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saebyeog-i · 4 years

Text

a formal occasion | pcy (m)

“He could probably hear your muttering but not any specific words, so you waved your hands subtly in an attempt to reassure him that everything was fine, nothing unusual was happening, and your boyfriend definitely wasn’t talking about sex while seated in the third row pew of a church.”

genre | established relationship idolverse au, romance-ish?, softer than I intended this to be, half fluff/half smut, my attempt at humor, a mostly unedited one shot

warnings | uhhh inappropriate whispering during church, mentions of drinking and celebratory tequila shots, under the dinner table fingering does that count as exhibitionism, dirty talk on the dance floor, semi-public sex, I’m a slut for PCY in a suit (a soft, overly romantic and emotional slut, but a slut nonetheless).

word count | this is 6.66k because i’m going to hell

pairing | PCY x f!reader

—

“I wonder if they fucked in the last week,” he whispers in your ear, leaning over from his place next to you in the pew.

Your eyes bugged out, pupils the size of saucers as your brain caught up and processed. Did you hear him right? Did he actually just ask that? “Oh my god,” you muttered, not wanting to cause a scene or feed into his poorly timed query.

“The dress is really pretty, she looks good, though the white’s not really accurate given… you know,” he gestured his hands vaguely in front of him, low enough that only you could see. “Now that I think about it, I can’t even count the number of times he bailed on plans with me or the guys to go hang out with her in the last six months. But I guess now we know it wasn’t just hanging out as much as it was—”

“Chanyeol!” You hiss, eyes darting around to see if anyone heard him.

“What?” He jeers back in a hushed tone, “It’s not like it’s a secret— ow!”

Were this a conversation the two of you were having in private (namely, in your own apartment or bed), then maybe your reaction would be different other than you reaching under his suit coat and pinching the flesh of his oblique muscles harshly between your thumb and forefinger. But it wasn’t in private— you were in public, in a church no less, at Jongdae’s wedding.

“Shut. Up. Now,” you muttered lowly through gritted teeth. They were only on the first reading, so there was roughly another half hour before the ceremony would end, depending on how long each subsequent reading and the vows would take. Even if his mind was wandering somewhere slightly inappropriate, you were grateful that despite being a groomsman you were able to be seated next to your boyfriend for the duration of the ceremony. Chanyeol knew you well enough by now to know that you really didn’t like just being an accessory if you accompanied him somewhere specifically as his date. Maybe it was selfish, but truthfully it was more because you barely got to spend time with him as it was with his busy schedule, but you preferred when he could stay by your side like this.

You knew most of the boys’ partners, and you all got along well. Hell, it was even you and Jongae’s soon to be wife who had the idea for all of you to get together when the boys were on tour last and have a good ol’ fashioned ‘girls night’, whatever that meant. (Wine. It meant entirely too much wine and an hour of promising you were going to take turns cooking different snacking foods only to end up ordering delivery. Though instead of sappy romantic comedies, the lot of you watched some zombie apocalypse movies and a few comedy specials. All in all, a good night.)

Even though you’d been together for almost two years, you still felt slightly anxious any time you accompanied him to an event, public or private. Publicly, you were just among the throngs of ‘Guests of EXO’, usually not getting to spend any time close to him. Privately, however, you were able to be glued to his side— not that Chanyeol would have it any other way. You were more on the introverted side of the spectrum, and sometimes having such an extrovert for a boyfriend was downright exhausting. But he’d been so excited to bring you along to the wedding, saying that it was the first big happy life milestone for a member of the group, and he wanted you to be a part of it.

It didn’t take too long for him to convince you, either. Once it became clear how far their management would go to protect the details of the event and keep as much of it as private as possible, you felt more at ease about joining him. You had your fair share of qualms about the label, of which Chanyeol was well aware (let’s just say you didn’t have the tightest lips when you’d been drinking), but so far today was handled better than you’d expected.

“Seriously though—” he whispered, tilting his head towards you again.

“Zip. It. We are in a church,” you shot back, locking eyes with him. On his other side, you could see Junmyeon leaning slightly forward, eyebrows raised and giving you both a questioning look. He could probably hear your muttering but not any specific words, so you waved your hands subtly in an attempt to reassure him that everything was fine, nothing unusual was happening, and your boyfriend definitely wasn’t talking about sex while seated in the third row pew of a church.

Said boyfriend held his hands up defensively, shoulders shrugging as he muttered under his breath “I’m just saying what everyone else is thinking! Everyone knows you can still have sex while you’re earlier on in a pregnancy—”

“Yeol!”

⬷ ❤ ⤐

Miraculously, you made it through the remainder of the ceremony without any mishaps and Chanyeol keeping any additional commentary to himself. The reception was held at a lovely partially outdoor venue with a garden and a large white tent, with plenty of room for dancing socializing. The number of invited guests was more than you’d anticipated, but then again, you guessed that Jongdae was a popular guy. You were seated at the head table with the rest of the bridal party, nursing a vodka soda while you watched the bridesmaids and groomsmen give their speeches.

And then it was time for the first dance of the newlywed couple.

Of course there was live music at this event— why wouldn’t there be? When the groom was a member of the nation’s boy group, it would have been near criminal not to have some nod to his livelihood. Chanyeol had been beaming with pride when he and Baekhyun had been asked to perform for their first dance, insisting that it was always their first choice, and not just because Kyungsoo was only able to get off base the day of the ceremony for leave from his enlistment and wouldn’t be able to rehearse at all. He also definitely didn’t count this as ‘sweet retribution’ for the tiny grudge he definitely didn’t still hold over his sister and the fact that Yoora had asked Kyungsoo to sing at her wedding for her first dance instead of him.

Watching Chanyeol perform on stage with the rest of his members or for his subunit with Sehun was always a treat, but there was something markedly special about watching him perform like this: playing an instrument, this time an acoustic guitar, side by side with Baekhyun on a pair of barstools. They were playing some love song you recognized but didn’t know the words to, and Baekhyun’s voice was doing a beautiful justice to the song. Every now and again, Chanyeol would lean forward into the mic angled in front of him and harmonize. They’d only rehearsed this a handful of times, what with busy schedules and each of them working on preparations for comebacks soon, but it still sounded heavenly to you. You watched appreciatively, even taking a moment to look around at the guests to see a number of cell phones out to film them.

For a while, it was if Chanyeol was in his own world that was just him, Baekhyun, Jongdae, and his now wife. But as the song approached its end, his eyes fluttered open and his gaze drifted to where you sat. You’d seen him through a plethora of different hair styles and colors in the time you’d been together, and while you loved his natural black hair, a different part of you was fond of the bleached blond hair he was currently sporting for filming a comeback music video. You smiled shyly, looking down at your glass for a moment before back up at him, the alcohol and the long day swirling together to make you feel just a little bit warm. He was the self proclaimed romantic of the group, the one who cried the most, and the one who talked about his feelings the most. Despite his stature and his sometimes intimidating persona when on stage, he was no more ferocious than a teddy bear, and you loved him all the more for it.

By the time the song had finished and he and Baekhyun had made their own rounds with the guests who wanted to say hello, compliment their performance, or ask for the occasional photo, you’d gotten just a little bit sleepy. You were chatting with Jongin, asking how his recent tour and promotions were going, and he was telling stories of their recent show in Paris and how it was very different from the last time he’d been when you felt a pressure on the top of your head.

“Can I help you? You’re going to ruin my hair.” You didn’t need any indication of who was leaning almost their entire bodyweight on top of you. He was getting restless, so of course he was getting clingy.

“Was I good? Tell me I was good. You liked it right? Gosh, I know I’m so talented and so handsome, you’re really lucky to have a boyfriend like me,” he went on and on, fishing for praise and you rolled your eyes, looking to Jongin for some kind of aid. He only laughed, holding up his phone to snap a photo before firing it off into some group chat or another. You made a mental note to file this moment away for reference if there ever came a future time when Jongin would make pleading eyes for you to come to his rescue as he had so kindly failed to do for you just now.

You whined as Chanyeol leaned further forward, going deadweight on top of you at your lack of response. “Yah! Too heavy, you’re gonna crush me!” Of course he started to laugh, and of course he relented finally, pulling out the chair next to you and settling down. He flipped over his phone which he’d left on the table and began scrolling through his unread notifications, left hand reaching over to rest on your knee but his focus staying on his screen, so you turned back to the others to continue polite conversation.

Chanyeol was a very physical person. He was very touchy feely. But he wasn’t exactly big on PDA, unless you were in trustworthy company. It was not unusual for him to keep a hand on your arm, your leg, your waist, even if his attention was focused elsewhere when you were in such company. It was a slightly possessive habit of his, but not one you minded all that much. It was comforting, really, a reminder that he was still right there.

You never really minded it all that much until, that is, you felt that slightly possessive hand snake its way under the skirt of your dress via the slit on your right leg and up your thigh. You were mid sentence answering a question from Yixing about your most recent vacation when you felt Chanyeol’s fingers making their way under the fabric of your underwear and drawing circles on your hip bone. That was all fine and dandy, until a moment later when you felt his hand reach further over towards your core and then the pad of his thumb rub two harsh circles over your clit in quick succession, causing you to inhale sharply at the sensation and choke on whatever unimportant words were coming out of your mouth at that moment. You were definitely more awake now than you were five minutes ago.

“Babe? You okay?” He had the audacity of asking you, feigned concern spread across his face.

You grimaced and nodded, inching your chair forward slightly so your lap was covered by more of the tablecloth. Chanyeol’s fingers retreated to your hip bone. “Mmm. Just uh, a cramp, that’s all,” you turned back to Yixing with a smile and finished your earlier sentence as your phone buzzed on the table in front of you.

Quickly, you pulled it into your lap to read the message.

찬열 20:04 I thought your period was last week?

You really never should have given him shared access to the health app data on your phone where you tracked your cycle. Seriously. But he had asked, insisted even, saying that he wanted to be aware so he couldn’t know when you needed a restock on tampons, or maybe when having some extra dark chocolate lying around the house would be appreciated.

20:06 It was, you’re just a monster and it was the first excuse I could think of.

찬열 20:07 But if you really didn’t like it, you’d tell me to stop, wouldn’t you?

You shot him a dirty look and had half a thought to step on his toes with the heel of your shoe under the table. As if he could read your mind and your intentions, he retaliated preemptively by slipping two fingers back under the fabric of your panties and between your folds. You bit down on the inside of your mouth, hard, unwilling to be caught by any of the people surrounding you.

But he was right. You didn’t really want him to stop. If you were being honest, you’d been just a little bit horny all day— something about everyone dressed up all dapper, specifically Chanyeol in a suit with his hair styled up on the top like it was now. You felt the slightest hesitation in the movements of Chanyeol’s hand, and you knew it was in slight surprise to the amount of moisture he found. Eyes still focused on his phone screen, his fingers found their way inside of you and curled as he gave two drawn out pumps, placing pressure right where you felt it the most.

찬열 20:11 You’re so wet… have you been thinking about this all night? Fuck, you’re dirty

20:12 Shut up shut up shut UP Just fucking do me or don’t or I swear to god, Yeol

찬열 20:13 Oh okay, I’ll stop

“No,” you hissed out, a hand grabbing his wrist and stopping him from removing his fingers from inside of you. If he was going to tease you this much, he was going to finish the damn job. Across the table from you, you saw Minseok raise his eyebrows curiously at you while sipping on his glass of red wine. Like Kyungsoo, he’d also only been able to take leave from his enlistment for a single night, and it would be the only night he’d get for months yet to come, but he’d even said there was no way he was going to miss this.

The conversation around you resumed, and you politely remained as engaged as you could while your boyfriend was knuckle deep inside of you. and nodding when appropriate. You sighed out and relaxed against the back of your chair, inching your hips forward and meeting his fingers on a thrust inward as Chanyeol quietly and lazily fucked you with his hand. He was mostly just teasing you, lightly stoking the flame in the pit of your belly, keeping your desire going but never satisfying it. It was like he was timing his movement, his slender and well trained fingers never paying enough attention to any one part of your center to actually put you over the edge.

You could feel the crown of your head becoming damp with sweat. God, was he really able to work you up this much in public? Did you have a thing for exhibitionism? Did he? You’d never spoken about that as a potential kink together, but maybe based on your body’s reaction to current events it warranted a conversation later—

“Shit,” you coughed out quietly after one particularly hard thrust of his fingers and a rub on your clit almost sent you spiraling. Did Minseok just snicker? No, no way, he was talking to Junmyeon and his date, he wasn’t paying attention to you and Chanyeol. Involuntarily your walls clenched around him and you leaned forward covering your mouth with your napkin, trying to hold in a moan as you tapped out another message.

20:26 Could you PLEASE stop edging me and either make me cum or get your hand out of my pants while the rest of your friends are five feet away?

찬열 20:29 Mmmm you know I was thinking about it But now that you say it like that, no. Maybe if you asked nicely.

20:30 Fuck you I said ‘please’

찬열 20:32 Is that a threat or a promise?

