#grimoire.

“now, i hoped you all enjoyed the show but unfortunately we have reached the end of the show,” the house lets out a chorus of disappointment making hongjoong laugh lightheartedly. “but do not be sad, for i have one last performance for you all,” he says, quickly getting the crowd to quiet down.

you stood off to the side near the entrance that all the performers had used to enter and exit, along with all the props that they had used. your sparkling blue one piece feeling scratchy on your skin and the fishnet tights are cutting into your thighs. no matter how many times you have performed, you still can’t help but feel nervous. thankfully, you feel a set of hands coming to rest on your shoulders.

“you look beautiful, my flower. blue is definitely your color,” san’s voice is deep sounding and his breath hits your ear as he speaks right into it. 

“you say that about every single color i wear,” you reply back teasingly, you’re glad san decided to come talk to you because you are starting to feel a little less nervous.

“because it’s true,” he says back and presses a kiss to your cheek, “break a leg, y/n.”

“ladies and gentlemen! i present to you… wonderland’s flower!” hongjoong announces and you make your way over to where hongjoong was. you allowed a smile to grace your face as the house clapped for you. there were a few loud wolf whistles that sounded throughout the tent, but you ignored them as it was common by now to hear them.

hongjoong holds a white gloved hand out to you which you happily take and you watch his eyes flash an inhumanly blue before it fades and he hands you the microphone. he kisses your own gloved hand before letting it go and stepping away before making his exit from the ring. 

the lights dimmed, letting a single light shine solely on you as the music began to play throughout the tent. 

it was whirring away in the distance the faint light i'm thinking of moving there like there is not

as if asking who you are when it blinks i have my eyes closed pray to meet you

you watch as the crowd’s eyes all begin to change. their excited expressions now turning tired as you continue to sing.

there, along the bright light we now two you came to me on the shining day a long pain even with darkness we gon' light up towards farther shining places we gonna shine-er

getting closer one step at a time the closer you go we have confidence it's the original one

you felt your lips twitch into a faint smile as you watch small balls of light start to form from everyone in the crowd and leave their bodies.

my shine light true light came with destiny looking at each other in the night sky starlight the moment i looked at each other the dark nights are falling we shine in it

“ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, i hope you had a wonderful time here in the promised wonderland,” you began saying. your voice echoing into the heads of those watching you, “but i’m afraid this will be our last show. please make sure to gather all belongings and parents make sure you don’t lose your kids. because once you leave this tent, you will forget everything you saw.” 

you began singing once again, skipping the verse that was supposed to come next due to you making your exit speech.

in this dream i met in a dream fantasy i do not want to stop this fantasy i dreamed i can not breathe here we let them in take a deep breath new dimensional trip

you sang the rest of the song without pausing and as soon as you stopped and the music faded, everyone got up at once and made their way out of the tent without a word. once the last person was out, the large curtains of the tent closed and that’s when you finally turned to exit the tent.

the workers were quick to start packing things onto the train and hongjoong’s booming voice only fueled them to go faster. props, animals, and equipment all loaded into their respective train cars. you rushed over to your own train car you shared with hongjoong and seonghwa, and was happy to see the eldest of the performers sitting at his small desk.

“seonghwa,” you earn his attention and he sends you a smile as you begin to take off your show outfit. “did i do a good job tonight?” you asked him, making him smile at you as he nods his head.

“of course you did. hongjoong is very proud of you, my flower. he’s very pleased with the souls you collected from tonight,” he tells you, his eyes following you intently as you move around the car in order to put on more comfortable clothing. 

you take this opportunity to look at him to find that he was still in his show outfit except with his jacket hanging over his chair and the first few buttons of his shirt were undone. 

“it’s not nice to stare, y/n,” he teases, making you flush a little as you look from him in order to button up your own shirt. well... it was actually yunho, but since his shirts are so silky and airy that you can’t help but to steal and wear them. 

you let out a small laugh as you feel a wave of tiredness wash over your form. performing into front of big audiences like that always did tire you out quickly. a bad side effect that happens when you hypnotize humans. you walk over to seonghwa before straddling his lap and the two of you look at each other with matching love-filled eyes before you wrap your arms around his neck and rest your head on his shoulder after kissing him.

“i forget that performing wears you out,” seonghwa says, although you felt it was more to himself than to you, so only let out a soft hm-mm in response. “go lay down on the bed, dear,” he says rubbing your back but you only whine.

“i want to rest here, in your lap and arms,” you say and seonghwa is quickly to allow you to do as you please before he continues going back to what he was doing before you entered. you close your eyes letting out a deep breath as you allow sleep to consume you.

hongjoong finally enters the car an hour later after making sure everything was loaded and everyone was where they were supposed to be. soon enough the train starts to move which causes him to move forward a little bit. he’s greeted by the sight of you sleeping soundly in seonghwa’s arms as he counts out the money they had earned for tonight’s show.

slipping his jacket off, hongjoong walks over and presses a kiss to the older man’s cheek before kissing the crown of your head. 

“tonight was a great show, yeah?” seonghwa spoke after several minutes of them sitting in silence. hongjoong was unbuttoning his shirt which slowly revealed his lean chest that seonghwa couldn’t help but admire. 

“it was,” hongjoong began, “the house was full of excitement which always makes for a good meal,” he adds and puts on a clean shirt and pants. he lays down on the bed, feeling tired from having to host the show and make everything went smoothly for everyone else. 

hongjoong was about to drift off to sleep himself before the door to the car slid open so loudly and harshly that it scared hongjoong and made him sit up, but also startled you awake making you cling onto seonghwa for comfort.

