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nocturne-overtures · 5 months

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𝑵𝒆𝒘 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔

𓆩⟡𓆪Summary: You decide today's the day you try a bit of role reversal in the bedroom. It takes some...encouragement, but you don't think your boyfriends are opposed to trying a few new things if it feels this good

𓆩⟡𓆪Pairing: Fem! Reader/ Jackson Wang (Got7)/ Johnny Suh (NCT127)/Lee Jooheon (Monsta X)

𓆩⟡𓆪Genres/Aus: Non-Idolverse, Fluff, Romance, Humor, Smut, Polyamorous Relationship

𓆩⟡𓆪Tws: Swearing, Light Anxieties

𓆩⟡𓆪Sws: Role Reversal, Switch Idol, Switch Reader, Hickies, Hair Pulling, Praise Kink, Teasing, Handjobs, Cunnilingus, Blowjob, Riding, Unprotected Sex, Creampie

𓆩⟡𓆪Rating: Explicit/Mature (18+)

𓆩⟡𓆪WC: 3.3k

𓆩⟡𓆪A/n: *crawls out of hell with an upload finally* the following is one of the commissions from the lovely and every paitient @jacksons-goddess-gaia I hope you enjoy it as I get back into the swing of things mwah

𓆩⟡𓆪AO3| Taglist Form (Please make sure your urls are updated and able to actually be tagged) | Commission Sheet𓆩⟡𓆪

𓆩⟡𓆪Network Ping- @kwritersworld | @k-vanity |⟡𓆪

𓆩⟡𓆪©nocturne-overtures. do not repost, translate, or use my works𓆩⟡𓆪

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"They’ll never let me do something like this. I’m going walk in there and they’re gonna be like; ‘haha! Just kidding, bend over kitten.’”

Jooheon watched you pace back and forth in front of your shared home, puffs of vapor leaving his lips as the occasional snowflake fell into his hair. In his hand, a bag is steadily collecting a small pile of snow the longer you two stand outside in the chill of November.

“For someone who challenged them to let you take charge this time, you're freaking out more than expected.” His voice is even, but you can see his lips twitch up as you whirl around to face him, indignant.

“You’re supposed to have my side!”

“Why? It’s not as hard as you’re making it out to be. Just say you’re nervous.”

You feel the heat of embarrassment creep up to your ears as you huff and unlock the front door, finally stomping inside. Jooheon could tease, sure. He’d taken charge and let himself be taken care of countless times in this relationship, more than anyone else. To him, this was second nature.

As you toe off your shoes and shrug off your jacket, you begin thinking back to how these thoughts came to be. It started with a show the four of you were watching. It was cheesy and quite a predictable drama. The pushover of the main pairing had been insulted by some side characters only for that to devolve into some misunderstanding argument between them and their partner which ended up in the roles being the same as they always were.

Heaven’s forbid one of those dramas change up the status quota and have a switch couple, right?

So, like the genius you were, as Jackson was making a comment on the location of the shot in the drama and Johnny was laughing at the ridiculousness of the whole conflict, you spoke.

“I bet I could take charge next time and not immediately fold like Yu Han here.” You proudly state while tossing a piece of popcorn in your mouth. The conversation around you seemed to fizzle out instantly and it took you a bit longer than you cared to admit to notice the three pairs of eyes locked onto you.

Lifting your gaze, you blink.

“....what?”

“Are you saying that’s what you want to do?” Jackson inquired. You replay the last thing you said in your head and sit with your lips parted. Johnny cocks his head from his spot on the loveseat, running his fingers through Jooheon’s hair.

“How about the next time we fool around, we let Y/N take charge, then?”

None of them look like they’re mocking you for the suggestion, but the idea itself makes a mixed sense of anxiety and excitement float through your veins.

So, of course, you went to the internet to try and figure out how to smoothly transition into the position switch.

And, naturally, that ended up in you being more stressed out than ever. Some of them were endearing stories of success, while there was also a fair share of failure stories of someone ruining the mood or accidentally injuring their partner during play and it all made you way more nervous.

Jooheon put his hand on the small of your back, kissing your cheek before he looked into your eyes.

“It’s okay. Just take your time. None of us are going to laugh at you or something if you don’t find that it comes easily to you.”

You smile at him and take his hand, raising your voice to call into the home.

“We’re home!”

The sound of a door opening and closing somewhere catches your attention. Johnny emerges from down the hall, hair tousled and a wide smile on his face as Jackson pushes past him, face ablaze as he muttered something about someone not having any self-restraint.

You can see the fresh dark red marks along his throat that told you everything you needed to know about what they had been doing.

“Took you guys a bit to get back home. Was the drive alright?” Jackson inquired, straightening out and smiling when he spotted the two of you dusting snowflakes out of your hair. Johnny turned on his heel, jogging down the hall to go get some towels to help you dry off.

“It was alright. Had to drive a bit slow but we got everything we needed.” You inform him, making your way to the kitchen. Johnny stops you, putting a towel over your hair and rigorously ruffling your hair while laughing at your shrieks of protest.

“You gotta dry off properly babe.” He grins, laughing as you swat at his pectoral the moment he let you go.

Jooheon had an easier time, humming as Jackson helped dry his bright orange hair. He was rewarded with a kiss before Jackson shook his head and pointed towards the bedroom.

“Change, both of you. I will not have you both getting pneumonia.”

You and Jooheon march off to the bedroom, neither of you keen on trying to argue with Jackson knowing he was 1000% right. Jooheon glanced at you once the door closed, pulling his shirt over his head.

“Are you going to do it tonight?” He inquired. You bite your lip, fingers fidgeting with the hem of your shirt.

It’s not that hard.

Jooheon sees the anxiety that’s taken hold of you and comes closer, kissing the top of your head and sending you a dimpled smile.

“There’s no rush, you know that, right? We’re not going anywhere.” His smile melts your heart a bit, and you nod, taking a calming breath. Jooheon stayed to ensure you were alright before leaving first in his fresh clothes.

You head out not too long after, wearing several articles of clothing from them.

Johnny’s button up, Jackson’s t-shirt, and Jooheon’s basketball shorts, the drawstring tied extra tight so it stayed on your hips.

When you come back, you walk up to Johnny, tugging at the waistband of his sweatpants. He looked down at you and blinked before he saw you subtly pucker your lips. A smile stretched across his lips and he leaned over, kissing you slow and deep. There’s something about the way he slots against you that makes you want to buckle on instinct. Not just him, all three of them. You wanted to push past this feeling and be able to give them the same sensation.

Your mind wanders, and so do your hands, tracing over Johnny’s muscles, pressing yourself to him as you pushed back, giving slight challenge in this kiss. Johnny let out a muffled hum, hands finding their way to your waist, kneading.

Your body is flush against his, and you lose yourself in the kiss, mind wandering, thinking of all the ways they’d gotten you completely turned out for them. Every touch, every kiss, every chuckle, how could you do the same for them-

“Mmph-’

Your eyes crack open halfway, and you look up, locking eyes with Johnny.

That was a whimper.

Your mind focuses and you take inventory of the situation. He’s panting, looking at you in surprise, his lips swollen, red from where you had bit him, and your hand was tangled in his hair, pulling him enough to make him tilt his head back.

Your lips part, and you almost apologize, but you stop short seeing the look on his face.

Dazed, flustered .

You hold his gaze, and there's a pleasant tingle that runs up and down your spine as you tilt your head slightly. Johnny moved to speak, but you experimentally push your weight against him ever so slightly, tugging his hair.

“Tilt your head for me.”

He doesn’t hesitate, his Adam’s apple bobbing as your lips brush along it. His breathing is shallow, and you can feel he’s stirring slightly against your thigh as you try to lean more into the feeling that had gripped you.

“ Good. Just like that. Good boy.”

Johnny’s knees actually buckled for you, and he looked at you out of the corner of his eye, letting out a shuddering breath. You can tell the words had their intended purpose as you hear him let out a small, off-guard chuckle before he murmured a breathy ‘ fuck’ .

“You two gonna dry hump in the kitchen or get something to eat?” Jackson inquired, curiously looking at the two of you. You bite the inside of your cheek to keep back the whine of disappointment at being interrupted, but instead, you push off of the counter behind Johnny, smiling and running your hand down his body, over the telltale bulge in his pants for a brief moment before making your way over to the dining room.

“Coming~”

Jackson glances between you and Johnny curiously and blinks at the flustered mess you’d made of your boyfriend. Jooheon smiled at you as you sat down, subtly nodding.

‘You did it’.

You smile and sit beside him, listening to your boys as they begin to recap and talk about their day. Normally you were just as chatty as they were, but you spend your time watching them subtly. Johnny’s blush had only slightly gone down, but he had kept casting glances at you, subtly touching his neck every now and again.

You catch him one of these times, smiling and blowing him a small kiss before you turn your attention to Jooheon, hooking your ankle against his and tugging slightly.

The move made him stop mid-sentence, but he caught your eye and cleared his throat, continuing and not resisting the move and letting you tug a bit further, spreading his legs apart. You smile around the rim of your water glass, setting it down and listening more, your hand finding its way to his thigh, squeezing and kneading. Jooheon took it in stride, though you can see red creep up to the tip of his ears as your hand inches higher, squeezing and kneading the toned muscle there. He kept his eyes on Jackson and Johnny across the table, but at this point, you’re sure both of them knew what you were up to.

Especially after you make eye contact with Jackson while you squeeze and stroke Jooheon through the sweatpants. Jooheon jolted beside you before letting out a needy groan, spreading his legs and pressing into your hand.

You remember past experiences, personal experiences, even the filthy novels and audios you indulge yourself in, and you find yourself speaking while holding Jackson’s gaze.

“ Sit still.”

Jooheon shuddered and planted his ass flat into the chair, biting on his chopstick with an audible ‘clank’ as he forced down his usual bratty challenging sass. As much as he liked to do so with the other two, he knew it took a lot for you to build the confidence to take control like this. He wanted to see how far you'd go and didn't want you to lose confidence in the middle of it.

“Yes ma’am.” was his response instead. Your lips curled up and you turned your head, kissing the underside of his jaw as a reward.

Jackson looked between the two of you, brows up in interest before he wiped his mouth, cocking his head to the side.

“What should we do next?” the question is open-ended, but he’s staring directly at you. He’s picked up on the vibes of the night and you smile, the last of your lingering anxieties melting away as you realize you were a lot more comfortable with this than you originally gave yourself credit for.

“Jackson, come with me. I need a shower. Johnny, Jooheon, we should get ready for bed.” You stand, gathering your dishes and casting a glance over your shoulder.

“Make sure everything is ready for us. We wouldn’t want to be cold this evening.”

The youngest duo of the three men perk and look at one another, smiling and nodding, darting past you to put their dishes away. You set yours aside and turn to Jackson, reaching down to hook your fingers into his, pulling him toward the bathroom.

In no time, you have him against the shower wall, placing biting kisses along his soaked skin as you grab and stroke his cock in slow, methodical strokes.

Jackson kept his eyes on you, nearly mirroring Jooheon earlier and bucking into your hand, but you push down on him, eyes flicking up and pinning him with a heated gaze. He finds himself speaking before he can think, throbbing in your hand.

“I’m sorry, I’ll be good.”

You smile, your face flushed but that sweet, powerful tingle of electricity runs up and down your spine.

“Good, I’m going to take care of all three of you tonight.” You whisper against his damp skin, feeling your confidence swell now that all three of them had responded well to your actions and what you had been trying to do all night.

You carry that with you into the bedroom, where you find both Jooheon and Johnny rutting against one another, throbbing and nearly ready to cum already as they traded feverish kisses. You watch them for a moment before biting your thumbnail, cocking your head to the side.

“I sure hope you two weren’t intending on cumming without me telling you to.” Your voice is cheery, bubbly, but has an underlying warning in it. Both of them stop short, looking at you while panting.

“S-sorry, Y/n.” Jooheon licked his lips, eyeing the towel barely clinging to your body while Johnny ran a hand through his hair, remembering the sensation of you tugging it earlier. He decided to push back a bit.

“You took a while to come back. Tell me what you want.” He smiled, eyes glinting. Jooheon glanced at him and Jackson looked at the side of your face, ready to step in at any time if the challenge made you lose confidence.

His worries were unwarranted as your lip quirks, making your way over to him and smiling. You grab a pillow from the bed, one of the longer ones, and drop it to the floor at your feet.

“On the floor. Get on your knees.”

Johnny stared at you with a spark of chaos in his eyes, but he slowly peeled himself off of Jooheon, kneeling before you. You make your way over to him, standing in front of him and grabbing a fistful of his hair once more. A loving look crosses your face as hold each other’s gaze.

“You know what to do if it’s too much or I go too far, yes?” You question tenderly. Johnny smiled and nodded, raising his chin to kiss your wrist, right over your pulse. He can probably feel how hard your heart is pounding at this moment, but he doesn’t comment on it.

“Yes, ma’am.” He nodded. You don’t respond, raising your leg and planting it over his shoulder, pulling his face directly into your pussy, holding him still as you look up at Jooheon and Jackson.

“Come here. I have something for you two to do.”

The four of you fall into a rhythm, with Johnny’s tongue buried between your folds and both Jackson and Jooheon’s cocks in your hands as you traded sloppy kisses with them. You alternate between slow strokes and quickened ones, a purr and a giggle falling from your lips as you break the kiss, hovering just shy of Jooheon’s lips.

“You sound pretty like this, you know.” You praise him softly, gripping and pulling Johnny’s hair as you feel him change pace.

“Ah, ah. Slow down.”

He shuddered and nodded, spreading his knees apart, his cock standing tall against his abs as he greedily ate you out. You hum and moan breathlessly, letting him know how much you are enjoying it.

“M-More…please more…” Jooheon shuddered, fingers trembling along your skin. Jackson nodded from beside him, his precum dribbling down your fingers. You smile, nodding your chin towards the bed.

“Come on, we’re getting to the best part. You all are doing so well for me.” you praise.

A bit of shuffling about later and you’re seated in Jooheon’s lap, riding him while Johnny greedily licked and kissed at the mess being made of your pussy and his cock. Jackson stood on the bed, holding his arms behind his back as he watched you alternate between teasing kisses and deep, throaty swallows, all while holding smoldering eye contact with him.

“T-Thank you, thank you, please-” Jooheon groans, his cock curving just right. It was almost enough to turn your mind off, almost enough to flip the switch back, but you hold firm, clenching tight and smiling around Jackson’s cock before pulling off with a wet pop.

Jackson whined in complaint as you caressed Johnny’s face until he noticed you wanted him to lift up. When he does, you kiss him deep and slow, tasting you and Jooheon on Johnny’s tongue before turning his head to Jackson, smiling sweetly as you whisper in his ear.

“Be a good puppy and hold onto this for me, okay? Keep it nice and warm for me.”

“Fuck,” Johnny let out a breathy laugh and nodded, leaning in to swallow down Jackoson’s cock, his tongue curling against the underside. You press your back against Jooheon’s back, rolling and grinding your hips as he rocked his own up into you, balls slapping against your ass.

“Thank y-you, Yn~ Fuck, it feels so good, thank you for, ah- taking care of us” Jooheon keens, eyes fluttering as he throbbed inside of you. You feel a wave of pride wash over you as you clench around him. You were sure he had been close to cumming inside of you, but he stilled his hips, sending you a pleading look over your shoulder.

“Please, can I cum inside? I did well, right?” He pants, practically begging as your ass jiggles every time it made contact with his thighs. You run your fingers into his hair, pulling and leaving dark hickies along his neck as you still your hips.

“If you want to cum so bad, go ahead. Get yourself off. Milk yourself for me so the other two can see.”

You keep your lips against his neck, moaning in delight as you feel his hands land on your hips, a whimper of need leaving his lips as he sped up, thrusting into you and chasing his orgasm with near pleading desperation in his voice.

You close your eyes, listening to the wet sound as goosebumps rise up along with sweat and precum running down your skin. Had you had looked behind you, you would have noticed Johnny had been pushed down fully onto Jackson’s cock, throat squeezing and constricting his cock as both he and Jackson watched you and Jooheon mere feet away.

