saigogetsuga

[candescentkpop]

Now, that's crazy form

Ateez: 미친 폼 (Crazy Form)

Ateez Part 156 / ∞

[armpirate]

Soundleasure | Choi San || CH. 20

Pairings: Soft!San x fem!reader || Strangers to lovers, fake dating

Genre: smut, angst, fluff, online sex, ghosting

Warnings: inexperienced!San, fem!reader, masturbation, online sex, camboy, first times.

Summary: You can do whatever you please and be whoever you want on the Internet. And San knew that a little bit too well.

After finally following all the signs the universe was throwing at him, he started living a double life that no one was aware of. Everyone in his daily life knew him as Choi San, the reserved and quiet boy who wouldn't raise his voice, and would barely communicate with anyone outside of his comfort group. But only a few knew him as Soundleasure, the man with a sexy voice and a filthy mind that had their toes curling just with his narrations.

He never thought of the possibility of those two lives ever meeting, he had always tried for them to follow a parallel route and had always played safe to keep his friends from ever suspecting that side even existed. But his plans will start to crumble when he gets a little too close with one of his subscribers and she invades his real-self and altergo's universes without being able to stop it.

Y/n will not only help him to keep his secret from his circle, but will also show him there's more of Soundleasure in him than he'd like to admit. 

Previous || Next

MASTERLIST

Aprox. time of reading: 18 minutes

Chapter warnings: Oral sex (male receiving), dirty talk

San noticed something strange on Y/n when they stopped to have the sandwiches they prepared the previous night for lunch. It wasn't something strange, but it just shocked him to see her sitting with the girls, with the big difference that she didn't turn to him not even once. She was also playing with her food, separating the extreme of the sandwich to take a look inside, and move it back to where it was while she pretended to focus back on the conversation the girls were having. She probably fooled them, but San could tell her laugh was fake, just using it to hide the fact that she wasn't even listening to what they were saying.

Once they were back on the trail, he tried to walk forward to where she was, being called out by Yunho from behind.

—Give her some space.

—Do we have to remind you how you were with Iseul when you started dating? This isn't new —Mingi fought back for San.

—Are you defending San? —Jongho asked, surprised.

—Not really. I owe him fifty bucks —he whispered—. If he heard me, he probably would let it pass.

Yunho simply rolled his eyes, focusing back on the trail as he was not surprised in the slightest at what Mingi was doing.

San held her arm carefully as soon as he reached where she was, getting her eyes to move away from him when she was aware of who it was. After being aware as well, the girls walked a little bit faster to give them the small privacy they could have, by being surrounded by people, allowing them to speak freely.

—Are you okay? —he suddenly asked.

—Yeah, I am —she assured him—. Why?

—You didn't touch your food —he answered, insisting on looking at her to earn one look in his direction—. If you aren't feeling well, I can carry you to the parking lot and call a cab so you don't have to drive to the hospital. No one will know what it is about.

Those words only made her feel more guilty. He was such a genuine and caring person... It only proved to her Wooyoung's words about him, and how she was in no place to play with him in any way.

—San, I'm okay. It's something else —she whispered, lowering her gaze to the floor—. I'll tell you when we're alone.

Looking over her shoulder, she noticed his friends curiously peeking at them. And it was obvious that their body language was screaming about the big issues that were going on between them, as much as Y/n wanted to hide it.

—If they ask you though, tell them that I was dizzy or something —she suggested—. That way they won't tease you about this.

The rest of the walk to the parking lot was in silence, just them walking quietly next to each other, holding back everything that was going through their heads, while the only thing they wanted was to speak up about it.

—Thanks for saving all of our things here —Jongho mentioned taking out his bag and Mingi's.

—My feet are burning —Hongjoong complained, supporting his weight on the side of her car.

—Take a hot bath when we get back home —Seonghwa suggested—. And think about working out or doing some sport, this is because you're turning into a couch potato.

—I'm turning into what?

Wooyoung hadn't known her for long, but he was able to tell there was something wrong with the way she was acting. She went from being an easy-going person to a quiet one in less than four hours. If that bickering had taken place the night she first met the group, she probably would've giggled as she watched that scene, but that time there was no emotion coming from her.

San looked confused when he felt something pulling from his sleeve, finding Wooyoung attempting to move him a bit away from the group to be able to speak to him.

—Did you argue with Y/n?

—No, she just... —he remembered what she suggested to him— she isn't feeling well.

—Is that what she told you? —Wooyoung looked concerned, almost as if he knew what happened to her more than himself.

—Why? Do you know what's up with her?

—Maybe —he whispered—. I didn't think it would affect her so much.

—Jung Wooyoung, what did you tell her?

—I just asked her to take care of you —he confessed—. I'm seeing how hooked you're getting on her, and I just wanted to make sure you wouldn't end up with your heart broken.

—Why would I end up with my heart broken?

—You're not experienced, and you seem so excited that I just thought it was right to speak to her about it. Honestly, I just wanted to tell her to take it easy with you, but it seems like I didn't word it the best way... —he admitted, remembering the words he used.

It made sense why she was setting that distance all of a sudden between them. If what they had was real, she probably would've just taken his words as advice and moved on, but under their circumstances it probably was just another reason to make her feel bad about what was going on between them. And he wished he could get mad at his friend for provoking that, but he could tell Wooyoung only had good intentions with his words. He couldn't get mad at him for that, or even call him out for looking after him.

At first, he thought she was acting so weird because she was feeling strange due to her illness, so it was kind of relieving that the reason for her actions was that conversation instead. At least it was something he could try to work on.

Although no one told him it'd be something easy.

Hopping inside the car, and being met with such a big wall between them wasn't in his mind when he first thought about speaking with her about what they had going on. She only broke the silence to suggest going to her place so they could talk without being interrupted, or without having his friends showing up out of nowhere and cutting up the nature of their conversation.

Her feelings transferred to the atmosphere of wherever they went. San had been to her place a few times, but he never felt like a stranger until that day, feeling like he shouldn't be there. And the main reason for that was the way Y/n walked around nervously, leaving her things near the entrance without looking back at him.

—I know why you're acting like this —he spoke up, poking his hands inside the pockets of his pants.

His words instantly grabbed her attention, seeing her turning around to confront him from her couch.

—And it makes no sense.

Y/n scoffed, looking away while her hands found a stable position on her hips. When she looked back at him, he was a bit closer, walking to her with his eyebrows slightly furrowed, scanning her expression to know what was going through her head.

—It makes no sense, huh? What do you think I'm thinking?

—That you're using me, and that I'm getting nothing in return. That you're playing with me and I'll end up with my heart broken —he confessed—. And that you think it's better to stop it all now before either of us catch feelings.

He wasn't good at reading people's feelings, but with Y/n it was easy, as if he knew her from long ago. It was as if she had all of her thoughts displayed on her face, waiting for her to pick on them and try to fight them back and make them disappear.

—I just think we're still on time to stop this before it goes too far —she suggested—. We already did what we had to do. I don't want us to be confused over what's going on.

—Right, then why are we still around each other?

Y/n knew the answer to that question, but she was too scared of it to even think about it more than as an abstract idea.

—I know to others it's fake, but everything that's happened between us isn't —he continued—. And I know I haven't been in a relationship before, but I'm able to tell apart what's real and what's not. I know we aren't dating, I know we aren't in love like others think. But fuck, Y/n, I do like you. And it's not something that's coming from the relationship.

She knew it, because it was something that happened to her, too. She wasn't hurt because he ghosted her, but because she lost the only real connection she had in years, she lost a person she looked forward to speaking to because he made her feel at ease. And it scared her to see him disappear again. She was scared of him catching fake feelings, being blinded by the small gestures and fake promises they made each other while pretending to date, and giving up on everything after he realized it wasn't real.

She just didn't want neither of them wasting their time, and being hurt over something that could be avoided.

And probably what scared her the most was being hurt over the reality of it, rather than being fooled by the fakeness.

—Why aren't you saying anything?

Her silence was scary. It was as if her words weren't getting through her, as if she wasn't moved by anything he was saying.

—Because I don't know what to say —she admitted.

Y/n wasn't expecting him to bring up the topic, and even less to fight back her thoughts before she was able to open her mouth.

—I wasn't aware before, but after what Wooyoung said... I think we're just heading ourselves into the void.

—Are you sure this is about me and not about you?

And he was right.

—It's about us. I don't want you wasting your time, and I don't want to throw myself into this and end up destroyed with it. I have enough with the company, the sm. But those things are out of my control, this isn't.

—Are you assuming this will become a problem?

—If you go again, it will —she admitted—. I already had a hard time when we only texted. If we keep on with this, and it goes wrong for whatever reason, it'll be way worse. And I'm not sure I want to deal with it at this point in my life.

—And why am I the one that will go? —he fought back— For all I know, you're the one who could get tired of this at any moment. I'm already making my best to fight my limits, but even like this I'm sure you'll end up tired of walking at my pace. I'm still taking the risk.

Y/n sighed, resting her back on the backrest of the couch, letting her legs rest while she just tried to think how to get out of that dead end their conversation reached. She was emotional, but also highly based on analytics. That was what based most of her decisions. And there was no other answer, no other reason as to why they couldn't go on with what they had. Although she wasn't sure if that was the actual reason, or if her emotional side was fighting harder to get what it wanted.

—I didn't know you were feeling that way —she whispered.

They could've ended things after he went to the barbeque, or even earlier, after they went their separate ways in that ice cream shop. But if something pulled them into the nonsense of the fake relationship act, it wasn't the idea of helping the other. It was for the exact same reason why they were having that conversation that night.

—I didn't either —he admitted.

It all came out at the idea of losing a chance with her, his brain just scratched the feelings he had been normalizing to turn them into an encouragement for her to keep going.

—If you're doing this for me, I'll take the risk. I don't care about the result of this, because I'm sure it won't be comparable to what I'll get in exchange —he took a step in her direction—. And if you're doing this for you, I already told you I will support you in whatever you need. The last thing I'm expecting is becoming a burden for you with everything that's happening, even if this doesn't work out. Things don't have to go wrong, but I'm sure you already know that. We won't let it go wrong.

Her silence was deafening, making him feel like it was lost. She wasn't going to give in, her choice was already made, and he was just fighting air for something that was already lost.

A step in his direction made him look back at her, feeling frozen when her lips first crashed onto his. She was standing on her tiptoes, holding his nape with her left hand while she just waited for him to answer that kiss in that soft way he knew how to.

If there were any doubts, they all disappeared when he spoke about them as a collective. It wasn't him, or her. San used "We", letting her know she wouldn't be alone if she gave it a chance, and that was all she needed to realize how that conversation shouldn't have been held in the first place.

His hands held her neck with care at the same time he moved his lips on hers, sucking on her lower lip to drink all of her worries and doubts. And just as if they were connected, her fingers moved to his sides to hold onto his jacket.

—We could give it a chance —she agreed, licking the remains of their spits off her lips.

—If you're worried, we could go slow —San suggested—. Get closer before we make a decision. And when we're ready and sure, either go on or leave it as it is.

When she kissed him again, their lips mixed together so well that he thought he was floating for one second.

Their hands moved at the same time again, exchanging positions when hers moved to enroll around his neck and his moved down at her waist. Something about the way he acted that night was so sexy and attractive, that she lost all control on her thoughts and movements. And the way her fingers slid through the locks of his hair created the exact same feeling on him, having his fingers denting on her skin through her clothes.

A moan escaped her lips when those blind steps took her back against the backrest, with the only difference that San's body was all over hers and his tongue was rolling around hers skillfully.

—Hmm, who taught you how to kiss? —she teased him, licking his lower lip.

—I have a great teacher.

His smirk as he said that was the starting point of how her body was boiling up to a whole new sensation, dragging him back into another kiss. As he attempted to pick her up, he almost lost his balance, ending with Y/n holding on his neck so as not to fall down and her legs wrapped around his thighs while she broke the kiss to laugh.

—It seems easier in movies —he commented out of breath, using one last effort to push her body up again.

Helping him, Y/n impulsed her body up as well, wrapping her thighs around his waist while his hands held her confidently from her thighs.

—You didn't do so bad. Do you think you'll be able to take me to my room?

His smile was enough to answer that question. She linked their lips together again, leading him through another short blind walk. That scene alone had been replying so many times in their heads, that they couldn't believe it was actually happening.

Or not.

Her eyes opened wide through the kiss when she felt his fingers unzipping down the pants that weren't hers, suddenly remembering why she was wearing a pair of pants that weren't hers.

—What's wrong? —he asked, moving back and supporting the weight of his body back on his knees.

—We can't do it —she mumbled.

—Did... Did I do something wrong?

—No, no —she sighed again, scratching her forehead—. But I'm still on my period —she joked.

—Oh, I forgot —one of his hands was placed on her thigh, while the other reassured her by rubbing the thumb on her forearm—. Well, I can keep kissing you though.

She had been waiting for that to happen way too long, thinking of waiting for it to happen again was an idea that couldn't cross her mind. And feeling his growing bulge rubbing against her knee didn't help her think straight.

—Just kissing? —she asked, breaking the kiss again.

Of course he wanted to do more than just kissing, but he didn't want to make her uncomfortable. And he didn't mind waiting for her either.

—So you didn't think of fucking me while you carried me here?

How blatant she was made a thick ball of spit almost get stuck in his throat, wondering what was the right way to answer that. She tilted her head, enjoying how nervous he was getting while she waited for the answer, while she slowly unzipped his jacket.

—Well, I... I...

She cut him off, giving him a short kiss on the lips while she moved the fabric of his jacket down his arms.

—And you got so hard with it, even —her hand stopped right at the start of his pants.

—I thought we said we'd go slow —he laughed nervously.

—And I'll go slow —her fingers hooked on the waistband—. Unless you don't want me to do this.

San cursed at himself for looking down, feeling how his brain started malfunctioning at the sight of Y/n looking up to him with such big eyes.

—Shit —he coughed—. Are you sure?

Knowing that was the green light she needed, her lips curved up. She helped him sit right where she was, with her taking the spot in between his parted thighs. That position alone made his dick jump against the thick fabric of his pants, still not believing that was actually happening.

His body was burning, and it had only one reason. He gasped heavily when her fingers finally moved his pants and boxers down, setting him free from the tight prison his underwear was being. Y/n also got rid of her jacket, feeling more comfortable while she settled her hands on his knees.

His dick was exactly how she remembered it: average size, but thick, with some veins marked from his base to his tip, that made her eager to slide her tongue all over.

His hum echoed in her eardrums when she first rolled her tongue around his wet tip, getting that first salty taste she had been fantasizing with ever since she first found his channel. And she could feel the way his hands gravitated all over her head as he struggled to know where to put them, wondering if it'd be too much to place it on her head, but too cold to place it on her arms.

Her fingers hooked around his right wrist, carefully moving it down to the back of her head, giving him that little push he was waiting for.

All of his muscles were tense at the feeling of her lips wrapping around his tip, taking him slowly. He didn't quite know how it'd feel like, he didn't even remember what her fantasies were, but they were surpassed by reality to a whole different level. He thought that he'd be able to feel the beating of his heart on his shaft if he focused enough.

It was so wet, so warm, so tight... he only closed his eyes to feel her and the way he was making his breathing go faster by the minute.

At some point, her hand joined the movements of her mouth, with a soft moan escaping his lips at the sensation.

—Oh, fuck.

Y/n looked up while bobbing her head, pressing her thighs together when she witnessed the image in front of her. Having such a big man to her mercy, with his eyes closed and his eyebrows furrowed, lightly moaning through his parted lips, was the best of the images. And it didn't compare to the way he looked as he touched himself in front of a camera with her.

His body squirmed at the feeling of something wet dripping down his tip, only stopping at the arch of her hand, that spreaded it all over his shaft.

—Am I making you feel good?

—Fuck, yes —he moaned.

—You taste so good —she sucked again on the tip—, and I can't imagine how good you must taste after you fuck me.

Just the image alone of Y/n naked in front of him, sucking on his dick still glistening with her juices, sent a whole bunch of information that instantly connected with his shaft, not realizing how fast his high was coming until he was unable to stop it.

—Y/n, wait.

As she gave the second stroke, and San moved suddenly backwards, a jet of his load shot straight into her eye. He didn't give her time to complain, except for that loud whine, before he got up from the bed, attempting to walk to her bathroom to get a towel and moisten it with some water to help her clean her face.

Her eye closed tighter every time he moved the towel around her eye, getting rid of every drop of the sticky liquid until her face was clean.

—I'm sorry —he apologized, sitting back on the bed.

—It's not that big of a deal —she tried to calm him down—. Although this is why I don't like cumshots —she joked, trying to ease his worry.

—Where are you going? —he rushed to ask, putting his clothes back on when he saw her getting up from the floor.

—I'll get changed, and clean myself.

—But... I didn't help you.

She didn't need him to say anything else to understand what he meant. She didn't do anything expecting something in return, and she also knew that it'd be uncomfortable if she tried to get him back to do the same thing while she was on her period. And based on past experiences, she wasn't that big of a fan of receiving oral sex.

Doing it in that moment would only set her up for disappointment.

—Another day —she assured him, trapping his chin between two of her fingers to land a soft peck on his lips—. You're staying the night, right?

—Can I?

Y/n just smiled, shaking her head at his reaction.

—I'll clean up and get changed. You can get comfortable.

She sighed heavily after stepping inside the bathroom, regretting for a short moment rejecting him. But the idea of having someone go down on her, while on her period was something that she didn't like. It didn't matter how bad she tried to convince herself on how she would like it if she tried it.

When she got out again, she held back a laugh at seeing San completely dressed, lying uncomfortably over the sheets of her bed.

—Are you going to sleep like that?

—Yeah.

—At least take off the pants and get under the blankets, it'll get cold.

—Won't you be uncomfortable?

—San, I've had your cock in my mouth not even ten minutes ago. And I've seen you naked countless of times. It's quite impossible for me to feel uncomfortable around you.

And she proved how comfortable she felt while she took off her clothes in front of him, throwing it over the floor and walking to her closet to take her pajamas out.

It made him so nervous to upset her somehow, that he didn't want to risk it even with the obvious things. Only after she said it, he took off his pants, dragging the blanket under his body to be able to sneak inside shortly before Y/n joined him.

It was silent, but her thoughts were so loud that he was sure he was able to hear them before she went from lying on her back to looking at him.

—I'm sorry for today —she finally said—. I get too emotional during this time of the month. And it might sound like an excuse, but the illness doesn't help at all. I...

—You don't need to apologize for anything —he cut her off, turning his head to her—. Those were your feelings at that moment, and I'm glad you told me instead of just keeping it to yourself and letting things die.

Her eyes wrinkled at the corner with her smile, making San feel at ease just by looking at her.

—I like you, too.

—Hmm?

—You said before that you like me. And I didn't say it back, but I like you.

She didn't need to say it, he already knew. No one else would've acted with such patience and delicacy, but still those words sounded comforting and filled a space he didn't know he needed to be filled after such a crazy day.

His hand hesitated to reach the top of her head to pat it gently, only for Y/n to move in his direction to lay closer to him right after.

The rush he felt when he felt her getting closer after those words was bigger than any other orgasm he had ever had. 

[star1117-archives]

Look bestie, idk if hard hours are open but whatever, you'll read it when you read it.

I am frothing about how seonghwa/hongjoong/yunho...actually I'll include San & jongho as well, how they would all love it when their partners are shy & embarrassed. It has me thinking thoughts!

I'll have thoughts come up about the others but right now I'm just imaging how Yunho would make the perfect 'first bf' because I think he would just be excited to be your first & he would just make you feel so special about yourself. I think he would tease the absolutely loving heck out of you whilst doing it, 'aww you look so cute when you blush for me'.

Imagine when you start getting intimate with him and you're like undressing & you're covering yourself because it's all new for you, he would just look at you with those puppy dog eyes and rub shoulders & say in a soothing manner, 'you have a beautiful body bunny, let me see all of it'.

Plus, when you've grown more confident with him, he would definitely use it as a way to humiliate you, just imagine you're pinned underneath him & you're all red in the face because even though you've been together a long time, you're still self-conscious. He would look down at you and coo at you in a mocking tone, 'aww is my sweet bunny still shy after all this time? Maybe I need to f*ck the embarrassment out of you mmh?'

Oh my god I totally agree with you, esp Yunho !! Wait you sent this to Lune as well lmao

NSFW UNDER CUT !! UNDER 15’s DNI !!

Yunho:

He’s smitten with you, treating you with the upmost care since he wants your first relationship to be nothing less than magical. He finds it cute how you’re literally a newbie at everything, blushing over the smallest things.

He’s really caring when you guys start to get intimate yet the PERVERT in him literally goes crazy when you sit on his lap or bury your face in his neck. One hundred million percent buys you lingerie in pastel colours, or like baby pink/blue. It just really gets him going Yk? Seeing you all dressed up for him.

He also likes the way that you’re so sensitive, every touch, every caress, every kiss has your head reeling. In turn, also driving yunho up the wall. Size training will obvs be very important to him since Yk, monster cock :]

When you start to get more comfortable he loves to rip your lingerie off you, wanting to ruin the innocent vibes you give off, corrupt that addictive yet blissful ignorance of yours. Pockets the panties when he’s through <;/3

Seonghwa:

He likes the fact that he’s teaching you everything. How to kiss, how to spoon, all those little things you take for granted once your used to relationships. He likes to cook for you, treating you like his little baby that must be cared for and protected.

He finds it really endearing when you buy him gifts as well, especially if you’ve put a lot of thought into them. He’ll literally just kiss and hug you as much as humanely possible because oh my god oh my god you’re so fucking cute it’s breaking his heart

The fact that he likes the whole teaching aspect of being your first boyfriend also appeals to seonghwa in more intimate ways. He absolutely loves the thought that he’s teaching you how to please him especially, no one else.

He also loves to broaden your boundaries with every encounter, slowly working you from touching to vanilla to something a little less innocent. 100% buys a toy so he can fully focus on that pretty face of yours orgasming as if it’s the first time every single time that godforsaken vib does it’s magic

Hongjoong:

He so fucking perverse with it it’s kinda creepy but in a hot way. He loves seeing you getting embarrassed over the littlest of things, especially hand placements. Like, you being visibly affected when his hand rests on your thigh in public, or when he pulls you close during movie night and loops an arm around you.

When you’re comfortable to take your relationship a little further, that’s when he goes completely feral. He isn’t as kind as the others, obviously establishing a safe word, continuously asking if you’re okay, aftercare every single time. But he just loves the thought that he’s breaking you. Ruining that innocence of yours, stealing it from you so no one else can have it but him.

He sees it as you giving yourself to him, one of the most heartfelt intimate gestures a person can do. You’re giving yourself to him, mind, body and soul. It’s fascinating to him.

San:

Bro finds it endearing. Similar to Hongjoong, he likes making you flustered over little actions. The way you slap his shoulder in shock when he whispers filth in your ear. He absolutely loves however how dependent you are on him, as he’s your first boyfriend. He’s helping you understand life, relationships, what it is to love someone.

He loves it when you nervously play with your fingers or stutter or hide your face when talking to him, still new to this amount of affection and attention. But the thing he loves the most? When you initiate the contact, especially if you’re embarrassed afterwards. Why are you hiding your face after kissing his cheek? Why are you looking everywhere but him when you’re holding his hand? He thinks it’s utterly adorable.

This translates to intimate times as well, because bro is absolutely smitten with you. Constantly making sure you’re okay, you’re enjoying it, you want faster or slower. Doesn’t push/force you into anything, except one thing. He is a violent hater of losing eye contact or you covering yourself up.

Focus on him, watch how good he’s fucking you no matter how embarrassing you think it is. Watch the way he glides in and out of you so easily, the way he rolls his hips almost every single time into that one place that makes you see stars. And don’t you dare hide your beautiful body, San wants to see all of you

Jongho:

He likes that you’re inexperienced/naïve. It brings out the protective side of him, he just wants to make sure your world remains rainbows and unicorns. Yk that old sunshine/sunshine protector meme? He’s sunshine protector. He will make sure you’re happy at all costs, and if you’re not the world will burn from his wrath.

Very much a ‘let’s take it slow’ kinda guy, to the point where it’s too slow and despite your inexperience it’s you who’s initiating everything. Like San, he finds it immensely cute when you give him some form of affection and immediately start dying inside. Will die with you, cheeks red and a bashful smile on his face.

When y’all finally become intimate (after practically eons because Jongho was like let’s be sure about this, let’s not rush it, it’s your first time not yet), he treats you like you’re made of glass. Makes sure you’re okay throughout, and refuses to be rough with you in any way possible.

Bro is lovemaking, he never fucks. He only does that when he’s drunk/extremely pissed off, but it’ll take you a while to find that out. Aftercare is top notch, 10/10 would recommend to a friend.

·˚ ◌༘₊· ͟͞꒰➳ NSFW Taglist !! ˊˎ-

@agustd-essert @hyuckilstan @a-soft-hornytiny @nyghtwolff-1117 @artemis-in-your-area @violetwinters @katelynnsqueendom @galaxybambam @yunhobabygurl @midnightbluesnow7 @itbecina @hwaluvvu @ccarpc @anpanseok @yunhosprettyhand @wooandtaeluvr @mingitheii @vilavixg @the-answer-is-love-yrself @youre-a-wallflower-charlie @taehyunscaramelfrappe @imwhoever @cactusmalassus @mrcarrots @ateezbabysitters @owjohny @meowmeowminnie @cheline @fantasy2wonderland @empiirxn @xuxibelle @dazzlingligth @foreverinlovewithdrawings @simeonswhore

[latte-fairytaekwoon]

𝐴𝑡𝑒𝑒𝑧: 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑆/𝑂'𝑠 '𝐶𝑎𝑛'𝑡 𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑝 𝐾𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑌𝑜𝑢' 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑒

❥𝓚𝓲𝓶 𝓗𝓸𝓷𝓰𝓳𝓸𝓸𝓷𝓰

Hongjoong was busy scribbling away on his notebook that he didn't even notice that you had set up a camera to face him in the studio. Giving a thumbs up to the screen, you tiptoed over to where he sat. Crouching down, you wrapped your arms around him and kissed his cheek. He didn't really react so you leaned in and kissed his nose, this time a small smile formed on his lips.

"Ok. Ok. Come here." He pushed his chair backwards and placed you on his lap, his arms wrapping around your waist.

He thought you just wanted to sit on his lap while he worked, but instead he got you placing kisses all over his face, which made it impossible for him to concentrate, especially when your lips were so soft and warm.

"Baby." He whined as you smushed your lips onto his.

"Hmmm?" You hummed as you continued to kiss him.

"I'm trying to finish.." He told you but still made no effort to move you, instead he just lazily kissed you back.

You chuckled against his lips.

"Ok then..." You pulled back slowly and stood up to get off him.

"Wait! No! Come back!"

In an instant, Hongjoong made you straddle his lap again, his hands cupping the sides of your face as he began kissing you again. He just couldn't stop after you made him crave some smooches.

❥𝓟𝓪𝓻𝓴 𝓢𝓮𝓸𝓷𝓰𝓱𝔀𝓪

All throughout the day, you had been pecking Seonghwa's lips whenever you got the chance. He didn't notice anything off about it, you were always affectionate with each other and he himself tended to be kissing you randomly.

He started to suspect something was up though when you were helping him with his sit ups. Every time he came up, you purposefully kissed him, making him lose count or get distracted. He just giggled though and thought you were being playful or to motivate him in his workouts.

So when you two were cuddling, he started to do the same to you: he began randomly kissing you, making you a blushing mess.

"Seonghwa!" You squeaked when he began kissing down your neck.

"What? You've been like this all day, but when I do it, you get shy?" He shook his head.

That's when you bursted out laughing and began explaining to him what was going on. He became embarrassed and began laughing.

"Here I thought I made you fall in love with me more and that's why you were so lovey dovey." He confessed awkwardly.

You smile and leaned in to kiss him again.

"There's no way I could possibly fall more in love with you than what I already am."

❥𝓙𝓮𝓸𝓷𝓰 𝓨𝓾𝓷𝓱𝓸

Yunho was already excited at the thought of getting to spend time with you after endless promotions. He had missed you so much and craved your affection that he obviously didn't find it weird that you were peppering him with kisses when you met up.

"Oh my god. Baby did you miss me that much?" He teased you even though he had missed you a lot as well.

You two went out and did all sorts of things: go to an arcade, take a walk in the park, got lunch somewhere and eventually went back to your place to watch some movies. All throughout this, Yunho had not really noticed that you were kissing him more than usual.

Sensing that he wasn't really reacting, you decided to try something. Throughout the entire movie, you began kissing different parts of his face almost every 15 seconds. At first Yunho just smiled and would mutter something about you being cute.

