˖ ࣪⊹ 𝑺𝒖𝒏𝒂 ⊹ ࣪˖

࣪ ִֶָ☾. Yuji Itadori (Jujutsu Kaisen) :

Swim (2,4k) Call out my name (1,3k)

࣪ ִֶָ☾. Lee Jeno (NCT Dream) :

Eden (ongoing) (200k+)

Unknown (40k)

High stakes (7.5k)

࣪ ִֶָ☾. Na Jaemin (NCT Dream) :

Winter Blues (1,7k)

࣪ ִֶָ☾. Lee Haechan (NCT) :

Grey Rain (1.8k)

࣪ ִֶָ☾. Mark Lee (NCT) :

Never Goodbye (1,7k)

☁︎ Ideas others can use: ☁︎

Qimir (the Acolyte)

The trickling of the raindrops against the window reflect your mood perfectly. After having a fallout with your best friend, and your now ex-boyfriend cheating on you a while ago, you sit down on the bar stool with the misery written all over your face. 

You've never been to a bar like this before. Drinking is not your style, and usually the alcohol in most drinks served just tastes disgustingly bitter. But tonight, due to all the negative emotions, and you needing an out, the bitter liquid in your whisky glass tastes like the solution to all your sadness. 

While swirling the brown liquid around, drowning in your thoughts, and leaning your head on your hand, you don't register the presence next to you. Only when the stranger sets down his own drink and directly addresses you, do you lift your head. 

“Whisky is made to drink, you know,” the voice cuts through your train of thoughts. “It would be a shame if you spilled any of that liquid gold.” 

A heavy sigh leaves you. Sitting up straight, you look at the man next to you, wondering why he feels the need to concern himself with what you do with your drink. “It´s not that deep,” you counter, uninterested in much of a conversation, still too overwhelmed and clouded by the despair you call your life. 

“Woke up with the wrong foot today? Why the heavy face?” he asks, observing your features and taking note of the cloud above your head that seems to rain down on you the same way the weather drowns the city outside. 

“Ts, what's it to you?” The question makes sense. He doesn't know you. Why should he bother caring? But your sour tone doesn't appall him at all. He just takes a sip from his gin and returns his gaze to you. 

“I'm just trying to take the scowl off your face. You look way too pretty to look this miserable,” he counters, smirking slightly and mirroring your swirling motion before downing the rest of his drink, ultimately emptying his glass. “What´s your name?” 

You don't know why you answer him. But you do without any care left. If even strangers at a random bar can tell how shitty you are feeling, why bother denying anything and playing defensive. 

“A pretty name for a beautiful lady. How fitting,” he says, glancing back at you before ordering another drink—rum this time. “Can I do anything to lift that mood of yours?” 

“I don't know. I doubt you can fix my best friend being mad at me.” The absurdity of the situation makes you huff out a laugh. Why are you telling him this? It´s not like he can do anything. 

“Damn, bad blood because of a fight, huh?” He thinks for a second, bouncing his leg on the footrest of the bar stool before suddenly getting up. “I might not be able to do that, but I have an idea how I can bring a smile to your face.” 

His conviction and sudden motivation make you quirk your eyebrow. “Yeah? Because I don´t think so,” you say, looking at him with a hint of curiosity showing through. In return, the man winks at you and walks over to the tiny stage. 

So far, only a radio on the side has been playing jazzy tunes for the atmosphere. The chatter of other strangers sharing moments together has been the background noise that was supposed to erase your frustrating thoughts. But with all that failing, this stranger, who you haven´t even asked for a name in return, is now standing there with a mic in hand. 

No one else around you seems surprised or bothered by the man preparing whatever he is doing. Even the bartender gives him a short thumbs up before he returns to drying a glass with the cloth he´s carrying in his other hand. 

When the lights dim down a little and a spotlight brings even more attention to him, the people around you even quiet down, much to your surprise. A change of melody is the next thing you notice. And then, even though you should have expected it, a sweet hum echoes through a speaker on the side, and the guy on stage holds the mic to his mouth, singing with this sweet, soothing voice. One you truly didn´t expect. 

And somehow, it did something to you. The ache in your heart. The regret of your choice of words. The emotions that have been tearing at your being, it all starts to simmer, until they fade into this comforting acceptance. 

You can't exactly turn back time. But you can always fix things. And while debating your choices, you can still reflect and accept that in some aspects there is just nothing else to do at this exact moment. 

Watching him sing, you feel the way the corners of your mouth lift. You see how he looks at you, capturing your current mood with the lyrics of this song, and when he sees the smile, the small smile that mirrors the comfort you experience thanks to him, he returns it. 

When he returns to his place next to you at the bar, ignoring the polite applause of his audience, he is looking at you intently. There is a moment of silence in which he just stares. But then, he opens his mouth, proudly stating the obvious. “You are smiling.” 

“I am smiling,” you repeat. "Thank you.” 

Surprised, he raises his eyebrows, but then, his gaze softens again. “Not for that.” His voice comes out a little lower, portraying genuine sympathy and softness that warms your heart in a way. And it reminds you of something. 

"What's your name?” I forgot to ask earlier.” 

“Haechan. But you, you can call me Donghyuck. Just because you are special,” he says sheepishly, obviously playing around and being quirky with you, which makes you snicker. 

“Is that your stage name and your real name?” You are leaning your elbow on the bar counter, totally ignoring the last bit of whisky in your glass because your focus has shifted completely. 

“Sort of,” he says, sensing the shift in your mood. “I´m very famous, you know?” 

That makes you chuckle even more. Shaking your head in disbelief about the sudden arrogance he's displaying you answer, “And I'm Santa Clause.” 

A laugh escapes him. Playfully offended, he clutches his chest dramatically, though. "What? You don't believe me?” Watching the shake of your head he goes on. “You hurt my feelings. I swear I am.” 

“Sure. Maybe inside of this jazz bar. But not outside of it. I've never heard of you before,” you retort, amused by his poor acting skills. 

“Let´s say I´m a small artist,” he chuckles, giving in and dropping the dramatics. “But hey, now you do know me. And you can spread the word. Lee Haechan made me smile when I felt like crying.” He emphasizes the last sentence with his hands, holding them up as if he´s holding an imaginary slogan. 

“Hey, I didn´t feel like crying. Just sad,” you defend, unable to hide your grin. 

“That´s basically the same.” 

“It´s not.” 

“Okay, neutral grounds. We have different perceptions of things,” he says and holds out his hand in an attempt to seal the mutual disagreement. You take it and shake it, simply because you think he´s funny. 

“So, now that you are feeling better, do you want to go out on a drink with me?” he asks then, more serious again. 

“Aren´t we already doing that?” you ask. 

“Touche,” he chuckles, scratching the back of his head. “Then, wanna go out for a midnight snack? Alcohol makes me hungry all the time and I think a warm meal will better your mood even more.” 

“You do know the way to a woman´s heart after all,” you say and agree, keeping a smile on your face. The tension that has been sitting in your shoulders earlier is gone completely, and your worries are gone with it. 

“It´s through the stomach, right? See, I knew this all along, but no one ever believes me,” he jokes and takes your hand, slowly leading you out of the bar after paying for yours and his drinks. 

The walk to a nearby restaurant easily feels like taking a path towards freedom. You don´t know how he manages it, but you feel lighter with every step and every word he utters. Somehow, he just knows what to say to make you interested in the most randomest things and keep that smile on your face as if your lifeline runs through it. 

Even after eating a simple meal and enjoying his company throughout the hours past midnight, you don't want this night to end. What started with sadness, has brought you to meet a guy you don´t want to let go just yet. 

So when you are standing on the doorstep to your apartment, the sorrow slowly creeps back into you, and something is pulling on your heart. “Thanks for the nice evening,” you say, a certain displeasure behind your gaze. You don´t want to say goodbye. 

“No need to thank me. I enjoyed it just as much as you did,” he returns, giving you a smile. You don't know if you see right, but you think his gaze lingers a little too long. 

Silence fills the space between you, and somewhere the sound of a car driving through a puddle is the only thing really audible. The light of the streetlamp next to your house illuminates the street enough for you to not miss the way he lifts his hand shortly before dropping it again. 

“Will I see you again?” Your voice comes out as a whisper. To your surprise, you feel your hand reach out for his. 

His eyes dip down to look at your skin touching his, then he looks back up, a certain hunger behind his gaze fueling your curiosity. “You are asking the wrong questions.” 

His answer makes you chuckle. You are about to divert your attention, too focused on the amusement, when his free hand gently lifts your chin. The moment your eyes meet, it feels like the air is sucked out of your lungs. A sweet pull is bringing you towards him. And in the next second, his lips are on yours. 

A soft, sweet touch. One you don't want to end any time soon. And yet, when it actually does, there is a glimmer of hope. 

“Sleep well. And call me whenever you need me,” he says, voice husky and hued with mystery. 

“You are up early”, Linnea notes the moment she enters the kitchen and dining area of the house complex they live in.

“You are up early, too”, Jeno says, not turning around while handling a pot full of cooked rice.

The girl walks up to him to see what he is doing. “Couldn’t sleep much?” she asks, innocently. There is no play of words. At least not intentionally. Jeno perks up anyway and side-eyes her shortly.

“Are you making fun of me?” he asks, teasing her lightly. Her immediate reaction of denial makes him chuckle.

“What? No,” she immediately defends, almost feeling the heat creep up her neck. “Look, yesterday was hella awkward, but it’s seriously not that big of a deal, okay?”

“Oh, please don’t mention it. The memories are too fresh. I can’t even look you in the eyes,” he jokes, half-saying the truth, though. He is really giving his all to stay focused on the task.

Linnea´s fist gently bumps into his upper arm. “Stop saying such shit. It’s really not that big of a deal. I guess for the common guy, that’s even something that has to happen.” She leans into the counter after saying that and looks into the room, crossing her arms. “I swear if you guys start treating me differently because of this, I will scold all of you.”

The pout in her tone tears another chuckle from him. When he is done with the rice, he dries his hands and turns his body, mimicking her stance near the counter. “Don’t worry about it. Everything will be fine.” His hand comes up to pat her head before he can stop himself. He worries it might put off the girl, but she stays calm and quiet.

“Wanna help with breakfast?” he eventually asks.

The short question makes Linnea look at him. “Since when do you cook?”

“What´s that supposed to mean? You think I can´t cook?” Jeno asks in mock offense and looks at her with big eyes, questioning her.

“Have you ever proved you can?” she challenges, looking at him, too.

“Okay. I will show you that I can cook. Just because I don´t do it often doesn´t mean I´m bad at it,” he says and turns around again. Since the rice is already done, he thinks of things to add to it, as main and side dishes.

“Do you still want me to help?” the girl asks, amused by the sudden determination to prove her wrong.

The boy pauses for a second and thinks it over. “If I tell you what to do, it still counts as my way of cooking, right?” He looks at her for an answer, and when he sees her nod, he smiles. “Then, sure. Help me make breakfast.”

With a chuckle, Linnea turns to face the counter and asks, “Alright. What do you want me to do, chef?”

Her evident smirk while she teasingly calls him that doesn´t go past him. But he chooses to ignore it, and instead tells her the first steps to help him, by cutting up some vegetables. The overall cooking process to make breakfast for the whole group of boys goes by fairly fast after that. The duo communicates a lot. Jeno´s instructions on how to do things are clear and easy to understand, which results in Linnea following them efficiently.

Eventually, she has to get something from one of the upper shelves, so she takes a chair and climbs on it for better reach. The girl rummages through the cabinet, wondering where this mysterious gadget is that Jeno is looking for. She even stands on her tiptoes to try to see into it even better. But much to her dismay, she loses her balance and slips.

