#we move on quickly in this Bangtan world

[jmdbjk]

The song “Letter”

Just one thing I want to say...

When Jungkook said the dumpling incident was more than what we’ve been told, that it was serious shit... let that be a reminder that it is possible that not everything we see or hear is the total truth. That everything they show us or tell is us is possibly NOT the whole story. 

It’s not that they are lying to us or giving us half-truths, on the contrary, they want us to know the catalyzing moments. But divulging the less-than-savory details, or details that are too personal, takes away from the point of sharing the moment. I hope that makes sense.

That being said, on the surface and in general, “Letter” is a song for Army. To Jimin, who wrote the song, his music is for the fans in general. He frames the song as one for the fans. We all know what he says is true. ALL of the music is for fans. That’s why they are doing this for a living. And this song is one he wanted to single out as special, and he wanted to offer it in a special way by having it “hidden” on the CD. 

Yet, many interpret the meaning of the song as something else, as is their right to. The song can have multiple meanings to different people. And that is exactly what music is for, to be interpreted in many, many ways that can resonate within us.

Those of us who acknowledge the special relationship he has with Jungkook interpret their relationship along the lines of: this is “possibly NOT the whole story.” 

And Jimin maybe acknowledges that by having Jungkook participate on the song, knowing that the song can now have another more specific and personal meaning applied to it. Jimin knows we know that. They both know we know that. Is there a “level” of this meaning that needs to be applied? No. We all are allowed to interpret it to the level we are each comfortable with.

The general fandom will see it as a special song even more so because another BTS member participated. And that’s it. Which is ok. 

But there are those who specifically do not want the song to be interpreted that way at all in any way shape or form and they spend an inordinate amount of time and energy trying to knock down those interpretations. Why do they spend so much negative energy on that? Who knows? 

Does Jimin need to come out and explicitly explain other meanings for the song? No, why would he? Why SHOULD he? He already said its a song for and to Army. We know where his heart and emotions were when he wrote it. Just because he doesn’t openly explain other meanings, does not mean there is only one interpretation of the song. IT IS ART!

Interpretation of art is the attribution of meaning to a work...giving meaning to a work. This process is subjective, meaning there is no right or wrong way to interpret the meaning of a work. We schlepp our own personal emotional baggage in everything we do and it is through this lens that we view and react to the world and that includes art. 

Where we often get hung up is whether we agree or disagree if the artist’s intention is relevant to how it is interpreted. 

Did Jimin ONLY mean for us to take his literal words as the meaning and then STOP, no other meanings apply? Or do we also include his literal action of having Jungkook, a specific member of BTS, participate on the track as a specific intention? 

If you don’t get it, that’s ok, it is just something that I’ve seen a lot of debate about and now I’ve said my piece.

Keep in mind that Jimin is an emotional animal. He lives, breathes, speaks, expresses himself with emotions. He is not a surface skimmer. He literally wrote songs about his literal emotions. 

For his sake, think deeper and be a good human.

[jiminiesfavouritecolourisblue]

Severance - BTS OT7 CEO au Chapter 16

So did anybody guess what was on the news? I thought it was rather obvious (it’s getting harder and harder to find gifs I haven’t used)

Prev / Next

“Care to explain this Y/n,” Junmyeon says, reaching for the remote and pressing play.

You feel your world freeze, the newscasters lips moving but the thumping in your ears drowns her out. Footage after footage of your dates, the three maknaes and you at the airport, date stamped proving you played hooky, there was nothing you could say to disprove the videos, not when in every single one they steal a kiss.

Your mouth opens but nothing comes out, not even a breath goes in, you’re stuck. You don’t see anything but the screen where the secret you so desperately wanted to keep was aired out for the world to witness. You don’t see Jongin desperately texting Jimin under the desk, what you do see is the channel cut to a newscaster introducing the last woman you ever expected to see, the shock filling your lungs with air so fast it makes you dizzy. Your eyes sting with tears as she starts talking, was this karma? Was this the universe telling you you made the wrong choice, that you should never have fallen for them, that you were too greedy for their love. Was this the price, the consequences? 

“I think she’s hyperventilating,” the voice sounds muffled, your ears feel like they're full of burning cotton but at least someone has the sense to turn the screen off. Baekhyun fills your vision instead, hands on your shoulders with worried eyes on your form. 

“Cars coming to pick her up, back entrance,” you recognise it's Jongin that’s speaking but the word’s go over your head. 

Someone hands you a tissue but you don’t register the gesture until you hear a sigh. Chanyeol gently wipes your tears away, the stern look on his face softening when you look up at him. The sound of the phone ringing sounds so distant, like it was at the end of the tunnel. Jongin answers it before handing it to Junmyeon.

“Namjoon,” he greets through the line, the sound of his tone cutting through the fog you were drowning in. Joonie, you wanted nothing more than to be buried in his arms away from all this, but he wasn’t here. Whatever he was saying though the line made your current boss stare at you with an accusation that didn’t budge.

“We need to get her out without any more commotion,” he says to the others stiffly after he cuts the call. 

“I’ll sort out the employees,” Kyungsoo states walking out. 

The silence that follows is palpable, the lead CEO breaks it with a sigh, and you know it’s due to the aftermath he would have to deal with because of your decisions. He moves to walk past you, but you grab his sleeve before he can. You try not to flinch under his stare, your hands trembling where they hold him. 

“I’m so sorry,” you say as sincerely as you can through a hoarse whisper. He acknowledges your words with a nod before he leaves. You’re quickly ushered to the corridor by the others, the sight of them shielding you like your own personal bodyguards would make you chuckle on any other day, but you were still shaking like a leaf. 

All that work, all those years of making something of yourself, all the sacrifices and it came to this. Your life exposed to the world in a way that would cause it ruin. Your future at e.xo was done, no other company would ever employ you, you could never go back to work for bangtan. Everything was gone. 

—

“Yeah we’re in the car, we got her out safe,” Seokjin says through the phone while Yoongi drives, his eyes glancing at you with worry. 

A question Namjoon asks on the phone had Jin tensing, looking at you hesitantly. Is she okay?

“She’s not saying anything, she’s just shaking,” he sighs, he wanted to say more, how you were staring at the floor despondently, how when Jin tried to hold your hand to comfort you, you tensed and turned away.

The fear in their hearts that you regretted everything you had with them made Jin pull away, all he could do was be grateful they got to you before the media did, and in the tinted vehicle you were at least safe. 

“It’s safe to go back to the mansion,” Jin tells Yoongi when he hangs up the call.

The drive is silent, they didn’t know what to say, everytime they tried the words died before they could form. Security was back in full force at their estate, running out any media outlet that tried to sneak close, their lawyers were having a field day. Not to mention the commotion at the office as they walked out, the whispers conjugated together so loud, not even Namjoon’s glare could silence them.

The gates open to the estate, and Yoongi can hear his heartbeat thumping faster and faster in his ears, it felt like they were coming to an impasse and there was no going back. The car slows to a stop, and as he kills the engine all they can do is stare at you.

Move. You had to move.

You could hear a faint commotion outside, the three maknaes running towards the car but a stern look from Yoongi stopped them in their tracks. Worry, anticipation, anxiety, no one knew exactly what concoction of emotions paralysed them, what made them hesitate to reach out to you.

“Kitten,” Yoongi starts softly, “you need to talk to us.”

That made you move, the door opening without a word in return. Your legs work against you, feeling like lead on twigs, a second away from collapsing. You couldn’t speak right now, your whole body felt empty and yet the weight of thoughts in your head made you need to bury it. You wanted your bed, you wanted to hide, and you wanted to be alone. 

Yoongi shares a look with Jin, the hurt flashing between both of them at your rejection but they try not to take it to heart. You never wanted your relationship with them made public, not yet at least, you weren’t ready for the backlash, but now the choice was taken from you in the most heinous way. 

“Noona,” Jungkook calls for you gently, a sadness in his eyes at the way you were walking with your head hanging low. Jimin holds him back, understanding better than anyone how you were feeling. He used to do the same, when something went wrong, when he made a mistake, he cut himself off from everyone, it would be a mistake to approach you until you were ready, until the voices in your head either broke you or quietened down. 

The steps to the front door took so much energy from you, you didn’t think you had any left. You could feel them walking behind you at a distance, and yet it didn’t feel far enough or close enough. Something inside of you was tearing its way out and you didn’t know if you wanted to be embraced through it or to suffer it alone the way you had before so many times. 

“Y/n,” Namjoon didn’t get the memo, he tries to embrace you but feels you stiffen against him, letting go immediately to look at your face with worry. “Baby girl, we'll fix this, okay? We-”

You push him away and he looks at you in shock, you didn’t want to hear it right now, you were barely holding yourself together. Voices were pounding inside of your head, the same repeated phrases over and over about how all your work was ruined, it was all for nothing, all your dreams, all your efforts. You couldn’t handle anything right now, you just needed your bed and to cry yourself to sleep alone. 

“Y/n talk to me,” Namjoon says sternly, brows knitted at the way you didn’t even look at him. 

He blocks your path when you try to walk past him, why didn’t he understand what you needed right now? You hear him sigh, as if his patience with you was wearing thin. 

“Baby girl, you always do this,” he says, holding onto your shoulders to ground you, to keep you from leaving him. “You shut yourself down, you punish yourself, you push us away and then you break.”

“You can’t do that anymore sunshine,” Hoseok says standing beside you. “We’re in a relationship, we’re in this together, your pain is our pain Y/n.”

They watch you shake your head, bowing your head down so low as they hear the telltale sniffle that turns into a violent sob. Namjoon is quick to catch you in his arms, hushing your softly, stroking your hair until you calmed. All the while guilt ate him up, this was his fault, he could see it in all of their eyes as they watched you fall apart. 

—

The house was solemn and quiet, you had retreated upstairs to your room, Jimin staying beside you while you slept. 

“We underestimated that bitch,” Yoongi breaks the silence with what they were all thinking. They’re all scattered around the living room, Jungkook sitting deep in thought on the headrest of the sofa, Yoongi on the seat beside him. Namjoon sat opposite them with Hoseok on the armrest, Jin pacing the room slowly while Taehyung sat on the floor with his face in his hands. The black face of the TV on the wall stared at them, taunting them with what it held inside. The face broadcasted alongside yours and theirs was one that they barely remembered, but she had the audacity to be interviewed by any news outlet desperate enough for a story. They didn’t want to turn on the TV and see her face. 

“She signed an NDA,” Namjoon says, a headache forming, “we didn’t think she was going to be a problem.”

“That’s where arrogance gets us,” Jin scoffs.

“Flower worked so hard for so long,” Taehyung says quietly, mourning for you. They all knew it better than anyone. 

“We’ll fix this,” Namjoon states, he wouldn’t rest until they did. 

“Namjoon be real for a second,” Hoseok sighs, “we might not be able to fix it.”

“No company is going to take her without an agenda,” Jungkook pipes in stoically.

“Or without thinking she’s a corporate spy,” Jin agrees. 

“We can’t control everyone and everything,” Hoseok finishes, patting the lead CEO on the shoulder sympathetically. 

“And we definitely can’t ignore a problem away,” Yoongi scoffs, staring daggers into Namjoon. 

“Let’s not start this now,” Jin warns, feeling Namjoon’s guilt from a mile away.

“What does he mean?” Jungkook asks, feeling confused. 

“Namjoon’s been burning threats concerning us,” Yoongi continues accusatively. 

“We never opened those letters,” Namjoon argues back, “we don’t know what they contained.”

“Well we know now,” Yoongi says mockingly. He hated when you were upset, the feeling made his own claws unsheath, ready to tear into anyone who was held responsible. 

“We don’t know the two things are connected,” Hoseok tries to defend their lead. 

“Don’t be stupid Hobi,” Yoongi seethes, “Kitten’s whole career has gone down the drain because of us, what the fuck is she going to do if she finds out?”

“You best hope she doesn’t,” Taehyung snapped, his earlier melancholy now fueled by fear. 

“We can’t keep this from her,” Hoseok shakes his head, disregarding the point.

“She’ll hate us,” Jungkook states, terrified it would manifest before his eyes soon. 

“She’ll be angry at us,” Jin corrects him, “but we have to tell her.”

“Not now, it’s too soon,” Namjoon says quickly, his own fear warping his judgement.

“You should’ve opened one fucking letter,” Yoongi can’t let it go, all of this could’ve been avoided if it wasn’t for Namjoon’s stupid stubbornness. 

“What good is bringing that up now going to do?” Hoseok sighs again. 

“We don’t know if it’s connected!” Namjoon yells exasperated. “What we do know is Shin Suran leaked the photos and the story, and she is going to fucking pay.”

—

“So you’re saying the CEOs fired you because you threatened to expose their relationship to HR?” Solar, the newscaster asks her aghast. 

“Honestly, I didn’t want to expose their… relationship,” she can’t hide the disgust in her voice at the word, “but I was concerned for Y/n’s wellbeing, I thought maybe they were holding her job over her head until I found out she was only entertaining them to climb the corporate ladder.”

Both anchors were shocked, the information sending them reeling.

“I mean what self respecting young woman would sell herself like that? Y/n was never a team player, or very good at her job but somehow she was always favoured by the CEO’s. It should have been obvious really.”

“Wow, that’s a lot of information to unpack Suran,” Solar says. “Aren’t you scared of the repercussions, these are the world’s business leads you’re going up against.”

“I only want to convey the truth,” Suran lies through her teeth. “It isn’t fair that the women who have worked hard and devoted themselves to Bangtan corporations are not appreciated or given the opportunities they deserve.”

“But Miss L/n left bangtan corporations,” the other anchor Hwasa finally speaks after having watched the little snake for so long. Something didn’t sit right with her and this woman’s sickly sweet attitude, it stank of deceit and she wasn’t blind to it. 

“I have it on good information that she was sent to spy on the competition,” Suran’s eyes narrow, not liking her tone of voice. 

“That’s a wild allegation,” Hwasa replies, every bit the professional. “I hope you have the evidence to back it up.”

—

“Bangtan corporations are under serious investigation after allegations of corporate espionage came from their former employee…”

She smiles at the screen plating in front of her, the chaos unravelling in so many wonderful ways. The Sun was shining despite the winter air, how many interviews could she fit into one day? Many it seemed, and while the day was over there was always tomorrow to cause more havoc to your life. Now she would sit and bask in the TV light, watching all of her fire ignite. 

She had only gotten cosy when the doorbell rang to her little flat, groaning as she went to the door to answer it.

“Shin Suran?”

The three piece suit should give away something serious was in the brown paper envelope in his hands but she couldn’t bring herself to show any respect to the figure. She sneered and rolled her eyes, this man might’ve looked intimidating but she was currently on a high from ruining your life, nothing was going to bring her power trip down.

“Wi HaJoon,” he continues in the absence of a greeting, handing her the envelope. “You’ve been served.”

“What?” That elicits a reaction out of her, for some reason she didn’t even contemplate there would be consequences for her actions, deluded into thinking she was untouchable.

“You’re being sued for stalking, defamation and breaking the nondisclosure agreement you signed.”

That wasn’t part of her plan, her jaw drops to the ground and she realises maybe she played her cards all wrong. In the violent web of wanting to destroy your life she didn’t realise all her defences were gone. Maybe he was right after all.

—

When you wake up, the sun begins to set and Jimin’s warmth engulfs you. The feeling is comforting but fleeting, unfortunately real life problems don’t fade just because you’re in his arms. You wanted to bury yourself in his hold, have him take everything away until you were ready to deal with it. Jungkook’s favourite grey sweatshirt swallows you whole, his smell calming your senses, you try to focus on it when your mind tries to swim through the thoughts that wanted you to drown. 

The door creaks open, two figures cautiously peaking in whispering to themselves. When Tae notices you’re awake he takes a seat beside you, caressing your cheek in his palm gently, his thumb soothing your skin. His eyes are downtrodden.

Jungkook kneels on the floor next to you, taking your hand in his and covering it with hard kisses, resting his cheek where they intertwined.

You try to get up but Jimin beside you grumbles in discontent, shuffling closer mumbling something under his breath without opening his eyes. A chaste kiss to your shoulder where the fabric hangs off your skin, lets you know he’s awake but refusing to let you go. The gesture brings a small but genuine smile to your face, one that turns into confusion as the commotion downstairs gets louder.

The younger two give each other knowing glances, one you don’t miss.

“What’s going on?” You ask, voice still hoarse from crying.

The hesitation in both of them fills you with dread. Did something else happen? 

“They’re just trying to sort things out bunny,” Jungkook tries to reassure you, “it’s nothing to worry about.”

Despite Taehyung not wanting you to find out, something sickened him at the idea of keeping secrets from you. He knew how the truth always found its way out, and he knew if you didn’t hear it from them, it would have worse repercussions. 

“Tae?” you could see a storm in his eyes, a battle between the loyalty to the others and his love for you. 

“The hyungs…” he hesitates, Jimin now fully awake and sitting up at his deep uncertain tone. 

Jungkook looks at him imploring him not to say it yet, it was going to be too much to deal with so soon after this morning. You grab Jimin’s arm, pulling yourself up closer to Taehyung who now avoided your gaze.

“Guys what’s going on?”

“I’ve been here with you,” Jimin mumbles half asleep, his hair a soft mess on his head. 

“Kookie?” you turn to the youngest who bites his lips nervously, doe eyes begging you not to ask him. 

“You’re worrying me,” your nerves were shot, the trauma from this morning making you beyond paranoid. What could be worse than this morning, what weren’t they telling you. 

“Jimin, Jungkook and I didn’t know,” Taehyung starts slowly, not wanting to put his hyung’s under the bus but he wasn’t going to let them shoulder the blame when they were innocent. Plus when this was over he had a feeling you would ostracise the older four for a while, he couldn’t handle being a part of that. 

“Didn’t know what?” you ask tentatively, urging him to continue.

“I still don’t know,” Jimin grumbles, getting annoyed with the suspense. 

“Namjoon Hyung has been getting letters,” Jungkook says when Taehyung pauses for too long. He sighs, cursing the hyung’s for keeping this from you when he knew the betrayal would crush you. 

“What letters?” 

Something ticks in Jimin’s brain, his sleep filled eyes going wide with realisation. The other day in the office, when the hyung’s went solemn, it was to do with that?

“We think…” Taehyung tries not to stumble over his words, “they were threats, about you or us, but we don’t know because…”

Threats? You’re sent reeling, did Namjoon know this was coming? And he did nothing to warn you, or confide in you?

“Because what?” you breathe, your voice heavy, eyes watering as your thoughts ran away from you. Jimin places an arm around your shoulders, trying to soothe you.

“He burned the letters before he opened them,” Jungkook finishes, feeling a deep rooted shame for his favourite hyung, and for selling him out. 

“Angel…”

Jimin calls after you as you throw the covers off of you, storming downstairs to confront the men hiding things from you. 

“Sunshine-”

“You’ve been getting threats and you didn’t tell me?” 

They startle at your accusation, as right as it was, the four of them confounded until the younger three stumble in behind you. All four hyungs glance at them disgruntled and disappointed, this was not the way to handle things, the thought was hypocritical but justified in their minds. 

“You didn’t tell me?” Your teary eyes pierce Yoongi with so much sadness, of all of them you never expected him to keep it from you, and for some reason it stung the worst.

“Kitten,” he tries reaching out to you, a vulnerable edge to his voice. He would let you scratch and claw at him until you were satisfied, anything to keep you from looking at him like that again. 

“Babygirl it’s my fault,” Namjoon sighs, taking the edge of his hyung and shouldering all the blame. “I told them not to.”

You turn back to him with anger in your eyes.

“Namjoon you’re the lead at work but that doesn’t make you the lead in this relationship,” you snap. “You had no right to keep this from me!”

“I know,” he says, his voice small.

“How long have you been getting these letters?” You ask and he hangs his head in shame. 

“Months…” he replies, “since you left the company.”

You stare at him appalled and it wounds him.

“You have the gall to tell me how to behave in this relationship Kim Namjoon,” Your voice is strained through the onslaught of angry tears. “And you keep this from me?”

“I didn’t know what the letters said,” he says as an excuse, and he knows it’s a feeble one. 

You shake your head in disbelief.

“I thought you of all people would get it Joonie,” the way your voice breaks cuts through him with shame. “You built everything from the ground up, I admired you long before I loved you. So how the hell could you play with my future like this?”

“Baby girl that was never my intention,” he begs you to understand him now, that he didn’t behave nonchalant with a potential threat, he thought he was doing what was best. 

“It doesn’t matter what your intention was! There was a clear right and wrong, and you know it.”

He bows his head again, you were right, he disrespected you when he didn’t discuss the letters with you, you should’ve made the decision together as to what to do with them. But in his heart he thought he was protecting you, protecting your peace and happiness, but all of that was a bubble set to burst.

“We don’t know that it’s connected beautiful,” Jin steps in between you, speaking as softly as he can knowing you were full of rage and sorrow, but he watched Namjoon take the blow and needed to shield him a little. 

“We don’t know that it’s not,” you argued back. “We have no way of knowing, because instead of talking to me about something unpleasant, you guys decided to bury it.”

“Sunshine, I get that you’re upset-” Hoseok tries but the look of incredulous shock shuts him up.

“Upset?” you repeat, the strain in your voice carrying tears. “Everything I worked for, all my dreams, are gone.” 

It was a struggle to get out every word, having to take a breath between each one, but you were determined to. 

“No company is going to employ me, even if they do I’ll be subjugated to whispers and isolation and we know how that worked out last time.”

You sniffle, wiping your nose and tears with your sleeve. You wanted to appear strong but you were breaking down, didn’t they understand what they had done? Didn’t they care? Or were they so comfortable in their gold seats so far above you they forgot about their struggles on the way there?

“I didn’t join your company to seduce you, I wanted to work hard and make something of myself, maybe start my own company one day, but all of that is gone.”

“Kitten,” Yoongi dares himself to try again, to console you even if you pushed him away. He walks over to you, remembering all the times you seeked him out for comfort. It used to confound the others, how Mr Stoic Stone was the one that you reached for, and even though it was unusual for him to step into those shoes, with you it came so naturally. He wanted to be the one you searched for when you needed soothing, he never wanted to lose that connection he built with you, ever. He knew it was a privilege, one he never took for granted.

He hates the way you look at him now, it breaks his heart, those watering eyes showing how truly hurt you were while you tried to control the trembling of your bottom lip, tried to look strong in front of him. 

“Whatever you think is gone, we can rebuild,” he takes your face in his hands, kissing the top of your head softly before looking into your eyes. “I am so sorry for not telling you, but I promise you whatever dreams you had will come true. It's just going to suck for a while and that’s our fault.” 

“We know better than anyone how hard you work sunshine,” Hoseok smiles at you sadly, regretting not telling you. 

“If you want a company babygirl, we’ll get you a company,” Namjoon’s own voice thick with remorse. “Whatever you want.”

“There’s enough space in the office for another desk,” Jimin tries to lighten the mood with a teasing lilt to his voice, but he’s not joking at all. “No one would dare to whisper about our angel CEO.”

You shake your head, removing Yoongi’s hold on you. They didn’t get it. You’ve worked for everything you had, it was how you had always been. You didn’t want to be handed a title you didn’t earn, or have your powerful boyfriends buy positions for you. 

“Why would that be such a bad idea, beautiful?” Jin asks softly. “You’re more than capable.”

“I don’t need anyone thinking I slept my way to the top,” you scoff. 

“Who cares what other people think, Kitten?” Yoongi sighs. “No one can deny you deserve a CEO position.”

You shake your head again, breathes of humourless laughter escaping your lips. They really didn’t get it. It was so easy to say that when you were untouchable to people’s words. 

“You guys made the decision by yourselves to keep this from me,” you state, not looking at them but to the ground. “My career has nothing to do with you, whatever happens next is my choice.”

“Kitten-”

“You don’t have the right Yoongi,” you try to keep the anger out of your voice. “None of you do right now. I need to figure this out alone.”

“Are you breaking up with us?” Jungkook asks in a panic, not moving from the doorway, he would block your exit, he would fall to his knees and beg you to stay. 

“No,” you reassure him with a syllable. “I love you, I always will, I’m just angry right now.”

“And you have every right to be,” Namjoon agrees solemnly. 

“I just have one last thing on my mind,” you frown, an obvious question was left unanswered. 

You face Namjoon, knowing he would hold the answer.

“You destroyed the letters before opening them,” it’s not a question but it sounds like one. 

He nods, wondering where you were going with this. 

“So how did you know they were threats?”

He hesitates, trying to build up the courage to tell you how he knew exactly who they were from. 

“The return address,” Jin answers for him. “It was from the penitentiary.”

The realisation hits you, and for some reason it makes the whole situation so much worse. The accusation in your eyes returns as you gaze at Namjoon. He knew exactly what he was dealing with when he got rid of those letters, and looking at you now he knew he would have to beg for your forgiveness. 

—

Bonus scene flashback:

Dear Kim Namjoon,

You haven’t responded to the last 6 letters I have sent, so either you’re not taking me seriously, or you haven’t read a single one. Both choices are not in anyone’s best interest, I don’t think you realise the situation you’ve put me in, I have nothing to lose. 

The deadline is approaching for you to transfer the funds and secure my release. I am not spending years in jail because of your jealousy. Enclosed are copies of the images I will release to the media, I bet you’re wondering how I was able to get these when you locked me away. 

It seems I’m not the only one you thought you could cross and toss away. For your sake, I hope you make the right choice.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Alexander Pettyfer

“They haven’t responded to a single one of your stupid letters, what makes you think they will now?” Suran scoffs at the news that he sent another. 

“Just be patient,” he replies, the usually clean cut male looking rugged and rough. “We need something out of this other than just ruining their lives.”

“Look, the images I got are proof enough about what that whore is doing, I say we release them.”

“Not yet!” The rise in his voice gets the guards attention, and he takes a deep breath to calm down. Stupid woman didn’t know when to listen, it was unfortunate that he had to use her, although he should count his blessings the day she came and visited for the first time with an idea to take the CEOs down. 

[purpleyoonn]

baby (you complete us) 2

C H A P T E R   T W O

summary: Soulmates were a common occurrence, so common, in fact, that the world sought an easier way to find your other half: A bracelet that would scan your mark and match you with those who shared your mark. Within recent years, soul groups were becoming normal, and your own bracelet said you have seven matches.

Or where you wear your bracelet for ten years, and finally give up the hope you would find your soul group, only for BTS to put theirs on and see what they were missing.

genre: soulmate au, idol au, angst, fluff, eventual smut,

pairing: Idol BTS x Disabled MC

warnings: angst, mentions of depression, disabled mc (Ehlers Danlos syndrome), eventual smut, fluff, lots of fluff, mentions of disability, simp bangtan

chapter warnings: lots of insecurities, upset bangtan, determined bangtan, bangtan become simps, mentions of depression, mentions of disability, negative feelings towards disability, 

masterlist // chapter 1 // chapter 3

taglist: @imnotlauriane  @mageprincess7 @m1sss1mp @0funsite0  @strawberry-moonpies @this-isthe-way @singukieee @btsw1fe @gooooomz  @fluffy-canada-pancakes @carolinexkpop @agusfree @sakurarukas @iamkookiesforyou @skyys-universe @toughbook @plutoneu @whisperssuga @welcometomyworld13 @yuzon3 @wittyreader @jnghs @cyd0129 @exfolitae​ @queen-in-the-shadows​ @nen-nyy​ @pandxthings​ @schniti-is-in-the-house​ @juju-227592​ @jinseartharmysmoon​ @wooya1224​ @ddaeng-angmoh​ @gratefullygrateful​ @rorythme​ @gratefullygrateful​ @kimrona​ @jjjj-ssi​ @maysgarden​ @lovelgirl22​ @doublebunv​ @take-u-2-an0ther-w0r1d​ @reallysparklychaos​ @jayjayy-57​

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Previously on baby (you complete us): 

They had another soulmate.

One who had been wearing theirs for ten years.

One who had been messaging them.

And their last message said they lost hope and were going to take the bracelet off.

After receiving their soulmate notifications, Sejin had gathered them up quickly and brought them back to their dorms. They were all in shock, so many thoughts going through their minds. They didn’t need to be around others as they processed this. Sejin decided he would talk to his team, figure out what the needed to do next.

The boys remained glued to their home, their couches occupied by multiple bodies as none of them moved into their shared room. They had spent the past couple of days reading all of the messages you had sent, their hearts heavy as they read about your life, the good and the increasingly bad over the past four years.

Tissues and blankets were splayed over the room, their faces puffy as they come to the realization that their mate was an army, their songs helping your through the toughest points in your life, only for you to lose hope because of them. To believe that they wouldn’t want you at all.

Their hearts broke and their souls ached.

But they could only imagine how you felt. It did seem as though they didn’t want you, and they were unable to prove otherwise before you lost hope. You spent ten years hoping for them to come, only for them to come too late.

“Hyung…we have to find her.” Jungkook couldn’t help but sob, his grip on Taehyung tightening as he continued to read the messages over his older mate’s shoulder. Jin was behind Jungkook, holding him as he cried out.

Jungkook was your age, and he couldn’t stop himself from imagining your life, your expression as you told them about your days. He imagined his time with his mates, wondering what would have happened if they had found you sooner.

“I know.” Namjoon, too, was having trouble keeping himself closed off. His face was puffy and his face had tear stains marked down his cheeks. He held a pillow to his chest, looking over his mates as they cried in each other’s arms.

He had been messaging Sejin all morning, determined to find you. They started with your profile, the profile picture helping only a tiny bit. They had their social team looking through all social media, looking for a facial match. They also used any information given from your messages to find you.

Yoongi suggested going through info attained from medical records, remembering the man from Soul Connection had said something about it. That there may be connections if the person allowed. Someone on their team was in the middle of talking with the company, trying to get access to those records.

“We will find her, even if we have to make an announcement on Twitter.” The reassurance from their leader helped a little, but when they finished reading your messages, their heart ache turned into determination.

Jungkook was the first, going back to the very beginning and responding to each and every message you sent. The others soon following suit. Messages in some broken English and Korean were sent. It took another couple of days but the team was not able to find you.

Sejin said their best hope was to send out an announcement, and that if you were truly an army, you would see is and hopefully turn to the app. They would send you a message, telling you that they would like to talk to you and sending you the number of one of their translators.

Their only hope of finding you was if you were to see their announcement somehow.

They had to hope that you still wanted them, even if your actions spoke differently.

-*-*-

It had been almost a week since you had taken off your bracelet, consequently giving up the hope you had of ever finding your soulmates.

It was a weird feeling, almost as if you noticed even more the number of soulmates around you, like your heart was still hoping your soulmates would just show up, in front of you, or give you a sign at least that they were looking for you as well.

But you knew that wasn’t going to happen. If it did, it would have happened years ago. Soulmate bracelets had become common a couple years back, and almost everyone you knew wore one.

It was around 9 o’clock am and you were at your favorite café, your work laptop in front of you as shifted through emails, sending ones to trash as you deemed fit. You had a large coffee in front of you, refilled probably twice by now along with an empty plate that once held a lemon loaf slice.

The television played in the background as you listened to the sounds of the café, taking a small break so you don’t end up hurting your eyes even more. You had been there since they opened at five thirty, unable to sleep.

You had been having trouble sleeping since taking off the bracelet, attributing the issue to the different feeling of a weightless wrist. Change was always a motive for your body to have sleeping difficulties, unfortunately.

Rubbing your eyes, not caring about the left over makeup residue, you open them again only to catch sight of the television, one of your favorite kpop groups, BTS, was on it, well a picture of them was. It was followed by a twitter post, the word “soulmate” catching your eye.

You quickly close out your email and head to google, going straight to twitter and signing in. The first thing that came up was the post from the official Bighit account.

Hello.

This is BIGHIT MUSIC.

The collaboration BTS is doing with Soul ConnectionÔ has brought to our attention the presence of another soulmate within the already bonded group. All seven members have responded to the bracelet notification and are waiting for their soulmate to respond.

However, due to some unforeseen circumstances, they have been unable to get any information about their soulmate, as their profile is private due to either personal settings or from not wearing the bracelet.

We are asking that if their soulmate is reading this, that they please answer the messages that have been sent and get into contact with us.

This is of the utmost importance, as now that both parties are aware, soul symptoms are soon to begin and we wish to place importance upon the health of both parties.

Thank you.

The tweet was retweeted by BTS themselves, with the caption, “please help us, army.”

It had your mind racing, wondering if they were your mates, seeing as you had seven of them according to the app. You looked down at your mark, before looking away, a sigh leaving your lips.

There was no way BTS were your mates. Absolutely ridiculous.

Your brain was just trying to save you the heartache of being completely abandoned by your own soulmates, so it was coming up with ridiculous ideas to ease the pain. But it wasn’t going to work, as you were already familiar and comfortable with the idea of pain.

You decided that enough was enough for the day and decided to go home and actually enjoy your day off before your pushed past your limits. You knew them well enough, and always tended to teeter on the line of too much. You couldn’t help it, still kind of bitter about the years old diagnosis.

Picking up food on your way home, you managed to not need your cane, a silent thank you to the sky above as you pushed your door open with your hip. You placed the food on the small side table and your laptop bag on the floor besides your desk.

Just as you moved to open your takeout container, your phone was ringing from inside your sweatshirt pocket. Groaning, you pulled it out after putting your fork down.

“Hello?” You asked into the phone, not even bothering to take a second to check the name on your screen.

“Hey sis!” You sighed, knowing that your food was going to get cold before your sister ever decided to hang up the phone.

“Hey Ken. What’s up?” Your sister, Kennedy, was a fashion editor for some magazine in New York, having gotten an internship after graduation, where they ended up hiring her on. She’d been in New York for over seven years now.

“Nothing much, just saw the news and word on the street is that your lover boys have found their last soulmate. I just wanted to see if I could ease the poor heartbreak that I knew my baby sister would inevitably feel...Unless you have something to tell me?” You rolled your eyes at her, seeing that she hasn’t changed since you last saw her for your dad’s birthday the year before.

“Dude, I am not heartbroken, your dramatic.” You listen as she laughs into the phone. You completely ignore her joke that you might be their soulmate.

“Are you sure? If I remember correctly, just a couple months ago Daniel sent me a video of you drunk and crying because J-Hope posted a video of Jungkook and Jimin laughing.” You cringed, remembering this exact video, and how you proceeded to punch your brother the next morning for sending it to everyone.

“What did you say? “Why are they so smol and cute?” Was that it? No, I think you were pointing out how beautiful Jimin’s eye smile was. Aha! That’s it.” You could tell she was wearing a smirk on her lips, proud of reminding you about your drunken breakdown over Jimin’s smile. You would never live this down.

“Haha. Very funny. If I remember correctly, I still have a video of you on my phone trying to use my cane as a stripper pole and falling down on your ass, flashing everyone.” You bring up her own drunken mishap.

“I thought you deleted that!” She practically screamed through the phone, making your own smirk grow.  

“Now why would I do that when you bring up my own drunk video every couple months. I gotta have something up my sleeve.” It was quiet for a couple minutes, your sister’s breathing the only thing coming through the receiver.

“Okay fine, truce for now?”

“Truce for now.” You repeat back your own little saying.

“But I really did call to check on you. I heard from Daniel that you haven’t been having the best week.” Another sigh leaves your lip as you think of your older brother.

