Cherry Blossom 🌸

“What?” Changbin asked, looking at the younger male. “When?”

“Well…” Jisung trailed off. Seems like he hadn’t thought before he spoke again. “You see, I may or may not have told Cherry what was happening.”

“Jisung!” Chan frowned. “We agreed that we wouldn’t tell her.”

Jisung groaned and rolled his eyes. “I know! But I felt like that wasn’t fair. Hyunjin was going to break up with her! I didn’t want her to be blindsighted in case he went through with it.”

“That wasn’t your place to tell. Besides, we wouldn’t have let that happen.” Changbin shook his head, disappointed. 

“You can’t be sure of that.”

“To be honest, I probably would have done it regardless of what you guys said or did.” Hyunjin spoke up from his spot on the couch, curled up and clutching one of the throw pillows. 

“See!” Jisung pointed at Hyunjin then. “So let’s not gang up on Jisung for spilling the beans and focus on the fact that Jisung got to kiss Cherry!” He beamed proudly. And as much as Chan wanted to be mad at the other and continue to scold him, he couldn’t. Because deep down the leader knew that he too had been so close to actually telling Cherry what was going on as well. 

Maybe he was a little bit of a hypocrite then. 

“Okay Ji. So when did you kiss her?” Chan asked curiously. 

“That same night I told you about what Jihyo said.” Jisung said as he walked over to the couch and laid himself over Hyunjin’s lap, the other shifting the pillow to the side for him, fingers instantly finding their way into Jisung’s hair. 

“Jihyo said something to you too?” Hyunjin’s brows furrowed and he looked from Jisung to Chan and Changbin. 

“Yeah.” Chan sighed. “We didn’t want to tell you because you were just so upset at the time and we didn’t want to make it worse.” He explained. 

“But she said something to you?” Hyunjin asked again, eyes turning back to Jisung. 

“Yeah. And it’s not like we were doing anything. We were just being playful. I was shooing her out of the kitchen.” Jisung explained, retelling the whole story that was so ingrained into his brain at this point. “Jihyo told me Cherry was a snake, she didn’t love you and only had eyes for Chan.” He said before snorting. “Boy was she fucking wrong.”

“Oh wow.” Hyunjin whispered. He slouched against the back of the couch, staring off into space then. “She really-“ he stopped himself. “But why? I just don’t understand why.”

“Maybe Jihyo likes you or something?” Changbin offered up. 

“More like Chan. It’s all because she saw him and Cherry cuddling.” Jisung hummed, watching as Chan shifted uncomfortably. 

“Why me though? I’ve never like…done anything to make it seem like I would be interested in her. Hell, up until Cherry, I was strictly into men.” It was baffling to all of them really. What was really the reason Jihyo had suddenly taken such an interest into their relationship with Cherry. 

“I guess it doesn’t matter anymore.” Hyunjin finally spoke. “Cherry told me Jihyo confronted her and in the end, she was able to convince Jihyo that nothing was going on. We still have to be careful with how we behave at the company but we promised each other we wouldn’t give up.”

“You better fucking not! We’ve all worked so hard and she’s so close. She’s right fucking there and we can finally feel whole.” Jisung spoke, eyes locked on the ceiling as his mind was filled with images and scenarios of the group with Cherry and being happy. 

“Why am I the one that has to do all the work?!” Hyunjin pouted. 

“Because she loves you.” Chan smiled softly at them. “She’s comfortable with you and it’s gonna be through your love and encouragement that she’ll eventually accept us as well, hopefully.”

“Hopefully.” Jisung repeated. “And we’re going in the right direction because I got to kiss her!”

“That’s so not fucking fair. You kissed her. Felix kissed her. I wanna kiss.” Changbin complained with a pout, the others laughing at him. 

———

“Everytime we’re together, I can’t help but to look around like a paranoid freak.” Hyunjin laughed softly, Cherry’s own laughter filling the quiet air of the restaurant around them. Dinner had been his idea only because he knew Cherry would absolutely love the place they were at. He had discovered it with Jisung on one of their many lunch dates before practice and the food had never disappointed them. So he was pretty sure their dinner menu had to be just as good if not even better and he wanted to share that experience with his girlfriend. “I’m glad I’m not the only one. I know we have them off our backs for a while but it still feels like everyone is watching us.” she said softly, eyes downcast and focused on the food in front of her. “You know-” she started but cut herself with a tiny shake of her head. It piqued Hyunjin’s interest and he leaned forward a bit, heading cocking the side curiously. “Nevermind.”

“No, no.” he said softly. “Tell me what’s on your mind.” he urged gently. Lifting her gaze, their eyes locked and Hyunjin could see her searching for something. He wasn’t sure what it was or why, but he wanted her to find it - whatever reassurance she might need to speak her mind. Communication was still something they were working on, but Cherry had shown a marked improvement from where she had been at when they first got together. It was still crazy to think that they were going on half a year already. It seemed like only yesterday they had shared their first kiss in the practice room. 

“It’s just, sometimes I feel like this is stupid.” That definitely wasn’t what Hyunjin had expected her to say and he couldn’t deny the way his chest ached as the words fully registered. 

“You mean, us?” he asked carefully, a lump in throat already forming, mind already jumping to the conclusion that Cherry wanted to break up with him. And after everything they had just gone through. 

“What? No!” Her eyes widened as she sat back in her chair. “Oh my god, I am so sorry. I just realized how bad that sounded. No, not us.” she clarified, running a hand through her hair slowly. Hyunjin sat there, still tense and while the reassurance let him breathe a little easier, he was still scared of what she was actually going to say. Nothing good could come from her starting off saying this felt stupid.

“So, then?”

“This situation.” That wasn’t much better, but at least this time she didn’t leave a long pause for Hyunjin to get himself worked up again. “That we have to do this in secret. That being together is wrong. It’s stupid. And…being scared to love more than one person is also stupid.” Hyunjin could agree with her thought process, sure, but that didn’t change the fact that they had to stay in secret. That their jobs didn’t allow for them to have an intimate private life with people they cared about. Well, it could if that person was within the same group. But for two idols like themselves, from two separate groups and not to mention the opposite sex, it was so taboo and the backlash they would face would be exponential. It was a risk they both knew they were taking at the start and one Hyunjin didn’t really want to expose. 

He loved Cherry, with all his heart. He loved his boyfriends as well and he didn’t want to lose any of them. If they stopped being careful, and stopped doing things in secret, it was inevitable he would lose one or all of them. And that was a future that he didn’t want to think about - a pain he couldn’t suffer through.

“Cherry-”

“No, please let me finish.” She held up her hand to silence him. “What happened that weekend, it shed so much light on what our relationship is and what I want from this. I get it, we have to stay in secret, as much as I don’t want us to. But nearly losing you because of rumors and seeing how the others acted - avoiding me - it hurt, a lot. And I realized-” she cut herself as her voice wobbled and Hyunjin could clearly make out the tears threatening to spill from her eyes. 

Gingerly, he reached over the table and took one of her hands, holding it lightly. “I realized that if I lost you, lost the ability to be with you and the others, I would regret my life so much. I would hate myself for not just trying. For letting my insecurities get in the way of happiness.” She gave Hyunjin’s hand a gentle squeeze as she sat up straighter in her chair, clearing her throat as she fought to keep the tears at bay. “That’s why I’ve decided that I want to pursue the others as well.”

“Wait, really?” 

“Yeah. My brain says I’m not ready and the whole dynamic of more than one boyfriend is still confusing. But my heart keeps telling me that’s what I want. I want to be able to cuddle Chan and kiss Jisung and go on more coffee dates with Seungmin. I want to learn more about Jeongin’s interests and watch Changbin show off to try and impress me. In that time I didn’t have that, when they all stepped back, I felt so lonely. Even though I have you and you’re more than enough, I just-”

“I get it.” Hyunjin smiled widely at her. “Even though one is enough, your heart still longs for another. You have more than enough love to give. I completely understand.” Because of course he did. It’s how Hyunjin felt at the start of his relationship with Chan and Jisung. Knowing he wanted both who were equally enough on their own but combined they filled up a void in his heart he never knew he had. “I support you, you know this. And when I tell guys this, I know they’re going to be so excited.” 

“Yeah? I mean they waited for me?”

“Of course they did, baby. Oh they would wait forever for you. We all would.” Hyunjin brought her hand up and kissed the back of it gently. “I promise you, no matter what happens, you’ll always have us.”

“I love you.” Her voice was so soft and delicate, the words whispered like a silent prayer.

“I love you, too.”

Tags: @changbinsrightboob @eastleighsblog @hydrawaterdragon @3rachasninja @haileybugulug @luvyev @tamaha-217

"So as we're going into the next year, what we can expect-"

Ping

Your eyes darted to your open teams chat between you and your boyfriends Jisung and Chan. It was with Jisung's insistence and Chan's connections that you were able to land your current job and you couldn't be more thankful for that. Besides better pay, it opened up so many new doors for you, with potential to climb and grow within a company that actually cared about you. You were so grateful to them.

Han Jisung

Why do they always end up saying the same thing? The lead already said this. 🙄

You snorted, your smile covered by your hand and you were thankful that your mic hadn't picked up the sound.

Bang Chan

Be nice. He's old

You leaned out of the frame of the camera, muting your mic quickly as you giggled. They were going to get you in trouble! Schooling your face, you took a few breaths before reappearing in the camera and un-mutting your mic. The meeting continued on, the presenter unaware of your disturbance. He droned on for a few more minutes, but your eyes were on the clock, counting down how much time you had left before the meeting was supposed to end.

It never ended on time.

From behind you, you could hear your mother out in the kitchen, making a fuss. You really hoped no one heard it, and you hoped whatever she was doing - sounded like she was killing a bug - she would stop soon. Except, she didn't stop and eventually you heard her hurried footsteps as she rushed to your door and opened it.

"Hurry, I need you! There's a fire!" The urgency in her voice and her words had your heart leaping into your throat, eyes wide with fear. Jumping from your chair, you turned back to the computer, but the meeting was already paused, everyone just staring.

"I'm sorry I have to go." You apologized quickly. You didn't even bother to end the meeting, instead, tearing off your headphones and sprinting from your room, following her out to the kitchen where you saw the plume of smoke coming from the oven. Your mother dared to open it, and you saw the flames rush out before she closed it again.

"What the fuck do we do?!"

"Oh my god!" Your voices were mixed and jumbled together in fear and confusion and you knew there wasn't really any time to waste. The smoke was pouring out and you felt like it was only a matter of moments before the entire oven would be engulfed in flames or worse, explode. And yet in your rush to figure out what to do, you noted that the over was off, so that was at least one good thing.

"Y/n??" Your brain was telling you to Google the answer because you knew that using fire wouldn't be good. It could damage the appliance or somehow cause an electrical fire. You know the fire itself wasn't a grease fire or an electrical fire because like an idiot, you decided to open the oven again and even as the flames were escaping, you could make the two paper plates, along with silverware resting on one of the oven racks.

"Do we have a fire extinguisher?" Your feet carried you out to the side room where you thought you had once seen a mini home fire extinguisher, but upon a quick glance, you couldn't find it.

"No. I think we threw it away because it expired." Your mother called and you quickly made your way back to her. "Maybe we just need to do something to snuff it out."

Great idea! That's exactly what you needed to do. But in order to do that you needed to open the oven which would allow more oxygen in and fan the flames, which was the opposite of what you wanted. But what else could you do? You weren't thinking straight and in your haste to try and get the fire out, you grabbed a frying pan because surely you could just put that over the fire and it would fizzle out. Except, when you opened the oven to do so, the fire blew out and up into and over the pan and you quickly shut the cover, scared shitless that you were actually going to set the house on fire.

"Fuck." Looking around once more, the only solution you could come up with was throwing water on it. Moving to the sink, you turned the water on and started filling the pan you were holding. "I think the best thing we can do is throw water on it and hope for the best."

"That's all we can do." Your mother agreed and once you moved back to the oven, frying pan full of water, you quickly opened the oven and tossed the water in. The burning plate hissed and sizzled, but the fire went out instantaneously, leaving behind the charred remains of whatever had been left in the oven. The smoke was pungent now, the house filling quickly with it. And while your mom worked to turn on the exhaust fan over the stove and open the windows and doors, you worked on pulling out the rack from the oven and bringing it over to the sink.

There was still a bit of ember burning as you dropped the whole thing into the sink and turned on the water, spraying the mess to cool it off further. More hissing and sizzling followed and you left the water to run, taking a deep breath - or as deep as possible given the smoke -to calm yourself. The immediate danger was over, thank fuck.

The front door, side door, back door were all wide open and you moved to the living room to open those windows to help air out the place. It was so hazy and thick and getting harder for you to breathe. It didn't help that both you and your mother were asthmatic and something like this was one step away from triggering an attack.

Making your way outside, you inhaled the fresh air, coughing as your lungs didn't know how to process the clean air from the smokey air you spent the last two minutes or so inhaling. It was good though. And as you stood outside on your front porch, you realized just how fast your heart was still hammering, how tense your body felt as one by one the muscles started to relax. The danger was gone, the house was safe and no one was going to die. Well, no one but the pig of a roommate that once called himself your step father. He was, by all means, the culprit in what happened because you knew first hand you didn't put the plate, fork and spoon in the oven. 

And while your mother was getting up there in years, her memory was still in decent shape so you ruled her out immediately. Not to mention, the two of you tended to use plastic silverware mainly because you were both just too lazy to have to deal with washing dishes every time you wanted to eat something. The house was old, so unfortunately it didn't have a dishwasher, or otherwise you would be using the real silverware during meals. And it was because of that that you knew the idiot was the cause of everything.

"All I wanted was to cook my food." Your mother whispered as she took a seat on one of the wicker chairs. "I shouldn't have decided to cook. I should have just ordered food."

"Mom," Sighing softly, you turned to look at her sadly. "This isn't your fault. You didn't put that shit in the oven. So even if you didn't cook today, it would have happened some other day." Because you fully believed it would. Maybe on one of the days you were visiting your boyfriends, leaving your mother home alone. You doubted she would have been able to handle this situation on her own and you knew that getting to her wouldn't be a quick thing when they lived fifteen minutes away. "It's not like we would have had any reason to open the oven to check to make sure it was empty."

And now you did, sadly. Exhaling, you ran a hand through your hair and dropped down into the chair next to hers just staring out at the front yard. You still couldn't believe that had just happened and it felt like you still needed to do something. That it wasn't over and at any moment the house could go up in flames. It was traumatizing.

"How long do you think we have to stay out here?"

"Why?"

"For the smoke and smell to dissipate."

"A couple hours for the smoke, maybe tomorrow for the smell?" It was an estimate, and you really had nothing to gauge that time with, considering this was the first time something like this happened. But you knew that the smell of smoke took a while to get out of things unless they were cleaned and you sure as hell weren't going to go around wiping down all the surfaces in the house and washing rugs, pillows and throw blankets just to get the smell at faster.

'Well fuck." she muttered and you chuckled softly. "Guess I'm going to order food then." You nodded, but the thought of food made your stomach twist in the most unpleasant ways. You were definitely going to pass on food, slumping in the chair.

You weren't sure how long you had sat outside with your mother, not that you really cared. The last thing you were worried about was work or anything else, just making sure she was okay, you were okay and the house was okay. So when a car pulled up in the drive way, you had just assumed it was your mom's food being delivered. But the two men that exited the vehicle was anyone but a delivery person and it was only then that you recognized the car.

