorate the cafe over the summer, isn’t that right?” Seokjin interjects, reaching over Jungkook to slap Namjoon on the back.

“That’s right! Namjoon, I’ve seen your photos on Instagram! You’re definitely good at what you do,” you say, eyes sparkling with amazement. Namjoon coughs shyly into his hand, but it doesn’t hide the blush painting his cheeks.

Jungkook feels his blood pressure boiling, but he grits his teeth instead. “Interesting stuff,” he murmurs sarcastically, soft enough that only you wouldn’t hear. He senses Namjoon sagging back into his seat, but he doesn’t even feel remotely guilty that he had heard him. Even without looking up, he knows that Yoongi is sending him a warning look in response.

“Namjoon, that’s really cool. I’m an interior design major, so I’d love to see what you might think about the wood pieces I’m thinking of purchasing for an upcoming exhibit,” Yoongi says, trying to salvage the situation. Jungkook glares at him, but the elder doesn’t back down. Instead, he quirks a brow up, as if challenging him to say something.

Jimin gasps, a few bits of rice falling out of his mouth and into the plate of ssamjang. “That’s right! Yoongi, didn’t you say you needed something interesting as a center piece for the dining table? Maybe Namjoon can help you with that!”

Namjoon flushes, waving his hands and shaking his head fervently. “Ah, no! I don’t think I can help you with that. I’m sure you can ask plenty of other professionals who are more capable than I am.”

“No, Namjoon. You should help them,” Hoseok quips. He’s got a pout on his face, causing his cheeks to bunch up cutely. Like a fucked up squirrel, Jungkook thinks petulantly, hating how childish he was being but unable to stop. He steals a look at you to see that you’re staring at Hoseok, too. Hoseok pumps his fist up, “Namjoon’s great! He’s just being humble, that’s all.”

“I’ll be sure to ask you for help then, Namjoon.” Yoongi smiles wide, his pink gums appearing for the first time that night. It’s the kind of smile that makes you feel good, like being praised without words. Emboldened by Yoongi’s kindness, Namjoon smiles back, his previously dejection slowly washing away.

Jungkook feels betrayed. He can’t stand sitting in this room anymore, not when all his friends, most especially you, were being so buddy-buddy with this new unwelcome addition to your party. He puts down his chopsticks onto his dish, standing up and making his way over to the kitchen sink.

“Kook? What’s wrong?” You stand up as well, walking towards him. When you reach out to touch his shoulder, he accidentally slaps your hand away on instinct, head fuzzy with too many thoughts. You gasp, cradling your hand to your chest even though he hadn’t hit you that hard. You were mostly shocked, not used to seeing Jungkook so… touchy, and for seemingly no apparent reason. If only you knew, he thinks to himself.

“I have to go. Stomach ache,” is all he says before he’s grabbing his coat from the rack and shoving on his boots. He grabs his car keys, unwilling to turn around to see the expressions on all your faces. “I’m heading to the pharmacy. See you.” He slams the door shut behind him, leaving you more confused and hurt than ever before.

“Well, this sucks, huh?” Seokjin nudges Taehyung with his foot. Taehyung, to his credit, jabs Seokjin straight in the balls.

“Back to the drawing board,” he sighs to himself, rubbing his temples as the elder groans obscenities back at him. This is going to be harder than he thought.

[xbaepsae]

the ebb and flow | part six

“You’re trying really hard not to laugh. But it’s difficult to suppress laughter when the situation calls for it. So, for probably the first time ever, you laugh in front of Jeon Jeongguk.”

[demigod!jeongguk x demigod!reader]

genre: percy jackson!au, mythology!au, demigod!au, enemies to lovers!au

word count: 2k

rating: pg-13

warnings: language, the usual character tension, a brief moment of softness??

a/n: hi it’s been quite a while since my last update. but i really hope you enjoy this chapter :) xoxo

→ series masterlist!

the fourth summer – in which there is an inspection

The last week of summer at camp is always a memorable one—be it the late nights by the beach or the insane amount of chaos that seems to ensue every year.

For example, last summer, there was a monster that managed to break through the barrier. Fortunately, everyone was able to react promptly, and the monster was sent to Tartarus; at least, that’s what you think happened. At the end of the day, you’re just happy it hasn’t happened again since then.

This summer as the new camp counselor for your cabin—after Jinyoung so graciously handed you his title before heading off to New Rome—has been an interesting one; and least to say, you’re going to miss your little legion of cabinmates. It’s been fun leading them around—to greatness, of course.

But before summer can truly end, you need to make it to your last Senior Counsel meeting of the season.

Running to the Big House, you rush into the Rec Room with hopes that you’re not the only person who’s behind schedule. You hate that the one morning you oversleep is the one morning you have somewhere to be. In the Rec Room, you notice that all of the other Head Counselors have already arrived.

“Why, y/n, thank you for joining us,” Mr. D’s mouth curves into a frown.

You wince. “Sorry for running late.”

“You’re only a few minutes late,” Chiron waves his hand. “Take your place, y/n.”

Bypassing your grumpy camp director, you take your seat in-between Park Jimin and Jung Hoseok around the dingy ping pong table. The son of Ares offers you a narrow look—probably still upset you snatched his flag from underneath his nose last week—which you return with the same enthusiasm. “Can I help you, Park?”

“Don’t mind mister grouchy-pants over there,” Hoseok suddenly speaks up. “He clearly woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.”

“Not all of us can wake up as chipper as you, Hobi,” Jimin uses the son of Apollo’s infamous nickname.

“Well, I can’t help it if the sun makes me happy.”

“Everything makes you happy. It’s quite sickening, actually.”

Quickly, you realize that this little banter could seriously get out of hand. Luckily, you’re not the only one. Chiron takes a quick look at them and clears his throat. “That’s enough you two; we only have one week left of summer.”

“And there’s much you heroes have to do,” Mr. D adds, popping the tab of his Diet Coke. “I cannot wait for you little vermin to be gone; except for you, y/n…you never seem to want to leave.”

“I would if I could,” you roll your eyes. “I guess we’ll just be stuck here together.”

“Speaking of things to do,” Chiron changes the conversation, “there is one major thing left to be done before the end of summer.”

“Are we throwing a party?” Kim Seokjin asks, hair and face looking as perfect as ever.

Chiron frowns. “No, and there better not be anything of the sort happening in Cabin Ten.”

For a moment, you swear the son of Aphrodite’s eyes are shimmering. “Of course not, unless you want to throw us a party. A party seems fun.”

“A party does seem fun,” Chiron suddenly agrees. “We haven’t had one of those in a while…”

Seokjin’s eyes grow wider. “I want huge balloons and an extravagant display table. Also, is there any way to hire a DJ? No offense, but lyre playing is so ancient.”

“That could probably be arranged…” Chiron trails off, like he’s not even aware of what he’s saying.

“Cut it with the Charmspeak, Lim Sejin.”

The son of Aphrodite’s eyes whip to Dionysus. “It’s Kim Seokjin, Mr. D.”

“Lim Sejin, Kim Seokjin—same thing,” the god of wine rolls his eyes. “But seriously kid, cut it out. We’ve got serious business to attend to.”

“Fine,” Seokjin crosses his arms. “As you were saying, Chiron?”

Chiron blinks a few times. “Oh, yes—the major thing that must be done is cabin inspection.”

The entire Senior Counsel seems to tense at that. It’s not that everyone is a total slob, but cabin inspection is so tedious. There’s a reason it’s only done once in a while. And sometimes, you do end up finding some disgusting beds. The Hermes Cabin is always questionable. You’ve never had to do cabin inspection, and you don’t plan on it.

“Are there any volunteers?” Chiron continues. “You all know two counselors need to perform the tasks.”

As Chiron says that, everyone starts to look at Kim Taehyung. When he realizes that you’re all looking at him, he begins to shake his head aggressively. “No way—I did inspection last time. Besides, I’m busy with the Pegasi—I don’t have time to check all the cabins.”

He is right—the son of Zeus does have a lot of other responsibilities. But you all looked at him first because he is just so good at taking on different tasks.

“Okay, so excluding Taehyung…any volunteers?” Chiron asks again. No one dares to look at him. “Come on, heroes. There are worse things to do here.”

While there is some truth to that statement, no one budges. But for some reason, you feel compelled to offer your service? The thought of coming into contact with stinky socks is less than ideal, but you want to prove to Chiron and Mr. D that you’re serious about being Head Counselor of your cabin. And you want to make your mother proud.

So, almost subconsciously, you raise your hand. “I’ll do it, Chiron.”

Everyone’s head swivels toward you. Surprise and interest simultaneously mares their faces. Even Mr. D looks shocked that you spoke up—his Diet Coke spilling from his hand.

“Great, y/n!” Chiron exclaims. “Anyone want to join her?”

“I’ll do it.” For the first time today, your eyes look in his direction. Jeon Jeongguk stares back at you with his signature smirk plastered onto his dumb face. “I’ll help y/n out with cabin inspection.”

Chiron hums, probably wondering why your sworn enemy is offering to assist you. “Interesting. You may join her, Jeongguk.”

“I’ll gladly take anyone else but Jeon,” you groan. “Chiron don’t make us do inspection together. Please.”

“You’ll be fine, y/n. It’s just one day of cabin inspection. It’ll be fun.” Chiron says as he moves onto the next topic, something about the dining pavilion.

“Come on, y/n,” Jeongguk taunts with a smile. “It’ll be fun.”

***

It’ll be fun, they said.

Walking towards Cabin One with your clipboard, you turn around and watch as Jeongguk slowly follows behind you. In his hand, he carries his own clipboard and pen. “Don’t do anything stupid, okay?”

“Sure, captain,” he mock salutes you, pen now hanging out of his mouth.

You roll your eyes and continue towards Zeus’s cabin. Once you’re in front of the white marble structure, you take in the columns and bronze decorations. Cabin One is the biggest of all the cabins—to reflect Zeus’s position as King of Olympus; you don’t think you’ll ever get over the robust columns and cold exterior.

“This place gives me the creeps.”

“Shut it, Jeon,” you order, knocking on the door. It opens mid-tap, revealing a smiling Taehyung. He opens the door wider, allowing you both to walk in.

“Welcome to my humble abode,” the son of Zeus says, revealing a pretty empty cabin.

You notice a few beds in the corner, but that’s about it for the furniture. In the middle of the room, boasts a rather intimidating statue of the god of thunder himself. The statue seems to stand ten feet tall, and you wonder how Taehyung can even stand to live in such a space. You voice this thought out loud, to which only seems to make the son of Zeus rumble with laughter.

“I’m just used to it, I guess. The others don’t mind either.”

Walking around the room, you can’t help but give Cabin One a perfect score—if anything, you feel like it’s almost too pristine in here. Looking over your shoulder, you notice Jeongguk giving the same score.

“Let’s move on, shall we?” you ask, not waiting for Jeongguk to give you an answer before you’re walking away.

The two of you bypass Cabin Two—which belongs to Hera herself and means no one lives there—and make your way towards Cabin Three. You allow Jeongguk to walk in front of you—since this is his place, after all—and you don’t miss the way sweat begins to bead along his brow.

“I hope for your sake, the cabin’s clean,” you remark, to which he doesn’t say anything.

“I’m sure my siblings cleaned up…” he trails off, seemingly unsure of his own words.

Jeongguk opens the door of the gray sea-shelled building and reveals a dark interior. His half-siblings are nowhere to be found, probably off doing their activities. You follow Jeongguk inside and watch as he switches the lights on. For the first time, you take in the glowing walls and the ceiling that makes the cabin appear as it’s underwater. There is also a fountain that looks like a fish in the room; and as you’re staring at the water sprouting from its mouth, you see it.

The last bed in the row is trashed—the sheets have been haphazardly thrown everywhere and clothes hang from each corner like a monster rolled through the space or something. On the floor beside the bed, there are even more clothes and random things; like miniature figurines of Hippocampi and other sea creatures.

You don’t realize it, but your mouth had dropped open. “Styx…who’s bed is that?”

Slowly, you turn to face your enemy. You expect him to be ready with a snide comment, except he seems at a loss for words. Jeongguk’s face is devoid of color and he looks absolutely horrified. You put two and two together, realizing that the trashed bed belongs to him.

“I am going to kill them,” he barely says above a whisper. For a second, you almost feel kind of bad for the son of Poseidon; then again, why should you feel bad for him? You don’t even like him. “When I asked them to clean up, I didn’t mean for them to give me all of their shit!”

You’re trying really hard not to laugh. But it’s difficult to suppress laughter when the situation calls for it. So, for probably the first time ever, you laugh in front of Jeon Jeongguk. It starts off as simple air passing between your lips, but soon morphs into something full-bellied as you feel laughter vibrate throughout your whole body.

He looks at you with wide eyes—probably thinking you’ve lost your mind—but you can’t help it. You can barely muster the words, “T-This is gold.”

As you shut your eyes, tears practically fall from them as you continue to laugh, you miss something. You miss the way Jeongguk’s wide eyes soften a bit as he continues to stare at you. The softness doesn’t last long, and you probably wouldn’t have caught it because his gaze becomes sharp in a blink, but it was there. It was real. Though he would never admit it to you.

“Shut up,” he says instead, which gradually sobers you up. “This is humiliating.”

You nod. “Oh, absolutely.” This causes Jeongguk to frown. “And I am so giving you a terrible grade for this.”

Focusing back on the task at hand, you give Cabin Three a big fat one out of five—much to the disappointment of a certain cabin member. As Jeongguk grades himself, you raise an eyebrow when he gives himself a modest score of three.

“What?” he asks, feigning ignorance.

“Three? C’mon, Jeon,” you roll your eyes. “You must see the destruction that is your bed.”

He scrunches his face. “But it’s not even my mess!”

You give him a look; one that says don’t fuck around right now. And it seems to work because Jeongguk, albeit begrudgingly, changes the three next to his cabin to a one. By the time he looks up again, you’re already halfway out the door.

“Come on, Jeon; we don’t have all day!”