You were the baby of the family, Kennedy being three years older than you and Daniel being the eldest, only two years older than Kennedy. They were both protective of you, of course, but Daniel had seen firsthand what the death of your mother and your medical diagnosis had put you through. Had seen you when you were at your worst when your sister was in New York, unable to get time off to help.

He visited you every weekend, and you had lunch with him every Wednesday, without fail, for the past three years. He took you to doctor’s appointment and was in the middle of helping you to make your home more accessible for when your body was pushed past its limits. 

He offered to buy you a wheelchair, but you declined, saying you weren’t that bad yet. You knew mobility aids were expensive, and didn’t want him to have to pay for it.

“I’m fine Ken. Daniel is just being a worrywart like always.” You dismiss her concerns, not wanting anyone to worry about you.

“You know you can always talk to me about anything, right? I’m always here for you.”

“I know, Ken.”

The conversation only lasted for a couple more seconds before Kennedy hung up, knowing she wasn’t going to get anything out of you. You had closed yourself up those past couple years; Kennedy knew that not even messaging your mates on the soul app was helping anymore. She wondered if you still wore the bracelet, wondered if you had found them or not.

You spent the rest of the day lounging around your living room furniture, unable to get comfy as your hip decided to give you issues. It took three hours for you to finally find a comfy position, only for your mind to decide to linger on your sister’s words.

BTS had found their soulmate, and they were waiting on their soulmate to contact them. Usually, if there was a bond match, the private setting would shift so the matching soulmate could see their profile. The only way that BTS couldn’t see their matches profile but see their picture or send a message was if the soulmate in question was no longer wearing their bracelet or hadn’t worn it yet.

It had your thoughts whirling. It all seemed too coincidental in your mind. The night you take yours off, BTS supposedly finds their missing soulmate through the bracelet. You kept telling yourself that there was no way, that you were just delusional.

But there was a very small part of you that thought, maybe it is me.

And unfortunately for you, that thought beat out your other ones in a competitive battle.

You made your way to your room, to the junk drawer in your dresser that held the bracelet. Once you put it on, you knew your app would update, and you would be able to access your soul profile. If you were their soulmate, on the very miniscule percentage that you were, you would see a notification in your messages.

You held the bracelet in your hands, just observing it, wondering if you were getting your hopes up once again, not sure if you could pick up the pieces this time. After several minutes, you finally plucked up the courage and strapped the bracelet on your left wrist, just over your mark.

Your mark was a single moon phase, the full moon in particular. You were under the impression that your seven mates held the other phases on their own wrists, creating the full cycle. Once you had the bracelet on correctly, you turned to your phone, pulling it out and almost immediately getting the notification that the Soul Connection app had been updated.

You opened it, waited for it to load, and paused when you saw the number 654, the little red bubble sitting at the corner of your messages tab. You couldn’t believe it. You had over thirty notifications, six hundred plus messages in your inbox, and seven matches to your profile.

It had to be a coincidence.

It had to be a coincidence that you had seven matches within the time you had taken off your bracelet, and that they had put theirs on.

You clicked on the messages first, tears coming to your eyes as you scrolled all the way to the top, replies waiting to be clicked on for every single one of the messages you have sent over the past ten years.

You couldn’t believe what you were seeing, needing to rub your tired eyes more than once as English and Korean replies were sent, responding to each and every one of your own messages. Hundreds of apologies written as you scrolled, each one sorry for waiting so long to wear their bracelets.

You moved over to the ‘matches’ button, needing to confirm with your own thoughts what was happening. And there it was, seven matches, their profile pictures and names only confirmed that you were the missing soulmate to BTS.

Next Chapter

[staytinyville]

Stay Alive (35)

BTS poly!ot7 x Reader

Magical Creatures AU

Series Masterlist

Warnings: none

A/N NOT BETA. Honestly, maybe you guys can figure out what some of them are for the cameos but yeah. There are still a couple of more people I will be mentioning in the next coming chapters.

Staytinyville Permanent Taglist

“Do you think Bang Nim will know what to do?” Teahyung asked as the entire group followed Sejin.

He was leading all of them towards a ward in the building, coming up on separate rooms that looked like hospitals. The sliding doors were glass, a good amount in total, some of which were occupied with a couple of people getting injuries treated. 

“Whatever it is, I know we'll be on the front lines.” Namjoon answered the boy. 

“You guys can't go!” You gasped, stopping in the middle of the hallway causing the others to turn to you. “You just got out.” You told Namjoon. 

“(Y/N).” Namjoon sighed. 

“We have been there the longest. Because of that we feel responsible for all of them. It's what we want to do.” Hoseok explained. 

You had just gotten them home and who knows what Hanseol is currently doing. You knew that the moment you took the boys out of there they would double their efforts to keep those they have. It was something you knew was going to happen. You had to go back and take out the others. However you were worried about the boys being caught again. 

“Let's get you boys checked out.” Sejin tried to defuse the tension. “If that is fine with you all.”

“Of course.” Jin answered Sejin, making sure to pull the younger boys along to get into one of the rooms. 

A couple of nurses began to check on the boys one by one. Yoongi, Jin, and Jungkook went first, the others waiting for their turns. 

“Namjoon, why didn't you boys just break yourselves out?” Sejin asked softly, asking the question that was on everyone’s mind. “Why did it take so long?”

“We tried in the beginning but we weren't strong enough.” Hoseok sighed. “And after they started being in more people Hanseol would threaten us with harming the other patients. He even had some of our nurses killed.”

“It was our duty as the elders to protect them.” Namjoon finished. 

“Alright, so why her?” Sejin asked. “Why do it now?”

You pursed your lips, trying not to make a comment about how he sounded. He must have taken notice of your look because he quickly tried to apologize as he sputtered out that he didn’t mean it in any harsh way. You let out a little laugh, trying to tell him it was okay and that you understood what he meant.  

“Aside from the fact that she had something to do with our world, we chose her as our mate.” Jimin told Sejin. 

You blushed at his comment, looking down at your lips pulled over your teeth. 

“Well, thank you.” Sejin smiled, looking at you. “For bringing our boys back.”

“Of course.” You bowed your head. 

A loud ruckus was heard out in the hallway, footsteps rushing towards the door. A younger boy stopped at the door but was pushed into the room as two more came up behind him. He let out a yelp, falling to the floor in a heap, his spade tail swishing behind him. 

“Is it true?” A tall boy with fox-like ears on his head asked.

“What?” Sejin asked, moving to help the boy on the floor up. 

“Is Bangtan really back!?” A beautiful boy asked, lips full like Jimin’s. 

“They'll greet you outside.” Sejin sighed, shoving all of the boys out the door and back into the hallway. 

He gave the boys a bow as they went back to their check ups, wanting to keep distractions away. You followed behind him, curious over the entire place. You knew the boys would be okay, they would find you when they were done. 

Sejin took you all to the lobby of the building, meeting up with five boys who were anxiously bouncing on their feet. 

“They're really popular here aren't they?” You spoke up, walking behind Sejin.

“They were the first group Bang Nim coached.” Sejin began to explain. “The first to create a legacy for a lot of others. When they went missing a lot of people cried and hoped for their safe return. I'm sure they'll be more than happy to see them.”

You turned to the five boys, taking note of their visible attributes that called to your attention. Three looked like regular humans, you couldn’t really come up with a valuable answer as to what they were. There was the blonde haired boy who had asked for Bangtan, the one with the full lips. Next was a boy with red hair and a cute face that made him look younger. The last one had regular brown hair but he had beautiful eyes. 

The last two had features that made it easy to tell they were creatures. While you could guess what one might have been, the other left you a bit stumped. One had a fox tail and ears on top of his head, the one who had started the conversation back in the clinic. The last one had a spade tail and small horns pulling from his head–he was the one that had fallen over. 

“Those boys? Were they trainees?” You asked.

“They call themselves Tomorrow by Together. They are some of the newer covens who trained under Bang.” Sejin told you. 

“Come, I'll introduce you to them. I'm sure they'll be too excited to meet you once the boys come out.” He walked over to them, catching their attention which made them stand in a line at attention. 

“Guys, this is (Y/N).” Sejin introduced.

You smiled at them bowing your head. The fox hybrid quietly counted down before all five of them bowed their heads in greeting and spoke at the same time. “Hello, we are Tomorrow by Together.”

You giggled as they all stood back up, making you tilt your head back just a bit to look at them. “You guys are really tall.”

“The tallest of all the covens.” The blonde haired boy grinned. 

“Please give her a warm greeting. If it wasn't for her none of the boys would be back.” Sejin explained, making you blush. 

“You rescued them?” The spade tailed boy’s eyes went wide. 

“Was it hard?” The brown haired boy asked. 

“Was it scary?” The red haired one followed. 

“You're human.” The fox boy quietly stated. 

You turned to him watching as he blushed a bit from the attention. “Yeah, I am.” You smiled softly.

“You smell like them.” He told you, giving you a knowing look. 

“Ah!” The tailed boy exclaimed. “She's their mate!” He pointed at you. 

They all began to gasp, gushing like excited school girls about you. You began to laugh at their attitudes, enjoying that they seemed to be so childish. You wanted to keep them protected even if they were already adults in a coven of their own. 

“Don't crowd her.” A woman’s voice came from behind the group, pushing the tall boys to the side. “You'll scare the poor thing.”

She was much shorter than the boys, but then again you were sure a lot of people were when it came to standing next to TXT. The lady who had walked in between them was dressed in white, the bottom of her skirt was covered in feathers. In fact the whole thing was poofed out in nothing but feathers. They reminded you of a swan. 

“Sorry, Noona.” They all bowed at the smaller woman, giving her space to come up next to you. 

“Hello, I am Ji-Eun. It's nice to meet you.” The lady turned to you, giving you a bow. 

“You're very pretty, unnie.” You answered, returning the bow. 

“You as well, dear.” Ji Eun gushed, patting her blushing cheeks. She then reached out, taking a hold of your hands in hers. “Thank you so much for bringing our boys back. It means a lot to all of us.” She softly told you. 

“Of course.” You smiled. 

“(Y/N)?” Someone called out to you.

You turned around to find the palest of the boys, catching his eye sparkle as he looked around at the people. “I'm here, Yoongi.” You called, catching his attention. 

“Min Yoongi!” Ji Eun gushed, tears pooling in her eyes as she brought the boy into a tight hug. 

“Hi, IU.” Yoongi murmured. “It's so good to see you again.”

“Me!? What about you?!” IU gushed, watching as some of the other boys all walked out into the lobby. “All of you! You have no idea what it felt like to know you're all home safely. I'm sure your families are being told as we speak.” Ji Eun spoke, nodding her head at the younger boys who had come to see you. 

“Come on.” Jimin pulled your hand along. “Come see our world.”

And so he took you outside of the skyscraper, coming out into the busy street that looked as though it was part of a utopia movie. Everything looked the same as it did in your own world, however there were so many things that set it apart. 

For starters all the creatures and people flying about. There weren't that many cars on the road from what you could see. Some of the people were even seen on unicorns or pegasus. Another was the way each building was structured. You would assume it had to do with the fact that everyone was much different than back home and they would need to accommodate for size. 

“It's much more advanced than mine.” You spoke up, seeing certain technologies that didn’t exist. 

“Because we have abilities to do that.” You turned around, giving Hoseok a smile. 

“It's still modern.”

“What? You didn't think we lived in stone houses or cottages, did you?” Yoongi snorted. 

“Welcome to Seoul.” Namjoon rubbed at your waist, catching your attention. “Our Seoul.”

“Jeon Jungkook!” You were startled at the loud shout from a boy that had come out of the building. “I knew it was your smell!” 

You turned around to catch sight of a large boy that reminded you of Jungkook. They didn’t look the same but he gave off the same energy. 

“Mingyu!” Jungkook gasped, grunting just as the man's body slammed into him. 

“Jungkook–” You began to worry, about to head toward the two wrestling men but were held back. 

“He's fine. They used to be packmates.” Taehyung explained, intertwining your fingers with his. 

“Like in another coven?” You furrowed your eyebrows. 

“No.” Jin answered. “Werewolves live in packs. They can leave or stay. Jungkook came here and found us.” He smiled. 

Yoongi led all of you across the road and to a park that had large trees on either side of the sidewalk. You watched as creatures of all kinds rode on bikes or walked along the path. Even four legged creatures walked around–some taller than you and some the size of fleas. 

“It looks just like home.” You spoke up, looking up at the flowers the grew on the trees. 

“Essentially we are a mirror world to yours. We have all the same countries and the likes but with magic.” Hoseok explained. 

“We better go home for the time being. At least until Bang calls us back. Let's go see our families before all else.” Namjoon stated after a moment. 

“But what about (Y/N)?” Taehyung asked, hugging you from behind. 

“We can take turns.” Namjoon answered. “I'm sure our families will want to meet her.”

“Let's make the arrangements then.” Jimin explained. 

“My family lives here in Seoul.” Jin smiled beautifully. “See those mountains?” He pointed to the mountain range that you knew back in your own world. “I'll be taking you there.” He told you.

You thought about how much things didn’t seem all that different. However you didn’t know what life was like for their families. You did begin to worry just a bit about meeting their families, but seeing the grateful smiles and teary eyes made you glad you are getting the chance to be here with them. 

“Sounds perfect.”

Series Masterlist

@h3arteyes4mingi , @fangirling-all-the-way-tbh , @rinkud, @rln-byg , @singukieee ,  @hoshi-is-ult-bbg , @ldysmfrst , @k-p0p-4ever , @shadowyjellyfishfest , @forestsquirrel , @juju-227592 , @alienchickenpoopp , @dreamerwasfound , @afangirl91 , @psiphidragon , @puppyminnnie , @girl-nahh-two , @shyloh-the-cornsnake , @oemmi2005 , @ollyoxenfrees , @whynotlarene , @beeltsumuu , @cryingpages , @milopenne , @belikejk , @thatonedemigodfromseoul , @woozixo, @serveruslovebot , @vintageoldfashion ,

Are you guys being tagged?? Please tell me if you are just in case I need to fix something.

[blog-name-idk]

The Plot Twist | 01

Summary: Once upon a time you would have jumped at the chance to live the idol girlfriend life. The cameras, the action, the whirlwind romance. But what was once a dream has now become your worst nightmare, and you fully intend to fight the universe as it repeatedly conspires to set you up with your seven perfectly good soulmates from Bangtan Sonyeondan.

In which we punt Y/N into all the fanfiction tropes and you do your feral best to subvert the love story.

Because nani the fuck, you are The Plot Twist.

Pairing: OT7 X Fem!Reader

Genre: Soulmate!AU, crack, humor, idol!AU, light angst, slow burn, romantic comedy, just a fun silly old time

Rating: 18+

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AN: Hello all!

This is a fic that is being co-written by @blog-name-idk and @eserethriddle (who also has their own crack/soulmate subversion AU which is INCREDIBLE and HILARIOUS go read it). The inspiration for this fic was that one meme about the anime protagonist avoiding their fate, and then it became a monster. We are having a great time writing this and we hope you enjoy it as well!

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Chapter 1: "What are soulmates, even?"

A prevailing belief amongst the aging population of overbearing parents is that an unattached woman, of average birth and social standing, professionally situated in one of the high-rise buildings in modern-day Seoul, must be in natural want of three things the very morning she turns twenty-five: an envelope of birthday money, a spa coupon, and a blind date prospect. Society’s elders allege that the advent of the twenty-fifth age prompts the rightful transition of the child-minded miss into a full woman, the barest hints of her girlish whims to be cast aside for her foray into the next, imperative stage of life.

Ha! Whatever the hell that next stage is, you have absolutely no care, no inclination to find out. Altruistic as they pretend to be, those very same elders are possibly bored, amateur matchmakers, or worse: aspiring grandparents.

You have your own priorities. You're living the good, simple life of binge-eating all the snacks you can now afford, buying questionable decorations for your single-bedroom loft, and, with undeniable consistency, sleeping in and gaming at ambiguous hours. Half-baked attempts at health fads and investments in miracle under-eye creams notwithstanding, you're barely halfway through your twenties but already living the dream!

Whatever that happens to you after this point? Unimportant. You have all the time in the world and your inner child to appease.

Heavy footfalls thump across the wooden floor of your bedroom, abruptly pulling you from the safehaven of your subconscious. The shrill, scraping noise of your floor-to-ceiling curtains being pulled open flag your internal alarm, but the matronly scolding that greets your senses, voiced in a too-familiar hometown dialect, subdues it just as quickly as it comes.

Burying your face into your pillow with a weak groan, you resign yourself to the loss of another wonderful morning spent in bed.

You should have known this would happen. As long as this woman breathes you will never know true peace.

“Eomma.” You scowl, throwing your blanket to the side as you sit upright on the bed. “This is exactly why I moved out.”

“Bah! Look at you!” your mother scoffs as she takes in your bedraggled appearance. “I booked you an appointment at The Deluxe and instead you want to waste it?” Busying herself all over the room, bending over and picking up litter – the remains of your night's valiant efforts – she crows, “And all these junk food wrappers on the floor! You pigged out, playing those games all night again!”

Well… yes, there was no denying that. It had taken you until early hours of the dawn (and three much needed, middle-of-the-night, rage-reducing convenience store trips) to reach your current savepoint in-game. Although it seems highly unlikely that your mother would be impressed by your latest feat at Super Mario – Kaizo, because somewhere inside you rests an unlovable, masochistic monster – you still cannot find it in yourself to want to change the way you had spent the previous night given half the chance.

Your mother, bless her old-fashioned heart, is simply predisposed to worry about your dubious gamer-slash-working-girl lifestyle, which, not only being within her rights, is also completely understandable! So as long as you kept up visible effort at maintaining the “beauty sleep and charm regimen” she swore by, she usually fell somewhere between unbothered and complacent.

But no. Not today.

"What did you threaten the landlord with to get the key this time?" you query under your breath, too quiet for her to hear. Sleep-addled as you are, you still have some sense of self-preservation.

It just… doesn’t help that your whole face looks as puffy as it feels. Judging by the tight set of your mother’s mouth also reflected by your bedside mirror, her slanted eyes pinned on you, you're sure she’s set to try and advertise the benefits of gua sha within the next minute.

Clearly, getting your own apartment had afforded you more freedom, but not the complete detachment you had been hoping for. And that was fine – every so often you do have the solo-living blues and miss her grapevine chitchat – it just isn’t apparent to you now in your half-comatose state, berated even before you have a chance to obtain caffeine.

Sighing in defeat, you move up and lean against the headboard. Your swollen eyes try to peek past the door frame, to no success. There’s an undeniably hopeful lilt to your voice when you ask, “So appa’s here, too?”

“Ha! That man drank himself silly, crying all night long!” At the mention of your father, your mother’s tone transitions from frenzied to fond, soft mirth dancing in the brown of her eyes. “‘Starting tomorrow she won’t be my girl no more,’ he’d said! It was a right mess! Your uncles had to help me carry him home…” she prattles.

Rounding the bed as she makes her way to you, she pulls you close to her chest, surrounding you with the comforting, familiar scent of her – and your – favorite laundry detergent and the faint smell of the kimchi she had for breakfast. She places a doting kiss on the top of your head then assures you in a rather soft murmur, “Sorry, sweetheart. He’s not here. He was so down he couldn’t even get out of bed, but he’ll call you later when he feels better, I’m sure.”

“Alright,” you concede, melting into her embrace and choosing to let her love bloom in your chest instead. Sometimes you complain about her lightning-fast mood changes from holy terror to loving mother, but after twenty-five years of being your appa’s girl, you figure you can give her this one morning. You snuggle into her. “Thanks for coming over, eomma. I can already smell the seaweed soup.”

“Of course, dear. I heated it up. Happy birthday.” She angles your face upward and pinches your cheeks.

You groan and paw at her to fight her off, but the playful moment is broken when she holds your face hostage and threatens very seriously, “If you don’t make it to the appointment, I’ll drive you to that speed-dating event in Hannam myself. I know for a fact they’re taking walk-ins tonight.”

“But eomma…” you whine, feeling like a fool for letting her motherly love lull you into a false sense of security, “I’m the birthday girl! Shouldn’t I get to decide my itinera–”

A familiar gleam flashes in her eyes and you immediately pinch your lips shut.

You may have gotten your father’s dimpled smile, but the stubborn fire in your spirit, the fierce glow of your gaze… These are the attributes that make you a famed corporate demon and Nintendo speedrunner.

These traits are also definitely, absolutely, undeniably from your mother. And alas, she has had more years and recognition in perfecting her technique.

With the Hyundai car keys twirling around her index finger, you just know she’ll make good on her threat. Your mother, dramatic as she can be, is bull-headed enough to follow through on every ridiculous warning she makes.

Another quality you yourself have inherited.

Glancing at the clock, you scramble off your mess of sheets and pillows and hastily set your feet onto the hardwood floor. Chuckling nervously as you avoid the course of consoles and controllers strewn about the room, you wonder aloud, for no reason at all, “The appointment has a fifteen-minute grace period… right?”

┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

You don’t know what happened after stepping into The Deluxe, not exactly. Scrambling past the morning rush on foot, desperate to avoid all kinds of traffic in your anxious, sleep-deprived state, you barely even recall getting to the spa’s reception area in time.

Upon confirming your appointment, a chic lady handed you a satin robe and ushered you into a private room, pointing you to your assigned spa bed with a gentle, amicable smile. Hypnotizing oils and calming tones sang to your senses, beckoning you to slumber with the promise of warmth and safety. The moment the lights dimmed and the massage therapist placed her hands on you, kneading your stiff shoulders, total exhaustion had taken over and you’d blacked out. An instant, indisputable K.O.

When you woke up it felt like you had re-spawned. Misplaced and mistakenly rearranged, put back together in a whole different body. You weren’t even sure if a body spa was all that had happened… You wonder for a moment if you might have been secretly brainwashed and implanted with a trigger command to kill an unsuspecting prime minister somewhere down the line, but you figure the gods have something else planned for a plain shut-in like you. Surely something less cinematic?

Seeing your reflection in the mirror, your split ends gone and your hair somehow now highlighting your best features, your face made up… Well, now it's clear that a lot more had happened to you. Your skin feels creamy to the touch and smells like rich patchouli, your nails are trimmed and painted ballet pink. You doubt their in-house aestheticians had taken one look at you – dehydrated and soulless to the brim – and voluntarily offered their services… Perhaps your mother did splurge and book you the full blowout package.

In that case, considering the luxurious upkeep of The Deluxe, you send your mother a heartfelt message of thanks followed by a cheerful selfie before finally stepping out to stroll through the nearby streets of Yongsan.

Unlike your usual self, you actually feel good. Very, very good. Beautiful, and rested.

Who wouldn’t love turning twenty-five if this was all it entailed?

As you make your way across the uptown plaza, the phone in your tote bag vibrates suddenly, chiming its innocent, dulcet tones. You stop, retrieve the gadget, and stare at the institution-registered number on the display screen of your phone before clicking to accept the call.

“Hello?” you answer tentatively, hoping you're not about to get called for jury duty.

“Good day. Is this L/N F/N?”

“Yes, but who…?”

“I am Junior Liaison Officer Choi Mijin from the Ministry of Korean Domestic Affairs. I understand you turned twenty-five today, L/N F/N-ssi. In accordance with Republic Act 134340 promulgated January of this year, this is your mandatory communication from the Soulmate Registry Department. May I proceed with the orientation, or is this a bad time?”

“Huh?”

Did she just say soulmate…?

You blink once. Just ten meters from where you stood, a squealing toddler startles and chases away a flock of unsuspecting pigeons perched on the brickstone plaza, wings fluttering against air and cobble. The cacophony washes over you in a raucous echo.

You blink again, stupefied. “Sorry, what?”

┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

“I understand this must be confusing for you. Although our record here indicates that your parents are soulmates, L/N F/N-ssi?”

“M-My parents?” you stammer. There was that word again!

Despite your obvious bewilderment, Junior Liaison Officer Choi Mijin remains unfazed. Not missing a beat, she draws in a quick breath and launches into a clearly scripted monologue: “Historically speaking, the Soulmate Phenomenon was first observed to affect a significant percentage of the adult human population by sociological groups and academic societies. Throughout the years, in tandem with the discoveries of international research institutes and medical community programs based locally, the national government has authorized a domestic agency to advise the public on matters that directly concern their health, relationships, and cosmological well-being. The current research consensus theorizes this phenomenon to be amplified by genetics, meaning that those with parents who are soulmates are highly likely to experience the phenomenon themselves. On these grounds, to offer you a better civilian life, we at the Soulmate Registry Department would like to confirm if you, L/N F/N-ssi, have been experiencing symptoms relating to this phenomenon…?”

You don't reply, locked in a cage of dumbfounded silence. Junior Liaison Officer Choi Mijin simply continues as response, “If so, I am pleased to report that cosmic interference will now rise to thirty-eight percent, with a ten percent margin of error per day, per soulmate–”

“Cosmic interference?” you interrupt, still quite lost in disbelief. "Per soulmate? What?”

"It's possible to have more than one soulmate," replies the desk worker, matter-of-fact. In rehearsed evenness, she elaborates, "It is the department's official advice for soulmates to initiate friendship at first introduction. Otherwise, aggravated cosmic interference can be expected, and may even escalate to public duress."

“Aggravated…? Duress? Uh, give me a second.” You pinch the flesh of your arm. “Ow.”

Eventually, after getting some of your thoughts in order, you manage to ask, "But what if I answered that I wasn't experiencing any of the symptoms? That I don't have a… soul-mate?" The word slides weird and heavy off your tongue.

"Ah. In such cases, please do not be alarmed. The natural implication is that you may continue to live life as usual," the girl's tinny voice reassures. "If you do not have a soulmate then you will not be subjected to visual, somatic, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory, or gustatory anomalies. This kind of life is plain, but also advantageous, in its own way."

…Too much. This is just too much.

“But what if I do? What if I do have a soulmate, but I don't want to acknowledge it? What if I want to keep my life as it is?"

Choi Mijin pauses, not having a prepared response for the first time.

"Hm? Let me look that up." After audible typing noises and the near-infinite scrolling of her computer mouse carrying over, she finally speaks again. "Hmm. Nah. Nope. Not in our F.A.Q.’s. I wouldn’t not advise against that, no.”

Those were so many negatives you don’t even know what had been implied in the first place.

“I could forward the call to my supervisor," Mijin suggests, trying to be helpful. “The average standby time is one hour and forty minutes. Do you want me to?”

Massaging your temple with your free hand, you attempt to ignore the blooming headache ruining your prior good mood. "I… guess not? I’m not experiencing anything, Choi Mijin-ssi. That just means I don’t have… a soulmate… right?”

Mijin makes a grunt of assent. "Correct. If you did have a soulmate, you’d have to submit forms DR-2a and FS-3c to our main office in Hongdae. There are housing subsidies, minimal tax deductions, and life insurance programs that can be applied for.”

You do not know what else to say. Of course bureaucracy would somehow be involved in the systematization of the soulmate phenomena. You clear your throat and settle for, “Ah.”

“For now, L/N F/N-ssi, your status with us is PR - Pending Registry. Please confirm your status with us in person within the year, else the aforementioned benefits are considered irredeemable. Late registration is prohibited by the Ministry of Korean Domestic Affairs. This is only to ensure civilian and public safety, you understand?”

“Um.”

You look down, stare at your sandaled feet.

You can feel your toes, yes. You're alive, yes. You look at your hands and see all five fingers.

This is real life, yes.

“Yeah, okay. I understand… I think. Hmm. Yes.”

“Great. And, ah, happy birthday. I guess. Twenty-five sure is… something.” Ever since the beginning of the conversation, it is only at this moment that the liaison officer’s tone betrays her professional disposition. Despite your inner turmoil, you do feel for the girl on telephone duty as she sighs and says, “I’m really not paid enough for this.”

The line goes dead, and you’re left to pretend your world has not just shot off its axis.

┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

Kim Namjoon loves the chaos that is his fucking life.

It’s just. He constantly struggles to be the pillar of peace in the middle of it all.

"What are soulmates, even," whines Namjoon. "People who share the same taste in music? People who finish each other's–"

"–sandwiches?" Jeon Jungkook suggests, throwing a hopeful look at the snack in Namjoon’s hand.

Namjoon sighs in defeat and tosses the gremlin his sandwich. It’s gone in seconds.

No, really. Namjoon loves his life. Despite the near-chronic muscle ache and subtle paranoia that comes with baring his artistic, musical persona at a global scale on the daily, Namjoon still truly believes his life is wonderful. It’s meaningful, it’s spontaneous, and he never feels stuck. In fact, he gets to wake up assured that the world has something new planned for him. He gets to navigate life with a profound sense of purpose each day because he gets to rise from bed, head to the bathroom, take a look in the mirror and complain, “Which one of you did this bullshit?!” in countless, exasperated variations.

Because he is truly, utterly blessed.

Namjoon collapses against the plush armchair and rests his legs on the coffee table (yes, like a neanderthal), reinvestigating the faint bruising he’d found this morning on his limbs. Reaching over, he presses on his blemished skin and feels nothing.

“Taehyung’s been practicing cartwheels again,” he realizes.

The entirety of it had overwhelmed Namjoon, at first. Despite his height, he’d acted like a giddy kid about it, because nobody else in his family had – or even seriously regarded the concept of – soulmates. The library books he’d consulted said he was unlikely to experience the phenomena for himself, and so he’d thought what was happening to him was some type of ghost experience, shamanistic punishment, or hallucination that accompanied the grievances of becoming older. That his mind had finally reached its breaking point. Since he was, after all, for the past ten years, what people would refer to as, overworked.

Mm-hmm. Indeed.

From Ilsan to Seoul, desperate only to chase his dream and share his love for the written cadence, he’d found six of the most precious, talented, hardworking, beautiful people he would be happy to maim and kill each godforsaken already-late-for-our-schedule morning instead. It had been a running joke amongst the staff that the group only survived their initial years in the industry through their unmatched chemistry, but once the youngest of them all – Jungkook – turned twenty-five? Everything clicked.

The team wasn’t just a team.

Namjoon still thinks about it a lot. The evolutionary metaphysical logistics of it all. How, upon turning twenty-five, the human “cosmologically matures,” and with the prefrontal cortex of the human brain fully developed, its high cognitive reflex for recognizing patterns in daily life is traded for identifying patterns in the amalgamation of the universal consciousness instead.

It’s some high-level, fucked-up, oddly wholesome matrix shit.

Along with its regulations, the national registry for soulmates had only been established earlier this year. And though Namjoon would have appreciated any primer on the shared experiences he’d soldiered through with the boys, it was nothing short of a miracle that they had all met, grown, and gotten this far together since the beginning. In place of scars they had anecdotes of each other, kept and cherished all the same. Mountains of memories, good times and bad…

A decade. Ten years since they had shared their first greetings at a rundown garage, bright-eyed with the single aspiration of producing heartfelt, healing music.

Ten whole years.

The matter at hand is what happens now. With their original ten-year contract fulfilled, all the shows and radio stations only seem capable of talking about (read: dissing on) Bangtan Sonyeondan. So-called “experts” and industry seniors hinging on their disbandment. Like the seven of them had made it to the top, and now was high-time to let the accolades go and freefall.

Namjoon wants to scream and curse and tell them all off and yet…

All seven of them are at a standstill. One wrong move could push all seven of them off the ledge, off the pedestal of their own making. Their contracts are hybridized now, solo and group opportunities taken into serious consideration. Clauses had been inserted for mixed agency projects, brand endorsements, business ventures, and, most importantly, well-earned rest.

The immense physical and emotional battery of being in an idol boyband, the relentless media scrutiny, the hardship of being isolated and away from home – none of them wanted another ten-year repeat. The legal discussion of it had been fruitful, but in the aftermath the grueling effort had sucked the – bear with him on this – soul out of them.

And it wasn’t just Namjoon. At the latest dinner everyone had admitted to feeling… off. Petty bickering had been frequent lately, uneasy afternoons as well as uncharacteristic detachment. Moodiness. Namjoon’s afraid to put a name on it, but it doesn’t make it any less true.

Could depression be shared through their soulmate bond? God, Namjoon hopes not. So many things could happen, and this time, no amount of planning makes it seem possible to control. It feels like something else. Something familiar but new and oddly foreboding.

Well. Whatever the hell it is, Namjoon doesn’t like it. He doesn’t like it one bit.

┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

Instead of attending the blind date event for dinner, you find yourself standing at the porch of your parents’ diner instead.

Your father hurriedly shuffles to the doorway to usher you in, struggling to hide his excitement with the bogus scowl he plasters on his face.

“Young lady, why are you here?” he admonishes. Deciding to act preoccupied, he starts wiping down the tabletops, grumbling all the while, “Shouldn’t you be at that event in Hannam? Your mother said you wouldn’t have the time…”

You want to march over and hug your appa. You know what he’s really asking, why he’s glancing nervously past your shoulder. You’re here? Does that mean you’ve met the one who will replace me as your most important person? The government people nagged us about registering and they said in the future you might find yourself in this soulmate business too and you’re my little girl but… are you still?

You playfully nudge him by the shoulders with a bump of your own. “Naw, but don’t tell eomma I skipped it.”

Your father's lips twitch but then settle into a secretive smile. You both know that The Madame would drag you back by the scruff of your neck if she knew. And possibly send your father to the doghouse.

For some reason you can’t fathom, it frightens your mother to see you living the bachelorette life so well. Despite their being soulmates, her opinion is at complete odds with your father's, who basks in the joy of being the most important man in your life. And while you can kind of understand where your mother is coming from, chasing after boys… filling your heart with sweet nothings and butterflies… You’re not thirteen anymore. You're past that phase now. You know better than to put all of your romantic hopes and dreams into something that will inevitably let you down.

“Maybe that kind of thing isn’t for me, appa.” you admit. “You and eomma found each other, that’s good enough for me.”

Your father glances at you as he flips the store sign from open to closed, and says, solemnly, “Wildflower, you never know what the universe has planned.”

You take a deep breath, shoulders pinched. “But…”

“But what? But you don’t want love?”

“Appa…”

Your mother walks in through the backdoor. When she sees you next to your appa, her eyes shine with happiness.

They’re your eyes, too.

Your father hums. “Look at you. The best of both of us.”

Because It’s fine. You’re fine. You don’t need a soulmate. Your happiness couldn’t possibly be dictated by a cosmic phenomenon. Your life is beautiful, and simple, and enough. The things that you have, the love around you – they’re already more than what you deserve.

You pluck off a spare apron and help out with the rest of closing. Your father brings out his special blend of makgeolli and leaves you in-charge of hotpot prep for dinner. Drunk in just two bottles of soju, your parents compete about who had cooked the better seaweed soup, crooning absurd versions of the happy birthday song until you yield and promise to stay the night.

Chatting with them, laughing yourself to tears, you completely miss the double-decker bus that passes out front.

Unlike most city buses, this one has its exterior gorgeously laminated in purple, black, and gold. The vehicle is sleekly rendered with congratulatory greetings for the tenth anniversary of an all-male idol group, along with well-wishes of their fans upon the announcement of their individual pursuits as artists.

Your mother squints quizzically at the fan-made bus as it passes, an arm lifting to point it out to you. In her drunken haze though, she barely manages a garbled whine before her head bows and drops onto the table with a soft thunk.

┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

In the backseat of his custom-interior Palisade, Park Jimin groans, letting his face fall into his palms.

