#nexz

Korean wasn't your native language, but it was one that you knew almost as well as it. You weren't born in Korea, but the words scrawled on your body meant that you took an interest in it from a young age.

Your soulmarks.

Everyone had the first words their soulmate said to them on their body. Normally this was one sentence from one person, sometimes two.

You had eight and seven of them were in Korean. 

So yeah, maybe your decision to move to Korea to go to university was influenced by that, but you weren’t ashamed of it. Who wouldn’t do that, in your shoes? They were your soulmates. Sure there was a chance you’d meet them somewhere else, but this felt right.

You studied education as your degree, wanting to get a job as an ESL teacher once you graduated. You’d always enjoyed helping others, and if you could get an ESL job for older kids, or for people who had to opt-in to it, you knew you’d like it.

Adjusting to the culture had been interesting. Despite being all but fluent in the language, and having a decent knowledge of the culture before moving, reading about it was very different than constantly living it. 

But after being here for the duration of your schooling, you were really glad you’d moved. You had new friends, your schooling went well, and you really loved the atmosphere of Seoul.

It wasn’t until you got your first job, post-graduation, that you finally met your soulmates.

One of your professors had connections in the entertainment industry. He’d put in a good word for you, landing you a job working with JYP to help tutor their idols in English.

It was exactly what you wanted, and more than you could’ve dreamed at the same time.

Your first day on the job was mainly a tour followed by meetings with the managers above you, as well as meeting the idol group you’d be primarily tutoring: Nmixx. They all seemed like sweet girls and it made you more excited for when the tutoring sessions would actually start.

You had about two hours after all was said and done to check out the main room you’d been allocated and get situated as you liked. You’d brought your notebooks and laptop with you and got to work jotting down your notes from today.

Your brain was rolling, thinking of ideas and pre-planning what could happen during your first session with the idol group, when suddenly the door opened.

The first thing you noticed was the ashen brunette hair atop an adorably rounded face. The boy attached to said hair was looking down at the ground as he pushed the door open. He had on an oversized hoodie and seemed to be trying to disappear inside of it.

As he looked up and seemed to register that the room was occupied, he froze in place, eyes wide. 

“O-oh god, I’m sorry,” he stuttered out before you could speak, “this room has been empty for months and- I-I thought- I’ll just leave-”

You froze up, but not because you were bothered by his presence. No, because that was one of the sets of words on your skin that you’d memorized over the years.

The boy turned to leave, and you shot to your feet. “No, wait, you can stay if you need to.”

He froze then, too. He had one foot out the door, hand on the knob ready to shut it behind him. Instead, he turned around slowly, looking at you with a sort of hesitance and awe.

“Did- are you-” he tried to say, his body slowly stiffening in clear nervousness the more he stuttered.

“Yes,” you replied simply, putting your hand on the spot on your ribs where the words were written. You gave him a small, reassuring smile. “Did you need to come in here to de-stress? I’m just working on lesson plans, so it’s still quiet in here. I promise you won’t bother me at all if you need to stay.”

The boy, your soulmate, hesitated in the doorway for a moment. He kept glancing at you, his gaze filled with hesitance, disbelief, and a hint of wonder. You could practically see the gears turning in his head as he debated.

“I… If you don’t mind,” he finally replied softly.

You smiled reassuringly. “Not at all. I’m only here for another hour, anyway, so then you’ll have the room all to yourself if you need it still.”

You looked back at your notes once he stepped into the room, honoring your promise to leave him be with whatever he needed to do. You could recognize the signs of anxiety radiating off of him and figured he’d used this space before to escape.

Hopefully he hadn’t been using it to break down in private. The thought of it alone hurt your heart deeply.

So you refocused on your papers while your peripheral spotted him slipping into one of the chairs near the back corner of the room. 

After just a moment, you were able to tune out the rest of the world once again and finished going through your lesson plan. You then took the time to set up your company account and explore your email and other options, just wanting to get yourself familiar with the website.