[krreader]

BTS scenario → spending one last day together.

pairing: bts x reader fandom: bts warnings: no happy ending for any of the boys ; mentions of death ; language genre: angst word count: 1.9k+

a/n: I really tried to make all seven scenarios different, so it’s not just death as you might expect lol. I still hope you like the heartbreak (also, I know some of these have potentials for part 2, I am keeping that in mind!)

kim seokjin

“I told you not to bring flowers,” you said with a weak smile as Jin entered your hospital room.

Jin couldn't speak, his throat hurt so much as he tried to force himself not to cry.

He put the flowers on your bedside table and sat down next to you, gently holding your hand.

But the moment your skin touched his, it was over for him. He brought your hand to his lips, then began to cry, knowing that this would be the last time he'd ever see you, hold your hand or feel your skin against him.

“You'll do so great, Jinnie. I'm so proud of you.”

But would he really do great? Would he, when you would not be by his side anymore? When he'd return home and know that you won’t be waiting for him with your arms open for him to cuddle against you anymore?

For the first time in his life, Seokjin was lost.

And that began the moment the doctors had said: “I'm sorry, Mister and Mrs. Kim. There is nothing we can do anymore.”

min yoongi

“I'm sorry I'm doing this, (Y/N),” Bang said, reaching out to hold your hand, “But Yoongi can't do this right now and you know it.”

“I do,” you smiled sadly and brushed away your tears, quickly signing the non-disclosure agreement in front of you.

You weren't angry with him for doing this. You knew that Bang was right.

You weren't an idol and you and Yoongi had only been seeing each other for four months. You becoming pregnant had never been on the agenda. Especially because when he would find out about it, his priorities would immediately change and that couldn't happen, not when he was on top of his game.

“Ah hey,” Yoongi beamed when you entered his studio an hour later, “Listen to this, I want your opinion.”

You did, told him you loved it like you always did and then stared at him with so much sadness in your eyes.

God, he'd be such a wonderful father.. if only your lives were different..

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

You kissed his lips, lingered and tried to remember every single thing about it, then you said: “Take care of yourself.”

Yoongi didn't quite know what you meant that day when you left, but when he came home, all of your things were gone.

He tried to reach out to you, but you never answered. Eventually it was Bang who told him that you had left because you couldn't handle the pressure anymore, but only so Yoongi would stop chasing you.

He thought you were living your life happily with someone who could openly introduce you to his friends and show you off.. when the reality was that you were sitting at home and being reminded of him every day the older your son became.

jung hoseok

You and him had started dating when you were teenagers, you had been with him through the hard times and were now still with him through the better times.

When you were younger, you had been so sure of him becoming your husband one day. You had imagined your wedding so many times..

..but it's almost been ten years of you and him dating and it still didn't look like he was ready for that any time soon.

And you were tired of waiting around. Yes, you understood that he wasn't in a good position to get married and have kids, but you weren't becoming any younger and you'd like to have kids before you turn 50.

“I just want to know.. I don't know.. I guess if it's ever going to happen.”

Hoseok sighed deeply, having known that this conversation would come up eventually, “I want to marry you, you know that, but I can't do it right now. It's a miracle nobody knows about us, but if we get married or have kids, people will find out about it or I have to eventually make a statement. That's going to ruin Bangtan.”

Somehow, hearing those words felt like he punched you in the face. Because as much as you loved how passionate he was about his career, hearing him say that made you realize that as long as he was in this band, you would never be his number one.

“And our relationship? Do you care if that's getting ruined?”

“I'm sorry, (Y/N). I am. But I can't give you what you want right now. You have to accept that.”

He really thought you would. You've been through so much these past years that he thought this would just be another thing that would get resolved eventually.

But he never would have assumed that you sitting on that bed would be the last thing he'd see of you. That this conversation you had would be the last he’d ever had with you.. that this feeling of sadness would be the last thing you’d ever feel.

Because a week later he got the call that made him wish he had just said yes to what you had asked of him, “Hoseok, I'm so sorry.. the car came out of nowhere.. she had no chance.”

kim namjoon

You had never wanted to put him in this position where he had to choose between you and his career, but you've been continuously putting yourself last, just so you two could spend the little time he had on his hands with each other.

So when the topic of whether or not BTS would renew their contract came up, you had said: “I love you, Namjoon, that's not what this is about. But I can't do another seven years like this. I can't put everything else I love and care about aside, just because you can't put me first. I hate doing this, but if you renew this contract, I won't be able to be with you anymore.”

Namjoon had thought about it, long and hard, because this relationship mattered so fucking much to him.

But he couldn't do it. He couldn't leave his band, not as their leader.

So he had chosen his career over you.

“I'm sorry,” he whispered in the middle of the night as his fingers were running up and down your naked back, “I'm sorry I couldn't choose you.”

“I knew you wouldn't,” you replied sadly, your head lying on his chest, “That's why I need to leave.”

And he knew you had to do it. Truth be told, how he had treated you these past seven years wasn't what you deserved. You deserved someone more caring than him, but he simply couldn't give that to you. So he didn't blame you when you left the next morning.

You two didn't end things on bad terms, Namjoon knew that he could always talk to you when he needed it, you were still there for him.

But you needed to be there for yourself for a little while and understand that you were doing better alone than you were with him.

park jimin

It was a summer romance, pretty much what you saw in Grease, just that you both knew that you wouldn't magically end up at the same High School a few months later.

Jimin had spent three weeks here and had – thankfully – met you the first day.

It was just you showing him around since you were a local at first and even though communication was hard, didn't mean that you both didn't fall head over heels in love with each other.

You spent day in and day out together, doing things that you hadn't done in years, really living every day like it was your last together.

It almost seemed like you both forgot that this relationship did indeed have a deadline.

“I'll call,” Jimin promised when he sat down on your bed, ready to leave and go to the airport to return to his crazy life.

“No you won't,” you said sadly as you gently brushed over his cheek, “I don't fit into your life, Jimin.”

He just lowered his head, because he knew you were right.

What future would this relationship have? You were here, he was there and not even that, he traveled more than he stayed in Seoul, that's what it felt like nowadays.

“It was nice,” you said quietly, “Thank you for that. Really.”

“No.. thank YOU.”

Because you had no idea what 'being normal' again had meant to Jimin. 

kim taehyung

“The train for Seoul leaves in five minutes, all passengers please board now.”

Taehyung shifted his weight from one foot to the other as the final boarding call echoed through the train station.

“You need to go,” you sighed, “Now.”

You were his best friend since childhood, the one that he always knew he had by his side no matter what happened.

But it wasn't like that this time, because you couldn't follow where he was going. Truth be told, you were one of the reasons he had wanted to stay in Daegu. Because not seeing you every day was such a weird feeling, that he contemplated on whether or not becoming an idol was even worth it.

But you wouldn't let him waste this opportunity. Not when he had been so excited when he first got the call.

You hugged him tightly, smiling when his arms wrapped around your body, “You take care of yourself, Taehyungie. I'll be waiting at home for you to come back home after your comeback and then we can celebrate together!”

Taehyung boarded the train that day, thinking that he'd come home in a few weeks to see you again.

But weeks turned into months and then eventually months turned into years and he still hadn't returned home.

It was only after their debut and two comebacks that they were finally allowed to go back.. and when he went to your house..

“(Y/N).. moved two years ago, Taehyung,” your mother said in confusion.

“What?” he let out a laugh, not quite believing it, “What do you mean she moved?”

“Didn't she tell you? She found a job overseas..”

No.. you didn't tell him. Because Taehyung had started a life in which you weren't a part of anymore. And as much as it had hurt, you couldn't wait around for him for any longer.. and so you had decided to start your own life, as far away from the memories as possible.

jeon jeongguk

“Do you really think this is the right thing to do?” Jeongguk asked as him and you were sitting on the swings at the playground behind your school.

“Are you serious? You're the most talented guy I've ever seen in my life, you will steal the hearts of every person in this and every other country.”

Jeongguk looked up at you, a sad smile on his face, “But I won't ever get to see you again.”

You shrugged, trying not to let it get to you and play it cool, “You'll forget me eventually. When you have thousands of girls wanting to be with you, I won't be important anymore.”

It broke his heart that you thought such things, because he could never forget the first girl he fell in love with.

“Maybe we can hang out every now and then..-” he tried to be cheerful, but you didn't fall for it.

Because even though he did text you when he started training for BigHit, he never called you again and never tried to meet up with you again.

He couldn't at first because of his tight schedule. And when he became famous.. well.. you were sure that the boy who you had shared your first kiss with didn't even waste a single moment thinking about you anymore when he was up on those stages.

[allyreads]

fic recommendations

this is a list of few of my favourite fics, check my reblogs for even more fics !!

author recommendations here

search the members’ initials to see what i recommend that isn’t on this list!! (kth for kim taehyung, ick for im changkyun, etc.)

fandoms i read: bts, svt, mx, exo, got7 and nct (so far)

disclaimer:

1. this is not a complete list, i’ll keep adding to it.

2. majority of these contain or are smut

3. very angsty so be careful of your heart

got7:

jaebum:

far from home - @red-exo

a light-hearted read that doesn’t use the most complex of vocabulary yet is able to make me feeeeeel all sort ways. although based on a simple concept, the story will definitely hike JB up your bias list!!

jinyoung:

the noisy neighbours - @chickenkooks

mark:

i want desire (a series) - @taexual

who doesn’t love a good mafia AU! series

bts:

seokjin:

currents - @yeoldontknow

one of the most powerful fanfictions ive ever read. all the revelations at the end…i can’t find any other words to describe how powerful it was.

hoseok:

systems of touch - @yeoldontknow

fuelled by love and sexual tension, this story portrays a rather professional side of jung hoseok and a reader through an artistic storyline.

oceans of gold - @junqkook

always had a soft spot for greek mythology (as mentioned below in yoongi’s) the myth of apollo and hyacinth were incorporated perfectly into this fic i’m obsessed.

jungkook:

policeofficer!jungkook - @nothingatallspecialinanyway

inspired by the music video, it’s a simple and hot piece of writing that portrays the AU!possible sexy side of jeon jungkook

oblivion - @softlyjiminie

demon!AU’s are just the best. this has angst too UGH I LOVE.

young wolf - @junqkook

for game of thrones fanatics ;)

forever and a night - @gukyi

a heartbreaking yet lovely werewolf!JK fic

not quite lovers - @junqkook

a hot ass fic, as expected from yara. in this fic the reader is the CEO rather than the guy. it was a refreshing change of perspective

rottenfolk - @junqkook

faerie jk is rotten alright

after dark - @seokoloqy

the sea & the storm - @jamaisjoons

P E R F E C T I O N honestly. so well written and so well thought out and the concept isn’t like any other im so in love

the turing test - @fortunexkookie

there are so many kook stories that i adore and this is one of them that i read so far. it’s another multi-chapter android!jungkoo; and recommend this story so much it’s so carefully crafted.

the monogamy monologues - @kpopfanfictrash

comedy gold, honestly. it’s so funny and so romantic and an amazing late-night read where you get lost in jungkook’s eyes through the form of words. 

rattled - @taehyungforreal

i know the series just started but i can’t help but fall for single dad!JK and i can’t wait to see how the series progresses

namjoon:

legacy - @mintjoonlep

intro: for her - @jamaisjoons

yoongi:

upgrade - @gukgalore

sorry tae, but i think yoongi has won here in this one

1. hello paradise my name is

2. mint

3. aidoneus, my love - @seokoloqy

i’m a sucker for greek mythology so it’s natural that this whole hades!AU series has got to be one of my favourite yoongi fics

heart haunting - @jamaisjoons

taehyung:

the morning after - @softlyjiminie

i just realised i didn’t list any tae fics when i first created this, but i found one!! this is a short, poetic angst / smut written in a genre i can never ever get bored of: the powerful, lingering feelings for an ex lover

1-800-music-street - @httpjeon

buzzed - @ junqkook

warm - @ httpjeon

i’m seeing a pattern in these fics...roommate!taehyung. there’s something so simple and sweet about this concept. gives me hope that love (and sex) can be exciting even in a domestic setting.

everythingoes - @jamaisjoons

so. fucking. good. OH MY GOD. this fic shook me to the core. unrequited love! angst! new found love! all my fucking favourites i love this fic pls go read it i don’t care if it’s 24k words and it’s 3am just go read it ok thanks bye.

taboo - @jhspetitegf

professor!taehyung oops

jimin:

lovebug - @ httpjeon

rockin’ the coffin - @ junqkook

HOT DAMN (it’s all i can say tbfh)

casual clothes - @httpjeon

faded love - @jamaisjoons

my all time fave genre: angst on divorcées / exes who still love each other. this piece was written to perfection. *chef’s kiss*

bloom - @ jamaisjoons

similar to seungcheol’s fic (listed below), this is also about the hanahaki disease and unrequited love. (my favourite!) i sound like a sadist but i promise i’m not

ot7:

eternal orbit - @interludemoonchild

stumbled across this and spent hours reading this series. every single second was worth it. i love the development of character and relationships between each of them. can’t wait for the next few chapters.

nct:

ten:

mine - @whereisten

demon!ten is seriously what i live for. such a hot, sexy fic i loved it. can’t really say much because you’ve got to read it to truly understand just how one demon can really rid you of your sanity.

lucas:

lovestruck!lucas - @warmau

exo:

baekhyun:

nothing like us - @ohh-baekhyun

enough - @kpopfanfictrash

a heart-clenching, emotional angst that potrayed the falling out of and falling back in love perfectly. alongside that came sensual smut to emphasise the connection AU!baekhyun had with the reader. it’s a lovely piece, everyone should check it out.

behave - @elle-lowriting

dom!baekhyun is just… wow. who knew a five letter, authoratative word could have such an effect. i know, me neither. catch a glimpse of baek’s dominance with this fic!!

