#tbzfics

Sunwoo carries a bag of takeout as he enters the daycare, about to push the door of your classroom open but freezes when he notices you crouched down, comforting a crying child. Sunwoo’s heart warms as he watches from a distance, smiling at the way you speak reassuringly, your hands gently brushing away the child’s tears. 

The scene is interrupted as a panicked woman runs in, apologizing profusely as she hugs her son, comforting him. 

“I ran into some traffic so I couldn’t come on time but thank you for looking after him” The mother smiles, looking slightly disheveled.

“It was nothing, I had a lot of fun with Minjun.” You smile shyly, tucking a piece of hair behind your ear. 

She thanks you once more, bidding goodbye before leading Minjun out the door, promising him ice cream for making him wait.

You stretch, exhaustion settling on you like a blanket after five hours of teaching and taking care of rambunctious preschoolers. Conscious of someone’s gaze, you look up, a bright smile stretching across your features when you notice your boyfriend standing there. 

Setting the food down on the nearest table, he giggles at the way you spread your arms out for a hug, a childish pout on your face.

Sunwoo squeezes you into a bear hug, his hand running up and down your back soothingly. 

“I missed you.” You mutter, your words slightly muffled by the fabric of his shirt. “It’s only been five hours, woman.” He teases, pulling back to mess your hair affectionately. 

Distangling from his arms, you frown, reaching up to fix your hair. “Just say you miss me too, you dork.” 

Sunwoo sticks his tongue out at you, making a silly face. “Never.”

You turn your back on him, moving to lift the takeout boxes out of the bag. Opening the boxes, a smile automatically forms on your face when the inviting aroma hits your nose. 

“Let’s just eat.”

»»————-　　————-«« »»————-　　————-««

Feeling satisfied with your tummy full, you and Sunwoo walk down the street hand in hand, basking in the warmth of the sun. 

“Should we get iced coffee?” You muse, swinging your interlocked hands back and forth as you stroll leisurely, smiling as you admire the way the leaves are dappled with sunlight.

Sunwoo agrees, and you end up seated at a table in a cozy cafe while he orders for the both of you. 

Grabbing both of the drinks, he walks over to the table, noticing that you seem to be staring at something. Following your line of sight, he notices a baby cutely smiling and giggling at you. Grinning, he sits down, handing you your beverage.

“Isn’t she so cute~” You coo, accepting your drink from him with a grateful smile before taking a sip.

“Definitely.” He admits, his cool demeanor melting away as he continues watching the baby flail her limbs around and chortle loudly. 

Turning your gaze back on him, you sneakily take a picture of him, his head propped on his hand as Sunwoo smiles softly at the baby. You simply cannot resist how cute he looks in this moment, your face flushing as you admire his side profile. 

“Wouldn’t it be amazing if we had a baby too?” You murmur, mimicking Sunwoo’s pose, cupping your face with your hand.

Startled, Sunwoo turns his attention back to you. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Don’t you want kids when you’re older?” You question, curious as to why he reacted like so.

Running a hand through his hair, he licks his lips nervously. “It’s not that I don’t like kids, it’s just that I’m not ready to become a father.” He says quietly, watching you closely.

Although you don’t say anything, you seem disappointed and a silence descends upon the two of you before you stand up to discard the trash.

“Let’s go.” 

Sunwoo knows that you love children, hence why you chose to be a daycare teacher. He wasn’t being entirely truthful during the conversation about having kids. Although he did not feel ready to carry the responsibility to be a dad, Sunwoo was more afraid of the pain and emotional obstacles you had to go through during the pregnancy, and he knew that there was a risk of miscarriage. He did not want to see you suffer in that state, only because he cherishes you a lot.

»»————-　　————-«« »»————-　　————-««

After that, you never brought up the topic of having children again, and although he feels guilty, Sunwoo can’t help but feel a tinge of relief. 

»»————-　　————-«« »»————-　　————-««

Two weeks later, Sunwoo pushes open the door of the daycare, his daily routine of picking up lunch for you. 

Peeking into your classroom, he notices a familiar child with you, looking up at you with serious doe eyes as he talks. Sunwoo can’t help but catch some of your conversation, and although he feels like he’s eavesdropping, Sunwoo’s curiosity eventually wins over, and he presses his ear to the door to hear better.