Before you could even muse a comeback let alone type one out, Chanyeol quickens his pace, and one, two, three brushes against your clit and you’re tumbling over the edge. It was by far not the strongest you’d ever orgasmed on Chanyeol’s hand, and honestly you were grateful— it made it possible for you to (you thought) remain calm, demurely raise your water glass to your lips, and take a long drink while your eyes fluttered closed and he worked you through the waves, like a slow undulation washing over your body in warmth.

Were you not actively in the middle of dozens of people, you would have half expected him to bring his fingers to his mouth and suck the cum off of them. You fantasized briefly about him doing it anyways, pinching the top of your thigh to snap out of the post-orgasm daze and remind yourself of your surroundings. Calmly, he wiped his hands on the napkin in his lap before glancing your way with a smile plastered on his face and planting a tender kiss on your cheek.

“What was that for?” You asked, your voice breathier than you’d intended. Even if it wasn’t that strong, the high mixed with the alcohol had you dizzy, drunk on wine and his affection and you thought again how good he looked in that suit.

“Nothing,” he grinned even wider, “I just love you, that’s all.”

You let out a sharp laugh, flicking your eyebrows up critically as you began thinking of ways to get back at him later.

Junmyeon’s eyebrows furrowed as he called your name and asked, “Have you had enough to eat? You look a little flushed. Too much to drink maybe?” He offered hesitantly, ever the one to be caring and concerned.

Minseok rolled his eyes and snorted. “Sure, that’s all she’s had tonight.”

“What?” The leader asked, not quite catching on.

“Ah Myeonnie, I’ll tell you when you’re older,” Minseok mused, leaning back into his chair with a cheshire grin as he drank from his glass some more.

You were, of course, nothing short of mortified.

⬷ ❤ ⤐

The following hours passed and slowly, guests began drifting away, and the crowd reduced down to only a few dozen attendees as the clock neared midnight. You had finally gotten to see Jongdae and his now-wife and congratulate them on their marriage, and on the beautiful ceremony and how much fun the party was. You’d lost count of the number of drinks you’d had, and Chanyeol had stopped his intake an hour or so ago in order to sober up and drive home, only remembering that somewhere before that Yixing had convinced everyone to do two rounds of tequila shots together. One because they were all together again for the first time in ages as he lamented that only Jongdae could reunite the family, and two when he realized that the bride was unable to join in the celebration. “We all have to drink for her because she can’t!” He’d jeered to the group, immediately waving for one of the bartenders to supply the second round. You’d giggled at his antics, but no one objected as the glasses were refilled and lime wedges passed around again.

The music had switched to a DJ at this point, and after a long stretch of high energy popular dance songs to which you heard the drunken clamor of main vocalists croon humorously off-key to, the last few had been softer, quieter slow songs. You’d finally relented and taken your shoes off, feet aching after the last several hours, and were currently swaying side to side in a lazy slow dance with your arms draped around Chanyeol’s shoulders, face halfway buried in his chest. To avoid the chances of him accidentally stepping on your bare toes, you were balancing with the bridges of your feet over his dress shoes. You’d done this a few times before, always feeling a little shy about it, worrying that you were too heavy. And yet, every time, he’d insist that no, it was fine, with a kiss on your lips or your cheek or the corner of your eye. He rather liked you relying on him like this.

It was so rare that you got to spend an entire day with him like this, surrounded by friends and chosen family. Despite how anxious you’d been earlier about this day, you felt yourself falling more in love with him as you looked into each other’s eyes. Usually a comfortable silence would be appreciated, but there was a glint in his gaze and you were compelled to ask him what he was thinking about.

“Just thinking,” he murmured into your ear, “Of when it might be our turn.”

The way your hands suddenly tightened around his was something you couldn’t help. “Cut it out, seriously Yeol. Stop teasing me, I thought you’d have had your fill with earlier,” You had to look away, pressing your forehead into his chest shyly as you thought of how you’d quietly excused yourself to go to the restroom and clean yourself up from his ‘handiwork’ under the table.

“You know I can never have enough of you,” he murmured in earnest. “I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off of you, you know.” Your ears burned at the whispers. “Really though— pregnant with my child or not, if someone told me I had to go a whole week without feeling your sweet cunt, I don’t think I could do it.”

You clenched your thighs together, the ache from earlier returning full force.

“You’ve done it before, you could do it again. What are you, some kinda sex addict all of a sudden?” you mused, thinking back to the times he went on tour and you were left settling for breathy moans through phone calls at odd hours due to time differences and insane schedules. The heat inside you began building again, thinking of the frantic reunions that always followed those long stretches without one another.

Chanyeol’s laugh was lodged deep in his chest, and you felt the vibrations as you kept yourself pressed against him. “The less of that the better. Being inside you feels too good to willingly deprive myself of that.”

Your cheeks flushed once more. What was up with him today and the sex talk in public? This time wasn’t so bad, considering between the music and the distance from the people still gathered your conversation felt somewhat private—at least, more private than when you were seated in church pews. Clearly he was horny given this evening’s earlier events, but you didn’t think it was this much.

You continued to sway together in relative silence while Chanyeol began to hum absentmindedly to the song playing, one you recognized as the group’s own. And then you had a thought, and you were feeling bold, and so you gave the thought life and leaned forward to whisper in his ear.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you had a thing for weddings and formal events.”

His grip on your waist tightened.

“I’d think maybe, you get off on dressing up all nice, the whole wine and dine, everyone seeing you look so good,” you paused, mulling over the next thought briefly before continuing, “Though we already know you get off on the attention. That must be why every time you come home from performing you can’t wait to slam my back to the mattress and fuck me into next week, huh?” You teased, rocking your hips forward just enough to press against the front of his dress pants.

In doing so, you weren’t disappointed. Your thought was, more or less, correct. You rocked your hips forward subtly once more, relishing in the feeling of his growing hard on against you. “You just can’t stop thinking about pulling me into the nearest closet or bathroom and getting balls deep in me, can you?” This, you thought as your boldness grew, was payback for earlier.

He pushed away from you suddenly, and you backed off of his feet, stumbling. You were about to apologize, thinking you’d gone too far, when he wrapped his hand around your wrist and growled lowly, “We’re leaving. Now.”

You pulled your lips between you teeth in an attempt to stifle the giggles that threatened to erupt through you as you trailed along after him, retrieving your coats and bags from the chairs at the table as he quickly said goodbyes and gave handshakes and half-hearted hugs to anyone he deemed important enough in those two minutes. You grabbed your heels and quickly slipped them back on, not bothering to buckle them as you did you best to keep up with Chanyeol’s long legs whisking you towards the parking lot of the venue.

“I can’t believe you got me hard in the middle of the dance floor,” he said, voice hushed and gravely.

“I can’t believe you fingered me under the table,” you retorted, watching as he fumbled through his pocket with his free hand and retrieved his car keys.

“I still can’t believe you let me,” he laughed in response, clicking twice and listening for where his vehicle was parked. At the sound of the beep, his eyes widened and he began outright running, and you whined at the feeling in your feet as you somehow managed to keep up with him. “God it was so hot, you did so good baby,” he cooed as the two of you reached his car. He released your wrist only to pull you close to him and cup your cheeks in his palms and place a searing needy kiss against you, which you happily returned. “Please,” he whined as he pulled away, “It’s not a bathroom or a closet but please will you please let me fuck you in the back of my car? I don’t wanna wait til we get home.”

You couldn’t even bother keeping up with idea of teasing him because seeing him so hot and bothered in that suit had you feeling needy and willing for anything. You nodded enthusiastically and he sighed in relief, opening the door to the backseat and a hand flying to the zipper of your dress and tugging it down in one go before pushing you inside.

Usually, you made fun of the deeply tinted windows when you rode in his car with him, asking him if he could even see out the windows to drive. Now, however, you were silently grateful for them, because there was no way in which you could fathom waiting until the two of you got home.

Your heels dropped off to the floor of the back seat. His suit coat was thrown tersely over the head rest of the driver’s side. The straps of your dress fell down your arms, and he trailed kisses from your neck to your collar bone to the space between your breasts, hands snaking around to your back and nimbly undoing the clasps on your bra. You reached for his slacks, undoing the belt and buttons and yanking them down less tenderly than he had your dress— maybe that was because you knew he had plenty of pairs, and he knew this dress had been a more expensive splurge for you. His hands gently bunched the fabric of your skirt upward as you raised your hips, pulling the garment off over your torso and attempting to throw it carefully towards the back of the car. You began undoing the buttons on his collared shirt from the bottom and when your hands met in the middle after he’d started at the top, he grabbed hold of them to pull you forward in a another kiss, holding you so tight you would have thought your lungs were the only source of his air.

“Ow! Shit shit shit,” he cried suddenly, having raised his head up too quickly to finish ridding himself of clothes and slamming it against a fixture on the ceiling.

You couldn’t help the laugh you let out. “You okay? We can just go home if it’s too cramped— oh,” your words were cut off with a moan as his fingers found their way back into your center, and you had your answer. The cramped space didn’t matter, the throbbing on the top of his head didn’t matter, the only that that did matter was you and him and how he made you feel.

He caged himself over you, curving his back to dip his head down to reach your neck to bite gently at your skin and leave faint marks in his wake while his fingers continued to work at your clit. You raked your nails down his skin, head falling back and eyes rolling with it as he pushed you higher and higher. “Stop, stop stop— any more and I’ll cum, I wanna cum with you, please,” you begged, forcing your eyes open and taking his hand in yours to remove him from you.

Chanyeol looked to the side of a moment before sighing in defeat. “No condom,” he said sullenly, lips forming an adorably disappointed pout, “We ran out of the extra stash last month, forgot to replace it.”

You thought for a minute, heavy panting filling the silence in the close confines of the car. “Well, I was going to wait for an anniversary or a special occasion to tell you, but… I changed my birth control last month,” you admitted, your unoccupied hand trailing up his abdomen to his chest, “And instead of a pill that I could forget to take, I now have an implant that’s always there, so…” you trailed off, looking up at him and batting your eyelashes in your best attempt at seduction.

Chanyeol let out a deep and guttural groan. “Fuck, fuck please baby does that mean what I think it means?”

There was something about seeing your big strong boyfriend reduced to a whining for you that redoubled your confidence and gave you the willpower to take his hand, still covered in your wetness from just a moment ago, and take his fingers into your mouth and suck them clean. His Adams apple bobbed as he swallowed harshly, eyes watching your lips the whole time.

“It means,” you said lowly after removing his fingers from your mouth with a pop, “That I want you to lay back and let me ride you until you cum inside me.”

Your boyfriend let out a shaky breath, gaping at your bold words and actions. “Fucking hell, I was just gonna say let me eat you out and I’d settle for a hand job but oh my god this is so much better,” his mouth was on yours as he pulled you close again, and you smiled into the kiss as you felt his dick twitch against your thigh.

It wasn’t the first time you’d forgone a condom with Chanyeol, but it wasn’t a frequent occurrence. The only other time you could remember off the top of your head was when he was away on tour, and your work had miraculously sent you on an overseas business trip that landed the two of you in the same city for a night. Between being a few hundred miles from home and the shared need for one another, you both ended up saying you’d just deal with the morning after pill tomorrow.

But none of that was of concern now. Now, you straddled his thighs and pushed him back, taking control of the moment. You kissed him again, slower than before, mapping the insides of his mouth with your tongue. “Ready?” You asked, circling your hips over him, cupping his face in your hands like it was the most precious thing in the world.

“God I love you,” he whispered back, stroking his hands down your sides. Slowly, with as much patience as you could muster, you lowered yourself on to him and felt your neck go limp as you adjusted to the size inside of you, a heady groan finding its way out of you. “Oh my god,” he croaked, bringing his hand to his mouth to bite on his thumb from the overwhelming sense of pleasure he felt. You hated that the thought crossed your mind, but you really could feel him so much more like this. As you purposefully clenched your walls around him once, you wondered if he felt the same. The string of curses that left his mouth answered your question.

“Good?” You asked with mirth, and he nodded feverishly, hands returning to your hips and pulling you forward. You swatted him playfully in response. “Hey, my turn on top, I set the pace,” you teased. It wasn’t often that you were courageous enough to take charge, so you wanted to relish in it as much as you could.

He laughed and pulled his hands back, holding them up defensively. “Your wish is my command, do your worst.”

You laughed out a single breath. ‘Challenge accepted.’ Fully adjusted to his size now, you rolled your hips forward slowly and snapped them back again.

The teasing comments and banter quickly subsided, replaced with only soft exhales and the sound of skin against skin. You could feel your thighs growing tired as you continued to raise and lower yourself on him, trying to stay active and make it as pleasurable for both of you as you could. But it had been a long day, and you were still tipsy, and you almost just wanted to make him come and get it over with so you could go home and fall asleep together.

Almost.

As if he could read your mind, Chanyeol’s open pouting lips curled up into a smile and and thrust up into you, meeting your hips on a movement down that had both of you gasping as the coil of heat in your belly began to bloom. You began rocking back and forth as he laid back more, the new angle reaching deeper and making you see stars.

“M’close, m’so close Yeol,” you moaned out softly. His right hand went down between you and began rubbing on your clit once more, while his other hand clasped yours, threading your fingers together. You held on for dear life, like he was the only thing that could anchor you to this plane of existence.

