#seunghun fantasy

[restlessmaknae]

you’re my fireflower [k.s.h]

As a medic, you would have never let an unconscious, bleeding boy die in front of you, but by saving him, you actually tie yourself to him for life.

➳ Characters: soldier!Seunghun x female!reader/you

➳ Genre: romance, fluff, comedy, fantasy, magical realism, kingdom au, hybrid au

➳ Words: 14.7k

➳ Warning: mentions of blood, wounds, cuts, minor character deaths, attacks

➳ A/N: This story was inspired by Seunghun’s red hair, hence the header from the 458 MV. I hope you enjoy it because I truly enjoyed writing this story. A poll is up at the end for possible spin-offs. Thank you so much for reading! ❤️

➳ CIX taglist: @wccycc, @dat-town​

As a medic, you were used to treating wounded people, sometimes even half-naked wounded people, but a fully naked person was new even to you.

However, when you heard a loud thud as if something had crashed into your wooden house, you couldn’t just sit still and do nothing. Birds flew against your walls a lot of times, especially at nights when the dim lights outside didn’t provide enough light for them to be able to differentiate between your house and the rest of the woods. Cons of living beside the woods included frequent encounters with more or less wounded animals, but the pros included being close to herbs and flowers that you collected to make creams and lotions in order to treat the citizens of the kingdom.

On the other hand, when you walked out of the house (prepared with a wooden stick in your hand in case it wasn’t a bird after all, but a bigger animal) and you caught sight of a totally naked guy in the mud, you literally froze in place. He had some scratches on his face, there was a huge cut across his abdomen and his arms seemed bruised as well.

When you cautiously walked closer to him, an alarming thought crossed your mind: what if he was dead? It would still not explain why he was totally naked because even if he might have been defeated by an animal in the woods, it was highly unlikely that he would be rid of all of his clothes including his boots. You contemplated whether or not you should wait for Hyunsuk to come back from gathering night-blooming flowers, but he had just gone out, so it was unlikely he would come back anytime soon, and the boy in the mud seemed to be losing blood from his abdominal cut pretty quickly. The flashback of your parents bleeding out in front of you came back, and you shivered, not wanting history to repeat itself. That helplessness, that desperation…

As if anything could make the situation worse, it started raining yet again, and as the raindrops came in contact with the boy’s body, his scars seemed to darken in colour. You didn’t know what was happening - just who he was or what he was -, but based on your medical experience, it wasn’t good. Even though you didn’t specialise in magical medicine, you had a feeling that it wasn’t a good sign that his scars were changing colours, so you crouched down to the stranger, threw his arms around your shoulder and started dragging him inside the house with you.

Since there was no way you would clean him up when he was losing blood this intensively - it was enough to bear the sight of his naked body -, you laid him on the ground beside the fireplace to warm him up and put a blanket over his body, so that you could concentrate on treating his wounds while not having to look at him from the waist down. His chest was rising up and down extremely slowly, but you didn’t know what happened, so you didn’t know what to do for him. You tried to gently nudge him in the shoulder, then you patted his cheeks, but he didn’t react to either. You were really, really hoping that he wouldn’t die in front of you.

You touched his forehead to see if he had a fever, but he didn’t seem to do so. You tried to take care of his abdominal cut first, but he was bleeding so rapidly, you felt searing tears sliding down your cheeks. He couldn’t die, you had to save him. You wouldn’t be able to keep living peacefully if you let someone die after how your parents had died in front of your eyes. You just couldn’t. Fear already engulfed your mind the moment you had caught sight of him, but now you were basically terrified, so you tried to work as fast as possible.

You continued on by disinfecting his scars that seemed almost black in the flames’ light, so you wondered whether he was attacked by a werewolf for it was said that werewolf’s bite caused black marks. Though you had no recollection of werewolves inhabiting the nearby woods, so you didn’t think that it was possible. Your brain was trying to come up with more and more scenarios as you were tending to his scars, trying with a fireflower lotion in hopes of aiding blood circulation as fireflowers helped to regain one’s strength and energy.

When you got to his arm bruises, you swore your eyes played tricks on you because the scratches on his arms didn’t seem black, they were a dark ruby-red.

“I must be going crazy,” you mumbled to yourself as you put on some lavender-infused drops on his wounds. Lavender was said to soothe the skin, and it worked for all kinds of injuries: burns, bruises, inflammation, rashes and so on. So whatever he had been through, you hoped that it would help him.

After that, all you could do was lean over him and pray for him. You instinctively put your hand on his abdomen as you were crying over his body. You felt an odd sensation going through your fingers, your whole body becoming numb as you were weeping over him for god knows how long. A wave of fatigue rushed over you as if you had been drained of your energy, and you felt dizzy. You really, really wanted to save him, but what if it didn’t work?

When there was another loud thud by the doors, you almost jumped back from the boy’s body on the floor, thinking that it was another random stranger. As it turned out though, it was only Hyunsuk fumbling with the keys to the door as his fingers were slippery due to the rain.

“I swear that it’s always me who gets to pick flowers at night when it’s raining. I’m getting tired of it. Maybe someone actually cursed me or-” Hyunsuk started complaining the moment he made his way inside, and you didn’t dare to interrupt him because you didn’t really prepare an explanation for the recent events.

When your brother walked into the room and caught sight of you crouching beside a boy whose naked upper half was exposed, he was understandably shocked.

“What did I miss? Who is he? And why is he half-naked?” Hyunsuk raised an eyebrow challengingly, lacing his arms in front of his chest as if he was the older one out of the two of you, and you weren’t his older sister. “Don’t tell me you’ve brought a guy over while I was away,” he added with a mischievous glint in his eyes, and if you had your wooden stick from before, you would have surely launched it at him.

“Does it look like I brought him over when he looks like this? Do you think I even beat him up?” You exclaimed frustratedly, your tears drying on your face as you pointed at the bruises on the boy’s body only to realise that there were no bruises on his face anymore. The bandage around his abdominal cut was also less bloody than before. The cuts on his arms seemed to heal quickly as well. At least, you thought so. “Wait a minute…” You held up your hand, waves of shock going over your body. You couldn’t hallucinate his bruises. You weren’t crazy. They had been there just a few minutes ago, and there’s no way your medicine helped him to recover so quickly.

“It’s okay. You can continue. I’ll just pretend I’m not here-”

“He’s unconscious, Hyunsuk. I didn’t do anything to him and I wasn’t planning on doing anything to him, okay? Just listen to me without interrupting me, please,” you said through gritted teeth, throwing one last confused glance in the stranger’s direction before straightening up and explaining the situation to your little brother from the odd noise outside as if something had crashed into your house, finding him in the mud naked and bruised to raindrops changing the colour of his wounds. Then, you pointed out that he didn’t seem to have any wounds anymore even though you had surely seen them before.

Thankfully, Hyunsuk didn’t play you for a fool, instead, he listened to you with growing concern. Just like you had suspected, Hyunsuk was also pondering whether this guy had something to do with magical medicine as the whole blood changing colour didn’t make sense to either of you.

“It doesn’t really make sense to me. Let’s say he was drunk, but why would he go around naked in the woods while drunk and then crash into our house?” Hyunsuk mused, just as perplexed by the facts of the recent events as you were. He examined the guy on the floor as if it was an unknown plant you had never seen before and didn’t know of its use, his serious self resurfacing. “Wait, look!”

When Hyunsuk exclaimed, you turned your head towards the stranger, and your jaw dropped. It wasn’t enough that his bruises were now actually gone once and for all, the bandages turning back to their original white colour, but his previously pitch-black hair was slowly turning ruby-red. Lock by lock, soon enough, his whole hair was displaying a vivid burgundy colour.

“Uhmm, what did you give him?” Hyunsuk blurted out teasingly, and you smacked him in the chest. Though when you did so, you felt a rush of fatigue coming over you yet again. Maybe you should sit down or go to sleep soon. That night there was already a lot to take in.

“I didn’t give him anything that would turn his hair a different colour. I only put fireflower and lavender on his bruises.”

“Well then, we are either both hallucinating or this dude isn’t reacting normally to non-magical medicine.”

There were two types of medicine in your kingdom: magical and non-magical medicine. Magical medicine was mostly used on the members of the royal court including the royal family and the royal army, plus magical creatures that lived in the woods or in the mountains - such as fairies, unicorns and such - or serving the kingdom - such as dragons guarding the palace. Non-magical medicine, on the other hand, was used on humans to treat their wounds, and that was what you practised with Hyunsuk. Magical medicine was also extremely rare since only magic practitioners could deal with it since they were the ones born with the ability to tame magic, but even they needed thorough practice and extensive training to be able to make use of their abilities to their full potential. Magical medics were also almost exclusively serving at the palace.

Since you and Hyunsuk were no magical medics, you used herbs, plants and other natural remedies to treat those who came to ask for your services. You didn’t have the ability to tame magic, nor did you help magical creatures. However, since you knew what was normal in your practice and what was not, the stranger’s blood changing colour and his bruises going away in the matter of minutes were definitely not normal, and you both knew it.

At this moment, the stranger’s eyes flicked open and he sat up to reach up with his hands (though he was merely grasping air), his whole body tensing in the act. He focused on nothing in particular, and it was as if he didn’t even see you, didn’t even see what was going on around him, he acted more like a person awakening from a nightmare.

“Run!” He exclaimed, desperation dripping off his words before he fell back to the ground, his chest heaping up and down in a more uneven rhythm.

You and Hyunsuk blinked at the scene, more puzzled than ever before, and you probably waited a few minutes in silence until you dared to speak up.

“Maybe he’s actually drunk,” was what your little brother said, but he still offered to look over him for the night in case the burgundy-haired stranger woke up again and attacked you. You highly doubted that he was drunk or that he was capable of hurting someone, his previous act looked as if he wanted to warn someone about a possible danger, but as to why it seemed like that or what was it about, you had no idea.

So you let Hyunsuk keep his eyes on the stranger, you were tired either way. So tired that you fell asleep the moment you fell into bed.

You usually offered medical services in your house since your herbs, lotions and other medical remedies were stored in a separate storage room inside, but you couldn’t let visitors in until you had a naked stranger (still with a blanket covering his body) in your house. Even though Hyunsuk decided to move him from the living room to his own room, you couldn’t risk someone catching sight of him and questioning you or the stranger waking up and causing trouble. So you listened to the citizens’ concerns and symptoms on the terraced front, putting out some chairs to sit on, and if you needed something from inside, you went into the storage room and got what you needed.

Since Hyunsuk and you usually took turns offering services, it was unusual that you were on your foot all day, helping patients, but your brother insisted on watching over the stranger instead of you.

“It’s enough that you’ve seen a guy fully naked, and you aren’t married,” he had mentioned sulkily, and even though he wasn’t a very conservative boy, it didn’t mean that he wasn’t overprotective when it came to you. Especially after you had lost your parents, and you had only each other now.

“It’s not like I’ve purposefully wanted to,” you had counter-attacked, letting out a huff. You couldn’t have believed that it had been what he had been fussing over, but you had decided not to go against his words when he had offered to watch over the stranger.

So that’s why you were out treating patients all day, and when they asked why they couldn’t go inside, you said that Hyunsuk himself was sick, so you didn’t want them to catch anything. It worked though, they didn’t question your words, only a few younger girls were sad to hear that it wouldn’t be Hyunsuk who would be helping them out. Your brother was indeed popular with girls.

At the end of the day, when you asked Hyunsuk if anything had happened, he said that the stranger had seemed to wake up, grabbed Hyunsuk by the shoulders and told him to ask for help, then fell back into the bed like the night before when he had exclaimed to run. His body temperature seemed to rise after this, but it went back to normal a few hours later. A few of his locks also turned back to pitch-black, but when you stole a glance at him at night, half of his hair was still bright burgundy.

He was breathtakingly beautiful, you had to admit, with his sharp jawline, his high cheekbones, his plump lips and his charismatic aura. There was just something about him that pulled you in, but you knew better than to trust a pretty face. He might have looked gorgeous, but he was still a stranger you knew nothing about.

“Do you think something might have happened to him, and he’s having flashbacks?” Hyunsuk mused out loud that night when he came out of his room to have some warmed-up porridge with you.

“I guess so. It’s definitely odd that he’s suddenly awakening and exclaiming such alarming things. On the other hand, it’s also really odd that his wounds are no longer visible, and his hair is changing back to its original colour. Just who could he be?”

“Or what could he be?” Your little brother topped your question, and he was saying something for you knew that this was definitely not a normal occurrence. He couldn’t have been a magical creature because such creatures didn’t have fully human forms. However, his hair and super fast healing definitely had something to do with magic, so maybe he was a magician practising his skills in the woods, it’s just that whatever he had been doing the night before had backfired? That was the only logical solution you could have come up with, but that still didn’t explain his naked self.

Either way, nothing happened that night and the following morning. Everything was just like the day before, and you were about to go inside for some water since you didn’t seem to have more patients waiting outside when Hyunsuk came out of his room. More like ran out of it.

“He woke up, and he wants to talk to you. He seems pretty stable to me,” Hyunsuk notified with ragged breaths, and you furrowed your eyebrows in question.

“Me?”

“Yeah. Come on!” Your brother prompted you, but before you would have done so, you put out a sign saying that you were closed for the time being and closed the front door.

When you went into the room, you didn’t expect to see the stranger in clothes, but thankfully, Hyunsuk had seemed to give him some of his clothes although they were a bit big on him. His hair was also back to fully pitch-black, and he seemed conscious and awake, not tormented by any flashbacks.

When his eyes landed on yours, he eyed you for a second, and you thought that he would be intimidating because his gaze was deadly, and you felt like you could drop to your knees if he wanted you to. He had that aura around him, it was nowhere near his ethereal, peaceful aura when he had been sleeping. However, in the next second, his lips curled upwards, and his whole face softened.

“I’ve heard that you were the one who found me,” he stated matter-of-factly, his eyes still on yours. Gosh, his gaze was really intense, you wanted to look away, but you could already feel Hyunsuk tense up beside you, so you didn’t want him to think that you were more uncomfortable than you should have been. He seemed as harmless as one could be.

“Oh, yes…”

“Thank you so much. You’ve saved me. I’m very, very grateful for that,” he continued gently and did a whole 90-degree bow. Your hand flew to your mouth, and you exchanged a puzzled look with Hyunsuk. He was so polite as if he had been someone from a high rank.

“Ah, it’s nothing. I just… I just did what I felt like was the right thing to do,” you explained to him, a bit bashful after his sincere gratitude. You definitely didn’t expect him to be so well-mannered and collected, but maybe it helped that he was all healed now, fully clothed and he had a natural colour to his hair. He looked less intimidating this way.

“I’ll repay you both for your assistance, but before that, can you tell me what state I was in when you found me?” The stranger looked at you expectantly after straightening up, and you were sure that you were blabbering at this point, but you tried to describe the situation as best as you could. He thanked you yet again when you brought up the fact that you had taken him in from the rain, and when you mentioned what kind of medicine you had used on him first. The pitch-black haired boy hummed as he was listening to you, but slightly giggled when you mentioned him being naked.

“I’m sorry about that. That’s out of my control.”

If anything, that just made you even more confused, but sensing that you had nothing more to add, Hyunsuk picked up the storyline from where you had left off and told him about the past two days including the change of his hair and his wounds healing fast. The stranger didn’t seem surprised by it, if anything, he seemed neutral, he only seemed alarmed when you had told him that he had been here for two days.

“I need to go now, they’re already worrying about me,” he announced firmly, and you didn’t have the confidence to ask who he was referring to. However, before any of you could speak up, the stranger continued. “You two need to come with me, too.”

“We don’t even know you. You could be a criminal.” Hyunsuk threw him a glare that usually worked on those people who didn’t take no for an answer, but the pitch-black haired boy didn’t waver. If anything, he seemed apologetic about having brought up such assumptions.

“I’m sorry. I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Seunghun, and I work for the royal palace. I’m the prince’s most trusted soldier.”

“You mean, prince Jinyoung’s?” Hyunsuk emphasised in shock even though there was no other prince at the royal palace. The King and Queen had two children: prince Jinyoung was the first-born and princess Jinhee was the second-born.

“Yes. I was in a carriage delivering a message to the neighbouring kingdom when our carriage was attacked. I told the coachman to run and ask for help, I’ll deal with those who attacked us, but I don’t know if he has managed to notify anyone,” he explained thoroughly, and you could feel that Hyunsuk was ready to doubt him, but he shut his mouth close when Seunghun got to the end of his monologue.

Oh. Oh, that made more sense. Not just his actual identity but the flashbacks he was having. It didn’t explain why he was naked, but you could take it for what it was: an explanation.

“Why would you need us to come with you after this? Are you still in danger? Are we in danger now?” You eyed him tentatively, and your heart skipped a beat in fear. Did you get yourself into trouble because of him? Were these attackers looking for you too now? How serious was it?

Seunghun shook his head. He looked away for a moment before he looked back at you, and even though he was trying to keep up with his friendly approach, you could sense that what he was about to say made him feel uneasy as well. His face hardened, and his lips quivered a bit before continuing.

“It’s not about that. You have to take an oath to the royal family that you would not tell anyone about what you have seen.”

That didn’t seem so bad in your opinion, but Seunghun still looked at you as if he had been asking for a lot. You could see that he was struggling within himself, and despite not knowing him, your heart did a silly little turn out of concern.

“Why can’t you just take our word for it? We won’t tell anyone that a random naked guy just crashed into our house,” Hyunsuk insisted, his judgemental tone resurfacing. He was usually the one who could tell people off because he didn’t like putting up with people’s nonsense whereas you were more soft-spoken.

“Not even about my hair changing colour or my wounds disappearing? Or my wounds turning to black in the rain? Or why was I naked in the first place?” Seunghun asked, almost weary, and the air around you shifted completely. It was icy, rigid and doubtful. Not something that you would have expected from the soldier with the warmest smile.

“Well, we won’t,” you spoke up feebly, trying to appear as confident as you wanted to be. “It may seem odd to us, but since we don’t know why these happened to you, we can’t tell anyone,” you reasoned, and Seunghun let his lips curl into a bittersweet smile. It was a sad little smile, as if he had already had this conversation replayed in his head before he knew what you were about to say.

“That’s exactly why you need to take an oath. You can’t tell anyone what I am because I’m not supposed to be alive. I was killed by those attackers, but I still survived because I’m a phoenix.”

A phoenix. That couldn’t be. Magical creatures didn’t have human forms.

“I’m not even supposed to exist, not in this form, but I still do, and one of the reasons for that is because I’m tied to the magical medic who saved me. I can heal faster and be reborn if the magician’s powers and fireflowers’ effect are combined, but this time, it wasn’t him, it was you who saved me,” he added without batting an eye, and looked straight into your eyes. Your heart literally skipped a beat, and you were frozen in place, your mind shutting off.

“But… we are no magical medics,” Hyunsuk blurted out instead of you, and you were thankful that he did so because you didn’t have the will in you to speak up.

“Or you merely think so,” Seunghun tilted his head, then took a step closer to you. Hyunsuk protectively took a step closer to the soldier, but he got the message and stepped back. “You said my wounds started healing when you started tending to my wounds. If I can get recharged with magic and fireflowers, my wounds heal within minutes, even if they are serious. If you don’t have magic in you, that wouldn't be possible.”

“But I…”

“Didn’t you unconsciously put your hands above my abdominal area? Weren’t you extremely desperate to save me, and suddenly tired after doing so?” Seunghun inquired, and your jaw almost dropped. You had forgotten about weeping over him with your hands resting on his stomach, and that odd sensation going through you followed by waves of fatigue. You didn’t think of it too much, you didn’t think that it had to do with anything, let alone the way his wounds started healing afterwards. You assumed you had been too emotional, and the stranger’s near-death experience had drained you.

You nodded, albeit still in shock, and it was only thanks to Hyunsuk’s collected self that you understood the weight of the soldier’s words.

“You’ve said that you’re tied to the magician who saved you, but this time, it was my sister. So now is she tied to you, too?”

“Yes, she is.”

You felt like the ground had opened up beneath you, the realisations hitting you one by one. The stranger you had saved was not only a phoenix, but you were also a magical medic who was now tied to someone like him - someone who shouldn’t have existed.

After learning about all of these, there was no way Hyunsuk would have stayed behind. Even if he hadn’t been the one who had saved you, he still knew of what Seunghun was, so he needed to take the oath, too. On top of that, the soldier couldn’t exactly tell you what would await you there since the magical medic who had once saved him practised at the royal palace, and it was safer for him there because they were deeply connected. Since you saved him this time, he couldn’t tell what it truly meant because it had never happened before.

“I didn’t die a lot of times before, to be honest, and every time I did, it was Byounggon who helped me heal. Usually, if I die as a human, I can take on my phoenix form and I can fly back to the palace to receive medical help. This time though, I can only assume that I didn’t succeed,” Seunghun explained while you were making your way to the royal palace on horseback. It took around 2 hours to reach the royal palace on horses, but it was the fastest option, and in this area, it wasn’t common to hire carriages. So as always, it was Hyunsuk’s friend, Yonghee, who gave you three of their horses since they had a farm, and he always helped you out in exchange for you not charging him when he or his family needed any medicine from you.

You gulped down a nervous lump in your throat, a bit frightened what it could entail for him to die, then take on his phoenix form and then be reborn again. Since magical creatures didn’t have human forms, it took you time to process the fact that he was a phoenix. He had explained that his parents had died when their house had caught on fire, and he would have died with them too, but Byounggon - who had been a little boy back then just like Seunghun himself and who had been living close to Seunghun’s home - had noticed the fire and dragged the boy out while risking his own life. His magic had barely resurfaced back then, but it had come out in full-force as he had been trying to save Seunghun’s life. Since he hadn’t known at first just how much he could have helped the almost burned boy, he had also applied fireflower on his wounds - the flower that was born after fires, so interestingly so, it was almost like a phoenix, born after turning to ashes.

When you inquired if the combination of magic and fireflowers aided his healing or one was enough, he couldn’t be sure. He said that Byounggon didn’t want to experiment on this, so he always used both, and actually, you did so, too.

“So why were you naked in the woods?” Hyunsuk blurted out after a few minutes of tense silence had fallen over the three of you, and the soldier found it so amusing, he started giggling. You blushed at the thought of having seen him naked while your brother seemed to put on his usual overprotective face.

“Well, that is what comes with me switching between my human and phoenix forms. If I go back to my human form after my phoenix one, I always end up being naked,” he shrugged casually as if it was an everyday thing for him to speak about it. The thought crossed your mind that it must have been quite bothersome for him to always leave his clothes behind when he died, but he didn’t seem to be bothered about it. Instead, his lips turned into a cheeky smile, and he averted his eyes to you, mischief glinting in his beautiful mahogany orbs. “But it wasn’t that bad of a sight, was it?”

You almost choked on your own saliva, but you had more pride than to let him be so cocky around you. Besides, Hyunsuk looked like he was about to throw hands at the soldier, so you spoke up before he had the chance to do so.

“Well, you’re quite fit if that’s what you’re asking… but Hyunsuk is quite strong as well,” you pointed out matter-of-factly, then turned your attention back to the road ahead of you instead of Seunghun’s burning gaze. You didn’t want to give him the satisfaction to see you blush, but you were sure that your cheeks were on fire, so you started fanning yourself with one hand while you held the reins in the other.

“Yes, so don’t make her feel so uncomfortable again,” Hyunsuk commented, his voice not leaving room for any disapproval. However, the other boy didn’t seem too fazed by your words or your brother’s slight warning, instead, he continued playing the little game he had started.

“Did I make you feel uncomfortable?” He inquired, his voice posing a challenge for you. You knew that the question was directed at you without looking in his direction, and you shook your head even though your heart was telling a different story. “See, I didn’t.”

“Hey, know who-”

“Enough, Hyunsuk,” you turned to him, trying to plead with your eyes. The last thing you wanted was for the two of them to end up in a fight and show up in front of the royal family with bruises all over their body. “We’re heading towards the palace after all,” you voiced out your reasoning, and despite not appearing less agitated, your brother left it at that with a slight huff and a pointed glare in the soldier’s direction who found the situation more amusing than anything.

Oh dear gosh, you couldn’t wait to arrive at the palace.

Two hours had never seemed so long before. Even though you were on horseback, you had to slow down to march through villages, and you could only speed up through hills and woods. Seunghun continued blabbering all throughout the journey, and you could tell that he was a jokester for he always tried to drop a joke here and there, but Hyunsuk didn’t seem to appreciate it at first. After a while though, he realised that he and the soldier had a similar sense of humour, and if it hadn’t been torture before, it would have been torture afterwards with these two trying to top each other’s jokes. At least, Hyunsuk seemed to let go of his hostility towards the other boy, and they didn’t get into a fight even when you took breaks to feed the horses and let them drink from the river.

You had never been around the royal palace, so you had no idea what to expect, but the palace seemed even more magnificent than you could have imagined. It was a huge building with tall towers scraping the sky, wide terraces and a beautiful, blossoming garden around. However, to get inside, you needed to go through three security gates - one that involved the dragons that guarded the palace. You were lucky that you had left the horses outside the first gate because you were sure that they would have gotten scared and maybe even run away if they had seen the dragons from up-close. You also felt your knees wobble at the sight of these gigantic animals just a few feet away from you. However, when Seunghun discussed the situation with the guards, they whistled at the dragons that immediately backed away and cleared the path for you.

After all the gates, the huge front door had another handful of guards standing by, but they easened up as they caught sight of Seunghun, and had a little chit-chat about where the boy had been before letting him in. One also offered to notify the royal medic that he arrived, but the so-called Byounggon showed up almost immediately when you stepped inside the spacious hall. It was a hall full of paintings, large flower vases, tables made of glass and wood, glass windows that let in the many colours of the setting sun, painting the otherwise blandly coloured carpets in a palette of colours.

“Oh my god, Seunghun! You’re alive! I’ve thought that you… I didn’t feel the connection anymore, and I assumed…” The medic in a beautiful burgundy-black tunic shrieked, fighting his tears as he made his way towards the soldier. When he reached him, he hugged him so tight, you wondered whether they were more than just a soldier and a medic. They seemed like good friends finding each other again.