light - @writing-exo-things

an extremely creative take on fanfictions, created based off exo’s latest demonic-esque concept. intriguing storylines such as this are then well planned out such as this one right here ^ i really recommend reading a few of her/his works. here’s the masterlist for the whole x-ėxø series. it’s a wonderful concept.

mister - @angstyexo

chen:

i hate you - @soobadnoonecanstopher

similar to far from home (JB’s fic), this piece is based on a rather common idea. this one was an enemies to lovers AU. it’s fun to read a tension-filled relationship that is soon resolved by unexpected ways. in short, this was a blithe and beguiling story.

saudade - @fairyyeols​

a slightly heartbreaking but lovely mixture of angst and fluff

chanyeol:

the dress - @thotantics

black tie - @yeoldontknow

my universe - @sehunniiie

the etymology of us - @8bityeol

bodyguard - @optimizche

junmyeon/suho:

automatic - @exosmutxoxo

( i can’t find the link for this :((( )

jongin/kai:

reunited wrongly - @causekpop

heaven - @fairyyeols

seventeen:

jun:

ashes - @taexual

i knew i had to add this to the list right away after reading it. overall, this is a piece that portrays angst and a deteriorating relationship perfectly.

heat - @guccisvt

if u enjoy werewolf!AU’s and hot sexual tension like i weirdly do, this fic is for you. a little lengthy, but worth every word.

mingyu:

but he didn’t - @pasteluji

i clearly have a thing for angst these days but this fic really crushed my heart. managed to portray everything so well: the situation itself and the perspective of BOTH characters I LOVE IT

seungcheol:

what you can’t have - @guccisvt

unrequited love with a twist

monsta x:

hyungwon:

[hsfiwoqjdidihwwj]

Glad to hear that you like it ^.^ So what do you usually do when you have free time? Do you have any other hobbies besides making music? - 🎅

i usually just read or write!! :o

[yoongis-scooter]

here comes the baker

pairing: seokjin x reader

word count: 1,358

genre: baker!seokjin, florist!reader, namjoon and jungkook make a small appearance

warnings: like 1 swear word lol and a lil kiss :’), jungkook keeps ruining the moment 

authors note: my first request!!! this was so cute and i had a lot of fun writing it!! also fun fact i went through and edited this during my ap exam 

“why do roses have thorns? do you think it’s because they’re emotionally unavailable or something?” jungkook asked. you raise an eyebrow at him, not exactly knowing how to respond.

“i- i don’t know? why don’t you ask them”

“mister rose, why do you ha-”

“jesus christ jungkook can you please just put the roses where they belong” you huff. sometimes you think hiring jungkook was a mistake, but he never fails to offer some comedic relief, so you keep him around.

when you had first opened your shop, it was just you. sure it was stressful, but you were doing what you loved and you wouldn’t have it any other way. as cheesy as it sounds, flowers were your passion. their beauty never failed to amaze you. but there was one thing that you thought was a little bit more beautiful than the flowers.

and that was none other than kim seokjin.

he owned the small bakery that was located right across the street from you. when you had first opened up your shop, he brought you a tray of blueberry muffins as a welcome gift. and ever since then he makes an appearance at your shop in the morning right before he opens. he always asks to see your latest shipments of flowers to see if there’s anything new he can put by his register. and every morning you give him exactly ten flowers so that they can be displayed at the front of his store. 

this routine has been going on for a month now. and it is so painfully obvious that the two of you have feelings for each other. but of course both of you just pretend like the feelings are there and continue having conversations as if the two of you aren’t head over heels for each other. 

the bell on your door jingles and you look up to see seokjin enter the shop.

“you’re early this morning” you chirped, a smile growing on your face as seokjin walks closer to where you were standing. he stops when he’s a couple of inches away from you and you can smell the scent of fresh baked pastries on his clothes.

“well, i got done with pepping a bit earlier than i thought so i figured i would grace you with my presence earlier than usual” seokjin sighs. you scoff and roll your eyes, but you can’t help but smile at his remark.

“well lucky for you i have something new today” you grinned. you had just ordered a bunch of roses. coral roses. you were praying to any god out there that seokjin picked up on the meaning behind your roses, but unfortunately not everyone knows the secret meaning behind every flower.

“oh wow these are gorgeous (y/n)! i never even knew that roses came in pink” seokjin said in awe. he was always so shocked at the flowers and their beauty, and it made your heart want to jump out of your chest because god how can someone be this cute.

“they’re coral, to be exact”

“oh? why’d you pick coral?” seokjin asks, bringing the flowers up to his face to breathe in their scent.

“just because” you lie. you know exactly why you chose the specific color coral, but you weren’t going to tell him that. the two of you stay silent for a moment just standing there in each others presence, but the moment is interrupted when jungkook opens the door.

“shops opening in five minutes boss, there’s already some old people outside and they’re kinda scaring me” jungkook announces. seokjin quickly looks at his watch and his eyes widen.

“oh shit. i gotta go, thanks for the roses (y/n), i’ll see you tomorrow!” seokjin yells out. you don’t even get the chance to say goodbye before seokjin is already out the door and making his way across the street.

-

you could tell the kind of day the bakery had by the way seokjin cleaned up after the electronic opening sign turned off. if he was whistling, then it was a good day. but if he was silent, then it was definitely not a good day.

but luckily seokjin was whistling away while taking the empty plates out of the display case. namjoon is close behind him, taking the plates from seokjins hands and putting them in the dish cart so they can be washed later tonight.

“we got a lot of compliments on the flowers today, don’t you think?” namjoon questions, raising his eyebrows at seokjin. seokjin simply shrugs his shoulders, getting compliments on your flowers was nothing out of the ordinary.

“yeah, they’re pretty don’t you think?”

“mhm... do you know what they mean?”

seokjins eyebrows burrow in confusion.

flowers have meanings?

seokjin puts the tray down and reaches for his phone in his back pocket. seokjin almost types in ‘the meaning of pink roses’ but catches himself when your conversation from this morning replays in his head. the information on his screen catches him off guard. it’s not the meaning behind the flower that catches him off guard, but it’s just he never thought you could be that smooth.

-

the little jingle of your entrance bell pulls you out of your little cleaning daze.

“sorry we’re clo- oh. hi seokjin.”

“so i learned something new today” seokjin said with a smirk oh his face.

“oh? what did you learn?” you ask, setting down the vase that you had been dusting off.

“i never knew that roses had different meanings based on their color” he began, starting to slowly walk towards you.

your eyes dart to the floor, not wanting to make eye contact.

“so of course, i wanted to see what was the meaning of coral roses” he continues, finally reaching where you stand.

“what did you find out?” you whisper, suddenly feeling anxiety pang at your chest, wondering if you made the wrong decision.

“that coral roses mean desire” he finishes, he brings his hand under your chin and softly pushes your head up so that  your eyes meet his.

you can feel your face go red. 

so he figured it out after all.

“listen if you don’t feel the same then you can forget it i didn’t mean to be so forward but i couldn’t figure out any other way to tell you-”

your ramble is cut short when you feel a pair of soft lips on yours. it takes you by surprise at first, but you eventually relax in the kiss and place your hands on top of his shoulders. seokjin pulls away first, looking into your eyes and giving you a soft smile.

“of course i like you, silly. i wouldn’t have asked you for flowers every morning just because” he confesses. you giggle at his statement and run your hands down his arms stopping at his elbows. you sigh and look up at him.

“so what do we do now?” 

“i guess this means i can finally take you out on a date” he replied, smirking slightly at the thought of finally getting to call you his.

“tomorrow at 8?”

“tomorrow at 8.”

the moment is interrupted by a loud thud that came from the back room. you turn around in seokjins arms in the direction of the noise. jungkook lets out a loud FINALLY making the both of you laugh at the boy.

“please tell me that jungkook won’t be there tomorrow to ruin any more moments” seokjin whines. his words just makes you laugh harder.

“he better not-” you start, laughter finally calming down “-because if he is, i might be looking for a new employee”

“i heard that!” jungkook yells out. you respond with a loud ‘good!’ and turn your attention back towards seokjin who leans down to steal another small peck.

“i should probably go, namjoon is going to have my ass on a platter for leaving him to clean up by himself” seokjin mumbled.

the two of you say quick goodbyes and seokjin walks out the door to your shop with a new found pep in his step, thinking about all the possibilities tomorrow could bring. 

[youarejesting]

Sly like a... ? Part 7

[Master list] [Sly Master List] Beta: n/a (at the moment) Rating: All Pairing: Hybrid!BTS x FailedHybrid!Reader Genre: Hybrid au, fluff, action, adventure, angst, drama, slice of life. Some marked chapters will contain mature/smut scenes, BUT they will not have plot in those scenes and are 100% skippable without losing your place in the story. Words: 2.2k

Summary: Human’s strive to be better, faster and stronger looking to animal DNA. Thus Hybrids are born. As the rise for designer and Pedigree Hybrids increase, so do the failed attempts. There is one species scientists are unsuccessful in creating, but, folklore says they have been here all along, hiding and blending in with the humans for many millennia. How clever they are.

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Sleep broken by the whispers of scheming hybrids in your kitchen, "She loves blueberry pancakes so we are going to make them," Jimin's voice was softened and traveled like mist through the air. Your ear twitched as you pretended to be asleep a little longer not to spoil their plans. It was amazing to hear them all cooperating with one another.

There was a knock at the door and you almost laughed when he called out, "Someone gets the door before he wakes Y/n." Namjoon said Jungkook and Hoseok scurried to the door and opened it with a long and heavy shush.

"Y/n is sleeping," Hoseok whispered hushing the boy

"We are making pancakes," Jungkook explained, helping Taehyung inside, he dropped his bag and huddled with the others by the kitchen bench, you were watching them in the reflection of the television quietly bickering.

"Can I put the blueberries in?" Taehyung asked excitedly.

"Jungkook already asked to do that job," Jimin sighed, “and before you ask, Yoongi is cooking them, Namjoon added the flour, Seokjin added the eggs and Hoseok did the milk.”

“So there is nothing left to do,” Taehyung sounded so dejected, you wanted to tell him it was the thought that counts but Jimin beat you too with a job claimed only he could do.

“Go out back and get a few cute flowers, not too many and you can put it in one of the nice vases for Y/n, okay?”

The hybrid was quick to scamper out the back door in search of flowers. The sweet sizzle of pancake batter in a pan made you breathe deeply. You gave them ten minutes, you were being so considerate even though your neck was cramped.

‘Waking’ to the clatter behind you, you faked a yawn and quickly stretched sitting up, trying to appear like you hadn’t heard the whole pancake ordeal. It was cute hearing them whispering hurriedly and clamoring around behind you.

“Quickly put them on the plate?”

“Wait, put the flower on the tray too.”

“Someone, distract her,” Jimin said while you tried to check your phone inconspicuously.

“Good morning?” Hoseok smiled dragging Yoongi over, you continued ‘answering an email’ slowly scratching your head.

“Oh, Good morning, just give me a second to finish this email,” You signed off the fake email and saved it to your drafts. “Okay, all done, sorry just replying to some important emails to the school. “How are you this morning, should I make some breakfast?”

“Uh, Yoongi wanted to ask something?” Hoseok said and you paused, “Alright, what can I help you with Yoongi?”

“I was wondering if today when we go shopping if we could possibly pick up some, uh…” He looked around for something to come to mind. He seemed to be panicking and you stood up and took his hand.

“Yoongi, you know you can ask for anything right?” you rubbed his hands and looked at Hoseok and back to him, “Is this something personal you want to ask me?”

“No, it’s like that, I was wondering if I could get a CD player?” He said eyes widening at the thought.

“Would you like a CD player and CD’s or I can get you a phone and give you and pay for unlimited music then it’s portable and I can get you a nice pair of headphones?” You made sure knew his options, “It’s up to you honey?”

“Uh yeah, portable would be great,” he blushed his toes curling nervously in the fluffy rug. “If it isn’t too much? I mean it probably is, so don’t worry about it…”

“No it will be perfect for your studying to drown out the other boys and I will get you all phones anyway so we can just buy the unlimited music pass.” You smiled “I want to spoil you boys and get you everything you need and more to be comfortable especially if you are going through university, I don’t want you to think or be stressed about anything bad.”

“Good morning!” Jungkook grinned and you turned to see them all standing around the table with the a pancakes, “We made you breakfast!”

“Nice distraction,” Seokjin clapped Hoseok and Yoongi on the shoulders. You made a show of enjoying the pancakes and shared them with everyone telling them to get ready to go out as you were going to be doing a big shop.

Once everyone was strapped into the van and dressed you headed out to the store and found a park. “Alright listen to me, no matter what I will not leave anyone behind, so I would like you to walk in groups there is eight of us so let’s walk in two groups of four. Jimin will lead Namjoon, Seokjin and Taehyung, I will take Jungkook, Hoseok and Yoongi.”

But for now everyone follow me you guided them into the store, if you ever get lost please find an information desk in any store, they are marked with an i and they will make an announcement letting me know where you are. Otherwise, this is your temporary outing bracelets that have my name and number on them” You handed them out and they all grinned.

“Now that you know all of that lets go into the department store fore some clothes and such,” You handed Jimin a card and told him the budget he had and you all began exploring. They all trailed after you unwilling to part and well you were shopping in the same area. “Yoongi, this looks like it is your size, do you want to try it on for me?”

“Jungkook, these are your size, try them on too, I will be right outside” You smiled, we can talk the entire time. “They went in and you were talking to Hoseok and Taehyung who were giggling about different clothes”

“Seokjin, that’s a lovely shirt but try it on love the shoulders look a little narrow, Namjoon, that is interesting” You laughed watching Namjoon make strange outfits.

“Y/n, what about this pretty shirt?” Jimin asked passing Seokjin who took two sizes to the dressing room.

“That is from the ladies section,” Namjoon pointed at the blouse.