Then suddenly, after you kissed his neck for 4 times in a row, he stopped and looked at you with a serious look.

"I hope you're willing to take responsibility for your actions."

He shocked you when he tackled you onto the couch, trapping you in his arms as he aggressively kissed your cheeks and neck. You writhed your body as you tried to get out, but Yunho wasn't having it.

"You can't just keep kissing me and showering me with affection and not expect me to retaliate Y/N! This is war!" He chuckled as he kept attacking you with kisses.

❥𝓚𝓪𝓷𝓰 𝓨𝓮𝓸𝓼𝓪𝓷𝓰

You truly weren't sure how to go about this. Yeosang wasn't particularly fond of PDA and wouldn't often initiate affection. Still, you wanted to see how he would react....if he even reacted at all.

You started off by linking hands with him as you walked by the streets, he didn't seem to mind, even putting your hands inside his coat pocket to keep them warm. Going in for the kill, you pecked his cheek. He stopped in his tracks for a split second but then continued on as if nothing happened, only noticeable difference was the blush on his cheeks and ears. You tried doing that several more times and succeeded in 4 of them, but the rest Yeosang ended up avoiding.

You honestly felt disappointed. Sure Yeosang was shy, but you never thought he'd reject your affection so coldly. So you decided to give up and just sat there quietly next to him on the bed as he read one of his many novels, his hand squeezing yours every now and then. Feeling a little brave and wanting to try it one last time, you leaned in and placed 3 kisses to his temple. Yeosang paused before closing his book. After he set it down, he turned to look at you, sighing as he stared deep in your eyes. You were about to apologize but then he surprised you by pulling you into a soft and romantic kiss.

He only pulled back to whisper against your lips:

"You have no idea how long I've been holding back." before proceeding to kiss you again.

❥𝓒𝓱𝓸𝓲 𝓢𝓪𝓷

You already pictured how the challenge might end up, you knew your boyfriend so well. As expected, every time you placed a kiss on any part of his face, he'd return the favor. And the more kisses you were giving him, the more he clung onto you.

Soon, it was he who was placing more and more kisses on you that you almost forgot you were supposed to be the one doing the kissing.

"Seriously baby? What has gotten into you?" San asked you rather amused when you crawled into his lap and intensified the amount of kisses you were giving him.

"Don't." Kiss. "Know." Kiss. "Want." Kiss. "Kissies." You responded with kisses in between your words.

San chuckled at how cute you were.

"Well....seems to me like someone is being needy."

He flipped your positions so he was now hovering above you, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Do you want some help?"

Attaching his lips to your neck, San began nibbling on all your sensitive spots, making you get flustered as you tried to push him off.

"San! Wait! It was only a challenge!" You exclaimed, letting out a tiny moan when he bit down on a particular spot.

"You think that's gonna stop me?" He smirked at you.

❥𝓢𝓸𝓷𝓰 𝓜𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓲

"Baby? What do you think of this one?"

Mingi only got a kiss in response to his question. He blushed slightly and put the red sweater back.

"That's the 4th time you've done that." He pointed out.

"Done what?" You feigned ignorance.

"Kissed me out of nowhere." He explained.

You merely mumbled something and went back to looking through the clothes on the rack. Mingi was confused though, not knowing what was going on. Were you trying to tell him something? Were you mad at him? Did he do something wrong? Was this payback? He was so lost.

He just decided to see what else you'd do and indeed, you kept pecking his lips at random times that left him baffled and somehow wanting more. Now whenever you started leaning in, he'd cup your chin and kiss you back. He began thinking that maybe he'd been neglecting you and you wanted extra love. So when you guys got back home, the first thing he did was pick you up and carry you to the bedroom as he kissed you all over your face.

"Ok we're home now. So let me love you and adore you like the little baby you are." He cooed at you as he tangled his legs and arms all around your body.

❥𝓙𝓾𝓷𝓰 𝓦𝓸𝓸𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓰

You were frustrated. At first, everything was going fine. Wooyoung became shook every time you planted a kiss on his lips at random times, sometimes blushing. But now? He was evading your kisses.

"Oh look! Mail's here!" He exclaimed as he walked away from you before you could even lean into his face.

It seemed like he was doing it on purpose. So you tried something.

"Woo? Can you get this thing down for me?" You pointed to one of the cabinets in the kitchen.

Sighing, Wooyoung abandoned his task of washing fruits to go help you out.

"Shorty." He snorted as he got down the box of pretzels for you.

You grinned at him. "Thank you my handsome and tall boy-"

You were cut off because he placed the box in front of your face when you tried to yet again kiss him. He began laughing at your frowning face.

"You're so mean! All I want is to kiss you!" You huffed.

"Oh really? You sure it's not for your vlog?" He raised an eyebrow at you.

You widened your eyes at him, wondering how he knew when he continued.

"You're not very discreet baby. And besides, I'm always the one initiating kisses. That was the first clue something was up."

You had to give it to him: he is smarter than what you gave him credit for.

❥𝓒𝓱𝓸𝓲 𝓙𝓸𝓷𝓰𝓱𝓸

You decided to start early, knowing it'd be a lot cuter to catch his reaction if he was still half asleep. You cuddled up next to his sleeping body, sifts snores coming out of his nose. You brushed your nose against his cheek before pressing a soft kiss on his skin. He didn't move.

Pouting, you moved him slightly, making him groan softly. Hovering on top of him, you began pecking his lips repeatedly. At first, Jongho only twitched the corners of his lips and then he started giggling softly.

"5 more minutes baby cakes. And then I'll play with you." He whined softly.

You started humming, making it seem like you'd let him have his 5 minutes, but one minute passed and you began kissing his lips again. Jongho groaned, repeating that he was tired. You began to kiss his shoulders and when he shuffled his body, you ended up kissing his neck, more specifically, right on his mole, where he was particularly sensitive in.

Jongho's eyes shut wide open, startling you and further scaring you when he flipped you in the blink of an eye and pinned you down on the bed.

"Ok. My turn."

He was definitely awake now.

Gifs not mine. Credit goes to their respective owners

[hongism]

mists of celeste ➻ 35

➻ pairing: ??? x fem reader ➻ genre: space au, pirate au, space pirate!ateez, angst, smut ➻ Word Count: 13.0k ➻ Rating: M ➻ Warnings: language, violence, guns and weaponry, blood, future warnings tba chapter specific warnings: mentions of past abuse, violence, anxiety    ➻ summary: Sneaking aboard the ship of a renowned space pirate may not have been the best idea, but you’ll have to make do with what fate has handed to you

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✧✧✧ act five ➻ part two

​​​​

It is nearing nightfall by the time you all return to the ship. Yunho has already gotten Hongjoong settled in the medbay with Jongho’s help, as well as set him up with an oxygen mask and an IV, and to be frank, the sight of the infamous pirate captain splayed out so helplessly was hard to see. Whatever you were feeling must have been increased tenfold for the man who stood at your side during the whole process because you could feel the panic oozing off his bones, a nagging sensation that fell on you as well. As much as he tried to help, Yunho asked him to let him and Jongho take care of it, and Seonghwa caved with a surprising amount of haste. For better or worse, you don’t have to stay long there before Seonghwa is pulling you out to head up to the main airlock. It can only be worse because of who is waiting for you there: none other than Han Jisung come to join the crew for inexplicable reasons unbeknownst to you right now. And that is why you shift to look at Seonghwa’s sharp side profile as the two of you walk to join Yeosang in waiting by the airlock.

“Why are we bringing him aboard?”

“We need Jisung for information, and it will be less of a hassle to have him aboard,” Seonghwa explains through a clipped sigh. “I don’t trust the man as far as I can throw him, but… at least I can keep an eye on him this way.”

“Why can’t we just have Wooyoung help us through the dreams instead?”

Seonghwa glances over at you, and your eyes meet for the briefest of moments before he looks forward once more.

“We don’t know how to communicate with him yet,” Seonghwa explains. His tone is a bit more gentle this time, nothing goading or forced but rather a genuine attempt to ease some of your bubbling anxieties. “You can’t talk to him, ask him questions, or consistently control his body long enough to figure out where they’re being held. Besides, they are locked in a cell, and you can’t very well ask a guard where they are. Until we learn more about this situation and your connection to each other, this is the best course of action.”

“Would Hongjoong let him on the ship?” You inquire. You can already assume the answer, and you’re only asking for some sort of confirmation that this is a bad idea, but Seonghwa presses his lips together to form a thin line.

“Hongjoong would understand how critical the situation at hand is.”

“Would you let him walk away without a fight too?” It is a bit out of line and far too bitter, but the words are already out of your mouth before you can stop yourself. Seonghwa freezes in place, steps coming to a sudden halt whilst you just continue walking as though you didn’t say a word. You can feel the way his eyes glare holes into the back of your head, and the twinge in your chest that pains your heart surely does not come from you. A wave of pain hits you as you turn to look Seonghwa in the eye.

“Hongjoong is different,” he whispers. “You know that. It isn’t that I don’t love or care about you, because I do. I feel both those things when it comes to you, in ways I can’t even begin to describe, which is why I want you to be happy and have a chance at freedom.”

“With someone whom you don’t trust or know?”

“You know and trust him yourself, do you not?” Seonghwa counters without missing a beat. “Am I supposed to decided who you trust now? Was it not you who told me that I didn’t need to worry about you? Shouldn’t doubt your abilities? I’ve already told you that I am not happy about this situation at all, but still I will not decide this for you, even if you ask me to.”

“Then what am I supposed to think? Right now it feels like you only want me gone so you can feel less guilty about going back to Hongjoong at the end of the day.” You turn on your heel, fully prepared to leave him standing there on his own in the heat of your unreasonable annoyance. Seonghwa closes the distance between your bodies with a surprising haste and grabs hold of your wrist, spinning you back around to face him in no time. You hardly have time to breathe before he’s knocking the air out of you by pressing you up against the wall of the corridor. You know what’s coming next before it happens, and it’s for that exact reason that you dip your chin to the side as Seonghwa moves in to plant his lips atop yours.

A dry and emotionless laugh escapes his lips instead, and you stare at the floor with eyes burning more than ever. Seonghwa slams a hand down hard on the space of metal beside your head.

“I should never have been selfish with you,” he mutters. You try not to think about how much bitterness his tone holds. “That was a mistake on my part. There is no security or certainty in a life like ours, nothing I can provide that would give you either of those things. I’m sorry for making you believe that I could ever give you something as certain as that.”

A thought dashes across the forefront of your mind, one that tells you to swallow the hurt nagging at your chest and take comfort in his body instead, but it doesn’t last long. You know better, and you know it wouldn’t fix anything in the long run. It will only make it harder on both of you if you let yourselves get any more attached before your inevitable demise that ends in you leaving with Jisung.

“Do you regret this?” Your voice could not possibly be more quiet than it is now. You lift a shaky hand to his chest, pressing your palm hard against the spot that now emanates the most pain. “Getting close and such?” Seonghwa shifts to place his hand over yours but hesitates at the last second. His lips twist into a strained smile.

“I do, but only because it is ending with you in pain. No, I don’t regret any of the time I spent with you, and I still mean everything I told you. Perhaps this is for the best. I am content with the time I got to spend with you, and I won’t ask for anything more than that.”

“All I wanted you to do was stop me,” you plea as though it will make him change his mind right here and now.

“There’s nothing to stop yet, Y/N.”

“Do you need me to show you how badly I don’t want to go for you to stop me?” Seonghwa exhales a deep heave of air and pulls away from you.

“What do you want more than anything else?”

“San back safely.” Seonghwa barely finishes his question by the time you’re answering, but in your mind, there is no need for any sort of hesitation. If Seonghwa is surprised at all, he doesn’t let it slip through; all he does is smile back at you. You only realize your mistake after the fact, stuttering in your next rush to speak. “A-And Mingi and W-Wooyoung as well.”

“What about after that then?”

His question doesn’t stump you because you don’t know the answer. You know what it is you want when this is all over. You want to rest, to stop running, for all this mess to be done with, and you don’t want to have to worry about your safety at every turn. You don’t want to wake up in a cold sweat afraid that the people you care about could be dead. You desperately want peace, but you aren’t brave enough to make the sacrifices that will get you there. Even so, there is no way you could admit it now because that would only make Seonghwa right.

“Your silence is answer enough for me.”

“That isn’t what I want with Jisung though,” you insist. “He is my past, not my future. I never let myself imagine a scenario in which I would see him again. I’ve made it this far with you all. I don’t want to leave you behind now. And even after we get the others back, I still won’t want to leave them behind either.”

“That may be the case, Y/N, but it’s — the truth of the matter is that no matter what, my first duty will always be to protect Hongjoong as his lieutenant. Perhaps that is why those lingering feelings of love are still present, but it also means that I don’t know if I can give you my love and promise to stop loving him as well. That’s — that’s beside the point though.” Seonghwa shakes his head, hand coming up to comb through his dark locks for a second before dropping back to his side. “If how I feel about Hongjoong is something you aren’t okay with, then I don’t want you to wait on me or my feelings. That isn’t what I want for you. However, this conversation can continue another time. We’ve kept Yeosang waiting long enough.”

There isn’t an opportunity to say anything more because Seonghwa steps away and returns to walking down the corridor without even waiting to see if you’ll follow. You have to jog to catch up with his broad strides, falling into step beside him with a bit more hesitance in your movements this time.

“Has… has Jisung learned anything yet?”

“The person behind all of this is still not guaranteed. Vladimir was merely an instrument for these plans, but according to Jisung, he said that there would be a special exchange on Dorado for Mingi and the others. Since you were originally the one they wanted, there is still uncertainty about what they plan to do with Wooyoung and San. Mingi, on the other hand, is set to be sent to a recreational facility on Dorado that specializes in Berserker training for pirate and bandit crews. They plan to reprogram him back into – into the Brute of Kebos, at which point he will be sent back to Vladimir. That’s apparently the bargain he made to agree to this plan. You were the prize meant for the other party but obviously, that fell through.”

“Why me of all people? With all the people on this ship, why am I significant in the slightest? Especially on Dorado of all places?”

Seonghwa shakes his head from side to side.

“Vladimir didn’t mention anything in the past few meetings Jisung has attended. We don’t even have the slightest clue as to why they want you, and still no word on who these people even are. Of course, the Ghost of Eros is valuable, there’s no doubt about that, but not this far from Eros and the Aurum system. And they certainly wouldn’t go to these lengths to get you.” His words die there, voice falling flat along with the sentence, and you watch him in silence for several seconds before he shifts to place a gentle hand on your shoulder. “It is evident that someone in the universe is looking for you, and they are taking great risks to get you.”

“They will have to try a lot harder than that if they want me.”

Seonghwa blinks back at you, eyes perceptive and searching as always. He seems to figure something out at that moment because his stare widens a bit before dropping to the floor without a word.

“What’s wrong?” You inquire, leaning closer to look at his face better.

“Nothing. Just a hunch. I’ll let you know if it becomes a concern later.” He shrugs off the concern and lets his hand fall off your shoulder to motion down the corridor. Yeosang has surely grown impatient by now, and it’s that thought that causes your steps and Seonghwa’s to increase in pace to meet him at the airlock. Only, once you finally reach that place, you find that he is not alone, and Jisung stands directly across from the taller blond, starkly out of place in front of Yeosang. You don’t need to visibly see Yeosang’s expression to know that the Elitist is glaring at Jisung – it’s evident in the way Yeosang speaks through his body with the tense shoulders and crossed arms, chin inclined just enough to be condescending, yet Jisung doesn’t seem phased by the man in the slightest. In fact, he just turns to you, eyes bright as ever, and grins from ear to ear like a Cheshire.

“Hey, little lady.” Something in the way he speaks those words with that smile that is branded on your brain and hand quickly darting out in your direction triggers a memory you didn’t know you had.

“Stop being a fucking idiot! You know I’m better than you, don’t you?” A hand stretches out towards you, writhing forward like a snake in the darkness, and you flinch away from the touch despite knowing that the man won’t lay a hand on you. “The next person who dares to say that to you will die a painful death.”

“J-Jisung?”

“I don’t care what kind of monster I become in their eyes. If I go to hell, so be it. They touch you, they die. Those are the rules, aren’t they? If anyone other than me lays a single finger on you…” Jisung trails off, lips twisting into a smile that is far too cruel for his gentle and precious features. “I will deliver a slow and deliberate death to each of them.”

Jisung’s hand is about to brush over your wrist – the one that bears the brand of your betrayal – when Yeosang steps between your body and his, hand coming up to knock Jisung’s own out of the way.

“It would be best for you to not cause any issues while you’re here,” the Elitist murmurs. He cocks his head to the side, maintaining that cruel and cocky air about his shoulders as he looks down at Jisung. “I’m not one for forgiveness, and you are merely here as a guest. Someone who isn’t important to the crew and has no place here. You would do well to remember that before trying to lay a hand on anyone in the crew.”

A scowl overtakes Jisung’s expression, and the man steps back to put some distance between himself and Yeosang.

“I knew her for five years. Perhaps you are the one who needs to remember your place, no?” Jisung jerks his chin forward a bit. “Or does the Royal Betrayer still think he has some impact and power over others?”

Yeosang might have lunged straight through Jisung’s throat for that comment if not for the way Seonghwa rushes to clamp his hand down hard on the man’s shoulder. He tugs Yeosang back with as much force as he can, but the simmering expression of anger on the lieutenant’s features is directed solely at Jisung.

“I would advise you to watch your mouth, Han. As acting caption, I decide your place on this ship, and that is as a guest. We need you for the time being but not in the long run, thus you ought to learn your place and remember that well.” Seonghwa plasters a stretched grin over his lips. “Now, if you would please follow me to the bridge, we can discuss in more detail the plans moving forward.”

He motions past Yeosang’s shoulder to the corridor leading to the bridge, but Jisung’s only response is to continue staring at you without saying anything for several seconds. Seonghwa’s gaze flits over to Yeosang, and the pair exchange a discreet nod before Yeosang shifts in your direction. His hand finds your arm, clamping down hard on the skin as he moves to pull you along, but another hand snakes out to push between the two of you.

“Is it not common courtesy amongst royalty to ask a lady before touching her?” Jisung bears a smile but venom drips from his tone in a way that sends shivers down your spine.

“I hate the military. Every single general and commander is corrupt beyond belief. There’s no circle in hell low enough for them. But those higher-ups? The royals who sit on their thrones and sip their expensive wine while prancing around like utter fools as the rest of us folk suffer and die on the streets… they’re the worst scum in the entire universe.”

Jisung has never liked people in positions of power, but his incessant rants about royals were always the worst to sit through because he could go on for hours and hours. Thus, it doesn’t surprise you to see him bearing such a disdain for Yeosang. Even so, you do find it a bit odd seeing as Yeosang is hardly in a position of power now, and he is no longer a royal so there isn’t much he could do with that nonexistent power.

“Think you can just take anything for yourself, is that it?”

“Han Jisung,” Seonghwa hisses, teeth so tightly pressed together that the air whistles through them. “I have no qualms tying you to a chair in the brig and extracting information from you that way. You should consider me to be merciful because if Scourge were here, he would have already dragged you there by your ankles. Learn your place before I force you to.”

One corner of Jisung’s lips tugs upwards as he grins at the lieutenant.

“Aye, aye, acting Captain.”

You can breathe easy again after that thankfully because Seonghwa manages to tug Jisung down the hall without any further disturbances. Yeosang stands completely still and watches the two retreat without saying a word for a short period of time.

“Your taste in men is questionable at best,” he grumbles after a bit, eyes continuing to bore holes into Jisung’s back.

“He just—” You stop yourself before any sort of defense slips out. It isn’t your job to defend him anymore. You have no need to protect him or say anything good about him at all. Yet even though you don’t need to, that inherent need to do so still resides in your gut. “He doesn’t like people in positions of power.”

“Is that so?” Yeosang hums to himself then shakes his head. “Come on. We can discuss the dreams you’ve been having and things you’ve noticed since coming on the ship while they’re discussing plans.”

It’s enough indication for you to realize that he no longer wants to discuss Jisung, and that is frankly fine by you. The silence it leaves you in, however, is not welcome. You don’t realize how vehemently you are rubbing at the brand on the inside of your wrist until Yeosang glances over at you and comments on the repetitive motion.

“You’re going to rub the skin raw if you keep doing that.”

“O-Oh,” you exhale, clenching your fingers into a tight fist and dropping your arms to your side. That’s all he says for the rest of the arguably short walk to his quarters, and he maintains a distance of several feet between you the entire time.

“You can sit on the bed as long as you don’t touch anything,” Yeosang mutters once inside his room.

It’s a basic and unadorned room, something you didn’t expect from a man who grew up surrounded by excessive lavishness, but for some odd reason, it is so inexplicably Yeosang that you can’t be too surprised. The blond heads straight for a small desk pushed into the corner of the room, one that sits beside a tall bookshelf similar to the ones you see in Seonghwa’s room. You do as told and sit on the corner of the bed so close to the edge that you practically fall off. There’s no need to be comfortable if you aren’t going to be staying for long after all.

“I don't need you messing anything else up so just stay put,” Yeosang says as he sinks onto the cushioned seat behind the desk. You pin him to the spot with a glare.

“Messing anything else up? What’s your issue with me?” You spit, arms coming up to cross over your chest.

“Hm? Does there have to be a reason for me to not like you?”

“I don’t get what your fucking problem with me is. Ever since joining the crew, I have done nothing that directly hurts you or puts you in danger, so what the fuck is your issue with me?”

“Is that so?” Yeosang arches a brow in your direction and matches your glare with one of his own. “If not for you, Wooyoung would still be here. Did you forget about that?”

That bites a bit too hard at your skin; it digs its way into your system and buries itself there to eat away at your bones. It’s the same guilt that has been eating away at you for the past few days, and you don’t need Yeosang to bring it up now and make it worse for you.

“Like it or not, I have a connection with Wooyoung and we have to work together to get him, San, and Mingi back.”

“I hate you,” Yeosang hisses. “I hate everything about you. And I especially hate your connection with Wooyoung. You are going to ruin him, and I hate you for it.” The tone he speaks with betrays the fact that there is more to it than that, but you aren’t particularly in the mood to have a tell-all discussion about all the reasons why Yeosang hates you. A pent-up confession, yes, but still not quite all there is to know.

“It’s not my fault that there’s something there. I didn’t ask for this, and I certainly don’t want it. I would be perfectly content being some damn Normie who didn’t have to worry about something like this,” you ramble without stopping to take a breath once. You blink furiously at the man as you catch your breath, eyes still blazing with uncontained rage when you decide to speak again. “It sounds like you are just jealous that you can’t be the one with a connection to him. Did you get everything you wanted when you were a prince? Is Wooyoung the one thing you can’t have?”

Yeosang lifts an old book off his desk and chucks it at the wall adjacent to him. It slams hard against the metal with a clang. You manage not to flinch in the slightest, staring Yeosang down with the same amount of heat as before.

“Allow me to have an ounce of jealousy! I got to choose absolutely nothing in my life while I was a prince, contrary to popular belief. Everything was selected for me, whether it was by my bastard father or the whore that was my mother. Hell, even my younger brother got to choose more than I did! I didn’t choose Wooyoung, but my love for him is one of the only things I ever got to choose back then. Does that let you just waltz in here and have this inexplicable connection to him? When fate told us that we were never even supposed to meet? I won’t ask for your forgiveness in this matter, because I have every right in the universe to be angered and jealous.”

“Then at least stop hating me for something I could not choose,” you demand, nose wrinkling in disgust as you spit the words in Yeosang’s direction.

“Protecting Wooyoung at all costs is the only thing that truly matters to me.” Yeosang lets out a deep sigh and looks down at the desk before him. “I’ll stop hating you when you prove yourself not to be a threat to Wooyoung’s safety.”

“How do you expect me to do that?”

“Getting Wooyoung back in one piece would be a fantastic place to start, don’t you think? Do you not feel that same way about San?” There’s a twitch in the corner of your eye that won’t go away even after Yeosang finishes speaking.

“I don’t like what you are trying to imply with that, Yeosang.”

“Take it as you will,” the man states in response. He angles his sharp chin towards you, blond hair wavering a bit with the sudden motion. “Your feelings might still be a mystery to me, but I have known San for years. I know him well enough to see how clear his feelings are for you and what you mean to him. Is that not what is holding you back from our dearest lieutenant?”

A bitter taste of ambiguity resides in his tone, and it’s something that you cannot get out of your mind. Yet the more you think about it, the more confusing it seems to get because there is no clear answer to Yeosang’s question. All this time, you figured it was Seonghwa who was holding back thanks to how he feels about Hongjoong. Sure, there was a possibility of your past love for Jisung getting in the way too but the realization that you would have to lose this crew in order to go back to him quickly dispelled the romantic notion of returning to him. San was never part of the picture — at least not in the way you think Yeosang is insinuating.

“What do you mean?” You ask after several breaths of terse silence. Yeosang doesn’t answer quite yet; he returns to staring blankly at the wood of his desk, fingers of his right hand coming up to rub at the inside of his left wrist without reason. You’re well aware of what lies under the fabric of his black shirt, the brand on his skin that you bear on your own, and the losses that came along with such a mark.

“In order to give your all to someone,” he starts in a quiet tone, “you have to be willing to make sacrifices. I gave up a lot to save Wooyoung, but seeing the look on his face once we were finally free made all of it worth it. I would never go back unless it was to fully guarantee Wooyoung’s safety. You still haven’t found that moment with Seonghwa have you?”

Your eyes give away the answer to that question in the way your darting gaze slips to the floor and avoids Yeosang’s insistent aura.

“Seonghwa mentioned the deal you made with Han to gain his cooperation in this mess. And how you don’t truly want to follow through with your end of the deal, yet you’re doing it anyway. For what reason?” You open your mouth to respond only to realize that it is merely meant as a rhetorical question when Yeosang continues speaking. “Because you are guaranteeing San’s safety, you would go to a place you don’t truly want to go. You would do something that every ounce in your body disdains to an unbelievable degree simply because it guarantees one person’s safety.”

“I’m doing it for Wooyoung and Mingi too,” you counter with too much haste, and it betrays the truth about the matter and your defensiveness. Yeosang’s lips quirk up into a slight smile. You would almost say that the gesture seems genuine in that moment.

“You say that with your words yet your eyes tell all. It’s on you to recognize it.” He cuts himself short there and shakes his head a bit. “That’s all… that’s all beside the point, however, since this is supposed to be about your dreams.”

“And what exactly is it you need to know about my dreams?” You tilt your head to the side as you ask the question, arms coming up to fold over your chest in a desperate attempt to defend yourself from his scrutiny.

“Well, first of all, there’s something I’m curious about.” Yeosang shifts to pull something from the drawer, and when he resurfaces, he has a small bound leather journal in hand. “Wooyoung has had an incessant dream for years now — all the years I’ve known him actually — of a girl drowning in a black lake. He watches her head go underwater but can’t make out her features well enough to recognize her. He dives in to save her, swims to grab her, does everything he can to save him, but something always pulls her deeper and deeper. He can never reach her. He can never hear her screams. He can never see her face. All he can do is reach out for her hand and that’s it. But when you came aboard, that dream suddenly stopped happening altogether. He hasn’t had it since meeting you.”

“I’ve – I’ve never had any sort of dream like that. Just… one dream about seeing a man with dark hair across a black lake. But h-his back was to me, so I couldn’t see his face. For all I know it was some random person and not Wooyoung.”

“And the other one?” Yeosang asks out of the blue. He arches a brow, eyes searching yours for answers, and you’re a bit taken aback by the question since you don’t recall mentioning a second dream to anyone other than Wooyoung. Ah… “He mentioned that one day in the medbay, where the two of you were late to the meeting on the bridge — you woke up shouting his name and asked him something odd.”

“Well, yes, but that… I had a dream about seeing Wooyoung in chains and the same collar he has now, but it didn’t feel quite like a dream. Moreso a memory than anything else.” Yeosang draws his lips into a tight purse.

“I can’t help you there.” The dismissive nature of his tone sends a sudden spike of rage through you, and you level the Elitist with a harsh glare.

“What do you mean you can’t help me? If that truly is a memory, then I deserve to know what my own past is as much as Wooyoung does!”

“I — calm down, Y/N. I’m not saying that I am choosing not to help you; genuinely I cannot. I don’t know anything about that. Wooyoung’s past — the one prior to when the two of us met — I have no knowledge of it, and according to everything he’s told me, he doesn’t either. Before the batch of slaves he was in came to Aera, their minds were wiped. Just as yours was for the military.”

Several years back, there had been one night in particular with your unit where all of you were up late in your bunks to exchange old ghost stories and legends, but something Hyunwoo had said at the time stuck out to you the most then.

