What’s Going On?

When your friend called Hweseung asking him to pick you up she had omitted the fact that you had drunk way beyond your tolerance. He absolutely doesn't mind you having all the fun you want on a Friday night, but he is seriously concerned about keeping your head intact and the massive hangover you will have tomorrow.

When you realize that escaping the man's hold is impossible after a few seconds of struggling, you simply give up and crash into his chest. Hweseung lets out a sigh mixed with fondness and exasperation.

"Don't tell my boyfriend about this. He'll misunderstand," you slur. You're nuzzling your forehead against his sweater despite your words. You seem tired. Hweseung might have to carry you to the car.

"Does your boyfriend get jealous easily?"

You shake your head, voice muffled by soft wool.

"Not… jealous. Protective. He knows whenever I'm… uncomfortable," you smile, looking up at Hweseung. He thinks for a second that maybe you've finally recognized the person you're talking about is the same person holding you, but he's soon proved wrong when you furrow your brows and try to squirm away again.

"Are you uncomfortable cause I'm holding you? You'll fall on your face if I let go," Hweseung says quietly, but with just enough concern in his voice for your brain to try to hold your own weight again. You don't manage it well and give up once again, somehow hugging him even closer than you had before.

"You're… comfy. I won't let go," you whisper. Hweseung chuckles softly.

"Do you recognize me?" he asks.

You pull back, your eyes drawing up to his face. You stare blankly for a moment, then you frown and cup his cheeks, rubbing them softly.

"Squishy."

Your boyfriend thinks you're quite lucky that you're cute while drunk, but his job would definitely be easier if you were a bit more in control of your actions.

"Y/n, you're very drunk. We need to go home so you can sleep," he suggests, rubbing your back. Your face falls at the suggestion and you cling to him closer.

"No," you whine. "Hug me."

"I am hugging you."

"Hug more."

Hweseung complies, squeezing you tightly until you laugh gleefully. His expectations of getting you to the car after the hug are shattered quickly, though. You won't budge unless he hugs you, which soon turns into pleas for kisses. He doesn't mind the taste of alcohol on your lips, but in the back of his head he still wonders whether you've actually recognized him or not. Surely you wouldn't ask a stranger to kiss you? If you remember this tomorrow will you think you accidentally cheated on him… with him?

After nearly twenty minutes of convincing and many, many kisses, your head hurts enough for you to not protest when Hweseung lead you to the car. He buckles your seat belt and pats your head—to which you just look up at him with pleading eyes until he plants another kiss on your forehead.

"Don't drink so much next time," he tells you. He smiles before adding, "And please don't ask for kisses from other men. I will get jealous."

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“You’re in my way.”

You’ve always hated your soulmark. 

Most people loved theirs. They loved the connection, the ability to communicate with their soulmate or just knowing that they had one. A lot of people didn’t have a physical marking, left to just wonder until they eventually met, so you were luckier than most in that way.

But you didn’t feel lucky. 

It was hard to be excited to meet your soulmate when his first words to you were so rude. Seriously, who greets someone like that? Who treats someone they’ve never met so badly? 

You didn’t even want to meet him. He was probably an asshole. You didn’t know why you had to be fated for life with an asshole, but it seemed that you’d pulled the short straw in life.

You were probably overthinking this, but you didn’t care. You didn’t need to be another of the millions of soulmate-obsessed girls in this world. There were already enough of them. You were happy to focus on other things—the main one being your training to be an idol.

You’d been a trainee at JYP for almost six months now, and you were finally debuting. It wasn’t that long of a wait, really; some people trained for years. You were lucky. And talented. And as a soon-to-be debuted idol, you had no place in your life for a relationship. Seriously, it was against your contract. So it worked out well that you didn’t care for your soul bond. 

Of course, life always likes to throw you a curveball. 

Your girl group was made up of five members. You were the second oldest and the main vocalist. Your group was called SYREN, a play on mythical sirens, and your concept was very alluring and sexy to match. You loved it. Your dreams of being an idol were finally coming true.

Today you had a meeting with the higher-ups to talk about your future schedule and whatnot. Your group drove there together, joking and hyped up on excitement, and you arrived early. In the lobby, you came across another group.

Stray Kids. 

You weren’t a crazy big fan or anything, but of course everyone knew how incredible Stray Kids was. They were an absolute powerhouse of a boy group, and you actually could not believe you were now an idol under the same label as them. You’d probably see them around pretty often. You hadn’t before, when you were a trainee, because your schedules were so different. Idols were always moving back and forth between practice and interviews and press and filming, while trainees basically stayed in the practice rooms and studios 24/7. 