“Miss (L/n), do you have kids at home?” Minjun asks, nothing but innocence etched on his features.

Your hands hesitate briefly before continuing to clean up the classroom, replying with, “No, Minjun, I don’t have any kids.”

“Then...have you ever thought of having kids?” He queries, swinging his legs idly as he sits on a desk.

“Of course I have. I don’t think...I just don’t think I’m ready yet.” No matter how hard you try to sound cheerful, your voice comes out shaky and disheartened. 

Sunwoo frowns after hearing your response. You had always wanted kids so why did your answer change?

Before he can enter your classroom, Minjun’s mom hurries in and picks him up,  asking her son about his day on their way out.

Sunwoo gazes after them, imagining you with their son. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he pushes the door to your classroom open and eats lunch with you, cracking jokes and pretending that he hasn’t overheard your conversation with Minjun. 

»»————-　　————-«« »»————-　　————-«« 

As a commercial plays during your binge-watching of your favourite show, Sunwoo decides to tell you the truth.

Mustering his courage, he takes a deep breath before turning towards you, holding both your hands in his. “I have something important to say.” 

Sensing the seriousness of the topic, you give him your full attention. “What is it?” You ask, wide-eyed. 

“Listen, I overheard your conversation with Minjun...” He bites his lip, wondering if it was the right choice to be so straightforward.

You withdraw your hands and place them in your lap, suddenly unable to look at him. Sunwoo lets out a sigh, and tilts your chin, forcing you to look him in the eye. 

“I’m not going to sugarcoat things okay? It’s not because I’m not ready to be a father, it’s because of other things like miscarriage and I love you too much to see you in that state.” He says, his voice gentle.

When you don’t respond, he continues, “My friend’s sister recently had a miscarriage and it scared me because of the toll on her. She wouldn’t eat or say anything, and she would just cry and lock herself in her bedroom. I’m hesitant because I don’t want to risk that happening to you.” 

You exhale softly. “Thanks for telling me baby.”

Sunwoo feels as if a weight has been lifted off his chest. “I’m sorry.”

You frown, your eyebrows furrowing in confusion. “For what?”

“I know you’ve always wanted kids and although I’ll need some time and my answer might still stay the same in the future, I hope you understand. I should’ve told you earlier as well.” 

You give him a reassuring smile. “It’s alright. I’m glad you ended up telling me the truth through.”

Ending the conversation, you reach over and pinch his cheek, grinning cheekily. “How about we watch a movie?”

“Hey! Don’t do that!” Sunwoo complains as he swats your hand away, glaring at you playfully. “I’m picking it then.” He snatches the remote out of your hand, ignoring your protests.

“It better be a good movie.” You grumble, crossing your arms.

Chuckling, he leans forward, giving you a kiss on the forehead as an apology. Although you give him an exasperated look, you and Sunwoo both know that you adore him with all your heart. And he does too.

“I know,” you reply, settling your fingers on his upper arm as he slides his own around your waist, pulling you close. The hand that holds yours gives a light squeeze, and at the start of the violins, the two of you are gliding away in a flawless waltz, one taught by Changmin and practiced every night for the past month. “I’ve been watching the clock.”

Hanging on the far side of the ballroom, the giant golden disc in question glimmers idly, its hands moving tortuously slow on its journey to midnight. You and Juyeon have been waiting hours for that final strike, the cadence that signaled the end of a day and the start of another. Somewhere in the castle, the other Phantoms were waiting for it too— the strike that will determine the fate of the world.

Yet a part of you wishes it would never come. A selfish desire, considering all the work and planning everyone had put into tonight, to ensure that not a single thing would go wrong. There were lives at stake, after all. Except it really hadn’t occurred to you until now— spinning around a room that sparkled as if it were from a dream, held so delicately by Juyeon like you were a pair of noble lovers who didn’t have sharpened blades hidden within your gilded clothing, didn’t have a mission sitting heavy on your shoulders— that maybe you wanted this moment to last.

“What’s on your mind?” His voice is soft in your ear, a lyrical lilt that blends right into the orchestra playing in the distance. It’s familiar, one you have come to know like a dear friend over the years of working together, and right now it has never felt more comforting. Taking a breath, you allow yourself to relax a bit, to enjoy this dance that neither of you were actually invited to in the first place.

