night🌃

( 방찬 )

( 민호 )

( 창빈 )

( 현진 )

( 지성 )

( 필릭스 )

( 승민 )

( 정인 )

that means .. remembering your coffee order before you do. plugging your phone in after you fall asleep because he already knows you forgot again. laughing when your icy feet disappear beneath his thighs because, "you’re freezing, baby!" before wrapping your prized sanrio blanket tighter around you anyway.

the words come much, much later.

because to christopher, saying i love you is definitely not something you throw into the air.

this is after one of his late nights. he gets home well past midnight, shoulders slumped beneath his hoodie, smelling faintly of the studio and fabric softener. the apartment is crazy dark except for the slight glow of the television that you didn't remembered turning off.

you're asleep on the couch exactly where he knew you'd be, despite promising you wouldn't wait up .. as always!

because how were you ever supposed to feel at home without your boyfriend's arms draped all over you?

he crouches in front of you immediately, eyebrows knitting together. "oh baby .. why are you sleeping here?"

your eyes barely open, "wanted to see you." that's it, four sleepy little words.

and something inside his chest genuinely forgets how to work, so he doesn't say much after that.

instead, he stays impossibly close. one hand resting on your waist while you're both brushing your teeth, his forehead finding yours while leftovers spin lazily in the microwave, pulling you onto his lap instead of sitting beside you, as though even six inches suddenly feels unreasonable.

he gets like that whenever his feelings become too big for language.

later, you're sitting between his legs on the couch, wrapped inside the same sanrio blanket, which, to be honest, was a bit small for the both of you to fit under .. so naturally, he draped most of the blanket over you than himself. his chin rests on your shoulder while his thumb lazily traces invisible constellations across your palm, connecting stars only the two of you could ever see.

he hasn't stopped touching you all night .. which says something, considering how clingy channie already is.

"you okay?" you ask.

"yeah," pause. "just thinking." and another .. "you make bad days feel less bad."

you giggle. "that’s cute."

"don’t laugh, i'm being serious!"

you turn just enough to look at him.

and somehow the man who stands in front of stadiums without blinking suddenly can't make eye contact with one girl sitting in his lap. his girl.

his ears bloom pink.

his fingers fidget with yours.

"i think—" he stops & groans dramatically, then buries his face into your neck with all the dignity of a man accepting defeat.

"god, this is embarrassing .."

"christopher!"

"i love you, okay?" muffled into your shoulder. "like .. a lot. probably too much."

and because he's chan, silence lasts approximately half a second.

"don’t react yet, wait. actually— react! no wait—" you kiss him before he can spiral any further.

his shoulders soften first, then the tiny breath he didn't realize he'd been holding finally escapes, like he'd been standing on the edge of something terrifying .. only to discover you had been waiting there the whole time.

now .. scenario 2, maybe you say it first.

after he spends nearly twenty minutes patiently drying your hair because you were too tired to bother. carefully combing through every knot like it was the most important job he'd ever been given, mumbling apologies whenever he accidentally tugged a little too hard.

the room smells like shampoo, and the hairdryer clicks off. and you smile, "i love you."

he freezes, completely buffering, and staring at you like you'd just reached into the sky and handed him the moon.

"you love me?"

"yeah?"

"like… for real?"

and when you laugh, he practically launches himself at you, pulling you into the safest hug you've ever known. "okay," he whispers into your hair. "good, because i've been trying not to say it for weeks."

amd after that .. he never really stops.

before falling asleep? iloveu! pressed against your temple while you're waiting in line at the grocery store? iloveu! half-asleep in the morning? iloveu! while you're making coffee? iloveu! while you're looking out the car window? iloveu!

sometimes just because he looked at you for a second too long? "i love you."

"you said that five minutes ago, channie."

"yeah, and?"

minho ಄

it clearly wasn’t planned .. nothing with minho ever was.

one second you were both in your shared apartment arguing over whether he overfeeds soonie (he does) while he cooked dinner and you sat on the counter swinging your legs, stealing slices of tomatoes off his cutting board. and the next, you were exhausted after a long week, leaning your cheek against his shoulder while he stirred something on the stove, and it just slipped out.

quietly too! a small, "i love you, you know that?"

and for maybe three seconds—which is a lot for lee minho by the way, the world stopped.

because this man, who always had something to say, suddenly had nothing.

he blinked once .. twice .. turned back to the stove .. stirred absolutely nothing because the pan didn’t need stirring anymore .. and you caught the tips of his ears turning pink.

"why are you saying weird things while i’m cooking?" he mumbled.

you immediately panicked. "oh—sorry—you don’t .. have to say it back, i just—"

"did i say that?"

you stared .. & he refused to look at you.

"you’re making this awkward," he added, except his voice was quieter now.

i feel like minho is not the grand-confession typa guy, honestly ! love with him always lived in different places like packed lunches, his bundles (and yours), warming your side of the bed, and sending photos of dori at 2pm with zero context .. so hearing those words? it hit him harder than expected.

you hopped off the counter dramatically. "okay! wow y/n, new high score .. rejected in your own home .."

and before you could fully walk away, his hand caught your wrist lightly. “mm,” he'd hum; you turned.

he still wasn’t looking directly at you, by the way! very brave of him.

"i love you too."

"…that’s it?"

he finally looked up with that stupid smirk, "do you want fireworks? a parade?"

"yes, actually. and more noodles."

"tough."

but after dinner, he was .. weird? weird as in following you room to room weird. sitting closer on the couch weird. letting you steal his hoodie without fighting weird. at one point you caught him staring while you played with doongi.

"what?"

"nothing."

"you’re staring."

he looked away immediately. "you said you loved me first! so you deal with the consequences."

"the consequences being?"

he pulled you down beside him until your head rested on his shoulder naturally, like muscle memory.

"this," he said quietly.

later that night, when you were half asleep and tangled together under blankets, you felt him press a kiss near your temple, soft enough that you almost missed it.

"say it again tomorrow," he whispered, and you smiled into his chest. pfft what a tsundere. failed successfully!

bini ಄

this man loves loudly but accidentally !!!!!! 

you're both tucked away at home, an evening where neither of you bothers pretending to look presentable. sleep still lingers in your eyes, your hair has long since given up, and somewhere between the quiet hum of the refrigerator and the soft music playing in the background, the apartment feels wonderfully lived in.

you're perched on the kitchen counter while he cooks, as if there aren't perfectly good chairs a few feet away, but he simply functions better when you're within reach. one hand stirs whatever's simmering in the pan, the other absentmindedly rests against your knee, thumb brushing slow, lazy circles over your skin as naturally as breathing.

it's been one of those days, you never tell him that .. he just knows.

before you even think to ask, your favorite mogumogu appears beside you, condensation gathering on the small bottle exactly the way you like it. 

he keeps filling the silence with ridiculously bad gym jokes, grinning at his own punchlines before leaning over every few minutes to steal another tiny kiss, each one so quick and absentminded it feels less like affection and more like instinct, as though he's collecting little reminders that you're still right there.

then, impatient as always, you sneak a taste straight from the pan. and a second later, you're hissing dramatically, waving your hand in front of your mouth after burning your tongue.

"ow—"

he immediately drops everything. "baby? wait—here, water—why do you eat lava???"

you're laughing and crying. he's dramatically checking if your tongue survived. big hands holding your face, eyebrows all scrunched, and then it slips out.

"i love you, but you have like .. zero survival instincts." you’d say.

silence, actual silence, because he freezes. and you do too. the kitchen fan is suddenly the loudest thing on earth.

his eyes go wide for like two seconds before he looks like his brain blue-screened. now this doesn’t mean he didn’t feel it, he does, soso much .. he just wasn't expecting now! at least, not while holding a spatula. 

you blink first. " .. you didn't hear that."

"but i did???"

"oh my god,"

"no wait—" he puts both hands on your cheeks again because physical affection is literally his operating system. "no, no, wait." he looks nervous for maybe the first time in months. which is saying something for someone who usually walks around built like a tank with golden retriever energy. "i wanted to say it first!"

your heart drops, then he continues. "not because i wanted to win or something stupid, okay!" he laughs awkwardly. "i just .. i've been feeling it for a while."

you stare and he gets shy for approximately 0.3 seconds before recovering. "i love you too, babylove, my princess, angel, fairy, goddess—like—a lot! kinda embarrassingly a lot .."

"you got taken aback."

"angel, you randomly dropped a life-changing sentence while burning your tongue."

you're laughing far more than the situation deserves now, the sound spilling into every corner of the kitchen until even he can't keep a straight face anymore.

he doesn't even think before reaching for you, he just does.

his arms wrap around you in one swift motion, pulling you flush against his chest in one of those impossibly tight hugs where your feet almost leave the floor. he's ridiculously strong, impossibly clingy, and has never once learned how to love in halve, as though holding you as close as humanly possible is the only way he knows how to convince himself you're really there.

then he mumbles into your hair, "say it again."

"you already heard it."

"again."

"i love you." his smile gets so big it's stupid.