Now that you were an idol, too, you’d probably see all the JYP idols more often. You wondered how many of them were friends with people in other groups. It was all so interesting to you. 

You were drawn out of your thoughts by your leader, Eunha, greeting the boy group and introducing all of you to them. You bowed politely, and they bowed back. As Chan exchanged a few more greetings with your members, you took a moment to really take them in. 

God, they were gorgeous. All of them. You knew how talented they were, you’d seen videos of them performing, so seeing them in person was even crazier. You were so close to them. 

Your gaze drifted to Seungmin. You felt… drawn to him, almost. You couldn’t take your eyes off of him. He was such an amazing vocalist. As a singer yourself, you really admired him. Maybe one day you could practice with him and get some advice? That would be a dream. 

You came out of your thoughts to notice that he was walking toward you. Seungmin was walking toward you. He got closer. You just stared at him. Closer. Then—

“You’re in my way.” 

Wow, rude. That wasn’t what you were expecting. But wait, did he…

Oh my God. 

You froze. You stared at him for a few seconds. Then, without thinking, you moved to the side so he could access the door that you were blocking. Your thoughts had completely stopped, overtaken by the sudden realization that Seungmin of Stray Kids was your soulmate—

And he was an asshole. 

In that moment, your whole world came crashing down. 

—

Seungmin just wanted to go home. He’d been stuck at the company all day with meetings and vocal lessons and costume fittings and dance practice. God, he was so sick of dance practice. Their official dance practice video for the new album was set to be filmed next week, but he just couldn’t get it right. Minho wasn’t even scolding him anymore, correctly sensing that it would not accomplish anything but upset him more. 

Seungmin was just really tired. He was exhausted and all he wanted was to go home and take a shower and collapse in his bed. He did not want to be held up talking to some random new group in the lobby. 

He stood quietly as Chan introduced himself to the group of girls, and Seungmin faintly recognized the names as the members of the most recent JYP girl group. He’d seen the announcement and read the names but didn’t know anything more—except damn, you were pretty. 

All five of the girls were pretty, but you were something else. Wow. Maybe he’d have to look into your group a bit more when he had time. 

Finally, after what felt like hours but was actually just a few minutes, Chan said goodbye to your group leader and motioned for the boys to continue walking. Seungmin started walking first, eager to leave.

You were blocking the exit doors. You were staring at him—was there something on his face? He gestured to the door behind you, implying for you to move, but you didn’t. You were still just staring at him, lost in thought. Behind him, Jeongin and Han were bickering about something and Changbin was yelling. Seungmin just wanted to be home in his quiet bedroom. 

You still hadn’t moved, and now he was in front of you. “You’re in my way,” he said impatiently, and finally you moved. 

He missed the look on your face as he passed, only thinking about his warm bed and peace and quiet. 

—

The meeting passed in a blur. You barely heard what the staff said to you. Your body was on autopilot, bowing and thanking them, leaving the building, getting back into the car, entering your dorm with the other four girls. 

“y/n, are you okay? You seem kind of out of it,” Minji asked as you walked through the doorway. 

You slowly looked at her. It took a second for your brain to catch up. “...Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just gonna wash up and go to bed.” You excused yourself, ignoring her gaze on you as she didn’t quite believe your words. You needed to process. 

Seungmin was your soulmate. You knew it, but he didn’t. You were so shocked at the reveal that you hadn’t said anything back to him. But now that you thought about it… maybe that was a good thing. It’s not like you wanted a soulmate anyway. You’d accepted long ago the fact that you probably wouldn’t like your soulmate. You couldn’t even be in a relationship, given your job, and Seungmin was in the same boat. 

Maybe you were better off just ignoring it. It shouldn’t be too hard. You probably wouldn’t see him that often, and when you did, you’d just not talk to him. Easy enough, right? 

—

No. It was not easy enough. Apparently the world was mad at you for ignoring your soulmate, so it found ways to bring you two together all. the. time. 

A week after your first meeting, you saw Seungmin again.

You were walking down the hall to the dance studio with two of your members, Eunha and Chaewon, when a door opened in front of you, almost knocking you over. You took a quick step back and were met with three members of Stray Kids; Chan, Han, and Seungmin. 

“Oh, sorry!” Han said, realizing he’d almost opened the door right into you. 

Seungmin, less apologetic, just laughed under his breath and mumbled something about “no spatial awareness” with his eyes trained on you. You held back a snort—really, you’d expected this—and schooled your expression, turning to look at Han instead. 

“It’s no problem,” you said sweetly. 