“Truthfully?”

“Truthfully.”

“Well, besides the dread that I might mess up and cause the entire mission to fail,” you laugh deprecatingly just before he twirls you, “I’m wondering how I managed to make you look so good.”

When you return to his arms, you find yourself pressed flush against his chest, his gaze peering curiously into your own through that mask so rudely concealing his flawless features. His tongue darts out briefly to wet his lips, and you’re suddenly hyper-aware of how close your faces are. “How do you mean that?”

“I— I’m admiring how well your costume turned out,” you manage, hoping your painfully red cheeks aren’t too evident beneath the glow of chandeliers.

“And not the person wearing it?” There’s a gleam in his eyes, one you haven’t encountered before. While you felt unnerved, something about it made him even more endearing. Made you want to cross the borders you hadn’t ever dared cross.

Scoffing, you reach up and flick him in the forehead. “I didn’t realize you were such a narcissist, Juyeon. Maybe you should’ve been born a prince after all.”

He smirks, “Well, that might become reality soon enough.”

It was thrilling, talking about the downfall of the royal family in their very own ballroom. Their lavish lifestyles and selfish rule were heard of by many across the kingdom, but known most of all by those that worked in the palace. After years of witnessing their incompetence to save or even care about the dying country, a number of you finally decided that it was time to end their reign. With the help of some nobles like Changmin and Sunwoo, the band crafted an elaborate plan to expose the royal family’s crimes and steal the crown, to be carried out over the period of a year. The months had passed by quickly, and soon the preparations were finished. But your jobs weren’t complete yet— even if the people were now festering with anger, the fuse that would spark everything was still unlit.

And time was running out.

“For the record, you should have more confidence in yourself.” Juyeon is still staring down at you when you come back to your senses, hands falling to rest on your waist as you slowly sway to the final measures of the song. “Everything is going to go well, you’re not going to mess anything up.”

You raise an eyebrow. “And why should I believe that?”

He bites his lip, nervous for a reason you cannot decipher. “Because you have me?”

“And you’re enough?”

“I mean, I should hope so.”

The violins have faded and everyone around you is bustling to join in on the next dance, but neither of you dare move, suspended in your own little bubble at the edge of the ballroom.

“You know,” he says, breath soft on yours, “You look really good in your dress too.”

“Sunwoo is watching,” you blurt dumbly, as if the duke’s son could do anything to stop the two of you right now. Juyeon pauses, eyes falling to your mouth. “I don’t care,” he declares, and before you know it his lips are warm against yours, gentle and sweet and tasting like the strawberry champagne you had passed off to him earlier.

Not once has it ever crossed your mind that something in this world could be described as perfect, because your entire life has been full of flaws up until now. But then Juyeon tilts his head for a better angle and curls his fingers into your hair and you might just pass out from how utterly right this feels. When you tug at his bottom lip, he lets out a soft moan, and that’s all it takes for you to cup his face and press closer, closer so there’s no longer a distance between that leaves your heart wrenching.

You don’t want this to end, you don’t want him to pull away, you don’t want to return to the quiet stares and awkward smiles and unfulfilled longing. Both of you have been wanting this for a while now, you realize with a jolt, and at once you kiss him harder.

Unfortunately, even the sweetest of dreams will cease, come morning.

“It’s time,” you whisper the moment you two separate. Juyeon’s eyes look pained, with a hint of regret, and you almost kiss him again. However, you both know there are far more pressing matters at hand.

There are five minutes until the clock strikes midnight. Five minutes for you to move into position. Five minutes before the country gets completely turned on its head.

Juyeon grasps your hands once more, lacing your fingers together as he memorizes your eyes. “We’re going to come out of this alive, alright?”

You nod, not daring to show any weakness in your final moments together. “Of course. Who else would wear the crown other than you?”

He laughs, pure and bright. It’s enough to light up the sky, you’re certain.

“Ready to catch fire?”

The revolution was starting. Tomorrow, the king will be no longer. Tomorrow, your blade will be stained with blood.

“I have always been ready.”

Tonight, the world will be covered in flames.

“Then let’s go reveal the true king.”

And when the day breaks, Juyeon will still be standing by your side.

-

•••

Crystal chandeliers and mile high stained glass windows were certainly not your scene, but you supposed you could deal with it for tonight. You could deal with it so long as you got what you came for.

