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kookiesbuckethat · 3 years ago

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he calls you clingy

Namjoon x f!reader

Genre: angst to fluff, hurt/comfort

WC: 2.1k

tag list: @awinkies @yzkyzkuniverse @wedarkacademia @yiyi4657 @scuzmunkie

Blindly feeling around the other side of the bed in search of Namjoon, you let out a disappointed sigh when you open your eyes only to find you’re alone. You sit up, staring blankly at the clock that reads 7:00am. You often wake up around this time because Namjoon has to leave early for work and even though he’s not here right now, you’ve already grown accustomed to his schedule and it was nearly impossible to fall back asleep without him by your side.

Due to their approaching comeback, Namjoon has been staying at the dorms for the sake of convenience. You understood how busy they were and although it was completely logical for him to stay with the rest of the boys, you haven’t seen him in a few days and you were starting to really miss him.

You always wonder if he’s getting enough rest and if he’s eating well. You know Jin, Yoongi and Hoseok take great care of the boys, but they don’t have time to cook while they’re preparing for a comeback. And although they’re grown men that are capable of taking care of themselves and they have a team of staff to take care of them, you can’t help but worry.

You decide to cook some food and bring it to the company building to surprise them and make sure they’re all doing well. After all, there’s nothing like a home-cooked meal. Throwing the blanket off your body and placing your feet on the floor, you make your way to the kitchen, already thinking about what ingredients you have and what you can make.

When you finish making everything, you smile proudly at your hard work before packing it all up and by the time you finally get in the car and start driving over to HYBE, it’s already late afternoon. Arriving at the company building, you struggle to carry all the bags of food as you hurriedly knock on the door to their practice room. Looking up at the sound of you knocking, Jimin lets out an excited gasp when he spots you standing in the doorway. “Y/n!” he exclaims as he moves from his spot to help you but Jungkook beats him to it, racing towards you and gladly taking the food from your hands.

Everyone comes over to welcome you and help carry all the bags. “You brought food? You’re the best!” Jin smiles as he ruffles your hair. You playfully swat his hand away as Hoseok appears beside Jin, trying his best to smooth down your hair that Jin just messed up before taking the last bag from your hand. As the boys unpack the food, you approach Namjoon who’s standing off to the side deep in thought.

You pull him into a hug, nuzzling into his chest affectionately but he simply pats your back a few times before stepping back. You furrow your brows at his strange behaviour, tugging on his sleeve lightly to stop him from walking away. “Is everything okay?” you ask gently. He nods at you but you’re not convinced. “Are you sure?” you keep pressing, “You can talk to me.”

You know how as the leader, he sometimes feels the need to shoulder all his burdens alone, but you didn’t want him to feel that way with you.“I just,” he pauses as he lets out a deep exhale, “I just need some space.” He tries to word it in the nicest way possible but he doesn’t miss the hurt expression that flashes across your face. “Oh,” you let out but you’re quick to cover your hurt and disappointment with a smile, “Of course. Let me know if I can help, okay?” He simply nods before turning his back to you and walking towards the rest of the members.

It stings a bit when your own boyfriend seems to be the least excited one in the room to see you. There was no reason to be hurt, you try to convince yourself as you trail behind Namjoon, he was simply communicating himself and his needs. As everyone settles into a circle on the floor around the food, you sit down next to Namjoon, trying to make simple conversation. When he asked you for space, you thought that he just didn’t want to talk about whatever was bothering him and he would be fine to spend some time together before he had to go back to practicing.

But he simply lets out a sigh when you ask him how practice is going before reaching for some food, completely ignoring your question. You frown, feeling hurt by the way he brushes you off but you try to act unaffected. Missing his touch, you wrap your arms around his torso as you lean into his side, expecting him to wrap an arm around your shoulders like he usually does. But to your surprise, he brings a hand between you two to create some distance. “Didn’t I ask you to give me some space? You’re so clingy sometimes,” his mouth immediately snaps shut, instantly regretting his words but he knows he can’t take them back.

But you miss the regret in his eyes as you stare down at your lap, sheepishly apologizing. Everyone immediately takes notice of how your face drops and you suddenly become quiet. They’ve all had their moments where they’ve said some things they don’t mean. But they know that no matter how much Namjoon tries to push you away, the one he needs the most right now is you and they can only hope he doesn’t push you too far.

You were hurt by how unaffected by the distance he seemed to be and how it seemed as though he wanted to be away from you. It was so hard to hold yourself back since you’ve never had to before and because you’ve been away from each other for so long. But his words and the cold tone he used towards you act as a harsh reminder that stops you from slipping up again. Trying your best to muster a smile, you stand from your spot on the floor.

“Are you leaving already?” Hoseok pauses mid-chew. “But you always eat with us,” Yoongi comments, subtly trying to convince you to stay. “I ate before I got here so it’s okay,” you lie but they can see right through you. “But y/n,” Taehyung whines, looking up at you with pleading eyes. “Why don’t you stay? We’re almost done and after practice, we can watch a movie or something,” Jungkook suggests. Although you know being alone with your negative thoughts probably won’t do you any good right now, you’re hesitant to accept the offer.

But the pleading glances and puppy dog eyes they send your way convince you to stay. Nodding in agreement, they all let out cheers of excitement before they start shovelling food into their mouths, trying to finish sooner so they can head back to the dorms to spend time with you. You laugh at their eagerness, telling them to slow down or else they’ll choke.

When practice for the day is over, the maknaes are quick to drag you out of the room, yelling over their shoulders for their Hyungs to hurry up. Sitting next to you in the car, they seem to be competing for who can make you laugh and smile the most, but you’re grateful as they don’t even give you a chance to feel sad. Walking into the dorms laughing and joking with the boys, they tell you to make yourself comfortable as they race up the stairs to take a quick shower and change into something comfier.

About 15 minutes later, you hear footsteps padding down the stairs before Hoseok rounds the corner, “Y/n?” You turn to find him walking into the living room with a sweatshirt in his hands. “Here. The house is kind of chilly,” he says as he extends the sweatshirt to you. You take it gratefully, slipping it on and snuggling into the soft fabric. It wasn’t the same as Namjoon’s sweaters as it was lacking his comforting warmth and scent but you were grateful nonetheless.

Everyone makes their way downstairs looking extremely comfy in their pajamas. Sitting on the other couch across the room from you, Namjoon can’t help but smile fondly as he looks at you and the maknae line piled up on one couch. Watching you interact with all his members, he knows there’s no one else better for him than you. You cared for them just as you cared for him and he felt comforted knowing that you would always be well taken care of, if not by him then by them and vice versa.

He was in a sour mood earlier when he snapped at you but he’s in a significantly better mood after being surrounded by all of you simply relaxing and having fun. But as the movie plays, the exhaustion from being awake since early morning starts to set in and you have to fight to keep your eyes open. Noticing you nodding off, Namjoon moves to take you to bed but he stops when your head falls on Jungkook’s shoulder. Jungkook looks down at you when he feels a weight on his shoulder, wrapping an arm around you to steady you when he notices you’re asleep.

Namjoon can’t help but frown as he stares at you, wearing Hoseok’s sweatshirt and cuddling into Jungkook’s side. He trusted all of you completely but he couldn’t deny that seeing you like this bothered him. He was your boyfriend. He was the one that you were supposed to go to when you needed something; a sweater to keep you warm or a shoulder to lean on. Getting up from the couch, Namjoon walks over to you and Jungkook, placing one arm underneath your back and the other hooked under your knees. The maknae simply shrugs as Namjoon carries you away, immediately turning his attention back to the television screen.

Climbing up the stairs as quietly as he can with you in his arms, Namjoon nudges the bedroom door open with his foot before walking into the room. You let out a soft noise of complaint, peeking one eye open. “Sorry, did I wake you?” he asks as he gently places you down, keeping his hands on your hips. You shake your head as you rub at your eyes. “Go get ready for bed,” he pats you on the hip a few times, gently urges you towards the bathroom. Obeying without much complaint, you make your way into the connected bathroom and do your night routine before returning to the bedroom.

Walking back into the room, you stop in front of Namjoon who’s sitting on the edge of the bed with one of his sweatshirts in his hands. Wordlessly, he lifts your arms up, pulling Hoseok’s sweater over your head before slipping his own over you. Once he’s done, he pulls you down onto his lap, rolling the two of you over so you’re laying on your sides. You snuggle into his chest as he pulls the covers over the both of you, opting to stay quiet as the last time you tried to ask what was wrong, it didn’t go too well.

Understanding that you probably aren’t keen on talking since he shut you down last time, he takes it upon himself to speak first. “I’m sorry for snapping at you earlier. I didn’t mean to call you clingy, I was just stressed but I thought I could handle it on my own so I pushed you away,” he explains, making sure to communicate himself properly this time. Your gaze softens as you see the guilt and regret in his eyes. “Do you want to talk about it?” you ask as you raise a hand to gently stroke his cheek.

He places his hands over yours, leaning his face into your hand. He closes his eyes, shaking his head, “I just want to hold you for a while.” Smiling softly at him, you place a kiss on his lips before wrapping your arms around his torso and cuddling into his chest. “I’ll always be here for you, as long as you want,” you tell him. Tightening his hold on you, he whispers, “Then I guess you’ll be here forever.”

#bts fanfic #namjoon fanfic #rm fanfic #bts x reader #namjoon x reader #rm x reader #bts #kim namjoon #namjoon #rm #bts imagines #bts scenarios #bts fluff #bts angst #namjoon fluff #namjoon angst #rm fluff #rm angst

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forjongseong · 3 years ago

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at fault // heeseung (ENHYPEN)

pairing: heeseung x fem!reader

genre: secret agents!au // warning: mentions of blood, gunshots // wc: ~2.6k

summary: you're supervising the boys in a mission in which one of the members take a hit and you blame yourself for it

author's note: hello and welcome! I have decided to post here just because I think fiction should be enjoyed by more people. my name is Nana, I am older than all the ENHYPEN members, and I usually write in third person with an OC, but to cater to the audience here I have edited all my work into Y/N, although still in a third person point-of-view. do let me know what you think about this!

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

The ride back to the basecamp was silent, unlike anything they have ever experienced before. Ni-ki was driving unbearably slowly, mostly because of the heavy rain that blocked his vision, but also because of the palpable exhaustion that everyone in that SUV felt. Their mission was complete. Despite the minor loss.

Sunghoon, riding shotgun, turned his head towards the back and saw his senior staring at the window, watching the droplets ride down the glass. Heeseung was lying beside her, his head on her lap and his clothes tainted with blood. Sunghoon did notice that Y/N was covered in more blood that was definitely not hers.

“It’s not your fault,” said Sunghoon. Ni-ki glanced at the rear-view mirror.

Y/N nodded. “I know,” she replied, barely heard.

It was definitely my fault, Y/N thought to herself as she carefully placed a hand on Heeseung’s chest.

(Four hours earlier)

The boys were all huddled up in the van, listening carefully to the instructions that were being given to them by the chief. Y/N was holding up the radio, making sure the chief’s voice was heard clear throughout.

“Remember to follow the protocols,” said Chief Lee, ending the briefing.

“Yes, Sir,” Y/N ended the call and gave a quick look to each of the boys.

It wasn’t the first time Y/N went on a mission taking the newly recruited agents. In fact, their previous missions went so well that the chief made their team permanent. It seemed like their bond created during the training period was meant to last.

Sunghoon had never missed any detail. This was what Y/N noticed the first time she observed their group task. She realized that Sunghoon was the quickest to memorize each member’s position, and he was also quick to correct any mistakes a member had done. Placing him as the strategist was probably one of Y/N’s proudest moments.

Ni-ki was the most reliable in terms of physical strength. He is a know-it-all, do-it-all type of agent. The fact that he was the youngest of them all did give him extra points. Ni-ki had always came in first whenever they go for casual runs, and since their graduation, he had always been trusted to man the vehicles.

Jungwon quite literally was the young man keeping the group together. His soft but stern side played a huge role in strengthening the communication within the group, as well as with Y/N, their superior. This was also why Jungwon was fittingly assigned as the one in charge of comms. His dexterous hands had proven useful whenever they were introduced to the latest equipment.

Sunoo was the most trustworthy desk agent that the group could ever ask for. After getting over his despair over the fact that he scored too low to become a field agent, Y/N placed him in the most important chair behind all missions. Sunoo was in charge of alerting the group whenever there’s company, and his spatial intelligence was definitely beneficial for the group to navigate easily.

Jake was Y/N’s favorite and second in command after Jungwon. During his training days, he had shown immense growth and had proven that he was able to complete any task given. Y/N assigned him as the group’s sniper, just so she could make sure he could do his work from as far as possible, without risking his life.

Jay had the grit and the passion of a leader, but his overflowing confidence and unwavering stance made Y/N believe that he was born to be placed upfront. Scars and battle wounds were like second skin to him, as most of the action he got happened in close range. What surprised Y/N the most was that during training, she discovered that Jay not only had the toughest build, but he had the softest heart too.

And then there was Heeseung. He was Y/N’s least favorite. He always came to class late, and his mannerisms did not exactly show the best level of enthusiasm. However, he proved to be dependable and quick to act, so Y/N had him placed as support. Y/N would often chuckle over the fact that his position as support extended the work field and went into her personal life.

“Keep your eyes and ears wide open. Do not do something dumb. Try not to get killed.”

The boys nodded at Y/N’s voice. Jungwon made one last check at their communication devices.

“Now remember that the mics are placed in your teeth so I can’t hear what’s going on unless you say it yourself,” he said, placing an earpiece on his left ear. “If you’re in trouble, do let me know.”

“And don’t swallow it, Ni-ki, it’s not candy,” Sunghoon chimed in when he saw Ni-ki toying with the device. Jungwon chuckled, and the rest just shook their heads.

“Alright, you know what to do,” said Y/N as she observed the several monitors set up in the van. She made sure Ni-ki was already in place at the wheels, and then as she turned around, she saw the boys leaving one by one.

“Jay, keep the fights lowkey, will you? Don’t just punch the first person you see,” Y/N made a face, pointing at his face. “I don’t want you getting anymore scars on your face.”

Jay smiled. “Yes, Ma’am.”

Heeseung was tying his shoelaces tighter and putting on his vest when Y/N approached him.

“Do you have any advice for me?” He asked, standing up.

“We’re on a mission.”

Heeseung smirked. “Okay.”

“Follow the protocols,” Y/N made a gesture for him to leave before entering the van.

“Yes, Ma’am.”

As Heeseung left the van, half-running to catch up to the other members, Y/N sat next to Ni-ki in the front seat.

“They’ll be okay, right?” asked Y/N. More to herself than to Ni-ki.

“Of course,” Ni-ki tried his best to sound as confident as possible.

(Three hours earlier)

Ni-ki was tapping his fingers on the steering wheel anxiously. The boys had gone overtime. Y/N was in the back of the van, monitoring every signal and every audio she was able to hear.

“I got it, let’s go!” Jake’s voice sounded out of breath.

“Pull out, now!” Sunghoon sounded like he was running.

“Y/N,” Sunoo called from a monitor. Y/N turned to his camera. “They’ll arrive in a minute. I’ve sent a second car to your location. It’s an automated SUV.”

Y/N nodded. “Thank you, Sunoo.” She then looked at Ni-ki, who then immediately started the van.

One by one, the members started arriving. Jake came first with the suitcases they had to retrieve, followed by Jungwon and Sunghoon. Jay was the last to arrive, fresh blood running down his face. Y/N winced at the view before quickly assigning them to their designated cars.

“Jake, you’re driving the van, let’s go,” Ni-ki got out of the driver’s seat and helped Jake store the suitcases in the other car sent to them.

Jay received the towel Y/N was holding and pressed it to his head. Jungwon hopped on the van and as Sunghoon was about to do so too, Y/N looked around.

“Where’s Heeseung?”

Jake looked at the others in the back. Sunghoon and Jay looked at Jungwon, unaware about Heeseung’s whereabouts too.

“I couldn’t reach him,” said Jungwon. He then looked at the monitor where Sunoo was online.

“I’m sorry, I lost track of him too,” Sunoo’s face looked extremely guilty.

“Where did you last see him?” asked Jay.

“He was by the staircase at the—”

“We have to leave,” said Y/N, cutting Sunoo off. “Protocols.”

Sunghoon looked at Y/N in disbelief. Jungwon was scrambling and trying his best to get a hold of Heeseung’s comms. Jake was already ready to drive. Jay stood up.

“We can’t leave him behind,” he said. “I’ll go back.”

“That means you’ll both be left behind,” said Y/N as she anxiously checks all the monitors while taking glances at the building’s entrance. “You guys go. Sunghoon and Ni-ki, you’re coming with me. We’re taking the car.”

“But…” Jay hesitated as he was still holding the towel to his head.

“Jungwon can you please take care of Jay’s wounds? I have to make a report. We need to leave. Jake, drive. We’ll be right behind.”

With uncertainty written all over their faces, Jake, Jay, and Jungwon drove away with the van. As Sunghoon entered the car with Ni-ki already starting the engine, Y/N froze for a moment by the door.

“Y/N, let’s go,” said Ni-ki.

Instead of entering the car, Y/N walked over to Sunghoon’s side and took his gun from him.

“What?!” Sunghoon started to panic.

“Give me your vest too.”

“What are you doing?” Sunghoon asked while still obliging.

Y/N immediately ran away from the car and into the building. Sunghoon was left there in shock, and Ni-ki stuck his head out the window, his gaze following Y/N’s movements.

“She’s going back for Heeseung.”

(Two days later)

After the meeting ended, Chief Lee asked Y/N to stay behind. Noticing that she hadn’t been the same since the last mission, he took the opportunity to make her favorite drink.

“Please tell me that this will at least cheer you up a bit,” he said as he placed a cup of tea in front of her. Lady Grey.

Y/N smiled. “Thanks, Minhyuk.” She took a sip of the tea before setting it on the table again. “I still feel horrible, though.”

“The mission was completed.”

“Yes, but at what cost?”

“Y/N.”

“Leaving an agent behind because we have a strict deadline does not make sense as protocol,” Y/N’s voice was shaking at this point.

“You know that time is not the only reason. We can’t risk losing more than one agent if another chooses to go back,” Minhyuk sat across the table. “You were lucky you both made it.”

Y/N scoffed. “I’m just saying, it seems a little strange that we teach them about loyalty, yet at the same time we’re also willing to abandon a fellow agent.”

Minhyuk realized that no matter how logical his explanation was, it would not make Y/N blame herself less. He sighed and looked deeply into her eyes.

“Take some time off, okay? I’ll let you know when he wakes up.”

“Are you dismissing me?”

“I said you deserve a break, Y/N. Do not twist my words. Please rest. I will need you back soon.”

Y/N looked back into Minhyuk eyes and realize he had sincere sympathy for her. She immediately felt horrible for behaving so hostile.

“Call me the second he wakes up. Will you?”

Minhyuk nodded.

“The second he wakes up, Minhyuk.”

Minhyuk smiled. “I will. I promise.”

(Eight days later)

It was raining hard outside Y/N’s apartment, and it took her back to the day of the mission. She was able to remember every detail clearly. Including the part where Heeseung got shot trying to protect her.

Whenever people describe a past situation and claiming that it all happened very fast, Y/N always thought they were exaggerating. But as she experienced it firsthand, she realized the truth of those words.

Heeseung had lost contact with the other members because of a close-contact fight that damaged his device. His tracker was also removed in the fight. When Y/N found him, he was already making his way out.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” said Heeseung, immediately looking worried as he spotted Y/N walking towards him.

“You’re not supposed to be late,” she replied.

And then they both heard gunshots. As they took cover, Y/N shot at every direction where she could find an enemy, and she did manage to take out a couple of men. But when she was reloading, she took her eyes off the surroundings for one second, and the next thing she saw was Heeseung bleeding from his chest.

After almost dying taking out the rest of the crew, Y/N staggered to the car where Ni-ki and Sunghoon were restlessly waiting, propping Heeseung with her own body. The two boys made sure Heeseung’s wound was treated properly before Ni-ki drove away, reassured after Y/N said no one else in that building was alive.

Y/N’s phone rang. She almost knocked over the cup of tea that had gone cold on her table as she scrambled to reach her phone.

“This is Y/N,” she said before she paused. “Jay?”

“Hi, yeah. Chief Lee told me to call you. You should come in,” Jay said over the phone.

“Is he awake?” Y/N sounded hopeful.

Jay took a long pause. “That depends,” Jay cleared his throat. “I mean, he did wake up and he was all conscious and that, but now he’s sleeping again.”

Y/N sighed a breath of relief. “I thought I told Chief Lee to call me the second Heeseung wakes up.”

“You know how he is,” Jay responded calmly. “I can pick you up if you want.”

“Sounds great. Thanks, Jay.”

---

Jay and Y/N arrive at their headquarters an hour later. Jay secretly regretted offering to pick her up because of the long drive, but as he saw Y/N sleeping throughout the whole journey, he felt like he did something nice and instead felt proud.

As they entered the room where Heeseung was being treated, the other five boys welcomed her with delight.

“She’s here!” Sunoo squealed.

Jake walked over to Jay and gave him a fist bump, and then Y/N a hug. “Missed you a lot, Sis.”

Y/N smiled back at Sunghoon, Jungwon, and Ni-ki who all said hi to her, and she finally locked eyes with Heeseung.

“You idiot.”

The first words that Y/N had to say to Heeseung had, in fact, became the cause of laughter in the room. After a quick playful banter among the members, Jungwon suggested that they leave the room so Y/N was able to talk to Heeseung in private.

After they left, Heeseung sat up. Y/N rushed to his side.

“You’re not supposed to be moving too much.”

“My God, seriously? Every word I hear from you is ‘you’re not supposed to do this’, ‘don’t do that’, ‘stop doing this’. Don’t you have anything else to say to me?”

The frustration in Heeseung’s voice sounded quite endearing to Y/N. She smiled, gave a ‘sorry’ look to him, and sat on the edge of the bed. Heeseung linked his fingers with Y/N’s.

“I talked to Chief Lee and we’re all going to review the protocols,” said Y/N, avoiding eye contact.

“What, you mean like, about agents dating each other?” asked Heeseung, looking straight at Y/N.

“What?” asked Y/N.

“What…?” Heeseung asked back.

Annoyed, Y/N tried to pull her hand, but Heeseung just strengthened his grip.

“I really thought I was going to lose you,” she said faintly, almost a whisper.

“Literally what I thought when I saw you coming back for me,” Heeseung pulled back his hand to wipe a single tear that trickled down Y/N’s face.

“Maybe you should be an analyst like Sunoo. I’ll put you behind a desk,” said Y/N after composing herself.

Heeseung chuckled. “And let you do the action all by yourself? Hell no.”

“I have the boys,” Y/N looked out the room. Through the window, she could see them talking to each other, joking around and laughing.

Heeseung sighed. “Well, I want you to have me too.”

Y/N scoffed, clearly showing that she had had enough of Heeseung’s cheesy lines.

“I mean it,” Heeseung moved his hand to grip Y/N’s arm, pulling her closer. “Help me out here, will you?”

Y/N could have sworn she saw stars in Heeseung’s eyes. She knew it was just tears threatening to fall, but she saw a galaxy in him. She scooted over and leaned down, and Heeseung welcomed her lips in his.

Outside, Jake caught sight of this and immediately pulled the boys away. Oblivious, Y/N playfully pulled away and flicked Heeseung on the forehead.

“Should we tell the boys about this?” Y/N whispered, her face just an inch away from Heeseung’s.

Heeseung pretended to think and then shook his head.

“They already know.”

-END-

reblogs and feedback would be much appreciated!

#writtenbynana #enhypen #enhypen heeseung #enhypen jay #enhypen jake #enhypen sunghoon #enhypen sunoo #enhypen jungwon #enhypen niki #atfault #heeseung #heeseung fluff #heeseung smut

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batmans-cheerleader · 3 years ago

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what is and what will be

includes: steph & bruce

wc: 1.2k | rated t | m.list | crossposted on ao3

a/n: tbh their canon relationship can hop off my dick lol i decide what it's like between them now // title from creature by half alive & i hope you enjoy <3

please reblog!!