“Y/n! Fuck! Yes yes yes, thank you! Fuck!” He whimpered in need and finally pressed deep, throbbing, and trembling as he came inside of you. You moan, gripping him like a vice as you cum shortly after, hearing the sound get even sloppier as he milked every drop inside of you.

You push his chest when he’s finished and spent, rolling your hips slowly and smiling with a glint in his eye as you look back at Jackson and Johnny.

Both of them have their eyes locked onto your pussy and the messy creampie Jooheon had left behind. When you still yourself, they glance up, meeting your fervent gaze.

You’re unsure where this strong wave of confidence came from after the earlier anxieties, but now that you’d let it wash over you, there was no stopping you now.

You raise your hips, sighing in displeasure when Jooheon’s half-hard cock falls out of you, messy and covered in both your and his juices. You roll over onto your back, spreading your legs and rubbing your pussy, not minding the mess at all. Your next words cause both of them to surge forward eagerly;

“Well? Who’s next ?”

☆○o。Tag 　List　。o○☆

@jacksons-goddess-gaia @kimnamshiks @atiny-dazzlinglight @angel0taiyo @gettin-a-lil-hanse @dreamyinception-world @yunhofingers @violetwinters @babiebumm @seomisaho @drunk-on-hwa @twistedsiren @shymexican

#fie writes #k-vanity #kwritersworldnet #kpop smut #got7 smut #monsta x smut #nct smut #nct 127 smut #jackson wang smut #lee jooheon smut #johnny suh smut #kpop member x reader #kpop member x member #crossover smut

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blu-joons · 2 years

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When You Take Him Bra Shopping ~ Monsta X Reaction

Shownu:

His eyes didn’t quite know where to look as Hyunwoo hovered behind you, smiling weakly as a few people passed you both by.

“Do you want me to hurry up?” You asked Hyunwoo, picking up on how shy he was.

“No,” he quickly insisted in reply to you, “I don’t mind waiting for you, you take your time and decide Y/N.”

“Are you sure? You seem a bit awkward.”

An anxious smile formed on Hyunwoo’s face as he took a step towards you. “I mean shopping for bras wasn’t quite how I expected my day to go, it’s not the usual spot in a department store that I can be found in.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll only be here for a couple more minutes and then we can leave.”

“Don’t be quick for me,” Hyunwoo told you.

Your head shook back across at him, “I can tell that you’re not enjoying yourself, I won’t drag this out for you to experience.”

“Thank you,” Hyunwoo smirked, “I didn’t think being around this many bras would leave me feeling this flustered.”

“I had a feeling it’d get to you.”

Minhyuk:

A chuckle came from you as Minhyuk rushed ahead of you as soon as he figured out where it was that you were heading for.

“Will you slow down?” You chuckled across at Minhyuk, struggling to keep up.

“I can’t,” he grinned, looking back momentarily for you before quickly rushing again, desperate to start shopping.

“Are we here shopping for you?”

Minhyuk laughed as you teased him, stopping when he saw a couple of bras that took his fancy. “I mean we’re here shopping for you, but I can give you my opinion on which ones I like, can’t I at least?”

“You’ll give me your opinion whether I ask for it or not, I know what you’re like Min.”

“These are so nice,” he whispered to himself.

Your head shook in disbelief at how confident he was whilst browsing. “I’m the one who decides which one I buy, you know.”

“I know,” Minhyuk agreed, “but if I see one that I like maybe I might just decide to treat you and buy you another.”

“You’re treating yourself by doing that.”

Kihyun:

Your eyes glanced back as you noticed that Kihyun’s figure was no longer beside you, looking back to see where he’d gone.

“Are you coming?” You asked, using your hand to try and beckon him over to you.

“Do I have to?” Kihyun enquired, scratching his hand over the top of his head as he took a good look at the store front.

“I’ll only be a few minutes in here Ki.”

His hand slipped into your outstretched one, scuffing his feet against the ground as he caught up to you. “I can’t believe you’ve dragged me here of all places on my one day off of the week,” he mumbled to himself.

“You know when I’m shopping for bras I’m shopping for your benefit at the same time too.”

“Don’t use that against me,” Kihyun laughed.

You held your free hand up innocently, “it’s true, I’ve seen your eyes looking when I’ve been trying on some bras before.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Kihyun innocently smiled back across at you, “I’d never do something like that.”

“You’re not as innocent as you think.”

Hyungwon:

The smile on Hyungwon’s face quickly altered as he watched you turning around, his expression quickly turning blank.

“I saw that,” you challenged, raising a questionable eyebrow across to Hyungwon.

“Saw what?” He shrugged, knowing that you had managed to catch his smug smile before he switched his expression.

“You’re enjoying this secretly, right?”

A soft sigh came from Hyungwon as he followed behind you further down the aisle of bras. “How can you expect me not to enjoy this just a little bit, I mean I’m around bras, that’s like a guy’s dream you know Y/N.”

“I never had you down for the sort of guy who would make a big deal about bras.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know,” Hyungwon chuckled.

Your eyes widened at his admission, unable to hold back a chuckle yourself. “Maybe that’s the stuff that I don’t want to know.”

“It’s nothing bad,” Hyungwon assured you, throwing his arm over your shoulders, “but I am enjoying this just so you know.”

“I know, your smile gave that away.”

Jooheon:

A roll of the eyes came from you as you heard the giggle from behind you as Jooheon realised where you were heading for.

“You’re going to enjoy this too much,” you warned, glancing back at him momentarily.

“How can you expect me not to enjoy this?” He innocently asked you in reply, picking up his pace so that he was alongside you.

“Just try and act normal at least.”

The rest of the boyfriends around you seemed relatively calm, but yours was as giddy as a kid in a sweet shop. “I am acting normal,” Jooheon protested, only to see your head shaking back across at him.

“You’re smile for starters isn’t normal, I’ve never seen you smile as wide as that before.”

“Maybe I like shopping,” he suggested.

A second roll of the eyes came from you, “it’s not the shopping that you’re enjoying, it’s what we’re shopping for.”

“Maybe so,” Jooheon mumbled, his voice trailing off at the end, “maybe next time you want a bra, you shouldn’t invite me.”

“You won’t let me bra shop alone again.”

I.M:

A smirk formed on your face as you looked to your left where Changkyun was standing, noticing just how lost his eyes were.

“You don’t want to be here, do you?” You laughed at Changkyun to get his attention.

“It’s awkward,” Changkyun giggled back across at you, “I mean am I allowed to just stand here around all these bras.”

“They’re just bras, you know.”

A sigh came from Changkyun as he took a step towards you, still slightly apprehensive. “Why is bra shopping so complicated? Can’t you just find one in your size, grab it, and run as fast as you can to the checkout?”

“It’s not as easy as that, I can’t just pick one, I mean there are all sorts of colours for starters.”

“Red suits you,” he encouraged.

Your eyes rolled at how quick Changkyun’s reply was, “just because you like me in red doesn’t mean that I’ll buy one.”

“But then it could get us out of here,” Changkyun tried his best to argue, “why do you like making me suffer so much?”

“It’s just bra shopping, it’s no big deal.”

---

Masterlist

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biffhofosho · 1 year

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Le Cirque du Fantasme | Part One

Fandom: Monsta X

Genre: Smut, natch

Word Count: 12.2k

Pairing: Jooheon/Changkyun/Minhyuk x OC

Synopsis: Step right up! Step right up! Come one, come all to a celebration of the macabre, the daring, the enticing, and the beautiful. Inside this tent is another world—one that will challenge your senses as much as your soul. Nowhere else on Earth can you experience such an awakening. Just take caution—once you are awake, you’ll find it hard to ever go back to sleep.

The Vibe: Third person (as always), fall fog, small town, lost and found, night circus, inhumans, the seen and the unseen (heh), everything fantastical and provoking, wonderstruck OC, questioning reality, copious amounts of worldbuilding leads to copious amounts of smut, foursome, suspension, light bondage/shibari-adjacent, temperature play like woah, sexual oneupsmanship lol, acrobatic sex yw

A/N: Literally the second the opening bars hit on “Daydream,” I knew I was going to write an October fic to it. Not only that, I knew exactly what it called for.

I had originally intended to publish multiple October fics, same as last year, but since I boned myself over with my earlier writing hiatus, the least I can do is give you a twoshot. This is my love song to my readers who love worldbuilding as much as I do. I didn’t try to rein in the muse this time, so hopefully you disappear into another reality entirely with me. Also—

Since it’s October, when we do get to the smut, I, um, went slightly more deviant than usual ahahaha. .-.

Cvr | 01 | 02 | 03

“Oh, no.”

Mariam is aware that, all things considered, she is under-reacting.

She is lost when there is no reason for her to be lost.

Only minutes ago, she was walking home from her late shift at the diner, and now she is wandering through fog as thick as stuffing and woods where there should be sidewalk. It’s nighttime, but it’s doubtful that even in daylight things would change. Even with the pale moon, she can neither see where she has come from nor where she is headed.

The fog has muffled every sound like a pair of noise-canceling headphones. She can hear only the crunch of dry leaves under her boots. And, yeah, it’s late, but where’s the traffic? She always passes a few cars on the road. She realizes that is exceptionally weird, but there’s nothing to do but move forward. Carmel isn’t very big; she’s bound to wander into one of the old cemeteries any moment, and then she’ll know she’s close to her apartment.

Still, the woods are a little concerning. Town might be tiny, but if she’s somehow wandered into the woods around Ninham Mountain, Mariam could be lost for hours. The state forest is huge and full of lakes, and she is definitely not on any sort of trail at the moment.

Slowly, her usual cavalier attitude wears thin. It’s getting cold. The chill of autumn bites at her through her flannel, and she withdraws her fingers into her sleeves before they can chap. The further she walks into the fog without a guidepost, the more nervous she gets.

“Idiot!” she curses at herself.

Suddenly, it dawns on Mariam to check her phone. She fishes it out of her bag to find she’s been walking for ten minutes, which is her usual walk home, but she can’t see a single building let alone a sidewalk. Foolish as it is, she decides to map her route, but something much more alarming happens.

No signal.

She cannot call. She cannot text. She cannot even access her GPS.

The little marker on the map has her floating in a blob of gray, which is ironic considering she is unmoored in a cottony swab of nothingness.

“Oh, no.”

This time, at least, Mariam is painfully aware that her reaction is right on point.

She keeps her phone in hand now in the hope of catching a wisp of signal. She doesn’t feel like she’s walking up hill—she doesn’t feel like she’s moving at all—but in the hopes that she is, maybe she’ll pick up the cell tower. Realistically, she can’t have gotten that lost in ten minutes.

Her ears perk. She hears something other than her own feet, and she stops to make sure she isn’t hallucinating it.

Nope, that’s music all right. It’s just really, really weird music. Like someone’s playing organ music, but it’s definitely not from the Baptist church. It’s too… whimsical?

Mariam cocks her head. It reminds her of something. She can’t remember what, but something from her childhood, she’s sure.

With no other options, she walks toward it. At least she’ll find one other human out here who can give her some directions.

She turns on her flashlight, but it just rebounds off the fog and blinds her. Mariam stumbles against a tree and waits for the flood of brilliance to wash from behind her eyes. When she opens them again, the fog has miraculously thinned.

She’s definitely in the woods, not one of the little town parks or someone’s backyard but somewhere wild and unmanicured. The trees are spindly but thick, almost claustrophobic. There’s still no sign of a trail, and yet it seems like she’s on one. In fact, she can see it laid out before her, free of brambles and thickets and fallen trees. The fog is thinner there, too, though all along the sides of her, it’s as dense as cinder block.

The only thing that makes sense is following it, so Mariam does, and as she walks, the music gets louder. It also becomes more familiar. Maybe it’s because she’s lost, but something about it is so inviting. If notes can be colorful, these are positively flamboyant. She finds herself smiling in the fog.

The trail-not-trail bends and when she rounds a big boulder, she sees it.

There, in a glade cloistered by a lush canopy of fiery red maples, squats an enormous circus tent replete with a black flag snapping in a breeze that she can’t feel. The tent is striped white and black, high contrast even in the dark. There’s a long entrance tunnel, and at its maw is a ticket window lined with warm white lights. It glows like a lighthouse, and Mariam finds herself drawn into its harbors.

There’s a man in the window. He’s the most intense blend of handsome and cute she has ever seen. If she looks at him from one side, his eyes are thin and sharp, and they cut through her like razors, but if she looks at him from the other, his dimples cup his playful mouth as though they can barely contain his inner vibrance. His hair is darker than the night itself, making his skin look white as starlight by comparison, but the booth lighting frames his head like a halo. He’s an impossible mix of everything all at once, and she has never seen his equal.

Mariam steps to the window with an overwhelming sense of intimidation.

“Welcome, fair lady,” he says. His voice is potent. He says each word with a confidence that she has never felt in her whole life even at her best, and she finds herself captivated in the span of five syllables. His eyes dance as he studies her. “You’re just in time.”

“For what?” she asks.

“Showtime, of course. I was just about to close the ticket window, but lucky for us, I didn’t.”

It’s kind of a weird thing to say, Mariam thinks, but his unswerving confidence makes her reconsider.

“Actually, I was just looking for directions?” she says with more of a question than she intended.

“It seems to me you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be.”

Again, his conviction makes her question hers.

“I wasn’t planning on going to a show tonight.” She fishes through her bag and finds the small roll of ones and fives from her shift. Tuesday shifts were notoriously poor payouts, but a traveling outfit this elaborate has to cost a pretty penny considering how exclusive it must be out here in the middle of nowhere. “How much? I don't have much cash on me. You take cards?”

“Those little plastic rectangles?” he replies with a flippant smile. “Pointless.”

Mariam frowns. “Then I don’t think I can afford it.”

He leans across the counter, almost through the window itself, into her personal space. Her hands fly to her chocolate locks and gather them to one side, twisting and twisting it as tightly as she feels her stomach twisting.

“Oh, admission is very reasonable,” he assures. This time when he smiles, it feels like he’s keeping a secret. He presents a golden ticket, the glossy paper winking as it turns between his well-manicured fingers. “Admission is only a dream.”

“A dream?” Mariam says skeptically.

“Just that, miss. In exchange for the best dream you’ve ever had, we will provide you with a new one. Seems like a fair trade, yes?”

“It would be if I knew what you were talking about.”

“I promise you’ll never experience anything else like this.”

Her brow furrows as she glances up at the big top. “I don’t even know what this is.”

The ticket-taker pouts, and his lush lips fatten to sumptuous thickness. “I’m afraid the show must start, miss. Do we have a deal?”

Mariam considers. This isn’t why she came—no, wait, she didn’t intend to come here at all—but she is here now, and this charming ticket monger is next to impossible to resist. What’s the harm in telling him one single dream? He doesn’t need to know about that particular dream.

And, anyway, it’s not like he’s conning her out of any money. In essence, it’s some free, entertaining shelter from a foggy night. She weighs her options and makes her decision.

“Am I supposed to, like, write it down or something?” she asks.

“Just lean in,” he instructs.

Hesitantly, Mariam tips forward over the counter, and for a brief second, his plump lips ghost along hers.

She should jerk back. She should slap him. But she does nothing but let him kiss her like the night mist. She is frozen as a current of muddy feelings spill like water from her lips. The back of her brain tickles a bit, but it’s overruled by the more pleasant tickle of his lips dusting over hers.

When he’s done, he licks his lips, which have curled into a tiger’s grin. His eyes are lively, and he’s panting lightly. He clears his throat and adjusts his hips in his pants somewhere behind the counter.

“How delicious,” he practically purrs. “I may have to keep that one for myself. I almost feel bad for taking it from you, but I promise the replacement will exceed it.”

He presents the golden ticket, and Mariam takes it. She expects it to feel like paper or maybe metal, but instead, it feels gauzy, and she can't stop rubbing her thumb over it.

“Straight through there, fair lady,” he says. “The show is about to start, and a whole new dream awaits you.”

The ticket monger holds open the black curtain, and she enters the tunnel. The moment the curtain shuts behind her, it is blacker than an abyss. The only thing she can see is a thin, shimmering line of light at the far end.