“Clothes aren’t gendered Joonie, you can wear any clothes in this store, I have this jacket at home and it is made for men but I look cute in it.” You explained, gesturing to the jacket and turned to Jimin “Go try it on, with these dress pants Jimin, I bet it will make you look really handsome”

Someone cleared there throat behind you and you smiled, Uh, that sweater is too big Yoongi, we will get you a smaller one and Jungkook they look really good, so if you want to find clothes in these sizes you may”

Seokjin stepped out and placed the smaller size on the returns rack and you took his shirt and placed it in your basket. Watching Hoseok and Taehyung and Namjoon head to the dressing rooms with fun styles.

“How do I look?” Jimin stepped out looking long legged and like a prince charming.

“Like an angel?” you laughed, “your hair is getting a little long do you want a cut?”

“It is a bit long isn’t it, maybe I should cut it,” He laughed fiddling with the ends.

After clothes, you went to a store for shoes and then to a restaurant for lunch. It was after lunch waiting by the toilets that Yoongi and Jungkook expressed their interest in an electronic store wanting to look at their headphones and computers. You sent them over but they walked back quickly.

“What happened?” You asked confused as to why they came back so quickly, they couldn’t have looked at the phones that quick. Their ears were pressed down and they looked upset.

“They kicked us out,” Jungkook mumbled, “They called us strays and said that we couldn’t shoplift in their store”

You told the boys to all put on their best outfits and walked over to the store when all your Hybrids finished in the bathroom, “hello, I am the owner of these Hybrids, we were looking to buy seven top-of-the-range laptops, seven phones, and a gaming console” You smiled but it was forced.

Jungkook and Yoongi’s ears were pressed back and their tail between their legs and you hummed, “which one said it?” Jungkook pointed at the young woman and man at the side of the store looking jealous.

The manager came out and you smiled, talking sweetly. He turned away and you winked at Jimin, “They said what to you, that you were strays and you couldn’t shoplift in the store, which ones said it, those two over there” 

The two in the corner paled as you glared at the manager. “Your employees discriminated against my Hybrids.”

“We apologize they were not exactly dressed befitting to their stature?” the two tried to excuse themselves.

“Does that excuse you, I am sorry, but we might have to take our business elsewhere?” You growled quite annoyed, “These are highly sensitive young hybrids who have not had the best upbringing and you want to discriminate against them. Because they were dressed in different clothes than you deem allowed to be rich.”

“We sincerely apologize and we would like to offer you a deal,” The manager said, and you looked up at him, “We will give you our highest rate of insurance absolutely free and I will have my lovely employee Mister Choi hear take you to our private room’s and make you some drinks. Mister Lee and Miss Kim you can wait in my office.”

The young man took the drink orders and ran off, you took the moment to make sure your hybrids knew you weren’t upset with them.

“I am sorry I made a scene, I just don’t want anyone to ever look down on you, I want you to be respected as if you were human and I want you to know you are worth so much.” You consoled them patting their heads. “I would like to add the necessary programs for university students to have to be added to the laptops and I would like a selection of the best games for the console, I would like these phones here, I hear they have lots of colors, and I would like one of each color, so they don’t get mixed up.”

“For the seven laptops, phones and console and games I will throw in a free phone for you miss and insurance up to 13 years for every product and each laptop will be equipped with the required paid programs to help them through University.” He smiled as mister Choi came in with drinks he handed out Hot Chocolates and coffees.

“Are you Park Jimin, the billboard Calico?”

“Yes, that’s me, I can’t really autograph anything, a government rule” He laughed, “But I will let them know about the companies excellent service and sympathies in regards to the fair sale of products to Hybrids”

“Yes many companies, are quick to add secret fees on top but your documents seem to all be checking out., I could recommend the store as a source for the new expansion they will be needing a good computer system?” 

The manager wiped his forehead sweating profusely, you had to hold back a scowl.

“This is tasty,” Taehyung hummed, his legs swinging back and forth on the seat, he was just enjoying his hot chocolate oblivious to the weight of your presence in the room. Catching his comment the manager looked up.

“Would you like to add the coffee machine, it really does make great hot chocolates?”

“If we add a coffee machine which would be greatly appreciated I would like to have some good quality headphones for free for the two your employees hurt with their words and a music subscription family pass for all the members on the phones..”

“That will be arranged,” He nodded, wiping his brow again, “Your total is forty thousand,” he said shocked but you expected it at almost four thousand each for the best laptop and almost two thousand for the best phones and a console and games and a coffee machine.

“And you are paying on credit?” The man asked, it was nice for you to leave with so much stuff and Yoongi was quiet on the drive home. Guiding him into his bedroom you sat him down to talk.

“Yoongi, I don’t want anyone to ever say anything about your worth alright, they have no idea how much you mean to me and how important you are” You stressed sitting beside him.

“Yeah I know this program means a lot to you and you don’t want it to go wrong so you got to keep us all happy.” He mumbled standing and walking to the door.

“Yoongi, no at the end of the day I want you guys to be happy in the moment if this program fails I want you all to have had a good time,” You tried to reason.

“Yeah before we get sent back to the slaughter.” He muttered, “Please get out,”

You took a deep breath and left the room unable to argue with Yoongi. Your eyes couldn’t help but sting as you stepped out into the hall.

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Tags:  @simplymemyself​ @lolsiiike​ @min2jeon​ @notruercolors​​ @luvaffaire​​ @grazysf​​  @ella-mella​​ @lustremyg​​​ (please make sure you have tagging setting on so you get notified when the story updates)

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[xjoonchildx]

guilty | knj x reader | chapter two: incheon mall tube tops

summary: as the man at the top, kim namjoon has almost everything he wants. almost. could a familiar face from the past change his future?

pairing: namjoon x reader

genre: mafia AU, pining, eventual smut

rating: 18+

word count: 4.5K

notes: i really hope you guys are enjoying namjoon’s story! i think there will only be one more chapter after this.  and like a true unfocused writer i started daydreaming about a yoongi one-shot to go with it? gah, nevermind.  i really hope you guys like this and i’d love to hear how you feel one way or another.  a huge thanks to my amazing beta @hobi-gif​ who does a hell of a lot more than just find typos.  and all of my love has to go out to @ladyartemesia​ @ppersonna​ @taetaewonderland​ because all three of you are so much more than tumblr friends.

this fic is a continuation of the Guarded Series but can be read as a standalone piece.

Chapter 01 | 02 | 03 | Epilogue

**********************

It didn’t matter how hard you tried to hide your sadness, Namjoon saw it.

It didn’t matter how many hushed calls you tried to sneak, or how many smiles you tried to force -- Namjoon saw right through your act from the very beginning.  He’d seen enough to know that you were facing some kind of personal battle. He understood enough about you to know that you were far too private to bring it up or ask for help.

He should have asked.

The question sat heavy on the tip of his tongue for weeks.  He should have asked on the days he would spot you at your desk, fingers pressed to your temples in frustration.  Or on the days when he would catch you staring out the window, mind a million miles away.

He didn’t.

Instead, he let himself be driven to distraction by the way your blouses fit perfectly against the lines of your body. The way your pencil skirts hugged the curve of your hips. How soft your hair looked pulled into the low, loose knot you favored.

He found himself stumbling over his words when you’d quietly slip into meetings to deliver an urgent message or he’d drift off in the middle of conversations just because he’d caught sight of you outside his office door.

So it wasn’t long before what started as a preoccupation turned into a full-blown fixation.

You’d turn up at his request, poised and professional as always -- and he’d be lost in thought, defiling you a thousand different ways in his head.  Fantasizing about getting his hands on you, his mouth on you, his teeth on you.

You didn’t deserve that.

That’s why Namjoon kept his mouth shut -- stuck in a maddening cycle of wanting to help you, wanting to know you, just wanting you.

All of it made him feel guilty as hell.

*********************

The new girl is a fucking disaster.

Namjoon has yet to figure out how she manages to be underfoot at the most inconvenient times and simultaneously nowhere to be found when she’s needed.  She misplaces files and misses calls and forgets assigned tasks altogether. He’s lost track of the number of times he’s passed her desk to find her taking pictures of herself; lips pouted, angle skewed.

Two weeks ago, she was probably selling tube tops at Incheon Mall and now she’s playing gatekeeper to one of the most powerful men in Seoul.  So it’s not her fault that she’s woefully unprepared for this job.

And it’s not her fault that she’s not you.

Namjoon has spent the better part of the morning debating the call he’s about to make, picking up the phone and setting it back down at least half a dozen times.  But he’s at the end of his rope, running out of patience and options.

So he swallows his pride and picks up the phone just one more time.  

You answer on the first ring.

“Mister Kim.”

God, he’s missed the sound of your voice.  

“Good morning,” he starts carefully, clearing his throat. “I’m certain you have a lot on your plate but I was wondering if you could come sit with the new girl for a few minutes.  She’s struggling a bit.”  

The line is quiet for a moment and Namjoon can practically hear your thoughts on the other end of the line.  The ones that say well that’s what you get for replacing your perfectly competent assistant with a child.

“I left notes,” is the quiet reply that comes instead.

“You did.”

“Detailed notes. Written, detailed notes.”

“Yes,” Namjoon agrees, rubbing his fingers across his mouth.  “I’m certain they were quite detailed.  It’s just that she’s having trouble following those notes because --”  

“Because she can’t read?”

Namjoon cringes.  Any small hope he had that you weren’t taking your reassignment personally dies with the abrupt delivery of that statement.

“Apparently not,” he admits lamely.

He hears the quiet sigh you take in before answering.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

*************************

There’s a moment -- just after Seokjin has walked through his office door -- when Namjoon catches a glimpse of you.

You are leaned over the new girl’s desk, lips pursed, pointing something out on the computer screen.  Namjoon freezes when you look up and lock eyes with him just as the door swings shut.

Christ, is he ever going to be able to look at you without feeling like he’s had the wind knocked out of him?

He turns to find Seokjin staring at him, one brow raised.

“You okay?”

“Yeah,” Namjoon exhales, shoving a hand through his hair as he walks back to his desk.  “I’m fine. You said you wanted to talk about something?”

“I do,” Seokjin starts, helping himself to a seat. “Two things, actually. Both pertaining to the amazing new assistant you so generously gifted me.”

Namjoon’s nails dig into the palm of his hand.

“Go on.”

“Apparently she’s some kind of whiz with numbers,” Seokjin continues, unbothered by his strained response.  “I gave her a few of the books to look over and she already found a couple of our guys in the Songpa district skimming off the top. I’ll bet there’s even more where that came from and she’ll find it.  She’s got a good eye.”

Namjoon feels pride stir in his chest.  Yet again, you exceed expectations.  

“Send Yoongi and Hoseok to Songpa tonight,” he murmurs.  “I’ll be curious to hear what kind of explanation our friends come up with for their lapses in accounting.”

Seokjin nods.

“Will do.  So the other thing --” he pauses for a beat, like he’s trying to figure out how to carefully deliver what he has to say next.  “I know you asked me to try and figure out what’s going on with her and I think I have.  You’re right, she’s struggling with some personal issues.”

Namjoon leans forward in his chair, body rigid.

“Let me hear it.”

*************************

YOU

The new girl is a fucking disaster.

You have yet to figure out why she can’t work the printers or can’t read a simple spreadsheet when you know for fact she knows how to beam her selfies all the way to the goddamned moon.

It’s infuriating.

Just like it’s infuriating to see her seated at what should be your desk, doing what should be your job, working for the man who should be your boss.  

Figure shit out, you’d love to tell her.  Sink or swim, that’s how the real world works.  

The idea of letting her fail so dismally that Namjoon has no choice but to beg for you back is tempting.  But then he’d picked up the phone to personally ask you to help.

And apparently you are incapable of denying that man anything.

You’ve stayed late every day this week to review the spreadsheets Seokjin has given you to audit because of the extra time you’ve had to put aside to help the new girl navigate foreign concepts like filing and scheduling.

The numbers tell an interesting story.

The rumors about Kim Namjoon’s skill as a businessman don’t give him enough credit.  Money is pouring into the Gajog, hand over fist, from every major district in the city.  Billions of won flow into the organization from legitimate and not as legitimate revenue streams alike.  Combine the numbers and Kim Namjoon controls an empire worth trillions.

You stare at the sums and your mind flips back to your unexpected pay raise. It’s no wonder Namjoon can afford to be so generous.

It’s no wonder so many of the street-level men who work for him seem to be helping themselves to more than their fair share.  

It took you a few days to identify the patterns, comparing the new intake sheets to the old ones, but once you did the missing money practically jumped off the page.  Just a few audits in and you’d already been able to find at least 119 million won unaccounted for.

The Kim Namjoon you know is reserved and unflappable -- but this is information that’s bound to piss even him off.  

What is a man like him like when he’s angry?

You shudder at the thought.

Before long, the night sky stares back at you from the window across from your desk and you decide it’s well past time you went home.  You sort everything into neat piles and leave yourself organized notes before packing up to leave.

***************************

There’s no answer from your mother when you call to her from the hallway.  

You frown as you make your way to her bedroom, worry melting away when you find her asleep in her chair.  Her head is bent at a sharp angle, and you immediately move to help her prop her up.

Her eyes open to slits, unfocused from sleep and medication.

“Ttal,” she whispers, grimacing as she straightens out the crick in her neck.

“Eomma,” you whisper in a hushed rebuke. “We’ve talked about this.  You can’t fall asleep in this chair, it’s terrible for you.”

She nods slowly, pointing to a glass of water on her nightstand.  You hand it to her, but it wobbles in her weak grip and you take hold of it to help her drink before setting it aside.

“I’m hurting tonight,” she admits.  

“I know,” you sigh, heart breaking. “Come, let me help you into bed.”

The process is painstaking.  You help hoist her frail frame out of the chair and over to the side of the bed then work carefully to help her lie back.  There’s no meat on her anymore, just skin and bones, so you tuck her blankets carefully around her legs and arms until you’re certain she’s not shivering anymore.

You know this isn’t working.  

It doesn’t matter how many calls you make over the course of a day to check in, or how many well-meaning neighbors drop in to help, leaving your mother alone for hours in this state is a dangerous gamble.  

You fight back tears of frustration.  You grew up without siblings and your father has been gone for years. Being alone is something you’ve had a long time to get used to.  