“wooyoung, what the hell is wrong with you!” seonghwa furrows his eyebrows as he turns to the acrobatic who is rushing into the car over to him and you.

“y/n! y/n! y/n! me and the others are gonna play pirates and we need you,” wooyoung was pulling on your arm in an attempt to get you to agree and stand up quicker.

“no way! i don’t like playing pirates with you, you always play unfairly,” you say ripping your arm away from him. the blond pouts at you before letting out an annoyed sigh.

“you can be with yunho and yeosang for this game,” wooyoung says, trying to get you to agree to come with him. he can see how you think about it for a second before moving off of seonghwa’s lap to stand up. wooyoung beams at you before grabbing your hand and dragging you with him out of the car and into the next one.

“why didn’t he ask us to play?” hongjoong asks after realizing that the younger male didn’t bother asking or acknowledging the eldest two.

“because i hate that game and you’re too competitive,” seonghwa says as he turns back to writing.

hongjoong huffs a little bit before speaking, “am not.”

“are too.” hongjoong only rolled his eyes before laying back to finally get some sleep.

when the train arrived in the next town a week later, mingi was quick to drag you and yunho off the train and into town in order to explore. you were a little sad he didn’t give you a chance to give jongho a goodbye kiss, but you had promised to spend more time with him when you returned.

walking through the new town, you couldn’t help smile and laugh at how happy mingi seemed to be. he always enjoyed exploring the towns you all stopped at, it was a great way to learn more about the world you all forced to be a part of. 

you were honestly glad mingi was always so excited to explore. finding his curiosity cute and the way his eyes sparkled when he learned something new always warmed your heart. you on the other hand weren’t really that interested in learning about the humans and their world. you were happy as long as you were with your lovers and not having to stay in one place for too long. 

“should we get some cookies for the others?” mingi’s question snaps you out of your thoughts and you turn to him with a nod. he smiles before quickly running to where the bakery was with you and yunho trailing behind him. 

“what were you thinking about?” yunho’s voice is quiet as he leans closer to your ear as you both wait outside for mingi. 

“how cute mingi is when we come to a new town,” you say and yunho laughs nodding agreement.

“i know. his face lights up and his smile is so big. it makes me want to protect him forever,” yunho says and you can’t help but agree with him as well.

the two of you watch as workers from the train start appearing around the streets in order to promote you all. you look to see the familiar large red and white tent peeking up over the tree line before turning back just as mingi exits the bakery, a bag of cookies in his hand.

“alright! let’s go back!” mingi cheers before the three of you go back to the train and the circus that was quickly being set up.

a few days later and it was time for another show. some people had showed up early in order to look around to see what else the circus had to offer and you and san walked around, arm in arm, to make sure everything was going well outside. 

the two of you were about to go back to the others to prepare before you noticed a group of guys crowding around one of the workers. 

“san…” you trail off tugging on his sleeve and pointing towards the worker. san glares before making his way over to see what was going on. you couldn’t help but follow after him, because the last thing you need was for him to cause unwanted trouble right before the show.

“what’s wrong with you freak?” one of the guys asked, pointing his index finger harshly into the worker’s shoulder. “does the freak not know how to talk?” he questions, making the other guys snicker.

“hey!” san calls out earning their attention, “can i help you guys with something?”

“huh? who are you, punk?”

“i’m one of the owners of this circus,” san said as he stopped walking and you stopped right behind him. you made eye contact with the worker and gestured for them to quickly leave which they did. 

you were glad that you saw what was going on before it took a turn for the worst. most of the workers didn’t know how to speak any of the human languages, so if they spoke then it would come out as an incoherent mess to human ears which would have further provoked these guys. once the worker was out of sight, you turned back to san and the guys only to make eye contact with one of them. the guy smirked at you, looking at you up and down which prompted you to roll your eyes at him.

“...and i would appreciate it if you didn’t bother my workers. if you need help, go to the help desk at the entrance, not someone who is trying to do their job. and i would also like for your friends to stop gawking at my lady,” san’s jaw is clenched at the sight of having these guys stare at you.

“why can’t i look at her? she’s probably just another unwanted freak, so there’s nothing wrong with looking,” the what you assumed to be the leader of the group says with his friends nodding in agreement. “that’s all you circus people are good for anyway.”

“you watch your fucking mouth,” san says, getting ready to charge at the guy but you hold him back. 

“san, they aren’t worth it. come on, we need to get ready,” you say, making san huff in anger as he pulls away from you and turns around, his hand coming out to guide you away from the unwanted and troublesome eyes. their laugh echoing through your skull the further you walk away. 

“i’m gonna kill those fucking humans,” san says as he practically rips his shirt off as he tries to take it off. some of his buttons fly off and roll around on the floor. you frown as you watch one roll underneath the bed. 

“san, it’s fine. don’t worry about them, after tonight we’ll never see them again and they even remember us,” you say sitting down on the bed, his outfit in your hands waiting to hand it off to him.

“you didn’t see how they were fucking you with their eyes. fucking humans, i hate them so damn much, it kills me. fuck!” he says, eyes burning red as he punches the wall next to him. 