“Stephanie, of course I’d come for your birthday,” Bruce started, then stopped. Experience told her to wait, so she did, busying herself with finally taking off her jacket, throwing it down by her bag. Bruce tracked its movement with his eyes. “I know some of your birthdays since you’ve gotten to know me haven’t been great, and I know you don’t really like to celebrate them, but it felt wrong of me to just not acknowledge it.”

“You could have just sent me a text, you know,” Stephanie said, crossing her arms. “That’s what Babs did.”

Bruce chuckled a little. “That’s true. It would have felt weird to not give you your gift in person, though.”

“Gift?” Stephanie echoed, incredulous. “Bruce, you and I, we’re not really gift people.”

“We haven’t been in the past,” Bruce argued, strangely earnest. “But I really wanted to give you this.” He held out a small box, velvet wrapped. Stephanie took it hesitantly, almost scared to open it.

Stephanie unlocked the door to her apartment, relieved not to see a huge surprise party waiting for her. The Wayne’s & Co. no doubt knew it was her birthday, despite her best efforts to keep it hidden, but they, for once, seemed to be willing to respect her wishes and hadn’t made a big deal of it.

Barbara had texted her earlier about it, but kept the message brief, and Stephanie had pretended not to know why Tim had been insistent on buying her coffee. She knew Cass would text when she had a chance, but since she was in Hong Kong she was working at a different timezone and probably wouldn’t send it for a few more hours. Duke had also sent her a message, likely another Birthday wish, but she hadn’t had the chance to look at it yet. Honestly, her brief meeting with Tim and short conversation with Babs had been the highlight of her day- she had been put to work by the leader of the volunteer community she was working with (not that she was complaining!) and was definitely sweaty and dusty.

A shower is probably in order, Stephanie mused as she threw her bag on the couch, fiddling with the zipper on her jacket. It wasn’t until a throat cleared that she looked up, jumping back slightly.

“Jesus, Bruce!” she yelped, because of course it was Bruce. No one else she knew was creepy enough to linger in her apartment, waiting for her to get home. “You’re such a creeper.”

“You should be more aware of your surroundings, Stephanie,” Bruce said instead of an apology, but his tone was non-confrontational, so Stephanie didn’t bother raising her hackles.

“Yeah, yeah,” she replied, waving her hand. “Anyway, what are you doing here? I thought you’d be at the manor or something.” She paused. “Wait, weren’t you supposed to be on a trip to California or something?”

Bruce shrugged stiffly, raising one shoulder. Stephanie hid her smile at the awkward act, but had no doubt Bruce could read her amusement regardless. “I saw it was your birthday, so I came back early.”

“Aww,” Stephanie said, trying her best to hide how she suddenly felt off-kilter. “All of that, for little ol’ me? Bruce, I’m touched.” Stephanie knew her and Bruce’s relationship was… not like the others’, at the very least. She wasn’t his kid, not like Cass was, and he never had held her in high regard like he did Barbara, the only other person she knew who existed in the small grey space around the Wayne family. She wasn’t butthurt about it, not really. Bruce wasn't her father, and she’d made peace with that. Never wanted him to be, anyway. But to see him here, to hear him say that he’d come for her… well, it was off-putting. And a little concerning.

Bruce rubbed at his jaw, drawing attention to the day-old stubble there. When she looked closer, she noticed the bags under his eyes, the weariness in his posture. Had he red-eyed it to get to her in time?

“You could have just sent me a text, you know,” Stephanie said, crossing her arms. “That’s what Babs did.”

Bruce chuckled a little. “That’s true. It would have felt weird to not give you your gift in person, though.”

“Gift?” Stephanie echoed, incredulous. “Bruce, you and I, we’re not really gift people.”

She did anyway, hands steady. Nestled in the lush box was a surprisingly modest necklace with a gold chain. The charm was shiny, likely recently polished, probably by Alfred, and a small gem, perhaps white jade, was set into the middle, delicate gold leaves encircling it.

“It’s beautiful,” she breathed, looking between it and Bruce. “I can’t accept it.”

Bruce met her gaze, firm but gentle. “It was my mother’s. Her father gave it to her when she turned your age, Stephanie. I know I’m not your father,” he added hurriedly, “but I believe she would have wanted you to have it. You two are so very similar.”

Stephanie swallowed. Bruce so rarely brought up his parents, and when he did, he usually spoke about Thomas, not Martha. “I am?” she asked faintly, and Bruce nodded, usual stoic expression replaced with something softer.

“Yes. You’re both stubborn, never willing to quit. You fight for your values, just like she did, and you’re both beautiful and smart and unfailingly kind.” Bruce inhaled deeply. “Stephanie. I chose this piece because it reminds me of all of those qualities you share. I know you’re not a big jewelry person so even if you don’t wear it, I ask that you keep it with you. As I said before, I think she’d much rather you have it than it stay in her room, almost forgotten. If you truly don’t want it, though, I can take it back and get you a gift card or something.”

His attempt at humor was weak at best, and it only made Stephanie feel that much closer to tears. How dare Bruce just waltz in here and make her feel all touched and warm inside?

“I want it,” she decided. “Thank you, Bruce. This means… you don’t even know how much this means to me. Will you help me put it on?”

Bruce looked surprised, like he hadn’t actually expected her to accept it. How could she not, knowing it was Martha’s? Knowing it was Martha’s and Bruce was giving it to her.

“Of course,” Bruce agreed gracefully. Stephanie handed him the box then turned around, lifting up her hair. Bruce made quick work of getting it clasped, and the wight of it settled onto her, feeling like it had been there forever. Stephanie turned back around, self-conscious.

“How’s it look?” she asked, looking down at it against her plain t-shirt.

“Perfect,” Bruce said, sincerely clear in his tone.

“Good,” Stephanie said, a small smile playing on the edges of her lips. “I know we’re not really hug people either, but since we’ve already changed the whole gift thing…”

“Oh, Stephanie,” Bruce murmured, drawing her into him, wrapping her up tightly. Resolutely ignoring how her eyes burned, Stephanie breathed in the scent of his familiar cologne, exhaling shakily. Bruce held her, warm and solid, and Stephanie let herself have it, giving in to her urge to just cling to him for as long as he’d let her.

Which, as it turns out, is a very long time, Stephanie thought, as over a minute passed. Reluctantly, she pulled back, and was it just her, or did Bruce seem to not want to let go either?

“Well, I’ve got to take a shower,” she said with semi-forced lightness, and despite all of Bruce’s talent at hiding his emotions she still caught the slightest shift of his face, the way it fell the tiniest amount. “But,” she continued, “if you order me pizza you can stay.”

leviathans-watchings's work - please do not copy, repost, to claim as your own

#batman fanfic #batman #dc batman #dc comics #stephanie brown #spoiler #batgirl #bruce wayne #dcu #batfam #batman fanfiction #leviswriting #leviswriting-dcu

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fagtigerclaw · 2 years ago

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ok this au mostly corresponds with my wc rewrite/au in which the events, world, and characters are altered immensely. this plays more as a murder mystery than the current arc, at least imo as it focuses more on that since the problems with the code are completely removed from this bc there isnt really a code in this au. nightheart and sunbeam still deal with their respective personal issues, and theyre thrown into the murder stuff which affects their lives as they try to figure things out.

anyway frostpaw is related to mistystar and her family is sort of the result of the shadowclan and riverclan integration era, which is slightly longer in this au. diff clan relationships arent discouraged nor looked down upon, however families from different clans (or often even within the same clan) may not like each other for some reason and will be averse towards blending families. but with the shadowclan/riverclan integration, both clans were joined as one which brought forth many changes and ultimately altered the ways these clans funtioned individually. primrosepaw is actually alive here long enough to be the mother of curlfeather and podlight, before dying of illness.

frostpaw chooses to become a medicine cat apprentice to mothwing, with the desire to be closer to starclan, and frostpaw looks up to mothwing greatly but also envies her. so it is important to note that starclan (and the place of no stars) has very little power in the living world, it kind of functions as it did early warriors where they have very little influence on events and communication is difficult and rare. yet the clowders believe in them and they are largely apart of their culture. so mothwing's hesitance to believe in the power of starclan makes more sense. it isnt uncommon for most cats to feel this way and worshipping starclan isnt forced on others, but depending on your family they may feel sort of shocked or disappointed. mothwing is well respected and she doesn't ever tell cats about her feelings towards starclan, not only because she doesnt want to hurt or discourage anyone but also she wants to feel like starclan is there for her but wants proof. but one day she confesses this to frostpaw prior to the night the med cats meet at the moonpool, which shocks frostpaw but she agrees to keep this to herself. frostpaw prays and prays all night for mothpool, hoping that starclan will help her guide her mentor to better the clan and set things right.

the next night when they go to moonpool, frostpaw doesnt get her response from starclan and she feels betrayed. mothwing tries to assure her that she should not expect starclan to speak with her immediately and that perhaps they will come to her in time, but frostpaw does not believe her and knows even mothwing does not believe this herself.

now i dont really have anything set to go through with this bc like i said this is still being planned and will change, but basically at some point frostpaw just gets what she believes is a sign from starclan that she should lead riverclan due to her devotion. she finds like a chance to kill mistystar who is severely ill due to her age and being on her final life, by purposely giving her the wrong herbs which goes unnoticed by the clan. she is the one who proposes the idea to let the med cats temporarily lead the clan with reedwhiskers disappearance (which she plays a part in), but instead podlight is chosen to be temp leader as he is a respected warrior. frostpaw is pretty jealous and wants to train to be a better fighter, with the intent to take down podlight. i think that mothwing eventually gets bad vibes from frostpaw but brushes it off as frostpaw has always been a strange kid.

i think at some point frostpaws schemes affect the other clans which is when nightheart and sunbeam kind of come in but not sure how to make that work.

idk idk it kind of sucks now but i have really good scenes in my head i wanna write down maybe post but basically frostpaw is extremely devoted to starclan but her desire to become leader causes her to drift from her faith and instead she worships herself her own ideals, and her relationship with her family and clanmmates largely influences her emotions and actions. she just becomes super deadly and cold and eventually bored. nightheart is the main one to face her and sunbeam kind of helps but i like to think of her as a super pathetic sopping wet kinda guy in like a sillier way than nightheart if that makes sense.

i never elaborated on my evil frostpaw au hold on

#for sum reason i can add read more but yeah #cant #evil frostpaw au #Also i plan for her to be redeemed nightheart talks her down #and she regrets everything shes in so much pain #but she doesnt know how to go back #long post

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sunlightwoo · 4 years ago

Text

Run To You

☀︎ pairing: king!sangyeon x court noble!fem. reader

☀︎ genre: royal au, themes of wrong timing right person in a way, first love au, arranged marriage themes. there will definitely be angst and fluff in this, but i shall add some humor to enlighten everyone :))

☀︎ wc: 2.8k

☀︎ plot: sangyeon thinks that he’s imagining things when he sees you standing in the middle of his royal office with an offer in your hand from when you used to date 10 years ago. however, when you tell him the truth about why you came back, he thinks that maybe it was fate that brought you back to him.

☀︎ a/n: happy birthday to one of my biggest inspirations in the writing community @solarwonux !!! i love you like you are my big sister and i tell you this every time because i don’t know what i’d do without you. thank you for always showing me how to be the best of myself and for always looking out for me. i hope your birthday today is spent well <33 also there’s a little easter egg for a spoiler of an upcoming wip hehehe lmk if you guys find it

Sangyeon looks at himself in the mirror that was across from him and glances at his entire attire from head to toe, finding that the attire he was put into feeling stuffy and he lets out a breath before looking out at the sun beaming down past the window. It was only another afternoon that he was stuck indoors doing kingly duties that he knew would take a while to sink in, and the last thing he needed was another public event to attend to when there were piles of bills and laws to look over and review for his own kingdom.

“It’s okay, Kevin, you can drop the formalities. Besides, I don’t have a choice in this, do I?” He breathes out, turning towards where the latter had stood by the doorframe, and Kevin gives him a look of empathy, knowing that he was right.

“I guess not… Just call for me if you need anything, okay?” He whispers and frowns a bit while leaving the royal bedroom, just as Sangyeon turns back towards the mirror to look at himself to tend to his thoughts once again.

There was some sort of emotion in his heart that was yelling at him to leave the kingdom for a bit, to run away from the expectations that he was supposed to live up to and find a way out. The burden of being a king was much more than he had anticipated for as a child, and now that he had been the king for over a year after the death of his father, he had been kicked into the role of the leader that everyone looked up to for guidance.

Safety.

A sigh escapes his lips as he knows that his thoughts were foolish anyways, the mere thought of running away to a place unknown already being risky enough knowing that he would be killed out there in the barriers past his kingdom. He had enemies for sure, but he also knew that there were strong alliances that he had, such as with another king, Kim Sunwoo, that he had yet to meet another day.

But for today, there was an important event that he had to make an appearance for and be the king that everybody needed and came to know of.

Sangyeon decides to finally head out of his bedroom to find Kevin, who he had assumed to be in his office waiting for him and goes to where it was when he notices that it was open. It wasn’t until he walked into his office to see someone else in there that it made him confused as to how someone could waltz into his own privacy and possibly commit treason.

Before he could say anything, the person turned around to face him with a shocked but amused look, their familiar facial features surprising him as well as his heart had churned at the sight of them- or you, he should say.

“Surprised to see me, Sangyeon?” You teased while crossing your arms over your chest with your fan tucked underneath them and he closed his mouth for a moment before giving you a smile back in surprise.

“You didn’t tell me that you were visiting.” He breathes out and you let out a quiet chuckle before walking over to get a better look at his face, the same one that you remember loving in the past, but this time it was more structured; in a way he had matured more than you last saw him.

“It’s been ten years since we last met, hasn’t it? I wanted to still keep onto my end of the promise that we agreed on.” You reply and there was something in his eyes that you noticed change at the mention of the said promise that you both had foolishly made when you were still dating back then.

Both you and Sangyeon had only been sixteen years old at the time that you made your promise before it had been your breakup. At that time you both had promised to one another that if fate had allowed for it to happen, that you both would marry one another regardless of given circumstances because you knew that you were each other’s soulmates. You had sealed the promise with a kiss that you as an inexperienced teenager would know before having to leave the kingdom because of a family issue that you had on your end.

Now that you had finally found your way back to Sangyeon’s kingdom after hearing that he became the king only a year ago, you made it your mission to find him again and you were successful until this very moment as you looked into his eyes. There was something in them that spoke of an unspoken thought that was yet to be said past his lips, but you weren’t sure what to expect as well.

“Y/N… I have to tell you something, before you can hear it from someone else-” He says softly and reaches out to hold your hands, when suddenly there was a knock on the door, making both you and Sangyeon to face where Kevin had stood with another woman that was by his side, and based on the look that they both exchanged, you knew what that unspoken thought was.

“King Sangyeon, I’m sorry to interrupt, but Lady Kyungsoo is here for the wedding announcement.” Kevin announces quietly and bows before quickly leaving the three of you in the tension filled room, making you raise an eyebrow at him and take a sharp breath in as you turn to face the new individual that you had yet to meet with a large smile on your face.

One that you were all too familiar doing in times like this.

“I’ll leave you two alone instead, your majesty,” You say and start to head out of his office with your arms still crossed underneath your chest, until you paused for a moment to turn back to the two individuals that were watching you leave.

“Congratulations on the wedding, by the way.”

“I don’t understand, Jacob, I thought that he would’ve remembered about the promise,” You huffed out as you were walking around the village center with your best friend after finding him once again at his old family shop, “Was it foolish of me to even feel upset that he didn’t remember, when I have waited this long to find him?”

Jacob thinks to himself and shakes his head in response as you let out another sigh and glanced around your surroundings, seeing as though everybody was in a festive mood because of the recent announcement of an hour ago about the king finally being wed. There was a dulling ache in your chest at the sudden news of it, but you felt as though you couldn’t do anything because you felt as though it were wrong on your end to wait ten years.

“I don’t think he would’ve forgotten it on purpose, Y/N.” He replies and you pause for a moment to turn to him with a deadpan look on your face.

“I literally met his future wife before finding you and the announcement had occurred. I don’t think there’s any way I could add myself into the equation here, Cob.” You say just as the sounds of fanfare goes off in the distance, meaning that the king was coming through the village and you could feel your stomach churn just at the thought of it.

You feel Jacob pull your hand over towards where he was standing as you nearly collided with his chest, just as the royal carriage had just breezed by where you had previously stood. Taking a sharp breath in, you turned back around after separating yourself from Jacob’s grip only to face Sangyeon, who had taken the chance to get out of the carriage that had almost hit you earlier as there was a concerned look on his face.

“Y/N, are you okay? I apologize, my men weren’t looking and-”

“It’s fine, Sangyeon. Are you and everybody in the carriage, okay?” You interrupt him while giving him a soft smile, reassuring him that you were fine but you should’ve known better than to assume, considering he was still worried about you regardless.

“Yes, however-”

“Your majesty, we have to keep going. You still have to meet up with King Sunwoo for that business meeting.” His royal assistant, Kevin, you had learned from earlier today, says from where his head had peaked out of the carriage and there was a sigh that slips from Sangyeon’s lips as he looked between both you and his assistant that he was close to wringing for all of his bad timed actions.

“Meet me at the river in three days' night, okay? I’ll be back after meeting with a friend, and I can explain everything.” He whispers quietly only for the two of you to hear and you could’ve sworn from how close that he was standing in comparison to where you were, his breath could’ve easily hovered over yours had he had not pulled away first.

You watch as he heads back to the carriage as his eyes meet yours once more for a moment before he leaves you with Jacob, the carriage becoming smaller to your eye as you turn around to look at the latter with amusement crossed on his face.

Oh no.

“First name basis with the majesty?” Jacob teases and you could feel your cheeks heat up in embarrassment when you turn your eyes away from him to walk back to the path that you were headed on earlier to your original destination.

“Force of habit, don’t judge me, Jacob.”

After that small encounter, three days’ nights had arrived fast as you were now at the river that started it all. You remember the first time that you had found it when you were roughly thirteen years old, finding purchase in the serenity and peacefulness of the area with the moonlight shining down on you quietly.

It was the place that you happened to have found the hiding soon to be king, who was curious about what it was like to be outside of the castle walls and never would you have imagined yourself falling in love with him in the span of three to four rough years. Now you were back here with nostalgia in your eyes and fingertips as you sat along the shore of the river, staring into the illuminated water when you hear footsteps approach you softly as a familiar reflection appears beside you.

“I didn’t keep you here too long, did I?” Sangyeon asks you quietly, and you shake your head in response as he takes a spot in the grass beside you.

The two of you were now silent as neither of you wanted to speak up, afraid of what was yet to be said in between the lines of tension that was beginning to build between you both. However, you weren’t even sure what could be said from your end, since it was evident that he was getting married in order to save his reputation as the king so that he wasn’t seen as weak. You understood that, but you couldn’t help but want to be selfish on your end and think that maybe you could find a way to stop the wedding that was yet to happen.

“You know that I never forgot about the promise right? I still have loved you, after all these years, and want to be with you, Y/N.” Sangyeon finally speaks up and there was a shaky breath that leaves your lips from either relief or heartbreak, because either way you could still feel the twist that was still evident in your heart.

“But you can’t do that because of your people, Sangyeon. I don’t want them to think that you’re marrying me because of a promise we made when we were still young-”

“And if I prove them otherwise?” He retorts in almost an inaudible whisper, and you pause for a moment as you look into his eyes, feeling your very own gloss a bit from the tears that were pricking at the corner of your eyes from your own selfishness, but you knew that it couldn’t happen.

“You know that fate can be twisted sometimes… Maybe this was fate telling us that we took too long to find each other.”

Maybe you should’ve stayed back in Jacob’s place when it was the day of the wedding, which happened to take place a couple weeks after that night you had met up with Sangyeon at the river. It was hard to see the extravagant colors and decorations that were coating the walls of the royal castle and could feel the pang of pain hit your chest the longer that you had looked at them.

“Y/N?”

The sound of someone calling out to you made you confused as you turned to look and see that it was both Kevin and Lady KKyungsoo, who had been holding hands until you had eyed it as you raised an eyebrow at them. Were they planning to…

“We all had a plan these last few weeks, and I was going to back to my kingdom to talk it out with my royal advisor to tell him that we didn’t need a marriage to keep the alliance,” She says and you felt as though you were taken back at her sudden words when she speaks up once again with a smile on her face as she glances over to Kevin, “Besides, I have the person that I’ve dreamt of to help me out and guide me through being my own queen back at home.”

“Wow.. that’s-”

“You should go see Sangyeon, if that’s what you’re still standing here debating about.” Kevin imposes, and you give him a confused look when they suddenly run past you with giggles escaping their lips, making you take note that you should ask Sangyeon about them later on if you get the chance to.

Taking this as your chance to go, you made your way over towards the corridors that you were sure held the familiar chambers that Sangyeon had resided in after the countless times of visiting when you were younger. The memory seemed to be as fresh as new in your mind, considering it had been years since then and it wasn’t until you found yourself standing in front of the large regal doors of what you had assumed to be Sangyeon’s room that you were now hesitant on knocking on them.

What were you even going to tell him?

You finally get the courage to after thinking for a while to knock, when the door suddenly opens in front of you where Sangyeon was standing in front of you with regal clothing on, making you forget that he was a king until now as you take your raised hand back down to your side. There was a silence that overtook you both as you stared at one another where you had stood, but it wasn’t until he took one step forward closer to you that you blink back to reality and remember what you were here for.

“I just bumped into Kevin and Kyungsoo… Is it true?” You ask him quietly, looking at him with your arms reaching to cross in front of you when suddenly Sangyeon takes them into his own hands gently and gives you a warm smile, the same one that you could easily melt into if it were your own personal sun.

“We can still get married, if you still want to keep our promise? The people are still looking forward to one today, and I’m pretty sure that my tailors can help you get fit into a dress in less than an hour, only if you’re okay with it.” He replies to your thoughts, making you think that this might be the one opening that fate may be giving you while you still had your chance.

And maybe it was the sudden kick of confidence that you gained knowing that might’ve been from the fact that you finally had a chance to be with him that led to you pulling him close so that you finally kissed him as if it were your last given chance to. You feel him kissing you back with a smile on both your faces as you knew from the kiss that your answer was right there, that the both of you were in it for the long game and past the stupid promise that you both made when you were still teenagers in love.

“Let’s go get married then, shall we?”

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sirthisisa-wendys · 3 years ago

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The Enforcers: Part 10 (Geto Suguru x Fem!Reader)

synopsis: reveal, don't conceal.

wc: 1.4k

tw: none

masterlist

"Come out one at a time with your hands up."

You stand idly by as the militia pulls people out of the SUVs; lingering behind Suguru as he watches the former members of the CSB kneel on the ground and be restrained with zip ties. When you see the familiar pink hair of Yuji Itadori, you start a little, eyes widening as he lays on the ground and is zip tied before being brought to his feet and made to kneel beside another comrade of his.

Of yours.

You can't see all of the faces, but the fact that Yuji made it out alive meant that he would try his best to get the others out alive. And that's enough for you.

A sea of about eighty people are kneeling on the cold floor of the aircraft hangar beside the main building, and every single one of them is restrained.

"Your entire organization has been burnt to the ground," Suguru begins. "And you come to me to get answers?" No one speaks. The implications of his words are enough to make everyone in the area gulp hard. "Why not ask your Grand Council?" Suguru wonders and chuckles from the guards echo around the room.

"We did," a voice - Nobara Kugisaki - calls out, and you raise onto the tips of your toes to try and see her. "but they sent us away without an answer."

"What about your leaders?"

Another silence.

"One of you tell me what truly happened. And be quick about it, my patience does not extend far."

"They sent..." Choso. "They sent in people we did not know to gun us down. We were all gathered in the Grand Hall, where we originally thought we would be informed about the next steps to take since we filed our grievances."

"And?"

"They told us to go to our barracks and wait for further instruction. The massacre started as soon as lights went out."

"It was so dark," someone cries out, sniffling. "They shot my partner before... before--" Various people begin to sob, and you grab Suguru's arm, looking over at the group sadly. Every single one of them had escaped from hell, and now they're here, looking to the both of you for help. Suguru peers over his shoulder at you, face set in a grim expression.

"Maybe we should give them some time before we ask them about everything," you whisper.