“What do slaves and soldiers have in common? The cost of their service is worth more than a lifetime.”

And at the time, you hadn’t known exactly what that would mean in the long run, but now you think it makes quite a bit more sense. You sacrificed fourteen years of your life to join the military and be their property. Gave up an entire lifetime in service to the crown, and for what? You were no less a slave than Wooyoung must have been. How many years did they steal from him?

“Wooyoung knows fairly little about his time before coming to the palace on Aera. Even saying fairly little is being more than generous. Perhaps the only thing I genuinely sympathize with as it concerns you is that. Your pass was stolen from you, and there is no guarantee that you will ever get it back. While my childhood was far from pleasant, it always pains me when Wooyoung asks to hear about the times before him because I know that he doesn’t that. There is no ‘before me’ for him, just the day he stepped off a slave vessel and greeted my family.”

“You don’t mean — how long exactly have the two of you known each other?”

“Since we were nine years old,” Yeosang replies, a soft and genuine smile painting his lips. “Fourteen years. We’ve spent over two-thirds of our lives together, yet it’s still not enough to take away the fact that Wooyoung has a chunk of his life missing entirely in memories.”

“Were you… his master?” Your mind can’t move past the fact that they have been together all this time, through the years that Wooyoung was a slave and onwards. You haven’t had anyone be a steady rock for such a long time; the longest you’ve ever spent with someone to your knowledge was four years at best. But fourteen? That is the amount of time missing from your own memories. Is it possible that you had someone the way Yeosang and Wooyoung had each other for so long? A foundation in your life meant to ground you?

“No, never. He was assigned to my side, yes, but my mother was his true master.” Yeosang’s expression grows grave in that moment, and you know the look in his eyes well enough to guess that it is a sensitive and touchy subject that you should avoid. Thus, you shake your head ever so slightly to dispel the curiosity and move to a separate question.

“Then how did the two of you come to be here together?” You know a vague telling of the story of Kang Minhee, the Royal Betrayer who abandoned his dying father when it was his time to take up the crown, but nowhere in those stories is another person mentioned. No slave, no Wooyoung, no trace of any other name besides Yeosang’s original one.

“My father was sick, and the stress it put on my mother’s shoulders made her more cruel. I couldn’t bear to see her harm Wooyoung anymore, and thus I did what I thought was best and set him free in the night. Told him to go off and gain passage on a merchant’s ship to get off the planet. Then, as a stroke of vengeance against my mother, I stole documents concerning one of her many affairs and threatened to bring them to my father so that he would know she was a cheap whore on his deathbed. But even princes can’t get away with such things. My mother swapped the documents and told the guards that I stole highly confidential war declarations among other things instead, and thus I was charged with treason, given my brand, and stuck in jail.”

“Obviously you got out,” you murmur, leaning a bit closer as Yeosang tells his tale. “And met up with Wooyoung at some point.”

“Wooyoung is the only reason I got out. Rather than leaving the planet as I asked him to, he caught wind of how Kang Minhee had been placed behind bars for treasonous actions, and he thought it was because I helped him escape. He made a deal with a pirate crew to help gain my freedom, and Wooyoung personally set me free after six torturous nights of separation. I… being apart from Wooyoung for even that long was worse than treason itself. As my assistant, Wooyoung had a bed in my room so he could be at my side no matter the hour. He came with me anywhere and everywhere, even when it came to shadowing my father on his military tasks.”

There lies an unspoken cry of desperation in his words. You aren’t too dense to miss it, but the acknowledgment of said cry leaves a searing pain in your chest.

Yeosang drops his gaze to the desk. Something melancholy and sad takes over his expression, like he’s turning the pages back in a book and revisiting older chapters of his life that are less than pleasant, and for a moment, your heart goes out to him. The person he has had in his life for fourteen years — no doubt someone he never parted from even for a week — is no longer by his side. Again you feel that pull to bring Wooyoung back if only for Yeosang’s sake, for the sake of a faulty Elitist who found something more powerful than sheer reason and logic.

“We’ll get him back, Yeosang,” you whisper. “I’ll make sure of it.”

…

Your eyes open to a thick and palpable darkness that leaves you more than a little disoriented for several seconds. The scenery refuses to change around you even as you blink against the shadows to adjust to the shifting light. You blindly feel around for Seonghwa’s presence, stretching your hand out to find his form since the two of you were supposed to come to the Dreamscape together, but you can’t find him anywhere around you.

“Seonghwa?”

“Y/N,” he exhales, bringing an immediate wave of calm over your shoulders. A hand brushes over yours in the shadows, and you clasp tight at the fingers without second thought. “Something isn’t right.”

You don’t need to be a scholar or have infinite knowledge about this place to recognize that, but Seonghwa’s confusion brings a knot of panic to your gut.

“Where are we?”

“The Dreamscape but…” Seonghwa trails off as something collides with wood, echoing a hollow sound, and his body stops moving immediately upon impact. “Hold on, there’s — it feels like a door.” Seonghwa fumbles around a bit at the wood before the panel slides open, disappearing into the side of the wall, and pale yellow light filters over you. You can’t see past Seonghwa’s broad shoulders, but the slight pulse of his fingers squeezing yours tighter doesn’t bring any relief to your bones. He keeps you there behind him even as he steps into the dimly lit room.

A small fire crackles somewhere ahead, the only sound in the den of silence you’ve entered. When you at last step around Seonghwa’s back to stand at your side, your heart practically stops dead in your chest because of the form that sits before the fireplace.

“What’s going on?” Seonghwa asks before you have a chance to get anything out. None other than Daichi sits in front of the fire, hands clasped tight over his lap as he watches the flames dance before his eyes. Upon hearing, Seonghwa’s question, the old man jerks his chin to face the two of you. A heated glare greets you before anything else, along with a rage you haven’t seen from the man in a long while.

“I warned you, Kazuya.” Unless you’ve suddenly occupied another unknown form, there is no way that Daichi is speaking to you, and the way the old man’s gaze shifts to your companion only confirms that suspicion. Umiko, Tsukio, and Kazuya? What significance are those names supposed to hold? “I told you both, in fact. I said not to go looking for more Sirens!”

Daichi pushes up from his chair all of a sudden, seeming to grow in stature without warning as he looms over the fire, and crude shadows twist his features in ugly shapes and patterns.

“It is your job to guide Sirens to each other,” Seonghwa hisses as he pulls forward to match Daichi’s heat.

“And yet I told you not to do exactly that! It may be my job, but it is not my duty to do so. I too am allowed to have free will.”

“Then we have the same luxury! Who are you to keep us from finding others of our kind? Have we not been alone for long enough? Was it not you who guided us to find each other in the first place?”

“That was a stroke of faulty luck!” Daichi counters, and it causes Seonghwa to falter a bit. “Let this serve as a lesson in cruelty, boy. This place, this Dreamscape, it is mine to shape and mold. I have let you walk around too freely without consequence.”

If Seonghwa has anything else to add to the argument, he does not get the opportunity to say it because Daichi pushes forward, body contorting and melding into a blur before your eyes as he steps through the fire and out of sight. You can hardly stand and gape at the scene that just transpired in front of you for long though; new voices rise to your ears, soft and warm tones that speak in hushed whispers. You turn as Seonghwa does, finding two new forms who seems utterly oblivious to your presence in the dim room. A young woman, hardly older than thirty by the looks of it, and a tall child with jet black hair stand on the creaking floorboards near the door. They don’t face you or even spare you the slightest of glances, too caught up in their own little world to breathe in your direction.

“Darling, it’s time to run off to your hiding spot. Your favorite one, you remember?” The woman combs a few long fingers through the boy’s hair, brushing it off his forehead. “I’ll count down from ten, and by the time I’m done, you must be completely hidden. You know what to do, my angel.”

She nudges his shoulder once, and it prompts the boy to lunge into action, little legs working hard to dash through the room and out of sight before she can even begin counting.

“Ten…”

“Seonghwa, what is this?” You murmur. Your gaze is so transfixed on the scene unfolding before you, and Seonghwa seems to be in a similar predicament but his face wears too much concern for you to feel at ease in this place. There lies an odd tension in the air, one that tells you this is not some fun child’s game that the mother and her son are playing.

“Thr—”

“Where the fuck is he?” The door jerks and wobbles as it is flung open, and in its place stands a man nearly as tall as the doorframe with similarly dark hair and a fair complexion. His brows are so closely knit that you can’t see the skin between them, evidence of the rage that falls off his body in waves.

“Donghy—” The sharp and resounding smack of an impact too cruel for words interrupts her, and you turn away with a gasp on your lips. Seonghwa’s body jolts forward in their direction, but you snatch him by the wrist before he can move far.

“Th-They can’t see us, Seonghwa,” you huff out, unable to look over your shoulder again. “They would have seen us by now if we could do anything.” Seonghwa offers no response but his hand tightens into a clenched fist that causes his knuckles to bleed white.

“Where is that little brat? I finally worked out a good deal on the bastard, a quick trade for slave traders.”

“I – I don’t know. I haven’t seen him. H-He ran away earlier because I was yelling at him!”

“Did the fucker break another of your dishes?”

“No, no, he just – he wouldn’t shut up while I was trying to read. I… I don’t know where he is. I went out looking for him but couldn’t find him anywhere!”

“You’re just as useless as he is! Can’t even keep the fucker inside for two seconds while I go out and get the money for us?” Seonghwa tugs his arm out of your grasp, pushing away from you as best he can, and you follow him blindly to another door off to the side.

“W-Where exactly are we, Seonghwa?” You inquire, falling into step beside him. “What’s going on? Is this — is this a memory? Wooyoung’s?”

“No. It’s mine.” Seonghwa twists at the waist. You inhale so sharply that the air burns your throat and lungs, eyes blown wide at the shock of the revelation. A single long finger reaches out to point down to something near the fireplace, and you squint hard at the spot before realizing that a small vent sits at that exact spot on the wall. “I hid in that vent for four days to avoid my father at age six. By the time those four days were up, the slave dealer he had made a deal with had grown impatient and left the planet. And my mother took the brunt of my punishment for me.”

Seonghwa turns back to the door before him and pushes through it. You follow close at his heels, hand hovering over the center of his back. The memory seemed less than pleasant for him, and you didn’t miss the disdain in his tone as he spoke about it, but offering comfort right now feels a bit out of place. The scenery shifts as you pass through the door, but only enough for you to realize that these doors aren’t going to get you anywhere. You now stand in a different house, one that is much more run-down and decrepit from the looks of it. The young boy – the young Seonghwa, to be more accurate – stands in the doorway at the front of the room, rain soaking his skin and dripping from his dark bangs. There isn’t time to look around and take in the surroundings more because the same woman from the first memory comes rushing into the room.

“What do you think you’re doing, Seonghwa? You’re supposed to be at the military base training with the other recruits! Why are you here?” She stops in front of the boy and clasps her hands tight around his shoulders. All the boy can manage in response is a small shake of his head, and silence envelops the pair for so long that it grows uncomfortable.

“I-I was rejected,” the young Seonghwa says at last. “They… they turned me away. I’m s-sorry, Mother, I’m so—”

“Shh, my angel, it’s alright. Let me see your face.” The woman stoops to be eye level with the boy, hands reaching up to cup his face. As she lifts his head, you get a clearer look at the state of his face; it’s littered with bruises along with a split lip and a cut along his cheekbone where the skin has broken. “What happened!? Seonghwa, honey, wh-what happened to you?”

“It doesn’t matter.” The boy shrugs his mother’s touch off with a huff of air.

You shift to look at the real version of Seonghwa by your side, but his gaze remains locked on the scene unfolding in the room with glistening eyes that hurt to look at.

“The other recruits… at the time, they took me to an alleyway and bean me down like a dog,” he explains over the discussion between his memories. “All because I was born in a lower class, born in the Slums, not one of the Elitists who came from the Upper Echelon like them. Not good enough for the military even at age ten.” He exhales a loud scoff, teeth sinking into his lower lip so hard that you think he’s about to bite straight through the skin there. Seonghwa says nothing more; instead, he pushes back through the door you two just stepped through, only to welcome a new scene that causes him to freeze so quickly that you knock against his back.

“Go, Seonghwa! Why can’t you just go?” His mother is on her knees before the figment of his memories, an older version of himself that is not much taller than the one you just saw. “Do what they want! For my sake, if nothing else. They offered so much money for you, more money than we’ve ever seen in our lives. If you would just go, they’ll give it to us! I’ll have enough money to live happily for the rest of my life without having to go out on the streets and sell my body. Don’t you want that for me? Doesn’t my own son want me to have that freedom? Ever since your father passed and left us alone, I’ve been suffering so much. Can’t my angel just go with them for my sake?”

“I – I don’t want to go with them. They want me to – I don’t want to sell my body to them, Mother. I-I’m too young, please.”

It’s not the response the woman wants to hear, and she throws her hands down on her son’s shoulders, shoving the boy back until he stumbles and hits the creaking floorboards harshly. The Seonghwa at your side doesn’t let the memory continue past that point. He steps around you, fists clenched tight by his side and chest rising and falling with unsteady breaths. You aren’t sure how much more of these memories you can take, and that feeling must be increased tenfold for Seonghwa since this is his life he’s being forced to relive. There doesn’t seem to be an end in sight, this cruel torture of Daichi’s making returning again as you follow Seonghwa back through the door. This time, however, you step out into a rainy street, cold droplets painting your skin and sticking to your white gown.

There stands another Seonghwa in front of you, one that is a bit more like the real one who is at your side but still holds a bit of youth and innocence to his features.

“It was pointless to try to keep you safe,” a voice hisses through the din of the rain. It’s his mother again, and this time she stands in a doorway completely shielded from the rain as her son takes the brunt of the barrage from above. “This was the only chance I had at a decent life. I could’ve moved to the Upper Echelon with all that money, but you just had to go and ruin it for me. Like you always do. You should never have been born! Look where it’s gotten me! That plague my father had was passed down to you and I have suffered every day because of it. I should have thrown you to the wolves the moment I learned what you are. You won’t be my fucking problem anymore, though. Go! Get out of here and don’t ever come back! You are not my son, you never have been, and never will be!”

“Imagine a child’s worst crime being that he was born to a world that didn’t want him.” The man at your side shifts to look you in the eye now, face contorting with disgust as he watches his memory play back. “All because I was born as a Siren. I spent sixteen years of my life being hated and turned away because of what I was. Even by people who didn’t know my identity. No one wanted me, and the only ones who were willing to pay for me were people who wanted me for my body and not what or who I was. And then…”

Seonghwa turns away with a smile. He pulls back once more and reaches back for the door behind him. You follow him without comment, unspoken curiosities at your lips as you step into a room full of overwhelming noise and the stench of alcohol. A bar, no doubt, and one that Seonghwa recognizes in an instant based on the way his shoulders fold back and he perks up at the sight of it.

“And then I found Hongjoong,” he whispers, dark eyes swimming with waves of emotions. You mimic his line of sight to find a near unrecognizable version of Hongjoong standing before a run-down bar counter with a mop of long brown hair styled in a messy mullet that runs down the back of his shoulders. And sure enough, another version of Seonghwa stumbles in as well, seemingly a continuation of the last memory with the way his hair is damp and sticking to his forehead.

“Are you the one looking for recruits?” He pants as he comes up to the counter, stopping beside Hongjoong’s form.

“Depends on who’s asking.” Hongjoong offers a shrug and swirls his drink around a bit, watching the golden liquor inside jostle. “And it seems like some morally right asshole is asking me now.”

Seonghwa pushes his shoulders back a bit and frowns at the man before him.

“I ask that you give me a chance.”

“Then prove yourself. Are you truly prepared to do whatever it takes to be a pirate? Especially one on my crew? If you know how to shoot a gun properly and could kill an innocent with no qualms, then I suppose you could join the crew.”

Seonghwa moves in a flash. His hand snatches up the pistol on Hongjoong’s left leg and lifts it to the young captain’s temple, pressing the cool barrel against his skin without a drop of hesitation.

“I asked for an innocent, and I am anything but that.”

Seonghwa’s arm shifts to point the gun at the bartender across from Hongjoong, and he doesn’t even blink before firing the gun just to the left of the man’s head. The din in the bar falls to a hush at that, all eyes moving to where Seonghwa stands and where the bartender has now fallen to the ground in a state of shock. An airy laugh leaves Hongjoong’s lips, and his head tilts back in amusement.

“You’re hired. Here, old man, some extra credits for your troubles as well as another drink for my new companion here.” Hongjoong slips a credit chip across the counter, eyeing the bartender with wary eyes as he pulls himself back to his feet. The din behind them picks up once more without any issue. “What’s your name and age? You hardly look older than me.”

“Um, Park Seonghwa, sixteen.”

“Kim Hongjoong, sixteen.”

“Aren’t you a bit young to be a pirate captain?” Seonghwa asks, head falling to the side in curiosity. Hongjoong pushes himself to his feet and steps around his barstool. He stands far shorter than Seonghwa, but that doesn’t seem to faze him in the slightest as he crowds Seonghwa against the counter. The taller boy grabs the wood and leans back over it to put some distance between him in Hongjoong, inhaling sharply as the other pushes further in. Hongjoong’s hands fall on either side of Seonghwa’s and effectively pin him to the counter. Seonghwa has to tilt his head down to see Hongjoong properly, eyes wobbling as one corner of Hongjoong’s lips twists upwards.

“Are we going to have a problem with authority, Seonghwa?” The words are like honey on Hongjoong’s tongue. The taller simply gives a sharp shake of his head. Hongjoong hums to himself, tongue peeking out to drag over the front of his teeth. “I think we’ll get along quite nicely then.” Hongjoong leaves him with one more cruel smirk before pulling back completely and returning to his seat. He motions to the empty space beside him, which Seonghwa fills almost immediately. The bartender returns at that moment, setting new drinks on the counter with a hushed whisper.

“Keep mum about the alcohol, I can’t be going out of business now.”

Hongjoong just smiles and flicks another credit chip over to the man, then raises his glass to Seonghwa.

“To a new partnership.”

“Cheers,” Seonghwa echoes in a mumble, mirroring Hongjoong’s motion.

The man at your side cracks the slightest of smiles.

“To think that at the time, my worst nightmare was merely existing.”

“And now?” You ask before you can stop yourself.

“Not being able to save Hongjoong from himself.”

You hardly realize how lost in the memory you are until something resounds behind you, almost like a voice crying your name in the darkness behind that door, and you don’t pay the man at your side any notice before turning to face the wood. It’s clearer now, the voices behind it, the soft mumblings that blossom into something loud and bright, and once you realize who those voices belong to, you waste no time in grabbing the handle and pushing your way into the memory. Seonghwa must notice your movements because he follows close at your heels, although this time it isn’t one of his memories that you step into. It’s something different, something you can’t quite recall but you recognize the faces strewn throughout the room nonetheless.

You’re suddenly back on Eros, home with your unit, all of them except for Hyunwoo. Jisung stands over a table that is littered with maps and old papers as the others stand around him.

“Why are you leading this when it’s not your place, Jisung?” Juyeon is the one to pose the question, and you can’t keep from just staring at his features to drink in the sight of him since it’s been so long since you last saw him before you like this. “We all agreed to appoint Hyunwoo as leader, even you.”

“Hyunwoo isn’t here, is he?” Jisung snarls, reeling on his friend with a fire in his eyes. “He’s off mooching with the generals because they love him so fucking much! He doesn’t have to worry like the rest of us do; he’s no pathetic runt like the rest of us are.”

“Careful there, Jisung,” Soojin scoffs from Juyeon’s side. Her hair is just as bright and daring as you remember, a stark red that stands out against her skin and accentuates that natural beauty she always held. “That’s your inferiority complex slipping through.”

“What she means is — listen, Sung, I know you want to get this done, but we can’t make plans without Hyunwoo. And frankly… no one is going to follow you.” Juyeon exchanges a quick glance with the woman at his side, then another with the youngest of your troupe, Ash. “Let’s call it a night and wait for Hyunwoo to come back.”

Jisung doesn’t get to speak another word. Juyeon leads the way out of the room, disappearing into the darkness along with Soojin and Ash, and suddenly it’s like you and Seonghwa are left alone with just this weird figment of Jisung. A noise echoes from the corner. You shift to find the source, but when you do, your throat closes in on itself. It’s you. Some version of you, at least, one that you can’t even recognize well because of how young you seem to be. Wide, doe eyes that hold no hurt in them, features not marred by the harshness of your life that followed. Even if you don’t recognize this memory, you know for certain it isn’t one that happened after the ordeal with Hyunwoo and the king.

“You aren’t allowed to leave,” Jisung mutters, barely sparing your younger form a glance. “You can’t leave, Y/N. Out of all people, you have the least right to walk out that door. You’re just like me, just a runt who isn’t good for anything. The two of us need to stick together.”

“What’s the plan then?” She asks, and Jisung grins back at the girl.

“I’ll explain everything.”

“T-This isn’t right,” you choke out, reaching for Seonghwa’s arm. “This never happened. I don’t — I don’t remember this at all.” An odd sense of impending doom overwhelms you as you watch yourself approach the table beside Jisung, and you decide right then that you cannot handle being in this place any longer. You stumble backward, hand hitting the door hard and shoving against it in a desperate attempt to get out of the room.

The new scene you find isn’t any better than the last. Jisung sits in the middle of a monotone room, arms and legs bound to the chair under him. Some tall old man stands in front of his chair and Hyunwoo is at his side, looking as alive as can be, so much so that you choke on air and fall to your knees in an instant. Seonghwa’s hand finds your shoulder and clasps at it to offer some sort of comfort. In the corner opposite where you’re kneeling, the younger version of you is drawn tight into a ball with arms folded around her knees. Hyunwoo pulls away from the man beside him to come closer to the young girl – you, the innocent and young you who didn’t know how cruel the world could be at that point.

“Don’t watch this, Y/N,” Hyunwoo says as he folds an arm around her shoulders.

“Why is this happening? What’s going on? Hyun, I don’t understand why – why is he being punished?”

“Jisung was out of line. He… killed fourteen people. That wasn’t the mission, the mission wasn’t to kill anyone. It was just a simple recon mission. No one was supposed to die, especially not innocent people.”

“And why then are fourteen people dead?” The old man asks. The question is obviously directed at Jisung, but all he offers in response is to spit on the general’s feet with a sneer. The man swings his foot up, catching Jisung in the chin with a sharp kick that sends the younger sprawling across the floor in his chair.

“I did nothing wrong! All I did was get rid of more competition that would stop us later on. People are afraid of us now. Our team is gaining a name for ourselves at last, and you fat fucks in power feel just as threatened as the rest of society, don’t you? We’re fearsome now. Ruthless, bloodthirsty, cruel. That’s what we’re known for.”

The old man presses his foot down hard on the side of Jisung’s face and leans over his body.

“That isn’t what you’re supposed to be known for. You are part of the military. You are supposed to obey the law and uphold the rules like everyone else. Not murder innocent people who weren’t even in the crossfire!”

Jisung’s eyes blaze with unbridled rage, bringing a bit of a crazed gleam to his dark orbs.

“They called Y/N a runt! A useless slave! I’m supposed to sit back and allow that disrespect to happen? They had to pay for their crimes! They were far from innocent.”

You turn to Seonghwa, desperate for him to help you to your feet and get you out of this hell, but as you move, his face bleeds to white. Next thing you know, the ground disappears out from under you and you enter a freefall. A brilliant blood-red moon shines above you, taunting you with its glow as you drop, and it grows smaller and smaller the further down you fall. Your freefall only stops when you collide harshly with a body of water, and the black waters swallow you up and pull you under with no resistance. You thrash against the darkness, fighting your way to swim back up to the surface, but it’s to no avail because you can’t move. Something constricts your throat, chokes the air out of your lungs, and you watch helplessly as air bubbles float up to the surface without you.

Something sharp closes around your ankle. Looking down offers no help because of how dark the waters are. You have no time to tug away from it before it pulls you down further, and the red light of the moon grows fainter and fainter with each passing second. As a last-ditch effort, you push all the air in your lungs into a scream that rings through the water. And that must do the trick, because as the sound pulses through the lake, something blindingly bright appears above you like a small beacon of hope in the night. It grows larger as it swims closer to where you continue to sink, and just as it starts coming into focus, whatever has a hold on your foot lets go of you as though burned. Hands wade through the murk to cradle your face, soft thumbs combing over your cheeks, and the light dulls just enough for you to see the face of your savior.

And when you do, your heart nearly quits functioning right then and there because it’s none other than Wooyoung who floats above you, hair bright and glowing a soft lavender around his head. His cheeks are puffed full of air and his eyes are so wide that they look like round gems in the glittering light. He doesn’t speak, nor does he give you any indication whatsoever of what is going on; all the man does is slip his hands lower to fold around your waist before he begins to swim back up to the surface. The lack of air in your system has you reeling and dizzy, along with the overwhelming confusion that radiates through your body as well.

When the two of you finally breach the surface of the water, you are close to losing consciousness. The sudden intake of fresh oxygen keeps you conscious for now, and you let your body go completely limp in Wooyoung’s grasp as he pulls you to the edge of the water. The light from his hair fades back into a muted black, wet strands clinging to his forehead and neck. You only bring yourself to use your muscles again once you reach the shallows, knees coming to rest on the sand so you can sit up straight and face the man. He doesn’t wait even a second before clasping your face in his hands again.

“I know you,” he chokes out, voice too thick with emotion for your liking. The statement is startling enough as it is, although you have a sneaking suspicion that he doesn’t merely mean he knows you as Y/N L/N. “The girl who appeared in my dreams for years. The – the one I couldn’t reach. I can finally see you. Y/N, I…”

“Wooyoung has had an incessant dream for years now — all the years I’ve known him actually — of a girl drowning in a black lake. He watches her head go underwater but can’t make out her features well enough to recognize her. He dives in to save her, swims to grab her, does everything he can to save him, but something always pulls her deeper and deeper. He can never reach her. He can never hear her screams. He can never see her face. All he can do is reach out for her hand and that’s it.”

“I finally found you, Umiko.” Something about the way Wooyoung speaks and the glistening tears in his eyes brings you to tears yourself, a choked sob forcing its way out of your mouth for some reason unbeknownst to you. The moment leaves too soon.

A hand grasps your shoulder and yanks you back before you know it, tearing you away from Wooyoung’s grasp. Your attacker solidifies it with a kick to the center of your chest, and you slam back against the shallows. Daichi stands above you, a rage to his aura that you have never felt before. That’s all the warning you get from him. He swings his foot back down at your head this time, and you roll away from the attack only to be swung at by his fist.

“Why are you doing this?” You yell as you dodge the powerful attacks as best you can.

“Tsukio is the Siren I warned you about, you fool!” Daichi shouts back, heel clipping the edge of your shoulder. The comment puts enough confusion in you for him to gain the upper hand, and he hits the side of your head with the back of his hand. “Do you not remember? ‘Someone near you is a dangerous threat, one that you’ve never encountered before. You must be careful. Guard yourself wisely.’”

Daichi pushes you flat against the sand and clasps his hands around the middle of your throat.

“Tsukio can find you anywhere, even while far away! This mental connection you share, this link — the two of you are a dyad, a yin and a yang, a pair that cannot be severed. No matter how far apart you are, the two of you will always be able to come back to each other.”

“Come – come back? W-What do you mean?” The pressure around your throat increases just enough for you to cough, but you continue to push words out of your mouth like your life depends on it. “Did I know him before? Did I know Wooyoung somehow? That d-dream. Was it truly a dream or w-was it a memory?”

“I’ve always told you that you were something unique and special, Umiko.” Daichi squeezes harder, and black spots fill the edges of your vision. “You assumed I meant that it was your identity as a Siren and were too bitter to listen to anything I told you. Both you and Kazuya should not pry for more answers. I will tell you absolutely nothing.” With that, Daichi pushes your head under the water, and it’s just deep enough for you to not be able to breathe. “Consider this to be your one and only warning, Umiko. Next time, I will end you.”

You jolt back into a state of full consciousness by choking on air and throwing your body upright. The room swirls for several seconds before coming into focus, and you find yourself seated on the floor beside Seonghwa’s bed with no recollection of falling off at any point. There is a body in front of you and another on your left side, but their faces don’t process in your mind until you’ve caught your breath a bit. It’s Jongho at your side, who presses a hand to your sweat-slick forehead with so much concern in his eyes that it’s overwhelming, and Yunho is knelt by your feet with a similar expression of concern.

“Wh-Why are you here?” You ask, throat burning from the few words. Yunho glances over at Jongho, and the pair exchange unspoken words in their eyes.

“You pinged all our wristbands, Y/N. Called through the comms and said you needed help and that Seonghwa wouldn’t wake up,” Yunho murmurs.