"Y/n!" Jogging up to the front porch was Chan and Jisung, both looking as frazzled as you felt. Standing, you smiled as Chan pulled you into a tight hug, rubbing your back gently. "Are you guys okay?"

"We're fine." Pulling back, you looked to Jisung then, moving to his open and waiting arms, returning the hug. "Everything's fine."

"Are you sure? Is there anything we can do?"

"That's so sweet of you boys." Your mom commented and you looked back at her, catching the knowing smile that she sent your way. "But I think we got from here. Just trying to clear the air inside."

"If you're sure." Jisung nodded. "What exactly happened?" You felt your blood start to boil as you started explaining what caused the fire in the oven and the more you talked about it, the more you just wanted to go on in there and beat the shit out of the dead beat. You weren't much of a fighter though and the thought of jail wasn't that appealing, so you thought better of it.

"I'm so sorry you have to deal with this." Chan whispered, hands rubbing your arms as he and jisung crowded you. They couldn't seem to keep their hands off of you and that made you feel so good, so loved and wanted. In a weird way, it relaxed you because you felt safe with them.

"Don't be. It is what it is." You wanted to remind your mother that it didn't have to be this way. That you could get rid of the man. But you also knew she had her reasons for keeping him around and if you had to guess, it was probably financial reasons, which was valid. It wasn't easy trying to support a family on one income. What you made at your new job went towards what bills you had and you were in no way, shape or form capable of contributing to the bills anymore than you already were, which wasn't a lot.

"Well, we're here. If you want, Chan and I can go in and clean up the mess, check for any damages." Jisung offered up and your heart melted at how sweet and caring these two were. You were just their girlfriend. They didn't have any responsibility to help you in any way and yet they were so easily offering it. They really did care about not just you, but your family too.

"That would be great." With a pat to your shoulder, the two removed themselves from your being and headed inside the house and you once more dropped down into the chair next to your mother. "You did good with those two." she whispered.

Yeah, you did and you thanked the universe for bringing the two of them into your life.

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The midday break couldn’t have come sooner and with it, brought him good news. Or at least, as good of news as he could make it, what with Aria apparently knowing he was dating Cherry. Hyunjin had spent most of the previous night crying, wrapped up in Chan’s arms and that morning, he spent it avoiding Cherry all together. He knew if he even glanced in her direction he would cry. It sucked that they were on the same team as well - made for a lot of awkward tension. But he knew with Jihyo now watching them like a hawk, he couldn’t be as close to her as he wanted. He had to be careful, they all did. One wrong move and their careers could be over. And was it something that he should have probably talked to her about? Yes, but he thought it better to just break ties for now and maybe in a few days or weeks he could finally confront Cherry about it.

Apparently his girlfriend had other ideas and used Aria as her messenger. Short, sweet and to the point Aria told him that later that night, he needed to meet Cherry in a secret location that would be determined later on, which he found out was because neither one of them had actually thought of a place to meet. And for the first time that day, Hyunjin actually smiled because that was just like Cherry. And he smiled because he was also a little excited deep down. While he was full of worry about facing her, he needed to see her. It truly felt like he was dying and he hated it.

So when night came and everyone was finally tucked away in their beds, Hyunjin tried to be as stealthy as he could, slipping out of his shared room with Chan and making his way to the stairs. The house was still, the white noise only broken by the occasional snore coming from one of the rooms on the second floor. There was a dim light coming from downstairs and Hyunjin used it to guide himself carefully down each step because that’s the last thing they needed, him tripping and falling down the stairs and breaking something. The chaos that would create.

By some miracle, or perhaps simply because everyone was truly dead asleep, Hyunjin managed to sneak his way out the front door. The front yard had a small little dirt path lined with solar powered lights that led all the way down to the road that they came in from. He followed it about halfway before branching off to the right, following a different path that led to a small picnic area that overlooked a beautiful lake that was currently frozen over given the weather. It had been discovered pretty late that evening when the shopping group had come back from the store. Somehow instead of following the clearly lined path, they had gotten lost and eventually stumbled upon it. It had been voting as the next shooting location for them tomorrow and had sounded perfectly secluded enough for him to meet with Cherry.

What he didn’t take into account was how fucking dark it was outside and not even the flashlight on his phone gave enough light to brighten his surrounding area. “God I hope there aren’t any bears around.” Or wolves. Or serial killers. 

Hyunjin was starting to think this was a bad idea. And just as he was getting ready to turn around and go back, the path finally opened up to a clearing. There were a few picnic benches strategically placed under lit lamp posts, a railing that lined the edge of the cliff and beyond that, the frozen lake that Hyunjin was sure was there, but he couldn’t really make out. But what he could make out was the person standing at the railing, hair occasionally blowing in the wind. Even from far away, Cherry was gorgeous. And just like the first time he had ever laid eyes on her, Hyunjin’s heart started pounding in his chest and the desire to be near welled up inside him. “Cherry.” he called out softly, catching her attention as he approached. She turned, their eyes locking for a moment and the most gorgeous smile he had ever seen graced her lips. And in that moment, nothing else in life mattered. Just her and that gorgeous smile. “I’m glad you came. I was worried…that you wouldn’t want to see me.” 

“I always want to see you.” His reply was instant and honest, but maybe not totally the truth due to his actions earlier. 

“Didn’t feel like it today.” She whispered as she bowed her head, stuffing her gloved hands into her coat pockets. Hyunjin sighed softly, closing the distance between them. “I know. I’m sorry. I was just so…” he trailed off, trying to figure out the right words to describe everything he had been feeling. But there wasn’t any poetic way to put it. “I was scared I would end up crying if I looked at you today.” 

Lifting her head, Cherry stared at him, brows furrowed. “Because of what Jihyo said?” she asked carefully and he nodded. He wasn’t at all surprised that she knew. He figured that eventually the news would get back to her and they were going to have to deal with it. But Hyunjin really thought that running away and avoiding the issue had been the right solution at the time. He was probably wrong and he was regretting it now. “Jinnie, I get it.” she started, pulling a hand from her pocket to cup his cheek. “I do and I probably would have felt the same way. I’m not the best when it comes to confrontation, but I do remember a certain someone saying that relationships require communication.” Hyunjin snorted at that, shaking his head fondly.

“Sounds like a wise person, must have been Jeongin.” he teased and Cherry giggled.

“Maknaes tend to be very wise, I’ve been finding out.” She commented. “I really wish you would have come to me when she first approached you, but I get it and I’m not mad. I just - please don’t give up on us Hyunjin. I don’t want us to break up. I love you so much.” Hyunjin wanted to believe it was a trick of the lighting, but he knew very well that he saw tears welling up in her eyes and he hated to know that he was the cause of them. 

“Baby.” Reaching out, he cupped her cheeks with both hands, their bodies gravitating towards each other on their own accord. “I don’t want to break up with you, but I don’t know what to do.” he whispered. “This is so much more than us. The consequences we could face, the people we could hurt if this got out. I’m so scared, Cherry. Scared of losing my job, my friends, my boyfriends, you. More than anything I’m scared of losing you.” He hadn’t wanted her to cry, and yet here he was, crying himself. There were so many emotions coursing through him that he couldn’t sort them all; all he knew was they were all strong and valid and making this conversation very difficult to have. 

“I’m scared too.” Cherry confessed, thumbs swiping gently under Hyunjin’s eyes. “So scared, but I’d rather take this risk than give everything up now. I’d rather be fired, knowing that we tried our hardest to be together, than to end everything now and pretend like nothing ever happened. Not to be dramatic, but I might actually die if we did that.” she chuckled wetly, sniffling and Hyunjin returned the favor of gently wiping her tears away. “Please, Hyunjin. I know I probably sound desperate, but I need you.”

Hyunjin was silent for a moment, staring into her tearfilled eyes that sparkled so beautifully under the artificial lights. Was that weird and messed up to think? Maybe, but even crying, Cherry was beautiful. Could he really let her slip through his fingers? Falling for her had been so fast and so hard. Everyone had encouraged him to pursue her and to his delight, she returned his feelings. They had some amazing times together and could have so many more. Was he really going to give all that up? 

“Say something.” 

No. No he wasn’t.

“I need you too.” Shifting, he leaned in further and pressed their lips together in a soft kiss. It was slow and sweet and every ounce of love he felt for Cherry, he poured it into that kiss and he could feel all of her love being poured in as well. His hands dropped from her face and instead settled on her waist, clutching at her lightly as he pulled her closer to him. Her soft moan was swallowed by Hyunjin’s lips, bodies pressed so tightly together that Hyunjin was sure they were going to merge into one being. It felt like it had been years since they last kissed and he never wanted it to end, but eventually they broke apart. “I love you.” He found himself whispering as he pressed their foreheads together. 

“I love you too.” She returned, nuzzling their noses together. “And I know we’re gonna be okay for a while. Jihyo cornered me after breakfast and we talked and I told her nothing was happening between us, or between me and Chan. She seemed to believe me so I think we’ll be okay. May have to tone down how often we’re seen together at the company but, it’s worth it if in the end we can stay together.”

Hearing that put Hyunjin’s heart at ease, just a little. He did agree that they would have to tone some things down, not that he wanted to. But he would if it meant he could still have Cherry. She could still sneak over to their dorm, they could still have their lunch dates. They would still see each other. This wasn’t the end of the world.

“We’ll make this work.” He promised and dipped down to steal another kiss from her. “We should go in soon though, it’s getting colder.” He was starting to tremble and he could feel Cherry trembling as well. “Don’t need to catch a cold.”

“Yeah, guess so.” She pouted. She was reluctant to pull away, much like he was, but they did. They walked hand in hand back to the house and after sneaking back in and up stairs, they said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. At least tonight Hyunjin knew he would sleep better. He just prayed the rest of their trip would go by smoothly and quickly. 

Tags: @changbinsrightboob @eastleighsblog @hydrawaterdragon @3rachasninja @haileybugulug @luvyev @tamaha-217

"Now, should he have taken off the way he had? No, but it was worth it. Jeongin wasn't surprised as Felix materialized right in front of him, and the poor pup didn't have enough time to even try to stop, ramming head first into Felix's legs. The demon was solid, and didn't even buckle while Jeongin recoiled. The impact was enough to startle him into shifting into his human form, whimpers of pain leaving him because fuck if that didn't hurt. "Meanie." "Well that's what you get." Felix huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "I would chase you down to the ends of the earth." "Awww." " That was a threat." Felix growled. " To think the Great King himself cares so much about me that he threatens to always chase after me." Jeongin teased. "I must be a really good boy."

Felix groaned, rubbing his temple as he lowered his head. "I can't believe I let them convince me to keep you."

"You know you love me."

"Doubt it." Despite his words, the corner of Felix's lip twitched into a light smile, because he indeed did love his favorite pet.

”That’s some question,”

”Forget I asked.”

You paused, examining his face as the words rolled around your head. “No, no.” You said quickly, waving your hand to him, hoping to keep his attention. There was a reason Jisung had asked you the question, probably tying into his serious behavior. “Yes, I’ve done a lot of things I’ve regretted.” You told him softly, eyes watching as he leaned in closer, curious.

So you decided to continue on. 

“I think the one thing I regret the most is not confessing my feelings to someone I really loved.”

”Oh my god, really?” He breathed out in surprise. “Who was it? Someone I know?” You were hesitant in responding, but after a moment you nodded your head. “Who?” You didn’t want to say that you predicted that question being asked, but in a way you knew it was going to happen - it was the most logical question after all. 

“I can’t say.” A playful smirk danced across your features as mimed zipping your lips. “Besides, nothing would have come from it, he never liked me like that.”

Jisung sat back in his chair, incredulous at how dismissive you were being. “How do you know that? Maybe he does like you!” The earnest sincerity in his voice made your heart ache with a guilt you didn’t believe you deserved and yet somehow carried with you. 

“I just know.” There was a finality in your voice, filled with an unspoken anguish. It was deafening, but at least it stopped Jisung from following up with any other questions. “Why did you ask, by the way?”

”Oh!” As if he had forgotten he was the one that brought up the question. Sitting up, he cleared his throat. “I, um, confessed to Minho last night. And it was a total mess. Nothing went right and I was so embarrassed.” 

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that, Ji. Did he at least confess back?” You asked.

”He did! After laughing at me of course. The night was a total disaster, but I got a boyfriend out of it. I’ve been really just thinking about how embarrassed I was and how things could have gone differently. I kinda regret the situation, you know?” You nodded, because you could relate to that. While you hadn’t realized his regret was tied to what you considered a silly occasion, it was almost fitting that you told him about your regret. 

“It wouldn’t have mattered how the night went, he would have confessed anyway.” You assured him.

”You think?” Jisung raised a brow. “How can you be so sure about that?” He questioned.

”I just know.”  And you did. Because there wasn’t a scenario in existence that Minho wouldn’t confess to Jisung. Minho loved him and that’s why while you regret never confessing, you knew nothing would have come from it. Minho had only ever had eyes for Jisung.

It was extremely difficult to hold himself back - to act professionally. The end of their schedule couldn’t come fast enough.

The first instance of Hyunjin’s wavering willpower came backstage of the MV shoot. It was oddly quiet in the changing room when Hyunjin entered for a clean-up. The downside to having flaming red hair, it bled all the time. His eyes scanned the room quickly, searching for any signs of the members or a hairstylist. He didn’t find the latter and almost missed the former in his first look around. He only noticed Felix because he shifted on the couch, and suddenly he wasn’t blending in with the black material.

Hyunjin’s heart ached for only a split second at the thought of why Felix was resting and not out with the others. While his back pain wasn’t that bad anymore, they were still taking everything cautiously - not wanting Felix to actually do serious damage to himself. But as quickly as he felt sad, his mood shot right back up as his brain finally processed the situation. He was alone with Felix and Felix was still in that gosh forsaken shirt. He couldn’t pass up the opportunity to admire his beautiful sunshine, all dolled up and laid out for him like a present at Christmas.

With quick, quiet steps, Hyunjin crossed the room and over to the couch, kneeling next to it carefully. Felix laid lax on his back, head turned towards the back of the couch, one arm slung over the side of his face while the other laid beautifully crossed his waist. The shirt was twisted around him, pulled taut against his frame - chest, and torso on display through the fabric, unblemished. It was a mouthwatering sight and Hyunjin actually had to check to make sure he wasn’t drooling. Thankfully, he wasn’t.

He wanted so badly to touch the other, let his hands roam over soft flesh, but the fear of being caught was ever-present in the back of his mind.

“Lix.” He whispered but received no response. “Lix, are you awake?” He tried again but still received no response. Hyunjin frowned, eyes scanning over Felix’s body once more. He wasn’t ready to give up yet, so in a last-ditch effort to wake Felix up without giving him a heart attack, Hyunjin reached out and slipped his hand into Felix’s, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Felix, wake up.” He whispered. Still nothing. Hyunjin was ready to give up. While he wanted so badly to defile the beauty before him, he didn’t want to do it without Felix’s consent. So if that meant he had to control himself, he would - for Felix.

Leaning closer, he pressed a gentle kiss to Felix’s temple. “Sleep well, baby.” With that, Hyunjin pulled away and stood, making a hasty exit from the room. The end of the day couldn’t come soon enough.

——

The second instance came a few hours later, on a different set for another recording. In and out of clothes all day; Hyunjin was getting tired but in a good way. While it was exhausting doing all these pre-recordings to prepare for their comeback, it made him feel good - knowing that soon Stay would get to see their hard work and hopefully enjoy and love the end product. As long as Stay was happy, Hyunjin was happy. Scrolling through Twitter on his phone, he was blissfully unaware of the body making his way over to him. The calm serenity that had fallen over him came crashing down when Felix collapsed on top of him. “Ooof!” The extra weight had Hyunjin wincing, arms wrapping around his lithe body. “Felix~” He whined out, Felix’s laughter filling the semi-quiet room.