Based on what you’d gathered, it was alright for you to speak in Seungmin’s vicinity as long as you weren’t talking directly to him. When you’d first met, you’d heard him talking to his bandmates as they walked. But those words weren’t on your arm. So, the first words mark was really the first words to you. So you just had to be sure to never directly address him. 

“Oh, you girls are SYREN, right? The ones we met last week,” Chan said, “It’s nice to see you again.” 

“Yes, that’s right! Nice to see you too,” Eunha replied, smiling. You could tell she was trying hard to remain normal—she was a huge fan of Stray Kids, especially Chan. She hadn’t stopped talking about meeting them since last week. She was a producer as well, helping to make some of the songs for your first album, so she really admired Chan. You were impressed to see her acting so normal. 

“Well, it seems like we’re going to be seeing more of each other from now on. If you guys ever need help with anything, feel free to ask.” 

The three of you responded in thanks, Eunha practically vibrating with excitement at the prospect. Chaewon nudged Eunha, showing her the time on her phone. You had only two minutes until your dance practice began. 

“Oh, we need to go. We can’t be late to dance. But thank you so much, I’ll definitely take you up on that!” Eunha said, bowing. You and Chaewon quickly followed suit. The boys bade you farewell. As you walked away, you couldn’t help but let your gaze linger on Seungmin for a second. He was really cute. Sensing your eyes on him, he caught your gaze. You quickly looked away. 

You could feel his eyes on you all the way down the hall. 

—

You were really pretty. 

For some reason, that was all Seungmin could think about since he first saw you. You were pretty. It was barely a minute he saw you that time in the lobby, but he remembered. And then he saw you again outside the studio. 

Jisung almost opened the door right into your face, and Seungmin watched as you stumbled back to not get hit. “God, man, you have no spatial awareness,” he said to Jisung, chuckling under his breath.

As you and your group talked to Chan, he couldn’t help but look at you. You were just so gorgeous. Even when he looked away, he just couldn’t keep his eyes from going back. He didn’t know what was up with him. He wasn’t usually like this, but for some reason, he just felt drawn to you. 

Call him crazy, though, but he wasn’t so sure you liked him. Like, in general. As a person. You were smiling and chatting with Chan and Han, but as soon as you looked at him, your eyes went cold. You were still smiling, but the warmth had left your eyes. Like you didn’t care about him at all.

That was fine. It’s not like it really mattered anyway. 

Except it did. It did, because for some reason, Seungmin was seeing you everywhere. At first it was just in the halls. In the cafeteria. At the vending machine. You would never acknowledge him, never say hello, never smile, never even look in his direction. Yet, if Seungmin was with one of his members, you would smile at them. You would say hi to them. He felt a sense of irrational jealousy at that. He had no reason to feel jealous—he barely even knew you, he’d never even talked to you—but still. Something about you ignoring him made him want you to notice him even more. 

So he decided to get noticed. 

—

Seungmin was everywhere. You couldn’t get through a single week without seeing him at least twice. Seriously, the JYP building was big! How did you always manage to cross his path? 

And it was getting harder to ignore him. You couldn’t help the pang of guilt you felt every time you looked away, didn’t reply, or walked past him. You almost felt like you could feel his disappointment. But you had to do it. You had to. 

But now, it was getting even harder, because Seungmin was being difficult. 

First, he just said hi to you. He saw you at the vending machine and stopped to say hello. You gave him a small smile and a nod. He frowned, but didn’t try to say anything else. Another day, you dropped something on the ground and he ran after you to give it back. You smiled a bit wider, but you still didn’t speak. 

It seemed after that he gave up on being nice. The next few times you saw him, he did whatever he could to get in your way. He blocked a door you were trying to get through, stole your water and didn’t give it back, and more. You could tell he wanted to get a rise out of you, but you weren’t going to fall for it. 

The most recent and longest stage was teasing. Constant teasing. You had no idea why you saw him so often—seriously, you were in different groups! Why were you always around each other?—but when you did, he teased you. 

One day, Eunha decided to take Chan up on his offer to help your group out with their new album. He really was the sweetest. He even offered to help you out with recording, bringing in Seungmin and Jeongin as vocalists to advise on your songs. You knew it was great to get help from such talented older idols, but you couldn’t bring yourself to be excited about it. Not when Seungmin wouldn’t shut up. 

You were pushing it with the soulmark, you knew. Seriously, you were singing in the same room as him, listening to his critiques and singing again. But it seemed to be okay so far—Seungmin hadn’t reacted like you’d said your first words to him, so you just had to trust that you hadn’t messed it up. Yet. 