There was something so strangely intimate about the simple act of holding hands while fucking the love of your life that notched you just high enough to go spiraling over the edge into your orgasm. It washed over you in waves, and Chanyeol kept thrusting up under you, working you through the aftershocks until he came himself, a low throaty groan coming through his lips as you felt his cum paint your walls and his hand finally fell away from your core. You whined at the feeling, collapsing on top of him as a shudder ran down your spine, every inch of your skin overly sensitive like a livewire.

He kept one hand intertwined with yours and took his free one to brush his thumb across your cheek and tuck the stray hairs that had fallen out of place behind your ear. So gentle, so tender, but when you sat up again to plant a kiss at the corner of his mouth, you saw the mischievous glint in his eyes that meant he had something to say. You raised an eyebrow at him, waiting as you continued to try and reclaim steady breathing.

“Is this gonna be an all the time thing now? Because I’m not gonna lie, I might just bust a nut again right now if you tell me this is gonna be an all the time thing.” Even in the moments after sex, he still managed to have entirely too much energy and could talk your ear off. Nothing about the every day moments was ever too serious with Chanyeol. Somehow, there was always a sense of playfulness

You shushed him with another kiss on his lips and laughed. “Don’t nut again but yeah, I guess this can be an all the time thing now.” You knew he was kidding because he wasn’t even hard again inside you. Yet.

“Ahh! Ahh!” Chanyeol began letting out faked moans and fucked his hips up and into you, throwing his head back dramatically and pretending to come once more.

You couldn’t help but snort. “You’re such a dork.”

“Yeah but I’m your dork,” he replied, his finger tapping the tip of your nose playfully.

You pulled your face away, trying to think up some snarky remark to give him shit, and instead could only smile and let out a small laugh under your breath. His palms gently pressed to your lower back, holding you to him as if you’d disappear the moment he let go. Your hands returned to his face, thumbs brushing across his cheeks once more as you leaned in and kissed him again, slower and deeper than before. Everything you’d been through together, every secret meeting and fear of exposure and invasion of privacy, often times it felt like it might be too much— until you had moments with him like this, relishing in the feeling of connectedness and warmth and him.

After a short while of your head pressed to his chest and his hands gently stroking your back, you felt him begin to shift under you and pull out. You whined at the loss of him filling you and the skin to skin contact you craved, thinking for a heartbeat that you could just stay like this with him all night. He laughed softly, laying tender kisses all over as he mumbled apologies for needing to move, something about the side door of the car not being the most comfortable thing to have pressed against his back. He reached into a seat back pocket and fished out some stray napkins, using them to clean up the cum that spilled from you when you shifted off of his lap.

As the two of you redressed lazily and only enough to feign a sense of public decency and you crawled your way into the front passenger seat, you let out a yawn.

“Mmm see? Now we can go home and cuddle in bed,” he teased, ambling his way into the driver’s seat and buckling up as he pressed the ignition on the vehicle. Soft music filtered through the speakers, demos of his own work that he only let you listen to while they were still rough, and you felt overwhelmingly at ease with him.

With your head resting on your hand as you stared out the window at the Seoul city skyline, you felt a sense of calm settling over you, daydreaming of the softness of your shared bed that was waiting for you to collapse into it as soon as you got home. You could see from your peripheral Chanyeol’s gaze flicking over to you and then back to the road ahead as he came to a stop at a red light. “Hmm?” you mumbled, wondering if something was wrong for a moment as you shifted your gaze over to him.

“Okay, but seriously, how many times do you think they had sex today?”

“Chanyeol!”

—

author’s note | sksksksks oh my god this was so bad I am so sorry I just could NOT let go of this idea please don’t hate me I drank an entire bottle of soju and watched a supercut of the EXO section of the 2019 SM Town concert in Japan when OT6 performed in those fucking suits and then I wrote the first draft of this, sue me. Yeol really is just a big puppy that can’t let go of a question or an idea once it crosses his mind. my smut is always gonna be this kind of soft unless I’m feeling extra angsty just so you know

#chanyeol #chanyeol fanfic #chanyeol smut #chanyeol x reader #pcy x reader #exo fanfic #exo smut #exo oneshot #chanyeol oneshot #exo x reader #swamp witch writes #i'm only finally posting this because i'm tired of working on it even tho i kinda hate it whatever #sometimes i think i'm funny #this is mildly inspired by the time i distracted the parents of the brides for 40min #so that they could go fuck in a closet after they were officially married #i make a great bridesmaid lemme tell you

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nct-bliss · 4 years

Text

Feels like Home

NCT Female Subunit AU

OT6 x NCT 127

Just before their debut in 2017, BLISS is moving into a new dorm with help from the oldest members.

(Also note: I changed Dasom’s name to Kayo because I wanted her to have a Japanese name)

“Woah~! Look at this place!” Yunhee squealed, holding out her phone’s camera above her as she twirled. “It’s amazing!”

“Yah, put that away and help,” Doyoung scolded lightly with a laugh. “You can vlog later.”

“Right, right, sorry, Oppa,” She giggled, pocketing her phone. She moved to join him behind the kitchen counter where he was organizing dishes, cutlery, and other things that belonged there. “I’m just so excited!”

“Same!” Minji chimed in, entering with a medium-sized duffle in her arms. “I just still can’t believe we’re debuting soon.”

Johnny followed her, carrying a rather large box. “Is that easier to believe than the fact that you’re joining a boy group?” He joked.

The girls laughed. “Honestly yeah.”

Aria came in, yawning as she stretched her arms. “I’m just happy that we’re not in that tiny ass dorm anymore,” She admitted.

“Sharing a room with so many people,” Minji sighed.

“Fighting for the bathroom with 10 girls everyday,” Yunhee added.

Doyoung laughed, reaching around Yunhee to place a pile of plates into the top cupboard. “Well, now you just have to fight amongst each other.”

“We’ll brawl every morning,” Aria laughed, jokingly pointing her fingers in a “I see you” way at Yunhee, who squinted.

“Oh, where does this go?” Minji interjected, gesturing at a lone box that sat in the far right corner of the room.

“Uh, I think that’s Jiwoo’s,” Johnny replied.

“Jiwoo!”

Two seconds later, their rapper appeared in the most dramatic look she could have. She was wearing protective gloves, a mask, and a headband over her dark hair. An apron was tied over the front of her outfit.

Jiwoo tugged her mask down. “What’s up?”

The group just stared at her before Aria and Johnny burst into laughter. Then the rest of them joined. “What?” She repeated, chuckling a bit too.

“You’re ridiculous,” Minji giggled. “You do know this is an apartment we’re cleaning, not a warehouse?”

Jiwoo rolled her eyes as their laughter increased even more, Yunhee even doubling over. “I’m just taking safety precautions.”

“Well, you’re the only one...so I think it’s just a you problem,” Johnny snickered.

Just as the words left his mouth, Taeyong came in holding a broom and dressed in attire identical to what Jiwoo was wearing.

“Nevermind,” Johnny muttered, as the girls and Doyoung tried to hold in their laughter.

Taeyong removed his gloves and moved to the sink to wash his hands. “The rooms are all dusted and wiped clean, so we can start bringing stuff in.”

“Yay! Thanks, Oppa!” The girls chorused.

“And Jiwoo,” He added with a laugh.

“Thanks, Jaycee~” They sang teasingly.

Jiwoo groaned, peeling off her own gloves and protective attire before washing her hands. “I hate you three. Where are my sweet, adorable children?”

“They went out with Yuta to get some “important stuff,” Johnny replied. “Probably just some small furniture or something.”

“Honestly, this place came pretty equipped even before we brought stuff in...” Minji trailed off, looking around. “I don’t think we need much more.”

“There’s even a toaster, blender, and rice cooker already,” Yunhee added. “We just need to get groceries.”

“Once again, shout-out to your parents, Ari,” Jiwoo said, plopping down into a seat between her and Johnny on the couch. “That was so sweet of them to get all these appliances and furniture.”

“Yeah, seriously, that was awesome.”

“I hope our thank-you letters were good enough.”

Aria tossed a pillow at Minji. “Of course they were! And really, it’s the least my family could do. They wanted to outright buy us an apartment actually.” She laughed.

“Aww...”

“I’m actually a little jealous,” Doyoung joked. “This dorm is so much nicer than ours.”

“Yah, that’s because we’re girls and need more space,” Jiwoo retorted playfully.

“You guys can live anywhere and make it work,” Aria chimed in. “We need luxury.”

The others burst out laughing while Johnny put an offended hand to his chest. “Wow, what are you trying to say?” He faked sounding hurt.

“I mean...they’re not wrong,” Taeyong laughed, putting both arms around the two girls who smiled. “Excluding me, of course.”

“Oh definitely,” Jiwoo and Aria agreed. “Only Taeyong-oppa is closer to our level.”

“Wow...” Johnny and Doyoung shook their heads in simultaneous disappointment.

The group talked together and finished setting up the kitchen before their other members finally returned.

“We’re home!” Yuta’s voice boomed through the apartment from the front, where they were taking off their shoes.

“This isn’t your home!” Taeyong called back. “And where have you three been?”

As usual, Kayo was the first to approach everyone, quick on her feet. She held out a box of donuts as well as bag filled with other snacks. “We brought back food!”

“What kind?” Yunhee questioned.

“Chicken and tteokbokki?”

She extended a hand. “Give to us.”

She handed it over to them without hesitation, giggling at the way her unnie’s faces lit up at the sight of the bag’s contents.

Their young maknae was the next one to pop in, giving a hug to Taeyong as she greeted everyone shyly, a hat covering her face slightly. “Ah, we’re a bit late because we got lost.”

“Lost..?”

“Yeah, we-”

Yuta then came in, holding what looked like three yoga mats, an ice cream maker, and two other bags. “Wow, the place looks great!” He commented.

“Yeah, no thanks to you,” Doyoung chided in his usual dryly-dramatic manner. He stood up, gesturing at him. “Of course you took them out for fun while we did hard work!”

Bliss tried to hold in their laughter, but once again, could not. An angry Doyoung was really entertaining.

“What did you even get?” Minji asked, peering at the two bags. “Are those...pudding cups?”

“Are you kidding me-”

“It was Kayo’s idea!” Yuta tried to defend himself, putting them down. “I can’t say no to her!”

“Don’t blame me,” Kayo said casually, grabbing a pudding cup.

“No, it’s time to eat.” Taeyong gently took it out of her hands, laughing a little at the pout she gave him.

“Wait, how did you guys get lost again?” Aria asked.

“We took a wrong turn...eight different times.”

“Wha-”

“Listen, all three of us are foreigners!” Kayo exclaimed. “We don’t know anything!”

Johnny ruffled her hair. “Kayo, baby, you can’t pull the foreigner card when you’ve lived and trained here for 3 years.”

She pouted and just leaned her head into the side of his jacket.

“Can we eat now?” Jiwoo begged. “That chicken smells so good.”

“I agree!”

“No, Yuta, you three can eat last,” Doyoung said.

“Why?!”

“For going on a get-away trip instead of cleaning the apartment?” Minji guessed with a laugh.

“Yah, this is unfair treatment,” Kayo complained.

“Lian can get food first, though,” Aria declared.

“What? Why her?!”

“Because she’s the baby and she’s sweet, you menace.”

Lian laughed, watching all her members playfully argue. Kayo was trying to tackle Aria, who was cackling as Yuta held her back, Jiwoo was recording everything while Yunhee took selfies with Johnny and Doyoung was yelling...

“Hey.” A hand gently rested on her head, and she looked up to see Taeyong smiling at her. “What are you thinking?”

She leaned against him, pausing to get a grasp on the Korean words she needed. “I think...this all feels just like home. A new... loud and crazy one. But a home regardless. And I’m happy.”

He beamed. “I’m so glad.”

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emileeknow · 5 years

Text

Infiltration - Part 1

Paring : Reader x Mafia!Doyoung

Genre: Angst + fluff | Words : 5K

Warnings : Mentions of illegal activity (drugs/weapons) Mentions/Descriptions of Violence. Abusive language directed towards reader.

NCT.

The only mafia group that was superior to your own. Your boss was determined to take them down, but they were good, too smart to infiltrate and too large to eliminate completely. They had subunits across the country and there were rumours of them having a team in China.

Your boss Mr Kim, you still didn’t know his actual name, had been trying to find a way to get a man on the inside for months but to no avail. You had also been thinking.

Running a club gave you a surprising amount of time to think. When Mr kim had approved your proposal of a club that multiple gangs could go to, he probably thought you would have a lot more work on your hands, but you didn’t really have that many issues.

The club had been your idea and it serves its purpose. It was ‘supposedly’ independent of all gangs. No one knew it was linked to the gang, not even the gang itself. The dancers you employed and the security staff all answer to you. Nobody except a select few knew who you answered to, so no one suspected you were a member of SVT.

SVT was one of the larger gangs, but only a select few operated undercover in the club. When the other members would come in, they would pretend not to know the undercover team as anyone more than workers there to serve them, as to not arouse the suspicions of the other patrons, who would likely belong to rival gangs.