"yeah," he says quietly. "that sounds right."

hyun ಄

the ridiculous thing was .. you both already knew, long before either of you ever gathered the courage to say it out loud.

it lived quietly in the spaces between you instead. in the way he always drifted to the roadside of the pavement without thinking, as though protecting you had become second nature. in the way your hopelessly tangled earphones somehow always ended up neatly wrapped in his hands before you even noticed. in how his apartment slowly stopped feeling like his, your skincare bottles appearing beside his ridiculously aesthetic candles until they looked like they had always belonged there.

the feeling was never the mystery, the words were. somehow, they were infinitely scarier.

hyunjin realizes first, and of course he does. he's halfway through a painting on some random tuesday afternoon, sunlight spilling across the studio floor while you're curled up nearby, happily occupied with your own little world. his brush pauses in midair, and he looks at you.

then suddenly .. oh. oh no. this is bad. this is huge. he's in love. not a little. is it in a fleeting, poetic way he'd eventually paint over? no. he's hopelessly, embarrassingly, movie-ending kind of in love.

he doesn't say it.

instead, he somehow becomes even worse.his hands find yours more often. forehead kisses become as frequent as breathing. he catches himself staring across rooms with the softest smile, only realizing you've noticed when you tilt your head.

"why are you looking at me like that?" 

"you're just .. very shaped."

"what does that even mean?"

"i don't know."

he doesn't say anything right away, mostly because his brain has an unfortunate habit of completely short-circuiting whenever it comes to you.

he'd imagined the confession a hundred different ways already, something beautiful; candlelight reflecting off pretty dinner plates. Flowers, obviously. maybe even a handwritten poem because, unfortunately for everyone involved, he's exactly that kind of person.

he wanted it to feel cinematic. life, however, has a habit of laughing at dramatic men.

so it happens after the most wonderfully unremarkable day. it's nearly one in the morning. you're both swallowed by oversized clothes, surviving on instant ramen because neither of you has the energy to make anything real. the kitchen glows under warm yellow lights while the kettle hums softly, and hyunjin, incapable of standing still for more than thirty seconds, is dramatically dancing beside the stove as he waits for the water to boil.

you laugh despite yourself, and then, he looks at you, quietly, different from that practiced, heartbreakingly beautiful stare he unconsciously gives whenever he's teasing you.

because your laughter lingers in the apartment a little longer than the music, because you're wearing his hoodie, sleeves swallowing your hands, and because somehow this tiny, ordinary moment, the chipped bowls, the instant noodles, the gummy smiles, feels infinitely more breathtaking than every perfect confession he'd rehearsed in his head.

and all at once, every grand plan quietly falls apart.

and he blurts.

"oh."

you blink. "oh what?"

he looks mildly horrified, then he starts pacing. "no wait because this wasn't supposed to happen like this. i had ideas. i literally had a concept."

"hyunjin—"

"no because why am i saying it beside ramen?" you start laughing, he grabs your shoulders dramatically.

"i love you, okay? which is inconvenient because i wanted candles or a rooftop or something cinematic but now it's instant noodles and your ugly house slippers."

silence, and he immediately spirals.

"you don't have to say it back right now by the way! actually— forget i said it. no don't forget it. remember it forever. but no pressure. oh my god—"

you cut him off by pulling him closer, "i love you too, hyune."

his brain exits the building. " .. seriously?"

"yeah?"

the grin that spreads across his face is ridiculous. full dimples. crescent eyes disappearing. pure sunshine .. and then his eyes tear up. 

"so technically," he says smugly, wrapping himself around you, "this means i win."

"you confessed in front of ramen."

"and yet i got the girl."

he kisses your forehead three times because one isn't enough, pulls you against his chest, and whispers softer this time, "i really, really love you."

sung ಄

zero plans. i’m telling you, zero! man rehearsed confessions in the shower for months and still blurts it out during the dumbest moment possible.

the first time jisung almost says it, it's by accident. not at all a romantic, cliche accident either. more like .. 2am, seven back-to-back voice notes because he got emotional after finishing a song draft.

voice note 01: "okay so don't laugh but i think this chorus sounds like a divorced father of three."

voice note 02: him aggressively singing.

voice note 03: silence. then, "wait, did i send the wrong file?"

voice note 04: "actually no, listen to this part—"

voice note 05 is just him sighing. "do you ever think it's weird how attached humans get? Like .. one day you're chilling and then suddenly one person becomes part of your routine and now you can't sleep unless they text goodnight."

you smile into your pillow.

voice note 06: "anyway. ignore me, baby. i'm in my .. feelings."

voice note 07: " .. also eat breakfast tomorrow."

he's affectionate constantly, hanging off you in public, kissing your cheeks randomly, squeezing your hand under tables, dramatically collapsing into your lap after long days, but actual vulnerability is something he circles around like a nervous cat, so months pass .. and then it happens while grocery shopping.

at the desserts aisle.

he's standing there, hair messy, carrying way too many snacks because "what if future-us wants options?" while arguing passionately about chip flavors.

"you cannot disrespect sour cream like this."

"i'm not disrespecting it, ji, i'm saying barbecue clears."

"you wound me."

"you're dramatic."

he gasps, loudly.

"me? dramatic? after everything we've been through?"

"we've been through grocery shopping."

"we've been through love."

you blink, he freezes, and you too, freeze.

an uncle pushing a cart squeezes past .. han's eyes go huge. "oh."

you stare, and he stares harder.

"oh my god."

"you just—"

"i know."

his ears turn red immediately. he starts laughing because that's what he does when he panics. "no because wait—that wasn't—i mean it was—but not like—wait no it is like that—"

you're trying not to laugh, he puts both hands over his face. "this is horrible! i had plans."

"you had plans?"

"yes?! there was supposed to be music involved .. maybe rain .. more chocolates."

"you said it first?"

"accidentally!"

"but you meant it?"

he drops his hands, and suddenly he looks small in that way he sometimes does when he's being honest. "yeah." quiet now. "yeah, i meant it." his fingers hook around yours.

"i think i've meant it for a while actually. which is annoying because now you know."

the words leave him with a sheepish little smile, almost as though he's embarrassed by how long he'd been carrying them around without realizing.

and somehow, your chest aches.

not painfully.

just... achingly full.

"you're stupid."

his entire face lights up so quickly it's almost blinding.

"that means you love me too?"

you roll your eyes, fighting a smile that had already betrayed you.

"i love you too, ji."

for exactly half a second, he forgets how to exist.

then his grin stretches so wide his cheeks hurt, dimples appearing like they couldn't wait another second.

he throws both hands into the air.

"everybody in aisle nine, she loves me back!"

every single person nearby immediately pretends not to be listening.

"han."

"i'm overwhelmed! do you think aisle ten heard—"

"han."

he laughs so hard he nearly folds in half before cupping your face with both hands like you're something impossibly precious.

one kiss lands on your forehead. another. and another. then your nose. then your cheek. Then he leans his forehead against yours, still smiling so hard his eyes have practically disappeared.

"cool. was getting worried there for a sec." as if there had ever been a universe where the answer would've been anything else.

oh and he absolutely insists on buying celebration ice cream afterward !! because love deserves dessert .. and while paying, he proudly tells the cashier he's having, "the best monday of my life!"

lix ಄

it's one of those slow mornings where the apartment hasn't quite woken up yet, the coffee is still brewing somewhere behind you, birds chatter lazily outside the window, and sunlight spills across the kitchen floor in warm little patches neither of you bothers to step around.

somewhere along the way, your relationship had quietly become domestic .. neither of you ever noticed when it happened.

his jacket permanently lives on the back of your chair now. your hair ties have mysteriously claimed every surface of his apartment. he knows exactly how much sugar goes into your coffee without asking, and you already know he'll spend the next ten minutes complaining about being cold despite stubbornly wearing shorts every single morning.

you're standing over the stove, trying to flip eggs with the concentration of someone operating heavy machinery. meanwhile .. he's attached to your back, completely, like dora the explorer’s particularly affectionate backpack that refuses to be removed.

"lix," you laugh, trying to rescue breakfast before it becomes scrambled by force. "move! you're literally making me cook with an extra fifty-six kilos."

"i'm helping."

"you're hugging my waist."

"exactly!"

his arms tighten ever so slightly, cheek nestled comfortably between your shoulder blades, his sleepy voice rumbling softly against your shirt while he lazily sways the both of you from side to side. with this big baby, physical touch isn't even a love language, it's closer to a biological necessity.

eventually you manage to turn around, spatula still in hand, and immediately have to bite back a laugh.

his freckles still peek through the morning puffiness dusting his cheeks, his hair has surrendered entirely to sleep, sticking up in impossible directions, and his eyes are barely open beneath heavy lids. it's deeply unfair that someone could look this pretty at nine in the morning. what a sunshine.

"you're staring," he says.

"you look weird."

"you kissed me first this morning."

"that was charity."

he gasps dramatically, heart lips parting in betrayal. "mean."

you grin and reach up to fix the strand of hair sticking out. and because he's felix, because he's too soft for his own good, because affection leaks out of him constantly .. he catches your wrist and kisses your palm without thinking.

"thanks for taking care of me," he mumbles.

"i made eggs, fefe."

"you always take care of me."

you shrug. "you take care of me too."

his expression changes a little, and he pulls you closer until your stomach presses against the counter.

"i love you."

silence, his eyes widen immediately after, and you blink. then he blinks. the eggs start burning.

"oh my god," he says, voice dropping lower from panic. "wait. wait—i mean—i do mean it—but i wasn't— not that i wasn't trying to—"

"felix."

"i wanted it to be cooler than this, guys."

"the eggs are smoking."

"okay, this is horrible." you start laughing so hard you bend forward while his hands cover his face.