How is it even possible to get stood up at a speed-dating event? When he’d gotten there, everyone had already been paired up, and sure, work had held him up and made him late, but weren’t people supposed to turn up no matter what? Damn. Maybe the organizers were right. Maybe he is at the age and status nobody wants to be matched with anymore.

God, Taehyung is going to make so much fun of him for this.

The only silver lining is that this means Namjoon and Sejin can't chew him out for being "irresponsible" and "putting himself in danger." But come on, no one would believe that a member of BTS would have to resort to a speed-dating event. When he's bare-faced the worst that could happen would be for someone to say he kind of resembles Park Jimin. Probably.

Yes, he has six great soulmates he loves with all his heart. But he loves five of them like brothers. He does want something more, and it's gotten to the point where seeing an old man pushing his wife's wheelchair brought him to tears. Or as Jungkook would say – he wants a soulmate that makes his privates happy, not just his heart.

Is it that so much to ask for? He knows he’s already lucky. So lucky, far luckier than most of the world. He's blessed to have one soulmate, let alone six. The success of BTS wouldn't have been possible without everyone's hard work, but there are many groups that work just as hard and never see the light of day.

Maybe he just needs space. Maybe he should get his own apartment, spend some time outside of the house he shares with his six partners in crime. Somewhere he can just be Park Jimin, a boy looking for love, and not Jimin of BTS.

With a renewed sense of purpose, he grabs his phone and starts looking at listings.

┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

Masterlist | Next

[namjooningelsewhere]

War Of The Hearts: #8

✽Pairing - OT7 x reader (DJ) and OT7 x Lily

✽Word Count - 10.5k

✽Ratings - 18+

✽Genre(s) - Mafia Au, Angst , Fluff, mentions of smut.

✽Trigger Warnings - Mentions of Death, Mentions of Trauma , minor alcohol consumption, mentions of torture and shootouts and mentions of bloodshed, Mentions of Drugs, Attempted Murder, A little manipulative behavior, A shootout, a lot of cursing, There is a little bit of torture in here so please please avoid this if this triggers you in any way.

✽Summary - You’ve been lurking in the shadows, protecting the seven of Bangtan even if it means you must give your own life. After all, that’s what you do when you are in love with someone irrevocably. That pain seems to be minuscule in light of their safety. But it was never about you, for all you are is a speck of dust in the universe they have created for them and their girlfriend. Your heart’s at war, but it’s fine, you can smile through the pain as long as it means they smile- for her.

✽A/N : Its been a while since i updated isnt it? I know, But work has been crazy and a lot is happening at that front. But yes i ended up writing it while i was waiting for my flight. It may or may not be a little unedited, So please forgive me. But im still struggling with the writers block so, This update made me so happy that finally i wrote something. So we are near to the end, Two more parts to go and one more character entry. please do let me know what you think about it, Your comments and asks literally mean the world to me. Let me know if you want to be added to the taglist.

✽Taglist: @brimal @2ne1unni @shatzkrinslinzki @zae007live, @gukieater @tinyoonsblog @skylievin @2ne1unni @lovelgirl22 @euphakid @embrace-themagic @didi-9310 @loisje123 @iamhereforbts @silscintilla @2ne1unni @rp171198 @aboredboredboreduniverse @blaaiissee @top-crop @sa7kou @chhungi-bawihtlung @aquariushoesss @definitelythinkimanalien

7mer @babycoffeefire @emoskytime8 @hob3yw0rld@motivatedprocastinator @speedyqueendaze @sugajinny @thereaderwholovesyou @btspurplesky @skz-jeha @theestrangeddreamer @success1009 @militrybarbi @afangirllikeme-blog @celestialentitiesss @daydreambrliever @bibebts @dreamamubarak @kimsaerom @sa7kou @veronawrites @bt21chim @cutiepat @jooniebub @shadowyjellyfishfest @mageprincess7 @jiminbolala @impossibilitydesign @xtayxx​ @ cherryluvhobi @knjsbae

✽Part Seven - Here

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ 

The events that had taken place today had left you with a lot of questions, But more than you it seemed like the two men with you had the most questions. Hoseok and Tae seemed a little off after a while when the adrenaline had worn off.

Lily had been safely put in the backseat of Hoseok's car and the two just stood a little distance away from the car, their bodies present physically at a distance. But mentally it looked like they were both inside with her. You observed the two men from far away. There were no words being spoken to each other, but they knew what the other wanted to say.

You debated for a few minutes about going and talking to them but you couldn't exactly gather the courage to do so. You were still in the dark too. Everything that had happened so far was too vague. You had no idea why she did all of this. What were Ivanovs doing in the equation? And more importantly, what was the story between Yulina aka Lily?

You decided to ignore your doubts for the moment and go to the two men who had now moved onto the hood of the car. Taehyung stood beside Hobi with a blank expression and the older male just sat on the hood of the car. He looked deep in thought and a pained expression on his face.

You touched Hobi's shoulder and the man flinched but settled quickly when he saw it was you. "You okay?" He nodded his head in a no and you took a seat beside him. Taehyung was beside Hobi in a fraction of a second when he saw him saying no. You placed your hand on his shoulder and that kind of broke the barrier for him. Tears started streaming down his face and you and Taehyung placed your hands on his. For the first time in a while, you felt the courage to hug him and the strong feeling of strangling lily started growing in your mind the way hobi hugged you back. You could feel his tears streaming down your neck and you couldn't even begin to imagine how hurt the two men must be right now.

"Now that you're safe, Everything just hit me, you know?" Taehyung kept rubbing his hyung back silently assuring him that it was okay. Tae's eyes were filled with tears too, you knew he was the most emotional one out of them. He wouldn't bat an eyelid when he was in pain or if something troubled him. It was the exact opposite when it came to the people he loved. He couldn't see them sad, not at all.

"I can't say I understand what you're going through but I understand the pain. We will find out why she did this."

"I don't know how Namjoon is going to handle this once he knows." This was something that even you hadn't thought of yet. Everyone else.

"I have no idea but I feel we should have the details first before we think of anything."

"She's right hyung, I want to know why the fuck would she do something like this?"

"Alright then, Let's find out. DJ, you have the location right? We will follow you."

"Cool, What about her?" You point to the backseat where Lily was unconscious and sleeping peacefully absolutely unaware that her cover was blown.

"Let her be there, She is unconscious and given the dose she would be out for another couple of hours." You nod your head in an okay and walk towards your car, You take your phone out and send Hobi the location in case they lose you in transit. Traffic could be a bitch sometimes.

You start the car and start driving towards the pin location, A lot of thoughts plague your mind. Some selfish, some questions, and the rest of the whys which hadn't stopped coming to your mind since you had found out about Lily's setup.

For a fleeting second, the thoughts of what would happen once lily is out of the picture to change your equation with the bangtan kept coming to your mind, But then you drove them away once you were sure about one thing. You had been thrown into the seven men and Lily's mix because their woman wanted to be a part of them, But if the said woman was only out of the picture then where would that put you?

You were mentally preparing yourself to be out of Bangtan 's life once everything would come to light, Maybe they would end whatever complicated relationship they had with you too. And you would be ready for it by the time that happens, which could possibly be in a matter of a few days. You were determined to find out what the story behind Lily was, You definitely were. The way that woman had set you up was infuriating and the fact that she had done so without an ounce of guilt, made you want to put a bullet right through her skull.

Hobi's incoming call jolted you back to reality, where you were driving with your head very high up in the clouds. You cursed at yourself for being so careless, just in case something would have happened.

"Yeah Hobi."

"DJ listen, Something has come up. Namjoon has asked us to come back immediately."

"What happened?"

"I don't know if something happened. It's work-related, he said. So we are going home."

"Okay, I'll see you at home.Bye."

"Hey wait." You pulled your fingers back from the screen when you heard Hobi shout out of nowhere.

"You're not going alone DJ, I know you're always up to something. You.won't.go.alone." A laugh escaped when you heard the way hobi punctuated each and every word. Tae's voice rang out before you could even speak further.

"He's right, Don't you dare go alone. I am warning you, DJ. There could be a danger." The two men keep justifying the number of dangers there could possibly be and desperately try to find a chance where you could convince them to let you go alone.

"Okay fine you two. I'm not going." The two men stop rambling once they hear you assuring them.

"Don't try anything funny DJ, You need to be careful. This is not over yet."

"I know Hobi, I won't be okay. You go home first, I'll see you at home sometime."

"Wait, Where are you going?"

"I just have to finish some work at the warehouse, Don't worry ill be fine."

"DJ–

"Taehyung, Hobi. No funny business. I'll be home sometime. I promise."

"You better be home, We are waiting." You end the call and take the next exit toward your warehouse. You had obviously lied to them. You had nothing to do there. You had built your empire in a way where the work would be going on irrespective of your presence. You had spent a good amount of years putting your business on autopilot.

The only question was- Should you or should you not go and catch hold of Mikhail and Borris right now.

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You head to your warehouse in the same confusion. Once you throw your stuff on the table you settle further down in your chair and put your legs on the table. The confusion still runs wild in your mind. See you had no problem going there and you were confident enough to take the entire mob down if needed but this time it was Hobi and Taehyung who had asked you not to. You mindlessly play with your gun, your coping mechanism after years of dismantling and assembling the weapon again and again until your mind comes to a conclusion.

"Ugh, why does this need to be so hard? Fuckkkk." You bang your fist on the table hard when an urgent knock snatches your attention.

"Boss, is everything okay?" One of your men peeked his head inside nervously, You motioned the man to come inside.

"Yeah, everything is okay." You speak the words with an expression that reflects sarcasm and the man seems to take a hint. He wasn't so close to you, There were only a few people whom you had somewhat given leverage to be involved in your personal orbit, But the said man definitely wasn't one of them and you were not sure yet if you could bare your thoughts out to him.

"You definitely don't look okay." You look at the man with a confused expression, Were you that obvious when something was troubling you. The man takes the opportunity to sit before you and it amuses you. He had never done something like this before in the past five years that he had been working with you.

"And how would you know mister?"

"Not that I can speak about it completely sure, But over the years all of us here know when you're in two minds about something?"

"Really now, I did not know I was working with a bunch of detectives." The man laughs nervously and points towards your hand, mindlessly as if you were still playing with the gun. You stop for a moment and give the man a pointed look.

"You play with your gun, That was the sign Jeh told us to look out for if we did not want to be dead meat." You couldn't help but laugh at his words, Jeh was always close to everyone. And everybody liked him, Literally everyone.

"That brat." The man gives a light smile and the confusion eases a little in your mind, Suddenly Jeh takes up the entire space in your head. How you missed your best friend. You would give anything in the world to have him back at your side at the moment.

"What is it? If I may ask?"

"Well someone told me not to do something. Now I'm confused about whether I should do it or not because someone asked me not to." You did not know if you were even making sense at this point. But you couldn't help it either, That was the way the words came out of your mouth.

"Then you should do it." You look at the man sitting before you in confusion, How could he be so sure?

"And how are you so sure about it?" The man took a second to respond, but the mischievous smile that he was trying to suppress so hard gave him out. That was the second you knew it was definitely something to do with Jeh. The brat had said something to them.

"Jeh had said, " You specialize in doing the things that you are very explicitly told not to do."

"What–

"It's because he always told us that you won't be at rest unless and until you don't find out something you want to, And there is no use stopping you." You look at the man with eyes as wide as saucers, You knew this was Jeh. Only he could say something so perfect about you. The guy knew you better than himself.

"Looks like Jeh has trained you guys well."

"Well won't say train per se, But yes he always told us a couple of things to look out for so that we could be careful about, And in turn, they could not cause any troubles for you."

"What would I give for that guy to be right here?"

"We miss him too. I'll take your leave now. And you should definitely do what you think you must do and not wait because someone asked you to wait. Jeh would have said the same." The man leaves and a tear escapes your eye, This was exactly what Jeh would have said, or even better, He and you would have been right now nabbing Mikhail under different circumstances.

Quickly get up and load your gun and keep some extra bullets in case, if you need some. You were about to enter blind territory. You could use everything you could get. You walk out determined to have Mikhail and Boris at your feet sometime.

The minute you punch in the location in the GPS, the alarm bells start going off in your head. This place is somewhere very close to your home. Very very close. Now the area that you lived in was no piece of cake to get in. Only VIPs lived there. You could easily call it one of the most heavily guarded neighborhoods in Seoul. Politicians, actors, Diplomats, and Mafia. You could name it and you could find one of them there.

How did he get there or who actually was helping him stay there gave you an itch in your hand to kill that person yourself.

All the doubts floating in your mind stopped the moment you arrived at the exact location, Choi Min Lee's house. So this was where he was staying. Your head started weaving multiple theories as to how and why did Choi Min Lee's residence become a house to Mikhail, The fucker wasnt even a local, Then how.

You knew the neighborhood like the back of your hand, you knew everyone who stayed there. Choi Min Lee's house had been empty for quite a long time. The Choi's had moved into another locality ever since he had started getting more involved in politics and it had been a while since they moved. The newfound information about the possibility of the members of the circle's involvement gives you a hint of what kind of people were involved in this game.

The Circle was a place where there could be no politics, The rules were clear. The circle was established for a reason. No manipulations were allowed and no matter what the disputes among the circle were to be sat down and discussed not by any other means. But here another matter of fact was there was no solid reason as to why you could be a target.

You were on cordial terms with Choi and you had not come in between anything that could be a problem for Choi. The lock on the main gate grabs you out of your spins in your head and your eyebrows scrunch in confusion. What the hell was this?

You looked at the gate of the mansion, The gate was a very clear sign of no visible movement. And besides, the neighborhood was fairly populated. Everybody would know if someone is coming and going from the front gate frequently.

"What the fuck is this? Are you sure he's here?" You massage your temples when you hear the absolute surety in the voice of the person at the other end. You look at the two men and they wait for you to respond. The gates definitely looked like they had not been opened in a long time, the rust making it evident plenty. You keep the phone back in your pocket and start the car once again.

There had to be a way, Of Course, there had to be a way. The location had come from a source that was rock solid. It couldn't be wrong in any circumstances or else it would have happened in the first place. And this was too short of a notice to change locations.

The idea of the back gate hit you like a truck, you cursed internally to forget such an important detail. Your own house had one, but that was heavily guarded. Even your mansion had a back gate, And so did every other house in the neighborhood.

If they wanted to be in hiding why would they choose a place where anybody could see them? The back gate was well isolated and entering from there had a better chance of not being seen.

You turn the car and head towards the back gate which is only a couple hundred meters' drive from the turn. A smile lights up on your face when you see the back gate. It was in use. You drive a little further and park the car. You take your gun and put it in your pocket and wait silently to watch for any movement.

You quickly dial the number of the person who was supposed to be delivering Mikhail's special gift, The person receives it before the second ring is complete. You instruct the person at the location to deliver the package and hang it up while keeping a watch on the gate. You couldn't be too sure when it came to such things.

A little while after the package is delivered, you see another car driving by and stopping at the same distance from the gate as you. Not too little, Not too far. You quickly deck down in case the person from the car notices you. You keep yourself only high enough to see the view in a hidden way, Your eyes go wide when you see your own two men getting down from the car. The said men walk carefully towards the back gate and stop when they see your car.

Rage courses your veins when you find your own two men in enemy territory, They weren't asked to come here. You quietly exit the car and in three swift steps, you reach the two men. The second man turns around just in time and you grab him by his hands and twist it and turn him making him powerless all of a sudden. The first man is caught off guard all of a sudden and takes a second to register what just happened.

"You little—-

"Boss, wait. It's not what it looks like." You scoff at his words, You did not think of any other explanation for what you were seeing in front of you. No one knew where you were headed, you did not tell them. The only possibility they were here invoked too many questions in you.

"Really? Tell me what it is then." The man in your hands yelps too loud, sounding like he is about to cry.

"God damn it, Just tell her already Lee." You twist the man's hand a little by force and he almost lets out a pitiful cry.

"Boss, Wait. At Least listen to me."

"You have ten seconds before I shoot him."

"Okay, Ten seconds. Okay."

"You've wasted three already you bastard, Just fucking tell her."

"We came for you."  

"Me?"

"Boss we came for you, We really did." The man in your hands shouts with a shaky voice, That throws you off guard for a second. Why would they come here for you?

"Explain yourselves, Or else you're dead meat."

"You said someone had asked you not to do something, Yet you came. I know I said that's what you should do. But after you left it suddenly struck me that what if there was some danger?"

"Yeah that's the truth, I swear boss this is the truth." The struggling man took advantage of the fleeting second that you had been surprised after listening to their explanation. You pressed a little harder and the man went silent, giving up any chance of freedom from the grip that was on him.

"You expect me to believe this bullshit?"

"Boss, if I were lying, I would have attacked you in return when you caught Min-Ho."

"As if–

"Boss we are telling the truth, Leave me before you break my hand." You left the man's hand a little reluctantly, They did not sound like they were lying. They were definitely caught off guard, you could give them that. But apart from that, there were no visible signs of them lying.

"Do you have a death wish?"

"I don't, But he has. He got me to follow you."

"You followed me?''

"Umm sorry boss, I was worried that's it."

"And why so much concern all of a sudden?" You asked with a raised eyebrow. This was something entirely new. Your men were an integral part of all your missions, they definitely were. But this was a first that some of them had turned because they were worried for you.

"Is it bad to be worried?"

"Suddenly, yes." The man looks confused but you pay no heed to him and push the two men aside and peek through the gate. There was no moment in the backyard.

"Go back to the warehouse, I will be fine on my own." You order the two men who just stay rooted to the spot. You give them a questioning look and the two men look at you hesitantly debating if they should say it or not.

"Boss, let us be with you."

"What for?"

"Boss please, I swear we won't get in the way."

"That was an order."

"Boss please." Lee's tone increases a notch and you give him a questioning look, The other man looks at him with a horrified expression.

"Boss, I told you he has a death wish." He begins pulling the other man away, but the latter just remains rooted to his spot.

"Is it so difficult to accept help?"

"What did you just say to me?"

"What the fuck is wrong with you? You really want to die?" Min-Ho hits Lee's shoulder and you try your hardest to figure out what is going on. What was on with these men?

You ignore the two bickering men and cautiously move inside the gate, The two men break out of their banter and follow you. You look around cautiously to catch any movement or watch out for any kind of movement, But you surprisingly find none.

Given the situation, you had expected some heavy amount of guarding for the two men inside, you walk towards the back door and find it ajar. The two men gasp behind you, Finding no security was one thing but leaving the door open was another level.

You move the door wordlessly and the men behind you rush forward inside without any warning startling you in the process.

You tip-toe inside the house, your senses still very much alert to counter any attacks that could come out from anywhere. You unlock the gun and the two men do the same. The two men walk in front of you shielding you from the view. You stop for a second and look at the two cautious men walking ahead of you. You needed to devise a plan in case there were some of Mikhail's minions lurking behind the door to the passage.

"Listen up, Min-Ho you cover Lee, Lee you cover me and I'll cover you in case there are too many people inside." The two men nod and walk again as they did previously. Covering you up entirely.

Lee walks ahead and places his ear on the door while you and Min-ho look at him with a question, He checks twice and turns around with a puzzled look on his face. He nods his head in a no and you and Min-ho look at each other. Everything that's happening right now is downright crazy, but when did anything ever normal happen to you?

Going inside maybe would have been a foolish part, but you were very confident that you and your men could have handled it. Lee opens the door out of nowhere aiming his gun inside the room. The three of you remain rooted to your spots when you finally reach inside and see the state of the house, dead silence and totally empty.

"What the ---" you shush Lee when you hear a somewhat muffled voice somewhere close by. You could hear something, It was light but it was there. You couldn't exactly put a finger over it. The two men start looking at the side they stood on and you move to your side of the doors. You start checking with the doors on your side to find out if there was something there.

"Boss, There there." Lee's harsh whisper from behind startles you. When you peek your head out of the room you were in, you see Min-ho walking towards the room Lee came from. A huge smile lights up your entire face when you enter the room. There was definitely someone there- Borris.

"Oh my my, Look who we have here." Borris' eyes widen in fear when he sees the three of you entering the room one of the other. You knew that expression all too well. The expression that screamed doom. You looked at the beaten-up man tied up in a chair looking like he was pleading with his eyes to spare him.

Min-Ho pulls off the strap on his mouth violently and a cry escapes Boris' mouth. The man begins to trash violently but stops as soon as Lee puts the gun on his head, You quickly sprint to the door to see if all the trashing drew any attention of anybody else present there. The empty hall looks just like it was before and you breathe a sigh of relief.

"Listen, I did not do anything, Mikhail is upstairs." A laugh escapes your mouth as the words leave Borri's mouth. So that's where he was. You grab him by the hair and look directly into his eyes and the said man cowers in fear. The fear that flashes in his eyes gives you a sick satisfaction and some twisted part of you wants to tear his head out but you hold it out for the sake of the seven back home. He was theirs to deal with.

The one that you wanted to tear his head off was waiting upstairs.

"How many people are here in this house?"

"No one, Just the two of us." The three of you look at Borris in nothing short of a surprise, He was in a foreign land and he was all out on his revenge mission and there was no security. Either Mikhail was way too smart or way too foolish. You would find it out anyway.

"What? You expect us to believe this bullshit?"

"It's true, I heard Mikhail talking to someone that you would never find out about him." You scoff at borris statement, you have drawn a conclusion. Mikhail was an overconfident fool. True that you would have to go the extra mile to find out about him, Probably a few punches too. But believing that you would never find out about him was a stretch.

"Trust me on this, he's right upstairs somewhere."

"Well, we will see about that."

"I get that bastard." Min-Ho catches your arm the moment you turn back to walk away, He releases it and takes a step backward once he sees your raised eyebrow.

"Let us come with you."

"You guys stay here with him, I'll get that bastard."

"He's already tied up boss, He won't be able to do anything. We are coming with you." The two men don't wait for your approval and walk in long strides and exit the room leaving you surprised. You throw a warning look at Borris silently warning him not to try anything funny.

"Let's go."

"After you."The two men move aside for you to start walking up the stairs. You look at the two men incredulously, Their manners were certainly amusing. They kept appearing and disappearing time and again.

You walk up the stairs cautiously again, trying to be alert in case Mikhail appears out of nowhere. A loud voice suddenly reaches your ears the moment you reach the stairs. You recognize the voice immediately, Mikhail. You had already heard enough of that. The voice was extremely loud giving a loud and clear indication of the room it was coming from.

You gesture at both of them on each side of the door while you stand right in front. Mikhail's voice stops the moment you put your hand forward to push the door open. Another loud thud reaches your ears and you retract your hand for a moment. You place your ears on the door to hear any kind of moment but you find none.

"I think he must have entered another room in there," Lee whispers loud enough for you to hear, You nod and push the door ajar. You find no one in the room apart from the faint sound of water running in the bathroom. You open the package and carefully remove the injection you had specially gotten customized for Mikhail, along with the worms.

"Out of the room until I call you." The two men look at you surprised when you ask them to get out of the room but looking at the firmness in your tone, they wordlessly move out. You position yourself on the side of the door to have a proper attack on Mikhail's back of the neck when he comes out of the bathroom. You wait patiently for the man to come out to you for the most wonderful surprise that you had prepared for him.

You wait for a solid five minutes before you hear the sound of the water disappear, And a minute before the door opens and half-naked Mikhail walks, wiping his head. The second tower blocks his sense of any other presence in the room and that gives you the advantage you require. You make one solid move to his neck and before the man could sense anything you have the syringe right where you want it.

Mikhail turns around and looks at you with his mouth wide open, You place your palm on his chest to prevent him from falling forward and wave your other hand in a hip. No words come out of his mouth when he tries to say something and the anger simmering in his eyes gives you a twisted happiness.

The two men come running once you call out to them, They arrive right in time as Mikhail's leg gives out and the tall sturdy man collapses on you. The two men pull him back and drag him to bed complaining about how heavy he is.

"Go find some rope in the room Borris is tied up in." Min-ho runs away quickly once you give him the orders, Lee throws Mikhail on the bed and looks at him with suspicion. The only movement that Mikhail could do was his eyes for the next hour. You had gotten him a permissible amount of light dose of a neuromuscular blocking agent, A vecuronium.

Lee positions Mikhail's head on the pillow and you walk over to the other side of the bed and sit right beside Mikhail's head. A smile appears on your face when you remember the first time the bastard had sneaked inside your house. The positions were the same, just the people reversed. A sick sense of satisfaction ran through you when you saw the way Mikhail's eyes were trying to convey his thoughts. Full of resentment and full of anger.

"Here boss." You throw one of the ropes to Lee and order the men to tie Mikhail's hands to the sturdy frames of the Mahogany bed. They would hold him down once the injection would wear out.

"Why is he not moving?" Min-ho wonders out loud and you silently point your finger at the injection laying on the floor.

"Huh, What's this?"

"A neuromuscular blocking agent."

"A neuro what now?" Lee quickly fishes out his phone and googles the words and both the men take turns looking at the newfound information. Both the men look at you with fear in their eyes, You just raise your eyebrows and silently warn them not to ask anything further.

A groan snatches your attention to the man tied up right in the center of the bed. You move over to the man and look again to see if any chances of the injection wearing down, which you were sure it wouldn't. But you could never be too sure of these things.

"Lee, Min-Ho bring our other friend up here. Let's have a chat with him until he's capable of speaking." The two men nod their heads and sprint down to get Borris, while you walk across the room to get the special gift for Mikhail.

"I told you to never get caught." You sing while cutting the second box inside the box with your swiss army knife, You make straight eye contact with Mikhail whose eyes keep navigating between you and the box that you were cutting open.

You smile when you see the wiggling worms inside the jar, You carefully place the jar near the bedside table and bring your knife close to Mikhail's naked thigh. A tear from his eye escapes when you lodge the knife deep inside his thigh. The white bedsheet turns a deep shade of red as soon as blood starts trickling down his thigh.

"This is for Chongbin, You shouldn't have killed him." You unscrew the bottle and open another blunt blade from the set, You carefully scoop a couple of worms from the jar keeping it at an angle where he could see, and place it exactly on the wound that you had made on his skin. Mikhail's eyes widen in fear when he feels the worms start wiggling on his thigh trying to locate the flesh that they could devour. Sweat starts forming on Mikhail's forehead when he sees one worm sliding inside the wound, Groan after groan escapes the man's mouth when he feels the other worms start sliding inside.

You watch the man with a pure look of satisfaction not only on your Face but also from deep inside you. This would serve him right. The one hour that he could not move or scream would give him the closest encounter with the pain he could ever feel. You had promised yourself to give him back the pain that he gave to Chongbin ten times more.

Every time the pain pierced through his system, you could see it on him. The two walked into the room, Mikhail's hands hanging loose on each of their shoulders. The two men froze for a second when they saw the scene in front of them.

You grab Borris from the two men and with all your might push the man down, Borris yelps in pain as soon as he hits the ground and you grab him by his hair and hold him up.

"Start talking Borris." The man cowers in fear but you just tighten your hold on his head and he lets out an ear-piercing scream.

"I'll tell you everything, Promise me you will let us both go." You laugh hard at his demands, IT was funny how he thought he was in a position to demand.

"Making demands now, Are we?"

"DJ please, Please." The man pleaded with a sob but you couldn't care less at this point, you had to know.

"I said to start talking."

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"What the fuck happened?" The five men waiting for Hobi and Tae rush to them when they see the two men walking inside their home with an unconscious Lily in Hobi's arms.

"Let me just quickly get her to her room, Tae tells them." Hobi moves away swiftly leaving Tae behind to answer all the questions the five men had.

Hobi literally throws Lily on the bed, his anger making it impossible for him to act rationally. He respected women, he could swear he did. But right now he had nothing but resentment inside him for the woman he had loved for the past three years. Lily was the only woman with whom he had fallen in love, to unimaginable depths. Depths that scared him sometimes.

He makes no effort to straighten her out And walks away slamming the door with all his might. He is greeted with a painful silence and tears in the eyes of all the other members when he walks down. Nobody looks up at him, but he could already tell by the silence in the room what they felt.

"Since when?"

"I haven't known Joon for a long time." Namjoon throws the vase on the table with all his might, the breaking of glass making no difference to the atmosphere.

"All these years, She has been lying to us?" Jimin looks at Hobi and Taehyung, who had walked up to his hyung to stay by his side.

"I said I don't know." Taehyung quickly holds his hyung the moment he raises his voice, he knew this reaction too well. Out of all of them, Hobi's anger could be the worst, And right now they did not need that to come out.

"Those three years, They were a lie," Jin speaks, his head still down but his voice loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Everything, fucking thing was a lie?"

"Jungkook, Kook listen to me calm down. Please."

"Hyung.." Everybody's heart breaks a little when they see the youngest breaking down like that in Jin's arms. The sobs that he was letting out were making Namjoon's blood boil to a point where he wanted to just march upstairs and put a bullet straight into Lily's head.

"Jungkook." Jungkook pays no heed to Namjoon's voice and continues sobbing, The other members gather around the youngest and try to console him but all their attempts go in vain.

"I said stop it." Namjoon's extremely stern voice stops the sobs from the youngest, Namjoon walks up to his study in long steps and returns back in a moment with a gun in his hand. Everybody's eyes widened when they saw what he had in his hand. They already knew what his next steps were going to be.

"I'm going to end this once and for all." Namjoon pays no attention to the others, shouts for him to stop, and walks angrily towards the stairs. All the members rush towards him, but it becomes difficult for everyone to catch up to the tall man who had reached the top even before everyone could reach the middle.

Namjoon barges inside the room and shuts it, The others remain outside banging on the door frantically literally begging him to stop. Namjoon's hands freeze when he aims the gun at the unconscious woman. Tears start rolling out of his eyes furiously when the time literally flashes in front of his eyes.

Lily's eyes, her smile, her laugh everything crowds his mind at once and Namjoon drops to the floor pulling his hair in frustration. Why did she have to do this? Why did she have to break their trust like this?

"Hyung let us inside, Please don't." Jimin's voice brings Namjoon back to his senses, And the defeated man just gets up and walks to the door. Everybody hugs him the moment he opens the door, his long arms are nearly enough for everyone. Loud sobs echo in the room when the men just cry their hearts out, the gun automatically falling out of his hands onto the floor.

Everybody just sits down where they were standing, The dead silence in the room weighing heavy on everyone. Nobody had anything to say. There were no words that they could even think about to word Lily's betrayal.

"Is DJ alright?" Taehyung's head suddenly quips at Yoongi's question. He gives Hobi a look and the latter just looks at everyone with a blank expression.

"She's at her warehouse, Though I highly doubt that. She must be already plotting her way to that guy."

"She certainly seems to be that way." The room is suddenly lit up with light laughs from everyone. You definitely were of that kind, they kind of knew you wouldn't listen to anyone.

The seven men spent another hour in the room, recalling the times they had spent with Lily in the past three years. Namjoon had not killed her for a reason, He loved her. He loved her from the bottom of his heart, but the logical part of him wouldn't give her an easy death.

"She has messed with the wrong people, I thought she knew that." Yoongi laughs at the way Namjoon put the sentence together. He agreed one hundred percent with that, Lily had gotten on the wrong side of the wrong people. This was the talk of the town, nobody messed with Bangtan and lived another day to tell her the tale.

"I don't know how DJ is going to deal with her.?"

"That would be an interesting thing to see."

"I don't want anybody crying after this, We got work to do," Namjoon speaks, rubbing his eyes and standing up, The rest of the guys follow suit and they leave the room.

"Everyone in my study, Now."

Jungkook takes one last look at Lily who was blissfully lying unconscious in the middle of the bed. He wipes his eyes and closes the door and follows his hyungs. He wanted answers and he was going to make sure he would get them. He stays by the door to wait for a moment to let the others go into the study. He quickly dials you in and sprints down the stairs when you pick up.

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"I had a call with all the members of the circle today." The room goes into a silent zone as soon as Namjoon speaks. Hobi and Taehyung look at Namjoon with surprised expressions. When did this happen and most importantly why? What had they missed out on?

"What happened?" Taehyung asks eagerly, He already had enough of everything today. He did not have the capacity for another unfortunate news or an event right now.

"Joonah what happened?" Yoongi asks anxiously as Namjoon still keeps fidgeting with the phone on his desk. He had called everyone to discuss a new development in the circle. But after what Tae told and the state that the two boys bought Lily in, that took a back seat.

"I received a call from the circle today. To be precise, from the head." Everyone looks at Namjoon curiously, they never received direct phone calls as such. It was weird that the hot-headed old man called Namjoon himself.

"What does he want? Did something happen?" Namjoon thinks hard for a second trying to find better words to word his sentence upon Yoongi's insistence. He zeros down on relaying the words as it are.

"There are two things, One he is suffering from a critical illness and he has one month on his hands, And second he feels im more than capable than his own son to head the circle."

"What—-

"Wait—-

"What on earth–" Namjoon leaned back in his chair to watch the wide range of emotions that were being displayed on the boy's face. The broken words coming out of their mouths and the shock were making it difficult to establish if they were surprised or shocked about the new information.

"Hold on, So you will be the new head of the circle?" Jin asks comically his mouth now wide open, The others were not far behind too.

"Looks like it." Everyone just gets up from their respective seats and rushes towards Namjoon to give him a congratulatory hug. They take turns hugging him, expressing their happiness for him. The entire matter about Lily took a back seat for now. That could wait. This was big news.

"This is huge, Absolutely fucking amazing." Hobi sits down with a huge smile on his face, the others still trying to contain their happiness.

"I am still concerned about Lily though." Namjoons words threw the room into a similar silence once again, the dreaded atmosphere returning. All the happiness goes down several notches.

"What about her?" Taehyung asks

"I don't know, I was this close to blowing her head out, But." Namjoon shows the closeness with his fingers, while the others breathe a sigh of relief that he didn't. See now Namjoon was a rational man. They knew him like the back of their hands, He was the most rational one out of them, But there were certain things that did not allow him to act sensibly, and Lily was one of them.

"I think we should wait for DJ, She definitely has something on her mind." Namjoon looks at hobi with a thoughtful expression. He was onto something.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, We can go with DJ tomorrow to hunt those two bastards down."

"Strange that she is waiting until tomorrow," Yoongi says giving Taehyung a questioning look, As far as he knew you he didn't think so.

"Wait– Everyone pauses as Jimin looks around frantically. Before anybody could say anything, he rushes out of the room. He ignores everybody's calling out to him. He had another important task at hand. He ran around the house shouting like a madman for Jungkook. He couldn't find him anywhere.

He rushes to the stairs again to check on their floor once, By the time he reached down again breathless, He could see all the boys already waiting for him with concerned expressions on their faces when they saw how breathless he was, His face all red.

"Yah jimin what happened?" Jin asks him to pull him by his hand, and Jimin just puts his hand forward to catch a breath.

"Jungkook, Jungkook. He is not at home." Suddenly it registers in their mind that Jungkook, The rest of the members began looking at each other in alarm. Where did the boy go?

"He was here just a while ago, where did he go?"

"Call DJ."

"DJ, Why her?"

"Just do it already, I have a feeling he is with her."

Yoongi dials you frantically, If hobi was confident then he was too. He lets out a frustrated scream when you don't answer, Hobi starts rummaging through his pockets for his phone. He suddenly remembers he left it in Lily's room when he had gone there.

"Give me a minute." He ignores the loud yells of the boys asking him about where he was off to and rushes inside the room. He finds his phone and sprints back down to where the others were waiting.

The loud commotion in the room fills Namjoons mind with rage, What the fuck was even wrong with everyone. So much was happening today. He felt like he would burst with rage at the speed at which everybody was speaking, Altogether.