“You’re crushing me, Byounggon,” Seunghun chuckled joyfully, but no malice could be detected in his voice. The medic hugged him for some more time, and only let go of him when the soldier announced that he was alive thanks to you.

As if it was the first time he had noticed you and Hyunsuk standing beside Seunghun, the medic looked at you apologetically and introduced himself as Lee Byounggon, one of the royal magical medics at the palace (and Seunghun’s best friend as the latter added). He bowed politely and wiped his tears away as he straightened up. You briefly introduced yourselves with your brother and bowed back out of courtesy.

“So you… you know who he is, right?” Byounggon blinked at you rapidly, trying to put together the pieces of information.

“They do. They didn’t know at first, but I’ve told them after they’ve saved me.”

“It was my sister, actually. I just… assisted to look over him,” Hyunsuk corrected the soldier, and the gaze they exchanged told you that they had no more revulsion between the two of them. Hyunsuk’s gesture almost seemed friendly as well, you were more than baffled.

“Ah, thank you so much! Thank you so much for saving him!” Byounggon thanked you profusely and even bowed frantically as if he was trying to overdo someone else in a bowing contest. You were so shocked by his gratitude that you had no idea what to say, but after what you had heard of him - how he had saved Seunghun when he had been young, and how he had taken care of the soldier ever since -, you could only imagine him like this. Forever caring and having only good intentions.

“I… I didn’t even know how I did it,” you confessed, feeling torn about the whole situation because you didn’t feel like you earned his gratitude despite the fact that you had saved the soldier. Byounggon furrowed his eyebrows quizzically, so Seunghun explained the whole situation to him, not leaving out the part that you didn’t know about your own magic. Hearing that, the medic mentioned something about a visit to the master magician, but before he could elaborate on that, a lanky boy walked into the hall with two muscular men by his side.

He had a small face with delicate features, and nothing could compare to the aura he held. He radiated elegance, chicness and that kind of icyness that came with him being in a high rank. As opposed to the guards by his side or Byounggon’s attire, he wore only white - a white tunic that was split in the front, so that he could move around more freely with his arms, it had sleeves for maximum protection, a hooded back and probably cotton pants, though his tunic almost reached the floor, so you couldn’t be sure. He had the deepest shade of black hair, but his eyes were warm when he looked at you all. There was no question that he was prince Jinyoung.

Following the others’ action, you also bowed deeply alongside your brother, but when you straightened up, the previous rigid atmosphere was nowhere to be seen. It was replaced by a tender one with the prince asking about Seunghun’s condition, and telling him how worried they had all been when he hadn’t come back from delivering the message even though the carriageman had arrived the day before, albeit a bit wounded. He was fine, prince Jinyoung reassured Seunghun, before moving on to the two of you.

You introduced yourself yet again, and even your usually confident brother seemed to sway a bit in front of the prince. Prince Jinyoung, sensing his discomfort, patted the boy’s shoulder in a friendly manner, and you watched the sight with a small smile.

“You two will need to take the oath as Seunghun has already told you. However, you will be greatly rewarded for helping out the best soldier of the royal palace, and for saving him even though you did not know his identity,” he announced with an air of authority, and you didn’t feel like you had the right to go against his words despite only doing what you were always doing - helping others. So you bowed yet again, thanking him for his generosity.

“Prince Jinyoung, I believe we need to visit the master magician as well. Do you think it is possible for him to see us as soon as possible?” Byounggon turned to the prince with a slightly worried expression whereas the royal merely waved his hand.

“It is possible if I say so,” he answered confidently and turned around to lead the way to the master magician. Hyunsuk’s jaw almost dropped to the floor, and he mouthed how slick it was from the prince to say something like that, and you had to hold yourself back from laughing at your little brother’s antics.

Seunghun, on the other hand, caught sight of your scene, and when his eyes found yours, he gave you an amused smile, one that made his eyes smile, too. He was too gorgeous, you had to look away.

The master magician repeated what you had already known about Seunghun’s condition, about how he could be reborn, how much it took for him to heal with a magician’s help and how connected he was to the magician who helped him reborn. On the other hand, he couldn’t tell you exactly what it meant that you were the one who had saved him this time, not Byounggon, as it had not happened before. He also added that it would be too dangerous to try and see if you can change the connection back to Byounggon’s magic because it might risk not just Seunghun’s life, but yours and Byounggon’s as well.

Nonetheless, Seunghun’s body had seemed to accept your magic, so now, it seemed that you were the one connected to him, not the royal medic. Byounggon also admitted that he had felt like the connection with the soldier had been caught off two nights ago - on the night you had saved him. Byounggon had fainted and spent the next two days resting, he only sprung out of his room when he had seen from his window that Seunghun had been approaching the entrance.

“Does it mean whenever something happens to Seunghun, I will feel it? Is it the same vice versa?”

“Yes, you may feel it just like Byounggon had described it. Seunghun might feel it too when something happens to you because now your magic lives in him,” the master magician explained patiently, not looking down on you at all, and his gentle approach reassured you that you can ask about anything that might concern you. That’s why you decided to pose a question that has been on your mind ever since Seunghun had mentioned the deep connection between him and Byounggon.

“If, by any chance, I die, does it mean my magic will not keep Seunghun alive?”

The room fell silent for a moment, and out of everyone, Byounggon seemed the most bitter about your question. You could only guess that he had already asked this question before. Seunghun, on the other hand, avoided your gaze, and you had a feeling why.

“It may happen, but I have never seen a magic like this before, so I can’t confirm it for sure,” the master concluded after letting silence stretch long enough for it to be unbearable, his fatherly smile showing empathy and understanding.

You weren’t a fool, you knew what it meant. Above anything else, you needed to take care of yourself and protect yourself because if you didn’t, it might hurt Seunghun, too. Your magic was inside of him, it kept him alive - you kept him alive. No matter how absurd it seemed, his life was in your hands now.

“What does it mean for me then? I can’t tame my magic. I didn’t even know I possessed it until today.”

“It means that it would be better if you stayed here and learned how to tame your magic. In return, we can protect you, and by protecting you, you can also protect Seunghun,” the master suggested, but it wasn’t an order. He looked at you as if he understood your internal battle, and you had a feeling that not even prince Jinyoung would have held you back if you had decided to leave.

You, on the other hand, might not be able to live with the guilt that you could possibly kill Seunghun if you had gotten into any unfortunate incident. It was enough for you to be reminded of how suddenly your parents had died when a fight had broken out at an inn close to your home. One wrong timing, one dangerous man had been enough to take the lives of many.

“What about my brother?” You asked instead of pondering more about your own life. After all, Hyunsuk didn’t show that he had magic in him, or at least not yet, and there was the question of your medical services as well. Who would take that on if you weren’t around?

“It is possible that he might possess magic since he is your brother, but he might not. He can stay here and learn with you, or go back to his usual life while possibly attending one of our training centres.”

You exchanged a glance with Hyunsuk, one that was bearing so many different emotions. The prince reassured you that you didn’t have to decide right then and right now since you still had to take the oath officially and then write a confidentiality contract about it. On the other hand, you seriously felt like time was slipping through your fingers because the more you thought about it, the more quickly the following events happened, and soon enough, you found yourself with a brand new fate.

There was just so much to wrap your head around that you didn’t have time to mope over the recent change of events. Hyunsuk went back home to take care of your medic shop while signing up for a magical training class to see if he possessed the same kind of magic you did. He also sent your clothes over even though you received a handful of clothes by the royal court - similar to those beautifully sewn tunics the medics here worn and other garments that you might have needed as a female. The clothes people wore at the royal court were elegant yet useful, each a bit different from the other depending on the person’s position, however all of them were in the burgundy-black colours of the kingdom. The only ones who could wear white were the members of the royal family.

You immediately began your training with the master magician since you had done something extraordinary that hadn’t happened before, so he wanted to keep a close eye on you. He was an elderly man who had seen a lot and practised his magic a lot, he was said to be the master of the most powerful magicians in the kingdom, so it was an honour to learn under him. Given his responsibilities though, he had to take care of a lot of matters, so you learned from other magicians as well, and you had classes with Byounggon too who helped you understand what it meant to be connected to Seunghun in detail, and what it entailed that the boy was a phoenix.

Byounggon was an exceptionally gentle soul. He might have looked intimidating with his sharp facial features and strict gaze when he was examining something, but he was patient and ever so empathetic. He never raised his voice at you, instead, he shared amusing or quite awkward stories of his time in the court. He also shared many stories of him and Seunghun from early childhood to present days. Based on his words, Seunghun was the most loyal person he had ever met, someone who cared deeply, and someone who had been there for him through thick and thin - and not because of their bond, but because of their friendship. Even though the soldier was witty and liked to pull pranks on poor medic who was self-aware enough to know that he was incredibly gullible, he could never truly hold a grudge against his best friend.

Even though you could only see Seunghun in passing for the next few days since they had to take care of the carriage attack matter, you could see for yourself just what kind of a person he was when he seeked you out one night, asking if you could talk privately.

The royal court was the extended part of the palace, not attached to the main palace, but separated by a back garden that had an area that was free to visit as long as one had the permission to be on the palace grounds in the first place (the other part of it was strictly reserved for the royal family). You didn’t really have time to look around the garden since you had gotten here, but the pitch-black haired boy chose it as the place to talk.

He showed you some of the flowers he found especially gorgeous, took you to the little pond where you could see blindingly beautiful water lilies dotting the surface and hiding many colourful types of fish underneath. There was a little bridge connecting the walking path to a tree-lined island with a lantern-lit pavilion in the middle, and he came to a halt there, sitting on the bench at the pavilion.

You followed his example, taking in the beautiful scenery with fireflies flickering in the distance, the palace lit like a dazzling spectacle, the pathway in the garden dimly lit by lanterns guarding the sights as if it was a hidden gem, a well-kept secret. It was tranquil and serene, away from the hustle-bustle of the court grounds where everyone was heading somewhere - to deliver messages, to take classes or trainings, to hold classes for the royal family, to cook or wash or make anything for the royal family and such.

“I’m sorry,” Seunghun broke the silence suddenly, his voice coming out deeper than before. You could tell that he was being very sincere because there was no hint of mischief in his voice, nor in his face. The boy that looked back at you was deeply apologetic, his shoulders hinged, his features solemn and the ends of his lips quivering as he caught your gaze.

“About what?”

“Everything. You have every right to be angry at me for being tied to you. If I hadn’t-” He started on his monologue, but you cut him off.

“If we hadn’t met and I hadn’t been the one who had found you, you could have died. I am glad that I could save a life. As a medic, that’s the most I can ask for,” you insisted since you saw it from a different point of view, and this was what you had promised to do for life after you had lost your parents.

You had been young back then, sewed at a nearby house alongside your mother, while your brother had been helping out your father hunting in the woods and selling the meat of the animals you hadn’t reserved for yourself. You had always been interested in medicine, and since the woods were close to your home, you had often gone out to pick up herbs and medical flowers to make lotions that were soothing for your mother’s tired hands after a long day of sewing. You had also been the one who tended to your father’s or brother’s bruises whenever they had had any. After you had lost your parents though, you had felt so helpless and kept messing up what you had worked on while sewing, so you had started learning under the nearby elderly medic, and soon, your brother had followed you. After the elderly medic had died, you had opened your own medical services to the nearby people, and it had thrived ever since then.

So for you to be able to save a life was more than you could have asked for, it was the result of your hard-work, added luck and it seemed that your hidden magic, too.

“But still… You must have plans for the future, plans that would take place outside of the palace, and now, it’s best for you to stay here. You might even have a suitor waiting for you back home,” Seunghun blurted out rather troubled, but hearing his last words, your lips curled up at the end. You would have never thought that someone like him would even think of a suitor waiting for you back home, but maybe your brother’s warning words had gotten to him.

“I don’t have a suitor, and Hyunsuk will be fine. He might seem childish at times, but he is really hard-working. Plus, the master said that we can leave the palace, it’s just better if we do so together,” you pointed out what you had learned, your voice rather patient. You didn’t intend on arguing with the soldier, you merely wanted to share your point of view. Since he didn’t seem to believe you thus far, you decided to ease the tension. “I thought you’re on better terms with my brother than before,” you added with a semi-playful smile, and there it was, that beautiful smile blossoming on his lips in return. Seunghun seemed so much more gentle and approachable when he smiled for there was something in it - warmth, compassion, hope or maybe because it felt a bit like solace - that softened his whole facade.

“That’s true, but now I have to make sure that he will like me even more,” he set his intention proudly, still smiling, and you had to look away because the sight in front of you was too much to take in. He was too much to take in, your heart felt oddly giddy beside him, and you didn’t know what to do about it.

Hence, you looked back at the scenery in front of you. While you couldn’t deny that just a week ago, you couldn’t have imagined that you would be living in the royal court, tied to a phoenix in the body of a handsome soldier, it had its own beauty. You believed that everything had its reason, so maybe, meeting Seunghun was the universe’s way of helping you discover your magic that might be able to help many others in the future, and to reassure you that you weren’t doomed forever after your parents had bled out in front of you. You could save a life.

“It’s true that it’s rather sudden, and it’s true that I didn’t think my life would turn out like this, but I know you wouldn’t have tied someone to you on purpose, and actually, you’ve helped me discover my magic. That is something that I consider a gift,” you decided to share your thoughts with Seunghun since you couldn’t tell just how agitated he still was over your bond. “I just… I feel so out of place,” you confessed, a slight hue of pink tinting your cheeks.

You usually liked to uphold a strong, invincible facade because you were the older sibling, and after your parents’ death, you didn’t want Hyunsuk to have anything less than what he might have needed. If not for yourself, you wanted to be strong for him, but here, with you being a new addition to the court, with you still learning about your magic, you felt vulnerable.

“I’ll be here if you need anything, and Byounggon is also a really, really nice guy. Prince Jinyoung and princess Jinhee are also on good terms with those who live in the royal court. Even the courier, Donghyun, is a nice kid. Everyone is really welcoming, so you don’t need to worry. And really, don’t hesitate to send someone for me. I’ll also check up on you whenever I can. I know I couldn’t do so this past week, but I’ll do so in the future. I promise,” he said it in one-go, only taking in a deep breath when he finished. You directed a soft smile at him as you looked back at him, waves of gratitude washing through your body.

“Thank you, but you don’t have to.”

“But I want to. I want to get to know you better, too,” he replied instantly, almost tormented. You were rendered speechless for a moment, and he took that as a bad sign, so he added right away: “If you’re comfortable with that, of course.”

“I am,” you bobbed your head, hoping that your cheeks didn’t flush too much. You thought that after seeing him naked, nothing could make you feel this way around him, but here you were, your heart hammering rapidly, threatening to jump out of your ribcage.

“I’m glad then,” he noted, trying to suppress his proud smile by pressing his lips into a thin line, but he looked like he was trying to hold water in his cheeks instead. You looked away, suddenly aware of the closeness of the boy, and you were secretly glad that he didn’t speak up for some time, but then…

“Besides… Your medic attire here really suits you. It highlights your beauty,” he complimented sincerely, and you almost felt like your neck had whiplash, you looked back at him so quickly. You were ready to tell him to stop joking around, but he looked rather shy, not the smug Seunghun you had expected to see who boasted about the sight of his naked body, so you didn’t have the heart to tell him off. Instead, you mumbled a quiet thank you, earning yet another coy smile from the boy.

You spent the rest of the night talking about your past life. Since you had already known some stories of the boy, it was no surprise that he was interested in you, too. When he heard that you had lost your parents when you had been younger, he seemed deeply empathetic, not making any jokes or belittling your feelings. He did crack up though when you started telling him stories of little Hyunsuk since he had seen more of Hyunsuk’s intimidating self than his silly, goofy self. He also shared stories of him and Byounggon, and how him, Byounggon and prince Jinyoung used to play hide and seek in the royal gardens when they had been younger since the latter had barely any court members his age until Byounggon’s father - a magical medic as well - made the young boy and the rescued Seunghun visit the master magician at the palace. They had been at the palace’s service ever since and living there, but according to Seunghun, neither of them minded. That’s why the prince had seemed friendly towards the two boys when you had first seen them, because they were actual friends.

That night, Seunghun walked you back to your cabin at the royal medic’s house, and after he left, although you failed to notice Byounggon by the corner, he watched your goodbye with a fond, almost excited smile.

You fell into a routine at the royal court, and soon enough, you were looking forward to your training sessions and your weekly visits back home. Even though you were often exhausted after using your magic, you learned bit by bit how to tame it, and it made possessing magic a less terrifying experience. You knew that you were in good hands here, and everyone was trying to help you out as much as they could, so you didn’t want to disappoint anyone. You practised as much as you could, and when you didn’t have training, you helped out with the herbs and non-magical medicine since it was your expertise after all. You also met more members of the royal court, and soon enough, you didn’t feel so out of place anymore. Seunghun was right: everyone from the women working at the kitchen to the courier kid were welcoming, and often, even the prince and princess came to spend time with you all. The royal court was like a little village, so you didn’t feel that stuck anymore either, you had everything you needed there.

You couldn’t deny that you missed Hyunsuk, but with how busy you were at the palace, days passed by eventfully, and your promised weekly visits arrived quickly. Seunghun always accompanied you, and indeed, the two boys became good friends over the course of the next few weeks. Hyunsuk had also become more responsible about his duties, and now, he had Yonghee to help him out who had always seemed interested in medicine, so he could make use of his book-smart medical knowledge now. Yonghee’s family had a farm where he usually did what his parents asked him to do, but he had three siblings, so there was enough help at home, and he had always been too smart to not put his brains to use.

Hyunsuk did go to see if he possessed magic, but they said at the training centre that he might not have or it might not have resurfaced so far even with the exercises they gave him. He wasn’t discouraged by that, after all, he didn’t measure his worth by his ability to have magic within him or not, and for that, you really, really admired him. He could have easily been jealous over your abilities, but he was the furthest from jealous. A know-it-all, he was though…

“Don’t worry about me, sis. Worry about your soldier instead. I’m afraid his eyes will pop out once, he keeps looking at you with those loving eyes,” Hyunsuk once whispered in your ear when you were about to leave and Seunghun already went out to check on the horses. Bewildered, you looked at your brother in disbelief, and smacked him in the chest.

“Hey! Don’t say things like that. It’s not what you think,” you reprimanded him in your usual older sister tone, but as expected, Hyunsuk didn’t even bat an eye. Instead, he boasted a cheeky grin that made him look so much younger than he was.

“You seem to be in too much denial for it to be a groundless assumption,” he singsonged joyfully, but before you could counter-attack him, the door flew open, and Seunghun came back with a giddy smile, letting you know that the horses were ready. When you looked at your brother, he still had that annoying, knowing grin on his face, and shrugged as if he didn’t say anything.

Nevertheless, you tried your best to forget about Hyunsuk’s words, but you couldn’t help but wonder if the soldier felt the same way about you. After all, he kept his promise, and checked on you almost daily, but you assumed that it was out of pity first, or maybe it was because he was connected to you. Byounggon also pointed out that Seunghun kept finding a reason to see you, and he didn’t usually act like this, but according to his best friend, the soldier was in a particularly good mood lately. He was usually upbeat and energetic, but there was something different about him.

“I haven’t seen him like this before, so I can only assume that it’s because of you,” the medic admitted, yet his smile wasn’t cheeky or knowing. It was a gentle, almost prompting smile, one that you reciprocated with a shy one, and diverted the topic to your abilities instead.

The more you thought about it, the more you realised that you cared about the boy, and not just because you were tied to him, not just because he had almost died in front of you. However, you didn’t dare to let him know about your feelings. Even though he wasn’t immortal despite being a phoenix (he aged like everyone else because of his human self whereas he could be reborn because of his phoenix self, but one day, he wouldn’t be able to be reborn again), and when he wasn’t in a dangerous situation when you needed to help him, he was just an ordinary soldier who kept making you blush by the garden pond and who kept making you laugh with his silly pranks on poor Byounggon, you didn’t know whether it could work, whether you would actually put him in more danger by being closer to him than you already were.

Still, he gave you flowers when he visited you, and when you heard a gardener complaining that someone had chopped off some of the flowers in the royal court’s garden, you had to resist the urge to laugh. He loved talking about what your favourite flowers in the garden represented, precious little things he had probably asked someone about, but he presented it as if he had already known about these. He also got you dates and dried fruits from the market when he was doing errands out of the palace since he knew how much you loved them. Even apart from these gifts, he was a man of affectionate acts; it was in every look he gave you when you as much as miscalculated your steps and almost slipped, it was in every hand he held out for you when you were getting off your horse, it was in every enthusiastic wave he directed at you even if you were on different sides of the pond (somehow he always caught sight of you), it was in every spoonful of food he put on your plate instead of his when you had dinner at the court canteen together, and he knew which side dishes were your favourites.

On the other hand, you couldn’t stop worrying about him. You knew that he couldn’t die if you were around, but he was a soldier, and he didn’t need to go far to get bruises or a swollen ankle. He gave it his all during his physical training, and those resulted in some scars that healed fast if tended to by magic, but others couldn’t know about what Seunghun was, so he was usually treated by other magicians apart from you while you were preparing to do so yourself. Byounggon said that it usually took him only a few minutes to heal Seunghun’s smaller wounds whereas the others might have needed more time.

Once though, Seunghun came back from the border covered in bruises when a group of rebels tried to attack the royal army. Since the rebels were good fighters, Seunghun suspected that they were from the neighbouring kingdom’s army, but he couldn’t be sure why (though after the carriage attack, something had to be going on), so they held the rebels as hostages, and they were currently being interrogated.

The soldier, however, was rushed to you by Byounggon who said that you should try to heal him now since the master magician had deemed you ready after you had been already using your magic on others, strictly under a more experienced magician’s watch. This time, too, Byounggon was by your side, and you three were in a smaller room at the royal infirmary. If it hadn’t been for your bond with Seunghun, others could have been around as well, but Byounggon knew the best way to treat Seunghun, so it was better this way.

As you practised, you pulled in all of your magic - that felt like a wave of energy rushing through your body, waiting to be used up -, concentrating on the image of Seunghun’s bruises healing, and put your hands above his core. It wasn’t necessary for you to place your hands over his wounded body part since the centre of his energy was around his abdominal area, and what you needed to do was to recharge his energy centre with your magic. Apparently, that’s what you had done while weeping over him on that fateful night, and similarly, you felt the same kind of desperation moving in you. The room ceased to exist around you, all you could feel was that energy rush transferring through your hands. It was as if you had been running nonstop, your throat burning, your mouth dry and heart beating so rapidly that you needed to catch your breath when you felt a hand over your shoulder.

“Good job! You can stop now,” Byounggon notified you firmly, his voice bringing you back to the present. As you opened your eyes, you tried to take in everything in the room to ground yourself, awakening all your senses; the smell of the freshly washed sheets under Seunghun’s body on the bed, the softness of the pillow under you in the chair, the warmth of Byounggon’s hands over your shoulders, the sight of Seunghun’s now intact skin, and the sound of the slight hustle-bustle in the corridor outside of the room.

“Thank you. Thank you so much,” Seunghun smiled at you affectionately, his eyes twinkling with mirth. You, on the other hand, felt a bit numb still, and as you were trying to stand up from the chair, you nearly lost your balance. If it hadn’t been for Seunghun’s firm grip on you, you might have fallen back. “Are you okay?” The soldier inquired, genuine worry causing his forehead to appear wrinkled. You had never seen him so concerned before, and the way he looked at you as if he was ready to walk through fire for you made you feel even more dizzy.

“Yes, I’m fine,” you nodded nevertheless, but didn’t go against the other medic’s advice when he suggested sitting back down. As you took a seat again, Seunghun’s grip loosened around your wrist, but he still didn’t let go. You didn’t mind. It was as if he was your anchor, and you were ready to let him ground you.

“It’s normal for you to feel everything more intensively when it comes to Seunghun. It’ll get better after the first few times,” Byounggon explained with a hint of empathy in his voice. No wonder you had slept so well the night of saving Seunghun. You had basically knocked yourself out back then. “I’ll bring some water for you,” Byounggon offered without you asking him to do anything, and left the room immediately.

You blinked a few more times, the dizziness slowly losing its grip on you. Soon, everything shifted back to place around you, yet you weren’t worried about yourself. Instead, you kept looking at Seunghun’s exposed arms and face to examine if there were remains of his bruises or there was none left.

“Why are you so worried? You can see that I’m fine,” the boy mentioned with a wide, toothy smile, and he looked down at himself to prove to you that you weren’t hallucinating. He looked as if he hadn’t been attacked at all.

“I know, I just… I can’t help but worry about you. Despite knowing that you can’t get seriously hurt, it’s still painful for you until someone tends to you, and I don’t like that,” you huffed, your lips forming a pout unbeknownst to you. Seeing that, Seunghun let out a joyous laughter, something that warmed your heart, yet confused your mind.

You finally looked up at him, looked into his deep, dark orbs, and blinked a few in confusion.

“You’re cute when you’re sulky,” he explained the cause of his laughter, a smile blossoming on his lips yet again. You felt bewitched when he smiled like that, and you were sure that your cheeks were turning ruby-red, so you switched on your defensive mode.

“I’m not.”

“Yes, you are.”

“No, I’m not.”

The more you bickered, the wider the boy’s smile got, and the faster your heart was beating. You felt like a kid again, that childish excitement yet nervousness that you experienced when you had been playing hide and seek with Hyunsuk in the woods. This time, it was also a bit like that; trying to hide your feelings while seeking out his reaction to see if he felt the same way.

While you were bickering, Seunghun leaned forward a bit each time he spoke up and so did you. So after a few rounds, your faces were so close that you could see the slight blemishes on his skin, the roughness around the edges, the imperfections that made him perfect. You could see a tiny version of you in his mahogany orbs, and you wondered how he actually perceived you.

You kept gazing at each other for a few seconds before the boy dared to speak up, quiet and tentative, yet there was that confident edge to his voice that told you that he really wished to know the answer to his question.