"i ruined it."

"no you didn't."

"you didn't say it back," he whispers through his fingers; so you grab his wrists and pull them away.

the smile reaches you before the words do, small, sleepy and softer than the morning light pouring through the kitchen window. "i love you too, sunshine."

for a moment, he just stares. it's almost funny how visibly his entire face changes, like someone reached inside him and turned every light on at once. his eyes grow impossibly round, freckles lifting with the biggest smile you've ever seen.

"really?"

"no," you deadpan. "i just enjoy emotional torture."

he gasps dramatically before immediately launching himself at you. his arms wrap around your waist so tightly your feet nearly leave the floor, the hug so enthusiastic it squeezes a tiny squeak out of you.

he buries his face into the curve of your neck with an utterly shameless grin."say it again," he mumbles, his voice warm against your skin.

"you're clingy."

"correct." he doesn't even deny it.

"again."

you laugh quietly, fingers disappearing into his impossibly messy hair, absentmindedly smoothing down strands that refuse to listen. "i love you."

his answer comes in kisses, one against your cheek, then another, then another, and another. until you've completely lost count somewhere around seven.

he finally pulls back just enough to look at you, still smiling with that impossibly bright, sunshine sort of happiness that makes it feel like the whole apartment has become warmer. "cool," he says softly. "now we can be disgusting together."

you glance over his shoulder. ".. the eggs are dead."

he follows your gaze to the pan, where breakfast has long since surrendered to its fate. without even looking concerned, he simply shrugs, stealing one more quick kiss before resting his forehead against yours.

"we have love."

" .. love doesn't scrape burnt eggs off the pan."

"no," he says with complete confidence.

"but i will."

.. he absolutely does not.

the pan ends up soaking in the sink for the rest of the day while the two of you eat cereal on the couch instead, still tangled up together as though breakfast had never really been the point in the first place.

seung ಄

with seungmin... it happens because you're unbelievably annoying.

"...can you stop following me?"

"i'm walking to your kitchen, seung."

"you've been in my personal space for fourteen minutes."

"you hugged me??"

"i regretted it immediately."

"liar."

"i regret this conversation."

he clicks his tongue with the sort of long-suffering sigh reserved exclusively for you, watching as you laugh your way into his kitchen and open a cupboard without so much as asking,like you live there. which, at some point .. you sort of started to.

his varsity hangs neatly over the back of a dining chair, the very same one you stole two days ago and only returned because he’d begun sending dramatically edited missing person posters to your dms, complete with reward money and blurry surveillance photos.

somehow, his cereal has quietly become your cereal. his couch permanently wears your favorite shawl. his apartment carries the faint, comforting scent of your shampoo, tucked between fresh laundry and morning coffee.

you've settled into his life so naturally that neither of you can remember when it stopped being his place and started feeling like somewhere the both of you simply belonged. now you're balanced precariously on your tiptoes, reaching for the highest shelf because, for reasons known only to kim seungmin, every snack worth eating appears to be stored at nba-player height. which is weird because your boyfriend is barely 5 '11.

"i got it."

"no, i—"

"i said i got it."

"you literally can't see over my hea—"

"oh my god."

he walks behind you with the biggest sigh known to mankind, one hand resting on your waist without thinking while the other reaches above your head.

"so dramatic," you mutter, stretching another inch toward the top shelf. "do you keep these here so you stretch and grow taller or something?"

"says the minion risking a concussion for gummy bears."

"you would've caught that minion."

".. yeah."

it slips out so easily it almost disappears into the quiet. for just a second, neither of you says anything. you finally manage to grab the packet, nearly losing your balance in victory, before turning around with a triumphant grin.

and find him already looking at you. his hair is still hopelessly messy from this morning. the sleeves of his hoodie are pushed carelessly up his forearms, and he's wearing that expression; the one that's impossibly soft, the one he never realizes he's making whenever he forgets to guard his face around you.

"what?"

"hm?"

"you're staring."

he blinks once, as though you'd pulled him back into the room. "you have gummy bear dust on your cheek."

you look down at the unopened packet in your hand. ".. i literally haven't opened them."

".. oh."

you raise an eyebrow. "so you're just making shit up."

he clears his throat with all the composure of someone whose dignity has just packed its bags and left. "i panicked."

"you panicked?" there's the tiniest pause.

".. i didn't expect you to catch me."

you can't help smiling, "catching you doing what?"

"..."

"..."

"loving you."

silence. real, actual silence. he blinks once. then immediately groans. "...ah."

you blink.

"i wasn't supposed to say it like that."

"you—"

"i know."

"you literally just—"

"i know."

"you said—"

"i love you, yeah.. gosh."

his ears are turning pink so fast it's almost impressive, "i was gonna be cool one day."

"you?" you're trying so hard not to laugh. "cool?"

"i had a whole image."

"you never had an image, kim."

"i had potential."

"no, you had delusion."

"can you focus? i'm having a vulnerable moment."

"you confessed because i had imaginary gummy bear dust on my face."

"i told you i panicked."

the smile you're trying to hold back loses immediately. you laugh so hard you have to grab his arm, and he looks offended for exactly two seconds before the corners of his own mouth betray him.

"you're such an idiot. ‘ohmy, my precious y/n, you caught me being in love with you~~"

"mo, please .."

you shake your head, looking up at him. "i love you too."

".. yeah?"

"mhm."

"no hesitation?"

"i've been waiting for you."

" .. seriously?"

"you almost said it when i fell asleep on your shoulder."

" .. don't expose me."

"and when you got sick."

" .. delete those memories."

"and after we argued over whether cereal is soup."

"it isn't."

"it doesn't matter."

"it matters to history."

you reach up and cup his face anyway, he pretends to be inconvenienced for exactly half a second before leaning into your hand without realizing it.

" .. you're smiling," you whisper.

"i'm not."

"you have dimples."

".. those are structural."

you laugh again, and he rolls his eyes, muttering something about how you're lucky you're cute, but his arms have already found their place around your waist. "you know," he murmurs into your hair, voice low and syrup-soft now that you're close enough to hear it properly, "next time i say something life-changing .."

"hm?"

".. can you try not to laugh in my face?"

you grin against his shoulder, "no promises."

"oh well .. still love you though." and this time, he says it on purpose.

iyen ಄

so, it happens because of a lizard, at exactly seven-thirteen in the morning.

" .. jeongin." silence.

" .. jeongin."

another sleepy little grunt disappears into the pillow beside you.

"yang jeongin."

"hm."

"don't move."

"...why."

his voice is still tangled in sleep, low and raspy, words muffled against the pillow. black hair sticks up in every impossible direction, sunlight catching the stubborn strands falling over his forehead. without opening his eyes, he reaches across the bed until his hand finds your waist, like it always does.

his arm curls around you automatically, pulling you into his chest with the ease of someone whose body had memorized yours long before he ever consciously did.

"mm, baby, you're cold."

you don't respond. your eyes remain locked on one horrifying spot above the bed.

".. i'm about to be dead.

"that finally earns half of his attention. ".. what?"

you swallow dramatically. "there is a beast."

one eye slowly cracks open. ".. where? me?"

with all the courage of someone preparing to deliver their final testimony, you lift one trembling finger, and point toward the ceiling. "there."

he blinked. "baby, that's a lizard. a tiny one at that."

"tiny?" your voice cracks in disbelief. "it has a tail!"

".. it came with it."

"do something!"

"i just woke up!"

"jeongin!"

"i've been conscious for twelve seconds!"

"well be conscious faster!"

he sighs, rubbing both hands over his face before looking back up. ".. okay."

the lizard moved. and so did you.

except the lizard made considerably better decisions. your scream tore through the apartment; a full-body horror-movie one that was pulled directly from your soul.

before jeongin has time to process anything, you're already airborne .. one frantic scramble, one spectacularly uncoordinated leap, and somehow, against every law of physics .. you end up squarely on top of your very bewildered boyfriend.

"woah—" his reflexes woke up long before the rest of him did.

strong hands catch your waist without hesitation, steadying you before your panicked escape attempt sends both of you flying off the bed. 

the mattress bounces beneath you. his hair is still adorably messy, and sleep lingers in the softness of his eyes. all while his bare chest is warm beneath your trembling hands, the morning sun pouring through the curtains in quiet ribbons of gold that stretch across broad shoulders and the gentle definition of his abs. the light catches against his skin so unfairly that, under any other circumstance, you probably would've stared.

meanwhile, you remained completely oblivious .. your entire soul was still somewhere near the ceiling.

he blinked once, then looked past your shoulder. then back at you.

"you scared it, baby."

“it fucking scared me!"

he started laughing, dimples out, shoulders shaking, eyes disappearing into fox eyes while you clung onto him like your life depended on it.

"you are actually unbelievable."

"stop laughing!"

"i can't."

"i'm serious!"

"so am i."

"jeongin!"

"baby, i think it's more afraid of you."

"good."

another glance toward the ceiling, and the lizard had disappeared .. so, every ounce of colour immediately drains from your face.

" .. where the fuck did it go?"

you both slowly looked around the room.

"jeongin."

".. yeah?"

"if it touches me, i'm passing away."

he sighs with theatrical exhaustion.

"okay .." before you can question him, both hands tighten around your waist. he stands up effortlessly, taking you with him. your legs instinctively tighten around his waist.

you don't even notice you've wrapped yourself around him until you're suddenly eye level with the top shelves.

