♡

you know what — it probably took tae a few long moments to actually realize what was happening. like. he was too busy editing away on his laptop to notice what was going on across from him. sure, it smelt great and there were lots of sounds — but something felt off. or sounded off, rather. tae had no real idea how long alex had been messing around with the jar, but it was long enough that he was grunting about it. grunting and apparently on his way to the sink, for whatever reason — tae hoped he wasn’t about to bash the jar in quiet anger, or something.

if alex wouldn’t have had to pass tae to get to the sink, he wouldn’t have bothered. or maybe he would have — maybe tae would have said something, at the very least. but seeing as the other man was actively walking past him? his arm shot out to snag the jar as he straightened up in his seat, brows furrowing ever so slightly as he brought the stupid little thing closer to himself. “what’s the deal—“ was muttered with not so much as a glance to the jar. no, tae was more interested in looking at alex as the telltale pop sounded out and signaled that the jar was, indeed, open. and then he was tossing the lid (dirty side up, he wasn’t a monster) onto the counter and holding the jar out for alex. “d’you want me to do anything else? m’done with this.” with his video, that is.

ares shouldn’t have agreed to this — he knew it was going to be tense. but things weren’t fully okay between them yet (at least from ares’ perspective) and he needed to keep working on it. he had to put forth effort at every opportunity to make sure things didn’t crash and burn like that ever again. and honestly? he didn’t want seunggi around his father after learning what he did. so. yeah. maybe ares didn’t want to go and he knew he shouldn’t … but he did, and he was doing his best, trust — he was. in both his every day life and this family dinner. really, it came down to a simplified routine. he was working more routinely with his therapist, for one — a small thing, but necessary. he didn’t go anywhere without security, even if it felt silly. it was just something he needed to accept, is all. and with that came small changes, like no longer driving himself or making quick stops for boba — hana would grab it, even if sometimes ares insisted he could be in and out. which! he was ahead of himself with that, too. no amount of insisting mattered, his security would never be swayed. he knew the day would come where he’d try and weasel out of it and they weren’t supposed to budge.

even if he wished someone would have budged with this. somehow.

but they didn’t and now ares was here, hiding away in the bathroom with the small hope of no one coming to look for him just once. a hope that was squashed in less than a minute when the door swung open. not that he could be upset upon seeing seunggi’s face in the mirror — those words did end up making him frown, though. just a little. his eyes dropped towards the counter, eyes flickering over the way his hands curled around the counter’s edge as he turned the last hour or two over in his mind again and again.

“i think …” ares fought to keep his emotions in check and not spilling out all over the place, his tone falling quiet to hopefully keep his voice steady. “i think something is wrong. with me. lately. i don’t know —” it was a genuine statement and something he’s been trying to figure out. and the way he’s felt since being here? it wasn’t helping. listening to seunggi’s father? the things that have been said to ares — fine, whatever. but the things being said to seunggi? he’s never felt so angry, he’s never wanted to actually hurt someone like he wanted to hurt daeseong. the way the older man acted, plus knowing how seunggi has been treated in the past? the way he’s been hit and only god knows what else? and no one did anything — they just sat. why was ares the only one seemingly okay with challenging, however slight, the things being thrown around? maybe he shouldn’t, though — maybe even just something as simple as ares having asked seunggi’s father why he said something was enough to rock the boat. and here seunggi was apologizing for him. ares felt hot with rage and it kind of … it scared him. he didn’t understand any of it, he didn’t like it — he couldn’t make sense of a single thing. but he knew one thing — it didn’t feel right.

ares knew things had been going too smoothly — the fact that he was the one having that thought alone said it all. it took a lot for him to not see the positive side, you know? but it had been quietly eating at him day by day. things were too quiet, too easy — he was starting to get a little comfortable, even? not totally, but enough so that he wasn’t looking over his shoulder every couple minutes. but when they had managed to get so far so fast without so much as a run in? they were bound to get a little comfortable. right?