“Hi.” The greeting was high-pitched, cute and so Felix that Hyunjin could feel his irritation fading away as he looked up at the other.

“Hi, baby.” Hyunjin returned, grinning at the light flush that dusted Felix’s cheeks. If you weren’t looking for it, it was pretty much unnoticeable. But Hyunjin knew Felix well - had been in this position before. He knew how much Felix loved pet names and how flustered he could get from them. He could easily spot the blush, regardless of how faint it might be. The contrast of the light red always made his freckles seem to pop out more than usual, adding greatly to the natural allure that Felix already had. “Need something?”

Felix hummed as he looked Hyunjin up and down, or as far as he could given their position on the couch. In any other situation, Hyunjin probably would have considered this flirting. Instead, it just came off a little goofy, but in such an endearing way. “Not really. Just wanted to spend some time with my favorite person.” Hyunjin’s heart fluttered in a way that only Felix could ever make it flutter as butterflies did somersaults in his stomach. It was the simple things like this that made Hyunjin fall even more in love with Felix.

“I’m all yours then.” He flirted, laying it on just a little bit thick by throwing in a wink. The resulting giggle and the way Felix hid his face into Hyunjin’s chest had him melting. Hyunjin gave Felix’s waist a light squeeze, fingers casually running over his side. “So cute.” He cooed. Felix lifted his head and pouted. Sitting up, Hyunjin leaned in to steal a quick peck, catching Felix off guard. He took that moment to switch up their positions, pulling Felix between his legs, back to chest, as Hyunjin settled them on their sides, arms wound tightly around Felix’s waist.

“Jinnie!” Felix squeaked, settling rather quickly into his new position, despite the sudden change. Hyunjin giggled, nuzzling against the other’s neck lightly. Felix hummed lightly, hands resting on the slender arms wrapped around his waist. Silence fell over them, the light chatter from staff and other members background noise as Hyunjin basked in the presence of his boyfriend. As time ticked by, Felix slowly grew laxer in his grip - an indication that Felix was falling asleep. Hyunjin shifted behind him, carefully moving Felix to rest more against him and it was only then that Hyunjin realized Felix was wearing that shirt. He should have realized earlier, but it had simply gone over his head at the time.

Biting his lip lightly, Hyunjin glanced around quickly, before looking back down at Felix. With everyone focused on other things, this was the best time for Hyunjin to indulge himself in the urges he had been trying to hold back. And indulge he did. His fingers quickly made their way up Felix’s slightly tone chest, hand cupping his left pec. There certainly wasn’t a lot of muscle mass there like with Changbin, but there was enough that it filled out Hyunjin’s hand nicely.

Perfect.

Everything about Felix was perfect and Hyunjin counted himself as lucky to be able to have him. Overcome by an overwhelming wave of love, Hyunjin pressed a kiss to Felix’s temple as his fingers skimmed and stroked over the other’s chest. A soft sigh escaped Felix, his chest arching slightly at the touch and Hyunjin smirked as his fingers finally brushed over a hardened nub. Hyunjin lightly flicked his finger over Felix’s nipple, eyes downcast as he watched the way Felix’s chest rose and fell with every tiny gasp he gave. From his angle, Hyunjin had the perfect view of Felix’s chest - the way the mesh material moved over his golden skin, accentuating, yet also hiding any definition of Felix’s body. But what stood out the most was his nipple, pretty and pink - pebbled from Hyunjin’s teasing touch. It was as beautiful as Hyunjin had imagined.

Amidst his admiration and teasing, Felix began to stir, moans of pleasure slowly growing louder. Hyunjin quickly covered his mouth before he could get too loud, pinching Felix’s nipple in light retaliation. “Hush baby.” He whispered, lips brushing the shell of his ear. “Do you want us to get caught?” Groggily, Felix shook his head no and Hyunjin wondered just how awake he was. "Can you be quiet?" he asked, fingers pinching and tugging the hard bud between them - pulling muffled high-pitched whines, a clear indication of no.

Hyunjin tsked, flicking Felix's nipple once more before dropping his hand to rest on his waist once more. There was a brief, tension-filled moment between the two before it dissipated and the tension left Felix's body all at once. He laid there, putty in Hyunjin's grip, just waiting and Hyunjin found that adorable. Not that he had many relationships, but in the few he had had in the past, Hyunjin learned that some people didn't react kindly to being just blue-balled like that and he has had his fair share of slaps, name-calling, and even a whole break up because of it. But Felix...sweet Felix was different. He was perfect and accepted everything that Hyunjin threw at him.

Almost everything.

Felix had his limits and fortunately, this wasn't one of them. Hyunjin was free to edge and torture him to his heart's content and Felix would take it. In fact, he would probably be begging for more if Hyunjin wasn't preventing him from speaking. And god how Hyunjin wished he could hear Felix's voice at that moment. Deep and husky, words slurring with a mixture of sleep and arousal.

"Fifteen minutes! Start getting ready!" The sudden shout from right behind them had both Hyunjin and Felix jumping. Hyunjin quickly removed his hand from Felix's mouth and looked over his shoulder. Standing behind the couch, eyeing them was Chan. He gave them a knowing look but said nothing before walking away and Hyunjin realized that this certainly wasn't the time or place to continue on with their little play. Felix wiggled and squirmed against him until he was able to break free from Hyunjin's hold and sat up.

"I'm sorry." Hyunjin was quick to apologize and Felix smiled at him, soft and genuine.

"Make it up to me later."

Hyunjin watched as Felix got up and adjusted himself in his pants before smoothing down his outfit and walking off. His gaze lingered on Felix's ass, watching the way the pants framed it as he moved and doing his best to keep from jumping the other. He had to remind himself that they were still in public and had to start the next half of their recording. He had to wait. He had to be patient.

------

Hyunjin was not a patient man, but he was a forgetful man. And with his dick no longer thinking for him, he was able to forget about making it up to Felix. Their lives just turned incredibly busy - like it usually did during a comeback - and sex was the farthest thing from Hyunjin's mind when he finally returned back to his room at ass o'clock in the morning. Half the time he didn't even want to work on his paintings, face planting into his bed and immediately falling asleep.

Life was suddenly fast-paced and Hyunjin was running to keep up, neglecting his duties as a boyfriend, not that Felix seemed to mind. Or if he did, he never said anything. It wasn't until the members started testing positive for the evil Covid virus that everything came to a screeching halt and Hyunjin found himself locked down in a hotel room before his head could stop spinning. And it fucking sucked.

Day in and day out for nearly two weeks he was stuck in a room, by himself. He never realized how much the members meant to him - how ingrained in his life they were until he had to go without them. Sure they did facetime and they texted regularly since all their promotions for the upcoming week had been canceled, but it wasn't the same. The loud screams of Changbin and Jisung weren't reverberating in his chest and he missed the hisses of displeasure from Jeongin when he tried to coddle him. But most importantly, he missed seeing Felix's shining face in all its unfiltered glory. At least he hadn't caught Covid, thankfully.

Hyunjin spent most of his time either drawing and painting or plotting out the first thing he was going to do when he was released from his prison. Day after day, hour after hour he counted down, and finally, when the clock struck zero and he was finally allowed to leave, he made a beeline straight back home.

Home being Felix, who was quite shocked to have the tall, lanky male wrapped around him the moment he opened the door. "Hyunjin!"

"Hyung!"

Hyunjin ignored the calls of his name, focused solely on the body that was somehow still supporting his weight. He buried his face into Felix's neck, inhaling the mixture of Lavender and sunshine - if sunshine had a scent - that was just so uniquely Felix. He was finally home. "I missed you," he muttered, lips moving against Felix's neck.

"I missed you too." Fingers raked through long blonde strands and if Hyunjin was a cat, he would probably be purring. "I'm so glad you're better and home."

"I was never sick, to begin with." Hyunjin pouted and pulled back, staring at him.

"Yes you were or you wouldn't have tested positive." Felix countered with a laugh. "Let's not argue about that though. Channie hyung has already drained us with his whining." Hyunjin giggled and nodded. He wouldn't put up a fight, Chan really had done that enough for all of them. Who would have thought their level-headed leader was actually the biggest drama llama of them all. "So, now that you're a free man, what do you wanna do?"

"Make out."

The bluntness of his comment caught Felix off guard, the younger male choking on his own spit as he stared at Hyunjin with wide eyes. "I mean," he paused, gasping for breath and trying to clear his throat. "Okay."

"Disgusting! Get a room!"

It was only then that Hyunjin was reminded of the other members that were still in the living room and the fact that he was still technically standing in the open doorway. It's amazing how he could simply fixate on Felix. Sheepishly, Hyunjin glanced over at the couch. Jeongin sat there, glaring at the two of them with the most disgusted look Hyunjin had ever seen him pull. Well, maybe not the most disgusted look. There was that one time with Jisung and Minho.

"Okay, okay." Felix pacified, stepping aside so Hyunjin could enter the dorm fully. Closing the door behind him, Felix took his hand and started for his room. "Innie, don't forget to tell Minho hyung about the leftovers in the fridge for him."

"If he comes back," Jeongin muttered with a pout. He had a point on that one.

"Okay, well tell Seungminnie then."

"Okay." The exasperated sigh Jeongin let out resonated in Hyunjin's soul.

Nonetheless, he gave a small wave to their youngest and followed Felix back to his room. It was still a bit bare inside, but Felix did his best to decorate. His favorite part of the room was the LED lights that usually shrouded the room in a purple or blue. Not to mention the plushies and the Changbin body pillow that Felix slept with. It was cute, in a strange sort of way, but Hyunjin couldn't even bring himself to be jealous because the image of Changbin on the pillow was just that hilarious. Closing the door after them, Hyunjin slipped behind Felix and wrapped his arms around his waist, nuzzling against his neck. "Missed you so much, Felix." he whispered.

Felix smiled as he leaned back into the hold, head resting on Hyunjin's shoulder. "Missed you too, Jinnie." he whispered. Reaching up, he carded his fingers through Hyunjin's hair before tangling them in the soft locks and pulling lightly. Hyunjin whined, arms tightening around Felix's waist as he lifted his head to look into the other's eyes. "Missed you so fucking much." Felix tugged him forward, their lips crashing together into a heated kiss. Their lips moved in sync - rushed and desperate as Hyunjin slipped his tongue into Felix's mouth. Hyunjin drank down the mewls and needy whines that freely fell from Felix, his fingers clutching tightly to his lithe waist as he pressed himself impossibly closer to him. God how he missed this. The taste, the touch, the feel of his boyfriend beneath his fingertips. Pulling back from the kiss, Hyunjin licked his lips as his eyes roamed over Felix's face, taking in his flushed cheeks that made his freckles all the more vibrant. His eyes were dark and lidded, lips parted as he panted softly. He was utterly beautiful.

"Bed."

The urgency in his voice reflected in the sharp, jerky movements he gave as he dragged Felix over to his bed. The desperation was even more evident as he stripped them both, clothes landing somewhere in the room for future them to worry about. Present Hyunjin was more worried about drinking in the sight of Felix as he laid spread out before him, smooth and unblemished skin on full display. It had been a while since he had last left his marks - since he last claimed Felix as his own and vice versa. Hyunjin's own marks had long since faded.

"Fuck, how are you even real?" Large hands trailed down the lean torso, fingers skimming over defined abdomen muscles, watching as they jumped and twitched at the touch.

"Could say the same about you." Felix's voice, now at least two octaves deeper, sent a shiver down Hyunjin's spine and made his head tingle with its pleasing tone. "You're so beautiful." It was the sincerity in those words that cooled the moment and allowed Hyunjin to just melt into his feelings for the other. Their relationship was a rollercoaster most of the time; just as quickly as things got heated, they cooled off before ramping up again. "Hyung," Hyunjin's eyes snapped up. "Please, do something," he begged.

Hyunjin nodded dumbly, but it took him a little longer to actually process the request and push his body into motion. Once he started though, he couldn't stop - eyes set on one thing; one beautiful body part that had been plaguing him for the past week or better.

"Oh fuck," Felix tangled his fingers into red locks, back arching as Hyunjin ran his tongue over a pert, pink nipple. Hyunjin could feel the way Felix trembled under him and this was only the beginning. He wondered just how responsive Felix could get if he kept teasing them and if he could make the other cum untouched from it. It seemed like a challenge, and Hyunjin was never one to pass up on a challenge.

Fingers tugged at his hair, a pleasant sting of pain prickling in his scalp. It only served to motivate him more in pleasing his boyfriend. His tongue laved over the bud a few times before he closed his teeth around it. Hyunjin was not ready for the sudden movement, Felix arching and bucking as a pleasure-filled moan fell from his parted lips - far too loud for there to be any hopes of the other's not hearing him. Not that he didn't mind the other members hearing how sinful Felix sounds were, it was more out of respect for the youngest...maybe. "Jinnie, please."  Felix tried contorting himself closer to the other, cock twitching and bobbing - just begging for friction. "Touch me, Hyunjin," Felix begged, but Hyunjin refused to let himself get distracted.

Pulling off the nipple, he glanced up at Felix's face - cheeks flushed a bright red and his eyes clenched tightly closed. Leaning back in, Hyunjin placed a chaste kiss on the center of Felix's chest before sliding over and flicking his tongue over the other nipple. It hardened almost instantly under his touch and Felix trembled again, a deep groan filling the air. Hyunjin grinned, fingers pinching the bud and twisting lightly, eyes drinking in Felix's reaction.

"Fuck fuck fuck!" Felix twisted and arched as he was overwhelmed with pleasure.

"You like that baby?" Felix's eyes fluttered open, glazed over and lidded as they sought out and found Hyunjin's. He nodded his head rapidly, lips parting as he let out a shuddering breath. "Good." Hyunjin all but purred. "Cause I plan to make you feel so so good." There was a promise there and with it an intensity that was burning just under Hyunjin's skin. He wanted to ruin Felix. Wanted to watch tears leak from his eyes as he begged for more. But he was also impatient and didn't want to drag this out longer than needed. He needed his boyfriend.

"Jinnie."

Hyunjin chose that moment to take the other nipple back into his mouth, nipping at the flesh and following it up with long and harsh sucks. "Hyun-" Felix choked out as he writhed under him. "Oh god please, please. I need it." What it was, Hyunjin had a vague idea, but he didn't want to give it to him just yet. Felix was just as worked up as he was and Hyunjin very much wanted to see if he could push the other over the edge without touching his dick.

Releasing the hard nub, he switched sides - fingers easily sliding over the slick nipple, keeping it nice and hard as his mouth worked over the other one. Fingers yanked at his hair, pulling groan after groan from Hyunjin. Each tug sent a spark of arousal down his spine and pooled in his abdomen - white-hot and molten with a need to find release. But he couldn't let himself get distracted like that, so he redoubled his efforts and perhaps he bit a little too hard on Felix's nipple. An apology was on the tip of his tongue as he started to pull away, but Felix's arms wound around his head and pulled him back down.

"Again! Please, again!" he begged. Hyunjin was more than happy to oblige, teeth sinking into the tender flesh - the tip of his tongue flicking over it. Felix shuddered, body tensing. His hips flexed upwards and Hyunjin thankfully had the wherewithal to reach up and cover Felix's mouth just as he let out a loud shout of pleasure. Lifting himself slightly, Hyunjin watched as Felix's cock twitched and pulsed, long ribbons of white coating his stomach.