"you are not helping."

"i'm relocating the hostage."

"i am the hostage."

"i know."

he walked around the room carrying you like you weighed absolutely nothing, opening curtains, checking behind the wardrobe, under the desk.

"you've gotten suspiciously strong."

"i work out."

"you show off every chance you get."

he hums, "you noticed."

"i regret noticing."

"mhm."

"you smell nice."

".. thank you?"

"i hate that this is romantic."

his laugh rumbles through his chest, and because you're pressed so closely against him, you feel every bit of it, "i'm fighting for our lives, baby."

"you're conducting a lizard inspection shirtless."

"did you want me to put a shirt on first?"

"..."

".. actually no."

he grins, "thought so."

after another minute of searching, he notices the tiny culprit disappearing through the slightly open balcony door. "there."

he watches it disappear outside before sliding the door shut with one hand and turns back to you. "you can let go now, angel."

".. no."

"you've still got both legs around me."

"i know."

"my circulation misses me."

"you'll live."

he looked at you for a second before smiling, that stupid, ridiculously cute smile with his dimples making an appearance. "so dramatic."

"you love it."

"i really do."

the words left his mouth so naturally that neither of you registered them, until you both froze.

".."

his ears turned pink first. ".. well."

".. well."

you blinked. "you .. what?"

he rubbed the back of his neck with the hand that wasn't supporting you. ".. i said it."

"you did."

"i wasn't .. planning to."

"i know."

".. you don't have to say it back just because—"

"i love you too."

his fox eyes softened instantly. ".. yeah?"

you smiled, pressing the quickest kiss against the corner of his mouth. "yeah."

a beat passed, then he ruined the moment.

"So .."

"so?"

"if another lizard shows up,"

"i'm leaving you."

"what?"

"you'll be sacrificed first."

he gasped, "you literally just said you loved me?"

"i do .. but if it's between you and a lizard?" you nodded solemnly, "i'm picking survival."

".. i take it back."

"you can't."

　 ㅤ꯭yani ❤︎ hihello .. FIRST of all this is a collab w my sweet girl @eyisy so make sure to go show her incredible smau ver. a lot love too !! (≧∇≦) moving on~ #comeback x2 because i haven't posted hcs in a WHILE ! can we all please cheer i'm in my active era starting today づ. ◟マ + i hope we like the new theme and layout !!

HEARTLIST 𑄝੭ @its-stayville-forever @box-troll @woozarts @katsukis1wife @nctly @reignessance @peskybirdysya @honeyybbuubblleess @ellemir2404 @4ng3l-ch1ld @urlocalmultigroupfan @ashtxrie @minlixyaoi @shuuporanglinos @bobaluvzz @yourfavoriteakutagawakinnie @mhluvie @channieschocco @m-325 @my-neurodivergent-world @unbel1ve4ble @cowboylikemalika @jeonginsbae @pansexual-and-eating-pancakes @tricky-ritz @mangojellyyy @coquettecookiestay143 @hwangjoanna @jjuniebinnie @queenofdumbfuckery @wheresangel @warped-rabbithole @amarecerasus @straykiisses @hyunnerism @alisonyus @bangingchanxx @simpqueen2025 @pillbaby-main @chuahuahua @wheresangel @firstclassjaylee @shinwonderful @lolawritesforlove @hyunjinniemylove @babrieeee @midnite-fiction @eyisy @itsraininghyunebuckets @satan-223 @mikachux3 @itsraininghyunebuckets @lovelyjinirets @written-by-music ❤︎ get added!

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do not repost, copy, or feed my work to a.i. leave a like, comment & reblog to support the author. ♡ׁ◜ o ◝݂ ྀི১

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Hey friends I hope you guys enjoyed boyfriend Chan fan fic Ik I do but guys my birthday is in two days slowly entering adulthood is crazy but life goes on ok baiii💋

಄ more fake texts

The next page held a table of contents, and even that was no light reading with headings and subheadings galore.

"The NDA protects me," Chan answered as you skimmed. "This isn't really the same thing."

"It looks pretty similar," you muttered. Only difference was that he'd chosen a far better font.

"I promise it isn't," he swore. "The NDA is there because of my job. This would've existed even if I wasn't an idol."

You glanced up at him briefly, acknowledging that, before flipping to the next page where a Purpose heading stared back at you.

The purpose of this agreement is to establish expectations, boundaries, responsibilities, and procedures regarding the private relationship between the undersigned parties...

(To be honest, you skipped most of the rest as it turned into legal jargon. If it was truly important, you trusted that Chan would put it in bold or underline it.)

The Background section began on the next page. Just at a glance, you could tell it was long. You peeked at the following pages to see that it spanned at least three. Even without reading you could tell Chan had recorded and written down every single little thing that had led to this moment. You were simultaneously horrified, impressed, and endeared.

"I'll let you read," he said after clearing his throat, pushing himself away from the table to go busy himself elsewhere. "Let me know if you have any questions. I'll just be... around."

He walked out of the dining area, presumably to pace around and likely clean things that were pretty spotless to start with. He did the same thing whenever he sat you down to listen to his working tracks. For all his accolades, he still struggled with being judged.

You sighed and looked back down.

The parties have maintained a close personal relationship for approximately three years and seven months. During that period, said relationship has evolved beyond the parameters of a typical friendship while remaining undefined in nature.

You snorted.

(He'd go to his grave refusing to say the words friends-with-benefits.)

Over the last twenty-two months, the parties have developed a pattern of communication significantly exceeding that of a conventional friendship. Relevant examples include but are not limited to: • A daily average of 127 text messages exchanged over a twelve-month period.¹

No wonder your battery was always dead.

You read the associated footnote:

¹ This figure excludes social media interactions, shared videos, and communication conducted through group chats.

Jesus Christ.

You made a mental note to ask how he'd calculated that later.

• The parties have established a pattern of prioritizing one another during periods of personal, professional, or emotional distress.

He provided in depth examples that led you on a nice stroll down memory lane.

There was the time he'd driven an hour out of the city because you'd texted him that your tire was flat. He hadn't known how to change said tire, but you learned together on YouTube once he got there.

The time you'd left a family gathering early because he'd had a rough week and sounded exhausted over the phone. This one had been for mostly selfish reasons, if you were being honest. You'd needed a good excuse to get away from your meddling aunts and uncles. But Chan had clearly thought it was a knight-in-shining-armor moment.

The time he'd cancelled plans with half his friend group to sit in an emergency room with you for six hours after a particularly unfortunate encounter with a paring knife (‘Who even uses those?’ he’d asked you). You remembered that one particularly well, mostly because you still had the scar and also because he'd spent the entire night arguing with the nurse about whether you needed more pain medication. The nurse had eventually started addressing questions to him instead of you.

Additionally, both parties have repeatedly engaged in behavior generally inconsistent with established social expectations regarding platonic relationships: • Consistently selecting seating arrangements that resulted in unnecessary physical proximity. • Maintaining physical contact for extended periods without apparent necessity. • Utilizing personal pet names not commonly employed when addressing other friends. • Sharing most, if not all, streaming accounts across personal devices. • Repeated instances of third parties incorrectly assuming the parties were romantically involved.²

According to the footnote, apparently there had been twenty-three separate incidents (that you guys knew of).

While the aforementioned behaviors may individually be explained through circumstances, context, or existing friendship dynamics, the frequency and intensity of such behaviors has increased significantly within the last six months. Over the previous six-month period, the parties have spent an average of four nights per week in one another's residences.

Four? That couldn't possibly be right.

But the more you thought about it... yeah. Yeah, you did spend quite a bit of time 'round his, and he at yours.

The parties have increasingly demonstrated an expectation of access to one another's personal space without prior arrangement or invitation. Examples include entering residences without knocking, possession of spare keys, and taking up space in refrigerators and dressers without permission. The parties have repeatedly defaulted to one another as primary companions for events, activities, and experiences generally associated with romantic partners. Documented examples include, but are not limited to, the following: a. June 18, 2025 – Kim Family Summer Barbecue The Second Party attended a family event hosted by the First Party despite having no familial obligation to do so. The Second Party remained at the event for approximately eight (8) hours and was subsequently included in multiple family photographs. Note: Three (3) separate relatives later inquired as to the status of the relationship. The parties elected not to answer directly. b. October 27, 2025 – Halloween Event Attendance The parties arrived at the event separately but departed together. Additionally, the parties coordinated what could only be described as a stereotypical 'couples costume'. Photographic evidence attached in Appendix C. c. February 14, 2026 – Valentine's Day Dinner The parties attended dinner together after both independently claimed they had "no plans." The reservation was made three (3) weeks in advance. Neither party acknowledged the significance of the date. The drafting party believes this avoidance was deliberate. d. April 6, 2026 – Coastal Weekend Trip The parties traveled approximately four (4) hours to attend a weekend festival. A total of six (6) hotel rooms were available to the larger group. The parties nevertheless elected to share one (1). When questioned regarding this decision, both parties stated it was "easier." No further explanation was provided.

You turned the page.

The next divider was blue and the tab sticking out from the side read: Current Relationship Status.