"Shut up." Namjoons thunderous voice fills the room with silence. Everyone knew this was the time when they had to do as said. He was a force to be reckoned with when Joon was angry.

"Hobi, Speak up. Why do you think Jungkook is with DJ?"

"I think he is with her, There is no other place he would go to right now. The only person that isn't here is DJ. There is a probability that he would take DJ to find those bastards to kill them himself."

"Do you know where she could be?"

"I have the location, But I'm not sure if she has gone there. Though I feel she must be there."

"There, There. Where is the fuck is that there?"

"She dropped me a pin. Let's go and check there."

"Everyone, Move." Namjoon walks swiftly towards the door in frustration, He was worried sick about you and Jungkook. He knew how impulsive and emotional the youngest could be. He needed you both to be safe. He wouldn't know what he would do if anything went haywire.

"Wait."

"Does someone need to stay with her? What if she wakes up?" Namjoon gives Jin a disapproving look. He just couldn't bring himself to think about Lily. His main priority was you two for now. And for the rest, he couldn't care less.

"She would be out for a couple hours more." Nobody waits for any further talks as soon as Hobi gives a confirmation of her being out for some more time. The men quickly get into their cars, while Hobi shares the location with everyone else.

Everyone was just hoping, that you two were safe.

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽ ✽ ✽ ✽

"I said start speaking. Are you deaf?" Borris yells loudly at the sting of the slap that you threw at his face. You hold his hair even tighter and the man just yelps. The man was stubborn in making a deal, but you were stubborn enough to not give him that too. Beggars could never be choosers.

"I said you have to promise me, You will let me and Lily go. I'll tell you everything." You sigh in frustration at the boldness of this man. He dared to negotiate as if you wouldn't find the information you needed any other way.

You slap the tied-up man thrice and suddenly Jungkook appears in your mind. You had received his call a while ago and the man sounded urgent. The trembling in his voice told you something was wrong, The first guess that had come to your mind that he knew.

He probably knew by now, what Lily had been doing.

"You know what, Don't tell me anything. But don't blame me later when something happens." You could visibly see Borris' expression changing on his face. Fear crept up on his face when you mentioned something happening later.

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh about that, I have a special guest over." You smirk when you see the fear going up exponentially on the man's face. There! There you have him.

You had already explained to Jungkook, how he needed to come and which way he needed to use it. You could expect him anytime. You had instructed Lee and Min-Ho to keep a strict watch on the front door and the back should there be unexpected appearances.

"I am ready to tell you, aren't I? All I am asking is to just get me and Lily safe out of here."

"And I already told you, You are in no position to make demands."

You check Borris once who seemed to be writhing in pain, The effect of the dose was coming down visibly. You could see the pain that he was in and the twisted part of you loved watching him like that. IT served him right. He should have thought twice before deciding to go behind your people.

You wait by the window to see the surroundings. You wanted to wait for Jungkook. There were one hundred ways that you could have used to get the information you required out of Borris, but something inside was telling you to let Jungkook have a go at him first.

The room that Mikhail was in gave a very clear view of the back gate, maybe that is why he had chosen this room. He needed to keep a watch on that gate rather than the front.

You see a car light in the distance, It stops right somewhere near the place where your car had been parked, Jungkook calls you as soon as he switches the engine off and you guide him the way to the door.

"Your gift is here."

"Wait, What gift?" You just laugh at his question. Soon enough you hear the heavy sound of footsteps which you were sure were Jungkook's. You could recognize the sound of those heavy chunky boots even in your sleep.

Jungkook storms into the room and you could visibly see the red in his eyes and the white on Borris's face.

"Who among these two is him?" You point towards Borris and Jungkook covers the distance in two steps. The rage radiates strongly within him when he picks Borris up by his bloodied shirt.

"How dare you?" Jungkook does not get to finish his sentence as Borris starts thrashing around and pleading for him to spare him. Maybe he knew that if ever the men of Bangtan lay their hands on him, he wouldn't live another minute.

You stay silent as Jungkook beats Borris up, He makes no effort to control himself and neither do you. He deserved it, and so did Lily. They had no right to set people up and play with someone's life as they did.

A loud crash startles both you and Jungkook and instinctively you both take your guns out. Both Lee and Min-Ho come rushing inside with panic written on their faces.

"Boss, Some men are here."

"DJ, you cover the back door, And I'll take the front door. You two cover one of us each." You three nod your heads to Jungkook's instructions. Jungkook sprints back to Borris and lifts his chin up with his gun and gives him a dead look.

"And you, I'm not done with you. No matter who came to save you, You will die by my hands." Borris' sudden laugh infuriates Jungkook and the latter slaps him hard across his face.

"You think someone would come to save me?" Borris laughs evilly and spits the blood pooled in his mouth. You and Jungkook ignore him for the time being and run out of the room with Lee and Min-Ho following you closely behind.

You get down the stairs and the front door bursts open making you four hide behind the sofa. You freeze when you hear similar voices. You and Jungkook stand up together surprised.

"Hyung?" The six men looked at Jungkook with thankful expressions, Namjoon rushing forward to hug the boy. You are surprised out of your wits when he pulls you in a hug after he lets Jungkook go.

"Wait– What?" Your mind fails to form coherent sentences with Namjoons arm around you. You could feel his breath on your neck and your ears were right over his chest. You could hear the loud beating of his heart and you couldn't help but wonder what had happened.

The others coddle you and Jungkook turns by turn leaving both of you extremely confused, Jungkook shrugs his shoulders when you try asking him what exactly was going on. You lead the men upstairs after a ton of effort, And a grim expression takes over their faces. They see the state those two men were in.

Mikhail screams right at that moment, The man gets up and tries to free himself, But the mahogany keeps the ropes in place. The seven men let out an evil laugh once they saw the useless efforts Mikhail was making, they rounded up around the two captive men.

Jungkook resumes his assault on Borris who just keeps screaming in pain, You pull Jungkook back this time. He had had enough. He was well on his way to killing Borris. He couldn't die yet. You needed to know how exactly you had gotten in the middle of all this.

"Do you see them? Do you want me to hand you over to them? They won't spare a breath for you." You hold Borris by his hair again and the expression on your face translates well to him.

"Fine, I'll tell you everything." The room calms down considerably when Borris agrees to tell you everything. The men gather up around you, ignoring Mikhail who was thrashing and yelling.

"Me. Me and Lily we met when we were just kids." Hobi slaps Borris, and he just looks at you helplessly.

"Just tell us since when have you guys been messing behind our backs?"  

"Tell us everything you fucking bastard."

"I and Lily have been in love with each other since our childhood Until Ivanovs married her off to Vladimirs." Your eyes almost popped out at the new information. Lily was married? The rest of them were in no different position. The look on each one of their faces screamed surprise except for Namjoon who stood in a corner with his face calm and his fists clenched.

"She's... She's married?" Borris nods his head and another wave of shock runs through the room.

"Her name is Yulina, She's his half-sister." Borris points to Mikhail and Mikhail who just seems to be too immersed in his pain. His screams kept echoing through the room but they were all tuned out considering how the information was unfolding bit by bit.

"Wait, They're siblings. Then why was he behind her life ?" Taehyung interrupted the man curiously, Mikhail screamed another time and Borris looked at him in a fearful way. You sighed in exasperation. This was taking way too long. You quickly walked over to Borris and blocked his view of Mikhail

" I worked for the Ivanovs, Yulina was brought to their residence when she was fourteen when Ivavons mistress Evija died. We fell in love a couple years after that, but Ivanovs and Mikhail found out about us shortly before she was about to be married. They held me captive and made sure I wouldn't escape so that she doesn't too. She was married off to honor a deal between the Ivanovs and Zakharov. But Yulina ran off within six months and both families got on the worst terms with each other. So when Yulina ran off she said she would make some arrangements to free me from there, but the situation got so bad that I failed no matter how hard I tried. She kept running from them for four years, but she stopped here in Korea because she met you."

"Because she met us?" Yoongi breaks borris monologue when he hears about Lily staying back in Korea because she met them. Borris looks at Yoongi hesitantly before answering his question. One look from the guy had him shrinking back.

"You're one of the big guys here and no one would mess with the mafia. She thought she would be well protected here until she figures out a plan for us to get away from everything together, And start a new life."

"You fucking– You and Yoongi stop an extremely angry jungkook, He charged towards Borris with an intention that looked like he would kill him.

"So she used us basically?" Borris's head bows down in shame when Taehyung asks this question with a trembling in his voice. Hobi punches the wall next to him hurling courses along with it. You are still miles away from processing this information. Your mind kept reeling in the reactions of the guys, They were absolutely shattered and heartbroken. As a spectator you could easily tell all these years, How much the guys loved Lily, They were absolute goners for her. And the fact that she had an agenda infuriated you.

You couldn't imagine how the seven men must be feeling, Their entire relationship was based on an agenda.

"And what about her?" Namjoon, who seemed unfazed earlier, seemed to be on the edge. Borris took a hot minute to respond to Namjoon and the leader got words flowing out of his mouth the minute his hand enveloped his throat. You tap Namjoon's shoulders lightly, Silently attempting to warn him to not kill Borris, Yet.

"She was a replacement?" You dragged Namjoon aside And held Borris by his bloodied collar. Namjoon repeated the action of tapping you lightly on your arm to stop you from ripping the man apart. How dare he? You and a replacement?

"Lily had known after the party that she had been in love with you all for a lot of years so he came up with this stupid idea of getting you guys to fall in love with her." It took every ounce of you to not split open his throat at the mention of just replacing you with some kind of an object. How far did she even go to plan things like this?

"She had thought once she would bring DJ into your lives, DJ would automatically eliminate her and take her place."

"What the fuck I never did any such thing."

"That's why she planned to get you to move in with them so that they would see you are sincere and end up falling in love with you and forget her, And in turn, we get our way." You looked at the guys in utter shock, The expression that you had on your face was visible on theirs. What was this woman?

"So for you two, we are all some sort of machines that you could program the way you see fit?" You seethe in anger, Were these two for real? How on earth could someone be so manipulative?

"Everything was going fine until you killed Ivanov. We had planned to flee out of the country but the moment Ivanov died everything crumbled into shambles. Mikhail got to know Lily was here. He caught me right before I was about to escape from Russia. And he got in touch with Lily."

"And when did you meet Lily again?"

"I had come to Korea with Ivanovs, They got me here for god knows what. But I ended up running into Lily one day. And that's when we decided this time we would not let go, No matter what it took or who died in the process. But Mikhail just complicated everything."

No one said a word for a long time after Borris was done speaking. The extent to which Lily aka Yulina had gone was insane. For the first time in your life, you had felt like you were some kind of a prop that was used as deemed fit. You had a weird feeling about the lengths that Lily was going to get you mingled with the boys But to this extent? This was insane.

None of the people in the room could speak even if they tried, everything was too weird. You walked up to Mikhail to see what state was the bastard in, but it turned out that he had fainted a long time ago. You check for the pulse and find a light one, You quickly instruct your men to arrange for your doctor, Mikhail couldn't die. Not right now. You had different scores to settle with him.

That was after you were done with Yulina.

There were still some gaps in the story, but you were sure once Mikhail woke up he would fill them for you. Starting with what the fuck was Mikhail doing in Choi's house. How was the old man involved here? And once you had those answers, you would make sure Choi would regret his entire life.

"What was Yulina's husband's name?" You had planned the perfect scare for Lily, To word it better you had plans for the most wonderful surprise for her. She deserved this, every bit of it.

"It's Vladimir Zakharov." You pull out your phone and dial Bratva, He was the only person who could help you in arranging this wonderful event to come together in one piece.

"Bratva, How have you been?" The seven men and Borris gasp in surprise, Not expecting the phone call.

"Wait, What is she doing?" Borris asks the men in utter panic and none of them respond, each of them holding a smirk of their own. Maybe they had a fair idea of what you were about to do.

"Bratva, I would like to invite you and Vladimir Zakharov to Korea."  

[sweetiereads]

dreamlike letters / 2023

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤㅤ ⁘ april bts fic recs ⁘

thank you for sharing your writing with us dear authors. please know that your works are never in vain, that someone, somewhere appreciates you and all of your efforts. hi, if you've come across this list, please do share your love and appreciation to the respective authors ♡

⤷ 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐚𝐧 𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭

𝐋 𝐄 𝐆 𝐄 𝐍 𝐃

[ f ] 𝖿𝗅𝗎𝖿𝖿 ; [ a ] 𝖺𝗇𝗀𝗌𝗍 ; [ s ] 𝗌𝗆𝗎𝗍 ; [ 𝖼 ] 𝖼𝗋𝖺𝖼𝗄

𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟗 ; 𝐣𝐣𝐤 @tattookoo ❥ oneshot { f + a + s + c }

the year was 1999. boybands were wearing all-white outfits, everybody wanted an ibook or a tamagotchi, tlc didn’t want no scrubs, fight club was playing in movie theaters and you became jeon jungkook’s fake girlfriend in order to fix his reputation.

❥ review

𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐣𝐚𝐜𝐤 ; 𝐣𝐣𝐤 @kpopfanfictrash ❥ series { f + a + s }

Bangtan is one of the most vicious mafias on the west coast. Only six members are known by name though, with a mysterious seventh member dubbed only as ‘the shadow.’ When you become indebted to the worst of the worst – how, exactly can you find a way out?

❥ review

𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞 ; 𝐣𝐡𝐬 @yoonia ❥ series { f + a + s } a continuation / epilogue of spotless minds

You had always felt that meeting him was a chance of fate. He had always been the missing piece of the puzzle that you had been searching for, the beautiful stranger who had somehow become your home. But when your soul seems to refuse to stop searching, you begin to find scraps of the past that had somehow gone missing, erased and forgotten, hiding the pain that would have tainted the perfect life that you have built together. Suddenly, you are given a chance to open the pandora’s box, to collect the missing scraps of your past. Would you dare to open it and risk what you have with him, or would you leave it alone and move on, just the way you had decided to do it a long time ago?

❥ review

𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞 (𝐄𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚 𝐒𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐞 𝐈𝐕: 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐤𝐨𝐨𝐤’𝐬 𝐏𝐎𝐕); 𝐣𝐣𝐤 @/kpopfanfictrash ❥ series { f + a + s } takes place after the epilogue of the love to hate series

Born with a silver spoon in your mouth, you’ve done your best to rid yourself of the taste since you were old enough to walk. Occasionally though, your mother manages to rope you into an obligatory function – or a blind date with playboy billionaire, Jeon Jungkook. Jungkook stands for everything you loathe about the world you left behind, but you can’t deny the spark of attraction between you. Intrigued by the promise of mutual satisfaction, you agree to one night in bed… and quickly realize you’re in far, far deeper than you ever intended.

❥ review

𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞 ; 𝐣𝐣𝐤 @ahundredtimesover ❥ series { f + a + s }

As the only unmarried Jeon and Kim children, your families propose a union to symbolize your unbreakable bond that spans generations. But despite developing an affection for Jungkook growing up, he never returned it; he never seemed to like you, actually. You’re okay with the proposal, but surprise surprise, he isn’t.

❥ review

𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐟𝐲 (𝟎𝟓) ; 𝐤𝐬𝐣 + 𝐤𝐧𝐣 + 𝐤𝐭𝐡 @suga-kookiemonster ❥ series { s + c } part of the satisfy series

“listen,” taehyung says, eyes wide and eager as he smiles at you. “i figure we can just help each other out. i scratch your back, you scratch mine.” but when you find yourself suddenly in need of a massive favor, exactly how much scratching are you willing to do?

❥ review

𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐰 ; 𝐤𝐭𝐡 @writtenwhalien ❥ oneshot { f + a + s }

Any semblance of amusement has since been wiped from your own face, and now as you look at Taehyung, your stomach drops, making you feel somewhat nauseous. As though he can sense your sudden distress, he looks back at you, his expression void of any humor it previously sported, and he simply gazes at you, eyes flickering with a sincerity that wavers you.

❥ review

[shuadotcom]

Familiar Hauntings | KNJ

⤷ Summary: You and Namjoon have worked hard to become expert paranormal investigators. You’ve successfully investigated and exorcised a number of demons and ghosts all over the world and your followers believe in you enough to keep you confident and going. That’s why when you get a call about a family with a teenage daughter experiencing traumatizing hauntings, you and your team don’t think twice about going to help.

It isn’t until you get there do you realize that you may be in over your heads when you come face to face with a familiar evil. It’s going to take more effort than you thought you’d need to get rid of this sinister force before it destroys an innocent family, and even you.

⤷ Pairing: Demonologist!Namjoon x Clairvoyant F!reader

⤷ Film/Franchise: The Conjuring

⤷ Genre/AU: Thriller, horror-ish, angst, established relationship au, supernatural au

⤷ Rating: PG15

⤷ Warnings: Demons and ghosts, violence, possessions, profanity, mention of blood, mentions of death (nothing too graphic though!)

⤷ Words: 10k

⤷ Note: Written for the Bangtan Cinema: Horror Night collab!! Thank you a million times to @the-boy-meets-evil​ for betaing this in only a few hours! You’re literally the best ❤️ And thank you to @rkivian​ for this bomb ass banner!! I asked for something spooky with Joon in glasses and Kiri delivered!! 😍

Horror is my favorite movie genre, but I quickly found out how hard it is to write 🥴 It’s a whole different set of skills that I don’t think I have down very well, but it was fun to try - especially to pay homage to my favorite horror series!

I’m trying really hard to finish up my remaining collab fics for the year because I have more writing plans for 2023 so please bear with me y’all!! 🖤

“Ugh, that flight was so much more cramped than I remember,” Namjoon complains, rubbing his sore neck.

“Do we have enough time to grab something to eat before the hotel?” Mingyu questions.

“We have just enough time for a drive-through stop before dropping our stuff at the hotel and heading to the assignment.” Your assistant Jeongyeon reads off of her phone. “The Jacksons live fifteen minutes away so the ride won’t be too long.”

“Hey, everyone, we just landed here in the U.S. Say hi to everyone!” Jungkook, bringing up the rear of your group, catches up to walk in front of the four of you, panning the camera around. You wave, giving the camera a tired smile.

“Jeongyeon, can you tell us about the family we’ll be helping today?” When you’re all in your taxi, Jungkook turns the camera towards the woman as she’s triple checking the address for the hotel.

“The Jacksons, a family of five from New York,” she begins, barely missing a beat. “Their teenage daughter Siobhan has been experiencing what they believe to be a haunting for the past three months. She’s claiming to hear and see things that none of the family saw until a month ago. They experienced the usual: things moving when no one touched them, doors slamming, even voices in the house that aren’t any of the family members.” Jeongyeon pauses swiping the page on her tablet before continuing.

“The last month has been the most troubling. She’s been waking up with bruises and small cuts all over her body. She’s also been sleeping for days straight and the family can’t wake her up. It’s at random sometimes when she’s napping or sleeping. It’s to the point where she tries to stay up as long as she can which she can barely do anymore.”

“Do you think this thing is trying to take her body or something?” Mingyu asks you and Namjoon.

Namjoon shrugs. “It’s likely. Just hearing the story on the surface, it’s definitely something trying to possess her or take her soul. The question really is just what it is and what exactly it wants.”

“They have two other kids too - a nineteen-year-old son and a seven-year-old daughter, so they’re even more nervous that this entity will attach to them too.” When Jeongyeon reminds you of that, your nerves spike. You’ve had to help other families with multiple kids and a demon can try and possess multiple people at once. It makes this situation go from a normal emergency to an even more dire one.

Jungkook continues to prattle on to your audience about New York while you take the time to yourself to mentally prepare not only for your job but also to be mindful of the camera and your virtual audience as well.

At times, you can’t believe the way that so many people on the internet tune into your videos to watch you and Namjoon use your gifts to save people’s lives. You didn’t start online, showing people that you have the power to communicate with demons and ghosts and Namjoon didn’t become an exorcist and demonologist to be famous.

The gift of clairvoyance came to you as young as five. Sightings of ghosts started to be as normal as seeing alive people. It took a while for you to realize that everyone around you wasn’t like you - your family and friends couldn’t speak to the old woman that lived in your living room in your childhood home. No one else could hear the little girl crying in the back of your school bus in third grade; no one except you.

For years your parents were concerned for you and your sanity and you couldn’t say you blame them. Your mom stuck by you though and even today, while she doesn’t know how you even acquired this gift, she supports you. Your father, on the other hand, died a nonbeliever when you entered middle school and even though you still wish he was here today to see what you’ve done with this “disturbing part of you” as he called it, you’re surrounded by nothing but support now.

It did take years admittedly, for you to find anyone who supported you as much as Namjoon though. When you moved to Korea for college, he caught your eye immediately. Something about him was different than anyone you’ve ever met and he felt the same. It didn’t take long for you to share this part of yourself that was private. Even though you’d lost countless friends and partners because of it, Namjoon didn’t even bat an eye when you told him there was a spirit in the stairwell of his dorm building.

“I knew there was something!” He had practically yelled, nearly getting you kicked out of the library. He didn’t have the same gift as you but he could always feel the presence of things no one can see. It’s what made him obsessed with the supernatural and the afterlife, wanting to know more about the things he sensed.

It was when you were close to graduation and you’d been inseparable since your first year that he broached the idea of becoming paranormal investigators and learning how to do exorcisms. You’d never thought about it, but it made sense. Both of you felt as though you can be doing more with what you know about demons and ghosts and so you agreed.

Things fell into place after that. You learned how to do exorcisms from a friend of your mother’s in the church. Neither you nor Namjoon are religious people, so you took what you learned from there and spent another year tweaking it to fit more into what you both believe in. You still remember being laughed at by a former friend who also believed in the supernatural for wanting to do exorcisms with crystals and spells instead of the bible, but it’s what felt right to you.

You felt even more secure in that decision when you and Namjoon performed your first exorcism. A friend from your office job at the time was complaining about her cousin’s son who was acting so differently.

“Different how?” You’d asked and she explained that he’d often sleep a lot all day, have extreme mood swings, and would even talk and engage with empty rooms. He was being written off as puberty and maybe schizophrenia, but something in you disagreed.

To your surprise, the mother agreed to let you and Namjoon visit her son and see how he was doing. She was so desperate on the phone when you got her number from your co-worker. She babbled about how she felt insane at even contemplating something like possession but every doctor she’d taken him to said all of his tests were fine and there was nothing they could do.

That’s how you and Namjoon discovered a low-level demon was possessing the boy. It took you two days to gather the necessary spells and crystals to banish the demon, but with shaking hands and nervousness you still can’t quite describe, you banished the demon within the child. The sheer relief in the little boy’s eyes is still one that you can never get out of your head. He cried, his mother cried, and you cried because holy shit you just exorcised a demon out of a kid.

Namjoon retold your experiences on his blog and on a demonology Reddit forum he frequented and miraculously, someone in Busan found his post and truly believed him, messaging him, begging for his help.

That was your second exorcism. Then there was a couple in Gangnam. Then a family in Daegu. Then came the emails from Japan, and Europe and then in just three years, you and Namjoon were getting inquiries from all over the world. His blog had turned into both that and your website where people could reach out and ask for you to help their spouses, their parents, their children, and anyone that they care about that was being haunted somehow.

The two of you were busier than you could keep up with and you knew you needed more help and more equipment to be able to detect entities more effectively. That alone took another six months of research and interviews to gather a team of people you trusted and could help.

Jeongyeon was first. She was formerly an assistant to other celebrities and idols but left due to the high-maintenance attitudes. She says she loves working for you and Namjoon more than anyone else because you were just normal people who just so happened to have a following and liked helping people. You know that you’re not supposed to be overtly friendly with people who work with you, but Jeongyeon is admittedly your best friend and keeps you in line when you get too emotional or forgetful.

Jungkook and Mingyu were next. They were best friends and were fascinated by demons and what you and Namjoon do, in addition to being fans. When they saw Namjoon’s post about looking for a team to put together, they wasted no time in messaging him to meet. You only needed one additional person to help work the camera and the equipment you could finally afford to buy, but the of them were a package deal and were passionate about one day doing what you do, so you brought them on.

The five of you have been a team for the last year and you and Namjoon quickly found that you now couldn’t be nearly as successful and efficient without them.

With your bags safely in your hotel and the group fed and sufficiently briefed on the family, you pull up to the house. The suburban neighborhood is quiet and the house in front of you is a brick two-story home. The front yard is normal, with a tree in the front and the lawn decently manicured. There’s a small garden and two cars parked in the driveway.

From the outside, the house is completely normal and no one driving by would ever suspect there’s a dark, evil cloud hanging heavily over it that you can feel as soon as you start up the walkway.

Namjoon rings the doorbell and takes your hand, already feeling how uneasy you are.

The door opens only seconds later, a couple looking expectantly at your group. “Mr. and Mrs. Jackson?” The woman nods hesitantly and you give them a smile that you hope is reassuring.

“Thank you so much for coming, please come in,” the husband says, the couple stepping aside and ushering you all into the house. The atmosphere of the home is so cold and frail compared to how warmly decorated it is with knick-knacks and family photos everywhere. Your eyes take in one particular photo showing the family of five standing in front of Cinderella’s castle at Disney, their smiles wide and jubilant.

A stark contrast to the solemn looks you were greeted with.

“Where are your children?” You ask, turning back to the parents.

“Oh, Siobhan’s upstairs. Our son and other daughter are at my mom’s while we, uh… do this.” Mrs. Jackson wrings her hands as she speaks, glancing back at her husband.

“That’s good. These things tend to work best when there are fewer people involved.” The couple shares a look at Namjoon’s words before ushering all of you into the living room. This space is also decorated with mementos and feels just as rigid.

“So, uh, how exactly will this work?” Mr. Jackson asks, glancing at you and the rest of your team.

“Well, Namjoon, Jeongyeon, and I will talk to Siobhan and get to know a little more about what’s going on. We have the information you gave us of course, but talking to her may give us a better idea as to what we’re dealing with. Jungkook and Mingyu will use some of our equipment around the house and see if they can pick up anything that may be roaming around.” You point to the two men that wave as they unpack some of their gear.

Mrs. Jackson gives everyone a watery smile before zooming in on you. “Rich and I have done a lot of research on you guys. You’ve helped a lot of people over the years and you seem to always know how to get rid of whatever is…haunting people.”

“That’s right. We do our best.”

“We were still skeptical, but we want to trust you. No one else has been able to help. We went to every church in the county and damn near the state before emailing you. They all either didn’t believe us or couldn’t do anything at all. We just want our daughter to be safe.” Her voice cracks at the end of her words and her husband pulls her into a hug.

“Mr. and Mrs. Jackson -”

“Please, call us Rich and Mona.”

Namjoon nods. “Rich and Mona, I promise you we’re going to do everything we can. We’ve had a few occasions where we’ve been up against some forces that we needed to call in reinforcements for, but we would never leave a client without help. You can count on us.”

You and the team then spread out to jump into your work. Mona leads you up to Siobhan’s room and stays in the hall as you knock.

“Come in,” The voice is quiet but you still hear it.

Siobhan Jackson is seventeen years old but looks much younger in person. She’s hunched over at her desk chair, a large sweatshirt draped on her with her laptop illuminating her tired expression as she stares blankly at it. Her curls are in a bun, tendrils of hair hanging around her face.

She looks up and meets your expression, brown eyes full of exhaustion and something else sad that you can’t quite place, but you know it’s a form of sadness. The room is stifling, something in the air filling your lungs as soon as you inhale. You don’t know what it is, but you know it’s there and you know it’s not good.

“Hi, Siobhan. I’m Y/n. This is my husband Namjoon.”

“Hi.” Her voice is soft and her tone is low.

“I suppose you know why we’re here.” She nods. “Would you mind if we asked you some questions? We’ve heard from your parents, but I’d like to hear from you.”

She nods and waves you the three of you on. You and Namjoon sit on the long ottoman at the end of her bed while Jeongyeon takes her vanity chair, tablet at the ready. Siobhan’s laptop is open to YouTube, but it’s just sitting on the homepage.

“Um, well, when we moved here, I knew something was weird in the house, especially my room. Everyone said it was just because I was homesick but I knew I was right. He popped up when I turned seventeen and was nice to me at first. It sounds weird, I know, but he was someone I could talk to since I don’t have too many friends at school.

I thought he just was lonely too and wanted someone to be friends or whatever with, but then my eighteenth birthday happened and he got mean. He’d tell me how my family doesn’t love me and how no one at school likes me and how there was nothing left for me here and why should I stick around.” Her voice cracks at these words, making you frown. The memories of a similar experience with a demon when you were her age crop up, but you will it away. You need to concentrate on Siobhan.

“Did he make any offers or propositions to you?”

“Yeah, he um, he wants me to go with him. I don’t know where, but like, he wants me to be his bride.” She says it with disgust, which is relieving. You’ve run into more people than you’d like that considered being possessed willingly or who were disillusioned into believing that their entity cared for them. Siobhan doesn’t seem to be a victim in that sense so there’s still time to save her.

“Okay. And do you know anything else about him?”

She looks visibly flustered, her tan skin turning the lightest shade of red. “Oh, yeah, um, at first he was just a voice, but then he showed up in front of me. He doesn’t look like a demon or anything. He looks a lot like my favorite singer.”

Frowning you glance at Jeongyeon who has been jotting down her words on her tablet.

“And who’s that?”

“Um, Park Jimin.” Siobhan gestures around the room and you finally notice the sheer amount of posters of the K-Pop singer on her walls.

“That’s nothing to be ashamed about. Demons are sneaky and will use anything they can to make us let our guard down. Just remember it’s all a trick and he just wants to hurt you.”

“I know. I just want him to go away.” Her shoulders sag as she picks at a stray string on her sweater sleeve.

“Of course you do,” Namjoon chimes in. “And he will. Is there anything else we need to know? Anything helps so that we can do a little more research and try to find his name.”

Siobhan looks to the ceiling, thinking of anything else to add. “Um, he’s mostly in my room. Like, he can go all over the house obviously since he keeps terrorizing everyone, but he spends most of his time in here.”

“Makes sense. You’re what he wants so he’s going to stick by you. We’ll have to draw him out and also do the banishment spell in here then.”

You and Namjoon share a look and get up, ready to go see what the rest of the team found.

“Um, Mrs. Kim?” Siobhan’s timid voice squeaks up before you’re out of the room.

“Yes?”

“Do I have anything to do? Like I don’t know how this works.”

“You don’t need to do anything. We’ll be casting a banishment spell once we draw the demon out then we’ll cleanse the room and house when he’s gone to clear a lot of the dark aura that he’s cast. It isn’t that crazy. Most of the entities we banish go with a minimal fight. All you have to do is stay back and let us take care of it.” You hope your voice offers her some ease and it seems to work as she gives you the first smile you’ve seen since you entered her room.

The rest of the day is spent researching and setting up equipment. Jungkook and Mingyu have EMF meters, digital thermometers, and infrared cameras around the house and they also have a few motion-activated cameras near Siobhan’s room and scattered around elsewhere.

You and Namjoon have been flipping through your archives to get a sense of who this demon is. He’s some sort of love or lust demon, wanting to make Siobhan his bride. This narrows it down, but not nearly enough to be able to pinpoint him yet. There are far more entities that desire a human soul as a partner out there than people may realize.

The majority of demons that want a human soul or vessel will play any mind games they have the power to use to manipulate their target. It’s all textbook 101 demon behavior so far, so you have to wait to catch a glimpse of something on one of the cameras around and maybe make out the demon’s form to help figure out who it is.

“So are we doing the usual thing here when we find out who this demon is?” Mingyu plops into the kitchen chair next to you, peering over your shoulder at your laptop screen.

“Likely, yes. What the family has described sounds like a normal love-hungry entity. We have to try and draw him out in Siobhan’s room, then immediately we’ll need to start a banishment spell. Depending on who it is we can decide which crystals we may need for the ritual and then go from there.”

“Do you think we’ll need anything extra?”

“Unless this demon surprises us, I don’t think so.”

You ignore the nagging feeling in your gut that something about this job feels off and chalk it up to casual nerves, opting to proceed as usual.

Hours tick by with no movement in the house. You’ve done the most research you can and are just waiting for some signs in the house. This is the most normal part of what you do - sitting around and playing the waiting game.

When it’s nearly midnight and you’ve been in the house almost all night, you decide to call it quits and go back to the hotel until tomorrow. Sometimes the entities know when someone like you are in the house and attempt to hide their presence as long as they can, but they always make an appearance eventually.

The next morning, when you’re back in the house, you find out your hunch was correct. The various cameras you left around the house were able to pick up something walking around last night while the family slept.

“The images are hard to decipher. This is definitely not a person, but we can’t tell who or what.” Jungkook explains as he points to the shots on his screen.

The image from the motion detector camera shows a blur that’s dark, misty grey, and is tall - very tall - but you can’t make out much more. The infrared findings picked up massive cold spots moving around the house, specifically around Siobhan’s room. You stare at it, a vision clouding your mind at that moment.

It’s Siobhan, even if this is a particularly murky vision. She’s flailing around uncontrollably on the ground, looking as though she’s fighting for air. Her screams echo in your ears, loud and desperate.

“Y/n?!” Namjoon’s voice rips you from your vision as you blink, trying to clear the blur.

“What?”

“You were gasping as if you couldn’t breathe and you started yelling” He’s concerned, his eyebrows scrunching up on his forehead.

You hadn’t even realized that what was happening to Siobhan in your vision was happening to you at the same time. After retelling what you saw, you feel a heavy feeling in the pit of your stomach.

“Do you think it was a warning?” Namjoon questions.

“Maybe. Clearly whatever’s in the house knows we’re here and has something to say about it.”

You mull Namjoon’s words over and realize how right he is. This entity knows more about you than you know about it at this point. It was showing you what it can do and there’s nothing you can do about it. It can take Siobhan over or harm her at any moment. Entities have infiltrated your psyche before to broadcast their twisted desires to you, but this time feels especially sinister, with unmeasurable unease washing over you.

“We don’t know his name yet but we have to try to draw him out at least. We can get him out and try to banish him with a general spell.”

Namjoon shares a skeptical look with everyone else in the room at your words. “But if we don’t know his name will it even work? You know that we need the name of the entity to for sure banish it.”

“I know, but we can’t afford to wait on when he wants to fully make himself known. He knows we’re here and isn’t happy about it so we need to at least be around him and I can probably find out myself.”

Reluctantly, everyone agrees as you start to move and prepare for the banishment. You all move fluidly, used to working together like this to prepare everything. You rifle through your bag, sifting through your crystals until you find a handful that should work.

Jungkook, Mingyu, and Jeongyeon work to set up tripods for your normal filming cameras - two in the corner pointing towards the middle of the room where Siobhan sits. Jeongyeon then makes a thick line of salt in the doorway to the bedroom and around the sills of the two locked windows.

“As soon as we draw him out, you’ll head straight for the door and shut it behind you to be safe, okay? Don’t come in here unless we tell you to.” Siobhan nods at your instructions. Given that this demon has his sights set on her, you’re having her stick around for now as you see if you can get him to so himself. I’m going to go into a meditation state so I can enter what’s called the in-between to try and see if he’s here and we just can’t see him in our world. Hopefully, he’s more likely to be spotted with you here.”

“Everyone ready?” You pose the question to the room and get collective answers of agreement.

With you in front of Siobhan, you take a deep breath and fish your aquamarine crystal out of your bag. The small blue stone has always aided in clearing your mind and letting you focus on everything in a room with you, which includes any being, whether of this world or another.