“san! calm down!” you hiss, standing up, you can’t see them but you’re sure your eyes are also glowing a golden color. that’s what happens when you let your emotions overwhelm you. san glares at you before letting out an annoyed sigh as turns away from you. 

he takes his shirt off, tossing it to the side before undoing his pants and sliding them off, his underwear comes off soon after. you honestly never understood why he and wooyoung – you’re pretty sure yeosang does it too – preferred going commando, but you assumed it only felt comfortable or something. he turns around and neither of you say a word as you watch him slip into his outfit. his red, black, and silver leotard fitting him perfectly and he moves to put his shoes on and before he could leave, you quickly reach out and stop him. he looks at you as you push him down onto the bed before hovering over him. 

“don’t leave me upset,” you say looking at him, he watches as your eyes become rimmed in the golden color. his hand comes to card through your hair before he gently brings you down for your lips to meet his.

the two of you end up kissing until yunho comes in and startles the both of you with his loud voice. “come on san, go finish getting ready with wooyoung,” he says as you move to sit up so san can go get his makeup and hair done.

once san is gone, you notice yunho is halfway dressed. him not needing anything over the top as his ‘magic’ does all the extravagant work for him. he comes to sit down next to you and you immediately let your head rest on his shoulder.

“one of the workers told me and the others about those humans that were bothering them and how you and san handled the situation.”

“you mean the situation that almost caused san to rip them apart? then yeah sure, it was handled,” you say sarcastically making the male chuckle a little bit.

“i’ll make sure to keep an eye out,” he says before standing up and turns to look at you. his eyes immediately squint as he takes in what you’re wearing. “is that my shirt?” he asks and you look at him in surprise. 

you shake your head, “i don’t know what you’re talking about,” you say looking away from him, making him only laugh again.

“if you say so my flower,” he says, leaning down to kiss you before turning and leaving. you bid each other bye before he closes the door leaving you alone in the train car. 

you find yourself thinking for a few moments before you stand up and make your way out of the train car and over to the worker than was in charge of the music that would play during your performance. the worker immediately turned to you, sensing your form approaching them as they bowed slightly in greeting. 

“play number five today,” you told them and they nodded making the quick adjustments that were needed in order for the right track to play. you thank them and they bow slightly once more before you turn to leave in order to get ready. 

you once more hear the echoing of laughter as you walk towards your train car knowing that it would be the last time they laughed.

“you’re... you’re performing that song tonight?” yeosang’s voice snaps you out of your thoughts as you turn to look at him. he was already changed out of his outfit, having been one of the first ones to perform tonight, but his hair was still pulled back in a small ponytail that it is usually in whenever he performs. he likes his hair long, but the hassle of seeing while performing is the only downside he often says. “did those humans really piss you off that much? or is it because they made san upset?”

“i think you already know,” you answer, making him grin as he lets out a small hum. 

“now, i hoped you all enjoyed the show but unfortunately we have reached the end of the show,” the familiar words ring throughout the tent and the usual response from the house is heard. “but do not be sad, for i have one last performance for you all,” he says, and the house immediately goes quiet as he speaks. 

yeosang bids you good luck before quickly disappearing and you turn to see your dancers all lined up and statue-like. if you didn’t know what they were, you would have thought they were statues. they wore all black in contrast to your silver one, and black silk cloths covered their eyes… well to be honest they don’t have eyes so the cloth is a way to not expose the whole circus to the humans.

“ladies and gentlemen! i present to you… wonderland’s flower!” the crowd cheers as you take graceful steps into the ring in order to meet hongjoong. he looked at you the most beautiful thing to come from existence as he took in your appearance. the familiar and spine chilling blue rimming in his eyes and his smile grew as he saw yours sparkle with gold. 

hongjoong kisses your hand like he always does before turning to make his exit, the dancers passing him as the come to stand behind you.

the lights dim down greatly before they slowly change into a deep artificial blue color that drowns you and the ring in the color. your eyes scan the crowd before landing on the men from earlier who are undoubtedly looking at you like a piece of meat. you hear ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ as the music starts.

as the intro begins you remain in place, the dancers effortlessly dancing to music like it's the only thing they know how to do. the crowd watches in awe at how they move before they snap their attention to one, once you begin to sing. 

way that i move got the whole world watchin’ i’m in a mood and i don’t wanna hide it blue chills and white shivers i’m ice cold, baby on an ocean of glitter

you always did think the lyrics had an odd tone to it considering the only time you really only used this song.

it rains out of control these chains don’t have a hold on me don’t say, i’m a sinner i’m ice cold, baby on an ocean of glitter

you watch as the audience begins to lose the light to their eyes as they continue to watch and listen to you. your voice echoing and throbbing and crashing around in their heads, your eyes slowly turning gold as they stand out from the blue light. the only people in the audience that aren’t affected are the four men who slowly begin to notice the change in atmosphere in the house.

they watch in shock at how balls of light leave all the audience members and disappear to a place they can’t see from their seats. 

feelin’ the danger in every motion don’t be a stranger to your emotion truth hurts but lies wither i’m ice cold, baby on an ocean of glitter

“ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, i hope you had a wonderful time here in the promised wonderland,” you began saying. your voice echoing into the heads of those watching you. the four men beginning to slowly grow fearful of what was happening around them, “but i’m afraid this will be our last show. please make sure to gather all belongings and parents make sure you don’t lose your kids. because once you leave this tent, you will forget everything you saw. expect... you four,” you point to them and you watch their eyes go wide at how you pointed to them.

you near the end of the song and suddenly like always, the audience all get up silently and leave in a quiet fashion. the curtain closes behind the last of the audience and the four males can only watch in horror as they try their best to stand up and run away but it was useless.