"Such a good boy." Hyunjin praised, turning back towards him. Felix grunted under his hand, eyes still closed as tremors still wracked his body. Removing his hand from the other's mouth, he pressed a chaste kiss to Felix's lips as his free hand wrapped around Felix's hot member and gave long and fast strokes. He drank down Felix's whimpers, using the weight of his body to keep Felix pinned as he worked him into and through his overstimulation. By the time Felix was hard and aching once more, he was a panting and crying mess. An unfortunate side effect, but Felix wasn't complaining.

"Ready for more?"

"Fuck, I guess." Felix laughed, smiling as Hyunjin sat up and slipped between his legs.

"You sure?" Hyunjin slid his hands over Felix's thighs, grinning to himself as they trembled under his touch. "We can wait if you need a moment." Hyunjin would never push Felix past his limitations, but he was well aware that Felix wasn't even close to his limit. Still, considering the fact that they had been apart for so long, Hyunjin did think that Felix may need to go a little bit slower than normal.

"Don't want to wait." Felix ran a hand down his own torso, dipping his fingers into the cooling cum there and bringing them back up to his mouth. Locking eyes with Hyunjin, he pushed his fingers into his mouth, licking and sucking the cum off of them. Hyunjin's eyes darkened, lust swirling with them as he watched Felix go back for seconds. It was so hot. Hotter than it probably should’ve been. 

"Fuck baby." Breathing heavily, Hyunjin leaned down and crashed their lips together, teeth colliding painfully. Felix's lips parted out of instinct and Hyunjin pushed his tongue into the other's mouth, devouring him as the taste of Felix danced across his taste buds. Felix wound his arms around Hyunjin’s shoulders, nails biting into his skin as he pulled the other closer. Skin to skin, Felix jerked his hips up, his sensitive cock rubbing against Hyunjin’s. Hyunjin moaned against Felix’s lips, hips grinding down against Felix’s. The sweet friction was such a relief, and Hyunjin let himself indulge in the sensations for a while. His cock twitched and pulsed against Felix’s, precum steadily leaking out, making the glide of their cocks smoother. 

“Jinnie, please.” Felix pleaded, breaking the kiss with a tiny gasp as he rocked and grinded up against the other. 

“Yeah.” Hyunjin breathed, forcing himself upright. “Yeah okay.” He repeated, taking a moment to look around. “Where’s the lube?”

Felix grunted as he twisted his body to the side, opening the bedside table. He dug around for a moment, pulling out both a nearly empty bottle of lube and a condom, tossing both items at Hyunjin. The older male caught them with ease, brow raised as he held the bottle up. “Shut up.”

“I didn’t say anything.” Hyunjin giggled, outright laughing when Felix whined and covered his face. “Miss me that much, huh?”

“I was lonely and bored.” An excuse, but it was adorable. “Missed you a lot.” He finally confessed, though it wasn’t a surprise. The confession had already been made and returned. Had Hyunjin had access to lube, he probably would have spent most of his time getting off too. It was an unfortunate outcome, but couldn’t be changed now. 

“Missed you too baby.” Leaning down, Hyunjin captured his lips in a light kiss, taking the moment of distraction to open the bottle and cover his fingers in the cold liquid. He rubbed his fingers together, warming the lube up before reaching down between Felix’s legs. Felix startled, his gasp swallowed by Hyunjin’s hungry mouth as Hyunjin circled his rim teasingly, finger slipping in only when the ring of muscle began to relax. 

“Oh god.” Felix groaned, body opening up for Hyunjin as his long, slender finger started moving, filling him over and over. It had been way too long since they had last done this, Felix’s body overly sensitive and responsive to every touch. “Y-You can do two.”

Hyunjin lifted his eyes, taking in the other’s expression. “Are you sure?” Felix nodded, and Hyunjin hummed in confirmation. He slowly pulled his finger out, watching Felix’s pretty pink hole clench around nothing. Licking his dry lips, Hyunjin pressed his middle finger back inside, his ring finger joining shortly after. Felix hissed at the stretch, clenching for only a brief second before he relaxed once more, a wanton moan tumbling out of his mouth. “Feel good baby?”

“So good.” Felix panted, eyes screwed shut once more, focused on the pleasure his boyfriend was giving him. “Please, more.” Felix begged and Hyunjin couldn’t help but coo at how adorable he sounded. Hyunjin went slow regardless, easing his fingers in and spreading them as Felix adjusted to the intrusion. Hyunjin’s sole focus was stretching and getting Felix ready for his cock, loosening him considerably. 

Two fingers slowly turned to three, which gradually turned into four with Felix grinding down on the moving fingers, riding them with such a heedy need that it left Hyunjin dizzy with want. The younger male was an absolute dream, fucking himself and chasing his release. “I-I’m ready. Fuck give me your cock.” Felix begged, voice deep and throaty - laced heavily with palpable lust. Hyunjin slid his fingers free, taking caution to not stimulate Felix’s prostate, lest he wanted their fun to end early.

Reaching for the condom, Hyunjin started to open it when Felix grabbed his wrist. Looking at him, Felix shook his head quickly. “Not this time, please?” And who was Hyunjin to deny his boyfriend?

Tossing the condom aside, Hyunjin grabbed the discarded lube bottle and popped open the cap, pouring more of the liquid onto his fingers. Curling his fingers around his dick, he shuddered at how cold it was, hand moving slowly to coat himself liberally. Panting, Hyunjin bucked up into his fist, eyes closing to bask in the pleasure only to snap back open when Felix let out a needy whine. Chuckling to himself, he scooted closer to Felix, the other male parting his legs wider to make room. 

“Please.” The soft plea melted Hyunjin and not wanting to make his boyfriend wait anymore, he aimed his cock towards Felix’s hole and slowly pressed forward. “Oh fuck~” Felix’s moan mixed beautifully with the hiss Hyunjin let out, pleasure exploading within him, engulfing him. It had honestly been too long since they had been connected like this. Felix was so hot and tight around him, Hyunjin was almost embarrassed by how much he was twitching inside the other. Felix grabbed the back of his thighs, pulling his legs up and closer to his body, opening himself up more for Hyunjin. The other sank a couple of inches deeper into Felix, hips pressed snuggly against Felix’s ass. It was impossible for him to get any deeper and Hyunjin was glad. Any deeper and he probably would have blown his load already. 

“Fuck, baby.” He growled out, body towering over Felix - hands planted firmly in the mattress. Felix trembled and clenched around him, Hyunjin’s hips snapping forward into the delicious sensation. 

“Jinnie, please.” Felix begged once more, eyes wide and pleading with barely there restraint. Hyunjin couldn’t fault him, also struggling to keep control. He wanted nothing more than the pound away into the beautiful male under him. To hear his sweet cries of pleasure. It’s all Hyunjin wanted at that moment. “Want it so much. Fuck me.”

Leaning down, Hyunjin claimed Felix’s lips in a heated kiss as his hips pulled back, cock sliding halfway out before he gave a harsh thrust forward, burying himself once more inside of Felix. Hyunjin swallowed the loud cry Felix let out, body rocking with each powerful thrust Hyunjin gave. Felix wasn’t able to keep his grip on his thighs, legs eventually falling to rest over Hyunjin’s shoulders. His hands shot out, grabbing at any body part he could reach of Hyunjin, clinging to him. 

Hyunjin pulled back from the kiss, panting heavily as he gazed at Felix’s face - taking in every expression the other made as he fell further into the pleasure. Gorgeous. He was absolutely fucking gorgeous and Hyunjin felt himself falling in love with him all over again. Lowering himself down onto his elbows, Hyunjin buried his face into Felix’s neck. His hands left the mattress and gripped Felix’s hips, using them as leverage to thrust harder into Felix. 

“Hyunjin!” Felix choked out, fingers suddenly finding purchase in Hyunjin’s hair, yanking harshly as his whole body jerked and spasmed. Hyunjin could only smirk, thrusting into Felix again at the same angle and received the same response. Felix’s moans grew in pitch, such a melodic sound. 

“So good, Lixie.” Hyunjin groaned, lips grazing over Felix’s neck, peppering light kisses against it. “Doing so good for me. Taking my cock so well.” The praises fell easily from Hyunjin’s lips, Felix writhing under him, hips rocking down to meet each of Hyunjin’s thrust. Felix was being so loud, but so was Hyunjin, unable to hold back his own moans of pleasure. Every jerk and clench Felix gave ripped another moan out of Hyunjin. 

Hands roamed frantically over sweat slicked bodies, and Hyunjin knew the end was near. The heat in his gut coiled tighter and threatened to snap at any moment. Though he didn’t want to be the first to cum. He wanted to see Felix fall apart first. Lifting himself slightly - despite Felix’s desperate grip on him - Hyunjin slipped a hand between their bodies, fingers curling around Felix’s hard and aching cock. He was so wet, leaking copious amounts of precum that aided in Hyunjin’s quick and fast strokes, wrist flicking with every upward motion. 

“Jinnie… Hyunjin!” Felix whimpered, body trying to curl in on itself. “C-can’t -“ Another high pitched moan fell from his parted, red lips. “I can’t. I’m gonna-“ Felix was cut off by a deep, guttural moan escaping one - one Hyunjin didn’t think he was able to make. Felix tensed, still and for a split second a heavy tension fell over them. It all came crashing down as Felix cried out unbelievably loud, his hole clenching down around Hyunjin’s cock as he came. 

And fuck if Felix wasn’t breathtaking, lost in pleasure as he came all over himself and Hyunjin’s hand. Hyunjin’s own hips stuttered, losing rhythm as the tension finally snapped and he went hurling off the edge of ecstasy. With one final thrust, Hyunjin buried his cock deep inside boyfriend, pumping him full of his cum.

The two laid in bed, panting into each other’s skins as they slowly came down from their highs. Hyunjin didn’t really want to pull out, content to stay inside of Felix, but Felix’s whine of discomfort had him pulling away from him. After quickly wiping his one hand on the bed sheets - which would have to be washed later - Hyunjin reached up and carefully lowered Felix’s legs from his shoulders - messaging the sore and stretched muscles to help alleviate any pain Felix could be feeling. 

Felix sighed contently, boneless on the bed as he watched Hyunjin with tired eyes. “That was amazing.” 

“Yeah,” Hyunjin smiled sweetly at him. “It’s always amazing with you.” Felix blushed, cheeks a bright red that only seemed to amplify his freckles. Hyunjin cooed at him and leaned down to place a tender kiss on his lips. “I love you.”

“Love you too, you big sap.” Felix giggled and Hyunjin felt his heart race at the sound. It was a sound he wanted to hear for the rest of his life, knowing he was the one that caused it. Felix slipped his arms around Hyunjin’s neck and pulled him down into another kiss. Hyunjin went willingly, lips moving against Felix’s as he laid himself next to the other, pulling him against his body. Hyunjin did his best not to wince at the sticky feeling of cum between them because he honestly couldn’t be bothered to get up and shower. He was quite content with where he was. 

Breaking the kiss, he smiled at Felix and rubbed their noses together, pulling another giggle from the younger male. “How do you feel?”

“Sleepy.”

“Sleep then.” Hyunjin muttered, gently guiding Felix’s head to rest on his chest. 

“But we’re gross.” Felix whined out, yet easily snuggled into the other. 

“30 minutes and then we’ll shower.” Hyunjin promised. Felix jumped in agreement but they both knew they wouldn’t go shower in 30 minutes. And that was fine. The gross feeling of dried cum on their bodies was for future them to worry about. For now, they were content to just bask in the afterglow and warmth of each other’s presence, eventually succumbing to sleep.  

Tags:  @jisungsjheekies@luminouskalopsia@sauceracha@hanjisungismybaby@kiwibaekie@imbonibi@jiwlys@army-of-carats@peachmilkcloud@letterstoskz@lauraneuuh@babyskz@slinekyu@feedthefandoms995@rejemi@halotopicecream @skzmonster @jumunnaa @serendipityryn @eastleighsblog@hydrawaterdragon@3rachasninja@haileybugulug@luvyev @tamaha-217

“Is that too much Princess?” Minho smirked as he pressed the button on the vibrator once more. You couldn’t control the desperate wanton moan that spilled from your parted lips. Your body was already trembling and you had just begun your play. In your defense, your boyfriends were using a new toy on you. You were used to your old toys, worn with age and use. The intensity of them was going and it took longer and longer for you to reach your orgasm. But this toy, it was completely insane and you simultaneously wanted more and less of it. 

“Princess.”

The tone of Minho’s voice was enough to pull you back to reality, your brain trying to focus on exactly what he had asked you. It’s not that you hadn’t been paying attention, because you had. It was just that the question hadn’t seemed so important when pleasure was enveloping you. Panting softly, you nodded, eyes opening as you stared at Minho. “Y-yes. But it’s so good.” Licking your dry lips, you let your head fall back on the pillows, back arching as Minho shifted the vibrator against your clit.

“Look at you.” Changbin cooed from next to you, one of his hands cupping your breast, teasing your nipple. “So gorgeous, baby girl.” he praised and you beamed at him, your mind a mess of arousal and dopamine. “Are you ready for more?” You were absolutely not ready for more, but you nodded anyway, wanting nothing more than to please your boyfriends. Minho pressed the button again and the intensity rose to its highest settings. 

Your back arched off the bed before bowing as you tried to curl in on yourself, thighs quaking and jerking as the pleasure crashed through you. Strong hands gripped your hips, holding you down and with the way Minho was moving the toy against your clit, it was clear that it was Changbin holding you down and that thought alone only heightened your arousal. You reached down, gripping at Changbin’s biceps - feeling the muscle flexing under your fingertips. “Oh god.” You gasped out, chest heaving as you tried to catch your breath while spiraling down the beautiful abyss of ecstasy. “Please.” You begged.

“Please what, Princess?”

“So close…please.” You begged once more. You were praying that they would let you come, but even if they denied you of your request, you doubt you would be able to stop it. The pleasure was reaching its crescendo and you were powerless to fight it off. There was no verbal confirmation from either of them, but with the way Minho flicked and rubbed the vibrator against you was all the permission you needed. Your heated cries filled the room as your orgasm rolled through you, body tense as you drowned in the pleasure.

“Good girl.” Changbin cooed next to your ear. You panted heavily, whimpering and swatting at the toy still vibrating against your sensitive clit. Minho hummed, but didn’t continue to tease like he normally would. He simply turned the toy off and sat it aside to be cleaned later. As your body relaxed, Changbin pulled you against him, arms secure around your waist as he let you curl against him. “You did so good for us, baby girl.” he praised, peppering gentle kisses against your head. You smiled, snuggling closer to him, feeling safe and content.

“Always good for you.” You muttered.

“Yes, our perfect princess.” 

Tags:  @jisungsjheekies @luminouskalopsia @sauceracha @hanjisungismybaby @kiwibaekie @imbonibi @jiwlys @army-of-carats @peachmilkcloud @letterstoskz @lauraneuuh @babyskz @slinekyu @feedthefandoms995 @rejemi @halotopicecream @skzmonster @jumunnaa @serendipityryn @eastleighsblog @hydrawaterdragon @3rachasninja @haileybugulug @luvyev @tamaha-217

“If you don’t shut up, I’m going home.” Jisung called from his cubicle and you could just picture the way he rolled his eyes, especially at the way Lucy gasped in mock offense. 

“Y/n!”