The dancers were good at their jobs, and you paid them well, made sure to look out for them and in return they told you everything their customers told them. It was amazing what secrets men would spill with the slightest glimpse of skin. You had a large variety of dancers under your control, you could cater to many tastes which is what made your club so popular.

Most of your workers don’t know about the gang, they think that they just have to ‘keep tabs on all the gangs so we can ensure a peaceful business’ which wasn’t technically a lie.

Only you, Seungcheol, Mingyu and Mr Kim knew the clubs real purpose, which is what made it the perfect operation. If no one knew what they were actually doing, they are honest and therefore not suspicious to outsiders.

The club was a place for rival gang members to meet with each other for negotiations, they thought of it as neutral territory, no one suspected that you were watching and feeding information back to one of the largest gangs in the country.

You had to be selective with what you returned to your superior, if the gang started acting on all leads it would become suspicious. The clubs main purpose, was to fund the gang and keep an ear to the ground on other gang business, make sure no one was plotting anything against SVT.

Most of the time the information was just some gun deals or drug imports. Nice to know, but nothing of immense value to the group.

Despite this you were always on the lookout for a lead that would reap big rewards for the gang. Until then you were quite happy for the change of scenery from field missions.

You enjoyed being out in the field, but after your last mission and the toll it took on you physically, you needed time to rest. You had been resting for the past few months and were itching for your net to catch something bigger than a minor drug deal.

That's why, when you were watching the CCTV in your office and saw that three members of NCT had walked in and occupied a table at the back of the club, your eyes glued themselves to the screen.

You knew all of their faces.

After all your entire business was dealing in information. You had done your research on SVT’s main rivals. So there was no doubt in your mind that the men on the screen were Johnny, Jaehyun and Doyoung.

The three were high up in NCT’s rank, not at the top but high enough for them to be worth your time.

You quickly turned on the mic that was hidden in the wall of their booth, eager to listen in on this conversation.

“Don’t look at me like that Doyoung?”

“I don’t see why we had to come here” Doyoung sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. He was looking at the table, his gaze so intense it could burn hole in the center.

“Well, get used to it, if I have to stay in the area for some stupid stakeout, I’m going to stay somewhere I can enjoy myself” Johnny states, relaxing into the soft leather seat.

“We have our own club you can go to whenever you want” Doyoung states.

“Yeah on the other side of the city, this one is not gang controlled so what’s the problem. Anyway you hate our club”

“I hate all clubs” Doyoung rolls his eyes before walking over to the bar.

Jaehyun and Johnny turned their attention to the stage, watching intently as the dancers performed. They didn’t seem to be saying much so you turned your attention to Doyoung who had moved over to sit at the otherwise empty bar. It was like he was trying not to look at any of the women who were parading round with little clothes on. You noted he didn’t seem interested in any of the shirtless waiters either.

When Stephanie was serving him his drink he was looking anywhere but her body.

It was an unusual sight to see. The men that came in here were usually desperate to give the girls their undivided attention but Doyoung looked like he wanted to look anywhere else.

When Stephanie handed him his drink his eyes did not once stray from her face to her chest. She had a beautiful figure, one most men would drool over. Which is why Doyoung’s reluctance to look at it intrigued you.

You knew that he had never been seen to be with a woman, unless he was keeping them hidden from the gang scene. Given the industry you were in it wouldn’t surprise you. Having outsiders you cared about put them in danger.

You knew women threw themselves at him all the time with the intention of sleeping with him, however he would ignore all of them. Maybe he was just traditional or maybe he wasn’t interested in sex, which was why he hated strip clubs like yours.

It got you thinking. Maybe he didn’t like the clubs because the stipulation was that they were abusive to women. The girls were trapped in contracts that forced them to display their bodies for next to none of the money they bring in. You knew NCT’s club worked under that business model. It was the case for most of the clubs in the city, but not yours.

Your girls are free to leave whenever they want and you don’t specify the outfits they wear. While most chose to stick to fancy lingerie sets of bras and panties, some of your girls wore corsets that covered a little more. You wanted them to be comfortable and dance because they wanted to, not because their fathers owed money, or they witnessed the wrong thing.

Although Doyoung didn’t need to know that.

Maybe he was too gentlemanly for his perception of strip clubs, maybe he had a girlfriend hidden away. Or maybe, he just wasn't attracted to women, which was fine but for the plan you were formulating in your mind, you were hoping for the first option. As you put together the puzzle pieces in your mind, it dawned on you that this could be your chance to get close to NCT.

You called Seungcheol into your office.

He was your stand in. To the outside eyes of your patrons he was the one in charge. You usually monitored the night from your office. All your employees knew you were in charge, but you had come to the decision to have Seungcheol be the frontman.

Gang Members were more likely to respect him than they were you. You didn’t exactly look the most intimidating most of the time. Although your skills meant you could be quite deadly if you wished.

When he walked the floor he had a stern look of someone not to be messed with. He was big on security, and quick to jump in if one of the girls was being troubled.

“I have an idea about how to infiltrate NCT” you start once he had shut the door.

“What is it?” He looks intrigued as he goes to sit on the couch in front of your desk.

“Doyoung”

“The guy sat at the bar who has shown no interest in any of the girls?” he laughs “They don’t work on him”

“Exactly” you smile

“I’m confused”

“He sees this place to be the typical club, a seedy place that exploits women into making more money for rich men”

“How does that help seduce him?”

“We aren't going to seduce him. At least not in the conventional way”

“He’ll be suspicious of anyone trying to get close to him.” Seungcheol continued to look at you with a confused expression, unsure of where you could possibly be going with this.

“So we get him to get close to me”

“How?”

“By saving me from this club, after all I am a mere damsel in distress” you pout making your eyes look as big and innocent as possible as if to prove your point. You relax your face before continuing “Nobody here has seen me, they don’t know who I am. I will stay behind the bar and put on an act, even if he’s not looking he will hear what is going on.” You start to think out loud as the plan formulates more clearly in your mind.

“I need you to sell the asshole boss thing. Not all at once though, it needs to be discreet to the rest of the club, since we have regulars in tonight, but obvious to him. He needs to think that I am trapped here against my will. Switch the mic on the bar so that we can keep our stories straight. I heard they are staking out a shop over the road. So we have one, possibly two nights to plant this seed. If he takes the bait we can move from there. ”

“And if he doesn’t bite?”

“Then we haven’t lost anything. He doesn’t know about the gang or that this was a plan, it just meant I was wrong about his whole traditional gentleman vibe”

“Okay” Seungcheol agreed. Not that he had a choice. You were the boss after all.

You walk over to the costume wardrobe pulling out a red and black corset with a small lace skirt attached. The skirt came to above mid thigh but with the girls working tonight you would easily be wearing the most reserved outfit. You walk behind the screen so that Seungcheol couldn’t see you change.

“We need to move now. My character. Shy, insecure about my body but I've been forced to wear this corset that I find too revealing. I have to work behind the bar because we are short staffed. You made me wear the corset to hide my ‘un-appealing to the eye body’. I am usually a cleaner. You took me in because my father was a drug addict and needed the money. He disappeared before he repaid his debts so now i’m stuck here”

You walk around, now dressed in your outfit for the evening. You pull on some tights and some heels and make your way to the door.

“Message the bar ‘code blue’. Stephanie can go home for the day. When Mingyu arrives for his shift tell him he’s acting tonight, get him to come over and order a drink from me, make him be an asshole about it, then he can hang around the front for a bit then leave to monitor the CCTV.”

Seungcheol nods in understanding.

The two of you leave the office and walk downstairs into the private hallway. Seungcheol takes out his phone and sends a message to the till on the bar. All of the staff know the routines and codes. Mingyu had originally assigned more inventive code names but everyone kept getting confused so reluctantly he had opted for the colour system.

You look at the CCTV monitor on the wall. You see Stephanie looking at the screen of the till. She types some stuff in and closes the till up. Then she wipes the counter quickly as to look like she is just about to leave. Finally she naturally leaves the bar.

Doyoung doesn’t notice, not looking up from his phone the entire time. There was no doubt that they were staking out one of the nearby buildings from inside the club. It seemed like Doyoung was the only one doing the actual monitoring, as the other two seemed to have their attention focused elsewhere.

The hallway you were standing in had a door that lead to behind the bar. So you knew that once you opened it he would be able to hear you despite the music that filled the club. It tended to be quieter towards the back of the club where the bar was.

“It’s now or never” Seungcheol nods to you. His hand grips the handle as he opens the door.

“I can’t I’ve never done it before” your voice panicked.

“If I had any other option I wouldn’t put you out there, your figure is hardly going to entice any customers, but we are short and at least behind the bar they can’t see so much of you.” disgust fills his voice.

“Okay” you make your voice small.

You hunch your shoulders over and shuffle out the door to behind the bar. You walk over to the till, being sure not to look up from the floor. Once you reach the till you make sure to push a few buttons that made it look like you didn’t know how to use it properly.

You continued to look at the floor as you held onto the skirt of your corset, trying to pull it down as much as you could.

You could feel Doyoung’s eyes on you,but you didn't look at him.

This could work if you played it right.

“Excuse me” Mingyu’s voice was almost unrecognisable in his condescending tone.

Mingyu liked playing this role, sometimes a little too much. You hoped for the sake of the operation that he didn’t overdo it. He was usually security, but whenever you needed someone to act like an asshole customer, he was your man.

You timidly looked up at him.

“S-sorry what can I get you?” your eyes dart around, making sure not to look him in the eyes.

“Whiskey” he grumbles.

You nod before grabbing a glass with shaking hands and pouring his drink. You can hear the bottle clinking against the glass as your hands trembled, you made sure to spill some on the counter for good measure.

“For Fuck sake” Mingyu groans, rolling his eyes and tapping his fingers against the bar impatiently.

You give him his drink, he hands you the money, which you drop on the floor before hastily picking it up and putting it in the till. Mingyu takes his drink and walks past Doyoung, murmuring something to himself about how the club must be taking in strays of the street nowadays.

You take the cloth from the sink and begin wiping down the counters. You could feel his eyes on you the whole time. You had to choose the right moment to engage with him. This operation depends on it.

“Excuse me” you hear a soft voice. They were the same words but they sounded completely different coming from him. Doyoung’s voice was hesitant, as if you were a small animal that if he spoke too loud, would get frightened and run away.

This plan could work.

Doyoung’s POV

“Excuse me” I say softly

For the first time since she came to the bar she looked at me. Her eyes did nothing to hide her fear.

“Y-yes” she stutters.

“Could I have another glass of wine please?”

She nods her head, grabbing another wine class and pouring me a glass of white wine.

I don’t even like white wine. But I still thanked her once she gave it to me.

“Do you usually work at the bar?”

She shakes her head “I’m a cleaner but we are short staffed tonight, so here I am” she smiles sadly.

She goes back to cleaning the sides, it seemed to comfort her. Her arms were not trembling as much as she ran the cloth over the marble counter. The bar was already spotless but she still kept cleaning.

She kept looking over to the side to one of the corridors with a worried expression. A quick look and I saw the owner leaning against the wall. She was clearly trying to keep herself busy, stacking glasses and cleaning the sides, stopping every so often to adjust her corset and pull her skirt down. She looked as if she could not be more uncomfortable. The sight alone was heartbreaking.

I continued to drink the wine that she had given me. It tasted horrible but I pressed on. She had forgotten to charge me for it anyway.

She didn’t look like she wanted to talk. She looked like she wanted her shift to be over so she could go home and crawl inside a blanket. I kept watching her for a while, completely neglecting the stakeout I was meant to be monitoring. I’m sure Yuta could handle it on his own from the van around the corner

She would serve the customers that came to the bar, which were not many. Most of them were too engrossed in the ‘entertainment’ to bother to get their own drinks. Most of them were civil towards her but were clearly annoyed by her inexperience, shy persona and the fact that her cleavage was not on full display for them to gawk at.

I wonder how she ended up here.

She said she was a cleaner, which certainly isn’t the most glamorous of jobs but judging by how uncomfortable she is in her current attire, it seems she would much prefer to be cleaning the bathroom. She seemed so out of place here. A shy innocent girl stood behind the bar of a strip club.

A loud crash interrupted my thoughts.

“Shit” I hear her curse to herself.

I look over the bar, there is glass everywhere, the remains of several wine glasses, shattered on the floor.

She panickedly looked over to the corridor. Eyes widening as she sees her boss walking towards her at a brisk pace.

“For fuck sake. What do you think you are doing you stupid bitch?” he whisper shouts as he approaches her

“Sorry. I’m so sorry” she apologises frantically to him as he marches around the bar. She flinches away, trying to get as far away as possible from him without causing a scene. “You are so fucking useless. Clean this shit up. You’re paying for the damages.”

“Yes sir. Sorry sir” she bows her head submissively.

The man turns to me “I’m sorry for her incompetence and her appearance. We were desperate for staff tonight. I hope you understand.” he bows his head to me.

Scumbag.

Once he had disappeared. She bent down to start cleaning up the mess.