“Where? Where is Seonghwa?”  Yunho motions towards the bed on your right, and you peer over the mattress to find Seonghwa sitting at the opposite edge of the bed with his head in his hands and elbows propped on his knees. Yeosang is in front of him, squatted to be eye level with the man, and he rests a hand atop one of Seonghwa’s knees.

“Seonghwa… when we came in, his body was in a state of shock, and his heart w-wasn’t — he was completely unresponsive. I almost couldn’t get him awake at all. On top of everything else we’re dealing with, why does this have to happen too?” Yunho drops his chin and exhales a shaky laugh. It’s a haunting reality that Seonghwa almost died in his sleep because of Daichi and his warning, but nothing ever felt quite as real as it did this time. “This must be some sort of bad omen.”

Yunho drops a hand to your leg before pushing himself to his feet. He steps around the bed and makes a beeline for Seonghwa now, leaving you in Jongho’s care for the time being.

“What the hell happened?” Jongho asks once Yunho is out of earshot.

“I… it was – just a bad nightmare.” You can’t look Jongho in the eye when you speak the lie, too ashamed to even be lying in the first place, and it’s only when your gaze wanders around the room a bit that you realize one person in particular isn’t present. “Where’s Jisung?”

“We saw him to a spare bedroom after dinner, so I’d assume he must still be in there.”

“He didn’t come out with the commotion?”

“What could he do even if he did?” Jongho shrugs a bit and lets his hand drop to your shoulder. He makes a good point in his statement, and it’s enough to shut you up and not prod the subject further.

“I need Seonghwa to the medbay with me so I can run some sleep tests and make sure everything is normal in the brain and heart,” Yunho states, peeking over to where you and Jongho are still seated. “Y/N, I’m a bit concerned about you not remembering calling for help, so I’d like you to—”

“No,” you interject, swallowing roughly. Yeosang looks at you over Seonghwa’s shoulder, and your eyes meet for the briefest of moments. He inclines his chin a bit as though trying to tell you something, but you can’t decipher what the hell he’s trying to say in the slightest.

“Jongho, you help Seonghwa to the medbay with Yunho. I’ll stay with Y/N for the time being.” Yeosang’s suggestion seems to catch everyone off-guard, including you, but based on the look in his eyes, there’s something else going on so you can’t find it in you to fight it. Jongho glances down at you.

“Is that – will you be okay?”

“I’ll be fine, Jongho, I promise,” you murmur back, placing a hand over where his rests on your shoulder. “Go with Seonghwa and make sure he’s okay first. I just feel exhausted right now honestly.”

“Okay, if you need anything—”

“I’ll call you, Jongho. Okay?” You press a weak smile onto your lips. The Berserker seems content enough with your words, and he helps you to your feet before stepping around the bed to do the same for Seonghwa. You sink back onto the mattress almost immediately, watching with a heavy heart as Jongho loops Seonghwa’s arm around his shoulders and helps carry the man out of the room. You wait to speak again until after the door slips shut and leave you alone with Yeosang. “What happened?”

“You didn’t call the others right away,” he says, tone so quiet you have to lean in to catch it. “Wooyoung called me asking for help.”

“Wooyoung — he what? In m-my body?”

“Yes, I thought – I thought it was a joke at first but he confirmed it was him, so I came over as quickly as I could. He said that you were crying out for his help so loudly that he passed out to come to you. Did you go to his body?”

“I was unconscious the entire time. But Wooyoung… he came to me in my dream.”

“Wooyoung was brief in his explanation to me, but he seems to think that it can only happen when one of you needs help too. He only heard you when you needed him, and he said that just before you came to him the first time in the cell… he was crying out for some sort of help. Then you showed up.”

“No, I don’t mean that he came to my body in my dream,” you say as you push yourself further onto the bed and face Yeosang head-on. “I was drowning in a black lake, and Wooyoung saved me.”

“His dream?” Yeosang’s expression melts into one of shock. He draws his lips into a tight ‘o’ then stares down at the floor. “He mentioned finding someone. He kept ranting on and on about how he finally found her. I was trying to get him to focus on the issue at hand, but he just wanted to talk about that.”

“But he didn’t wake me up. How did he help then?” Perhaps he was trying to pull you out of the dream before Daichi interrupted. But Wooyoung couldn’t have possibly been in your body at the same time that he was in your dream, so it must have happened after Daichi attacked you since Yeosang said Wooyoung mentioned finding you.

“It wasn’t about helping you, Y/N,” Yeosang whispers. He glances down at the spot where Seonghwa was just seated. “You asked him to help you save Seonghwa.” It hits then that as you were fighting for your life between drowning in a lake without relief and being attacked by Daichi, your subconscious was only worried about whether Seonghwa was okay or not. “He had to take control to call for help, but before he called me, he pulled Seonghwa’s body out of shock at least enough to get his heart going again. He stalled the shock long enough to get Yunho over here after talking to me first. He called the rest through your wristband after. Something must have happened on his end though because as soon as he finished speaking, your body dropped and went unconscious again.”

“Did Seonghwa mention what he saw?” You inquire, but a large part of you is too afraid to hear the answer.

“You weren’t with him?”

“We… were separated at some point.”

“He didn’t say anything about what he saw, but he was too shaken up to even speak. One would think that based on the visceral reaction his body had, it was something far beyond his worst nightmare.” Your body moves before your mind does, and you are suddenly on your feet again upon hearing Yeosang’s words. He regards you with a puzzled stare for a moment, eyes watching you move around the bed and to the door on unsteady feet. “Where are you going?”

“I need to talk to Jisung. I… I have some questions about my past.”

✧✧✧ a/n: hi hi HI guess WHO yeah its me its been a minute im SORRY this chapter just did not want to cooperate no matter what every time i sat down to write until today it was like No. but then i hit my stride and wrote like 6k today oopsie anyway hi info dump im so sorry about how much info there is in this one and sldfjlsdkf there’s a lot of backstory and symbolism and im afraid it’s a Mess but it iz what it iz so we’re rolling with it and im kinda delirious so that’s All i’ll say so yeehaw let me know how you feel what you think i love u all!

taglist: @faeriewoobin​​ @sugarrimajins​​ @atinyinwonderland​​ @2504-life @lil7bluedragon​ @sparklychangbin​​ @jeong-uwu​​ @jeonartemis​​ @anothershorthuman​​ @xxbluestrifexx​​​ @haotheheckk​​ @noonawriter​​ @lostscenarios​​ @nlost21​​ @mirror-juliet​​ @okokokok123-45​ @purple-aeon​ @theoinkypiglet​ @toothlessshiber​ @atinyarmyx1​ @simpforhyunjin​ @hwangwoosan​ @vampire-jimin​ @softyubi​ @drumboydowoon​ @chatsgotmytongue​ @just-a-starfruit​ @babydolljo​ @scintillating-souls​ @khjssss @felixity​ @rawrrainn​ @hewwo-from-the-other-side​

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

[chaseatinydream]

pirate king (6) || atz

“So it was the prisoner that saw the monster first, huh?”

You're standing on the quarterdeck for the second, shifting from one foot to the other uneasily. The captain eyes you suspiciously once more and like a frightened animal  you stand up a little straighter unconsciously.

“Yes, captain.” Seonghwa nods seriously. “He saved us all.”

Hongjoong then scrutinizes you once more, as if trying to come up with some explanation how the monster could be part of some bizarre plan to infiltrate the ship. Then the lookout, Yunho, steps in.

“He did, Cap'n. Even I couldn't see it.”

“Maybe you got lazy and were slacking off on duty, Yunho.” Hongjoong gives his crew member a disgruntled look, but Yunho doesn't flare up or get angry, instead just laughs in agreement.

“Of course I was. Everyone gets bored and slacks off during lookout duty.” He grins with disarming charm, before his face turns serious once more. “But I have to admit, Cap'n, even if I were paying attention, I doubt I could have spotted the creature.”

Hongjoong then turns to you, wearing the most annoyed expression he can possibly contort his face into. You swallow.

“Well, it appears that the ship and I are in your debt-”

The striking purple haired gunner, who you now know to be Wooyoung, pipes up cheerily. “He did save our lives!”

Wooyoung is a curious character. He's undeniably good looking, with hair an unnatural shade of purple and a friendly, easygoing smile. But it's the broken shackles around his wrists that catch your attention, the iron collar resting against his throat that makes you wonder so much more about him.

“Thank you for reminding me.” If looks could kill, Wooyoung would be floating face down in the Davy Jones Locker by now. Hongjoong clears his throat with a vexed cough and continues. “Like I was saying earlier, the ship and I are in your debt-”

Seonghwa nods once again. “That is to be deserving of some reward, at least.”

You see the captain's fingers reach for his swords and for a moment you worry for the cook's life.

“However, I still do not trust you.”

Behind him, San lets out a long suffering sigh and Hongjoong whips around to eyeball him with a sharp glare that goes sailing over the healer’s head before he tries to continue.

“As I was saying, I do not trust you, but-”

“We do owe a life debt to him, though.” Mingi ponders out loud and Hongjoong finally loses it.

“Everyone keep your mouths shut and stop interrupting me! I am the captain, for sod's sake, and god help me if I do not throw you lot overboard the next second I see your mouths open!”

There’s a pause.

“Sorry captain.” The five of them chorus obediently in synchronization, but you see them share tiny, amused smiles. Your eyes widen. They're pulling the captain's leg?

Hongjoong tugs his red jacket closer around him with a huff. “Honestly, does nobody on this ship respect me anymore? Has everyone on board forgotten that I am the captain? As I was saying…” He glances suspiciously around at his five crew members, as if expecting another smart remark to leave their mouths, but they keep silent with barely restrained snickers. He turns back to you. “The ship and I are in your debt. I do not trust you yet, but I am willing to give you a chance to earn it.”

Your eyes widen in surprise as you take that in. He's offering you food, a shelter, a home. You don't have to be alone anymore. You aren't a prisoner any longer. Then your mouth opens before you can run the words by your brain.

“But you hate me!”

At this, San breaks out into full blown laughter, the other three chortling under their breath. Hongjoong gives them murderous glares that go completely ignored, before sighing in resignation as they continue sniggering.

“I do not hate you. I merely mistrust you.” The captain kicks San in the leg, which only makes the healer erupt in another fit of uncontrollable giggles. “I expect hard, honest work from you. And my words still stand the same, if I discover you to be of any way related to the Royal Navy, I'm blowing your head off.”

“I thought you said you were going to gut him the last time.” Mingi comments with all seriousness and sprints away laughing when Hongjoong tosses his boot at him. Seonghwa hides his smile behind his hand politely.

You can't believe your eyes. They can actually joke and play around with their captain. You thought Hongjoong had been some kind of tyrant, savage, cold and with some kind of desire to see your head on a spike, who ruled his ship with an iron fist. The laughter you hear ringing out from his crew is so real, so genuine that you can't believe this is the same person who threatened to gut you like a pig.

“Either way, I believe the polite response would be to graciously accept.” Hongjoong huffs as Mingi waves his captain's boot teasingly from the safety of the main deck, much to the amusement of the rest of the crew. “We'll need to get you some proper clothes and some weaponry training from Jongho or Yunho, and some sort of job for you on board.”

“I could take him as an apprentice.” San suggests, and your heart swells with gratefulness as you can tell you he's trying to spare you from manual labour. “He could help Seonghwa as a cook as well.”

“Very well.” Hongjoong nods, eyes still trained on Mingi dancing around the deck with his boot. You never thought the quartermaster would have such a playful personality either. “Seonghwa, are you alright with that?”

“I follow anything you command, captain.” The cook replies honestly, and Hongjoong groans.

“I told you, call me Hongjoong.”

Seonghwa's smile remains unchanged.

“Yes, captain.”

“San and Seonghwa will tell you what to do from now on.” The captain tells you, eyes serious. “Do not disappoint me.”

For a second, your breath is taken by the intensity of his gaze and you swear you see the oceans in his eyes.

The blessing of a sea god, huh? I could almost believe it.

“Yes, captain!” You shout, springing to attention. Hongjoong look shocked at your willingness for a moment, before a minuscule smile curves on his lips. It's gone so quick you almost miss it, but it's there.

Your mouth falls open in abject shock.

Then he turns to the main deck. “Get your ass back here, Mingi!”

And the next instant, the captain is chasing down his own quartermaster, laughing like a young man, his carefree laughter drifting over on the wind.

“See?” Seonghwa steps next to you, a hand on your shoulder. “I told you that captain doesn't actually hate you.”

With that, he steps down to the main deck, heading for the galley. Wooyoung joins him, skipping down to where the gun crews are cleaning out the cannons once more.

“That went well.” San looks amused, watching his captain and quartermaster race around the deck as the crew cheer them on. “It seems as if you will be us even beyond Tortuga, then. I expect you to study hard under me.”

You look at him with wide eyes. “Were you serious about me becoming your apprentice?”

The healer gives you a dry look. “Does it look like I was joking?”

“But I'm an amnesiac!” You bluster nervously, suddenly in panic at the thought of having to learn something. “I don't remember how to be an apprentice!”

“And I've never had an apprentice either, so I suppose we're in the same boat.” San retorts calmly, his gentle hand coming to rest on your head. “Do me proud, apprentice.”

At that, you almost don't notice the tears streaming down your cheeks.

The next morning, San wakes you up bright and early to assist Seonghwa with preparing breakfast for the crew. When you ask him what he's up to, he simply shrugs and wanders off to the storage hold. He's probably counting the apples in the hold again.

The cook gives you a blinding smile when he sees you. “Here you are! I was wondering when you'd arrive. Would you help me cut the dried meat?”

Your fingers fumble with the knife, clumsy and unsteady, as if you've never held one your entire life. For all you know, you could have. But Seonghwa is infinitely patient with you, he wraps a hand around your smaller one and guides you with a gentle patience, and at the end of it all, you're sure you've improved, at the very least.”

“Now wrap each piece in this flatbread.” The cook instructs you and you follow, until someone knocks on the galley door. Seonghwa looks up in surprise.

“Come in!” He calls, and when the door swings open, you’re pretty sure you’ve died and gone to heaven.

Nobody can look that good. Nuh uh. Not possible. He looks like he was sculpted by the gods themselves, with a jawline sharper than the knife you’re holding and gentle, delicate features that remind you of nobility. There’s an air of quiet confidence to him that ensnares the senses, and you don’t even realize that you’re gaping like a dying fish until Seonghwa taps you on the shoulder.

“Are you alright?” He asks, eyeing you worriedly. You choke out a little ‘no’.

“Ah, you’re the stowaway, aren’t you?” The man smiles at you as he closes the galley door behind him, and you feel like you got slapped in the face by the fact he’s actually moving and talking and isn’t actually a statue. “I heard you broke Mingi’s nose.”

That snaps you out of your daze real quick.

“I did.” You nod, a little sheepishly. Seonghwa chuckles, passing a bread roll to the man.

“Eat up.” Then he turns to you. “This is our navigator, language expert and sailing master, Kang Yeosang. He’s very knowledgeable about all things ocean related and loves anything to do with mythical things.”

“Thank you for the introduction, hyung.” Yeosang rolls his eyes but takes a bite of his breakfast with a smile, seating himself opposite you.

You pause. This has been eluding you for quite some time, but you finally pipe up.

“Hey… I’ve been meaning to ask this for a while, but what is a hyung? I hear Mingi calling the captain that, but what does it mean?”

Seonghwa and Yeosang exchange brief looks.

“Why doesn’t our resident language expert answer that?” Seonghwa gestures to Yeosang, who sighs good naturedly, but answers anyway.

“If you are a man in the company of an older man, you should refer to them as hyung, and when your conversation partner being an older woman, then you call her noona.” Yeosang explains, taking another bite of his food. You nod thoughtfully.

“So, assuming I’m younger than both of you, I should call you Seonghwa-hyung and Yeosang-hyung?”

Yeosang applauds you. “You learn quickly, stowaway.”

A genuine smile breaks out across your face. You’ve never actually learned anything before, at least not that you remember, but it seems that you’re improving!

Yeosang gets to his feet. “Well then, I’ll be off. Hyung, can you pass me some food for captain?”

Seonghwa nods, bustling in the back as he prepares another bread roll for his captain. You look up at Yeosang for a moment as a thought occurs in your mind.

“Yeosang-hyung, how does the captain steer the ship all the time? Doesn’t he need to sleep too?”

The navigator looks at you in surprise. “Hongjoong-hyung doesn’t steer the ship all by himself. He swaps shifts with Mingi.” Seonghwa passes him a plate of bread and dried meat. “I’ll be going now. See you around, stowaway.”

You wave as he leaves, the door gently closing behind him as he ascends to the captain’s cabin.

“Captain.”

Yeosang opens the door to find his captain on his break from the wheel, a mug of tea in hand and a thick book in the other. His one eye flits across the worn pages so quickly no one would guess he had just learnt to read barely two years ago. His captain ponders on a page, bookmarks it quickly, before moving on to the next. He’s so absorbed in his work he doesn’t even notice when Yeosang shuts the door behind him.

“Captain, shouldn’t you be sleeping?”

At that, Hongjoong does jump, almost drawing his musket before he realizes it’s just Yeosang with a plate of his breakfast. He snaps the book shut so fast that dust flies from its pages, trying to act as calm as possible while discreetly shoving it under the blankets on Yeosang’s bed.

“I keep telling you, call me Hongjoong.”

“Yes captain.” It’s a long running joke between all of them, that none of them actually call him by name. He sets the plate in front of Hongjoong, silently sliding the book out from beneath the covers. His captain takes a bite.

“A Complete Sum of Names Commonly used in the East and Their Meaning.” Hongjoong chokes on his bread and makes a swipe for the book, but his navigator simply dances out of the way, flipping to one of the dog eared pages and beginning to read the names out loud.

“Dahae, meaning big ocean. It combines the characters of much (多) and ocean (海).”

“Give it back!” Hongjoong makes another grab for it, but Yeosang simply tosses the book into his other hand and continues reading smoothly.

“Myeongeun, with the character 明 myeong meaning bright, light, brilliant; clear and the character 恩 eun meaning kindness, mercy, charity.”

“Stop it!” Hongjoong manages to yank the book back into his arms, stuffing it back in the shelf. There's a knowing smile on Yeosang's face that he doesn't quite like the look of. “And wipe that grin off your face. I was just doing a little light reading.”

“Of course, captain. You were reading about names. It’s an interesting, broad topic. I should start reading about it as well.” His navigator replies with a polite cough and a smile.

Hongjoong eyes one of his oldest friends suspiciously. He can't tell whether he's making fun of him or actually being serious. “Anyway, I need to discuss something with you. Do you know what was chasing us today?”

At his captain's words, Yeosang's smile slides off his face, only to be replaced by an uncharacteristic scowl. “I'm not sure, captain. It was dark and didn't surface above the water so I didn't get to see how it looked like clearly. But from its size and the way it moved…”

“It swam like some sort of squid… or octopus.” Hongjoong recalls, brows pinching together as he tries to associate its characteristics with any sea creature he knows. “Can't be the mermaids, and it's too big to be a shark or octopus…”

Yeosang crosses the room to pull out a book from a shelf, its pages tattered and yellowed with time. It's a thick tome, but Yeosang simply flips to a single page, as if he's known what he was looking for the whole time.

Then he slams the book down on the table.

“Here.”

Hongjoong's fingers reach for the book, eye flitting over the page. It's a crudely hand drawn rendition of a monstrous beast, some sort of cross between a squid and octopus, powerful suckers and deadly spikes along the length of its twelve tentacles. It's two eyes are huge, and according to the small ship drawn next to it for comparison, it's at least three times the size of the Treasure. Each tentacle could wrap around his ship with ease.

“And then I saw it, the gigantic beast thought to be legend.” Hongjoong reads aloud grimly. “Its head towered above the crow's nest of the ship, and each of its tentacles stretching over two hundred feet. I looked up, it was so large in size that it blocked out the sun, and saw two eyes the colour of blood, each twice of me and then some. It raised a tentacle, and in one sweep destroyed all three masts, smashing them to nothing more than matchwood.

The Gallic slave aboard the ship declared aloud, ‘Praise to Sǣr, the sea and storm.” In the next second, he was thrown into the sea and was never to be seen again.

It is the loyal servant of the sea goddess, the one who breathes the oceans. It travels the deep, carrying out her bidding. The men call it the hafgufa, or in our native tongue…

… the Kraken.”

[yunhowhoitiss]

𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭 '𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫

𝐟𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞!𝐲𝐞𝐨𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐠 𝐱 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 (𝐟𝐞𝐦)

𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 1.4k+ words

𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: misc, fluff, a lil suggestive

𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬: you’ve only just moved into your new house with the help of your fiancé’s friends, and it’s already utter chaos.

𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: swearing, ateez are dorks wbk, yeosang gets handsy, reader is embarrassed but takes revenge asap (let me know if I've missed anything ^^)

𝐚/𝐧: hey everyone! it’s been a while, I know, but I really wanted to post something for valentine’s day so here I am :) I hope you all have a gorgeous day, you’ve earned it <3

masterlist

"Boys, the lemonade's almost ready!"

The tingle of lemons tickled at your nose as you inhaled the odour of the sour fruit. You squeezed the last of the lemons into the glass jug on the counter in front of you.

Your fiancé's friends we're at your house to help you paint the walls of your newly-bought house, and you'd all been busy since the early morning.

Pouring a generous amount of sugar into the jug, you stir the soon-to-be lemonade with a long spoon. (Last summer when you made lemonade for the boys, San whined that it wasn't sweet enough, so you remembered to put in just a little more this time.)

Although you had called for the others already, there was no sign of them coming upstairs.

"Hey, dipshits, come get your lemonade!" You yelled at the top of your lungs. Again, no answer. At this point, you knew they were teasing you, as they always did. You sighed heavily, knowing you'd regret what you were about to do.

"Oh," you feigned wistfulness, "I wonder where those handsome, striking men are. I guess they don't want any lemonade. My heart longs for them to quench their thirst!" Your impression of a damsel in distress was audibly half-assed.

As if on cue, Mingi and Wooyoung ran up the stairs, followed by the other six men coming up the steps as well. San, Hongjoong, Seonghwa, and Jongho situated themselves on the ground in the living room area, still devoid of furniture. You had yet to buy any for the house.

"Is that seriously what it takes for me to get your guys' attention? Calling you handsome?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Wooyoung grinned mischievously, obviously proud of himself. He hopped up on the counter while Mingi stood next to you, looking innocently over your shoulder. Yunho joined in on the conversation, searching the kitchen cabinets for any cups.

"Well we are handsome, aren't we?" He chuckled cockily, reaching for a pack of paper cups on a shelf.

"Right?" Mingi chimed in, looking at you to see if you'd agree.

You look at them with your mouth agape; you couldn't believe the audacity they had. Before you could say anything, Yeosang finally came up the stairs, having overheard your conversation from afar.

"Hey, stop trying to squeeze compliments out of my wife, your egos are big enough as they are," he chastised playfully.

"She's technically not your wife, though," Wooyoung contested. Having known him for years, Yeosang knew Wooyoung didn't mean anything by it, but he threw him a cold glare nevertheless.

"Yet. Not my wife yet."

"So she can only compliment you, is that it?"

"Exactly."

The other men snickered at the both of them, clearly used to seeing them bicker all the time. Yunho filled nine paper cups with lemonade, giving everyone their drinks. Ignoring the immature conversation at hand, Seonghwa craned his neck to see you from where he sat.

"Y/n, could we get lunch soon? I think I speak for everyone when I say that I would kill for a burger right now." Upon hearing the word 'burger' most of the boys hummed and groaned in longing, almost drooling at the thought of it.

"Of course! I'll help Yeo out in the office to finish up what painting there is left to do, and you guys can get cleaned up and ready to go in the meantime. Sound good?" They all nodded yes at your proposal, some already making their way to the bathroom to get cleaned up.

Gulping down the rest of your lemonade, you threw the cup away and headed towards the office. Yeosang held a paint roller in both hands, finishing the last wall that needed to be painted. The thick paint dripped down his wrist, creating a long grey streak along his forearm.

"Messy as always, Yeoyeo," you sighed, taking one of his paint rollers. You dipped your finger in the paint on his wrist and booped his nose, painting the tip of his nose grey.

"Hey! That stuff's hard to clean off!" Yeosang tried to see the paint on his face, obliviously crossing his eyes. You giggled fondly at his cuteness; you could never understand how someone so witty could be so dorky. Yeosang's face fell upon hearing you laugh at him, a mischievous grin tugging at his lips. Your attention turned to the wall in front of you; you worked hard to paint as much of the surface as possible, unaware of Yeosang's actions. He painted both his hands grey, making sure the wet layer covered his whole hand.

"Y/n..." He whispered calmly. He made his way to stand behind you, tucking his face in your neck. He kept his painted hands behind him, hoping that you wouldn't notice.

"Yeosang, what are you doing? Help me paint."

He ignored you in favour of pressing gentle kisses into the crook of your neck, tracing his lips up to your ear. Your focus was drifting from the wall, all too distracted by Yeosangs lips so close to your ear. Before you could question him, his teeth nipped at your ear suggestively, catching you off guard. You turned to face him, only to be met with your fiancé's goofy smile.

"C'mon, we need to keep painting, love," you sighed exasperatedly.

"But baby..." Yeosang was proud of himself for the facade he was putting up, briefly wondering if he should've just become an actor. His lips met your forehead with an affectionate kiss as he brought his hands out from behind his back. His arms snaked around your waist, hands casually resting on your ass. This was something he did often, so you didn't think to question it. Following a playful squeeze, Yeosang took a step back, careful not to let his suspicious behaviour show. He stuck his painted hands in the pockets of the paint-stained overalls he wore, careful not to let you see.

"Why are you smiling like that? It's weird." You squint cheekily.

"I'm not smiling."

"Yeah, you are."

"No, I'm not."

"Y'know what, we can paint later. I'm hungry."

On that note, you peeked out from the doorway, checking to see if the boys were ready. Yeosang was trying his very best not to laugh, but you were too preoccupied to notice.

You exited the office room, Yeosang following your lead, and walked past the kitchen to reach the bathroom. "Just a minute, guys, I'm gonna go get cleaned up and then we'll be out of here," you assured the boys. They were crowded around the kitchen counter, finishing every last drop of lemonade. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Seonghwa's hand fly to his mouth. Hongjoong and Jongho were red with what seemed to be embarrassment; the others pursed their lips in futile attempts to stifle their boyish giggles. Yunho probably made another dick joke, you told yourself, rolling your eyes.

Just as you passed a mirror that Yoesang had unboxed the day before, two shapes on your shorts caught your eye.

Grey patches? No. Grey... handprints.

"Kang Yeosang!"

The boys finally broke down in peals of laughter. Having known them for years, you weren’t all too embarrassed, you were even tempted to laugh along with them. Instead, you opted to throw a threatening glare at your fiancé , who raised his hands before saying "It wasn't me!"

"What do you mean it wasn't you— your hands are literally grey!" You stomped toward him, reaching for his sides. "Woo, hold his arms back!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

Your fingers tickled at Yeosang's sides as Wooyoung held his arms behind his back; San pulled out his phone to record him. Upon deciding that you'd done enough, you went to change into another pair of bottoms, leaving Yeosang panting on the ground and his friends teasing him. When you came back, Yeosang crouched on the floor, tieing his laces. The other boys had already gotten their shoes on and headed out the door.

"You're paying for the food, hyung!" Jongho chirped as he stepped out the door. As Yeosang stood up, you cheekily jumped on his back, letting him give you a piggyback ride to the car. You kissed his cheek from over his shoulder, wrapping your arms around his front.

"I'll get you back for that, Yeo. Watch your back," you feigned menace.

"Mhmm, of course baby."

"And you owe me a new pair of shorts."

The silver ring on your left hand sparkled in the corner of his eye, and although you couldn't see, an enamoured smile spread across his face. He pressed a loving kiss to your hands crossed over his chest.

"Anything for you, love."

[barsformars]

Back

//

g - fluff; non-idol!au

p - vet!jongho × vet!reader

w.c - 1.1k+

t.w - none

c - jongho tries to prove that the cat loves him more than it loves you but him cheating just led to much desired but unexpected situations.

a.n - hello im back to make @closer-stars suffer with another jongho writing! not too sure if you would like the vet au but cats! so kdksksk hope you like it bebs <3

t.l - @closer-stars (ofc) @fromercury @jeongyunhoed @ateezlovenet

//

"Siru loves me more and I am going to prove it to you today," Jongho stated confidently but him sneaking her favourite salmon jerky into the front pockets of his white coat says otherwise. You pretend you don't see anything, just giving him a light shrug and a smile that Jongho can only describe as an I-would-love-to-see-you-try-for-the-umpteenth-time smile.