Namjoon begins reciting a summoning spell from behind you, calling the demon out into the open while you center yourself. Quickly, you fall into a standing meditation, your body feeling lighter. When you slowly open your eyes, the room around you becomes hazy as if covered in a light film. You can hear Namjoon, his voice is muffled behind you as you take in your surroundings.

At first, everything around you looks as it does normally. It’s not until your eyes land on a hand mirror on Siobhan’s desk that you see something out of the ordinary. Upon approaching it, you watch as it glows red - the telltale sign that it’s haunted.

You move to grab it, but as soon as your hand makes contact with the handle, it burns and you pull your hand back with a hiss. While holding your breath, you approach it, peering down to peek into the reflection.

All at once the sensation of ice water being poured over you hits and you reel backward. You hadn’t even noticed this familiar mirror in the room. You remember feeling the stifling feeling when you first entered the bedroom yesterday, but not once could you have guessed that this would be the source of the negativity.  

“Hey, Y/n. Long time no see.” The deep, gritty voice speaks from the mirror and it immediately has you stumbling and knocking you back from the in-between.

Your eyes pop open and you see Namjoon in front of you, looking worried.

“Siobhan, downstairs!” She scrambles up out of her chair at your words without a second thought and rushes past you. Jeongyeon holds the door open for her, then shuts it tight.

“Joon, we need to -”

The loud sound of someone clearing their throat on the other side of Siobhan’s room stops you. Everyone turns to look and sees him sitting on her desk with his legs perfectly crossed.

He looks just like the posters lining Siobhan’s wall. Same touseled dark hair, round cheeks, and soft smile but it’s not him. This demon can take the form of whatever he pleases; usually the appearance of whatever his latest victim pleases. You know this to be true because you remember this very same voice coming from the body of your teenage crush, sitting in your room when you were the same age as her. How could you have been so stupid not to put the pieces together? Sure what she’s been experiencing is typical of near possessions but you just knew the air in this house was especially foreboding and oh-so-familiar. You’d even missed the hand mirror sitting on her vanity.

“What are you doing here?” Your words are sharp and you hope they sound as vicious as they did in your head.

The demon throws his head back to laugh, and it only serves to frustrate you more. “What do you think, Y/n? I’m still looking for a bride. Would you believe after all these years, I haven’t been able to find anyone like you? But, Siobhan, well she’s different. She reminds me so much of you.” He grins at you, clearly wanting to provoke you.

Namjoon shifts behind you, his hand grabbing your arm to bring you closer.

“Y/n, do you know this demon?” You nod. You wish you didn’t. You’ve spent more than a decade pushing him out of your mind and yet here he is, as smug as he was when he haunted you in your bedroom all those years ago.

“Namjoon, get the banishing spell ready.” You hear him rustling behind you, flipping through the pages of his spellbook. “Jungkook, Mingyu, get your crystals ready - we’re going to need your help.”

“You can do whatever it is you want. You can’t get rid of me.” The demon laughs from across the room.

“I did once.”

He stands to his feet and stretches, seemingly uncaring about your words.

“Little girl, that was simply a fluke. I won’t let you cast me away again.” His red eyes bore into yours but you refuse to back down. You grip the black tourmaline crystal that always hangs around your neck, your other hand already reaching into your shoulder bag to swap out the crystals in hand.

With his spell book in hand, Namjoon sidles up next to you. Jungkook and Mingyu stand on either side of the two of you, staring back at the demon.

“This won’t take long.” You fish a flew fluorite crystals out of your bag. “Jungkook, grab your smoky quartz. Mingyu, you get your shungite. We need to get him out and keep him out.”

“What’s his name?” Namjoon asks once he’s ready.

You glare at the demon’s smug face and watch as he puts his hands in his pockets. You want to believe you can do this but his confidence is a bit jarring.

“Asmodeus.” At the sound of his name, the demon’s grin only widens, all of his sharp teeth on display now. Your husband lets out a small gasp from next to you but quickly recovers as he begins to recite the spell.

Jungkook and Mingyu join him, reciting the words after him under their breaths. Gripping your crystals, you hold them up toward the demon, repeating his name over and over again. The furniture in the room begins to wobble and an unknown wind picks up.

“Give it a rest already!” Asmodeus calls out, stumbling backward. His wings unfurl and he crouches in response, planting his feet on the carpet.

Namjoon only gets louder as do Jungkook and Mingyu. With most other demons, you and Namjoon can banish them yourselves, but you know this one. You can barely recall how you had the strength to banish him from your life at seventeen, but you’ve always accepted that you had been lucky when you did it alone after researching him, but something tells you this won’t be so easy.

“Asmodeus!” You yell sternly, rubbing the bumpy, purple-ish crystals around in your hand. The combination of the crystals along with knowing the demon’s name and the banishing spell should be enough. It should, but you can see Asmodeus is only getting seemingly more and more agitated.

He’s frowning now, eyes darting between all of you as none of you relent. The wind in the room picks up as you watch one of Siobhan’s lamps go flying across the room, whizzing in front of you.

“It’s not going to fucking work! I will be taking that girl with me!” The demon growls, eyes blazing as he flaps his wings and hovers in the air. You take a step back but continue.

Everything else happens faster than you can account for. Asmodeus crosses his arms around his body making an x-shape before uncrossing them, sending everything around the room airborne. Papers, books, and stuffed animals whirl around the room and you duck to avoid them. Jungkook grunts from your side as a shoe hits him in the leg, but he only falters for a second. When you all duck to avoid Siobhan’s nightstand smashing into the wall, Asmodeus dashes through the air across the room.

He soars over your head and you can only watch in panic as he goes careening into Jeongyeon.

“Jeongyeon!” You sprint forward, intending to grab her arm, but you’re not quick enough. You can only watch in horror as the demon crashes through the door, sending Jeongyeon flying with it as both the tattered wood and her tumble through the air and backward toward the top of the stairs. She lands back first on the door and it slides down, tumbling to the first floor.

The four of you scramble out of the room and down the stairs to her side.

“Jeongyeon?! Jeongyeon can you hear me?!” You lean down to listen to her breathe. “She’s still breathing. Someone call an ambulance!”

Mingyu quickly grabs his phone, dialing 911 next to you. Namjoon is across from you and surveys the room, the demon is nowhere to be found. The Jacksons are huddled in the entryway to the living room while Jungkook talks with them, assumedly doing damage control. An occasional cut or scrape or even getting shoved by an entity is one thing, but tumbling down a flight of stairs is another.

“Y/n the doctor says she’ll be fine. She’s just bruised and her arm is sprained. She said she was lucky the door broke her fall. It could’ve been really bad if she’d gone down with nothing behind her.”

“Fuck, Joon I know, I just feel terrible. I should’ve known that we’d need help. He was so smug and confident - why didn’t I know that he was stronger?!”

You’re pacing outside of Jeongyeon’s hospital room. She suffered a concussion on top of the sprain, but she’ll bounce back. You glance in through the door that’s been left ajar as she talks to the doctor inside. The guilt is still strong though. Mingyu and Jungkook stayed at the house with the Jacksons. Asmodeus will only be more agitated at this point and could attempt to possess Siohan at any time. You and Namjoon will need to get back soon, but you needed to be sure Jeongyeon is alright.

Namjoon comes over and grabs your shoulders, stopping you mid-stride. “Y/n, hey, it’s okay. You couldn’t have possibly known for sure. I remember you telling me about being haunted when you were a teenager, but you couldn’t have known for sure it was him. Besides, it’s been over a decade.”

Letting out a tired whimper, you fall into his arms, burying your head in his chest. “What do we do? Do we need more help?”

“Already taken care of. Remember Yoongi?”

“Min Yoongi? The guy that you met in that demon subreddit?”

“Yeah. He’s here in the city for a friend’s wedding, but I texted him on the way and he agreed to meet us at the Jacksons’ tomorrow morning. He’s going to help us banish Asmodeus. I think with someone as knowledgeable as him we can do it. We also need to do a little more research ourselves before we get back in there and do this.”

Sighing, you lift your head to look up at him. “We have to get rid of him. I know what he’s like - I know what Siobhan is going through. We have to help her, Joon.”

Your husband gives you his infamous sweet, dimpled smile.

“Everything’ll be okay, Y/n. We’ll help her and I’m going to keep you safe, I promise.” Namjoon leans down to gently kiss you, reassurance and warmth spread through you at the softness of his lips. These moments with Namjoon almost make you feel like a normal couple living a normal life. Almost.

The doctor comes out of Jeongyeon’s room then and you pull away reluctantly.

“She’s still okay, right?” You ask as soon as she joins you in the hallway.

“She is. Her concussion isn’t too much of a concern, she just needs to take it easy. You can go in and see her if you want.” You return the doctor’s friendly smile and rush in, pulling Namjoon behind you.

“Jeongyeon!” She’s sitting up in bed, looking out the window. She looks tired, and you can see the bruising on her arm that’s not in a sling, but overall she still smiles at you. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m alright. Sore, but that’s the worst of it.”

“Well, tomorrow we’ll make sure you’re comfortable at the hotel with everything you need before heading out.”

She shakes her head, immediately shutting that down. “No way. I’m coming with you.”

“But your arm is-”

“It’s just a sprain.”

“You shouldn’t move it much.”

“I won’t! Plus, I’m ambidextrous so I can do everything else as normal.”

Frowning, you place your hand over hers. “This could get dangerous. I don’t want you to get hurt again.”

She flips her hand over to hold yours. “I knew what I was getting into when I took this job. Danger comes with the territory. I promise I’ll be fine and I can keep going.”

The two of you have a short staredown, your nervous expression meeting her reassuring one. Reluctantly, you agree with the rule that she works the camera and does not help with any of the equipment.

She agrees and it’s not long until she’s discharged and you’re able to go back to the hotel and regroup. You already know Namjoon wants to question you more about Asmodeus, but he’s kind enough to leave it be for now. You need the rest of the day to prepare for the next banishment attempt. With you being so familiar with this demon, it’s succeeded in rattling you in a way you’re not quite used to.

Min Yoongi is only two years older than Namjoon, but he’s still had much more experience. He was lucky enough to start studying demonology earlier in his life and was able to learn exorcisms much more quickly due to an uncle that happened to do the same line of work. He and Namjoon met online a handful of years ago and have met in person a few times. Usually, they just hang out for fun but this is the first time Yoongi will be helping you with a job.

“So you've banished him before?” Yoongi questions, sitting across from you at the kitchen table. He’s met you all at the Jacksons’ home in the morning. He’d done more research on Asmodeus as did Namjoon so they’d have more knowledge, but you’d had yet to give your full personal testimonial until now.

“Yeah. Long story short, we moved into a new house when I was fifteen. It’s actually in a town not too far from here. I knew something was weird about my room the day we moved in. I remember hearing voices and feeling a presence and it all traced back to that old mirror that was under a floorboard in my room. It wasn’t until my seventeenth birthday that Asmodeus revealed himself. He was in the form of my crush at the time and -”

“Who was it?”

Jungkook interrupts your story with the question.

“Who was what?”

“Who was your crush at the time?” Jeongyeon flicks him on the shoulder and he groans. “What?!”

“This is what you want to ask?”

“Just to help visualize it!”

“It was Omarion,” you roll your eyes at him as he and Mingyu snicker from next to him. “Anyway, he was nice to me just like Siobhan, then I turned eighteen and he told me wanted me to be his bride. I refused and so he started tormenting me. Destroying our house, scaring the shit out of us. He even killed our family dog and uh - he possessed me briefly.” You gulp at the memory. “The pain of having yourself violated in the form of possession is one I can’t describe. It’s cold, it hurts, and it feels so utterly lonely. Like you’re watching everything through your own eyes but you’re trapped in an empty room that feels so claustrophobic.”

“How old is he?” Mingyu questions.

“Thousands of years old,” Namjoon answers for you, noticing how retelling this story is making you uncomfortable. “According to what I’ve found on him, he’s been doing this for centuries even. He’s a demon of greed and lust and he preys on women hoping to take them from their bodies and take them with him for eternity. Think of it like he’s a screwed-up Hades and Persephone-like situation. He seems to get banished here and there and that mirror is definitely how he gets access to our world, but that’s as far as he gets banished to and it seems to only be temporary. The mirror itself just gets passed from thrift store to thrift store, getting picked up by unsuspecting people. Siobhan found it at a Goodwill a few years ago which is when this all started for her.”

“But we want to banish him for good this time,” You say matter-of-factly. “That’s where you come in, Yoongi. We need help with the spell since we need to do a different one to get rid of him for good. We want to send him away, but make sure he can’t pop up again. He’s one of the stronger forces we’ve dealt with and we need the manpower. We also need to narrow down the right crystals - stronger ones. Once he’s gone, we’ll take the mirror back to Korea with us and store it away so he can’t even come back if he wanted to.”

Yoongi takes off the backpack he’s wearing at your words and opens it, revealing a bunch of shimmering crystals.

“I brought some that I thought could come in handy. I was researching him yesterday and think these could do the trick.” You sort through the bag, recognizing the various crystals and nodding.

“Thank you! I think we could use most of these. He’s strong but he’s certainly not unbeatable.”

“When are you doing this?” Siobhan asks from the corner of the room. She and her parents have been here the whole time listening to you all go back and forth.

“Tonight. It’s best not to wait too long since we just had this run-in. We need to stay on top of him now that he’s shown himself. We’ll get him.”

It takes the rest of the day for everyone to prepare for the second banishment. Mingyu and Jungkook go over the spell over and over again for practice while you all prepare the basement. Asmodeus was able to leave Siobhan’s bedroom before, but if you trap him in the basement he can’t leave so easily.

You all work together to remove as much furniture from the room as you can so you don’t have any flying objects hurling at you again. With it being a bigger space, you need a few more cameras and Jeongyeon spreads the salt along the basement stairs and at the bottom to try and ensure he won’t be able to go anywhere. The basement is finished with an attached bathroom where Siobhan and Jeongyeon will take cover once Asmodeus shows himself again. The mirror sits in the middle of the room on the floor.

Wasting no time, you all get into position again, calling him out to him to show himself. He does it rather quickly but in the form of destruction.

“You can’t beat me!” Asmodeus bellow as all around the room, the ceiling and walls thump as if he’s zipping around the room punching every surface he comes in contact with. He’s going to show himself soon since he’s trapped.

“Asmodeus! Show yourself!” You scream at him, watching the ball of grey smoke bounce around the room before beelining for the mirror. Before it hits the mirror, the demon veers to the left at the last minute, knocking into Siobhan and sending her backward.

“Siobhan!” The girl flails around on the floor, gasping and scratching at the air.

“He’s possessing her! Someone put a salt circle around her now!” Yoongi directs, pointing at Siobhan’s figure. Jeongyeon acts first having been the last one with the salt and hurries to make a circle around the girl before she finally settles down, lying flat on her back for a brief moment. In the next blink, she shoots upright, head whipping around in your direction and hissing.

“Oh, fuck,” you catch Jungkook mumble from next to you.

“Recite the spell, now!” Yoongi calls, thumbing through his notebook.

Namjoon, Yoongi, Jungkook, and Mingyu surround Asmodeus, chanting in unison, crystals held out in front of them as they go.

Your feet are planted in front of the demon, watching as the gusts of wind enveloping you all turn grey and pick up faster. It doesn’t disturb the salt circle since it’s acting as an invisible wall, but you can see the demon getting increasingly agitated.

“Asmodeus! Leave this place and never return!” You bellow with as much bass as you can muster. You’re not nervous as before, only angry. Angry that you have to face this entity once more, but you will get rid of him for good.

The house shakes underneath your feet and Asmodeus roars at you, serpent tongue on full display, but you refuse to back down. He seems to sense your unwavering confidence as his eyes dart around the group. Siobhan’s shoulders slump before she starts to choke and gasp. Her eyes begin to bulge and her lips start to pale. He’s choking her from the inside out.

“No!” He’s going to kill her as he goes out - you can tell it just from the way her body is struggling for air. “Let her go!” Screeching at him, you step closer, holding out the palm-sized black jasper. Asmodeus hisses, Siobhan’s fist tightening, wheezing more.

He’s supposed to be getting weaker, not able to still have the strength to do this. Wracking your brain you try and think of something. All of the men in the room are still chanting at the demon, which is at least weakening him enough that he can’t break through the barrier, but you need to distract him. Take his attention off of hurting Siobhan long enough to allow the chance to finally send him away.

“Stop it and take me instead!” The words tumble out before you can think and it immediately catches the demon’s attention.

Blown-out pupils meet yours, studying you. “Just like that? You’re finally ready to be mine?” He asks through Siobhan’s choked tone.

You bite your tongue and nod, hoping you can convince him. Demons may be tricky, but in your line of work you’ve learned, they can be extremely gullible most of the time especially when you dangle something they want the most in front of them. Out of the corner of your eye, Namjoon stares, trying to get your attention. He’s steadfast in his words but you didn’t discuss this as a backup plan.

“Say it. Tell me you want to be my bride.”

Gripping your crystals so tight in your hand that it hurts, you mumble out the words he wants to hear. You need to let him start to possess you. That will be when the rest of his powers are the weakest and his guard will be down so he’ll finally banish away.

“Get rid of this salt circle then. And tell these idiots to stop babbling at me.”

“Do as he says!”

“But, Y/n-”

“Please, Mingyu just listen to him.” You stare at him, your eyes flickering to each one of them, Namjoon last. The only thing you can hope for is that he knows what your plan is. As soon as Asmodeus begins possessing you they need to start chanting again.

Your husband gives you a curt nod and tries to inconspicuously meet the gaze of the three other men to communicate with them as well.

On shaky legs you approach Asmodeus, the demon smirking sickly at you, waiting patiently to be released. You gingerly reach a foot out and swipe away a portion of the salt. As soon as it's gone, Siobhan’s hand comes out to grab your arm, dark eyes boring into yours.

Suddenly, her body starts to spasm, the hand gripping you tightening its hold. Her eyes roll to the back of her head as her back arches almost painfully. She lets out a scream, making you wince at the frequency, and then as quickly as it happened, it’s over. Siobhan falls to the ground in front of you, knocked out cold.

“Siobhan!” Moving to kneel, you intend to check her pulse, but you’re stopped by another grasp of your arm. When you’ve spun around, you’re finally faced with Asmodeous’ true form once again.

He’s seemingly eight feet tall, covered in what you can only describe as jet-black scales, his bat-like wings looking far bigger than they had in his fake form. Large, pointed ears pivot in your direction along with blazing red eyes and menacing teeth. The demon’s face can only be described as resembling a storybook goblin, complete with a long nose and wrinkly features. His black, spiraled horns look sharp enough to cut you as do his long, spindly fingers and pointy claws. Seeing him in front of you brings you back to the night in your room when you banished him all alone. You had nearly been in tears and ready to piss yourself, but this time, you feel a confidence you lacked then.

“Hello, my dear.” His claws trace down your arm and you have to hold your breath. “Don’t look so upset. You’re going to love it with me. Much more than with him.” Asmodeus sneers over your shoulder at Namjoon and you don’t have to see your husband’s face to know it is sure to be filled with fury.

His hands are as cold as ice and he brings both hands up to cup your face. You keep your hands at your side, fists clenched. The demon gives you one more grin as he begins. Pins and needles shoot through you in an instant, making you scream. Your eyelids flutter, but you fight to keep them open. Asmodeus’ crimson eyes almost hurt to look at as they glow as your limbs start to feel heavy.

Namjoon’s voice booms nearby, starting to recite the banishment spell. The others follow suit, their voices sounding much louder than before. The demon in front of you pulls away from you momentarily, yelling loud enough that your ears begin ringing. He closes his eyes for a split second, but it’s enough time that you can break out of the trance he attempted to put you under. Swiftly, you reach up, wrapping your arms around the demon to keep him in place. You press the black jasper into his back, making him screech again and tumble backward with you still wrapped around him.

Namjoon is at your side in a flash, followed closely by Jungkook and they work to hold him down as they speak. Mingyu and Yoongi follow, holding down the rest of him.

The demon flails underneath you all but isn’t getting away which means he’s much weaker than before. The grey, smokey wind that he emits fills the room again, whipping faster and faster. Asmodeus growls and the house shakes again. In the corner of the room, it sounds like the walls are cracking, but none of you relent.

“Asmodeus!” You yell, right in his face. “Leave this place! Forever!” You shove the black jasper into his stomach and he shrieks again. You watch as the demon underneath you begins turning into the same grey smoke that circles your head. Hist legs are first followed by the arm currently in Jungkook’s grasp.

“You lying bitch!” The demon spits at you, rage that you’ve never seen written across his ugly face. He’s only an arm, a head, and a torso at this point, and right before he starts to lose his last remaining limb, he uses the remainder of his strength to bring his hands up, claws spread out, ready to inflict damage.

You notice too late, and can only watch as he swings his hand at you.

Before he makes contact with you, Namjoon is in front of you, shielding your body from the attack and you can only watch in horror as the demon’s razer-like claws slash across Namjoon’s chest. Blood splatters out, spraying the demon right before he vanishes completely, a final shriek ringing in the air as he turns to complete smoke, which then wafts up into the air and evaporates.

The room is silent for only a second, giving you long enough to register what just happened.

“Namjoon!” The scream that leaves your lips sounds almost foreign as you scramble to your husband’s side. You roll him over, watching the blood seep from the deep slashes in his skin. He doesn’t move and his eyes don’t open but you can see his injured chest rise and fall, albeit slowly. Yanking off your sweatshirt, you press it to his wounds, attempting to stop the bleeding.

Around you, everyone is rushing. You think you hear Jungkook’s voice talking into his phone, telling whoever is on the other line the address for the Jackson’s house. Yoongi and Mingyu get to work cleansing the room and Jeongyeon gingerly wraps up the mirror, securing it in a small locked box. Tears blur your vision as you whimper his name, begging him to wake up.

Everything is white noise to you - Namjoon is your only focus. Making sure he’s okay, checking his pulse. The ambulance arrives after what feels like hours and moves you away to take him. You follow close behind, waving in Jeongyeon’s direction when she says they’ll be right behind you and the ambulance. You don’t take any notice of the way you’re shivering in your tank top as the October air fills the back of the ambulance. You’ll brave the cold to be by Namjoon’s side.

Being in another hospital room in the same week is a record for you. Namjoon is still asleep and has been since he was attacked. The steady beep of the lifeline machine has lulled you to sleep the past two nights you spent curled up in the uncomfortable recliner by his side. Everyone has been by since he’s been admitted. Jeongyeon insisted on staying with you but you sent her back to the hotel to rest.

It’s early when you check the bedside clock, getting up from your curled position to stretch. Namjoon is still asleep when you look at him, his breathing even and quiet.

You quickly duck into the bathroom in the room to brush your teeth and wash your face. Namjoon should be waking up any time now and even after all these years, you want to look good for him.

“Hi, Y/n.” Siobhan’s voice startles you when you leave the bathroom. She, along with her parents and their other two children are all standing in the doorway of the room.

“Oh hi, how are you doing?”

“Much better. Last night was the most restful sleep we’ve had in months.”

“I’m happy to hear that.”

Siobhan surprises you by rushing over and pulling you into a hug. Her siblings follow suit and hug you as well. They’re all thanking you and all you can do is say you’re welcome. Her parents hug you next, giving you more thank yous and telling you how grateful they are.

They stay with you for a few minutes to talk about Namjoon and how he’s doing. He’s still asleep as you gaze at him, taking in his beautiful features, feeling the lurch in your heart when you think of the way he smiles at you and how he says your name.

As if noticing the shift in your mood upon talking about your husband, Mona announces it’s time to leave and they all say their goodbyes. You walk them to the door and before they leave, Siobhan turns to you once more and grabs your hand.

“Seriously, thank you again.” She says it quieter and you can hear the sincerity in her words. You squeeze her hand in return and watch as the family leaves.

After they’re gone, it’s quiet again and you feel yourself starting to feel a new sadness wash over you - the sorrow of missing and worrying for Namjoon, but that’s cut short upon arrival when you turn around.

Namjoon is struggling to sit up in bed, wincing to himself.

“Joon!” You rush over to the bed, holding a pillow behind him as he leans up, settling back.

“Hey.” Tears well as you grab his hand, bringing it up to your lips.

“You’re awake.”

“I’m awake,” he rasps. His voice sounds hoarse, so you hurry to grab the water pitcher next to the bed and pour him a cup. After you hold it to help him drink, you set the cup down and go back to holding his hand. “Was someone just here? When I was starting to come to I thought I heard other voices.”

“The Jacksons just left. They stopped by to thank us and see how you were doing. How are you feeling?”

“Exhausted. I’m ready to go home and sleep in my own bed.”

“Not so fast. You’ve been asleep for two days straight and your whole torso is wrapped in bandages. He didn’t do any fatal damage, but you lost a lot of blood.” A sniffle slips out and Namjoon notices.

“Hey, hey I’m okay though. The demon’s gone and I’m alive and you’re safe.” Even in a hospital bed with an injury of his caliber, he’s still your strong, level-headed, loving husband. As carefully as you can, you lean over the bed to kiss him. “Wait, wait, I have crusty unconscious breath!” He tries to turn his head away with minimal effort.

“Don’t care.” You murmur as your lips meet in a long, closed-mouth kiss. His lips are just as pillowy and comforting as always.

When you pull away, the two of you share a sigh.

“I’ll go let the doctors know you’re up. They’ll want to check on you and I’m sure they’ll know when we can go home.” Reluctantly, you let his hand go and head to the door.

“Hey, Y/n,” you stop when Namjoon calls your name.

“Yeah?”

“I think when we get home it’s about time we go on vacation. I think I need some time in the sun, on a beach somewhere. Far away from anything demon related.”

With a smile, you nod. “Sounds like a plan.” Your husband blows you a tired kiss on your way out and it makes your heart soar as usual.

You hum to yourself as you leave the room, heart, full of ease and love. You all haven’t taken a vacation in probably a year, so it’s something that is desperately needed.

While waiting for a nurse to return to the nurses' station, your phone beeps with an email notification.

EXORCIST INQUIRY!!

The words are in all caps and even read loudly to your eyes. With a sigh, you open the email and skim it. Your team is needed as soon as possible in California to help a woman’s son who, as she described, is behaving “just like Regan from The Exorcist!!”

You mull over the next steps before typing out a response to the woman, informing her that you had an emergency in New York, but will attempt to get to them soon. You let her know that you’ll know for sure by end of the day and will give her more information.

Jeongyeon also receives your emails and you already know she’s going to text you soon about how you should be resting with Namjoon, but you’re prepared for her nagging. Namjoon will be disappointed that a seaside vacation will need to take a backseat for now.

As long as demons and ghosts still break through to our world, the work of a paranormal investigator is truly never done.

[robinhobiii]

Pretty Fiction

Mafia! Yoongi

When the cruel assassin happens to fall in love with the cute barista.

Part two

. . .

His eyes drooped as he gave up on hoping the meeting would end. He was simply a skilled assassin not a business man. He would be given a target and would take out his plan within hours of receiving it. He didn’t really want to be there because no matter the end solution, his job would be done in mere hours. It’s not like to be could really relate on the business side of the mafia.

Speaking of mafia, he is a long time member of the highly feared, Bangtan. Once a lowly and petty group of boys, now turned one of the most feared men across Asia. He ranks second after the Leader, RM. And of course takes much pride in that.

He longed to lay on his bed and fall asleep but the constant back and forth between the 6 other men was making it difficult.

“What I’m saying is we make a deal for six months and once we have enough info, we terminated the contract immediately.” Jin huffed again

“Hyung, they’re going to know something is up because WE NEVER DO a six month contract. Are you losing your mind hyung” Taehyung said irritatedly.

Ugh, how annoying

“What do you think we should do hyung.” Namjoon spoke while looking towards Yoongi.

“Simple, we snipe them and get rid of the problem altogether” He smirked coyly.

Namjoon sighed as he should’ve know what the assassin ’s response would’ve been.

“We’ll get back to this as it’s a petty problem for now. It’s been over four hours and we got through most of the agenda, so everyone is dismissed.” Namjoon said as stood up.

Finally, Yoongi can practically feel his bed’s warmth.

. . .

As he walked out the building, he was stopped by Jimin.

“Hyung, wait up, I gotta tel- hey why are you putting your headphones on?! hyung list-”

Maybe if he ignored Jimin’s yelling, he could get to his car faster and Jimin will leave him alone. That thought quickly vanished as Taehyung and Jungkook blocked Young from moving forward. Yoongi turned around and was met face to face with a sheepish Jimin.

“What” He growled out.

“Hyung, no need to get mad. We have a job for you” Jungkook said as slightly moved back, little nervous for his reaction.

“How much?”

“2 million won in total. 1 million before and 1 million after the job is done” Taehyung said.

“Hmm that’s a lot of money, target must be important, huh. Well, I’m all ears” Yoongi smirked.

“We can’t discusses it in the building’s parking lot. We’ll meet up at the new cafe separately and discuss from there, Okay Hyung?” Jimin said in a hushed tone.

Yoongi groaned

. . .

Here he was, outside the new cafe. He would’ve went in but decided on waiting for the younger three to show up.

As they turned up, he got out of his car and made his way to them.

“Hyung! I thought wouldn’t come” Jimin said suprised.

“2 million is a lot, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Yoongi smirked.

They made their way inside and stood in line. It wasn’t too busy but still many people there. When it was his turn to order, he was in utter shock. Those sweet innocent eyes that peered into his. That sweet soft smile as she asked him for his order.

“Uh sir? Are you going to order? Sir?” She asked polietly.

Even her voice was sweet.

He snapped out of it as Taehyung nudge him

“Uh just a large Iced Americano” He said sheepishly.

“Oh okay, I’ll get that right for you sir!”

. . .

Soon she did get all of their orders and placed everything on the table. Yoongi was in awestruck for the very first time. He couldn’t help but replay the sweet voice of her in his head.

“-that’s why he needs to be killed so hyung when will you execu- hyung! Were you even listening!?” Jimin whined out

“Hmm”

“Okay perfect! He needs to be gone before Friday, is that fine?”

“Yup that’s plenty of time”

“Okay hyung I’ll leave you to it”

“Hm”

His eyes were somewhere else though. Watching the sweet girl work diligently. A soft smile made its way to his usually stoic face.

He then heard a obnoxiously loud gasp.

“Did THE Min Yoongi smile?!?” Jungkook gasped out.

The smile left quick as it came. He glared at the younger members and stood up to pay. He felt nervous as the butterflies rumbled in his stomach.

Is this what people mean by love at first sight?

He now stood in front of her once more.

“Um, I would like to pay.” He said awkwardly.

“Oh sure let me ring you up!” she said as she quickly moved her hands on the screen. She was smiling throughout the whole process.

She must really love her job.

“Your total is 6,750 won” she smiled as she looked at him.

He was completely flustered as he went to retrieve his wallet from his pocket.

“You sure do smile a lot. You must love your job” he said, making small talk

“Oh, not really. It’s apart of my job. Got to look presentable for the consumers.” She said softly

He let a soft chuckle. What an honest girl.

“You know for someone trying to bring in more customers, you shouldn’t tell them that”

���Oh” she blushed

“My apologies. I just thought it’s better to be honest then lie.”

“I don’t mind, beside you looked cute explaining yourself.”

Neither could the maknaes or Yoongi can believe what just came out of his mouth.

She let a soft sigh of relief and giggled.

“Thank you and oh, here’s your receipt. Please do come again.” She said as she waved.

Yoongi returned the wave.

. . .

Soon enough he found himself always coming to the cafe. For only one reason. . . Okay maybe two reasons, the cute barista, whose name is y/n, and an iced americano.

Over the past few months they soon grew close. And her innocence was continuously making him flustered non stop. Of course it wouldn’t show on his face, he has a reputation to live up to. But it was the little moments that got his heart going a million miles per hour.

“Yoongi-ssi, you know, you should smile more. You have a gorgeous smile.” She said as she locked the cafe doors. He’s been walking her home these past few nights and he couldn’t be more ecstatic. “Hm maybe.” He said softly.

Or

“Yoongi-ssi, you really quiet. I must be bothering you. I’m sorry I don’t really talk much either but with you, I want to say everything. Please forgive me.” She said look down at her lap. Yoongi’s heart broke. She thought she was talking to much?

No, no, no.

He loved when she talk and rambled.

His large cold hands picked up her warm delicate ones. She looked up wide not expecting this type of action for him. “I love when you talk. I don’t talk as much because I’m pretty boring, but hearing you talk about your rendezvous makes feel like I was doing them with you.” He said softly as he slightly squeeze her hand.

. . .

Today was the day he was going to tell her what he does for a living. She’s been asking and all he could think of was a business man. Technically it wasn’t a lie as he did work for the company “The Map of the Soul, ” which obviously was a coverup for the mafia meetings and exchanges. However, it still was a legitimate company and one of the most sought after company to work with. Working there came with prestige and high class honor. He really didn’t care about that.

What he did care about was y/n reaction to what he was going to say. Was she going to hate him forever? Or is she going to turn him?

All these different thoughts ran through his head and soon enough was in front of that glass door. He let a final deep sigh as he made his ways in. He looked at the register and didn’t see her. He was very confused. Just as he was going to step into the “Employees only room,” he heard a familiar voice.

“Let me go! I’m not going to give you my number. Stop it please.”

He heard that sweet voice strain out and all he saw was red. He walk behind the pillar where noise was coming from, and saw a man hold y/n’s precious wrist.

“Let her go.” Yoongi spoke out.

The other man scoffed and said with a slight irritation “ and who are you. ”

“Min Yoongi”

The man’s smile quickly disappeared as he seems to be visibly shaken up. The man quickly let her go and stumbled out of the cafe.

“Note to self, find out who that was later” Yoongi thought to himself.

“Are you okay, Y/n?” He asked softly as he reach for her hand

“Yeah I didn’t expect him to do that when I didn’t give him my number.” She breath out.

She then chuckled and said “I knew you were a prestigious business man but I didn’t think people would be scared of you.”

“Oh about that, I wanted to tell you something.”

She looked at him expectingly

“You. . . Uh I . . . Um”

“It’s okay Yoongi-ssi, it’s only me. Talk it out”

“That’s why, it’s you. You make feel like I’ve never felt before. I like your innocent bluntness and the way you try to be positive about everything. I need you in my life forever and always. What I’m saying is that I like you a lot. And I never want to let you go but I’m apart of the maf-“

“ILIKEYOUTOOYOONGISSI!” She blurted out quickly.

“Huh?”

“I said I. . . like you. . . too”

Soon a wide smile appeared on Yoongi’s face as he processed what she said.

“You like me too?”

“Yes, you listen to every little detail and you don’t mind it at all. Although you look kinda scary, you’re the sweet person ever.”

“Hey I’m not that scary”

“Yeah, people were avoiding you like the plague”

How cute of her assume they were avoiding him because of his poker face.

“I’m just grateful we met that day, Yoongi-ssi”

He smiled warmly as he bent down to leave a kiss on her forehead. His eyes met hers and she bashfully looked away. He pulled her in for a hug. It was quiet for a bit until she let out soft giggles. Which then caused Yoongi to chuckle as well.

Hm, maybe it was a good thing she cut him off when he was going to tell her he was in the mafia. But now he knew if he wanted this to work, he needs to keep his work life and love life separate. He was also going to need to find a way to break the news to Namjoon. But until then,

She was going to be his pretty little fiction.