Outside, she hears the snap of the ticket booth closing, and she knows she is alone. The music is louder now, drawing her forward more powerfully than ever, and she realizes why she recognized it in the first place. It rises and falls and scampers and twirls, almost as though she can see the notes surrounding her, teasing and laughing at her. It is the song of childhood, of delight and fantasy.

It is the song of the circus.

There are smells here, too, familiar and unfamiliar. There is the buttery warmth of popcorn and, beneath it, something much more unctuous, a bit like when the cooks at the diner render the lard for the pie crusts. There's a hint of something acrid too, and it reminds her of the smell of her father's rifles.

Mariam follows the tunnel to its end, where she parts the drape only to be assaulted by the brilliant spotlights surrounding a huge red ring. There are seats seven layers high around three sides terminating at a ring entrance shuttered by another heavy curtain, but this one is three times as tall and wide as the entrance she just came through. Just surrounding the ring are four enormous tent poles soaring to the canvas above, where wires zig and zag across the arena and café lights accent each black and white stripe, softening the harsh spotlights.

The ticket-taker is there to greet her as though he has never seen her before. He beams at her, those dimples creasing his plump cheeks. Mariam approaches with her ethereal ticket in hand and starlight in her eyes.

“What’s this? A golden ticket?” says the man with a sharp eyebrow raised. “We have ourselves a VIP tonight it seems. You’re in for a truly mesmerizing experience, miss. Follow me. I will show you to your seat.”

He does not take the ticket from her after all but, instead, leads her across the ring itself toward a pair of empty seats in a box on the floor.

“VIP?” she says as she struggles to keep up with his commanding steps. His thick black boots thunk across the floor and resound under the big top. “But I didn't pay you anything for it!”

“But you did,” he insists. “The most tantalizing dream gets the VIP treatment. After all, we have to work harder to replace what we have taken.”

Mariam tries to remember the dream she’d thought about before she entered, but where her brain searches for the memory, it finds only the lingering taste of his lips, which she savors like berries ripened by the moon until they’re ready to burst. It’s a bit of a silly thought, yet dark, sweet juice coats her mouth and whets her appetite for something even darker.

They stop outside the box seats, and the dimpled man holds open the door with a question on his face. “You want VIP, don’t you?”

“I do,” she finds herself answering.

This broadens the man’s shoulders, and now he smiles so widely that those thin eyes shut under the powerful force of his bright cheeks. “Your private seats then, my fair lady.”

Mariam sits on one of the velvet-padded seats as he closes the door and offers her a sweeping bow like the showman he is. The ticket-monger-turned-usher disappears now behind the backstage curtain, and she has little doubt she will see him in the show, most likely as a clown judging from his over-the-top antics.

As she tries to relax into her seat, Mariam spares some time to look beyond the open stage and see what other lost souls have stumbled into this weird circus. She wonders if she’ll see any of her friends or coworkers in the stands.

She does not. What she finds is far more unnerving.

There are only a dozen or so other spectators in the stands. None of them sit anywhere near each other. They are spread throughout the whole tent, high and low, mostly in shadow because the spotlights are fixed downward in the ring. At first, she thinks they are strays like her, but as they wait for the show to start, Mariam begins to doubt they are even human. If she looks at any one of them head on, they look like normal people, mostly men but a few women, too, but from her periphery, she swears she sees the jaws of a wolf or the skin of a lizard or even a pair of antlers when she turns her head. Most have eyes of glinting gold exactly like those she’s seen along the road when her high beams catch just so.

And there are fangs. Fangs everywhere, some long and thin, some fat or even serrated.

One of them, a thin, hunched man with mottled scales in patches all over his body, is eating from a black and white striped carton which might usually house popcorn, but it definitely isn’t, and he isn’t eating whatever it is with his hand but with quick snaps of a lightning-fast tongue.

Mariam is growing uncomfortable again. She had thought this place might get her back home, but it has taken her somewhere far more foreign, and she’s feeling more alone than ever. She has felt different a lot in her life but never like an actual alien.

She should probably be more scared than anything, but none of these people—creatures—are looking at her. They are all looking toward the ring. Nobody speaks although she swears she hears a snort from one side of the arena that someone echoes on the other side with a series of strange clicks.

She wishes the berry-lipped man would come back and take the seat beside her. She can’t be sure he’s human now either, but she trusts his smile and his dimples, even if she shouldn’t.

Just when Mariam is ready to dart to the exit, music swells anew. It is far more powerful than the spirited diddy that lured her here. Under the big top, the organ booms and the drums thunder, and everything feels like it’s spinning like a carousel.

“Strangers! Friends! Denizens of the dark and light dwellers alike!” comes a voice of unquestionable power from somewhere backstage. As far as Mariam can tell, there is no sound system. It's just the voice of a true entertainer filling the canvas wall-to-wall. “The time has come to revel in the greatest spectacle the night has ever seen. Pretense, common sense, even the very laws of nature itself, have no place under this canopy. What you will experience tonight will challenge your very perception of reality. Nothing you have seen before tonight can prepare you for what you are about to see. At times, you may think you have wandered into a dream, but I assure you, what you are about to witness is so much more. Welcome—”

The backstage curtains sail wide with a snap and a flutter, and a man bursts through, his arms wide and his dimples shining in the spotlights.

“—to Le Cirque du Fantasme!”

The audience applauds, rather lackluster Mariam thinks for the passion of such a lofty introduction, so she tries to clap just a little louder than everyone else. After all, she is getting the VIP treatment, so she should return the favor.

The man rises from a bow that completely folds him in half, and she shakes her head in awe. She had expected—hoped—to see him again, but she is not prepared for the striking figure the former usher cuts in his crimson crushed velvet coat. The tails swish at the back of his knees as he laps the ring. Diamond buttons splinter in the light as does the sweat already beading at his brow.

“I am Jooheon, your ringmaster, but I am also your guide. For every wonder you experience tonight, I will be by your side to remind you that what you are witnessing is indeed real. Together, we will discover there is magic left in the world if you know just where to look.”

He stops in front of the VIP box and tips his head with a smile just for Mariam, and then he is gone.

Back in the center of the ring, Jooheon enumerates the many wonders on their horizon, impossible, tantalizing things that cannot be real, yet the more he promises, the more she believes him. Thanks to this man’s unprecedented versatility, she is also starting to believe this is a one-man circus. Maybe he will perform all of the spectacular acts he’s teasing.

But Jooheon confounds her again. With a dramatic swoop of his hand, he draws the audience’s eyes to the massive curtains at the rear of the tent, and slowly, the heavy fabric parts by unseen hands.

Mariam’s seat trembles. At first, she thinks she’s imagining it, caught up in the ringmaster’s passion, but then it trembles again and again, and she realizes they’re tremors.

No. Footfalls.

The arena is dead silent.

Thwomp. Thwomp. Thwomp.

The face appears first in shadow—a great black snout snuffling so strongly that the curtains puff. Even through the veil of backstage, the eyes are clear and bright, an otherworldly metallic green that flash the same sort of gold that some of the audience members possess.

Another footfall, and the muzzle appears, ornamented with thick black lips fringed by snow white and overhung by two bone-shattering fangs as long as her hand.

Since Mariam sits off to the side, the eyes do not seem to perceive her, yet she tucks her legs up against herself and ducks her head to peer from behind her knees as the rest of the creature emerges to fill the ring.

It’s a wolf—if one can call it that. It’s nearly twice the height of a horse and just as broad. Its fur is white all over save for the silver tips to each hair that make it sparkle in the spotlight. Its chunky claws click on the ring floor as it shuffles into position.

Mariam relaxes now. Maybe it’s because Jooheon is standing there unbothered by its haunches or maybe it’s because its face is rather doglike despite its other ferocious features or maybe it’s the fact that its tail is wagging, but most likely, it’s because a man sits astride its great shoulders, scratching its fluffy ears.

“Friends, behold!” trumpets Jooheon. “Our Amorak and our beastmaster, Shownu! Together, they will take us on a journey through the world of creatures long considered too elusive or vicious to be tamed. Many have been laughed at for believing the campfire tales or legends of our ancestors, but for Shownu, these legends are not legends at all but friends and allies, and now, they will be yours, too.”

The Amorak sits down, and Shownu releases its mane to slide down its back like a child on a playground. The beastmaster lands easily and pats the great wolf’s backside. With a snap of the man’s fingers, the Amorak stands and side-steps as delicately as a pony so that even a man as imposing and broad-chested as the beastmaster stands beneath the animal, the man’s head at its elbow.

From the shadows beneath, Shownu whistles, and the wolf spins so its back legs face the audience. Another whistle, this one like a see-saw, and the creature wags its tail in huge, careful strokes that send its long fur sweeping the faces of the audience members brave enough to sit in the first couple rows. Laughter rings out. Mariam finds she is laughing, too, and perhaps even a little envious.

As if he knows this, Jooheon saunters over to the VIP box and says, “Fair lady, would you please stand?”

“What?” she whispers hoarsely.

“Now is better,” he teases with his dimples.

The Amorak shifts, and now there is no doubt it perceives her. The beastmaster steps out from the belly of the beast and walks toward her. Mariam shoots up from her seat, less out of fear of the creature than out of respect for its master.

Shownu stands opposite Jooheon at the box and centers his attention on the VIP. There is a gentleness in his face that she could never have anticipated considering his ominous moniker, but Shownu smiles at her very differently than Jooheon ever has. His lips do not part but, instead, sit neatly atop each other in a way that raises his cheeks like two little fresh-baked rolls.

“Hold out your hand, palm up,” the beastmaster instructs in a gruff but inviting voice.

Mariam does so hesitantly, and when her arm is fully extended, the Amorak raises its paw, too, and places it light as a feather in hers. It’s so huge that only a portion of a single blazing paw pad fills her palm. Its long feathery fur tickles her skin, and she finds herself giggling. The two men exchange smiles, and the Amorak lowers its head. It snorts once, and her long hair sails behind her. She laughs harder now, and the beast and the beastmaster withdraw to the heart of the ring again, her body vibrating both from the experience and the tremors of footfalls.

Mariam sits back down, cradling her hand to her chest with a slack-jawed smile on her face.

The duo performs a few other stunts—the Amorak stands on his back legs and wobbles in the circle, as does Shownu, which has the audience cackling, and then it howls, nearly blowing the roof off the circus tent, which sends the audience cowering—before the wolf takes a seat and Shownu takes a post at the curtain.

Another man, this one even broader and more muscular than Shownu, comes out just long enough to shepherd in two sweet-faced animals before he disappears into the back. At first, Mariam thinks they are fawns, but then she sees the tawny wings folded at their backs.

Jooheon introduces these as perytons, not that that means anything to her, but the antlered person she’d caught sight of earlier in the stands cheers and stamps so enthusiastically that the ringmaster practically glows with the praise.

Shownu gets the energetic little critters to perform a choregraphed dance, which would be cute enough, but then they take to the sky, and whimsy becomes awe. The perytons glide and weave just like birds though they snort and snuffle like deer. Mariam is so lost in the spectacle that she barely catches Jooheon’s note that their sweet faces conceal true power, and no sooner does he say this then one of the little deer-birds divebombs the spectator with the popcorn container and, with taloned back legs instead of its hooved front ones, grabs a hunk of what looks like entrails and lobs it back like a baseball to its friend. The other peryton snaps it out of mid-air to devour it, and the sight of a sweet little fawn face gobbling intestines is not something Mariam imagines she will ever forget. The Amorak growls, and the two mischievous babies promptly land, bleating like kids laughing at their father.

After that, Shownu spreads his arms out wide and lifts his powerful chest, and the perytons follow suit, their hawk-like wings fanned out, every feather articulated. There’s no denying the stir in Mariam’s belly as she studies the beastmaster commanding his beasts, for they follow his every command unquestioningly.

The perytons perform a few more aerial tricks of agility with a ball and a ribbon, and when they are done, the buff shepherd from earlier fetches them to the back and then returns, this time dropping a trail of meat into the ring.

From the back inches a gigantic pink blob. The front end is nothing but a gaping maw lined with hundreds of wicked teeth, and… that’s it—it’s nothing but pinkness and horrifying teeth. Again, Mariam finds herself tucking her feet up onto her chair as though she’s afraid it will break into the box and mow her clean off at the knees.

Jooheon explains this is a Mongolian Death Worm, eyeless and earless but hardly helpless. The crowd is instructed to keep quiet since it hunts by vibration, but Mariam quickly sees that is only partly true when the worm reaches Shownu, and the beastmaster stoops down to pat the top of its head while two big nostrils open for a long sniff.

The creature is longer than her father's car and the color of exposed muscle. Its segments undulate when it moves as well as when it eats, which is an awful lot like Taz from the Looney Tunes, she thinks. It should be grotesque, but Mariam can't help but find it adorable as the monster looks up at its master and seems to smile even without eyes and lips.

Through a series of stamps and claps of his hands against the floor, Shownu communicates with the beast. It rolls up and lunges on command, jawless mouth snapping. It roars with the power and ferocity of a sandstorm, and her blood curdles. Then, as if to rub its stubby pink nose in the face of its moniker, the worm curls into a ball that Shownu scoops up in his sturdy hands and lobs straight into the air for his Amorak to catch in its mouth. Finally, the big wolf drops it to the ground, and the giant wad of chewed bubble gum unspools and jiggles itself dry to the squeal of the few audience members who sat too close to the action and got sprayed with giant dog saliva.

As the laughter dies down, however, the ringmaster reminds everyone not so subtly that this is a death worm. To prove that point, Shownu brings out a giant rod with a metal ball on the end and taps the top of the worm's head. It growls—a sound that trembles in the bones more than in the ears, a bit like a building earthquake or an oncoming train—and rears up, and when it does, it puffs out almost twice its width. Fantastic crackles of lightning discharge from its head and arc into the ball at the end of the rod. They snap and pop and sizzle in yellow so brilliant, Mariam has to close her eyes most of the way so she doesn’t go blind.

When at last the worm deflates, panting in the ring, the beastmaster touches the tip of the rod to the metal pole supporting the tent, and a sonic boom shivers the canvas on its rails. The residual electricity stands up every hair on Mariam's arms and, unfortunately, most of her head, too, which she is quick to smooth down. Shownu pats the worm on the head again, and the chubby blob slinks off behind the buff shepherd, rather satisfied for a death worm, she thinks.

After a hearty round of applause, the beastmaster and the Amorak both bow to the audience, and Shownu takes the opportunity to leap between the giant wolf’s shoulder blades. When it rises again, the man sits astride with a nod for the crowd and one specifically for Mariam, and he looks as much like a cowboy on a horse as he does a man on a mythological creature.

Jooheon takes center stage again, and she is struck by just how much the man seems to belong in the spotlight. With a toothy grin, he says, “Shownu, everyone! Please let him hear how much you loved his menagerie of talented friends.”

Applause and cheers ring out, and Mariam joins in extra loudly since she’s still feeling electrified by the death worm.

“For our next act, I invite you to feast your eyes on a man with the strength of a beast, the body of a god, and the face of an angel. But it isn’t just strength he brings to the table, no, no, no, but agility. Straight from the realm of the Fair Folk, prepare to delight in the beautiful brute force and precision artistry of our resident fae, Wonho!”

The ringmaster steps to the edge of the ring as the former shepherd returns to center stage, padding out in bare feet unaccompanied. He is massive, with enormous shoulders corded with muscle protruding from his tank top. Mariam wonders how it doesn’t burst at the seams considering how the rest of his chest bulges against the fabric, but maybe that’s just another part of the circus magic or it’s simply painted on. It's not much different with his pants. The way the fabric stretches around his tree trunk thighs is perhaps even more magical, and she knows she should probably look away, but how can she when it seems as though the man was made specifically to ogle.

His white hair has the faintest hint of lilac, and like the Amorak fur, there’s a metallic glint to it, but it’s nothing to the glint in his emerald eyes. Even from ringside, they are piercing, so green that they seem lit by some internal flame, and when they fall to her, Mariam exhales so sharply that she realizes she’s been holding her breath since he strolled in.