“Remind me again why we’re doing this when over a hundred rich snobs and two hundred security guards are here?”

The earpiece you wore was disguised as a (rather ugly) cuff earring, and while it did its job quite well, you still hated how it looked in the mirror. Every thirty seconds, a low beep sounded through the system to let anyone connected know that they were still online. You heard the beep, so you knew Sangyeon heard you, but wasn’t answering. Well, he never liked your constant babble in person, you doubted he would like any on the comms.

Sangyeon’s voice appeared a few moments later, though not to answer your question. “Seven, check the exit on your right.”

It had taken a while for you to memorize the code names each of you had, though it should have been easy. It was in order of age except for you, who joined after the code names had already been assigned to all the others. The names weren’t really meant to be fancy and decoded, but just so that if anyone somehow tapped into the frequency, they wouldn’t know who was referring to whom.

Sangyeon said “Seven,” so he must have been referring to Chanhee, one of the boys in the celebration hall with you. It was you and eight others on the floor tonight, while the other four were stationed at headquarters, Sangyeon included.

“Checked, One,” Chanhee confirmed. “It’s locked.”

Sangyeon sighed, and you remembered that some of the doors should have already been unlocked before the celebration began — supposedly done by their man on the inside whose name you didn’t know. “Thirteen, take care of that please.”

“Where?”

You had no idea why Sangyeon expected you to know where the hell this exit was when all you had for context was that the door was next to Chanhee on his right. He sighed again nonetheless, as if you were the problem somehow. Giving you the directions, his mood seemed to droop more and more as the minutes passed. God, you knew you were a freshie, but he had to give you some credit. You were put on a mission way faster than any other freshies in the company, and with Team 12 of all people — the top crew! Some of your achievements had to be worth some recognition, at least. But Sangyeon was a hard man to impress.

You took care of the locked exit, though it did take a few minutes. Electric locks were always harder than the old fashioned lock-and-key, especially without the proper tools. You hadn’t brought every possible tool because for one, you were told all of the exits would be unlocked by that inside man, and two, you could only fit so much in your disguise.

Going back to the main hall, your eyes skirted around to ensure no one had seen you. It seemed no one had, so you returned to your languid rounds, acting as some millionaire with nothing better to do than come to this boring party filled with even more boring people. Apparently you weren’t good enough for a real job like Kevin or Juyeon — even if you joined Team 12 in record time, so Sangyeon reduced you to surveillance, which could easily be done by him and the three others at HQ. There were more cameras in this one hall than agents in the building. What good were your two eyes compared to that?

The night went on according to Sangyeon’s meticulous plan, save for the locked exit mishaps along the way, but other than that, you were left completely mission-less. All you had to do was occasionally take an hors d’oeuvre from a tray and pretend you weren’t part of the biggest heist of the year. Maybe you’d hear the occasional order from Sangyeon, but he mostly kept you deaf to him and everyone else unless you were needed. Which, apparently, was almost never.

You held, maybe, the slightest bit of resentment to whoever decided you should have joined this team early. If you’d just climbed the ladder like every other freshie and joined a regular team, you would’ve at least been treated like an actual member rather than a camera drone.

Perhaps you shouldn’t have been thinking like that, though. You did always tend to jinx things when they really counted.

Multiple voices sounded off in your ear, Sangyeon finally letting you in on the chaotic conversation. You couldn’t tell words from sentences and sentences from words, and at one point the feedback got so bad you wanted to rip the cuff right out of your ear.

“The hell?” you muttered under your breath, not wanting to add to the mayhem.

From what you could tell, something was very, very wrong.

“Eleven!” Sangyeon’s voice crackled through the earpiece with panic. “What happened to distracting him?!”

“I don’t know! One second I’m watching him and the next some girl is all up in my grill about how much money I’m gonna get in the divorce!” Sunwoo didn’t sound very sorry, but you knew he would be as soon as you all went home tonight. “What divorce?! Who am I divorcing?! How much money am I getting from this divorce?!”

Sangyeon’s frustration could be heard in the millisecond of silence before he spoke again. “I don’t care! Who has eyes on him? Jacob?”