I don’t know what came over me but before I knew it I was behind the bar helping her pick glass shards off the floor and put them in the bucket.

“You should be careful of your feet” I warn as I notice her heels, they were black and consisted of lots of straps. Her feet were exposed, and the shoes clearly didn’t fit her properly. She was no doubt made to wear them at the last minute.

“You don’t need to help me sir. Cleaning is one thing I can do” she smiles sadly to herself as she grabs a dustpan and begins sweeping up the smaller shards of glass.

“I want to help” I smile. For the first time this evening she looks at my face properly, not a subtle glance then nervously averting her eyes. Instead she looked at me and the fear in her eyes seemed to disappear. Being this close to her, I noticed the soft features of her face. Her smooth skin and her beautiful eyes. She deserved so much better than this shitty place.

“Thank you.”She smiles appreciatively.

“You’re not like the guys the girls tell me stories about” she mutters to herself, focusing on the floor.

“Thank you.”

Her eyes widened as she realised I had heard her. Her expression was cute.

“You’re not like most of the girls here either” I smile.

“I know” she mutters sadly, pulling her skirt down again and attempting to hide her face with her hair and looked towards the floor yet again.

“Hey.” I say to get her attention.

She looks up at me. “I meant it as a compliment” I smile, pushing her hair away from her face. She seemed confused by the action but didn’t shy away from it.

Once the floor was clear I stood up, holding out my hand to help her stand. She took it, stumbling slightly in her heels. I steadied her, letting her go when I was sure she had caught her footing. She backs away from me, going to wash her hands in the sink.

I return to my seat at the bar. Thinking over the previous events.

I wasn’t sure how I was feeling. Women never seem to catch my attention eventhough most of the time it is what they desperately crave. Although this woman seems like she would rather have nobody’s attention, yet she has complete control over mine.

“What is your name?” I find myself asking

“Y/N” she mutters.

“Why do you work here Y/N?”

She sighs “My father was a drug addict. He borrowed money from the owner and couldn’t pay it back. My father left the country to escape his debts. Mr Choi found me and told me I had to work off what my father owed him. He said I could clean since I would deter customers if I were front of house. At least my father only owed money to him and not some gang or something. It could be worse” she says dismissively.

I was about to ask her more questions when another woman walked over to the bar.

“Y/N what are you doing out here?” she asks in concern.

“We were short so I had to cover” she sighs.

“Okay, I’ll take the bar now you can go. I think Mr Choi wants to see you.”

“Ok.Thank you” she hugs the woman, clearly relieved she doesn’t have to stay behind the bar any longer. She leaves the bar and begins to walk reluctantly over to the corridor.

“Y/N wait” I shout. Following her quickly. I caught up to her as she turns to look at me in confusion.

“I want to speak to your boss”

“W-why” she mutters nervously.

“I just need to speak to him”

“Oh, okay” she says nervously leading me to the door on the far end of the corridor.

She knocks gently.

“Come in” I hear his gruff voice from inside.

She timidly pushes the door open, before she can enter I step in front of her. She looks at me in confusion. “Wait here” I enter the room shutting the door behind me.

“Who are you?” the man behind the desk stands up. Clearly surprised to see me.

“I have come to talk about Y/N”

“I am terribly sorry if she has caused you any trouble, rest assured she will be disciplined accordingly”

I scrunch my face up in disgust.

“That is not what I came to talk about”

He looks confused for a second.

“How much does her father owe you?”

“Her remaining total is $20,000. Why?”

“I’m paying it for her”

“What? Why would you do that? I must say she is a frigid bitch. If it’s a woman you’re after I recommend choosing another one” he chuckles.

He barely had time to blink before I was in front of him with my hand around his throat.

“Now you listen here. You will never talk about her in such a way again” I tighten the grip on his neck. He squirms as he struggles for breath.

“I will pay you what you are owed and I will be taking her with me. If you so much as look in her direction again I will not hesitate to kill you.”

The man struggles against me, desperately trying to break free, but it was futile for him

“Am I understood?” I ask sternly

He nods his head frantically as he claws at my hands.

I let him go. He crumples to the floor, gasping heavily.

“I will send a colleague with your payment tomorrow. She is leaving tonight and never coming back.” I leave him on the floor as I walk out of the room.

She is sitting leaning against the wall opposite the door in front of me as I shut the door once again.

“Did you hear all that?” I ask.

“No. Mr Choi doesn't like it when people listen to his private conversations”

I hold my hand out to help her stand. She gladly takes it and pushes herself up off the floor.

“You’re free” I smile at her.

“What?” She looks at me with so much confusion on her face.

“You don’t owe him anything anymore. You can leave here tonight and never come back.” I explain.

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve paid off your debt”

“But why would you do that?”

“You deserve better than this place”

She looks around, her eyebrows scrunching as she tries to process the information. I feel my phone ringing in my back pocket. Looking at the screen.

Johnny.

“Hello” I sigh

“Where are you? we have to get back to the van” Johnnys voice sounds urgent

“I’ll meet you there”

“Hurry up or Yuta will get annoyed and you know he will tell Taeyong that we left the van”

I hang up

“I have to leave now. Get your things and go home” I take out a pen from my jacket pocket. “Here is my number call me tomorrow okay” I write my personal number down on the soft skin of her hand.

“O-Okay” she nods. I offer her a small smile, squeezing her hand in reassurance before turning to walk away.

“W-Wait” she calls. I turn back. She had hardly spoken more than a mumble all night so her voice took me by surprise.

“I don’t even know your name”

“Doyoung” I call back to her with a smile.

Y/N’s pov

I stared in disbelief as he walked away. After a few minutes the door in front of me opened. Seungcheol leant against the doorway with a sly smirk on his face. “They’ve left the building”

I follow him into his office chuckling as I take a seat on the sofa. “The plan was much more effective than I could imagine.”

“Where do we go from here?” he asks.

“I can’t be here too much longer, no doubt he’s keeping an eye out for me leaving. I also can’t come back here, it would be too suspicious. For now you’re in charge of the club. I’ll call Mr Kim once I get home and tell him what is going on. ”

“Ok, be sure to look after yourself.” Seungcheol joins me on the sofa wrapping his arms around me tightly. “I’ll miss you”

“Me too.” I smiled sadly, gently tracing the red marks that were dominantly present around his neck. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I'm fine. The fucker has a tight grip on him though” He holds me for a moment before letting me go.

I go back to my office, changing quickly into a pair of jeans, a shirt and a jacket before grabbing my purse and phone and leaving the club.

I look around the street outside the back entrance to the club. I see a grey van parked by the side of the road. I pretend not to notice it as I walk past. Knowing that Doyoung was probably watching from there.

Instead I kept my head down and walked quickly. As it was incredibly late and not safe for a woman to be walking home on her own. So I pretended I wasn’t trained and highly lethal in hand to hand combat and shuffled home at a brisk pace with my phone held tightly in my hands.

After showering and climbing into bed I grab my phone and call Mr Kim.

“Yes” I hear his cold voice on the other side of the line. Mr Kim was never one for unnecessary chit chat.

“Hello Mr Kim. I have an update on infiltrating NCT”

“And what is that?” for the first time since I met the elusive leader, his voice seemed to have some sort of interest in it.

“Three members entered the club today sir. With the help of Seungcheol I have managed to get Kim Doyoung to approach me. He believes he has saved me from my life of torment at the hands of Seungcheol, I am to call him tomorrow.”

“Interesting. He has no idea as to who you are?”

“No he doesn’t, I am certain. My plan is to continue my character in the hopes he lets his guard down. The way he acted tonight could suggest romantic, or at least protective intentions, if this is the case we have our way in.”

“Good Work. Starting now. You are to have no contact with anyone from the gang, including me, until such a time comes where you have information that we can use. This infiltration will take time, but I am confident in you that you will be successful.”

“Yes sir. Thank you sir”

The line went dead.

The mission to get Kim Doyoung to fall in love with me was truly underway.

Part 2 coming soon

#mafia doyoung #doyoung au #mafia nct #doyoung imagines #nct au #doyoung angst #doyoung fluff #nct imagines #nct 127 imagines #nct 127 au #mafia nct 127 #nct fluff #nct angst

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x-exo · 5 years

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It makes me so sad and mad that exo's potential and talent is being thrown down the drain like this like imagine how immensely huge they could be if only their management team and company would take advantage of them like you've got the super group with the concept the talents the visuals the everything and you decide that it's not worth the investment of money and time bc they already have a fanbase large enough they can work out with with no need of huge promotions or exposure like imagine being this dumb it makes me mad that exo has to work extra hard to be able to showcase little by little their talent like it's been 7 year since their debut and we're now slowly seeing solos and subunits but it's only 5-6 songs when you have the digimons that the vocal line are and they're aloud to participate in the making of their albums but only a little bit here and there when you have a whole exo-sc who is more than capable of writing and producing a whole album and you have possibly the best idol dancer of the industry in your hands yet you give him nothing? like literally nothing? this is a joke tbh idk what are they thinking about smh

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kpopreviewcafe · 5 years

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BIGBANG 'MADE' Album Review

BIGBANG is the ultimate Kpop group and MADE was their crowning glory. VIP or not, this album is a MUST listen for anyone who’s even remotely interested in Korean music. What more can I say? Let’s get into the review.

There are no words that accurately sum up how tragically beautiful the first song on the album, called Loser, is - you just have to listen for yourself. The lyrics are introspective & self-deprecating, yet the angelic vocal flourishes and catchy raps make this song somewhat hopeful. This song was made for Taeyang’s voice to shine especially - his vocalisations in the ending chorus are to die for. This is really one of BIGBANG’s finest songs, reminiscent of their older hits like Lies and Haru Haru which propelled them to stardom. I could listen to this song forever.

Honestly, I’ve never fit in with the world, I was always alone It’s been a long time since I’ve forgotten about love

Bae Bae is one of the craziest, sexiest & weirdest songs I have ever heard. It is extremely catchy and addictive, with a funky beat that is strange and dream-like. This song will have you jumping out of bed and rocking out even when you’re too tired to move. The vocalists belt out amazing tunes whilst the rappers give the verses their all. The best part of the song is definitely T.O.P’s rap, which is honestly one of his BEST verses of all time. Bingu Tabi is BACK and he’s weirder than ever! (Check the live performance for the full experience). Also, this whole song is just one large ongoing innuendo tbh.

Pretty eyes like a deer, you’re my princess… My body wraps around yours so perfectly, You’re forever 25 to me

Bang Bang Bang is the title track to end ALL title tracks. It is the ultimate party song, one that is good enough to compete with Fantastic Baby for the most iconic BIGBANG song. I generally dislike the use of the word “epic” to describe things that aren’t literally epics, but to be honest, this song deserves it. I mean, it was so good that it was even played in North Korea as an example of the pinnacle of South Korean pop culture. BBB has a legendary beat, an iconic dance and a stunning music video to match. Each member had their time to shine, both vocally and visually. Music video highlights include: a T.O.P skit featuring an altercation between a sexy cowboy and an astronaut (him playing both roles, of course), Daesung’s iconic hair-covering-his-eyes look and G-DRAGON on a leash. What more could you ask for?

B.I.G Yea we bang like this, everyone together! Like you’ve been shot, BANG! BANG! BANG!

BIGBANG like to party, and We Like 2 Party with them too. This song is laid-back and fun - the perfect song to jam out to. The strong rhythm and catchy chorus just gets you moving. This is exactly the type of song to blast out on some nice speakers and just kick back with a beer. Take it easy, and enjoy some quality music while you do!

Let’s play with fire for the first time in a while... Being sober is against the rules WE LIKE 2 PARTY till the sun rises above our heads

If You is very different from anything BIGBANG has made before. The instrumental consists mainly of a simple acoustic guitar. VIPs get the pleasure of hearing BIGBANG’s voices in what almost feels like a cappella. G-DRAGON’s voice in the chorus is emotional, unmistakable and so crazily unique - he really is one of a kind. However, the person who truly owned this song was Daesung, who’s voice came powering through in the second verse, and was definitely the highlight of the song. This is a wonderful ballad - both sincere and warm.

If it’s not too late, can’t we get back together?… I should’ve treated you better when I had you

Next we have the cool and swag-filled Zutter from BIGBANG’s resident playboy rap duo GD&TOP. I’m honestly so glad this iconic pair came back with another song, because their subunit album from way back in 2010 was just so phenomenal. This song is sexy and arrogant, just like a good hip-hop song should be. Both rappers had unique and enjoyable verses, but I have to say that T.O.P came out on top (ha. ha. ha.). He switched up his flow in almost every line, and you can tell that each word was so carefully placed. T.O.P even referenced his legendary character from his movie Tazza The Hidden Card. (Whether you’re a VIP or not, PLEASE watch this movie - you won’t regret it). The intro and outro section of this song originally appeared on G-DRAGON’s Niliria… even HE thought that it was so good that we needed to hear it again!