He is carrying something in his enormous hands. It looks like a giant crystal cube, and it warps and shatters the light like a disco ball.

Wonho smiles. It’s as dazzling as Jooheon’s, all teeth but no dimples, and it accentuates just how delicate he is despite his big body. His ears stick out like little butterfly wings, but just before she can be spirited away by such cuteness, he shucks the tank top over his head, and it’s not just the intimidating display of muscle that catches her off-guard—it’s the actual set of wings at his back.

They unfurl, thin and translucent as stained glass, framed in by silver rims as fragile as the mint green panes inside. She thinks there's no way that something so ethereal could possibly be functional, but, as if to prove her wrong, Wonho alights before her eyes toward a crow's nest just above the ring. The wings make a rustling sound, like a stack of papers blown apart at an open window. They beat nearly as fast as a bumblebee’s, and when he pivots in the air, the breeze they make ruffles Mariam’s hair.

He lands on the platform there and puts down the block in his hand. He wipes his hands on his pants and then rubs them together before waving at each group of the audience. To Mariam, he adds a bow.

When he's ready, he takes several deep breaths, that gargantuan chest ballooning with every one. He picks up the block and splays his hands on either side of it, and then she hears the cracking. It sounds like ice when she pours soda over it at the diner, pops and crackles and pings.

His biceps strain and his forearms flex, and the cracking gets louder and louder and louder. Huge fissures zigzag across the cube until there's an explosion. The cube is powder now, piles in his hands and at his feet. Before anyone even has a chance to applaud, the strongman pivots and flaps his wings, and now, it's snowing under the tent. Like an oscillating fan, he swivels from side to side, and Mariam feels the kiss of snowflakes on her cheeks and lashes. It melts instantly, but its dewy memory sends a smile of pure marvel to her face.

Instead of flying down from his perch, Wonho leaps and lands on his feet with a thud so fast that the snow is still falling like glitter on his fair skin. He doesn't bother to brush it off but lets it melt to a sparkly finish that turns him into living art.

He spends a few minutes lifting impossibly heavy objects and then taking to the air with them as though they are beach balls and not anvils and boulders and other ridiculous things. With his hands, he twists pipes into shapes like balloon animals and ties a knot—out of rebar—with his feet.

Another man emerges from the back then, this one long and thin like taffy freshly pulled, but when he steps into the ruthless lighting, she sees his fair skin is covered in delicate iridescent scales. He brings a stool, a mirror, a bow and arrow, and a bullseye. The tall man configures everything carefully while Wonho makes faces at his coworker in the mirror, and Mariam realizes the strongman is just as much a clown as anything.

When everything is ready, the tall man steps back. Wonho does a handstand on the stool, his back to the bullseye and his eyes on the mirror opposite it.

There’s something about the way his muscles lengthen as he contorts that has Mariam licking her lips. The twitches in his forearms as he adjusts, the flare of his ribs under that dewy skin, that illicit bulge urging against the constraints of his lycra pants—Wonho is truly an astonishing sight, and there’s a pang in her heart when she realizes how much of the world will never know his beauty and grace.

When he’s balanced just so, muscles trembling and abdominals squeezing with breath and stability, the other man situates the bow with the arrow already nocked between Wonho’s nimble feet.

The strongman shuffles his hands on the stool seat and achingly slowly bends his legs, arching his chest as a counterbalance. When the bow and arrow are lined up with the bullseye, Wonho grips the bowstring and pulls it taut.

Mariam holds her breath.

Wonho holds his.

The arrow flies.

Straight into the red bullseye.

The small crowd breaks out into uproarious applause, and she finds herself standing as she claps. Wonho bows to them all as the tall man clears out the equipment, and just as the strongman finishes his rounds, the Amorak comes bounding back in.

The audience recoils at the sudden thunderous intrusion, especially since the great beast is growling, but Wonho is unbothered, and only then does Mariam realize there’s a humongous rope lodged in its great teeth. The strongman pats the wolf’s head before he snatches the free end of the rope and shakes the Amorak back and forth. The growling turns to snarls.

Wonho takes to the air, yanking and pulling, those fragile wings beating more ferociously than the snarls sound. The Amorak digs in its claws and tries to pull back, but with a cheeky wave to the crowd, the white-haired fae drags the wolf back through the curtain as though the creature ten times his size is nothing but a tiny terrier.

The room is speechless, which Jooheon is only too happy to discover.

The ringmaster slides right back into the spotlight and trumpets, “Don’t forget to let Wonho hear it if you were impressed.”

Of course, the small crowd erupts, Mariam chief among them. She can’t escape the image of those pretty wings contrasting rock-hard muscle, the kiss of ice crystals melting on ivory skin.

It’s impossible. It’s unbelievable. She is shaken to her very core.

“We’re not done yet, folks,” Jooheon promises as he cuts through her existential crisis. “Our next performer is just as sure to wow you as much with his incredible dexterity as his unparalleled visuals. I personally guarantee you have never before seen anything like his act let alone the performer himself. He has come up from the darkest depths of the sea to dazzle and delight you with wonderous abilities only a one-of-a-kind hybrid like himself can conjure.

“During portions of the show, you may feel tempted to enter the ring. For your safety as well as the safety of our performer, I ask that you please use the seatbelts provided at your seat before we begin.”

Mariam looks down and finds that there is indeed a belt dangling from her chair, which seems utterly ridiculous at first, but as she recalls the incredible things she’s just witnessed, she secures it around her waist. Only a moment later, as the click of buckles ding around the tent, Jooheon walks by with a gentle smile, though his eyes are on her secured seatbelt.

He does the same throughout the rest of the crowd while two new men, one with red hair and one with blue, emerge with Wonho from the back and lift a large wooden cover from the center of the ring to reveal a shallow pool of water. They roll the cover off to the side into a metal corral and then linger at the lip of the ring along with Shownu and the man with the scales, who takes up his station closest to Mariam’s booth. Each man turns his back to the stage to watch the crowd instead, and when the man with the scales catches her gaze, the iridescence shimmers to the sweetest pink before it goes white as a sheet.

She has only a moment to reflect on the tall man’s otherworldly elegance before Jooheon clears his throat.

“Introducing: the one, the only, the luminescent Kihyun!”

The lights dim and the gentle circus music that always swells between acts dies entirely. Each of the last two performances had music, but now, it is so quiet, all she can hear is the lapping of the pool.

It is almost pitch black, though there is just enough light to see a figure emerge from behind the curtain.

He is compact and wiry. His bare feet pad across the ring and dip into the pool with the gentlest of splashes. He wades into the center, the water rising no higher than mid-shin, and then he opens his eyes.

Mariam had assumed it was just too dark to see his eyes, but now that they are open, she understands. He’s special.

They shimmer with the same eerie softness of a glow-in-the-dark toy. They don’t have the sharpness of oncoming headlights which force the eyes away, but instead, they draw her in. They beckon. She imagines seeing them looking down at her in the dark of a bedchamber, but she shakes the thoughts away.

He stoops and rifles beneath the water and soon comes up with a handful of rings. One by one, he squeezes them, and suddenly, they glow, too. He drops four chartreuse rings back below the water to glow at his feet but holds on to five others, though each of those are different colors.

Slowly, Mariam realizes it’s not just Kihyun’s eyes or the rings that glow. Pinpricks of light stud his body like a runway, and she can see now that, though he has arms and legs like a man, he is different—he is more. His skin is also unique. Though she can’t be sure of the exact colors, his front is definitely lighter than his back.

He wears a skintight outfit, something streamlined like a full-body swimsuit though its hard to be sure in the wan light, but now, she can clearly see the outline of sharp, articulated fins both on his forearms and his back.

Kihyun divides the rings in his hands and begins to toss them in the air until a rainbow of light streaks through the darkness. He builds speed until it seems that he’s not just juggling rings but bending light all together.

Once he’s captivated the crowd, he begins to sing. It’s not like anything Mariam has ever heard. Her heart slows. Her mind muddles. She forgets things beyond the show of light and the swirl of the melody around her. Kihyun bend a series of “oohs” and “ahs” of varying textures and power and lengths just as he bends the light—masterfully.

He spins. He pivots. He catches behind his back. Through it all, he sings.

Mariam realizes vaguely that her hips hurt where something presses unfairly against her. It’s keeping her from the ring. It’s keeping her from Kihyun. If she could tear her eyes from him, she could figure it out, but she can’t risk a second away from his incandescent frame.

The music stops, and Mariam stops, too, waiting for the next dulcet note. Abruptly, the juggler gathers all but one the rainbow rings in one hand and crouches down to the water.

He rubs the pink ring along the surface in a figure eight, and when he lifts it, it is dripping loudly in the stone silent room. He brings it up to his face, and Mariam can finally see his features clearly—his angular jaw, his strong cheekbones, his sharp eyebrows. Even the bow on his elegant lips is pointed.

He puckers those dangerous lips and blows into the center of the ring. Just like a kid’s wand, a bubble appears, but Kihyun does not easily run out of breath and the bubble stays flexible. By the time he is done, the bubble is almost as tall as he is. With a swift motion, he flicks the ring inside the bubble, and it seals behind it. The surface warbles with the pink light within, and with another gust from his lips, it sails to the ceiling above Jooheon and hangs obediently like a balloon tied off. He repeats the process with the remaining four rings until there is a watery chandelier illuminating the whole room. Mariam catches a glimpse of shimmering aqua on her own skin, hears the burble of the impossibly churning water sphere overhead, but she can't bring herself to look up—only ahead.

Kihyun stoops and scoops a cupful of water, which he then pours into his mouth. At first, she assumes it’s just a necessary part of being whatever it is he is, but then he spits a thin jet of the water into the air, only when he does, it’s colored with the same eerie blue-white light that dots his body. The stream wanes, but he replenishes it with another long draft from the cup, this time arcing the glowing water like a hula hoop as he spins. On the last drink, he blows a trio of bubbles, these ones as small as his fist but infused with the otherworldly luster. He does not pop them but casts them gingerly just above his head where they hang like a halo.

Finally, he fishes back through the water again, and this time, he brings up five already-glowing balls. These, like the rings, are clearly a prop, though half of Mariam wonders if they’re actually shimmering deep sea pearls.

Kihyun starts juggling these the same way he did the rings, establishing a familiar rhythm before picking up speed until he adds a new layer. He closes those firefly eyes and trusts in whatever senses he has left to keep the balls aloft.

Above him, the little bubble crown illuminates his wet black hair, which undulates back from his face as though caught in an unseen current. It is as mesmerizing as the blender-like rhythm the balls seem to be caught in between his dexterous hands.

Sing.

Please sing.

Please.

Mariam thinks she’s said that in her head, but the whispers hit her ear, and she realizes she hasn’t.

The man with the scales encroaches at the edge of her vision, and it’s a crude reminder that there are others in the room beside the luminescent Kihyun.

As though he’s heard her, the juggler opens that exceptional mouth, and more notes pour out, and though there’s no eerie blue light to accompany them, they’re brilliant all the same. Kihyun has a way of singing that sounds as though they’re all underwater.

None of the balls waver even for a second. His unswerving confidence that he will never let them drop is almost as mesmerizing as his unearthly voice.

Again, Mariam feels that pressure across her hips, and it’s becoming more insistent by the second.

She should be in the ring by now. She needs to be. She might go insane if she’s not.

A whistle pierces the air, and Kihyun stops singing. The balls fall together in a discordant splash, and quick as the death worm’s lightning, the juggler raises his arm, forearms out and fins in a full mast. From the tips of those articulations, he shoots something too small to see in the dim light though Mariam hears the little pew-pew-pew-pew-pew as he spins in the pool.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five.

Each massive glowing bubble explodes overhead while the rings inside fall into the hands of his fellow performers and the water rains in a much-needed cold shower over the audience. Mariam lets out a squeal as she is drenched and gulping for air against the wet chill. Goosebumps dimple her from head to toe, and she folds her arms over her chest to generate fresh heat.

The crowd is too stunned to applaud, but Kihyun doesn’t wait for it either. He exits the pool, bows to the stands, and then pads off to the back while the other performers begin the cleanup. Meanwhile, Wonho takes to the sky to buzz over the handful of audience members one by one, spinning around so his wings beat like a fan over them. He reaches Mariam last, and when he blasts her with air, she yelps and shivers, but in short order, she is dry and happy again in her flannel. He tips his impish head to her and buzzes back to help the others with the last of the preparation, and soon the ring is back as it was.

Now dry and sober, the audience remembers itself, and together, they erupt into riotous applause. Mariam tries to stand for an ovation, but then she remembers the seatbelt, and as soon as she unbuckles it, it’s like a weight is off her lap, and suddenly, it doesn’t seem so silly.

“Let him know, let him know!” cheers Jooheon as he takes center stage again. “You’ll never see another one like Kihyun, folks.”

Of that, Mariam is certain. She claps fiercer than ever even as her cheeks color at the memory of his voice.

“I’m sorry to tell you we have but two acts to go,” Jooheon laments, and Mariam laments with him. She feels the dread even before he says it. But he brightens immediately and surges forth in a sweeping circle around the room. “But the good news is they will both delight, confound, and astound you.

“First up, from far across the seas, on an untamed mountain, comes a beautiful and elusive man who both defies your notice but also demands it. Don’t let the sweet face fool you, he is wild and unpredictable and harbors a true hunger for adventure. Prepare to thrill as he risks life and limb to take you to the edge like never before! I present to you… Hyungwon!”

The spotlight centers in the ring, but no one is there and no one emerges from the back either.

“Hyungwon!” Jooheon repeats just as dramatically, but no one appears. Eyes start darting around the room, so, too, do whispers break out. The man in the crimson coat looks back to the entrance. “Hyungwon?”

The ringmaster looks a little nervous, those robust lips pulled tight as he paces the ring edge. He clears his throat.

“My apologies, esteemed guests. Hyungwon is supposed to be nocturnal, but sometimes he drifts off. Just a minute, and we'll get on with the show.”

Mariam sees Wonho darting back behind the curtains while, in the deep shadows at the edge of the ring, she spies the mysterious Kihyun with his arms stacked over his chest as he shakes his head. It's just starting to get uncomfortable, and they're all at the edge of their seats.

“Where is he?” Mariam whispers.

“Boo,” comes a totally different whisper along with a puff of hot breath beside her ear.

Mariam yells and instantly clamps her hand over her mouth as she jukes to the side in time to catch the luminous round face of the man with the scales.

All eyes as well as a spotlight turn to the VIP box to find Hyungwon with this face beside hers, flaunting a toothy grin and cheeks like doorbells begging to be pressed. His laugh is airy and infectious, childlike even, and though he has startled a year of her life from her, Mariam is laughing, too, even as her hand clutches her heart in hopes of slowing it.

How long had he been there without her knowing?

As her pulse slows, she closes her eyes, and when she opens them, he is nowhere to be seen.

Mariam swivels around like a dope, but the new performer has vanished. A few other crowd members laugh, but the patchy lizard man with the long tongue is outright cackling and applauding louder than anyone as though he understands the joke better than the rest of them can.

Jooheon, Wonho, and Kihyun are all laughing, too, so Mariam has to assume this is all part of the man's grand entrance.

And grand it is! Now when the spotlight centers in the ring, Hyungwon strolls into it. He is sporting a pair of leather pants but nothing else, not even shoes, and she can see it's not just his hands and neck and face covered in those scales but his whole body. Like the rest of his features, they are delicate and captivating, almost like glitter sewn directly onto his skin. He throws his arms wide, and she is dazzled by more than just his unique features. He is lean and sinewy with a tiny waist and shoulders as broad as a door.

Colors and shapes dance across his scales in seemingly impossible patterns; even his hair shifts like fiber optics. She recognizes many of the patterns: the tent stripes or the ring floor or the Amorak’s fur; for a moment, he even glows like Kihyun’s strange luminescence. His visual display morphs into a splash of crimson in the exact shape and design of the ringmaster’s coat, which makes Jooheon beam and clap enthusiastically. Hyungwon concludes with the most shocking display of all—he nearly disappears from plain sight by copying the patterns of the backgrounds on all sides.