But you’ve still never felt as alone as you do right now.

You think in the quiet for a while, stroking your fingers across your mother’s upturned palm, unsure of what to say, unsure of what to do.  

Unsure of what comes next.

“Kim Namjoon grew up to be such a handsome man,” your mother rasps.

The steady stroke of your fingers comes to an abrupt halt as the fine hairs on the nape of your neck stand on end.

“Excuse me?”

Your mother doesn’t repeat herself.

“Eomma,” you urge, nudging her hand with yours.  “What is this talk of Kim Namjoon?”

Her lips quirk when she closes her eyes like she’s recalling a pleasant memory.

“His mother was beautiful,” she breathes quietly. “God smiled on that boy. He looks nothing like his father.”

The dull panic that’s already started to pulse in your chest sharpens to a point.

She has to be hallucinating.  

She has to be taking too much medicine because nothing she’s saying makes any sense.  You fumble for the bottles on her nightstand, pulling off the caps and pouring the pills out onto the tabletop.  You count them over and over until you’re satisfied your mother hasn’t taken a dangerous amount of drugs.

“Eomma, why are you talking about Kim Namjoon?” you plead. “Help me understand.”

But when you look back to your mother, you realize your words are already falling on deaf ears. She’s slipped back into a sleep state once again.

If only it were that easy for you.

When you finally get to crawl into bed a short while later, you toss and turn all night.  

Somewhere in the haze between asleep and awake you dream of Kim Namjoon.

*************************

Your mother’s mental clarity is always better in the morning.  

After she’s had a night of rest -- and whatever medicine she’s taken has had some time to wear off -- she’s much more alert, much more like her old self.  But you still weren’t able to get anything by way of answers out of her as you made breakfast this morning.

You’d made her favorite cold cucumber soup before carefully broaching the subject of last night’s strange conversation.  You’d waited patiently for some kind of explanation about why she mentioned a man she hasn’t spoken of in years.

It didn’t come.

There was something odd about the way your mother went completely quiet at your mention of Namjoon.  Something odd about how adamant she was about not having any memory of the conversation at all.

That odd look on her face is the one thought on your mind as you make your way to work in a complete fog.  You slip into an open elevator and hit the button for your floor on autopilot.

You don’t even realize that you’re not alone until a soft voice interrupts your thoughts.

“I remember you.”

Your eyes flick up from their unseeing stare at your shoes to a young woman standing against the elevator’s back wall.  

“Miss Kim,” you breathe, brushing an errant hair out of your face.  Your cheeks are still stinging from the cold. “Good morning.”

Namjoon’s sister is a beautiful woman, without a doubt — but until this moment, you hadn’t realized how much she resembles her brother.  They have the same striking features, the same smooth skin and high cheekbones and full lips.  

They share the same dark, kind eyes.

“I remember you now,” she repeats, mouth curving into a smile.  “I knew I recognized you, but it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I finally connected the dots.”

“Well, I wasn’t around a lot when we were kids,” you admit shyly. “So that’s certainly understandable.”

“That’s true,” she agrees.  “And I try not to think back to those times a lot but you made an impression on me.  You were always so sweet.”

Your cold cheeks seem to warm at her compliment.

“Thank you.”

The elevator stops at her floor but she seems reluctant to end the conversation.  She leans against the door to prop it open.

“My brother,” she asks carefully, “Is he treating you well?  Is he a fair boss?”

You clear your throat, suddenly feeling self-conscious.

“Well, he’s not my boss anymore,” you admit.  “He replaced me not long ago.  But yes, he was very fair when I worked for him.”

Her lips part in a soft gesture of surprise when you deliver that news.  

She’s quiet until the elevator blares a loud reminder that it’s time to close the doors.  She smiles at you on her way out the door, opting not to comment on the quality of her brother’s staffing decisions.  

“I’m sorry to hear that,” she murmurs. “But I’m still really glad you’re here.”

****************************

An inviting scent is the first thing you notice when you get home that night.  

The second thing you notice are the voices.

You make your way down the long hallway with careful steps, trying to place the sound of the voice coming from your mother’s bedroom.  It doesn’t sound like Mrs. Sim -- in fact, it doesn’t sound like anyone you know.

You stop short at the sight that greets you when you round the corner.

A woman -- a complete stranger is in your mother’s room.

You stand frozen in shock as you watch the stranger read to your mother from her seated position in the chair next to the bed.  She looks up from the page when she realizes you’re there, giving you a better look at her pleasant, aged face.

“Aish,” she startles, clapping a hand over her chest.  “Here I was, worried about scaring you and instead you’re the one giving me a fright.”

It takes you a moment to find your voice.

“Forgive me,” you start weakly, “But who are you?  And how did you get into this house?”

The woman stands to adjust the pillow under your mother’s head before meeting you in the doorway.  “She’s resting now,” she says, nodding at your mother’s still form on the bed.  “Why don’t we talk in the kitchen?”

Should you be screaming right now? Calling the police?  

There’s no good explanation for why you do neither and decide instead to follow this complete stranger into your kitchen instead.  She walks to the stove to stir whatever she has cooking in the pot.

“Get off those feet,” she admonishes kindly. “I’m sure you’ve had a long day.”

Again you comply, inexplicably following orders.  

“I made Budae Jjigae,” she explains, ladling some of the stew into a bowl.  She sets it down in front of you, and you stare back at her like an idiot.  The stew smells amazing, and you’re immediately hit with a well-timed hunger pang.

“Who are you?” you ask again.

“My name is Jinjoo,” she replies sweetly, handing you a spoon.  “And I work for you now.”

“You work for me,” you repeat slowly.

“I do,” Jinjoo nods.  “Mister Kim hired me.”

The spoon clatters loudly against the lip of the bowl when you drop it.  For a moment, it’s hard to breathe. You have to wait for the strange sensation that snakes up your spine to subside before you speak again.

“Mister Kim.”  You echo her again, dumbly.

Jinjoo takes a seat next to you at the table, radiating a patient kindness that makes you want to give into the urge to trust her.  She smiles reassuringly at you, voice soothing when she speaks again.

“Yes. He said you needed help with your mother, and I can understand why.  I nursed in hospitals for decades, dear.  I can see your mother is in a bad way.”

You blink back at Jinjoo in stunned silence.

“I assure you, I’ll give your mother the best quality care,” she vows, patting one of your hands with her own.  “And Mister Kim has already paid me well in advance, so don’t even think about trying to get rid of me.”

That statement almost makes you laugh.  

You don’t want to get rid of Jinjoo at all.  Ten minutes ago you had no idea she existed and in the span of one conversation she’s become one of the most important people you know.  Tears well in your eyes as you stare into your bowl of stew, at a total loss for words.  

Jinjoo seems to sense how overwhelmed you are.  She gives you some space to process what’s going on, stroking one soft hand over your shoulder when she stands to leave.

“Eat something, dear.  I’m gonna go sit with your mother for a while.”

You look up at her with watery eyes and nod, reaching for the spoon.

“This smells really good,” you say softly.

“Well, I’m a great cook.  You’ll see,” she promises.

“Jinjoo -- “ you call out after her as she walks away.  “Thank you,” you manage, voice thick with emotion.  “I can’t thank you enough.”

The corners of her eyes crinkle when her mouth curves into a smile.

“You’re welcome.”

**********************

Jinjoo’s stew was delicious -- not that you had the chance to fully appreciate it.  

You’d sat in that kitchen alone for some time, eating slowly while you tried to process yet another bombshell in what seemed to be a series of them.  Everything that’s happened to you since Namjoon reassigned you has been a whirlwind; from the sudden pay raise to the sudden arrival of Jinjoo.

You eat the last of the stew with your stomach in knots.

Namjoon knows your mother is sick.  And you don’t know how to feel about it.

A part of you feels exposed when you think about him uncovering the sad details of your mother’s health battle. But knowing that he stepped in to help you fight it makes you feel something you haven’t felt in years.  

Cared for.

The sound of laughter from your mother’s bedroom echoes down the hall and you stand to follow it.  

Her favorite variety show is playing on the small TV in front of her bed, and it appears Jinjoo is a fan, too.  You lean in the doorway and watch the women giggle at the silly skit.  It’s been a long time since you’ve heard the sound of your mother’s laugh.  

It makes you smile.

“Jinjoo, could you give us a moment, please?”

You almost hate to interrupt the instant camaraderie between the two women but you recognize that your mother is in the midst of a rare moment of clarity.  You have to strike while the iron is hot.

“Of course,” she agrees, standing.

You wait until the sound of her footsteps fades away before taking her place in the worn chair next to your mother’s bed.  Your mother smiles at you, taking one of your hands into her own.  

You squeeze her fingers gently.

“Eomma, no more secrets,” you murmur.  “Tell me the truth.  Did Kim Namjoon come here?”

Your mother swallows thickly before nodding.

“He asked me not to tell you,” she admits.  “He said he didn’t want you to refuse his help.”

You shut your eyes and imagine Namjoon in your home, in this room. Speaking to your mother.  Making plans to send Jinjoo.  Your chest squeezes so tight that for a moment it’s hard to breathe.

“Okay,” you concede quietly.  You maintain the appearance of careful calm because you don’t want to make your mother feel worse than she already does., “It’s alright Eomma, I’m not angry, I promise.”

A peculiar look passes over her face.  Her eyes dart away from yours and that’s all it takes for you to know you don’t have the full story.  You decide to toughen your stance.

“Look at me, Eomma,” you say firmly.  “If there’s anything I don’t know, you need to tell me right now.  I need to know all of it.  Everything.”

“I -- “

“Just tell me what it is,” you repeat, patience hanging by a thread.

Your mother sighs, lifting one weak hand in the direction of her dresser.  You turn to stare at the pile of papers stacked there, realization dawning in an instant.  You move on unsteady legs to walk over and take hold of them.

Radiology, pulmonology, chemotherapy.  

You know exactly how much is owed on each of those bills because the numbers are burned into your mind. Those numbers are the reason you leave your mother for hours on end every day to go to work.  Those numbers are the reason why it’s so hard to sleep at night.

You don’t realize that your hands are shaking until you hear the papers rustling.

Every bill bears the same neat, handwritten marking.

paid -- knj

***************************

NAMJOON

Namjoon watched his sister leave early tonight with Hoseok. Seokjin is out to dinner with his wife.  And Yoongi is off doing -- well, whatever the hell Yoongi does when he’s not around.

There’s no one here tonight to tell Namjoon to go home.  No one to point out that he’s had too much to drink or that it’s happening far too often.

So he pours another scotch.

The glass sweats in his hand as he stands in front of his window, deep in thought.

Thinking about you.

Thinking about the way you struggled in silence, caring for your mother alone -- too proud to ask for help. The way you catered to Namjoon’s every need and whim without ever making mention of yours.  The way he’d let it go on for far too long, selfishly wrapped up in the way you made him feel.

“That girl is going to get you killed.”

Namjoon tells himself the sound of your voice is a figment of his imagination, an entirely predictable side-effect of too much scotch.  But it’s followed quickly by your soft footsteps against the plush carpet in his office and both sounds are too real to ignore.

He turns to assess you, quietly sipping his drink.

Fuck, you are beautiful.  

You have no right turning up here tonight -- looking like that -- testing him when he is at his weakest.  Your dark eyes flash with something like a challenge and Namjoon feels his blood warm.

“That girl is never at her desk and she has no idea who’s coming or going,” you accuse quietly.  “She’s putting you at risk.”

Namjoon concedes your point with a slow half-smirk that teases the edge of his mouth.

“Perhaps,” he admits.  “But there are different kinds of risk.  Maybe you put me at risk, too.”

He shouldn’t take pleasure from the way your eyes go wide at that statement.  Or from the way you overcompensate by standing taller, chin lifted high.

But he does.

“Mister Kim -- “ you start.

“ -- Namjoon,” he interrupts.  “Don’t you think it’s time you called me Namjoon? Haven’t we known one another since we were kids?”

“Namjoon,” you correct yourself, taking a deep breath. “I know about everything.  Jinjoo, the bills, all of it.”

Namjoon says nothing for a moment, draining his glass before setting it down on his desk with a heavy thud.

“Why?” you ask quietly.  “Why did you do this for me?”

Because I would do anything for you.  

He doesn’t voice that thought out loud.  He knows he shouldn’t.

But he also knows he shouldn’t be closing the distance between you right now, and he’s doing that anyway.  He steps closer, quietly, and you swallow hard, thrown by his silence and his advance.

“That’s not -- that’s not something you do for an employee,” you protest, slowly backing away.  You stop only when the ledge of his desk hits you on the backside.  

“The late nights and the extra hours.  Everything else you did,” Namjoon murmurs, stepping close, chest rising and falling with his deep breaths.  “Did you do that for your boss?  Or did you do that for me?”

He leans closer, caging your body against his desk.  Your lips part in surprise and Namjoon forces himself not to react when your tongue slips out to wet them.

“Namjoon, I -- ” your voice is barely above a whisper when you find it.  “-- I don’t understand you right now.”

“How could I have every resource at my fingertips and not help you?” he asks, reaching one hand out to cup your face.  The pad of his thumb ghosts over your lips and you shudder under his touch.  “Why didn’t you come to me when you knew I could help?”

“I don’t know,” you admit, pupils blown and cheeks flushed.

“You should have come to me,” he admonishes quietly.  You lean into the touch of his hand.  “I would have given you anything you asked for. Anything.”

“I understand that,” you say quietly, the tremor in your voice betraying your attempt at calm.  “Because I would give you anything you asked for, too.”

Something about the way you say that snaps Namjoon back to reality.  

He looks down at you like he’s only just now realized that he’s loaded on scotch, leaning you over his desk -- and well on his way to taking advantage of this situation.  He tenses, pulling away.

“This is -- this is not --” he sputters pathetically for a moment.  “Go home,” he pleads.  “Please.”

He’s never hated himself as much as he does right now -- when you’re looking up at him with hurt and confusion in those wide, dark eyes.