“What?” You asked, pausing in your excel formatting to look at her. You knew exactly what she wanted but you still thought it better to just humor her than to be assaulted by her annoying voice any longer than you would need to. You had no idea why she continued to think that you had any control of Jisung just because you were dating. He was his own person and if he wanted to sass her, he could. You wouldn’t stop him anyway. 

“Control him!” Lucy squawked, eyes set in a glare. You started her, nodding before turning back towards your desk. 

“Hey babe?” You called. 

“Yes baby?”

“Lucy says I need to control you.” 

There was a moment of silence before Jisung was snorting. “As of. You love me wild.” And indeed you very much did. “So, no.”

“Whelp.” You turned back to Lucy who was already red faced with anger. “I can’t help you.” You told her with a smile and you watched as her anger turned to outright rage. And just as she opened her mouth to say some smart ass remark, you were sure, there was a loud crack of thunder followed by the power going out. 

“Oh! Yes! I’m going home!” It amazed you how fast Lucy went from rage to happiness, skipping her way over to her desk to start packing. “Channie~ will you walk me to my car?” She asked. 

“Uh…well-“ Chan seemed to be at a loss for words and when you turned to look at him, he was looking to you for some sort of help. What did he want you to do? This was all his fault. You tried to warn him at the beginning but he just couldn’t believe that Lucy wasn’t an actual Karen that had her eyes set on him and any other man that remotely looked her way. “I guess.”

You sighed, shaking your head as he gave in. Bless his soul. 

“Yes! Awesome!”

You tuned out her shrieking and focused more on the chatter of the office around you as workers slowly began packing their things to leave, chatting away about how they were thankful to get a break, even if it meant driving in the rain. You were excited too. You had carpooled with your boyfriends, so going home with them to spend the rest of the day in bed was a true blessing. 

Your mind was racing with thoughts of cuddles and kisses when your boss made his entrance.

“Now before everyone runs off,” he started, the sound of the front door bell ringing catching everyone’s attention. 

“Too late, Hyunjin’s gone.” Jisung peeked over the cubicle wall, grinning. “So are we free to go?”

“Yes, well no.” The boss corrected himself quickly before anyone could actually jump for joy. “I need two people to stay back and wait it out.” He said, eyes scanning over the group of you. Out of the corner of your eye, you could see Lucy sneaking away slowly, an evil grin crossing her lips. 

“I vote Y/n.” 

“Splendid idea!” Your eyes widened as the boss agreed with Lucy, who was already hightailing it to the door. If the boss heard the chime again, he didn’t acknowledge it. Instead, his eyes were honing in on Chan, who was looking a bit uncomfortable under his gaze. 

“Christopher.”

“Yes boss?” He was quick to answer, though you were pretty sure you knew what the boss was going to ask. It was writing on the wall at this point. 

“You’ll stay here with Y/n and wait out the storm to make sure the power comes back on.” You raised your brow before snorting. 

“You want us to stay here, without power and wait for it to come back on? What do you expect us to do?” You asked carefully. 

“I don’t know. Inventory or something. Look, you’ll get paid overtime, okay?” Stay in the dead office for who knows how long just to get paid time and half? Surely there would be a reasonable expectation of when you could leave too - probably the end of your shift which unfortunately was at five. You were one of the last people to leave after all. But nearly 6 hours of overtime pay, that sounded really good to you.

“Sure.”

“Okay.”

You looked to Chan who merely shrugged - sentiments returned. 

“Perfect. If you need anything, call. The rest of you are free to go.” The boss announced before taking his leave. The chime of the door sounded as workers started to flow out and you sighed heavily. This was gonna suck but at least you were staying with Chan. The other man was actually a very interesting person to be around. 

“Hey Chan.” You looked up as Jisung rounded the corner of the cubicle and headed over to you. You held open your arms towards him, happily pulling him against you and resting your head on his shoulder. “Think you can take Y/n home after work?” He asked. 

“Uh…” Once more Chan seemed to be at a loss for words, which struck you as odd. Bang Chan was one of the most charismatic coworkers you had the pleasure of working with. He was never short of words to carry a conversation, even in the most awkward of situations. This seemed a little odd for him. “Yeah, but why?” He asked, eyeing the two of you and you swore for a moment you could see a flash of something in his eyes. 

Envy maybe?

“We carpooled into work today and I’m taking my happy ass home.” Jisung chuckled and you pouted, squeezing him until he let out a groan of disproved. 

“Jerk.” You whined. 

“You’re doing God’s work babe.”

“Yeah, whatever.” If you could pout any harder, your lips would fall off. And maybe it was your expression that had Jisung taking pity on you, pecking your lips lightly. 

“Hey, it’s Minho’s turn to cook dinner tonight. Beef Wellington.” Jisung reminded you and you could feel yourself drooling at the thought. Suddenly staying late wasn’t so bad if you got to come home to a delicious home cooked meal. Minho was an amazing chef. 

“Can’t wait. Drive safely, okay?”

“Promise.” Jisung whispered and bumped your noses together cutely, a habit he had started a few weeks after you started dating. You weren’t sure why he did it, but it always made your heart flutter and chest swell with such love for him. Pulling back, you released him. “Well, I’m gonna go see if I can find Minho and go.”

“Okay, bye.” You waved, smiling as Jisung returned it. 

“Bye baby. See you later Chan!”

“See ya, Ji.”

——————

“Sit and wait it out, he said. You’ll get paid over time, he said.” You mocked as you leaned back against the windowsill, comfortable on the little bench shelf that had been placed over it. You were three hours in and after doing inventory with Chan twice, organizing your desk and marking papers in accordance to priority, you had absolutely nothing else to do and you were dying. 

You had already stripped off your shirt, leaving you in just the camisole you wore underneath your uniform. All the doors were propped open to let the cool air from outside in, but even that couldn’t combat the heat the office produced. 

Chan was sitting next to you, and you took a moment to admire him. His head was back against the window, eyes closed. Beads of sweat dotted his forehead and you watched as one began to fall, rolling slowly down his temple to his cheek. You had never been so mesmerized by a water droplet before, but the way it glided over his skin, down to his throat and over his Adams apple, it was just downright sinful. 

Lick it. 

The thought took you off guard because despite harboring a crush on the male, it had never been sexual in anyway. You just kinda pictured a relationship with Chan filled with cute little cafe dates and picnics or cuddles by the fireplace. It was pure and wholesome. So to suddenly have the urge to lick sweat off his neck, well…maybe you had been hanging around Jisung and Minho too long. 

“You’re drooling.” 

Chan’s voice had you taken aback, the sound piercing through the silence that had befallen over you two. You were quick to reach up and pat at your chin, relieved that there wasn’t any actual drool. “I am not.” 

“Should have been.” Chan teased as he finally lifted his head, brown eyes locking with yours. “Don’t you know it’s impolite to stare?”

“Don’t you know it’s impolite to be hot?” You countered with a smirk. 

“Sorry, can’t help it. Powers out.” Chan laughed and you giggled, shaking your head. “Good god it’s fucking hot.” He complained, grabbing the front of his open shirt and fanning himself. 

“Why the hell did we agree to this?”

“Overtime pay.” Chan answered and you had to agree, that’s really the only reason why you went along with your boss’ crazy plan. And honestly, it wasn’t really worth it. 

“Money is not worth this suffering. I could be at home. I could be eating beef Wellington.” Okay you definitely wouldn’t be eating the Beef Wellington because Minho certainly wouldn’t have it ready by now. But it was the thought that mattered. You could have been anywhere else instead of that stuffy hot office. At least there was a nice breeze when the wind blew, even if it blew rain through the front door. 

“Speaking of that.” Chan started and you hummed, turning to look at him, eyes catching another bead of sweat that was slowly making its way down his cheek. God he was a sweaty man. A delicious sweaty man. “I know we kinda talked about it a while back but I’m really curious now. Are you really dating Jisung and Minho?”

Your eyes widened at the question, having not expected the other to ask that of all things. Sure it was a topic you had tried to bring up and explain to Chan during one of your many weekend lunch get-togethers - because ‘date’ just wasn’t the right word to use. It hasn’t really gone well and you had just dropped the whole conversation because maybe you weren’t ready for Chan to know about your little harem that you were slowly growing. Because how do you look someone in the eye and tell them you’re dating three people with a potential of four and you also wanted to date them without sounding crazy. 

“Ah, well-“ you started and looked away, struggling to find the right words to say. The obvious answer was yes but you didn’t want to be so blunt and straight to the fact, and possibly give Chan the vibe that you didn’t want him, or you were trying to get with him just to put another notch in your metaphorical belt, because he wasn’t. 

“Hey, you don’t have to explain it to me if you don’t want to.” His touch was gentle as he rested his hand on your shoulder. Sweet, wonderful Chan - a man who was so kind and understanding, who deserved the whole world because there wasn’t a single mean bone in his body. He was so sweet that despite his own curiosity, he was more than willing to let the question go unanswered for your comfort. Honestly, what had you done in your past life to deserve knowing such a caring man?

“I want to.” You took a moment to gather enough courage to face him again, and when you did, you were met with the most fondness of expressions that you swore your heart was melting. “I just, it’s complicated.”

“I’m sure we can simplify it together.” He offered and you smiled, a soft giggle leaving you. “So…?”

“Yes.” You nodded. “I’m dating Jisung and Minho. But everyone here thinks it’s only Jisung. If they knew it was two men, well I’m sure I’d get really weird looks.”

“I don’t think it’s weird.” Chan said and shrugged. “I mean it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but it’s a real thing, you know?”

‘Thing’

Yes it was a real thing and you lived it every day. Prior to Jisung and Minho confessing to you, the only time you had ever heard about polyamorous relationships were from the smut books you liked to indulge in every once and while. And you weren’t so ignorant or naive to think that polyamorous relationships didn’t exist outside of fiction either. But there was a difference between knowing it and living it. 

“Is it your cup of tea?” You couldn’t help but ask. You hoped he would say yes but you were prepared for him to say no. The answer you got was somewhere in the middle. 

“I don’t know, maybe?” There was a look that crossed his face, his brows furrowing together before relaxing, only to furrow once more and you could only imagine the thoughts racing through his head. “So like, is it a closed relationship?”

You laughed at that, shaking your head. “No and it probably never will be. Minho and Jisung were dating long before I joined and I’m also dating Changbin.”

“The night warehouse guy?” Chan’s eyes widened in shock. 

“Yeah! He’s a sweetheart. Dedicated to his job but he has so many other passions.”

“So, definitely your type huh?” Chan asked and for a moment you could see just the tiniest hint of a frown crossing his lips before his face was schooled once more. 

“Yeah, he is. But I have a lot of types.” You supplied, dropping hints in hopes Chan would catch on, but it seemed to have gone right over his head. 

Chan shifted in his place, one leg crossing over the other. “So is there anyone else you’re dating?”

Innocent, curious but yet you couldn’t help but feel like there was some underlying motivation for the question. “Not officially, but I have been talking to Seungmin lately.” You left it there because Seungmin was an odd character. You really did like him, but any hints you dropped for him went over his head as well. Not to mention, you hadn’t even gotten to the subject of you dating multiple men. He was someone that was up in the air - someone you really wanted to date but if you didn’t, that was fine too. He was a good friend. 

“Wow. I have so many people to compete with.” Okay, so maybe your hint hadn’t gone over Chan’s head. You weren’t sure if Chan had meant to say that out loud or not, but it still pulled a laugh from you. “What?”

“You don’t compete, silly.” 

“Then…how does it work? I mean aren’t they fighting for your attention?” Chan was confused and you found it adorable. Sitting back once more, you stared up at the studio tiled ceiling. 

“They don’t fight. It’s like having a big friendship group. You make time for everyone, you know? Not like a schedule cause that just seems too…calculated.” You explained, making a face at the thought. You had once thought a schedule would work best but it did end up being too clinical, trying to plan out specific days to be with each boyfriend. Communication was the most important part. It was fine if Changbin called up on a Tuesday afternoon wanting you to spend the night but you had already promised to spend time with Minho. He understood that and you would compromise and meet up the next day. Just like it was fine if you randomly had the urge to spend the day curled up in Changbin’s arms. As long as you communicated that with them, things were fine. It also helped that Jisung and Minho demanded to have the details of your time spent with other people - the perverts. 

“I don’t think I understand.” Chan said. 

“Let’s say you wanted to take me out tonight. I have already promised to have dinner with Jisung and Minho and I tell you this. And then we plan for tomorrow. Then I go home and tell them I have a date with you tomorrow.” You said and smiled. “And they’ll probably snicker and demand details and make all the sexual innuendos their little hearts could handle.”

“Oh.” Chan nodded and you could feel his eyes on you, boring holes into you. “And you make time for everyone?”

“Of course.” Turning your head, you flashed him a smile. “I love them. And each one of them brings their own unique personality to the table. I really can’t imagine my life without them now.” You confessed and you could feel your cheeks heating up at how vulnerable you were being with him. There was something about Chan that just gave you a sense of security that the others couldn’t. Not that it was a bad thing on your boyfriend’s part - quite the contrary. Your boyfriends made you feel safe and loved all the time, and you could be vulnerable with them but with Chan it was like you could confess your deepest and darkest secrets and still be met with no judgment. 

“Do you,” he started, gaze moving from you to one of the cubicles. “Do you think you could make time for me?” He asked. 

“Of course.” You answered in a heartbeat because you knew you could. You had so far and maybe to Chan it hadn’t felt like dates or that you wanted to pursue something with him, but you really were interested in dating him as well, had been for a while. “I mean, our lunch dates should have been proof of that.” 

“Dates? Like actual dates? I didn’t think-“ he trailed off and laughed. “Wow, now that I think about it, they were dates weren’t they?”

“I mean, unless you buy flowers for everyone you go have lunch with.” You joked, taking note of the way his ears turned a pretty shade of red. “You really hadn’t thought of it like that?” The color on Chan’s ears changed to a deeper shade of red and you realized that the man was highly embarrassed about this whole situation. Which was rather interesting because you had thought that Chan had at least some interest in you. Maybe he hadn’t been ready for a full blown relationship at the time - lord knows you hadn’t been yet since there was a lot you had to discuss with him before making anything official. But now it seemed the other hadn’t even thought of dating you, which was fair. Not every man needed to be romantically interested in you - having friends was honestly good enough for you. You considered yourself extremely lucky to have the three boyfriends you did and you were perfectly content with them. 

Would you have liked to add another one into the relationship? Of course. But you weren’t going to go out of your way to do it - for many reasons honestly. Regardless, you still couldn’t help but feel some type of way that Chan would bring you flowers on your lunch dates, but hadn’t ever considered them date dates. And yes, he was such a sweet and lovely man, whose heart was so big that he could probably put the entire world inside it. But he had to be an absolute dense idiot to not think that gifts during a get together didn’t come off as a date. 

Chan’s silence stretched on for a rather long and awkward amount of time and eventually you shook your head and laughed. “Oh my god.” You muttered and reached out, covering your eyes for a brief moment before wiping the sweat from your forehead. “And I thought I was the dense one.”

“Hey!” Chan pouted and you looked back at him, a smile dancing across your lips. “I just didn’t think you would be interested in me.” He said slowly. “Like why me, when you have Minho and Jisung…and Changbin apparently.” He tacked on at the end and you snorted.

“You know, I asked the same question to Minho and Jisung when they confessed to me. Why me? What makes me so special?” You started, head turning forward, staring out at the open and empty office. Maybe it was the heat finally getting to you, or maybe you just felt that comfortable with him - whatever it was, you felt the need to have this conversation with him. It would be so easy to just tell him he’s being stupid and confess, or to just drop the whole subject altogether because perhaps he didn’t care for you in the way you cared for him.