But then something occurs to Mariam. Hyungwon is almost totally invisible thanks to his camouflage, but the leather cannot follow suit so it looks like a pair of pants floating in the middle of the ring. When he’d been right beside her though, there’d been nothing—not even pants. Shock and more than a little embarrassment grip her body, and she swears the performer knows because he turns to her right then with a very troublesome smile.

Mariam has been so busy being awestruck by their performances that it hasn’t occurred to her to consider how much of them is human when so many parts of them clearly are not. But now the rabbit is out of the hat and she's chasing helplessly after it, wondering what kind of lovers such spectacular beings would be. That's not a thing she should be thinking about looking at a chameleon man, especially because she is a conservative person—she has been her whole life. But sometimes she has thoughts… fantasies. Sometimes she has unusual dreams. There was one in particular she’s often thought of since, in her moments of weakness, but what was it again?

She's so far gone in the illicit thoughts that she nearly falls out of her seat when a motorcycle above her roars. She looks up, and there is Hyungwon at the peak of tent on a platform much higher than the one Wonho had risked. She doesn’t remember the motorcycle there, but it must have been. It sits anchored at the edge of the platform. It has no tires, just rims resting on top of a wire, and though there is a ring securing the machine to the wire, it won’t keep it upright. Beneath it is a perch as a counterbalance, and, of all things, one of the perytons sits on it. Its clawed back feet cling like a bird on a wire.

Hyungwon sits astride the motorcycle, now clad in a black leather vest and a pair of boots. As a whimsical note, some of the scales across his face have blackened into a sunglasses shape. He isn’t tethered to anything, and Mariam can see between his slight twitches and the peryton’s, they are working together to keep themselves upright on the wire.

The engine revs again, and Jooheon raises his hands to incite the crowd. Everyone whoops and cheers, including Mariam, and then Hyungwon zooms ahead.

The bike zips up the slight incline to the other end, where he lets off the gas, and the unlikely pair drifts backwards smooth as a sled riding down a snowy hill. Once they’re back at the bottom, Hyungwon surges ahead again, but he slows when they reach the middle of the line. He cuts the engine, and instead, the room fills with the ping-ping of the wire bobbing under the weight.

Below, the peryton wobbles and tips backwards, clinging to the rail with its claws as it hangs upside down and spreads its wings. Once it’s at full breadth, Hyungwon stands on the footpegs and slowly—tremulously, steps both feet onto the seat before propping one on the handlebars. He, too, spreads his muscled arms, and as the motorcycle glides backward down the slope, little bursts of yellow, like tiny supernovas, fire across his skin. Feathers whisper in the breeze before the crowd roars with the showcase.

Mariam’s heart is in her throat, so big she practically chokes on it. Her skin pebbles with fresh goosebumps because the pair isn’t slowing. In fact, the motorcycle is picking up speed as it glides.

Before they can crash back into the platform, Hyungwon slides back onto the seat and revs the engine again. The peryton swings back upright, and the rider tosses down some dark and messy treat to his passenger.

Mariam assumes it’s over, but then the bike sails even faster up to the peak, and this time when they brake at the top, the peryton rocks side-to-side, and just like that, the motorcycle loops like a propeller around and around the wire.

She screams. So does someone else. Both rider and passenger are completely unbothered.

They whirl backwards down the wire, and it almost makes Mariam sick to watch the spinning. Even worse, as has been happening all night, she thinks again on things she shouldn’t. She thinks on how strong his thighs have to be to hold onto that bike, and she finds herself clenching hers just as hard.

Just as they get to the platform, the peryton startles and takes flight, which immediately flips the motorcycle. Hyungwon plunges from his seat several stories above the floor. Screams ring out all around the canopy.

But not Mariam. She can’t scream. This time, she’s too paralyzed with terror.

This is it. This is going to be the show where something goes horribly, terribly wrong, and as much as she had already been changed by tonight’s performances, this will ruin her.

She feels sick.

Hyungwon’s halfway to his surefire death when the winged creature swoops down casual as can be and grabs his outstretched wrist with its back claw. He drifts like Alice falling down the rabbit hole to Wonderland onto yet another motorcycle that Mariam never even saw waiting for him in the ring.

Relief washes through her, and she realizes that over the course of however long she’s been sitting here, she has formed some kind of unnatural bond with the performers. She thinks of them not just as acrobats or athletes but as friends—or, maybe, more disturbingly, something more. Just the notion of them getting hurt tightens every muscle in her body like a winch.

But no one else seems nearly as bothered by the daring risks they’ve just witnessed. As the crowd leaps to its feet, Hyungwon waves and circles the ring on the bike a few times. With a rev of his engine and one final wheelie, he speeds to the back with the peryton in tow.

Jooheon makes his way to ring center as usual, and he’s cheering just as much as the audience. That infectious smile of his stirs the crowd as much as it stirs Mariam’s heart with gratitude.

“How about that, dear guests? I think I can boast with total confidence that that was yet another act such as you have never seen! Another round of applause for Hyungwon and Dyani. Let them hear you.”

The audience doesn’t disappoint. With each act, they’ve gotten more and more comfortable and more and more awestruck. It’s beginning to feel like an impossible ask to ever leave this big top. Yet, Jooheon’s next words send a chill through Mariam’s bones.

“As always, we close our show with the most dynamic performance of all. As you have learned by now, nothing about Le Cirque du Fantasme is traditional, so it must hold true that neither are our clowns. Not only will they take to the skies tonight, but they will take you to new heights with them. Be dazzled as fire and ice harmonize in ways you never thought possible, and, above all, expect the unexpected. Presenting The Flying Fools, Minhyuk and Changkyun!”

The ringmaster steps to the side as the final two performers enter the room.

They move in perfect unison, but that’s where the similarities end. The taller one, with hair like candle flames, presents in vivid detail. His face is shaped like a flame, too, with all the same flickering dimension and undulating contours. His skin is bright and brilliant like his smile only with a sheen to it, and when he spins in the lights, Mariam realizes it’s like a cast of gold dust upon him. She’s not sure if that’s stage makeup or if that’s just part of who he is, but considering his counterpart, it seems like the latter.

The shorter one has hair like snowflake filaments, each strand almost crystalline yet without being actually frozen. Even the cool way he strolls feels like a breeze across damp skin. Though his lines are sharp, borderline cutting, when he steps in the light, Mariam swears she can see through him. He’s sleek when he moves; every line and twitch has a purpose. It’s as though he is untethered and untouchable by everything. It’s almost as though his feet aren’t even touching the floor. She might think he’s a ghost if everyone else weren’t seeing the same thing.

With a pair of synchronized bows, the performers greet their audience silently just as the others did, saving all the talking for their ringmaster. Instead, they start their act with a series of incredible one-upsmanship. The redhead conjures fire in his palm, which the blue-haired man snuffs with a flick of his wrist. In retaliation, he then creates three snowballs of varying sizes into a very sweet but very humble snowman, and the redhead returns the favor by lobbing a fireball under his knee with the unforgiving precision of a meteor. The poor snowman explodes and melts into a puddle while the crowd chuckles.

They make faces at one another as they hurry to build their next assault. One constructs a basketball-sized snowball to the other’s fireball, and with a war cry like two brothers squaring up, they throw at each other. If either is off-target, Mariam will be buried in snow and the other side of the ring will be engulfed in flame, but their aim is true, and the two balls collide with a hiss like punching a hill of sand.

As they mock-squabble, a bar lowers from the ceiling, one side featuring a ring dangling from a chain and the other side featuring willowy baby blue ribbons fluttering as they descend. The two performers continue silently bickering as the redhead climbs into his ring and takes a seat and the blue-haired man winds his foot intricately through one ribbon while he scales the silks.

Once their eyelines are even, the bar raises, and now, the two men soar over center stage a few stories up. Closer to the spotlights, the redhead glitters like a disco ball while, at precisely the right moment, the light pierces the blue-haired man, like sun through a blanket of clouds, and shines down on the ringmaster’s grin.

As the pair reach their pinnacle, they play—not just off of the instruments but each other. It’s organized chaos. The man in the ring rocks like a monkey on a swing, his feet kicking and lifting. At first, it’s art, but then it’s clear his true intent is to toy with his friend. He drops. He swings. He pushes off of his friend’s back like a swimmer off the pool wall.

While the man in the ring flips and threads through his hoop, the man in the straps flies beside him. Thanks to the push, physics draws them back together until they’re rebounding off each other like a Newton’s cradle. Both of them are light and slender, but their sinew flexes with each choreographed move.

Watching them somehow makes Mariam feel strangely feminine, which isn’t something she usually thinks much about. Between work and TV and sleep, she doesn’t spend much time on herself. Carmel is a hamlet, too far removed from the City for the Big Apple to tempt her and too insular to attract outsiders except for the accidental stranger passing through. She doesn’t have to doll herself up because there’s no one in town left to impress, but as the dexterous duo wheels above to a chorus of ruffling silk and clanking chains, she feels soft, pliable even. She wishes she’d had time to change out of her shift clothes or apply some lip gloss. Watching them perform makes her yearn to impress them the way they’ve all impressed her.

Her eyelids droop.

They’re so beautiful. They sail as though the ribbons and chains are merely there for decoration, as though the sky would be their playground with or without them. They might be aiming to make everyone laugh, but Mariam sees beyond that. It’s their artistry she’s swept up in—the way they flick not just their wrists but echo the motion straight through to their fingertips, the way they use every part of their body to sell a complete experience, the way their no doubt countless hours of rehearsal ensures their whimsy looks as effortless as it does unstudied.

The blue-haired man chokes up on one silk as he releases the other and wraps his foot in the chiffon. He spins. He twirls. He sails by his wrist. The ribbon fans like a cape beneath him.

But when he swings too close to his fellow performer, the redhead shoves him playfully out into space to send the blue-haired man arcing over the audience to a chorus of “oohs” and “ahs”. Seeking his revenge, the aerialist slips down the fabric to angle himself like a bullet with an aim for his fellow performer.

At the last moment, the man in the ring latches on to his friend’s wrist, and together, ring and ribbon twine through the air. They circle together before they push apart and rotate like two bodies caught in each other’s orbit. It’s beautiful. It’s hypnotic.

Mariam can’t get them out of her head. Of all the things she’s seen tonight, they ensorcel her every sense. They’re two fools bickering like brothers, but without the bounds of gravity, their playfulness becomes aerial ballet. She wants to be part of the fun.

The redhead climbs on top of his hoop, legs splayed around the supporting chain, and reaches for the chiffon. While he goes high, the blue-haired man goes low, grasping the ring. He looks up at his brother-in-air and pokes his tongue wickedly at the corner of his mouth.

The next thing Mariam knows, the hoop is white with frost, and with a yank, the blue-haired aerialist shatters the ring beneath the redhead’s legs. Frozen metal tinkles to the floor. The redhead grips his chain tighter now, but there’s vengeance in those calculating eyes, and he spins so fast, he looks like a tornado of fire.

His hand lashes out.

He grabs the ribbon supporting his friend’s foot.

Flame marches up and down the chiffon, and the blue-haired man barely has time to unwind his foot and leap to the second silk before the other ribbon is engulfed. It untethers at the loop above and drifts to the floor like a snake made of fire to coil messily beside the shattered hoop.

Both men hang by one hand. The set piece begins to lower, but their rivalry does not slow. Their feet bicycle as they kick each other like toddler brothers, and the room reverberates with laughter. They collide only to push off each other’s thighs, and when they swing back, their arms are outstretched—not for each other but for their opponent’s supports.

The pair stills in the air.

The redhead grips the silk above his friend’s hand, who also has hold of the chain now.

They look each other in the eyes, each confident they have the upper hand.

Chain crackles like a sheet of ice. Fire ignites like a burner.

Their eyes widen. Their cocky grins falter.

They fall.

The pair thunders to the floor, each landing on his own feet thanks to their cleverly choreographed descent. And then they descend into a playground slap fight like the fools they’re promoted to be, which sends Jooheon skittering to center ring to break it up.

The tent is shaking with the crowd’s laughter and applause. Mariam is already on her feet and whooping at the top of her lungs like she’s never done before.

Jooheon raises the redhead’s arm by the wrist and champions, “Minhyuk!”

He does the same to the blue-haired man next as he yells, “Changkyun!”

The crowd somehow gets louder.

“One more time, my friends, for all our distinguished performers!”

Out of the back comes the rest of the circus, including the Amorak and the perytons but thankfully no death worm. Together, everyone fills the ring, the ringmaster front and center. They bow in unison, even the animals, and when they rise, Mariam thinks it’s simultaneously the most ridiculous and most wonderful family she’s ever seen.

The crowd doesn’t seem to take a breath in its cheers. The stands might not be anywhere near packed, but no one would be able to tell because the heartfelt screams—and a couple of animalistic roars, she notes—fill the canvas to the brim.

Jooheon couldn’t look prouder. His dimples have never been deeper. His eyes are little arches. His pearly teeth glimmer. He glows not from the spotlights but from the praise.

“Thank you all for coming! From all of us at Le Cirque du Fantasme, you’ve been a terrific audience, and should our paths chance to meet again someday, we hope you’ll return for another round of unparalleled fantasies. Get home safely, everyone!”

The cheering continues even as the performers head backstage, and once they’re all gone, the guests begin to filter out, each murmuring to the other strangers. It’s clearer now that the lights have come up that the denizens of the big top couldn’t be more different. As far as Mariam can tell, she’s the only obvious human.

She lingers in the VIP box. She’s probably supposed to leave—it’s clear from Jooheon’s well-wishes that they’re all supposed to—and while she’s not afraid of the strange folk after such a show, she just doesn’t want to go.

She’s changed.

She’s not the same Mariam she was when she walked through those striped flaps. How can she go back to her boring, conservative, empty life knowing all that truly surrounds her? It’s like discovering that the world she always thought was flat has a third dimension.

The big top is empty now except for spilled cartons and other litter. Humongous paw prints dapple the dusty ring floor. Motes of dust drift through the beams of light, past the gently swaying extra cache of rings, ropes, and ribbons above.

With a deep, shaking sigh, Mariam resigns herself to her fate. Just as her hand lands on the swinging door to the box seats, the backstage curtains fling open, and the redhead, Minhyuk, and his blue-haired partner, Changkyun, enter.

“Finally!” exclaims Minhyuk in an exuberant voice. “Showtime is always the hardest when you can't open your mouth.”

“I think you’re the only one who suffers on that point,” Changkyun retorts in a much gravellier tone.

The pair take to sweeping up their torched and shattered mess as though they don't even realize they still have an audience, the redhead gabbing away to make up for lost time.

Mariam doesn’t say anything. She’s sure she’s not supposed to be here, and she worries they’ll ban her from ever coming back—not that she’s sure exactly where she is or how she got here. She ducks down a little before she catches herself in her own stupidity. There’s nowhere to hide.

Should she apologize? Hurry out? She could just tell them that their rhythmic aerial battling has stirred things in her that she never thought she’d feel, but that’s probably stupider than trying to hide.

The last act is still emblazoned in her mind when the ringmaster abruptly appears from the back. While the other two men work around the tent, he heads directly toward Mariam as though he never expected her to leave in the first place.

“Well, my dear, what did you think of the show?”

His lips look even fuller and juicier somehow. She’s drunk just on the way they purse and pucker.

“Unbelievable,” she breathes. “I don’t even know what to say about it.”

“And how has VIP been so far?”

Mariam cocks her head to the side. “So far?”

“Did you think your experience ended with the show?”

“Well, yeah.”

Jooheon chuckles. “For the pretty maid in the front row, I offer a truly once-in-a-lifetime upgrade free of charge.”

“What kind of upgrade?”

“Only the most exclusive kind. We’re going to custom build you a dream, my dear.”

Mariam squints. “I thought the circus was the new dream?”

“Well, thank you, but you forget that we took your best dream ever.”

“Oh, yeah,” she says with a blush and a scuff of her boot on the floor. She's getting a strange feeling from his burrowing gaze that she's missing something more important than she’s realized. “But since I don't remember what it is, how do I know you haven't already exceeded it? Tonight was amazing.”