Tonight we’re getting freaky freaky yea Baby give me some, give me give me some yea

Let’s Not Fall In Love starts off with T.O.P’s rarely showcased and unexpectedly beautiful singing voice. This song takes you on an emotional journey, and the music video allows you choose a BIGBANG member to fall for. Let’s Not Fall In Love perfectly showcases the members’ impressive vocal abilities and emotive rapping skills. In my opinion, the bridge and ending chorus are the best parts of the song, due to the heartwarming acoustic guitar and the wonderful harmony between T.O.P’s deep singing voice and Taeyang’s vocalisations a few octaves higher.

Let’s not fall in love, we don’t know each other very well yet Actually, I’m a little scared

I don’t really know why Sober struck such a deep chord in me, but from the moment I first heard it, I knew I would never hear another song with such a unique colour. It’s probably my favourite song on the album. BIGBANG really outdid themselves with this track - they reached a level of craziness, pathos and talent that I didn’t even know they had… and they’re BIGBANG! Sober is the perfect rock ballad, with a twist. The lyrics are heartbreaking and painfully relatable. Party away the pain with BIGBANG, that’s what they’re here for.

It’s hard for me to be sober, I can’t fall asleep without you… I have so many damn things to do, but I have nothing that I want to do

In my opinion, FXXK IT was the climax song to the masterpiece that was the MADE album. This track propelled the album from outstanding to literal legend. I absolutely cannot get enough of this song, it perfectly displays BIGBANG in all their glory, from Taeyang’s angelic voice to T.O.P’s unforgettable rap. The wise words of Taeyang come to mind “ain’t no party like a BIGBANG party”. After hearing this song, you will realise that is true. This song manages to simultaneously be cool, sassy, reflective, cheeky and swag. I really don’t know how BIGBANG keep coming back with such gold.

Haven’t felt this nervous in a while, I can’t do anything Before the night is over, I want you in my arms

Last Dance is so unbelievably sad that honestly sometimes I have to skip it when I put on this album. Its release marked the countdown to T.O.P’s mandatory military enlistment, and was therefore the last time that BIGBANG would perform as a whole team. Even though it’s painful to listen to, I am glad this song exists, because VIPs will always have this last dance.

I will listen to this song with you... Remember this moment. Until always, just one last dance

Girlfriend was an unexpected gift that came with the full MADE album. When this track was released, I was so overwhelmed with FXXK IT and Last Dance that I almost overlooked it! But with time, I have grown to love Girlfriend so much - it captures that cool, happy and care-free BIGBANG that I crave. I really liked the cool electric guitar, sexy raps and playful vibe.

When my heart is sad... Girl you always pick me up You know that I love you ma baby

The MADE album has such incredible musical diversity - it’s impossible to believe that all these songs came out as part of one album. Literally every track is good enough to be another group’s best song - yet BIGBANG owns them all. They truly are the kings of Kpop. If you’ve read any of my other BIGBANG reviews, then you will know that I always say this… but I stand by it. VIP until whenever. Peace.

Kpop Review Café's Overall Ranking: 10/10 (this scale was literally created with MADE in mind as the gold standard)

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mistymark · 6 years

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the one with the paint prank // w.y.k

wong yukhei x reader // idol!reader au // 2.6k words

Wong Yukhei. The giant flirt who thought he could get anyone he wanted. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t get you. Was he not as good as he thought he was? Why weren’t you falling for him? You were good friends; surely you should’ve fallen for him by now?

The answer was simple: you wouldn’t let yourself fall for his apparent charms, let yourself fall for the notorious flirt. You wouldn’t let him get to you, even though you did have a tiny, barely-there crush on him. And it didn’t exactly help that he would flirt with you constantly, ask you out on dates just to make you flustered and angry, always turning him down.

Today, you sat in your dorm with the rest of your group, relaxing during one of your short breaks whilst Jihyo kept singing, practicing her part. “Can you shut up?” Jisoo moaned, covering her face with her arm as she lay down on the ground, tired from practicing.

The singing from the other side of the room ceased, but the silence was broken as Yuri flung the door open, a cardboard box in hand as she leant against the door to keep it open as she entered. When she noticed everyone’s curious glances, she sighed, “I don’t know what it is, Jaehyun just said it was for you, Y/N.”

“Did he mention who it was from?” You stood up, pushing your phone into your back pocket as you moved into the small kitchen to get a drink.

“No, he just handed it over and walked away,” Yuri stated, eyeing the package with curiosity.

Noticing her excitement, you nodded to her, raising a glass to your mouth as you gestured to the rather large brown box, “You can open it, if you w-“

She was already ripping the tape off, nails digging into the creases to pry the package open. Suddenly, there was a loud popping sound as tins and cans of paint exploded inside, causing paint to splatter all over the dorm living room; the couches and carpet painted in colours of red, yellow and green.

“What the fuck, Jung Jaehyun!” Yuri was already standing, marching out the door in a fit of rage. The other girls, covered in paint, followed, their faces red.

A few moments later, they returned with one of the managers, showing the damage. “We can get a service in tomorrow afternoon, but I suggest you find somewhere else to sleep for the night,” the manager said, making a face at the mess and blocking her nose from the scent of paint.

“Since the NCT boys did this, shouldn’t we get their dorm until ours is fixed?” Jisoo asked, her hands on her hips.

You walked with your fellow members to the NCT practice room, and as soon as you entered, you heard Boss playing from the speakers as the U subunit practiced. You liked to think your groups were fairly friendly, and you always found yourselves talking to them at awards shows and at the SM Showcase. Your groups were known around the company for pranks, but never resulted to property damage… until now. However, as soon as they made eye contact with you through the mirror, they immediately fell over, laughing. Yukhei stopped the music, practically falling over his own two feet as he tried to walk over to the music dock. You rolled your eyes as you looked at the other guys.

Taeyong’s hand came up to his mouth as he tried to hide his grin, and Jungwoo was gasping for breath, lying on the ground. “Eventful practice session, girls?” Doyoung questioned, once he had finally caught his breath.

You crossed your arms over your chest in defiance, “It would have been, if we were practicing. Now, our dorm looks like Jackson Pollock decided to redecorate.”

Immediately, all the boys stopped smiling. Winwin turned to Jaehyun, “We said to give it to them during practice!”

“I thought they were in practice! Yuri was walking towards their practice room!” Jaehyun defended, suddenly feeling very guilty.

“I was getting snacks!” Yuri shouted, anger radiating from her.

Mark piped up, “Oh, shit. We’re really sorry, we thought it was a harmless prank.”

You quirked an eyebrow at him, briefly making eye contact with Yukhei before focussing on Taeyong, “Don’t be sorry, you’re already repaying us by letting us borrow your dorm until ours gets cleaned. So, thank you.”

Your group began to leave, and Jisoo called over shoulder, “Enjoy sleeping in the practice rooms, boys!” They all stared at you, mouths agape as the door clicked shut softly.

“I still can’t believe you,” Yuri watched as Jaehyun loaded his pyjamas, spare clothes and his toiletries into a small backpack. He looked up briefly to glare at her as he walked to the other side of the room, no doubt collecting more items. When he returned, she was already sitting on his bed, smiling at him spitefully. You had been given the room that Taeyong, Jaehyun, Doyoung and Yukhei shared. Luckily, it was able to provide a home for you and your group members until your own dorm was clean. Although it wasn’t a whole dorm, it was better than sleeping in your practice room.

“So who’s taking my bed?” Yukhei grinned at you, wiggling his eyebrows jokingly at the rest of the group.

“I have dibs on Taeyong’s,” Jihyo walked to the bed which looked the cleanest, and you berated yourself for not thinking of that beforehand.

“I’m taking Doyoung’s,” Jisoo placed her things on his bedside table.

You looked from Yukhei’s empty bed to Yukhei, “I’m sleeping on the floor.” The rest of the girls laughed and he threw a pillow at you, which you caught with ease as you placed it back on Jisoo’s bed.

The rest of the boys grabbed their belongings and walked out as Taeyong looked for his toothbrush. “Are they at least giving you mattresses for the practice room floor?” Jihyo asked him as he searched.

“Yeah, but we’re just going to the other rooms with the other NCT brothers,” he stated, searching his drawers for a spare toothbrush, giving up on the one he used daily.

You weren’t really listening, too busy searching through your sports bag to overhear anything. Giving up on looking for your shirt, you sighed, “Shit.”

“What’s wrong?” Yuri asked, coming over to stand beside you and peering into your bag cautiously.

“I forgot my sleep shirt in our dorm,” you stated, sitting down on Yukhei’s bed, pouting.

“Well, you can’t go back. It’s closed for cleaning,” she put her hand on your shoulder comfortingly.

“And it stinks,” Jihyo stated, pinching her nose.

“You didn’t happen to pack an extra did you?” You asked the girls, as they shook their heads sadly.

Taeyong looked up from the chest of drawers, stuffing a plastic toothbrush into his pocket and heading for the door, “You can borrow one of mine if you like.” He laughed at your hesitant expression, “It’s okay. If you can’t find one, just borrow one from these drawers. These are mine. God knows what Yukhei and Jaehyun have in theirs.” He said goodbye to each of the girls and exited the room.

You groaned as each of the girls got ready for bed, pulling a black sleeveless shirt from one of Taeyong’s drawers.

“Woah, who knew Taeyong was a sleeveless guy,” Yuri joked, pulling the covers on Jaehyun’s bed back and slipping in.

“I know right,” you laughed, slipping the shirt on over your head.

The next morning, you woke up early, ready for practice in the morning and a radio show in the afternoon, and made your way down the stairs into the NCT kitchen for breakfast, unable to use your own. The other girls came down minutes later, and you prepared a small breakfast for each of them. You were still in the shirt you had borrowed, forgetting it didn’t belong to you and not being bothered enough to change it (a bad habit).

Some of the boys were filing into the kitchen one by one, dreary eyed and hair messy, bidding you good morning as they prepared for their own busy schedules. The dreamies joined your group for a moment as they waited for their transport, promising that their hyungs were still getting ready and wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon. You waved them goodbye and pulled your phone out.

There were loud footsteps and you looked up to see the NCT U members coming downstairs, before grabbing their breakfasts and joining you and your other members at the table.

“Good sleep?” You asked Doyoung, who was pressing his palms into his face, a pained expression on his face.

“He slept in the Dream dorm,” Taeyong explained, cringing as he slapped the tired boy on the back. “As did Yukhei.”

You noticed Yukhei, who looked equally exhausted, “You look terrible, Wong.”

He sighed, barely sparing you a glance before dropping into the seat opposite you, “Flattering, Y/L/N.”

From the corner of your eye, you saw Jaehyun staring confusedly at you, before whispering something to Taeyong, who nodded, a small smile on his face.

Yukhei suddenly did a double take, “Is that my shirt?”

Your eyes suddenly widened as you looked down at the black shirt you’d slept in the night before, “No! Taeyong leant it to me. It’s Taeyong’s!” You quickly shot a glance to Taeyong for confirmation, and his lips were thin as he shook his head slightly, the tiniest grin on his face at your shocked expression.

Yukhei grinned, “No, I’m pretty sure that’s mine. I mean, when does Taeyong wear sleeveless shirts? Guy has no arms.” His eyes widened at his own comment and he quickly made a face at Taeyong as the rest of the members laughed.

“Hey, I could pull off a sleeveless shirt!” Taeyong shouted, and Jisoo leant over the table to pat his arm comfortingly, letting him know that no, he could not.

You glanced down at the comfortable shirt again, before sighing in defeat, “Oh, I’m sorry. I thought it was Taeyong’s. Do you want it back now? I can go change?”

He only laughed, brushing aside our comments with a wave of his hand, “Nah, you can keep it. Looks better on you, anyway.” You flushed and looked down at your breakfast to hide it.

“Thanks,” you mumbled. “It really was an ac-“

“On one condition,” he continued, a sly smirk making its way onto his face.

Your head snapped up instantly, the smile wiping itself off your face as you scrutinized him.

“Don’t look like that, it’s nothing bad,” he rolled his eyes. You nodded for him to finish, “You have to go on a date with me.”

You rolled your eyes at him, groaning, “I thought you said it was nothing bad! Can’t I just give you the shirt back?” You heard Mark begin to laugh at the other end of the table as he listened to the exchange.

When you met Yukhei’s eyes again, you realised he was being serious. He fiddled with the rings on his fingers as he waited for your response, his normally mischievous expression was replaced with one of sincerity and… fear?

You put your spoon down, “Fine. One date. That’s it.”

“Why are you so worried?” Jisoo asked you, handing you your keys as you stepped into your dorm’s kitchen, the new, clean carpet smelling more like soap than paint. “It’s Yukhei; you see him every day. And it’s one date, after this you don’t have to have him bother you about it again.”

You nodded, not willing to admit your feelings for him as you grabbed your phone from its charger, “You’re right, this is nothing to worry about.” Checking your purse for all your essentials, you repeated the phrase under your breath like a prayer, “Nothing to worry about.”

When you arrived at the small café that Yukhei had texted you the address of, you found a smile forming on your lips as you made your way inside and saw him sitting in a booth, nervously wringing his hands as he stared out the window. He hadn’t seen you yet.

You slowly approached, grabbing his shoulders causing him to jump at your unexpected touch. He grinned at you – an easy grin, a grin you were so used to seeing – and gestured for you to sit down. A waiter walked over with two cups of coffee and a cake, and Yukhei looked at you sheepishly, “I hope you don’t mind that I already ordered.”