The sudden shriek that leaves her mouth while she tries to save herself in a last effort doesn´t go past the boy busy at the stove. He reacts fast and moves to catch her before she can even get close to the floor, and before Linnea knows it, she´s held by strong arms.

Recovering from the shock, the girl opens her eyes—the ones she closed out of reflex—and looks at her savior, who returns her gaze with big eyes. “Weren´t you supposed to get something, and not climb into the shelf?” he jokes, clearly downplaying his own surprise about the fall.

The girl, however, blinks a few times to steady herself. She realizes her position and can´t help but feel the heat rush to her cheeks and neck. Looking away, she simply scoffs and says in a pout, “Not my fault the shelf is up so damn high.”

Thinking that she looks absolutely adorable, he lets her down slowly and climbs the chair himself to look for whatever he wanted in the first place. Linnea watches him, still dealing with the aftermath of this almost accident, and can´t believe how quickly he finds it. “This has to be a joke. Why do you find it so easily, while I struggle so much?”

Jeno shrugs as his feet touch the ground again and gets back to work. “I don´t know. Maybe because I have been in this kitchen before, while you haven´t? Naturally, I know where things are a bit better than you do, don´t you think?”

“Hmph, maybe,” she admits and crosses her arms. And while Jeno simply gets back to work, the girl keeps watching from the sidelines for a few minutes, looking at his silhouette, as he cuts a few more ingredients to the right size, tosses them into a pot, and makes use of the stupid gadget.

There is something really domestic about this whole situation. It feels oddly normal, and she thinks, this could become a daily thing if it were for her. But then she gets reminded about the fact that they are here temporarily and that they have a goal to achieve, which makes her sigh. But before she lets herself dwell on it more, she finally moves and gets back to her task of helping the guy cook.

༺.༻

Later that day, after addressing the elephant in the room and making sure there is nothing weird standing between the boys and Linnea, she´s happily dancing with her brother to some tune playing on the radio that Yuta brought outside. It´s finally a moment in which she can bond with Hyuck, carefree of any thoughts about the ongoing things. And even if the past days have been fairly light and easy, the threat of reality looms over them. They know they can´t stay here forever, so they are enjoying every free minute.

Hyuck swirls the girl around like a princess and keeps his steps light as he dances over the grassy floor. Linnea is laughing at his playful antics, unable to keep the happiness from shining through. Near them, Jaemin stands with the camera in hand, snapping pictures of the siblings to keep the memory stored. On his face, a smile graces his features. There is nothing more beautiful to him than the love of people.

While Jaemin is busy capturing the moment, Renjun and Jeno are sitting on a log near the fire pit. They´ve been talking for a while, but now it´s quiet between them. They are too focused on the pair dancing a little further away. It brings a smile to Renjun´s face as well, seeing his friend enjoy the time with his long-lost sister. He wouldn´t ever tell Hyuck that, but it´s evident by his soft expression. Jeno, while also happy for his friend and the girl, can´t help but feel this pit deep in his stomach. There is just something about seeing her laugh like this and not being the reason for it. He knows the thought is pathetic, but he can´t help it.

“What´s that face you´re making?” Chenle´s voice suddenly rings in the black-haired boy’s ears, causing his head to snap around to face him.

“What do you mean?” he asks, innocently and unaware of the suspicions from the younger.

“You know what I mean. You look like three days of constant rain, even though the weather´s been nice,” Chenle retorts and sits down next to his Hyung.

Taking a short break from twirling around in circles, Donghyuck hears bits and pieces of their conversation while grabbing something to drink. He decides to stay quiet for now, however, unsure of what to think just yet. He´s noticed the way his friend has been acting around his sister, and given the stark contrast to the time of her first few weeks with them, he´s sure something is up.

“I don´t look like three days of rain. I look perfectly normal,” Jeno protests, uncharacteristically defensive about the harmless statement.

“Hmm, sure,” Chenle´s voice drips with sarcasm. “Perhaps I will name it jealousy then.”

“Jealousy? And who am I jealous of?” The vice leader rolls his eyes, trying to ignore the growing intensity in his stomach.

Before Chenle can say more, Renjun taps his arm to divert his attention. “Stop teasing him. You will only get on his nerves to the point he will teach you a lesson.”

At that, the younger Chinese boy shudders slightly. There has only been one instance where Jeno had felt the need to teach him a lesson. And he remembers never wanting another, so he bites his lip and actually shuts up.

Jaemin side-eyes the boys having the conversation. He knows what Chenle is hinting at, and he is actually proud of his best friend for staying fairly composed. But he also noticed Hyuck´s suspicious look at them. He can´t help but gulp, hoping there won´t be a fight about a certain topic.

When Donghyuck returns to Linnea, he doesn´t show any signs of the tension that has built inside of him. He, however, knows that he will have to ask Jeno about this later. His intuition is telling him too much to let it slide.

༺.༻

“Jeno, can I talk to you?” The lack of honorifics tells the captain that whatever Hyuck wants to talk about is serious. He looks around shortly, then gets up and nods. The younger boy doesn´t say more and instead just leads the way.

Done with the fun dancing and Linnea needing a snack break, Hyuck is free to finally calm his intuition. He needs to know what´s going on. And he won´t back down until he has all the details. He doesn´t care if it´s Jeno he is talking to. In this conversation, age and honorifics don´t matter.

When they reach a place that´s hidden from the view of the others, and with no chance for anyone to eavesdrop, Donghyuck comes to a sudden stand, turning around to face the black-haired boy.

Jeno stops in his tracks as well and looks expectantly at him, waiting for him to speak his mind. He can already guess what he wants to talk about.

“So what´s it with you these days?” he gets straight to the point, face all serious and kind of threatening even. “And don´t try to tell me nothing is up. I´m not stupid, Jeno.”

“What do you want to hear, Hyuck? Everything is fine,” Jeno dismisses at first. Unless the boy directly asks him, he won´t just willingly spill his feelings to him.

The scoff from the brown-haired boy is loud and disbelieving. He rolls his eyes in annoyance before recollecting himself to not burst with anger. “Don´t fuck with me. You know what you´ve been pulling is weird and contradictory.”

“What exactly have I been pulling, huh? Stop beating around the bush and straight up tell me what you want from me,” the captain retorts, getting annoyed himself because he´s not in the mood for these games.

“You´ve been acting like the biggest dick on earth when my sister first joined. Then it seems like y´all are getting along, but suddenly you treat her like shit again, just for her to wake up from that stupid coma, and everything is fine again? Make it make sense, Lee Jeno,” the boy explodes in a collected but cold tone.

Jeno keeps quiet when he finally reveals the topic of this conversation. He already knew what his friend was hinting at, but that´s besides the point. If he wants answers, he´s better ask properly.

“What´s your deal with her? What´s with the contradictory act? Make up your damn mind. I´m not in the mood for you to switch up on her again,” Hyuck spits, his protective side clearly coming out.

Listening to his rant, Jeno can´t help but chuckle in disbelief. The sound makes the boy opposite him clench his fists in annoyance. “Calm down. I won´t. No need to get all defensive in her stead,” he says bluntly before facing him again.

Donghyuck eyes him for a few seconds. He doesn´t like the nonchalance in his tone at all, but clearly, there is a message. In a long pause in which both just stare at each other with serious expressions, the sun starts to lower in the sky, indicating the start of sunset.

It´s with a sudden exhale to calm himself down, when something clicks in his brain. And then he asks, “Do you have feelings for my sister?”

With the cat out of the bag, Jeno´s shoulders relax a little. He sighs, averting his gaze for a bit, then speaks. “Yes.” There is another pause. Hyuck takes in the simple word before Jeno speaks again,” You going to try and kill me now?” That´s when he finally faces him again and is met with an unreadable expression.

It takes a few moments for Donghyuck to fully grasp that he so easily admitted to it. It kind of pisses him off, but at the same time, he´s glad he doesn´t have to fight the answer out of him. Still, the tension that forms in his body isn´t pleasant. On one side, he hates the fact that one of his friends started to see his sister like this. On the other side, he can totally understand why anyone would fall for the girl. He knows she´s amazing, and he´s honestly surprised there aren´t more in the group—even though he secretly thinks Jisung has a crush on her, too. But he´s so young and clueless, it doesn´t count.

The boy takes a few steps forward until he´s face-to-face with the vice leader. He looks him in the eyes, trying to find any malicious intent. He knows Jeno wouldn´t ever do anything bad intentionally. He´s still his friend after all. But then again, it´s his sister they are talking about. And he doesn´t know if he´s in the mood to compete with another man when it comes to her attention.

“Look, if you´re worried that I will be dismissive towards her again, you don´t need to be. I was in denial about these feelings. That´s the only reason why I started distancing myself. Now that I´ve come to terms with it, I will just accept whatever she gives. So you won´t need to fear that I will try anything weird, either. We both know I´m not like that,” Jeno says calmly, very much seeing the conflict in his friend’s eyes.

“Since when?” The question takes him off guard, but the seriousness in Hyuck´s voice makes him answer properly.

“I can´t tell you an exact date. It´s probably been a few weeks already, though.” The words are simple, yet somewhat satisfying.

Suddenly, the brown-haired´s hands clench the collar of Jeno´s t-shirt. “If she reciprocates… and you hurt her feelings…be sure to know I´m the first one you will have to deal with,” he threatens.

Giving him a reassuring grin, the captain grabs his wrists and answers,” If she doesn´t rip me to shreds first, I will personally turn up on your doorstep so you can deal with me.”

With that, Hyuck releases the boy and pushes him backwards slightly. There is nothing more to deal with for him. At least for now. Jeno understands the seriousness behind his threat and the intent of this conversation. Having settled the topic, there is nothing more he has to say to him. So with mutual respect for the other, both boys start to retreat to the others.

༺.༻

While the boys have their personal conversation, the girl sits busy with a glass of water in hand on one of the benches in front of the main house of the complex. She´s in her thoughts, totally oblivious to what´s going on between her brother and his friend when, suddenly, a raven sits down next to her. At first, she doesn´t pay it any mind, but when it persistently tries to get her attention, she finally looks at it.

To her surprise, the animal is carrying an envelope in its beak. A weird sight for sure, but then she´s reminded of what kind of world she lives in, and so she stops questioning the universe. Holding out her hand in curiosity, she waits for the bird to react. Seeing how it places the envelope in it and then seemingly bows to her before jumping off the bench to fly away, she stays frozen for a few seconds, totally confused by the behavior.

Only when she no longer sees it does she look at the piece of paper. It´s plain, worn at the edges, and a bit dusty. But when she sees the handwriting that spells her name neatly, a sense of familiarity floods through her.

Slowly, she opens it, taking out the folded paper that´s inside. She unfolds it carefully, takes in the handwriting, and a smile forms on her lips as she´s met with a surge of nostalgia and memories. Warmth creeps up her spine as she reminisces about the good times while simultaneously pushing away anything bad that could spoil them.

Once the names read in her mind, Linnea can´t help but chuckle. The back of her palm moves to brush over her cheek, and with it she brushes away some wetness. She didn´t realize she teared up while reading the letter from her friends. But with all the emotions it unlocked, she can´t help it.

She thinks about the words her friends chose, and that´s when she notices something. Dawn. That name sounds familiar. Suddenly, determination overcomes her. Her feet are moving before the idea fully settles inside her mind. It´s not that far from here. If she moves efficiently, she might get there within a few days.

The glass of water she´s been drinking earlier rests long forgotten on the bench as the girl starts to move in accordance to a plan already set inside her mind. As she starts gathering useful things, the sun sinks deeper in the sky. Its orange hue starts to embrace the surroundings while playful chatter fills the air in the distance.