You finished singing your verse for the fifth time, feeling like it was your best take so far. “Hmm,” Seungmin hummed, and you resisted the urge to groan. Here it comes. “Y/n, that sounded a little off-key. Try it again.” He was grinning. You took a deep breath. You knew he just wanted a reaction. You wouldn’t give him one. You just nodded and turned back to the microphone. 

Three more tries and criticisms later, you wanted to scream. Seungmin kept finding something wrong with your take—stupid reasons, like “your voice sounded squeaky” or “I don’t know, it just didn’t feel right.” You knew he would stop if you just told him you wanted to move on, but you couldn’t. You wouldn’t. 

Finally, Jeongin spoke up.

“Hyung, I think we should move on. Those last few sounded good to me.” 

Seungmin paused. “Fine,” he said, waving you out of the recording room at last. You sighed and sat down on the couch as Minji entered the room after you. 

As Seungmin began to give Minji some direction, Jeongin shifted from his chair to sit on the couch next to you. “I thought you did good,” he whispered, careful not to be overheard.

You turned to look at him, surprised. “...thanks,” you replied, just as quiet. 

Jeongin continued. “I don’t know why hyung acts so weird around you. He’s not like this with anyone else.” 

You raised an eyebrow. “Really?” 

“Yeah, he’s usually… normal. Well, at least, he’s polite to people he doesn’t know. Especially other idols.” 

“And he’s not being polite to me.” It wasn’t a question. 

“Well, it doesn’t seem like it. Though I don’t really know, I’m not a part of your conversations. What do you think?” 

“What do you think?” You parroted back at him. You really weren’t able to explain any of your thoughts to Jeongin right now.

“Uhh, well,” he trailed off, unsure. “He actually seems pretty comfortable with you. He doesn’t usually talk this much to new people. I don’t think he’s trying to be mean, if you’re worried about that. Hyung isn’t a mean person.” 

That was so sweet, you thought. And interesting. 

Since you’d first met Seungmin—no, scratch that, since you’d first read your soulmark—you’d convinced yourself he was a mean person. How could he not be, with those being his first words to you? How could he not be, since your silence had gotten to him so much that he’d resorted to being such a bother? 

But maybe that wasn’t him being mean. At least, not entirely. Maybe it was him being interested. Curious. Wanting to get to know you. 

But why would he feel any of that if he didn’t know you were his soulmate? You knew he didn’t know yet, that was for sure, so why would he care at all about you? Hell, you’d been ignoring him for weeks. You hadn’t spoken a single word to him, ever. You weren’t nice to him. You would understand if he thought you were mean. So why was he, at least in Jeongin’s opinion, comfortable with you? Interested in you? 

You were so confused. And guilty. You didn’t know why, but you felt a distinct feeling of guilt deep inside you that you couldn’t seem to get rid of. 

“Huh,” was all you got out, realizing you’d been quiet for way too long. At that moment, Seungmin plopped down on the couch on the other side of you. 

“What’s got you two so chatty?” He asked, leaning closer to you. Too close. 

You looked at him, but didn’t say a word. You shrugged

“Just talking about the song. I think it sounds pretty good so far, right hyung?” Jeongin changed the topic effortlessly. 

Seungmin hummed, pretending to think. “Yeah, it’s good so far. Y/n needs to pick up the slack, though,” he grinned, looking at you. Even after your new revelation on Seungmin, you still wouldn’t let him crack you. Making fun of your singing was fine, you could handle it. 

So you just smiled and shrugged again, mockingly, and then got up off the couch. You held up your empty water bottle in lieu of saying your destination, then left the room. 

You knew Seungmin was watching you walk away. 

—

You were so gorgeous, was all Seungmin could think as he watched you sing. And so talented. So, so talented. It honestly annoyed him. Why should you be able to walk around and ignore him for weeks but also be pretty and talented and—

He needed to stop. This wasn’t good for him. Having a crush on a girl—because yes, he’d finally admitted it to himself, this was a crush, yuck—who constantly ignored him and clearly wanted nothing to do with him was a horrible idea. It was stupid, and he knew it would only lead to pain, but he couldn’t help it. Because no matter what was going on, if you were in the same room as him, he couldn’t keep his eyes off you. 

It was weird, really, how drawn to you he was. He didn’t like it. Why did his eyes always go to you? Why could he sense when you walked into a room? Why did he feel a constant urge to be close to you, to talk to you? It was an unusual feeling, to say the least. 

He wanted you to talk to him. Desperately, he wanted it. Being nice and polite to you hadn’t worked. Getting in your way and being mildly bothersome hadn’t worked. So now he was on to teasing and joking, and he just felt like this had to be the one. Third time’s the charm, right? 