It's always less talk and more action when it comes to Jongho so he doesn't even bother whining about you doubting Siru's love for him. He pushes through the door to the back where Siru is resting along with the other pets in the clinic, the salmon jerky still in his pocket (of course). You quickly follow right after, not wanting to miss even a second of what was about to come. You usually wouldn't ever dream of him doing it but it's inevitable if he really wants to fight for Siru's attention.

"Siru~" Jongho cooes just like every other overly affectionate pet owner in the world. Oh yes, Jongho's pet owner voice has finally made its debut. You won't even tell him how many times you have overheard him practicing it in the exam room when he assumed you were busy attending to other animals in the other exam room. It definitely sounds much more natural now, maybe because he's actually saying it to an actual cat rather than to the canine skeleton model in his exam room.

"Siru, come here." Jongho's so determined he even included a meow between his words. You stifle a laugh as you watch him from behind. Everything you were witnessing now was ridiculous, ridiculously adorable.

The tortoiseshell seemed to have picked up the scent of her favourite treat because you see her sniffing in the direction of Jongho's pocket, her eyes fixed on it rather than Jongho's face. If he was able to get her out of her cage, even by baiting her like this, you would still acknowledge his victory. It would still be an improvement from before when she wouldn't even move a step closer to him. A small win is still a win.

Unfortunately, Jongho completely messes up when he goes on to say: "It's time for your daily check-up, baby." Yeah....using the word "baby" here wasn't going to work if the three prohibited words in the cat's dictionary was also included in the same sentence. With that, Siru folds her ears back down and immediately goes to hide in the corner of her cage.

"Great! Another free cup of coffee for me!" You chirped as you moved forward to give him a pat on his shoulder.

Jongho sighs in defeat, his shoulders slumping over. "Maybe I should have just been an ordinary doctor for humans. I still don't understand how to get the pets to warm up to me."

"Hey, that was a pretty close attempt," you comforted him. "You just need a little more practice, can't really blame you when you spend more time operating on them rather than interacting when they're conscious."

"But-"Jongho straightens his back so fast you almost lose your balance due to the shock-"I know a trick ninety-nine point nine percent of animals can't resist." He shoots you a mischievous glance and a smirk as he pulls out his 'secret' weapon, which did indeed catch Siru's attention.

Siru was already near the entrance of the cage when your competitiveness takes over you. Your first instinct was to create a distance between the two of them, and maybe you could blame it on your frequent fantasies in doing so, but your arms naturally went around his waist as you pulled him away, you now behind him once again.

"You think I didn't notice? You cheater!" You unintentionally gave him a tight squeeze as you tried to snatch the treat out of his hand and Jongho feels like you had just snatched his breath away, literally and figuratively.

"U-uh...that's a tad too tight, my dear." Jongho regrets almost instantly for saying that right now. It was not unusual for him to use it on you but using it in this situation was probably not the best idea; misunderstandings may arise.

If anyone ever asks you for an instance where your competitiveness takes over you, you're going to use this as an example because you didn't even notice the position the both of you were in until Jongho had said that. "Oh shit, sorry." You tried to take a step back and away from your colleague but it seems like the universe has other plans for the both of you because you trip over Jongho's foot in the process.

You would like to thank his quick reflexes in grabbing your arms — that were pretty much still around him — and reeling you back in, otherwise you would have crashed into the cages behind you, giving the other animals an extremely unpleasant wake-up call. But you also hate it, because now the both of you are closer than before, one cheek squished against his back and his hands firmly holding onto yours, the both of you frozen on the spot. How were you supposed to act in a situation like this?

You were the first one to break the awkward but somehow comforting silence, clearing your throat and redirecting the both of you back to the real reason you two were in here for — Siru.

"Oh yeah, Siru..."

"I'll get her," you said, pulling away cautiously this time to avoid the same situation from happening again. Jongho fingers lingers on your arms as you do just in case he needs to catch you again.

"Okay, I'll go get prepared."

"Thanks." Jongho nods in acknowledgement and heads straight towards the door, wanting to get out of there as soon as possible. His heart was pumping dangerously fast, it couldn't be healthy to let it continue that way for any longer.

Jongho was just about to close the door behind him, so he could wipe away the cold sweat that was starting to drip down his warm face, when you called out to him. He can barely breathe all because of you.

"We should talk about it after work." You notice the slight confusion in his face, and though you know he's quick-witted enough to figure out what you mean, you don't want to leave any chances of him misunderstanding. "About us, I mean. But also I mean even if you have nothing to say to me, I have lots of things to tell you. So, please?"

"Sure, we can talk about us."

[lovely-ateez]

Superman Jongho~

ꕥPosted: 11/20/20

ꕥGenre: Fluff & Angst (It ends happy I promise)

ꕥPairing: FemReader! x Superman Jongho

ꕥWord Count: 1.6k

ꕥWarnings: Slight language

ꕥA/N: Happy Halloween everyone! I know I haven’t posted in a hot minute but in all fairness college has been kicking my ass so it’s been awhile since I’ve been able to actually sit down and write. I’ll be posting Ice Cream Pt.3 later this week so look out for that!

“Nice costume, babe.” I giggled as I observed the navy blue tailored suit my boyfriend was wearing.

“Thanks, cutie. Any guesses?”

“Hmm.” I tapped my chin, “Michael Scott?”

“Damn. My James Bond outfit is lacking.”

“Maybe carry around a martini glass?”

“Oh I bet you want me to go around saying ‘shaken not stirred’ too, huh?”

“I mean, if the shoe fits.”

He wrapped an arm around my waist, raising a brow.

“I’m quite curious about your costume, actually. Why the change in style?”

Although my skin-tight, light pink dress didn’t align with my usual scary Halloween costumes, I wanted to try something different this year. So why not go as Hello Kitty?

I adjusted the white cat ears on my head, “I do scary stuff every year. I wanted to try something cute for a change.”

“Well, you certainly look it.”

I could feel my face tinting pink.

“Oh shush.”

“We’ve got about five minutes until we need to leave, do you wanna grab a jacket? It’s a bit chilly outside.”

“Hello Kitty doesn’t wear a jacket.”

“Okay but you do, and it’s cold.”

I squinted, wanting to refuse but knowing how easily the cold could make me shiver.

“Fine.”

After quickly grabbing a fluffy, white teddie jacket, I intertwined an arm with Jongho and we left our shared house for the late-night party.

-

Arriving at the party I looked around, surprised at how nice it appeared. Halloween decorations were carefully placed and every person in sight was wearing a different costume.

Jongho left to meet one of his friends, the host of the party, but not before placing a kiss on my cheek. I blushed at the simple action, still getting butterflies even after all this time of dating.

Approaching the punch bowl to get a drink, I quickly caught the eye of a certain pin-up girl. After a moment she turned to me and squealed, running towards me with an impressive speed. I chucked at my best friend’s actions. I was quickly engulfed in a hug I was half convinced would suffocate me if she squeezed any harder.

“Girl! Come ‘ere! How are you?”

“I’m pretty good, Hanna. And you? You seem excited.”

“I am! The party is gorgeous! And guess what?” She lowered her voice, looking around, “I saw him.”

“Oh my god you did not!”

“I did! A man was trying to rob the store I was shopping at earlier this week and I saw him stop the guy!”

“Are you serious?”

“Totally!”

I was surprised to hear a familiar deep laugh by my side, and as I turned I was met with Jongho’s mischievous eyes.

Placing an arm around my waist he spoke, “Are you two still obsessed with Superman?”

“No-”

“YES!”

Jongho tightened his lips into a small smile.

“Listen.” My best friend began, “I just think that he’s admirable, and strong, and his arms just look great-”

“Don’t you have a boyfriend?” My own questioned.

Hanna waved a hand in the air, “I mean yeah but he knows I think Superman’s cute. I can appreciate an attractive man and still be in love with my boyfriend.”

“Does he think Wonder Woman is cute, too?”

“Yeah well...maybe. But I don’t mind. We’re soulmates and I wouldn’t leave him for anyone. He feels the same.” A dreamy look flashed in her eyes and I couldn’t help but awe at how strongly she clearly felt about him.

Our conversation continued for a while until Hanna noticed the host’s cat trying to drink out of a cup of liquor and quickly ran after him.

We shook our heads in tandem, smiling at her feeble attempt to catch the cat before delighting in the rest of the evening.

-

After the party had come to an end we made our way back home and wandered to our balcony, admiring the beautiful night view.

Jongho tucked a strand of hair behind my ear before placing a few fingers under my chin, lifting it slightly and gently placing his lips on my own.

“I think I’m going to change out of this suit. Care to join me?”

“Actually, I think I’m going to enjoy the night sky for a while.”

He nodded and gave me another quick kiss, heading back inside and leaving me to admire the thousands of shining stars.

I rubbed at my eyes, feeling a wave of exhaustion hit me. Deciding to change into more comfortable clothes, I took one last look at the stars. In my tired state I misjudged where the edge of our balcony was and leaned a bit too far over the edge, causing me to fall. I could barely let out a scream before I felt warm arms around me. I met eyes with my boyfriend and smiled, so, so relived that I was safe. I opened my mouth to thank him as I noticed that we seemed to be hovering mid-air.

“Holy shit. Jongho what’s happening?”

Jongho swallowed and placed me on the safe ground of the balcony, walking towards me.

“I...”

“You’re...him aren’t you?” I stared in disbelief as he gave a small nod.

“Why did you hide this from me?” His eyes lowered, pain evident in them.

“I-I didn’t want to keep it from you. I was just...afraid.”

I tilted my head, trying to understand. In the year that we had dated, Jongho had never shown fear of anything. Not spiders or snakes, scary movies, heights, the deep ocean, anything. And now apparently he’s Superman, too.

What does he have to fear?

Jongho finally looked at me, tears welling in his eyes. There was a sadness and longing in them that I had never seen before.

“I was scared that I would lose you.” He barely spoke above a whisper.

I fought back the hot tears stinging my eyes.

Did he really think I’d leave him that easily?

“Honey, you could never lose me.” I reached out to caress his cheek and sighed when he unconsciously leaned into my touch. Noticing his own actions, Jongho shook his head and pulled away.

“You don’t understand. It’s not just the possibility of you leaving me for who I am, but the danger that you could be put in if you knew. It was just better that you didn’t know.”

“How long were you planning on keeping this from me?”

Even though our words were calm, there was such tangible underlying emotion that we might as well have been screaming.

“As long as possible.”

“Jongho we’re supposed to be a team. How can we be a team when you’re keeping this from me?” I blinked as tears streamed down my face.

I had never seen Jongho cry. The only time he had ever come close was early in our relationship when I was hospitalized for the flu. I couldn’t eat or drink because of how awful I felt. Jongho later confessed that he, for a brief moment, thought he would lose me. Days following my recovery he first told me he loved me. The thought tore my heart everytime I recalled the memory.

And so I thought my eyes were lying to me as I saw Jongho quietly sob.

“I love you. So, so much. I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to you. I can’t—I can’t—lose you.”

I threw my arms around him, clinging to him as if I let go he’d be gone forever.

“You’re so stupid, Jongho Choi. You could never lose me. I love only you.”

“I can’t guarantee that. And besides, are you even sure you still want to be with me? I’m in danger often and I can’t have you chase after me.” My heart broke in two when I heard his voice crack as he spoke his next words, “You could be with a man who would treat you well, one who isn’t putting himself in danger and-”

I pulled back and rested my hands on his face, pulling him into a soft kiss.

“This doesn’t change who you are. You’re still the same man I fell in love with. If it makes you feel better, I won’t chase after you. As long as it means I can stay with you.”

He gave me a heart-eyed smile, letting out a small laugh and holding me tight.

“I was so scared you’d leave me.” He confessed.

“Never.”

He lifted a hand up to my check, wiping away a tear I didn’t realize fell down my face.

“Please don’t cry. It hurts me to see you sad.”

“It hurts me to see you being stupid and thinking I’d ever leave you.”

“Touché.”

“God I probably look like a mess.” I cursed myself for not wearing water-proof mascara.

“You always look beautiful to me.”

I shook my head at how cheesy he was suddenly being.

“So...” I began, “You can fly, right?”

Jongho lifted a brow, a crooked smile lighting up his features.

“Perhaps. Why do you ask?”

“Can I fly with you? I’ve always wanted to fly.”

Without warning he picked me up, letting my legs wrap around his waist.

“Hold on tight, babe.”

We lifted off the ground and my grip around his shoulders tightened unintentionally.

“Hey, it’s alright. I’ve got you.”

“I know,” I smiled at him, “I trust you. It’s just...my first time flying like this.”

Jongho chuckled. “You get used to it.”

“Oh? Is that an invitation for me to fly with you again?”

“If that’s what you want, then of course.”

I chuckled and noticed that he had stopped flying up. We were a decent height from the ground, but not too terribly high.

Jongho nuzzled my neck and leaned his forehead against mine.

“You are the love of my life, darling.”

Smiling back at the handsome man I was fortunate enough to call my own, I kissed him sweetly.

“And you are mine.”

[latte-fairytaekwoon]

Ateez: Breaking The Bed During Sex (Rated)

Contains NSFW content. Read at your own discretion.

Kim Hongjoong:

Ok, maybe you and Hongjoong were going at it a little too rough one day when you had the dorms to yourselves. Honestly it was quite funny to you both, once the shock died down. However you didn't want him to get in trouble, so you both lied about what happened, claiming ignorance. Hongjoong really wanted to say what happened, it was seriously such an ego booster, but he always held back....

Until one day when the other members were teasing him once again, calling him short and weak.

"I'm not weak." Hongjoong said confidently.

"You're the weakest one out of all of us!" Mingi pointed out.

Hongjoong was so done at this point that he ended up blurting out:

"I'm actually so strong that I broke the bed when I was fucking Y/N into the sheets!"

Everyone had a shocked face, some even covering their ears at such a revelation.

"If you don't believe me, ask her! But can any of you brag about something like that?!" Hongjoong continued.

The rest of the member's faces turned red.

"Wait! So you lied about not knowing what happened?" Seonghwa suddenly realized.

"Bitch! You even told our manager that you suspected it was me and Yunho!" San cried out, offended that he was a victim of the whole incident.

Ok, so maybe Hongjoong was definitely going to get scolded, but he does not regret anything.

Park Seonghwa:

As usual, Seonghwa was completely in his Dom persona, holding your legs open as he slammed his cock deep inside you. Only your pants and heavy breathing could be heard.

"F-fuck Seonghwa!" You cried out as you felt your orgasm coming.

"Cum for me baby, I want you to let it all out." He ordered you.

Order that you never got to fulfill since the front legs of the bed snapped out of place, sending you both falling to the front, your head hitting the wall. Dom Seonghwa was switched instantly to Mom Seonghwa.

"Oh my God! Are you all right?!" He exclaimed as he quickly got off you and examined the damage done.

"I'm fine, really." Although it did hurt, you didn't want him to go overboard with this.

"Are you sure? Do you want an ice pack? Do you want to go to the hospital? I'll put some clothes on and take you there right now."

He quickly got up and started pulling out something to wear for him and you. You honestly were just giggling at the situation right now. You both literally just broke the bed cause you were having sex and suddenly Seonghwa is freaking out.

"I think we have bigger problems than my head. How are you going to explain this to the others?" You asked him.

Seonghwa stopped when he realized you were right.

"Shit!" He cursed when he thought about what would happen when the others found out.

They were never going to let him live it down, that was for sure.

Jeong Yunho:

Yunho definitely got carried away and it backfired most inconveniently and at the worst possible moment.

You were currently on top of him, rolling your hips against his as you tried to chase your orgasm. Yunho could definitely tell you were about to explode anytime soon and that's just what he was waiting for, waiting for you to reach your high because he wanted to try something.

With a loud moan, you came all over him, your movements stopping as you were too sensitive to the touch. Yunho knew this, but that didn't stop him from suddenly gripping your hips in place and suddenly thrusting up into you at an animalistic speed.

"Y-Yunho- please! Don't! I-I can't!" You whimpered out from the overstimulation.

"Yes you can, and you will. I know you can take it." He groaned as his hand snaked up your neck.

You never got to find out if you could since suddenly the bed collapsed underneath you both, halting both of your actions.

"Did the bed just...?" Yunho couldn't even finish his sentence.

You nodded. "Yeah.....it really did."

You both sat there for a good minute or two, wondering what to do. That's when you playfully smacked his shoulder.

"This is why you shouldn't try things without telling me first!"

Kang Yeosang:

Yeosang tried to act as normal as possible, knowing it was only a matter of time before-

"Ahhhhhh! My bed is broken!!" Wooyoung screeched out, his arms flailing around the air as he ran to where the other members were.

"Say what?" Seonghwa asked.

"What did you do?" Hongjoong could already feel a headache coming.

"I didn't do anything! Seriously!" Wooyoung exclaimed.

"Then why is your bed broken? What happened?" Hongjoong asked.

"I don't know! That's what I want to know! All I did was come back today from my trip with my family, I sit my butt on my bed and suddenly the headboard falls off!" Wooyoung explained.

Yeosang tried to avoid eye contact with Wooyoung, knowing full well that the reason why the headboard was busted was because he fucked you on his best friend's bed since it was illogical for you two to use his bed given he had the top bunk.

"Yeosang, do you have any idea what might have happened?" Seonghwa asked him.

Putting on his best poker face, he simply shrugged.

"No idea."

Choi San:

You had already cum for the 6th time, but you still had 2 more to go since San wasn't quite finished with punishing you for trying to make him jealous earlier.

"San! Please!" You begged as his pace didn't slow down one bit, even after your 7th orgasm washed over you.

You were met with a slap to your ass, adding to the overstimulation.

"Shut up you little slut! If you're going to act like a whore, you'll get fucked like one." He growled as he kept ramming his cock inside you, rearranging your guts.

Your fingers clutched the sheets, face hidden in the pillow next to you as you tried not to scream so much, but even then your neighbors could prove hear you. They definitely heard though when your bed cracked and collapsed right underneath you. You looked up as San pulled himself off you, inspecting the damage.

"Well it's definitely broken." San said.

You face palmed. "No way? Really?"

You got up to clean yourself but San grabbed your wrist.

"Where are you going? Your punishment isn't over, and I'm adding more for using your sarcastic voice with me." San was already pushing you down on the floor.

"Really Choi San?! You broke my bed and you're still thinking of getting your dick wet?" He was unbelievable.

"I'll buy you a new bed later. One where we can fuck all day and it won't break."

Song Mingi:

Mingi had asked you if he could try being the Dom for once and you agreed, it could be a nice change for once and you did not regret it. He made you lay down and pleasured you for hours before he even lined himself up and started thrusting inside you.

"Oh my God!" You gasped when he put one of your legs around his shoulder, hitting at an angle that would send you cumming in seconds.

"Right there baby?" He smirked when he realized he hit your sweet spot and he began increasing his speed.

You came soon after, your walls clenching tight around him, making him get close to his own orgasm. He pulled out of you to cum all over your stomach and thighs, but as soon as his weight shifted on the bed, a cracking sound was heard and one of the legs broke.

"What just happened?" You asked him.

"Uh..... I think we broke the bed..." Mingi responded.

You both got up to make sure you weren't imagining things. Mingi started freaking out.

"Oh my God! I broke the bed! Hongjoong is going to kill me!" He began exclaiming, already imagining the older member grabbing him by the ear and taking him to his room.

"Sweetie calm down." You tried comforting him.

"I can't calm down! I broke the bed! And-" He paused as he thought about it for a second.

"Oh my god...."

"What?" You asked him.

His face suddenly donned the brightest smile ever.

"I broke the bed and it was cause I was fucking you so hard! How awesome is that?!"

Jung Wooyoung:

It was definitely risky for Wooyoung and you to get naughty while the other members were in the living room watching a movie, but Wooyoung didn't care. Besides, they were watching horror films so the loud noise and their screams would drown out any noises you two made. It's not like they didn't know what you two did anyways.

You two were going like rabbits, enjoying your time together since you hadn't seen each other in a long time. Your moment was ruined by a loud crashing sound that resonated throughout the dorm.

"Jung Wooyoung!?" Seonghwa shouted from the living room.

"What did you do?!" Yeosang called out, worried about any damage done to the room that was also his.

"Shit! They heard!" Wooyoung sighed as he looked at the broken ladder on the bunk bed.

"You have 5 seconds to come out." Hongjoong warned.

Wooyoung told you to stay in the room, while he threw on a pair of sweatpants and went to the living room. He then proceeded to explain what happened.

"You broke my bed?!" Yeosang screeched out.

"Relax! It was only the ladder! Geez! But guys! I broke the bed cause I'm a sex god!" He was honestly so proud of himself.

"I sleep on the top bunk! How am I supposed to get up there now?!" Yeosang asked.

Wooyoung snorted. "I'm sure Yunho or Mingi wouldn't mind giving you a lift."

"That's it! I will murder you! Let me at him! Let me go!" Yeosang thrashed around as Yunho and Mingi held him back from committing murder.

Choi Jongho:

"Why are we here again?" Mingi whined for the 20th time.

"To buy a new bed for Jongho." San answered.

As if it wasn't clear enough given they were looking at the furniture section of a store.

"Seriously Jongho. How did you even break it?" Yunho asked the younger member.

Jongho's mind flashed back at the memory at what happened:

"Jongho!" You called out underneath him.

"Yes love?"

"Pp-please faster! I need m-more." You begged him.

He smirked at your request.

"Are you sure baby? I won't be able to control myself. I might break you."

"Break me Jongho!" You gave him the ok.

Well he definitely didn't break you, but the bed did break. However the others could never find that out.

"I told you! I got angry and took it out on the bed! You know I can't control my strength!" He exclaimed. Technically it wasn't a full lie either.

"Ok ok! Geez calm down! No need to get so defensive about it!" Wooyoung shouted.

"Let's just get his bed and be done with it. I have leftover chicken in the fridge and it's missing me." Yeosang said, annoyed at having being dragged there in the first place.

Jongho smiled to himself when all of them had their backs turned. He actually got away with it and they'll never find out.

Gifs not mine. Credit goes to their respective owners.

[justsomefluff]

Could I request an Ateez reaction in which the members find out that one of the other members has a crush on their s/o (the other member possibly doesn't know their dating) please and thank you!

Ask and you shall receive!

I made this one so that you have been friends with the guys for a while anyway, so that’s why no one is suspicious of you dating.

Hongjoong:

One day you’re just chillin in the dorms right

It’s about to be movie night!!!

The best night when you have literally the funniest people with you

Once everyone figures out what snacks they need and actually sits down

you plop next to Joongie for some secretive snuggles

But as soon as you sit down, Wooyoung starts yelling about how he wanted to cuddle with you during the movie

Everyone teases him because even you know he has a crush on you (he’s not shy and he has a big mouth so you found out pretty quick)

Since nobody knows that you and Hongjoong are together, you force yourself to go over to Wooyoung instead

It’s almost impossible to ignore your boyfriend’s pout though

He’s staring at you from across the room with the saddest look on his face for like 20 minutes of the movie

you can’t even concentrate, you just wanna go back over there so bad

but you don’t want to expose your relationship just yet

Hongjoong will just have to suck it up for tonight

He does not suck it up, however

after another 15 minutes, he stand up really abruptly and marches over to you and Wooyoung

everybody is watching because no one knows what he’s doing all of a sudden

grabs your hand and pulls you back to his seat

cue more complaining from Wooyoung

“Well we’re together, I'm allowed”

everyone just kind of goes into stunned silence

eventually.... “YOU’RE WHAT”

bunch of yelling from everyone while Joong just yanks a blanket up over the both of your heads

you peck him on the lips and eventually the yelling stops and you can come out to finish the movie

Seonghwa:

possessive mf

but he was the one who didn’t want to tell anyone in the first place

So when Yeosang starts flirting with you, all he can really do is be bitter about it

He watches as you laugh along, obviously not getting that one of your boyfriend’s best friends is coming onto you

You and Yeosang had been talking together for about an hour, just catching up on life and stuff

Seonghwa is getting fed up, no lie

He knew Yeosang had a crush, but he always thought he would be too shy to ever make a move

But all of a sudden Seonghwa feels threatened

he manages to catch your eye across the room and you smile and wave

he just frowns, making you pout and excuse yourself from Yeosang

you head over to him and ask him what’s wrong

He just pulls you into a kiss, catching you completely by surprise

as your eyes flutter shut, his stay open and on Yeosang who is watching with his mouth hanging open

He mouths “sorry, hyung”

Seonghwa pulls away, nods at the younger, and smiles at you

“what was that all about?? What if people saw??”

“don't care anymore”

you don't really question his sudden change of heart

all you can think about is finally being able to cuddle with him even when the boys are around lmao

Yunho: 

(who gave him the right to look so professional here like what)

squishyyyyyyyyyyy

is hanging around the studio one day when he overhears what sounds like your laugh

he’s like “they aren’t even here today wth”

so he goes to find the source and comes across Hongjoong FaceTiming you

he is about to rush over to join and say hi to his love but stops when he hears Hongjoong speak again

sounds like a confession... Yunho’s cheeks get all red and his eyes get a little glossy just because he’s overwhelmed

he sticks around to hear what you say

he knows that you love him but, at the same time, there's a part of him that's really insecure and scared

“Aw, Joongie...that’s sweet and all but...” you’re stalling because you can’t decide if you should tell him the truth

Yunho is literally dying as he waits for your answer

“Joong, I’m with Yunho... we didn’t want people to know but I think this is a pretty good reason to tell you. I’m so sorry”

Yunho lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding

lets a tear fall because he was so so nervous poor thing

he backs out of the room so that he doesn’t hear more

he low-key feels bad about even overhearing that much but at the same time he feels more confident in your relationship 

he shoots you a text later telling you how much you mean to him and everything, but he doesn’t bring up Hongjoong

he knows that you will end up telling him anyway but he doesn’t want you to think negatively of him for eavesdropping

just so happy that you chose him

Yeosang: 

so Yeosang is really confident about your relationship and loves you a lot 

but he's shy about letting other people know

but when he notices that Jongho has been making extra efforts to be near you lately, he doesn’t take it lightly

he wouldn’t be nervous if Jongho knew you were in a relationship

but since he doesn’t, Yeosang is worried that he might try and make a move on you

Jongho had talked to a couple of the other guys about his infatuation with you

but he had suspected that Yeosang also had a crush on you so he had held off

but the other guys told Jongho to go for it, since they didn't know the truth either

So as Yeosang is watching Jongho talking to you one day, he notices that Jongho’s fingers keep “accidentally” grazing yours

He’s getting angrier as he watches

but he isn’t angry at you or Jongho, just angry with himself for being to scared to say anything

eventually, he musters up some courage and saunters over to you and Jongho and takes your hand

right in front of Jongho’s salad

And Jongho is immediately like “crap” and walks away

and you’re super confused because what in the world am I missing what just happened

But Yeosang just kinda giggles and asks you if you wanna go get lunch

San:

now San I think is one to actually get pretty jealous

like if he sees someone trying anything with you, he’s gonna be big mad right away

But it is much more difficult to get mad when it’s Seonghwa who is after you

San is definitely afraid of coming off as disrespectful to his elder if he tries to step in and stop anything

highkey hopes that you’ll say something so that he won't have to

One day Seonghwa actually comes to San

to talk about you

he’s just rambling on and on about how cute he thinks you are, totally oblivious to San’s irritated expression

San is fuming

eventually he’s gonna snap and be like “LOOK BRO WE’RE DATING”

and Seonghwa is like O.O

then San is apologizing like a mad man because he really didn’t mean for it to come out like that

he just legit couldn’t listen to someone else talk about his girlfriend anymore it was infuriating

Seonghwa’s like “...it’s cool, I get why you’d be mad”

then he assures him that he won’t try anything now that he knows about you two

But he also scolds San for not telling him sooner lmao

Gives an apology too just to make his lil bro feel a little better

Mingi:

(MY MF BABYYYYYY)

So, Mingi gets insecure, I bet

When other tall boy, Yunho, also proclaims that you are his ideal type during a revealing round of truth or dare

there is a lot of yelling from the guys, as you are literally playing with them and he just SAID THAT?