[dari-ede]

In the Middle of the Night: Chapter 8

Chapter 8: "갑작스런 내 고백이" 

Chapters: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 - 30

MASTERLIST

*************

Summary: As Bangtan prepares for a new chapter in their lives, they head to their private property in the forest for a songwriting workshop. As a songwriter and producer they have worked with for years, I’m asked to tag along. I was ready for the heavy workload and small amount of sleep during the workshop week. However, I wasn’t ready for the storm that came that changed my friendship with Namjoon forever.

Genre: Friends to Lovers, Fluff and Smut

Pairing: Idol!Namjoon x Female Reader

Rating: M (future sexual/explicit scenes)

Status: COMPLETE

****************

-Workshop Day Two-

Throughout the night, I kept repeating the flirting coming from Namjoon, trying to figure out if it had been innocent or if a line had been crossed. I had always openly flirted with Namjoon. At the beginning of knowing the guys, I flirted with the entire hyung line, trying to get a reaction out of them. Yoongi and Jin were typically unbothered by it—brushing me off or swatting me away. I lost interest in flirting with them pretty quickly. Namjoon and Hoseok were the only ones who reacted to my ways. Namjoon would turn a glowing red and get incredibly shy. Hoseok would giggle and blush but would play along and flirt back.

However, Namjoon never flirted back. Last night had been a first. The dragon look in his eyes had felt like a seduction.

And instead of feeling odd about my best friend putting the moves on me, I felt excitement. It was one thing for this to be a one-sided crush but if Namjoon’s feelings towards me were more than friendly, it changed everything.

The alarm I had set up went off. I stopped it quickly before it could wake Namjoon. I had gotten little sleep, despite the melatonin. And judging by the noises coming from Namjoon’s room across the hall last night, it seemed he hadn’t gotten much sleep either.

After tidying my bed, I gathered my things for my shower, careful not to make too much noise. As I exited my room, I heard a soft snore coming from the other room. Good. He was sleeping.

My shower was quick and quiet. I had three hours to spare before the workshop. I had too much energy so I figured I could spend it cooking everyone breakfast. I put on some sweatpants, a long sleeve, and a beanie since I knew it was going to be cold today.

I posted a note on my closed door for Namjoon, letting him know my early whereabouts. Making sure I put on my jacket, I headed towards the main house.

Upon stepping outside, a gush of wind made my beanie almost sail away. I tugged it tighter around my wet hair. The storm was getting closer, but the forecast assured it wasn’t anything to worry about. We just had to take precautions. I ran to the big house, trying to get out of this wind and coldness.

I reached the front door of the main house at record speed. And after entering, I was welcomed with tender warmth. Jungkook must have turned on the ondol before going to bed.

I made my way into the kitchen and was not surprised by the silence that greeted me. It was a good thing Jungkook was the only one sleeping here. He was the world’s heaviest sleeper so he wouldn’t hear any noise—no matter how loud—I would make.

I crossed the kitchen and checked the bed up on the balcony, ensuring Jungkook was fast asleep—he was. I could tell by the light snores coming from the mountain of blankets on top of the bed. I put on my earphones and played music as I worked. I prepped the veggies, started the rice cooker, turned on the coffee pot, and began to cook, making sure to be as quiet as I could.

Eventually, the aromatics must have made their way to House B because halfway into cooking, Yoongi entered through the back door.

“Good morning,” he greeted with a rough voice, his eyes groggy but focused on the ingredients I had on the counter.

I turned off my music and greeted him. “Coffee is ready. It’s decaf. If you want juice, it’s in the refrigerator or I can make a smoothy.”

He nodded his head in approval. “I’ll have coffee. Thank you. What do you need help with?” he asked as he washed his hands and looked towards the stove. “Are you making dakjuk?”

“Yeah. It’s going to be a cold day. I thought it would be good comfort food. I’m also preparing gyeran bap.”

Yoongi inspected my work and gave another approving nod.

During the beginning of the pandemic, I spent a lot of time with Yoongi in the kitchen. With little work to do, I easily got bored. Yoongi, knowing I had an interest in perfecting Korean dishes, offered to teach me. Jin had also taught me a couple of things, but I preferred learning from Yoongi. Jin’s food tended to feel more like fine dining—delicious and extravagant. Yoongi’s felt homey—warm and cozy. Something made solely out of love and adoration.

As Yoongi and I cooked side by side, Jin’s nose also brought him to the main house.

It didn’t take long before the two of them fully took over and brushed me away from the stove. I was a decent cook, but I coulnd't hold a candle to the pair; I didn’t mind stepping away. As the guys took over breakfast, I worked on the smoothies, knowing some of the guys were on a diet for the concerts coming up.

“Smells good,” came a rough and mumbled voice from above.

I walked to the dining table and looked up to the balcony, catching Jungkook’s sleepy face.

“Need help?” he was barely audible by the big yawn that came out.

“We got it. We’ll let you know once it’s ready,” Jin said sweetly. “Go back to sleep.”

Jungkook didn’t need to be told twice. He disappeared back inside his covers.

I went back to the smoothies, smiling at what I had just witnessed. Yoongi looked confused about my smile. “Kooki’s cute,” I explained.

Yoongi had witnessed his youngest brother’s adorable morning state many times, he looked indifferent. “It’s not too cute when it takes hours to wake him.”

Jin and Yoongi began to share stories of their struggles with having to wake up Jungkook.

We were near finishing when I heard the front door open. Only one person other than myself would use the front door rather than the back sliding door.

“Morning,” I greeted as I saw Namjoon enter the kitchen.

His dark, grey hair was a mess and only one of his eyes was opened. He looked dead tired. “Good morning,” I think he said. His voice was too rough to hear clearly.

I had never seen him in this state. “Didn’t get enough sleep?”

His lips were pouty. “It was a long night.”

His voice was too low and rough, I had to really listen in to fully understand him. But it sounded kind of hot.

“Why weren’t you able to sleep?” I asked, concerned…but also wanting to continue hearing this tone in his voice.

He mumbled something, but I didn’t quite hear the last part.

“What?” I asked, getting closer to him.

He shook his head slightly, irritated at himself. “My voice is bad. Little sleep.” He walked over to where the water was and poured himself a glass.

I instinctually followed. “Perfectly fine.” I waited for him to be in the middle of gulping water before I said the next thing. “You sound kind of sexy.” I put on my flirty voice when I said this and scooted closer to him, bumping him with my hip.

He stopped drinking and began to cough, water spilling out.

He was too easy. His face turned a slight shade of red embarrassment.

Last night had thrown me for a loop and confused the hell out of me, but I wanted to continue being playful with him.

He shook his head. “You like to watch me struggle.” He let out a cough, but smiled, nonetheless.

“No, I mean it: you sound sexy. Why would I lie?” I looked him right in the eye. All jokes aside, I wanted him to know that he was attractive despite him not thinking of himself as such.

Before he had a chance to answer, Jin called out his name.

We both turned, equally surprised. We had forgotten we weren’t alone.

“If the two of you could take a pause in the flirting, could you please see if the others are awake? Breakfast is almost ready.”

Yoongi let out a loud chuckle as he turned off the stove.

Namjoon turned a slight shade of pink but obeyed his hyung and left to wake the others.

“Jungwah!” Jin called out to the youngest.

“Ah,” came a muffled noise from upstairs.

“Food!”

“Mmmmm.”

Jin, Yoongi, and I placed the food at the table so everyone could serve themselves. Jungkook stumbled down the staircase.

Namjoon appeared a few minutes later with the remainder of his brothers.

The eight of us enjoyed a nice, short breakfast. The talk was small and mostly centered on the work for today and what would be having for lunch and dinner. I swear, these boys could eat a whole cow and still think about their next meal.

An hour before work was to resume, I excused myself, and let the guys know I still needed to prepare. As I got up to leave, I felt my head was a little warm, so I took off my beanie.

“Maya!” Namjoon’s alert sound made me worried.

He looked almost horrified as he looked at my head, and I began to touch it. Was there something on me? “What?”

“Did you come here right after showering? And you’re about to step out in the cold again with wet hair?”

I let out a groan of annoyance. “I don’t know how even after this pandemic you still believe in that old wife’s tale. Colds are viruses that are caught from other people—not your skull.”

“Are you insulting my ancestors’ methods?” He was trying to be playful, but I could tell he was irritated with me.

I used the same playful tone. “Namjoon, I’m going to call your mother and demand to see that IQ score myself—I question its validity a lot of times. The silly things you think of….”

“Hey, it’s not silly,” Hobi interfered. “You could get sick if you go out in the cold after showering.”

We had had this argument before. Last year around wintertime, I got scolded by all of them multiple times when they saw me with wet hair. I was good at biting my tongue with the older women in my family who still went through life believing in old health methods, but these guys were my age. I couldn’t let it go.

“Here,” Namjoon said, taking off his thick and heavy jacket.

“I don’t think—” I began to argue.

He shut me up by throwing the jacket on top of me, the impact making me stumble backward.

The guys let out a laugh, watching me almost fall.

“Kim Namjoon be careful! She’s small!” Yoongi scolded.

I felt warm hands keeping me steady, the heavy jacket coming off me. Namjoon’s sweet dimples were the first thing I saw. He let out a nervous laugh. “Sorry.”

I smacked his arm. “The insult did not warrant an assault. Use your words, man.”

He let out a laugh but then placed the jacket on me again, this time more gently. But then he turned me around roughly, shoving me towards the door.

“You’re lucky I like it rough,” I shot at him, shooting him a coy smile.

A combination of hoots, laughter, and groans erupted from the kitchen table as I walked out.

~~~~

It was past lunchtime when the workshop ended. We managed to create two verses and a chorus from the music I had composed. With some tuning, I could see potential in the song. Still feeling enough energy, I decided to start a small meal for everyone.

We had a three-hour break before the next workshop started. Everyone used their break differently. Some went to their rooms to unwind, others went to the gym, Yoongi and Jin came to assist in the cooking, and Tae watched us.

Like this morning, I started lunch, but they finished it. I took on a less complex dish: a salad. After prepping the salad, I started on the vinaigrette. I saw the back sliding door open and Hobi enter, his phone in hand. I was positive he had been talking to his girlfriend.

“What are you making, noona?” came Jimin’s voice. He had just come out of the gym with Namjoon behind him. Jimin took a seat on a stool and watched me work.

“Salad,” I said.

Jimin made a face as I heard Namjoon let out a groan.

“Isn’t this supposed to be a place to relax?” asked Hobi with a teasing smile, closing his phone.

“No one wants a salad,” Namjoon voiced at the same time, shaking his head.

I felt betrayed by my two best friends. The jerks. I made a face pretending to be offended.

Yoongi went on cooking, paying no one any mind.

Thankfully, I had at least two allies.

Jin was the first to speak up, “It will be a good balance for the meal. We have a concert coming up. We’re supposed to be watching what we eat. This is no time off.”

Tae walked over next to me with a beautifully kind look on his face. “I like noona’s salads. She makes the best ones. Always flavorful—you wouldn’t even know it was healthy,” he said, looking directly at Namjoon and Jimin with a chiding look for having spoken rudely to me.

Finally, Yoongi said something. “He’s right. She makes really good salads.”

Jin gave a small snort. “I mean, it’s really not hard to make a salad,” Jin countered.

I snapped my head towards him, my knife at the ready.

Tae also turned to Jin, looking dismayed.

Jin began to laugh at our overreactions.

Tae continued being Tae. “I am disappointed in you, hyung. Where are your manners?”

Jin continued laughing but he bowed his head comically at me and apologized.

I put down my knife but made a motion as if I was about to throw a punch at him.

Tae held me back comically.

There was laughter in the room.

I could hear Jungkook's enthusiasm enter the room. “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

Jin put up his arms in front of him, pretending he was ready to box. “Come at me, bro.”

I sent a kick in the air in his direction.

“There’s no need to be violent, Mayahuel,” Namjoon said to me.

My “violence” turned to Namjoon at hearing my full first name come out of his mouth.

Taehyung made a hissing sound and shook his head. He knew it had been a bad move by his hyung.

“What did you just call me?” I demanded.

Hobi was laughing at Namjoon. “Namjoonie, run!”

I dashed towards Namjoon and he took Hobi’s advice and ran.

He went towards the back of the couch and I followed.

Namjoon and I went around the living room a couple of times. He was too big to navigate through the living room swiftly and not a fast runner either. Thankfully, I was smaller and had long legs. I jumped over the coffee table with ease.

Namjoon looked a little shocked at how fast I got to him.

I rammed my body into him—bless him, he entertained me—and let his body fall onto the couch. While I was short and somewhat athletic—I boxed, hiked, and biked—Namjoon could totally snap me like a twig. If he had wanted to, he could have caught me mid-air and swung me over his shoulder quite easily.

The image immediately popped in my brain, followed by him tossing me onto a bed and him crawling over my body—with those dragon eyes he had yesterday. I could picture his muscular arms trapping me beneath him.

I tried to brush away the fantasy, but goddamn it, did it feel good to imagine it.

A noise sounding like a groan took me away from my thoughts and I remembered I was now on top of Namjoon on the couch. I had my arms around his back. I didn’t want to feel awkward, so I quickly let go and began to fake punch him. Yes, this is the kind of thing best friends did. They beat each other up. It didn’t look awkward at all…I hoped.

“Hey!” Namjoon exclaimed then grabbed me by the waist. Those hands of his felt warm on me even though I had a sweater on.

The next thing I knew, Namjoon had taken hold of my hand and trapped my lower body between his thighs. He sat up and maneuvered me underneath him. He was literally straddling me. Shit, my thoughts went into overdrive at seeing him like this.

But then he started to tickle me and my dirty thoughts were gone. I was too busy trying to catch my breath and get out of his reach.

“Na-joo,” I managed to let out. “Gerroff!”

But he didn’t. He kept going, laughing at my torture.

I kicked the air, not being able to reach high enough to kick him off me. He had me pinned down very well. Suddenly, I felt skin on skin. His fingers had gone underneath my sweater and were now on my bare stomach.

Everything went still. His fingers, my breathing, time. He had realized I was naked underneath this sweater—well, I had a bra on but no shirt. Our eyes met one another but we said nothing. I don’t know how long we stayed like that, staring at each other. But all the emotions I had been feeling for him lately became more intense. And the suspicion that he might like me too was now more evidently true. Why would he look just as shocked as I felt? Why would his fingers stay lingering above my belly button, making the tiniest circles on my skin? I was positive he was feeling my fingers against the back of his arms, digging into him.

I suddenly heard a gasp coming from somewhere and I remembered where we were. I made a fake laugh as if we were still playing around and pushed Namjoon off me. I really didn’t want us to have an audience for this moment.

Namjoon hadn’t anticipated my move, so he naturally fell to the floor with a thud.

I gave him a light kick. He had snapped out of it as well and now pretended to be wounded as he let out a wail.

“And don’t call me by my full name again,” I warned. I kicked him again.

I was anticipating having six pairs of eyes on us when I turned around. What I hadn’t foreseen had been the Cheshire smiles. I now understood it all. They knew. They all knew. And had never tried hiding it. I was just too stupid to see it—or too in denial.

Hobi was closest to me, so I took out my irritation mostly on him. “What?” I smacked him in the arm and began to head back to my salad.

I didn’t want any of them to answer, but it had been an instinctual reaction on my part.

All of them, though, felt compelled to answer. I received different answers.

“Are you mad because we interrupted?”

“Did you guys want us to leave the room?”

“Don’t mind us—continue on.”

“Noona, you looked comfortable on top of Namjoonie-hyung.”

“What’s going on in that house?”

“What’s going on between the two of you?”

Before either Namjoon or I could tell them to fuck off, there was a rattle on the front door. Hobi and Jin didn’t disappoint when they jumped back as if they were in a horror movie.

We all turned to the front door and heard the noise again.

“Must be Hyowon,” Namjoon said as he hurried to answer the door.

A few seconds later, we could hear voices coming from the entrance and saw Pdogg make his way to the living room. He had arrived for the workshop that was taking place in a few hours.

We all exchanged pleasantries and offered him a drink. No more than ten minutes later, the food was ready and we all gathered around the table and island.

I was grateful Pdogg had arrived when he did and that the guys didn’t bring up in front of him any teasing towards myself and Namjoon. Of course, they weren’t going to allow anyone outside of us to think there was something going on between one of their members and me. They might be little shits but they were also respectful and cautious.

During the meal, I found myself stealing little glances at Namjoon, trying to get a feel of how he felt about what had happened and if my suspicions of him having a crush on me were valid. In more than a handful of times, I caught his eye, and rather than look away in embarrassment, he would send me a smirk.

I needed a drink.

~~~~

The workshop went fine. All of us were professionals and worked hard on the song.

Before the workshop, we had put some meat in the oven for slow cook and it was nice and ready for us when we were done. Hyunseo was tired after the long drive, hard work, and heavy meal. He wanted enough rest before tomorrow morning’s workshop.

Once Pdogg left, Yoongi went to the alcohol. “Who wants makgeolli?” asked Yoongi as he took out the bottle and then some small, shallow bowls.

All of us made our way to the third oldest.

“Is there soju?” asked Taehyung.

Yoongi took out five different bottles, allowing Tae to choose which he wanted to drink.

“I’ll have soju, too.” While makgeolli was one of my favorites, I wanted something to kick the edge. I had a feeling the guys were going to bring up what happened between me and Namjoon and I wanted to have enough alcohol in me to not take it so seriously.

We all gathered around the living room and had several rounds of drinks while we played karaoke and board games. Once we got tired of physical activity, we relaxed around the table, feeling exhausted from the long day.

Eventually, the talk led to questions of confessions. This is what typically occurred when we had way too many drinks. Because the guys knew most of each other’s secrets, they gained up on me. Over the years, the closer we became, they saw me more as an equal instead of an older sister they had to show full respect to, which was why their questions became more forward.

“Be honest Maya; is there one of us you ever had a crush on?” Yoongi gave me a suggestive smile as he looked at me and then let his eyes wander towards Namjoon.

I knew where the little shit was doing, but I was going to make sure he regretted asking me the question. “Do you really want to know?”

“Yes!” came from several of the guys, Yoongi being the loudest.

Namjoon was to the right of me. He hadn’t been one of the ones who answered, but I could tell from the corner of my eye his full attention was on me. His makgeolli was sitting on the table, not having been touched in a while. He was ensuring he didn’t get drunk.

I took another sip of the soju. “I’ve had sex dreams of one of you guys for some years.”

I was sure Hyunseo heard the commotion coming from these men.

“Is it hot sex? Or sad sex?” Tae asked eagerly.

I could feel Namjoon’s body tense up a little.

Thankfully, the soju was keeping me relaxed. “Typically, it’s angry sex. But it’s not really him I’m having sex with but his stage persona.”

“Oh! Can I guess?!” Jimin looked like he was in school with his hand raised in excitement.

I nodded.

“Yoongi-hyung?”

Yoongi made a sound of disgust while the rest became quiet as they waited for my answer.

I nodded.

The cheers and laughter could probably be heard by the entire neighborhood now. Yoongi’s disgust was probably the loudest.

He looked so uncomfortable. “Why would you admit that?!”

My sides hurt from laughing so hard. “You—asked,” I barely let out.

“No, no, no! I asked if you had a crush on one of us! I did not want to hear about your filthy dreams!”

His annoyance only made us laugh harder.

“So you liked him once?” asked Jin, wanting Yoongi to continue feeling uncomfortable.

I shook my head no. “No, never. His Agust D persona would just pop up in my dreams. He looks really fucking hot when he looks pissed and sticks his tongue out. And when Deachwita was released…I think I woke up in sweats for a week.”

As I said all of this, I ignored Suga’s pleading hajimas.

“You didn’t know this, Hobi?” asked Jimin.

Hobi shook his head. “I don’t ask her these questions.”

Jimin then turned to Namjoon. “Namjoona, did you know?”

He wasn’t laughing as hard as the others, but he was grinning ear to ear with a certain glint in his eyes. He gave a nod to Jimin. “She told me a couple of weeks after Daechwita was released. Anytime Suga pokes his tongue against his cheek, she’s reminded of it. She said in the dream he would—”

He didn’t get to finish it because Yoongi had thrown one of the pillows at his face. “I don’t want to play this game anymore! The night is over.”

He started to usher everyone out of the living room.

“Oh, stop being such a square,” I said as he pushed me towards the front door. “I’m the one who had the wet dreams. I can’t even see that music video without—”

“Out! Or I will not cook anymore!” He opened the door and gave one last shove.

I was now standing in the windy outdoors. The storm had picked up and the rain was going to start shortly, judging by the moister in the wind.

Yoongi grabbed Namjoon by the sweater and shoved him outside after me. “You both leave. Go have a make-out session or dry hump. Do something to get that image out of your minds so that dream stops. Eck!”

The door was slammed quite ferociously behind Namjoon.

While it was all comical, the cold wind was making me prioritize my state of being. Namjoon and I hurried over to the house. It wasn’t until we were safely inside that we were in a fit of laughter. I clutched my stomach once the cramps got too intense. Namjoon had to clutch a chair to keep from falling.

“We’re never going to tell him it was Cici who had those dreams,” I said in between my laughter.

This only caused Namjoon to start developing tears. All he could do was nod in agreement.

The truth was I had never had dirty dreams of Yoongi; it had been my former group member who had admitted to me her filthy fantasies of Yoongi. For years, I kept the secret, but I finally couldn’t hold it and admitted this to Namjoon shortly after Daechwita was released. We had laughed as hard then as we were now.

We slowly started to calm ourselves down as we made our way inside the back house.

Namjoon wiped away the tears coming down his eyes. “You’re an evil woman.”

I walked over to the kitchen and got some water. “He’s going ignore me all of tomorrow. He might not serve me any alcohol for the rest of our stay here,” I said with a pout. I wasn’t a drunk, but I loved having a good drink every now and then. It would suck if I couldn’t have another sip again during the stay.

“It’s a good thing I brought these,” Namjoon said as he placed down two sojus.

I felt an elated joy had taken over. I reached for one of the bottles and drank from it. As soon as I got a sweet taste of it, the words just slipped out of my mouth. “I love you.”

There was a moment of stillness.

It wasn’t as if it was the first time I had uttered these words to him. I had said them to him a handful of times in different situations throughout the years: when each of us had been low, after receiving a memorable gift from him, while teasing each other, departing from each other physically, and numerous times through text and letters. But all those times were before I realized my emotions for him had developed into something more intense.

It was difficult to believe the last 24 hours had changed things so much. My feelings for him were growing. It wasn’t a crush anymore. It was something richer now—more intense.

And judging by the dragon eyes looking down at me, it seemed I wasn’t alone in this.

I could feel a slight panic creeping its way.

“Mai?” His deep and soothing voice brought goosebumps.

“Mmm?” I asked, taking another sip of the soju. I didn’t trust myself to turn to him just yet.

“We need to talk.” He was closer.

I took a breath, bracing myself. “Ok,” I breathed out.

“Let’s sit first.” He took a step back and motioned towards the living area. The kitchen table and island were covered with each of our work materials, we would have to move elsewhere.

Before taking a step forward, he took the soju from my hand and replaced it with a glass of water. I frowned at the action.

“I’d rather both of us be sober for this if you don’t mind,” he said softly.

I nodded and walked over to the living room with water in hand. I took the corner seat of the long couch, sitting with both my legs crossed.

He took a seat on the other end and let out a shaky breath. He rubbed his hands together, a habit he did when overthinking or nervous. It was noticing his nerves that gave me the courage to want to look him in the eye. I didn’t want my nerves to make things more uncomfortable for him. But as my eyes landed on his face, I noticed he wasn’t looking at me, but his own unsteady hands. I instantly brushed away my own worries and focused on him.

I took one of his hands between my own two, hoping to calm him.

His head came up, an unease look on his face.

It was my awareness kicking in again. I knew what he was feeling. Whether it was because of his touch or the look on his face or the energy radiating from him, I don’t know, but I knew. He had figured it out before I had—how long ago, I had no idea. But that didn’t matter at this very moment. What mattered was for us to openly acknowledge it.

“So last night we crossed a line,” he started off. “At first, I thought it was just teasing, but…clearly it was flirting. Legit flirting.”

I nodded.

“And then this morning—all day long—there have been looks and more flirting.” As he said this, I thought of the small moments where we did steal glances, touched each other for no good reason, and consistently stayed in close proximity. The massage, the couch, the moment alone here last night in the kitchen. “Something has changed between us,” he repeated. “I thought it was only me who felt this…but I can now see you feel it, too.”

There was a silence before I spoke, mostly because I wanted to be sure I worded my thoughts right and partly because I was scared of how badly this could ruin our friendship. “I thought if I kept it quiet, maybe it would pass, but it’s only intensifying,” I said, never feeling more exposed than I did now. I had been open with him before about my private thoughts and emotions. He may be the person I trusted more than anyone but allowing myself to be vulnerable was always going to make me feel uncomfortable. “I’ve had a crush for a long time but it’s always come in waves. It’s never intense or lasts long. But this time it’s different. It’s not going away and it’s getting deeper.” I held his eyes and said the words I had been needing to for a while. “I really like you. And it’s kind of scaring me.”

There was a silence between us as my words hung in the air. I could feel so many emotions radiating from the two of us—I wasn’t sure who was feeling what, but the emotions were strong enough to make us stay still for a moment. We needed to gather our thoughts for a bit.

It was Namjoon who was more put together before I was. He scooted closer, our knees now touching. I felt his hand on my cheek and his finger brushing something wet off me—I had been crying. His cocoa eyes held mine for a moment before he spoke, “I don’t know if it was because I was being a coward or thought it was a phase, but once I knew I liked you more than a friend, I hid it. The guys picked up on it, but I would dodge the question or deny it because I didn’t think you felt the same. I didn’t want to ruin the friendship, so I shut my mouth. But now…”

There was another long pause. We remained seated, holding hands.

“Now what?” I finally asked.

His thumb began making circles around the top of my hand. “Depends entirely on you. What do you want?”

Things were a little too heavy for a little too long. I was taking this seriously, but I also wanted to lighten the mood. It was in my nature. “I want to kiss. A lot.”

His dimples emerged. “And after that?”

“I’m not opposed to doing what Yoongi suggested,” I said brazenly but made sure there was a hint of teasing in my voice.

He chuckled. “Making out or dry humping?”

“Yes,” I answered.

“To what? Making out or dry humping?” He asked again.

“Yes,” I repeated.

“Which one?” He let out a laugh.

“Yes!”

“Which one are you saying ‘yes’ to?!”

“Yes!”

He then understood what I was saying. He was so slow sometimes. “‘Yes’ to both?”

“Yes! God, you’re dumb.”

He lunged at my stomach before I could react, tickling me as I fell on my back trying to wiggle away.

The picture was the same as earlier, except for one key difference. No one else was present to interrupt us.

I struggled with pushing him off me as I lay under his massive body. He had overpowered me and I couldn’t move my legs. I placed my hands against his chest and gave him light slaps.

The light in the room allowed me a full view of Namjoon’s facial features. His smiling eyes, his deep dimples, and his full, inviting lips. Fuck, he was tempting.

And then my body reacted. The craving was too powerful. My fingers wrapped around his shirt and I tugged, pulling him down to me.

His body reacted to mine. One of his hands was placed next to my head on the couch, steading himself so he wouldn’t crush me—not that I would mind his weight on me. His other hand wrapped on my neck, his thumb rubbing my cheek. His thick lips came closer.

It must have been hours since he had applied his cologne, but I still got a scent of the smokey and leather fragrance. His natural fresh, woodsy scent mixed well with the cologne. Not to mention the muskiness he had accumulated throughout the day. I had always been aware of Namjoon’s scent but not in this proximity. It was a little intoxicating.

I reached up, filling the gap that separated us. His lips were ready for mine.

A low groan came from behind his Adam’s apple. My hands lifted from his shirt and climbed to his neck, pulling him closer to me, begging to hear that sound again.

I felt his tongue brush my lower lip lightly and then moved up, parting my lips. As soon as my mouth opened, I let out a gasp. I could taste the tangy and woody spice flavor of the makgeolli he had been drinking earlier. It felt amazing on his lips.

My fingers came to his scalp and I pulled him even closer, quickly noting how I enjoyed his heavy weight on me.

Sadly, his body didn’t agree and he began to pull away. I was sure he was worried about crushing me. But I couldn’t give two shits. He could crush me—I’m sure I’d enjoy every bit of it. My body instantly missed him and tried to keep him where he was. My arms wrapped around his shoulders and my neck stretched up. Unfortunately, he was stronger and managed to pull his body straight up. His breathing was heavy, his face looked flushed.

I sat up as well and I was sure I looked just as disheveled as he did.

It took a while for the two of us to steady our breathing.

I was the first to speak. “I don’t know if it’s the soju or the kiss, but I’m glad I was on the couch for that. Otherwise, I probably would have fallen from the dizziness.”

A smile tugged at his lips. “This is why I wanted you to get some water in you. I did not want our first kiss to be a drunk one.”

“Is that why you always kept me from getting too drunk? Were you hoping every time we were together it would lead to this?” I gave him a flirtatious smile.

“That was a part of it,” he answered honestly. He leaned in and brushed his lips against mine again. It was a different kiss than the other one, sweeter but equally consuming.

When he pulled away, I let out a little whine. “Do your lips have to taste so good? I’ve told you before I’m a sucker for the big, juicy ones.” I reached up to give him another peck, unable to contain myself. It was strange how I was finding this so easy to do.

His fingers wrapped around my hair. “Serves you right for having this hair. Every time I see it, I want to wrap my fingers around it.”

I frowned. “You said you preferred straight hair.”

“That was before I started liking you. Now, my type is someone with mocha skin, curly hair, and legs I want to climb on.” He leaned over and brushed his lips lightly against the crook of my neck.

I felt my face flush in embarrassment. While I felt comfortable taking compliments on my looks (I had been in the public eye for almost half my life), it was always different when I heard a compliment from Namjoon. Whether the comment was on my looks or my talents, praise from Namjoon felt more intimate. It was the way he held eye contact when he said it. Those cocoa irises always held honesty, which made his words more convincing. It was the writer in him, I think, that made everything he said poetically. And the songwriter in me was a sucker for it.

“I apologize if my words are a little too much.” He took my silence and look to think he was making me feel uncomfortable.

I shook my head. “It’s not that. It’s that…it’s going to take some getting used to. I’ve heard it from others about how I look, but not from you. It’s a bit strange…but I like it. Just have to get used to it.”

We continued talking way into the night, a few pecks were stolen here and there. There was a little cuddling, but nothing too steamy. I knew how Namjoon worked. He was a true Korean man in the sense that he liked to take things slow—he was a gentleman. He wasn’t the type to wait long months before sleeping with a girl, but I would be lucky if he caved before we left the soop. I had always been the type to be ready to jump into bed after a few dates. This was going to be quite different than what I was used to. And I imagined he felt the same.

After learning it was past 2AM, we decided to head to bed. We had another long day ahead of us with two long workshops. I still had some planning to do and knew I had to show up for breakfast to keep the guys from gossiping.

“So, how are we going to handle this with the guys tomorrow?” I asked as we climbed the stairs to get to our bedrooms.

“How do you want to handle it?” he asked, giving me the opportunity to voice my thoughts.

“They’re your brothers. I’ll follow your lead.” We came to the front of my room. I really didn’t care if the guys found out during this trip or not. I knew by the time we left we would be telling them. I found it highly unlikely for us to keep this secret for longer than a week.

Namjoon thought for a moment. “I think we should focus on the songwriting. We have a lot of work to do. I know once we tell them, it’ll be nonstop teasing.”

I nodded. “They’re little gossip queens, for sure.”

“I say we bring it up right before we leave.” He reached over, his hand going into my hair once again while his thumb caressed my cheek. “If that’s ok with you.”

I nodded.

He leaned down, claiming my lips again.

Being completely barefoot only made me shorter than this tall, gorgeous man. I had to go on full tiptoes to reach his lips. “I preferred the couch.” I wrapped my arms around his shoulders to keep him from getting away from my reach.

He wrapped his arms around my waist and lifted me up. “This feels good to me.” He brushed his lips against mine once more.

After several more pecks, he placed me back on the ground and we said our goodnights.

I went over to the bed, an intense amount of different emotions going through me. What the hell was happening????

MASTERLIST

Chapters: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 - 30

[thearmyprof]

Endless Sea, but the water is warm here Ch. 7

Rating: E

Pairing: Yoongi/Original Character

Word count: 6438

Chapters: 7/?

Genre: Modern Fantasy!AU, Idol!AU, Canon Divergent,

Warnings: NSFW, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Explicit Sexual Content

Overview post: https://at.tumblr.com/thearmyprof/endless-sea-but-the-water-is-warm-here/h8ruhjcuzs62

Summary:

Sometimes Eunha imagines herself living by the sea. She imagines herself sinking in sunbaked sand and Mina happily jumping in playful waves. She thinks there might have been a time in her own childhood when she visited the ocean. A time before her first visit to the realm of death. A time when she let the pull of the sun-warmed waters pull suggestively at her ankles. When she collected seashells. A time when she could take a big inhale and smell the salt water mixed with the smell of tide, the smell of life.

But daydreams and memories of oceans and sand always morph and twist eventually. The grey waters that ebb and flow with their own mystical tide, the river as vast as an ocean, are what Eunha knows. That river has no smell. She is well versed in the tugs and pulls of the water, urging her to continue her journey onward, out into that vast expanse of monotone darkness. There are some days where it almost feels easier to give in and let the river’s tide do what it wills.

Life is hard and dark until an accidental meeting on a train and an encounter her vampire landlord's ghoul throws Eunha's world colliding with Min Yoongi's. Does this become a fleeting career opportunity or the chance at a better life?

Read on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/45497923

Full Tags:

Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Vampires, Fae & Fairies, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Alternate Universe - Idols, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, World of Darkness, Necromancy, Blood and Violence, Death, None of the guys though, or our two original main characters, Angst with a Happy Ending, Heavy Angst, Fluff and Angst, Slow Burn, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Magic, fae bts, Soft Min Yoongi | Suga, Protective Min Yoongi | Suga, Protective Bangtan Boys | BTS, Explicit Sexual Content, Sex Work, Single parent original female character, Softness, Soulmate!AU kind of, Mafia AU, referenced past traumatic birth (not explicit), soft adopted dad Yoongi vibes, Hospitals, referenced police, no jealousy, good communication, we believe in healthy relationships in this house even if the world is burning down

CHAPTER SEVEN.

Bone-aching weariness. An exhausted tiredness that leaves her body feeling heavy and her brain a little fuzzy. The nurse had tutted around the room five minutes ago, checking vitals and the line on the IV. The way she was mumbling admonishments under her breath, one might think her patient wanted to show up to a hospital battered and worse for wear.

Eunha didn’t have the heart to ask for the date. The taxi had dropped her off at the emergency room entrance in a rainy grey predawn light. She doesn’t know what time it is now, let alone how long she’s been away from her life for. The thought of her life leaves her with a pit of anxiety in her core. That gnawing maw is the only thing that can truly compete with the weariness that makes her body feel so very weighed down.

The nurse had also mentioned that someone had been called on her behalf. In her sleep deprived, worn out state, Eunha hadn’t truly registered the implications of that. However, in the near-silent hospital room, with the nurse moved on to her other charges, Eunha is starting to panic. Who could the hospital have called? She hadn’t given them a name—hers or anyone else’s. Dread creeps over her as she waits. All thoughts of trying to get a bit of sleep vanished.

