#jonghoon imagine

[blu-joons]

When Their Foreign Partner Gives Birth In Korea ~ Super Junior Reaction

Leeteuk:

A hand brushed through your hair as Jeongsu perched on your hospital bed just beside you. “What’s on your mind?” He quizzed, noticing you staring off into the distance as if you were in a world of your own.

You gave yourself a moment before looking at Jeongsu. “I’m just thinking about how much I wish my family were here with us right now.”

“It must be tough for you,” Jeongsu smiled.

“I just wish they’d been able to come and see us at some point during my pregnancy,” you finally admitted, “I didn’t want it to just be the two of us.”

Jeongsu moved his arm around you, “I wish they were here too.”

“Not all of your family have been able to see us either.”

“You can’t compare my situation to yours,” Jeongu assured you, “my family can get here in a heartbeat if we need them.”

“I think my mum worries sometimes that your mum is around so often, and she’s not,” you confided nervously in Jeongsu.

His heart sank as you spoke, “I’ll make sure that all of your family feel as involved as they can be, just like my family.”

“They’ll be alright, it’s just a lot.”

“We’re all overwhelmed right now.”

Heechul:

Your smile was wide as Heechul encouraged you to pose, holding his phone up and taking a photo of the three of you. “What do you think?” Heechul asked you as he loaded up the photo so that you could take a look.

You nodded approvingly straight away, “my family will be printing that straight away and sticking it up on the fridge at home, I promise.”

“It’s our first family photo,” Heechul noted.

“It’s adorable,” you chuckled as Heechul began to send the photo to your family. “They’re not here, but this feels as good as having them here with us.”

Heechul watched you closely, “they’ll come and visit us soon.”

“I know, we’ve not got too long to wait for them now.”

“Just think when they get here we’ve got babysitting sorted for the week,” Heechul suggested, bringing a laugh out of you.

“I can’t wait to sleep when they come over,” you agreed, taking Heechul by surprise, “we can just rest and let them take control.”

As Heechul placed his phone away he nudged against your side, “they’ll go crazy if we leave them to babysit you know.”

“They’re my parents, I’ll sweet talk them.”

“I like your style.”

Yesung:

You smiled appreciatively across at Jonghoon as he picked up a tissue and wiped underneath your eyes once again. “Don’t fret,” he told you, knowing that you were starting to feel guilty for getting so teary.

A faint chuckle came from you as you tried to get comfortable on your hospital bed. “I didn’t think I was going to cry, how wrong was I?”

“It’s an emotional time,” Jonghoon assured you.

“I didn’t think giving birth would get to me like this,” you confessed, shaking your head, “let alone getting all of these texts from my family missing me.”

Jonghoon nodded back to you, “I bet they’re missing you.”

“I can just picture my mum sobbing reading all these.”

“I’ll make sure to keep them updated,” Jonghoon assured you, “I can’t imagine you being on your phone for much longer.”

“Don’t remind me of what’s to come,” you joked, “it’s bad enough already without knowing they’re all not here too.”

Jonghoon’s smile turned up as he took a hold of your hand, “even if they’re not here, I’m here and I’ll support you Y/N.”

“I’m super lucky that you’re here.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

Shindong:

A sigh escaped from you as you heard a knock at the door of your suite, glancing across at Donghee. “Who’s here? I thought we asked to make sure that no one interrupted us,” you told him, hanging your head.

Donghee stood up from your bed, making his way across to the suite door. “I’ll have a look and see who it is, I’m sure they’re harmful.”

“Tell them to go away,” you responded.

“That’s not very nice,” a familiar voice told you as Donghee opened up the door, “we’ve travelled halfway around the world to be here for you Y/N.”

Your eyes lit up straight away, “what are you guys doing here?”

“We couldn’t let you give birth all by yourself, could we?”

“I can’t believe it,” you laughed as your mum and dad both rushed to either side of your bed, giving you a reassuring squeeze.

“Surprise,” Donghee smiled as he hovered back to give you a few moments with your family, relieved to see your wide smile.

Your eyes flickered to Donghee as he spoke, shaking your head in disbelief. “Did you really organise this, just for me?”

“Of course, anything to help you.”

“You’re the best, thank you.”

Eunhyuk:

You both stared down at your son in your arms, with Hyukjae leaning against your shoulder. “He’s definitely got your mum’s nose,” he commented, being able to recognise the similarity straight away between them.

You nodded in agreement with Hyukjae as you studied your son closely, “we’ve cursed him already for having to share a nose with my mum Jae.”

“She’ll be thrilled,” Hyukjae chuckled.

“I can’t wait to show her, we’ll never hear the end of it once she sees him,” you told Hyukjae, turning to face him with a wide smile etched on your face.

He nodded back at you, “just think if she was here in person instead.”

“That’s one good thing about being so far away from them.”

“She wouldn’t let you go,” Hyukjae laughed as he looked at the empty chair beside you, “I’d be useless if she was here.”

“You know what she’s like, always worrying,” you reminded him. “Remember what she was like when I came over for the first time.”

Hyukjae chuckled as he recalled the memory, “there’s no way when she met me she thought I’d father your children.”

“Honestly, she thought you were so strange.”

“But that’s why you love me.”

Siwon:

Your eyes lit up as Siwon sat on the end of your bed hearing familiar voices coming through the phone. “Mum! Dad!” You cheered, leaning into Siwon to make sure that you were in frame and seen by them.

Siwon moved so that you didn’t have to, turning the phone around. “Do you guys want to meet your granddaughter?” Siwon excitedly asked them.

“Let me see, let me see,” your mum grinned.

“Here she is, nice and cosy,” you told them, tilting your arms so that your parents could both see the baby that you cradled so tightly in your hold.

Their smiles were wide as they looked on the screen, “she’s beautiful.”

“Everyone’s doing really well, and only a few tears from Y/N too.”

“Hey,” you jokingly snapped, nudging against Siwon’s arm, “I’m sure no one can blame me for getting upset with all that pain.”

“She was a superstar,” Siwon quickly reassured your parents, watching their smiles light up as they kept looking at your daughter.

As they did, Siwon pressed a kiss against the side of your head. “We can’t wait to come over and see the three of you soon.”

“The three of us, that sounds so weird.”

“You’ll get used to it Y/N.”

Donghae:

The dampness in his shirt broke Donghae’s heart as held onto you, running his hand along your back. “Let it all go,” he whispered closely into your ear, knowing that your emotions were all over like a rollercoaster.

After a few moments you finally pulled away from him, “I’m sorry, this is supposed to be a happy time for us, not a time for me to get upset on you.”

“Don’t you dare apologise,” Donghae told you.

“Throughout this whole pregnancy I’ve survived, but now it’s finally happening. I wish they were here,” you replied, wiping under your eyes.

Donghae kept a close eye on you, “I wish they were here as well for you.”

“You don’t need to feel bad for me, you’re missing people here too.”

“But my people are here, they don’t have to catch flights or pack suitcases to travel for hours,” Donghae reasoned in reply to you.

“They wouldn’t want me to cry,” you whispered to yourself, trying to find the motivation to stop yourself from tearing up.

Donghae moved his arm around you as you pulled away from his chest, “I’ll give them a text let them know that you’re alright.”

“You’d really do that for me, Donghae?”

“Of course I would Y/N.”

Ryeowook:

As yet another contraction subsided, Ryeowook moved closer to your side, letting go of your hand. “Everything good?” He quizzed, running his hand over the top of your head to push your hair away for you.

The pause that came from you told Ryeowook a lot. “I know that you’re here but I feel so alone right now, like someone should be on my other side too.”

“You wish your parents were here?” He asked you.

“More than anything,” you admitted, letting go of a sigh as you threw your head back. “They don’t tell you about this bit when you move abroad.”

Ryeowook offered you a weak smile, “no one thinks of the downsides.”

“I shouldn’t be thinking of this as a downside, I mean we’re having a baby.”

“It’s human to miss people during important times in your life,” Ryeowook smiled back at you, “I feel bad that my family are here.”

“Please don’t feel bad,” you asked him, resting against the palm of his hand, “I’m so grateful for all they’ve done for the two of us.”

The pad of Ryeowook’s thumb brushed against your cheek, “we’re all wishing that both of our families could be here right now.”

“Hopefully it won’t be too long to happen.”

“I’ll make sure it doesn’t.”

Kyuhyun:

You smiled softly as your daughter was taken away by the midwives leaving you and Kyuhyun along at your bedside for a while. “How are you feeling?” He asked, leaning across and taking a hold of your hand.

Your shoulders shrugged as you met Kyuhyun’s eyes, “it’s been a while since I felt homesick, but I’m really feeling homesick right now, it’s not the same.”

“They’ll be awake soon, right?” Kyuhyun quizzed.

“In an hour perhaps,” you told him as you glanced at the clock. “I can’t wait to wake them up with the best news ever, they’re all going to be so excited.”

Kyuhyun nodded in agreement with you, “I bet they’ll be missing you today.”

“This is the sort of moment where they should be here, not so far away.”

“We’ll be able to tell them all about this moment soon enough,” Kyuhyun tried to reassure you, “they’ll be on the first flight over.”

“I never imagined myself settling down in a foreign country,” you confessed, taking Kyuhyun by surprise, “this feels like a dream.”

He continued to watch you as you sniffed the tears back once again, “I never imagined myself being in this position either you know.”

“Would you change anything about right now?”

“Not a single thing.”

---

Masterlist

[atinytokki]

My Way

viii. The Voyage

The first night in his new bunk was everything Hongjoong imagined it would be.

It could’ve been dirty, crowded, and doused in pungent scent and he wouldn’t have minded. Despite bustling crewmen and the pitch of the Stardust, he was consumed by an overwhelming sense of peace in the chaos. It was his own little corner of heaven.

He’d been hard at work helping the other crewmen to raise anchor and position the sails, and after a hearty supper full of introductions and recounted tales, he had found his way to the berth, guided by candlelight, and climbed into his hammock.

It was his hammock in a way that his four poster bed back in Jangwon Hall wasn’t his. He didn’t just exist in it, it meant something to him. Whether a different sailor took up that hammock a few months hence didn’t matter in the slightest, it was his for the moment and he was going to enjoy it.

For now that simply meant laying back and tracing the ceiling boards with his gaze, listening to the faint echo of the ship’s groaning as it cut through water, and resisting the pull of sleep that threatened to drag him away.

Hongjoong watched the men around him prepare for the night, some reading, some smoking, a couple conversing quietly, and still more shedding their boots and climbing into bed. The deckhand in the hammock closest rolled onto his side and motioned towards the candlestick.

“Best put that light out now, lad,” he instructed, no-nonsense but not unkind. “Or else pass it off to the night shift.”

Satisfied that he wouldn’t miss anything important in the darkness, Hongjoong leaned forward and blew it out, settling in with a blanket. Somewhere, a deckhand was already snoring.

“Goodnight,” Hongjoong whispered, imagining it to be Mingi.

He rolled over and closed his eyes.

The shrill blast of the boatswain’s whistle at the forenoon watch came as quite a shock after such a pleasant night.

Rushing out of bed and into his clothes, Hongjoong joined the others in his shift under the supervision of the Stardust’s boatswain, Minseob.

Commands and manual labour were no stranger to the boy from Jangwon Hall, but he didn’t mind being ordered around here, a place of freedom where he was more than a cog in the machine, where the riches flowed as soon as they were plundered. This was what he had been preparing for.

It was one thing to learn the ropes, it was another entirely to do the work— training the body in life at sea.

Working alongside him were a variety of older men. Some looked the part of a pirate; burly, tattooed and reeking of liquor, but most appeared to be regular sailors.

Even Minseob retained the bearings of a naval officer and, aside from his eclectic accessorising, stuck to his ways where order was concerned.

The break for lunch was sufficient to rest Hongjoong well enough for another shift if he was needed but Maddox found him belowdecks and informed him he had been summoned.

“To the wardroom. Come on now,” he chuckled when Hongjoong hesitated in surprise. “You’re meant to be cabin boy after all.”

The officers were eating together, though some had already finished and were playing a board game of some type with the extra time.

Sailing Master Jihan had spread out some charts on his corner of the table and was engaged in a conversation with Eden that paused upon Hongjoong’s entrance.

The captain looked up from his work at his protégé and pulled out a chair next to him, welcoming the boy to sit.

Obliging, Hongjoong was soon lit up with excitement as a variety of firearms were placed in front of him to chose from by Jonghoon, Master-At-Arms.

“But I’ve already got mine— well, your old one,” Hongjoong reminded Eden shyly.

“A pirate should have a minimum of two loaded pistols on or within reach of his person at all times,” the pirate responded vehemently. “You don’t want to be caught reloading in a close quarters fight.”

It made sense considering how long it could take to reload a gun in his experience.

“Do you think there will be a fight on this journey?” Hongjoong asked, careful not to sound too worried if it was the case. He could handle it, he was sure.

Eden glanced at Jihan again, who spread his hands, admitting uncertainty. “Perhaps,” the captain settled on. “Navy presence near the archipelago has increased lately, and we are headed south first after all.”

Hongjoong nodded and turned back to the selection in front of him. A shiny pistol was calling his name, so he picked it up and inspected it as he had been taught, ensuring all the parts were clean and well functioning. If the other officers had qualms about this strange boy handling their spare weapons so casually, they did not raise them. It seemed the men trusted their captain.

“Combat training isn’t over, though I’ll be busy day in and day out,” Eden went on, after approving Hongjoong’s choice of weapon. “Go with Babylon to help in the galley for now, and I’ll meet you tonight on the quarterdeck to practice.”

Hongjoong followed orders promptly, stowing the gun before collecting any remaining dishes from the crew and bringing them to the galley to wash.

The action was familiar to him, as he’d laboured in the kitchens of Jangwon more than a few times, but the galley window swung open and let in a sea air that made the entire experience a good deal more pleasant than being in that stuffy hall.

The cook himself sidled up to help dry the cleaned bowls and cutlery, looming with his tall stature and keeping a curious eye on their newest recruit.

“I understand you begged to come aboard with us,” Babylon reported. “Did you realise you asked for the worst job on the ship?”

Hongjoong snorted and passed the man a plate. That wasn’t a problem. “I’ll climb the ranks.”

“Oh, are you quite sure?” Babylon let out a chuckle. “You’ll need a ship of your own to go from cabin boy to captain.”

“Then I can build one,” Hongjoong answered, just as sure. He flicked some soap bubbles into the air mindlessly.

“Does Eden teach you that sort of thing?” The surgeon questioned him, watching the bubbles float away. Two of them popped against the wall but one made it out the window.

“Ship anatomy, cartography, astronomy, strategy, knot-tying, self-defense— all kinds of things,” Hongjoong listed, barely brushing the surface.

“Then I do believe you have the makings of a well-rounded pirate,” Babylon complimented indulgently, offering the boy a towel to wipe his hands when the washing was done. “Although you are missing a few things.”

“Like what?” Hongjoong crossed his arms and gave the man a challenging glare.

A twinkle grew in Babylon’s eye. “Have you ever shot a cannon?”

That was how Hongjoong found himself under the tutelage of Master Gunner Soomin for the rest of the day, bearing witness to a demonstration in the power of the Stardust’s cannons.

It was exhilarating and made for his most exciting lesson by far, but his ears were ringing through supper and when he arrived on the quarterdeck for scheduled practice with Eden, he was still fairly disoriented.

Thanks as well to the darkness of the moonless night and the chill wind that was blowing from the north, Hongjoong took more beatings than he handed out during their sparring session, frustrating himself immensely.

“You must become impervious to your environment, Hongjoong,” Eden scolded lightly, scraping him with the sword when he failed to dodge yet again and widening the hole in his blouse. “There are no city lights to help you here at sea. If your night vision is truly this abysmal, you’ll struggle to see an enemy sneak up on you.”

Gritting his teeth, Hongjoong parried the next blow and returned with one of his own, overreaching and struggling to maintain his balance. With a sigh, Eden merely nudged him with his sword hilt and sent him tumbling back over the rail to hit the main deck hard on his tailbone.

Groaning, Hongjoong picked himself up gingerly, observing the way the sailor on watch duty snorted and shook his head in amusement.

“I’m just not at my best today,” he muttered by way of an excuse, holding his head in his hands. It must be the pressure of so many people to impress.

“Then you had better find your best and never lose it again,” Eden’s voice answered, and Hongjoong glanced up to see him descending from the quarterdeck, sword sheathed.

“It’s about consistency,” he went on. “You’ve beaten me before and if you give your all, you can do so again. But the day your form isn’t at its best could be the day the Navy knocks on your door. And then you’d better hope they give you a chance.”

Hongjoong pursed his lips, riled up. “Give me his watch,” he demanded, pointing towards the clueless sailor on duty without a glance in his direction.

For his part, Eden looked pleasantly surprised. “What for?”

“I’ll show you I can handle it. Let me take the night shift.”

The pirate tilted his head in thought for a moment before agreeing and dismissing the now gleeful sailor to his berth.

“It’s four hours,” he reminded his apprentice, careful not to let his concern show but giving himself away with his hesitation.

“I know,” Hongjoong countered confidently. “I learned all the protocol. I can even take the wheel so we don’t spend the night anchored.”

“Very well,” Eden turned to head back to his cabin. “I’ll check on you halfway through.”

Hongjoong cracked a knowing smile. If the objective was weathering the elements, that was just what he would do. It was all a mental game anyway, he reasoned, he could stand the discomfort to prove a point.

He deserved to be here and he would earn his place every day if he had to.

The air was clear and the waves quiet in their lapping at the hull, reminding him very much of his family fishing days what felt like long ago now, back when he had been naïve to the dangers of the sea.

He watched the distant cliffs pass by and calculated in his head how far from Panhang they must have sailed by now. Surely his plan to navigate overnight would save them a great deal of time.

Every once in awhile the wind increased from behind, filling the sails until they became taut against their ropes and ruffling Hongjoong’s clothes. He felt the holes poked in his shirt more and more as the temperature dropped.

It was still winter on the northern coast after all, and that ushering wind was likely an arctic one.

Shivering and growing numb but determined not to give in, Hongjoong flexed his hands where they gripped the wheel and forced himself to focus. All he had to do was maintain their course, and if his legs gave out, so be it.

The sound of the door to the captain’s cabin creaking open distracted him for a moment, and the protégé turned to see his master approaching from inside with a blanket, slinging it wordlessly over his shoulders.

Hongjoong gladly accepted it but flashed the pirate a suspicious glance at his timing.

“Hyung, were you watching from inside this whole time?”

“W-What?” Eden coughed out, truly at a loss for words yet again due to this boy and his dropping of formalities. “Of course not, I merely noticed the chill. It looks as if it may snow.”

Hongjoong lifted his gaze to the cloudy sky and hummed in agreement, turning again to the starboard side for his last view of the cliffs. The last view of his old fishing grounds. He wondered what his parents would think if they saw him now. Maybe they were watching from somewhere unreachable.

After a moment of silence, Eden took note of the way he craned his neck for a final glimpse and asked him about it.

“What are you searching for out there?”

Hongjoong bit his lip and lowered his head. It felt stupid to try to explain the feelings of nostalgia bubbling inside but he could only picture his parents with this view, a view he’d had every day for most of his childhood.

“I know they’re gone, I saw their bodies. But part of me held on to the hope that they were still out there somewhere, somehow. That I just hadn’t looked hard enough.” He sighed and faced Eden again, continuing, “I know I won’t find them, but I’m looking for them anyway in a manner of speaking.”

The captain forced down a swallow and trained his eyes ahead on nothing in particular, as if afraid even a flinch would shatter his young apprentice.

“It can be dangerous to imagine ghosts in the places you wish to see them,” he whispered solemnly.

Hongjoong frowned. The pirate seemed as if he spoke from experience, seeing the ghosts he spoke of in a scene unfolding before his eyes.

“But…” Eden cleared his throat and shook himself out of his reverie. “Perhaps they are guiding your travels. Just out of view.”

With a nod Hongjoong told him that was how he pictured them now, leading him on his way from the sky.