“you four… better run for your life.”

you step onto the train car that you share with hongjoong and seonghwa a happy smile on your face as you walk over to your eldest lover and drape your arms over his shoulders from behind. seonghwa notices from the small desk mirror the blood on your face as you lick your lips, eyes full on gold making him smirk at your reflection.

“did you have fun?” he asks although he is sure he knows the answer. you nod as you straighten up and walk over to change your clothes. “it’s been a while since i heard that song,” he says as he hums the familiar tune while bobbing his head from side to side. you laugh at him finding this little action cute. “i forget how scary you can get whenever someone upsets one of us.” 

“of course, no one upsets my loves and gets away with it,” you tease with a smile. you smile absentmindedly as you sit on the bed thinking of the four males that had upset san earlier today. 

“it had been a while since the dancers ate, no?” seonghwa asks and you nod your head thinking of the eyeless statue humanoids that usually remain in one of the last few cars on the train. 

“they’ll eat good tonight,” you said as you twirled a piece of your hair just as hongjoong entered the car. he greeted seonghwa with a brief kiss before he began to change his clothes. you, however, were too lost in thought about what was going on in the last train car that you couldn’t help the sick looking smile and laugh that escaped past your lips.

“no! no! please no, god!” one of the males screamed as he watched as the eyeless creatures ripped apart his friends with their inhumanely sharpe teeth and equally as dangerous claws. one of the creatures snapped their head in his direction at the sounds of his cries. they stood up and made their way over to him in slow steps that made the guy coward in fear as he tried to scoot away from the monster that was nearing him. the creature let out a hissful-screech before lunging at the guy and ripping into his throat.

ten years ago, somewhere in the middle of the ocean

“brat, what the hell are you looking at?” you turn your head to look at your adoptive mother, taeyeon, who stands behind you with her arms crossed. 

“there’s a body,” you say, turning back to the ocean and pointing out into the open sea. taeyeon looks at you confused before rushing over to look overboard and sure enough there is a body floating not too far from the ship. “should we save them?”

“i don’t know. they look pretty dead to me,” taeyeon says, “just leave them to the fishes and birds.”

“what! taeyeon, we have to save them! what if they’re alive!?” you shout at her and right as the words leave your mouth your other adoptive mother, tiffany, comes onto deck.

“y/n, what are you shouting about?” she asks walking over to you since you opted to not say but show her what was wrong. “oh my! taeyeon we have to same them!” she says turning to the other woman who just looks at you two in surprise. both you and tiffany are pulling matching puppy dog faces, causing her to sigh in defeat.

“someone get that body out of the water, now!” taeyeon orders causing some nearby crew members to quickly follow their captain’s orders. you and tiffany look at each with matching victory smiles.

once they did manage to get the body out, you were surprised to see that it was a young boy around your age, maybe a little older. you also couldn’t help but notice the navy uniform that adorns his body and you find taeyeon looking at him intently.

you watched from beside tiffany as yeeun, the ship’s doctor, examined the young boy before quickly going and performing cpr on him. after a few tries, the boy finally spits up water and coughs violently.

he struggles to open his eyes but once he does, you can see the scared look on his face as he looks at all the crew members around him.

“hey it’s okay,” yeeun says, trying her best to calm the boy. “we’re not gonna hurt you.” after a few more minutes, he eventually calmed down but you could tell he was still on edge and honestly you don’t blame him.

yeeun soon enough took the boy down below deck to her room in order to do a more thorough check up on him.

“great just what i need, another brat to feed,” taeyeon mumbles but loud enough for you to hear. you turn and stick your tongue out at her to which she quickly copies you causing tiffany to laugh at the both of you. 

you don’t see the boy until a week later when you go to take yeeun some food both the both of them. you find him sitting on the spare bed used for sick crew mates as he watches yeeun work at her desk. he no longer wears his navy uniform, but instead a white button up that oddly fits him and you recognize it as yeeun’s from having done her laundry a few times.

“i have dinner!” you say, a smile on your face as you gain both the older woman and young boy’s attention.

“ah, thank you, y/n. i don’t know what i would do if you weren’t for you bringing me food,” she says with a smile as she takes the tray and sets it down on the small table away from her desk.

“you’d probably starve knowing sunny would never bring you your food,” you tease happily and yeeun nods in agreement. you then turn to look at the boy to notice his eyes already on you. once you made eye contact with him, however, he quickly turned away with a light pink color dusting his cheeks.

“hey! how are you feeling?” you ask taking a few steps towards, catching him off guard by your sudden question.

“i-i’m fine,” he stutters, not meeting your eyes.

“that’s good! yeeun is the best doctor there is, so you’re lucky we found you when we did!” you say and yeeun playfully brushes off your comment, but you know she loves the compliments. it feeds her ego.

“so...” you trailed gaining the boy’s attention, “what’s your name?”

“h-hongjoong,” he says.

“hongjoong?” you echo and he nods causing you to smile. “i like it! i’m y/n. hey, do you want to go see my secret hiding spot?”

“secret hiding spot?” it’s his turn to echo you this time causing you to smile and nod your head vigorously. “sure!” that’s the brightest smile you’ve ever seen.

“after you eat hongjoong. knowing how y/n is, you won’t be able to eat until very late,” yeeun steps in before you drag hongjoong out of the room.

“what’s that supposed to mean?” you ask turning to the doctor and giving her a glare as you put your hands on your hips.

“it means that once you get excited nothing can stop you.”