The privacy curtain surrounding her bed is quietly pulled back and Eunha snaps her head towards the intruder, wincing at the sudden movement.

“Oh, shit, Eunha,” Yoongi breathes out the words. He quickly steps inside, closing the curtain behind him, to shield them both from the rest of the patients in the room, and pulls down his facemask.

Eunha watches through half-open eyes, the one side still swollen. She feels small, vulnerable, in the hospital bed with nothing but a hospital gown and thin blanket between her and the rest of the world. Fluids are being dripped into her system via an IV in the back of her hand. She is at least grateful for whatever pain medication they gave her because it’s doing its job.

Yoongi stands at her bedside awkwardly for a moment wearing a baggy black tee and black beanie, white facemask bunched around his chin, wringing his fingers together. He makes a small sound in his throat that might have come out as a whine if he hadn’t swallowed it down. Eunha hadn’t seen what she looks like yet, but she’s guessing it must be pretty bad.

“What time is it?” she croaks out, throat dry. “Where is Mina?”

Yoongi hurries to grab the cup that’s sitting on the stand by her headboard. He helps angle the straw to her lips. Eunha gulps at the water until the cup is empty.

She studies Yoongi’s face. His brow is slightly furrowed and his jaw is clenched. Maybe on a normal day, when Eunha isn’t hyper aware of every little thing, she wouldn’t have noticed, but today she notices. He’s tense and worried. Her thoughts are jumbled, trying to piece together what might have possibly happened while she was gone.

“Where is Mina, Yoongi?” Eunha says more forcefully.

Yoongi blinks as if just realizing she’s asking a question.

“Mina is at my place with Jimin and Namjoon,” Yoongi murmurs. “She’s okay. Honestly, she’s been handling all of this better than I did.”

Eunha snorts a low laugh and then winces as pain shoots from various places in her body from the movement. Yoongi puts the cup back on the bedside table and then awkwardly hovers with his arms out like he wants to help Eunha adjust how she’s sitting but doesn’t know how to initiate contact.

Instead he opts to keep talking. “We- I decided it might be better that I come alone. When the hospital called, they didn’t give any information on how you were. I thought, well, I thought for a lot of reasons it would be better to have me find out before anything else happened.”

“Thank you,” Eunha says. Feelings of gratefulness and terror swirl together in her chest.  “Can we- can we call her? I just want to talk to her.”

“Of course! Of course,” Yoongi says quickly as he rushes to pull out his phone. He’s already calling before Eunha can say thank you again.

“Hey, Joon-ah,” Yoongi says into the phone. “Can you put Mina on the phone? Eunha is here and wants to talk to her.”

She can hear some muffled voices on the other end of the phone, but can’t make out what they’re saying. Yoongi’s eyes flick across Eunha’s body quickly as if making an assessment of sorts. Then, after a “yeah, I think so,” he hands the phone to Eunha, which she takes with a shaking hand.

“Mina, love?” Eunha says.

Yoongi waves a hand at the curtain without making eye contact, using his other hand to pull his facemask back up, stepping out of the little bubble of privacy curtains before Eunha can nod her head.

“Mina, love, Eomma is okay,” Eunha says, infusing her voice with as much confidence as she can muster. “Uncle Yoongi says you’ve been good? You’ve been helping take care of the house, right?”

There is silence on the other end of the phone. Eunha closes her eyes and wills the tears back into their ducts. She tries again, “Eomma is okay, love. The doctors are healing me up right now and I’ll be home- I’ll be back to Uncle Yoongi’s as soon as they say I can go.”

The silence creates a chasm in Eunha’s chest. She reaches up a hand to press into her sternum as if there is a real hole there she can patch up. In her tiredness, she thinks she can probably switch the call to video, but she doesn’t know how to do that and doesn’t want to mess up Yoongi’s phone with it being something far fancier than she’s ever owned.

Eunha hears some quiet murmuring and a slightly louder voice of what sounds like a doctor or someone in charge outside the curtain.

“I have to go love, I think the doctor is here,” she says into the phone. “I’ll be home soon. Be good for Uncle Jimin and Uncle Namjoon, okay?”

She hits the “end call” button just as the curtain is being pulled back. She looks away as she tries to dab away the tears that fell unbidden onto her cheeks with her free hand. However, that just causes pain to bloom where forgotten bruises get bumped by her palm.

Frustrated and tired, Eunha looks back over to see a short man picking up her chart at the end of her bed without introducing himself. Yoongi has moved back to her side at the head of the bed, refilling her cup of water—probably to give him something to do to make him look busy.

When the man with her chart seems satisfied with perusing the document, he looks up at Eunha.

“Glad to see you’re awake. Looks like you’ve got some nasty bumps and bruises, young lady,” the man says. He comes around to the bedside opposite Yoongi. As he fiddles with checking IV-fluid levels, he says, “This man here says he’s your guardian. Is that correct?”

Eunha takes a sideways glance at Yoongi just in time to see his ears turn bright red. She swallows before she says, “Yes, that’s correct.”

“Good, good. We’re going to move you to a more comfortable suite. I would like you to stay until I see that rib of yours healed a bit more. And to get a couple more rounds of vitamins and fluids in you.”

“My rib?” Eunha asks, trying to take all the information in, despite the waves of exhaustion now crashing over her.

“It’s broken. Well, only cracked, thankfully.” His lips come together in a thin line of disapproval. 

Eunha furrows her brow. She doesn’t quite remember when her rib might have cracked, but guesses during her struggle with her abductors. “My rib is broken.”

The man has stopped fiddling with the IV. Now he’s looking straight at Eunha looking very unimpressed. Again, Eunha wonders if the whole medical staff thinks she intentionally went out and injured herself. He says, “Yes, your rib is broken. Luckily, that seems to be the only broken bone. Your face is bruised and I think you’ve managed to avoid fracturing any bones in your cheek or around your eye.”

The man moves forward into Eunha’s space to get a close look at her facial wounds. Eunha flinches backwards at the sudden movement, pain shooting through her at the rapid movement. As her breathing quickens both from the shock and pain, she thinks to herself that yes, yes her rib is broken. She feels Yoongi softly slide his hand into hers and she tries unsuccessfully to take a deep breath.

“I don’t think there will be any scarring, but I’ll have to reassess when some of the swelling goes down. I’ve prescribed some ointments the nurses will help you with. They’ll be more to take home with you,” the man shifts to looking at Yoongi with his last sentence. “She’ll need more rest once she’s home, but if she stays here for another seven or so days, I trust she’ll make a full recovery.”

“Seven days?” Eunha asks loudly. She can feel Yoongi squeeze her hand with his. “I am not staying here for seven days.”

The man purses his lips in clear annoyance. “Given the state you’re in, I don’t think you should be making any declarations or decisions of the sort, young lady.”

“Excuse me?” Eunha practically shouts the question.

“Eunha,” Yoongi murmurs.

Anger blooms inside her wondering whose side Yoongi is on. Are they all patronizing her right now? Her exhaustion is clouding her thoughts, but she’s pretty sure everyone is patronizing her right now.

“Yes, well, get some rest,” the man continues, his face remaining neutral. He looks at Yoongi again and says, “If she’s still agitated, tell the nurse. I’ll leave a recommendation for a sedative to help her sleep.”

Eunha gasps and Yoongi’s hand squeezing her own is the only thing that stops her from ripping the IV line out of her skin. 

The man turns back towards the curtain. Just before he snaps it shut, he says, “That order for the suite should be through the system in a couple of hours.”

Eunha stares at the still-rustling curtain where the man had been standing moments before.

“I can’t stay here, Yoongi,” she says finally, voice much quieter. “Hospitals. I can’t-“

“Okay, okay, I’ll see what I can do. We’ll get you out of here as soon as we can, okay?,” Yoongi says. He grabs the cup of water and helps her take a few more sips. “Do you think you can sleep? You need rest.”

Eunha closes her eyes and tries to take another deep breath. She thinks the doctor must have put an additional dose of pain killer in her IV, because breathing is easier now and the pain is lessened. However, her brain is feeling foggier with each passing moment. Without opening her eyes, she says, “Can you go back to Mina, please? I would feel better if you were with her.”

She opens her eyes to find Yoongi looking at her with his mouth slightly agape. But as soon as his eyes meet hers, he’s pulling himself together, and moving to fill her water cup once more.

“I’ll go take care of Mina. You call me if you need anything. Please?” he asks as he arranges everything—water cup, nurse call button, tissues—within arms reach for Eunha.

“Yeah, thank you,” Eunha says. A sudden thought drifts through her fogging mind and she exclaims, “Oh wait, my haegeum? Did it- where is it?”

“At home,” Yoongi says as he finishes moving things around the room. “Everything you left at work is safely at home now.”

Eunha detects some kind of tone in his statement, but she can’t read it. She’s too tired to keep fighting for information anyway, so she just nods in acceptance.

“Okay, I’ll come back later to see about how we can get you home sooner,” Yoongi says. He fiddles with his phone in his hands, clearly not sure how to leave. Eunha once again thinks she must look pretty bad to have him this worried.

“I’ll be fine until you get back. I’ll just sleep,” she says, more to try to comfort the man in front of her than anything else.

He nods, either believing her lies or understanding he needs to just accept the comfort. “Okay, I’m off then.”

Before Eunha can even process what’s happening, Yoongi leans over and brushes his lips lightly on her forehead. Then he’s gone, out the curtain, green fabric waving wildly from the pole suspending it in the air. Eunha thinks she can still feel an echo of the warm buzz of his soul on her skin.

~

Sleep, or even real rest, in a hospital is a joke. A nurse comes by what feels like every 15 minutes to poke and prod Eunha, checking vitals and fluid levels and whatever else they are looking for. Realistically, she realizes they are probably coming every hour or maybe every two hours, but it feels like less time. Each time she’s almost dozed off, sleep finally claiming her tired and aching body, she’s jolted awake by another pair of hands moving the IV line in her hand or pressing into sore spots on her body.

Beyond having no body autonomy and being slowly tortured with no rest, there’s the constant humming in the air. Hospitals, at the best of times, are the worst—they smell of antiseptic and filtered air, the fluorescent lights buzz overhead in the most distracting way, and the quiet of the ward just shows how very ill the patients around her are. 

However, as someone attuned to death, hospitals are actually the worst. Souls so frequently cross the border between life and death here that the doorway is always cracked open just a little bit. Eunha can feel it under her skin and she hates it. Perhaps if she were in better condition—not exhausted, beaten up, and terrified—she might be able to ignore the discomfort. She might feel safer with her haegeum with her. However, none of this is true.

While the hospital is certainly an upgrade from being duct taped to a chair and being hit across the face, it’s not much of an upgrade. Especially when the doctors and nurses seem to be almost as awful as XYZ. She wants to leave, desperately.

Eventually, two friendly looking nurses show up with a wheelchair.

“Am I being discharged?” Eunha asks hopefully.

One of the two nurses, a taller man with a friendly smile, laughs softly as he says, “No, just moving you to your new suite.”

“New suite?” Eunha asks, trying to process everything. “Does Yoongi know I’m being moved?”

“Yoongi?” the other nurse, a shorter woman with a sour face, asks. 

“My, uh- my guardian? He was here earlier?” At least Eunha hopes he was actually here earlier and not an hallucination. “He won’t know where I am if I move.”

“Ah, your guardian, yes,” the man says. He’s busy grabbing IV bags off the stationary pole attached to the bed and moving them over to hang off the wheelchair. “He’s the one that requested we move you.”

“Oh,” is all Eunha can think to say.

“It’s nice you have a benefactor, someone in your state,” the grumpy nurse says. “Although, I think his spoiling you is going to make it so you don’t really learn your lesson here.”

“Excuse me?” Eunha says, jaw slack.

“Let’s get this over with,” she says, ignoring Eunha’s angry surprise.

The two nurses help her to move from the bed to the wheelchair. She suddenly realizes exactly how injured her body is. Everything aches. There is a fire in her side where her rib is broken. She fights the tears that automatically burn at her eyes at the sudden influx of pain.

“We should have given her more pain medication before trying to move her,” the man says to the woman.

The woman just tuts as she secures Eunha’s feet in the chair’s footrest. Eunha recognizes her now as the nurse that was grumbling about her injuries during an earlier check up. This bodes well.

Eunha grips the armrests of the wheelchair and closes her eyes, willing the pain to fade away. The grumpy nurse starts pushing her chair, navigating out the room past the other curtained patient areas and into the hallway. She’s pushing slowly, as if she doesn’t have anything else in the world to be doing today. Eunha supposes she’s happy they are going slowly so as not to jostle her rib. The other nurse walks along with them amiably.

“Did you see that news report this morning?” the man asks cheerfully, clearly happy to just gossip while they walk at a snail’s pace down the hallway.

The grumpy nurse grunts before she replies, “No. I’ve been on a double shift since early this morning.”

Eunha thinks that must explain why she’s so irritated.

“Ah, well, that politician? I don’t remember his name. He’s that young one, clearly trying to make his path to Mayor of Seoul, you know him?” the other nurse pushes on. When no one says anything in response, he continues, “Well, anyway, he apparently made some speech at some private party last night. The video was leaked to the press this morning. It was playing on all the morning news broadcasts.”

When he lapses into silence, the other nurse finally barks out, “So?”

“Ah, well,” he says happily, as if he was waiting for some kind of engagement, “he was talking about magic. You know, all that shady business that happens in the bad parts of town.”

The man waves his hands vaguely in a direction, as if to reference some geography that probably meant something to the other nurse. If Eunha were to guess, he’s talking about the area of Incheon she was just held in—or even the neighborhood of her previous rooftop apartment.

“He was saying magic isn’t just happening in crime dens, but everywhere,” the nurse sounds incredulous as he says it. “He says it’s all around us, we are just ignorant to it. That the hooligans are just walking around in broad daylight!”

Eunha feels her heart rate pick up as fear grips her body. 

“How ridiculous,” the grumpy nurse grumbles.

“No, there’s more!” the man says. Eunha thinks he sounds quite gleeful for someone who has discovered the ‘criminal element’ is infiltrating his life. The nurse pushing the wheelchair picks up her pace just slightly.

“He said that vampires don’t just control the slums,” he says, dropping his voice to a whisper in gleeful conspiracy. “He said vampires are behind in the shadows everywhere, controlling all the big businesses and industries. He as good as said vampires are controlling the government. And he’s made it his life mission to stop them. He’s going to take out the magic-wielding criminals and the vampires. Imagine!”

“Sounds like a bunch of bullshit to me,” the grumpy nurse says.

Eunha’s tired mind is reeling, trying to piece together what she’s just heard. Someone is going around getting filmed exposing the vampire coven. If this man is human, he would have been stopped by now. Eunha feels her head start to ache, as the chipper nurse pushes the elevator call button. Nothing makes sense.

The two nurses keep talking as they walk through the hospital, but Eunha tunes them out. The pain is reverberating through her body and she just wants to lay down and sleep.

She opens her eyes with a start when someone shakes her shoulder. “Miss, we’re here. Let’s help you into bed.”

Eunha looks around to find herself in a private suite—a very fancy private suite. 

“Where am I?” she asks.

The shorter nurse tuts in annoyance, but the man answers, “We’re in your new suite. Do you remember us walking here?”

“Maybe we should recheck her for head injuries,” the grumpy nurse comments sarcastically.

“Miss? Do you remember coming to the hospital? We changed rooms at the request of your guardian,” the man tries again.

“Yes, yes, I remember,” Eunha says. “I just don’t understand. I can’t afford this room.”

If Eunha were to be honest, she actually can’t afford the bed in the public ward either, but her brain isn’t letting her worry about that right now.

“Ah, well, your guardian requested it. Is that going to be a problem?” the man asks.

Eunha looks around the room. It is quiet and far away from other patients. Maybe, she decides, she won’t fight this today. So, she nods and the nurses tuck her into bed. They hang up her IVs and add another bag of something to the pole.

“Will you tell my guardian I’m here? Give him my new room number?” Eunha asks. She realizes as she’s speaking she doesn’t have her phone or any way of contacting him. Both nurses look at her unimpressed. The grumpy nurse is frowning with a scowl furrowing her brow and the man is giving a sugary fake smile that turns Eunha’s insides.

“You can call out from this phone,” the grumpy nurse points to her bedside table. “Just press 9 first.”

“Alright, I’ve given you fresh painkillers and vitamins,” the man says with a smile. “Get some sleep now. We’ll wake you for dinner.”

Eunha nods meekly from her prone position and the two nurses bustle out of the room. As soon as the pain subsides, sleep takes her quickly.

~

Eunha sleeps hard and when a new friendly looking nurse is waking her for dinner she’s groggy, feeling like she needs another solid 12 hours of sleep. Maybe more. Her body needs the time to recover, she knows, and she’s honestly not sure what kind of painkillers they have her on, but they must be strong. She’s glad for the meal and even more glad when everything is cleared away and she can go back to sleep. 

After dinner, in the fog of sleepiness, Eunha briefly wonders if everything is okay with Mina, but she realizes quickly she cannot call Yoongi. She can’t call anyone, because she doesn’t have their phone numbers. Yoongi’s number is long gone with her phone—wherever it ended up. Eunha sighs. She can only hope Mina is okay and she’s grateful to have Mina avoid the hospital as much as possible. With those thoughts and wishes floating around in her head, she quickly falls back asleep in the quiet room.

“It’s been a over 12 hours on these pain meds, I think we’ll go ahead and stop them now that you’re moved to this quieter suite,” an elderly doctor says, not looking at Eunha but at her chart. “I’ll note to have the nurses bring you over-the-counter pain medication.”

This man had woken her up an hour after she had finally fallen asleep after dinner. Eunha looks at him with distaste, though her mind is still foggy. The exhaustion is making her near tears. With a snap of the clipboard, he walks over to the IV and makes a clicking noise with his tongue.

“Any other complaints?” he asks, finally making eye contact with Eunha.

She shakes her head to deny any further problems—at least none this doctor could do anything about.

The doctor nods once and then says, “Press the nurse call button if you need anything else. Someone will come check on you in the morning before breakfast.”

Without waiting for much response, the doctor is bustling out of the room. Eunha stares perplexed at the sliding door before she sighs to settle back into the pillow. Despite her exhaustion, she’s more awake now than she’s been all day. 

When she closes her eyes to try to will herself back to sleep, the buzzing begins. She can’t tell if it’s physical or auditory, the vibrations feel like they are coming from inside her head. Then she feels the familiar tension pull at her scalp.

Sighing, she instinctively tries to roll to her left side to ease the tension by curling herself smaller. She almost screams at the pain that radiates from her rib cage. Panting she relaxes herself onto her back again, trying to will the pain to fade. 

“Fuck that doctor, seriously,” Eunha whispers angrily at the dark. “Fuck this whole fucking hospital.”

She closes her eyes. She muses that maybe if she pretends to be asleep, it’ll just magically become true. At the same time, the pulling in her scalp worsens and begins running down her neck along her spine.

Suddenly, as if a coil is released, the tension snaps and fades immediately. Eunha sucks in her breath, careful of her ribs this time, and she squeezes her eyes shut. Someone nearby most likely just died and a reaper helped their soul along. She wouldn’t be feeling every single death and soul passing like this otherwise. Fear prickles like moths in her stomach.

Now that she thinks about it, this place is probably crawling with grim reapers, as well as all sorts of other non-human elements. The very people the two gossipy nurses were perplexed about earlier, trying to imagine them living beyond their ghettos. The non-humans that more accurately run this city and inhabit every neighborhood and crawl through all the businesses and public services. Of course, it’s always been in the non-human element’s best interest to remain somewhat elusive and mysterious. It’s easier to co-exist from the shadows.

The tension along Eunha’s scalp is pulling, ever-so-slightly, again. She runs a hand through her hair in frustration. Will a nurse give her a strong pain medication if she asks for it? She looks wistfully at the call button. She wishes she had Yoongi’s number. Calling to check in on Mina would be a wonderful distraction right now.

With no sense of time, the pulling in her scalps worsens until it snaps again, giving her a few moments of reprieve. Soon, it repeats itself —over and over.

Just how many people are dying in this hospital?

And why do they need the assistance of a grim reaper—each and every one of them?

Eunha wants to scream in frustration, but the repeated pulling and snap of release is making her nauseous. She’s exhausted.

Finally, she hears a soft click as the door to her room slides open and a tall, thin person wearing blue scrubs comes into the dimly lit room. Eunha watches as they walk to her file and check it before walking closer to check her IV bags. When they look over to Eunha, their face shifts in surprise to see her awake.

“Please,” Eunha says. “Can I have something for pain?”

The nurse smiles at her kindly and says, “According to your chart, you’re already on the max dose of the over-the-counter given to you at last check-in.”

Eunha can’t stifle the whimper. She’s so tired and just wants to sleep. She says, “Please, it’s not strong enough. I can’t sleep because I hurt.”

“Now, that might be true, dear, but the doctor is pretty confident you’re just drug seeking since you won’t even give us your name, so I’m afraid anything stronger is off limits,” the nurse says. They move again to the chart at the end of the bed and make a couple of notes.

Eunha, in her exhaustion, doesn’t quite understand what the nurse is saying. “Can you call my guardian?”

The nurse frowns from the end of the bed. “It’s the middle of the night. Get some sleep and I’m sure your guardian will be by tomorrow.”

Eunha opens her mouth to protest, but the nurse is already moving towards the door. They are gone before Eunha can think of anything in response.

She closes her eyes and balls her fingers into fists as the tension along her scalp and neck become too great again. She resigns herself to a long, tiring night.

She’s not sure how time still flows around her as her skin is pushed and pulled over and over again. But soon, the light in the room seems a bit brighter, dawn creeping over Seoul. A soft click of the door brings her attention to the newcomer, slipping through the entryway.

A pretty woman in a business suit steps into the room, her heels clacking on the linoleum. Eunha thinks she’s quite pretty. The sort of woman other women might be jealous of.

Looking back on this moment, Eunha would kick herself for not seeing the obvious. And maybe if she were less tired and broken from a night of terror and pain, she might be more alert. Unfortunately, she’s not alert and just eyes the new woman warily.

“Hello, Miss, I am a social worker with the hospital, Yong Suhwa,” the woman says with a sharp bow.

Eunha just bows in return without speaking.

The woman pulls a rolling chair up to the side of the bed and sits delicately in it. She glances around the room, taking in the sterile emptiness of the room. She turns her face back to Eunha and says, “How are you feeling, Miss?”

Eunha looks at her and blinks. After a moment she realizes that she’s been asked a question. After a time, she responds with, “I’m tired.”

Yong Suhwa hums with a nod.

Eunha is too tired to figure out if the silence that stretches between them is awkward or not. 

“Do you mind if I ask you a few questions, Miss?” the woman says, finally.

“I guess not, but I’m not sure what I can say,” Eunha says truthfully.

Yong Suhwa nods again and says, “Just do your best.”

Eunha nods tentatively.

“Do you mind telling me your name?” the woman asks first.

“I, uh, would rather not,” Eunha says.

The woman writes something down on a small notepad she pulls out of her suit pocket. She asks, “How did you sustain these injuries?”

“Uh,” Eunha stalls again. “I, uh, am not sure I can tell you that either.”

Eunha feels a bit hot under the woman’s stern gaze. She doesn’t like how trapped she feels, especially now with someone trying to will her way into information that will just end up putting Eunha in more danger.

“Are you worried I won’t believe you?” the woman asks, pen poised over the notepad.

This catches Eunha off guard. “Believe me? No, I just, I can’t tell you the details.”

“Miss, I promise that no matter what you say, I will do what I can to keep you safe,” Yong Suhwa says. Eunha thinks she’s trying to sound comforting, but it just sounds hollow and maybe even a bit threatening.

Alarm bells finally go off in Eunha’s mind. She knew there was a weird aura about the woman when she walked in, but she didn’t notice it in her delirium. She’s a ghoul.

“I, uh,” Eunha tries to stay calm as she speaks. She wets her lips with her tongue, trying to figure out a way out of this room, out of this hospital. She’s trapped. No weapon, no musical instrument, no pain medication, no sleep. “I, uh, am really tired. I think I would like to sleep some more.”

Eunha wills her breathing to not spike or sound anxious. If there is a ghoul here, then there is at least one vampire taking interest in living patients in this hospital. Vampires having backdoor deals with the blood banks and sometimes the morgue is not uncommon. But having them poking around the living, that’s not common at all.

“There, there,” the ghoul says, the comforting tone making goosebumps break out across Eunha’s skin. “I will let you sleep and come back and see if you’re feeling better to answer my questions. Is there anything I can help you with? Get you something to help you sleep?”

“No!” Eunha doesn’t mean to shout the word, but the thought of being put on a sedative when she now knows that she can’t let her guard down sends terror through her in waves. “I mean, no, I’m sleepy enough on my own. I just need rest, like the doctor said.”

Yong Suhwa stands and leans over Eunha with an eerie smile on her face. She reaches out her hand as if to brush hair off of Eunha’s face, but Eunha flinches back into the pillow instinctively. The ghoul pulls her hand back with a small “tut.” 

“Rest well, then, Miss,” the ghoul says.

With a smart turn on her heels, she strides out the door, closing it with an ominous click behind her.

~

Yoongi hears raised voices before he’s even to the door of the private hospital suite. He quickens his walk and pauses for a moment to listen before pulling open the suite door.

“I told you, I am not some homeless drug seeker,” Eunha’s voice is muffled and sounds strained. “Since you won’t treat me properly, I am simply asking to be discharged.”

“Now, Miss, calm down,” comes another voice.

“Don’t tell me to calm down!” Eunha shouts.

Yoongi decides to open the door to the suite, his brow wrinkled in concern.

It takes him a moment to understand what he’s looking at, after a momentary panic in seeing Eunha’s hospital bed empty. There is a doctor standing near the bed with a frown on his face, arms crossed across his white doctor’s coat. A nurse is standing by the bed, looking ready to pounce. And the person they are ready to pounce on is Eunha, who is looking small and pale—even paler than usual. The dark purple bags under her eyes blend with the bruises, now color her face as they start to shift from dark red and purple to green. She’s standing, fists tight at her sides, wearing her dirty street clothes, covered in blood and grime, from when she checked into the hospital. Her hair is pulled back off her face and her whole body tremors slightly. 

“Miss, you need to change into your hospital clothes and get back into bed now,” the doctor says firmly, clearly not having heard the door.

“No, I have asked to leave. You can’t keep me here against my will,” Eunha says in a shaky voice.

“I have said we will call your guardian after breakfast,” the doctor continues. He sounds exasperated, as if he’s talking to a willful 5-year-old about a new toy, not a grown woman who is clearly scared and asking to not be held against her will.

“Miss, your guardian will say the same thing. You need rest,” the nurse tries.

Eunha scoffs. “Rest? Rest! I need to leave. I’m not safe here. I can’t rest here. You won’t even give me pain medication!”

Yoongi frowns at that. 

“You have been given proper over-the-counter pain treatment,” the doctor replies.

“Bullshit. I can take that at home. Now please get out of my way,” Eunha says. Even as she says it, she slumps backwards into the chair behind her.

The nurse moves forward at the same time Yoongi does. They clearly don’t see Yoongi, as they reach out for Eunha.

“Come to bed now,” they say.

Eunha leans forward, arms wrapped around her rib cage. She grits out, “No, you can’t keep me here. I want to leave.”

Yoongi’s heart seizes at how broken she sounds. He surges forward past the doctor and stands in front of Eunha so the nurse is forced to take a step back.

“I believe I heard her say that she’d like to leave,” Yoongi says in a low, menacing voice. “So, please bring me the paperwork to check her out now.”

“Ah, you’re here,” the doctor says, ignoring the tone in Yoongi’s voice.

“Yes,” Yoongi says as he narrows his eyes at the doctor, “and now that I’m here, I’d like the paperwork to begin checking out.”

“This patient is in no condition to be checked out, sir,” the doctor says. “Honestly, after this little tantrum, I’d like to ask for a psych consult.”

Eunha scoffs under her breath, but otherwise doesn’t move or speak.

Yoongi, on the other hand, takes a deep breath, body ready to fight. Instead, he says, “I suggest you keep the rest of your opinions to yourself, doctor. Please go get the paperwork and give us a moment alone.”

No one in the room moves.

“Unless you would like me to call my lawyer,” Yoongi adds.

That seems to have been some kind of magic word, because both the nurse and the doctor glance at each other before quickly vacating the room.

When they are finally alone, Eunha still sitting taut at the edge of the chair, fingers digging into her knees, Yoongi moves to crouch in front of her. He bends so that he can look up into her face and see the utter exhaustion and fear etched across the lines of her brow and in the tightness of her lips.

“Hey, it’s okay, everyone is gone now,” he murmurs. His hands hover on either side of her, not sure what to do with them. He wants to reach out, maybe pat her back, but he’s honestly not sure what will hurt and, perhaps more importantly, he’s not not sure what he’s allowed to touch, if anything at all.

“They want to keep me here. Just like the thugs were keeping me,” Eunha croaks out. 

Yoongi feels his heart breaking into a thousand pieces. He should have brought her home last night. He feels stupid for trusting the doctors.

Another beat passes before Eunha falls forwards, straight into Yoongi’s outstretched arms. As she wraps out her arms around his neck, tucking all of herself against his body, she gives out a small yelp of pain.

“Hey, hey, careful,” Yoongi says as he wraps his arms gently around hers, mindful of potential areas of injury along her ribcage.

He can feel her fisting at his shirt along his shoulder blades, her body still shaking in an alarming way. She whispers so softly, he might not have heard had she not been pressed so closely to his ear, “Please, I want to go home.”

“We’re going right now. I’ll take you home,” Yoongi whispers back. He tightens his grip around Eunha just slightly as he feels the woman melting into his lap.

She’s asleep before the doctor has even returned with the discharge paperwork.

[0613magazine]

210602 IANS Life

Sound of BTS: K-Pop super band decode their success

New Delhi, June 2 (IANS) Few names in the world of music today evoke global hysteria as the K-Pop super band BTS. With a following of 30.1 million on Twitter and 42.6 million on Instagram, the group, who made their debut in 2013, have smashed their own record with their latest track "Butter", which garnered 10 million views on YouTube in just 13 minutes upon release.

BTS, or Bangtan Sonyeondan, are a septet comprising Jin, SUGA, j-hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook. The band is also known as the Bangtan Boys and, like any celebrities worth the delirium they unleash, have a name for their fans, too. They call their ever-burgeoning fan base ARMY (the all-caps stylisation is perhaps meant to underline the frenzy).

Opening up with IANS in a candid tete-a-tete, the South Korean band decode their skyrocketing worldwide success.

"I'm guessing our sincerity reached our audience. We've tried our best to deliver sincere music and performances," says V, whose real name is Kim Tae-hyung. Known for his deep voice, Tae, 25, who kind of carry the symbol of 'tiger', is the fashion icon for the group -- as the ARMY says if you need something to become trend just put it on V. He literally pulls off anything.

J-Hope (Jung Hoseok) pitches in: "And we have always shown our fans all our behind-the-scenes through various contents. I think opening ourselves up without hesitation helped us convey our sincerity." In fact their opening up to the fans even before their debut and literally living every moment of their growth as singers, performers and growing up from boys to men in front of the camera has endeared them more.

Their trials and tribulations, as they went from a one-room dorm in Seoul to the mega HYBE building in 2020 is the stuff of legend. Along the way their hardships -- of sometimes making it through the week with just Bulgogi (fire meat) to distributing posters on the streets of L.A. for their first concert in the US -- that saw few takers in 2014, to today's phenomenal chartbusters -- ON (February 2020), Dynamite, Life Goes On, Film out, and Butter (within the span of just over one year) -- is a journey they have shared with the fans on Bangtan Gayo, RUN-BTS (an absolute stress buster), BTS in the SOOP, among others.

The rise of the band has been a phenomenon that has not only reorganised the contemporary mainstream music scene all over the world, but has also defined the shifting socio-politics of showbusiness. The success of BTS, after all, has widely been seen as a triumph of inclusivity. In turn, the band, which started out as a hip hop group, evolved quickly to adapt to a larger market.

And all this success, despite almost all-Korean lyrics in all their songs, until the all English single Dynamite in August 2020. Today, they sing in English to connect with their worldwide ARMY.

ARMY, the band has said time and again, is intrinsic to their growth. Wider reach and a growing fan base ensures better feedback, they point out, and BTS is one band that is known to listen to their fans.

"When we go on tour, we get to perform a lot and that helps me improve," says Kim Seok-jin (Jin). j-hope, who is Mr. Sunshine of the group and has the trademark intro "I am your Hope, You are my Hope..." adds that the feedback they get for their songs has worked because it tells the band which areas to focus on in order to grow.

"I was able to check what I lacked and what I had to pay more attention to," he explains. j-hope is the main dancer, who is a hard task master for the group when it comes to grooving. Known for his agile moves, he is that guy, who almost left the BTS at one time just before debut, but was destined to return -- as the love between the members could not keep him away.

He is one of the three rappers along with Leader RM (Rap Moster or Kim Nam-joon) and Min Yoongi or Suga. In fact, Hobi, as he is lovingly called wanted to be in the vocal line -- that has V, Jin, Park Jimin and Jeon Jung Kook. But gave it away to V, the surprise member of the group on debut, as is known from a number of their documentaries along the way -- Burn the Stage, Bring the Soul, and Break the Silence.

V credits new experiences to their growing popularity. "We encounter new things and our stage always gets bigger, so it does give me pressure. However, I tried to expand my mindset so that I don't make mistakes," he says.

For RM, like everyone else, the pandemic has had an impact. "I think the current pandemic situation played a big part because we needed to change, whether we wanted to or not. Thus, during Covid, we were able to release 'Dynamite', 'BE', and 'Butter'," he points out.

Jimin, who was the last member to be finalised in the group and trained only for six months before debut on June 13, 2013, says the challenge is about seeking out the right direction when it comes to improving one's performance. "I couldn't really find an answer to what I should do to improve, but if I can find a better direction, I will be able to take a step forward," Jimin says.

The need to grow guides them all. Jung Kook, the main vocalist, and the Golden Maknae, for instance, says he is driven by the constant need to "grow and evolve".

"I think the biggest factor is that I always feel like I'm lacking and I have the continual ambition to get cooler," says Jung Kook. The youngest member, who will turn 24 this year, has given us five makeovers in six months -- blonde, blue, mint-choco, silver, and purple -- and each time fans have loved it. Currently with his purple hair, Jung Kook did the impossible -- losing weight in five days as he said while shooting for Butter.

The conversation shifts to their interestingly-named title tracks. The band says their process of selecting the title track of a BTS album is simple. "We usually select the song that best shows the overall message and theme of the album," RM says.

Which brings one to their latest track "Butter", which premiered on May 20. The song currently has 277,508,962 views on YouTube and 16 million likes. It is also No 1 ofn the Billboard Hot 100, as well as many other charts.

Jin, the self proclaimed 'World Wide Handsome', feels the song is a rage because it works perfectly as "BTS' summer song!" Jung Kook recalls the fun that the band had while shooting it, and attributes that energy to its success.

"The song itself is exciting and fun, so we were full of energy when we recorded it," Jung Kook notes.

"I think 'Butter' is special because it encapsulates our charms," Jin sums it up for the song, the band and the band's ever-growing aura.