Following a review of the circumstances outlined in Section II (Background), the drafting party has determined that the current state of the relationship is no longer sustainable in its present form. The relationship currently operates within a space that informally incorporates many of the benefits, expectations, and behavioral patterns commonly associated with romantic partnerships while simultaneously refusing to acknowledge or define said arrangements. The drafting party further notes that continued reliance on phrases such as "we're just friends," "it's not like that," and "don't make it weird" has become increasingly ineffective. While friendship remains a significant component of the relationship, it is the opinion of the drafting party that friendship alone no longer accurately describes the current circumstances. Furthermore, existing attraction between the parties has been acknowledged repeatedly and by both parties. Recent events have rendered continued ambiguity increasingly impractical. On May 14, 2026, the parties mutually agreed to pursue a physical relationship. Subsequent discussions resulted in a mutual decision to explore said relationship in a manner intended to preserve the existing friendship while allowing for physical intimacy. The drafting party acknowledges that this arrangement was initially viewed as a practical solution to circumstances already present. However, further review has revealed several concerns. Primary concern: The proposed arrangement assumes the existence of a friendship capable of remaining unchanged. Accordingly, the drafting party believes it would be irresponsible to proceed under the assumption that physical involvement represents the sole objective of this agreement.

The next heading read:

Risk Assessment

The drafting party has identified several risks associated with proceeding under the framework of a purely physical arrangement. Risk #1: Existing Behavioral Patterns The parties already engage in activities commonly associated with romantic relationships. As a result, distinguishing between "friends engaging in physical intimacy" and "romantic partners" may prove operationally difficult. Risk #2: Escalation The drafting party has concerns regarding the assumption that feelings, expectations, or attachment levels will remain static following the introduction of physical intimacy. Historical evidence suggests the opposite outcome is more likely.

Apparently "historical evidence" referred to every previous attempt either of you had made to draw boundaries when every single one had failed. The friendship had simply absorbed the boundary and kept moving.

No overnight stays. Failed.

No calling after midnight. Failed.

No introducing each other to family members. Failed.

No becoming emergency contacts. Failed.

No kissing. Failed (spectacularly).

You found yourself smiling, mostly because you'd forgotten half of these were supposed to be boundaries in the first place. They were just a part of who you were together now.

The drafting party respectfully submits that the relationship has demonstrated a troubling tendency to become more serious whenever efforts are made to prevent it from doing so. Risk #3: The Drafting Party The drafting party has attempted to evaluate this proposal from a practical perspective. This effort has been largely unsuccessful.

The next divider was green, and the tab read: Conclusions and Recommendations.

Following review of the circumstances outlined herein, the drafting party submits the following conclusions: Conclusion 1: The relationship ceased to qualify as a conventional friendship some time ago. Conclusion 2: Existing emotional investment between the parties exceeds that which would reasonably be expected from a casual physical arrangement. Conclusion 3: The introduction of physical intimacy is unlikely to simplify the relationship and may, in fact, complicate matters considerably. Conclusion 4: The parties are already operating under many of the expectations commonly associated with a committed romantic relationship.

Recommendation: That the parties discontinue efforts to maintain an artificial distinction between friendship, physical intimacy, and romantic attachment, and instead acknowledge the relationship for what it has already become.

You turned the page. The final sheet was almost entirely blank with a short blurb at the top.

Proposed Agreement The undersigned parties hereby agree to enter into an exclusive romantic relationship and to approach said relationship with honesty, communication, mutual respect, and a willingness to stop making things unnecessarily complicated.

For a moment, you simply stared at it.

The entire binder had essentially been building toward this, and you'd figured that out pretty early in the game. Twenty-something pages of supporting evidence only for Chan to arrive at the pièce de résistance that could have easily fit into a text message. He had never been the type to do anything halfway, though, and apparently that included asking someone to be his girlfriend.

Anyone could buy flowers. Anyone could plan a fancy dinner. It took a very specific kind of person to create a thirty-page report proving he had feelings for someone.

Your gaze drifted further down the page.

The signature section occupied the bottom half. There were lines for signatures, dates, and initials, naturally. You would have been more surprised if there hadn't been.

The left side had already been completed.

You recognized Chan's signature (and not the one he used for autographs—his true signature), the familiar looping handwriting sitting neatly on the line beneath his printed name, Christopher Chahn Bahng. Next to it sat the date he'd signed it, which was yesterday, presumably the day he'd printed it all out. Below that, pressed into the corner with bright red ink, was a dojang stamp.

The only blank line left was yours.

Your eyes lifted toward the kitchen. He was out of sight, but you could almost sense him freaking out in there, probably biting his fingernails down to nubs.

"Is this why you never let me play games on your laptop?" you called, flipping through the appendices that followed the signature page. You smiled, seeing screenshots of text threads, pictures of you both engaging in what was indubitably PDA, and even a transcript of a drunken voicemail you left him (he really had no mercy). "You were afraid I'd see this sitting in your docs?"

Chan appeared in the doorway, and you nearly laughed in his face.

You'd known him for years. You'd seen him perform in front of thousands of people. You'd seen him handle interviews, negotiations, deadlines, and more stressful situations than you could count.

And yet, you had never seen him look quite this embarrassed.

His face was bright red, from his ears all the way down to his neck.

"You know," you said, resting a hand on Exhibit E-7 (a scan of a photobooth strip where you kissed his cheek), "most people just ask."

"I know." Chan rubbed the back of his neck. "In my defense, I wasn't planning for it to get that long. The first draft truly was just about sex."

Your interest piqued as you straightened brightly. "Can I read that one?"

"Absolutely not."

You'd read it someday, with enough needling. But that could only happen if you signed the new dotted line he'd provided you with.

Poor you.

You picked up the fountain pen he'd dropped off with the binder earlier, and you saw his eyes follow your hand. You leafed through the pages with deliberate slowness, letting the them fall into place until the signature sheet was visible again.

You brought the pen down near the signature line. The tip touched the paper for half a second, and you felt his breath catch in a way he probably didn't realize was audible... and you lifted the pen again, leaned back in your chair, and smiled to yourself.

He closed his eyes for a brief moment, and you knew he was physically trying to remain patient. When he opened them again, he looked more resigned than anything else. "If you have a question, just ask it."

You glanced up at him. "Just one?"

"I will answer as many questions as you like," he said kindly, though his smile looked strained.

You considered that for a moment and proceeded to abuse the privilege.

"Okay. First question."

Chan nodded.

"What changes?"

His expression softened slightly, probably because that was a real question. "Not much, honestly."

"Christopher." You raised an eyebrow.

"I'm serious." He stepped further into the dining room, resting a shoulder against the wall. "We already spend most of our time together. We already know each other's families. We already have keys to each other's apartments."

"All true."

"We already act like..." He trailed off.

"A couple?" you supplied.

"Yeah," he admitted, the word visibly giving him a shiver. "That. It’s merely an official label."

"Okay." You smiled to yourself and looked back down at the signature page. "Follow-up question."

"Go ahead." He sighed.

"If not much changes, why does this matter so much?"

That wiped the amusement clean off his face.

Yes, okay, you were aware that your words were unnecessarily combative. But you were always told to get all the info before signing anything to avoid scammers (of course, Chan was not a scammer, but the it’s the principle of the thing).

For a moment, he was quiet. Not because he didn't have an answer—he always had an answer. But he was probably writing it out in his head, reading it over and fixing typos.

Eventually, he exhaled. "Because the whole point of a casual arrangement is that it's temporary. There's an understanding that it isn't permanent. Maybe someone starts dating someone else. Maybe feelings change. Maybe life gets busy. Maybe somebody decides they're done."

You stared at him and he stared right back.

"I don't want to build something with an expiration date." He practically stared right into the depths of your soul. "Not with you."

"You think I'm going somewhere?" you asked through the raging beat of your heart.

"I don't wanna risk it," he said.

You stared back at him for a moment, and then another. And somewhere between one heartbeat and the next, the smile that had been threatening at the corners of your mouth finally won.

Chan must have noticed with the way his shoulders loosened considerably. The poor man had probably been monitoring your facial expressions the same way he'd monitored the rest of your relationship. You'd have to tell him to take it easy once in a while, seriously.

You picked up the fountain pen again and held it over the page. You debated asking one teeny tiny last question, but finally deciding you'd tortured him enough for one evening, you lowered the pen to the paper.

You took your time. Partly because fountain pens were difficult, partly because if you were going to sign a relationship contract, your signature was going to look nice. (It was never too early to practice for the marriage license, right?)

The nib glided across the paper, and by the end of it, your name sat neatly next to his.

For a moment, you simply looked at it.

At his name.

At yours.

They looked good together.

You leaned back in your chair, admiring your work for a second more before reaching for the cap of the pen, when suddenly the chair lurched and scraped backwards.

You yelped, unbalanced.

"What the—"

Chan had somehow crossed the entire room in a single instant, one hand gripping the back of your chair as he dragged it away from the table with the strength of a hundred men.

"Chris!"

The laugh barely made it out of your mouth before he was kissing you, and any witty comment you might have had disappeared immediately.

You and Chan had kissed plenty (particularly in the last couple months, but even before then too), so you thought you were familiar with his kissing, with his lips, by now.

Oh, how wrong you were.

He was hungry. Just utterly starved. That was the only way you could describe it.

He kissed you deeply, completely, as though he intended to make up for every moment he'd spent second-guessing himself over the last few months.

His hand slid from the back of the chair to your jaw, thumb brushing briefly against your cheek as he leaned down further.