“well, duuuhhhh,” you say, “how else will i become a great pirate and see the world? a great pirate doesn’t sleep!” you exclaim, causing yeeun to laugh lightheartedly at you as you through your fist bump the air. you then turn back to hongjoong, pointing a figure at him, “meet me at the top deck when you finish, you hear? if you aren’t done in an hour i’ll drag you out by the ear.”

hongjoong is surprised but nods his head at your threat and you smile before dashing out of the room after bidding yeeun goodbye. 

“she sure is a character isn’t she?” yeeun asked, looking at the young boy who only nodded. “she keeps the ship lively no matter how long we’ve been at sea. she’s a really nice girl so she’ll take good care of you while you’re here.”

when hongjoong came on the top deck, he was surprised to see that the whole crew was made of women. he had never seen a crew like this before and had only heard of this type of crew from older navy captains and his father.

his father... 

hongjoong just shook his head at the thought of the man before he scanned the deck for you. he spotted you talking with two well-built women that looked like they could throw an average sized man over their heads without thinking. but they way they smiled at you as you jumped excitedly made him think otherwise.

he glanced up at the main mast catching a glimpse of the black flag that sailed proudly above all the others. yeeun told him that he was sailing with pirates now, but she didn’t tell him the crew name. but he knew the name. he had heard rumors and talk of this crew. the legendary female captain that sailed with the pirate king. 

the sones. 

“hongjoong!” your cheery voice snaps him out of his thoughts as he watches you walk over to him. the two women from earlier watching you both with smiles before they shake their heads and go back to working. “did you have a nice lunch?”

“i did. are you going to show me your secret hiding spot now?”

“yeah! let’s go,” you say, taking his hand into yours and pulling him back under deck and into the hold. his slightly longer legs doing well in keeping up with you pulling him along down the hall until you reach another set of stairs and go down them.

hongjoong is surprised by how well kept the place looks and you guide him through the array of storage boxes until you both are met with a small makeshift blanket fort.

“no one ever comes over to this part of the ship, so i decided to make it my own spot,” you say once you two crawled inside and you turned on the small lantern that was already there. “you can’t tell anyone about this spot, okay?”

“okay.”

“no, you have to promise,” you say seriously, before sticking your pinky out. hongjoong looks at it for a few seconds before he wraps his pinky around yours and seals the promise.

“so...” hongjoong trails off quietly catching your attention and you look at him with wide, curious eyes. “am i... the only guy on this ship? is this crew really full of women like everyone says?”

“hmm? um, no. there’s a boy who’s my age also on the ship. he’s the son of our navigator, but he’s always got a stick up his ass, so i don’t hang out with him. do you...” you hesitate for a second, “do you want to meet him?” 

hongjoong nods at your question and you nod back before climbing out of your secret spot after having made sure the lantern was turned off. you led him back to the top of the deck before guiding him over to the captain’s quarters. hongjoong took notice of how you greeted everyone and how they also greeted back while some even patted your head as you passed them.

“wow, you’re really close with everyone, huh?”

you stop walking turning to give hongjoong a confused look, “they’re my family, so why wouldn’t i be close with all of them?”

“i don’t know... i just– i just thought that pirates didn’t have the ability to love.”

“not all pirates are like that. on this ship, we’re all family and you take care and look out for one another, got that?” hongjoong nodded making you smile as you turned and started walking again.

upon entering the captain’s cabin, hongjoong felt like he was gonna pass out as he watched you just waltz in like you owned the place. he audibly gasped as he heard you greet everyone in the room. 

“i brought hongjoong in to meet yeosang,” you explained, the second male’s name leaving you with a slight disgusted tone. hongjoong came in behind you to see a boy sitting in a chair with a book in his lap. 

“oh i see the navy brat is up and running around now,” taeyeon said and hongjoong looked at the captain before looking down at the ground. 

“oh,” the blue haired woman said with a soft tone before turning to the one hongjoong assumed was yeosang. “yeosang, sweetie, why don’t you go play with y/n and hongjoong, was is?” hongjoong nodded, feeling his cheeks burn at the motherly smile she gave him.

“i don’t want to ‘play’ with y/n, she’s annoying,” yeosang said with a cold tone, not bothering to look up from his book. 

“yah! don’t think you’re some a ray of sunshine either, ass–

“y/n young, you finish that sentence, i dare you,” tiffany cuts you off, making you mumble under your breath, a strong glare trained on the brown haired boy.

“kang yeosang, you put that book down and go play with y/n and hongjoong. you need to start exercising your body more or else you won’t be able to hold that big brain of yours!” 

yeosang lets out a huff before marking his book before handing it off to his mother who happily takes it. the male walks over to you both before bumping in your shoulder on the way out. you let out a huff as well before following the boy out. hongjoong is about to also leave when taeyeon stops him.

“i hope you realize that you have some explaining to do about yourself later on right?”

“yes, ma’am, i’m aware.”

“good. now get out before the brat comes back and starts shouting.”

hongjoong quickly nods before dashing out of the room and out on the deck where he spots you and yeosang glaring at each other.

“how come you guys don’t like each other?” hongjoong asks, gaining both of yours attention.

“because he/she’s annoying!” you both say at the same time before turning back to glare at each other. hongjoong could tell the more he looked at you both that the two of you were complete opposites of each other. you would rather be outside on the deck and in the sun, while yeosang would rather be inside and reading a book. 

“well... how about we find something to do?” he suggests as he walks over to the two of you. i saw some books in yeeun’s room, so why don’t i go grab those and we read outside?”

yeosang snorted rolling his eyes causing you to turn and glare at him, “this idiot can’t read, navy boy,” he says. you cross your arms and look away from the both of them and out at the sea, a embarrassing red coloring your face and ears.