With just days left for their 8th anniversary, BTS has their hands full.

Source: IANS Life

[tlkmh]

Apobangpo: My personal experience being in the BTS fandom.

From taking over the world with their music and charm to paving the road for the future generation of K-pop groups, it is no doubt that BTS (Bangtan Sonyeondan) deserve every success and achievement for their amazing artistry. But, behind the scenes, the 7 boys never fail to mention their most loyal fandom, ARMY, for making their dreams come true. Though the fandom might seem overprotective and at times, seen as merciless, they are certain people in the community who are just as nice as every other people. For this blog post, I will be telling my personal experience being in the BTS fandom.

Like many other K-pop acts, big or small, having a fandom, especially those who are loyal and supportive, is what enables a person or a group to be successful. The majority of the people are enthusiasts of something or someone (Gray et al,. 2007).

Before BTS, I was already an avid fan of K-pop, mainly Super Junior, Girls Generation, you name it. However, once I got into high school, my interest in K-pop kind of shifted towards American pop until, in 2017, my friend, who was already an ARMY, managed to persuade me to listen to one of their latest tracks titled ‘Serendipity’. Needless to say, I became an ARMY from that day onwards. K-pop groups are known to have lots of members, so it took me a while to get to know all 7 seven members because back then, they all looked pretty much similar to me, but I eventually got the hang of it. My existing fan account on X was initially a Harry Styles fan account (I was a die-hard 1D fan once), then it became a Marvel fan account, and finally, to this day, my account is maintained as a BTS fan account.

It wasn’t hard finding other mutuals who are into BTS all thanks to my friend. I have made several friends during my days of being in the BTS fandom. People from all over the world, but mainly SEA countries. We would often share our likes and dislikes, favourite pictures of every BTS members, links to watch BTS’ videos and among other stuff. I remember back then, BigHit (now: HYBE) used to release teasers at 12 AM and most of my close mutuals and I would stay up late, waiting. There were times when we least expected it but that’s where it makes the experience fun. You would see the timeline being bombarded with screenshots of the teasers, every army posting about them losing their minds over the visuals, snippets of the songs etc etc.

Despite my wonderful experience, there were also some instances where I question myself if I resonate myself with this community. BTS went from being an underdog in the K-pop industry to being one of the most famous Korean acts to sweep the charts, outsold multiple stadiums and garnering millions upon millions of views on their music videos. So, it was understandable that ARMY wanted the boys to win every award or at the very least, a nomination. I, of course, second on this but when it comes to voting for the award ceremony or music programs and mass streaming newly released music videos/songs, it quickly turn from just being a fun little hobby to a more of a chore. By that I mean, if you weren’t sharing hashtags or streaming, you’re automatically labelled as useless. There were countless of army telling each other to stream, vote and post with the hashtags without realising that we’re still people, with responsibility and a life outside the fandom sphere. These army would resort to guilt-tripping you to the max if you weren’t doing as what you were told. Not to mentioned, there were also some posts where they would list down ARMY accounts who aren’t streaming and/or voting. It was that serious.

Eventually as time moves forward, streaming and voting weren’t viewed as a very serious matter, considering how a lot of the ARMY has matured and most of them have got into universities, jobs and even some got married. So, being in the fandom became like a hobby again.

I really cherish my time being in the fandom, although I am now just a casual fan, who sometimes check on the boys from time to time, listen to their new songs and congratulate them on their achievements. I don’t regret any of it because I met wonderful people and made some connections outside of X. The boys will always have a special place in my heart, considering how their music really helped me a lot during my tough times. Those who are not a fan of BTS, I would really recommend listening to their songs, you don’t have to be in the fandom to do so but not going to lie, some people who said they were just there to listen to the music, in the end, ended up being an ARMY.

Reference

Fernandez, C. (2020). Here’s a look at the enormous stadiums BTS was able to sell out. Retrieved from https://www.koreaboo.com/lists/large-concert-stadiums-bts-able-sell/

Gray, J ., Sandvoss, C. & Harrington, C.L. (2007) “Introduction” in Fandom: Identities and Communities in a Mediated World, NYU Press, New York, pp. 1-16

[louisianaspell]

June Bangtan Fic Rec

🔪 Dark fics: These fics/series contain scenes and plots that can be triggering! Please make sure you read all the warnings, tags, and authors note before reading!

🔥 Smut: These fics contain sexual situations, 18+up only!

Sweet as Honey (ao3)

In a time where omegas are increasingly rare, others constantly question your resistance to find a mate. No one seemed to understand that you were content to stay in your comfort zone, focusing solely on your job. However, a series of unexpected events set your quiet world into motion, making you question your outlook on life and on mating bonds (Series Warning: 🔥)

Before I Leave You

Someone always has to leave first; They just didn’t expect Yoongi to come back with a new omega (who’s clearly been through some shit) [Series Warning: 🔥)

Dance With Me (ao3)

All your life, you thought you were a beta, a simple and boring beta. Until everything change. But now that you've presented yourself as an omega, how will you manage to live and hide it from your six friends and best friend, all alphas and all in the same pack? (series Warning: 🔥)

Lone Wolf (ao3)

In a world where alphas, betas, and omegas live along side modern humans as second class citizens, you've fallen through the cracks of a society that wants to take everything wonderful from you. Luckily a timely encounter with the boys just might save your life (Series Warning: possible 🔥)

Late Bloomer (ao3)

Despite growing up in a wolf pack, you were never able to shift nor had a second gender present itself. It seemed, by all accounts, that you were a typical human. So you carried on, burying yourself in your work as a sociology professor— until one of your students introduces you to his pack and changes everything (Series Warning: 🔥)

Cien Años (ao3)

A sad story of two best friends who loved each other for different reasons

C

You’re Losing Me

He’s losing you, and yet, he lets the flower die in front of his eyes instead of doing everything to save it. Alternatively, Yoongi and you are losing your love toward each other

Stigma (ao3)

Finding himself lost in the woods after a failed expedition, Yoongi receives help from a misterious stranger and ends up uncovering life altering truths about himself (Warning: 🔥)

The Email (ao3)

Working for a company that doesn't give a damn about you, you just try to survive 12 months until you can move on to your next job. But one day you accidentally paste a smut story into an email meant for your awful manager Min Yoongi

Everything and Nothing (ao3)

Some 50 years from now or maybe in a parallel universe, capitalism has become even worse, and productivity and availability are considered your most valuable assets. To reduce stress and illness, companies have developed so-called "Husbands" and "Wives", cleverly designed androids, that take care of you and make sure you don't lose focus on what matters most: work (Series Warning:🔥)

The Promises We Keep

A super soft fic wherein Hoseok notices you and your daughter at his laundromat and decides he wants to know you more 🔥

Foolish (ao3)

You keep going back to Namjoon, it's what you've always done. Then you meet Hoseok, who draws you away like he's not even trying 🔥

F

G

This Is Us

After fighting to be in a relationship with Jungkook, you begin to wonder if it’s all worth it (Series Warning: 🔥)

Cuddle Therapy (ao3)

Jungkook and you meet at an experimental course called 'cuddle therapy'. It quickly becomes clear that you want to be his little spoon. And maybe even something more (Series Warning: 🔥)

[kookiesbuckethat]

cold shoulder

Summary: Yoongi suddenly starts giving you the cold shoulder, causing you to distance yourself from him and the rest of the members. But the reason behind his behaviour is not what you think.

Yoongi x f!reader

Genre: angst to fluff, hurt/comfort

WC: 4.5k

Watching BTS perform through a screen was entertaining and exciting. Watching them perform live was magical and an experience you would never forget. Watching them perform up close from the wings of the stage was a privilege that came with being Yoongi’s girlfriend, and one you would forever be grateful for.

Of course, you weren’t just dating Yoongi to watch their concerts, you loved him inside and out, the good and the bad, the idol side of him and the real side of him. And no matter how many times you watched them practice, rehearse and perform their songs, you would never get tired of watching them do what they loved.

As you stared out of the wings, you were so captivated by their performance, passion dripping from their bodies as they sang their hearts out. They were all amazing performers, each of them having their own unique set of skills and talents, but your eyes were drawn to the one who held your heart. You couldn’t tear your eyes away from Yoongi, hanging onto every word and syllable he spat out. He was a completely different person on stage, and although you loved all sides of him, his wild side never failed to excite you.

You were so absorbed in their performances that you didn’t realize it was over until they bowed and thanked their fans, and you excitedly waited to congratulate them on yet another excellent concert. 

You help the staff hand out water bottles as they step into the wings, all with pleased but exhausted smiles on their faces. As soon as everyone has had a drink and a chance to catch their breath, you engulf Yoongi in a big hug. 

You wrap your arms around his neck as you hug him tightly. Overflowing with excitement, you don’t notice how he doesn’t hug you back, arms hanging limply by his side.

“You guys were so amazing out there!” you praise them as you peer over Yoongi’s shoulder. You were so proud of everything they’ve accomplished and you were unable to contain your excitement as you began to ramble on about them. “You guys did the dances perfectly! And it was so cool when-” you were suddenly cut off when Yoongi roughly shoved you off of him.

Stumbling back, you look up at him, confused and hurt, but he doesn’t meet your gaze, staring at the floor instead. The rest of the members’ eyes widen as they exchange glances with each other, bewildered by Yoongi’s actions. 

It was like a slap in the face when he pushed you away. Yes, sometimes he would reject hugs from you or the rest of the members, but he always did it in a lighthearted and joking way. This time, it was different; almost hostile.

You stare at Yoongi, begging for him to look at you, to give you some sort of explanation. But his gaze doesn’t move from the floor. Sensing the tension in the room, Namjoon quickly steps in. “Thanks y/n. You’ve been by our side since the beginning and we really appreciate your support,” he says with a smile. 

You return the smile, trying to act like Yoongi’s actions didn’t bother you. “Of course! I’ll always be here!” you tell them. “You guys always do great, but today was even better if that’s even possible. Like when Jimin did that jump? I’ve seen it so many times but it still amazes me every time!” you exclaim.

Jimin laughs as he covers his face with his hand to hide his blush. You continue to shower them with compliments because today was about them, but that moment keeps replaying in the back of your mind. You know Yoongi isn’t the most affectionate person in the world and he values his personal space, but he usually doesn’t mind hugs from you or the rest of Bangtan. Actually, he loves them, he just acts as if he hates them. So what was different about today? 

As you continue to praise the rest of the members, your eyes keep wandering over to Yoongi. You look him up and down, scanning his form to try and figure out what was bothering him, but you fail to find anything.

When he doesn’t even spare you a glance, you let out a sigh of defeat. You tell yourself that he’s just tired, but another part of you keeps coming up with worse reasons for why he’s acting this way. Were you too loud? Did he find you annoying? Did he not love you anymore?

Realizing you were jumping to conclusions, you try to shake those thoughts from your head. But no matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t stop thinking about him. Seeing the gears turning in your head, Namjoon is quick to pull you out of your thoughts. He ruffles your hair as he gives you a reassuring smile, silently asking if you’re okay. You just nod and give him the most convincing smile you can manage, but everyone could tell that it was forced.

As the members change and get ready to leave the venue, you wait outside the dressing room in the hall. You sigh as you close your eyes and lean your head back against the wall, slowly sliding down until you were seated on the floor. Resting your chin on your knees, you stare blankly at the floor in front of you as you let your thoughts run free.

You tune out the muffled voices coming from inside the dressing room as you replay that moment over and over again inside your head. Yoongi seemed happy when he exited the stage, but as soon as you hugged him, it seemed like his whole mood changed. He didn’t seem upset with the other members, just you. Was he angry at you? Had you done something wrong? You start to worry and grow anxious as your thoughts spiral out of control.

In the dressing room, the members try to give Yoongi some space. He was grateful that his fellow members understood him and knew him better than he knew himself. He already regretted pushing you away and he didn’t want to snap at anyone else. But the image of you staring at him, eyes filled with hurt and confusion, keeps flashing through his mind as he carefully changes.

You, along with the rest of the members knew about the accident Yoongi was in when he was a delivery boy, and you often took care of him by getting him ice packs and pain killers whenever it bothered him. But he didn’t tell you every time his shoulder acted up.

Like today, his shoulder felt like it was on fire, but he didn’t want to ruin the joy of another successful concert. The pain was almost unbearable. He was glad he made it through the whole concert, but he couldn’t enjoy it the way he wished, nor could he celebrate it with you and the boys the way you all deserved. His shoulder was already a heavy burden on himself, and he didn’t want it to burden you guys as well, so he tried to hide it from all of you.

Once everyone had changed and refreshed themselves, they make their way out of the dressing room. Spotting you on the ground, Jimin immediately approaches you and crouches down next to you, his caring nature coming out. “Everything okay?” he asks as his eyes dart all over your face, trying to figure out what was troubling you. The rest of the members watch out of the corners of their eyes, brows furrowed in concern.

You muster a small smile and as you nod. “Yeah, I’m fine,” you insist. Today was about them, and you didn’t want to ruin it by troubling them with your relationship issues. The looks on their faces show that they don’t believe you, so you try to calm their worries. Getting up from the floor, you brush your clothes off as you flash them a bigger smile. “Just tired from standing and jumping the whole time. I don’t know how you guys do it, just watching you perform makes me exhausted,” you tell them, trying to change the subject. It seems to have worked as they let it slide, choosing to argue about where to eat as you all head to the van.

You all pile into the vehicle, and you hesitate before deciding to sit next to Yoongi in the back. You’re not sure if he’s upset with you, but you know that communication is important in relationships, and it’s better to confront him about it rather than make assumptions.

You instantly regret it when Yoongi leans away from you once you take a seat next to him. You really didn’t want to ruin their day, but it was hard to hide how upset you were when your own boyfriend seemed so opposed to even being near you. Instead, you lean your head on Jungkook’s shoulder who’s on your other side, opting to pretend like you’re asleep rather than having to force a smile for the rest of the car ride. As if it was second nature, Jungkook wraps his arm around your shoulders, adjusting himself to make sure you were comfortable.

Yoongi feels a pang of jealousy and regret when he looks over to see you leaning on Jungkook’s shoulder. He moved away from you because you were sitting on the same side as his injured shoulder, and every time the car went over a bump in the road, you would knock into it. But now, he‘s starting to think that he would rather endure the pain just to let you lean on his shoulder. He trusts you and Jungkook completely, but he just wishes that it was him you were leaning on instead of somebody else.

Jungkook gently shakes you awake when you arrive at the restaurant, and you quickly thank him before climbing out of the car. Afraid that what happened in the van may repeat, you take a seat beside Jin and J-Hope instead of Yoongi.

You remain silent as they discuss what to order, spacing out and staring blankly at the table. You would be lying if you said that Yoongi’s behaviour didn’t bother you. You had no desire to eat as you were too focused on trying to figure out what you had done to upset him. 

You’re pulled out of your thoughts when you feel a tap on your shoulder. Your eyes meet J-Hope’s concerned ones as he asks, “What do you want to eat?” Forgetting where you were for a moment, you just stare blankly at him before snapping back to reality. “Oh right. I’m actually not that hungry, so I’ll just have whatever you guys get,” you tell him. “Are you sure?” he asks with a frown. When he only receives a nod from you, he reluctantly gives their order and the menus to the waiter.

“Have some pork.”

“Do you want chicken?”

“The noodles are good! Try some.”

“Do you want more?”

Although you didn’t have much of an appetite, you ended up eating more than you anticipated because you were seated between Jin and J-Hope, who kept placing more food on your plate and telling you to eat more. You insisted you weren’t very hungry, but it seemed they knew you better than you knew yourself since you finished everything they put on your plate.

From across the table, Yoongi’s heart was warmed as he watched Jin and J-Hope fill your plate. He felt remorseful about how he treated you, but he also felt reassured that the members would take care of you when he couldn’t.

You left the restaurant with a full stomach, feeling a little better than when you arrived. Once you reach home, Yoongi immediately retreats into your shared room, shutting the door behind him. You felt defeated as you desperately stared at the door, hoping that it would open and Yoongi would come out. Communication was vital in relationships, and being left in the dark led to assumptions and mistrust. Not knowing what you did wrong was eating you up, but he had made it very clear that he didn’t want to talk to you. 

You’re brought back to reality when you feel a hand on your shoulder. You turn to find Taehyung looking down at you sympathetically, the rest of the members giving you pitiful smiles. You return a small smile as you shrug. You trusted that if it really was important, he would talk to you about it. But at the same time, you couldn’t just sit still and wait for him to come to you. So you decide to watch a movie with the maknae line to pass time, and afterward, you would try talking to him again.

You don’t end up recalling a single thing that happened in the movie. You spent the whole time worrying about confronting Yoongi that you couldn’t focus on the film, and by the time the credits start rolling, it’s 10 pm. As you stand from the couch, Jimin encourages you with a smile. “Fighting,” he says as he holds his fists up. Jungkook and Taehyung mirror the action as you give them a grateful smile. Mentally preparing yourself, you take a few deep breaths as you stand outside your shared room with Yoongi.

You knock on the door, and you open it when you get a hum of acknowledgement from inside. You poke your head into the room to find Yoongi sitting on the bed, drying his hair with one hand. When he doesn’t show any signs of being unhappy to see you, you take it as a sign to move closer.

You walk in and take a seat on the bed next to him, leaving a small space between you two. “Hey,” you start. He turns his head to look at you, making that :] face at you. “You did great today,” you tell him, “Like always.” Flustered, he continues to rub his hair with the towel as he looks away. “Thanks,” he takes a pause, “And thanks for coming today, like always. I don’t know what I would do without you,” he says sincerely.

You smile happily as he seems relaxed now. He must’ve just been tired earlier, you think. “Of course! I’ll always be here for you,” you tell him as you take the hand that he wasn’t using to dry his hair. Your smile drops as soon as he pulls his hand away from you. He suddenly stands from the bed and walks over to the closet, putting a jacket on with a grimace on his face. “I’m going to the studio,” he says over his shoulder. “I’ll be back later, don’t wait for me.” A nod is all you can manage as he quickly leaves the room, not even sparing you a second glance.

It seems you spoke too soon when you thought that everything was fine. You noticed that he made a strange face as soon as you touched him, and he seemed eager to get away from you. 

In fact, what Yoongi wanted the most was to let you cuddle him and praise him and just be close to him. But he knew he wouldn’t be able to hide his shoulder from you if he let you get too close to him. He wasn’t even sure why he was going so far to hide it. He just wished the pain would go away, and it felt like if he acted like it wasn’t there, it would go away sooner.

But to you, it seemed like he was repulsed by you, or at least by your touch. You began to feel a little self-conscious. Were you clingy? Did the other members find you clingy as well? They always returned your affections, but what if they were just being nice? Would they start avoiding you too?

Throwing all rationale out the window, you come to the conclusion that your overbearing affection was what was pushing Yoongi away. And you were afraid that if you didn’t tone it down a little, you would end up pushing the other members away too. It wasn’t easy, since you were always super affectionate with them, but throughout the week, you try to hold back on being overly affectionate or clingy, afraid that they may find you annoying.

One evening, all the members were piled on the couch watching TV and sharing snacks. Normally you would join them on the couch or on Yoongi’s lap, packed like a can of sardines, but you wanted to give them space, so you chose to take a seat on the floor in front of the couch instead.  J-Hope looked at you with furrowed brows. “Isn’t the floor uncomfortable y/n? There’s space here for you,” he tells you as he pats a spot on the couch.

You turn and give him a smile, simply shaking your head no. “It’s okay, I’m fine here.” You turn back around to face the TV, so you fail to notice the frown that forms on his face as he looks at the others in confusion.

It didn’t take long for the rest of the members to notice the change in your behaviour. They were already watching you closely to make sure you were okay since Yoongi was giving everyone the cold shoulder, and their worry only grew when you started to become a little more distant as well. They tried to be more affectionate with you to make up for all the hugs and cuddles Yoongi wasn’t giving you, and to try and get you to open up to them. But it only served to confuse them more when you happily returned their affection, yet you still remained distant from them.

Since the tour was over, Yoongi was able to take the time he needed to rest and recover. After just two or three days, the pain had mostly faded to just a dull ache. Everything was back to normal; almost everything.

Yoongi always acted like he hated affection and as a result, he refused to openly ask for any. Instead, when he wanted a hug or a kiss, he would just stand there and stare at you expectantly. You had grown to learn and pick up on the signs, and you were more than happy to give him what he wanted.

But recently, you weren’t picking up on the signs, or at least you weren’t acknowledging them. You weren’t giving him anything at all. Whenever he was near you, he waited for you to lean on him, or hug him, or at least hold his hand since you loved to play with his hands, but you never did.

You didn’t indulge in the other members either unless they engaged first. It was strange to all of them since you were normally a very upfront and affectionate person, something they all loved about you. But you were still your happy and cheery self, which confused them even more.

Yoongi was starting to feel touch-starved and almost a bit neglected. He knew he was being childish, and he should just ask if he really wanted your attention. But not knowing why you were acting this way bothered him. It was normal for him to sometimes drawback because he wasn’t always super affection or extroverted. But you were, and he couldn’t help but worry that something was wrong.

One night, as you and Yoongi laid in bed, Yoongi stared longingly at you as you slept with your back facing him. You guys always used to cuddle each other to sleep, but recently, you’ve been staying to your side of the bed. Before meeting you, he didn’t get much sleep, since he often fell asleep late at night and woke up early in the morning. Holding you in his arms brought him great comfort, and it never failed to help him get a good night’s sleep. He let out a sigh before staring up at the ceiling, preparing for yet another restless night.

The next day, Yoongi woke up feeling especially tired and fatigued due to the lack of proper sleep. He tried to sleep in but failed, and he finally got out of bed around noon. He groggily dragged himself out of your room and into the kitchen to find you pouring a cup of coffee.

“Good morning!” you greeted him cheerfully. “Or should I say afternoon?” you add with a giggle as you hand him the cup. You turn back around as you start to prepare brunch. A small smile forms on his face as he takes a sip from the cup. Two of his favourite things in the world, you and coffee, all within an arm’s reach. 

Still half asleep, he places the cup down on the counter before moving behind you and wrapping his arms around your waist, resting his chin on your shoulder. Yoongi was most affectionate and clingy when he was tired, something you found incredibly endearing about him.

You freeze and the knife almost slips from your grip when you feel his arms snake around your waist. You’ve been so self-conscious about being overly affectionate and it had just been so long since you’ve hugged him, or anyone, that you forgot how to act.

He feels you stiffen beneath him and he pulls away, brows furrowing in confusion. He tries to rub the sleep out of his eyes with one hand, and his eyes widen in concern when you look like you’re about to cry.

“Y/n?” he asks a little panicked, “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” He immediately starts scanning your body for any injuries. You shake your head no as you place the knife down on the counter. He lets out a breath of relief before staring at you in confusion.

You turn around to face him and hesitate before asking, “Can I hug you?” His eyes soften when you ask so timidly, and his heart aches when you look like you expect him to say no. He’s quick to pull you into a hug, letting you rest your forehead on his shoulder. “What’s wrong?” he asks gently as he cradles your head against his chest. You shrug as you wrap your arms around his waist, burying your face further into his chest. “I just missed you,” you say, voice a little watery.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” he asks with a frown.

He feels relieved to know you missed him as much as he missed you, but he doesn’t understand why you held yourself back. You were always open about your feelings, something he was still trying to learn from you, and it was unlike you to hide things from him.

You hesitate to tell him, but you know that all this happened in the first place because you guys didn’t communicate well with each other. “I thought you wanted space. Whenever I came near you, you would move away,” you explained with a pout.

He felt a pang of guilt, realizing you were bottling up all your feelings and blaming yourself when he was at fault. He combs his fingers through your hair, trying to comfort you as he places a light kiss on the top of your head. “You didn’t do anything wrong. My shoulder was acting up after the last concert and I tried to hide it from all of you,” he confessed.

It was your turn to frown as you pull away to look up at him. “Why did you hide it from us?” you ask with furrowed brows. He rubs the back of his neck as he gazes out the window above the sink to avoid eye contact. “I didn’t want to ruin it,” he says.

You smack him on his good shoulder, scolding him for being ridiculous. “Ruin what? Your shoulder?!” you berate him, angry that he didn’t let you help him. He looks at you like a guilty puppy, and you can’t help but sigh as you feel your anger fade away. No matter what, you could never stay mad at him.

“You know, you don’t have to feel guilty about relying on us. We’re here for you and we want to help you,” you tell him. “You’ve already been so strong, having to deal with the pain all these years. Let us take some of that weight off your shoulders,” you say, grinning as you raise your eyebrows at him.

He smirks and rolls his eyes at your pun. “You’ve been talking to Jin Hyung too much,” he says.

“Maybe,” you admit. “But seriously, promise you’ll at least tell me if it ever starts hurting again? I know you don’t want to worry them, and I understand because you’re all so busy, but I’m here for you.”

You look at him expectantly with big, pleading eyes, and he can’t resist your adorable face as he gives in with a small smile. “Okay, I promise,” he says as he raises his hands in defeat.

You smile happily as you pull him into another hug. “I’ll be your shoulder to lean on whenever you need!” you say with a laugh. He scoffs and jokingly pushes you away. “Enough! No more dad jokes!” he cries.

You clutch your stomach as you double over in laughter. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry,” you half-heartedly apologize. Once your laughter dies down, you turn back to the counter to finish preparing the food. As he drinks his coffee and leans on the counter, he can’t help but smile as he stares at you. Through the window, the sun’s rays shine down on you, perfectly highlighting the features of your face.

He moves next to you, about to help you make brunch. You expect him to grab a spatula or something to start cooking, but he remains completely still. You look at him with a raised eyebrow, wondering what he was doing before bursting into a fit of giggles.

Yoongi was just standing there, staring at you with big puppy eyes and an adorable pout, waiting expectantly for a kiss. Not wanting to keep him waiting any longer, you laugh as you place the knife back down on the counter. Gently taking his face in your hands, you place a short but sweet kiss on his lips. His lips instantly curve into a smile before he bends down to steal another kiss from you. “I love you,” he mumbles.

“I love you too,” you say. He sighs happily as he wraps his arms around your form, melting in your embrace. It felt like a weight was lifted off his shoulders, and he was finally able to relax knowing that he could lean on you when things got tough.

[neonlights92]

RUN: Chapter VII (Epilogue.)

Jeon Jungkook hops from bed to bed, sleeping with as many beautiful, rich women as he can possibly find time for.  He’s young and attractive, with a silver tongue that gets him practically anything he wants.  So when his friend and boss, Kim Taehyung, tells him it’s time to settle down, Jungkook takes it pretty badly.  And when he finds out that the woman he’s destined to marry is, in fact, his little sister’s best friend, he is less than impressed.

You have spent your entire life trying to forget the way you feel about Jeon Jungkook.   So when you find out that Jungkook is to be your husband - and that he is anything but pleased about it - your world is thrown into chaos.  How can you survive a loveless marriage with the man you are hopelessly in love with?

Hey friends! Enjoy the epilogue <3  Namjoonie next..

You were pissed.

Jungkook had promised you he wouldn’t be late tonight.

It was your one year anniversary - one whole year of being married to the love of your life - and you were meant to be celebrating at a fancy restaurant with champagne and good food. 

You’d gotten all dressed up - squeezed yourself into some ridiculous contraption of a dress - just for him, and now it looked like you were going to miss your booking.

Eight o’clock passed…

Then eight-thirty…

Then nine…

By the time your husband finally decided to make an appearance it was more than an hour passed your reservation time.  You’d taken off your dress - kicked off your heels - and made a move on your makeup when the door to your bedroom clicked open.

“Hi Angel…” 

Jungkook’s sheepish tone greeted - and you chose not to answer - instead glaring at his reflection in your vanity mirror.

“I know, I know I’m late,” He’s pulled his tie and blazer off, the sleeves of his crisp white shirt rolled up to his forearms.  You chose not to comment on the suspiciously red coloured stains peppering his collar.

“Happy anniversary to us, I guess.”  Your own voice was sharp and angry - in the year you’d been married to Jungkook he had made you feel special and loved - but that didn’t mean he still didn’t fuck up.

“I’m sorry baby,”  He moved towards you quickly, and you stood turning to face him, “It was - y’know… God.  It’s Bangtan.” The desperation on his face pulled at your heart strings.

You knew your husband’s job was important - you knew that as a member of the Special Seven - as Bangtan’s shadow he had more responsibilities than he would probably ever tell you. 

And you knew that you wouldn’t be able to stay mad at him for long.

But still.  It was meant to be a special night for the two of you.  An acknowledgement of everything you’d been through together.

An acknowledgement of your love for one another.

You couldn’t help that you were disappointed.

“It’s alright,” You shrugged, “It’s part of the package, right?”

He sighed heavily and reached up to push some of your hair out of your face, “I hate disappointing you.”  His tone was tender and a little more of your anger fizzled out, “I love you so much Angel.  I always want to be with you - I always want to make you happy.  But I’m not always very good at it, huh?”

You chose not to say anything - slipping your bottom lip between your teeth and staring into the eyes of the man who had changed your life.

God.  Your heart swelled to nearly three times it’s size at the look on his face.

Such reverence and adoration - like you were a work of art.

He always made you feel special, like that.  

“I’m sorry baby,” His voice was sincere, “I really am.  I know tonight was meant to be special…. God.  What kind of husband leaves their wife waiting for them on their anniversary?” 

He laughed without humour, and you felt a stab of guilt.

“It’s okay Jungkook,” You licked your bottom lip and shrugged, “We’ll celebrate another time.”

He touched your face gently and frowned, “I know you’re disappointed… And you have every right to be, Y/N.  Tonight should’ve been about us.”

You sighed heavily, “What kept you out so late?”

His eyes darkened and you noticed for the first time how tired he seemed.  He’d been out all day - and if the blood on his shirt was any indicator it hadn’t been easy.

“Namjoon.”  He answered hoarsely, “He barely comes out on missions with us anymore.  Barely wants to be around any of us…” 

You felt a stab of guilt.

Since the night you’d been kidnapped almost four months ago, Kim Namjoon had turned into a shell of his former self.  You knew you couldn’t have done anything - you were just as much a victim of Sana’s brutality as he was - but you still felt awful.

“What happened?”

“We tried to help him… Lord knows we’re all emotionally constipated.  But Jimin thought it might be nice to take him out for lunch.  So we did.  And then…” Jungkook shook his head, “Namjoon cut himself with his steak knife.  He hasn’t gotten used to his prosthetics yet.” 

“The blood?” He clicked his tongue, “He was sitting beside me.”

You instantly felt terrible.  You moved to wrap your arms around your husband, pulling him down for a fierce kiss.

“I’m sorry baby,” You whispered against his mouth, “I’m so sorry.”

He shook his head and frowned, “No stop - don’t.  I’m sorry.  I’m sorry I can’t take you out for anniversary meals like normal couples.  I’m sorry I come home with blood on my shirt -” 

“It’s okay Jungkookie.”  You pressed a hand to his cheek and he smiled softly at the nickname he’d begrudgingly accepted, “I know who you are - I know the world we live in.  I accept it.  I accept you.  Is it annoying? Of course.  But I won’t give up on us.  Ever.”

He leaned into your touch and kissed your palm, “I love you baby.”

“Me too.”

“Next time though, text me alright?” You pulled a face, “I wouldn’t have bothered getting dressed up.”

He nodded and pressed a kiss to your forehead.

“I will Angel.”

He spent the rest of the evening showing you just how sorry he was, and how much he absolutely adored you.

Needless to say, it wasn’t the worst way to spend an anniversary.

//

“I have something to tell you.”  Nayeon had shown up not five minutes ago, with a promise that you had to sit down and listen to her.

You’d obliged of course - she was your best friend after all.

But her confession had knocked the air out of you.

“I’m getting married.”

She was grinning from ear to ear.  You almost dropped the cup of tea you were drinking.

“What?”

“I’m getting married.”  She didn’t seem upset, “That’s why I came round.”

“To who?”

Her smile widened, “Song Mino.”

“Oh!” You mirrored her expression, “Song Mino.  He’s… Nice.”

“And hot.”  

Your face flushed and you nudged Nayeon playfully, “Stop it.”

“I’m happy.”  She told you honestly, “I might not know him very well but he seems like a decent guy.  And like I said… Hot.” You laughed this time at your friend’s unabashed appreciation of her husband-to-be and clicked your tongue, “Well if you’re happy sweetie, then so am I.”

“My dad told me last night.  Mino’s father approves - so does Taehyung….”  Her eyes flitted to yours guiltily and immediately you realised what this was.

A setup.

“You want me to tell Jungkook.”

Her lips stretched into a thin line.  She grimaced.

“Yes.” 

“Why can’t you tell him?”

She frowned deeply, “Because Jungkook’s hated Song Mino ever since they were kids and he stole Jungkook’s first girlfriend.”

“Your brother is not that petty.”

“Yes he is.”  She raised a brow and scoffed, “Don’t tell me you don’t know that about him.”

You bit back a laugh at the thought of Jungkook holding a grudge for as long as he apparently had with Mino.  Then you frowned.  Tonight was meant to be a different kind of surprise for your husband.

“I also had some big news for Jungkook tonight.  I was going to wait to tell you but since you’re already here….”

For a brief moment Nayeon seemed confused by what you’d said before her eyes widened and she shot out of her seat.  She moved towards you like you were a glass of water and she hadn’t drunk in a week.

“Oh my god.  Oh my god.”  She pulled you in for a hug, “You’re pregnant aren’t you?  Oh my God! How far along?”

You laughed at your friend, “I only found out this morning.  We’ve been trying for a couple of months… But I’ve only missed one period.” 

Nayeon’s eyes were sparkling with tears and you were sure your own weren’t too far off, “Oh my god!  Don’t worry about telling him about the wedding.  I’ll do that sweetie.  You just worry about telling my brother he’s going to be a dad!” 

A loud thud caught both your attention and you turned sharply to find the brother in question - your husband - staring at you both in shock.

“Wait… What?”

Jungkook’s eyes flitted between yours and his sister’s.  He blinked slowly, as if slotting everything into place.

Nayeon pulled away from you quickly and shot you an apologetic look.

“Surprise?”  She said to her brother with a weak smile before grabbing her things and making a nervous beeline for the exit. 

Nayeon mouthed “I’m sorry” to you as she disappeared and you had to stop yourself from laughing at the entire situation.  Of course it would all happen like this.

“Was she… Was that…”

You stood quickly and moved towards your husband, cupping his face in your hands softly.  Your eyes roved his his features carefully, looking for any sign of apprehension.  But all you saw was surprise… And joy.

“I’m going to be a dad?” He whispered, eyes wide, “For real?”

“For real.”  You smiled up at him and pressed a kiss to his lips, “You’re going to be the best dad.”

He broke out into a wide grin and bundled you up in a hug, raining  his own kisses down across your face.

“Oh my god Angel.  We’re going to be parents.  Oh my God!” 

You giggled at his reaction and squealed when he lifted you off your feet.

“Pregnant wife.”  You warned him, and he put you down quickly, patting your head and shoulders to check for signs of injury.

“Oh my god.  Pregnant wife,” His smile was dazzling, “I love you so much Angel.”

“I love you too Jungkookie.”

You had spent so long running from your feelings for Jungkook.  And he’d done the same.

Thank God you finally decided to stop and rest.

Things would never be perfect - but you were happy.  And so was he. 

And that was all that really mattered to you.

//