“I thought the day they died, I died,” he admitted. “I never would’ve guessed I could come back out here one day. Certainly not like this.”

He smiled in appreciation for the trustworthy Stardust that carried him hence and Eden mirrored it, unable to resist.

“Steady on, Hongjoong,” he encouraged, heading back towards the cabin for bed. “Maddox will take the watch after yours.”

“Yessir,” Hongjoong called back, suppressing a giggle. Captain or no, if he could get away with teasing the Dread Pirate, he’d gladly do so.

As usual, Eden had been right and as the night wore on, Hongjoong’s vision did indeed adjust to the darkness. He wrapped the blanket around him to preserve body heat and stave off the cold, so the next problem was the matter of keeping awake.

He entertained himself with quiet singing and reciting random lines and poems he remembered, passing the time as best he could while confined to the quarterdeck.

Just as his four hours came to an end, the clouds dispersed to share the light of the stars.

They were brilliant already, having adjusted his sight, and Hongjoong could only imagine how much brighter they looked to the east with no light of civilisation to hide them.

Maddox’s teasing voice interrupted his thoughts as he joined him on the quarterdeck. “Look at you, standing at the wheel. It’s almost as big as you are.”

“And yet I did not waver!” Hongjoong shot back, insistent. Still, he couldn’t help but show his relief on letting go of the wheel that he was finally able to stretch away the soreness of standing in one place for so long. “Check the charts, we’re still on course.”

Maddox obliged and kept up idle conversation while he checked. “Not biting off more than we can chew, are we?”

“No, just taking on what I know I’m ready for,” Hongjoong replied with a grin. He was nothing if not ambitious for a first time voyager.

The quartermaster was quiet for a moment more before rolling up his chart again and returning a smile to the young pirate. “Fortunately for you, you’re correct,” he affirmed. “We are very much on track. Should I continue on or drop anchor as usual?”

Hongjoong gave the question a bit of thought. “Well, hyung— I mean Captain— didn’t say. But seeing as I don’t want to be finished with my first voyage too soon, I wouldn’t object to dropping anchor. It would give me a chance to capture these stars.”

“Capture them?” Maddox asked, confused.

In lieu of a proper answer, Hongjoong instructed him to wait while he fetched a plain canvas bag from below to demonstrate with.

Thanks to some helpful timing he also took advantage of Minseob’s presence on deck rousing the men to drop anchor to sneak into the boatswain’s lodgings and swipe his paint pots.

“Whose paints are those?” Maddox snorted, skeptical, when Hongjoong returned with his supplies. “Did you steal them just now?”

Hongjoong pulled up a seat and settled in, pretending to be affronted at the accusation. “Well we’re pirates, aren’t we? I thought stealing was part of the job. And it’s not stealing, it’s borrowing. I’ll give them back when I’m done.”

The quartermaster rolled his eyes fondly at the teen and refocused on the task at hand, still curious what the young apprentice was planning.

It was a bit difficult to distinguish from among similar shades of blue and violet, so Hongjoong opened his mouth to ask for a lantern to be brought only to find Maddox already approaching him with one.

“Thanks,” he chirped, positioning the bag on his lap and beginning to slather it in paint to make the background. “It’ll be just as good as carrying charts when I’m finished.”

“The stars?” Maddox asked for confirmation, realising what the aim of this spontaneous art project was. “You’re painting the stars over Panhang.”

Hongjoong hummed an affirmation, deeply concentrated on the act of placing each individual white dot in the correct location.

It took him a great deal of time to ensure his work was correct and precise and yet more time to bring it up to a visual standard with nicely blended colours to represent the sky.

Satisfied at last, two hours later, he drew his final stroke and hung the canvas bag to dry.

“There,” he said in satisfaction, mostly to himself. “Now they’ll always be with me.”

Overhearing this but unwilling to question him about it, Maddox remained at his post for the watch, waiting for Hongjoong to pack up his supplies before reminding him of the hour and nudging him along to bed.

Hongjoong stuck out his tongue in defiance but obeyed gladly, energy finally spent.

He was a pirate in training now, bedtimes were of no consequence.

He’d regret it in the morning, but his temporary guardian Babylon would have mercy and let him sleep in until noon when dishes needed to be washed again.

It was around lunchtime that Hongjoong emerged from the hold, reporting for duty in the galley and catching up on the washing after a quick meal of his own.

Yesterday had given him the chance to quickly get the hang of where things were located, and some of his free time in the afternoon when Babylon was busy with surgeon duties was spent in the food pantry and storage areas taking stock of what ingredients had been brought along on a trip such as this.

When it was time to get back to work, Hongjoong was deemed a cooking hazard after Babylon witnessed his method of frying eggs and relegated to lesser tasks around the galley.

So he sat atop a barrel shucking oysters instead, listening to the man go on about the delicate art of cooking until he grew bored enough to get lost in his own daydreams.

“And you had better stitch up the holes in that shirt, you know,” Babylon was saying when Hongjoong finally tuned back in. “I’m not sure if Eden will allow you ashore with us when we reach Keunhae to buy another.”

“Oh...” Hongjoong sighed, glancing down at the fabric, peppered with small tears that grew bigger the more he moved. It was nice and warm in the galley thanks to the fireplace, but on deck it would only take a slight breeze to send him shivering. “I would if I knew how.”

“You haven’t tried sewing yet?” The cook tutted disapprovingly. “It’s an under-appreciated but very useful pirate skill. There’s always mending to be done, especially on the sails.”

Hongjoong smiled in embarrassment. “I’ve watched my aunts and cousins embroider cushions before. I take it this is not the same thing.”

“Not exactly, but I’m sure they use a variety of stitches that may be useful to you,” Babylon explained, taking the nearest basket of oysters to add to the stew. “Finish that last batch there and find me in the infirmary after supper. It’s as good a time as any to learn.”

As the sun began to set in a spectacular display of colours and the archipelago appeared on the horizon, Hongjoong watched carefully while the pirate mended his shirt and then practiced stitching some scrap by himself late into the night.

Just as Babylon predicted, Maddox dropped in before bed to inform Hongjoong he was to stay with the ship when they anchored, disguised as a generic merchant ship.

The quartermaster then hurried off to see to the docking process, muttering about having to pay the wharfing fee.

Hongjoong didn’t become jealous until the morning when there was much more to see through the little porthole window by his bunk; activity on the docks and a village market just beyond. A flock of geese flew south in formation.

With Eden and the rest of the officers gone, there was only Minseob left to bother from among his friends, so Hongjoong spent the day playing cards with him.

Babylon returned distracted, toting a new purchase with him to his office; a spellbook of the mystic arts.

Hongjoong could manage chores in the galley just fine without him, but when suppertime rolled around he poked his head in the infirmary to ask what he should do.

“Nothing for now, boy,” Babylon shot over his shoulder, still elbow deep in his new book but pushing it to the side and getting to his feet. “I’ll see to the meal, you can go up on deck until the bell.”

The Stardust was leaving port and he was quickly needed to help weigh anchor.

Babylon’s new studying material took up all his free time in the following days, and Hongjoong only saw him at mealtimes for awhile, performing his duties regularly otherwise.

Running from place to place to bring food and drinks to the officers was the best part of being cabin boy for giving Hongjoong the chance to find out what everyone was up to throughout the day. Sometimes it was rigging the sails, sometimes cleaning the cannons, sometimes plotting their course.

Everything Hongjoong had left to learn, he took upon himself to try.

It was one of those afternoons where he sat reading in his hammock while the old pirate beside him napped away his pesky winter fever when the wind changed.

The Stardust had turned east, prowling the shipping lanes for easy prey, and hadn’t yet gotten a bite, and now it seemed something in the air had changed.

In the hammock next to him, the deckhand sat up with a groan and a hacking cough and peered out the window before shaking his head. “A storm’s coming.”

Hongjoong’s stomach dropped and his hands seemed to freeze on hearing his. “Is it?” His voice was little more than a whisper, and the book in his grip became a lifeline. “Are you sure it’s not the aches and pains of your illness?”

“They don’t call me the Weathervane for nothing,” the old pirate muttered gruffly, leaving the room and going up on deck to ensure the captain knew what was headed for them.

At this time of year, surely it was just a bit of rain. Not a typhoon like the kind that blasted through these waters in late summer. Not one like the storm that killed his parents.

For all his bravery in setting out for the sea once more, Hongjoong hadn’t pushed his luck in a storm since that day. Not since he felt the boat crack underneath him and the crash of the waves swallow him whole.

Distantly he could hear the cries of men readying to face down the tempest and retreated further into his bed. They wouldn’t need him on deck, what could he possibly do to help in this paralysed state?

True to the Weathervane’s word, clouds were gathering and speeding toward them at a rapid pace when Hongjoong finally worked up the nerve to go to the porthole window and look. Already the rocking of the ship was harsher than the rhythm he had become accustomed to.

It didn’t take much longer for the crack of thunder to grow louder as wind battered the Stardust and washed torrents of seawater over the sides and down into the hold.

A group of crewmen hurried down with buckets to bail the pooling water, and when it began to gather around his ankles, Hongjoong jumped in to join them.

It was backbreaking work and more than once Hongjoong found himself knocked backwards by the force of a sudden wave, soaked in the rising bilge water and shaking from the cold.

Minseob’s boatswain whistle sounded from above, the tune that summoned the officers and, wondering what their strategy was for safely exiting the storm, Hongjoong paused and considered going up to join them.

Handing his pail to another crewman and peering up through the grating, he watched the heavy rain, flying sideways through the air, and pushed back his fear.

He could do this.

History would not repeat itself.

Shakily, he climbed to the main deck, noticing the officers dispersing from their quick meeting to various stations around the ship. It appeared that some of them were assigned to oversee the working of the pumps, some to continue in the bailing efforts, and others to secure the rigging which was half done.

Eden himself was at the wheel, carefully navigating a veritable minefield of treacherous high waves. Hongjoong moved to the side and held fast to the bulwark, cowering from the storm but carefully watching the captain’s movements.

A scream from above suddenly captured his attention, the snapping of a rope and then the sickening crack of bones as a pirate in the rigging lost his hold, missed his footing, slipped in the rain, and tumbled down to the main deck.

Hongjoong’s heart jumped into his throat at the sight of the man, dead on impact with his limbs splayed in a most unusual way from the force of the fall.

Fearful eyes traced heavenward at the place where he had been securing the sail, the fore upper topsail yard.

He left behind a corner of the buntline which let the sail flap in the wind, needing to be hauled taut. None of the older riggers were able to do it, not with a broken lift rope and the tapering edge too small for them to perch on.

Babylon was rushing to inspect the body, but Hongjoong found himself walking to the shrouds.

He glanced back at Eden for a moment before ascending them. The captain met his eyes and nodded him on.

He had conquered his fear, now he must conquer the sea.

Scampering up the shrouds, Hongjoong met Youngsaeng in the topsails and followed him to the treacherous beam. He had quickly surmised the boy’s purpose there without any verbal indications.

“Are you sure about this?” The master rigger asked, grasping the boy by the shoulder and levelling him with his eyes, dead serious. He didn’t want yet another sailor’s blood on his hands.

Hongjoong nodded wordlessly and began to move on his own. He could do it.

The feeling of the mast shuddering under his hands was so familiar, but he pushed away the memories and willed his limbs to move.

“Help me now,” he whispered into the sky, hoping his parents could hear him from somewhere.

In the battering of the wind, the yard was very unstable, but Hongjoong clung to it with what strength he had and shimmied and reached forward, peering through sheets of rain to see the lines in front of him.

He knew his running rigging by heart, and it took only a few swift motions to fully lash the sail before he could scramble back to safety. A flash of lightning close to the ship made him startle in panic, but he tangled his arms in the shrouds and steadily made his way back down with Youngsaeng’s thanks.

Being the oldest officer aboard, it was probably not the easiest job for the man to distribute his weight properly on the precarious end of one of the smallest yardarms, rope or no rope.

Eden was busy angling the prow to avoid being beaten down by the waves, but signalled Hongjoong up to the quarterdeck when he noticed his reappearance.

“Well done,” he told him simply, as if he wasn’t also straining to maintain the Stardust’s heading. “You are much more powerful than you know.”

Relieved to hear such praise, Hongjoong’s heartbeat returned to a much closer pace to normal and he bowed in acknowledgement before rejoining the work belowdecks.

Though the next hour was not comfortable by any means, the worst had passed, and Hongjoong was satisfied when at last he could empty his bucket for good and curl up in bed with a warm blanket.

By night, the storm had abated to milder rainfall. The next morning, the Stardust entered a fog bank and continued east for the trade winds.

Hongjoong found himself feverish the next morning with a throat so sore he could barely speak and unable to rise to report for work. Embarrassed when Babylon himself came down to the berth to rouse him, he tried to climb up to the galley, but his head pounded and his vision spun.

Seeing the symptoms, Babylon brought the boy instead to the infirmary for a tonic to soothe the illness, one he’d been treating all week as it spread around the lower decks.

“Here’s an ointment for the cough, rub it on your back and chest and sleep here with your head propped up,” he instructed matter-of-factly, offering a blanket and a small bowl of the ointment.

“But hyung, what about the washing?” Hongjoong protested, not very strong of a protestation from him due to his present inability to stand from the bed Babylon was ushering him into.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be taken care of,” the surgeon reassured him, tucking in the blankets himself. “Your only orders for the rest of the week are to recover. I’ll inform the captain.”

Hongjoong meant to quip about what a great deal of power Babylon must have to be able to tell Eden what the orders would be, but began dozing off into a dreamless sleep before the thought fully formed.

He was awoken by the startling bang of a cannon and jumped into a sitting position, his headache hammering into his skull with every pulse beat. In order to find out what was going on, he crept to the main deck, blanket slung around his shoulders, and watched.

It was the man who had fallen from the mast during the storm, with his canvas hammock sewn into a shroud around him, the final stitch poking through his nose as was tradition, being sent to sea with a salute of the guns.

What possessions he must have brought aboard with him went also to the depths, aside from some valuables divided amongst his friends. Hongjoong hadn’t known the man— could only remember seeing him twice really—but it was a somber affair regardless and it spoke volumes to him that these pirates of all people had done what they could to give a stranger in their service the proper respect as he departed this world.

Silently returning to the infirmary, he took the tonic left there for him, struggled to keep it down, and settled in to sleep again when another patient shot him a dirty look. His thoughts kept him up for awhile, swirling around the fallen pirate’s sudden demise, Eden’s respect for the dead, Mingi fishing back in Panhang, and his parents as they’d gone to a watery grave in their final moments.

His dreams returned him to that fateful day, a little over four years ago now, when storm clouds had gathered and the fierce waves which rocked their boat had done so much more damage than they had to the Stardust.

It had stormed in his path yet again even after that night, as if the ocean kept coming back for him. And it kept failing.

In the days that followed, when Hongjoong was well enough to return to his own hammock, he sometimes wondered what was happening back at Jangwon. Was Yubin growing up well? What were his aunts up to today? Had anything interesting happened to his cousins?

They’d all collapse from the shock if they knew what he was doing now.

It was almost midwinter and the Stardust was presently bearing down upon a supply ship, overtaking it with ease and preparing to finally see some action.

Hongjoong geared up with his new weapons and stood by the rail, scaling a rope to see what was happening on the deck of the other ship over the heads of fellow crewmen in his way.

Again, Maddox was the bearer of bad news with orders from Eden that Hongjoong hang back and only cross to the ship when it was secure to help with loading.

But pirates were made for breaking rules, so he hung back until he saw fit to cross the boards to the supply ship, disarming three men himself (all of whom were immobilised by the shock of his apparent age more than anything) before it was officially taken, very proud despite Eden’s muted irritation.

The captain saved his apprentice the inevitable earful about how interacting with anyone outside the Stardust risked unmasking his identity and jeopardised his secrecy from Jangwon and instead fixed him with a warning glare before seeing to the transfer of pilfered goods.

Hongjoong didn’t really care if it meant he had his share of the fun.

The other officers didn’t quite understand the complicated dynamics of his life in the Hall or what being recognised by a civilian trade ship worker could do to him and so predictably were impressed and offered hearty congratulations on his first raid.

Well after the sun had gone down, Hongjoong was knocking on the door to the captain’s cabin and making his way inside with a request. As mere cabin boy, he shouldn't have such easy access to the area but the officers always let him in anyway.

He liked spending time in there, admiring the decor and the organisation and wondering how it might be improved or better suited to his own style.

Maybe some more colour in the windows or better ceiling storage.

Eden was hard at work apparently drawing on one of his maps, marked with his unmistakable bird symbol in the corner.

“What are you writing?” Hongjoong queried, peeking over his hyung’s shoulder.

Eden didn’t budge and didn’t offer any information.

“Nothing.”

And truly despite his pen strokes, the page appeared to be empty. Perhaps something was there in invisible ink. Hongjoong didn’t stop to dwell on it and shot back a quip, “Ah, I see. Very clever.”

He lingered until Eden sighed and looked up, indulging the boy who so clearly required his attention.

“What is it you want?”

“Join us!” Hongjoong proposed with a cheeky smile. “The officers are breaking out the rum in celebration.”

Scoffing, the captain raised an eyebrow at him, asking, “And when did you become an officer?”

“They invited me!” Hongjoong protested, pulling at his hand to get him up from the desk. “Take it up with them.”

Eden found himself dumbfounded again at the boy’s outstanding ability to charm his way into any relationship.

It seemed his men had gone just as soft as he.

“Very well,” he replied, pulling his hand back but giving in knowingly. If Hongjoong and the officers wished it, he had no choice but to make an appearance. "I'll come down when I've finished this."

Hongjoong was learning some of the more obscure sea shanties from Minseob when Eden finally showed his face in the wardroom.

They sang the raucous tunes together rowdily over the first few rounds of drinks and cards and soon Hongjoong had a plethora of melodies filed away in his memory.

He hadn’t sung like this in a long time, loud and carefree with a chorus of men around him. It was fascinating to hear the pirates’ voices, used in the daytime to keep the rhythm of their work alive but now lifting up in simple amusement.

Eden’s tone was softer than expected, and Maddox could reach the highest notes of anyone at the table, but not without prompting a match to see if anyone could beat him.

When the others piled on to tease Youngsaeng for announcing that he was heading out to read, Hongjoong took the opportunity to ask Eden a personal question.

“Hyung, I’ve been wondering about something.”

Eden blinked at him, curious and slightly wary, but said, “Go on.”

“When the Navy caught you and tortured you…” Hongjoong trailed off, biting his lip and wondering belatedly if it was too sensitive a topic before going on, “How could you stand it?”

The pirate downed another drink before answering the question.

“Torture is about control.”

He leaned forward and clasped his hands, explaining the situation as if giving a warning. “The enemy wants to take it from you, but if you refuse to allow them to break your will, you can emerge, scarred, but with the satisfaction that you’ve drowned their plans in silence.”

Hongjoong swallowed and traced the grain of the table with his eyes. He couldn’t easily imagine such a state.

“It must be difficult to endure,” he muttered.

“Until you learn how to distance yourself from your own pain…” Eden trailed off and then drew a long breath, as if giving bad news. “It is.”

Hongjoong tucked the information away for later, hoping he wouldn’t need it. It sounded like a technique best mastered through practice.

“It doesn’t always need to come to torture, though,” the pirate followed up quickly, an attempt at reassurance. “If you’re dealing with multiple officers, there may be another way out. Learn what you can about them, which you can piss off, which you can flatter, which you can bribe, and which you can threaten. In every situation, do what you can to know your enemy.”

Thinking it over for a moment, Hongjoong considered a different approach.

“What about those which you can recruit to your cause?”

Eden cracked a small smile and shook his head knowingly. It was a highly optimistic proposal from the young apprentice, but he couldn’t dismiss it entirely.

“If it is possible to infiltrate Navy power structures to that extent, I haven’t discovered how to do it,” the captain admitted. “Aside from Minseob I guess, which wasn’t entirely my doing.”

Hearing his name, the boatswain clinked glasses with his captain in salute and the rest of the officers ceased their side conversation to join in.