“well why don’t you teach us? because i don’t know how to read either,” hongjoong says meeting your eyes for a brief second.

“and what do i get in return?”

 “well what can y/n do that you can’t?”

you snorted this time, “i can climb up the rigging.”

“great! you teach us how to read and we’ll teach you how to climb!”

“whatever,” yeosang mumbles before walking past hongjoong and back towards the cabin. he disappears inside for a few moments before reappearing with a book. you took notice of the picture of a mermaid on the cover with the title being in a large fantasy like font that you couldn’t read.

“let’s go, idiot, navy. i don’t have all day.”

“yah! i’m not an idiot!” you shout, following after the male with hongjoong trailing behind you. 

eight years ago, somewhere in the middle of the ocean.

“wow, can you believe that not too long ago those two were always at each other’s necks?” jieun asks as she and tiffany watch you and yeosang sitting together. yeosang was helping you read through a book you had bought at the last port.

hongjoong was sitting on the other side of you as you managed to read what was on the pages, even if you did struggle on a few words here or there. 

“i know, i can’t believe it either. i guess recusing hongjoong was a good idea after all, huh, taeyeon?” tiffany ask, turning to look at taeyeon who was standing at the wheel of the ship. she let out a short hm sound making the other two women laugh. “oh, isn’t yeosang’s birthday coming up soon?” 

“in a week, i can’t believe he’ll be thirteen soon. it was like he was born yesterday and i was holding him and rocking him to sleep,” jieun says, thinking back to when her son was a baby.

“if i remember correctly, i think i saw y/n trying to wrap something the other night. i think she may have gotten him something at our last stop,” tiffany says offhandedly.

“oh? well that would be nice of her, huh?” jieun says as she looks back at the three of you with a fond smile.

a week later and you had dragged yeosang down to your secret hiding spot. you remember it was originally hongjoong’s idea after about four months of the younger male teaching you both how to read. you were against the idea at first and even got upset at the older male to the point you didn’t talk to him for a few days.

after three days however, you came up to him and apologized for getting upset before telling hongjoong that you didn’t mind showing yeosang your secret spot.

now a year later and the three of you often meet at the spot after everyone else has went to bed. you remember whispering to yeosang to meet you and hongjoong there during dinner when the crew was celebrating his birthday.

“what’s this?” yeosang asked in awe as he looked down at the two presents you and hongjoong held out to him.

“they’re our presents we bought for you,” hongjoong says before gently putting his gift in yeosang’s lap. yeosang noticed that his gift was smaller than yours, but thicker. the brown paper was easily torn away as yeosang ripped it away. he looked at the dark blue box in his hands before slowly removing the lid and letting out a gasp at what was inside.

a pen. but this pen was new and shiny with beautiful small details engraved on it. “the man at the shop said it was made of real gold, but i’m pretty sure he was lying,” hongjoong says as he looks between yeosang and the pen. “i remember you talking about needing a new one and i know its not the sa–

“i love it,” yeosang cuts him looking at the older male with a grateful smile. “thank you, hongjoong.”

“of course, happy birthday.”

you watch the two with a smile on your face, happy that yeosang liked hongjoong’s gift knowing the older had been nervous about if he would like it or not. yeosang then turns to you and you smile before handing him your present. you watch as yeosang does the same with your present as he with hongjoong’s. 

“the little mermaid?” he reads looking at the book with surprised eyes. his fingers ran over the cover of the book and you watched nervously. 

“it’s the first book you taught me and hongjoong how to read,” you said. “i remember seeing it at our last stop and the old lady said that this was the original version of the story and not the one they made for kids.”

“i love it,” he says with a smile making you grin excitedly at him. “i love both your gifts. thank you,” he adds, setting the pen and book aside and wraps an arm around each other you before bringing you both into a hug. 

“happy birthday, yeosang,” you whisper, returning the hug and resting your head on his shoulder.

present day somewhere in the middle of the ocean.

“happy birthday, yeosang,” you whisper into the male’s ear before leaning back and kissing his lips. yeosang eagerly kisses back, his hands come up to pull and hold you closer to him. 

you can’t help but smile into the kiss before you finally manage to pull away with his lips chasing after yours.

“twenty-one and needy, i figured that would be san’s thing more than yours,” you tease, causing him to roll his eyes playfully at you. “here,” you say, handing him your present.

“this brings back memories,” he says, taking the rectangle shaped gift from you. the brown paper wrapped around it is the same material from when you gave him your first gift. he opens it and looks at it questionably looking between you and the familiar book in his hands. “now this really brings back memories.”

“open it and look at the first page,” you say excitedly and he laughs before doing as you said. inside the cover was a message written from you to him and yeosang let out a surprised gasp.

dear yeosang, 

thank you for being my first rival. my first love. thank you for teaching me how to read and write, even if we fought almost everyday and probably drove hongjoong crazy. i know this isn’t something extravagant like what the others will give you, but this book is something special between us. the way you read this story so many times and how all three of us fell asleep in our secret spot to you reading it. this book holds some of my most precious memories.

i wanted to write this note in here so you know how much i love you. and so you can read this whenever you need cheering up.

love, y/n. 