༺.༻

“Oi, so what did you two talk about?” Chenle asks, a teasing grin already on his lips as he watches the two boys return from their little private talk.

“None of your business,” Donghyuck retorts, making Jeno chuckle. He didn´t expect him to answer like that. Instead, he thought he might just blurt out to everyone what he revealed to him a few minutes ago.

Hearing the response, Jaemin smiles, knowing his worries were for nothing. After all, his friends are mature enough to talk like proper adults.

Renjun watches them as they sit down close to them. The radio is still playing some random song in the background when he observes them for any signs of a fight. To his relief, he only finds the smallest smile on Jeno´s face while Hyuck feigns nonchalance.

“Damn, not Chenle-Hyng getting shut down like that,” Jisung, who´s joined them while the other two were away, says, trying not to laugh out of fear the Chinese boy may make him his next target.

“Shut it, Ji,” the boy curses, but laughs a few seconds later, amused by the absurdity of the situation. “Alright, when´s dinner ready? I´m hungry,” he then deflects, changing the topic completely.

“On it,” Doyoung´s voice suddenly rings inside his mind. Perplexed, Chenle looks around just to spot Johnny waving at him with a knowing smile and pointing inside with his index finger the next second.

“Doyoung-Hyung´s telepathy is something when you´re not used to it, right?” Mark chuckles. The leader is carrying some drinks in his hands when he arrives at the place where everyone else is sitting.

“If dinner is ready soon and we’re eating outside, I will go and get the others,” Jaemin says. This way, he can put away the camera, too, so it won´t get damaged. The others nod at his volunteering, and quickly, the boy is up and about, collecting the other guys.

Minutes later, when everyone has gathered near the fire that has yet to be lit, and most dishes are somewhere around the logs wherever they found space to stay, the chatter is as loud as one can expect with roughly 20 people around. The atmosphere is as alive as ever; it takes far too long for one of them to realize someone is missing.

“Where did Lini go?” Ten asks once he notices her absence.

“Huh? I thought she went to you guys when we stopped dancing,” Hyuck answers, confused by the older guy´s question.

“She got a glass of water earlier. But that´s the last time I saw her,” Doyoung remembers, not looking up from his task of cutting up a roll of Bibimbap.

“Where is she then?” Renjun asks, his tone more serious now. Given how the past few weeks have been going, the girl missing once again can´t mean anything good.

The boys all look at each other, puzzled looks meeting question marks above their heads. Then Taeyong breaks the growing panicked silence. “I saw her grab a backpack earlier and head out. I thought you knew she was on her way to go on a longer walk.”

Hearing his words, the younger boys in the group suddenly jump up from their spots on the logs. All of them know the girl once again has something stupid in mind. Or at least they assume that, given their history of experiences.

“This girl. I swear, if she does something dumb again, I will chain her to something,” Donghyuck curses. The others don´t waste anytime. They quickly decide to stray in all directions in hopes of finding her. After all, it can´t have been long since she left.

While most of them are on their way by foot, Jeno didn´t hesitate to run to his all beloved Mazda. It takes too long to go by foot, and given the main road nearby, he has a good chance of seeing her if she chose a smart and easy-to-follow route to wherever she was planning on going.

Hitting the gas, he quickly speeds over the grass up to the dust road that leads them to the hideout, a few days ago. Deciding on a hunch that there is no way she would wanna go their way back to Dusk, he decides to go in the other direction.

His heart is racing, and he is gripping the steering wheel with more force than necessary while his eyes are trained on the road. He has to find her. Who knows if something will happen. To him, she somewhat resembles a magnet for trouble. And he can´t have that. Not after the situation with Riki, and it only having been less than two weeks since that happened.

The speedometer is showing that he´s almost going 100 km/h when he sees a figure near the side of the road. Quickly realizing that it´s in fact Linnea, he wonders how the girl has managed to come this far in such a short time. Seeing the speed she´s walking at, he senses something urgent is leading her to her destination, even though he has no idea what that destination is.

When he finally catches up to her, he hits the brakes, coming to a slow besides her. His window is down instantly. “What the hell are you doing?” he questions, kind of out of breath.

The girl doesn´t even glance at him and simply keeps her pace while walking straight ahead. Something feels off, and Jeno definitely hates how she is ignoring him all of a sudden.

With an annoyed hiss, he looks at her with a stern expression. “Get in. Now.” He demands, voice not leaving any room for protest. This catches her attention as she finally faces him, a determined look on her face.

“No. Leave me alone.” Her voice isn´t sharp, and she certainly doesn´t mean her protest in a mean way. But she can´t stop. She has to keep going.

Jeno´s jaw tenses. His knuckles turn a little whiter as he grips the steering wheel hard. Annoyed by her resistance, he steps on the gas just to brake a few meters ahead of her. The engine dies a second later, and then he steps out of the vehicle to face her.

When the girl reaches him and wants to go around him, choosing to ignore him once more, he steps in front of her, blocking her way. Frustrated, she looks at him with an annoyed expression. “What do you want?”

Feeling his own annoyance bubble up inside of him, he groans before grabbing her shoulders. “Look, I don´t know where you want to go at this hour all of a sudden. I´m not here to stop you on your little adventure,” he starts, voice turning a bit softer while he speaks.

His words have her confused, and she raises an eyebrow at his statement, seemingly questioning why he´s stopping her then.

“What I know is that you sure as hell aren´t going alone. Why don´t you speak to us when you have something in mind? We are friends, are we not? You can trust us. If you have any reason to go wherever, just tell us, and we will make a plan to get there as fast as possible together,” Jeno elaborates. And while he talks, he can feel the tension drop from her shoulders.

Linnea sighs, realizing that he is right and that she totally went on impulse here. She kind of wants to facepalm herself. “Right, you are definitely not wrong. I just-”

“Hey, it´s okay. You don´t have to explain anything now. Just let me take you back so we can discuss this and plan properly. No one´s gonna say no if you have a destination in mind,” he stops her and nods to the car that’s waiting behind him.

Relenting, the girl nods and starts to move towards the car, a little defeated. Once inside and comfortably sitting on the passenger seat, she stares out of the window as the boy turns the vehicle around and speeds back to the hideout. The wind that sweeps in through the open window gives Linnea a sense of relaxation as she watches the sunset glow.

༺.༻

(triggering memories ahead)

In a matter of minutes, Jeno is parking the Mazda in the same spot as before he took it to speed off. He gets out of the car and opens the door for the girl. With her backpack slung over her shoulder, she starts walking towards the fire pit where everyone else is gathered. While doing so, she doesn´t really look up, too embarrassed to face any of them.

“Byul!” Donghyuck´s voice rings through to her the moment she comes into view and earshot of the group of guys. The boy is on his feet, immediately walking over to her to examine her. “Where were you?! What were you thinking?!”

“Hyuck, calm down,” Mark interrupts, watching as the girl looks to the side with a face full of shame and awareness of disappointing them. She is playing with her fingers while actively avoiding eye contact because she knows she can´t handle it.

“Everything is fine. She was just walking along the road,” Jeno explains as well, feeling the tension rise even though he knows there is no need for that. He sits down on one of the logs after o not escalating anything with his friend.

Hyuck exhales heavily. It takes a lot of energy for him to stay calm and not freak out any further. He knows the others were as anxious as he was, but now, they are just holding back. “At least tell me why you suddenly thought going away on your own was a good thing,” he says, voice a lot softer now. “And look at me. Please.”

Swallowing hard, the girl finally looks up and into his eyes. She recognizes the worry and fear immediately, so with a shaky voice, she starts, ”Look, I´m sorry. I know I should have said something, but my brain wasn´t thinking. I just went ahead on my own. I´m sorry for giving everyone a scare.” With that, she also looks at the others apologetically.

“It´s okay. Just never ever do that again,” Renjun speaks, clearly trying not to scold her for her reckless actions. He already had a deja vu because of her sudden disappearance.

“Lini, what made you spring into such actions? Usually, you aren´t that careless,” Kun jumps in, also a little worried because he knows it must be something serious.

Swallowing another time, Linnea grabs her backpack and opens it. Then she takes out the letter. Hyuck´s eyes follow the piece of paper as she gives it to Kun without any words.

The leader opens it and starts reading the words. Ten, all too curious, looks over his shoulder to do the same while the others look between Linnea and Kun, waiting for the revelation to calm their own curiosity.

Once the blue-haired boy is done reading, a warm smile shows on his face. “I see. Now I understand.”

“Stop talking in riddles. What´s the deal?” Chenle interrupts, too nosy to wait any longer.

“This is a letter from Linnea´s friends,” he says, looking back at the girl. “Do you want to talk about it yourself?” he then directs the question at her.

“I thought you guys are her friends,” Mark wonders aloud, obviously confused.

“My girl friends,” Linnea says and finally takes a seat with her brother, as she knows she might be in for a little story time.

“Ah, is this about the girls from the second camp you were in?” Jaemin asks, already guessing he´s right. When the girl nods in confirmation, a light bulb starts glowing over some of the others´ heads.

“What does one thing have to do with the other, though?” Jisung ends up asking after the information has settled in for everyone.

“They are in Dawn. And as we found out, that´s not so far away from here. Linnea probably only thought about that, and then her body started moving on its own,” Ten explains, knowing the girl well enough to understand how her mind works.

Linnea eagerly nods at that. “I miss them quite a lot. And since I haven´t seen them for so long, I really just wanted to go and do exactly that.”

“Well, very rash decision to go on your own,” Renjun starts, lowkey shading her for the stupid decision to go alone.

“Hyung, I already told her that she could´ve just told us, and we would have made up a plan to go together,” Jeno interrupts before the Chinese boy can continue.

“Alright, alright. We´ve settled this somewhat, but I still don´t fully understand how you are suddenly so rash with the decision to go there. You didn´t have that kind of urge to find Kun-Hyng and the others when you first stranded with us,” Donghyuck then suddenly bursts. He´s still full of emotions from the anxiety earlier, and he doesn´t fully understand just why she reacted the way she did just yet.

Mark hits the boy´s arm in protest and looks at him with a dissatisfied expression. He did not like the way his friend just said this.

Linnea, on the other hand, just sighs. She looks at the dirty floor before looking back at the piece of paper that Kun is folding neatly into its original shape. “Yeah, you are right. I think I need to explain why these girls mean so much to me. Given that Kun and the others are like family to me.”

“Linnea,” The full use of her name is a rare thing coming from Kun, “You don´t need to explain the details, okay? It´s fine if you just stick with the relevant information.” To the leader, it is important that she knows this, given that he knows what she went through in the second camp.

The girl nods in understanding, and Hyuck is about to protest again when Mark stops him with a head shake. “Your sister or not, it´s up to her how much she tells us,” he scolds, making the boy back up.

“Okay, so, my 3 best friends were already at the camp when I first got captured. At first, they were a bit wary of me because of my level, but we quickly became friends,” she starts explaining, thinking back on how the girls first kept their distance from her before Talia eventually approached her.

“For context, this camp wasn´t like any of the others. This was a special research lab. I don´t know the details, but there were mostly girls in there. It was small, and the routine was different from the other one,” she continues, the smile fading from her lips.

The boys, all aware of how camp was for them, take a few seconds to throw this image of camp out the window.

“In my first camp, I was kept in isolation. In the second, I had a room to myself but had to do certain tasks each day. The workers there used us for household chores like washing laundry, cleaning, and so on. Nothing bad per se, like I learned a lot of stuff there. Not having to fight for the sake of training and becoming a weapon was a great change of scenery,” Linnea goes on. “The four of us became friends through these shared activities, next to the meetings we had in our little free time.”