Sailing Master Jihan leaned over from next to Hongjoong and made a sarcastic aside in his direction. “Must be why he’s the only former naval officer aboard. Captain never makes the same mistake twice.”

Aside from Minseob who rolled his eyes in annoyance, the other officers broke out into a slightly drunken laughter.

Master Gunner Soomin piped up from his end with a remark, “I think our Dread Pirate Eden simply hasn’t been able to relax and relate to the more amenable lower ranked soldiers much yet.”

“One of his many regrets,” Babylon hummed in agreement.

“Forgive me if I only want the finest crewing the best pirate ship the world has ever seen!” Eden scoffed, punctuating his exclamation with a swig of rum.

“You and Admiral Kim, goodness,” Maddox tutted in fond amazement. “Two big egos, head to head.”

Head still pointed down in his drink, Eden balked at the mention of the Admiral, eager to draw a distinction between them. “He’s out for money and fame.”

Interested in the topic of the infamous enemy of pirates, Hongjoong caught his mentor’s attention and dug for more. “So, what, he’s jealous? Because you have both? Why doesn’t he just go dig for buried treasure instead?”

“Oh, maybe because he’s barking mad?” Jihan crowed with a jeering laugh that set off the whole table again.

Eden folded his arms and dignified his apprentice with a serious response. “Despite what you may have heard, we don’t typically bury our treasure. Not on purpose anyway.”

The smile fell from Hongjoong’s face. Where was the fun in that?

“Why save your gold for another day when your life could be over tomorrow?” Eden continued, a perfectly good explanation, before hesitating and downing another drink. “Typically.”

Stars lit up in Hongjoong’s eyes at the implication and he lowered his voice to a near whisper to ask, “Typically as in… you’re the exception?”

Eden sighed and rolled his head back to rest on the chair he sat in, eyes snapped shut in defeat. Hongjoong always managed to wrangle the truth out of him somehow.

“Well, it may yet prove to be lucrative in my case, given the Navy’s pursuit, to keep a hidden stash somewhere for myself and any successors,” he carefully divulged. “That’s all I’ll say on the matter.”

By now enough strong drink had been consumed to lower inhibitions and Jihan’s volume was a bit too loud for comfort when he butted in once more asking, “Yonghwan-hyung is it me? Am I the successor—?”

Minseob quickly shot him a glare and a brief scolding for addressing Eden too informally.

“That’s ‘Captain’ to you, Jihan.”

“You let Hongjoong say his name all the time!” The navigator complained just as loudly but sat back in his own chair, yielding.

And it was true, Minseob had been especially lenient on their newest recruit which was entirely out of character.

“Perhaps I trust him more not to go blabbing about it,” the boatswain said with a shrug. “At the very least a codename would be prudent.”

“Oh, please,” Jihan whined, dismissing the idea. “I’m not calling him the Dread Pirate Eden while drinking in the wardroom. You go too far, dear boatswain.”

Hongjoong frowned at this and turned to him in confusion.

“Is that the purpose of a codename?” He asked, slightly embarrassed that he hadn’t known. Like many things the pirates did, he assumed it was just for flair. “I had always thought I’d prefer using my own.”

“Oh, you don’t really have a choice in the matter,” Jihan chuckled. “Pirates attract nicknames. If any old salt has heard of you, you can be sure he’s already nicknamed you. Sailors love to tell stories.”

“Just hope you don’t get something stupid attached to your persona for the rest of your life,” Maddox advised from his side of the table. “Reputation is everything for a pirate.”

“I liked Captain Seongho’s,” Jonghoon interjected brightly, quickly defending his choice when mention of the old disgraced Seongho proved unpopular. “‘The Shark’ is very fitting, his ship was even called the Hammerhead.”

Maddox turned to their captain and sized him up, considering his nickname. “The Dread Pirate is… well, could be worse.”

“Could be better,” Eden mumbled. It was a typical night for him, beset by his joking officers.

The revelry continued until most of the officers had retired for bed and Babylon collected the dishes, leaving them in the galley for tomorrow’s washing.

Before the captain and quartermaster could turn in, however, Hongjoong approached them with a humble request.

“There’s something else I’ve been meaning to ask, a—” He interrupted himself with a dry cough, the last remnant of his earlier bout of sickness. “A favour.”

And that was how he ended up in the captain's cabin with his ears pierced several times over.

Maddox chuckled as he put away the needle he had used, impressed with Hongjoong’s insistence that it didn’t hurt.

“Now we’ve got to give it enough time to heal before we go to Panhang,” Eden pointed out from the seat at his desk. “Or else your guardians could notice it.”

“Unlikely,” Hongjoong responded, a bitter twinge to his voice even while he busied himself with inspecting his new jewellery in the handheld mirror Maddox had offered him. “I keep telling you, they don’t pay that much attention to me.”

“Regardless, it will be safest to lay low for a while after you get back,” the captain insisted with a tone of finality in his voice, barely glancing up from his maps.

Hongjoong’s mood darkened at the mention of the return journey. He didn’t want to think about that just yet.

“Let me live it up here first,” he argued, a tad petulant. It had always worked on the captain before. “That’s the point of my being here, isn’t it?”

Eden’s distracted grunt from the desk as he poured himself another drink from his private stores was answer enough, and Hongjoong grinned at Maddox in triumph.

It was his chance to experience pirate life, after all.

And as he looked at himself in the mirror, he realised he was beginning to look the part. Aside from the piercings, his hair was tousled and growing past his ears, a far cry from the polished appearance he was expected to have at Jangwon. Freckles sprinkled ruddy cheeks, a sign of all his time in the sun lately, and the mischievous smile he was sporting much better suited him than the bleak expression he was used to wearing at the Hall.

The colonies would be his new playground.

Hongjoong was sitting on the main deck with Minseob and Babylon, helping to repair some equipment, when Coral Harbour came into view. The Stardust had opted to bypass Kibo after receiving a tip that a number of navy ships were gathered there. It seemed they wouldn’t be the only pirates undercover for the midwinter festivities.

The lucky seamen without wanted posters of their faces plastered all over the island were permitted to go and celebrate for the night while they were anchored. It would take a bit more disguising for the officers, however, a fact which Babylon seemed to have forgotten as he got to his feet and turned to climb down to the docks.

“I’ll go and secure lodging,” he offered an explanation and climbed over the rail, stopped by Minseob’s panicked shout.

“They’ll recognise you instantly! Send one of the deckhands to do it instead.”

“No they won’t,” rebutted Babylon with a sly smile. Before their eyes, his form began to change into that of another man. His face was becoming warped and aged, and his height changed, shrinking down as if he had hunched his back. Even the clothing he wore was now grey in colour where it had been blue before.

Hongjoong’s jaw dropped and he and Minseob both went speechless.

This was magic of some kind happening right in front of him. Hongjoong had always presumed it to be possible but never so clear, happening plain as day and so fast you could blink and miss it.

If only Mingi could see this now, then all his superstitions would be confirmed.

“Very handy, isn’t it?” Babylon chuckled through this stranger’s face. Even his voice was different, much more than a mere added gruffness.

Hongjoong approached cautiously and reached out a hand to touch him. This was no illusion, it was like another man in the flesh. “Where did you learn it?”

“The spellbook from that village on Keunhae,” Babylon admitted, conjuring a hat for his head and adjusting it to fit properly. “There are a great deal many useful ideas in there. Not just on changing form but other kinds of magic. I’m working on making things disappear. Image how useful that could be! I mean, even the implications of this medically are astounding…”

“Well, carry on then,” Minseob laughed, amazed. “I didn’t know the gift of sorcery could be… developed��� like this. We’ll have to consult the Mystic when we travel southwest from here.”

Hongjoong watched Babylon go with excitement, feeling as if an entirely new world was just unlocked for him.

“Did you know about this?” Minseob asked the cabin boy, a glint of delight in his own eye as well.

“No!” Hongjoong laughed, unable to wipe the smile from his face. “But I guess it makes sense now why he’s been so busy recently.”

And the new sorcerer’s work had paid off, for no one was the wiser when he purchased the officers a hallway full of rooms at the nearest inn to the docks and ushered them in under the innkeeper’s nose.

So dedicated was he that, when the others went out to see fireworks set off and dancers and acrobats in the square, Babylon stayed behind to study some more.

Hongjoong watched the festival show with a giddiness he hadn’t felt since he was a little boy. It felt like he was seeing the world for the first time in every new trick and trinket.

He spent a chunk of the money he’d saved up in the marketplace, trying a variety of street foods and buying some silver jewellery for his newly pierced ears. The atmosphere was a bit more chaotic than Panhang, but it had this vibrant quality to it that intrigued him. It was a colony of Jaecho, not at all autonomous but distant from mainland society and structure. Perhaps the further east you travelled, the more lawless and independent the islands became.

If they were all this colourful and animated, he’d gladly explore every one of them.

The festivities lasted late into the night, and by the time the men returned to their lodging, Hongjoong was fully prepared to sleep away his exhaustion.

In the morning, only boring work remained, like restocking the ship and careening the Stardust for repairs. Barnacles must be shed and leaks must be caulked to ensure she could travel at her swiftest, lest those navy ships lurking near Kibo catch up with them on their way to plot out the uncharted islands in the south.

The Mystic’s Island was supposedly located almost halfway between the colonies and the mainland, back the way they had come but southward, approximate in latitude to the Tae peninsula. Due to the large stretches of open ocean around it, and its measurable distance from trade routes, the area was relatively unexplored, hence Eden’s mission to explore the nearby uninhabited islands.

Despite their efforts, the way was blocked barely a few hours after they set out again by the Seabear, a navy ship directly in their path.

“I can handle this,” Babylon quickly offered when the sighting was called. “I’ll disguise myself as a whaling ship captain and you officers can wait below.”

Thinking quickly, Eden agreed to this plan and ordered for the colours to be changed. They had a number of fake flags to fly.

Hongjoong watched out of the corner of his eye while he brought down the flag as instructed and replaced it with a neutral one. The Seabear hadn’t seen them yet, but the closer they drifted, the more likely they would be noticed.

Babylon had altered his appearance yet again, this time to another strange face Hongjoong had never seen. He wondered if Babylon invented these alter egos entirely or if they were based on someone’s likeness.

Remaining nondescript and in the background, he observed Babylon at the helm taking on another character entirely, down to his manner of gesturing. When the Seabear drew close enough for conversation, he spoke with the navy officers for a few moments and then they were again on their way, two ships passing each other.

Despite how easily they had made it through, there was a dark cloud over the sorcerer when he returned to his regular form and work in the galley.

“That was excellent,” Hongjoong complimented from the table where he chopped vegetables, excited after such a risky encounter. It was just the sort of scheme that made pirate life rewarding. “The Stardust can get away with anything with you on board. How did you learn the ability so quickly?”

Ignoring the question, Babylon put his frustration into seasoning the meat, pounding spices into it and mumbling, “Could get away with more if we finished the job.”

“What do you mean?” Hongjoong asked, confused. It had gone off without a hitch, it was the perfect escape.

“We should’ve killed them,” Babylon turned and stared at the boy like it was obvious. “They’re just in our way.”

“I-I didn’t think that was the way of things,” Hongjoong stuttered and his hands stilled. Sure, they were pirates but they didn’t pick fights and murder excessively. “We intimidate and take hostages, taking lives is a last resort—”

“And that’s why we keep running into them,” Babylon cut him off, stone cold. It was tensely quiet for a moment before he continued his cooking. “Because we refuse to eliminate our enemies.”

Hongjoong considered the possibility late into the night. He supposed with Babylon’s new skills the Stardust could go on the offensive and strike anyone who might strike them first. But what would that entail?

Combat with trained soldiers, not unsuspecting merchants.

And, as confident as he was growing, Hongjoong wasn’t ready for that level of fighting yet.

He approached Jonghoon the next day to get in some target practice, and the Master-At-Arms easily obliged. Eden had only been able to oversee Hongjoong’s training personally once or twice since beginning their voyage, and they all knew it would be good for the boy to work with the other officers as well.

Long range shooting wasn’t the easiest for Hongjoong, but the encounter with the Seabear had made him restless and so he took the time required to improve his precision and timing.

Jonghoon helped him with little adjustments here and there until he was consistently accurate.

Some mornings, the pirates who shared quarters with him would take their breakfast on the main deck to watch him shoot a row of bottles off the quarterdeck railing from the other side of the ship.

“Good,” Jonghoon coached him. “Now relo—”

He was interrupted by the bang of the pistol going off again as Hongjoong pulled out his second gun and began firing, no reloading necessary.

The final bottle shattered and Babylon laughed from his place on the starboard side, “I think he was paying attention on his first day.”

The squawk of a great frigatebird lighting on the yard above Hongjoong’s head distracted him from readying a teasing retort, and all of a sudden the pirates were cheering him on to shoot the thing down.

Without hesitating for more than a second, he took his aim. The large bird was just perched there on the mast momentarily, not paying any attention to the people down below.

“Go on!” Babylon hissed through his teeth, just in case it spooked and flew off.

Before it knew what hit it, the frigatebird was blasted out of the sky and fell to the deck. Hongjoong remained still, tensed with his gun trained where the bird had been a moment earlier.

He’d shot it down.

The spectating pirates clapped courteously and went back to their business, aside from Babylon who approached with a satisfied smile.

“They’re a lot like us,” he pointed out when he had the large bird by the scruff of its neck, ensuring that it was dead.

“How do you mean?” Hongjoong asked quietly, holstering his pistol. “I thought frigatebirds couldn’t swim.”

“They can’t,” Babylon agreed. “They’re like us because they’re thieves. They steal food from other birds you know.”

Finally Hongjoong exhaled and cracked a small smile at the surgeon’s humour. It was a bit unsettling to watch the bird die by his own hand.

“First kill?” Babylon asked him knowingly.

He nodded. “With the gun anyway. Fish and shellfish aren’t quite the same as shooting a frigatebird out of the sky. Do you think we can eat it? I’d hate to have killed it for no reason.”

Perhaps in Babylon’s eyes it was a little boy’s innocent affection for the bird talking, but especially from a pirate’s perspective Hongjoong knew the creatures of the sea were travellers there just like them. As meaningful a death as he could afford the bird was the proper way of things.

“It’s a clean wound, I don’t see why not,” came the response, and soon enough Babylon was bringing the bird down to the galley. “I’m sure it tastes just like chicken.”

Jonghoon patted the boy on the back as he turned to collect the broken bottles. “Your speed is excellent,” he complimented over his shoulder.

Pirate life, Hongjoong had discovered, required two important things; deception and speed. The deception was easy to understand, but there were many uses for speed aboard a pirate vessel. Sailing fast, quick thinking, the ability to jump into action with very little information— the list ran on and on.

The Stardust herself was a vessel of speed, known for travelling up to 12 knots in record time and routinely chasing down hulking merchant ships and leaving attackers in the dust.

But there was nothing to be done about attackers on the inside.

Halfway to the nearest island, a pirate disappeared.

Just a few minutes after a sailor reported his bunkmate missing, the Weathervane reported a strange stain of blood on the forecastle where someone appeared to have been standing.

The pirates in the berth were buzzing about the news though the officers remained tight-lipped about their investigation.

It seemed most likely that the missing pirate had jumped overboard, but the theory didn’t explain the bloodstain.

Being cabin boy, Hongjoong had more proximity to the officers than the average sailor, so he did his best to find out any new information while washing the dishes for the day. Babylon had scolded him once before for using too much of their limited water supply, so he was careful to finish quickly but took his time mustering the nerve to ask his question.

“What did you make of the bloodstain, hyung?”

If anyone was sure to have a professional opinion on it, it was the surgeon Babylon. He’d inspected the stain immediately after it was discovered but not deigned to announce his findings.

“Oh, terrible thing, that,” he tutted over his reading. Buried in the spellbook again. “But it could just have easily have been an accident.”

Hongjoong took in a breath to raise his objections, but Babylon suddenly fixed him with a gaze, intense but unreadable.

“Accidents are common at sea. You should know.”

Hongjoong’s mouth snapped shut. The pirate’s comment had hit just too close to home.

“What do you mean by that?” He gritted out, trying not to give himself away by his heavy breathing. A nerve had just been struck and the pirate had no right to be talking about this.

Sighing in annoyance, Babylon clasped his hands. “Very well, I’ll spell it out.”

He enunciated every word in a patronising tone, like Hongjoong should be grateful he was dumbing it down for him. “If he died due to his own stupidity, it’s no one’s fault but his own. Yes, it’s regrettable but that’s what the ocean does. Your parents were no exception.”

Immediately Hongjoong’s eyes filled with tears. What a callous thing to say, even from a pirate.

“What, so it’s normal to just tumble overboard with no explanation?” Hongjoong choked out, anger building inside. “You’re saying he deserved to drown?”

“Not everyone is cut out for it,” Babylon sneered, hardly bothered by the growing tension. “You respect the natural forces of this world or you die. So don’t waste your time being scared.”

Fists clenched until bloody crescent moons broke the skin.

“And if you’re going to cry, do it somewhere else,” Babylon waved a hand dismissively. “I haven’t the patience.”

Hongjoong was already gone, storming outside and climbing up into the sails, finally perching on the very same yard he had carefully traversed during the storm. A fall from that height would kill him, he knew, but he didn’t care at the moment. He just needed somewhere to be alone, somewhere the wind could dry the tears on his face before they were seen.

Here he had thought that after four years of feeling so alone, he had found a home.

But there it was; the tragedy that had ruined his life being used to define him, as a victim. Suddenly he didn’t belong.

How did Babylon even know about his parents? Hongjoong wondered about it as he angrily scrubbed his face. Could Eden have told him? Had it come out over a night like the one they’d had on the way to the colonies, with the officers drunk and carefree? Had everyone laughed? Had they joked about Hongjoong’s fear of the sea?

Babylon’s words seemed like a thinly veiled threat. That the ocean would not hesitate to take the weakest of those who set out on it. The missing pirate, his parents… even Hongjoong.

But he was no weakling, he was a pirate now. He wasn’t afraid of the ocean, he didn’t need to run away, and he wouldn’t cry in front of the men.

Babylon had been so kind and patient before. He’d nursed him back to health himself. He knew firsthand how Hongjoong had grown tougher. Closing his eyes and sighing, he wondered if he really was being too sensitive.

Few things annoyed him like that condescending tone of voice. Hongjoong hated being spoken to like a child.

He wasn’t one anymore. He hadn’t been for years now.

Perhaps it had been a mistake to trust the pirates. What a ridiculous notion, that he could trust thieves and killers. And yet he still wished to be part of their world, their community. To throw away the rules and go with the tides. The Stardust was where he came to chase his dreams.

Looking out at the boundless blue before him, Hongjoong wondered if this had been the frigatebird’s last view, in the seconds before he had shot it down.

It was dangerous but it was also peaceful. An untouchable refuge close to the clouds. From here, he could float away wherever he wished, an escape on the wind.

Still, he couldn’t hide up there forever and as much as he wanted to stay upset when he reappeared for suppertime, Babylon’s changed demeanour calmed him down considerably.

He looked apologetic as he placed a dinner plate in front of Hongjoong for his meal. The portion was a bit bigger than usual.

“Look, I’m sorry I upset you,” the pirate sighed, sitting across from him with his own untouched plate. He’d waited for the cabin boy to come back before starting. “But if you want to live out here—”

“I’ve gotten over it,” Hongjoong interrupted, avoiding eye contact and eating his food with renewed purpose. “Doesn’t matter anyway.”

After a moment of silence, Babylon nodded and began to eat, clearly still lost in thought. “Eden will be tightening his leash on you I suspect. But if he’s trained you well enough… well, you’ll have nothing to fear from falling overboard like that man.”

If that was really what had happened to him.

And as it turned out, three days later, that theory was beginning to look very unlikely. Another pirate went missing. Another stain of blood appeared.

Only this one was splattered over much wider a distance.

“It must have happened in the night,” the Weathervane whispered from his hammock while Hongjoong lay awake listening, unsettled. “Can’t have been an accident or a suicide. It looks like a struggle took place, like the body was dragged up to the forecastle.”