“Why are you actually worried about me?”

You gulped nervously. He was too good at reading you, it seemed. Something that you would have hated if it had been for someone else since you wanted to appear as strong as possible at all times to hide your vulnerabilities and pain, but it was him out of all people, and he knew more about you than anyone else apart from Hyunsuk. Plus, he hadn’t left or ignored you despite knowing about your past and despite seeing your weaknesses.

So you wanted to be honest with him.

“I… I think I’ve gotten used to worrying only about Hyunsuk after what happened to our parents, and I was fine with that, but when it comes to you, since the moment I saw you, I’ve been worried,” the flashback of seeing the boy covered in bruises and that huge cut on his abdomen came back, and you shivered. You noticed only then that Seunghun was still holding your wrist because he gave it a slight squeeze. “Then, I got to know about who you are, and that we are tied, and I actually felt relieved. I thought I saved you once, I can do so again, but now I’m scared. I’m scared because I know I’m worried for another reason.”

The confession fell from your lips almost easily, like a part of a lullaby that you were singing to him. He was nothing but caring towards you, and since Byounggon had also mentioned that he had never seen his best friend like this before (and Hyunsuk had also teased you about Seunghun’s heart eyes), you dared to guess that he reciprocated your feelings. Not to mention the way the boy worded his question, as if he was also trying to see if you felt the same way.

And now… Now when your faces were so close to each other’s, when you could see every crease, every twitch of his lips, every shift of the emotions crossing his face, something in you told you that Seunghun didn’t lean back for the same reason you didn’t.

When he leaned forward, ever so subtle and ever so slow as if he wanted to give you time to back away (though you wouldn’t), you prepared your heart for what was about to come, your eyes slowly closing.

However, the door flew open right in that moment, and you immediately leaned back into the chair whereas Seunghun put his arms behind him on the bed to support himself, increasing the distance between you two quite drastically.

“Sorry for the wait. Mrs Choi stopped to tell me about the letter she received today, so I couldn’t leave until she told me all about her grandchildren,” Byounggon chirped rather bashfully as he put a jug of water on the bedside table and poured you a glass of water before reaching it out to you.

“It must have been exciting,” Seunghun noted rather forcefully, but his slightly awkward smile went unnoticed by his best friend.

“You know how she is. You can’t escape from her once she starts talking.”

“Yes, you’re right,” you mumbled after taking a few sips of water, knowing the elderly woman at the canteen all too well. However, when you exchanged a glance with the soldier, you could see that he was rather embarrassed about the situation as well, so he directed an apologetic smile at you. You smiled back, albeit a bit coy, and let the other medic tell you all about the stories he had heard.

After your rather intimate moment at the infirmary, nothing changed, except the fact that during random times of the day, the image of his face being so close to yours came back, and you immediately flushed. You couldn’t do anything about the state of your heart either, it went crazy whenever Seunghun was around. Before, you had never as much as dared to think about loving someone so deeply apart from Hyunsuk, let alone letting others love you. You had steeled yourself because the less people you had close to your heart, the less painful it would be to lose them.

However, even since you had entered the royal court, you had become so intertwined with other’s lives, there was no turning back from here. You became friends with the maids, the couriers, the ladies working at the kitchen, Byounggon and the other magicians, and even princess Jinhee. Seunghun, however, was a totally different story because you weren’t just friends, you knew that. You could feel it in your bones now; after the infirmary, you couldn’t go back to how things had been before, it was just a matter of time before you fully gave in to your emotions, and you both feared that moment and waited for it to happen.

In the meantime, you went on your usual evening strolls when the weather and your duties allowed, Hyunsuk visited you one weekend to bring over some night-blooming flower lotion and some home-made kimchi from Yonghee (who had been nothing but grateful for the opportunity to work with his friend), and then, you went home for the weekend with Seunghun. In the beginning, you had felt like it would be a burden for the soldier to come with you since there was only a slim chance that anything could happen to you, let alone you losing your life. However, after a while, you had realised that he would have been more bothered by the fact that he couldn’t have accompanied you, so you let go of this concern.

Usually, you left the palace early in the morning and came back later at night, but this time, Hyunsuk and Seunghun got way too competitive when it came to a round of children’s games, and kept competing until you told them that it was time to leave. Your suggestion wasn’t approved by either of them, so you gave in to staying for the night. Once they had enough of the games, Hyunsuk washed up first, then Seunghun (who was given Hyunsuk’s clothes yet again to sleep in something clean), and after that, it was your turn.

However, when you came out of the washroom in your nightgown and wished goodnight for both of the boys who had agreed on sleeping together in Hyunsuk’s room, your brother closed the door on himself and locked it from the inside.

“Wait! I thought Seunghun would be sleeping in your room,” you shouted after him after exchanging a puzzled glance with the soldier. You could imagine Hyunsuk leaving you without a reply, but at least he shouted back:

“Not a chance. He’s all yours.”

You didn’t know what to do with your little brother’s sudden behaviour, but you tried to make it as casual as possible when you suggested different options for Seunghun. The jet-black-haired boy couldn’t accept your offer of staying in your room on a mattress beside your bed. Instead, he brought the mattress out of the storage room to the living room, beside the fireplace. He even cracked a joke about that particular spot being familiar since Hyunsuk had told him about how he had been placed there when your brother had walked into the house on the night you had met.

You bid your goodbye to Seunghun afterwards who singsonged a goodnight to you, and you headed back to your room with butterflies in your stomach. Sleep didn’t even come to you easily, and you kept tossing and turning in bed until you had to use the restroom. You tried to be as quiet as possible because the restroom was on the other side of the living room, meaning that you had to cross the living room to get there. Seunghun, however, was with his back to you when you walked past him, so you assumed that he was sleeping.

Nevertheless, when you were about to walk back to your room, you noticed him turning towards you.

“I’m sorry. Was I too loud?” You whispered tentatively, halting in your steps. The boy shook his head, a gentle smile forming on his lips. He didn’t seem weary, there was no sleep in his eyes, so you believed that he was telling the truth.

“Not at all. I couldn’t sleep either way.”

“Are you uncomfortable?”

“No,” he shook his head yet again before you could think of making adjustments in case he was uncomfortable beside the fireplace.

You bobbed your head as you received his answer, unsure what to say. You felt like you could just sit beside him and talk for hours just like you did during your night strolls at the court, but you weren’t sure that it was the time or place for that. Before you could overthink the matter though, Seunghun broke the momentary silence.

“Actually, I have something to say,” he announced confidently, waiting for you to potentially go against his words if you wanted. Since you were all ears, you prompted him to go on as you lowered yourself onto his mattress, so that you could be at eye-level with him. He also pushed himself up into a sitting position, so you were face-to-face, just like at the infirmary.

“I pressed you about being worried about me because I feared that you might feel like you have to do so. Because of our bond, you know. I don’t want you to feel like you must do something because of me. And I had this silly thought too… That you might like me, but you feel like you have to because of the fact that we are tied.”

Your heart skipped a beat when the word ‘like’ rolled off his tongue. His voice was tender, his words even more so, and the look he gave you was nothing but affectionate. Still, there was a hint of doubt in his orbs, the seed of uncertainty planted in his features from his tensed shoulders to the way he fumbled with the ends of the blanket in his hands. This moment, of him being so raw and concerned and uncertain, scared you a bit for you had never seen him in such a state. This moment was like a glass bead that could break if you were hasty with your answer or if you didn’t word yourself right.

“Do you only care about me because of our bond?” You tested the waters, not taking your eyes off him. He seemed a bit taken aback by your question; not hurt, but instead, bewildered that you would have ever dared to assume such a thing.

“No. That’s so not true.” He shook his head fervently, many different emotions crossing the sky of his orbs. He might not have realised why you asked about this out of the blue, but his shoulders easened when your lips curled into an understanding smile.

“It’s the same for me,” you reassured him first things first. You wanted to tell him all about your feelings so badly, but you needed to pluck up your courage. Instead, you reached for his hands first. He was reluctant to let go of the blanket he was still toying with, but when you peeled his fingers off the material, he let you hold onto him just like you had let him hold onto you at the infirmary. He looked down at your hands for a moment before looking up at you again, and there it was, his signature tender smile that you loved so much.

As if it was the one thing that prompted you to speak up, you found yourself delivering your confession; by the crackling fireplace, over your intertwined fingers and through the rapid beating of your heart.

“I like you, Seunghun. Not the one I’m tied to, but the soldier who’s loyal to his friends, who would do anything to make others around him happy, and who always remembers every little thing about me. I like you for who you are, not what you are,” you emphasised, squeezing his hand in the meantime.

Seunghun looked at you as if he had looked at you for the first time. He didn’t move for a few seconds as if he was still trying to process what you had just said, but then, he didn’t hesitate. He leaned forward to continue what he had started back at the infirmary, and you didn’t protest. You kept looking into his warm, mahogany eyes, swimming in them, drowning in them, letting the waves crash over you as his lips touched yours. Your eyelids shut unconsciously, and for a moment, there was only him, only you, only him and you.

You felt Seunghun lean back from the kiss, and you opened your eyes to see a fully blossomed smile tinting his plush lips. He seemed radiant like the first ray of sunshine in the morning after a stormy night, and your heart felt warm just by the sight. You would have never thought you would be the one to make him so happy one day because he gave away so much of himself to others, but you were delighted and a bit shy that you could make him beam like that.

“Gosh, I like you so much,” Seunghun exclaimed, his voice and face and heart full of love as he crushed you into a hug, and kept you in his arms tightly. You felt yourself melting into his embrace, feeling safe and sound, vulnerable and well-protected at the same time.

You were in such an ecstatic state that you were only made aware of your surroundings when you heard a key turning, and in a blink of an eye, Hyunsuk opened the door of his room just to lean towards the door frame, eyeing you two hugging each other.

“It was time,” he grumbled, but there was a mischievous smile in the corner of his lips, so you could tell that his annoyance was fake. You knew him enough to know very well that he had seen it coming.

“Did you hear everything?” You guessed frantically as you let go of each other with the soldier to turn towards your brother. Nonetheless, your fingers were still intertwined.

“Yes, so now that’s done, don’t be too loud. I want to have a peaceful sleep,” he semi-warned you, but there was still that cheeky smile on his lips.

Once Hyunsuk went back to his room again, you exchanged a glance with Seunghun, only to start giggling. Then, you felt his arms around you yet again, and you eased into his touch, his warmth already familiar despite it being so new still.

“This feels like a dream,” the boy sighed into the embrace, and you could only share his sentiment. This really did feel like a dream, the best kind, that made your heart flutter and your cheeks flush. On the other hand, it was your here and now, and you weren’t ready to let go of it anytime soon.

“Hopefully, it won’t end soon.”

“It won’t,” Seunghun insisted, newfound confidence lacing his words. “We’ll keep on dreaming together for a long, long, long, long time,” he emphasised quite playfully, but when he let go of you, and you looked into each other’s eyes again, you knew that he was being serious.

“I can’t wait.”

“Me neither,” he replied, albeit a bit coyly, and you giggled yet again. It really felt like a dream you didn’t want to wake up from, it was so warm, so comforting, so hopeful.

You might have been the one to save Seunghun on that fateful night, to forever seal your fate together, but you felt like he had saved you, too. He was your phoenix that rose from the ashes despite the hardships life had thrown at him ever since he had been really young, and you were his fireflower; growing from even the toughest grounds through the toughest circumstances and blooming for him, only him.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed the twist with Seunghun’s phoenix form. Since phoenixes are usually red and gold, the idea came to my mind seeing his red hair that he should have red hair in his phoenix form, and when he turns to ashes and reborns as a human, his hair turns back to pitch-black. That was basically where it evolved form. I don’t write a lot of fantasies, so let me know if you have any questions regarding the fantasy world in the story. 🥰

All in all, I hope you enjoyed the story! Thank you so much for reading it! ❤️

If you want to read more stories of mine, let it be for CIX or for other bands, consider signing up for my taglist here.

Since I’ve gotten quite attached to the side characters in the story, I have some possible spin-off ideas.

VOTE FOR SPIN-OFFS HERE!

[belovedhoon]

Hey guys! I’m sorry I’ve been gone for like ever, but I’m working on a CIX fic rn! It should be up by the weekend! It’s a Seunghun x Reader fantasy fic!! I’ll post the summary later on!!

[mashihope]

《 About me 》

• Basic info You can call me Luna (or Yoshi, whatever you prefer); I'm 22, INFP-T, pisces and spanish. I go by she/her, but I don't really mind if you accidentally use something else. One of my self-given nicknames is Ghost, because I usually disappear quite a lot (keep that in mind if you don't see any updates after a while!). I'm shy; (to mention a few things) I have social anxiety and low self-esteem issues, I may have ADHD and autism, I overthink a lot (these are my excuses for my non-existent socializing skills + lack of interaction + questionable things I say about myself, I'm so sorry!)

Listen to my favorite song! ♡

(This mini moodboard is made by me; I don’t own any of the pics.)

What does Luna like?

Listen to music (pop, kpop, rock...)

Drawing

Read / Manga / Webtoon

Writing

Sleeping

Plushies / Dolls

Daydreaming

Anime / Kdrama

Cosplay

Videogames

Rain

Mushrooms (but not as food)

White chocolate, croissants

Fantasy / Mythology

Stars / Galaxy themes / Moon related stuff (astronomy/astrology you could say??)

Animals / Bunnies (my favorite animal!)

Blue (my favorite color!)

Autumn (my favorite season!)

Cherry Blossom (my favorite flower/tree!)

Sanrio

Animal Crossing, The Sims, Stardew Valley, Palia

CookieRun

Monster High / Ever After High

Percy Jackson (Cabin 6)

What does Luna dislike?

Bugs

Thunderstorms

Darkness

Loud noises

Crowded places

Being alone

Bullying

Lies

People

P*rn bots

Violence

Nightmares

Myself

Kpop • Groups/soloists I stan:

A.C.E (Donghun, Yuchan) ◦ ARTMS ◦ Ateez (Yunho) ◦ &TEAM ◦ Chuu ◦ CIX (Seunghun, Hyunsuk) ◦ Cravity (Wonjin, Seongmin) ◦ DKB (OT8) ◦ Dreamcatcher (OT7) ◦ E'Last ◦ Enhypen (Sunoo) ◦ (G)I-dle (Yuqi) ◦ Ghost9 ◦ Golden Child ◦ Kingdom (Mujin) ◦ Loosemble (Hyeju) ◦ Mamamoo (Moonbyul) ◦ Monsta X (Kihyun, Hyungwon) ◦ NINE.i (OT9) ◦ ONEUS (Keonhee) ◦ ONF (MK) ◦ ONEWE (Dongmyeong) ◦ P1Harmony (Theo, Intak) ◦ Park Jihoon ◦ Pentagon ◦ Seventeen (OT13) ◦ Stray Kids ◦ The Boyz (Sunwoo, New, Q, Hyunjae) ◦ Tomorrow by Together (Beomgyu) ◦ WEi ◦ Woodz ◦ Xodiac (Beomsoo, Wain) ◦ Xdinary Heroes (Gaon) ◦ Yves ◦ ZEROBASEONE (Matthew, Taerae) 《 Ult group/bias 》

• Other groups/soloists I support:

BAE173 ◦ Bang Yedam ◦ BTS (Suga, J-hope) ◦ EVNNE ◦ H1-KEY (Hwiseo) ◦ izna (Jiyoon) ◦ JUSTB ◦ ONE PACT ◦ Pixy ◦ Purple Kiss (Yuki) ◦ SF9 ◦ Tempest (Hanbin) ◦ Treasure (Junkyu) ◦ TIOT ◦ VANNER (Hyesung) ◦ Verivery (Hoyoung) ◦ Xikers ◦ 8TURN 《 Some groups (that I currently have some kind of attachment to) may not appear due to less interest (compared to the ones shown here) 》

Anime • I've watched:

͏͏Angels of Death ◦ Ascendance of a Bookworm ◦ ͏͏ Assassination Classroom ◦ Bungō Stray Dogs ◦ Cells at Work! ◦ ͏͏Danganronpa ◦ Death Note ◦ Demon Slayer ◦ Haikyū!! ◦ ͏͏Jibaku Shōnen Hanako-kun ◦ Jujutsu Kaisen ◦ ͏͏Little Witch Academia ◦ Mirai Nikki ◦ My Hero Academia ◦  Sailor Moon ◦ Shadows House ◦ The Promised Neverland ◦ ͏͏Tokyo Ghoul ◦ Yuri!!! on Ice ◦ Zombie Land Saga 《 Fav 》

Kdrama (and movies) • I've watched:

͏͏The Mysterious Class ◦ True Beauty ◦ My ID is Gangnam Beauty ◦ Hotel del Luna ◦ Phantom School ◦ Witch's Love ◦ The Labyrinth ◦ The Sound of Magic ◦ Weak Hero Class ◦ Sell your haunted house ◦ Imitation ◦ Vincenzo ◦ Delivery Man ◦ Zombie Detective ◦ The witch store ◦ The Witch store reopens ◦ Mimicus ◦ User not found ◦ Nightmare Teacher ◦ Ms Ma, Nemesis ◦ Extraordinary Attorney Woo ◦ Itaewon Class ◦ Night has Come ◦ Twinkling Watermelon ◦ At a Distance, Spring is Green ◦ Begins ≠ Youth ◦ Pyramid Game ◦ Snowdrop ◦ Radio Romance ◦ V.I.P ◦ Bring It On, Ghost

@strawberry-chuuice ⬅ click the name to go back to my side blog. @cookierunwitch ⬅ click the name to go to my Cookie Run blog. @thatweirdwitch ⬅ click the name to go to my Monster High blog.

Things will be added if needed. Created on 18/05/2022 - 15:45 ; Edited on 22/10/2024 16:17

[ravenbloodshot]

Masterlist 💋

Aespa

Ningning

- Red + Green Flags

&Team

Fuma

-Ideal type

Nicholas

-What he's like in a relationship (Audio Tarot)

New Jeans

Minji

- Reputation Amongst Idols

Btob

Minhyuk

- Love life

Enphyen

Jay

- Reputation Amongst Idols

Jake

- Personality

- Itaewon hunting scandal

Sunoo

- Personality

Heesung

- Personality

- How members view him

Sunghoon

- What he's like in relationship?

- Red + Green Flags

How Enphyen view each other:

PT.1

PT.2

PT.3

Golden Child

Bomin

- Personality

Pentagon

Kino

- Personality

Nine.i

Winnie

- Personality

Cravity

Minhee

- Reputation Amongst Idols

To1

- Reason Chihoon left

- Reason Jerome, Woongi and Minsu left

Le Sserafim

Kim Garam(Ex-Member)

- Is she a bully?

T.A.N

Im Joo An

- Personality

Only One Of

Kyubin

- Personality

Txt

Taehyun

- how members view him

- Red + Green Flags

Yeonjun

- How he views Seonghwa (Ateez)

- Reputation Amongst Idols

- Ideal Type

-His opinion of TxT music

Trainee A

Leo (Ex-Member)

- Personality

Astro

Jinjin

- Love life

Cha Eunwoo

- Reputation Amongst Idols

P1harmony

Soul

- Personality

Intak

- Ideal Type

Got 7

- Would members seriously date foreigners?

Jackson Wang

- Personality

Nct

Taeil

- Personality

Doyoung

- Ideal Type

- Red + Green Flags

Jeno

- Ideal Type

Jaehyun

- Ideal Type

- Prostitute Fantasy

Taeyong

- School Bullying Scandal

Jaemin

- Red + Green Flags

Yuta

-Ideal type

E'last

Romin

- Personality

- Ideal Type

Baekgyuel

- Personality

- Ideal Type

Twice

Jeongyeon

- Love life

Sana

-Ideal type

Sf9

Hwiyoung

- Love life + Love language

Zuho

- Ideal Type

Taeyang

- Reputation Amongst Idols

Stray Kidz

Lee Know

- Personality

- Reputation Amongst Idols

- Red + Green Flags

I.N

- Personality

Changbin

- How he views Stray Kidz

-His opinion of Stray Kids Music

Hyunjin

- Love life

Seungmin

- Love life

Han

- Ideal Type

The Boyz

Hyunjae

- Personality

Sangyeon

- Personality

Q (Changmin)

- Ideal Type

- Red + Green Flags

Juyeon

- Ideal Type

- Insecurities vs. Confidences

Sunwoo

-Ideal type

Ateez

Hongjoong

- Ideal Type

San

- Reputation Amongst Idols

Seonghwa

- Reputation Amongst Idols

Verivery

Dongheon

- Ideal Type

Cix

Seunghun

- Ideal Type

Treasure

Yoshi

- Ideal Type

- Personality (Audio Tarot)

IVE

Wonyoung

- Reputation Amongst Idols

Itzy

Ryujin

- Reputation Amongst Idols

-Ideal type

Seventeen

Mingyu

- Reputation Amongst Idols

Monsta x

Minhyuk

- Ideal Type

Shownu

- Red + Green Flags

Oneus

Ravn(Ex-member)

- Red + Green Flags

Xdinary Heroes

Junhan

- Red + Green Flags

Jooyeon

-What he's like in a relationship (Audio Tarot)

Gaon

-Reputation Amongst Idols

Extra Readings

- Seonghwa (Ateez) and Yeonjun (TxT) view of each other

- Exo and Aespa feelings towards each other

- Will Stray Kidz be legends?

- Would Enphyen date a fan?

- Would Seventeen date a fan?

- Would TxT date a fan?

- Haechan and Ryujin dating scandal

- 97 liner scandal

- Yeonjun and Yunjin dating scandal

- Aespa's view of Giselle

- Is OnlyOneOf comfortable with their BL concept??

[leejeongz]

nsfw a-z SEUNGHUN (CIX)

requested: yes, by anon

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

his only priority is you. he gets that things can get a little… spicy, when he’s left to do whatever he wants to you, so taking care of you afterwards is the most important thing for him. you are getting endless amounts of kisses and cuddles and he’s gonna ask if you need anything… like… a lot.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

he LOVES your hands. they’re so pretty to him. so pretty when they’re close to his face, or wrapped around his dick, or gripping onto the sheets. he l o v e s them. his way to make sex more romantic is to hold hands where possible, yet another reason why he loves your hands.

for him, it’s his neck. his neck is super sensitive and, alongside his abs, is his favourite place for you to kiss and tease him.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

if he can’t cum inside you (which he always wants to do) he’ll make you either swallow it or will finish on your tummy. if any gets on the floor, he’s getting you to lick that up, you better not waste his cum, you’re his (pretty) cum slut after all.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

you once agreed to filming you pair while you did the deed. he kept it for himself to watch and gets off to it most of the time, it never gets old.

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

i don’t want to put a number on it but he’s definitely not a virgin, far from it. he knows what he’s doing and there’s not much he hasn’t done before. he knows what he likes and he certainly knows where the clit is.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

this man loves morning sex, so spooning is perfect for him. it’s slow, sensual and romantic and you can put in as little effort as you want. he can also grab your neck or your tits or even :D both :D from behind, without him being in an uncomfortable position.

he’s also a fan of standing doggy, even though he’s really tall, he can still find the perfect height and angle to pleasure you at while wrapping his hand around you to rub your clit :).

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

he can be a little goofy in the moment but that’s just him being him. it makes the whole situation feel a lot more personal and romantic. he likes to giggle about little things but is also very mature and serious at the appropriate times.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

completely shaved. he thinks it’s more convenient for you when you're sucking his dick (don’t forget the balls) and thinks it looks hotter from his perspective. it’s also a better way to see how much of his dick you really took. he shaves most of the time but honestly, i kinda see him also wanting to wax it to keep the hair away for a longer period of time.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

most of the time, he keeps the sex as romantic as possible and does all the cliche things like holding hands, exchanging kisses and sweet nothings even when it’s getting a little rough, he even lights a candle and puts on music sometimes.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

he likes to take his sweet time and edge himself A LOT. he imagines a lot of stuff but most of the time relies on pictures, videos and free stuff online. honestly, i can see him being someone who films himself, he finds it enhances the experience a lot more (and fuels his exhibitionist fantasies ofc).

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

exhibitionism- obviously not in the illegal way. he just likes the possibility of getting caught. he likes sneaking around with you but also giving other people a show. this mostly happens on vacation (if you agree) by pressing you against windows in hotel rooms late at night and fucking you from behind or making you suck his dick in front of the window.

quirofilia (i googled the name lmao)/ hands- he knows he has nice hands and that you like them, especially wrapped around your neck, but he also secretly has a thing for your hands too. handjobs are so underrated but not by this man, he cannot get enough. he likes watching you paint your nails, he likes when you let him pick the colour even more because he imagines what would look the best when they're dragging along his skin.

CHOKING (borderline breath play)- idk if this is a kink but b o y he loves to choke you. there’s nothing he likes more than fucking you in missionary but spicing it up with his hand tightly wrapped around your neck. but he’s not your average choker, he likes to see you struggle (if you both trust each other that is and with a safety gesture). of course he knows that breath play is dangerous, so he wouldn’t take it to the extreme, but hearing the change in your breathing is so HOT to him.