“i love you, too, y/n,” yeosang says as he runs his fingers over the small note you had written to him. tears welling up in his eyes as he closes the book so as to not ruin your words with his tears as he thinks back to his birthday a few months ago. 

hongjoong stood behind yeosang, a comforting hand resting on his shoulder, “it’ll be okay yeosang. she’ll wake up, just give her time.”

yeosang nods his head weakly before he glances up at your sleeping body. yunho quietly works behind the two, as he does his best in figuring out a way to make you better.

anna sometimes finds herself thinking back to when she first met wooyoung and he managed to convince her to come back to home. she felt so entranced by the blonde and thought the look he gave her was nothing more than love. 

before meeting him, she was unwanted and a runaway. running away was all she was good at.

wooyoung had to nudge her into the rather large and expensive house. he guides to the living area of the home where she was greeted with several other men that were just as handsome as him.

one of the guys stood up, anna thought he was the most beautiful one out of all them. however the death glare he was sending her and wooyoung made her want to coward away from his stare. 

“wooyoung, what the fuck is that?” his voice was just as deadly as his stare and she knew he was talking about her.

“this anna. she’ll be staying with us for a while,” wooyoung answers. the blue haired male stood up this time with a shocked expression.

“the hell she is!” he replies back and wooyoung just rolls his eyes at the male’s words. “yah! don’t roll your eyes at me, wooyoung! this is serious, you need to get her out of here before the others come back.”

“i’m not worry about them, hyung,” wooyoung says before he begins to walk away from them. he turns back to anna and gestures for her to follow him. wooyoung stops in front of the first male who still has a hard look on his face.

“aw, hyung, don’t glare at me like that. it hurts my feelings,” the blonde teases before running a hand down the taller male’s chest rather affectionately. the action catches anna off guard, but she doesn’t say anything about it. 

“you’re so screwed, woo,” one of the males on the couches says. wooyoung only shrugs him off before walking out of the room. anna doesn’t waste any time in following the male.

“what are we going to do, hyung?” mingi ask looking at the two eldest members. 

“nothing, we’re not going to do anything. let him suffer the consequences of bringing a human home,” seonghwa says, his face still hard as he thinks about how much trouble wooyoung just has to cause all the time. 

a hand comes to caress his cheek snapping seonghwa out of his anger a little bit. he looks to see yunho the one now standing in front of him. his touch is a lot less lustful and more comforting than wooyoung’s.

“every time he does this, he doesn’t realize how much it hurts all of us. he brings these stupid humans into our home and messes and leads them along before one of us snaps. it makes everyone on edge and i hate it,” seonghwa says with a distressed look on his face.

yunho rubs his thumb softly over seonghwa’s cheek before leaning down to kiss the older male. “we know, hyung, and you’re right maybe this time we should let wooyoung learn his lesson,” he says before turning to the other three vampires in the room. “can we all agree to this?”

the other three nodded making yunho smile at them before turning to seonghwa and gesturing for him to come sit back down with them. they resumed watching the show they had been watching.

“when are yeo, sannie, and y/n coming home?” mingi asked a few minutes later.

“not for a few more days,” hongjoong answers after thinking for a second. 

“should we... should we let them know beforehand?”

“no,” seonghwa speaks up before anyone else can, “wooyoung is gonna learn his lesson even if it catches those three off guard.”

the next morning, anna comes downstairs and is greeted with the sight of wooyoung having his arms wrapped around the male that had glared at her when she had first arrived. 

“hwa, don’t be upset at me~” wooyoung says, dragging out a few of his words as he tried cuddling into the best he could. 

“you know how we all feel when you bring humans home and yet you keep doing it. therefore i have a right to be upset at you,” seonghwa says.

“don’t be like that, hwa, you know i love you and the others.”

everything happens too fast for anna because one second wooyoung is still hanging onto seonghwa and the next wooyoung is pinned to the counter behind the both of them. his hands are pinned above his head while seonghwa uses his other hand to wrap it around wooyoung’s neck.

“we let you play your little games without facing the consequences, but not this time so i would highly recommend to stop being a brat before i put you in your place,” seonghwa threatens and anna gasps in surprise at his sudden action and words. seonghwa looks up upon hearing her and glares at her. she notices the red glint in his eyes and her own are wide in surprise.

seonghwa removes himself from wooyoung and goes back to finishing breakfast. wooyoung can only smirk as he sits up before turning to look at the female who is still standing at the kitchen entrance.

“morning,” he greets her and anna quickly greets him back. she then watches as he moves from the counter and walks by her and out of the kitchen. 

anna contemplates if she should follow wooyoung out but decides against it and goes to sit down at the table.

“why are you still here?” seonghwa asks without even bothering to turn and look at her.

she knows its probably stupid, but anna decides to be brave for a moment, “why are you angry at me being here? i haven’t even been here a full day and you are just mean and angry towards me for no reason.”

seonghwa stops what he’s doing and turns to look at the girl with burning red eyes. anna was once more shocked and immediately stood up from her seat.

“you want to know why i’m so angry you’re here?” he asked, but anna knew it was rhetorical. “i’m angry that wooyoung doesn’t ever fucking learn! he plays these fucking games and makes the rest of us suffer because he’s selfish! you don’t belong here, this isn’t your home,” the elder is seething, as he takes several steps closer the girl. the veins in his neck are prominent and his teeth are clenched too tight to be comfortable.

“you’re lucky i don’t kill humans or else i would have killed you the second you walked through the front door, but don’t think the other won’t try,” he warns before turning and going back to the food.

anna is frozen in her spot for a few moments before she finally snaps herself out of the scared trance she was in. she quickly leaves the kitchen and heads back upstairs to wooyoung’s room. upon entering, she finds him on the phone with a large smile on his face. it wasn’t like the smiles and smirks he gave her... this was different.

he laughs, “yes, y/n, i’m taking care of myself. no need to worry... yeah. how are sannie and yeo?... don’t give him a hard time, okay, princess?... i love you, too. bye.” he takes the phone away from his ear before ending the call and then tossing his phone on the bed behind him. 