“Trust me, we haven't traded in fair yet. We can do better because… it’s important to me that you remember tonight—and me—forever.” Jooheon smiles at her then, but it’s different than those other flamboyant smiles. This one is gentle and sincere.

“There’s no way I could forget,” she admits shyly.

He looks dubious, but he nods and offers his hand as he opens the VIP box door, too. “Let me see to it then.”

The moment Mariam’s hand slips into his, the ringmaster’s demeanor changes. He’s been the consummate showman all night, but he’s narrowed that influence of his tremendous power to her and her alone. The big top hasn’t changed, but as he leads her to the center of the ring, it’s all much more intimate now.

Jooheon squares up to her and smiles, this time with the faintest hint of a lip bite. His thumbs rub reassuringly over the back of her hands as he takes one step closer.

“We're going to make you the star of our show.”

#monsta x smut #le cirque du fantasme #october vibes #jooheon smut #minhyuk smut #changkyun smut #third person #trilogy

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heonlights · 1 year

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favorite challenges: poppy (stayc)

#joohoney #jooheon #stayc poppy #kpop #jooheon challenges #heonmode #heonlights #jooheon gifs #joohoney gifs #stayc

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honeyimissjoo · 1 year

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#monstaxedits #mx7net #jooheon #hyungwon #kihyun #changkyun #shownu #jh freedom dance challenge #they look so good #wish they do the whole song in suits #e.w #e.g #mx #monsta x

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jooheonspinky · 1 year

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Monsta X Masterlist

Welcome: Thank you for stopping by.

*all works are complete unless otherwise stated*

Shownu x Female Reader

So Beautiful[09.10.2021] {Angst, Smut} After having your first child, you no longer feel sexy with your new mom bod.

Wonho x Female Reader, ft Jooheon x Reader’s Female BFF

Stuck[04.08.2018] (a collaboration with @millie-ionaire05) {Smut}: Your best friend and you work for the most amazing company ever, hiring Kpop artists for events. When fraudsters come into play, the two of you will be stuck scrambling to appease the client and either losing your jobs, or striking on luck.: 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 |

Wonho x Female Reader, ft Kihyun

The Mummy Prince [10.30.2018] {Halloween Thriller, Smut, one shot}: Y/N starts working at a museum of ancient artifacts. She is excited to put her studies of old languages to use as a new object is brought in.

Losing You [12.21.2020] {angst, magic!au}: Wonho must choose between you or saving the world

Minhyuk x Female Reader

The Black Ribbon[06.12.2018] {Horror/Thriller!au, one shot}: Minhyuk returns after an accident wearing a black choker that he insists must never be taken off.

Enchanted Night [03.30.2020] {Fantasy; one shot}: Accepting an invitation to a Halloween beach party, Y/N tags along with her best friend. There, she meets a young man with whom she hits it off with right away. But he is not all that he seems.

Kihyun x Female Reader

Ghost Tour Surprise [10.31.2021] {Halloween, Spooky}: Y/N takes a haunted tour of historical downtown, meeting a strange, yet handsome passenger along the way.

Hyungwon x Female Reader

Rumors[06.19.2018] {Smut, one shot}: You never thought you’d find yourself pinned between the sinks in the women’s bathroom by your crush offering you what you’d always wanted, but here you were, staring up into his face scrambling to keep your cool.

A Midnight Ball on Hallows' Eve [10.16.2019] {Spooky!au, one shot}: You share a dance with a mysterious stranger.

Jooheon x Female Reader

Tamed Hearts: [09.28.2018] {Angst, Fluff}: Do past lives really exist? It’s difficult for Y/N to cling to her beliefs when so much has her leaning towards a yes.: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Regrets: [10.31.2020] {Fantasy, angst, one shot}: This was a ‘finish the story’ challenge using this prompt: Part of me was hoping the ground would just open up and swallow me whole as I watched him approach me. I hadn’t seen him since that night we parted ways, and I was hoping I never would. Seeing him brought back all of those memories that I fought so hard to repress, to forget. ”Hello dear, I thought I might find you here.”

No Regrets: [04.24.2022] {Fantasy, vampire!au, angst, fluff, smut, one shot}: When I can’t let our last goodbye be for forever.

Got my Number: [08.23.2022] {idol!au, fluff, smut, one shot}: A trip to see Monsta X in concert turns out to be so much more than expected.

Jooheon x Gender Neutral Reader

Disturbance:[08.13.2021] {Angst}:A waking nightmare shakes you to your core and Jooheon is there to help calm you afterwards despite the fact you two had not been talking to each other all day.

Changkyun x Female Reader

The Spirit Board[10.29.2018] {Halloween Thriller, one shot}: When Y/N finds an old spirit board while cleaning out her attic, will she still believe that spirits aren’t real?

OT7

Wonho X Female Reader, ft BFF Changkyun, BTS

Lure of the Lore [01.30.2019] {Werewolf, angst, fluff, smut}: Y/N‘s never been a believer in lore, unlike her best friend Changkyun. That is until he drags her to yet ANOTHER exhibit where there is a supposed werewolf locked in a cage made of silver and steel. 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |

Monsta X Cabin in Lure of the Lore [11.25.2019]1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |

Jooheon X Female Reader

The Draco Prince [09.12.2020]{Fantasy; Inspired by The Witcher series}: Y/N sets on a quest to find the dragon prince. Her goal is to break the curse and return him to his family. This journey finds her befriending several creatures and humans which turn out to be essential to her quest. 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11

#Monsta X Masterlist #Wonho Masterlist #Son Hyunwoo #Shownu #Lee Minhyuk #Minhyuk #Yoo Kihyun #Kihyun #Chae Hyungwon #Hyungwon #Lee Jooheon #Jooheon #Joohoney #Im Changkyun #I.M #Changkyun #wonho #Lee Hoseok #Monsta X Hoseok

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honey-daily · 1 year

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[230513] Spicy Challenge aespa x Joohoney

Twitter / tiktok

#monsta x #jooheon #joohoney #monsta x jooheon #monsta x joohoney #mcountdown #jooheonmc #kpop challenge #spicychallenge #aespa #winter aespa #giselle aespa

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smolwritingchick · 8 months

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The Bangtan Gal Chapter 68- Under The Mistletoe

Chapter Summary: BTS attend the MAMA Awards. Jimin and Taehyung aim to get Jennie and Jungkook to kiss under the mistletoe

Words: 8,000+

-----

In Hong Kong, BTS prepared for their performance during the dress rehearsal. They were to collaborate with GOT7, which Jen was thrilled about.

"Hey, Bam Bam, look it's your future girlfriend." Mark teased as they saw Jennie stretching from afar.

"Shush!" Bam Bam playfully shoved him away.

"And you're drooling~," Jackson exclaimed.

After she finished stretching, she spotted the members of GOT7 and waved. Just before Bam Bam was about to approach her, he stopped when he saw Jungkook.

"Babygirl."

"Yes?" she turned around, greeted by Jungkook.

"Hobi Hyung wants to go over the choreography with you to make sure you got it. You know that one part."

"All right."

After the dress rehearsal, Jennie had slipped through Bam Bam's eyes as he wanted to take time to talk to her, but like she always does, she wandered around backstage. She saw Monsta X and approached them with a smile.

"Finally get to meet you guys properly. Hi!" she bowed.

"Jennie Walker! Miss BTS! It's nice to finally meet you properly, too! I'm Jooheon. This is I.M, Hyungwon, Kihyun, Minhyuk, Wonho and Shownu."

"I'm trying not to fangirl but oh my gosh, you guys are friggin badass. I am so looking forward to your performance at the show. I can see you guys making it big, I can just feel it. And I'm proud to announce that I am a monbebe~!"

The members seemed pleased to hear that as they welcomed her with open arms.

"What's your favorite song?" Minhyuk asked.

"Gone Bad is my favorite!"

"Oh really? Can you sing it?" Shownu asked

Jen nodded and sang out Kihyun's part, "Geurae hal mankeum haebwa oneul haruneun. Eodikkaji galji hanbeon nareul jigyeobollae."

"Wow~. I love it." Kihyun applauded.

"Continue." Jooheon challenged

"Okay." she accepted and started feeling herself while rapping to Jooheon, "E eee eee, neon hukhago gayo. E eee eee, neon hukhago gayo."

Jooheon immediately smiled and nodded his head as he rapped with her, "E eee eee, neon hukhago gayo. E eee eee, neon hukhago gayo tto hanbange KO."

She went on while Hyungwon joined in for his verse, "Ppittureojillae. Ppittureojillae ho. Ppittureojillae. Monsta X yeah we rock the show. Ppittureojillae. Ppittureojillae ho. Ppittureojillae. Monsta X yeah we rock the show!"

"We might need to let her be the 8th member of Monsta X, now." Kihyun laughed.

"Ha! I don't think Bangtan will take too kindly to that." she giggled.

"I'm sure we can work something out." Wonho smiled, causing her face to warm up

'Lord Jesus, I was born the wrong year. He's smiling like that on purpose.' she thought.

Wonho was one fine looking guy. Everyone here was.

"So, we heard that Wonho is your bias." Minhyuk teased. "So, who is your bias wrecker? Me, right?"

"No way, it's me," Shownu added.

The members began joking around and trying to impress her with funny poses, making her laugh.

"She doesn't have a bias wrecker because her heart belongs to me, right Jennie?" Wonho wrapped an arm around her and got closer to her face.

"Oh mah God~." she started feeling shy at how close she was to him and covered her face as he chuckled. Once she pulled herself together, she joked, "I know I'm too young for you, but I fit your ideal type because I can make some bombass ramen."

After goofing around, she asked, "Are you fellas nervous for your first MAMA Awards?"

"Very. It's a big moment for us. Do you have any advice?" Shownu asked.

"Honestly I was freaking out during my first MAMA. It's such a big deal, y'know? Huge event. But just have fun with it. You're performing in front of thousands of people and various idols from different companies. Show them who Monsta X is and show them that you guys are here to stay and take over. You're going to do great. I'll be cheering you on."

"Thank you, we'll take that to heart." they bowed.

"I remember your performance from last year's MAMA. You performed with Block B's Taeil. You were really good up there. Great charisma." I.M spoke in English, causing Jen to smile and speak in her Native language

"Aw, really? Thank you. It's still one of my favorite performances I had on stage. You're fluent in English, right?"

"Yes, I am."

"I'm giving you a warning now since we're going to be great friends, you're stuck with me and we'll be having a lot of English conversations together."

I.M chuckled. "I'll mentally prepare. Can we take a picture for Twitter?"

"Yeah!"

Getting in the middle, Jennie posed gleefully as they considered her their new Monbebe. I.M posted the photo on Monsta X's Twitter, 'With Miss BTS herself! She's our new Monbebe! Thank you for supporting us!'

Wandering around again, Jen saw The8.

"Jennie!" he happily waved

"Hey! It's been a while!" she rushed up and pulled him for a hug, surprising him as he shyly hugged her back.

After they pulled away he smiled softly. "You look well!"

"I'm surviving. You look great, excited for Mama?"

"A little nervous but Seventeen is working very hard."

"I saw a snippet of your performance. You guys are great! Mansae is one of my favorite songs."

"Look forward to us performing."

"Trust me, I will."

Once the show began, BTS and GOT7 performed their collab dance. Afterward, GOT7 performed If You Do and soon after, BTS came out to perform Run. Jen wore leather pants and a white leather jacket with the words, 'Love Yourself' and wore that same white butterfly necklace in their starting position. She stood back to back with Jimin.

Run...Run...Run...

Starting off with V walking to the members, they shift. Rapmon starts off and they perform.

dasi Run Run Run nan meomchul suga eobseo

tto Run Run Run nan eojjeol suga eobseo

eochapi igeotbakke nan mothae

neoreul saranghaneun geot bakken mothae

Transitioning to the middle, Jen sang while her hair bounced every time she ran, "Dasi Run Run Run, neomeojyeodo gwaenchanha, tto Run Run Run jom dachyeodo gwaenchanha."

The camera panned to some idols who were watching the performance and it showed some IKON members smiling and lip syncing when Jen sang. One of them covered his mouth to tell one of his hyungs that she looked pretty but some fansites that were filming them caught them and thought it was cute.

(Run)

Jen and Rapmon face each other.

Don't tell me bye bye!

(Run)

"You make me cry, cry!" she patted her hand over her heart

(Run)

"Love is a lie, lie!" they say in unison. "Don't tell me, don't tell me, don't tell me bye bye!" they push each other away

Once the chorus came again, Jen sang first this time as they danced.

chueokdeuri mareun kkonipcheoreom

sansani buseojyeoga

nae son kkeuteseo nae bal miteseo

dallyeoganeun ne deung dwiro

machi nabireul jjotdeut kkum sogeul hemaedeut

neoui heunjeogeul ttaraga

The fan chants could be heard as they noticed various ARMY bombs in the crowd. Jen was having a blast on the stage and before she knew it, the song was about to end.

(Run)

Don't tell me bye bye

(Run)

"You make me cry, cry!"

(Run)

"Love is a lie, lie!"

Don't tell me, don't tell me

Don't tell me bye bye

Later on, the members watched the rest of the show. Jen had stared at Ailee in admiration when she had won best female vocal performance. She was just so beautiful and ARMY was eager to see her reaction to Ailee winning while the members teased her about it. Jen was the first to stand up and applaud when she won as well, with a proud smile on her face.

Jennie also was so proud of Hyuna when she won best dance solo performance. Her life was slayed watching Jessi and Hyuna perform. She enjoyed seeing women take the stage. Hopefully one day she will be able to do that. She saw it as inspiration that she could get there, too.

BTS had won the World Performer award, which was a proud moment for them. Jen hoped that they'd be able to win even more awards as they continued what they were doing. Ever since the Melon Awards, Jen's reactions and dancing to performances have become iconic for those that have fancams of her because they were so amusing to watch and tonight was no exception.

When CL had performed, Jen was mesmerized. The charisma, how the crowd can get behind her instantly, she hoped to be like that one day. Being able to move a crowd like that by herself. She was so hyped that the camera kept filming her while fans said, 'Same, Jennie, same'

Just like everyone else, no one expected 2NE1 to pop up as Jen freaked out, holding onto poor Jin.

"HOLY SHIT! HOLY SHIT!"

Her reaction was bound to go viral as she also wiped a few tears when they performed Fire and I Am The Best.

And of course, once EXO had performed, she had to jam to them. She lipsynced all of Baekhyun's lines as her fansites filmed everything.

"Eodun miro soge gacheotteon. Whoa na Oh, geu eodum sogeseo, nal kkaeweo jun ni moksori deullyeowa, nal dashi taeeonage hae~" she sang out, jamming around.

The members slowly turned to her and were amused. She truly loved Baehkyun. When the lights went out and Chanyeol began rapping fast, Jen got even more hyped as EXO performed a lightsaber dance break. Then, with Drop That, it became a huge party as she danced with Taehyung and Hobi who were near Suho and Chen.

Jump jump jump jump jump jump E.X.O

Jump jump jump jump we are E.X.O

While watching Baekhyun perform, she soon saw him walking towards where she and the rest of the idols were. Her butterflies came back and all those thoughts about keeping her composure were out the window.

She soon noticed him looking her way and began to walk over to her.

'He's coming over here!?' she thought, widening her eyes.

He extended out his hand and she immediately took it, getting pulled forward and they started jumping and dancing together.

"Ah, she is so freaking out right now!" Namjoon laughed.

"I know. I'm surprised she didn't faint." Jin giggled.

Chen and Suho did the same with GOT7 and the rest of Bangtan nearby.

This was a moment that she'll cherish for the rest of her life and the members knew how much this meant to her. Baekhyun smiled at her and made his way back to the stage to regroup with the members. She couldn't wipe that huge smile off her face. It was nothing like being able to get hyped with one of your favorite idols like this.

Chen had blown her away with his high note and she had to lean back and place a hand over her heart.

'MY GOD! How did he do that!?' she thought

And once they performed Love Me Right, Jennie was no more good as she swayed around while standing and clapping along. Her ears were almost ringing from the screams of fans for Big Bang. Their stages were always unique. All of YG artists were. The way they were so composed and had strong charisma. She hoped to get there one day. To that point as a performer.