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

he would do it anywhere lmao he’s not shy of people seeing.

but he really likes the sofa in the living room, it’s comfortable and still in your own home because he knows not everyone is up for fucking in places you might get caught, but still isn’t as “basic” as a bed. there’s also not that much space to “get lost in”since he’s not much of a manhandler, it encourages either of you to sit on the edge most of the time, providing easily access 😜

but as i mentioned above, he loves showing off to anyone who wants to watch. friends houses and hotels are his favourite places to do this.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

i don’t think he’d be turned on by random things, but there are definitely certain things about you that turn him on. like when you put your pen in your mouth while you're thinking or when you lick your fingers after eating food. anything that resembles a blowjob, he’s there begging for some head. or if he looks at your hands while they're holding onto something that looks even a little bit like his dick, he is so ready for a quick handjob.

if you accidentally touch his dick or “accidentally” back up a lil too far when spooning, you’re getting fucked there and then, i hope you’re proud of yourself :p. (but not without him teasing you a little bit beforehand for doing so.)

let’s be real tho, this guy looks at his naked self in the mirror and gets turned on by that… imagine being THAT attractive only seunghun smh

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

there’s not much he wouldn’t do, anything that made you happy made him happy. that being said, i don’t think he’d ever be comfortable with slapping anything that isn’t ur ass. especially not your face, even if it does turn you on or whatever

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

HE LOVES TO RECEIVE. he would do a n y t h i n g to feel your lips wrapped around him whenever, wherever. he just loves getting head. he likes it sloppy and kinda slow, with lots of spit and eye contact. but he expects you to clean the floor afterwards, you made the mess since “you were the one who made him cum” so you clean it, with your tongue 👅gOd he gets so cocky when he hears you complaining that you can’t take it all or when you have a sore throat after sucking his dick, so you do it all the more for some amazing sex hehe. the man loves fucking your face, pulling back and grabbing your chin whenever he’s even just slightly bored,kissing you, then pushing his cock back into your mouth.

he’s not gonna eat you out if you ask him to, he’s going to do it when he wants to do it, when he can SENSE that you want it. he’s pretty good with his lips and likes to give you gentle kisses down there since he knows you’ve probably never experienced that before (given than most men have no fucking clue lol).

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

usually slow, sensual with a healthy sprinkle of fast and rough. the slow pace is also considered a tease, he knows you want it harder, but you’re not getting it.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

sometimes they are just what he needs. if he’s horny and there’s not much time to spend dragging out everything, you can bet ur fine ass he’s taking you to the nearest private space and having his way with you. sometimes even just spotting a location to do it in is enough to let his imagination run wild and soon enough, you’re there, getting railed

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

he was born to take risks. whatever you want to do, he wants to do too, no matter how risky it is. he’s not shy to bring up anything that he wants to try either and is very open about what he likes. gets most of his ideas from things he’s done before, but he knows they’ll be better this time because they’re with you.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

2-3 rounds. there’s nothing stopping him on occasion, he actually shocks you how many rounds he can go for without a break.

all last around 20 minutes and he never skips foreplay hehe.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

if you wanna use them, he’s not fussed. but his ideal sex does not involve any toys. he believes he can do everything you need to be satisfied so why would you need toys? but if you want to introduce them to activities every once in a while, he’ll go along with it, just for you.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again… THE BIGGEST TEASE IN KPOP.

he sends you numerous texts describing what he wants to do to you when he knows you're busy, sometimes, if you’re lucky, he might even treat you to a whisper in your ear when you’re in public, something along the lines of “i can’t wait until we get home” followed by a sweet kiss against your cheek. and he loves winking at you. just an innocent wink to everyone else means so much more to you and he knows it gets you wet almost instantly.

your neck is his fav place to tease you, whispering against it and pressing light kisses against it until that alone makes your eyes roll and you moan quietly. that being said, he likes when you tease him too, only he knows he can get away with punishing you for it.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

BIG ON DIRTY TALK. “that’s it baby, just a little bit more” “i know you wanna cum, but you’re not going to until i say, right?” “don’t stop, honey, don’t stop” he will say anything at any time, no filter, just whatever feels right.

he’s a little bit of a moaner, quite loud too, but you’re gonna have to do something extra special to get one of those.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

things got real boring real quick when you realised seunghun was engrossed in the tv while you were sucking his dick so you decided now was your chance to show him who was really in charge here.

your figure was now blocking the screen in front of him as you straddled him, there were no distractions for him.

“i was-“ you cut him off mid sentence with a finger pushed against his lips. you took it off and used that hand to guide his dick towards the pool of moisture that had been in between your legs for a while. he smirked slyly and let you continue, enjoying seeing this side of you for once.

although you’d done it many times, you still weren’t used to his size and the way it felt and your face was not hiding any of that. he chuckled slightly, leaning up as he did so with a hand resting on the small of your back so you didn’t fall.

“go on baby, you can do it, take it all” he spoke, the smirk becoming more clear on his face. he added a wink, knowing it would fuck with you too.

“fuck you, seunghun” you let out, lowering yourself another inch onto his length, almost all the way there now. he leaned back agasint the headboard once again, knowing he still had control, but it was fun to see you thinking that you did. his hands now rested on your thighs which were tense and hard, there was no way you were lasting in this position, he thought to himself.

you had finally gotten to riding his dick properly, an activity you did almost every day these days. seunghun had already managed to have you put on a blindfold, called you cute numerous times and was surely on his way to changing position, claiming that you should “let the expert take over”.

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

l a r g e. both length and girth… above average. girl you’re so lucky to be getting that dick 😭 but good luck walking for a few hours (days) after because he knows how to use it too.

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

probably the highest out of anyone on the entire planet lol.

he would have sex 24/7 if he could.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

he simply does not sleep. most of the time, he’s eager to stay up with you, cuddling or just getting on with you day. don’t get me wrong sometimes, he needs to sleep after, and then it’s only after you do, but it’s rare.

[yunhohours]

FINALLY SOMEONE WHO SPEAKS MY LANGUAGE!! We are besties now, sorry I don't make the rules. And we share Ults so yay!! Okay okay right back to the topics at hand.

1) I am a LOYAL BX bias. Especially blue hair era that was 🥵🥶. But okay see my hand kink is so problematic. Jinyoung is my bias wrecker but it doesn't help that his hands are that of a God. My hand kink revolves around duality. Like I'm sorry sir, who allowed you to grind like that but have the hands of a glass doll. Ugh hit me with a bus I love how gentle his hands look, but how rough he would use them on his partner oof.

2) Pentagon is an ult of mine too. And Jinho is one of my 4 Ult Bias's (holds the top spot thoug). That man's voice makes me melt. He is so small and loveable. Like can I just hug him?!?! But the duality hits hard with him, because he is the danger you never saw coming. I mean the lace gloves he wore in feelin like....ooo that hand kink again.......whoever chose that wardrobe item deserves some good head and paid vacation. That....that was a great but very lethal move.

3) I am also an Up10tion ult which is where Kim Wooseok comes into play. They were the first group I stanned in the kpop realm and he was had me in a chokehold since day one. Another small lethal boy you never see coming with the vocals of a God. But his waist! Angelically masculine. Daddy?!?! Sorry! Daddy?!?! Sorry! No I'm not sorry that's a daddy waist right there. Biggest fantasy is him in a corset! With a chest and shoulders like that with those thick thighs but a small waist. Sign me up!!! I could go on and on about this!!!!

I love this for us <3

PLEASE TELL ME YOU SAW ALL THE CLIPS FROM THEIR FIRST CONCERT. ABS EVERYWHERE. ARMS. BACK. SHOULDERS. ALL OF IT. OH MY GODDDDDDDDSDJFSAHFDS You got gon abs!! And red jinyoung! I bet you were absolutely thriving because I was a complete mess after Hyunsuk and Seunghun's solo stages lmao 😭 and Yonghee... WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR MODEST KING I'M???? Ok anyways moving on. Jinyoung is a problem on stage. He exudes so much sexuality and charisma. I don't think anyone can deny that. His hands being such a stark contrast is just so interesting and delicious tbh. I live for duality. I think Jinyoung's hands are such a perfect representation of his duality. I could see him using them roughly with his partner at times, but I can also see how extra sweet it would make his soft caresses when he's tired or lazy. (His chart is full of taurus so I am heavily on the lazy sex Jinyoung agenda dkshahd)

Both of our ult of ults being from Pentagon.. so cute of us. Feelin Like Jinho was something else. He already has this sassy but composed personality that seems to not match his absolutely adorable face and that's bad enough, but Feelin Like Jinho? Madness. The sensuality. The confidence. THOSE GODDAMN LACE GLOVES. I don't usually find myself Affected by Jinho but even I was like 👀 OKAY I SEE YOU. I can see him noticing that his partner likes the lace gloves on him and using that very much to his advantage. Touching your face more than usual with the most shit-eating grin. Bye.

Not you selling me on this man. 😭 That's a description that makes me INTERESTED. I will say I've looked into some of his music on spotify before because I know he was also in X1 (I wasn't around for them, I just know about them because of Seungwoo and Seungyoun) but I didn't know all of this then. Perhaps I'll have to take a second look. Visuals alone are never enough, but they sure don't hurt if the music is good... 🥴

[sknewmuse]

K-POP WEEKLY WRAP UP: GAON Album Charts

[August 27, 2021] 2021년 34주차

#1- The Chaos Chapter: FIGHT OR ESCAPE

Topping Week 34 of the Gaon Album Charts is one of K-Pop’s 4th generation It boy groups TOMORROW X TOGETHER! This being the second time TXT has debuted a new release that smashed the Gaon Albums Chart, earning them their fifth #1 in South Korea. 

“We do believe that it’s more important for us to express ourselves genuinely and openly, to be true to who we are as a team and as people. I very much enjoy being able to share these personal aspects because it feels like we, MOA and us, are deepening our bond and trust. I hope that our sincerity and honesty can be a source of strength for everyone, should they need it.” -Taehyun

#2- Queendom - The 6th Mini Album

Coming in the second spot, closely following TXT boys, is K-Pop queens Red Velvet, with their comeback album Queendom, regaining power and collecting their crowns once again. Queendom is the groups fourteenth top 10 title on the Gaon Albums Chart, all those projects have placed in the top 3. 

“What do you want fans to take away from your new project Queendom?” -billboard

“When we’re together, we shine more beautifully so let’s be there for each other forever and always.” -Irene

#3- CRAVITY 1ST ALBUM PART 1 [The Awakening: Written In The Stars]

On the rise is the talent and always impressive boys of CRAVITY, just less than two years into their debut they’ve already managed grab a spot on the top of Gaon Album Charts four times. Needless to say, CRAVITY continues to prove their talents as young artists and a group, that we will continue to see top charts in the future.

“Before, with our Hideout trilogy, we talked about acknowledging each other's existence, relying on each other, being there for one another as if we're each other's “hideouts”. Now with this album, we're stepping out of our comfort zones to face the world and all the challenges that come with it with newfound confidence, as if we've been “awakened”.” -Allen

#4-  CIX 1st Album ‘OK’ Prologue : Be OK

Next to take place is popular and handsome 5 member boy group CIX (Complete In X), the group’s first full-length collection is now their fifth to impressively and smoothly enter the top 10 of Gaon Albums Charts. Also being it’s the first to not be featured in their highly-successful ‘Hello’ series.

“The ‘HELLO’ series portrayed our friends being placed in a hell-like situation and the ‘OK’ series draws their experience searching for a breakthrough. Even if the five of us take a small stride, this is an album that shows us steadily growing and evolving. Just like how our journey up until now has come together to become this full-length album, we will work hard to start this new journey.” -Seunghun

#5- 6TH MINI ALBUM [THRILL-ING]

Last week we had the talent and personality driven group that attracts fans from all over the globe, The Boyz as our #1 place, this week they kept their crowns in the top 5 category with their 6th mini album ‘THRILL-ING’. 

“Previously, we focused a lot on trying to decipher a certain message on stage, this time around we’re more into, “let’s be chill, let’s relax on stage, let’s really enjoy the vibe of the music”.” -Sunwoo

#6- The Land of Fantasy

Coming in at spot #6 we have the talents of the indie-rock group ‘Jannabi’, bringing the act to the highest tier for just the third time. 

“The sound of The Land of Fantasy is also brilliantly lush, frequently layering dozens of voices and instruments into an inviting maelstrom. Prime examples of this include orchestral album opener “The Land of Fantasy” and the regal yet humorous “Bluebird, Spread your wings!”. The fullness of the album is exceptional given that Choi Junghoon is currently more or less operating as a one man show. Fellow bandmates Kim Dohyung (who was part of The Land of Fantasy’s production), Jang Kyungjoon, and Yoon Kyul are enlisted, on hiatus, and fresh out of the army respectively. Jannabi will in all likelihood return as a quartet (or a trio or duo), but for now, Choi Junghoon stands alone. You’d never know it from listening to The Land of Fantasy.” -Siena via. Seoulbeats

#7- DON`T FIGHT THE FEELING - Special Album

“Nations Pick” EXO return to the top 10, leaping a whopping 50 spots with what was their highly anticipated comeback. Never underestimate the power of the nations pick, on or off charts, they still find their way back. 

“The five-track project tells a story of love, maturity and the ability to adapt to change, which is something that EXO know all too well. Over the course of their nine-year career, the group have had to adapt to a slew of lineup changes and quickly mature in the process. And while certain Western media outlets will attempt to make some believe that military enlistment is “the kiss of death” for a male group, EXO have proved that it’s possible to successfully adjust to the circumstances life throws at you and still make good music.” -Natasha Mulenga via. NME 

#8- My Collection & #9- Select Shop

Returning this week at the 8th and 9th spot, is coincidently both former Wanna One members, Park Jihoon with ‘My Collection’ and Ha Sungwoon with ‘Select Shop’. As we see some former Wanna One members that went solo continue smash charts, it’s no surprise we have both singers still consecutively in the album charts at the same time. 

#10- LOVE YOURSELF 轉 `Tear`

Bringing in our final spot is yet again worldwide K-Pop legends BTS. The global icons managed to smoothly swing through with the help of ARMY, ARMY’S undying love and support swiftly returned them to the top 10 with their 2018 album.

"This time around, it's about honesty and love, sometimes we just turn away from some sort of situations, because in love and life, it's not like a fairytale. We always have a dark side, so we want to talk about like, the dark sides of love.” -RM

[restlessmaknae]

came the light // lee byounggon [bx]

As a princess in exile with a bad reputation, you can't understand why Byounggon would want to spend time with you, but there's no stopping him, let alone the feelings that he evokes in you.

➳ Characters: magical medic!Byounggon x princess!reader/you

➳ Genre: romance, fantasy, magical realism, kingdom au, angst, fluff

➳ Words: 10.2k

➳ Warning: mentions of fire, having a fever, arranged marriages, a prince grabs reader by the wrist without permission

➳ Spotify playlist (title is taken from 'Here For You' by CIX)

➳ A/N: This story had the third most votes in my recent poll, so I hope it lives up to your expectations. 🥰 It can be read on its own or with Seunghun's or Jinyoung's stories which also take place in this universe. ❤️

➳ CIX taglist: @wccycc, @dat-town, @tsunchani, @s00buwu

You were 18 years old when your parents first tried to wed you off to a prince, but his timid self stood no chance against someone like you - someone whose words were like knives aimed perfectly at his heart, cutting into his insecurities and weaknesses. The wedding proposal was called off right after your first encounter with him.

You were 20 years old when your parents tried to wed you off to a prince from a different kingdom, hoping that the rumours about you that had spread over the years died down enough to not scare his family away. You might have spoken with knives, but Prince Sangdo didn’t obey any rules, he overruled them. Even if you asked him to keep his distance - to respect your privacy -, he didn’t listen to you. A week before the wedding was supposed to happen, he visited the palace, he visited you in your chambers uninvited, and what happened afterwards put an end to this wedding as well.

You didn’t regret it one bit - in fact, you wished Prince Sangdo could have rotted in a faraway place -, but it was you who was sent far away from your kingdom, from the cages of the palace where you had grown up. You were sent to Medicalia - the kingdom where some people possessed magical healing powers. Magical medicine was mostly used on the members of the Medicalia royal court including the royal family and the royal army, plus magical creatures that lived in the woods or in the mountains - such as fairies, unicorns and werewolves - or serving the kingdom - such as dragons guarding the palace. Magical medicine was also extremely rare since only magic practitioners could deal with it because they were the ones born with the ability to tame magic, but even they needed thorough practice and extensive training to be able to make use of their abilities to their full potential.

At least, that’s what you were told when you were ordered to pack up and leave after an exchange of letters between the two kingdoms. The magic in your kingdom - Animalia - lied in the ability to tame and speak to animals, and that’s exactly why most kingdoms were always indebted to you. You sent people to other kingdoms to tame their animals - such as the dragons guarding the royal palaces and the unicorns that had an excellent smell to detect magical plants - you shared your magic with them whereas it was extremely rare for other kingdoms to share their magic with others. For instance, Medicalia reserved their magical medics for the royal court while Naturalia boosted the magic of nature, and the trading of their magical plants was limited to their kingdom only.

That’s why it was ridiculously easy to send you into exile in another kingdom, and the only thing your father - the King - said before leaving was to not make more trouble. You were sent off in a carriage with a coachman and a servant, not even a royal guard was sent with you. Then again, what could they possibly guard? You weren’t worth their protection, for sure. You didn’t need to be told that you were only one mistake away from being disowned by your own parents since you were an asset, nothing else. A strategic move, the key to a strengthened connection between kingdoms and a woman forced into producing heirs.

The carriage suddenly came to a halt, but since the curtains were closed, you couldn’t peek outside. Based on the coachman’s muffled conversation from outside, you had a feeling that you were about to go through the gates of Medicalia’s royal court as it was around time you arrived.

A few minutes later, the carriage stopped again, but this time, there was a thud as the coachman got off the carriage and opened the door. He reached his hand out to help you down before doing the same for the servant girl they sent with you.

“They have sent word that we arrived, so they will be here soon to guide you to your… new home,” the elderly man laughed nervously after he stumbled upon the word. Indeed, what could he call it? Home? Runaway hideout? Prison?

You could feel the curious eyes on you as you stood there with the coachman and the servant girl in front of the carriage with your kingdom’s symbol painted over it, waiting for someone to show you to your place. Even though it was kept secret why you were coming here in the first place, you knew that these things didn’t stay a secret for long - at least, not in your kingdom.

“Is she the princess from Animalia?”

“She looks younger than I thought.”

“Is it true that she nearly killed a prince?”

You looked the woman in the eye who asked the last question, and she immediately sealed her lips, grabbing the arm of the woman beside her and turning around to go in the opposite direction. Your gaze didn’t waver, you looked straight into the wandering eyes of the strangers - court ladies, soldiers and servants passing by - with your chin up high. You only seemed weak when you let it show, and you didn’t let it show.

Most, if not all, people looked away when you caught their eyes, and it was almost amusing how they scampered away when they realised that you heard them. So naive of them to assume that you shut not just your ears but your eyes to the rumours around you.

There was one particular boy - a young man probably around your age - who stopped dead in his tracks when he caught sight of you, squinting his eyes at you. You looked back at him, taking in the messy midnight locks that stuck to his forehead, his sharp jawline that was in contrast to the bright, gentle edge to his almond-shaped eyes, his plump lips that failed to curl into a disapproving line like most people’s who caught your eyes. He wore a burgundy-black tunic that seemed to match the ones others were wearing around you, but it seemed more practical with its bat-wing sleeves than elegant, so you had a feeling that he wasn’t of royalty.

You tilted your head, still keeping the eye-contact, and that’s when he looked away as if he was suddenly reminded of why he was passing by, and started running again. You furrowed your eyebrows in question. What was that about?

You shook your head as a court lady came up to you to assist you with your baggage and show you to your place. You had a medium-sized room to yourself in the court with a bathroom attached to it, the rooms on your end still unoccupied and waiting for possible future guests, except for the one that they reserved for the servant girl who came with you. You were told that the Queen would welcome you the following day, and the same court lady who escorted you would bring you breakfast, lunch and dinner from the royal court kitchen, you wouldn’t need to fetch it yourself.

You thanked the young woman with a bow and a polite smile, and you saw surprise flash across her orbs as she let you settle into your new room. You didn’t ponder over the change in her expression for long, you were used to it after all. The cautious glances in your direction, the nasty gossip behind your back, and the sugarcoated words to coax you into a favour.

Too bad you weren’t one to play the dumb and ignore it all, you stood up for yourself, but that’s exactly what your parents disapproved of, that’s exactly why you were here.

Days passed by, and you seemed to fall into a routine in the meantime. In the morning, you would go for a walk in the garden of the royal court, sitting by the pond as the sun rose on the horizon, breaking the plain surface of the water into many different colours of ripe orange, rose-gold and wild apple-red. The court was tranquil at this time around, and that’s exactly what you needed. Apart from the kitchen staff who woke up early to prepare breakfast, others weren’t up around this time, so you didn’t need to bear more curious glances and more nasty accusations.

After your morning stroll, you would head back to your room, have breakfast, then read until lunchtime. Afternoon was served for whatever purpose the palace had for you: the day after you arrived, you met the Queen, after that, you met Princess Jinhee, on the third day, you were shown to the library of the court (a smaller version of what the royal family had at the palace, but nevertheless as impressive), and today, you were on your way to meet with the ladies who took care of handiwork including embroidery, sewing and tailoring.

The Queen said that these first few days will be about showing you around the court, so you knew whom to ask in need of assistance, and so that the court members could become familiar with you. You didn’t ask whether it was to dissuade their gossip or not, but you didn’t need to know that. After all, it was a wise suggestion on her part, and it wasn’t something you had complaints about. Here, you could freely roam around (with your servants following you if needed), you could spend time reading and painting in your room, and no one would ask you why. Here, you could bathe and clean yourself, you could choose and put on your clothes yourself, you didn’t need others to do it for you. Here, you could eat whatever they offered you, your meals didn’t go through your mother’s restricting wishes.

This day too, you were followed by Huisoo - the servant girl who came from Animalia with you - and Sieun showed the way - the servant girl who was appointed to you in Medicalia - as always, but as you turned a corner, the young man with the squinted eyes from last time halted beside you, his mouth forming a big ‘O’ as he caught sight of you.

“Are you the princess from Animalia?” He asked enthusiastically, and if you didn’t know any better, you would assume that he had heard only good things about you before.

When you nodded, still cautiously watching out for the change in his body language, his lips curled into a smile, the kind that made his eyes disappear. Then, he put his hands on his abdomen before bowing in a 90 degree angle towards you. 

“My name is Lee Byounggon. I work as a magical medic for the royal family, so if you need any assistance magical medicine-wise, do not hesitate to ask for me,” he introduced himself when he straightened his back, the smile not fading from his lips. Despite his otherwise sharp and cold features from the day you had gotten here, he seemed gentle and warm now. The way he approached you also showed that he wasn’t one of those court members who passed by you as quickly as possible, he introduced himself head-on. He was the first one to do so which made you question:

“Aren’t you scared of me? You must have heard the rumours.”

Byounggon either didn’t seem fazed by your question or he was prepared for it because his facial expressions didn’t change. He was also really easy to read, something that you had not been so used to since so many in the royal circles put on facades to hide behind including you.

“You know… I have a special ability,” the magical medic took one tiny step towards you as if he was about to tell a secret. “I can see into people’s souls through their eyes,” he added with a smile, but you merely rolled your eyes. Even though you were not born and raised here, you knew that such magic didn’t exist here or anywhere else for that matter.

Byounggon also sensed that you didn’t believe him in the slightest because he burst into laughter in the next second, and only when he composed himself, did he continue.

“I’m just kidding, but really… you don’t look like you wanted to hurt that prince, not on purpose for sure,” he explained rather candidly, and you didn’t feel like he was lying. Lies could be covered up with smiles, laughs, sarcasm, diverting the topic or simply escaping the situation, but he… he didn’t look like he was telling a fib.

“You don’t know anything about me,” you pointed out rather coldly nevertheless, your tone intended to lash out at him.

“That’s exactly why I don’t believe the rumours. Why should I judge you when I don’t know you?”

You weren’t one to get surprised, but this did take you aback. The way he said it so unwaveringly was new, unfamiliar. You weren’t used to it, especially not after what had happened to Prince Sangdo. Byounggon didn’t seem like he had ulterior motives to be trusting you like that, but you couldn’t let your guard down over one supportive line.

So you excused yourself, explaining to the magical medic that you were on your way to the handiwork ladies, and told the servants that you could go on. The young man seemed saddened by your sudden announcement, but he did let you go, waving in your way as you were walking away from him.

You were sitting by the pond as always, watching the sunrise a few days later. It would be another day you spent away from Animalia, and you had this pang in your chest that you couldn’t explain. You didn’t miss how you used to live in that palace, you didn’t miss the bravado you had to put on to seem like an obedient, perfect little daughter, you didn’t miss the way you were mocked for not having magic in your veins when both your parents - your mother could tame fire because she was from Elementalia and your father could talk to animals because he was from Animalia - and your sister did. Until the day your magic had surfaced, at least. Afterwards, you were a curse, the mistake in the carefully crafted plans, the wrong in all the rights and the flaw in the flawless family.

You didn’t miss any of it, and yet… you couldn’t quite get used to the freedom that you had here. Despite the fact that you were in exile, you didn’t feel like a prisoner here. Sure, you weren’t invited to Prince Jinyoung and Princess Yunkyeong’s wedding because so many other royal families would be there, and it was your parents’ wish not to be seen at such events, but otherwise, you could be free. You were no one special here, and you liked it that way.

“Oh, I see someone else is also an early riser!”

A cheerful voice disrupted your silent pondering, and you snapped your head back at the sudden visitor. You let out a sigh when you locked eyes with the not so unfamiliar stranger, and turned back to the pond in front of you instead.

“You must have been deep in thought, you didn’t even see me walking towards you,” Byounggon continued despite your attempt at ignoring him, and he only halted when he reached you. You could feel his gaze on you, curious yet tentative, but you didn’t respond to it, you continued looking ahead.

“I was, and it’s because I’ve never met anyone here at this time of the day before.”

“Well, consider yourself lucky today,” the medic blabbered cheerily, and without thinking twice, he sat down on the bench beside you. When you finally looked at him - deeming his action rather brazen -, he was already looking at you, and when you locked eyes, he flashed you a dimpled smile. Why he was grinning at someone like you - a princess from a far away kingdom with a bad reputation, someone who had supposedly almost killed her husband-to-be - was beyond you. Did he have no care in the world? Did he have no fear? Was he merely naive?

“Are you that bored, or are you just set on annoying me?”

“Annoying you?” Byounggon’s smile faltered, his bright features darkening. He looked so hurt suddenly, you almost felt bad for implying something like that. “Am I really annoying you?” He inquired, blinking rapidly with his ocean-deep, jet-black orbs, swimming in genuine care. When you looked him in the eye, you felt like looking into something rare, something precious: like a gemstone containing unknown magic, hidden away from the world for its power. And you… you were probably the last person who was worthy of seeing such a treasure.