“But who would do such a thing?” Another pirate asked, fear seeping into his voice.

No one could answer.

Candlelit nights of stories, games, and laughter among the men became silent and tense, each one wondering if he would be next. Every time the Stardust creaked, it felt like the sound of a prowling killer.

More murders followed, each with the same evidence but a seemingly random victim, and the investigation quietly continued. Rules were instituted about where and when the pirates could go and a curfew confined them to their berth by dark. The officers rotated the night watches by themselves.

Babylon continued to be irritable, and to work late nights in the infirmary by the light of a single candle. He must’ve been lashing out from the stress of the murder case, Hongjoong reasoned. The surgeon had never looked this busy before, with pages from his books littering the room and shelves stacked with jars of blood he kept for some sort of experiment.

They were one day out from the nearest potential landfall when Hongjoong discovered the truth. It was late afternoon and he was supposed to stay belowdecks while he wasn’t needed in the galley, but he was bored and needed Babylon’s help sewing up a hole in his wool sock.

In accordance with the new regulations, he had to report his whereabouts, so he went up to the main deck first where Maddox was on watch and announced his intentions to find Babylon in the infirmary.

“You want to leave your berth? Not to scare you, Hongjoong, but a killer is at large,” Maddox reminded him sombrely.

“I’m not scared,” Hongjoong defended himself quickly, hoping he sounded more convinced than he felt.

The quartermaster sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “If something were to happen to you—”

Hongjoong jumped in to reassure him, “I can handle myself, hyung. Eden taught me for a reason.”

Maddox shook his head and smiled fondly. The boy just didn’t understand.

“Yonghwan doesn’t take apprentices, he doesn’t train pirates. He’s rarely so open, even with his inner circle,” he explained, placing a hand on the lad’s shoulder. “But you… you’re special, Hongjoong. You changed everything. So don’t do anything rash, please, he’d lose his mind if you got hurt.”

Removing Maddox’s hand and giving it a confident pat, Hongjoong carried on with his business. “I’m flattered, really, but I’ll be fine. It won’t even be long, I’m just asking a question.”

“Straight back to your hammock when you’re done, no detours!” Maddox commanded him, clearly still nervous. The Stardust was bigger than she looked from the outside, and there were plenty of hallways to be trapped in with an unidentified murderer.

The infirmary was dark and quiet when he entered, with a strangely metallic scent that smelled faint, like something had been burning but was now extinguished.

Babylon was at his desk as usual, whispering foreign words to himself that lilted like an incantation. He didn’t look up as Hongjoong entered, so he approached and spoke up to catch his attention.

“I was hoping you could help me with my stockings—”

“Run along,” Babylon cut him off distractedly, glancing at the cabin boy and the socks dangling from his hands before returning to his reading. “I have work to do, ask someone else to babysit you.”

Gritting his teeth, Hongjoong put aside his indignation to bargain with the pirate. “It’s just this one section, hyung. I’ll try to do it myself but if I could show you when I’m done, maybe you can correct it?”

Babylon didn’t answer, but Hongjoong wouldn’t give up that easily, so he took up a seat on an empty examination table and threaded his needle, getting to work on the difficult corner he was stitching.

Irritated after a few minutes that the seam didn’t look right, Hongjoong huffed and sat back, flinching when he pricked himself with the needle by accident.

Sighing at his own clumsiness, he watched the dot of blood begin to collect on the end of his finger.

Babylon was suddenly out of his seat and catching his arm before he could wipe it away. “Don’t,” he said simply, cradling Hongjoong’s finger and watching the blood begin to stain the grooves of his skin red.

Babylon appeared almost fascinated by it.

“Something wrong?” Hongjoong smirked, amused at the surgeon’s weird behaviour, until Babylon neglected a response and turned to rummage around in his supplies.

“What are you doing?” He asked him, the smile dropping from his face. The pirate was looking at a set of knives now and stopped moving to stare at him intently, still entranced.

He looked like he was weighing unknown options in his head, engrossed in some secret Hongjoong didn’t know about.

Uneasiness spread in the pit of his stomach and he rose from the table, slowly moving toward the door. Something was seriously wrong here.

“A necessary evil,” Babylon finally answered, resigned to whatever the voices in his head had told him to do.

Just as Hongjoong tried to make a break for it, he found himself pinned to the wall by the tall sorcerer with lightning speed, both of his hands wrapped around his throat.

Unable even to gasp at the shock of it while his air supply was slowly being cut off, Hongjoong made a number of failed attempts at squirming away, tears building in his eyes as he tried to understand what was happening.

His eyes landed on something on the shelf above the desk, and he realised what had been right in front of him the whole time.

The jars of blood.

It was Babylon.

He intended to bleed him to death and then throw his body overboard to erase the evidence. He was never investigating the murders, it was him all along.

The blood stains all made sense now. He had ambushed his unsuspecting victims, collected their blood, and disposed of them like they were less than human.

“Why?” Hongjoong croaked out through his raw throat. The pressure just kept increasing and suddenly he was fighting for his life, kicking uselessly with his legs while Babylon laughed an empty chuckle and shook his head.

“You couldn’t possibly understand.”

The moment he removed a hand and turned to grab a knife from the set, when his attention was split between his captive and the weapon, Hongjoong ran for it. Pushing Babylon’s arm away, he sprinted through the room and out the door, opening his mouth to scream for help.

Arms were quickly there tackling him to the floor, knocking the wind out of him and restraining his movements.

Footsteps sounded from down the hallway and Hongjoong struggled harder. Someone was coming, someone who could save him.

A kick to the face stopped him from trying to call out again and bought Babylon enough time to open the hatch above and stick his head out.

His only escape was up.

“Maddox!” He called to the quartermaster on duty. “Let me take the watch, I’ve been neglecting mine.”

Hongjoong’s eyes widened and he fought tooth and nail to pry Babylon’s hand from his mouth. Maddox was right there, if only he could get his attention before Babylon sent him away.

“Are you sure?” Maddox called back, completely unaware of the situation just out of view. Hongjoong was trapped right below his eye level, in the corridor. And Babylon’s grip on him was iron.

“Yes, of course,” he suavely reassured the quartermaster, without a hint in his voice of the effort he was expending to conceal his prisoner. “Sorry I’ve been cooped up in the infirmary lately.”

Without argument, Maddox left the deck for the wardroom, and the moment he was gone, Babylon hauled Hongjoong up to the forecastle.

But he needed both hands to drag the boy behind him, finally leaving his mouth uncovered. As he pulled the boy up the steps toward the bowsprit, Hongjoong took his only chance.

“Help!” He yelled hoarsely, praying his voice would reach the other side of the ship where Maddox had been moments earlier. He had to hear, he had to do something or that was it. Retribution would be swift and Hongjoong would be dead.

Dead on a pirate ship without a proper goodbye to anyone.

Mingi would be shattered.

The scream didn’t travel far before Babylon intervened. Receiving a slap to the face for his disobedience, Hongjoong didn’t hear the steps approaching until Maddox’s shout startled him.

“What’s going on here?” He demanded, making his way down from the quarterdeck to investigate.

He had never heard the man so angry.

“Maddox—” Hongjoong cried in relief, trying to crawl back across the ship, but the knife was at his neck in an instant.

It was obvious now who the enemy was. There was no hiding it. Babylon didn’t contrive any excuse, he didn’t change form into the appearance of someone else, he didn’t speak at all. He was caught red handed and there was no explanation good enough for such a betrayal.

The quartermaster shook with rage, unable to come to Hongjoong’s defence.

“Please…” the boy whispered, trembling now as Babylon pulled him up and backed the two of them all the way to the rail. He could slice his throat and spill all the blood he wanted in an instant.

“Captain!” Maddox called sharply, and Eden was outside on the quarterdeck in an instant, followed by the officers who had been with him in his quarters, Jihan and Youngsaeng, who hurried to gather the others when it became clear what was going on.

“Babylon, whatever you’re thinking,” Eden warned darkly, a hand on his holster. He looked straight at the surgeon after a cursory glance at Hongjoong. “Don’t try it.”

“Come any closer and I’ll kill him. It won’t take much,” Babylon delivered the last line haughtily, lifting Hongjoong by the collar of his shirt and shaking him before repositioning the dagger at his throat.

“We can talk about this, Jongmin,” the captain insisted. “Put down the knife.”

He sounded so earnest, so pained to be facing down his own officer. Clearly he thought he could diffuse the situation still, and his eyes pleaded with Babylon to stand down.

“You think I’m bluffing, Captain?” He spat, digging the knife in just above Hongjoong’s collarbone where it began to collect blood. He tried not to whimper but fear had clouded his senses. Distantly, he heard the footsteps of officers climbing up to the main deck. Soomin’s voice gasped from somewhere.

No one could come closer while the knife touched him, slicing a little deeper the more he shook.

Eden whipped out a pistol and trained it on his former friend. “This isn’t you,” he gritted out, fuming.

“You don’t know me!” Babylon roared back, and his voice was loud in Hongjoong’s ears. He screwed his eyes shut and focused on his own shallow breaths. Blood was leaking down in a single stream and soaking his clothes, warm against his icy skin.

“I have a higher purpose now,” Babylon was saying. “And if you stand in my way, you’ll be the first to regret it.”

Eden pursed his lips and flicked off the safety on his gun. His arm continued to hover there, frozen with the inability to finish the job.

Babylon adjusted his grip on the dagger, sticky blood making it harder to grasp, but didn’t move again.

They were at a standstill.

So Hongjoong swung.

Finally he had managed to throw a punch of his own, landing the blow on the side of Babylon’s temple and knocking him back just the right distance to create enough room between his neck and the knife.

There was only one place to go. The very place Babylon had tried to send him.

Overboard.

Before Babylon could recover him, Hongjoong leaned back and somersaulted off the railing, kicking away from the ship and trying to position his feet downwards before he hit the water.

The ocean swallowed him whole without question, and he didn’t fight it at first while he sunk from the momentum of his fall.

Bubbles were foaming up from where he had entered the water, and when finally he could kick his legs and paddle up, they parted so he could meet the surface.

Gasping for air, Hongjoong propelled himself back toward the Stardust, towering above him and moving on at a steady pace.

With a grunt of effort, he followed after, feeling the resistance in the water as the ship’s wake washed him back.

He was being pushed away faster than he could recover his ground, and frustrated sobs punctuated his strokes while he fought back.

It wasn’t working, he was falling behind.

The salty water stung at his neck, but he ignored the pain and swam forward with all the energy he had left, looking up when a shout from the deck drifted down to him.

Minseob was there, and he threw a long rope down that Hongjoong eagerly snatched up, letting himself be pulled along behind and tucking his face down into his shoulder, shielding it from the water that splashed him along the way.

When he drew up to the side and was close enough to climb, he reached a foot out to take his first step, clinging to the rope and walking up the side. Portholes and gunports provided helpful footholds, and soon the officers were pulling him up and helping him over the rail, soaked and shivering from terror.

“Oh, Hongjoong,” Minseob cried in relief, enveloping him in a blanket. He was exhausted, the adrenaline finally starting to wear off, and so he let himself be hugged and cried into the boatswain’s shoulder.

“Yonghwan hyung…” he asked for the captain through hitched breaths, feeling vulnerable even with no sign of Babylon on deck.

“He’s locking Jongmin in the brig,” Youngsaeng explained, a calming hand rubbing the boy’s back.

Where had pirates learned to be soft and comforting like this?

Hongjoong nodded and reached up to rub the tears from his face, meeting eyes with Maddox who dropped to his knees beside him and wiped away the hair that stuck to his forehead.

“Thank you for hearing me,” Hongjoong whispered as loudly as he could through his sore throat, and he let out a sniffle when Maddox rested a hand on his shoulder. It felt so different than it had the first time.

“Thank you for calling,” the quartermaster said gravely. “Honestly, you saved yourself.”

It was frightening but true, Hongjoong realised with a hollow sobriety. His life had almost ended, just like that.

But he had taken a risk and propelled himself to safety. He had proven himself, and Babylon never saw it coming for a second.

The excitement had fizzled out and, when Minseob pulled him to his feet, a tiredness seeped into Hongjoong’s limbs. He was ready for his hammock again.

“Let’s clean you up first,” Eden’s voice broke through the haze and then he was there, carrying Hongjoong to the captain’s cabin and setting him down on the bed, officers trailing behind.

He sent them all out with a quiet command before helping Hongjoong into a change of clothes and bandaging his neck.

The wound had bled considerably but the cut wasn’t too deep, and to his great relief, hadn’t severed any important veins or arteries.

“You did well,” Eden told him when he was dry and safely nestled in the blankets. He said nothing more for awhile, burdened by the knowledge that a man he trusted was a traitor.

Hongjoong could see how much it took for a pirate to trust another. This betrayal was more painful than he could imagine.

“Stay here,” the captain instructed from his desk when the sun began to set and Hongjoong’s restless dozing had still not produced a peaceful sleep. “I won’t be sleeping tonight.”

With that, Eden left the room, likely to question Babylon, and Hongjoong was alone with his thoughts. A shadow by the door told him one of the officers was guarding the room while at the helm, and it was enough security to slowly relax the tension from his shoulders.

It was warmer in the captain’s cabin, which in these tropical waters would typically be stifling, but the chill of his near miss with death clung to him, so Hongjoong clutched the blankets close to him and wiped at the tip of his cold nose.

The golden sunlight began to fade to pink and angled through the windows, playing on the floor in a kaleidoscope of little rainbows projected through the glass.

Hongjoong watched dust particles dance in the sunbeam and let his eyes close when they grew too heavy to stay open.

It was night when he awoke.

Adjusting the blankets, he had rolled over to try to fall asleep again when voices reached his ears from the level below.

“Clearly it was premeditated!” Someone was arguing, Soomin from the sounds of it, and growing more agitated by the second. “The murders took place over more than a single week, Eden. Something like this doesn’t just happen repeatedly.”

They must have been arguing about Babylon, Hongjoong realised. Sitting up from the bed, he considered whether to go down and listen more closely to the officers’ meeting or try to block the conversation out.

It wasn’t his business what happened to Babylon. He just wanted to be far away from the man.

“And I don’t deny that,” Eden admitted, voice somewhat muffled but evidently trying to placate the Master Gunner. “But we all know he started dabbling in magic, why can’t we stop and think for a second what sort of spiritual forces might have been involved in this?”

“Because whatever they may be, he did this himself,” Jonghoon said, insistent. “He made a choice to take blood at the expense of lives. That’s enough information for me.”

Still Eden wasn’t so sure. “There’s something we aren’t understanding here…”

As he trailed off, Hongjoong sighed and slipped out from under the blankets. It wasn’t his business, but he had to know what they would decide concerning Babylon’s fate.

It was too large a question in his mind.

“He was acting strange recently, after he started the shapeshifting,” Youngsaeng was saying before Hongjoong tiptoed from the captain’s cabin and down to the door of the wardroom, listening outside in a crouching position should anyone glance out the window and see him.

Jihan was speaking when he rejoined the conversation.

“I never liked him.”

Minseob groaned and stepped in before the navigator could continue. “No one asked you Jihan. Keep it to yourself for once.”

“You saw his eyes when he had Hongjoong,” Jonghoon reminded the room, voice seemingly directed at Eden. “No regret, no remorse. He knew what he was doing and he meant to do it. To Hongjoong of all people.”

“To think what could have happened,” Youngsaeng shuddered as he considered it aloud. “He was alone with him any number of times.”

Maddox sighed and finally spoke up. “I’m sorry. That… that was my fault, I sent him in there during the lockdown.”

Hongjoong bit his lip anxiously. It really hadn’t been Maddox’s fault. He had insisted he leave the berth himself.

“Don’t put this on yourself, Kyungmoon,” Eden protested. “We both know this is my fault. Hongjoong wouldn’t even be here in the first place if—”

“It’s no one’s fault but Babylon’s,” Minseob broke in firmly. “What’s done is done. The only question is what to do with him now.”

A silence stretched on while the officers thought about the all important question.

“I say we keelhaul the blackguard,” Jihan volunteered an idea and Eden immediately shot it down.

“This is Jongmin we’re talking about! He fought by your side in countless battles against the navy and you won’t even afford him a trial?”

“A traitor who confesses to seven murders and is caught in the act of attempting to commit one more does not require a trial,” Jihan shot back, disgust evident in his voice.  “What would that accomplish?”

Maddox chimed in to remind the captain of his own rules for the ship. “Eden, the penalty here for murdering a crew member has always been death. Jongmin is no exception.”

“I say firing squad,” Soomin suggested. “More dignified than keelhauling but death is what he deserves.”

The sound of Eden collapsing into a chair startled Hongjoong momentarily. His lack of a response spoke volumes. It was just too difficult to sentence someone who had once been your brother to a merciless death, even knowing what he had done.

“Soomin, bring him in here. I’d like to speak with him.”

Hongjoong scrambled out of the way and hid behind the opening door as Soomin followed orders with a sigh.

He could only cling to the shadows when the pirate returned with the prisoner, walking with a blank expression on his face and not bothering to struggle.

There was the sound of a pistol clicking when he entered the room, someone holding a gun to his head while the captain questioned him.

“What were you doing?” He asked harshly, sharp words raising gooseflesh on Hongjoong’s arms as he eavesdropped.

Babylon sounded almost bored with his simple response, “A blood ritual.”

“Why?”

“As preparation for the entrance of the rightful rulers of this world,” Babylon answered, voice rising in volume along with his annoyance. “To expand my powers. To summon my allies.”

“The dark arts have no place on this ship,” Eden replied, his voice still strong but with a hint of fatigue. “You understand the consequences of killing seven men?”

He was still trying to get through to him, reasoning with a madman who knew full well what he had done.

“A mere foretaste of what’s coming. Worthy sacrifices in the name of progress.”

Eden’s sigh betrayed his agony. He longed to show the sorcerer mercy.

“That’s all the proof we need,” Soomin scoffed from his side of the room. “He’s not even trying to make up a decent excuse.”

“And when he escapes with his magic and we find Hongjoong dead in the captain’s cabin next, what then?” Youngsaeng postulated. “We’ll be wishing we’d ended him now. Right now.”

Hongjoong clamped a hand over his mouth to suppress the sharp gasp he’d made from reaching the officer’s ears.

Perhaps he’d been sleeping too soundly after the attempt on his life.

Jihan sounded just as panicked. “He can get out of the cell with his magic?”

“He’s a sorcerer,” Minseob answered him dryly. “We don’t know what he can’t do, so we have to assume he can. It’s a slaughter waiting to happen. He’s a liability we can’t afford.”

Babylon was laughing at their division, their fear over what he could do.

After a moment, the sound died down.

Eden must have been grimly staring the pirate down to shut him up.

Maddox’s voice sounded nearest the door as he begged his captain in a quiet petition, “Yonghwan. Please.”

Hongjoong found himself quietly echoing the plea.

“Jongmin, we will shortly be sighting land. It will be isolated and uninhabited,” Eden announced before finally proclaiming his judgment. “We will maroon you there with no provisions or weapons. I hope you realise you’ve chosen this yourself.”

It was certain death, but not by Eden’s hand. Death by the elements. By the natural forces Babylon so revered.

“Indeed I have,” Babylon responded, and he sounded as if he spoke the words through a wide smile. Arrogantly he went on, “Drop me wherever you like, Captain. But if you won’t provide means to survive, at least let me have my spellbook. A man needs his reading.”

And with no strong objections from the officers, Eden agreed.

What harm could he do, alone on a southern island devoid of resources? Even with the book, he wouldn’t last a week.

Questions more or less answered, Hongjoong crept back to the captain’s cabin and dove under the covers once more.

It was creepy how unapologetic Babylon sounded, how aware and uncaring of his own evil. When he had suggested to kill the soldiers of the Seabear, at least his violence had been directed elsewhere. But now he spoke of sailors on his own ship, under his command, like they were nothing. A means to an end.

Pushing dark forces and otherworldly evils from his mind, Hongjoong tried to sleep again. His stomach was unsettled for a long time and his heart pounded in his ears until at last, he drifted off into dreams.