"The sooner we know as much as we can, the safer we'll be," he replies, turning back to the crowd in front of him. "All of those who work for us will be brought to the conference room. The rest of you will be given a good meal and put in temporary residences. You will be heavily guarded and watched. You will not be permitted to leave the Fallen Sun District until we have determined that everything is safe. Communication with your families that reside outside of the district will be cut off, and communication with the media will be punished. Guard set A, take those who are our agents. Guard set B, take the others away."

_____________________________________________________________

You sit beside Suguru in the conference room, arms crossed. You all look at the agents filing in, and Choso comes in as the last one - which isn't really a surprise - capping off the small crowd of ten double agents.

"I need details," Suguru states, and looks back at the person at the door, who nods and switches off the lights. A projector switches on, and an aerial map of the CSB headquarters comes on the whiteboard wall. "Where did the chaos begin? Where was Toji? Yuki? Gojo? And where are they now?"

"From the South Wing down to the Cafeteria, then the killers split up and took the East, North, and West Wing," someone mentions, and Suguru draws lines in accordance with the account.

"And the leaders of each faction?"

"Gojo disappeared long before the massacre began, but I know Toji orchestrated the attack," Choso answers.

"How?" you wonder, squinting your eyes. "And don't tell me you caught him talking about it in the open and said nothing."

"That's how it happened," Choso states grimly. "I'm the one who sent the email. I thought you would come and help us, Suguru." Suguru doesn't reply, staring at the aerial map and biting the inside of his cheek. "Those people died because you didn't come to help us. Do you know how many bodies I had to crawl over just to get to freedom? How many people had been shot down in their beds?"

"You know I know what that's like," Suguru replies tersely. "You know I know what it's like to have no fucking help."

"Then why? Why did you let us be slaughtered like animals, Suguru? Why couldn't you just do the right thing and come and help us? You put us in that mess! And you left us to die!" Choso stands up suddenly and produces a revolver from the inside of his coat, and points it at you. Guards instantly unholster their weapons and aim them at Choso, red lights pointed at his entire body.

"Don't shoot!" you cry out, hands up. "Don't shoot him!"

"Is it because of her?" Choso wonders, eyes empty and devoid of compassion. "Did she tell you to stay put?"

"Don't shoot!" you repeat, bullets of sweat running down your body inside of the vest. "Don't shoot."

"She told me to go and get you." Suguru finally answers, his own weapon pointed at Choso. "She wanted to save everyone's life."

"And why didn't you?" Choso whispers, gun still aimed at you.

"Because I didn't have time. And I didn't have the resources. You, out of everyone here, should know I would put my life on the line for my people when I can." Choso chokes out a sob, dropping the gun and collapsing onto the floor in a fit of tears. His piercing cries echo in the small room, and you rush to his side, holding him close to you. He sobs into your shoulder, whispering apologies and shaking furiously.

"Don't apologize," you whisper, rubbing his back slowly and methodically. "It's okay. You've been through a lot, and just need to rest."

_____________________________________________________________

"I'm going to the media to break the story," you mention, facing Suguru as he brushes his teeth.

"What?" he cries out, mouth full of white foam. "No. You're not going anywhere. Too risky."

"Send a guard with me, then."

"No." He spits into the sink, and you cross your arms, frowning. "I'm not giving you permission to do that. If Toji pops up, you're fucked. I'm not taking that chance."

"So you can't leak an interview with me? Like the ones we recovered from the Archives?" Suguru braces himself on the sink, hair falling down his face and shielding his expression from view.

"Babe," Suguru breathes, sighing and shaking his head. "It's possible."

"I'll tell my story. I'll leave you out of it."

"You can't tell your story without me," Suguru whispers, tying his hair back with the rubber band around his wrist. "Do you think we should get other stories corroborating ours?"

"Yes," you answer immediately. "A thousand times, yes." Suguru's onyx eyes drop to the sink, and you come up behind him, wrapping your arms around his large frame. "Do you trust me?"

He places his hands on yours and nods slowly.

"I trust you," he murmurs. "And I love you."

"I love you, too."

Four hours later, you're sitting in front of a camera, eyes staring into the lens with the intensity of your mother and father's expressions in their own videos.

"Ready?" Suguru wonders, leaning over and touching your hand from behind the camera.

"Ready." He clicks the record button, and a red light begins to flash.

"My name is Y/n, and I am a former Kitsune. Over seven months ago, I began my career with the CSB, and since my time there, I have learned so much about their inner workings, their scandal coverups, and how they tried to end my life not too long ago." You swallow hard, tears coming to your eyes. But you inhale deeply, pushing the emotion down as far as it will go. "You may have heard that I was kidnapped by those who run the Fallen Sun district. But that is simply not true," you assert, shaking your head once. "Everything you know about the CSB is a lie."

_____________________________________________________________

TAGLIST: @missbonekitty @wack0-genius @thankuary @jsqeeut @r-i-m-f-009 @sunfloweroranges @leanne-tamashi @girlruby23 @rein-icu @brownskinnedgirll @chanelmalandro @savantsoulfinder @jibe-gajima @chilledlucifer @amnxsia @kontentious @fuyuko26 @everybodylovescayrayray @flare-on @sammytamaki @meena-in-a-nutshell @falling-through-pages @naoyasdarling @vabybizzle

#geto suguru x reader #getou suguru x reader #geto suguru #jjk geto #jjk #jujutsu kaisen #getou suguru

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cosmiclatte28 · 3 years ago

Text

The Undead collab

for @biaswreckingfics the undead collab! such an amazing collab and I am honored to write for Lay.

summary : The world had been destroyed. Zombies. Yes, you heard me right. Zombies took over humanities. They said it was conspiracy, others said it was planned, someone said it’s a bio weapon but you? You said this was fate and this was meant to be. In the middle of the chaos, your last proof as being a human started to disappear. And in times where you wished for safety, you did finally come to find the man who’s been embracing you in your dreams. Your online sugar daddy.

Semi smut (not explained just mentioned), romance, survival story

members : EXO-M

Pairing : lay x reader

WC : 3702

tw : zombies, daddy issues

The world had been destroyed. Zombies. Yes, you heard me right. Zombies took over humanities. They said it was a conspiracy, others said it was planned, someone said it’s a bio weapon but you? You said this was fate and this was meant to be. In the middle of the chaos, your last proof as being a human started to disappear. And in times where you wished for safety, you did finally come to find the man who’s been embracing you in your dreams. Your online sugar daddy.

You’ve lost count of the days. To be honest day and night don’t feel different as you have to stay alert all the time. There’s no time to rest, no time to slack, and no time to worry about what you left behind. It all started as a gas leak in a big biohazardous factory. The company keeps it secret, slowly affecting the workers there who are trying to fix the leak. It’s not a green smoke like what you would see in a Disney villain movie, it’s a nicely colored pink gas that smells sweet but is deadly enough to churn your organs and make you turn into what the society calls “zombie”

The outbreak spreads faster than the plague, with the infected “biting” the human and changin them into zombies. The conspiracy theories maker believe this was planned as how all zombie films look exactly like this. The scientists believed this were an unprepared bioweapon aimed to be released a century from the latest pandemic in 2020. You? You believe this is just fate and that there’s no meaning to hustle about what’s right. You just have three things in your head. Run, Adapt, Survive.

You’re glad you still have your phone, charger, knife, and a radio to contact any bases that have survivors in them. You’ve survived the days by running, hiding, and stealing big cars to help you run over the town. This morning, you got a signal from your radio saying that there’s some group of survivors on a certain latitude and longitude. You quickly take notes of it, and tell them over that you’re going to join them. As you pick your stuffs and put your compass on, you hear your radio static voice.

“How can we ensure you’re human?” one of them with a deep voice asks over the radio and you roll your eyes “Would a zombie be smart enough to find radio signals and communicate?”

You hear a loud laugh on the other end and you note that there’s more than one person there.

“How many of you are there?” you ask suddenly afraid if it’s a too big group and you have to make hard decisions with bigger parties.

There’s a shuffle and a voice comes in “There’s only 6 of us. I am the leader, Kris and you?”

You start your engine, “I’m (y/n). I’ll arrive before the sun sets hopefully.”

“Good luck and stay safe. We hope to see you in one complete piece. Over.”

“Who is it Kris?” The young man with a sweet dimple asks the leader after hearing the short conversation on the radio.

“Oh, from the voice I’m pretty sure she’s a survivor like us.” Kris peeks over the blinds of their hideout and notices how empty the road is.

“Can you reach Suho? I wonder if they survive too.” the same guy asks again.

Kris pats his shoulder “They’ll be okay Lay, don’t worry. I’m sure Suho can take care of the guys. Now, what about we try to find food for tonight?”

Lay sighs “I don’t know. With Luhan being weak today from using too much of his powers, I have to be here to help him heal faster.”

Kris sighs, with the 12 of them divided it was harder to fight the zombies. They are gifted with supernatural powers, but at the moment 6 of them are in another place and its their goal to reunite.

Kris left his radio and went to shower. They call themselves the EXO-M, with 6 members of their own powers.

---

You stop over an abandoned supermarket, after making sure there’s no one around, you quickly hoard all the canned foods and waters. Picked up fires and some warm blanket for you to sleep tonight.

Your journey to their basecamp was not smooth, with you having to walk over some hoard of zombies. With your eyes shut close you hit the gas and just move forward without thinking.

“Hey, hey can you hear me?” your radio suddenly turns on and your ears perk up when you hear the sound.

“Yes?”

There was a sudden pause.

Lay gulps and shakes his head when he hears your voice.

“Sorry, but can you bring us some food supplies?”

You sigh “I already did. You’re lucky but did you know how crazy it would be if I have to go back?”

He groans “You’re a handful aren’t you?”

You were too focused on the road, not filtering your word “I AM. You can say I am a sugar baby at all time, so yeah I am a handful.” you yell that as you strive through some muddy place and you notice there’s a small strong bunker in the middle of the field.

Lay stays silent as he controls his beating heart. Why does something rings a bell in his memory.

He grits his teeth and shake his head “Just come here quick. We have to help our brothers.”

You groan “I am in front of a bunker pretty sure this is where you guys are. How come you can find a place without any infected people?” you ask as you see a man opens the door for you to come in.

“Chen, Tao, Xiumin and Kris go take her foods and keep it safe.”

You yell as the dimpled man grabs your hand into the bunker. You shake it off “Hey, that’s my food supplies!”

“First off my name is Lay.”

“Okay Lay,” you cut him off “Stop robbing my supplies.”

Lay’s eyes turn dark “Hey, you’re the guest here. Don’t you think it’s also dangerous for us to just accept you here?! If it’s not because of Tao’s clumsy hand pressing the radio to give you a signal, Kris won’t bring anyone in.”

You feel offended, “If you don’t want me here you can say that directly. You’re not my master or husband or whatever, i can go if you want that so bad, but let me take all my stuffs with me.”

As Lay was about to spit back words to you, a strong grip separates both of you and you gasp surpsied.

“(y/n) right? Nice to see you come in one piece. I am Kris, sorry if Lay said anything that hurts you. He’s been alert for the last two days trying to heal our exhausted brother. I apologize on his behalf.” Kris, bows at you in a respectable angle and your anger fumes down. He sure is the leader and you’re glad his words didn’t sting.

“Thank you Kris, I like your welcome better. I came here with supplies, I want to share it with all of you but Lay here just robbed my car.” you sneer at the tall man and he just rolls his eyes.

“Lay, would you mind taking (y/n) to the bathroom? She can use some shower and you can check if she needs any medical healing.”

“We’ll take care of dinner. Don’t worry, you’ve had a long day. Good job in arriving here.” Kris sends you off and walks away. You sure like how this Kris manners are

You want to protest for being left with Lay but Lay’s firm grip dragging you into the bathroom left you with no option than to follow him.

“I’m sorry, your voice just reminds me of someone and I was distracted.” he suddenly speak up from the shower stall next to you.

You turn your neck to see him, the shower walls are not that tall for Lay. You can see his head from the side, but it covers your height nicely.

You gulp and continue washing your hair, facing the other way as you always did when you wash your hair. Your back facing the shower so that your eyes are free from the water.

“It’s okay, i am sorry I was just stressed and tired too. I swear I am not a handful.” you blush when you remember the first introduction between both of you.

Lay has a special memory working in his head and he chuckles “You’ll say I am wild but you reminded me of my sugar baby.”

You blushed, feeling a tingle on your naked body “Oh, in what way?”

He turns the shower off and looks at you “I never see my sugar baby, We both don’t know how each other look. We’re just talking and chatting and having fun remaining anonymous.”

Now it’s your turn to gulp and turn the shower off, you grab the towel Lay prepared earlier and wrap yourself in it “Now that’s interesting. Mind to tell me why you suddenly remember her?”

Lay chuckles and looks to the ceiling “We did voice calls sometimes, and when you said “I am a handful” you really sound like her.”

You bashfully stare at your feet. There's a bothersome fact in your head that also says Lay sounds like someone you know.

“Alright, I guess we need to go join the others?” you reappear in front of him with your fresh set of clothes you just took from the supermarket.

Lay nods “Before that, a quick check. We can’t have you bleeding or injured around here.” He twists and turns your body checking and pressing here and there to see if you have any wound or broken bones.

“You’re quiet strong for you to be alone for days. Just wounds but no big injuries! I can heal your internal injuries so the infected at least can’t smell you that strongly.” Lay explains and you just nod.

“How will you do that?” you squeak and he smiles “You’ll discover tonight.” he winks and your heart stops a beat when memories of a voice comes back to your head.

He couldn't be…

Dinner was better than what you have had for the past days. Somehow the EXO-M have their own food supplies here but they are also running out of foods.

"Before we eat, let's thank you our new sister here (y/n)," the man with doe eyes smile at you nicely and make all the rest of the men stare at you.

You shake your head "No problem, I should he the one to thank you for accepting me inside. That's a big trust you have."

The men chuckles and Kris hushes them down "We sure knows because only special people like us can survive this long." He begins to take the foods on the table and the rest of them also joins.

You were sitting next to Xiumin and he helps you to get your foods on your plate.

"We eat from the same pan, so don't worry. We don't plan to kill you or hurt you." He grins "I am the one cooking so please enjoy it."

You chuckle, if this was Lay's cooking maybe you will be careful remembering how your first impression wasn't good. Though something still bothers your mind when you see him take a glance or two at you.

You learn about their abilities, a supernatural power that helps them survive until today. Just like you, the 6 men here have their powers and they have a separated brothers who also own powers. Their goal is to reunite and survive together but as far as you understand their story, they still cannot reach EXO-K and no news know what happened to them.

Kris was able to fly, making him the one to do errands like finding foods and shelters. Xiumin is their frost guardian. Luhan is gifted with telekinesis that's why when there was an attack, he had to work hard blasting the zombies away. You learned that Chen has a beautiful and powerful voice and he is gifted with making thunder. Tao can mess with time but he hasn't master time travel yet and finally lay. Lay has a healing power.

"So the 6 of you are unstoppable." You conclude as you drop your chopstick when you're done with food.

They nod "We're quite powerful now but you see we're getting weaker. And we need to meet the rest of the brothers to become more powerful."

"So what's your power?" Tao, the youngest, blurts out the question and you laugh

"I don't have a power. what are you talking about?"

Tao whines about how you don't need to hide it from them but you really don't know what they're talking about

"I am just a regular human." You snap and that brings an awkward silence to the room. You see kris looking cross at Tao and you can't stand the stares so you excuse yourself to hide in the only place you've been. The bathroom.

You turn the sink on and wash your hands, trying to cool your head down but you cannot focus when you see the small tattoo on your wrist. A tattoo of your family surname. You run your fingers over it. Feeling your tears collect again when you remember how they all died on the first week of the apocalypse. You lost everyone and everything you love. You're forced to run and you're so young to survive because your father reminded you that whatever happen go run for your life and leave your loved ones behind.

You wash your face, trying to hide the tears that fall on your cheeks.

when you hear another footstep coming into the room, you turn the water off. You saw him coming and you expected he'll greet you with a "Stop wasting the water silly" but all you heard was a sweet deep voice you've always heard on your lonely nights. On nights where you feel so lonely and dark thoughts loom around.

"May I little one?" A voice you remember.

You turn your head to face him and shake your head "Are you really who I am thinking?"

Your heart screams "Yes daddy," but that doesn't leave your mouth.

He stops and stares at his feet "Are you someone I am thinking of?"

Both of you don't answer the questions. Instead, Lay sits down on one of the benches there and you lean on the washing table.

"You really remind me of my online sugar baby. I hope she's doing fine. I hope she survived. I cared a lot about her."

You let Lay continue talking.

"She said she likes to shower backway, her face away from the shower head. You did that earlier and I was surprised. But hey coincidence could happen right."

You blush laughing a little "You sound like you really care for her."

He nods "She's my favorite."

You play with your hair "Tell me more. I guess listening to stories like this is better than just getting asked about how my journey here looks like."

Yes you really don't need a reminder on how scary getting chased after a mob of zombies is.

"I don't think I'll ever hear from her again." He suddenly leans back and closes his eyes

"Oh how I wish i ever see her."

You fish your pocket and grab your phone out

"Do you want to borrow my phone and maybe look up her account?" You pass him your phone and he looks interested

"We didn't get the chance to take our phones when we had to evacuate. Silly us right." He brushes his hair back and you caught a glimpse of his abs.

"Will this ring a bell to you?" You clear your throat and calm your heartbeat.

"Sugar sweets here ready for you daddy" you close your eyes ready to feel embarrassed if things didn't go as planned. You can feel your ego crumbling but instead of a laugh or a wtf, you got a reply "Daddy's here sweetie, tell me what you want"

Both of you avoid each other's eyes for a minute. Ears flushing red and stomach filled with butterflies. Both of you suddenly laugh and chuckle

"So, you're my sugar daddy?" You finally ask after realizing how weird this should be but its not that weird.

"And you are my sugar baby!" He smiles "I am glad you are safe and here with me."

You walk to his side and sit next to him "i am sweetcheeks14"

He pinches your cheek "And i am the man behind sinfulwhispers"

The two of you laugh and you exhale a breath to relax

"So. What is it your super power?" You chuckle suddenly feeling stupid for asking that

Lay looks at you seriously "You think we were kidding? I really have a healing power."

Before you can scoff and reply with another power to joke around, he already pulls you to face him and as he concentrates you see his hand sticking out just few centimeters away from the stomach you actually hurt yesterday. Despite your attempt to laugh, you actually feel your stomach ache gone and a warm feeling runs in your body.

"There should be good as new. You're welcome." He clicks his tongue and you still freeze there unable to say anything.

"I- i don't know what to say." You touch your stomach again making sure it is really gone the pain.

He just sits down calmly beside you. Giving you time and space to think what the heck just happened.

“I know it’s confusing, but try to think about this.” he brushes your hair away to see your face. His warm big hand creeps up to reach your chin and holds it there “You’re a wonderful sweetheart and you’ve survived this long by yourself.” he searches your eyes to see if you’re scared of him or not, and when he sees your eyes twinkle, Lay erases the gap between you two.

“You have a super power sweetheart, you just have to embrace it.” he presses his lips on to yours and slowly bites yours.

You give in to his touch, finally tasting the kiss from your sugar daddy and finally just finally you’re not tensed from having to sleep in full alert, not stressed over where to take shelter.

Lay hugs you deep and that’s the time when you realize having someone by your side on hard times like this is the best.

Your tear falls from your eyes and when Lay wants to pull away and wipe it for you, you keep pressing his head to your lips and with one gentle move you flick your tears away only for both of you to jump back in surprise.

“What was that?” he asks suddenly holding your hand that just flick the small tears away and definitely leaves a hole on the toilet door.

You stare at your hands in horror, no way you have a super power.

Lay and you freeze in time, did you have that much power? Is that why you keep on slaying and killin the dead?

“Baby, I have a good feeling.” he picks you up before you can say anything and drags you out into a special room where you see a lot of training equipments.

“Would you mind?” he is already holding a boxing tape and you raise your palm to let him wrap your hands with the tape before he gives you an apple to your hand.

“Okay, now let’s see. We both will throw the apple and see whose will stick to the wall there.” he points to a side and you ask if it’s going to be okay.

Lay chuckles “It’s bulletproof, so let’s see.”

Both of you stand from the same line and throw the apples to the wall, sure enough yours leave a crack mark on the wall but not Lay’s

Suddenly the room echoes with claps and you turn your head to realize that the others are already here.

“We saw you running here with Lay, so we watched the camera.” Kris explained

You blushed, what if both of you were going to fuck, will they still be watching?

“Now, the final check to see if you’re still human is this.” Luhan points to a chair and you look at them confused.

“We’ll take your blood and do a quick lab test, our antibodies will be different if you’re immune to the “zombies” here.” Luhan explained as he already poked a needle into your vein and take a tube to test your blood.

“Go sleep and don’t think or worry about anything. We promise we won’t do anything to you. Take your well needed rest.” Xiumin explains and soon after the brothers discuss, Lay decided to take you into his room.

No one has to know what happens in that four walled space. You’re finally with your virtual sugar daddy and there’s a guarantee that the room is sound proof so both of you didn’t hold anything back.

“I’m glad you found me.” Lay whispers after both of you are done chasing your highs and cuddled nicely under the bed covers.

You yawn “I didn’t expect to finally be in your arms, but I will trade anything in this world to be here. I feel safe. Thank you Lay.”

Lay kisses the top of your head “Love you sweetheart, let’s see the result tomorrow and if you’re totally immune and like us, you’ll stay with us.”

You wonder what if you are not immune, will they throw you out? But before you can ask Lay already hugs you closer and hums a lullaby to your ear.

You settled on not trying to know what will happen if you’re not like them, and choose to sleep trying to think that everything is okay.

After all, you’re glad you find them and that they don’t disown you. Because having one more of the undead in their 12 immortal group is a good thing.

#the undead collab #cosmic collab #lay x reader #yixing x reader #yixing x you #lay fanfic #exo fanfic #lay x you #lay x y/n #yixing scenario #yixing smut #yixing fluff #yixing fanfic #lay scenarios

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ilguna · 3 years ago

Text

Anteric - Aleatory (f.o)

summary: secrets have more worth than you gave them credit for.

warnings; swearing. BLOOD.

wc; 4.6k

NOTES; I give reader a last name to fit the world.

–

In the ceremony room, factions are arranged in concentric circles. On the very outside circle is where you’ll be standing with the rest of the sixteen year-olds from every faction. Since you’re not an actual member from Abnegation, you’re not allowed to sit with them during the ceremony. It doesn’t matter if you intend to stay with them or not.

What you choose today will make you an initiate, and if you complete initiation, you become a member. While some factions are difficult to get into, like Erudite, Candor and Dauntless, others are much easier, like Abnegation and Amity. Which narrows down today’s choice.

You and the rest of the teenagers here, move around to put yourselves in alphabetical order according to your last names. It lands you between a Candor boy, dressed in black and a white. And a Dauntless girl, dressed only in black, playing with the piercing in her nose. Finnick is further down the list, since his name starts with ‘O’, this means that you’ll get to choose before him.

In the next circle are rows of chairs for your families, with each faction divided into slices to avoid inter-mingling. You watch as Reed brings Alyssum to a single chair, not wanting her to occupy another since she’s only three. He sits down, and places her right on his lap, letting her play with the sleeves of her shirt. Even with kids, they have to wear clothes that are too big for them. Reed says that she’ll grow into them as she gets older.

Because the responsibility of hosting the Choosing Ceremony rotates every year, it falls on Candor this time. Their leader is a tall man with dark hair and dull grey eyes. Haymitch Abernathy looks as bored as he does each time he appears anywhere. He stands on a podium that fits tightly between Erudite and Dauntless. He doesn’t smile.

As the chairs fill, silence begins to settle on the factions, with the exception of Dauntless. Once there’s not a single space left, they take the hint on their own, and allow Haymitch to go on with the ceremony.

You curl your hands into fists at your sides, staring at the back of Reed’s head.

Haymitch’s voice is very monotone, “Welcome to the Choosing Ceremony, the day we honor the democratic philosophy given to us by our ancestors. Let us say thank you for allowing them to give us the idea that every man has a right to choose his own way in the world.”