You cleared your throat and averted your eyes to the pond, unable to bear his gaze any longer.

“I’m not used to company around here, and I didn’t expect anyone today either,” you blurted out honestly, feeling exposed for what your words might indicate. Maybe the magical medic also felt the weight of it for he seemed compromising instead of butthurt or overly nosy.

“Well, I can leave if you want me to,” he suggested right away, and he got to his feet even before you could tell him to stop. However, when you did confess that he didn’t have to leave, you could feel the grin spreading on his face even without turning his way. Gosh, why did he have to smile so brightly all the time? It was so… unusual for you.

Instead, you asked him to tell you something that he felt like sharing. Like an arrow that was fired, the boy’s words came on suddenly and flew like a river. He didn’t seem to be able to stop from the moment he started talking about his best friend, Seunghun, who was a soldier here, and with whom he had a special connection. When he said that it was a secret why, you rolled your eyes, assuming that he was joking yet again.

However, after he shared with you that he had actually saved Seunghun’s life, you thought that maybe he wasn’t lying about it. Seunghun’s parents had died when their house had caught on fire, and he would have died with them too, but Byounggon - who had been a little boy back then just like Seunghun himself and who had been living close to Seunghun’s home - had noticed the fire and dragged the boy out while risking his own life. His magic had barely resurfaced before the incident, but it had come out in full-force while he had been trying to save Seunghun’s life.

Then, Seunghun ended up at the palace with Byounggon and Byounggon’s father - who was a magical medic himself -, and they had been friends ever since. The two of them with Prince Jinyoung used to play hide and seek in this very garden before, and while he was talking about his childhood days, his eyes twinkled in a different light.

“Have you had friends like that, too?” He posed the question in his good-willed innocence when you were at the topic, but you could merely scoff.

“No. I had no friends at the palace. I couldn’t even consider my sister my friend even though she is only two years older than me,” you confessed, your words loaded with bitter poison. You had always been pitted against each other with your sister, and even though you had tried to make her see you as more than just an enemy, your sister had never let you. So gone was the naive little girl who had believed that she could make everything right if she had given her share of the cake to her sister or to give her the brand new doll you had gotten for your birthday, and it was replaced with the girl who was too mature and wise for her age, nevertheless all too pessimistic.

“It must have been lonely,” Byounggon broke the silence suddenly, shattering your flashbacks into tiny little pieces. Reality struck you hard, his words even more so, and for a moment, you felt like you were about to cry. So you pressed your lips tight and dug your nails into your skin, holding it in.

The medic might have sensed your discomfort or he merely wanted to fill the silence. Nevertheless, he started talking about the upcoming Festival of Day and Light to change the subject, the usual yearly festival for the fall equinox, and why it was special for them. Supposedly, they commemorated the gift of light while also appreciating the fact that darkness was needed for light to exist, so they lit candles while thinking of their loved ones, wishing them a bright year. The best way to light candles was to put them in lanterns and to place them on the little boats that were waiting for them by the riverside, and to watch them float away.

“You should definitely come celebrate it with us. There’s always a fun celebration outside of the court, and there are all kinds of delicacies and music and…”

“Why would I go? It’s not my tradition to celebrate,” you cut off his enthusiastic chatter, but he just shrugged his shoulders, his casual way of handling your harsh words resurfacing yet again.

“I wasn’t notified that the fall equinox was created just for our kingdom,” he counter-attacked playfully, and even though you were about to open your mouth to go against him, you realised that you couldn’t. He was right.

Hence, you bit your tongue, and didn’t say anything, just let him talk about whatever came to his mind until you were called for breakfast by Huisoo who seemed quite surprised to see you talking to the medic by the pond. What could you say though? You were surprised, too.

Two weeks later, when you finally managed to fall asleep after tossing and turning in bed for hours, shivers running up and down your spine, you dreamed of a fire.

You were standing inside the fire, the flames dancing around you, and whenever you tried to move, they followed you as if they were your shadow. You looked left and right when you heard a cry on the other side of the fire, and even though you should have felt scorching hot, you could only feel icy numbness taking hold of your legs, unable to move. The cry grew louder and louder until you had to put your hands on your ears to block the frantic sound out. Then, someone called your name, and when you tried to block it out too, invisible arms started shaking you. You fought back, tears pricking your ears, but the arms just wouldn’t let go.

Your eyes bolted open at that moment, but you didn’t feel any better. In fact, you felt even hotter than in that fire, and when you looked at the figure standing above you, his arms holding onto your shoulders, you realised that the part about being shaken must have been real. So had been the part about someone calling your name.

“Princess Y/N, it’s me. Huisoo told me that you weren’t feeling well last night, and you didn’t show up at the pond today, so I came by to see if I could help,” Byounggon explained slowly, gently, as if talking to a child. Then, when he caught sight of you staring at his arms on your shoulder, he let go of you, albeit a bit embarrassed.

You just blinked at him, trying to focus on his face instead of letting the nightmares take hold of you again, but it was difficult when all you wanted to do was to close your eyes and lie in bed. Your head was throbbing, your whole body was quivering, and the last thing you wanted to do was to have a conversation with Byounggon even though he seemed genuinely concerned about you.

“Where does it hurt? How long have you been having a fever?” He asked seriously once you regained more consciousness, and even though you were reluctant to tell him because you didn’t want his help, you were too run down to care.

So you told him that your joints had been hurting since last night, just before dinner, and you had a fever since midnight or dawn, you couldn’t tell because you had been drifting out of dreams (or more like nightmares) for the most part. Byounggon insisted on helping you after hearing about your symptoms, but you declined, saying that you had been used to dealing with such things on your own in your kingdom.

“Does it mean that I have to watch you suffer just because that’s what you’ve been used to?” The medic exclaimed, rather desperate, and even though you knew all too well what he was referring to, you couldn’t help but feel exposed. Wasn’t that what you were doing now? Suffering on your own, like the strong daughter and the perfect princess you had needed to become, just because you had never been treated otherwise? Because you could never show any sign of weakness, let alone accept someone’s assistance when they were willingly giving it to you?

“Fine. Do as you wish,” you gave in after defeating the voices in your head telling you not to let him help you. You were so tired, your body felt like it was twice its weight, and your eyes were heavy with sleep and the last remains of the terrifying nightmare you had, the last thing you felt like doing was arguing.

Byounggon immediately broke into a relieved smile, and as he was getting ready, he started talking about what he was about to do. Supposedly, one’s centre of energy was around their abdomen, so he needed to put his hand on your stomach to be able to heal your energy centre. If you had been in your right mind, you would have probably backed down on your word at this part, but you were still half-conscious, so you didn’t care, even when he touched you. He touched you so gently though, you could barely feel his featherlike touch.

He closed his eyes while he was working with his magic on healing you, and his lips sometimes twitched, probably from concentration. May it be because of his magic working or because you could look at him more closely like this as he was crouching down by your mattress, but you realised that there were dark circles under his eyes. You were reminded of what Sieun had told you a few days ago, that the magical medic had asked her about your daily schedule, especially about when you usually went to the pond. Sieun had told you that she didn’t know why he was asking, but you had a feeling why.

Byounggon must have been waking up earlier to talk with you by the pond, and the fact that he got worried because you had not been there this morning as you had done so for the past two weeks made you feel delirious, as if he was a poison you had a sweet taste of, but you couldn’t let yourself have more.

“It’s done,” the medic announced, dragging you out of your thoughts, and as your head cleared, you realised that your body felt light again. You put your hand to your forehead, but it didn’t feel hot. You pushed yourself up to a sitting position, and indeed, you didn’t feel feverish anymore. It was as if you had just woken from a good night’s sleep.

“Wow, princess, take it easy! You should still rest, you don’t want this illness to come back,” he advised, eyebrows furrowed in worry, and now that you had the energy to smile, you directed a friendly one at him.

“It’s alright. I feel good thanks to you,” you pointed out, and you saw how he tried to hide the grin that was creeping onto his lips. He failed though, alongside the pink that was tinting his cheeks, and the way he needed to clear his throat before he spoke up again.

“Well, it was nothing, really,” he shrugged off your compliment, averting his eyes elsewhere but your face. You were about to ask him to tell you how his magic worked when he caught sight of your paintings, the canvases resting by the wall.

“Did you paint them?” He inquired, a pure kind of curiosity lighting up in his eyes, and you didn’t have the heart to lie to him. So you told him the truth: that it was you, and that you had been painting for some time though your mother had never approved of it since she didn’t deem it appropriate for a princess who should have been learning how to engage in polite conversations and seducing princes instead of doing art.

“Seducing princes? Do you really learn that?” Byounggon asked, rather surprised, but there was a playful smile hiding in the corner of his lips. It seemed that even the medic himself couldn’t decide how much to believe your words.

“Well, she wanted me to. We had books on them in the library, and there was a teacher giving lessons on courting, but he only succeeded in teaching my sister. I made him give up after two lessons,” you shrugged your shoulders nonchalantly.

“Wow, you are so…”

“So?” You quirked an eyebrow challengingly when he seemed to search for the right words. Usually, when you gave people this look, they backtracked, and started babbling or changed the topic, but the medic didn’t.

“Admirable,” he decided on it a few seconds later, and your features softened. It was as if someone had offered you some quiet after the cacophony of the royal events you were forced to attend: you felt comforted, and your heavy heart felt a bit less tight. “I applaud you for how you speak your mind. I find it refreshing.”

You found his approachable personality refreshing too, but you couldn’t tell him that. After all, what good could that lead to? You had already let down your walls around him enough times, you were afraid that if he kept going, he would see behind that admirable facade, and see you as you were: terrified of history repeating itself and being far from perfect when it came to reciprocating other’s kindness. You didn’t deserve his care, you didn’t deserve his kindness.

Instead of commenting on his words, you asked if he had any duties he needed to attend to, and now that you reminded him, he realised that he should go to the palace indeed. However, before he could leave, you thanked him for healing you, and if anything, he gifted you with the widest smile you had seen on him.

“Anytime.”

Coming from him, accompanied by the comet of affection travelling through the galaxy of his jet-black orbs, somehow, you didn’t want to question the sincerity of his words.

The court was in a frenzy because of the upcoming wedding, but those who had some spare time still decided to go to the yearly Festival of Day and Light. You had contemplated not going, but when you asked Sieun about the festival, her whole face lit up, and you had a feeling that she would want to go.

So you told Sieun and Huisoo that you would head out to check out the festivities, but they could go their separate ways afterwards if they wanted to. The girls both objected fervently, but it was only until Huisoo was ever so obviously swept up by a handsome young man with shoulder-length hair at a flower stall, and the other met someone she had known before because then, both of them excused themselves. Which left you alone with the sugarcoated apple in your hand that you had bought for yourself - and one for either servant girl -, strolling around the main market square where the festival took place.

There were all kinds of games for kids who ran around without a care in the world while their parents were running after them or cheering them on. Beside the games, stalls of delicacies - ranging from sugared fruit to freshly-baked bread and dried figs coated in cinnamon - were lined up like tiny little stars dotted on the canvas of cobblestones. Beside the riverside, people either lit up candles or placed them on the little boats that waited by the sides just like Byounggon had told you so. The whole festival was full of cheers, laughter and life, topped by white and yellow decorations in the shape of the Sun, the Moon and the stars.

Despite being an outsider, you could feel the kingdom pulsing with the energy of its people, bright and cheerful. When you had been living in Animalia, you had visited the festivities outside of the palace maybe once or twice as a kid, so to be able to see how ordinary people celebrated such a meaningful time here warmed your heart. Suddenly, you felt like you were being surrounded by a community instead of being left alone in the vastness of the icy, jarring unknown.

Maybe it was because of the sentiment or because of the eager ladies by the riverside handing out candles, but you found yourself lighting up one of them when you found a part of the riverside that wasn’t as crowded as others.

“You do know that you need to make a wish when you light a candle. Otherwise, it will be pretty but less meaningful,” a familiar voice spoke up from behind you, and you hid the smile that was creeping onto your lips with a frown.

“You do know that you seem to spend an awful lot of time with me these days,” you pointed out when Byounggon halted beside you, and flashed you a wide smile, the kind that turned his eyes into little crescents resembling the moon above you.

“I am just keeping an eye on you. I wouldn’t want a princess to be sick again or to be sick of boredom,” he retorted cheekily, and you bit your cheek to not smile back at him as brightly as you could. He kept his eyes on you, and the way the moonlight reflected in his orbs and cupped his features in a magnificent halo mesmerised you for a moment. He didn’t need light to shine, he was so bright, so full of life either way, but under the crafted lines of the moon, you wondered what it would be like to make a painting of him one day - and whether you could capture his features as gracefully as your eyes did now.

Byounggon did develop a habit of accompanying you on your morning stroll. Sometimes he was early, more often he was late, but he did show up every day without fail. When you questioned if he had nothing better to do, he said no, and that he was actually looking for company for his morning walks, too. If you hadn’t heard from Sieun that the medic had specifically asked her about your morning visits to the court garden, you might have believed him, but since the servant girl’s remark, you couldn’t have fought the seed of hope that was blooming in your chest.

You let him join you, and you let him talk. You got to know all kinds of stories regarding court life here, and childhood stories of his soldier friend, Seunghun, and Prince Jinyoung, more or less funny ones that cracked up the medic, too. You also got to know about current affairs of the kingdom, and how Prince Jinyoung’s heart was someone else’s, but he couldn’t love her fully because he was going to marry a princess for a favourable trade deal. When you inquired if the wedding could be called off because of the prince’s feelings, Byounggon shook his head, a bitter smile tinting his lips - something that you had ever so scarcely seen on him. You hadn’t been in Prince Jinyoung’s shoes because you had never wanted to sacrifice an arranged marriage for a genuine love, but you could understand why it was difficult for him to marry for convenience.

You liked when Byounggon was talking because you could get to know about how things worked in the kingdom, but you could also get to know about him and his (adorably) gullible personality and his (precious) big heart. Once you realised that his intentions were truly pure, you let yourself be comfortable around him, including this day.

“So you came here to make a wish?” You quirked an eyebrow when you caught sight of a candle in his hands. The medic let out a deep, joyous laughter before answering.

“Well, I came here because I saw you, but yes, I also have a wish,” he flashed you a wide grin, and as he crouched down to put his candle into a lantern, you couldn’t help but ask:

“What are you wishing for?”

“It’s a secret,” he winked at you playfully. If he had been someone else, you would have probably felt offended by the gesture. However, it was him, and you knew him well enough by now, so you merely rolled your eyes at his antics.

“Fine. I won’t tell you mine either,” you retorted with a huff as you followed suit, and lit your own candle. He helped you put yours into a lantern, and placed them beside his own on a nearby boat. You waited a few minutes until the boat was filled up with lanterns and a man pushed the boat off the railing to let it float, to let it get further away from you while you were making a wish.

You watched it go with a sentimental smile, thinking of how much had changed in the last few months, so that you could be a part of a festival like this and wish to have many more moments like this - when you forgot about who you were, and let yourself be, let yourself rest after carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders.

“You seem to be happy now,” Byounggon remarked gently, quietly, no hint of playfulness in his voice after a few moments of utter silence. You looked at him, humming a yes, and let out a long sigh. When you inhaled, it felt like breathing in a whole new flavour of air.

“Is it because of me?”

Now Byounggon was teasing, his lips quirked up, but you had a feeling that he was doing it on purpose because he was way too pleased with himself when you laughed at the sudden change of the mood.

“Do you think it’s because of you?” You asked back, equally as curious as challenging. You knew that the medic would answer no matter your tone because he always did, and you liked that about him: that he was willing to speak his mind, even if it meant that he embarrassed himself because of his silly antics or that he made your heart flutter with a genuine compliment of his.

“I would like to think that, at least partly, it’s because of me,” Byounggon played along, theatrically placing a hand above his heart. He tried to remain serious, his features unwavering, but his lips twitched slightly, and his whole demeanour changed when he heard music coming from the main market square. They started playing a song - unknown to you, of course - on the drums and there was probably a little bit of guitar as well, and some instrument that you couldn’t quite put a finger on. Byounggon’s face immediately lit up hearing the melody, and it only took a few seconds until he bolted off, exclaiming that you should join him dancing while he was running off.

You followed him swiftly, and watched as he joined the circle of people who started dancing to the music. There were older people, younger ones, even little children, men and women alike, and the different colour and design of their clothes indicated that they were from different classes. You caught sight of Huisoo and the pretty boy from the flower stall in the crowd, and something in you twisted when you looked at them - so carefree, so joyful, so present in the given moment.

Then, Byounggon suddenly showed up by your side, and reached his hand out to you when the music stopped. You looked down at the boy’s hand, then up at him, into his almond-shaped eyes, and your first instinct was to shake your head and tell him no. The medic’s smile didn’t falter despite your hesitation, and maybe that’s what prompted you to take his hand and join him.

No one threw you a nasty glance, no one judged you for being there, no one cared, and honestly, that was the most reassured you felt for a long time. With your hand in Byounggon’s and in a little girl’s on your other side, you followed their lead and mimicked their dance moves. One after another, one after another, and then you lost count of the steps as you got swept up in the stomping footsteps and the echoing melodies.

You didn’t know how much time passed by - it could have been minutes or hours, you couldn’t tell -, but when the dance was over, and Byounggon inquired if you wanted to head back to the court together, you immediately said yes. It was only after a few seconds that you realised that the medic still didn’t let go of your hand, and you watched him take it away with a coy smile and a scratch of his neck.

And that’s when you realised that he was actually right: that he was a part of why you were happy here.

Prince Jinyoung and Princess Yunkyoung’s wedding took place as planned, and since Sieun was obligated to join because she was a part of the royal court here, you told Huisoo that she could spend this day however she wanted, you would be fine on your own. You didn’t like asking them for favours either way; since your mother’s watching eyes weren’t on you, you enjoyed that you could cater for yourself, and didn’t require their services as much. Both girls objected at first, saying that you were too generous, that’s why you started asking them to accompany you when they could break free from their role a bit - like at the festival when they could join the crowd or when you started going to the court kitchen to eat together with others instead of having your meals delivered to your room -, and you had a feeling that Huisoo would take the opportunity to meet up with the pretty flower stall boy from the festival.

That left you with much free time on your hands, preferably spent alone in your room, so you couldn’t bump into your mother who would attend the wedding and be reprimanded for being in the public’s eye. You spent the morning working on a painting of the riverside on the day of the festival, illuminated by the mysterious moon, and you spent the afternoon reading a book on the many magical creatures of the kingdom. You did have quite a few of them at Animalia too, but Medicalia boosted a high number of creatures that you had only heard of before, yet never seen them - such as phoenixes, kitsunes and caladriuses which supposedly had healing powers.

You were in the middle of reading a chapter about phoenixes when you heard a knock on your door. Expecting it to be one of the servants, you told them that they could come inside, but the knocking persisted. Hence, you rose to your feet from your crouching posture, and stepped up to the door to open it. Your heart skipped a beat when you saw who was behind it.

“Mother!” You breathed out in shock, not expecting her to pay a visit to you after the wedding ceremony. She was all dolled up for the event, but the evident frown on her face ruined the innocence of the swan-white outfit she put on.

She walked into the room with much disgust in her eyes, and only after you closed the door, did she turn around to face you. You could already tell that she was frustrated, her feelings shown in the tight lines of her lips and the way she squinted her eyes at you. Not to mention her thundering voice when she spoke up.

“Didn’t I tell you not to cause trouble here? Didn’t I specifically ask you to not use your powers here?” She spat the questions like venom, her words sending a bullet through your heart one after another.

“I do not understand, Mother,” you answered, your heart wrenching at the thought that she could assume something like this when you had nothing to be ashamed of. You had not caused any trouble here, and you had never used your powers ever since you had entered Animalia. Even though it had been tempting because you had wanted to see what you could do with it if you had put effort into practising, but you had to bury the thought as soon as it was born.

“Oh, come on, you’re not a child anymore! Don’t play the innocent kid with me,” your mother striked again, and took a step closer to you, looking straight into your eyes when she continued. “There was a fire a few days ago in the palace’s kitchen. I’ve heard that they haven’t found what caused it yet, though it could have been simply out of negligence. With you being here, I don’t think it was accidental.”

For a moment, you had no idea what to say. Then, you felt your blood rise as you balled your hands into fists. Just how could she assume something like that on her own when you were totally innocent? Just how low could she stoop to make you play the bad guy when the fire in your room at the Animalia palace wouldn’t have broken out if it hadn’t been for Prince Sangdo’s lack of manners? Not to mention who was to blame for your powers? Wasn’t it your mother who came from Elementalia and had the power to tame fire?

“Do you really think I visit the palace each and every day, just to burn something there? Do you really think of me so lowly? I have not even set foot in the palace for a month, let alone create a fire in the kitchen, but if you want to blame someone, sure, blame me. That does not mean I am guilty,” you objected fervently, but before she could open her mouth to say something more, you continued. “I wish you would have made a scene like this when Prince Sangdo had come into my room and grabbed my wrist when I had asked him not to touch me that night. If I was guilty then, you would have had your reason to blame it on me now. But I was innocent and I am innocent now, it is only your perception of me that always makes me the bad one in your eyes. The child that does not sit back and watch injustice without speaking up about it, the daughter that would choose painting over marrying a prince, and the girl who did not seem to inherit your powers until she did, and then, you wished she hadn’t.”

Your words flew like the river during a storm - waves crushing violently, heavy winds catching the surface ever so indignantly -, and it felt like there was a thunderstorm in your heart. You wanted to fight, to punch the walls, to knock over the shelves around you - anything to make your mother go away, alas, you could only fight back with your words, and they even didn’t seem to reach her. If anything, they made her even angrier, no sign of remorse in her eyes.

“Don’t you dare talk to me like that! A princess knows where to draw the line, but you… you are out of your mind, and being away from Animalia didn’t seem to help either. And I thought-”

Your mother’s words were interrupted by a few rhythmic knocks on the door, and you both snapped your head towards the sound.

“Princess Y/N, it’s time for your lesson,” a familiar voice called, and despite the fact that you had no lesson, let alone with him, you didn’t want to object. Your mother didn’t seem to think it through either, instead, she let out an offended huff and murmured into your ears before leaving:

“Don’t think that you can come back anytime soon with that attitude.”

You gulped down the knot in your throat as you watched her leave, and turned around to be with your back to the door, so that Byounggon wouldn’t see the way your hands were shaking when he came inside your room. You heard him close the door behind him, and fumble with something before he dared to ask:

“Are you okay?”

“How much did you hear?” You retorted back, standing by the walls with your back to him. You tried your best to hold back your tears, but you weren’t sure that you were doing a good job because you could feel your eyes watering despite your best efforts.

“Uhmm… I think everything,” Byounggon admitted after a long pause. You closed your eyes for a moment, the first teardrop rolling down your cheeks, leaving a cold streak behind on your warm cheeks. “I saw your mother leaving the ceremony, and I had a feeling that she would come to you, but I wasn’t sure. So I followed her here. I know it sounds very bad, but I was afraid that she would… do something to upset you or hurt you because you told me that she was the one who wanted to send you away, and I don’t know what exactly happened, at least I didn’t know until now, but I knew you didn’t deserve it, and it really seems you didn’t. And I just… I wanted to protect you from her. I’m sorry I was late,” he rambled incredibly fast, and the more he talked, the more heavily your tears were following.

You couldn’t understand how someone who had never met you could trust you and believe in your innocence even before you had met for the first time. On the contrary, your mother had blamed you for everything, and she had known the full story. How could someone be so pure to you? How could Byounggon care about you so genuinely, so selflessly? He didn’t have anything to gain from caring about you, yet he did so, and it just broke your heart even more.

You heard the medic take a few steps towards you, and when he halted beside you in a safe distance, he immediately caught sight of your silent sobbing. You looked at him from behind the curtain of your tears, watching how he was trying to gesture with his hands, but was unable to decide what to do. So you decided instead of Byounggon himself, and stepped up to him to embrace him.

“Thank you,” you croaked out, your voice coming out a lot more strained and fragile than you wanted to.

You could feel him loosen up, and slowly, gently, he put his arms around your frame, patting your back while you cried against his chest. He was warm, he was warmth itself, and you wanted to get lost in his touch, in his arms, in his voice.

“It’s okay. You can cry with me,” he murmured into your hair, his voice rid of any playfulness or teasing.

Tears like pearls fell onto the silk of his shirt, leaving behind more than just wet stains - leaving behind the last walls that you had been keeping up around yourself to protect yourself, all crumbled down now, and the stories he had never heard before, neither had you shared with anyone else since leaving your kingdom.

The following days, you were cautious about meeting Byounggon, secretly terrified that he would see you as a horrible person, that he wouldn’t understand your pain, and you would end up feeling lonelier than ever before. You had never opened up to someone like on the day of the wedding, and you were afraid that you would need to rebuild your walls, and never let anyone in, ever again.

On the other hand, Byounggon acted the same way, if not more protective over you. He highlighted how much people liked you here in the court, especially since the festival when you had gone out to celebrate with ordinary people, and how your own kingdom didn’t deserve you if they turned their back on you when you had wanted to protect yourself. What’s more, he pointed out that he would have been delighted to meet someone like you when he had been a child because taming fire would have meant that you could have helped save Seunghun’s parents when he had managed to save Seunghun only. Sure, power might come with great responsibility, but it wasn’t your fault that your power had surfaced at a time like that. It merely showed that you had been desperate back then, and no one had paid attention to that part of the story, they had been too quick to send you away.

You felt yourself becoming softer and softer towards the medic afterwards because he was everything you had never had the chance to have - the shoulder to cry on, the one who understood your body language even when words failed you, the boy who always asked for your permission when he wanted to come closer to you or hold your hand, and the one who would fight for you through thick and thin. You had never met a more considerate, more gentle soul, and even his goofy self was endearing to you.