“Where is the but?” Renjun asks carefully. He knows the tone in which she is speaking. This sounds too good to be the whole story. And knowing that Kun and Ten mentioned having broken them out of that prison, there is no way it was just a facility robbing girls of their freedom.

Linnea chuckles, even though her shoulders slightly jerk at the question. She´s not looking at anyone when she continues speaking. “Well, there was a reason why they kept mostly girls. The guards there…were horrible. Lonely men, watching young girls do domestic things.”

The mention of horrible guards and men watching young women already has a pit form in some of the boys´stomach. There is a dark assumption growing in them, but they don´t want to face it yet.

“At first, I only witnessed how some of them would touch other girls inappropriately while we did our daily chores. But then, one of them felt the need to touch Kida, too. Talli didn´t like that one bit, so she used her ability to punish the man. But that only escalated things.” There is a heavy pause before she keeps speaking. “You know, Kida is the youngest in our group. So Talli is naturally more protective of her. And because she went out of line, they had to make sure she didn´t step over the boundaries again.”

Marks, Johnny´s, and Jaehyun´s eyebrows raise at the implication. They don´t know what exactly to expect next, so they keep listening.

“I only found her crying that same night. She looked…horrible. Her clothes were torn up…and she had bruises everywhere. I don´t know what exactly happened, but it was very obvious to me. It made me so angry, but she stopped me from doing anything.”

With the very obvious hint at what went down, the boys can´t help but tense up. Some of their knuckles turn white as they grab onto the log, while some of the others´jaws are tensing up. No one is smiling anymore as the topic turns very serious.

“After that, things went downhill. The guards became a lot more aggressive. They would touch us…make us wear shorter clothes…watch us intently. Everything felt so disgusting to do because no matter what we did, someone´s eyes were on us.” There is a heavy inhale on the girl´s part before she keeps going.

“It came to a point where Noah and Kida also had their bad experiences with the guard…” Feeling the heavy pit in her stomach, Linnea swallows as it becomes harder for her to talk about these things.

There is a pause, and she´s playing with her fingers again, obviously trying to calm her nerves. “They didn´t look as bad as Talli that night. But still…it was obvious how traumatized they were. I mean, there was no way for us to escape. We had to guess when the next time comes where they would do something.”

Knowing the story, Kun and Ten keep an eye on her, closely watching her body language to intervene if necessary.

“Until that point, I was still lucky…I had a reputation because they had a hard time capturing me. But some newer guard was very bold. He felt the need to prove a point to the others……So a few weeks after he got stationed there, he started looming. I…could feel his weak presence close by.”

Pausing again, her arms start to sneak around her stomach in an attempt to soothe herself. It doesn´t go unnoticed by any of them, especially Hyuck, Jeno, and Jaemin.

“Then, one evening, I…finally learned…how it feels to lose all dignity…He-” Her voice breaks when she starts the sentence. Her vision is getting a little blurry as well, but she really doesn´t want to give the memory the satisfaction of shaking her up like that, so she blinks it away.

“He made me strip… and then he wanted me to clean his office…There wasn´t much I could do, so I just…did exactly that. It felt so humiliating and disgusting t-the whole time he kept watching me….” Feeling a slight shaking in her limbs, she grabs her t-shirt a bit harder to try and ground herself. “Eventually, h-he started touching himself…and then watching wasn´t enough anymore…”

Getting sucked into revisiting the memory, she stops talking unintentionally and just stares ahead into the flame that´s been burning in the fire pit since dinner started.

Sensing what´s going on, Kun nudges Ten´s side, and a second later, the mind manipulator activates his ability to guide Linnea out of that memory.

There isn´t anything else she needs to say. Regardless of what actually happened, they can all safely assume that this guy did something to her.

Only imagining some random guy exploiting his power and assaulting her makes Hyuck´s blood boil. He has a very hard time just staying seated because the urge to rise to his feet and look for this guy just so he can kill him in the most cruel and painful way possible grows inside him very rapidly.

Her brother isn´t the only one who´s ready to end someone´s life, because Jeno, while obviously not having any special position in her life, feels the knawing urge for revenge as well. His affection for her makes these feelings ten times stronger. And with the anger that´s slowly gathering, the log may need to fear for its life.

Even Jaemin has a hard time just swallowing the words and letting them sink in. He feels for his friend and her friends, condemning any human being who took part in such a disgusting project, all under the name of research. His face is an obvious sign of it as he looks as serious as ever.

Finally snapping out of the memory itself, Linnea comes back to her senses and lets her eyes fly over the crowd of boys surrounding the fire before she quickly looks back to the floor. She feels a bit cold all of a sudden, but ignores the feeling. “Fact is, we bonded over our experiences in there. No one understands us the way we do each other. That´s why they are very dear to me. We tried to protect and console each other while enduring similar fates.”

“And then Ten-Hyung and the others came, infiltrated, and broke you out,” Jisung mumbles, putting all the pieces together.

“Exactly,” said boy confirms, still monitoring his friend´s mind so she wouldn´t slip back into the abyss of those memories. He knows that right now, she definitely wants to avoid any type of touch, so he also refrains from getting up to comfort her just yet.

“What happened to the guards?” Chenle carefully asks, hoping he´s not insensitive.

Linnea looks up at him, eyes still distant and too calm for what she´s saying next.

“I killed some.” The words sit in the air. There is no flourish, no apology. Just the truth.

The fire crackles, and the boys stay quiet as they take them in.

Ten doesn´t shy away from the blatant truth. He simply adds, “And I took care of the rest of them,” his tone staying neutral.

It´s not pride. But with how many things they´ve experienced, it´s just nothing special anymore, either.

“You really say this as if it´s some achievement,” Hendery mutters, voice low, not angry, just disturbed.

Ten doesn´t argue, and Linnea´s gaze drops again. For a moment, she looks smaller. “It´s not like we had a choice,” she says, as if to remind herself.

The words hang heavy. Final. The implication strong.

༺.༻

The heavy atmosphere from the things Linnea has told them still lingers in the air as the boys slowly regain the courage to talk. Even the Hyungs are speechless and don´t really feel like they have the right to say anything about it. They just silently deal with their thoughts, not wanting to overstep boundaries.

It´s clear to everyone that they definitely have a reason to move to Dawn next. Linnea´s friends reside in that city, and it´s also in the direction they expect Eden to be. So going there is the obvious move.

Taeyong returns with the map in his hands from a short kitchen break. He sits down next to Mark to discuss a few things with him before he finally speaks up. “Given the situation and the indirect invitation of Linnea´s friends, it´s decided that the Dreamies will continue towards Dawn. Now, since Dawn is no small town and has its own system of hierarchy, I will have to call a friend of ours to confirm a few things so all of you have somewhere safe to stay.”

“Ooooh, are we calling our hidden contact?” Jungwoo asks, excited all of a sudden. He doesn´t know the boy as well as the others, and calls with him are a rare sight, so he always gets excited when they happen.

“You guys have a hidden contact, too?” Dejun asks, thinking about their own friend in Soul City.

“Yup. An old friend who decided to pursue his own way of living while supporting us from afar,” Jaehyun confirms and looks at Yuta, who brings the device they always use to contact the guy.

While Taeyong and Johnny get busy preparing their call, the others watch with curiosity. They don´t know what to expect. Except for Mark and Hyuck, none of the others, from the younger ones, know how the holographic device works. They´ve never seen it be used because they rarely stay at N-city.

When it´s finally ready and set up, Taeyong sits down again. He focuses on the hologram loading, then rings up his friend. There is silence as everyone watches the blue hue in the air. And then, after a few moments of quiet vibration from the machine, a figure finally appears.

“Hey, Hyung, what´s up?” A boy asks, sitting on an armchair in some seemingly fancy building.

Kun, Ten, Yang Yang, Hendery, Dejun, and Linnea all stop breathing for a second when they see him. They can´t believe their eyes when they see him and realize who he is.

“Hey, Win Win, I have a favor to ask,” Taeyong starts, but gets interrupted by Yang Yang, Hendery, and Dejun.

The three boys all yell in unison, as their disbelief is very evident to everyone else. “Sir Eagle, Win Win, Dong Sicheng?!”

The sudden voicing of the three names startles some of the boys who weren´t ready for the explosion of voices. The guy in the hologram chuckles as the depictions of the boys come into view on his part of the holographic call. “I see you´ve met each other.”

“Hold on, what does that mean?” Linnea questions now, stands up, and walks into view as well. “You mean to tell me you knew these guys all along?! I don´t understand.”

“Yeah, please elaborate on this,” Kun also adds. He´s as speechless as the rest. Because even though Sicheng is a very close friend to him, the fact that he never told him about knowing Taeyong feels a bit weird to him.

“I don´t get it either? Do you know Win Win Hyung?” Mark asks, a puzzled expression displayed on his face.

“Yes, we do. He´s been our provider ever since we found our hideout a while ago,” Ten explains.

“He´s the one I called when we were at that Lake house, and he´s the one who told me he would send us food to Dusk. That´s the only reason why we even ended up there. And now you mean to tell me, you guys knew him all along?!” Linnea´s voice gets louder at the end of her last sentence as the disbelief resurfaces.

“I mean, besides Mark Hyung and me, the others barely know him. It´s more that the Hyungs know him better than we do, and we happened to be here more often than the others,” Donghyuck explains. He has yet to fully grasp the fact that his sister knows the guy, too.

Linnea is about to ask more questions as they flood into her mind, but Sicheng finally speaks up to clarify a few things, ”Okay, calm down. I couldn´t tell either of you that I am helping you guys. It would have been too dangerous if an unwanted person found out. But I´m glad you guys found each other. I was secretly hoping this would eventually happen.”

“Did you lure us to Dusk specifically because you knew the hideout from the other guys was close by and we might stumble upon them?” Kun asks straight out.

Sicheng, however, shakes his head. “I chose Dusk because it was the closest spot nearby that worked out with a delivery. The fact that you guys chose to go North-west of all directions was a pure coincidence.”

“Well, we found a clue to Eden, so we had to consult with Taeyong-Hyung,” Mark says.

“Still crazy to think that of all groups Linnea found, it was you guys. Almost sounds like fate if you ask me,” Win Win says and chuckles as he leans back in his armchair.

“Did you know that Hyuck is my brother, too, by any chance?” Linnea asks a bit bluntly. In her mind, she questions what else her friend has been hiding from them.

The expression of the boy´s holographic image changes to one of surprise when he hears that. “He is what? I thought your brother died?”

“Well, we are both alive as you can see,” Hyuck butts in drily. He´s talked about his dead sister once before, when they had a call with the man residing in Soul City.

“That´s great to hear. I´m really happy for you guys… but that´s not why Taeyong-Hyung called me, right?” Sicheng asks, and while he´s happy about the news, he´s aware that the group needs him for something other than private updates.

“Exactly. Linnea´s friends have sent her a letter. And now we are planning our trip to Dawn,” Taeyong speaks again.

“Wah, Talia and the other two reached out to you? That´s great. Can´t believe they chose to go to Dawn, though. But yeah, if that´s your next destination, I will have to find somewhere safe for you to stay,” Win Win says. His figure moves as he starts to type something on a keyboard. Then he looks up somewhere unknown to all the boys and the girl watching him.

“He knows Lini´s friends, too?” Jisung asks Renjun and the others close to him.

“Well, of course. If he´s been a longtime friend of hers, it´s likely he helped break them out,” the older boy answers. With all the information that´s been revealed tonight, he put two and two together and guessed that when Kun and the others talked about how they got to know each other, he was also mentioning Win Win without actually naming him.