It’s mostly the Abnegation that murmurs out a quiet ‘thanks’. You keep your lips sealed, unlike everyone in this room, who had been told what they should go do, you’re left to your own thoughts. You actually get to make the choice on how you live the rest of your life. Three different factions, three different lifestyles. Only one of which you are familiar with.

Which is why you should stick to Abnegation.

“Our children are now sixteen. They are on the edge of adulthood, which means that it’s now time for them to decide what kind of people they will decide to be. A long time ago, our ancestors realized that politics, religion, race and nationalism are not to blame for the awful world. Rather, they determined that it was the fault of a human’s nature to go towards evil.

“Since evil presents itself in many different ways, factions were formed to eradicate those qualities they believed responsible for the world’s disarray.” Haymitch pauses for a moment, “Those who blamed aggression formed Amity.”

Amity, a faction that already has someone from your family. Yet, you don’t qualify for it like he does.

The Amity share smiles, dressed in yellow, orange and red to trick their minds into being happier. They sing songs, pick apples from trees, and live in healthy communities. They are loving, and care-free and kind, everything that you’re not, since you picked up the knife and eliminated this option. You chose violence over peace without knowing what it represented.

“Those who blamed ignorance became the Erudite.”

With how Erudite has been behaving recently, they’ve made it easy for you to turn your back to them. It’s the easiest decision that you’ve made all day, and it really says something, doesn’t it?

They all hold one article of blue clothing, since blue is supposed to soothe the mind into being calm. Most of them also wear glasses, to make themselves seem smarter to others. You think it makes them look stupid.

“Those who blamed duplicity created Candor,” Haymitch’s lips turn up slightly, creating just the ghost of a smile.

Even if you had wanted to join Candor, it’s not an option. They don’t lie, and their initiation process has something to do with that, you’re sure. They can pick out liars, and they think keeping secrets is a form of lying. Since you’re Divergent, the entire faction is a hazard to you.

They wear black and white, to signify that truth and lies are black and white, with no grey area offered. They are also the people who smoke the most, you think it’s because of the stress that they endure.

“Those who blamed selfishness made Abnegation.”

Your home, you’ve grown up in this faction for sixteen years, and you’ve been selfishly debating whether or not you’ll stay. In Abnegation, you’re supposed to forget yourself, but all it’s done is magnify the things you hate the most about it.

If you made an effort and stayed, you might be able to change that thought. You just have to give it a chance. You have to give Reed a second chance.

“And those who blamed cowardice were the Dauntless.”

Dauntless is dressed in solid black, tight-fitting clothes. They have piercings, brightly-colored hair and tattoos. They’re loud, and reckless, which makes them the complete opposite of Abnegation. If you were to give your life away today and go to them, you’d flip your world upside-down.

Not to mention how hard their initiation is, going there is much more of a risk than trying to stay here and fix everything broken. At least you know how to make things work in Abnegation, there’s not even a guarantee that you’ll make it past Dauntless initiation.

“Working together, these five factions have lived in peace for decades. Each faction is important, as they contribute to a different sector of society. The Abnegation gives us selfless leaders in our government. Candor has provided us with trustworthy leaders in law. Erudite has supplied us with intelligent teachers and outstanding technology. Amity has given us understanding counselors and caretakers. Dauntless provides us with protection from threats both inside and outside of the walls.

“But the possibilities of each faction do not end there. We give one another more support than we can put into words. In our factions, we find meaning, we find purpose, we find life.” Haymitch pauses, “A life without factions, is a life we would not survive in.”

The last sentence is an attack on the factionless, who are supposed to be savages. You can see where they’re all coming from, even though for a while you didn’t. You’ve seen what the factionless can do first-hand, how they killed your father in an act of kindness. And now they’re hiding a murderer, refusing to give him up.

Without them, though, the city would not be clean and well-functioning. They’re the janitors, the garbage truck drivers, the construction workers, and more. They help your society in ways that you can’t even think of.

It might be time for you to finally let the grudge go. It might have only been a few years ago, but all of them can’t be bad, right? If that were the case, then they’d be just as awful as everyone says they are. Yet, the Abnegation continues to feed them, and clothe them, and volunteer over them to give them better living situations.

If you stay in Abnegation, this is a concept that you have to accept.

“This day marks a happy occasion, in which we receive our new initiatives, who will work with us toward a better society, and a better world.” Haymitch finishes, allowing loud applause to come from your families.

He reads the names one at a time. A sixteen year-old will step out of their place in the line and walk toward the middle of the circles. This is where five metal bowls lay, each one having an element that represents a faction. For Abnegation, there are grey stones, Amity has soil, Candor has broken glass, Dauntless has lit coals, and Erudite has water.

For a while, no one switches factions, and you can’t blame them, to be the first to do it must be nerve-wrecking. Then the streak breaks, when an Erudite girl transfers to Candor. The Erudite section isn’t happy, casting glares towards Candor, but Candor gives her smiles and nods on her way behind their section.

You think it’s funny that the two factions don’t realize how similar they are. Candor and Erudite both find ways to disturb the peace. In a way, telling the truth and striving for knowledge at any cost is the same. You wouldn’t be surprised if you saw them swap many initiates.

Still, with the girl transferring, it means that she’ll eventually be seen as a traitor to Erudite. It doesn’t make sense, since you said so yourself, you aren’t actual members of the faction that you come from. It doesn’t keep the factions from being territorial over the teenagers that they thought would be theirs, though.

With the Erudite girl being the first to switch, it gives others the courage to do the same. Each faction welcomes new faces and fresh blood, and the initiates seem to be happy with their decision once it’s over with. With the way they sigh and smile, it’s like a weight has been lifted off their shoulders.

Before you realize, the Candor boy next to you is being called to the middle of the room. You grit your teeth, allowing the tight feeling to grow in your throat. You have to take deep breaths if you want to stay calm. You don’t need to clam up down there, you need to have one fluid motion when you choose if you go or stay.

The Candor boy cuts his hand, and holds it over Erudite’s water. Haymitch gives him a brief look, allowing him to clear the middle of the room before reading the next name, yours.

“(Y/n) Gallows.”

His eyes land on you now, you take in a deep breath before heading down the steps one at a time. You know that Reed’s eyes are on you, anticipating your next move. The last time the two of you went to a Choosing Ceremony, your brother had ended up transferring to Amity. Reed has to be wondering if you’ll be a repeat of him.

If you do, you’ll leave him all alone.

You’re not sure if you can do that, even after everything that happened between you two, and between you and Abnegation. You might have lost everything you have here, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to build it up again. You can make Abnegation how you want it to be, only if you stay.

You stop in front of the metal bowls, eyes sweeping over the table. The elements inside of the bowls are all stained in some way by now. Erudite’s water is pink, Candor’s glass shows red, Abnegation’s stones have droplets of blood littering them like freckles. The only two unbothered will be Dauntless and Amity.

Haymitch offers you the knife, it will only be used once, and it will only be used by you. He gives you a curt nod, and you’re left to decide by yourself. The knife you hold in your hand now is nowhere near as heavy as the one you held in the aptitude test. This one is lighter, and sharper.

You bring the blade to your palm, carefully dragging it across. It stings badly, and you grit your teeth to combat the tears in the corner of your eyes. The blood springs to life outside of your body, showing the rich color. You stare at it for a second as you shift your body to the left, where Abnegation and Dauntless lie.

You are not cut out for Amity, you are too mean. You are not cut out for Candor, you are a liar. And you are too smart for Erudite to have.

The blood needs time to pool, giving you more time to think.

If you leave Abnegation today, you will leave Reed alone with Alyssum. Alyssum will have no older sister, Reed will have no one to take care of her. She’ll grow up the same way you did, in silence without a single mention of Mox. This time, you’ll be added to the list.

If you leave Abnegation today, you will no longer have the comfort of knowing that you’ll be able to pass initiation. Dauntless is not Abnegation, their initiation process could be living hell. While on the other hand, you could volunteer for thirty days and officially call yourself a member after Initiation Day. There will be no fear at night.

If you leave Abnegation, you will leave everyone you know behind. People that you could rely on in hard times. You will have to learn new faces, names and mannerisms. You won’t get to meet people who knew your parents, already offering up stories about them without you asking. No one will know where you came from.

The only problem with staying in Abnegation, is that you run the risk of losing your best friend. Finnick hates it here, he always has. He doesn’t fit in, he fights, and you’ve watched him do it. He’s been waiting years for the Choosing Ceremony just so that he can switch factions and find a place better for him.

However, that’s the only downfall you’re seeing with staying.

You know that Abnegation isn’t perfect, that there are many issues you have with the faction, but all of them can be fixed if you stay. All of them can be fixed with time, especially the ones concerning Reed. If you go, though, none of it will be possible, and you risk losing what relationship you have left with him.

You have to remember that you have the aptitude to stay. You’re not an outcast, not in Abnegation.

You love Finnick, you really do, he’s just not enough.

You hold your hand over the Abnegation stones, and tip your hand over, allowing your blood to join the rest. A smile comes over your face as you turn to Abnegation, eyes locking with Reed, who gives you a small smile in return. He bounces Alyssum a few times on his knee.

On your way up to stand behind your home faction, you earn a few approving nods. You slip your hands into your pockets, staring ahead at the center of the room. You know for a fact that your hand is still bleeding, there’s not much you can do to fix it, is the thing. You could always wipe it on your shirt, but that would draw attention to you.

The Ceremony continues on, not a lot of people deciding to join Abnegation. It has to be the fault of Erudite, normally Abnegation has a healthy group that they train each year. With every person that leaves the line, the closer Finnick’s turn draws.

You bite the inside of your cheek, feeling nervous for him.

“Finnick Odair.” Haymitch calls.

Finnick leaves his place in line, heading down the stairs fluidly. Haymitch hands the knife over to him, gives him a nod, and then observes. Finnick turns to the Abnegation and Dauntless bowls on his left, which is no surprise to you. You can already see him in Dauntless black.

He lifts the knife, drags the silver blade across his hand, and patiently waits for the blood to build up. To anyone else, this might look like he’s stalling, to you it seems like he’s trying to make it as excruciating as possible before he transfers. Abnegation is supposed to be a good faction, which is why hardly anyone ever leaves. If he builds up suspense, it’ll make the news a little harder to bear.

You already know what’s coming, though.

Finnick swallows, and then moves his cupped hand over Abnegation.

You hold your breath.

He tilts his hand, allowing the liquid to run down his skin and drop onto the stones below.

What is he thinking?

Finnick turns around, injured hand diving into his pocket in an effort to hide the mess he’s made. You begin to feel lightheaded, so you’re forced to let out the air you were holding. Without so much of a glance at you, he stops to your right.

Your eyebrows draw in, mouth open slightly when you reach out to touch his arm to catch his attention. It works, he looks at you with a raised eyebrow, and you shake your head at him, because you don’t understand. He hates it here, why would he want to stay? Why didn’t he take his chance to leave?

He doesn’t speak, only gives you a gentle smile before turning back to the Choosing Ceremony.

—

As you expected, Abnegation initiation didn’t even come close to being hard. Volunteering for thirty days is the equivalent to walking in a park. There wasn’t a single doubt in your mind that you wouldn’t make it through. You would have had to make an effort to fail, which says a lot about the program.

It wasn’t easy in the beginning, you won’t lie. You were more used to small acts of kindness, by giving up your seat on the bus and making dinner even when it wasn’t your turn. That was not the case when it came to the actual initiation, though. You’ve spent hours in the sun, feeding the factionless. You’ve labored in the kitchen in order to fill a quota for food that needed to be handed out. And you’ve filled in jobs that haven’t been taken by the factionless, and so much more.

There were a couple points in time where you were sure that Finnick was going to burst the bubble that he had worked so hard to form. It only furthered the idea that Finnick was not cut out for Abnegation, and he had only stayed because he wanted to be around you. But then he’d bounce back, and you’d be unsure about it again.

You two made it though. The journey was far from easy, yet the two of you sit side by side on the bench in the initiation room. You have your hands in your lap, Finnick has his placed on each side to him, leaning forward slightly. To your right is a transfer initiate, Verda, who didn’t have any problem with fitting in.

In front of you are a few of the leaders of Dauntless, one of them being Naida’s husband, Amon. For the Abnegation-born initiates, like you and Finnick and a few others, your families are also gathered together, behind the leaders. They’re all smiling, excited for you.

The oldest leader that Abnegation has, clears his throat, looking over the bench. This year, no one had failed initiation, which means that all of you are basically touching shoulders because the bench isn’t big enough. They would add another one, if it weren’t for the fact that the bench has been here for a long time. The new bench wouldn’t have the same wear and tear as the rest.

“I will be my undoing, if I become my obsession,” the man starts. It’s the Abnegation manifesto, part of the initiation ceremony, “I will forget the ones I love, if I do not serve them. I will war with others, if I refuse to see them. Therefore I choose to turn away from my reflection, to not rely on myself, but on my brothers and sisters. To project always outward until I disappear.”

There are a few people who mutter, “And only God remains.” after the final sentence. It’s an optional sentence, mostly spoken by the religious members of Abnegation. It’s not a requirement by any means.

The leader that had been reciting, gives you all a gentle smile, “Congratulations initiates, tomorrow you can officially call yourselves members.”

No one responds at first, not even the ones that were born here. They must not have older siblings that live here, because silence is not the answer. You know for a fact that Finnick has a younger brother.

“Thank you.” you say, breaking the silence.

“Thank you.” Finnick breathes.

One by one, some overlapping others, each of you thank him.

After that, your least favorite part comes.

During Reed’s Abnegation initiation, there were three parts to it. The first, is to read the Abnegation manifesto, which is about forgetting yourself and knowing the dangers of selfishness. The second, is getting your feet washed by the older members to symbolize leaving a life of selfishness behind. And the third is to then share a dinner with everyone in attendance, serving the person to your left.

Obviously you can understand why they will wash your feet, but it’s not exactly a comfortable situation. If you were born in Abnegation, you’ll typically get your parents--and in your case, since they’re not here, you will be getting Reed--or if you transferred, you get a leader or a volunteer instead.

If you could back out, you would. The last thing you want is for Reed to wash your feet, especially since your relationship isn’t exactly healed just yet. You’re on the road to getting there, but there is a long way to go still.

Still, you watch as parents, siblings, leaders and volunteers alike bring out glass bowls, placing them at your feet. Finnick gives you a look, face twisting. You’ve already told him that it was going to happen, so he could prepare himself. He must’ve forgotten, because you’ve been having nightmares of this situation this past week.

Reed gets on his knees in front of you, pouring the water into the bowl. He sits back, and then holds a hand out for your foot. You give him a polite smile, allowing him to get it over with. For Finnick, his father sits in front of him, taking his time washing Finnick’s feet.

Finnick looks extremely uncomfortable, stuck between smiling and staring at his father with a straight face.

Finally, your feet are patted dry with a white towel, and Reed gets up from where he was sitting. Others follow at a steady pace, disposing of their water and washing their hands.

Then it’s finally time for dinner.

You get up from where you sit on the bench, looking at Finnick with a funny smile. His face is twisted, lips pursed as he gets up from his spot. He closes his eyes for a long moment, shakes his head, and the two of you move on to find a free bathroom to wash your hands, shoeless.

Verda, Clay, Moises and a few others follow you two, since you seem to know what you’re doing. They’re right, because you lead them to the gendered bathrooms. They split, going through the swinging doors. You’re about to head into the girls bathroom, thanking Verda for holding open the door, until Finnick asks for you to stay back.

“Oh, sure.” you nod at him, looking at Verda, “I’ll be inside in a moment.”

She gives you a smile, the door sweeps shut behind her.

You raise your eyebrows at Finnick, giving him a smile, “What’s up?”

He makes a face, and then sighs it out, “I want to thank you for sticking with me during initiation. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have made it through.”

“It’s really no problem, Finnick.” you laugh, “I can’t leave you behind, even if I wanted to.”

Finnick cracks a smile, and then it fades. He’s got more on his mind.

“What is it?” you ask, “Are you nervous for dinner?”

“No, dinner will be easy.” he waves it off, “It’s something else.”

He doesn’t elaborate.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

He shrugs.

You shake your head, settling for a tilt, “I’m not a mindreader, Finnick.”

“I know, it’s just…” he scratches the back of his neck, eyebrows drawing in. He’s not looking at you anymore, he’s staring at the floor, “I like you.”

You stare at him, blinking. When there’s not an immediate response, he finally looks up to your face, scanning for a sense of direction. His face begins to turn red, his ears too.

He has to be kidding.

“You don’t like me back, okay.” he breathes, straightening to his full height, “That’s good to know.”

“No,” you say, still staring at him. You don’t think he’s kidding anymore, “No, that’s not it.”

Finnick lightens up, “It isn’t?”

You have spent this whole month listening to Verda talk about how cute Finnick is. It started off fine, it didn’t really bother you because you couldn’t see what she was talking about. In Abnegation, physical affection is a powerful thing, which is why it’s so rare, and no one dates during school. Relationships typically form after a long period of time, and after initiation.

But after listening to her talk about him, day in and day out, he was forced to the front of your mind. Not to mention her constant question of whether or not the two of you were dating, a question you tried to shut down. She was so insistent over it, how he would do things for you. As if the entire Abnegation motto isn’t to be selfless and help your neighbor if they need it.

Unfortunately, she began to be right when he would do things for you, that he wouldn’t do for others. Verda wanted to show you that it wasn’t normal, that he was going out of his way for you.

It took everything in your power not to strangle her in her sleep, when she simply stated that he had feelings for you, and it’s the same for you. You’re not sure what Verda did for most of her life in Amity, but some of that stuff doesn’t translate into Abnegation. And with her pointing out your feelings for Finnick, the thoughts of you two together began to crawl.

You thought that it was impossible, though. Finnick has never expressed a liking for any guy or girl. There was a greater chance that he wanted to be alone or with someone else, than you.

Yet here he is. Verda was right.

“I like you too.” you say, the relief on his face is immediate.

“Really?” he begins slouching again, “You’re not just saying that?”

“Really.” you laugh, pressing the heel of your hand to your forehead.

He laughs too, his head is back to look at the ceiling.

This is it. You were right to stay in Abnegation, right to think that you could fix what had happened here. You can’t help yourself when you reach for Finnick’s hand, giving it a squeeze. He locks eyes with you, squeezing right back.

This is the first day of the rest of your life.

ANTERIC IS A SPIN-OFF DIVERGENT AU //MASTERLIST//

add yourself to the TAGLIST

@justthatfangirloverthere / @neenieweenie / @amixedwitch / @fnnshelbys / @vxntae / @liaaacantwrite / @terezasworld /

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xummie · 4 years ago

Text

How to Beat Fate

For @strykiss, Happy Holidays and I hope you enjoy!

On every person's 15th birthday, they develop a soul mark. Find the person with a matching mark, and you've found your soulmate. Fate leads most soulmates together by their 21st birthdays, and the members of Stray Kids were no exceptions - all but one that is.

WC: 3554

This is actually going to turn into a full on SKZ Soulmate AU series.

---

A 15th birthday is supposed to be an exciting day, but Han Jisung's was not a day worth remembering as it was the day he learned he was cursed to live a loveless life. Jisung did not develop a normal soulmate mark, instead he developed a very rare mark that most consider a curse. This mark has been recorded as a soulmate-less mark through the centuries, owners of this mark never finding their true love because they lived years before the current bearer of the mark was born or many years after their death. Being a generally happy person, Jisung was able to push past his mark and just chase his dreams. As long as he hid his mark no one knew what it was, and as long as no one brought it up Jisung was able to keep it off his mind; until his members started finding their soulmates, that is.

The first to find his match was Seungmin at the very young age of 16 while he was still training. Everyone was surprised to learn they'd debut with an already partnered member, but as any good family they all loved Seungmin's soulmate like a sibling.

One night after moving into the dorm together everyone was hanging out in the living room and the topic of soul marks was breached, so everyone started showing off theirs. Jisung became unusually quiet as everyone boasted about their marks - hoping to get through the night without anyone asking to see his - But he was not so lucky.

“Jisung-hyung, what’s your mark?” Jeongin’s simple, harmless question had Jisung’s heart racing.

“Oh, nothing special.” He muttered, holding his sleeve balled up in his hand. “Yours are all way cooler.”

“Aw come on, show us!” Felix practically pounced on Jisung, playfully pulling his arm out of his lap as Minho joined in and pulled up his sleeve.

Minho gasped when he saw the mark and pulled Jisung’s sleeve back down quickly, but the collective “Oh” that went around the room told them that everyone had seen enough of it to know why Jisung hadn’t wanted to show it. Jisung couldn’t bear everyone’s looks of pity and he stood swiftly, bolting to his room and slamming the door shut as tears began to pour down his face.

A light knock at the door before it opened signaled someone’s presence, and Jisung was surprised when the person to speak wasn’t one of his roommates.

“Jisung, I’m so sorry. We were just surprised.” Chan’s voice was truly apologetic and Jisung heard the springs of another bed protest as Chan sat. “That must be hard… I can’t even imagine knowing...”

“I try to forget about it most of the time but… yeah, it’s not fun.” Chan had to strain to hear Jisung, whose face was buried in his pillow. “Especially when people react like that. I already know I’m cursed, but why does everyone have to act like I’ll infect them or something?”

“That’s not what it was. We were surprised to see it, nothing else. No one is scared of you. Everyone is worried about you right now.”

“And now they’re always going to be worried for poor Jisung, who is cursed to be alone.”

“You have us now…” Chan knew that didn’t really help. “And I don’t think you’re cursed. I think you’re destined for something that wouldn’t be possible with a partner.”

Jisung scoffed. “Like what? What incredible feats did anyone else with my mark accomplish?”

“One was a great mathematician. One was a renowned poet. Maybe this means you’ll be a rapper or composer good enough for the history books.”

“Sure.” Jisung was not convinced in the slightest. “Thanks for trying Channie-hyung, but I think I just need to be alone for a bit. Tell everyone I fell asleep or something.”

“Alright. Just know we’re here for you, OK? We’re your brothers now, and brothers stick together, yeah?”

---

Seungmin remained the only one to have found his soulmate until three months post debut when Bang Chan found his at a coffee shop. He brought his soulmate to the dorm not long after meeting them and everyone instantly welcomed the new member of their family. Jisung was especially friendly, treating the new partner as if they’d been part of the group as long as Seugnmin’s.

Barely a week later Hyunjin's soulmate ran into him, literally, as they were rushing to school and Hyunjin to practice. Unlike Chan, Hyunjin decided to keep his soulmate to himself for a while, going on cute dates and not telling anyone. He managed to keep his secret for about a month until one day Jisung noticed a text message and wouldn't let Hyunjin do anything until he told him. Hyunjin didn’t want to tell Jisung first, but Jisung was so happy to have their family grow again that Hyunjin soon became glad he was the first to find out.

What Hyunjin didn’t see was Jisung crying himself to sleep that night before anyone else went to bed. Two soulmates in a month, and so early into their time as an idol group, it was like a knife had been planted into Jisung’s heart. Seungmin had found his soulmate before they were even living together and it really hadn’t hurt Jisung more than any other relationship in the world did. But now it just felt like every soulmate his brothers brought home would be another jab of the knife, another twist, until finally everyone had a partner and he’d be left bleeding and alone.

Even so, Jisung made it his mission in life to make sure the soulmates always felt like a part of the group. When on tours, Jisung was in charge of keeping everyone in communication. When Hyunjin would pass out too early to call his partner, Jisung would text them and let them know he was fine, just tired. When Chan didn’t come home from the studio Jisung would text his partner to see if they knew where Chan was or how he was doing, and if they didn’t then he’d check on the leader himself. Helping keep everyone happy was Jisung's way of distracting himself from the fact that he'd never have a relationship like his brothers did and it worked, most of the time.

Minho was next, two years later, finding his soulmate working at a cat cafe that he frequented when he missed his cats. He texted Jisung about them first, thinking Jisung would be ecstatic to welcome another new member of their family. He was surprised when Jisung's response came hours later instead of the usual immediate reply, but thought he must have forgotten about a schedule Jisung had. The truth was, Jisung saw the text right away and had to take time to let his jealousy cool down before he could respond with the expected energy and excitement. As he suspected, another partner, another twist of the knife and the more alone he felt.