But you couldn’t. Because what Chan said resonated inside you with such a strong clarity that it was hard to ignore. He was just like you. Or well, he shared very similar unspoken insecurities. And while you had two amazing men who helped you realize that you could overcome your insecurities, you weren’t sure Chan had someone there to do the same for him. And you wanted to be that person.

“I could go through a long list of reasons as to ‘why you’, but I don’t think it’ll give you the answers you’re really looking for.” You mumbled, voice carrying in the emptiness of the room. “A wise man once said that to me.” You explained. “And another wise man told me that sugar coated words don’t hold meaning, it’s actions that speak loud and clear. So tell me Chan, how loud have my actions been?” You asked, finally turning to look back at him.

“Um…well…” he trailed off and you realized in that moment that maybe your actions hadn’t been as loud as Minho and Jisung’s. Or maybe they had been loud, but lost amongst the noise of his own insecurities and confusion. After all, it wasn’t easy to pine after a person who was supposedly in a relationship, that was just common sense. “Honestly, I don’t know. I always felt like I got such mixed signals with you.”

“And that’s my fault.” You were quick to take accountability on that. Sitting up straight, you crossed your legs on the window seat. Reaching out, you took one of Chan’s hands and held it between your own. You marveled at how big it was and vascular - two attributes that you had taken notice of in the past but never let yourself fixate on for more than a few seconds in fear of drooling like an idiot. “I’ve liked you for so long Chan.” You confessed, heart hammering in your chest. Confessions were so nerve wrecking, whether you were the one confessing or getting confessed to.

“Really?” He asked and you could see the way his eyes sparkled with hope, yet there was a hint of another emotion in those eyes that was slowly overshadowing that hope, dimming the sparkle. 

“Yeah. Ever since we first met honestly.” You couldn’t help but giggle as you thought back to the very beginning, when you first started working in the office. Chan was the first person to introduce himself to you, showed you the ropes and really made you feel comfortable and wanted - a valued coworker. And god was he a handsome man. The attraction had been instant if you really thought about it, but you never really allowed yourself to dwell on it because you were so new there. The ‘what ifs’ had been so great. “I know I wasn’t the best at showing my feelings and I’m still not.” You laughed softly and he followed suit.

“I guess what really confused me was hearing you started dating Jisung. I just sort of gave up hope at that point.”

“I don’t blame you, I probably would have as well.” You shrugged and sighed softly. “And at the time, there was just so much going on in my life that time-“ You trailed off, not wanting to think about that time. It was still too fresh. “But better late than never, right?”

“Right.” Chan nodded. “Otherwise I might just end up with Lucy.” You gasped rather dramatically as your eyes widened in shock. Chan rolled his eyes before laughing. “I’m kidding!”

“Oh my - yeah you better be fucking kidding.” You practically shouted in disbelief. “Dating Lucy. You’re fucking crazy.”

“I know right? But like, imagine.”

“I’d rather not.”

“Why? Jealous?” He asked and wiggled his eyebrows at you.

“Christopher Bang!” You huffed, pouting. “You’re the absolute worst.”

“Yeah, but you love me.” He shrugged and you blushed because you did indeed love him. Though, love was a strong word. Maybe it wasn’t love at the moment, but you could definitely see yourself loving him in the future. 

“I don’t know, maybe you should take me on a date first.”

“I’ve taken you on a date already!” Chan exclaimed and you raised a brow at him.

“Oh, so now they’re dates?” You teased, laughing when his face fell and he floundered for words.

“Y/n” Chan whined, pouting almost cutely at you and you felt your heart starting to melt watching him. 

“Take me on a date first.” You repeated and he nodded eagerly. 

“Are you free this weekend?” Chan asked and you nodded. “So then, how about dinner and a movie on Saturday? I’ll pick you up at 4.”

“Can’t wait.” And you really couldn’t. Because while you were doing this just to tease Chan, you knew in your heart you really did care about him. It was clear now he felt the same way about you too. And if the date on Saturday went well, you were certain the two of you would make things official.

Tags: @sauceracha @jisungsjheekies @luminouskalopsia @hanjisungismybaby @imbonibi @jiwlys @leafsmindpalace @army-of-carats @peachmilkcloud @letterstoskz @lauraneuuh @babyskz @stay-here-dont-stray @meen1ez @slinekyu @feedthefandoms995 @schokoshaker @rejemi @ahhhhhhhhhghh @thsrndkd @halotopicecream @skzmonster @jumunnaa @serendipityryn @yayaistime @bxddiebang @sachifukyo @eastleighsblog @hydrawaterdragon @cyberpunksunwoo @3rachasninja @haileybugulug @luvyev @tamaha-217

And what would make this woman go about talking to not only Jisung but Hyunjin as well, telling them that they should stay away from her? She looked up to Jihyo as not only as someone who had more experience in the industry, but like an older sister - someone she had confided in a few times in the past about her struggles. No matter what she did, she could not come up with a reason as to why Jihyo suddenly hated her.

“Do we know yet how they want to break us up into groups? Or are we keeping the same groups we had yesterday?” It was Momo that spoke first, breaking the silence that had fallen over them. It was a good question, and one that Cherry probably should be more concerned about. There had only been two groups the day before, and while Cherry hadn’t been placed on the team with Hyunjin, she was on the team with Chan and given how Jihyo was out spreading rumors that she liked Chan, it probably wasn’t a good idea to continue being on that team with him. Then again, could it be considered rumors if they were true? She absolutely did like Chan, along with Hyunjin and Jisung. And there was the one time she kissed Felix and not to mention that Changbin had been so sweet to her at the music show recording.

Honestly, every member of Stray Kids had been so kind to her, loving and welcoming, even after she had asked them to tone down their flirting. Which was a good thing now. At least it would allow the others to fly under the radar a bit. Well, everyone except for Jisung. But it wasn’t so much Cherry going after Jisung, but rather Jisung trying to pursue her. And Jihyo would probably spin the tale to show that she was just looking out for Jisung’s best interest. Which is understandable if the situation was being read correctly, which it was not. It never would be because reading the situation correctly would mean outing all of them and under no circumstances did Cherry want to be the cause for Stray Kid’s downfall.

Maybe breaking up was the best option.

But as she glanced over to Hyunjin, seeing his sullen face, eyes puffy and cheeks red, she knew she couldn’t do that to him. She couldn’t do that to them. They had worked so hard to get their relationship to where it was. She couldn’t just let it go; she couldn’t let him go.

Stupid heart

“Not yet. But I would assume we’d be broken up again. The activities seemed like they would need four small groups.” Felix mumbled after swallowing his food. “I’m sure we’ll find out soon.”

“You’re right. Breakfast is delicious though.”

“Even after I burned the bacon?” Jeongin was a little shocked at the praise, but smiled happily nonetheless, especially as the praises were poured forth from the seniors. He considered that the highest honor. Breakfast continued on in silence after that and one by one everyone started to filter out of the room, bringing their plates to the kitchen to be cleaned later before retreating upstairs to finish getting fully ready. Upstairs was lively and loud with people arguing over who got to use the bathroom first, where clothing items had been placed, and all round general conversation.

Cherry expected to make her way back to the room she was sharing with Aria in peace. They had a schedule to keep, so there really wasn’t any use in dilly-dallying. Unfortunately, it seemed the sudden bane of her existence had a different idea. Cherry had just barely gotten the door closed when it opened again and Jihyo, herself, slithered her way inside. Coming face to face with a person who clearly didn’t like her wasn’t on her ‘To Do’ list that morning. It honestly terrified her and worst of all, she had to pretend like she didn’t know what was going on.

“Oh, good morning!” she greeted as cheerfully as she could, a smile plastered on her face, but she didn’t receive one in return. 

“Cherry, we need to talk.” 

Her heart dropped into her stomach, her smile falling as she swallowed. “Oh? Yeah sure. What is it?” Jihyo looked her up and down before slowly approaching and perching herself on the end of Cherry’s bed. 

“It’s come to my attention that there may be a scandal happening.” It felt like her words were cherry picked, but at the same time as blunt as they could possibly be. The use of the word scandal had to have been purposefully chosen, because it certainly struck more fear in Cherry’s heart than she already had. “Between three people.”

“Really?” Trying to act dumb was hard and it took all of Cherry’s willpower to not just break down and start crying. “Do you know who?” “Oh don’t play dumb with me.” Jihyo sighed and rolled her eyes. “You know it’s you and you know it’s between Chan and Hyunjin.” 

“I’m sorry?” Had she meant for it to come out as a question, of course not. But given that it had and the look of confusion that crossed Jihyo’s face, maybe it was a good thing that it had.

“What do you mean? Aren’t you interested in Chan?”

Cherry had two options, to tell the truth or to lie and while she liked to follow the values her parents had instilled in her since childhood, in the end she chose to lie. “No.”

“No? But I saw you cuddling him!”

“When?”

“When we were on our way up here.” Jihyo huffed. “You two were getting so cozy.”

“Oh, that? It’s because I didn’t have a jacket. He offered to help keep me warm. It was only for like five minutes.” Cherry waved her hand with a small chuckle. “Meant nothing. I would do it for anyone who needed it and you know Chan, he’s a very kind hearted person.” Cherry was praying Jihyo would believe her lies, especially as she laid it on thick about Chan being so kind. Which was true. The man would probably run into the middle of a highway and stop traffic just so an army of marching ants wouldn’t be run over. A little dramatic, yes, but that’s just the type of person he was.

“You’re not wrong.” Jihyo said slowly and huffed. “Okay then, so you’re dating Hyunjin.” 

“Again, no.” Cherry laughed. “Are you going to tell me it’s because you’ve seen him with me at the studio?” she asked.

“Well I mean, you two were alone and -”

“Because we were practicing. And there isn’t any rule at the company stating we can’t be alone practicing together. Besides, you know the practice rooms have cameras in them.” Most of them did. There were a select few that either didn’t have cameras or the cameras were placed so poorly that there were a lot of blind spots. She and Hyunjin had figured that out after a while of trying to find the perfect spot to secretly meet up when they were both at the studio. Hopefully Jihyo wasn’t aware of them.

“Oh.” 

And the weight of the whole ordeal was suddenly lifted from Cherry’s shoulders by that one simple word.

“So you’re not like dating any of them? Not leading anyone on?” she asked and shook her head. “I thought for sure…” she trailed off and Cherry sighed.

“If I may speak bluntly, you need to mind your own business.” Cherry said gently. “Because you’ve gone and made up this whole scenario in your head when it wasn’t like that. And I don’t think anyone else would think something was going on between myself and Chan or Hyunjin. I mean if you really stop and think about it, a lot of the female idols and trainees are friends with them and no one bats an eye at it. So I’m not sure why I was singled out for that.”

Jihyo looked offended, but the more Cherry spoke, the more her facial expression morphed in one of remorse. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I just thought-” she stopped herself and shook her head once more. “Nevermind what I thought. I’m sorry Cherry, you’re right, I shouldn’t have assumed something like that.” 

“It’s okay.” Cherry smiled. “But I’m glad we were able to talk about it before any horrible rumors could be spread.” she said, subtly hinting about the way Jihyo had actually been telling Hyunjin and Jisung things that weren’t true. Well, they were true but not in the context the older woman had hoped it would be. “Are we good then?”

“Yeah.” Smiling, Jihyo stood from the bed and closed the distance between them, pulling Cherry into a tight hug and rubbing her back. “We’re perfect.” The hug lasted longer than it probably should, but Cherry didn’t put up a fight, letting it continue until Jihyo finally pulled away. “Alright then, well, do good today.”

“You too.” Cherry smiled at her sweetly and there was something in the way Jihyo’s face softened, almost shifting with an unreadable emotion. “I’ll see you later.”

“Later.” she agreed. There was reluctance in the way Jihyo stepped away and left the room, but once she was alone, Cherry practically collapsed onto her bed. That was one huge fucking bullet dodged. But now she needed to make the time to speak to Hyunjin and Chan about what happened. Or at least corner one of the other members so they could relay the message. Because while it seemed Jihyo was going to back up and not make everything a big deal, something told Cherry that this wasn’t the end of her meddling in her business.

——

Finding time to talk to a Stray Kids member had never been this hard before, but Cherry had never intentionally sought any of them out unless they were inside the company building. At least there she had general knowledge of where they would be - the practice rooms or the studios. But here, in their little pension cabin in the middle of nowhere, it was extremely difficult. 

It was almost like they were avoiding her, which given the situation, was probably accurate and as much as that was probably the right decision, it still hurt her. It hurt so much to see Hyunjin so down, to watch Chan walk away when she would enter a room. The others were usually just a presence in the room, never really approaching her but always there. She knew they were there. But now they were ghosts, gone before she could even begin to look and she felt so utterly alone - defeated. And all she wanted to do was tell them of her encounter with Jihyo and how she had hopefully thrown her off their trail.

“Cherry!” 

Cherry screamed, and she wasn’t exactly proud at how loud and ear piercing it had been, but literally Aria had come out of nowhere and scared shit out of her. 

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” Aria was quick to apologize. Cherry waved her off, one hand clutching her pounding heart as her body tried to return to a normal state after the scare. 

“It’s fine.” Taking a few calming breaths, she was able to regulate her breathing again, finally giving the other young woman her attention. “What is it?” 

“Do you think we could go and talk for a minute…alone?” Aria asked, plucking lightly at her nails as she shifted on her feet. The behavior had Cherry raising a brow because for as long as she knew Aria, the other rarely got anxious. What could possibly be causing her to act like that? Her mind raced with plenty of ideas, most revolving around their schedules and other work related expectations and as leader, Cherry wanted nothing more than to take away whatever burdens Aria was experiencing. 

“Yeah, of course. We can go back to our room.” She suggested, but Aria quickly shook her head. “Not there?”

“Cameras.”

Oh.

So it was something personal or at least, something that Aria didn’t want any staff members to overhear during the editing process of the show. There weren’t many places in the house that were camera free or weren't heavily trafficked by people. Really, there was only one place that Cherry knew for sure didn’t have cameras because it would certainly break all sorts of privacy laws. “Okay, let’s go.” 

The trek to the bathroom was a quick one, and thankfully they hadn’t run into anyone that perhaps would have derailed them from their destination. As the door shut behind them and Aria locked the door, Cherry moved to the toilet and lowered the lid before taking a seat and looking at her youngest member. “Okay, so what did you want to talk about?”

Aria was silent as she leaned against the door. She refused to meet Cherry’s eyes and that worried Cherry even more than why they needed to talk. Just looking at her face, Cherry could tell Aria was having a hard time deciding if she wanted to talk or not and that put Cherry on edge. “Aria?”

“Are you really dating Hyunjin?”

Cherry’s eyes widened because that was the last thing she expected the other to say. And why? Cherry had thought she had been so careful hiding things from her group. Never visited anyone of all three of them were at the company together. They went on their dates when she knew Kaylyn and Aria were off at their lessons. She never overly talked about Hyunjin or Stray Kids in general that would even insinuate she was dating one of them. With Jihyo it had been a fluke - out of her control because she didn’t have the insight knowledge to know when the older woman would be stalking the halls of the company. And she was pretty sure Jihyo hadn’t said anything to anyone else but Hyunjin and Jisung. So how did she know?

“W-What are you-“

“Please.” Aria’s begging interrupted her. “Don’t lie to me. I heard you and Jisung last night. I thought maybe I was dreaming but this morning you all were acting so weird.”

“Fuck.” Cherry cursed. “Were we really that bad?”