You would crack eventually, he was sure. A person could only take so much before they finally spoke. If he just kept being annoying, picking on you, and teasing you, eventually you would need to reply to get him to shut up. 

That was all he wanted. Honestly, you could say “shut up, Seungmin,” and he’d still be happy. Ecstatic, actually. He just wanted you to talk to him. There was some weird feeling deep down inside him that told him he would feel complete as soon as you did.

So he picked on you. He told you you sounded off-key. He said your voice sounded squeaky, and made up some other stupid shit, just so you would tell him he was wrong. But you didn’t. You just kept singing until Jeongin finally let you off the hook. 

And, speaking of—why were you so close to Jeongin right now? He hadn’t noticed while he was listening to Minji, but it seemed that while he was distracted, Jeongin had gone to sit next to you and was now engaged in a conversation with you. A very interesting one, it seemed, if the look on your face had anything to say about it. 

He didn’t like it. Why would you talk to Jeongin but not him? What did Jeongin even have to say that was so interesting? It wasn’t fair. You should talk to him instead. He was plenty interesting.

So he gave Minji a break and sat down next to you. “What’s got you two so chatty?” He asked. 

You just looked at him again, like you always did. Eyes betraying no emotion, completely changed from when he’d watched you talk to Jeongin. 

He just stared at you as Jeongin replied, willing you to say something. Anything. He went for the teasing again. “Yeah, it’s good so far. Y/n needs to pick up the slack, though,” he joked, going for lighthearted—he didn’t want to be actually insulting. 

You just smiled, shrugged, and walked away. 

Really? So even that wouldn’t get you to talk. He was starting to lose hope.

He quickly turned to face Jeongin, glaring at him. “What were you two talking about?”

Jeongin stuttered. “Uh– Hyung, I told you. We were talking about, um, the song.” 

“You are such a bad liar, Innie.” 

“Seungmin, I can’t–”

“Why won’t she talk to me?” He cut Jeongin off, upset now. “She was all happy and talking to you, but as soon as I came around, she’s silent! She talks to everyone but me! What the hell did I do wrong?” 

Jeongin was silent for a bit. “I… I really don’t know, hyung. She’s not very easy to read,” he said honestly, thinking back to your conversation. You really didn’t say much. He was the one doing most of the talking. Huh. 

“Whatever, it’s fine. Let’s just get back to work,” Seungmin said. He just needed to forget about it. Lingering on your attitude toward him was only going to make things worse. 

Over the next few weeks, Seungmin continued teasing you. His heart wasn’t fully in it, but he figured it couldn’t hurt. And he was seeing you around so much, he figured it would be a waste not to. 

He saw you in the studio. “Working on your singing? You know you can’t be as good as me, y/n.” 

He saw you eating lunch in the break room. “Ooh, that looks yummy,” he said as he stole a bite.

He saw you in the dance studio. “Hmm, I think your form is off,” he mused, reaching out to adjust your positioning, not failing to notice the way your entire body stiffened as he did so. He quickly pulled back, not wanting to make you actually uncomfortable. Still, you didn’t say anything.

No reaction. No reaction. No reaction. 

Honestly, your poker face was impressive. He didn’t know how you did it. It was better than his. 

Maybe he should just give up. 

—

You were not having a good day. 

You had a big performance coming up. Your group had been asked to perform at an award show, which was surprising considering you were so new, with only your debut album out so far. 

However, it made sense. Your album was a huge hit, and your group became incredibly popular overnight. You were even up for a few awards. Which was great! That wasn’t the bad part.

No, the bad part was that because of this upcoming very important performance, you were forced to dance for hours on end to prepare, day after day, and you felt on the verge of collapse. It was too much, and it didn’t help that the choreographer would not lay off of you. 

You were a good dancer. Not amazing, but good. You were the main vocalist of your group, that was where you shined, and you were fine with working a bit harder to perfect your dances. 

But for this dance, it seemed nothing you did could get you perfect enough. You hit every move, but not sharp enough. You performed well, but your expressions weren’t alluring enough. You were behind, you were ahead, too smooth, too sharp. This fucking choreographer had it out for you, you swore. You felt like you were doing just fine. Your groupmates agreed, when you complained to them, that they also didn’t notice anything particularly wrong with your dancing.

You wanted to scream. You wanted to give the choreographer a piece of your mind, but you knew you couldn’t. You needed to stay polite, as an idol should be. 

But when he paused the music for the nth time and turned to look at you, you were done.

“Y/n. Are you sure you’re even trying? It’s just… sloppy,” he said. 

It took everything in you not to yell. Thankfully, you had the practice after ignoring Seungmin for so long. So, you just said, “I’m going to take a water break,” in a sickly sweet voice, and slipped out the door. 