Morning filtered in through the windows quietly.

Hongjoong was hungry after missing the evening meal yesterday, and the smell of porridge left for him on Eden’s desk was inviting. He wasn’t sure who had made breakfast, but it tasted just about the same as usual and soothed the pain in his throat.

The small hand mirror was there in its drawer, so Hongjoong took it out to inspect the damage Babylon had done.

His cheek was bruised red from the force of the slap, and a small gash scratched the bridge of his nose where he’d been kicked, but most of the damage was concentrated to his neck where a blue handprint wrapped around his throat and the bandage over the knife gash was beginning to leak.

Lacing up his boots, he ventured out onto the deck where business seemed to be going on as usual until Youngsaeng noticed him from the helm.

“Hongjoong, can I get you anything?”

His voice was stronger than it had been before, so clearing his throat, he asked for water and a new bandage.

He insisted on dressing the wound himself and went to keep a lookout in the crow’s nest while the Master Rigger was at the helm for his forenoon watch, winning over Youngsaeng’s protests. He had rested long enough and he wasn’t going to get anymore sleep than he had.

It was windy up in the rigging, and clouds blew overhead, crossing the sun and occasionally casting shadows down on Hongjoong’s perch.

It was the same sky he and Mingi often admired from the beach at Panhang, but so much wider and full of possibilities. Every horizon promised adventure, some thrilling and some dangerous, and he was still in search of it, despite yesterday’s sour taste.

A sound from below alerted him to Eden climbing up to the crow’s nest from beneath, and Hongjoong wondered where he had been for the remainder of the night.

Perhaps in Babylon’s bunk while its owner enjoyed the hospitality of a prison cell.

He didn’t prod the captain with questions when he settled in beside him, gaze pointed ahead while they travelled southwest.

“We’re going to maroon him at the first opportunity,” Eden finally said quietly, informing Hongjoong of the decided punishment he already knew about.

“That doesn’t happen very often, does it?” He replied, hugging his legs and watching Eden’s face for a reaction.

“Typically only in a mutiny. But nothing about this week has been typical.” He glanced at his apprentice with his eyes shining full of regret. “I’m sure this has been a pretty poor trial of pirate life. I’ve always told you I can’t guarantee your safety, but for the threat to come from inside… that was a surprise to me too.”

Hongjoong smiled to assure him and pointed out softly, “It wasn’t all bad. Just this past week, really. And I’m already on the mend.”

He pointed to the bruises on his neck, already a shade lighter than they’d been before bed.

The tension in Eden’s jaw gave away his anger at the sight of pain Babylon had caused.

It was easy to see that he felt guilty over ever allowing his apprentice to become involved in the first place.

“Will you quit?”

Hongjoong immediately shook his head.

“No. I’m committed to this path.” He knew Eden wished more than ever now that he would quit. But the captain didn’t seem surprised when he refused to give up.

Things had gone wrong, but he had never expected life to become perfect. “There’s so much left to do and see,” he reminded Eden, who nodded reluctantly.

“Following the original plan, I would’ve stopped at the Mystic’s island,” he explained when Hongjoong clearly wanted to know about their future travels. “I’d still like to speak with her to learn more about this magic of Babylon’s, but I think it’s time to end this voyage and get you home. That’s the priority.”

Hongjoong sat back with a frown but didn’t protest. He knew there was no arguing with him about it. He’d simply have to enjoy the time he had left.

“I won’t stay there forever, you know.”

Eden glanced at him with a question in his eyes.

“Jangwon Hall, even Panhang,” Hongjoong clarified. “If Babylon escapes somehow, he might come looking for me. He made some comments before that led me to believe he knows a bit too much about my background. He’ll easily figure out where to look.”

Face growing red, and not from the heat of the sun but a tinge of embarrassment, the pirate rubbed the back of his neck and acknowledged his wrongs. As usual, the boy was able to get under his skin with very little noticeable effort.

“I’m sure he conducted some research of his own, but yes, I’ll admit I told the officers a bit about you. Bringing an apprentice on is highly unusual for me, and the circumstances were important to understand. I wouldn’t have said a thing if I hadn’t trusted them all completely. That’s a mistake I won’t make again.”

Hongjoong accepted this and squeezed Eden’s hand for encouragement. He was the Dread Pirate and he probably didn’t need it but what comfort he could give, Hongjoong was compelled to try.

“But you’ll need to replace him,” he remarked, voice soft from the roughness in his throat but also from his own hesitation to bring it up. “Won’t you hire a new surgeon and cook?”

Eden snorted and gave the boy a sideways glance. “You’re thinking of putting your name forward for consideration?”

Exaggerating his act of false modesty, Hongjoong suppressed a smile and said, “Well, I don’t think I have much skill in either of those positions, aside from emergency situations.” The captain barked out a laugh at this and, giggling, Hongjoong continued, “So no, I’ll have to go for something else instead.”

“Good, because you won’t be hired!” Eden exclaimed, yet again in awe of his apprentice. “I know you can’t cook.”

Hongjoong punched him lightly in the arm for the joke and faked a bruised ego for a minute before seeing something on the horizon.

“Is that… land?”

He squinted at the distant shadow, snatching the spyglass out of Eden’s hands before he could use it himself. “It is!” He gasped with excitement. He had sighted land himself, yet another rite of passage. “Land—”

Coughing though his sore throat, Hongjoong realised maybe he’d have to let Eden have this one. “You should probably call it,” he rasped, offering back the spyglass.

Eden took it back with a raised eyebrow and leaned over the side of the crow’s nest, yelling, “Land ho!”

He motioned for Hongjoong to follow him, and together the two descended to the main deck, ready to get on with the business of the day, however grim it may be.

Youngsaeng had heard his captain’s call and quickly sent for Jonghoon and Soomin, who conversed with Eden for a moment and, when they had approached the desert island to an acceptable distance, escorted Babylon to the deck.

Hongjoong avoided the sorcerer’s eyes, loitering near the mainmast and trying to blend in with the crowd. He didn’t want the traitor’s attention on him any longer than it already had been.

Silence fell over the seamen as they witnessed their officer being led outside, restrained.

Confirming their suspicions, Eden positioned himself on the steps to the quarterdeck and gave a speech of explanation.

“Here on the Stardust, we hold to the standards of the pirate code. Each and every one of the officers who serve on this ship, myself included, do so at the pleasure of her crew.”

Hongjoong caught a questioning glance from the Weathervane and returned it with a weak smile. He’d understand soon enough why Eden was emphasising the democratic nature of pirate government.

“As such, the act of murdering seven members of this crew, those we have sworn to protect, is an especially grievous crime,” the captain was going on to say. “After fruitless investigations, officer Lee Jongmin, cook and surgeon whom you all know well as Babylon, was caught in an attempt to kill an eighth victim and confessed to his crimes.”

Gasps went up all around at this revelation, something most of the men hadn’t known about until this moment. One of their own officers, a man whose hands they regularly put their lives in, had betrayed them all in cold blood. And from the looks of his smug face, had done so without remorse.

“Therefore in accordance with our laws at sea and in keeping with the severity of the crime, to respect the lives lost, Babylon is hereby sentenced to death by marooning without provisions,” Eden announced, turning to face the accused and adding quietly, “May your end be swift.”

With no further ceremony, he selected a group of men to help with the longboat and loaded the condemned for his final journey, with nothing more than a spellbook and the shirt on his back. They hurled curses at him as they did so on behalf of their fallen crew members.

Eden rowed by himself, quickly closing the distance between the Stardust and the island, and Babylon turned his back to him, facing the bit of land that would be his resting place.

Hongjoong wandered to the rail with the other curious pirates to get a measure of the area. The terrain was somewhat jagged, with cliffs jutting out above the beach and most of the vegetation growing much higher than the longboat’s landing point.

“He’ll die there,” Jihan said solemnly from beside him, eyes trained on Babylon’s distant figure as he stepped out of the boat and onto the sand. Eden neglected to hand him the customary pistol with a single bullet that was traditionally offered to all marooned pirates and instead gave him his book and set out once more to pull for the Stardust. “But we won’t get to watch.”

“Avast with that sort of talk, the boy is listening,” Minseob scolded the navigator, disapprovingly.

“He’s no ordinary boy,” Jihan defended, smiling brightly at Hongjoong despite the circumstances. “He’s a pirate now.”

Relief flowing through him, Hongjoong beamed back. The officers and the men around them were in agreement.

He belonged.

Over the next few weeks of travel northwest, back to Panhang by way of the archipelago, Hongjoong tried his best to adjust to working with the different crewmen who rotated cooking meals.

Eden had also been keeping a closer eye on him, and Hongjoong didn’t mind his increased presence. It made up for the lack of Babylon, a once regular staple of his typical day aboard.

Mostly thanks to the traitor’s actions, a net loss of nine men over the course of the journey— including the pirate who had fallen in the storm— necessitated a stop in the archipelago to recruit.

Sitting in the infirmary, a room which still sent chills down his spine, and letting the captain remove his bandages, Hongjoong wondered why Eden was also hiring a new cabin boy.

“Do you think I’m a bad pirate?” He asked, downcast despite how excellently his body had healed so far. The bruises were mostly faded and the scar from the dagger wound was a subtly pale pink that blended in, easily concealed by his shirt collar.

“I know you’ll be an excellent one,” Eden admitted patiently, inspecting the boy’s neck and deeming it cured. “That’s what scares me.”

Hongjoong sighed restlessly and kicked his feet back and forth where they hung off the edge of the table. “Then when will I be ready? For another voyage?”

His first expedition was ending too soon, and the thought of getting by without his new friends for however many months until they reappeared was not a happy one.

“You know the answer to that,” Eden chided casually while he went about his business, tidying up the mess he’d made of bandages and ointments. The sickbay area had essentially become communal in the weeks since Babylon’s departure.

“When I’m old enough to leave the Hall?” Hongjoong responded, deadpan. “That’s still a few years away. You’d best hope I don’t forget everything you’ve taught me by then… otherwise you’ll have to keep on that new cabin boy.”

Unable to resist ruffling his apprentice’s hair, Eden opened the door to show him out and quipped back, “Somehow I don’t think that’s possible.”

And so despite his protestations, after many days of high seas and many nights of lively singing, the shore of Panhang became visible once more on a mild night in early spring.

Hongjoong said his goodbyes to the other pirates in his berth and to the officers who had welcomed him so gently, promising to see them again.

Eden insisted they row a significant distance to keep the Stardust out of view, should anyone recognise it.

To Hongjoong it simply meant more time to take in the coastline and chat with Maddox.

“There they are,” he said, gesturing upwards with his head. His hands were busy holding the lantern that lit their way. “The stars I painted when we left the coast.”

“An excellent likeness,” Maddox praised, comparing the painted bag to the patch of sky they could see through sparse clouds.

Hongjoong shook his head in wonderment as he watched them come in and out of view. “So much has happened since I was here last.”

How could the time have flown by?

Eden finally spoke up between grunts as he pulled on the oars, “I’ll admit, I worried for you. The storm, encountering the Navy, Babylon’s betrayal… But you persevered and you’ll do just fine.”

Grinning at this admission, Hongjoong perked up.

“You think I can be a pirate captain myself?”

“Hold on now!” Eden protested, amused. “I mean you’ll do just fine as my cabin boy, don’t get too ahead of yourself.”

Hongjoong childishly put up a hand to halt the pirate’s excuses. “Can’t take it back now.”

Maddox laughed softly and gave his captain a light kick to the shins. “Well done, now you’ve put the idea in his head,” he teased.

Eden returned swiftly with a sarcastic remark, “Oh, it was in his head long before—”

Smile dropping from his face, Maddox shushed him and the mood suddenly darkened. “Hold on, stop the boat,” he cautioned. “Someone’s on the beach.”

A figure stood on the sand, jumping and waving his arms, having just run down from the lighthouse.

“Mingi…”

Maddox was confused.

“Who?”

“Song Mingi,” Hongjoong hurriedly explained. “I know him, he—he’s my friend.”

Captain and quartermaster glanced at each other in some sort of unspoken conversation, a serious air between them.

“He’s seen us,” Eden stated the obvious with a frown.

That was a problem.

Brows furrowed in thought, Hongjoong set the lantern down beside him and interjected, “Wait, let me handle this. I’ll think of something.”

When they’d pulled up almost to the breakers, he said a reluctant goodbye and shouldered his bag, diving into the water and immediately regretting it as the cold waves washed him towards shore.

He had done the best he could, so Hongjoong smiled awkwardly through chattering teeth and waded through shallower water to meet his friend.

Mingi was standoffish in his confusion, and it was all Hongjoong could do to reassure him and swear him to secrecy after letting slip in his indignation that Yonghwan was the one who encouraged him to go back on the water again.

Thankfully, when the pirates in their longboat set out for the Stardust again, he managed to procure a secret from Mingi about his nightly studying, making them even.

The pair sealed their deal with a handshake and invited some levity in the form of more mundane topics of conversation.

Hongjoong had missed Mingi, a fact he couldn’t deny even when it confronted him with their diverging paths.

When they reached the fork in the road, the younger boy would skip away in the direction of his home, the seaside cottage of Hongjoong’s childhood memories, and he would be left to trudge further up the hill to Jangwon Hall and pretend none of this had ever happened.

He’d just have to manage it, he decided while he took a detour to the top of the bluff to watch the Stardust fade into the night.

It had been terrifying at times, but it was an adventure, a peek into another world that offered him a brand new life.

The beauty of every day out there on the sea was so alluring. Brilliant sunsets on the Stardust, colourful fireworks over Coral Harbour, the gentle spray from the deep blue ocean.

What was life without some risk?

He knew firsthand that he had what it took to be a part of it all. So now he was left to bide his time, to close his current chapter. He would lead a secret life with expert duplicity.

The ocean was calling, and he intended to answer.

...

A/N: Wow when I tell you I cried?? I MEAN THAT! I last updated this work in 2021 I think which is inSANE... So much has happened, I finally got over my writer's block and ended my hiatus, you guys got back to back updates here on tumblr, and it was not a fluke guys. This chapter is not a fluke!! I'm not going to disappear because I've been planning this for years and there's so much more to come even in the last 4 chapters of this spinoff, let alone the rest of the series 😭 This chapter is, what, 17.5k??? And that's AFTER I split it??!! That should tell you all you need to know lol

A few quick notes: As always, I will recommend you read or re-read The Windy Road (Mingi's backstory) Chapter viii: Alone in conjunction with this and the next chapter of My Way, it'll make everything hit different, trust me. And if you want another punch to the feels, go read One to All Chapter 3: I Love My Desire and thereabouts for a refresher on that Babylon storyline if you've read the main series before coming here~

ANyway thanks so much if you're a reader who has stuck around and returned to this Treasure universe with me, it means sooo much more than you know, and if you're new, welcome aboard!! and I hope you decide to stay :) Don't forget to comment, reblog, all that good stuff to let me know what you thought and come scream with me about this story on twitter (I refuse to call it x) I know I have more to say, maybe you do too :,D

Thanks crew!!! See you soon <3

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[paramcur]

☒ Ⅶ ( i know the answer but :-) ) ☺ ♥

☒ Is there any sort of behavior towards your muse (ic or ooc) that you simply cannot stand?

you DO know the answer !! for OOC behavior, it's people assuming things about my muse. it's, entirely different if it's your muse doing it but i've had previous writing partners assume things about my muse ooc (i.e he's a womanizer) and on the flipside, also just treat him like sex object. which is very grating !! like at that point , it feels like . OK whose writing teddy , you or me ?? DKSGHKFDHG but those were in the dark twt rp days ... as for IC behavior , it's. repeatedly ignoring something my muse has said. he rly doesn't like being called theodore and despite expressing that, this person's muse kept doing it. idk if they were actually reading my replies at all or their muse was doing it to be stubborn. also ik i sent u the og meme but take this

Ⅶ If you have multiple blogs and/or muses, which one is your favorite? Why?

i do !! i have @tragedyrich for canons, @hecticromantic for ocs, and teddy is the only muse LOUD enough in my head to warrant having his own blog atm. though tbh, i've considered making one for jonghoon or nate. mostly because i can imagine them in alternate verses aside from their main/slice of life/default verses.

☺ If you have a faceclaim for your muse, why did you choose them? Are you satisfied with your fc, or would you rather find a different one?

admittedly, i picked him because he's , a muse and then a MuseTM. to me. like, seokjin is not only my bts bias, but a role model for me in regards to many things. he's witty, charismatic, kind, as well as incredibly talented and handsome. physiognomy is bullshit imo but seokjin has a face that just Looks kind, and he's shaped like kindness and comfort. so !! there was nobody else who could portray the Multitudes that are within teddy !! he genuinely inspires me to be better, and also to create !

♥ When it comes to shipping, what factors are absolutely necessary for a ship to develop?

mutual respect and trust, as well as teddy feeling like they're kindred spirits for it to be a full-blown romance ship. though it's rly , verse-dependent !! that mutual respect and trust doesn't have to be there for a fwb ship, because normally when teddy is sleeping around it's because his self esteem has been shred into ribbons by an external source. (his father, most likely)

[kwanisms]

All You Have to Do is Ask - k.jh

summary: your boyfriend ruined dinner

pairing: female reader x yesung

genres/themes: idolverse, established relationship, smut (minors dni), fluff at the end, yesung's real name is Jong-hoon (for those that don't know)

EDIT: I know he changed it (again) to Kang-hoon. I'll change it eventually lol

wc: 1.5k

warnings: explicit language, graphic sex, mentions of alcohol, slight praise kink, some dirty talk, unprotected sex (use protection!), creampie, and I'm including this in the warnings: Yesung is an older idol, so if the idea of having sex with someone near 40 bothers you, don't read this lmao I'm like 9 years younger than him so it doesn't bother me to read or write for older idols

a/n: hi, this is my first SuJu smut so pls be gentle. SUPER JUNIOR IS A 2ND GEN KPOP GROUP AND AS SUCH, THEY ARE THE OLDEST GROUP I'M WRITING FOR. IF THEIR AGES BOTHER YOU, GO SOMEWHERE ELSE LOL I'M ALMOST 30 SO THEY ARENT MUCH OLDER THAN ME AND IF THAT BOTHERS YOU, GET OFF MY BLOG. We don't accept ageism here. this is a work of fiction and all characters are not reflective of their respective irl counterparts. for entertainment purposes only. gif isnt mine. I do not allow reposts or translations of my works. All my works are ©️ kwanisms.

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[21:18]

Ruined. That was the only word for it. Dinner was completely ruined and it was all your boyfriend's fault.

He'd gone out immediately after practice to grab a bottle of wine before coming home to your shared apartment. You had told him you were making your favorite pasta for dinner and were excited for him to try it.

What you hadn't expected was him to come home, bottle of wine in hand only to slam the bottle on the counter and jump you the moment his eyes landed on you.

You should have expected it honestly. You knew your black dress was a little short, barely reaching the middle of your thighs and you can only imagine how frustrated he must have been to immediately start attacking your neck in wet kisses, tongue running over your skin as his hands grabbed the material of your dress in his fists before he pulled you from the stove and turned you against the counter to kiss you properly.

It was only a few moments later he had you bent over the same counter, skirt hiked up, panties ripped off and lying in a mangled mess on the hardwood floor. Your boyfriend stood behind you, one hand on your hip, the other holding your dress in a clenched fist as he thrust into you from behind.

You buried your head in your arm, moans tumbling from your lips as you felt the tip of his cock nudge against your sensitive spot. "Fuck," you heard him curse from behind you, voice barely audible of the sound of skin hitting skin filling the kitchen. "Goddamn, baby," he growled.

You glanced over your shoulder, peering back at Yesung, the sight of him losing himself completely sending more heat to your core and your walls clenched around him, spurring him on. You loved when he gave himself over to pleasure entirely.

The way his brow furrowed, the way he bit his bottom lip as he tried to focus on the quality of his thrusts. It was always quality over quantity with him in everything he did. He preferred to do things right rather than how quickly he could do them.