“Can you find a residence that will house all seven Dreamies and Kun´s group?” Taeyong asks.

“Are you not going with them?” Sicheng asks while still typing away on his computer.

“Someone has to stay and keep the hideout safe. If necessary, we will come, too, though,” Johnny says with a smile. He knows the others are capable enough to navigate through Dawn.

“Right, of course. Ten and Kun alone should be intimidating enough to keep any weirdos away,” the holographic image says while chuckling.

“What´s that supposed to mean?” Hendery asks, partly offended for his Hyungs.

“Have you forgotten how scary Ten Hyung´s lunatic stare is or how scary Kun Hyung can look when he´s mad?” With the question, Hendery is quiet again. He knows what his friend is talking about.

There is a short silence while Win Win looks through his data on his PC. His face flashes with the reflecting light here and there, and his eyes dart around while he scans the information he´s getting. Then, when he´s sure he´s found something good, he smiles and looks at his friends.

“I got something for you. The district should be one of the safer ones. So as long as you stay away from trouble, you will be tolerated. The residents in Dawn don´t really like new faces, so you might run into some people who are looking for fights. But as long as you stay mostly within your own group and don´t trust anyone too quickly, you should be fine,” he announces. “Oh, but before I forget it, don´t make yourselves an enemy of the big five. They have too much of a say in Dawn. So it´s best to stay away from them altogether.”

“Who are the big five?” Jaemin asks, a little confused. He can´t believe that Dawn is actually such a scary place to be wary of others that much.

“Let the girls explain all the lore about Dawn. They know more about it than I do. I only know surface-level things. But be warned. I will repeat myself: stay out of trouble,” Win Win says a little more seriously now. “I will send the route over to you. If you start in the early morning, you should arrive when night falls.”

“Thank you, Win Win.” Taeyong smiles at his friend. He knows he can always count on him when they need things like this.

“No need to thank me, Hyung. You know I will do everything in my power to support you guys,” the Chinese boy says and returns his smile.

The boys talk a little longer with Sicheng while they still have the chance. There is a lot to catch up on, so why not use the chance? Only late in the night do they actually end the call. The younger ones have left for bed earlier already, since they have a long trip ahead. But the older ones, including Kun and Ten, wait until the last moment to say goodbye.

“So, what’s everyone else’s ability?” Linnea asks while munching on a piece of chicken. 

“That’s a good question. Since you didn’t get to see everyone fight or use their abilities,” Jaehyun says. 

“Let me spoil it for you. I manipulate gravity. Jaehyun controls time. Jungwoo manipulates water,” Johnny bluntly reveals, not minding the nonchalance at all since this topic was nothing special to him. 

“Yuta manipulates fire, as you know, but he can also do it with ice. I am a telepath, have seismic sense, and can heal,” Doyoung states. “That’s why I am everything but lethal. Hence the green eyes.”

“Oh, but I think your abilities are really cool. That seismic sense is very useful if you ask me,” Linnea responds, full of interest in what the guys tell her. 

“You know my ability already. But to phrase it properly, I will say it openly for the others,” Taeyong starts. His voice is as calm and soft as ever. “My ability is called bond weaving because I can manipulate the relationships of others freely. I can also manipulate emotions.” 

Near him, someone gasps. Hendery almost drops his chopsticks, too. “Whoa, that’s crazy scary. Now I get why Lini was so wary of you. Doesn’t matter that it’s not the strongest ability. But altering the way people feel about each other is insane,” he says with a bit too much emotion. 

“Yeah, yeah. We get it. But hey, we wanna know about your abilities, too. We already know the Dreamies. But what about you newbies?” Johnny downplays and curves the question right back at the mostly Chinese group. 

“Well, okay, so Kun regulates anything that has to do with Biochemistry. So he controls the functions of living beings like humans,” Linnea starts. 

“Ten is a mind controller. He will make you do whatever he wants against your will simply by speaking. I don’t know what else he can do with his ability, but he is crazy strong,” Chenle interrupts before the girl gets to continue her speech. 

“Hendery-Hyung can create things, which is also pretty cool and very useful. I don’t know if he has limits, though,” Renjun says, his admiration for the ability very obvious in his tone. 

“Dejun’s…,” Mark wants to start, but realizes he has no idea what his ability is. “Wait, what is your ability? I don’t think we ever came to that topic. Same for Yang Yang.” 

Dejun chuckles. “Well, let me reveal it then. For me, it’s that I´m a tracker. I can find you anywhere. So if anyone ever goes missing, I will track them down. It’s what I would have done if Ten hadn’t found Linnea. I can also cause hallucinations. But they aren’t as strong as Lini’s perception manipulation,” he says very proudly of himself and his capabilities. 

“And Yang Yang can create shields and barriers. He is a great defender thanks to it and knows how strong they need to be and everything,” Linnea concludes. “Oh, and if you wonder about me still, I manipulate perception as mentioned and also aura.” 

Taeyong claps his hands together once the girl is done talking. “Perfect. Now that we know how well-rounded the team is, I can rest assured.” 

“Did we officially join?” Yang Yang asks, confused, and looks at Kun for confirmation. 

The leader pauses his actions and considers the question for a second. “Does anyone have anything against it?” He asks instead of answering, looking at his longtime friends. 

When he sees how everyone shakes their head and looks at him, waiting for his words, he smiles. “Then I say we are officially part of this big group.”

Cheers erupt once he says this, and clapping echoes through the room. Linnea’s gaze wanders to the guys she met a few weeks ago. Her smile greets their happy expressions. 

“Welcome to the team,” Jaemin says and smiles. 

“Now that we are an official team,” Mark starts, his face turning a bit more serious again, “How about we finally discuss what we discovered inside that cave? The arrows.” 

“You are right. So you said the direction the arrows pointed to was North-east?” Taeyong gets serious, again. This is the whole reason why his younger friends are visiting them in the first place. 

“Yup. North-east of the caves’ location. We tried looking at the map, but honestly, the arrows could mean anything,” Ten concludes. 

“Hmmm, do we have a map here?” Taeyong asks and looks at his friends. 

“I think we should have one on the shelf in the room next door. Let me look for it quickly,” Doyoung says and gets up. He walks out of the room to retrieve said map and returns with it shortly after. “I was right. Here it is,” he announces and lays it out on the table after making some space. 

The boys quickly gather a bit to look at the piece of paper more easily. Mark points at Dusk a second later. “This is the town we stayed at for the past month. And the cave was somewhere over there,” he explains and points his finger at a spot south of Dusk. 

“Okay, so if the cave is there, and the arrows point North-east, then that would mean they point in this direction,” Kun voices his thoughts. His fingers point to the cave and then the compass. Then they draw a line in the direction. 

“Is there anything on the map that looks like Eden could be there?” Jaehyun asks and skims it. His eyes glide over the piece of paper. But there seems to be nothing. “All I see is forests and more forests, and then there is Dawn, but Dawn is not Eden.”

“What´s Dawn?” Chenle asks, his curiosity piqued by the foreign name. 

“Dawn is an outlaw city not too far away from here. It´s huge, but really nothing close to what the rumors say about Eden,” Johnny explains. The boys had been there before, but the place really isn´t for the weak. 

“Hmm, this clue really doesn´t do much for us. We only know a rough direction, but that still means Eden could be anywhere,” Doyoung says, a little defeated. 

“A direction is still better than nothing. Even though we don’t know exactly where it is, we can still narrow it down that way until we find more clues. Surely, this isn´t the only clue to it,” Linnea says, trying to lift the spirit. 

“She´s right. Maybe there are other caves or structures out there that act like way points. We just haven´t found them yet,” Jaemin supports her words with his own, which prompts the girl to give him a thankful smile. 

“Do we have the time and capacities to look for way points that might not exist? I want to be optimistic, but we are just speculating. What if trying to find structures like that is a waste of time?” Jeno asks. He doesn´t intend to go against Linnea´s positive words, but he wants to stay realistic and not base their efforts on a guess. If they are going to look for more clues, it should be a strategic approach. 

“Thanks to Renjun´s psychometry, we at least know that Eden definitely exists. Or was planned to be built,” Mark butts in. “So while I do agree to go with a strategy, we have to think of something that makes sense for us as a group.” 

“You are right. We´ve never really had a pattern in our travels. The fact that we found that clue was simply luck. So maybe we should figure out how to proceed in general instead of just focusing on clues,” Renjun says. 

“Now that our group is bigger, we have better resources, which is great. So I would say, maybe instead of focusing on finding clues, you guys just keep going your way. If fate wants us to find Eden, we will. So I am sure that at some point we will find the next clue,” Taeyong states. “With you guys being out there on adventures, and us as support for resources and other things, we have good chances.” 

“That sounds reasonable. But then, where are we going next? If Dawn is such a dangerous place, I don´t know if we should go there,” Hyuck wonders aloud. He doesn´t want his friends and sister to face danger again so soon. 

“Maybe we should take our time and decide on that when we’ve all had some more rest?” Renjun suggests. 

“True. This is the safest place for us compared to any other place. If the Entity ever ambushes, we have enough manpower to hold our ground. And it´s secluded enough for other groups to not find us so easily, either,” Jisung adds to Renjun’s suggestion. 

“Alright. Let´s end this discussion for now. You guys go and rest for a few days, and then we will try to decide again. There is no rush to find Eden. So why stress ourselves when we can relax a bit and have some fun in this cruel world?” Taeyong concludes and closes the map. 

The others nod in agreement and get back to eating lunch slowly. Some of them are still exhausted from practice fighting earlier, and having some fun while relaxing also sounds like a good deal to them. So, without any complaints, the discussion ends. The day keeps going once stomachs are filled to the brim, and everyone resumes individual activities. 

༺.༻ 

The next few days don´t look any different. Most of the boys either explore the place because it´s still very unknown to them, or they take their time to do individual activities like playing basketball, drawing, reading, and whatever else comes to mind. Luckily, the weather is good, too, which prompts them to stay outside a lot and do outdoor activities rather than staying inside their little houses. 

This particular day started as uninteresting as ever. At least for Linnea. She got up and ready, went to eat breakfast with most of the older guys, decided to inspect the lounge area, found some books, read half of them, and now she is stuck being bored. She has no idea what the boys are up to. But if she´s honest, she kind of wants to have a day to herself, too. It´s a rare occurrence for her to have time fully to herself. So when determination creeps in, she quickly moves to tell Kun about her plans and then jogs off for a casual run through the nearby woods. 

Kun, who thought her idea was great, only smiles when she tells him everything. He watches happily as she speeds off into the distance. Then he minds his own business and dives into some medical books he found yesterday evening. While reviewing the piece of literature, he feels he can learn a lot from Doyoung, too, since the boy is a healer, similar to how he fixes injuries and the like. So why not chat with him? 

Ten, Yang Yang, Hendery, and Dejun are busy playing Monopoly in the lounge area. They greeted Linnea earlier that day, already busy setting up properties and earning money. To their surprise, the game takes longer than expected, so they are still busy playing it. 

“It´s a great feeling to see Ten-Hyung fail so miserably. If he ends up on my property again, he will lose his last bit of money,” Dejun says, amused and happy about his success. 

Hendery looks at him with mischief, also enjoying the way the oldest among them fails to play the game well. 

“You just wait. I can still change everything and win back my money,” Ten argues, trying not to lose hope. 

“Only if you don´t end up in jail again,” Yang Yang juts in, trying not to laugh. 

The oldest in the round glares at him, but resumes the game as confidently as possible anyway.

And while the four of them keep playing, seemingly not finding an end any time soon, the seven Dream boys, who have been busy relaxing in their own little rooms, doing whatever, gather to watch some movies. 