Even when he claimed that he didn’t steal a flower (that allegedly resembled you in his eyes) from the court garden (“because it wasn’t considered stealing if he was on good terms with the gardeners”); even when he managed to fall into the pond when he got scared by a bee during one of your morning strolls, and even when he ran all the way from the palace to you because he thought that you were the one who came down with something in the court, sweating bucks because running wasn’t his forte, your feelings towards him grew stronger and stronger.

Not to mention the time he shared with you the secret he had been keeping about his friend, Seunghun. When he had first talked about the soldier, you had assumed that he had been joking when he had claimed that the reason their relationship was special was a secret. However, when he let you know that by saving Seunghun, he managed to keep him alive as a phoenix, it all made more sense. You could also understand why he was keeping it a secret because phoenixes didn’t have human forms, at least not ones that the books knew of.

You knew the part of the story that Seunghun’s parents had died when their house had caught on fire, and he would have died with them too, but Byounggon had noticed the fire and dragged the boy out while risking his own life. His magic had barely resurfaced back then, but it had come out in full-force as he had been trying to save Seunghun’s life. Since he hadn’t known at first just how much he could have helped the almost burned boy, he had also applied fireflower on his wounds - the flower that was born after fires, so interestingly so, it was almost like a phoenix, born after turning to ashes.

In a way, Byounggon tied himself to Seunghun by saving him because his magic continued to live inside his friend’s body, and whenever the soldier was hurt, it was only Byounggon who could heal him completely. At least, until Seunghun was saved by a girl, and her magic saved him just like the medic’s magic had saved him when they had been young. Ever since then, their magical bond might have faded, but their friendship stayed the same.

You even met the so-called soldier friend and his girlfriend at the court, and after a while, it became a habit of yours to have dinner with them alongside Huisoo, Sieun and the medic himself. You felt light whenever you were around them, that’s why you didn’t take it to heart when they started teasing you or Byounggon who was clumsily trying to get closer to you. Bit by bit, you let him get closer, but you needed to be the one to take the final step nevertheless.

“Byounggon, we need to talk,” you told him one morning, sitting by the pond while the sun was just rising on the horizon.

“T-talk?” He stuttered, extremely nervous for someone who was usually so chatty, but maybe he sensed the serious edge to your words, and he was scared by what was to come.

All was well though, so he was scared for nothing. Your parents had previously sent a letter to the royal family of Medicalia, telling them to take care of you for at least a year more until your sister could settle down with her husband, and you had a feeling that meant that you would never be welcomed in Animalia again. Hence, you had the permission to stay here longer, and you tried to be useful by applying to become an arts teacher in the court. You had your first lessons with the cousins of Prince Jinyoung and Princess Jinhee not too long ago, and it proved to be a success, so that was taken care of.

Nevertheless, you had a feeling that the boy might have thought that you would need to go back to Animalia or worse, marry a prince from a far-away kingdom. Thankfully, neither of them were likely to happen anytime soon, but it warmed your heart how worried he got.

“Yes. I want to talk about you and me,” you broke it down to him, but if anything, that just made him appear more appalled. He visibly gulped, but his eyes were still on you, intent and curious.

“Suuure. Go ahead,” he prompted semi-confidently, and you reached out to put your hand on his, to soothe his nerves. You could tell that it had its effect on him because his lips immediately curved upwards, and he squeezed your hand to hold onto you more tightly.

“I want to thank you for waiting for me,” you started sincerely, but the talkative person he was, he couldn’t help himself, but to interrupt you.

“Of course! Why wouldn’t I? I’m not like that horrible prince who deserves the absolute worst, he deserves to-” He started getting riled up again, something that he always did when you mentioned some injustice you had encountered at the Animalia palace or he thought of Prince Sangdo. You were sure that he wouldn’t be able to hold himself back if he were to ever encounter the said prince, but thankfully, there was little to no chance of that happening.

“I love you, Byounggon,” you announced, loud and proud, and the medic’s mouth stayed open, probably because he was in the middle of his monologue, but also because he was surprised by your sudden confession. Then, he closed his mouth, his features softening, and he immediately threw his arms around you.

“I love you, too. Gosh, I love you so much!” He shrieked excitedly like a little kid, and hugged you tighter than ever before. You smiled to yourself while he was holding you, amused (and bewitched) at the way he kept saying ‘I love you’ like he would never want to stop.

He couldn’t stop even when Sieun and Huisoo walked by, and they tried to sniffle their giggles while watching you two embrace each other in the middle of the blooming garden, bathed in the rays of the sunrise.

“I’ve told you he liked her when he asked about her morning strolls,” Huisoo told Sieun as they were heading towards the kitchen while the other girl just let out an amused laugh.

“Sure, Miss Matchmaker. What about your flower boy though? What was his name again? Leewoo? Leehan?” Sieun teased her and smacked the girl in the side, playful as ever.

“Ssshh,” Huisoo shushed her, pretending to stay nonchalant about the topic, but she couldn’t help a smile creeping onto her lips as she said: “Well, love might be in the air for everyone.”

A/N: Thank you so much for reading my story! I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know what you think in the comments or as reblogs. I always read them and react to them. 🥰

If you want to read more stories of mine, let it be for CIX or for other bands, consider signing up for my taglist here.

Hope you have a lovely day/night! *-*

[papermatisse]

→ disclaimer: i write v slowly, only when im inspired. so these may take m o n t h s at a time to be written lol. read/get attached to concepts at your own risk.

→ feel free to ask about any of them if you want!

→ IN PROGRESS

♔ oasis (o.sh x reader) || EXO, [Series] WRITING!

♘ sandbox (j.cm x reader) || TBZ, [SMAU] WRITING!

→ IN DRAFTS

↘ BYUN BAEKHYUN

♔ untitled (b.bh x reader) || EXO, [AU], CEO

→ COMPLETION: --

↘ PARK CHANYEOL

♔ untitled (p.cy x reader) || EXO, [AU], fantasy

→ COMPLETION: --

↘ OH SEHUN

♔ untitled (o.sh x oc) || EXO, [AU], royalty

→ COMPLETION: --

♔ untitled (o.sh x reader) || EXO, [AU], s2l

→ COMPLETION:

■□□□□□□□□□ 10%

♔ untitled (o.sh x reader) || EXO, [AU], arranged marriage

→ COMPLETION: --

↘ KIM SEUNGHUN

♖ fire & powder (k.sh x reader) || CIX, [AU]

→ COMPLETION:

■■■■■■■■■□ 92%

↘ KIM YONGHEE

♖ asymptotic (k.yh x reader) || CIX, [AU], royalty

→ COMPLETION:

□□□□□□□□□□ 9%

↘ BAE JINYOUNG

♖ untitled (b.jy x reader) || CIX, [AU], royalty

→ COMPLETION:

□□□□□□□□□□ 3%

♖ untitled (b.jy x reader) || CIX, [AU], 00s

→ COMPLETION: --

♖ manic pixie dream girl (b.jy x reader) || CIX, [AU], fake dating

→ COMPLETION:

□□□□□□□□□□ 5%

↘ YOON HYUNSUK

♖ untitled (y.hs x reader) || CIX, [AU], royalty

→ COMPLETION:

□□□□□□□□□□ 1%

♖ untitled (y.hs x reader) || CIX, [AU], 90s

→ COMPLETION: --

↘ CHOI SEUNGCHEOL

♗ forelsket (c.sc x reader) || SVT, [AU], cottagecore

→ COMPLETION: --

↘ YOON JEONGHAN

♗ untitled (y.jh x reader) || SVT, [AU]

→ COMPLETION:

■□□□□□□□□□ 14%

♗ untitled (y.jh x reader) || SVT, [AU], actor

→ COMPLETION: --

↘ JOSHUA HONG

♗ noire (h.js x reader) || SVT, [AU], murder mystery

→ COMPLETION:

■■□□□□□□□□ 25%

↘ WEN JUNHUI

♗ untitled (w.jh x reader) || SVT, [AU], pirate

→ COMPLETION:

□□□□□□□□□□ 2%

↘ JEON WONWOO

♗ kingdom by the sea (j.ww x reader) || SVT, [AU], lighthouse

→ COMPLETION: --

↘ KIM MINGYU

♗ hitch (k.mg x reader) || SVT, [AU], college

→ COMPLETION:

■□□□□□□□□□ 12%

♗ it's all a ruse (k.mg x reader) || SVT, [AU], parent

→ COMPLETION:

□□□□□□□□□□ 2%

♗ untitled (k.mg x reader) || SVT, [AU], royalty

→ COMPLETION: --

♗ snowbound (k.mg x reader) || SVT, [AU], cabin

→ COMPLETION:

■■■□□□□□□□ 30%

↘ XU MINGHAO

♗ untitled (x.mh x reader) || SVT, [AU], royalty

→ COMPLETION:

□□□□□□□□□□ 2%

♗ elysian escape (x.mh x reader) || SVT, [AU], artist

→ COMPLETION: --

↘ LEE JUYEON

♘ untitled (l.jy x reader) || TBZ, [AU], fantasy

→ COMPLETION:

□□□□□□□□□□ 1%

♘ untitled (l.jy x reader) || TBZ, [AU], high school

→ COMPLETION:

□□□□□□□□□□ 3%

© papermatisse, 2023. please do not repost, copy, or translate any of my works here on tumblr or any other other platform

[jaeyooniverse]

hi! im a really baby fantasy (like accidentally started stanning maybe 2 days ago kind of baby) and really love ur blog!! i was wondering if u have other sf9 blogs to recommend?? im head over these heels for these guys already and having them on my dash is a need, not a want :// thank you!

omg hii welcome to the fandom!! 🥰❤ and ty for loving my blog 🥺🥺

i'll do my best to rec some blogs! but i know i'll miss some lol so any fantasy who sees this feel free to like/reblog so anon can find some more fantasies to follow 🥰

exclusively/mostly sf9: @sfnet @rowoon-sf9 @kimrowoons @forinseong @sensational-fools-9 @im-sensational-feeling @sanghyukstattoos @daeunhye @starlightfantasy @sensationalsrecord @rowoonie @sf9 @noowor

multi/not just sf9: @kpophours @yeo1 @nfly5 @moonbaesic @unlimitedsf9 @kaydne @chanikang @seunghun-kim @cyndaquizzical @hwiyyoung @kri-ara @ataraxia @queen-of-himbos @glowinseong @kyungsoosus @gamerwoo @eongie @proseeuhn @exo-saranghaha @haoranghae @sungyoonist @chengf @suyunsgf @kyukyuhunnie

[sunvr]

© SUNVR, 2021. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NO TRANSLATIONS OR REPOSTS ALLOWED.

☆ DISCLAIMER: all works in progress on sunvr are original ideas, and are always subject to change at any time. if you notice any similarities with any other works of fiction, it is pure coincidence unless inspiration is stated. some fics from my previous blogs.

── MEET ME AT THE END OF THE CROWN.

angst, romance, royalty au, tragedy au | release date tba | storyboarding

lee juyeon was set to take the throne—to become the most powerful king anyone’d seen yet. she is the army general’s daughter, and she’s given the task to protect the heir to the throne at any cost. but in the face of danger, something much worse happened. something that nobody could’ve imagined

── IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MOONLIGHT.

angst, romance, slow burn, siren au | release date tba | storyboarding

not even the looming threat of danger could keep a former competitive swimmer away from the water. at one time, those very waters had been her safe space. what could’ve possibly changed? that’s why, when the moon is high and she is alone at last, she finds herself dipping into the water. unaware of who—or what—she was going to encounter.

── THREE HUNDRED YEARS BETWEEN.

angst, romance, historical fantasy, royalty au, time travel au | release date tba | storyboarding

in a world where everyone is granted some sort of power when they’re of age, a stressed college student is one of the only few to possess the power to time travel. because it is so rare, nobody knows how to control it, and she finds herself in the middle of a royal kingdom. one that ceased to exist nearly three hundred years ago.

❛ STORED FOR LATER

“and then there were two” | eric sohn, friends to lovers slow burn

“another five minutes” | lee hyunjae, exes to lovers angst

untitled | lee byounggon, greek mythology au

untitled | kim seunghun, greek mythology au

untitled | kim yonghee, greek mythology au

untitled | bae jinyoung, greek mythology au

untitled | yoon hyunsuk, greek mythology au

[cb-conceptlibrary]

CHOOSE THE NEXT THEME

Hello everyone, thank you for stopping by the library! The librarian hopes everyone is staying warm and safe this season.

Previously a poll was conducted to vote on the next theme to post on the dashboard. We appreciated everyone who participated and thought it would be fun to do it again in the spirit of the holidays.

Like the last time, please reblog with your vote or comment on this post. Please do not reblog without a vote – this will not help determine the winning theme.

Next Theme/Concept Options

A. Comedy/Family/Mythology

B. Mystery/Horror

C. Coming of age/Romance/Adventure

D. Action-Adventure/Sci-Fy/Dark

E. Fantasy/Action/Superhero

Voting closes Monday 11 PM PST!

@yanlee (OG) @detectivexsicheng @lawyer-mingyu @mafia-chae @hanjisung-bot @softboijisung @lixielee-chatbot @mafiafelixlee @your-seunghun @vampiremomo @mitsukojen @movie-itz-twice  @sydney-oc @seleneminnie @dandyboyseungminie @nvrendngstry @doll-seungmin @doll-hyunjin @doll-soobin @doll-jeongin @scholar-lia @subbyhyunjinchatbot @yandere-bc @soft-hyunjin-chatbot @domyukhei @guitar-sihyeon @softiehyunjinie @darkfaeskz @fairy-yeji @tattooistchannie  @playgirljennie @skz-cb @eboyfelixbot @yourdaddychan @mafiajjh @mulanxningning @demon-lee @moonlit-jaemin @yeojinsheight  @hhmchris @skz-bot @fairy-dejun @kaanghana @chans-chair @model-lucy @churchgirl-nayeon @rose-musician @soft-magicxyujin @sg-jennie @caretaker-irene @vampire-queenirene @universe-of-superm @fatherfigure-jin @hackerxiaojun @model-bomi-oc

[rvdispatch]

EPISODE FIVE OUTLINE

The newest episode is the first episode where tracks are actually being created; producers from all companies are to be called in and put with teams to make a song, which will be recorded and performed.

TASKS

To earn points for you trainee, please complete the following tasks. These are not mandatory, and can be done at any time and still be counted. Refer back to last week’s tasks for more you can do, if you have not done them already

Weekly Confessional: post an interview or confessional about how your character is adapting to dorm life and the competition, along with their reactions to this weeks big challenge.*

Drabble: Write a short drabble (IC or OOC) about your character’s relationship with other trainees, be it the other guys in the competition or the ones back at their company! You can write about their friends, their rivals, the people who push them hard, or other trainees who have taught them a lot– it’s completely up to you!

Threads: threads to do with the show can earn you points too. Para threads (200+ words) are worth more points than gif chats and one liners. Threads played out to their completion are worth even more points; if you dinish a thread, submit the link to the last post in the thread to the Idol Project blog.

Self Paras: self paras to do with the show (ie practicing, dorm life, self reflection, performances, calls home) can also earn you points. These can be done as often as you’d like as long as you provide some variety in the content.

Weekly Challenge: The trainees have been grouped up and then assigned to a producer to create a songs together. They will be recording it and performing it, choreographing for it together, and the tracks will be released on music distributing sites for public consumption. Additionally, they will be learning, recording, choreographing and performing a song with their letter grade groups too. Write a short para (IC or OOC) about your character’s reaction to all of this– we’d like to see something about the writing process, their team, the producer, recording, and the actual performance.*

Tasks can be completed at any time. Episode-specific tasks are indicated with a little ‘*’ above, so when you complete them (even if you end up doing it in a few weeks or something), be sure to mark it as ‘EPISODE FIVE’, be it as a title or in the info before your self para or something like that. Any completed tasks and challenges can be tagged ‘rivalzipdone’

WEEKLY PERFORMANCE

For this week’s performance, as stated above, each team be creating their own song with help from a famous producer. We have provided each group with a song, but if all muns involved discuss and find a better option, message the main and we’ll see what we can do for you! If you are one of the producers or featured artists and you’d like to be taken off the list, message us for that as well. Line distributions will be provided under the cut, and you will be receiving a message about positions this evening. The suggestions are as follows:

Yubin, Jisung, Hyunsik, Eunsung, Huijin and Raein (Produced by Sam) Fantasy Junxi, Tye, Sanghee, Royi and Minsuk (Produced by Hyuk) Ice Age Chen, Jinyoung, Kiyoung, Sangmin and Hyunjoo (Produced by Jei) Movie Star

Here are the assignments for the letter group songs:

Chen, Eunsung, Royi and Jinyoung (Produced by Andrew) Breathe Hyunjoo, Junxi, Minsuk and Jisung (Produced by Hyosang) Ah Ah Yubin, Tye, Sanghee and Sangmin (Produced by Yoojung) Lay Back Hyunsik, Kiyoung, Raein and Huijin (Produced by Tommy) Crown

ALL of the songs will be performed not only in front of the usual Idol Project crowd, but on MCountdown at the end of the week.

SPECIAL NOTE -- Points each trainee earns this week will be combined with their group for an overall total and performances will be ranked based on that. Dependent on those rankings, there is an opportunity for trainees to be awarded extra points. NPCs will receive 50% of the points of the highest scoring trainee in their group and that will be added to the total.

A summary of episode one will be posted on August 6th

FANTASY LINE DISTRIBUTION

Kenta: Yubin

Sanggyun: Jisung

Donghan: Hyunsik

Hyunbin: Eunsung

Longguo: Huijin

Taehyun: Raein

ICE AGE LINE DISTRIBUTION

Castle J: Junxi

Win: Tye

Bic: Sanghee

Huijin: Royi

Minjae: Minsuk

MOVIE STAR LINE DISTRIBUTION

Bae Jinyoung: Chen

Hyunsik: Jinyoung

Yonghae: Kiyoung

Seunghun: Sangmin

BX: Hyunjoo

BREATHE LINE DISTRIBUTION

Daehwi: Chen

Woojin + Youngmin: Eunsung

Jeon Woong: Royi

Donghyun: Jinyoung

AH AH LINE DISTRIBUTION

CAP + Ricky: Hyunjoo

L.Joe: Junxi

Niel + Chanjo: Minsuk

Chunji: Jisung

LAY BACK LINE DISTRIBUTION

Gyehyeon: Yubin

Minchan + Dongheon: Tye

Hoyoung + Yongseung: Sanghee

Yeonho + Kangmin: Sangmin

CROWN LINE DISTRIBUTION

Taehyun + Yeonjun rap parts: Hyunsik

Beomgyu: Kiyoung

Hueng Kai + Yeonjun vocal parts: Raein

Soobin: Huijin

@rvseungjin @hyorv @shinwoorv @tomoerv @rvxjei @rvnemo @rvhyuk

[parkaiur]

The Dark Hour - Seunghun

❀ Fantasy, fluff, & action 

❀ Word Count: 9.2 K

❀ Every day at midnight, Earth opens up a portal to an unknown underground lair that leaks monsters: demons, goblins, hellhounds and more. The catch? It only happens for one extra hour after midnight, called the Dark Hour and it’s only open to a handful of people, the same people. One night, you find yourself snuggling up to your Winnie the pooh blanket, only to be greeted by a rabid, three-headed dog shooting through your window.

❀ A/N: .. I didnt mean to write this much but omg i hope you guys enjoy this cuz it took a while !! :D tell me what you think of it ! :)

-------

11:35 pm

“Did you take out the trash? It’s almost the Dark Hour.” My mom hummed. I rolled my eyes and spat out the toothpaste in my mouth.

“Mom, don’t be so dramatic, the Dark Hour is only open to a small group of people who are like freaky mixed martial artists or some weird whatever.” I said while tying up my hair into a high pony.

I walked out of my room and saw my mom sitting at the dinner table knitting a scarf. She slapped my butt as I walked past her. “I’m not dramatic! It’s still scary knowing that for one hour, we disappear as other people can see the entire world.”

I just sighed and grabbed a jacket. I pulled out all the trash and slipped on my shoes. “Ok mom, think whatever you want, I’ll be back in like 5 seconds and no monsters will be in my way.” I shut the door and walked into the cold winter air. I whistled on my way, feeling calm.

As soon as I could think, I knew the world I was living in. Every day at midnight, Earth opens up a portal to an unknown underground lair that leaks monsters: demons, goblins, hellhounds and more, The catch? It only happens for one extra hour after midnight, called the Dark Hour and it’s only open to a handful of people, but only the same people.

My mom was one of the many people who were afraid of portal opening up to normal humans as well.. Somehow, those who were chosen to hunt these monsters were trained. Most of them who went through the Dark Hour came back alive. They had hid the Dark Hour for a long time until more and more people were being called to fight.

But normal people never get sucked in. All the Hunters know they would be called, so they prepared for it. No one knows why this happens, but I wasn’t about to argue about why normal humans weren’t called.

I tossed the trash away and looked around. I sighed as I saw nothing spooky, just the normal neighbors who had not yet taken down their Christmas lights. Mom is scared for nothing.

I walked back in and dusted my hands off. “Yeah mom, totally fought off a seven foot demon, such hard work.” I faked yawned and stretched out my limbs to add to my act. She tsked and threw piece of string at me. “Whatever miss sass, just go to bed, you have a long day at work tomorrow.” I sighed, but knew she was right.

“Ok, ok, night mom. I will see you in the morning. Sleep, soon, alright, so that the monsters don’t get yo-” She picked up her stuff and walked into her room, sick of my sarcasm. I chuckled but knew she was just being dramatic. There were absolute zero cases of normal people attending the Dark Hour, so what was she so scared of?

I shrugged out of my jacket and straightened out my bed. I pulled my winnie the pooh blanket closer and shut my eyes.

I listened to the soft sound of the wind blowing outside. It was a peaceful night: no rain, no snow, no anything. I was grateful because I had a long day tomorrow.

I lulled off to bed, feeling myself falling into a dream. 

*BOOM*

My eyes shot open.

What was tha-

Before I could finish my thought, a loud crash erupted throughout my room, waking me up fully.

“What the fuck!?” I screamed. I grabbed the pepper spray and turned.

Bad idea. As I turned to face my window, I saw blood and lots of unknown liquid surrounding it. And on the ground I saw a rabid, three-headed dog glaring me down. I screamed and fell back into my bed, dropping my pepper spray.

“GET DOWN!” I didn’t know where the voice came from, but I was acting purely on instinct now. I jumped off my bed and into the corner of my room. I heard loud gunshot noises, but as I looked up, I saw lasers shooting through the air.

I shut my eyes and huddled against the wall. What is going on? What is happening-

“HEY! What are you doing?!” I heard the same voice yell at me. I heard footsteps nearing me, making me gasp in surprise. I grabbed my pepper spray and raised it, turning my face away from the intruder like I was taught in self-defense class. “What the...” The person, who I recognized as a male, grabbed my spray, and tossed it.

“Don’t hurt-”

As I turned my face towards the intruder, I was shocked. I was staring at a tall, brown-haired boy with warm and serious eyes. He was wearing all black and had a some sort of vest over him, similar to a bulletproof one. If this was another situation, I would be very happy about a hot guy standing in my room, but I couldn’t because I was almost killed.

“What were you planning to do with that pepper spray? Kill me? What a lousy weapon!” The boy exclaimed annoyedly. I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Well excuse me, it’s not like I carry guns in my room or something!” I spat back, suddenly irritated with his behavior. He shot me a look, saying I was dumb.

“You definitely should start doing that, what do you plan on fighting with? Did you just forget to get in uniform before midnight? And were you just sleeping? How irresponsible of you.” He spat while cleaning off his knives as he paced around my room.

I squinted my eyes at him. All black uniform. Guns and other weapons on his person. Intense gaze. Killed a three-headed dog.

“Fuck... it’s the Dark Hour.” I whispered. He scoffed and shook his head.

“Well, duh, it is midnight. Wait...” He stopped speaking and stared at me intensely. “This can’t be...” He started walking over to me and grabbed my wrist, pulling me close to him. “Is this your first time in the Dark Hour?”

I nodded, scared of what was going on. “Yup. Very first.” His eyes widened in surprise, dropping my wrist.

“How old are you?”

“I’m eighteen.”

He then kicked a desk and yelled, “Shit!” I flinched at his kick, but I still was numb. How could I be here? I’m not a Hunter-

“So you’re not a Hunter?” I shook my head slowly. His gaze turned distraught and he groaned in distress loudly.

Then, he turned to look at me very seriously.

“If you’re not a Hunter, you’re going to die out there.” He pointed outside to where I saw numerous monsters walking around. Blood was oozing all over the streets and I saw other quick, agile, strong, Hunters fighting them off. That was not me. 

I really was going to die.

“Well, fuck, I can’t go out there then!” I protested.

He shook his head. “You have no choice! They will come here and find you, only more will come. They are addicted to the smell of blood, we only have a short amount of time until the Hunters down there lose track of one and it comes back up here.” I could tell he was frustrated as he paced around my room, wondering what to do with me.

Then, he stopped and looked at me seriously once more. “Ok, my first priority is surviving. My second is dealing with whoever you are, but if you were called to the Dark Hour, then you must have some fight in you.”

I shrugged and caught the gun he threw in my hand. “Or so we hope.” He scoffed.

“Yeah, or so we hope.”

❀ ❀ ❀

It’s like the whole world was cracked open. None of the streetlights were on, yet I could see perfectly fine.

“No electricity works in the Dark Hour.” He informed like he was talking to a child. Suddenly, I saw a glimpse of some skin as his long sleeve caught in the wind.

“You have lots of tattoos.” I noted. He glared at me.

“You have the same ones. Everyone in the Dark Hour has them. It acts as protection from the monsters.” At his words, I rolled up my hoodie and saw the same black swirls he had all over his arm. I gasped and yanked it back down. “It’ll fade when the hour is over. Now, if you see a monster, shoot it. If it doesn’t die, shout my name.”

“And what would that be?” He smiled and shook his head.