The angle forced your chin up, and he followed instinctively, deepening the kiss until your fingers (which had long since dropped the pen somewhere on the ground) found the front of his shirt just to steady yourself. The fabric twisted beneath your grip, but he didn't seem to notice. If anything, he leaned into you more, crowding you in the chair until the dining room, the binder, the table—all of it—fell away.

You could feel the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth even as he kissed you.

When he finally broke away, it lasted all of half a heartbeat before he was back again, stealing another kiss that was somehow softer than the first without being any less consuming. You laughed quietly against his lips, the sound muffled between you, and he answered with another grin you could feel more than see.

Somewhere in the back of your mind, a thought surfaced.

Sealing deals must really get him going.

permanent taglist: @niku0704 @irikara (wasn't sure if you wanted to be on the general taglist or just for the seungmin series so erred on the side of caution lol lmk if you don't want to be on this taglist)

Your mom always liked to tell you the story of when your first soulmark appeared.

You hadn’t been born with a soulmark, which wasn’t uncommon by any means. Not only were there plenty of soulmarks that weren’t visible, but soulmarks didn’t appear until both people were alive. This meant if you had a soulmate who was younger than you, you wouldn’t get the mark until they were born.

You’d been less than a year old and she’d been giving you a bubble bath when she noticed something on your waist. Google translate wasn’t readily available at that age, but she was able to recognize it as an asian script.

You’d find out later that it was Korean, but she didn’t know that at the time.

That story was always paired with the shock your mother experienced when you got two more soulmarks, nearly back to back, two years later. There was the timer on your left wrist, and the date and time of someone's birth on your right.

The final mark came the following year when one of your eyes switched colors.

At least, that was the last physical mark. The others had been harder to figure out, but, by your count, you had a total of 8 soulmates.

You knew it was a large number. Sure, polysoulmates were a thing, but they were largely uncommon. Looking back, you were just grateful that your aunt was part of a four-way bond. She was someone who understood and normalized it, which passed to your parents, too. 

Your parents always told you it was a blessing to have so much love in your future, though they warned you of some who might be mad at you for having so many.

“Don't let them get to you,” your father told you, “They're just jealous and don't understand the blessing you have.” 

Your blessing included the fact that you were able to semi-communicate with 3 of your soulmates. One of them through your dreams, one by writing on your skin, and the last by looking in the mirror. 

The first time you'd gone into the bathroom as a kid and saw a young boy staring back at you had been quite a fright. You'd been convinced you somehow turned into a boy, but when your mother assured you she didn't see anyone, you eventually concluded it must be your soulmate. 

The second of the three that you found out about was the soulmate you shared your skin with. You'd decided to doodle on your hands one day while playing with markers and eventually felt a tingling sensation as you watched someone else write back. The two of you mostly communicated with drawings and colors, once you realized you didn't share a native tongue, but as you grew older you communicated better, too.

It was through your dreams that you finally pushed to learn another language. You were in elementary school when you first met the other boy. Once again, you didn't share a language, but it was still fun playing with him. When you told your mom about it, she determined that you needed a language tutor to help you out.

“The universe is giving you a heads up, it's okay to take this into your own hands so you can speak with your soulmates plainly,” she told you. She'd always been a big proponent of letting the universe do its thing, sharing stories of how she and your father met through happenstance. Their mark was one where their skin changed color the first time they touched. 

“I wouldn't trade that moment for the world,” she told you with a fond smile on her face.

It wasn't uncommon for schools to have connections with language tutors. This was primarily to help those children who had soulmates that spoke a different language than them. You were lucky to find a tutor that not only was able to teach you Korean, but helped you learn sign language, too.

That had been your idea when trying to think of ways to communicate with your mirror soulmate. The two of you had slowly discovered that you couldn't see anything the other person was holding, only the person and whatever clothes were on their body. Since you couldn’t hear each other, either, the only option left was sign language.

The soulmate that took you the longest to figure out had been your pain soulmate. 

Your mom said that as a kid you'd sometimes cry out or clutch onto different body parts despite not having any visible injuries. Most of it had been brushed off as growing pains, or you simply being unable to articulate what had happened to get you hurt.

You honestly hadn't even considered it could be soulmate related until one day you woke up clutching your leg in pain. It felt like you'd just slid across asphalt on your bare legs, but you'd been lying in bed, so that surely wasn't the case. Your friends asked you about it at school when they noticed you being ginger with your leg.

“Can't some soulmates feel each others’ pain?” One of your friends asked. 

So… 8 soulmates it was: reflection, first words, dreams, shared skin, date of birth, timer, pain, and switched eyes.

As you grew up, so did they. There were times when you'd been tempted to try and figure out exactly who they were, but you ultimately didn't want to. You and your boys had agreed early on that you wouldn't share any details that could let you find each other sooner.

“It's supposed to be fate, right? I don't wanna force this to happen. I want to meet when we're supposed to,” you'd explained to Changbin in a dream one night. 

He nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense.” He smiled. “I'm sure fate will bring us together at the best time.”

Though, you'd all agreed that if you didn't meet before age 30, perhaps you could give fate a nudge.

You'd also been open and honest with them about having multiple soulmates. Turns out, all three of the boys you could talk with did, too. It made you feel better that they understood and weren't upset with you for it.

Plus, if you were lucky… maybe you were all connected. 

When you were in high school, though, something shifted. Chris, Changbin, and Hyunjin all admitted to having found some of their other soulmates. 

It was too close together to be a coincidence, but you didn't ask for more details, and they didn't offer them. 

It was what you agreed on. 

You knew Chris had talked about going abroad to try pursuing music, and he mentioned having to learn another language, too. 

You were happy for them all, you truly were, but as a teen it niggled at your brain.

Why did they get to meet their other soulmates first? Why did you have to wait? 

There were times when it ate at your self esteem. You weren't good enough yet. You didn't deserve them. All these thoughts swirled around in your head.

Hyunjin didn't write as much. You and Changbin rarely got to share dreams as it was but now it seemed even more sporadic. 

And you hadn't seen Chris in months. 

This was what fate wanted, clearly. 

Hyunjin suddenly asking you not to write in visible places anymore was what broke you.

“Are you trying to hide me from your other soulmates?” You wrote back furiously. 

“What? No! I promise,” he scribbled back.

“Then if you don't want to talk to me anymore you can just say so.”

“Y/N, I always want to talk to you.”

Before you could respond you felt the familiar tingle of more writing being added.

“I'm sorry I've been so busy. You told me you didn't want too many details but )): it's a big opportunity. I don't want to hide you, but I also need to be discreet now.”

You sighed. He was right, even though you'd both agreed upon it, it still hurt a little. 

“Okay, I'm sorry too. I miss you.”

“Miss you too )): I promise to write more, okay? You're my soulmate, too.”

And that had been the tipping point. Next time you saw Chris and Changbin respectively, you talked about it with them, too. They also apologized and swore they didn't mean to make you feel excluded.

“I'm sure there's a reason we haven't met yet,” Changbin said as the two of you sat in a park in your dreams. His hand was holding yours, thumb brushing over your skin soothingly. “I… I wish I knew why, but it's not either of our faults, ok? We're supposed to meet, so we will.”

You nodded, resting your head on his shoulder. “I guess I'm just jealous. You and two of my other soulmates have now met some of your other soulmates and I'm just… here.”

You could practically feel Changbin thinking, but he didn't voice it. You didn't know the names of his other soulmates, and he didn't know yours. 

At this rate you didn't want to know. Not if they might all be together without you. 

Things got better after that. You focused on finishing high school, doing martial arts, and applying to colleges. Sometimes you felt bad that you did such a physical sport, considering your soulmate bond, but he definitely did a sport, too, if the pain was anything to go by.

You hoped it was a sport and not something worse. It had to be a sport.

When applying for colleges, a part of you had considered looking at Korea. You were fluent in the language, and it could bring you closer to your soulmates. But after much consideration and multiple applications, you ended up getting accepted into UCLA in their film program. 

Your parents were so proud, and even though you would be moving away from home, they were excited for the new adventure you'd be going on.

Your soulmates were also proud. They didn't know the specific school, but they knew how hard you'd worked to get into it.

As you continued with school, your focus ended up shifting into acting - specifically stunt acting. One of your professors found out you did martial arts and asked you if you'd ever thought about stunt work. It ended up being right up your alley, and you quickly fell in love with the career. It gave you everything you wanted. You loved film making, acting, and doing creative projects with others. Plus you got to feel like a badass the whole time you did it. 

School kept you busy, but you and your boys still talked when you could. It was nice, honestly. You found friends and were following your passions, and you knew it would lead you to them one day.

Of course, what you didn’t expect was that you’d end up finding out about your soulmates through an innocent music recommendation from a friend.

“Have you heard of Stray Kids before?” Lance had asked as he slid into the seat beside you in the mess hall.

You shook your head as you finished chewing your bite of your lunch. “No, but I have a feeling I’m about to.”

He laughed. “Come on, they’re this up and coming K-Pop group. Just check this out.” He passes you an airpod, which you dutifully slip into your ear as he opens up Spotify.

The song starts off slow, talking about being at rock bottom and walking alone through a dark tunnel. You find yourself bobbing your head along with it as it picks up. The group had great vocals.

As the chorus hits and they shift into English, “I’m on a Hellevator,” singing in your ears, Lance leans forward to interrupt your field of view. He has a big grin on his face as he nods excitedly.