But Mingi does not think it’s funny

Suddenly Wooyoung leans over and whispers in his ear

“we are gonna try to get y/n to say she wants dare so she will have to kiss Yunho”

Like it’s sweet that they’re planning to be wingmen for their buddy Yunho but Mingi is so SAD

scoots an inch closer to you and shakes his head at Wooyoung

“why are you pouting, just help us lmao”

he shakes his head again, but Wooyoung has already turned his attention back to the game

finally, your turn comes around and all the guys start making up excuses as to why you should take a dare

“Cmon y/n we just had two truths in a row, pleaseee”

“y/n you gotta pick dare or its not fun”

and you’re laughing and about to give in and ask for a dare when you look to Mingi and he’s making big eyes at you

you cock an eyebrow at him and he leans over to tell you what the guys were planning

your eyes go wide and the other guys are like “MINGI YOU TATTLED DIDNT YOU”

so you turn your head and peck Mingi on the lips in front of everyone

chorus of “oh my god” “woah” and other things

“Sorry, Yunho” but he just shrugs like “it’s cool, Id rather you be with one of us than someone random. even if its not me”

Mingi is smiling again and thats all that matters really and he snuggles you for the rest of the game

Wooyoung:

Wooyoung is pretty well-attuned to things that happen around you

always watching you out of the corner of his eye like a stalker

it’s just cuz he loves you tho

so he notices Mingi hitting on you pretty much immediately

honestly finds it kind of amusing for a little bit

but then little things come up in his memory

fans saying that he was too short for you and that you’d be better with someone else

gets down on himself really fast thinking about that kind of stuff

still watching you and Mingi talking

wants to walk over there and hang all over you until Mingi gets the point

so that is exactly what he does

waddles over and slings his arms around your waist

head on your shoulder

kisses your neck and you squeal because MINGI IS RIGHT THERE I MEAN SERIOUSLY WOOYOUNG

and Mingi kind of laughs it off but he’s a little sad bc he liked you ya know

after Mingi goes away you hit Wooyoung softly on the shoulder and tell him to go talk to Mingi and apologize or something

He agrees but he’s like “you have to give me cuddles afterwards”

who could say no to that? couldn't be me

Jongho:

Okay so you and Jongho are coming back from a group dinner and he sat in the front while you crammed in the backseat with WooSan

halfway through the car ride home, you fall asleep and your head flops onto San’s shoulder

he’s immediately giddy about his crush sleeping on him like his dreams are coming true

Jongho’s like “imma break your dreams like my apples bro”

Woo is giggling because San is being so soft for you and stroking your hair and everything 

Jongho just kinda watches in the rearview as San takes pictures and stuff

But Jongho just purses his lips and tries his best not to say anything

the last straw that finally breaks Jongho’s resolve is when he catches San pressing a kiss to the top of your head

“Hyung, please don't kiss them in front of their boyfriend”

San and Wooyoung look at each other like “are you the boyfriend”

they look at the driver “is he the boyfriend?”

and then their two collective brain cells join together and are like “JONGHO IS THE BOYFRIEND”

San is a little sad but his happiness at the maknae finding love is more prevalent

They start squealing and demanding details about your relationship

“when did this start” “why didn't you tell us” “did you tell your parents”

Jongho just smiles to himself as they throw questions at him

then you wake up and slap San on the boob for waking you up and then flick Wooyoung for being noisy too lmao

Jongho smiles at you and when you get back to the dorms, he gives you a smooch right where everyone can see (because he can do that now)

[hongism]

mists of celeste ➻ 32

➻ pairing: ??? x fem reader ➻ genre: space au, pirate au, space pirate!ateez, angst, eventual smut ➻ Word Count: 8.7k ➻ Rating: M ➻ Warnings: language, violence, guns and weaponry, blood, future warnings tba ➻ summary: Sneaking aboard the ship of a renowned space pirate may not have been the best idea, but you’ll have to make do with what fate has handed to you

⇐ previous | next ⇒ | masterlist

✧✧✧ act four ➻ part seven

​​​

“Captain won’t hurt him.”

You don’t need to turn to see who has just stepped in, but you do nonetheless at least for the smallest semblance of confirmation. It doesn’t make it any easier to see who stands at the edge of the tunnel, bright light cascading around his tall form and casting crude shadows across the floor as he walks closer to the group. You swallow around nothing in anticipation although nothing could prepare you for what Mingi says next.

“Because I’m the one going in there, not Jongho.”

“Absolutely not!” Yunho blurts without a breath of hesitation, hand jerking down by his side in a fist clenched so tightly that his knuckles go white.

“Mingi, how did you get here?” Seonghwa adds. This must not be according to plan for him to sound so bewildered, unless Hongjoong has truly kept him out of the loop but again that wouldn’t make an ounce of sense since Hongjoong spoke so adamantly about Jongho being the one to go in with him. So the only reasonable conclusion is that —

“I left the bunker.”

The only reasonable conclusion is, in fact, that Mingi has come to the arena by his own choice and volition.

“How the hell did you get out?” San interjects, pushing closer to Mingi with a hand stretched towards the man’s arm. Mingi merely blinks back at the shorter man without seeming surprised in the slightest.

“I knocked on the door and they let me out. How else would I have gotten out?”

“Why?” Seonghwa’s tone is nothing short of livid, and for a moment, you fear that his rage will affect Mingi in turn, but the Berserker manages to keep his steady expression with little effort.

“That’s my captain in there. That’s my captain who is about to fight, and that’s my crewmate who is taking the place that should be mine. Lieutenant, you said yourself that if he let you, you would take Captain’s place in a heartbeat. I feel the same way about Jongho.”

Feel. Mingi feels the same way about Jongho. It shouldn’t have as much impact as it does, but your heart clenches painfully in your chest and you blink at Mingi’s expression of determination with a certain sense of disbelief.  The anger on Seonghwa’s features melts away, replaced by some other emotion you can’t quite place upon first glance.

“I was there when they prepared this plan yesterday,” Mingi continues. “I heard Jongho and Captain discussing what would happen as a last resort. Captain had wanted to talk Vladimir down and make him see reason. But in the event that he was not able to do that–”

“He would put himself on the line,” Seonghwa finishes, gaze falling to the dusty cobblestone. His jaw shifts as he mulls over his next words, and you can practically see the gears turning in his head. “Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.”

“Exactly. But Jongho doubted that Vladimir would take Captain up on the offer, didn’t think he would allow Captain to select his own opponent.” Seonghwa hums, a sound that is noncommittal and meant to fill the small lapse in conversation when Mingi finishes speaking.

“Vlad only accepted because he has something else in mind. He can’t trust Jongho not to go easy on Hongjoong or anything like that.”

“But… he can trust the Brute of Kebos to do his job. What that man wants is more than blood. He wants the Brute of Kebos in his arena because that’s what he can trust. And so, I must deliver it.”

“No,” Yunho mutters, head shaking from side to side almost violently. “No! This could ruin everything. Don’t you see that? All the years of progress, everything I’ve done, all of it–”

“It won’t though.” Mingi sounds far too confident. There is a sense of finality to his words, and even Yunho is forced to stop speaking and focus on what Mingi has to say for himself. “The second Vladimir sees me in the arena, the tide will shift. His plan will go out the window because everyone here heard what he said. He craves to control the beast. The way he exercises that power is through his hand. It’s just like my father. I have seen it time and time again, lived it time and time again. Vladimir wants to see Captain dead, and he will want me to deliver the killing blow. But when he puts that thumb down and tells me to kill Captain… I won’t do it.”

“You were — Mingi, there is no guarantee that the beast won’t take over the second you set foot in there. I am not attempting to doubt you, but the mere mention of this planet sent you into a frenzy not too long ago. You cannot possibly think that this will end differently or that you won’t be able to hold back!”

Perhaps it’s all on account of a ridiculous effort on Mingi’s part, but still, his expression shows no cracks. No faltering, no flashing in his red eyes – just the very same neutral visage that reminds you of a statue.

“You know better than anyone what I’m capable of, Healer. And I am capable of disobeying orders because I have done so once before. Have at least a sliver of faith in my abilities to protect my captain.” Yunho snaps his lips together, forming a thin line that nearly disappears into white, but he does not say anything else. Seonghwa glances between the pair in a similar state of silence for several moments.

“If…” He trails off before he can finish the thought, lashes fluttering as he looks upwards now. “If this is truly what you want to do, we obviously can’t stop you. Though this is – it’s a hard agreement to make.”

“Have I ever hurt him before?” Mingi asks. The question is not truly inquisitive, moreso rhetorical, but it causes Seonghwa is sputter and struggle to come up with a response anyway.

“I – n-no, not that I can recall.”

“In six years, I have not once laid a finger on Captain. Not in all those years of episodes and relapse after relapse. I know the circumstances are different, and I know you have no reason to take me for my word, yet I would still ask you to trust me.”

Seonghwa extends a hand all of the sudden, eyes coming down to meet Mingi’s with a flare of determination. Mingi seems just as taken aback as the rest of you but he is quicker to understand the intention behind the gesture, hesitantly stretching his own hand out to latch around Seonghwa’s forearm. The lieutenant squeezes hard at his skin as though putting all his emotions into that one hold.

“Then Mingi, I beg of you — please bring him back to me alive.”

“Understood,” Mingi murmurs through a small nod. Then his hand falls away from Seonghwa’s, and the latter man releases a shaky exhale, watching Mingi step around him and move down the same tunnel that Hongjoong and Jongho descended into not too long ago. Yunho must be too stunned to say or do anything in that very moment because it takes at least two minutes for him to even react in the slightest to what just transpired before him.

“Tell me you have simply lost your mind and you don’t actually trust him.”

Seonghwa reels at those words, and he isn’t the only one to be shocked either because they elicit a broken gasp from Wooyoung’s lips that is followed up by the sound of skin slapping skin, no doubt the man trying to cover the sound a bit too late.

“Explain to me why I shouldn’t trust him.”

“Because the last time he disobeyed orders, it was when his fucking father was in my clinic recovering from a near-fatal injury and Mingi murdered him! There is no guarantee that this won’t affect Mingi badly and no guarantee that the second Mingi sets foot in the arena, things won’t go to hell! The moment he gets the chance, he will kill Hongjoong regardless of whether he is Mingi’s captain or not.”

“That is my captain down there as well, Yunho,” Seonghwa seethes through gritted teeth. “You are a fool if you think I am not even the slightest bit worried as well, but I trust my crew.”

“You act like you’re the only one who gets to call him that. He’s my fucking captain too – fuck that, he’s captain to every single one of us.”

“Yet I would not sit here and watch him die in that arena. I would never do that willingly, and as such, that’s not what I am doing now. I am putting my faith and trust in Hongjoong’s word and in Mingi’s word.”

“You aren’t a fucking savior to him!” Yunho pushes forward and slams both palms against Seonghwa’s chest, knocking the man back several feet. He doesn’t fight back though; he just stands as still as ever and glares forward at Yunho with enough heat to make you shift uncomfortably from where you stand. Out the corner of your eye, you can see San taking a few hesitant steps towards them, hand outstretched towards Yunho’s arm. Just before he can stop the healer from doing anything more, Seonghwa lifts a hand – a stopping motion directed at San and San only. “You blindly throw trust in his face and for what? To turn around and spit at his feet when he actually needs you?”

“What can I do, Yunho? What would you have me do? Go in there and take Hongjoong’s place? Speak the word and I’ll do it!”

“Stop fucking around and be serious.”

“Stand down, Yunho.” The enunciation of the words sends chills down your spine. There’s too much evenness to his tone, too much steadiness even though his rage billows off him in waves. Seonghwa’s anger is far more terrifying than you could have imagined it to be, a cold and harsh knife that deepens in your chest. In that moment, Yunho seems to shrink despite being taller and larger than the lieutenant, and his size could not possibly hold a candle to the absolute power and control in Seonghwa’s disposition. “That is an order, not from your lieutenant, but from your acting captain. This is me being serious, and I will not have you endanger my crew because of a reckless and distorted sense of pride and narcissism.”

Yunho’s face is overtaken by a stark pallor as Seonghwa takes a step in his direction. A finger jabs into Yunho’s chest, and even though it’s only one, Yunho reacts in such a way that it seems like he’s been hit by some incredible force.

“You will learn your place because whether you like it or not, I am your lieutenant and in Hongjoong’s absence, I am your captain. You listen to what I say, you follow my orders, you do as told without complaint. And if you feel differently, then you should have jumped ship during the mutiny.”

Silence comes in response to Seonghwa’s cold words. All Yunho can do is manage a shaky nod before dropping his gaze to the ground.

“Now if that’s the end of your whining, listen to me. All of you. San, Wooyoung, Yunho, Y/N — you four will stay down here during the fight. Once Hongjoong and Mingi go through, the guards will close the gates. You will be allowed to stand by the gate and watch that way, but be wary. The guards typically don’t question it when crowd members come down because they assume it to be for a closer view of the fighting. On the off chance that they do ask questions, just say that: you want a closer view. Yeosang and I will remain with you all until Jongho returns so I can inform him of the plan, then us two will head back up the left-wing. Should anything happen, use the comms channel.”

“I… I need to be on standby for when Mingi takes the hyacinth but — well, I ideally need someone to go into the market and find me some supplies.” Yunho’s shoulders loosen a bit as he speaks, all the anger in his tone dropping to a state of calm once more. Seonghwa’s lips part to respond, but Yunho cuts him short and continues speaking. “If you truly want everyone to come out of there alive, I have to have supplies. I truly will not be able to help Mingi without at least something to help him throw up to get the root out of his system.”

“I’ll get it.” You turn to the source of the voice only to find Wooyoung stepping forward, hand still clasped tight around Yeosang’s, and through the panic on his features, you can see a bit of determination in his eyes. “I can’t watch the fight, and I-I would rather not even be present for it. Maybe I’m weak but I don’t have the stomach to watch that.”

“I’ll go with then,” Yeosang adds without missing a beat.

“No, Yeosang, you can’t.” Seonghwa shakes his head, causing a few strands of black hair to fall loosely over his forehead. “Vladimir is expecting the two of us to be watching. He will have his men ready to watch us and look for us. If he only sees me, or if he sees me with anyone other than you, it will be problematic at best. He expects Hongjoong to try something, but that doesn’t mean we should give him the opportunity to confirm that thought.”

“I can go with him.” You hardly realize that the words have come out of your mouth until all eyes turn to yours. A large part of you would much rather stay and witness the fight between Hongjoong and Mingi – just out of a sense of curiosity and fascination at what might happen – but you know that there are bigger things at play here which matter far more than your personal agendas. Even if you think solely out of logic, this is the best course of action. Yeosang wouldn’t trust San to go with Wooyoung, Yunho can’t go, and Jongho isn’t even back yet for some reason that you can only boil down to him and Hongjoong talking with Mingi. And thus that leaves you.

“Me too.” It’s San who speaks this time, although Seonghwa’s immediate response is a sharp shake of his head.

“You have to stay with Yunho and Jongho. Y/N can… she can go with Wooyoung. There’s no telling how long this fight will last, but knowing Hongjoong, he will try to drag it out as much as possible out of pride and to make seem believable. We can only hope that it’s enough time for the two of you to get what Yunho needs and hurry back.”

Your initial reaction is just to nod and turn towards Wooyoung, not bothering to face Yunho when he decides to speak again.

“I’ll tell you what I need once you two get further into the city. There’s an old supply shop not far from here, at least there used to be — if you can’t find it, let me know and I’ll try to figure something else out.”

“Okay,” Wooyoung says before pulling his hand free of Yeosang’s. For the briefest of moments, Yeosang chases after his retreating hand, but he pulls away before Yeosang can close his fingers around Wooyoung’s again. You glance away from the pair as the creeping feeling that you’re watching something you shouldn’t be sneaks up on you. Then a hand closes around your arm, burning the skin in a tight grip, and you jerk from the suddenness of the touch. It’s none other than Yeosang who stares forward at you when you turn to face the culprit, eyes wide and pleading. For once, you find no scathing hatred in them.

“Make sure he comes back unharmed.” There is something so raw and unadulterated about the way he utters the words, and it’s that very emotion in them that causes your throat to constrict a bit. He carries the same desperation that Seonghwa did when he asked Mingi to bring Hongjoong back alive, a desperation that runs deeper than love or adoration. You can’t quite explain it – it’s hard to even imagine something being stronger and deeper than love – yet you can feel it at that moment. More than that though, it pushes a new thought into your mind that you’ve never had before, one that nearly shatters you into a million pieces.

“We went to a fortune teller once – just the two of us before we even joined the crew or knew anything about pirates. To see my future, not Yeosang’s, but… when the woman looked into my future, Yeosang wasn’t in the picture. She said that we were not meant to be in each other’s lives. Our meeting was a mistake, and it was not what fate had planned for us. And as such, any attempts we made to stay close to each other would inevitably end in flames. All because the stars didn’t align for us.”  

How can one still fight so vehemently that even fate is against? What drives a person to be that desperate? To bear a desperation that would drive you to do absolutely anything to save the person you care about more than anything else? Was it that very desperation that drove Hyunwoo to take your place and kneel before the king prior to his death?

There won’t be hell to pay if Wooyoung gets hurt or put in danger; it’s what comes after that, what Yeosang might do in turn, what he might sacrifice to guarantee Wooyoung’s safety. That kind of devotion and commitment terrifies you — to love someone so much that you would lay down your life without a second thought to protect them.

“You have my word,” you whisper. And it’s not merely because he asked you to because frankly you don’t have many fond feelings surrounding Yeosang and the both of you know that you owe him no favors, yet here he stands, hand on your arm, pleading for you to do the job he cannot. You aren’t entirely sure why you agree with sure vehemence, but something compels you to, and the melting away of Yeosang’s panic adds to that stirring sensation in your gut.

“I don’t care for fate or destiny. I would rather it not exist, but I can’t deny the feeling that I get in my chest in those moments of intimacy. In a perfect world, I would get to call him mine without worrying about what fate has planned for us. But this? This is far from a perfect world.”

They are doing nothing more than the rest of every last sorry soul in the universe: trying to create what would be their perfect world. Fate has deprived them of enough. Who are you to take more from them?

When you pull away from Yeosang, the tightness in your throat has strengthened, and when you come alongside Wooyoung, you don’t miss the way he glances back at the Elitist. You cannot see the emotion in his eyes or his features, but you don’t need to to understand the hesitation in his movements. It is the same emotion you recognize in Seonghwa when it comes to Hongjoong. Back on Echidna when he pleaded for you to make sure that Hongjoong stayed safe, just now with Mingi, the haughty Lieutenant of Death begging for his captain to come back unharmed because he could not go in there to do the job for him. You can hardly imagine it — fearing for someone else’s life so much so that every time you part from them you have to treat it as though it could be the last. Well, you can imagine it because it’s a feeling you have always run from; one you ran from when it came to Jisung, and one you ran from when it came to San the moment it started blossoming. And with Seonghwa, you don’t feel that, you don’t fear for his life or what might happen if you are not around, and perhaps that is why you find yourself so drawn to him.

“Come on,” Wooyoung mutters. “The sooner we do this, the better.”

Merely seeing the way Wooyoung and Yeosang interact makes you want to run away, yet you find yourself turning just like Wooyoung did. Except when your gaze finds someone, it isn’t Seonghwa that you look towards. It’s San. San, the bright-eyed man with the cat-like smile who grinned at you on a military ship. The gentle man whose eyes seem to hold all the stars in the universe when he looks your way, the one who said he couldn’t bear the thought of you forgetting about him, who couldn’t dream of losing you before he told you he truly feels about you. The same man who looked you in the eye and said he would rather suffer pain to have you in his life than live a day without you. Gentle, kind, loving, oh so loving, San. As his eyes trail over your features, brows knitted together with concern washing over those deep brown eyes, you are overcome by a stark pang of fear in your chest.

You turn back to Wooyoung, struggling to push your legs into action and follow him out of the arena’s tunnel because each step feels heavier than the last. Walking away from San seems too much like a goodbye, even though you’re confident that you and Wooyoung will both be fine. The one thing you failed to take into account was that in your efforts to keep that flower of worry from blossoming, you forget it had already taken root, and now that you can so clearly see it reflected in the people around you, you feel its roots stretching deeper into your chest.

“How do you do it?” You murmur once the two of you are further away from the rest of the crew. Tall buildings rise up around the two of you, filling the void of the arena’s cobbles with its colored brick houses and buildings. It brings you back to when Yunho brought you here along with Wooyoung and Yeosang, with the glittering lights against the sunset sky and snow falling around your heads. The scenery now is far from that sense of peace — hard, bright rays of sunlight bearing down on you with a cold in the air so brittle that it bites at your skin.

“Hm?”

“How do you keep fighting so hard for Yeosang? When even fate is supposedly against you?” Wooyoung inhales sharply at the question, and you think you’ve crossed an invisible line for a moment. Life goes on around you, people bustling over the same streets that you walk with Wooyoung and minding their own business without a care in the world. He doesn’t respond right away, in fact, it takes quite some time for him to muster up even a few words.

“Because love is… I-I know I can’t, but sometimes I feel like I can outrun fate. And Yeosang – he makes me feel that way. I was a slave for as long as I could remember, that was my fate, they told me it was. They said I was destined to be nothing more than a slave, just someone to be used and tossed around until I died. Everyone in my life said that even the people who raised me. B-But a dumb little blond prince came in and… and h-he shot my chains and set me free. Yeosang changed my fate for me, and he did so without any hesitation. If he could do that for me — me, who was a complete stranger back then — then why would I not try to do the same for him now when we are so much more than strangers? Fate can do a lot of things, but it could never keep me from loving him.”

Despite the stutters and hesitation in his tone, Wooyoung sounds more confident about his words than anything else. You have never heard him speak with such conviction. You thought you had seen the extent of his resolve when he cut his hand open and told Yeosang that the man could not protect him from himself, but he proves you wrong now.

“And how do you find it in you to walk away in times like this?” Perhaps you are just searching to hear what he would do so that you know how you should cope yourself. What he says instead hurts far more than it helps, and you cannot even begin to think about having that same mindset yourself.

“Because I know that even if I were to die apart from him, we would find our ways back to each other in whatever comes after this life. I know that I have loved him better than I have loved anyone in my life, and despite all his faults and missteps, he has done the same for me. I can never be at peace with the thought of him dying before I do, and I’m confident that he would say the same about me, but I can be at peace with the thought of resting eternally in the knowledge that I gave him my all through thick and thin. That’s how I can walk away.”

“I…”

What can you say in response to something like that? You understand Yeosang’s desperation now because even if Wooyoung would be okay with it, he could never forgive himself for not being there in those moments. That makes your drive heighten, the desire to protect Wooyoung from if only to keep Yeosang from suffering a pain worse than death.

“Hey, you two there?” Yunho’s crackling voice breaks through the silence and tension hanging between you and Wooyoung.

“Yep, we’re almost to the trade district.”

“Okay, start looking for the supply shop. It’ll be somewhere on your left, The Quiet Peony, let me know if you can’t find it.” Yunho’s voice dissipates into nothingness once more, leaving you and Wooyoung to blink at each other without saying a word for several passing moments. Then the dark-haired man reaches down and catches hold of your hand, yanking you closer to his body. The action startles you, and you hardly realize why he is so urgent in his movements until you hear a loud clatter of metal resounding from behind you. A whoosh of air hits the back of your neck, one that feels a bit too much like the point of a spear for your liking. Wooyoung prevents you from turning around to examine your surroundings. All you can do is beg for answers in the form of a hushed whisper.

“What’s going on?”

“Guards. Look like Vladimir’s men,” Wooyoung mutters back, hand clinging to yours with more force now. “I think they’re just passing through to get to the arena.”

“Why is he bringing more men in? Could he already know about Mingi?”

“Seonghwa would tell us, wouldn’t he? Is it – no, no, they can’t have even started the fight yet.” Wooyoung glances past your shoulder as the rattling of metal continues. His tongue darts out to moisten his lips once, twice, three times. Then he brings his other arm up, lips pressing against the thin band around his wrist. “Hey, would you – could one of you please tell us when the fight starts?”

“Of course.” It’s Seonghwa who speaks this time, voice as cool and steady as ever, and his words confirm the suspicion that the fight has in fact not started quite yet. Wooyoung exhales a sigh of relief, then the rumbling steps behind you fade into the din of the city. He releases your arm after that and steps away from you, a bit of the worry creasing his features dissipating more with each passing second.

“Let’s just hope that it’s unrelated to the mission. Come on, I think I see what might be a supply shop over there,” you urge as you stretch a hand back out towards Wooyoung. He offers a quick series of nods. His hand slots against yours as he takes it, letting you guide the way through the lines of people. As you push closer to the row of buildings, the small hanging nameplates outside them come into view, and sure enough, one of those very nameplates reads in small uppercase letters The Quiet Peony.

“Yunho, we’re here, it’s here,” Wooyoung says into his wristband, and there’s more optimism to his tone now that you’ve found what you were looking for with little issue.

“Thank goodness,” Yunho sighs. Behind his voice, you can hear a clamoring of noise: loud cheers and shouts, applause that rings in your ears, a booming but unintelligible voice somewhere off in the distance. “Vladimir is announcing the fight and the rules. He—” Yunho’s voice drops at least an octave, if not more, as he hushes his tone “—he doesn’t know about Mingi yet.”

“What do you need us to get?” You press the question, urgent to get this done and over with so that you can return to witness the fight.

“Um, violet stems, cardamom seeds, two vials of pure lily essence, and a bit of pink peppercorn. Just things to help him vomit the hyacinth mixture. I’ve got some purified water in my emergency bag so I won’t be needing any.”

“And you’ve got a mortar and pestle?” Wooyoung inquires, obviously knowing far more about whatever Yunho is on about than you do.

“Yep, brought the backup.”

“Alright, we’ll – we’ll head in now.” Wooyoung hesitates though and refuses to budge from his spot outside the door. You think he’s waiting for you to make a move, but after a second you realize what it is that has him caught up. “Yeosang?”

“I’m here.”

Except it isn’t merely a confirmation of his presence on the line or in the arena. Wooyoung breathes out again, lashes fluttering as he shuts his eyes, and he almost seems to bask in the sound of Yeosang’s voice while he can. It rubs you the wrong way. Something about Wooyoung’s disposition is off, even if he isn’t showing the same signs of anxiety and worry that he was showing earlier. Still, you keep your lips pressed tightly together as he pushes into the shop, and you follow hot on his heels. There’s nothing for you to do once in the shop; Wooyoung takes the initiative of speaking to the shop over and requesting all the materials that Yunho listed off for the two of you. You just stand back by the door, wringing your hands together endlessly with a growing disturbance in your gut. Enough is enough when Wooyoung bows at the waist and pulls away from the man behind the counter. The second he faces you, you level him with a firm stare.

His throat bobs behind the metal collar clinging to his neck. Slowly but surely, he walks towards you, eyes not leaving yours for a second, then he motions towards the door.

“We should go.”

“Wooyoung,” you utter. A bit of a tremor slips into your voice.

“Y/N, we need to go. Now.” This isn’t the same man that you met in the med bay, the same man who was so desperate to follow orders with a high-pitched and panicked tone. This Wooyoung is far different — he doesn’t waver under the heat of your glare, and he bears a firm resolution to him. It feels entirely wrong. When he grabs hold of your arm this time, it’s to pull you out of the shop and back into the streets. The din resumes louder than before, and now you find it accompanied by your heart thrumming in your ears.

“The fight is starting now,” Seonghwa announces. The adrenaline pumping through your veins seems to reach impossible heights. “They announced him as Jongho, but it won’t take long for Vlad to realize who is truly down there in the arena with Hongjoong.”

Wooyoung’s grip tightens on you. You try to pull free of his grasp, startled by the sudden shift in his demeanor, but he’s holding you with a newfound force that you can’t get out of.

“Wooyoung, what the fuck is going on?” You hiss as you give up on your attempts to get out. He barely shifts to look back at you over his shoulder.

“I-I can’t explain. You won’t – it won’t m-make any sense. You just have to trust me on this, Y/N. We need to get back there as quickly as possible.”

“Wooyoung, you’re hurting me.” The words are only half true – mostly an attempt to get him to loosen his grip, but it backfires because he only clings to you tighter.

“I had a dream about this last night, Y/N.” Wooyoung’s chest heaves in an unsteady pattern. “I had a dream about the mission and everything that would happen on it. And everything I dreamt of is happening, it’s all coming to life. I dreamt that Hongjoong would offer himself up and that Mingi would be his opponent, and I dreamt that Hongjoong dies in there. I saw him die, but it wasn’t Mingi who killed him. Vladimir killed him – both of them – then he killed Jongho, Yunho, San a-and Yeosang. And after that? He captured Seonghwa and you and m-me, and he used that same squadron of guards who passed us in the streets not long ago to do it. I dreamt that we would pass them, that one would hit your shoulder and knock you to the ground, and t-that’s why I was able to stop them from doing that today. Call me crazy, but there are far too many coincidences happening right now for me not to think that that dream is coming true.”

Under any other circumstances, you would yank your arm away from Wooyoung’s and call him batshit insane. Now, however? The blaring sirens of panic and warning rampaging in your head are enough for you to take Wooyoung’s word for it. It may only be superstition, but you know that you never would have guessed that Mingi would come to the arena or that Hongjoong would offer himself to go down to fight. Yet Wooyoung seems to have dreamt both into reality. You don’t fight him anymore, not with your body or your words; instead, you let the man tug you back towards the arena with an increased sense of urgency to your movements.