Glancing down at the cup and recognising your signature coffee, you felt a small smile creep onto your face, “No, of course not. This is perfect.” You met his eyes as you sipped from your coffee, and there was a moment of peace before he asked you about your day, and the conversation refused to become silent once more.

You were surprised when you noticed that almost two hours had passed in the small coffee shop; surprised that you had enjoyed yourself so much on your ‘date’ with Yukhei; surprised that you wished you could do it again sometime.

He took notice when you glanced at your watch, and immediately stood up, grabbing his coat from beside him and reaching into his back pocket for his wallet.

“I can pay you back for the coffee,” you said, more of a statement than an offering, but he refused it either way.

“I said I’d show you a good time on our first date, and that includes paying for your $3 coffee,” he raised his eyebrow at you as he faced the counter, stepping up once the previous customer had left.

You supposed that $3 wasn’t a lot of money, and you could always return the favour later on, but you were more concerned about the other thing he had said. The tiny bell on the door jingled as he opened it for you. “First date?”

Pushing his hair back into a cap, he cast you an odd glance, “Well, yeah, I mean, I don’t recall us ever going on a date before this… This would be our first.”

“Of many?” you questioned in a small voice, looking straight ahead as you walked together towards the dorms.

He stopped walking, staring at you as you realised he was no longer walking and turning around to face him. People mumbled in annoyance at the sudden obstacle on the footpath, yet he paid them no attention, instead choosing to focus on only you, “Would you be interested in ‘many’?”

You smiled, your hands finding his, “Very.” Stretching up onto your toes, you leant forward and kissed his cheek, a flush covering your face as you stepped back.

The surprise on his face was evident, his eyes wide with shock and mouth slightly agape. He recovered quickly, and a smirk replaced his shock, as he tugged your hands forward and bent down to kiss you back, this time, on the lips.

You smiled into the kiss, ignoring the crowds of people walking around you, and pulled back only when you required oxygen. He pushed his forehead against yours, his hands still grasping yours, holding tightly, as he mumbled, “I forgot to ask; did you like the present I sent you?”

You pulled back quickly, tugging your hands from his grasp to lightly hit his chest, before rolling your eyes and pushing his cap down low over his eyes, “If you ever do that again, I’m suing you.”

He laughed, his hand quickly finding yours as he started back towards home, “Well, damn, there goes my idea for your birthday.”

this was supposed to only be a drabble but I guess I got carried away, whoops... I hope you liked this and if u didnt, well lol sorry

#wong yukhei #lucas wong #wong lucas #lucas wong x reader #wong yukhei x reader #nct #nct dream #nct u #nct 127 #nct imagines #nct writing #nct blog #nct masterlist

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wannawrite · 6 years

Text

let go, 고맙다 🤙 (三)

You collapsed onto your bed as the string of emails clouded your phone, a messy mixture of your bosses' emails, your customers' questions, and a large amount of spam from a large variety of companies.

It was sad to say, that you had been a bit of a hostage of life.

You could only hope for the rainbow after the rain like chasing the wind-you couldn't remember the last time you took a proper break from your work.

But as you chose to ignore the emails for a bit-scrolling through your WhatsApp half heartedly with subconscious, fatigued eyes-you saw a message, from an unknown number.

unknown: hey, world's number one cutie

unknown: it's jihoon, lee jihoon

unknown: i dont know if you listen to kpop right now-i only remember you obsessing over EXO when we were younger-but i'm in a group called seventeen, and we're getting by quite well as of now

unknown: one day i didn't have inspiration while writing the songs in our new album, and i was really frustrated. then hoshi-hyung (someone close to me) came to me, joking, "how about your gf?" knowing very well that i am single...jeez

unknown: yeah i know its embarrassing that i thought of you when we havent met in 9000 years but

unknown: ive never told you this but

unknown: ive always had a crush on you ever since youve become my friend and i hid it well..hopefully

unknown: and honestly ill be real i dont love you the way i used to anymore but

unknown: i realised how much i missed you and how thankful i was

unknown: for all the happiness you've brought me

unknown: and um

unknown: i may have wrote a song

unknown: please listen to it

unknown: [MV] SEVENTEEN - THANKS (고맙다)

Your worries dispelled, and once again, the image of the boy with small eyes, a round face and a sensitive heart filled your mind.

Excitedly, you tapped on the link.

This was Jihoon's message to you.

Wherever you were

If I could hear you, I would run to you without second thoughts

Back then, back then

My young heart was only so playful back then

When I see you smile, I felt something

Cause I never learned any of this

I couldn’t express my feelings because I was too young

I wanted to be your tomorrow so I lived today

Ever since the first day I saw you until now

In my heart, it’s only you

These typical words

I’m only saying them now

But I hope these typical words will reach you

Thank you, thank you, that’s all I can say

Even all the waiting, the longing

And all of our memories

Thank you

Because they’re such common words

I was worried it wouldn’t sound sincere

I was looking for something better than just thank you

So I couldn’t tell you thank you

I couldn’t express my feelings

Because I wasn’t brave enough

If only I knew love a little earlier

Ever since the first day I saw you until now

In my heart, it’s only you

These typical words

I’m only saying them now

But I hope these typical words will reach you

Thank you, thank you, that’s all I can say

How to wait and what love is

You taught me all

Thank you

My heart won’t change, it won’t ever change

Even if you erase me

We won’t change

Because we’re engraved in each other’s hearts

(Engraved)

Thank you

I hope this reaches you, this song

Thank you

A droplet fell onto your bedsheet.

you: jihoon, ive never forgot you, i promise

you: you have no idea, but life was so different without you

you: i really cant believe you wrote a song for me, im so grateful and touched by you, and ive always been so awestruck by your abilities, you deserve to make it big with your group

you: i- you even added the pinky promise we had and thanks was...what we said to each other before leaving

you: you've taught me so much about love, how id realise that id wait forever just to see you again

you: i love you so much and i still have friends but never as close as you were to me

you: honestly, i even cried sometimes

you: hearing your voice again just feels like an oasis in my desert, work is so so tiring and im so burnt out

you: jihoon i hope we can talk more again :< i love you so much thank you for impacting my life just as ive impacted yours and i honestly dont deserve you or this song i love you

jihoon is typing...

jihoon 💕 : you deserve it so much

jihoon 💕 : thank you, thank you and thank you so much

you: the feelings are mutual <3

you: also omg whos that chinese dude with a mullet dancing at the front? he's hot as heck wowee please hook a girl up

jihoon 💕: no

you: hMPH i put a heart next to your contact but i guess ill just change it to midget :)))))

midget: what the heck no

midget: why are you so annoying ,,,,

you: :)

midget: im blocking your contact

you: NO FINE FINE ILL CHANGE IT BACK :/

you: done

midget: i want proof when i meet you again

midget: oh shit um you didnt see anything

you: lee jihoon EXPLAIN

midget: um so...

midget: i was gonna surprise you in busan hahahaha

midget: after thanks comeback our subunit booseoksoon will be debuting so after i help them with the recording and bg vocals and stuff i get a break

midget: so i thought id come see you, im not telling you when :)

you: lol surprises are nice esp when its you

midget: 💕💕💕💕💕

you: please bring my new bf seo myungho with you

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ihobii · 6 years

Text

The War

Fandom(s): EXO,NCT, and Red Velvet

Type: Multi-chapter

Part: CH.1 - Prologue

Summary: Exo. The name alone brought the people fear. The infamous gang resided in Seoul, South Korea but was well known around the world. With a powerful sub-gang and dominant alliances, they were unbeatable. Exo consisted of 12 leaders and hundreds of men. The 12 leaders were a family. With many enemies coming for their heads they strived to be the most powerful. With old enemies coming to light, how will Exo deal with love and betrayal while still defending their honor. Will Exo continue to be one or will they crumble once and for all?

Third Person POV

“They betrayed us. Hyung they betrayed us! They lied and pretended to care. All so that can find out our weaknesses and expose them to the enemy!”

Disbelief. That’s all that Kim Junmyeon, the co-leader of Exo could feel upon the revelation. The powerful leader, the one who would torture someone until they gave him what he wanted, could do nothing but stare at his members. His brain working on overdrive tried to make sense of what had become of their situation. He couldn’t think about how and when everything went wrong. Things were looking well, their enemy had been quiet, they had just expanded their territory, and most of all they had only recently signed an agreement with Super Junior stating that their sub-gang NCT will now be working for them as a peace agreement between the two powerful gangs.

It was then did Suho realize that their peace was really the calm before the storm.

____________________________

1 month earlier

Third Person POV

Seoul was a very popular city. With companies starting up left and right it's no wonder it’s one of the most richest cities in the world. With great food, people and culture, it definitely earned their popularity. Although it’s atmosphere was very well-known around the world there was also a much sinister reason for why the city was so popular. The city was home to the infamous gang, Exo. Under their rule, the city was almost always on their toes for an all out gang war but with such a powerful gang ruling it was a very much safe place.

Exo is a gang consisting of 12 head members with a sub-gang and multiple alliances.. Kim Junmyeon and Wu Yifan, better known as Suho and Kris, were co-leaders to the gang. Both, who although have opposite personalities, can be in sync with how they rule their empire. Lu-Han, Lu, and Kim Minseok, Xiumin, were Kris’ and Suho’s right hand men respectively. The men both were in charge of the gangs drug trade and often dealt with the clients. Oh Sehun and Kim Jongin, Kai, were the gangs trainers, making sure everyone were in shape and ready to fight at any moment. They were often the first line of attack, leading their team into combat and clearing way for the rest of the gang. Byun Baekhyun, Park Chanyeol, and Kim Jongdae, Chen, or in other words the gangs beagle line, contrary to their looks, were the ones who took to torturing their prisoners for their needed information. Huang Zi Tao and Zhang Yixing were in charge of their weapon trade, making sure a gang paid enough and that no one was stealing from them. And last but certainly not any less dangerous was Do Kyungsoo or D.O., he was the gangs mastermind, not only does he watch the gang as they go on their missions but he is said to be able to hack into even the hardest of protected files.

The gang although rumored to have significant others, had never been seen with said partner, thus making things hard for minor gangs to find a weakness.

Exo’s sub-gang was the infamous Red Velvet, named after their skill in how smooth their missions were completed. Exo also had many alliances with other fairly large gangs such as Super Junior, Shinee, F(x), SNSD and TVXQ. This superb alliance is known as SM-Town.

Red Velvet was a fairly new subunit to Exo consisting of only five members. Although the subunit was very new it was said that they had been training under SM-Town since they were able to walk. They are essentially known as Exo’s little sisters. The gang consisting of five beauties were highly skilled assassins. The sub-gang is lead by the oldest member,Bae Ju Hyun, Irene. To the civilians Irene was a true beauty, but many say she’s the most dangerous. With her intense gaze and seductive glances, she lures her targets in and once they are captured by her being, she’ll strike. Kang Seul Gi, Seulgi, was the definition of grace. Her reflexes sharp and controlled definitely lives up expectations and then some. Son Seung Won, Wendy, was the only member who was raised on foreign land. Growing up abroad allowed the group to gain much knowledge of how potential enemies could be ruling. Wendy, with her intense knowledge about the gangs in the America’s has helped their leaders greatly. She not only gave then insight how their rule but also some weaknesses she happened to come across. Park Soo Young, Joy, was the gangs’ hoaxer. While she specializes in luring in the old men and then killing them much like Irene, she chooses to work silently thus not much information can be found on her. She is said to have beauty that can rival her leader though many don’t know exactly what she looks like. The secrecy though was nothing compared to how their youngest member is portrayed. Many would even go so far as to say that she was just a rumor conjured up by the gang to create a sense of mystery and fear to those that dare challenge them. Not much is known about the fifth member besides her age and ‘name’. She was only known as Yeri and that she was the youngest of the entire subgang. It is rumored that she could even fool other gang leaders into believing her to just be an innocent face though no one was ever able to prove that.

These five members made up EXO’s central line of authority. Besides the 12 leaders, they were essentially the ones in charge. Any missions involving disguise and seduction were ordered and conducted by these sole 5 women.

The alliance SM-Town ultimately came from a single gang that ran a rather large empire in South Korea. The gangs leader Lee Soo Man had then decided to split his empire into multiple sub-gangs as a final wish so that the empire would still stand strong, thus creating SM-Town. The alliance essentially was one empire with different units focusing on one specific area. The empire that was left behind by Lee Soo Man has, since his passing, been thriving and becoming more powerful each day that passes by.

Though Seoul is essentially ran by EXO, there are also multiple other gangs that rule other provinces in South Korea. Some of which include 2ne1Bang, Bangtan Sonyeondan, and SEVENTEEN. Though these gangs are separate and also have a reputation, they all choose to be civil with one another.

__________________________________

Suho POV

I was in my office looking over some files that Kyungsoo had managed to find on the smaller gangs that wanted to purchase guns from us. Xiumin was out with Lu Han checking up on our warehouses so I was stuck doing all the paperwork by myself. While scanning over a new gangs profile I saw that they had connections to a well known gang called ‘Madhatters’, stupid name if you ask me but whatever.