“who’s y/n?” anna asks, curious to know more about who he was talking to.

“my favorite person in the world,” he answers before falling back on the bed and looks up at the ceiling. “she saved me no one else did.”

anna only nods as she walks over to him and lays down next to him on his bed, “so where is she right now?”

“she’s on a small trip with two of my other mates,” the word ‘mates’ catches her attention but she decides not to question it.

“do i get to meet her?”

“yeah, she’ll be home in a few days,” anna notes the disinterest in his voice and decides to stop asking questions. she couldn’t stop the sudden uneasiness that settled in her stomach at the thought of whoever this y/n really was.

a few hours later and anna finds herself in the living room with the ones she came to learn are mingi and yunho. the two were cuddled close together on the couch. the others were off doing other things and wooyoung had went out a little earlier for something he didn’t explain to the young woman.

“so who’s y/n?” anna had asked after sitting with the two for around an hour. both males snapped their heads over to her, mingi had a shocked expression and turned to look at yunho who masked his expression well. “wooyoung was talking to her the other day, but didn’t say much about her,” she explained and mingi shifted a little with an uncomfortable look. 

“she’s–

“she’s one of our lovers,” yunho says, cutting mingi off, “and look, not to sound rude or anything, but when she comes home i would advise not to interact with her. her coming home and seeing you with wooyoung won’t end well for anyone, so try your best to stay away from her.”

“o-oh, um, alright. thank you for the heads up,” anna says and yunho nods. “um... what did you mean by ‘lovers’?”

“it means we’re all lovers like the word suggests. we’ve all been together for so long that we are all we have,” he says and anna felt her stomach sink a little as she slowly began to realize that maybe seonghwa was right. she really didn’t belong.

when yeosang walked through the door and into the living area, he was caught completely off guard by the human girl that wooyoung had his arm wrapped around. hongjoong noticed a flash of hurt crossing his feature before he quickly covered it up with his usual stoic face. 

the unofficial leader of the small family was quick to get up and walk over to the blonde and engulfs him into a welcome home hug before quickly kissing him as well.

“where’s san and y/n?” he asks, running his hand up and down the younger’s arms.

“um, they’re coming up. i came up first to open the door for them. jongho,” yeosang says catching the youngest’s attention. “can you come help san and y/n with the bags. san bought more stuff then he needed to and now we have two extra bags.”

“of course,” jongho is quick to step outside to find you and other male outside struggling with the bags. 

“oh! jongho!” san calls out excitedly as he stops suddenly causing you to bump into him. 

“why did you stop all of a sudden!?” you whine rubbing your nose because of how you rammed it into the male’s back.

you suddenly caught a whiff of something off and you tilted your head to side as you looked around the area outside. san turned around noticing how you became quiet all of a sudden. 

“what’s wrong, love?” 

“i smell something and i don’t know if i like it,” you explain and jongho freezes as he glances over at you. you notice the nervous look on his face before glancing at the door and you head straight for it ignoring san’s confused calls and jongho’s nervous ones.

stepping inside the house, you are greeted by hongjoong and yeosang standing right outside the living room. upon hearing your footsteps, hongjoong turns to you with a fond smile and opens his arms for you. hongjoong hugs you the same way he had yeosang as you mimicked the hug. 

“i missed you my muse,” hongjoong whispers into your ear making you laugh softly. you had almost forgotten about the reason why you rushing inside before you caught sight of it. it being the girl that was sitting a little too closely to wooyoung.

moving out of hongjoong’s hold, you step into the living room entrance, eyes never once leaving anna’s body. unlike yeosang, you don’t mask the hurt on your face and seonghwa is quick to stand up from his spot, your name leaving his lips. 

“wooyoung,” his name leaves your lips as you keep your attention on him and no one else.

“y/n,” his arm removes itself from around anna’s shoulders as he stands up and comes over to you with a smile on his face. he tries to hug you, but you gently push him away, looking from him to anna.

“who are you?” you ask, looking at anna with a confused look. anna stands, a smile on her face as she walks over towards you.

“hi, i’m anna. it’s nice to meet you,” she introduces herself, holding her hand out for you to take and shake. you look at her before down at her hand and then finally over to wooyoung.

“hey, y/n why did you run off like that?” san’s voice sounds through the house and you hear him and jongho come in behind you. you don’t say anything looking between anna and wooyoung one last time before moving past everyone and going upstairs.

the whole house seems to shake when you slam your door closed. wooyoung has an unreadable expression his face as he turns to look at san who has an angry expression. 

“sa–

san doesn’t let the younger say his name due to him cutting him off with a punch to the face. wooyoung falls to the ground with a groan as he holds his face. san’s eyes are glowing red as he looks over at the human girl and he feels a growl erupt from his throat. 

“fuck you wooyoung, fuck you,” he spits out before pointing at anna, “get rid of it, i don’t want any humans in this house,” he says before leaving as well.

everyone is frozen for a moment as wooyoung moves his hand away from his face – mostly his nose – to see some blood on his hand. yunho is first one to move to go over to wooyoung and bends down to cheek on his lover.

“you dumbass, why don’t you learn,” he scolds quietly before turning to look at anna who has a mixed of scared and concerned look on her face. 

“i told you not to mess with her,” he says before helping wooyoung up and taking him into the bathroom to clean him up.