again — not too comfortable. but maybe ares didn’t always put his cloak up? maybe they started staying in each place a tad longer. just a day or two longer, even, nothing insane. a day or two was all that was needed sometimes, though, huh? one day they were buying bread and cheese before hunkering down for the night and the next? ares was waiting for seunggi at the predetermined location, crouched down and out of the way as he checked his bag one last time. if they left something it wasn’t the end of the world, but it was kind of a pain to rebuy certain —-

the bag slipped from his hands as he stood, only needing to take in the sight of such a commotion for a mere second before he was on the move. how could he be worried about the contents of his bag when seunggi was being dragged towards his captor’s horses? if they got him on a horse ares didn’t know what he’d do — it could take ages to track them down and it may only take them a fraction of that time to kill seunggi.

ares couldn’t risk it. he wouldn’t risk it. it didn’t matter which house they belonged to, it didn’t matter if he knew these men personally — they were trying to take seunggi.

easier to do when it was four on one. less easy when it was two to two, hopefully? plus ares liked to think he was pretty good with a sword — better with a dagger. of which was pulled from his belt and with one quick, smooth throw it was getting lodged in one of the four bad guy’s necks. that wasn’t something he had ever thought would bring him a moment of relief, but here and now? knowing it was more like three on two? yeah — he was relieved.

he’d be more relieved if he could get seunggi freed, but he’d take the little wins when they came.

ares was minding his own business, as one does in a house full of near strangers, and was on his way to the gym set up. like — he was fully ready to get a workout in, headphones and water bottle and all.

so imagine his absolute surprise when he went from quietly humming, eyes on his phone as he set up the perfect spotify queue, to suddenly being yoinked off his feet into a completely different direction. if not for the clips that would probably surface of his yelp, he’d deny it — he probably still would, actually. between not hearing anyone coming to being dragged off? it was startling!

all of which quickly (and i do mean quickly) wore off when a tilt of his head had him laying eyes on seunggi. “what are you d—“ ares downright giggled — of course he did! within mere seconds his plans went from getting a good workout in to being closed into a closet. a closet. and where he might’ve asked another question? considering ares didn’t even get to finish his first? he didn’t think he’d have time for a second. not when he was too busy blindly dropping his phone onto a shelf (or hoping it landed on a shelf, at least) as he returned the kiss that came his way. was it risky? yeah, kind of — not nearly as risky as it would have been a few weeks ago. but surely the entire house and half the world knew what was going on by now, right? and if they didn’t? they would once this aired! ares never thought to check the closest for cameras, and he was so bad at turning his mic off. but maybe seunggi already checked for cameras and maybe seunggi would think to mute the mic?

but frankly?

ares didn’t care who saw what or heard what so long as he got to tug the other close and kiss him until he felt dizzy with it. and if the other man so much as thought about pulling away? for anything? “wait wait wait—“ it was mumbled and rushed and said with a tilt of a laugh as ares damn near clashed against seunggi in search of more.

jisung loved to cuddle, what could he say? especially on a saturday morning after just waking. he didn’t have work looming over his head and that made it even better. the sun didn’t seem to be shining yet, but that was fine — it meant he had even more time to enjoy the peace and quiet (no offense, tae).

not that tae was awake. or alex.

not that it mattered to him! he was happy to pull them close, to snuggle in, and to enjoy what he could while he could.

to set the scene —

ares’ entire family was here. where is here, exactly? well. a cute little beach (private, of course) in hawaii. seokmin’s entire family was here, too. their friends flew out, and the ones that couldn’t make it even managed to send gifts. everything was set up, the rehearsal ran smoothly, and by now? he’d assume most of these people were snuggled up in bed either on their phones or passed out and ares was quite literally on his way there. the tv had just been turned off and he was grabbing his phone when a muffled thudding had him pausing. he almost missed it as his brain was half asleep and he just thought it was the rain against the roof, or something.

but it happened again, a bit louder this time, and ares found himself drifting off towards the entryway.

by the time ares was there? yeah. no — someone was definitely knocking. he could see their shadow through the window beside the door, and it had his brows furrowing as he quickly checked his phone. did someone text him? was something wrong? did he miss something —