And that extended into sex with you.

Every angled thrust and slow deep roll of his hips made you see stars from beginning to end. He knew your body. He knew every inch of skin, knew how to tease you, how to draw out the most lewd sounds from you, whether it was with his tongue, his fingers, or his cock.

Your head dropped, a slew of moans and causes falling from your lips as you felt your orgasm approaching. Yesung must have felt it in the way your walls convulsed around him as he continued to pound into you, savoring the sight of himself disappearing inside you.

He hadn't planned on fucking you as soon as he got home. The plan was to take a shower while you finished cooking and then join you for a nice home-cooked meal and a glass of wine but when he saw you in that black dress, the short one that barely covered your ass and left your thighs completely exposed, he just couldn't hold back.

Practice had been particularly rough, tensions high amongst him and the other members as they prepared for their comeback. Heechul had been getting on their nerves, making snarky comments from the side whenever someone got the choreography wrong despite him not even dancing with them.

They had ended practice a little earlier than usual because they were all tired, annoyed, and tense. When Yesung had seen your text that you were making him dinner and asked you to pick up a nice bottle of red, he jumped at the chance to finally unwind after the last few days.

He didn't expect that he'd be fucking his frustrations out but you didn't seem to be complaining with how you moaned out his name, his real name, your hands trying to hold onto something to ground yourself against the onslaught of his hips but the smooth surface of the white marble countertops made that entirely impossible, leaving you to the mercy of his grip.

"You did this on purpose, didn't you?" he growled, voice low and husky. You let out a whimper, shaking your head quickly. "N-no," you stammered, your voice shaky. "I swear I d-didn't."

"Why else would you wear something so short?" he asked, giving you a particularly hard thrust, making you cry out. "If not to tease me, then what? Were you expecting someone else to see?" Yesung grunted, ignoring a bead of sweat that rolled down the side of his face. Though he'd cooled off from practice, here he was sweating all over again.

Though he'd much rather be fucking you than stuck in the practice room with eight other men, all as crabby as he was.

"N-no!" you mewled, letting out a gasp when you felt Yesung's hand grab your hair and tug you back, his other hand moving to cup your chin as he leaned over your back. "Did you expect me to bring home the guys?" he murmured in your ear, sending chills down your spine. "N-no, Jong-hoon, I swear," you squeaked out. You heard him hum in your ear, the hand in your hair moving around to the front of your body, pressing against your stomach, pulling you against him as he continued to thrust into you hard and slow.

"So you'd never wear this for any of them?" he asked, holding back a chuckle when you shook your head. "Never. Only f-for you," you whimpered. "You're such a good girl," he cooed, his voice sweet in contrast with the way his hips moved, driving his cock deeper and deeper into your wet cunt.

"Are you gonna be a good little slut and come for me?" he whispered. You nodded quickly. "I'm gonna cum, Hoonie," you moaned, the nickname making him groan as he let go of your chin and wrapped both arms around you, burying his face in the crook of your neck as he hastily chased his high.

It only took a few more hard thrusts before you toppled over the edge, coming with a cry of his name, walls squeezing around his cock as his thrusts turned sloppy. "M'gonna come, baby," he mumbled, lips brushing against your skin.

"Then come for me," you answered, voice still shaky. "Come inside me." Yesung let out a moan, urged by your words as he came, releasing inside you and filling you with his thick load. Every time he came inside you, it was always more than when he came alone or when he finished on your skin.

His hips slowly came to a halt as you both tried to catch your breath. "Shit," he cursed, carefully letting go of you. You let yourself drop against the cool surface of the counter, enjoying the cold marble against your hot, sweaty skin. "I'm so sorry," you heard Yesung say and you looked over your shoulder at him, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Sorry?" You asked. "Sorry for what?"

Yesung looked over at the frying pan on the stove. "For ruining dinner," he answered, his cock still buried inside you. You shook your head, a light chuckle slipping between your lips. "It's fine, honey," you said, pushing yourself up.

Yesung took a step back, slipping out of you as he grabbed one of the decorative kitchen towels and ran it under the faucet for a moment before bringing it to your soaked core. "I also made a mess," he added as he carefully wiped your skin.

"You always make a mess," you answered as he finished and threw the towel in the sink, pulling his boxers and sweats back up, looking up only when you turned to face him. You didn't know how he managed to look so good all the time, nor how it was fair. His flushed face, skin glistening in the overhead kitchen lights, messy hair and those thin framed, round glasses that you loved on him so much.

You reached forward, grabbing him by the waistband of his sweats and pulled him forward, lips finding his as you pulled his body against yours. You pulled back enough to speak. "We can order in," you said softly, gently nudging his nose with yours. "Whatever you want, baby," he answered, kissing the tip of your nose before a cheeky smile broke out across his face. "And change your dress. I might not be able to resist you again later," he added. You shook your head.

"I'm not changing out of this if it gets me fucked like that again," you replied. Yesung let out a loud laugh at your remark. "Baby, if you want to be fucked like that," he said, leaning in to press a soft kiss to your lips. 

"All you have to do is ask."

═══════════════════════════════════════

[justtextmeoppa]

❝ Here I am ❞

-Yesung

I think I needed an excuse I drank a little in front of the market It was really little but the world has gotten blurry I think I’m a little drunk

I think I lost my watch I realized only after looking at my arm because it felt empty It’s not the watch’s fault I couldn’t even feel your touch on my arm

I walked this way every day But I didn’t know there were so many things you liked here Out of drunkenness, I bought what I could I wonder if you still live there

-kyu

[kfaem]

Jazz Bar

Idol: Super Junior's Yesung

Song: Jazz Bar by Dreamcatcher

Warnings: Fluff, Suggestive towards the end

I love Yesung thats all enjoy :*

The bar carried a heavy scent of alcohol. The people talking were barely audible from where the young woman stood, this small space had such a different feel than the pouring rain outside.

Walking into here felt like going back to the 90's, the interior was comfortable and felt familiar, almost like an older film. Just like she had predicted, almost everything was a type of wood, the tables and chairs, minus the few leather arm chairs in the corner of the bar, and the floor and bar counter.

Old posters were carelessly spread across the wall as if announcing the performers, most of said posters were barely legible from years and years and sitting there.

She wandered deeper into the room, the music playing was much louder the closer she got. A deep, soulful voice filled her ears.

She draped her soaked jacket across the back of a wooden chair and sat down, her eyes stayed glued onto the tall, slender man. His hair was fluffy, was it black or just dark brown? Whatever colour it was, it was certainly curly and appeared to be soft.

His eyes remained shut through the whole song, if his voice wasn't emotional enough, looking at him certainly evoked those emotions.

She had gotten so lost in thought that she hadn't realized that the handsome singer was now standing directly infront of her with an innocent smile.

"Not too many people pay attention to me when I perform, may I thank you with a drink?"

Her eyes were wide as she looked up at him, lost in his face that was just as gorgeous as his voice. "Yes! I mean...sure, that sounds very nice...thank you"

He offered his hand and brought her over to the bar counter, the bartender was a short older man in his 60's. "What can I get for you kids?"

"Two glasses of wine"

So he's that type.

Once the two tall glasses were placed infront of them, "My name is Kim Jonghoon, you can call me Yesung" He clicked their cups together gently before taking a long sip.

"(_____)" She brought the glass up to her lips and sipped the red liquid slowly. Usually she didn't drink, but for this man she would, just to hear his voice for a few more minutes.

"What a beautiful name, just like it's beholder" He winked.

Why did such cheesy pickup lines sound so nice coming from him?

"I could say the same for you, Yesung"

The two spent the night conversing, sharing random, useless facts. It had felt like they had known each other for their entire lives.

They were cut off by the bartender, the bar was closing in 5 minutes.

She considered it for a moment before inviting him to her apartment. She couldn't let go of the handsome man just yet, she needed him for just a second longer.

"I can't say no to such a beautiful lady, can I?"

Once through the door of her apartment, their lips were attached feverishly. Their hands rushed under eachothers shirts and shoes had been kicked off.

"I think I love you" He whispered while trying to catch his breath.

"I fell in love with your sweet eyes the second I saw you"

He grinned into her lips, "I don't recall having my eyes open when I was on stage"

"Exactly"

[allyreactions]

Yesung, Leeteuk for links pleaseeeeee

Yesung - 

Okay, so Yesung gives off those emo boyfriend vibes. And I feel like he’s super kinky. Like at first glance, he looks like the kind of person who’s like a shy, innocent baby in the streets but a freak in the sheets. Okay, so we all know that Yesung has a sailor’s mouth, so I think he’s into dirty talk (giving) / receiving). I also have a feeling like he’s into some light bondage, like silk ties or blindfolds (giving / receiving). Maybe a little bit of spanking too (giving). Oh, and I think he’s a dom but also enjoys subbing sometimes. I feel like he enjoys the sensation of someone taking over so he doesn’t has to do all the work. 

Leeteuk - 

Oh Lord... a dom. But he’ll switch between soft and hard dom depending on his mood. Hard dom Teuk : very handsy, love bites everywhere (giving), he’s just so needy, and overstimulation (giving / receiving). Soft dom Teuk : handsy, but in a more gentle way. He’s lots of passionate kisses, praises (giving / receiving), and maybe some cockwarming (giving) afterwards. I feel like soft dom Leeteuk is more into focusing on pleasuring his partner and hard dom Leeteuk is more into making sure he’s satisfied asap. 

~ Admin Ally 

idol kink masterlist

link to the ask post *idol kink requests - closed*

[xiezuo]

Yesung A-Z NSFW please 👀 thank you!

Ok so y’all don’t even know what this man does to me and tbh I don’t even understand it myself it’s just- you know the feeling when you love someone so much your heart starts pounding so hard it makes it hard for you to breathe ? Yeah that’s what Yesung does to me and… I can’t even complain I love him too much hfgusduhahgkvuh anyways on to the request~

Masterpost | Rules | WIPs

A — Aftercare

Yesung’s aftercare usually entails to him embracing you and holding you tightly against him, as if he were scared you’d go away. Lazy kisses, with him cupping your face in his hands; kisses on the top of your head or your forehead as you nestle against his chest or bury your face in the crook of his neck; lightly pets your hair, murmuring “I love you”s and promises of a bright future. He hates parting from you after such an intimate moment, so unless you ask him to get you something (in which he’ll jump off the bed — after pressing a kiss on your forehead — and run to get you whatever you asked for), he’ll stay with you, as close to your body as humanly possible.

B — Body Part

Hm. It’s hard to say what Yesung likes best about himself, mostly because he’s probably criticized every single part of his body (poor baby has low self-esteem when he shouldn’t and it makes me so sad :() and said he doesn’t like it, but I mean the man also takes like 46578239654879326 selfies of himself a day so… I really don’t know lol. And he has abs now and I’m pretty sure he’s proud of those but that’s not the point His favourite part on you is… everything lmao he can’t pick. For real. He’s so whipped he can’t choose because you’re perfect to him, but he’s especially weak for your smile; it’s all he ever wants to see from you. And he’ll try his hardest to make you smile everyday.

C — Cum

He has a thing for watching his cum drip out of you after he came inside, which he does quite often for this very reason. It makes him feel proud of himself but also gives him a sense of possessiveness over you, as if it’s his way to claim you and make sure you know you’re his — Yesung can be very possessive in bed, even though in everyday life he’s pretty chill.

D — Dirty Secret

Listen imma expose myself here but ever since I had that dream where Yesung sat on a chair next to the bed and made Donghae fuck me while telling him what to do as a way to prove me he was the only one who could fuck me right… I can’t get it out of my head man. So I think that’s his dirty secret. He fantasizes about it a lot but he never tells you out loud because he’s scared it’s going to freak you out and make your relationship awkward as a result of bringing it up. He doesn’t want you to think he’s a deviant or something of the sort.

E — Experience

So. I don’t think Yesung is a virgin. At all. But I also don’t think he has much experience. He’s had girlfriends in the past (one that cheated on him like 5 times what the fuck even— I’m getting sidetracked) so I’m pretty sure he has had sex before. Also, he’s a grown man. Despite the lack of experience, he still knows what he’s doing. And because your pleasure is very important to him, he’ll put everything into learning what you like and how to have you begging for more.

F — Favourite Position

Yesung cherishes intimacy, and his passion and love for you comes out stronger than ever when you two are having sex. He’s looking for that connection, so he prefers to go for positions that allow him to look you in the eye and make it easy for him to kiss you. He has a thing for holding your hands when he’s feeling particularly determined to make you feel how much he loves you.

G — Goofy

Yesung is more serious than anything else during the actual act, but there’s always a bit of playful banter with lots of underlining sexual meanings that leads to you two having sex, so I’d say he’s both depending on the mood. If he feels like teasing you, then he’ll take things more lightheartedly and fool around, but if he’s feeling needy or if he missed you then he’ll be a lot more serious and focused on what he’s doing.

H — Hair

That is a good question. I don’t think he takes the time to shave regularly, mostly because he’s not very hairy to begin with, so he doesn’t need to. He trims it when he feels like it’s getting to wild but he never goes full bald. He’s a “eh” kind of guy when it comes to it; he doesn’t really care all that much about things like this, and the same applies for you.

I — Intimacy

I think it’s obvious what my opinion on this is given what I’ve said in earlier points — intimacy is everything to Yesung. It’s important to him that his love and passion for you can be felt through every single one of his actions. It makes the experience all the more intense, because he’s not only focused on one part of your body; his hands explore every curve, sometimes leaving marks when pleasure builds up and his grip tightens, and his lips are always connected to your skin, sucking and biting, marking you even more. He wants to let you know that not only is every part of you perfect to him, you also belong to him.

J — Jack Off

Not gonna lie, I’m pretty sure Yesung jerks off quite often; sometimes it’s to release pent up sexual frustration, which usually happens when he’s away from you for too long, and sometimes it’s just to relieve some tension when it gets bad and nothing else works. When you’re around, however, it’s very rare that he does anything. It still happens, just less often.

K — Kink

Ok, so. I don’t think Yesung is that kinky (that’s very rich coming from someone who said earlier that he’d make a man fuck you while he watches just to prove a point bUT BEAR WITH ME). He’s definitely a top, for sure, and he likes to be the one in control — I honestly can’t see him surrender control to you; it’s something that would make him very uncomfortable. His biggest kink is most probably edging. He likes to push you to the very edge and when he feels like you’re about to cum, he’d stop all movement, wait for you to come down begging, and then press the tip of his cock against your G-spot just to torture you.

L — Location

Ideally, Yesung prefers to have sex on a bed, mostly because he wants you to be comfortable and not have to bend over in difficult positions that are hard to maintain without causing strain or harm. Next up is the couch, if foreplay starts there or close by and you’re both too desperate and needy to bother walking into the bedroom.

M — Motivation

His love for you and his drive to make you feel it is his biggest motivation, to be honest. It’s the reason he wants to have sex with you in the first place. His love turns him on, it’s just a thing. Actually, I think it’s very hard to “trigger” his arousal to the point where he can’t control himself and needs to fuck you right then and there. He’s very composed, and if you’re to, let’s say, tease him in public while out for dinner with friends or family, you can very well shove your hand down his pants under the table and jerk him off and he’ll keep a completely straight face and act like nothing’s happening. He won’t even attempt to stop you, but be prepared to be on the receiving end of his anger once you two are alone which… honestly always leads to you having angry sex on any surface he can find once you get home (and he probably won’t allow you to cum at all as punishment, just saying).

N — No

Spanking. Doesn’t like it, doesn’t see the point of it, just isn’t interested in doing it. If he wants to punish you for something, he’ll find other ways, some that can be even more painful than hitting you. He’s also not a fan of degradation — he’d feel really bad about humiliating you, even if you tell him you’re into it. The closest he’d get to that is to tease you about how needy or desperate you are for him, as in something like “you’ve got such a filthy mouth for someone who looks so innocent; you naughty, naughty girl”, but that’s about it.

O — Oral

Yesung is definitely more of a receiver than a giver when it comes to oral. He prefers to finger you rather than go down on you, mostly because I don’t think he has much experience when it comes to it, but he’ll still do it from time to time, just on special occasions rather than a casual thing. However, he usually won’t expect you to do it and won’t even ask, unless it’s angry sex — then he’s going to ask in a way that gives you no choice but to comply (not that you’d complain about it in the first place).

P — Pace

Yesung’s pace is definitely slower, but his thrusts are really harsh, and they go very deep. He likes taking his time building up to your orgasm, and draws it out. It also gives him more time to explore your body, adding to the intensity and the overwhelming emotions he makes you feel. So, he’s slow, but he slams into you with all the strength he has with each thrust.

Q — Quickie

He honestly prefers taking his time with you, but quickies do happen. Especially at the beginning of the relationship, where you’re both experimenting and getting to know the other and how they react to different things. Quickies mostly happen in places where there’s a chance of getting caught, like backstage before a show (a classic).

R — Risk

Yesung honestly doesn’t really mind having sex in risky places. Like I said in the previous point, sex in semi-public areas like backstage changing rooms or public bathrooms if they’re singles (like, not the ones with the stalls, ones where you only have one toilet and a door that can be locked), it just not happens very often. It’s not a thing that necessarily gets him going; he just doesn’t really mind it. It’s more a thing that occurs when he’s really really desperate and can’t hold back anymore.

S — Stamina

Yesung can last a long time; you can usually cum at least twice before he even feels his orgasm build up, but it takes him a very long time to recover to the point where he’s up and ready for a second round. You can easily fall asleep before that happens. I can only see multiple rounds happening if it’s been a really long time since he’s seen you and you two haven’t done anything; then, a lazy make out session after sex later and he’s ready to go again. But it only happens in this specific scenario.

T — Toy

He doesn’t own any, unless a tie he sometimes uses to bind your wrists together when he’s feeling kinky one night counts as a toy. He doesn’t like using them on you because he feels like it’s just a lazy way to get you worked up and make you cum; he’d much rather do it himself.

U — Unfair

Biiiiiiitch. You’ve just entered Yesung territory. Like I said earlier, edging and teasing is his thing, and he knows what he’s doing. He loves seeing you worked up, and he feels very proud when he drives you to the point of begging; it’s proof that you want him, that you need him, and there’s no better compliment to him than that. How unfair he is depends on his mood. If he intends on making love to you, then he’ll be merciful, and give you what you need after you ask nicely. If he’s in a playful mood, then he’ll drag it until you’re about to go crazy and continuously beg him, and even then, he might push it just a little further just because he can. If he’s angry or feeling possessive, then he’ll have absolutely no mercy, and he’s going to be the sole decision maker in when he decides to let you cum, no matter how much you beg.

V — Volume

He’s very vocal in bed, always whispering in your ear, both loving words and dirty things. However, he’s not loud at all; the sounds that come from him are usually groans he can’t contain and heavy breathing. And, of course, because he’s, you know, Yesung, expect a lot of curses coming from him.

W — Wild Card

When you introduce him to the idea of cockwarming, he’s very confused at first, but after you try it, he finds that he really, really likes it. From then on, it becomes a sort of habit after you two have sex to just cuddle up to each other with his cock buried inside of you at least for a little while as you both catch your breath.

X — X-Ray

Yeah, I’m— I’m just gonna use the picture of him that… honestly haunts me at night. It should speak for itself. You’re welcome.

Y — Yearning

Yesung’s libido is very high, but it often doesn’t look like it because he’s very good at hiding any signs of arousal. He doesn’t shift in place, he doesn’t get flustered, his face doesn’t turn red, he can still focus on whatever he’s doing very well and he doesn’t stutter either. He’s learned to control it over the years and he takes out the tension by beating Hyukjae’s ass lmao I’m just kidding… or am I ?

Z — Zzz

Yesung makes it a point to fall asleep after you do, but he gets really drowsy after he recovers from the afterglow. You’ll hear him yawn and see him rub his eyes from time to time, trying to chase the sleep away because he feels like it’s his duty to watch over you until you fall asleep so you feel safe and protected.