Jisung’s relationship with Minho’s partner was nothing like the other three, and he hated himself for it. He tried. He tried so hard to treat them the same, but deep down he knew there was something off. Five months later he was the last to find out that Changbin had met his soulmate as the older boy was scared to hurt Jisung with the knowledge. They all saw how each new partner made him sadder, no matter how hard he tried to hide it by being overly welcoming, and Changbin felt truly bad to hurt Jisung again. It was all so confusing, he was happy for his brothers but at the same time he just couldn’t shake the jealousy and sadness.

A year passed without another soulmate and Jisung was mostly back to his happy-go-lucky self, his attempts to treat all the partners as equals being far less taxing than before. That is until one day when he overheard Chan and Felix talking in their room and even though they were speaking English he could understand enough to make him furious. He threw the door to the room open, making both men jump.

“Oi Jisung, what-” Chan started before Jisung cut him off, yelling at Felix.

“You’re complaining that your soulmate is in Australia?! Is that what you were saying? My English might not be perfect but I don’t think I mistranslated that.”

“Eh, yeah but Jisung, why are you yelling at me?” Felix was shocked, shrinking back farther onto his bed at Jisung’s anger.

“You found your soulmate last week in Australia? You’re telling Chan-hyung you wish you’d never found them because now you have to have a long distance relationship? How ungrateful can you be?!”

“Jisung, lay off him, he's just trying to adjust.”

“No! I have to live my entire life without a soulmate, and you have the audacity to complain that yours is a phone call away? Felix how is that even something to complain about with today’s technology? How is that even-” Jisung’s voice broke as he choked back tears. “-even a problem?”

“I’m sorry Jisung I wasn’t really complaining I was just trying to work out how to make this work best.” Felix’s deep voice told just how sorry he way, but as he stood to pull Jisung into a hug the other man shook his head and turned, exiting the room and slamming the door to his own as he flopped onto his bed and let loneliness overtake him. He jumped when his door popped open and Chan poked his head in.

"Jisung, can we talk?" The leader asked as he sat on the edge of Jisung's bed and started rubbing his back. "I know what you must have been able to understand from Felix wasn’t exactly what he meant, can I explain?” Jisung replied with a tearful mumble into his pillow which Chan couldn’t understand. “What’s that?”

Jisung turned his head just enough to let the words reach Chan. “It doesn’t matter. I shouldn’t have blown up at him like that.”

“Yeah, but I get it, that’d be a pretty tactless thing to complain about even behind your back.”

“I probably didn’t fully understand him, I should’ve made sure I understood before losing my temper. But it hurt so much, Channie-hyung. Just thinking someone in the would could be so ungrateful, that finding your soulmate could be so taken for granted that you could complain about it.”

Chan nodded, “Felix wasn’t complaining about finding his soulmate. He was just telling me that he doesn’t know what to do with them in Australia. He misses his family so much as it is, and now to have his other half so far away, he was asking me if I could help get the company to fly them here.”

“See, that’s not bad. I’m so stupid, I need to go apolo-”

“No, Felix understands. You can apologize later. For now, it’s OK to let your feelings out.”

“I just feel so alone.” A new wave of tears overtook Jisung and Chan just let him cry for a few moments.

“You’re not alone, we’re all here for you Jisung.” Chan’s voice was soft and reassuring, and yet it didn’t help Jisung one bit.

“You all have your partners. Or at least you will. I have no one.” He sat up as he talked and put a hand over Chan’s mouth, stopping his rebuttal. “One day we’ll disband, you’ll go off and start your families, have solo careers or just leave the limelight all together. What’ll I do? Keep working my ass off till I drop because there’ll be nothing else to keep me busy? Live in an empty flat with me myself and I? Get a pet? While all around me the world laughs in my face, constantly reminding me of the love I’ll never receive?”

Chan sighed and pulled Jisung into a tight hug. “I would hope that even after we disband we’d all stay connected. I know I’ll want you in my family’s life, as my kids’ uncle Ji, and so would everyone else.”

“So I’m just supposed to be the entertaining uncle? With my little nieces and nephews asking why I don’t have a partner, why my mark is so weird, why I don’t have kids?”

“Well yes children are curious creatures so I’m sure they’d ask. But they wouldn’t care, wouldn’t judge. And if you want a family, there’s always those whose soulmates have died. You can still find love, Jisung, even if it’s not in the expected way.”

Jisung shook his head. “Not even a widow would fall in love with a curse.”

Chan rolled his eyes, though Jisung couldn’t see that. “ You aren’t a curse Han Jisung, and I don’t think your mark is either. Just because it’s different doesn’t mean it’s damning. Sure, you may have to wait a while to find love, but I think you’ll find it. And whether you do or don’t, if you want children you can always adopt, we’d all help you and you know it.”

Jisung thinks about that suggestion for a moment and then shrugs. “I guess maybe. Thanks Channie-hyung. He gives Chan a hug and then sits back. “I think I’m going to take a nap before practice.”

“Sounds good, I’ll wake you up when we need to go.” Jisung gave Chan a light smile as he left the room.

---

Another year passed and neither Jisung nor Jeongin found their soulmates, not that Jisung expected too. Through the year the group stayed extremely busy and Jisung was able to push his loneliness and jealousy to the back of his mind for the majority of it. His 21st birthday, however, was not a day that let him ignore his fate. They had their normal midnight “surprise” with a cake and a surprise live, which Jisung managed to put on a happy facade for, and then they went to bed. When Jisung woke up annoyingly early on the morning of September 14th he knew the day would be a bad one, and he didn’t want his brothers to try making it better.

I’m spending the day with my family, I’ll be back late. Jisung texted the group chat as he left the dorm, having no intention of actually seeing his family or anyone he cared about on that day. He wandered on the streets for a while, not caring where he went. He found himself grabbing coffee at a shop he’d never been in before as he ignored the messages coming in from his waking members. The constant notifications from his phone became frustrating and he powered it off, he didn’t have a schedule that day so there was no reason for anyone to look for him while they thought he was with family.

He sat in the back corner of the coffee shop for about an hour, sipping on his drink and staring at the table, trying to stop the onslaught of emotions and thoughts from getting too strong. When he left he took a random set of turns, trying to lose himself in the city. He walked around for another hour or so before ending up at a park and hiding against a tree where he broke down, not for the last time that day.

People could find their soulmates after they turned 21, it wasn’t unheard of even if uncommon, but hitting 21 still felt like the final nail in Jisung’s coffin of fate. He hated that he had gotten so lonely even with everyone around him, hated that he couldn’t just accept living a partnerless life and move on with things. He thought about his members’ relationships with their partners, something he tried to stop himself from pondering any other day, and he let the sadness wash over him like a tsunami, hoping that maybe allowing it all to consume him for a day would lessen his pain later. As he let the thoughts run free in his mind he began to sob, screaming at the world, asking why he had to be the one to carry the lonely mark.

At some point he fell asleep against the tree, waking to the sun on his face and dogs barking in the park. He stood and stretched, feeling no better than before. He moved on, hoping that no one had thought to check on the man against the far tree and taking pictures of him. He began walking randomly again, taking turn after turn with no care of where he ended up. Suddenly he stopped as he heard a cacophony of children’s laughter and playful screaming. He looked towards the sound, thinking he must have ended up near a school and being surprised when he realized it was actually an orphanage.

He watched the kids playing outside for a few minutes, actually smiling at the contagious laughter and the games being played. Chan’s words from what felt like forever ago came back to him then “ You can always adopt”. Without consciously making a decision to move he found himself walking up to the orphanage door and knocking. He cursed himself as he knocked and turned around quickly, thinking he was crazy and having no idea why he was knocking in the first place. He couldn’t adopt a child now, Stray Kids were in the height of their popularity and not slowing down any time soon, none of them could take care of children yet.

Before he could take more than a step away the door opened. “Hello young man, how can I help you?”

“I-I don’t know.” Jisung stuttered awkwardly, suddenly realizing how swollen his face must be from all his crying. “I’m sorry for bugging you, I don’t know why I knocked. I’ll leave you be.”

“Young man, you seem to need something to do.” The kind woman smiled at him knowingly. “It just so happens that two of my helpers called in sick today and it’s lunch time, would you like to help me prepare the children’s lunches?”

Jisung stood in shock for a moment and then shrugged. “Sure, I… I think that’d be good.”

The woman led him into the orphanage, naming children as they passed. A particularly chubby little boy who couldn’t be any older than five ran over as they passed and clung to Jisung’s leg, laughing wordlessly as Jisung tried to pry him off, causing Jisung too to chuckle, the sound surprising him.

“What’s your name young man?” The woman asked as they reached the kitchen.

“Han Jisung, ma’am.”

“And what were you doing in this area, Han Jisung?”

“Just wandering, really. I have the day off and didn’t really know what to do with myself.”

“That explains the lost look. Well I appreciate your help, it’s been a tough day.” Jisung returned the woman’s kind smile as they began prepping food. They chatted lightly as they cooked, and Jisung loved talking with all the kids as he helped serve their lunches.

“Have you ever fed a baby, Jisung?” The kind woman asked.

“A baby? No ma’am I haven’t.”

“Well come sit down over here, you can feed this little one his bottle. Hold her like this.” The woman showed Jisung what to do and he cooed over the little girl as she fell asleep drinking the bottle.

Jisung spent the rest of the day at the orphanage, only realising what time it was when the older kids returned from school. Luckily none of them were old enough to recognize him, all being elementary schoolers. He had so much fun entertaining the kids that he truly forgot about his worries for a while. He stayed long enough to help with dinner and then decided that he should head home.

“Thank you for today, honestly today was going to be one of the worst days of my life but I don’t think I can say that anymore, these kids really changed it.”

“Well, I’m glad we could help.” The woman laughed as she walked him to the door. “You know, we can never have too many hands around here, really we always need a few extra pairs. I’m sure you have your own life to lead, but anytime you want to stop in and play with the kids, we’d love to have you.”

Jisung smiled widely. “Thank you, I’ll be back as often as I can be. My schedule is kind of all over the place, but I’ll be here whenever I can.”

“It was nice to meet you, Han Jisung.”

“You too, ma’am. Have a good night.” And with that Jisung headed back to the dorm, his thoughts revolving around the children and planning out times when he could return.

Chan was right, he would find love and family one day, even without a soulmate. He didn’t want to rush anything with Stray Kids, he would perform with them as long as he could. But where he used to be terrified of the day they’d disband, he now had something to look forward to. When that day came, he knew he’d be adopting a child and starting a family of his own. Those kids were just like him, worried that they’d never have a family of their own, but he knew there was hope for all of them, just as he now knew there was hope for him.

#skz angst #skz fanfic #skz soulmate au #soulmate marks #bang chan #lee minho #lee know #changbin #skz au #skz #hyunjin #han jisung #jisung #lee felix #seungmin #jeongin #skz ensemble #sad jisung #angst with hopeful ending

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parksvn · 4 years ago

Text

can’t you see me?

prince!jinyoung x apothecary!reader

wc: 3.4k+

Jinyoung showed up bloody on your door with his defenses completely down and half delirious. You knew that your feelings for him were entirely ridiculous, but then again the way he was acting made you question just how unrequited they were.

Jinyoung?

Here he is, standing on your doorstep in the pouring rain. His wet t-shirt clings to his body, pulling against the hard skin and muscle, and his chest heaves with effort. If you didn’t know any better, you’d say that he came all this way to declare his affections, to spill his heart on your doorstep.

But, of course, you knew better.

Just as those fairytale thoughts entered your mind, your eyes saw crimson, a trail of it, starting at his left abdomen and oozing down his pant leg. Every time. Every time he’s here because he won’t face the truth.

Every time you’re the fallback.

You’re tired of it.

Beads of rain dripped from his wet hair onto his pale face. Dark eyes stare back at you, guarded and magnetic. His unabashed glare sends your heart into a wild chase, but you reign it in, matching his stand-off nature with your own.

You’ve fallen into those eyes once.

Once. And once was more than enough.

“What?” Your lace your words with ice, hoping the impact will get him off your doorstep, hoping he’ll turn around and walk away. He doesn’t have to make this harder or more complicated than it already was.

He moves towards you, zoning in on your doorframe, ready to crowd you into a corner.

You want to cower. You want to roll into a tiny ball until he goes away and you don’t have to think about him or anything else that he drags along with him. You don’t belong in his world. You’re happy where you are.

Right?

Your neck curls into your chest for half-a-second, then you remember who you are. You pull your spine into a straight line and stare him down, glowering, hoping it’ll be enough to make him stop.

He pauses.

He takes another step and another, his feet drag against your porch and his body begins turning to mush. You see the weakness, the exhaustion underneath his eyes, in his shaky hands, in the way he moves so unrestrainedly.

It’s like he’s been inhabited by a ghost. The only thing that truly reminds you that he exists comes from the dark focus in his eyes. Like he’s a hunter. Like he’s found his perfect target and is calculating the best way to end its life.

But then he collapses, right into you, right onto your shoulder. His hands are disorganized as they search your clothing for something to cling onto, something to make his disintegration less painful. They find their place, grasping onto the fabric of the back of your shirt, squeezing you into him, until you can feel his warm breath skimming against your neck.

His wet hair leaves trails of water near your ear as the dampness of his clothes transfers to yours.

You pretend to care about how soaked you are now, you pretend to be absolutely disgusted and horrified, but you both know it’s just an act. You were never very good at acting.

Jinyoung was always amazing at it. He had to be. He was a prince after all.

You feel his heat and warmth through your shirt and feel a jolt through your spine. You haven’t responded, haven’t placed your hands on his torso at all. You’re waiting. You’re waiting until he asks for what he needs.

Until then, you owe him absolutely nothing, no matter what he’s doing to you now.

“Nowhere else to go.” He mumbles against your shoulder, his lips brushing your exposed skin. “Need help.” He buries into you further and the extra weight on your shoulders tells you that his legs are about to give out. His voice softens and he wraps his arms around your waist, drawing you deeper into a cage you’re only pretending you don’t want to be in. “Please.”

…

Please. Please. Really it’s a simple word. It shouldn’t be as effective as it is, but you know that for Jinyoung to say the phrase, the situation must be dire.

And that’s how you dragged him into your house and bandaged him up. The wound, likely from a knife fight in the street, tipped you off about a few things. One, he hadn’t learned from his mistake at the club last night, and two, that he wanted to die.

You’d warned him the minute that he stepped out of line, the minute that he didn’t follow orders, no matter how handsy they might have been with you, that they were going to hunt him down and kill him, prince or not. You knew the game, you knew that prying for information was going to be hard, that getting the men to talk was going to be difficult.

He wasn’t ready.

And you shouldn’t have taken him there.

Going up against thieves, people who could get around the trade embargoes and find the herbs you needed, was something you’ve done frequently. It’s not uncommon that you’re patching someone who conveniently “got in an accident.” You’re the town’s main healer, an unbiased helper of the people. But this time you surprisingly underestimated Jinyoung’s pride and overestimated his diligence to get the job done.

When he pushed the leader away from you, you knew the jig was up and so did he. You barely escaped with your lives and told him not to show up on your doorstep again or he would die. And here he was, good old Prince Jinyoung here to mess up everything and make it into a suicide mission while he was at it.

You fully intended to set him down on your couch in front of the fire for a little while, let him warm up while you got the supplies ready. But he refused to let you go, clinging onto you and dragging you down to the couch with him.

He laid on top of you for a little bit, too weak to even move and sucking up your body heat. His lips were never more than a few inches from your neck even with your best efforts to move away from him. You smoothed his hair from his face and searched for bleeding while the rainwater mixed with your skin.

Nothing so far, but he’s not out of the woods yet.

You let him sleep for about thirty minutes, cradling his head and drawing small circles against his back as you laid on your couch, soothing him to sleep, then you woke him up, roughly. Probably rougher than you needed to.

If he didn’t take a hot shower soon, he was going to be too sick to do anything. His fingers dug into your sides as you slipped out of his reach, moaning in annoyance, but you were stronger than his feeble attempts to keep you rooted in place. You turned and hauled him off the couch, slinging an arm over your shoulder. His cry in pain jolted him out of his stupor and you both limped down to your bathroom.

White tile with black ornamentation greeted you as you set him down on the edge of the tub, getting the hot water ready. You felt his probing gaze and spared a glance in his direction. His fingers were only inches away from your face.

You slapped them away. “Come on, Jinyoung. You don’t have to pretend that you care.” His eyes looked...hurt. He appeared genuinely offended. It was one of the first times that you saw him this upset that you wouldn’t just fall into him like you used to. Your worlds were different and they needed to stay that way. “Take off your clothes.”

His dark eyes flashed with surprise. You rolled your eyes and shook your hands, flinging water droplets back to their source. “You have to get in the bath or you’ll freeze.” You turned your back and walked into the hall, needing space from him and his emotional openness. “I’ll find you something to wear.”

When you came back, you heard the water sloshing around and creaked the door open, setting his change of clothes on the counter. “(name)?” His voice sounded small and it almost hurt to hear your stone tone against the soft way he called for you.

“What do you need?”

“Can you...just…?” He cleared his throat and went silent for a moment.

“Jinyoung, spit it out.”

“Can you stay by the door?” You sighed and closed your eyes. Really? This big baby who used to bully you all the time for the smallest things is asking you to sit by the door? What is he, five?

“What—?” You turned your head around. “No. I have to get food ready for you because if you don’t eat, you’re going to pass out.” He must have heard your boots recede because you hear his forceful effort in calling you back.

“(name)?” His voice is deeper, much more serious and you pause for just a second. “Just come back. Sit with me.”

Now you could walk in there and pay this huge crybaby any mind or you could go back to the kitchen and make his food so he could leave faster. That would be the smarter option, the safer play, but you were having a hard time making the move.

“Why? Give me one good reason I should give you the time of day after ruining my one connection to rare ingredients for the medicine that could probably save a lot of people.” You cross your arms and wait.

You hear silence. “Okay,” you mutter under your breath and turn away, walking to the living room.

“I don’t. I can’t give you a good reason. I’ve been awful to you and I know I messed up. I don’t have enough reasons to convince you to justify being here and taking care of me. I don’t have really anything to say to justify my own. I just know I don’t want to do this alone.”

You walked straight into that bathroom and plopped down beside him, hand out, waiting for his own, and grasped it tightly. He held onto your hand so tightly that you were sure he was cutting off your circulation, but you were fine with it. His touch communicated what words couldn’t say.

…

After he got changed and joined you in the kitchen while you were making him soup, he was surprisingly silent. Normally he’d be chewing you out for going to such dangerous places, hanging out with such secretive people, committing such illegal activities, but no words of judgment echoed off the walls.

When you turned around, he was much closer than you originally thought. You took him in, examining his hair, the redness of warmth in his cheeks, his softened eyes, his broad shoulders. He’ll live.

You walked over to him, pulled his shirt up, and examined the bandage. It was tight enough not to slide but not to the point where he would feel suffocated. Your fingers skimmed over the white fabric while his stare subconsciously warmed the back of your neck. He responded to your touch, tensing slightly when your fingers applied a small amount of pressure, before relaxing, giving you permission to continue. When you were satisfied, you slid his navy tee back down.

He was leaning into you and as you stepped away you noticed the way he swung back. You almost smirked and got a sample of the soup, walked back over to him, and held it up to his lips.

His eyebrows shot up, but when he saw the tilt of your head and your open eyes prodding him along, he opened his mouth as you gently lifted the spoon. He stared at you the whole time. You watched as the flavors hit his tongue, his eyes shifting in wonder and amazement.

Is it good? your eyes asked.

He nodded and smiled. You turned to get a bowl when Jinyoung beat you to it, reaching above you to grab two. When you fully turned around, he had his hands on either side of you, his eyes boring into you.

He inched closer and you felt yourself take a breath instinctively. His gaze slipped down to your lips before looking back at you. “I still affect you.” He breathed out inching closer. A flame started in your stomach, but you ignored it.

Swallowing, you scoffed. “Duh.” You looked away from him and tried to breathe normally. Of course, he still affected you. You were affected by him the moment you met him. Time would only dull the intensity in the proximity. However, time would never erase his control over you this close.

He brought a hand to your cheek and drew your eyes back to his. He moved quickly, your noses touching, breathing in the same air. You froze.

Is this really happening? And you’re about to let it?

He seemed conflicted for a moment, his eyebrows furrowed, and his mouth contorted into a focused line. You nearly pulled away right there, but, as if he sensed your hesitation, he closed the gap.

He kissed you hard in the beginning, pressing you into the counter behind you. Your fingers clenched the hard surface. It was taking everything in you not to touch him. You didn’t want him to win, but you were losing. You felt your hands start to loosen.

No.

His lips started moving, roaming over yours as he slid his hand to cup your neck, the other placed on your waist, drawing you closer, allowing him easier access. Your heart started speeding.

No.

When his lips left yours to place warm kisses down your jaw, you jumped away from him, placing at least six feet between you and him. Your lips felt puffy already and you knew they were red. But that had nothing on the shock in his eyes or the dark way his eyes traced your figure as you started moving away from him, shaking your head furiously.

“I’m not doing this. I’m not becoming another pawn for you to push around.” You watched as he tried to get closer to you and failed. Your voice started cracking as tears welled in your eyes, your emotions coming to the surface. “I’m tired of always being there for you just for you to abandon me when you find something better. I’m tired of you always scolding me for doing what I want with me. I’m tired of being second place.” His eyes changed, hardening to volcanic rock, and you knew then that you’d won, that you were finally speaking a language he understood.

“I’m going to live my life the way I want to, without you, and without anyone who sees me as the backup plan. I can’t be the person you always come to when things get hard, when no one is there to put you back together again. I refuse. No more, Jinyoung. No more.”

“Why—How could you think that you were somehow second place?” He walks closer to you but you back up till you hit the wall. “(name), why do you think I’m here all the time? Why do you think I always hover? Why do you think I nag all the time?”

“Because you’re awful.” You wipe the tears and slide away from him. “Stop crowding me.” The words are more forceful than you intended, but he seems to get the hint.

He pauses in his pursuit but the pleading look in his eyes doesn’t go away. “Why? Because I didn’t think that you were valuable? Because I hated you?”

“You have a girlfriend.”

“Had.” Your eyes widen at this. “And we were betrothed. I didn’t want that. I wanted it to be my choice.” He backs up, sitting on the edge of the couch as he retraces his memories, making the connections clear to you. “I thought that I would be able to hide it, that if I just stayed away I could ignore it. But even Haru saw through it too. She saw it when I came over all the time, when I couldn’t just leave you alone, when I would stay up all night worrying about you.” He treaded through the room now, moving close enough to touch you, but instead of reaching out, he kept his hands fully at his sides. “Do you really think that I ignored you for weeks because I used you?”

“I don’t get it. You just disappeared. What was I supposed to think?” Why did you leave?

He bit his lip and turned away. ”I was trying not to get you hurt. They obviously figured out who I was and the best way to keep you safe was getting away.” His gaze was unsure now, less focused, and determined than it was before. You saw a hand weave up to his neck, scratching absentmindedly at it. “I’m sorry for going so quickly. I should have said something.”

You nodded and returned to the soup, crossing back into the kitchen and ladling the soup into two bowls. Your heart raced for a second, remembering the events of a second ago before you dropped spoons into each bowl. Taking a breath, you closed your eyes.

He was probably telling the truth. For everything that Jinyoung wasn’t, he was good to the people. People knew him as firm but fair, caring, and generous when he could be. You saw his potential to act kind in certain situations, but you also saw the dark, lying person he could be.

You were conflicted. He appeared open and kind, sincere in his words and his intentions with you, but in the back of your mind, you still saw the concealed shadow that lingered there.

“Eat.” You said as you laid a bowl down in front of him. He froze for a moment, watching you with confusion, before deciding it was safe to sit and drink the soup.

You returned to your stance near the counter, drinking the hot meal standing. The soup had a special combination of herbs to promote healing and skin reproduction. He would be fine in no time.

But the bigger question remained: What in the world was he doing around your neighborhood? Your house, made of wood and logs, stood somewhere off the beaten path, the closet tavern was about 2 miles east, in town. Your home was tucked among the forest, sheltered by foliage and wood.

There was no reason for him to trek all the way out here when town remained so much closer.