They had discovered a TV in one of the rooms of the main house yesterday and are determined to find some DVDs to watch today. It´s finally time for them to accomplish this goal, so when all seven of them are finally in one spot, they start to move through the corridor of the main house. 

“I didn´t know it was this dusty and grey in here. Last time we came, everything looked a lot more homey,” Chenle complains, trying not to walk through another spiderweb on their way through the house. 

“Well, you really expect those Hyungs to keep everything squeaky clean?” Donghyuck asks ironically, while taking hurried steps. 

“You think we will find some good movies in the room with the TV? It´s very old,” Jisung questions, not addressing anyone in particular. 

“Oh, I´m sure of it. It´s an old TV, but I saw lots of bags in that room, and I`m sure it at least has to contain some movies,” Mark reassures. And when they finally reach the room they found yesterday, they unlock the door smoothly and enter. 

“The air is so damn stuffy,” Jaemin mutters and walks up to the TV. “Jisung, you gotta give this thing the necessary juice if the outlets don´t work in this room,” he prompts and brushes the dust off the TV screen. 

The others start roaming around and open the plastic bags lying around. Some of them, as they discover, contain scrapped pieces of electronic devices. Others have old clothes in them. 

“Yo, is this some sort of storage room? All of these things seem useless,” Mark mumbles to himself as he inspects one of the bags. 

The others keep looking around, moving away anything that looks useless for a movie afternoon, not giving up. 

When rustling has filled the room for over 15 minutes, a voice finally echoes through the room with a triumphant tone. “Hyung, I think I found something,” Jisung says and holds a disc up into the air to show it to the others. 

“Damn, nice Ji, you found something that could work with the TV,” Mark praises and hurries over to the youngest to inspect the bag full of discs. 

“What if those are for listening only, though?” Jeno questions, unable to enjoy the happiness of finding what they were looking for just yet. 

“We will have to find out, then,” Renjun says and takes the bag from Jisung’s hands to carry it over to the device. 

Jaemin, who took the time to lift the TV to the floor with his ability, looks into the bag, too, once it reaches him. “Which one should we try first?” he asks, seeing how none of them have any labels that indicate what movie it could be. 

“Let´s just take the first one we grab,” Renjun suggests and lowers his arm into the bag to grab one. When he pulls out a plain, grey disc, he gives it to Jaemin so the boy can insert it into the device. 

“Jisung, give it some juice,” Chenle demands and points at the TV with the DVD attachment. 

The youngest doesn´t take long to follow the demand. With a swift move of his ability, the TV lights up, much to everyone’s delight. Jaemin inserts the disc while all of the others sit down, waiting in anticipation for the movie to play. 

The screen flickers with vibrant pixels for a few seconds. The DVD attachment makes a few concerning sounds. Then, the screen turns a dark grey before it lights up with a scene a moment later. 

There’s a girl with blonde hair running through the woods. She looks scared, as if something is chasing her. Her hurried breathing and her alert expression are proof enough. A few moments later, she finds a house and runs inside, closing the door hurriedly. 

“Oh god, is this a horror movie?” Jisung asks, already a little uneasy about what´s to come. 

“Shh,” Chenle shushes him, not in the mood for any interruptions since the plot already starts very intensely. 

The girl rushes through the few rooms of the house. When she finds a closet, she quickly hides inside and tries to calm her breathing, afraid it will give her location away. In the next second, a loud thud sounds, making her flinch. Out of instinct, her hand covers her mouth to try to keep herself from being loud. 

Heavy steps echo inside the wooden cabin. The legs and big shoes of someone suddenly show up on screen. They slowly move through the rooms, directly going for the one the girl is hiding in, ignoring the others. 

Jisung, afraid of a jump scare, tries to cover his eyes subtly. The others tense up, too, ready for something scary to happen. 

The female protagonist is shown again. Her eyes are closed, and she is still holding her mouth to keep her breathing quiet. The steps come closer and closer. Then, they stop. There is a moment of silence. Then, the door is torn open. The girl screams. A big hand grabs her throat and pulls her outside. She flails, trying to free herself, but the man—his face masked—pushes her onto the bed. 

Jisung tries not to scream, too, when the man pulls her out of the closet. Jeno and Jaemin seem as unfazed as ever, totally having expected this. Mark and Chenle maybe flinch a tiny bit. Renjun tries not to flinch but fails. 

The girl tries to scramble to the head of the bed,  but before she really gets the chance to, the guy pulls her to the front by her ankles. Another yelp leaves her mouth. Out of panic, she starts hitting his arms and chest. 

“Hey, hey, hey, calm down. It´s me,” The man suddenly says, almost laughing as he pulls off the mask. A handsome guy with brown hair looks at the girl, whose expression slowly goes from scared to relieved. 

She hits his shoulder one more time before she visibly relaxes. “You are such an asshole. I thought someone actually was chasing me,” she complains, but eventually also chuckles. 

“You found yourself a nice cabin here,” the guy comments and looks around a bit. “Seems cozy.” As an answer, the blonde rolls her eyes in annoyance. Seeing this, the guy talks again. “Don´t roll your eyes at me, you naughty girl.” Then, he starts tickling her to tease her. 

The tickling quickly turns into both of them being fairly close to each other. And when the guy ends up hovering on top of her, he stares into her eyes with a fairly loving gaze. The woman returns his gaze. The silence stretches. And then, they lean in, and their lips touch.

“Is it a romance movie after all?” Renjun wonders in a mumble, a bit confused by what´s going on. 

“I don´t fully get the plot,” Jaemin also comments, but keeps watching on while the others keep quiet. 

The kisses between the protagonists turn heavier. Normal pecks transform into full-on making out. Hands start to roam. And before anyone knows it, they start undressing. First the tops, then the jeans. The girl giggles because of the wandering kisses. Clearly, the atmosphere has changed severely. 

None of the seven boys dares to say anything now. Their eyes are fixed on the screen. Somehow, this scene starts to do something to them. They don´t know why, but the air suddenly feels hot. Someone gulps audibly, trying to process what´s happening while the movie keeps going. 

The man´s hand travels over her body. She is visibly enjoying the attention he is giving her. His kisses move to her chest. The other hand shoves away the bra and exposes her nipples. His mouth immediately wraps around one of them, coaxing a moan from her. While she is distracted by the feeling of his lips around her breast, his other hand descends further until he finally reaches her underwear. 

The scene progresses. Neither of them wears any clothes anymore. The girl is already breathing heavily again as her partner pushes another finger into her cunt. “You like that, don´t you? You little slut,” he spits at her with a teasing tone and watches how her back arches. 

A few moments later, he pulls out his fingers and licks them while intensely staring into her eyes. The girl can´t even catch her breath properly when the guy suddenly pulls her closer to her and wraps her legs around his hips. He doesn´t say anything. Doesn´t ask anything. He just gives her a grin before he lines himself up and pushes into her. 

The loud moan that escapes her mouth upon the bold move travels right through everyone’s ears. Seeing so much skin. Seeing a naked woman make those faces. And hearing the pleasure from her has the air even thicker. No one dares to say anything. They all try to process what´s happening. Their own skin feels like it´s on fire. And they can´t help but each realize just how tight all of their clothes suddenly feel. 

The movie continues. The guy drills into her, gradually picking up speed as her moans increase. She tries to grab the headboard to steady herself, but the guy takes her wrists and holds them up above her head with one hand. His other slaps her thigh with a loud sound. “You do whatever I want you to, got it?” the guy asks with a groan slipping right from his throat. The girl nods, unable to give a proper answer. 

Her moans keep echoing through the room. No one realizes just how loud the TV is. But since they are all in some sort of freeze, unable to really comprehend anything else while watching the obscene act, they don´t care to lower the volume. 

So when Linnea comes out of the bathroom, done taking the shower she took after her run, and she walks past the hallway that leads to the room currently occupied by the seven boys, she can´t help but notice the weird sounds of pleasure. Curiosity keeps her steps going. She clutches the towel around her body tightly, having forgotten her change of clothes in her room. 

When she reaches the room and hears the sounds even louder, while the door teases her with the small gap, she can´t help but let her curiosity win. She opens the door a little wider and looks inside. There they sit, all focused on whatever is going on on the TV. 

She is no stranger to the material playing; however, she didn´t expect to ever get confronted with it. Especially not when her friends sit in front of it like stray dogs ready to pounce the only bone that´s left to feed them. 

“What the hell are you guys doing?” Her voice sounds strong, giving away the impression that she just arrived and looked inside. 

All seven heads whip around in surprise, big eyes facing her. Mark hurries to cover the screen, scared the girl will see any of what they just witnessed over the past 30 minutes. Donghyuck tries to find words that could explain any of this, but no sound comes out of his mouth. He is too shocked to see his damn sister here. Jisung tries to cover his face, too embarrassed to say anything. He only feels the prominent heat on his face and wishes to be swallowed by the floor. 

Renjun is too stunned to speak, too. His eyes dart around the room, trying to avoid landing on her at all costs. Chenle grabs a bag next to him, instinctively covering his legs with it, just in case. They all know what this kind of movie does to them, and there is no need to show any of it to Linnea. 

“N-nothing. Call it education. I don´t know,” Jaemin stammers, keeping his eyes closed as he tries to cover for them all. He knows there is no way any of his words sound convincing, given the way the girl in the movie still moans every second while the slapping of hips echoes through the room, too. 

Jeno, who only got a short glimpse of Linnea standing in the doorway with her towel around her body, fixes his gaze on that one stain on the opposite wall. He can´t really hear anything his friend tries to say, because his mind is occupied by involuntary thoughts. He is only a guy after all. 

“Ahh~ fuck! Don´t stop!” The moan sounds filthily hot. His hand grabs her hips to keep her steady as he keeps going, thrusting into her with precise movements. His eyes watch her come undone beneath him. Eyes closed, mouth open, back arched. Breasts that move in accordance with the rhythm he set. 

The image is fleeting, but it does so much. Knowing exactly what is playing in his head, he really tries his best to keep his eyes on the stain. It takes so much willpower; his knuckles turn white from gripping his pants so strongly. 

“Whatever. Just turn it down. It´s so fucking loud,” Linnea finally says, only taking in their reactions for a few seconds before she moves to leave. She doesn´t pay too much mind to their activities, only shaking her head in disbelief about their boldness. 

༺.༻ 

The second the girl is out of sight, everyone scrambles to shut off the TV. They hurry, take out the disc, and throw it away in shock, unable to grasp the situation fully. 

“This did not just happen,” Renjun mumbles, white as a ghost. He feels like he can start digging his own grave. 

“Y´all better not think about my sister in this kind of context! I will kill you if I get to know you do!” Hyuck bursts out, finally having realized the way his sister was dressed. 

“Why would you mention her?!” Jaemin asks, scandalized. “We are men! What do you think happens if you ask someone not to think of something?! ESPECIALLY IN THIS CONTEXT?!” 

“Woah, calm down, everyone,” Mark tries to save the situation before it can escalate.

“Calm down, my ass,” Chenle argues and looks at the leader in disbelief. “Try to calm down after this. Watching this shit is one thing. Getting caught doing it is so much worse! Fuck I´m so hard, it hurts,” he complains, making the situation very clear. 

“I want the floor to open up and swallow me whole,” Jisung mumbles. “I won´t be able to ever look her in the eyes ever again.” 

“That´s a bit dramatic, don´t you think?” Renjun tries, but gets met with the most horrified expression from the Maknae he´s ever seen. 

“Hyung, she´s my teacher. If I ever need help with my ability again, I won´t be able to ask her anything because of this,” he says in a fitting tone. 