[unclejuho]

idk why anything even shocks me anymore i shud just assume the lowest of them anyways

[blu-joons]

HUSBAND SUPER JUNIOR A⇴Z HEADCANON ⇴ Kim Jonghoon

A ⇴ AFFECTION

One of the things that means the most to Jonghoon is affection, he loves the feeling being loved, but he loves making you feel loved too by trying to hug you as much as possible or reach out for your hand when you’re close by.

B ⇴ BOYS

It took a little bit of time for you to settle around the boys, you were a nervous wreck the first time you met them and barely said a word. Jonghoon knew to give it time, and he asked the boys to do the same, reminding them of how awkward they all were when they first met each other too, with you integrating over time.

C ⇴ COMFORT

He was the best when it came to comforting you, always being there exactly where you needed him. Jonghoon always put a lot of effort into comforting you because you always made sure to be there for him and support him. He repaid you and more, holding you, listening to you, and most of all cheering you up.

D ⇴ DOMESTICATED

The two of you made sure to split everything so that you could keep your house running smoothly. Jonghoon liked to try and take on the lead role with most things, wanting to be the one to impress you by taking charge when it came down to building things or decorating things. When it came to things like cooking though, Jonghoon knew that that was your department, never quite reaching the levels that you could.

E ⇴ ENGAGEMENT

You’d noticed a couple of hints dropped by Jonghoon in the build up to your engagement, with him wanting to try and find out a few small details of the things that you’d dreamt of having during your proposal. Jonghoon made sure to make a note of just about everything that you said on his phone so that when he eventually decided that he was ready to propose, he had it as personalised to how you wanted it as possible.

F ⇴ FAVOURITE THING

Jonghoon’s favourite thing about being with you was the comfort that it brought him knowing that he’d always have you by his side. He enjoyed coming home to you, waking up to you in the morning, all of the little things that put a smile on his face. Everyone knew just how much Jonghoon loved married life, how much he enjoyed having you with him and making as many memories as he possibly could with you too.

G ⇴ GOING OUT

By far the two of you prepared to stay in rather than go out and just enjoy being together. There was nothing quite like a cosy night in for the two of you with the dogs, as much as you weren’t opposed to spending your evenings out, it was always a little too noisy and hectic for either of you to really enjoy it.

H ⇴ HONEYMOON

Adventuring was a huge thing when it came to your honeymoon, you both wanted to try and find somewhere new and exciting for your honeymoon, having very rarely received the chance to explore the world before. The two of you couldn’t wait, making sure that your honeymoon really was the time of your lives.

I ⇴ “I LOVE YOU”

Telling you that he loved you was something very important for Jonghoon, as far as he was concerned, they were the three most important words that he could say to you. One way or another he made sure to tell you them at least once a day, whether he was at home or on the other side of the world.

J ⇴ JEALOUSY

He certainly had his moments when he would get a little bit jealous, Jonghoon wasn’t the loudest person in the room and would sometimes get pushed aside by others. It happened especially when you were around strangers, because your friends all knew just how in love with you Jonghoon was, never wanting to make him feel uncomfortable by trying to make him jealous when there was no need to.

K ⇴ KIDS

There was no doubt in Jonghoon’s mind that he wanted a family with you, it was just a case of timing. After the two of you got married, it was something that he quite liked to talk about a little more, checking almost every day that the two of you were still on the same page and that you weren’t changing your mind.

L ⇴ LAZY DAYS

Your lazy days consisted of calm, making the most of your chance to relax. The two of you would still have to go out because you had to walk the dogs, but your walks were much slower and longer, without the rush of a schedule weighing you down. You’d often stop off at the café on your walks too, grabbing some food on your way and seeing how things were running, with Jonghoon especially keeping an eye on things.

M ⇴ MORNINGS

The two of you had a habit of waking up together in the mornings and doing things together. You’d eat together, do your teeth together, and often leave the house at the same time too, making the most of the time as neither of you often knew how early or late, you’d arrive back home later that night.

N ⇴ NIGHTS

Everything about your evenings was relaxed, the two of you took things very slow and lazed around a lot too, taking things nice and slowly, causally completing your night routines before getting yourselves into bed.

O ⇴ OBSESSION

Jonghoon was obsessed with your smile, it was by far his favourite feature of yours, and something that he found incredibly comforting too. A smile from you always reassured him and made him feel at home too.

P ⇴ PRECIOUS MOMENTS

He loved being in those cliché moments that you often saw in the movies, a walk through the park with the dogs in front of you or a sweet coffee date were some of Jonghoon’s personal favourites. It was the type of relationship that he had always dreamt of, and at last it was finally happening for him with you.

Q ⇴ QUESTIONS

The two of you were always checking in on each other, whether it was in person or over the phone. As soon as you thought of the other, you’d be getting in contact and making sure that they were doing alright.

R ⇴ RANDOM FACTS

Taking photos of you was still one of Jonghoon’s biggest passions, saving an album in his phone of the photos that he took of you every year, hoping one day to create a huge album of the photos that he had taken, allowing the two of you to create a timeline of the many years that your relationship had gone on for.

S ⇴ SILENCE

You both had your moments when you were quiet, enjoying the peace that came with it. Quite often when you’d be doing your own individual hobbies, you’d do it with little noise, perhaps with music playing in the background, coming back together once you’d had enough of spending your time all alone together.

T ⇴ TIPS & TRICKS

Jonghoon’s biggest tip for making your marriage work was understanding, and learning. He was constantly finding out new things about you, even after many years together, there was always more for him to know.

U ⇴ UPSET

He hated seeing you upset, Jonghoon wouldn’t leave your side until he was able to see that things were getting easier for you.

V ⇴ VISITS

His brother especially loved whenever the two of you stopped by the coffee store, he was an extended part of your relationship, and was by far one of the biggest cheerleaders the two of you had from the start.

W ⇴ WISH LIST

Nothing else could make Jonghoon happier than what he had right now, he never felt as if he needed to wish for more from life.

X ⇴ XXXX

Whenever he kissed you, it always came with sweet intentions to try and put a smile on your face. As soon as he caught the corners of your mouth turning up, a shy giggle wouldn’t often escape Jonghoon too.

Y ⇴ YOU

You were his team-mate, quite often the two of you were glued to each other as one.

Z ⇴ ZZZ

Being able to hold you was a big deal for Jonghoon at night, he often became restless when he wasn’t able to hold onto you, trying to match your breathing pattern through the night to keep himself relaxed.

---

Masterlist

[hikayat]

ULTIMATE SHIP MEME! for jae and jong!

ULTIMATE SHIP MEME! // @clairdclunc

General:

Rate the Ship -   Awful | Ew | No pics pls | I’m not comfortable | Alright | I like it! | Got Pics? | Let’s do it! | Why is this not getting more attention?! | The OTP to rule all other OTPs

How long will they last? Not subtly until death do them apart TT TT

How quickly did/will they fall in love? Past!Jae had fallen in love with Jonghoon as cliche as love at the first sight but modern!Jae actually fell in love with first glance too but freaking denial until he had his oh moment. So in conclusion, as quick as a second went by

How was their first kiss? Past!Jae: it is after he skipped evening poetry session just to go out of his way to declare his love for Jonghoon and so so eagerly smooches Jonghoon after declaration, needless to say the smooch was innocent and tender like his young age is--- Modern!Jae would share their first kiss softly, in Jonghoon's lab and affirming 'I choose you, you are more than good enough for me'

Wedding:

Who proposed? Jonghoon? Jaemin is too coward for his own good to get down on his knees (read: what if... Jonghoon says no? I know he won't but wHAT IF?!)

Who is the best man/men? Jaejin, the head of the department that he is close with and a childhood friend?

Who is the braid’s maid(s)? .... I have no clue on this

Who did the most planning? Believe it or not, Jaemin doesn't mind they get married as spontaneously as asking a priest to bless them without planning because he doesn't like stress

Who stressed the most? Between them.... who?

How fancy was the ceremony? - Back of a pickup truck | 2 | 3 | 4 | Normal Church Wedding | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Kate and William wish they were this big.

Who was specifically not invited to the wedding? Bet their exes are not in the list.

Sex:

Who is on top? As much as Jaemin is a switch... he lets Jonghoon take the wheel?

Who is the one to instigate things? Just to rile up Jonghoon? Just to tease Jonghoon? Sign Modern!Jaemin up -- Past!Jae could never (he would self-destruct at his own attempt)

How healthy is their sex life? - Barely touch themselves let alone each other | 2 | 3 | 4 | Once a couple weeks, nothing overboard | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | They are humping each other on the couch right now

How kinky are they? - Straight missionary with the lights off | 2 | 3 | 4 | Might try some butt stuff and toys | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Don’t go into the sex dungeon without a horse’s head

How long do they normally last? TBA? /SWEATS FACE/

Do they make sure each person gets an equal amount of orgasms? Yes and Modern!Jae would demand for it (because he can)

How rough are they in bed? - Softer than a butterfly on the back of a bunny | 2 | 3 | 4 | The bed’s shaking and squeaking every time | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Their dirty talk is so vulgar it’d make Dwayne Johnson blush. Also, the wall’s so weak it could collapse the next time they do it.

How much cuddling/snuggling do they do? - No touching after sex | 2 | 3 | 4 | A little spooning at night, or on the couch, but not in public | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | They snuggle and kiss more often than a teen couple on their fifth date to a pillow factory.

Children:

How many children will they have naturally? Jaemin doesn't imagine himself having kids but if Jonghoon wants it? He could try

How many children will they adopt? Same as above; He still hasn't see the parenthood in him yet

Who gets stuck with the most diapers? He would take turns with Jonghoon

Who is the stricter parent? … He could never be. He pulls outs the rebellion card growing up so he might sympathize with his kids

Who stops the kid(s) from doing dangerous stunts after school? If it gets too dangerous, it's him.

Who remembers to pack the lunch(es)? ... Coming from someone he eats bread for lunch for Jonghoon walks into his life... Good luck Jonghoon.

Who is the more loved parent? Loved = Spoiling them probably Jaemin.

Who is more likely to attend the PTA meetings? Both of them

Who cried the most at graduation? Maybe... none of them?

Who is more likely to bail the child(ren) out of trouble with the law? Jaemin without doubt.

Cooking:

Who does the most cooking? Jaemin relies solely on Jonghoon, he once set his microwave on fire and had the firefighter came to his aid

Who is the most picky in their food choice? Not so... sure

Who does the grocery shopping? Could see them doing grocery shopping after-work

How often do they bake desserts? Tiramisu almost every other day Or whenever they just crave for it?

Are they more of a meat lover or a salad eater? Maybe mixture of both

Who is more likely to surprise the other(s) with an anniversary dinner? Jaemin because Surprise is something he likes to do every now and ten

Who is more likely to suggest going out? The two of them; Equally because walking their dogs is good time spent together

Who is more likely to burn the house down accidently while cooking? Jaemin.

Chores:

Who cleans the room? Jonghoon? Jaemin likes a little bit of mess.. sadly.

Who is really against chores? None of them is not against chores but for Jaemin he can start a gear late before getting into it.

Who cleans up after the pets? Equally divided!

Who is more likely to sweep everything under the rug? - None of them

Who stresses the most when guests are coming over? HMMM if over-bearing guest I can see the two of them getting stressed

Who found a dollar between the couch cushions while cleaning? Why do I see it is the two of them doing this.

Misc:

Who takes the longer showers/baths? Equal time for the two of them sometimes Jaemin can take a very short shower.

Who takes the dog out for a walk? - Two of them. With their Pomeranian and Shiba

How often do they decorate the room/house for the holidays? If the holidays are their favourite then always!

What are their goals for the relationship? - Making every day count and there is no such thing as weak hearts and illness. Just the days that count until the last breath

Who is most likely to sleep till noon? - On lazy day? Both of them!!

Who plays the most pranks? - Jaemin: deleted internet.... and sleeping Jonghoon as dekstop wallpapers

[characterdump-dean]

Bang Sungki

age: 27

fc: Go Tae seob (Holland)

Height: 5′9

Sexuality: Gay

tw: suicide, abuse, assault, substance abuse, alcohol

Sungki grew up with a single mother and an older sister. His father left them many years ago, deciding he didn’t want to take care of two children. Most of the time, their mother was working and she didn’t have time for her children. She always had high expectations for the both of them and wanted both of them to become famous which was why his sister ended up making a make up and beauty products company. Desperate to live up to his mother’s expectations and be equal with his sister, Sungki decided he would become an idol.

He auditioned when he was in high school and made it in. He quickly climbed to the top and became a one of the best idols in the company he’d signed onto. So Sungki became the lead singer and dancer in his group. This was where he met the once model, Hyunsook. The two hit it off and became very close. Everything was great until Sungki met his sister’s fiance’s nephew, Junghoon. his sister was visiting her lover in America and Sungki decided to come down to visit and at the same time, Min Junghoon was there. Junghoon had turned out to be gay and was disowned by his family in Korea. He’d come to live in America where his uncle Mills was the only one who still accepted him. Sungki was very confused at first, having met this man and not understanding the fact that he was so pretty but yet all his life, Sungki was convinced he was straight. Now, he didn’t care if someone else was gay, he was very accepting but he couldn’t imagine himself really having a relationship with another male. He’d always imagined having a family of his own with a woman one day when he retired as an idol. But then he began to get to know Jonghoon and slowly the two fell in love. Jonghoon had managed to awaken Sungki, made him realize he was into men and not women and that was the reason for never having had a relationship in high school before he joined his company as an idol.

Things got complicated then. Jonghoon didn’t want to be secretly dating an idol and it caused a lot of strain on their relationship. But then Sungki asked Jonghoon to marry him. The week they planned their honeymoon after secretly getting married, Sungki was put on a show called We Got Married against his will by his manager who had been very suspicious of how much time he spent with some stranger he didn’t even know. this made their relationship harder and finally, after the show was finished with an uncomfortable kiss, Sungki went home and kissed Jonghoon out in the park they first met, unbeknownst to them, a fan of the idol had taken a photo. Everything blew up. He had to go on a talk show and he was told to make allegations against Jonghoon but he refused in the end. He disappeared and hid until everything died down. The day he was going to get a plane ticket back to Jonghoon where he would finally be happy, he was attacked. Sungki ended up getting stabbed and his arm was broken among other things. He ended up in the hospital and when he was recovered, he went to america to live with Jonghoon. 

Things were good until one day, it started to change. Jonghoon was gone a lot and Sungki decided to surprise Jonghoon at work. but he wasn’t there. So he went to the studio space he’d bought for Jonghoon and when he went in, Jonghoon was having sex with someone else. Sungki ran. He’d confronted Jonghoon later and all he got was “I want a divorce.” After the divorce, Sungki was alone and miserable. Jonghoon blocked him on everything and he ended up working for an LGBTQ youth group that reached out to him, helping kids who had been displaced like him. But Sungki was miserable. After seeing Jonghoon on the street, happy with the man he’d been cheating on Sungki with, the ex-idol grabbed a bottle of alcohol, took a bunch of pills he’d saved from the pain at the hospital and went into the deepest part of the forest that was nearby and took all the pills, drinking the alcohol with the intention to end his life. But someone found him and he was rushed to the hospital. After his stomach was pumped, Hyunsook was called and they informed him that Sungki was in a coma. It was liek this for two months, they didn’t pull the plug or anything because he was still active. He just needed to wake up. When Sungki did wake up, he was unhappy that his attempt hadn’t worked and ended up being put in evaluation for a while.

He now lives with Hyunsook again, constantly being watched in case he tried again, but Sungki feels like a shell of a person, trying to put a smile on every day while working at the youth center. Everyone was very kind to him when he came home but he still feels empty on a day to day basis, trying to live his life.

-he is an artist, he likes to paint and draw

-he doesnt sing all that much anymore but he does like his singing voice

-he did do blogs before the coma but not so much anymore. He thinks he might do it again someday.

-The LGBTQ group he works for is named Reach Out

[justtextmeoppa]

I’ve an eternity with you - Final

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 (final)

Words count: 5,1k+

Genre: Vampire!Au / Smut (this chapter) 

Pairing: Yesung x Reader

For our @vintage-misery16, Hope you like it cutie! M.

Gif isn’t mine, credit to the owner!

"Are you sure to feel good?" Donghae questioned, turning towards you with slightly arching eyebrows. You couldn't see him, but you knew him enough to know his expressions just by listening to his tone of voice. "Y/N? Something wrong? "  

You turned to him with a fake smile, "Nothing special, just a strong headache."  

Everyone in the room went quiet and five glances were projected on you, but continuing to smile you would slip on their concern. You handed the document to Leeteuk and you walked out of the room. The air was what you needed, knowing that in a few minutes your apprehensive sweet half would find you in the small corner of the roof that was your secret hideaway.  

The heels on the stairs were the only sound to resonate in the air, your quick were steps in spite of your inability to breathe really, you felt a strange weight in your chest.  

There was nothing going well in those days. You couldn't feed yourself and the lack of blood was becoming problematic. The smell sickened you and you knew the guilt was that your body was asking for human blood. The artificial one had no more effect on you and the fear of hurting someone was bringing you to madness.  

Every time you lay your eyes on the neck of any human being, the images of your fangs in the soft flesh, the violent and disruptive flow of the crimson liquid into your mouth, those thoughts provoked you nausea and repulsion to yourself.  

Jongwoon had noticed your miserable change, despite the obscure reason behind it. Every attempt to go beyond that strange armor you were building was empty, while his bad blood was increasing the conflict between you.  

No longer you two couldn't communicate and it was worse than the problem of the blood itself. Because you were realizing that without Jongwoon it was impossible to exist. You already knew it, but that moment was intensifying the already existing conviction.  

The ring at your finger placed a few months before and that had bound you two in the most known human way, was another small weight. You were married in front of a few people, those who were most loved, but you hadn't enjoyed the moment because of the work of both. There was grudge in the air for that, but you knew he wasn't blaming you and it was a bit of tranquility in that chaos of emotion.  

The fresh air of the night stroked your skin as soon as you reach the roof while you get rid of the blazer you wore. Your skin was boiling and you were aware that it was the fault of that increasingly huge lack. Your mouth was so dry that even the most putrid and polluted drop of blood would have calmed that thirst.  

"It's not my business," you sighed in hearing Kyuhyun's voice a few steps away from you, "but I think your little problem is getting too big to handle."  

His hand leaned behind your back, starting to move up and down in gentle movements. His attempt to reassure at least your body was having an impact, your senses loosened and your body relaxed albeit a little. It was your mind that couldn't stop, which second after second elicited thoughts that you would have preferred to delete instantly.  

With the corner of the eye you watched the vampire at your side, his beauty stuck in his candid 27 years and that mischievous look that represented how much he actually had been amused by having understood something before the others. "How did you figure it out?" was the question asked shortly after by your hoarse voice, while he shrugged his shoulders and pretended to count with the fingers of his free hand.  

"Hyun..."  

He chuckled for a few seconds, then come back earnestly and fasten his gaze with yours, "a few days ago. Just because Jongwoon Hyung is getting crazy trying to figure out what's going on. "  

Feeling that your husband was getting crazy caused to your heart a strange pang, it had broken you without really causing you physical pain. Your mind recorded the information but you couldn't say anything, imprisoned momentarily in a body that seemed strange to you.  

"Noona.. Hey, Noona? "  

"Can you take you home without anyone noticing it..?"  

Kyuhyun smiled with sweetness and without saying anything brought you up on his back, you fastened your arms around his neck and legs around his waist with an iron grip. It was decades that you didn't jump on the roofs as you used to do as soon as you learned your vampire potential, but doing it at that moment helped you not to think.  

The wind on the skin, Kyuhyun's screams that seemed like having the best time of his life, the perfection of Seoul seen from above, the faint voices that your ears still perceived. Excerpts of human life that you somehow envied.  

The "trip", however, was too short and after not even ten minutes your house was before you and your feet were already firmly resting on the ground.  

You would mess the hair of your "savior" and he chuckled again, appreciating that gentle gesture on your part. You weren't often inclined to endure his way of joking, but now you knew Kyuhyun from so much that you knew when he did something with his heart. And helping you was always something that he loved to do.  