“Go home before I do something I can’t take back.”

************************

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[btsxmale]

Can you do a one shot where Jin becomes possessive for the first time when he sees another guy flirting with his BF

This did really not turn out as I thought, but it was still fun writing it!

Hidden Possessiveness

Jin is struggling with his possessiveness when on a date with his boyfriend

BTS (Jin) x Male Reader

One shot

"How do I look?" Y/N asked as he walked out of his and Jin's bedroom, posing and showing off his outfit he had just put on. It was his favourite, actually. The colours really brought out his eyes and it looked so well with his hair. The accessories looked stunning, as did his shoes. It was tight in just the right places, giving Y/N a huge confidence boost. This was a look.

"Wow." Jin let out an impressed sigh. He didn't know how to react to this. He felt proud, having such a good looking boyfriend.

"You are so handsome!" He said, walking towards him. He was mind blown. He knew that his boyfriend looked good, but this good? This was possibly illegal.

"Maybe I am handsome man number one?" Y/N smirked, striking a sexy pose. Jin only shook his head with a smile.

"Let's say a close second. I will always be number one." He said, flipping his hair. They both chuckled and left the apartment hand in hand.

They both entered the secret club together, Y/N leading Seokjin to the dancefloor by his fingers. Jin looked at Y/N with big eyes, the dark room that was being lit up by the purple light gave a calm yet sexy atmosphere to the place. The music was, similar to the atmosphere, calm and very sexy. Y/N's smile made him feel butterflies in his stomach, and his touch made him feel warm and safe. He couldn't help but smile as they walked up there and started to dance slowly to the beat. Y/N pulled Seokjin in by the waist, keeping him as close as possible. Y/N's body close to his made him feel so incredibly lucky, this person was his boyfriend, only he could wake up next to him in the morning, only he could touch him. He couldn't stand the thought of Y/N or himself, being with another person than themselves. They were simply made for each other. They were each others. This made Seokjin incredibly relieved. He knew that you weren't going to leave him. He owned you.

Wait, what? What am I thinking? I can't own someone. I'm out of my mind! Was his first thoughts, but he slowly started to reflect deeper on the matter. Maybe he owns me...

After what felt like 10 minutes, but also hours, he needed to go. Jin knows how important it is to stay hydrated (STAT HYDRATED EVERYONE), and he already had some drinks, so he had to go.

"I'm going to the bathroom." Jin excused himself, pushing through all people on the dancefloor to get to the toilet.

When he came back, he didn't see his boyfriend on the dancefloor, but sitting at the bar. As he slowly made his way there, someone walked up to Y/N. Instinctively, he got nervous. You shouldn't trust strangers. He needed to know what was going on, so he started to move faster but he couldn't possibly hear their conversation until he got waybcloser.

"You're really sexy, you know, here's my number." The tall stranger said, sitting down next to Y/N. Jin burned on the inside. He didn't really know why, it was not like he caught them making out, but it felt so wrong. He wouldn't feel so upset if it was a normal compliment to be nice, but this man had other intentions than just make him happy. This man had simply looked at his boyfriend and then he had the guts to call him sexy just like that? He didn't catch what Y/N replied, but the man was still there, trying to order him a drink.

"What's going on?" Jin asked when he finally arrived at the bar, placing his hand on his Y/N as he looked at the man, fire in his eyes. He looked back at Seokjin, he was obviously drunk and tired.

"We were having a conversation here, mister." The man said, turning to Y/N again with a smirk on his lips. It ticked Jin off, only he could smirk at Y/N that way, only he could have those intentions. That stranger was not allowed to do that, not in front of Seokjin himself.

"Well, we were having a date here, mister." He said, grabbing Y/N by the wrist. Instead of arguing with the stranger (or Y/N) he walked away, still holding his boyfriend. Why did I say that!? That sounded totally lame! He thought on the way out. He pushed the door open, stopping outside with a shocked Y/N.

"Wow." He exclaimed, looking at Seokjin with big eyes. This was really out of character for Jin, but Y/N didn't actually complain. Jin felt good, leaving the man who looked at Y/N like a snack, alone in the bar. It really showed him that Y/N was Jin's. However, it only now struck him that he may have ruined their date.

"I'm sorry." He exhaled. He let go of the wrist he was holding, a feeling of guilt washing over him. Y/N only let out a soft laugh and took his boyfriend's hand.

"Let's just go somewhere else."

"Karaoke?" Jin asked, tightening his grip.

"Sounds great." Y/N smiled at Seokjin, eyes sparkling like a child's.

"If someone hits on you again-" He began but got interrupted.

"Then we can leave if you want to. At least we have pizza and movies at home, and it's only the two of us. Let's work on your... uhm... possessiveness another day, hm?"

"Thanks. And sorry again." Jin muttered as they left for a karaoke session. What a wonder that Y/N forgave him after ruining their romantic, slightly hot, date in the club.

--

It was really short, I apologise but I didn't have time .-.

--

Rules

Masterlist

[jincherie]

tentacledipity | four

tentacledipity | four

➛pairing: jimin x reader

➛genre: alien au, space au, soulmate au, wanted au, smut (coming)

➛rating: sfw

➛words: 8.1k

➛warnings: none! well, a sprinkle of grinding and tentacle mentions but other than that *shrugs*

➛notes: finished this in the early hours of the morning so please dont mind any spelling or grammar mistakes if there are any pls & thank u!! also thank u for being so patient, uni isn’t kicking my ass per se but it’s definitely taking up a lot of my time these days! i hope u all like the next does of tentacle adventures!

ps; I will add links at a later date! pls enjoy & lmk what u think!

This tale starts, as any good fiction does, with a girl crash landing on a foreign planet. And, like any good fiction, it follows a theme of serendipitous happening, and tentacles. Behold, serendipity and tentacles— or dare we call it…. tentacledipity.

— posted; 23.04.2019 // ↞ prev. || four || next ↠

“What, you’re not even going to try and stop me?”

At your question, the two males shared an exasperated look.

“Well, no,” Jongin answered plainly, pointing an accusatory finger your way as he narrowed his eyes halfheartedly. “What is the point? You are just going to get away, anyway.”

Your incredulous gaze was drawn to Jongdae next, as he continued where his partner left off. He seemed entirely too pleased with himself, lips curled in a smug, kittenish grin and his expression sly, marks coloured light yellow. “Besides, we are no longer required to watch you. We have been relieved of our duties. Which, personally, I am more than glad for. I think I have aged more than ten sweeps from the stress alone of trying to keep track of you. Really, are all humans so slippery?”

“No, probably not. Just me.” You shrugged in answer, before his earlier words caught your attention and you gaped. “Wait—what do you mean ‘relieved of your duties’? I’m free?”

Jongin shrugged, stretching indolently across the cushioned swing that you’d found him and Jongdae reclining on, out on a patio near your rooms, when you’d attempted to sneak out of the wing. Now that you thought about it, they did have a particularly carefree air right now, something you weren’t really expecting considering how wired you’ve seen them some days.  Jongdae swung one leg over the other, completely lax. The action left you in a state of shock, almost.

You continued to sputter for a moment, your brain unable to comprehend the sudden change in the status quo. Sure, this whole time you’d protested the fact that they thought you needed babysitting—ignoring the fact that it was thanks to an incident that came about thanks to you being a dumbass. But, if you weren’t under ‘watch’ anymore… who were you going to have fun evading and escaping? This was the highlight of your days sometimes, what were you going to do now that you couldn’t do it anymore? This felt like a big disruption to the routine you’d established here.

“Do not know, do not care,” Jongdae smiled at you. “We have not been told what will be happening.”

“Wh-what so I’m just, I’m just supposed to sneak around and pretend there are people trying to catch me?” you burst, feeling a little indignant. They should have consulted you first! This was unfair. “Who am I supposed to torment when I’m bored? Who am I supposed to trick with sweets and flee while they’re distracted?!”

Jongin lurched forward, eyes wide. “So you ADMIT that you did that to trick us!”

“No!” you wailed, mournfully. You turned away, dramatic as they likely expected you to be. “They were friend gifts… but I guess they mean nothing now. I’m… I’m leaving. I’m ending my friendship with you two. I’ll…I’ll find some other guard friends— better guard friends— who will chase me as long as I want them to!”

You stomped your foot, fighting a smile at the sound of their barely restrained snorts. You give them a half-hearted glare over your shoulder before turning and yelling, “Don’t look for me! You won’t find me!”

The second you started to walk away they could no longer hold their laughter and the sound of it makes you grin as you retreat down the hall, not bothering to try and sneak as you had earlier now that you knew no one was there to catch you. It was oddly liberating, to be honest, and you didn’t quite know what to do with the freedom. Maybe that’s because even when they were ‘watching’ you, you weren’t exactly restricted. Really, it was a wonder Jimin made them try for so long when it clearly had little to no effect.

Your arms swung a bit as you walked, a bounce in your step. You can’t even remember where you were going in the first place now. It wouldn’t surprise you at all if you didn’t even have a destination in mind when you left your room, actually. You’d been a bit lost in your thoughts lately.

There was a certain someone to blame for it.

As usual, the source of your dilemmas and deep-thinking was the ever-elusive Mister Jimin. Except, after the events of the other night in the hall, which were still painfully fresh in your memory, he had lost his right to the ‘elusive’ title. He hadn’t been bothering to try and avoid you any longer, something that kind of made you want to scream. It was what you wanted, yes, but not quite so soon and so intensely. You’d been in withdrawal for weeks and then he’d gone and given you such a big hit at once that you weren’t ready for it. You’d probably need another three weeks to come to terms with the male’s sudden flip that night and following one-eighty change in behaviour.

You were a little ashamed and excited to admit that he’d completely turned the tables and now you were the one frazzled and flustered. You couldn’t see his face in the halls—an alarmingly much more common occurrence after that night—without thinking of how it had felt when he pushed you to the wall, the way his body slotted so perfectly against yours. Every time your thoughts strayed to the memory the very same butterflies you felt that night returned with renewed vigour and you were flustered all over again.

Was this how he felt? All those times you tried so hard to fluster him? God, perhaps you were more annoying than you initially accepted.

You weren’t sure how you felt about the fact that the dynamic between you had shifted so suddenly and so sharply. Admittedly, that night if he had asked you to get on you hands and knees you wouldn’t have even blinked before doing so. The look in his eyes, the tone of his voice…. They brought out a side of you that didn’t see the light of day that often. Honestly, you’d spent a lot of nights reflecting on what happened and you’d since realised that there wasn’t much that you wouldn’t let that man do to you.

Even so, you weren’t a submissive person by nature, despite your inclination in the bedroom, and you really didn’t want him to think that was the case. You wanted to give back as good as you got, and every time you left your room you steeled yourself to doing so should you run across him.

Except it was a little easier said than done. Despite your affirmations, the second you caught sight of him the butterflies would return and you’d turn tail and run. It was shameful, and you were incredibly embarrassed at your own behaviour. Your mother didn’t raise a coward! It was just that, perhaps, you were a little more rattled and flustered than you allowed yourself to believe.

You realised you needed to be more firm with yourself, though. You needed to make yourself stay and interact with him or you’d never get over the ridiculous butterflies or the way your heart flipped and your pulse started to race. Again, today, you steeled yourself and resolved yourself to sit through the suffering if you happened to run into him again. At the slight tone of flustered panic that ran through you at the thought, you were quick to reassure yourself that it actually wasn’t that likely you’d run into him at all.

Well, historically you had been prone to being proven wrong when assuming such things and today wasn’t an exception.

In your wandering of the halls like a ghost with unresolved business in the material plane, looking for something to entertain yourself with, you happened to walk past a room that had a number of funky sounds coming from within. Intrigued and able to smell entertainment from probably a mile away, you were eager to investigate once you saw that the door was slightly ajar.

When you pushed it open, you quickly realised that you probably should have waited and listened to the sounds a bit more first. But, well, you were nothing if not an idiot and at this point, you were at peace with it.

“Stop! Stop, I am too old for this! Gods, Jiminie, where do you get all this energy from?!”

Confused as to exactly what you just walked into, you leant against the doorframe as you watched Seokjin bend over slightly with his hands on his knees to brace himself. He was wearing a different sort of clothing than you’ve seen before, the fit and material resembling more fitness-wear than anything. His breath came in short pants, apparently winded from whatever he and the other male had been doing before you walked in. Which, you realised quickly from the weapons along the wall and the cushioning along the ground, was… fighting?

Seokjin rattled something out in his native tongue and Jimin burst into laughter from where he stood, stretching a few feet away. He was dressed similarly to Seokjin and god if it wasn’t the most mouth-watering image you’d ever seen in your entire life. Deep blue material complimented his honey skin and raven hair perfectly, not that you thought there would be a colour that didn’t suit Jimin. His marks were a delighted summer yellow and the apples of his cheeks were flushed in slight exertion. Seokjin was in a similar state but unfortunately for him you were too whipped for Jimin to appreciate it as you should have.

Jimin said something you couldn’t understand to the elder male, who burst out loudly in response, “I have duties, you @#&@)#! Not all of us can do whatever we want, you know, I am the one stuck with the royal duties today! Find someone else to help you.”

Jimin was grinning, but seemed a bit disappointed at Seokjin’s answer to whatever he had said. A part of you wandered exactly what Seokjin had called him and you regretted that you didn’t know much kelkoe at all. Seokjin let out a pained noise as he stretched, closing his eyes, and all of a sudden you were overcome with the realisation that you were in the same room, in very close proximity, with Jimin.

Instantly, as you expected, the butterflies returned full-force to barrage the walls of your stomach. The sudden nerves made you feel bit nauseous and at once you felt the familiar urge to turn tail and flee.

No, you bit back the flight aspect of your fight or flight response. No, you said you wouldn’t run, and you wouldn’t. You needed to claim back a bit of control in the new dynamic you’d found yourself in with Jimin and damn it if you didn’t do it now then you never would. So, you did what you usually did whenever you had to do something not so desirable to you at the time and turned your brain off.