It took a lot to make Sangyeon lose his cool demeanor enough to make such a mistake as speaking to Jacob (who was sitting right next to him) with the comm still on, much less use his real name. Apparently anonymity came second now to the crisis going down.

The target, Arthur Degét, the host of this pompous celebration of wealth, had — for lack of a better term that comes to mind in such a time-sensitive situation — gone ghost.

And you knew exactly where he was heading.

“He’s going to his first office! I heard him bragging about the painting to some corporate hotshot!”

“And you didn’t tell me this why?!“ 

“You were ignoring me!”

“We’re talking about this later, Thirteen,” Sangyeon grumbled, but you weren’t worried about that at the moment.

You were worried about Five.

Juyeon was in the office, still working on replacing The Women of Algiers with a picture perfect replica. He hadn’t given the signal yet that he was done, and you all knew it would take time.

You were the closest to the office, and just as Sangyeon asked Juyeon for an update, you spotted Degét and his companion moving through the crowd towards the hallway.

“I have eyes,” you whispered. “We need to move now otherwise he’ll be there in—” You watched the way they walked: leisurely, as if showing off his nearly 200 million dollar Picasso was nothing to a man like Degét. “—forty-five seconds.”

“The painting’s out the window and the replica’s in place,” Juyeon finally said, slightly out of breath. 

“Can you get out through the window?”

They seemed to be ignoring you.

“They don’t open like that.”

“Guys…” you warned. “Thirty seconds.”

Sangyeon was the most petty leader you’d ever known. Even in the midst of Juyeon about to be caught, he still ignored you.

Over the comm chaos, you could tell the genuine painting itself was already long gone. That was no longer the problem.

The chances of Juyeon being seen were now a hundred percent. Degét and the other man would see him if he left through the only door, and they would undoubtedly call security on him without blinking an eye.

You’d stopped paying attention to what Sangyeon and Juyeon were saying, as their conversation seemed trivial compared to the slow trek Degét was making towards Team 12’s doom.

“Five!” you cut in. “Is the door locked?”

“What? No, it's—”

“Thirteen, what are you doing?” Sangyeon’s ‘oh no you don’t voice’ maybe would’ve held you back in any other situation, but this wasn’t one of them.

“Improvising.”

Before Sangyeon could stop you — not that you’d let him anyways — you put on your acting persona and dashed towards the office. Right past Degét. 

Sangyeon’s protests flew past deaf ears.

“No, Thirteen, we don’t improvise! I repeat: we do not improvise! Thirteen? Thirteen!“

With a hopefully cheeky smile on your face, you reached the door and pretended to struggle with the handle before opening it less than an inch with a triumphant squeal, just in time for a furious Degét to reach you and seize your wrist.

"What the hell are you doing?” he spat through his teeth. The door slammed shut again with the violent push of his free hand.

You painted a shocked look on your face, a facade so you looked terrified of Degét (which you were, in a way).

“I–I’m so sorry, s–sir,” you feigned a stutter. “I was just— well, I… I was going to—”

“What?” Degét questioned on. “You were going to what?”

It seemed Sangyeon was wondering the same thing. You’d left your comm on in case an emergency ensued, so each team member could hear everything you said and heard.

“What the hell are you doing, Thirteen?”

You didn’t answer him, you couldn’t, obviously. You could answer Degét.

“I was going to meet someone… he said it was unlocked and we were going to… um…” Your eyes flitted between Degét and the other man, as if you were embarrassed to admit what you were supposedly planning to do.

“Oh dear lord,” you heard Sangyeon murmur.

Degét eyed you up and down, connecting the dots you’d laid out for him in crayon. “Your boyfriend is in my highly secure office?”

There it was. The thing about cover stories is that the most convincing one is always the least convinced. Doesn’t really make sense when put in a sentence like that, but you knew what you knew. 

“Don’t be so loud!” you whispered harshly, your face melting into something of panic. You reached up a finger to your lips as if to shush him. “He’s not my boyfriend, he’s just, like, a guy I… sometimes…”

The man behind Degét snorted, amused by your made up situation. Degét himself just squinted further.

You continued. “Look, I just sort of… hook up with him sometimes, okay? He said he just went into the first unlocked room he found.”

Degét seemed to be buying your story. He certainly didn’t like it, of course, but the important part was that he believed you. 