“Who suggested watching this shit in the first place?” Jeno finally speaks up, too. His face looks tense. But that´s only because he is now haunted by the same thought over and over, and god, he won´t be able to live normally if his body doesn´t calm down already. He hates this so much. 

“Yah, don´t look at us like that. How could we have known it would be this kind of movie?” Mark defends, a little scared by the tense stare from his vice. 

“We are never watching movies here, again,” Jaemin says, a little defeated. And it all even started so normally. 

“Why do the Hyungs own this stuff?” Renjun whines, looking at the bag with the other discs inside. 

“Doesn´t matter. How do I explain that we aren´t weird creeps to my sister?” Donghyuck chimes in, already trying to think of plausible explanations to justify this mess. 

“We are so over,” Mark says, defeated as his shoulders slump down. 

༺.༻ 

Still amused and somewhat disturbed, Linnea makes her way outside to the Hyungs and the  Monopoly gang. She is still drying her hair with a towel when she plops down on one of the logs around the pit that´s usually filled with burning fire. On her face, a disbelieving smile presents her thoughts. 

“What has you smiling like that?” Ten asks, surprised by her expression. 

“Wanna share the fun with us so we can smile too?” Johnny asks, slightly teasing because he recognizes the disbelief. 

The girl can´t help but chuckle as she puts the towel down and holds it loosely. “Oh, you know, I´m still trying to wrap my head around the events of the past 15 minutes. That´s all,” she shares vaguely, not yet sure if she wants to actually say what she witnessed. 

“Huh? What happened?” Dejun wonders and lifts an eyebrow. The amused expression on her face doesn´t go away, which has him even more curious. 

“Come on, tell us. Now we are curious,” Hendery whines, ready to make a move and tickle it out of her if she doesn´t relent anytime soon. 

A chuckle escapes her. Her hand covers her face for a second before she exhales audibly, trying to keep herself from breaking out in a fit of laughter. “Ah, you know. I was just taking a shower, because I got dirty while exploring the woods,” she starts and looks at her feet. The grin is still there as she continues. “And well, I forgot my change of clothes. And while I wanted to head back to my room to get dressed real quick, I passed by the hallway in the main building.” 

“Sounds boring so far,” Jungwoo comments, but Jaehyun holds him back from saying more. 

“Shh, she´s clearly building something up,” he says and looks back at her to not miss anything. 

“And guess what. There are very obvious, very weird, and very loud sounds. So, I go to explore, because why not? I expected everything. Really. But opening a door and seeing seven boys sit in front of a TV, watching very obvious porn, was not on my list of things I wanted to see. And now here I am, trying to erase the image of those idiots trying to explain themselves.” Another laugh escapes her due to the absurdity of the situation. She knows there is nothing about it. She doesn´t really care that much, either. They can do whatever they want, and she is sure they didn´t intentionally look for this kind of stuff. But seeing that still took her off guard. 

“Damn, didn´t know the youngest had it in them to be so… sexual,” Johnny comments, a wide grin now plastered on his face. 

“I didn´t know we had porn to begin with,” Taeyong says, slightly confused. 

“Ah, maybe that´s what´s on those discs we found half a year ago. Always wondered what they had stored. Good to know it´s filthy stuff,” Yuta guesses. 

“Anyway, I gotta cleanse my mind. I don´t want the nice image I have of them to be tainted by this, even if it´s not that big of a deal. But this was too unexpected, so I need to process it a bit more,” Linnea rambles on. She doesn´t look at any of them. Her cheeks feel a little warm, too. This flustered her a bit. Not too much, but still enough to bother her. 

The guys chuckle when they hear her words. It´s lowkey adorable to see her react like this, but the fact that their younger friends got caught watching porn is still too funny for them to let the topic go. 

So when Linnea gets up again, to go on another walk to clear her head, the guys remain seated and start discussing the incident. 

“Y´all think we should educate those guys on some things?” Jaehyun asks. 

“Do any of them have any experience?” Doyoung wonders, genuine interest evident in his question, because he knows if the answer is no, they will have to explain a lot of things. After all, the boys aren´t teens anymore. 

“I doubt any of them even know how to really talk to a girl romantically. And given our group’s history, the answer is a definite no,” Johnny says and claps his hands onto his thighs. “Sex Ed it is tonight. Get the books ready. We gotta talk about the birds and the bees.” 

“You guys have to tell Kun so he can keep Linnea and us away, though. We already went through the whole medical aspects of how intimacy works, so no need for a repeat,” Ten interrupts the chuckles from the others. 

“Oh god, please not those kinds of talks again. Kun kept it so dry and medically termed, it was so hard to go through,” Yang Yang starts, his face mirroring an expression of playful horror. 

“Remember when he started explaining periods, too?” Hendery joins in, looking at his friends with big eyes. 

“Please don´t remind me. He had Linnea repeat everything necessary because she´s a girl and directly involved with the topic,” Dejun says, trying to keep the memories from popping up in his head. 

“Well, have fun doing whatever then, while we explain how the biology works behind those things. Better late than never,” Jaehyun chuckles and looks at his friends, already thinking of the first topics. 

“I can´t believe it´s finally time for this kind of talk,” Taeyong mumbles in disbelief. “They grow up so fast,” he adds, overly dramatic and well aware of the fact that they haven´t known the Dream boys since they were kids. 

༺.༻ 

Later that day, when the sun slowly dips below the horizon, and a fire has started burning in the fire pit again, the boys gather one after the other. Most of them at least. Because while the Hyungs are about to lecture the younger ones, Kun and Ten made sure to take Linnea, Yang Yang, Dejun, and Hendery for a small game night. 

“Kun, why exactly are you keeping us inside while the evening is this nice? I wanna go outside,” Linnea complains with a pout on her lips. 

“Request declined. We are staying inside and playing some games like the good old times,” Kun counters, leaving no room for more arguments. 

“You make it sound like we´ve been together for over a decade,” Hendery remarks, but snickers. In the meantime, Ten throws Dejun and Yang Yang a knowing glance, while he tries not to start laughing. 

Linnea scrunches her eyes together a little, suspicious of their behavior. Something is definitely going on. She can feel it. 

And while Kun´s persistence keeps Linnea and the others inside, the seven youngest of the group slowly come outside, one by one. Some of them still have wet hair from a previous, long shower. Others wear fresh sets of clothing as if they had done some heavy exercise earlier and needed to change. When they see the knowing grins on their older friend´s faces, they already feel this sense of doom, knowing fully well that something teasing and embarrassing is about to happen. 

“Oh no. They know,” Donghyuck curses under his breath, dreading the conversation that´s about to happen. 

“Your sister is such a snitch,” Chenle says. Not in a mean way, but simply because that´s the first term that came to his mind. 

“Zhong Chenle, watch your mouth,” Hyuck immediately answers to his choice of words and glares at him. 

“Guys, relax. It´s not that big of a deal. I hope,” Mark tries to break up the tension and mumbles the last words in hopes no one hears him. 

“Hyung, we are fucked. Admit it to yourself,” Jaemin remarks and puts his hand on the leader´s shoulder to comfort him a bit. “They are so going to give us a lecture on decency and whatnot. So let´s simply endure it before they get another chance to embarrass us.” 

“How can you be so optimistic?” Renjun asks. 

“Well, I don´t know,” Jaemin says and shrugs. He just knows there is no getting out of it, so he has accepted his fate and wants to get it over with. 

“Wah, I´m so scared of what they will say,” Jisung mumbles, already uncomfortable by only thinking about the possibilities. 

“You are overreacting a bit,” Jeno says while looking at the Maknae with soft eyes that try to give him some reassurance. 

“Says the one who took forever to take a damn shower. There is no way you aren´t dreading this talk,” Chenle teases and grins when the captain´s glare hits him. “The hell did you even do for that long? There is no way it took you that long to-mph!” The boy doesn´t even manage to end his sentence because the hand of his Hyung is covering his mouth with a force that speaks loud and clear. Shut the fuck up. 

Jeno´s glare pierces into the Chinese boy to the point Renjun has to tap his shoulder to get him to stop. “Stop making a drama out of it. We are all men. It´s very obvious what the hell we all did,” he scolds and keeps walking. 

Only after waiting and glaring for a few more seconds does the black-haired guy let go of his friend. His eyes still warn him to keep quiet with the comments before he follows the others. Chenle can only exhale in relief and chuckle afterwards, knowing fully well what he was hinting at just now. 

As the group reaches the campfire, a voice chimes happily with a teasing undertone, “Ah, there they are. Had fun?” Jungwoo looks at them, a knowing grin plastered on his face as he waits for each of them to take in his words and sit down. 

“Hyung, please. Spare us. This is embarrassing enough as it is,” Mark tries to lessen the blow, but the other guys are grinning just as much as they stare them down in this teasing way that couldn´t mean anything good. 

“You know, we have to label those discs. Maybe someone needs to watch each and every movie we have so we can filter them by kinks and stuff,” Johnny suggests, enjoying the way all of them start to cringe the more he speaks. 

“Why the fuck do we have this kind of thing here to begin with?! This is all your fault!” Hyuck explodes. 

“We didn´t know. We got those bags six months ago and had no clue. You did the job for us in finding out what it is,” Jaehyun clarifies with an amused smile. 

“What was the mission that led you to that storage room anyway?” Doyoung questions in return. 

“We wanted to watch a movie. Nothing more. But not this kind of movie!” Hyuck explains simply. He is still mad about the whole incident and the teasing that they have to endure now. 

“Well, in the end, it doesn´t matter. What matters, however, is the fact that we have to fill you guys in on some important facts when it comes to this kind of activity. And I don´t mean watching movies,” Taeyong starts and earns himself a handful of groans. 

“Urgh, god no,” Chenle groans and covers his face with both of his hands. “This can´t be happening.” 

“But it is. Y´all are of that age now where this shit becomes a topic, and I would rather you wouldn´t embarrass yourselves the moment a girl decides to undress in front of you. We gotta prep you for the real deal,” Johnny counters, his grin audible in his voice. 

“Wait, what? The real deal? What are you talking about?” Renjun asks, scandalized, not sure he understood correctly. 

“Oh, come on. You are adults. There is no way any of you will stay a virgin until you die of old age,” Jungwoo says. 

“When would we even meet any girls? It´s not like we travel with anyone but Linnea, who identifies as one,” Jisung asks with this young innocence that´s fairly adorable. 

“Oh, don´t mention my sister, for fucks sake. I don´t want any of you perverts to look at her in that kind of way. She is off limits!” Donghyuck declares and glares at his friends. 

“Well, Dawn isn´t that far away. And even though it´s a messy place, there are still many hot women who live there. Same goes for other cities. So if you meet someone when the time comes, and you are down to fuck, you gotta know how you go about it to not make it the worst and most awkward experience to exist,” Johnny answers Jisung´s question and ignores Hyuck´s little declaration. 

“Oh god,” Renjun mumbles. The thought about this talk, and the filthy choice of words from his Hyung, makes him feel a little dizzy. 

“So let´s start with the basics. Anatomy. I hope y´all know what a dick is because I am not telling you much about that. Focus will be on pussy,” Johnny says and claps his hands together. 

“Don´t forget boobs,” Jaehyun adds proudly. 

The way the younger ones react to the more vulgar choice of words is the source of entertainment for Jungwoo, Doyoung, and Yuta. But they keep quiet about it, only chuckling to themselves and exchanging knowing looks. 

Johnny starts explaining how a vagina is structured and what parts are necessary for pleasure. He emphasizes the importance of pleasure for women in that same small speech, making sure all of them understood that sex isn´t something that´s only enjoyable for men. “So yeah, hitting inside might be the best for you guys, but don´t ever abandon the clit. That little button of pleasure is the key to an orgasm a lot of times.” 