He sipped his soup politely, before watching your face morph. Your eyes narrowed and your brow furrowed. “What is it?” He stood, placing the bowl down. “What’s wrong?”

“Why are you here?” Your eyes were black as night, guarded, warning.

“What do you mean?” His head turned to the side as if he was asked a question in school and didn’t know the answer.

“Jinyoung, the closest town is nearly an hour’s carriage ride from here.” You set your bowl down. “What are you doing all the way out here? Why would you come all this way? Why would come to a place that you know wants you dead.”

His eyes flashed for a moment before he responded, “you don’t. You’ve seen all of the horrible things I’ve done and you still tolerate me. You still somehow take me in, even when you don’t want to. You have never turned your back on me, not once.”

“That’s not helping your case.” You grumble and he frowns in confusion.

“No, (name). It is because you have never left me behind that’s the point. Despite how much I wanted to leave you alone, to not disturb your peace, I couldn’t. I was always waiting around for your letters, listening for news about you, anxious to hear if your house was caught in the storms. For the better half of my life, I was watching over you, making sure no harm came your way.” He steps closer and you no longer feel anger by his proximity.

You intentionally let him get close because his eyes aren’t lying now.

“I hadn’t heard from you in five days. I know there are men after you in the town because I sent scouts ahead to check.” You have to look up to see him now. “I came here because I was losing my mind at the thought that something happened to you. Prince or not.”

“Oh.” You nodded and looked down, leaning against the counter again.

So he did feel the same way. Or, at least, something like that.

His voice came out in a soft whisper, his breath gently skimming against your face, his nose nearly pressing against yours. “I am entirely incapable of staying away from you.” You blinked. “Can I kiss you now?”

You almost laughed. Always so cheesy.

You closed the gap for him.

#jinyoung fic #jinyoung fanfic #jinyoung drabble #jinyoung got7 #parksvn #jinyoung imagine

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kookiesbuckethat · 4 years ago

Text

if you love him

Summary: Taehyung knows neither you, nor Namjoon would cheat behind his back, but he can’t help but feel insecure because of how much time you’re spending with the leader.

Taehyung x f!reader

Genre: angst to fluff, hurt/comfort

WC: 3.4k

As you step into the airport terminal, your eyes immediately scan the crowd for your boyfriend, Taehyung. You had just arrived in Seoul, but your Korean wasn’t the best so you wanted to find him as soon as possible.

You had met Taehyung a couple of years ago when he was on tour in America. He spent every minute he possibly could with you before he had to leave, and once he was back in Korea, he continued to text and video call you almost every day.

Most of your video calls were interrupted by the other members, which you didn’t mind because they never failed to make you laugh. But sometimes Taehyung just wanted to talk to you, so he would often call you late at night when everyone else was already asleep.

Since then, you attended every performance they had in America until you two were finally ready to take the next step: moving in together.

Ever since you met Taehyung, you’ve been studying Korean to hopefully communicate with him better and prepare for your future together. His English was still better than your Korean though, so most of the time you guys spoke in English.

You could speak quite well in Korean now, but sometimes it was still hard to find the right words.

You start to panic a little when you’re unable to spot Taehyung in the crowd, but then you feel a pair of arms wrap around your waist. As soon as his familiar scent hits you, you relax in his arms.

You turn around to find him wearing a mask and hat to cover his face. He pulls his mask down as he looks at you.

“You made it,” he says with a smile. You smile back before nodding and hugging him back tightly.

“I missed you,” you say as you smile into his chest. A low chuckle rumbles through his chest as he says, “I missed you too,” and places a kiss on top of your head.

“Let’s go home?” he asks you as he pulls his mask back up. “All the boys are excited to see you.”

You just nod excitedly at him.

He takes your bags in one hand and your hand in the other as he leads you to the car. Once you’re in the back of the car, you stare out the window, taking in the new environment.

You turn to look at Taehyung when you feel his hand on your thigh.

“I know you just got here,” he starts, “But I really want you to meet my parents so I invited them for dinner this Sunday.”

You smile widely before you shake your head, “No no it’s okay! I’d love to meet them! I know how much you love them so I brought some gifts for them as well as the boys!” You beam brightly at him before you turn back to the window.

He smiles warmly as he stares at you with pure love and adoration. He was a very family oriented guy, so he couldn’t be more thankful that you loved and cared for all of his family.

Once you arrive at the apartment, you’re surrounded by all the members as soon as Taehyung opens the door.

“Y/n!”

“You’re here!”

“We missed you!”

You laugh happily, enjoying the warm welcome. You hug all of them and give each one a gift, starting from the oldest.

“Your gifts are so much better than Tae’s! He just gives us stuff with his face on it!” Jin yells as he points at Taehyung accusingly. You just laugh as you turn to Yoongi.

“Ah, thank you,” he says with a shy smile as you hand him a gift. You smile back before moving on to J-Hope.

He claps excitedly as you take his gift out. Once you hand it to him, he jumps in excitement and spins around happily. “Thank you thank you thank you!” You can’t help but laugh. He reminded you of a child opening his Christmas gift.

You hand Namjoon his gift, and he smiles at you as he accepts the gift. “You didn’t have to, you know,” he says.

“It’s okay! I don’t mind, really,” you insist. You really didn’t mind, they take such good care of Taehyung and they were so kind to you, you just wanted to show your appreciation.

Jimin excitedly opens the gift you gave him, and when he sees what it is, he holds his arms out for you. “Come here,” he says with a wide grin before he pulls you into a hug.

You smile and pat Jimin’s back as you pull away to give Jungkook his gift. When he opens it, he smiles his bunny smile. “Thank you y/n!” he says before picking you up and spinning you around. You laugh happily as he lifts you into the air.

Taehyung smiles, watching you interact with all of the members. It warmed his heart that you cared for all the members since they were like brothers to him.

He moves to stand next to you once Jungkook puts you down, wrapping an arm around your shoulder.

“Welcome home love,” he says before placing a kiss on your cheek.

“Thank you for the gifts y/n!” They say altogether.

You way your hands in front of you with a smile. “No problem! I hope you like them,” you say brightly.

“Have you eaten yet? You must be hungry from the long trip,” Jin asks. You simply shake your head.

“You can go sort your stuff out while we cook dinner,” Namjoon says while motioning towards Taehyung’s room.

You nod in thanks before Taehyung leads you to the bedroom.

“Wah,” you let out as you look around the room. “I can’t believe I’ve been looking at this room through a screen for two years and now I’m finally here.”

Taehyung hugs you from behind, smiling into your hair. “You’re finally here,” he repeats. It still didn’t feel real to either of you, but you would take it one step at a time.

“Let’s get started!” you say happily.

By the time you guys finish putting all your things away, the food is ready and the table is already set. Jungkook is sent to call you and Taehyung for dinner, and you three end up racing back to the dining room.

“I win!” you exclaim happily as you’re the first to reach the table, Jungkook and Taehyung following closely behind.

“Hey! No running in the house!” Jin scolds you three with a spoon in his hand and a hand on his hip. You stifle a laugh, thinking he looked like a mom.

“Sorry,” you apologize sheepishly before taking a seat.

Dinner is filled with lots of laughter as you take the opportunity to catch up with everyone.

Jungkook is sure to fill you in on every embarrassing story you missed, complete with all his imitations and reenactments of each member. By the time you finish your dinner, your stomach hurts from laughing too much.

Once everyone is finished, you volunteer to do the dishes along with Jimin. Of course you were close with all the boys, but you were especially close with Jimin because he was Taehyung’s best friend.

While you two are washing and putting away dishes, you look over to him and ask, “Do Tae’s parents speak English?”

Jimin takes a moment to think before shaking his head, “I don’t think so. I think they can understand some but I’m not sure if they can really speak English. Why?”

You turn back to the dishes, “Taehyung planned a dinner on Sunday with his parents. I’m not sure how I’m supposed to communicate with them,” you say with a frown.

He ruffles your hair, “Don’t worry about it too much, you’ll be fine.” He smiles at you reassuringly.

“Do you think Namjoon could help me with my Korean?” you think out loud.

“That’s a great idea!” Jimin says enthusiastically. “I’m sure he’d be happy to help you,” he says as he continues to put the dishes away.

Taehyung is in the shower when you and Jimin finish the dishes, so you decide to put your plan into action.

You go to knock on the door of Namjoon’s room, and he opens it with a smile.

“Y/n? What’s up?” he asks.

“I have a favour to ask of you,” you say.

He opens the door wider for you, “Sure, come in.”

You walk into his room and sit on the bed as you start to explain. “Taehyung’s parents are going to be coming this Sunday for dinner,” you start.

He nods to let you know he’s listening.

“Do you think you could help me with my Korean a little bit? I want to be able to communicate with them better, and I want to surprise Tae,” you say with a shy smile.

Your request warms his heart. He’s glad that Taehyung has found someone as sweet and caring as you.

“Of course! I’d be happy to help you,” he says.

Unable to contain your excitement, you jump up from the bed and onto Namjoon, clinging onto him like a koala.

“Thank you so much!” you say.

He chuckles as he wraps his arms around you to steady you. “No problem. We’ll get started as soon as possible,” he says.

You nod excitedly as he puts you down.

Little did you know Taehyung had just come out from the bathroom and had peeked through the doorway when he heard your voice. He didn’t hear anything about what you two were talking about, he just saw you hugging Namjoon.

He trusted you both, but he couldn’t help but feel a little jealous.

From further down the hall, Jimin spots Taehyung standing outside of Namjoon’s room. He calls Taehyung over, hoping that he didn’t hear anything about the surprise.

Over the course of your first week in Korea, the boys took you around the city whenever they had free time. You went hiking to see the sunset, did karaoke, and of course, went shopping. It was honestly the most fun week of your life, and this was just the beginning of your future with Taehyung.

But to Taehyung, it seemed impossible to spend some time alone with you. Every time you guys got home, you, and sometimes Jimin too would disappear into Namjoon’s room until late at night. Oftentimes you would fall asleep and Namjoon or Jimin would end up carrying you to your bedroom.

You were so focused on learning that you didn’t notice you were neglecting Taehyung.

He knows both you and Namjoon would never do anything behind his back, but the amount of time you were spending together was suspicious. You were spending more time with Namjoon than him at this point.

He couldn’t blame you if you fell in love with Namjoon. He was the perfect guy. Smart, funny, and reliable. Most importantly, he could speak English.

What if you wanted a guy that you could speak English fluently?

Taehyung’s insecurities got the best of him as he continued to watch you interact with Namjoon throughout the week, and he was about to reach his breaking point.

You guys had gone out to eat dinner on Friday night, and you all just arrived back home. Taehyung was seated on the couch, so you plopped yourself down next to him.

“I’m so excited for Sunday!” you exclaim. “Do you think your parents will like the gifts? What should we make for dinner?” you ask as you sit on the couch next to Taehyung.

“Actually,” he clears his throat. “About Sunday, I cancelled the dinner.”

Your smile falters as you fail to hide your shock and disappointment.

“What? Why?” you ask confused.

Normally, you would cringe at your terrible attempt at hiding your disappointment, but you just couldn’t hide it this time. You’d spent all week preparing for the dinner and it felt like all your late nights of studying were for nothing.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to meet my parents anymore,” he answers.

Everyone freezes when they hear Taehyung’s answer. He always talked about how he knew his parents would love you. So why did he suddenly change his mind?

Your brows furrow as you ask, “What are you saying Tae?”

He stares at you with a cold glare. “I know what’s going on between you two,” he says as he motions towards you and Namjoon.

You panic for a second, thinking he knew about the surprise, but you realize that if he knew the real reason why you were spending time with Namjoon, he wouldn’t be reacting this way.

Meanwhile, everyone else is looking between you, Taehyung and Namjoon, trying to figure out what was going on.

“Tae, what are you talking about?” you tilt your head in confusion.

Jimin glanced worriedly at you, knowing exactly what his best friend was thinking.

“You know what I’m talking about,” he answers coldly.

“Tae, please, I don’t understand,” you plead desperately. You move to place your hand on his shoulder when he suddenly stands from his seat on the couch.

“If you love him, why are you still here?!” he spits out harshly.

You reel back, hurt from the tone and volume of voice.

He scoffs at you while turning his back to you. He takes a deep breath, before he says,

“Let’s break up.”

Your heart shatters as soon as those words leave his lips. And you can’t hold back your tears anymore. Everything was going so well. You were happy, and you thought Taehyung was too. You just moved to Korea so you could live with him and you were about to meet his parents.

So why?

“Tae, you need to calm down. Don’t say things you don’t mean,” Jimin says as he tries to knock some sense into Taehyung.

Calming down a little bit, Taehyung turns around to look at you, and his heart breaks at the sight of you crying on the couch.

Even if you didn’t love him, he couldn’t deny it; he loved you.

He wanted to reach out and comfort you, but the damage had been done. He stares at the floor, feeling helpless when he can do nothing but listen to your broken-hearted cries.

Seeing the conflict in his best friend’s eyes, Jimin sits down next to you. He whispers comforting words into your ear as he gently helps you up and leads you into your bedroom to calm you down.

As soon as you Jimin closes the door, you collapse on the bed, curling up into a ball and crying into your pillow. Jimin looks at you sadly before taking a seat next to you, rubbing your back comfortingly.

“You know, Tae loves you so much,” he starts softly. “So much that sometimes he doesn’t feel like he’s enough for you.”

Still hiding your face in the pillow, you nod to let Jimin know you were still listening.

“But I can tell you love him just as much, and I know you guys were meant for each other. You guys will get through this,” he tells you.

The room is filled with silence, except for your hiccups and sniffles, as you hope that this isn’t the end for you and Taehyung.

Once you’ve left the room, they all stand silently in the living room, tension heavy between Namjoon and Taehyung.

Namjoon breaks the silence, sighing as he runs a hand through his hair. “I know this is something that y/n should be telling you, but just so you know, she truly loves you and only you.”

Taehyung looks up at Namjoon as he continues speaking, “She asked me to help her with her Korean. She wanted to be able to communicate better with your parents and she wanted to surprise you.”

As he processes Namjoon’s words, Taehyung feels nothing but guilt and regret. He knew neither you nor Namjoon would do such a thing, but he let his own insecurities get the best of him.

He falls back on the couch, head hanging in shame. “I’m so sorry Namjoon Hyung,” he starts, “I don’t know what came over me. I just-” A hand on his shoulder halts his words.

He looks up to find Namjoon standing in front of him, an understanding smile on his face.

“I know, don’t worry. Talk to us if you ever feel like this, okay? We’re here for you,” Namjoon says to him. As he looks around the room, everyone nods in agreement. Their eyes filled with nothing but concern.

Taehyung nods at them as tears form in his eyes, grateful for such understanding friends.

“You should go check on y/n,” Namjoon says he pats Taehyung on the back and motions his head towards your bedroom.

Taehyung nods again and thanks him for understanding before quickly heading to the bedroom, eager to make things right.

He quietly opens the door to find you curled up on the bed, crying into the pillow. Jimin was sitting next to you, trying his best to comfort you and calm you down.

When Jimin hears the door open, he turns to look at Taehyung. They exchange knowing glances before Jimin gets up from the bed to leave the room, patting Taehyung on the shoulder before closing the door behind him.

His heart aches as he stares at you. He hated seeing you cry, especially when he knew he was the cause of your tears.

He takes Jimin’s place on the bed and gently strokes your hair. You flinch at his touch, just crying harder into the pillow.

“Y/n,” he calls out softly. “Please look at me.”

Trying to calm yourself down, you take a few deep breaths before pulling away from the pillow and looking up at Taehyung.

He smiles apologetically at you before he moves to gently wipe away your tears. He then pulls you into his lap, holding you close and taking in your comforting scent as he carefully forms his next words.

“I’m sorry love. I didn’t mean what I said, I was just so scared of losing you,” he admits.

“Namjoon Hyung is such a great guy-they all are-so I wouldn’t blame you if you fell for any of them.” His voice gets watery as he gets emotional, “I just love you so much and I don’t want to lose you.”

You run your hands through his hair to comfort him as you whisper back, “I love you too Tae, and only you. But I don’t want you to go through anything alone. If you ever feel this way ever again, please talk to me or any of them. We all love you.”

“And I’ve been trying to learn Korean for you, so don’t worry about you’re English. Let me do something for you for once,” you tell him with a small smile.

He nods as he pulls you closer, hugging so tight like you’d disappear if he let go.

“Namjoon Hyung told me about your Korean lessons. I’m sorry I ruined the surprise,” he says with a pout.

You pull away to look Taehyung in the eye as you smile at him, “It’s okay Tae,” you tell him.

“But it’s not,” he whines. You laugh at his adorable face.

“Can your parents still come for dinner on Sunday? I’d really love to meet them,” you ask.

He smiles and nods at you, “Of course. They were really looking forward to meeting you, you know. When I cancelled the dinner they yelled at me.” He laughs as he recalls the phone call with his parents.

You laugh along with him before you gently take his face in your hands.

You stare deeply into his eyes as you tell him, “I love you Kim Taehyung, and only you. Don’t ever forget that.”

“I won’t,” he stares back at you as he leans his forehead against yours.

“And I love you too. Thank you for always caring for me and my family,” he says as he presses a kiss to your forehead.

Little did you know, right outside the bedroom door, all six of the members were crowded against the door, cooing at how adorable you guys were. They all let out a breath of relief knowing that everything was going to be okay between you two.

#bts fanfic #taehyung fanfic #v fanfic #bts x reader #taehyung x reader #v x reader #bts #kim taehyung #taehyung #v #bts imagines #bts scenarios #bts fluff #bts angst #taehyung fluff #taehyung angst #v fluff #v angst

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kerikaaria · 4 years ago

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If I Never Met You: Chapter 8

(??? X Reader) Idol!AU, Manager!Reader

Genre: (PG13) Fluffy fluff!

WC: 3.1k

Warnings: None

Series Masterlist

Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9

December. The time for my review with the boss and the decision of whether or not I’ll be staying with the company was so close, it made me nervous. And a lot of the finer details for the boys have been getting finalized, including their songs being in production. The boys were starting to get close to being ready for debut, so I was a bundle of both excitement and nerves.

After my last class, I waited for Jin so we could head to the company together. As I sat on one of the benches outside of school, I felt my phone vibrate to notify me of a text message. It was from Seokjin, he said he finished class early and had something to do so he went on ahead. I responded with a quick “Okay, I’ll see you there soon then” before heading on my own way.

I felt glad for it to be Friday so I could spend the next few days focusing on the boys. I had an idea for them that I couldn’t wait to share with Sejin oppa. I made my way down the hallway at the company, heading to the dance studio. I usually stopped by to see if anyone were practicing and would stay and watch for a little bit if I could. Even if no one was in the room, the light usually stayed on. But for some reason, it was pitch black.

I slowly opened the door to walk in and started touching the nearby wall to find the light switch. I halted my actions when I saw a flicker of a light in the far corner of the room and started to hear some voices sing. It took me a second to register what was going on, but when I did it had me really surprised. I finally got the lights on for the last line of the happy birthday song and saw the eight people, all seven members of BTS and Sejin oppa, in the room. They were holding a cake and harmonized the last note both comically, but somehow beautifully at the same time.

I had completely forgotten today’s date. It was December 7, my 20th birthday. Their surprise had me floored. I wasn’t expecting anything like this. “Oh my gosh, guys. What is all this?”

“It’s a surprise, noona!” Hoseok said excitedly.

“You didn’t think we’d forget your birthday, did you?” Namjoon said with a smile.

“Yah, blow out the candle quick,” Yoongi, who was the one holding the cake, whined. “Before it burns my hands off.”

I chuckled, and quickly tried to think of a wish. Only one thing came to my mind, and I blew it out before he could complain any further. “Actually, I forgot about it myself.”

“How did you forget?” Seokjin asked. “You just told me happy birthday three days ago, and you somehow forgot yours so quickly?”

“I’ve just been so wrapped up in work the past couple days that it escaped my mind,” I said. “This is really sweet guys, thank you so much.” I made sure to hug each of them individually, including Sejin oppa.

“We wanted to get you a gift, but we don’t have any money,” Jungkook said, frowning.

I smiled as I comfortingly pat his head, “It’s alright Kookie. I have everything I need right here.”

“That was pretty cheesy,” Hoseok said, cringing a little.

I poked him in his side. “But it’s true!”

“Did you make a wish, noona?” Taehyung asked as he wrapped his arms around my neck from behind.

“I did. But if I tell it won’t come true,” I teased. The only thing I could think of as a wish was for BTS’ successful debut. And superstition or not, I wasn’t about to ruin a wish that important. “Don’t you guys have schedules today?”

“They’re all free today,” Sejin oppa responded.

“What about you oppa?” I asked.

“Oh, I have a few things to take care of, but not much.” Sejin replied. “But as for you, you’re taking the day off.”

“What? Why?”

“Because we want to play with you!” Tae jumped up and down, his arms still around me.

I laughed. “You guys just said you don’t have money, so what are we supposed to do?”

“Do you like games?” Jimin asked, a playful glint in his eyes.

“Well, yeah.” I raised my eyebrows. “What kind of games are we talking about?”

I was turned around and being pushed toward the door. “Let’s go!” Seokjin exclaimed as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

I turned back to say goodbye to Sejin who just laughed and waved us away.

They took me back to their dorm, where they had a bunch of snacks prepared in the kitchen and decks of cards and board games in the living room.

Taehyung tugged me by the arm towards the living room excitedly. “What do you want to play first, noona?” He asked with the biggest smile on his face.

The silent air in the room was full of tension. We sat in a circle on the floor, our eyes all on Jungkook, waiting to see what move he was going to make. All of our fates rested on his shoulders, and it was obvious how nervous he was.

Finally, he made his move, which elicited a cry from Yoongi next to him. “Seriously?!” He drew another card from the Uno deck pile, upset that his win was thwarted.

Then from next to him, Seokjin cheered as he threw his last card on top of the green one Jungkook placed just a few seconds ago. He stood up, pumping a fist into the air. “Yes! I won!”

“Wait what?!” I exclaimed. “Since when were you on uno?”

The rest of the boys released grunts of frustration, some sprawling out on the floor.

He just winked at me. “I’m the master of this game, (Y/n). Never underestimate my skills.”

“I still can’t figure out how this game works!” Taehyung said, messing his hair with his free hand while at least 20 cards were in his other.

I had completely lost track of how long we had been playing games. All I knew was that I hadn’t won a single one yet. I had no idea just how competitive all seven of these boys were until tonight. But even if I didn’t win, I was having the most fun I’d had in a long time.

“What should we do next?” Jungkook asked, stuffing a handful of chips into his mouth.

“Can’t we just go to sleep now?” Yoongi responded.

“You’ve said that every time we’re done with a game,” Seokjin said.

The group started chatting and laughing amongst themselves. I smiled and released a content sigh as I leaned my head on the shoulder to the left of me. It was Namjoon’s.

“Everything alright, noona?” he asked quietly.

I nodded. “I just feel so happy right now.” I wrapped my arms around his waist.

He flashed his cute dimple smile and placed his hand on my head, lightly stroking my hair. “Sometimes I question why I deal with them, but then there’s times like this when I just can’t help but feel they’re so lovable.”

I chuckled. “That sounds like our leader.”

“Noona!” Hoseok suddenly yelled.

I straightened up at the sudden sound. “What?”

“Jimin is saying I’m not as cute as him,” Hoseok said, frowning. “But I can be cute, too! See?” He proceeded to make a few aegyo poses, making high-pitched cooing noises to try to add to the effect.

“Oh come on, that’s not as cute as me,” Jimin retaliated, slightly pushing his hyung to make him lose his balance where he was sitting. “Aren’t I cuter, noona?” He followed Hoseok in making a bunch of poses to prove his point.

I turned to my left and made eye contact with Namjoon, then looked back at the two boys who were looking pretty ridiculous at this point in their aegyo battle before I broke out into laughter, falling onto my back.

“Yeah, that ‘lovable’ moment didn’t last too long.” Namjoon stood up to walk away, shaking his head.

At some point, everyone decided they wanted to watch a movie. But none of us seemed to be paying all too much attention to it as there was still a lot of conversing going on, and a some of the members were starting to have trouble staying awake. I sat in between Taehyung and Seokjin. When I felt Taehyung’s head rest itself on my shoulder, I looked over to see his eyes shut and his breathing seeming to slow. I started to stroke his hair and placed a light kiss on the top of his head.