Someone cleared their throat, pulling you back to the present. You blinked as you lifted your head to look away from the screen, meeting the gaze of the adorable boy in the back of the room.

One of your soulmates.

He looked calmer now, but still a little nervous. “My name’s Jisung by the way.” 

“I’m Y/N,” you replied. 

“I’m assuming, um, that you work here?” he asked and then winced at his own question.

You just laughed lightly. “It’s literally my first day, so yeah I do now.” 

He blinked. “Oh that makes sense.”

“So do you work here?” You asked back playfully.

He blushed. “Yeah, I’m part of one of the idol groups here.” Saying this seemed to unlock something in him, the words starting to spill out immediately afterward. “Um, I’m actually part of the production team- three of us are. We call ourselves 3Racha, and we were in a meeting today. It’s for our next comeback so it was super important and I just- sometimes I get overwhelmed, and when I do usually I go to one of my s- the other group members and they help, but we’re so busy right now and I just felt like I couldn’t burden them, so I wanted to get away.

“This room has been empty for like months at least, and I really don’t come here that often, because I’ve been trying to not isolate as much like my therapist suggested, and the boys have told me repeatedly that I’m never a burden, but also sometimes the silence is the solace you know? And um… yeah,” he trailed off. “... I don’t know where I was going with that.”

“Well, if it helps, I could let you know when I won’t be having lessons in here, that way you can still use this room when you need to,” you suggested.

“You don’t even know me,” Jisung replied bluntly.

You shrugged. “If I’m not using the room, why shouldn’t you be able to benefit from the safe space you’ve made here?” You sighed, giving him a small smile. “I can’t act like you being my soulmate isn’t partially influencing me, but I’d like to think I’d do the same for anyone else who seemed like they just needed an escape.” 

Jisung looked bashful. He opened his mouth to reply when there was a soft knock on the door.

“Han-ah? You in there?” A voice said from through the door. They pushed it open slightly, peering in and spotted you.

Their eyes widened and they immediately gave a small bow. “I'm sorry, I was looking for my friend.”

And that was another set of words. 

“He's in here,” you blurted out, making the newcomer's eyes widen. 

Jisung laughed from the corner when the new man seemed frozen in place, staring at you in awe. The bright sound made you finally look away and over at the boy in the corner. He was looking at the man in the doorway, smiling. “Yeah that was my reaction, too.” 

The man looked torn, glancing between you and Jisung. He clearly wanted to check on his friend (soulmate?) but he also was clearly interested in you. 

“I'm okay now,” Jisung answered softly, making the man's shoulders relax. 

“I'm Y/N,” you introduced. “I'm one of the new English tutors here.”

“Oh!” The man said, sounding delighted. “That's cool. I'm Changbin. It's nice to finally meet you.” 

You smiled. “It's nice to finally meet you, too.” 

As fate would have it (and fate would), you met all eight of your soulmates that day, otherwise known as Stay Kids. You were the last one to join the bond, they’d all known each other for 4-5 years at that point. At first you were worried about how you’d fit into place, how you could “compete” with such long standing relationships, but of course fate knew what she was doing. You slid right into place as if the spot had been saved for you all those years.

So when six months had passed and the lease was up on your apartment, well, it was a no-brainer to move in with your boys. 

It was great, honestly. It made you all the happier that you had the job you did. Not only did you often ride to work with one of the boys, if not multiple boys, but you usually got to see them throughout your day. Plus, you didn’t have to worry about NDA things when talking about what you did that day. They knew all the groups, too, and they weren’t about to blab to the tabloids.

For the entirety of your first year at the company, you worked primarily with the girls from Nmixx, though sometimes random members from other established groups would come to you for refreshers. The girls from Nmixx even got you Christmas gifts to thank you for your help with them, which had warmed your heart.