“It’s Seunghun.” I nodded. “I’m y/n.” Before I could say anything else, a dark and shadowy figure appeared out of nowhere. I raised my gun and shot it, five times in the head. I felt shaky as it fell to the ground.

“Oh my god, I just killed someo-”

“Don’t finish that sentence.” He snapped. I nodded and shut my mouth. I wouldn’t anger a Hunter. “You just killed a demon. Something that would have killed you if you hadn’t killed it first.” He gripped my shoulder, pulling me together. I nodded and hid my fear. He then gave me hard pats on the back. I tried not to cough as he started to run towards something.

I held my gun to the ground in fear I would accidentally shoot him.

“Seunghun, who’s your new friend?” Someone shouted over to him. I looked over and saw another boy who looked a bit younger than Seunghun. I noted his smiling face and goofy nature. I wondered how he was a Hunter.

“Her name is y/n, and she’s not a Hunter. I’ll explain later but first we need to protect her.” The other boy’s jaw dropped.

“Woah woah woah wait, you’re normal?!” He basically screamed. I nodded while his face turned to an ash color. “Oh shit, is this is what the government are resorting to? Great.”

Wait..

“Did you just say government?” The two boys looked at each other and laughed.

“We’ll explain later, but the way, I’m Jihoon.” I reached out to shake his hand, but realized it was covered in monster juice. I cringed and pulled my hand back. “It’s fine, I forgot you were new here.”

As Jihoon was talking, he turned and took out his sword simultaneously, slicing the monster in half. I gulped as monster guts splashed everywhere. The childish boy turned and smiled. “A giant cyclops, hah.”

Seunghun rolled his eyes and took on another monster making a mad dash at him. Soon, chaos erupts. Multiple monsters came out of nowhere, running at us and other Hunters.

“Oh shit, Jihoon-”

“Got her.” The boy pulled me close to him while shooting other demons and monsters I couldn’t even recognize. I saw a monster run at me and I raised my gun to shoot it down.

It kept getting closer and closer to me. I kept shooting, but it seemed like it had no damage on the monster.

Suddenly, I saw Seunghun run front of me and rip out the heart of the monster. My eyes widened in surprise. “The only way you can kill that thing is ripping out it’s heart, it has no name but we call it the Ripping.”

“Why the Ripping?” I asked as I raised my gun to shoot a normal demon.

“‘Cause it’ll try and rip off your head if you don’t rip out it’s heart first.”

Seunghun then threw a dagger right by my head, hitting a monster I assume.

I let out a sigh of relief as he chuckled. “Don’t worry, you’re not strong enough for me to kill.” I glared at him, but he was right. I had no skill whatsoever. I just needed this hour to be over.

Soon, my wish came true as the monsters started to disappear.

“Finally, I just wanna sleep.” Jihoon said while stretching his arms in the air. Another Hunter smacked him on the head. “Shut up, Jihoon. You gotta enjoy the fight.”

Jihoon glared at the other boy and stuck his tongue out. “Byounggon, not all of us were born fighters.”

“Actually, we all were, that’s why we’re here.” Another Hunter pointed out. This one was quite short and had bright blonde hair.

“Actually, Hyunsuk, the girl isn’t. It’s her first Dark Hour and she’s never even picked up a gun before.” Jihoon laughed while the two Hunters started at me in surprise.

“Wow... how did you even survive.” I tried to shrug, but I could barely move my muscles.

“Probably only because I met Seunghun first and he gave me a gun. And saved me from a three-headed dog who tried to kill me.” The boys let out a bark of laughter as if I told a really funny story.

“Ah, Seunghun, our local prince, always helping girls in distress.” Byounggon teased while poking him on the side. Seunghun shook his head, tired of their teasing.

“Anyways, y/n, the hour is up in about one minute. You are going to wake up in your bed, which I presume your last location was before you were pulled in. No one else will remember this except us and the other Hunters.”

The others nodded as if it was weird to explain this once again. “You are not allowed to speak of the events to any normal people, ever. Of course, the normies know of us, but they really have no clue what Hunters do or what we fight.”

I nodded, trying to soak up all of this information.

“Will I still be here tomorrow night?” My question silenced him as he had no response.

“You may be, you may not, to be honest, this is as new to us as it is for you.” Hyunsuk noted carefully.

“Will I see you guys again? Do you guys see each other in real life?”

The boys shrugged. “I’ve never seen one of these guys in the normal world. We are sometimes transported to different locations if it’s busier, so it’s always changing, and-”

Before Seunghun could finish, I felt myself being pulled by an invisible hand. I held in my gasp as I felt the covers underneath my body. I shot up from my bed and turned on my lamp. I grabbed my phone from my shelf and checked the time.

12:00.

❀ ❀ ❀

I couldn’t sleep all night. How was one to sleep after they had just fought in the Dark Hour? And had no experience whatsoever.

My mom was right to be worried. If I was pulled in, I wondered if anyone else was in danger. Or if those normal people had survived. I wouldn’t have if I had never met up with Seunghun.

But I couldn’t dwell in it. I was back in reality and had a job to go to at 9am. Too early for anyone to get up.

“You look like shit.” Was the first greeting I heard from my co-worker, Mashiho. I glared at the pretty boy and flipped him off.

“You are shit.” I snapped back. I pulled on my apron and tied up my hair. He made claw movements and meowed like a cat. “Wow, someone is catty this morning.”

I resisted the urge to backhand the boy against the wall. “Not in the mood, Mashiho.”

Every day, Mashiho and I would bicker about something. Mostly because he an annoying prick and I was sarcastic and snappy.

Mashiho laughed and started fill the cases with food items. “Why? Late night with a lucky fellow?” He wiggled his eyebrows as I flicked him on the forehead. “OW!”

I sighed and started to fill the case on the other side of the cash register. “No, just I couldn’t sleep, ok? Just one of those nights I guess.” My words came out more sluggish than usual as I had gotten virtually only one hour of sleep.

“Well, be careful not to fall asleep today. It’s holiday season and people will want cakes and pastries for whatever reason.” I rolled my eyes and nodded.

“I’ll be fine.” Confused at his kindly spoken words. I probably looked worse than I thought if Mashiho wasn’t annoying me.

Soon, the clock hit 9 and I flipped the closed sign to open.

I sighed at the long shift ‘til 5 was about to begin. I knew I shouldn’t have worked during the holidays.

❀ ❀ ❀

The day was going smoothly, despite the business. Even though I constantly had the urge to punch Mashiho in the face, we worked well together.

The shop started to slow down as it neared 5pm. “I need a coffee.” Mashiho whined while walking into the break room. I rolled my eyes and kept at the cash register.

As no one new was coming in the shop, my thoughts drifted back to the Dark Hour. Seunghun danced into my mind as I pictured him in his attractive Hunter uniform.

Stop, you cannot think about a boy who you met in the Dark Hour. If life goes right, you’ll never see him ever again.

Suddenly, I heard the bell on the door ring, making my head shoot up.

“Hi, welcome to...” My voice trailed off as I saw the person in front of me.

His eyes widened in surprise as well. “Seunghun.” I stated. He gave me a kind and surprised smile. “Y/N.”

“Hey, David is asking where the mop is? Where did you leave it?” Mashiho asked me quietly since a customer was in front of me.

“Uhhh it should be in the closet.” Mashiho nodded and then looked to Seunghun who happened to be still staring at me. Mashiho looked at me, then to Seunghun, then back to me.

He smirked and patted me on the back. “He’s a good one.” He winked, hinting to our conversation earlier. I turned bright red and pushed him away.

Seunghun furrowed his brows, confused at our interaction. Before he could ask questions, I spoke first. “So, first things first, what would you like?” He smiled and took a look at all our choices.

“Oh, I came to pick up a vanilla cake with buttercream frosting for my grandma’s birthday.” I nodded and went to pick up the cake that was waiting for him.

“Is the name under Ahyoung?” He nodded. I handed him the cake. “Since you paid online, that should be it. Thanks for ordering from us.” He took the cake, but he didn’t walk away from me.

I kept my stare locked on him as he didn’t turn away. Suddenly, I heard a loud snap in my ear.

“Hello~ No eye sex in the bakery please. That’s a home activity, y/n.” Mashiho said while raising his brows at me. I blushed and pushed him away.

“That’s not-” I sighed knowing no one would care what I would have to say. “Mashiho, can you just... like leave for a quick second?” Mashiho’s jaw dropped.

“Wow, ok, I’ll be gone 5 minutes, you better not be having sex on the table when I come back-”

“Just go.” I snapped. The boy stuck his tongue out at me and walked away. I turned to face Seunghun who was already smiling at me.

“Does he think we’re having sex?” I was mortified at this conversation. “Well, uh, sorta, I mean, he wouldn’t believe my story of being unable to sleep last night so.” I shrugged. Seunghun nodded and understood what I meant.

“Anyways, on the more important issues besides my sexual adventures, we need to like... meet up. What are you doing right now?” He pointed to the cake. I sighed and rubbed my face tiredly.

“Ok, but the party will be done at 11. Then, I’ll come to you. What’s your address?” Usually, I would wait longer before giving a boy my address, but this was a different circumstance. “Great. See you then.” He winked at me which I couldn’t lie, I found it attractive. But I couldn’t let him know that. I rolled my eyes and waved him goodbye.

“Wow, he’s hot.”

“Shut up, Mashiho!”

❀ ❀ ❀

Eleven never came so slowly. Thankfully, my parents were already asleep so I didn’t have to explain why there was a very attractive boy in our home.

I heard a soft knock on the door and I jumped up to answer it. Seunghun was already in his Hunter uniform. My eyes widened and I rushed him inside.

“Why are you already wearing your uniform? That’s so weird! Did you come here in that?” The boy rolled his eyes.

“Calm down, I changed in the car, I am very professional at this. I have been doing it since I was 16.” I raised a brow.

“How old are you now?” Seunghun chuckled boyishly and gave me a flirty smile.

“Are you flirting with me?” I turned a bright red and led him into my room. “Your mouth is going to get you in trouble one day.”

Seunghun smiled as I shut the door quietly. “Says the girl who just locked my in her bedroom.”

I turned to him in anger, but I knew I couldn’t hit him since it would do no damage. “I-you. Ugh.” I stuttered out while he barked out laughter.

Then, he pulled out something from his bag I didn’t notice him holding. “Here is a Hunter uniform, I’m assuming you didn’t have one since you didn’t even know you were going to be in the Dark Hour.” I took the outfit and stared at it.

“Do you think I’ll be pulled in again?” He scratched the back of his neck and shrugged. “To be honest, I don’t know. Better to be safe than sorry.”

I went to the bathroom to change and stared at myself in the mirror. I looked like the definition of a Hunter. But I didn’t have the confidence or power as one of them.

“Everything ok in there?” He called out. “Y-yeah.” I spoke out as I exited the bathroom. I noticed Seunghun scanning me, examining how I looked in the uniform.

“What?” I snapped. He raised one brow and gave me one of his flirty smiles that sent shivers down my spine.

He leaned back in my bed that he had gotten comfy in. “Nothing, it’s just that you look really good in that outfit.” I saw him lick his lips nonchalantly, making me wish we were alone in my room for a different reason than talking about the Dark Hour.

I slapped him on the shoulder to hide my attraction. “Shut up, anyways, tell me everything you know about the Dark Hour. I need to prepare myself.”

His joking expression faded as I mentioned the Dark Hour. “First of all, let’s talk about how I’ve never seen you before this. I thought you said you’ve never seen any of the other Hunters in real life?” I bombarded him with questions.

Seunghun sighed and shook his head. “I’ve never met any of my friends who were Hunters in real life, but really, I wouldn’t know if I met a Hunter in real life. There’s nothing that sets us apart from the rest of society.”

I bit my lip and tapped my finger on my lip. “Ok, then why have I never seen you before if you went to the bakery I work at.”

“Oh, that’s because I’m in town from college, visiting my grandma. It’s her 80th birthday so it’s a big thing.” I nodded, working the pieces together in my mind.

“And what does the government have to do about the Dark Hour?” At my question, Seunghun tensed. I glanced over to him; he adjusted his vest and stared into space.

“So, no normal person knows this since the government hides it pretty well. But, there is a reason for the Dark Hour. Monsters keep rising from the Underworld, since it is becoming too popularted. The government has been in contact with Hades, the God of the underworld--”

“Woah, woah, woah, wait, Hades? You mean-”

“Yes, that one. Anyways, it’s almost midnight and I need to tell you this.” I nodded and listened carefully. “So the government is in contact with Hades who says he can’t control, even though he can, the monsters that are rising out. The human government was furious, saying he couldn’t just let out monsters.”

“So they compromised.” Seunghun nodded.

“They compromised. Groups of trained humans work together to defeat all the monsters that Hades lets out at midnight for one hour. Since he’s a God, he has the ability to monitor it and make sure no normal human gets hurt. And the tattoos? The government bargained for it so that they had to explain less murders.” Seunghun gave me a crooked smile, but I wondered if he lost any friends along the way.

He glanced over at my clock. “We have five minutes.” I took a deep breath as my heart race picked up.

Suddenly, he piled a bunch of weapons on my bed. “Here, keep these. They’re easy to use.” He gave me some fancy looking guns and other weapons. “This one, you press this button, and it shoots out mini bombs. Highly effective.”

“Thank you. Like truly, I would be so dead without you right now.” I whispered softly. Seunghun lifted my face gently to stare at him.

“I believe in you. Most normal people wouldn’t have come outside with me. You were brave. I’m sure you were chosen for a reason.”

He tried to look casual, but he kept glancing at the clock. “One minute.” He whispered. For a moment, I thought, he was going to kiss me.

But he scooted away and stood, watching the window.

“Stay on guard.” He demanded. He was much more serious during the Dark Hour than in the normal time. “Remember, we might be separated as I don’t know where I will be transported.”

I stood and held my gun close, listening for any movement. All I heard was Seunghun’s steady breathing.

The night was pitch black but I couldn’t see outside the window. “y/n, the streetlamps are off now.”

I sucked in a breath, understanding the true meaning of his words.

It was officially the Dark Hours.

❀ ❀ ❀

“I guess I should say welcome to the squad then, right?” I rolled my eyes but I couldn’t help but be sort of happy that I got to spend more time with Seunghun and his funny friends.

But that happiness didn’t last long as I heard a rustle outside the room. I jumped back and got father away from my door, my run still pointing at it. Seunghun watched his back as the window was behind him, he pointed at the door.

“Wait.” He mouthed. I nodded. I heard something that sounded like footsteps, but I knew some monsters had a similar foot structure to us. I aimed my gun high and waited for a noise.

Nothing.

“Don’t let down-”

As soon as he said that, the door burst opened and I aimed to shoot.

“WAIT! IT’S JUST US!” At the sound of a human I dropped my gun and saw Jihoon with his hands up. I raised a brow as I saw Hyunsuk, Byounggon, and a few other Hunters there as well.

“What the fuck is going on?” One of the unknown one said. 

“I have no idea, Yedam. But whatever is going on, it seems suspicious.” Seunghun looked frazzled and ran his fingers through his hair.

“What are you guys talking about?” Seunghun barked. Byounggon came forward and looked right at me and then the window.

He walked towards my bedroom window and flung it open, revealing a dark, empty street. Seunghun’s eyes widened. 

“No monsters.” Seunghun muttered. They all nodded. 

“No monsters? What? Has that ever happened?” I exclaimed. They all shook their heads. 

“Never. Sometimes there are less, but never zero. Until you showed up.” Hyunsuk said it casually, but I could feel the tension in his words.

Seunghun was about to jump in, but I could fight verbal battles myself. “Hey, don’t act like I made this happen. I’m just as confused as you are right now, and probably more since I have no idea why the fuck I’m here.” I barked, stepping closer to him. The boy came to meet me in the middle, but Jihoon stopped him.

“She’s right, we can’t blame each other. But besides all the monsters not being there, why were we all transported to this house?” 

I froze at his words. “W-what?” 

Byounggon nodded. “Yeah, I was sitting in my room, waiting for the Dark Hour and then I ended up here. Then I saw Hyunsuk, Jihoon, Junkyu, Yedam and Doyoung appear.” Seunghun brought his hand to his mouth to hide his gasp. 

“That’s never happened before. The most we have in one spot is 3 and even then it’s in the streets, not a house.” A boy I didn’t know explained. I noticed he was around the same height as Seunghun and had black hair. 

I looked around my home, but saw nothing different than the people in it. “Well if we’re all here, there’s gotta be a reason for it.” I set down my gun as I felt there was no threat and walked out of my room and into my living room, where the rest of the boys were called. I felt Seunghun appear by my side; he was still tense despite there being no threat. 

“What are you doing? He asked quickly. I scanned the entire room like a mad man and examined everything closely. “Y/N-” 

“This is my house. That means I know what it’s supposed to look like.” I hinted at him while walking deeper into the kitchen. 

Seunghun looked at me with a confused look until someone else spoke up. “She’s looking for a clue why we’re all here; if something is misplaced in her home, it might mean something.” A young boy with black hair spoke up. I nodded towards him and he gave me a small nod back. 

“Oh wow, good job, Doyoung.” Byounggon said patting his back. The younger boy nodded and looked serious once again. 

There was nothing different about the living room. I walked into my mom’s room, but I was rarely in her room, I didn’t know where what went. I searched and searched, but I didn’t know what I was looking for. 

I turned to leave the room. “Nothing?” Seunghun said sadly. I shook my head, but as I turned my head slightly, I saw something weird. My eyes widened in surprise and Seunghun caught notice of my expression. He gripped his gun and stepped to my side. “On guard.” The rest of the boys pulled out their respective weapons.

“She’s looking at a god damn strawberry recipes magazine, what’s wrong with that?” Hyunsuk spat. I glared at him and kept a hold on my gun.

“My mom is allergic to strawberries.” I stated loudly. The boys looked as uneasy as I felt. Why would she have a strawberry recipe magazine if she’s deathly allergic to strawberries?

I reached before the magazine, but before I could, the magazine started to move on it’s own. Seunghun stood in front of me, but I felt the urge to look at the magazine so I side stepped him. 

“Careful.” He whispered for only me to hear. I nodded slightly but I wasn’t paying attention to him. The magazine soon stopped on a page, making me anxious to read what it said. 

“Watch their backs.” A boy with dark black hair said. The boys nodded and followed his orders. Seunghun stepped closely to me and turned to me. 

“Together.” I caught the hint of his words. He took my hand and squeezed it, making me feel safe. Together, we walked slowly towards the magazine, unsure if it would make a sudden movement. 

Once we got close enough to read it, my heart dropped as I saw a page with no strawberries on it, but a small line written on it. I leaned down to read it.

The end is tomorrow. There are more of you. There are more of them. Use the girl, the normal one. 

Good luck, and don’t let the darkness take you. 

Shivers ran through up and down my spine. The girl, the normal one. I was the only normal girl in our group, meaning I was screwed. 

“What are you doing?” Seunghun asked softly. I looked up at him and raised my brows. “I’m reading the message.” I answered back slowly.

“Y/n, there’s nothing on that page.” Seunghun said quietly, almost like he didn’t believe his words. T

he boy who gave ordere earlier walked over and peered down at the magazine.

“Yedam, be careful.” Doyoung told him. Yedam glared at the boy, but looked at me curiously. “Seunghun is right, there’s nothing there.” 

I looked down at the page and saw the black writing very clearly. The rest of the boys were now huddled around the message. 

“There’s nothing.” A boy whose name I think was Junkyu, if I had remembered clearly. 

“Y/n, do you see something?” Seunghun asked me firmly, peering into my eyes. I felt all eyes on me and I grew nervous. I mustered up my courage and nodded. 

“Shit, this is so creepy.” Hyunsuk said while pacing around the room.

Seunghun didn’t move from his spot and continued, “What does it say?” 

I looked down at the pages and read them once more. “The end if tomorrow. There are more of you. Use the girl, the normal one. Good luck, and don’t let the darkness take you.” 

As soon as I said those words, the rest of the boys erupted into sighs and shivers. “Oh god, what is going on?” Junkyu wondered out loud while sitting on my mom’s bed. 

“Use the girl? What does y/n have to offer, no offense.” Jihoon said. 

“It doesn’t say what for. That’s all the message says.” I glanced over at the clock which wasn’t working. 

“We have one more minute before the Dark Hour is over." Doyoung announced.

No one had an answer for the confusing events, yet none of us could formulate a question. 

“Rest well today, it seems like we have a lot ahead of us tomorrow.” Seunghun announced while finally relaxing. 

Before anyone else could answer, I felt myself being pulled out of the Dark Hour and back into reality. I fell against my room wall and saw Seunghun standing firmly. I could see he was used to it and I wasn’t. 

Use the girl, the normal one. I see the message flash once more in my eyes, but I truly had no idea what it meant. I was a normal person, what did I have to offer? I was a nobody. 

“Are you ok?” Seunghun asked, concern laced in his voice. His hands went to cup my face and I nodded, dazed by the previous events and the intensity of his eyes. He pulled away, but I felt the urge to pull him back.

So I did. He grew surprised at my bold actions but let me pull him, even though I knew he was much stronger than I. “Are you going to be safe when you’re alone?” At my innocent words, he laughed loudly. 

“Y/n, I should be asking you that, I’ve been training since I was 10 years old for this.” 

“And how long ago was that?” I had never gotten his age, and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t curious. Seunghun gave me a small smile.

“It was 9 years ago.” I smiled widely. “So you’re 19.” Seunghun shook with laughter. 

“Wow, good math skills you have there.” He gently tapped my forehead with his knuckles. 

Our conversation came to a stop and my only focus was on his face that was so close to mine. My eyes flickered to his lips, wondering how good he was with them. His eyes were taunting, like he didn’t believe I would do anything. 

He was wrong.

Before I knew what I was doing, I pulled him close to me, closing the gap between our lips. He responded quickly, his arms wrapping around me in a matter of seconds. He kissed me softly at first, but then I felt him bite my bottom lip softly, making me melt against his body. My hand wandered under his shirt, feeling his toned upper body. He sighed at my touch. 

Somehow, I had pushed him onto my bed and I was now on top of him. At our scandalous position, he grabbed my waist and pulled me aside so that I was sitting on my bed. 

I felt cold without his masculine warmth, and I was also stunned at his actions.

Oh shit, what did I just do? How did I get so lost in my feelings that I thought I could get down with a Hunter? 

I guess my face of surprise and shock was obvious because Seunghun started to talk before I could. “Y/n, I’m sorry, it’s just we only met each other yesterday and I know you’re in a confused state right now.” He talked as if he was talking to a piece of glass, which I wasn’t. But I already was embarrassed enough.

He has probably met so many female Hunters who so much stronger and prettier than me. I want to smack myself silly.

“I know, yeah, you’re right, um, I’m like, frazzled whatever. My emotions are running high. Um...” I felt myself stutter out. I felt tears brimming at his rejection, but I knew I couldn’t force him to do anything.

“Y/n, it’s fine, I just, I don’t want to... right now at least.” The was every nice guy’s way of rejection. And I couldn’t even be mad at him.

“I’m sorry, it was my fault. Um, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then. Bye.” He didn’t make a move to leave.

“Y/n, I didn’t mean to hurt you-”

“Seunghun, I’m sorry, but can you just leave?” I asked quietly, unable to look him in the eyes. Seunghun nodded, and stood, sparing me one last glance before he left, leaving me to slap my face and think about what I had just done.

Even though I was hurt in the moment, Seunghun was right. I wasn’t in the right state of mind to be anything intimate with anyone. Of course I was attracted to him, I mean who wasn’t, but I was in for about the biggest fight of my life tomorrow. 

And so was he. 

“Y/n, you’re the biggest idiot I know.” 

❀ ❀ ❀

“Looking better today, y/n, did you finally get some sleep?” 

I was immediately greeted by Mashiho’s taunting tone. But I was too upset and stressed to fight back.

“Yup, slept like a baby.” I lied. I had listening to self-deprecating music before I went to bed and then cried myself to sleep from Seunghun’s rejection and the fate of other Hunters in the palm of my hand.

I tied my apron on peacefully and said nothing else to him. Mashiho peered at my face and squinted his eyes. “What are you doing, Mashiho?” He scooted away from me.

“You seem different today. What happened with that boy?” I rolled my eyes even though he was a partial reason to my mood. 

“Nothing happened, we were never a thing nor did anything happen between us.” I stated clearly. Mashiho tsked like he didn’t believe me. 

He then stopped and leaned against the corner of the shop. “Look, y/n, I know you have no friends. So if you ever wanna tell me what happened, I’ll listen.” I started to roll my eyes, but it was kinda true, I really had no close friends. I had acquaintances and whatever, but never a friend that I would talk to into the late hours of the night. 

I felt myself tear up at his words as no one had told me that they would listen to my concerns. “Oh my god, are you crying?” At Mashiho’s blunt statement, I started to cry harder. Surprisingly, he pulled me into a brotherly hug and patted the top of my head like a child.

“Tell me what happened.” He whispered. I wiped my eyes and tried to speak calmly. 

“I tried to sleep with him, but he pushed me away saying that we both weren’t ready and we both just met each other.” I conveniently left out the Hunter thing, but I guess it wasn’t too important. Mashiho pulled away from the hug to give me a judgy look.

“Well, I didn’t think you would be the first to make a move, but damn girl.” I laughed at his goody statement but pulled away from him to wipe my tears. “Why are you being so nice to me?” I asked softly. He gave me a soft smile and shrugged.

“I’m not that big of a dick to make fun of a girl crying.” He shrugged, but I could tell something else was bothering him. Soon, the clock hit 9, and it was time to work. “Go wash your face, I’ll be fine up here alone.” I nodded. As I turned away, I gave him one more hug which surprised him.

“Thank you.”

He crinkled his nose as I pulled away. “Don’t get too soft on me now.”

❀ ❀ ❀

Mashiho and I had closed early today as it was new years eve. 

“Happy new years, y/n, try not to jump any more guys while I’m gone.” I slapped him on the back of his head, but I laughed. 