He straightened up at the gesture and looked at me, a bit of a shocked look in his eyes. “Noona, what was that for?”

“Sorry,” I responded, rubbing the back of my neck with my hand. “It just felt comfortable in the moment. Was it weird? I won’t do it again.”

Tae smiled and shook his head. “No, it’s not weird. I was just shocked is all.” He placed his head back on my shoulder, nuzzling in a little closer this time.

I chuckled and placed my hand back where it was, lightly stroking the boy’s hair as I felt him fall asleep.

Eventually the ending credits for the movie rolled, and the energy that once filled the room became calm. A few of the members were either already asleep or starting to doze off, and those still awake were obviously worn out.

“(Y/n),” Jin spoke up from beside me, “when is your meeting with PD-nim?”

“I’m not sure. I haven’t heard anything yet,” I responded.

“You’ll be able to stay right?” Jungkook chimed in. I thought he was already asleep, but apparently not.

“We’ll have to see, Kook-ah.” I offered him a smile. “To be honest, I have no idea how it’ll go.”

“You don’t think it’s been going well?” Yoongi asked. I was kind of shocked he wasn’t asleep, seeing as he’d been laying down with the hood from his hoodie pulled over his eyes for quite a while now.

“I mean, I feel like it has. But I also haven’t had the chance to do that many actual managerial things yet. It’s mostly been learning and training with Sejin oppa. The most I got to do was communicate with others in the company about getting things ready for your debut. How can I prove that I’ll be good at the job when I haven’t really had a chance to do it yet?”

“I know you’ll do well, noona,” Tae said somewhat groggily, his head still on my shoulder as he wrapped his arms around my waist.

I rested my head on top of his. “To be honest, I still can’t figure out why he hired me in the first place. I’m young, don’t even have any experience, a foreigner, and am college student. Like, what could he possibly have seen in me that he wanted to put your guys’ future in my hands?”

“I don’t think those things really matter,” Yoongi said. He turned on his side and pulled his hood up enough so his eyes could meet mine. “If you haven’t noticed, PD-nim doesn’t think conventionally. Yeah, others would think you are under-qualified and want some type of proof you’d do well. But there must have been something about you not on paper that impressed him.”

I felt Taehyung nod his head against my shoulder. “If I was a CEO, I’d hire you in a heartbeat, no matter what job it was.”

I laughed. “Thanks, Taetae.” I looked around at all the sleepy boys, then checked my phone to see what time it was. “It’s late, guys. You should all get to sleep. You still have stuff to do tomorrow.”

“But noona,” a very sleepy sounding Jimin whined from where he laid on Namjoon’s lap, “We’re having so much fun, I don’t want to go to sleep yet.”

“Says the one who fell asleep on my lap,” Namjoon chuckled.

Jimin sat up quickly. “I’m refreshed and ready for round two.” He tried so hard to sound energetic, but it just came out sounding sleepy.

Namjoon grabbed his shoulders to start guiding him to the bedroom. “Let’s go to sleep, Jimin-ah.”

“Oh, we’re going to sleep now?” A heavy-lidded Hoseok sat up on the floor. “I have some clothes you can change into, noona. I’ll go get them for you.”

“Thank you Hobi,” I said, yawning. I turned my attention to Tae who was still attached to my side. “Taehyung-ah, you should go to sleep.”

“I’m staying here,” he replied.

“No, you should sleep in your bed.”

He whined, still refusing to budge. I couldn’t help but think how adorable the sight was. But Seokjin luckily came to my rescue and pried Tae away from my arm to take him to their room.

“Good night, (Y/n),” Jin smiled as they left the living room. I waved in response.

Jungkook and Yoongi lazily followed suit, as Hoseok brought me a set of comfy clothes.

“Thank you, Hoseok.” I took them and started walking toward the bathroom. “Maybe I should consider bringing my own set of pajamas here in case I’m dragged here unexpectedly again.”

Hoseok came over to wrap me in a hug before saying, “Good night, noona. And thank you.”

I returned his embrace. “Thank you for what?”

“For hanging out with us tonight,” he elaborated. “We haven’t had a chance to have fun like this in quite a while, and to be honest the members all really needed this. This was a gift for all of us. And we had so much more fun because you were here too, so thank you for joining us. We all really appreciate it.”

I smiled as we released each other from the hug and placed my hands on either side of his face. “Anything for my boys.”

I woke up to my alarm at 6:30 the next morning, and quickly got up to take a shower and get ready before carefully making my way into the bedroom where all seven members were still sleeping to wake them up. We needed to be at the company by 8 today, so there was no time to waste.

I started trying to wake them up, but they were all being stubborn this morning, not wanting to budge. I nudged their shoulders, talked to them, and even tried pulling some of their blankets off. But there was no reaction.

I retreated to the living room to get my phone, found the most annoying alarm sound I could and made an alarm for one minute away, setting my phone volume at maximum. I stood at the doorway to their room, holding the phone as far away from my ears as possible while waiting for the alarm to go off.

As soon as it did, a few of the boys instantly sat up in bed, shocked at the sudden noise. Others just squirmed around uncomfortably, hoping it would stop.

“Come on guys!” I said loudly so they’d hear me over the alarm. “Time to get up, you sleepyheads!”

I started hearing whining noises from a few of the beds.

“Noona, turn it off,” Namjoon said, dragging out the last syllable.

I decided to comply, satisfied that I at least got them all to no longer be asleep.

“Guys, we have to leave in half an hour,” I said. “You better be ready in 20 minutes.”

Namjoon, Hoseok, and Seokjin climbed out of their beds while the others remained laying down, continuing to grumble.

I left waking up the rest to the three that got out of bed while I went to the living room and focused on my phone to give them privacy to get ready.

Surprisingly, they were all ready within the twenty minutes I requested, although some of them were still trying to fully wake up.

“Noona, that was pretty harsh, waking us up like that,” Jungkook said.

I raised my eyebrows. “Well, none of you seemed to set any alarms, and when I tried to wake you up nicely you didn’t budge. So, I did what I needed to.”

“I mean she is our manager, so she can’t just be our friend all the time,” Seokjin noted.

I nodded in agreement. “Alright, time to go guys.”

We all walked to the company together, with only a little chatting since some of them – especially the ’95 line – were still not fully awake. My first stop when we got there was Sejin oppa’s office. I needed to talk to him today about an idea I had.

We needed to try to get BTS’ name out there before they debut. It wasn’t easy since we were a small company and don’t have the money to spend on a lot of advertising. But I had thought of something just the other day, which I had intended to bring up yesterday before I knew I would be spending the day with the boys.

I knocked on the door before opening it, and was happy to see he was already here. “Good morning, oppa,” I greeted with a smile and slight head bow.

“Good morning,” Sejin responded. “Did you guys have a good time yesterday?”

“Yes, we did. We had a lot of fun. But don’t worry, I got them all here on time today.”

“That’s great to hear,” he responded with a smile. “I’m sure it was a good break, not only for you but for the boys too.”

I nodded and slowly approached the chair across from him to sit in. I wasn’t quite sure why, but I suddenly felt pretty nervous about offering my idea. I guess I was worried it wouldn’t be good.

Sejin oppa must have noticed my hesitancy because he asked, “What is it, (Y/n)? Do you have something you need to say?”

I took in a deep breath before speaking. “I just had an idea for something the boys could do for promoting themselves before debut.”

“Oh, really? That’s great. I actually have a meeting with a team who’s working on that on Monday, and I was intending on bringing you with me. Why don’t you tell all of us about it then?”

If I felt nervous telling just Sejin oppa,d then I had a full swarm of butterflies in my stomach at the idea of needing to tell others. “I can’t just tell you now?”

Sejin chuckled. “I get that you’re nervous. Don’t think I haven’t noticed during the past few months that you have a tendency to get shy and nervous about talking to people who you aren’t as comfortable with.” He paused, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Take this as an opportunity to step out of your shell a bit. You’ll need it if you intend to stay with us.”

I slowly nodded my head.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. Now, how about you head to your acting and vocal lessons?”

Series Masterlist

Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9

Tags: @calling-dips-on-j-hope

Send me a message or ask if you want tagged!

#BTS #fanfic #BTS x reader #thebtswritersclub #If I Never Met You #IINMY #Manager!reader #Idol!au #jin #seokjin #suga #yoongi #j-hope #hoseok #rm #namjoon #jimin #v #taehyung #jungkook #fluff

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not-majestic-bluenicorn · 4 years ago

Text

Crescent || Chapter 12

Fandom(s): ATEEZ

AU: Treasure Hunters

Genre: Action, Fantasy, Sci-Fi

Relationship: Everyone x Everyone, Established Hongjoong x Yunho

Language: English

Status: Ongoing

Chapter WC: 8,446

Warnings: Character Death, Stabbing, Fighting, Blood, Aliens, War, Funerals, Kidnapping, Attempted Kidnapping, Mentions of Child Abuse / Child Work, Explosions, Murder Attempt, Robbery, Homeless/Runaway Character, Torture, Mentions of Slavery more will be added.

Chapter Warnings: Fighting, Blood, Injuries, Mentions of slavery.

Summary:

"The slaves are escaping!" Yelled a man as he turned the corner and saw Seonghwa going up the stairs. At that moment, Seonghwa ran forward and threw all of his weight against the man. He was not going to be dragged back down into the hold.

AO3

<< Previous Chapter | Masterlist | Next Chapter >>

Tagged: @angel0taiyo

It took them about a full day to prepare for everything, and with every passing second, Hongjoong became more and more tense. He wished to just hurry in and save the hostages, but he had to keep the well-being of his crew in mind. They couldn't just jump into battle like that, they had to prepare. As far as he knew, Mingi and Yeosang were making the last few checks to the bomb Mingi had prepared under Yeosang and Jongho's instruction.

Jongho had opted to help save the hostages, since it would probably be easier if Mingi and Yeosang moved by themselves with their guard, since Jongho wasn't really necessary after he had helped determine the attributes of the ship's engine. Hongjoong didn't really want him to participate in the raid, worried about his mental health, but Jongho had been very firm in his decision.

All that was left was to wait until they were at the perfect distance to use warp speed. So Hongjoong was waiting in his quarters, nervously opening and closing his brother's compass. He had never been nervous to lead a team into battle before. Why was he nervous now? Maybe it was because he had come to care a lot about them, because there was never supposed to be any danger but now he was pulling them into it.

He was used to leading soldiers, but now his team was made of so much more than just that. Some of these people didn't even have any sort of military training. Was this the right decision? He knew it was worth risking his life to save the people in the slave trading ship, but was it right to risk the lives of his crew as well? He knew his soldiers would follow him no matter what, he was their prince after all, but what about those who had no idea about his real self?

Yunho walked in right at that moment, and Hongjoong opened and closed his compass one more time. It was almost like he had sensed Hongjoong's nervousness. And to be fair, the captain wouldn't find it weird if his lover had actually sensed something about his attitude. Yunho walked up to him and softly pushed the compass back into Hongjoong's coat pocket, offering his hands instead. Hongjoong squeezed them softly and sighed, comforted by Yunho's presence.

"I don't think I've ever seen my General so nervous before battle," Yunho said, making Hongjoong smile.

"Well, we are doing something illegal after all," Hongjoong chuckled, breathing out slowly.

"I'm pretty sure that's not what worries you," Yunho huffed. "Even as a prince, you've never been quite worried about doing a couple of illegal things."

"I've never done something illegal," Hongjoong frowned.

"You know, except aiding a serial robber to run away from the law, I'm sure you've done nothing illegal," Yunho smirked. Hongjoong shook his head, pouting slightly.

"That's different though, it doesn't apply..." Hongjoong insisted, although he couldn't quite explain why to Yunho.

"Why?" Yunho tilted his head. "Is it because of this Wooyoung guy?" Hongjoong's eyes widened in surprise and Yunho nodded, knowing that he had hit the nail on the head.

"Did you hear me talking about it with Mingi?" Hongjoong asked, remembering that Yunho had been lying next to him at that moment.

"Not all of it, I was pretty asleep still, but I did hear some of the conversation," Yunho nodded. "You don't have to explain it to me now though, I can see you're troubled and you don't know much yourself."

"I really don't..." Hongjoong sighed. "I wish I knew more."

"Aside from that, what is truly worrying you about this fight?" Yunho returned to their previous topic. "I truly have never seen you like this before a battle."

"I'm just scared someone will be injured for my selfish wishes," Hongjoong sighed even more deeply this time. "Not everyone here has fighting experience, I'm throwing them to the wolves."

"You're doing no such thing," Yunho assured him. "It's not selfish to want to help people, you don't even know the specific person that Wooyoung is looking for in that ship, you heard slaves and jumped into action." Hongjoong sighed again and nodded, knowing Yunho was right.

"What about you? How do you feel about the whole ordeal?" Hongjoong looked into Yunho's eyes. "Are you scared?"

"Of course I'm not," Yunho smiled. "Sure, it's not a great memory to relive, but I have you and the crew fighting by my side, I've nothing to be scared of."

"I'd never let something like that happen to you again," Hongjoong smiled back, "thank you for trusting me on this one."

"I want to save them as much as you," Yunho noted. "Gotta share the joy of being rescued by the royal family."

Hongjoong chuckled heartily at Yunho's joke; he felt so much better after speaking to him. He realized that he owed a sense of security to the crew, precisely because some of them didn't know how to fight. They were already willing to help him, so Hongjoong was responsible for making them feel safe and confident that they could pull it off. They saw him as a leader, so he needed to be one. And Hongjoong was certain now that he could do it.

Mingi had already checked the preparations of the bomb five times. Saying he was nervous wasn't nearly enough to express how he was feeling, after all, he knew nothing but the life he had led in his community. In his community, everyone was close to each other and they all saw for the youngsters and cared for their elderly, the sole idea of fighting slave traders had never crossed Mingi's mind.

He couldn't stop shaking, repeating in hushed whispers what Jongho had taught him about The Sailfish's engine hours before. He didn't really need to memorize it, because Yeosang would be there to guide him, but it gave him something to hold onto. Just as he has begun to check the bomb for the sixth time, Yeosang arrives and sits next to him on the floor, stopping Mingi right before he begins.

"I think you've checked it enough times," Yeosang commented.

There was no malice in his voice, but Mingi still felt like he was being reprimanded. He was quick to whisper an apology as he retrieved his hands from the bomb and held them on his lap, pulling and letting go of the fabric of his pants several times. Yeosang observed him for a few silent seconds before smiling softly and looking at Mingi.

"What is worrying you?" Yeosang asked, placing a hand softly over Mingi's right hand.

"Do I seem worried?" Mingi asked with a bit of sarcasm, but his voice came out strangled, and he immediately regretted it. "Sorry, you're right, I'm really nervous right now."

"But why?" Yeosang repeated. "Maybe I can help you ease your worries."

"Well, I've never been in a fight before, I don't know how to fight," Mingi mumbled. "I'm scared of not knowing what to do. Plus, my leg is basically useless, you saw what happened when we were running together in your home planet, I couldn't keep up and I put you in danger when I fell, and-"

"Mingi, breathe..." Yeosang stopped him from rambling on, since he was starting to make little sense. "Okay, let's see... First of all, you're not going to fight, you're going to strategically plant a bomb inside a ship and blow it up, which is your expertise!" He smiled, while Mingi stared perplexed at him.

"Second, your leg is not useless, it helps you walk doesn't it?" Yeosang continued and Mingi nodded slowly. "Third, you got the story wrong, you didn't put me in danger, I put you in danger, since those people wouldn't have chased us if I had kept my hands to myself."

"But-"

"No buts," Yeosang raised a finger. "Your fear of getting hurt during the battle is completely valid, but don't forget our mission isn't to fight, no one wants you to fight, they want you to do what you're best at." Yeosang smiled again, squeezing Mingi's hand. "Plus, I'll be with you the whole time, I'm not the best fighter, but I won't let anything happen to you. I'll protect you, it's a promise."

Mingi stared at Yeosang for the longest time, unable to know what to say. How was someone supposed to reply to such a statement, anyway? He looked away and nodded, softly pulling his hand away so Yeosang couldn't notice how his palms had begun sweating or how fast his pulse was under his skin. If Yeosang did notice, he didn't say anything, and just let go of Mingi without complaint.

Seonghwa struggled to wake up. It had become increasingly more difficult to awaken or stay awake as he was starved by the ship's crew and beat up every other day. The crew had taken him as some sort of punching bag in which to vent their frustrations. Seonghwa was in pain all the time and he was so exhausted his sleep had become dreamless, taking Wooyoung's comforting presence away from him.

Sometimes, another of the hostages would offer him rests of their dinner whenever their captors weren't looking. But the food had become scarce in the last few days, and it was difficult to count the pass of time as the meals became less frequent. Seonghwa still clung to the hope of Wooyoung's words, believing someone would come to save them.

He was still trying to fully wake up and sit on the floor when he heard a commotion upstairs. He didn’t fully process it until the other captives began screaming, huddling together in fear of the unknown. This time, Seonghwa succeeded in forcing himself to sit up, and finally understood that something was happening up in the deck. With his hands chained behind his back, he struggled until he was able to push himself to his knees and then finally stood up.

Dizziness overcame him for a moment and he closed his eyes, taking deep breaths until it passed. He knew that if he fell back down, he would most likely not get to stand up again, and he wanted to know what was going on. Ignoring the screams and cries of fear from the other captives, he approached the door to the hold.

It had been left open and unguarded, as whatever was happening out there seemed to require the attention of all the guards. He painstakingly made his way up to the deck. The sound became louder the more he walked, until it was very clear that there was a fight going on upstairs. Wooyoung was real, and he hadn't lied, someone was going to save them all.

Just as he made his way to another floor, he heard footsteps running towards him. He stopped in the middle of the stairs and took a deep breath. His heart was beating fast, and he mentally prepared himself to fight for his life and for his freedom. At the very least, he could hope that they found him soon and helped him, because he didn't know for how much longer he would be able to go on.

The combination of their surprise apparition with the mock explosives Mingi had prepared were enough to take The Sailfish by surprise. The Crescent stopped slightly above The Sailfish and they quickly jumped on deck one after another. The captain of the enemy ship was quick to sound the alarm and order his men to attack, but their surprise attack was enough to give the rescue team a good head start before they could be stopped.

"Go!" Hongjoong's order was simple, but his crew didn't need more.

He saw through the corner of his eye as Jaeyoung, the soldier appointed to protect Mingi and Yeosang, escorted them towards their objective, and then he had to focus on the battle. They had agreed that, if possible, there should be no victims in order to protect the crew, but Hongjoong had insisted that they should do whatever it took to make it back to The Crescent.

Hongjoong deflected a sword that came his way and quickly advanced, thrusting his sword forward and cutting the man on his side before kicking him away. He could feel Yunho standing next to him as he fought his own battle, offering him protection at the same time. Hongjoong's eyes scanned the deck quickly as often as he could, paying attention to the status of his crew members. He was ready to jump in front of a blade if it meant protecting them.

A fast movement in the corner of his eye alerted him of an incoming attack, and he guarded just in time, stopping a sword centimetres away from his face. Hongjoong grunted as he pushed forward with his own sword. The man pulled away and tried to thrust towards him again, but Hongjoong was faster as he hit the man's hilt with a quick flick of his wrist, disarming him. His sword transformed into a baton and he knocked the man unconscious with a clean hit.

He gave a quick look around and noticed San finishing a fight with another slave trader, not noticing that his back was uncovered and someone was approaching him from behind. Hongjoong ran quickly towards him, not even giving Yunho the opportunity to stop him. He activated the shield on his forearm protector right before jumping in front of the blade, stopping it in time.

"You're unguarded!" Hongjoong yelled at San as he pushed his shield forward. He pressed a button on his forearm twice, causing the shield to disappear and reappear right after, trapping the blade within it. Hongjoong quickly threw his arm to the side and snapped the enemy's blade in half, before hitting him with the hilt of his own sword on the side of his head and knocking him out.

San stared at him in disbelief, and Hongjoong turned to look at him, putting his guard down for a few seconds. San only had a moment to react as he saw someone running towards Hongjoong from behind him. He realized at that moment that he didn't want to kill Hongjoong, nor did he want to let him die, so San pushed him aside and thrusted his sword forward, stabbing the enemy right as he's getting to them.

Hongjoong stared at him and San stared back, breathing hard. It was a terrible moment to realize that he now cared about his mission, but not in the way he should. After Wooyoung's visit to his dreams, he had been terrified, thinking his superiors had found out; he had told himself everyday that he needed to finish it off. He should have let Hongjoong die at that moment. But now he realized he just couldn't, because he was starting to care.

"Watch out!" Yunho yelled and San and Hongjoong turned at the same time, just in time to see a throwing knife bury itself in an enemy's arm as he dropped to the floor in pain, less than a meter away from them. "Stop daydreaming, we're in the middle of a fight!"

"That was amazing San, you just saved my life," Hongjoong said, putting a hand on San's shoulder. "Thank you."

San cursed softly under his breath as he felt a soft blush spread on his face and neck. This was truly a terrible time to realize he cared. Still, he couldn't get distracted now if he didn't want to die, so he joined Hongjoong and pushed through the battle. He would have to work his feelings out later.

"You little piece of shit," the slave trader grumbled as he sat on top of Seonghwa, using his hands to choke him.

Seonghwa felt so weak he didn't have the energy to do anything. He was trying so hard to not pass out, but with his hands tied behind his back, he couldn't even fight to push the man away. He shouldn't have jumped against him, it had been a stupid choice, and now he was going to die and ruin Wooyoung's efforts.

"Get off!" He heard an unfamiliar voice yell, and suddenly the weight on top of him disappeared.

He began taking big gulps of air, desperately trying to bring oxygen to his lungs as he coughed and trashed around. Someone helped him to sit up and guided him through breathing until he managed to calm down. He looked up and saw a young, black haired man sitting next to him. The man was looking at him with worry, but Seonghwa wanted to scream in joy. He was safe.

"Here, the keys," a woman said as she gave the man a set of keys.

The man sat behind him and worked the keys until he managed to unlock Seonghwa's handcuffs. Seonghwa sighed in relief as he brought his arms forward. Moving hurt so much that a few tears sprung to his eyes as he gently massaged his shoulders, trying to make it a little better.

"Are you alone?" The woman asked.

"There's more down in the hold," Seonghwa muttered, voice rough from what had happened earlier.

"I'll stay with him, go look for the others," the man that had saved him gave the keys to the woman and the rest of the crew disappeared downstairs. "Are you okay?"

"Better than I've been in days," Seonghwa sighed, closing his eyes. "Who are you? Did Wooyoung send you?"

The man's face changed when Seonghwa mentioned Wooyoung, showcasing a mix of surprise and tenseness. Seonghwa guessed he was right about the assumption, and that was everything he needed to know. He wished he could see Wooyoung right then, and thank him for giving him hope and fulfilling his promise.

"My name is Jongho," the man answered, still looking surprised. "I guess Wooyoung sent us, I don't know all of the details, to be fair."

"Thank you for saving me," Seonghwa smiled the best he could. He knew he looked terrible and was dirty and bruised, but he was thankful that Jongho wasn't pulling away and instead offered to support him.

"Don't thank me," Jongho smiled back and helped him stand up. "Let's get you out of here."

Yeosang guided Mingi and Jaeyoong through the ship, as he was the most familiar with its structure. They had gone in with the rescue team but had taken different parts early in their trip to the depths of the ship and now they were alone. They could hear the sounds of the battle, but they became less and less apparent the deeper they made it in, until it sounded more like a restless murmur than a fight.

Mingi was gripping the bag which carried the explosive like his life depended on it, which it kind of did. He was extremely nervous about getting things wrong. For obvious reasons, they hadn't been able to test the explosive, and he just didn't have enough confidence to trust that his calculations were correct. For now, he just focused on following Yeosang and tried his best to ignore his worries.

After a few minutes of walking deeper and deeper into the ship, stopping every time they heard suspicious noises and checking around corners, they made it into the engine room. Jaeyoong forced the door open and they quickly made it inside, leaving the door open for a quick escape. They would focus on installing the bomb and activating it. Then they would have to run back to the deck.