Of course, that made it extra sad when you stopped having regular lessons with Nmixx. They came to you for help occasionally, but they’d learned what they needed to from you so they spent less time on lessons.

Which meant you had time open for another group to step in, in this case Nexz. 

Honestly they were just as fun to work with as the girl groups had been. They were extra interesting, too, because some of them were Japanese and some Korean. Luckily, you knew a passable amount of Japanese. Some people said you didn’t need to know a person’s native tongue to teach them a new language, but you didn’t like that approach, personally.

Either way, the boys were refreshing. They were a bit more rambunctious than the girls, but not disrespectful. It made you think of new ways to engage with them, because you didn’t want to hinder their energy. You wanted to work with it.

Living with your own boys for several months now gave you plenty of experience on how to be around a bit of chaos. It didn’t phase you.

Your nonchalant approach and easy redirection of their energy got the boys to trust you pretty quickly. You could tell when they first started taking lessons with you that they were a bit nervous, despite the loud banter they still put out. Now, though, they gave you their respect but also knew they could be playful without consequence.

Within reason.

You were glad. You wanted a comfortable atmosphere in your class. Yes you were their teacher, but not in the strictest sense. Learning a new language was stressful enough without the idol stress on top of it. You didn’t want your presence to cause more stress on top of it.

So, when one class Tomoya made a passing, flirtatious comment in Japanese during the session, you just snorted.

“I know what you said Tomoya, and it’s not relevant to the lesson,” you pointed to him.

He blushed slightly, as he’d said it under his breath to Yu, but then he just shrugged. “It was just a statement of fact.”

“Uh huh,” you teased, “now can you repeat what I have on the board?” 

You honestly forgot about the comment until the next lesson when it happened again.

Tomoya stopped by your desk as the other boys were leaving. You looked up at him and smiled. “Hey Tomoya, can I help you with something?”

He nodded. “There’s this word that you keep reminding me of, but I don’t know what it is in English.”

You titled your head. “What word is it?”

“Utsukushī,” he says.

It took half a second for your brain to translate it, and you responded without thinking. “Oh that would be ‘beautiful’ in English.”

He smirked and winked at you. “That’s the one.”

You laughed. “Get out of here,” you told him playfully. He just laughed too and waved, walking towards the door where Seita and Yu were waiting for him.

“See you tomorrow Y/N-nim,” he called back as his friends dogged on him for his comment.

You spent the next hour finishing up the back end stuff and making sure you were prepared for tomorrow. Once that was done, you packed up your things and headed to the elevator to go to the dance studio.

Aka where you knew your boys were at right now.

You heard the music before you got to the door. You smiled, gently opening it up so you could step inside.

The boys were mid-routine. You quietly shut the door behind you and walked over to the couch, plopping down to watch.

A few of them noticed your entrance, winking and waving at you, much to the chagrin of Minho who scolded a few of them, despite him smirking at you himself. 

When they finally took a break, Hyunjin and Felix were the first to make it over to you.

“Hi lovey,” Hyunjin greeted excitedly, planting a big kiss on your cheek as he flopped onto the couch dramatically.

Felix grinned, sitting on your other side and kissing your other cheek. “Hey sunny, how was your day?”

You smiled back at them both. “It was good! The boys remind me of you guys sometimes.” You snorted, remembering what Tomoya had done today. “Actually, one of the boys was trying to act so smooth today. He made a flirty comment about me yesterday to Yu, and I overheard and called him out on it. Playfully of course. But then today he came up to me all, ‘Can you translate this word that reminds me of you?’ and then he called me beautiful in Japanese.” 

You snickered over the story. Felix sighed, rolling his eyes playfully. “Boys,” he commented dryly.

“I know right?” You laughed.

Hyunjin, though, looked disgruntled. His nose was wrinkled and he looked mildly disgusted. “He sounds rude.”

“Oh come on, he’s harmless,” you told him, waving a hand dismissively. “Also he’s like, five years younger than Innie. No way he’s actually flirting with me, he’s just playing around like boys do.”