“No, I mean, not if you didn’t know something was wrong. But I did and I saw and just, it’s true then?” Aria could barely form complete and coherent questions, just needing an answer. One Cherry was so afraid to give her but it was too late to lie.

“Yes.” She breathed out and Aria gasped, a bit over dramatic but Cherry wouldn’t fault her for that. 

“How? When? Does the company know? Wait, no of course they don’t. We’re still on our dating bans.” Aria started rambling, reminding Cherry of the danger she and Hyunjin were in. Even if she had managed to convince Jihyo they weren’t dating, there was still the fact that they were indeed dating and if Jihyo had noticed, it was only a matter of time before others might as well. And to break one of the contractual obligations she had would be grounds for immediate termination. It was there in black and white and that terrified Cherry. But she couldn’t help but to fall in love with Hyunjin, to want to be with him. 

“I know we are.” Cherry nodded sadly. “It’s been…five months now.” She revealed as she sat back and crossed her arms. “I never meant for it to happen, it just did. I-“ she paused as she stared ahead at the wall in front of her before dragging her gaze back to Aria. “I love him so much.” She confessed. 

“Oh Cherry.” Aria whispered and finally she pushed off the door and moved over to the older woman, kneeling down next to her. “Are you sure you want to risk this?” She asked, her eyes boring holes into Cherry, searching. 

“Yeah.” Cherry nodded weakly before bowing her head. “I am. But I don’t know what to do.” Her voice wavered with every word she spoke. 

“No, no, no. Don’t cry.” Arabia whispered and reached a crossed Cherry’s lap, tearing off some toilet paper and holding it up to Cherry. “It’s gonna be okay. We’re gonna figure this out.”

“We?”

“Yeah. Your secret is safe with me. And if he makes you that happy and you really love him, then I want to help make sure you can still be with him.”

Cherry was in utter shock at how sincere Aria was with her words. It was more kindness than Cherry thought she deserved but to have that support, it meant so much to her. She didn’t feel so alone anymore. “Thank you, so much.”

“You’re welcome. Now, I didn’t catch everything you guys talked about last night, so fill me?” Aria asked hopefully. And with a deep sigh, Cherry began the tail of the drama her life had suddenly been thrown into. 

Tags: @changbinsrightboob@eastleighsblog@hydrawaterdragon@3rachasninja@haileybugulug@luvyev @tamaha-217

So the request of the pack discovering the reader was a little vague and at first I wasn't sure where I wanted to take it or even how to start it. But eventually I spewed forth some words. I want to apologize beforehand if it's not the direction you wanted to see the part 2 going, but given that the reader does eventually go back to the pack after being kicked out in Lose Control, I thought about spicing it up a bit. I really hope you like! 💜

Warnings: Dark and depressing, thoughts of death. If this is triggering to you, please skip!

You continued to exist, much to your dismay. 

The sun rose another day, and once more you found yourself still on the grimy floor, surrounded by the people you had dared to call friends. And even then you used the word loosely. One of them had a tendency to steal what little food you managed to find and another was constantly leering at you. More than once you had to fight off his advances, though you weren’t sure how much longer you could keep doing it. Just another reason to not want to wake up anymore.

But the universe seemed to love fucking with you and like clockwork, you woke up to watch as the group dispersed for the day - off doing who knows, not that you really cared. You assumed to find food or earn what little change they could get off of people. What a horrible existence to live, but it was their reality. It was your reality. 

Your body ached as you climbed to your feet, dusting yourself off, not that it helped your appearance any. Your clothes were worn with age, sporting a few rips and tears in various places, but you only had so many outfits to cycle though. It also wasn’t like you had the luxury of washing them or hanging them up in a closet. No, they got stuffed into one of the two bags you had and about every week you would make a trip to a nearby fountain to wash them. Always at night, so you wouldn’t get caught by the police. Today you didn’t really have a plan, but you knew just laying around wasn’t going to make you feel any better. Not like walking around the city made you feel any better either, but at least you had a change of scenery. Gathering your belongings, you shoulder your two bags - because you certainly weren’t going to leave them behind to be stolen - and started walking.

By noon you had made it to the heart of the city, taking a seat on one of the public benches to just watch as people passed by. It fascinated you, how they could just go about their lives, never sparing you a second glance. Why would they? They had places to go, people to meet. Things to do and a home to return to; everything you wished you still had. It was crazy to think how quickly you lost not one, but two homes for things that weren’t your fault. How could you control the fact you were a shifter living in a hunter village? And you certainly didn’t try to kill Jisung!

Jisung…

There wasn’t a day that went by that you didn’t think of him, wondering if he was still alive. A part of you really hoped he was, that the pack got him help in time. But another part of you wasn’t so sure. Why else would Minho have threatened you the way he had if Jisung’s survival was at the very least a 50% possibility. No… you were almost certain he hadn’t survived and that thought made your heart break even more. 

You weren’t sure how long you sat on the bench, it felt like hours but it could have only been a couple of minutes, when an all too familiar scent filled your nose. Familiar in a way that you knew you had smelled it before, but it took your brain a hot second to actually pinpoint what the scent was and who it belonged to. Eucalyptus and Mint. You darted up, eyes scanning the crowds as fear coursed through your veins. Why was Minho nearby? Was he there to make good on his threat? As much as you had been longing for death's kiss, you didn’t want to experience it at his hand because you were certain it would be slow and very painful. When you finally spotted him, to your horror, your eyes locked and you could see the look of recognition cross his face. 

In a split second decision, you took off running, leaving your belongings behind in your haste. You had no idea where you were going, but all you knew was that you needed to run. You needed to get out of there and find a place to hide. There were plenty of options, the city was littered with deserted little alleyways you could duck into, and you did just that, taking refuge behind a large blue dumpster. You were used to the ick and the grime at this point, so kneeling in a puddle of dirty water didn’t disgust you as much as it probably should have. You were pretty sure you could make out little tiny floating carcasses of bugs. Hidden away, you listened and waited. Footsteps came closer before retreating as person after person walked past the opening. You waited with baited breath, but no one so much as even faltered in their steps. You did it, you had escaped. Letting out a breath, you slowly relaxed, leaving heavily against the dumpster with your forehead pressed against the cold metal. “I should probably just leave the city,” you found yourself muttering. The thought had crossed your mind a few times, but you never gave it any serious thought until now. It was inevitable you would have eventually run into one of them and if it had been anyone else, you probably wouldn’t have panicked like you had. But it was Minho - an alpha that you knew had a vendetta against you. Your mind went down the path to Jisung again and his death, bringing tears to your eyes once again.

“Fuck.”

“Y/n.”

You jumped back, flinging yourself from the dumpster and up against the stoned wall of the building beside you. You hadn’t heard Minho approach, hadn’t even smelled him - granted you couldn’t really smell much of anything but the rotting garbage. “Please.” Your voice trembled as fear seized your heart. “I didn’t do it. I didn’t…please don’t kill me.” You begged, because there was no other reason for him to be there but to take your life. 

He frowned, brows drawn tightly together as he looked you over. He didn’t seem ready to kill you, nor did you detect any murderous glint in his eyes. Odd. Was he not there to get his revenge?

“Why would I kill you?” 

“Because….Jisung?” That was about as coherent of a sentence that you could possibly come up with. 

“Jisung? Why would I kill you because of Ji-” You were pretty sure you saw the figurative lightbulb going off above Minho’s face quickly morphed to one of sadness, features softening. “Jisung’s fine. Y/n, I’m so sorry I said that. I never-” he stopped himself but you got the idea of what he was going to say. 

“He’s alive? So then he told you the truth, right?” Surely the other had cleared your name once he learned what happened.

“Yeah. We are so sorry we did that to you.” Minho apologized. “But you have to understand, he had the locket and you weren’t around so we just assumed.”

Just assumed. They just assumed you would attack someone you loved and cared about. Someone you had such a strong connection with because why? They knew about your past, about being disowned by your village. You couldn’t understand their thought process. Not at all. 

“But I don’t.” you whispered. “I don’t understand. Why would you think I would hurt him? I love him!” Your confession seemed to shock Minho but why? Was it not obvious how much you loved Jisung? How much you loved all of them? “And you just kicked me out! Why should I understand?!”

“I-I-” Minho seemed to fumble for his words, lost on what he should say or do. And that emboldened you. The fear you once felt vanished. 

“I have nothing! You left me to fend for myself - to survive for months with nowhere to leave, or money to buy food! All because you assumed that I was the one who attacked Jisung, and you were wrong! None of you even gave me the chance to explain, so why should I give you the same courtesy and just ‘understand’.” You spat at him. He took a few steps back, stunned by your outburst. 

“Y/n please, we didn’t…we’re sorry and we just want you to come home.” You had to say, begging was actually a good look on the once cool and collected alpha. And you gave pause to the request because you wanted to go back. You wanted so desperately to be back with the pack. But why? When it was clear how quickly they would turn on you when one of their own was hurt in some way. They didn’t love you. They didn’t care about you. You weren’t a part of their pack, you never were. If anyone had been lying, it had been them all along.

“No.” You whispered and looked away. 

“Y/-”

“I said, no. I won’t go back. Please, just leave me alone.” It killed you to say that, but for months you had survived on your own, you could continue to survive on your own. You didn’t need them. You didn’t need anyone. You held steadfast in your decision and eventually Minho retreated, steps long and slow as if waiting for you to change your mind. You wouldn’t. And eventually he was gone and you were alone once more. 

But better to be alone than with liars.

Maybe existing wasn’t such a bad thing.

“Soulmates… those don’t exist.” The professor was quick to shut down Changbin’s question - the excitement draining from his face. 

“But I heard-“

“What you ‘heard’ was a story, Mr. Seo. Fantasy. Fiction. An idea made up from someone’s delusional thinking. I will have none of that talk in my class.” The answer was final and Changbin didn’t dare argue with their history professor. He was older, wiser and certified to teach the history of magic - of course he would know if soulmates existed or not. Felix had been optimistic when he told Changbin the story, but Mr. Nim had been certain. So clearly he was the person in the right, the one to be believed. So why did Changbin feel like he was being lied to? Maybe it was in the way Mr. Nim had shut him down so quickly. Or was it the flicker of fear that flashed in his eyes for one brief moment - so quick that Changbin would have missed it if he blinked? Whatever the reason, his gut was telling him something wasn’t right and he had learned many years ago to trust his gut. 

[middle to late scene, somewhere]

*Flashback*

“You’re crazy.” His sister snapped finally, pausing in her packing. Setting her keys down on the table, she stared at her brother, his face hardened with a determination he only could have inherited from their mother. “Changbin, the world isn’t as black and white as you think it is.” she started. “To go off and start learning magic now, after what happened.”

“Magic didn’t kill them though.” Changbin grunted, crossing his arms over his chest. 

“It didn’t save them either.” She retorted and almost instantly regretted her words at the sight of how heartbroken and defeated her brother appeared. Closing the distance between them, she pulled him into a hug, bearing his near entire weight as he clung to her. “Doing this won’t bring them back. At least right now, we have some peace.”

“I know it won’t but…something is telling me to do this. That this is the correct step forward.” he whispered.

She was silent for a moment, thinking over his words and the implications behind them. So much could go wrong, but so much could go right. Changbin was an adult now and while she appreciated him telling her his goals and desires, he didn’t have to. He could make his own decisions and she had a feeling he already had. That this whole conversation was only taking place because he wanted her approval, not that he needed it.

She understood.

“Always follow your gut. It’ll never steer you wrong.”

Those had been her last words to him. The approval from his last living relative had meant everything to Changbin and it turned out to be the only thing he had left to remember her by. The accident had happened an hour later and Changbin always blamed himself for it. If he hadn’t chosen that moment to confront her about wanting to attend magic school, or hadn’t pushed to get her to approve, she would have left on time rather than be running late. She wouldn’t have been at the intersection when the truck ran the red light. She wouldn’t be gone. It was all his fault and pain and guilt haunted him everyday.

[so this is true middle scene, fun times!]

“This is it.” Felix whispered, the tome resting delicately in his hands. It was leather bound - genuine no doubt - dyed a gorgeous royal purple. Embossed in gold was the Celestial crest - a crescent moon surrounded by stars overlaid on top of the triquetra, which represented the three founding figures of the Magical Institute of Academia (MIA for short). It was perfectly centered, stunningly gorgeous. 

“How do you know this is the book?” Seungmin questioned as he snatched the tome from Felix’s grasp and looked it over. While beautiful bound - the pages even had golden gilded edges - it appeared to be nothing special. In fact, it looked like one of the many other books in the headmaster’s office.

“Because the headmaster nearly had a heart attack when I discovered it in the library at the start of the semester.” Felix explained. “He took it and wouldn’t exactly say why I couldn’t read it, just that it wasn’t ‘appropriate’.” he mocked as he rolled his eyes.

“So, what you’re saying is that you don’t know if it contains information about soulmates then.” Changbin deadpanned. He had put so much faith in Felix and combined with Mr. Nim’s reaction the other day, he was sure this book held the contents of his curiosity.

“Well, I mean, it holds something secretive in it.” 

Apparently his faith had been misplaced.

“For all we know it’s just the book he hides his alcohol in.” Seungmin scoffed, passing the book to Changbin, who eagerly took it. For how thick it was, it didn’t really weigh much, lending credence to Seungmin’s suggestion. Maybe it really was hollowed out in the center. Before he could even check, their secret gathering was interrupted by the sudden sound of keys jingling. 

“Oh shit!”

“Hide!” 

As if they needed to be told twice. The three scattered, searching for cover and barely concealing themselves in time for the door to be opened. The light in the room was turned on, but nothing else followed. No footsteps or soft breathing - anything to indicate another person had entered the room. Time seemed to have stood still and the three waited with baited breaths. No sooner had the lights turned on where they turned back off and the door was locked again. This time the footsteps were audible, slowly fading as the person walked away. Another minute went by, just to make sure the coast was clear before the three crawled out from their places.

“That was close.”

“I’ll say. Good job Felix, almost got us caught.” Seungmin scolded lightly. In retaliation, Felix swatted at him.

“Shut up. How was I supposed to know someone might come around?”

“You could have.” Changbin defended.

“Thank you hyung! See? At least Changbin hyung likes me!” Felix and Seungmin started their usual childish banter of who was right and wrong, which on a normal day would have been funny, but it wasn’t the least bit amusing at the moment.

“Alright, stop you two. Let’s get out of here before that person comes back.” A brilliant idea and one the two quickly agreed upon. As they snuck their way out, Changbin had half a mind to leave the book there, but thought better of it. After all, if the headmaster didn’t trust Felix of all people to read the text inside, then it must be something worth investigating. 

They managed to sneak back to their dorms without incident and Changbin hid the book under his pillow to read through later.

This year they decided to go on a Casino cruise and provided a free $70 to each staff member. It seemed like a great idea and you were all for it up until you got on the shuttle bus that carried everyone to the ports. That was a 45 minute ride of hell that you didn't want to have to relive, but you knew you would once the ship got back to port 6 hours later. It was made bearable because your boyfriends had been there with you - Minho and Jisung fighting over who got to sit next to you while Changbin sat in the seat directly behind you. In the end Minho won and Jisung sulked into the empty seat next to Changbin. Chan had sat in the row in front of you and attempted to make small talk - the two of you were still trying to figure out the type of relationship you wanted to have - but of course Lucy had to be her Karen self and sit next to him, doing her best to steal his attention the whole ride over there.