Of course, the point of it was to make the explosion their big, dramatic exit. Everyone else needed to time their part of the mission correctly to be able to get out of the ship in time. The explosion wasn't just a way to render the ship useless and prevent the slave traders from following them, but also the distraction they needed to be able to get out. As Mingi thought about it, the pressure he felt increased, and he began to sweat.

"Don't be nervous," Yeosang said next to him, startling him out of it.

"Huh?" Mingi asked, voice shaky.

"Don't be nervous, everything is going to go as planned, I promise," Yeosang repeated, patting Mingi's back. "Here, we gotta install the bombs, we got this."

Mingi nodded and took a deep breath before setting to work. Yeosang had drawn a diagram with Jongho's help on how they had to install the bomb. He calmly guided Mingi through all of the key places as Mingi did what he knew best and set the bomb. Yeosang couldn't help but notice how amazing it was to see Mingi focused on doing something he had confidence in, because as soon as he began to work, his insecurities vanished and he made quick work of the explosives.

Soon enough, Mingi was done and he stood up to admire his work. He felt a thrill run through his spine as he came to the realization of how important his job for that mission was, and he felt proud, because he knew he was doing it right. They checked everything once again to make sure it was all in place, and then Mingi activated the bomb.

"Let's go, we have seven minutes to get to the deck," Mingi said.

Yeosang guided them back towards the main deck. This time they walked faster and a little more carelessly, assuming everyone would be up on the deck trying to fight back the invasion. They encountered the last few members of the rescue team taking the hostages out to the deck and helped them make it to The Crescent as Hongjoong and the fight team pushed back the crew of The Sailfish.

"Move quickly!" Hongjoong ordered, not even looking at them as he pulled a man back from his shirt and stopped him from reaching towards the crew.

They had left someone on board The Crescent so that they could level the ship and make it easy for them to cross. The crew helped the prisoners board the ship and then boarded after them. Yeosang nervously checked his clock as the seconds ticked down to the seven minute mark. Hongjoong ordered the retreat and all of the soldiers began returning to the ship as the front line kept the enemy at bay while they waited for the explosives to go off and give them an opening.

In just a moment, there was the loud sound of an explosion and The Sailfish shook, throwing everyone off their feet. Hongjoong and the rest took that as their signal and they quickly got up and retreated to The Crescent. The crew of The Sailfish was confused and lost from the explosion, which gave them the perfect opportunity to blast off into space, successfully completing the rescue.

There was no time for celebration as they began tending to wounded. Hongjoong quickly checked those who had been in the front line with him; there were some minor injuries here and there, but they had basically made it out unscratched. He went to each member of his crew personally to check on them, and then made sure everyone was gathered at the main deck to give them instructions.

"Okay, I want the crew members to help me take our guests to the infirmary, we must perform an immediate health check to see they're not suffering any complications," Hongjoong instructed. "We don't have enough medical personnel on board, so if you know first aid then please help perform it until we can give them proper attention.

"Once we're sure they're okay, we'll take them to eat a proper meal and get them new clothes, understood?" Hongjoong asked, and everyone shouted their affirmations. "I want to thank everyone for the amazing job you did back there! This wouldn't have been possible without this amazing crew, thank you." Hongjoong bowed deeply, and the crew cheered.

Even those who hadn't been certain at first felt happy about having helped. Hongjoong felt relieved knowing he had been able to save everyone and still bring his crew back to the ship practically unscathed. He knew they wouldn’t be able to get away with things so easily, but for now, he needed to make sure they were all okay. He would push his worries aside and deal with things as they came, there was nothing else he could do.

Once they had taken care of the wounded, and made sure everyone was alright, Jongho went looking for Mingi. He wanted to show him who Seonghwa was, since so far it seemed like only he and Mingi knew his name, and he could only bet Mingi would be worried. He found Mingi sitting by himself by the deck, just looking at everything else unfold in the ship. He seemed tired, and he wondered how his side of the mission had gone.

Jongho sat next to Mingi after making his presence known. Mingi fidgeted a little before smiling and looking at Jongho. He still looked somewhat shaken and nervous, and he guessed it must have been really hard for him to carry out the mission. Jongho smiled and wrapped one arm around Mingi's shoulders, pulling him into a half-embrace that was meant to be reassuring and almost congratulatory.

"Are you alright?" Jongho asked after a little while.

"Yeah, I guess I'm a little bit shaken," Mingi chuckled. "It was quite the experience."

"You did amazing though," Jongho smiled, "it blew up just as planned. You helped us get out of there."

"I wouldn't have been able to do it without your help," Mingi said. "Your guidance about the ship's build helped a lot."

"Or my help, you know," Yeosang said, startling both of them out of the hug. They hadn't seen him coming. "But like, I understand my contributions weren't as great." He said with feigned indifference sitting right next to Mingi who had suddenly grown tense.

"O-Of course not," Mingi rushed to say, "I wouldn't have been able to do it if you hadn't been there, I-"

"Mingi, I know," Yeosang smiled, stopping him with a simple gesture. "I was just kidding, I'm sorry."

"Oh..." Mingi nodded, understanding.

They settled into a comfortable silence, just observing the rest of the crew move around the deck. No one came to tell them anything, everyone deserved to take their own little breaks here and there, and so they were left to their own devices. Eventually, Mingi fell asleep between the other two, snoring softly here and there.

Jongho pushed his head on top of his shoulder so he could get a little more comfortable. Yeosang observed this and smiled, bringing his legs close to his chest and leaning his head on his knees so he would be able to look at both Mingi and Jongho. He couldn't help but smile when he saw Mingi's sleeping face, so peaceful. Jongho was just looking forward, quietly thinking to himself.

"I think I'm really fortunate," Yeosang mumbled.

"Why do you say so?" Jongho asked. He tried his best not to move much so he wouldn't disturb Mingi.

"Because I'm here, with you, and not back on my planet," Yeosang was still observing both of them. His eyes scanned the bridge of Mingi's nose and the way his eyes fluttered as he dreamed of something. Then they moved towards Jongho, appreciating his side profile.

"You mean here with the crew or...?" Jongho left the open question, a sudden feeling of uncertainty settling in his chest.

"Both," Yeosang said. "Of course I'm grateful to the crew, Captain Hongjoong especially, for taking me in and saving me back there in Tebos." Yeosang raised his head and stretched his arms. "But I'm mostly thankful for being here with you and Mingi, the two of you were the first ones to believe in me and step up for me, so I'm thankful."

Jongho hummed softly in acknowledgment, not knowing what to reply to that, although he knew Yeosang wasn't expecting any sort of reply. They stayed in silence for a few more minutes before Yeosang stood up. For a moment, Jongho thought he would leave and felt like reaching out to stop him. Instead, Yeosang sat next to him.

"Lend me your shoulder," he said, mimicking Mingi's pose.

"Suit yourself," Jongho replied, letting him lean on his left shoulder and fall asleep. And just like that he realized he had forgotten to tell Mingi about Seonghwa, but he guessed that could just wait.

"Okay Hongjoong, you can drop the act," Yunho told him once they were in the privacy of the main quarters.

Hongjoong immediately slumped on a chair and groaned. He made quick work of his coat and shirt, taking them off and dropping them on the floor. His coat was dark, so the blood hadn't been evident, but the white shirt he had been wearing underneath was caked with it. At some point during the fight, one of those bastards had cut his side. He had managed to keep collected all throughout the fight, but of course Yunho had noticed.

"Honestly, I can't believe you decided to check on everyone else first while you were bleeding out," Yunho huffed, bringing another chair to sit next to him and begin checking the wound.

Yunho had taken a first aid kit from the infirmary during Hongjoong's mandatory visit to check on everyone else, since he knew his boyfriend wouldn't like to be treated in public. Hongjoong just grumbled something as he looked at the wound. It was very superficial, and the bleeding made it look worse than it really was, but it did hurt like hell.

"You're lucky this isn't worse, because it could've been." Yunho continued reprimanding him as he grabbed a wet towel and began wiping the blood to make it easier to treat the wound. "You know, your hero complex might be fatal one day."

"You always tell me this," Hongjoong complained, taking deep breaths to avoid yelling because the treatment hurt.

"Because you never listen," Yunho smiled. "But well, I probably wouldn't have fallen in love with you if you weren't so stupidly reckless."

"Can you stop insulting me? I'm wounded!" Hongjoong pouted. Yunho leaned in to kiss his little pout before grabbing the salt water solution and cleaning the wound. "Fuck that hurts," Hongjoong dragged the s, trying to keep himself from swatting Yunho away.

"Patience, I'm almost done..." Yunho carefully cleaned all of the wound before gently drying the area off and grabbing the bandages. "Please stand up."

Hongjoong stood up as ordered and Yunho began to carefully bandage him. The wound was relatively long, but not wide enough to require stitching, nor was it deep enough that they should worry, so a simple bandaging should suffice. It would hurt for a while while it healed, but Hongjoong didn't need a wound to complain about things anyway, so Yunho guessed it wouldn't make much of a difference.

"There we go, done." Yunho patted the bandages softly, on the side opposite to the wound.

The captain quickly draped his arms around Yunho's shoulders and buried his face in his chest, pouting and letting out fake sniffles. Yunho chuckled softly and carefully wrapped his arms around Hongjoong, mindful of his injury. Hongjoong looked up at him and pouted his lips, asking for kisses. Yunho gladly complied.

"Are you alright?" Hongjoong asked, paying attention to Yunho's expressions.

"Yes, nothing but some minor bruises," Yunho nodded. "They'll heal quickly enough."

Hongjoong nodded before going quiet. His mind was still in the battle, thinking about San's actions when he had saved him. Hongjoong had seen him make the decision in that split second, almost like San hadn't been certain about saving him, but when he had, it was almost like something had changed in San. Hongjoong couldn't stop thinking about him, he was worried.

"What is worrying you?" Yunho asked after observing him for a few seconds.

"San," Hongjoong replied with no hesitation, biting his lower lip. "He's been acting a bit strange."

"Go check on him, then." Yunho said, disentangling Hongjoong from himself.

"But I'm spending time with you right now," Hongjoong muttered, only half convinced.

"You're not going to pay proper attention to me unless you go check on him, I know you." Yunho softly flickered his forehead. "Besides, I agree, he's been acting a bit weird, so go check on him."

"Fine, only because you insisted," Hongjoong yielded, giving Yunho one last kiss before leaving the quarters.

It took him a while to find San. He looked for him in the crew's quarters as well as in the infirmary and the dining room, but couldn't find him anywhere. Eventually he ended up looking throughout the whole ship, until he found him sitting on the hold's floor cleaning his own wounds. Hongjoong sat in front of him and grabbed a wet towel, folding it to help wipe his wounds.

"What are you doing?" San asked, stopping as Hongjoong began wiping a wound on the calf of his right leg.

"Helping you tend to your wounds," Hongjoong said simply.

"How did you find me?" San asked again, still frozen in place.

"By looking for you, how else?" Hongjoong scoffed, putting the towel again and grabbing some cottons to wipe the wound with the salt water solution.

"But why?" San insisted, a little defensive.

"You ask too many questions, did you know?" Hongjoong gave him a warning look. "I just wanted to check on you, I'm your captain, I worry."

"Right..." San finally gave in, not wanting to upset Hongjoong. He went back to cleaning a superficial cut on his left arm.

He wasn't that wounded and didn't really need help. He had taken care of worse injuries all by himself before, they had trained him for that after all. He knew how to take care of the worst of injuries, and had helped tend to the people they had rescued before finding a quiet place for himself. He didn't need Hongjoong's help, but it felt nice to have it.

San didn't complain while Hongjoong cleaned and covered his wounds with gauze. He didn't say a thing and just acted compliant until the other was satisfied with his work. Hongjoong's first aid was very clean and precise, and San could tell it wasn't the first time he did something like that. He wondered what horrors had Hongjoong seen in war, if they were too different to the ones he had encountered himself.

"What's up with you these days?" Hongjoong asked once he was done, giving no sign that he was planning to leave.

"What do you mean?" San asked, immediately becoming defensive and giving himself away. Hongjoong was right, something was wrong with him those days, but he couldn't just tell him, could he?

"Well, you yelled at me the other day, and you seem very agitated these days," Honjoong listed out, lifting fingers as if he was counting. "It does make you look a little less cold but you're still pretty much unapproachable.”

San sighed, it was impossible for him to deny that he was acting weird. But how was he supposed to explain to Hongjoong that San had been sent to kill him by a mysterious man and that now he couldn't do it because he had started developing some sort of feelings. He wasn't supposed to feel, not for his victims at least. That was not how he had been built, how he had been trained.

"I just have a lot in my mind these days," San explained. "It's not something you should worry about."

"I won't pressure you into telling me if you don't want to," Hongjoong explained, "but you can't stop me from worrying, you're part of my crew, my family."

"You really don't make things easier, you know?" San groaned, wanting to smash his head against the wall and end with his difficulties.

"Yunho tells me that often," Hongjoong chuckled.

"Well, your boyfriend is right," San huffed. "Why haven't you told the rest of the crew about it, by the way? It's not like you're doing a great job at keeping it secret."

"Well on one side, there was the bet," Hongjoong said, reminding him about the bet they had made on who would ask them first. "But also because we keep our relationship in line when it comes to work, sure we display affection sometimes, but I'm still his boss."

"Isn't that hard?" San asked, resting his head on his hands over his knees.

"Sometimes," Honjoong nodded, "he's a very devoted person. Sometimes he forgets we're equals, and I have to remind him he doesn't have to die for me, you know?"

San nodded, although he didn't actually understand what it meant, wanting to die for someone. He wondered if he ever would. He had been taught to seduce, to pretend, to act out feelings, but he had never learned about what it was to actually feel it. With all he had done, he probably didn't deserve it anyway.

"You're fortunate to have each other," San mumbled, surprising himself with his words, but still getting them out. "I'm kind of envious."

"Don't be," Hongjoong smiled. "One day you'll find someone like that for you, you're a good person San."

His heart skipped a beat and he hid his face in his hands. He wasn't deserving of those words, but Hongjoong didn't know, so he wanted to be selfish and let himself bask in them, just for a moment. He heard Hongjoong stand up and pat his clothes to get rid of the dust. He felt a warm hand pat his hair softly and looked up just for a second, breathless.

"I gotta go check up with our guests to make sure they're doing fine," Hongjoong explained. "See you later."

San watched him march away and cursed Hongjoong in silence, for making everything more difficult for him.

Seonghwa felt so much better after he had been given proper water and food. The shower had taken away all of the dirt and sweat that had settled onto his skin, and the clothes he had been given felt soft and comforting on him. He had been tended to and all his injuries were now bandaged. He did have one broken rib that had already begun to heal, and he guessed he hadn't noticed because he was always in pain.

He had been given a bed in the infirmary along with other victims that were in more drastic conditions like him. He watched as the rest of the ex-captives walked into the infirmary to receive indications from the Captain. Seonghwa had been itching to have a personal talk with Captain Hongjoong, wondering if he also knew about Wooyoung and if he had been the recipient of his cry of help, but he hadn't had the opportunity yet.

"Thank you for being patient and reuniting here with me, I'll be brief." Hongjoong said once he had gotten everyone's attention. "We unfortunately can't return you each individually to your homes, so what we're planning to do is arrive at a commercial planet and help you contact your embassies there so they can guide you home.

"We think a commercial planet would be best since they have the most embassies available," Hongjoong explained, "We're also looking into contacting a non-profit organization that will make things easier with the lack of documentation, so you'll be protected in case something goes wrong."

"We should anchor somewhere in a few days." Yunho added. "For now, just focus on getting your strength back. We also have an intergalactic communication device available, if you would like to try to contact your families."

Seonghwa felt panic. Sure, the plan sounded great for people that wanted to go back home, but he didn't want to return to his family. Despite all that had happened, he didn't want to go back to feeling useless and like a dead-weight all the time. Plus, there was Wooyoung. Seonghwa needed to find him and his best shot was to stay with these people that were somehow connected to the Somnum as well. He couldn't go home.

"Wait, please!" Seonghwa called them.

His voice was still hoarse, but Hongjoong and Yunho heard him and approached him, stopping him from standing up and following them. Seonghwa was still feeling weak, and standing up would have probably been a bad idea. Hongjoong and Yunho looked at him in confusion, not really knowing who he was or what he wanted from them.

"I can't go home," Seonghwa said quickly, trying to explain himself now that he had gotten their attention. "I can't go back there, please don't send me back." He almost begged. Hongjoong and Yunho exchanged a look of confusion.

"Why not?" Yunho asked, looking at Seonghwa suspiciously.

"It's just-" Seonghwa struggled with the words, nor really wanting to tell them what had happened to him back at home. "There's no place for me if I go back."

"Then, would you like us to drop you off somewhere? I'm sure that can be arranged." Hongjoong added, trying to placate Seonghwa, who seemed desperate.

"Can I stay with you?" Seonghwa was quick to ask. He wouldn't be able to find Wooyoung otherwise, since he seemed to be connected to this ship. He needed to stay. "I'll make myself useful. I'm very good with numbers and I have a lot of connections, I can get you deals for anything you need to buy." It wasn't a lie. His father didn't want him to inherit the family business, but that didn't mean Seonghwa hadn't learnt about it.

"Wait a second," Yunho said before pulling Hongjoong aside.

Seonghwa observed them talk, desperate to be accepted into the ship. He didn't want to go home and the slave traders had stolen all his stuff, so he didn't have anything to continue a journey by himself if they didn't let him stay. Still, he knew he was suspicious, since he didn't have anything to prove his identity anymore. Yunho and Hongjoong finished talking and approached him again.

"Okay, you can stay," Hongjoong said. "But we still need to get back your paperwork and identifications, so you're gonna have to help us with that." Seonghwa nodded enthusiastically, relieved that it had worked.

"Thank you so much," Seonghwa sighed, finally feeling like he could rest.

"What's your name, lad?" Hongjoong asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Seonghwa, Captain." He replied firmly, leaving his last name behind.

"Well, welcome to The Crescent, Seonghwa."

San paced around the hold bitterly, mentally preparing himself for the scolding he was going to get. It had been a while since he had last contacted his boss, and he still didn't have good news about the mission he was supposed to be doing. In fact, he only had bad news about it, but of course he couldn't tell his boss that. Despite everything, San was still trying to get out of it alive.

"Hello, code CS-710-28. I assume by your expression that you don't have good news." His boss said as soon as San opened the communication channel.

"My apologies, sir." San said, head down. He knew his apologies were no good, but there was nothing else he could say.

"Right," his boss scoffed. "What was it this time, then? Why haven't you finished it off?"

"We got into a fight with another ship, they were a lot more so I was busy fighting," San explained, "I tried to force him to be uncovered, but Yunho is always by his side, it was impossible." San sighed, the lies flowing out easily like water. "I believe he was injured, but since we're back on the ship he must be getting treated right now."

"You're fucking useless, code CS-710-28." His boss laughed, and San just fixed his eyes on the ground, hopping this would be done quickly. "I'm disappointed in you. You better hurry up with your mission and come back, the Black Room will be waiting for you."

The transmission cut off and San let out a long sigh. He leaned against a wall and let himself slide against it until he was sitting on the floor. Everything was becoming worse and worse for him, now even if he returned victorious, there was a punishment waiting for him. His body shook involuntarily as he remembered the Black Room, and the times he had been in it before.

The Black Room was just like its name promised: a small, squared room with every inch painted in the darkest black he had ever seen. It was cold and dark. It felt like being entombed but with enough space to move and breathe. It was impossible to tell up from down or left from right when you were trapped in it; time didn't pass but it felt like an eternity all the same. San hated the Black Room with all of his being, and he didn't want to go back there.

But as things were, he also didn't want to fulfill his mission. In fact, he didn't want to be part of it at all anymore. Who could seriously want Hongjoong dead? He was the kindest and most selfless person San had ever met. Hongjoong didn't deserve to die, didn't deserve to have an invisible price tag over his head. The thing was that if San didn't carry out the mission, someone else would, and they probably wouldn't hesitate like him. He needed to do something.

He needed to discover who was behind all of this.

Wooyoung had been waiting nervously for who knows how long, hoping someone would go to sleep soon so he could visit them and see how Seonghwa was doing. He waited until he couldn't wait anymore, and then tried to go to sleep. Wooyoung tried to visit Seonghwa's dreams first, and although he could feel him sleeping, Seonghwa was so exhausted that he wasn't dreaming, and Wooyoung couldn't reach him.

He decided to try with Mingi instead, who knew who Seonghwa was. It didn't take him long to find Mingi, already used to visiting him in dreams. When he appeared, Mingi greeted him with a warm smile, and Wooyoung immediately ran to hug him, happy to see that he was all in once piece. Mingi received him with open arms, albeit a little confused and embarrassed for the sudden display of affection.

"I was so worried!" Wooyoung exclaimed, hugging Mingi tight. "I knew everything would go well but I was still so nervous that my visions had maybe failed me, or something."

"We're fine!" Mingi was quick to reassure him. "Sure, there were a few injuries, but we all returned safe and sound, and we rescued all of the slaves."

"I'm so glad," Wooyoung sighed, relieved, still very much clinging to Mingi. "Have you seen Seonghwa yet, is he okay?"

"Actually..." Mingi's voice lowered. He had completely forgotten to look for Seonghwa because he had spent his time with Jongho and Yeosang instead, how embarrassing! "I still don't know who he is?" Wooyoung looked at him in surprise.

"Why not?" With how curious Mingi had been about everything Wooyoung had told him, he had expected him to go looking for Seonghwa already.

"Well..." Mingi tried to think of a lie, something he could say to evade the answer. "I was distracted with someone- I mean! Something! I was distracted with something else!"

"Let me guess, Yeosang and Jongho?" Wooyoung grinned, enjoying the way Mingi's neck and face turned all red.

"This is unfair!" Mingi complained. "Why did you ask if you knew already?"

"I didn't!" Wooyoung laughed. "You just confirmed it for me. I was guessing based on your dreams and my visions."

"Ugh." Mingi frowned. "I hate you." Yet, his arms were still wrapped around Wooyoung's middle.

"Sure, sure." Wooyoung smiled. "There's nothing bad with it, you know?"

Mingi just shrugged, not really wanting to talk about his potential crush on two of his crew members who probably didn't think as highly of him. He was content with their friendship, even if it was quite hard to be around them without his heart feeling like it was going to explode like one of his bombs. He could take it, though.

"I saw what you did in one of my visions, by the way," Wooyoung continued, this time his voice wasn't teasing, it was sincere. "I'm really thankful that you listened to me when I asked you to rescue Seonghwa. Thank you for being brave and telling Hongjoong, and thank you for getting into that ship and blowing it up."

"I didn't do much..." Mingi shrugged, a little embarrassed.

"You did a lot, they wouldn't have been able to get out without your help," Wooyoung smiled. "You were so cool back there too, installing the bomb and taking care that you all got out in time."

"Stop," Mingi blushed once again. "It's embarrassing when you say it like this."

"Like this how?" Wooyoung tilted his head. "All close and personal?"

Mingi let out a little unintentional squeak as he felt Wooyoung's arms tighten around his neck. Wooyoung let out a hearty laugh before standing on the tips of his toes and pressing a soft kiss to Mingi's cheek. Mingi squeaked again and took a step back, tripping. They never hit the floor, and instead just hovered softly a few feet from the floor. Mingi looked around and saw they were floating, and immediately turned to look at Wooyoung.

"Are you doing this?" He asked, hesitant.

"Yeah," Wooyoung nodded.

He was still holding onto Mingi, arms around his neck. The position had brought their faces closer, and they couldn't help but just stare at each other, hearts racing. Mingi couldn't remember ever being so close to someone, to the point that he could feel Wooyoung's breath like a ghost on the skin of his chin.

"I think..." Wooyoung breathed out, eyes briefly glancing at Mingi's lips before darting back up. "I should go now."

Wooyoung didn't give Mingi time to protest. He disappeared, leaving Mingi with arms held up where he had been hugging Wooyoung's back. He was still floating, looking up at nothing as his heart pounded fast inside his chest. Mingi was certain he was going to lose his head if he kept collecting crushes like he was picking flowers out in the field.

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