A panic settles into your bones the closer you draw to the rising walls of the arena. It’s one that you have felt before — when you were scaling the walls of the palace grounds on Eros to stop the king from killing Hyunwoo. His form swirls to life at the forefront of your mind, the black silk hood cinched around his neck and covering his face even in his last moments. Again when you and Hongjoong were racing through Echidna in attempts to catch up with San before he did something reckless. Wooyoung’s mention of Vladimir killing San in his dream is not the only reason why his face replaces Hyunwoo’s in your head.

In all your time in the military, you never had to fear for Jisung’s life. You didn’t have to fear for any of your team’s lives, not until the end when Hyunwoo’s was on the line. Even when you were in jail for your crimes, you did not fear for them because they were your crimes and not theirs. The pain you felt when you learned that Hyunwoo was scheduled to die is the same pain you feel radiating through your whole body now. You aren’t there. If anything happens to him now, you can’t be there. You are too far away to get to San in time. Logic tells you that he can protect himself and keep himself safe, but sheer panic screams louder in the din of your thoughts.

Something stops you in your tracks. Wooyoung comes to a halt beside you, a startled and broken cry ripping from his lips. Everything happens in slow motion.

An explosion first. It’s so loud that your ears ring and your head throbs from the pressure of it. The both of you are staring directly at the source of the explosion, just through the tunnel leading to the main fighting ground of the arena and just past that gate that separates Hongjoong and Mingi from the rest of the crew. It starts and ends there, a cloud of sandy, pale dust billowing up so quickly that you have to duck your head to keep from choking on it.

Wooyoung tears forward. His hand drops yours without second thought. Someone is screaming through the earpiece, you can at least feel the vibrations of their voice, but your ears are still ringing too much for you to actually process what’s being said. Your legs work on their own accord and thrust your after Wooyoung.

Hongjoong. Mingi. Both in the arena.

How bad was the explosion? Everything happened too quickly for you to recall the extent of the blast, but it could be that the dust made it seem much worse than it was in actuality.

Jongho?

He would have been close to the gate with the others. With Yunho. You are angry with the healer, yes, but you wouldn’t go so far as to wish death on him.

Seonghwa.

He said he would be in the left wing with Yeosang. That would be far enough away from the blast, no? Surely it would be. Unless Vladimir’s guards reached the two of them first. Yet you can’t imagine that either one would go down easily.

San.

He was to remain with Yunho and Jongho. That’s far too close for comfort.

Please. You’ve never been one to pray, but if that’s what it takes for San to be okay, then you will do whatever you have to. Please be okay. You don’t care what kind of monster you have to become in order to keep him safe. It scared you before — back when you turned into a person you did not recognize in that warehouse on Echidna — but now you cannot find it in your body to care in the slightest.

As you burst into the tunnel, a body slams hard against yours. You are so clouded with panic and too focused on staring forward that you thrash against the grip on your shoulders.

“Y/N!” It isn’t San’s voice calling out your name, you know that much.

“San!” You scream out nonetheless, fingers ripping and tearing at the arms caging you in to no avail.

“Y/N, listen – listen, it’s me! Y/N!” You stop thrashing long enough to bring your gaze to the face of the man holding you. Blond hair fills your vision, panicked eyes wide and your throat nearly closes in on itself when you recognize it to be Yeosang. But —

Wooyoung was just in front of you. He is nowhere to be found now, not anywhere near Yeosang which is where he should be, and Seonghwa isn’t anywhere in sight either despite him being with Yeosang earlier.

“Se-Seonghwa?” You stammer through a few heavy breaths.

“He went straight to the source of the explosion.”

“Hongjoong and Mingi?”

“Hongjoong and Mingi,” Yeosang confirms through a shaky nod.

“Wooyoung. He – he went ahead of me. Did you s-see him?”

“No, I just came down the stairs. Seonghwa jumped straight down into the arena, but I got caught up in the crowds of people trying to rush out.” You couldn’t even focus on the people rushing around you and Yeosang until he mentions it, still high on the adrenaline pumping through your veins and leaving you dizzy.

“San,” you exhale. Your gaze falls over Yeosang’s shoulder again and stares deeper into the tunnel ahead.

“There’ll be guards ahead. Vladimir probably launched an emergency attack when he realized Mingi was down there.”

“And? We can’t leave them there.”

“No, I’m not saying we should. Just – just that we need to be careful.” Yeosang pulls back to hold you at arm’s length now, but his gaze isn’t focused on you. No, it’s shift to look back over his shoulder and down the tunnel that remains clouded with dust. There is far too much screaming from the crowds trying to rush out of the arena for either of you to hear anyone further down. Yeosang maintains a steady grip on your bicep as he pulls his gun free of its holster. You fumble to do the same albeit with much more of a struggle because your hands are shaking so badly.

Yeosang leads the way down the tunnel despite not being able to see far in front of him, and you stay close behind him, leaning to the side just enough to glance past his shoulder. The whole situation is horrifying enough but the whole concept of not being able to see or hear your crewmates makes it far worse than it already is. The two of you are only about halfway into the tunnel when a gunshot resounds. It ricochets and echoes throughout the length of the cylinder. Your steps come to a halt as Yeosang darts a hand out in front of your body. The barest outlines of bodies come into sight, dust beginning to disperse enough to expose the people inside the cloud. You can’t make out any faces, but certainly, some have to be your fellow crewmates.

“Move!” One voice rises above the others, and it’s one you recognize in a heartbeat. San. San, who sounds tired and out of breath and strained but still okay. Alive. More noises begin to resound as you and Yeosang push closer. The clattering of metal against metal for the most part – very sparse gunshots – along with a few shouts that are foreign compared to the voices of the crew. You can only hear Wooyoung and San in the mess, but there’s certainly more fighting than that going on, so you can only hope that Jongho and Yunho will be there as well when you finally push through the dust cloud.

And it’s with a sigh of relief that they do come into view, Yunho sprawled out of the ground with a gun in hand, and Wooyoung and San standing back to back both with spears in hand. They must have taken them from some of the guards because the guard standing across from Wooyoung holds the same weapon in his own hands, swinging the weapon in Wooyoung’s direction. Yeosang reacts before the dark-haired man can; his gun whips up and places a bullet in the guard’s helmet before he can come close to touching Wooyoung.

“Yeosang!”

Wooyoung nearly drops his weapon in favor of rushing towards the Elitist, but another metal-clad guard comes down on his left. Yeosang doesn’t have time to react this time. San does though, hand stretching behind him to snag the shaft of the spear before the point can sink through Wooyoung’s skin. He twists and slams the tip of his own weapon deep into the gut of the attacker. A grunt leaves his snarled lips as he shoves the guard back and plants a foot on the base of the spear. You and Yeosang came just in time to see the end of the fighting it seems; no other guards stand in the tunnel, just San and Wooyoung surrounded by a myriad of bodies with Yunho not far away. One person isn’t in sight though. Jongho.

San wipes at the base of his nose with his sleeve before turning to face you. Sweat paints his brow, dripping down the sides of his face, but as far as you can tell, there are no injuries or blood on him. Wooyoung and Yunho are in similar conditions, which is reassuring at best, but the lack of information surrounding the rest of the crew doesn’t let you rest easy.

“Seonghwa and Jongho went in for Captain and Mingi,” San heaves, mouth continuing to hang agape even after he speaks. “Seonghwa told us to wait here for them, but a squadron came in. Most likely will send backups too.”

“We’ll just have to be ready for a fight then,” Yeosang answers. He doesn’t push his gun back into its holster, but he does lower it to his side as Wooyoung rushes over to join him where he stands. You don’t have time to glance away before you catch the sight of their lips slotting together fervently, Wooyoung’s hands clasped desperately around the back of Yeosang’s neck. San moves towards Yunho’s reclining form, and he extends a hand to the healer before helping the man get to his feet.

“What happened?” You inquire, trying not to let your gaze linger on the carnage strewn over the cobbles.

“It took longer than we thought it would for Vladimir to react to Mingi being in the arena, but… everything happened really quickly after that. The fight didn’t last more than ten minutes at best. The explosion came from under the arena, no doubt a failsafe for Vlad to use in emergencies, but it wasn’t a true bomb. An electrostatic pulse meant to incapacitate. He has nodes lining the walls of the actual circle, and my guess is that they can conduct the pulses through them and send it throughout the whole arena. Still, any bomb of that size causes a big impact, and that’s why there was a sudden dust storm and so much chaos.” San brings a hand to his hair and combs through his sweat-slick locks. “No doubt that’s what is taking Seonghwa and Jongho so long. And a unit was probably dispatched to take care of them too.”

“Then shouldn’t we go in there and help out?” You offer, tilting your head to the side.

“It’s best to guard this entrance from further intruders.” Yeosang is the one to answer you. You peek over in his direction. Wooyoung clings to him like a vice and refuses to let his arms pull away from the blond for even a fraction of a second, and frankly, you cannot blame him at this point.

“Then we should—”

You cut your thought short out of the blue. Expectant eyes turn to you, waiting for you to continue what you were saying, but your mind goes elsewhere. A chill runs down your spine. A freezing cold sensation blossoms in your fingertips, spreading and spreading until you feel it down to your toes. Jerking your head, you glance back over your shoulder only to find nothing there except for the retreating backs of civilians who are still trying to get out of the building.

“Y/N? What’s goi—”

“Shut up,” you hiss, not caring to process whoever the voice belongs to. Nothing. Not the barest hint of a sound. A ruckus coming from both ends of the tunnel, but the air is completely still under the tension hanging about you in this part. Too still. You bring your chin forward once more only to test a theory. It proves useful because the second you face San again, a clink of metal resounds. Something rolls by your left foot. A small, round silver ball. Etchings all over the sphere. Two carefully carved initials into the side of the metal. Technology you’ve only seen from one person before.

You’re too late to kick it out of the way, and a gust of freezing cold smoke hisses around your body, filling the air with a new kind of dust that blinds you in seconds. All you can hear are the sounds of the others coughing near you. You think back to the letters that rolled across your vision.

HJ

Smoke bomb. Not just any smoke bomb — one specially crafted and made for reconnaissance and assassination missions. You would know exactly what their original purpose was supposed to be because there is only one person you know of in the entire universe who would sign his name off on a bomb.

Your body careens to the floor before you can think about it further, a force slamming so hard into your back that almost every ounce of air leaves your lungs.

“Jisung,” you exhale with the last few huffs of air in your body. The pressure on your back alleviates in less than a second.

Han Jisung.

Assassin, Spectre, reconnaissance specialist.

Talents: crafting special grade weaponry for missions.

Trademark: carving his initials into every single weapon he creates.

Han Jisung.

Jisung is gone.

“I swear on my life that I’ll never leave you.”

Gone.

“Promise me that you won’t.”

Here.

“I could never. I love you far too much to do that.”

Jisung is here.

“Did you miss me, Y/N?”

That’s the last thing you hear before something sharp digs into the back of your neck, and a strange warmth fills your veins. You don’t have time to think about what it could be because it sends you into a deep and intense state of unconsciousness within mere seconds.

…

The air around you is stiff and unmoving, cold as ice yet you don't feel goosebumps rising across your skin. A dark night sky looms above you with its scattering of bright stars. Near the center of the indigo sea lies a brilliant red moon; bright in its blinding color. Something about the scene is familiar, the clearness of the sky reminds you of something from your past. No clouds, no breeze, no sounds of nightlife.

It's a sense of complete and utter peace. Something damp seeps through your clothing, touching your skin and leaving you cold. You sit up and press your palms to the ground below you. Instead of meeting solid ground, however, you're met by water. It splashes against your legs, and you withdraw your hands from the surface in an instant.

Water?

You bring your chin up, glancing across your surroundings. It's a lake, a shallow one yes, considering that your legs aren't fully submerged and you seem to be placed in the middle of it. A chill runs down your spine. You know exactly where you are. The water beneath you runs black, and the enormous moon hanging in the sky is only present on one planet. It's only then, when you discern where you are, that you realize you're in a dream and not reality. You push yourself to your feet, nearly slipping on the slick mud beneath the layer of black water. A man sits at the edge of the lake, undisturbed and unbothered by your presence.

You wade through the water in the direction of the man. As you get closer, his features become more clear under the vibrant red moonlight. A familiar face to go along with the familiar scenery. He prods at the pebbles along the shore of the lake with a crooked stick, paying you no attention even as you splash water across the rocks with your steps.

“It's been a while since I've seen you, old man,” you greet, soft tone carrying through the air with ease in the absence of a breeze. The rugged form before you doesn't move. He continues to prod at the stones near your feet and pushes black water against your ankles. You wait a moment in the hopes that he'll look up at you and respond, but he still acts as though you don't exist.

“Daichi,” you try again in an attempt to garner his attention. It works this time.

His chin snaps up, a wrinkled face becoming clear before you, and blue eyes stare into yours. Piercing and cold, just as you remember from your last encounter with the aged man.

“Ah, Tsukio. There you are.”

✧✧✧ a/n: ignore that i haven’t fixed the banner yet that is a later problem right now it’s all about sURPRISE CHAPTER 32!!! WHATS GOOD?! jk um please dont yell at me LMAO yall about to be mad mad after this so save your anger for the next one WHOOPS!

taglist: @faeriewoobin​​ @sugarrimajins​​ @atinyinwonderland​​ @2504-life @lil7bluedragon​ @sparklychangbin​​ @jeong-uwu​​ @jeonartemis​​ @anothershorthuman​​ @xxbluestrifexx​​​ @haotheheckk​​ @noonawriter​​ @lostscenarios​​ @nlost21​​ @mirror-juliet​​ @okokokok123-45​ @purple-aeon​ @theoinkypiglet​ @toothlessshiber​ @atinyarmyx1​ @simpforhyunjin​ @hwangwoosan​ @vampire-jimin​ @softyubi​ @drumboydowoon​ @chatsgotmytongue​ @just-a-starfruit​ @babydolljo​ @scintillating-souls​ @khjssss @felixity​ @rawrrainn​ @hewwo-from-the-other-side​

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

[in-my-world]

Heaven - Special Chapter (Hongjoong AU)

Genre: fluff, angst, suggestive

Warning(s): alcohol consumption, mentions of religion, adult themes

Words: 1.4k

A/N: This is a special chapter for the Halloween season, I hope you enjoy. Ask me to add warnings or tw or to be tagged in future posts

Spring turned to Summer and Summer to Autumn, meaning Halloween was around the corner. If I learned anything being friends with Jules, and the guys in Treasure, along with Yunho and Wooyoung, they did Halloween big and loud. 

My family had never done Halloween, my mother preached it was a holiday for the forces of darkness to feed on innocent souls. Until I met Jules, I never even watched a horror movie. So now that I am an adult I took advantage to dress up properly. This year though I kept it simple, dressing up as a vampire; not your run of the mill store bought costume though. 

                                ____________________________

I showed up to Jules’ apartment, her coffee table becoming a makeup station. The band followed by Yunho and Wooyoung showing up not long after I did. 

The guys of the band had dressed up as pirates, Yunho was a zombie, Wooyoung was Romeo from the 1996 movie, and Jules had been dressed as a witch since this morning. 

Since I had been the first one to arrive I got my makeup done first. Jules who was basically an expert finished it quickly and moved onto Wooyoung since all that needed done was his hair. Then she did Yunho’s make up and added gel to his hair to give it a stringy gross look and finally worked on the members of Treasure. 

The living room was lively and loud as everyone had their own conversations.

“You did the costume yourself,” Yunho asked, admiring my well put together outfit. 

I explained that I had been planning it since August and that I went to way too many thrift stores to find what I needed. I also went to ramble on about vampire lore, Hongjoong had laughed along to my puns when no one else did.

Seonghwa who was last to get his makeup done, stood and caught everyone’s attention, “okay, is everyone ready to go?”

Once everything was cleaned up, we all exited the apartment and went to the parking lot and separated.

                                   ____________________________

Wooyoung and Yunho had driven with Jules and I to the club. It was in the next town over, and Jules planned on drinking so Yunho volunteered to drive. The car ride was filled with laughter, and following the van that carried the band with their equipment. 

The band had booked a gig at a major club which was a major advancement in their career. The club was a branch of another famous club, and their Halloween parties were known for naming big names to perform; so for an unknown band to get booked was a huge step.

Yunho parked next to the van and we all got out. While everyone was busy carrying the band equipment inside through the stage entrance door, Jules and I set up the greenroom with water and snacks. 

The band did their sound check and with an hour left before the club opened, we all relaxed in the green room. Jules and Mingi were sitting on a chair talking to Jongho, while Yunho and Wooyoung played a game on their phones. Seonghwa and Yeosang were eating snacks, San was sitting on the single folding chair while Hongjoong and I were squished on the couch beside Yunho and Wooyoung. 

San stopped in the middle of taking a drink to look at me, “so you were never allowed to celebrate Halloween,” he asked again, after I explained why the holiday excited me so much. 

“My mother’s religious views said it was the devil’s holiday and innocent souls would be taken if we celebrated it,” I repeated, before tossing a few pieces of candy into my mouth.

Hongjoong, who had been eyeing the small bag of chocolates, took them from me and dumped the remaining pieces into his mouth. I frowned at him and stood up from the couch to stretch my legs and move around. 

I went into the hall behind the stage and enjoyed the cooler air. I could hear people being let into the club and the Halloween mix played through the speakers. 

“I’m sorry for eating your candy,” someone said, startling me. 

Hongjoong stood there, his captain’s hat was in his hands and the look on his face was sheepish. 

I laughed, “I’m not mad, I was just feeling claustrophobic,” I explained, stepping closer to him. 

I reached for the hat and went to place it on his head, “you’re probably going to lose this before the end of the set, but at least you’ll look cool.”

He giggled and let me adjust his hair and the hat, “probably, but I of course always look cool.”

The hallway filled with our laughter as we teased each other. Eventually the fifteen minutes until showtime call came, Jules and I went to the front and paid our entrance fee. The costumes we saw on the way in and as we made our way through the club to backstage ranged from skimpy to scary; like the usual adult Halloween costumes. 

“You were so flirting with him, when will you two stop being so stubborn and just make it official,” Jules complained, her hands fidgeting with her drink cup.

I rolled my eyes as we watched the crowd form in front of the stage. The DJ station had been replaced by the band's instruments. 

The lights shut off and the show started, Yeosang being the first one on began to play an eerie tune on the keyboard. Soon other instruments joined in and a red spotlight lit up the standing mic and with a flash of smoke Hongjoong appeared on stage. 

The screams of the women and some men could be heard once they started the show. The band’s stage presence demanded to be acknowledged. 

I was right about the hat, by the third song it was tossed to the side and by song five so was the jacket he had been wearing.  

                                  ____________________________

Once the set is over and we all join back together, the owner of the club congratulates the boys and gives us permission to use the VIP seating up on the second floor. They turn it down and thank him for the opportunity. 

Drinks were being ordered for the band and phone numbers were being passed by the bartenders to the guys. A little pang hit my heart when people would come up to talk with Hongjoong; Jules would call it jealousy and at that moment I understood why she was practically glaring at everyone who even dared to glance at Mingi. 

The night came to a close and no one was in the place to be driving. Seonghwa who was the least drunk and also the most responsible called to a hotel and got us rooms. 

A van cab was called and we all piled in, but two people were left behind for a regular cab. Those two being the love birds, Jules and Mingi who although it was unspoken everyone agreed to let them have their own room. 

Silently everyone rode to the hotel and went to their rooms after thanking the concierge. The boys all except Hongjoong and Wooyoung went to their rooms, and Yeosang pulled a protesting Wooyoung into his room. 

I looked at Hongjoong who was far more drunk than me and pulled him to the room number on the key, “I guess it’s us then, come on.” 

The band had packed overnight bags. I had no idea we would be this off it to not be able to drive back but thankfully Jules had mentioned it as a possibility.

Hongjoong was in the bathroom showering off the performance while I sat on the queen sized bed. My brain was thinking too much and the clothes I wore were getting itchy after sweating in them while dancing. 

“_____, you don’t have extra clothes right,” Hongjoong said, stepping out his wet hair dripping onto his shirt. 

I shook my head, “I do,” I replied, heat rising to my face. 

Hongjoong walked over to his bag and tossed his pirate costume on top, “or we could just sleep naked,” he suggested, laughing when he saw how quickly I stood up and practically ran to the bathroom. 

Unfortunately our room was sandwiched between two rooms with couples, I only know this because the sounds were borderline pornographic. It made for good fun when Hongjoong and I were giggling like school kids the next morning seeing who came out of the rooms. 

Jules and Mingi got teased the rest of year after that night.

!!HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

MASTERLIST

[chaseatinydream]

pirate king (28) || atz

“So… can I just say this sounds like a terrible plan?” Wooyoung asks as he glances at his captain, suiting up in his mission clothes once more. Hongjoong throws him a dirty look.

“Well, I’d like to see you come up with a better plan.” Captain snaps, but there’s no hostility in his tone. Instead, he sounds almost as nervous as you and Wooyoung are, turning to Seonghwa urgently. “Do you really want to do this, Seonghwa?”

The cook is dressed in mission attire as well, looking more out of place than you do in a black shirt and pants, a matching scarf hanging around his neck. When his captain addresses him, he nods, his fingers drumming furiously at his thighs, deep in thought.

He’s finally going to confront his parents’ murderer.

As the ones who know the town better than anyone else on board (except Seonghwa), you and Wooyoung will be accompanying Seonghwa on this little mission, assisting him by leading him to Lucio Bartholomew. The plan once you reach town is simple, trace the same way you took the last time and get to Lucio’s room, somehow dodging every guard along the way.

But nerves edge at you.

“What if they increase the guard because of us the last time?” You ask a little nervously, turning to Yeosang. The navigator shrugs as he helps you secure the grappling rope around your waist.

“Fight them off and run like hell. We’ve got a surplus of smoke bombs and interesting surprises this time, so Wooyoung will use them if need be.”

You turn to the head gunner in surprise. It’s the first time you’ve seen him so heavily armed, pistols and muskets dangling from his body. There’s even a double barreled shotgun hanging from his back, the menacing weapon looks like it could do some pretty serious damage.

From his shoulder dangles a bag full of the several ‘fun’ surprises that Yeosang had been working on, packed to the brim.

“I hope it won’t come to that.” You mumble under your breath, but Wooyoung simply chuckles, waving it off with a grin that you’ve missed so much.

“Aww, where’s the fun in that?” He laughs and you give him a flat look, completely unamused.

“Not getting shot in the foot would be a good start.”

There’s a knock on the door of the cabin, and it opens a crack to let Mingi’s head pop in to look at the five of you inside. “The moon’s hidden behind the clouds.” He tells you, face grim.

You exchange glances with each other and begin to rise to your feet. Time for you to go, you suppose.

All of you step outside onto the main deck, your soft soled boots barely making any noise against the wooden floorboards. Another invention you had to credit to Yeosang, who had stayed up all night trying to find ways to ensure the three of you wouldn’t be caught up in another terrible situation.

There’s a wooden rowing boat hanging over the port side of the ship, ready to be lowered into the water. The sea beneath you is calm, like a floor of glass, tiny ripples disrupting its otherwise smooth surface. You can see the town less than a mile away, the island of Nassau emitting a soft glow into the night.

“Well then, let’s be off.” Wooyoung stretches as he gets ready to board the boat. You get in after him, the little rowing boat rocking dangerously under your feet and you nearly fall right over the side. Wooyoung barely manages to catch you by the arm, pulling you back into the boat. “Wouldn’t want you to be taking a swim so soon.”

You want to smack the grin off his face.

Seonghwa steps into the boat with a lot more grace than you had, sitting down in front of you. Mingi and Hongjoong stand at the bulwarks, eyes reflecting the light of the torches like mirrors.

“Good luck.” Hongjoong says, and then Jongho and Yunho both grab a rope each, helping to lower the boat into the water. Nausea wells up in you and groan, this is a terrible start to the mission. Seonghwa and Wooyoung both pick up their oars, and once the boat is floating on the surface of the sea, they begin to paddle for shore.

The journey is more or less silent, aside from the splashing of water from the oars. The night is still, and after half an hour or so of hard paddling, the boat runs aground onto dry sand.

The three of you leap out of the boat, quickly hiding it in a thick clump of ferns in case anyone decides to wander along. Wooyoung claps you on the shoulder cheerily as the three of you make your way through the small grove of trees you had passed through the last time, Wooyoung this time carefully making sure to glance around at his surroundings so as to avoid another head/branch breaking incident.

“Brings back memories, doesn’t it?” He asks you with a smile and you snort, batting his hand away.

“Yeah… As if I could forget how you stupidly walked into a branch.”

Wooyoung sniffs delicately, assuming the pompous air of a rich, noble lady. “I have done no such thing.” You fight to keep the snort from escaping you.

Seonghwa trails behind the two of you in silence and both of you exchange subtle looks. Wooyoung raises an eyebrow at you.

Should we talk to him?

You frown at him, jerking your head slightly at the man behind you.

Shouldn’t you know? You’ve been his friend for longer.

Wooyoung puffs out his cheeks.

Yeah, but I’m not exactly the most sensitive person, you know?

“Seonghwa-hyung?” You turn around to look at the cook, who’s momentarily jerked out of his little reverie as he looks at you. There’s a concerned look on your face. “Are you alright?”

The taller man manages to give you a weak smile even as he shakes his head truthfully. “I really just want to meet this man and ask him why he chose to do this to my parents… Honestly, I wish I were angry with him… but all I feel right now is confusion, and I don’t know why.”

You and Wooyoung glance at each other.

“You must be just like Yeosangie.” Wooyoung shakes his head as if in disappointment, but there’s a wistful smile on his face. “Both of you are too pure for this world, seriously.”

“I...” Seonghwa interjects softly and the two of you listen intently. “I lived my whole life with the dream of returning to Nassau and taking revenge on the man who took my family from me. I thought it’d bring me the peace I needed so much. But now that it’s right in front of my eyes, I can’t help but feel like I need to know why my parents were killed, more than taking revenge.”

He smiles weakly at the two of you.

“Sorry. I’m not being very eloquent, am I?”

“No problem, that’s Yeosang and Hongjoong-hyung’s job.”The gunner waves his apology away as the three of you approach the treeline. You step forward to scope out the place, pulling the scarf over your nose as you check for any guards or the like. “I think I can understand. We’ll respect your decisions, Seonghwa-hyung.”

You turn back to them. “All clear. But we should stay wary, they might still on high alert. It’s only been a week, after all.”

Quietly, the three of you slip out of the shadows and into the town.

This time, the tension in the air is so high no one dares make a sound. Even though the last time you and Wooyoung were simply joking around to ease your nerves, it’s different now. This may be Seonghwa’s last shot at getting to this Lucio Bartholomew.

You cross your fingers and pray that the gods will find favour with you tonight. Then you feel something warm drip from your nose and you frown, riffling about in your bag for a cloth.

Ever since you’d saved Yeosang from certain death, you had started to get nosebleeds a little more frequently, something that confused both you and San. Your master had told you that he’d never seen such a strange after effect of a healing like this, but then again he had never seen a healing of such a high scale before. Worried, he’d started to track how often you got nosebleeds, but you were sure it was just exhaustion from the healing you had done.

After a while, the bleeding stops, and you shove the cloth back into your bag.

You take the same path as you did a week before, walking past the row of shop houses and ducking into the alleyway behind the bookshop, into the cover of the shadows. This time, Wooyoung listens for guards while you undo the grappling rope around your waist, waiting for your partner’s signal. When he does nod at you, you twirl the hook above your head and toss it into the window as quietly as possible.

The iron hook flies into the window and you tug on it to make sure it’s secure. Wooyoung brushes past you, pulling his scarf over his mouth to hide his face and a black hood to hide his hair. Gripping the rope tight, he scales it quickly, climbing into the room.

There are two jerks on the rope.

Safe.

You climb up the rope after him, proud that you’re able to do this a lot faster than before. When you’re in the room, you help Seonghwa up after, and he joins the three of you in Ludovico Robertt’s room for the first time.

Except Ludovico Robertt is not in his bed.

You frown, glancing around a little apprehensively. “Where’s our dear Ludo?”

“Officials tend to work overtime a lot, don’t worry.” Wooyoung tells you as he secures the rope around his waist. This time, all of you take precaution, drawing loaded muskets from your belts just in case of something unexpected happening. Your other hand rests nervously on the hilt of your cutlass.

Wooyoung opens the door and studies the corridor outside.

The he turns back to you and shakes his head.

No one.

Something rolls about in the pit of your stomach, like a restless sea.