“This is so embarrassing…” you mumbled to yourself, though just loud enough that you knew both men heard you. Running a hand up your face to your forehead, you looked back up at Degét with pleading eyes. “Can I just go in, grab him, and leave? I wanna forget this night ever happened.”

Degét sniffed, irritation clear on his face. “Go. But don’t even think about screwing around in my home ever again.” You slipped through the door with a shy, embarrassed smile, and just before you shut it closed, you heard, “Fuckin’ kids. I’m gonna kill whoever left this unlocked.”

“Holy shit…” Sangyeon mumbled, but you ignored him.

As soon as you walked in, you saw Juyeon fumbling with the replica painting on the wall. You rushed up to him.

“What the fuck are you doing?!”

Juyeon turned to you, eyes filled with imminent fear. “The wire snapped, I need to fix it otherwise we’re screwed.”

You cursed under your breath. Glancing to the door, you guessed you had about twenty seconds before Degét would storm in. “Well hurry up!”

“I’m trying!” he said through gritted teeth. Then, when you started running your fingers haphazardly through his hair, “What are you doing?!”

“Don’t question it!”

Faintly, so in the background you almost didn’t hear it, Jacob said, “I’ve got eyes in the office.”

You pinched Juyeon’s cheeks — hard. Blood rushed to his face, creating the closest thing to blushing you could get. He gave you a look but didn’t question you and went back to his task as you ruffled his clothes.

Five seconds.

He finished fixing the wire. You grabbed his face and turned him towards you.

“Do you give me consent to kiss you?”

“What?!”

“Answer!”

“Yes!”

Your lips pressed against his, urgent, just as the door handle twisted. You had to make it look intense, so you pushed for more, and either Juyeon had improved his under-pressure brain, or he was going off pure instinct. He kissed you back with just as much fervor, maybe more. You’d never done any missions with Juyeon directly, so the amount of unsaid communication between you was a surprise. He seemed to understand what you were planning as soon as your lips touched his.

Or maybe (and this wasn’t concrete), the way his hand slowly grazed the skin of your cheek before ghosting over the back of your neck meant something you couldn’t think about right now.

“Hey!” Degét’s voice broke you from Juyeon, and you turned with a fake look of surprise. “What the fuck did I just tell you?!”

“I’m sorry sir,” you said, bowing slightly. You ran a hand over your mussed hair and took Juyeon’s hand before running out, leaving an enraged Degét behind. But for all the wrong reasons.

Too bad he only thought two people were making out in front of his $200 million Picasso, instead of two secret agents kissing as a cover-up for the greatest heist in decades. Poor guy.

Just kidding, he was an asshole anyways.

You ran all the way out of the mansion, hailing the valet and keeping up the pretense of two people about to do not-so-innocent things. The heaving breaths from running and the smirk on your lips from the escape certainly helped. You didn’t bother looking at Juyeon until you got in one of the getaway cars, him in the passenger seat, you at the wheel.

He was staring at you sort of wide-eyed, and you had to admit, you felt a bit proud of yourself.

Yeah. You just did that. You fixed a problem Team 12 made.

“Five, update?” Sangyeon finally spoke again — with something real this time.

You turned to Juyeon, a triumphant smile on your face at the idea of him describing how you saved his ass. He didn’t answer, though, he just kept staring at you. Or… was he staring at your lips? It was a bit too dark to tell.

Ignoring that, you turned on your own comm.

“I’d say that was a success.”

They could probably hear the smile on your face.

TBZ + other groups

0-9 4oclocking

a absconditum-imaginaerum / atrabiliousse

b banghyung

c cappujinho / chocomilks-stuff / cozykpopblurbs

d defkooka / denfiction

g gaegurikyu / gayjoorene

h hyunjinsllama

j jaehvunn

k kevmoons / kpop-fanatic-lover16 / kpop-sprite / kpopdrabbles127 / kyuspongebaaaa

l lordsicheng / lumarkle / lustbz

n ncttrashnoodle

p peachhyychenle / pocket-scenarios

s sailorimagines / seonghwall / serendipitykpop / shiblurbs / ships-allday-errday / shitsketchpostin / simplykpopaus / so-cool-day6 / sprinklesofktrash / stayleeknow / staytheb / sunwotters

t teddybearwoojinnie / thepixelelf / timelesstempo

z zerot0all