During the dress rehearsal, she had told G-Dragon that she hoped that BTS could have a longer stage at MAMA, and he told her that they'd get there one day. So she'll continue to work hard and remain patient for their time to shine.

When the camera panned to Jennie with Taehyung bopping to the song, she looked directly at it and smiled, pointing, "Bang, bang, bang! Bang, bang, bang!"

Spotting Kiyhun and the rest of Monsta X, Jen and Taehyung began to dance with them too. During PSY's Daddy performance, fansites filmed her laughing and asking Hobi and Taehyung how the dance goes, following their moves.

During Gangnam Style the camera caught her again, turning up and dancing around without a care in the world despite everyone watching her. She was dancing similar to how Taeyang was during Gangnam Style a few years ago. The members couldn't help but party with her. Jen feeling herself was such a mood and it made awards shows more enjoyable to watch because of her reactions.

Bam Bam had soon danced his way over to Jennie, tapping her over the shoulder. Once she turned, she danced with him as BamJen shippers were delighted. Jimin was not happy when watching them dance. He felt like his ship was getting ruined and didn't like how close he was to her.

Jungkook glanced up and saw them dancing, feeling some type of way as jealously crept up on him.

"Are you going to sit there or are you going to do something?" Taehyung asked in his ear over the loud music.

Jungkook soon thought about their conversation after the concert,

'Let everyone know that the person you want will be yours and no one is going to change that or interfere with your mission.'

Some idols were glancing at Jungkook, wondering what he was going to do. The gossip about Jungkook's feelings for his bandmate was going around fast. And it was also a known fact that Bam Bam had liked her for quite some time and was very vocal about it. The only thing stopping him right now was the dating ban.

Jungkook stood up and glanced at the 95 Liners who followed him. Dancing to the song, the three of them moved to where Jen was dancing. Jimin and Taehyung watched eagerly as Jungkook gently pulled her away from Bam Bam

"I'll take it from here," the Golden Maknae spoke.

Bam Bam and some members of GOT7 were disappointed that his moment was interrupted. But Jimin and Taehyung had low fived each other as they watched JenKook have a friendly and goofy dance battle, with Bangtan hyping them up. It certainly caught the camera's attention and made JenKook shippers happy.

Watching everyone perform tonight motivated Jen to do better and she had hoped that at next year's MAMA Awards, she would be able to blow everyone away with her charisma with Bangtan. Sometimes she felt like she wasn't doing enough. What can she do to stand out and get people talking about how much she has improved on stage? She will be practicing and working even harder to give a better performance for fans.

After the show, Jungkook went directly to Bam Bam. He wanted to have a long talk about everything.

"Can I speak with you, Bam Bam?" Jungkook asked.

Once Bam Bam agreed, they walked to a private area. "So, what's up, Jungkook?"

"It's about Jennie."

--------

"Thank you!" Jen pulled the table right inside her hotel room.

She was so hungry after the show, she had to order room service. She felt like she deserved a big meal after the pleasant time she had at the MAMA Awards.

Her face during 2NE1's reunion performance was sure to become a new meme as she already saw her face plastered all over Tumblr and Twitter. ARMY did not waste any time to capture her reaction. After eating, she prepared to shower, shutting the bathroom door behind her. Finally, she was able to shower. The whole night exhausted her. It was overall fun but with a big award show like this, it took a toll on her body. But nothing like a hot shower to ease her muscles. Connecting her phone to a portable speaker, she put her music on shuffle and walked into the shower.

Meanwhile, back in the room, a sasaeng had crawled out from under the room service table after hearing the shower turn on. They began to place hidden cameras all over the room and called their buddy who was also around the hotel.

"I'm in Jennie's room~! Our plan worked! I finally got in. The video is clear, right? Good." the sasaeng giggled and found her suitcase.

Opening it, they started to examine her personal belongings. They began to take some of her underwear and even took photos of her bra size. After having too much fun with her belongings, the suitcase fell to the floor and made a loud noise.

With Jennie, her stomach dropped, and she stopped everything that she was doing as soon. Hobi was not in the room yet because he was with friends so he couldn't be back yet.

Something was not right and someone was here.

What is she going to do?

Another sasaeng had walked into the room and it so happened to be someone who worked at the hotel. The same woman who had given Jennie her food. She eagerly helped the other person put Jen's stolen items under the table, including her friendship ring.

"We'll meet with the others later. Double check the cameras, and get out of here," she advised and left the room with the table.

Getting out of the shower while leaving it on, she put on a towel and disconnected her phone from the speaker to give Seijin a quick call to frantically tell him that there was someone in her room. After he told her that he was on his way with the others and security, she decided to stay in the bathroom, feeling anxious.

"Jennie~, I know you know I'm here! Come out so we can meet! I'm a huge fan~!" the sasaeng said in a teasing voice.

This was so scary. Never in her life had she ever been in this type of situation. She became anxious when she heard the doorknob rattle as the sasaeng tried to get in. She didn't know if the sasaeng had intentions of hurting her or had some sort of weapon.

After hearing various sasaeng stories, she never thought she would be one to deal with someone breaking in. She hated this feeling. The feeling of being helpless and paralyzed with fear.

"Open up!" the sasaeng yelled, making her flinch and shed a few tears.

The sasaeng didn't want to leave like they were supposed to. They wanted to get noticed by their bias.

Looking around, Jennie grabbed the nearest weapon, a toilet plunger, just in case they attacked her. It wasn't much but it was something. She let out a shriek when the sasaeng began to kick at the door. After a while, they managed to break in and as soon as that door swung open, Jen couldn't even use the weapon.

"Get away from me!" Jen shouted when she was grabbed by the arm.

The sasaeng had a tight grip, digging their nails into her skin, with that sick smile on their face. Seijin and various security guards rushed into the room, to go straight after the sasaeng while Jen screamed.

"No! No! I love her! Let me go! Let me go!" the sasaeng began struggling and managed to get detained while Seijin made sure Jen was all right.

Jennie watched with distress as the sasaeng continued to go crazy. When they were taken away, she, still shaken up, explained what happened while in tears, holding on to Seijin. After he made a few calls, it was certain that Big Hit would be taking serious legal action over this, immediately.

If Jen didn't have her phone with her in the bathroom, who knows what could've happened? Her blood went cold as she still felt that death grip on her arm. She then looked at her suitcase which was open with her items scattered.

Anger soon overcame her, "And they had the audacity to touch my shit?!"

She ran her hands through her wet hair, fearing for the worst of what might have been taken. When she got dressed in her pajamas, there was an investigation of how the sasaeng broke in. Clearly, the sasaeng had some connections in this hotel and someone or more people helped them sneak in.

When the members found out what had happened, they immediately rushed to her room, Namjoon being the first, running in to hug her.

"Are you hurt!?" he demanded with worry.

Jen was not happy. She was mainly angry at herself for being in that type of situation and getting so scared. She was considering taking self defense classes or something to defend herself if God forbid no one was there to save her. The members stayed with her while Seijin filled them in on everything. Yoongi, Namjoon, Jungkook, and Jimin especially struggled to keep their cool, while everyone was concerned for her safety.

Just to see how easily the sasaeng came in from a room service table was not good and they will be increasing security and doing more hotel room checks from now on.

"And we found hidden cameras." Seijin pointed out.

"You're the one with the good news, today, huh?" Jen asked sarcastically, shaking her head. "Man...hidden cameras? Unbelievable...well, I clearly made it because I now have people breaking into my hotel room."

This was sick. What if they filmed her when she was undressed?

Later that evening, Jungkook came back to her room while Hobi was showering. He was still shaken up by what had happened with Jennie. Everyone was. He had wished that he could've protected her.

Noticing something bothering her and decided to ask, "What's on your mind?"

"I'm so sorry..." she murmured, shaking her head as tears appeared in her eyes

"For what?" he asked in alarm.

"I'm so sorry, Kook..."

"Wh-what's wrong?"

"I lost the ring..." she mumbled.

"What?"

"I lost the ring, Jungkook. I-I thought they took it but it wasn't found on them. I dunno where it can be. It's not in the room, the sasaeng doesn't have it. It's gone. Th-they searched everywhere."

His eyes softened as he held her close. "It's okay."

"That friendship ring meant everything to me. Now it's gone."

"It's okay."

"How can you say that so easily?" she looked up.

"Because what we have isn't just a ring. Your safety is worth more than a ring," he responded firmly. "You or a simple ring, I'd choose you in a heartbeat. I'm just glad you're safe. That's all that matters."

There were numerous reports of Jennie being the next unfortunate victim of dealing with a sasaeng as fans had voiced their concern and hoped that she would be okay. It was going to be a while until she got over this but being with the members helped ease the tension.

-------

As a pre-birthday surprise, the members and MPD decided to prank Jin. First was a mission which was to make an acrostic poem with Hong Kong. When Jin was declared the winner, he was shocked.

"Why me?" Jin asked, flustered.

Since he was the winner, he went out with MPD while the production crew gave the members instructions. They were to have the lights off and the members not in the room but only a woman lying in the bed as they hoped that Jin would fall for the plan.

"Yo, V cannot keep a secret. He kept mentioning Jin's birthday." Jen said on camera while they hid in the bathroom.

"He mentioned it twice!" Rapmon added

'Trust me, I know.' Jungkook thought about the various times V almost blurted out his feelings for Jennie.

Thankfully Jimin kept him in check. After a while, Jin came back and entered the room with MPD, only to jump when the girl screamed from the bed. Jin instantly jumped and began shaking.

"What, what, what is going on!?" he exclaimed.

"Happy birthday to you~!" the members walked out with a cake while laughing. Jin continued to stand there, stunned while Jimin held onto him. "Happy birthday to our beloved Jin Hyung! Happy birthday to you!"

"I was so startled!" Jin exclaimed after blowing out the candles. "I was like what? Who's that?"

"Did you fall for our plan?" J-Hope asked

"I did!"

When it was officially Jin's birthday, backstage during a music show, Suga and Jimin started a V-Live and walked over to Jin with a cake. Everyone had sung happy birthday to him.

"Whaaaaaa!" Suga yelled while the members butt in the camera to get in the frame.

"It's so good to be with our members on my birthday. And it's even better to be with our fans. Give me a knife to cut the cake." the birthday boy requested.

"Here you go!" J-Hope pretended that his hand was a knife, pretending to chop the cake while the other members did the same thing.

After getting an official knife, Jin began to cut it.

"It's blueberry yogurt," Jimin informed.

"Looks mighty tasty~!" Jen added.

"Who wants it?" Jin asked

"You first, Jin." J-Hope answered

As soon as he took the first bite, J-Hope said, "Yeeeahhh."

When he ate another piece, the members said, "Yeaaaah."

Another bite.

"Yuuuuuum!"

"It's good, right?" J-Hope asked

And another bite.

"Yuuuuum!"

"So good!" Jin answered with his mouth full.

"53,000 of our fans are with us," Suga announced.

"It's my birthday and I hope you'll be happy too. We'll do our best to show you the best performance today. So please enjoy it." Jin beamed

"Happy birthday! Bye!" they wave goodbye.

After the V-Live, Jen presented Jin with a Mario themed birthday box. "Happy birthday~!"

"For me? And it's Mario? Oh wow, thank you, Jennie." he happily accepted it and sat down with her to open it. "I have been looking forward to getting your birthday box. It was one of my top birthday wishes."

"Oh really? Well, I'm glad this birthday wish came true. I hope you like it."

Opening up the letter, Jin couldn't help but giggle. On the top was a small ship she drew with the pun, 'Oh ship! It's your birthday!'

To my precious Jin,

Ah, you're getting older! But as each year goes by, you get more handsome. Just ask those who call you the car door guy back at the Melon Awards. Thank you for always taking care of me over the years. You have always looked out for me. Even that time when I was embarrassed when my period came unexpectedly and you were there and washed my sheets for me and took me to the store to buy what I needed. And as much as I hated that time when you forced me to take medicine when I got sick for the first time in Korea, I'm glad you did because even though we were just getting to know each other, you were concerned about me and wanted to help me.

You have no idea how proud you make me when I see you dance. I can definitely see the improvement and I hope you can too because your hard work is paying off. You have been working diligently on everything and just know that we appreciate all that you do. I will continue to help you clean and cook for the members. I don't want you to do all the work by yourself. I'll always be there to help you out. Oh yeah, and thanks for increasing my appetite because you were the main one wanting me to eat more when I came here. I want to be a part of Eat Jin soon, so invite me to your show!

Your laugh is one of my favorite things about you. It's contagious and I will continue to tease you about it. I also love your silly dad jokes. I swear I be like the only one laughing because of how silly they are but I always appreciate them. There are times when I think about them and start laughing and then the members stare at me like I'm crazy, haha. Including you! But you're the reason for my random laughter. Happy birthday and I wish you many more happy, safe, and healthy birthdays to come.

Love,

Your precious Jennie

After he had read the letter, he wrapped his arms around her for a tight hug and began giving her kisses all over her face as she tried to escape while laughing.

As the days went by in December, BTS promoted Run on music shows. During one show, V had the opportunity to MC. The members were very eager to watch him in action. Jennie wondered when she'd have that random opportunity to MC for a music show. It seemed a bit intimidating with the script and having to do all this random stuff. But she hoped that when it was her time to do so, it would be fun and a great learning experience.

"Ah shit, I accidentally got foundation on your face." she noticed some of her makeup on the side of Tae's cheek after she kissed him for good luck.

That helped calm his nerves since he was so nervous about MCing and he began to laugh at her struggling to wipe the brown makeup off.

"Stop laughing! I'm tryna help!" she giggled

"Hehehe, thank you, I needed this laugh." He responded as a stylist came to fix his makeup.

"You are going to be just fine. Everyone gets nervous when they do stuff like this for the first time. But you're a natural on camera. You're always so silly and bring in that adorable charm that fans love. We'll be watching you backstage, cheering you on, mkay? Ennie will always support you. Don't forget that."

Taehyung gave her two big kisses on her cheeks as she laughed.

"Oh, my gosh, Tae! You got my makeup on you again!"

And for Inkigayo with Rap Monster MCing, Jen and the rest of the members watched him from backstage.

"Bruh...I dunno what he was so nervous for. If he is, it clearly does not show on camera. Look at how smooth he is. He's doing so well." Jen said for a Bangtan Bomb.

On Music Bank, the members were hoping to get their first win for Run. Some members were asked what they thought about the possibility of getting their first win.

Jen answered, "Prayer is a powerful thing, so I'm praying that we get this first win. And I have faith in ARMY. Things will be fine."

Thanks to ARMY's hard work, Bangtan got first place as the confetti came down on the stage. Fans screamed louder than ever for them as the members broke out into huge smiles, applauding as they received flowers from the MCs. It was nothing like getting a first win and it was something that they will honor every time they get it.

"Thank you ARMY! Love you!" Suga said over the mic.

Receiving the mic, Jen happily shouted, "ARMY, you rock! Thank you!"

"Thank you so much ARMY!" V spoke

"Thank you, everyone! Woo! We won first place!" Jimin waved as their song came on while the other idols left the stage.

Since Bangtan won first place, they wanted Jennie and Jungkook to perform Adult Ceremony to become an adult. So, making ARMY scream louder than they were before, the members continued to slowly bend down and do a little bit of the choreography while singing run and waving.

Rushing off stage, Rapmon happily said, "We got first place! Jungkookie and Ennie are now adults!"

"Thank you!" Suga blew a kiss

"Woo~ First win! Woo! BTS Run first win, woo!" Jennie yelled in front of the Bangtan Bomb camera, grabbing it and giving it a big kiss on the lens.

"We got first place! We got first place!" J-Hope excitedly yelled

"You've worked hard~!" Jungkook waved

"Wow~!" Jin showed off the award, looking at it in awe.

"We won an award!" Jimin said, with Taehyung having his arm around his shoulder.

Backstage, Jimin and Jennie were filmed together with J-Hope making funny faces in the background and hugging Jen from behind.

"Jennie, since you became an adult and won first place, what are your thoughts?" Jimin asked.