"I'll see you tomorrow, I'll tell the others that I saw you come out of one of the thousand hidden exits of the building," he whispered by winking and in the middle of the night, he disappeared again, making you smile for the first time in several weeks.  

The silence of the house lulled you for the first few seconds when you crossed the door, but the weight of your overwhelming thirst came back to remind you of how bad it really was. The stabbing pain in your head increased when, after dragging yourself into the kitchen, you had opened an artificial blood sack gulping down the content in two long sips. No satisfaction, no fulfillment. Hunger was violent, it was sending your brain and the rest of your body to fire.  

With trembling hands, you lean at the counter just in time to feel a pair of arms supporting you and slightly tightening around your waist.  

"Honey, what the hell is going on with you?" The concern in his voice made you tremble even more, effortlessly he took you into his arm to bridal style and ran into your shared bedroom. "Y/N, I want to know what the heck is going on. It's weeks that you're weird, " he added, laying you on the bed, taking off your shoes and immediately stood by your side, lifting an arm to invite you to come closer.  

Your forces were lacking to the point that you even couldn't turn around to be able to hide in that embrace, Jongwoon understood it because after a few seconds he slipped towards you and hugged you forcefully. Afraid that what was happening to you was taking you away from him. He wasn't saying it aloud, but fear was devouring him alive.  

"Don't.. Promise me one thing, " you whispered with effort, swallowing the taste of the blood still stuck in your throat, "that if I'll become a monster, you'll stop me. "  

"What are you saying? Y/N.. You could never be a monster. "  

You panted, that weight on your chest was heavier than usual, grasping his shirt in an attempt not to collapse definitively, "Woon.. Please, I.. I can't drink anymore. The artificial blood leaves me hungry and.. I'm getting insane, the desire of human blood is becoming an obsessive thought. "  

Jongwoon held his breath in hearing the problem, he hadn't imagined a similar danger. Because he knew what would happen if your body hadn't received the nourishment that most craved. It would have started to destroy himself.  

Vampires were immortal, but not indestructible. And you were slowly slipping between his fingers, without him being able to save you in any way.  

He said nothing, he didn't make any kind of promise. He simply squeezed you, lulling you and singing until the moment when the fatigue had the best and the sleep swooped on your body.  

"The moment my eyes saw reality, I realized how special you were."  

Jongwoon's voice tore you from the light sleep in which you were falling, but he wasn't beside you and you understood that they were the memories of your wedding day that somehow had awakened you. A little smile confronted your lips, your body moved in automatically and you would sit between the blankets while your gaze wandered in search of your husband. His scent was fresh on the sheets and on his pillow, he shouldn't have gone for too much.  

"Woon..? Love..?"  

The bathroom door opened and his figure came out with only a towel laced around his waist and one into his hair, "Baby, I'm here."  

You kept smiling, his presence calmed you down and told him what your problem was helping your mind not to ramble too much. "Why are you smiling like that? It's pretty creepy, baby. "  

"Just because."  

"Or do you like what you see," he squeezed his eye in an attempt to make a wink, making you giggle and his face brightened, "could you always do it?"  

You bit your thin lower lip, without understanding what it was about, "what??" You asked confused.  

"Laugh, smile.. exist. "  

The last word almost trembled and the atmosphere changed drastically. The implication was blatant, you swallowed with difficulty and you would get up from the bed approaching him. Gently you steeled the towel he had on his head, ordering him with your gaze to bend just a little, starting to rub his hair. Little whimpers of appreciation escaped from his lips and you started to tune his favorite song. All but to divert attention from what really loomed over you.  

"After six months of marriage finally my wife does something sweet for me."  

"Shut up, you dummy," you beat him against his right temples, then continuing to move with precise gestures the towel, "That's it, your sweet wife has finished."  

Suddenly his hands rested on your hips and he drew you against his body. The water droplets on his skin immediately soaked in the thin fabric of your t-shirt, making you shudder. "What is it?" Your whisper was shattered against his lips that were approaching yours, but he blocked his head a few millimeters from them.  

"Can we forget everything else at least for a while? It's just you and me, we enjoy that first wedding night that we never really lived. "  

Without giving you time to retort, Jungwoon attacked your mouth and everything else really disappeared.  

Your hands wandered over his abdomen and untied the towel that fell on his hips, leaving him totally naked in front of you. His lips were hungry for your own, they moved with ferocity, biting and sucking more points your thin lower lip and the moans repressed in your throat were hard to restrain.  

With your right hand, you started palming his cock, still soft but already boiling to contact. With small movements, you caress the head with your open palm, then descending along the entire length starting to pump after having tightened it firmly. Your movement didn't go unnoticed to Jungwoon that closed his eyes and let the pleasure begin to spread in his body, ignoring for a few moments his mission in devouring your lips already quite swollen.  

"Keep it up.. Faster, babe "he gasped bend his head backwards and fill your ears with his voice, pure honey for you.  

You rested your lips against his collarbone, leaving small marks with your teeth of your passage while your hand increased its movement. You could feel the throbbing of his dick against your own flesh while his erection grew harder. With a fast grip, you twitched your wrist, sinking your hand to the base picking up a slight scream laden with excitement from your husband's lips.  

You were satisfied that you could provoke those feelings, but you knew that they would push the less human side of both to manifest.  

With a slight thump, your knees met the floorspringand your hands rested on his thighs, lightly scratching them. Your mind was totally blurred. The rational part of you had disappeared, leaving room for the sound redundant that your desire provoked uninterruptedly.  

"Open your mouth," he instructed and you obeyed, squeezing the base of his shaft with your hand and half-closed your moist lips on the head of it. The flavor of the pre-cum was salty, but you swallowed it starting to turn the tip of your tongue on the pulsating and boiling flesh. "Baby, are you teasing me too much, mh?"  

"Sh," you silenced him, starting to push your head towards his throbbing cock, engulfing it slowly until you felt the tip press firmly against the bottom of your throat.  

Your eyes turned, becoming of a scarlet red while your head began to move at a slow pace up and down.  

You felt the taste on the tip of your tongue, caressing every inch that you could reach while your mouth was welcoming him to the fullest. His groans began to be more like a rambling, more hoarse and dense and the air began to become hot for both. His hand squeezed into your hair, driving your movements and asking you to increase your speed.  

But he couldn't impose what you didn't want and he knew it. He grunted annoyed and you slightly sank your teeth on the tip, making him jump but don't give up the grip on your hair.  

"Fuck, Y/n, avoid the next tim-Y/N!" he yelled when you sucked vigorously, stroking his reddened skin with your teeth. His scream provoked, even more, arousal, the taste in your mouth darkened totally that of thirst and the bubble of pleasure that was growing in your lower belly was becoming almost annoying.  

With your hand, while your head bobbed up and down at an exhausting and slow pace, you squeezed his balls starting to massage them slowly feeling him whispering something incomprehensible. But you knew it was the pleasure to drive his words, just as it was the principle that drove you.  

Your body needed to be stripped and touched, but your wish was in the background compared to give pleasure to your husband.  

Jongwoon, blinded by the instinct that was driving him to madness, softly yanked your head and finally managed to distract you from your continuous biting and sucking. Without delicacy he lifted you and began to snatch every garment you wore, dropping the shreds of what you would no longer wear on the ground.  

"I love thinking you to buy them ag--"  

"Shut up, for the sake of the one I cannot mention," his voice was black, almost like the color of his eyes as he clasped your wrists and pushed you to your bed.  

The mattress greeted your body a few seconds later with a splash, Jongwoon's glance incited adrenaline and desire that ran along your body. He licked his lower lip, biting with strength and his fingers began to caress your thighs. A quick shot and your legs were wide open, his body was already between them and you could feel his dick stroking your core. You were so sensitive that that contact made you buckle up your hips, thus increasing the friction between your body and he smiled satisfied.  

"Don't dare to play with me, Kim Jongwoon," the threat was weak and he bent towards you, moving his hips against yours and rubbing forcefully against your most sensitive part.  

"You have played with me before. Why can't I repay you in some way? "  

You puffed and had bit your tongue to not answer him badly, "Why.. I don't know, but it will be good if yo--"  

Your eyes were snapped close when you felt him slipped into you with strength, that bubble of heat into your stomach totally burned down. Your body began to tremble beneath hips and the spasms calmed down only when his lips were on your own, preventing you from screaming his name or moaning in some way. Your first orgasm was fast, silent and left a sense of desire even more intense. You needed more, you needed to lose yourself completely.  

As if it were possible he pushed his hips more forcefully, making his length totally sink in you and your hands trembled in clinging to his shoulders. Your fingernails pierced into his flesh when he finally began to move.  

They were circular movements with which he sank in you to a slow killer pace and his quick breath against your lips did nothing but to increase the arousal. "W-Woon.. P-please.. "  

He didn't answer but bring his mouth on your breasts. His tongue stroked the left nipple, then sinking his teeth into softness flesh and began to suck with desire. His hips continued to move up and down, it seemed almost even slower, while his tongue and his teeth continued to fiddle with your now hard nipple. The wetness of his muscle around your nipple added warmth to your body, which wiggled trying to relieve that intense pain that was building up again in your stomach.  

Your nails sank into his flesh, your screams filled the room, that supplication that he seemed not to hear while the sound of his skin colliding with yours almost hushing your voice.  

Jongwoon lifted his head, to observe how much he was torturing you and smiled satisfied in seeing the pleasure to twist your lines. He lowered himself to kiss your lips but it was at that moment that the situation went totally out of control.  

Your fangs plunged into his neck in the instant that he was close enough to allow you. Immediately the taste of his blood, the viscosity of it, caressed your palate and your mind went into total tilt. You started sucking, drinking the blood of the man you loved as if it were normal administration. You didn't hear his groans, as his movements had become faster. You only felt the pleasure of the blood dripping down your throat, which destroyed that thirst built in the whole weeks, which gave strength to your body.  

"Y/N.. Sto-- Fuck.. " Jongwoon swore, who despite trying a pinch of pain at the point where your canine had sunk, could feel new and unknown sensations.  

Without realizing it began to dunk between your hot and moist walls with more strength, with faster and rude thrusts. backward hands were clasped onto your hips, without being able to prevent your body from jerking at every thrust.  

He placed his forehead on your shoulder, you too involved in drinking not noticing how much your gesture was intensifying his. "H-Honey.." His voice reawakened you and immediately you raised your head, the crimson liquid that slipped along his clavicle and on your chin, the flavor that still blaring in your mouth. "And--Hey.. I'm fine, focus on me, " he murmured gently, stroking your cheek and struck your g-spot at the moment when your eyes met.  

He kissed you, erasing from your mind what you had done for a second. Tasted the taste of his own blood while with his tongue caressed yours and wandered for your moist cavern, his thrusts now increasingly sloppier.  

Your hands cupped his face, moving him away from your own to be able to admire his eyes while both reached your climax together. His enigmatic smile, while he was repeatedly hitting your g-spot, confused you but a few moments after a slight pinch sprang on your neck and your climax swept you with extreme violence.  

He had sunk his fangs inside you when you came, by forcefully pressing his hips against your groin, sinking your own dick and letting your walls tighten with violence on it.  

Your body began to tremble with aggressive spasms, your hands clung to the sheet beneath you while you felt his tongue on your skin and the sound of his sucking that accompanied your groans. He trembled as much as you, but he was driving his own orgasm by losing himself in the pleasure of your blood.  

"W-Woon.." You gasped feeling your high slowly decreasing, your body covered by a patina of sweat calming and the spasms slowly vanish, " W-Woon.."  

The memory of a few months earlier, the confession of why he didn't want to drink your blood, invested you. He was afraid not to stop, but you couldn't feel any kind of fears.  

You closed your eyes, letting him feed, starting to feel something strange. An intense feeling at chest height, almost as if you were experiencing the transformation a second time. You didn't know what it was, but you welcomed it quietly. Your body was relaxed on the mattress, your orgasm had left some remnant in your veins and the odd but increasingly intense feeling was driving you to a completely different pleasure.  

The warmth from your chest vanished at the moment when the pinch at the neck ceased. Moaning you reopened your eyes only to see your husband look you totally shocked, a rivulet of blood dripping from his mouth and fell to small drops on your breasts. You still felt his presence inside of you, so you moved your hips towards him by picking up a little groan on his part.  

"Woon.. Because you look so upse--a-ouch, " you muttered when with a movement he took off his own cock from your cunt, jumping down from the bed going to close in the bathroom. "What the heck.." was your whisper while watching the bathroom door closed, coming down from the bed. The first thing you'd notice was that your strength was back. Your body wasn't as weak as before, and your perennial headache had disappeared.  

"It means that.. His blood.. " You talked to yourself, went near the door starting to knock gently," love, what the heck is it? You know we just had sex.. If you hide I can think that you didn't like it. "  

"Go away."  

"Wo--"  

"Your blood.. Please clean up. "  

It was cold. Jongwoon had never spoken to you so coldly even in the years when you two hated to guts. Staying in silence you came out of your bedroom, descended downstairs and the kitchen was the first place you would stop. You had other bathrooms, but somehow you wanted to try if the theory in your mind was exact.  

First, you rinse the blood on your neck and breast, feeling the two holes in the flesh heal quickly. You were naked, but it wasn't a problem since you and Jongwoon were the only people in the house.  

You ignored the thought of how to deal with your husband and you took an artificial blood sack from the refrigerator. You were ready for yet another wave of disgust, but when your fingers detached part of the envelope, all that your stomach did was to grumble with hunger.  

Your answer had arrived, even if you didn't understand. Drinking Jongwoon's blood, another vampire, had in some way balance the lack of the human one. How could you didn't know, but you had no time to ask further questions.  

You shed the blood in a cup, leaving it in the refrigerator while your feet were driving you back upstairs. You were afraid of what could have happened, but it was something that was going to be dealt with.  

In silence you entered your room and found the man you loved more than anything near the bed, intent on looking the sheets. Crimson spots near the pillow made you immediately guess who the blood was and your sigh came to his ears. He turned and looked at you, his eyes shining and the difficulty in not crying visibly.  

"Jongwoon," the sadness in your voice kept low by your willpower, running near him and hugging him, feeling your heart breaking into pieces seeing him so fragile. Your arms wrapped around his chest, he hid his face in your hair and then he began to tremble at the moment when he felt your body pressed against his. "Woon.. W-Why are you reacting like this? "  

"I could have killed you, Y/N. I could--" he breathed without being able to continue the phrase, both still naked while in your mind the ways to reassure him were multiples. In silence you did him sit on the bed, running to recover some clothes from the closet.  

His hiccups, rare sound to hear but at that time so noisy as to soak in your mind forever, accompanied your gestures. You slipped a pair of boxers and a t-shirt onto him, wearing panties and one of his shirts.  

"Look at me," your soft voice ordered once you both were dressed, adjusting yourself between his legs remaining standing.  

He placed his hands on your hips, drawing you more towards himself and hid his face against your belly, somehow succeding to calm his hiccups.  

"Jongwoon, I want you to look at me," you whispered just before brought your wrist to your mouth. When you sank the canine in the flesh the taste of your own blood made you grind your teeth, but to prove that you were wrong you would have endured.  

You felt him stiffened when the smell of your blood flattered in the air and he tried to move away, but you tightened his shoulder with your free hand and used your strength to keep him blocked against the bed. His gaze was asking for pity, but there was also a strange repressed anger that you could see when your eyes just met. "What are you doing?" He asked you, that cold tone caressed his voice usually soft and velvety.  

"Make you understand that you can't hurt me."  

"Who says so."  

"The fact that it's a minute that I'm bleeding, but you haven't bitten me yet. A vampire in prey to the desire for blood would have made spend at most five seconds before to eat. "  

His eyes were wide open when your explanation illuminated his mind. You could see the mechanisms of his mind working and how slowly the knowing was erasing fear, hidden in his eyes along with anger.  

"You can keep yourself, Woon. You're already doing it, " the smile you wore with more sweetness made you smile in return, jolting when he shook your wrist and simply licked your skin by erasing the blood just cast. Without drinking, without frets or feeling his breath itching due to the violent need for blood.  

"I can restrain myself.." He expressed shock, a small and almost embarrassed smile that adorned his mouth, "Did you hear it too?"  

"What..?"  

"The transformation.. When you bite me. "  

The memory of the sensation when his canines had sunk into your flesh returned to the mind, his arms already around your hips while he made you sit on his thigh and watched you quietly waiting for an answer.  

"Yes.. But it was different, less painful.. "  

"And hotter,"  

"And more intense."  

You looked into each other eyes trying to understand what it meant, his hand that caressed your side didn't help much your concentration but his smile allowed you to understand the picture in her completeness.  

"We've been transformed again.. Only in a different way, " you giggled, feeling dumb for not understanding something so simple before.  

He arched an eyebrow, without having come to your own conclusion, "it would be nice to understand, love..."  

"The bind. It's the feeling that you feel when you bind.. We have transformed into two complementary people, totally complementary. "  

His expression of pure love and dedication that reserved you soon after made you almost melt, despite not being able to succeed blush or melt and he hid his face against your neck provoking you a ping of tickle.  

"So now we're tied, right? You're mine forever, aren't you? "  

"Like you said more than two years ago.. I've an eternity with you. "  

[multifansky]

Super Junior 16th Member AU - Yesung

Sky and Yesung/Jonghoon

Two of the cutest members ever!

Having similarities that others might find annoying like, always wanting to go to cafes, taking selfies and videos every giving moment, call the members when they are feeling lonely, sleep for like 3 hours every night, hey even both do the weird octopus dance!

Sky will tease him along with her partner Eunhyuk

When he gets mad at her constant teasing she then goes soft and innocent, hugging him and telling him it’s just a joke and that she loves him....as if she didn’t just piss him off

They lived together for about 2 years and let me tell you....it was very interesting

Imagine the “we lived together” episode with Eunhyuk but its Sky instead and it's every day for two years

Sometimes when he is pissed off with her, he’ll raise his voice but immediately regret it and hug her

They are always cuddling if they are sitting down somewhere

Joke about dating but never even felt that way with each other

They support each others music 100%

Compliments are happening between them both 24/7

Always on appearance, singing abilities, acting, dancing. Etc.

These two are the ones that probably swear the most

If Sky is in a bad mood or upset, Yesung will drop everything to comfort her

In trainee and debut days they would often share a bed if they had too

Yesung is wrapped around her finger and he doesn’t care...until Eunhyuk says some stupid shit about it

Masterlist

[peachyuus-arc]

❛ you always pretend you don’t care but i know you do. ❜ (gahoon)

“I don’t pretend.” She hisses, not the least bit eager to admit he was right. “I don’t care about who you talk to. It’s your life, Jonghoon. I’m not your mom and I’m definitely not your girlfriend, either.” Crossing her arms over her chest, Gayeon huffs. All she can imagine is the face of that silver-haired girl being too close to Jonghoon and smiling. Their smiles were so wide, so similar that it practically tore a hole through her chest. She wasn’t jealous. She wasn’t mad. She had no right to be, no reason to be. Jonghoon wasn’t hers. He wasn’t her boyfriend and he wasn’t hers to control. But that didn’t stop the heart from rising in her chest when he spoke to the other girl. “I don’t give a shit who you flirt with or who you’re dating. Just don’t.. fuckin’ lead me on to believe something if you’re not even going to stick to it. I’m not some girl you can fuck around with for fun, asshole. I actually have feelings, believe it or not.”

[madefrombliss]

BUT I WAS WRONG. I couldn’t comment on Twitter - I don’t know why. I just can’t imagine those guys in that horrible way. I recall gushing over Jonghyun and Songyeun on WGM - even thinking how lucky the actress got to be paired with him. You know what’s worse?? I was thinking like “whoever got to marry him will be lucky.” UGHHHHHHH </3 (insert vomit emoji). 

Then there’s Jonghoon. Last time I saw him was on a Korean variety show about cosmetics and skin care. He was co-hosting with two female emcees. He seemed so gentle, shy and elegant in that program. I was glad to see him on tv again. Little did I know he was something vile on the inside.