Taeyong even whips out an illustration from a book to showcase whatever Johnny is explaining to them, so they have a visual in front of them. Whenever the oldest mentions an important term, he points his finger to the part that fits.

The talk hasn´t even been going on for more than five minutes, yet most of the younger ones sit there, a blush on their cheeks, while they try not to sink into the floor. Jisung covers his face with his hands, only leaving space for his eyes to look in between his fingers. Mark is fidgeting with the hem of his t-shirt. Hyuck is bouncing his leg due to the adrenaline in his body. Jaemin and Jeno stare at their Hyung with the most serious expression ever, while their nerves go crazy on the inside. Chenle bites his bottom lip in hopes of not laughing away the tension that rises inside his body. And Renjun sits there, cheeks hot and red while trying to look serious too, because after all, this is an important topic, all jokes aside. 

“Okay, moving on. Hygiene is the most important thing next to consent. Wash your hands, shower, and wash everything. And I mean everything. Infections can happen fast. We don´t want that. And keep in mind, hygiene is attractive. No girl wants a dirty man,” Johnny keeps going. He makes sure to be serious about this because he, in fact, wants them to understand just how important this all is. “Okay, Jaehyun. Consent. Explain it to them,” he then adds, and looks at his friend. 

Jaehyun chuckles and looks at the seven boys intently. “Right. Consent. I hope you guys know the meaning of that word. Because, in this world, a real gentleman cares about consent over everything else. Anything that´s not a sure yes is a no. Got that? If you have to convince her to do something, it´s a no. If she is unsure about it, it´s a no. If she says yes at first and changes her mind later? It´s a no. I don´t want any of you to ever make a woman uncomfortable because your dick feels too hard to accept a simple no!” 

The boys nod. The concept of consent made sense to all of them. Even without much experience, they would never want anyone to feel uncomfortable because of them. The seriousness that settles on their faces is proof enough of their agreement with the sentiment. 

“Alright. Next up, contraception. We all know how babies are made. And I can reassure you that pulling out in time ends with unwanted pregnancy. So always, and I mean this when I say it, always use a damn condom. Any other contraceptives are very hard to get as an Amplified. So this is the only way to keep both you and her safe from pregnancy and illnesses,” Johnny continues. He even takes out a wrapped condom to show it to them. 

“This little thing is your life´s savior. You gotta take it out,” he says and demonstrates his words,” pinch the top because the sperm has to go somewhere, right? And then you wrap it around your dick. And don´t come at me with it doesn´t fit. These things will fit.” The moment those words leave his mouth, he makes sure to show them by shoving his whole hand into the condom. 

The eyes of each boy grow wide upon seeing their Hyung shove his damn hand into the latex. On one side, they are impressed with the fact that it actually fits so well and still has so much space for moving around. On the other side, they are a bit weirded out by the fact that he just shoves it inside without a second thought. But now, because of the way the conversation progresses, they slowly let go of the embarrassment from earlier and accept the information they are getting. 

When Johnny pulls the condom off his hand, Taeyong takes the time to mention another topic. “Since we mentioned pregnancies. Contraception is one thing. But part of what´s necessary for pregnancy is to know the cycle.” 

“What cycle?” Chenle interrupts, confused, and lifts one eyebrow. 

“Women usually get their period once a month. That period is part of the menstrual cycle. It has 4 phases and lasts roughly 28 days, plus or minus. It´s different for every woman. But what´s important is that in this cycle, the hormones fluctuate,” Doyoung explains. “You have the period, which is the phase of monthly bleeding where the uterus sheds its lining. It can last up to a week, if not longer, for unlucky individuals. It can be painful and involve cramps, so being supportive is always welcomed,” he keeps going, and explains the rest of the phases and the importance of how it can affect chances for pregnancies if one keeps track of the cycle. 

“Damn, women have it hard,” Mark remarks after taking in all of the medical information provided by his Hyung. 

“And the fact they have to deal with all that while still stuck in camps or a cruel, exploiting world like ours,” Renjun adds, his voice full of respect for them while also dripping with sympathy since it´s already hard enough as it is. 

While his friends stay silent or open up about their short thoughts on the topic, Jeno´s gaze wanders to the house he suspects Kun, Linnea, and the others are in. He starts wondering how hard life must have been for Linnea if she has to go through this every month. He also wonders how she manages to deal with this while traveling with them. He has not once noticed any signs that might imply any care of this cycle every woman usually has. Either way, he respects her for holding out so long and partly feels even more guilty about his harsh treatment at the very start. 

“Now then. Since the important topics are done, let´s move on to the actual act. Sex. Sounds simple and easy if you know what it is. But there is more to it. First of all, I want you to learn how to flirt at least a little bit if you want to land a fling. Be natural but confident, too. No need to be stiff and awkward. Y´all look good, so you can definitely pull someone. Just don´t embarrass yourselves with weird sayings and the like. Give honest compliments, be charming, play into what they give you if you feel the vibe,” Johnny says, switching to the next topic. 

“But don´t overdo it and be weird,” Jungwoo adds, warning them. “Things can go south very fast.” He knows this from experience. 

Yuta claps his hands and stands up to take the spotlight. “Foreplay is very important. If you don´t focus on it at least a little bit, there is nothing to go for either of you. She has to be wet for it to feel really good. For her and you. And to get there, you have foreplay,” he starts with a proud grin on his face. 

“Kissing, caressing, gentle touches on sensitive areas. There are so many things you can do to get that pussy wet and her in the mood. You just need to find the things that turn her on and then keep going at a good pace with a nice rhythm that´s not too much or too little. It´s as simple as that,” Yuta explains. “It doesn´t have to be long, but it can also be fun if you take your time. It´s up to preference, but don´t skip that part unless she already is wet as fuck and really wants you to get to it right away.” 

“Exactly. You can also use foreplay for prep. Not every girl will be able to take that cock fully right away. You gotta stretch her out and let her adjust to your size. The best way to do that is by fingering her at least a little,” Johnny supports and adds the next topic. “Okay, if you´ve done it every day for the past week, chances are there is no real need for prep. But if it´s the first time, this can save the experience. Pussies are individual. Some girls will take you more easily than others.” 

“But yeah, to prep her, you can finger her. You simply, gently insert a finger and explore. Gotta watch for any reaction you get because it will tell you a lot. What she likes, dislikes, and so on. If it gets wetter, you are definitely doing something right,” He speaks as if he is talking about the morning news, demonstrating certain motions to do with the fingers, and keeps explaining how fingering can go and look like. 

The whole talk about women getting wet, fingering them, and making them feel good immediately lets that red heat reappear on each of the younger ones´ faces. They can´t help but imagine what their Hyungs are saying in their heads. The visual certainly doesn´t help any of them stay calm. And while each of them may not have a defined image of a woman in their mind, Jeno definitely struggles to keep Linnea´s face out of his head. It´s so hard for him to keep his mind decent; his knuckles turn white once again today, due to the force of his fingers pressing into his palms. 

“So listen. There are two main ways to get a woman to orgasm. Okay, maybe three if we count fingering. But you can either go oral and use your mouth on her, or you can penetrate, and hit one damn good rhythm, it makes her scream your name,” Johnny goes on, ignoring the bushing messes in front of him. 

“You are forgetting about all those other ways to get a woman to cum. Clit stim, dry humping, toys-” Jungwoo interrupts but doesn´t get to finish. 

“I said the main ways. Obviously, there are hundreds of ways to get her off. Let´s stay with the basics here, okay? It´s not my part to get creative for them once they know how it´s done,” Johnny sassily retorts before he returns his gaze to the crowd in front of him. “So for oral, you gotta use your tongue. You can lick, swirl, whatever comes to mind, test it out. Don´t ignore the clit. But really, just test things out. You can suck on it, or go in with your tongue. It´s all so different for everyone. So simply focus on the response you get, and hey, if she tells you what she wants and likes, listen. Do exactly that. No need to switch up anything,” he keeps his speech going. 

“Same for penetration. Set a rhythm, maybe switch it up a few times. But if you get her close, and she likes what you are doing, you gotta continue. No switching that up right before because you think it will be better. Her body already tells you everything you need to know. So if she responds well to your actions, you have to keep doing them,” He says. 

“While we are on the topic of penetration. If she´s not used to you, you have to be careful at the first dip. It can hurt, so go slowly and wait for her to give you the go-ahead to continue. Give her a few minutes to breathe and adjust. Especially if she´s really tight,” Jaehyun adds, emphasizing the importance of patience. 

The Hyungs keep talking about many ways to fuck well. How to move hips and find the right rhythm, what to look for, and so on. Jungwoo even mentions a few positions that do wonders and change depth, and reach a lot. In the meantime, Yuta is sure that at least one of the younger ones has a hard-on again. But he gets it. They all start somewhere. 

“Right, don´t skip communication either. But yeah. Now, the last important thing. Aftercare.” Johnny does a hand motion to emphasize the word. “Aftercare is very important and not to be skipped. People can experience a low after a high. Besides cleaning up and cuddling, you gotta make sure that you two feel comfortable. Have a nice talk, take care of each other, and do loving things. Whatever it is that fits the mood. Just don´t ignore them and make them feel bad for anything.” 

The silence after his last few sentences is loud. Taeyong claps, praising his friend’s expertise and patience in telling them all of this. Yuta, Jungwoo, and Jaehyun look at the younger ones, though, and start chuckling to themselves. Their expressions are heavenly. The biggest amusement that evening. 

“I think you fried their brains,” Doyoung remarks, fairly seriously. 

“Doesn´t matter. I need you to remember every word I said. You will fail miserably if you do any of this wrong,” Johnny says, a little overly dramatic. 

“Don´t say it like that,” Doyoung scolds, however. “Listen, since none of you has experience in that department. Let me say this: Being nervous and cautious is okay. It´s a process of learning each other. So don´t worry about anything. Even if you don’t last long. That´s normal. Especially at the start.” 

“Yeah, there is no way any of them will last long once that dick dips in. I bet you, one of them will cum the second they are fully inside,” Jungwoo jokes with Jaehyun. 

“I will give you a tip to keep that from happening: Imagine something totally unrelated to sex. It can stall the release a bit,” Jaehyun recommends and earns a glare from Doyoung. 

“Or you can just be honest and tell her you are about to burst because it feels that good. There is no shame in that. We just established other ways to make a woman come even if you are the first and can´t bring her to an orgasm first,” he says, fairly seriously. 

The Hyungs keep arguing a bit more. But while they do, Taeyong tells the younger ones that they are free to go. So without wasting much time and needing to process everything, they get up one after the other, say good night, and leave for their rooms. On their way, they notice how dark it has gotten. Renjun even notices the lights that are off in the other hut, so he assumes the others have gone to bed already. 

“I am serious when I say this, but I think I need another shower,” Chenle reveals without a care in the world. Jisung, almost choking on his own spit, thinks the boy seriously has no shame in this world. It´s impressive but scary at the same time. 

“Fuck, I´m so tired. That was information overload,” Jaemin groans and stretches. 

“Let´s go to bed then,” Jeno comments and starts walking to his room with his best friend. 

“Wet dreams, y´all,” Chenle says before taking off to his own room. His comments make the rest stop in their tracks for a second, before they keep going. 

“That guy, Karma will get him one day, I am sure of it,” Donghyuck curses. 

Without much more to say, the boys divide and leave to get some rest, as they said. So with the distant laughter from the Hyungs and the moonlight illuminating their short paths to bed, the night goes on, and seven boys fall asleep, much smarter about intimacy than before. All because they wanted to watch a movie.