“Uh huh,” Hyunjin replied flatly, clearly not believing you. 

You shrug. “But other than that, it was a pretty normal day. I got all my lesson plans done, didn’t have too many emails, so no complaints here.”

The conversation moved on, you and the boys heading out to grab dinner once they were finished with practice for the day. You didn’t think anything of Hyunjin’s reaction, especially because Felix hadn’t seemed to react. He was just being a little dramatic, like usual.

But then, one of your boys showed up during your lesson the next day. 

It wasn’t like they hadn’t stopped by before, but they were usually extra conscious of when your lessons were. They never wanted to interrupt you unless it was super important, and normally they were too busy themselves to swing by for no reason.

So you were a little surprised when, as the Nexz boys were settling into their seats, Changbin came through the door holding two drinks in his hands.

“Hey Binnie, what’s up?” You asked, eyebrows furrowed in confusion as you turned to face your soulmate.

Changbin just smiled, walking over until he was standing next to you. “I was near your favorite cafe this morning, so I figured I’d grab you a drink to get you through the day.”

You reached out to accept the drink. “Aw, that's so sweet, thank you.” 

“It's the least I could do,” he practically purred. “Have fun with your lesson. I'll see you after work.”

“Wait, Y/N-nim, you know Stray Kids?” Senita asked excitedly. 

You nodded. “Yes, I do. Now, if you want to ask questions about them- you have to do so in English.” 

You thought it was a one off, just one of your boys doing something nice out of the blue, but then it happened again. 

You'd forgotten to grab the lunch Minho had packed for you in your rush this morning, so you texted the group chat asking if anyone could grab it for you. You expected to see them at lunch, where they'd give it to you, but instead you got a knock on your classroom door.

Jeongin poked his head in, smiling at you. “Hey, I got your lunch.”

You snorted. “And you had to bring it to me now?”

He stepped into the room and shrugged. “Maybe I added an extra treat to it, to help you get through the day.” 

“Well thank you,” you replied playfully as you accepted the lunch bag. 

He beamed at you and waved. “Enjoy!” 

And then the next day.

Hyunjin came into your room just as the boys had started to trickle in. He had his sketchbook under his arm and was already looking at you with big, pleading eyes.

“Can I stay in here and sketch?” He asked.

“Why?” 

He huffed. “Because I got here too early, and my recording session isn't for another two hours, and I like the lighting in here.”

You crossed your arms, raising an eyebrow at him. “Really? There's ten other rooms just like this one.”

Hyunjin's gaze shifted from pleading to smoldering as he took a step into your space. He brought a hand up to cup your chin. “Yeah but those rooms don't have you in them.”

You couldn’t fight the blush that rose on your cheeks. “Oh my god,” you groaned, before turning and pointing a finger at him. “You better not distract my kids.”

He put a hand on his chest. “I would never,” he protested.

You raised an eyebrow. “Sure you wouldn't.” You turned back to your laptop, waving a hand at him dismissively. “I'm going to quiz you too if you stay, you know.”

Hyunjin beamed, grabbing a chair and pulling it up beside your desk. “I'll pass, I promise.” 

And the next day, Seungmin showed up to “pick you up for lunch”.... 30 minutes early.

Your lunch schedule hadn't changed since you started working here. 

You squinted at him when he just shrugged and said, “Daylight savings time.”

“That literally isn't a thing here.” You countered.

“It's got me all out of whack,” he continued, moving into the classroom as if you hadn't said anything. 

Yuki raised his hand tentatively. “Um, what's daylight savings time?”

You glared at Seungmin who just smirked and plopped down onto your chair behind your desk. “Well Y/N-nim, what is it?” 

Answering Yuki's question took up the remainder of the 30 minutes before your lunch. Seungmin remained seated at your desk like he owned the place, alternating between poking through your stuff and staring at you as you spoke to the kids. 