You didn’t make it far, tears springing to your eyes as soon as you were out of sight. You found a secluded corner of the hallway that people rarely walked down and sank to the ground. You tried to blink away the tears, but a few still made it through. You sniffled quietly and wiped your eyes. 

You always tried to put on a strong persona. You worked hard, you didn’t make mistakes. You didn’t let yourself make them. You were reliable. You were kind and sweet and a good friend to go to for advice. You did not bother other people with your problems. 

You hadn’t told anyone about Seungmin because you knew you could handle it on your own. But it was starting to weigh on you. You didn’t know what to do. If you talked to him now, wouldn’t he just be mad at you for keeping quiet so long? He would hate you. And you already felt so guilty. 

Seriously, something inside you felt wrong. Like every time you ignored him, there was a harsher tug in your stomach. You felt a mix of nausea and heartburn and cramping all at once, yet it was also none of that. It hurt, but you couldn’t get rid of it. You knew it was your soulbond being mad at you for rejecting it. 

But what could you do? You’d dug yourself into such a deep hole that you had no clue how to get out.

You didn’t know what to do. You were having a really bad day, and your stomach hurt, and now the tears were really falling—

“Y/n?” 

Your head shot up. You recognized that voice. 

Seungmin.

You tried to wipe your tears away, but they wouldn’t stop. He was just standing there, staring. He looked almost concerned—but that couldn’t be it. He opened his mouth, probably to tease you about being so weak. You just couldn’t take it, and before you knew it, without even thinking—

“Why can’t you just leave me alone for once?”

Your voice was shaky but clear. Seungmin closed his mouth in an instant, eyes wide with shock. You stared at him. He stared at you. Then, it registered.

“Oh, shit— oh, fuck. That’s not… I wasn’t—” You stumbled over your words, confused and a bit disoriented. The tears started falling faster. You’d messed everything up. God, you’d messed it all up. Now he was going to know you were his soulmate, and he was going to be really mad, and it was all your fault. 

You tilted your head down, away from him, and set your face in your hands. You just wanted him to leave. He needed to leave. 

But suddenly you felt his hands rest on your shoulders. One of them moved to try to pry your hands from your face, but they wouldn’t budge. 

“Hey,” he said, voice softer than you’d ever heard it. “Can you look at me? Please?” 

You slowly moved your hands away and looked up at him through your lashes, clumped with tears. He cupped your face with his own hands, brushing your tear tracks away with his thumbs. 

“It’s you,” he said. His eyes were sparkling, and they looked almost… fond. Happy, admiring. No trace of the anger or disappointment you were sure would be there. Still, you couldn’t believe it. Not yet.

“Do you hate me?” 

—

“Why can’t you just leave me alone for once?”

Seungmin had always been curious about the words tattooed on his arm. They made no sense. “For once” implied that he’d known this person for a while, yet it was the first time they were speaking to him? And why did they seem so fed up?

He was probably thinking about it too much. The tone of the words could be entirely different, like a joke or something. Or it could be a mistake, like his soulmate thought he was someone else. Really, there were endless possibilities. 

Still, he couldn’t help but think. It made him a bit uneasy, to be honest. He tried to just push it out of his mind, sure that he will meet his soulmate whenever he is supposed to and there’s no reason to worry. 

He was certainly not expecting to see you curled into the corner of a hallway as he walked to the 3racha studio, quietly crying and wiping your face with your sleeves. He was definitely not expecting you to look up at him with tears in your eyes. And he was absolutely not expecting you to finally talk to him, and for those words to be the ones written on his arm since birth. 

You were his soulmate? You were his soulmate. You were his soulmate. 

Oh my god. 

You stuttered over your words, looking absolutely terrified—did you really not want him to know that much?—and covered your face with your hands. You probably expected him to be mean to you, based on his actions thus far. Well, he wasn’t going to. You were his soulmate, and he did not leave his soulmate crying alone on the floor of a hallway. 

He knelt down in front of you and tried to coax you out of your hands. Eventually you did and looked up at him through watery eyes and tear-stained cheeks. It broke his heart to see you like this. He couldn’t help but think it was his fault. Maybe if he hadn’t been so annoying to you, you wouldn’t have felt the need to hide from him. 

The next words that came from your mouth somehow broke him even more. 

“Do you hate me?” 

You were serious, looking at him, terrified for his answer. Oh, god, was he really that bad? He hurt you so much you thought he hated you? 

His hands were still cupping your cheeks, so he angled your head to make sure you were looking right at him. 