Wanting to know more about the gang I go to find Kyungsoo. Standing up and stretching my limbs and hearing those pops are always so satisfying, maybe not as much as screams but close enough. Grabbing the file of the small gang I leave the office and walk downstairs.

Passing by the living room, I come across a pretty ordinary site. The beagle-line plus Tao leaning over a sleeping Kris giggling while holding a black marker. Deciding to make my presence known I make my way over.

“Kids make sure he doesn’t have his knife on him when he wakes up or else I’m going to have to buy you four your caskets” and as I expected they all jumped, shocked by my presence.

“H-hyung when did you get here?! We weren’t drawing on Kris-hyungs face or anything, right guys?” the oldest of the bunch, Baekhyun stated.

Raising an amused brow, I watch as they all nodded their heads in sync. Hearing movement on the couch they all slowly turned around and to their horror see Kris waking up. Fearing for their lives they all but sprinted out the room. Chuckling in amusement I make my way over to a now awoken Kris staring at where the kids just left.

Hearing my chuckling, he turned to stare at me wondering why I was laughing. Realization soon crossed his face.

“They did it again didn’t they?”

“What makes you think that babe?”

Sighing in exasperation, “I don’t maybe because the kids ran away as soon as I woke up?”

Making my way over, I sit down near his chest and run my fingers through his hair. “Don’t go too hard on them, let them be kids for awhile before they have to get back to work.”

“Whatever you say eomma, you spoil the kids too much.” he retorted. I didn’t have a response to that because it was true so I just let him lean into my touch. After a few minutes I suddenly remembered that I had to find Kyungsoo, “Have you seen Kyungsoo around I have something I need him to do.”

Hearing a grunt I took that as a no so I got up to go find him myself. What I didn’t expect though was to be grabbed by the wrist and then suddenly finding myself between Kris and the back of the couch. Yelping in surprise I tried to escape. Seeing as it was useless as I was trapped in Kris’ arms I stopped struggling.

“Ya! Why’d you do that for?” I said while hitting him in the shoulder.

“I’m still tired and you’ve been stuck in your office for a few hours already so let’s take a nap.”

Sighing, “We can take a nap after I find Kyungsoo.”

“Why do you need to find him so bad?” Kris cracked his eyes open.

“I wanna see what he knows about the gang ‘Madhatters’.”

“Madhatters, isn’t that the gang where we killed some of their men that we found were undercover?”

“Yeah, it seems that they’re making more alliances. I found a small gang that’s under their control so I wanted to see if we should be worried or not.”

Third Person POV

Before Kris could respond, there was a crash and yelling in the next room over. Suho looked back at Kris and Kris knowing fully well what that look meant sighed and let his boyfriend go. Smiling in thanks, Suho gave Kris a peck and went off to check on the ruckus.

Stopping at the doorway, Suho suddenly turned around and said to his boyfriend, “You might wanna go wash up before the marker stains.” Narrowly avoiding a thrown pillow he finally left the room all the while laughing at his boyfriends antics.

What Suho walked into was not something he expected but also not out of the ordinary. The bunch that ran off earlier somehow managed to convince Yixing into a game of twister. The horrid game was a suggestion from Jongin and Sehun to make sure that all the leaders stay in their best shape.

Yixing who was convinced to play with the bunch seemed to be quite enjoying himself in the mess of tangled limbs. Although quite often he says that he plays to work on his flexibility,(We all know that's a lie, I mean have you seen his body rolls?!) everybody knew he did it as an excuse to be able to touch people's butts. Though no one ever gets surprised anymore when they feel a hand of their butt.

Suho POV

At the moment Baekhyun seemed to be inches away from completing a split. Chanyeol and Jongdae were both so tangled up with each other that the only way to tell whose limbs were whose was the lengths of said limbs. Yixing on the other hand seemed to be quiet comfortable with his back bend. Taotao was a completely different story, he was so twisted up that I think we might’ve had to go to the hospital if he’d been anyone else.

“Ummmm, guys? Need some help there? Wait don’t answer that, what was that crash?” Suho asked.

“Ahhhh that, well ummm you see hyung I was going to lose my balance and I sorta maybe….Brokeyourvasethatyoujustboughtyesterday!”

Baekhyun barely managed to rush those words out before he bowed his head awaiting punishment. The other four also looked scared.

It was a tense few minutes before the sound of chuckling reached the group of four ears.

“Hahahahahahahahaha! That ol’thing? I just bought it because the ajumma was nice!”, I took amusement in their faces. As soon as I said that it wasn’t of any value, you could’ve assumed that a wrecking ball came through the house with how fast they’d all fallen. Chuckling still I went on to what my mission was.

“Have any of you guys seen Kyungsoo?”, they all shook their heads.

“He might be in the black-room Junmyeon-ge” the youngest suggested.

“Thank you Taotao.”

Leaving the dining room I start making my way to finally deliver Kyungsoo’s newest assignment. Stopping at the doorway I turn to remind the kids to clean up the broken glass.

“Kid’s remember to clean up all that glass.”

“Yes eomma” they chorused. Rolling my eyes at the childish insult i make my way down the hallway and up the stairs. Arriving at the third floor where most of our technological equipment is at, I make my way down the hall till I arrive at a black door. I knocked and without waiting for a response I walked in. Walking in I see that Jongin, Sehun, and Kyungsoo seem to be having a video call meeting with Red Velvet. Hearing me walk in they all went to face where I was. Seeing as it was on Red Velvet on call I decided that I could just say what I needed without any worry about it getting out.

“Kyungsoo, when you’re done with your meeting I need you to gather information for me about Madhatters please. Continue on.” Turning to leave I moved to grab the handle only to stop when a voice reached my ears.

“Wait! Oppa did you say Madhatters? As is the gang that’s controlling those smaller gangs?” Irene asked.

“Yeah, that’s them.” Turning to face the girls on the screen I see them fidgeting. “What about it?”

It was Wendy that answered, “Well it’s just that they contacted us through a lesser known gang. We knew it was them because we did some research ourselves but they said that they want a meeting with EXO so that you guys can ‘cut off the loose ties’ according to them, whatever that means. It seemed that they knew the best way to get to you guys was through the little sisters.”

“When was this?”

“We got the message about two weeks ago but we were on another mission, sorry oppa.”, Yeri apologized, ever the sweetest she is.

“What are we gonna do hyung?” Sehun asked.

Switching my focus from the girls to EXO’s maknae, “ Well, we’re gonna need to find out all we can about the gang and then I’ll talk to Kris about what we should do. Kyungsoo can you get to that right away?” At Jongin’s nod I say proceed to say my goodbyes to the girls and guys and leave the room.

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nrip · 5 years

Text

HIV 'Social Networks' Could Be the Key to a Vaccine

In 1994, physician-researcher Bruce Walker was sure he’d stumbled upon the impossible.

Despite being HIV positive, the patient in his office was healthy—and had been for at least a decade, all without the help of drugs. But in a year when AIDS would kill 35,000 people in the United States alone, all Walker’s patient wanted to know was when he would die, too.

Walker had no answer for him. It was the first time he had seen someone subvert what he’d been certain was a death sentence. “I was stunned,” Walker recalls. “I just thought, ‘This is unbelievable. This means HIV doesn’t kill everyone.’”

In the years that followed, Walker, now a researcher at the Ragon Institute, would come to realize that this remarkable patient wasn’t a fluke. Thousands more like him existed, many of whom were completely unaware they harbored the virus in the first place—all because their immune systems had somehow kept the deadly virus in check.

This singular riddle has driven Walker’s research for the past 25 years. But at long last, he and his team think they’re close to an answer. In a study published today in the journal Science, they propose an explanation for why, despite being exposed to the same virus, some individuals control infection (“controllers”), while others progress to disease (“progressors”). [Disclosure: Walker is also a relative of NOVA’s Deputy Executive Producer, Julia Cort.]

According to the study, hitting HIV’s Achilles heel might require leveraging the “social network” that governs the virus’ structure. HIV, like all viruses, is made up of several interconnected pieces. Much like the pieces in a chess game, those parts aren’t equally influential—which means an effective immune response is likely to be one that pinpoints the most pivotal players on the board.

“This is a very elegant piece of science that could identify potential weak spots in HIV,” says Nilu Goonetilleke, an immunologist studying HIV at the University of North Carolina’s School of Medicine who was not involved in the study. “I look forward to seeing a design for a vaccine come out of this, and, hopefully, seeing it tested.”

A scanning electromicrograph of an HIV-infected cell. Image Credit: NIAID, flickr

HIV is particularly tricky for the immune system to deal with. Not only does the virus infect and incapacitate some of the very immune cells that might otherwise defend against it, but it also behaves a bit like a moving target.

When on the lookout for pathogens like viruses, the immune system scours the body for foreign molecules with incriminating features—the microscopic equivalent of passing a mugshot from cell to cell. But when the HIV virus invades cells to copy its genome, it does so sloppily, accumulating so many mutations it can change the way it appears to the immune system. The HIV of one cell might look completely different from the HIV of another—and any intel the immune system might have stored can quickly become obsolete, allowing the virus to slip by unnoticed.

As it passes from person to person, the virus shapeshifts further, generating many distinct subgroups within and across populations. And protection against one version of HIV doesn’t guarantee protection against another.

In the face of such staggering diversity, an effective HIV vaccine will have to accomplish what the typical immune system cannot—recognizing the virus in all its myriad forms, says Morgane Rolland, an HIV virologist and vaccinologist at the U.S. Military HIV Research Program who was not involved in the study.

But even across vastly different strains, certain features of HIV remain the same, and don’t mutate as easily as others. Researchers think these so-called “conserved” spots represent indispensable components of HIV anatomy—ones that help it break its way into cells, or manufacture more of itself once inside—that could cripple the virus if altered.

Several years ago, Walker’s group found that these immutable regions seemed to be the same ones targeted by the immune systems of many HIV controllers. But Walker was disappointed to find the relationship was imperfect: Some of the patients who were homing in on seemingly crucial pieces of the virus were still getting sick.

So his team decided to go deeper, and zoom in on some of the proteins that contained conserved regions. They quickly discovered that, while all conserved regions were slow to change, only some of them had something else in common: They wielded an enormous amount of influence on the rest of the protein.

Whether they’re mingling with coworkers or counting degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon, every human is a member of a social network: a complex constellation of interpersonal relationships. For better or worse, social networks tend to distribute power unequally, with certain members who are better connected, more well liked, or who simply hold more sway over others.

The same, Walker says, is true of proteins like the ones that make up HIV. Though each protein is first synthesized as a linear chain of subunits called amino acids, it eventually takes the form of a three-dimensional structure, transforming what’s essentially a string of molecular “beads” into a web of convoluted loops and whorls. Amino acids that are nowhere near each other in the chain can come close enough to touch, creating an intricate nexus of associations that can bridge enormous divides. In other words, a network.

But clout can be a double-edged sword: In any network, the same pieces that hold it together are the ones it can least afford to lose. Walker’s team found that the more partners an amino acid had, the more central it was to a protein’s structural integrity—which meant snipping at just one of these critical threads could be enough to unravel the entire viral tapestry. Using a computer algorithm, the researchers analyzed the sequence of several HIV proteins and assigned each amino acid a “score” denoting how networked it was. When the team then mutated the amino acids with the highest scores, the entire virus “basically fell apart,” Walker says.

“Networked amino acids are the ones that are touching everything else,” says Mohammed AlQuraishi, a structural biologist at Harvard University who was not involved in the study. “If you want to target a large number of strains, these are your best bets.”

An HIV protein’s 3D structure (left) is analyzed to produce a map of the connections between amino acids (center). At right, the larger circular nodes represent the more connected amino acids. Image Credit: Adapted from Gaiha et al., Science, 2019

In a final test, the team discovered that the immune cells of HIV controllers, but not progressors, consistently zeroed in on highly networked amino acids. It seemed the team had finally found what distinguished the patients who could fight off infection: their ability to root out the Kevin Bacons of the HIV protein grid.

Walker’s team is now working to design a vaccine based on these same principles. The hope is to develop something that can train just about any immune system to single out these highly networked amino acids, says study author Gaurav Gaiha, a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital. This would saddle HIV with a serious dilemma: Mutate into impotence, or stay the same and be caught red handed.

That’s still a long way off. Vaccine design involves a lot more than earmarking an immunological bulls-eye, Rolland says. In the coming years, the team will have to show that they can actually redirect a person’s immune response without compromising safety. What’s more, the best vaccines will ideally rouse multiple branches of the immune system, including those that produce antibodies, which were not tested in this study.

Additionally, there are person-to-person differences to consider. “Even if two people target the exact same things, the quality of the immune response can still be very different,” Goonetilleke says.

For now, though, Walker is optimistic. Vaccine or not, the end of a 25-year odyssey could finally be in sight. “After years of searching, we’re finally able to understand this remarkable outcome in some people who are HIV infected,” he says. “I feel like I finally understand what was going on in that patient I first met in 1994.”

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