He was such a little shit. 

But you still didn't bring up your boys’ odd behavior until Chan picked you up from work the day after. 

The kids had started to file out of the room like normal when you heard some gasps coming from the hallway. You glanced over and noticed a pile up outside of the open door. Immediately you stood up and walked over.

“Are you all okay-” you started to ask, afraid someone had got hurt, when you spotted the actual source of the crowd.

Chan was standing there, leaning against the wall outside of your door. He was talking to the kids, but hearing your voice had him glancing over to smile at you. 

Yes the Nexz boys had met several of the other members of Stray Kids, but Chan? He was a legend in the company, especially amongst the trainees. 

You saw him look amongst the boys, something flashing across his face for a split second before he broke out into a grin.

“You must be Tomoya, right?” He asked the eldest member. 

Tomoya's eyes widened as he nodded rapidly, bowing to Chan. “Yes, that's me. It's an honor to meet you seonbae.” 

Normally Chan was quick to dismiss the honorifics amongst the younger idol groups. He loved being able to act like a hyung to them. You swear he'd adopt them all if he could.

But he didn't say anything this time. He just smiled and nodded. “I'm excited to see what you all continue to do. I'm sure I'll see you around again soon.”

They all thanked him, bowing repeatedly before scampering away excitedly. 

You stared at Chan for a moment, the gears in your brain turning. Chan looked over at you, stepping closer to give you a hug, which you melted into.

“How was your day?” He asked as he followed you back into the classroom so you could finish gathering your belongings. 

“It was good…” you answered slowly, still staring at him in confusion as you packed your bag.

“What's with the look?” He asked with a chuckle.

You huffed as you threw your bag onto your shoulder. “You guys have just been so weird recently. The past five days of work, you've all stopped by randomly. I just don't know why.”

Chan shrugged, grinning cheekily. “What, we can't stop in to see our soulmate now?”

“No, but you never interrupted my work this often with Nmixx,” you countered when something suddenly clicked.

The night you'd brought up Tomoya's flirting to Hyunjin and Felix, you'd noticed him venting to Changbin about something in the kitchen. You couldn’t hear what they were saying, but you hadn't thought much of it at the time. Hyunjin loved to vent.

But it was Changbin who showed up the next morning with a drink for you. 

All week the boys had been a little extra handsy, too. They always asked about your day, but their looks were a little more intense than normal. 

Two nights ago it had been Seungmin who asked if “that kid was still flirting with you.”

And then he was the one who came to pick you up for lunch. 

“Oh my god,” you said, stopping in your tracks.

Chan turned to look at you, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “What?” 

“Have you guys been posturing in front of nineteen year olds?” You asked before bursting out laughing in the middle of the hallway.

“It's not posturing-” Chan spluttered, trying to deny it, but that only made you laugh harder. 

You were still giggling as Chan pulled the two of you into the elevator, his face flushed as the doors closed. You managed to compose yourself enough to stand in front of him and cup his cheeks.

“Christopher Bang,” you said, voice still light from laughter, “you're one of the loves of my life. Some 19 year old boy trying to play cool in front of his friends isn't going to steal me away from you.” 

He sighed fondly, bringing his hands up and resting them on your waist. “I know that, and I didn't exactly agree with the plan at first but…”

“You were curious,” you finished knowingly.

“A little!” He whined before pulling you closer, chest flush with his as his voice dropped. “I know you're ours, so is it so bad that I want everyone else to know, too?” 

“No,” you agreed softly, leaning up to kiss him. “I want everyone else to know you're mine, also.” You stepped out of his touch as the elevator dinged, doors sliding open quietly. Your smirk grew. “But I'm still going to tease you all about it, and you need to stop showing up at my class all the time, too!” 

Chan turned you so you fit against his side, arm sliding around your lower back as you walked through the parking garage. “No promises on the last one, but we'll reel it in a little.”

You laughed. “I guess that's all I can ask for.”