“No,” he said, “no. Of course not. Why would you think that?”

“It’s just—” you sniffled, “I knew you were my soulmate, but I kept it from you for so long. And I ignored you for weeks. So don’t you… don’t you hate me?” Your voice was so quiet, so sad. It was completely different from what he’d seen from you all these weeks. You always seemed so strong and independent. He could never imagine you like this, broken down and crying on the floor. 

“No,” he repeated, “I really don’t. I’m sure you had a reason. Right?” 

You were silent for a moment. Then, instead of speaking, you rolled up your sleeve and held out your arm. He took it gently and tilted his head to read what was written on it.

“You’re in my way.”

Seungmin sucked in a harsh breath. Oh, shit. Fuck, he’d said that to you. He’d said that to you the first time you met, and he didn’t even remember until now. 

He looked backed up at you. “God, I’m an asshole. I’m so sorry, sweetheart, I–”

You started giggling, quietly at first and then louder. Seungmin closed his mouth and looked at you curiously. 

You were laughing now through your tears, because that was exactly what you’d been saying this whole time. And now he was agreeing with you even though it was clear now that Seungmin was anything but an asshole, considering he’d dropped everything to comfort you and had been trying to be your friend for weeks. 

“Sorry, it’s just so ironic— sweetheart?” You suddenly realized the petname. You’d stopped crying now, the laughter and the shock enough to stop it. In front of you, Seungmin was frozen. 

“Oh, uh, fuck. Sorry, it just slipped out. Is that… okay?” He asked hesitantly. God, he was so cute. His head was tilted to the side in question, and he still looked so concerned. He really did look like a cute little puppy. 

“Yeah. That’s okay… Minnie.” 

His eyes lit up. You would’ve laughed at his excitement, but before you could he reached up and cupped your face in his hands again. He moved one hand around to hold you gently by the back of your head and the other went down to your waist as he slowly leaned in, very slowly, giving you the chance to pull away. 

You leaned in and met his lips with yours. You brought one hand to clutch at his chest and the other reached behind his neck as he deepened the kiss, pulling you impossibly closer to him. He couldn’t get enough of you, not after you’d ignored him for so long. Now that it had finally worked out, Seungmin didn’t think he would ever be able to pull himself away from you. 

You stayed like that for as long as you could until you needed to pull away for air. Seungmin had to stop himself from letting out a whimper at the loss of your lips. He pulled you back into him only seconds later, barely giving you time to catch your breath before he was kissing you again. 

It was only a few minutes later that he finally let you go, his lips kiss-swollen and hair slightly mussed from how you’d been running your fingers through it. You looked much the same as him, and he couldn’t help but admire you. You were so gorgeous. He didn’t know how he got so lucky to have you as his soulmate. 

And you were talented, too. He’d listened to you sing. You were amazing. The only reason he was so critical during that recording session was to get your attention—really, everything he’d said that day was bullshit. You had a beautiful voice, and he could listen to it forever. Especially when you were calling him Minnie. 

“So,” he said, realizing he’d been silent and staring for too long, “do you want to go get a coffee?” 

—

“And the award for Best New Artist goes to… SYREN!” 

The crowd roared in appreciation, clapping and cheering as you and your bandmates gasped in shock. You walked up to the stage in almost a haze, in awe at the huge stadium full of people who were all currently cheering for you. 

You’d hoped, of course, that your group would win since you found out you were nominated, but you never truly let yourself believe it would happen. But now here it was, happening. 

Thankfully, as the group leader, Eunha did all of the talking for your group. You were glad you didn’t have to give a speech—you had no idea what you would say. You were so in shock, nothing intelligible would probably even come out. 

You gazed at the audience as Eunha spoke, locking eyes with the one person you wanted to see. 

Seungmin.

He was grinning so wide you thought his face might split in half. Even from far away, you could see the sparkle in his eyes as he watched you, not looking away for a second even though you weren’t the one talking. God, he was so obvious. There were going to be social media comments about this later, you were sure, but for some reason you couldn’t bring yourself to care. Because you were looking at him the exact same way. 

Only a few hours later you were knocking on a hotel room door just a few floors up from your own. You and Seungmin were staying in the same hotel tonight, and you were absolutely going to take the opportunity. You’d changed into comfy clothes after returning from the show, now wearing pajama pants and a big hoodie that was almost definitely one of Seungmin’s. 

The door in front of you swung open, and Seungmin’s hands immediately found your waist to pull you into his room and onto his lips. You just embraced it, kicking the door shut behind you so no one would see as you moved your lips against his. 

Finally he relented, pulling back just an inch to look into your eyes. “You won, sweetheart.”