“Find someone to help him with what?”

The attention of the two males was instantly on you, Seokjin instantly appearing a cross between amused and sly. You didn’t like that one bit, and quickly raked your eyes over the other male. A mistake—he was surprised at first but the way his features melted into a curious look and his eyes darkened into molten pools almost made your knees week, like you were experiencing your first crush all over again. God, damn it. This was harder than you anticipated. You couldn’t help but wonder if he recalled the events of the other night upon seeing you, like you did every time you saw him.

“Sparring,” Seokjin supplied a little too merrily, and it was almost like you could see the cogs turning in his head. “Kelkie have a lot of restless energy, so it is common practice and customary to have a sparring partner.”

“You two are sparring partners?” you queried, trying desperately to appear much less nervous than you were. Your voice didn’t tremble, so that was something, and at least you weren’t blushing. Yet.

Seokjin’s lips curled into a sly simper. “No, Jimin’s sparring partner is the King, actually. But, since His Majesty is still on leave and Jimin has had an awful lot of… pent up energy, lately, I have taken to being his partner in the meantime.”

Jimin shot the older male a glare at his words, and you couldn’t deny the stupid ripple of giddy hope that dared to bubble within you for a moment. You thought he’d say something to protest his words, anticipating banter, but were caught off guard when his gaze simply returned to you and you felt like you were suddenly in the spotlight once more. Your heart stuttered—shit, damn it. Stupid attractive alien. Your brain was still turned off so that you could remain riding a wave of pretend bravery, and you scrambled to make the most of it and recover.

“So, you need someone to spar with?” You looked to Jimin, interest and excitement leaking into your tone—and it wasn’t fake, in the least, despite your nerves. You almost kicked yourself for what you said next, though, a little too brave for your current state of hidden fluster. “I used to spar with my shipmates when we had long trips, it was always a lot of fun. I’ll spar with you.”

Very bold words from you since you knew how much stronger and faster kelkie were than you—you’d witnessed it one time when you tried to fix a piece of hair that was pulling your scalp from one of Joy’s hairstyles and she’d positively vaulted across the room at breakneck speed to smack your hands away.

Seokjin positively grinned, but Jimin’s face fell into an expression of protest. His dark brows drew together, lips tugging down at the corners.

“No,” he refused immediately, “You will get yourself hurt. I cannot spar with you.”

You sputtered, indignant, and felt a bit of your usual confidence return to you as you pushed from the door and walked forward a little bit. “What? Mister Jimin… are you afraid a weak little human is going to best you in combat? I suppose I understand, the shame for you would be unbearable…”

You’d poked the bear expecting him to continue resisting and refuting you, but to your complete and utter surprise the male’s expression shifted once more, his mouth snapping shut and jaw tensing as his eyes bore into you with a new sort of intensity. That look spelt trouble for you and boy if it didn’t send the most giddy, excited shiver down your spine. Were you perhaps a masochist? This might be the time Jimin finally snapped and killed you for being annoying but you couldn’t think of anything but how hot he looked and how good it would feel even if his hand did end up around your thr—

“That is an excellent idea!” Seokjin was quick to express his avid support, but you got the feeling from the shit-eating grin that never left his flushed face that he had an ulterior motive besides backing you up like a good friend. “There you go Jimin, nip that stress in the bud. I am off now, I have many duties to attend to. Don’t play too rough, children.”

With that he bounced, leaving you and a silent Jimin in his wake. You were still reeling from the abruptness of his departure when there was movement from the corner of your eye and you whipped to see Jimin walking further into the room. You could feel a shift in the air, a new sort of tension that tingled along the base of your spine and made your breath catch. Keep it cool, keep it cool— you needed to tip the scales back into balance.

“Weapons?”

You’d begun to walk further into the room to join Jimin, but froze in your steps at the sound of his voice. It was deeper, rougher than you’d anticipated—he’s back was still to you and though you couldn’t see his face you saw the tension in his shoulders and along firm lines of his back. The shirt was slim-fitting and clung to his form everywhere except the sides where, from about halfway down, the material sported a slit. You guessed it was so he didn’t get too stuffy and so didn’t pay it any mind.

You steeled yourself, summoning some of the confidence that had returned to you so fleetingly earlier, and moved closer, stretching as you did so. “None is fine.”

His jaw ticked as he sent you a curious glance over his shoulder before giving a short nod and turning to face you better. This was the first time you’d been in his presence for longer than three seconds since that night and you felt an absolute mess with each second more that ticked over. Fuck, it was fine, everything was fine. You just had to hold it together a little longer then your nerves would wear off and you’d be back to normal. Probably.

As he settled into a loose pose, readying himself for another ‘sparring’ session, his eyes wept slowly over your form. You squared your shoulders and kept the playful smile on your lips, doing your absolute best to ignore the frantic pattering of your heart against your ribcage. You relished the way his eyes darkened as you stretched your back and your shirt rode up a sliver, providing him the barest peek of your skin. You could tell as you slipped into a loose pose of your own that from the tension he still held in his form, he wasn’t going to be using his full strength on you at all.

You had no doubt he was going to go as easy on you as he could.

But then, if he wasn’t using all his strength and speed, how would he be releasing the pent up tension that these sessions were meant to relieve? He wouldn’t be, so there must have been another reason he was about to humour you and ‘spar’ with you. Your mind ticked it over for a bare second before it registered.

He was playing chicken with you.

Something had changed in him since your last encounter, after you finally seemed to push him over a line of sorts. He was no longer resisting, no longer flustering and growing embarrassed—he was poking and prodding back just as you had done to him from the beginning.

You nearly balked at the realisation, but schooled your features just in time. He wanted to tease, to play? Well, lucky for him playing and teasing was what you did best. A wave of excitement washed over you. Your nerves all but disappeared as you resolved yourself, intending to use this opportunity and treat him as you normally would. You wondered, which one of you would bow first?

He must have noticed the changed tone of your smile, as one dark eyebrow rose in question. He tilted his head, eyes boring into you with more intensity than expected. His marks shifted colours from plum to rose, to periwinkle. A sequence that you had no idea how to decode yet still made your stomach flutter instinctively.

“Are you ready, petal?” he asked, and the nickname nearly undid all the hard work you put into reclaiming your usual mojo.

“Of course, peach cheeks,” you fired back, smiling brightly. He tried to hide it but you saw the way his lips twitched and his marks flushed deep rose. Even so, he didn’t blush, and the observation made you both giddy and eager to try and pull the reaction out of him.

“You may make the first move,” he offered, keen eyes catching every twitch of your features and shift of your body. You’d learnt from Seokjin and Namjoon that the Kelkie were a race of elite warriors, and you could tell just from looking at Jimin and the way he regarded you that he knew how to read and predict moves in battle. You knew then, that you couldn’t turn this into a game of strategy, or he would best you before you even had a chance to have fun. He was stronger and faster than you, obviously, but you didn’t want to make this too easy for him.

You nodded, taking a moment to choose how to proceed before you threw caution to the wind and moved on instinct alone. He watched, waited, coiled and ready for whatever move you might give him first.

When you dipped then lurched forward, aiming a light hit to his face, he dodged with ease. He had a bit of an unreadable expression on his face before you moved, but now that you made the first swing and he was sinking into the sparring mindset once more, an excited glint began to make itself known in his eyes.

You were right in assuming he would hold back. He weaved out of the way, incredibly graceful, and twisted mid-movement to bring his knee up, aiming for your middle. He was fast, but you knew he could be faster—with an amused huff you slipped out of the way and took a few light steps back before darting forward once more to try and jab his ribs. Like that, the two of you began to fall into a pattern.

Something about sparring always set your blood alight, and you could tell the same was the case for the alien dodging and weaving your light-hearted swings. The thought excited you, and you couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled from your throat as he swung and you spun out of the way just in time. You continued like that for the next few minutes, grinning uncontrollably at the sound of the huff he’d let out each time you dodged. So far, despite your occasional swings, you had been on the defensive. Even then, there was no heat or urgency behind his attacks. You wanted him to put a little more effort in.

His breath sped up the longer the two of you moved, his expression morphing. Slippery was how the guards had described you, and slippery was what you proved to be now. He was holding back almost all of his strength and speed, but he still should have been able to grasp you with ease. Yet each time he threw a hit or reached to grab you, you would dip and dodge, dancing out of the way. His stomach gave an excited flutter, the muscles of his back tingling. That was what this was—the way you were moving and interacting with him, reading his movements enough to flee but not to counter, with enough push and pull that it kept him on his toes…

It was like the two of you were dancing.

It was nothing like sparring with his own kind, yet he felt his heart stutter and kick into a higher gear in excitement nonetheless. You had a habit of making everything so exhilarating. The more you pulled back only to push lightly, prodding him and luring him to make a move for your gain, the more he felt himself slip into it. He was no longer moving with the intent to humour you or anything along those lines—he felt it, deep within his abdomen, the knot of longing forming once more. He wanted to chase, to catch you. And with each smooth dodge and light-footed prance out of reach you performed, he felt himself growing more and more riddled with the need to fulfil that instinctive desire.

It was as though you could feel the change in him, the longer the two of you tangled. You could sense a shift and, true to your nature, immediately went to exploit it.

“You’re so slow, peach cheeks!” you let out a breathless giggle as he lurched fluidly and tipped his body in a roundhouse kick of sorts. You ducked, darting forward and trying to land a hit on his gut as he righted himself. “Are you sure you beat Seokjin? You barely—”

The male didn’t even need to respond, as your smug tone was cut off the second his hand flew to grasp your fist before it could make contact with him. Your heart lurched into your throat, breath catching, as he adjusted his grip and tugged you forward, completely off balance. You crashed into his chest with your own, his other hand wrapping around your wrist like iron as he pulled them both behind your back with ease. You were arched into him with your heart racing, stomach flipping. He stared down at you with a dangerous curl to his lips.

“I thought I told you not to push so hard, petal,” his voice was so breathy and low it was absolutely sinful, a shudder rolling down your spine.  You could barely tear your eyes away from his own, heat flushing over your skin. Weak as you may be for him, you refused to give in so easily.

You felt his breath brush your face before you shoved your rapidly-returning nerves away and leant up, lips brushing his ear and the cool metal that dangled from it. Your playful tone had his grip tightening “But I like the end result.”

You felt him stiffen in shock, posture turning rigid; apparently he hadn’t been expecting that. You used this to your advantage, breaking out of his hold and snapping your hand around one of his wrists instead. You darted back then danced around him, pulling his arm with you until you were completely behind him. While he was still dazed your free hand whipped to grab his other one, pulling both behind his back and pressing against it in a mockery of the position he’d just had you in. The sound of his breath catching in his throat made your stomach dip giddily.

Deciding to push further while you had him in this position, knowing he’d snap out of it and turn the tables in the next second or so, you pressed a teasing kiss to the nape of his neck, breasts pushed to his upper back. The move was dangerous as it kept you within his reach for longer, but at the shudder you felt move through him you deemed it worth it.

Unfortunately for you, right after that reaction he jerked into action and broke his wrists out of your hold. Letting out a soft squeak of alarm that bled into a short giggle, you leapt backwards and danced out of the way as he spun and lunged for you. The dance began anew.

Except this time, Jimin had changed his tune yet again.

His marks were stained rosy-purple, shifting to wine each time he neared you. His moves became less hits and kicks, and more dives, lunges and grabs—and each time he got closer to catching you in his hold you couldn’t help the way your heart leapt in anticipation and excitement, pulse racing. The way he moved was so incredibly graceful and fluid, like a predator in its natural element, and numerous times you were so mesmerised it almost got you caught. Still, you managed to evade him, and the longer you did so the more worked up he got. Faster and faster, molten gaze never losing track of your form. You wouldn’t be able to catch him like this, you realised; you’d have to let him get close first.

You meant to lure him in purposefully, but in one of your bids to dance out of his reach you ended up stumbling over your own feet—immediately, he pounced. Your arms flew to the side in an attempt to reclaim your balance but you didn’t get the chance to follow through. Jimin dove forward, powerful thighs keeping him stable and propelling him to you faster than you could register. His hand closed around your wrist, using your arm and off-kilter state to turn you before releasing it and looping his arm firmly around your middle instead. The breath whooshed out of your lungs as you were yanked backwards, back meeting his chest as he contained you in his iron grasp. A shot of arousal spiked down your spine as his other hand whipped up to sit over your throat, grip loose but still present, thumb pressing into the soft flesh and fingers tilting your jaw up and head back.

You were sure he could feel your harried breaths, hell could probably even hear the way your heart was currently racing. Your skin was damp with the slightest layer of sweat you’d worked up from your constant movement and activity. You could feel his own breath panting against your neck, his lips and nose brushing against the sensitive shell of your ear as he dipped his head.

“What did we say about saying things like that so carelessly, petal,” his voice was a sultry combination of a lilting purr and a teasing coo, his fingers digging into the soft flesh of your waist. Your hands flew to grip the forearm currently pressing against your stomach, before moving to his bicep. You attempted to shift stance and haul him over your shoulder, like you’d managed to do to old sparring partners so many times before—yet Jimin didn’t so much as budge. The thrill of being faced with such unwavering strength made your stomach dip and butterflies swarm.

You didn’t have the words to respond, instead letting out a soft gasp as he rubbed his thumb along the sensitive column of your neck. Your mind raced, thoughts stumbling over one another as you scrambled for how to proceed and what to do. He was about to win, in more ways that one, but alarmingly you couldn’t find it within yourself to care all that much. There it was again, the yearning to just give yourself over and let him have you. It was getting to be a bit like an old friend, at this rate.

Your sudden desires gave you an idea, however. You rolled your body suddenly, rocking your hips back against him and grinding your ass back oh so ‘innocently’. Unprepared and unsuspecting, the action wrought a sharp, lilting gasp from the male’s throat. You felt the way his grip weakened for the barest second and were quick to take advantage of it.