“They’re good right? This is their recent compilation album, so it has some of their best hits on it.” He looks excited.

You laugh. “Alright, alright, I promise I’ll check them out more when I get home. Ya know, after I study for finals?”

Lance waves at hand at you dismissively. “Half of that is portfolio stuff, and you've already been getting onto sets. You’re fine. You don’t need to study.”

You stood up, pointing at him as you scooped up your trash from lunch. “I didn’t go to this school for nearly 4 years to flunk out right before the finish line, alright? So I’m gonna study.”

“Just make sure you check them out, too, okay?” He called behind you as you walked away.

You had one more class that day, and then an evening shoot that only lasted a couple hours. But with LA traffic, you still didn't make it home til late that night, the thought of Stray Kids far from your mind as you hurriedly showered and plopped down in your bed to study before crashing for the night.

You didn't have classes the next day, and as you were making your breakfast you found yourself humming Hellevator. You shrugged, typing in the band name on YouTube and deciding to see what you could find.

You were prepared to see some cute boys doing fun dances, what you weren't prepared for was recognizing two of the boys. 

You nearly choked on your cereal as you tried to calm yourself. You looked at the screen again and even decided to google the band, just to be sure.

Chris and Changbin were, indeed, a part of Stray Kids. One of the members was also named Hyunjin, which you knew, at this point, couldn't be a coincidence.

While you and the boys had agreed to not reveal anything directly to each other, this certainly was fate sliding the cards your way. Grabbing one of your skin safe markers, you hurriedly wrote a message to Hyunjin before you could talk yourself out of it.

“Are you in Stray Kids?” 

You knew it was fairly late in Korea. Since you'd realized a few of your soulmates were from there, you'd always been conscious of the time difference. Despite the time, you felt a tingling sensation as you got a reply.

“o_o yes. How did you find out?”

You snorted. “I'd say Fate but his actual name is Lance.”

You wrote more before he could reply. “He recommended Hellevator to me and then I looked up videos.”

“But wait, you haven't seen my face..??”

You hesitated for a moment before replying. “Chris and Changbin are also my soulmates. I've seen them before.” 

“!!!!”

You laughed at Hyunjin's excited response. He was quickly writing something else.

“Can I tell Chris and Bin?”

You were gonna tell them anyway, and you knew it'd be a while before you and Changbin crossed paths (since you'd just woken up). Chris was also hard to catch since it was just happenstance when you'd both be at a mirror at the same time.

“Sure :)” you wrote back before you could overthink it. 

He didn't reply again for a bit. You honestly assumed Chris and Changbin were asleep. You continued with your breakfast, the paused YouTube video staring you down.

Were the rest of them your soulmates, too? The numbers certainly added up.

Should you google it?? You could figure out who's birthday was on your wrist probably-

“Chan says go to the mirror?” Hyunjin wrote, interrupting your train of thought. You snorted at his confusion and just sent back a smiley face before heading to your bathroom.

The second you stepped into the sight of the mirror, Chris's gaze was on you. His hands moved rapidly as he signed to you.

“You know about Stray Kids?”

You nodded. “A friend recommended a song to me and I looked you all up. If that's not fate I'm not sure what is.”

He grinned. “So Changbin and Hyunjin too?”

You nodded again, matching his smile. “I recognized you, obviously, and then Changbin. Bin and I share dreams. Hyunjin and I share skin - we can write to each other. It was an educated guess because of you two and him having the right name.”

“Do you think…” he suddenly stopped, furrowing his eyebrows. “How many other soulmates do you have?”

“I have 8 total, so 5 I don't have names for.”

His eyes widened. “Is it…”

You knew what he was thinking. You shrugged. “I mean, honestly, probably, but I just figured this out so I haven't exactly thought about it much.” You glanced at your wrist, frowning slightly. “My timer for one of them still says like 2.5 years, so.”

Chris frowned too. “It just feels like you're so close.”

“You guys are literally across the Pacific.” You pointed out with a smirk. 

He scoffed. “Yeah, but… you know us now.”

You shrugged. “I mean, I still want to find you guys organically, as much as I can. I know, I want to meet you guys, too, but if it's supposed to be a few years from now…”

You saw him sigh. “I know. It's not like we aren't busy, too, but…”

“It still sucks,” you finished. “But we'll find each other when it's right.”

He gave you a small smile. “Yeah, you're right. I'm glad you know, though.” His grin grew. “Now I can tell you more about the boys and what we do next time.”

After talking with Chris before he had to go to bed for the night, you returned to your breakfast with a sigh.

You were graduating this year, and you already had some films you'd been helping on with more lined up in the future. There was so much you were excited for but glancing at your timer, the 2.5 years felt further away than ever.

jeongin didn't know what was different. only that he could feel some kind of aura around you that the other fans couldn't see or sense near you, a luminous ambience that only he could see.

you weren't looking at him. you seemed busy in your own world, trying to breath in properly 'cause you were nervous. he smiled when you turned and saw him staring back at you.

your face loaded for a second, before smiling back, waving calmly. he waved back. your grin was a little bit wider when he did it.

the fan sign continued, none of the fans here—not even his hyungs—that their maknae had a secret agenda now when he saw you, which was to get connected with you.

no matter how risky it was.

when you were finally sat on the table, he was itching to meet you.

he had been reviewing all the ways he could possibly flirt. that wouldn't be too obvious, right? it would just be him doing his duty as an idol to entertain their fans with fanservice.

except when it came to you, the fanservice was teetering a little bit to crossing over to real flirting.

"h-hi, jeongin." you bowed before sitting down.

"hi, there." his gaze followed your every move, smirking. "what's your name?"

you told him your name as you hand out your album to sign, jeongin making sure to graze your fingers a little, the sight of you visually short-circuiting when it happened forever ingrained in his memory for when he wants to smile.

"you have a really pretty face," he signed your album with practiced ease, opening the photobook to sign his photo in there as well, "pretty name too. you're lucky."

"i- hah. . .!" you chuckled awkwardly, flattered as you blinked and thanked him.

"what made you like our group, hm?" he asked, leaning in elbows on the table as he splayed his hands out for you. you stared at them a little confused, before you answer his question.

"i really liked your guys' music. it's pretty alternative to modern pop, so— oh."

feeling a sense of boldness run through him (and slight impatience that you didn't get the hint), he took both your hands in his. jeongin hummed, like this was normal.

jeongin had a sneaking suspicion that his hyung, seungmin, next to him was quite taken aback at his sudden love for skin ship, but he didn't pay him no mind.

not for the remainder of the fan sign, at least.

you held eye contact with him, but only for short periods of time. his smile and sharp gaze making it almost impossible for you to focus when it just made your brain all mushy.

he hummed at your unfinished reply, before asking another question. "you must have a bias then, right?"

"ah, yeah i do!" you say happily, unaware that you were waving your intertwined hands from the positive question.

"is it me?" his fingers squeezed yours a little, anticipating a 'yes'.

"ah, no. . ." you say sheepishly, jeongin letting out a dramatic sigh.

"it's actually bangchan, haha," you say, "sorry, innie-ah."

"too bad. . ." he pouted.

"it's 'cause i have a thing for older guys, yknow?" you try joking, but then he answers you with something you didn't know how to reply to.

"so you wouldn't date a younger guy?"

jeongin's thumbs started to caress the sides of your hands, the action turning your head all fuzzy. if you were calm enough (which you weren't until the end of the fan sign), you would have noticed his sly smirk, obviously flirting with you now.

"i— ha. . . i didn't say that," you smile, tilting your head down as he tries to catch you sight.

"do you not do long distance relationships too?"

"uhm," you tilt your head up, meeting his gaze for a little while, more confused than shy, "n-not really, why?"

'you look really pretty flustered like this, y'know?', is jeongin really wants to say, but with seungmin (who you were talking to before him) starting to look really suspicious, he settles for:

"that's good, then we'd be perfect together."

the timer goes off, and with jeongin being the last member on the end of the table, you're forced to bow your goodbye and walk off, with jeongin's eyes following you until he's forced to interact with the fan in front of him, his smugness from the interaction still lingering.

you, who just exited the venue, had let out a sigh of relief? exhilaration? you aren't sure, but you know damn well your hearts beating really fast.

the hours pass after that, and once you make it home, you wind down and get ready for bed, the signed album and photobook still splayed out on your duvet.

you smile at the event, remembering all of the happenings with the other members, before recalling the last one. your fingers trace jeongin's signature.

looking at the photobook, you open it up and flip through it, looking at the messages that the members left you, you grin at each one, some telling you to eat while the others saying they'd love to see you again.

then, you see jeongins message for you, and your grin drops.

' you don't mind younger guys if it was me, right? call me soon, okay? ~ XXXX - XXX - XXX — y.j ❤︎ '

it was messily written, giving you the impression that he did it quickly, so that no one could see in the photobook that fast. you scoffed in disbelief.

your heart jumped a few beats faster. there it was again. that feeling in your stomach. the odd pull.

you caress your thumb on the ink of the page, lost in thought.

the big question is; will you message, or will you ghost?

ugh skz not having mnl in their tour destinations is making my heart break 💔🥀anyways have some delusional jeongin imagine because i dont see enough about him being written ;D

He knew Chan was in the home studio, working on a song he had been working on with Hyunjin. You were deep cleaning the bathroom. Meaning you were both busy, which could make for a lot of fun finding out who would come to him first. 