“You won, Minnie,” you replied. He had actually won much more than you—three awards, one being a Dasaeng—but he still managed to be more happy for you than for himself. God, you loved him. 

He smiled and shrugged, then pulled you over to lay down on his bed. The two of you quickly situated yourselves under the sheets, cuddling up next to each other. You rested your head on his chest and he brought his hand up to brush through your hair. He stared at your face, unable to look away, admiring. 

“You looked so gorgeous up there, sweetheart. I wanted to kiss you so bad,” he said, pouting. 

You chuckled and obliged him with another quick kiss. “Yeah?” you murmured after pulling away. “Well, you too. You know I can’t resist you in a suit.” 

“Mm,” was his reply, fingers still idly carding through your hair. “I love you,” he finally said, the only way to properly express his feelings in this moment. “I love you so much.” 

You exhaled happily, relaxing against his chest and letting your eyes flutter shut. “I love you too, Minnie.” 

"Perhaps... we shall return to the others?" He asks, though makes no attempt to move his heavy feet, nor tear his eyes away from the very intimate problem you faced.

"And set our eyes upon their evil little grins?" You counter.

"Mischief, perhaps, may be their intention. Vengeance, however, shall be our own."

"Noted. That does not, however, solve our current... predicament." You gesture loosely to the elephant in the room. Daringly, you tear your eyes away from the single, and only bed in the inn's small room, to settle onto your traveling companion.

Your ridiculously handsome travel companion. Who looked as though he was struggling to pass a rather large bowel movement at the moment.

"I shall have no problem taking the floor." Legolas reassured. (You couldn't tell if he was informing you, or himself.)

"A nice thought... if there were any floor space." You countered again, eyes sweeping over the incredibly cramped space.

"Rather peculiar decorating indeed, hm?" He weakly offers.

"Mm." You blinked once. Twice. "Well. I suppose that is our only option then. The keeper did affirm the lack of vacancy."

With a curt nod, Legolas cleared the room in two measly strides, beginning to unfasten his weaponry while allowing you the privacy and space to disrobe. Your brain had begun to feel fizzy at the encroaching anxiety, fingers fumbling in their effort to untie your outerwear.

The two of you quietly prepared for bed, not a creak sounding about the room aside from the clinking of assorted steels.

After several terse moments that left you standing in your undergown and stockings, you reluctantly spun around to face the very object of your ire. Stupid, dreadful bed.

"Listen," Legolas began, sounding so suddenly serious you nearly tripped trying to turn and face him. His eyes stared down so intensely into your own even from across the room it was nearly impossible not to drown yourself in them. "We have both slept on far colder ground, with far more bothersome company. This shall not be what upends us."

"You speak as if the company is the problem." No doubt he could hear the racing of your heart, though his eyes flicked down to follow your tongue as it ran across your dry lips.

"Never, not your company." His response slipped from his lips so quickly you hardly had time to dwell on your doubts.

"Then what is it?" You reply, voice merely a strained whisper. Legolas' throat bobs, before he takes a steadying breath and walks around the bed, standing before you.

"For centuries we have danced around each other, yet you still remain unsure of my intentions?" He questions, large hands rising to grab hold of your shoulders. "Tis not the company, meleth nin, but the proximity."

"Proximity?" You weakly question, leaning into his hold.

"Proximity, which leads to temptation." His hands begin to wander, sliding first down your bare arms, before circling around your waist. Legolas pulls you closer, breath fanning over your lips.

"Temptation? You?" You respond, voice lacking the bite in which you initially intended. "You flinch every time I near, yet you wish me to believe you are tempted?"

"And nothing short of it. For three centuries I have been made to gaze upon that which has beauty like no other, yet never permitted to touch it."

"You speak as if I am some sort of relic. Only to be seen from afar, never to be touched nor held." Your fingers curl into the neck of his tunic, his skin impossibly soft beneath your fingers.

"Not a relic, but a flame. One I feared to touch, lest I be entirely consumed." His nose brushes against your own, hands sprawling across your back. "Your heart is racing. You shall tell me if this is unwelcome."

"Legolas, you fool, it is most welcome."

His lips, at last, find yours, not urgent but reverent as he presses into you, every facet of his being melting into yours. For several blissful moments you remain in his embrace, lost in the enchantment as his lips move against your own, growing in fervor the longer they meet. Your hands press further, further along his neck, his jaw, his pointed ears, until they settle into his hair, ensuring his station with their grip.

"You have me, meleth nin, as you always have." Legolas murmurs against your mouth, hand rising from your back to caress your jaw, cool touch sending shivers about your spine.

"And you shall not lose me."