Spinning in his hold, as you pivoted on your heel you used the other to catch his ankle. The result was his knee buckling, leg knocked out from under him, and as you pushed him backwards the two of you fell to the floor in a heap. You landed atop him, as you’d intended, with your thighs either side of his slim waist and your crotch pressed over his. You were out of breath as you braced yourself on his chest, one palm flat against the top of his sternum with your fingertips brushing his throat in a mock ‘dagger’. His tongue darted to wet full lips.

“Playing dirty,” he commented in between panting breaths, eyes boring into you as his voice brushed your eardrums, thick and low—shamefully, it had your thighs tensing with the urge to close. At your almost imperceptible shift, his nostrils twitched and his pupils blew up, hands suddenly on your hips with a firm grip. He didn’t move after that, but you felt the way his entire body tensed.

“I’m not above it,” you smiled, struggling to catch your own breath. You pushed your hands from his chest, leaning back, and in the process of shifting your weight unintentionally ground your core against him. His fingers instantly dug into your hips, leaving a delicious ache in their wake, as a soft groan that almost sounded like a growl slipped from his throat.

“You—”

“Jimin-ssi, I am terribly sorry to interrupt, but Seokjin called for you—there is an issue that requires your input.”

You jumped, startled beyond belief by the sound of a voice at the doorway to the room, and scrambled off of Jimin instantly. When you turned to see just who you expected, you offered a glare. Joy smiled back, unapologetic and clearly amused at the situation she’d walked in on.

Jimin sat up, a hand coming to pat his lower back—you watched the motion, wondering exactly why he did it but unable to suss a reason out. He turned to face you, eyes dark and swirling with something you couldn’t name but that made your heart skip a beat in anticipation nonetheless, before he rose to his feet and walked coolly to the door. You weren’t ashamed to say that you stared at his ass as he went.

“Understood, let him know that I will be there soon. I have… something to take care of first.”

Your brows furrowed in confusion as you wondered exactly what he had to take care of, but he was slipping through the doors with a hand pressed to his back and gone before you could think to ask. You might have been confused as to what he meant, but Joy seemed to be in the loop and very amused by it.

“I see you’re making progress in wooing him,” she observed, tone playful, and you rolled your eyes as you hopped to your feet. Now that you were no longer distracted by Jimin, you could feel how sweaty and sticky you were from the whole ordeal. Ugh, exercise. A wave of embarrassment coursed through you at the sudden thought—did he notice your gross state when you were on top of him? How humiliating.

“Yeah… Maybe,” you said, dusting off your bottoms. “I’ll gossip with you later though, first thing’s first I need a shower. Do all of you really spar that often to get your energy out? In this heat?”

Joy’s eyes lit up at this titbit of information, the long raven plait down her back swinging as she tilted her head. “Oh, so that is what you were doing? Interesting take on the practice, I will admit.”

You wanted to send her another half-hearted glare but found her words too funny to be able to pull it off. A snort escaped you instead, “Hardly. He went far too easy on me for it to be considered a real spar.”

The female snorted, her marks colouring a delighted blue-green in her amusement. “I am not surprised. Jimin is faster and stronger than most kelkie so I do not imagine he would use anything close to full strength when sparring with you. Interesting that he agreed, though.”

You hummed, unsure how to process her words just yet. “Huh. Well. I’m gonna go back to my rooms and get changed, I’ll find you again later. I have some…. Questions.”

Joy raised an eyebrow but you merely offered her a grin as you left. “See you! And don’t forget to tell Seokjin whatever Jimin wanted you to.”

She rolled her eyes, muttering a curse under her breath before she gave a wave in farewell. “Goodbye. Take your time, please.”

You couldn’t help you laugh as you ventured further down the hall, “I won’t!”

x     x     x     x     x     x     x

True to your word, as soon as you were done bathing and changing you zipped off down the halls in search of her for your promised interrogation session. You were expecting it to take much longer than it did for you to actually track her down.

When you found her, it was on a balcony with Namjoon, who she appeared to be playing a board game of sorts with, and Yoongi, who was to the back napping on large cushion in the sun. He protested whenever you called him a cat and then went and acted just like one, you couldn’t help but laugh.

When she caught sight of you, Joy seemed surprised. “Oh, you really did have some questions you wanted answered, did you?”

Namjoon looked at you curiously after he moved a piece on the board, taking advantage of Joy’s momentary distraction. You wondered what he was thinking before his lips adopted a sudden sly quirk and his teasing tone greeted your ears, “Got up to some fun this morning, did we?”

You rolled your eyes, pulling out the third chair between them at the table and flopping into it with all the attitude you could muster. “I whooped Jimin’s ass in hand-to-hand combat, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Namjoon laughed and Joy snorted, the former clearly having been told what kind of scene Joy had walked in on earlier.

“By playing dirty?”

“My specialty.”

Another chuckle rumbled from his chest as he shook his head, turning back to the board. You allowed a brief moment of silence to settle over you as you watched the two of them make a move. When you couldn’t immediately figure out the point of the game, you gave up your observation.

“Anyway, about those questions I had,” you said suddenly, making the kelkie female to your right smile and shake her head. “I’ll ask them now, since you’re not busy.”

Another snort of amusement and she turned her head in your direction, dark eyes glimmering with mirth and marks glowing soft orange. “Of course, since I am not busy. Go ahead, I know it must be burning you up inside. Has it been unbearable?”

You nodded dramatically, ignoring Namjoon’s eyeroll. “Yes, incredibly so. I haven’t slept in days.”

You received another laugh for that and could barely keep your face straight as Joy shook her head, placing her elbow on the table and leaning her face into her palm. “Well, cheeky human, what is it you are curious about?”

You bit your lip, pondering what you wanted to ask first for a moment before deciding to cut to the chase. “Well, I want to know—why is it that every time I tease Jimin he runs away holding his back?”

It was an innocent enough question in your mind, but the reactions you received made you think that the answer was otherwise. Namjoon choked on his own spit, and Joy’s eyebrows shot up as she clamped her mouth shut and looked very much like she was trying not to laugh. A strangled sound from the side of the room told you that Yoongi had woken up and heard what you said.

Confused, you tilted your head. “What? What is it? Does he have back spasms or something? Wait, are your hearts in your lower back? Am I stressing him out so much he’s having heart attacks?”

To your complete and utter surprise, Namjoon’s face slowly began to turn bright red, and when you turned to peer at Yoongi you found his cheeks had coloured as well, the tips of his ears pink as he coughed and averted his gaze to the balcony. Joy was the only one who didn’t seem incredibly embarrassed at your question—on the contrary, she seemed to be having the time of her life.

“Oh, I love it when you humans ask things like this.” She was positively gleeful, grinning so wide that it actually concerned you a bit. “Your reactions are so funny.”

“What?” you pressed again, worried but also ten times more curious than before. “What is it? Come on, tell me.”

Joy, still grinning, sent Namjoon a pointed look and the male coughed, unable to meet your eyes as he cleared his throat and started, “Uh, well, y/n, you know that there are certain physiological differences between us and kelkies…”

You nodded, slightly impatient but clamping your mouth shut nonetheless in the hopes he would hurry up and continue.

“And you know, uh…” Namjoon looked like he wanted to melt into the floor, face bright pink. “Y-you know that uh, s-sometimes the differences are the ones we can’t see—”

“Spit it out, Joonie!” you couldn’t hold it in, wriggling forward on the seat and placing your palms onto the table. “Please, I’m dying to know, you can’t keep me in suspense like this—”

“y/n, you’ve seen porn, right? From Earth.”

You turned to face Yoongi at the sound of his voice, nodding as you did so. “Yeah, I have. Why? You need some? I had a USB of it with me on the ship, I can go look for it if you want—"

Namjoon choked, coughing and smacking his chest. You ignored him for the moment as Yoongi’s cheeks seemed to darken before he swallowed and continued. “So. Have you seen uh… you’ve seen Japanese animated porn?”

You stared at him plainly for a second, wondering if he was serious. “Uh… yes? Of course I have, I was a teenager too—”

Namjoon let his head slam onto the table with a loud groan, Joy letting out a delighted peal of laughter. Yoongi steeled himself and pushed on. “S-so you know, in the… in Japanese animated porn…”

“Say it for what it is, Yoongi,” you said. “Hentai.”

For a second the urge to kill you flickered in his gaze but he seemed to wrangle it quicker than usual. He let out a great, anguished sigh. “Why do I even bother—have you seen tentacle porn or not?”

“Of course I have, what does that have to do with—” you stopped short, his words ticking over in your head for a few seconds before your jaw dropped and you spun to face Namjoon and Joy with wide eyes and warmed cheeks. “No—oh my god, really?! Holy—”

Namjoon made a strangled, mortified noise and Joy burst into laughter once more as you stumbled over your words, a mess of thoughts zipping around in your poor monkey brain. As utterly shocked as you were in this moment, in a sense you also weren’t that surprised and, shamefully, the knowledge sent something akin to a shiver of excitement down your spine. Wow, you were really a bit depraved, huh? Then again, if you paid attention to the raunchy shit you watched in your teen years (and, if you were being honest with yourself, probably would still watch now if you had it) it would have been a bit telling.

“Oh my god,” you slammed your hands onto the table, on the absolute edge of your seat. “You guys have tentacles? For real? Where? How many? Do both males and females have them, or only—”

“Slow down, y/n,” Joy snorted, withdrawing from the table for a moment to recline comfortably in her chair. She crossed one leg over the other, seeming incredibly tickled. “One question at a time, or I will revoke your question-asking rights.”

You let out a horrified gasp, before instantly snapping your mouth shut and letting her answer the questions you fired at her so rapidly.

“To answer your first question, yes, kelkie do have extra appendages utilised in intercourse. We call them #%&$*@ but you humans describe them as tentacles and that seems to be easier for you to say, so we go with that.” At the sound of a foreign kelkoe word your mind blanked for a moment, but the rest of her words quickly sank in. Namjoon and Yoongi were still dying of embarrassment in the background, and you were a little embarrassed yourself but was by far overpowered by your burning curiosity.

“They’re used specifically for sex?!” you couldn’t help yourself, unable to contain your questions. Obviously, when one hears tentacles they think of certain scenarios, but you didn’t want to just assume. Learning that that was what they were literally for though… god, if it wasn’t enough to make you sweat like a sinner in church.

You could have sworn you heard Yoongi mutter, “I should have known she’d be horny for tentacles, who am I kidding,” under his breath in the background, but ignored it in favour of watching Joy’s features as she compiled a response for you.

“Yes, they are reproductive organs,” she said, a sly smile curling her shapely lips as she easily pinpointed the direction your thoughts were going. “Additional ones to those that some have found we have in common.”

You blushed, but still said what you thought as soon as it entered your mind. “Oh—I—two sets?”

Joy nodded, still very much amused. “Yes—and that is to confirm what you asked earlier, as well. Both males and females have them, but females have less.”

You let that sink in for a moment, mulling over the sudden overload of information, before your mind caught on to a certain detail that it had glossed over earlier and you balked. “Wait—you said you ‘some found’? Who…?”

At your words, both males in the room seemed to shrink in their seats, eyes everywhere but meeting your own. Joy snickered and they flushed bright red. A cackled built in your chest as realisation began to sink in.

“We have had a few celebrations and festivals in the time since the Queen’s crew arrived—you humans like to enjoy yourselves, don’t you?” She might have been teasing you as well as the other two males in the room, but you weren’t ashamed enough of your libido for it to have any effect. At this point, you’d been openly horny for Jimin for a while.

“Oh my god,” you whispered under your breath, eyes flicking between the two sheepish-looking males. The insinuation of what the extra appendages meant for their extracurricular romping in the sheets… you blushed.

Eager to return to your earlier line of questioning, lest you lose the opportunity altogether and they changed the subject, you forced yourself to turn back to a grinning Joy.

“So uh, where are they?” you inquired, somewhat gingerly. It would seem you had some tact left, after all. Joy snorted at your manner and tapped her fingers on the table, marks a cool, light blue.

“They are in two lines along the lower portion of the spine,” she informed you, tilting her head and watching your expression keenly. She smiled the second she saw you make the connection between what she said and what you saw. At your questioning look, she continued, “Yes, that has to do with why Jimin, ah… holds his lower back when you tease him. For the most part, they are hidden. They aren’t appendages that we have entire control over, and in many senses it is as though they have a mind of their own, following our base instincts and urges. When a kelkie experiences a certain amount of stimulation or arousal, they are prone to appearing.”

She gave you a moment for the information to sink in before you made the connection she was waiting for. “Oh, oh—wait so—so every time he slaps a hand to his back and runs away its just because I made him pop a tentacle boner?”

The female raised a brow at your choice of words but seemed to understand the slang enough to snort and nod her head. You heard Namjoon and Yoongi choke on a laugh, Namjoon slamming his head onto the table once more and disrupting the board game that had long since been forgotten.

“Yes,” Joy confirmed simply, lips twitching. “I do not think I ever saw him give such a reaction before you came along, though. I have to give you credit.”

It probably wasn’t something you should be preening with pride to hear, but you were anyway. “Ah, finally. My efforts are being rewarded.”

Yoongi shook his head, squinting at you. “How are you so… unapologetically thirsty?”

“We’re talking about Jimin, how can I not be?” you answered simply, before straightening in your seat and whipping a finger to point in his direction. “And let’s not be the pot calling the kettle black, mister! Word on the street is you’re just as horny as me!”

Yoongi balked, face paling before it began to cycle through about seven different shades of red, and Namjoon let out a strangled chortle.

“Don’t you have more questions for Joy?” Yoongi tried weakly to deflect the attention and change the subject, but to no avail.

“Well, yes, but I also have questions for you—and don’t think you’re off the hook either, Namjoon, I see you looking mortified over there.”

The two males let out long, arduous groans, and Joy erupted in delighted peals of laughter. What was going to be an informative afternoon for you was clearly going to be a very long one for them. You wriggled in your seat, getting comfortable, and dove in headfirst.

You were going to get as much information on this new discovery as you could.

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