Jeongin held up his phone to show the timer. “Okay. Everyone, place your bets now. Who will come to save their Maknae first? Chan or Honey? Dad or Mum? Husband or Wife?” 

Jeongin picked up a shoe and threw it on his desk, making a bang sound. He let out a loud yell before pressing the start button, setting the timer.

There was a beat of silence before footsteps were heard rushing towards his bedroom. The door slammed open, and there you were. Gloves on and a sponge in one hand. 

“Innie, what happened? Are you okay? Are you hurt?” You asked in concern. 

Chan appeared behind you, headphones around his neck, his beanie half falling off his head. “I heard you yell and a bang. If you need help moving something, ask first, please.” 

Jeongin paused the timer and nodded at the live. “They were quick.” He grinned. “But of course, my sweet, pretty wife got to me first. Better luck next time, Channie!” 

Chan’s jaw dropped. “First of all, she’s my wife. Second of all….are you not hurt?” He asked in slight confusion. 

You blinked and put your free hand on your hip. “Why are you timing us?” You asked curiously.

The Maknae turned and smiled at you both. “It was a test, and you both passed with flying colours. I never doubted you for a second.” He smiled brighter as he tried to look innocent to you both. 

Chan sighed and shook his head. “Don’t ever do that again.” He spoke sternly but with a hint of relief. He was just clearly happy that Jeongin wasn’t hurt. 

You bit your bottom lip for a moment. “You scared us, Innie. I thought something had really happened to you.” You pouted at him.

Jeongin melted slightly. “Sorry. But at least Stay know you care.” He shrugged. 

Chan scoffed. “Everyone already knows we care.” He placed a hand on your back and stirred you out of the room. “Come on, I’ll help you finish cleaning the bathroom.” 

You smiled up at him. “That sounds wonderful. I was just starting on tiles.” 

Chan chuckled and shook his head at you. “Alright then, Cinderella. Let me get some gloves, and your Prince Charming will join you.” He leaned down and pecked your lips before leading you away from Jeongin’s room.

Jeongin shook his head as he watched you both disappear from view. He looked at the live. “They are both so strange. Who gets excited over cleaning?” He tutted teasingly as he leaned back in his seat. 

He focused on the live, but in the background, Stay could see you walking back to the room to close Jeongin’s door quietly. 

And of course, Jeongin yelled out a ‘thank you’ to you. The live could faintly hear you yell back a sweet ‘You’re welcome, baby’

Jeongin smirked at the live. “Yeah, that’s right. I’m her baby. Be jealous.”

FamilyDormLover: I love that trend! Honey and Chan were so darn quick! JeongChoneyTruther: Ooooo, is anyone else smelling a Polyamorous thing going on with these three, or is it just me? ChoneyLoveChild: Wait! Chan is actually out of his studio? For real? Oh my gosh!! AussieRachaSeeker: Chan and Honey are actually so incredibly adorable. Him calling her Cinderella, lowkey fits. She’d make a great Cinderella.  YangFoxBread: Not I.N being judgmental over them wanting to clean.  ThreeeeeRachaaaSparkles: Ahhhhh! Jeongin is sooo cute! His hair! His smile! His voice! The way he speaks to them both is hilarious, and not him taking every chance he gets to try to make anyone jealous that he's near Honey, given a nickname by her or for just her existing by her. I love him!!

Thank you for supporting me.

Everything Taglist: @thecheshireprincess @potato-vagina @spanish-delulu-23 @deliciousmagazinequeen @myblovedjyh @alex--awesome--22 @d4ily-s-nsh1ne @hwang97janet @kenzierain01 @elizalabs3 @annaiaweirdokid @afkjade @lezleeferguson-120 @narratedforbutterflies @caylajiang

SKZ Taglist: @bbokarismeow @niku0704 @astrayapple @jinnie-ret @btch8008s @f1ln4dr3cl16mv33 @enhacolor @stay-tiny-things @rougegenshin @that-girl52 @lveegsoi @ferntv @elisabeeee @firstdivisiongirl @thatgirlangelb @filmbypsh @galaxy4489 @christinelily2 @nanycreinoza @casperlikej @weirdgirl541 @mbioooo0000 @trinket-tears @lveegsoi @f1ln4dr3cl16mv33 @written-by-music @alondra6011 @luvvvivi @eos-princess @geekqueensworld @pop-rocks-and-skittles @imma-much-happier-person @skyearby @galaxygurlll @stellasays45 @teffyx @whitejuliana1204 @nic08642 @tricky-ritz  @elizalabs3 @imnotsupposedtobedoingthis @livinglife1516 @its-simply-fanfiction @assassinsasha23 @chimmyn0chu @arasdaydream7 @lovelymoon01 @zealouscookierebeltrash @the-falling-in-the-danger @sabyy @bobcatlivvy @kimsrie @st4rprincess @wildnindigo @theartisticlibrarian @bsk-brn @little-mix-fan-forever @clairementsolo @this-its-just-me @eefje8321 @iconicallyher @emeraldgem22 @rayraymylove @meloentje123 @starrynightviper @noodleboyluke @raizami @iknowhertoo @theaknowsstuff @queenkyoko12 @non3ofurbusiness @artis-artie @larkthemutt @jai-lynne-unknown @viisstrayy @strawberristhings

Lee Know

Changbin

Hyunjin

Han

Felix

Seungmin

I.N.

taglist:

lee know:

changbin:

hyunjin:

Bang Chan

You saw the internet fawning over an interaction of him and a fan?

And now the comments "oh they have so much chemistry" got to your head?

Well, that's crazy

He gotta do something to make you realise you're the only person he thinks about when he hears the word "love"

He'll start by glueing himself to you

And not letting go at all

He truly doesn't want anyone but you, can't even think about it

And he has no problem showing you that

Lee Know

Why would the internet ever do that.

Like, really

He's so fed up with those type of comments 😭

First, he reassures you

He doesn't even remember who people are shipping him with

He couldn't care less

The only thing he cares about is you

If the company can do something to stop those "rumours", Lee Know will ask it to do it

If not, well...

He might or might not post "stop shipping me with random people, I'm a married man" on bubble

Give the internet something worth going crazy for

Changbin

Never in his entire life will he ever do fan service again

Sadly, it's part of the job

He does pose too close to the fans sometimes, and he also "flirts" too

Because he's an idol

But the moment he sees that it impacts you negatively?

Oh hell no

He's never doing that again

On the next contract renewal he's gonna make a clause with "may Seo Changbin never flirt with a fan ever again"

He just wants you to feel secure into this relationship

He wants you to know you're his one and only

Hyunjin

Noooo

He's aware that he has a somewhat flirty nature

So something like this was bound to happen

But noooo

Just the idea of people thinking he looks good with someone ELSE makes him sick

He wants no one other than you

This will never change, you're the only one he could ever think of loving

He will reassure you, won't let you think for even a second that other person even exists

He's incredulous with the internet, sad for you

But why are you lowkey adorable 💔

He's even more in love your honour

Han

Oh, bless him

You were getting insecure with people shipping him and the said can

Since everyone claimed "he couldn't stop looking at them" and "they look just like his type"

And you did not look like them... at all

But communication is key, so you decided to talk about that to your boyfriend

And the moment you say "people are shipping you with this person" he already goes "who is that"

You describe the fan to him, you go as far as showing him a picture

But you can see that he's trying his best to remember who on earth is that person to no avail

And honestly? That killed your insecurity so fast 😭

He doesn't remember a really hot fan, but he remembers all the details from your new project at work you told himat 3 am, when you both were half asleep

That tells you everything you need to know

Felix

The moment he saw the first tweet about that, he knew things could blow up

They always do

And when they do, social media is the worst place for you to be in

So I believe he'd be the one to tell you about it all

He explains what is going on because it's not his intention to hide anything from you

But he does ask you to go offline for a while. For your own sake

He wastes no time reassuring you the moment the first doubt creeps in

In fact, takes you out on a date

Lowkey hopes dispatch catches you - who said that??

Seungmin

You ain't even gotta tell him anything

He has like this telepathic connection with you that he simply knows what's going on

Since you didn't say anything at first, he tries to reassure you subtly

Says "I love you" more

Holds you a bit longer during hugs

Teases you in that "you're stuck with me forever" type of way

It doesn't feel off because that's your usual Seungmin treatment

But it does feel like a secret message

One that says "I don't dream of anyone but you"

I.N

Feels a bit bad

Guilty? Maybe

Like this is his fault because he let it happen

It's his job and his fans, after all

He should've been able to manage it all better

Or so he thinks

But for now, he focuses on being the best boyfriend you could ask for

There's no need for you to be insecure

Thousands of fans could show up, not one could even compare to you

And anyone could be flirting with him

All he'd think about is how much he wants to be in your arms again

Masterlist | you'll probably like: perilla leaf debate

Daily click

Reminder this is just fiction!! I'm not trying to portray real life and you shouldn't believe that this is how the members actually are. This is just for the vibe and the delulu!

Taglist (open!): @yuyubeans @sleepyleeji @jinnie-ret @sheraayasherrecs @rockstarkkami @urlocalmultigroupfan @aeinzzzketchup @queenofdumbfuckery @sarita-sunday @lezleeferguson-120 @chimmyn0chu @sspersonally @enhacolor @xx-all-purpose-nerd-xx

Dividers by @cafekitsune | images 1, 2 and 3