“I promise. That was my first time and last time.” He waved me goodbye and we went out separate ways. I got in my car, but I realized I didn’t want to sit at home all day and wait for midnight. I felt myself being compelled to go to the library for some reason. And not the library near my house, but the one that was out of the town I was in. I drove 30 minutes to the vaguely familiar library I had only visited once or twice. I preferred the one near my house, but this library was giant and beautiful as well. 

As I walked in, a strange man approached me. “Are you y/n?” Out of instinct, I had nodded, but then I realized I shouldn’t have told him the truth. But too late.

He smiled and nodded towards one of those private rooms. “Great, your spot is being saved in there.” I thanked him, even though I felt suspicious to walk in.

I gathered my courage and opened the door. I was shocked at who I saw. 

“Oh wow, look who came late to the party.” 

❀ ❀ ❀

“H-hyunsuk?” The blonde boy nodded and twirled a knife in his hand. I gasped and shut the door quickly. “Why are you holding that?” 

As he moved out of the way, I saw all the Hunters that I saw last night here tonight. “Why are you all here? I thought you guys said you never saw each other in real life!” I exclaimed, tossing down my bag I brought to work each day. 

“We didn’t. Until now.” Doyoung informed.

“We all heard a voice in the back of our minds telling us to come here, that we needed to come here. So we did of course.” Yedam 

“And now you’re here, so it makes sense.” Junkyu said cheerfully. 

I looked around the room, staring at all the weapons. “Why did you guys bring those though?” I asked, worried that we would be arrested for bringing those in there.

“That’s what were going to ask you.” Seunghun informed, leaning forward in his chair. As he spoke, he made eyecontact with me that I awkwardly avoided. 

“Well, I have no...” I didn’t finish that sentence as I saw a message appear on the wall.

The Dark Hour is early tonight. It will begin at 5pm. Good luck.

“Y/n?” Doyoung asked, startled at my behavior. I then realized I was leaning forward on the chair and the rest of the boys had stood in confusion. I stood up and nodded.

“Just peachy. There’s a message on the wall and it reads ‘The Dark Hour is early tonight. It will begin at 5pm. Good luck’“ I restated.

The boys froze and checked the time. It was six minutes til 5. 

“What the fuck is going on? All of this is so confusing!” Hyunsuk muttered loudly. 

“No idea, but that means we have to prepare ourselves. Put on your uniforms.” All of a sudden, they started to strip and I caught a glimpse of Hyunsuk’s abs as he threw it off carelessly. Hyunsuk was sort of an asshole, but I couldn’t help but stare. 

Suddenly, a large body covered my line of vision. I peered up and saw Seunghun who was raised a brow at my red face. “What.” I whispered harshly. 

He then leaned in closer and shrugged. “Mine is better.” He randomly said, but I knew what he was talking about. 

“Well, I could’ve....” seen them last night. I didn’t finish my sentence. Girls always got shit from boys when they didn’t want to have sex, the least I could do was wait for Seunghun to be ready. Or be fine if he never wanted me like that. I had to respect that. “Nevermind I’m sorry.” I muttered quickly, stepping away from him.

Before I could leave, he pulled on my wrist gently, making me face him once more. “One day, y/n, when all of this is over.” He promised. Before my face could light on fire, I felt someone else approach me.

Byounggon plopped an outfit in my hands. “I know you didn’t bring one, so I thought of to bring an extra. I hope it fits.” I nodded in shock.

“Thank you.” I whispered gently. He gave me a fatherly smile and patted my head. “Don’t thank me, thank whoever gave me the urge to give me an extra.”

“Two more minutes!” Doyoung called out. I realized that they all had changed and were now waiting on me. I glared at them and did spinning movements.

“Can you guys like.. turn around?” The nodded respectfully and did as I told. I stripped quickly and slipped on the fitting uniform. It was a perfect fit. “Done!” I called out. They turned back and gathered at the small table.

“Do you think there will be other Hunters there? They said there will be more of ‘us’, whatever that refers to.” Jihoon asked curiously. No one answered.

“No clue. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.” Yedam responded. All of a sudden, I felt the familiar pull, meaning this time I was transferring somewhere else. 

I landed on my ass, confused of my surroundings. “Get up!” Someone called out to me. I felt someone pull me up. It was Seunghun. 

I felt relief flood my body as I saw a familiar faces all around me. 

“Y/n!?” I heard a familiar voice say. I jumped back from Seunghun’s hold and turned around.

“MASHIHO!?” I exclaimed. His doe eyes narrowed at me.

“What are you doing here? Are you Hunter?” It was weird to see him in a tight fitting long sleeve and such edgy clothes when he had always worn preppy clothes. 

“Um, not really. It’s complicated.” I responded lamely. 

Another boy stepped forward. “She must be the the girl the message spoke about. The normal one.” 

Suddenly, they started to converse in an unfamiliar language I recognized as Japanese. 

“MASHI!” Suddenly, Junkyu appeared out of nowhere and tackled Mashiho in a hug. They hug was childish and passionate.

I looked to Seunghun. “Did you know he was a Hunter?” I asked accusingly. He shook his head. “I swear I’ve never met him. I’m usually transferred to the same spots so I probably never ran into him. But I know all his friends.” 

“That’s Yoshinori, Kotaro, Asahi, and Mahiro.” I waved to them awkwardly as they gave me awkward smiles. 

Suddenly, I heard a loud explosion outside. 

“Guards up!” Seunghun yelled as I reached for the gun in my holster. “Let’s jump down!” He then broke the window and started to jump out. 

My eyes widened as he just flew down to the ground from my second story. The rest of the boys followed him. 

I felt someone grab hold of me and carry me. “Hug my chest so we can fit through the window.” Mashiho said sternly. It seemed like everyone got a bit more serious in the dark hour. I did as he told and suddenly we were falling out of my window. I held onto him harder and Mashiho landed smoothly. “I’m never going to let you live this down.”

“Shut up.” I jumped off of him and took out my gun. 

There was nothing at first.

Then it came.

“A-are those humans?” I whispered to no one in particular.

Hundreds and hundreds of humans started piling towards us with blank eyes and dirty faces. Some had clothes, some did not; skin was falling off of them, dragging in the streets. 

I felt someone grab my face and pull me close to them. “S-seunghun-”

“Look at me. Those are not humans, those are zombies who will try and hurt you. They will use psychological warfare on you, they will tell you things that aren’t true. Do not fall for that, ok? Kill them as fast as you would kill a fly. Do you understand me?” I nodded hurriedly. He stared at me a little longer before pulling away. “Good.”

“Well, stop trying to make us jealous.” Hyunsuk teased by slapping Seunghun’s shoulder. 

“Look.” Doyoung said calmly. The zombies started to run faster and soon the battle had begun. The boys, who I had known to be funny and boyish, became fearless killers as their enemies came closer.

“Watch her please.” Seunghun pushed me back to Mashiho.

“Damn I’m stuck with the burden?” As zombies came running at the both of us, I held up my gun and shot five of them in the head. He stared at me with wide eyes.

“Such a burden.” I snapped.

The zombies kept going down, coming steadily at us until one latched onto me. I grew afraid as its droopy eyes and skinny body held onto my arm with a tight grip.

“Help me!” It called out. “Help, I hate it down there, it’s terrible and scary! I’m just a girl, please!” She called out to me. Her features still looked slightly human, making my heart hurt. “I swear I just want to live more!” 

“I-I’m sorry, I can’t.”

Suddenly, her eyes turned black as she lunged for me. I took out my gun and shot her in the head.

“Fuck.” I spat. 

Suddenly, all the zombies stopped coming, leaving the large group to stand there in silence. “Is that it?” Hyunsuk called out, sitting on the ground to rest.

Seunghun was still tense and held his knife in his holster. “Stay ready.” 

All of a sudden, a streetlamp turned on, revealing a man standing underneath the solely lit lamp. I gasped and instinctively stepped back. “What? What do you see?” Seunghun whispered in my ear.

I looked up at him with concern in my eyes. “Do you not see it?” I whispered.

“See what?” Jihoon asked, looking into the distance. I gulped and stepped out of Seunghun’s hold. 

“There’s a man over there. Underneath the streetlight. And the light is on too.” 

“Is he moving? Are any other lights on?” I shook my head at Byounggon’s rapid questions.

I started to walk towards the man until I felt a hand pull me back. “No, what if he’s dangerous.” I shook my head. “I need to do this. I feel it.” 

Thankfully, Seunghun let go of my hand. “Fine, but I’ll be behind you.” I nodded and we both started to walk towards him. I felt the tenseness of the dark air, but I felt like whoever the man is was important. 

“y/n.” He called out. “y/n, don’t be scared.” I expected Seunghun to pull me closer, but I remembered he couldn’t hear him. 

“What do you want?” I asked boldly. Seunghun then tensed and pulled out his gun. The man laughed. 

“Interesting.” He commented. “He’s gotten soft for you.” 

I glared at the man. He was tall, not taller than Seunghun, but tall. He had dark brown hair and had an average looking face. No sense of crime or anger in his eyes. 

“What do you want?” I demanded once more. 

He went silent for a moment, but looked me in the eyes. “It’s over. Congratulations. The Dark Hour is no more.” He confessed. My eyes widened in surprise. 

“What, why?”

He shrugged. “You humans have done well, Hell is now not as crowded as it used to be, there is no reason for me to keep letting creatures out.”

My head spun with all this information. “Why am I here then? Why call me when the fight as almost over?” I snapped. The man shook with laughter.

“Why do anything?”

My jaw dropped at his sarcastic remark. “Well, good that it’s over then. I’m not cut out for this.” 

The man looked at me sadly. “You were way better than you ever thought you would be. That is why only you can see me and none of them can.”

“Why can I see you and no one else can?”

Before he could finish his sentence, his body to fade. “I can’t give you all the answers, honey. That would be no fun.” 

He then tipped his head down as his body faded away. “Goodbye, y/n.” 

As he faded, I felt myself being pulled back into the real world.

❀ ❀ ❀

I woke up the next morning to my alarm. I sighed and shut it off, feeling a headache from the last night. 

The Dark Hour was no more, but I didn’t even get to tell all the guys before being pulled away. I wonder if they felt it too, I wonder if they knew. 

I shimmied into my clothes and got ready for another day at work. 

The bakery was empty, with only Mashiho swiping up the floor. “Hey, Mashi.” I teased as I walked into the shop. He raised a brow and chuckled awkwardly.

“How did you know that was my nickname? Only my mom calls me that.” Now I was the confused one. 

“What are you talking about, Junkyu called you that last night.” I reminded him as the large boy had run and basically flung Mashiho around. 

“Who’s Junkyu? And you and I weren’t together last night...” He walked towards me and placed his hand over my forehead. “Are you sick?”

My jaw dropped as he truly didn’t remember. 

What happened that night? Why does Mashiho not remember what happened? Did that mean no one remembered...

Does that mean Seunghun no longer knows who I am?

My heart dropped at the realization.

“Are you ok, y/n?” Mashiho asked with concern in his eyes. I nodded and turned the bakery sign to say open. 

“I guess I have to be.” 

As soon as the bakery sign was open, we heard someone enter. 

“Hi, welcome to Treasure Bakery, can I...” My voice faltered as I looked up from the register. He was wearing dark black pants with a white button up. His hair was messily combed through, like he had just woken up. 

He smiled widely at me, making my heart pound faster at his kind greeting. 

“Hey.”

[my-rae]

The theatre club |A silver boys series|

“It doesn’t matter how you got here, your age, if you really like acting or you prefer being behind the scenes. All that you need to know is that this club needs you, and once you’re in there’s no turning back. Theatre is way much more than putting on a show, we promise you that you will live the best years of your life.

Will you join us?”

Or when a group of 11 boys find themselves in a theatre club due to certain reasons and they live their most beautiful moments in life.

A/n: hello! Please give this project lots of love bc I’m very excited!! Since I have a lot of things to do this will have slow updates, but I’ll get the first story asap. Feedback is very appreciated! Thank you🧡

↓ s t o r i e s + o r d e r ↓

1. Kim Seunghun

The creator of the club. He has been acting ever since he was little and he has taken part in some tv shows and advertisements, always having minor roles. Still, he knows he could do better and that he has the ability to show the rest how to act, and he’ll be very pleased to do so. This project is his life and he himself have created it, it doesn’t matter how hard he has it at college, he will make it.

2. Lee Byounggon

Whenever Hun goes, he’ll follow. He know it has always been his friend’s dream, and he doesn’t want to ruin his fantasy. On the other hand, he doesn’t want his friend to suffer once he realises that nobody would join such a club, that’s why he has to learn some marketing, to make people join. All of this without his friend’s knowledge

3. Jeon Woong:

His friend’s first target. He doesn’t know how Seunghun and Byounggon have convinced him to join, but their friends needed his help and they promised him that it wasn’t going to be like the typical plays you do at school and that it will surely give him “something to remember forever” so he decided to have mercy. Who would have thought they were actually right.

4. Choi Raesung

He doesn’t know what he’s doing here. If music is his passion, how did he end up joining a theatre club when he couldn’t care less about it? Well, if he wants to be a great producer he needs to finish his degree clean, so he’ll probably need credits. Besides, he has heard that Seunghun and Byounggon, old friend of his, are the ones who created it. He’s not an actor, but they’re going to need help with the ideas, right?

5. Lee Midam

Midam knows he’s shy, he’s never been really bothered by that fact, after all, all he needs is to gain some confidence with you so he can talk to you. However, some events that take place in his life make him think that he needs to be a little bit more outgoing -but just a little-, and he doesn’t have a better idea that to join a theatre club as his “shock therapy”.

6. Choi Hyunsuk

He might have been a little confused -or a little drunk- because he really thought he was applying for a dance club. When he receives a call from his friend Byounggon thanking him for joining the club, he’s stupefied, but how can he turn down his best friend when he’s beyond excited? That’s why he decides to give it a chance, yeah, that’s the only reason, nothing else… Right?

7. Park Jihoon

He doesn’t know why the leader of his dance club has sent him -out of all the members of his club- to go undercover into another club. It’s stupid, there aren’t a lot of members in the theatre club, there’s no way they can beat them up, they will remain being “the kings of high school”. But, how can they be the kings if the ambient on the inside is as toxic?

8. Noa Kazama

Moving from another country is difficult. It’s a new life, a new world, with new people, a new opportunity to start all over. Such a shame that all he can see is the negative side. Overall when the people he has met are everything but nice, and he doesn’t know how to make more friends. He doesn’t even want to think about that stupid theater club his parents want him to join. All he can do is to pray for this school year to go by rapidly and come back to Japan once it’s done.

9. Kim Kunkyu

He’s not a loser. He has to remind himself that when he hears his parents talking about how his son wanted to dedicate his life to something as useless as the arts. He wants to sing, to dance, to act, to draw -even if he sucks at it-, because that’s what makes him feel alive. But he won’t give up easily, he’ll prove his parents and their parent’s friends how talented he is and how much he deserves their respect.

10. Kim Doyoung

Doyoung got there thanks to Yedam. He was somehow afraid of losing his best friend and, when he offered Doyoung to join him doing something cool he didn’t even hesitate. Now that he finds himself in a theatre club when he has no abilities to act, he regrets his life’s choices. But well, he thinks he can always help that short boy who thinks the ideas for the club with writing the script.

11. Bang Yedam

Yedam is good at everything, everybody knows it. He’s the straight A’s student, never misses a single class, joins every single club, can sing with the sweetest voice, can learn a dance in less than thirty minutes. He has a good heart and you just know you can count on him, that’s why he’s considered “the popular one”. However, nobody has ever seen him acting, and everyone wonders why he seems to freeze when he sees a play.

[leejeongz]

nsfw a-z BX (cix)

🔅requested by: @bruisedbananas thanks 👀a whole lot👀 for requesting this hehe🔅

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

super fucking snuggly and happy. he takes great care when cleaning everywhere not to neglect you too, so he often innocently showers with you (even if it’s annoying that you can’t both get water at the same time) and takes the sheets off the bed when you’re doing your night routine. he thinks sharing water is a romantic activity (in a jokey but also not jokey kind of way) so that’s always a thing too.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

on you, he likes your jawline and ears (is this just me being hopeful?) did you guys see that dance video thingy where he went straight for seunghun’s ear to kiss it 👀🤚🏼. this man loveeessss kissing and biting your ears and seeing the effect it has on you.

on him, he loves his eyes/eyebrows. they’re so expressive and let you know EXACTLY what he wants. he might get a little shy telling you, but he knows that you know just from looking into his eyes. he loves that they have that effect on everyone xo.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

anything that will make a mess. doesn’t really want to finish inside you unless you fully agree to it and you’ve spoken about it. he feels it’s much safer and a lot more satisfying to cum on your face or on your back. he likes that way it looks, when he looks at it, it’s a reminder of how he felt and usually makes him wanna go for another round straight after.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

he prefers getting head to actual vaginal or anal sex. not that he’s selfish, he will always pleasure you. he just prefers the way it feels, the way you look, the eye contact brings him closer to the edge than eye contact during “actual” sex. god he just loves wet sloppy head and fucking your pretty little face until you ✨cry✨.

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

i think he’s had 1 or 2 partners but he’s not all that experienced. like he maybe did it once with each one. but he receives head every week because he can- he knows what to do when you suck him off lol.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

he likes doggy but nothing will ever, EVER beat good old missionary. he likes “accidentally” leaving his chain on and watching it hit you as he fucks you. wow he’s so kind. in this position, he can also give you as much attention as you wish and has easy access to all of you.

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

i wouldn’t say humorous but definitely smiley. he loves you, he loves doing naughty things with you, he loves making you his, of course he’s gonna be happy.

when he’s in one of his super horny moods though… an expression change is very unlikely, let alone a positive, happy, smiley one.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

tends to just leave it and just go natural. sometimes he’ll shave completely but he doesn’t really like it.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

it depends entirely on his mood. most sex is sloppy and sleepy but romantic and soft, with lots of praise and “i love you”s thrown around.

some sex is distant, with very little care for romance or softness. this is quite rare, but when it happens it’s very intense and unforgettable.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

probably does this quite frequently to relieve stress and just idk escape? usually does it at night when everyone else is asleep because he can get a little 🤫groany🤫 but like… in a good way.

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

bdsm- knife play- i explained this a little more in the “risk” part but he lovesss the vulnerability this creates. the trust you’ve given him to do this makes him feel more connected to you romantically too. i mention this in the “volume” part but he likes to say nothing during knife play, behaving a little crazy just for your fantasy.

praise (giving)- when he’s in one of his soft moods, he loves to tell you how good you’re making him feel. his favourite thing to tell you is “there’s no one better at x than you”. he wants to make you feel like it’s all worth it and that he’s never going to leave you because you’re so good (but not in a manipulative way, like he’s serious about it).

gagging 👅- he gets off to you gagging on his dick because it really brings it home that he’s THAT big. he also likes makes you suck on his fingers, especially while he’s fucking you, so sometimes they accidentally (on purpose) go a little too far down and would you look at that, you’re gagging again.

maybe also daddy kink 👉🏼👈🏼 but he doesn’t wanna be basic so he never lets on.

urophilia- ok don’t hate me bc i wrote this (bc we do not kink shame in this house) but i do think 😳 he’d be more than down for showering you in his piss. of course this has to be something you’re into and comes into play only when you’ve discussed it a whole bunch and when you’re both in the mood to do it. he’s not just gonna piss on you for funsies.

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

at the dorms in his shared ;) room. maybe you’ll get caught, maybe you won’t 🤷🏻‍♀️. he likes both of you being comfortable too so somewhere like his bed is preferable (he won’t use their beds tho that’s not his style)

also likes public toilets but only clean ones lol bc dirty ones can really dampen the mood. restaurant toilets 👀👀 after you’ve put your hand on his crotch 👀👀 after HE put his hand on your thigh when he knew you were horny even before you left the house 👀👀

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

pretty much everything. you could do something completely innocent and he’d be like “what are you doing? are you doing that on purpose?” and ur like no i’m just ?? washing the dishes. but he’s too turned on by this point to care about your response anyway. most likely in these instances, if you’re not up for it, he can contain himself or takes it elsewhere to deal with it alone

when you lick your lips or bite them… that’s the thing that gets him going the most. in that moment, he just wants to feel your lips wrapped around him until he busts all over your face.

he also gets really turned on when you laugh and smile at him but he’s yet to work out if that’s a sexual thing or not

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

i said he likes gagging you with his dick and his fingers but he would never take is as far as making you throw up. a real big turn off, even if he’s never experienced it he knows he doesn’t like it. of course he’d help clean up if it did happen (if he could stomach it) but he’d never do it on purpose and all sexual activity would stop there for the time being.

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

as i said before he likes nothing more than being sucked off. he likes putting his hand under your chin or the back of your head and forcing your head down further. he’s quite verbal when his dick is getting sucked but he’s sick of telling you to look at him so he makes you look at him by putting his hands on either side of your head and tilting it up occasionally.

his skills with his tongue are no fucking joke. he could be down there for just 30 seconds sometimes and you’ve already cum over his face. it makes him super happy when you get giggly and excited when he goes to eat you out.

he understands that some people don’t really like to receive, so he’ll only do it if you want him to, but after he’s finished you’ll be wanting him to go back down on you again and again.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

i think he would be quite sloppy ngl. so he doesn’t really have a set pace, just a happy medium for himself. he can get quite rough when he’s not tired, especially when he’s about to cum.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

he likes the risk factor of a quickie in say public toilets for example, but the quickie itself doesn’t really do much for him. unless of course, you’ve teased him enough to only last those few minutes (but the teasing is more likely to be the other way around wink wink)

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

with the right person, yes. he doesn’t want you to feel obligated to accept whatever he wants to do so he doesn’t experiment that much, but he’d like to. i think he’d like to bring bdsm into the bedroom but only if you’re 100% okay with it.

talking to eve makes me think he likes knives YOU SEE WHAT YOUVE DONE TO ME?! like he’d love to show you the blunt knife, blindfold you, and then gently drag it across your skin. of course this would take a lot of practice to perfect but he thinks it would be worth it for you if you get stimulated by knives.

he kinda likes the idea of getting caught too. like if it actually happened he’d probably be mortified but the possibility of one of the other members walking in on him fucking you ugh he loves it. kinda thinks he could teach people how to fuck you right if they ever caught you too but is NOT prepared for that to happen lmao. also not prepared to share you either :)

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

2 rounds. he gets turned on thinking back on what just happened and wants it again almost immediately. byounggon sex god me thinks. like no other man hehe.

although he doesn’t last too long the second time. his stamina is probably cut by 5 minutes and there is far less foreplay involved.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

not really a fan of toys. would much rather see you get off to him and him alone. i lowkey think he would get jealous if you used a toy lol. would go to the extent of hiding all your toys and acting oblivious when you couldn’t find them. “oh well, i’ll guess you’ll just have to use this instead”

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

a whole lot. A WHOLE LOT. and he realises it. like i said, his eyes do all the talking, even if he is teasing you, you know what’s about to happen anyway. he’s probably gonna toy with you and tease you even before foreplay, just so you beg for even the slightest touch. he’s got you wrapped around his little finger, but it’s only fair since you have him wrapped around your little finger.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

he’s actually not too loud, except for when he cums. at that point, he’s groaning and almost whimpering. sometimes he does it as a warning to make you stop sucking his dick because he doesn’t wanna drag your head away when your mouth feels so good.

during intense sessions, he’s silent during sex. both you and him agree that it adds to this “crazy guy” persona that he takes on and it stimulates you both a lot. you being the only one moaning can make you feel a little insecure, a little vulnerable, and it’s something you both enjoy in the moment.

for less intense sessions, he will sprinkle a little bit of dirty talk and praise because ur doing good and he wants you to know that he likes what you’re doing.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

he leaned down a little, his length naturally coming out of your mouth.

“kiss me” he growled. you sat up a little, lips meeting his for the nth time that night. he pulled away abruptly and replaced his lips with his dick once again.

“open” he pried your mouth open with the tip and looked down at you in admiration. “how much are you gonna take this time?” he asked, smirking.

“all of it” you managed to muffle out.

you felt his hand come to your chin, firmly grabbing it and forcing your head down further. he always tells you he’s going to be gentle, but the only gentle thing you can feel in his thumb stroking your cheek absentmindedly. you’re afraid to mention it in case it stops.

“i’d like to see you try” he responded between subtle groans.

you’d been trying for a few minutes, yet you could only take half, and by now he could see it wasn’t working, time for a new method. he pulled away from your mouth and hinted that you should lie on the bed, which you did so immediately.

“turn over” he demanded “and have your head over this side” you patted the edge of the bed. you lay on your back, head dangling over the side, waiting for him.

“you might cry” he warned, before attempting to put the entirety of his dick down your throat. you gagged and he backed away, pleased with himself.

“again” he warned, repeating the action. “you’re taking my cock so well”. he’d done it, you’d taken it all, multiple times. he quickened his pace, your throat already feeling sore.

soon, he completely forgot about warning you, you were too dazed to register it anyway. there was spit all over your face, all over the bed surrounding you, all over him, who was a few seconds away from cumming. he managed to pull away from your mouth in time, releasing his cum all over your naked upper half.

“look at the mess here” he groaned “you’re such a naughty little girl” he said while making his way around the bed, getting ready to give you the best treatment you’d ever receive.

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

👀 okay so first of all he’s in cix soooo we all know that they’re ALL blessed.

i think he’d be just a little over average length but girthy as FUCK. he likes using the phrase “stretch you out” because he knows his dick is phat lol.

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

when he’s with you, his brain doesn’t immediately go to sex, but he is constantly horny (like most people let’s be real). he’s down to do it when ever you are, it’s less about when he wants it and more about when he can have it (do u get me i feel like that was v broad lol)

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

he REALLY wants to stay awake and cuddle with you but he’s tired. like super tired. as soon as his head hits the pillow he’s out like a light.

i'd just like to clarify that i think he can switch between hard dom and soft dom, that’s why there’s not one real heavy focus in this (not that there always has to be roles anyway ofc). but either way he’s definitely a dom and he’s almost always one for dom/sub sex (wth is the phrase for that omfg)