“Wooyoung, I think we should-” You begin to say, but he’s already slipped out of the door, Seonghwa following close behind. You don’t have any choice but to follow the two of them, nervously looking around for any signs of danger.

There are none.

And that scares you more than anything else.

The courtyard is void of guards, the torches flickering in the brackets along the walls show no one is patrolling the corridor. You can feel unease bubbling deep in you.

“Let’s go.” Wooyoung gestures to you and Seonghwa, the three of you make your way across the corridor to Lucio Bartholomew’s room. A cicada chirps and you nearly jump out of your skin, heart racing a million knots an hour as you fight to keep your breathing steady. The gunner fiddles with the latch, opening the door to reveal a dark room behind it, which you slip inside.

Wooyoung closes the door carefully after you as you take the time to adjust to the gloom of the room. When you can finally see more clearly once more, you glance around to scope the room out.

The room is exactly as the last time you had been here. Piles of official work documents are stacked upon the desk, books still well kept on the shelves. Nothing would have suggested that just a week ago, the two of you had been here to cause such a ruckus. But unease weighs on your mind. It’s too quiet, too calm, too still. The lack of guards, the empty room of Ludovico Robertt and the seemingly too easy entrance all seem to be pointing you towards something. By the time you realise it, you’re too late. The door opens behind you and the three of you whirl around in horror to a see the outline of a man standing there. His face is hidden in shadow, but you can see the smile on his face. Seonghwa gasps beside you, eyes going wide. His face drains of colour as he stares down the man opposite him, hands trembling with fear or anger, you don’t know. “I’ve been waiting for you, Park Seonghwa.”

The Treasure’s resident cook looks as if there is a musket pointed straight at him, even though the man’s hands are empty. Wooyoung jerks his gun at who you’re presuming to be Lucio Bartholomew.

“Hands in the air.”

The man complies without resistance, raising his hands. His lack of fear, his complete absence of surprise, all of it is disconcerting. Part of you wishes he would fight back, would call for the guards like he did before, but he does none of those things. Instead, he merely looks at you gently with a smile worn and weathered with time, crow’s feet crinkling at the corner of his eyes.

Seonghwa is staring at the man intently, eyes narrowed in deep thought. Then his mouth falls open, his eyes widening in shock. You frown as you study his face in concern, has he remembered how this man killed his parents? But the words that leave his mouth are not something that you were expecting in the least.

“...Uncle Barty?”

You almost choke on your own tongue in shock. Uncle Barty? Uncle? And from the way Seonghwa says his name, with a tinge of familiarity, the two must have been pretty close at least, or had known each other before.

You’re almost terrified by how calm he is, utterly unruffled by Wooyoung’s gun pointed at his head. Is he planning something? Why are there no guards? Why does Seonghwa know him? Even worse, the man simply smiles at Seonghwa’s stupefied expression.

“Hwaseong.” He says, and from the way Seonghwa goes rigid, the word must mean something from his past. You swallow uncomfortably, pointing your own gun at him, trying to hide the way your eyes are darting about nervously for some sort of danger.

“Where are the guards?” You snap, trying to sound as intimidating as possible, but Ludovico Bartholomew simply shakes his head at you with a kind smile that honestly scares you more than Leon Bastiville’s sneer.

“There are no guards.”

You’re struck dumb for a moment. The Treasure had been caught at the harbour the last week and two of their crew had been found at the officials’ building, but no one had bothered to post additional watch there? From the look on Wooyoung’s face, he doesn’t believe a word of it but chooses to remain silent. It seemed to good to be true. And his next words are even more disconcerting.

“I told them to leave. I was expecting you.”

Unease stirs in you. He was expecting you?

“You… You were one of the restaurant’s patrons. One of mother and father’s friends.” Seonghwa manages to choke out, you and Wooyoung exchange concerned looks at this bit of new information. “You were the one who bought Ha Rin cranberry cream buns from the bakery every time you visited the eatery.”

Bartholomew doesn’t try to explain himself, doesn’t beg for forgiveness, doesn’t even try to deny it. Instead, he simply nods.

“I was.”

You’re horrified. This man, the one who brought a young nine year old girl buns and was friends with Seonghwa’s parents actually had the heart to send them to the gallows in cold blood?

“I remember seeing you at the eatery every morning, talking with mother and father.” The words tumble from Seonghwa’s lips as he continues to stare at the man in shock. “And you… and you helped Hyunjung with his studies, you encouraged him to become a good student.”

The man nods once more. “So I was.”

“And you killed them.” Seonghwa’s voice is nothing more than a hushed whisper now, soft grey eyes unblinking as he stares at the man who ruined his entire life in a single day. “You sent them to their deaths.”

Ludovico Bartholomew nods one last time, this time his head drops a little, as if he feels just a tiny bit of guilt.

“I did.”

The official’s reply leaves you stunned. But Seonghwa looks like he’s seen a ghost of his past, which you suppose in some way he has, the pallor of his face draining of all colour.

“I should kill you right now.” He breathes, raising his own gun to Bartholomew’s forehead. His body is trembling from the emotions rushing through him, but his hand is still on the firearm. “My family deserve their revenge.”

Ludovico smiles again, this time a little sadder, a little more wistful. Then he steps forward, right up to Seonghwa, and presses his forehead against the mouth of the barrel. “You should.”

But he can’t.

Seonghwa’s hands start to tremble violently, as if bearing the weight of his parents’ and siblings’ deaths on his shoulders. It’s too much for him to handle, overwhelming him all at once. He can’t kill the man before him, the one thing that he set out to do, the one thing he needs for closure. Tears stream down his cheeks as he grits his teeth, fingers hovering above the trigger.

You can see the struggle in his eyes.

“I killed your family, you know.” Ludovico whispers softly, as if trying to edge him on. Seonghwa gasps as the man admits it outright, not the least bit of fear or doubt in his voice. Heaving gasps leave his throat as he fights to pull the trigger.

“Hyung? Hyung, are you alright?” Wooyoung asks, eyes narrowed in concern. He won’t interfere, knowing that Seonghwa needs to do this for himself, but he is starting to get worried over his hesitation. Seonghwa shakes his head desperately, barely keeping the gun pointed at Ludovico’s head.

“Why?”

The man in question raises an eyebrow, as if he didn’t hear the question properly. “Excuse me?”

“Why…” Seonghwa swallows his emotion, fighting to speak coherently. “Why did you kill my family?”

“You don’t want to know, Hwaseong.” The man sighs, turning around without paying any heed to the three guns pointed at him. Your heart leaps into your throat as he moves to his desk, opening a thick book of records. Seonghwa closes his eyes for a moment, trying to compose himself.

“I want the truth. I thought you… I thought we could trust you… that we were friends.”

“Well…” Ludovico exhales, still hunched over the book. “That’s what I thought too, when I heard the news of the Treasure being back in town. Hwaseong, do you know why your parents were hung?”

Seonghwa flinches visibly at the last word, but nods slowly. “During the announcement… the man in charge of the hanging falsely accused my parents of consorting with pirates.”

“According to the reports of Sir Lucio Bartholomew, the head of the piracy investigation, I find the Park family guilty of consorting with pirates and ****…”

Yes, he remembers. He remembers that fateful day, every word the official had said until those too, had faded into white noise. His innocent parents and siblings who had been hanged at the gallows for no reason at all, dangling at the end of the noose, every last gasp of air they had taken as they slipped further and further from this earth-

“You falsely accused them of consorting with pirates.” Seonghwa’s body is shaking, whether from rage or emotion, you don’t know, but you have a sinking feeling in your chest that just won’t go away. Something is going to happen. “You lied and my entire family was sent to the gallows.”

Lucio Bartholomew is silent as he stares at Seonghwa, then he speaks.

There is nothing but surety in his voice, and with three simple words that upend Seonghwa’s world in the space of a single breath, does the world come crashing down around you.

“I didn’t lie.”

[yunhowhoitiss]

𝐜𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐮𝐦

𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭!𝐲𝐮𝐧𝐡𝐨 𝐱 𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 (𝐟𝐞𝐦)

𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 1.5k+

𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: fluff, fantasy au (?), slow burn, angst if you squint, ft co-worker jongho :)

𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬: You’re finally starting to make ends meet when you start working at your school’s local café, but the world is so full of surprises.

𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: reader panics a bit(?)

𝐚/𝐧: I came up with this at 4am a couple days ago so it’s not my proudest, but I felt bad just letting it sit in my drafts so here you go :) enjoy!

masterlist

The gentle smell of freshly baked pastries, accompanied by the stronger aroma of ground coffee beans, wafted through the comfy café. There was a constant chatter as customers scattered around the joint whilst waiting, disguising the soft hum coming from behind the coffee machine. Your face was out of sight, except your hair peeked out above the espresso machine where you were pouring a latté, entertaining yourself by decorating a small heart in the foam. A smile tugged at the corners of your lips as your eyes turned to soft crescents when soft wisps of your hair had fallen out of your bun and across the sides of your forehead. The steam floating from the cup caressed your hands as you picked up the mug along with an assortment of macaroons. 

“Order for Julie: four macaroons, a chai latté, and an espresso affogato, extra dry!” You announced through the coffee shop, turning a few heads. 

You made your way back to the station to continue other orders but stopped as you noticed something missing; you had run out of cinnamon to top off drinks. Your coworker ought to know where another carton would be, so you turned towards the kitchen to find him wrist-deep in bread dough. 

“Jongho, where are the extra containers of cinnamon again?”

“Oh, those are in the grey cabinet below the pastry display,” he smiled back, all the while kneading the dough. 

Flashing him an ‘ok’ sign, you headed back to the front of the shop. You hadn’t been working at the Crescent Café very long, but you happened to be a pretty fast learner, according to Jongho; you could make latte art before other trainees could even make a latte. Quickly getting back to work, you served a customer until something caught you eye whilst jotting down an order on your notepad; had the writing been on your wrist all day? It must just be something I wrote down earlier, you thought.

As the sun made its way towards the horizon, you returned to the comfort of your small apartment to freshen up, eat dinner, and momentarily forget your academic responsibilities— homework, ugh-- before heading to school again the next day. You entered you apartment with a relived sigh and threw your keys onto a nearby dresser, mumbling "I'm home" to nobody in particular. Too lazy to go to your room, you simply undressed as you walked towards the bathroom, leaving a trail of clothing behind you. Note to self: clean that up later. 

The moment you stepped into the shower, your shoulders loosened as the hot water washed away your tension. The writing on your wrist caught your eye again. Scrutinizing the messy handwriting, you saw what seemed to be a shopping list. 

“Eggs, lucky charms, and aftershave,” you read aloud. 

Aftershave? I don’t use that. Could it be… you were lost thought, not noticing the warm steam filling the bathroom. You rubbed at your soapy skin frantically in an attempt to wash off the pen, to no avail. Lately, although rarely, you’d started to notice small bruises or random marks on your skin; you’d never seen writing, though. You briefly wondered if there was possibly another person causing this, but you only saw such things in movies or books... right? 

Your heart rate started to pick up, and a heavy sensation built up in your chest. It isn’t possible, it can’t be. The cramped space of your shower started to feel suffocating. Nearly slipping, you jumped out of the shower and dried yourself off. You got dressed in whatever shirt and sweats you found hanging around your bedroom. Was something wrong with you? Am I imagining things? I’m not going crazy, right?  Worrisome thoughts flooded your mind as you spiralled deeper into a panic. Calm down. Don’t skip to conclusions. You threw yourself onto the bed. In and out. It’s that simple, you consoled yourself. Slowly but surely, you felt your heart come to a rest. 

When you lifted your hand up above your head the writing was still there, unchanged. So you weren’t losing your mind. Could somebody else be the cause of this? Was someone else somehow writing on your skin? No, you felt stupid for even considering the thought; otherworldly things like that only happened in comics or movies. Nevertheless, it was the only possibility that made sense to you in the moment. You let your curiosity get the best of you, and paced towards the living room to grab a pen off the coffee table. On your right hand, you simply wrote "Hi," in hopes of eliciting some sort of response.

The following day proved to be a rather sunny, warm Monday, but you had to spend your time in a closed lecture hall. The cold-toned ceiling lights were much too bright for your liking, and the monotonous professor spouted information maybe only a handful of people were genuinely listening to. That morning, you had woken up to find the list on your wrist gone, leaving only your own message from the night before. You started to think you'd really had a hallucination of some sort. 

Half an hour into the lecture, you were already bored out of your mind and absentmindedly sketching intricate doodles on your notebook. I should just give up on biochemistry and become an artist, you mused to yourself. You remained focused on your art, while marks started to take shape on the back of your hand. Your soft eyes widened almost comically at the sight, and you shot a brief look to the people around you to make sure they hadn’t seen anything. Whipping your head back to your hand, you saw that the words stopped writing themselves, leaving a short message saying “Am I going nuts?” 

Wondering the same thing yourself, you jotted down a response below it: “I dunno, you tell me,” followed by a cheeky smiley face. If this really was real, you might as well make a good first impression. 

Weeks trickled into months as you made short exchanges with your newly discovered friend. Some nights you would write “good night” followed by a drawn heart, earning a sweet “sleep well” in return. You would frequently wake up to thoughtful words written on the palm of your hand, or you'd kindly ask your companion how they were doing when you had a quiet day at work. Even so, all you had learned about this person was their name, age, and that they were a student as well. Yunho was a twenty-one-year-old elementary education major with a minor in physiology-- he also worked as a dance teacher on weekends. You still didn’t know much about each other, so the messages never went further than greetings and simple conversations. 

Be that as it may, you liked it like that. Your relationship wasn’t complex; it felt comfortable and pure, and you didn’t want to change it.

Mellow spring afternoons at the café had always been your favourite. The wispy clouds in the sky were painted a buttery yellow by the slowly setting sun, and a steady stream of nearby students stopped by for coffee. Your new friend had sweetly noted "It's golden hour. Made me think of you," on your palm, leaving you in a bubbly mood. You had started your shift by drawing a heart on your wrist, hoping your secret companion would see it. 

You worked by the espresso machine as usual, humming to yourself as always. The bell rang, indicating that customers had arrived; it was a group of what seemed to be three guys and a girl. 

“We’ll be right with you!” you called. You turned towards the kitchen.  “Jongho, can you take their orders?” Silence. “Pretty please? I need to clean up my station.” you persisted. 

“Fine, yeah,” you heard your colleague grumble. 

As you tidied up behind the machine, you felt as though someone was watching you from the counter. You lifted your head curiously, meeting a pair of inquisitive doe eyes coloured a soft hazelnut brown. The warm eyes instantly turned into friendly half-moons as the boy smiled shyly upon being caught staring. You hurried back to cleaning up your station, hoping to hide the pink tint of your cheeks, but the red shade consuming your ears gave you away. 

Jongho handed you the cups for their orders and walked over to the pastry display. You got started on a hot chocolate and three iced americanos, getting back into your “barista brain,” as you liked to call it. After finishing the drinks, you called out "Three iced americanos, a hot chocolate, and two blueberry muffins!” 

You turned around to grab straws, and you overheard one of the guys say “I’ll grab ‘em, you guys can stay here.” You made your way back to the counter, looking up only to be met with the boy from earlier. Butterflies littered your stomach, fluttering up into your chest. “Oh, um, here are some straws,” you smiled gingerly.

“Thanks. Could I please get a sleeve as well?” he asked, “For my hot chocolate.”

“Of course!”

As you handed him the cardboard sleeve, his hands caught your eye. Not only were they the most beautiful hands you'd ever laid eyes on, but the boy had a heart drawn on the valley of skin between his left thumb and wrist, exactly where you had drawn one on your own hand just a while earlier. He seemed to recognize the message on your palm as well; a confused expression ghosted over his face. Gathering all your courage, you nodded towards his hand and did your best to form a coherent sentence. “That’s—”

“Your heart,” he interrupted, “Right?” 

You giggled softly in response, barely containing your excitement.

“Right,” you smiled down at your feet in an attempt to hide the bashful grin that pulled at your lips. A hand popped up in front of you.

“Nice to meet you, y/n. My name’s Yunho-- Oh, but you know that already, don’t you?” Yunho chuckled sheepishly. You looked up and slipped your hand into his, shaking it gently. His hands were warm, fingertips ever so soft.

“Nice to meet you too.”

[atinytokki]

Dreamer

ii. Mermaid Song 

(Just a reminder that several of Jongho’s thoughts about blame and ways of coping in this work are not healthy!!)

Jongho hated thunderstorms. Where he lived, they were common, occurring several times per week. Ever since he was small, the flash of lightning that invaded his bedroom and the following loud thunderclap that shook the house sent him diving under the blankets with his heart pounding.

But the worst part of the thunderstorm was the fact that it forced Jongho to stay inside.

He had made a horrible mistake neglecting to buy rice yesterday, and compounded with the negative mood of the soldiers’ unexpected visit, the guilt of the incident weighed heavily on him from the moment he awoke.

It was a dreamless sleep— at least if he had dreamed, he didn’t remember it. Feeling unsettled in his stomach, he lay under the blankets for a few minutes just listening to the rain hit the roof tiles and trying to go back to sleep.

The sounds of Father moving around in the kitchen reached his ears and he stayed put until he surmised breakfast was made and finished and Father had moved into the smithy to begin the day’s work.

It had been too much to hope that there would be food waiting for him, though sometimes Father did so after a punishment in a gesture of apology. Today, he must be busy making new weapons, possibly to gain the favour of the Navy this time.

Jongho simply toasted some bread and took it back with him to his bedroom, huddled under the blankets where the thunder could not touch him.

He finished his schoolwork as quickly as he could, plowing on even through the subjects that didn’t come as easily to him so that he could flip through his book of sheet music and try to decipher it.

The book was a secret purchase, one he had lied to Father about, saying it was required for school and managing to get away with it. Lessons or an instrument to put the music to use could not be so easily obtained, however, so Jongho settled for turning through the pages and doing his best to follow along, putting names to symbols and tunes to words.

“A Mermaid’s Song,” he read in a whisper when he turned to the next page for him to scan. There was a short note above the staff that he read as well, curious that an origin story should appear where usually there were only performance instructions. “Sung to me by an old pirate, long ago taken by the sea.”

Excited at the prospect of discovering what to him was nothing short of treasure, Jongho quickly went about discerning the proper key and rhythm for the song before picking out the notes from their intervals and stringing them together one by one.

He was interrupted halfway through by the sound of the front door opening and Father entering the kitchen, and hurried to stow his music away underneath his mattress and check the time.

Somehow it was noon already, midday’s light hidden behind storm clouds, and there was still no rice for lunch. Wincing at the irritated huffs he could hear from his father, Jongho went to peek out his bedroom door at the sight of him trying to throw together a meal.

He stumbled dizzily over himself and had the bottle in his hand, so Jongho swallowed thickly, hoping he hadn’t been seen, gently closing the door and pulling on his shoes.

It was still pouring rain, but it didn’t matter. Jongho couldn’t stand waiting around at home with an angry father while it was his fault there would be no food on the table.

He would just have to go out and buy the rice anyway.

Careful to remain quiet, he unlatched his window and escaped through it, shivering the moment a particularly cold stream of water ran down his back from the eaves of the house. He was a fast runner, and the market wasn’t far. He may even be back before Father finished cooking.

It would have been preferable to bring a coat with him, but instead Jongho tried to run along the cliff face, hoping some overhanging rock would shield him from the bulk of the rain.

Under the tents in town he received some respite, and, shivering, counted out his coins to pay the rice merchant with and prepared to haul the stuffed bags home with no wagon and without letting them be soaked.

“Do you think it will let up soon?” He asked the seller with a small grain of hope.

The man shook his head and pulled his own cloak closer. “My bones tell me it’ll rain all day and most of the next.”

Frowning, Jongho shouldered the bag and sprinted back out into the storm. To make up for the rice weighing him down, he picked up the pace and ran faster, a decision he regretted as soon as his foot caught on a loose rock and he came crashing down face first.

Scrubbing away pained tears, he grit his teeth and rose to his feet again, thankful that the bag had not leaked and returning to the path in the hopes of arriving soon.

He had made a decision and he’d have to live with it. There was no sneaking in through the back this time, front door thrown open and rice bag deposited in the kitchen.

Father was sitting at the table and scowled when he saw his son soaking wet and dripping rain in the entryway, but his expression eased as he took notice of what had been brought.

Wordlessly, he rose to open the bag and cook some of the rice, adding it to the meat he’d already grilled while his son was out and Jongho waited patiently for the verdict.

Father may not be speaking to him at the moment, but he would address him soon, Jongho could tell.

When Father sat himself down with a steaming bowl and finished the long awaited first bite, he finally looked up at his son, still dripping in the doorway.

“Thank you,” he said simply, and Jongho’s eyes filled with happy tears.

Hurriedly he blinked them away and bowed his head respectfully before returning to his room to look for a towel.

There weren’t any clean ones. The housekeeping lady was still visiting the archipelago until next week.

Feeling the afternoon lull take him over with a sudden warmth, Jongho dropped his soaking clothes in a pile on the floor and wrapped himself in blankets instead, holding his eyes open as long as he could but inevitably drifting into sleep as his shivers subsided.

It was nearly nightfall when he awoke from what felt like a very well earned rest. Hungry and craving some attention, Jongho dressed in dry clothes and ventured into the main room to see a sight that spiked his sleep-addled brain into full awareness.

Father was sitting at the table with a scowl again, the bottle in his hand. An empty bottle.

It was too late to reconsider, so Jongho crept forward until those darkening eyes landed on him and narrowed.

“Where have you been all afternoon?” Father snapped, motioning to a bowl of stew that sat, uneaten, on the other end of the table. “I rang the bell for supper and you did not come. Is this how you treat your Father?”

Jongho’s mouth fell open as he glanced at the bowl, and he didn’t know what to say in his defence.

He had made him supper. Father hadn’t done that in months.

“I was… asleep…”

Father scoffed.

“Asleep? I thought to be merciful and show you forgiveness but here you are dragging your feet when you should be thanking me.”

“I’m sorry,” Jongho began to apologise. “I don’t mind eating it cold, I truly am thankful—”

“No,” Father snapped, getting to his feet and snatching up the bowl only to dump it out the window, washed away in the rain. “You missed your chance. To bed without supper, and I’ll see to it you don’t sneak out.”

Father grabbed him by the arm, a sharp pressure in his skin from where he dug in his nails, and marched him back to his bedroom, locking the window and then the door behind him.

Jongho sat, stunned for a moment before falling back on his bed.

He couldn’t believe he had let such an opportunity pass him by.

It was Father’s way of showing him kindness by making him food and waiting for him to claim it, and Jongho had slept through the bell, an ungrateful child.

There was nothing to do now except wait until morning and pray for a second chance.

Jongho had a small stash of oatcakes in a bag in his top drawer saved up for emergencies, and when he’d remained still for an hour and deemed it safe, he tiptoed to the dresser and pulled them out, eating silently.

It wasn’t the first instance of being banished to his bedroom, but the first time in awhile.

Once, Father had been tired of looking at him and locked Jongho in the smithy for an entire day with nothing to eat. He had to be grateful that wasn’t the case this time, and nor was a beating and chores.

Instead, he looked around his room and brushed the crumbs away, settling in to sleep so that at least he could forget his shame.

Sometimes the room was a refuge, sometimes it was a prison. He did not cry. This was his life, after all.

Jongho awoke the next morning sniffling and with a pesky sneeze that wouldn’t go away.

Just as the man in the market said, it was raining still— though less than yesterday— and Jongho had contracted a cold as a result of running around in it.

It was a slow morning again once he arose, and Father had been in the smithy an hour at least before Jongho emerged to make himself breakfast.

Careful to check frequently for Father, he continued poking through his sheet music for the rest of the morning, too wrapped up in the mermaid song to put it aside for school.

“Come beyond the silver flash,” he read aloud in a whisper. “Fear not the grave and sunken deep. Over tide and ocean splash, dream my song and love to keep.”

It gave him chills to sing it quietly with only the silent house and the rain as witness. The song was starting to sound as it was intended, a haunting melody to lure sailors to their deaths.

The sound of the back door sent Jongho scrambling to hide the sheet music in his room, and when the coast was clear to return to the table, he saw Father had left a note for him.

“Buy bread and vegetables,” Jongho read in a pout, trying not to sigh too loudly and pocketing the money that was left alongside the message. So it was another trip to the market.

At least the rain had let up, though cloudy skies remained.

Old woman Soomi happened to be at the bakery when Jongho was, and he greeted her politely with thanks for the recipe she had offered the other day.

“My pleasure, boy,” she smiled at him gently before glancing up at the overcast sky. “Hope all this rain doesn’t force the athletic tournament to be postponed.”

“Athletic tournament?” Jongho perked up at that, mind straying to those runners he’d seen on the beach the other day. They had appeared to be running just for sport, but the thought that it had been a training exercise for an even more exciting event was a pleasing one.

“Yes, the whole town will be turning up for it,” Soomi chuckled at his excitement. “Except you and your busy father. Always holed up in the smithy, you boys.”

“Right,” Jongho remembered, biting his lip as he considered his options. Father would never let him go, it would be better to give up the idea now before he dwelt on it too much. “I suppose I won’t be coming this year.”

“Well, if you’re interested then you should go,” Soomi snorted before bidding him farewell to saunter to another stall. “Life is more than survival, you know.”

Her words stayed with him all the way home.

Perhaps that was what life ought to be, but his life was survival first and foremost. It was an endless cycle of being beaten for being useless, and continuing to be useless because he was being beaten.

Soomi had always been kind to him, ever since she found him wandering in the market, a mere six year old lost and left behind by his father when he couldn’t keep up on the walk home by the cliffs. She’d pointed him in the right direction, that day and ever since.

The confidence to ask Father for permission to participate couldn’t have come from anywhere else.

“You think she pities you for being beaten?” Father said when he finally paused his pumping of the bellows. Jongho had done his best to explain that he wanted to go, hiding behind Soomi’s recommendation in the hopes that Father wouldn’t deny them both, but didn’t know how to respond to such a question.

Father shook his head with a sly smile and continued with his business. He knew Jongho was only inclined to ask at all because he felt supported in that request.

“Old Soomi has lived much longer than you or I, she knows the way of the world. Insolent boys have been punished for generations, Jongho. I was beaten as a delinquent youth and it taught me obedience and discipline. I didn’t wail and look for pity, I took the lesson to heart and became stronger for it. If you’re going to hide behind her skirts, you had better hope she actually wants to defend you.”

It was harsh but true. Even if Soomi knew what Jongho’s life was like at home, there was no certainty she would rescue him, and Jongho had to do everything in his power not to appear in need of rescue.

“Stronger…” Jongho whispered. Father’s speech wasn’t unusual, but the suddenness of it, the way of switching tacks to another conversation, betrayed his fears about something; being judged for beating his son despite how commonplace it was in their day and age.

Jongho had a choice; play it safe and abandon his desire, or use Father’s fear against him, risking greater reward but also greater punishment.

“I do want to be stronger,” Jongho admitted. “I don’t want to be seen as the boy who’s locked in the smithy every day. Let me train and run, not to escape punishment but because I want to be part of this town. I’ll only go after everything else is done.”

Father snorted and put down his sword.

His face was unreadable, just as it almost always was when Jongho was speaking to him of his own volition.

“Very well,” he said after a moment. “Represent the family well, or there will be consequences.”

Not that any of Father’s threats were empty, but this one had much greater impact.

Gulping, Jongho thanked him profusely and went down to the beach to have a run. He had a few hours until supper time and didn’t want to push his luck, even if he was vibrating from the excitement.

There were the cliffs, still a bit slippery from the deluge of days past, but waiting for him to sprint across. He passed his little palm tree and followed the curve of the coast, deviating slightly off the path to run on the beach.

Jongho kept a rhythmic pace with the tune in his head, the mermaid song for some reason instead of one of the many work songs also found in his book.

He slowed down as he reached the very tip of the peninsula, the easternmost point of the mainland, to take a few deep breaths and rest his burning legs. Despite all the lifting of rice bags and dragging of wagons he did back and forth, he didn’t often run as fast and as far as this.

The view was spectacular, and the sound of the wind and waves battering Ulso’s cliffs was striking.

Another sound carried over the ocean to him, and he wondered at first if it was his own voice singing the mermaid song aloud instead of silently like he’d thought he was doing.

The tune was unmistakable and the words could just barely be heard, but Jongho followed along until a cloud crossed the sun and snapped him out of it.

There was no one singing but him, and it was time to turn for home.

___

A/N: What a rollercoaster ride! The chapter took a long time mostly because I took it upon myself to actually write the song for some reason. More spinoff chapters on the way in the near future but let me know what you thought in the meantime, here or on Twitter (@tiny_tokki)

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