"First, ARMY, you did this for us, your hard work and dedication to supporting us is always appreciated. So again, thank you and we love you very much. And since I've become an adult, I can have all the smarties I want without no one telling me no, muhahahah~!" she laughed evilly.

"Muhahahah?" J-Hope questioned

"Muhahaha!" she answered back.

"Muhahahaha~!" he copied her.

"You two are very weird." Jimin laughed.

-------

BTS were on another episode of Weekly Idol, discussing their RUN comeback. For random dancing, Coni mentioned, "As a way to motivate them so they don't make any more mistakes, what about giving a kiss to each other."

"Oh, that's really strong," J-Hope responded as the members looked astonished

"Who? Who?" Suga called out

"Say what now?" Jen added

"That's good, the first person to make a mistake will give a member a kiss on the cheek," Coni said

As the members began to dance, it started simple with no mistakes. But once Boy In Luv came on, it looked like Jungkook had messed up.

"Time out, time out. Jungkook!" Heechul exclaimed as they both went to him and J-Hope.

They thought J-Hope's facial expressions were way too obvious and he acted like he didn't make a mistake.

"I was a bit confused," J-Hope admitted.

"Is it better to be kissed by Jungkook or by J-Hope?"

"Wouldn't it be better if they just kissed each other?" V suggested

"WOW!" everyone shouted.

Jennie began laughing loudly as she saw the two poor boys cringing and taking a step back.

"Say, 'Let's not be wrong from now on', then hug and once...twice...do that." Coni demonstrated, kissing Jungkook on the cheek as he cringed.

Jennie giggled at his reaction. He was just too cute. Soon Jungkook and J-Hope held hands and stood in front of each other.

"Hyung, let's...not make mistakes," Jungkook said as they went to hug each other.

"Euahhhhhhhh~!" J-Hope yelled as they reluctantly got close to each other's faces. "This is cruel!"

Once J-Hope had yelled and kissed his cheek, everyone had to push Jungkook's head near J-Hope's cheek to kiss him. The boys were so happy when the torture was over.

"Everyone, this time, instead of a kiss, do one hit on the wrist," Coni revealed the next punishment.

When they continued their next round of random dancing, this time Suga got confused when I Need U came on and sheepishly tried to explain himself. He exposed his wrist out for Jungkook to hit.

"You have to kind of like it!" Heechul explained, demonstrating getting hit and dramatically saying, "Ah!"

It seemed too inappropriate for the broadcast as the members burst out in laughter.

"No, he did not just say that!" Jen laughed.

"That's too weird!" Suga exclaimed and got hit by Jin and Rapmon afterward.

"If you get it wrong the third time, this time, the butt." Coni demonstrated.

Jennie took a step back, exclaiming, "UH! UH!"

"UH UH!" "UH UH!" They replay her shocked sound effect as everyone laughed while she protectively covered her butt with her hands.

"I will knock somebody out," she announced, getting defensive, pounding her fist once against her palm.

Taehyung had accidentally slapped her ass during the War of Hormone era in one performance at a music show. She knew fans wanted the full story of how that happened. She planned to discuss it when she went to talk to JRE in January.

Her ass was not going to get hit by anyone. Not today. Not the next day, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day, and so on. You have to earn it to touch her ass.

Jimin and Taehyung thought about Jennie messing up and trying to get Jungkook to be the one to give her the punishment, giggling to themselves.

As they danced again, War of Hormone came on and it popped up to Jen's verse.

Of course, it did...

Strutting to the front she danced powerfully.

...but I ain't you baby, you gotta earn that.

Hello! Hello! Hello! Hello!

I'll tell you what I want right now!

Hello! Hello! Hello! Hello!

I ain't giving it to you right now!

She successfully got the moves right as the chorus continued. She was not letting anyone touch her booty. They can look but they can't touch. If anything, you gotta be her significant other first.

Once Boy in Luv came on, Jimin was finally caught.

"We'll do the last punishment and after that, especially for you, we'll add another on top of that," Coni said. "The two MCs will hug Jimin and-"

"No," Jimin begged. "You don't have to do things like that." he fell to his knees and laughed

"A hug and a kiss," Heechul said while the members laughed and applauded.

Jennie, Suga, J-Hope, Taehyung and Jungkook gave Jimin pats on his butt and then he was hugged from behind by Heechul. When Jimin received kisses on the cheek, the members yelled, continuing to cringe.

During the next segment, BTS received phone calls from various fans who were very excited. The phone lines were down due to the high demand for Bangtan, which bewildered the members. One fan had spoken in English, talking to Jennie and she was moved that the fan was learning English to communicate with her. Jen made the fan feel good when she praised their English skills.

"So, what is this about Jin and Jennie wrestling?" Coni asked

Jin and Jen glanced at each other and laughed while the members thought about the hilarious memories.

"That was a fun day." Jen happily nodded.

"That match didn't count because she cheated. I was supposed to win." Jin exclaimed

"You tapped out. It doesn't get much clearer than that, Jin."

"AHHHHHHH~!" the members said with their loud laughter filling the studio.

They had played the clip of Jennie putting Jin in an armbar and him tapping out while Jin became flustered. His ears got red as he tried to explain himself.

"Will there be a continuation?" Heechul asked. "Round two?"

"I mean, we could. You down?" Jen turned to Jin.

"I still need to win so of course." Jin nodded eagerly.

"I dunno about all that but anyway." she teased as Jin blankly stared at her. "I guess when we have some free time, we'll think of some funny promos and work on what we want to do for Jin vs Jen Part 2. Stay tuned."

As the show went on, with Rapmon struggling to cut an onion, they had their idol on the grill segment. The male members would be called Bulletproof Girl Scouts while Jennie would be called the Bulletproof Boy Scout. They recapped the female idols the boys wanted to get closest to and how Jennie was very interested in EXO. So the plan was to dance to an idol song and they'll be given Korean Beef.

"Jennie! Which EXO song would you like to perform?" she was asked.

"Call me baby~," she answered and stood up.

"Of course." Jimin giggled.

"Yes, we are fully aware that you love this group a lot. Especially Baekhyun." Coni teased.

"I hope that one day I could have the opportunity to collab with an EXO member." she brought up. "That would be so cool. I learn a lot from groups such as them when I watch them perform. It motivates me to work harder. Collabing with a group like EXO, I'm sure I can learn a lot from them. Even if it's just one member, a simple dance collab, or singing together, I'd be grateful."

"EXO if you are watching, what is your answer?" Coni asked.

As the song came on, it started with the chorus after Chanyeol's verse. It looked like she would have to do some eye-opening pelvic thrusts. She even had her hand on her crotch and thrust her hips up. It surprised the members along with her fluent body rolls and movement with the song. The MCs were impressed with her powerful movements and praised her. When Jen watched the rest of the members dance, she immediately covered her mouth when Rapmon danced to EXID's Up & Down.

When it was Jungkook's turn, he mentioned that he wasn't familiar with any IU songs and decided to dance Up & Down instead. Sure enough, being the extra Golden Maknae that he is, the MCs hyped him up while the members laughed. Jennie dropped her jaw when he started to thrust up and down.

"Whoa! Yeah! Whoa! Yeah!" the MCs yelled as he displayed a different personality once again.

'Did you hear what Jennie said on Weekly Idol!?' fans asked under Baekhyun's Instagram.

What got everyone talking was that Baekhyun had only responded with a smiley emoji, causing everyone to flip out at the possibility.

Will SM Entertainment allow a member from EXO to collaborate with Jennie one day?

And will Big Hit allow Jennie to collaborate with a member from EXO one day?

These were questions on everyone's minds and it had been anticipated ever since she released that cover. It looked like they would have to stay tuned to find out.

---------

When Christmas Eve came, Jennie and Jungkook spent the day playing video games in Jungkook's room.

"Jennie, later I want you to help me bake," Jin called out, walking past the room.

"I got you, just let me know!" she answered.

Jin examined the living room of the dorm with a smile. Christmas music was playing softly in the background and the tree was decorated. After a fierce game of rock, paper, scissors, Jin was the one to put the star on the tree.

"And what are you two doing, now?" he asked when Jimin and Taehyung were wandering around the dorm.

"Put one right here...right here...right there...and there..." Jimin placed mistletoes all around the dorm with Taehyung, in hopes to finally get JenKook to kiss.

The 95 Liners wanted this done ASAP.

This needed to happen TODAY.

"Why are you putting so many mistletoes up?" Jin asked

"Shhh, not so loud, you want them to notice?" Jimin shushed him.

"Jennie and Jungkook? Oh my gosh, Jimin, Taehyung, this is not going to work."

"Yeah. You two should give it up. You're doing too much..." Yoongi mumbled from the couch, lying down.

"I don't think that is going to work. Just let it go naturally, all right?" Namjoon added

"Oh come on! This will be a great opportunity!" Taehyung whined.

"I dunno what we are going to do with them." Jin sighed and went to the kitchen.

Later that day, Jen helped Jin with baking tons of cookies and placed the last remaining gifts under the tree. Jungkook joined in to make sure things were in order.

Meanwhile, Jimin and Taehyung watched JenKook's every move, hoping that they would get under one of the many mistletoes they put around the dorm. They waited all day and still had no success in getting them under the mistletoe. It began to frustrate the 95 Liners.

It wasn't until later that evening they finally yelled, "Look who is under the mistletoe~!" when Jennie was right in front of Jungkook who was by the door in the bathroom and they looked up to see a mistletoe on top of the door.

"Oh. Oh wow." Jen chuckled softly.

Jungkook looked shooked once he saw it. He was not prepared as his hyungs were looking on in anticipation and cheering. The pressure was starting to get to him and he began to feel overwhelmed.

"I mean, you wanna...?" Jen's voice brought him back to reality as she was waiting for him to tell her what he wanted to do.

"U-uh, sorry." he quickly rushed away, flustered, going to his room.

That did not sit well with the 95 Liners.

"JEON JUNGKOOOOOOOOOOOK!" Jimin yelled in anguish, falling to his knees.

"NO!" Taehyung rushed after him with Jimin.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?! ARE YOU SERIOUS!?"

Jennie laughed at how silly they were acting. "Guys, it's all good! Relax!" she reassured. "Anyway, I gotta pee."

She, however, did deep down feel a little disappointed that he decided not to kiss her. But brushed the feeling aside. She shouldn't take it personally. He probably didn't want to be put on the spot like that. She understood.

With Jungkook who was trying to calm himself down in his room, he was a little angry at himself for chickening out but he wanted to kiss her without anyone looking. He wanted to do stuff like that in private. Alone, with no one else around or in another room nearby. But with his hyungs all around him like this, that wasn't going to work.

If they were truly alone, he would relax and show her a real kiss like he always dreamed about.

Once it was past 12am, Christmas Day, Jen had been cleaning up the dishes in the kitchen while everyone else had settled into their room. Hearing footsteps, she glanced up to see Jungkook strolling into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water.

"Ah, so you finally came out of your room," she called out as she watched him avert his eyes and set the water down on the counter. "Am I that unkissable?" she teased.

As soon as she said that, he looked up, widening his eyes. "N-no! It's not that, i-it's just..."

"Hey, it's fine, don't worry about it. I understand. It's a lot of pressure being put on the spot like that. I'm not one for kissing in front of an audience like that, myself."

"But-"

"Kook, it's fine. Really. I get it."

"I wanted to. I wanted to kiss you."

That caught her by surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah. I wanted to. I still do," he responded and saw her smile instantly from his words.

While JenKook talked, Jimin, Taehyung, and Hobi were spying on them from afar. The three tried not to make any noise as they eagerly watched them.

"What are you two doing-"

"Shh!" they cut Jin off and brought him close to them so he wouldn't get noticed.

"Oh my gosh...if they would just look up already. I planted a mistletoe right in the kitchen." Jimin complained in a hushed voice

"I know~," Taehyung whined.

"Now, what if this doesn't work?" Jin called out

"It will work! It better work!" Jimin grabbed him by the shirt and yanked him.

"W-we can always try New Year's!"

"No! Jimin and I want this done now! Long overdue! One step closer to our wonderful ship to sail." Taehyung replied

Back with JenKook, Jennie looked at him. Something in her stomach flipped and part of her felt thrilled that he wanted to kiss her. Throughout the entire rest of the day after the first attempt, she had that feeling in the back of her mind that she wanted to kiss him. But she couldn't understand why.

Should she be feeling this way?

Jungkook soon looked up and noticed that there was a mistletoe right over him, causing butterflies in his stomach and excitement.

The boys spying on them became so giddy that their cover was almost blown when they saw them find out.

Jennie and Jungkook stood in the kitchen in a comfortable silence, glancing up at the mistletoe and back at each other.

Did she want to kiss him? Should he make a move?

Noticing him trying to figure out what to do, Jennie decided to take the lead, slowly walking forward and gently grabbing his hands. As she looked up at him, she realized how much she loved how her soft hands fit nicely with his large ones and how handsome he looked up close.

Standing on top of his feet, she raised herself up on her tippy toes until she was right at his face. The faint Christmas music was heard in the background as they spent a moment looking at each other.

"Oh my God, oh my God, it's happening..." Taehyung fanboyed with Jimin in quiet voices as they looked on.

Jungkook watched her lean in, closing her eyes and he soon did the same until their lips met, softly. He felt so many emotions as he kissed her and even faintly tasted peppermint on her lips from the candy cane she had eaten earlier.

As soon as they saw them lock lips, Jimin and Taehyung covered their mouths before they screamed for joy. The two fell to the ground, rolling around in excitement while Hobi and Jin were jumping around in glee, back in the bedroom.

Jennie felt something strong behind such a simple mistletoe kiss with her best friend as she gently pulled away, releasing his hands. She felt her heart rate increase while Jungkook felt his cheeks flushed.

"There. Not so bad, right?" she took a step back and smiled softly. "Merry Christmas, Kookie."

Watching her walk to her room to go to bed, Jungkook touched his lips and let out a soft chuckle, overjoyed. Her lips were softer than he expected. Big difference from Rookie King.

Reminiscing on the moment he shared with her, he wanted to kiss her more than just once like they just did. The kiss felt too quick for him and he made a promise that the next time they kissed on the lips, he'd show her a real kiss to prove how much she meant to him.

-----

"Merry Christmas!" Taehyung dove on top of Jennie on her bed as she let out a groan.

It was too early for this. She was just dreaming about Nike finally noticing her and allowing her to endorse their stuff.

"Merry Christmas~!" Jimin ran in to dive on top of Tae, causing her to let out another groan.

"Merry Christmas~!" Jungkook jumped on top of Jimin while Jennie continued to deal with the torture of heavy bodies on her back.

She muffled something against her pillow while the Maknae Line tried to comprehend what she was saying.

"Guys, I think we're crushing her, hehehe." Taehyung giggled as they all got off of her.

She rolled out of bed and stood up. "Ow, my back...why are y'all so damn heavy?"

"Come on, we wanna open up presents! But Jin is making us eat breakfast, first! Let's go! Get a move on!" Taehyung dragged her out of the room to meet with the rest of the members.

Saying their good mornings, they sat to eat.

As breakfast went along, Jimin mischievously asked with a smirk, "So...did anyone get caught under the mistletoe, last night?"

Jungkook instantly narrowed his eyes at him but then glanced at Jennie. She looked unfazed and not bothered by the question.

"What about you Jennie? Kiss anyone last night?" Hobi asked.

"You kissed someone last night?" Yoongi asked with sleep in his voice.

"Who'd you smooch?" Namjoon asked with interest.

"I'm just glad there wasn't any tongue." Jin blurted out

"Wow, you just exposed yourself. You were spying." Jen called out, making Jin flustered.

"Darn it Jin!" Taehyung exclaimed.

"Come on!" Jimin yelled.

"Who kissed who?" Namjoon kept asking.

"She kissed Jungkook last night!" Taehyung announced loud and proud.

Jungkook felt himself blushing and looking down. He could never get a break from his hyungs.

"Did you like the kiss?" Hobi asked with a smile.

"Sorry, but I don't kiss and tell." she smiled and placed her dishes in the sink.

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