It was still hard to believe that after everything that happened, she was still trying to play the innocent pick-me girl, but what could you do? You've on many occasions embarrassed the shit out of her by calling her out and even that didn't stop her. She was just an unbearable nuisance at this point and you had come to terms with that. As long as she didn't try and ruin your night, you would be okay. 

And so far she had kept mostly to herself, clinging to Chan the entire time and bless his soul, he was such a sweet, kind and patient man. He deserved anyone but Lucy. The group made their way onto the ship, greeted by workers who cheered you all on in the most ridiculous way that just put you off for some reason. You couldn't pinpoint what it was, but whatever the reason, you just didn't find it amusing. You shuffled your way to the side, staring at the rows and rows of slot machines. If you remembered correctly, you were probably on deck 3 which was supposed to be the Slot Machine Atrium. In the middle of the desk there was an opening that showed deck 2 which consisted of tables. What games did they hold, you could only imagine it was card games and definitely not something that interested you.

Never in your life had you gambled before and this was the first time you had ever been in a casino, but you knew of the subject and that slot machines seemed like the easier games to play. Less of a risk and a lot less brain power to be used. 

"So where do we go now?" Your boss asked once the majority of you all gathered around. You spared a glance at your coworkers before shrugging. 

"Well, I'm not sure. We can't gamble until we're 3 miles off shore. So I suppose we go and eat." Karen suggested, and that sounded like a solid plan. After all, she was the one who had planned this entire trip, so she would be the one to know what the itinerary was and how things were going to go. But something told you that wasn't the case and eating was probably just the logical choice in the matter considering it was well after 6pm and most of you hadn't eaten before leaving on the shuttle.

"What deck is food on?" Someone asked, you thought it was someone from the IT department, but you could have been wrong. You didn't really know half the people there.

"Deck 1." Jisung said as he slid next to you and took your hand. You gave it a squeeze unconsciously, eyes still roaming over everything laid out in front you, feeling slightly overwhelmed by everything. The unknown was the worst, it always gave you anxiety. And even though you knew life was full of unknowns, it was things like this that hit you the hardest and had a tendency to send you into an anxiety attack. You had mentioned this in passing to Jisung and Minho before and while they didn't outright baby you and try to coddle you from the world, they did things to try and help ease the emotions you were feeling. Holding your hand like this was one of them. Then again, Jisung also loved PDA so he could just be in search of physical contact.

"Alright, let's all head down to deck 1 and get some food." Your boss herded everyone towards the stairs and elevators. You were sure that if you were a stranger watching, you all looked like a herd of cattle and you felt like it. Some of the people decided to wait for the elevator, chatting happily to themselves. The rest of the people, yourself included, took the stairs down to the lower decks.

"This is exciting." Jisung commented, head turning quickly before he pulled you off to the left from the stairs. You barely had the chance to catch the sign that pointed in the direction of the cafe. 

"I don't think exciting is the right word." You laughed softly, humming softly to yourself as the two of you joined the long queue of people. You assumed you were in the correct line, but there wasn't much guidance set out by the cruise staff, so who knows. 

"Overwhelming then?" Minho spoke up as he joined the two of you, hand stroking over your head gently as he moved around to stand next to Jisung, acting as a block from the people passing by. 

"Yeah, probably." You agreed as you turned and leaned back against the wall. You watched as the crew and staff walked back and forth, entering and exiting through an open door a few feet in front of you. It led to a lower deck ramp and you wondered why it was open, but it really didn't matter. Though the thought of just walking out and leaving did cross your mind. But you couldn't do that. That would be six hours left at port while you waited for them to come back. That was a long time to be alone and while you had a battery charger, you doubted you would be able to keep yourself occupied for that long. 

"You okay?" You jumped at the hand sliding up your arm and you turned to stare at Changbin, his brows furrowed as he stared down at you. 

You smiled. "I'm fine. Just not used to being around so many people." 

He snorted and shook his head. "Who would have thought that our cute little Y/n was such an introvert." he teased.

"Me! Hi, yes it's me. I knew she was." Jisung raised his hand quickly and you laughed. "Though you wouldn't think it when she's at work."

"Right?" Minho grinned. "She's as loud as Hyunjin is."

"I heard that!" Hyunjin called from somewhere further back. You tried to spot him, but couldn't see over the multitude of people standing behind you. Poor guy. But you were sure he was hanging out with one of his work besties. 

"You guys are silly." Sighing softly, you looked at three and perhaps this trip wasn't going to be so horrible. If you just stuck with them, you were sure to have a great time.

-----

You were absolutely not having a great time. It was only about thirty minutes into the trip and the boat was rocking nonstop. You had Googled a cruise a week before and read up on what you needed to know about them. In your research it mentioned that many people got sea sick and that taking medication beforehand would help. You weren't a person who got motion sick or altitude sick, so you figured you wouldn't get sea sick either. Boy were you wrong. As the left side of the ship would dip down and your body was forced forward, another wave of nausea washed over you. Not enough to make you actually lose any and all food you had eaten that day, but enough to make you feel extremely uncomfortable and tired. 

You really tried to have fun - you gave your best effort. But after losing Jisung and Minho in a crowd of people and Changbin wandering off to go play Black Jack, you were left to your own devices and not even the pretty flashing lights of the slot machines could distract you from how queasy you felt. And moving - oh god moving was the worst. It took more energy to climb up one small step then it would have taken to run a marathon. You were panting by the time you made it to the stairs and in a lapse of judgment, you decided to climb them. 

How you managed to get to the fourth floor, you weren't sure. But by some miracle you had and you forced your way outside. The wind bit at your skin - cold and unforgiving. Your arms wound around yourself, trying to keep warm and you mentally cursed Minho for even suggesting that you wear the black lace top. The outside bar was packed with people drinking and watching whatever sports game was playing - another way to gamble you had found out. You weren't in the mood to be around a rowdy crowd, so instead you walked along the side of the ship, where it was darker and quieter. The sound of the waves crashing against the boat were crystal clear and for a moment you felt at ease. It was peaceful. But in a split second it was all tossed away as the ship gave a deep dip and you were reminded of how much you hated cruise ships now. 

"Oh my god."

"Y/n, are you alright?"

You groaned softly as the soft voice echoed in your head, fingers coming up to brush against the necklace resting against your skin. "I'm fine Jeongin."

"You don't sound fine."

You really hate the ghostly man for being so intune. You still weren't over the fact that Jeongin was a ghost attached to the necklace, but he was great company most of the time. Though today, you really didn't want his company. Even though he wasn't physically manifesting, you knew he was there, could feel his presence around you and bless his soul he was just not someone you wanted to deal with.

"Really, I'm fine. I just need to be alone for a while." You hoped he would catch onto what you meant by that. When you didn't get an immediate response, you assumed he had, and despite not wanting to talk to him, you felt bad for shooing him away like that. "Sorry Jeongin. We can talk later when we get home." You assured him. There was a small static charge that danced across your neck and you smiled, knowing Jeongin had heard you and understood. Thank goodness.

"Now if only I didn't feel so sick."

"Sea sick?" 

You jumped, eyes wide as you stared at the man across from you. You hadn't heard or felt his presence at all and you worried if maybe he had heard you talking to Jeongin. You hoped not, because the guy would probably think you were crazy. 

"Uh, yeah." You nodded slowly, staring at the man. There was something about him that reeked of familiarity. You were sure you knew him from somewhere, but you couldn't place your finger on it. "I'm sorry, have we met before?" You found yourself asking before you could stop yourself. He cocked his head, looking you over before nodding slightly.

"I think so. Y/n, right?"

"Y-yeah."

"Seungmin." Your eyes widened at the name and the memories of the cute intern came flashing back to you, along with the horrible memories of the company picnic where Lucy had purposefully given you the runs and ruined any chance you had to try and date Seungmin.

"Oh my god, hi!" You said quickly. "It's been such a long time. How have you been?" He smiled and heart skipped a beat. God he was beautiful. 

"I've been good." He shifted on his feet and leaned back against the railing. "It has been a while. How is everything at the office?"

"Oh you know, same old, same old." You forced out, trying your best to stay cheerful even though it felt like you were dying.

"Lucy is still there?"

"Unfortunately." You muttered with a roll of the eyes.

Seungmin laughed and nodded. "She is unbearable. One of the reasons I decided to leave honestly. A shame though, I missed hanging out with you and Jisung. You two always made my day."

"Really?" That was shocking. In the time you had known Seungmin, you hadn't thought you had made that much of an impression on him. Though Seungmin was a bit of a hard person to read and constantly had a poker face on unless he was also in the mood to play around. Those times had been few and far between but when you had seen them, they had you swooning. "I missed you too. What are you doing here anyway?"

"I came as Hyunjin's plus one."

"You did?" Your brows furrowed as you wracked your brain for any memory of Seungmin being on the shuttle bus, but you couldn't recall seeing him at all. If Hyunjin had invited him, how come you hadn't seen him earlier. "You weren't on the bus."

"Oh yeah, I drove here. I live about twenty minutes from the port, so I decided to drive here instead." He explained. That would explain it. "I thought it would be a fun time and I would get to see everyone again. Instead, Hyunjin ran off somewhere, half the people I've seen don't remember me and I'm kinda bored."

"Oh." How bland of a response but you couldn't think of anything else to say to that. "I'm sorry. I'm probably not any more fun. I am definitely sea sick and struggling not to toss myself overboard." It was mainly a joke. 

"I'm sorry, Y/n. I have some dramamine if you want to take it." You nodded your head quickly and Seungmin reached into his coat pocket, pulling out the bottle. "Here, take this and I'll be back with a drink for you." 

"Thanks." You took the bottle and read over the instructions. It was a chewable tab, so you weren't sure why you needed a drink, but Seungmin was already gone so you couldn't really question him. You poured out a pill and popped it into your mouth, chewing it quickly and regretting it instantly as the chalkly, gritty texture coated your mouth, barely masked by an equally disgusting cherry flavor. It wasn't even the good cherry flavor that some medication had. It was the horrible flavor that just enhanced your nausea. By the time you had most of it swallowed, Seungmin reappeared and handed you a drink. You took a few sips, relieved as the cola coated your mouth and washed down the rest of the pill. It also helped ease your stomach as well.

"Better?"

"That was disgusting." You whined and Seungmin laughed.

"Yeah, it's not the greatest, but give it like 15 minutes and you should start feeling better."

"Thank you." you sighed and leaned back against the bench you were sitting on.

"No problem." Seungmin moved and took a seat next to you then, gaze never leaving you. "Do you mind if I keep you company?"

"I can't promise I'll be entertaining." You warned with a weak smile.

"That's okay." Seungmin nodded. "I just kinda want to be around a familiar person." You smiled at that. "I saw this TikTok earlier-" You watched as he pulled out his phone and brought up the app and one TikTok turned into two, turned into ten and you found yourself leaning against him as the two of you scrolled through his For You Page - your laughter echoing every now and then.

----

The Dramamine didn’t work sadly. You felt only slightly better, not every work of the ship was forcing your lunch up. But you were still very much sea sick. And bless Seungmin’s heart for putting up with you. Watching the TikToks had definitely helped keep your mind off of everything. For some reason Seungmin had magical 5G connection while your phone struggled to unlock itself. 

As 1 am approached, with Seungmin’s help, you made it back down to level 2, where your party should have been gathered given the colored wristbands you were all given at the start of the cruise. “You really don’t have to walk me.” You tried to protest, but Seungmin just raised a brow. 

“We’re going to the same place.”

Touché. 

“I feel bad.” You whined.

“Are you gonna be sick?”

You stared at him, blinking before shaking your head quickly. “No, I mean I feel bad that you’re taking care of me.” You corrected yourself. Seungmin laughed at that and you pouted. You didn’t see what was so funny. There you were, clinging to him and stumbling with almost every step you took. And darling Seungmin had his arm around your waist to keep you steady as he assured you down the stairs. He was unbelievably well mannered and handsome and he smelled good too. 

“Don’t be. You’re very entertaining.” You blanched at the comment, ready to take back all the sweet things you had just thought about the other. The ship tilted and dipped and you stumbled forward into Seungmin, a groan leaving you as your stomach dipped as well. “I got you.”

“Thank god.” You muttered, resting your head on his shoulder. You took a few shuddering breaths, eyes closed tightly as you fought through each wave of nausea. “Give me a second.”

“Take all the time you need.” Seungmin whispered as he rubbed your back gently. And once more you were thanking every deity that for bringing the other into your life that night. You stood there for a few minutes and when the rocking slowed, you finally pulled back from him. 

“Okay, I think I’m good.”

“Are you sure?”

“No.” You whined, sighing heavily. “But we gotta find the group.” 

“Yeah, I think I can see Hyunjin from here.” Seungmin was looking behind you and you turned. Sure enough, from where you stood, you could make out Hyunjin and his laugh by the card tables. Taking Seungmin’s hand, you started walking, legs a little unstable still, but you managed to make your way to the large group.

“Well look what the cat drug in.” Lucy commented with a roll of her eyes. “You look like shit.”

“Thanks, feel like it too.” You glared half heartedly at her, not really having the energy to fight. Lucy was lucky. 

“Oh Seungmin, there you are! I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” Hyunjin grinned. “Did you have fun?”

“A blast.” Seungmin deadpanned. “Thanks for leaving me.”

“I’m sorry! I wanted a drink and then a few of the guys dragged me off to play black Jack.” Hyunjin rambled and Seungmin waved his hand. 

“It’s fine. I found Y/n and we’ve been hanging out.” Seungmin told him and you smiled slightly. 

“Oh, sounds like a boring time.” Lucy interjected. “I’m sure all she could talk about was her boyfriend.” She spat and you really, really wanted to punch her. Why couldn’t she ever just mind her own damn business? “Next time, I’ll spend time with you Seungmin! We’ll have so much fun together!”

Ah! And there it was. 

“Ughh, I can’t stand her.”

Jeongin’s voice had you jerking slightly, Seungmin grabbing you and stealing you. “Are you okay?” He asked. 

“Fine, fine. Just residual nausea.” You assured him. You could hear Jeongin cackling and boy was that ghost gonna get an earful when you got home. The jerk. 

“Baby! There you are!” You turned as Jisung pushed his way past a few people, Minho in tow and you smiled. “Oh! Seungmin! I didn’t know you were here, great to see ya man.” Jisung greeted. 

“Nice to see you too.” Seungmin said slowly as he looked from Jisung to you and back again. “I think this is yours then?” He asked as he carefully pushed you forward to Jisung. You went easily, falling into his open arms and snuggling against him. It was the only thing keeping you from attacking Lucy at the moment. 

“What the hell happened to you?” Looking up, you stared at Minho before groaning. 

“Sea sick.”

“Aww.” Jisung cooed and stroked your head. “Thanks Seungmin, for looking after her.” He said. “Between you and me, she could be yours too.” He teased and threw a wink. You grunted and smacked at his chest. The last thing you needed was for Jisung to scare Seungmin off. Sure you once had a crush on him when he was interning, but that had been so long ago. Besides, you hardly knew Seungmin and after tonight, you highly doubted he would want anything to do with you again. 

“All pink wristbands may now disembark the ship.” 

The announcement was made and you started down at your wristband with glee. Thank god for that because you were sure things were going to get really awkward. Pulling away from Jisung, you bid farewell to Seungmin before making a mad dash for the exit. You had never been so thankful to be on dry land your entire life and you vowed to never get on another cruise ship. 

The walk back to the bus was a long and tiring one, the drive back to the drop off location even longer. But eventually everyone made it back and after saying multiple goodbyes, you got into your car and headed back to your apartment for a long nights and partial days sleep. You fucking deserved it. 

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